Saturday, January 23, 2021
Crime Watch Review: THE RED HAND by Peter Temple
Crime Watch: Review: THE RED HAND: THE RED HAND by Peter Temple (Text Publishing, 2019/Quercus, 2020) Reviewed by Craig Sisterson Peter Temple didn’t start publishing novels u...
Scott's Take: Heirs of Empire: The Scourwind Legacy Book One by Evan Currie
Heirs of Empire: The Scourwind Legacy
Book One by Evan Currie is a military sci-fi
drama set on an unnamed world. The empire is one of the most powerful kingdoms
on the planet. Led by the Scourwind family, the empire is ruled with an iron
fist. That is until a successful coup by General Corian overthrows the
Scourwind family throwing the empire into chaos. The Scourwind Twins, Lydia and
Brennan, are forced to run for their lives. Their best hope is former Cadre
(think elite special ops with bloodline link through the DNA to certain
technology) Mira Delsol who has become a pirate for the forces still loyal to
the Scourwind family. Will the twins alongside Mira be able to regain their
throne or will the empire crumble from within?
This book is action tale on a complicated world with
a rich back story. The empire’s secrets have consequences for all. There are
plenty of interesting characters inhabiting this world and plenty of hints
about what the plot points of future novels could be about.
General Corian has his reasons for overthrowing the
Emperor and might even be right. General Corian is not a good person, but he is
doing what he thinks is right. Mira Delsol is a young risk taker former Cadre
member turned pirate with trust issues. Lydia is a troublemaker and first in
order of succession. Her twin brother does not care about the crown as he is
more comfortable being a pilot than anything else. He is a great pilot, but too
arrogant for his own good.
My favorite character was William Everett. He is a
Cadre turned babysitter and trying to keep everyone fighting smart. He is very
frustrated as the younger characters take a lot of risks and do things differently
than he would. He is the main humor angle in the book and wields a sharp
tongue.
Heirs of Empire: The Scourwind Legacy Book One by Evan Currie by Evan Currie is good book that introduces the readers to a rich and complicated world. An Empire Asunder is the second book in the series and is on my library hold list. That books appears to be the conclusion to this two-book series.
Heirs of Empire: The Scourwind Legacy Book One
Evan Currie
47 North
(Amazon)
September 2015
ISBN# 978-1503946903
Paperback (also
available in audio and eBook formats)
350 Pages
My reading copy came from the Downtown Branch of the Dallas Public Library System.
Scott A. Tipple ©2021
Friday, January 22, 2021
Bookblog of the Bristol Library: Code Four by Colin Conway and Frank Zafiro
Bookblog of the Bristol Library: Code Four by Colin Conway and Frank Zafiro: Once again, we are pleased to have Kevin Tipple provide us with a guest review. Kevin's own award-winning blogspot features review...
Bitter Tea and Mystery Review: Black Robe by Brian Moore
Bitter Tea and Mystery: Black Robe: Brian Moore: Description on the back of the book: His name is Father Laforgue, a young Jesuit missionary come from Europe to the New World to bring the w...
Publishing ... and Other Forms of Insanity: 9 Great Writing Conferences in February 2021
Publishing ... and Other Forms of Insanity: 9 Great Writing Conferences in February 2021: February might be "nasty, brutish and short" but it features nine great conferences for writers. These conferences offer everythin...
FFB Review: The Clock Strikes Thirteen (1954) by Herbert Brean Reviewed by Barry Ergang
As we roll through January 2021, I offer you Barry’s review of The Clock Strikes Thirteen (1954) by Herbert Brean. The review originally ran in late 2007 and then again in 2012, so it has been quite some time since it saw the light of day in these parts. After you read his review and mosey around here, make sure you ride over to Patti Abbott’s blog as well as Aubrey Nye Hamilton’s Happiness Is A Warm Book blog and see what they suggest today. Be sure to comment here with your own FFB reviews and links.
The
Clock Strikes Thirteen (1954) by Herbert Brean
"When And Then There Were None meets The Satan Bug"--that's the kind of cover blurb this fast-paced whodunit might have received except that, although it post-dates the former, it pre-dates the latter.
Freelance
journalist/photographer Reynold Frame, hero of several other Brean titles, gets
a middle-of-the-night call from a magazine editor telling him to be ready to
board a plane for Maine at 10 a.m. Frame is excited because, although the story
is being written by someone else, he hopes the assignment will enable him to
prove his photographic skills. He's replacing a photographer of Russian descent
who doesn't have the security clearance necessary for the job.
Upon landing in
Portland, Maine, Frame is met by Army Major Harry Geddes and driven to the town
of Pethwick. From there they board a boat manned by elderly lobsterman Jonas
Kilgore, who takes them twenty-four miles offshore to Kilgore Island, a
desolate rock in the Atlantic he used to own.
The island is
presently owned by Dr. North Wayland, a bacteriologist--and skilled surgeon
before a personal tragedy deprived him of the necessary steadiness--who worked
for the government at Fort Detrick in Maryland during WWII. Wayland bought the
island to continue his researches privately, albeit with governmental security
provided by Major Geddes.
Dropped off by
Jonas at Kilgore Island, Frame meets Wayland, his research staff, the magazine
writer, and Wayland's housekeeper and her peculiar son. After dinner, Wayland
takes Frame to visit his laboratory and show him what he'll be photographing.
Everyone's curiosity is aroused because the scientist has been secretive about
some work he's been doing on his own. They know only that it involves a
biological warfare agent.
