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Book reviews for "Perceval-Maxwell,_Michael" sorted by average review score:

Cyberpunk: The Roleplaying Game of the Dark Future
Published in Paperback by R Talsorian Games (1990)
Authors: Michael Pondsmith, John Smith, Colin Fisk, and Derek Quintanar
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This game R-O-C-K-S
This is one of my all time favorites!! I got into the gaming craze at an early age and quickly tired of singing burds and happy elves. This game takes a long hard look at where were headed as a society and allows you the player to take part. It has one of the more versitile character creation systems and is not hard to follow the logical progression to modify equipment! Oh, and not to forget it supports two of my favorite philosophies: 1)Knowledge is power! 2)Attitude is everything! So don't lose any cool points chumbada, buy the book!

Cyber Punk- a clasic, and still great
I was stationed in Vilseck Germany with the 2nd of the 63rd Armor when I friend told me about Cyber Punk. It was almost a year before we found someone with the books, and immediatly set up a game. It was a game that I have never forgoten. It sits in my mind like the begining of Secret of Mana, forever a defining factor in my oppinions.

This game does tend to drag with its role to hit/role to dodge rules, but it is more believable then any other game I have seen or played. The setting for Cyber Punk is OURT world, with OUR history. It is science fiction. We can look at our own lives, make few changes to the timeline, and see that it IS possible. In reality, these things would never happen, but in the game, it is easier for us to adapt to this new world because it is so close to our own. Realy, what has changed? The world has met a sort of anarchy, like in Mad Max. The government is now run by Corporations. Bionics are common enough that you see people with mettle limbs on a regular basis. This world is more real then any other I have seen, and this makes more believable. Since it is more believable it becomes easier to enter your charactor and enjoy the game.

If I had to rate all the games I have played, I would put this on tope, even with its long combat and ineffectiveness with machine guns.

Best, best, best roleplaying game ever
I am 22 year old girl from northern Europe. I have played many games. I am GM of cyberpunk and i have found it's game system exciting, flexible and open. Cyberpunk it's self is facinated me many years. In early days in my life i read only science fiction books. I definetly want courage girls play roleplays, their insight is so different than mans.


Back Pain Remedies For Dummies®
Published in Paperback by For Dummies (1999)
Authors: Michael S. Sinel and William W. Deardorff
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Solid Advice, Easy-to-Read Format
This book is laying on the floor next to my bed. Why? I do the exercises every morning, and refer to the chapter to make sure I don't miss any. I do most of the exercises on the floor, so that's where the book lives. It is a part of my life now.

I've suffered from low-grade back pain for years, and learned a lot from this book. I especially like the integrated mind-body approach, the solid, realistic information about the mechanics of the spine, and the practical advice for care and recovery.

I've spoken with a chiropractor and an MD about my back problems, and the advice they gave me is identical to the advice in this book -- and the book was far less expensive.

Unless you were injured, your back took years to get into its current condition, and it will take a while to improve. This book is a first-rate map of the road to recovery.

The most helpful book on back pain I've ever read.
Having had back problems for almost 15 years, I have read just about every book available. Back Pain for Dummies is by far the best. It delivers very practical and easy-to-understand advice and practices that helped me more than a dozen chiropractors ever did. This book should be in the waiting room for every back specialist in the country. If I ever get to meet this Dr. Sinel, I'm going to give him the biggest bear hug ever (keeping my back straight, lifting with my legs...)

The best resource for back pain available in the field.
Sinel and Deardorff take a refreshingly humorous approach to dealing with one of the most pervasive medical problems in our country. This book is easy to read and provides a very comprehensive approach to dealing with back pain. I would consider it one of the best resources available in the field.


Olive, the Orphan Reindeer
Published in Hardcover by New Canaan Pub Co Inc (01 November, 2000)
Authors: Michael Christie and Margeaux Lucas
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An Unexpectedly Wonderful Christmas Story
My 7 year old son and I just finished reading Olive, the Orphan Reindeer. What a delightful story. Each year we read The Night Before Christmas, The Christmas Carol, or Rudolph The Red Nose Reindeer, it was nice to discover a new title to add to our holiday reading. The press release stated that this book was geared toward the age group 9-12. My 7 year old read this book with ease and understanding. I agree with Michael, this book is for anyone who believe in Christmas.

Good Job, Are there other books available by this author?

A Wonderful Story for Young or Old
Olive the Orphan Reindeer is a wonderful story that children and adults will both enjoy. It is a great Christmas story and Michael has done a great job of creating what I think is a "classic".

