A. Merritt Books

I just read the review from the idiot in Japan and I can't disagree more. Fleet of Angels was a book that held my interest and kept me on the edge of my seat until the very last page! What this guy don't understand is todays Science Fiction is all about world building and stuff nobody can relae with. But Fleet of Angels is different. When I read it last year I understood right away that it was written in the style of thirty years ago when Sci-fi was GREAT! I can't give this book a high enough recomendation! I rate 100 stars!!

I enjoyed the book so much that I couldn't put it down. I would read it in my car, on the go. (I just couldn't put it down for real!!!)

Fleet of Angels (Carl R. Merritt)
A review

Carl Merritt's debut novel is a military SF story. Set in the year 2376, Earth is at war with the Satanians, an alien species broadly similar to humans except for their devil-like horns. It's not surprising they are similar; the premise of the story is that both the humans and their allies, the Zturm, are descended from the original species, the Umox, and were
created by the original Andromeda master-race as an experiment, before the Umox civilisation collapsed into chaos.

Fleet of Angels will appeal to readers who like authors such as David Weber, Steve White, Bill Baldwin, David Drake, W. Michael Gear, and Richard Fawkes.
It reminded me of Henlein's "Starship Troopers" and, indeed, there is some ground-attack action, although most of the story deals with the space war.

The story is set on a grand scale, involving a war between the galaxies of Andromeda and the Milky Way. Earth's allies in the war are the Zturm, descendants of the original colony expedition, sent from Andromeda millenia ago, to explore our Galaxy.

Carl Merritt wastes no time with 'world building', one of the bugbears of the SF genre, but plunges straight into the story. Chapter one opens with Richard Keller, the hero and Captain of the Titan, in battle against a Satanian fleet. Devotees of SF military action will find plenty here:

". . . a young ensign named Wanda Collins took over communications. She had to stand, as the chair had been ripped away by flying debris. Feeling her feet slipping on the slick floor, she looked down and almost gagged. It was
the decapitated head of First Lieutenant Sean Burke. It was oozing blood through the shredded neck . . . and staring straight up at her."

Fleet of Angels could be suitable for a young adult audience as well as adults, since there are no love scenes; this is fairly conventional for the military SF genre. Equal opportunity is given to both male and female combatants in the story. Richard Keller, the commander, has to tread a narrow edge. His wife, Paula, is an Admiral in the fleet, and is determined to show herself the equal of any of the men, by charging into the thick of battle. Keller must balance his natural urge to protect her against his need to show his men that he doesn't pick favourites.

Just when it seems that the human forces are getting the upper hand, the Satanians turn up with advanced technology, looted from a dead planet originally inhabited by their Umox ancestors. The humans are faced with their biggest battle as they try to take over the planet to secure the same technology and close the gap. During this, they capture a half-human, half-Satanian female, Faleen. This could have led to an interesting
sub-plot, but the author decided the space battles were the main interest, and we hear little more of Faleen.

Fleet of Angels is an easy and fast read, packed with action for fans of the genre. It will be interesting to see what Carl Merritt comes up with next!

- Clive Warner...

Set in the year 2376, Carl R. Merrit's Fleet Of Angels is an epic science fiction war story about Earthmen and their technologically superior alien ally called zTurms as they are locked in a lethal conflict with the hideous Satanians. zTurm technology and Earth ingenuity combine in the creation of a great fleet of gigantic warships to turn away the Satanian invasion. The second fleet of this production line is called the Fleet of Angels, and this is their pulse-pounding intergalactic story. Fleet Of Angels is strongly recommended to science fiction enthusiasts as a world-spanning futuristic adventure that combines elements of the fantastic and the supernatural.

I read the reviews. I read the summary. I thought, "Hey, give it a try, it is supposedly reminiscent of David Weber and Steve White! I like those guys! Sure why not."
I'm sorry, but Fleet of Angels reads like a young-adult sci-fi book. Maybe I was browsing the wrong section of Amazon and accidentally wound up in the kiddy section. The writing reminds me of something David Weber might have produced if he were twelve years old. The characters are all one-dimensional and the plot reminds me way too much of the old Japanese animations of Robotech and Voltron (anyone remember those?), great if you are a kid, but painful to watch as an adult. Maybe in a few years this writer will actually reach some maturity in his writing, but if you are an adult and are looking for a well written, decently thought out, and entertaining book, then perhaps you need to look elsewhere.

