Tia froze in place as she saw the group of kids gathered in the High School parking lot. Normally she was happy to join any group of young people. An excellent student and athlete, as well as beautiful and friendly, she would normally be welcomed just about anywhere on campus. But today was different. Today…
This is not precisely a review, but more of a personal account of experiencing this movie. Even after it arrived from Netflix, it sat on top of our television for a couple of weeks. It never quite seemed the time to watch it. Finally my wife, who is better at diving into these things than…
This is billed as a novel of suspense, though it has a couple of pretty good mysteries embedded in the suspense. I have not read that much by J. A. Jance, but I do enjoy her style of storytelling, and I found this one a positive experience. The personal relationships are fairly tangled, but the…
I enjoy the Man-Kzin wars series, but they aren’t on my list of favorites–good, but not exceptional. Thus Destiny’s Forge was an wonderful surprise. Expecting something merely interesting and entertaining, I was presented with something fascinating and challenging yet certainly no less entertaining. To put is simply, this is a great book. The characters are…
When I read the first two books set on Pern by Todd McCaffrey I really was not too impressed. Because they were from Pern, and the stories were OK, I knew I would keep reading them, but I didn’t feel that they had the same charm as Anne McCaffrey’s own work. For the first few…
With an endorsement on the front cover from Elizabeth Peters, and another on the back that said, “She’s hilarious . . .” I had hopes for this mystery novel. After reading it, however, I have to rate it a 3 out of 5. I do find some of the characters engaging and interesting, but the…
Rita Mae Brown and her co-author Sneaky Pie Brown collaborate to produce this delightful new volume in the Mrs. Murphy mystery series. Mrs. Murphy is a cat, of course, whose human is named Mary Minor Haristeen, the village postmistress for Crozet, Virginia. I’m a sucker for all things feline, including feline detectives. If you don’t…
For a literal translation of Daniel 13, “Susanna” see USCCB – NAB – Daniel 13. This is not a translation or even a paraphrase. One might even call it a “transformation.” What I am attempting to do is to rewrite this short story into a modern form. I allow myself to alter the order of…
This little book is the first volume in a series The Twins of Petaybee which continues the story of the planet Petaybee that was told in Powers that Be, Power Play, and Power Lines. Those who really like McCaffrey’s writing will really like these little books. They’re somewhat lighter than the Dragonriders series, but they…
The new arrival joined the crowd in the bar of The Featherless Parrot, one of Shalem’s business inns. What was meant by a “business inn” was simply a place where it was more likely that the patrons were making deals than that they were being entertained. It suited the visitor to be in such a…
