Book Review: The Sea Chase by Andrew Geer Sydney Harbour is bustling on this September day in 1939, but one ship, the Ergenstrasse, lies idle, waiting to fill her sadly depleted coal bunkers. This ship is part of the German merchant marine, and everyone is well aware that it is only a matter of time… Continue reading Book Review: The Sea Chase
Tag: Germany
Book Review: Riley and the Great War
Book Review: Riley and the Great War by James Anderson O’Neal Jim hasn’t had much contact with his grandfathers over the years; Grandpa Jimmy was often absent without explanation, and Riley was even more remote, seldom talking even when he was present. But now that Jimmy is dead, Riley has a present for his writing-ambitious… Continue reading Book Review: Riley and the Great War
Book Review: Looking for Humboldt & Searching for German Footprints in New Mexico and Beyond
Book Review: Looking for Humboldt & Searching for German Footprints in New Mexico and Beyond by Erika Schelby The author is a German immigrant to New Mexico. While studying the history of her new state, she learned that Alexander von Humboldt (1769-1859), the famous Prussian naturalist and explorer, had passed through what would become New… Continue reading Book Review: Looking for Humboldt & Searching for German Footprints in New Mexico and Beyond
Book Review: The World of HIstory
Book Review: The World of History edited by Courtlandt Canby & Nancy E. Gross History is a very wide and deep subject. It extends from the beginning of the universe (though much before written records is speculative at best) to just this last minute, and from the movements of great nations to what precisely people… Continue reading Book Review: The World of HIstory
Book Review: Cat Pictures Please and Other Stories
Book Review: Cat Pictures Please and Other Stories by Naomi Kritzer This is the first collection of speculative fiction stories by Naomi Kritzer, headlined by the title piece, which won a Hugo Award in 2016. There’s seventeen stories in all. “Cat Pictures Please” is a sweet story about an artificial intelligence accidentally created from a… Continue reading Book Review: Cat Pictures Please and Other Stories
Book Review: Code Name Verity
Book Review: Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein In a Gestapo cell somewhere in Vichy France, a captured spy has been broken. She writes a story telling of her secret mission, but in order to do that, she must first tell of the friendship between ATA pilot Maddie and SOE wireless operator Queenie. The years… Continue reading Book Review: Code Name Verity
Magazine Review: High Adventure #73: Secret Agent “X”
Magazine Review: High Adventure #73: Secret Agent “X” Edited by John P. Gunnison Let’s take another look at this pulp reprint magazine, this time reprinting stories from Secret Agent “X” May 1934. “Ambassador of Doom” by Brent House: A secret meeting takes place in Washington, D.C. The matter at hand–whether to preserve or destroy the prototype and… Continue reading Magazine Review: High Adventure #73: Secret Agent “X”
Magazine Review: Lapham’s Quarterly: A History of Fake News
Magazine Review: Lapham’s Quarterly: A History of Fake News edited by Lewis H. Lapham This is a “special issue” in addition to the four that this magazine normally puts out in a year. The subject matter is topical as there has been an avalanche of “news” that is in fact not truthful, while certain politicians and… Continue reading Magazine Review: Lapham’s Quarterly: A History of Fake News
Comic Book Review: Babylon Berlin
Comic Book Review: Babylon Berlin story by Volker Kutscher, adaptation and art by Arne Jysch Disclaimer: I received this book through a Goodreads giveaway to facilitate writing this review. No other compensation was requested or offered. It is 1929, and the Weimar Republic of Germany is reaching the end of its “Golden Age.” After the… Continue reading Comic Book Review: Babylon Berlin
Book Review: The Inkblots
Book Review: The Inkblots by Damion Searls “What do you see?” Hermann Rorschach (1884-1922) was a German-speaking Swiss psychiatrist who developed an interesting experiment involving inkblots. The son of an artist and himself artistically trained, Rorschach was fascinated by visual perception and hoped to use the things people saw when they looked at his inkblots to… Continue reading Book Review: The Inkblots