Joseph Baneth Allen's Blog, page 43
January 27, 2024
Zagor - The Scepter of Tin Hinan
Just finished reading "Zagor - The Scepter of Tin Hinan" published by Epicenter Comics.
"The Scepter of Tin Hinan" marks the third appearance of Andrew Cain in the ever continuing saga of Zagor, which is only fitting since it is one of the longest Zagor epics published to date.
Centuries ago, as Atlantis was dying, Tin Hinan, it's last queen, dismantled the four pieces of the Key to Knowledge and set them forth in the world, hoping against hope that they would never be reassembled to do harm. One of the pieces would ultimately fall into the possession of Princess Marada of the Kel-Adrar - Cain's wife - who has been taken prisoner by Zagor's old enemy Professor Richter who escaped the mountain of ice that he had been buried under and is seeking revenge by teaming up with a necromancer to kill Zagor by unleashing an ancient and unworldly creature of dust against him.
What makes "The Scepter of Tin Hinan" an integral part of the Zagor mythos is that in this cycle, Zagor's friend, Dexter Green gives into the temptation of the Key to Knowledge and leaves Zagor to drown in quicksand.
Mauro Boselli is the writer with Michele Rubini taking on the artist duties.
Zagor reminds me of the old Warren Comics featuring Vamperilla, The Rook, Hunter and other classic Warren heros with the story and art styles.
Highly Recommended!
Ten Stars!
https://www.ebay.com/itm/166469539358
"The Scepter of Tin Hinan" marks the third appearance of Andrew Cain in the ever continuing saga of Zagor, which is only fitting since it is one of the longest Zagor epics published to date.
Centuries ago, as Atlantis was dying, Tin Hinan, it's last queen, dismantled the four pieces of the Key to Knowledge and set them forth in the world, hoping against hope that they would never be reassembled to do harm. One of the pieces would ultimately fall into the possession of Princess Marada of the Kel-Adrar - Cain's wife - who has been taken prisoner by Zagor's old enemy Professor Richter who escaped the mountain of ice that he had been buried under and is seeking revenge by teaming up with a necromancer to kill Zagor by unleashing an ancient and unworldly creature of dust against him.
What makes "The Scepter of Tin Hinan" an integral part of the Zagor mythos is that in this cycle, Zagor's friend, Dexter Green gives into the temptation of the Key to Knowledge and leaves Zagor to drown in quicksand.
Mauro Boselli is the writer with Michele Rubini taking on the artist duties.
Zagor reminds me of the old Warren Comics featuring Vamperilla, The Rook, Hunter and other classic Warren heros with the story and art styles.
Highly Recommended!
Ten Stars!
https://www.ebay.com/itm/166469539358
January 24, 2024
Doctor Who #255 - Harry Houdini's War
Just finished listening to "Doctor Who #255 - Harry Houdini's War," released by Big Finish Productions.
Prior to getting laid off in 2013 from Honeywell Technological Solutions, Inc, I used to have a monthly subscription for each new release in Big Finish Production's Main Range of Classic Doctor Who Adventures. Since it took me about a year before I was able to obtain full-time employment with full benefits, so I did place my subscriptions with Doctor Who North America on hold until my financial circumstances improved - which the finally did. I didn't renew my subscription when my finances improved, but I have been buying the releases throughout the years and I don't have too many more to get until I reach the end of the Main Range of Classic Doctor Who Adventures #275.
"Harry Houdini's War" is an outing of the Sixth Doctor and Peri that takes place after the events of the "Trail of A Time Lord" and it's a rather odd one because in this outing the Sixth Doctor takes on traits of the Seventh Doctor with his machinations.
The head of a German Central Powers spy ring believes that Harry Houdini actually uses real magic and/or a combination of magic and technology and of course wants to capture the magician to use his "tricks" for the advancement of Germany.
Houdini speaks of the past adventures that he has had with various incarnations of the Doctor and wishes to journey with him in the TARDIS.
Without giving too much away, Peri is not whom she seems to be.
Strongly Recommended.
