Tag: fiction

Book Review: Cowboy Feng’s Space Bar and Grille by Brust (3 Stars)

Cowboy Feng’s Space Bar and Grille by Steven Brust

3 out of 5 stars

Read in December 2008

Warning:  Spoilers

This was not your typical Stephen Brust novel. In fact, I’ve never read anything quite like this.

It’s told in first person (with a few Intermezzos of third person to fill in the blanks) of a banjo player in a folk band named Billy. We meet Billy in Cowboy Feng’s as he listens to his band mates tuning up for the evening gig. The gig is cut short by a nuclear explosion which catapults the bar through time and space to another planet. They were on Mars, prior to that on Venus, prior to that a lunar colony and original in London on Old Earth.

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Answering the Question: What’s Wrong with Epic Fantasy?

That is tricky question to answer, because the very nature of the work is what makes epic fantasy…well, epic. Maybe there really isn’t anything broken or wrong with epic fantasy as a subgenre, maybe the thing that gets broken, or perhaps a better word might be “tired,” of epic fantasy is the reader.

— Teresa Frohock, author of  Miserere: an Autumn Tale

One of many ‘epic’ answers to the question ‘What’s Wrong with Epic Fantasy?’ found at the recent MIND MELD: What’s “Wrong” with Epic Fantasy? – SF Signal post.

The Best “Entry Level” Science Fiction Books to Convert Your Friends

http://io9.com/the-best-entry-level-science-fiction-books-to-convert-1510802842

Most of these suggestions I agree with. Give some of them a try and see how SF or fantasy suits you.

Posted from WordPress for Android via my Samsung smartphone. Please excuse any misspellings. Ciao, Jon

Book Review: Peacemaker by Stewart (4 Stars)

Peacemaker by K.A. Stewart

3.5-4 out of 5 stars

Read January 2014

Publisher’s Synopsis:

Caleb Marcus is a Peacemaker, a roving lawman tasked with maintaining the peace and bringing control to magic users on the frontier. A Peacemaker isn’t supposed to take a life—but sometimes, it’s kill or be killed…

After a war injury left him half-scoured of his power, Caleb and his jackalope familiar have been shipped out West, keeping them out of sight and out of the way of more useful agents. And while life in the wild isn’t exactly Caleb’s cup of tea, he can’t deny that being amongst folk who aren’t as powerful as he is, even in his poor shape, is a bit of a relief.

But Hope isn’t like the other small towns he’s visited. The children are being mysteriously robbed of their magical capabilities. There’s something strange and dark about the local land baron who runs the school. Cheyenne tribes are raiding the outlying homesteads with increasing frequency and strange earthquakes keep shaking the very ground Hope stands on.

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Tolkien’s 122nd Birthday

TheOneRinginscriptionwithTolkienssymbol_zpse18b2086J.R.R. Tolkien would have been 122 today.

His writings enriched and continue to enrich my life (see my Best Reads of 2013 wherein The Silmarillion received a rare five star rating from me).

While I haven’t re-read The Hobbit for the umpteenth time, I did venture out last week to see The Desolation of Smaug at my local favorite movie theatre (I gave that movie 3.5 stars via Flixster, and don’t think it’s as well done as the first one, An Unexpected Journey).

If you haven’t read any of Tolkien’s writings, I highly recommend all of them.  I rarely re-read books, but I will always return, again and again, to the master of epic fantasy storytelling.

Some previous posts I’ve shared at this blog that reference Tolkien’s legacy:

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My Best Reads of 2013

Yesterday, on the last day of 2013, I posted my uncle’s best reads of last year.  Today, on New Year’s Day 2014, I’m looking back at my reading for the past twelve months.

2013ReadingStatsAfter Amazon acquired GoodReads in the Spring of 2013, I resolved to not rate or review books on that site going forward.  I spent many hours relocating my existing reviews (and ratings) to this blog, where I can maintain my voice, my thoughts and my opinions as I see fit, without fear of censorship, tampering or deletions.

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Guest Post: My Uncle’s Best Reads of 2013

I’m relinquishing my blog today to my favorite uncle so he can share his essay on his best reads from 2013.  You’ll have to wait for another day to learn the answer to the question ‘Why doesn’t he have his own blog?’  Currently, he is a retired Air Force Colonel, writing historical and speculative fiction and painting and teaching watercolor.  And now without further ado …

∞ ∞ ∞

In 2013, I read a record number of books and don’t plan to read that many again in one year. I don’t just read for pleasure. I am an author-wannabe, so some of my reading is researching what’s on the market. (That’s my story.) And, I have a lifelong love of history, so I read a lot of history, biography and alternate history stories. Also, at church I give a Bible study a month, so I’m always looking for ideas to steal . . . uh, in a Christian-sort-of-way. Finally, I love humor. So, I occasionally give extra credit to stories that tickle my funny bone.

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