Review of The Darkening (Mass Market Paperback)

This is a bit of a hybrid when it comes to a horror novel. It reads more like a tom clancy with supernatural players in it not to mention some Lovecraft.The story centers around a man named Dylan that is plagued by awful dreams that he can't remember and he wake's up in a different part of his house not knowing how he got there.The other central character is Lucy who feel's as if she is missing something but doesn't know what.

The villains in this book are none other than lovecrafts old ones and the cult that worship them. Opposed is a group called rex deus who try to thwart them at every turn. Both groups want to get there hands on lucy and dylan. The old ones are trying to break through and only lucy and dylan can put a stop to them.

This novel is good but lacks genuine scares and relies more on action. Not that that is a bad thing but when i read a horror novel i want to be a little creeped out so that is my main complaint. Also the ending was abit of a let down when you consider where your being led throughout the book. I reccommend to most out there and i look forward to reading some more by this author.

Product Description
IT BEGINS WITH A BLACKOUT.

All electrical power ceases to run. Even the sun seems a little dimmer. Cities come to a halt. And then their inhabitants vanish.

But a small, clandestine group of warriors has been preparing for this moment for centuries. Their hopes rest on two strangers, a thousand miles apart, who hold the keys to the world's salvation: Dylan Barnes, a martial arts instructor who teaches his students the art of inner balance but is plagued by shadows only he can see and voices muttering in a language only he can hear; and Lucy Devereau, a private investigator who earns a living by prying into the lives of others but is haunted by her own birthright-and the mystery of her true parents.

The world around them-our world-is slipping into darkness. Now, as fate and blood push them to the front lines of an extraordinary battle, Lucy and Dylan must stare into the face of something ancient, something impossible, something that has come to blot out the light-forever.

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Review of Dinosaur Wars (Paperback)

If you like disaster and alien-attack novels, dinosaur resurrection novels, survival novels, crazy-wild sc-fi\fantasy that reads fast and fun, with a cliff-hanger feel from chapter to chapter, Thomas P. Hopp's DinoWars story is a great night's escapist feast. It is a first novel, so there are issues of polish that I anticipate will disappear in subsequent offerings by the author.

The unexpected plot builds well around believable characters. And there are great lines throughout that makes you feel like you are somewhere between a Flash Gordon or Edgar Rice Burroughs episode and an "Aliens" movie. For example (from page 56):

Chase was dumbstruck. Seeing his confusion, the man spat some tobacco juice. "You been up in the hills or something? That's some sort of alien death ray up there." The man cast a worried glance at the moon. "The whole world's under attack. That's what's wrong with the radio.Moon ray took out the radio station. Good country music. I'm gonna miss it."

With T-Rex's "blood-curdling roar" in the front yard, a real "death ray from space," and a friendly family of hay-eating parasaurolophuses waiting for their next meal to be dropped to them from the hayloft, Thomas Hopp pulls off a great addition to the growing sci-fi/fantasy dinosaur subgenre. The second book in the series is available, "Dinosaur Wars: Counterattack," and a third is in the works. I look forward to reading more. Visit his website at: http://thomas-hopp.com/

Product Description
A 65 million year old civilization, buried under a mountain in Montana. A space invasion of intelligent human-sized dinosaurs returning to claim their home world. M1A2 Abrams tanks and Apache attack helicopters in desperate counterattacks. And young lovers caught at the epicenter of a battle for the Earth. Dinosaur Wars is a military science fiction novel with an overload of stories: Chase Armstrong, the Yellowstone wolf biologist who finds himself dead-center in the greatest wildlife restoration project ever, as dinosaurs return to the high plains of Montana; Kit Daniels, a cattle rancher's daughter who is swept up with Chase at the center of the conflict; Captain Vic Suarez, Abrams tank commander and leader of America's last best hope, Fox Troop; and Gar, the Kra, dinosaurian second-in-command of the invasion force, with a soft heart for the creatures he has vowed to exterminate -- humanity. Dinosaur Wars brims with action, adventure and romance.

