When Baron Soontir Fel, the greatest pilot of the Imperial forces, is captured by the Rebels, he tells all in the confines of an interrogation cell to Wedge Antilles, the greatest pilot of the Rebellion - also his brother-in-law.

Stackpole brilliantly shows the past carrer of Fel in the Imperial Navy, how he met Syal Antilles, Wedge's sister, and how it comes to be that Fel defects to the Rebels.

The story falls short in the cofusing final third, however. Not much happens and what does happen is very jumbled and not thought through. Then again, Stackpole isn't exactly the Master of the Hidden Plot. But it is well worth its cost in dollars in the first two-thirds; after all, I bought it.

'Blood & Honor' is basically two stories in one, including dramatically different art teams, so I'll do my best.

The first part, 'The Making of Baron Fel', is definitely one of the most unique pieces of SW ever assembled. Picking up right where 'In the Empire's Service' ended, Baron Fel is in Rebel hands and through the interrogation chair reveals his life in service to the Empire in a mix of narration and flashbacks that could only be achieved in comic book format. Fel's story is indeed a compelling one and does the rare feat of presenting a clear philosophical case against the Empire.

It has also been both praised and criticized for its extensive use of cameos. I, for one, will do some praising, as it does help to tie the SW galaxy together. Appearances by people such as Tarkin, Thrawn, Derricote, Isard, and so forth are key to the story, while people like Post ('Family Ties')and Turr Phennir ('In the Empire's Service') serve to tie together pieces of Fel's life and the over all XWRS story.

The art by Steve Crespo is good, with well-done people and a good amount of realism. The spacecraft, while reasonably detailed, are nowhere near those of John Nadeau and his wizardry with technology. The whole thing, for better or for worse, has a rather crisp look to it, as opposed to the very dirty style of Gary Erksine.

The slightly longer second part, 'Family Ties' is a little of a letdown. The art has little detail and the movement isn't very fluid either. The story itself is alright, a bit of a nice breakaway after 'In the Empire's Service'. It opens in the aftermath of the Brentaal Campaign, where General Salm gives a little eulogy for the dead Aggressors and Rogues. Following is Fel's introduction to the rogues and greeting that is not too kind. Then Wedge send Plourr, Hobbie, and Janson to Corellia on a mission that takes up the rest of the story. The appearance by Kirtan Loor was a nice touch, enhanced even more so when Corran Horn and Iella Wessiri from Stackpole's novels take on roles as co-stars.

'Family Ties' was colored by Perry McNamee instead of the usual David Nestelle, and, call me spoiled, but it shows. One particular scene, if you read the dialogue, takes place at night, but you couldn't tell that by simply looking at it.

Overall, its is a key link to the rest of the series and is recommended for that and because of the very interesting look into the Empire provided by 'The Making of Baron Fel.'

Blood and Honor, the follow-up story to "In the Empire's Service," is comprised actually of two stories, not just one. The first, "The Making of Baron Fel," is quite possibly the best X-wing comic ever. It was released on the stands as a special 48-page issue, and is quite outstanding. The second story is the 2-issue "Family Ties," which often vies for a position as the worst of the Rogue Squadron stories. Although these stories conclude some of the plots from the previous comic, they incidentally also pretty much completely drop the "Rise of Isard" story, leaving that to continue in the next Rogue Squadron story.

The Making of Baron Fel is simply an outstanding comic. Basically it is, as the cover implies, the life story of the Empire's greatest pilot. It is told by Fel as he sits in a Rebel interrogation room, and really takes the guy from "Imperial pilot extraordinaire" to one of the most sympathetic characters to show up in the Star Wars mythos. The art suits the story perfectly, and we get to see a ton of familiar faces. There are cameos by Isard, Derricote, Thrawn, and Hal Horn, as well as a bunch of Rebels before they defected from the Empire. This comic also gives us a good look at how truly corrupted the Empire was, and why so many people were so willing to serve under it. There are also several surprises, including the identity of Fel's wife, as well as Fel's offer to the Rebels. This comic alone is worth the cover price of Blood and Honor.

Unfortunately, Family Ties does not fare so well. Janson, Hobbie and Plourr (shouldn't she be back on Eiattu by now?) go on a mission to Corellia to ensure the safety of Baron Fel's family. Along the way they bump into a few familiar faces (including Corran Horn and Iella Wessiri in their CorSec days, as well as their Imperial liaison and nemesis, Kirtan Loor), as well as a few old enemies of Fel's. I didn't mind the art style, except that the characters were changed. Plourr was never before a buxom, spandex-wearing type, and Horn's X-wing as well as Horn himself and several other characters were also somewhat butchered. There were a couple funny running jokes, but no particularly wonderful dialogue, and there was only one space battle, thrown in at the end almost obligatorily, and then only to show off Corran's skills in a fighter so that the Rogue could make some jokes about how he'd never be a Rogue.

