Christopher Stasheff - Saint Vidicon to the Rescue

Touted as more irreverent, when in fact it was rather catholic, but for something that sort of felt like several short stories strung together with a connecting story, it worked pretty well. a 4. Not his best, but not bad. Sort of cyberpunk religion. X.

The Sweet Collection - Leland Myrick - B&W GN - collection of short stories. Great use of blacks, interesting collection of lovestories, from Vampires, to Frankenstein's assistants, to Kidnaped by Indians, and on Mars. As the title suggests all very sweet stories. Short and sweet as it were. clear and concise, well done. a 7.

Derek Kirk Kim - Same Difference and Other Stories - B&W GN - Korean-American in the bay area, semi-autobiographical story, good art and excellent storytelling. Slice of life stuff, not really my favorite. a 4.

Raymond E. Feist - RIFTWAR

Feist, Raymond E. RIFTWAR 01A: MAGICIAN APPRENTICE. (author's prefered ed) reread. 20070119. not much difference - certianly nothing I noticed, tho it's been years since I read the original version. The begining, Pug and Thomas as kids, until the start of the riftwar.
Feist, Raymond E. RIFTWAR 01B: MAGICIAN MASTER. A GREAT 1st novel. a 9.(author's prefered ed) reread. 20070119. not much difference - certianly nothing I noticed, tho it's been years since I read the original version. Pug in Kelewan master of magic, Thomas the Valeru.
Feist, Raymond E. RIFTWAR 02: Silverthorn. not a bad followup, an 8. Jimmy.
Feist, Raymond E. RIFTWAR 03: A DARKNESS AT SETHANON. much better an 8 or 9. ReRead 20070206 excellent combination of high otherworldly magic and gritty fantasy battles.
Feist, Raymond E. & JANNY WURTS. RIFTWAR: MISTRESS OF THE EMPIRE. Good, interesting. very far eastern. a 7 or 8
Feist, Raymond E. & JANNY WURTS. RIFTWAR: SERVANT OF THE EMPIRE
Feist, Raymond E. & JANNY WURTS. RIFTWAR: DAUGHTER OF THE EMPIRE. PB,R,SIGNED!.
Feist, Raymond E. RIFTWAR 04: Prince of the Blood. the sons of Arutha go on an adventure. a 4, bah, the kids are just dumb.
Feist, Raymond E. RIFTWAR 05: KING'S BUCCANEER, THE. PB,R. better! a 6 or 7.
FEIST, RAYMOND E. RIFTWAR 06: SERPENTWAR SAGA 1: SHADOW OF A DARK QUEEN, RIFTWAR. REG PB ah, now it's good again a 9.
Feist, Raymond E. RIFTWAR 07: SERPENTWAR SAGA 2: Rise of a Merchant Prince, an 8
FEIST, RAYMOND E. RIFTWAR 08: SERPENTWAR SAGA 3: RAGE OF A DEMON KING. R,pb. A Good conclusion to the trilogy but not as good as the 2 books before it. calis & thomas loose their valerhu-ness! poor pug = everybody dies on him, but good, an 8
Feist, Raymond E. RIFTWAR 09: SERPENTWAR SAGA 4: Shards of a Broken Crown.
Feist, Raymond E. RIFTWAR 10: Krondor 01: The Betrayal. much better than expected novelization of a compter game. a 6 or 7.
Feist, Raymond E. RIFTWAR 11: Krondor 02: The Assassin.
?read? Feist, Raymond E. RIFTWAR 12: Krondor 03: Tear of the Gods. R?
Feist, Raymond E. & Joel Rosenberg. RIFTWAR: Legends of the Riftwar : Murder in LaMut. R. 20070113. Good fun, takes Joel's 3 not-musketeers from Guardians series and drops them into the Riftwar back when it was going strong. An interesting idea and a good story, not a murder-mystery by any means, but effective. Still there was no great goings on and since it was the past no furthering of any plot. a 7.

Mail Order Ninja ; volume 1

Elder, Joshua & Erich Owen. Mail Order Ninja v1. R. 20061110. Graphic Novel. Amusing idea, adequate art, a few in jokes (like the article by Charles 'Eastman-Laird', or the Asimovian aliens). Overall quite pointedly aimed at 5th graders. similar to ninja high-school, only it's grade school, and while it has it parts, there's a bit too much kiddie to it. a 4.

John Ringo

Ringo, John. A Hymn Before Battle. R.X. attack on other planet kick ass with battlesuits. a 7.
reread 200509??, reread 2008016
Ringo, John. Gust Front. R.X. a 7. good characters, tho lots, very Heinlein battlesuits, very hardcore military SF. aliens attack & humans join with other aliens to be the front line troops. -again with the only humans can kill theme (best done I think by foster in the call to arms series, but done pretty well here,) attack on earth lots of destruction but kick ass on first wave. gung ho stuff. reread 200509?? reread20080107
Ringo, John. When the Devil Dances. R
Ringo, John. Hell's Faire. HB (signed). R. 20050919 excellent SF military series, very hardcore military, but good alien stuff going on in the background,. a bit too many characters at first to really get into but by the 3rd book you do know them well enough to sink into it. An 8 the series. reread 20090108
Ringo, John & Michael Z. Williamson. The Hero. 20051016? R.X. LURPs on bug planet. then hunt & stalk each other. a bit simple, and not pushing the storyline any. a 4.
Ringo, John & Julie Chchrane. Cally's War. R. 20061020. pretty much all Julie I think, an interesting spy/intrique/assassin story, but does little to futher the plot of the overall series. a 6.
Ringo, John & Tom Kratman. Watch on the Rhine. R. HB. 200510? Pos vs. the SS. hardcore military SF with a lot of German SS historical stuff. pretty good a 6. end chapter fast forward to destroy the 'Elves'.



Ringo, John. Princess of Wands. R. 20060907. interesting modern fantasy. Christian with out bible thumping. - as the character is also. really a collection of 3 short stories, one fairly long, one novella, and a short ender. Con stuff in the 2nd story, and several characters who were certainly parodies of real sf authors including the villain who had to be David Drake, allusions to Robert Jordan, a character who had to be Baen, and one may have been Ringo too. secret magical defenders in the FBI to fight the demons and monsters which are really there. power of faith, any faith, even Christian ) to combat evil. good stories. a 6.


Ringo, John. There Will be Dragons. R.K 20060907. excellent historical-military with high-tech nano-SF, body mods, universal power utopia. a bit hard to swallow that they so quickly accept the loss of all the high-tech. but once that's done, it does go very well. several hints of previous 'history' and excellent fantasy/medieval warfare.
start of a series. a 7.

Ringo, John - Into the Looking Glass. excellent hard sf, sometimes high-science, but still great military sf, some of his very best stuff. a 9.

Ringo, John - Knight series
1: Ghost. best military fiction ever, and throw in some hard-core bondage sex, (which is fine, but came as a bit of a surprise!)
2: Kildar - with Kildar the series really takes off, Vangarian guard, elite warriors, All-father, and machine guns.
3: Choosers of the Slain
4: Unto the Breach
it just gets better and better - sticks with the Kildar's pov mostly perhaps why I like it more than his other stuff. 9 the series.