Take a sneak peek into the imagination of an amazing writer…and a good guy to boot. Sometimes The Magic Works is a book for everyone who either loves to write, loves to read, or loves to dream.
Archives for 2003
Review: “Jump Start” by Gary Carter
All in all, though I think the book is flawed, I wanted to keep reading. I wanted to see how the story ended, which is a lot more I can say about other books I’ve reviewed.
I feel a bit flummoxed when it comes to rating this book. I enjoyed reading it, I don’t deny that, but the entire time I’m also thinking how much better it could be. Since I’m torn down the middle, I’ll tear the rating down the middle as well.
Cover to Cover #93: F. Paul Wilson / George Beahm
F. Paul Wilson
Paul’s latest book is Gateways, the latest in his Repairman Jack series. Paul’s books span many generas (and is now in sci-fi) with the same main character – Repairman Jack. What started in 1984 has continued through seven books… and keeps picking up fans along the way.
George Beahm
Are you a Lord of the Rings fan? Looking for that last special piece to finish off your collection of Frodo figurines? You’ll need to get George’s latest book, The Essential J.R.R. Tolkien Sourcebook: A Fan’s Guide to Middle-earth and Beyond.
Review: “The Hunter’s Blades” Trilogy by R. A. Salvatore
These are the first books by R. A. Salvatore that I’ve read. Now I know why he is a best seller. These books are not profound. They are not really awe-inspiring, even given the scope of the story. Aside from some journal entries by Drizzt, there is very little that is “deep” in these books.
But, they are a hell of a lot of fun to read, and surprisingly well written. I’m thinking I may have to check and see if he could indeed have written a good book based on Star Wars: Episode II.
Cover to Cover #92: Richard Hatch
Interview: We’re talking about (and with) actor & author Richard Hatch, from (among many things) “Battlestar Galactica”!
While he was not involved with the latest SciFi Channel mini-series of the same name, Richard has written seven “Battlestar Galactica” books, carrying the theme and storylines from the original series. His latest book you can buy is Paradis, with another due next spring. We’ll talk about what was, what is and what could have been with Battlestar and many other great sci-fi.
Cover to Cover #91: Robert Reed / Michelle M. Welch
Interview: Robert Reed’s latest book, Sister Alice, asks What would the universe be like if mankind achieved technological advances that made us no less than gods? What started as a simple novella turned into wonderful tale of epic hard science fiction.
Interview: Do you like spy novels? Like fantasy? Michelle Welch’s new book Confidence Game is just what you are looking for. It’s her debut novel, and is filled with political intrigue, preindustrial (sort of) con artists and an interesting take on “magic”.
Cover to Cover #90: John Shirley / Bill Pottle
John Shirley
John joins us to speak about his new book, Crawlers. Call it a fusion of sci-fi and horror, as most of John’s work crosses generas and often defines a few.
Bill Pottle
For hist first novel, Bill chose the traditional fantasy line of a quest.
Cover to Cover #89: Mike Brotherton / John Turi
Mike Brotherton Mike is a professor of astronomy and has taken his passion, wrapped it up and put it in a book. His debut novel is called Star Dragon, and it gets a big thumbs up from Evo, who read the book in a single one-day sitting. Fans of hard sci-fi are going to enjoy […]
Cover to Cover #88: James Luceno
Interview: Michael flies solo on this in-studio conversation with James Luceno, sci-fi author of Star Wars: The New Jedi Order: The Unifying Force. Fans of the classic Star Wars will enjoy seeing their favorite characters return in a big way. In addition, new characters have been introduced who will take the series into several new iterations.
Review: “The Darkest Part of the Woods” by Ramsey Campbell
Have you ever had a sore spot like an aching tooth, an ingrown toenail, or a spot on your arm where you just got a shot? You know, some place that kisses you with a sharp pain if you don’t leave well enough alone? What do you do? You touch it, squeeze it, push on it. There you go, a grown-up, intelligent human being with a toothache, and you’ll actually bite down hard. When you can’t take the pain anymore you let up and wonder at your stupidity. Then, you go and do the same thing again half an hour later.
The Darkest Part of the Woods, by Ramsey Campbell, was a toothache I wouldn’t stop biting down on. I don’t know how many times I set the book down after an hour of reading, completely bored, totally uninterested… just to pick up the book again the next day.
Cover to Cover #87: Connie Willis / Lynn Terelle
Connie Willis
Passage is a book about near-death experiences. But unlike most of the “factual” tales, Connie wrote this with science fiction in mind. It’s not an examination of the truth, but an exploration of how sci-fi might explain it.
Lynn Terelle
Lynn tackles the moral challenges of cloning in her book, The Book of Daniel. In this book, cloning is both responsible for a global apocalypse and our species only salvation.
Cover to Cover #85: William C. Dietz / R. A. Salvatore
Interview: William C. Dietz writes military sci-fi, and his latest book For More Than Glory continues to be in this vein. Think French foreign legion, complete with cyborgs, aliens and planetary confederations
Interview: R. A. Salvatore’s latest featuring everyone’s favorite dark elf, Drizzt, is The Lone Drow. Bob has big hopes for this book
Review: The Neanderthal Parallax by Robert J. Sawyer
I find it very difficult to write about these books without gushing. As much as I’ve given you in the synopses, there is more that I left out. What I found in Sawyer’s “Neanderthal” reality is a world society that is fundamentally different from our own.
And, unlike much science fiction that is based on a “really cool” idea, Sawyer also manages to write complex characters that I grew to care about deeply. The books ripped my heart out at times, made me laugh at times, and kept me at the edge of my seat till the very end. Very little science fiction out there can do all that.
Review: “The Sorority” Trilogy by Tamara Thorne
Tamara Thorne wrote The Sorority trilogy as the literary equivalent of a teen exploitation horror movie. It has dozens of girls in a sorority house, an evil sorority president, sex, ghosts, oral sex, dead football players, group sex, human sacrifice, and chipmunk sex. Reading a book like this makes me cry. In college I couldn’t get laid to save my life.
Cover to Cover #83: Spider Robinson / Wil Radcliffe
Spider Robinson
His latest book is Callahan’s Con, the next in a series of science fiction books Spider has been writing for over thirty years. If your unfamiliar with the “Callahan” series, it centers around a bar in Key West populated with aliens, time travelers… and in this book, a wanna-be gangster– from outer space.
Wil Radcliffe
Wil’s debut novel is called Noggle Stones, a young adult fantasy. This book takes place in the late 1800’s in America, but gets blended with faeries and goblins!
