Children and baths are like children and bed: hard to get `em in, and even harder to get `em out. My usual refrain is to come out before they turn into raisins, because they`re too small for prunes. Of course they identify with Shirley. When her mother tells her it`s time to come out it inspires her fantastic journey through the plumbing (we spend the longest time over that illustration,) and her aquatic adventures. No great revelations here, but the idea and whimsical illustrations never fail to captivate my dirty little monkeys of five and seven years of age.

I teach third graders who read at a 5th-9th grade level. The first problem with this book is that, on the back, in huge, yellow letters, is, "Learn more about your Christain heros! Read what traditional educators try to keep from you!" Not a good thing to send home. This book was much too difficult for them, not just because of the unnecessarily thick language. It is very poorly written. The prose is wordy and full of characters who are only mentioned once and then forgotten. The children claimed to like and understand this book, but their retention and actual understanding was nil.

... Given the older audience, I found this book to be well written and enjoyable for adults as well. A final chapter ends with a summary of the accomplishments of this man and what that means to our society today. It has nice illustrations, and includes an index.

Mr. Tiner combines an encouraging and inspirational story with layman's explanations for the experiments Mr. Morse conducted, which is his writing style for other books he has written for this series as well. In this way one comes away not only with the kind of story that encourages one to persevere, but also with a greater understanding of how the telegraph works if one did not already know.

Beginning as an extremely talented artist, Morse struggles to earn enough money to afford a house and be able to stay home with his family. He gains admiration, but very little money until he finally works on a highly profitable project. Unfortunately, his wife becomes ill and dies while he is away, and this information takes days to reach him.

His sorrow over his wife's death, and having earlier seen a war begin because communication was delayed, cause him to remember what he has learned about electricity. Then only a novelty in science, he designs a way to turn it into instant communication. For 12 years he works on the design and also seeks funding for the project, only to meet with either ridicule or admiration but no funding. At one point he nearly starves to death. Finally the government agrees to fund the project, and the rest, as they say, is history. The guiding force which helped keep him through these trials was his faith in God and the encouragement he drew from the Bible.

This is a wonderful book! I would make it, and the other biographies by John Hudson Tiner, required reading for young people -- and highly recommended for adults, too.

We memorize cold facts in school like "Morse invented the telegraph" but rarely learn anything about the human drama behind the facts. Here is a famous American who nearly starved himself trying to get his idea off the ground, an idea he KNEW was revolutionary, that none of the "experts" one would support! It's a story of perseverance and courage that eventually paid off and changed the world.

This book is immensely better fare for young people than the mindless drivel on TV and video games. As far as it having a Christian flavor, so what? It's true. Morse is one of many Christians who changed the world--Newton, Kepler, Pasteur, and many others. Does that aspect make the story politically incorrect? Should historians neglect the driving force behind a man's work? Get real, teachers, and tell your students more about Morse and less about Madonna. There are some excellent role models in American history and this is one of them.

John Hudson Tiner makes the character come alive and captures the misery of rejection and the triumph of vindication. It is EASY reading for any student not held captive by teachers that don't teach them how to read. There's nothing like true stories of real people (good-bye, Harry Potter), to inspire, motivate and stimulate young people to become the achievers of tomorrow. Read this and all the others in the Sowers Series, as well Tiner's other excellent books. You'll not only be inspired, you will learn a great deal of amazing history the textbooks never told you.

I found this book less informative than others on progesterone such as Dr. Lee's "What Your Doctor May Not Tell You..." books or "The Estrogen Alternative" But it still covers the basics. It does not contain an extensive reference section or "lessons" in biology to answer the biggest question, "why?". This is a good book for those who are just learning and have many questions. The question and answer format allows the reader to get direct answers to questions instead of having to read the whole book to get an answer to a specific question.

Although this book is a bit weak in explanations as to why this is happening to our bodies, I appreciate the fact that the title includes "Progesterone". My reason why is that I was prescribed synthetic progesterone when I first started suffering from those perimenopausal problems. I got so depressed it was scary. I stopped them immediately and sought out alternatives... a site where my family has purchased supplements, herbs and vitamins for several years now has a whole section devoted to women's health. There I found some blends that are helping me immensely. I ordered ... a black cohosh blend and a wild yam cream, followed the directions and am feeling much more myself. Although this book doesn't cover it all, it is good for empowering women to not settle for synthetic forms when there are so many natural forms out there. In case you are doing searches for these, another word for these are phytoestrogers. Check them out...

