From Mr. Chopra's book, "He didn't know what the term meant, only that yesterday had been Ash Wednesday and tomorrow therefore Good Friday." This quote was taken directly from Mr.Chopra's book "Lords of Light" a novel, page 219. Mr. Chopra, for your information, Ash Wednesday is not part of Holy Week. It begins the day after Fat Tuesday, 40 days before Holy Week even begins. Holy Week begins on Palm Sunday (March 28th of this year) continues on to Holy Thursday (April 1st), Good Friday (April 2nd), and Holy Saturday (April 3rd). This year, Ash Wednesday was observed on Wednesday, February 17th, as far away from Good Friday as 40 days can manage. I was disappointed at the lack of research which caused this error and the inability of the editing staff who proof a book in not picking up such a glaring mistake.. I do wish to compliment you on the accuracy of the Jewish traditions.

Chopra and Greenberg have "created" an epic parable for the closing scene of the one act play called The 2nd Millennium.

If you can flow past the occasional factual "error," this is a book that takes up where the Torah-Bible-Koran leave off.

For ages descriptions of Utopia, Heaven and Paradise have lacked vitality, meaning and excitement. Recently theology, science and psychology have crossed to spawn a vigorous new spiritual awareness that is reflected in many nonfiction books, some by Dr. Chopra.

Lords of Light is an entertaining, action packed, thoughtful and humorous story of a modern day Saul of Tarsus. It is a great read, and it feeds the soul.

Let it take you on a journey of the fantastic! I do not typically enjoy reading, but I found Lords of Light to be a very intriguing and very enticing book that includes fantasy and wonder! It also includes historical facts that have been blended into the writing, but you don't realize that you are learning while you are following the fantastic story of good and evil, dark and light...determining what is good and what is evil is the true creative twist Deepak Chopra creates in this fantiastic novel. Try it, you'll love it!

THIS BOOK WAS HORRIBLE!!!!!! EVERYTHING EXCPECT BATTLE MAGIC FOR MORONS ISN'T WORTH THE PAPER IT'S PRINTED ON!!

Very disapointing..... all except "girl slayer" was terrible, and even girl slayer was weak compared to other books of this genre i have read. But i suppose it is pretty hard to develop a strong fantasy story with only 20 pages to work with...

Battle Magic is a superbly produced audiobook anthology of outstanding fantasy with each short story taking up the concept of magic as a weapon of combat between individuals, between armies, and between kingdoms. Each story, drawn from some of the best and most innovative writers in fantasy today, are aptly read by their individual narrators and conjure up worlds of dark enchantments, single champions against overwhelming odds, and powerful wizards locked in deadly conflict. The stories in this superbly produced, highly recommended, nine hour, unabridged, six cassette collection include Warlord; Hell's Bane; The Miracle of Salamis; The Jewel and the Demon; Alaric's Gift; The Fatal Wager; Ten for the Devil; Battle Magic For Morons; A Matter of Honor; Principles of Warfare; and The Strangeness of the Day.

some of the stories here are not in any way connected to Lovecraft. Wolfe's story here is interesting, but doesn't really get to be horrible. a story about out-of-the-body experiences is pretty good, but something seems amiss in the ending. a story about a stuffed animal amused me. also included are some mediocre stories, and also some really dull stories. the collection is perhaps not the worst in history, but you can easily do better.

Lovecraft "tribute" volumes appear to be developing into a sub-genre all of their own and this book is...definitely one of them. I leave it to the English major to define the difference between pastiche and plagiarism, to distinguish between stories influenced by, written in homage to, or containing ideas directly stolen from Lovecraft. All these are represented in this volume, as well as a couple of tales that seem to have no connection to Lovecraft's work at all.

