Book Log 18/2010 - Toby Frost: Space Captain Smith

Toby Frost: Space Captain Smith

I guess this was meant to be funny, but the humour never quite hit the spot for me, seeming  more on the level of schoolboy gags, including fart jokes and does-my-bum-look-big-in-this merry quips. I wouldn't go searching out any more Toby Frost books though I didn't actually end up throwing this against the wall and it was a pleasant enough read in small doses.

Gung-ho Isambard Smith is a naïve, incompetent junior space captain working for the British Space Empire and sporting a stiff upper lip covered by a waxed moustache. When he's given command of the rustbucket ship the John Pym and told to rescue hippie-type herbalist Rhianna Mitchell from New Francisco he doesn't realise he's been set up to be bait in a trap. Fighting (not altogether incompetently) against void sharks, the evil, insectoid Ghasts and a psychopathic space captain who is a dangerous religious fanatic. His crew consists of Carveth, a runaway sex-slave turned pilot (just as soon as she's finished reading the manual), and the Suruk, a head-collecting alien who's come along for the ride and a chance to claim a few grisly trophies.

Book Log 18/2010 - Toby Frost: Space Captain Smith

Toby Frost: Space Captain Smith

I guess this was meant to be funny, but the humour never quite hit the spot for me, seeming  more on the level of schoolboy gags, including fart jokes and does-my-bum-look-big-in-this merry quips.

Gung-ho Isambard Smith is a naïve, incompetent junior space captain working for the British Space Empire and sporting a stiff upper lip covered by a waxed moustache. When he's given command of the rustbucket ship the John Pym and told to rescue hippie-type herbalist Rhianna Mitchell from New Francisco he doesn't realise he's been set up to be bait in a trap. Fighting (not altogether incompetently) against void sharks, the evil, insectoid Ghasts and a psychopathic space captain who is a dangerous religious fanatic. His crew consists of Carveth, a runaway sex-slave turned pilot (just as soon as she's finished reading the manual), and the Suruk, a head-collecting alien who's come along for the ride and a chance to claim a few grisly trophies.

Book Log 19/2010 - Sherwood Smith: A Stranger to Command

Sherwood Smith: A Stranger to Command

A prequel to Crown Duel  which tells Shevraeth's story from entering the military academy in far off Marloven Hess as an untried fifteen year old to emerging as a competent commander and swordsman with a mission to take the throne of his own country from a paranoid tyrant who is killing those he sees as rivals in a series of unfortunate accidents.

It's a rite of passage novel, interesting in its own right, but mostly important for filling in missing details of the cool, competent man destined to become not only King, but Meliara's future love. In Crown Duel we don't get any of Shevraeth's viewpoint. In this book we get to know him thoroughly as he solves the kind of problems that being a foreigner in a new situation can cause, falls in love for the first time, and gets mixed up in the politics of Marloven Hess whose old enemies are returning for another showdown. In truth without knowing the world from Crown Duel, this may feel a little incomplete so it's probably best to read it as a prequel after reading Crown Duel rather than read the two in chronological order.

I likes Shevraeth in Crown Duel, so I'm probably the exact target audience for this book and it certainly hit the spot.

One observation, though, unconnected with the writing quality or story value... this is a hugely heavy book. Printed on good quality but heavyweight paper, I mean it's physically heavy. It's 760g - almost twice the weight of Bernard Cornwell's Azincourt, a similar sized book in terms of page numbers and content which read soon after. Reading 'Stranger' in bed was an arm-aching exercise and carrying it round in my handbag to read while waiting for my dental appointment was like carrying a housebrick. I wonder what the economics of using such heavyweight paper are?

Book Log 19/2010 - Sherwood Smith: A Stranger to Command

Sherwood Smith: A Stranger to Command

A prequel to Crown Duel  which tells Shevraeth's story from entering the military academy in far off Marloven Hess as an untried fifteen year old to emerging as a competent commander and swordsman with a mission to take the throne of his own country from a paranoid tyrant who is killing those he sees as rivals in a series of unfortunate accidents.

