Ace of Aces Books

I was in no way disappointed, and I've bought all of his books since.

This is an exquisite book. Stewart has a way with a turn of phrase that always makes me want to read more; he handles sentences delicately, and the emotions that his characters feel infuse the lines. His writing style may not be for everyone, but I enjouy good writing that paints images with words, and his does that for me.

He also writes female voices very well. I was impressed with how well he took on the persona of a woman; she spoke convincingly, had convincing trials and tribulations, and problems that anyone could relate to -- or at least anyone who has ever had that feeling of disconnect from themselves, exacerbated by her profession.

Stewart writes books where magic is integral, and part and parcel to the story; it is not thrown in as an afterthought but is ingrained and the world would not be the same without it. Very original, and very worth reading for the possible promises and futures it ordains.

Gets a nine for the annoying, unhappy ending.

Seriously, this is a great book. While on the surface it's a book about a murder, it really engages on other levels. One of the central themes is biblical vs. civil justice, and whether murder is ever right.. Not that this is a religious book. Far from it, thankfully. Faust is another theme that is explored, but it's really just a great book. Stewart has a gift for concise, powerful description.

The main character is unique. Dianne Fletcher is a shaper - a sort of empath discovered by a psychiatrist about 20 years before the novel begins. Shapers can 'read' emotions. Dianne Fletcher comes up with an analogy for how a person acts. For example, a very religious man she 'sees' as a wick, burning brightly in a white wax candle. (Stewart puts it better than I do.) She's a Hunter, basically a private detective, but they're licensed by the government, and work more closely with the police. Basically, they get all the difficult cases that the police can't handle because they're busy arresting people for adultery and other stuff. The world is really well thought out, and isn't that far from the technology level of the present day 1990s, so If you don't like far out SF, don't worry. This is just a nicely detailed backdrop for the story.

Anyway, the book is really, really good. Every time I read it it never lasts long enough. And I'm always mad at the way the ending turns out. But the ending is consistent with the world the book takes place in.

I recommend ALL of Hoffman's work. She's one of the most innovative fantasists writing today, and her work has appeal to both adult and teenaged readers, which is no mean feat.

Most people on intimate terms with House have been transformed into beings with magical abilities that ultimately attract the attention of an evil sorcerer. He wants to bind this group to him. While the witches fight off the magical attack, Houses confesses that it purposely brought them together to defeat for reasons of its' own.

PAST THE SIZE OF DREAMING, the sequel to A RED HEART OF MEMORIES, is a beautiful story where evil tries to triumph over good. Nina Kiriki Hoffman is a wonderful storyteller who makes the written word sing. The characters, including House, drive the story as the motley crew wins the hearts of readers who will anxiously await the next installment in this fabulous series.

Harriet Klausner

Pigeons From Hell is adapted from the classic Robert E. Howard short story by artist Scott Hampton. The story is a pretty straightforward southern-gothic ghost tale, with a little gore thrown in for good measure. Howard's prose is some of his best, and Hampton's art is breathtaking. His dark, moody paintings evoke a sense of isolation and terror that had me totally drawn into the story. I couldn't stop reading. The book also contains a foreward by noted horror author Ramsey Campbell. Highly recommended for horror fans!

By late 1939 and early 1940, with the collapse of the Polish resistance due to the overwhelming odds, most of the Polish air force escaped to France and England. While in France, the Poles re-grouped and flew French planes to defend France. Then later with the Germans overwhelming France, the Poles fled to England to regroup. The Poles valiantly defended England and fought the Germans, distinguishing themselves as fighters not to be taken lightly.

At the end of the war, however, Poland was handed over to communist Russia. The fighting the Polish aces accomplished throughout the war, with the aim of freeing their country from German rule, was replaced by anguish at their country now being put under Russian rule. Poland, in essence, was betrayed by its allies and handed over to the Russians.

"Polish Aces of World War 2" by Robert Gretzyngier and Wojtek Matusiak lives up to the high standards of Osprey military books. This volume provides a concise, yet detailed, account of every major aspect of Poland's air force in World War II. The book is filled with many black-and-white photographs and pages of color illustrations. Within the 96 pages, the reader becomes acquainted with the accomplishments of the Polish aces and even what happened to them more recently. Skalski returned to Poland and flew in their air force for many years, Zumbach became a smuggler and organized the Katangese Air Force in the early 1960s, and Gladych immigrated to America, obtained a degree in psychology and now works as a doctor in Seattle, Washington.

It turns out that an old girl, Jemima Shore, a TV personality, an investigator of causes and outrages, is summoned to look into the matter of the death. The nun is her former classmate. Jemima attended school at the convent for two years during the war.

The dead nun was an heiress. She had ownership of the grounds on which the convent is situated. Through her untimely death, the convent gained the land. She had threatened to turn the property over to poor people. Jemima Shore's television program, unbeknownst to Jemima, had triggered a controversy over the property in the convent community.

Initially Jemima refuses to get involved. When a contemplated trip abroad falls apart, she reconsiders her decision. The number of deaths and inexplicable occurrences grow and Jemima Shore is compelled to enter labyrinths-- physical in terms of the convent lay-out, mental in terms of the minds and personalities of the inhabitants.

For years, Chris' father has given him money to buy presents, since he's never with his son much himself to get to know what he'd like. When aunt Elizabeth drops Chris and Nan off at a movie soon after Nan's arrival, Chris opts to shop for a present instead. In a strange store he's never been to before, he finds a very old model inn, bearing the sign of a red hart (i.e., a male red deer).

Chris and Nan soon discover that the Red Hart carries some kind of magic; in their dreams, they find themselves in the real Red Hart, an English inn, in various periods of the past.

"The King's Hunters", in King James' reign, finds the two of them thwarting a Pursuivant who attempts to prove that the inn's owner is secretly a Catholic priest (a capital offense in that place and time). Catherine Aird's mystery _A Most Contagious Game_ would be a good read for anyone who's interested in how priests managed to survive and the tricks used to build hiding places for them.

In "The Gentlemen", a wounded Excise officer is being sheltered from local smugglers in the inn. This story makes a sharp, interesting contrast to Vic Crume's _Dr. Syn Alias the Scarecrow_, a terrific book that's also a movie by Disney with Patrick McGoohan (the hardest Disney classic to find on video as of this writing, may I add). The chief of the smugglers in "The Gentlemen" is as anonymous as the masked Scarecrow - 'he could be any man in the village, leaving out the parson and the squire.' (If you've read or seen the Scarecrow's story, you'll get the joke.)

In "Hue and Cry", Chris is falsely accused of setting fire to Squire Mallory's barn, a blaze that could have killed several men. Harry Hawkins, a friend of his father's days in Wellington's army, one of the Bow Street runners, is called in by Ira Fitton to uncover the truth. (This is *long* before the runners evolved into the Bow Street Station of Anne Perry's Thomas Pitt.)

In the present, the kids have their own troubles, apart from getting along with each other. Nan is 'befriended' by the most popular girl in class - only to find that the price of entry into her circle is too high. Chris, on the other hand, is the favorite target of the most popular kid in *his* school - the bully who's captain of the soccer team. The lessons they learn in the past stand them in good stead.