The Near East

Posted on February 13, 2011 by smellincoffee

The Near East: 10,000 Years of History
© 1968 Isaac Asimov
277 pages

Come, let us sit upon the ground and tell sad stories of the death of kings. (“Richard II”, William Shakespeare)
Civilization first began in the ‘land between the rivers’, Mesopotamia, and as this epic history of the area proves, the near east has been the cradle of many of humanity’s ideas throughout the centuries. Asimov’s history begins at the birth of agriculture, and so as the story unfolds we witness not only the birth of various political entities, but of civilization proper itself — the first cities develop, men begin to make tools and weapons of bronze and iron; horses grow into impressive creatures capable of carrying armored men to war, and the first histories and records are read. Religions and philosophies flower in these highlands and deserts that survive today — either by themselves, or through altered forms. No era  in human history has seen a lull in the action in this land, and The Near East is accordingly an exiting and fascinating read.
Asimov surprised me by committing to such a vast expanse of time: that “ten thousand years of history” starts with agriculture and ends shortly before the Israeli-Arabic wars,  with Asimov penning hopes for peace that seem sad, so many decades into the future with permanent concordance seemingly impossible. The meat of the book is ancient history, though the rise of the Arabs and Turks is given plenty of consideration and I learned far more about the period’s fate in the early 20th century that I anticipated. I had no idea that Britain and Russia both invaded the area just to ensure stable communications  The book’s emphasis is not misplaced, for the stories of Sumeria, Babylon, Assyria, and others deserve to be told. Egypt is only mentioned tangentially, which seems curious, but is understandable given that Asimov covered the land of the Nile in another book. Egypt’s political influence on the affairs of other Near Eastern countries is addressed properly, though.  The book’s scope allows one chapter’s heroes to be another chapter’s mythic legends, and Asimov’s narrative shows how kings were constantly trying to co-opt the legacies of prior rulers. I had no idea that the most famous Nebuchadrezzer  lived in entirely different era than his namesake – the original Nebby, who lived not too long after Hammurabi.  That Asimov draws from the Sumerian king lists and ‘official histories’ is obvious at the start of the book, which emphasizes history as driven by the wills and capabilities of great men.  
Asimov enjoys a reputation as ‘professional explainer’,  one established by his use of simple, clear language and  general command of many varied subjects. His prowess as a generalist is an enduring inspiration to me, for he wrote books on science, history, poetry, literature, and others with equal ease: that showed here, as he draws facts and conclusions from literary sources like the Jewish bible and Persian epic poetry. I found the book tremendously helpful in understanding the Hellenic period — all of Alexanders’ various generals and their kingdoms confuse me — and the the history of Persia. I’ll be using The Near East as a general reference book for when I want to refresh my knowledge of the period, but the presence of one erroneous fact does give me some pause: when writing on Roman-Persian interaction, Asimov mentions that Hadrian died in 161 and was succeeded by Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus, skipping over poor Antonious Pious and his twenty-year reign entirely. (Hadrian died in 138, and was succeeded by Pious, who died in 161.)  I only noticed this because of my fondness for Aurelius. It’s a fairly forgivable mistake, as Rome is only being mentioned in connection to Parthia’s expansion, Still, I hope it’s an error he caught and corrected at some point. 
If you can find this, it should serve well as an introduction to the period, especially for teenagers and such. I say “if you can find it”, because Asimov’s history books are rare indeed. Some of them don’t even have Amazon or eBay entries. (By the way, if you should ever spot the following books in a used bookstore, think of me and we can work out some kind of arrangement: The Roman Republic, The Roman Empire,  The Greeks, The Egyptians, and The Dark Ages.)
 Related:
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The Overlook

Posted on February 12, 2011 by smellincoffee

The Overlook
© 2006/2007 Michael Connelly
240 pages

In the hills above Madonna’s former Hollywood Mansion, a physicist named Stanley Kent has just been found dead, neatly executed by masked men. The Hollywood detectives are only more than happy to turn the job over to the “Homicide-Special” division that takes on the bigger jobs, and Harry Bosch is their man. No sooner has he arrived at the scene of the crime and started to gauge the situation for himself, however, than does the FBI show up. Kent is authorized to handle and transport radioactive materials used by hospitals in medical treatments — but if someone used him to steal those materials and then killed him to take care of a loose end,  it’s a fair bet that the killers aren’t out to open up a cancer ward in a free clinic somewhere. The FBI is concerned that Kent may have been used by terrorists to obtain materials for a ‘dirty bomb’, and if that’s the case, the entire city of Los Angeles may be in trouble.