It's a rite of passage novel, interesting in its own right, but mostly important for filling in missing details of the cool, competent man destined to become not only King, but Meliara's future love. In Crown Duel we don't get any of Shevraeth's viewpoint. In this book we get to know him thoroughly as he solves the kind of problems that being a foreigner in a new situation can cause, falls in love for the first time, and gets mixed up in the politics of Marloven Hess whose old enemies are returning for another showdown. In truth without knowing the world from Crown Duel, this may feel a little incomplete so it's probably best to read it as a prequel after reading Crown Duel rather than read the two in chronological order.

I likes Shevraeth in Crown Duel, so I'm probably the exact target audience for this book and it certainly hit the spot.

One observation, though, unconnected with the writing quality or story value... this is a hugely heavy book. Printed on good quality but heavyweight paper, I mean it's physically heavy. It's 760g - almost twice the weight of Bernard Cornwell's Azincourt, a similar sized book in terms of page numbers and content which read soon after. Reading 'Stranger' in bed was an arm-aching exercise and carrying it round in my handbag to read while waiting for my dental appointment was like carrying a housebrick. I wonder what the economics of using such heavyweight paper are?

Book Log 20/2010 - Bernard Cornwell: Azincourt

Bernard Cornwell: Azincourt

The battle of Agincourt told from the viewpoint of common English bowman, Nick Hook. Despite the battle being the main character, there is a story. Nick, very probably the bastard of the local landowner, Lord Slayton, is a troubled young man not above committing murder as the sworn enemy of the Perrill brothers, themselves the bastard sons of a jumped up priest, Sir Martin. Through a rolling set of circumstances he's serving as an archer at an execution of a group of Lollards – religious martyrs and is outlawed for striking a priest – the same Sir Martin – who was about to rape Sarah, a condemned prisoner.

Nick hires on as an archer in order to get out of England and ends up as the only English survivor of the sack of Soissons, from where he rescues Melisande, the bastard daughter of a French noble who has been placed in a convent to pray for her father. Believing he is guided by the voices of St Crispian and St Crispinian - the saints of Soissons, Hook avoids trouble and he and Melisande travel across the French countryside and eventually get to tell the tale of Soissons to King Henry. Hook signs on with the company of Sir John Cornewaille, tourney champion and seasoned veteran, whose rough and ready, but fair treatment of his men (and Melisande) earns him loyalty.

The story then follows Nick through what looks like Henry V's ill-fated campaign to claim the French throne via the siege of Harfleur where Henry wastes too many men (many killed by dysentery) and too much time before attempting to march to the English-held Calais with the survivors - barely half an army. Rightly wary of English bowmen who made mincemeat of them at the battle of Crecy, the French miss several opportunities to trounce the English, but finally come to a pitched battle on St Crispin's Day on a deeply muddy stretch of ploughed land at Azincourt where the English are hopelessly outnumbered 30,000 men at arms to 2,000 men at arms plus 4,000 unarmoured bowmen.

Yes Henry believes God is on his side, and Nick prays to his guiding saints, and so it is that despite the odds it's the bowmen who make a difference, at least while their arrows last. Usuing sharpened stakes to foil the charging French mounted knights they kill many of the first wave of heavily armoured Frenchmen by firing 15 arrows a minute. The fallen bodies creat obstacles for the next wave of slow moving and half-blinded (by their visors) men at arms, and the next, and the next and so the English men at arms prevail. When they run out of arrows the archers attack, barefoot and unarmoured, with poleaxes and blunt instruments, using speed and cooperation to defeat strength The facts are a matter of record, the French were thoroughly routed by the tiny force of English, but Cornwell's writing gets under the skin of the archers. You can taste the mud and the shit. Nick's personal story – his feud with the Perill brothers, his murder of the younger one, the unjust execution of his beloved brother, his marriage to Melisande, and the final confrontation with the rapacious Sir Martin – plays out against a background of well-researched living history.

