Book Description
In The MacGuffin, Elkin narrates with accustomed panache the mysterious events that take place in something under forty hours in the life of Bobby Druff, City Commissioner of Streets, aged fifty-eight, whose ordered world of avenues and roads seems suddenly a rather more complicated maze than he remembers. Events, in fact, conspire against him, and his wife, his son, his new-found lover, even his chauffeur, appear to be in on it. The novel combines a sort of tough-talking, laugh-out-loud humor and that odd, amusing, under-the-breath revenge of the powerless with the twists and killer thrill rides of a plot to rival Hitchcock's.
Customer Reviews:
enjoyable, comic read.......2004-04-11
Disappointing ending, but enjoyable, comic read. 24 hours in the life of an aging, insecure, politician. Interesting dialogues between a male and his member.
Highly recommended reading........2000-04-04
Aging City Commissioner of Streets Bobbo Druff, in an effort to hang on to his persona of authority and power, constructs a "MacGuffin", a paranoid plot where everyone is out to get him. Druff starts an illicit affair, instigates fights with his employees, invents lies for his family, and does anything he can think of to create a world in which he is placed at the center of influential, self-advertising scandal. A memorable comedy figure, Druff's self-conscious madness is hilariously inventive. Author Stanley Elkin writes his novel with the lyrical intensity of poetry and creates within his character universal qualities (including self-delusions and hopeless machinations) that resonate in us all. Highly recommended.
Average customer rating:
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The MacGuffin
Stanley Elkin
Manufacturer: New York Linden Press 1991.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000P0FJRY |
Product Description
Spring/Summer Issue 2003 devoted to the theme "Writing in Translation" with works by Wendy Bishop, OB Crowder, Rasma Haidri, Lynda Jentsch, Jane McClellan, Rex Richards, Nathaniel Smith, and many others.
Average customer rating:
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Stamps as an investment
Ralph Dudley MacGuffin
Manufacturer: Diehl, Landau & Pettit
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
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ASIN: B00085O3KK |
Average customer rating:
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MacGuffin
Stanley Elkin
Manufacturer: Penguin (Non-Classics)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OJ6S3A |
Book Description
IRONCLAW is a bold new direction in fantasy role-playing games, designed with both the novice and the experienced gamer in mind ... simple enough that one can start playing in only 15 minutes, yet richly developed, clearly presented, and lavishly illustrated. With two dozen races ... over 60 careers than can be mixed and matched without restrictions ... plus rules for making your own races and careers ... plus over four different kinds of magic with more than 150 spells; plus unique powers and abilities, from the primal to the technological. The role you assume is limited only by your imagination.
Customer Reviews:
Excellent game.......2006-03-17
I've played and read this game (and its sister game, Jade Claw), and I have to say that it's an interesting an innovative system. The task resolution system offers a scale of conflict and skill that's unique to this system, as far as I know, and the setting is quite rich. I would have to rate the power-level of the game as "swashbuckling," the characters can be exceptionally skilled and capable, but they never reach D&D levels of epic unkillability. The races are also a colorful addition that add to the game rather than just being a sideline element.
The only thing that brings this game down is the bad editing. I have to agree that Jade Claw was an improvement, and it's good to have both games for that purpose.
Get over the furry stigma, and see a colorful system with colorful characters and colorful possibilities, outside the current vein of fantasy games.
The WS Publishing company is very unhappy.......2005-06-10
There is no problem with WS and anthros... it's is just we have gone on a strange search to find what furries ahve truley made big. realy theres just small iron claw sasquine here, furcadia there and it's small amount of players, and the genreal of a anthromatic wich has only been picked up by furries , no one else. what we whanted to find some real big anthro makers, game makers, and writers. tails of true adutl porportion , reality, maturity, and idealisum, games that would set all minds to and fro, and something a lot older and darker. Why do you pople do such things? theres not a single one. the oauthors who do things like that aren't furries at all not anthro loving , not yiffers, and cerntly ain't coming to conventions... these authors like mr. Jhon RObert King have created horrid epics wthat gives you your anthro charactors and us and everthing bewtweeen ad shows how much the world is balanced. and Oh how terrible it is. ecpecialy int the mental part when it comes to the loss of hiuman faith and humainty and the priahs, ambointions, and the death of thousands because of rasicts and wolf folk that tear down human tapstrys.
