STAR TREK 1 – James Blish

Posted by Daniel on January 6, 2020
Posted in: ENTERTAINMENT, SF/FANTASY, SHORT FICTION, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

STAR TREK WEEK

I first read this book in the mid-to-late 1970’s. I was an early Trekkie.  Youngsters today forget that there was no Netflix or Hulu or DVRs and we watched our favorite shows when they were being broadcast, and shows like Star Trek you could only see if your local station purchased the syndication rights.  And it’s because of this, that fans such as myself practically devoured anything we could find that would help us enjoy these characters and their adventures.

This was one of (perhaps the) first books to give fans a chance to relive some of the adventures.  Author James Blish adapted seven episodes into stories to be included in the book.  In many cases, his adaptations came from scripts – and not always the final version as it appeared on television.  Even some of the titles don’t line up exactly as we might otherwise recognize them from the screen.

What this does, however, is give us a little sneak peek at some character motivation as well as how a story sometimes changes while in the filming process.

Reading these again was mostly a nostalgic trip back in time to my early teen (even pre-teen) years as a geeky Star Trek fan. Where I once really cherished the chance to read these adventures, I now found the stories to be too short and really lack any depth of character. If Blish was writing these based on scripts and hadn’t really even seen the episodes, it makes some sense that he doesn’t quite pick up on the personal connections and the relationships.

Think about this … there are seven hour-long episodes here in story form, in a 137 page book. There really isn’t much here.

I did make me think however, how much I might enjoy having a popular author or two re-imagine these episodes in more detail.  A series of novellas?  If the price were right I could see myself buying them!

This book contains the following stories, based on the episodes:

“Charlie’s Law” – based on “Charlie X” by D.C. Fontana
“Dagger of the Mind” – based on the teleplay by S. Bar-David
“The Unreal McCoy” – based on “The Man Trap,” teleplay by George Clayton Johnson
“Balance of Terror” – based on the teleplay by Paul Schneider
“The Naked Time” – based on the teleplay by John D.F. Black
“Miri” – based on the teleplay by Adrian Spies
“The Conscience of the King” – from the teleplay by Barry Trivers

Looking for a good book? If you’re a Star Trek fan, consider revisiting Star Trek 1 – short stories based on early episodes, by James Blish. The adaptations don’t stand up too well, but the nostalgia is fun.

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Star Trek 1

author: James Blish

series: Star Trek #1

publisher: Bantam Books

ISBN: 0552034592

paperback, 137 pages

US AGAINST YOU – Fredrik Backman

Posted by Daniel on January 3, 2020
Posted in: OTHER, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , , . Leave a comment

If I had to pick one author who’s made the most significant impact in literature in the past decade, I wouldn’t have to think too hard because I think Fredrik Backman has taken the lit world by storm and hasn’t let go yet.

Us Against You is Backman’s second book in his Beartown series.  In that first book, a small, rural town became sharply divided after the rape of a girl by the leader of the town’s hockey team.  Hockey is everything to this community.  Now, in Us Against You, the dust is still just settling from the shake-up in the first book, when the community learns that the hockey team will be disbanded and the many of the team’s players now play for their biggest rival.

But Beartown hockey might be saved by a local business.  With the star players now playing for Hed, a new team has to be built and that falls on the new hockey coach  … a woman who is not from Beartown.  She’s a tough, no-nonsense woman with a knack for spotting, working with, and exploiting talent.  She’ll make some very unpopular decisions in Beartown as she builds a team around Vidar – a local leather-jacket ruffian, Benji – a loner recently outed as gay, and Amat – a supremely fast player.

No one is too happy about having a woman coach (she must be a lesbian, right?) or the new leaders of the team, but what matters is – can they play?  And more importantly – can they beat Hed?

What Backman does supremely well is present human nature.  I can’t think of any other writer who gets at the heart of what it means to be human the way that Backman does (okay … maybe Shakespeare). In the previous book, Backman showed us the ugly side of human nature and I really didn’t enjoy that quite as much.  Here he gives us a pretty good balance of some of the worst as well as some of the best of what humans can do or be.

