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September 06
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Paul
gave
 
to:
Firestorm of Dragons (Paperback)
by Michele Acker, Kirk Dougal
bookshelves:
sciencefictionfantasy
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my rating:
Added to my books!
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Paul said:
"Here is a group of stories all about that mainstay of fantasy literature, the dragon.
Welcome to the new extreme sport of dragonscaling. The object is to climb a sleeping dragon, using ropes and pitons hammered right into the dragon’s hide, and ...more
Here is a group of stories all about that mainstay of fantasy literature, the dragon.
Welcome to the new extreme sport of dragonscaling. The object is to climb a sleeping dragon, using ropes and pitons hammered right into the dragon’s hide, and gather as many fresh scales as possible (they are a pharmacological treasure house). Naturally, the climber has to finish and get off the dragon before it wakes up, and turns the climber into lunch. Have you ever thought of a dragon as a hard-boiled 1940s detective?
A woman from a world of magic is on Earth working for a veterinarian taking care of dragons. A pair of humans are captured by a dragon, but manage to escape. The young dragon wanted to keep them as pets, but, after their escape, he gets frustrated, and complains to his mother. Think of Little Red Riding Hood facing a dragon instead of a wolf. A pair of young lovers enter a cave where a great treasure is kept. They plan to take enough of the treasure to convince her father that he really isn’t after the family money. The dragon in the cave demands a high price for not eating them. The book ends with a couple of very poignant stories about the Last Days of Dragons.
This is a very good bunch of stories, but the reader has to really like dragons. At least they are not the usual type of dragon tales. Fantasy readers will enjoy this one.
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September 03
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Paul
gave
to:
As Fate Decrees (Paperback)
by Denyse Bridger
bookshelves:
sciencefictionfantasy
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my rating:
Added to my books!
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Paul said:
"In Ancient Greece, a woman named Amarantha finds herself as the next item up for sale in the Athens slave market. She is bought by a mysterious stranger who refuses to identify himself. He trains her as a warrior, and makes it clear to Amarantha that...more
In Ancient Greece, a woman named Amarantha finds herself as the next item up for sale in the Athens slave market. She is bought by a mysterious stranger who refuses to identify himself. He trains her as a warrior, and makes it clear to Amarantha that disobedience is a really bad idea. After her skills have been perfected, the stranger reveals himself as Ares, the god of war, and son of Zeus. She has been trained to be Champion of the gods of Olympus, to vanquish evil forever, until the gods say otherwise.
Sent into the world as a kind of traveling warrior, Amarantha runs into Iphicles, now King of Corinth. The two were very good friends, almost lovers, when they were younger. She stays for a while as one of his advisors, to the whispers of nearly everyone that their relationship is not exactly platonic.
While in another city also ruled by Iphicles that has been badly damaged by bandits, Ares tells Amarantha that Iphicles must return to Corinth, now. She can’t tell Iphicles how she knows this, but when he finally listens to her and returns to Corinth, with Amarantha as part of the procession, the city has been decimated. There are many deaths, including Iphicles’ queen.
Switching suddenly to present day Athens, Amarantha finds herself in the body of archaeologist Alexandra Christophi. This is not the first time that Ares has sent her elsewhere in time. This time, the enemy is a shadowy terrorist organization that has been bombing religious sites all over the world, including Macchu Picchu, the Vatican and all the religious sites in Athens. The object is to destroy all other gods and bring about the coming of The One True God. The gods of Olympus understand that their fate hangs in the balance. In the final battle, Amarantha/Alexandra is severely injured. Will the gods grant her the peace she seeks?
Here is a first-rate piece of writing. It’s very readable, the characters are well done, and it is an interesting look inside Greek mythology. This gets two thumbs up.
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September 01
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Paul
gave
to:
Deadworld (Paperback)
by Dennis Dufour
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my rating:
Added to my books!
