This book contains the winners of three of the categories of Hugo awards (novella, novelette and short story) from the years 1992, 1993 and 1994.

Most of the stories here were first published in Asimov's science fiction magazine. Thus, regular subscribers to that will find little new in this collection.

I felt that the three short stories were not particularly good.

The first, "A Walk in the Sun" by Geoffrey Landis is traditional SF involving an astronaut stranded on the Moon. I felt that this could have been written thirty or forty years earlier and, after the first four pages, it was simple to see how the rest of the story would progress.

Only one writer, Connie Willis, featured twice and her two short stories were, for me at least, the weakest in the collection.

While none of them stands out as being exceptionally good, the longer works do manage to redeem the collection. The first novelette, "Gold" by Asimov is not particularly memorable but the other two, "The Nutcracker Coup" and "Georgia on my Mind" together with the three novellas, "Beggars in Spain", "Barnacle Bill the Spacer" and "Down in the Bottomlands" tip the balance.

All five of these were interesting stories in settings ranging from contemporary Earth through space adventure to alien worlds and races. TNC and BiS also had something interesting to say beyond their narrative.

In summary then, a readable book which is worth the price of admission but there are better collections around.

I've noticed that even impressive collections like this have no reviewers. I want to think it is because the fact they won Hugos means no further recommendation is required, but that excuse doesn't really wash. Fortunately collectins of big name authors do slightly better, but anthologies like this that contain stories by big name authors aren't being read anymore it seems. Worse Hugo winning stories tend to come from magazines like asimov's, analog, f&sf, & SF Age which all are in decline. On the plus side the Hugo anthologies are generally good reading & I almost wish they did what the Nebulas do i.e. put out yearly collections of their nominees. Since I tend to prefer Hugo nominated stories to Nebula nominated stories I'd jump at it. Oh, well. Interstingly many of the great stories in this collection were first in magazines. Beggars in Spain is especially wonderful, but I bet the others are too. A good thing about anthologies like this is that we live in an age of bloated trilogies so this is a nice step in a different direction. I hope you enjoy this collection and I hope short fiction is in better shape than I think. P.S. If you like short fiction of any stripe give science fiction anthologies a chance, after all s.f. is perhaps the best place for short fiction nowadays.

Unless you read the science fiction magazines, you've probably missed these sf stories. This is a great compilation of excellent SF; don't miss it!

Corto Maltese, laconic adventurer, drifts through the Caribbean in these 4 adventures by the late Hugo Pratt, the Hemingway of comix writers. This wasn't one of my favorites but Pratt's art and stories are always thought-provoking.

In the first tale Corto, his drunkard friend Steiner and young Cain Groovesnore tangle with Rasputin and the heirs of buccaneers in a hunt for pirate treasure.

The next rather muddy adventure has Corto becoming mixed up in a murderous puzzle involving a decaying Caribbean family and general skullduggery.

With Corto in recovery from a blow to the head, Steiner involves both of them in a strange quest for El Dorado.

Finally the title story has Corto stumbling into international intrigue in one of the region's banana republics, with revolutionaries and adventurers struggling with agents of the U.S. government and the mysterious Gold Mouth.

I can't resist Corto but I'd recommend 'In Siberia' or 'A Midsummer Morning's Dream' ahead of this collection.

Hugo Pratt has brought literature to comics. Corto Maltese the sun of a gipsy and english sailor is a citizen of the world. He believes that everybody is free. By is own words " My destiny is what I make of it". In these times of computers and online infornation Corto Maltese is there to remind us that the romantic way of life is not yet terminated. The bullfights, and huntings of Hemingway are, in these books, transposed to comics,by Hugo Pratt. Long live these small pleasures of life.

The loner policeman/detective has been a staple protagonist in crime fiction and film for the better part of a century, however here we find Dublin Garda (policeman) Pat Coyne not in this role, but rather as a portrait of a middle-aged man disintegrating. While his partner prattles on about golf, Coyne is pondering the bigger problems of the world, especially environmental ones. Unfortunately no one-not his colleagues, nor his wife and kids, or harridan mother in law-seem to understand him. His frustration manifests itself in increasingly rash acts on the job which earn his the nickname of "Mr. Suicide" as he goes to extreme lengths to clean up Dublin's streets of all its criminal trash.

Over the course of the book, his transformation from misunderstood family man to Dirty Harry starts veering more and more toward Travis Bickle territory as he encounters a criminal's girlfriend and is struck by the need to protect her. This pits him against the city's nastiest gangsters in a series of impulsive, clandestine, off the job actions with their own repercussions. Meanwhile, on the home front, his wife is throwing her self into painting, and possibly the arms of her instructor, which only ratchets up Coyne's breakdown. The climactic showdown brings all these threads together and resolves them with very symbolic actions.

Ultimately, the book, while an enjoyable quick read, is not the tour de force the cover would have you believe. It is refreshing to find an Irish novel that doesn't tread upon the topics of religion and sectarianism (although the jacket copy writer seemed to think otherwise) for once. There are enough unexplained elements though, to leave readers scratching their heads. For example, in the very beginning, there's a chase scene, and an axe is thrown at Coyne and his partner. There's no talk of taking the axe in as evidence, taking prints off it, using it to convict anyone, it's just like "Oh, well someone through an axe at us, hopefully we'll run across them some other time." Coyne has a sort of mentor/father figure who dispenses Obi-Wan type advice to him from time to time, who seems to exist only to point Coyne in the right direction (ie. keep the plot running). And finally, although Coyne is clearly self-destructing and not thinking through the consequences of his actions, it's hard to believe he'd so blithely put his family in the danger he does. It's hard not to compare Coyne (and the book), to Irvine Welsh's imploding Edinburgh police detective Bruce Robertson in the much more inventive and rewarding "Filth." Still minor problems aside, it's well worth reading if you're into modern Irish literature, plus, Coyne's story continues in "Sad Bastard."