The national security angle brings in a host of acronymed government agencies into “Harry’s case”, but of course he’s not impressed by the exciting and sexy world of domestic terrorism.  He’s a cynic, a grizzled outsider who refuses to surrender the case completely to their hands, in part because he believes they are ignoring the torture and murder of Kent to chase radioactive materials, and thus headlines and acclaim. The only FBI agent whom he does not openly despise is Rachel Wallers,  his ally of sorts and an old flame.   I finished the book largely in one sitting, owing both to is quick pace and short length: the case is solved in about twelve hours, and the novel itself began as a serialized mystery that was ‘substantially expanded’ before appearing in bound form. It’s still very much on the short side,  but it works as a quick read. The terrorism angle bored me at first, especially when the primary suspects were two Arab men who yelled “Allah Akbar!” before killing Kent (how stereotypical can you get?), but appearances are deceiving and there are more than few twists and turns buried inside.  The Overlook strangely mirrors the Black Echo, not only in the presence of an FBI Love Interest Lady, but in the setting (Hollywood) and in the identity of the ultimate culprit.  This was a weak point for me, but I doubt many other people have managed to read only these two books and immediately following the other. There are at least a dozen other Bosch books, and I figure it’s just coincidence.  Only future reads will tell, and there will more — because I like Bosch.

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Summon the Thunder

Posted on February 11, 2011 by smellincoffee

Star Trek Vanguard: Summon the Thunder (#2)
© 2006 Dayton Ward and Kevin Dilmore
420 pages

Cover art created by Doug Drexler, depicting Vanguard Station and the USS Lovell, a Daedalus-class still in service after over a century. 


Something ancient and malevolent is stirring in the mysterious systems of the Taurus Reach, a foreboding area of space that managed to defy exploration and colonizations until recently, despite being at the crossroads between three great powers. Starfleet is compelled to explore the area by hints of a great scientific discovery waiting in the wings, and the abundance of still-functioning remains speak to the existence of a long-dead, but vastly powerful interstellar society. The Tholians regard the area with dread fear, and  their responses to Klingon and Starfleet activity within the area threaten to turn it into a warzone.  The greatest danger to the peace may not be the powers themselves, but the fact that the ancient civilization isn’t quite dead. On Vanguard station, Starfleet officers, diplomats, spies,  pirates, and a reporter try to keep the peace and their lives intact, all the while wondering — just what does the Reach hide?  
David Mack’s Harbinger provided a superb explanation to the Vanguard series, relying on an excellent cast that continues to impress here under the direction of Ward and Dilmore. They expand it by focusing part of the story on the crew of the USS Endeavor, led by  a newly-minted captain who is struggling to live up to the success of her recently deceased XO, who died in the course of Starfleet’s work in this region , whose mysterious death emphasizes Starfleet’s need to understand the nature of the artifacts and hidden installations they’ve unearthed. Vanguard’s ensemble started out strong and continues to mature:  none of the viewpoint characters like nuance, and some of them are particularly conflicted. I especially appreciated the development of Starfleet’s rivals: I especially looked forward to seeing the Romulans, which was unexpected given that, despite their pretty ships, I tend to find Romulans predictable and boring.  We get it, Romulans, you are oh-so-sneaky and superior to everyone else.  While most of the characters are involved in political intrigue or scientific enterprise,  the authors also treat the reader to the adventures of Quinn and Pennington, a charming rogue and disgraced reporter who have managed to become the playthings of both an Orion gangster and intelligent agent T’Prynn, easily one of the series’ more interesting characters. Though she’s not in charge of the Vanguard Project,  she clearly knows more than Commodore Reyes — and I’m given to wondering if it’s not Starfleet Intelligence she works for, but a more ominous organization. All of the interesting adventures and pursuits of these characters are woven into one rich story by book’s end,  and I’m thinking rather than buying the Terok Nor trilogy,  I’ll go ahead and buy the rest of the Vanguard books.  