The Making of Baron Fel was exceedingly good and definitely worth reading. Family Ties was not. I definitely recommend this comic for the one, if not the other.

I would like to contact Michael H. Zajdel who wrote a review on this book.

Please contact me at LELawson@aol.com

I am a court reporter who is using continuous speech recognition software to produce transcripts and to do realtime reporting. I am considered to be an advanced user and have assisted and consulted many other people on speech recognition products. This book immediately became invaluable to me. "Dragon Naturally Speaking Complete" gives the reader a well-rounded understanding of the basic mechanics of state-of-the-art speech recognition products on the market, and then serves as a compass to guide them through how to best apply this technology.

I receive numerous calls and e-mails every week covering a fairly wide range of speech recognition issues. I answer those questions as best I can, but usually I feel like the person needs more information than I can give them at the time to understand the software and hardware well enough to achieve their goals. This book covers almost every aspect of speech recognition that I have had to deal with. Paid consultants might want to keep this gem under their hat, because this book will empower its readers to a very high degree. This book not only gives its reader insight to methods and techniques to rapidly build their speech recognition skills, but it also gives a very good explanation of hardware issues concerning speech recognition. The authors also have given numerous references to sites, products and newsgroups that are invaluable resources.

Before buying the book, I thought the book might turn out to be too technical in nature for many people. Those concerns were quelled after reading just the first few pages. This book is written clearly enough so that a novice to speech recognition can understand it, and then be incrementally elevated to a high level of proficiency. If some thought and common sense is applied, the reader will be elevated to an advanced level. I consider this compendium to be a speech recognition treatise, only written so we mere mortals can understand!

I have gone thru almost all the book so far and I find that is full of tips to make my speech recognition use a better experience. Yes, it is true that in some instances I would like to see more macros, but that would require a devoted book on the subject. I am a software trainer and I always find that different audiences have different expectatives and sometimes they find I have not met them. Good work and I congratulate the authors for the effort on putting so much information at hand.

Masquerade is the second last part in the Rogue Squadron series, and is an enjoyable read.

The art is why I rated this one star less, and can best be described as average. It certainly had a cartoonish feel to it, as though it was simply done. Nothing too detailed, but it looked more 2D than three. While the background detail was not lacking and the frames were overall well done, the people just looked a bit "flat" on the page. That aside, it was still visually appealing and no reason to avoid what is a good purchase.

Ah . . . the dialogue, and you'll love it, all right. When Han and Fel pair up for their role in the story they just can't stop their sharp, witty banter! Stackpole did good work there. The scenes when Winter and Tycho are together flow just as smoothly, as does their budding romance. Xarcce offering Chewie help and indignantly saying, yes, he does know which end of hydrospanner is which is one sample of humour you'll find here.

All comics have their quirks, though, and the Wedge here looks nothing like his movie counterpart. Tavira has been shown in just as many ways; here she is girlish, petite and beautiful as the sharp blades her lines deliver. But that's all in keeping with the cartoonish style this was done.

Admiral Krennal makes his debut here, and doesn't hold back that tempered hospitality of his. Pestage was artfully rendered as always. The framing ranged from large to small, and like its cousin Mandatory Retirement, the scenes ended properly and not in mid-page, as Battleground:Tatooine did, so as not to feel rushed.

Overall, Masquerade is not to be missed, and truth be told, the cartoonish feel of the art was still adequate to be but a trivial bother if you're thirsty for top quality. A definite required purchase.

Masquerade is the third Rogue Squadron story set in the "Rise of Isard" story arc. Picking up shortly after Blood and Honor, Masquerade at times epitomizes the best aspects of the Rogue Squadron comics, and yet at other times is just silly, pointless, and forgettable. The art, for one thing, is nothing to cheer for. It is very cartoonish, and the characters really don't look anything like their counterparts in the movies or the other X-wing comics. Hairstyles are different, facial hair is different, characters' builds are different. Still, there is lots of good dialogue, plenty of action, and many familiar faces including Han, Chewie, Leia, and Winter.

The story is pretty much that Sate Pestage is fast falling out of power with the Imperial Cabal, and so he organizes a secret meeting with Leia on Axxila to negotiate terms of surrender. Meanwhile, Winter, masquerading as Leia, travels to Eiattu with Han and some of the Rogues for a meeting of some sort. Pirates, acting under Leonia Tavira, kidnap Winter thinking they've got the real Princess, and take her to Tavira's secret headquarters on - you guessed it - Axxila. Thus begins the search and rescue mission for Winter, since the Rebels need it to seem that she's really Leia.

