John Gregory BetancourtCríticas

I didn't really expect to get a lot out of this collection... not among my usual categories, but I needed a quick read. There were I few written the century before last (1800's) that I couldn't connect with and skipped, but overall well worth it.

Twee. Very YA, even though the heroine is supposedly 16, she felt and acted much younger. The writing too was very simplistic in style, I’ve said it was aimed at younger children not teenagers.

So-so, probably not worth bothering with unless it’s effectively a freebie (which it was for me - it was part of a bundle containing other books I wanted).

Read this long ago but kept it because I enjoyed so many of the stories. I wish I took notes back then. Will do a re-read eventually.

~Sourheart by Nina Kiriki Hoffman - First time I heard of the author and of the character. It has since been re-published in Permeable Borders. Loved the story so much that I became an instant fan for life.

https://fromtheheartofeurope.eu/shadows-of-amber-by-john-betancourt/

Fourth and, praise be to God, final of the prequels to Roger Zelazny’s classic Amber series. It’s noticeably shorter than the other three, as if the writer had simply given up. Understandable if so. I read it several days before writing this and can’t now remember anything about it

https://fromtheheartofeurope.eu/to-rule-in-amber-by-john-betancourt/

Third of the four books in the prequel series to Roger Zelazny’s Chronicles of Amber, by the much less gifted writer John Betancourt. Oberon, our hero, starts to put together a governing regime for Amber, the new magical centre based around the mysterious Pattern. I confess I had lost track of all of his brothers and sisters, and they are pretty indistinguishable as characters – apart from the one who is obviously going to perpetrate a sudden yet inevitable betrayal, and duly does so. Unnecessarily confusing that there is a princess called Blaise here and the original Chronicles had a prince called Bleys.½

https://fromtheheartofeurope.eu/roger-zelaznys-chaos-and-amber-by-john-betancour...

Second of the prequels to Zelazny’s great Amber series, and it is a step up from the first volume. Oberon and his recently acquired father Dworkin (and recently acquired brother Aber) battle their way through family feuds at the Courts of Chaos to head towards the creation of Amber itself (which will presumably happen in the third volume). It’s still rather flat compared to the originals, but at least it does not go on too long.

this is sort of a mixed bag, some horrible, a couple transcendent, most in the middle somewhere.

I will read anything that even tangentially has to do with Anne McCaffrey and so I bought this book off of eBay and it was surprisingly really good. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

https://nwhyte.livejournal.com/3724115.html

The first of the prequels to the late great Roger Zelazny's Amber series, published in 2002 but I only got around to it as part of a Humble Bundle a few years back. I had been warned that the prequels were terrible; actually while the first book is not superb, it's not awful either. Our viewpoint character is Oberon, future father of the Nine Princes of Amber, who is pulled from a career as mercenary (his girlfriend killed off before we even meet her properly) by his mysterious father Dworkin, for magical dynastic plotting with his brothers and sisters. It's a bit flat, compared with the heights of the original, but I'll persevere with the series.

I bought for Nina, $.99 but will pick out some others. (*ugh* I bought a different one for Nina, $.99 and it's the same exact story)

Read:
~ Lawrence Watt-Evans - ARMS AND THE WOMAN (2001) 5* Every 400 years an ancient evil attempts to reform and current day warriors have to be prepared with magic items to not let that happen.

~ Nina Kiriki Hoffman - BRIGHT STREETS OF AIR (1998) 3* Two witches have been friends for a very long time. One attempts a spell on the other so that she is understood better. [Read in a different book]

~ Thomas Burnett Swann - THE DOLPHIN AND THE DEEP (1963) DNF Novella. Set in Greek mythology times. MC loves to explore. Meets a merman, they explore and search for Circe ... dnf

~ Paul Di Filippo - THE EMPEROR OF GONDWANALAND (2005) DNF Author writes a bit too manic for me. The MC is an office worker whose co-workers are still partying like crazy but he rather avoid the hangover and regrets. We hear what the characters are saying to the MC, what he thinks about it (including past history with that person), how he responds, on and on. I'm sure it switches gears as we learn about the Virtual Reality (I think) world he discovers but a couple more ping pongs and a long paragraph about the history of Gondwanaland and I'm sick of it.

~ Fritz Leiber - SPACE-TIME FOR SPRINGERS (1958) - dnf. I must be in a shit mood. I can't read this one either. The writing style is not a good match. Too many f'n names in the first few paragraphs and refers to his humans as "kitty-come-here" and "old horsemeat" repeatedly. It's just coming off annoying vs. interesting to me.
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I originally marked many of the stories as interested but after reading some, I went back to look at them again and decided to pass on all of the rest.

I bought this book for Nina. 3 stories for $.99 but I also picked out some others to read also.

Only read these:

~ Nina Kiriki Hoffman - COMPANDROID 1990 - 3* Not enough of a story for me. We meet an android and the little boy he is caring for. We learn that his mind was wiped for this assignment. He was assigned to the boy's mother previously. Parts of his previous assignment start being accessible to this assignment and it indicates that he is becoming self aware...

