The Mysterious Affair at Styles (1920) – Agatha Christie

It’s been decades, literally decades, since I read an Agatha Christie novel, in fact I remember where I was, and though I don’t recall the title, I know that it was a Poirot mystery. Something tells me a teacher may have suggested them to me, or perhaps the school librarian. I was curious what I…

Marvel: Myths and Legends (2020) – James Hill

The comic book has been called the forum of the modern myth. In the shadows of our own history, there have always been stories of superheroes, whether we knew them as masked webslingers, or children of the gods of Mount Olympus, or the Vedic literature of India, the Norse gods, the heroes of Chinese folklore,…

Icebreaker (1983) – John Gardner

Ian Fleming’s 007, James Bond, is back in action in the next novel by John Gardner, like his two previous tales, they move fast, and while filled with action beats, and moments, seems, overall, to be a smaller scale than the films that were happening at the same time. This time around, with the barest…

Star Trek: The Great Starship Race (1993) – Diane Carey

Space, the final frontier… My travels with the Enterprise this week take place during the original five year mission as the Federation starship is invited to take place in a race sponsored by a newly discovered species who is to join the United Federation of Planets. But while the ships are gathering there is another…

I’ll Be Gone in the Dark (2018) – Michelle McNamara

Halfway through the HBO docu-series, I’ll Be Gone in the Dark, I knew I had to read the source material, and learn more. Written by Michelle McNamara, a brilliant true crime writer, who passed before the book could be published, or the book’s subject caught, sentenced and jailed. As captivating as the series was, the…

Star Wars: Dark Force Rising (1992) – Timothy Zahn

In 1992, Timothy Zahn took us back into the slowly expanding universe of Star Wars with the second book in his Thrawn cycle, following on the heels of the previous year’s Heir to the Empire. Continuing the story that is set five years after The Return of the Jedi, the heroes of the rebellion are…

For Special Services (1982) – John Gardner

John Gardner’s second 007 novel, updating Ian Fleming’s James Bond for the 1980s, is on the book shelf this week, and delivers the crisp, solid, sex and violence filled thrill ride we’ve come to expect from England’s top spy. This story, set largely in America, sees the return of Bond’s old nemesis, SPECTRE, with the…

Star Trek: Shadows on the Sun (1993) – Michael Jan Friedman

Set shortly after the events of Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, Shadows on the Sun explores some of the backstory of Dr. Leonard H. McCoy, a character that has become one of my favourites over the years. It’s interesting, as a child, and teen, Kirk was always the character for me. But as I…