A Christmas Classic
This is a beautiful little book with a captivating heroine. "Olive" is written in a style which will appeal to children and adults alike, and the illustrations are delightful. It is time for a new Christmas story, and my hat's off to Michael Christie for producing one that I'm sure will become a classic. My nieces in England loved it!


The Wake (Sandman, Book 10)
Published in Hardcover by DC Comics (1999)
Authors: Neil Gaiman, Michael Zulli, Jon J. Muth, and Charles Vess
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Closure.
This was the only way to wrap up the Sandman series - a wake. Morpheus is dead, driven by a complex set of events ending with the Furies decending apon the Dreaming.

Characters from the series collect in the Dreaming to share memories of Morpheus. The first few books of this collection are exactly what the title implies - a wake. The stories of the Sandman collection receive their final detailing and a new Dream (yet, oddly the same Dream) assumes the throne.

The final two books are my favorites, though. Hob, Dream's human friend of the past few hundred years, tries to deal with the loss of his friend while attending a Renissance Fair with his girlfriend. Combined with the sorrow of the loss, Hob is also starting to feel his age and is wracked with guilt about his past. At the height of this, he gets drunk and has a conversation with Dream's older sister.

The last story stands on its own: a wise man's journey through a Shifting Zone, done in a style unique to the story.

This collection gives a sense of closure, and is probably the best installment since "Doll's House" or even "24 Hours". A must-own.

Waking up from a 5 year dream.
A fitting title to one of the best comic series ever printed. The reader who has followed the Sandman series finally wakes up from the incredible 5 year 'dream' saga. It is not as heavy to read as some of the other earlier collections since it is made up of short stories. This collection wraps up the loose bits and pieces to the Sandman series. The first part sees the wake for Morpheus and Daniel taking up the mantle as the new Dream. The rest are individual stories. We see Hob's reaction to the departure of his friend, a story of a traveller trapped in The Dreaming and finally concludes, appropriately, with Neil Gaiman's take on Shakespere's "The Tempest". To really understand and appreciate this book, the reader would be have to have read at least "The Kindly Ones". As for me, I really liked this book and would have given it a 10 if I didn't have to wake up from this fantastic dream Gaiman has taken me, and countless others to.

The king is dead...long live the king.
First off, I'll just say that I think the wake has the finest art of all the SANDMAN collections, save for maybe Season of Mists.

The Wake is a story about death and endings and farewells, and it is an end to the series, but only in the sense of the Death tarot card: representing transformation, rebirth, the closing of a door and the opening of a window. As Dream told Orpheus: "You attend the funeral. You bid the dead farewell. You grieve. Then you go on with your life." That's what the characters are doing in this book. It also contains the story of another wanderer in the shifting zones, (a parallel to "Soft Places"), and the writing of Shakespeare's last play (a parallel to "Midsummer Night's Dream.") All told, The Wake is a graceful coda to the bittersweet symphony (so shoot me for the reference) that is SANDMAN.

The king is dead. Long live the king.


Eighteen Straight Whiskeys
Published in Paperback by The Bowery Press (24 October, 1997)
Author: Michael Easton
Amazon base price: $9.00
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He's as good a writer as he is an actor!
I watched Port Charles and fell in love, I read this book and was amazed. The openness, compassion, sorrow, power, and beauty of his words scar you. I'll never look at him the same again, but it's in a good way. As you watch him play Michael Morley, you realize the struggle he went through to be where he is today, as you watch him play Caleb Morley you realize the ultimate disappointment he must feel that he's made it for acting, not his real passion, writing.

Enjoy it while it lasts, this is a short but amazing book. I re-read every poem several times, and you'll find yourself doing the same, especially if you've ever seen him act!

Very Interesting soul searching
I am a huge fan of Michael Eastons, have been for a few years. Reading this book, which Iwas lucky to get off eBay, I haveto say there is a great deal of pain in there, but some poems I laughed out loud at. I know thatI will be reading this book many more times--I liked it very much.

MICHAEL EASTON--A TALENT TO BEHOLD
I have been the proud owner of this book since November of 2001.
My assessment of this book can actually equate with my
assessment of Mr. Easton's acting...both share that same
"balletic, graceful, poetic" quality. Mr. Easton's angst and
devastation at that period of his life is so heart-wrenching to
read about...but at the same time important for him to bring
these feelings to the forefront and express his deep "inner-
soul" through these writings. Mr. Easton's supreme intelligence
just shines through in both his writing and his acting. I am
truly honored and privileged to be able to view Mr. Easton on
an almost-daily basis on Port Charles...he brings immeasurable
joy to me and has actually been an inspiration to me and a
dear friend of mine to become expressive ourselves. His
passion for writing and his passion for acting shine through
in all of his endeavors...and I hope and pray we will be
having him for our viewing pleasure on Port Charles for a long
time to come. He and his acting partner, Ms. Kelly Monaco,
bring their characters to life like no other daytime couple
ever. In conclusion, I hope these demons he felt back then
are in the past and I wish him nothing but a peaceful and
happy life.