There’s also a nice message here, of ‘just be yourself,’ with some literal head-held-high moments in the face of adversity.

Backman’s books are beautiful, and if you’re prone to tears, you might want to have a box of tissues handy as you read through this.  And you should read through this.

Looking for a good book? Us Against You is another fantastic book by one of the best, most honest and forthright authors writing today – Fredrik Backman. You should read this book.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

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Us Against You

author: Fredrik Backman

translator: Neil Smith

series: Beartown #2

publisher: Atria Books

ISBN: 1501160796

hardcover, 448 pages

Looking For the Best Books of 2019 – a year-end review

Posted by Daniel on December 31, 2019
Posted in: OTHER, Uncategorized. Tagged: . Leave a comment

At the end of each year I take a look back on the books that I’ve read and try to determine the best books I’ve read in each category and the best book I read during the year.  This is a best of those I’ve read and reviewed in 2019, not necessarily the best books published in 2019. So let’s get right to it!

Looking back I was a little surprised (pleasantly) to see how many Mystery books were highly rated this past year.  In fact, there were three books that got a perfect 5.0 rating from me, and I don’t give out 5.0 scores very often.

In the running are: Reason to Doubt by Nancy Cole Silverman which I thought was absolutely fantastic. The always-reliable Caroline Fardig with Murder Over Mochas. And Final Reckoning by Robert Bailey.  Silverman’s books was really powerful, but I still recall the constant anxiety I had and the desire to keep turning pages to see what happened next with Bailey’s book.

BEST MYSTERY 2019 – FINAL RECKONING by Robert Bailey

 

I’ll move next to Historical Fiction because this is an easy call.  Only one book stood out, having received a perfect 5.0 rating from me.

BEST HISTORICAL FICTION 2019 – FINDING DOROTHY by Elizabeth Letts

 

Two categories that didn’t do as well as they have in the past are YA and Children’s books. I suspect that this has a lot to do with some of the authors who are missing from my reading list in 2019.  And in the case of YA, it is sometimes difficult to know if a book should be classified as YA or not.

In Children’s books, the best I had were two books with a 4.5 rating: A Circle of Elephants by Eric Dinerstein, and Briar and Rose and Jack by Katherine Colville.  This is a tough call.

BEST CHILDREN’S BOOK 2019 – BRIAR AND ROSE AND JACK by Katherine Colville

 

As in with Children’s books, YA only had two books that scored a 4.5 from me for 2019. Those were Mask of Shadows by Linsey Miller and Nemesis by Anna Banks.  This one is really too close to call, so I’m selecting one because I’ll give the other one acknowledgement later.

BEST YA BOOK 2019 – MASK OF SHADOWS by Linsey Miller

 

I like reading Westerns, but those typically fall into a good-but-not-great category for me.  My choice here is not a ‘typical’ Western and actually better fits the Mystery category, but, well, my award, I can do whatever I want!

BEST WESTERN 2019 – THE BITTERROOTS by C. J. Box

 

Non-Fiction books have typically done pretty well on my blog here, and there were two that I gave a perfect 5.0 score, and plenty others that I can recall quite fondly.  My choice is a book that is a bit older, but because I enjoyed it so much I bought a physical copy to have on hand and that speaks pretty well for a book, I think.

BEST NON-FICTION 2019 – THE HIDDEN MACHINERY by Margot Livesey

 

I don’t read a lot of Romance books (I guess it’s a ‘guy’ thing?) but I’m always curious about the genre since it’s so popular with the general reading public.  I only read a few this year, some of them decent, but I’m giving this award to the book I didn’t use for the YA award.  The romance in Anna Bank’s YA book Nemesis was really well done.

BEST ROMANCE 2019 – NEMESIS by Anna Banks

 

I’ve cut back on my Graphic Novel reading this past year (I think), and of what I’ve read, I haven’t been overly impressed. The winner this year isn’t a traditional graphic novel but rather a collection of newspaper comic strips.

