Fantasy Books

Very original, highly entertaining, hilariously funny in a couple of places, with a bittersweet twist at the end.
This is an adult oriented novel about a young man growing up in early Nordic society. It touches on adventure, politics, friendship, spirituality and human nature.
The editing could have been better, but it's still a great read.
I wish there were a sequel.

This book is the best and most enjoyable book ive ever read!
It is imposible to explain in simple words how it made me feel.
Just read it yourself.

I do not normally comment on books I have read. However, this is the best book I've read in years. The story grabs you from the first page and doesn't let you go even after the ending. This author definately has the gift of "gab!" I have not been able to find anything else by this author. Does anyone out there have any info on him? If so email me.

I have read and reread this book so many times. I love it. My original copy has fallen apart despite the many layers of tape and duct tape. It is everything a good book should be. If you are a lover of european or norse history and appreciate a good story about believable, likeable people, this is not to be missed.

I ran across this book during one of those times when you just do not know what you want to read. Sort of like a burn out on fantasy which is my favorite reading.

This is one of those books that you can read, then a few months later blow the dust off and read again. I have read it 3 times now and am just amazed at this writers ability to keep me interested. From the first page to the finale it is wonderful and rich story telling. I do not think he has any other work out there, which is a shame because with this style of writing I could easily call him my favorite writer.

To give away too much of the story in this review would not do the next reader any justice, so you will just have to try it out for yourself. The humor and setting are the best I have ever read. I can give this 5 stars without even considering any other rating, highly recommend it for anyone looking for a book to keep you up into the wee hours of them morning.

I would have given a much lower score based on an HPL feel scale; but I must admit the product is solid even if it has nothing to do with classic CoC; its a totally different game.
That other type of flavor game was mainly to appeal to people that:
1) Felt uneasy to play in the 20s
2) Wanted more fire power or modern organized resources
3) Were fan of X-Files even if DG came a bit before the TV series, the popularity grew much after that

So its a good game to play Mulder and Scully or even men in black kinda investigators with those sunglasses and Steyr rifles
Its definitally Modern horror type and not for the classic HPL type of game fans

This amazing game (and just plain interesting read!) is currently back in print. You can pick up the new edition, converted to D20, by heading to the publisher's web site. Pagan Publishing and TC Corp have done a great service to its fans by releasing this reprint!

I don't have a long, thoughtful review to write. Just wanted to say this is the BEST RPG idea/supplement I've ever seen. Intelligent, thoughtful, scary, fun...get it get it get it!

This is the best RPG suppliment I have ever read, bar none. It's a great READ, even if you are not a gamer. Interesting background, lots of plot hooks as well. The group that did this book are great writers and are loving what they do and it shows. If you are into Horror, X-Files, Call of Cthulhu, ect...buy it to read, if not play.
The book is curently out of print, but I understand that it will be reprinted in 2006 as a hardcover with d20 rules. Anyone wanting to write or publish an RPG should read this book and use it as an example. A MUST.

DELTA GREEN is the modern adaptation of Call of Cthulhu. Drawing on the same body of UFO lore and paranormal activity as the X-Files, DELTA GREEN has tapped into something very deep. And of course, once you have a successful RPG, you might as well start the fiction flowing, right?

Dark Theaters has some fairly lenghty short stories, designed to flesh out the world of DELTA GREEN. Some clues and hints are elaborated on; what exactly happened during the fabled raid on Innsmouth in 1928? What was the final mission of Gen. Fairfield? We find out more about the summoning by the Karotechia that was a dress rehearsal for the end of the world, but the entirety of the episode remains tantalizingly removed.

Dark Theaters, like the rest of DELTA GREEN fiction, is about what it means to be human. Or not human. The monstrosities which are called up and cannot easily be put away serve to highlight our humanity. But in the end, humanity is just short-hand for a fundamental incomprehension of the universe. We are carrying on a rear-guard action against reality, buying our fellow-man time for ... what? To say that humanity loses in the end is to pretend that there are other players, rules agreed upon, some validity to having tried and lost. Life is a game of solitaire, and we're not playing with a full deck. All is meaninglessness, a blowing of the wind.

And yet humanity means staying in the game. Like Lucifer, the real patron saint of lost causes, we know that we will lose and darnit, we are going to keep playing the hand we were dealt. It gives meaning to life, death, and the passing of the seasons, the sacrifices we have made and those we have sacrificed, to play by the rules, even if there aren't any. So let us cheer for the hero and jeer for the villain, and not go gently into that dark night.

