Heppner, Planet Wrecker
935405
the writing is pretty good, the editing, not so much. I still reccomend the book and the series highly.
4949116
Geezer alert and Full Disclosure: I knew Andy Mangles When. Since the days of the APA That Dare Not Speak Its Name (long story short, we've corresponded, never met). I picked up this book because of his name on the cover. I like Andy, and I was predisposed to like his book. And I do.
One thing did bother me about the book that no other review has mentioned. The action takes place on Chiaros IV, a world that barely qualifies for Federation membership and is being courted by the Federation and the Romulans. The planet is tide-locked, one side perpetually facing its sun. The habitable zone is a narrow band at the terminator, the weather is always bad, and off-planet communications are through a tethered communications relay . . . huh? An orbital tether has to be anchored at geosyncronous orbit. Geosyncronous orbit for a tide-locked planet is the same as the distance to its sun. The Chiarosans' communications relay is on a tether 150 million kilometers long, a very impressive bit of engineering for a civilization that has not fully explored their own solar system. But it doesn't matter to the plot, and no one reads Star Trek books for the physics.
Characterization is excellent, all the Next Generation characters are consistent. Andy has done his homework, there is enough continuity and trivia to delight the most hard-core Trekie. Action sequences are well-paced and exciting. Don't know how it fits into the series, but it was good as a stand-alone novel.
It's difficult to take Section 31 seriously from this, the two operatives we see here seem incredibly naive in believing the Tal Shiar would hand over a list of their Resources in the Federation for anything, much less a marginal planet. These clowns seem to have more in common with the Watergate Plumbers than the Obsidian Order. If this is the caliber of agent Section 31 recruits, it is difficult to see how it has stayed a secret for two hundred years.
On a personal note, I tend to think of Science Fiction fans as more inteligent and more open minded than the average person, so I was somewhat disturbed by the reviewers who made a Big Deal out of the fact that Lt. Sean Hawk is Gay. Trekers follow stories of seeking out new life and new civilizations, it's disappointing that some of them find it easier to accept aliens than humans who are different.
2288952
xD lol and lmao! So "over the top" you need the Hubble Space Telescope to see where the top was. Thank you Mark Millar, John Romita Jr and Jeff Wadlow.
And of course, thank you Chloe Moretz for bringing life to Hit-girl!
Be advised. It's hilarious but it gets dark.
3616400
Decades before settling into a cushy career as the host of the moronic yet humorous parody show&nbsp;<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Space-Ghost-Coast-to-Coast/dp/B0000AQS89/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Space Ghost Coast to Coast</a>, intergalactic patrolman Space Ghost kept the galaxy safe from a menagerie of space pirates and evildoers. Armed with famed power bands, a menacingly sleek Phantom Cruiser and best dressed sidekicks Jan & Jace and Blip, Space Ghost, hands down, was the coolest superhero around. Dino Boy, once you realize that it's basically&nbsp;<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Jonny-Quest/dp/B0001MZ7J6/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Jonny Quest</a>&nbsp;(Tod, the Dino Boy), his dog Bandit (Bronty, the baby brontosaurus) and bodyguard Race Bannon (Ugh, the caveman) battling dangers in a prehistoric valley, offers just as much fun as Space Ghost. Featuring superb design work by late great artist Alex Toth, music by Hoyt Curtin/Ted Nichols, a solid voice cast including Space Ghost himself, Gary Owens (who sadly wasn't interviewed for the set), and exotic environments, Space Ghost & Dino Boy - The Complete Series ably provides tons of retro fun and non-stop action '60s Hanna-Barbera style. This 2-disc (480 min.) set features all 20 episodes from the series in its original three-segment form (1 Dino Boy sandwiched between 2 Space Ghost segments); Full-Frame (1.33:1) video; English audio; Closed Captioning; plus the following Special Feature: "Simplicity: The Life and Art of Alex Toth." Considering the lack of remastering and the age of the show, the picture and sound are fairly good, despite some noticeable debris. Unfortunately, the two discs in this set are dual-sided, so there's next to no chance that you'll get a set free of scratches. Luckily, they are, for the most part, only surface scratches and in no way interfere with the playback so you'll want to thoroughly screen both discs (in a timely manner) before returning due to defect. While there is no segment selection screen for the episodes, there are chapters for the segments which you can skip through using your remote.
4186727
"Phoenix Ship" is reminiscent of a Heinlein juvenile in many ways, yet doesn't quite pass muster.  It takes too long to get going, with the first thirty pages (out of 100) showing the hero, Star(!) Dustin going to school. Then he decides to go to the Asteroid belt, with a vague longing to see what the Belter rebellion is about.  Suddenly he is a wanted man, for unknown reasons, and he flees. Before you know it (in about a week's time), Star is the leader of the whole rebellion!  This is too incredible to sustain the believability of the tale, and the march to the end becomes a slog of wading through Star's perfect-ness.
One of the good things of the story is the science and engineering is pretty accurate for its time (1968), not always true for the new wave type of writing that was often written in the late sixties. -- Two Stars (**)

