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 Axle Bust Creek is a new mining town in Nevada. Towns such as this don't usually have law enforcement until the lawlessness gets out of hand.  Cleve Trewe is a former Union officer who feels it's his family duty to help his uncle (who was almost killed defending his gold mine from claim jumpers). Although Cleve's got the legitimate paperwork to prove his rightful ownership of the mine, he finds that the crooks have done a good jump of casting doubts on their documents and claim. Most people in town know that there is need for law, and Cleve puts his name forward and is selected to be the town sheriff. He takes the job seriously (not just as a position to take back the mine) and defends a prisoner from hanging by a lynch mob (having some PTSD from when he saw a war deserter hung). Complications arise in his pursuit of the rightful mine ownership when Cleve starts to fall for the sister of the leader behind the claim jumping. Cleve is confident that she's innocent in the...

 There is a moderately interesting back-story to this book and my decision as to whether or not read and review it. At some point the author made this book available for early reviews. When I first was ready to read this, I did a little reading on the author's website (there were big plans for this book/series) and, largely due to quite a few negative reviews, the author pulled the book so that there could be a rewrite.  I thought it only fair to not read and review it. The book resurfaced in my queue and when I looked into it again, it seems that while the author did indeed do a rewrite, he has made the original available for reading and reviewing again. What I found was a pretty run-of-the-mill self-published action/adventure novel. Cindy Ames is a gymnastics instructor. Her husband, Jonas, works for a clandestine government organization where he develops top secret weapons projects. One day Cindy gets a bit too curious and can't help herself explore an amazing-looking suit ...

I'm quite certain I read one or more Fletch books, probably in the mid-1980's when the Chevy Chase films were coming out and I was managing a book store, but I don't remember much about the books, so I was quite interested in looking at this, Confess, Fletch , being reissued to coincide with the new film. I. M. "Fletch" Fletcher is back in the United States (from Italy), Boston specifically, and staying in an upscale townhouse that he's renting. The rental comes complete with all the usual amenities plus a few frills - including the naked, dead body of a young woman in the living room. Inspector Flynn, investigating the murder, has Fletch as his prime suspect and he makes no bones about it, constantly encouraging Fletch to make it easy on all of them and just confess. Fletch is exactly uncooperative, but he's steady and steadfast in maintaining his innocence. Flynn is equally resolute in believing Fletch is guilty, but he feels there just enough lack of ev...

 Being a translator is difficult at the best of times - knowing multiple languages so thoroughly in order to be able to translate in real time - we can only imagine the challenges ahead when we make contact with intelligent life from new worlds and author Eddie Robson has imagined this for us in the entertaining mystery, Drunk on All Your Strange New Words . Lydia is a translator, somewhat new to the business, but one of the top translators in the business. The Logi are a peaceful race but they do not communicate with spoken words. Instead, they communicate telepathically using symbols and ideas rather than words. Lydia is assigned to a Logi who has been nicknamed Fitz, a cultural attaché for the alien race. Despite the challenges of translating for the Logi, Lydia enjoys working with Fitz. But when he is murdered, Lydia is the number one suspect and her defense is shaky given that she can't remember anything from that night. This is a very interesting book - I'm rating modera...

Well of course I picked up this book primarily because of Buzz Aldrin's name on the cover.  I mean, an astronaut writing a sci-fi/mystery/thriller?  Yes, please!  And of course, most of us recognize that the second name on the cover is probably really the author who took the astronaut's idea and turned it into a 300+ page yawner novel. In a very similar but alternate reality earth, NASA is putting in to action the plan to send commercial flights into space and to the International Space Station. The first commercial passenger is a sports celebrity - a well known basketball player known as MJ.  Yup .... Michael James. But something goes terribly wrong - most likely a micrometeroid has gone through the hull of the ship, through MJ, killing him instantly, with pieces of debris critically injuring another astronaut. Valuable oxygen is fast exiting the ship through the hole.  The rest of the crew must do something quickly, but the return trip through the atmosphere...

 While it is sometimes nice to pick up a book by a familiar author and in general know what kind of story you're about to get, I do appreciate an author who takes chances and tries something very different from what they've written previously. Stringers , by Chris Panatier, feels like a risk and one I'm not sure pays off. Ben Sullivan knows a lot of useless facts. Especially facts about sex (and very specifically not just human sexuality) and the biological functions of a cornucopia of living creatures. He doesn't know why he knows these things - he just does.  Just as he also knows about The Chime, which is ... well, I'm not going to give it away. Ben's best friend is Patton, a dude generally pretty stoned, which is maybe a blessing given what they encounter. For all his stone-ishness, Patton remains a loyal friend and the two of them experience a whole lot of strangeness when they're abducted by aliens. I was very mixed on this book. This could very easily...

Sisters Eve and Dinah are youthful members of a cult, led by a man known only as "Uncle," living in an old stone castle on a remote island off the coast of Scotland. Uncle promises his wards, his followers, all young girls, that the future holds something profound, something they've never seen before. One of the girls will inherit tremendous powers and Eve is willing to do anything to be the chosen one. But even on a remote island in Scotland, just after the war to end all wars, a cult with young girl followers catches the eyes of the law. Chief Inspector Christopher Black investigates a brutal murder, which derails a sacred ceremony on the island, and he desperately wants to get Eve away from Uncle's control. But no matter how bad things get, Eve is devoted to Uncle and his teachings. It is quite appropriate that this was a Shirley Jackson Award winner (2019) because this feels so much like a Shirley Jackson book - it is a dark, Gothic horror novel, heavy on characte...