Pretty darn good, if I may say so........2003-11-26
I was given this as a gift back when it was first made, signed by it's creator and everything as a family member knows them. Didn't think much of it as I was too young to learn it. Well, recently I found the book again and learned it and I'm impressed. I'm happy it's one book unlike D&D, so it's cheaper. And it's a lot of fun. True you have to read through the book a few times to get it and find everything as there isn't an in depth index and they refer back and forward interchangeably but if you learn it it's a good deal of fun. I'd reccomend it to anyone who likes RPGs and doesn't mind anthro. ^_^
Fascinating System.......2003-04-20
The system is highly reminiscent of other games like "Over The Edge", "Big Eyes, Small Mouth", or the Storyteller system from the World of Darkness games. Take a bunch of different sided dice and roll them for results. Of course, this is an oversimplification, but why should I give away everything?
The chargen system is confusing upon first read, but makes sense after a few reads. I think that if the editor took out much of the 'flavor' test, the readibility of the book would be greatly improved. The division of rules and flavorful examples is what I mean. You have some sentences in the middle of an explanation that have little or no bearing on what you are trying to understand.
The edition I purchased has an index and tables of equipment, so likely the lack of such things was a common complaint among players.
Very unfinished.......2003-01-30
My actual experience playing this game was with one of the playtesters for it's companion, JadeClaw...and it was confusing, to say the least, even given the fact I had a bad GM. The book has no index, and a lot of items (like the "Bezerker") are referenced in the text but impossible to find. The system is very limiting as well. This is an iffy game at best. I would reccomend, if you really want an anthropomorphic game, to get JadeClaw instead. At least you can FIND things in that book.
Customer Reviews:
Shatner's Book.......2000-05-12
I think it was/is wonderful! William Shatner is a terrific writer!
A great read on the making of a Star Trek movie........1999-02-26
This book, "Captain's Log: William Shatner's Personal Account on the Making of Star Trek V: The Final Frontier" by Lisabeth Shatner (William Shatner's daughter, who was on the film's set & location shoots) is an excellent read on the making of a Star Trek movie. This book details the accounts on what lead star, co-writer, & director of Star Trek V, William Shatner, went through making this movie. Although this fifth movie is best remembered as not one of the best in the Star Trek film series, this book details the process on the making of a feature film. This book also includes details on the originally planned ending that had to be changed. Featuring interviews with the cast & crew, as well as 16 pages of photos, "Captain's Log" is an excellent read. For Star Trek fans as well as anyone interested on the process of filmmaking.
Book Description
On the planet Nimbus III, a harsh world deep in the neutral zone, the three major powers -- Federation, Klingon, and Romulan -- attempt a revolutionary cooperative program, jointly developing the planet as an experiment in peace. But that makes Nimbus III an irresistible target for terrorists, who seize control of the planet, and the EnterpriseTM is sent on a daring mission of rescue. And soon Kirk and his crew find themselves on a much more dangerous and disturbing journey, to the center of the galaxy and the forbidden secrets it holds.
Download Description
On the planet Nimbus III, a harsh world deep in the neutral zone, the three major powers -- Federation, Klingon, and Romulan -- attempt a revolutionary cooperative program, jointly developing the planet as an experiment in peace. But that makes Nimbus III an irresistible target for terrorists, who seize control of the planet, and the EnterpriseTM is sent on a daring mission of rescue. And soon Kirk and his crew find themselves on a much more dangerous and disturbing journey, to the center of the galaxy and the forbidden secrets it holds.
Customer Reviews:
Trying not to copy others, but they're right.......2003-06-03
Yeah, so what they said. The movie was a bomb, and the book tells the story the way it should have been.
Trek books are a tricky thing. Novelizations are a tricky thing. This particular Trek novelization does everything it should, and more. The only problem is that an artist is only as her subject matter, and Find God in the Center of the Galaxy still remains a hokey premise.
But let's focus on the good things. Every major Trek player gets a focus in this novel, including Sulu, who had a big part in all of McIntyre's novelizations. I was glad to see Dillard continue his story in the same vein. We get to see his and Scotty's "secret pain", as well as several other characters in the movie who got left out.
All the characters have depth -- the three delegates, the Klingons, Sybok himself, even the funky-toothed guy drilling holes in the opening shot. Every one is three-dimensional. Example: Klaa (Klingon captain) is no longer a chip-shouldered upstart with delusions of grandeur. He's a Klingon worthy of Klingons, and his motives in pursuing Kirk are revealed as devious and calculating, rather than dumb and bumbling as they appeared in the film.