There are a lot of books on the Vietnam War. Many of them cover soldiers' experiences on the front or Washington politicians making the "hard decisions". Few books cover the thought processes and political developments going on from the South Vietnamese view though.

The author, Bui Diem, experienced the length and breadth of the Vietnam War from the viewpoint of a private citizen of Vietnam and was involved in, or witness to, the political side of the War from the South Vietnamese perspective. What sets this book apart from other political books on the Vietnam War is Bui Diem's background as a Nationalist and his extensive relations with Vietnamese and American officials.

I would recommend this book to anyone interested in the Vietnam War, and I would especially recommend it to people who wonder why South Vietnam didn't seem to try to control the situation more. Very illuminating book (and easy to read).

This book is the best nonfiction account from a non-military leader of the former Republic of Vietnam or South Vietnam. Ambassador Bui Diem starts with his own life in Hanoi, under the tutelage of Vo Nguyen Giap, then a teacher before becoming one of the most famous generals of all time. Mr. Diem analyzes LBJ's decision to land combat troops in Vietnam in 1965, as he was writing the communique. He takes readers through his time as Saigon's ambassador to the U.S., meeting with numerous American leaders. Then came the Paris Peace talks with Henry Kissinger in the lead, unilaterally acting on behalf of South Vietnam. Mr. Diem spends the last four years of the war as editor of the Saigon Post, finally fleeing in April 1975 for America. He expresses sorrow and accepts responsibility for losing his country, unlike many former South Vietnamese generals and American leaders of that generation. His book, first published in 1987, is a must for every scholar of Vietnam. It reveals the tremendous pressure exerted on a former ally during a time of war and the American hubris that led to a quagmire.

This book was my first in-depth introduction into the intricacies of the Viet Nam War. I feel like I've only scratched the surface of this monolithic subject.

In the final chapter, Mr. Bui lists the main reasons why the war was so unmanageable and why the US (and coincidentally S. Viet Nam) eventually lost it. The reason listed last (the problems resulting from US intervention) is the focus of his book.

"The South Vietnamese people, and especially the South Vietnamese leaders, myself among them, bear the ultimate responsibility for the fate of their nation, and to be honest, they have much to regret and much to be ashamed of. But it is also true that the war's cast of characters operated within a matrix of larger forces that stood outside the common human inadequacies and failings. And it was these forces that shaped the landscape on which we all moved."

"First...was the obduracy of France, which in the late forties insisted on retaining control of its former colony rather than conceding independence in good time to a people who hungered for it. Second was the ideological obsession of Vietnam's Communists. Not content with fighting to slough off a dying colonialism, they relentlessly sought to impose on the Vietnamese people their dogma of class warfare and proletarian dictatorship. Finally came the massive intervention by the United States, inserting into our struggle for independence and freedom its own overpowering dynamic. These three forces combined to distort the basic nature of Vietnam's emergence from colonialism, ensuring that the struggle would be more complex and bloodier than that of so many other colonies which achieved nationhood during mid-century."

In this book, you definitely will get a S. Vietnamese diplomat's point of view. I was hoping for more on the common man's outlook, the characteristics of the Vietnamese people themselves, and the demographics of the country, but it is not provided at all in this tome. I think this would have done a lot to make the actions of the S. Vietnamese government understandable, if not excusable.

Also, another weakness of the book is that Mr. Bui is always quick to point out American missteps, but rarely expounds on S. Vietnamese imperfections. For example, he writes that one huge problem was corruption. But he never fully elaborates on the nature of this corruption.

The story is easy to read except for when you start to get towards the end. The reason being that no more new insights will be given, and you already know what the disastrous outcome will be.

"In the Jaws of History" is most valuable for Bui Diem's account of his early years in the North, when the "great dilemma in the lives for all nationalists was coming to a head". Nationalists saw collaboration with the French as "repugnant", but then so was "giving the nation ... over to a future ruled by Ho Chi Minh, Vo Nguyen Giap, and the Indochinese Communist Party" who were then murdering nationalist leaders in Hanoi and along the Red River. Giap's role in the purge of the nationalist Dai Viet and VNQDD needs to be kept in mind by those who tend to accept as fact the popular communist myths woven around its leadership figures. "In the Jaws of History" is perhaps best read along with Bui Tin's memoirs "Following Ho Chi Minh: The Memoirs of a North Vietnamese Colonel".