From the Publisher
The time is tomorrow morning. The place is Earth. You wake up to the sonic booms of an invasion fleet from space, and the stage is set for Dinosaur Wars. Science fiction novelist Thomas P. Hopp has created a gripping, fast-paced chiller of the ultimate in wildlife re-introduction programs, when creatures who fled the asteroid impact that ended the Age of Dinosaurs return to claim their home world -- our world! Not an alternative history, not a time-warp story, Dinosaur Wars takes off plausibly with Jet Propulsion Laboratory space scientists discovering 65 million year old ruins in a crater at the south pole of the moon. From there, mankind's fortunes go downhill as astronaut explorers of the moon base trigger an automated program to invade the Earth and repopulate it with creatures from the Cretaceous Era, including a species of human-sized, intelligent carnivorous dinosaur. Faced with a massive invasion, America's aircraft and tanks are suddenly hard-pressed to save humanity from extinction.

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Review of Godplayers (Paperback)

Sorry to be wrench in the works but I hated this book...even though I did finish it.It had me hooked when the first few pages contained some very cool concepts:Super beings looking in on a collapsing universe and rooting for the hyper-evolved intelligences contained therein to achieve a sort of godhood--I'm loving all that.Somewhere near the middle I realized with dread that the author was going NOWHERE with any of it.

The book changes reality frames so randomly and often that I just couldn't believe any of it.That kind of thing can work if the author lays the groundwork to make it feel plausible (so masterfully done in John C. Wright's "The Golden Age"), but Broderick just doesn't bother with the legwork.The tech is never explained or even differentiated from fairy tale magic. The characters hardly have a chance to interact before they're hurled off into another reality and have to deal with it.It's hard to get involved with any situation when you know the carpet can be pulled out at any second.

If someone asked me to explain the plot I really couldn't tell them.It's one of those books where a bunch of stuff happens and the characters react to it.The main character certainly has no plan other than exploring and scoring with babes, and the superintelligent players of "the game" NEVER explain what "the game" even is.This is actually what kept me slogging throught to the end.Surely he'll tell me what "the game" is since that's the very reason the characters even exist.But I guess that was asking too much. I had a feeling it involved apposing the "K-machines", but the book pretty much ignores that angle in favor of jumping around "Sliders" style.

Most frustrating of all was the main character who I grew to hate passionately. He gets hurled into a multiverse of super beings and acts like he's at a neighborhood barbeque. He NEVER asks the kinds of questions an actual person would.At the rare occaisions when he gets a chance to talk with friendly characters I'd be mentally screaming at him, "Ask what the hell is going on, you fool!" but he always managed to find other distractions more important than the things crucial to his survival.By the end I was rooting for his death.If we had a Darwin award for fictional characters, he'd be a shoo-in.



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Review of The Alianthrope (Paperback)

Mr. Gangelhoff's magnum opus has caused a stirring success and with good reason. The Odyssean style narrative is in perpetual motion, engaging the reader at every turn to revel in the quirky, kinetic dance which is The Alianthrope. I liken the reading experience of The Alianthrope to the epic speediness of Philip K. Dick because, as with any of Dick's work, the visual construction of the words on the page encourage oculomotor coordinations to go into overdrive. I believe the locomotion of The Alianthrope and the reader's exercisedelineated above primarily motivate saccadic people, which is to say those who can effectively & with precision, give meaning to that strange French word, SACCADE, which describes the most elementary faculty that goes into reading. So when Mr. Gangelhoff says something in his own review of the book to the effect of, 'if you want to graduate from the ninth grade it may be a book worth looking into', he has a point, although one hopes the freshman has encountered things of this nature previously, as in perhaps the fourth or fifth grade.

