Beneath the Stains of Time: Time Wants a Skeleton: C.M.B. vol. 9-10 by Motohiro Katou

Beneath the Stains of Time: Time Wants a Skeleton: C.M.B. vol. 9-10 by Motohir...: Motohiro Katou's C.M.B. vol. 9 opens with a two-part, two chapter story, "The Sun and a Folklore," which brings Sakaki Shinra...

Bookblog of the Bristol Library: The Teller of Small Fortunes by Julie Leong

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Scott's Take: Sonic the Hedgehog: The IDW Collection, Vol. 1 by Ian Flynn, Tracy Yardley, and Evan Stanley

 

Sonic the Hedgehog: The IDW Collection, Vol. 1 by Ian Flynn, Tracy Yardley, and Evan Stanley collects the first twelve issues in the relaunch of the Sonic Universe since IDW now has the rights to make Sonic comics. Each issue, until the big battle issues, is a team up between Sonic and one hero. The final issues are a big team up issue as Sonic and friends try to save the world again.

 

This action-packed adventure is set after a war between Sonic and Eggman which has left Eggman presumed dead and a new leader is controlling his robot army. Someone is seeking to replace Eggman as the oppressor of this world. It is up to Sonic and friends to stop them.

 

This is an action and humor fest with interesting art and engaging story moments. Sonic is clearly the main character, but the side characters are fun too. The villain for this arc worked very well.

 

I have started reading the second volume of IDW collection and I am enjoying that one too. It is a darker tale though and ties in really well with the previous one.

 

I read this through hoopla which has the three IDW collections which collect volumes 1-6 and apparently there are 18 volumes out already so I have a ton to read assuming this team maintains the quality of these stories. It is a good time to be a Sonic fan with the games, comics and movies doing so well and being such high quality.

 

Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/4i7g3aY

 

 

My reading copy came through the Hoopla App and the Dallas Public Library System.

 

 

Scott A. Tipple ©2025

Short Story Wednesday Review: Eleven Numbers: A Short Story by Lee Child

Eleven Numbers: A Short Story by Lee Child is something far different than one would expect from the author of the legendary Jack Reacher series. Instead, this quick read is all about math and mathematician Nathan Tyler. But, as the publisher synopsis makes clear, spy stuff is also at work here.

 

Despite the advice from the airline, the State Department, and his boss, Nathan Tyler is headed to Russia for a mathematics conference.  Tyler is sure that the Russians value and respect math. He is sure that the conference will an island of calm in a sea of chaos and noise. Besides, he is a man on a mission and operating on a need-to-know basis and other folks do not need to know everything that is in his head.

 

Of course, things go sideways. The questions are twofold. How did they go sideways? Is he going to get home, alive and in one piece?

A pleasant change of pace, Eleven Numbers: A Short Story by Lee Child is a fast moving and fun read. Even if you hated math in school and can’t balance a checkbook to save yourself, like me, you will learn a thing or two about numbers. Especially, eleven very important ones.

 

Recommended.

Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/3Q78zIZ

 

My reading copy came by way of a digital ARC, made available by the publisher, Amazon Original Stories, through NetGalley, after the publication date earlier this month. Good thing to for this reader as the Dallas Public Library System does not carry it.

 

Kevin R. Tipple ©2025

Short Story Wednesday: Tooth and Claw: A Longmire Story by Craig Johnson

Tooth and Claw: A Longmire Story by Craig Johnson takes readers to late December 1970 and the North Slope of Alaska. Long before Walt Longmire became Sheriff in Wyoming, he was head of security at an oil rig. Henry Standing Bear has come up from the lower 48 to see him and finds Walt drinking heavily and isolating himself. Vietnam took a toll and Walt is coping by drinking and staying away from the woman he loves, Martha.

 

The isolation and the cold makes some people snap. The latest causality of a breakdown was George Frazier. Frazier works for Walt and was supposed to be on the security detail for a U.S. Geological Survey team doing core testing out on the ice the next day. The day before the Winter Solstice and it will have just 3 hours and 42 minutes of daylight.

