India Black & the Gentleman Thief: Review

If one must chase villains, one should do so in style. (p. 247)

India Black is at it again in India Black & the Gentleman Thief...rounding up the bad guys with style and flair. She and French have barely recovered from their latest adventure--saving London from bomb-happy anarchists--when danger comes knocking. Literally. Just as India is trying to worm information out of French about her ancestry, a messenger arrives at the door with an envelope from one of her customers. Colonel Francis Mayhew wants her to hold the missive until he comes to collect it. Opening other people's mail is by no means taboo when one hasn't volunteered for the job of postmistress and India promptly slits the envelope open--only to find an ordinary shipping bill. As she and French ponder the meaning behind it, another knock brings a different sort of messenger--in the guise of three burly thugs who beat up our intrepid heroes and make off with the bill of lading.

Of course, our Madam of Espionage isn't about to take that lying down...well at least not once she's recovered from the trouncing...and she and French head out to track down Mayhew and find out why he deposited such a dangerous document at Lotus House. Unfortunately, the Colonel is in no condition to explain anything. Someone has reached him first and sent him out of this world in the most horrible way possible. India and French will follow a trail that leads from the dockyards of London to the War Office and armaments supply to a lonely farmhouse in the countryside where an arms trafficker lurks. Along the way, India discovers that she has an acquaintance with one of the chief suspects...an acquaintanceship she'd rather not confess to French.

As if India's life is not complicated enough, the Dowager Marchioness of Tullibardine shows up with enough boxes and trunks to stay for months and creates general havoc in Lotus House--from running off anti-Scottish customers to allowing her dogs the run of the house (and have puppies while they're at it). The only redeeming factor is that the Marchioness is finally willing to tell India what she knows about her background. But what is India to do with the information? If she can just find time between hunting down blood-thirsty killers, escaping a nasty death at the bottom of the ocean, and tracking down arms dealers, then she might give it some thought.

This is a whirlwind of a book. The story moves at full throttle and keeps the reader on the edge of her seat waiting to see what will happen next--whether it's the next step in the mystery plot or where the relationship between India and French is headed or what India plans to do about the hereditary information she gets from the Marchioness. There is a lot going on and Carol K. Carr handles it all superbly. The India Black series is wonderful and just keeps getting better. If you love a good adventure mystery set in Victorian times with a bit of romance for flavor and haven't started reading these yet, then what's keeping you? Five stars!

Challenge Complete: Out of This World

Image free from freevectors.com

Out of This World Challenge

Bla bla bla books is sponsoring the Out of This World Challenge in 2014 with a few simple rules:

• the goal is to visit via books as many places out of this world as possible! Out of this world can include other planets and stars (including the Moon!), completely different worlds (like Middle Earth), paralel worlds, dream worlds, distant future and distant past (I am talking dinos here. Not the 80's), heaven and hell... and so on.
• It can be just a visit to this place. It counts even if only part of the book is set there. 

Being a Star Trek fan, I just had to go for the "Where no [wo]man has been before" level of 15 books. If you want to join (and you still can), hop on the link above. 

I've completed my journey to "Where no [wo]man has been before." Here are the books read:

1. The Poison Belt by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1/2/14) 
2. Shakespeare's Planet by Clifford D Simak (1/6/14)
3. Dangerous Visions #3 by Harlan Ellison, ed (1/11/14) 
4. Angels & Spaceships by Fredric Brown (1/12/14)
5. The Xibalba Murders by Lyn Hamilton (1/18/14) [snippets involving the Mayan underworld]
6. Triumph by Philip Wylie (1/18/14) [post-apocalyptic Earth]
7. Other Times, Other Worlds by John D. MacDonald (1/26/14) [future Earth & other worlds]
8. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K Dick (1/29/14) [post-apocalyptic Earth]
9. Cursed in the Act by Raymond Buckland (2/16/14) [Victorian England]
10. To Kingdom Come by Will Thomas (2/26/14) [Victorian England]
11. The Man in the High Castle by Philip K Dick (2/27/14) [alternate history]
12. Murder in the Vatican by Ann Margaret Lewis (3/5/14) [Victorian England]
13. The Poisoned Island by Lloyd Shepherd (3/8/14) [Regency England/Tahiti]
14. John Smith: Last Known Survivor of the Microsoft Wars by Roland Hughes (3/17/14) [Dystopian future Earth]
15. Harlan Ellison's 7 Against Chaos by Harlan Ellison (3/17/14) [Dystopian/Chaotic future Earth]

