An astronaut is injured in a dust storm on Mars. His crewmates give him up for dead and head home. Miraculously, he survives (some extreme hand-waving is needed to explain that). He makes it to the inflated canvas habitat left … Continue reading
This sci-fi adventure gets points for creativity. A small crew from earth investigates an alien ship somewhere out in the Oort cloud. The stimulating questions include, how would you communicate with aliens, and, what are the aliens like? Usually in … Continue reading
Six characters write diaries and letters, along with the transcript of a conversation, all presented in rotation. There are no dramatic scenes in real time, and no plot. Everything is remembered and told from afar through a haze of maudlin emotion. … Continue reading
This “Bible” is very informative, detailed, well-organized and accessible; more comprehensive and with a wider range of examples than Syd Field’s classic, Screenplay. On the other hand, it’s nearly 500 pages of 8.5” x 11” text, so it’s formidable. Despite … Continue reading
This is a very enjoyable read, although it makes no sense whatsoever, which is how I often feel about reading Faulkner, someone who I believe Flanagan had in mind here, along with the poet, Rimbaud. The story is structured roughly … Continue reading
In this classic sci-fi adventure from the 1960’s, two warring groups, the Rangers and the Wardens, fight each other in various places and times over the centuries. Time tunnels were built in some distant future that allowed these tribes to … Continue reading
I was convinced by this biographical and literary study, of three things. One, Virginia Woolf was sexually abused by her half-brother, George Duckworth, and two, that her alleged madness was a depressed and confused reaction to that childhood trauma (along … Continue reading
Between the World and Me is a brief autobiography, from the author’s early childhood to present-day adulthood, although it is marketed as a series of letters to his fifteen-year-old son about race in America. That’s a brilliant device, for it … Continue reading
I haven’t read any sci-fi since the 1960’s. After high school, I focused on non-fiction for 40 years to support my career. Now I’m exploring the genre again and Eon was one of the “catch-up” books on my list of … Continue reading
Funny, Imaginative, and Vulgar This is my first Palahniuk novel, and to my surprise, I enjoyed it. Surprised because it’s not the sort of thing I normally like, a hodge-podge of urban punk, violent, humorous, sci-fi, horror of an experimental thing. … Continue reading