Category Archives: Reviews

Book reviews, as well as Reads to Reels

Yesterday’s News

Posted on May 4, 2018 by smellincoffee

Recently I had occasion to review the front pages of virtually all of 1918, or at least from January to late September. I didn’t find what I was looking for, in part because the Great War consumed the papers, but … Continue reading →

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Rise Like Lions

Posted on May 3, 2018 by smellincoffee

Star Trek Mirror Universe: Rise Like Lions© 2011 David Mack352 pages “That’s what passes for good news, now? We have a good chance of not dying if we crawl into a hole and keep our heads down? I’d hoped we’d … Continue reading →

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Shards and Shadows

Posted on May 2, 2018 by smellincoffee

Star Trek Mirror Universe: Shards and Shadows448 pages© 2009 various authors, ed. Margaret Clark and Marco Palmieri The mirror universe of Trek is chiefly known for its inhabitants’ general awfulness and triumphant moral chaos. In The Sorrows of Empire, however, … Continue reading →

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Obsidian Alliances

Posted on May 1, 2018 by smellincoffee

Star Trek Mirror Universe: Obsidian Alliances© 2007 Keith DeCandido, Peter David, and “Sarah Shaw”448 pages Noticeably absent from Glass Empires were any characters or stories from Deep Space Nine,  the series which revived and expanded the premise of the Mirror … Continue reading →

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Glass Empires

Posted on April 30, 2018 by smellincoffee

Star Trek Mirror Universe:  Glass Empires© 2007 Greg Cox, Kevin Dilmore, David Mack, Dayton Ward, and Mike Sussman458 pages The original series episode “Mirror, Mirror” visited an alternate universe where familiar characters and institutions existed, but as vulgar perversions of … Continue reading →

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Adieu, England?

Posted on April 30, 2018 by smellincoffee

By my calendar and clock it’s  growing late on the last day of April, so the month  is nearly ended and with it Read of England.  This year’s RoE was low-energy, despite the early start. I blame the Grand Canyon, … Continue reading →

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Love Among the Chickens

Posted on April 24, 2018 by smellincoffee

Love Among the Chickens© 1906 P.G. Wodehouse150 pages “He’s a very young gentlemen, sir,” said Mrs. Medley, in vague defense of her top room.“And it’s highly improbable,” said Garnet, “that he will ever grow old, if he repeats his last … Continue reading →

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Encompassing Flagstaff: Atop Mars’ Hill

Posted on April 23, 2018 by smellincoffee

Overlooking the fair city of Flagstaff is Lowell Observatory, perched atop Mars Hill.  The founder of the Observatory, Percival Lowell, believed based on changing observations of the planet, that it was occupied by a technologically adept civilization, one which had … Continue reading →

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A Time Traveler’s Guide to Elizabethan England

Posted on April 19, 2018 by smellincoffee

A Time Traveler’s Guide to Elizabethan England© 2014 Ian Mortimer415 pages Previously Ian Mortimer has offered readers with access to a time machine a handbook for medieval England. Perhaps mystery plays based on Scripture are not your interest, however, and you’d … Continue reading →

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The Birth of Britain

Posted on April 16, 2018 by smellincoffee

History of the English Speaking Peoples, Vol 1: The Birth of Britain521 pages© 1956 Sir Winston Churchill I’ve been reading from Sir Winston Churchill’s History of the English Speaking Peoples the last few Read of Englands, but didn’t previously have … Continue reading →

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