BEA'S BOOK NOOK "I can't imagine a man really enjoying a book and reading it only once." C. S. Lewis “If one cannot enjoy reading a book over and over again, there is no use in reading it at all.” ― Oscar Wilde

Showing posts with label SF. Show all posts
Showing posts with label SF. Show all posts

Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Review of Silver Rush by J.A. Campbell

Publisher: Echelon Press

Release Date: May 16, 2011

Series: #3 of Into the West *strongly suggest that you read in order

More Info:  Amazon    Smashwords   


Book Blurb:

  Tina is finally starting to adjust to Arizona. Being a cowgirl in training is hard work and it keeps her busy. She still wishes she were home in Jersey, and going to Prom with her friends, but at least she has something fun to do. Then her parents decide to take her to a youth group. Things go bad right away. The other teens make fun of her and exclude her from the activities, and even though she manages to find a new friend, the day leaves her sad and missing home, and her cowboy. 

On the upside, her cowgirl training is paying off. When the Taggarts have an emergency with some of their pregnant mares, they turn to Tina for help. She also starts learning to drive. In the city it was too dangerous for her to learn, but in Golton, being able to drive is a necessity and Tina is excited to learn. Then Tina discovers some information that might be vital to her cowboy’s survival. She’s been forbidden to see him again, but if she doesn’t, the whole future could change.

My Thoughts:

In this installment of "Into The West" we see more of Tina and her everyday life. There's more teen angst than in the previous installments but also more character development. Tina is a teen age girl who's been uprooted, as is common, by a parents job, in case her father, to new town, worse, a new state. They live out in the middle of nowhere, she doesn't have a car and there's no public transportation (having grown up in a small, rural/suburban New England town that also lacked public transpo, I really felt her pain) which makes it difficult to meet people her own age. To top it off, her friend Jessica from back East is slowly pulling away. When Tina does meet some local kids her own age, it doesn't go well. Being the new kid sucks. Still, she starts to make connections.


I liked that we got to see more of Tina acting in normal, everyday situations. She even misses her boyfriend, though the circumstances of that are certainly not normal. :D Tina acts rashly towards the end, leaving us with a bit of a cliff hanger. At one point, I thought to myself, "Not smart, Tina, not smart."


It's a less action packed story but as I said earlier, we get more character development and in this one Tina really seems like your average American teen. There were more typos and copy edit problems in this one. I know the turnaround time on these stories is very, very tight, but it was frustrating that such a short story had so many. Some examples: Missing word - "Tina rubbed her face and tried soothe.", "His ungainly legs too cute."; typos or grammatical issues - "A couple went off to nurse when their mom's nickered to them.", "She'd already out the plastic bags in her saddlebags at the barn." I know that not every reader is bothered by this but it does bother me, especially when there are so many in such a short story. (And I can't wait to publish this post and see how many I missed in my editing. :P) 


Overall, a solid installment.


The reviewer owns this ebook.

Thursday, December 9, 2010

Review: Night of the Living Trekkies by Kevin David Anderson & Sam Stall

Book Blurb:  Journey to the Final Frontier of Sci-Fi Zombie Horror!

Jim Pike was the world's biggest Star Trek fan—until two tours of duty in Afghanistan destroyed his faith in the human race. Now he sleepwalks through life as the assistant manager of a small hotel in downtown Houston.

But when hundreds of Trekkies arrive in his lobby for a science-fiction convention, Jim finds himself surrounded by costumed Klingons, Vulcans, and Ferengi—plus a strange virus that transforms its carriers into savage, flesh-eating zombies!

As bloody corpses stumble to life and the planet teeters on the brink of total apocalypse, Jim must deliver a ragtag crew of fanboys and fangirls to safety. Dressed in homemade uniforms and armed with prop phasers, their prime directive is to survive. But how long can they last in the ultimate no-win scenario?

*This is an original work of fiction, horror, and parody, and is not officially sponsored by, affiliated with, or endorsed by the owners of the Star Trek® brand. 


My Thoughts: I'm not generally a zombie fan but I AM a Trekkie. I've loved it since I was a little kid. One of my very best friends, I met over 20 years ago in college because of Star Trek. We had a class together but hadn't talked until she spotted me reading a Star Trek comic book (yes, this was back before they were graphic novels) as I waited for class to start. We've been good friends ever since. I spotted this book over the summer at my local independent book store, picked it up and skimmed through it. I've been to some ST conventions and the authors seemed to know what they were talking about plus it didn't seem campy despite the cover art so I decided to give it a try.

     The book moves quickly and contains some twists and turns, though a few parts were predictable. There are a few small plot holes, but the book is written in good fun. It's funny but not sarcastic or biting, the convention parts felt real, and the characters were likable. I did want to slap Jim a time or two, he was exceedingly self-absorbed, but he's written that way and some of the other characters did it for me. :D

     There's a running gag concerning the friendly rivalry between Trek fans and Star Wars fans which was fun but not overly done. There are some puns (hello, the name Jim Pike? Awesome)  but the book never becomes childish or crosses the line into ridiculous. I didn't completely buy into the explanation for where the zombies came from or how they developed but but it didn't interfere with my enjoyment of the book. It was fun, had lots of neat little ST references, and I read it in one sitting.


Publisher: Quirk Books

Release Date: July 28, 2010



I borrowed this paperback from my local library.