The story is fun. Tycho and Winter get back together, there is lots of classic dialogue, some fun space battles, and old friends as well as old enemies are reintroduced. Plourr finally returns to Eiattu, Isard is portrayed well, and all around most of that is developed nicely. However, as I've said, the artwork leaves something to be desired. In addition, all of the animosity towards Colonel Fel that was so apparent in the previous issue seems to have just disappeared. Now he's just one of the guys, getting along with everyone. There is some conversation with Han about what it's like changing sides, but I would have liked to have seen more tension there. There is quite a bit of fantastic dialogue in this issue. One more issue I have is the "Uglies." An Ugly is a concept introduced in the novels - it's a starfighter scraped together of various pieces of other starfighters, and is commonly used by pirates. I like that the concept caught on in the comic, except that every single Ugly in this comic is a "die-wing," with no variation between individual ships, which kind of defies the purpose. Oh well.

While this is not the best Rogue Squadron has to offer, it's not bad either. Recommended.

I bought this book for my nephew who has been reading this series with great delight and this time I also joined in on the reading. It wasn't bad-better then alot of the extended universe books (not that that is very hard to do). The material is reasonably appropriate for older children (i.e. violence level is about that of the films and all sexual content is kept low key except all the female characters a drwan a bit on the sleezy side).

The plot is a bit lame but my hopes were not set on that anyway so I had alot of fun with it. It was good to see old faces, Han Solo, Chewbacca, Liea (who does not look much like the Liea I remember form the films) as well as the usual X Wing crowd. Another reason I liked this one is the character of Winter is more then just a useful babysitter for the Solo kids as is common in the extended universe. For the hard core Star Wars fans I am sure this one will be enjoyable and worth aquiring.

A short, biceps-friendly "textbook" on reproduction that covers most of the current knowledge in the field. Very well organized, and beautifully set up. Look at those colorful pictures and diagrams. I enjoy reading this book very much. But, when we were preparing for our endocrinology exam, we found something in table 3.4, p.39, on luteinizing hormone structure - it says that the beta-subunit of LH has two carobohydrate chains (instead of one?). Hopefully it's just a small typo. Well, nobody's perfect. I still give it nine out of ten.

I am currently using this book for a college course. The book is perfect for people first learning about mammal reproduction. The book is clearly organized into subjects. I recommend this book for people who want a foundation in reproduction.

Thunderbolt! is ace pilot Major Robert S. Johnson's own account of his days with the celebrated 56th Fighter Group over Europe during World War Two. Johnson's very personable narrative takes the reader from his boyhood days in Lawton, Oklahoma, where his fascination with aviation first developed, through flying lessons, his enlistment and training with the air force, and his many missions over Germany behind the stick of a P-47 Thunderbolt.

The cockpit of the large, sturdy and power Republic P-47 is the setting for a large portion of the book. Missions flown over Germany against the deadly Luftwaffe pilots and their superb planes are covered in the first person in gripping fashion. Though his recollection of events after ten years cannot be completely accurate, the author nonetheless describes tense battles in remarkable detail, down to the combat technique of each adversary. Besides his own experiences, the author also relates hair raising stories of colleagues who ditched at sea, bailed out over enemy territory, suffered catastrophic equipment failures or were in fact killed.

Though military pilots are often categorized as arrogant and self-centred (necessary traits as the split-second demands of aerial combat require the pilot to be unhindered by self-doubt), Johnson's storytelling is uniquely free of pretense and self-adulation. In fact, using his easy and informal writing style, Johnson has included his misfortunes and blunders for the reader's amusement. It should be said however, that Johnson's descriptions of battle are a little too fond, and he sounds entertained by killing. A disappointment is that Johnson does not tell curious readers what personal qualities, habits, or techniques he thinks caused his spectacular twenty-eight vietories with zero planes lost. The book also lacks the technical content which a nostalgic reader would enjoy.

Thunderbolt! is an enjoyable autobiography of an otherwise ordinary boy who, despite failures, went on to become a very gifted pilot. Perhaps Johnson's story says what kinds of fellows a large number of Air Force youths were, and so gives a more personal description of the military pilot to supplement one's historical knowledge.