~ Nina Kiriki Hoffman - UNIVERSAL DONOR 1989 - 4* Very unique. A vat that grows donor parts has a bit of conscienceness.

~ Nina Kiriki Hoffman - KNOTWORK 2002 - 3.5* a story that shows the reasons I love her. The way she writes magic is always interesting and unique. I can't say I loved the story/plot that much tho.

~ Lawrence Watt-Evans - FOXY LADY 1992 4* I usually love his shorts stories so I never skip them when I come across them in a anthology. Done now. I liked it. Easy to read, interesting, futuristic. A man wins a AI as a game show prize...

~ Fritz Leiber - WHAT'S HE DOING IN THERE? 1957 2* alien comes to earth, human & alien misunderstand each other.

~ Darrell Schweitzer - GHOST 1999 1* The ghost in the title is referring to "ghost writers" in the future. I wasn't fond of the way the author wrote the story so I couldn't absorb it well but if I understood the gist, in the future, the actors can be replaced by AIs but the writers can't be.

~ Philip K. Dick - MR. SPACESHIP 1953 DNF war stuff that just went through my eyes and out my ears and disappeared.

~ Jerry Sohl - BRKNK'S BOUNTY 1955 3* cute. Aliens were touring earth and one slipped away. It became friends with the MC and when the alien's family finally found it, the MC was gifted with something that helped him get his current job in the carnival.

~ Robert Silverberg - POSTMARK GANYMEDE 1957 3* an experienced spaceship patrol man is reassigned to postal worker. Surprisingly his old skills were very needed on his first delivery.

Bought for the Nina stories * but picked out a few others to read.

LAZELLE FAMILY CHRISTMAS, by Nina Kiriki Hoffman 4*
This story is exactly why I love this author. Each member of the family is responsible for a part of Christmas. ie. the youngest that is able finds a tree that is "willing" to be cut down...

THE SANTA TRAP, by Robin Aurelian (* aka NKH) 2*
It was tortuously fun up until the abrupt ending. Santa comes to your house and takes stuff....

THE CHRISTMAS CRAZIES: A GRIFF & FATS STORY, by Gary Lovisi DNF
ut-oh all the Santas are going missing. Salvation Army cauldrons abandoned, Macy's Santa goes on break and never comes back. // Too long, it lost my interest at about the half way point I figure. Detective type story.

CAN'T SEE THE TREE FOR THE FOREST by Skadi meic Beorh DNF
Actually didn't get that started. His writing style didn't match my reading style. The story was about picking out a tree without getting screwed over by the salesman. I think.

THE GIFT, by Marilyn "Mattie" Brahen 2.5* It's a proper, get you in the Christmas spirit story but it wasn't anything special IMO. A man that looks like Santa needs help but wait, is it the real Santa?

THE CHRISTMAS BANE, by S. Clayton Rhodes 4*
A Krampus story. I liked it. iirc a person has to be sacrificed to Krampus but the victim is new to town and is surprised to learn he is the sacrifice>

There's no beating the old weird tales stories, many of which are available online for free these days. But it's always nice to read them in a real book. Always recommended. Buy this, it's not possible to regret it. Highly recommended.

None of these stories were bad. One or two... in fact, maybe just one that I can think of felt a little dragged out, a little long-winded perhaps. But even that one was an OK read. I read somewhere that these books were supposed to continue on through other years taking stories from weird tales and anthologizing them just as this one did, but it was not to be. It's a real shame because I enjoyed these stories and just didn't want the book to end.

Highly recommended. I live in hope for more of the same but won't hold my breath.

Unexpected story by Ayn Rand. I loved the Asimov story best.

A mix of recipes and food-related stories and poems from scifi and fantasy authors. It is a bit high in chocolate chip cookie and chili variations, but "The Parable of the Cow and the Sofa" alone would make the collection worth the read. And I make the Pasta Putanesca and the Paprikash recipes with fair regularity.

F

Your average mythoey tentacledness. Some of these I had read before, but there's some new ones. It should be mentioned that I had forgotten how racist the ending of "Medusa's Coil" was. Lot of it is, actually, but the final line was so inane compared with what had happened before I think I sprained my eyes rolling them.

It's a good collection, with classics and originals. My favorite of the lot was "Ghoulmaster," by Brian McNaughton. There's a sort of vague sorting by theme, each anchored by a classic Lovecraft story, but it's not an absolutely formal arrangement. I've actually read so much Cthulhu mythos stories, I've had to start tracking anthology TOCs to make sure I'm not hitting too many duplicates. This one, I had read almost half the stories before. But the the price certainly hit my sweet spot, and I bet it will for you too.

Kira, Worf and Odo go on a mission to recover someone who has the secret of the addictive substance the Changelings use to control the Jem'Hadar. Mean while Sisko tries to conduct a peace conference.

This is a pretty good Deep Space Nine book. Kira, Worf and Odo face a lot of danger. Of course the peace conference falls apart.

My personal rating is really more of a 3.5 out of 5 stars, but I'll round up in this case. This was a fun quick book. I think there could've been a little bit more to the story, but it was a good setup. The characters were well written. It felt like an average, decent episode of Voyager.

