I'm a father, husband, web developer, and aspiring to be a lot of things.
My literary interests are mostly science fiction, fantasy, comics, and some occasional programming or parenting books.
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"Michael Crichton presents a story about pirates in the New World"--Provided by publisher.
This book was very fascinating. It seemed to be a much better look into the life of a 17-century pirate than any pirate movie I've ever seen.
God is dead. Meet the kids.
When Fat Charlie's dad named something, it stuck. Like …
A very enjoyable book.
Orson Scott Card has the distinction of having swept both the Hugo and Nebula awards …
Until this book, I was only familiar with Orson Scott Card through his science fiction, and a couple of articles. This is a modern fantasy set in a well-to-do black neighborhood of LA (Baldwin Hills). Some of the main characters, however, are taken directly from Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream."
It's an interesting attempt at a modern fantasy. It does a pretty good job of blending a modern setting with historical, fantastic characters.
It took me a little while to get into the book. In the beginning, a lot of the dialogue felt artificial. At first, I thought that maybe I simply wasn't familiar enough with young African-American culture in LA. But then I thought that maybe an author who grew up in Mesa, AZ and Orem, UT wasn't familiar enough with young African-American culture in LA. Eventually, I realized that the artificial-sounding dialogue was probably intentional. The characters in …
Until this book, I was only familiar with Orson Scott Card through his science fiction, and a couple of articles. This is a modern fantasy set in a well-to-do black neighborhood of LA (Baldwin Hills). Some of the main characters, however, are taken directly from Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream."
It's an interesting attempt at a modern fantasy. It does a pretty good job of blending a modern setting with historical, fantastic characters.
It took me a little while to get into the book. In the beginning, a lot of the dialogue felt artificial. At first, I thought that maybe I simply wasn't familiar enough with young African-American culture in LA. But then I thought that maybe an author who grew up in Mesa, AZ and Orem, UT wasn't familiar enough with young African-American culture in LA. Eventually, I realized that the artificial-sounding dialogue was probably intentional. The characters in this book weren't young black kids living in the 'hood. They were young black kids living in a nice neighborhood, who thought they were supposed to act like they were from the 'hood, because that's what they saw on TV. Unfortunately, it wasn't apparent that's what was going on at first.
The only other problem I had with this book was Yolanda White riding a Harley. A young, sexy woman who rides a motorcycle because "it's the closest I can get to flying" does not ride a Harley. When he described a sexy woman clad in black leather and a black helmet with a tinted visor sitting atop a motorcycle, I did not picture a Harley-Davidson. I'm thinking of "Dark Angel" or the first episode of "Dollhouse." She should have been on a Ninja, a Gixxer, a Ducati, or something along those lines. Oh well, it's a minor thing.
All in all, a generally enjoyable and interesting book.
E-book extra: Neil Gaiman's "Writing and the Imagination."In the tranquil fields and meadows of long-ago …
Excellent book. Much better than the movie. Less fighting, but more adventure.
Also, surprisingly, this is the first Neil Gaiman novel I've ever actually read. I expected it to be good, and I was not disappointed in the least.
Meet Azazel...
He's two centimeters tall. He's fiery red. He has magical powers strong enough …
In the introduction, Mr. Asimov warns the reader that you may find the style "un-Asimovian." This certainly is true, but not for the worse. The stories are humorous satires, and incredibly delightful.
If you pick this up because you're a fan of Asimov, and his prolific science-fiction, don't be surprised that it's nothing like "I, Robot."
But if you pick this up because you want some humorous stories wherein the author even makes fun of himself, you'll be as please as it as I was.
other title: The Ugly Little Boy
An interesting look into culture and humanity.
Not the best collaboration between Asimov and Silverberg (certainly not as good as Nightfall), but still entertaining and insightful.
Richard K. Morgan has received widespread praise for his astounding twenty-fifth-century novels featuring Takeshi Kovacs, …
The book was very entertaining, and interesting, but I, unfortunately, could not finish it, so I had to drop it.
The reason I couldn't finish it was because of somewhat gratuitous sex scenes. I felt that it wasn't something that was appropriate for me to read. I was saddened that I had to drop the book because of this, because it was otherwise a very good book.
Great first line, it had to be polished, “It is a truth universally acknowledged that …
The book is an interesting edit of Jane Austen's original work. Most of the book is, in fact, the original "Pride and Prejudice." I, personally, found it somewhat difficult to get into the book at the beginning, but the zombies added a nice touch to keep me reading. After reading for some time, I found myself appreciating the original text more and more.
This is definitely a good introduction to Jane Austen's work for someone who feels they wouldn't enjoy it. I definitely plan on reading the original "Pride and Prejudice" now, even though I probably wouldn't have otherwise.
The Minority Report is a re-titled collection of science fiction stories by Philip K. Dick. …
This is an interesting collection of short stories. It's always interesting to read old sci-fi. In some respects, Mr. Dick could see well beyond our years, but in others, couldn't see at all past his own.
Ignoring the strange anachronisms (e.g., an AI-robot which can so successfully frame a man for murder that even he might believe it, in the same story with a supercomputer connected to a nation-wide database of every person, and all their characteristics, which stores its data on punch cards, and takes up an entire building), one sees a brilliant collections of stories to excite the mind.
The Ninja Handbook is interesting and humorous. It follows the same sort of humor found in the "Ask a Ninja" webseries, although it goes much more into the fantastic. In fact, it would be perfectly accurate to describe this book as a fantasy textbook.
There were parts where the fantastic got a little absurd, and it distracted from the main theme of the book.
All in all, though, a humorous, fun book to read.
THE GREAT GATSBY, F. Scott Fitzgerald's third book, stands as the supreme achievement of his career. This exemplary novel of …
The Odyssey (/ˈɒdəsi/; Greek: Ὀδύσσεια, Odýsseia) is one of two major ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is, …
Guy Montag was a fireman whose job it was to start fires...
The system was simple. Everyone understood it. Books …
Originally published in 1932, this outstanding work of literature is more crucial and relevant today than ever before. Cloning, feel-good …
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884) by Mark Twain is one of the truly great American novels, beloved by children, adults, …