Book Log 20/2010 - Bernard Cornwell: Azincourt

Bernard Cornwell: Azincourt

The battle of Agincourt told from the viewpoint of common English bowman, Nick Hook. Despite the battle being the main character, there is a story. Nick, very probably the bastard of the local landowner, Lord Slayton, is a troubled young man not above committing murder as the sworn enemy of the Perrill brothers, themselves the bastard sons of a jumped up priest, Sir Martin. Through a rolling set of circumstances he's serving as an archer at an execution of a group of Lollards – religious martyrs and is outlawed for striking a priest – the same Sir Martin – who was about to rape Sarah, a condemned prisoner.

Nick hires on as an archer in order to get out of England and ends up as the only English survivor of the sack of Soissons, from where he rescues Melisande, the bastard daughter of a French noble who has been placed in a convent to pray for her father. Believing he is guided by the voices of St Crispian and St Crispinian - the saints of Soissons, Hook avoids trouble and he and Melisande travel across the French countryside and eventually get to tell the tale of Soissons to King Henry. Hook signs on with the company of Sir John Cornewaille, tourney champion and seasoned veteran, whose rough and ready, but fair treatment of his men (and Melisande) earns him loyalty.

The story then follows Nick through what looks like Henry V's ill-fated campaign to claim the French throne via the siege of Harfleur where Henry wastes too many men (many killed by dysentery) and too much time before attempting to march to the English-held Calais with the survivors - barely half an army. Rightly wary of English bowmen who made mincemeat of them at the battle of Crecy, the French miss several opportunities to trounce the English, but finally come to a pitched battle on St Crispin's Day on a deeply muddy stretch of ploughed land at Azincourt where the English are hopelessly outnumbered 30,000 men at arms to 2,000 men at arms plus 4,000 unarmoured bowmen.

Yes Henry believes God is on his side, and Nick prays to his guiding saints, and so it is that despite the odds it's the bowmen who make a difference, at least while their arrows last. Usuing sharpened stakes to foil the charging French mounted knights they kill many of the first wave of heavily armoured Frenchmen by firing 15 arrows a minute. The fallen bodies creat obstacles for the next wave of slow moving and half-blinded (by their visors) men at arms, and the next, and the next and so the English men at arms prevail. When they run out of arrows the archers attack, barefoot and unarmoured, with poleaxes and blunt instruments, using speed and cooperation to defeat strength The facts are a matter of record, the French were thoroughly routed by the tiny force of English, but Cornwell's writing gets under the skin of the archers. You can taste the mud and the shit. Nick's personal story – his feud with the Perill brothers, his murder of the younger one, the unjust execution of his beloved brother, his marriage to Melisande, and the final confrontation with the rapacious Sir Martin – plays out against a background of well-researched living history.

Book Log 21/2010 - Dru Pagliasotti: Clockwork Heart

Dru Pagliasotti: Clockwork Heart

I read this on recommendation from someone on the rec.arts.sf.written newsgroup. There is much to admire, yet much to grump about as well. It has many of the characteristics of steampunk - or maybe clockwork-punk - but somehow it doesn't feel quite punky enough to qualify. It's set in the industrial city of Ondinium, built around the mountain where the lighter-than-air ondium metal is mined. Deep within the mountain is the Great Engine, a clockwork computer which runs many aspects of the city and is controlled by the ruling caste. The three levels on the mountain are inhabited by three castes with the exalteds, supposedly reborn as perfect, right at the top, governing and creating programmes for the Great Engine. Connecting the levels are the wireferries (think gondola-type ski-lifts) and the icarii, messengers who cross the boundaries of caste and who fly with the aid of great, strap-on mechanical wings.

