The Automatic Detective by A. Lee Martinez - Book review #321

Mac Megaton is a robot taxi driver just trying to earn his citizenship.  

One day his neighbours are abducted, the circumstances are suspect, but the police are not motivated, so Mac decides to do something about it.

This book is a wonderful mashup of detective fiction, a Jetson's vision of the future, all set in a city filled with talking gorillas and mutants.  

Narrated by our protagonist robot, I was reminded of Robert B Parker's Spenser series.  Empire City is a strange place populated by even stranger citizens which brought to my mind George R R Martin's Wild Cards books.  

The story itself moved along quickly and was peppered with terrific side characters.

If you're looking for some light-hearted, escapist fun, in this crazy pandemic world, this book will fit the bill.  It will help you to forget our reality for a while.

I am glad I read it.

Recommended. 

Travel Writing by Peter Ferry - Book Review #319

This was the strangest most satisfying book I've ever had the pleasure to experience.

It was narrated so very well by Anthony Heald.  His voice kept me coming back to the story especially when I was on the verge of giving up on it after I had put it down for a number of days. 

It was a complicated novel.  The very first lines established that our narrator (the actual author in this case) admits that he's making all this up, except for the parts that are true.  It's not often I've experienced the breaking of the fourth wall in a novel.  I certainly enjoyed it here.

The point of view changes from Ferry teaching a class, to the story of a car crash and how he becomes involved in it and then obsessed by it.  The genres also evolve from a literary fiction of his obsession and the effect is has on his relationships and professional life, to an investigative crime fiction. 

Through it all there are interludes of actual travel writing, which I enjoyed very much for it's observations of people.

Flipping through all of these "realities" sometimes left me confused, but I just allowed the narration to continue and let it wash over me.  I had faith that I would be able to pick up the threads later on.

Peter Ferry is an accomplished and very skilled writer.  To learn this was his debut novel astounded me.  I was left in awe of his skill to pull off such a complex story structure.

A surprise of a book.

Recommended for sure. 

Might I suggest a much more thoughtful review of the book?  If you find yourself unconvinced by me to pick up Travel Writing try, reading this review from the good folks at Bloom.

Nudge by Richard H Thaler and Cass R Sunstein - Book Report #297

Improving Decisions about Health, Wealth, and Happiness

This was an excellent book about the power of suggestion, default choices and inertia.

The basis for the whole theory of nudging is called Libertarian Paternalism, an oxymoron to me but well enough developed and explained that I bought into it.

Now I see examples of nudges everywhere and it makes me smile.

There is nothing more rewarding to me than reading a book (audiobook in this case) and having it fundamentally change the way I see the world.

Excellent stuff.

Richard H Thaler's Wiki Page - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Thaler#External_links

Cass R Sunstein's Wiki Page - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cass_Sunstein#External_links

Cass R Sunstein

Richard H Thaler

Arctic Drift: A Dirk Pitt Novel by Clive Cussler & Dirk Cussler - Book Review #281

I grew up reading Cussler and his Dirk Pitt adventures.

I loved that the story hinged on the lost Franklin Expedition, it is one of Canada's greatest mysteries.  At the time he wrote the story, I am sure that Cussler knew there was a coordinated search, led by Parks Canada, for the lost ships Terror and Erebus.  This was his last chance to have Pitt and Girodino have a hand in their discovery. Wonderful.

The action played out on the shaggy British Columbia coast and in the Northwest Passage.  I liked that the moustache-twirling bad guy was taking advantage of the current climate change crisis, that was a nice nod to the real world.

I used to read the Dirk Pitt adventures in the ‘80s and drifted away from them after getting married and having children.  Now Pitt has kids of his own and is married!  I will have to find some older novels to catch up on things.

Having his kids investigate one part of the conspiracy while Pitt and Girodino chase their own high-arctic leads made for a well structured story.

These books are still terrific fun and an easy page-turner.

Highly recommended if you’re looking for escapist adventuring.

Clive Cussler’s website - https://clive-cussler-books.com/

Clive Cussler

Dirk Cussler

Identity Theft and other stories by Robert J Sawyer - Book Report #261

I enjoyed this book very much.  Not every story worked for me but that's okay.

The real joy of this anthology was the opportunity to read stories that would be very difficult to find today given the publication history.

Below is a list of links of the stories I reviewed from this book.

Enjoy!

