Lesa's Book Critiques: BRING YOUR BAGGAGE AND DON’T PACK LIGHT BY HELEN ELLIS
Saturday, July 31, 2021
Bookblog of the Bristol Library: Home Before Dark by Riley Sager
Bookblog of the Bristol Library: Home Before Dark by Riley Sager: Reviewed by Ambrea Twenty-five years ago, Maggie Holt and her parents moved into an old Victorian estate called Baneberry Hall. ...
SleuthSayers: Stories, Slightly Used by John Floyd
SleuthSayers: Stories, Slightly Used: While trying to come up with a topic for today, I re-read Michael Bracken's post earlier this month about reprints, and was reminded...
Scott Reviews: Flash Facts by Mayim Bialik
Flash Facts by Mayim Bialik
and others is an anthology by DC Comics designed to teach STEM concepts using
DC characters such as Batman, Supergirl, The Flash, and more. These ten stories
cover topics such as electricity, forensic science, global warming, the solar
system, atoms, and more. The art and the quality of the writing varies from
very good to okay. The plots are pretty simplistic, but I would imagine they
would be fun ones for a child to read. Overall, most of the stories are good
and feature above average art while teaching science topics to early elementary
kids.
There is some
humor, a bit of action, and plenty of science. The end of the book even
includes some science experiments one can do at home and web links for children
to teach themselves more about the topics.
A personal pet
peeve of mine is when a character gets dumbed down for a story. The Flash is
treated this way in the book and somebody should have said no. He goes from teaching
forensic science at the beginning of the anthology to not knowing how
electricity works or how global warming works in tales later in the book. Did
nobody during development or at the publisher point out that stupidity?
My personal
favorite was the Supergirl tale where she teaches the solar system to a child
and teaches her to appreciate our planet and our solar system. Appreciating the
planet we have is important as well as appreciating our place in the universe
around us.
Flash
Facts by Mayim Bialik
is
a fun book to help children learn about science from their favorite DC Comics
heroes.
Flash Facts
Mayim Bialik
DC Comics
https://www.dccomics.com/graphic-novels/flash-facts
February 2021
ISBN#:
978-1-77950-382-4
Paperback (eBook
available)
160 Pages
My reading copy came from the Forest Green Branch of the Dallas Public Library System.
Scott A. Tipple
©2021
Friday, July 30, 2021
Writer Beware®: The Blog: How Bad Contest Entry Rules Can be Mitigated: THE MEDIUM WRITER'S CHALLENGE
Writer Beware®: The Blog: How Bad Contest Entry Rules Can be Mitigated: The ...: Posted by Victoria Strauss for Writer Beware® That's right, boys and girls--it's another of my posts about hinky contest rules. I...
SleuthSayers: Pro Tips by Eve Fisher
SleuthSayers: Pro Tips: Luck has a lot more to do with success in life than most people want to admit. Which is exactly why most trust fund babies are "born o...
FFB Review: The Last Call: A Bill Travis Mystery by George Wier
Earlier this week, the horrible news that
Texas author George Wier had passed was posted to Facebook. I was stunned as I
had no idea that he was fighting cancer. George was a very talented author and
I am a big fan. He was also a cyber friend who occasionally reached out to me
as Sandi fought her own battle and far more often after she passed as he tried
to make sure I was sticking around and not having stupid thoughts. I suspect he
deliberately did not tell me he was fighting cancer these past months so as to
not upset me. I wish he had told me, but I get why he did not. The news has
been very hard to take. I still have a number of books of his to read in the
old eBook TBR pile and it is going to take quite some time before I can even
think about trying to do so.
On this final Friday in July 2021 when the
world seems mad on so many levels, I offer you my review from many years ago of
the first book in this series, THE LAST CALL. George made it a permanently
free read in eBook format several years ago, ignoring the naysayers who said not
to do that sort of thing, and it did very well for him. If you have not read him,
you really should.
Bill Travis first saw the beautiful woman while he was driving in heavy traffic on the loop near downtown Austin. The beautiful reddish blonde in the red roadster didn’t seem to mind that Bill Travis was staring at her. For a few minutes they played a cat and mouse game passing each other in the heavy morning traffic. After a smile his way and a couple of quick moves on her part in the stop and go traffic, she was gone down the interstate and out of his life. That left the nearly 40 year old Bill Travis with only one option---head to work as if nothing had happened at all.
That is until a short time later, as his first client of the day, she walks into his office.
Julie Simmons
may have flirted and then cut him off in traffic, but she has bigger issues
then being a sexy and rude flirt. She has crossed Archie Carpin, a North Texan
Liquor Baron and legendary figure with a violent family lineage dating back to
the 20’s in Texas. This is one family that you leave very well alone if you
have any brains at all. Julie was desperate and took two million dollars and
ran. Of course, Archie Carpin very much wants his money back.
Bill Travis, a
man that helps well off people with their money problems can’t help falling for
her in every way possible. Even if there
is far more to her story and he knows it from the very start. The beautiful woman wasn’t kidding when she
said her name was trouble. He just didn’t care. He should have as she was not
lying about that much at least.
On the run and
trying to stay alive on a trail that takes them from Austin to North Texas and
back again, Texas author George Wier crafts an intriguing tale full of twists
and turns. Populated with complex main and secondary characters, plenty of
clues, and plenty of action this recently released novel first in a planned
series is a good one. Even seasoned mystery readers will be surprised by some
of the twists the complex case takes while imparting some legendary Texas
history.
The Last Call: A
Bill Travis Mystery
Gorge Wier
Flagstone Books
2011
eBook (also available in print and audio formats
Material
supplied by the author in exchange for my objective review.
Kevin R. Tipple
© 2011, 2021
Thursday, July 29, 2021
Beneath the Stains of Time: Murder Among Actors (1963) by Ton Vervoort
Beneath the Stains of Time: Murder Among Actors (1963) by Ton Vervoort: This year, I began exploring the work of an unjustly forgotten, long out-of-print Dutch mystery writer, Peter Verstegen, who wrote a handful...
Publishing ... and Other Forms of Insanity: 84 Calls for Submissions in August 2021 - Paying Markets
Publishing ... and Other Forms of Insanity: 84 Calls for Submissions in August 2021 - Paying m...: This August there are more than six dozen calls for submissions. All of these are paying markets, and none charge submission fees. As always...
Bookblog of the Bristol Library: Found Reviews
Bookblog of the Bristol Library: Found Reviews: Note: There is no Nevermore Book Club report available this week, so instead we offer you some "Found Reviews." While re-sh...
Publishing ... and Other Forms of Insanity: 35 Writing Contests in August 2021 - No entry fees
Publishing ... and Other Forms of Insanity: 35 Writing Contests in August 2021 - No entry fees: This August there are nearly three dozen writing contests calling for every genre and form, from poetry, to creative nonfiction, to complete...
Wednesday, July 28, 2021
Scott Home
Early this afternoon, Scott was released. He is back home where he belongs. He feels fine.
Dad is a basket case.
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