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World Without Pain: The Story of a Search
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Road Signs
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A collection of science fiction and fantasy short stories -
Thoughts from the Aerie
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Memoirs and essays on a range of topics
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Silent Interviews
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Stories about the mysterious Telepathic Guild Invisible People
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A collection of science fiction and fantasy stories The Relocation Blues
Adriana’s Family
The Woman Who Fell Backwards and Other Stories
Apocalypse Bluff and Other Stories
The Senescent Nomad Hits the Road
Invasive Procedures: Stories
Heroes and Other Illusions: Stories
Bedlam Battle: An Omnibus of the One Thousand Series
After the Fireflood
Caliban’s Children
The Fantasy Book Murders
Opting Out and Other Departures
Sunflower: A Novel
America Redux: Impressions of the United States After Thirty-Five Years Abroad
Fear or Be Feared: Fantasies
Writing as a Metaphysical Experience
Reviews and Reflections on Books, Literature, and Writing
The One Thousand: A Novella
The One Thousand: Book Two: Team of Seven
The One Thousand: Book Three: Black Magic Bus
The One Thousand: Book Four: Deconstructing the Nightmare
After the Rosy-Fingered Dawn: A Memoir of Greece
The Misadventures of Mama Kitchen: A Novel
Dark Mirrors: Dystopian Tales
Love Children: A Novel
Painsharing and Other Stories
The Dragon Ticket and Other Stories
Category Archives: Book Reviews
Book Review: The Rings of Saturn by W. G. Sebald
This work is presented as a novel, but it is not really a novel in the conventional sense. The plot is very thin. The narrator takes a walking tour of Suffolk, a county in eastern England. He describes what he … Continue reading
Book Review: The Fatal Shore: The Epic of Australia’s Founding by Robert Hughes – Part Two
“The horror… The horror…” we hear Marlon Brando as Kurtz say at the end of the film Apocalypse Now. Such a somber chant would suit the mood of much of The Fatal Shore. It is almost unbelievable that humans could … Continue reading
Book Review: The Fatal Shore: The Epic of Australia’s Founding by Robert Hughes – Part One
This is a massive, complex history about how the transportation of convicts from England to Australia gave birth to a new nation. It is also a devastatingly horrific story, so much so that I almost gave up reading it after … Continue reading
Book Review: Damnation Alley by Roger Zelazny
I’ve been reading a number of weighty nonfiction tomes lately, and I thought I’d take a break and read one of the older science fiction books that have been accumulating on my shelves due to visits to used bookstores and … Continue reading
Posted in Book Reviews
Tagged dystopia, post-apocalypse, Roger Zelazny, science fiction
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Book Review: Short Nights of the Shadow Catcher: The Epic Life and Immortal Photographs of Edward Curtis by Timothy Egan
This fascinating biography tells the story of Edward Curtis, a photographer who devoted his life to traveling around North America to capture images, stories, music, and languages of the indigenous population before traditional ways of life had completely disappeared. He … Continue reading
Posted in Book Reviews
Tagged history, indigenous people, Native American, photography, Russell Bates, Seattle
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Book Review: The Underworld: Journeys to the Depths of the Ocean by Susan Casey
The Underworld has many positive attributes: it is fascinating, it is well researched, and it is very well-written. However, what shines through and illuminates it more than any of these is this: the author is clearly in love with her … Continue reading
Book Review: Babel; or, The Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators’ Revolution by R. F. Kuang
I had never heard of this book until it won this year’s Nebula Award for best novel from the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association. Since then it has won several other awards, and since awards season is not over, … Continue reading
Posted in Book Reviews
Tagged alternate history, British Empire, fantasy, linguistics
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Book Review: Chasing the Light: Writing, Directing, and Surviving Platoon, Midnight Express, Scarface, Salvador, and the Movie Game by Oliver Stone
With its subtitle in place, this book has a long, long title. I’ve found that most nonfiction books have subtitles; publishers probably figure that buyers browsing in bookstores won’t pick up a book unless a bombastic title spells out the … Continue reading
Posted in Book Reviews
Tagged films, Midnight Express, movies, Oliver Stone, Platoon, Salvador, Scarface, Vietnam War
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Book Review: Elevation by Stephen King
The cover of this recent book by Stephen King says: Elevation: A Novel. In fact, though, it’s not a novel; it’s a novella, and a short one at that. We are all accustomed to King’s books being thousand-plus page brick-heavy … Continue reading
Book Review: Power and Progress: Our Thousand-Year Struggle over Technology and Prosperity by Daron Acemoglu and Simon Johnson
This brilliant book is not an easy read, but it is definitely a rewarding one. The authors (both professors at MIT) delve deep into history and economics to explain why in our present era the very few elite prosper while … Continue reading
Posted in Book Reviews
Tagged AI, artificial intelligence, economics, poverty, social media, technology
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