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    Book Review: Full Dark, No Stars, by Stephen King 

    Published on 02-03-2012 09:01 AM  Number of Views: 37 
    Categories:
    1. Mixed Genre Anthology
    2. 3.0 Stars
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    Full Dark, No Stars, by Stephen King
    Reviewed by Dave Felts
    Year First Published: 2010
    Rating: (3/5)

    It's been long while since I've read a Stephen King book. I think the last one was one of his Dark Tower books, and I couldn't tell you when that was. I thought The Stand was fantastic and have read it 3 or 4 times, but not in a long while. It's one of my favorites, but then I have a weakness for post-apocalyptic stuff. I remember some of his short stories too, though I couldn't tell you any titles. I haven't deliberately decided to avoid his stuff, I just kind of.... stop noticing it I guess. Plus his books tend to be very long and require a hefty investment of time to finish. And I haven't been reading as much as I used to. ...
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    Book Review: Game of Thrones, by George R. R. Martin 

    Published on 02-02-2012 12:01 PM  Number of Views: 233 
    Categories:
    1. Fantasy
    2. 4.5 Stars
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    Game of Thrones, by George R. R. Martin
    Reviewed by Dave Felts
    Year First Published: 1996
    Rating: (4.5/5)

    If you haven't caught HBO's series Game of Thrones, I highly recommend it. On the heels of enjoying the series, I decided to do a re-read of the novels. Game of Thrones was first published in 1996. I think I might have read it that year, or shortly thereafter. Now a review of a novel published over 15 years ago might not be timely, but the resurging interest due to the series makes it relevant. ...
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    Member Book Review: Betrayer, by C. J. Cherryh 

    Published on 02-01-2012 07:44 AM  Number of Views: 22 
    Categories:
    1. Military Science Fiction
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    Betrayer, by C. J. Cherryh (Foreigner universe #12)
    Reviewed by Edward F. McKeown
    Publisher: DAW
    Year Published: 2011
    ISBN-10: 0756406544
    ISBN-13: 978-0756406547

    In my prior review of Deceiver, I commented on how impossible it was to enter the series from that book because of the sheer weight of all that had gone before and how nobody should expect a writer to be able to do that. Then at the beginning of Betrayer, CJ Cherryh pretty much does so and makes it coherent and cogent with little evident effort. Drat. ...
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    Movie Review: Fright Night (2011) 

    Published on 02-01-2012 06:34 AM  Number of Views: 62 
    Categories:
    1. Vampire
    2. 4.0 Stars
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    Fright Night (2011), Rated PG-13
    106 minutes
    Starring Anton Yelchin, Colin Farrell, Toni Collette, David Tennant, Imogen Poots, Christopher Mintz-Plasse
    Directed by Craig Gillespie
    Reviewed by Dave Felts
    Rating: (4/5)

    Back when I was in college, VCRs had only been around a few years. Towns that had cable TV were still fairly rare, but one of my roommates had it at home. He'd go home for the occassional weekend and return with movies he taped off HBO. My parents had given me their old VCR (a top loading one--I can still picture it) and another roomie provided the TV. Seemed as though there was ALWAYS some movie playing: The Natural, The Sure Thing, Rocky IV, My Bloody Valentine, Cocoon... and dozens of others, including Fright Night. ...
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    Suspended Animation: Essential Fantastic Four Volume 1 

    Published on 01-31-2012 05:52 AM  Number of Views: 96 
    Categories:
    1. Suspended Animation
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    Essential Fantastic Four Volume 1
    Review by Mark Allen
    Published by Marvel Comics
    544 pages
    $16.99

    Marvel Masterworks, or Marvel Essentials? Whichever a person chooses to consume the first 20 issues (and Annual #1) of The Fantastic Four is, for all intents and purposes, inconsequential. That is, unless you judge a great comics experience by whether or not the strip is in color. If so, you will be depriving yourself of some of the great works of the medium. ...
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    Movie Review: Source Code 

    Published on 01-31-2012 04:51 AM  Number of Views: 53 
    Categories:
    1. Science Fiction
    2. 4.0 Stars
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    Source Code (2011), Rated PG-13
    93 minutes
    Starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Michelle Monaghan, Vera Farmiga, Jeffrey Wright
    Directed by Duncan Jones
    Reviewed by Dave Felts
    Rating: (4/5)

    Duncan Jones popped up on the radar in 2009 with Moon, which, while not a commercial blockbuster, garnered notice beyond the walls of geekdom. Science fiction to Hollywood seems to mean replacing guns with lasers, minorities with aliens, and cars with spaceships. Moon was a pleasant departure from that mold, being science fiction for the thinking person, built around ideas instead of action. Source Code is Jones' second film, and while there are explosions a-plenty, it's still science fiction for thinkers. ...
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    Book Review: The Coming of the Horseclans, by Robert Adams 

    Published on 01-31-2012 04:44 AM  Number of Views: 40 
    Categories:
    1. Military Science Fiction
    2. 4.0 Stars
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    The Coming of the Horseclans (Horseclans book 1), by Robert Adams
    Reviewed by Dave Felts
    Year First Published: 1975
    Rating: (4/5)

    The older I get, the more nostalgia I seem to develop for the things of my youth. My friends and I were quite taken with the Horseclans books when we discovered them (early 1980s). My edition is a 1982 printing, not the 1975 original. Mundania Press released The Coking of the Horseclans in 2005, but no reprint of the rest yet. There's 18 of them in all. I have the first 13 in my possession and will set about procuring the other five. ...
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    Member Book Review: Deceiver, by C. J. Cherryh 

