Book Review: The Lad and the Lion by Edgar Rice Burroughs A certain kingdom in Europe is experiencing unrest. The people are chafing under the absolute monarchy, wanting to switch to a constitutional republic. The current king is actually pretty good as monarchs go, but firmly believes that those who have been born and trained… Continue reading Book Review: The Lad and the Lion
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Book Review: Pulp Adventures on the Moon
Book Review: Pulp Adventures on the Moon edited by Jonathan W. Sweet Once upon a time, humans went to the moon. Yes, the moon up in the sky! It was awesome, but then other matters took precedence, and there wasn’t the budget, and we just never went back. But we still dream of moon exploration… Continue reading Book Review: Pulp Adventures on the Moon
Book Review: The Castle of Otranto
Book Review: The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole Today is a particularly bad day at the castle. Worst of all for Conrad, sickly son of Prince Manfred, who is crushed to death by a mysterious giant helmet. This is taken hard by his mother Princess Hippolita and sister Matilda. Prince Manfred is beside himself,… Continue reading Book Review: The Castle of Otranto
Book Review: The Best of Analog
Book Review: The Best of Analog edited by Ben Bova After the death of long-time editor John W. Campbell in 1971, Analog Science Fiction and Fact needed a new person at the helm. The winner of the selection process was Ben Bova (1932-2020), who intended to stay only a few years, those years winding up… Continue reading Book Review: The Best of Analog
Book Review: The Society of Nine
Book Review: The Society of Nine by Nick Carter Nick Carter, Killmaster-ranked agent of AXE, is called away from one of his rare days off when it’s discovered that a recently deceased assassin is a near dead ringer for him. The plan is for Nick to disguise himself as Anglo-Irish sniper Liam McDaniel and meet… Continue reading Book Review: The Society of Nine
Book Review: Ireland for Beginners
Book Review: Ireland for Beginners by Phil Evans and Eileen Pollock This is not a full history of Ireland, but more a chronology of its subjugation by England, and its long struggle for independence. Thus it begins in 1169 with a Norman invasion invited in by a deposed Irish king. Henry II of England decides… Continue reading Book Review: Ireland for Beginners
Book Review: Strange Scottish Stories
Book Review: Strange Scottish Stories by William Owen Like many another country, Scotland has a bloody history of dark deeds done and tales of the supernatural to be told during long cold winter nights. This 1981 anthology features some of those stories as retold and illustrated by William Owen. Most of the stories are from… Continue reading Book Review: Strange Scottish Stories
Book Review: Soon I Will Be Invincible
Book Review: Soon I Will Be Invincible by Austin Grossman There are two narrators for this story, neither of whom has all the pieces. The first is Doctor Impossible, a supervillain and mad scientist who has a compulsion to take over the world. The other is Fatale, a cyborg who used to work for the… Continue reading Book Review: Soon I Will Be Invincible
Book Review: Head of a Traveler
Book Review: Head of a Traveler by Nicholas Blake (pen name of Cecil Day-Lewis) Nigel Strangeways, a writer and literary scholar when he isn’t being distracted by his private investigation work, is thrilled to have a chance to meet Robert Seaton, one of Britain’s greatest living poets. Plash Meadow, Seaton’s house, is in Oxfordshire near… Continue reading Book Review: Head of a Traveler
Book Review: Chronicles of Aragore Book 1: Naming
Book Review: Chronicles of Aragore Book 1: Naming by Tyler A. Mann The troll caravan guard that we meet at the beginning of the story has no name. The family he was born into did not have a tradition of naming children, and the circus that enslaved him only called him “the troll.” But his… Continue reading Book Review: Chronicles of Aragore Book 1: Naming