1500, 2000, 3000, 5000, 7000!!! refugees in the company and under the command of our Marine duo, Haft and Spinner. Our band reachs Dartmutter to find it smashed and sacked by the Jokapcul armies.

They are forced further along the coast in search of a port to find passage back to Frangeria. Along the way the refugees runnig from the evil armies keep coming and joining the company.

They run the coast and reach the low desert and come upon the secrative desert men. At the same time they discover that the Jokapcul armies have landed on the coast. Haft and Spinner are joined by a fellow Marine who is a Sergeant, named Rammer. The problems of how to handle a troop of this size, train men to fight, escape the foes they are stuck between, and reach a port the can get passage back to Frangeria.

The problems mount, the enemies are engaged, the demontech is employed, another fine book in this series, leaves you satisfied, yet desperatly wanting the tale to continue and revealed.

The Lord Gunny says" DEL RAY WHAT WERE YOU THINKING!! This is the finest of the three tomes, giving history to my Marines travels! and ya pull the plug over a mild lack of gold pieces!! ARRGH!!!!! I order you to reinstate the histories and allow our Marine Duo to continue!!!"

To all readers of this series, the more you reccomend thes books the more they sell and the better chance DeL Ray will tap Dave Sherman and get him a deal to finish the series.

I have been waiting for years for more in this series! To to find out the publisher zapped it is a major dissappointment! Note to Mr. Sherman: find a new publisher!! Give us more Haft and Spinner! I think this series is just as good as the much ballyhooed HALO series! Haft and Spinner are like Spartans without the armour! Note to Publisher: there are a lot of Demontech fans out here!

I love this series. I bought all three books at once and read them all in one sitting, only stopping long enough to take bathroom breaks. I am most interested in finding out more about the demons. They don't really seem to be bound to help unless they like you or they think helping you might be fun.

This is a great quick read series of books. The characters are well developed and you root for them throughout. Unfortunately the series has been cancelled by the Del Rey publishing firm. Every fan of the Starfist series should give this series a try and hopefully if enough buy all three, as I did, the series will resume. Fans of SciFi/Fantasy military epics will thoroughly enjoy Sherman's work. I long for the day to read more of the adventures of Haft and Spinner, two marines who prove that great training and tradition can turn ordinary men into heros.

Spinner and Haft are still one the run from the invaders and still looking for a safe pot in which they can seek passage back to their home islands but that goal is looking more and more remote because their entourage keeps growing. Refugees keep joining their caravan and the occasional fighting man shows up from time to time as well. That's a good thing because they need all the fighters they can get with the bad guys in pursuit.

Having a couple of marine privates become feudal lords is not without its difficulties. This is especially true when their sergeant, long presumed dead, turns up. He naturally feels that the privates are still "his men" (they are) but the 7000+ camp followers and men at arms have other ideas on the matter..

The series seems no closer to reaching a resolution than after the last book but it is still a series of interest.

My four year old son is in love with this chapter series! A friend suggested it to us since he seemed ready for a more advanced reading material at bedtime. My husband reads him a chapter every night...sometimes more because they don't want to stop. It's become a great tradition for them, and something they both look forward to. We love that there are so many in the collection! Start with number 1 and just continue. :)

My daughter loves these books and this one is the only one she was missing. Happy to have found it through Amazon!

My 1st grader hates to put it down, he would rather read Magic Tree House books, than play video games. He even reads them to his class and explains the story for show and tell. In his kindergarten class the teacher would also let him read the Magic Tree House books out loud, not to give her a break, but to promote reading out loud. Great books!

Jack and Annie are helping Teddy get all four presents. They're going to Australia to find the last present. They go on all kinds of adventures like helping a little kangaroo get back to its mother. Will Jack and Annie help the little kangaroo find its mother? If you want to know, you'll have to read Dingoes At Dinnertime. I like this book. It's good because I like the Dingoes because they remind me of my dog Paco.

