This book tells a complex story within a richly and well researched history. Don't expect your basic vampire/sorcerer horror tale. The references to the supernatural are minor to the story at hand. My one criticism is that the story sometimes gets a bit too convoluted.

I read this book, more or less by accident, not particularly famous and was dazzled. Wow. Can't think of what to say, but will try.

The novel is set in an alternate history Europe, where either Constantine never converted to Christianity or Julian established the equality of all faiths, and the Byzantine Empire never declined, but in fact by the middle of the XVth century controls most of Eastern Europe and is trying to get as much of the West as possible. And magic works, and vampires exist also. I don't usually like alternate history, the real historical characters usually look unlikely next to the alternate bits, but this novel handled it perfectly, and the real historical characters of the XVth century (Richard III of England, his mother, and brothers, the Earl Rivers, Louis XI of France, the Medicci, the Duke of Urbino) are a joy to read about if you have met them before.

Great novel, deserving of a far better review than this one.

One of my favourite books,The Dragon Waiting, is a superb blend of history and fantasy. Mixing historical characters from the 15th century and captivating fictional heroes, this is a book that is both engrossing and enjoyable. John M Ford, a much underated author, succeeds in combining in-depth research with a vivid imagination and tweaks history to create a vision of europe where conspiracies lurk behind shady motives and dark characters, vampirism is a spreadable disease and magic a burden to the magician. A truly marvellous book, that deserves reprinting.

This book is out of print, but still available if you know where to look. John M. Ford's award winning "Growing Up Weightless" is a familiar theme for him: coming-of-age during a period of change in society. His version of Lunar society owes some debts to previous stories including Heinlein's 'The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress,' but has developed in ways that may surprise you.

As usual, his story is multi-layered, and requires an intelligent reader to decipher the hints and allusions that Ford places throughout the text. Those who want active, clearly described plots should look elsewhere - but those who prefer not to be condescended to and enjoy puzzling out a story would enjoy this novel.

Ford never descends to the device of having characters explain something to each other that they would obviously already know, i.e. "As you know, George, a light bulb is a luminescent device powered by electricity that creates light in dark areas." For science fiction in particular, I find this very refreshing.

Finally, Ford's teenagers are active, thinking kids with dreams and desires. If they are very bright, they also seem very real to me.

It's worth finding a copy of this book. Better still, it would be worth bringing back into print.

I read this book when I was too young to fully understand the complexity of the main character's decision about his future. When I started to go through the same sorts of choices, I found myself haunted by the book, even though I had finished it years ago. The most powerful scene for me is the mother's farewell. Even at the time it made me cry; now it is one of those scenes I use as an example to myself of what good writing really is. Thank you John M. Ford for a very moving experience!

I cannot imagine why Growing Up Weightless is not in print. I was on the jury that picked it for the P.K. Dick award, and since reading it I have always felt that it describes life on the Moon as it should and must be.

One of the great vehicles that Star Trek used to convey a story is humor. "A Piece Of The Action", "Star Trek IV" used humor appropriately and sparingly in their story. Yet, in Ford's "How Much For Just The Planet?" I find the humor to be mundane or almost "British." Pie fights in Star Trek? Yep. Is it funny? Matter of opinion I guess, but I found the humor in a pie fight lacking. I really don't think slapstick humor in Trek suits very well. This is humor that you'd see in a 3 Stooges episode, not Trek. Only redeeming factor that I enjoyed from the book is the Federation survey team that crash lands on the planet. I'm glad to see that not every starship, no matter what size, has access to holodecks (yeah I know pre-generation), rec-decks, and libraries. The boredom that the crew was suffering from was protrayed nicely from the author. Best that Trek has to offer? No, but definitely not the worst.

This kind of parody and self-mockery is rarely seen, nor done so well. Not everybody will like its insistence on not taking itself seriously, or its improbable plot. But it is howlingly funny to those who can appreciate a little physical humor and parody.

Kirk and a bunch of Klingons find themselves on a strange new planet, having to negotiate for a rare mineral. The planet's indigenous population turns out to not want either group there and takes steps to get them both off the planet. This sounds like a fairly straightforward plot, but the twists and turns that arise from it are, to say the least, silly.