This book offers a compelling and fascinating read. The perspective is one we don't see in most of our histories of the Vietnam conflict: the view of a South Vietnam nationalist who tries to save his nation from the Communists. The absence of bitterness, the appraisals of both the weakness and strength of his South Vietnamese compatriots, his views on the American intervention: all are fascinating.

Overall, this is one of the best books I have ever read about the conflict: it's right up there with Stanley Karnow's well-regarded book.

I purchased this book hoping to get a better understanding of young adults and what my church can do to better reach out to them. The author does a good job of expressing the needs, challenges, and concerns of today's young adults -- and I found that very helpful and will certainly take the information to heart.

There's also a recurring plea for churches to become places where homosexuals and unmarried couples can feel at ease. This author does not believe that homosexuality is a sin. It is unclear whether she considers fornication to be a sin. While I can agree that Christians should reach out lovingly to everyone as Jesus did, Jesus also knew when to say, "Go, and sin no more."

We see in our church, Western Presbyterian of Washington D.C, how Carol's ideas work, and how Carol works. Its highly effective outreach to students at nearby George Washington University, a stunningly successful attraction of young marrieds, plus a long standing tradition of racial and national diversity have saved our downtown congregation from the senescence and slow death faced by other established churches. She has played a positve role in all of this, and we older members feel rejuvenated to see her do it. That's the transgenerational part. She writes well of what she knows, and her thinking is much in keeping with the radically new ways the 'connected generation' thinks and where they will inevitably take all of us in our personal and social relationships and our spiritual practice.

Being the active church member and aging Boomer that I am, this book really gives me great ideas on how we can better welcome and serve the young people who are obviously not getting much of what they need from the church. I love the multi-generational models and real situations that Merritt shares and can't wait to get to my next membership meeting to share her ideas and recommendations.

I'm also giving a copy to my pastor for Christmas.

As an Evangelical who works within the disability community, I found Rev. Merritt's observations benefitial and I highly recommend her book. I love the concept of an intentional generational approach where the energy and enthusiasm of the young adults is utilized more effectively. Children, then teenagers and now seniors have been the primary focus of the church as baby boomers have aged. This is the time to turn our focus to new leadership.

While some of her theology was troubling to me, I could not escape the loving and understanding approach presented in her thesis. Rev. Merritt knows the Evangelical world. She appreciates and commends the Evangelical fervor for spreading the goodness of Christ. There is much to learn from her regarding how the missing generation preceives the Evangelical church and why they are hesitant to return to the church.

Tribal Church is perhaps the best-ever book for those who sincerely want to create a place for young adults to worship and serve. At last, we can stop our hand-wringing and lamentations over the absence of our adult children in church because now, Carol Merritt has offered us a vision of the church in which everyone, young and old and in-between, has a place, a voice and an equal opportunity to share their gifts and to grow in truth and love. With clarity, kindness and authority, Rev. Merritt shatters those long-held, false assumptions that have far too long kept us from reaching out to the "missing generation" and provides a way for us to welcome them on their own terms and meet them where they are, not necessarily where we would like them to be. Tribal Church provides a path toward insight, understanding and acceptance of this generation's unique perspecitves, their needs and challenges, as well as their gifts for ministry and mission. In the end, Carol's book is about hope. Hope for those of us who have earnestly prayed for an authentic way to approach and serve our young adults, and real hope for the future of the church.

This book explains ponzi scheme after ponzi scheme, in an interesting, informative way. The people who run these schemes (called "perps") use seemingly endless variations but it all comes down to the same thing: robbing peter to pay paul. The perp offers a guaranteed return on investment, usually an outrageous amount, usually in a short period of time. The explanation for why the perp can give this huge return is basically a varation on the same theme: he has an investment vehicle that will return him even bigger profits then what he's giving you but he needs your money to expand his operation.

Just a few problems with this. First of all, the activity that the perp claims to me making these huge profits from are usually just a cover to take people's money. If the perp actually does use the money for some kind of trade or investments, he typically looses in much of his trading or, even if he is good at it, he has too much money flowing in from the "investors" to keep up. The money just comes too fast even if he has good intentions so...

Here comes robbing peter to pay paul, in other words, paying early investors with later investors money. Its always doomed to fail because it is based on continual growth that cannot possibly be maintained. Ponzi scemes can still last for years however, depending on many factors. This book beautifully explains these things in example after example.