Five Stars.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/178...
Prior to getting laid off in 2013 from Honeywell Technological Solutions, Inc, I used to have a monthly subscription for each new release in Big Finish Production's Main Range of Classic Doctor Who Adventures. Since it took me about a year before I was able to obtain full-time employment with full benefits, so I did place my subscriptions with Doctor Who North America on hold until my financial circumstances improved - which the finally did. I didn't renew my subscription when my finances improved, but I have been buying the releases throughout the years and I don't have too many more to get until I reach the end of the Main Range of Classic Doctor Who Adventures #275.
"Harry Houdini's War" is an outing of the Sixth Doctor and Peri that takes place after the events of the "Trail of A Time Lord" and it's a rather odd one because in this outing the Sixth Doctor takes on traits of the Seventh Doctor with his machinations.
The head of a German Central Powers spy ring believes that Harry Houdini actually uses real magic and/or a combination of magic and technology and of course wants to capture the magician to use his "tricks" for the advancement of Germany.
Houdini speaks of the past adventures that he has had with various incarnations of the Doctor and wishes to journey with him in the TARDIS.
Without giving too much away, Peri is not whom she seems to be.
Strongly Recommended.
Five Stars.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/178...
January 22, 2024
Extinctions - How Life Survives, Adapts, and Evolves
Just finished reading "Extinctions - How Life Survives, Adapts, and Evolves" by Michael J. Benton, published by Thames & Hudson.
Michael J. Benton is considered to be in the Stephen Jay Gould of Palaeontology over in the United Kingdom where he is a professor of Vertebrate Palaeontology and the head of the Palaeobiology Research Group at the University of Bristol.
Benton takes readers an a journey through the “big five” die outs: the Late Ordovician, which set the evolution of the first animals on an entirely new course; the Late Devonian, apparently brought on by global warming; the cataclysmic End-Permian, also known as the Great Dying, which wiped out over 90 percent of alllife on Earth; the newly discovered Carnian Pluvial Event; and the End-Cretaceous asteroid. He examines how global warming, acid rain, ocean acidification, erupting volcanoes, and meteorite impact have affected conditions on Earth, and how life survived, adapted, and evolved.
A great fun read on how extinction events shaped the evolution of the modern world and humanity.
Strongly Recommended.
Five Stars.
https://www.amazon.com/Extinctions-Li...
Michael J. Benton is considered to be in the Stephen Jay Gould of Palaeontology over in the United Kingdom where he is a professor of Vertebrate Palaeontology and the head of the Palaeobiology Research Group at the University of Bristol.
Benton takes readers an a journey through the “big five” die outs: the Late Ordovician, which set the evolution of the first animals on an entirely new course; the Late Devonian, apparently brought on by global warming; the cataclysmic End-Permian, also known as the Great Dying, which wiped out over 90 percent of alllife on Earth; the newly discovered Carnian Pluvial Event; and the End-Cretaceous asteroid. He examines how global warming, acid rain, ocean acidification, erupting volcanoes, and meteorite impact have affected conditions on Earth, and how life survived, adapted, and evolved.
A great fun read on how extinction events shaped the evolution of the modern world and humanity.
Strongly Recommended.
Five Stars.
https://www.amazon.com/Extinctions-Li...
Valdemar
Just finished reading "Valdemar" by Mercedes Lackey, published by DAW books.
I discovered Mercedes Lackey back in the early 1990s when her first book, "Arrows Of The Queen," on the shelves of the new arrivals section in the Science Fiction section of the Barnes & Noble near where I live. It was the first book in her "The Heralds of Valdemar" trilogy and launched Lackey's writing career and brought her popular Valdemar universe to readers eager for a new fantasy realm to explore.
"Valdemar" is the third book in her "The Founding Of Valdemar" trilogy and is the weakest of the three books in this series.
After escaping the Empire and establishing the city of Haven, Kordas, his family and their people are settling in their new home, but there are storm clouds on the horizon, so Kordas makes a heartfelt prayer and receives an answer in the form of the Companions.
