The Jennifer Morgue by Charles Stross.
It’s another tale from the “Laundry Files.” British Civil Servant Bob Howard is forced to save the world from the horrors of the “Old Ones” once again, while dealing with the mind numbing horrors of government bureaucracy at the same time. Stross pays tribute to the British institution of James Bond in this book as well.
Tags: book, horror, Humor, James Bond, Lovecraft, Monday Book Pick
Live Free or Die by John Ringo.
Woot! This book was fun! Loosely based on the back story of the Schlock Mercenary webcomic, John Ringo has fun with classic SciFi concepts like First Contact, asteroid mining, and big nasty space Battlecruisers! He doesn’t think small either. Lots and lots of mirrors in space make great big solar powered Death Rays! Ringo is planning more books in this series and I’m hoping he goes E.E. “Doc” Smith big.
Tags: Baen Books, book, John Ringo, Monday Book Pick, Schlock Mercenary, Science Fiction, SciFi, Web Comic
TriPlantary by E.E “Doc” Smith.
The first in the classic Space Opera Lensman series. This series influenced a lot of what was to come. Robert Heinlein considered Edward E. Smith to be one of his mentors.
Tags: book, Monday Book Pick, Science Fiction, SciFi, Space Opera
The Man of Bronze and The Land of Terror by Lester Dent.
The first two Doc Savage novels.
The first Doc Savage novel I read was The Land of Terror back in either 1971 or 1972. It was a Bantam reprint that I picked up at store in Panama City just outside the Balboa Gate. Since then, I have read over 160 of the original 181 Doc Savage novels, as well as several by Philip Jose Farmer (licensed or otherwise) and Will Murray. IMNSHO, Doc Savage was the greatest of the Pulp Era Heros.
Tags: Doc Savage, Monday Book Pick, Pulp
Melody of Vengeance by Michael A. Black.
A rousing good pulp adventure that pays tribute to the two greatest pulp heros, Doc Savage and the Shadow!
Tags: Adventure, book, Doc Savage, Monday Book Pick, Pulp
His Majesty’s Dragon by Naomi Novik
An interesting bit of historical fantasy that reads like a cross between Horatio Hornblower and Jane Austen, with dragons. Yup, dragons, and the best dragons, of course, come from China. This is the first in series about a British Navy Officer who captures a dragon’s egg in a sea battle and ends up bonding with the beast when it hatches. Of course, it speaks English, and French. An interesting read. While I’m a mostly a hard core SciFi reader, I do enjoy good alternate history stories.
Tags: Alternate History, book, Dragons, Hornblower, Jane Austen, Monday Book Pick, SciFi
Tom Paine Maru by L. Neil Smith
This is the “author’s edition” release, recovered from an old hard drive, in an obsolete word processor format. This is what was originally submitted to a publisher who then edited it with a weed wacker. A delightful bit of space opera in the classic L. Neil Smith Hard Core Libertarian style.
Tags: book, Libertarian, Monday Book Pick, Politics, Science Fiction, Space Opera
Badass: A Relentless Onslaught of the Toughest Warlords, Vikings, Samurai, Pirates, Gunfighters, and Military Commanders to Ever Live by Ben Thompson
As billed, a collection of Badasses through out history. The list includes Alexander the Great, General George S. Patton, Bruce Lee, Chandragupta Maurya, Tomoe Gozen, Carlos Hathcock, and many more.
I have my own six degrees of connection to world class badass, back when I was a little kid, we lived in a D.C. suburb in Virginia while my dad was doing his scenic tour of Southeast Asia courtesy of the US Army. The school teacher who lived down the street used to babysit for my brother and I. She was one of the daughters of the USMC’s Lewis “Chesty” Puller. From what I remember, she was nice, but we didn’t get away with anything.
Tags: book, History, Monday Book Pick, USMC
Going Rogue by Gov. Sarah Palin
It’s coming out tomorrow and has been a best seller for weeks. The Associated Press has managed to get an advanced copy, or so they claim, and has eleven so-called “reporters” doing opposition research on it already.
That is more vetting by the, ahem, media than Barack Obama got during the entire 2008 campaign season! It makes you wonder why the folks who were so infatuated with BHO are so afraid of this Alaskan Hockey Mom with actual government executive experience.
Tags: book, Monday Book Pick, Politics, Republican, Sarah Palin
Kildar by John Ringo
The second book in the Ghost series. The story of how a wayward, Tango killing, ex-SEAL, buys a valley in Georgia (the country, not the state) and stumbles on a lost tribe of dedicated warriors who farm between battles.
Tags: Baen, book, John Ringo, military fiction, Monday Book Pick