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In 1952 a meteorite fell to earth, destroying most of the east coast of the United States. The resulting cataclysm made much of the earth inhospitable. But unlike the dinosaurs who faced a similar event a millennia ago, humans find ways to overcome such devastation. In the U.S., this has called for an increase in space exploration. Elma York is a WASP pilot and mathematician. Her skills and background have earned her a place in the International Aerospace Coalition which is hoping to put a man on the moon. But despite her qualifications, Elma faces discrimination just by being a woman.  Who cares that she's more qualified than many men in the coalition? It isn't right to send women on such a dangerous mission, is it? Elma and a group of other, mostly equally qualified women (some are clearly more qualified for their model-like appearance to appease the journalists) who persist and fight for their rightful place in the aerospace industry. I haven't always been a fan of alter...

 In the heart of a large city in a Latin American country is a once-abandoned high-rise tower. It is now filled with squatters - families with nowhere else to as well as loners just looking for a safe place to dwell.  These are the 'damnificados' - the unwanted; those damned to dwell where no one else dares to live. They become a city unto themselves, watching out for one another, creating schools, and stores to meet their needs. But while the building was abandoned before the damnificados took over, it still has an owner and he wants it back. He asks nicely, trying to point out that they don't really have a right to be in the building, but the damnificado community isn't willing to move. The building owner will return with an army and face off against the ragtag bunch of squatters but fate, more than skill, may save them on more than one occasion.  Wow.  This book came completely out of the blue for me, but author JJ Amaworo Wilson quickly grabs the reader's attent...

Jukes Wahler is a psychiatrist working in Manhattan - a city filled with people who could use his services, but is he soon to be in need of a psychiatrist himself?  One day, while looking out through a deli window, Jukes sees a tremendously beautiful redheaded woman walking past. She turn to look at him and then continues on down the block, disappearing in the crowd of people. It is a memorable moment, but it will become a bit more.  Shortly after seeing the stunning beauty, a patient tells Jukes that a woman has been stalking him - not an ordinary woman, but a banshee (an Irish angel of death) - a beautiful redhead. It's probably just coincidence since the patient is generally quite delusional. Jukes will forget about this when something more immediate gets his attention - his sister and her abusive boyfriend have gone missing. One man has offered to help find them ... an ex-IRA commando who is the leader of a radical terrorist group in Ireland. This book is part horror novel...

  Madelyn (Maddie) Scott-Crane is a single mom who has had 22 months of self-imposed abstinence. She is a member of a ladies book club who call themselves The Muffia (though The Cliterati had been a name under consideration). They tend to read some racy books and talk a lot about who's getting regular sex and who's getting good sex and who's getting no sex. Maddie breaks her abstinence with a hunky Israeli named Udi on their second date.  It's exciting, passionate, and very, very fulfilling, when Udi collapses on top of her. Dead. And when two burly men, claiming to be a part of the airline Udi worked for, show up to take Udi's body away, Maddie and the Muffia are certain that Udi lived a secret life in the spy business and they decide to look into his past. I think that this is one of the most intelligently written works of erotica that I've read.  Or perhaps it's a cozy mystery with some of the most intense sex scenes I'v read.  Or maybe it's class...

 The Chinese are nothing if they are not good at keeping secrets.  For forty years they have been preparing a zoo - a zoo unlike any other in the world with only one animal.  As the Chinese government prepares to finally open this special zoo to the public, they first invite some Western reporters and some VIPs to come and experience the zoo and to meet the animals ... dragons. Among the guests is Dr. Cassandra Jane ‘CJ’ Cameron, a writer for National Geographic and an expert on reptiles. The zoo officials are excited to show off what they've been working so hard and so long for.  From the many precautions to provide for a space big enough that the dragons can fly but stay contained, as well as the devices used to control the wild creatures to keep them from attacking.  But CJ sees something in one of the creatures when the controlling device (like a dog shock collar) is used. Could it be recognition or even intelligence? Not long after the VIP guests enter into...

 Well ... this was ... interesting. When I was in college (some 40 years ago!) I really enjoyed reading literary criticism. Researching an author and/or a book and writing papers was one of my favorite parts of getting an English degree (minor).  When I saw this book, Writers & Thinkers by Daniel Fuchs, those happy memories came flooding back and I wanted to relive some of that time. One of my favorite authors from that period, Bernard Malamud, is featured in a couple of the essays here and that definitely was the deciding factor in my wanting to give this a read. And what I came away with was ... does anyone read literary criticism for anything other than writing papers for school? Fuchs addresses this to some degree in his Preface (an essay in itself): Literary critics are sometimes asked to explain the kind of criticism they write. This is one such occasion. Though I have never been particularly concerned with methodology, my interest is in the character of the writer, ...

 The human butt....  We have a complicated relationship with butts. We obsess over them, we admire them, we assess and critique them and are often complaining about our own while toning them and trying to make them attractive to others. But what is the butt really about?   Author Heather Radke explores some historical significance in some prominent human posteriors as well as how the butt has been transformed (psychologically, at least). We get some history on one of the first famous butts - that belonging to the Venus Hottentot (Sarah Bartmann) - to foot races between man and horse, to Miley Cyrus shaking her booty. The first couple of chapters were really spot on with what I was expecting. We have a look at what, specifically, the human butt is designed for (as far as we can tell) - which is maybe a little surprising to a lot of us. The race between human and horse was fascinating (it's tied in to the purpose of the human butt) and I really enjoyed the look back (p...

