Although it gets off to a bit of a slow start, now that I'm about half-way through this novel it has me thoroughly hooked. Set in the late 2nd Century A.D., in the reign of the Emperor Commodus, the titular narrator recounts a series of adventures and misadventures which begin when he first manages to gets crosswise with two powerful families and then is falsely accused of treason. Accompanied by his resourceful Greek slave Agathemer, the young Roman aristocrat goes on the run and encounters strange coincidences, good fortune and terrible reversals, and a variety of interesting characters, taking the reader on a fascinating tour of both the upper crust and the underbelly of Roman society at the zenith of the Empire. Definitely worth reading, if you enjoy historical novels about Rome, especially since most tend to be set in the Late Republic and Early Empire.

Excellent hard-boiled detective yarn, with a plot vaguely reminiscent of the 1950 film noir thriller Where Danger Lives. A down-at-the-heels private eye, a dangerous dame, snappy dialog, a touch of comedy, some deft characterization and a surprisingly grim denouement -- really, what more could you ask for?

Although Binary is in the main quite well-written, there's one big problem with basing a science-fiction novel on one of the most well-known Shakespearian tragedies: Once the reader realizes the plot is lifted almost scene-for-scene from King Lear, there just aren't any big surprises. You know what's going to happen with the main characters, although the author fudges it a bit for one of them so the novel doesn't end on as bleak a note as the original play. Also, you can get away with some things in a Shakespearian drama that just don't work so well in a novel, particularly one that's trying for something more epic in its scope.

Although the basic plot is nothing startling, the world this story constructs is well worth checking out. In a post-Apocalyptic wasteland, thousands of years after a nuclear war, humankind survives as scattered nomadic clans constantly at war with each other. What makes this story somewhat unique is the nomads' way of life: each clan builds its own specialized armed and armored vehicles patterned on some form of insect or arachnid, creating a sort of bizarre mechanized Road Warrior-ish bug pseudo-ecology with hints of the Plains Indians thrown into the mix. Existence is a dire, never-ending struggle between the clans for scarce resources, especially fuel and water. But will the clans recognize a new threat to them all in time to unite against it? Okay, this is 1950s-style pulp sf, so I think we all know the answer to that one, but it\'s still worth a read.

More interesting for its concepts than its characters (in fact, the most engaging personality in the story is the immature AI, Snookums). However, there are enough original ideas here to make it a worthwhile read.

Truly a nasty piece of work. If you enjoy pre-WWII pulp sf, you learn to expect a certain amount of casual racism and some occasional xenophobia, but this is the first time I've seen quite such a blatant two-fer of villainy: both a sinister Oriental and a brutal, gorilla-like African. And naturally, they both lust after the nubile young white woman. The story culminates in an act of genocide, leaving a devastated Earth to be re-populated by a handful of WASPs. Might have some interest for a student of post-apocalyptic literature, or of the darker side of the 1930s American psyche, otherwise, don't waste your time.

One of the weaker books in the series, the narrative follows the crew of the Polaris as they're given their most important assignment yet: shepherding an enormous fleet of spaceships sent out to colonize a new planet. Furthermore, once they arrive at Roald, they'll be responsible for supervising the construction of the colony.

The author maintains the tension fairly well up until they reach the new world, but once there, the story becomes little more than a standard horse opera, complete with corrupt town boss and dirty dealing over a fabulously rich deposit of gold ... er, I mean: uranium.

Mildly entertaining, but the other books in the series are better.

An outstanding science fantasy by Henry Kuttner and (probably) C. L. Moore, I think this stands with Vintage Season as some of their very best work.

Edward Bond, a pilot recovering from wounds received in the war, is drawn by the needfire to a parallel Earth, where the Sun is a swollen red giant, sorcery is real and strange mutations have made a reality of ancient legends. But is he truly Bond, or is he Ganelon, a cruel, arrogant warlock who with the rest of his Coven rules this "time-variant" of our world?

The witches who drew Bond/Ganelon back to the Dark World -- the beautiful scarlet witch Medea, and the yellow-eyed shape-shifter Matholch -- have very definite plans for him: with his leadership, they expect to exterminate the rebels who've lately risen to end the rule of the Coven.

And who -- according to Medea --played a nasty trick on Ganelon, by opening a door to our Earth and substituting him for his twin, the "real" Edward Bond, at the moment his plane crashed. To add insult to injury, his twin is now leading the rebels in their fight against the Coven.

Although the Coven has finally found and brought this man whom they believe to be Ganelon back to the Dark World, he has only the vaguest memories of his past life there. And to further complicate matters, there are plotters within the Coven, who in his present confusion would use him as a pawn for their own ends.

And who or what is the evil, enigmatic Llyr, the source of their power, waiting for him at Caer Llyr behind a Window into an even weirder space-time?

