Whitley Stieber experienced something. In fact, according to his writing, he’s been experiencing something all of his life. It’s influenced him, his writing, and the events and those around him. Strieber, like countless others, believes he was abducted. He doesn’t use the word aliens, he uses the word visitors. Because he doesn’t claim to know…
Category: The Book Shelf
The Three Body Problem (2008) – Liu Cixin
Wang Miao and Ye Wenjie are the central characters in a vast cast in this epic Chinese novel that is the first in a trilogy, also known as The Three Body Problem. Treating its subject matter with intelligence, and pouring on the science, the story takes us through the first steps of contact with an…
Foundation and Empire (1952) – Isaac Asimov
The second book in the foundation series ups the stakes for humanity a bit, as we get a glimpse inside the still crumbling Empire, and the reclusive Foundation and the traders that have sprung from it. We learn that the Foundation is in someways becoming corrupt as well, as some despotism is occuring, and it…
Alien 3: The Unproduced First-Draft Screenplay by William Gibson (2021) – Pat Cadigan
Author Pat Cadigan takes William Gibson’s original script for Alien 3 and transforms it into a white knuckle thriller ride of a novel that gives us a glimpse at what could have been in the Alien film series. Fans know the convoluted story of how Alien 3 came to the screen, and that were countless…
Battlestar Galactica 9: Experiment in Terra (1984) – Ron Goulart and Glen A. Larson
This week, I dive into another Galactica adaptation. Not coming out until 1984, years after the show was cancelled, this novel adapts a pair of episodes, Baltar’s Escape and Experiment in Terra (which on retrospect feels like a trial run for the Bellasario created Quantum Leap). This time out there are no Adama’s Journals or…
Black Order (2006) – James Rollins
Sigma Force is back in their bext adventure from author James Rollins, who once again combines high adventure, with science, technology, and little known corners of history to deliver another rollicking adventure. This time out, both Painter and Gray find themselves out in the field and caught up in the action in a tale that…
Fletch’s Fortune (1978) – Gregory McDonald
Fletch is back, in his third novel from Gregory McDonald, this time the sometimes journalist isback in Italy, supposedly working on a book, but more likely enjoying living off all of the money he’s been able to walk away with so far over the course of the previous novels. But a pair of CIA agents…
Broken Homes (2013) – Ben Aaronovitch
The fourth book in Ben Aaronovitch’s River of London series opens up the world again, even further than the previous novel, as we join Peter Grant, Lesley, Nightingale as they continue their hunt for the Faceless Man, dealing with the Gods and Godesses of the rivers, and the mysteries that begin to spring up with…
The Hardy Boys: The Secret of the Old Mill (1927/1962) – Franklin W. Dixon
Frank and Joe Hardy are back in their third adventure, The Secret of the Old Mill, and their friends Chet and Tony are along for the ride! It’s summer break, Chet is trying to get a job to flame the passions of his new hobby, science, and he wants to work at Elekton, a new…
A Gathering of Shadows (2016) – V.E. Schwab
The second installment in V.E. Schwab’s Shades of Magic trilogy transports me easily, and enjoyably back to Red London, as well as fiving us glimpses of White and Grey Londons, but before you pick it up, a little warning… this is book two of a trilogy, you have to know that this one is going…
Peril at End House (1932) – Agatha Christie
It’s time to check in with that little Belgian investigator, Hercule Poirot, is doing. He and Hastings return in Agatha Christie’s Peril at End House. And to keep the genre fresh, this time Poirot and his slawart companion are determined to stop a murder before it happens. When a chance meeting with Nick Buckley, a…
Shadow and Bone (2012) – Leigh Bardugo
My second foray into the Grishaverse was the first one written, Shadow and Bone. And much like Six of Crows, I got swept up pretty damned quick in the story and the characters, and can’t wait to continue to explore the rest of the realm that Bardugo created. In this novel, we are introduced to…
