Mark Martinez
Wow! Basically these guys are black-ops killers on horseback. Set shortly after WW2, the fellows on the Rostron outfit operate outside the law, mostly in the American west, taking care of threats to the United States when local law enforcement and the FBI can't get the evidence they need. This time around, everything goes to hell in Oklahoma City over some atomic secrets and the boys in the outfit are willing to do whatever is necessary to get away. I lost count of the people they killed. This series was published in the UK. What were they thinking? Weird!
I picked up this novel after I learned it was the inspiration for a short-lived CBS television series, Intelligence. As it turns out, the book and the show have only one thing in common. The main character of each has a microchip implanted in his body. In the novel. it's not about the microchip, or “cheep”, as the evil doctor, whose hobby is making kids “sing” with torture, calls it. It's about the sixteen year-old kid with a passion for boxing who has been manipulated into a vicious juvenile boot camp that secretly trains kids to be mercenaries for a megalomaniac out to remake the world to his own standards. The story is well-written but after finishing, I don't feel a need to continue in the series. Curiously, I think the television series would have been more interesting if it had adapted the novel instead of merely taking inspiration from it.
I watched the Amazon pilot episode yesterday so I had to read the book, which I finishing in two sittings, to my surprise. P.K. Dick is a very compelling writer even though I don't think I fully understand where he was going with this book, which doesn't really have an ending, just an invitation to think about where we're all headed with our lives. Pretty interesting.
I didn't read this book straight through. I started by sampling chapters, finding out which were the most interesting or perhaps the most familiar, since my relationship with the Red Sox began in the seventies. The authors compare and contrast the two teams from a variety of perspectives. They look at the culture of the two cities, the two stadiums, the two iconic players, DiMaggio and Williams, and much more. I think this is good book for fans of either team or for any baseball fan. It's also a good reference for stats and quotes. Nice job.
It's been years since I read Ringworld. When I learned about this graphic novel I was curious. The black & white manga style graphic novel is an interesting read. It reminds me about the things that annoyed me in Niven's tale, so they've captured the spirit of his story well. The art is eye-catching and amusing. I wish it were all in one volume, but I plan to buy the next volume when it comes out.
It's been a while since I last listened to an audio book on physical media. I started out listening to books-on-tape, but lately it's all been audio downloads. Which is why I had to scramble to find a CD player for this book. I wound up listening to most of it my car.
A couple of weeks before I received the audio book I met author Joe Abercrombie at Jean Cocteau Theater in Santa Fe, NM, where he was reading and signing with Cherie Priest, at an event hosted by George R.R. Martin. He's an amusing speaker, embracing his grimdarkness with a wink and a smile. He read a chapter from “Half a King”, providing a nice preview for the recorded book.
The audio book is narrated by John Keating, speaking with a wide variety of voices and accents, all of them sounding very British, but well-suited to Abercrombie's tale.
Young Yarvi, second son of the king, has been groomed for the ministry because he has a withered hand. He can't fight with sword and shield, but he's learned all his other lessons well, even though he isn't aware of his skills at the story's beginning. When his father and brother are ambushed and killed, he must take the throne. He rashly swears an oath to avenge his family and embarks on a journey of betrayal, suffering, and self-discovery. He survives by accepting his fate and learning from it.
In a sense, this is a coming-of-age novel, set in a harsh and occasionally bloody landscape. That's to be expected from Abercrombie, whose other books follow squarely in the grim footsteps of Martin's “Song of Ice and Fire” saga, but “Half a King” steers clear of sex and excessive violence, offering a more thoughtful narrative that focuses on the people Yarvi meets, how he learns from them, and learns about himself. I found this aspect of the book compelling, all the way through to the end.
There are more books to come in this world. Yarvi's story has just begun. I think it will be worth the effort to keep reading.
This audio book has 8 compact discs, 9.25 hours of audio, and tracks every 3 minutes for easy bookmarking.
Bob Howard continues to age with interest, as does his wife Mo. I'm both amused and saddened by events in this installment of the Laundry files. Of course, the good news is that Spooky seems to be getting along fine in his or her new circumstances. Or is Stross just setting us up for something terrible to be named later?
Wow. I've finally started reading this series and I enjoyed this first installment immensely. I binged on the television series a couple of weekends ago when HBO was free for a few days. The book is even more entertaining. I'll keep reading. Maybe I can time things so that I catch up by the next time HBO is free for a weekend.
A fast-paced thriller. So fast, that I had a little trouble keeping up. In between firefights, there was hacking, neuroscience, genetics, a course in modern weaponry, a global conspiracy, immortality, several psychopathic villains, and much more. My thanks to Mr. Farrugia for sending me a free copy. I'm a little weirded out by the author's marketing tactic of requesting to be added as a friend, accepting the friend request, getting the free book offer, then being unfriended. Seems like a lot of work. I guess this doesn't really have anything to do with whether or not you would want to read the book. I just hadn't encountered this path to new reading material before.
Now that IDW Publishing is about to publish a comic book adaptation of the Star Trek episode, The City on the Edge of Forever, based on Harlan Ellison's original, unfilmed teleplay, I decided it was about time I read said teleplay. Elwood's book includes six plays, with Ellison's script up front and center, along with an introduction by the cantankerous writer. The history of the personalities involved isn't nearly as interesting as the story itself. Reading the script with all the camera and stage directions allowed me to screen the episode in my mind. I found Ellison's original story to be more high concept than the version that was broadcast, but it has all the right grace notes: the wondrous discovery of the Guardians of Forever (yes, that's right, Guardians plural), Kirk falling for Edith Keeler, Spock's logical concern for his friend and the possible consequences of Kirk's emotional state, and the ultimately tragic outcome. There is also a minor, but compelling character named Trooper, new to those of us who have only seen the television episode. Would Ellison's story have worked if filmed as he wrote it? My guess is yes, it would have been fine. At the same time, the rewritten version is not nearly the catastrophe that Ellison makes it out to be. If you are a Trekkie like me, this is definitely worth taking the time to read. There is a more recent publication that contains the script, [b:The City on the Edge of Forever: The Original Teleplay 216177 The City on the Edge of Forever The Original Teleplay Harlan Ellison https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1387701962s/216177.jpg 209287], with much more from Ellison about his involvement with Star Trek. I haven't read this book, but I have a copy buried somewhere in one of the piles of books in my home. I'm looking for it. You should too, but not in my home. Look in yours. Oh. One last thing. There are five other plays. I didn't read them. Maybe someday.