Harlan Ellison's 7 Against Chaos: Mini-Review

Harlan Ellison's 7 Against Chaos is a rare thing for me...a graphic novel. But, being the Ellison fan-girl that I am and having read the synopsis of the book sometime last year, I promptly put it on my Christmas wishlist, my own personal Santa came through, and I found it under the Christmas tree last December 25th. I was very excited that two of my category challenges called for a graphic novel, because I knew I had the very thing just waiting on the TBR pile.

Sometime in Earth's distant future, the planet is in danger--not just physical danger, but the very fabric of reality is being ripped apart. The elite call on once-decorated, but then disgraced General Roark to gather six others with special abilities to save them. With elaborate promises of rewards to come, Urr, the renegade robot; Mourna, the Amazon-like woman with steel claws for hands; Tantalus, the incredibly swift insect-man; Ayleen, a Venusian woman with quite literal fire-power; Hoorn, the stealthy and adept cat burglar; and Kenrus the brilliant, outcast technologist all agree to join Roark on a deadly journey to Earth's past on a mission to save its future.

As a graphic novel, the book is pleasing. It has an old-fashioned feel and reminds me of the comic books I used to buy when I was a preteen. I have a certain nostalgia for those stories--I would read everything from those with a science fiction feel to the mysterious and creepy (think Tales from the Crypt). I enjoyed those far more than most of the graphic novels I have tried in recent years. Paul Chadwick's artwork is fabulous.

The story, however, is a bit clunky. There are instances of Ellison's brilliance, but, as other reviewers on Goodreads have noted, there is a certain lack of continuity as if panels or even pages are missing. I'm not sure if that's a result of Ellison writing in short bursts for each panel or what. One can see the bones of a good story, but it is never completely covered with flesh and made whole. It begins with a bang--and I thoroughly enjoyed the stories of how Roark gathered his colleagues for the journey. The trip through the black hole is well done and enjoyable as well and there are moments when the Seven face the villain of the piece that are quite good.  Over all, a three star outing for an interesting story and great artwork. A more cohesive storyline would have brought up to four.

Virtual Tour: John Smith: Last Known Survivor of the Microsoft Wars

Publisher: Logikal Solutions, May 30, 2013
ISBN-13: 978-1-939732-00-2
Category: Dystopian, Science Fiction
Tour Dates: March, 2014
Available in: Print, ebook & Audio, 272 pages

Synopsis: What if the Mayans got the start of the end correct because they had survived it once before? What if our written history was just as accurate as the old tale about three blind men describing an elephant? What if classic science fiction writing and television shows each got a piece of it correct, would you know which ones? If your eyes can only see a tiny portion of a collage do you know it is a collage?

"John Smith" ties together Atlantis, cell phones, the Mayans, God, the Egyptians, and the outcome of the terrorist attack yet to come all in the form of an interview between the last known survivor of the war and a reporter for the largest newspaper of its day, serving 5000 people twice monthly. There are both blatant and subtle nods are made to such works as "1984", "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea", "Peter Pan", "Battlestar Galactica" (the new one), "Star Trek TNG", and "Babylon 5." 

*************************************

My take: This is a difficult review for me. I almost always can give high marks to the review request books and virtual tour books that I read because I carefully screen the books I agree to review. The synopsis really grabbed me. Roland Hughes has developed a fantastic premise. I liked the idea of tying in all kinds of SF writing and television shows into a fantastic piece of fiction. I had great expectations....

