Robert Thurston delivers another adaptation from Glen A. Larson’s classic science fiction series, Battlestar Galactica. This time it’s the huge two part episode called Gun On Ice Planet Zero. Much like the adaptation of the original series launch, Saga of a Star World, Thurston’s novel has a number of differences from the episodes (and wasn’t…
Category: The Book Shelf
The Mystery of the Blue Train (1928) – Agatha Christie
Before Hercule Poirot took the Orient Express, he found himself on the Blue Train, sans Hastings, in a mystery that has a murder, missing jewels, stagecraft, thieves, divorces, a love story, rich Americans, and devious criminals. While not quite the romp of Poirot’s previous tales, this story was fun, and while most of the clues…
Star Trek: Recovery (1995) – J.M. Dillard
Space the final frontier… J.M. Dillard delivers the fourth and final instalment of The Lost Years saga this week, a series of novels she started that cover the time frame between the end of The Original Series and The Motion Picture. This time out, pieces are being moved into position for where we find them…
The Man From Barbarossa (1991) – John Gardner
James Bond is back in John Gardner’s eleventh outing with the secret agent. And it was going to happen sooner or later. I just couldn’t get into this one. While I love the idea of tying Bond in with the real political landscape of the early 90s with events that would lead up to the…
Battlestar Galactica: Saga of a Star World (1978) – Glen Larson and Robert Thurston
“There are those who believe that life here began out there, far across the universe, with tribes of humans who may have been the forefathers of the Egyptians, or the Toltecs, or the Mayans. They may have been the architects of the great pyramids, or the lost civilisations of Lemuria or Atlantis. Some believe that there may yet be brothers of man who…
The Big Four (1927) – Agatha Christie
Hercule Poirot is reunited with his old friend Captain Hastings who comes to England to see his old friend, but the duo find themselves caught up in their biggest adventure yet. The Big Four moves the characters into some new territory, almost James Bondian in nature, as the pair encounter an international master criminal (well…
Star Wars: The Truce at Bakura (1993) – Kathy Tyers
A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away… Kathy Tyers pens the first stand alone novel in the Expanded Universe, following on the tail of Timothy Zahn’s trilogy. The events in this story take place right after the events depicted in The Return of the Jedi, Han Solo and Leia Organa know they…
Brokenclaw (1990) – John Gardner
James Bond is back in action this week in John Gardner’s tenth 007 book, and probably my least favourite of the series at the moment. This one took me too long to get into, and then I felt not a lot really happened in the story to begin with until the climax. Bond is in…
Star Trek: The Better Man (1995) – Howard Weinstein
Space, the final frontier… Don’t be fooled by the cover art, this story takes place a couple of years after the events of The Motion Picture, and apparently the burgundy uniform jackets are in place. The story itself, however, if entertaining, well-crafted, and very much a true Trek tale, and it puts Dr. McCoy front…
Poirot Investigates (1924) – Agatha Christie
Agatha Christie’s first collection of short stories, first published in 1924, sets forth a number of mysteries before her Belgian creation, Hercule Poirot, his little grey cells and his good friend Captain Hastings. While still capturing some of the humour of her novels, the short form of the stories doesn’t allow for a lot of…
The Mind Reels 