This book also talks about multi-level marketing and pyramid schemes in depth. Also, what should you do if you have been taken by a ponzi scheme? This book offers a number of chapters of advice.

One of the most important points this book makes is that the biggest ponzi scheme of them all is run by our own government. This is the politically untouchable program of Social Security!

Some books may not be particularly recent publications but deserve renewed attention and ongoing recommendation in light of modern events or contemporary concerns: James Walsh's You Can't Cheat An Honest Man: How Ponzi Schemes And Pyramid Frauds Work...And Why They're More Common Than Ever is one of them, focusing on how pyramid frauds work, why they're common, and how to avoid scams and cons. The scheme name may change but the scheme is the same: it involves case studies in greed and exploitation, outlined in You Can't Cheat An Honest Man so that investors may learn from the woes of the 'taken'. As relevant today as it was in 1998.

Alot of people think that network market is a semi-legal pyramid scheme, but not all network marketing companies are a pyramid. If many of you do your research, you'll see that companies such as life plus, melaleuca, market america, etc. are true network marketing companies they'll really compensate you if you refer people to their company & products. Before anyone pre-judges a network marketing company, do your research on each company, plan, products, etc. The true pyramid schemes are the one's that you get in the mail that ask you to send between a $1 - $5 to each name & address, and in return, you'll make millions within a few months...that's a true pyramid scheme, I know because I've lost money to these pyramids through the mail. I now know how to tell the difference between a pyramid & a real opportunity. These pyramid schemes give real & great network marketing companies a bad reputation. So again, do your research on a company before enrolling or sending out money. There are truly real gold mines out there, so please do your research by reading articles on them, and check the Better Business Bureau (www.bbb.org) . Thank you.

In 1903 Charles Ponzi arrived in the USA with the aim of becoming as wealthy as Rockefeller. His modus operandi was based on the principle of robbing Peter to Pay Paul.

James Walsh, in his informative book, You Can`t Cheat An Honest Man: How Ponzi Schemes and Pyramid Frauds Work..and Why They`re More Common Than Ever, traces the origins of the Ponzi Scheme, and explores how and why the scheme works with its different modern day variations.

The first part of the book narrates how, after spending some time in prison for cheque forgery, Ponzi found a creative way to shaft people, that was even legal and possibly sound.
What Ponzi would do was to take advantage of the disparities in the foreign exchange rates pertaining to the postal currency of International Reply coupons. If these coupons could be purchased in countries where they were still hit hard by the after-effects of World War I, he could then redeem them for stamps or cash in the USA, where there value would be as much as 50% higher.
Presto! He was onto a brilliant scheme, however, he needed money to expand his enterprise.

In order to raise the needed cash, he promised investors that he would pay them high rates of interest with the profits from his scheme. As is the case today, people were gullible and greedy, and Ponzi had little difficulty in attracting huge sums of money.
However, Ponzi found it difficult to keep meeting his obligations of paying his investors.

He resorted to using fresh money to keep his original investors satisfied. And thus began the Ponzi Scheme, that is alive and well today with multiple variations on the original theme.

One such variation is the very popular pyramid sales scheme, where individuals are seduced to become part of a plan for the sale or distribution of goods, services or other property, and wherein they acquire the opportunity to receive monetary compensation, which has little to do with the volume or quantity of goods or services sold but rather on the number of additional persons that could be recruited to join the plan.

The author devotes considerable print to these schemes, as well as making reference to the abundance of jurisprudence that defines and outlaws these plans.

Anyone wishing to protect himself or herself, would do well in thoroughly reading the concluding chapter. It is here where we are given some very sound advice- to be wary of get rich schemes, watch out for deals that offer high yields, if you do not understand the investment, stay away from it, seek professional advice before investing in anything and check out who are the promoters.

Walsh has a sharp eye as to important details, and with his wide use of informative examples, readers receive a comprehensive understanding as to just how wide spread these fraudulent schemes are and how not to be seduced by them.

Norm Goldman, Editor Bookpleasures.com

If you've ever wondered how pyramid schemes get started and how they unravel, this book makes an interesting read. You will be both amazed and appalled at the mass stupidity involved in getting these schemes off the ground. However, you might feel a little foolish yourself when the author points out that our very own Social Security System is a textbook Ponzi scheme.

