While I didn’t actively dislike this entry in the Quantum Leap novel series, it is arguably the weakest of the bunch so far, and the only thing that really makes it a Quantum Leap story is the fact that both Sam Beckett and Al Calavicci are in it. But there are a number of continuity…
Category: The Book Shelf
Rendezvous with Rama (1973) – Arthur C. Clarke
I remember the first time I read this novel. My friend Dennis recommended it to me and conveniently enough, he had the entire series at hand, and I blazed through them. That was almost two decades ago, and I honestly don’t recall all the details of the story, but I know I loved the wonder…
Quantum Leap: Knights of the Morningstar (1994) – Melanie Rawn
Sam Beckett and Al Calavicci find themselves in the middle of a medieval joust?! Sam hasn’t leapt outside of his own life, he’s leaped into a renaissance faire, a group of weekend knights competing in league battle in 1987. Sam quickly finds himself as Phil Larkin who is in the middle of a potential romantic…
Star Trek: Picard – Second Self (2022) – Una McCormack
Simon & Schuster tapped author Una McCormack to deliver a second Star Trek Picard tale and this time she lets the reader join Raffi Musiker on a diplomatic mission with a secret agenda to bring a war criminal to justice. Set after the events of Picard: Season One and following on the heels of the…
Quantum Leap: Prelude (1994) – Ashley McConnell
Ashley McConnell’s fourth Quantum Leap novel, Prelude, reworks some of the events seen at the beginning of the pilot, ties directly in with her second novel, Too Close For Comfort, and takes us back to when Doctor Sam Beckett and a newly retired Admiral Al Calavicci reconnected following the shutdown of Project Starbright to focus…
The Cabin at the End of the World (2018) – Paul G. Tremblay
I read and enjoyed Tremblay’s A Head Full of Ghosts, so when I heard about his novel, The Cabin at the End of the World, I was suitably intrigued as it seems both he and I don’t love the home invasion subgenre of horror. His thought process was ‘how would I write one?’ and this…
Quantum Leap: The Wall (1994) – Ashley McConnell
Ashley McConnell turns in another Quantum Leap novel, and except for a quick moment when we are given another limbo moment for Sam between leaps it is a really powerful tale about domestic abuse, alcoholism and breaking the cycle. Sam leaps into Missy, a six-year-old girl (something that couldn’t have been pulled off believably in…
Skeleton Crew (1985) – Stephen King
Stephen King’s second short story collection, Skeleton Crew looked like a giant sitting on my mom’s bookshelf. It was a hardcover and had that creepy monkey on the front. And while I didn’t recall all of the stories as I did this re-read, some sent me right back to the first time I read it,…
Midsummer Night’s Doom (1999) – Raymond Benson
Jame Bond has had a long history with Playboy and for the magazine’s 45th anniversary, novelist Raymond Benson penned a short story to be featured in the celebratory issue. In fact, this time around 007 interacts not only with some Playmates from the previous years but also with Hugh Hefner himself. It seems there’s going…
Quantum Leap: Too Close For Comfort (1993) – Ashley McConnell
McConnell’s second Quantum Leap book, Too Close For Comfort, feels closer to the spirit of the show than the first one. The characters of time traveller Sam Beckett, and his holographic connection with the present, Al, seem more in line with their established selves, and gone is the suggestion of what happens to Sam between…
The Mind Reels 