Another Space in Time

Cornelius sets the reader right into the tough trough of a city’s squalid underbelly. We can imagine ourselves looking into the concrete underpasses of whatever modern urban environment we may know, as a similar story could be written there a thousand times. The ending may be less kind, less relieved by love, but the story will be much the same. True life, sadly, often reads like this. We are made to see how easy it is to fall so low that an unexpectedly dry corner in the most derelict of landscapes can come to feel like a treasure, a blessing even. Life can be so much worse than living in the shelter of a sturdy cardboard box with just enough mouldy bread or a nearby soup kitchen. This is a story of continuing hope despite the worst of what life can throw at us, of dealing with whatever damage we are responsible for drawing onto ourselves, of dealing with the consequences of physical and mental abuse; a love story despite the engulfing scum. We are made to see how long a...

Reading this very competently put together, adult, adventure thriller very much reminded me of the Wilber Smith books I once devoured. The continents that provided location may be different, but the landscapes are not so dissimilar. Snyder has a similarly smooth ability to write believable gritty plot. This story is full of rich vistas, both large and small, which are filled with dramas from characters clinging onto both sides of the good and evil divide. For those that appreciate reading raw brutality, there is no shortage. There is enough perverted cruelty, lust, greed, pain, and death to fill any action packed thriller. There is also just about enough hope, even when all those that have any good in them are being bashed senseless by the one main character that it is impossible to have any sympathy for. This isn’t a comfy read. If it was a film it would be adult rated with warnings. However, it is great entertainment that actually manages to avoid getting over voyeuristic even in...

This book is a stunning indictment of a corrupt and vindictive legal system, which is not set in a failed State, or in a corrupt totalitarian regime, or in some particularly troublesome period of history, it is set in the `legal' system of the State of California and its judicially semi-autonomous counties. I am not Californian, or even American, so feel free to read my supporting criticism with that in mind. Graham Cook isn't a `native' of that area either, which undoubtedly coloured some of the judgements against him. The facts in this book are just that, facts. Critics may assume that some things are left out in order to so weigh the book's balance in the author's favour. This thought naturally crossed my mind, but the book covers such blatant miscarriages of justice that any sane person would struggle to do anything but side fully with Graham Cook. This autobiographical account is stunning. That he persisted in fighting through the courts for so long, despi...

I am not sure what one more review can add to a book that has been so positively endorsed. However, I feel compelled to try. Apologies if I add nothing worthwhile. This is highly competent story telling that explores some of the worst abuses of the psychological and physical power often wielded by sick individuals. This book is worthy of wide readership. If it isn't available or willingly sourced by your local library, then libraries deserve to be the increasingly rare places that they are becoming. So often in real life the most selfish of individuals are able to become the most powerful. When those individuals are other than `normal', which is all too often the case, then the honest and innocent suffer. This book is an exploration of that phenomenon. All power is only as good or evil as those that wield it, with our institutionalised procedures all too often only further empowering the abuser. It makes little difference to the victim whether the corruption is instigated in...

We reach the top of the climb, having started up the `spiritual' mountain of Newland's metaphysical creation in the first book in the Diamond Peak series. Life's path is never easy for anyone if they are to fulfil their potential, the greater our gifts the more that others' normally expect us to give. So it is with the heroine, Ariel. In the end, this was not so much of the story of Ariel's struggle to conquer the blackness threatening her and the lives of those she cared about, but rather about her determination to help the `all' of humanity. The serpentine Ariel has to destroy is just as binding in landscape we all know as it is on her mythical mountain; a massive peak which seemingly buds from some part of urban Australia. There is a true moral theme, the idea of a saviour, the dream of resetting the clock back on all corrupting evil. This work draws on the powerful allegory of writers like C.S. Lewis, whilst remaining free of his well chiselled, establis...

I am finding it hard not to be over complementary. Smith has a sure-footed competence as a writer that has helped her put together a very original and highly entertaining book. This near future science fiction cleverly links the progress of science, the general `progressiveness' of social norms, at least in Britain and a quite plausible future `gated' City of London, into a page turning read. The version I read had a few silly editing errors, but a word of concern to the author has led to the knowledge that these are being dealt with. The timeline on the story, set in 2080, seems feasible. This is important because at first the hedonistic world she portrays seems to be a vast distance from where norms of social behaviour are today. There are always extreme deviants, individual cases, but those deviant behaviours rarely and only slowly become mainstream. But sometimes they do, and especially when as in this book they are centred on a particularly powerful subset of peopl...

