This is one of those books that I use all the time. Because this is the first book I've given 5 stars, I'd better explain.

First, I like the way the book organized itself along the lines that the ActionScript editor or toolbox lists the different ActionScript terms. The parallel makes things easy to find. Second, I like the way the examples are used. For instance, the author explains the geometry behind the cosine of an angle explaining the Math.cos() method and then provides an example that draws a perfect circle. That's a lot better than I get in just about any other book. (Maybe that's more than some need, but I appreciated it.) Third, I like the level range. The beginning of the book is only 2 chapters, but it's a good 2 chapters that provide a quick explanation of ActionScript and scripting. However, further on in the book, it also covers more complex things like registerClass() with a detailed examples. The same is true for all of the new objects like LoadVars().

Finally, I have found myself using the last several chapters covering UI components. Before I got this book, I really didn't use UI Components very much, and now I use them constantly. In fact, those chapters (Pt IV, Chs 14-21)are what I find myself using the most. If this book had nothing but Part IV, the book would have been more than worth it to me.

I think the book is worth 6 stars -- 5 for the first 3 parts and an additional one for the last part covering UI Components.

After Flash 5 ActionScript, I didn't think that it would get much bigger. Flash MX ActionScript is huge, and this book makes it available. The author spends only the first two chapters with the basics of writing ActionScript in the context of Flash MX and makes a nice transition from Flash 5 to Flash MX.

Then, from Chapter 3 to the end of the book's 21 chapters, the author decided to follow the order of actions in the Actions toolbox in the Actions Panel. That makes it very easy to find stuff because it's organized along the same logical patterns as the toolbox. Even so I found myself going to both the detailed TOC and appendix to look up terms, and I never had problems finding what I needed.

Anyone can explain the easy stuff like the old gotoAndPlay() actions, and so I went to the new OOP materials and XML socket section. The OOP stuff was mixed with non-OOP throughout the book, and OOP-related methods like registerClass() were explained in detail and supported with a good example using something that made sense in the context of Flash MX. In fact, the whole book was filled with good examples. Some examples extended over several pages and others were little ones that gave you a quick insight. Sanders is an ace with examples. As for the XML socket material, not only did the explanation explain to me for the first time ever what the blazes a socket server was, it provided a URL where I could download a free socket server, which I did. Then I worked the example, and now I have my own mini-chat in XMLSocket. I'm happy.

The last several chapters were in-depth explanations of the different ActionScript terms used with the new UI Components. Each component got its own chapter, and I found it invaluable for designing with the components. It does not cover re-skinning, but I was able to get the look I wanted by changing every element in the components and I am a big user of UI components. (You can change all the little parts of components like highlight, higlight3D, face, darkshadow, etc. without re-skinning.)

There were a lot of little details I liked in the book. The examples were mixed, interesting, and clarifying. Undocumented terms, like onData with LoadVars(), were included, and I found what I needed. One suggestion for people getting this book: buy some of those little colored tab stickem things to bookmark all of the part of this book you'll need to reference again and again.

This seems to be quite a departure for William Sanders. I have read several of his other books and was expecting something very different. The "Taggart Roper" mysteries that he used to write, while not really "hardboiled" in the Spillane sense, contained a good deal of violence and physical action (which he does very effectively) and so did his science fiction and fantasy novels that I have read.

"Smoke", on the other hand, has only a couple of violent scenes, and these rather understated except perhaps for the climactic scene and even that is handled with restraint. Don't misunderstand, this is not a "cosy" mystery by any means, but it is much less violence-and-action-oriented than Sanders' previous works. In fact it is the only book of his I've ever read in which the hero doesn't kill anyone.

That is not to say this is a dull book. On the contrary, it moves very well and sustains the reader's interest all the way through. In part this is because of the fascinating background. I will never again be able to visit one of those "Native American Arts and Crafts" exhibitions with the same eyes, or without laughing to myself.

The characters, too, are a delight. Particularly the Comanche artist, Buster Tenbears, whose ruminations on the common hangover ("Amazing what a large object the human head is") are classic. And there is a rich oil family that makes the Ewings of "Dallas" look like the Cleavers.

This isn't a mind-blower like Sanders's "Ballad of Billy Badass", but as a good enjoyable read for a quiet night at home, it would be hard to beat.

