• 4.0 Stars

    Book Review: A Clash of Kings, (A Song of Ice and Fire #2), by George R. R. Martin 

    Published on 02-08-2012 12:17 PM  Number of Views: 190 
    Categories:
    1. Fantasy
    2. 4.0 Stars
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    A Clash of Kings (A Song if Ice and Fire Book 2)
    By George R. R. Martin
    Review by Dave Felts
    Rating: (4/5)

    A Clash of Kings is the second volume in George R. R. Martins series A Song of Ice and Fire, and a follow up to the popular A Game of Thrones.. This review contains some spoilers, as it's necessary to talk about some of the events and characters from the first book. If you haven't read the first book but plan to, DON'T READ THIS REVIEW. ...
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    Movie Review: Fright Night (2011) 

    Published on 02-01-2012 06:34 AM  Number of Views: 74 
    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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    Movie Review: Source Code 

    Published on 01-31-2012 04:51 AM  Number of Views: 59 
    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: 42 
    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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    Book Review: Jack Brand, by John M. Whalen 

    Published on 01-29-2012 07:19 AM  Number of Views: 73 
    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: Briarpatch, by Tim Pratt 

    Published on 01-18-2012 06:38 PM  Number of Views: 136 
    Categories:
    1. Fantasy
    2. Urban Fantasy
    3. Dark Fantasy
    4. Modern/Urban Fantasy
    5. 4.0 Stars
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    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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    Member Book Review: Zero Stone, by Andre Norton 

    by
    edward-mckeown
    Published on 01-12-2012 09:34 AM  Number of Views: 60 
    Categories:
    1. Science Fiction
    2. 4.0 Stars
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    Zero Stone by AndreNorton (1958)

    Zero Stone opens with a man fleeing for his life down thedarkened alleys of a primitive alien city. He’s a Terran, younger half of a team of jewel dealers. His partner has been murdered when thepriests of an alien religion, in an unheard of act, select an off-worlder for asacrifice and are answered with lasers. His partner dead, Murdoc Jern flees to an alien sanctuary and uses hisstore of jewels to bribe his way to a Free Trader space freighter and escapeoffworld. ...
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    Movie Review: Captain America 

    Published on 09-23-2011 06:35 AM  Number of Views: 180 
    Categories:
    1. Superhero
    2. Movies/TV
    3. 4.0 Stars
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    Captain America: The First Avenger (2011) Rated PG-13
    Starring Chris Evans, Hayley Atwell, Tommy Lee Jones, Hugo Weaving
    Directed by Joe Johnston
    Reviewed by Joshua Palmatier
    Rating: (4/5)

    Fellow author Patricia Bray () and I went to see Captain America last weekend and I have to say that I was rather surprised. I thought it was the best superhero/comic action movie of the summer, better than Thor and certainly better than The Green Lantern (both of which I need to review here as well). ...
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    Book Review: The Fire Song, by Kim Bannerman 

    Published on 07-11-2011 01:33 PM  Number of Views: 354 
    Categories:
    1. Modern/Urban Fantasy
    2. 4.0 Stars
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    The Fire Song, by Kim Bannerman
    Reviewed by Frank Zafiro

    ISBN 978-0-9864701-2-7
    Publisher: Fox & Bee
    Published: February 8, 2011
    Rating (4/5):

    Quick hit ? The Fire Song is a great read.

    If that?s all you need to know, then my recommendation is to go buy, rent or borrow a copy and enjoy. If you?re looking for a little more, read on.

    First, a confession. I?m not your standard fantasy reader. I write crime fiction and like any writer, I read extensively in my genre. So elves and fairies and goblins and gods are not so much in my repertoire these days. But I grew up reading Tolkien and Lewis and Piers Anthony. I think when you read at that age, those stories get hard wired into a person. So I came pretty easily to The Fire Song.
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    Book Review:The Guns of Mars, by Martin T Ingham 

    Published on 03-10-2011 09:00 AM  Number of Views: 571 
    Categories:
    1. 4.0 Stars
    2. Science Fantasy
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    The Guns of Mars, by Martin T Ingham
    Reviewed by Paul Weiss

    Publisher:Pill Hill Press
    Year Published: 2010

    How will we shape our freedoms as we head to the stars?

    Even the title positively screams space opera!

    On the simplest level, THE GUNS OF MARS is a rootin' tootin', shoot 'em up grand example of this oldest of sci-fi genres. But, scrape even a single cell off the outer layer of Martin Ingham's intriguing story of the colonization and terra-forming of Mars, our nearest planetary neighbour, and you'll discover a profound forward thinking essay on political revolution, the potential conflicts between science and government as we now know it, the economic and engineering trials of establishing a planetary colony, the ethical dilemmas related to the utilization of modern scientific technology and the ongoing propensity of even the best intentioned politicians to opt for politically expedient solutions to problematic moral issues. And, if you think about it, that's a lot of ground for a novel to cover in a modest 249 pages!
    ...
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