But, I have to be honest (and I only do honest reviews), this book was not, ultimately, for me. The interview format really got on my nerves. The entire book is all tell and no show. No action--none.  Even when John Smith is describing what happened it has little effect because it's all dialogue and he sounds like he's giving one long lecture about absolutely everything from what a computer is to why the Hebrews had dietary laws to where the Atlantians went to how the Druids and Mayans figure in to finally answering the question his interviewer came to ask in the first place--what happened in the Microsoft Wars. And he does it all in such a condescending manner.

I also did not care for the antagonistic tone against the sexes. The reporter obviously doesn't care for men although her comments are few and far between and John Smith repeatedly makes incredibly misogynistic remarks about women throughout the book. My "favorites":

The longest lifespan known, or at least told to me, was roughly 250 clock years for a man and 325 clock years for a woman. The stress of living with a woman really does kill a man. That much has remained universal throughout all cycles. (p.133)

Women can't resist making things up for no reason at all and being mad about them for years but that isn't the story we are telling here. (p. 150) [So, your point in saying this is?]

The tone is bad enough...but it might be useful and understandable if Hughes explained why these people are like this.  What motivates them?  But he doesn't--we're supposed to accept this, apparently, just because that's the way it is.

There are also great inconsistencies...for instance, the reporter supposedly lives in a society that has developed after the Microsoft Wars. Everything has been destroyed.  Pretty much all knowledge of what came before is gone--Smith has to explain what computers, dvds, satellites, submarines, etc. and ad nauseum are--even hard copy encyclopedias and maps--and yet the woman knows what socialism is? Seriously? Her people have retained no memory whatsoever of tangible physical objects and yet she understands an obsolete abstract concept. 

If you like unusual story-telling formats, then this book is for you. If you like incredible amounts of dialogue, then this book is for you. If you are interested in conspiracy theories and an explanation of what happened to Atlantis and the "truth" behind every UFO siting ever....then this book is for you. 

I really am sorry that I cannot give this book a stellar review. But it just did not live up to my expectations and, overall, I just didn't become engaged with the characters. I'm giving it two stars--all for fantastic concept.

The Poisoned Island: Review

Set in Regency England, The Poisoned Island weaves stories from two voyages to Tahiti (Otaheite to the British at this time) with a tale of what happens when the H.M.S. Solander returned from that second trip. The first voyage in 1769 brings British sailors to the beautiful island paradise--with gorgeous plant life and lovely women. It is a place where magic and myth still have great influence. When the sailors head back to England, they leave behind disease and a war amongst the Tahitians. Over 40 years later, the Solander makes the journey to the island at the request of Sir Joseph Banks, the botanist in charge of the King's Gardens at Kew.  The Solander carries a crew of botanists as well as the usual sailors--a crew charged with bringing back hundreds of exotic plants from Tahiti to enhance the royal gardens. Exotic plants aren't the only things that the Solander brings back to England.  There is also a terrible secret...a secret that someone is willing kill to possess.

The Solander returns to England with her hold full of botanical treasures and in less than a week six members of her crew are dead--some have been strangled and some have had their throats cut, but they all died with the most unsettling, beatific smile on their faces. Thames River Police Constable Charles Horton is called upon by the Thames River Magistrate to investigate the murders. He will have to unravel a botanical mystery involving a pungent, rapidly-growing tree from Tahiti before all the pieces fall into place.

Lloyd Shepherd has done an excellent job of historical world-building--weaving authentic historical figures and events into a fictional tale of incredible believability. No--Sir Joseph Banks did not order such a botanical journey, but if he had....  And the underlying reason for the voyage and the secret that made it necessary makes for a very nice twist to the mystery. Charles Horton is an excellent investigator in a world before a truly organized police force.  He is feeling his way through detective work--possibly forging ground in evidence gathering and witness questioning beforehand historically, but that's okay.  I've already suspended my belief to accept Tahitian magic. Lloyd has also given Horton the perfect spouse to support him in his investigations.  She is stronger than he suspects and, in this particular novel, has an interest in botany herself that can be of great help to him.