One of the "must haves" for any ship modelers collection. A collection of Tips & Tricks by some of the most respected ship modelers in the craft. Don't let some of it's "expert" tips scare you. As your skill and experience grow in the craft of ship modeling, you will refer to this book more and more often.

Guaranteed you will find yourself thumbing through this fine book for hours saying "So that's how they do that" or "OK, now I understand."

A book for ship modelers of every skill level, not just for "experts". Remember, an expert is only a person who has stopped learning.

No, not for the novice, but a collection of tips of the trade for experts. New to the hobby, DO NOT BOTHER!

This spiral bound collection of vague descriptions, terrible photos and worse presentation (I think it has been photcopied not printed)has been compiled by some of the greatest modellers of all time. They are not publishers!

It covers all aspects of the hobby, from making your own cabinet to build ships in, to electroplating. The section on planking is woeful. If you are good enough to need this book, you don't.

I was somewhat disappointed in this publication, as it contains so much data, but so few details. It is a compilation of short extracts from very experienced modellers such as you would find on an internet noticeboard.

This 'tome' in spiral bound form, consists of what appears to be photocopied pages, with poor (and limited) graphics. I can only give it 4 stars out of respect for the authors.

If you are getting into this hobby, wait about 10 years and you might find it useful. Other links from my reviews will take you to far better books for the hobbiest.

It took three months for the good people at Amazon to track this down, and I think a far more honest review may have saved my purchacing it. For instance it gives a one page review on planking techniques, no diagrams, and the articles contradict themselves.

A tremendous collection of Tips, Tricks, and How-To's from some of the finest Ship Modelers around. Ship Modeler's Shop Notes, a publication of The Nautical Research Guild, holds a veritable "goldmine" of information for Ship Modelers of any skill level.

First-rate edition of Elizabethan stage classic. Good on-page notes & scholarly introductory material.

Although some are better than others, I generally try to buy New Mermaids when I need a non-Shakespearean Early Modern play. This is a good edition for all student and most scholarly needs, with an up-to-date introduction and useful textual and footnotes (made even more useful by their position on the bottom of the page. I don't know about you, but I hate having to flip back and forth to endnotes: I'm talking to you, Oxford World's Classics). Another reason I like these editions is that one play per book means much more comprehensive introductory material.

The play itself is entertaining (I have actually seen it staged) and should be interesting to anyone interested in socioeconomic issues, since it takes the titular shoemaker from his shoe shop to being Lord Mayor of London (he institutes the pancake breakfast that the title refers to). The disguise of the romantic lead as a Dutchman and his "accent" and the way war haunts what is otherwise pretty typical of city comedy provide other points of interest.

'For nothing is purposed but mirth' Thomas Dekker tells us in his preface to this lively Elizabethan play, performed by the Lord Admiral's Players before the royal court and the Queen herself in 1599. Such mirth that was to be found in 16th century London and much that is sad and fearsome too is to be found in the story of a group of shoemakers living and working in the city. Their lives, loves and adventures are portrayed with unique historical insights of the journeyman shoemaker's trade in this fast-moving and humourous tale that eventually sees all loose ends tied, and culminates in the newly appointed Lord Mayor of London granting his shoemaker workers a 'Publicke Holiday'.

Despite the passage of four centuries, Thomas Dekker's play, The Shoemakers' Holiday (1599), is still great comedy. Dekker's hilarious plot is not easy to summarize, but it centers upon a comedic Romeo and Juliet, one in which Romeo - that is, Rowland Lacy, a young aristocrat - disguises himself as a Dutch immigrant, apprentice shoemaker to circumvent his father's objections to his wooing of a middle class Juliet, a Rose Otley. Disguises, mistaken identities, and misdirection abound, and yet this convoluted plot comes together smoothly in the final act without seeming either unduly contrived or artificial.

Dekker's genial portrayal of the shoemakers' guild in London contributes to the charm of The Shoemakers' Holiday. However, colloquial Elizabethan dialogue can be challenging and good footnotes are essential. I recommend an edition published by Barron's Educational Series and edited by Merritt Lawlis.

