The Great Geek Manual

Book: The Winds of Dune
ISBN-10: 978-0765322722

Author: Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson
Series: Heroes of Dune interquel tetralogy
Publisher: Tor Books
Genre: Science Fiction/ Space Opera
Release: August 4, 2009
Length: 448 pages (Hardcover)

Rating: B

Verdict

It’s astonishing how seamlessly Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson have matched the tone and technique of Frank Herbert. Both the best and worst that can be said of The Winds of Dune is that is that it fits seamlessly into the original Dune series, flawlessly mimicking its style. Which is to say that Dune fans are going to rave about it, while casual readers are likely to shelf it for future use as a sleeping aide.

That’s always been true of the Dune series, though. Dune has been the series that separates out the hardcore science fiction aficionados from the tourists since it first became a series with the release of Dune Messiah. However, even those who have had difficulty reading beyond Children of the Dune (which is were most casual readers stop reading the series), are going to want to pick up this volume. It isn’t as difficult a read as most of the books of the original series, and it features blessedly few character rants. Plus, it goes a long way towards reconciling Dune’s single most glaring fault – the disconnect between the honorable character of Paul Atreides and the brutality of the Jihad he launches.

If you finished and enjoyed the first three books of Herbert’s original series, you owe it to yourself to pick this one up to complete the picture. The four books form quite a tidy story line all on their own, without the rapidly expanding labyrinth of other books being released into the series.

Pros: Puts some nice finishing touches on the Paul’s role in the Dune series.

Cons: No matter how they advertise it, the Dune series is never going to be about excitement, at best, it’s sci-fi’s answer to a political thriller.

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Audio Fiction and Podcasts

• Listen to Edgar Allan Poe and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in Short Mystery Story Collection 005 at LibriVox.
• Listen to “Spirit Dump” by Lawrence Watt Evans at the StarShipSofa.

Flash and Micro Fiction

• Read the flash fiction story “Fireflies in a Jar” by Jennifer C. Brown.
• Read the flash fiction story “Shiver” by Lori Titus at Flashes in the Dark.
• Read the microfiction story “The Beauty” by Gargi Mehra at Everyday Fiction.
• Read the microfiction story “Remembrance” by Naomi Johnson at A Twist of Noir.

Novels and Preview Chapters

• Download science fiction novel Binary by by Jay Caselberg at ManyBooks.net.
• Read an excerpt of Book of Secrets by Chris Roberson at SF Signal.

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Audio Fiction and Podcasts

• Listen to “Hall of Mirrors” by Bruce Holland Rogers at Podcastle.
• Listen to “A Saucer of Loneliness and Suicide” by Theodore Sturgeon at Spider on the Web.
• Listen to “This Is How It Feels” by Ian Creasey at Escape Pod.

Comics and Graphic Novels

• “A Martian Saga” (1979) has been posted at Diversions of the Groovy Kind.

Flash and Micro Fiction

• Read “The Devil in the Desert” by Trinity Martin at MicroHorror.

Novels and Preview Chapters

• Dave Freer is serializing his newest novel, Save the Daragons.
• Douglas Clegg has post his horror novel, Goat Dance, for free at Scribd.com.
• Scott Lynch (The Lies of Locke Lamora and Red Seas Under Red Skies) is serializing a new planetary romance called Queen of the Iron Sands. There is no cost, but the author asks for donations. Chapters one and two are now available: “My Father Brought the Sky Home” and “The Red Cloud Over Texas.”

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Book: A Princess of Landover
ISBN-13: 978-0345458520

Author: Terry Brooks
Series: Magic Kingdom of Landover
Publisher: Del Rey
Genre: Fantasy
Release: August 18, 2009
Length: 352 pages (Hardcover)

Rating: F

Verdict

Terry Brooks has always written his Landover series like a Saturday morning cartoon, but with A Princess of Landover he actually manages lower the tone of the entire series. This book is bad – even for young adult fantasy. Seriously bad.

Any who has ever enjoyed a fantasy novel should avoid this one like the plague.

Pros: It’s short and there’s none of Brooks’ signature overblown romance in sight.

Cons: Ridiculously simple plotline. Flat characters. Spurious motivations. Plot holes galore. All the franchise’s best characters all get sidelined.

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Book: Off Armageddon Reef
ISBN-10: 0-7653-1500-9

Author: David Weber
Series: Safehold Series
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Genre: Space Opera
Release: January 9, 2007
Length: 608 pages (Hardcover)

Rating: B

Verdict

For fans of the Dragonriders of Pern and Guardians of the Flame series, picking up Off Armageddon Reef is going to be like meeting an old friend all over again. The book embraces the best traditions of the fantasy, military fiction, and science fiction genres, then recombines them into a single story in which a character with contemporary sensibilities satisfies all of a reader’s impulses to reach into the story and single-handedly rebuild a fantasy society into an idealized modern civilization.