Vanguard started out strong indeed and hasn’t yet diminished — and considering that Mack returns in the third book, I don’t expect it to. 
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This Week at the Library (2 Feb- 9 Feb)

Posted on February 9, 2011 by smellincoffee

Rather slow week, but I’ve been working my way through two science books. Science generally takes more time and attention for me to read than anything else, and one of my books is particularly dense. I’ve been averaging twenty pages a day on it, though some days are slower than others: I spent two days staring at illustrations of codons and re-reading passages on various kinds of RNA.

What I have read this week is Agincourt, by Bernard Cornwell, and Vanguard: Harbinger. Both were excellent bits of fiction. Harbinger sets up the Vanguard series, which involves an ancient mystery of sorts being unearthed. Great cast of characters: I’m especially looking forward to seeing more of T’Prynn, the Vulcan intelligence agent and jazz artist who almost infatuated Spock.

No additions to the 2011 Nonfiction Reading Challenge this week,  because I’m not done with either science book and wasn’t really in the mood to commit to the WW1 book. I just read a history of the Great War a few weeks ago, and while it’s a subject of interest to me, it’s not THAT great unless I’m writing a paper on it.

Potentials for this next week…

  • Vanguard: Summon the Thunder, which I kept stealing peeks at this week.  I’m a hundred pages in already. 
  • Expiration Date by Sherril Jaffe. This is an advanced review copy sent to me by LibraryThing about a woman who is told she’s going to drop dead in twenty-five years. I’m anticipating an Oedipal-like struggle with the idea of fate, though I assume it won’t involve incest with her mom.
  • A History of Life on Earth, which is an epoch-by-epoch  account of biological evolution. Right now I’m reading about great big jellyfish. I didn’t know most of our ages were named after English places.
  • Galileo’s Finger: The Ten Great Ideas of Science, by Peter Atkins, which I purchased with some of my birthday money. When I first saw the thin pages and teeny text, I thought it might go unread for a while. The author’s voice is  pretty alluring, though. 
  • …I really should read something in history, though.  A month into 2010 and no history? That’s out of character. Guess natural history sort of counts, but not really. 

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Top Ten Characters I’d Name a Kid After

Posted on February 7, 2011 by smellincoffee

The Broke and the Bookish want to know (they’re always so curious): what characters might you name children after?

1. Tobias (Animorphs, K.A. Applegate)

Unknown model as Tobias; Christopher Ralph as Tobias in the television show.
I don’t know that I’d heard the name Tobias before reading this series, but I immediately developed a liking for it. I supposed it helped that I identified with the character of Tobias so much, and now I pay extra attention to a character when they have the name (like Tobias Fornell, of NCIS). 
2. Maria (West Side Story, Arthur Laurents.)
(Hey, the movie is based on a play!) Maria has been one of my favorite female names ever since watching West Side Story obsessively during spring break 2004. It’s a beautiful name, and I don’t say that just because there’s an entire song about it in the musical. Natalie Wood’s acting may be influencing my judgment as well. 