It is a mark of how good Shepherd's novel is that the present tense telling of most of the story didn't keep me from enjoying it. I've noted in other reviews how present tense really doesn't work for me.  Generally speaking, it annoys me enough that I'm too busy thinking about how annoyed I am to ever settle down into the world the author has created. Shepherd's story is gripping and his narrative so compelling that while I was aware of the present tense (I think I always will be), it didn't overwhelm my sense of enjoyment.  Four stars.


(Although The Poisoned Island was originally released in Great Britan, it is a new [January 2014] US release and, as such, I'm counting it as a new release for Book Bingo.)

Murder in the Vatican: Review

In Murder in the Vatican: The Church Mysteries of Sherlock Holmes, Ann Margaret Lewis successfully brings us three tales that John Watson mentions in his stories but never gave readers the details. The Giant Rat of Sumatra has often been the subject of authorial speculation, but this the first time I have found renditions of "the sudden death of Cardinal Tosca," "the Vatican cameos," and "the two Coptic Patriarchs." Lewis handles the well-known characters of Homes and Watson with great care and attention to the ways and writings of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. And in the second story (cameos), she turns the narration over to Pope Leo XIII and manages a charming narrative that remains true to the spirit of Holmes. 

Unlike many Americans who have written Holmes pastiches, Lewis makes us believe that these really could be stories penned by Dr. Watson and discovered in that battered dispatch box. The details are vivid and the tales feel authentic. She also manages to work theological explanations into the narrative without making readers feel as though they have sat through a religious lecture. Full marks for Holmesian atmosphere as well as pretty little puzzles for the master detective to unravel. Holmes is given full scope to exhibit his famous observational powers and deductive reasoning. An added bonus is his interactions with a certain soon-to-be Father Brown and the period-style pen and ink illustrations. Four stars.

The Man in the High Castle: Review

The Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick (synopsis):  It's 1962 in America...at least what America has become, carved up into various sections by the victors in the last World War.  You know, the one where Hitler and the Nazis with the help of their Axis cronies ran roughshod over the Allies and moved on to world domination. Germany controls the eastern portion of the US, most of rest of North and South America as well as Europe and the Middle East and Africa. Japan gets the island nations and western America...and Italy?  I don't believe Italy got anything. Oh...and near everybody with dark skin has been obliterated, but those who remain find themselves back in slavery and what Jews have managed to escape the holocaust try to hide themselves behind plastic surgery and changed names.

PKD's novel is alternate history at its best--interesting themes about reality, brilliant world-building, and an all-too believable alternate timeline.  It doesn't take much suspension of disbelief to accept that given certain twists of fate the Allies may have fallen before the relentless force of the Nazi war machine and the Japanese sea superiority. It's scary to think that just a few changes here and there and this very possibly could have happened (or something much like it). He also makes the reader really think about the nature of reality and how fragile the reality we experience can be.

But I have to say that I didn't find myself very involved with the characters. I didn't much care what happened to them...and, really, they didn't seem to care much either. Even when they said they did. The individual lives seemed to want to weave together into a coherent story and yet they managed to avoid doing so. And I kept wondering about the Man in the High Castle...yes, there really is such a fellow.  He's a recluse who has barricaded himself behind charged barb wire and other fortifications...but although there are mentions of him sprinkled throughout, there really isn't any purpose to bringing him up--at least no purpose plot-wise.  I can definitely see him fitting into the themes of reality/unreality as someone who refuses to participate in the current reality.  But he does nothing to further the plot.

After reading this and Do Android's Dream of Electric Sheep?, I've come to the conclusion that PKD really isn't the science fiction author for me.  He has produced some interesting and somewhat thought-provoking themes in his novels, but as stories they just don't hold me the way Ellison and Zelazny do. They manage to build interesting worlds, throw thought-provoking ideas at you, and tell a spectacular story all at the same time.  PKD hasn't managed all three in one place in anything I've read yet.  Three stars for world-building and interesting themes only.


