Reviewing books, especially when you’re trying to write your own, makes you a bit self-conscious. When you’re asked for an opinion, you have to approach each title as a reader who is looking for a good escape. That self-conscious feeling only gets worse when I review works written by people I know. I want to give an honest opinion–but if I don’t like it, the friendship is irrevocably marred.
Archives for 2004
Cover to Cover #145: Mitchell Graham / David Anthony
Mitchell Graham
Mitchell returns to the show to wrap up his trilogy of books with The Ancient Legacy.
David Anthony
If you ever wondered what happened in Oz once Dorothy left, you’re not alone. And you don’t have to wonder any longer, as that’s what you’ll find in David’s book In Search of Dorothy.
Review: “Gaudeamus” by John Barnes
When John Barnes gets a visit from his old buddy and private detective Travis Bismark, he knows two things for sure: Travis needs a ride, and he’ll get at least one new science fiction book out of it.
Review: “Across The Nightingale Floor” by Lian Hearn
Billed as “Asian Fantasy,” Across the Nightingale Floor is an epic tale of revenge, intrigue, and love unrequited. At least, that is what the book jacket says. The writing style could have ascended me to a higher plane of enlightenment, but its absent plot, vapid characters, and stilted dialog made me want to commit hari-kari.
Cover to Cover #144: Richard Hatch / David Lee Summers
Richard Hatch
Battlestar Galactica is soon to be presented to us all in mini-series form, and Richard is involved (but not as Captain Apollo).
David Lee Summers
David joins us to speak on Vampires of the Scarlet Order, his latest book which deals with vampire mercenaries.
Cover to Cover #143: L. E. Modesitt, Jr / Michael Pederson
Interview: We’re happy to welcome back L. E. Modesitt, Jr. (we call him Lee) as he talks about Ordermaster, his 13th title in the “Saga of Recluse” series.
Interview Michael Pederson is the brain behind “Nth Degree – the Fiction and Fandom ‘Zine” (nthzine.com). They’ve been publishing for three years now, focusing on new fiction and news from the fandom world (as you might gather from the title.)
Review: “Thomas the Rhymer” by Ellen Kushner
Apparently, the big screen is not the only medium in which remakes are popular. There are many authors that have written successful versions of children’s stories and fairy tales. Ellen Kushner brings us Thomas the Rhymer, winner of the World Fantasy Award.
Review: “Seven Seasons of Buffy”
I try to avoid reading books out of order, and while it usually wouldn’t matter in this case, my having read Five Seasons of Angel before this one brings a couple of things to mind… the foremost being that while editor Glenn Yeffeth obtained fewer essays for the Angel collection, he also seems to have obtained more highly engaging essays for the it than for the Buffy collection. While that may sound like a minor slam of the Buffy collection, it’s not… it’s a big time golf-clap salute.
Classic Review: “Minority Report and Other Short Stories” by Philip K. Dick
I drive a lot. So I’m always on the lookout for free or cheap-ass audio books of great SF. A few days ago I stumbled across Philip K. Dick’s Minority Report and Other Stories narrated by actor Keir Dullea, the perfect mind-escape from the four-hour drive back from Vegas over the holiday weekend. And what a ride.
Cover to Cover #142: John Scalzi / Alma Alexander
Interview: Science fiction author and fellow blogger John Scalzi joins us to talk about his newest novel, Old Man’s War.
Interview: Alma Alexander joins us to talk about The Secrets of Jin-Shei, an historical fantasy tale which has been called many other things.
Cover to Cover #141: Gwyneth Jones / Vijaya Schartz
Gwyneth Jones
A fictional account of a scientist would truly be science fiction, right? That’s what you’ll find in Gwyneth’s newest book, Life
Vijaya Schartz
Vijaya is the president of the Arizona Authors Association and joins us to talk about her newest book, White Tiger.
Review: “Five Seasons of Angel”
You know that a pop culture staple has gone far beyond the normal range of fandom and reached saturation when serious academic studies relating to the psychology, philosophy, and morality of show and of its characters are being published.
To my knowledge, only Buffy the Vampire Slayer (with two academic conferences dedicated to it so far) and Godzilla fall into that category, but Buffy’s spinoff, Angel, should be right beside them.
Cover to Cover #140: Tee Morris / Jon O’Bergh
Tee Morris
Tee’s got a new book out, a tale of a dwarven detective in Capone-era Chicago called Billibub Baddings and the Case of the Singing Sword.
Jon O’Bergh
Interesting sounds from dreamy and floating to driving with intensity. A few tracks are sampled in our interview with Jon. His CD is entitled Songs from Other Planets.
Review: “The Incredibles”
What Monsters, Inc. did for monster movies and creatures in the closet, The Incredibles does even more for comic book heroes and James Bond flicks.
Review: “Orphanage” by Robert Buettner
Robert Buettner is a great writer. Seriously. Anyone who can keep me not only interested in a military SF book, but also interested enough to read it in less than THREE DAYS is doing something right. You just don’t want to put the book down.