In The Alianthrope we find characters cloaked in exquisite humor and mercurial impulses; everything is in a protean spin. Amongst a whirling salmagundi of humorous action and arcane references, we find that what at first appeared formidable and discouraging, in terms of language, has become fun and rather lighthearted. Mr. Gangelhoff is clearly not afraid to experiment with syntactical arrangements. Thus, for example, on page 299 Mr. Gangelhoff playfully employs a structurally unorthodox dialogue which bandies a mocking allusion to "postmodern verse" and carries with it a sense Derridian obloquy. Or perhaps obscenity.

Mr. Gangelhoff flips neologisms like a cook making a breakfast of champions might flip flapjacks. The reader is taken logo-dancing through the kitchens of Mr. Gangelhoff's new lexicon, a language spoken by a true logophile. In the book we find words like 'vaped'. We find examples everywhere of the author bending the parameters of the English language. On page 442 we can see such experimentation: "Yes, I've become the compleat anglophile," said Fandango. "A peon of Albion, I paean the pennons of Arthur! " Here the author is having homophonic fun with the language. The book is filled throughout with such linguistic fun. I intend to resume this review anon, and hope that it can be read as a benefit to those who have not yet had the ecstatic experience of The Alianthrope, but more importantly, that it be read by those who have and who know whereof I speak. This review is as yet in unfinished form.







Product Description
ALIENS INVADE EARTH AND STEAL ITS SCIENCE FICTION!


Aliens steal Earth's science fiction and disseminate it across the Universe.Coveted everywhere by all peoples, its possession causes a Universal War of Science Fiction.Only the sci fi fan extraordinaire, Sargon, abducted from Earth and prophesied to rule the Universe, can make the Universe safe for science fiction and return Earth to its rightful throne as the only legitimate birthplace of science fiction. Or can he?

About the Author
Rich Gangelhoff was born in 1957into a middle-class American family.He lived in England until his parents' death in a jet airplane struck by a stray missile, brought himin 1968 to Minnesota.Enraged by his bourgeois environment there,he fled the state in 1975.Dropped out of three universities by 1978, living off his inheritance, he insinuated himself into various libraries across the U.S.A.He then studied dishwashing for three years, after which Target, Inc. imprisoned him for another fourteen.He fled work one day in 1998 to focus on his magnum opus, The Alianthrope.He currently works in a used bookstore, in a self-imposed exile from nowhere.

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Review of Dogs of Truth: New and Uncollected Stories (Paperback)

Ordinarily, when reading a book of short stories in the horror genre, the more normal the lead-in and middle of the story, the more horrible the ending.The reader comes to expect this, anticipate it, and therefore, discount it.Not so with these stories.Ms. Reed still manages to surprise the reader with the twists at the end, or the way in which the "normal" part draws you in, only to shock in the wrap up.Based on her short stories, Ms. Reed is an excellent author, and this is a much better than "normal" book of short stories.



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Review of Lightning Days (Paperback)

Archaeologists have told us that Neanderthals have been extinct for thirty thousand years. It is also believed that Neanderthals were quite primitive and never really developed any cities or advanced technology. But everything we ever thought about Neanderthals was completely wrong.

A group of British soldiers (mostly weekenders) is sent on a mission into the Afghan desert. The men have absolutely no idea what they are supposed to be looking for but soon find themselves in a life or death situation that will determine the fate of the earth. It would seem that Neanderthals had been surviving through "shifting". Certain members of the Thals had the unique ability to transport themselves into alternate earth realities and live peacefully with the indigenous life forms. This process worked fine until the Thals met a civilization called the Sauroids who decided that shifting was disrespectful to their God. The Sauroids decided that the only course of action was to get rid of all of the alternate earths (including our Earth) except their own.

I thoroughly enjoyed Lightening Days. So much speculation has been made about Neanderthals that it is nice to see a book that uses that potential and lack of solid data to create a great science fiction novel. I also thought that the type of technology used by the Thals fit well into the story making it more believable while creatively providing background information on the Thals' history.