Quote:

He glanced at the girl beside him. God, they read a book, he thought, and they spout on forever. (p. 66)

To Kingdom Come: Review

To Kingdom Come is the second book in Will Thomas's Barker and Llewellyn historical mystery series set in Victorian England. Thomas Llewellyn has been in the employ of enquiry agent Cyrus Barker for a mere two and a half months--only one month has passed since the events in their debut novel, Some Danger Involved, and already the stakes have gone up dramatically.

Two bombs have gone off in London--destroying a portion of Scotland Yard and the Junior Carlton Club. Members of the Irish Republic Brotherhood claim responsibility and threaten more attacks to come if Parliament does not grant Ireland liberation from English rule within a month. Barker offers his service to the Home Office and comes up with a plan to discover and infiltrate the cell of the IRB responsible for the bombings. He and Llewellyn pose as explosive experts in order to win the group's confidence. But will they be able to maintain their cover long enough to allow Scotland Yard to arrest the dissidents without actually blowing up Parliament and the Prince of Wales?

Once again Thomas gives us an interesting, believable historical mystery set in the Holmsian period with far more action than most of the Holmes stories. The writing and description are up to par, but I have to say that I did not find the mystery or the story overall to be nearly as captivating as the debut.  I still enjoy the interactions between Barker and Llewellyn...as well as with the other supporting characters and Thomas portrays the Irish resistance with just as much flair. But the first story was a more authentic mystery--the hunt for the killer of a young Jewish scholar with all the suspects and clues to follow of a standard detective novel.  That is far more to my taste than the cloak of espionage that covers our heroes. Infiltrating the IRB and spending time manufacturing bombs just really didn't interest me as much. It also didn't help that the mastermind behind the group was obvious from about the midpoint of the book

However, slight misgivings about the topic aside, Thomas has produced a lively second novel--one that is a quick read and full of atmosphere and historical detail. I will definitely continue the series.  Three and a half stars.

Cursed in the Act: Review

Cursed in the Act by Raymond Buckland is the first in a new historical mystery series featuring Bram Stoker and his trusty side-kick Harry Rivers. Basing his premise on the fact that Stoker served as a business manager for London's Lyceum Theatre, Buckland gives the soon-to-be author of Dracula an assistant who can help him get to the bottom of mysterious doings in Victorian England.

Their first adventure takes place in 1881 and begins with Henry Irving, star and owner of the Lyceum, being poisoned on the opening night of Hamlet. Someone has put something nasty in Irving's lemonade and it is only the actor's cast-iron constitution and insistence that the show must go on that keeps opening night from being a disaster. But the horrible events continue--Irving's understudy is killed by a fast-moving carriage, a severed head comes tumbling onstage when a backdrop is unrolled, and actress Ellen Terry's young son is kidnapped--all in an effort to shut down the show. The police are making efforts to track down the evil-doers, but not fast enough to suit Stoker. He and Harry begin an investigation of their own...one that leads them into the opium dens and dockyard warehouses of London and brings them into contact with a man who believes the power of voodoo may work if straight-forward criminal acts fail.

This is more of an action/adventure novel than a straight mystery. The twist ending may provide a bit of a mystery as far as the identity of the culprit, but alert readers (or old hands in the mystery field) probably won't be taken in. It seems to me that the emphasis is on the action--the near-constant assault on the Lyceum by the villains--and on the possible occult connections. A quick and easy read--requiring no heavy thinking. The period detail and research into Stoker's background and the ways of the occult do make for a rich historical reading experience. It was nice to settle into the Victorian era and just go along for the ride. Three stars.

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?: Review

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?--well-known classic science fiction novel.  Made into the cult-classic film Blade Runner.  It's been on my science fiction radar for years and I finally decided that this was the year to read Philip K. Dick's post-apocalyptic story of too-realistic androids run amok and bounty hunter who is hot on their trail.  I've had a fuzzy idea of the plot line and was expecting a knock-out classic SF story.  

