Columbus Day (Expeditionary Force Book 1) by Craig Alanson. 494 pages. Amazon Digital Services. Yesterday I wrote a blog about humor, and the value of including it in suspenseful stories. From my perspective, it goes far in helping the reader relate on a human level with what’s going on in the story, and it lightens … More Review: “Columbus Day” by Craig Alanson
The Einstein Prophecy by Robert Masello. 338 pages. 47North. It’s always fun to mix a little history, a little military, in with your science fiction and/or horror. In this case, the story is of an art history professor who serves during World War II in Europe and is assigned with another soldier to recover precious … More Review: “The Einstein Prophecy” by Robert Masello
Belisarius II: Storm at Noontide by Eric Flint and David Drake. 859 pages. Baen Books. My daughter Melissa, the English major purist that she is, rolls her eyes when I talk about alternate history stories, as if they were worse that pornography. And I guess it is sort of an eye candy to me, especially … More Review: “Belisarius II: Storm at Noontide” by Eric Flint and David Drake
Starship Eternal (War Eternal Book 1) by M. R. Forbes. Quirky Algorithms. 433 pages. I’m a member of Amazon Prime (which I recommend), and one of the benefits is that once a month I get a free ebook to read on my Kindle. Pretty cool. Of course, you have to choose from their list, but … More Review: “Starship Eternal” by M.R. Forbes
Spain In Our Hearts: Americans in the Spanish Civil War: 1936-1939 by Adam Hochschild. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 485 pages. Like most of the 2,800 nonfiction books that I read, this book was historical in nature and was done as research for an upcoming writing project of mine that partially takes place during the Spanish Civil … More Review: “Spain in Our Hearts” by Adam Hochschild
Constitution: Book 1 of the Legacy Fleet Trilogy by Nick Webb. Amazon Digital Services. 362 pages. Decades after a war against aliens almost destroyed the human race, the last of the old line of fleet ships who held the line against the invaders is about to be turned into a museum. And with it, the … More Review: “Constitution” by Nick Webb
Chains of Command (Frontlines) by Marko Kloos. 47North. 384 pages. It’s been a year and a lot of water under the bridge since I read and reviewed Angles of Attack, Marko Kloos’ last book in his space combat series. So the first thing I did when Chains of Command came out a few weeks ago … More Review: “Chains of Command” by Marko Kloos
Swarm Troopers: How Small Drones Will Conquer the World by David Hambling. Kindle Edition. 323 pages. I’ve always had an affinity for all things techie, even though I’m not a physicist (though I could play one on TV). And so this kind of book was good in the sense that it presented something somewhat new … More Review: “Swarm Troopers” by David Hambling
Two weeks ago, our University Communication Department took its students on their annual Communication Field Trip in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. This year, just for a change, we included two historical sites: the Sixth Floor Museum that commemorates the assassination of John F. Kennedy and his tenure as president, and the Holocaust Museum, which talks … More Who Do We Need More: Leaders or Heroes?
Thomas Jefferson and the Tripoli Pirates by Brian Kilmeade and Don Yaeger. 249 pages. Sentinel. One of the distinct pleasures of teaching at a university is having immediate access to a library that holds a million books. Well, maybe not a million, but a bunch. More than I could ever read. And while waiting for … More Review: “Thomas Jefferson and the Tripoli Pirates” by Kilmeade and Yaeger
The Great Adventure 