Red Moon
Published in Paperback by Fireword Publishing (1900)
Author: David S. Michaels
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A Genuinely Satisfying Read
Having been a space program buff since my childhood, I've been drawn by books like Martin Caidin's Marooned, Stephen Baxter's Voyage, and even political writer Allen Drury's The Throne of Saturn (that one dates me, I realize). Red Moon caught my attention while I was browsing Amazon, and after only a few pages I was pleased to see I had spent my money very, very well.

Simply, this is an amazing book. Unlike a lot of books that try to achieve a cinematic effect by cutting quickly between scenes and situations, Michaels' book, with its full chapters and fully realized sequences paints clear heartfelt scenes more effectively than most of today's films. His characters of astronaut Janet Luckman, planetary geologist Milo Jefferson, and central character, Cosmonaut Grigor Belinsky are living and breathing people with needs and flaws and conflicts. People I thought about long after I had finished Red Moon.

The premise is that a lunar mission set during the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 landing discovers the Soviet craft Luna 15, launched days before Apollo 11 but landing at nearly the same time, was not an unmanned probe, but in fact a last-ditch attempt to land a man on the Moon before the Americans. As an adolescent in 1969, I followed the flight of Apollo 11 completely entranced, and the looming presence of Luna 15 was felt deeply by me. I had wondered about the intentions of the mysterious craft, and it is fascinating to me to see this captured the imagination of this writer as well.

This is a huge book, not only in size, but scope, and Michaels pulls it off admirably, even more so considering this is his first novel. He takes us along three parallel storylines, two set in 2019 -- one on a lunar landing mission marking the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11's landing, the second in the upper echelons of NASA -- and one set in the Soviet Union of 1968-69. The first Macguffin of the story, finding rare Helium 3 on the Moon, is the same as Homer Hickam's disappointing Back to the Moon, but is handled far more dramatically, and is in turn upstaged by the quest for finding the answer to the mystery surrounding Luna 15 and Grigor Belinsky, her pilot. Michaels skillfully plays the three storylines off of each other, teasing and rewarding us, involving us deeply into these people's lives. There are moments of great passion and feeling in this story, so much so it brought me to tears no less than three times.

I genuinely wished the book had been longer, and if there is a sequel I'll be the first to snatch it up. Red Moon is simply a wonderful read. I recommend it highly.

An extraordinary exploration of outer and inner space
Red Moon is an exceptional thriller as well as a novel of speculative fiction. It is actually three interwoven and inter-related stories all tied to the US-Soviet Space Race. The insights into the history of what happened and why it happened back in the sixties would be worth the price of admission alone-- but Dave Michaels has gone far beyond that to craft a gripping, page-turning novel about a future moon expedition and how the discovery of water on the moon will affect life on earth. I am not a huge fan of science fiction novels that are "the black and white hat fighting for territory in the sky" type. I prefer novels of more characterological depth that leave me with something to think about and have a real emotional impact as well. Red Moon is a great novel because it accomplishes just that. There are characters we really care about from Belinsky the tragic Russian cosmonaut to Janet Luckman an American Astronaut stranded on the moon with someone who is trying to murder her (and she has no idea who on her team it could be). This is a book to warm the heart, fascinate the mind and feed the soul. I can hardly recommend it enough for a first novel.

An amazing novel of the Russian Space Program; past & future
RED MOON is an exceptional novel of speculative fiction. The author has done a tremendous job in intertwining three related plots to generate an oeuvre of hefty proportions and considerable creativity. And it is such a pleasure to read a book that is written for the reader, not in anticipation of a screenplay.

RED MOON not only uses the backdrop of the US-USSR space race as one point of departure, but also creates tension through the ongoing philosophical differences that remain between the two nations. The historical references to the program of the late 1960's are insightful, accurate and compelling. The plots are uncompromisingly driven by a "what-if?" factor that is added by speculations that the world was not aware of certain flights and missions by the Soviets. Revealing these cover-ups and conspiracies through the future lunar exploration timelines is a remarkably effective literary device, well handled by the author.