There are holes in the worldbuilding which irritate me. I can almost picture the city and then something lets me down. The mountain is steep, but it doen't seem to be part of a mountain range and so they seem to manage to build a huge city on it, round it and up it – in fact the city seems to exist in splendid isolation without any reference to where their food supplies and raw materials for building and manufacturing come from – let alone their water. They also have roads suitable for (small) horse-drawn coaches, which would seem to be totally impractical when the city seems at times to be built into the rock-face and yet at other times it has free-standing buildings that would be better suited to level ground. The lower layer is a greasy, smoggy place full of manufactories and 'refineries' (Refining what? The ondium? We don't actually know.) but the pollution seems to stay obediently below the upper layers. For all their technological prowess, they don't seem to have invented a system of signalling (not even a mechanical 'clacks') or a useful method of instant communication. Anyhow, insert into this not-quite-logical world a touch of political dissent resulting in random acts of terrorism and some neighbouring countries jealous and desirous of Ondinium technology (yes, that's right, they don't seem to export what they make so how can they afford to import supplies?).

A young female icarus, Taya, makes a daring mid-air rescue when one of the wireferries fails. Through this she gets involved with two high caste brothers, one (Alister) in government, the other (Cristof) a rebel who has walked out on his high-caste responsibilities and has (shockingly) gone to live in the lower layer with the plebs and has set up a simple clock-shop. Taya suspects Cristof of being a terrorist and begins to fall for the handsome Alister, but, of course, her first impressions are turned around by events. Part of this book is a murder-mystery, but that is solved too soon and then the final quarter of the book involves a plot to steal a prototype calculating engine.

And that's one more thing that irritates me. Okay, maybe real life is never neat; unrelated strands rise and fall, twist and turn at random, but fiction is generally more structured. The structure of this book is weird. Throughout the first three-quarters of the novel it's a murder mystery with added romance, but then the secondary plot, instead of being woven through the whole book seems to start up as the first plot thread is solved. The main characters, Taya, Cristof and Alister are interesting and the secondary characters, Taya's friends Cassi and Pyke, are reasonably well depicted, but once the last section starts there's a whole new bunch of characters – a University programming team for the great engine – who are almost indistinguishable from each other. They never engage my sympathies even when one of them is kidnapped along with the engine prototype.

The romance element between Taya and the two brothers is intriguing, the worldbuilding fascinating but incomplete, but the structure is frustrating and I could have done without the theft and kidnapping secondary plot in the last quarter of the book.

Book Log 21/2010 - Dru Pagliasotti: Clockwork Heart

Dru Pagliasotti: Clockwork Heart

I read this on recommendation from someone on the rec.arts.sf.written newsgroup. There is much to admire, yet much to grump about as well. It has many of the characteristics of steampunk - or maybe clockwork-punk - but somehow it doesn't feel quite punky enough to qualify. It's set in the industrial city of Ondinium, built around the mountain where the lighter-than-air ondium metal is mined. Deep within the mountain is the Great Engine, a clockwork computer which runs many aspects of the city and is controlled by the ruling caste. The three levels on the mountain are inhabited by three castes with the exalteds, supposedly reborn as perfect, right at the top, governing and creating programmes for the Great Engine. Connecting the levels are the wireferries (think gondola-type ski-lifts) and the icarii, messengers who cross the boundaries of caste and who fly with the aid of great, strap-on mechanical wings.

There are holes in the worldbuilding which irritate me. I can almost picture the city and then something lets me down. The mountain is steep, but it doen't seem to be part of a mountain range and so they seem to manage to build a huge city on it, round it and up it – in fact the city seems to exist in splendid isolation without any reference to where their food supplies and raw materials for building and manufacturing come from – let alone their water. They also have roads suitable for (small) horse-drawn coaches, which would seem to be totally impractical when the city seems at times to be built into the rock-face and yet at other times it has free-standing buildings that would be better suited to level ground. The lower layer is a greasy, smoggy place full of manufactories and 'refineries' (Refining what? The ondium? We don't actually know.) but the pollution seems to stay obediently below the upper layers. For all their technological prowess, they don't seem to have invented a system of signalling (not even a mechanical 'clacks') or a useful method of instant communication. Anyhow, insert into this not-quite-logical world a touch of political dissent resulting in random acts of terrorism and some neighbouring countries jealous and desirous of Ondinium technology (yes, that's right, they don't seem to export what they make so how can they afford to import supplies?).

