This second in The Tenebrea trilogy by Roxane Dawson and Daniel Graham finds Andrea Flores on a desperate mission to free her mentor, Hal K'Rin and his elite Tenebrea guard from their imprisonment at Kaldara--a prison planet left over from the Jod's ancient "clan wars." If Andrea fails, all those she has come to admire and respect face certain, agonizing death from the effects of Quazel poisoning. In order to free the captives, she must first return to Cor (the very place she should avoid at all costs because she is a fugitive from the Cor who consider her a terrorist) and enlist the help of the renegade clone, Brigon.
Another enjoyable read, I'm certainly going to have to read the third installment now.
This novel by Joe Haldeman is strange. I don't know if I liked it or not. Having never read anything by Haldeman in the past, I didn't quite know what to expect. In this novel, astronomer Aurora Bell discovers a message from outer space. It simply reads "We're coming." After the message is verified as genuine (ie, that it is actually coming from light years out), the world goes a little bit crazy. The aliens are due to arrive on New Year's Day. Coincidence or elaborate hoax? The story doesn't deal so much with the advent from outer space as with the goings on in the lives of the main characters: Bell and her husband whose secret past could ruin her career and put him in prison, the President of the USA whose approach to dealing with the aliens could spell disaster for the entire human race, Willy Joe the mob front man who has the goods on the Bells and isn't afraid to use it, Pepe (Aurora's co-worker) who isn't quite what he seems - but then who is he? In addition to these characters there are a half dozen others who come and go within the chapters of the book (the chapters are written in an unusual way. A character from the previous chapter is the main focus of the subsequent chapter). The stories of each character are often gritty, delving into the seemy side of life, but I do recommend the book as not your ordinary sf adventure.
This book one of the Tenebrea Trilogy by Roxann Dawson and Daniel Graham introduces us to Andrea Flores who in just a few short minutes on a pier at Baltimore Harbor loses her husband and young daughter in a gruesome, seemingly mindless massacre. Disillusioned by failure of authorities to provide rational answers to the deaths, Andrea turns to K'Rin, a Jod who has taken her under his protection as his protege. After being drummed out of the Space Academy because of her obession to find her family's killers, she abandons earth and joins K'Rin's elite "Tenebrea," her ultimate goal--vengence.
A very good book. I look forward to the second and third book in the series.
This novel by Barbara Hambly is a murder mystery sent in pre-civil war New Orleans. Benjamin January is newly returned from Paris after 16 years. He is readjusting himself to a social heirarchy that is based on the color of the skin, or rather, how on much "white" blood you inherited from your parents. In this society, as the author points out in her introduction:
Light skin was valued and dark skin discredited, and a tremendous amount of energy went into making distinctions that seem absurdly petty today. An intricate hierarchy of teminology existed to categorize those of mixed race [among the free people of color ]: mulatto for one white, one black parent; griffe or sambo for the child of a mulatto and full black; guadroon for the child of a mulatto and a full white; ectoroon for a quadroon's child by a full white; musterfino or mameloque for an octoroon's child by a full white..."
Whithin this heirarchy, mothers wrangled contacts for their daughters with white men who wanted mistresses. When one of the mistresses is murdered, it is up to January to find the killer because he was the last person to see the woman alive and the white powers that be are trying to pin the murder on him, rather than on one of their own.
Hambly writes an interesting story of time in history when things were changing. She does so from the African American point of view, and she treats her subject with respect and dignity. Plus, it's a darn good mystery. It's also the first in a series.
How To Eat Like a Thin Person by Lorraine Dusky and JJ Leedy, MD
I found this book at the used book store, and it is a keeper. I was especially drawn to it because I have recently started a weight loss program and I have often asked myself the question "How do thin people stay thin?"
This book doesn't exactly answer that question, but it gives oodles of sage advice on how to overcome the complusive eating that leads to obesity. Some of the chapter headings include things like: How to eat like a thin person in a restaurant; How not to gain weight when smoking; Which foods keep you full the longest; How to resist second helpings; 25 ways to survive the holidays, Why exercise decreases your appetite; How to handle midnight snacking.
Most of the tips are quite helpful. For example, in the section titled "How to eat like a thin person, or, table techniques, the following advice is given (I have listed only a few examples from this section)
Drink a glass of water before each meal . . .
Sit at the table for a full minute before you start eating. It will help you practice willpower.
Cut the food into small peices. Even a banana
Chew each mouthful ten times.
[And my favorite] eat dessert first, no, actually it says: Don't save the best for last. You will want to eat it anyway. Have you ever notices how you "couldn't eat another thing - except dessert?
I recommend this book. It is currently out of print, but there seem to be a few used copies available through Amazon.com
The Magical Worlds of Harry Potter A Treasury of Myths, Legends, and Fascinating Facts
Myth has always fascinated me. Though considered fantasy by today's standards, at one time myth was used to explain the way the world worked. This book shows how common myth, etc, underpins the imaginary world of Harry Potter.
Some entries in this book include "Did Alchemists Really Search for a Magic Stone?" "What is the Favorite Trick of Cornish Pixies?" "Why Would Eating Chocolate Help after Escaping a Dementor?" "Besides Mail, What Does the Arrival of an Owl Mean?" and perhaps my favorite "Which Creature May Not Bow Its Head?" which gives the reader the following advice:
"Kappas [creepy, water-dwellers that looked like scaly monkeys] can be vicious and enjoy the taste of human blood. However, a human may escape from a kappa by exploiting the creatures greatest weakness. Its vitality is drawn from a saucer-like depression on its head, which must remain filled with water. If one offers a polite and ceremonious bow, the kappa will be obligated to return it. The water will spill and the kappa will be defeated."
The author David Colbert was once a head writer for TV's Who Wants To Be a Millionaire and an editorial director of HarperCollins. He is best known as author of the Eyewitness history series.
Buy the book
Buy the book
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Buy the book