 

With Fraizer out, that means Walt Longmire has to go on what should be a relatively easy run. Relatively easy for the artic weather conditions. Henry Standing Bear tags along as he had been complaining about not doing anything, but playing chess in Longmire’s cramped quarters. Good thing he goes too because what should have been a relatively easy same day excursion turns into fight for survival against a massive polar bear that, seemingly, can’t be killed. Throw in a ghost ship, bad weather, and members of the excursion party being killed left and right, and the result is one heck of a pulp adventure read.

 

Tooth and Claw: A Longmire Story by Craig Johnson is one heck of a good read. A fast-moving novella, it comes down to the most primitive battle there is --- man vs nature. The getting there is very much well worth it.

 

Make sure you read Scott Montgomery’s far more detailed review here at his The Hard Word site as well as the author’s recent appearance at The Poisoned Pen and shared by Lesa Holstine here. 

Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/41xy5Oo

 

While I had hoped to read this months ago via NetGalley, the publisher, Penguin Group Viking, denied me as they often do, so I had to wait for Dallas Public Library to get it. They finally did. My reading copy was a digital one through the Libby/OverDrive app and read in one day. 

 

 

Kevin R. Tipple ©2024 

Smart Girls Read Romance: NEW AUDIO RELEASE!

Smart Girls Read Romance: NEW AUDIO RELEASE!: By Caroline Clemmons More wonderful thin gs are happening for the Pinkerton Matchmaker Series books. This series is tremendously popular. Ba...

Dru's Book Musings New Releases ~ Week of October 27, 2024

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Lesa's Book Critiques: The Puzzle Box by Danielle Trussoni

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Dru's Book Musings: New Releases ~ Week of June 9, 2024

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FFB Review: Apocalypse Soon (Kyler Knightly and Damon Cole Volume 2) by Garnett Elliot

Timelines are tricky things as readers were reminded in Carnosaur Weekend. Agents Kyler Knightly and Damon Cole are back in Apocalypse Soon. The work of protecting the timelines by Continuity Inc. is ongoing,  difficult, and relies on everyone sharing the same common goal and following the rules.

 

 

In the signature story of this second volume of the series one Continuity Inc. technician by the name of Paul Dirac has gone rouge. His ongoing obsession with Pre-Apocalypse North America and vintage cars was thought to be a quirk one expected from a genius. The company shrink had perceived his obsessive interest as nothing to be concerned about and cleared him to work. Proving the shrink wrong, Dirac has gone rogue and jumped back in time to “Old Vegas” in the year 2035. He took a lot of supplies with him which means he is not coming back. What he plans to do there is unknown, but he can’t be allowed to do more damage than he has already done simply by going back then. Kyler and Damo have to go after him as fast as possible and bring him back alive. Easier said than done.

  

“Babylon Heist” comes next where Kyler Knightly is sent back approximately 3000 years to prevent a theft. Continuity Inc. got a tip that another time traveler had been sent back to collect a priceless artifact for a collector in the 23rd century. Kyler knows what they are after, but has no idea of the identity of the time traveler. So, he is working undercover in the Babylonian underworld trying to make contacts and gather information. 770 B.C. is a dangerous place and he has no idea whom he can trust.

  

Billed as a “Bonus Story” the final tale “Strontium Dreams” has nothing to do with Kyler and Damon or Continuity Inc. for that matter. Time travel may or may not be involved. What is clear is that it is a future world and one so decimated that survival means doing anything you have to survive.  Having the stamp of “genetic undesirable” on your forehead helps keep you away from the collectors looking to salvage organs for the wealthy and keeps the rest of you out of the taco meat sold by vendors in the Jetsam Flats. One does not want to become taco meat.

 

Like the past, the future is not always pretty, and certainly not here in these short stories written by Garnett Elliot. Whether it is Red Venus or Dragon By The Bay, Scorched Noir, or his efforts in the Drifter Detective Series, or the aforementioned Carnosaur Weekend, a hint of hard edged noir prevails no matter the setting. It doesn’t matter if one is vicariously on Venus fighting humans and alien life, running from dinosaurs, or shooting it out to bring back the rogue employee, that dark nourish edge of crime fiction is always there in the works of Garnett Elliot. One could easily make the argument that these are primarily crime fiction tales in a science fiction setting. Those works are also very good reads that tell complex tales with plenty of action and adventure.

