Book Review: Ben-Hur by Lew Wallace Judah of the house of Hur is a handsome and wealthy seventeen-year old Judean, saddened by the death of his father, but still possessed of a wise mother and sweet sister. He’s initially pleased when his Roman friend Messala returns to Jerusalem from several years being educated in Rome.… Continue reading Book Review: Ben-Hur
Tag: ships
Book Review: Fresh Fear
Book Review: Fresh Fear edited by William Cook Horror anthologies are like a box of chocolates. One story might be crunchy frog, another spring surprise, while a more disappointing one is just maple cream. (Seriously, maple cream?) This is because horror tends to be a balancing act between what the writer finds scary and what… Continue reading Book Review: Fresh Fear
Magazine Review: Argosy October 8, 1938
Magazine Review: Argosy October 8, 1938 Argosy began its life as The Golden Argosy, a children’s weekly, in 1882. By 1889 publisher Fred Munsey had discovered that the readers aged out too fast to keep the magazine viable, so he switched to fiction aimed at adult readers and shortened the title. It’s considered one of the… Continue reading Magazine Review: Argosy October 8, 1938
Book Review: Flying Colours
Book Review: Flying Colours by C.S. Forester This is the third book in the Horatio Hornblower series as they were originally written, but the eighth in internal chronology. For those of you who somehow have not heard of these books or their media adaptations before, Hornblower is an officer in the British navy during the… Continue reading Book Review: Flying Colours
Book Review: Better than Bullets: The Complete Adventures of Thibault Corday and the Foreign Legion Volume 1
Book Review: Better than Bullets: The Complete Adventures of Thibaut Corday and the Foreign Legion Volume 1 by Theodore Roscoe The Légion étrangère was created in 1831 as a way to remove disruptive elements from French society, primarily foreigners of all sorts, and put them to good use fighting far away. Their first and primary posting was… Continue reading Book Review: Better than Bullets: The Complete Adventures of Thibault Corday and the Foreign Legion Volume 1
Book Review: Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania
Book Review: Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania by Erik Larson One hundred years ago this month, May 7, 1915, the Cunard Lines ocean liner Lusitania was sunk by a German submarine, the U-20, killing over a thousand crew and passengers (and three German stowaways whose true identities were never determined.) 123 of… Continue reading Book Review: Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania
Magazine Review: Pirate Stories November 1934
Magazine Review: Pirate Stories November 1934 Some of the pulp magazines went for very specialized subjects, so it’s not a surprise to find one dedicated entirely to stories about pirates. As this was the first issue, there’s an publisher’s note indicating that there will be stories about pirate of the past, present and future (it… Continue reading Magazine Review: Pirate Stories November 1934
Book Review: Billy Smith Shanghaied Ace
Book Review: Billy Smith Shanghaied Ace by Noël Sainsbury, Jr. William “Billy” Smith, noted teen aviator, has been called to Australia by a wealthy banker, Mr. Clafflin whose daughter Janet was on the missing passenger liner GLORIA (sic). The banker believes that the ship was not sunk, but is stranded off course somewhere in the… Continue reading Book Review: Billy Smith Shanghaied Ace
Book Review: The Pirate Princess
Book Review: The Pirate Princess by Tawn Krakowski Penelope Puffinstuff is the ninth child of the royal family of Pufftania, so everyone calls her “Princess Penny.” She’s a sweet, well-behaved girl, but is feeling slightly bored with the life of a princess. So when it turns out that a centuries-old prophecy requires her to acquire… Continue reading Book Review: The Pirate Princess
Book Review: The Blue Fairy Book
Book Review: The Blue Fairy Book edited by Andrew Lang Once upon a time, (1889 to be specific), British children did not have access to collections of fairy tales. Educators of the time thought fairy tales were too unrealistic and harmful to children, and beneath adults. Mr. Lang felt differently; he had delighted in such… Continue reading Book Review: The Blue Fairy Book