In the Empire's Service is one of those parts in the Rogue Squadron series that has healthy doses of action, camaraderie, suspense and a "feel" to it.

The stand alone stories have ended. It's time for Ms Isard to claim the Imperial throne, time for Rogue Squadron to show their flying skills, time for the performance to really kick in. Unlike other issues, this one has a genuine feel to it, where power and politics have some major characters decide the day.

The art is similar to Battleground:Tatooine, which I didn't think much of in that issue's review. Here, where you don't have Tatooine and Ryloth deserts to inhibit your artistry, the lush vista of Brentaal saves the day. Character faces just aren't rendered in enough detail, and at times the features in the frames just look a bit small in size.

That notwithstanding, Fel makes up in dialogue what his rendered art misses. A brilliant but loyal pilot straddled with a fool for a superior that's too-often semi-attired and looks quite like a roman emperor, you feel for him. The Rogue pilots don't miss out on their lines too, and a range of emotions are showed which help to convey the seriousness and delicacy of the mission.

Action is hot and intense, and even though Imperial politics is what allows the Alliance to take more and more of Brentaal, you can bet Fel's going to make them fight for it. This is war, and it reflects well in how the captions were chosen. A level in the N64 Rogue Squadron game was based on the last mission here, so it's fun to view it differently. The Telsij lady you briefly meet---and gasp at---from her sight in Mandatory Retirement is explained here.

Dendo is back, armed with his flashy cape and quick-finger trigger. New Rogues are featured to make up for attrition, and you'll like Koyi Komad's interaction with them. Her character, short as her appearances are, just shines out from the page.

Overall, the sketchy feel of the art had me rating this a star less, but In the Empire's Service is just too good to give any less. It has it all, what you could want, and certainly worthy lightening your purse a few Imperial credits less indeed.

Stackpole takes over writing the series and immediately kicks it into high gear by throwing the Rogues right into the midst of the war. The Republic is beginning its campaign for Coruscant and starts by heading for the Core Worlds. In this case, the first step is Brentaal, the rich and influential Core world.

This arc is unique in that it gives both the Rebels and Imperials almost equal time. The faces of the Empire are many, and this arc shows a depth to it not acheived in anything else thus far. The scheming by Ysanne Isard is great, while you also see the varying faces of the Empire on Brentaal itself. Admiral Lon Isoto and Baron Soontir Fel are both Imperials, yet completely opposite characters. Isoto is an incompetant, vain, corrupt, lazy, and perhaps even slightly insane man, while Fel is a very smart, strong, moral, yet somewhat flawed figure. He is the greatest pilot in the Empire, and serves that Empire not because of who leads it, but because of simple loyalty to its people. As time goes on, it becomes more and more apparent to him that perhaps his view on things was flawed, and perhaps he need to rectify it. Along with Grand Admiral Thrawn, he is perhaps the best Imperial character to come out of the comics and novels.

The Rebels are interesting as well, and the Rogues are for the only time in the series at full strength. Balancing the stories of 12 pilots is not easy, but as events transpire some paths are split and some interconnect. Some, like Wedge, Tycho, Janson, Ibtisam, and Nrin, get more time, wheras ones like Dar Keyis and Standro are forced into the backdrop. But that's alright, for reason I won't get into lest I spoil things.

The art by Nadeau perfectly fits the whole 'war movie'-type feel of 'In the Empire's Service.' His technology and cityscapes are, as always, superb, and although his faces may be a little choppy at times, each person has his or her own face, which is very important with such a large cast. And David Nestelle's coloring prowess is once again demonstrated. Never slips, always consistent, always fitting the scene perfectly.

And who can forget the cliff-hanger last line of the series?

Bravo to the creators of 'In the Empire's Service'. They've produced one of the most insightful, well-written examples of 'Star Wars' ever published, and the series' lack of sales is truly shameful. Highly, highly reccomended work.

In The Empire's Service is the sixth Rogue Squadron comic series, and it happens to be one of the, if not the, best. Taking place not long after the comic "Mara Jade: By The Emperor's Hand," this is the first title in the "Rise of Isard" story arc which will link all of the remaining comics in this series, and lead into the novel series. And it is just a great and classic story. No more of those stories where the Empire is thrown in only as a convoluted plot twist, where various rogues and scoundrels uncover secret caches of Imperial ships and weaponry. This is a straight up Alliance vs. Empire story. It's full of good art, good dialogue, a plethora of dogfights, and lots of humor.