Apocalypse Soon is yet another example of Mr. Elliott’s steadily increasing body of work. If you have not read him yet you really should. The only question is where and when you wish to start. 

 

Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/4d7WfCx

 

 

Material was supplied in paperback format by the publisher three months ago in exchange for my objective review.

 

Kevin R. Tipple ©2016, 2024

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

Short Story Wednesday Review: The Havana Run: A Short Story by Ace Atkins

 

George and Jay are two out of work newspaper reporters who need money as The Havana Run: A Short Story by Ace Atkins begins. They are meeting with an elderly man at the La Tropicana in the Ybor City neighborhood of Tampa, Florida. He has a lucrative proposition for them. The only problem is they have to agree to do the job without knowing much about it. They have to go to Cuba and pick up something unspecified for him.

 

All Navarro will tell them is that he wants “family valuables” retrieved and brought back. All they have to do is go down to Cuba, get the family valuables that have been hidden since the revolution, and bring them back. Fidel Castro died a few months ago and things in Cuba are probably a bit shakier. Un the upside, they can pass as tourists, and get in and out over a couple of days. Plus, they do need the money.

 

When you have read a lot of crime and mystery fiction, and are an older reader, you know those guys are going to take the job. You also know that once in Cuba things are going to go from bad to worse. The only question is how?

 

It does and the result is the highly entertaining The Havana Run: A Short Story. Author Ace Atkins keeps the twists coming in a fast-moving novella. He also packs in plenty of character development regarding our reporters who are just doing the best they can. The result is a quick read and one of the better tales I have read this year. Well worth your time.

 

Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/3POrPel

My reading copy came by way of a purchase using funds that were recently donated via the PayPal widget on the left side of this blog.

 

Kevin R. Tipple ©2024

Scott's Take: Hawkeye: Bishop Takes King by Ashley Poston

 

Hawkeye: Bishop Takes King by Ashley Poston is the first novel to feature Kate Bishop (the second Hawkeye or, as she calls herself, the better Hawkeye) as the main character. After a mishap rescuing a guy named Milo who was having his bag stolen, in the process, she accidently switched bags with him. Inside Milo’s bag is a book. Kingpin wants that book and is willing to kill anyone he has to so that he gets it. Of course, if Kingpin wants the book so bad, he has a nasty plan involving it. That means it is up to Kate Bishop, Lucky the pizza dog, and others, to stop him.

 

Full of humor, action, some romance, a mystery, and cameos by various superheroes, this tale is worth your time. While this is billed as a young adult novel, there are some rather intense horror elements/horror scenes in this read. This story is told in an interrogation/ flashback style which means that every few chapters of flashback, there is an interrogation chapter, before the reader goes back to the flashback chapters. Surprisingly, this technique worked well and did not create a choppy read. 

 

This is supposed to be a canon novel set in the comic book universe. Kate Bishop in the comic has a way different backstory that the tv version. Therefore, it could have been helpful for readers not familiar with the original version to have here a short backstory summary along with the significant relationships listed.

https://amzn.to/4aPzTVf 

 

I highly enjoyed this novel and I hope there is a sequel.

 

My reading copy came in hardback from the Central, aka Downtown Branch, of the Dallas Public Library System.

 

Scott A. Tipple ©2023

A Writer's Life....Caroline Clemmons: REAL LIFE TO FICTION

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Jerry's House of Everything: FORGOTTEN BOOK: THE TREASURE OF ATLANTIS

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Jerry's House of Everything: FORGOTTEN BOOK: DANNY DUNN AND THE HEAT RAY

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FFB Review: Nanoman: Perfect Courage by Jack Rice

From the massive archive...