I'm familiar with a lot of William Sanders' fantasy and alternate history, but SMOKE is the first of his mysteries that I've read. The main character, a Cherokee woodcarver who's selling his art work at a week-long Native American Cultural Festival, finds himself in the midst of a murder investigation. Power and influence, campus cops, one of whom is a nephew, and Cherokee customs all come into play to complicate Hosea Smoke's life.

Sanders is a wonderful writer, and I loved the way the story unfolded as the pieces of the mystery fell into place. What was really special for me as a reader, though, was that about halfway through the book, I realized that I was matching faces and voices from my past with the characters in SMOKE and watching the action as much as I was reading the words. I know these people. I've been in these settings, heard them talking and seen them doing what they do. Sanders writes about real people in real situations. I like it when a book comes alive for me like SMOKE did. I just finished the book last night, and I'm already rereading it, just for the sheer joy of the experience.

I am familiar with a lot of William Sanders' fantasy and alternate history, but SMOKE was the first mystery of his that I read. The main character is Hosea Smoke, a Cherokee woodcarver who's selling his art work at a week-long Native American Cultural Festival at a small college in Oklahoma. Hosea finds himself in the midst of a murder investigation when he discovers one of the other exhibitors dead in his trailer. Power and influence, campus cops (one of whom is Hosea's nephew), and Cherokee customs all come into play to complicate Hosea Smoke's life.

I love the way the story unfolds as the pieces of the mystery fall into place. What was really special for me as a reader, though, was that about halfway through the book, I realized that I was matching faces and voices from my past with the characters in SMOKE and watching the action as much as I was reading the words. Sanders writes about real people in real situations. I've been in these settings, overheard these people talking, and seen them doing what they do.

I like it when a book comes alive for me like SMOKE does. It's been a good book to pull out and reread just for the sheer pleasure of it, straight through from the beginning or just going through and chuckling again at the favorite bits. My husband loved this mystery, too. Normally, our reading tastes differ, but we definitely agreed that this book's great.

This isn't Sanders' first mystery by a long chalk, and it shows; he constructs a framework character by character and clue by clue with an ease that's misleading. The milieu here is an Indian Art exhibition and sale, and Sanders skillfully delineates this rarified world well enough that even a "yoneg" art-illiterate like me can understand it clearly.

I won't go into the plot except to say that it involves the conflict between real Indians and those who just wish they were Indians, and the resultant jealousies and resentments that can build up into an explosive situation. Our hero, a wood carver, is drawn reluctantly into the role of detective, banging up against campus security, real police, and his own antagonism against the victim.

With most mysteries, it's enough that they're a pretty good read. With the better ones, you're left wanting more. With the best, you can't put them down until you've not only read them through to the end, but have gone back to see where the clues SHOULD have led you had you been as smart as the protagonist. With _Smoke_, William Sanders has written one of the best.

Soldiers of Misfortune, covering World War II, the Korean war, and Vietnam, is a profoundly shocking insight as to what has become of thousands of U.S. POW's during these wars. According to the authors, years of investigative work went into the formulation of the book and it is clearly evident in the text.

Painstaking attention has been given and recorded to remove anyone's doubts of this books authenticity. The authors list a staggering record of POW's forever lost to our enemies, the names of prison camps and gulags where they were held, intricate dates and timelines of events, and eyewitness accounts of vital information pertaining to U.S. soldiers forgotten by our govenment.

In the years following World War II, the Korean war, and Vietnam, the actions by our govenment to conceal data concerning our POW's and it's campaigns to silence anyone investigating the issue is absolutely apalling. This book will define for the reader the gross misuses of power, illegal tactics to manipulate and humiliate citizens seeking honest answers, and the use of outright threats and intimidation to bury the subject forever.

Great credit is due to the authors of this book for their courage and perseverance to expose the plight of our lost U.S. servicemen. This book is very highly recommended to everyone who would like an untainted and factual look into the heartbreaking saga of missing U.S. soldiers.

Readers may also be interested in "Kiss the Boys Goodbye: How the United States betrayed its own POW's in Vietnam" by Monica Jensen-Stevenson and William Stevenson. Excellent source material here that reiterates much information found in Soldiers of Misfortune.

