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<![CDATA[Michael added 'Forever Peace']]>
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/62618322
Forever Peace (Paperback)
byJoe Haldeman bookshelves: currently-reading
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<![CDATA[Michael added 'The Tomb']]>
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/56764288
to: The Tomb (Adversary Cycle/Repairman Jack)byF. Paul Wilson
I have a weakness for stories showing the private and social life of people who solve problems using resources at hand (start with MacGyver, subtract half of the science, add a broader social context, and build from there). Repairman Jack is one such problem-solver, a gent I'd like very much to know. I've read Wilson since his early Analog stories (one "Easter egg" hints at his SF roots: the deliberately-uncredited motto from Van Vogt's "The Weapon Shops of Isher" posted in a friend's shop window), and like Dean Koontz, he has grown to appeal to a far wider audience.
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<![CDATA[Michael added 'The Accidental Time Machine']]>
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/60305977
to: The Accidental Time Machine (Hardcover)byJoe Haldeman
The dialogue (and the narrator's relay of Matt's thoughts) flows naturally, realistically--not in formal prose, certainly, but nonetheless clear. Writers wanting to improve in this respect would do well to take notes.
Like H.G. Wells, Haldeman uses his time machine to play with some "if this goes on" ideas, including academic politics and questionable theology gone wild. Some might consider this overly derivative, but if anyone has earned the right to borrow from Wells, Haldeman certainly has. Indeed, I have yet to encounter a "bad" Haldeman book--and this is another good one.
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<![CDATA[Michael added 'Faithful Warrior']]>
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/56762429
to: Faithful Warrior (Podio book)byBasil Sands
Excellent work! Mr. Sands takes two occupations most people would consider contradictory—pastor and government assassin—and demonstrates that they actually fit together very well. (One recalls that John the Baptist did not tell the Roman soldiers to forswear violence, but rather not to abuse their authority. And the Sixth Command does not address execution of the convicted; indeed, Romans 13 shows it to be a governmental responsibility.)
Like any good novelist, Sands does not make this a blind assertion, but puts it to the acid test, showing us what happens when both activities are thrust together. Here, Marine Major/Pastor Michael Farris finds a terrorist plot threatening himself and his church. They've killed his family, and they're not stopping at that. How will this shepherd protect his sheep, and what will he have to do in the process?
One gets the impression that Mr. Sands has been often asked, "How can you call yourself a Christian and write violent thrillers?" and that this is part of his answer. A shepherd among wolves must be prepared to take appropriate action if he is to protect his charge. And sometimes waging war is the only way for a warrior to remain truly faithful.
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<![CDATA[Michael added 'Fahrenheit 451']]>
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/56765457
to: Fahrenheit 451 (Paperback)byRay Bradbury
I have had the pleasure of teaching Fahrenheit 451 as the capstone to my "Literature of Mankind" section for the past two years. Indeed, anyone who understands Bradbury's theme in this novel will understand why we need literature classes in the first place.
Even though SFF does not presume to predict the actual future (contrary to popular misconception), back in the early 1950s Bradbury nailed trends that have made our present what it is:
• the "mass" in "mass entertainment" becoming so large that the purveyors of entertainment "dumb down" their product to their audience's greatest common factor, which continually decreases
• attention spans shrinking so that pressure increases for the quick, neatly tied-off ending
• reluctance to offend an increasing number of minorities of all kinds (can you say "political correctness"? I knew you could!)