Jack and Annie are trying to get the last present to free Teddy from the spell .Can they get the last present? My favorite part was
When Teddy helped Jack and Annie to get out of the wild fire.
I really liked this book you should too!

deserves the big screen treatment. Far more interesting than the X-Men, this is the story about a group of people who become superheroes through no fault of their own (its the result of machinations from somebody, but you'll have to read the series to find out), and how they deal with being "different". Negative Man, Robotman and Elastigirl are three of the most tragic figures ever to grace the comic page and their stories are far more pathetic than anything in X-Men(not that I don't like X-Men). Read the series. You won't be disappointed.

Doom Patrol, as represented in the first volume of their Archives Edition, was an interesting attempt in the 1960s at DC to expand the notion of what makes a super-hero, along with Deadman, Challengers of the Unknown, Eclipso, and Metamorpho (most of these heroes created by Bob Haney, the author behind the Doom Patrol). Their resemblance to the X-Men is obvious although DC was never able to create an environment where the oddball heroes fit in as well with Superman, Batman, et al, whereas the X-Men never seemed out of place in the Marvel universe. But Doom Patrol's biggest weakness was its lack of stand-out villains. The X-Men had Magneto and his Brotherhood of Evil Mutants while the Doom Patrol struggled along with General Immortus and the Brotherhood of Evil. The Doom Patrol stories are still quite charming, though, and show great promise for what could have been. It was an adventurous experiment at DC to create a team of outcast heroes that is worth checking out.

Found this to be one of the best archives that DC has to offer. And from one of the least popular series they had. The art and stories are superb. And still stand today. I had reservations about getting this. But when DC announced that there was going to be a new Doom Patrol series coming I decided it was time to get to know these characters all over again. And guess what. Not a single disappointment.
Pick this up if you get the chance. You will not be disappointed. So glad I did. Already ordered Vol.2. So enjoy.

They were four damaged people: Rita Farr, a beautiful actress who, while shooting on location, was exposed to a gas that gave her the power to vary her height; Larry Trainor, a daring test-pilot who flew through a belt of radiation, and come through with the ability to release an embodiment of negative energy, but only for a minute at a time; Cliff Steele, a race-car driver, until the crash that destroyed everything but his brain, which was transferred into a robot body, and; Niles Caulder, the brilliant genius who brought these people together as a force for good. They are Elasti-Girl, Negative Man, Robotman, and the Chief: the Doom Patrol.

Contrary to popular belief, DC Comics figured out pretty quickly that rival Marvel Comics formula of character-development was something that they needed to infuse into their own line. The problem was that they were very hesitant to do this with their big gun characters: Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman, iconic characters that never had any of the problems Spider-man did. However, DC had no problem creating new characters in the Marvel style: fantastic characters with a down-to-earth core.

Perhaps the best example of this approach is the Doom Patrol. This was a team of strong individuals who found themselves possessed of powers that they didn't want. Indeed, for these characters, there was very little hope of ever being normal again. So, they did the next best thing: they fought people who were in worse shape than them, hell-bent on spreading evil.

Arnold Drake's writing made the most of the bizarre premise. The villains were sinister, vile, and above all, quirky. Of course, while General Immortus, the centuries-old genius, was perhaps the team's most persistent enemy, by far their best loved was the Brotherhood of Evil. Led by the Brain, a disembodied brain, and Monsieur Mallah, a surgically enhanced gorilla, the team was the Doom Patrol's counter-part; misfits that sought revenge on the world.

Amazingly, Drake's scripts never stretch credibility to the breaking-point. He stayed within the rules he set for himself, and never forgot that his heroes were suffering, and not always in silence. They pined for normality, they wished for acceptance, they bickered amongst themselves. At the same time, he never let the action get bogged down in the team's personal traumas. Moreover, Drake tailored the stories to spotlight the unique abilities of his characters, while examining the strengths and weaknesses of their individual personalities.

Bruno Premiani's name is not one of those artists who immediately named when discussing comic book greats. He probably should be. As his artwork proves here, Premiani had a strong sense of realism. He made the most of his talented line work, grounding his art with a realistic sensibility that further underscored the bizarre tone of the series. One only need to look at the gorilla Mallah, and the extraordinary detail he paid to the character's design. Truly, Premiani was a craftsman, and deserves much more recognition.

It's not hard to see why, although never a first-string book, "The Doom Patrol" is still remembered fondly today. It was a unique mix of absurd super-heroics and sharp character-drama. While DC recently made some questionable continuity decisions about these characters, they've wisely pulled away from them. So enjoy these wonderfully weird stories.

