Frozen in Time by Owen Beattie and John Geiger - Book Report #299

I remember when the news of the U of A's expedition to Beechey Island and the discovery of how lead poisoning played its part in the demise of the Franklin Expedition of 1845-48.

The 19th century expedition is arguably the most famous and disastrous of the era's arctic explorations.  The Northwest Passage obsessed governments and explorers alike.  How many lives have been lost by throwing ill-equipped wood vessels against the ice?

This book chronicles the forensic research done by the University of Alberta in the mid 1980's when they exhumed the three bodies of men from the ill-fated expedition.

What was staggering was how well preserved they were.  It must have been a heart-breaking experience to look into the faces of men who'd been dead for over 130 years.

This was an excellent book and I kept going back to it at every opportunity.


Owen Beattie's Wikipedia page - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Owen_Beattie

John Geiger's Wikipedia page - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_G._Geiger

John Geiger and Owen Beattie 

Book Report #79 - Star Trek: Chain of Attack by Gene DeWeese

3 of 52
Page count - 251

Published in 1987 this book was a bit stiff; I found the narration went on a bit too much, for my tastes.  But, it was #32 in the Star Trek Original Series novels so, perhaps, Pocket Books and Paramount were still trying to build an audience and didn't want to alienate new readers.  Who knows.

The Enterprise was investigating some gravitational anomalies, as such things tend to happen in the Star Trek universe, and is flung right out of the Milky Way galaxy to some unknown and very distant galaxy.  The gateway they traveled through immediately closes and leave the crew stranded far, far from home.

While investigating nearby stars and planets Kirk and the boys discover that each and every habitable planet has been destroyed.  Some cataclysmic war wiped out all life from each planet they visit.  While trying to understand what may have happened they are attacked quite suddenly by the first space traveling species they encounter.

The Enterprise and its crew have dropped into a war that has been going on for centuries and it's up to them to try and survive long enough to get back home.

I found I had to press through this book.  There were times where I had to go back and re-read passages because I found myself glossing over what I was reading.  To be honest I had the plot pretty much figured out from the opening chapters.

If you miss this book - don't lose any sleep over it.

Next.