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Rogues

Martin, George R. R., ed.
Twenty-one stories about rogues. Various genres, including crime and fantasy. I especially liked the one involving the band instruments.

Read:

2/2017

A Desolation Called Peace

Martine, Arkady
This the second book took me a long time, maybe a hundred pages, to come up to speed as to what was going on. I'm looking forward to the third book, but I'm not sure I'll remember much of what happened in this one, then!

Read:

6/2021

A Memory Called Empire

Martine, Arkady
A girl (well, woman!) is sent to the Empire's capital to be the new ambassador from her tiny home "planet", an mining station. Replacing the previous ambassador, who seems to have been murdered. I am not enamored of poetry, but it was presented here in a painless manner and certainly is part of the story. I can't imagine where the author will go with the next book!

Read:

7/2020

Critical Mass

Martini, Steve
Jocelyn is retained by a handsome businessman to set up his new corporation.

Words I Had To Look Up:

This is J-N eight-two-four-six (pg. 100) -- I'm no expert, but this strikes me as incorrect. I thougt it went: Aircraft manufacturer, aircraft number (often dropping the "November" for N). I don't see a "J-N" float plane manufacturer listed anywhere. Am I right, or am I wrong?
double-clutching (pg 169) -- Huh? This is a transmission shifting technique, why would the truck driver shift gears in a low-speed attempt to push the car off the ferry?
giant C-130 (pg. 267) -- Wingspan of a C-130 is around 132 feet. A C-5 is 174 feet, an Airbus is 261 feet, and the Spruce Goose is 320 feet. The C-130 is big, but not GIANT.
a kind of cuddy cabin (pg. 271) -- A small room or a cabin on a small boat, often with limited headspace. Redundant, "cuddy" means "cabin", but that is how the term is often used.
transmit both audio and video signals on a special subsonic frequency to a satellite in space (pg. 285) -- Subsonic is below 20 Hz. Submarines used ELF communication techiniques, but the wavelength is thousands of kilometers, which means a VERY large antenna. I remember reading that the data rate is VERY slow, so I think video/audio transmission would not work. Not to mention satellite communication. Feel free to correct me on this!
Glass shattered in the window, breaking the pane (pg. 363) -- I thought the glass was the pane.
pallentized gunship C-130 (pg. 307) -- Not sure what that means, most C-130s could handle pallets. I slept on a pallet of toolboxes on a C-130 while TDY once.
Jolly Green Giant (pg. 307) -- Sikorsky HH-53 helicopter. Not a C-130, as far as I can find. Maybe the author was thinking of "Puff", a nickname ofr an AC-47 gunship.
palletized hundred-and-five-millimeter howitzer (pg. 308) -- I can't find any mention that the 105mm is on a pallet. Why all the mention of pallets in this novel, it doesn't make it shoot any better!
pediments (pg. 353) -- A triangular element, similar to or derivative of a Grecian pediment, used widely in architecture and decoration.
a Navy diver saved my life (pg. 359) -- Well, he was a SEAL, so he is kind of a SUPER-diver, eh?
Fastened ... with black electrical tape (pg. 421) -- In my experience electrical tape doesn't stick to stuff all that well. We are talking about a nuclear weapon here, why not spring for the good stuff, like duct tape?

Read:

7/2011

Guardian Of Lies

Martini, Steve
Chick from Costa Rica is accused of murdering her Del Mar boyfriend. I particularly liked the shoot-out on Prospect Ave. in Santee/El Cajon. I could visualize it happening!

Quibbles And Words I Had To Look Up::

Begs the question. (pg. 65) -- Is this used correctly? Near as I can figure, not.
they aren't TIFFs (pg. 87) -- Gosh, maybe they used Irfanview to change the image type!
She spent four years... in a U.S. Army Ranger battalion (pg. 175) -- I'm not seeing anything on the Internet supporting women in combat in the Rangers. By the way, I really liked this character.
use cell phones as remote bugging device (pg. 225) -- The service provider (per FBI warrant) can turn on the phone remotely for bugging? Holy crap, it's true, according to NOAA website!
have a check on his passport number in the airline computers (pg. 226) -- Or, he could just cross the border to the Tijuana airport...
Encrypted, unlocked, quad-band GSM cell phones (pg. 229) -- Cool, how much do they cost? Can't find a price!
I pen a note to him on a pad from the nightstand. (pg. 241) -- I hope the FBI doesn't know the powdered graphite trick.
Commercial and shopping areas of town were three miles away... (pg. 414) More like one mile. Two miles puts you in the water. Quibble quibble.