A group of disgruntled social outcasts with super powers comes under the guidance of a wheel-chair bound genius and is frequently called on to save a general populace they increasingly grow to despise.

You got it...the X-Men, right? Nope. The Doom Patrol.

The comparisons are immediate and striking (The Chief/Professor X, The Brotherhood of Evil/The Brotherhood of Evil Mutants), and given that Doom Patrol actually predated the X-Men by several months, one has to wonder if Stan the Man and the merry men at Marvel didn't pass out a few copies of Doom Patrol at editorial meetings.

But to the stories themselves: the characters are great. The heroes find that their powers have literally ruined their ability to lead normal lives. They are resentful. They find code names stupid and embarrassing and call each other by their first names. Even in attempting to forge relationships with each other, they frequently fail due to shattered self-confidence over their own perceptions of themselves as nothing more than freaks. Remember kids, this wasn't written in the 80's or 90's. This was written in 1963!

Arnold Drake's scripts are hokey by today's standards, with what can be called B-movie dialogue and plots. However, once you accept them on that level (don't look for the gritty realism of the 80's or 90's), they are great fun. Bruno Premiani's artwork is simply excellent, at places it reminds me of Brian Bolland. I agree that it is simply unfathomable that Premiani is not held in more esteem.

While X-Men became a mass market phenomenon, Doom Patrol has had what can be charitably called a star-crossed publishing history. No incarnation of it has ever lasted, although Grant Morrison gave it a great run in the early 90's which I recommend to anyone. Somehow, though, this is sadly appropriate for Arnold Drake's original vision of the quintessential unhappy super heroes. They just never got popular enough to sell out.

The next time you see Hugh Jackman or Patrick Stewart onscreen, or walk past the endless rows of X-Men compilations in a comic book store, do yourself a favor and find the DC section and introduce yourself to these characters. Take the Doom Patrol challenge: go for the original.

I give this beautiful book all the time as gifts for grads of all ages, including high school and university. It's a multilayered book, and a thoughtful reader will discover more each time they open its pages. The illustrations and text in "Dream" have a simple level for younger readers, but teens and adults will see other layers through the symbolism and metaphor that speak to the heart and spirit. Two pages at the rear of the book discuss many of the layers of meaning. This is an amazing book and I highly recommend it as a gift for occasions like a birth, birthday, or grad.

I purchased several of these books as high school graduation gifts based on recommendations. I felt the illustrations and text was far too childlike to give to a high school graduate and therefore ending up returning them all.

This book made excellent graduation gifts for several high school graduates this year. It helped me convey my greatest wish for each of the recipients--to keep dreaming. I also use the book in my classroom and use many of the activities at the related website to help my students learn more about dreaming and then taking the steps to make those dreams come true. http://www.legacyproject.org/

The book contains one of my favorite poems-Dreams by Langston Hughes. The whimsical illustrations highlight the wonderful message this book conveys. I would highly recommend this book.

Being a fan of Kittie Nesius Beletic's "What Color Is You Dream?" published by Brown Books Publishing Group, I thought I might enjoy this book, "Dream: A Tale of Wonder, Wisdom, & Wishes" by Susan V. Bosak, so I ordered it. I am glad that I did! :)

Dream really does capture your heart, mind, and soul with its guiding text, kaleidoscope-like personalities, human diversity, and vibrant art, which was rendered by 15 top illustrators. The beautifully detailed book cover entices readers to open the book quickly and explore at leisure. The silver, star-filled end sheets really do make one believe that he / she has a special product in hand, and they too are useful for contemplation. The book's fonts are friendly, large, and easy to read--especially for eyeglass wearers. Colors in this book are used to convey moods and shade meaning.

I like how the book opens with the definitions of dream and the illustration of a person opening a huge chest at the end of a glorious rainbow. The in-text prompts to "Dream a Dream With Me" are clever devices to tie the ideas together into a unified whole. Quotes from key figures add much to the pages, given them depth and reach. Most helpful is the book's "Explore the Illustrations" notes, which comment on the artists as well as their work.

Educationally, this book promotes keen observation, critical thinking and response, personal expression, historical-mindedness, humanity's strengths / successes, awareness, courage, gratitude, and the ages and stages of human life. Potentially, it encourages reading and research beyond its own pages. It is appropriate for a variety of audiences, teens to adults. Book messages are especially appropriate for folks who are taking new road's in life's journey: graduates, folks recovering from illness or injury, people who are moving to new places, people who are retiring or rethinking their lives, etc.

