Andreas' Other Books - (I-L by author)

Macarthur Job with illustrations by Matthew Tesch - Air Disaster Series

These come highly recommended by various resident "A.nutters" on the Airliners.net discussion forums. Job is a former Australian air crash investigator. These book analyzes major air disasters in depth with plentiful illustrations and pictures. Very interesting and detailed, but really only for the dedicated aviation freak. 20040905

James Joyce - A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

I was forced to read this classic in high school, but I enjoyed it nevertheless. It has some great descriptions of hell and brimstone, and it captures a bit of the feeling of son towards father. If you don't like literary books, though, stay away.

Peter Jurasik & William H. Keith - Diplomatic Act

The story is somewhat stereotypical. Aliens from an advanced federation have been secretly watching Earth. However, they don't understand that fiction is fiction. They kidnap an actor who plays a great diplomat on a science fiction TV show since they think he can help them defuse a potential galactic war. Back on Earth, they replace him with an alien in disguise.

Peter Jurasik is of course, more well known as the actor who played Londo Mollari on Babylon 5. William H. Keith is a prolific author who also writes under the pseudonym Ian Douglas. The novel is a cute piece, and frequently laugh out loud funny. The satire elements are dead on. The aliens are neither all powerful nor all knowing. In fact, they are prone to big errors of judgement. As such, the interaction with our hero, who is completely out of his element once abducted, works very well. It is obviously written for laughs, but there are some very clever twists to the story.  20090329

Douglas Kennedy - The Big Picture

What? Mainstream fiction? Not SciFi? Not military/technothriller? There is a perfectly reasonable explanation. My mother sent this to me, mostly because it is initially set in Fairfield County, the corner of Connecticut where I used to live.

Ben Bradford is your typical Wall Street lawyer. Wife, two kids, house in upscale  suburban soutwestern Connecticut, big paycheck. But he hates it. He wanted to become a photographer, but through a combination of societal inertia and parental pressure, he ended up "doing the right thing" and becoming a lawyer. He still maintains photography as a hobby. Now his wife is sleeping around and his marriage is obviously on the rocks. In a heated moment, he accidentally kills his wife's lover, a loser amateur photographer. And that's where it all changes. Ben manages to get away with the murder and escape his old life. But will his new life be any better? Can he ever stop running from his past?

Note to those who wonder how life on a $300k+ paycheck can feel like a prison: Of course it can. Ironically, I've noticed that people who make sarcastic comments about "poor rich boys" are the same people who say that "money isn't everything".

When it came out in 1997, this novel was very heavily marketed and hyped. It is just the thing to appeal to careerists who dreamt of being something else at some point. Meaning all of them. Dreaming of not being in the grinder, of making their own hours as artists or something else, of not being just another suit on the commute. A very 90s feeling after the heady 80s. Stay small, be your own man, don't waste your life like your parents. All that good stuff. And deeper than that are themes of how you cannot really escape your past. Ben is forced to and does the best of it, but his past will always haunt him. To the author's credit, he has not painted Ben as some cold blooded killer. Our hero is constantly dogged with guilt about what he has done.

So is this novel the work of genius? That's a tricky question. Kennedy definitely has a smooth, uncluttered style. Nothing fancy, but it serves the narrative well as he focuses on the inner demons of Ben Bradford. If you can look past some of the far too conveniently coincidental plot points, there's a good story here. As I read, I came to empathize deeply with the destiny of Bradford. His search for that ephemeral thing called "a good life". His escape from suburban conformism. Having lived in that corner of Connecticut, I can somewhat empathize. The inhabitants tend to know where they are going in life and deviation from the path is discouraged. Still, some things about the novel annoyed me. There are the aforementioned rather too convenient plot twists, perfectly designed to lead Ben on the "correct" path. After the murder, it all becomes a bit predictable. Where's the chaos so present in real life? There's also the constant flirt with "art". In the novel, Ben often describes really great photographers as being passive observers who have freed themselves from the need to obsessively prod at the composition hoping that it will become more artful. But Kennedy does exactly this with he novel. It is somewhat too constructed and pretentious. This detracts from the very good story and thematic exposition within. It is a bit too obvious that Kennedy set out to write "the great American Novel". But he's trying too hard, and it shows. Bottom line: recommended, but not unreservedly. 20071112

Douglas Kennedy - The Dead Heart

This novelette length story is Douglas Kennedy's first. Just as in "The Big Picture", the protagonist is a middle aged man stuck in a rut. However, this character is very different from succesful family man Ben Bradford. He's a commitment phobic journalist who drifts through life, never holding down a job for more than a few years, never "doing" anything. One day, midlife crisis strikes hard and he flies to Australia. But not Sydney or Melbourne. Darwin. His plan is to buy a car drive to Perth. A great adventure. On his way, he runs into a girl named Angie. After a few nights of drunken debauchery, she kidnaps him and takes him to a crazy commune in the desert. A place that it literally off the map. He is a prisoner in all but name in a nightmare of a town with nightmare inhabitants who think nothing of beating him to a pulp if he doesn't show the right attitude.