Absolutely, this is the most riveting and explosive book I have ever read. I served 2 tours of combat duty in the Korean WAR; futhermore, had I been privy to this read, you could never have gotten me back to Korea- never -. The Big Lie, spawned out of the Beltway since 1945 to the present, is inconcievable, that the DoD, State Dept, Pentagon and Joint Chiefs of Staff [all], deny the existense of American GI"s languishing in Siberia, Red China, North Korea and North Vietnam . Imagine, former POW"s readily admit, they had seen American POW"s herded off to the Soviet Union and to Red China. Whose hearts go out to our MIA/POW families whom have been grossly and deliberately LIED to by government officials ?? Whereas, our Presidents [all] since 1945, turned their backs on all captured American POW"s. I pray, from this hurt, that one American staggers out of the Soviet Union to corroborate all, in this vale of tears- maybe, just maybe - the apathetic American populace will wake up to being had by a devious lot in our nation"s capital, as they go about THEIR business as usual. If this read doesn"t make your blood boil, then you aren"t alive; however, the assertions, send an ambigious message to any teenager who may be thinking about enlisting: "I wonder, will my President and countrymen come to my rescue if I am captured by the enemy"?? It is your call youngsters. Sayonara.

I've been a fan of Sanders' work for a long time, ever since I read his first two (terrific) novels, JOURNEY TO FUSANG and THE WILD BLUE AND GREY; but I was blissfully unaware of most of his short fiction until I read this collection. There's some alternate history here, most notably "The Undiscovered," perhaps his best-known short story, but the variety is wider than that: erotica, humor, a nasty little yarn about cockroaches and vengeance, all with Indian themes and not a loser in the bunch. Sanders is a terrific storyteller, and I can't recommend this book highly enough.

I have been involved in distance education for several years. As a person who teaches other faculty to develop Web-based courses as well as being a developer myself, I am constantly on the look out for good books. This, in my opinion, is the best I have seen in the field so far. In addition to being a technologist, I am also a specialist in adult education. There have been other books that are good in that there is one or another chapter that contains good materials. This book is a must for the beginning Web developer, particulalry if you are interested in pedagogical issues and learner-centered instruction.
The chapter dealing with JavaScript is excellent. It is a good introduction to the use of this tool for including student interactivity. What I particulalry like about it is that a non-programmer can use it to get up and running. It is not so in-depth that the average faculty member cannot use it. It leaves out the high-end bells and whistles and yet it allows a person to accomplish something meaningful.
Finally, the references that are included are very good. If you want to cover the topics indepth, you are pointed in a good direction.

One woman, once a NASA scientist working on a Mars mission, is trapped in a mental institution, desperately trying to find a reason or a cure for the terrible dreams that trouble her, and for the bouts of insanely violent feelings which possess her. Another woman faces a shootout with several men in an abandoned New Mexico town, decades after a war nuclear war destroyed civilization -- and she too faces terrible dreams which have driven her lover away. A third woman has turned to drink, amid the ruins of her SF writing career and the ravages of her own terrible nightmares. Mysteriously, these three women, from three different worlds, find themselves together, facing dangers together in each of their worlds, and facing even scarier threats from mysterious humanlike but invulnerable beings who can chase them from world to world.

That's the setup for William Sanders' new novel, J. Sanders has published a number of first rate novels in several genres: SF, fantasy, mystery, men's adventure. He's never less than a wicked good adventure writer, and at his best he combines whipcrack action writing with a deadpan ironic sense of humour, fully rounded, "lived-in" characters, and real passion. J. is Sanders at close to the top of his form -- it's fast moving, intense, and fun to read. It's also as close to pure SF as he's ever come at novel length.