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Paul said:
"Gabe Boudreau, a New York investigator, is called in to a crime scene with plenty of blood, but no bodies. He realizes that this will be an unusual case, but he has no idea how unusual it will be. At the same time, he is still in love with Renee, who...more
Gabe Boudreau, a New York investigator, is called in to a crime scene with plenty of blood, but no bodies. He realizes that this will be an unusual case, but he has no idea how unusual it will be. At the same time, he is still in love with Renee, who rejected his marriage proposal and moved to New Orleans. Jake, his friend, tries to set him up with a local lady bartender, but Gabe is not interested.
Suddenly, the media is full of reports of people attacking each other like animals. The only way these zombies can be stopped is with a bullet in the head, and the sickness (actually an American bioweapon that got out of the lab) is spread with a bite.
Gabe decides that he is going to New Orleans, and take Renee somewhere safe, no matter what; Jake goes with him. Along the way, they meet Luccia, a Peruvian singer who is attacked by one of them in the middle of a concert. Dr. Lieberman is the scientist who developed the bioweapon. Trying to break through a military cordon, the group is arrested, and handed over to a corrupt lieutenant named Delgado. All women are taken to another room to be gang-raped by the soldiers. Gabe prevents Delgado from doing it to Luccia, and the group escapes, heading south.
The group is at a New Orleans boat dock, about to board a boat for a safe island off the coast (Dr. Lieberman gave them the coordinates just before he died). The dock entrance is blocked by a couple of school buses. Delgado, who has followed them from New York, and is obsessed with hurting Gabe as much as possible, intentionally moves the buses away, to make it easier for the zombies to attack. Gabe finally finds Renee, though not under the circumstances for which he had hoped.
This is more than just a really good zombie novel. It’s a story of love and friendship and obsession. It’s a very short novel, and it is very much recommended.
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August 23
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Paul
gave
to:
Keeper's Child (Paperback)
by Leslie Davis
bookshelves:
sciencefictionfantasy
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my rating:
Added to my books!
add my review
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Paul said:
"Set in the near future, this takes place on a continent whose population and climate have been ravaged by disease and genetic mutation.
It all began innocently enough. Many years before, a cargo ship full of genetic material sank off the coast. Ov...more
Set in the near future, this takes place on a continent whose population and climate have been ravaged by disease and genetic mutation.
It all began innocently enough. Many years before, a cargo ship full of genetic material sank off the coast. Over 600 migrants were hired to clean up the mess. It took years for their offspring to develop what became known as Bruster’s Syndrome, but once they did, the government panicked. The diseased and their relatives were kept in quarantined camps. Those frightened citizens who could leave the continent have certainly done so. Houses for the diseased, who are called desgastas, are set up. In a way, Bruster’s is like AIDS, in that a person can live a normal life with the disease. But, once it takes hold, the end is slow, painful, disgusting and assured.
Jesse is a celebrity in Carpenteria, one of the last safe cities on the continent, but the scientific mistakes in his past have caught up with him. His latest experiment has failed, dashing any hope of a future for his people. Beckoned by Harold, his brother and the last Keeper of the sick, Jesse travels to the shore, and sees the ruined climate for himself.
Harold’s last ward is a young girl named Robin, who may be the savior of humanity. She is born desgastas, and has spent her whole life in exile. Jesse takes her to the city, to give her something of a normal life. Robin volunteers in a makeshift hospital, helping those dying of Bruster’s. Eventually, she contracts full-blown Bruster’s (for lack of a better term), and, amazingly, she survives. She has long since run away from the city, and returned to the house at the shore, where Jesse takes several samples of her blood, and returns to the city to turn them into a serum. Meantime, the desgastas squatting outside the city have entered the city and taken over. Now, they are dying faster than anyone can keep up with them.
This is a rather "slow" novel, but a really good novel. Stick with it, for the story is very much worth reading.
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August 22
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Paul
gave
to:
Tesseracts Eleven (Paperback)
by Holly Phillips
bookshelves:
sciencefictionfantasy
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my rating:
Added to my books!
add my review
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Paul said:
"Here is another compendium of new fantasy and science fiction stories from north of the border (in Canada).
