Book Review: Dreamwish Beasts and Snarks

Dreamwish Beasts and Snarks
By Mike Resnick
Published by Golden Gryphon Press
ISBN-13: 978-1-930846-60-9

The latest book I've read for IjustFinished.com was quite enjoyable!

Dreamwish Beasts and Snarks by Mike Resnick is a collection of short stories spanning the author's career. The common thread of each story is a safari of sorts, most set in the far far future but with the feel and detail of an old-world British Empire expedition. Often the hunt isn't for a normal animal or alien animal, but for targets such as a unicorn, vampires, or the elusive Snark.

There are a couple of stories set in the past, but still with a science-fiction edge (such as finding Teddy Roosevelt and Dracula together in Manhattan, or a different kind of Tarzan story). A few are told in first-person, including the sequel to the title story which features the hunt for the Dreamwish Beast (itself a type of SF Moby Dick story as the author himself mentions in the book); and a couple of stories are related as seminar presentations, giving them a unique in-universe feel.

All-in-all, Dreamwish Beasts and Snarks brings adventure in short, fun safaris through the galaxy and is a nice change of pace from the Science Fiction stories of war, transhumanism, and giant robots that abounds today.

Catching up.

I haven't had time or motivation to sit down and write thorough reviews of books I've read recently. All the books I've been reading lately have been specifically for my own personal enjoyment and not requested for a review.

Here's a few of the books I've read recently.

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Not bad. I'd give it a 3 out of 5. The follow up to the Borg Finale now begins rebuilding the Trek-universe and reshaping the political landscape.

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Again: Not bad with a 3 out of 5. A follow up the previous book but takes place before and during the previous book. The build up to the Trek-universe events in this series is taking for ever!

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Pretty good action/adventure story. I'd give it a 3.5 out of 5.

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Interesting book. Archaeological/Medical adventure book. 3 out of 5.

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Most recent entry in the Star Wars Expanded Universe 40+ years after the movie events. This one is ...boring. 2 out of 5. (and I'm a big fan of the Star Wars novels).

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That's it for now.

Book Review: The Acronym - White Nights of St. Petersburgh

The Acronym - White Nights of St. Petersburgh
By Rebecca Lerwill
ISBN-13: 9781934938409
A review for IJustFinished.com.

Mia Trentino is a key witness is a trial against a Russian mafia boss and is under the protection of a U.S. government agency known only as The Acronym that can go places and do things other U.S. agencies can't. Mia and her team of special agents assigned to protect her arrive in St. Petersburgh to await her turn on the stand only to find Mia's fiance, Acronym agent Farland, has been accused of treason and their support from the U.S. is non-existent. Mia must survive until the trial, and the innocence of her fiance must be proven.

The Acronym - White Nights of St. Petersburgh is a sequel to Relocating Mia, but you don't have to have read that to understand what's going on. This book is good on plot, action, and character development and kept me reading through to the end.

But there was something missing from it; I just can't place my finger on what it was. I enjoyed the book, but it didn't feel... real. Perhaps it was the name of the agency: "Acronym". My wife read the back of the book, and said "A government agency called Acronym? That's pretty funny!" To which I replied, "Unfortunately, it's not supposed to be funny."

That being said, the book was still enjoyable enough to keep me reading and interested in going back and reading the first Mia novel.

Currently reading the latest Sigma Force novel "The Doomsday Key" by James Rollins http://ping.fm/3hhm0

Way Off Topic

Back in April, after working with the wonderful crew at The Signal Podcast for a little over a year, I opted to resign my position as one of their audio editors. My personal and work life keep me too busy to commit the time necessary to work on regular bi-weekly podcast. I don’t regret the decision, I do miss doing the work. I enjoy audio production and would still like to do so occasionally.  I miss the fun of it from The Signal, and from way back when I worked in Radio.

 

…So here’s me, on the raggedy edge of audio editing.

 

If you run a podcast or otherwise need occasional, sporadic, or one-off audio editing (or maybe even voice work) that won’t keep me away from my family for too long, keep me in mind and shoot me a note; we’ll see what we can work out.

 

 

 

 

My new Facebook url: http://ping.fm/si2dt