First of all, Time Stops for No Mouse was a great book. As a HUGE fan of Redwall and Stuart Little type books, I knew that it was at least going to be good. But I was really surprised. It turned out to be one of the best books I have ever read. Then, Michael Hoeye returned Hermux and all his friends back in a sequel, The Sands of Time, that (I think) was even better than the first. You will see the return of a lot of your favorite chracters like Hermux, Mirrin, Tucka, and Linka, and plus a cast of entirely new chracters. I dont want to spoil the book, but I can say that you will be taken on a fantastic journey, as three friends try to uncover the past!!

This book was soooo great! Along with other people, I wasn't too sure if the sequel to Time Stops For No Mouse would be as good as the first one.

But it was. It had great suspense, and you really felt what the characters were feeling. It is a very refreshing change from the usual fantasy/spin on fairy tales that is popular. (Even though I like that stuff.) I don't really know what there is to not like about it; maybe just the fact that there are only two books about Hermux Tantamoq. I really like the fact that Michael Hoeye(anybody know how to pronounce his name?) added the "mythical CATS" to the story line.

If you haven't read this book, you really SHOULD!!!!!!!!

By the way, Time Stops For No Mouse is REALLY GREAT, too.

With two books published 2002 -- Time Stops for No Mouse (January) and The Sands of Time (September) -- The Hermux Tantamoq Adventures are SPECTRUM's Favorite New Book of 2002.

Michael Hoeye has created a charming, 1920s-ish world where rodents rule. At the center of these delicious tales is the meek Hermux Tantamoq. Hermux, who's half house mouse and half field mouse, is an expert watchmaker and mechanical wiz who happens to have a pet ladybug named Terfle. Each night before bed, Hermux takes the time to enter into his journal all the things for which he was thankful that day. Hoeye compliments his lead character with a clever supporting cast of characters and constructs stories that pay homage to old movies and invoke the feeing of perhaps an Agatha Christie or Arthur Conan Doyle tale. While there is something charmingly old-fashioned about the flavor of the books, Hoeye infuses his tales with wit, satire, and social commentaries that are spot-on for today's reader.

While the publisher states that Michael Hoeye's playful adventure/ mysteries are young adult fiction, these books are excellent for both younger audiences and adults. They are good for younger audiences for two reasons. First, they make great bedtime stories for those who read to their children. Second, Hoeye's easy, uncomplicated style, gentle story lines, and short chapters make these books ideal for a child to transition from chapter books to novels. At the same, time the underlying wit and social commentary, mentioned above, gives the books an added layer to be enjoyed by the adult reader or the older child who returns to the books.

These are books that should become generational family favorites, so the investment in hard cover editions is worth the expense.

- K. B. SHAW, Publisher -

Yes, my boyfriend and I refer to this book as the bible. Having been in the hobby for about 4 years, we have made mistakes here and there, but we would be in much more trouble without this book. It gives comprehensive information about each fish's temperment, feeding, maintenance, aquarium suitability, and recommended aquarium size. We wouldn't buy a fish without it.

I love this book. So far it contained all the fishes that I have seen at my local fish store and the best feature of the book is that it rates each fish from 1 to 5 where 5 indicates that it is an easy fish to keep alive in the aquarium, and 1 means it is hard to keep alive in an aquarium... This is great for me because I don't have the best track record with keep my fish alive and want to only buy fish which are easy to keep. The notes about each fish are really good to. It is like having 20 aquarium guru's giving you their experiences with each fish. Also, if you have a reef setup, it tells you if each fish is reef safe.

I love this book. So far it contained all the fishes that I have seen at my local fish store and the best feature of the book is that it rates each fish from 1 to 5 where 5 indicates that it is an easy fish to keep alive in the aquarium, and 1 means it is hard to keep alive in an aquarium... This is great for me because I don't have the best track record with keep my fish alive and want to only buy fish which are easy to keep. The notes about each fish are really good to. It is like having 20 aquarium guru's giving you their experiences with each fish. Also, if you have a reef setup, it tells you if each fish is reef safe.

This is the first book of Rohan's trilogy. Like so many others, I can't believe this is out of print. It's easily in the top third of the trilogies/series I've read. As some others have said, this series has 'everything' you look for in good fantasy.

