Saturday, April 27, 2024
Scott's Take: Jean Grey: Flames of Fear by Louise Simonson
The art and the stories are excellent.
But. one must be somewhat familiar with her history as a character to
appreciate the stories. One example, is in the first issue that deals with the
question -- what if Jean when she was a teen and the rest of the original X-Men
that had been sent to the future did not have their memories of the future
wiped from them and instead chose to keep those memories to change their
present.
This was a good book even if the final
issue connects to an Immortal X-Men Volume I have not read yet
since it was not out as I was reading this. This is a good Jean series, but one
would get the most out of it if they are familiar with the comic book
character’s history.
Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/3TPZQ0f
My reading copy came by way of the
Hoopla App and the Dallas Public Library System.
Scott A. Tipple ©2024
Friday, April 26, 2024
Publishing ... and Other Forms of Insanity: 85 Calls for Submissions in May 2024 - Paying markets
Bookblog of the Bristol Library: Finding Mr. Purrfect by Codi Gary
Jerry's House of Everything: FORGOTTEN BOOK: THE DEAD WORLD
FFB Review: Carnosaur Weekend by Garnett Elliott
Imagine, if you will, a world where it is possible
to go back in time to play golf in relative safety while dinosaurs move around
you. That idea is just a small part of the three highly entertaining tales in Carnosaur
Weekend. The three tales in the book are all good ones and highly
entertaining.
“Carnosaur Weekend” opens the book where pterodactyls
fly above the golf course and an allosaurus and a carnosaur are on the
fairways. A RPG is a most helpful weapon in times like this where the
super-rich are being courted by real estate developers selling time shares in
the late cretaceous period. Those running this deal somehow got their hands on
a “Zygma Projector” making their very questionable venture in the timeline
possible. Damon Cole is already working the case in the far distant past and is
under deep cover. Kyler Knightly is being sent in to assist because the deal
has to be shut down before they screw up the past and cause irreversible
changes in the present.
“The Zygma Gambit” comes next and was also published
in the very good The Lizard’s Ardent Uniform and Other Stories. Set a bit
before the preceding story, Kyler Knightly is one of those very special people
known as “dreamers” and is employed by Continuity Inc. Through their dreams the
dreamers have the ability to foresee the future. Kyler has been awakened by a
dream in his own bed in the early morning hours of April 14, 2223. For this to
happen outside of the Precog bays where he normally works means that this dream
was very powerful and definitely coming true. Kyler has to get to his Uncle
Damon Cole and tell him about the dream before Cole goes on his mission.
The final story title “The Worms of Terpsichore” is
very good and highly reminiscent of the classic type of science fiction many of
us grew up on. The spaceship Sallust sent off a one word message via their
orbital beacon and then went radio silent. No further transmission has come
from where they landed on the surface. The one word message also does not make
sense. Clearly, something has happened.
Raj and Thea will go down to the site by way of a lander from their
spaceship known as the Astarte. This type of search and rescue mission is just
part of what they do as members of “Frontier Swift Response.” While this isn’t
at time travel story and Damon Cole and Kyler Knightly are not involved at all,
it is still a very good tale. After all, any story that uses a flame-gun is
automatically pretty good.
Author Garnett Elliot’s bio and ads for other books
from Beat To A Pulp including installments of the excellent Jack Laramie Drifter
Detective series finish out the book.
The three science fiction tales in Carnosaur
Weekend quickly yank readers to a very different time and place. The
multiple characters involved have considerable depth that never gets in the way
of the science fiction adventure. These are adventures when anything is
possible as the dangers are many and one has to stay alive by one’s wits. The
tales of Carnosaur Weekend are all very good ones very much worth your time.
Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/3xShuYR
Material supplied by the publisher in exchange for
my objective review.
Kevin R. Tipple ©2014, 2020, 2024
Thursday, April 25, 2024
Jerry's House of Everything: THE INSPECTOR CHEN MYSTERIES: A CASE OF THE TWO CITIES
Wednesday, April 24, 2024
Publishing ... and Other Forms of Insanity: 72 Writing Contests in May 2024 - No entry fees
Bookblog of the Bristol Library: Nevermore: Golden Doves, Anxious People, Dreamland
Beneath the Stains of Time: The Hit List: Top 5 Intriguing Pieces of Impossible Crime Fiction That Vanished into Thin Air
Bitter Tea and Mystery: Short Story Wednesday: The Habit of Widowhood and Other Murderous Proclivities
Jerry's House of Everything: SHORT STORY WEDNESDAY: LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT
Tuesday, April 23, 2024
The First Two Pages: “And Now, An Inspiring Story of Tragedy Overcome” by Joseph S. Walker
Little Big Crimes: The Lover of Eastlake, by Sam Wiebe
SleuthSayers: The Magic of Malice
Bookblog of the Bristol Library: The Raven Thief by Gigi Pandian
Review: Circle in the Water: A Sharon McCone Mystery by Marcia Muller
Circle in the Water: A Sharon McCone Mystery
by Marcia Muller finds Sharon working a complicated case involving private
street ownership. In San Franciso, there are more than 200 streets that are
owned by private individuals or entities. As these streets are not city
property, they are lucrative targets for land speculators and others.
