blogs i follow
essential references
posts of the past
- April 2019 (1)
- March 2019 (8)
- February 2019 (1)
- November 2018 (1)
- September 2018 (6)
- August 2018 (5)
- July 2018 (8)
- June 2018 (5)
- May 2018 (4)
- April 2018 (6)
- March 2018 (12)
- February 2018 (7)
- January 2018 (10)
- December 2017 (11)
- November 2017 (13)
- October 2017 (7)
- September 2017 (6)
- August 2017 (6)
- July 2017 (3)
point and click
- alan dean foster
- alcoholism
- arthur c clarke
- banned books week
- barrington bayley
- books about games
- brian aldiss
- brian stableford
- charles ardai
- charles williams
- chris anderson (economist)
- clifford simak
- cyberpunk
- daniel boyd
- david schow
- disowned
- donald westlake
- drugs
- economics
- ed mcbain
- frank herbert
- frederik pohl
- freebie
- fritz leiber
- george alec effinger
- guns
- h.g. wells
- hard case crime
- intelligence
- jack london
- jack vance
- james branch cabell
- james m cain
- james patrick kelly
- jason starr
- john brunner
- john kessel
- jung
- ken bruen
- kris neville
- larry niven
- lawrence block
- library of america
- malcolm gladwell
- manly wade wellman
- margery allingham
- max allan collins
- michael bishop
- mordecai roshwald
- nietzsche
- nuclear war
- octavia butler
- olaf stapledon
- parker
- philip jose farmer
- philip k dick
- phil knight
- poul anderson
- primer
- psychotechnic league
- quarry
- richard stark
- robert bloch
- robert bo. parker
- robert heinlein
- robert silverberg
- roger zelazny
- russell atwood
- skeleton
- terrorism
- timescape
- william marshall
- william sleator
- william styron
- yellowthread street
Monthly Archives: December 2017
Out of Nowhere, by William Marshall
William Marshall’s Yellowthread Street mysteries are typically composed as multiple investigations happening in parallel, with one or two subplots being resolved in a way that is relevant to the main story thread. This in itself is nothing unusual, but the … Continue reading
Road Show, by William Marshall
William Marshall’s Yellowthread Street mysteries are known for interleaving scenes of rather shocking violence with a fair amount of humorous exchanges among the detectives of the titular detective agency. I have found that the best parts often arise from the … Continue reading
Brittle Innings, by Michael Bishop – part 2
I sat up. A pitchfork of lightning jabbed down on the house’s Alabama side. This post continues my overview of the 1994 Michael Bishop novel Brittle Innings. Since the novel features a significant reveal about one of its main characters … Continue reading
Brittle Innings, by Michael Bishop – part 1
The novel-length science fiction of Michael Bishop tends to follow a pattern: a solitary, often rebellious, individual explores an alien culture and undergoes physical, emotional and intellectual transformations as a result. The process of making scientific breakthroughs – anthropology or … Continue reading
Level 7, by Mordecai Roshwald
2017 marked the passing of a former officer of the Soviet Union Air Defense Forces, Lieutenant Colonel Stanislav Y. Petrov. On September 26, 1983, the nuclear early-warning system reported the launch of a missile attack from the United States; years … Continue reading
War Machine, by William Marshall
The Battle of Hong Kong (December 8-25, 1941) began only a few hours after the attack on Pearl Harbor. To Americans, the colony’s fall on “Black Christmas” and subsequent occupation by the Japanese are obscure events compared to other battles … Continue reading
The Rare Coin Score, by Donald Westlake (as Richard Stark)
The tightly-written, unforgiving heist novel is an enduring sub-genre of crime fiction, and Richard Stark’s Parker series just might be its most sustained multivolume representative. I would have to read the entire series to make that judgement. So far, all … Continue reading
Sci Fi, by William Marshall
William Marshall’s Yellowthread Street series of detective novels are known for their humor, violence and nearly frenetic pace. Besides the debut Yellowthread Street, I thought The Hatchet Man delivered strongly on all three elements, while Skulduggery benefitted from a more … Continue reading
When Gravity Fails, by George Alec Effinger
Science fiction and crime fiction are two genres with largely different traditional audiences, although there are many of examples of writers that have crossed the boundary between them. Asimov, Vance, Silverberg and Moorcock are all giants of SF who have … Continue reading
Posted in books, crime fiction, science fiction
Tagged cyberpunk, drugs, george alec effinger
Leave a comment
The Crime at Black Dudley, by Margery Allingham
The rustic country mansion is a popular setting for murder mysteries – although I can only vaguely recall episodes of Murder She Wrote, the movie Clue, etc. Being naïve to this sub-genre of crime literature, I decided to pick up … Continue reading