This week, I dug into another Discworld novel for the Book Shelf. And I’ve said it before, but I’m glad I waited until now to read them, I wouldn’t have appreciated them, and their wonderful humour when they were originally released. And now, I also don’t have to wait a year or two for the…
Category: The Book Shelf
Thunderball (1961) – Ian Fleming
The ninth book, and eighth full novel,in Ian Fleming’s James Bond 007 series is up this week. And this one is a bit of a special case. It was originally concocted as a screenplay, and early editions gave sole credit to Fleming, whereas future editions, much like the film(s) that would later be developed from…
Star Trek: The Disinherited (1992) – Peter David, Michael Jan Friedman, and Robert Greenberger
The Human Adventure continues as I delve into another Star Trek novel, and revel in the storytelling that actually feels like an episode (or several) of The Original Series. Set during the original five year mission, the three authors work to craft a tale that works as a cohesive whole while giving us separate story…
The Chronicles of Prydain: The Book of Three (1964) – Lloyd Alexander
Using Welsh myth and legend as a basis, Lloyd Alexander wrote a series of novels under the umbrella heading, The Chronicles of Prydain. Aimed at younger readers, this was a collection of stories that were never really on my radar as a kid. By the point I was of an age to think about reading…
Star Trek: Probe (1992) – Margaret Wander Bonanno
Supposedly set a few weeks after the events of The Voyage Home, Probe is the next book in PocketBooks Star Trek series. I personally like to push it to just after The Final Frontier, because the Enterprise seems to be working without any real problems. The probe after reestablishing contact with the cetacean lifeforms on…
For Your Eyes Only (1960) – Ian Fleming
This week’s 007 book, as I continue to make my way through the series, is a collection of short stories, a number of which either have names that would be used for the film series, and are filled with familiar names and sequences as we dig into different moments in the life of James Bond….
Star Trek: Faces of Fire (1992) – Micheal Jan Friedman
When I read the blurb for this book, the next in the PocketBook Star Trek series, I was a little anxious as to how they were going to walk the line of having a young, ten year-old David Marcus interact with Kirk and company during their original five year mission and how Kirk’s interaction with…
The Anomaly (2018) – Micheal Rutger
I stumbled across the name of this book on a search for something fun and scary to read. Intrigued by the idea, I snapped up a copy and blazed my way through it insanely quickly. This is the definition of a white-knuckle literary roller coaster. It’s a perfect beach read, or just something to read…
Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1992) – J.M. Dillard
This week’s Trek novel is the film adaptation of the last big screen voyage of the crew of The Original Series, J.M. Dillard adapts the screenplay and fills it out with some additional character building scenes which add some nice depth to the events that unfold. Captain James T. Kirk and the majority of his…
Goldfinger (1959) – Ian Fleming
This week’s 007 is the seventh novel in the series, and while it bears some similarities to the film that would eventually spring from it, it is also very much it’s own thing. Secret Agent James Bond finishes up a mission in Mexico, like a pre-credits adventure, which does get alluded to in the film…
Be More Wonder Woman (2020) – Cheryl Rickman
Hope and courage. They can sometimes be found in the most unlikely of places. Who would have dreamed that a character created ninety years ago would still be such a powerful presence in the realm of pop culture and perhaps the most recognisable Amazon ever? And who, in this time of great upheaval as the…
Star Trek: The Rift (1991) – Peter David
This week’s Trek entry to the Book Shelf is fun, combining the Pike era, with that of Kirk to give us one big story. I liked a lot of it, there’s some stuff in something referred to as the World Mind with Kirk at the climax that felt a little hokey, but the rest of…
