John Douglas is the man who became the lead FBI profiler just when the word was beginning to come into practice in the late 70s, through the 80s, and with author Mark Olshaker he takes us inside some of his cases, and the work he has done over the decades. There are some truly horrifying…
Category: The Book Shelf
Star Wars: Heir to the Empire (1991) – Timothy Zahn
1991 saw something incredible happen, for the first time since 1983, we were given a new Star Wars story, the beginning of a new trilogy, with the characters we knew and loved. This was an absolute stunning idea, that there could be more adventures. It shouldn’t have been, Star Trek had books for decades. Author…
Licence Renewed (1981)- John Gardner
In the early 80s, the estate of Ian Fleming reached out to author John Gardner to continue telling stories about James Bond, 007, and to perchance, bring him into the 80s. This involved a bit of a retcon moving the events of the previous novels from the 50s/60s to the 60s/70s. Gardner’s first effort, Licence…
DC Comics Cover Art (2020) – Nick Jones
Neal Adams. Jack Kirby. George Perez. Alex Ross. Dave Gibbons. Amanda Conner. Jim Lee. John Byrne. The tip of the iceberg on a long list of distinguished and exceptional artists who have created iconic images through the years for DC Comics, aiding in the transition of the medium from being seen as ‘just for kids’…
The Star Wars Book (2020) – Pablo Hidalgo, Cole Horton, and Dan Zehr
1977 was… A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away. It’s probably a little gobsmacking to those of us who were there at the beginning to actually contemplate the fact that Star Wars has been around for so long, and has been put through so many iterations, film, television, novels, comics, and countless…
Star Trek: From the Depths (1993) – Victor Milan
Space, the final frontier… Like I said in previous posts, they aren’t all going to be winners, and this one was disappointing from the off for me. Set during the Enterprise’s original five year mission, the crew find themselves enmeshed in conflict with the Klingons once again. An ex-Federation colony on the water world of…
Wyrd Sisters (1988) – Terry Practhett
It’s back to Discworld for this week’s book shelf, as I dig into the next titles in the humorous fantasy series from Terry Pratchett. This time around we spend some time with witches. We revisit Granny Weatherwax, and are introduced to Nanny Ogg, and Magrat, collectively christened Wryd Sisters. The trio are concerning themselves with…
Lando Calrissian and the Starcave of ThonBoka (1983) – L. Neil Smith
L. Neil Smith ends his adventures with Lando Calrissian this week in the third book in the series that followed the young gambler, rogue and scoundrel. It would be a long eight years before any of us realised that the world could tell more, then, official stories. Smith’s novel wraps up all the story and…
James Bond and Moonraker (1979) – Christopher Wood
Christopher Wood brings us the novelisation of his screenplay for 007’s adventure in Moonraker, here titles James Bond and Moonraker so as not to be confused with the original Ian Fleming tale. Once again, Wood makes efforts to find a happy balance between the literary version of the spy and his silver screen incarnation. And…
In Conversation with John Landis
Today is my birthday, so it seems like the perfect moment to share this wonderful gift DK Canada gave me. Director John Landis has overseen the compilation of a new anthology, Haunted Houses, and it is perfect reading for the Halloween season. It’s a fantastic collection, and DK Canada arranged for me to speak with…
The Mind Reels 