Book Review: The Opposite of Everyone by Joshilyn Jackson Paula Vauss was born with blue skin, so her mother Karen (“Kai”) named her Kali Jai after the Hindu goddess of destruction and fresh starts. Estranged from her mother for many years, Paula has become a divorce lawyer, far better at the destruction part than the… Continue reading Book Review: The Opposite of Everyone
Tag: racism
Book Review: Mrs. Roosevelt’s Confidante
Book Review: Mrs. Roosevelt’s Confidante by Susan Elia MacNeal It is late December, 1941. The Japanese have attacked Pearl Harbor, and America is now at war with the Axis powers. The United States’ alliance with Great Britain is now an active one, and to cement that alliance, Prime Minister Winston Churchill has crossed the ocean… Continue reading Book Review: Mrs. Roosevelt’s Confidante
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: The Great Secret
Book Review: The Great Secret by L. Ron Hubbard This is another in the line of Galaxy Press reprints of L. Ron Hubbard’s pulp magazine stories. As always, the physical presentation is excellent. This time, we have four short science fiction stories. The cover doesn’t actually apply to any of them. “The Great Secret” is… Continue reading Book Review: The Great Secret
Book Review: Second Street Station
Book Review: Second Street Station by Lawrence H. Levy The “historical mystery” sub-genre is the intersection of the mystery and historical fiction genres. Pick a time period in the past (there’s no minimum gap requirement, but it’s best to pick one far enough back that everyone involved is conveniently dead), research it, stir some… Continue reading Book Review: Second Street Station
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: Infinity Two
Book Review: Infinity Two edited by Robert Hoskins Infinity was a series of paperback science fiction anthologies from Lancer Books in the early 1970s. Its primary draw was that all the stories were new, not having been previously printed in magazines. By this point, science fiction writers were allowed to mention sex and other controversial… Continue reading Book Review: Infinity Two
Book Review: Cowman’s Jack-Pot
Book Review: Cowman’s Jack-Pot by Frank C. Robertson (Also published as Greener Grows the Grass) Chet Calder has spent eight years in the East. Now the death of his father Dave Calder, and the crash of the stock market mean that there’s nothing left but the DC ranch. On the stage into Calder City, Chet… Continue reading Book Review: Cowman’s Jack-Pot
Book Review: Our Man in Charleston
Book Review: Our Man in Charleston by Christopher Dickey One of the great things about reading history books is learning about obscure people whose lives illuminate a corner of time. In school history classes, the emphasis tends to be on larger stories, a few “great men” (possibly a woman or two) and lots of dates… Continue reading Book Review: Our Man in Charleston
Book Review: Soldiers Out of Time
Book Review: Soldiers Out of Time by Steve White Spoiler Warning: This is the fifth book in the Jason Thanou series, and as such, this review will contain SPOILERS for earlier volumes in the story. Starting with the very next paragraph, so you are on your own from here. The Special Operations Section of the… Continue reading Book Review: Soldiers Out of Time