To make the most of the book, avid readers can visit the official Legacy Project website and find more materials to explore. Educators will enjoy the guides, suggestions, and activities in the "Begin and End With a Dream" section of the webpage. Contests and workshops are also available on the site.

Perhaps my favorite portion of the book is the "Great ideas--the impossible made possible" pages (16-17). From medieval to modern, the rich image illustrates humanity's collective "learning lab," where the world's most influential discoveries and inventions can be found. The more you look into the image, the more you see, the more you feel connected to something larger than yourself! You begin to realize how much your life has been influenced, affected, and improved by other people's dreams, their contributions to humanity. Some of the highlights of this image are the following:

1) the medieval window that opens to a refreshing view of sea, land, and sky

2) the sconces

3) a retro-modern looking TV that is broadcasting the moon landing

4) Computer, book, papers, and pens

5) Rocket models, engines, and pictures of various flying machines

6) Basic tools, gears, printing press, hour glass

7) Telescope, telephone, microscope, electricity devices,

This book would make a great gift or achievement / award book. It is a worthy product for personal study and group discussion. Humanities instructors could glean much mileage from this source, a great supplement to lesson plans, special projects, multiculturalism, diversity, art appreciation, history appreciation, philosophy, literature, etc. Home schooling families might find the book useful in bring some interdisciplinary flavor to their curriculums.

Truly, no one dreams alone...because when dreams come true, many people, many lives are forever touched.

This is a beautiful, well written book and a great gift for anyone working toward a goal.
Each page takes you through a color of the rainbow, and through a stage of life. It offers hope for those who may have hit a rough spot in attaining their "dream". I received it as a gift and bought 6 copies to give away. It's a book I will read again and again!

The first volume of "The Dropas" trilogy, Breaking Through The Walls by Scott R. Etters continues the courageous saga of two brothers Scott and Timm, and their assistant Pockets, in a determined attempt to create a public education in a troubled world of the future. Taking place a mere six years after history's most devastating war, Breaking Through The Walls carries its readers through haunting memories, hardships, unexpected obstacles, a cast of memorable characters, all set in the future of a world recovering from a war that wiped out nearly two-billion people. A promising treaty and the brothers' relentless efforts to aide their people in the fight to bring down the evil Lord Ozone make for an engaging read from first page to last.

There have been plenty of books that take people away into the book, but the Dropas breaking through the walls is a book that takes the reader into His/Her self it is packed with exitment, love, and good moral. i myself know Scott .r Etters and he is the most deep thoughtful person youll ever meet. the book is equiped with little dropas that are so cute and funny. if you like to read this book falls under any criteria. it is abook for everyone in the family. i hope you will take this recomendation seriously because if not it would be a loss to you to not read such a book.

I began reading this book thinking that it was geared more towards 4th, 5th and 6th graders. I soon found myself totally engrossed in it (and I am well beyond that age group!). I fell in love with the Dropas and wished I had a few to call my own. This book showed what can be accomplished when everyone comes together for a common cause. Uplifting for readers of any age.

What I first assumed to be a fantasy novel geared toward adolescent readers turned out to be a sincere and touching story with a message that appeals to any age. As a person who is committed to operating from a thought system based on love and not fear (the guiding principle taught in A Course In Miracles), the story line of The Dropas took me on an inspiring journey that spoke directly to that principle that I hold so dear. Underneath the adventure of Scott, Timm, the quirky Dropas and the rest of the crew lies a deeply meaningful message about the spiritual healing of the world. It is proof positive that seemingly small individual acts of love and kindness have a far reaching power. And that when like-minded folks band together in the name of love, critical mass is achieved and voila! - Good will always triumph over evil! That underlying message prevalent in The Dropas is so uplifting to me! And for that, I will read it over and over again, until the pages are tattered and the print is worn away. Book II, Transcendental Journey, takes the theme even further. It is obvious from the evolution of Etters' writing style and character development from Book One to Book Two that the author, along with his readers, is on his own, very personal journey. These books have enlightened me, compelling me to look at this world and my impact on it in a new, more compassionate and generous way. I highly recommend the first two books in this series, and eagerly await the conclusion to the trilogy.

What a great story! Scott and Timm using their imagination, initiative and a little bit of magic from the Dropas conquer the evil in the world. What a wonderful reminder to look for the good in all people. A book good for all ages.