This is slapstick at its finest. It is roaringly funny filk songs sung by the most wildly improbable cast one can imagine. It's Klingons in formal Earth-style tuxes and dresses. It's a landing crew soaked in replicated strawberry milkshake. It's a dominatrix leading a Busby-style musical scene. It's Bones totally hung over and a Klingon fed to a laundry chute.

I can well imagine that not all fans are going to get into this. It solidly pokes fun at everything Star Trek fandom has revered for 20 years. It's not serious; it's barely even plausible. But that's part of the fun for me. If you like your SF seasoned with more than the average amount of humor, you may find this to be fun as well. Probably its only detraction is that I didn't know all the songs being referenced. I'm probably just too young!

This has to be the funniest Star Trek book I have ever read ... probably one of the funniest books as well. While some books have a few mildly comic scenes, this one made me laugh do hard that I was a mess. Totally incoherent with tears, the works!

The Vulcan, T'Vey is priceless and I've always liked the Vulcans more after reading this delightful book.

The book has 3 different back stories going on, which all come together at the end. Kirk and the Enterprise arrive on the planet of Deiriedi and their interactions with the local inhabitants form the first part of the story. Then there is the story of T'Vey and the crew of the freighter and their mishap that lands them on the planet. Lastly there are the Klingons who come to defend their rights to the dilithium ore and want to beat Kirk et al to the punch. The locals have their own ideas and play one group against the other. Over it all, in the background, both Kirk and the Klingons try very hard to behave so that the Organians don't zap them for their bad behavior.

It's beautifully written and a joy to read even if you've read it before. Thank you John Ford for a real treat.

John M. Ford's latest is another in a string of excellent novels by an author who doesn't receive the praise and recognition he deserves. Ford's novels are all fabulously inventive. 'The Last Hot Time' is no different.

This novel is about a young man in an alternate world where Faerie exists. Danny Holman is 'called' to Faery where he becomes Doc Hallownight, the personal physician to a mysterious gangster-type figure.

What I love most about this book are Ford's fascinating characters. He's created a relatively large ensemble cast, all of whom receive roughly equal time sharing the spotlight with Doc. The forlorn newspaper reporter. The babbling beauty with a voice to die for. The Elf assassin. Ford's menagerie is endlessly inventive and interesting. I was sorry to see this novel end after only 200 pages.

I highly recommend this novel. One of my favorites from 2000.

"The Last Hot Time" is, at heart, a coming of age story. Years after the gates to Faerie have been reopened, Daniel Holman is running: away from his Iowa childhood, toward something better, or at least different. A road accident throws him into the orbit of a literate, powerful patron named, appropriately, Mr. Patrise. Patrise, it seems, is one of the leaders of the world between the worlds, and Holman, now renamed Doc Hallownight, learns much about his new world and more about himself.

John M. Ford owes debts in many directions for this book. Most of them are explicitly acknowledged, such as the movies Doc & his girlfriend Ginevra go to see and the references to tales of 1920s gangland Chicago. Terri Windling's "Borderlands" series is neatly tied to this one by several subtle references, and Ford borrowed two Emma Bull characters for a cameo. Those who love contemporary fantasy, residents of Chicago, and old movie lovers will find many in-jokes and references to enjoy here.

Ford's signature style is to leave much unsaid, to assume the readers' intelligence and let the reader draw their own conclusions from the hints Ford provides. It took me a full re-read of the novel before I understood the ending, and the exact nature of Doc's treacherous heart, and the reason Doc fears himself as much as anything or anyone around him. The story is told from Holman/Hallownight's viewpoint, and the moment when he switches from thinking of himself as Danny to knowing himself as Doc is sharply drawn and never commented upon.

If "The Last Hot Time" has a flaw, it is that Ford is covering well-trodden ground. Windling and her co-conspirators have done a remarkable job describing their Borderlands, to the point that Ford's story is overshadowed by his predecessors. Still, "The Last Hot Time" is at least as much about mood and character as about setting, and here Ford succeeds admirably. It's easy to fall in love with his complex, self-contradictory, wonderful characters.

I recommend 'The Last Hot Time' to anyone who wants to remember a time that never was, but that you wish you'd seen.