The problem with "Valdemar" is that there is no real dramatic tension and every problem gets a rather too tidy solution. Even the climactic battle is too neatly resolved.
Recommended for fans of Lackey's Valdemar universe.
Three Stars.
https://www.amazon.com/Valdemar-Found...
I discovered Mercedes Lackey back in the early 1990s when her first book, "Arrows Of The Queen," on the shelves of the new arrivals section in the Science Fiction section of the Barnes & Noble near where I live. It was the first book in her "The Heralds of Valdemar" trilogy and launched Lackey's writing career and brought her popular Valdemar universe to readers eager for a new fantasy realm to explore.
"Valdemar" is the third book in her "The Founding Of Valdemar" trilogy and is the weakest of the three books in this series.
After escaping the Empire and establishing the city of Haven, Kordas, his family and their people are settling in their new home, but there are storm clouds on the horizon, so Kordas makes a heartfelt prayer and receives an answer in the form of the Companions.
The problem with "Valdemar" is that there is no real dramatic tension and every problem gets a rather too tidy solution. Even the climactic battle is too neatly resolved.
Recommended for fans of Lackey's Valdemar universe.
Three Stars.
https://www.amazon.com/Valdemar-Found...
January 21, 2024
The Fancy Dancer
Just finished reading "The Fancy Dancer" by Patricia Nell Warren, published in paperback back in August 1977 by Bantam Books.
Confession time, I was friends with Patricia Nell Warren here on Facebook near the end of her life, but she "defriended" me because I was a disgraceful - her words - Conservative Jewish Republican (still am) who speaks out against Progressive Socialistic Policies (still do.)
I'm always amused by the people who claim to be Free Speech Advocates until they disagree with you and try to use hate speech to silence your voice. Which is ironic when you consider that many people found their voice with her first novel "The Front Runner," and the impact that she had on professional and amateur sports that she would "defriend" and block someone who has a different political view that she did.
Her second novel, "The Front Runner," was the first gay novel to achieve critical and financial success here in America. The Sexual and Gay Liberation movements were in full swing in the mid-and-late 1970, which made "The Front Runner" a huge success and widely popular because it centered around the life of Billy - a gay student athlete who competed in the Olympics. Only despite being such a ground breaking novel, "The Front Runner" stuck to the traditional formula of gay men can never have a happy ending, which was a common theme in American and British literature at this time. Billy does win the gold in one event, but is gunned down by an anti-gay activist just as he's about to win the gold in his second event.
Warren would go on to self publish three sequels to "The Front Runner" under her Wildcat Publishing House.
Before Warren came out as a lesbian, she was married and she converted to her husband's religion - Catholicism. So it was only natural I suppose that she decided to explore how Tom Meeker a newly minted priest would make peace with himself about being gay and having an intense romantic and physical relationship with
town troublemaker and ex-convict Vidal Stump in the wilderness of rural Montana.
Like all newly minted priests, Father Meeker has dreams of rising up through the Church's hierarchy to perhaps being a Monseigneur if he can raise to the challenge of caring for the flock in his dying parish. Father Meeker is just a tad bit prideful in his imagined glories of leading his flock to salvation.
After a regular monthly visit to his parents, Father Meeker does rescue Vidal when he's getting beaten up. And the good father does something disturbing. He loaned his handkerchief to Vidal and alone in this room, Meeker kisses the handkerchief where it had soaked up Vidal's blood.
Father Meeker becomes obsessed with Vidal and when Vidal confesses to be gay, Meeker tries his hand at anti-gay therapy, which fails and he and Vidal consummate their relationship at a room in a Holiday Inn.
Meeker than suffers a spiritual crisis which impacts his relationship with Vidal.
"The Fancy Dancer" ends with Vidal and Father Meeker parting ways for a while to start the next phases in their lives with Meeker given a new and expanded role by his bishop.
It's a compelling novel of coming to terms with who you are.
Strongly Recommended.
Five Stars.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/068...
