Book Review: The Infinite Arena edited by Terry Carr Science fiction, in a way, is a very broad genre, that can easily contain stories of other genres within itself. Thus space westerns, fantastic romance, star war novels and so forth. In this case, we have a sample of sports stories set in science fiction… Continue reading Book Review: The Infinite Arena
Tag: politics
Book Review: Shot in the Face: A Savage Journey to the Heart of Transmetropolitan
Book Review: Shot in the Face: A Savage Journey to the Heart of Transmetropolitan edited by Chad Nevett Disclaimer: I received this book through a Goodreads giveaway for the purpose of writing this review. Transmetropolitan was a science fiction comic book series co-created by writer Warren Ellis and artist Darick Robertson that ran under the… Continue reading Book Review: Shot in the Face: A Savage Journey to the Heart of Transmetropolitan
Open Thread: Minicon 51 Report
Open Thread: Minicon 51 Report For those of you new to this blog, Minicon is the Easter weekend science fiction convention put on by MN-StF every year. I’ve been going to it for somewhere around three decades now, and this year was no exception. Once again it was at the RadiShTree (Bloomington Doubletree) hotel, and… Continue reading Open Thread: Minicon 51 Report
Manga Review: Ooku 10 & 11
Manga Review: Ooku 10 & 11 by Fumi Yoshinaga Quick recap: In an alternate Shogunate Japan, a plague wipes out 80% of the men, requiring women to take over most of the jobs previously held by males. This includes being shogun (military leader, the day to day ruler of Japan, as opposed to the Emperor, who… Continue reading Manga Review: Ooku 10 & 11
Book Review: The Black Tulip
Book Review: The Black Tulip by Alexandre Dumas The year is 1672, and the Haarlem Tulip Society has offered a hundred thousand florin prize to the tulip breeder who can create a black tulip, without imperfection or spot of other color. Cornelius van Baerle of the sleepy village of Dordrecht is one of the… Continue reading Book Review: The Black Tulip
Book Review: Jewish Noir
Book Review: Jewish Noir edited by Kenneth Wishnia Many of the themes of noir fiction, alienation, hostile society, darkness and bitter endings, resonate with the experience of Jewish people. So it’s not surprising that it was easy to find submissions for an anthology of thirty-plus noir stories with Jewish themes. (Not all of the authors are… Continue reading Book Review: Jewish Noir
Book Review: In the South Dakota Country
Book Review: In the South Dakota Country by Effie Florence Putney This is a history of South Dakota written for grade school children in the 1920s, when the frontier days were still in living memory. (Indeed, my mother was educated in a one-room schoolhouse some years later.) This was before Mount Rushmore and Wall Drug,… Continue reading Book Review: In the South Dakota Country
Book Review: Bug Jack Barron
Book Review: Bug Jack Barron by Norman Spinrad What’s bugging Jack Barron? Jack used to be a young radical, waving signs and helping form the Social Justice Coalition. But the SJC became a legitimate political party, and Jack wasn’t really interested in playing politics. Plus, he’d gotten on television a lot, and the cameras and audiences… Continue reading Book Review: Bug Jack Barron
Book Review: Herblock at Large
Book Review: Herblock at Large by Herbert Block. Herbert “Herblock” Block (1909-2001) was a multiple-Pulitzer-winning editorial cartoonist. He’s most famous for his coverage of McCarthyism and Watergate, but kept working until just before his death. This 1987 collection covers the early years of the Reagan administration. As might be expected, these cartoons aren’t very kind… Continue reading Book Review: Herblock at Large
Book Review: A Carnival of Buncombe
Book Review: A Carnival of Buncombe by H.L. Mencken The 2016 presidential election campaign has already begun, so let’s take a look at a book about elections of the past, shall we? H.L. Mencken (1880-1948) was a newspaperman, most famously on the Baltimore, Maryland Sun. For a number of years, he had a weekly opinion column published… Continue reading Book Review: A Carnival of Buncombe