Viewpoints Critical by L.E. Modesitt, Jr.- June 30, 2008 Viewpoints Critical: Selected Stories by L.E. Modesitt, Jr. New York: Tor, 2008. ISBN: 978-0-7653-1857-2 Heres another short story collection by an established author much more known for his novels. In fact, as the author tells us in his brief introduction, this collection has been a long time in coming, since the first story in this volume was published more than thirty years ago. In other words, its taken him a long time to come up with enough short stories to fill up a publishable...http://tillabooks.blogspot.com/2008/06/viewpoints-critical-by-le-modesitt-jr.html Fragile Things by Neil Gaiman- June 26, 2008 Fragile Things: Short Fictions and Wonders by Neil Gaiman. New York: William Morrow, 2006. ISBN: 978-0-06-051522-5 Ive been reading several short story collections recently, and this is just the first of them. Short stories are not my favorite genre, but when the author is someone known to me, particularly someone whose novels I enjoy, and especially in the science fiction andor fantasy genre, I will generally read their short story collections, not only just to see what their stories are like,.http://tillabooks.blogspot.com/2008/06/fragile-things-by-neil-gaiman.html Hunter's Run by Martin, Dozois, and Abraham- June 23, 2008 Hunter's Run by George R.R. Martin, Garner Dozois, and Daniel Abraham. New York: Eos (HarperCollins), 2008. ISBN: 978-0-06-137329-9 This is nitty gritty SciFi at its best. Our protagonist, one Ramn Espejo is an uneducated, roistering, hard-drinking, hard-living, blue collar kind of a guy who finds himself in an untenable situation, and makes the best of it. He's an independent prospector on the lam from the law, after a drunken spree in which he brutally murders a visiting gringo muckety muck,..http://tillabooks.blogspot.com/2008/06/hunters-run-by-martin-dozois-and.html Influencer by Kerry Patterson, et. al.- June 16, 2008 Influencer: The Power to Change Anything by Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, David Maxfield, Ron McMillan, and Al Switzler. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2008. ISBN: 978-0-07-148499-2 This book purports to provide a method by which you can change the world, or at least, yourself. It claims to be that lever Archimedes so famously postulated, long enough to shift the entire earth. Is it I'm not sure. At the end, it all seems to come down still, to talk. Just find the right words, and you can persuade...http://tillabooks.blogspot.com/2008/06/influencer-power-to-change-anything-by.html Touchstone by Laurie King- June 9, 2008 Touchstone by Laurie King. New York: Bantam Books, 2008. ISBN: 978-0-553-80355-6 Ah, another novel from one of my favorite contemporary authors, Laurie King! What a pleasure it is to be caught up once again by her inimitable style and perfect touch. Touchstone is another standalone story, not part of her Martinelli or Mary Russell series. That's its only drawback, if drawback there is to be found here. Fortunately for us, a note at the end of the book informs us that Ms. King is currently at...http://tillabooks.blogspot.com/2008/06/touchstone-by-laurie-king.html Empire Rising by Sam Barone- June 5, 2008 Empire Rising by Sam Barone. New York: William Morrow, 2007. ISBN: 978-0-06-089246-3 This is the sequel to Dawn of Empire, which I reviewed back in April of 2007. It's a good read, and if you enjoyed Dawn, you'll probably want to read Rising. But it doesn't have the same compelling drive to it that the original did. In Dawn of Empire, we read about one of the first cities to raise a wall in its defense. This is a civilization-building effort that truly revolutionized society when it occurred,.http://tillabooks.blogspot.com/2008/06/empire-rising-by-sam-barone.html Opening Atlantis by Harry Turtledove- June 2, 2008 Opening Atlantis by Harry Turtledove. New York: Roc, 2007. ISBN: 978-0-451-46174-2 This is another alternate history novel by Turtledove, the acknowledged master of the genre. He imagines a smallish continent, naturally named Atlantis, out in the middle of the Atlantic, sort of halfway between Europe and North America. He tells us the history of this land, from its initial discovery and settlement by Europeans in the 1450's, on down to about the time of the American Revolution, when the British.http://tillabooks.blogspot.com/2008/06/opening-atlantis-by-harry-turtledove.html |