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I was the young boy who lost his father in a coal mine accident and knew Clifford and Ethel very well. Jim shows a
keen and accurate memory on these events and Ellies "editing" and writing are superb. They are to be congratulated. It has been said that someone is not really dead until they are forgotten. Jim and Ellie have assured Clifford and Ethel will not be forgotten for many years.
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Pancake grew up in the hollows of West Virginia and each of the carefully wrought stories in this collection deals with the seemingly desperate lives of the working poor in that part of the country. They are remarkably crafted stories, written with a deep sense for the locale and the people from which they are drawn. They are also models of precision, the kind of stories that deserve to be read over and over, studied for the way in which they use foregrounding and the mundane details of everyday life--albeit everyday life that quietly screams with the desperation of poverty, deadening work, drinking, promiscuity, and brutality-to draw complex portraits of people who endure, even when endurance is no more than a substitute for hope. As he writes in "A Room Forever," the story of a tugboat mate spending New Year's Eve in an eight-dollar-a-night hotel room where he drinks cheap whiskey out of the bottle and eventually ends up with a teen-aged prostitute: "I stop in front of a bus station, look in on the waiting people, and think about all the places they are going. But I know they can't run away from it or drink their way out of it or die to get rid of it. It's always there."
The best of these stories are "Trilobites," "The Honored Dead," "Fox Hunters," and "In the Dry." But there really isn't a weak story in the bunch. Every story is captivating, every one an exemplar of what good short story writing should be. At the end, the only thing that disappoints, that leaves the reader discomforted, is the thought that Pancake died so young, that these are the only stories we have by a truly remarkable writer.
Having grown up in West Virginia, there were parts of these stories that spoke to me from a sort of "native" perspective. But more to it was the emotion that was the core, the skin and the stitching of each of these stories.
It's a good book to own. To read from when you feel like being taken to another place for a while. And to carry a piece of that place with you once you put the book down.
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It's what would be called a Flashpoint. To any new readers to the series, it'll be very confusing if they pick up the older novels after reading this one.
Mark has written a novel that is very emotional, tragic, but touching and out and out uproariously funny in several sections.
It begins almost thirty years into the future. The entire face of the Outlands has been changed, much to the efforts of the Cerberus exiles.
Sam has taken total control of the continent, and a good part of the world as well. The nine baronies were destroyed completely in a five year war that took place after Cobalt managed to rebuild his power base and launched an all out assault against Cerberus.
Kane, Grant, Lakesh and Bry are the only ones who managed to survive the wars. Both Kane and Grant were instrumental in the victory over the nine barons, but the cost to both men was insurmountable.
Grant lost Shizuak, and Kane lost his wife, Brigid, when they rescued him from the hands of a cult, The Nirodha, based in India. That single even left more of a scar on Kane than any of the wounds that he had suffered over the many years he spent as a Magistrate, and then an exile fighting the Barons.
He has spent over twenty years researching a means to travel back in time to fix what had happened, so that he wouldn't have to suffer as he has. Even Grant, his partner, and his best friend, turned his back on Kane, thinking that he has become totally fused out because of what happened.
Kane however, has a plan. Sindri disappeared, and was never heard from again, but Kane realized what the little man did. He managed to trap himself in Zero time, using the operation Chronos facilities on Thunder Isle, just before the reactor reached critical mass. He is critical to bring about Kane's plan to life.
As always, Kane has a number of obstacles to overcome. First and foremost is Tanvirah, the daughter of Lakesh and Erica van Sloan. She is now the Scorpio Prime of the Nirodha cult, like her mother before her. She is under Sam's orders to try and win Kane over, with any means at her disposal. Grant even tries to stop him, and the fight that ensues is one of the more entertaining scenes in the novel.
But, despite as crazy as he appears, Kane's whole scheme might actually work, and after bringing Sindri back from the Zero time he had been trapped in. Together, he and Sindri use the remaining TAV to travel to the City of High River, formerly known as Cobaltville.
Surpassing even more trials and tribulations, they reach the city only to be captured and whisked off to China where they would face Sam, the Imperator.
Here, Kane confronts the hybrid and discovers exactly who and what he is, and during the confrontation, he learns the Imperators great plans. His own plan to send Sindri back in time actually succeeds, but at the cost of his life.
Once again, this is the best novel that the author has written to date, and I am very eager to read the conclusion.
Talon and Fang is one of those which kept me turning the pages until the late hours.. Great character development, typical Outlanders humor, and of course the mystery and suspense that only Mark Ellis can weave.
This novel represents a major event in the mythology of Outlanders. Most series novels of this type put you right back where you started from, without altering the fabric of the characters or the format. Talon and Fang takes an extra step and goes beyond this limitation.
This book has action, adventure, life-threatening situations, romance, and mystery. More than your usual action/adventure beat the bad guys plot, this book brings familiar characters a little closer to real life. If you liked the intertwining threads of the other novels in this series you'll love Talon and Fang.
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Although I have a military background (USMC, late 60s - early 70s), I spent my career in law enforcement. I retired a couple of years ago after almost 29 years, to include time as a "first line supervisor and commander in Patrol Operations and police tactical operations (SWAT).
I found it to be very refreshing that this book was oriented "primarily" towards the first-line supervisor level. Although the principles and concepts outlined in the book were clearly applicable toward supervisory and management positions above that first line level, the thrust of its direction was somewhat unique in the direct approach towards first line supervision.
