Nick Hornby, author of High Fidelity and About a Boy, released recently through McSweeney’s Books a book entitled simply Songbook. This is, like Fever Pitch, strictly non-fiction, a look at some of the songs that Hornby, a former music critic, enjoys, and includes a CD of several of the songs essayed in the book. JustContinue reading “New Nick Hornby”
Category Archives: Reading
Stalking the wild Harry Potter book
Yesterday brought two surprises. The first, and potentially the most important, was that I got my power back after five days. Raleigh, North Carolina was hit by a massive ice storm on last Wednesday, leaving upwards of 70 percent of the Raleigh/Durham area without electricity, and without electricity I had neither heat nor water. AfterContinue reading “Stalking the wild Harry Potter book”
Charles Sheffield
Noted science fiction author Charles Sheffield has passed away. I’m not sure what the first Sheffield book was that I read. Might have been Cold As Ice about ten years ago, maybe Web Between the Worlds, but since then I’ve been a fan of his work and sought out a good deal of it. HisContinue reading “Charles Sheffield”
Elias Vaughn Observations
Something occurred to me last night. I was unpacking a box of books, and one of the book was a collection of Alfred, Lord Tennyson’s poetry, which, oddly enough, comprises fully half of the poetry I own. (The other book of poetry I have is O Holy Cow: The Selected Verse of Phil Rizzuto, aContinue reading “Elias Vaughn Observations”
In Defense of Warped
K.W. Jeter’s Star Trek: Deep Space Nine novel Warped goes in for a lot of abuse within fandom–the story was inaccessible, the writing was bizarre, the take on the Trek universe was unbelievable, the book sold so poorly that Pocket wouldn’t think of doing another DS9 hardcover. I’ve heard all of these arguments, I’ve thoughtContinue reading “In Defense of Warped”
Five questions
I’ve seen this feature on several other blogs, and out of curiosity I decided to give the Friday Five a look. Five questions, nothing probing, but that may illuminate unique personality aspects. But it’s Monday, not Friday, so aren’t I a bit late? Timeliness has never been one of my strong points. The most recentContinue reading “Five questions”
Observed at Wal-Mart
This afternoon, toiling my way through the aisles of the local Wal-Mart, I chanced upon the books aisle and began to browse. I didn’t need more reading material–I have enough of a backlog to last me until sometime in 2006–but it’s always interesting to see what Wal-Mart, the world’s largest retailer, thinks of the readingContinue reading “Observed at Wal-Mart”
On Deep Space Nine: "Fear, Itself"
Tom Sharp raised the question, “Could [“Fear Itself,” published in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds V] be considered a part of the DS9 post-finale stories I have listed at DS9 Avatar? There are two possible answers here, and each has their reasons: Yes, include it–“Fear Itself” takes place post-“What You Leave Behind.” No, don’t includeContinue reading “On Deep Space Nine: "Fear, Itself"”
On K.W. Jeter's Warped
The impression I’ve gotten over the years is that most of the Star Trek novel readership hates K.W. Jeter’s Warped. I’ve always been more than a little mystified by that reaction; I found Warpedto be an engaging and unusual novel that had a good deal more depth than other Trek hardcovers of the period. WarpedContinue reading “On K.W. Jeter's Warped”
On Deep Space Nine's Tenth Anniversary
Marco gave us all a pleasant surprise with these announcements: 1. The mass-market edition of THE LIVES OF DAX (originally published as a trade paperback in 1999), which will be reprinted under the new DS9 logo, identifying it as part of the relaunch. To everyone who hasn’t read The Lives of Dax yet, buy itContinue reading “On Deep Space Nine's Tenth Anniversary”