In this story, Sate Pestage has basically assumed Palpatine's role at the head of the Empire, and is struggling to hold it while an alliance of various other high ranking Imperials (the "Cabal") is also seeking to gain control of the Empire. Enter Ysanne "Iceheart" Isard, who, while presumably advising both sides as to the best way to defeat the Rebels is actually expertly playing them off against each other. Taking her advice, Pestage vows to hold a wealthy Imperial world, which the rebels promptly start planning to liberate. Thus begins the power struggle between Pestage, the Cabal, and the Rebel Alliance on Brentaal.

As I've said, this comic has an awesome number of dogfights, and it introduces several new Rogues to make up for attrition in the last comic. In addition, it introduces Salm and his wing of Y-wings, as well as Imperial fighter legend Baron Fel and his feared 181st Fighter Group, which is basically the Imperial equivalent of Rogue Squadron. Also, Kapp Dendo and his SpecOps squad show up again. The art is nice and easy to follow, and the pilot chatter is good as always. Unfortunately, Baron Fel is somewhat stiff, starting as just a perfect superpilot, but he does evolve into a more human character by the end of the series. Also, why is Plourr still with the Rogues? Wasn't her return at the end of the previous comic just a very temporary reprieve from her duties on Eiattu?

Just as a note of interest, you'll notice that the main battle in this comic was adapted as one of the levels in the Rogue Squadron 3D game for PC and N64.

Overall, this is an excellent comic, one of the best Rogue Squadron stories out there. Definitely and highly recommended.

Hercule Poirot was a short, fat, dapper detective who solved his cases by exercising his "little grey cells".

"The Murder of Roger Ackroyd" was Christie's fourth Poirot novel, while "Murder on the Links" was her second. In both Christie adopts the motif of narrating the story from the point of view of someone who undertakes to assist Poirot in the solution of the mystery. Christie introduces the cast of suspects, gives each of them a dark secret and a motive to lie, and piles up the circumstances in such a way that the flying fickle finger of suspicion points to every one of them at some time or another. She compounds the confusion by supplying false leads and deliberatly glossing over hot clues.

In each case Poirot holds his cards close to his vest, tantalizes the reader/listener with cryptic comments, and finds the most inconsequential-appearing facts to be highly significant. Eventually Poirot airs everyone's dirty laundry, explains his chain of deductive reasoning, reconstructs the crime in all its improbable complexity, and gets a confession. The stories are less mysteries than they are sliding block puzzles. Though extremely short on realism, they are long on entertainment value.

Although the BBC radio play had excellent production values, audio cassette may not be the best way to enjoy a Poirot mystery. I listen to radio plays as I drive on business, and I find the Poirot plays hard to follow because of the large cast of characters and the complexities of plotting. Poirot could probably be enjoyed more readily in print. You could then read, re-read, take time out to mull over the complexities, and follow the story much better. Probably the best way to enjoy Poirot would be to read the story first, and then listen to the radio play.

The mystery is beyond our imagination. The background and characters truly victorian, and above all the narrative very gripping! Oh! I am re-reading and every time I enjoy even though I know the mystery! Once again, Poirot at his best with his passion for order and method.

As a Christie addict, having read all of her Poirot and Marple stories many times over, I can only say that "Roger Ackroyd" stands out as the best of the best. Even now, knowing the ending, I enjoy rereading the book, with all the delicious and subtle (but misleading) hints to the grand conclusion. And to the first-time reader, the ending comes as quite a surprise. The fabled Miss Christie leads the reader down so many lovely garden paths before the perfectly logical denouement! Delicious! The audio version is beautifully performed, and does proper justice to the book.

Great Ekg pocket!!. Very straight, not boring and easy understanding of the Ekg. Really helpful and time saving. Not a headache anymore on reading Ekg. From simple explanation to more complicated but easy to understand. Great for interns and residents.You should have it!.

Dr. Brose's "Guide to EKG Interpretation" is a resource that all physicians in training should seriously consider acquiring. It is an extremely thorough book, and its size is deceptive. You wouldn't think a small pocket-size book could pack this much information! As an illustration, I had a question on my Part II board exam about a "J wave", something I had never heard of, even after my EKG rotation and delivering a few EKG lectures. As it turns out, Dr. Brose's book addresses the J wave, while many other resources make no mention of it. Also, the material is presented in a way that is clear and very easy to follow. Full of cross-references, you can quickly gain a solid understanding of virtually any issue you'll encounter when interpreting an EKG. I believe that medical students, interns, residents, and attending physicians alike will benefit from owning this book. Certainly, it is something that medical students and interns should have in their pockets (it is not cumbersome...it's a perfect size).

Dr. Brose's book is an amazing tool for mastering the EKG. I have personally used this text each and every day on rounds and seeing patients in clinic. It is easy to read and contains what every student/intern/resident needs to know. I implore all of you out there that haven't conquered the EKG, to purchase this book and learn how to become a master at interpretation.