The story follows the three women who share the same name in different forms (Jay, Mad Jack, and Ann, all short for Jacqueline Ann Younger) as they cope with the realization that in some strange way they are the same woman, in three divergent timelines. Mad Jack's is the most distant from ours, and Sanders portrays the post-Apocalyptic anarchic New Mexico with brutal realism. We see only a little bit of Ann's world -- similar to ours with slight divergences that have led, for example, to a more advanced space program. And Jay's world, as far as we can tell, is our world. The main action opens with Ann threatened (...) by a brutal worker at the mental institution she's committed herself to -- but suddenly she is rescued by the strange appearance of the heavily armed Mad Jack, who takes the rapid action which is second nature to her harsh way of life. But of course in Ann's world that's murder -- and while Ann and Jack clumsily try to escape, there really isn't any hope for them -- until somehow they find themselves again in Mad Jack's version of Santa Fe. That provides only the briefest respite, however, especially when the mysterious grey clad men show up, apparently ready to kill the women out of hand. But soon they find their way, how they don't know, in yet another world, with Jay -- but by now they know that that won't represent a long term solution, to say nothing of their short term problems dealing with Jay's drinking, and with the unavoidable problem of explaining their sudden appearance in a world with no place for them.

J. careens back and forth, the action never stopping, as the three women struggle to escape their grey pursuers. Fortunately, they find a man who mysteriously has some idea of what might be happening -- and eventually they learn, to some extent, what's been going on -- and they even have a chance at finding a place where all three women can stay together. This novel features three involving and believable main characters, some fine SFnal speculation that is reminiscent of some of Poul Anderson's work, and some of H. Beam Piper's, and an always compelling plot.

J. by William Sanders had me laughing, crying, biting my knuckles and cheering all at the same time, while I watched the coming together of the fates of these broken, tortured, brave and intense three women (or should I say three aspects from 3 different possible realities).

What an amazing book, and an amazing premise! Not only does William Sanders show a deep understanding of humanity and of femaleness, but he shows that one person holds the complexity of a whole universe, and we all can be fragmented into familiar yet oh-so-alien aspects of our own selves. We all have dark sides, clear sides, innocent and bitter sides, fathomless and murk-filled aspects.

The three "J" are all yearning for the other aspect of themselves, and when they do meet, the world can never again be the same. Or should I say, the three alternate aspects of the world are all suddenly changed; the range of experience is preternaturally widened.

This is a book that makes you think, and think again. And for that alone, I'd give it 6 stars, if I could. And I'd give it a seventh star because William Sanders is a master of subtle precision and biting wit.

Now, go get your own copy and see what it's like to meet yourself in three different ways all at the same time. It'll blow your mind.

Sanders, best known for his short stories, proves just as adept with longer tales; the story moves briskly, but not breathlessly, with just enough breaks in the action for the characters to get to know each other, and for you to get to know them. The multiple viewpoints are blended smoothly, and the characters react like real people to the unusual situations they find themselves in. The technical details are all rock solid, right down to the end, when the reason for the strange connection between their worlds is explained.

J. is the work of a master storyteller at the top of his form; just like life it's serious in some places and funny in others, but there's never a dull moment. What more can you ask for?

Journey to Fusang is an alternate history where the Europeans and especially the English are considered and treated like the Africans of our timeline, and the world's big colonial powers are Arabs, Chinese and Aztecs.

The author, William Sanders, a Native American, is not only a talented writer but also an extremely well educated one. He is obviously extremely well read, and has a vicious sense of humour and and inclination to outrageous puns, but SUBTLE ones! Makes us re-think our own preconceptions and laugh at ourselves. So get yourself a copy of "Journerry to Fusang", it's amazing.

...I wasn't expecting the craftsmanship of Sander's excellentTHE BALLAD OF BILLY BADASS AND THE ROSE OF TURKESTAN-- just some finewriting, good history and vividly drawn characters. Not too much to expect of a modern master. Holy smoke. This one ranks alongside any one of George MacDonald Fraser's Flashman books, with the same unsparing observations of human nature and the intensely evoked sense of time and place, only in this case these are times and places that never existed-- in this alternate history, due to the Mongols having stayed on long enough to prolong the Dark Ages in Europe, the Arabs and Chinese colonized the New World. Slave ships creak across the Atlantic with their holds full of chained Anglo-Saxons-- .... The Aztec empire is still in place but beginning to crumble, due to circumstances a lot more complex than a handful of Spaniards with nothing to lose. And far in the west is a city by a blue bay, a civilized paradise of steep streets and endless possibilities: Fusang. This is the eventual goal of Finn of No Fixed Abode, whose indiscretion with the High King's daughter sets him on a journey out of Ireland and into a succession of frying pans followed by fires of varying deadly intensity. Hilarious, inventive, white-knuckle adventure and any number of surprises, not least of which is how Sanders can take a character who begins as a joke (and if you've ever seen John Wayne in THE CONQUEROR you'll understand) and make him come to real life, to the point where you regret his painful exit. The image of Coyote and Bat Man on hang gliders was pretty impressive too, and I can't think of any other writer who could make it plausible. Read the book and find out what I mean... Five stars at least. Yeeha!