    Published on 01-30-2012 11:52 AM  Number of Views: 48 
    Categories:
    1. Science Fiction
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    Deceiver, by C. J. Cherryh (Foreigner universe #11)
    Reviewed by Edward F. McKeown
    Publisher: DAW
    Year Published: 2010

    CJ Cherryh is the premier writer of what I think of as statecraft science-fiction. This is the stuff that occurs before the bullets start to fly that determines when they fly, how many of them fly and who they are aimed at. It’s what goes on before Seal Team Six is dispatched, though we do get to see some of the running and gunning, particularly when things go wrong or as John F Kennedy used to say, “Some dumb s.o.b doesn’t get the word.” ...
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    Movie Review: Twilight Breaking Dawn Part 1 

    Published on 01-30-2012 08:27 AM  Number of Views: 64 
    Categories:
    1. Fantasy
    2. Movies/TV
    3. 0.5 Stars
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    Twilight Breaking Dawn, Part 1 (2011), Rated PG-13
    Starring Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, Taylor Lautner
    Directed by: Bill Condon
    Reviewed by Dave Felts
    Rating: (.5/5)

    Okay, it's embarrassing to admit, but my wife and I watched Twilight Breaking Dawn Part 1 this past weekend. I could say it was a guilty pleasure, but without the pleasure part.

    This is going to devolve into a bit of a rant, so feel free to skip ahead if you want.

    My daughter tore through the Twilight books a few years ago (I guess around age 13-14?). Hey, anything to get kids reading, right? Maybe.... ...
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    Angry Robot Open Door in April 

    by
    che2000
    Published on 01-29-2012 08:03 PM
    Categories:
    1. Market News

    Some news that might be of interest to the various writers here:

    "Following a successful Open Door ...
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    Book Review: Jack Brand, by John M. Whalen 

    Published on 01-29-2012 07:19 AM  Number of Views: 67 
    Categories:
    1. Science Fiction
    2. Superhero
    3. Military Science Fiction
    4. 4.0 Stars
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    Jack Brand, by John M. Whalen
    Reviewed by Michael D. Griffiths
    Publisher: Pill Hill Press
    Year Published: 2010

    Jack Brand by John M. Whalen is an action packed book set in the distant future where space travel has been achieved and living on another planet has become a reality. The entire novel takes place on the planet Tulon. Jack was formerly from Earth and also used to be a member of Tulon’s law enforcement agency. Tulon itself is suffering from an economic depression that will only be getting worse as the oil, which was their primary source of income, is no longer needed because a new invention on earth that has made fossil fuels obsolete. ...
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    Book Review: Aaron’s Revenge, by Christina Weigand 

    Published on 01-28-2012 03:53 PM  Number of Views: 93 
    Categories:
    1. Fantasy
    2. Sword & Sorcery
    3. 3.0 Stars
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    Aaron’s Revenge, by Christina Weigand
    Reviewed by David Hodge
    Publisher: Xlibris, Corp
    Year Published: 2010

    Aaron’s Revenge is a decently written (a bit pedestrian) of the lost prince type. Aaron is taken from his cradle by the badgize [term from Gahan Wilson] and left with unwitting foster parents. At fifteen, he is tested for talent and “assignment”, probably as a squire to a knight. Instead he is kidnapped again, and hauled off to the badgize place to become an evil wizard and instrument of his evil uncle Brandan’s revenge. But a little rescue (more than once), and “love is all you need,” comes into play. The ending clearly shows the author’s moral and didactic purpose. It’s worth reading, but will not win any prizes. But, do the good guys really not know what’s gotten into Tomas? Can you say, “Sequel”? A little more polish and a sequel would not be unwelcome. ...
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    Movie Review: Sherlock Holmes: a Game of Shadows 

    Published on 01-27-2012 01:23 AM  Number of Views: 67 
    Categories:
    1. Historical Fantasy
    2. 3.5 Stars
    Article Preview

    Sherlock Holmes: a Game of Shadows (2011), Rated PG-13
    Starring Robert Downey Jr., Jude Law, Jared Harris, Noomi Rapace, Paul Anderson, Stephen Fry
    Directed by: Guy Ritchie
    Reviewed by Dave Felts
    Rating: (3.5/5)

    I like Robert Downey Jr. I enjoy his acting, and I guess I appreciate the travails he’s overcome. Most of us like to see people make good and bury their demons. I think he was the perfect fit for Iron Man, and he's a good fit for (this version of) Sherlock Holmes.

    I’m hampered here by my lack of knowledge about the ‘real’ Sherlock Holmes, so I’m afraid I can’t offer any assessment of how close Downey’s character, or the other characters, or the movie’s plot, corresponds to the actual stories. Judging by Hollywood’s past track record, my guess would be that the deviation is pretty large. ...
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    Book Review: Briarpatch, by Tim Pratt 

    Published on 01-18-2012 06:38 PM  Number of Views: 127 
    Categories:
    1. Fantasy
    2. Urban Fantasy
    3. Dark Fantasy
    4. Modern/Urban Fantasy
    5. 4.0 Stars
    Article Preview

    Briarpatch, by Tim Pratt
    Reviewed by Michael D. Griffiths
    Publisher: Chizine Publications
    Year Published: 2011


    Briarpatch by Tim Pratt is a dark, very moody tale. When the story starts with a suicide the reader quickly learns what they are in for. Pratt, however, breaks away from the pack and proves that he can weave a unique and extremely engaging story. Like most Chizine books, this one is full of concepts and ideas that takes normal storytelling, throws it out the window, and replaces it with a type of world that even the most experienced reader has yet to explore. ...
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    Article: SFReader Member Blogs 

    by
    Dave
    Categories:
    1. SFReader News and Info
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