THESE ARE AMAZON REVIEWS. Please follow the Amazon links to find other opinions.
[1] Wild Child- Mike Wells
This short well written book is, I believe, designed with teenagers and young adults in mind. However, even in my advanced years I enjoyed it. I reviewed earlier, and gave three stars, but on reflection I felt I was over biased as a result of feeling cheated by its length, and unexpected ending. It is actually best treated as a very good short story. The plot is fantasy, the stuff of a vivid dream perhaps. Don't let that put you off. Mike Well's writes well enough that even the die hard "realist" should enjoy the plot. This book has an interesting history, which many pre-Amazon writers will connect with. It is worth looking at the author's web site to find out about its garage life. I am pleased that it has now reached a wide audience.
http://www.amazon.com/Wild-Child-ebook/dp/B004RVZBFW
http://www.amazon.com/Wild-Child-ebook/dp/B004RVZBFW
[2] Scavenger Lord- Ralph F. Halse
This
is an epic vision of a post-apocalyptic Earth. We are plunged into a struggle
for survival between the warring tribal groups that struggle for dominance
across the broad landscape of Australia. This vision, that might well, though
we wish not, be future history. This dystopian novel is a brilliantly
constructed read that pulsates with angst and harsh emotion. If you fear the
terrors of mankind's past footsteps, then be prepared to worry for the future.
Halse tells an epic story that draws us into a world still dominated to some
degree by the “artefacts” of our civilisation.
The various cities and wild clans fight for goods, trade routes and territory in this truly epic story. The detail of Halse’s future Australia is Tolkien-like in its detail, but rather less poetic and more realistic in its violence. This broad mix of realistic science fiction and fantasy was well worth my time. http://www.amazon.com/Scavenger-Lord-Ryka-Hawk-ebook/dp/B003XREXIW
The various cities and wild clans fight for goods, trade routes and territory in this truly epic story. The detail of Halse’s future Australia is Tolkien-like in its detail, but rather less poetic and more realistic in its violence. This broad mix of realistic science fiction and fantasy was well worth my time. http://www.amazon.com/Scavenger-Lord-Ryka-Hawk-ebook/dp/B003XREXIW
[3] Leiyatel's Embrace- C.S. Johnson
Johnson's rich book pulls one into what can be just a beautifully crafted fantasy, or can be a glimpse into a dystopian future; the verdict remains resolutely with the reader. It is unusual to be left with such a freedom of interpretation, in a story with so many both wide and minutely detailed elements to its tapestry. The detail is at times exquisite. The backdrop does on occasion get a touch overdone for my individual liking, as it threatens to over delay the flow of the story.
In the weave of the adventure we get elementals from the works of many great authors. The influences that particularly struck me were T.H. White, Tolkien, Mervyn Peake, and Lewis Carroll. To these writers great literary waves Johnson adds his own intricate currents. He draws strongly from northern English landscapes and the vernacular of its people, past and present. We sense the grand architectures of long inheritance, from mediaeval castles, to cobbled shambles, to the bleak modern concrete of industrialisation. At one moment we see a Camelot, then the harsh grandeur of what might be a modern power-station still standing in a technologically less advanced future. We feel the weather of Britain, whilst in the distance beyond Grey Mountains we hear that there lays a wide desert. Whether these arid lands are the result of pollution, or of climate, is left to our own thoughts.
This is not a book that explodes at you, one for instant gratification. It does require effort on the part of the reader, but it is worth it. The biggest rewards from Johnson's book are the wonderful vistas he paints. These are wide landscapes and small views, which are probably easiest to conjure for those familiar with northern England, but this is certainly not a requirement. We are not, after all on a documental journey with Wainwright, but rather with Johnson as our guide through his particular fantasy. The end is a satisfactory pause. That is all I feel it can be, because despite the books length there is still so much left to explore. I think this is a book that would feed the mind anew with a second reading, and one day I will make sure I find the time. It does not conclude with a fashionable hiatus of activity, Johnson is anything but a writer of fashion. This is a book of craft, of experiment, of exacting inspection, of the interested traveller for whom there is no determination to arrive. On this guided tour we eventually run out of steam, but never for a moment run short of interesting invention. (See Short Readings Page 12/03/2011)
http://www.amazon.com/Leiyatels-Embrace-ebook/dp/B005V0B8DW
In the weave of the adventure we get elementals from the works of many great authors. The influences that particularly struck me were T.H. White, Tolkien, Mervyn Peake, and Lewis Carroll. To these writers great literary waves Johnson adds his own intricate currents. He draws strongly from northern English landscapes and the vernacular of its people, past and present. We sense the grand architectures of long inheritance, from mediaeval castles, to cobbled shambles, to the bleak modern concrete of industrialisation. At one moment we see a Camelot, then the harsh grandeur of what might be a modern power-station still standing in a technologically less advanced future. We feel the weather of Britain, whilst in the distance beyond Grey Mountains we hear that there lays a wide desert. Whether these arid lands are the result of pollution, or of climate, is left to our own thoughts.
This is not a book that explodes at you, one for instant gratification. It does require effort on the part of the reader, but it is worth it. The biggest rewards from Johnson's book are the wonderful vistas he paints. These are wide landscapes and small views, which are probably easiest to conjure for those familiar with northern England, but this is certainly not a requirement. We are not, after all on a documental journey with Wainwright, but rather with Johnson as our guide through his particular fantasy. The end is a satisfactory pause. That is all I feel it can be, because despite the books length there is still so much left to explore. I think this is a book that would feed the mind anew with a second reading, and one day I will make sure I find the time. It does not conclude with a fashionable hiatus of activity, Johnson is anything but a writer of fashion. This is a book of craft, of experiment, of exacting inspection, of the interested traveller for whom there is no determination to arrive. On this guided tour we eventually run out of steam, but never for a moment run short of interesting invention. (See Short Readings Page 12/03/2011)
http://www.amazon.com/Leiyatels-Embrace-ebook/dp/B005V0B8DW
[4] The Little Girl That Could: A Memoir- Marianne Tong
Marianne Tong has provided us with a marvellous insight into her life of physical and emotional travels through turbulent modern times. The story starts in pre 1940's Klobenz, and arrives in a present day Fairfield California, where this strong matriarch of a great American family still lives. When she was a child of six British and American bombs were dropping around her head. In her seventies she is a respected author despite as a young person, with a broken and periodic education, hating to write. In between Marianne has never long paused from pushing her own boundaries, and those of the varied panoramas in which she has lived.
One gets a deep sense of Marianne doing her best wherever life has taken her. We feel she has never been too frightened to take bold steps in a new direction, even when sometimes few around her have been willing to give support. Early hardships and early enforced mental maturity have, we read, created a feisty lady, one with a no nonsense approach to making the most of valuable time. This well written and insightful book will not grab every reader at every turn but it has much in it that we can all enjoy and learn from.
Marianne's bare, honest, poignant story is a significant addition to the social record of modern times. There are many important details that add so much to a well-rounded view of western European/American culture in which Marianne has played no small part. This is a true record of one person's extraordinary and ordinary life. A lady who survived early terrors, early separation from family, married a man of Asian extraction in a still deeply, if generally covertly, racist society, raised a family in sometime hardship, got a degree as a mature student, taught for thirteen years in the state school system of California, and who has now reinvented herself as respected author and voice with much still to give to modern media.
If at times the chapters drift a little, it is only because true life behaves that way. Who can write all their life as a trot without calling on fiction? The slower reflective periods are no less significant than the hiatuses, and when they touch a private chord, they are very insightful. This is not an adventure story with a high note at every chapters end. This is a record of one adventurous, interesting, life in the changing waves and troughs that buffet us all. http://www.amazon.com/Little-Girl-That-Could-Memoir/dp/1449046770
One gets a deep sense of Marianne doing her best wherever life has taken her. We feel she has never been too frightened to take bold steps in a new direction, even when sometimes few around her have been willing to give support. Early hardships and early enforced mental maturity have, we read, created a feisty lady, one with a no nonsense approach to making the most of valuable time. This well written and insightful book will not grab every reader at every turn but it has much in it that we can all enjoy and learn from.
Marianne's bare, honest, poignant story is a significant addition to the social record of modern times. There are many important details that add so much to a well-rounded view of western European/American culture in which Marianne has played no small part. This is a true record of one person's extraordinary and ordinary life. A lady who survived early terrors, early separation from family, married a man of Asian extraction in a still deeply, if generally covertly, racist society, raised a family in sometime hardship, got a degree as a mature student, taught for thirteen years in the state school system of California, and who has now reinvented herself as respected author and voice with much still to give to modern media.
If at times the chapters drift a little, it is only because true life behaves that way. Who can write all their life as a trot without calling on fiction? The slower reflective periods are no less significant than the hiatuses, and when they touch a private chord, they are very insightful. This is not an adventure story with a high note at every chapters end. This is a record of one adventurous, interesting, life in the changing waves and troughs that buffet us all. http://www.amazon.com/Little-Girl-That-Could-Memoir/dp/1449046770
[5] The Fifth Prophet- Dr. A.R. Davis
This is the first book in a long project to follow the "Family of Man", from this Order's conception in the mind of lottery winner Sam. Vague ideas grow from the tiny seeds of concern Sam has for the future of Mankind. Eventually, in the subsequent books Davis takes us on a journey out into hyperspace as from small beginnings the Family comes to be the saviour of our species. As I write this review, there are already an additional two books in this series. At this point in the grand saga we suspect that ideas were planted in the mind of Sam by a creative spirit, or a dying civilisation, but will we ever know for sure?
Imagine a just passed time-line, which is the history here, a chronology that in the next book heads off into outer space. Imagine a present that had gone just slightly differently than it did from the 2008 U.S. presidential run. Imagine a new order that grew not out of mirrored and combative fundamentalist religious doctrines or out of our traditional political philosophies, but out of the work of those who look to the most substantive inheritance of our forefathers. I mean our fundamental science. I take you back to Capernicus and Galilao, to the new religion of scientific logic which grew out of the Renaissance. By October 2007 ideas were cementing themselves in Sam's head. "What we need to do is kill Religion, and let God live!"
This is a fantastic, and a fantastical idea. Davis has created a huge concept, of which this book is its "foundation". It could never have been mathematical exactitude, but then it would be rather frightening if science fiction ever could be. However, there is still the probability that this story could still have many parallels with reality. The fact that we have already progressed someway beyond the start is actually something of a relief. We can be left to enjoy the story without any fear that we are reading the lecture notes of some "religious" prophet.
Watch the birth of new "empire", the beginning of Davis's vision of the flow of science into the future. This is true science fiction, a "mathematically" plausible future, even though the course is already deviated. I have read the series so I know plausibility will not be lost however fantastical this story, or our real journey, becomes. True Science Fiction is the projection of logic into distant futures. Fantasy can be given reign to swirl within the frame, but we need the frame. Mathematics provides the rhythm, the beating heart of life on which we build history. The "Fifth Prophet" builds a history from which Davis's future vision steadily soars.
There is more detail here than is easy: as there is in even the simplest of binary mathematics, as there is in any possible "genesis". Only a base equation is easy, and never its application. Every profound exploration needs a solid weave in its structure, and the weaves of the hyperthreads of our future are no different. This book is followed by "Time Travelers Are Schizophrenic", which shortly after you have read this I predict you will be reading. Oh! But for the detail Dr. Davis! It does work, I assure you, though at times I sort of wonder if some of it could have rested in the record, in "The Book" we never read, rather than on the page. Readers of Isaac Asimov will have some idea of what I mean about sometime detail, but that hasn't stopped that man being the greatest writer of the possible future that fiction science has yet seen. Am I getting carried away? You are the judge of that. I am not suggesting that Davis is a new Asimov, but I do believe there is the foundation of something special here.
If you are looking for the most exciting SF book you can find this isn't it, but if you have any interest in probability, possibility, and roads untraveled I genuinely believe you will enjoy it. In case I have given the wrong impression there is nothing dogmatic, or over difficult here. This is just a good fiction read. And the excitement, well that builds into the future as well, rather as in that greatest of true fantasy, Tolkien's Middle Earth. (See Short Readings 01/12/2012)
http://www.amazon.com/Fifth-Prophet-Dr-R-Davis/dp/1434371751
Imagine a just passed time-line, which is the history here, a chronology that in the next book heads off into outer space. Imagine a present that had gone just slightly differently than it did from the 2008 U.S. presidential run. Imagine a new order that grew not out of mirrored and combative fundamentalist religious doctrines or out of our traditional political philosophies, but out of the work of those who look to the most substantive inheritance of our forefathers. I mean our fundamental science. I take you back to Capernicus and Galilao, to the new religion of scientific logic which grew out of the Renaissance. By October 2007 ideas were cementing themselves in Sam's head. "What we need to do is kill Religion, and let God live!"