BEST GRAPHIC NOVEL – HE-MAN AND THE MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE NEWSPAPER COMIC STRIPS published by Dark Horse Books

 

And so we come down to the two categories that I might still consider my favorites … Fantasy and Science Fiction.  I enjoy a lot of different genres, but these are the types of books that first got me reading and continue to thrill me.  These two categories also have a fair amount of crossover and my selection for Sci-Fi could easily be considered Fantasy.

In Fantasy books, I was a little surprised to see that I hadn’t given any 5.0 scores and that some of my favorite authors didn’t score higher.  But for my selection (with a 4.75 rating) I’m going with an author I don’t usually think about, but when I read his books, I’m always completely enamored.

BEST FANTASY 2019 – GATES OF THE DEAD by James A. Moore

 

And for Science Fiction I have the difficult task of selecting a title from two very strong contenders.  Either of these could be considered Fantasy, but I tend to think of them as Science Fiction and so that’s where I’m categorizing them.  And since I can’t really make up my mind, I’m awarding a five-way tie!  But in a sense, it’s a two-way tie, since the books represent two different series.

BEST SCIENCE FICTION 2019 –

Books 1 & 2 in The Philosopher’s Series: THE PHILOSOPHER’S FLIGHT & THE PHILOSOPHER’S WAR by Tom Miller

and

Books 1, 2, & 3 in The Map of Unknown Things series: THE QUEEN OF ALL CROWS, THE OUTLAW AND THE UPSTART KING, & THE FUGITIVE AND THE VANISHING MAN by Rod Duncan

And so it comes down to The Best of the Best!  Most of the books listed above were a surprise to me.  Only two of the authors listed here have been on my ‘best of’ lists before and I love that part of the reading and reviewing – finding new voices that really entertain. For the Best of the Best I selected an author who so ‘wow’d’ me that I immediately went out and bought TWO copies of the book(s) to share.  I really wanted others to see how tremendous the books are.  And so far everyone has really enjoyed them as well.

THE BEST OF THE BEST 2019 – THE PHILOSOPHER’S FLIGHT and THE PHILOSOPHER’S WAR by Tom Miller

It was definitely a good year, and I look forward to 2020!

THE BEST AMERICAN SHORT PLAYS 2015-2016 – William W. Demastes, editor

Posted by Daniel on December 30, 2019
Posted in: ENTERTAINMENT, OTHER, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , , , , . Leave a comment

There was a time when I bought every collection of short plays that was published. I love reading plays and I also was directing plays – for theatres and for high schools.  When my focus changed and I wasn’t directing much any more, I also backed off from reading play collections.  Which is too bad, because I do like reading plays! So when I had the opportunity to request this collection I really was eager to get in to it.

I’ve clearly fallen behind in my reading since this collection if about four years old.

Reading this collection, I wondered – what makes for a good short play? What I found here is that most of these short plays are about something.  They are messages, parables, reminders of behavior (how to … how not to …). And because of that, I often found them boring. I rolled my eyes … “Oh gosh … another play about what it’s like being gay … another play about what it’s like growing old … another play about …”

Too often I considered these plays to be catharsis workouts for the playwright.  I could picture the playwrights’ friends coming to performances (always dressed in black and nodding and smiling at how well their friend captured what it’s like________) and talking about the plays afterward.  And that’s okay! Except that I felt left out.  I felt that many of these plays were written for a specific audience and not a general audience.  With an exception or two.

I was really moved by Liz Amadio’s “The Hoodie Play.” I found this to be very theatrical (it’s surprising how many scripts forget this important aspect of being intended for the stage) and with a really great message (yes…despite my complaint about message plays, I like this message).  The action/dialog here moves along at a good pace.  This is one of the very scripts in the book that I’d really like to see staged.

Israel Horovitz is always solid (at least those that I’ve read), and his play “Security” is a nice addition to the book and would work well.

The last play in the book, “Doughnut Hole,” is by Donna Hoke … a name quite familiar to me as a force behind a script exchange and a representative of the Dramatists Guild … is a fun script. Featuring three older women, it’s clear that Hoke has a good understanding of her audience and people looking for age-appropriate scripts. I know a number of older people who would love to have a short play to work on and you can be sure I’ll be recommending this!