A young female icarus, Taya, makes a daring mid-air rescue when one of the wireferries fails. Through this she gets involved with two high caste brothers, one (Alister) in government, the other (Cristof) a rebel who has walked out on his high-caste responsibilities and has (shockingly) gone to live in the lower layer with the plebs and has set up a simple clock-shop. Taya suspects Cristof of being a terrorist and begins to fall for the handsome Alister, but, of course, her first impressions are turned around by events. Part of this book is a murder-mystery, but that is solved too soon and then the final quarter of the book involves a plot to steal a prototype calculating engine.

And that's one more thing that irritates me. Okay, maybe real life is never neat; unrelated strands rise and fall, twist and turn at random, but fiction is generally more structured. The structure of this book is weird. Throughout the first three-quarters of the novel it's a murder mystery with added romance, but then the secondary plot, instead of being woven through the whole book seems to start up as the first plot thread is solved. The main characters, Taya, Cristof and Alister are interesting and the secondary characters, Taya's friends Cassi and Pyke, are reasonably well depicted, but once the last section starts there's a whole new bunch of characters – a University programming team for the great engine – who are almost indistinguishable from each other. They never engage my sympathies even when one of them is kidnapped along with the engine prototype.

The romance element between Taya and the two brothers is intriguing, the worldbuilding fascinating but incomplete, but the structure is frustrating and I could have done without the theft and kidnapping secondary plot in the last quarter of the book.

Book Log 22/2010 - Elizabeth Chadwick: Shields of Pride

Elizabeth Chadwick: Shields of Pride

Another impeccable historical novel from the back-catalogue of Elizabeth Chadwick with a strong romance plot combined with a hefty dollop of family feuding, relationships-gone-wrong, jealousy, ambition and revenge. This time her characters are fictitious and she has invented a couple of castles, but placed them firmly in the area of South Nottinghamshire and set them amidst real events – the ill-fated rebellion of the young king Henry against his father, Henry II. This is a rich and complicated study of family jealousy set against a detailed and accurate background of 12th century England.

Bastard mercenary Joscelin de Gayle, favourite son of William de Rocher, the baron they call Ironheart, is given the opportunity to marry the young widow Linnet de Montsorrel and take over the running of the keep at Rushcliffe. Linnet is a survivor with a guilty secret who, when forced into a snap decision, agrees to marry Joscelin because any alternative husband selected for her by the crown could be a lot worse.

The backstory gradually emerges. Ironheart sewed the seeds of his own destruction when he brought Joscelin and his (now dead) mother, Morwenna, home to Arnsby from the French tourney circuit and installed her as his mistress alongside his legitimate wife, Agnes, souring their relationship forever even when Agnes presented him with three legitimate sons. Because he's always been their father's favourite the two oldest sons, Ralph and Ivo hate Joscelin with a passion.

Ralph is consumed with jealousy over Joscelin's good marriage and can't wait until he takes over Arnsby from his father. Ralph and Ivo support the wrong side in young Henry's rebellion, but Joscelin and Ironheart remain loyal to the King. Even though he never shows any love for them, Ironheart still ransoms his errant sons when the rebellious forces are defeated. They return to Arnsby and the poisonous Agnes, but after the winter truce, Ralph takes advantage of renewed fighting in Nottingham to advance himself to Arnsby's lord, placing Ironheart, Joscelin, Linnet and Robert in deadly danger, but it's only when they have extracted themselves from Nottingham that the full extent of Ralph's treachery is revealed.

I'm pacing myself with the Chadwick back catalogue. I still have three more in my strategic book reserve and then I have to wait for her to write some new ones.