This is a fantastic, and a fantastical idea. Davis has created a huge concept, of which this book is its "foundation". It could never have been mathematical exactitude, but then it would be rather frightening if science fiction ever could be. However, there is still the probability that this story could still have many parallels with reality. The fact that we have already progressed someway beyond the start is actually something of a relief. We can be left to enjoy the story without any fear that we are reading the lecture notes of some "religious" prophet.
Watch the birth of new "empire", the beginning of Davis's vision of the flow of science into the future. This is true science fiction, a "mathematically" plausible future, even though the course is already deviated. I have read the series so I know plausibility will not be lost however fantastical this story, or our real journey, becomes. True Science Fiction is the projection of logic into distant futures. Fantasy can be given reign to swirl within the frame, but we need the frame. Mathematics provides the rhythm, the beating heart of life on which we build history. The "Fifth Prophet" builds a history from which Davis's future vision steadily soars.
There is more detail here than is easy: as there is in even the simplest of binary mathematics, as there is in any possible "genesis". Only a base equation is easy, and never its application. Every profound exploration needs a solid weave in its structure, and the weaves of the hyperthreads of our future are no different. This book is followed by "Time Travelers Are Schizophrenic", which shortly after you have read this I predict you will be reading. Oh! But for the detail Dr. Davis! It does work, I assure you, though at times I sort of wonder if some of it could have rested in the record, in "The Book" we never read, rather than on the page. Readers of Isaac Asimov will have some idea of what I mean about sometime detail, but that hasn't stopped that man being the greatest writer of the possible future that fiction science has yet seen. Am I getting carried away? You are the judge of that. I am not suggesting that Davis is a new Asimov, but I do believe there is the foundation of something special here.
If you are looking for the most exciting SF book you can find this isn't it, but if you have any interest in probability, possibility, and roads untraveled I genuinely believe you will enjoy it. In case I have given the wrong impression there is nothing dogmatic, or over difficult here. This is just a good fiction read. And the excitement, well that builds into the future as well, rather as in that greatest of true fantasy, Tolkien's Middle Earth. (See Short Readings 01/12/2012)
http://www.amazon.com/Fifth-Prophet-Dr-R-Davis/dp/1434371751
[6] Who Else is There- Philip Catshill
If you like a whodunit, and are prepared for brutal accurate description of murder and general physical and sexual violence then you will love this book. Let me be clear that when the plot requires these pictures to be brutally accurate they certainly are. Generally though graphic description of murder and sexual and physical violence is avoided, or rather left to the deprivations of our own imagination. When we the plot requires that we see every tear or drop of blood we do.
The main characters are very well rounded and believable, but personally I found it hard to keep up with the entire cast. This was more my fault than Philip Catshill's. The first requirement of any whodunit is to keep up. My reading was too broken to allow this. When reading Agatha Christie as a youngster I always used to write a key word or two on each character on a rough piece of paper. Unless you can read this book in a couple of close sessions I would consider doing the same here. Those who have the opportunity to read this book quickly will obviously not have this problem. The book certainly has the power to keep one going provided the real world doesn't intervene.
The main characters, all as flawed as any real people, and all add real dimension to the story. We soon have a deep understanding of what makes them tick as individuals, with always a little held back for an appropriate moment of revelation. This is an adult book, which brings out many dark emotions as it explores some of the extreme aspects of human behaviour. Both mental and physical sicknesses are described very believably, as are so many of the raw emotions associated with these conditions.
Perhaps by chance I did second guess the murderer, but never with anything like a freedom of doubt that could have spoilt the story. And although I can't be certain, because as I have said I didn't always keep up with all the nuances of every character, I certainly didn't see any flaws in the plot. Generally speaking the reading was very easy, though I was rather irritated by being told by the author what certain medical words he had just used meant. I would have preferred that the word was explained, if really necessary, in a more natural flow of the story, or an old fashioned use of the asterisk had been employed. I rather felt as though a pedantic editor had meddled.
I look forward to reading more from this author. I don't except in very rare cases give five stars to any book. For those who like this crude device and regret that I have broken the full sets of previous reviews, let me say that I am inclined to five for plot, and five for the complex psychologically and mostly very believable characters. I can't think of any aspects of the book that failed to score well.
http://www.amazon.com/Else-There-Newman-mysteries-ebook/dp/B0057IPO9W
The main characters are very well rounded and believable, but personally I found it hard to keep up with the entire cast. This was more my fault than Philip Catshill's. The first requirement of any whodunit is to keep up. My reading was too broken to allow this. When reading Agatha Christie as a youngster I always used to write a key word or two on each character on a rough piece of paper. Unless you can read this book in a couple of close sessions I would consider doing the same here. Those who have the opportunity to read this book quickly will obviously not have this problem. The book certainly has the power to keep one going provided the real world doesn't intervene.
The main characters, all as flawed as any real people, and all add real dimension to the story. We soon have a deep understanding of what makes them tick as individuals, with always a little held back for an appropriate moment of revelation. This is an adult book, which brings out many dark emotions as it explores some of the extreme aspects of human behaviour. Both mental and physical sicknesses are described very believably, as are so many of the raw emotions associated with these conditions.
Perhaps by chance I did second guess the murderer, but never with anything like a freedom of doubt that could have spoilt the story. And although I can't be certain, because as I have said I didn't always keep up with all the nuances of every character, I certainly didn't see any flaws in the plot. Generally speaking the reading was very easy, though I was rather irritated by being told by the author what certain medical words he had just used meant. I would have preferred that the word was explained, if really necessary, in a more natural flow of the story, or an old fashioned use of the asterisk had been employed. I rather felt as though a pedantic editor had meddled.
I look forward to reading more from this author. I don't except in very rare cases give five stars to any book. For those who like this crude device and regret that I have broken the full sets of previous reviews, let me say that I am inclined to five for plot, and five for the complex psychologically and mostly very believable characters. I can't think of any aspects of the book that failed to score well.
http://www.amazon.com/Else-There-Newman-mysteries-ebook/dp/B0057IPO9W
[7] One Day as a Tiger- Alan Taylor
Para This book drips with the mix of cultural pressures that were evident in the fading years of the British Empire in India. After weaving through a rich tapestry of historical fact, spiritual influences, and diverse and often conflicting cultures, not to mention an interesting ongoing plot, the reader ends up in the evocative hills of North Wales. Or will we? Taylor draws use steadily into the mists of Rama's mystical spirituality as we navigate the lives of his diverse cast of interesting characters. In the end time soaked magicians and savage gods win a timeless struggle against our modern world, or do they? I struggled for a while to identify a central theme, especially as this clever plot leaves room for most to follow their own path between orthodox belief and mystery. In the end I decided that the above all else this is a book about destiny.
The big picture follows the destiny of India as the seeds of a new beginning where planted and started to spout, we see the heavy burdens that blood and birth right are in our individual lives, we see the circles of intertwining belief tangle and chafe. We watch varied lives mix and part and mix again in new time changing ways.
Jason the white colonial child born to relative privilege, and Rama an "untouchable", and a child of a strange liaison between an epileptic young women known for her visions and a holy man, lived connected lives that run together as a the main thread of the story. We are allowed to understand Jason well enough, but do we ever know Rama? Of that you must be your own judge. I am sure of one powerful detail in this wonderful book, that being that Alan Taylor knows Jason very well.
This is a book for the thoughtful reader, for those who like writers that paint pictures layered with detail that yet still able to leave plenty of room for our minds to fill for themselves. There are many shades of subtle colour divided by vivid strokes in this rich book. The recipe is one of contrasting spices, which leaves a long lingering tingle in the mind. Death is never many pages away, as it is never from us. Behind all is the mantra "It is better to live one day as a Tiger than a hundred years as a sheep". graph. Cliquez ici pour modifier.
http://www.amazon.com/One-Day-Tiger-Alan-Taylor/dp/0755200209
The big picture follows the destiny of India as the seeds of a new beginning where planted and started to spout, we see the heavy burdens that blood and birth right are in our individual lives, we see the circles of intertwining belief tangle and chafe. We watch varied lives mix and part and mix again in new time changing ways.
Jason the white colonial child born to relative privilege, and Rama an "untouchable", and a child of a strange liaison between an epileptic young women known for her visions and a holy man, lived connected lives that run together as a the main thread of the story. We are allowed to understand Jason well enough, but do we ever know Rama? Of that you must be your own judge. I am sure of one powerful detail in this wonderful book, that being that Alan Taylor knows Jason very well.
This is a book for the thoughtful reader, for those who like writers that paint pictures layered with detail that yet still able to leave plenty of room for our minds to fill for themselves. There are many shades of subtle colour divided by vivid strokes in this rich book. The recipe is one of contrasting spices, which leaves a long lingering tingle in the mind. Death is never many pages away, as it is never from us. Behind all is the mantra "It is better to live one day as a Tiger than a hundred years as a sheep". graph. Cliquez ici pour modifier.
http://www.amazon.com/One-Day-Tiger-Alan-Taylor/dp/0755200209
[8] Ripple- A Dolphin Love Story, Tui Allen
Tui Allen's book "Ripple" should be as important to new generations as Rachel Carson's book "Silent Spring" was to mine. Carson's grew out of a life time of interest in Marine Biology. We now understand on a scientific level that by destroying our environment we are diminishing ourselves. Allen's book is a seminal work that takes us to the next level, more than most other work has done in the 50 years since. Allen can do for our metaphysical spirit what Carson did for our intellectual comprehension. Carson wrote of the nuts and bolts of environmental structure, and Allan of the essence of life itself.
But isn't this book just a short sentimental journey, flowing from Allan's clever perception of what cetacean life might actually embrace, namely, a sentient consciousness to rival our own.
Yes, and yet it is so much more.
This is a timely reminder, though we don't lack them in number but only of this quality, of what we are doing to the waters of this azure planet.
Can we heed this story as any more than a brief sentimental journey, as our brief tears over the likes of Joy Adamson's "Born Free"? Probably not! However, I insist we should. Allen's Ripple needs to be on our reading lists and perhaps it could even be some sort of film. Time will tell. Many reviews by far more influential critics than I will have to appear first, but this book is every bit good enough to join the common vernacular of our savage modern tribe, if the brush of fame can just be applied.
Who is to say whether "Ripple" will be simply another "science fiction drama" that touches a few lucky readers, or one that grows to touch our common consciousness, our understanding of ourselves? All I can do is send this weak bleat into the ether, without any hope of where it might fall. I hope that this sentimental delight doesn't prove to be a visionary documentary drama foretelling of the final extinction of sea mammals, sometime between 2207 and 2217 Anno Domini.
I hope the book's cover doesn't confine it to the young adult, and mostly female, shelves. It will sell well from them, but it is so much larger than this market. This is a book for every one of us who has a thread that still ties them to concern for the wellbeing of life, and not just a rope connecting them with the selfish survival of man. Unlike the other books mentioned here, this is certainly fiction, but not mere fiction, not mere, not for one fleeting second.
http://www.amazon.com/Ripple-Dolphin-Love-Story-ebook/dp/B005O8J5YA
But isn't this book just a short sentimental journey, flowing from Allan's clever perception of what cetacean life might actually embrace, namely, a sentient consciousness to rival our own.
Yes, and yet it is so much more.
This is a timely reminder, though we don't lack them in number but only of this quality, of what we are doing to the waters of this azure planet.
Can we heed this story as any more than a brief sentimental journey, as our brief tears over the likes of Joy Adamson's "Born Free"? Probably not! However, I insist we should. Allen's Ripple needs to be on our reading lists and perhaps it could even be some sort of film. Time will tell. Many reviews by far more influential critics than I will have to appear first, but this book is every bit good enough to join the common vernacular of our savage modern tribe, if the brush of fame can just be applied.
