Stan Lee, Smith and Colfer

We'll go from best to worst here. Alexa is a comic book (or graphic novel if you are under 35), I read the first 3 episodes, and it was quite interesting till the last few pages of episode 3 where it went all obvious and ordinary. Though perhaps I should mention this is the first graphic novel I have read in 20 years or so. Alexa is a comic book artist who objects to the normal depiction of females in graphic novels by wearing skintight jeans and skivvy. This comic is drawn by males, what a surprise.

Behold, a Mystery! by Joan Smith is a Regency romance cum mystery, quite competent (usually they are abysmal) though I skipped a few boring bits. I was only mildly interested in who done it and who the heroine would marry.

The Wish List by Eoin Colfer had a strange view of goodness, in fact a perfectly pukable view of goodness. The heroine's good deeds and bad deeds are perfectly balanced when she dies (this Ancient Egyptian theology is presented as Christian, the Pope and Martin Luther are both sobbing into their soup) so she is sent back to overbalance the scale one way or the other, by helping someone else achieve their wishes. A kiss in a television studio between two elderly people who regret not kissing in their youth is described as a moment of pure goodness (getting there has needed some deception and manipulation), complete with ethereal light. On the other hand, what seemed to me truly a moment of pure goodness later in the book, where someone asks for and receives forgiveness, in the ordinary difficult way, passed without such light. I have not read a decent story ever about someone coming back after death to fix things, they are all revoltingly sentimental at the least.

Alexa (story by Stan Lee words by Steven Roman, pictures by 8 blokes and 3 women, the women did the colouring in and the lettering) first published 2005; Behold a Mystery! first published 1994, The Wish List first published 2000.

Friend of My Heart by Judith Clarke

This short book has the slightest of plots and the strongest of themes. I read it every few years, and sometimes pick it up to just read a few pages for the humour, and the astonishing way the author manages to tell us something about every character's attitude to love or who they love. Just about every type of love is covered here from several angles, hopeless, happy, contented or mistaken, parents and children, romantic, friends, siblings. Read this delightful book!

Friend of My Heart first published 1994

Forest Mage by Robin Hobb

Hobb is very good at trilogies, and I read this thick book, the second of The Soldier Son Trilogy, in 2 days. I did think at the end that the hero had taken a long time to arrive there, considering it was clear to me as a reader where he had to go. But it didn't seem long as I was reading it.

Someone wrote that Lewis and Tolkien cured writers of thinking hero's physical journeys were easy and not important enough to write about. Hobb makes you walk every step of the hero's mental, moral and emotional journey, as well as detailing the physical journeys. And yes, it is all interesting. We learn more about the Specks people, and what has happened to the Plains people. What we need to know from the first book is put in appropriately. An excellent reading experience, bring on the third book!

Forest Mage first published 2006

Other, Luckett, and Flint

I borrowed a book called The Delaney Christmas Carol from the library, thinking it would be an updated version of Dickens. It was three novellas by three authors, each story being a romance; unfortunately the boring sort where at least one person is very rich, both people are exceptionally beautiful, and an overwhelming feeling of mutual lust is a sure sign you are soul mates. The past, present and future were all astonishingly similar. I tried each story but didn't manage to finish any. Avoid this book.

More fun was a re-reading of Dave Luckett's The Truth About Magic and The Return of Rathalorn, fantasy books for children with a good story and good characterisation - both the heroes and the villains have entirely understandable motivations. You can see a whole workable, even if not always admirable, society in the background. An excellent introduction to class, prejudice, and standing up for the right without wrecking your society or yourself. I also thoroughly recommend his Tenabran trilogy for adults.

I also read An Oblique Approach (free in Baen's online library) by David Drake and Eric Flint, which is an alternate history, Byzantium sixth century. A couple of "computers" have popped back in time to change history. A fun light read, and I enjoyed looking up to see which characters were historical (answer lots, who'd have thought we know so much about the sixth century), though way too many people are excellent at their jobs and repartee as well. Style is a bit variable.


A Delaney Christmas Carol first published 2004, The Truth About Magic 2005, The Return of Rathalorn 2005, An Oblique Approach 1998

Sight Unseen by Robert Goddard

A retired policeman decides to re-investigate a case he wasn't satisfied about, and collects a witness (the usual rootless single depressed middle-aged male) to help him. They wander around asking questions. People start being attacked, murdered, framed, committing suicide etcetera. We are really none the wiser as to why, even though some lost items turn up, until someone decides to Explain All to save someone else. Pretty forgettable.

A Hymn Before Battle by John Ringo

For someone who skim reads fights, I read a lot of military SF. I like John Ringo, and this was his first novel (available free on the internet), which I haven't read before. I noted a few first novel type faults, which he doesn't have in later books; except for his strange way of referring to a planet as having mostly one type of terrain and climate all over - a mostly swampy planet? I don't think so. The utterly unrealistic cover picture is not his fault however, and not like anything he describes either.

The peace-loving aliens have arrived - peace loving in a no physical violence sense, as they are commercially rapacious, aristocratic (with serfs), and not all that truthful. Unfortunately, the war loving aliens are on the way, so they are all that is available in the way of allies.