Of the thirteen stories collected within, four or five are memorable. Three of the stories--arguably the three best--Gene Wolfe's genuinely chilling "Lord of the Land", Gahan Wilson's whimsical fantasy "H.P.L.", and F. Paul Wilson's "The Barrens"--have also more recently appeared in the Arkham House collection "Cthulu 2000." Also worthy of mention is Brian McNaughton's darkly humorous "Meryphillia", possibly more reminiscent of Clarke Ashton Smith's oeuvre than of Lovecraft's, and Mort Castle's Poe-esque "A Secret of the Heart."

There is a touchingly affectionate introduction by Robert Bloch and a short afterword by each author, sharing a little of what Lovecraft meant to him (unsurprisingly, all the authors are "hims").

If you have already read the three volumes of Lovecraft's work in print, the collection of his revisions "The Horror In The Museum And Other Tales," the two Arkham House tribute volumes "Tales Of The Cthulu Mythos" and "Cthulu 2000," and you still want more, perhaps this book will fit the bill.

Like all short story collections, this one has varying levels of quality. The average is so high, however, that it's well worth picking up if you're a fan of horror, mystical SF, or especially a Lovecraft fan. The stories show the influence of the Great Old Ones in Elizabethan England, the space program, the pine barrens of New Jersey and astral space in dreams. And, in the standout story of the book (H.P.L. by Gahan Wilson), Lovecraft appears as a character, as do Clark Ashton Smith and many, many, many bad things from his works. Of special interest to fans of Edgar Allan Poe is the first story in the collection, which ties the cosmology of Poe's stories together with Lovecraft's, repaying the obvious debt to Poe all writers of the macabre incurred since the 1800s. Buy this book.

Decades ago sci-fi grandmaster Isaac Asimov noted the similarity between detective stories (whodunit?) and science fiction "puzzle" stories (how do you solve the problem?). Avoiding some of the obvious pitfalls, he began to write stories that contain elements of both of these popular genres. But of the various stories in this collection, only Larry Niven's "ARM" really lives up to the title, combining the imagination of science fiction with the action and drama of a detective story. Asimov's "The Singing Bell" comes close, and shows off the master's skill with "puzzle" stories, but the armchair detective doesn't really lend itself to exciting reading and would be a serious disappointment to fans who expect some action. As for the rest, only Poul Anderson's "The Martian Crown Jewels" and "Time Exposures" by Wilson Tucker are bona fide sci-fi detective stories, and both are eminently forgettable. Donald Westlake's "The Winner", Robert Silverberg's "Getting Across", and Philip K. Dick's "War Games" are all very good science fiction stories, indeed are the highlights of the collection, but there are no detectives in them. Perhaps the most memorable sci-fi detective is Philip Jose Farmer's Herr Ralph Von Wau Wau, the intelligent canine of "A Scarletin Study", a humorous send up of the whole cross-genre concept. In sum, while perhaps the blame lies more with the form than with the editing, this book fails to deliver what it promises; the overall collection isn't that strong as "just" science fiction, and the advertised combination of sci-fi and private detective fiction never really coalesces. Readers interested in this idea would do better to pick up one of Asimov's many fine collections.

I thought the book was very good describing the plot, storyline, and characters. However, the book was pretty easy to predict. It's whole storyline was old and boring. The absence of twists and any new developments killed any suspense. Overall the story gets a 3 out of 5.

Ok..to make this short and sweet...this book is so bad that It coulden't hold my attention for the first 50 pages..yeah I gave it some time..it was so confusing and made no sense. I had to do a book report and had to make up or emphasis certain parts that I did read to make it seem like I did. I would have not given a star if there was that choice.

It was kind of like watching a movie that was somewhat entertaining. It was OK nothing more nothing less. The plot skipped around a lot. Had some characters that were developed and used throughout the entire book. The ending was better than I expected. I think it would make a much better movie than a book. Tough to build tension in a business environment with characters that are supposed to be professional and distanced from their emotions. Their motivations were evident just not that believable or compelling.

The Roger Gordian business conglomerate is threatened by impending hostile takeover from the wiles of archrival Caine and his evil underworld conspirators. Intrigue follows intrigue as one plot after another is foiled.

