Goblin Quest (****)

A HIGHLY ENTERTAINING COMEDIC FANTASY ROMP!

When I first undertook to read and review Jim's book, "Goblin Quest", I have to admit I was nervous! Jim's a regular and valued participating member in your Yahoo reading group Fantasy Favorites. I felt more than a little conflicted. I was pleased to share space and chat with a published author. I was, truth be told, a little jealous that Jim had reached that lofty goal of completing and publishing a complete novel (a goal which I hesitantly admit to sharing but - ah, never mind, that's another story!). I was even a little star struck but more than anything else I was nervous as hell about reading and reviewing his book. Shoot ... just what the hell would I say if I didn't care for the book? How could I be honest to myself and my reviewing if I didn't like it and yet be charitable to a member of my own reading group?

Whew ... all the worries were groundless! Here's my review:

In Hines’ typical fantasy world populated with elves and dwarves, princes and wizards, goblins are definitely at the bottom of the fantasy food chain. But in this apparently quite typical fantasy world, Jig is not your typical fantasy hero. In fact, Jig is an introverted runty little near-sighted goblin with self esteem issues and, as Rodney Dangerfield would quip, he definitely gets no respect.

When a routine Goblin patrol is attacked, Jig and his perpetually nervous pet fire spider Smudge are astonished to find themselves hijacked and pressed into guide duty by a group of adventurers. A human prince dealing with his own set of esteem issues and who feels he has something to prove, his older brother (a wizard still learning his craft), a dwarf warrior and an elven thief who doesn’t seem particularly skilled in the fine art of thievery, need his guidance through the dark maze of goblin tunnels to make their way past The Necromancer and to obtain The Rod of Creation, thought to be carefully guarded by the dragon Straum.

Thus is the scene set for readers, young and old alike, to enjoy a light, easy-reading entertaining comedic adventure romp, the plights and perils of a ragtag little group as they stumble their way from one sticky wicket into another! Jig’s witty dialogue and Hines’ clever jokes and puns, which pile on top of one another with almost dizzying frequency, will elicit reader reaction ranging from wry grins to out loud belly laughs.

But Jig’s philosophizing and deeply probing self-examination also show that Hines’ possesses deeper ability as a writer, to use the device of comedy as a means to probe more serious, more difficult issues – the nature of religious faith, the worship of gods and the form of prayer; loyalty to one’s comrades in arms; the juxtaposition of fear and courage in the heat of a battle; the overwhelming love that one can feel for a pet, even one as off-the-wall weird as a fire spider; and the destructive results of unseemly pride and overwhelming greed; to name only a few. That is not to suggest that “Goblin Quest” is a moralizing epistle in any fashion. Far from it, indeed! This is only to suggest that Hines’ book goes significantly further than a mere collection of goblin runt jokes!

Well done, Jim. I’ve now got my eyes peeled and my breath baited anticipating the arrival of the sequel “Goblin Hero”.

Highly recommended.

Paul Weiss

The Planets (*****)

If John Lennon were alive today to read Dava Sobel’s “The Planets”, I’ve no doubt he would be pleased to call it “a magical mystery tour”

I’ve always enjoyed reading popular science but, frankly, some of it is turgid, dry-as-dust commentary that is far more soporific than informative. By contrast, Sobel’s “The Planets”, a whirlwind tour of some of the most fascinating features of our very own solar system, waxes lyrical, indeed, almost poetic at times with the compelling beauty of its prose.

Each chapter, written from a unique imaginative perspective, takes what might otherwise be difficult scientific concepts and weaves them into a narrative that will draw in even the most science-phobic reader with an irresistible urgency and fascination. Sci-Fi, for example, the chapter that lucidly tells us the story of Mars, uses the extraordinarily clever device of narration from the point of view of a Martian meteorite, a piece of Martian rock blasted loose from Mars’ surface by an asteroid impact that found its way to earth, landing in an Antarctic icefield over sixteen million years ago.