Scott Rohan takes all the glitter of the ordinary fantasy novel and transmutes by solid smithcraft. This story starts with a thunderclap, storms off in fury and ends breathlessly, with the sequel looming like clouds in the distance. He is a very good writer with a style all his own, rich but not obscure, erudite but not pedantic. His hero becomes more appealing instead of more distant as his powers grow. The gods are truly fearful and unpredictable, playing and joking with destinies yet bound by destiny themselves. Of the vast and awesome landscapes, of the histories and myths, he shows us incredibly much in so few pages, and leaves us yearning for more. So: the Ice is advancing to blot all life off the face of the World. Neighbouring peoples, who could be brothers, wage war and do not see the freezing danger. Into these besieged lands is launched a young man to whom there is more than meets the eye. He has it in him to be a great hero, but he has also a fierce temper, plus impatience, foolishness, generosity and other faults in plenty to get him into trouble and to make him lovable. Don't wait: read it.

I read a lot of fantasy and SF. This is one series that really stands out. It's a real mix of european and north american myth, set in an ice age. The end of an age of magic,gods and myth, but with a solid 'reality' base.

I've read this series more than once, and I still think it's great. Pick it up if you can and read it. It's worth it.

Michael Scott Rohan weaves a fascinating tale over his trilogy. This first book introduces his world and shows the apprenticeship of a young man into the Smith craft. It's clear that Mr. Rohan did his homework on the details of smithing, and it's very wonderful to be there and watch the learning process. The story has mythic resonance in spades - mirroring the Hero's Journey in many ways, but not so much that you notice it heavily. What I loved about this tale is that the main character clearly changes throughout the story arc. There is romance, there is fantasy, but it isn't overwhelming. I recommend this book (and the series) because it brings out ancient wisdom and gives you a sense that you are connected to another time and world

Michael Scott Rohan has done a great job with this first book in the WOTW series. Combining fantasy elements with solid research, he follows in the footsteps of other Oxford-educated luminaries such as Tolkein and C.S. Lewis. Read this book.

Look, the fantasy books world divides into two divisions:
Those who keep you awake all night, and those who don't. The Anvil of Ice belongs to the first category. This is the first book in Mr. Rohan's trilogy: THE WINTER OF THE WORLD.
In this book you will be introduced to the unique world, and to the fascinating characters in the trilogy.

Michael Scott Rohan brings you into a very exciting world in a very descriptive way - that's the magic of the book - as you read you will feel you actually belong to that world. The world combines prehistory of Earth , ancient wisdom, and magic, combined in the mystic smith craft.
The story line and change of incidents are so rapid, you wouldn't want to leave the book, fearing you will miss something... the main character constantly changes, keeps you anxious to read more and more...

Mr. Rohan melts romance, fantasy, action, and smithery all together forming the perfect alloy, a work or art - The Anvil of Ice. Just like his most skilled Smith in the book would have done.

I can keep talking on this book forever, but I guess you should spend your time reading The Anvil of Ice rather than reading reviews on it.
So let me finish with the main point of this review:
I really enjoyed the first book of the trilogy, and I truly recommend it, because this book does to you what all fantasy books are meant to do - take you away from reality into a dream

A graphic novel isnt usually a piece of work which deserves the rating of 5 stars, however this graphic novel captures one of Spideyz greatest battles. Considering its exact story, it is a very weak graphic novel. The graphic novel does not revolve around a story but around a enemy. But, the novel is still a great book. If ur asking urself if u should buy it, i suggest it.
Because i live in Brasil, i had to order this novel from the internet. But when it arrived i loved it, it was exactly what i expected it would be, maybe even more. When i had to order it i wasnt completly sure but after i read most of the VERY LONG (and boring) reviews(nothin against the people who wrote it), i decided to make a shorter one. So the basic idea is that the author created a amazing story which, to me, helped inforce the "amazing" of the amazing spider-man.

Here is the deal: J. Michael Straczynski took over as the writer of Volume 2 of "The Amazing Spider-Man" with issue #30 and has been effectively "re-inventing" the character (but in a decidedly different way than what you find being done by Brian Michael Bendis in "The Ultimate Spider-Man," which is more a "re-imaginging"). "Coming Home" reprints issues #30-35 of the title, in which Straczynski come up with a striking new interpretation of the Spider-Man mythos. Clearly, then, the point of this trade paperback volume is to help new readers get on board and if not totally up to speed, at least within shouting distance. Taken together with the follow-up volume, "Revelations," these two books can do the trick.

"Coming Home" suggests that there is great significance to the fact that Spider-Man has been fighting villains like Doctor Octopus, the Vulture, the Lizard, the Scorpion, the Rhino, ad infinitum, all these years. Peter Parker meets Ezekiel, one of those mysterious stranger types who brings havoc to a superheroes life, who suggest that Spider-Man's powers might not be quite as unique as he thought. In other words, the idea that a bite from a radioactive spider would give someone the powers of a spider is a bit far fetched and there is another explanation. To drive the point home Spider-Man has to tackle Morlun, a being who feeds on the power of humans with totemistic powers and apparently the only way to survive the encounter is to hide his powers from his new opponent.