Read:

7/2011

The Attorney

Martini, Steve
Paul Madriani moves to San Diego and gets a client accursed of murdering the woman he thinks instigated the non-custodial kidnapping of his granddaughter.

Read:

8/2011

The Rule Of Nine

Martini, Steve
Book two of what seems to be a trilogy or series (actually, is number eleven), San Diego attorney Paul Madriani is once again involved in foiling a terrorist plot. Some interesting twists.

Words I Had To Look Up:

percipient (pg. 198) -- A person who is able to perceive things.
Cooper Vane (258) -- Fully described in the text, I looked it up anyway.
old bungalows (pg. 205) -- I KNOW what the words mean, it was the information about partial cellars under Southern California bungalows that I found interesting.
AWAK flights (pg. 327) -- Probably typo of AWACS, is spelled correctly earlier in the book.

Odd Stuff:

On page 133 Thorn says that with the state of the American economy, one would think there would be a fire sale on commercial jets.
On page 210 Thorn says that Airline leasing companies were holding fire sales on new planes, and implies that used planes should be even cheaper.
On page 242 Stern says that commercial airliners were as cheap as dirt.

Quote::

...six hundred volts and four thousand amps hiss through his body. -- (page 382) Yeah, baby!

Read:

7/2011

Read:

9/2023

Counting Heads

Marusek, Robert
Science fiction novel, part one of possibly two, takes place in 2134. Nano tech and AIs abound, even clones to do all the heavy lifting. Seems a distant future, I doubt we will get that far in only twenty years. The author has masterful command of invented words. I enjoyed it, but it was hard to read, especially with the small type!

Words I Had To Look Up::

thin and sere (pg. 66) -- Dry.
decarring (pg. 85) -- To exit a vehicle or elevator. I found the invented word charming.
biellette (pg. 302 ) -- A small connecting rod or link.

Quote::

"Food, no matter how cleverly assembled, Fred, is still just food." -- Page 148.

Quote:

...the only bozo on the bus. -- Page 187. A Firesign Theater reference?

Read:

8/2011

Mind Over Ship

Marusek, Robert
Fred the russ seems to be the main character now, as progress on the o-ships is seriously threatened. I don't get the last sentence. Why a fish?

Words I Had To Look Up:

pinna (pg. 90) -- While the story explains that it is the flappy part of the earlobe, I still looked it up. Trust, but verify.

Quote:

Capitalism was a marvel, as long as you were a capitalist. -- pg. 39.

Read:

8/2011

2182 kHz

Masiel, David
Novel of barges, tow boats, death, rescue, and sex in the Arctic.

Read:

2/2005

11 Birthdays

Mass, Wendy
Amanda and Leo are turning eleven, but this is the first birthday they are not celebrating together. In fact, they haven't been speaking to each for a whole year. Very good, but now I have to read the following two books again, because I can't remember how it all ties together!

Read:

3/2012

Read:

3/2012

13 Gifts

Mass, Wendy
Tara is to spend the summer at her mother's sister's home in the small town of Willow Falls, a place where odd things happen. Things get weird, eventually.

Read:

3/2012

A Mango-Shaped Space

Mass, Wendy
A very involved story of Mia, who has synesthesia (but doesn't know what it is), and her cat, Mango. Quite a bit of weeping on my part.

Read:

4/2011

Bob

Mass, Wendy
With Rebecca Stead. Very nice story of a girl visiting her grandmother in Australia reuniting with her forgotten green friend Bob. I liked it very much!

Read:

8/2023

Every soul a star

Mass, Wendy
Several teens end up at a campground to see an eclipse of the sun. A very enjoyable and moving story. I need to look up lucid dreaming. Some of the mechanical stuff seemed a bit off, like, a bus driver replacing a faulty crankshaft (page 89) and the latitude-longitude/GPS/computer explanation (page 248), but the astronomical stuff was checked by real scientists, so it's good.

Read:

11/2009

Finally

Mass, Wendy
Rory is nearly twelve years old, finally. But she lives in Willow Falls, so you know odd things are going to happen.

Read:

3/2012

Graceful

Mass, Wendy
The no-kidding last book in the Willow Falls series had me in tears at the end. Just wish I could remember the previous books!

