Book Review: Baker Street Beat

Baker Street Beat is an entertaining collection of short essays, stories and screenplays by Dan Andriacco, a self confessed Sherlock Holmes aficionado (he admits as much in his introduction so it hardly takes a Sherlockian level of genius to work this out) and covering the author’s own experiences and knowledge of the world of Holmes.

When faced with the term ‘essay’ one is put instantly in dread of dry, academic tracts with no inherent entertainment. 

However, in this case the fear is unfounded. 

Book Review: Watson's Afghan Adventure

One of the enduring mysteries of the Sherlock Holmes canon is how Dr. Watson came to become injured. Anyone who reads the original tales is aware that he was an army Doctor, that he served in Afghanistan* and that he took bullets from a jezail to the leg and shoulder. 

The specifics of his service are not covered in any more detail than that, mainly because Watson’s narrative is focussed on the current exploits of Holmes rather than his own past.

The concept behind this book was therefore intriguing to me as, in whatever medium Holmes is seen, I have always had a soft spot for good old Doctor Watson and always wondered about the story behind his wounds. This book delivers that tale as Watson, following a mysterious visit from an old army buddy, is called upon to relate it to Holmes in order to explain some discrepancies noted in the previous telling. 

Book Review: The Snake Den (The Shadow & Ink Series #2)

Is she crazy?

Perhaps she is, but maybe Corbin is finally seeing things as they truly are for the very first time and has begun to realize what the voice she hears has in store for her in this second book of The Shadow and Ink series by Nikki Rae.

We delve right back into the complicated life of Corbin as well as getting to learn a little more about Six, the mysterious creature that has integrated himself firmly into Corbin's very existence after being nothing more than a voice in her own head.

Book Review: Doctor Who- The Annual Years by Paul Magrs

Nostalgia and Doctor Who go hand in hand, which is almost second nature for any creation that has stood the test of time the way this science fiction series has. As the world changes around it, it mirrors the current world and becomes part of our memories. A fondness develops around some of the most forgotten products and trappings of the series which older fans now recall being intertwined with a simpler time in their own lives.

The Doctor Who Annuals published by World Distributors from 1966 to 1986 are one great example of this, a merchandising tie-in that child of more than one generation might have found under the tree at Christmas.

Even I got a chance to experience the series first hand, even though it was right at the very end of the original Annual run with the 1986 Annual which I poured over for clues about the sixth Doctor's persona as The Twin Dilemma was not shown directly after The Caves of Androzani in some areas in the United States.

Book Review: A Clockwork Orange

Enduring the effects of time is something that everything in the world must endure. As an object or even an idea gets older, it's relevance lessens as it falls ever backward into the deep tunnel that is time.

But at times, an artistic endeavor or idea can be so on target and tuned in to what we are as a society that it can seem timeless in both its effect and it's message.

Anthony Burgess' 1962 novella A Clockwork Orange is an example of such a piece. It's tone and situations having real impact and seemingly foreknowledge on the culture arising around us in modern times. The Book's subject matter of youths bent on a downward destructive path filled with sex and violence seems, although a bit extreme, a perfect comparison for what we see every day in the news, a youth culture quickly spinning into ignorance and stubborn hatred towards others.

Book Review:The Shark In the Park

Writing fiction for small children might seem to some like an easy outing for a writer, being that most books for children only have about one or two lines a page and are made up of fantastical and whimsical subject matter that does not have to follow some of the usual rules of writing a story, nor be as sophisticated as those for an older audience.

Like most tasks that seem easy from afar, the task of telling a story in such a short number of words is actually quite a feat, something that takes effort and extreme concentration. Engaging an adult reader in two hundred pages can be quite a task but imagine an author's burden when he writes for children. Not only must he craft a complete tale in a limited space but also hold the imagination and attention of a small child in a world filled with electronic distractions. 

Book Review: Lemon

Bumbling.

A word that can instantly brings a smile to your lips as there is a tradition here in fiction for the reluctant hero as a main character, especially when it comes to detective and spy stories. Inspector Clouseau and Austin Powers have made a career of it, taking the courage but not the danger out of the narrative, while still giving us all of the excitement and tension. It might even be said that these kinds of creations have more courage and a better connection to the average person as they are more realistic as to how many of us might feel about being involved in such predicaments.

Lemon, the first novel by Barnaby Eaton Jones is one example of this sub genre of spy and detective fiction, it weaves and wobbles it's way through a fast paced adventure that is sure to please any fan of fiction of the James Bond variety. It's main protagonist, Spencer Tracy is the perfect bumbling English loveable loser who just so happens to find himself in both the wrong and in some cases the right places at the perfect time to keep the story flowing and give the book a sense of fun and laugh out loud humor seldom seen this side of Douglas Adams.

Book Review: Water For Elephants

I have only ever been to one circus in my lifetime, on a school field trip many years ago. And although the majority of the memories of that event are now lost in the three decades plus that followed, I can still recall wondering where all the performers went after the show was over, I imagined them in my young mind sleeping in rows in the middle of the sawdust circle and atop the benches that served as seats for the patrons.

Decades later I have my answer after reading Water For Elephants, a book that really touched my heart on many levels. Not only is it a fine record of some of the conditions and lifestyles of circus performers and workers during the great depression, but it also a love story and a final chapter of a man's life that is brimming with emotional and exciting content that keeps you turning the pages to see what happens next to the crew of the Benzini Bros Circus.

Book Review: Stephen King's Cell

Fear and terror comes in many guises and forms, it's sheer force is hard wired into our animal bodies of old. But rather then getting our fix of fright through the danger our ancestors faced in daily life or listening to the legends of ghosts and monstrosity's passed down throughout time, modern man is forced to seek out his desire to be frightened in movies and books.

And no name says horror like Stephen King.

Ideal storyteller's have versatility and King has always had a knack for attacking various angles and genres, the better to keep us on our toes and sleeping with the bedroom lights on. Cell is a novel by King that almost seems like it would feel more at home in a darkened movie theater as it's visually gory style and graphic nature are the tricks employed by films of the horror genre, giving us a mixture of plot and visual madness that serve each other well, never making the other side of the coin seem too contrived or well tread.