I've read other stories by William Sanders and enjoyed them, so I thought I'd give this book a try. I'm glad that I did.

This is the story of Finn of No Fixed Abode, an Irish rogue who makes a journey of discovery across a strangely altered United States. Mr. Sanders is a master of alternate history, and has skillfully created a world where Europe never rose to prominence. Finn and his two companions, Yusef and Allred, travel across an America dominated by Arabs to the East and Chinese to the West. Along the way, Finn encounters ninjas, Apaches, Cossacks, and many strange and wonderful things. He learns about life, love, and friendship. Even more importantly, he has fun. And so did I. If you're looking to lose yourself in a comic adventure in a world that might have been, this is your book.

This is a fun book. It walks readers through real life situations. Unfortunately it does not have enough coding examples. I understand that it was not intended to be a Flash Communications Action Script primer, but this is more book is more scenario than code. I already had a solid understanding of the FlashCom server when I got this book ( FlashCom experience is required for this book). It was fun to read but what I needed were advanced coding techniques not useless details about the author's former clients. The book actually gives the floor plans of the office of one of the clients which you are instructed to make a site for. The office layout was entirely unrelated to the application. With the single exception that limited space made video conferencing essential. I would buy more books in the Reality series. However, in the future they will not be the second book I buy on a topic. As a third book I think they would work great. Its all fun and no code. Sometimes I felt like I was waiting my time. If you have a solid grasp of FlashCom get the book. I am sure you will enjoy reading it.
andrew-simmons@andrew-simmons.com

To steel myself to learn FlashComm, I went through the Macromedia Documentation for both client and server side communication ActionScript and I counted the objects. There's only about 9 client and server objects! Some, like LocalConnection are just for, well, local connections and really don't need FlashComm. On the server side there are only 5 objects; so there's not THAT much to it.

The trick, it turns out is using the client side and the server side together. This is where this book is a gem. Every single application in the book shows how this is done, and some of the applications just use the client side--very effectively, too. In showing how to use the server and client side together, the authors place the two sides in juxtaposition and arrows show how the two sides connect. This is the first time I saw that connection.

I had to use a lot of sticky labels to bookmark where key elements are. I have a decent ActionScript background, but not extensive, and while certainly not for beginners, you don't need to be a genius either. FlashComm is very doable, and this books makes it that way.

This book has the best materials on shared objects and Flash Communication Server on the market. I am more partial to this book than would normally be the case because it had exactly what I needed in one of its parts. A friend had told me that Flash Comm could be used to make remote presentations, and that was exactly what I needed. Our presenters use PowerPoint all the time in presentations, and if they could make a PP type of presentation over the Web, they could reach a much larger segment of their client population with a lot less travel and taking less time.

One of the book's apps is designed for univeristy professors making remote presentations. It includes both a text and JPEG slide show, and while it's not exactly like PP, it's what I was looking for. It was designed to be easy to update for professors who needed to add text and graphics, and so we did not have to change that feature for the presenters. However, it was set up for one or two cameras, and we only needed one, and the university (complete with logo) design had to be changed as well. However, otherwise, we had an out-of-the-box app that we were able to get up and running for our own purposes almost immediately.

Having said that, the book has got a lot more on shared objects than meets the eye, or at least than is in the Index. Two parts of the book (a total of 10 chapters) have applications with shared objects, but the Index only lists two pages in Part II, and so while this is a 5-star book, the Index (at least on shared objects) should cost it a star or two. The examples and explanations of how to use shared objects in themselves is worth the cost of this book. Most of the material is on client-side remote shared objects, and there's some stuff on server-side shared objects as well. For our purposes, though, we only ended up using client-side remote shared objects.

