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Updates are Happening
There will be quite a few updates and minor changes to the site over the next few weeks. I want to be posting on a more regular basis and I want to update some information and other details. If you find any obvious issues feel free to contact me.
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James Earl Jones (1931-2024)
When an actor, or someone in the public eye sadly dies not only do you start thinking of your own mortality but what that person meant to you and the influence they have had. I was saddened to hear of James Earl Jones passing, for me personally the voice of Darth Vader was the thing he will be most remembered for. When I first saw Star Wars at the Christmas of 1977 the presence of Dave Prowse walking into the Rebel ship was a huge Darh Vader moment, but then we heard James Earl Jones speak Vader’s first words “Where are those Transmissions you intercepted?”, from that moment the voice…
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A Tale of Two Surgeons
A Tale of two Surgeons It’s always interesting when you get two books with the same title covering similar ground. Here we have the tale of two Star Surgeons, both books exploring the idea of medical care with non-human patients. Star Surgeon (1963) by James White and Star Surgeon (1959) by Alan E. Nourse. James White’s Star Surgeon is the second book in his 12 book Sector General series, although they link chronologically they can be read individually. Alan E. Nourse’s Star Surgeon is a stand alone Juvenile Science Fiction book. James White was a Northern Irish writer who started as many writer of his era did in short stories.…
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What to do with all that Stuff – August 2023
As the usher brings forth the Ice cream and snacks, we wait for the main feature to resume What to do with all that Stuff. To quote the much maligned theme tune to Star Trek Enterprise ‘It’s been a long road Getting from there to here’. All has been quiet here for a while due to a mixture of technical, time and personal issues. Those issues have meant most of my time I’ve been concentrating on Booktube content and been having fun with that. Please feel free to pay me a visit. One of my original plans was to link the videos to some extra articles that I have written…
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Black Fire by Sonni Cooper
The Vulcan with the Jewel Earring As always I believe that we all judge books by their covers, otherwise why bother with one? The cover of Black Fire is a gorgeous painting of Kirk and Spock by the renowned fantasy artist Boris Vallejo. Once past the cover it starts with a glowing introduction from Theodore Sturgeon, this could be seen as a misstep as if you get someone with his reputation saying how good your book is it does put expectations very high. Sonni Cooper was once the publicist for William Shatner and from what I can tell a huge Trek fan. Black fire was the only book that she…
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Artemis by Andy Weir
A Fun Crime Caper in a Hostile Environment Andy Weir’s rise to prominence with The Martian (2011) is well known, he started by serialising it on his website and then released a kindle version which shot to the top of the Kindle charts. This attracted the attention of publishers with whom he then managed to get a publishing deal with. Following up the success of The Martian was never going to be easy, and reading comments on Artemis has shown a mixed response. I congratulate Andy Weir of trying to do something a bit different with his second novel. I really enjoyed this book and had fun with it and…
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City by Clifford D. Simak
A Lamentation to Mankind City is a Post Apocalyptic novel, don’t let anyone tell you any different. The Apocalypse may not be a large single world changing even but the slow isolation of Humanity, but it’s still an Apocalypse. It was written during and Post Second World War when the most destructive forces man had ever seen were used in anger. In this edition of the book there is a Foreword by Clifford Simak in which he states: ‘I, personally, was not so struck with the massive destructiveness of the weapon concept as I was by the evidence that man in his madness for power, would stop at nothing’ In…
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All the Weyrs of Pern by Anne McCaffrey
A Solid addition to the Dragonriders Series Anne McCaffrey was inspired in part to write Science Fiction due to some of the ways women were portrayed in the genre. She was the first woman writer to win the coveted Hugo award and one of the female pioneers within the genre. After the original trilogy McCaffrey was encouraged by her publisher to write the Harperhall trilogy aimed at younger readers. To all purposes after the end of The White Dragon it feels like this is where the story was originally going to finish, the Harperhall trilogy manages to add some more background to the world whilst telling some interesting stories and…
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Intermission – Back and Forth 2022/23
As the usher brings forth the Ice cream and snacks, we wait for the main feature to resume Looking for the next Squirrel It’s been a weird year and I’ve not spent as much time writing on this blog as I would have liked to. Rather than my normal intermission posts which can at times be obscure or even vague this, one is more a general feel about the past year. The loss of my beloved Golden Retriever Harley as much as it was expected hit me, and still hits me hard. Having such a wonderful companion for 16 years was an honour and a pleasure and he will always…
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BAFTD Books
I have always had some book content on this blog, but now I’m hoping to expand that. Reading has been a constant throughout my life, there have been times when I have read more and times when I have read less but it has always been there. Unsurprisingly Science Fiction and Fantasy have been the mainstay of my reading with numerous offshoots into Science, classics and anything else that has taken my fancy. I remember how excited I was as a 5 year old reading Brian Earnshaw’s Dragonfall 5 series and I hope I’ve maintained that sense of wonder throughout all my reading. I rarely do specific reviews of media…
