Customer Reviews:
With a heavy heart..........2003-09-12
It's with a heavy heart I have to write this review. I hate to have to rip into something I enjoy so much. I've always loved the Ashes series, but I'm afraid I must agree with the other reviewers, I think someone else has been writing the books as of late.
Overall, the plot is OK. Terrorists have used plutomium granted by the socialists of the USA to destroy and irradiate the oil fields of the Middle East. Ben Raines and his SUSA, and the British, have learned of the sinister plot and mobilize for action. Meanwhile, the UN, led by a Frenchman, sit around and well, you know the UN and the French.
The plot moves well, but sounds very stale, almost a caricature of the current War on Terror. Most of the bad guys sound like "dime a dozen" Muslim terrorists, used like you could buy them at the local dollar store.
But then, comes this. First Ben Raines quite abruptly, decides to retire from front-line duty. And no one tries to say otherwise? This could have been expanded more.
Second, some bad editing led to Corrie being referred to as Carrie for an entire section of the book at the beginning.
And finally, I have to hit on the space alien aspect. This is completely unprecedented, and it just doesn't work.
As I said earlier, I truly enjoyed the Ashes series, and I have a lot of respect for Mr. Johnstone. I've found him to be a talented writer, and cordial in his conversation, but I must say, this series has lost something special.
The series has gone on too long.......2003-03-14
This installment really brings home that the series has outlived its value. The series has never paid attention to timelines as the author tries to work in today's issues. If the big one happened in the early 80's at the start of the series,there should be some credibility in the storyline. If that's not possible,hang it up. This isn't the first book to bring in a supernatural element. Early in the series there was a character called ,"The Prophert," an old man who wandered around and ran into Ben Raines now and then. Now we have aliens. It's been fun,but,time to stop. Retire Ben..marry off Coop and Jersey and let Buddy battle aliens in another series.
Series is getting old.......2002-11-29
I've read every book in the series. Except for the first one, the Ashes series flowed fairly smoothly. However, it's getting a little long in the tooth. The series tends to wander into tangents now, as if it's looking for filler material to find a way to justify another book. Considering all the damage that took place during the Rebel battles to eliminate the mutations in the world, it's not practical to think that the world would have made that much of a recovery that fast and then return to the same attitudes that brought about the problems in the first place. Aliens, now? Don't get desperate! Although it is science fiction, it should still follow a logical sequence and be halfway believeable. End the series with a bang, not a whimper. Follow the lead Jerry Ahern did with his Survivalist series. He knew when to quit, too.
Enemy in the Ashes.......2002-11-21
As usual this is an excellent book. May be a little wild in some respects but if we don't keep close watch on the present socialists in our government we may very well be in the situation outlined in this series. If any one can tell me where to get more than the 5 I have I would appreciate the information.
Who really wrote this book?.......2002-11-06
As a long time and consistent fan of Johnstone's books, I would give 4 or 5 stars to everything previous to the last 3 in this series. Starting with the last 3 I noticed an ongoing change of authorship.
The basic plot line is still there, but there were many mistakes, especially between character relationships. This last one was the worst and most obvious.
Aliens?! You have got to be kidding!
It looks like the authors (no, I did not make a mistake, I meant it to be plural) are going to try to rip off Turtledove's great series.
Come on Bill. How about at least acting as an editor. The people that have replace you just don't cut it.
If the next ashes book takes off on the alien theme, you can cross me off the list of prospective buyers. I'd rather see you start an new series.
Product Description
An assorted lot of 3 "Honor Harrington" by David Weber books. "Field of Dishonor" (4th), "Ashes of Victory" (9th), "In Enemy Hands" (7th). Three separate books. Not a boxed set.
Product Description
Set 5 Inspector Lynley Titles : Missing Joseph Playing For the Ashes In the Presence of the Enemy A Traitor to Memory With No One As Witness. Five mmpb books.
Amazon.com
Bordertown is the place where our world and the world of elves meet... but not just any kind of elves. These are hard-rocking, magic-flinging, motorcycle-riding elves who aren't entirely thrilled to be back in contact with lowly humans. Nevertheless, certain types of both elf and human are drawn to Bordertown, a place where magic and science coexist, and where neither works quite the way it's supposed to. Not everyone can find Bordertown, but those who do find it discover that it's a place where anything can happen, and where they can be anything they want to be. This collection of 13 stories continues the grand tradition of one of the most popular shared-world fantasy series of all time, and it also serves as an excellent introduction for anyone new to the border. --Craig E. Engler
Book Description
World Fantasy Award-winning editor, artist, and writer Terri Windling created this world, fantasys biggest names contribute original stories set there. Included are major works from Charles de Lint, Steven Brust, Patricia A. McKillip, Ellen Kushner, Delia Sherman, Caroline Stevermer, and seven others.