Three characters pose especial difficulty. Firk, a journeyman shoemaker, spouts a continual flow of obscure sexual innuendoes and bawdy comments. "Why here is a good laced mutton, as I promised you." Also, the conversation of Sybil, Rose's personal maid, is filled with unfamiliar colloquialisms. "And the hare's foot against the goose giblets." And, the Dutch as spoken by the apprentice shoemaker Hans (Lacy in disguise) would be nearly indecipherable without footnotes. "Ik hab all de dingen voour mack shoes groot and cleane."

These examples taken out of context may make The Shoemakers' Holiday seem unintelligible, but actually Dekker's play is quite accessible to the modern reader. I did make frequent references to footnotes, but I never lost interest in the plot. Once having mastered Firk's innuendoes, Sybil's colloquialisms, and Lacy's comedic Dutch, my second reading was even more enjoyable.

July, 2006 update: I recently examined in some detail "A New Adaptation by Bernard Sahlins of Dekker's The Shoemaker's Holiday". The intent - judiciously editing Dekker's play to make it more readily accessible to modern readers - is not entirely misplaced, but I found the editing to be excessive. Aside from whether all deletions were appropriate, I was especially disturbed by the replacement of some 450 words. This revised Dekker is simply too different from the original. Perhaps one-third of the changes could be defended, but the other two-thirds is unnecessary. I strongly suggest that a potential buyer directly compare the original Dekker to this revised version before making a purchase.

My original recommendation still stands. I prefer Barron's Educational Series edition of The Shoemaker's Holiday. The editing by Merritt Lawlis is quite good.

The Ship of Ishtar is one of the better 1930's Indiana Jones style pulp adventure novels. An archeologist unearths a miniature ship artifact that transports him to another dimension, where he becomes a macho hero, who, with the help of an interesting assortment of new friends, assists a lovely priestess in a battle against some evil warlocks. His adventures lead him through some wonderfully imaginative fantasy locales, and the book has a spectacular ending.

This exhilerating adventure story is jammed with as much true fantasy creation as the modern writer's ten book series. The Ship of Ishtar is all but forgotten, but deserves to be even more popular than Tolkien's novels.

The story centers around a British man who is wisked into a fantasy world where evil and good are trapped together on a ship. Adrift. To delve too deeply into the plot now would cheat prospective readers, but this is a sexy, romantic, thrilling, brilliant, fantastic, adventure yarn.

No one I've loaned my copy to have ever not loved it.

"The Ship of Ishtar," one of Abraham Merritt's finest fantasies, first appeared in the pages of "Argosy" magazine in 1924. An altered version appeared in book form in 1926, and the world finally received the original work in book form in 1949, six years after Merritt's death. In this wonderful novel we meet John Kenton, an American archaeologist who has just come into possession of a miniature crystal ship recently excavated "from the sand shrouds of ages-dead Babylon." Before too long, Kenton is whisked onto the actual ship, of which his relic is just a symbol. It turns out that the ship is sailing the seas of an otherdimensional limboland, and manned by the evil followers of the Babylonian god of the dead, Nergal, and by the priestesses of the Babylonian fertility goddess, Ishtar. A force barrier of sorts prevents the two parties from coming into contact with each other, and they have been sailing thus for...nobody knows how long. It seems that, centuries ago, a priest of Nergal and a priestess of Ishtar had been guilty of the sin of falling in love; this eternal cruise is the punishment that has been meted out by the gods. Kenton becomes embroiled in this ages-old strife; falls in love himself with Sharane, a Babylonian princess; eventually takes over the ship; and then goes in pursuit of the Black Priest of Nergal, after Sharane is kidnapped. He is aided in his quest by a sword-swinging Viking, a hugely strong and mace-wielding man of Nineveh, and by a scimitar expert from Persia. The quartet makes for one formidable team, lemme tell you! This is high fantasy done to a turn, and Merritt is at the peak of his game here. While "Ship" does not boast as much of the purple prose and hyperadjectival descriptions as his first two books, "The Moon Pool" and "The Metal Monster," there is still quite a bit, and in places the descriptions of various isles and temples almost reads like prose poetry. The story moves along briskly and builds to a pair of splendid set pieces: Sharane's rescue from the Temple of Seven Zones, in which each floor is dedicated to another Babylonian god and is decked out with its own color scheme, shrines and so on; and a very tense sea battle between the Ship of Ishtar and the Black Priest's bireme. The novel really is a stunning feat of imagination. I wonder if Merritt was perhaps influenced or inspired by the excavations at Uruk (now in southern Iraq, and one of the original cities of Ishtar worship) that had commenced in 1912. He may have also been inspired here by H. Rider Haggard's seminal fantasy work "She" (1887), in which Ayesha, head priestess of Isis, is given an eternal punishment for her own love dalliances. Whatever the inspirations, though, Merritt makes it all work, with great detail, color, action and character.
The book is a fantasy classic, but still, Merritt makes some small booboos. Thus, the gold bracelet on Kenton's left arm is on his right arm several pages later. Kenton is said to have disappeared from his NYC apartment at 8 PM, while later Merritt tells us that is was 9 PM. Sargon of Akkad (an ancient Mesopotamian ruler) is said to have ruled 6,000 years ago, whereas in actuality, it was more like 4,300. Merritt, in the course of the book, is also guilty of some fuzzy writing. But these little glitches should in no way interfere with anyone's enjoyment of this rousing tale. I should perhaps mention here that "The Ship of Ishtar" has been included in Cawthorn & Moorcock's overview volume "Fantasy: The 100 Best Books," and that I personally have no problem with that inclusion. It really is a fantasy for the ages.