As the book opens, it is almost midnight Halloween,
and Sharon McCone is on a stake out. Being a co-owner of the agency with her
husband, Hy Ripinsky, who is currently overseas, she is out in the rain so that
she does not have to fool with trick-or-treaters and somebody else does not
miss a party or spending time with their kids this dark night. The rain fits
her mood. One that she has been in for months now. A mood that she can’t really
explain to herself or others that have noticed.
She is on Rowan Court trying to prevent another
vandalism attack. McCone & Ripinsky International has been hired by the
wealthy homeowners on the street to stop a rash of vandalism that has been
happening to their homes and vehicles. Not just stop it, but identify the
culprits and why they are doing it. One of their members has been reaching out
to other folks and have discovered that this sort of thing is happening on
other private streets, rich and poor, across the city.
Soon McCone finds things are linked across various
neighborhoods. Events start to move forward and become deadly.
Circle in the Water: A Sharon McCone Mystery
is a complicated and often slow-moving read. At least a third of the book, if
not more, consists of reminisces of previous cases and things that happened to
McCone, Hy, and many others in the past, and an acknowledgment and recognition
of how far all those involved have come in the here and now. Even if one had
not seen the guest post by the author at SleuthSayers
announcing this book is the end of the series, it is clear with the way the
book unfolds for the reader.
It is also a good read. The case is complicated and chugs along at a semi steady pace between the many memories of the past. Circle in the Water: A Sharon McCone Mystery ends the series well.
My ARC reading copy came from the publisher, Grand
Central Publishing, via NetGalley with no expectation of a review.
Kevin R. Tipple ©2024
Monday, April 22, 2024
Bitter Tea and Mystery: Books Read in March 2024
Aubrey's Nye Hamilton Reviews: Robbed Blind by Roy Hart
Between 1987
and 1994 Roy Hart, a British avionics engineer, wrote nine police procedurals fronted
by Detective Superintendent Douglas Roper of the Dorset County Criminal
Investigation Department on the southern coast of England. In line with the procedural
that was popular in the 1980s, they are all set in villages and the plots all
focus on the investigation rather than the psychology of the crime. While there
are quirky characters, they take a back seat to the detailed and systematic
description of police activities in collecting and sifting clues to find the
culprit. The fifth in the series Robbed Blind (Macmillan London, 1990)
is a good example.
The night of
Good Friday in the village of Little Crow Stella Pumfrey was found dead at the
foot of the stairs in her home. Her shoe caught in the carpet on the landing
bore mute testimony to an accidental fall that caused Stella’s head to collide
with ferocity against the newel post. The post-mortem, though, showed the
damage to Stella’s skull could not have been caused by the fall.
By the time the
police received the autopsy report recommending further investigation, the
crime scene had been thoroughly contaminated, much to Roper’s frustration.
Initial inquiries reveal that Stella had money and her husband and her sister
were in line to inherit it. Neither of them was on good terms with the victim.
Then there was the lover rumored to be in the background. But perhaps it was
not personal at all: an exquisite and valuable pair of earrings is missing.
Could she have been surprised by the burglar that was known to be in the
neighborhood? As Roper talks to Stella’s family and friends, he finds no
shortage of possible scenarios and people with adverse interests to Stella’s.
This series
seems to have flown under the radar in the U.S. The first two titles were not
published here, and none of them seem to have been reprinted after the initial
hardback and paperback issue. Roper isn’t given much of a back story, although
there is some information about him, and perhaps he wasn’t vivid enough to
capture lasting interest. A review from Publishers Weekly said he lacked
the edge of a Sherlock Holmes, although both Publishers Weekly and Kirkus
spoke highly of the series. While nine books is a respectable run, timing
probably also affected its popularity, as reading tastes were moving towards
gritty, violent crime fiction with lots of action.
I found this
series entry a solid, capable detective story with complex plotting, plenty of
red herrings, and plausible suspects. Recommended for fans of police
procedurals and admirers of traditional mysteries.
·
Publisher: St Martins Press; First Edition
(January 1, 1990)
·
Language: English
·
Hardcover: 206 pages
·
ISBN-10: 0312044143
·
ISBN-13: 978-0312044145
Amazon Associate
Purchase Link:
Aubrey Nye Hamilton ©2024
Aubrey Hamilton is
a former librarian who works on Federal It projects by day and reads mysteries
at night.
Sunday, April 21, 2024
OUT NOW!! Notorious in North Texas: Metroplex Mysteries Volume III
Though it was not supposed to be out yet, Notorious
in North Texas: Metroplex Mysteries Volume III, is now out at Amazon and should be available within days
at Barnes and Noble. Published by the Sisters in Crime North Dallas
chapter, the read is edited by Michael Bracken, and includes a forward from
author Kathleen Kent. It also includes my short story, Whatever Happened To…?,
set in my little part of NE Dallas.
I am very grateful to Michael Bracken, Karen
Harrington, and to everyone involved in the process. It is my understanding
that there will be book signings in early June and other events. My hope is
that, health permitting, I will be at those events.