Tag Archives: adventure

Book Review of “House of Suns” (2008)

house of suns

Cover art for the Alastair Reynolds novel “House of Suns.”

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I just finished Alastair Reynolds’ 2008 science fiction novel House of Suns. The book’s scope in time and space is vast, so it’s difficult to summarize let alone absorb.

Warning: Spoiler Alert!

Hundreds of thousands of years ago, a few individuals including one Abigail, decide the only practical way to explore the galaxy is to replicate themselves (almost) into a vast number of copies or “shatterlings.” Eventually, these shatterlings organize into Houses (such as the House of Moths and the House of Flowers) and inside the Houses family lines, such as the Gentian Line. This Line has emanated from Abigail, a person who was kept in childhood medically for decades before being allowed to become an adult and lead her family.

We get glimpses into Abigail’s early life up to her decision to create the shatterlings and to become one herself. These events parallel what occurs much, much later involving the shatterlings Campion and Purslane.

These two travel with each other albeit in their own spacecraft. Shatterlings, through a combination of relativistic speeds and stasis chambers, travel throughout the Milky Way and only have reunions with the other members of their Line once every “circuit” of the galaxy.

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Review of “The Olympian Affair: Book Two in the Cinder Spires Series” (2023)

olympian

© James Pyles

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Yesterday, I finished reading Jim Butcher’s 2023 novel The Olympian Affair. It’s the second in his Cinder Spires series and the sequel to The Aeronaut’s Windlass which I read and reviewed.

Butcher doesn’t disappoint. This is another terrific adventure novel set (supposedly) in the far-future where our own civilization has long-since fallen. People live in floating cities called “Spires” ruled by various presidents, kings, and such. Trade is conducted by skyships powered by fantastic crystals. Those, and many other things, including meat, are grown in vats ruled over by powerful (and not-so-powerful) family houses.

The central character in these tales is Captain Francis Grimm, commander of the light-trader “Predator.” He was once in the Albion Navy but sacrificed his career and his honor for a close friend.

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Read “The Last Oasis of Mars” at “High Tower Magazine” NOW!

pirates

Promotional art for “The Last Oasis of Mars.”

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It’s here!

More specifically, my short story The Last Oasis of Mars: From the Tales of the Razzle Dazzle is at High Tower Magazine.

Join (a fictionalized version of) writer Jack London and the Captain and crew of the pirate ship “Razzle Dazzle” or “Dazzler” as she attempts her greatest adventure, raiding the last British outpost on the dying planet Mars.

What is the secret of the “Fire” mines beneath the oasis?

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The Word

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PHOTO PROMPT © Susan Rouchard

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Griffith had been searching for the last syllable, the last few letters of The Word for twenty centuries. It was rather anti-climactic that he should find it on a cheap bookshelf in this hovel.

He ran a grateful finger over the binding of the black tome on the lower shelf. The spine contained a letter only he could read. Once he assembled The Word and spoke it, a peace beyond all understanding would encompass the globe.

A sound from the doorway. “You have led Legion on a merry chase, Griffith. Or is it that we let you bring us here?”

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Review of “Meg 2: the Trench” (2023)

Promotional poster for the film “Meg 2: The Trench” (2023)

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Yes, last night I was so bored I watched Meg 2: The Trench (2023) starring Jason Statham, Jing Wu and Shuya Sophia Cai.

I watched and reviewed the original back in 2018 (and I previously read the book upon which it was based). It was “okay,” no great film, but a way to kill a couple of hours if you’ve got nothing better to do.

That’s pretty much the same summary for “2.” Keep in mind that in any logical, scientific, or historical sense, the events in these movies don’t work. They are present for their shock and delight value (who doesn’t wish that the biggest, toughest shark in all of history would show up, just once?).

Statham, who not only starred in this movie but produced it, admitted that as long as the franchise makes money, they’ll keep making “Meg” movies. That’s about it. No other message involved. It’s refreshing.

This time it’s not one or even two Megs we’re dealing with, and it’s not just Megs.

The movie opens up around eight years after the original. Meiying is now 14 years old and with her mother and Grandfather having died in the first film, she’s being raised by Jonas Taylor (Statham) and her uncle Jiuming Zhang (Jing Wu).

The Meg baby introduced in the first movie is now a full grown female and still in captivity in a reserve in Hainan. Jiuming has named her Haiqi and believes she is trainable. Jonas thinks he’s nuts.

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Review of “John Wick: Chapter 2” (2017)

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Poster for the 2017 film “John Wick: Chapter 2”

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It’s been about two years since I watched and reviewed the first “John Wick” (2014) film. I hadn’t realized it had been that long until I looked it up.

Yesterday, I was at the public library and saw Blu-rays for John Wick Chapter 2 and John Wick Chapter 3. Naturally, I checked them out and watched Chapter 2 last night.

