Monthly Archives: November 2014

Twilight’s End

Posted on November 28, 2014 by smellincoffee

Star Trek: Twilight’s End© 1996 Jerry Oltion279 pages Somewhere in space lies a planet that’s not spinning, and that just shouldn’t be so.  Tidally locked, it poses a great inconvenience to the colonists who occupy the permanent perimeter between frozen … Continue reading →

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Gates of Fire

Posted on November 27, 2014 by smellincoffee

Gates of Fire: An Epic Novel of the Battle of Thermopylae© 1998 Steven Pressfield442 pages When Xerxes, Ruler of Asia, god-king of men, finally stood over the bodies of the few Greeks who had withstood his hordes drawn from half … Continue reading →

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Gallipoli

Posted on November 25, 2014 by smellincoffee

Gallipoli© 1956 Alan Moorehead416 pages           As the Great War ensnared powers beyond Middle Europe, it became  in truth a world war,  providing the spark to reignite old tensions in places like the middle east.  In late … Continue reading →

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Varieties of Scientific Experience

Posted on November 21, 2014 by smellincoffee

The Varieties of Scientific Experience: A Personal View of the Search for Goded. Ann Druyan, © 2006304 pages In 1985, Carl Sagan delivered a series of lectures to the University of Glasgow on the general subject of natural theology, or … Continue reading →

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Joan of Arc

Posted on November 20, 2014 by smellincoffee

Joan of Arc: A Spiritual Biography© 1998 Siobhan Nash-Marshall176 pages In 1429, France in her darkest hour was startled by the sudden appearance of a shining star — a teenage girl from a minor village, wielding a standard and claiming … Continue reading →

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This week: fiction, the writing and reading of

Posted on November 17, 2014 by smellincoffee

Dear readers:             The past few weeks have been taken up with National Novel Writing Month, of course. I got off to a roaring start, 20,000  words in the first week, before slowing down to the recommended average of 1667 … Continue reading →

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No Hill Too High for a Stepper

Posted on November 17, 2014 by smellincoffee

No Hill Too High for a Stepper: Memories of Montevallo, Alabama© 2014 Mike Mahan384 pages No Hill Too High for a Stepper is a work of reminiscence, a country dentist’s recollections of growing up in a small Alabama town during … Continue reading →

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Life, Death, and Growing Up on the Western Front

Posted on November 14, 2014 by smellincoffee

Life, Death, and Growing up on the Western Front© 2013 Anthony Fletcher352 pages In 1914 Britons marched to war, and with them they took their hearts. Life, Death, and Growing Up on the Western Front takes in the experience of … Continue reading →

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Under the Eagle

Posted on November 10, 2014 by smellincoffee

Under the Eagle© 2000 Simon Scarrow256 pages If given the choice between being attacked by foul-smelling, weirdly-painted Germans, and being attacked by foul-smelling, weirdly-painted Celts, which would you choose? For Centurion Macro, it’s rather obvious: the Germans! At least monitoring … Continue reading →

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Master of Rome

Posted on November 8, 2014 by smellincoffee

Master of Rome384 pages© 2011 John Stack     Winning a naval war against the Carthaginians is such a pain in the ol’ gluteus maximus. Invade Africa, threaten their very capital, and what do they do? They break an entire Roman legion … Continue reading →

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