With this, his first entry in the Safehold series, Weber clearly establishes himself as the next master of the space opera. However, readers jonesing for an action fix should look elsewhere. The thrill of this series are strictly cerebral in nature.

Pick it up, but stick to the audiobook, otherwise you may have difficulty getting all the way through it.

Pros: Weber’s wars unfold like a game of Starcraft, with a lot of the emphasis focused on the build-up of military forces rather than the war itself, which lends itself to a distinctly nerdy read. His greatest strength is telling a story on a global scale, following multiple elements of his story concurrently. Highly engrossing.

Cons: Weber’s books are beginning to strongly resemble each other. His characters within this series are very poorly differentiated, often speaking and reasoning alike. Also, most of the story is told through monologs and info dumps, which get very tiresome.

Synopsis

In Brief: Simply put, this series is The Dragonriders of Pern with a navy rather than dragons and an android (PICA) rather than a computer (AIVAS). An starship officer from the war that extinguished humanity wakes up in an android body on a world that has reverted to medieval technology. Equipped with technology that seems magical to the world’s inhabitants, she must find a way to guide the world’s inhabitants through a Napoleonic navel war to help them achieve their own Protestant reformation. Author David Weber has explained that he set out to create a series in which high technology fused with “the feel of a ‘last defender of elfland,’ but without the urban fantasy matrix.”
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Book Releases

• 206 Bones: A Novel (Temperance Brennan Novels) by Kathy Reichs
  Scribner. (ISBN-10: 0743294394) Hardcover. Length: 320pp

• Ariel by Steven R. Boyett
  Ace. (ISBN-10: 0441017940) Paperback. Length: 448pp

• Bitten by Kelley Armstrong
  Vintage Canada. (ISBN-10: 0307358038) Paperback. Length: 432pp

• Bitter Angels by C. L. Anderson
  Spectra. (ISBN-10: 0553592173) Paperback. Length: 448pp

• Blood Promise (Vampire Academy, Book 4) by Richelle Mead
  Razorbill. (ISBN-10: 1595141987) Hardcover. Length: 512pp

• City at the End of Time by Greg Bear
  Del Rey. (ISBN-10: 0345448405) Paperback. Length: 496pp

• Dime Store Magic by Kelley Armstrong
  Vintage Canada. (ISBN-10: 0307358011) Paperback. Length: 416pp
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Book: Seeing is Believing
ISBN-13: 978-1893951457

Series: Ripley’s Believe It or Not!
Publisher: Ripley Publishing
Genre: Non-Fiction / Trivia
Release: August 4, 2009
Length: 256 pages (Hardcover)

Verdict

Ripley’s latest offering is an supersized coffee table book of photos and infobytes that looks as if it were designed for kids with A.D.D. and reads like a Twitter feed. It’s eye-catching design makes it all but impossible not to pick up, and it’s thousands of bits of trivia make it a real page-turner. Though it’s aimed at a younger audience, Ripley’s Believe It or Not! Seeing Is Believing would be a great centerpiece for coffee tables, waiting rooms, or anywhere else you frequently need to kill time and stave off boredom.

As a long time fan of the franchise, I’m confident in saying that this installment is definitely one of the better Ripley’s collection, the entire hardback series (of which this is the sixth) is a vast improvement over the old paperback series, even it does look like it should be a pop-up book, judging from the cover.

Synopsis

Official: This all new 6th title in the best selling Ripley’s Believe It or Not! annual series, is a compendium of incredible bizarre facts, stories, interviews and features all presented in a stunning bright new design.

This year’s book also features icons that guide readers to astounding video clips on our new fully-integrated website, where they can see some of our subjects in action. Also, a dramatic eight-page gatefold section presents some extraordinary performers of the past, and additional black and white Ripley archive photographs feature throughout the book.

Be amazed at the dentist with no arms, the snake that swallowed a wallaby, an underwater sculptor and a four-eared cat! For the legions of dedicated Ripley’s fans, and anyone else on the planet who loves unbelievable facts and jaw-dropping images, the latest annual in this successful series is a feast of delights.
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Book Releases

• Grantville Gazette V by Eric Flint
  Baen. (ISBN-13: 978-1439132791) Hardcover. Length: 464pp
• The Magicians: A Novel by Lev Grossman
  Penguin Group. (ISBN-13: 978-0670020553) Hardcover. Length: 416pp
• The Prodigal Mage (Fisherman’s Children) by Karen Miller
  Orbit/Yen. (ISBN-13: 978-0316029209) Hardcover. Length: 512pp
• Book of the Sword by Hank Reinhardt
  Baen Books. (ISBN-13: 978-1439132821) Hardcover. Length: 256pp
• Belisarius III: The Flames of Sunset by Eric Flint and David Drake
  Baen. (ISBN-13: 978-1439132807) Hardcover. Length: 928pp

DVD Releases

• 17 Again – Not necessarily geeky, but it’s the best you’re going to get this week for your Friday night rental fix.

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