Confession time, I was friends with Patricia Nell Warren here on Facebook near the end of her life, but she "defriended" me because I was a disgraceful - her words - Conservative Jewish Republican (still am) who speaks out against Progressive Socialistic Policies (still do.)
I'm always amused by the people who claim to be Free Speech Advocates until they disagree with you and try to use hate speech to silence your voice. Which is ironic when you consider that many people found their voice with her first novel "The Front Runner," and the impact that she had on professional and amateur sports that she would "defriend" and block someone who has a different political view that she did.
Her second novel, "The Front Runner," was the first gay novel to achieve critical and financial success here in America. The Sexual and Gay Liberation movements were in full swing in the mid-and-late 1970, which made "The Front Runner" a huge success and widely popular because it centered around the life of Billy - a gay student athlete who competed in the Olympics. Only despite being such a ground breaking novel, "The Front Runner" stuck to the traditional formula of gay men can never have a happy ending, which was a common theme in American and British literature at this time. Billy does win the gold in one event, but is gunned down by an anti-gay activist just as he's about to win the gold in his second event.
Warren would go on to self publish three sequels to "The Front Runner" under her Wildcat Publishing House.
Before Warren came out as a lesbian, she was married and she converted to her husband's religion - Catholicism. So it was only natural I suppose that she decided to explore how Tom Meeker a newly minted priest would make peace with himself about being gay and having an intense romantic and physical relationship with
town troublemaker and ex-convict Vidal Stump in the wilderness of rural Montana.
Like all newly minted priests, Father Meeker has dreams of rising up through the Church's hierarchy to perhaps being a Monseigneur if he can raise to the challenge of caring for the flock in his dying parish. Father Meeker is just a tad bit prideful in his imagined glories of leading his flock to salvation.
After a regular monthly visit to his parents, Father Meeker does rescue Vidal when he's getting beaten up. And the good father does something disturbing. He loaned his handkerchief to Vidal and alone in this room, Meeker kisses the handkerchief where it had soaked up Vidal's blood.
Father Meeker becomes obsessed with Vidal and when Vidal confesses to be gay, Meeker tries his hand at anti-gay therapy, which fails and he and Vidal consummate their relationship at a room in a Holiday Inn.
Meeker than suffers a spiritual crisis which impacts his relationship with Vidal.
"The Fancy Dancer" ends with Vidal and Father Meeker parting ways for a while to start the next phases in their lives with Meeker given a new and expanded role by his bishop.
It's a compelling novel of coming to terms with who you are.
Strongly Recommended.
Five Stars.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/068...
21 Beacon Street - The Complete Series
Just finished watching "21 Beacon Street - The Complete Series," released by Classic Flix.
Many movie and television studios followed the long established format of Radio's Golden Age when it came to creating and producing summer replacement series for a short trail run.
NBC aired "21 Beacon Street" as a 13-week original run when popular "The Tennessee Ernie Ford Show" went on it's summer break. and in some ways seen as a forerunner to the 1960s crime-action series Mission: Impossible. It should be noted that Beacon creators later sued M.I. producers for plagiarism and reached an out of court settlement with them.
It was also the first TV series produced by Filmways Pictures Corporation, which would later put out such fan favorites as The Beverly Hillbillies, Green Acres and The Addams Family, among many others. Each episode of "21 Beacon Street" is a half hour long and filmed in glorious black and white. The series also takes pains to show that Joanna, the female member of the team is smart and a Phi Beta Kappa College Graduate, though she's no Mrs. Peel. Joanna does keep her cool when in danger. One member of the team, Jim, who is a high tech wizard, is not present during the last seven episodes and there is some indication the attorney Brian, who is a member of the team, is gay when he has an adverse psychological reaction to wearing a tuxedo to stand in for a groom.
Dennis also has a mysterious past as a spy and/or government operative. And we learn in the last episode that Joanna once supported herself by being a dancer in an all Girls Revue at a nightclub.
