Another Space in Time

This book is as unique as all Cornelius books. Those that prefer their authors' scripts predictable might not. I loved it, even though I'm a bit of a prude, preferring sexual content to be more implied than graphic. If one is going to lean towards porn, while still keeping the serious content on top of the page, one had better do sex scenes well. In too many books porn is included for the sake of commercial successful without regard to plot. Cornelius includes vivid porn without losing sight of her intellectual idea. There is also a little fairly graphic violence, which in its case the story simply couldn't have worked without. Both sex and violence were written with realistic efficiency, and with a great deal of gymnastics. Cornelius represents everything that is best about self-publishing, going places with her scripts that the established publishers generally fail at- genuine originality. This is inevitable because businesses have to make commercial decisions. True,...

   This history of the ridiculous is an extremely interesting and irreverent look at the antics of our ancestors. As I read I didn't get the theory bit, because historical action seems to defy any theorisation. Well, yes, that is kind of ironic! And it is certainly ironic that so often an action has the opposite effect to that intended. However, as for the word 'irony' in the title, far from all the happenings mentioned in the book, or even a majority, really coalesce around irony. As I progressed, it appeared to be the absence of logic, the incongruity of the action, the paradox, rather than the sometimes irony that was significant in the books subject matter? Though, I found some of the best material to be in passages where true irony was immediately clear to me. With a nod to the sub-title pf the book, it's certainly deeply ironic that the high point of the 'one small step' on the moon presently seems to distilled down to the swinging of a golf club in on...

   This is one of the best books of any genre I have read for some time. Idyll is very much at the intelligent end of speculative science fiction. The technologies, once you start to understand them, may seem thin on scientific logic, but the philosophical speculation behind the storytelling process is extremely stimulating. How unique Derry's vision is I couldn't possibly say, as there is just so much brilliant and diverse science fiction out there now that the publishing walls have tumbled, but what I can say is that Derry is a good writer and an even better storyteller. There are certainly a host of books that cross the divide between the 'Western' and Scifi, in fact a huge sway of modern SF and Sci-fi books and films owe much of there appeal to 'Space Western' themes but Derry's creation reads as very original to me. I don't think, oh yes, this author has borrowed from Orson Scott Card, Michael Crichton or Alice Mary Norton; not a bit of it. Rathe...

   An interesting plot centred on a rich wastrel from a well-to-do family, who in the end sort of comes 'good'. There are two very powerful male characters in this book and neither of them are the failing gambler that is at the centre of this story. One is his father, and the other a preacher of dubious reputation. There is a strong female role as well.    The book reads well and is in the main well edited. The plot is believable, unlike many thrillers, with all of the individual elements pieced together from behavioural patterns that really do regularly pop-up in the real world. There are some nice twists that kept refreshing the book without over stretching one's credulity.    The book's strongest elements, the difficult relationship between a highly successful father and a son that at thirty still hasn't fully tested his potential, the shenanigans of the evangelical preacher, and the preacher's daughter that seems to like existing on the seedy sid...

Well written, five star, speculative science fiction, that is great entertainment especially for those that like the zany end of the Sci-fi family of genres. I have a fundamental criticism, but I hope it doesn't put people off reading. This book has plenty of merit so that really wouldn't be justice. I have no idea whether the lack of descriptive writing of the finished work was due to the pen of Twiss or the scalpel of the editor. The book certainly has the harsh editing of tangential description that is so fashionable. We are repeatedly told that this thin-form style is necessary to overcome the short attention span of modern readers. It is certainly a love of 'fashionable' book critics. I feel that this was a book written twenty thousand words longer only to starved of anything more than was strictly necessary to keep the heart pumping fast through every chapter. Sadly, we had to get to the final pages of the book before we could really appreciate the 'for...

   Paw-Prints is a pretty solid standalone, but for all that I regret not reading Hollow Moon first. I would have preferred a full prologue, rather than the sometimes rather clunky slotting in of backstory when the author felt it necessary. However, when strong prologue is so frowned on by so many 'modern writing experts' its often avoidance is only to be expected. The problem is that gradual past history integration requires very a great deal of the writer, far more than the ability to tell a good story or write entertainingly. This is an excellent book, don't think for a minute that it isn't, but sometimes the simplest way of doing things is actually the best.    This is a book suited to a young teenage audience, and so equally to everyone who doesn't require more adult content. I very much enjoyed the book from well the wrong side of fifty. Good story telling is good story telling.    The book was published in 2013, yet partly through naive spac...

A read packed with energy and pace, like an action thriller film that puts plausibility in second place to high adrenaline entertainment. I had little sympathy for the main character, a hormonally overloaded scum bag who is a thug first and an investigator second. I don't think we are meant to have any. The book is exciting escapism that provides the thrills of the screen or video game while allowing the freedom of imagination allowed by the written word. Grammar fiends will be disturbed, as will those who expect a perfect line edit; but that said, this book does what it sets out to do in a very readable style. If the episodic nature of the violence and sex become predictable that is only because these activities are so true to the appropriately drawn set of characters. The script is definitely tongue-in-cheek, never even nodding to plausibility, and very amusing at times. The whole plot is outrageously ridiculous, which I'm sure is exactly as was intended. This is a good qui...