Product Description
There's a mystery in the caves of Afghanistan...

British Special Agent Josh Cassidy knows there is no such thing as a routine mission when he is sent to accompany an ill-prepared band of reservists on a hastily prepared mission into the heart of Afghanistan. The mysterious heat source that showed up on the military satellites could be just about anything, but nobody is prepared to find a group of refugees from an alternate universe:a group of intelligent, NEANDERTHAL refugees.

Sophia and her people have shifted universes for years, trying to keep ahead of the vicious race of Sauroids that is intent on exterminating the Thals. Now the long-running battle has come to our universe, and Josh Cassidy is the only man who stands between the Sauroids and the total annihilation of everyone on the planet Earth.

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Review of Hybrids (Neanderthal Parallax) (Mass Market Paperback)

I'm a big fan of Sawyer.I loved the first two books of this trilogy, and Hybrid lived up to what I've come to expect from Sawyer.It was a real page turner -- UNTIL about 2/3rds through the book.

Did Sawyer just get tired of writing this trilogy?

All of a sudden, the book turns to silliness.It's almost a parady of Sawyer's work.The theological thoughts are no longer delightful little subplots of a page or two, but drag on and on into endless garbage.The ending reads like a B-Movie from the 1950s with a crazed individual trying to destroy a world.At the stroke of midnight on New Year's -- well, I don't want to spoil the ending for you.It was bad enough for me to have to read it myself.

I often recommend Sawyer's books to friends, but I can't recommend this one.Hopefully this doesn't reflect Sawyer's future work.



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Review of Alas, Babylon (Perennial Classics) (Paperback)

This story deals with the Soviet nuclear attack on America that fortunately didn't happen. Where "On the Beach" was written from a British/ Australian perspective, this book is based in the American south, perhaps making Pat Frank the Pat Conroy of post-apocalyptic fiction. In 1960, during the height of the Cold War, Randy Bragg, descendant of an old Florida family, gets a heads-up from his career Air Force brother and prepares his family and his town for when "the button gets pushed". Younger readers who didn't live through the Cold War might find this story a bit campy, but as one of the kids taught by teachers to hide under my desk, I'm in no position to scoff. The book's short length (by today's standards) might make you take it for pulp fiction at first glance, but the fact that it's still in print four decades later is a testament to its quality. Rather than just crank this thing out, certain that no one would notice the picky details, Frank did his homework on this story. Even down to the dog tag on the collar of a wild stray German shepherd in one passage--as a one-time resident of Rochester NY the same as that dog, I can testify to the fact that the phone exchange on his tag really did exist back in those days...

Product Description
The classic apocalyptic novel that stunned the nation with its vivid portrayal of a small town's survival after nuclear holocaust devastates the country.

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Review of Signal to Noise (Mass Market Paperback)

Signal to Noise reads much like one would imagine a corraboration between Philip K. Dick and Larry Niven would read.The science is generally hard (with one exception: see below), but not nearly so hard as the oppressive sense of paranoia and lurking evil.

Everyone around Jack, the protagonist, is a potential enemy.Every time he takes a step forward, he runs the risk of finding that he's been walking in the wrong direction.Even his good intentions can have (literally) Earth shattering consequences.And we, the audience, share his paranoia.After awhile, the reader begins to feel like he's navigating a bewildering maze of smoke and mirrors, filled with razor-wire and spring-loaded spikes.

The one area where hard science gives way to soft metaphore is via the sophisticated neural-integrated virtual reality technology of the book.Here the book really starts to seem like a PDK work.In a brilliant variation of the tired, old VR theme, Nylund does not create his artificial experiences out of pixels projected on to retinas, but out of vivid metaphors projected directly into the brain.There is a very literal dream quality to those sequences, heightening the sense of paranoia and the nightmare sense of running down an infinite corridore being chased by ever-closer enemies.