"21 Beacon Street" is supposed to take place in Boston, but there are odd hints that it also takes place in California. There is also the weirdness about who actually funds Dennis Chase and his team who devise clever methods to catch criminals. Though the last episode ends an a rather bizarre cliff hanger where it's implied that Dennis Chase is about to murder a killer by throwing him off a balcony. A full second season with more fleshed out episodes would have been intriguing.
Strongly Recommended.
Five Stars.
https://www.amazon.com/21-Beacon-Stre...
Many movie and television studios followed the long established format of Radio's Golden Age when it came to creating and producing summer replacement series for a short trail run.
NBC aired "21 Beacon Street" as a 13-week original run when popular "The Tennessee Ernie Ford Show" went on it's summer break. and in some ways seen as a forerunner to the 1960s crime-action series Mission: Impossible. It should be noted that Beacon creators later sued M.I. producers for plagiarism and reached an out of court settlement with them.
It was also the first TV series produced by Filmways Pictures Corporation, which would later put out such fan favorites as The Beverly Hillbillies, Green Acres and The Addams Family, among many others. Each episode of "21 Beacon Street" is a half hour long and filmed in glorious black and white. The series also takes pains to show that Joanna, the female member of the team is smart and a Phi Beta Kappa College Graduate, though she's no Mrs. Peel. Joanna does keep her cool when in danger. One member of the team, Jim, who is a high tech wizard, is not present during the last seven episodes and there is some indication the attorney Brian, who is a member of the team, is gay when he has an adverse psychological reaction to wearing a tuxedo to stand in for a groom.
Dennis also has a mysterious past as a spy and/or government operative. And we learn in the last episode that Joanna once supported herself by being a dancer in an all Girls Revue at a nightclub.
"21 Beacon Street" is supposed to take place in Boston, but there are odd hints that it also takes place in California. There is also the weirdness about who actually funds Dennis Chase and his team who devise clever methods to catch criminals. Though the last episode ends an a rather bizarre cliff hanger where it's implied that Dennis Chase is about to murder a killer by throwing him off a balcony. A full second season with more fleshed out episodes would have been intriguing.
Strongly Recommended.
Five Stars.
https://www.amazon.com/21-Beacon-Stre...
January 13, 2024
Death In The Dark Woods - A Monster Hunter Mystery
Just finished reading "Death In The Dark Woods - A Monster Hunter Mystery" by Annelise Ryan, published by Berkley.
Who can resist a great mystery with a sleuth who runs a bookstore and has a side gig as a cryptozologist on the side?
Morgan Carteris is the shop owner in question. Her biology and zoology degrees, along with the decades she spent with her monster hunter parents and their adventures, has made her a smart, savvy stalker of creatures that may or may not actually exist. So when a couple of men were possibly killed by a Bigfoot near Lake Michigan, she was the person to go to for answers.
A local Warden with the Department of Natural Resources, a young woman named Charlie, contacted Morgan to investigate. Charlie tells Morgan all about the two men who were killed in the woods as well as couple of other local sightings. Charlie herself had seen a Bigfoot when she was a young teenager, out in the woods when she was hunting with her dad, so she had become the go-to person for the all the Bigfoot reports. But no one had been attacked by a Bigfoot before. This was new and shocking development.
When Morgan saw the police reports, the Medical examiner’s notes, and the very graphic photos of the attacks, she could tell that something terrible had happened in the woods. But her scientific background meant that she was focused on finding evidence, not just relying on the rumors of Bigfoot and the stories that people told, since a lot of that was also tied into the tourist economy that kept so many of the local businesses running. And the more she looked, the more evidence Morgan compiled. It all started to add up. But did it add up to Bigfoot being a killer? And maybe more important, if the killer wasn’t Bigfoot, then who was it?
A great, fun mystery.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!
TEN STARS!
https://www.amazon.com/Death-Woods-Mo...
Who can resist a great mystery with a sleuth who runs a bookstore and has a side gig as a cryptozologist on the side?
Morgan Carteris is the shop owner in question. Her biology and zoology degrees, along with the decades she spent with her monster hunter parents and their adventures, has made her a smart, savvy stalker of creatures that may or may not actually exist. So when a couple of men were possibly killed by a Bigfoot near Lake Michigan, she was the person to go to for answers.