Willa Marconi has been doing research in a laboratory at the University of Bologna in 1891 when her mentor at the school dies unexpectedly. Without her mentor's support she risks losing her access to the lab, her stipend, and all her research to date.  But when she discovers a strange signal while using her radio equipment, she fights to hang on to her research. Fast-forward about 140 years - 2034 and the Earth has become uninhabitable. Humans exist only in pockets of artificial worlds which are often on the verge of collapse.  Jaideep lost his parents when the Bay Area pocket collapsed and now Riley will do anything to help Jaideep, including making a time machine to travel back in time to prevent the catastrophic event that caused the Earth's devastation. Something goes wrong, however, and instead of Riley and Jaideep going back in time, Willa is pulled forward with them and the three of them are stuck in an abandoned city with an android time-cop hunting them and only a fau...

 Just as with the first volume in the Elric Saga, I'm quite pleased to have the entire Elric series being re-released and available digitally. The order of the books is slightly different from earlier releases, but this being the latest collection of Elric books, I would assume this is the current, definitive order in which to read the series. This collection contains four Elric books: The Vanishing Tower , The Revenge of the Rose , The Bane of the Black Sword , and Stormbringer . I reviewed these books separately and have reposted those reviews here. This collection features a preface by Michael Chabon and, what might be truly exciting for Moorcock fans or Elric fans ... a very detailed Reader's Guide to Elric, listing when and where the stories and the books came out, including the different editions, different publishers, etc. This was almost as complicated as an Elric story but very rewarding for the fan. Reviews of the four books below. Looking for a good book? The collect...

 In this collection of Elric novellas we have "Dead God's Homecoming," "Black Sword's Brothers," "Sad Giant's Shield," and "Doomed Lord's Passing." In the first story, Elric's wife, Zarozinia, is kidnapped by some beings out of chaos, on the behest of a resurrected god named Darnizhaan. Darnizhaan was killed by a soul-drinking Black Sword. Not Elric's Stormbringer, but its twin, Mournblade. Darnizhaan wants both swords so that he doesn't have to fear being killed again, and so that he can begin taking over the world. Elric, his companion Moonglum, and Mournblade's owner, Dyvim Slorm, deliver the swords to Darnizhaan ... but they have a little trick up their sleeves. In "Black Sword's Brothers" Elric learns that Stormbringer has the power to call upon its brothers (like Mournblade) to fight for it. Elric learns the secrets to make this happen, sending some of his opponents to an eternal death, but Elri...

The saga of the damned albino prince of Melniboné continues in another novel composed of three novellas in The Bane of the Black Sword . As the title might suggest, Elric's cursed sword, the soul-drinking runeblade known as Stormbringer plays a larger part in this collection. We have the 'usual' three novellas making up this book, with a short extra. The first of these novellas is "The Stealer of Souls" in which the albino king has his final (?) battle with Theleb Ka’arna, the evil wizard who has plagued Elric. Elric is helped by his old friend Dyvim Tvar and a small horde of dragons. In "Kings in Darkness" Elric and Moonglum are on a hurried retreat from what must surely be a misunderstanding. Elric, who can slay wizards and demons with his soul-drinking sword, runs away from common soldiers. They find themselves in the dark Forest of Troos and Elric falls in love with the beautiful 17 year old Zarozinia.  "The Flamebringers" sees Elric looki...

 Three novellas in one title, as seems to be the pattern with the Elric books. "Concerning the Fate of Empires," "Esbern Snare; The Northern Werewolf," and "A Rose Redeemed; A Rose Revived." Elric, the albino prince of the doomed city of Melniboné still cavorts with his friend Moonglum when Elric is visited by a dragon who brings the prince to the ghost of Sadric his father. Sadric needs Elric to find his soul which is currently being kept in a wooden box in a land far away, and reunite spirit and soul. If Elric fails, he will be paired with Sadric's ghost, at which time bad things will happen. On his journey to find the lost soul, Elric will gain an ally - the warrior princess Rose. Elric and Rose have a mutual enemy, Charion, a high valued, undead agent of Chaos. They need to deal with Charion or Chaos will rule without check. But a couple of demons make it more challenging. Just before completing his mission to restore Sadric with his soul, Elric l...

ELRIC WEEK It's Elric time again, as I am working my way through the entire series. As with the four previous Elric books, there are three 'books' between the covers - likely novellas or novelettes. In the first, "The Torment of the Last Lord," Elric and his faithful servant Sancho Moonglum head off to confront the evil wizard Theleb K'aarna but they are beset upon by strange and terrible monsters. They are ill prepared for this battle and Elric calls upon an ancient god to help them, but the god refuses and they are captured and his sword, Stormbringer, lost.  When they are taken away Elric finds a woman in coma who speaks to him (this is Moorcock, remember) and tells him many things, including where to find an item that will help him defeat the wizard's army.  But that item is on the other side of the world, so Elric has to take a magical bird that she somehow supplies, after some effort finds the jewel that will help him defeat Theleb K'aarna, but ...