Mark writes from experience. Maybe not the exact plot of this book (after all it IS in the fiction section) or any of the next three of his novels...but Mark KNOWS whereof he speaks...you see, he's the real mcoy. this is a writer i am honored to call friend..he's an experienced instructor of the techniques he touts.... his books are all good reads wherein you actually LEARN a thing or two.... Check them out! i'm actively awaiting his next.... PLUS the beautiful mrs. Harrell has an offering of her own as well by now i'm sure.... ENJOY!

The storylines presented here cover Peter Parker: Spiderman issues #27-28 and 30-34. They include...

#1 - Spiderman battling his arch-enemy Stromm...and then being placed into a situation where he has to decide, "Is it right to kill someone if thousands of future lives will be saved?" Interesting question but it could have been presented in a much stronger light. The villain of Stromm is also not one of the stronger antagonists that Spidey has battled.

#2 - Spiderman battling a revenge hungry foe called Fusion. This storyline takes several interesting turns, the most interesting being when Spiderman receives that "One Small Break" of the title's name. Overall an average outing but there was plenty of untapped potential.

#3 - The best storyline of the bunch (and the only one worth reading in this collection) is a story dealing with Peter Parker (not Spiderman) and his past relationship with his Uncle Ben. The story focuses around an annual attendance of a Mets game and it works on several levels. Again there is some cartoonish nature that detracts from it and keeps it from reaching a "Best of..." level, but overall this one is a great read.

#4 - A silly and stupid and underdeveloped story about a man cursed with dangerous powers and who is being chased by some friendly monks (in the Monk-Mobile!). UG! Why was this story written in the first place...much less included in a TPB? What a waste of space and it doesn't say much if this is the higher level of story to be included into a mainstream TPB.

If you're "Jones-ing" for a Spiderman read then you may want to pick up One Small Break. But if you want to read Spidey in some of his top storylines then look for other TPB's available such as: The Death of Gwen Stacy, Power and Responsibility, or Untold Tales of Spiderman, you'll have a better time there.

carl

The story setup is as follows:
A fishing vessel located several miles from one of the archipelagoes that make up the Southern Chilean Coast find themselves in a fast-moving weather front. While riding out the gargantuan thunderstorm in its tow, they notice something unusual; first a deafening roar and then something of an electrical ghost that first hovers, tries to ascend, and then crashes into and slips below the water's surface. Enter an array of stunningly foolish humans who, after theorizing that the "bogeys" (yes, they do know about the Predators and their atypical hunts in only the most humid of regions) were attracted to these frigid waters by some seismic activities, decide to go and play tag with the Predator. This, of course, leads to deaths, plenty of them, and to some strange discoveries in an undersea cavern that show why the Predator was really here.

As I said before, this was interesting because it removed the Predator from the trappings of its blandly overplayed normality, plus it had some other elements that were, in a word, odd. If you only want fighting and nothing more, however, skip it. If not, however, you should at least give it a once over.

The editorial review from Book News, Inc has it right: this is a general MIDP information book. If you are after a book about how to program some MIDP specific features you will not find it here. Contrary to the other reader's review there is actually little low level technical information.

No treatment on general programming tips either, for example, why threads are more important in MIDP wireless programming than traditional Java programming. Or how to change your style to be less Object Orientated for speed and memory efficiency (Nokia forum has good tips on these areas).

In short, good review but bad for programming.

If you've read the CLDC and MIDP specifications and want to know more, this is the book for you. This book is suitable for project managers, team leaders and developers. It has a good mix of high-level architectural discussions and low level technical detail to keep all readers interested.

Due to the immaturity of the CLDC and MIDP specifications, don't expect this book to be the final word on the subject. I would expect to see more developer-oriented books to appear once J2ME has gained a wider audience.

Overall this is a very readable book that comes highly recommended.

Makes a great companion to the online documentation, and is a handy first reference. Complex questions should refer to the documentation, but this is great for quick questions.

For those who want to experience the joy of these sort of films, I would rather recommend the works of David J. Skal, Bill Warren, and Michael J. Weldon, all of whose works can be purchased on this site.

The man CAN write, I'll admit to that. He drops ingenuous metaphors and literary references. But the stories hardly feel as a whole, just some witty tidbits tied together in a bundle.

Frankly, Spencer sets the trap for himself with his introuction, where he analyzes the state of short fiction as a playground for writers, where stories are used as prose exercises of preciousist writing, with little fun in the tale to tell. He admits by the end that some of his own stories can be held for having the same (un)qualities... but it seems they had a lot more of it than he expected.

So, this is my scorecard:

"The Entomologists at Obala" is, arguably, the most enjoyable of this stories. A minimalist reworking of Romeo and Juliet, with young lovers fighing through family feuds over exotic insect and aracnid species.

"Looking out for Eleanor" is a psychological suspense story, and the lenghtiest story in the book. That may be key to its success, for it allows the characters to develop their traits and the plot to move at a pleasurable pace.

Spencer adds three literary exercises in character description through metaphor: "The Wedding Photographer in Crisis", "Pep Talk" and "Snow". They may need to be read more than once to sink in, because they somehow feel flat.

There are also three tales I could envision featured in "Alfred Hitchcock Presents", exercises in twist ending: "Haunted by the Horror King", "The Return of Count Electric" and "Best Man". Sadly, by the time the twist came I was expecting it, and failed to shock me.

Lastly, there are "Graven Images", "A Child's Christmas in Florida" and "Daughter Doom", tales where several elements are left intentionally obscure, and which I found to be the most disappointing from the whole lot.

As I said, Spencer can write, and this book may keep you entertained as you read it. But you shouldn't be surprised if, like me, you finish it feeling nothing really happend while you were at it.

Written during Stephen King's first arc, when every darned book title had two words and the first was "The", "The Savior" seems to have been written specifically to take advantage of the resurgence of interest in horror, but without benefit of any element even approaching scary. Or suspenseful. Or interesting.

Susan McKenzie thinks there's something odd about her infant son, Christopher, because he seems to know when she wants him to be quiet. Later, as a young man, the boy discovers he is able to toss grown men around like rag dolls with his mind, and heal the wounded and sick with a mere touch. With the help of Eric Wynters, a talk show host, and Charlotte, a paranormal researcher, Chris takes his show on the road, heals a bunch of people, then cracks under the strain.

The book jacket suggests that Chris walks in the light by day but roams a world of depraved evil at night. Let me tell you something; if I had an evil heart and the ability to bend men's wills to my own desires, I would be one bad mammajamma. I'd rob banks, defeat my enemies and control governments. But all Chris can think to do is slap a few people around, rape a few women, and have drunken parties with punk bands. At no point do we feel that anyone is in any real danger. Believe me, people in real danger is an essential element of horror.

There's a reason the Werlins think small, I think. It's because they aren't writers. They're technicians. Anyone can learn the elements of grammar, string words together to form sentences, tell a story from beginning to end. It takes a craftsman to create a deft and believable plot. It takes an artist to weave magic. But the Werlins are neither craftsmen nor artists; they write with all the depth and subtlety of a kid filling in a paint-by-number set.