A local Warden with the Department of Natural Resources, a young woman named Charlie, contacted Morgan to investigate. Charlie tells Morgan all about the two men who were killed in the woods as well as couple of other local sightings. Charlie herself had seen a Bigfoot when she was a young teenager, out in the woods when she was hunting with her dad, so she had become the go-to person for the all the Bigfoot reports. But no one had been attacked by a Bigfoot before. This was new and shocking development.
When Morgan saw the police reports, the Medical examiner’s notes, and the very graphic photos of the attacks, she could tell that something terrible had happened in the woods. But her scientific background meant that she was focused on finding evidence, not just relying on the rumors of Bigfoot and the stories that people told, since a lot of that was also tied into the tourist economy that kept so many of the local businesses running. And the more she looked, the more evidence Morgan compiled. It all started to add up. But did it add up to Bigfoot being a killer? And maybe more important, if the killer wasn’t Bigfoot, then who was it?
A great, fun mystery.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!
TEN STARS!
https://www.amazon.com/Death-Woods-Mo...
Ordeal In Otherwhere
Just finished reading "Ordeal In Otherwhere" by Andre Norton, published by ACE Books, in 1969, with a second printing in 1973.
I expect my review of "Ordeal In Otherwhere" may cause some controversy because I do not believe the it nor the first novel in Norton's Warlock duet, "Storm Over Warlock," are part of her Forerunner series.
Nowhere in "Storm Over Warlock" and "Ordeal In Otherwhere" does Norton mention the Forerunners - an advanced race that spanned the galaxy millennia ago but the only trace of them are the artifacts that they left behind.
"Sargasso Of Space," the first novel in Norton's Solar Queen series actually does mention the Forerunners because the planet Limbo is home to a machine that they left behind on the planet. Yet "Sargasso of Space " is not considered a part of Norton's Forerunner sequence.
With the exception of her multi-volume Witch World series, Norton usually wrote stand alone novels and/or two or four book series, though the exception to her established rule would be her Five Senses sequence, though each book in that sequence was a stand-alone novel and did not reference other books in the sequence.
Just as she did with "Storm Over Warlock" when she introduced Shann Lantee the first Black hero in a science fiction novel - and a strong argument can be made that she also introduced the first gay couple in science fiction as well in the first Warlock novel, Andre Norton broke new ground in science fiction with "Ordeal In Otherwhere" with the introduction of Charis Nordholm - a woman who manages to save herself and who serves as the prototype of the typical Norton heroine.
Briefly summarizing "Ordeal In Otherwhere": An illegal trading venture to the planet Warlock has resulted in a crew-woman going insane due to the mind influence of the females of the pseudo-reptilian Wyverns of Warlock. So the trader captain purchases the "labor contract" of Charis, a former education officer to a fanatic religious colony on the colony world of Demeter, thinking because she is female he can use her to contact the witches and induce them to trade with him. However, the Witches incite the males to overrun the trader's encampment and Charis is forced to flee to the wilderness to save her life. There, she manages to save the life of a "curl-cat" who becomes her telepathic companion; she also encounters Shann Lantee and his wolverine partners, and together they defeat the attempt at takeover of the planet not by the Thieve's Guild - the principal bad guys in Norton's science fiction novels, but by the rival Jacks - a criminal group similar to the Thieves Guild.
"Ordeal In Otherwhere" is set in the same time frame as Norton's original two Beastmaster books. Charis does ask Shann if he is a Beastmaster, and he replies no.
And Norton does, for the time when this was published, the unthinkable, she pairs a white woman with a black man and indicates that they will have a future together when Shann links his mind with Charis, though Thorvald- Shann's love interest in "Storm Over Warlock" is still in the picture.
Andre Norton also did something odd with this novel by inserting herself in it as Charis' father - Ander Nordholm, a name that comes up quiet a few times in this novel.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!
TEN STARS!
https://www.amazon.com/Ordeal-Otherwh...