Leaving Frame in
the lab, Wayland goes off to retrieve something he wants to show the
photographer. A moment later Frame hears some sort of hubbub. When he
investigates, he finds the scientist dead--stabbed--and with broken Petri
dishes and bits of agar scattered around his body. Frame alerts the others, and
Major Geddes decides he's the prime suspect.
What follows is
both detective story and thriller, as Frame tries to determine the identity of
the real murderer and the isolated group on the island try to survive in the
wake of what might be an outbreak of a deadly biological agent set loose during
the murder.
Though it lacks the impossible crimes of Brean's excellent Wilders Walk Away and the eerie atmospheric touches of Hardly A Man Is Now Alive, The Clock Strikes Thirteen is recommended to mystery readers who like their puzzles mixed with action and high-tension suspense.
As always, for more
information on the Golden Age of Mystery and on this review follow the link to
GA Detection Wiki at
http://gadetection.pbwiki.com/The%20Clock%20Strikes%20Thirteen
Barry Ergang © 2007, 2012, 2021
Derringer Award-winner Barry
Ergang’s written work has appeared in numerous publications, print and
electronic. Some of it is available at Amazon and at Smashwords. His website is
http://www.writetrack.yolasite.com/ where he is
available for your editing needs.
Thursday, January 21, 2021
Wednesday, January 20, 2021
Bookblog of the Bristol Library: Romance on the Range
Bookblog of the Bristol Library: Romance on the Range: Janet Dailey became an author after her husband challenged her to prove she could write a better book than the ones she had been reading...
Beneath the Stains of Time: The Three Coffins (1935) by John Dickson Carr
Beneath the Stains of Time: The Three Coffins (1935) by John Dickson Carr: Back in 2019, I decided to reread Till Death Do Us Part (1944) by John Dickson Carr , the warlock of Golden Age detective fiction, because...
Bookblog of the Bristol Library: Nevermore: Gordon, Druett, Hanes, Kadish, Obama, Mayk
Bookblog of the Bristol Library: Nevermore: Gordon, Druett, Hanes, Kadish, Obama, ...: Author Noah Gordon has had a strong attraction for some of our Nevermore readers, with his book The Last Jew being the subject this week....
Crime Watch: Review: LAW OF INNOCENCE by Michael Connelly
Crime Watch: Review: LAW OF INNOCENCE: THE LAW OF INNOCENCE by Michael Connelly (Allen & Unwin, 2020) Reviewed by Craig Sisterson Defense attorney Mickey Haller is pulled over...
Bitter Tea and Mystery: Short Story Wednesday: "The Cross of Lorraine" by Isaac Asimov
Bitter Tea and Mystery: Short Story Wednesday: "The Cross of Lorraine" by ...: I have never read any of Isaac Asimov's stories in the Black Widowers series . Now I find out that they were collected in six books. The...
Short Story Wednesday Review: Chalkers by Michael Bracken
It has been a tough few days here for me interspersed with some good which you already know about if you read the news here and elsewhere Saturday. What may not come to mind was the fact that Friday was the four year anniversary since my Mom passed. I know how everybody says 2020 was bad and it was here at times with Scott’s seizure and my health issues including the cancer scare last summer and fall, but 2017 was way worse for me personally. Mom died that January, Sandi spent much of the year in the hospital including that summer when I got us moved here to the house and then Sandi came home on hospice the Friday before Thanksgiving and passed on December 1. Yesterday would have been Sandi’s 61st birthday. I am still here and still sober, so that counts for something, but the last few days have been really hard. I have not done much of anything, so, today is a repeat for you for Short Story Wednesday.
This week I remind you of Chalkers
by Michael Bracken. A lot is going on in these few pages. It is a very good
read and I tell you that again in my review from nine years ago. I also remind
you to go check out the reading suggestions by Patti Abbott and TracyK for today and every
day.
Using chalk to send coded messages on the sidewalks at an
unnamed Baptist university in Texas is a way for men with certain interests to
contact other men with those same interests. It was done 40 years ago when the
narrator had attended the conservative school and it is still the technique
used now.
40 years ago something happened one night and Bryce Daniels
vanished. The eleven remaining numbers of the group have hardly spoken to each
other since. Now, thanks to a sidewalk message in chalk in their traditional
spot outside the English Building, the remaining members of the group have been
summoned to meet once again. Secrets will be revealed in this complex story
from author Michael Bracken.
Along with his crime fiction, author Michael Bracken is
perhaps best known for his confession style stories published in a variety of
markets. Such is the case here in Chalkers as the entire story
consists of narration without almost any dialogue. A one sentence of dialogue in
the story is powerful because of the statement it contains, but also because
the one sentence explains almost everything. This short story of slightly more
than two thousand words from Untreed Reads Publishing works on all levels and
is a good one.
Material supplied quite some time ago by the author in exchange for my objective review.
Kevin R. Tipple ©2012, 2021
Tuesday, January 19, 2021
Sandi's Birthday Today
The picture is of the four of us way back when where we were all in attendance a few days before Scott was graduating from Elementary School. It was an open house sort of deal one evening at the school so we walked over and hung out for a couple of hours. Scott's teacher, the absolutely wonderful Linda Ernheart, did the picture taking honors after making sure to hug Karl who she had also taught years earlier. I do not remember much more about the evening other than a good time was had by all.
If things had gone the way they should have, Sandi
would be sixty-one today and here with us. Life did not go the right way making
today one of those brutally hard days of the year.
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