Customer Reviews:
Excellent! Urban Fantasy at it's best.......2005-01-20
Written by some of the biggest authors in fantasy, particulary urban fantasy, this anthology is incredible. It is edited and has inserts by Terri Windling, one of the biggest names in (good) fantasy. The stories are all incredibly written and the character's on the grimy streets of Soho are easy to relate to. The Border is waiting, can you make it there?
Not a loser in the bunch.......2003-09-08
"Shared universe" collections are usually haphazard at best, but the essential Borderlands is brilliant all the way through. Some touching, some funny, all imaginatve, wild, and evocative of a place we all wish to be lost in. Elves, drugs, and rock and roll, with a very literate twist. No need to have read prior books, this one will sweep you up and carry you away. The only short story collection in my "best books" list.
Urban fantasy at its best.......2003-08-11
Not into sword and sorcery but secretly adore magic and faeries? Then this is the one for you. I have never seen a stronger "shared world" anthology, each story will stay with you long after you have finished reading, each for a different reason. A gourmet selection of short stories.
enjoyable teen fiction.......2000-10-04
Most of the short stories in this collection have been written for teens, and older readers might find many of the stories a little trying.
Bordertown is a shared universe created for those people young enough or naive enough to imagine that being a homeless, unwashed, aspiring Artist automatically makes someone interesting. Nearly everyone in Bordertown, it seems, is a runaway, a musician, a member of the SCA, an elf, or [dear me] all of the above. Still, the stories are fun, and most of them are readable. "Argentine", by Ellen Steiber, I thought the best of the bunch: a wonderful love and redemption story set in Bordertown's El Barrio. Other notables include: "How Shannaro Tolkinson Lost and Found His Heart" by Felicity Savage, an amusing story that makes it known that B-Town and Faerie may not really be all they're cracked up to be; "When the Bow Breaks" by Steven Brust, which takes place not in Bordertown at all, but on the Mad River; and "Rag" by Caroline Stevermer, whose writing style quite reminded me of Tim Powers. If you can't stomach any of the other stories, at least give those four a try.
Different from other entries in the series, but equally good.......2000-07-26
Going by other reader reviews of this book, some fans of the series were disappointed by The Essential Bordertown--they felt the stories "just weren't the same" or something. Of course they weren't the same! It has a different character than other books in the series, but that's only to be expected from an anthology, and I enjoyed it immensely. One of its best features, to my mind, is the way "guidebook" excerpts are placed between the stories--for those unfamiliar with Bordertown, they provide excellent background material, and for fans, they're full of little jokes and references to familiar locations/people/events. They also make good transitions from one story to the next. The book contains 13 stories (how apropos) by Patricia A. McKillip, Midori Snyder, Delia Sherman, Donnard Sturgis, Ellen Kushner, Michael Korolenko, Elisabeth Kushner, Charles de Lint, Caroline Stevermer, Steven Brust, Ellen Steiber, Micole Sudberg, and Felicity Savage, of which four particularly struck me.
I loved Patricia A. McKillip's "Oak Hill" for many reasons, but one of them is that its protagonist reminded me of myself in junior high--a lonely girl with bad skin looking for magick. I particularly liked the fact that the girl has no terrible reason to come to Bordertown; she just wants something better--something more--than what she has. McKillip's prose is beautiful as ever, and the ending, though of course I won't give it away, is simple and powerful. "Dragon Child" by Midori Snyder is largely set in Dragontown, which has always been one of my favorite areas of Bordertown. Eli, half elvin and half human, escapes from his cruel elvin father to Bordertown, where he struggles to fully free himself from the aristrocratic father who has controlled him all his life. The story doesn't offer any easy answer to Eli's problems; it may be about a boy who blurs the border between the World and Faerie, but it's realistic.