This book has a wealth of information about a wide variety of bird topics. It has bird anatomy, songs, how to build a nest box, etc. The main chapter of this book, named 'The Habitat BirdFinder' is a field guide to about 100 of the most commonly seen birds in North America, and isn't in any specific order, but by which habitat it is most likely to be seen in. It is very useful, with a large photograph and colour drawings with text for each bird. The range maps are very clear and easy to use. In the back of the book there is a good selection of other books and resources, including local birding organizations.
If you are looking for a first birding book, to get you started and familiar with birds, then this is a great start.

This book has been an excellent addition to my library on birding. Splendid photography! Helpful tips!Interesting insights and all at a great price. The book is beautiful and is clearly of high quality. You won't be disappointed!

This is a wonderfully put together reference book for bird watchers. I also gave one to my father as a gift and he just can't put it down. The pictures are teriffic and there's a lot of information about each bird. I would recommend it to anyone that enjoys birds.

Horton and others clearly delineate the dangers which face the Church of Jesus Christ, and if you're looking for fluff or easy reading, here, find another book like Max Lucado. This is meaty reading and worthy of the purchase. Highly recommended.

Some of the conservative church's greatest ambassadors deliver a great message in this book. Some very godly and inteligent men deliver a warning to the church of the future. The books basic theme is that the church must be circumspect so that it does not drift away from biblical dependence. The present day church has come to depend on so many sources for their theological understanding when ultimately scripture should be the only recognized voice. This book defends the traditional evangelical faith while giving and understanding of obvious needs of reform. Readers of this book will become acutely aware of the problems and solutions of the modern godly church.

With regard the authority of Scripture, most Christians would agree that the Bible is our authority in some sense. But in exactly what sense does the Bible claim to be our authority? I think evangelical Christianity is in serious trouble in that matter. In fact, it is facing big challenges for keeping Biblical faith. Some present-day evangelicals do not believe more in the Bible. The Scripture becomes just a very important thing, but not more a sufficient an inerrant Word of God. In their opinion, we have other sources to learn about God and his will for the Church today. So, if you are considering that questions into your heart, I would like to recommend you to read this book and The Compromised Church (from the same general Editor).

This is a comprehensive introduction to all sorts of telecommunications (mainly telephone regulation) issues. It's probably a bit much for the novice; something like Stuart Benjamin's Telecommunications Law and Policy is probably a better match there. But, if you want all the details, this is definitely the place to go.

There isn't anything else like this on the market. It contains all the FCC and court and DOJ lore on telecom from the beginning of the century through the 1996 Act up to the present. The spicy bits apparently were written by pundit Peter Huber (who isn't identified in the listing above).

This book gives the novice a very accessible route to the world of telecommunications and gives the expert a very comprehensive reference book. Very highly recommended. The FCC wants universal service? This book is universal in and of itself.

This hardback text is one of the best database API books that I have in my collection. It is well laid-out and it has examples.

This book is laid out in the order statements are used, with the necessary create and destroy statements together. It starts with connecting to the database, moves to statement execution, and rounds out with retrieving your results. There are of course necessary chapters on creating tables and dealing with transactions.

Each ODBC API call is accompanied with a list of appropriate parameters, return values, and errors.

ODBC Database API's are used in layers:

To Setup: Allocate Environment, Allocate Connection, Connect, ...

To Shutdown, reverse everything: ... Disconnect, Deallocate Connection, Deallocate Environment.

With the ODBC API you are given a whole lot of notes? But how do you combine those notes to write a symphony? This is the only book on the market which really shows you how. It consists of a detailed ODBC reference and highly useful sample code that shows how to take the API calls and make an application out of them.

The calls are grouped in logical sequences, each call is thoroughly described, and then an example of a program that uses that call (and other calls) is given.

The writing is extremely clear. The presentation is excellent. The book is extremely well organized.

It does not assume any prior knowledge of ODBC though it assumes you know how to program C.

C is the only language used in the book. The use of ODBC in other languages such as Visual Basic is not discussed.

Though this book is old; I cannot recommend it too highly. I've used it before and I'll use it again.

I had a situation come up where I needed to access an Oracle 7 stored procedure that returned output parameters and no results set. The Microsoft Visual C++ CRecordset classes don't handle that situation very well. The only solution was to drop down into ODBC API calls. I struggled until I found this book. It takes a lot of the mystery out of an extremely complex API. It pretty much rides around in my backpack everywhere I go now!

