Space, the final frontier. David Dvorkin pens another Trek novel, and this one is a huge step up from his previous effort The Trellisane Confrontation, although the climax of the book plays out pretty quickly once it’s reached. The idea is well executed. The in-story continuity suggests the novel takes place after The Voyage Home,…
Category: The Book Shelf
Carrion Comfort (1989) – Dan Simmons
I’ve been enjoying the Dan Simmons’ books I’ve been reading, and finally had time to dig into his epic, and much hailed horror novel, Carrion Comfort. A massive read, the book is actually horrifying in the traditional sense. I’ve always enjoyed horror novels, and the like, but this novel is truly frightening, and it is…
Soul of the Border (2019) – Matteo Righetto
Releasing this week from House of Anansi Press is the English translation of Matteo Righetto’s Soul of the Border. Released in Italy in 2017, the novel became a bestseller and is now getting it’s English release. A brisk, cinematic tale; it’s short chapters deliver a story that sees a young woman in search of her…
Star Trek: Time for Yesterday (1988) – A.C. Crispin
The Human Adventure continues… I settled into another Trek novel (there are a lot of them, and I would like to get through as many as possible, to see the kinds of stories and adventures that others have dreamed up for the stalwart crew of the USS Enterprise. This one is a bit of a…
Insomnia (1994) – Stephen King
Every time I had read the blurb, or cover jacket for King’s Insomnia there was nothing about it that really caught my interest, nothing leaped out at me, and I was afraid that perhaps this one wouldn’t be enjoyable to me at all when I finally dug into it. I was delighted to be wrong….
Star Trek: The IDIC Epidemic (1988) – Jean Lorrah
The Human Adventure continues as I return to the Pocket Book collection of Star Trek novels, While they are non-canon, the writing is definitely becoming stronger, and there are more attempts to reference things that we know have happened (or will). Set during the original five year mission of the U.S.S. Enterprise, this novel serves…
Good Guys (2018) – Steven Brust
Steven Brust is an author I’d never encountered before, but I received his latest as a gift, and reading the blurb I thought it would be something I would enjoy, as it explores magic in the modern era with a trio of working class heroes. We are introduced to Donovan, Susan and Marci, a trio…
A Winter Haunting (2002) – Dan Simmons
I wanted to return to the town of Elm Haven, having enjoyed my experience there in Dan Simmons’ Summer of Night, so I picked up the sequel he penned to it, and dove into a but of a spooky tale. We join Dale Stewart, from the original novel, but he’s older now, in his fifties,…
Lego Star Wars: Visual Dictionary – New Edition (2019) – Simon Beecroft, Jason Fry, Simon Hugo
I’ve raved about Lego, and Star Wars on this blog a number of times over the course of this blog, and digging into DK Canada’s new edition of its brilliant Lego Star Wars: Visual Dictionary just fires up the imagination again. The new version has added material, and talks about the twenty year relationship between…
Marvel Studios Character Encyclopedia (2019) – Adam Bray
With Avengers: Endgame just around the corner, the Marvel Cinematic Universe will expand to include twenty two feature films. That’s a lot of storytelling, and a lot of characters. Can you name them all? Do you remember who Agent 13 is? What about Ross? Dr. Palmer? Sure we all know who Iron Man is, we…
Indiana Jones and the Army of the Dead (2009) – Steve Perry
Haiti 1943. Steve Perry pens the last (to date) canon novel in the Indiana Jones series, that is set five years after The Last Crusade, and takes place in the midst of the Second World War. Indy is older now, in his forties, he is working for the OSS, and he is joined by his…
Summer of Night (1991) – Dan Simmons
This week, I dig into another Dan Simmons horror novel, and decided on Summer of Night. While not necessarily derivative of Stephen King’s It, there are striking similarities, although both prove to be very entertaining. Set in 1960, Simmons novel doesn’t quite mine the nostalgia factor as King did (It made me long for a…