I expect my review of "Ordeal In Otherwhere" may cause some controversy because I do not believe the it nor the first novel in Norton's Warlock duet, "Storm Over Warlock," are part of her Forerunner series.
Nowhere in "Storm Over Warlock" and "Ordeal In Otherwhere" does Norton mention the Forerunners - an advanced race that spanned the galaxy millennia ago but the only trace of them are the artifacts that they left behind.
"Sargasso Of Space," the first novel in Norton's Solar Queen series actually does mention the Forerunners because the planet Limbo is home to a machine that they left behind on the planet. Yet "Sargasso of Space " is not considered a part of Norton's Forerunner sequence.
With the exception of her multi-volume Witch World series, Norton usually wrote stand alone novels and/or two or four book series, though the exception to her established rule would be her Five Senses sequence, though each book in that sequence was a stand-alone novel and did not reference other books in the sequence.
Just as she did with "Storm Over Warlock" when she introduced Shann Lantee the first Black hero in a science fiction novel - and a strong argument can be made that she also introduced the first gay couple in science fiction as well in the first Warlock novel, Andre Norton broke new ground in science fiction with "Ordeal In Otherwhere" with the introduction of Charis Nordholm - a woman who manages to save herself and who serves as the prototype of the typical Norton heroine.
Briefly summarizing "Ordeal In Otherwhere": An illegal trading venture to the planet Warlock has resulted in a crew-woman going insane due to the mind influence of the females of the pseudo-reptilian Wyverns of Warlock. So the trader captain purchases the "labor contract" of Charis, a former education officer to a fanatic religious colony on the colony world of Demeter, thinking because she is female he can use her to contact the witches and induce them to trade with him. However, the Witches incite the males to overrun the trader's encampment and Charis is forced to flee to the wilderness to save her life. There, she manages to save the life of a "curl-cat" who becomes her telepathic companion; she also encounters Shann Lantee and his wolverine partners, and together they defeat the attempt at takeover of the planet not by the Thieve's Guild - the principal bad guys in Norton's science fiction novels, but by the rival Jacks - a criminal group similar to the Thieves Guild.
"Ordeal In Otherwhere" is set in the same time frame as Norton's original two Beastmaster books. Charis does ask Shann if he is a Beastmaster, and he replies no.
And Norton does, for the time when this was published, the unthinkable, she pairs a white woman with a black man and indicates that they will have a future together when Shann links his mind with Charis, though Thorvald- Shann's love interest in "Storm Over Warlock" is still in the picture.
Andre Norton also did something odd with this novel by inserting herself in it as Charis' father - Ander Nordholm, a name that comes up quiet a few times in this novel.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!
TEN STARS!
https://www.amazon.com/Ordeal-Otherwh...
January 8, 2024
Tex: In The Land Of The Seminoles
Just finished reading "Tex: In The Land Of The Seminoles" by Mauro Boselli and Massimo Rubini, released by Epicenter Comics.
"Tex: In The Land Of The Seminoles" is an epic adventure that Tex Willer is recounting to his blood brother Cochise and his friend Jimmy Jones as they are talking around a camp fire. He has just returned back to Texas after being on the run from a persistent federal agent Brian Carswell.
"Tex: In The Land Of The Seminoles" is an epic adventure, known in the series as a Texone event, where Tex is on the run because he's considered to be an outlaw who murdered the people responsible for the death of his family. He manages to outwit and out distance the posse closing in on him, but Carswell is determined to get his man and follows him to Tampa where Tex is trying to earn a living as a card shark, but circumstances force him to enlist in the Army under an assumed name in an attempt to find refuge as an anonymous soldier, who catches the eye of the Captain who promotes him to Sergeant, and then circumstances force Tex to seek refuge with the Seminoles while attempting to convince the every pursuing Carswell that lawman is wrong about him.
Tex is an Italian comic book hero and series that began in the 1960s and is a pretty accurate look at life during America's Wild West Era and Tex is a complex hero in the Louis L'amour tradition of Western Heroes.