 Jason just wants to curl up in a cozy place to sleep, but his father is a sleep-walker and Jason has to rescue his dad from some unusual and potentially dangerous locations at night - such as outside where it is 50 degrees below zero! But early in the morning, when Jason's mother walks into the kitchen, she finds husband and son curled up and sleeping comfortably even though in unusual locations. This is a classic Robert Munsch book that has been adapted slightly to be an 'Early Reader' which means that some teaching moments are included in the back of the book meant to encourage some discussion and recognition of words and themes.  I love that rather than having someone write specifically for this format, taking an author like Munsch - sure to make kids and parents alike chuckle - and bringing a new life to the books. The story is goofy and generally unbelievable, but that's what makes it perfect for young readers. The art by Michael Martchenko is perfectly suited to ...

 Inside the glacier Langjökull, a body is discovered.  It appears to be that of a business man who went missing thirty years prior. At that time a massive search had been conducted and one of the man's business associates had been suspected of foul play, but there was never enough evidence to charge him with anything. The case has haunted Konrad (the policeman who had been in charge of the investigation) ever since and now he comes out of retirement to investigate on his own. The associate who had originally been arrested is arrested once again and now Konrad gets some new information that may help him finally put all the pieces together and solve this thirty year old crime. It's been quite a while since I read an Arnaldur Indridison novel - for no reason other than too many books, too little time.  When I saw that this was the first in a new series (featuring Detective Konrad) I thought that this was a really great time to get back to reading Indridison. Over the pa...

 If any of my local Sunday newspapers printed a color comic like this ... Tarzan: The New Adventures, written by comic author/legend Roy Thomas, then I'd be a subscriber in a heartbeat! But while the format of all the installments in this book look very much like a Sunday color comic, these adventures were only available to subscribers to the Edgar Rice Burroughs website - until now. Roy Thomas is a really top-notch comics writer and his adaptability really amazes me.  Writing in this Sunday newspaper format is very different from plotting and writing in the other comic formats.  It is much more limited and probably really hard to build a continuing story and create some rising action in the half-page story. There are times when I'd flip a page and think "That's it?", but in this book compilation it's important to look at the entire story and not just each segment. In his introduction, Thomas mentions that it was artist Tom Grindberg who approached him to writ...

 It is 1492 and King  Claudio  has heard that someone in Venice has written a manuscript that explains a magical method for making money. King  Claudio  then orders Magnus the Magnificent (and Fabrizio, Magnus's assistant) to go to Venice and steal the manuscript. To fail will mean death, but Venice doesn't look kindly on magic or magicians and to get caught will also mean death. Fabrizio (who is the focus of the book) talks a bit too freely and Magnus is thrown in a Venice jail, but the mission to steal the manuscript is still important. Fabrizio befriends a girl by the name of Bianca.  She lives mostly on her own - her father has been away on a voyage and her uncle who operates a canal boat keeps an eye on her. Bianca is resourceful and manages to get Fabrizio into the jail where Magnus is being held (and where his health is failing) who instructs Fabrizio to continue on with the mission. It takes some doing, but Fabrizio and Bianca do find the man with t...

It's been a bit more than thirty years since the events of the first book in Ramsey Campbell's The Three Births of Daoloth series (this is the second book in the series). Dominic Sheldrake is now married and has a son of his own and he's hoping he can finally put the incidents with Christian Noble behind him. But his son, Toby, is having nighttime seizures and nightmares, bringing back some terrifying memories. Dominic and his wife Claudine have found a clinic that addresses the issues which Toby suffers from and it seems his symptoms are becoming more common. Are these shared visions? Is Christian Noble somehow behind this and is he taking aim at the world? Dominic will need the help of some old friends to confront a familiar, growing evil. Ramsey Campbell is a powerhouse in the world of horror literature but if you are looking for horror that is aggressive, slasher, or splatter, then you might be disappointed.  Campbell's horror is slow and methodical. Think Lovecraft...

Doctor Strange has been preparing for the arrival of Dormammu - a being who rule the Dark Dimension - and formed the Shadow Avengers as a small, super-hero army to do battle with the dark entity and his supporters when the time comes. The team consists of Ms. Marvel, Spider-Man, Luke Cage, and the Black Panther.  The reluctant, anti-hero Venom is one of the first to have an encounter when he sees Loki (under Dormammu's control) dumping toxic waste into the city water supply from an Oscorp vehicle. There's a bit of a battle and then Loki disappears into a magically created portal. The showdown is nigh and our newly formed group of superheroes, used to working alone, will have to find a way to work and trust one another to save the world from the Dread Sorcerer Dormammu. This is a children's book ... or a middle-grade reader, at least.   It's written 'down' just a little. This is the sort of book one expects to see in one of those school book order flyers (I loved...