Who is to say whether "Ripple" will be simply another "science fiction drama" that touches a few lucky readers, or one that grows to touch our common consciousness, our understanding of ourselves? All I can do is send this weak bleat into the ether, without any hope of where it might fall. I hope that this sentimental delight doesn't prove to be a visionary documentary drama foretelling of the final extinction of sea mammals, sometime between 2207 and 2217 Anno Domini.
I hope the book's cover doesn't confine it to the young adult, and mostly female, shelves. It will sell well from them, but it is so much larger than this market. This is a book for every one of us who has a thread that still ties them to concern for the wellbeing of life, and not just a rope connecting them with the selfish survival of man. Unlike the other books mentioned here, this is certainly fiction, but not mere fiction, not mere, not for one fleeting second.
http://www.amazon.com/Ripple-Dolphin-Love-Story-ebook/dp/B005O8J5YA
[9] Leah- Dana K. Haffar
Leah is not just a book with many of the traditional elements of romance, it is a life art experience. This is a moving tapestry, every bit as perceptive as we come to assume are the paintings created by the main character Mar. This is a psychological book, which deeply explores people and the moments that create them. We actually brush up against the paranormal, how closely will depend on the minds of the reader. The beautifully crafted words provide the frame; our imaginations are drawn to paint the colours.
We may not at first know all Haffar's rich characters, but most will know a Mar, a Lemay, an Oscar. By the end we know the island and its inhabitants so well that they must long live in one's consciousness. On the evidence of this book, Dana K.Haffar deserves a great deal of success.
A isolated island where the entire economy revolves around fishing, and everyone knows everyone else's business, provides a retreat for the central character and her daughter from a dominating husband and loved father. There she tries to ignore her damaged eyesight, to submerge herself in self-reflection and her artistic painting, but finds herself embroiled in dark local secrets and in Sebastian's arms.
http://www.amazon.com/Leah-ebook/dp/B006FHUD86
We may not at first know all Haffar's rich characters, but most will know a Mar, a Lemay, an Oscar. By the end we know the island and its inhabitants so well that they must long live in one's consciousness. On the evidence of this book, Dana K.Haffar deserves a great deal of success.
A isolated island where the entire economy revolves around fishing, and everyone knows everyone else's business, provides a retreat for the central character and her daughter from a dominating husband and loved father. There she tries to ignore her damaged eyesight, to submerge herself in self-reflection and her artistic painting, but finds herself embroiled in dark local secrets and in Sebastian's arms.
http://www.amazon.com/Leah-ebook/dp/B006FHUD86
[10] Keeping Counsel- Rebecca Forster
The mechanics of the plot are well designed, the first requirement of any legal thriller. I have no idea as to whether all the detailed legal structure holds up, or even the total psychological profile of the killer, not that such exactitudes have much influence on the stories excitement. What is important is that I was drawn in, founding myself to be genuinely concerned for the safety of Tara and Shining. The menacing power of the killer seemed only too real. I had no trouble believing the mix of sexual attraction and repulsion that Tara felt for both the killer, and her ex-lover, Ben. People are a mix of often contradictory and always confusing quirks, characteristics that Forster plays very well.
All the characters worked for me, all flawed, all, including the killer, a mix of good and bad. The only relationship I struggled to believe was Bill's with his mother, but here we are on the very fringes of the story. To be a five star book I felt I needed better legal resolution, through playing the story out a little longer. It crosses my mind that Forster felt compelled to pander to the mass of readers that don't like to read too long. I can't argue against commercial sense. Also note that I'm not suggesting that the ending lacked punch, it certainly had that. I see this novel as more of a psychological thriller than a legal one. It is so full of very penetration observations into what makes people tick. I am sure that I will be reading many more of Forster's books.
http://www.amazon.com/Keeping-Counsel-Rebecca-Forster/dp/0615608558
All the characters worked for me, all flawed, all, including the killer, a mix of good and bad. The only relationship I struggled to believe was Bill's with his mother, but here we are on the very fringes of the story. To be a five star book I felt I needed better legal resolution, through playing the story out a little longer. It crosses my mind that Forster felt compelled to pander to the mass of readers that don't like to read too long. I can't argue against commercial sense. Also note that I'm not suggesting that the ending lacked punch, it certainly had that. I see this novel as more of a psychological thriller than a legal one. It is so full of very penetration observations into what makes people tick. I am sure that I will be reading many more of Forster's books.
http://www.amazon.com/Keeping-Counsel-Rebecca-Forster/dp/0615608558
[11] Eyewitness- Rebecca Forster
This is not the easiest Forster to get into, not that that will deter her fans. Don't let it deter you in the unlikely event that this is the first one you have sampled. When you do catch up with the characters, a problem we share with the local police, one will be rewarded in as least as big a way as is customary with a Forster.
The parallel story telling requires a little effort, a temporary requirement to multi-task. I found it necessary to be relaxed about remembering the early flood of characters, and corpses. Soon enough we get to know all the characters we need very well. There is always a lot going on, plenty of energy to keep the mind's light-bulb lit.
The mix of cultural expectation, and the deeply engrained private pasts that we all carry with us are the keys to this powerful read. Our own histories have complex emotional affects, just as do those of Forster's characters. The parallel storytelling, the sub-story that starts the chapters will provide the glue. You will need the glue, but be relaxed about watching it set. The witness theme gets a clever re-design, rather than just a new coat of paint, in this one. Clashing colours just take a little getting used too, Forster doesn't write in beige. Waves from all the characters colourful pasts impinge on the physical forces of the present. They flash through the pages creating yet another brilliant Forster novel. Witness the crimes for yourself.
http://www.amazon.com/Eyewitness-The-Witness-Series-ebook/dp/B00BKSWOA0
The parallel story telling requires a little effort, a temporary requirement to multi-task. I found it necessary to be relaxed about remembering the early flood of characters, and corpses. Soon enough we get to know all the characters we need very well. There is always a lot going on, plenty of energy to keep the mind's light-bulb lit.
The mix of cultural expectation, and the deeply engrained private pasts that we all carry with us are the keys to this powerful read. Our own histories have complex emotional affects, just as do those of Forster's characters. The parallel storytelling, the sub-story that starts the chapters will provide the glue. You will need the glue, but be relaxed about watching it set. The witness theme gets a clever re-design, rather than just a new coat of paint, in this one. Clashing colours just take a little getting used too, Forster doesn't write in beige. Waves from all the characters colourful pasts impinge on the physical forces of the present. They flash through the pages creating yet another brilliant Forster novel. Witness the crimes for yourself.
http://www.amazon.com/Eyewitness-The-Witness-Series-ebook/dp/B00BKSWOA0
[12] Shades of Green- Andy Lake
Shades of Green is certainly not similar to a similarly titled popular shade. This is a deep political thriller, set in a United Kingdom in which the political balance is gradually lost. In this story, danger comes from the left, from a sort of green quasi national-socialism that is allowed to run out of control. We see how an evil mind-set and then terrifying manipulation of a population can grow out of benign belief hijacked by extremists.
In this fascinating book we follow the growth of a strengthening political philosophy, the appearance of its disciples, the slow subversion of the middle-ground, and the eventually near surrender of control. There are shades of 1984 and shades of Nazism, of fascism, of Talibanism, of state controlled communism, of any self-righteous doctrine that strives to subvert and then dictate.
The growth of extreme out of simple truths, simple injustices, greed for power, these are the building blocks of totalitarianism that can appear out of any marginal corner of the political spectrum. We see the political play, in which no one resists forcefully enough until it is too late. You will recycle, first your waste, then your lifestyle, then yourself, as the shades of green grow darker.
This is a long satisfying read with well-built characters. There seem to be an overwhelming number of individuals at first, but don't be deterred. Make use of Lake's chart of people and their left, right affiliations. Use it and be relaxed about the detail you forget. It is the message, the sweep of movement in the story, the building swell of controls that slowly pile against ordinary people that is important. This is food for thought, and food with some unfamiliar colours. Shades of green, blue, red, yellow and purple are far more interesting than base greys.
Most of the characters you need are in the landscape around you. Not quite all with different names, but all uneasily familiar. Some characters have strong parallels in national government, some in parish councils, some in environmentalist or paramilitary groups, you will recognize them all.
Is this book well written? Yes. Is it easy? Well this isn't shades of stupefying pornography for the middle-aged, a little reading is required.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1481807714
In this fascinating book we follow the growth of a strengthening political philosophy, the appearance of its disciples, the slow subversion of the middle-ground, and the eventually near surrender of control. There are shades of 1984 and shades of Nazism, of fascism, of Talibanism, of state controlled communism, of any self-righteous doctrine that strives to subvert and then dictate.
The growth of extreme out of simple truths, simple injustices, greed for power, these are the building blocks of totalitarianism that can appear out of any marginal corner of the political spectrum. We see the political play, in which no one resists forcefully enough until it is too late. You will recycle, first your waste, then your lifestyle, then yourself, as the shades of green grow darker.
This is a long satisfying read with well-built characters. There seem to be an overwhelming number of individuals at first, but don't be deterred. Make use of Lake's chart of people and their left, right affiliations. Use it and be relaxed about the detail you forget. It is the message, the sweep of movement in the story, the building swell of controls that slowly pile against ordinary people that is important. This is food for thought, and food with some unfamiliar colours. Shades of green, blue, red, yellow and purple are far more interesting than base greys.
Most of the characters you need are in the landscape around you. Not quite all with different names, but all uneasily familiar. Some characters have strong parallels in national government, some in parish councils, some in environmentalist or paramilitary groups, you will recognize them all.
Is this book well written? Yes. Is it easy? Well this isn't shades of stupefying pornography for the middle-aged, a little reading is required.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1481807714
[13] Yellow Glad Days- Sam Bellotto Jr.
This intellectual, prose-cartoon, that might have grown out of some confusion between MAD magazine, speculative science fiction and Bellotto's weird mental contemplations about a near future North America, has spilled in a sort of semi-organised chaos into a very entertaining book. Medicated Yellow Glad Days are just around a future corner. This is a book for the college folks who never quite grow up, or never intend to grow up, to be really really serious people, well, except on work days of course. This is a romp through a futuristic politicised landscape, in the City of Bigapolis, which definitely isn't in Alabama. The would be hero, in a world that is content to be left alone, doesn't really know where he is going except that he wants to get there. What Astin does know is that he is against being tranquillised; probably!
Isn't persuading everyone to get a fix, wrong or something? It could be, and anyway isn't a journalist meant to be a bit of a rebel. This book mainlines on satire, wades through cynical, is mockingly indeterministic and weaves through several levels of funny ironic. The reader might agree with Astin Wench, if only Astin knew where he was going. This is a fun book for glad days, by Gad, which takes a swipe at, well, everything really. Not to be taken with too many very serious pills. The book is dedicated to Xanax and Paxil, pharmaceutical twins that fight against general anxiety disorders. They seem to work. But that doesn't mean we all want the same blissful relief, even from a decaying society. One has taken the trouble to read this, so then, if one has time then why not read the book? Anyway, we need to make society better, and not just have everyone taking stuff to make society seem better. Or do we?
http://www.amazon.com/Yellow-Glad-Days-Sam-Bellotto/dp/1468114077
Isn't persuading everyone to get a fix, wrong or something? It could be, and anyway isn't a journalist meant to be a bit of a rebel. This book mainlines on satire, wades through cynical, is mockingly indeterministic and weaves through several levels of funny ironic. The reader might agree with Astin Wench, if only Astin knew where he was going. This is a fun book for glad days, by Gad, which takes a swipe at, well, everything really. Not to be taken with too many very serious pills. The book is dedicated to Xanax and Paxil, pharmaceutical twins that fight against general anxiety disorders. They seem to work. But that doesn't mean we all want the same blissful relief, even from a decaying society. One has taken the trouble to read this, so then, if one has time then why not read the book? Anyway, we need to make society better, and not just have everyone taking stuff to make society seem better. Or do we?
http://www.amazon.com/Yellow-Glad-Days-Sam-Bellotto/dp/1468114077
[14] The Inevitable- Daniel Hope
I was half-hooked on this book before I even started. I'm a fan of the speculative and philosophical in the sort of Science Fiction that this book promised to be. However, such raised expectation can so easily be dashed. Like watching a "must see" film, too much expectation can be a terrible spoiler. I wasn't disappointed, not for a moment.
