Thoughts and Images

  Book: Moondust: Falling From Grace Author: Ton Inktale Pages: 380 Hard Core Scale: 2/4 Normal Scale: 7/10 Publish Date:   2015 About:   In the far future, animal hybrids will fight the wars of their far extinct human masters. Imogene, a Caribou, has joined the ranks of the lunar commandos. However, as new war erupts she finds she just wants to survive while friend and foe become blurred in the madness of erupting combat. Review: Long overdue. I read and helped the author write this and never sucked my beatstick into the final form in a full on ordered review. I feel terrible; it was done seven years ago. Both of us wiser authors now. The writing chops are mostly there. A few rough transitions and a few royal you moments in the beginning needing cut out. What hurts it the plot movements. Most of the summary happening in the last 100 pages or so. Anthropomorphism when present is very strong, but waxes and wanes (lol). Life is incredibly cheap. One can argue a...

  Book: The Starcraft Archive Author:     Jeff Grubb, Kevin Anderson, Tracy Hickman, Micky Nielson. Pages: 722 Hard Core Scale: 2.25 Normal Scale: 7.25 Publish Date: 2007 (2000-2002) About:   Four collected stories written for Starcraft by different authors. Review: Jeff Grub: Liberty’s Crusade: A news reporter witnesses the end of the Confederacy and the beginning of the Dominion. ¾ 9/10 Jeff Grub is amongst my favorite writers. This was weaker for him. Some of it I blame for this thing not seemingly having an editor. He frames through this Liberty character who serves as a foil between Starcraft’s cast. However, this was not his invention and was a character in lore all along. So I can’t blame him for it. Great description, nice life reflection in the fantastical and great action. It’s what we wanted out of this. Kevin Anderson and maybe his wife? (Aka Gabriel Mesta): Shadow of the Xel’Naga: The three factions descend upon a human colony to fight ove...

Book: Anima: The Bird House Author: Eric Malves Pages: 271 Hard Core Scale: 2/4 Normal Scale: 7/10 Publish Date: 2022 About:    Lyall Williams begins to develop hybridization, a condition where people turn into animals. In his case a hawk of some sort. How does he cope as the changes take him closer to animal. Review: A first book is a first book. An interesting premise, but nothing beyond it in concern of the genre it inhabits. A rough start in concern of telling and filled with repeating I first person structure and tons of said tags, a hurtle the author needs to develop over further. When there is description is great, but far and in-between lacking. Tons of small formatting issues on the edit side. Transformation thrives in the liminal. Here that middle does not exist because we do not really get that beginning. Though, we have good mental reflection on the slow burn. The end though in that liminal process of transformation is the strongest writing in the book an...