Douglas Kennedy writes very well, but his angst filled middle aged men aren't the thing to fill me with any great desire to pick up more of his books. They are a bit pathetic in that way most people are afraid they will turn out to be. The moral, of sorts, is to do something with your life before you end up a prisoner of that life. In the book, the protagonist is an actual physical prisoner, as opposed to the more commonplace metaphorical one, but the lesson holds true nevertheless. I did enjoy this book. It is rather short, but then it doesn't need to be longer. Any extension would just be filler. It neatly says it's piece and then is done. It is very funny at times, in a tragicomical fashion. Kennedy's sense of irony is razor sharp. However, this humor is neatly balanced by the tragic situation our hero finds himself in. Sure, he's a bit of a loser, but no one deserves what he goes through. 20080106

Alex Kerr - Lost Japan

In preparation for a vacation to Japan, my mother gave me this one to read. Its main themes are about the loss of important Japanese cultural traditions and the uglification of both the body and the soul of Japan. The author is an art collector, calligrapher, Japanologist and long time resident of the country. Kerr decries modern Japan as filling with concrete, electric poles, neon pachinko parlors and ugly rooflines while her inhabitants have become conformist, dull and unimaginative.

I found the book quite interesting in parts. His stories of finding and buying an old house in a secluded valley, of the inner workings of kabuki theatre, of unappreciated artworks, of the history of tea ceremony and zen, are everything from fascinating to merely eye opening. However, Kerr does give a strong impression of being the kind of luddite who wishes for all old things to be preserved. By the end of the book, I had somewhat amended my opinion. I think he does appreciate the need for change, even encouraging it. But he does not understand why there should be change for its own sake if the change only leads to worse things. As an ideal, there is of course nothing wrong with that. But in reality, things don't really work that way. Change happens and decades or even centuries later people figure out what the actual causes and effects were.

One particularly annoying thing about this book is the constant name dropping. All the people described in the book seem to be maverick geniuses in their fields and Kerr is a close personal friend of every single one. It comes off as not a little pompous. Kerr has certainly led an interesting life, and it is through his life experiences that he can describe his "lost Japan" so deftly. However, this reader felt a bit put off by the tone.

I was also left wondering why, among all this horror at the disappearing culture of Japan, he does not spare a moment for one of Japan's most vibrant forms of modern literature, manga/anime cartoons. This art form is lauded the world over. One could even draw parallels to the kabuki described by Kerr, with its emphasis on single moments of resolution as opposed to the narrative continuitiy more emphasized in the west.

The episodic nature of the book works against it. It was originally a series of articles, and the disjointed nature of the whole is unfortunately quite glaring. All in all, the book gave me an eye opening view of Japanese culture through anectodes and strong opinions. I may not necessarily agree with the author, but I suppose that is as it should be. the text should serve as a brief and good introduction to Japanese culture. 20080402

Katharine Kerr - Polar City Blues; Polar City Nightmare

Great crime story SciFi. Polar City Blues is a great crime thriller, and the alien angle works very well. The second book is not of the same caliber, but well worth reading if you like the first one.

Katharine Kerr - Resurrection

This one is quite short. A novelette of just over a hundred pages in large-ish print. But even so I kept thinking that someone like Niven could have told the same story in less than thirty pages. Our hero has been "resurrected" after a plane crash incurred in combat. But her brain is still recovering from the injuries and she is having a hard time telling the truth from hallucination. Or is she?

I was quite dissapointed with this. So much interesting stuff to work with, such as the multiple realities, the Devil and the Rabbi, the process of medical resurrection itself. But it's all quite bland really. Tiffany wanders about a predictable and very poor San Francisco in a confused daze. Her boyfriend is bland. Her family is bland. The Devil and the Rabbi are kind of interesting. If it had been any longer, I would not have finished it. 20071008

Stephen King - Carrie

One of King's very early works, and still standing well in the ample competition. Basically, loner girl with psycho mother has psychic powers. Girl starts to come out of her shell. Girl gets publically humiliated. Girl goes on a rampage. In other words, great stuff. Also much less convoluted and wordy that King's later stuff.