What I got was some pretty decent ideas, a fair plot, and some general all-over the place storytelling.  Human-like robots (too human-like)--yep, we got them.  We also have an electric sheep and other electric animals.  And Rick Deckard's obsessive need to own a real animal--either a sheep like he had or a horse or an owl or a goat.  He's not picky.  We also have his depressed wife.  And the so-called sub-human "chickenhead" J. R. Isidore and his need for friends--even if those friends are androids.  Sometimes following multiple storylines works really well for me.  This time it felt messy.

I absolutely understand what Dick was trying to do.  By having pseudo-humans and pseudo-animals, he wants us to think about what makes us human; what gives us life and makes us "real."  There is irony in the "mood organs" which make the "real" people feel the way they are supposed to feel in any given situation. Because, you know, the ultimate test of whether you're dealing with a real person or an "andy" is emotional...persons in question are given an empathy test to determine whether they are reacting emotionally as a human should.  But how valid is that if the "real" people are fed their emotions on a daily basis?   

One really extraordinary thing that this book did for me was to lead to a really interesting conversation with my son last night in the car.  He watched Blade Runner when he was in high school and when I told him I was reading the book that the film was based on we were off and running discussing differences and themes....and, man, do I wish I'd had a recording device on me.  The discussion was awesome--you're going to have to trust me on that.

Three stars for a solid science fiction read.  I was hoping to be handing out more.

Other Times, Other Worlds: Review

Other Times, Other Worlds is a science fiction short story collection by the very prolific John D. MacDonald.  Best known for his crime and suspense novels--particularly the Travis McGee series and The Executioners (adapted into the film Cape Fear)--MacDonald began his writing career in the pulps, selling widely across the genres: adventure stories, mysteries, westerns, sports stories....and science fiction.  In fact, selling so widely that he had to use multiple pseudonyms and sometimes had an entire magazine to himself under various names.  All of the stories in the collection first appeared in science fiction pulp magazines between 1948 and 1968 (inclusive).

These stories are sharp portrayals of the human condition. They highlight various social and psychological types and show men and women in all their strength and weakness.  And they range over near-future and far-future stories of life on Earth as well as investigating what life on other planets may be like.  Yet even when he discusses aliens, he is really turning the microscope on homo sapiens.  A few of the stories are dated--only by the lack of scientific knowledge to be had at the time they were written.  Transplant the characters to any suitable place and time and the commentary on who we are as a species is still as valid today as in the 1940s or the 1950s or the 1960s.

These are all engaging stories, but among my favorites:

"Dance of a New World"--in which Shane Brent is on a mission to convince a retired rocket pilot to sign up for a dangerous long-term journey only to discover that he might like a little danger himself.

"Ring Around the Redhead"--in which a man's innocence or guilt in a murder case hinges on the testimony of a stranger from another dimension.

"A Child Is Crying"--about a seven-year-old boy whose intelligence surpasses experts in all fields and who has the ability to predict the future.  But is that a good thing?

"Susceptibility"--Sean Malloy is sent to a colony on one of mankind's far-flung outposts to discover why the colonists aren't using all the high-tech gizmos provided for them.  The answer surprises him.

"Game for Blondes"--a lovely psychological twist on the good old scavenger hunt.

Four stars for an excellent collection.

The Xibalba Murders: Review

Initially I picked up The Xibalba Murders by Lyn Hamilton for two reasons: 1) It's got a lovely "X" right there at the beginning and that knocks off a rather difficult letter for the Alphabet Soup Challenge and 2) It's set in Mexico, so it works for the Around the World Challenge.  It also counts for a whole boatload of other challenges, so I thought it was all good.  But geez, Louise, it was difficult to finish this rather blah, rather predictable book.  First problem: It's written in the first person.  Man, I hate those.  It's rare that a first-person narrator works well for me.  This one doesn't.  Second problem: Too much introspection on the part of the narrator (bad divorce, no love-life, blah-blah-blah).  Third problem: this supposedly "smart enough to run her own business (pre-divorce) and smart enough to go back to school as a graduate student" woman immediately starts blabbing about why Dr. Hernan Castillo asked her to come to Mexico to the first impressive male stranger she comes across.  Bet that's going to work out well for her.  But remember--she's told us that she dresses in "student uniform" of denim, khakis, and black to keep the men away ('cause the bad divorce was a thing, you know).  Right.  She's not interested or impressed by men at all.  Uh-huh. 