This is the second book from the quill of Chance Maree, following the innovative metaphysical delight that is "Alexios, Before Dying". I criticised that wonderful book for a lack of plot and an over-brevity of description, whilst praising it as a truly creative and original work. This book has gone a step further. The plot is detailed, unpredictable, and exquisitely constructed. The reader has to keep the elements together, but the effort of memory is truly worth it. There is still a fashionable under playing of description, which so plagues modern writing; but there is enough structure to free our imaginations without allowing the reader to run away form the author's control. I can never see the point of using such brevity that we can all mould vital scenes as we want, rather than accurately read the mind of the writer. Chance at least gives us most of the colours to fill in the drawing, though she still leaves a little danger of some of her bright contrasts being smu...

This book starts in comedy, drives through humour and tragedy, and all the time maturing into a serious social commentary on early 80's recession hit Scotland. The attempt of a group of adolescents to make a bit of pocket money, even if not a living, by setting up a mobile disco business, makes for a very good major plot-line. The difficulties encountered in achieving this in the town of Kilmarnock of the early 1980's, with a lack of money, difficult private lives and in while continuously falling foul of both local gangsters and the law, seem insurmountable. The dialogue is written in the vernacular of Glaswegian slang, and is further complicated by being in the authentic voice of assertive youth, so that it is sometimes "punctuated" with crude expression. The descriptive writing is in standard British English, so that even those who really struggle with the dialogue aren't in any real danger of for long losing the plot. The mix works very well. Imagine the co...

As the book is subtitled, this is "an odyssey reconciling science to God". That is Rees's ambitious aim at least. I'm not so sure that she succeeds unless we, physical living mankind, are understood to be part of a flow of consciousness that is actually God. That is a difficult place for me to go. I need the division of the soul of man from the divine. However, to the main theme, that on a spiritual level we may already know all that science is steadily revealing to us, that we are all at core a part of a consciousness that is this Universe; I fully concur. I am not a person that finds it easy to connect with poetry, so was never going to find inspiration in the epic poetic story telling that amounts to our total history. I get the concept, and applaud it, but I've such a chaotic, dyslexic and ambidextrously muddled mind that I need the directness of prose. The splitting of the book into separate themes, half to connect with the artistic right hemisphere and...

This is a very exciting story that in my non-expert view is suitable for children of eight and upwards. I'm trying to think back over 40 years to the books I was reading at that age. They were Enid Blyton's Famous Five and later, Anthony Buckeridge's Jennings and Captain W. E. John's Biggles books. Edwards covers some adult topics in a very young person friendly and modern way; whilst in quality and plot style following very much in the footsteps of the best 1940's- 1960's children's authors. The scene is set in rural Otago in New Zealand, with a full array of the elements that life there entails. The landscapes and the farming life of backblock NZ feels very real, and the young townies introduction to rural life hits the tin roof panel nail right on the head. Edwards brings into this environment many of the issues that face any growing child; shifting friendships, adult frailties, substance abuse, abandonment, physical abuse, the nuclear family and the c...

I could only ever give this five stars. I was almost convinced about that right from my first glimpse of the cover art. I'll talk about Billy's walkabout first, before I tell you why all five. . . . . Come to think of it, no I won't, You'll have to buy Taaffe's books for that. I give five for novelty, for creative reinvention of old themes, for daring to talk in a humorous way about cultural diversity, and of course for getting most of the basic mechanics of writing correct. This book isn't perfect. Is there such a book? The episodic nature means that we don't get big bang book endings, but rather plot bumps, with some ongoing resolution. In other words, the Urban Hunter series, is written like TV episodes. The concept works very well. I quite like big bang endings, resolution if you like, but I am enchanted by the way Taaffe hooks the reader. He so well creates the need to read the next part, of which there seems to be ever more. Of course, as is the fash...

I was half-hooked on this book before I even started. I'm a fan of the speculative and philosophical in the sort of Science Fiction that this book promised to be. However, such raised expectation can so easily be dashed. Like watching a "must see" film, too much expectation can be a terrible spoiler. I wasn't disappointed, not for a moment. I also enjoy the sort of light prose that this author can produce. Humour is always bubbling away somewhere in the text, sometimes dark, sometimes, dry, or observational, or occasionally just plain funny. The ground covered, though, is serious enough. This book is entertainment with plenty of hard speculative though behind the flowing words. I actually felt at times as though I now knew what it could be like to be the artificial intelligences that are Tuck and David, I even thought I understood what it was like to be the biologically enhanced and yet emotionally autistic personality that is Maze. The story was very well structur...

This is the third of a planned four parts. All three books already published can be read as one offs, but I advise starting with "Lethal Inheritance: Diamond Peak". Just how original Newland's fantastical vision is becomes far clearer in this latest book. Meat is being put on the characters, even on those of the demons. Also, we are beginning to understand better what the Peak itself is all about. The metaphysical aspects of the series are being steadily reinforced, as are the human and humanistic interactions. As we are drawn along this other path, which stands alongside our physical world, I increasingly wonder if black serpentine can truly be defeated. As Ariel and Nick's relationship matures so does its complexity. Ariel's introspection gets a bit tedious at times, but that's teenagers for you! As well as dealing with the turmoil of love they have to continue to learn how to turn their ordinary selves into superheroes and saviours of mankind. It seems th...