Merrit wrote spooky fantasy for Argosy Magazine in the 1920-1930s. Fans argue endlessly about which is his best. These stories are pretty good. (Shadow is a sort of sequel to Burn Witch Burn.) The evil old witch makes lifelike dolls that come to life and kill people. She is brought down by a rational doctor and a superstitious Mafia boss. Made into a movie with Lionel Barrymore as the witch (really!). Strong stuff for the time it was written.

A.Merritt is definatly an underpreciated writer. If you are a fan of horror novels do yourself a favor and read this book. the story is set in the 1940's but the story holds up very well. I give it my highest recomendation to horror fans!

Having conquered the field of fantasy (with such classics as "The Moon Pool," "The Ship of Ishtar" and "Dwellers in the Mirage") as well as the field of the bizarre yet hardboiled crime thriller (with his wonderful "Seven Footprints to Satan"), Abraham Merritt went on, in 1932, to prove that he could master the field of supernatural horror, as well. That he succeeded brilliantly should come as no surprise to readers of those earlier works. His first foray in the occult, "Burn, Witch, Burn" first appeared in the pages of "Argosy" magazine in 1932, and was then expanded into book form the following year. In it, we meet Dr. Lowell, an eminent neurologist who becomes curious when a series of mysterious deaths comes to his attention. Men and women in the NYC area have been dying of no apparent cause, but with horrible grimaces on their faces and with very rapid onsets of rigor mortis. Lowell is aided in his investigation by Ricori, a mobster chieftain, as well as by Ricori's very efficient gang. The trail of bizarre deaths leads to one Madame Mandilip and her doll shop, and before long the reader is immersed in a world of supernaturalism and escalating tension. Lowell, hardheaded man of the 20th century, is hard put to explain the unfolding creepy events by the lights of his mundane science. Merritt writes simply in this book; one would never recognize him as the author of "The Moon Pool" and "The Metal Monster," with those books' lush, purple-prose passages. All of our questions regarding the strange events in "Burn, Witch, Burn" are not answered by the tale's end, and this only seems to make what has transpired seem all the more mysterious. This is the type of book that a reader may feel compelled to gulp down in one sitting, and with its short, 160-page length, that could easily be accomplished. This tale was loosely adapted for the screen as "The Devil-Doll" (1935), but this film has little to do with its source novel. (Incidentally, the movie "Burn, Witch, Burn" (1962), also known as "Night of the Eagle," has absolutely nothing to do with Merritt's book, but is rather based on Fritz Leiber's novel "Conjure Wife," another tale of modern-day witchcraft that I highly recommend to amazon readers.)
Good as Merritt's "Burn, Witch, Burn" is, however, its successor, "Creep, Shadow, Creep," is even better. "Creep, Shadow, Creep" also saw the first light of day in the pages of "Argosy" magazine, in 1934, and was released in book form later that year. This novel is a direct sequel to "Burn, Witch, Burn," and is longer, more detailed, more stylishly written and scarier than the earlier work. Readers will delight to find Lowell and Ricori back to fight the supernatural once again, but this time, these characters play only subsidiary roles. The action mantle in "Creep, Shadow, Creep" falls mainly on a young ethnologist named Alan Caranac, who becomes involved in the investigation of the apparent suicides of a number of wealthy NYC men, one of whom was Caranac's old friend. He is soon drawn into the schemes of one Dr. Keradel and his daughter Dahut, who are attempting to conjure into existence one of the elder gods; a god that was worshipped in the legendary city of Ys. In "Creep, Shadow, Creep," Merritt's last completed novel, the author revisits several of his old favorite themes. As in "The Moon Pool" and "Dwellers in the Mirage," we have two women--one good and virginal, the other evil and lustful--fighting over the book's protagonist. As in "Dwellers," the hero is subject to atavistic memories that tend to submerge his present-day personality, while at the same time aiding him in conjuring up a monstrous entity from beyond. And as in "The Moon Pool," "The Metal Monster," "The Face in the Abyss," "The Ship of Ishtar" and "Dwellers," in this novel we are given a glimpse of a vanished, lost civilization (in this case, Ys, in ancient Brittany) and see that, in many real ways, it survives in the present day. "Creep, Shadow, Creep" is not for the squeamish reader, containing as it does some truly horrible passages of pagan sacrifice and torture. It also contains some surprisingly risque sections, in which Dahut and Caranac's girlfriend, Helen, appear mother-naked. Risque for 2004, how these passages must have impressed 70 years ago! Despite the truly frightening goings-on in this book--the shadow people, the Gatherer in the Cairn, the atavistic memories, the visions and so on--Merritt insists on offering rational/mundane explanations for all this...but the reader, as well as Caranac by the tale's end, knows better. "Creep, Shadow, Creep" is a wonderful tale, a perfect sequel, and one of Merritt's finest accomplishments. Despite Merritt's occasional inability to adequately describe geography so that it is clear to the reader (this reader, at least), and despite one or two minor glitches (such as when he describes Dahut's eyes as being green, after having long established that they are violet), the book succeeds on many levels. Taken together, the two books make for one thrilling little series. I heartily recommend them both to all amazon readers.

