This is a nice science fiction/horror story that begins in a post-pandemic 2022 that suffers a sudden breaching of dimensional barriers causing havoc This is a nice science fiction/horror story that begins in a post-pandemic 2022 that suffers a sudden breaching of dimensional barriers causing havoc and mayhem to be unleashed. It tells the story of two sisters who find themselves on opposite sides of the barrier and how they come together despite manic muons, crazy kaiju, and the short-sighted efforts of the industrial/military establishment to weaponize children who have been changed by the events. It's a fun Stranger Things or '80's X-Men kind of story, with perhaps a bit more female empowerment. The book is divided into seven chapters, which are labeled #'s 1, 4, 9, 16, 25, 36, and 49, and I found that a little bewildering, so perhaps there's more that went over my head. It's a fast paced and well written story in any event. ...more
This was kind of fun. The art is very, very good; it has a creepy vibe, it has excellent coloring, and some of the action scenes are quite striking. TThis was kind of fun. The art is very, very good; it has a creepy vibe, it has excellent coloring, and some of the action scenes are quite striking. The story is okay, but pretty confusing. There should have been a lot more detail in introducing the characters. Some of them are quite familiar, but some were entirely new to me, and I wondered where they came from. I think they should have dumped the whole Justice League attempt-at-connection and done a supernatural team-up. There's a tooth attack that's pretty unusual. ...more
This was the fourteenth volume in the Hardy Boys mystery series. It was produced by the Stratemeyer Syndicate and was published in 1935 by Grosset & DThis was the fourteenth volume in the Hardy Boys mystery series. It was produced by the Stratemeyer Syndicate and was published in 1935 by Grosset & Dunlap with 25 chapters and 219 pages. Authorship has been attributed to Leslie McFarlane, who wrote most of the best early books in the series (under the House pseudonym of Franklin W. Dixon, of course), but that seems to me to be unlikely. The writing style is quite different and there are several differences in the way the plot is developed and how the characters act. From 1959-'73, the first 38 books in the series were revised under the direction of Harriet Adams, Stratemeyer's daughter. Some of the books were just lightly edited or somewhat shortened and simplified, and some were completely replaced by new novels. This one falls in the latter category; in 1961, James Buechler wrote an entirely new book which replaced the original in the series, so there are two different novels with the same title and author. The newer book has twenty chapters and is 177 pages long. I read the original and then immediately read the newer one to compare the two. The original book has a strong racist element which I never found in any of the other early books (another reason I believe that the work wasn't McFarlane's), and that element is missing from the 1961 iteration. In the original, the Boys and pal Chet are on a ship that sinks, they're accused of stealing money from a passenger they save, and they get caught up in a generations-long feud that ties in with a plagiarism case their father is investigating. There are several things that seem pretty dated, even for 1935, such as the observation on page 110 that the greatest innovation of the century is the "electric ice-box," or Aunt Gertrude's fear that the Boys will be engaged in "...revelry with squads of gay chorus girls." And if they randomly mailed a letter to the license bureau and asked, would they get a prompt response with the name and address of the car's owner, like on page 53? In the new book, the Boys are hired to help investigate a libel suit brought against a small-town newspaper owner/editor in Georgia, and get involved with the search for a Civil War-era lost fortune, are attacked by (somewhat incompetent and not-too-bright) criminals, have an alligator encounter, etc. It's closer in spirit and feeling to the later traditional books, though it's not among the best of the lot. It's directed to a younger reader, with more action, less characterization, and a simpler plot. I've decided to give both versions three stars, but for different reasons. ...more
The Secret of Thunder Mountain is the sixth of eight books in the Tom Quest series for young readers, which were written by Fran Striker (creator of The Secret of Thunder Mountain is the sixth of eight books in the Tom Quest series for young readers, which were written by Fran Striker (creator of The Lone Ranger, The Green Hornet, Sgt. Preston of the Yukon, etc.) from 1947-1955. This was the last of the books first published by Grosset & Dunlap as hardcovers with dust jackets; they were reprinted along with an additional pair of new books a few years later by the Clover imprint of McLaughlin Brothers with slick covers that had the pictures printed on them. (And a 49-cent price tag!) Tom is the son of scholar and explorer Hamilton Quest, who was lost for many years in South America, and the first couple of books detail how Tom and his friends tracked him down and rescued him. In this one, from 1952, Tom is on vacation in Texas at his friend Gulliver's ranch. Striker let his Lone Ranger era plotting take over a bit too much, and Tom gets involved with a gold-smuggling scheme after he volunteers to help a friend with his television reception problems. Tom is accompanied, as always, by his friends Whiz Walton, an unfortunately nicknamed reporter, and his gigantic Texan host Gulliver, who seems to be a bit larger than life by design. There's an unfortunate Indian stereotype in the person of cook Charlie Wind-Up, but he's one of the good guys at least. After much chasing about and plenty of adventures, they vanquish the bad guys, solve the mystery, fix the television, and are rescued at the last minute when Dad leads in the feds, after having cut a glass table top up and mailing it to the FBI with incriminating fingerprints on it. (That part seemed a little sketchy, but hey...) I didn't like this book as well as the first three, but it was still a fun and entertaining trip to the past. ...more
The Time Hoppers is an expansion of a novelette called Hopper that appeared in the October 1956 issue of Infinity Science Fiction magazine. SilverbergThe Time Hoppers is an expansion of a novelette called Hopper that appeared in the October 1956 issue of Infinity Science Fiction magazine. Silverberg revisited it a decade later, adding a few more characters and some further speculation about the deleterious effects of pollution and over-population, and Doubleday released the novel in 1967 with a truly boring cover comprised of some white lines in a circle forming arrowheads on a black background. It's an interesting version of the these-are-the-good-old-days theme, with some catchy time-travel and teleportation tricks, but the characters aren't really sympathetic or well-developed. It's a fast, entertaining read, but not really too memorable. It's not among his best work. ...more