It is a good book.True, it could have been better.The characters could have had a tad more depth (although, in a story filled with shadows, too much depth can be a bad thing) and some of the philosophizing strike a tin note.Never the less, it is an engaging and compelling story that plays to that part of our psyche that Kafka used to explore so very well.It was the stort of story that demanded completion by me even as I came to feel stifled by the oppressiveness of the plot.It is absolutely sadistic that it leaves so much to the sequel -- and absolutely delightful that it torments the reader by doing so.



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Review of The God Machine (Hellboy) (Mass Market Paperback)

If you like the Hellboy stuff,you'd probably enjoy this book.Follows the Hellboy series nicely and is a pretty good read on it's own.

Product Description
Hellboy, a bloodred, cloven-hoofed demon raised by the United States government, is a top field agent for the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense. He questions the unknown -- then beats it into submission.

Religious artifacts from every faith are disappearing without a trace. The identity of the perpetrator is a complete mystery until Hellboy and Liz Sherman -- acting on an unlikely tip from a ghost -- foil a museum heist attempted by crude, robotic constructs inhabited by human spirits.

One of these freed human spirits offers to help Hellboy track down those who imprisoned him: a fanatical order of psychics obsessed with creating a new messiah, one that will bring about a new stage of evolution for mankind -- whether mankind is willing or not. Now only Hellboy and his colleagues stand between a vulnerable humanity and an evil, vengeful god....

About the Author
Originally a comics writer, Tom Sniegoski grew a large fan base with his work on titles including Jeff Smith's bestselling BONE, Mike Mignola's HELLBOY,and the currently wildly popular GOON series.

His YA book series THE FALLEN for S&S was turned into a series of TV movies that have aired to strong ratings on the ABC Family Network. SLEEPER CODE AND SLEEPER AGENDA, a YA two-part story for Razorbill/Penguin, was an ALA *Top Ten* Quick Pick in 2006.

Tom lives in Stoughton, Massachusetts with his wife and their dog, Mulder.

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Review of The Best of the Bubbas of the Apocalypse (Paperback)

I have to admit a conflict of interests.My story, "The Trailer Park Vampire Meets the Bubba Yumbie," is in this collection and I'm friends with several of the writers whose stories are also included, but I'm friends with a lot of writers and friendship is not a valid reason for praising the work.This one earns the accolades.

If anyone is unfamiliar with the background, the stories are based on the premise that Yuppie 25, a virus probably tracked out of a government lab on some toilet paper stuck to a scientist's shoe, wiped out everyone but bubbas and some yuppies, and the yuppies were mutated into flesh-eating zombies called yumbies.The have been four books in the series, each just a little more outlandish than the last.Benbella Books has asked Selina Rosen, the edito,r to choose the best stories from the collections and present them in this volume.

Selina Rosen is not only a fine editor, she's also a damned fine writer, as can be seen from her stories, "I Zing the Bubba Electic" and "Flatulence, Halitosis, Incest, and Ned."I'm especially fond of the first story which is a gentle send-up of Bradbury and others.Bill Allen also earned two spots, with "Smart Fellers," a story that provides the reason for the aliens' fondness for anal probes, and "El Farto and the Chupabubbas," set in Mexico and dealing with the Mexican version of Bigfoot or other monsters.

I don't really have space to even list all the other stories I really liked, much less the complete list, so will just touch on a few.Mark Shepherd's "A Crazy Tasty Luv Story" approaches insanity and jumps the barrier.It's about a really, really lonely guy who makes a woman out of Spam."Possum Love, Princess of Mars," by Sherry Dean is another memorable story that dangles the possibility of another story -- which I'd gladly read.

Other titles include, "The Quest for the Holy Grill," "Attack of the Godless Undead Zombies," "Iron Hef Bubba: Battle Possum," "Oomp-Bubba," and "Rural Mom Vows to Keep Alien Lovechild," along with about fifteen more.