Bob Johnson describes more than the P-47, he describes the men who flew them and the things they did to get into battle. Johnson, a top scoring ace, in the league with Dick Bong and Eddie Rickenbacher failed the gunnery test at the end of fighter school with a score of 4.7 percent but was sent to battle with his unit. In his first battle he pulled off, thinking his plane had a problem because he had never fired all six of the guns on the plane at one time. He tells of how men died when the P-47 went into compressibility dives, a condition unknown before and how they met the ME-109 and FW-190 fighters, head to head and won. He tells how he came to love the fighter that could bring him back, with hundreds of bullet holes and some cannon shells imbedded in the seat armor, certain death for the pilot in most planes. But not in the heavy P-47.

this book is in print and available from the publisher. it is a comprehensive discography (a listing of the recordings) of Dean Martin and includes information on videos and sheet music as well. there is an eight page color section illustrating various record jackets. a comprehensive index is included.

When being able to place a face and look to an artist, the enjoyment of music is enhanced. I've only just begun my lifelong pursuit of jazz appreciation and this book really is a great tool for this. It creates a mental visualization of the artist for us. This is the only way to actually see most of the great artists that have left us, the only way to actually see into the world they lived and played in. So much of the music that they've left us was inspired by their surroundings and their daily interactions. Lowe has done an excellent job in creating this visual walk through the history of such a great artform. This is highly recommended to all those who appreciate jazz for the great artform it is.

This book is perfect if you don't know where to go on Mt Tam's 200 miles of trails but have always wanted to explore the mountain. The trail summaries, "getting there" instructions and maps, as well as the actual trail maps are easy and informative. The trail ratings (for running and hiking) are useful as well. This book makes a great gift.

If there were a mathematics of watching paint dry, Martin Gardner would make it interesting. Without peer as a popularizer of mathematics, he is equally adept at explaining all areas. This book, another updated collection of his Scientific American columns, is a twenty member set of polished pearls. Although somewhat mundane as a descriptive adjective, the word readable fits his writing like a custom made body stocking.
Always interesting and entertaining, reading his essays is somewhat like eating tiny chocolate bars. You can't get enough, each seems too small, and there are no negative side effects.

Published in Journal of Recreational Mathematics, reprinted with permission.

I have been writing Excel-based VBA applications for years and always struggled to find a good reference for various functions, properties, and objects. I recently moved up from Excel 97 to Excel 2000 and was struggling. I had continued to use my old Excel 5.0 references because I had trouble finding newer ones that contained substabtial information. Some of my old VBA code wasn't working in Excel 2000 (VBA has been enhanced considerably since Excel 5.0)so I was stuck. I found this book listed at Amazon.com and ordered it as a trial. If you're an Excel 2000 user who writes a lot of VBA code, this book is the reference I recommend. There are some reviews here that complain about the format of this book not matching other Wrox publications and being harder to use. That may be true - I haven't used other Wrox publications - but I found everything I needed and a few extras in here. It's not the only Excel 2000 VBA reference I have on my shelf - check out Microsoft Excel 2000 Power Programming with VBA by John Walkenbach and SAMS Teach Yourself Excel 2000 Programming in 21 Days by Matthew Harris - they're both good references as well.

Many programmers are not satisfied that their programs work, but they also want to know if the techniques they employ are the most efficient, or if there is a better means of doing something. For those readers who want to make use of Excels sophisticated object model this is a great book to learn how to do it best. Just about every programming technique I have needed has been covered, allowing me to develop Excel applications written with efficient code that is FAST.

John Green seems to stay one step ahead by pre-empting any questions the reader has, and all the points he covers are backed up with code. Often the author will give several alternative approaches to solving a particular task programmatically, and also explain which approach is more effective / efficient and why.

Although some explanation of basic programming techniques are covered in the "Primer in Excel VBA" chapter, this book is probably best suited to readers who have some programming background (although you don't have to be a pro either).

My one criticism is directed more at Wrox Press than John Green, and is the reason I have only given four stars not five. As has been already mentioned in other reviews, the index is very poor, and is little more than an extended Table Of Contents - a trait in common with other Wrox books I have read. Finding that "golden nugget" in this is a gold mine of information is very time consuming. For example, trying to find the section on the EVALUATE or CALLER methods from the index won't yield much success unless you already know that they are covered in "Chapter Three: The Application Object Model" - this is what you look up in the index - crazy! Finding other entries in the index is just impossible since they are not there.

My suggestion is buy this book, but as you read it through for the first time, use a highlighter on any points that you think may be of significant interest.

As a professional VBA programmer, I found this book to be an excellent reference. Although I use Excel 97, many of the programming concepts are the same as for Excel 2000. Each chapter maps well onto real-world issues that are likely to come up in an intensive programming environment. A good example of this is the chapter on International issues: I have recently been involved in developing a system installed in several countries across Europe, where the users previously had to switch to UK settings in order for the system to work. The book is not intended as a 'learn to program' guide, a genre which is too heavily catered for already, rather as a programmer's reference laid out in such a way as to find solutions to real-world problems quickly.