The Last Hot Time is a fascinating tale of young man who leaves his home in the mortal world to live in The Levee, a region inbetween the mortal world & Faerie. Danny Holman becomes Doc Hallownight and quickly becomes involved in the intrigue of the Levee. Under the sponsorship of the mysterious Mr. Patrise, he uses his medical knowledge to help the other residents of the shadow region. With a colorful cast of characters with names like Cloudhunter, Stagger Lee, Ginevri Benci, & Phasia, he battles a dark force loose in the Levee. I have waited a while for Ford's new novel and it is well worth the wait. This made my Hugo nomination list for Best Novel of 2000.

GURPS Y2K seems poised to be a good sourcebook for post-apocalyptic role-playing. Don't be put off by the name - this book contains much more than just the millennium bug.

Starting with a chapter on Y2K (which we know on 20-20 hindsight never became the calamity that some were predicting), there are ideas in this book for everything from a complete world-wide computer shutdown, to "Mad Max" type worlds, and even the biblical "Judgement Day", along with several others. There's also a section on a super-hero world suffering from post-apocalypse blues.

The "sidebars" (sections of the book along the sides of each page) contain even more material that can be used to put your game world in a state of chaos. Some of these sidebars beg to be put into whole worlds of their own.

But the book suffers slightly when it reads a little like a collection of articles about post-apocalypse scenarios in gaming, rather than a single world presented in RPG terms. The =nine= authors each contributed a section or two to this book, and only the excellent effort by Sean Punch to put it all together under one roof keeps this book from being merely a collection of unrelated after Armageddon articles.

I'd still recommend this book for people wanting to see what their campaign world would look like after a major catastrophe, or for people wanting to explore what happens after.

Well, overall the book was pretty well made. It touched upon many of the common topics and settings for a post holocaust envirnoment including everything from minor computer glitches to the Biblical apacalypse and "Mad Max" and "The Postman" type situations. Even alien invasion was discussed in the essays. All seven authors of the book provided well written source matterial. Y2k also gives information on realistic rioting and anarchy.

There was one point I did not like about the book though. It would make many references to other GURPS source books, some of which were out of print, for more material on a subject. I feel that some of the writing was judt put in a advertisements and "plug" for other books.

Personally, I wish they had touched more on the "Mad Max," "Postman," and "Fallout" (a post-apacalyptic computer game) scenarios, but I do realize that the book was created for post Y2K campaigns and that everyone does not like what I like.

Overall, though, the book provides good post distaster material.

I just picked up a used copy of this yesterday and read it last night. It contains three stories that take place in Liavek, the backdrop for a series edited by Emma Bull and Will Shetterly in the 1980s. One of the three stories already appeared in the series, but the other two are new. I was thrilled to find new Liavek material, and enjoyed it very much. The stories are engrossing and go in directions you would not expect. Wonderful! I only wish I'd found this years ago.

One of the more useful guides that are used in pediatric inpatient pharmacy. Very straight-forward approach to the most common IV drugs.

Whether you play Traveller or Gurps-Traveller, this is an excellent supplement. The details and game ideas are at the level of excellence that we've come to expect from Steve Jackson Games. Players often spend a lot of time at a world's starport, and this helped me to bring them alive in ways I'd never thought of before. The first time your players goto an otherwise mediocre world specifically because they like its starport, you'll know you got your money's worth. Maps of several starports, buildings, and small craft are included. I didn't give it 5 stars only because the book should really be titled Imperial Starports, as it gives less than a page of data on ports outside the Imperium.

Having read Ford's "Web of Angels," I searched long and hard to find another of his books, suceeding finally in the back of a supremely dusty used-bookstrore in deepest downtown New York. It takes some serious reading to understand the plot--both what's going on 'right now,' and how it ties into what's happening/has happened. It reminded me of Gibson's writing a little, in that respect. It's eccentric, well-realised, and definately no kin of average SF. Find a copy, and enjoy, and reread, and enjoy, and... Well, you get the picture. Check out Gene Wolfe, while you're at it. Best fiction author of our time, I believe.

how the hell do i know if the information this book is what i want? what if this book only gives me the information i already know? meaning, it will only give half of the information, but not enough to finish the job.

This book is much better than Chilton's. Mustang II's are Mustangs too!!!

Just what the title says. I can't believe amazon allowed the first guy's review. He needs to learn how to do research or graduate from high school :)
Another great source for repair info is the yahoo! group- mustangiima. Use a search engine to find it then join up! Many knowledgeable people are on that list. Good luck with your II.