July's reads:
Star Wars: LEGENDS: “Honor Among Thieves” - James S. A. Corey
This is a fresh look at the galactic events happening shortly after the Rebellion made its first major victory against the tyrannical Empire! However, a battle of survival won decisively, does not by itself change the fate of everyone else.
As a up-and-coming movement working to restore the old Government and reinstall freedoms for all species, peoples, and worlds, the Rebels are becoming more well-known and considered as buyers of information that could change the fate of every living individual present and future.
“Honor Among Thieves” involves Han Solo trying to understand what keeps him hanging around the Rebels, while accepting outside jobs to keep himself and his copilot safe, out of Jabba The Hutt’s hands. Is it the money, or the sense of camaraderie and bonds of friendship that will be sources of devastating pain and loss when the other individuals are killed?
Has to be the money. Nothing else makes sense for smugglers who can’t afford to get involved in politics. Especially those with bounty’s on their head.
Man-Kzin Wars XIII - Based on Larry Niven’s massively popular Man-Kzin War series, the collection of seven stories explores several different aspects of the challenges humans face when confronted by a carnivorous feline-like (but distinctly not house-cat) species that sees all other lifeforms as slaves, or prey: there is no alternative for non-Kzin.
Hal Colebatch and Jessica Q. Fox bring in a series of “Misunderstanding”s before the Human’s worlds have been contacted.
Jane Lindskold examines what it might mean to have “Two Types of Teeth” and the ability to adapt to changing society and the fight for survival, while facing challenges in exploring very different cultural and techolnogy from the get-go.
Charels E. Gannon shows us how nature might be the very basis of nurture and society in “Pick of the Litter”, and that nature cannot be fully circumvented, even as our understanding of the hows-and-why’s continue to expand, perhaps enough to raise a very young Kzin to adulthood, through a very tramatic childhood and life-changing teenage years.
Charles’s second contribution in this collection “Tomcat Tactics” reveals that sometimes, the best weapon is the one that one one expects - the one all others have considered as useless or doomed to failure. A top-secret weapon that only one man, hidden away since the start of the genocidal encounter between humans and Kzin, has been told how to use. It’s up to this Joe Smith to figure out just how to get the meat-eating enemies really mad, first.
Alex Hernandez brings to life the possibility of Humans and Kzin living side by side in “At The Gates”, where the war does not exist, and their grown, children having been raised with no regard given to their species, are suddenly confronted with the possibility that the multi-generational war that has passed them all by, has found their sanctuary.
Alex’s second story “Bound For The Promised Land” reveals how the knowledge that there is a safe world where those tired of fighting, tired of being soldiers, tired of knowing loss and death on a near-constant basis, can find new life and a new start - if only they can find a way out of the trap that has surrounded them from their youth.
David Bartell is set in the same universe, but does not show the war, except as a side view, for two very special explorers who are always on the lookout for new technologies, exotic wormholes, anything that could be sold to the highest bidder. After all, Jinxians need to live too! (and not on the sidelines, as slaves or strangers who can’t be trusted)
Watership Down by Richard Adams might be about rabbits looking for a new place to call home, but it is a very realistic tale about the unseen world of the Rabbit Warren and how different clans might interact … if they had a language, culture, and oral traditions that explain both the world around them and tell the history of their Chief Rabbits who saved his people from ruin:
Reading this particular novel, featuring herbivore rabbits (considered vermin by humans when caught raiding gardens), helps explain that everything around us is part of both a massive food-chain, but also reminds us that actions influence others - whether for good, bad, both now and in the future.
What will our legacy be? One of military domination, where those who don’t obey the rules are punished with pain, treatened with violence, and left to die/killed as an example? Or one where everyone can live free, as he (or she) pleases, without having to wonder if our words will doom someone close to us? Will we choose to live in fear, ignoring the treat around us (that strikes suddenly, singularly, yet regularly, or will we fight for a place to call our own, where no one needs to fear being culled just because someone else wants what we have to offer?
With unforgettable characters, Hazel, Fiver, Bigwig, Blackberry, Silver and others, Watership Down explores the life of rabbits starting a new life elsewhere and learning from the past without holding fast to tradition.
Patricia Craig brings a (editor’s choice) collection of mystery fiction in this 1990 The Oxford Book of English Detective Stories, looking at thirty-three short works from several different eras: starting with those written during the years after the detective genre became its own, to the hey-day of detective/crime writing, to its marvelous comeback, and (then) modern era style publishing’s. Some then-famous author’s were selected for this collection, some still-well-known authors are included, here.
Time might pass us by, but there will never be a lack of mysteries to solve - and not all involve the murder: some are just private eyes looking for missing household members.
Ted Dekker’s Outlaw looks at unreached worlds where the value of human-life is not the same as what most Americans are familiar with, or even expect. American-born Julian Carter learns the hard way that strangers are not always welcomed, and slavery still exists (not always in the remote part of the world). Can she survive her introduction to Hell on earth, or will she fall victim to far-reaching murderous tradition and deadly politics? After all, the winner determines the fate of the losers - and few are gracious enough to not demand bloodshed as payment.