Stephen King - Firestarter

In the same way as Carrie, Firestarter is a simpler work than later Stephen King. The heroine is pyrokinetic. In other words, she can start fires. BIG FIRES. The government tries to harness her abilities, until everything inevitably goes terribly wrong. Simply great.

Stephen King - The Dead Zone

A young man is in a coma after a car accident. When he wakes up after several years, he gets worrying visions of the future. A presidential candidate will, after becoming president, start a nuclear war. Very exciting, and of course, this being King, well-written.

Stephen King - Pet Sematary

This one scared me. Really scared me. As usual, King can mix personal tragedy with plain supernatural scariness in a chilling blend. This novel also illustrates very well how King can write on many levels, and his fantastic mixing of themes. Highly recommended.

Stephen King - It

Of the King's I have read, this one is my favorite. Rather complex story split between two time periods of a monster that terrorizes a small New England town. The gang of kids that thwarted it when they were pre-teens have to come back as adults to finish the job. Chilling throughout, with a great evil monster. Read this book. In daylight.

Stephen King - The Stand (Complete and Uncut)

This is a "Director's Cut" of sorts. When "The Stand" was first published, King's publishers did not thing that the market could bear a hardcover price for his work of more than $12.95. This would have made the long book too costly to produce. Ten years later, in 1990, King was a much bigger name, and so he restored the cut parts and the book was rereleased in this form. The book is good but toooo looooong. Get on with it already. I just couldn't motivate myself to continue past the first half or so. 20030428

Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik - Penny Arcade

This book is reviewed here.

Tom Kratman - A State of Disobedience

Military SciFi about a Second American Revolution. Kratman sets the stage when a Democrat woman (clearly modeled on a worst case Hillary Clinton) becomes President. The new President, the leftist (for the US) Congress and the cabinet enact laws that make the US a socialist police state of the worst kind. The individual states stand to lose all their powers and the freedom of their citizens, but only Texas acts, and only when abuses and killings in that state force the hand of the governor. The US is on the brink of civil war.

I have many problems with this book. First of all, Kratman has made the President and her cronies so absurdly power mad and clueless that it's just ridiculous. They seem to be the embodiment of a conservative's ideal nightmare, including her love affair with her female Chairman of the Joint Chiefs. Also, while I will agree that big government can be abusive in many ways, simply moving all the way in the other direction is not necessarily a good idea. These are complicated problems, and there are no simple solutions.

Having said that, the depictions of combat are very good. They should be, as Kratman is a former Infantryman (still, the Mad Nitpicker would like to tell Mr. Kratman that the AT-4 is not a rocket weapon). The whole "second Alamo" is a bit over the top when it comes to plausibility, but it makes for engaging reading. If you're into military SciFi, you will enjoy this, although some of the political views on both sides made me cringe. 20050923

John Ringo & Tom Kratman - Watch on the Rhine

This book is reviewed here.

Nancy Kress - Probability Moon

The first novel in a series of three. Some neat concepts, but I couldn't really get into it. The characters weren't engaging at all and the plot is confused at best. I seriously doubt that I will read the two other books. 2003

Created by Keith Laumer - Bolos

Bolos are huge self-aware robotic battle tanks/mobile fortresses. Throughout a very long history of wars and conflicts, they have served humanity selflessly. After Laumer's death, Baen thought to resurrect the Bolos with a series of anthologies featureing a variety of authors. There is some excellent, some good, and some less good, but the overall quality is surprisingly high. It is military SciFi in a very pure form, and many will probably be put off by this. I have read the first four books:

• Bolos Book 1 - The Honor of the Regiment

• Bolos Book 2 - The Unconquerable

• Bolos Book 3 - The Triumphant

• Bolos Book 4 - Last Stand

Larry Niven & Edward M. Lerner - Fleet of Words

Is reviewed here.

Larry Niven & Edward M. Lerner - Juggler of Words

Is reviewed here.

Jack London - The Call of the Wild

I don't think that I can add much about this classic beyond what has already been said by other reviewers. Although it is, perhaps, more intended for a teenage audience, I found it very engaging. Quite simply a great yarn about a boy and his dog.