"Changeling" by Elisabeth Kushner I admit I was already predisposed to like--young lesbians desperately trying to build a happy life for themselves have always had a special place in my heart. "Oak Hill" shows Bordertown as a place to run to; "Changeling," like "Dragon Child," shows it as a place to run away to. Selkie/Seal (neither her given name, of course; people who come to Bordertown frequently give themselves new names, in the hopes of new lives) is trying to find a place where her "difference" won't stand out, and comes to Bordertown--where it might not be easier, but it might also be better. The final member of my top four, Ellen Steiber's "Argentine," is about an elvin girl who didn't run anywhere--she was banished, her memory erased, to Bordertown, where she does what she seems to do best: steals. Argentine seeks out things that matter to people, and takes them, to feel the love they contain. But no thief's luck lasts forever, as the ghost of a dead man is only too happy to remind her when she takes his living lover's necklace. Steiber makes Argentine a sympathetic character, despite the things she does, and Roberto, already dead, is tragic. This story makes me cry almost every time I read it.
The Essential Bordertown definitely holds its own within the series, and I highly recommend it--and if you like it, you should try to find the others, although some are out of print and hard to get ahold of.
Average customer rating:
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Essential Bordertown
Manufacturer: Tandem Library
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
ASIN: 1417652993 |
Average customer rating:
- Not Jeter's Best, but Surely Worth Reading
- A gripping hard SF thriller
- If you only read one...
- Absolutley brilliant sci fi romp.
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Farewell Horizontal
K. W. Jeter
Manufacturer: St Martins Pr
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
 United States
| World Literature
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| 18th Century
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Jeter, K.W.
| ( J )
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ASIN: 0312025742 |
Customer Reviews:
Not Jeter's Best, but Surely Worth Reading.......2002-05-18
It deserves to be read. It is an ambitious experiment: can a novel reproduce a videogame? Jeter succeeded in doing that. The novel is a videogame. But it is a videogame on paper, peopled by characters with a soul and a (sometime) questioning mind (one of these is Sai). The apparent plot is a frantic adventure in a surrealistic virtual world whose shape is a scandal for reason. But here and there Jeter suggested that things aren't exactly what they seem (he was a friend of Philip K. Dick, after all), and there's more in this novel than the breathless quest of Ny Axxter in a grotesque cyberworld (maybe the ultimate cyberworld). Basically it is a satire of many aspects of the videogame imagery/subculture, and a discussion of its covert ideology. Not as food as other novels by the same author, Dr. Adder and The Glass Hammer, but a novel worth reading. And subtly funny most of the time. 'Tis a pity it's out of print!
A gripping hard SF thriller.......2000-06-07
Jeter invented a truely wonderful world for this novel. The setting is a huge, cylindrical building that towers above the earth. Most of society exists inside the building but those who are outside society, on the edge, live on the outside of the building, on the "Vertical".
The novel's protagonist, Ny Axxter lives on this wall and tries to make a living as a freelance artist working with video and graffex. One day, he has what appears to be a stroke of good fortune and he thinks that he is on the verge of making it into the big time as a major artist.
At this point, his world starts to fall to pieces and he discovers that reality is not what he, and everyone else thought and that the major players in his world now want him out of the way.
While many parts of the world are unexplained, Jeter throws in enough in the way of technical details to make this hard SF and not fantasy. The writing style is very sharp.
Jeter is regarded by many as an heir to the mantle of the great P.K.Dick and this book is worthy of that regard. I always think that a sign of good writing is the quality of the pictures inside my head as I read and, on the measure, this was very good indeed.
Farewell Horizontal is a gripping read and I highly recommended it.
If you only read one..........2000-04-11
If you only read one K.W. Jeter book then you are missing out on some of the most significant science fiction of the last twenty five years. Still, this is the one to read if one is your ambition. Astounding ideas, breathless surgical execution and the very best gusto an amateur can bring to the field, here wrapped in one pocket-sized package by a true professional. How many authors could pull off a motorcycle chase up the side of a building and still make you want to read more? Simply marvellous.
Absolutley brilliant sci fi romp........1999-09-19
See the other description for what this is about. This is one of my favourite books. The idea is totally origional and all my friends say the same. Gives a breath of fresh air to sci-fi.