I don’t think I could improve on Newsweek’s comment … “a guided tour so imaginative that we forget we’re being educated while we’re being entertained.”

“The Planets” is highly recommended and adds to a growing body of work that includes the equally entertaining “Longitude” and “Galileo’s Daughter”.

Paul Weiss

TBR Challenge 2007 - Progress To Date

Whoopee ... on track and actually one month ahead. Here's where we stand so far this year! Completed titles are in italics!

1. Strange Cargo – Jeffrey Barlough (fantasy)
2. The World is Flat – Thomas L Friedman (non-fiction, sociology)
3. Angels and Demons – Dan Brown (thriller)
4. The Angel of Darkness – Caleb Carr (historical fiction)
5. Vancouver – David Cruise and Alison Griffiths (historical fiction)
6. Dreaming the Eagle – Manda Scott (historical fiction)
7. Rite of Passage – Alexei Panshin (classic sci-fi)
8. The Man Who Mapped the Arctic – Peter Steele (history)
9. The Historian – Elizabeth Kostova (fantasy)
10. Dark Fire – CJ Sansom (historical fiction
11. Backbeat – J Frederick Arment (sci-fi)
12. The Lions of Al-Rassan – Guy Gavriel Kay (fantasy)

Alternates:

1. Colonization: Aftershocks – Harry Turtledove (sci-fi)
2. War of the Flowers – Tad Williams (fantasy)
3. Clothar the Frank – Jack Whyte (historical fiction)
4. West of Eden – Harry Harrison (sci-fi)

Twisted (*****)

In his introduction to “Twisted”, Deaver acknowledges his personal delight with the experience of writing short stories. He suggests that because readers don’t invest the same time or have the same emotional involvement in a short story as they would with a full length novel, the author is free to play an entirely different game – to hit like a sniper’s bullet, to make the story fast and shocking, to make good bad or to make bad badder. But, Deaver says the most fun he had was to make really good really bad.

But - make no mistake - Deaver brings to the short story all the sophisticated skills that have been the foundation of his success as a novelist. He has a gift for dialogue, vivid characterization and suspense and his stories show deep insight into the emotions, the motivations, the fears and the love and happiness of his widely varied cast of characters. Despite its fundamentally gritty nature, his writing shows uncommonly refreshing humour and a capacity to convey deep feeling.

Doubtless everyone will come away from reading “Twisted” with their own personal set of favourites. I was fond of “Lesser-Included Offense”, a crafty tale of shifty, cut-throat legal maneuvers during the capital trial of an accused murderer; “Gone Fishing” in which a daughter begs her loving father not to go fishing in an area which has been the site of a series of brutal killings; and, finally, “Nocturne” which begins with the theft of a priceless Stradivarius violin at gunpoint and ends with a … well, you’re going to have to read it yourself!

The dust jacket reviews liken Deaver’s mastery of the short story twist to O. Henry and Edgar Allen Poe. I was reminded of Jeffrey Archer’s “A Twist in the Tale” and Roald Dahl’s “Tales of the Unexpected”. For some easy going but compelling, rapid-fire, high quality toilet or beach reading that you can pick up and put down without losing the thread, “Twisted” will be your cup of tea!

Definitely recommended.

Paul Weiss

The Time Tunnel (****)

I would NEVER have found this book were it not for the wonderful recommendations that arise from my fortunate ownership of Yahoo's reading group "Classic Sci-Fi". If you enjoy that old time stuff from the pulp era, you might like to check us out. Here's a link to our home page and here's my review:

From the very birth of the conception of time travel, sci-fi authors and scientists alike have wrestled with the difficulties of time travel paradoxes most commonly expressed in the question of what would happen if you killed your grandfather during your trip to the past. In “Time Tunnel”, Murray Leinster has treated his readers to what was probably the first (and quite possibly the best) instance of the infuriating mental tangles that one can encounter when the immutability of the progression of real time collides with the flexibility of time travel.

