All Purls. No Swine.
The dreadnought battleship was an iconic technology in the first half of the twentieth century. Nations poured millions into their construction. Despite – or perhaps because of – the money spent building them, they were rarely used. Clash of the Capital Ships: From the Yorkshire Raids to Jutland, by Eric Dorn Brose, presents one period… Continue reading Book Review by Seawriter–Dreadnoughts at War
Jack “Rattler” Owen had a dream when he was growing up--to become a US Navy fighter pilot. He is now a Navy pilot in today’s US Navy, but he is flying the E-2C Hawkeye, not fighters. Treason Flight, a thriller by T. R. Matson opens with Owen discovering flying the Hawkeye can be every bit… Continue reading Book Review by Seawriter: Adventure in the Persian Gulf
We read Aesop’s Fables as children or re-read them aloud to our children. Their lessons resonate today. But how accurate are the depictions of the animals in the fables? Can crows add pebbles to a pitcher to raise the water level? Are wolves cruel and rapacious, foxes wily, or donkeys stubborn and stupid? Could a… Continue reading Book Review by Seawriter: Zoology as Seen Through Fable
The sprawling science fiction series involving Honor Harrington started in 1993, with On Basilisk Station. Nearly thirty years later it is still going strong with nearly thirty novels and six anthologies in five different threads. To End in Fire by David Weber and Eric Flint is the Honorverse’s latest arrival. Part of the “Crown of… Continue reading Book Review by Seawriter: The Hunt for the Mesan Alignment
Jake August writes pulp fiction. He was a Navy Criminal Investigation Division officer, before he got shot in a brothel in Occupied Japan and was invalided out of the service. Now in 1952, he writes paperback novels for Rattlesnake Books. Deadline: New York, a mystery by Jim Lester, explores the emerging world of paperback publishing… Continue reading Book Review By Seawriter: A 1950s -Style Noir Mystery Set in 1950s New York
Where did the universe come from? How does it work? When did it begin and when--and how--will it end? People have asked variations on these questions since people started asking questions. Where Did the Universe Come From? And Other Cosmic Questions, by Chris Ferrie and Geraint F. Lewis examines those questions. The authors show how… Continue reading Book Review by Seawriter: Answering Cosmic Questions
Daniel Carter is a London copper. It is today’s London, but a London inhabited by clans of underground monsters. They run criminal rackets: the Frankenstein Clan with its surgeries; the seductive Vampire Clan; the drug-dealing Clan of Mummies; and the Werewolf Clan, which serves as hit men and enforcers. Jekyll & Hyde Inc., a fantasy… Continue reading Book Review by Seawriter: A Fresh Take on an Old Classic
It is 1923. Kitty Worthington, completing a year in a Swiss finishing school is, returning to England for her debut year as she turns 21. An unmarried young woman of the upper classes cannot travel alone, so she is accompanied by her very stuffy older brother Edward. Murder on the Golden Arrow, by Magda Alexander… Continue reading Book Review by Seawriter: A Return to the Golden Age of British Mystery
In 2010, the FBI rolled up a network of Russian spies living illegally and undercover in the United States. Press coverage focused on one spy captured, the exceedingly attractive Anna Chapman and they portrayed the illegals as a gang of inept klutzes, caught through their own carelessness. Spy Swap: The Humiliation of Russia’s Intelligence Services,… Continue reading Book Review by Seawriter: A Double Game with Double Agents
In January 1945 Major Donald J. Humphrey commanded a B-29 Superfortress. During a 1900-mile mission from India to bomb Singapore, his bomber was shot down over Malaya. Humphrey and four other members of the crew of Postville Express successfully parachuted out of the dying bomber. The rest of the crew failed to escape. 8 Miraculous Months… Continue reading Book Review by Seawriter: A Memoir of Endurance and Survival