I highly recommend the book, it was one of my reading highlights of 2018.

~~~

Identity Theft - https://eric-the-mailman.blogspot.com/2018/10/identity-theft-by-robert-j-sawyer.html

Come All Ye Faithful - https://eric-the-mailman.blogspot.com/2018/10/come-all-ye-faithful-by-robert-j-sawyer.html

Immortality - https://eric-the-mailman.blogspot.com/2018/10/immortality-by-robert-j-sawer.html

Shed Skin - https://eric-the-mailman.blogspot.com/2018/10/shed-skin-by-robert-j-sawer.html

The Stanley Cup Caper - https://eric-the-mailman.blogspot.com/2018/10/the-stanley-cup-caper-by-robert-j-sawyer.html

On The Surface - https://eric-the-mailman.blogspot.com/2018/10/on-surface-by-robert-j-sawyer.html

The Eagle Has Landed - https://eric-the-mailman.blogspot.com/2018/11/the-eagle-has-landed-by-robert-j-sawyer.html

Mikeys - https://eric-the-mailman.blogspot.com/2018/11/mikeys-by-robert-j-sawer.html

The Good Doctor - I didn't review this flash fiction, well, because I just didn't get it.  I read it twice and tried to get the joke but it escaped me completely.

Ineluctable - https://eric-the-mailman.blogspot.com/2018/11/ineluctable-by-robert-j-sawyer.html

The Right's Tough - https://eric-the-mailman.blogspot.com/2018/11/the-rights-tough-by-robert-j-sawyer.html

Kata Bindu - https://eric-the-mailman.blogspot.com/2018/11/kata-bindu-by-robert-j-sawyer.html

Driving a Bargain - https://eric-the-mailman.blogspot.com/2018/11/driving-bargain-by-robert-j-sawyer.html

Flashes - https://eric-the-mailman.blogspot.com/2018/11/flashes-by-robert-j-sawyer.html

Relativity - https://eric-the-mailman.blogspot.com/2018/11/relativity-by-robert-j-sawyer.html

Biding Time - https://eric-the-mailman.blogspot.com/2018/11/biding-time-by-robert-j-sawyer.html

Postscript: E-Mails from the Future - https://eric-the-mailman.blogspot.com/2018/11/biding-time-by-robert-j-sawyer.html

A Flag For Canada by Rick Archbold - Book Report #252

Having lived under the maple leaf flag my entire life I found this book to be fascinating.

Creating a flag independent from Britain stirred up a lot of emotions in the Canadian public at the time. 

Understanding how complex it was to boil a country down into such a simple design made me thankful for the people who dedicated so much energy into the task. 

The photography was lush and the historical significance of each iteration of our flag could not have been conveyed without them. 

I originally purchased the book in a fit of patriotism during the Canada 150 celebration year. 

I am glad I finally read it. 

Here are some real contenders:

The Canadain Red Ensign

The Pearson Pennant

13 pointed maple leaf

There is also a group who is suggesting our current flag be modified to better reflect the English and French duality that was Canada.  I use the word "was" because Canada is more about pluralism than ever before.  The English - French duality is fast becoming blurred.  That said I find the modified version quite attractive.  However, if it came to a vote, I would rather keep our current flag.

Proposed Canadain Unity Flag

Rick Archbold

E-Mails From The Future by Robert J Sawyer

This was a fun little email exchange with an agent negotiating a writing contract for an author.

The exercise in this story is projecting what the world will be like 10 years in the future.

Making it even more fun was that it was written in 2008.

Some of Sawyer's ideas are still a ways out, while much of what is in the story is not that far fetched any more.

A nice little chocolate mint of a story at the end of a lovely banquet of interesting and entertaining short stories.

Well done sir.  Well done.

Little Brother by Cory Doctorow - Book Review #174

I found this to be a terrific book.

It was fast paced and pertinent. 

It explores how our society is moving more and more into a surveillance state.   We are inexorably losing our freedoms. 

We follow the adventure of Marcus Yallow and his friends after his hometown of San Francisco suffers a terrorist attack. 

It is a subversive novel designed for young readers to take seriously their privacy and right to use encryption. 

Interestingly, even though the story itself was very entertaining I found the essays and bibliography at the end to be just as compelling.

Recommended.

Cory Doctorow's website is here:  http://craphound.com/

Cory Doctorow

Book Review #108 - Star Trek: Destiny: Lost Souls by David Mack

Book 32 of 52
Page count -283

Fantastic!

The Federation is only moments away from complete destruction.  Billions have died and billions more are about to.

With the help of Captain Erika Hernandez, Will Riker and the crew of the Titan return to the Azure Nebula only to find that they are well behind enemy lines.  The war looks to be lost while the remnants of the Federation are preparing to meet their fate. The Borg press on with their plan to destroy it.

There are often glimmers of hope in the battle however most gains the Federation makes are soon lost, leaving only desperate plans.  What comes as a surprise is which characters rise to the challenge and which take unfamiliar roles of support rather then leadership.  I found that very refreshing.

We are also treated to a wonderful origin story that becomes the key to everything.

I cannot express how happy I am that this series has come along.  From this trilogy all the characters we know from the Star Trek universe are set free from the shackles of CBS and Paramount Pictures.  The authors are no longer constrained by what might transpire in future movies or TV episodes, since they are over and there is no chance of further installments.  The 23rd century now only lives in the novels and it is in very capable hands.

If you've come this far you will read the last book in the series; you don't need me to encourage you.  Resistance to Star Trek: Destiny is futile.

Omnibus edition cover art.

David Mack

Sanctuary by Ken Bruen - Book Review

As you know I love my crime fiction.  Make it dark, make it mean, but don't give me psychopaths or insane serial killers. 

One of my favorite authors is Ken Bruen who lives in Galway, Ireland.  His Jack Taylor series is set in Galway and is steeped in Irish culture.  There are currently seven books in this series and Sanctuary is the latest one.

This one breaks my "no serial killers" rule but this killer is different and not killing for the fun of it.  Plus it clocks in at a thin 223 pages which is my kind of page count.

Ken Bruen