The other materials in the book seem fine (and a lot better indexed!), and the graphics are very professional, but to be honest, my focus was on understanding shared objects, and so I won't comment on the other stuff. You need to know ActionScript, but otherwise, it's not rocket science.

So when you get this book, you have to engage in a bit of treasure hunting to find all of the mateirals on shared objects, but they're all there and nicely explained.

Fortunate SF readers will have encountered William Sanders' earlier novels _Journey to Fusang_, a fine, funny-serious, alternate history about a North American colonized by the Chinese instead of the Europeans, and _The Wild Blue and the Grey_, another alternate history about Indians from an independent state as pilots in World War I. Even more fortunate folk may have encountered some of Sanders' other work, published in a variety of categories.

Sanders has recently returned to writing SF, mostly in shorter forms. He has published such excellent stories as "Elvis Bearpaw's Luck", "The Undiscovered" (which was nominated for both the Nebula and the Hugo), and "Jennifer, Just Before Midnight". He has also published a new SF/Fantasy novel, _The Ballad of Billy Badass and the Rose of Turkestan_. Even more recently he has published a fine mystery, _Smoke_, and an excellent science fiction novel, _J._ -- both are very well worth finding.

This is a very fine contemporary fantasy, with an exciting story in the forefront, as well an involving love story, plenty of humor, and even a message. The message doesn't get in the way of the story: instead, the story supports the message, and the message is a passionately presented and definitely worth hearing.

The title characters are Billy Badwater, a Cherokee and a Gulf War veteran, and Janna Turonova, a doctor from Kazakhstan. Janna is in the US partly to alert people to the terrible environmental damage done in Kazakhstan by Soviet nuclear testing and toxic waste. Billy meets her at a powwow, and they fall in love. Soon Billy finds himself chasing this woman across the western U. S., and on a reservation in Nevada he finds evidence that much as the Soviets used the Asian people's land as dumping grounds and testing grounds, the U. S. has used Native American land in the same way. The fantasy element arises from a monster that is called forth by the toxic waste in Nevada. Billy, aided by Janna and some other friends, especially his dead Grandfather, is pushed to use Indian magic in battle against the monster. The story is exciting and involving throughout, and the love story is convincing and sexy.

This gem of a genre-bending book defies catagorization. It's grand! There really is a Ballad of Billy in this book, and it goes like this:
"Billy Badass was a warrior
From Oklahoma way
A hero of his nation
Who had wore the Green Beret.
He met the purtiest lady
She was from a fur-off land
And Billy Badass fell in love
With the Rose of Turkestan"
Jerry Dwayne, of Jerry Dwayne Austin and the Piss-Cutters
House Band of "The Last Church of Naked City, Losers Welcome" Las Vegas, Nevada.

Billy Badass is our hero's nickname. His enrollment card in the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma states his name as William E. Badwater. And the Rose of Turkestan is Janna Turanova , of Kazakhstan, part of the former Soviet Union. A bunch of yonegs have been messin' with stuff they don't understand, causing all manner of real radioactive nightmares out in the Nevada desert. And Billy and the Rose become embroiled in the imbroglio.

Notwithstanding the impending destruction of the planet, Sanders and his characters maintain a sense of humour. There are dealings with a minor bureaucrat in the INS, threatening mean and nasty things regarding Janna's VISA (the immigration status - not the Credit Card.) Bureaucrat says: "We don't just hand out the Green Card to everyone who asks. There are criteria to be met, guidelines to be followed - do you have any idea how many people want to come to America to live?" To which Billy responds "Some of us already ran into that problem." And regarding the flawed, lone law enforcement officer on the Bucktail Springs Reservation: "Leonard isn't exactly your Tony Hillerman breed of Indian cop."

And this isn't exactly a typical Science Fiction/Fantasy/Horror/ Mystery/Action/Romance. It's a uniquely delightful brew!

BALLAD is brilliant, as is its author, William Sanders. This book is a must-read for any fan of contemporary literature. A fascinating blend of SF/Fantasy, Horror and social commentary, BILLY takes you to places you'll love -- heights of which you've only dreamed, and depths of darkness in which you might fear to tread. But Sanders safely guides you through it all with the talent and imagination of a master storyteller. The book contains everything that makes life worthwhile: true love, heroism, motorcycles and monsters. Who could ask for anything more?