Not a bad book, but the cover! Surely they could have given such a book a better cover than a bunch of trees.
Once you get over the disappointing cover, if you still feel mystical enough to read it, then there's some useful information on hermetics and golden dawn, spelled out quite simply. Good for beginners I would suggest.

I have one complaint with this book, and that is John Michael Greer's approach to the explination of the rituals he highlights in his book. They combine discussion with the steps, which I found more confusing than perhaps spliting each ritual into steps and then discussion of the steps. But this is hardly more than a gripe when you look at the way Greer has opened up magic in a real way. He doesn't hold back, letting people know what magic is really about and encouraging those who are truly interested in magical studies to dive in for themselves. Also, when supplemented with Paths of Wisdom, his book on the magical cabala, the full complexities of the Golden Dawn system becomes very accessible.

One the best, reader-friendly books on Qabalah and Golden Dawn magic. I would recommend it to anyone.

If Michael Stackpole has written the storyline, you are virtually guaranteed a great Star Wars Tale. He, like Timothy Zahn, and maybe one or two other writers always deliver material that is faithful to the saga, and well written as well. These collections of illustrated stories bound between a single cover are not as widely visible as the more traditional books. However they can be fun, and when they are good, they are extremely good. And just as the other forms of written material that bring the Star Wars Saga to fans, bits and pieces of information are here for the learning as well.

Another fan, Mastage, has already written a good summary of the contents, however there was one other aspect that I enjoyed. At the end of these books the cover art from the installments are generally included. This time they took several pages to document the creation of the cover art for this final volume from start to finish. Not unlike the movies these books that are a branch of the movies and other books, traditional attention and praise is rarely given, as it is deserved. The movies consistently are the biggest box office events of the year when they are introduced, yet other than technical achievement they are ignored.

Ysanne Isard is one of the better female villains that have been created, and if the Emperor even becomes an Empress, she will head the list of candidates. This is not the best of these I have read, as I continue to feel earlier books were more complete. The storylines were more developed, and many of the books were a full 50% longer than the more recent releases.

For fans of Star Wars all the written material are fun, so if you have yet to try one of these, do so, you will enjoy the experience.

Mandatory Retirement concludes the Rogue Squadron comic series, and does so with slick action, camaraderie and polish. For those who have the X-wing: Isard's Revenge book, you'll find the backstories of Admiral Krennel and Ms Isard here.

The art is worthy of The Phantom Affair in quality, and just as fantastic, certainly above other issues of this series. The background detail in frames are not fuzzy or lacking, and some scenes are actually rendered from creative camera-points.

Plenty of characters here, and their interaction is fun and not left to idle. Though the Imperial scenes are short they are adequate. The dialogue is vintage Stackpole; readers of his X-wing books will recognise his style of speech sentence structure. Wedge's face has changed so often per issue you wonder what his cosmetic secret is. It was nice to see all the Rogues having R&R in the beginning, though beware---Wedge and Tycho have bulging muscles without their shirts!

The plot is great and never a dull moment. Baron Fel's lines stand out, but it is Pestage that stands out here. He goes from being a pest to a pestilence on everyone's nerves, particularly when you have to protect someone who's your enemy. There are many links to the X-wing books; Krennel's cryptic comment scoffing at studying an enemy's art when a tactical hologram will tell all you need to know is better explained in Isard's Revenge, where Thrawn booted him out of his forces, is one.

Other nice touches was Wedge's long eulogy, some sharp lines from General Carvin, and more Dendo scenes; the man likes his cape, doesn't he? Though Salm and Dendo have similar faces, apart from the latter's head horns.

Overall, Mandatory Retirement is a great issue and a fitting finale to this series. If you're looking for a comic with good action, dialogue and an actual story, not just a tale, this is the one for you.