I find it hard to believe the USA military is as stupidly hidebound as portrayed in this book, though not that the Chinese were better at working out more about the aliens. As for dumping lots of privates and NCO's in a camp without a command structure (ie officers and administrators) in place, surely no army has ever been so stupid. Still, you can't have a war novel without a few mistakes to give chances for heroes.

There are a few quiet military history jokes about which nation does best at fighting aliens, and I enjoyed it overall - Ringo is good at making you care about his characters. I am looking forward to reading the next, Gust Front, which is also on the net.

A Hymn Before Battle first published 2001

Inherit the Earth by Brian Stableford

This novel kept me mildly interested all the way through, though I did keep stopping to read other more interesting looking works. There are lots of kidnappings, possible murders, people who are dead or maybe have faked their deaths, and the usual wrong side of the law hackers for hire. There are lots of pompous and initially opaque conversations, with people who want power and influence and for other people to stop playing god because it interferes with them playing god.

The main character has very few warm human relationships; mind you I can't blame him for breaking up with his histrionic girlfriend in the first chapter. Supposedly this book is about the problems of extended life and possible immortality (the population is much reduced after a series of possibly man made plagues). At the end the main character decides to change his life and career path drastically, but to what we don't know. This book was mildly interesting, but not fun.

Inherit the Earth first published1998

What Child is This? by Caroline Cooney

Most fairy stories have the happy ending achieved through a lot of sorrow, pain, hard work and keeping on going. This Christmas story follows that pattern and throws in a few musings on God and choices and what makes a good person. And it shows a few law abiding respectable adults who are not good people.

"Christmas was only a chance: you could take the chance, or you could ignore it. You could open your heart, or just deck the halls with boughs of holly." p146
This is an excellent story which I highly recommend at any time of the year.

What Child is This first published 1997, I read the Macmillan 1998 edition.

Lost In A Good Book by Jasper Fforde

The second hand bookshop had this filed under detective. I said I thought it was fantasy or SF. They said they did have trouble deciding. I can see why libraries stick to alphabetical order.

It's best to read The Eyre Affair before reading this book, the second in the Thursday Next series. Thursday is the heroine, a detective in special ops, the literature section, in a rather different world than ours. Except for bureaucracy and people, which are much the same.

These books are fascinating while you are reading them, but I do have trouble picking them up again after putting them down, though less in the second half of this book. I think Fforde is getting better as a writer.

The world of this book is indescribable in a few sentences, but Fforde is worth reading just for the strangeness. Some people can go into books, for example. I do hope there is more of Miss Havisham in the next book.

Lost In A Good Book first published 2002

Under Orders by Dick Francis

I have usually found Dick Francis a nice reliable read, good for convalescence in particular. I like the way you find out something about different industries or professions in most books, and I like the way his characters are shown to be affected emotionally by violence and other wrong doing. Too many detective novels of the more violent sort behave as though the emotional effects of violence and crime don't exist at all. I like the way his villains rarely look like villains from the outside - most real life villains don't, after all.

This is the first novel he has written since his wife died, she researched and edited for him, some people suspect she did the actual writing. Under Orders isn't up to his usual standard. The information about new technology and web gambling is info dumped instead of being integrated gracefully into the text, ditto the information needed from previous books - this is one of his rare sequels, the third book about Sid Halley. There is too much repetition, too much telling instead of showing.

I still enjoyed it, but if you haven't read a Francis before, try an earlier one.

Under Orders First published in 2006

Fast Women by Jennifer Crusie

This novel is set in a detective agency and has two dead bodies and missing people and missing diamonds. However it reads like romance, or maybe chick lit, so is a light fun read, and gets good marks on the style and plot. Characterisation not so hot - most characters were defined by one or two quirks. I kept losing track of which character was which in the pool of potential villains and who they are or were married to, but got them sorted out in time for the denouement.

The dialogue is pretty good, and the musings on relationships are higher quality than most romance/chick lit books - which isn't saying much I know! I borrowed this from the library, having seen Crusie's name recommended.

Fast Women first published 2001 -why it is called that I can't imagine.

Zorro by Isabel Allende

This was a fun read. Allende's version of Zorro explains why and how he got his passion for justice and his almost superhuman skills; and covers his adventures and travels mostly up to the age of 20. The first Zorro story was written in 1919, and since then there have been TV, movies, books and comic versions.

This novel is in the magical realism genre. I haven't read a lot of magical realism, but what I have reminds me of the Brothers Grimm (random magical events and the main theme is people's choices) crossed with soap opera (only with less yelling, much better written dialogue, and more honourable characters).

"Heroism is a badly renumerated occupation, and often it leads to an early end, which is why it appeals to fanatics or persons with an unhealthy fascination with death. There are all too few heroes with a romantic heart and a fun-loving nature." Zorro, page 1

So in this Zorro expect exciting events, secret rooms and passages, deep affection, decisions made with honour and lack of common sense, and unusual people. And enjoy yourself.

