Book Review: Cooked to Death

Book Review: Cooked to Death edited by Rhonda Gilliland and Michael Allan Mallory Let’s return to the world of themed anthologies, a quick way to get a sample of various authors writing on a particular topic. In this case, it’s primarily Minnesota and other Midwestern writers doing crime and mystery short stories around the topic… Continue reading Book Review: Cooked to Death

Book Review: Gene Autry and the Ghost Riders

Book Review: Gene Autry and the Ghost Riders by Lewis B. Patten Gene Autry (1907-1998) was one of the world’s great cowboy singers, who did well in live performances, record sales, radio, movies and television. You may remember him from such classic songs as “Back in the Saddle Again” or “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.” Like… Continue reading Book Review: Gene Autry and the Ghost Riders

Book Review: The Bride Saw Red

Cover by Bert Lannon

Book Review: The Bride Saw Red by Robert Carson George Markham has first world problems. HIs father made a lot of money through hard bargaining and the help of his wife. Bur the elder Mr. Markham died when George was quite young and left all his money to his widow, who’s done an excellent job… Continue reading Book Review: The Bride Saw Red

Book Review: Undeveloped: A Pine County Mystery

Book Review: Undeveloped: A Pine County Mystery by Dean L. Hovey Pine County is on the eastern edge of Minnesota, about halfway between the Twin Cities and Duluth. It’s a rural area, with a fair amount of relatively new growth pine timber (you may have heard of the Hinckley Fire.) Much of the economy depends… Continue reading Book Review: Undeveloped: A Pine County Mystery

Book Review: The Planet Explorer

Book Review: The Planet Explorer by Murray Leinster This “novel” is more of a story cycle, a set of four novelettes about the career of Bordman, an officer of Colonial Survey (“Colonial Survey” being the title this collection was first published under.) It’s set in a future where humanity is constantly expanding through the galaxy.… Continue reading Book Review: The Planet Explorer

Book Review: The Game Master’s Book of Random Encounters

Book Review: The Game Master’s Book of Random Encounters by Jeff Ashworth I’ve been a fan of the various iterations of Dungeons and Dragons since 1979, when I first encountered people who played the game. While my involvement has waxed and waned over the years, I still enjoy reading the game products. One of the… Continue reading Book Review: The Game Master’s Book of Random Encounters

Book Review: But Not Forgotten | The Schemers

Book Review: But Not Forgotten | The Schemers by Ruth Fenisong It’s time for another Ace Double paperback, this time a pair of mysteries by Ruth Fenisong (1904-1978). She’s best known for her Lieutenant Gridley Nelson series, but he’s barely in the first, and the other is independent. But Not Forgotten Leo Socarus is a… Continue reading Book Review: But Not Forgotten | The Schemers

Book Review: A Psalm for the Wild-Built

Book Review: A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers Sibling Dex is a monk who yearns for the sound of crickets. So they leave the comfortable city monastery to go on the road as a “tea monk” who offers tea and a sympathetic ear to folks that need them. Dex, after some initial hiccups,… Continue reading Book Review: A Psalm for the Wild-Built

Book Review: Mary Shelley: Gothic Tales

Book Review: Mary Shelley: Gothic Tales by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley The author of the classic horror novel Frankenstein, or, The Modern Prometheus also wrote other things. This chapbook from Union Square & Co. reprints one of her short stories and an essay she wrote. “The Mortal Immortal” is a memoir by a fictional student of… Continue reading Book Review: Mary Shelley: Gothic Tales

Book Review: Swords Against Wizardry

Cover art by Jeff Jones

Book Review: Swords Against Wizardry by Fritz Leiber We return, gentle readers, to the fabled world of Nehwon, home of those bold rogues, Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser. But they are not in their favorite city, Lankhmar, but in Fafhrd’s home territory of the Cold Wastes to the north. For they have learned of fabled… Continue reading Book Review: Swords Against Wizardry