Read:

9/2015

Jeremy Fink And The Meaning Of Life

Mass, Wendy
Jeremy Fink is turning thirteen soon. A mysterious box arrives in the mail, a box that Jeremy's deceased father intended for him to open on his thirteenth birthday. But the keys are missing! Great story!

Read:

10/2015

Leap Day

Mass, Wendy
Josie's sixteenth birthday is coming up, but since she was born on February 29th it is only her fourth birthday. This was a very excellent book which I enjoyed very very much.

The Candymakers

Mass, Wendy
A sequel of this is being published soon so I thought I had better read the first one. Very good story of four twelve-year-olds competing in a candy making contest.

Read:

8/2016
20 books displayed
[Abadzis - Aiken] [Aiken - Allinghamc] [Alvarez - Angelou] [Anthony - Atkins] [Atkinson - Backman] [Baen Publishing Enterprises - Balliett] [Balliett - Barnard] [Barnard - Barr] [Barr - Barrows] [Barry - Bear] [Bear - Beaton] [Beaton - Beaton] [Beaton - Bester] [Bingle - Block] [Block - Block] [Block - Bosch] [Bosch - Brashares] [Breathed - Bryson] [Bryson - Bujold] [Bujold - Bujold] [Bujold - Card] [Card - Card] [Card - Caunitz] [Caunitz - Cheaney] [Chesterton - Clancy] [Clare - Coben] [Coben - Colfer] [Colfer - Collins] [Collins - Connelly] [Connelly - Conroy] [Constantine - Cooper] [Corbett - Cornwell] [Cornwell - Crais] [Crais - Crichton] [Crichton - Crusie] [Curry - Cussler] [Cussler - Davis] [Davis - Dilloway] [Dionne - Dorsey] [Dorsey - Dowell] [Dowell - Duncan] [Duncan - Elkins] [Elkins - Evanovich] [Evanovich - Fairstein] [Fairstein - Ferris] [Fforde - Flanagan] [Flanagan - Ford] [Forester - Francis] [Francis - Francis] [Francis - Francis] [Francis - Frey] [Frey - Gantos] [Gantos - Gibson] [Gibson - Gores] [Gores - Granger] [Granger - Greenberg] [Greenfield - Grimes] [Grimes - Grisham] [Grisham - Haddix] [Haddix - Hall] [Hall - Hallinan] [Halpern - Haugaard] [Hautman - Heinlein] [Heinlein - Heller] [Heller - Herbert] [Herman - Hess] [Hess - Hiaasen] [Hiaasen - Hobb] [Hobb - Hoose] [Hopkinson - Hudson] [Huff - Jacobs] [James - Jones] [Jones - Kaminsky] [Kaminsky - Kellog] [Kellog - King] [King - Kline] [Klise - Kowal] [Kowal - Lamott] [Lampman - Lawrence] [Lawrence - Lee] [Lee - Lescroart] [Lescroart - Liebster] [Lindsay - London] [Long - Lubar] [Luna - MacLachlan] [Maclean - Mandel] [Mankell - Martin] [Martin - Mass] [Mass - McBain] [McCaffrey - McCrumb] [McCrumb - Medwed] [Meier - Millard] [Miller - Moon] [Moon - Morrison] [Mortimer - Mysterious Press] [Nance - Nimmo] [Niven - Novik] [Novik - O'Brian] [O'Brian - Oliver] [Oppel - Paretsky] [Paretsky - Parker] [Parker - Parker] [Parker - Paterson] [Paterson - Paulsen] [Paulsen - Peck] [Peck - Phelan] [Philbrick - Posey] [Powell - Poyer] [Poyer - Pratchett] [Pratchett - Prineas] [Pronzini - Pullman] [Pullman - Quinn] [Quinn - Reeve] [Reeve - Ringo] [Ringo - Robinson] [Robinson - Rowling] [Rowling - Russo] [Rust - Scalzi] [Scalzi - Schmidt] [Schmidt - Scottoline] [Scottoline - Seranella] [Setterfield - Shusterman] [Shusterman - Smith] [Smith - Soto] [Sparks - Stark] [Stark - Stephenson] [Stephenson - Stroke] [Stroke - Strunk] [Sturgeon - Taylor] [Taylor - Townsend] [Tracy - Updale] [Urban - Van Name] [van Vogt - Walsh] [Walsh - Weber] [Weber - Wells] [Wells - Westlake] [Westlake - Westlake] [Westlake - Willis] [Willis - Wodehouse] [Wodehouse - Yep] [Yep - Zusak] 

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