Leinster has crafted a positively ingenious combination of characters into a fascinating novel of high adventure that will both delight and fascinate his fans – a scientist who felt compelled to change the past in order to rescue the future from an impending atomic war between China and the US; young lovers who, fearing for their lives in a war-torn modern world, felt compelled to flee to a safer past; a 20th century burglar and con artist who realized the early 19th century was ripe for the plucking; and a playboy who was horrified to watch his grandfather die unmarried and childless.

The story begins in 1964 when Harrison, completing research for his PhD thesis in the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris, discovers long-buried correspondence showing that, in 1805, a gentleman named de Bassompierre had written to certain scientists handing out modern knowledge long before its acknowledged discovery. In one case, for example,

“He wrote to Laplace, the astronomer, assuring him that Mars had two moons, very small and very close to its surface. He also said that there were three planets beyond Saturn, and that the one next out had a period of eighty-four years and two moons, one retrograde. He suggested that it should be called Uranus. He added that in the year 1808 there would be a nova in Persis, (which there was!) and he signed himself very respectfully, de Bassompierre.”

When Harrison and his friend, Pepe Ybarra, reach the conclusion that de Bassompierre was a time traveler who is attempting to change the future by handing out modern ideas before their time, the high jinks begin in earnest and the time travel conundrums drop into the readers’ laps at a dizzying pace.

And the ending … sigh! What a wonderfully clever simultaneous resolution of both the adventure plot-lines and the time travel paradoxes.

Recommended as a scintillating addition to the library of any reader who savours classic sci-fi from the pulp era.

Paul Weiss

Sicily 2007 with Edward Jones

Entrance to the Grand Timeo Hotel, Taormina, Sicily

Floating like a jewel in the Mediterranean Sea just off the toe of the Italian boot, Sicily's relaxed atmosphere and attitude are a world apart from the bustling cities on the Italian mainlaind (and, frankly, an apt reward for the hard work and stress needed to win the darn thing in the first place). I was privileged to reach the production levels necessary and this March I found myself en route to Catania airport for a week long stay at the Grand Timeo Hotel in Taormina.

For centuries, visitors have been entranced with Sicily's temperate climate, deep blue skies and lush vegetation. Architecturally, the wondrous sights include massive Romanesque cathedrals, well preserved Greek temples, Roman ampitheaters and magnificent Baroque palaces. Then, of course, there's Mount Etna, Europe's tallest active volcanoes overlooking ribbons of solidified lava that cascade down the side of the mountain.

What a week ... day trips to Mount Etna, the world famous Murgo Winery, the Sanctuary of the Black Madonna in Tindari and the site of a significant portion of the filming of The Godfather in the mountainous village of Savoca.

And what can one say about the accommodations - the true spirit of Sicily is revealed in the Grand Hotel Timeo, an Orient Express property, in Taormina. Built in 1873, the elegant hotel sits adjacent to an ancient Greek theater amid a park filled with olive, citrus and cypress trees.

The entire album of 458 photographs can be viewed either one at a time or in a captivating slide show format courtesy of Webshots. (If you like the website, you can even use their software to dowload photographs for your computer's wallpaper). Check out this link.

Where were those editors? (***)

A biographical novel re-creating the entire life of an enigmatic, yet colourful, ambitious, conniving and flamboyant character such as Cleopatra embellished and fleshed out with fictional anecdotes and details to bring an enormous cast of characters to life cannot help but be long in the telling. The problem is compounded, of course, when the cast includes a list of players such as Julius Caesar, Marc Antony, Octavian and Herod, King of Judea, each of whom is larger than life and worthy of a biography in their own right. Now, any lover of books knows that long need not of necessity be tedious but, frankly, even George's first-rate story telling abilities were simply not consistent enough or compelling enough to render this novel enjoyable for its excessive 1000 page length.

Oh, it had its exciting moments, to be sure – the high speed running sea battle with the Mediterranean pirates off the coast of Sicily; the final epic confrontation with Octavian at Actium; Cleopatra’s heart-rending grief and the conflicting surge of her searing anger and dismay at the moment of Caesar’s assassination; the crystal clear depiction of her character as a strong-willed, self-centered woman who was willing to risk all to further her ambitions and to protect the birthright of her son - but these moments were separated by intervals that were so wide as to render the book a tedious, difficult novel to complete with only sporadic rewards for those who persevered.