But you want to know what this is about, right?  Whether the mystery is interesting.  Well, you'd think so from the blurb:

After receiving a cryptic phone call from Dr. Hernan Castillo, an expert in Mayan history, Lara McClintoch travel to Merida, Mexico, to help him with a mysterious project that he has undertaken. But on arriving in Merida, Lara sees no sign of the good doctor--until his lifeless body turns up in his office at the museum.  Retracing the doctor's recent footsteps, she is drawn into the jungles surrounding Merida.  For in this lush paradise are the temples of Mayan gods--and the camps of modern-day rebels fighting to save their Mayan heritage. As the body count escalates, Lara must uncover the secrets of the Mayan underworld known as Xibalba--and journey into the very heart of darkness....

I know I thought so.  But even though I know in these cozy mysteries we have to agree to believe the amateur detective is going to outsmart the police, I just couldn't do it this time.  Because quite honestly, I don't believe Lara is smart enough.  She does some really stupid things and trusts people that she has no reason to trust.  And Hamilton gives no explanation in the storyline to make me believe that she should have a reason.  One star. 

Challenges Met: A-Z Reading Challenge, Around the World, Library Books Challenge, Outdo Yourself, Out of This World, Women Challenge, Cruisin' Thru the Cozies, Century of Books, How Many Books, 100 Plus Challenge, Book Bingo, A-Z Mystery Author Challenge,

Out of This World Challenge

Found another one!

Image free from freevectors.com

Out of This World Challenge

Bla bla bla books says:

I love georgaphy-based challenges. You know, the ones that make you feel like you are visiting all those wonderful places. But I always see the restriction: only real countries/states/places count. That sounds so unfair! What for all the wonderful places that are out of this world and time!
 
Here are the rules:

• the goal is to visit via books as many places out of this world as possible! Out of this world can include other planets and stars (including the Moon!), completely different worlds (like Middle Earth), paralel worlds, dream worlds, distant future and distant past (I am talking dinos here. Not the 80's), heaven and hell... and so on.
• It can be just a visit to this place. It counts even if only part of the book is set there. 
• all books finished in 2014 count. It's okay if you started the book before January the 1st.
• No need to review, just if you feel like it. In the end just a list of the books read and the places visited is all you need.
• no need to have a blog. You can link to any public profile, or keep track in the comments
• any lenght, any format, any genre
• You can pick one of the levels (and you can move up or down) or you can set your own goal

Levels

1.  Few steps away - 5 places to visit
2. Over the rainbow - 10 places
3. Where no man has been before - 15 places
4. Above and beyond - 25 places
5. Out of this world - 40 places

Being a Star Trek fan, I just have to go for the "Where no [wo]man has been before" level. If you want to join, hop on the link above. 

And--I've already got some qualifying books.  Yay!

1. The Poison Belt by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1/2/14) 
2. Shakespeare's Planet by Clifford D Simak (1/6/14)
3. Dangerous Visions #3 by Harlan Ellison, ed (1/11/14) 
4. Angels & Spaceships by Fredric Brown (1/12/14)
5. The Xibalba Murders by Lyn Hamilton (1/18/14) [snippets involving the Mayan underworld]
6. Triumph by Philip Wylie (1/18/14) [post-apocalyptic Earth]
7. Other Times, Other Worlds by John D. MacDonald (1/26/14) [future Earth & other worlds]
8. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K Dick (1/29/14) [post-apocalyptic Earth]
9. Cursed in the Act by Raymond Buckland (2/16/14) [Victorian England]
10. To Kingdom Come by Will Thomas (2/26/14) [Victorian England]
11. The Man in the High Castle by Philip K Dick (2/27/14) [alternate history]
12. Murder in the Vatican by Ann Margaret Lewis (3/5/14) [Victorian England]
13. The Poisoned Island by Lloyd Shepherd (3/8/14) [Regency England/Tahiti]
14. John Smith: Last Known Survivor of the Microsoft Wars by Roland Hughes (3/17/14) [Dystopian future Earth]
15. Harlan Ellison's 7 Against Chaos by Harlan Ellison (3/17/14) [Dystopian/Chaotic future Earth]

