Fascinating Arguments and Literary Sand Bags: A Review of "A Canticle for Leibowitz"

I felt like I had been neglecting science fiction, so I went hunting around last weekend. There's a book of some of the early Hugo-winning short fiction, and first up there was The Darfsteller, by Walter M. Miller, Jr. Well, I went looking for alternate copies of that novella and everywhere I looked the covers recommended Miller's classic novel, A Canticle for Leibowitz. Sometimes loudly. I figured I'd check it out.

I've heard of it but I had never read it until a few days ago!

What I found was a very solid book, with excellent worldbuilding, and with very good tone, characters, ideas, and perspectives. But the "very good" elements each fell slightly short of excellence for a specific reason, but more on that below.

Naya Nomikou Narrated My Story, "The Fifth!"

Just a quick announcement, Naya Nomikou just published an excellent narration of my short story, "The Fifth!" She did an amazing job capturing the rising tension and confusion, and added some great ambience and sound effects, too!

Go check out her channel and her videos, and give her a like and a subscription if you wish! She reads a lot of great creepy stories I've never heard of, and good comedies and poetry as well.

Thanks to Naya for narrating my story!

This week's review will likely be out Wednesday evening, and I'm going to be talking about A Canticle for Leibowitz, by Walter M. Miller, Jr.

My First Look at Arthur Machen! A Review of The Three Impostors!

Machen is another one of those authors who was extremely influential on Lovecraft. He is best known for his weird fiction, and last weekend I read his book The Three Impostors, published in 1895. Lovecraft had some mixed feelings about this book, calling it "a work whose merit as a whole is somewhat marred by an imitation of the jaunty [Robert Louis] Stevenson manner." Stevenson's book New Arabian Nights was apparently a model for Machen.

However, Lovecraft also said that this book contains "certain tales which perhaps represent the high-water mark of Machen's skill as a terror-weaver."

Drama, Humanity, and Unorthodox Mystery: A Review of "Eight Million Ways to Die"

I found my way to this book through Nero Wolfe. In the paperback Bantam Crime Line edition of one of my favorite Wolfe books, The Doorbell Rang, the introduction was written by Stuart Kaminsky, who said that the end of The Doorbell Rang was his favorite ending to any novel until he read Eight Million Ways to Die by Lawrence Block, published in 1982.

That was pretty high praise to me, so I picked up a copy and read it several years ago. Yesterday, I read it again and here are my refreshed thoughts.

A Weird Old Short Comedy! "The Generous Usurer"

A little bonus post for you all this week...

I was looking at historical books on cheesemaking (don't ask) over at the Internet Archive, and I stumbled onto this little manuscript that is almost too strange to believe.

A Bad First Impression, But it Turns Around Quite a Bit! "Alien: The Cold Forge" Review

I didn't expect to review this book this week. I needed something to kill half an hour and I thought I'd give this book a look. The same friend who gave me that three-novel Alien omnibus gave me this book, too, and I hadn't opened it yet.

The funny thing is, despite the relatively bad first impression I got from the book, it did a few interesting things that are worth noticing! I kept turning pages, and ended up finishing the book pretty quickly.

I'm talking about Alien: The Cold Forge, by Alex White, published in 2018. The front cover says it's an "All New Story" and "An Original Novel," and aside from a couple of early-on member-berries (mentions of Van Leeuwen and Carter Burke), it's true.

Simpler, and Gamey, but with some Unique and Compelling Bits! "Tear of the Gods," by Raymond Feist

It's been a while since I did a Feist book review, and part of the reason is that this book is probably one of the weakest books in his bibliography. Tear of the Gods is the third novel in the "Riftwar Legacy" saga, written long after the characters in it were dead and gone in Feist's normal writing.

This book was published in 2000, and it's based on the plot of the game Return to Krondor, which was not as critically acclaimed in the CRPG world as Betrayal. The plot is simpler and feels a lot more like a game, with lots of little bits of action, many small combat spells thrown around, side quests galore, and a clear progression of the enemies, almost as if the "player" is leveling up.

At the same time, it's a fun read with some valuable and unique elements that shouldn't be ignored.