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a retired United States Army officer and a NASA astronaut. He was part of the first group of candidates selected for NASA astronaut training following the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster. He is the current commander of the International Space Station.
Originally published in 1932, The Conjure-Man Dies is the first known mystery novel written by an African-American. Rudolph Fisher, one of the principal writers on the Harlem Renaissance, weaves an intricate story of a native African king, who, after receiving a degree from Harvard University, settles into Harlem in the 1930s. He becomes a "conjure-man," a fortune teller, a mysterious figure who remains shrouded in darkness while his clients sit directly across from him, singly bathed in light. It is this configuration that one of these seekers of the revelation of fate discovers he is speaking to a dead man. Thus a complex mystery begins, involving suspects and characters who are vividly and richly portrayed, and who dramatically illuminate for the reader a time, a place, and a people that have been sadly neglected in American literature.
The Three-Body Problem gave English-speaking readers their first taste of China's most beloved science fiction author, Cixin Liu, quickly gathering as much acclaim in the United States as it had in China. The Three-Body Trilogy continues with the near-future speculative fiction masterpiece The Dark Forest.The LA Review of Books says, "Cixin Liu’s The Dark Forest takes up the Fermi Paradox as one of its central narrative and thematic problems," and concludes their positive review with this: "Why is the universe so uncannily, so eerily, so terribly quiet? Because in the dark forest, anything that makes a sound gets eaten."
Earth is reeling from the revelation of a coming alien invasion -in four centuries' time. The Trisolarans' human collaborators have been defeated, but the aliens have seeded the earth with sophons, subatomic particles that allow them instant access to all human information, so Eaarth's defenses are totally exposed to the enemy. Only the human mind remains opaque.
This is the motivation for the Wallfacer Project, a daring plan that grants four people enormous resources to design secret strategies, hidden through deceit and misdirection from Earth and Trisolaris alike. Three of the Wallfacers are influential statesmen and scientists, but the fourth is a total unknown. Luo Ji, an unambitious Chinese astronomer and sociologist, is baffled by his new status. All he knows is that he's the one Wallfacer that Trisolaris wants dead.
If you’re a lover of the classic monsters then you can’t go wrong with shelling out a few bucks to see “Frankenweenie” ... It touches upon all of the hallmarks that made those films so memorable to this day and entertains those that might not be familiar with those classics of the 30’s at the same time.Roger Ebert says, "This isn't one of Burton's best, but it has zealous energy." Rotten Tomatoes has a critics score of 87%.
When a grisly murder occurs on the Isle of Lewis that bears similarities to a brutal killing on the mainland, Edinburgh detective and native islander Fin Macleod is dispatched to the Outer Hebrides to investigate, embarking at the same time on a voyage into his own troubled past.quotes from the book that struck me as I read:
As Fin reconnects with the people and places of his tortured childhood, the desolate but beautiful island and its ancient customs once again begin to assert their grip on his psyche. Every step toward solving the case beings Fin closer to a dangerous confrontation with the dark events of the past that shaped -and nearly destroyed- his life.
Long stretches of empty road linked bleak and exposed settlements huddled around churches of various denominations. The Church of Scotland. The United Free Church of Scotland. The Free Church of Scotland. The Free Church of Scotland (Continuing) -the Wee Frees, as the free churches were universally known. Each one was a division of the one before. Each one a testimony to the inability of man to agree with man. Each one a rallying point of hatred and distrust of the other.
It's odd how people can get locked in a kind of time warp. There's a time in their lives that defines them, and they hang onto it for all the subsequent decades; the same hair, the same style of clothes, the same music, even though the world around them has changed beyond recognition.
Life went past you in a flash, like a bus on a rainy night in Ness. You had to be sure it saw you and stopped to let you on, otherwise it was gone without you, and you would be left with a miserable walk home in the wind and the wet.
It is a blunt, glowering B picture, shot in murky fog and battlefield smoke, full of silly-sounding pomposity and swollen music ... The combat scenes, though boisterous and brutal, are no more coherent than the story... Luckily there is an element of broad, brawny camp that prevents "King Arthur" from being a complete drag.Empire Online concludes, "Although paved with good intentions, it's a grim, at times interminable, journey hobbled by miscasting and a lack of conviction; the killjoy in King Arthur's court." The Guardian gives it 3 out of 5 stars. Roger Ebert has a positive review and says, "That the movie works is because of the considerable production qualities and the charisma of the actors". Rotten Tomatoes has a 31% critics rating.
quotes from the book:London, 1935: A chance meeting on a park bench on the eve of World War II sets in motion a love affair that reverberates through three generations. Matt and Lorna are deeply, defiantly, in love; they marry, and Lorna is pregnant when Matt is called for duty. But the war means Matt's death in action; it cuts short his artist's career and changes the course of Lorna's life. The war means that Lorna will marry again, and that Molly, their daughter, will grow up in a blasted landscape of bomb-sites and boarded windows, of households reconfigured by loss. But a chance look at a forgotten newspaper on the London tube leads Molly into her first job -and into the life of James Portland, a wealthy man she cannot love; and the postwar period gives way to a new era. Thirty years later, Ruth, Molly's own daughter, leaves her marriage for a journey that takes her back to 1941, to a new resolution of her own history and that of her family."...and thus it was that on an exquisite June morning Lorna sat weeping on a bench in St. James's Park,with the willows cascading into the lake, and a cohort of bright-feathered ducks eddying about at her feet. She became aware that she was not alone on this seat, looked sideways, stopped crying, and the rest of her life began."