HORSE DIARIES #2 Bell’s Star: Vermont 1853 - Alison Hart - Living as a hardworking Morgan horse, Bell wonders what Freedom is, and ‘whereverhewantstogo’ is located. Is it enough that he and his mother are well-fed, protected from the carnivores hunters, and that he can roam the countryside with his human after the chores are done?
Perhaps, it is. But, until he has the chance to choose for himself, he doesn’t know - and won’t have the opportunity to learn some of the harder consequences of choice until he and his human helps a runaway slave escape to Canada, where all men, women, and horses are free.
TRANSFORMERS CLASSIFIED: The Complete Mission - Ryder Windham and Jason Fry bring three books in this one book. Starting with “Switching Gears”, twelve year old Kevin Bowman learns that there is more than meets the eye when it comes to some automotives. In “Battle Mountain” Gears (and Kevin Bowman) must face very bad odds when trying to find (and retrieve) important ancient technology that might reveal where Kevin’s brother was transported. “Satellite of Doom” ends this fast-paced adventure of a lifetime, bringing new friends home, and showing an estranged father that it is not too late to connect with his too-often-pushed aside son.
ROYAL DIARIES Lady of Ch’iao: Warrior of the South (South China, 531 A.D.)
Laurence Yep brings historical fiction to life, as “Princess Redbird” follows events that likely happened between warring Hsien (including the hated Dog Head clan who behead their fallen victims), and the Chinese Invaders who demand tribute. Princess RedBird was sent by her forward-thinking father to the neighboring Chinese community to learn the language, culture, and ways so she could be an intermediary between the two peoples.
The account written in these Royal Diary pages might be fictionalized, but it touches deep in the hearts of many immigration decedents who are struggling to unite traditions of the old country, with the culture of the new land. It is not an easy process, but learning to live with oneself, even while feeling she (or he) belongs in neither land, should not be taken lightly.
Princess Redbeard, must learn to balance her desire for vengeance, the traditional demand for blood, and the cry for peace, for forgiveness, even as her people are reeling from being attacked by long-time allies. Her leardership skills will be tested to the very limits: if she succeeds, history will remember her efforts to unite the simple Hsien with the (then) modern Chinese clan that is engulfing more and more cultures, traditions, and lands, blending some aspects into the ever-expanding empire.
(Eight books, this round.)
This is a fresh look at the galactic events happening shortly after the Rebellion made its first major victory against the tyrannical Empire! However, a battle of survival won decisively, does not by itself change the fate of everyone else.
As a up-and-coming movement working to restore the old Government and reinstall freedoms for all species, peoples, and worlds, the Rebels are becoming more well-known and considered as buyers of information that could change the fate of every living individual present and future.
“Honor Among Thieves” involves Han Solo trying to understand what keeps him hanging around the Rebels, while accepting outside jobs to keep himself and his copilot safe, out of Jabba The Hutt’s hands. Is it the money, or the sense of camaraderie and bonds of friendship that will be sources of devastating pain and loss when the other individuals are killed?
Has to be the money. Nothing else makes sense for smugglers who can’t afford to get involved in politics. Especially those with bounty’s on their head.
Man-Kzin Wars XIII - Based on Larry Niven’s massively popular Man-Kzin War series, the collection of seven stories explores several different aspects of the challenges humans face when confronted by a carnivorous feline-like (but distinctly not house-cat) species that sees all other lifeforms as slaves, or prey: there is no alternative for non-Kzin.
Hal Colebatch and Jessica Q. Fox bring in a series of “Misunderstanding”s before the Human’s worlds have been contacted.
Jane Lindskold examines what it might mean to have “Two Types of Teeth” and the ability to adapt to changing society and the fight for survival, while facing challenges in exploring very different cultural and techolnogy from the get-go.
Charels E. Gannon shows us how nature might be the very basis of nurture and society in “Pick of the Litter”, and that nature cannot be fully circumvented, even as our understanding of the hows-and-why’s continue to expand, perhaps enough to raise a very young Kzin to adulthood, through a very tramatic childhood and life-changing teenage years.
Charles’s second contribution in this collection “Tomcat Tactics” reveals that sometimes, the best weapon is the one that one one expects - the one all others have considered as useless or doomed to failure. A top-secret weapon that only one man, hidden away since the start of the genocidal encounter between humans and Kzin, has been told how to use. It’s up to this Joe Smith to figure out just how to get the meat-eating enemies really mad, first.
Alex Hernandez brings to life the possibility of Humans and Kzin living side by side in “At The Gates”, where the war does not exist, and their grown, children having been raised with no regard given to their species, are suddenly confronted with the possibility that the multi-generational war that has passed them all by, has found their sanctuary.