It is September of the year 2085 as Nanoman: Perfect Courage by Jack Rice begins. The United States of America no longer exists as the country has politically fractured into far smaller regions. What is left of the former USA calls itself the “United States of Freedom” and controls a chunk of the northeast as well as a few other places. It is a country where artificial intelligence rules everything thanks to the ability to monitor everyone in their every thought, behavior, and action. They do this through nanobots that are now infused into nearly everything.

It is a semblance of control craved by those in charge desperate to keep whatever power or money they have. Climate change is destroying countries just as fast as plagues, lack of food, and chemical storms are destroying the people. Britain is nearly gone because of sea level rise as are vast areas of the coastline of the North America. Africa is a wasteland nearly depopulated of humans thanks to the climate issues as well as disease and bioweapons. The world economy is essentially gone as governments created by multinational corporations seek to control everything. These super corporations rule various countries/regions as they are the government. There are some people that by luck of a very bad draw or by deliberate action live far outside the security zones making do as best they can since the power grid went down decades earlier. No matter where you live, the very air itself is incredibly dangerous requiring one to be fully covered from head to toe at all times when outside.

For Dr. Asante Jefferson life isn’t exactly easy, but he is aware that things could be worse. He gets around by way of his powered wheelchair due to the permanent pain he deals with and other issues, He is a government bureaucrat that is used to his life, such as it is, and though aware of others potential suffering does not think too much about it as he goes about his job. That job is as Assistant Secretary in the Ethics Enforcement Division of the Department of Justice. Things could be much worse as he has a job, a place to live, and confirmed status with his Official Citizen Card. Lose that card and all is lost as one becomes an outcast living on the edges of society. One’s status as an Official Citizen can be lost very easily as there are far too many people for the resources available to the United States of Freedom. Not that he is too worried about his own status as it isn’t as he is some line worker somewhere that can be dismissed at the drop of the hat. Dr. Asante Jefferson’s assignment this day is to go to Molecular Fabrications, Inc., located in NUBethesda Security Zone One and investigate their compliance regarding ongoing research regarding nanotechnology.

It should be fairly simple visit as this is an informational meeting and very preliminary in his review. It becomes obvious though by the sheer numbers of folks gathered to meet him after he rolls out of his transport vehicle that others intend to slow down the process and make their objections and influence clear. What was already a bad day due to his pain and how he feels is not made any better by their interference. Once he finally gets beyond all the boardroom talk with those assembled who think they have the right to tell him how to do his job, he is escorted to the research area by the lead scientist, Dr. Mali Phatipatanawong who is also not having a good day. Her issues go far beyond the visit by Asante. Yet, as she warms to her topic and interaction with Asante, it becomes clear that what MFI is working on could very well change the future of all mankind on the planet. They have made a technological leap that might result in the ability to stop the effects of decades of bioweapons, viruses, and other things on citizens. It just might be possible to walk outside and breathe freely despite the dangerous substances in the environment all around. For Dr. Asante and numerous other folks, this is a day when their lives will change forever.

Nanoman: Perfect Courage by Jack Rice paints a picture of dystopian future that could easily happen if things continue to go forward the way they have politically, environmentally, and economically. This is a book that takes the constructs of today and logically pushes those forward by several decades to shape the reality in this book. At the same time, that technology that has brought incredible suffering and death to this future world of ours might turn out to the savior for what is left of mankind.

Part cautionary tale of a future gone mad and part adventure style story Nanoman: Perfect Courage is not a simple read where everything is black and white and predictable. A complicated and very good book that offers a glimpse of what could happen while also giving readers one heck of an action adventure style read.

Word file provided by the author in exchange for my objective review.

 

Kevin R. Tipple ©2016, 2023

Jerry's House of Everything: FORGOTTEN BOOK: WARRIOR OF THE DAWN

Jerry's House of Everything: FORGOTTEN BOOK: WARRIOR OF THE DAWN:   Warrior of the Dawn  by Howard Browne  (first published in two parts in Amazing Stories , Decmeber 1942 and January 1943; publishjed in bo...