The characters of astronaut Janet Luckman, planetary geologist Milo Jefferson, and central character, Cosmonaut Grigor Belinsky are well drawn and believable. The future setting of lunar exploration in search of Helium-3 is portrayed admirably, and the historical elements incorporated are enlightening and without extraneous embellishment.

A gripping and passionate tale that is sure to please. Highly Recommended.


COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE : CREATING AND SUSTAINING SUPERIOR PERFORMANCE
Published in Hardcover by Free Press (01 June, 1998)
Author: Michael Porter
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A classic to which one should now return
The second of the gospels according to Porter and the more useful of the two. This book gives a framework for allocating costs and assets among business activities which can then be used to seek drivers for cost advantage or differentiation. The later chapters may at first blush seem repetitive, but they are useful elaborations on the the basic search criteria for finding and exploiting value.If one had read this in 1995, their stock portfolio would have many fewer worthless e-commerce shares...

Great book !
I read this book when I was working...and my boss gave me a great challenge that was to figure out how that company would do to create values, reduce cost and as a consequence achieve 10% of the tourism market. Porter has shown many important considerations for those who are chasing strategies to employ for their organizations.
I recommend you this book, because I am sure that it can improve your knowledge.

A Must Read For Any Senior Manager or Business Owner
Mr. Porter's book did an excellent job in outlining all the key areas that matter in the real world. Mr. Porter takes you through the exercise of properly choosing strategies (price, differentiation, technology) while focusing on buyer values to create sustainable competitive advantages and barriers.

His outline of industry segmentation helps to keep readers focused on properly using capital to maximize earnings and competitive positions (a common mistake in the business world). I found the read most helpful in structuring a much more sound strategic plan for my own company. Thank you to Mr. Porter for providing such a wonderful strategic guide.

CEO Profit Line of America, Inc.


Ghoul
Published in Paperback by Signet (1994)
Author: Michael Slade
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One of the most memorable, horrific books I have ever read
I have been a horror fan since I was 9 years old, I read Ghoul when I was 14, the first time I picked up the book, I had to put it down, it was so graphic, I then picked it up again a couple of months later and couldn't put it down until I had finished it. It is now 7 years later and I still remember every detail of the book, Michael Slade knows how to captivate his reader and pull them in to a world of fear and sheer horror, also contains many an unexpected surprise. A definite must for avid horror fans.

Slade is on a role
Slowly but surely Slade introduces us to the bits and pieces of his Special X squad. HEADHUNTER gave us Rovert DeClerq (not sure about the spelling), and GHOUL gives us Zinc Chandler. This guy is about as gutsy as 20 real-life detectives, and every bit as suave as James Bond. To paraphrase a review I read elsewhere, he more or less becoems catnip for women in this book. Here we encounter 3 killers...and you know what, it's been so long since I read this book that I honestly can't remember all 3...but I DO remember that Slade grips you by the throat once aghain and leads you leeringly through his mad house of horrors. AS in all his books, Slade's story depends on the rotation of several plotlines that skip back and forth between time, location, and characters. Slade is one of those authors who you either love or hate; his "numerous plotlines" trick either annoys or intices the reader, as well as his tendency to never pull a single punch when it comes to descrbing murder scenes (either during the act or the aftermath). But one thing is for sure: there is no inbetweens with Slade, and that is the sign of a damn good author.

Practically flawless and absolutely riveting
Despite the length of this book, I managed to read it cover-to-cover in one day...because once you pick up GHOUL, you cannot put it down for ANY reason. Not to eat, not to watch television...and CERTAINLY not to sleep. Michael Slade (actually the pseudonym of three writers working together) takes much of "his" style in this novel from the late, great Howard Phillips Lovecraft...but he also delivers scenes which hit the reader like a sledgehammer to the face. When the end is reached, one can only sit in awe...no other reaction would do this book justice. And to the reader who states that multiple personality cannot be brought on by "one moment of childhood fright"...you need to do more homework. M.P.D. (Multiple Personality Disorder) is ALWAYS brought on by childhood trauma...any extreme trauma during the years when the personality of a human being is still forming can cause a fissure in that personality...a split. And if being buried alive is not a traumatic event, I am at a loss to define the term. I have studied serial murder extensively and am currently at work on a novel about both serial murder and M.P.D. Believe me, I have done enough research to know. This book is 100% realistic and absolutely terrifying. If you choose to read it, prepare to have its scenes and its characters permanently burned into your psyche.