Whew. I was a little offended by the frequent references to Lovecraft in reviews and book notes. Sure, it's horror genre and the bogeyman is an ancient unspeakable creature (or creatures, hell I couldn't even make sense of it). But Lovecraft would never have penned anything like this mess. He knew how to tell a story. The "special effects" here are way overblown and read like they're on their way to a movie script. There are subplots galore, threads (albeit some good ones) going in all different directions, and much gratuitous pornography. What's it really about? A little this and a little that. Who knows. Maybe I'm old fashioned (I'll agree that so many current novels are like this), but this is five (or more!) good stories, not one. It's so disappointing because Shirley is obviously quite talented. There are many gems of character insight, human nature, and philosophical notions in here, but also loads of offal and noise to wade through to get to them. This book could have been so much better at half its length. But, it is a cut above the rest as is, so it gets three stars from me.

A lot of things can be said about this book but "dull" has no place in any description about this book. And yes, stick to Stephen King if you want the same old predictable and formulated horror novel written from the imagination and not the soul / from experience. The only problem with WETBONES is that it's horribly misunderstood. The author presents us with a familiar surrounding - the filthy and one dimensional city of Los Angeles. However, we find out that it's actually 4 dimensional. For the most part the other reviews here do describe some of what goes on in this book so I won't bore you with attempting to elaborate... just read this book.

John Shirley speaks from his own horrors of drug and sex addiction and when an artist pours his soul into his work it ceases to be pornography, it is art. This book is dark and ugly and highly confrontational in regards to addiction and its consequences as well as the nature of humanity. It is raw and visceral and honest in ways I've never experienced before. This book is a profound story with a message which may be too honest for most people to handle... John Shirley pulls no punches and even I wished that I could put the book down and forget I had heard of it, but I couldn't because it's too compelling as a horror novel, as a drama, as well as somewhat of an autobiography in symbolic and metaphorical ways. John Shirley simply made it severe enough that people would take notice. Whether you love it or hate it WETBONES leaves its mark. It's a pretty hardcore book and not for the squeamish. It is ultimately about hope and pulling through the darkness of our souls (and what feeds on them)however it is a long and hard journey through that darkness and the only way past it is through it. Read this book and if you don't feel anything than stick to flat and "dull" works of other horror writers who only wish they could write like Shirley. Wetbones is a journey to places within ourselves that we don't want to be or see, but that's the beauty of it and the formula for really good horror. Out of a possible 5 stars I give it 10. There is no other book like this and more than likely there never will be again.

_Wetbones_ by John Shirley combines the 3 Ms - murder, mutilation (to the point of maceration), and mind control into an erotic, yet extremely graphic splatterpunk novel probably too strange for the mainstream.

A cult-like group can manipulate people by stimulating their brain centers and doling out Punishment or Reward. Several people with nothing apparent in common -- a man hung up on his ex-wife's death via self-mutilation, another searching for his juvenile deliquent brother, a reverend who counsels drug addicts, and an ex-cult member performing grotesque murders -- all find their paths crossing at the cult's compound. At the compound they discover unspeakable rituals and the cult's secret of mind control.

However, _Wetbones_ does more than just describe the horror of hacked-up human bodies; it is also a study of addiction and the depths of despair. Its intensity and flat out weirdness make this book a highly recommended read for the "slice-and-dice" horror set.

I suppose this book could be construed as some sort of commentary on human depravity but to me, the whole thing read like a bad Twilight Zone script. Thoroughly disappointing considering the wonderful stories in Heatseeker. Extradimensional being f**ks with some humans for kicks. The end. There. I just saved you the trouble of reading the book.

John Shirley has never been funnier, or more profound, in his dark comedy "A View From Hell", which could be seen as a rock and roll version of Dante's "Inferno" with bits of cyberpunk prose added for some memorable passages. This is a terse tale about how those who commit evil deeds find time in an earthly Hell devised by two ethereal beings. Needless to say, it provides Shirley a unique podium for commenting on humanity's frailities. Shirley's latest is a limited edition book deserving of a wide readership.