On the plus side, George injected her story with plenty of entertaining and informative historical aside raising questions that would certainly serve as fodder for interesting, thought-provoking discussion on a wide variety of topics germane even to this very day. Two examples in particular stood out for me.

This excerpt on the religious beliefs of the Egyptians of the day:

"Together Osiris, Isis, and Horus live as the holy family, a blessed three. The birth-chapel commemorated the miraculous birth of the child. Across the water from Philae, on the neighboring island of Biggeh, part of Osiris lay buried, and every ten days a golden statue of Isis was ferried over in a sacred barque to visit her divine spouse.",

would probably cause a modern Christian to pause, scratch his head and muse at the common appearance of the concept of Trinity.

As Cleopatra waited for news of Antony's exploits in Parthia, she thought:

"The Queen in me yearned for his victory, and prayed for that; the wife feared he would not return alive, and begged Isis only for his life. I was both the Spartan wife, saying, 'Return with your shield or on it,' and the Egyptian wife saying, 'Only return – even without the shield.'"

It occurred to me to wonder what the modern spouse says about their partner who has chosen a career in the military. Are they thinking in terms of honour, valour, career, survival, service to their country??

“The Memoirs of Cleopatra” was a rewarding, informative and interesting novel but an intimidating, time-consuming, slog of a read that took will-power and dedication to complete. Recommended for those that enjoy ancient history, but only just!

Paul Weiss

A satisfying conclusion to an exciting trilogy (****)

"Ptolemy's Gate", the final novel of The Bartimaeus Trilogy - introduced in "The Amulet of Samarkand" and continued with "The Golem's Eye" - completes the tale of John Mandrake, the magician and now Information Minister in the corrupt government of a downtrodden, dystopian England.

The dominant theme of "The Golem's Eye" - the corrupting influences of power, ambition and greed - left the reader mourning a flawed Mandrake's fall from grace and wondering whether he could find the moral strength and intestinal fortitude to re-assert himself as the fine young man left far behind in "The Amulet of Samarkand". His one-time resistance foe, Kitty Jones, narrowly escaped from her encounter with the Golem three years earlier, has slipped under the radar entirely and is quietly learning the craft of magic herself. Bartimaeus, the witty motor-mouth djinni, is feeling weak, wan, sickly and near death as his essence or spirit has badly deteriorated as a result of his almost non-stop presence in the human's world subservient to his summoner, John Mandrake.

If "The Amulet of Samarkand" was a light-hearted, childlike (and definitely hilarious) romp through Mandrake's early education as a young magician and if "The Golem's Eye" was a richer, more gothic telling of Mandrake's succumbing to the siren calls of power, corruption and wealth as a member of England's ruling government, then "Ptolemy's Gate" is certainly the darkest of the three novels. Mandrake, Kitty and Bartimaeus, each with their own ambitions and motives, are all on a desperate life-or-death hunt for the perpetrators of a coup that threatens to topple the government and throw their world into a dark demon-ruled chaos.

In "Ptolemy's Gate", Stroud has treated us to a much more sophisticated, adult examination of motives such as cruelty and selfishness along with their mirror images, kindness and altruistic selflessness. The ending feels good, warm, cozy and satisfying in a way that is not entirely unexpected for a young adult novel but Stroud has also added the much more adult elements of sadness, death and loss.

Despite this darker approach to the story than its predecessor, readers need not worry that Stroud has lost his flair for comedy. Footnotes, while not quite as plentiful as in the first two novels, are still a veritable fountain of wit. They also introduce the character of Ptolemy and take us 5000 years into the past to build the character of Bartimaeus and provide the readers with an understanding of what it means to be a djinni painfully subservient to the beck and call of a summoning magician.

A highly recommended addition to the bookshelves of fantasy lovers and young adult readers.

