Navigators of Dune by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson. (SF Novel, 2016). The latest in the seemingly endless series of sequels, prequels and spin-offs from the magnificent SF creation of Frank Herbert, Navigators of Dune is set some 10,000 years prior to the groundbreaking classic original. It’s also the concluding volume in a series-within-the-series about the Great […]
Read more "REVIEWED: Navigators of Dune"The Kindred of Darkness by Barbara Hambly. (Historical Horror Novel, 2017). A while ago I reviewed one of Hambly’s Benjamin January crime/adventure series set in the pre-Civil War deep south. now I want to take a look at the latest in her other series–the fifth James Asher vampire novel. It’s 1913 and the latest in a series of […]
Read more "REVIEWED: The Kindred of Darkness"The Flame Bearer by Bernard Cornwell (Historical/Adventure Novel, 2016). Set in the year 917 AD, this one is the latest in a series of historical adventure novels from one of the field’s best-known and most successful authors. These “Saxon Tales” deal with the time when various Saxon Kingdoms were in the process of recapturing what would eventually […]
Read more "REVIEWED: The Flame Bearer"Diablerie by Walter Mosley. (Pyschological Novel, 2008). Walter Mosley is one highly varied and ambitious author. In this relatively brief (180-page) novel he delivers a stunning psychological portrait of a deeply repressed man who must escape the inertia that has defined his life for decades, while facing-up to a past (and a brutal crime) obscured from […]
Read more "REVIEWED: Diablerie"Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly. (Science/Social History Book, 2016). I was interested in seeing the acclaimed new movie based on this book before reading this. Now? Even more so! This exceptionally fine look at a fascinating (and till now mostly unknown to the general public) story of how much a group of female African-American mathematicians […]
Read more "REVIEWED: Hidden Figures"The Last Templar by Raymond Khoury. (Novel, 2005). This 526-page adventure epic followed close on the heels of The Da Vinci Code and proved a bestseller in its own right. I wouldn’t quite call it a rip-off of Brown’s work, but there are conspicuous similarities: a seemingly mismatched pair of modern-day adventurers seek the truth behind a […]
Read more "REVIEWED: The Last Templar"The Earth is Weeping: The Epic Story of the Indian Wars for the American West by Peter Cozzens. (History Book, 2016). A veteran historian, Peter Cozzens has written or edited many books on the American Civil War and its aftermath. This particular book, a well-written and compelling overview of the roughly 25-year struggle (1865-1890) for control […]
Read more "REVIEWED: The Earth is Weeping"The Other Side of Silence by Bill Pronzini (Mystery/Suspense Novel, 2008). Okay, here’s another older book–though still available in various formats from Amazon (and other places). There is also at least one other, more recent book with the same title (inspired by the same George Eliot quote that leads off this one, no doubt). In any […]
Read more "REVIEWED: The Other Side of Silence"Welcome to the Universe: an astrophysical tour by Neil DeGrasse Tyson, J. Richard Gott & Michael A. Strauss. (Science Book, 2016). I figured I was due a refresher/update on the latest science regarding astrophysics. So when I saw this hefty book at my local library (and noted that the excellent Neil DeGrasse Tyson was one […]
Read more "REVIEWED: Welcome to the Universe"