The Re-Readable Collection Of SF&F
Ready-To-Read From Amazon.com The Re-Readable Collection Of SF&F
Ready-To-Read From Amazon.com
Selected by noted sf/f professional Jacqueline Lichtenberg
| Read here using the links
below or read in the Monthly Aspectarian Click the month to find the review column in which this book is mentioned. |
Title of the Review Column Each review column is an essay on a philosophical point that all the books reviewed there have in common. By reading this group of books together, one can can uncover many hidden links among ideas. Click the book cover to see a larger version |
Books Reviewed Click title to find out more about it; click the author's name to search and find the list of all other titles by that author. |
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January of '98 |
The Magician's Honor
Honor Bound : Day of Honor by Diana Gallagher (Author)
Click the title at the right to find this book right away.
This and even more exciting and insightful titles by Noel Tyl are readily available online.
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Time Magazine November 24, 1997,
Volume 150, #22, "Science And Society: Religion: Pop Goes the Kabbalah, Jewish
mysticism makes a high-profile comeback" by David van Biema and Nadya Labi, with
reporting by Nadya Labi and Richard N. Ostling/ New York and Jacqueline Saviano/ Los
Angeles. All four of the following Day of Honor novels are based on a concept by John J. Ordover and Paula M. Block:
Other Trek products worth your money (things to look at rather than things to read):
Reader's Digest, October 1997, "What Heroes Teach Us" by Irena Eremia Bragin from Washington Post Magazine.
Predictions for a New Millennium by Noel Tyl, Llewellyn Publications, 1996. Noel Tyl is my favorite astrology teacher/writer and researcher. Search on Noel Tyl below to find a list of over 30 titles by Noel Tyl.
"Assimilation" a Star Trek: Voyager fanzine novella by Beki, Orion Press, 1997 (for info, e-mail the Orion websites in 1998, probably Spring. This is a fan story, aimed at the veteran reader of the series, but the websites contain other stories designed to provide an introduction to this sf Universe. |
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February of '98 |
The Honor Default Setting List Price: Our Price: $5.85 You Save: $0.65 (10%) Availability: This title usually ships within 2-3 days. Mass Market Paperback - 282 pages (December 1997) Warner Books; ISBN: 0446605018 ; Dimensions (in inches): 0.80 x 6.76 x 4.15 Other Editions: Audio Cassette (Abridged)
Yarbro's St. Germain novels have my blanket recommendation.
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Aftermath by Levar Burton, Warner Aspect Science Fiction, pb, 1997.
Intimations of Mortality a Forever Knight novel by Susan M. Garrett, Boulevard TV tie-in, November 1997.
Writ in Blood, A Novel of Saint Germain, by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro, Tor hc, 1997.
"Miracle" by D. C. Fontana, an episode of Earth: The Final Conflict, created by Gene Roddenberry. This episode aired twice during the fall of 1997. It's not a book yet. The Star Trek Encyclopedia, A Reference Guide to the Future, Updated and Expanded Edition, by Michael Okuda and Denise Okuda, Pocket Books, 1997 (coffee table hardcover edition $50.00). |
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March of '98 |
Lemuria, Kabbalah, Sirius and Pluto (The Secrets of Honor)
This already has one sequel and I believe there may be others. Check it out on amazon.com.
This is the hardcover cover, but there is also a paperback.
And this one is still available.
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An Exchange of Hostages by Susan R. Matthews, Avonova SF, pb April 1997. This is a tricky series to recommend. There are people who would be too disturbed by the theme to be able to read this book. The main pov character is a physician who is forced to become a torturer -- and discovers that he enjoys it.
Mother of Winter by Barbara Hambly, Del Rey Fantasy, pb October 1996 (search below on her name) In the June column listed below, I also rave unconscionably about another Barbara Hambly hardcover, Ice Falcon's Quest. And in case the Star Trek Connection with Barbara Hambly has escaped you, search on her name below and you'll find an eye-opener.
A Matter of Trust by Cheryl Wolverton, Love Inspired, Steeple Hill Books, pb 1997. And she has many others out by the time you read this. This one is Inspirational Romance - a fast growing field, and this is Cheryl's first novel. In case the Star Trek Connection to Inspirational Romance has escaped you, Visit her webpage. It's got more than just her Romance Novels for you. Cheryl is very involved in the online Sime~Gen Role Playing gaming. Yes, Cheryl is one of my writing students who went professional, and I'm rather proud of her. I did say that in the review of this novel -- in my column I try to disclose all conflicts of interest. |
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| April of '98 | The Hero and The Ace of Cups
Find this book -- or all the books by Amanda Ashley.