3. Isabel(la) (Roswell High, Melinda Metz)
Unknown model as Isabel (Roswell High), Katherine Heigl as Isabel (Roswell). The books receive new covers once the show hit the air, and The Intruder was the last book to feature the original, and in my view superior, models. Heigl excepting, of course. You might recognize TV-Michael as a lab grunt in CSI Miami, but the fellow who plays Miami‘s Eric Delco also stars in the third season of Roswell, as Isabel’s husband Jesse.
I am not particularly fond of Isabel in either version of Roswell High, as she is snobbish and aggressively hostile to prevent anyone from getting too close to her. She can’t have people realizing she’s the child of a pair of scientists who died in 1947 when their survey ship did a nosedive into the New Mexican desert.  (Or that she’s secretly the clone of a traitorous alien princess. The television series changed the characters and their backstories considerably, to the point that I regard them as different people altogether) She’s not quite so mean to her brother and close friends. I do like her name, though!  
4. Marco (Animorphs) 
Unknown model and Boris Cabrera, who looks dubious at the prospect of having to morph into a poodle.
When I read Animorphs back in middle- and early high school,  a close friend who read the series along with me liked to call me Marco, because both the character and I were joke-cracking wiseasses  who never seemed to take anything seriously. Today, my niece and nephew call me Marco (to the bafflement of my sister) because when I play video games with them on rainy babysitting days, I use the player name ‘Marco’.  My middle name is similar, so I’m fond of names like Marco and Marcus.  The following picture may be cut off for you, so if you want to see it click here. 
Another hobby of mine, other than reading and photography, is PC gaming — and The Sims 2 is a favorite. When I first received the game, I made a ‘sim’ version of myself and named him Tobias. His wife was Isabel, and their children were Maria and Marco. In this picture, Tobias is old and puttering around, while his two adult children have come for a dinner and a visit. The teenager is Thomas, Maria’s son. Marco’s wife, by the way, was named…
5. Amalia (California Diaries, Ann M. Martin)
As is the case with Isabel, this is more me liking the name than the character. Amalia is nothing like Isabel, aside from being female, but her story arc didn’t have a lot of intersections with the California books I was most interested in, the diaries of Sunny and Ducky.  
6. Klaus (A Series of Unfortunate Events, Daniel Handler)
Liam Aiken as Klaus, Emily Browning as Violet.
Maybe it’s my German language studies or the fact that Klaus is a fellow bookworm, but I like both the character and his name. 
7. Horatio (Horatio Hornblower, C.S. Forester)
Ioan Gruffud as Lieutenant Hornblower; unknown model/artist as featured in a ‘portrait’ of Sir Horatio Hornblower as portrayed in The Life and Times of Horatio Hornblower, by C. Northcote Parkinson.
Like Klaus, Horatio is a name that I’m fond of but don’t imagine actually being able to name a child after. It conveys to me a sense of class and bravado. 

8. Anne (The Diary of a Young Girl)
My first exposure to Anne Frank was reading a play based on her journal. one that ended with stormtroopers   kicking down the door and hauling everyone away. I remember becoming angry and sad and shaking my little eighth-grade fist at the heavens.  Later I bought and read her diary and found Anne to be a source of surprising inspiration. In a time of hate and despair, she held on to what little beauty that remained and managed to find happiness in the darkest of places.
9. Elizabeth (The Lady Elizabeth, Alison Weir)
Elizabeth is an old favorite, though I don’t know if I like the name for its grand beauty or for the magnificent woman who made it most famous. 
10. Christopher (California Diaries, Ann M. Martin)
I’ve mentioned a ‘Ducky’ in a couple of these lists: Christopher is his real name.Curiously, no hint of his physical appearance is ever given by the covers: while the other characters have covers that show some of their features (Dawn’s long blonde hair, for instance, or Amalia’s whole person), Ducky gets a pair of sneaker-boots, a purple shirt, and his hand.  He’s described at one point as wearing a bowling shirt and shoes dyed green. 
11. And of course, Albus Severus. How can you not name a kid Albus Severus?  And if your last name is Potter, all the first-years can tell him he’s making an ASP of himself. 

For the record, I’ve named Sims after virtually everyone in the Animorphs, Roswell, and California Diaries series over the years.  I thought about making a collage of them, but realized that might be a bit much.

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Teaser Tuesday (8 February)

Posted on February 7, 2011 by smellincoffee

Teaser Tuesday once again…

                Submit! 
               After more than five decades of unrelenting mental strife, T’Prynn’s answer remained unchanged.
               Never. 