Challenge Complete!

16. India Black & the Gentleman Thief by Carol K. Carr (3/19/14) [Victorian England]
 

Angels & Spaceships: Review

Fredric Brown was a master of the science fiction short story form...and even more so of the short short form.  Angels and Spaceships is a fantastic collection of stories--over half of which were published in Astounding & Unknown between 1941 and 1949.  The book starts out with an absolute stunner--a work of supreme science fiction irony that does its magic in a page and a half.  Brown does more with that page and a half than a lot of writers could do with an entire novel.  He goes on to tell us about the linotype machine (a printing line casting machine used until the 60s/70s) that comes alive and makes a slave of the printer. And how the earth was surrounded by aliens that fed off of electricity and forced everyone to go back to the horse and buggy and steam-powered engines.  And the little boy who defeated Satan with a water pistol--and some very special water.  And the spaceman who kills an alien and finds that the death sentence isn't quite as bad as he first thought. Oh...and the heavenly typesetter who missed a typo or two and made things difficult for Charlie Wills.  All this and more in one place!


The stories range from screwball fantasy to hardball science fiction and everything in between.  Brown's writing is delightfully straightforward until the clever curve ball that he manages to throw at the end of every story.  A fun and intriguing collection.  Four stars.

Dangerous Visions #3: Review

Harlan Ellison is an author who likes to shakes things up.  He is well-known for his own dangerous visions and his skill at twisting the everyday and making it thought-provoking. And just when you think you've figured out what kind of writer he is...science fiction, speculative fiction, fantasy, horror, black comedy, psychological...he throws you a curve ball and does something completely different.  Those qualities made him the perfect person to collect and edit the Dangerous Visions and Again, Dangerous Visions collections back in the 1960s.

Dangerous Visions #3 is the paperback version of one-third of the stories which appeared in the original hardback collection, Dangerous Visions. In it you will find stories by SF greats such as Theodore Sturgeon, Roger Zelazny, Norman Spinrad, J. G. Ballard and Samuel R. Delaney.  You will also find names that may not be quite as well-known to you (this was at least the case with me): Kris Neville, Jonathan Brand, Sonya Dorman.... A total of fourteen stories which are every bit as disturbing and thought-provoking as when Ellison first tossed them out to the reading public in 1967.

My personal favorites:

"Judas" by John Brunner: where a man thinks he's defying and dismantling the mechanical "god" of his times...only to find that he's playing right into the myth.

"Test to Destruction" by Keith Laumer: A rebel leader is tested to the limit--both by his opponent and by alien forces.  He manages to use one against the other...but at what cost to his own humanity?

"Encounter with a Hick" by Jonathan Brand: A young man's explanation to the court about why an elderly man dropped dead in a hotel bar.  Some people just can't take the demolition of their cherished beliefs. 

The stories are a mixture of styles and subject matter...as well as producing a mixture of reactions.  There were a generous portion that I enjoyed and found interesting and through-provoking as well as those that just didn't touch a chord with me.  And one that I just sat and thought "What?" the entire time I was reading it.  Good solid science fiction selected by a master...three stars.


Challenges Fulfilled:  100 Plus Challenge, A-Z Reading Challenge, Book Bingo, Bookish TBR, Eclectic Reader, How Many Books, Million Pages, Mount TBR Challenge, Outdo Yourself, Science Fiction Experience, Vintage SF Month, Out of This World,