Told in Lively's incomparable prose, Consequences is a powerful story of growth, death, and renewal, and a study of the previous century -its major and minor events, the shaping of consciousness and lives, and a reaffirmation of the force of connection between generations.
"I want a sudden quick glimpse into the future."
"I don't."
"Why not?"
"It would be appalling to know the future. You couldn't live, knowing the future."
Youth was gone, then, which was occasionally dismaying but a truth that could be confronted, and faced down. More provacative was the erratic process whereby you went in one direction rather than another, did this, not that, lived here, not there, found yourself with this person and not someone else quite unknown, quite inconceivable. How did this come about? Oh, you made choices, but in a way that was sometimes almost subliminal, at others so confused that, in recollection, the area of choice is obscured entirely: what was it that was not chosen? And, sometimes, choice is not an option.
When Ruth became a mother she had the universal, unexceptional, hackneyed revelation -she perceived her own mother differently. She also stared backward and saw that almost mythical figure, her grandmother. This experience of her own had been theirs, but it had been otherwise, because springing from different circumstances.
Humanity is at war with the alien Fallers, and it is a war we are losing. Our implacable foes ignore all attempts at communication, and they take no prisoners. Our only hope lies with an unlikely group: Major Lyle Kaufman, retired warrior; Marbet Grant, the Sensitive who's involved with Kaufman; Amanda, a very confused fourteen-year-old girl; and Magdalena, one of the biggest power-brokers in all of human space.SF Site concludes by saying,
As the action moves from Earth to Mars to the farthest reaches of the galaxy, with civil unrest back home and alien war deep in space, four humans -armed with little more than an unproven theory- try to enter the Fallers' home star system. It's a desperate gamble, and the fate of the entire universe may hang in the balance.
Probability Space is a well-written space-adventure, which, because it focuses more on story than character, should satisfy readers of the Probability series who want to know how the story ends, but may disappoint those who'd like to know more about the people in the story.SF Revu closes with this: "This very smart book is not perfect, but it is challenging and satisfying." Kirkus Reviews has a negative review. Publishers Weekly has a positive review.
When the Director of Le Guide offers up a holiday on the Canal de Bourgogne, Monsieur Pamplemousse is unaware that there are strings attached -several, in fact. Things are not quite as peaceful as they seem among the vineyards of Burgundy, and family rivalries and resentments from long-past culminate in a series of strange occurrences.Papa Noel makes an appearance, even though the book takes place in the summertime.
Monsieur Pamplemousse , accompanied of course by his faithful bloodhound Pommes Frites, finds himself caught up in the trouble. Before the holiday is over the crime-solving duo will have to cope with the perils of portholes, a dead parrot, missing undergarments, the advances of a Marilyn Monroe look-alike and an assassin disguised as a nun...
An incredible movie about none other than the infamous Aleister Crowley. A film that delves into deep places that really requires 2 viewing’s to get the sum of its wholeand closes with this:
Final word? – A wonderful film that I’ll re-watch many times! Deeply sustaining, and historically engaging! Brilliantly intelligent horror that comes from a darker place close to home and place in science that is just around the corner.
Many years ago, before there were any automobiles and before we had electricity or even gas lighting and when people used horses if they wanted to go out for a ride and oil lamps and candles if they needed a light, there lived in a small country town, yes, a butcher, a baker, and a candlestick-maker. With just over a week to go before Christmas, the townspeople were busy indeed and none more so than the candlemaker and his young son Tom. For in those days, quite small boys were expected to behave like grown men.
Steve Hamilton's novels starring ex-cop and sometime-P.I. Alex McNight have won multiple awards and appeared on bestseller lists nationwide. And when you start reading Winter of the Wolf Moon, you will instantly understand why....The New York Times has a positive review. Publishers Weekly describes it as " a fast mystery brimming with insight into both the politics of U.S./Canadian border crimes and the relations between Native Americans and their white neighbors."
When a young woman from the Ojibwa tribe asks McNight for shelter from her violent boyfriend, McNight agrees. But after letting her stay in one of his cabins, he finds her gone the next morning. His search for her brings on a host of suspects, bruising encounters, and a thickening web of crime, all obscured by the relentless whiplash of brutal snowstorms. From the secret world of the Ojibwa reservation to the Canadian border and deep into the silent woods, someone is out to kill -and McNight is heading right into the line of fire.