This novel ties the movie into the others. Star Trek II-V form one continuous tale, without a whole lot of break in between. Yet they still make very little reference one to another. In this novel, we see a Kirk who was re-rejected by a dear love only months before, who lost his son very recently, and who is still coping with Spock's death and resurrection.
I have nothing but praise for the work of J.M. Dillard thus far. And this is no exception. If you, like me, consider Star Trek V the red-headed stepchild of the Star Trek series (no offense to all you red-headed stepchildren), then please read this novelization. Give it a shot. You'll like it. Or I'll buy you a Twinkie. (not really though)
Dillard makes Shatner's concept work, almost........2001-12-14
Star Trek V: The Final Frontier arguably had the silliest of plot concepts, and the touches of buffoonish humor did not help the movie much either.
Sybok, a renegade Vulcan from Spock's past, has managed to seize Nimbus III, the 'Planet of Intergalatic Peace'. But it is a ruse, what he really needs is a starship to take him to the center of the galaxy. Once there, Sybok believes he will meet God.
Dillard attempts to fill in the many character gaps in Shatner's Kirk centered story, giving each brainwashed member of the crew a chance to have center stage and a moment to shine. Thus it is more of an ensemble piece than the film. Dillard also clarifies some of the fuzzy plot points, making the hijacking and trip to God a tad easier to believe. There is also an honorable attempt to fit the concept of Nimbus III into the Trek Mythos rather than having it just be a gimmick jumping off point for the story. But despite all this hard work this novel is worthwhile reading only for those who would like to see a silly story told in a more well thought out manner. Strictly for Trek buffs.
Amazing how much better the same story can be;.......2001-03-24
The movie version of "Star Trek V: The Final Frontier" was an unutterable turkey, totally unconvincing on a number of levels. This book, while remaining true to the movie in most major plot points, varying only in minor detail, nonetheless manages to be a great deal more plausible and internally consistent, both with itself and with the established Star trek universe as a whole. The characterization is better, the plot flows more smoothly and makes more sense, and several details that were completely implausible in the movie are at least arguable here, if not completely acceptable. The book is quite enjoyable on a simple action-story level, and on deeper levels it is at least as good as most Star Trek stories, better than some if also not as good as others.
Definitely recommended for any "Trek" fans who would like to see the movie version turned into a viable story, and if you actually liked the movie, there's nothing here not to like.
Better than the Movie.......2000-05-17
Star Trek V, the Novel, is much better than the movie. There is so much more depth and adventure that the movie really shows that it was cut up pretty badly in post production. Even though this is one of the weakest of the Star Trek movies, it is still great reading!
Excellent.......1999-12-29
In regards to the review below, I fail to see why a novel that fails to be upbeat is considered diminished in some way. Most great books aren't particularly upbeat, because most great deeds or events don't occur when everything is hunky-dory. And while Star Trek V: The Final Frontier is by no means a "great book," neither was the film a classic. Nevertheless, both are entertaining and worthwhile voyages of the imagination for your typical Star Trek fan.
Average customer rating:
- As usual from J.M. Dillard, nicely done!
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Star Trek V the Final Frontier
J.M. Dillard
Manufacturer: Pocket Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
General
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| Science Fiction & Fantasy
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ASIN: B000GRFA02 |
Customer Reviews:
As usual from J.M. Dillard, nicely done!.......2007-05-14
On "The Planet of Galactic Peace" - real name, Nimbus III - a renegade Vulcan converts drought-starved farmers, bandits, and the three diplomats unlucky enough to be assigned (or should that be exiled?) there by the three powers holding combined oversight of that world. The Klingon and Romulan Empires, and the United Federation of Planets, all use Nimbus III as a dumping ground for their undesirable citizens and minor criminals. What could have become a planet-sized success like Earth's Australia has, instead, become a place of despair thanks to an unfavorable and drastic climate shift. The smiling Vulcan, Sybok, takes the three diplomats as curiously willing hostages to draw a Federation starship to Nimbus III. That starship is a brand new Enterprise, under the command of former Admiral James T. Kirk. Reduced to the rank of captain for his role in Captain Spock's unauthorized rescue from the Genesis planet, fighting guilt and depression after losing his son during that mission, and frustrated by the new ship's lack of readiness for this assignment, Kirk contends with an endless string of systems that malfunction or just plain refuse duty, and with the presence on board of only the barest skeleton crew.