This is a great book in the series.So great I can't put down. Amy,the "perfect" clone gets a fever.what is this all about? Is it the new club in town which might be giving kids drugs?Or maybe something is affecting her in a way or another?

Since Amy Candler was built in a lab, she was made specially so that it was impossible for her to get sick. For all her life, Amy has never had a single disease--not even a cold. And whenever she gets a scab, it instantly fades away. But now, things are a little different. After visiting a mysterious teens' club, Amy begins to feel odd. Her special abilities aren't working, she can't think straight, and she's always passing out. Tasha and Eric are worried for their friend. They have no idea how to cure her. And if they don't figure out a way to make her better soon, their closest friend might not be able to live.

This Replica book can only be described in one word--chilling. Throughout the whole novel, you feel "chilling" as you wonder if Amy will survive and what could possibly be making her sick. I was pretty surprised at the end, although some people will easily be able to figure it out. The plot was good, but there's one scene in this book that's absolutely amazing where Amy has a vision of all the dead people she's experienced in her life. I don't know why, but that part really made me enjoy what I was reading. You should read it too!

The nineth book in the Replica series. Amy is a perfect human clone with superior hearing, smelling, seeing, and health. She has never been sick, shes never even had a cold! But in this book Amy catches a deadly virus and her friends and family believe a tycoon guy who just opened a teen nightclub may have been putting drugs in the kids drinks. That is the only explaination and since they have never seen drugs in Amy system (she doesnt go to regular doctors) they dont know what is going to happen. But there is more that I cant tell you! Youll have to read it. But it was a great story and I would recommend it for anyone.

This was an excellent book. I was glad it was so good, since the last two, I didn't care for particularly, but this one renewed my interest in the series. My guess at what was going on was totally wrong. I liked the way Amy thought everyone was against her, that was cool. I recommend this book, without a shadow of a doubt, to anyone who is into this series. You can't miss it.

Amy and Tasha are excited - Nancy Candler's very good friend and colleague Dr. David Hopkins has come to Los Angeles. And he has agreed to pierce the girls' ears! The girls are thrilled - but Amy is puzzled when it hurts her so much, especially since pain is never a problem for her. Soon after, Amy starts to get a bad fever and starts hallucinating. Tasha, although she knows Amy is a clone and shouldn't be seen by anyone who could figure it out, calls a doctor to take some blood from Amy. Soon after, Tasha realises it was the wrong decision. She needs to think of something fast, so she pulls Amy into the closet and gets into her bed, and even though she hates needles she doesn't make a sound when the doctor arrives and gives her the shot, and luckily, Tasha's quick change of mind produces a "normal" reading on the tests - something the orginization was hoping would show something of Amy's special genetic makeup! --This is one of the three best books in the series! I was impressed! Marilyn Kaye did a fantastic job on this one!

I thought this was an awesome book; a fresh tale that moves quickly to the point. I would recommend this book to my non-cat-lover friends. I enjoyed it very much.

This really is a wonderful book. I have loaned it to about ten people (men and women) so far and have had to buy three copies; a couple of them begged to keep their copy. Many people told me it was one of their favorite books, and this group has done a lot of reading for decades! I have tried to get some information about Kathleen Dexter and any other books she has written, but I cannot find anything. All I can do is hope that she will publish again.

What fun reading this novel was! Within such a fanciful setting, the characters are so wonderfully realistic. All my emotions were engaged in the unfolding of this story - I smiled, I laughed, I got annoyed and felt sad. The descriptions are so vivid that I could swear I know where the mesa is located and I KNOW I've met some of the people. I only wish that I had had someone like Kat for my history teacher.

"fifth life of the cat woman" is a great read for pure enjoyment and also for the thinly-veiled moral. This book was lent to me by a friend, but I've bought my own copy - it's on loan to another friend right now!

Not sure how to categorize this book...it is unlike anything I've ever read. I don't usually enjoy stories with a supernatural twist but I LOVED this book. Dexter's writing is exquisite and the story is compelling. I found myself actually considering the possibility that someone could be part cat/part human! This is one of those books you're sad to finish.