This work, while typical of the style familiar to most Clancy works is atypical in that less than adequate detail is given to technical editing and character development. It seems like the writer was trying to "crank out" a story to go along with the accompanying software. Several words were repeated ("There was WAS even a small...." pg 184, "...UpLink company has been BEEN marginal..." pg 225), and other words used inappropriately for the sentence ("...all of which were controlled by his seemingLESS endless...." pg 183 "...agents pretending to be demonstrators AND dispersed throught the..." pg 184) (Capitalization mine).

All in all, it was a good book. Some of the characters could be developed a bit more, but considering it is an accompanying book to a software program, I feel it met its intended effect.

For readers not familiar with Tom Clancy, I recommend it as a must read. For those familiar with, and avid Clancy fans, it might be somewhat disappointing. For both groups, be sure to read POLITIKA first!

I know that I'm being pretty harsh on this book with a one star rating, but really, that's what it deserves. In total I only finished reading about half the stories; I ended up skipping the rest after a few pages.

The main problem with the stories is that although they are (sometimes) fairly interesting, they all suffer from poor editing and below-average writing quality. The plots, although filled with interesting technological gadgets, are poorly executed and often have nothing to do with military conflict.

For example, the story "Ranger" has a unique premise: a squad of US operatives are using non-lethal weapons to send a message to a third-world despot. However, I got about a third into it, was turned off by the amateurish writing style and skipped to the end.

Honesttly, this book is a complete waste of time and money. I reccomend reading something like "Best Military Scifi of the Twentieth Century" or "Starship Troopers" or "The Forever War".

There where a number of enjoyable stories in this collection, but also a number which I personally didn't carefore.

BiFrost Crossing by Barry B. Longyear: Is a short story about a soldier in the future who has ended up in the psych ward because he is having flashbacks, it is from these flashbacks that we learn what is going on. (A little strange but interesting.)

Faith On Ice by James H. Cobb: Personally Mr. Cobb is one of my favorite authors and he doesn't disappoint in this short story. Set on the Antartic Ice in about 100 years, a skimmer pilot keeps the faith and goes to find two missing fellow soldiers. (A very good little tail, perhaps a glimps of a future series by the author.)

Sparks in a Cold War by Kristine Kathryn Rusch: A story about a hunting expedition to a forbidden planet gone wrong. (Strange but interesting.)

Los Ninos by William H Keith Jr: A tail about humanity attacking a weaker species for political and econmoic reason. And the soldiers reactions to this and in particular one tough female marine when confronted with the truth. (Interesting and thought compelling, a good read.)

An Admiral's Obession by Kathrine M. Massie-Ferch: The story of a woman who is now only a Admiral in the navy, who once was the crowned princess to a now over-turned throne. A woman who will do anything to protect her home. (A great story.)

Ranger by Bill Fawcett: A rather funny little tale once you've read it and thought it over. In the age of non-leathal weapons how you teach someone that they are not beyound the reach of the US Military. (A great story.)

The Vaction by Ron Collins: Two old biddies take a vaction to a world that without Terrian support would have been crushed by the enemy. (A so so story.)

On the Surface by Robert J. Sawyer: If you liked H.J. Well's "The Time Machine" This story is a spring off from that idea. (Didn't care for it)

Air Infantry by R. J. Pineiro: Earth has been invaded, and now the humans have figured out how to finish off the last of the invaders. (A intersting story.)

Toy Soldiers by Robin Wayne Bailey: A great little read about a "Super weapon" gone wrong. (Neat little story.)

Most of the stories in this collection I would call decent to great, but the ones I didn't enjoy I really didn't like at all. Pick it up fore yourself if you enjoy any of these authors. A Decent read all in all.

I went ahead and invested in this follow-up to last year's "Murder in Baker Street", hoping that the stories would be better. Well, they weren't. The tales are just flat and unexciting. What happened to the good stories some of these authors used to contribute to previous anthologies? Out of this batch, maybe two are worth reading. Other than that, I would recommend saving $$ and renting it from the library.