Stackpole ends his series with a bang. 'Mandatory Retirement' is indeed second only to 'In the Empire's Service' in the series in my opinion (as I prefer the larger-scale arcs) and is indeed uniquely Star Wars.
The story begin with light scenes of the various Rogues intermixing, socializing, and so forth, building the characters enhanced over the course of the series. Intermixed with these, however, are grim scenes of the events on Coruscant and Cituric. Pestage, intermin Emperor, goes into hiding, and the hunt for him begins. Dinner, dancing, and enjoyment ends for the Rogues and they are suddenly thrown into the mix of things.
One of the high points in this story are the many philosophical conversations about the Empire and the Repulbic and the differences between them. The conversations between Fel and Pestage and the clash between Nrin, Fel, Pestage, and Wedge after one of the Rogues is lost are both some of the best SW I've ever read. One must also take note of the dire contrast between the first and second halves. The Rogues begin by relaxing and enjoying themselves (except for to lonely, rejected Fel) and events transpire that put these same people in a dire, morbid situation where their hope for survival looks bleak. superb writing by Stackpole.
Onto the art. The Nadeau-Crespo team is a success, with and very good mix of people and technology. X-wings, Y-wing, Bantha-class shuttles, and Star Destroyers all look superb, in particular a jaw-dropping two-page battle shot towards the end. Crespo does very good faces and their expressions. One of my favorite parts of the whole arc is the full-page shot of the Rogues and Kapp Dendo's commandoes standing over the cloth-covered body of a fallen Rogue. (Who will remain nameless, of course.) The expressions on each and every face is a virtual window into what each one must be thinking. And once again the coloring by Dave Nestelle is superb, perfectly conveying the feelings of bleakness and hopelessness in some scenes while conveying one of tranquility and enjoyment in others.
In a series like Rogue Squadron, when you have dozen of characters, its hard to balance it out. But Stackpole does it just as well as he has throughout the series. Fel once again is a superb character, while others like Nrin show both their good points and their flaws very well. Pestage starts out as an almost sympathetic character, but as time goes on he becomes more and more loatheful.
Not perfect, but still highly reccomended. It's also one of the few examples in Star Wars where an actualy deep, philosphical reason against the Empire is established. Bravo to Stackpole and crew for a great ending to a great series.

When Michael Nyman first published this work in the 70s, it was the only book of its kind to discuss some of the most cutting-edge stuff going around. Most musical texts avoided discussing the Fluxus group as "music," but Nyman integrates these radicals easily, and provided the first discussion of the Scratch Orchestra (Cardew et al), and related topics. The book still contains some of the clearest discussions of these topics around. It's great to have it back in print, though too bad Nyman couldn't be bothered to provide updates on some of the folks discussed, like Hugh Skempton.

In this work originally published in 1974, Nyman discusses the work of composers and performers who shifted the boundaries of music as regards notation, time, space, and the roles of the composer, performer and audience. The author seeks to identify and explain a whole body of musical work that existed outside the classical tradition and the avant-garde orthodoxies that flowed from it. He thus explores the Anglo-American musical tradition loosely associated with John Cage. Since 1974 this book has been considered the classical work on the radical alternative to the mainstream avant-garde as represented by Berio, Boulez and Stockhausen. Many of the current popular composers like Glass and Reich trace their root to this experimental school. The most fascinating chapter to me is "Minimal Music, Determinacy And The New Tonality" in which the Theatre Of Eternal Music (Tony Conrad, La Monte Young, Marion Zazeela and John Cale) as well as the work of Terry Riley is discussed. Photographs, illustrations and musical notations enliven the text and the book concludes with a selected source bibliography, a discography of experimental music and a bibliography of publications since 1974. Brian Eno has contributed an interesting foreword to this edition. The text can get a bit technical for the non-musician, but it remains a detailed work on a radical musical direction that has borne great fruit in the years since it was first analysed in this thorough and scholarly work.

Nyman's 1974 classic is here reprinted sans revisions. Brilliant! It captures a moment -- as Nyman concludes his preface, "Thank goodness I wrote it when I did." EM is not a survey of 20th century avant-garde music. It focuses on one trend, inaugurated by Cage, Wolff, Feldman and Brown in the 1950s, a trend which explicitly attempted to overturn the traditional avant-garde then marching under the banner of total serialism. Nyman contrasts Wolff to Stockhausen, then a leading serialist: "Stockhausen is speaking of an unwanted situation needing to be remedied by his intervention, Wolff of a situation he is quite happy to accept, leaving sounds to go their own way." (27) As Cage says in his "Silence,"

"Not an attempt to understand... Just an attention to the activity of sounds."

One of the great strengths of Nyman's short book is his careful attempt to define experimental music before he moves on to discuss the artists and their music. To summarize and paraphrase, he says experimental composers are excited by creating "a process of generating action," involving situations or fields delineated by compositional rules, but leaving them open to the performers. (4)

Experimental music is uncompromisingly radical, and represents an ongoing influence on creative music, but has certainly not become any sort of popular movement. So for instance, while the early "minimalists" Young and Riley were arguably part of the experimental tendency, as were Reich's early phase patterns, (and hence are included here by Nyman), the later works of Reich, and especially Glass, are no longer open and experimental. And while Eno and recent techno/ambient artists have been influenced, their innovations have been more technical than conceptual by comparison.

My recommendation if this sounds intriguing -- check out anything by the English free-improv group AMM, which is nowadays constituted by Eddie Prevost on percussion, Keith Rowe on guitar and electronics, and John Tilbury on piano!