A mother, her teenage son, and two younger daughters seem to be the only survivors of a plague that has ravaged North America (Dad was not ...more
Here is another compendium of new fantasy and science fiction stories from north of the border (in Canada).
A mother, her teenage son, and two younger daughters seem to be the only survivors of a plague that has ravaged North America (Dad was not so lucky). Now the mother and son are faced with the difficult task of replenishing the population. A pair of high school students experiment with what looks like Michael Jackson’s glove. It can create portals in time, but the catch is that the portals only go to famous dates in rock and roll history, like the days that Kurt Cobain and John Lennon died.
A family goes on a trip out west to a national park to see some real, live vampires in the wild. After a year-long internet relationship with a man in northwest Canada, a woman travels there for a visit, and possible marriage. He just happened to omit the part about every night, all night, he turns into an actual bear, with fur, claws, and sharp teeth. Another story is about the next step in athletic doping, using gene therapy to, for instance, turn a middle distance runner into a sprinter. A new reality show, called Beat The Geeks, tricks, or otherwise makes fun of, scientists. The book ends with a story that is half screenplay about a trio of kids that want to make their own near-future science fiction film.
The striking thing about these stories, aside from the fact that they are all really good, is that many of them are very contemporary stories. They could easily take place last month, or a couple of years from now. This book is very much worth the search.
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August 13
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Paul
gave
to:
To Marry Medusa (Paperback)
by Theodore Sturgeon
bookshelves:
sciencefictionfantasy
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my rating:
Added to my books!
add my review
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Paul said:
"First published in the 1950s, this is the story of Daniel Gurlick, a barely literate and drunken member of society. He spends his days looking for free drinks from the local bars. He sleeps in a junked car in the back of a local junkyard. He inhales ...more
First published in the 1950s, this is the story of Daniel Gurlick, a barely literate and drunken member of society. He spends his days looking for free drinks from the local bars. He sleeps in a junked car in the back of a local junkyard. He inhales a half-eaten hamburger, found in the trash in the back of a local restaurant, not knowing that it contains a spore of an alien being called Medusa, that plans to absorb humanity into itself.
Medusa is an entity of infinite intelligence, spanning a billion planets. After it makes itself known to Gurlick, Medusa tries to explain just what is going on, and what Gurlick’s part is in all this, but Gurlick doesn’t understand. Medusa tries several times, but Gurlick still doesn’t comprehend. It reduces things to the equivalent of a beginner’s level, and, finally, Gurlick begins to get it. The second problem faced by Medusa is that humanity is not mentally linked. All of the other civilizations it has absorbed have had some sort of group mind system, so it doesn’t know how to deal with humanity. The best it can come up with is that maybe mankind was mentally linked at some point in the past, then somehow became un-linked. Gurlick is compelled to build a machine, that will build other machines, that will build still more machines, that will spread all over the world and broadcast a sort-of thought beam that will link all of humanity. Medusa’s intelligence will be transferred into humanity at the moment when Gurlick’s now-altered DNA impregnates an ovum.
Among the people changed when the machines start broadcasting is Paul Sanders, who had drugged a female co-worker and was planning to take advantage of her. Sharon is a little girl spending her second night in the woods, lost and starving. She suddenly understands that this type of fungus is actually good for her, and this is how to catch and kill a rabbit, among other things. Humanity destroys the vast majority of the machines in the first couple of hours after they start transmitting, but the "damage" is done.
This is a great novel, bordering on "classic." It’s nice and mind-blowing, and will give the reader plenty to think about.