Zorro (this one) first published in 2005

Stories by Ted Chiang & Eric Flint

Reading short stories lately - Ted Chiang's Stories of My Life and Others is from the library, and while I'm not sure I'd want to own the whole lot I am glad to have read them. The title story is excellent, as are several others, but some are depressing - Chiang is better read as part of an anthology with other writers, in spite of his gift for memorable and absorbing stories.


I didn't find Towers of Babylon, his take on the Tower of Babel, depressing, though probably that is a matter of taste. It was fascinating, even though Egan's description of it as SF for Babylonians is quite accurate! Seventy-Two Letters is also highly recommended.

I have also been re-reading stories from the Ring of Fire anthology, notably The Wallenstein Gambit. The Ring of Fire/1632 series have a lot of charm, and are fun to read. My husband and daughter are both reading as many as I own currently. Unusually for a People-Dumped-Back-Into-The-Past plot line, what can be done and what can't has been thought out very carefully. Also religion (Judaism, Protestant & Catholic Christianity) is being covered seriously as a part of society and a motive for people's actions; not in every book or story, but it is one of the continuing threads.

Ring of Fire first published 2005, all stories first publication; Stories of your Life and Others first published 2002, stories first published 1990 to 2000

Roma Eternal by Robert Silverberg

This is an alternate history, as a set of linked short stories. The Roman Empire did not fall, Jesus & Muhammad did not found religions. The stories can be read individually, which is good as a couple are not very interesting, and some are merely OK.

Some are very good - Silverberg mostly does better with the stories about people on the edge of great events than the people in the centre; I think because the characterisation is better in those stories. Several stories are concerned with people's choices, some admirable and some not, and in others people have very few choices they can make.

Silverberg is good on world building - Majipoor the world in the Majipoor series was very memorable - and he has no trouble making this changed world believable. There is also the interest of working out which historical event he is mining in some cases.

Roma Eterna first published 2003, stories in it first published 1989 to 2003

Christie, Childs, and other reading

More detective books - I read a 1920's Agatha Christie, Murder in the Mews, and then two from the 1960's, The Clocks and Third Girl. The differences in society in the two decades were very clear. In The Clocks, I felt Christie was having trouble with the 1960's speech and society, it seemed to be set earlier in time, perhaps she had written it earlier in time. In Third Girl, she used the the point of view of an elderly person looking at the 1960's, which worked very well stylistically, even if the elderly person was the irritating Poirot.

I also tried Laura Childs' Blood Orange Brewing, which was an utter failure. I was really bored very quickly. It seems to be one of a series of detective novels set around people who run a teashop.

Otherwise I have read a lot of New Scientist magazines, the most interesting articles being one on how people make decisions, and one speculating how differing oxygen levels in the atmosphere have contributed to evolution and extinctions, with fascinating explanations of how (and possibly why) birds have much more efficient respiratory systems than mammals, and reptiles much less efficient. Some species of ducks fly over the Himalayas when migrating, humans need oxygen to climb them.

The Clocks first published in 1963, Third Girl in 1966, Murder in the Mews 1927, Blood Orange Brewing in 2006

Family Reunion by Caroline Cooney

Caroline Cooney is a very prolific author, mostly young adults, but manages to turn out surprisingly good books. Her family relationships and characterisation in particular are excellent, and mostly there is a strong plot. I don't like her horror books, or the simpler thriller books she writes for reluctant readers.

Family Reunion is one of her funnier books, especially recommended for those with embarrassing or irritating relations. I enjoyed it, even though stepmothers and divorce came into it - usually I get bored with teenagers emoting about their difficult times, but not with Cooney. Not quite as funny as Tune In Anytime, (one of the rare Cooney's with not very good parents), but definitely worth a re-read.

Family Reunion first published 1984

Bartlett and the Ice Voyage by Odo Hirsch

This short children's book is a lot of fun. It has adventure and clearly delineated characters and there is a lot of interest in watching choices that characters make, and why. Few authors can create dramatic tension over whether a character will keep their promise or not.

A taste of Hirsch's offbeat style can be found by reading this interview. The little pencil drawings by Andrew McLean complement the story nicely.

Bartlett and the Ice Voyage first published in 1998

Child of a Rainless Year by Jane Lindskold

I was reading this book thinking yes, a so far well done version of coming of age story, (sub genre, young woman receives inheritance and sets off to find the mystery of her past and birth parents); when suddenly the woman turns out to be in her early fifties as she sets off to see her inherited house and look for her past.

One of the themes of this book is that other coming of age, when parents die and we stand on the threshold of old age ourselves. Or late middle age, as Old Age seems to have shifted to being older than 70 now. The other theme is change and thresholds, when we choose to change or stay the same, and whether we accept parental views of us or not. The author is American, so naturally change equals growth equals a good thing. Which it is in this book, though not always in real life.

I enjoyed this book, though around the middle I was thinking not much has happened yet. However, most of what we learned turned out to be necessary, though maybe not the detailing of what most meals were - though you could make the case the author is using food to show how Mira has moved to a different culture in the shift from Ohio to New Mexico. I also enjoyed the deftness with which the author set a fantasy in the modern world, email and magical happenings rarely seem so right together on the same page.

The climax of the book was particularly strong. This is the first Lindskold I have read, but I will look for more.

Child of a Rainless Year was first published in 2005