In his second outing, Hamilton continues to show promise. His protagonist is likable as well as durable, his raffish cast sharply observed and entertaining. Moreover, he knows how to pace a story, something of a lost art in recent crime fiction.I have also read the 1st in this series, A Cold Day in Paradise (1998).
IN EVIL HOUR is the eerie, magical story of a small Colombian village suddenly haunted by mysterious lampoons -incendiary posters spreading monstrous rumors about the town's most respected citizens. Overnight, the rainy tranquility of the village becomes a smoldering chaos of scandal, deceit, and murder.The NYT has a positive review but criticizes the translation. Kirkus Reviews concludes by saying it's "Not major work but... a pleasing glimpse of a fanciful, vivid imagination at its most unforbidding."
Full of the imaginative marvels, comic exaggerations, and exotic dreams that made ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF SOLITUDE a world-wide legend, IN EVIL HOUR combines the real and the fantastic, as Gabriel Garcis Marquez conjures up a dreamy Latin American village that discovers, in its very midst, the many faces of evil.
During eight thousand years of star travel, humans have encountered only one alien species. Sunset Tuttle spent a lifetime looking for others in vain.Eyrie says,
Twenty-five years after Tuttle's death, Alex Benedict makes an astonishing discovery: a stone tablet inscribed with cryptic symbols, now in the possession of Tuttle's one-time lover Rachel Bannister is determined to decipher its secret -one Bannister doesn't want revealed. Could it be that Tuttle's obsessive quest was successful? If so, why is the woman hiding the truth? Stranger still, why did Tuttle never admit to his findings?
Now Benedict and his assistant, Chase Kolpath, embark on their own voyage of discovery -for answers as startling as they are infinitely dangerous.
It's tempting to describe McDevitt as cozy science fiction. There's a bit of danger, a bit of suspense, but one is fairly certain that everything will work out in the end and the reader will leave the book knowing the solutions to most of the mysteries raised without having to work very hard at understanding the society or the puzzle.SF Site says, "When McDevitt brings out his final revelation, it seems almost anticlimactic, but it doesn’t really matter. By that point, McDevitt has drawn the reader with with his storytelling and characters". Locus Online concludes with this: "perhaps the biggest surprise is how McDevitt manages to make the odd coupling of the cozy and the cosmic into effective and moving SF."
A reporter buddy once told me that in newspapers, when you leave out some important piece of information at the beginning of the story, they call it burying the lede.from the back of the book:
So I just want to make sure I don't bury the lede.
Though it wouldn't be the first thing I've buried.
Spademan used to be a garbageman. That was before the dirty bomb hit Times Square, before hs wife was killed, and before the city became a blown-out shell of its former self.The Guardian calls it "as lean and muscular a noir thriller as I have read in a long while". The LA Times has an interview with the author. The Atlantic describes it as a "propulsive, aggressively paced novel" and shares an interview with The Wire.
Now he's a hit man.
In a near-future New York City split between those who are wealthy enough to "tap in" to a sophisticated virtual reality and those who are left to fend for themselves in the ravaged streets, Spademan chose the streets. When his latest client hires him to kill the daughter of a powerful evangelist, he must navigate between these two worlds -the wasteland reality and the slick fantasy- to finish his job, clear his conscience, and make sure he's not the one who winds up in the ground.
The good news is, the character of Spademan and his snarky observations do carry you forward, and there are enough revelations towards the end that feel both shocking and supported by the story, that Shovel Ready still winds up feeling like a great read, and its world still manages to hold you in its dirty clutches until the violent, fascinating conclusion.
Video ProductionThe NYT calls it "a big, noisy and sometimes terrifying version," "in the midst of obeying the rules of modern-day spectacle, it sticks close to some of the sturdy virtues of the source material," and regrets the attempt to "juice up the third act with action-movie thrills". The Guardian says, "It's a faithful adaptation, and if you're taking little kids to see it, well, watch out –there are some scary moments ... But there is a weird lack of passion here, almost condescension..."
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Open to everyone: A weekly challenge that will leave you with 52 square inches of pure creativity! This is a great exercise for those that don't have a minute to spare. Imagine the end of the year....what will you create with your inchies??? How will you interpret the Inchie Word of the Week? Create one square inch of art with anything, post it on your blog and Flickr then leave a comment here with a link to your INCHIE. An inch a week is all we ask...The particular challenge that was posted that week was for 42s. I was so excited to see other folks interested in all things 42!
What anchors this adaptation, however, is Michael Hordern's Scrooge. He completely dominates the production, equally convincing as a cynical curmudgeon in the opening scenes and, later, as a panic-stricken old man terrified by the vision of his own dismal death. His final redemption and re-birth as a kinder and more generous human being is appropriately joyous and heart-warming.
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