In this signed, numbered, limited (to 1,000) edition from Subterranean Press, John Shirley continues to entertainingly blend the genres of horror, fantasy, and metaphysical science fiction. Acknowledged by William Gibson as one of the progenitors of "cyberpunk", Shirley continues to expand the literary horizon as a leading writer of transgressive fiction. "The View From Hell" is a parable of hell-on-earth which balances Shirley's dark cynicism with humanistic sensibilities, appreciating humanity's complex range of emotions, motivations, and actions. The plot follows the lives and afterlives of several broadly-drawn characters who are involved in a series of darkly humorous violent experiences induced by the psychic influences of non-corporeal entities visiting Earth. These characters are subsequently confined together in a purgatory, from which their increasingly grotesque "deaths" at one another's hands offer but only a brief escape before they are re-constituted to live and die again and again. "The View From Hell" provides a provocative platform from which Shirley can pose philosophical questions regarding the nature and meaning of human existence.

This collection presents more of the Mutual Broadcasting System's Holmes radio shows from a time after Rathbone and Bruce had left the show, as had writers Anthony Boucher and Dennis Green. Unlike the Simon & Schuster collections of tales from the Bruce/Rathbone era, this collection presents 12 consecutive tales in chronological order of presentation. Also, unlike the Simon & Schuster presentations, this collection dispenses with the pre- and post-story commentary. With the extra tape, they present three, rather than two, stories per cassette.

Every third story is an adaptation of a Conan Doyle story, so the quality of those stories is superb. When Meiser is left to her own devices in writing, she can produce very uneven work. "The Case of the Well Staged Murder" makes for satisfying listening, but "Professor Moriarty and the Diamond Jubilee" is quite contrived, and "New Years Eve in the Scilly Isles" is downright silly. A firebug is seen deserting a ship as it sails out of harbor. The Captain is radioed that the ship will probably go up in smoke at the stroke of twelve on New Years Eve. The lives of 2,000 passengers and crew hang in the balance. So does the Captain turn around and go back to port to unload the passengers and search for the time bombe? Nope. He sails on for 18 hours until he is far at sea and there is only an hour left until midnight. But Holmes arrives in a yacht just in the nick of time. This has my vote for the most contrived Holmes radio pastiche of all times.

John Stanley sounds more like Rathbone than Rathbone, and doesn't muff his lines as often. Alfred Shirley tries manfully, but he cannot quite convey the warmth of Bruce's Watson. The organ music is more subdued and not quite as annoying, but Meiser makes Holmes far too disagreeable. He is the rudest Holmes I have encountered, and very nearly the most conceited. I'm sure that on several occasions, the only thing that prevented Watson from inviting Holmes outside for fisticuffs was the fact that Holmes was an expert amateur boxer.

The 60 page booklet that comes with the collection is a gold mine of information for Holmes afficionados.

Bishop Dingman was a very interesting fellow

I came across Transmaniacon in a bargain bin after reading John Shirley's Eclipse series. Impressed by his writing in Eclipse, I picked up this tattered paperback to give it a try. Transmaniacon must come from the days when John Shirley was exploding forth with prose and just wrote it all down as quickly as possible. It's not as sharp as the Eclipse books, but it's an extremely imaginative story about a man given extraodinary mental powers with which to carry out a dangerous mission. The easy afternoon read ends in a gigantic conflagration of psychic energy and crisis. It's worth checking out if you're a fan of Shirley, to see his evolution as a sci-fi writer, especially when you can get it for just a couple of bucks.

It is but, it's not a very good example of his work. But if you're interested in his devolpement, it's a quick enough read, and you get a feel for his early style devolpement. But if you want just the best of his stuff, try some of the more recent books and short stories; I mean, he's a hell of a writer

This early Shirley work (possibly his first novel?) is amateurish and immature, with some hints here and there of the talent that later produced some of the best cyberpunk and horror fiction around. Not to get too far into it, early on the earth loses it's gravitational field, and many people are killed or starve to death while floating around loose. The rest go on to create some sort of utopia, though not really an ideal one. The book gets rather preachy in a naive socialistic sort of way, and barely escapes being laughable in its romanticism. I can't recommend buying it unless you just have to fill out your collection.