Paul Weiss

Suspend your disbelief ... sit back and enjoy! (***)

“Chill of Fear”, the second installment in Hooper’s new series of mysteries with a paranormal twist, details the continuing adventures of Noah Bishop’s FBI Special Crimes Unit (SCU) – a unique hand-selected team of mediums, seers, clairvoyants, telepaths, empaths and others with an abnormally high ability in the psychic arts willing to devote their abilities to police work.

Quentin Hayes is a member of the team. His abilities received a kick start at age 12 with the abduction and murder of his young friend, Missy, as they both vacationed with their parents at a mountain lodge in Tennessee. Haunted by the experience and driven by a persistent unreasonable feeling of guilt that he ought to have done something as a 12 year old youngster to prevent the murder, he has returned to the lodge every few years during his tenure with the SCU to have another crack at solving the now 25 year old case.

His latest stay at “The Lodge” crosses paths with Diana Brisco, a soft-spoken, introverted lady with an apparent life long history of mental illness, who is attending a therapeutic art class. Hayes quickly realizes that Brisco’s periodic episodes – misdiagnosed and misunderstood throughout her life by her family and doctors – have actually been manifestations of psychic ability. When Brisco weans herself from a chronic blurry haze of sedatives and drugs, her abilities flourish and she blossoms into a medium of astonishing strength and ability. Hayes’ long foiled search for Missy’s elusive killer finds new legs as Brisco provides clues and guidance through her ability to communicate with the victims as they await final peace in “the gray time”.

It seems likely that Hooper’s “Fear” novels will only be enjoyed by either those with a solid belief in the paranormal or those willing to suspend their disbelief and simply sit back and enjoy the ride. Members of either of these two groups will be rewarded with a lightweight but enjoyable novel that is a compelling combination of mystery, police procedural and paranormal horror thriller. The identity of the real killer will come as a pleasant surprise in a climax and dénouement that is well disguised with a suitable collection of red herrings and false trails. The relationship between Hayes and Brisco is nicely developed and the care that Hayes takes in nurturing Brisco’s newly found psychic abilities is warmly tinged with just the merest soupçon of romance.

With a significantly heavier focus on the paranormal than its predecessor, “Chill of Fear” threatened at times to lapse into melodrama but, I think, on balance managed to avoid that failing. A somewhat weaker novel than “Hunting for Fear”, Hooper’s second in the series can still be recommended as a pleasurable way to while away a few of the wee hours reading by candlelight in a cozy, dark corner of your favourite reading room.

Paul Weiss

The Iceman Cometh!

For reasons that escape me completely, my very erudite and most literate good reading buddy, Jenny from Canberra, has saddled me inescapably with the moniker "Iceman". As I couldn't imagine where that might have come from (other than her joking about my Canadian heritage), I decided that I had better live up to the pre-established reputation that came with such a nickname.

So here it comes ... a few shots from my camping vacation in our local "hot spot", Algonquin Park - a wilderness setting of no small international renown that is a textbook example of Canadian boreal forest.

For those of you not familiar with this particular type of winter camping accommodation, it's called a "quinsee". The basic process involves tossing the snow into a pile about the size you see (when it is hollowed out it will provide a very spacious sleeping area for one person ... two or more people would require a pile of snow considerably larger). After the snow is piled up like that, it should be allowed to set or "sinter" for at least 3 to 4 hours. Typically, to make sure that it is completely set, I sleep in my tent for the first night and only complete the construction of the quinsee the following morning.

As you can see, the hollowed out interior is warm, cozy and intensely sheltered from the elements outside. As difficult as this may be to believe, the exterior weather could be a howling blizzard with raging winds at -40 degrees and inside the quinsee, I'll be snug as a bug in a rug, oblivious to the cold at a comfortable -2 or -3 degrees with a profound quiet stillness that completely belies the external conditions.




Of course, every once in a while, one MUST commune more closely with the weather ... otherwise, one could not lay claim to one's nickname properly! Right?