The artwork is vivid black and white that brings to mind the classic black and white artwork of Warren Comics.
Now a word of caution to Woke Namby Pambies. If accurate presentations of dialogue and social attitudes of the distant past will trigger you, "Tex: In The Land Of The Seminoles" is not for you.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!
TEN STARS!
https://www.ebay.com/itm/165695638682
"Tex: In The Land Of The Seminoles" is an epic adventure that Tex Willer is recounting to his blood brother Cochise and his friend Jimmy Jones as they are talking around a camp fire. He has just returned back to Texas after being on the run from a persistent federal agent Brian Carswell.
"Tex: In The Land Of The Seminoles" is an epic adventure, known in the series as a Texone event, where Tex is on the run because he's considered to be an outlaw who murdered the people responsible for the death of his family. He manages to outwit and out distance the posse closing in on him, but Carswell is determined to get his man and follows him to Tampa where Tex is trying to earn a living as a card shark, but circumstances force him to enlist in the Army under an assumed name in an attempt to find refuge as an anonymous soldier, who catches the eye of the Captain who promotes him to Sergeant, and then circumstances force Tex to seek refuge with the Seminoles while attempting to convince the every pursuing Carswell that lawman is wrong about him.
Tex is an Italian comic book hero and series that began in the 1960s and is a pretty accurate look at life during America's Wild West Era and Tex is a complex hero in the Louis L'amour tradition of Western Heroes.
The artwork is vivid black and white that brings to mind the classic black and white artwork of Warren Comics.
Now a word of caution to Woke Namby Pambies. If accurate presentations of dialogue and social attitudes of the distant past will trigger you, "Tex: In The Land Of The Seminoles" is not for you.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!
TEN STARS!
https://www.ebay.com/itm/165695638682
January 7, 2024
Solitude
Just finished listening to "Solitude" by David Arkenstone, released by NEO Pacifica Recordings.
I discovered David Arkenstone and his music back in 1992 when I noticed an add for his latest release - back then - "In The Wake of the Wind." It was the first CD that I had bought - on a side note, "Brigadoon" was the first DVD I bought - and at the time I had to buy a boombox that had a CD player to listen to it. On another side not, that boombox lasted nearly 30 years before the CD player in it finally conked out - note to Zack, I said conked.
Another side note: While CDs and DVDs are supposed to have a "shelf life" of 10 years - "In The Wake of the Wind" still plays with the same level of quality from the day I first broke up the shrink wrap.
Arkenstone collaborated with the Project CSQ - a string quartet who features fiddle, violin, viola, and cello - while he played the piano and provided the sound textures.
With "Solitude," Arkenstone brings the reflective, contemplative mood that a winter's day can bring.
My favorite tracks are: "Mare Tranquillitatis," "The Cerulean Frost," "Waiting For The Moon," "Ripples In Time," "Lament of the Ice Giants," and "The Silence of Snow."
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!
TEN STARS!
https://www.amazon.com/Solitude-David...
I discovered David Arkenstone and his music back in 1992 when I noticed an add for his latest release - back then - "In The Wake of the Wind." It was the first CD that I had bought - on a side note, "Brigadoon" was the first DVD I bought - and at the time I had to buy a boombox that had a CD player to listen to it. On another side not, that boombox lasted nearly 30 years before the CD player in it finally conked out - note to Zack, I said conked.
Another side note: While CDs and DVDs are supposed to have a "shelf life" of 10 years - "In The Wake of the Wind" still plays with the same level of quality from the day I first broke up the shrink wrap.
Arkenstone collaborated with the Project CSQ - a string quartet who features fiddle, violin, viola, and cello - while he played the piano and provided the sound textures.
With "Solitude," Arkenstone brings the reflective, contemplative mood that a winter's day can bring.
My favorite tracks are: "Mare Tranquillitatis," "The Cerulean Frost," "Waiting For The Moon," "Ripples In Time," "Lament of the Ice Giants," and "The Silence of Snow."
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!
TEN STARS!
https://www.amazon.com/Solitude-David...