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August 10
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Paul
gave
to:
Khaled
by Crawford, F. Marion
bookshelves:
sciencefictionfantasy
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my rating:
Added to my books!
add my review
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Paul said:
"Set in the world of the Arabian Nights, this is the story of a hard-working djinn named Khaled. He is so conscientious that, while watching the parade of princes and sultans seeking the hand of the lovely Princess Zehowah, he takes an Indian prince, ...more
Set in the world of the Arabian Nights, this is the story of a hard-working djinn named Khaled. He is so conscientious that, while watching the parade of princes and sultans seeking the hand of the lovely Princess Zehowah, he takes an Indian prince, who was about to win Zehowah’s hand in marriage, into the desert and kills him. Khaled’s punishment is mitigated by the fact the prince was not a Muslim, and would have treated Zehowah badly back home. He is sent to Earth as a man, and his task is to win Zehowah’s love, in order to gain a soul and enter paradise.
Khaled has nothing to offer Zehowah in the way of silks and jewels, but she decides to marry him (her father, a Sultan, lets her decide) as a political union. There is much talk between them about the real meaning of love. Khaled conquers other tribes, and brings Zehowah more gold and riches, hoping to win her heart, but it doesn’t work. Also taken in battle is Almasta, a woman from Central Asia with flaming red hair. She is given to a local sheik, to be one of his wives. The sheik is found dead. Almasta is given to Zehowah’s father, the Sultan, as one of his wives. He is found dead the next morning, without a mark on him. She is then given to Abdullah, sheik of a tribe of Bedouins camping outside the city. Khaled, now the Sultan, makes it very clear that if Abdullah should suffer an untimely demise, Almasta will be the next one to die.
Abdullah hatches a plot to force Khaled from the Sultanship. His men spread out all over the city, spreading whispers about Khaled. They say that he is a Shiite in a Sunni country, that no one knows his father’s name or the name of his tribe, and that he will hand the city over to the Persians. A member of Abdullah’s tribe tells his cousin, the sheik of the beggars inside the city, and a counter-plan is hatched to keep Abdullah under surveillance at all times while he is in the city. At a convenient moment, Abdullah is to be kidnapped, and held until after the time that he told his followers that he will open up the castle, from the inside, and give away the riches within. Khaled knows nothing about the counter-plan, because he expects to be killed by Abdullah’s men, or captured and then killed.
Few novels have been written about the Arabian Nights; fewer still, that are really good and worth reading. If you can find a copy, the reader will not go wrong with this one.
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Paul
gave
to:
Iran: Everything You Need to Know (All Access)
by John Farndon
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my rating:
Added to my books!
add my review
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Paul said:
"Iran, so much in the news these days, is a country of contradictions. On one hand, it is a very puritanical country controlled by Islamic clerics, where dissent is severely restricted. On the other hand, Iran is one of the oldest countries in the wor...more
Iran, so much in the news these days, is a country of contradictions. On one hand, it is a very puritanical country controlled by Islamic clerics, where dissent is severely restricted. On the other hand, Iran is one of the oldest countries in the world, tracing its history back over 2,500 years. The name Persia (what Iran was called until the 1920s) conjures images of harems and Persian carpets, not chadors and religious police.
Throughout its history, Iran has had leaders who honestly cared about the people, as well as leaders who only cared about lining their own pockets. Since the Iranian Revolution in 1979, when the last Shah was overthrown (another leader who cared more about the size of his bank accounts than about the people), and despite the existence of an elected Parliament, Iran has been run by hardliners.
Iran’s official reason for moving toward nuclear power is that, one day, its huge oil and gas reserves will run out, so they should start looking at other forms of energy, sooner rather than later. They also don’t have much in the way of refining capacity, so imports are needed. Iran accuses the West of nuclear hypocrisy. Iran has signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), and they can’t have nuclear power, but Israel and India, which have not signed the NPT, gets lots of nuclear help from America. Why? Granted, some actions and statements from the Iranian government have not helped the situation. Both America and Iran have plenty of reason to be very suspicious of the other’s words and actions. Time will tell.
This is not meant to be a scholarly, comprehensive look at Iran, but a quick, factual read full of information that won’t be found in the American news media. It works very well, and is very much recommended.
