Bride of the Rat God by Barbara Hambly

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I’m re-reading this again for the fun of it…



1. I love this book because of the horrible title

2. I love it because of the awful Rat-God cover

3. I love it because its actually about Chinese Mythology (made-up or real, doesn’t matter)

4. I love it because it takes place in the midst of early silent movie making

5. I love it because it has interesting characters with interesting backgrounds

6. I love it because it moves fast.







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On the Nickel by John Shannon

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Interesting story taking place among homeless in Los Angeles.

I haven’t found any Jack Liffey novels that I have not truly liked. An author with a social conscience.



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Fever Dream by Douglas Preston

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

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On the Nickel by John Shannon

Interesting story taking place among homeless in Los Angeles.



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The Genesis Secret by Tom Knox

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

[UPDATE 03/15/2011]

Purchased the hardcover used on Amazon.com. This is my new trend… wait a year and look for the hc used on Amazon. Works for me.

The website has changed (see below).

Also there is a great article about the archaeology underlying the novel at https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/e…

[/UPDATE]

Learned about the new archeological digs in Kurdish Turkey … see the author’s website http://www.tomknoxbooks.com/the-genesis-…



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The Hidden Oasis by Paul Sussman

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Had fun reading this and using Google Earth to find and see locations in the Egyptian desert as I read about them in the story.

The book is 650 pages and all interesting. Of course the core story is fantasy, but a damned good one.

The story takes place in modern times after a flashback to the time of Saddam Hussein and arms trafficking. The main characters run about the northern half of Egypt and wind up going on a treasure hunt in the desert.

The novel contains interesting lore about Bedouins, about the garbage pickers (my words) of Cairo, and about doing archeology in Egypt.





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Thunderhead by Douglas Preston

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A great story about modern people finding out why the Anasazi disappeared.

It is relentless about moving through the canyons of New Mexico.

Interesting characters.



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Leviathans of Jupiter by Ben Bova

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is "the good stuff"! A great adventure in the clouds of Jupiter. Occasionally the science seemed a little wacky, and a few times the physical scale of things didn’t feel right, but I can overlook that for such a grand and wild ride.





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The Ice Limit by Douglas Preston

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

[UPDATE]

1) according to a note from the author (somewhere) there will be a sequel, but they don’t know when.

2) if you read the news reviews on Amazon, you will find one that says the ocean struggle in The Ice Limits is one of the best ever. I haven’t seen that many, but I believe it. The Amazon review lists a couple.

[/UPDATE]



This book published in 2000 is a very interesting novel about recovering a giant meteor from the Cape Horn islands. Sub theme is living and working on a converted oil tanker. But there is something strange about this meteor… it seems to kill people.



A wealthy collector wants it, the worlds largest meteor, to display in his museum, and nothing will get in his way.



I’ll be digging to see if there was ever a sequel because it would be a good one.







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