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Prey
the new Television Series 1998 -- ABC, 8PM, Thursdays
Prisoner of Conscience by Susan R. Matthews, Avon Eos SF, Feb. 1998. This is the sequel to Exchange of Hostages I raved about previously. This is a tricky series to recommend. There are people who would be too disturbed by the theme to be able to read this book. The main pov character is a physician who is forced to become a torturer -- and discovers that he enjoys it.
Shades of Gray by Amanda Ashley, Lovespell Romance, Jan. 1998
Buffy The Vampire Slayer, returning television series. WB syndication, Tuesdays in the New York Area. Getting Your Acts Together by Frank V. Priore, Toad Hall Press, Sept. 1997 ( http://www.toadhallinc.com or RR2 Box 16B, Laceyville, PA 18623) Or check it out here. |
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| May of '98 | The Price of Honor
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The Moon And The Sun by Vonda N. McIntyre, Pocket Books 1997 hc. Vonda is an award winning author with many splendid titles to her credit - though I have to admit I liked The Moon And The Sun best of all.
Star Trek: Vulcan's Forge by Josepha Sherman and Susan Shwartz, Pocket Books hc. August 1997. And there's an Audio and a paperback version.
Star Trek: Deep Space 9: Honor Among Thieves episode aired the week of Feb 28 - to the first week in March 1998.
The Merro Tree by Katie Waitman, Del Rey, pb, October 1997
Star Trek: Science Logs by Andre Bormanis, Pocket Books Star Trek, March 1998 If you're into the "hard" type science fiction, this is one book you should take a serious look at. |
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| June 1998 | "What You Worship, You Shall Become"
This is the cover of the paperback - list List: $6.99 Availability: This title usually ships within 24 hours. Most recent titles on amazon.com ship right away like this one.
This is the cover of the hardcover version. List: $24.50 Hardcover, 416 pages Those are typical discounts at amazon.com. If you haven't checked out this online bookstore -- you owe it to yourself and your Retirement Account to compare prices. I find the discount at amazon.com for a PAPERBACK adds up to what I'd pay in gasoline and local taxes going out to buy the book here. For the HARDCOVER - I actually save money! And in a day or so UPS leaves the book at my door - what that saves me in mental and emotional effort is incredible. I'm addicted to the amazon.com service. It's better than Barnes&Noble because amazon.com has ALL THE BOOKS - B&N and the other chains restrict you to their taste in books.
List: $24.00 Availability: This title usually ships within 24 hours. 1 Ed
List: $5.99 Availability: This title usually ships within 24 hours. Reprint Edition |
Serpent's Tooth A Peter Decker/Rina Lazarus Novel by Faye Kellerman, 1997. This is not sf -- it's contemporary mystery - a police procedural. Mystery is another vice of most avid SF/F fans, and I'm no exception. But what I love best about this particular series of detective stories is the Relationship between the male police detective and his wife. I stumbled across the first novel in this series in 1991 -- because it's titled The Ritual Bath. It just leaped off the stands into my hands.
List: $6.99
This book and the series as a whole live up to this title -- the Relationship starts at a Ritual Bath in a very Orthodox Jewish community where the "goy" detective is assigned to investigate a murder and protect the life of the Attendant (a woman of course) at the Bath house. He is very impressed with her courage and heroism, and even likes her two young sons who desperately need a father (she's recently widowed). In the course of the series, they fall in love, discuss marriage, discover that he has Jewish ancestry, he converts (willingly, not just to marry her but because he's found himself), they get married, visit inlaws (both her very Orthodox family and his adopted parents who are thoroughly non-Jewish), discuss having a child of their own (which they do) and raise the two boys from her first marriage (in his small house on a couple of acres where he keeps horses), move to a larger house and into the Jewish community area, and during each of these Relationship shaping Events, Rina helps Peter solve a crime -- (he's on the homicide squad now, but was in Missing Children). Each of these pivotal Events in the Relationship are intertwined with a Mystery that Peter is assigned to (or barred from working on). As a writer, I adore this series because the Relationship Shaping Event always is deeply and thoroughly illustrated or exemplified in the Mystery Of The Hour. The case Peter is working on puts emotional pressure on that part of his personality that must form and maintain the Relationships in his life, particularly with Rina and the boys -- who immediately become referred to as his sons. Rina's often independent and brilliant actions that affect the course of his investigation put pressure on the Relationship. The Resolution of the problem between them parallels the resolution of the Mystery. This creates a guaranteed GOOD READ -- a serious "can't put it down/ stay up too late reading" type "Read." In addition to all that, all these novels are INTIMATE ADVENTURE. As I pointed out Intimate Adventure pops up in almost every genre these days because it doesn't have a category label of its own yet so publishers and book sellers just don't know what to do with it. I believe it will become recognized, and when it does this Mystery Series will wear that genre label proudly. The series is being written in chronological order so if you want to start with The Ritual Bath, you can work your way through the series just by noting the publication dates. These novels are readily available at most public libraries, so you don't have to buy them to try them. But if you like Mystery, you'll probably want to own all of them. If you've never tried reading Mystery -- try these first.
