This is book two in the Icerigger series where we find Ethan Fortune and Skua September embarking on a mission to help their Tran friends once again. Both want to leave the planet, but they stay anyway and adventure continues. Foster did a wonderful job with this whole series, and I sincerely feel someone in the publishing industry needs to grab these books and re-print them. They are simply fantastic and are one of Alan Dean Foster's best.

This is the second in the Icerigger series and one of a number of books in the Commonwealth Universe by Foster. The way that he incorporates information from the other novels of the commonweath gives this book, and the series, a form of history and background usually missing in such works. It also is so well done that even if you haven't read any of the other commonwealth books, it is easy to keep up with the action and become almost involved in the events happening in the book. I just hope that they bring the Icerigger Trilogy back in a hardcover one book format, so that many more people can become fans of Fosters. Definitely a must read.

Mission to Moulokin is the sequel to Icerigger. It is about the further adventures of Ethan Frome Fortune, Skua September and Milliken Williams as they try to help their Tran friends qualify for admitance into the Commonwealth. It is a thoroughly enjoyable book as the heros battle against corrupt Commonwealth officials and an insane Tran leader, find the fabled city of Moulokin and learn of the history of the Tran.

Broadway playwright and TV producer Lyle Zacharias drops dead at his own birthday party. Amanda's mother Bea becomes the prime suspect after the police realize that Bea made the poisoned tarts which caused Lyle's untimely death. Amanda's big task now is to prove her mother's innocence by solving the case. WITH FRIENDS LIKE THESE is a mystery story designed to make the reader feel good.

This is a truly great book. A little bit of mystery and a whole lot of fun. Amanda Pepper and crew are so funny. The whole series is wonderful and this is one of the best.

With Friends Like These is a return to the Amanda Pepper I became enchanted with, the wonderful mystery series, not the heavy handed social commentary of How I Spent My Summer Vacation.

Impossible Places

Sometimes I don't like short stories a lot. By the time you are interested in the story it is over. Most of these stories are actually very good

Lay your head on my Pilose-Just a creepy story, full of murder and subtlty I wish this one had been longer

Diesel Dream-This is one my two favorite stories it tells the tale of a trucker on his way to fullfill one of his runs (at least on the surface).

Leathel Prespective-My other favorite story tells the story of monsters and their invisible war against human kind, it is very short but very good.

Fitting Time-A dearly departed friend of Elvis asks a tabloid editor to stop running stories about the rock star, it was O.K

We Three Kings-Monsters of legend learn the true meaning of Christmas, very funny

Empowered-Also very good ask the fundimental question "What if the Lawyers got the better of the Super Hero's

Sideshow-I had never read any of the Pip and Flinx adventures before I will have to now, this is really interesting

The only story I didn't like was "The Kiss" just a stupid and pointless story. The other stories I haven't mentioned I didn't read because they didn't capture my interest. Whoever most of the stories in this book were really good and I highly recommend

Impossible Places is a collection of works that Foster has written from the start of the ninties to 2002 - most were originally published in magazines or other collections.

They all have two things in common: they are fantasy/SF "Outer Limits" type of stuff, and are located in far-flung places (hence "Impossible Places") from invented worlds to places that Foster has visited on holiday, like South America and outback Australia. I found the first story to be a little dull but the rest are quite enjoyable, and there is a Pip and Flinx story written just for the anthology.

There is also a comment from the author at the start of the book about why he writes short fiction, and a brief note at the start of each story explaining where the idea came from, where he was at the time of writing it, or just an insight into his personality.

Star Trek Log One contains three stories from the animated TV show that continued the voyages of the Enterprise. In Log One is "Beyond the Farthest Star," "Yesteryear," and "One of Our Planets is Missing." This book is great!