I also enjoy the sort of light prose that this author can produce. Humour is always bubbling away somewhere in the text, sometimes dark, sometimes, dry, or observational, or occasionally just plain funny. The ground covered, though, is serious enough. This book is entertainment with plenty of hard speculative though behind the flowing words. I actually felt at times as though I now knew what it could be like to be the artificial intelligences that are Tuck and David, I even thought I understood what it was like to be the biologically enhanced and yet emotionally autistic personality that is Maze.
The story was very well structured with flashback type memories from Tuck's long-past. We actually get a sense of how this robot became the personality he most certainly is. What is it to be human, and what is it to be a technological construction, which, through experience and self-modification, has become almost human? Above all what is it like for any intelligent creature to contemplate its own mortality?
I won't compare this work with that of other writers, not because this one is uniquely different, it isn't, but simply because it deserves to be judged by its creativity. Nowadays, true originality is hard to achieve in any genre; almost invariably, works can only be original to some small percentage of the individuals they touch. Perhaps I can best describe the read as being fresh, vivid, smart, rather than being full of brand new ideas.
Oh! Just in case I didn't make things clear, "The Inevitable" isn't short on excitement.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Inevitable-Daniel-Hope/dp/1490925317
I also enjoy the sort of light prose that this author can produce. Humour is always bubbling away somewhere in the text, sometimes dark, sometimes, dry, or observational, or occasionally just plain funny. The ground covered, though, is serious enough. This book is entertainment with plenty of hard speculative though behind the flowing words. I actually felt at times as though I now knew what it could be like to be the artificial intelligences that are Tuck and David, I even thought I understood what it was like to be the biologically enhanced and yet emotionally autistic personality that is Maze.
The story was very well structured with flashback type memories from Tuck's long-past. We actually get a sense of how this robot became the personality he most certainly is. What is it to be human, and what is it to be a technological construction, which, through experience and self-modification, has become almost human? Above all what is it like for any intelligent creature to contemplate its own mortality?
I won't compare this work with that of other writers, not because this one is uniquely different, it isn't, but simply because it deserves to be judged by its creativity. Nowadays, true originality is hard to achieve in any genre; almost invariably, works can only be original to some small percentage of the individuals they touch. Perhaps I can best describe the read as being fresh, vivid, smart, rather than being full of brand new ideas.
Oh! Just in case I didn't make things clear, "The Inevitable" isn't short on excitement.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Inevitable-Daniel-Hope/dp/1490925317
[15] Undazzled- Chance Maree ~~~~ (Extract 10)
This is the second book from the quill of Chance Maree, following the innovative metaphysical delight that is "Alexios, Before Dying". I criticised that wonderful book for a lack of plot and an over-brevity of description, whilst praising it as a truly creative and original work.
This book has gone a step further. The plot is detailed, unpredictable, and exquisitely constructed. The reader has to keep the elements together, but the effort of memory is truly worth it. There is still a fashionable under playing of description, which so plagues modern writing; but there is enough structure to free our imaginations without allowing the reader to run away form the author's control. I can never see the point of using such brevity that we can all mould vital scenes as we want, rather than accurately read the mind of the writer. Chance at least gives us most of the colours to fill in the drawing, though she still leaves a little danger of some of her bright contrasts being smudged.
The accuracy of the writing is very good, except in a very few places that I interpreted as confusion caused by savage editing rather than faulty original script. The few confused sentences were just too uncharacteristic, too out of style, to have been those of the author. Perhaps another beta reader was needed before publication, or were there actually too many kitchen assistants?
I am so looking forward to Maree's next book, which I'm sure to like even if it is half as good.
http://www.amazon.com/Undazzled-ebook/dp/B00BL3YPBK
This book has gone a step further. The plot is detailed, unpredictable, and exquisitely constructed. The reader has to keep the elements together, but the effort of memory is truly worth it. There is still a fashionable under playing of description, which so plagues modern writing; but there is enough structure to free our imaginations without allowing the reader to run away form the author's control. I can never see the point of using such brevity that we can all mould vital scenes as we want, rather than accurately read the mind of the writer. Chance at least gives us most of the colours to fill in the drawing, though she still leaves a little danger of some of her bright contrasts being smudged.
The accuracy of the writing is very good, except in a very few places that I interpreted as confusion caused by savage editing rather than faulty original script. The few confused sentences were just too uncharacteristic, too out of style, to have been those of the author. Perhaps another beta reader was needed before publication, or were there actually too many kitchen assistants?
I am so looking forward to Maree's next book, which I'm sure to like even if it is half as good.
http://www.amazon.com/Undazzled-ebook/dp/B00BL3YPBK
[16] 11 Oak Street- Graham Cook ~~~~ (Extract 14)
This book is a stunning indictment of a corrupt and vindictive legal system, which is not set in a failed State, or in a corrupt totalitarian regime, or in some particularly troublesome period of history, it is set in the `legal' system of the State of California and its judicially semi-autonomous counties. I am not Californian, or even American, so feel free to read my supporting criticism with that in mind. Graham Cook isn't a `native' of that area either, which undoubtedly coloured some of the judgements against him.
The facts in this book are just that, facts. Critics may assume that some things are left out in order to so weigh the book's balance in the author's favour. This thought naturally crossed my mind, but the book covers such blatant miscarriages of justice that any sane person would struggle to do anything but side fully with Graham Cook.
This autobiographical account is stunning. That he persisted in fighting through the courts for so long, despite a deep well of corruption hidden in the system, even whilst struggling against many of those, then or previously, close to him, is nothing short of flabbergasting. This was all to achieve what exactly? To find out you will have to read the book.
Graham Cook clearly states that neither he nor his supporters did everything right every time, but gads, if he wasn't royally screwed by the system then who has ever been. Courts are rightly inclined towards prejudice in favour of the mother in cases of disputed custody. As a general rule, I think this is no bad thing. As a husband and a father I feel I'm more than within my rights to say so. However, courts need to be fair and open to ruling in a father's favour whenever there is any doubt as to the mother's capability or behaviour. We all hear thousands of stories reflecting this sort of issue. However, this book is far more than just one more example in that unfortunate flood. This isn't about simple biases that exist in any legal system; this is about corruption within, and the illegal manipulation of, the judiciary. This is about corruption, prejudice and outright theft by individuals that society needed, or still needs, to trust.
This is a very well written account of a family `train-crash' caused by systemic failures and a lack of impartial oversight. Every adult that cares a fig about family issues, about natural justice or about the dangers inherent in poorly regulated legal entities, should read this. But above all, this book needs to be read by those that hold public office in the, in so many ways great, State of California.http://www.amazon.com/11-Oak-Street-Graham-Cook-ebook/dp/B00GA817N0
The facts in this book are just that, facts. Critics may assume that some things are left out in order to so weigh the book's balance in the author's favour. This thought naturally crossed my mind, but the book covers such blatant miscarriages of justice that any sane person would struggle to do anything but side fully with Graham Cook.
This autobiographical account is stunning. That he persisted in fighting through the courts for so long, despite a deep well of corruption hidden in the system, even whilst struggling against many of those, then or previously, close to him, is nothing short of flabbergasting. This was all to achieve what exactly? To find out you will have to read the book.
Graham Cook clearly states that neither he nor his supporters did everything right every time, but gads, if he wasn't royally screwed by the system then who has ever been. Courts are rightly inclined towards prejudice in favour of the mother in cases of disputed custody. As a general rule, I think this is no bad thing. As a husband and a father I feel I'm more than within my rights to say so. However, courts need to be fair and open to ruling in a father's favour whenever there is any doubt as to the mother's capability or behaviour. We all hear thousands of stories reflecting this sort of issue. However, this book is far more than just one more example in that unfortunate flood. This isn't about simple biases that exist in any legal system; this is about corruption within, and the illegal manipulation of, the judiciary. This is about corruption, prejudice and outright theft by individuals that society needed, or still needs, to trust.
This is a very well written account of a family `train-crash' caused by systemic failures and a lack of impartial oversight. Every adult that cares a fig about family issues, about natural justice or about the dangers inherent in poorly regulated legal entities, should read this. But above all, this book needs to be read by those that hold public office in the, in so many ways great, State of California.http://www.amazon.com/11-Oak-Street-Graham-Cook-ebook/dp/B00GA817N0
[17] Life First- R.J. Crayton ~~~~ (Extract 18)
This is a very well written fiction story that adds interesting fuel to the debate between those that support the `rights' of the individual and those that put the rights of community ahead of those of the individuals. Should the individual be expected to suffer, even to risk life, for a common good? Should we all, ultimately, be conscript soldiers of society?
The principle character is fascinating, complex, and totally credible. Whether she is actually a hero, a coward, or a genuine conscientious objector, each of us has to decide for ourselves. For me Kelsey was a mix of all three, just as most of us would probably be, depending on the degree and type of cultural indoctrination we had experienced.
The only flaw of the plot was for me the over close relationships of all the principle characters in Kelsey vs The State. This tightness helped drive the intensity of the drama, but it all proved to strain my buy in to its plausibility. Wouldn't the prosecution have ripped the defence case apart even more effectively than it did as a consequence of the degree of nepotism? I think so.
This is a really good read and an excellent affirmation of competence amongst independent writers. We should all be grateful that the fall of old-publishing through the rise of the net has allowed writers like Crayton to be heard.
http://www.amazon.com/Life-First-RJ-Crayton-ebook/dp/B00DFNWFX4
The principle character is fascinating, complex, and totally credible. Whether she is actually a hero, a coward, or a genuine conscientious objector, each of us has to decide for ourselves. For me Kelsey was a mix of all three, just as most of us would probably be, depending on the degree and type of cultural indoctrination we had experienced.
The only flaw of the plot was for me the over close relationships of all the principle characters in Kelsey vs The State. This tightness helped drive the intensity of the drama, but it all proved to strain my buy in to its plausibility. Wouldn't the prosecution have ripped the defence case apart even more effectively than it did as a consequence of the degree of nepotism? I think so.
This is a really good read and an excellent affirmation of competence amongst independent writers. We should all be grateful that the fall of old-publishing through the rise of the net has allowed writers like Crayton to be heard.
http://www.amazon.com/Life-First-RJ-Crayton-ebook/dp/B00DFNWFX4
[18] It's Just Lola- Dixiane Hallaj ~~~~ (Extract 19)
Dixiane Hallaj is a particular good writer of social/historically placed, politically pointed, drama, both in her creative fiction and as in this case in the writing of Biography augmented with fictional reality. In fact, most biographies contain some invented content, and/or augmented interpretation. There are going to be gaps to fill in any knowledge that reports anything deeper than the bare historic/factual bones.
Hallaj writes, very-broadly speaking, women’s literature, in that central female figures and through them family, are her bread and butter. That shouldn’t deter any but the most misogynistic of male readers. There is plenty of the gritty content and adventure to balance the childcare and dressmaking. This is a lot on female, and male, sensitivities, but certainly very little sentimental. Lola had as psychologically tough a life as most male heroes, and survived an extraordinarily mixed bunch of husbands and other male figures. I may have lost count, but she had certainly buried at least two husbands and saw off another by the time she was thirty. Well, to be accurate, the exes were never conventionally buried.
Hallaj has preserved for history a very informative piece of family/social history. She literally saved important social history from a death bed. This is the history of a very ordinary daughter of gentry, turned extraordinary by the turmoil that swirled through and around her life. Lola saw plenty of the poverties and hardships as well as at least spells of grandeur living. We learn a very great deal about the life experiences of people in Latin America and further afield, between the end of the 19th century and the start of the Great Depression. We leave Lola’s life when she was still hardly middle-aged, by which time she had as much life experience as a half dozen others might achieve in half a dozen centuries. Hallaj has blended biography and real life fiction to create a wonderful memory of her grandmother from her mother’s own words.
The writing is of a very high quality, the script is captivating, and we learn as much about Lola’s times as we would from the very best of historical documentary. What is more, Hallaj seems to be able to paint incredibly detailed pictures without ever seeming to use more than the fewest of words to do so.http://www.amazon.com/Its-Just-Lola-Dixiane-Hallaj-ebook/dp/B008SUUV7G
Hallaj writes, very-broadly speaking, women’s literature, in that central female figures and through them family, are her bread and butter. That shouldn’t deter any but the most misogynistic of male readers. There is plenty of the gritty content and adventure to balance the childcare and dressmaking. This is a lot on female, and male, sensitivities, but certainly very little sentimental. Lola had as psychologically tough a life as most male heroes, and survived an extraordinarily mixed bunch of husbands and other male figures. I may have lost count, but she had certainly buried at least two husbands and saw off another by the time she was thirty. Well, to be accurate, the exes were never conventionally buried.
