I go to my local library a lot, but usually I know what I want. I recently has some time when I was early for an appointment, visited the local branch and came out with three diverse titles that were all really enjoyable. The first that I read was William Gibson's Pattern Recognition. I am a big Gibson fan, going back to Neuromancer. This book, while still classified as Science Fiction, is very close to today's current events. It is a wonderful commentary on today's art and culture, particuar...

First, I must thank AJCrowley for turning me on to this author. The Skinners among us will recognize AJCrowley as one half of the team (along with GreenReaper) responsible for BlackComb, one of the best skins ever made. His nom de skin (heh! I made that up. It means the alias that he uses for skinning) has it's origins in the Neil Gaiman/Terry Pratchett book "Good Omens." AJ Crowley in that book is the modern day incarnation of Crawly, the snake that tempted Eve in the Garden of Eden. He is a...

Let me start off by saying that Kuperman's Fire by John J. Clayton moved my more than any other book that I have read in a long time. Only 304 pages in length, it took me longer to read than I would have thought. There were parts that I read over several times to savor; other times I had to stop after only a few pages because a passage left me emotionally drained. It is hard to put Kuperman's Fire into a category. Is it suspense? There are certainly suspenseful portions. Is it phi...

The end of the year is always a time of reflection for me, of looking back over the past and thinking about the reasons to be grateful. One of the big things for me, and for my family, this past year was getting to meet Cory Doctorow in person. I have been a fan of his for a number of years, ever since someone recommended that I read his novel " Little Brother."  I really wish I could remember who that was. After the first book, A Place So Foreign and Eight More, Overclocked: Stories of...