Tag: reading

Book Review: ABC Murders by Christie (3 Stars)

The ABC Murders by Agatha Christie

3 out of 5 stars

Read in December 2008

Not as engaging as And Then There Were None , but still an entertaining exercise in murder mystery theatre. I confess I did not discover the true murderer until Hercule Peroit telegraphed it to me in the final chapters. However, I did suspect that the obvious in-your-face suspect was just that – too obvious. For the longest time, I was convinced Inspector Crome was the mastermind behind the serial murders, but thankfully, I was wrong on that count.

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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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The Most Unusual Alternate History Novels Ever Published

http://io9.com/the-most-unusual-alternate-history-novels-ever-publishe-1518395336?utm_campaign=socialflow_io9_facebook&utm_source=io9_facebook&utm_medium=socialflow

I may add a few of these books to my already staggering stack of to – be – read books.

See any that you like or would recommend?

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

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.

eBook Review: Three Princes by Wheeler (2.5 Stars)

Three Princes by Ramona Wheeler

2.5 to 3 stars out of 5

Read in January/February 2014

In the beginning, there were only Two Princes – Oken and Mabruke, apprentice/journeyman and master spies of the Egyptian Empire, an empire that never fell and where Cleopatra didn’t kiss an asp. The offspring of Caesar and Cleopatra multiplied and prospered across the centuries, bringing us to the golden age of culture and civilization we normally associate with the Victorian era. Never fear, Victoria and Albert have their parts to play in the political theater bubbling across Europe and between the two Empires of the Old and New Worlds.

And that’s where our Third Prince, Viracocha, makes his dramatic entrance, as a member of the royal family of the Inca/Aztec Empire of the New World. Logically, to the author at least, if Spain never rose to prominence, then the South American continent wouldn’t have been invaded and devastated by the Conquistadors. Instead, they flourished and prospered just as their Egyptian peers did in the Old World.

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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

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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eBook Review: A Princes of Mars by Burroughs (3.5 Stars)

A Princes of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs

3.5 out of 5 stars

Read in September 2008

I read this as an ebook from the Project Gutenberg edition of this novel.

I found this a very enjoyable read via my BlackBerry on my morning commute and before bed.

I was amazed at how well this novel appealed to me. For a science fiction novel published in 1912 (actually as a six-part serial in a magazine that year), it has stood the test of time quite well. Granted what we know of Mars makes much of the story ludicrous if you look at it strictly from a factual point of view. But if you suspend belief and imagine that Mars is actually not the Mars we know, but an imaginary world or planet of Burroughs devising, then it’s a fine story in an interesting setting.

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