Earthrim - The Plot: Mike Standard is a wanted man, though he isn't quite aware of it; he has an artificial arm, and it is the arm that people are seeking.  The story takes place in maybe the early twenty-first century, and follows the end of a war between Chinasia and the US.  Somehow, even though Chinasia was completely winning the war, peace is declared, with Chinasia not taking advantage of their superiority.  The story reveals why that is, and it turns out the Mike is part of the reason, because he somehow created Earthrim, a mental superman.  The story follows Mike as he is gradually finds out the truth about himself and Earthrim.
The story is well enough written, with the plot somewhat clichd, though not horribly so.  Actually, the story is the author's first story, and while it is not terrific, it is good enough to wonder why the author only wrote one more novel.  -- Three Stars (***)
3797791
An alien reality show, Plunder That Planet, has targeted Earth for the next conquest.  An evil alien queen plans to locate the planets sexual nexus and drain all of the sexual energy from the planet.  The nexus seems to be somewhere in a girl rock band that likes to take off their tops.  But the girls don't like being a target and fight back.
Goofy MCs, Evil Tyrants, The Bimbo Limbo, special effects, and lots of bare skin await in the science fiction spoof of reality television.  Special appearances by Julie Strain and the Porcelain Twinz.
This disk is packed with plenty of extras including the usual picture gallery, deleted scenes, and more.
1186185
It is 2452 and the world is in turmoil. The people are at war, some trying to secede from what is now known as the Tech Republic. While this is going on another planet is slowly dying and the inhabitants are forced to move underground in order to survive. Time is running out for them since their sun is no longer warming their planet and will soon be gone from existence. They must find a new home. They stumble upon Earth through a wormhole that was opened in error. They send one of their own to gather information about this planet in hopes of garnering a new home before it is too late.

This is a fascinating story that keeps the reader engrossed as the author tells two stories simultaneously about the two worlds. He weaves his tale effortlessly and keeps the action in both worlds fast-paced and furious. This is part one of an enjoyable read. I look forward to book two.
1069555
FIRESTAR is a very near future novel about an extremely wealthy business woman who believes that we need to be in space.  She launches a very complicated, expensive, and VERY BELIEVABLE plan to get us there.
There  are good guys, bad guys, flawed heroes and heroines, action, "police  action," intrigue, great science, and extremely believable characters  and situations.
If you want a book that will make you think as well as  challenge your assumptions in a lot of different areas you will love it.  If however, you are a doctrinaire Liberal, Libertarian, or Conservative you  will hate this book.
Flynn has a deep respect for Robert Heinlein.  A  number of writers over the years have been acclaimed as the next Heinlein  only to falter.  Flynn is the first I have seen that has a real chance of  truly deserving that type of honorific.  This novel fares very favorably  with Heinlein at his best and is head and shoulders above 90% of what  passes for SF.
Mike
4020523
"Red Planet" is one of Heinlein's best juveniles.  I think it was the first or second Heinlein book I ever read, back in the 1950's.  Of course, I read a heavily edited version, back then.  This edition restores the text to the original Heinlein text, before editing.  The restoration is a great improvement, as today's juveniles are more sophisticated than I was, back then.

About the only change I would make today is to have Heinlein's Mars be a planet circling another sun.  Our Mars explorations have changed our ideas about Mars from what they were fifty years ago.

One of the outstanding features of this story is Heinlein's Martians.  He really did a fantastic job of imagining a different, yet peaceful and highly sapient, race.  These Martians make an important showing in "Stranger in a Strange Land" and show up in some other Heinlein stories.

The heart of the story, of course, is: "What should we do if our 'government' gets out of our control and starts running our lives for us?"  Good question!  I hope Americans would have the same response as the Marsmen do in this story.  Still, the story is never very violent and is not about war, but more about principles.

