Yours Is the Church: How Catholicism Shapes Our World by Mike Aquilina My rating: 5 of 5 stars What has the Catholic Church done for humanity? If you listen to popular culture today, you might get the impression that the Church is the universal enemy. The Church stands inthe way of progress. It exploits the poor. It oppresses women and children. It condemns everything that’s good in our culture. And above all, it stands opposed to science and reason. You’ve... Read more
I am a long time fan of the Thin Man movies which starred William Powell and Myrna Loy as Nick and Nora Charles. They were really the prototype of the married detectives and this first incarnation of this genre remains one of the best. So often we have detectives that are purposely single so that they can pursue love interests that change across novels/episodes. The dialog between Nick and Nora Charles was always especially fun and witty. While a fan of the movies I... Read more
Soul of Fire is the second novel in Sarah Hoyt’s “Magical British Empire” trilogy, and it’s rather better than Heart of Light, its predecessor—though not devoid of problems. I am most unusually going to indulge in spoilers in this review; be warned. It seems that there are two magic rubies, the Heart of Light and the Soul of Fire. The latter was stolen in the days of Charlemagne, and he used it to gather up all of the magic in... Read more
… Scott and Julie see dead people. And discuss The Sixth Sense at A Good Story is Hard to Find podcast. Come listen! Read more
Lately, I’ve caught myself reading books with zombies in it. I don’t really like horror. I read enough of it in my youth to stock me up in nightmares for years to come. But zombie books are…well, I guess they’re horror. Right? Even so, I can’t help but recommend I Left My Brains in San Francisco, the second Neeta Lyffe book. (I loved the first one, too.) Though it’s a book with zombies in it, it’s so much more than that. Author... Read more
The Prestige by Christopher Priest It’s difficult to say how long it’s been since I’ve been as enthralled with an audiobook as I was with this unabridged version of the World Fantasy Award-winning The Prestige (Blackstone Audio). Simon Vance narrated, and since the story is primarily told through journal entries of the two main characters, he was called upon to fully portray these two dark, intricate magicians. He unreservedly succeeded. Because of his subtle care, the surprises of the novel... Read more
After I reviewed Sarah Hoyt’s Heart of Light, a friend of mine sent me a copy of Hoyt’s first science fiction novel, Darkship Thieves, just to show me that she really does write good stuff. He was right. Darkship Thieves is a consciously Heinleinesque tale set in a future Solar System. Our heroine, Athena Hera Sinistra, daughter of one of the oligarchs who run the Earth, wakes from sleep in her stateroom on her father’s ship in orbit around Earth... Read more
The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame My rating: 5 of 5 stars So you’ve begun to get really busy at work and you’re feeling stressed out. Then you watched The Sixth Sense (by yourself, after dark) so you can discuss it on a podcast. And finally, you just know you’re going to have nightmares and possibly be afraid of the dark if you wake up having to make that trip out of bed … based on the last... Read more
Terrapin: A Mystery is a new novel by T.M. Doran put out by Ignatius Press. I previously reviewed his first novel Toward the Gleam which I certainly enjoyed. A year later the plot and ideas of that novel are still with me. I thought the idea of the novel was a great idea that was executed fairly well, though the author was a bit coy with all the historical characters introduced. Terrapin is not as vast an idea as Toward the Gleam was,... Read more
“Joseph? Mary? My name is Balthazar. This is Gaspar . . . this is Melchyor. We don’t want to hurt you . . . we’re just looking for a place to rest. But, Joseph? if you don’t put that pitchfork down, I’m going to take it from you and stab you to death in front of your wife and child. Do you understand?” Wanted thieves Balthazar, Melchyor, and Gaspar, disguised as wise men, show up at a little manger in... Read more
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