I've gone back and re-read this book every few years since I first encountered it as a teenager, at the end of the 60s. In fact, I still have that book, an old Ace paperback, the very same edition whose cover appears at the top of this page. Each time I find something new in it to admire, and to make me regret all over again Kuttner's death at such a tragically early age.

Set in the same future milieu as Leinster\'s \"Med Service\" series as well as novels like \"Checkpoint Lambda\" and \"The Pirates of Zan\", \"Talents, Incorporated\" is a fast-moving, entertaining mashup of interstellar warfare and paranormal powers, the \"Talents\" of the book\'s title.

The peaceful, prosperous planet of Kandar is slated for conquest by the brutal dictatorship of Mekin. The Mekinese have already annexed twenty planets and built a massive war fleet. The Mekinese ultimatum gives Kandar the same choice they gave all their previous conquests: submit or die.

The Kandarian leaders are inclined to surrender immediately, to spare their people the horrors of having their cities leveled with H-bombs by the notoriously cruel and short-tempered Mekinese. Others believe their hopelessly outnumbered Navy should at least go down fighting the invaders, on the theory that it will teach the conquerors some respect for the Kandarians.

Bors, a captain in the Kandarian Navy, is a refugee from Tralee, which some years earlier faced the same choice and surrendered without a fight. He knows sending the fleet out to be annihilated will be a futile gesture, yet he\'s not going to run away from the hated Mekinese again. Not after what they did to his home.

But there\'s a third choice: take the help offered by the mysterious Morgan\'s Talents, Incorporated, a collection of misfits, neurotics and paranoids -- whose oddball paranormal abilities could turn the tide of the upcoming invasion. If Bors and the Kandarians can unlearn their natural skepticism in time to make use of those wild talents.

After all, who could believe a lonely romantic can infect people with her daydreams, or that a nondescript former clerk can predict the exact time an approaching enemy fleet will break out of overdrive?

If I have any criticism of this novel, it\'s that it was too short. I\'d have liked to see more of Morgan and his daughter Gwenlyn\'s part of the story, rather than having them only briefly appear at critical moments in Bors\' narrative.

All in all, though, this is a great read for a rainy afternoon.

Another blood-and-thunder speculative romance by George Griffith, somewhat in the vein of his earlier works, Angel of the Revolution and Olga Romanoff.

Irish genius and fanatical revolutionary John Castellan gives his design for a submersible flying submarine with advanced weaponry to Kaiser Wilhelm, on the understanding that when he's conquered Britain, Ireland will be freed. Austria, Russia and France combine under Germany's leadership to crush the British fleet and invade Great Britain with an army of millions of men. Backed up by a squadron of these diabolical new amphibious monsters under Castellan's command, victory over the hated English and the destruction of their Empire appears certain.

Despite the terrible carnage, things don't go entirely the Allies' way. (Yes, the Allies are the bad guys in this one, which is a bit confusing at times.)

For one thing, there's the newly-commissioned "Ithuriel", a prototype of a combined submarine ram and superfast cruiser with pneumatic cannon. Under the command of her brilliant designer, Captain Erskine, she will prove a major thorn in the side of the Allied fleet.

Meanwhile, brilliant British astronomer and chemist George Lennard -- there are quite a lot of brilliant inventors in this novel, and the roster isn't yet complete -- has discovered a comet will strike the Earth within a few months. Fortunately, he's also developed a new super-explosive which will destroy this intruder from space. If, with the help of his American millionaire patron, he can build a giant cannon a la Jules Verne's "From the Earth to the Moon" in time to deliver it.

Despite the destruction of both the British and Allied fleets, the Allies have managed to land three million soldiers on British soil. Between their overwhelming numbers and the advantage Castellan's aerial armada gives them, the conquest of Britain looks to be a foregone conclusion. Even so, the British will fight the invaders to the bitter end.

Will Kaiser Willy sit on the throne of England? Or will the oncoming comet put an end to the war, by destroying the planet?

This is a George Griffith novel, so character development and intricate plotting are not to be expected. The men are stalwart and the women beautiful and courageous. The most interesting personality -- the Irish revolutionary Castellan -- gets remarkably short shrift.

Where the novel shines is in its scenes of ferocious naval combat, of Britain's fierce resistance and the awesome destruction Castellan's ships rain down upon their helpless targets on land and sea. Hundreds of thousands die in the fleet engagements and subsequent fighting in southern England. There are eerie premonitions of the Blitz, as well as the horrific slaughter awaiting Europe a mere five years after the publication of the novel.

That this may also be the first appearance in speculative fiction of the concept of blowing up an extinction-level comet makes it even more interesting to the science fiction antiquarian. The World Peril of 1910 is the last gasp of a popular Late Victorian/Edwardian "invasion from the Continent" genre, soon to be superseded by the grimmest of realities.