Unlike what Alan Moore did with Swamp Thing, the twist on Spider-Man's origin that Straczynski has come up with does not threaten to unravel the entire Spider-Man mythos. At that same time that Peter is being told that Spider-Man may well be the avatar of the Earth's spider population, he also takes a job as a high school science teacher. Meanwhile, there are still those marital problems with Mary Jane and at the end of this book Aunt May finds Peter him bruised, beaten, and bandaged, in a deep sleep, his tattered Spider-Man costume at his feet. This sets the stage for the next trade paper back collection, "Revelations," as Straczynski and artist John Romita, Jr. continue to turn the world of Peter Parker and Spider-Man upside down and inside out.

This is a great read! This is Spider-man the way I remember him.
Up against the odds with his sense of humor in tact.

...the instructions are not very complete. The author obviously has a great talent, and produces some of the most realistic gumpaste flowers I've seen, beautiful photos. BUT, the instructions are not detailed enough, and there are no step-by-step photos, only a few rough sketches. Also no instructions for how to put the flowers together into the arrangements and how to put them on the cake. Probably not the best book for beginners, but beautiful to look at, and would be great for someone who has some experience with gumpaste.

This book is fascinating and makes a great coffee table book, but since the techniques are very difficult in reality and take much more time than indicated, I would consider all this flower making with sugar a curiosity rather than something a person can just plunge into. The book is good, easy to read with great pictures.

This book is the most inspiring cake decorating book I have ever had the pleasure to read. Their work is truly fascinating and the recipes and instructions were extremely helpful. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in the art of cake decorating.

What a worth buying book. This book provides an introduction to coral reef habitats and fish families. It's even suitable for a non-biologist person like me. As a scuba diver who interested in marine biology, this book written by Scott W. Michael really helped me to ditinguish most fishes I encountered.

This is a wonderful book. It give s agreat intor to the general aspects of anatomy, physiology and ecology of reef fishes. It then goes on into detail on several families of fish. Among these are: Eels, Frogfishes, Seahorses, Squirrelfishes, Lionfishes, Anthias, and several others.

At least 2 more volumes are planned.

Volume 2 has been due "soon" for quite a while now. I hope "soon" isn't much longer--it will include many of the most interesting fishes: Damselfishes, Butterflyfishes, Angelfishes, Dottybacks, Jawfishes, Grammas, and several more.

Volume 3 (who knows when it will arrive) will include wrasses, blennies, gobies, surgeonfishes, rabbitfishes, pufferfishes and several others.

This series will definitely be the "definitive reference on all fishes a marine aquarist might ever encounter." The author, Scott W. Michael, is a renowned expert in this field. He has more than 25 years experience as an aquarist and diver. He has written several other books and contributes regularly to Aquarium Fish Magazine.

Highly recommended!!

Awesome book! So many wonderful pictures and more information than I hoped for!

Norman and Scott's "Historic Haunted America" is a diverse collection of ghost stories culled from the folklore of the United States and Canada. The book rarely delivers a story that is as "shocking" as its jacket promises; most of the anecdotes are obviously legends that have been passed down from one generation to the next and, as a result, have lost much of their emotional impact. However, a few stories do provide the chills and thrills so necessary to a book of the nonfiction horror genre. Norman and Scott have extensively researched North America's famous hauntings and this quality and thoroughness shows up in their finished product. Although a few stories are rather dull and repetitive, as a whole "Haunted America" is entertaining reading for afficionados of folklore and horror alike.

This is one of the best collections of real life ghost stories that I have ever read. The haunting entitled, "Night of Horrors" sent chills down my spine!! If you like reading about real life ghost stories, then I highly suggest this book. There are also 2 more books by the same authors. Just don't read these in the dark because when the lights go off....the rules change.....

This book offers an exciting look into an unknown world. With at least one, if not a few stories from each state and province in the US and Canada, you are bound to read about something close to home. Some stories are not about strange happenings and mysterious people, but about lost loves and broken hearts. I thought some were a little boring, and was tempted to skip to something more interesting. Some 'claimed' haunted houses discussed in the book are open to the public. Included with some stories is very general information on visiting them. I learned about Hampton House in Maryland through Historic Haunted America and visited it. The National Parks Service now maintains it. The government denied and stories of hauntings there. Overall, an excellent book and I can wait to read Haunted America and Haunted Heartland.