Average customer rating:
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Farewell Horizontal ....A Science Fiction Novel
K. W. Jeter
Manufacturer: St. Martin's Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
Jeter, K.W.
| ( J )
| Authors, A-Z
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General
| Fantasy
| Science Fiction & Fantasy
| Subjects
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ASIN: B000O8I72Q |
Average customer rating:
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FAREWELL HORIZONTAL
K.W Jeter
Manufacturer: Grafton
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
ASIN: B000K5RSKA |
Average customer rating:
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FAREWELL HORIZONTAL
K.W Jeter
Manufacturer: Grafton
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
ASIN: B000K5THOA |
Average customer rating:
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Good for You: The Science of Mind Approach to Successful Living : Selected Writings of Ernest Holmes
Ernest Holmes
Manufacturer: Science of Mind Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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| Self-Help
| Health, Mind & Body
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Personal Transformation
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Success
| Self-Help
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Similar Items:
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The Secret (Extended Edition)
ASIN: 0917849027 |
Book Description
Citation Details
Distributed by ProQuest Information and Learning
Average customer rating:
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Living & Working in New Zealand: How to Prepare for a Successful Long or Short Term Stay (How to Books : Living & Working Abroad)
Joy Muirhead
Manufacturer: How to Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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Emigration & Immigration
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ASIN: 1857034740 |
Book Description
On The Shoulders Of Our Ancestors is an important book. As the celebration of Kwanzaa grows in popularity each year, more African American people desire a much deeper understanding of its concepts and to better learn how to observe the Principles.
This book is not about Kwanzaa. It is about these seven Principles, the Nguzo Saba. Each one is a powerful and effective tool in the development of successful families and communities. These Principles represent how our ancestors survived the horrors of slavery, Jim Crow segregation, and second-class citizenship while yet maintaining their character to establish a moral foundation for future gererations.
Customer Reviews:
Informative.......2000-10-24
A little book with a BIG impact. After reading this book, I look forward to celebrating Kwanzaa this year. Mr. James does an excellent job of explaing the seven principles of Kwanzaa, and how African Americans can benefit by implementing these principles into our lives. The examples he uses in each chapter is the icing on the cake. This book inspires you to be a better person, and forces you to look at the world around you in a different light. I look forward to reading more work by G.W.James. Peace and Blessings my brother.
An excellent guide.......2000-10-16
I really appreciate the way Mr. James has broken down the Principles of Kwanzaa. It is very comprehensive and easy to understand. It has helped me in my yearly celebration and my daily application of the principles. I have been looking for something like this for years. Thank you, Mr. James.
Book Description
This unique and user-friendly guide addresses both professionals and their clients, detailing health maintenance procedures that clients can perform for themselves. In a clear and lively style, the book describes over 40 preventive and promotive strategies for good health in older people, focusing on natural strengths the elderly possess and can develop, without ignoring inevitable limitations. All aspects of health are addressed, from the physical, through the psychosocial, to the spiritual. Each of the strategies is presented as a series of achievable steps and includes cautions where necessary. `Boxes' are interspersed throughout the text to highlight lists of useful information.
Customer Reviews:
Review from Readings.......2002-08-06
"User-friendly for practioners in gerontology and a must for trainees in the health and helping professions."
Average customer rating:
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Creative Mind and Success (Science of Mind)
Manufacturer: Science of Mind
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio Cassette
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ASIN: 0917849043 |
Product Description
A dynamic Audio Cassette Teaching on a philosophy of successful living, teaching you how you can use spiritual understanding to experience happiness, health, prosperity, peace of Mind.
Books:
- Expensive People: A Novel
- Faith And The Good Thing
- Fatigue Artist
- For America: Simple Things Each of Us Can Do to Make Our Country Better
- Full Catastrophe Living: Using the Wisdom of Your Body and Mind to Face Stress, Pain, and Illness
- History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
- I Should Be Extremely Happy in Your Company: A Novel of Lewis and Clark
- In Another Place, Not Here
- In Defiance of Painting: Cubism, Futurism, and the Invention of Collage (Yale Publications in the History of Art)
- Indulekha
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
- Knowledge Networks: Innovation Through Communities of Practice
- Cracker!: The Best Dog in Vietnam
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- Beyond Preservation: Restoring and Inventing Landscapes
- 2007/8 Guide to Association Web Sites: For Recruiters and Job Seekers
- Time-Based Competition: The Next Battleground in American Manufacturing
- Handbook of Natural Resource and Energy Economics Volume 1
Warriors From The Ashes (Geotechnical Special Publication)
Crisis In The Ashes
Standoff In The Ashes
Escape From The Ashes
Destiny In The Ashes (Johnstone, William W. Ashes.)
