Tag Archives: adventure

Review of “Top Gun: Maverick” (2022)

mav

© James Pyles

If you like my work, buy me a virtual cup of coffee at Ko-Fi.

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.

Continue reading →

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

way

© James Pyles

If you like my work, buy me a virtual cup of coffee at Ko-Fi.

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.

Continue reading →

Book Review of “The Cinder Spires: The Aeronaut’s Windlass”

aeronaut

© James Pyles for photo

If you like my work, buy me a virtual cup of coffee at Ko-Fi.

I was at the public library weeks ago looking for another book when I came across Jim Butcher’s novel The Cinder Spires: The Aeronaut’s Windlass. It was published in 2016 as the first of a series, but according to Butcher’s website, the second in this collection will probably be published this year.

I’d never heard of Butcher before, but he’s been Hugo nominated more than once and has written the well-known (to everyone but me) Dresden Files novel series. I’ve been criticized by “real science fiction fans” that I’m not a “true fan” because I don’t have an encyclopedia-like  knowledge of all things SciFi. Oh well.

At 630 pages, it took me a while to read, especially since I can’t always find large blocks of time for reading. So after renewing it once, I finally finished it off this morning. I’m really glad I came across it. I was attracted to the cover mainly and checked it out on a whim.

Continue reading →

Review of Quantum Leap Ep 14 “S.O.S.”

sos1

Scene from the Quantum Leap episode “S.O.S.”

If you like my work, buy me a virtual cup of coffee at Ko-Fi.

I just finished watching episode 14 of Quantum Leap: S.O.S.. Ben leaps into Rossi, the operations officer of the U.S. Navy vessel “Montana” during a wargames exercise in the South China Sea on May 2, 1989. The date is important because it is when a generally unknown Naval disaster occurred and when Addison’s Dad, the ship’s executive officer Alexander Augustine (Brandon Routh) ends his career.

Addison discovers her Dad by recognizing the voice of Captain Bill Drake (Alex Carter), her Dad’s mentor in the Navy. The issue in the original timeline is that the Montana receives a fragment of a distress call from the U.S. submarine the Tampa but Augustine chooses to ignore it.

Continue reading →

Review of Quantum Leap Ep4: “A Decent Proposal”

proposal

From the Quantum Leap episode “A Decent Proposal.”

If you like my work, buy me a virtual cup of coffee at Ko-Fi.

Alert! Here be spoilers!

Last night I watched Quantum Leap season 1, episode 4 A Decent Proposal guest starring Justin Hartley and Sofia Pernas. Since I knew Ben would be leaping into a bounty hunter, in preparation I watched the original series episode A Hunting We Will Go in which Sam (Scott Bakula) leaps into a bounty hunter. Turns out the two episodes have little in common. I was looking for a connection.

I should have watched The Leap Home Part 2 (Vietnam) April 7, 1970 but I’ll explain that in a bit.

It was fun to see Hartley again. He played Oliver Queen/Green Arrow in the Smallville TV show. In this episode, he plays Jake, fellow bounty hunter and would-be fiancé to the woman Ben leapt into Eva Sandoval (Anastasia Antonia). Yes, this is Ben’s first leap into a woman which didn’t seem terribly awkward for him. Incidentally, Sofia Pernas who plays Tammy Jean in the episode is Hartley’s real-life wife.

Continue reading →

What Are People Saying About “Ice?”

ice

Cover art for my fantasy novelette “Ice”

If you like my work, buy me a virtual cup of coffee at Ko-Fi.

Now that my week long promotion of “Ice” is over, what’s the final tally of reviews and ratings?

On Amazon, there are a total of four “ratings” which in this case is three reviews and one rating. The latest review was a four star, which is totally terrific. On Amazon, “Ice” has 100% 4 and 5 star reviews. Pretty cool.

On goodreads, it’s a tad confusing. The page says three ratings and two reviews, but I only find one review and two ratings. They’re all four star, so again, no complaints.

I have gotten a few messages from others saying they’ve downloaded “Ice” and will get to reading it soon. I know the feeling. I do the same thing since my reading list is long. Hopefully, in the future, this will spawn more attention for my wee indie novelette.