While only these three plays stood out as being exceptional, most of the rest were fine – just not uniquely memorable.  One script, however, stood out as a script that very much did not enjoy: “Untitled Radio Play” by Keelay Gipson. It’s a message play, dealing with racism in the gay community. As a cisgendered white male, I recognize that I may have a very different reaction to this script, but I’ve been working professionally in theatre for a long time and I’d like to think that I react to quality rather than subject matter when it comes to plays. The message here is strong, but the script is not.

Liking three plays out of a collection of twenty is actually not bad, especially given that the rest are decent, but still this book will really only appeal to theatre enthusiasts.

This collection includes:

Introduction: Starting Over – John Patrick Bray
“Turtles and Bulldogs” – Scott C. Sickles
“Makin’ IndiXns” – William S. Yellow Robe, Jr.
“Four of Hearts” – Richard Chaney
“The Gun Show” – E. M. Lewis
“Bobo, Booboo, Bibi & Bourbon or, The Clown Play” – Terry M. Sandler
“Untitled Radio Play” – Keelay Gipson
“Eat of the Sun” – Darcy Parker Bruce
“Childish Things” – Arthur M. Jolly
“Before” – Penny Jackson
“Magnolia Blossoms: A Civil War Melodrama, Episode 1: “If Tomorrow Never Comes … Until Today”” – Angela C. Hall
“Certain Unexplainable Events” – Cody Daigle-Orians
“Easter at the Entree Gold” – John Minigan
“Strays” – Kim Katzberg in collaboration with Nora Woolley and Raquel Cion
“The Ladder in the Room” – Lisa Soland
“The Hoodie Play” – Liz Amadio
“Big Easy Death Party” – Mariah MacCarthy
“Rations” – Mark Bowen
“Man. Kind.” – Don X. Nguyen
“Security” – Israel Horovitz
“Doughnut Hole” – Donna Hoke

Looking for a good book? If you enjoy reading plays, or are looking for a short script for your theatre project, check out The Best American Short Plays 2015-2016.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Edelweiss, in exchange for an honest review.

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The Best American Short Plays 2015-2016

editor: William W. Demastes

publisher: Applause Books

ISBN: 1495065405

paperback, 392 pages

PIECES AND PLAYERS – Blue Balliet

Posted by Daniel on December 27, 2019
Posted in: CHILDREN'S, MYSTERY. Tagged: , , , , , , . Leave a comment

Thirteen paintings, from Degas to Vermeer, have gone missing from one of the most secret of museums. Four school children who have had some experience with missing museum art are brought together by a strange woman (Mrs. Sharpe) to investigate.  A series of clues are discovered by the children and it takes a lot of brain power to decipher where the clues are leading.  But is Mrs. Sharpe helping them, or working some other angle?

I have reviewed a couple of other books in the past with the themes or subjects of art theft, and I think this is one of the biggest, important issues that the average person on the street is not aware of, and for this reason I am greatly appreciative that author Blue Balliet brings the issue to children in the form of mystery books.

But this book is a mess.

Starting with the characters, I had great trouble telling the children apart.  Their voices are not distinct and even their behaviors are far too similar.  The adults in the book are also essentially one stock character broken into a group.  And of course the adults are not helpful, even though they seem to be the ones who’ve hired the children to find the art.

The clues that are provided are so obtuse I can’t imagine anyone reading along could possibly jump to the conclusions that are intrepid sleuths make!

And then there’s the repetition.  I was constantly feeling “weren’t we just here?  Didn’t we already make that discovery?” I think that a lot of that comes from having so many paintings that have gone missing and the clues being a bit obscure had me constantly scratching my head trying to follow the progression.

I really like the idea here, but the implementation definitely didn’t work for me.

Looking for a good book? Pieces and Players by Blue Balliet is a children’s mystery with an art theme, which definitely had me interested, but the story itself just gets bogged down and is not at all engaging.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Edelweiss, in exchange for an honest review.

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Pieces and Players

author: Blue Balliet

series: Chasing Vermeer #4

publisher: Scholastic Press

ISBN: 054529990X

hardcover, 320 pages