I decided not to read my review of the first film, letting this one stand on its own. The action begins pretty much where the original left off.

Having secured another dog in the first movie, John (Keanu Reeves) is out to retrieve his beloved 1969 Ford Mustang. The dog and the car are special reminders of his deceased wife Helen (Bridget Moynahan). The Russian mobster Abram Tarasov (Peter Stormare) sits at his desk as he hears John invading his lair. His plan to pack up his operation and get away wasn’t in time.

John does manage to wreak havoc on Tarasov’s operation, but in the process, the Mustang is trashed, barely drivable. Managing to get back home, he retrieves his dog (which doesn’t have a name throughout the film) and the mechanic Aurelio (John Leguizamo) is doubtful of his ability to repair the severely damaged car any time soon.

Wick settles down to life with his dog, still mourning Helen. However he has a visitor.

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My Fantasy Adventure Novelette “Ice” has been Reviewed on twitter/X

ice

Cover art for my fantasy novelette “Ice”

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I have exactly one book that is self-published on Amazon; Ice. My short description blurb says:

At the end of time, the world is hot and men travel the vast oceans in merchant sailing ships. Captain Ki-Moon Yong of the Star of Jindo has discovered a new horror at the bottom of the Earth. Can he and the Star escape disaster long enough to warn a disbelieving world?

Ice is set at the end of time when supposedly runaway climate change has melted all or the vast majority of Earth’s ice. Most of the land masses continue to exist (contrary to popular myth) but coastlines are very different and the actual continent of Antarctica is exposed, including it’s terrifying secrets.

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Book Review of “Cowl” by Neal Asher

cowl

Photo © James Pyles

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I just finished reading Cowl (2004), a science fiction novel by Neal Asher. Of the seemingly endless supply of books he’s written, I chose “Cowl” because A) it is a stand alone novel where most of his works are bound to series and B) it was available through my local public library system.

Okay, the third reason is that it is specifically a time travel story, and I’m a sucker for time travel stories.

Most of the books of Asher’s I’ve read thus far (the reviews are elsewhere on my blog) are set off Earth, well outside the solar system, and so far in the future that anything that even vaguely refers to Earth is incredibly removed.

So it was odd to start out with the protagonist Polly, a teenage prostitute and drug addict in the 22nd century. Through an association with the sister of a soldier who had access to odd technology, she ends up in the crosshairs of a “U-gov” assassin named Tack. She sees the soldier Nandru killed by something called the Torbeast while Tack is trying to kill her.

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Review of “Top Gun: Maverick” (2022)

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© James Pyles

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So I finally got a chance to watch Top Gun: Maverick (2022) on Blu-Ray last night. Excellent film. It’s not the sort of movie I would normally review for a science fiction / fantasy blog, but it’s just so much fun.

I haven’t seen the original Top Gun (1986) since it was in VHS in the late 1980s (yeah, I know) and I remember almost nothing about it. I was worried that would cause me to have problems understanding the current film, but that wasn’t an issue.

After all, the movie had to appeal to young audiences who had probably never seen the original. There were enough cues to point back to the first film and make plain how those events were attached to what’s happening in the “present.”

Pete “Maverick” Mitchell (Tom Cruise) is apparently living in a dilapidated aircraft hanger endlessly repairing a vintage P-51 Mustang. He’s also test piloting an experimental aircraft as a contractor for the Navy, a plane that’s supposed to be capable of flying Mach 10 (roughly 7672 mph/12348 kph).

He’s only supposed to test the craft at Mach 9 on that day but the project is about to be scrubbed by Admiral Cain (Ed Harris) who wants to divert funding to an unmanned experimental aircraft.

Maverick, out to save the project, launches and achieves Mach 10 over the Admiral’s orders, but then exceeds that speed and destroys the aircraft. Apparently, he’s able to bail out without dying (this movie frequently violates the laws of physics), and before Cain can ground Maverick, new orders come in for Mav to return to the Top Gun naval aviation school we saw in the first movie.

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Book Review of “The Way of Kings” (2010)

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© James Pyles

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A few months back, my teenage grandson loaned me his copy of Brandon Sanderson’s The Way of Kings (2010). My grandson is a huge fan and wanted to share his enjoyment with me. I really like that.

The first thing I noticed is the book is long, really long. I tend to read novels in the 300-500 page range (or so), but Sanderson’s tome weighs in at 1252 pages. Yikes!

I didn’t read any of the reviews or summaries so I could come at it fresh.

It’s a hard book to get into. For the first several hundred pages, the action switches between a number of players who seemingly have nothing to do with each other beyond living in the same universe. What the heck?

I mean after the mysterious prologue, we see the assassin Szeth-son-of-Vallano executing a king and then he disappears until somewhere in the middle of the book (he does play a pivotal role in the climax).

At one point, Kaladin is a soldier, but when next we see him, he’s a slave.

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