When I ordered "Headbanger," I thought I would be reading a police procedural that takes place in Dublin. The only thing I got right is the locale.

Basically, "Headbanger" is the story of Pat Coyne, a police officer in Dublin who is determined to arrest some big-time criminals who have evaded the law for years. The problem is that Pat does not have the support of the Garda or his fellow police officers. In Pat, we meet the ultimate maverick police officer who takes it upon himself to bring these drug lords and murderers to justice single handedly. He employs methods that are not only are outside the system, but are downright illegal.

In the course of his single-minded determination to bring down these bad guys, Pat also manages to get himself involved in the lives of friends and strangers alike, none of whom welcome his attentions. This is a man who reacts without regard to the consequences of his actions. His rash behavior could prove dangerous not only to him and his beloved wife and children, but to anyone who comes in contact with him.

Pat thinks it is his responsibility to make things right for the whole world. Quite a tall order for one man. But, you see, Pat is on an endless search for the meaning of life and what role he can play in setting things right. You can't help but love this guy whose greatest joy is quoting inane statistics about everything in the world you didn't care one whit about to anyone who will listen...or pretend to listen...and spending time with his family.

"Animosity" has scenes of hard-boiled violence, sensitive character explorations and, at times, is just plain funny. The book has no chapters or quotation marks around the dialogue. At first, it was slow reading but once I got into the rhythm, the story flowed. For this reason, I am rating the book four stars instead of five. If I could, I would rate it 4-l/2 stars.

I can't wait to read the sequel to this book to see what kettle of fish this loveable loose cannon has gotten himself into.

...I do wish they'd given an explanation as to why all the Portuguese words which end in the letter "r" have an unwritten "t" sounded at the end as well, with the result being that "ter" (to have) is pronounced "teert" on these cassettes, and "valor" as "valort" etc. If this really is the right way of pronouncing such words in European Portuguese, how come there's no mention of this peculiarity anywhere in the pronunciation guides of the accompanying book (or any others I've looked at about learning Portuguese for that matter)?? I don't know any natives to ask about this unfortunately, but I am thinking of going on holiday (vacation) to Portugal sometime in the not too distant future, and would prefer to know before then whether these t-sounds are correct or not so I'm not in the habit of mispronouncing many of their words by the time I do start communicating with native speakers!

That said however, I think the book and tapes are pretty good apart from that. Essential grammar is clearly explained, and I found the frequent exercises provided a useful way of assessing my progress by drawing attention to what hadn't yet fully sunk in and needed to be gone over again.

I need to have those cassettes as well, but I don't find any sense that I had to buy whole package 'cause it not possible to buy just cassettes. Is it really so?

The profoundly hard struggle of black South Africans against the oppresive apartheid regime is well documented as are the efforts of high profile white activists like Joe Slovo etc.
I have never before though the read the account of an 'ordinary' white South African whos life was fundamentally turned upside down through his opposition to what was happening in his country.
This is an amazing story. Well written and incredibly exciting, it gives a real insight into how many white South African's lives were affected by the struggle there.

In a world where there are so many specialties, it is nice to sit down and read a well written novel. Matson is a great story teller. His dialogue is his strength. The characters are real.

Pull up a chair and enjoy.

A great brief little book on early Triumph with good quality photos. Good introduction for those interested in Triumph history and motorcycles.

This collection of diverse essays provides a broad overview of the emerging field of conflict resolution. Although it has become a bit dated, only lightly covering many of the post-modern insights now popular in the field (gender, identity, and worldview conflicts), it's still a must-read for scholars and students interested in getting a broad introduction to CR.

Corto Maltese, worldy-wise adventurer, travels through the Africa during World War I in this neat set of tales by the late Venetian cartoonist Hugo Pratt.

Corto rides with Lawrence of Arabia to Tuban in the first tale, where a group of British prisonners are being held by the Turks. Next he is at a British outpost in North Africa when it is overwhelmed by Arab warriors. His comrade from the previous adventure, the Danakil warrior Cush, rescues him and the pair travel to Ethiopia where an aged sorcerer - or fallen angel? - helps them resolve a dispute between the parents of a Moslem boy who loves a Christian girl. Finally Corto winds up in East Africa, where he avenges the murder of the brother of an old comrade with the aid of an African secret society.

Pratt's style is not for everyone - the graphics are somewhat crude, but have a subtle appeal. The stories are little gems, however, and display an aesthetic unique in comic books.

Hugo Pratt is great and the short tales of "A Mid-Winter Morning's Dream" probably sum up all the classical Corto themes. All are set in 1918. The title story is a clever interweaving of myth and historical romance: 'Harps and Dynamite' is an amazingly effective evocation of the Irish resistance in the post-Easter Rising period. There is a neat wartime-caper fantasy, an espionage tale (the weakest of the stories) and best of all a magnificent consideration of the death of the Red Baron with all the brilliant characterization for which Pratt is famous.