As I've warned before, if you want high-toned humor you titter about with mouth covered, this is the wrong book.This is a laugh till you bust a gut or pee your pants sort of humor.If you've heard of the series of books and were reluctant to try one, this is a great opportunity to get your feet wet (see above) and find out what the shouting's about.

Product Description
Featuring contributions frommorethan20 different authors, this volume combines the bestof four different Bubba anthologies, chronicling an earth that has been taken over by rednecks,also known as"Bubbas." Unconventionally coupling science fictionwith redneck jokes, it offers aludicrous take on the future through fast-paced, provocative, and, above all, hilarious short stories that will appeal to die-hard science fiction fans as well as those just looking for laughs. From "The Quest for the Holy Grill" to "The Trailer Park Vampire Meets the Bubba Yumbie," this collection offers somethingoutrageous for everyone.

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Review of Moonwar (Mass Market Paperback)

I shall write of both "Moonrise" and "Moonwar."

These are the stories of Moonbase, a permanent lunar settlement built by an American corporation in the mid-21st century.These tales chronicle the political and societal tension wrought by unpopular scientific endeavors, and the unforeseen consequences thereof.The books portray a future wherein a new fascism creeps across the entire globe, embraced by a superstitious public, and at dire odds with the free-thinking scientists living on the Moon--men and women who journeyed there to escape the shackles of Earthside ignorance and fear.You will find intrigue, betrayal, villainy, sexual bartering, rugged individualism, and even love within these books' pages.

But Ben Bova's vocabulary is disappointing.His dialog is often uninspired and even predictable.His narrative, his pacing, his exposition, his character development, and even his plot development are all very Saturday matinee.Even worse, his understanding of relationships is shallow.

But what gets these books off the ground and keeps the reader till their last pages is Ben Bova's love of space exploration.The man fervently believes that space exploration will benefit all of mankind, and not just the bureaucrats or big business.When Ben Bova describes an exclusively astronomical scene, his passion is undeniable.In the first book, there's a scene wherein an 18-year-old walks upon the lunar surface for the first time, and it borders on epiphanous.Ben Bova brings the Moon's unique beauty into sharp focus; sometimes, you can actually feel the regolith beneath your boots.It's this passion, I believe, that makes these books worth reading--in spite of their shortfalls.



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Review of End of An Era (Paperback)

In my recent trip to the beach, I took along my old copy of Robert Sawyer's End of An Era, a science ficton novel set in both the near future and the distant past. Ten years ago, when I read it for the first time, I was impressed enough by the work that I've been on a Robert Sawyer kick ever since.

A little about the story... In the not-so-distant future, a team of two scientists are sent back on a first, experimental mission into the past, to study and resolve questions regarding the fall of the dinosaurs at the end of the Jurassic. Old friends these two are, but there are recent, and large, strains on their relationship: a divorce, an affair, family illness, to name a few. So, perhaps sending them into the past together is not the best idea, but they have to make do with each other--and what they find.

Sawyer clearly and concisely reviews the theories regarding the extinction of the dinosaurs, and introduces his own...I grant you, with no real evidence, but it makes for an entertaining spin. Along the way, time travel paradox issues are also touched upon, as well as current issues such as public science funding, the economy, and AIDS. The story makes for an entertaining and quick read, and the main character is portrayed as flawed, yet likeable, and intelligent. Hard science fiction, this is not...but that's OK, as the introduction of new concepts and spins on classic problems make this a keeper.

Sawyer containues to be one of the authors I try to keep up with these days, and I do recommend this book to science fiction fans.




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Review of Red Thunder (Paperback)

This book is a departure for John Varley, which he pulls off impressively.It has the feel of the later (non-juvenile)Heinlein "juveniles" (particularly Tunnel In the Sky), and this is obviously not an accident -- a number of references to Heinlein's work are scattered throughout, and I'm not sure I found them all.As in "Jubal, this is Manny my best friend."