I mainly got this for the S.P. Somtow story, which I had not read before, and which was excellent. He manages to mix disturbingly sick with lyrically beautiful like no one else...

However; the rest of the book was pretty underwhelming - not as good as I expected, even by the general standards of theme anthologies.

Contents:

The Lord’s Apprentice · Isaac Asimov
An introductory essay by Asimov. Leads one to believe that good things will be coming. But.

Near Flesh · Katherine Dunn
Probably the least Frankenstein-y story in the book, it tells of a nasty, unattractive woman who uses male sex robots to gratify herself... and gets what's coming to her. I didn't like it.

Summertime Was Nearly Over · Brian W. Aldiss
Frankenstein's monster has holed up it a mountain cave, with his bride, till modern times. When he encounters a young hiker, things come to a head...

The Creature on the Couch · Michael Bishop
Frankenstein's monster works as a night watchman. But his boss sends him to a psychotherapist due to his obvious maladjustment.

Fortitude · Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
Not written for this anthology. Written as a screenplay. An elderly woman is kept alive by machinery - which is controlled by her obsessed doctor, who prevents her from committing suicide. Better-crafted than most of these stories, but I still didn't love it.

Monsters of the Midway · Mike Resnick
What if reanimated monsters were set to playing pro football?

Dreams · F. Paul Wilson
One of the men whose corpse has been integrated into Frankenstein's monster seeks out the girl he loved in life...


Evil, Be My Good · Philip José Farmer Frankenstein's monster is writing a missive, while in the process of freezing to death in arctic climes. He waxes philosophical.

A Writ of Habeas Corpus · Chelsea Quinn Yarbro
"Frank" is stuck in a mental hospital, but appeals to a good lawyer to get him out. The celebrity advocate pushes him into a role as a movie star.

The State Versus Adam Shelley · Benjamin M. Schutz
A portrait of a teenage psycho, in the form of a mental evaluation.

Chui Chai · S. P. Somtow
As I said, this is a great, disturbing piece. Thai legend and myth mixes with seedy reality in this story of prostitution, money, and an amoral doctor.

I, Monster · Loren D. Estleman
Another where the monster survives up to the current day and has to find a place in today's society. Here, he becomes a pro wrestler.

This Icy Region My Heart Encircles · Steve Rasnic & Melanie Tem
Mary Shelley keeps her dead husband's heart sitting around, after his death.

Mad at the Academy · Esther M. Friesner
Tries way too hard for humor, and falls flat. The monster gets to be a movie star, again, here.

Last Call for the Sons of Shock · David J. Schow
Frankenstein, The Wolfman, Dracula &c get together at a bar, as they do annually, and reminisce about the good old days.

Victor · Karen Haber
Frankenstein is destroyed by his monster.

Part Five · Garfield Reeves-Stevens
An aspiring actress in LA is ready for the casting couch - but not ready for what's actually in store for her.

Frankie Baby · Joyce Harrington
After the visit of a long-lost childhood friend, a young mother's child dies. But then the friend, now a renowned doctor, offers a replacement.

Pity the Monsters [Newford] · Charles de Lint
A young woman is assaulted by a monstrous man in an alley. When she comes to, she seems to have been rescued by an eccentric old woman. But the reality is far creepier. (This one wasn't bad.)

The Last Supper and a Falaffel to Go · George Alec Effinger
Once more, the monster makes it to the present day - and this time becomes a homeless man.

Selected Filmography · Leonard Wolf
Some dude's opinions about some Frankenstein movies. Unnecessary.

PLOT OR PREMISE:
This is the first of six books dealing with biological terrorism by an unknown foe. The story is interesting, as a planet has been infected with a plague with an 100% fatality rate -- but only for those aliens who are of mixed-race...pure breeds remain unaffected!
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WHAT I LIKED:
I am not a hard-core sci-fi reader, but I do enjoy Star Wars and Star Trek. This is definitely different from most ST:TNG plots where they steer away from racial relations that aren't easily solved. The plot is interesting and the medical portion is solid.
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WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE:
Unfortunately, the problem with this novel is that the characters are written similar to those of the first few books in the ST:TNG series i.e. when the characters weren't quite developed yet or as well-defined as they became in the TV series. So, when you read those early books now, you can't help but say to yourself "But THAT character wouldn't do THAT!". Such divergence from the real characters they become was understandable early on in the series, but now that there have been seven years worth of episodes, fifty odd books, and a couple of movies, going back to the "not yet defined" characters seems too far out of the fold. The characters fit the timeline in the series, but are not true to their real character not yet revealed.
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BOTTOM-LINE:
A readable entry but fans of later seasons may have trouble relating.
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DISCLOSURE:
I received no compensation, not even a free copy, in exchange for this review. I am not personal friends with the author, and I do not follow him on social media.

It's in the Amber style, and the characters are done well, but if you really really loved Roger Zelzany's Amber series, it's just not the same without him. The characters of Oberon and Dworkin just don't feel the same.

Normally, I love golden age science fiction, but this collection just didn't do it for me. The first megapack was good, this one, not so much.