Additionally, the use of "war stories" to demonstrate specific examples of conceptual thoughts of principle allowed the reader a glimpse of practical applications of the various principles.
It was quite strange that while this book was an easy read - easy to follow, well written, and by no means conceptually "hazy" - I found it hard to finish! And that was only because I found myself reading a section, putting the book down and mulling over what I just read (and sometimes mulling it over off-and-on for hours), going back and re-reading it, etc. before going on to the next section. As a result, it took me quite a bit longer to finish the book that I had first imagined!
This book rates an "A+" for no other reason that the author's identification of one of the key problems facing supervision AND management today: "The Three Ps" (I won't ruin the surprise for future readers by identifying them).
In fact, in my opinion, in today's area of supervision and management - as I know from first hand observation in the law enforcement field and otherwise see both in the corporate world and in the military - the "Three Ps" are THE biggest problems of leadership today. Until the cultural climate adjustments occur that effect the necessary changes in this area, I see no hope for true positive outcomes within those troubled organizations.
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Great book and I have already recommened to most of my friends.
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There are certain themes (e.g., the inability to love) and preoccupations (e.g., an interest in architecture) that recur throughout the P.D. James series, as is apparent when you read a bunch of them over a short period of time. Though her later novels are longer and more elaborate, I also admire the more straightforward, meticulously crafted early works. Rereading the series is a great summer project!
This is Cordelia's first independent case. She has been hired to investigate the apparent suicide of a prominent scientist's only son. The case takes some unexpected twists and turns, and she finds herself in danger before the case winds down to a conclusion. At the end, she meets Chief Inspector Dalgliesh, the main character of other novels by the author.
The monetary amounts mentioned (i.e., five pounds a day plus expenses) may seem strange to U.S. readers, even taking into account the 1972 time frame, but one must keep in mind that things were cheaper than they are today and that pay standards in the U.K. have always been less than in the U.S. - one reason for immigration (the old World War II complaint about U.S. servicemen was "overpaid, oversexed, and over here")
The sequel to this novel is "The Skull Beneath the Skin." Sue Grafton's fans should enjoy these novels.
P.D. James at her best! Fans of Inspector Dalgliesh, and those new to P.D. James will both enjoy this. Dalgliesh appears very briefly on the fringes of the story. The heroine is a likeable, determined, very human young woman, who isn't going to be swayed by the popular opinion that being a detective is "an unsuitable job for a woman".
~ -~
Cordelia Gray has just inherited full ownership of a detective agency on the brink of bankruptcy. Their main assets now are a gun and Cordelia's determination. She gets caught up in the investigation of a young man's suicide, and won't let go despite danger to herself.
~ - ~
The solution to the mystery was quite a surprise. (Being such a mystery fan, many books are now transparent) As always-, James has a clever, unexpected solution, and a dramatically satisfying ending.
If you've heard of P.D.James - this is a great mystery to jump into! James fans- Don't miss it!
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Clearly, the more you know about Heinlein's work the more you will find this reference work to be useful. Gifford's focus is more on detailing the background and history as well as providing critical insights into these works than in providing synopses. Granted, such synopses would make this book perfect, simply because only the most ardent scholar or fan is going to have read even half of the works that Heinlein wrote, but such an omission is certainly within the purview of a Reader's Companion. I am teaching "Stranger in a Strange Land" for my Science Fiction class this semester and picked up Gifford's book to find out useful background information to pass on to my students. But once I started researching that particular topic I quickly found myself paging back and forth pursuing various threads. Devotees of Heinlein's science fiction will find this book useful, not only in providing a fuller appreciation of what they have already read, but in suggesting other works to find and devour as well.
Since I've bought it I've consulted it hundreds of times, I couldn't do without it.
Gifford's precise, clear, and unbiased commentary on nearly all of Heinlein's works is interesting and concise. It does a great service by providing a clear chronological progression of Heinlein as a writer, which gives the reader a fuller understanding of the works produced at a given time in Heinlein's career. I often felt nostalgic when going through commentary because I could remember the work and the period of my life that I read it, and the enjoyment that it brought me at the time.
This book is indeed a companion for Heinlein fans.
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This book shows American history as it should be written--giant machines moving the citizens and the commerce of the land, a huge railroad corporation with all the bureaucratic "snafus" of any multi-layered business as those snafus are seen by and sometimes affect the career of an engineman, the impact of the Great Depression on one family as typical of America as any could be. Historical facts are all here, but they are facts as seen by two very real, very human people, a father and a son. Were all history books written so well, we would all understand history far better and read it far more willingly.
My own grandfather was an engineman, through his road was the Frisco rather than the Pennsy, and my own father was a great lover of trains, though his career paths took him in a different direction. I came along late in my father's life, and, by the time I had the ability and the leisure to write about him, he was gone and his history with him. "Set Up Running" is the type of book I wish someone could have written about my own father, and I know of no higher praise than that. This is a book for railroaders, historians, Americans, and every father's child. At the end, I hated to have to say good-bye to O.P.--and to his son John--but I left knowing much more about the first half of 20th Century America, and I really enjoyed the telling.
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unfortunately, relate to. All of the details well
placed and in the proper sequence. A hard thing to
do properly. Looking forward to his next offering.