The story is simple and outrageous -- 4 diverse twenty-year-olds stumble across a drunkard ex-astronaut, who just happens to have an eccentric genius cousin, who just happens to have invented the perfect space drive (an energy-producing device seemingly of infinite efficiency).For a number of reasons, it seems like a good plan for them to surreptitiously build a spaceship and go to Mars, hoping to beat the competing Chinese and American missions already on the way.

Of course, it's never that simple, and several varieties of black hats and paranoia impede their attempt, things go wrong, people need rescuing, but all is right, and more than right, in the end.

If you're looking for deep meaning or angst, look elsewhere.If you want a book to ENJOY they way you did when you were reading "Moon Is a Harsh Mistress" or "Double Star", go buy this book.

A fine book for hopeful people of all ages.



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Review of This Is the Way the World Ends (Paperback)

Sandwiched between vignettes of Nostradamus, "This is the Way the World Ends" is the tale of George Paxton, and the five other remaining humans on Earth.Unfortunately for George, he and the others are being tried for war crimes stemming from the nuclear destruction of the planet by the "unadmitted"; basically unborn generations that have willed themselves into existence for a brief time in order to inquire why their potential will never be realized.Compounding George's dilemma is the fact that unlike his fellow defendants, who are all wizards of nuclear strategy, George is just a simple everyman (with the ironic profession of tomb stone carver) whose only "guilt" was in not carefully reading a sales contract for a free nuclear survival suit for his daughter.

As one can tell from this brief synopsis of the plot, this is not your ordinary work of post-apocalyptic fiction.Or rather, it covers the same ground, but from a completely different angle.The Nostradamus bookends offer an air of inevitability to the narrative, and introduce a major plot device, and Morrow's description of a nuclear war's aftermath is highly engaging.Where this novel really shines, however, is in the trial.

One might expect Morrow to be a staunch proponent of disarmament given the theme of his book, but that assumption is not entirely true.Through the mechanism of the trial, he rails against both the naiveté of the doves, and the hawks' disconnect from reality.As another reviewer so eloquently stated, he demolishes the generally accepted duality of nuclear politics, and demands the reader consider a third path of their own making.That's where George comes in; his real guilt is not in his action, but in his inaction.

While much of "This is the Way the World Ends" is written in the language of 1980's Cold War rhetoric, and the threat of a massive nuclear exchange has, if not passed, certainly lessened immensely, the novel still offers great insight.First of all, Morrow's discussion of deterrence versus disarmament is fascinating; in fact (and I say this with the benefit of a degree in the subject) they would be more than adequate points of departure for any undergraduate course in international security.Particularly fascinating are his statements within ten pages that (paraphrased) 1. You can't have deterrence without strength and 2. Strength leads to escalation leads to instability.Morrow doesn't offer any answers, but he does frame some fascinating questions.Around those questions he has built a novel of intense emotion and beautiful characters; the last time a book's ending moved me so intensely was another classic of the genre, "On the Beach".And while I wouldn't place it in quite the same league as Nevil Shute's masterwork, it is nonetheless a remarkable book that is eminently worth reading.

Enjoy!



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Review of The Night of the Long Knives (Paperback)

Well Fritz Leiber has penned another good yarn.Its sort of cool that stories out of print are re-released to awaiting fans, because to me its like Leiber is still alive and I can wait for other books of his I havent read.
Well to the story, it is a tale of survival in outlaw lands after nuclear destruction but it is also a character study.It also deals with issues Leiber was going through when he wrote this (12 step program refrences) and because of this some might not understand parts of the book.
The charachters are not as interesting as Gather Darkness (another book by Leiber) but the story while not tidy and neat, does get credit for ingenuity and reach.
Also it is a short story or novellette in length so it would be better as a book in compilation (maybe combined with Gather Darkness).But for a Fritz Leiber fan a must read.

Product Description
"They were two desperate scavengers in a no-man's land of radiation and death. Living in a kill or be killed world. Can they fin a new life and hope? A grim, grisly post-apocalypse story."

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