The Circle of Light Series (©1977)
Greyfax Grimwald; Faragon Fairingay; Calix Stay; Squaring the Circle

The series started off a little slow, but as it picked up speed I found the adventures of Broco the drawf, Bear, and Otter and their struggles against the forces of darkness quite enchanting. Along with the wizards Greyfax Grimwald and his companion Faragon Fairingay the small company find themselves in the thick of things as they battle with the Dark Queen to restore the balance between the Light and the Dark.

The series is dark, and more somber in tone, but has an underlying charm and warmth with the characters that is lacking from much of today's newer fantasy. Quest stories are nothing new, and this one moves along from one point to another. I liked the addition of the human characters Cranny, Flew, and Ned. There are some nice twists with the Chest of Secrets and the struggles with temptation and the notion of grace and forgiveness.

These had been sitting on my shelf a while. I don't think it'll be all that long before I read more of Mister Hancock's work.

Quite a magical piece of writing.

Reviewed May 26, 2003

Dragon Winter (©1978)

Another treat from author Niel Hancock. This time we follow the adventures of a small group of animals as they try to escape the dragon winter. A quest for the great silver bear Old Bark leads the animals to try and find protection from the coming winter.

Of course nothing is as it seems and our brave band of otters, badgers and soon they meet up with a mysterious stranger who also wants to find Old Bark but for reasons of his own.

The story is full of lush characters, betrayal, forgiveness and redemption, which appears to be a theme with Mister Hancock.

I found the story to be enchanting and if you like tales with a little more to them look no further.

Reviewed July 2004

Krono (©1988)

This is another one of my infamous 25cent novels that I got a while ago. I'd never heard of this guy, but it was a new book, and it sounded okay. Heck for a quarter there isn't much to lose.

The story is a better than average time-travel yarn part love story, mystery, and good old fashioned adventure. In the far future the earth is an ecological mess, and there is very little habitable space. As luck would have it, time is not an obstacle. So they build "boros" that house 5000 people at various moments in time. Enter our hero James Konteau, who steps up to find out why boro 585 has dissapeared, bring it back, win the girl and basically save the day.

I like time travel stories and this one was immensly entertaining. Definitely B grade sci-fi but it really hit the spot.

Reviewed February 7, 2001

Black Sunday

I really liked this book.  A first rate thriller, that kept you going the whole way through.  I wish this guy would write more, but quality versus quantity.  He also wrote Red Dragon, and The Silence of the Lambs.

addendum April 2002, you can tell this was one of my early reviews. Doesn't really tell you anything ... still remember this one - it was an excellent read.

The Stainless Steel Rat
The Stainless Steel Rat / The Stainless Steel Rat's Revenge / The Stainless Steel Rat Saves the World

I have a love hate relationship with omnibus editions.  I love them because I get more in one book, and I hate them because it takes away from the strengths of the individual books. So rather than talk about the separate books, I'll bunch then all together in an omnibus like review.  You can tell these are books from the 70s. There's something about the narrative style from this period that dates most work from this decade. The stories (books really, but in this case I got three for one) are fun, and read quickly, but sadly for a "classic" series it is kind of flat and stale.

The character of Slippery Jim diGriz is cute and fun, and all that, and I like how Angelina is always saving his bacon. If you enjoy action adventure stories with larger than life heroes complete with the corny tongue in cheek dialogue that goes with it, this isn't all that bad, in truth it's pretty good.

A Stainless Steel Trio (©2002)
A Stainless Steel Rat is Born (©1985)
The Stainless Steel Rat Gets Drafted (©1987)
The Stainless Steel Rat Signs the Blues (©1994)

Okay, so you're asking yourself, "Why is this guy spending money on stuff he didn't really like all that much?" Short answer - I found it really cheap, and the first books were enjoyable enough to leave a favourable impression.

As the title says, the first book is about the birth of the Stainless Steel Rat. Young Jim is a talented young con, who seeks out a retired criminal mastermind known only as The Bishop. Of course along the way they meet up - the old guard and the up and the new kid. Of course the tale moves along, and there are some fun moments. Of course in these stories the kindly old mentors never last long, and true to form Jim is alone before too long. Along the way our young hero learns more and more and slowly hones himself into the familiar Slippery Jim diGriz. But not before he spends time in an enemy army. Finally our man Jim forms the world's greatest musical group in the galaxy for the third and most out there book in terms of buying into the concept. Still, it was a fun read, and the prison planet, for all it's little tangents including the men's and lady's sections were fun.

As you can tell the books mostly washed over me, but they were good cheesy fun. Nothing earth shattering, but I was entertained and that's what I was looking for. I guess you could say that Slippery Jim sort of stuck with me.

Reviewed September 12. 2004

Bored of the Rings

Oh boy.  If you don't have anything nice to say . . . Although I will admit to a giggle or two, it was a tough plodding read.  Perhaps I'll look back on this book fondly, and realize that it wasn't that bad.  Nah.

Addendum June 2000. Can't even remember what the book was about, other than that it stunk. Okay I know what it was about, but in terms of the fabled Harvard Lampoon, this was a pretty weak effort in my opinion.

Number of the Beast (©1980)

Oh lord. By my count 511 pages of the worst, I mean the worst book I've ever read. I read it all. Page after agonizing page. I suffered, and sweated, and worked my way through it all. Hoping against hope, that there might be something deep inside the book that would make it all worthwhile. But there was nothing.

Perhaps it was meant to be terrible. Maybe it was me. Yeah, it's me. It's always me. I just ain't smert enuff to get the depth of this here wordy pikture book.

But then again, there's a chance, a wee one, that I'm not completely out to lunch. I tried to like this, this was Heinlein after all, my all time favourite writer as a teen, in fact he was the only author I read as a teen. But alas, it was for naught.

Truly a horrible, terrible, god awful book.

Reviewed June 20, 2006

Memoir From Antproof Case (©1995)

One of the best books I've read in a while. It's funny, tragic, and endearing. I didn't want it to end, and when I turned the last page, I wished there was more.

Helprin is a gifted writer, and with this book he writes a memoir for a character who never introduces himself. Throughout the memoir we learn more and more about the man, and as each layer is revealed, the story takes on greater depth. I really liked the fact the the narrative was all over the map. The running attack on coffee and coffee drinkers alone is worth reading to see what the hell is going on. The book is even dedicated to Juan Valdez. There were a couple of places where I was laughing so hard I had to put the book down lest the others on the bus think me a loon. Other times he had me reaching for a tissue (bastard, I don't mind laughing on the bus, crying is bloody embarassing).

Not to spoil the pay-off, but there really is a masterplan in Helprin's story telling, and although the ending was abrupt, it had to end somehow. The story telling on this one is amazing.

Truly well worth the time, and I wish I'd read it slower so that it would have lasted longer.

Reviewed February 7, 2003