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August 06
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Paul
gave
to:
Portraits in the Dark: A Collection of Short Stories (Paperback)
by Nancy O. Greene
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my rating:
Added to my books!
add my review
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Paul said:
"Here are some rather macabre stories that look at the darkness and uncertainty that are part of the world and human nature.
In Thailand, a lonely traveling salesman meets a mysterious woman who deals with sales and contracts of a very different so...more
Here are some rather macabre stories that look at the darkness and uncertainty that are part of the world and human nature.
In Thailand, a lonely traveling salesman meets a mysterious woman who deals with sales and contracts of a very different sort. A very insecure man suspects that his wife is fooling around, so he takes matters into his own hands, though not in the expected way. A young woman tells the authorities why she did not splatter her mother’s blood all over their suburban kitchen. The mother was the sort of person who seemed to revel in emotional victimhood.
Set in the late 19th century, another story is about the fate of a missing British diamond hunter in deepest, darkest Africa. A woman steals a priceless artifact from a local museum, and leaves two men dead. She is about to take a one-way plane trip to someplace where she will never be found, and live off the worth of the artifact. That is, until the spirits of the dead men pay her a visit, and make her pay for what she did. The book ends with the end of humanity.
This is a very short book, barely 80 pages, so this is a short review. These are very interesting and well done stories, but they are not hopeful and optimistic stories. This is very much worth checking out.
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August 03
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Paul
gave
to:
The Gentle Giants of Ganymede (The Giants' Trilogy, Book #2)
by James P. Hogan
bookshelves:
sciencefictionfantasy
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my rating:
Added to my books!
add my review
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Paul said:
"Continuing the story began in "Inherit the Stars," this is about the discovery of a corpse on the moon, dressed in a red spacesut, that happens to be 50,000 years old. Further research on the corpse, and the items found with it, and further...more
Continuing the story began in "Inherit the Stars," this is about the discovery of a corpse on the moon, dressed in a red spacesut, that happens to be 50,000 years old. Further research on the corpse, and the items found with it, and further discoveries elsewhere on the Moon, lead to the conclusion that there was a planet, Minerva, between Mars and Jupiter. The planet was dying; a rising level of carbon dioxide would soon render it uninhabitable. Various methods to fix the problem were considered; meantime, two factions on the planet fought a major interplanetary war, which destroyed the planet. Part of it became the asteroid belt, the other part became the planet Pluto. The human discovery of an alien ship under the ice on Ganymede, and at least 25 million years old, leads to human ideas about the solar system and man's origins getting a major overhaul.
One day, the makers of the ship, called Ganymeans (for Ganymede), show up on Ganymede. The humans had unknowingly activated a distress beacon. It is easy to imagine their reaction at being told by the humans that their planet was gone. They had gone to a nearby star to see if it could be artificially made brighter, to combat their carbon dioxide problem. It didn't work; the star went supernova. The propulsion system on their ship was working, but the braking system had failed. They spent 20 years of ship time traveling faster than light, before they could slow down. meantime, the universe was 25 million years older.
They were homeless, as well as physically and emotionally exhausted. They were welcomed on Ganymede, where they gave human science a huge boost, and were able to repair their ship. They were welcomed to Earth, to stay, if they wished. There was the usual bureaucratic nonsense about what country would host them; the Ganymeans decided to land in Switzerland.
The aliens were totally welcomed, practically as long-lost brothers. As time went on, they traveled all over the world, seeing everything, and speaking with many Earth scientists. After six months, Garuth, the leader of the Ganymeans, announces that they are leaving. The archives mention that a group of Ganymeans traveled to a place called Giants' Star. Admittedly, it is a very remote possibility, but if there is a chance that there are more of their kind at Giants' Star, it must be investigated. That is the official reason for their sudden departure, but it isn't the actual reason.
This book is also heavy on the science, but it is still a very interesting story, not just about the origins of mankind. It's very much worth the time.
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