Aubrey Nye Hamilton Reviews: Miss Knight and the Stones of Nairobi by Vered Ehsani

Vered Ehsani writes books set in and around Kenya. Her Society for Paranormals series combines adventure with historical fantasy, African mythology, shapeshifters, witches, and werewolves in a colonial Kenya setting. Timing seems to be a few years after the British East African Company was granted a charter in 1888 to develop African trade. The cover art for all 10 books is gorgeous.

The protagonist of this series is Mrs. Beatrice Knight Timmons, who uses Miss Knight professionally in her work as a paranormal sleuth. Miss Knight’s parents were a witch and a vampire; one brother is a shapeshifting demon and the other brother is a werewolf. Miss Knight’s usual mode of transportation is a flying horse. Miss Knight’s first husband Gideon Knight appears as a ghost whenever he chooses. Despite the characters’ paranormal qualities, they embrace classic British activities such as gardening and tea drinking. 

In Miss Knight and the Stones of Nairobi (Sterling & Stone, 2017), the seventh of ten books, Miss Knight is tasked with bringing a dead warrior back from the underworld to help fight the encroaching British, whom the natives called the People of the Fog. While she has the ability to enter the underworld and return, the God of Death does not like for her to undo his work, so she anticipates his resistance to her efforts. To assist with the job, a West African demon who is a frenemy of long standing accompanies her and provides a caustic running commentary. In the meantime her husband Simon Timmons has been arrested for questionable reasons and her much-loved cousin is in the late stages of pregnancy.

This book is hard to characterize: it is a cozy and a paranormal and historical fiction and a thriller. It is a light entertaining read, fans of humorous cozies will love it. However, a thread of fact runs through the story. Some of the secondary characters are based on real people. The indigenous people living in what would become Kenya did oppose the British invasion of their homeland. Toward the end of the book one of the warrior leaders tells Miss Knight that one day they would be successful in driving the British out but it would not be in her lifetime, no doubt a reference to the 1952 Mau Mau Uprising, which resulted in the nation’s break with Britain 10 years later. An afterword sorts fact from fiction.

For readers of cozies, humorous mysteries, steampunk, paranormals, and colonial African historicals.

·         ASIN: ‎B01MSBUK5O

·         Publisher: ‎Sterling & Stone (January 26, 2017)

·         Publication date: ‎January 26, 2017

·         Language: ‎English

·         File size: ‎1395 KB

 

Aubrey Nye Hamilton ©2022 

Aubrey Hamilton is a former librarian who works on Federal It projects by day and reads mysteries at night.

Scott’s Take: Batman/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures #1

From the massive archive…

Batman/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures #1 was written by Mathew K. Manning and has art by Jon Sommariva. This graphic novel features Batman from the animated television series in the 1990s teaming up with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles from the 2012 animated television series. They unite with Bat Girl and Robin to face off against Shredder, Joker, Poison Ivy, Scarecrow and others.

Along with the battles, this funny graphic novel features various hijinks that happen while the heroes interact with each other and deal with how different their worlds are. If you are a fan of either group of characters you should find this most enjoyable. I found it worth reading just to watch Batman eat pizza, which I found funny. The heroes learn to respect each other and interact in the six issues collected in this graphic novel. The “serious” Batman character having to play off the more fun-loving turtles makes any interaction between the heroes groups entertaining. Especially funny was Batgirl’s reaction to Splinter (a talking Ninja Rat) and Ice Cream Kitty (a living kitty made out of ice cream) were especially goofy and entertaining. I enjoyed it.

If you find this collection enjoyable, you should also like Batman/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Volume 1, Volume 2, and the upcoming Volume 3, which all feature different versions of the characters crossing over. Those stories focus on versions of the characters from the DC Rebirth and the current TMNT comic.  Those stories are more mature and also added more characters such as Bane, Alfred, Damian, and others. Having Alfred deal with the Turtles and Batman at the same time made for some interesting interactions.

 

 

Material was obtained from the Lochwood Branch of the Dallas Public Library System. The Dallas System has a far more extensive collection of graphic novels than what I was able to access in the Plano Library System.

 

Scott Tipple ©2019, 2022