Hallaj has preserved for history a very informative piece of family/social history. She literally saved important social history from a death bed. This is the history of a very ordinary daughter of gentry, turned extraordinary by the turmoil that swirled through and around her life. Lola saw plenty of the poverties and hardships as well as at least spells of grandeur living. We learn a very great deal about the life experiences of people in Latin America and further afield, between the end of the 19th century and the start of the Great Depression. We leave Lola’s life when she was still hardly middle-aged, by which time she had as much life experience as a half dozen others might achieve in half a dozen centuries. Hallaj has blended biography and real life fiction to create a wonderful memory of her grandmother from her mother’s own words.
The writing is of a very high quality, the script is captivating, and we learn as much about Lola’s times as we would from the very best of historical documentary. What is more, Hallaj seems to be able to paint incredibly detailed pictures without ever seeming to use more than the fewest of words to do so.http://www.amazon.com/Its-Just-Lola-Dixiane-Hallaj-ebook/dp/B008SUUV7G
[19] Mug's Game- C. D. Swanson ~~~~ (Extract 20)
This book is written in a lively, energetic style that bounced me through the story. The narrator is Swanson's main character, one Jimmie Barlow. The voice feels to me, though I am fairly long-in-the-tooth, to be a very authentic male teenage/young adult one. Seeing as the author is both female, and of nearer my age than a teenager, I consider her character's words have been delivered with a great deal of aplomb and credibility. In places, I could hear my own young adult children talking.
To the outside world, Jimmie appears to have the profile of a classic off-the-rails young man. He is hooked on on-line gaming, dubious money-making enterprises, is often absent from school in which he has few friends, he associates with life's tragic and criminal cases, and he is not beyond being the part of almost any mischief. Nearly everyone underestimates and/or believes the worst of Jimmie.
The plot has violent and tragic tones, an often irreverent humour, sad and dysfunctional characterisations, and all overlaying a serious subtext concerning social issues that impinge on nearly all of our lives. I am now a C.D. Swanson fan. There were a few copy errors in the version I read, but they were too minor to concern all but a 'precision-editing-fascist'.http://www.amazon.com/Mugs-Game-Barlow-Action-Adventure-Mysteries-ebook/dp/B00HNJWMO8
To the outside world, Jimmie appears to have the profile of a classic off-the-rails young man. He is hooked on on-line gaming, dubious money-making enterprises, is often absent from school in which he has few friends, he associates with life's tragic and criminal cases, and he is not beyond being the part of almost any mischief. Nearly everyone underestimates and/or believes the worst of Jimmie.
The plot has violent and tragic tones, an often irreverent humour, sad and dysfunctional characterisations, and all overlaying a serious subtext concerning social issues that impinge on nearly all of our lives. I am now a C.D. Swanson fan. There were a few copy errors in the version I read, but they were too minor to concern all but a 'precision-editing-fascist'.http://www.amazon.com/Mugs-Game-Barlow-Action-Adventure-Mysteries-ebook/dp/B00HNJWMO8
[20] King's Warrior- Jenelle Leanne Schmidt ~~~~ (Extract 21)
This is well written, though it needs another edit to cut out sentences that repeat rather more than advance the dialogue. The story leans towards the happy ending fairy-tale rather than harder fantasy, not that that is a fault. What it does mean is that this book is, in my middle-aged opinion, suited best to older children rather than young adults. However, I have no intention of putting of adult readers. King's Warrior has plenty of depth of story for mature readers that like well written tales that don't feel the need to more than imply the bestial. There is a sense of the allegorical, the fight between good and evil, which I see as putting this book on a shelf next to C.S Lewis's rather than J.K Rowling's books.
I was asked to assess this book, completely independently of the author, and gave it a pass as a well conceived, well plotted, and artfully written book. So my reservations are minor. If the author takes the trouble to revisit and tighten the prose I will be only to happy to give it the fifth star. This is absolutely not a criticism of long writing and the use of adjective and adverb to lend texture. I love writing with width, however 'unnecessary' to plot, but just not sentences that fail to add enough to description to justify their inclusion.
The characters are well conceived and well crafted, the swords and sorcery theme is well exploited, and I was left with not a little anticipation for the second book in this series. All in all, this is an excellent read.http://www.amazon.com/Warrior-Minstrels-Jenelle-Leanne-Schmidt-ebook/dp/B008UCLDV0
I was asked to assess this book, completely independently of the author, and gave it a pass as a well conceived, well plotted, and artfully written book. So my reservations are minor. If the author takes the trouble to revisit and tighten the prose I will be only to happy to give it the fifth star. This is absolutely not a criticism of long writing and the use of adjective and adverb to lend texture. I love writing with width, however 'unnecessary' to plot, but just not sentences that fail to add enough to description to justify their inclusion.
The characters are well conceived and well crafted, the swords and sorcery theme is well exploited, and I was left with not a little anticipation for the second book in this series. All in all, this is an excellent read.http://www.amazon.com/Warrior-Minstrels-Jenelle-Leanne-Schmidt-ebook/dp/B008UCLDV0
[21] Prunella Smith: World's Within Worlds- Tahlia Newland~~~~ (Extract 40)
Wow!- Four main themes, plus what could be a heap of short stories in one of the most innovative and original works I have read in a long time. I couldn't possible pin point this work to a genre, as the metaphysical, the fantasy, the thriller, the speculative, and the literary combine and melt into each other.
This is written on four levels of consciousness- the self disguised, the self as another, the self as omnipresent, and the self in a parallel existence.
If that sounds heavy- it isn't. Really well written books are open to most readers, not just to genre, academic and literary world toffs. This is a brilliant general readers book. I have almost never read a novel in one sitting, I am a very slow and precise line reader, but I came very close to doing so this time. Newland's vision, writing in the first person as the writer Prunella Smith, worked for me on so many different levels. I forget most books within days, sometimes less. I won't forget this one.
Sometimes a clever work like this can help readers escape the myopia of the favoured genre, and in doing so do many favours. Now, obviously one may argue that such books then fall into the trap of never really grabbing anyone. There is no answer to that, but there is no harm in trying something different. Think fusion in cuisine, mixed medium art galleries, market stall shopping, multi-themed gardens, and you will be on a suitably fluid wave to immerse yourself this book.
Once you get going you will get to the end only too soon. Yes, this is compulsive enough to collapse time, but actually it isn't a long book anyway. So don't do that skim-reading thing, but rather make sure you taste all the words as you float through. Listen to the contemplative Buddhist inside you, so as to suppress your own bit of Dita. No, nothing is required to enjoy this, nothing -ist needed at all. As for Dita- read to find out.
http://www.amazon.com/Prunella-Smith-Worlds-Within-ebook/dp/B00PMPNSIO
This is written on four levels of consciousness- the self disguised, the self as another, the self as omnipresent, and the self in a parallel existence.
If that sounds heavy- it isn't. Really well written books are open to most readers, not just to genre, academic and literary world toffs. This is a brilliant general readers book. I have almost never read a novel in one sitting, I am a very slow and precise line reader, but I came very close to doing so this time. Newland's vision, writing in the first person as the writer Prunella Smith, worked for me on so many different levels. I forget most books within days, sometimes less. I won't forget this one.
Sometimes a clever work like this can help readers escape the myopia of the favoured genre, and in doing so do many favours. Now, obviously one may argue that such books then fall into the trap of never really grabbing anyone. There is no answer to that, but there is no harm in trying something different. Think fusion in cuisine, mixed medium art galleries, market stall shopping, multi-themed gardens, and you will be on a suitably fluid wave to immerse yourself this book.
Once you get going you will get to the end only too soon. Yes, this is compulsive enough to collapse time, but actually it isn't a long book anyway. So don't do that skim-reading thing, but rather make sure you taste all the words as you float through. Listen to the contemplative Buddhist inside you, so as to suppress your own bit of Dita. No, nothing is required to enjoy this, nothing -ist needed at all. As for Dita- read to find out.
http://www.amazon.com/Prunella-Smith-Worlds-Within-ebook/dp/B00PMPNSIO
[22] Blood for Blood- D. S. Allen ~~~~ (Extract 45)
Good historical thriller, which fitted in well to what I believe I know about 17th Century 'British Isles'. The plot had many stock historical themes from the Civil War and Protectorate periods. That isn't a criticism, as historical fiction without strong anchors in well studied events is very difficult to buy into.
The book is well enough written, conveying all the hardships and customary behaviours associated with those torturous times without every straying far into harsh graphic detail. This creates a book for a very wide readership. We are given the colours and outlines, being left free to paint the stronger images for ourselves. That doesn't mean the story lacks bite, far from it.
The characters are drawn with a depth of individual and understandable emotions and prejudices, especially in the light of the historic backdrop. As one living much of my life in one of the last country houses to hold to the King, in one of the strongest Royalist areas in the Civil War, I have always had an interest in that history. I read nothing that grated against my preconceptions. I wish I had written this plot.
Of interest to me is the strong connection this book has with so much that is currently happening as a result of interactions between prejudiced religious beliefs and cultural intolerances. I don't know if any of this was in Allen's mind as he wrote, but it was certainly in the mind of this reader.
To summarise: a good plot, with familiar historic anchors from an exciting period, written well.
http://www.amazon.com/Blood-D-S-Allen-ebook/dp/B00K03EBO8
The book is well enough written, conveying all the hardships and customary behaviours associated with those torturous times without every straying far into harsh graphic detail. This creates a book for a very wide readership. We are given the colours and outlines, being left free to paint the stronger images for ourselves. That doesn't mean the story lacks bite, far from it.
The characters are drawn with a depth of individual and understandable emotions and prejudices, especially in the light of the historic backdrop. As one living much of my life in one of the last country houses to hold to the King, in one of the strongest Royalist areas in the Civil War, I have always had an interest in that history. I read nothing that grated against my preconceptions. I wish I had written this plot.
Of interest to me is the strong connection this book has with so much that is currently happening as a result of interactions between prejudiced religious beliefs and cultural intolerances. I don't know if any of this was in Allen's mind as he wrote, but it was certainly in the mind of this reader.
To summarise: a good plot, with familiar historic anchors from an exciting period, written well.
http://www.amazon.com/Blood-D-S-Allen-ebook/dp/B00K03EBO8
[23] One Two Buckle My Shoe- E.J. Lamprey ~~~~ (Extract)
I could have sworn that Miss Maple was back, in Scottish guise. Is it ever fair to compare, possibly not, but this is very Agatha Christie-esk for the modern century. 'One Two' is a great first in series, introducing some wonderful characters of senior years. Lamprey has a very easy read style and an ironic, subtle humour that says most by what it leaves out.
The plot is complex enough with a couple of classic murders, lots of possible clues and badly attached leads, some more doggy than others. All the bits simply can't be quite put together until Edge gets a grip on the case. The older generation will enjoy this, if they can find their glasses, and the ageing youths and middle readers should enjoy noting that at least at the Grasshopper Lawns, 20 miles north of Edinburgh, old age doesn't necessarily mean the end of joie de vivre not to mention a bit of nitty-gritty.
This is a relatively short read, one sitting for those that consume books at burning pace and only two or three steady reads for the plodders like me. It is nice to read about a group of suitably eccentric real feeling, mostly older, characters with hardly a whiff of the current preoccupation with Alzheimer's and other widespread dementias. Great entertainment, of it sort. This is scones and Lady Grey tea, while the daggers are metaphorically wiped clean off set. We have the makings of a very good BBC Scotland drama series to more than rival those beastly Sassenach 'Midsomer Murders'.
http://www.amazon.com/Buckle-Shoe-Grasshopper-Lawns-Book-ebook/dp/B00AVQDKXC
The plot is complex enough with a couple of classic murders, lots of possible clues and badly attached leads, some more doggy than others. All the bits simply can't be quite put together until Edge gets a grip on the case. The older generation will enjoy this, if they can find their glasses, and the ageing youths and middle readers should enjoy noting that at least at the Grasshopper Lawns, 20 miles north of Edinburgh, old age doesn't necessarily mean the end of joie de vivre not to mention a bit of nitty-gritty.
