Ian Fleming’s penultimate James Bond novel, there is one more to come, and then a collection of short stories, was the last one published before his death in August of 1964. Picking up nine months after the events of On Her Majesty’s Secret Service we find 007 a broken man. Still in a deep state…
Category: The Book Shelf
Star Trek: Sanctuary (1992) – John Vornholt
Set during The Original Series, this week’s Trek book is fairly run of the mill and doesn’t do anything exceptional with our characters, but it makes for what would feel like a fairly solid two-part episode. The Enterprise is pursuing a pirate through uncharted space, and when it enters the atmosphere of a planet known,…
The Loney (2014) – Andrew Micheal Hurley
I found this book on a list of recent horror novels, and though it is definitely spooky, readers who like concrete explanations, and horrific reveals, as well as being led from plot point to plot point may not enjoy this one. A modern Gothic tale, set in a remote part of England long the Irish…
Star Wars: From The Adventures of Luke Skywalker (1976) – George Lucas
I’d figure I would give the crew of the Enterprise a bit of a break, and dig into the Expanded Universe of the Star Wars stories, or as they are now known, Star Wars: Legends. Ghostwritten by Alan Dean Foster, the adaptation of Star Wars came out in paperback in 1976, while the production was…
On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1963) – Ian Fleming
The eleventh 007 book, and tenth novel, by Ian Fleming is this week’s entry on the Book Shelf, and you could see how the film series would begin to influence the continuing novels as we get a mention of Bond’s parentage, with his father being a Scot, and there is an increasing sense of Connery…
The Ballad of Black Tom (2016) – Victor LaValle
H.P. Lovecraft gets a fantastic spin in this novella by Victor LaValle. Lovecraft is hard to admit you like, because his stories of cosmic horror and old ones are so good, and have become such a cornerstone of horror fiction, but he was just so racist and that permeated all of his writing. The Ballad…
Star Trek: Ice Trap (1992) – L.A. Graf
There are times. Not often, but every now and then, that despite my love for the subject matter, I can’t get into a book. This is what happened with my latest foray in to the Star Trek novels. I loved the sound of it, I’m enjoying my time with Kirk and company as I go…
The Spy Who Loved Me (1962) – Ian Fleming
The tenth James Bond book, and the ninth novel, is this week’s 007 Book Shelf entry, and it’s a bit of a unique creation. It’s a small, almost non-event in the life of secret agent James Bond, and is told from the first person perspective of the heroine of the tale, French-Canadian Vivienne Michel. Recently…
Mort (1987) – Terry Pratchett
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…
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…
The Mind Reels 