Icefalcon's Quest by Barbara Hambly, Del Rey hc, Feb 1998. One of the most popular series within the Fantasy field. This is a long, complicated series that I won't even try to describe to you here. Hambly, who is one of the most able craftsmen in the writing field, has created for us an alternate-universe Earth where Magic works -- and peopled the place with individuals who each have a different sort of trouble trouble developing and maintaining Relationships -- just like real people you know and work with every day. The world she has created is under extreme stress at this point in history, and civilization is falling apart. Under that influence, Hambly's characters learn to develop and maintain meaningful Relationships. If you think you hate fantasy, try nibbling at this series -- or even Hambly's Vampire novel. Then come back to the Darwath books. Those Who Hunt The Night is a superbly crafted novel that came out at just about the same month that my own first Vampire novel hit the stands (Those of My Blood) and the chain stores chose to display Hambly's novel at the front of the store -- and not bother to order mine from St. Martin's Press. I was upset about that until I read Hambly's novel. It deserved the wider play -- and not because she's Barbara Hambly but because she wrote a landmark Vampire novel (I thought it was easily as good as mine, which should tell you something!) |
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| July
1998
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"Intimate Medal of
Honor: Part One of Four Parts"
List: $22.00 Availability: This title usually ships within 24 hours. Or in paperback probably summer 1998.
List: $5.99 Availability: This title usually ships within 24 hours.
List: $19.76
List: $6.50 Availability: This title usually ships within 2-3 days. Reprint Edition
List: $5.99 Availability: This title usually ships within 2-3 days. List: $23.95 Availability: This title usually ships within 2-3 days.
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Part One of
Four Parts
Honor A new Broadway Play "His Way" - Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode broadcast in April, 1998 Part Two of Four
The Enemy Papers by Barry B. Longyear, White Wolf Publishing, Feb. 1998 (quality paperback $14.99 containing 3 novels and lots more) Unfortunately, this White Wolf Publishing title isn't listed (yet) on amazon.com, but a reliable source tells me it can be had via Barnes&Noble online. This is a fabulous book for anyone who liked the Movie made from Barry B. Longyear's short story Enemy Mine (the movie had the same title). This huge book develops the entire story behind that movie in 3 novel-length works and lots of background material.
Halfway Human by Carolyn Ives Gilman, Avon Eos, pb Feb. 1998 I just discovered you can double-click on the picture you see on amazon.com and view the cover full sized. The Halfway Human cover is really much nicer than it appears here. Try clicking on this image and see if you get the full sized one. (the gif actually resides on amazon.com's computer) Halfway Human is set in a galactic civilization that seems to include some planets colonized by genetically altered humans. One of those altered humans (who has been kept ignorant of his true nature) is one of the two viewpoint characters. The other is a woman who befriends and defends him -- staking her career and the financial security of her family on her ability to succeed against her own society's leaders. This novel is about what it is that makes us male or female -- the alteration in the genes in question produces "neuters" - a third gender. And yet this novel is not a thinly disguised excuse to deliver a feminist tirade. It's really about the nature of the problem of gender.
Part Three:
Finity's End by C. J. Cherryh, Warner Aspect hc. August 1997 I have a blanket recommendation on all C. J. Cherryh titles -- she's fantastic. But my favorite is Cuckoo's Egg Again, note that Cherryh has written LOIS&CLARK novels: And Lois&Clark qualifies as a Star Trek Connection because L&C is even more "Intimate Adventure" than ST ever has been and most of my ST friends are fans of L&C.