Alex’s second story “Bound For The Promised Land” reveals how the knowledge that there is a safe world where those tired of fighting, tired of being soldiers, tired of knowing loss and death on a near-constant basis, can find new life and a new start - if only they can find a way out of the trap that has surrounded them from their youth.
David Bartell is set in the same universe, but does not show the war, except as a side view, for two very special explorers who are always on the lookout for new technologies, exotic wormholes, anything that could be sold to the highest bidder. After all, Jinxians need to live too! (and not on the sidelines, as slaves or strangers who can’t be trusted)
Watership Down by Richard Adams might be about rabbits looking for a new place to call home, but it is a very realistic tale about the unseen world of the Rabbit Warren and how different clans might interact … if they had a language, culture, and oral traditions that explain both the world around them and tell the history of their Chief Rabbits who saved his people from ruin:
Reading this particular novel, featuring herbivore rabbits (considered vermin by humans when caught raiding gardens), helps explain that everything around us is part of both a massive food-chain, but also reminds us that actions influence others - whether for good, bad, both now and in the future.
What will our legacy be? One of military domination, where those who don’t obey the rules are punished with pain, treatened with violence, and left to die/killed as an example? Or one where everyone can live free, as he (or she) pleases, without having to wonder if our words will doom someone close to us? Will we choose to live in fear, ignoring the treat around us (that strikes suddenly, singularly, yet regularly, or will we fight for a place to call our own, where no one needs to fear being culled just because someone else wants what we have to offer?
With unforgettable characters, Hazel, Fiver, Bigwig, Blackberry, Silver and others, Watership Down explores the life of rabbits starting a new life elsewhere and learning from the past without holding fast to tradition.
Patricia Craig brings a (editor’s choice) collection of mystery fiction in this 1990 The Oxford Book of English Detective Stories, looking at thirty-three short works from several different eras: starting with those written during the years after the detective genre became its own, to the hey-day of detective/crime writing, to its marvelous comeback, and (then) modern era style publishing’s. Some then-famous author’s were selected for this collection, some still-well-known authors are included, here.
Time might pass us by, but there will never be a lack of mysteries to solve - and not all involve the murder: some are just private eyes looking for missing household members.
Ted Dekker’s Outlaw looks at unreached worlds where the value of human-life is not the same as what most Americans are familiar with, or even expect. American-born Julian Carter learns the hard way that strangers are not always welcomed, and slavery still exists (not always in the remote part of the world). Can she survive her introduction to Hell on earth, or will she fall victim to far-reaching murderous tradition and deadly politics? After all, the winner determines the fate of the losers - and few are gracious enough to not demand bloodshed as payment.
HORSE DIARIES #2 Bell’s Star: Vermont 1853 - Alison Hart - Living as a hardworking Morgan horse, Bell wonders what Freedom is, and ‘whereverhewantstogo’ is located. Is it enough that he and his mother are well-fed, protected from the carnivores hunters, and that he can roam the countryside with his human after the chores are done?
Perhaps, it is. But, until he has the chance to choose for himself, he doesn’t know - and won’t have the opportunity to learn some of the harder consequences of choice until he and his human helps a runaway slave escape to Canada, where all men, women, and horses are free.
TRANSFORMERS CLASSIFIED: The Complete Mission - Ryder Windham and Jason Fry bring three books in this one book. Starting with “Switching Gears”, twelve year old Kevin Bowman learns that there is more than meets the eye when it comes to some automotives. In “Battle Mountain” Gears (and Kevin Bowman) must face very bad odds when trying to find (and retrieve) important ancient technology that might reveal where Kevin’s brother was transported. “Satellite of Doom” ends this fast-paced adventure of a lifetime, bringing new friends home, and showing an estranged father that it is not too late to connect with his too-often-pushed aside son.
ROYAL DIARIES Lady of Ch’iao: Warrior of the South (South China, 531 A.D.)
Laurence Yep brings historical fiction to life, as “Princess Redbird” follows events that likely happened between warring Hsien (including the hated Dog Head clan who behead their fallen victims), and the Chinese Invaders who demand tribute. Princess RedBird was sent by her forward-thinking father to the neighboring Chinese community to learn the language, culture, and ways so she could be an intermediary between the two peoples.
The account written in these Royal Diary pages might be fictionalized, but it touches deep in the hearts of many immigration decedents who are struggling to unite traditions of the old country, with the culture of the new land. It is not an easy process, but learning to live with oneself, even while feeling she (or he) belongs in neither land, should not be taken lightly.
Princess Redbeard, must learn to balance her desire for vengeance, the traditional demand for blood, and the cry for peace, for forgiveness, even as her people are reeling from being attacked by long-time allies. Her leardership skills will be tested to the very limits: if she succeeds, history will remember her efforts to unite the simple Hsien with the (then) modern Chinese clan that is engulfing more and more cultures, traditions, and lands, blending some aspects into the ever-expanding empire.
(Eight books, this round.)