Book Reviews
Sandman Slim by Richard Kadrey is a fantastical twist on the kinds of books my father loves, those hardboiled detective fiction paperbacks set in L.A. amid murdered starlets, corrupt rich moguls and whiskey soaked sleuthing. Here, Kadrey’s twist is a celestial playground where diabolists and federal saints carry on a secret war, while meddling magicians [...]
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Every few years, fantasy fiction seems to rally ‘round the standard of a handful of books touted as the savior of the era, books of such fabulous craft and wonder that they represent new shifts in the art. I’ve eyed The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss precisely because I have observed that furor [...]
I just spent a couple days on the road on business – a jaunt to Manhattan. While the trip delayed some development here on the new blog, I did manage to finally finish up my print copy of The Pale Horseman, by Bernard Cornwell. It’s the second in Cornwell’s Saxon series. I read the first, [...]
For the last few years, I’ve become increasingly interested in WW2. I’ve read some non-fiction books on the OSS. I drive my wife crazy with World War II magazine purchases at the grocery story. Naturally, I sought out the best I could find in WW2 fiction. I found it in Alan Furst. About a year [...]
Continue reading about Book Review: The Polish Officer by Alan Furst
Midnight’s Children is a rich and fascinating book. Rushdie channels dreamy visions of Kashmir and Mumbai, but his real masterpiece is the cast of characters — mostly the narrator’s family. In a variety of magical realist encounters, Rushdie manages not to let that fantasy unravel the dysfunctional, tragic and sometimes touching human dramas surrounding his [...]
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I’ve had sitting on my shelf for a couple years now an unread copy of The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay. Much more recently, when Gentlemen of the Road caught my eye as another prospect, I was sold the minute I opened to the dedication. It said “To Michael Moorcock.” Moorcock’s a favorite author [...]
Continue reading about Book Review: Gentlemen of the Road by Michael Chabon
I discovered Arturo Pérez-Reverte earlier this year with his endearing Spanish adventure novel, Captain Alatriste. My discovery started a chain that ended most recently with The Club Dumas. I now gather that Pérez-Reverte is a wildly successful author in Spain and elsewhere, and more recently finding success in the U.S. Of course, American editions are [...]
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No doubt like every other aspiring wordsmith, I read Stephen King’s On Writing. I’ve never been much of a King reader — just a few short stories and The Gunslinger. Still, I appreciate his work and success. His memoirs on writing amused me. They might even have inspired. It’s not much of a book to [...]
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Last time I covered A Gentleman’s Game by Greg Rucka, an espionage thriller with a solid graphic novel pedigree from Rucka’s Queen & Country. I also tore through Private Wars, the next novel in the Tara Chace series. Here, Tara Chace is out of the service with a baby. This is serious business given the thriller [...]
Continue reading about Book Review: Private Wars by Greg Rucka
Several months ago, I was flipping channels and watched coverage of a comic book convention on the G4 channel. One of the reporters shared her favorite pick of the convention with the show hosts in the studio. It was something called Queen & Country, a hard-boiled modern espionage comic featuring female protagonist, Tara Chace. The [...]
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