The Arm of the Stone by Victoria Strauss, Avon Eos, April 1998 The Arm of the Stone has magic, ESP, and starts with the characters being very young, and growing up into powerful adults who have the problem of figuring out the proper, ethical, and right ways to use their power. The man and the woman both work hard on figuring out the correct way to use power. But they conclude totally different things. In the end, the world is changed in unexpected ways because of their mistakes and disagreements. I definitely intend to read anything else Victoria Strauss comes up with.
Part Four:
Death of an Adept by Katherine Kurtz and Deborah Turner Harris, Ace Fantasy, hc. December 1996.
I have discussed Katherine Kurtz at some length in the column not only because I know her personally, but because she writes genuine ceremonial magic rituals. She knows what she's talking about here. Deborah Turner Harris provides the local color expertise and has proven to be a good collaborator. Really, the Adept Series of novels is a MUST READ.
Mainline by Deborah Christian Tor Science Fiction, August 1997 I almost never agree with Booklist reviews, (except the ones where they liked a book I wrote) but this one nailed the point perfectly.
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| November 1998 | www.worldvsdleague.com and www.webspawner.com/users/sfling Burnt Offerings (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter) Laurell K. Hamilton
List Price: Chill in the Blood (Vampire Files/P. N. Elrod) P. N. Elrod
Hardcover - 288 pages 1 Ed edition (June 1998) Ace Books; ISBN: 0441005012 ; Dimensions (in inches): 1.07 x 8.55 x 5.53 Forever Knight : These Our Revels Anne Hathaway-Nayne
Mass Market Paperback - 274 pages (April 1998) Boulevard (Mass Market); ISBN: 0425164918 ; Dimensions (in inches): 0.80 x 6.75 x 4.22 The Path : A Novel (Highlander, No 5) Rebecca V. Neason
Our Price: $4.79 You Save: $1.20 (20%) Mass Market Paperback - 224 pages
(August 1997)
Highlander : Shadow of Obsession : A Novel Rebecca Neason
Mass Market Paperback - 232 pages
(June 1998) Highlander : Zealot : A Novel Donna Lettow
Our Price: $4.79 You Save: $1.20 (20%) Mass Market Paperback - 224 pages (November 1997) Warner Books; ISBN: 0446604577 ; Dimensions (in inches): 0.71 x 6.78 x 4.20 Highlander : The Captive Soul : A Novel Josepha Sherman
Our Price: $4.79 You Save: $1.20 (20%) Mass Market Paperback - 224 pages (September 1998) Warner Books; ISBN: 0446605719 ; Dimensions (in inches): 0.69 x 6.85 x 4.22 Highlander: The Complete Watcher's Guide Maureen Russell
Our Price: $11.19 You Save: $2.80 (20%) Paperback - 224 pages (September 1998) Little Brown & Company; ISBN: 0446674354 ; Dimensions (in inches): 0.58 x 8.99 x 6.01
Ghostlight is Out of Print in 1998 The Temple and the Stone Katherine Kurtz, Deborah Tuner Harris, Deborah Turner Harris
Our Price: $15.40 You Save: $6.60 (30%)
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Linguistics
and Science Fiction VOLUME 18, Issue #1 Suzette Haden Elgin, POB 1137, Huntsville, AR
72740-1137 Burnt Offerings by Laurell K. Hamilton, Ace Fantasy, pb May 1998. This is a sequel to Killing Dance. And there's a new one, Blue Moon, Nov. 98.
A Chill in the Blood by P. N. Elrod, Ace Fantasy hc. June 1998
These Our Revels - a Forever Knight novel by Anne Hathaway-Nayne, Berkley Boulevard TV-Tie-In, April 1997 Sliders - new episodes on the Sci-Fi channel. HIGHLANDER THE SERIES tie-ins from Warner Aspect pb:
The Path by Rebecca Neason - 1997
Shadow of Obsession by Rebecca Neason, 1998
Zealot by Donna Lettow, November 1997
The Captive Soul by Josepha Sherman, August 1998
Highlander: The Complete Watcher's Guide by Maureen Russell, September 1998 (nonfiction - behind-the-scenes)
Ghostlight by Marion Zimmer Bradley, Tor hc, September 1995 & pb 1996 -- Listed as out of print at amazon.com The Temple and the Stone by Katherine Kurtz and Deborah Turner Harris, Warner Aspect hc August 1998 |
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| December 1998 | Once again, in December, I do not review books to avoid feeding the buying-frenzy whipped up by merchants. However, the December column is the final discussion on the topic of Honor, all pertaining to the November list of books. |
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