Book Log 22/2010 - Elizabeth Chadwick: Shields of Pride

Elizabeth Chadwick: Shields of Pride

Another impeccable historical novel from the back-catalogue of Elizabeth Chadwick with a strong romance plot combined with a hefty dollop of family feuding, relationships-gone-wrong, jealousy, ambition and revenge. This time her characters are fictitious and she has invented a couple of castles, but placed them firmly in the area of South Nottinghamshire and set them amidst real events – the ill-fated rebellion of the young king Henry against his father, Henry II. This is a rich and complicated study of family jealousy set against a detailed and accurate background of 12th century England.

Bastard mercenary Joscelin de Gayle, favourite son of William de Rocher, the baron they call Ironheart, is given the opportunity to marry the young widow Linnet de Montsorrel and take over the running of the keep at Rushcliffe. Linnet is a survivor with a guilty secret who, when forced into a snap decision, agrees to marry Joscelin because any alternative husband selected for her by the crown could be a lot worse.

The backstory gradually emerges. Ironheart sewed the seeds of his own destruction when he brought Joscelin and his (now dead) mother, Morwenna, home to Arnsby from the French tourney circuit and installed her as his mistress alongside his legitimate wife, Agnes, souring their relationship forever even when Agnes presented him with three legitimate sons. Because he's always been their father's favourite the two oldest sons, Ralph and Ivo hate Joscelin with a passion.

Ralph is consumed with jealousy over Joscelin's good marriage and can't wait until he takes over Arnsby from his father. Ralph and Ivo support the wrong side in young Henry's rebellion, but Joscelin and Ironheart remain loyal to the King. Even though he never shows any love for them, Ironheart still ransoms his errant sons when the rebellious forces are defeated. They return to Arnsby and the poisonous Agnes, but after the winter truce, Ralph takes advantage of renewed fighting in Nottingham to advance himself to Arnsby's lord, placing Ironheart, Joscelin, Linnet and Robert in deadly danger, but it's only when they have extracted themselves from Nottingham that the full extent of Ralph's treachery is revealed.

I'm pacing myself with the Chadwick back catalogue. I still have three more in my strategic book reserve and then I have to wait for her to write some new ones.

Ready Steady Cook Moment

I was looking for inspiration for a meal for two yesterday and my brain hadn't planned in advance. In the fridge I found part of a pack of Sainsbury's fresh beefburgers plus assorted vegetables and on the back of the worktop there was half a bottle of a rather serious red wine with peppery overtones. So:

I onion
2 large carrots
1 parsnip
(all peeled and chopped into small pieces)
I box (or can) of chopped tomatoes in olive oil and garlic.
seasoning: salt, mixed herbs, paprika, 1 beef oxo
Slosh on most of the half bottle of red wine (drink the rest)
Beak 3 beefburgers in half, ball up as meatballs, place on top
Casserole in a moderate oven for about an hour and a half or a bit longer until vegetables are soft & well integrated and meatballs are brown on top.
Serve with creamy mashed potatoes.

Easy and very yum!

Ready Steady Cook Moment

I was looking for inspiration for a meal for two yesterday and my brain hadn't planned in advance. In the fridge I found part of a pack of Sainsbury's fresh beefburgers plus assorted vegetables and on the back of the worktop there was half a bottle of a rather serious red wine with peppery overtones. So:

I onion
2 large carrots
1 parsnip
(all peeled and chopped into small pieces)
I box (or can) of chopped tomatoes in olive oil and garlic.
seasoning: salt, mixed herbs, paprika, 1 beef oxo
Slosh on most of the half bottle of red wine (drink the rest)
Beak 3 beefburgers in half, ball up as meatballs, place on top
Casserole in a moderate oven for about an hour and a half or a bit longer until vegetables are soft & well integrated and meatballs are brown on top.
Serve with creamy mashed potatoes.

Easy and very yum!