Wisconsin Death Trip
Published in Paperback by University of New Mexico Press (2000)
Authors: Michael Lesy and Warren Susman
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Disturbing, interesting read
I was able to read this book in one day, and wanted more. Being a former resident of this area of Wisconsin made it even more interesting for me, but all that aside, it was one of the most intriguing books I've read in a long time. The photographs are a wonderful testament to life in that era & locale, if you're a collector of old photographs & post-mortem shots this is a great book for your library. Reading about all of the madness surrounding these people, their bizarre and sad behaviors really makes you think. The author's conclusion really draws it all together for you.

A reading experience
There is relatively little I can say about this book.

The book is essentially photographs and news clippings from a newspaper in Wisconsin from about 1890 to 1910. Interspersed are snippets from novels dealing with life during the period.

Turning the pages, reading the articles, and looking not at the pictures but into the eyes of the people in the photographs, one gets a sense not of some sterilized, backward glance at these people as some great societal force, not as a band of pioneers, but as very human people, who die in childbirth, die as children, die of diseases that sweep through whole towns and infect the entire state with fear, go insane, murder, and still maintain enough inner dignity to be able to look into the lens of a camera and mask most of their emotions long enough for the half-second exposure but not long enough to pierce the heart of people living a century later. It is pain. It is a death trip.

The book speaks for itself. Actually, it doesn't. The people in word and image speak for themselves.

A haunting book
The author discovered a huge cache of old glass photographic plates belonging to the town's photographer and writer, who, along with his son, published a local Wisconsin paper. One is struck by how such a simple collection of photographs and articles, offered without editorial comment, can be so powerfully affecting. Perhaps it is the haunted, mad eyes of some of the subjects, or the babies in coffins, their images preserved for posterity, or the intermittent reports from the state mental hospital, or the subtle way in which some of the photographs have been altered to emphasize some quality of the image. There is something powerfully haunting about this book - all the moreso since one gets the impression that small-town America of this time must have lived the same way.


The Dancers at the End of Time
Published in Paperback by White Wolf Publishing Inc. (2000)
Author: Michael Moorcock
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Oscar Wilde would have loved it
Michael Moorcock is one of the most literate and witty fantasists of the twentieth century. His Elric Saga took the sword and sorcery epic far beyond standard tropes and created a literary tour de force.

The Dancers at the End of Time, which is a part of the Eternal Champions series, is full of the kind of wit and social satire that Oscar Wilde would have written.

Jherek Carnelian is one of the glittering, amoral denizens who inhabit the world At The End of Time. Magic and technology are inseparable, and life, such as it were, goes on like there's no tomorrow...which of course, there won't be. Jherek meets and falls madly in love with Mrs. Amelia Underwood, a very prim and proper Victorian wife, who finds herself in his future. Thus ensues a comedy of manners, morals and philosophical leanings reminiscent of the social changes that rocked England in the late nineteenth-century.

Not to mention that I loved the Thomas Canty cover art. If anything, buy the book just for that alone!

Classic Moorcock
For years I had put off reading Moorcock... I read plenty of other Science Fiction and Fantasy, from Neil Stephenson to Robert Jordan, but never got around to reading this giant of the genres. I'm glad I finally did.

"The Dancers At the End of Time" is quite possibly the wittiest and most amusing time travel scenario I have ever encountered. Moorcock wrote this exciting little trilogy (originally published as several smaller hardcover volumes) with a wit rarely encountered in the often overly-serious sci-fa genres. His satire drips with the delightful flavor of the turn of the century fin-de-siecle, delightful parodies of H.G. Wells, and a delicate, romantic heart that matches the author's humor. I laughed at Jerekh's bumbling attempts at romance. I cried at the almost tragic occurences near the end of the novel, and I cheered at the resolution. Having just finished reading Mary Doria Russell's depressing "The Sparrow" (although also an excellent book), I needed something a bit more uplifting. This did the trick.

If you're looking for a good intelligent satire, you can do no wrong by taking a look at this classic Moorcock masterpiece.

Maybe my favorite Moorcock series
Moorcock creates a very remarkable habitat in this series: a far future earth, where the inhabitants have almost unlimited power. They can create matter out of solid air, resurrect themselves, etc. The characters have become bored and suffer from a perpetual ennui, comparable to works of Wilde and Beardsley. It's like reading Saki set at the end of time. The plot is amusing: one of these almost omnipotent characters falls in love with woman from Victorian England. He decides to fall in love. Many adventures follow, all very amusing. Moorcock's prose is, for once, very crisp. I don't want to spoil the story for you, but it is definitely worth reading, and for the many readers who only know Moorcock through Elric, this will show a much lighter side of his personality.


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