The original version of the story Lost Boys (later expanded into an inferior novel) is to be found here, and it is truly a frightening story. The events unfold, and before you realize it, you discover that the story is autobiographical. Also here are: CLOSING THE TIME LID--a wildly delicious time travel story--KING'S MEAT--a touching, and ironic tale of life on a planet that has been taken over by wierd squid-like aliens, who prey on human flesh--and of course the CLASSIC short story, UNACCOMPANIED SONATA. Words fail to discribe how touching and beautiful, how sad, and wonderful is this story of a future time when everybody gets to do whatever makes them most happy.

A must for Card fans and highly recommended to those attempting to understand the appeal and celebrity of this prizewinning and acclaimed American author of science fiction, fantasy, and magical realism.

Card's short fiction has always exceeded in power, beauty, and universalism the long fiction which he produces at such a prolific rate. This is mainly due to his tendency to explain nuances of his characters in his longer works literally, rather than allowing the reader to understand them through diligent observation. In his short fiction, however, he routinely abandons this "lowest common denominator" method, much to the empowerment of his prose.

The appeal of Card's work is similar to that of film wunderkind Steven Spielberg. At his worst, he is unflinchingly manipulative, such as in the story "Lost Boys," the original source for his later popular novel (cf. "The Color Purple"); at his best, his narration remains remote enough not to overpower with sentimentalism, as in "Unaccompanied Sonata" (cf. "Schindler's List"). A few works seem to be unnecessary literary exercises taken to extremes ("Damn Fine Novel") but, as is Card's trademark, a constant theme of sin/redemption runs through most of the stories. While drawing upon the Mormon experience, Card is unafraid to avoid simple moral chiaroscuro in favor of the gray areas for which good fantastic fiction is so well tailored.

The perfection of some of these tales lies in the simplicity of the telling. Card seems to have adhered to the ethic that informs Native American and Far Eastern oral traditions, wherein the narrator becomes only an instrument for the audience, and never intrudes as either arbitrator or alibi. It is in their peculiar mixture of triumph and tragedy that Card's stories delight, whether described through whimsy or dread.

The book's five segments, roughly described respectively as horror, science fiction, fantasies, parables, and miscellanea, comprise most of the author's published (and some unpublished) works up from 1977-1990. Particularly recommended: "Unaccompanied Sonata," "Quietus," "The Porcelain Salamander," A Plague of Butterflies," "Gert Fram."

It was a crime to let this book go out of print! Fortunately, one of my friends, also an OSC fan, lent his copy to me "for a short while." Because I am an honest person, I returned it. Eventually. And only after seriously considering changing my name and moving to Alaska, all to avoid losing these stories.

The book is divided into sections, each with a unifying theme: horror, classic science fiction, fantasy, parables, religion & ethics, and a mix of miscellaneous works. "The Changed Man," "Flux," "Maps in a Mirror," "Monkey Sonatas," and "Cruel Miracles" were also published as individual paperbacks, but "Lost Songs," which contains, among other things, the original short version of "Ender's Game," is only available in the comprehensive hardcover edition.

Every facet of OSC's brilliance is displayed in this collection. His longer works, while also brilliant, have an unfortunate tendency to lag at points, but in short form he shines. Though not all the stories are of equal quality (hey, everyone has bad days), none are bad, and many are things of beauty and power. My personal favorites include "A Thousand Deaths," "Freeway Games," "Saving Grace," "Kingsmeat," "The Porcelain Salamander," "The Best Day," "I Think Mom and Dad Are Going Crazy, Jerry," and, of course, "Unaccompanied Sonata."

Be aware: some of these stories contain graphic and disturbing images. They also contain disturbing ideas. But no one writes speculative literature better than OSC at his best, and this book has a lot of his best.

Good explanations on windows features but doesn't go into step by step details on windows tuning. A lot of detailed information on High Availability databases from Windows clustering to Advanced Replication (Step by step instructions). There is an outstanding chapter on database connectivity. This is a very advanced DBA book, don't expect information on SQL staff, index tuning, tablespace tuning so on.

What this book is great for is its focus on the Windows 2000 operating system. Those using other OS's may find it helpful as well. It even contained a rare answer (and solution) to why 8i wouldn't install, there was a bug running with Pentium IV CPUs.

I found it very helpful that this book also references 8.1.7 as well as 9i. The index, found in the back of the book, has several references to the SPFILE. It also has a detailed section on memory usage. Not only does this book give a summary of
Oracle Memory usage on Windows 2000, but goes into detail on how
to set up the boot.ini file when using 8i. Therefore, the reader
knows what 9i can do, and what it can't. This is very helpful
when tuning your database and deciding what version to upgrade to. It is obvious that the authors put a lot of research into this book.