ST Vanguard: Harbinger, David Mack

The ancient Greek philosophers, as ever, had their own vies about the nature of living things and, as in most of their well-meaning pronouncements, they were utterly but engagingly wrong. The self-styled god Empedocles, for instance, shortly before he unwisely chose to demonstrate his own divinity by hurling himself into the crater of Mount Etna, had supposed that animals are built from a universal kit of parts which, conjoined in various combinations, gave elephant, gnat, horned toad, and man. 

p. 6, Galileo’s Finger: The Ten Great Ideas of Science

“That’s how you do it!” he shouted at the archers, ‘you rip their bellies open, shove blades in their eyes, slice their throats, cut off their bollocks, drive swords up their arses, tear out their gullets, gouge their livers, skewer their kidneys, I don’t care how you do it, so long as you kill them! Isn’t that right, Father Christopher?”
“Our Lord and Saviour could not have expressed the sentiment more eloquently, Sir John.”

p. 106, Agincourt. Bernard Cornwell.

This is funnier in context, wherein a warlord berates and cajoles a group of new men being trained to fight under his command; ever tirade is followed by a bland  affirmation from the warlord’s chaplain. I don’t know if Cornwell meant to make Sir John Cornwaille sympathetic or not, but his blustering dialogue was great fun to read aloud throughout the book. 

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Agincourt

Posted on February 5, 2011 by smellincoffee

Agincourt
© 2009 Bernard Cornwell
451 pages

“We few, we happy few, we band of brothers — for he today who sheds his blood with me shall be my brother, be he ne’er so vile.  This day shall gentle his condition, and gentlemen in England now a-bed shall think themselves accursed they were not here, and hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks that fought with us upon Saint Crispin’s day.” 
(“Henry V”, William Shakespeare. ‘Harry’ is speaking.)

In the year 1066, William of Normandy crossed the English channel and claimed England’s crown as his own.  In the year 1337,  William’s distant relation Edward III returned to France to return the favor.  Thus erupted the Hundred Years’ War, a succession of wars punctuated by treaties, royal deaths, and plague. The French bore the worst of it, as her enemies were not all across the channel:  the French kings never quite had control of their vassals, and following the madness of King Charles VII,   France fought not only against the English but against herself when rival houses vied to seize the crown themselves. In the midst of that furore, Henry V landed in Normandy  intending to achieve great things. He brought with him young Nicholas Hookton, a man declared outlaw in England after gut-punching a randy and addled priest.  Nick is a master longbowmen plagued by enemies who is determined to save his soul by accomplishing great deeds of his own — and as an archer destined for Agincourt, he will do just that, for Agincourt is one of the most singularly famous triumphs in English history.

Like most Cornwall heroes, Nick is a decent man in troubled times, forced to succeed not only against enemies in combat, but against personal foes. His exile from England began with a blood feud, and the two men with whom he has a date with death will arrive in Normandy in their own sweet time. Agincourt begins in the winter of 1413 and ends immediately after the famous battle, during which time Nick survives the sacking of  Soissons, the dreadful siege of Harfleur (of “Once more into the breach, dear friends..” fame), and the road to Calais which will be interrupted by death, horror, and glory. He serves England along with some of the more colorful characters I’ve ever read, and the king of them is the blustering Sir John Cornewaille, whose fantastically hilarious speeches are filled with references to guts, bowels, bollocks, and detailed instructions on how to maim and savage the enemy. I took perverse pleasure in placing Robert Lindsay in his role, given Lindsay’s ‘large ham‘ moment in The Duel, a Hornblower movie based on “The Even Chance”.  Cornwell’s writing is top-notch: the dialogue is lively (very fun to read aloud), and during battle scenes his pacing and use of short sentences punctuates the text like drum-beats, emphasizing the drama of war.  When the titular battle begins, Cornwell uses multiple viewpoint characters — essential given that the archers, including Hook, ran out of arrows fairly quickly.