This is a relatively short read, one sitting for those that consume books at burning pace and only two or three steady reads for the plodders like me. It is nice to read about a group of suitably eccentric real feeling, mostly older, characters with hardly a whiff of the current preoccupation with Alzheimer's and other widespread dementias. Great entertainment, of it sort. This is scones and Lady Grey tea, while the daggers are metaphorically wiped clean off set. We have the makings of a very good BBC Scotland drama series to more than rival those beastly Sassenach 'Midsomer Murders'.
http://www.amazon.com/Buckle-Shoe-Grasshopper-Lawns-Book-ebook/dp/B00AVQDKXC
[24] Fatal Eclipse- Dermot Davis ~~~~ (Extract 55)
From page one we are drawn into the strange psychologically disturbed world of Jonathan, a man deeply in love with his wife. Despite this it appeared for a hanging period of time that he was even going to fail to say his marriage vows. Maria adores Jonathan. She has to as he is seems to be avoiding close moments. She has had her problems as well, being helped by the therapist who subsequently struggles to help Jonathan. Would you know it, the Doctor has her own bag of problems. A lot of ghost need exorcism and one character is possibly beyond all help in this present life.
This is a really well written psychological thriller with deeply drawn and convincing main characters. I read the book in a day, which for me a slow pedantic reader, is most unusual. This alone well demonstrates the books quality, shortish though it is. The overriding message in the book for me, not that Davis really tries to build one, is that the flaws we see demonstrated by those around us are often not the ones that should be of greatest concern. Real lunacy often has a disarming smile, whilst 'the lunatic on the grass', ie not obeying societies rules, is so often harmless, to others if not to the self.
Davis is a quality writer and this is a very compelling and literary read. I have no idea as to whether an academic psychologist would be convinced by all the mix, but I certainly was. I will be reading other works by this author…. Yes, I really must find the time.
http://www.amazon.com/Fatal-Eclipse-Dermot-Davis-ebook/dp/B00YEY9EMS
This is a really well written psychological thriller with deeply drawn and convincing main characters. I read the book in a day, which for me a slow pedantic reader, is most unusual. This alone well demonstrates the books quality, shortish though it is. The overriding message in the book for me, not that Davis really tries to build one, is that the flaws we see demonstrated by those around us are often not the ones that should be of greatest concern. Real lunacy often has a disarming smile, whilst 'the lunatic on the grass', ie not obeying societies rules, is so often harmless, to others if not to the self.
Davis is a quality writer and this is a very compelling and literary read. I have no idea as to whether an academic psychologist would be convinced by all the mix, but I certainly was. I will be reading other works by this author…. Yes, I really must find the time.
http://www.amazon.com/Fatal-Eclipse-Dermot-Davis-ebook/dp/B00YEY9EMS
[25] Murder in Plain Sight- Nikki Broadwell ~~~~ (Extract 60)
First off- this is a five star book that sits somewhere in the ground between murder mystery and paranormal genres. I don't think it quite manages the bridge, though I'm sure that plenty of readers will disagree. The book is clearly marketed as paranormal mystery, so it isn't like anyone should be surprised by the ground covered. However, the book starts a long way from paranormal, in a sort of commercial backstreet of hazy time passed town. Then suddenly, we are in a world of crazies, where the strongest characters are all walking dead or missing.
My view is that Broadwell would have done better by plotting the book firmly on one side or the other of the murder mystery-paranormal trench. Perhaps my view is fatuous, based too much on taste, so enough of that. As to the quality and the style of the writing, they are both top-drawer, as they always are with Nikki Broadwell's books.
This plot starts with a whimsical backwater charm, in which the 'witchcraft' is really more to do with a world of herbs and spices and mental illusion, centred in the whimsical behaviours of eccentric dreamers, rather than in paranormal genre characters that are conjured out of evil. The ghosts, when we eventually forced into seeing them as such, seem to be more interesting constructions than many of the living.
I enjoyed reading Murder in Plain Sight, even if I really believe that it would have been better plotted as a plain whodunit, with realistic characters that merely play in a world of potions, candles, and woodland exhibitionism. The plots drift into otherworld environs where real paranormal abilities abound is hard to reconcile.
The characters are all well drawn, with the principal ones being painted in sufficient and yet never overworked colour. The settings are made visual and some of the inconsistencies in the plot can be explained away by drawing on the paranormal. That Summer seemed to struggle to remember exactly what her mother looks like, or even to be aware of the existence of others so physically close to her is certainly worrying, unless one mentally rewrites early events in the book. Necessary reappraisal in the light of change is reasonable, especially in murder mystery; however it mustn't jar with previous information. Or one can do as I did and simply believe that Summer suffered a severe case of aphantasia.
To sum up, this is a case of great writing that within the tight confines of each chapter is very entertaining, and yet somehow the end result doesn't quite all fit together. I am really looking forward to reading other reviews as I'm sure that opinion will vary widely. This would be a great book club read as I'm sure it would generate plenty of debate.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B013VKERKE
My view is that Broadwell would have done better by plotting the book firmly on one side or the other of the murder mystery-paranormal trench. Perhaps my view is fatuous, based too much on taste, so enough of that. As to the quality and the style of the writing, they are both top-drawer, as they always are with Nikki Broadwell's books.
This plot starts with a whimsical backwater charm, in which the 'witchcraft' is really more to do with a world of herbs and spices and mental illusion, centred in the whimsical behaviours of eccentric dreamers, rather than in paranormal genre characters that are conjured out of evil. The ghosts, when we eventually forced into seeing them as such, seem to be more interesting constructions than many of the living.
I enjoyed reading Murder in Plain Sight, even if I really believe that it would have been better plotted as a plain whodunit, with realistic characters that merely play in a world of potions, candles, and woodland exhibitionism. The plots drift into otherworld environs where real paranormal abilities abound is hard to reconcile.
The characters are all well drawn, with the principal ones being painted in sufficient and yet never overworked colour. The settings are made visual and some of the inconsistencies in the plot can be explained away by drawing on the paranormal. That Summer seemed to struggle to remember exactly what her mother looks like, or even to be aware of the existence of others so physically close to her is certainly worrying, unless one mentally rewrites early events in the book. Necessary reappraisal in the light of change is reasonable, especially in murder mystery; however it mustn't jar with previous information. Or one can do as I did and simply believe that Summer suffered a severe case of aphantasia.
To sum up, this is a case of great writing that within the tight confines of each chapter is very entertaining, and yet somehow the end result doesn't quite all fit together. I am really looking forward to reading other reviews as I'm sure that opinion will vary widely. This would be a great book club read as I'm sure it would generate plenty of debate.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B013VKERKE
[26] I Am Sleepless Sim 299- Johan Twiss ~~~~ (Extract 64)
Well written, five star, speculative science fiction, that is great entertainment especially for those that like the zany end of the Sci-fi family of genres.
I have a fundamental criticism, but I hope it doesn't put people off reading. This book has plenty of merit so that really wouldn't be justice. I have no idea whether the lack of descriptive writing of the finished work was due to the pen of Twiss or the scalpel of the editor. The book certainly has the harsh editing of tangential description that is so fashionable. We are repeatedly told that this thin-form style is necessary to overcome the short attention span of modern readers. It is certainly a love of 'fashionable' book critics. I feel that this was a book written twenty thousand words longer only to starved of anything more than was strictly necessary to keep the heart pumping fast through every chapter. Sadly, we had to get to the final pages of the book before we could really appreciate the 'form', the fat, of the principle characters. Unfortunately the minimalistic prose leaves the early chapters with the narrowness of focus expected in children's rather than adult literature. If I was the author and had actually written a less stripped version I would strongly consider editing back some of the flesh.
I felt that the author has read as widely of mythological plotted books as of science fiction genres. To me, the plot carries a lot of re-inventive mythology, (traditional fantasy), though clearly set in a future virtual world. Certainly the beasts' names and the line-drawings in the book were very similar to chimera type creatures and other mythological hybrids. They added a lot of creativity to the plot outline.
As some others' have suggested, Twiss may have been done better by putting the 'end notes' at the start of the book and also included character profiles; noting that this content was for reference not initial reading. The e-book format means that most readers are unaware of the help pages until they have already finished the book. I am particularly aware of this problem having published and being criticised for making this same fundamental mistake.
Great book, which I believe has been seriously over content edited by either the author himself or his editorial team. It is a testament to the quality of the writing that this reads so well even though we are kept so blinkered, My overall view is, wonderful, when can I purchase the next in the series?
http://www.amazon.com/AM-SLEEPLESS-Sim-299/dp/1517166330
I have a fundamental criticism, but I hope it doesn't put people off reading. This book has plenty of merit so that really wouldn't be justice. I have no idea whether the lack of descriptive writing of the finished work was due to the pen of Twiss or the scalpel of the editor. The book certainly has the harsh editing of tangential description that is so fashionable. We are repeatedly told that this thin-form style is necessary to overcome the short attention span of modern readers. It is certainly a love of 'fashionable' book critics. I feel that this was a book written twenty thousand words longer only to starved of anything more than was strictly necessary to keep the heart pumping fast through every chapter. Sadly, we had to get to the final pages of the book before we could really appreciate the 'form', the fat, of the principle characters. Unfortunately the minimalistic prose leaves the early chapters with the narrowness of focus expected in children's rather than adult literature. If I was the author and had actually written a less stripped version I would strongly consider editing back some of the flesh.
I felt that the author has read as widely of mythological plotted books as of science fiction genres. To me, the plot carries a lot of re-inventive mythology, (traditional fantasy), though clearly set in a future virtual world. Certainly the beasts' names and the line-drawings in the book were very similar to chimera type creatures and other mythological hybrids. They added a lot of creativity to the plot outline.
As some others' have suggested, Twiss may have been done better by putting the 'end notes' at the start of the book and also included character profiles; noting that this content was for reference not initial reading. The e-book format means that most readers are unaware of the help pages until they have already finished the book. I am particularly aware of this problem having published and being criticised for making this same fundamental mistake.
Great book, which I believe has been seriously over content edited by either the author himself or his editorial team. It is a testament to the quality of the writing that this reads so well even though we are kept so blinkered, My overall view is, wonderful, when can I purchase the next in the series?
http://www.amazon.com/AM-SLEEPLESS-Sim-299/dp/1517166330
[27] A Tale of Moral Corruption- Marsha Cornelius ~~~~ (Extract 68)
This book is as unique as all Cornelius books. Those that prefer their authors' scripts predictable might not. I loved it, even though I'm a bit of a prude, preferring sexual content to be more implied than graphic. If one is going to lean towards porn, while still keeping the serious content on top of the page, one had better do sex scenes well. In too many books porn is included for the sake of commercial successful without regard to plot. Cornelius includes vivid porn without losing sight of her intellectual idea. There is also a little fairly graphic violence, which in its case the story simply couldn't have worked without. Both sex and violence were written with realistic efficiency, and with a great deal of gymnastics. Cornelius represents everything that is best about self-publishing, going places with her scripts that the established publishers generally fail at- genuine originality. This is inevitable because businesses have to make commercial decisions. True, reading SP is a gamble, in that one has to read nine books to find the tenth gem; but a worthwhile gamble, especially when one can grab a sure fire winner by studying previous form.
Few books are perfect, and this is no exception, despite my praise. I don't actually think she got the dominated males response quite right. Every reader will have an independent view about plausibility. I certainly think the author had tongue firmly planted in cheek. Men certainly love their kids as much as Mum's do; but on a rather less psychologically bonded and intimate levels. Their overall emotional attachment is often just as powerful, and Cornelius certainly get's that right. I'm not at all sure that many males would ever be quite as into the baby thing in the deep way that Mason is, even in a matriarch dominated world. Cornelius is writing first person male, and in the main doing it very well, I just think she overplayed the we-are-what-we're brought-up-to-be card over-strongly, against the we're-simply-what-biology-made-us one. The book has a great deal of interesting feminist angles in it, especially concerning what might actually happen if women got to wear the trousers all the time, at home, socially and in the work place. Would women behave a bit like men? To some degree yes, we already see that in more sexually equal societies. It is certainly true that nearly all the women who make it to the top of the business world do so by using traditional male behaviours rather than female ones. To fly high one has to believe one's own egotistical garbage, that's for sure. We certainly don't live in a world were quality guarantees success, just bull-shit, connections and confidence; three male strong suits. Playing dirty comes with the success package, which Cornelius doesn't shirk from seeing when it's the females in charge.