Hejmanowski tried to do too much, to cover too broad a range of ideas under one fiction cover. I can see the broad vision, however, for me he didn't quite pull it off. Collider is well written, exciting, and difficult to put down, and yet it doesn't quite all fit together. For me the two stories, one in the physical life we live, and one set beyond, should be two different books. The science and the true-to-life drama easily stretch into metaphysical speculation, and the afterlife reaches back into life well enough, but the wall between them is less than convincing jumped. I may well read this book again in a couple of months, and if that helps me climb the wall I shall change this review. It is possible that I was guilty of not reading accurately enough to catch all the joins. I would certainly enjoy reading this book again, being excited once more by the skillfully crafted characters. I really don't want to put people off reading Collider as it says so much so well; h...

This is a nicely put together work by a man familiar with his stories real setting. The script is never dull as it skips through its dramatic event-line in a very appealing timeless sort of Jack London style. It reads as though equally composed of a mix of journalistic feature, and fiction adventure genres. We get the graphic detail, creating vivid self-generated views without the words ever becoming more than quietly descriptive. There is nothing over gratuitous, pandering through unnecessary detail, to our base natures. I felt that I had already watched the film that has yet to be made as the pages scrolled by me, imagination building the landscape and its characters in intricate detail from Owenby’s talented direction. I have no idea how far Macon County factual history is redrawn. It is impossible to tell which parts have absolutely no factual basis, and which are dripping with it. As the author lives amongst the community I suspect that real characters are well camouflaged e...

This short book of 36,000 words is a trifle too short to fully expand and explore all the elements of the plot in the detail I would have liked. Almazan's writing is certainly entertaining and has a lively spark of originality about it. This book will suit those who wish to read stories about strong female fantasy/SF characters that maintain their individuality and femininity. Joanna Lyon is a research scientist. How refreshingly normal that is. She is a truly normal female with all that that entails, rather than some sort of super-heroic titan that wields a sword better than mere men; so often the fare of modern SF and fantasy. The action is set on an Earth and a parallel Earth that is possibly identical. This second place is on a timeline that is running slow by a century or so. This parallel existence is an interesting concept as it allows Joanna to go backwards in time to before her own birth, without actually using a time machine. The possibility that the "wormhole...

This is the first Stebbins I have read; it is unlikely to be the last. The story is very much visionary, speculative and philosophical science fiction. The writing is all in first person narrative form being an episodic interior monologue. In other words, the mental voice, the mind, of Ambra Dawn talks directly to us through the book. I really enjoy this sort of inventive philosophical science fiction. Condemn me, not Stebbins, if I paint too enthusiastically. The stories structure is pure dystopia, but dark though the story is it leaves a strong glimmer of hope for humanity and the victory of good over evil. To be victorious we will come to realize that we need Ambra Dawn to be heroic. We must also learn to trust and follow where ever she guides us. Every being in the known galaxy appears to blindly accept a false premise, this being that there are many Orbs, portals, between places in Space and Time. All civilizations in this creation are as seduced by what they observe of the port...

This social drama is set in a small satellite town of Frankfurt, which could be in the domain of just about any western city. The small town is mainly one of middle class streets. There is though, an area called the Park which is made up of low cost, high-rise apartments. This neighbourhood is full of foreign and first generation German citizens, many of Turkish extraction. The Park is an estate labelled by high unemployment and crime. The story is written in a pacey way, without any excess of information or irrelevant detail. Biessmann has a very modern style of writing that keeps the plot boiling along. The descriptions are always crystal clear. The ending rather faded, as though a next episode was soon due, despite this my interest was sustained to the very end. That isn't to say there wasn't a crescendo, just not one quite as sustained at a peak as the plot was set to allow. Quite possibly Biessmann deliberately undercooked the end in order to maintain a strong sense of ...

Great stuff! I would suggest reading Lethal Inheritance first, though it is certainly not essential. This really is a pure fantasy book, written with an older teenager as the target audience. I'm 57, and don't really believe that I would have enjoyed it any more or less at 17. I didn't like it quite as much as the first book. This is mainly because I'm eager to reach the end of the quest, thus find the middle somewhat of a frustration. The books overall quality is top draw, with a good pace and easy style. Unsurprisingly, some of the fantasy elements are very familiar to anyone that has read any of the genre but that doesn't mean there isn't a good deal of originality as well. We can see all the classical elements of the moral quest, the long road searching for the magic that will allow evil to be defeated. The dark forces are embedded in the suffocating, black serpentine. Ariel, the heroine is growing in skill, becoming immersed in the magic of her inheritan...