I’ve heard many explanations for the English victory at Agincourt, various scholars placing more emphasis on the climate, the setting, or the weaponry. I wondered if Cornwell would favor one of the other. His depiction honors the skill and potency of the archers, their weapons, and  the horrid battle conditions (I knew the field was muddy, but had no idea the French were forced to march through deeply plowed ground which made maintaining cohesion difficult and limited their speed), but also mentions a lack of French organization, which seems commonplace in other battles of the time (like Crécy).  As is usual for Cornwell, the amount of small details is enormous, and gruesome to read during the battle scenes.

Though I haven’t read the majority of his work, I’m most impressed by Agincourt: it is right up there with The Lords of the North, and should find fans among most of its readers. Those interested in medieval stories will find it especially appealing.

Related

  • The Hundred Years War: England in France, Desmond Seward. My favorite Hundred Years War text, used in two term papers to successful effect. (The first was on Jeanne d’Arc,the other on the role that internal French rivalries played in the course of the war.)
  • “Henry V”, William Shakespeare
  • Grail Quest series, Bernard Cornwell. Set during the war, and starring another master archer named Thomas Hookton. 
  • Great Tales from English History II, Robert Lacey. 
  • Animorphs, Megamorphs #3: Elfangor’s Secret, in which a time-traveling slug controlling an actor’s mind travels to Agincourt in hopes of killing Henry V, just to keep the actor from quoting the ‘band of brothers’ speech over and over again.
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Harbinger

Posted on February 4, 2011 by smellincoffee

Star Trek Vanguard: Harbinger
© 2005 David Mack
388 pages

Cover Art: Doug Drexler.  

Returning from from the edge of known space and haunted by the memory of having to kill his best friend, Captain James T. Kirk is astonished to find a massive, fully-operational Starfleet base far from the Federation’s core worlds. Starbase 47, also known as Vanguard, sits at the entrance to the Taurus Reach, an unexplored area of space that has evidently caught Starfleet’s attention — for reasons unknown to Kirk, and to most of the Vanguard crew, save the four officers briefed by Starfleet Intelligence. Kirk is only too happy to put in for shore leave and enjoy the aminities of the station, but no sooner are his ship’s repairs done than does terrible news reach the base: the USS Bombay, attached to Vanguard, has been attacked. Because Vanguard’s other ships are away on assignments of their own, the base commander asks Kirk to investigate Bombay‘s disappearance — and a mystery involving a ‘map written in the stars’ begins to unravel.

Star Trek Vanguard is hailed as one of the superior Trek series out there, and I’ve been curious about for a long while. I almost started the series at its inception in 2005, interested by the space-station setting. Like Deep Space Nine, the Vanguard books will make use of long-running plot arcs, in this case a great mystery hidden inside the Taurus Reach that has the Tholians and Klingons interested to boot. Though Jim Kirk and the Enterprise make a strong showing here, Vanguard isn’t their series:  while the Enterprise will move on to the rest of its first-season adventures (the Gary Mitchell episode starting TOS) following Harbinger, Vanguard’s robust set of characters will explore the mystery of the Reach and avoid war with their prickly neighbors. In addition to the usual Starfleet folks, Mack introduces a soulful Vulcan woman with a mysterious past who works for Starfleet  Intelligence; a charming rogue with his own cargo ship who sometimes breaks the law, but isn’t as big a rascal as Mal Reynolds or Han Solo;  and Tim Pennington,  an enthusiastic reporter whose overactive interest in what Vanguard is up to may get  him in trouble.  The writing is superior, as is to be expected from Mack: particularly in regards to dialogues. He does emotionally difficult speeches and snappy conversation well.  There are plenty of  little references to Trek canon (and lit-canon), which help in reader immersion, and the setting (immediately following “Where No Man Has Gone Before”) sees the transition from the pilot sets and uniforms into the TOS era, where command officers wear gold,  operations wear red, and “women wear less“.

Excellent start to the Vanguard series: the reader is thrown into the thick of things from the get-go as the Vanguard officers try to keep a lid on their operation in the amidst of alien aggression, tragedy, and a conscientiously nosy reporter. I’m looking forward to what transpires. This series looks to have been planned well from the star: the book even includes diagrams of the station, which was most helpful.