On a technical level, this book has all the mechanics spot on. It's well written and well edited. This is another first class piece, full of this author's usual inventiveness. The prose is so natural that I literally floated through the book. This is seemingly effortless writing that seems to run in a fast river across the page, sweeping the reader along. I found this to be easy reading done well, with strong and in the main very believable character behaviours.
http://www.amazon.com/Tale-Moral-Corruption-Marsha-Cornelius-ebook/dp/B018YNIUU6
Few books are perfect, and this is no exception, despite my praise. I don't actually think she got the dominated males response quite right. Every reader will have an independent view about plausibility. I certainly think the author had tongue firmly planted in cheek. Men certainly love their kids as much as Mum's do; but on a rather less psychologically bonded and intimate levels. Their overall emotional attachment is often just as powerful, and Cornelius certainly get's that right. I'm not at all sure that many males would ever be quite as into the baby thing in the deep way that Mason is, even in a matriarch dominated world. Cornelius is writing first person male, and in the main doing it very well, I just think she overplayed the we-are-what-we're brought-up-to-be card over-strongly, against the we're-simply-what-biology-made-us one. The book has a great deal of interesting feminist angles in it, especially concerning what might actually happen if women got to wear the trousers all the time, at home, socially and in the work place. Would women behave a bit like men? To some degree yes, we already see that in more sexually equal societies. It is certainly true that nearly all the women who make it to the top of the business world do so by using traditional male behaviours rather than female ones. To fly high one has to believe one's own egotistical garbage, that's for sure. We certainly don't live in a world were quality guarantees success, just bull-shit, connections and confidence; three male strong suits. Playing dirty comes with the success package, which Cornelius doesn't shirk from seeing when it's the females in charge.
On a technical level, this book has all the mechanics spot on. It's well written and well edited. This is another first class piece, full of this author's usual inventiveness. The prose is so natural that I literally floated through the book. This is seemingly effortless writing that seems to run in a fast river across the page, sweeping the reader along. I found this to be easy reading done well, with strong and in the main very believable character behaviours.
http://www.amazon.com/Tale-Moral-Corruption-Marsha-Cornelius-ebook/dp/B018YNIUU6
[28] Extraordinary Temptation- Patrick McCusker ~~~~ (Extract 76)
A really good read; but I need to start by saying that those with traditional and solid religious views must be prepared to read this as totally ridiculous entertainment, if at all. As an agnostic ‘believer’ I had no trouble at all with this story. If I had exacting believe in any scriptures, especially specifically Christian ones, I may well have done so.
The book is technically well written and the plot is very entertaining. The first half of the book is particularly good, and plausible enough to this reader. We start in a conventional conspiracy thriller, which is both pacey and credible. I wish to give nothing away, by saying that after the mid-point the plot becomes increasingly extra-ordinary. Even the science may be plausible, or at least be in the not such distant future. However, I’m sure we can all rest easy in the fact that the specific application of science is actually impossible. There is a lull in the pace for a while as the book metamorphoses, however, tense interest is maintained. As the plot slows it becomes increasingly creepy. We are ladled a good dollop of food for thought.
The plot of this book is actually very brave and even ambitious, as it invites us to reflect on many aspects of our humanity and ‘inhumanity’. There are some great what if’s in here, but no it doesn’t offer much ‘hope and happiness’. The theme of the lost crown of thorns is a nice change to the over-used one of the missing Holy Grail; as did the theme of the conflict between the academic lover of antiquities and the greed driven ‘grave robber’.
So an exciting book, but at by necessity this must be treated very tongue-in-cheek by religious fundamentalists of many Abrahamic colours.
I very much enjoyed most aspects of this book, best described as first half crime thriller, second half horror. Totally extraordinary.
www.amazon.com/Extraordinary-Temptation-Patrick-McCusker-ebook/dp/B011O8KAN8
The book is technically well written and the plot is very entertaining. The first half of the book is particularly good, and plausible enough to this reader. We start in a conventional conspiracy thriller, which is both pacey and credible. I wish to give nothing away, by saying that after the mid-point the plot becomes increasingly extra-ordinary. Even the science may be plausible, or at least be in the not such distant future. However, I’m sure we can all rest easy in the fact that the specific application of science is actually impossible. There is a lull in the pace for a while as the book metamorphoses, however, tense interest is maintained. As the plot slows it becomes increasingly creepy. We are ladled a good dollop of food for thought.
The plot of this book is actually very brave and even ambitious, as it invites us to reflect on many aspects of our humanity and ‘inhumanity’. There are some great what if’s in here, but no it doesn’t offer much ‘hope and happiness’. The theme of the lost crown of thorns is a nice change to the over-used one of the missing Holy Grail; as did the theme of the conflict between the academic lover of antiquities and the greed driven ‘grave robber’.
So an exciting book, but at by necessity this must be treated very tongue-in-cheek by religious fundamentalists of many Abrahamic colours.
I very much enjoyed most aspects of this book, best described as first half crime thriller, second half horror. Totally extraordinary.
www.amazon.com/Extraordinary-Temptation-Patrick-McCusker-ebook/dp/B011O8KAN8
[29] Inevitable Ascension- V. K. McAlister ~~~~ (Extract 78)
This book is video game fast, with video game deaths and outlandish main actors’ superpowers. For me, there is far too much action and far too little story. However, I am not an intended reader; of that I’m certain. This is millennial generation writing with the modern addiction for frenetic virtual reality action. Of its sort, the writing is very good.
Some reviewers have made a lot of its religious content. Sorry, but I’d didn’t really get that at all. I read purely traditional dystopia with a few biblical names. For me, the kick-arse female, with physical superpowers is all a bit passé, as I’m sure is the feeling of increasing numbers across all post teenage generations. Why do futuristic women have to eat testosterone bars? The steampunk I loved, despite its erratic appearance. I wouldn’t have known that the book had two writers, except for a couple of apparent continuity slips and rather inconsistent standards of grammar. The time travel elements were clever, always reappearing in the anything but Abrahamic time lapse Eden.
I’m sure this book will appeal to many of the video games generation. But it isn’t for lovers of character development and crafted language even in that category. Until it all gets much too fast and overcomplicated towards the end I enjoyed it. The first few chapters are particularly good. I don’t recall any sex or romance whatsoever, except what I thought was being implied between the two main characters. The bits of the book that lean towards comedy are by far the best. They at least allow the reader to relax once in a rare while. Perhaps sci-fi/fantasy comedy is the direction best suited to this writing team.
I don’t hesitate in giving this book five stars, because though it is definitely not for me I know it will draw many fans. This is video in words.
www.amazon.com/Inevitable-Ascension-V-K-McAllister-ebook/dp/B015AS2FTA
Some reviewers have made a lot of its religious content. Sorry, but I’d didn’t really get that at all. I read purely traditional dystopia with a few biblical names. For me, the kick-arse female, with physical superpowers is all a bit passé, as I’m sure is the feeling of increasing numbers across all post teenage generations. Why do futuristic women have to eat testosterone bars? The steampunk I loved, despite its erratic appearance. I wouldn’t have known that the book had two writers, except for a couple of apparent continuity slips and rather inconsistent standards of grammar. The time travel elements were clever, always reappearing in the anything but Abrahamic time lapse Eden.
I’m sure this book will appeal to many of the video games generation. But it isn’t for lovers of character development and crafted language even in that category. Until it all gets much too fast and overcomplicated towards the end I enjoyed it. The first few chapters are particularly good. I don’t recall any sex or romance whatsoever, except what I thought was being implied between the two main characters. The bits of the book that lean towards comedy are by far the best. They at least allow the reader to relax once in a rare while. Perhaps sci-fi/fantasy comedy is the direction best suited to this writing team.
I don’t hesitate in giving this book five stars, because though it is definitely not for me I know it will draw many fans. This is video in words.
www.amazon.com/Inevitable-Ascension-V-K-McAllister-ebook/dp/B015AS2FTA
[30] Love's Long Road- G. D. Harper ~~~~ (Extract 79)
The plot is set in the second half of the 1970s and is so well researched and or remembered, that it gave a really genuine feeling of realism to me, one who lived through this period and even visited some of its chosen physical spaces at a close chronological age to the main character. I short, this was read by me as accurate real-life fiction. Before reviewing I took the trouble to ask the author if he/she is a contemporary of that period. I got no answer, but I was informed that the book is ‘only’ fiction.
I am surprised by a number of negative reviews I’ve read about this book. We all have our very individual and subjective opinions. Mine is that this is an excellent read. It is very journalistic in style, deeply psychological, and is as profoundly revealing of the main character in as much that isn’t said as is. This is really strong first person writing. What are any of us prepared to reveal of ourselves, of our strongest, often unflattering, behaviours? The mixed vulnerabilities and strengths of Bobbie were totally believable to me. One of the best drawn characters was only a ghost behind the story, until the very last pages, that being the father of an early tragic boyfriend of Bobbie’s.
For me, the book is all the better as contemporary dramatic fiction for having a strong social message. In the end, it is a book of hope, harsh, brutal, real-life hope, but hope none the less. Unlike some reviewers I see this as a profoundly moral book, a morality drawn as much from the gutters of British life as from its more wholesome features.
It is my belief that this book deserves readers and perhaps especially ones that believe they have no dirt in their own souls. This book seems to hurt a range of readers. That suggests to me that Harper has hit some very rusty old nails right on the head. Please don’t leave it too long before you get your hammer out again, G.D. Harper, whoever you are.
www.amazon.com/Loves-Long-Road-G-D-Harper-ebook/dp/B01CFZH9GA
I am surprised by a number of negative reviews I’ve read about this book. We all have our very individual and subjective opinions. Mine is that this is an excellent read. It is very journalistic in style, deeply psychological, and is as profoundly revealing of the main character in as much that isn’t said as is. This is really strong first person writing. What are any of us prepared to reveal of ourselves, of our strongest, often unflattering, behaviours? The mixed vulnerabilities and strengths of Bobbie were totally believable to me. One of the best drawn characters was only a ghost behind the story, until the very last pages, that being the father of an early tragic boyfriend of Bobbie’s.
For me, the book is all the better as contemporary dramatic fiction for having a strong social message. In the end, it is a book of hope, harsh, brutal, real-life hope, but hope none the less. Unlike some reviewers I see this as a profoundly moral book, a morality drawn as much from the gutters of British life as from its more wholesome features.
It is my belief that this book deserves readers and perhaps especially ones that believe they have no dirt in their own souls. This book seems to hurt a range of readers. That suggests to me that Harper has hit some very rusty old nails right on the head. Please don’t leave it too long before you get your hammer out again, G.D. Harper, whoever you are.
www.amazon.com/Loves-Long-Road-G-D-Harper-ebook/dp/B01CFZH9GA
[31] Coyote Sunrise- Nikki Broadwell ~~~~ (Extract 96)
Provided one can suspend all logic to the point of accepting the idea of ‘shape-shifting’, meaning the metamorphosis of one species of creature into another, there is plenty to enjoy in this book. The concept is found in a vast repertoire of paranormal writing, so obviously, a great many readers embrace the concept. Alas, I don’t. However, illogically perhaps when I can’t abide the idea of species shifting, I love writing that ‘humanises’ the world of animals. And surely it is this augmentation of the animal world to point out our cruelties, our savagery, that is the point of this book.
I like the way that Broadwell uses animalistic mythologies to bring together a wealth of political, cultural and social concepts, which generally enfold ideas of individual liberty and equal rights. The humanising of animals, and the animalistic tendencies of humans are explored in depth, if rather repetitively. Some of the plot elements were certainly over used, to the degree that the read would have far more punch if reduced by a third in length.
The page to page reading experience is very good, with first class character development, and Broadwell’s storytelling and writing crafts bring out deep, individualistic, emotional currents. I haven’t read the first part of the saga, but felt no penalties from that. There are no hanging story lines that aren’t properly explained.
I was particularly drawn to the script by the fact that the author clearly feels that we live in a world which has become too much the environment of mankind, to the detriment of nearly all other creatures. A return to native cultures living in harmony with nature, away from those that simply steal from nature whatever they desire, may be utopian; but at least it can exist in a world of books, a world of imagination, and if it can be imagined then just perhaps it is somehow possible. Broadwell is a little soft on the main predator species, but hopefully book three will get down to the business of removing men from the cayotes world, or at least those mentally sick killers that don’t respect the idea of, and reach out for, a fair balance of nature.