Most people don't even know that the animated Trek exists. It was very critically acclaimed in its time, and with episodes like the ones adapted here, one can certainly see why. "Beyond the Farthest Star" and "One of our Planets is Missing" are very good stories that capture an excellent sense of wonder. But the real winner of this volume is "Yesteryear," a poingiant story about Spock travelling to his past in the Guardian of Forever to save his younger self from being killed. The stories are adapted very well. My only problems are that Foster's style is too flowery and that "One of our planets is Missing" and "Beyond the Farthest Star" are too similar.

This series starts off with two groups of aliens fighting each other. There is the Weave, a republic fighting off the amalagation, which wishes to absorb all intellegent life. The weave is loosing. Desperate for new alies, the weave sends off a exploration ship. They find... humans. Research quickly reveals humans to be the most efficient and warlike fighting beings ever encountered. So good are we at war, that with just a little assistance, 'modern' humans can beat off a intersteller invasion... Needless to say, the weave is desperate for willing humans for the fighting, but do we want these savages in the weave? This first book focuses on the duality of humanity. We say peace loving, but we have this incredible drive for violence.

Alan Dean Foster does it again..with his third novelization of an Alien film. Alien 3 is an ok movie, but Foster's tie-in is much better due to the fact that it contains lots more dialogue from the original script(and some improvised obviously) that was cut from the final edit of the movie. I also like this book better than the movie because it features extra and alternate scenes that were in the original Alien 3 script, but deleted before the film was released. Such scenes mainly deal more with prisoner Golic and his obsession with the Alien, an alternare birth of the warrior Alien which I like better, and more character-developing dialogue among Dillon and the other prisoners. Buy this book today !

Ever since I saw the movie "The Piano", I've been curious about the Maori of New Zealand. It is assumed that they are descendents of Polynesians, but their culture and character are unique. They are a most intelligent and beautiful people. When the English moved in to colonize, they were much quicker to learn the language and customs of the intruders than the British, Irish, Australians and Germas were to learn about them. So they had a distinct advantage. They had heard what happened to the indigenous peoples of the Americas, Australia, Africa and Asia when European Imperialists took over, enslaving and killing the natives and appropriating their land. Inevitably, the same thing happened to the Maoris too but not to such an extent. Forewarned is forearmed.

The story starts in 1839 and spans more than 50 years. It concerns an English sea captain of his times (who nevertheless learned the Maori language), and his sons by his English wife, his Irish mistress and the Maori love of his life.

What bothers me about *Maori* is that it's called an "epic historical fantasy." This is a misnomer since the fantastic elements in it are a matter of historical record. After his epilogue, the author states that,

"Although real and fictional personages mix freely in this tale, the sighting of the death canoe by two separate parties of travelers and the entombment and subsequent rescue and death of the 104-year-old Maori, Tohunga [a shaman] known as Tuhoto, are a matter of historical record."

As is the eruption in 1886 of the volcano Tarawera and the burying of the "eighth wonder of the world", the pink and white limestone terraces that drew sight-seers from all over the 19th century world.

Alan Dean Foster is known primarily as a science fiction writer, so his publishers probably assumed it had to be "historical fantasy." It's an historical novel. Period. I'm amazed that it has received no other Amazon reviews because it's quite simply the best historical novel I've ever read.

Upon randomly picking up a copy of the 'Spellsinger's Scherzo,' I was instantly thrust into the 4th book of the Spellsinger series. (And yes, since then I have read all 8 of Alan Dean Foster's journeys into this fantastical world!) This book chronicals the further adventures of the Spellsinger Jon-Tom, as he travels with his otter companion Mudge to the distant city of Polastrindu, seeking to meet a mysterious magician who he suspects to be from the planet earth. Filled with humor and direness, lighthearted anecdotes and gripping action, this book, though it was the 4th in the series, grasped my attention as easily as if I had begun at the start of any epic series. A must have for any fantasy fan!

This is the best horror/sci-fi I have ever read. A greedy mining company combined with outer space miners and a dedicated Marshall makes for an excellent read. However, I was most impressed with the author's outstanding physical description of the mine.
Also, the movie left out some details which this brilliant author added. I never enjoyed a novel this much.