Spock, still adjusting after his return from death, finds himself dealing with something even more traumatic. Sybok is Spock's half brother, banished from Vulcan so completely that his name no longer appears in any official record. As the Enterprise officers learn about Sybok's quest to reach the galaxy's center, and the supreme being (common to the ancient beliefs of all sapient races) that resides there, Spock is torn between his love and boyhood hero worship for his elder brother, and his duty to both the Federation and his friends.
Quite frankly, I hated the film on which this novel is based. I only picked the book up to read because I've always enjoyed J.M. Dillard's novelizations, and - to my pleasant surprise - I enjoyed this one just as much as the others. The story that didn't work at all on the big screen worked just fine as prose, probably because a novelist can put me inside the characters' heads. Sybok, and Spock's relationship with him, are as credible in the book as they were (to me, at least) incredible in the movie. Nicely done, Ms. Dillard!
Average customer rating:
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Star Trek V the Final Frontier Official Movie Magazine
Manufacturer: Starlog
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 9990546916 |
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STAR TREK V: The Final Frontier
Dillard J. M.
Manufacturer: Grafton
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
General
| Star Trek
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| Science Fiction & Fantasy
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ASIN: B000SUGI12 |
Book Description
The 30th anniversary edition of this classic cookbook for parents of tots and toddlers contains some of the most popular recipes for baby food, finger food, snacks and desserts ever published. Fully updated, this new edition includes information on the newest Food Pyramid Guide, sample servings for young children, organic baby food options, when to introduce new solids and which to try first, vegetarian baby food options, handling and storing baby food, safe uses of microwaves, the latest equipment for making baby food at home, foods likely to cause allergies and how long to delay introduction of these foods.
More than just a cookbook, Feed Me I'm Yours provides time-saving, trouble-saving, and money-saving tips. It also contains entertaining "edible craft" activities for celebrating birthdays, the seasons and major holidays.
Customer Reviews:
31 YEARS LATER.......2007-08-02
I had my first child in February and shortly after my Mom gave me her all of her Mommy secrets... It was this book. I grew up eating all this stuff and doing all of these things and I loved every bit of it. Now that I have my own Baby it has been so wonderful to revisit the wonderful recipes from my childhood. Whats even better she left me all of her little notes of leave this out and add this here and there. I'm looking forward to using it as much as she did.
This is my standard "extra" gift for a new baby.......2007-05-14
Everyone loves this book! There are some fabulous and healthy treats for toddlers - and the velvet playdough is wonderful.
It is always well received and continues to provide our grown children with terrific memories of goodie balls and many more healthy treats.
Jake's Grammy
Recipes are not quite right........2007-03-15
I have an older edition of this book that was given to me, so maybe it's not the same with the new edition, but the times for the recipes are so far off. Almost every recipe I have tried from this book (other than bread maker recipes or just the basic ideas for food) I have had to cook AT LEAST twice as long as it says.
My babies have all enjoyed the teething biscuits and everything we've made out of the book. As far as the recipes not being "healthy" enough, I think we all know that making food at home is healthier than processed prepackaged food and I didn't find the recipes to be truly unhealthy. In my edition of the book she warns off feeding uncooked honey to babies under 1 year and does suggest hot dogs sparingly. It's not for people who want to go completely "whole foods" but for your average household I think it's a pretty realistic approach to feeding your child. It would get 5 stars if the recipes were actually the proper cooking time.
Feed Me I'm Yours.......2007-01-09
I received this book more than 24 years ago when my daughter was born. I love it to this day! There are many practical ideas and recipes that any new mother would appreciate. I use many of the recipes to this day, i.e., hot chocolate mix, the baked apple with egg, cock-a-doodle-doo stew for toddlers. I give this book as a gift every chance I get. --Jane Berg, Arvada, Colorado
feed me I'm yours.......2007-01-09
A timless book! I used this book and loved it when my boys were little. Now I,m ordering it for my daughter-in-law to use with my grandchildren. The updated cover makes this an attractive gift. DH
Books:
- The Matter of Desire: A Novel
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- The Road to En-Dor
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- The Singer: A Classic Retelling of the Cosmic Conflict
- The Sorrow of Belgium (Tusk Ivories)
- The Treasure of Montsegur: A Novel of the Cathars
- The Ultimate Intimacy
- The Winter Zoo: A Novel
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