Those humans that see sport in the hunt should be the sport of the hunt.
www.amazon.com/Coyote-Sunrise-Shapeshifting-Nikki-Broadwell-ebook/dp/B0195QJLOK
[32] Finding Freedom- Brittany Nicole Lewis ~~~~ (Extract 97)
I was expecting a book full of violence, both physical and psychological, with layers of cruel malevolence driving its agenda. This read isn’t like that. This is a quiet pastiche, a sensitive unravelling of years of mental mind-washing, the story of well-planned escape and months of gradual adjustment to life outside of a closed, controlling community.
Those that expect to read about physical violence and a dangerous escape from it, will be disappointed, unless like me they find something ‘spiritually’ rewarding. This is a book that deals with the evils of abusive control and the immense difficulty victims of such authority have adjusting to the freedoms of liberal society. The subject matter is all North American, but the psychology of it applies wherever individuals struggle to escape constraining ‘walls’. Many of the issues raised are as applicable to whole populations, nations, as they are to individual humans.
The book is well enough written, in a simple non-intrusive style, with ‘christian’ belief strongly emblazoned by Lewis’s words. The read is gentle and rewarding, quietly preaching the author’s private convictions. I feel most comfortable describing this as Christian social drama. I feel that those that have escaped, or are contemplating escape from the dominion of other’s, whether to find their own space with God, or to the most secular of lives, will find this a rewarding read. The cult isn’t defeated but, by the end, its effects on the minds of some are ameliorated. The main lesson is that it isn’t easy to take responsibility for one’s future from a long-term suppressing evil, to risk escape, but that the light at the end of the tunnel can be reached, and is worth reaching for.
https://www.amazon.com/Finding-Freedom-Zion-Book-1-ebook/dp/B06XQ4ZS9D
Those that expect to read about physical violence and a dangerous escape from it, will be disappointed, unless like me they find something ‘spiritually’ rewarding. This is a book that deals with the evils of abusive control and the immense difficulty victims of such authority have adjusting to the freedoms of liberal society. The subject matter is all North American, but the psychology of it applies wherever individuals struggle to escape constraining ‘walls’. Many of the issues raised are as applicable to whole populations, nations, as they are to individual humans.
The book is well enough written, in a simple non-intrusive style, with ‘christian’ belief strongly emblazoned by Lewis’s words. The read is gentle and rewarding, quietly preaching the author’s private convictions. I feel most comfortable describing this as Christian social drama. I feel that those that have escaped, or are contemplating escape from the dominion of other’s, whether to find their own space with God, or to the most secular of lives, will find this a rewarding read. The cult isn’t defeated but, by the end, its effects on the minds of some are ameliorated. The main lesson is that it isn’t easy to take responsibility for one’s future from a long-term suppressing evil, to risk escape, but that the light at the end of the tunnel can be reached, and is worth reaching for.
https://www.amazon.com/Finding-Freedom-Zion-Book-1-ebook/dp/B06XQ4ZS9D
[33] The Last Detective- Brian Cohn ~~~~ (Extract 98)
Mixed genre- well put together; no, very well put together. Those that love murder mystery will find themselves comfortably stationed within a science fiction world and vice versa. I love writing that can shatter walls between genres, between readers fixed ideas of like, and this book does that well.
We are in a recently invaded world by a civilisation of ‘slicks’ that mankind is still far short of understanding. Human society is in a state of decay, if not quite chaotic dissolution, as the alien culture imposes certain disciplines whilst leaving humans with a veneer of independence. Any independence is apparently dependent on an absence of resistance. Regular mass deportations to destinations unknown, are ‘accepted’ by the human administrations. One can’t help but make comparisons between the slicks as quasi Nazi or Starlin’s cabal. Perhaps those born in this century would relate better to comparison with the current, alien to humanitarian values, regime of Kim Jong-Un.
When an alien is apparently murdered the aliens find cause for an investigation by what remains of a human police force. Painstakingly Adrian, the last pre-invasion trained detective, puts the pieces of the case together despite the lack of resources and technologies still at his disposal.
The principle human characters are well drawn, and the unfolding of the crime is crafted in a very compelling way. This is a case for an old-time sleuth, not a ‘slick’ crime lab. Um: pun intended.
As an independent writer and a strong advocate of my peers, I am delighted to be able to report this book as being a good example of the quality achievable outside of the traditional publishing empires. Pandamoon are one of many new small publishers. I’m certainly not in any position to endorse them, but I can say that they have at least one good writer aboard.
Well written and, apart from a few lapses, well edited.
www.amazon.com/Last-Detective-Brian-Cohn-ebook/dp/B01MSUR137
[34] The Nosferatu Chronicles: Origins- Susan Hamilton ~~~~ (Extract 99)
I love this book, particularly as a really inventive piece of speculative fiction. Hamilton does a top job of drawing together the horror genre classic vampire and the science fiction genre, specifically the sub-category of visitations from other civilisations.
This is pure fiction that makes some use of documented historical facts and their possible interpretation, in order to build a credible vampire backstory. Nothing in the book is particularly novel, but the speculative thought and the unique way Hamilton puts the story together is both clever and very exciting. I actually became quite fond of her race of space travelling vampires, and even found myself excusing their arriving on, and manipulation of, our unique planet.
I have always struggled with the logic behind the ‘humanistic vampire’; I struggle with all fantasy and legend that seems over disconnected from observed reality. Hamilton does a very neat job of creating a possible explanation and speculative history behind that horror genre. All the classic stuff is there, from wooden stakes to vulnerability to sunlight, and all within a new logic framework. Well, obviously this is all fantasy, however, the writing is strong enough that it allowed me to effortlessly suspend belief in the world as it appears. One can’t ask more of a speculative fiction book. Hamilton has for me managed to put the vampire legend on science fiction shelves.
There is already a second book in the series, which I’m yet to read. I surely will. The first was a real page turner for me.
www.amazon.com/Nosferatu-Chronicles-Origins-Susan-Hamilton-ebook/dp/B00X9GWEEM
This is pure fiction that makes some use of documented historical facts and their possible interpretation, in order to build a credible vampire backstory. Nothing in the book is particularly novel, but the speculative thought and the unique way Hamilton puts the story together is both clever and very exciting. I actually became quite fond of her race of space travelling vampires, and even found myself excusing their arriving on, and manipulation of, our unique planet.
I have always struggled with the logic behind the ‘humanistic vampire’; I struggle with all fantasy and legend that seems over disconnected from observed reality. Hamilton does a very neat job of creating a possible explanation and speculative history behind that horror genre. All the classic stuff is there, from wooden stakes to vulnerability to sunlight, and all within a new logic framework. Well, obviously this is all fantasy, however, the writing is strong enough that it allowed me to effortlessly suspend belief in the world as it appears. One can’t ask more of a speculative fiction book. Hamilton has for me managed to put the vampire legend on science fiction shelves.
There is already a second book in the series, which I’m yet to read. I surely will. The first was a real page turner for me.
www.amazon.com/Nosferatu-Chronicles-Origins-Susan-Hamilton-ebook/dp/B00X9GWEEM
[35] Thread and Other Stories- Eric Halpenny ~~~~ (Extract 100)
This is a set of short stories for those that like to be made to think whilst being entertained. Each story draws us to different views of our sentient being, and may well work differently for individual readers with differing life experiences. In my case, ‘Conflict’ was the story that resonated most deeply for me. This is a book that clearly sits on the contemporary fiction, literary, shelves, a vague classification though it is. Perhaps I may build a shelf labelled contemporary fiction musings.
So then, this isn’t a set of adrenal thrills, isn’t all about those fashion icons, plot and character, though Halpenny certainly writes with style as he pulls us deep into different fictional consciousnesses. This is reading for those that like nutritious input rather than the crude modern hits of sugar salt and hot pepper. There is a thread of sorts through these stories, that being the nature of reality.
These aren’t the classic short stories for a half-conscious read on the commute to work. They need quiet time and certainly benefit from undivided concentration. They are worthwhile stories for possibly short, but always deep, quiet moments.
www.amazon.com/Thread-Other-Stories-Eric-Halpenny-ebook/dp/B072KDWLZS
So then, this isn’t a set of adrenal thrills, isn’t all about those fashion icons, plot and character, though Halpenny certainly writes with style as he pulls us deep into different fictional consciousnesses. This is reading for those that like nutritious input rather than the crude modern hits of sugar salt and hot pepper. There is a thread of sorts through these stories, that being the nature of reality.
These aren’t the classic short stories for a half-conscious read on the commute to work. They need quiet time and certainly benefit from undivided concentration. They are worthwhile stories for possibly short, but always deep, quiet moments.
www.amazon.com/Thread-Other-Stories-Eric-Halpenny-ebook/dp/B072KDWLZS
[36] Far Away and Further Back- Patrick Burns ~~~~ (Extract 120)
This memoir is one of little vignettes set in different times and places as Burns’s life took him around the world. At times the stories are very ‘familiar’ to one of my age and relative privilege, as we baby-boomers have seen the world open out under the blast of the airline jet engine. However, they should appeal to a much wider audience. Burns is good at drawing one into his observations of times and places, now changed or changing, so helping one appreciate the ups and downs of living his sort of middle-class, often-relocated, lifestyle.
Nowadays, travel seems to be ever more routine and ever less exotic, and of course it never has been all fun. Burns spares us from many of the mundane difficulties, the personal psychology, of constantly moving a family from one short foreign posting to another, a burden that anyway regularly falls heaviest on partners and young families.
This is a book of twenty random assembled short stories taken from a full and industrious life, that began with a childhood centred in Rotherham, England, and eventually encompassed locations as scattered as Buenos Aires, Ann Arbor and Guangzhou.
Increasingly, as the world shrinks, the world-wide business career is conducted from one, tacky, noisy, communal space, in Milton Keynes, or Santa Clara, and/or from the home-based ‘office’. Foreign postings may well be becoming a thing of the past for all but the most select of ‘business’ managers. There will always be economic migrants, but probably these will decreasingly be those in the cadre structure of international firms that once relocated so very often. The experience of this businessman posted so far and wide may well soon read like distant history, even if politics and strife should allow us to continue our addiction to distant ‘package’ holiday travel.
If you like memoir and particularly short, pithy stories snapped from personal histories, you should love this book. Patrick Burns has had a life full of interesting anecdotal incidents, which he has penned in this entertaining and personally modest script. One feels that he never strays from simple, honest, unexaggerated truth and thus created these edifying glimpses into his personal history. This isn’t autobiography designed, and so often failing, to be awe-inspiring; this isn’t look at me, aren’t I special, this is look at the special, often extraordinary people, I have been lucky enough to journey with. This book is one of those rare memoirs that easily holds my rapt attention.
www.amazon.com/Away-Further-Back-Patrick-Burns-ebook/dp/B07CV37PCP
Nowadays, travel seems to be ever more routine and ever less exotic, and of course it never has been all fun. Burns spares us from many of the mundane difficulties, the personal psychology, of constantly moving a family from one short foreign posting to another, a burden that anyway regularly falls heaviest on partners and young families.
This is a book of twenty random assembled short stories taken from a full and industrious life, that began with a childhood centred in Rotherham, England, and eventually encompassed locations as scattered as Buenos Aires, Ann Arbor and Guangzhou.
Increasingly, as the world shrinks, the world-wide business career is conducted from one, tacky, noisy, communal space, in Milton Keynes, or Santa Clara, and/or from the home-based ‘office’. Foreign postings may well be becoming a thing of the past for all but the most select of ‘business’ managers. There will always be economic migrants, but probably these will decreasingly be those in the cadre structure of international firms that once relocated so very often. The experience of this businessman posted so far and wide may well soon read like distant history, even if politics and strife should allow us to continue our addiction to distant ‘package’ holiday travel.
If you like memoir and particularly short, pithy stories snapped from personal histories, you should love this book. Patrick Burns has had a life full of interesting anecdotal incidents, which he has penned in this entertaining and personally modest script. One feels that he never strays from simple, honest, unexaggerated truth and thus created these edifying glimpses into his personal history. This isn’t autobiography designed, and so often failing, to be awe-inspiring; this isn’t look at me, aren’t I special, this is look at the special, often extraordinary people, I have been lucky enough to journey with. This book is one of those rare memoirs that easily holds my rapt attention.
www.amazon.com/Away-Further-Back-Patrick-Burns-ebook/dp/B07CV37PCP