I picked up the book as an impulse buy, adrift on a remnants table in a local bookshop. I liked the sound of the blurb but I had no idea what to expect. My God, what a find! I have rarely, and certainly not recently before this, been so enthralled by any book. I cannot find the words to recommend it highly enough - it made me laugh with its wickedly accurate portrayal of cats and cry with its equally wickedly accurate portrayal of people. This author has a rare gift. I don't know if she's written anything else but I intend to find out - and to grab every precious word of it if she has. Unbelievable. Exquisite. Spellbinding. Get it today.

This is a lovely book by an elegant writer. The story Abella tells here, of country, family, loyalty and courage, is rich and rewarding. Lino and Emy are wonderfully drawn, or I guess I should say reported, as this is essentially a true story. But at its heart, with the wider political and historical backdrop, Abella gives the reader the simultaneously heartbreaking and heartwarming story of a family, a beautiful, loyal, courageous family, which in its way, stands for Cuba and the Cuban people. I would also say that Kay Abella has done the remarkable artistic favor to the reader of keeping this highly charged political saga well above the mundane and intellectually dissatisfying drivel of ideology. The facts are clear, and the politics are too. But the people of this story rise far above all that, emerging fully formed, flesh and blood.

I am not Cuban but I grew up with Cuban friends and always heard the stories. Then, I am blessed to have a wonderful Cuban wife. She grew up in Cuba under Castro. Her father spent 17 years in Cuban prisons as a political prisoner several times along side Lino Fernandez, including Isla de Pinos and La Cabana and confirms every detail in the book. He had never spoken much of the horrors except for brief comments here and there. While reading the book I have asked him and he knew many of the characters and situations telling me the same stories without ever seeing the book and adding details that were not in the book. Gripping human drama and a triumph of love and family under unbelivable circumstances. I have always respected and admired my father-in-law for the amazing gentleman he is but after reading this I can not feel prouder of being part of his family. This is certainly a must read if you want to understand why Cubans feel so strongly about their country and against Fidel, his acomplices and the infamous Revolution.

Great job by Kay Abella. I highly recommend this book, specially for those who still believe that such detailed horrors do not occur in communist Cuba. The family's agony, hopelessness and despair are well described in the book, just as their convictions, hopes and dreams.

On a personal note, I have had the priviledge of knowing the Fernandez family. Dr. Lino Fernandez honorably represents the lost generation of our parents, who gave it all for a better future. We would never thank them enough for their sacrifice.

Carlos Luis Eguaras

This novel fills an incomprehensible void and is a delightful and intelligent surprise. It is beautifully written by a North American author, Kay Abella, which is unusual for a book about Cuba. Not only is it a great story, but Abella gives the reader a unique and moving picture of Castro's Cuba.

And it is accurate. I know first hand the circumstances surrounding the plot that unfolds in FIGHTING CASTRO, since I spent nine years in Castro's prisons while my family dealt with the daily routine of communist Cuba.

It is intriguing that, even though there are so many exiles and Cuban ex-prisoners throughout the world, so little has been written of this story that has been the lives of thousands of my compatriots. Don't miss this exceptional book.

Byron Miguel

I had the chance to know Lino and Emilita in Belgium when they visited me back in 2001 or 2002. Their spirit impressed me deeply.

He was not keen of telling us much about his terrible nightmare in Cuban prisons, but still he found it necessary to answer some of my questions. I was quite shocked about some details, and I remember that I asked Lino how it was possible that he would not feel hatred?

The answer was so incredibly short and simple that I could never forget it: ¡Justamente por lo que viví! - "Just because of what I lived!"-.

We had organised a meeting between him, 2 journalists and some Belgian social democratic leaders of my party, which resulted in two articles in the Belgian press. In the same building we met with a Belgian director of FOS, the third world movement within my party, and she would most "didactically" "explain" to Lino the benefits of the Cuban regime. She didn't ask one single question about what Lino might know about Cuba! I felt deeply embarrassed for her in Lino's presence. But with all the terror Lino had lived, he would politely listen to her "explanation" without showing any disgust. I was quite impressed by man's serenity.

Lino and Emilita continue every day their fight for a social, democratic and reconciled Cuba, and I can only hope that some day, while strolling through the streets of some small town in Cuba, now forbidden for them, they will find the Spanish translation of this book in the bookshop.

I just transferred the money for two copies of the book: one for me, and one to lend out to my visitors. I can hardly wait to read it! Thanks Lino, Emilita, and the writer, for having understood the importance of letting us take part of their story and of their humanistic views.

Dirk
Belgium