This is a well-crafted or rather re-crafted, mix of legend history and scripture for young people. Possibly it is actually based on a misconception; an error of translation, as Saint Gerasimus of the Jordan was almost certainly the man that helped the lion, and not Saint Jerome. As a central theme of this story is errors in translation between languages, this confusion seems most appropriate. This is a short good news story, written to be accessible to children. This is nothing to do with the Good News Bible, which is very poor translation, a modern interpretation, of ancient scriptures. It is false to make a literary connection with C.S. Lewis's "god" lion, but this proverbial story should sit in close proximity in the section of "Christian" themed writing for children. For parents that hope that their darlings might just find time from modern distractions to read books by the likes of Louisa Alcott, Lucy Montgomery and George MacDonald, this story of a ...

If you are an American planning a visit to Paris, or an Australian, or Brit or Kiwi . . . you get the picture; then this book really is worth a read. Even if you just want an inside view, a feel for Paris as a virtual visitor to that beautiful city, then this is a very rewarding read. Both the Reesers are authors, though we read the book as the first person voice of Jason. They write very well, even if now and again a trifle repetitively. I was tempted to think of this as being the result of two inputting minds. Actually the reminders help, as using a trick common to good teaching, some bits are worth emphasis. The detail, the curious footfalls of the Reesers are a joy to follow, even when they are regularly lost. There are many confused steps, but none are wasted. You see, this really is a guide book for those who want good ideas, but certainly don't want guiding. Incidentally, Jason is obviously a little tiresome at times. Jennifer seemed to be constantly drawn the extra m...

  This intellectual, prose-cartoon, that might have grown out of some confusion between MAD magazine, speculative science fiction and Bellotto's weird mental contemplations about a near future North America, has spilled in a sort of semi-organised chaos into a very entertaining book. Medicated Yellow Glad Days are just around a future corner. This is a book for the college folks who never quite grow up, or never intend to grow up, to be really really serious people, well, except on work days of course. This is a romp through a futuristic politicised landscape, in the City of Bigapolis, which definitely isn't in Alabama. The would be hero, in a world that is content to be left alone, doesn't really know where he is going except that he wants to get there. What Astin does know is that he is against being tranquillised; probably! Isn't persuading everyone to get a fix, wrong or something? It could be, and anyway isn't a journalist meant to be a bit of a rebel. This b...

This is not the easiest Forster to get into, not that that will deter her fans. Don't let it deter you in the unlikely event that this is the first one you have sampled. When you do catch up with the characters, a problem we share with the local police, one will be rewarded in as least as big a way as is customary with a Forster. The parallel story telling requires a little effort, a temporary requirement to multi-task. I found it necessary to be relaxed about remembering the early flood of characters, and corpses. Soon enough we get to know all the characters we need very well. There is always a lot going on, plenty of energy to keep the mind's light-bulb lit. The mix of cultural expectation, and the deeply engrained private pasts that we all carry with us are the keys to this powerful read. Our own histories have complex emotional affects, just as do those of Forster's characters. The parallel storytelling, the sub-story that starts the chapters will provide ...

     Lily’s Daughter is a well written, deeply engaging memoir of, as she was known then, Zsuzsa Osvath’s childhood in Hungary. The period is 1940 to 1957, a period overshadowed by two European disasters, and one failed revolution. The first disaster was WWII and the second Stalin. The revolution was the crushing of an all too brief Hungarian enlightenment by Soviet tanks.      The domestic detail draws the reader in deep and holds attention with a simply drawn picture of survival in extraordinarily difficult circumstances. The writing is almost too matter of fact at times, avoiding excess emotion, exaggeration, or any sense of self-pity. The facts, the observations of a family, school and social life during that period of Hungary’s history, don’t need embellishment. The drama is automatically there, dancing between the words. I found myself saying, shouldn’t you be crying longer, or describing your hunger, or be really shouting at the system. ...

I feel I have to start with Pitcairn Island rather than the book. This island is one of four lumps of rock and/or coral sticking out of the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Only Pitcairn itself is inhabited, being one of the most isolated communities on Earth. The population of under a hundred is predominantly descended from the Mutineers of the Bounty and a few Tahitians, who voluntarily, or not, joined the group. In 1790 just nine individuals 6 men 11 women and a baby found the then deserted island and settled. Since that date the permanent population has never been greater than 240, and is now only a quarter of that number. In recent times the young have tended to leave, firstly for education and secondly for the benefits of the wider world. This problem is now shared by nearly all isolated communities. The life blood is constantly drained, and often faster than it can be transfused. So what has all this got to do with this fiction novel? Everything! Nadine Christian is the writer in...