Related:

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This Week at the Library (26 Jan – 2 Feb)

Posted on February 2, 2011 by smellincoffee

In terms of blog news, I’ve linked the entries in the cumulative reading list up with their respective reviews and comments. I also added a new label, ‘occupational accounts’, which applied toward 50 Jobs in 50 States and Waiter Rant. I enjoy reading about occupations; I used to follow blogs from policemen, soldiers, and so on. It’s not a genre I’ve read much from here, though there’s one book (Hack: How I Stopped Worrying About What to Do with My Life and Started Driving a Yellow Cab) I’m sort of interested in.

I started this week off with Beyond Band of Brothers, the memoirs of a recently  deceased parachutist, which I remain ambivalent about. Electric Universe kept me busy through the weekend, fascinating me with science, the transformation of society, and tales from history I’d never heard before. On Monday evening I realized I’d been sent a galley to review exactly a week before, only I didn’t realize  it. I opened 50 Jobs in 50 States up to look at its prologue, and remained reading for a couple of hours.  Generally impressive: I especially enjoyed learning the details of all the many jobs, though some of them — especially the chapter in a meatpacking plant — were gruesome.  Lastly, I read another entry in the Titan series, one which has fun with the space-time contiuum.

2011 Nonfiction Reading Challenge Update:
Since the challenge began, I have read six applicable books, three of which I added this week:
Beyond Band of Brothers (Memoir)
Electric Universe (Science)
50 Jobs in 50 States (Travel).

My tally thus far:

  • Science (2)
  • Travel (1)
  • Money (1)
  • Memoir (1)
  • Undetermined  (1) [Rise and Fall of Bible, either culture or art. Not sure yet.]

Next Week’s Potentials:

  • From Here to Eternity, Jim Jones. I have been reccommended The Thin Red Line, but it’s second in a trilogy of swords. From Here to Eternity examines life in the pre-war army, and inspired the movie that turned Frank Sinatra’s career around.
  • Depending on what arrives in the post, I may finish off the Typhon Pact series with Paths of Disharmony, or start the much-hailed Vanguard series. 
  • First World War by Keegan is probably a keeper, though I haven’t started it yet. 
  • I also have my usual dates with St. Gus. 
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Sword of Damocles

Posted on February 2, 2011 by smellincoffee

Star Trek Titan: Sword of Damocles
© 2007 Geoffrey Thorne
370 pages





While exploring a dark-matter nebula, the USS Titan receives a distress call from her sister-ship Charon. Braving inexplicable subspace turbulence, Titan proceeds through darkness to find a topsy-turvy solar system where people live in terror of a god whose eye haunts their sky and rains down destruction at the slightest provocation. Sword of Damocles is more a high-concept book than Taking Wing (political/action thriller) and Orion’s Hounds (scientific/adventure thriller): the plot is driven by a magnificent distortion in the space-time continuum, one involving  temporal mechanics and multidimensional shenanigans.  The book begins with its own epilogue, and the plot is similarly contorted, told from multiple perspectives within time and dimensions. As fascinating as the story was, trying to wrap my head around the central idea left me making “o_O” faces at the book, a face not relieved by my perusing of articles on tesseracts.

Though the scientific paradox at work takes up most of the book, Thorne also engages in a good bit of character development, focusing on some of my favorite characters (Commander Christine Vale and Cadet Dukal, the ship’s resident Cardassian). He uses two characters — a mystic Bajoran scientist named Jaza and a strictly rational ensign who sees faith as ‘perverse’ — to explore the relationship between science and religion, though it’s a timid venture and not altogether successful. Both characters lacked the nuance necessary for an effective take on that subject, though I enjoyed seeing their friendship grow throughout the book. It’s not as though they had much of a choice in the matter, given that they had been thrown thousands of years into the past and were mucking around the ruins of a Luna-class ship, ostensibly the Titan.

Sword offers an interesting story and a fair bit of character development in a mind-twisting setting. Definitely memorable and mostly enjoyable, though I’m hoping for a little lighter fare next time. This is apparently Thorne’s first full-length novel:  strong first showing, I’d say.

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