Time of the Great Freeze is a kids' (pardon me, "YA") novel that Holt, Rinehart, & Winston released in hardback 1964, and then it came out in a mass mTime of the Great Freeze is a kids' (pardon me, "YA") novel that Holt, Rinehart, & Winston released in hardback 1964, and then it came out in a mass market edition from Dell in 1966 as part of their Mayflower line for young readers. (I still have the copy I got from the school book fair when I was in grade school.) It's set in 2650, as an ice age which has almost wiped-out civilization on Earth is beginning to draw to a close. Jim Barnes and his father have to make their way across the ice from New York to London. (Many years later I loved Foster's Icerigger.) I thought it was an exciting story, more challenging that Tom Swift, though not quite as good as the Heinlein books I'd book recently reading. Nine-year-old me would have given it four stars... ...more
Needle in a Timestack is a collection of ten short fictions by Silverberg that was first published by Ballantine in 1966 with a trippy Richard Powers Needle in a Timestack is a collection of ten short fictions by Silverberg that was first published by Ballantine in 1966 with a trippy Richard Powers cover. It's confusing because when it was reprinted by Sphere in 1979 six of the original stories were replaced by others, and Ace reprinted that edition in 1985. More recently, a third iteration appeared in 2019 as Needle in a Timestack and Other Stories with yet a different table of contents; note that there was no individual story with that title until June of 1983's issue of Playboy appeared. Anyway, the edition I read was from 1966. (Silverberg was kind of notorious for having the same story in different collections.) The ten stories first appeared in the genre digest magazines of 1955 - '63: four from Galaxy, a pair each from Fantastic Universe and If, and one each from Infinity and Worlds of Tomorrow. (They had magical names for the magazines back in the day, didn't they!?) The description on the cover reads: "An acidulous collection of science fiction stories..." which is neat, tidy, and accurate. He jumps from serious drama to sharp satire quite easily, with wit and occasional humor. His style is slick and direct, and I'll give him acidulous, too. My favorites were To See the Invisible Man, The Iron Chancellor, and The Pain Peddlers. There aren't any knock-your-sox-off classics like some of his work from the '70s, but they're quite entertaining and enjoyable. ...more
Submerged is the second book in Keene's Labyrinth sequence, his self-described magnum opus. (Isn't he a little too young to have a magnum opus alreadySubmerged is the second book in Keene's Labyrinth sequence, his self-described magnum opus. (Isn't he a little too young to have a magnum opus already? What if he writes something longer and better twenty years from now? And besides, when you hear magnum opus don't you picture a cartoon penguin with a champagne bottle in one flipper and a large pistol in the other? But I digress...) It's a very engaging and involved story of good against evil, and you're not always completely sure which is which. It's significantly longer than most of Keene's other work, and I believe the writing shows a higher degree of care and polish. If follows right on from the first book, The Seven, and I'd say it's necessary to have read it before this one. As Keene notes in a prefatory comment: "If you have not read the first book and are forging ahead with this one anyway, then you're basically watching The Empire Strikes Back without having seen Star Wars." I'd add that this one ends with more questions than answers, so I'm more than ready for the Jedi to return. Most of the characters are featured in earlier Keene books and stories, but that aspect is just one that enhances the story... You don't need to have read all of his work, just The Seven. He incorporates some playful Easter Eggs that are fun to pick out, too, such as on page 227 where he has characters named Chizmar, DeMatteis, and Giffen. It's obvious that he's having fun with the story and his enthusiasm for the work improves it. I've tried to avoid being at all spoilery here, but I'll say we have worms and clickers and zombies and levels. It's a grand and well-written story and deserves a wide audience. Oh, here's a line that provides one more clue: "Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu, R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn."...more
This is an alternate-world YA novel that was published in 1967, and didn't have a mass market release until 1984. It's set in a 1963 in which the plagThis is an alternate-world YA novel that was published in 1967, and didn't have a mass market release until 1984. It's set in a 1963 in which the plague wiped out most of Europe in the 14th century; the Moslems came in to take over, and the Americas were pretty much left alone to develop on their own. It follows the travels of an English boy who voyages to Mexico, land of industrial opportunity in the middle of the Aztec Empire, from London (better known as New Istanbul) in third-world Britain. Silverberg's knowledge and use of historical fact leads to fascinating speculation of "What if?", and he tells a pretty interesting and entertaining story, too. Not among Silverberg's classic best, but still a worthwhile read. ...more
The Cold Cash War was Asprin's first novel; it was published in hardback by St. Martin's in 1977 with no cover illustration and then by Dell the folloThe Cold Cash War was Asprin's first novel; it was published in hardback by St. Martin's in 1977 with no cover illustration and then by Dell the following year with a nifty Samurai painting from the inimitable Wayne Barlowe, which served it much better. Asprin's latter works were almost all of a humorous nature, but this one is much more subtle and serious. It's a bitter satire of corporate armies and politics, in the tradition of Frederik Pohl and C.M. Kornbluth, but updated to 1977. The flipside of that thought is the social conventions are now a half-century out of date, but... It juxtaposes fast-paced action with philosophical speculation, and though there are too many characters that don't really develop, it's a fast and thought-provoking read. ...more
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