The Princes in the Tower, by Alison Weir

I’m clearly a fan of Weir as both an historian and a writer of historical fiction. And I was no less impressed with her research behind the murder of Edward IV’s two young sons, Edward V and Richard, the Duke of York, at the hands of Richard III - who usurped the English throne during the tumultuous years ( Read more... )

Conan the Barbarian, by L. Sprague De Camp and Lin Carter

Adapted from the screenplay by Oliver Stone and John Milius, De Camp and Carter score high marks with this well thought out novelization. While they could have been complete hacks and provided the bare bones minimum, the two go out of their way to weave an origin story for Conan that ( Read more... )

A Game of Thrones, by G. R. R. Martin

In anticipation of HBO’s adaptation of Martin’s first book in his A Song of Ice and Fire, I decided to reread it. But what I wasn’t expecting or planning was that I going to be completely and thoroughly engrossed. Again.

True, it has been several years since I last read the first three books in this ( Read more... )

Making our Democracy Work: A Judge’s View, Stephen Breyer

When the judicial branch of our government - the only unelected portion - is attacked as being “activist”, I cannot help but think that the portion of the American electorate that thinks this is woefully unaware not just of how the judicial system works, but also lacking in a basic ( Read more... )

Excalibur: The Legend of King Arthur, by Tony Lee and Sam Hart

Other than my childhood obsession with Arthur - aided by a traveling exhibit of medieval armor that my friends and I drooled over at the Seattle Center back in the early 80s, as well as one summer between eighth grade and freshman year in which I devoured both Roger Lancelyn Green’s ( Read more... )

The Happiest Days of Our Lives, by Wil Wheaton

Wheaton, former cast member of the Star Trek: The Next Generation and unofficial Grand Marshal of Emerald City Comicon, is back with another collection of nerdish memories and musings. Although I admit to being an eager fan-boy of his devoted affection for the popular arts, I was a tad disappointed ( Read more... )

Running the Books, by Avi Steinberg

This is the second book about writers working in prisons that I've read; the first being Mark Salzman's True Notebooks. However, where Salzman was working with juvenile offenders in writing program, Steinberg mans the library in the big house with adults in a facility just outside of Boston.

In many ways, ( Read more... )

Captain Britain and MI13 Volume Two: Hell Comes to Birmingham, by Paul Cornell and Leonard Kirk

Volume two picks up right where volume one left off, with Britain's small but mighty superhero team heading to Birmingham to meet up with Captain Midlands -- a regional defender who I honestly have never heard of before (and he may be a new character ( Read more... )

The Doctor's Who's Who: The Story Behind Every Face of the Iconic Time Lord, by Craig Cabell

Although it has some shortcomings -- typographical errors, as well as a few references that are quite wrong (like naming the Weeping Angels as the Blinking Angels every time they are referred to) -- Cabell's biography on each of the eleven-plus Time ( Read more... )