I almost passed this book up but because I love Irish tales, ti bought anyway. This is a book that os a true fairy tale or magic and love. It has become a part of my treasured collection.

I love books with misc magical love stories. Even though there were no fairies to speak of - there was alot of magic in each story to keep me bound to this book. Each tale was a good as the one before it. I only wished there were four additional stories. I love this book! It was short, yet, oh, so very sweet.

What a wonderful little collection! Even if you generally don't care for romance novels because they are slow reads, you'll love this book. The stories are fairly short (about 100 pages each). There is no offensive subject matter (like rape or excessively foul language). The romances are each distinctly different, my personal favorite was "Green Willow." I hope to see another set like this soon!

I'm a R&D Engineer for hydraulics, since I've discovered this book I still using as main reference for system and component modeling. Steady state and transient (dynamics) are both developed enough deeply to be useful for profession. You can easily start from this book for create models to predict system and component performances. At the same time limits of those models are exposed and useful tricks are supplied.
Very good book, you must have on your desk if you design component for hydraulics.

This book is an excellent resource for anyone wanting to model the individual COMPONENTS that make up hydraulic power-circuits. Great detail is paid to the description and mathematical representation of their dynamic behavior. Dynamic SYSTEMS are also addressed, but to a much lesser degree. Standard control theory approaches are used, like block diagrams, frequency response methods, and various stability methods (the book assumes that the reader is already familiar with these).

While nonlinear effects are discussed, the book does not well-address the dynamic analysis of complete nonlinear systems. However, there is a good reason for this. Despite the 2001 date-of-publication listed by Wiley (on AMAZON), this "new" book was in fact published in 1967 (the current edition is simply a re-release). This pre-dates the ready availability of computers and advanced simulation software that now make feasible the simulations of complex systems. Personally, I don't find this to be a problem, since there are plenty of other books that deal with the subject of solving nonlinear dynamic systems. What Merritt's book does very well is enable one to model the systems that must be solved. The level of detail provided is rare in my experience, so his book is extremely useful - perhaps even more than it was in 1967.

Finally, I do wish Wiley would just own up to the fact that it is republishing an older work. This is the second time I have come across what appears to be a deceptive marketing tactic. The other work is titled "Engineering Optimization" by Reklaitis (see my review for further details). To imply that a scientific work was written decades later is dishonest. In spite of this, I still recommend the book by Merritt - but only if you can find a good used copy for a decent price. Wiley's $200+ price tag for the "new" edition is inappropriate.