This is a very entertaining story!
1135412
love the Sentella...a chosen family made up of fierce, loyal outcast fighters. hate the League, tyrants and bullies. another space adventure righting dastardly deeds.
91994
Its good to see that Christopher Plummer and David Warner decided to  reprise their roles as General Chang and Chancellor Gorkon. The cutscenes  with them are fantastic with performances that rival the movie. Seeing them  alone might make several Star Trek fans want to purchase the game. However,  the other actors are not as polished, which may be of some concern to some  gamers.
The game allows you to fly eight different Klingon ships with  various weapons and power levels for each vessel. This is one of the  highlights of the game, as you get to destroy the enemies of the Empire  with several cool-looking ships. The enemies of the Empire include the  Federation, Romulans, the Gorn, Tholians, and the Shakurians(?). There are  about twenty-five missions in the game, so no gamer can really complain  about the game being too short. The graphics are good, but it looks a  little dated. Maybe this is because the game was over a year late. How  sad!
The game does suffer from some bugs. First, the enemy ships have a  tendency to try to ram your vessel. This is extremely annoying and  frustrating at the same time. This has been a problem for many gamers, and  you should be aware of this if you want to purchase the game. Also, you  need to be aware that Interplay will no longer offer any support for this  game. The design team has been broken up to work on other projects. So if  your expecting updated patches and expansion packs then you can simply  forget it.
3864679
Mr. Heppner continues to spell bound me with his creative mindset to the unexplained in the realm of space fiction.
With his accurate reflection on accounts of past conflicts, the more resent as well as those that took place centuries ago, makes this series of Assault Troopers (Extinction Wars) a very enjoyable read.
4409214
A great sci-fi series about space traders. Ishmael Wang is wonderful interesting character. I loved seeing him get a command
3915970
Will It Go Faster If I Push This
Edited by C.C. Turner for Static Movement ([...])
Twelve eloquent and entertaining science fiction stories with themes from the creation of Adam to the colonization of planets.

Pet Miracles by A.J. French:
From machine to human to slave to rebellion. The only inhabitant of a planet asks the universe for a mate with strange and unanticipated results.

October Morning by Jason Barney
What would you do if you discovered that aliens were only days or hours away from landing on Earth? Jason has some thoughts about what might happen.

Love's Lost Colony by Jessy Marie Roberts
A woman searches the galaxy for her husband lost in vastness of space. What she finds is a delightfully wicked and cautionary tale of misplaced love and betrayal.

System Displacement by Joe Jablonksi
Environmental activists try to stop the first interplanetary spaceship from leaving the solar system in a shoot-em-up, bomb-planting act of terror. Do they succeed? Read and find out.

What They Didn't Know by Quinn Hernandez
A mediation on the nature and origin of Mankind and the fateful leap into the stars. One day we WILL confront the creator.

Eltanin Hoop Anomaly Rescue by Sean Monaghan
A mother searches for her daughter lost on a very odd planet and she finds more than she expected.

Cybergeists by Charles Ebert
A delightful outing with snobby critics and game shows; a wickedly funny story about artificial intelligence, love and human companionship.

Siegeriser: Return to the Stars by Bradley Descartes
In a future war, soldiers fight in giant war machines with swords, rockets and Gatling guns in a desperate attempt to reach a spaceport and escape. It's a small skirmish but it encapsulates all the glory and horror of war. Well done and heartfelt.

Pedal Power by Robert Harkess
This is the story on what might have been the Roanoke Colony on Mars but for the actions of the last man to survive.

River Land by Voicu Mihnea Simandan
100,000 years in the future, a father treats his sons to ice skating in a new and changed world. Eloquently said in so few words.

The Hot Tub Murders by Dave Fragments
A vacationing human is found dead in a hot tub on a colonial planet. It is up to seasoned detective, incarnated as a satyr, a green rookie incarnated as a wolf and a prosecutor incarnated as an anteater must determine if this is a conspiracy to overthrow the oligarchs or a cold-blooded murder. Jessica Fletcher, Miss Marple and Inspector Poirot would be jealous.

I must in all honesty say that the last story in the anthology is mine. It's published under by my writing persona. I no longer have to hide from evil wicked sorcerers, aliens and robots. I enjoyed reading all of these stories in the galley. Any lover of good science fiction will enjoy these stories as much as each author enjoyed writing the stories.
1324011
Very gritty and realistic. Huge asteroid is about to hit Earth and various nations in the world attempt to stop it. Of course, there are plenty nutcases and religious zealots who are sabotaging NASA. I guarantee, that if something like this actually happens there will be plenty of idiots like this crawling out the woodwork. Overall, I enjoyed the book but Jack McDevitt is still my favorite.
2695182
Wunderbar!  Wunderveapun of the Von Braun Era before NASA when all things seemed possible and the promise of Space was a total unexplored mystery, or was it????  This film, for it's time was a miracle of special effects with elaborate sets, and equipment!  The acting was good for that period of B movies shown in aging theatres in small towns where I first saw this adventure!  Still a glorious tribute to the early pioneers of Sci-Fi!
2540959
An excellent read.  Reminds me so much of Robert Heinlein's juvenile books.  A stalwart young hero thrust into an unknown world filled with strange and unknowing hurdles.  The author does an excellent job describing the giant spaceship and the world of the "People".  A great adventure and a must read for anyone that enjoyed the early books of Robert Heinlein.

Highly recommended