Now I know free stuff is cool. However “Ice” is currently available for a mere $2.99, so the price is still very reasonable. Here are a few of the descriptions:

Anita said:

Continue reading →

Starting Today and through August 9th, download and read “Ice” for FREE!

ice

Cover art for my fantasy novelette “Ice”

If you like my work, buy me a virtual cup of coffee at Ko-Fi.

This is it!!!

Read my fantasy novelette Ice for absolutely FREE starting today, August 5th. From today through the 9th, it’s a free ebook download from Amazon to your kindle device.

Here’s a “blurb”

Continue reading →

Review of Leo Flynn’s Revised “Mara’s Awakening”

mara

Promotional art for Leo Flynn’s “Mara’s Awakening

If you like my work, buy me a virtual cup of coffee at Ko-Fi.

Last year, indie author Leo Flynn asked me to review his SciFi story Mara’s Awakening, part 1 in the 3 part saga. I did review it and as much as I wanted to be nice about it, I didn’t think much of the story. It was too short and there was almost no story or character development.

Then last April, Leo contacted me again. Apparently, a number of people provided him with similar comments, so much so in fact, that he reworked the tale completely. He asked me to review the updated version.

I love it.

It’s not perfect, but it’s a lot better than it was. Mara, Ishali, Mallory, feel more like real people. Leo takes much more time to flesh out his protagonist and her circumstances. Prison feels a lot more substantial, and the reader experiences Mara’s anguish and frustration at being unjustly incarcerated for life.

Continue reading →

Film Review of “No Time to Die” (2021)

no timeIf you like my work, buy me a virtual cup of coffee at Ko-Fi.

Just finished watching (as I write this) the most recent James Bond/007 film No Time to Die. It pulled quite a bit of time, 2 hours and 45 minutes, out of my life, but in this case it was well worth it.

Just to get this out of the way, during the theatrical release, I recall Lashana Lynch who played Nomi/007 said some rather unpleasant things. I can’t really remember what they were and it doesn’t make any difference at this point. Just for future note, it’s generally important when you’re promoting a film as did Brie Larson and Captain Marvel (2019) as well as Simu Liu and Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, to put on your best attitude in front of the public and press.

The film begins with a young Madeleine Swann (Coline Defaud) and her (drunken) mother Mathilde Bourbin in a lone cabin in a snow covered countryside. They are suddenly beset upon by a masked assassin Lyutsifer Safin (Rami Malek) who is intent on killing Madeleine’s Father. Apparently the Dad was an assassin for Spectre and on their leader Blofeld’s (Christoph Waltz) orders, murdered Safin’s entire family. Finding the Dad not home, he kills the mother but saves Madeleine from dying.

Continue reading →

Book Review of Wilbur Smith’s “The Seventh Scroll”

7th scroll

Cover art for the mass paperback edition of the novel “The Seventh Scroll”

If you like my work, buy me a virtual cup of coffee at Ko-Fi.

Wilbur Smith’s 1995 novel The Seventh Scroll isn’t the sort of book I’d read today, although action, adventure, and archeological mysteries are something I’d have considered back in the day.

But on Facebook, I read that it’s author died last November. Smith was highly regarded as a writer on the FB writers page where I saw the announcement. I figured I should read something of his for the sake of his passing.

He was one of those highly regarded and well-reviewed authors you hear about. Just to give you a few examples:

“The plot twists and turns with constant surprises. This old-fashioned adventure novel keeps the reader enthralled all the way to its very exciting conclusion.”
– The Washington Post Book World

“Life-threatening dangers loom around every turn, leaving the reader breathless….An incredibly exciting and satisfying read.”
– Chattanooga News-Free Press

“An entertaining yarn.”
– Fort Worth Star-Telegram

I looked through his books and decided on “The Seventh Scroll” because it is the very type of story I’d have consumed when “Scroll” was first published. It’s actually part of a series, some of which is set in ancient Egypt. I prefer a more modern adventure.

I’d characterize this tome into three parts:

Continue reading →