Behind the Throne by Martin J. Dougherty
is a nice bit of epic fantasy by an author with the good taste to play Traveller.
Wow! Don't try this one in one sitting. Neal Stephenson skips from the math describing WWII cryptography to action, and then to late 20th Century cutthroat business dealings. Cryptonomicon is great reading, but at just short of a thousand pages, a lot of reading.
This is a typical bit of prose from the book, It takes placeright after the author spends several pages describing the basic math behind the Enigma code machine.
The only other thing he notices about them,before he gives up and slinks back into the cargo hold, is that they are fucking armed to the teeth. Like they were expecting to have to kill twenty or thirty people on their way from the airplane to the latrine and back. Bobby Shaftoe has met a few of these paranoid types during his tour, and he doesn't like them very much. That whole mindset reminds him too much of Guadalcanal.
He finds a place on the floor next to the body of PFC Gerald Hottand stretches out. The teeny revolver in his waistband makes it impossible for him to lie on his back, so he takes it out and pockets it. This only transfers the center of discomfort to the Marine Raider stiletto holstered invisibly between his shoulder blades. He realizes that he is going to have to curl up on his side,which doesn't work because on one side he has a standard-issue Colt semiautomatic,which he doesn't trust, and on the other, his own six-shooter from home,which he does. So he has to find places to stash those, along with the various ammo clips, speedloaders, and maintenance supplies that go with them. The V-44 "Gung Ho" jungle-clearing, coconut-splitting, and Nip-decapitating knife,strapped to the outside of his lower leg,also has to be removed, as does the derringer that he keeps on the other leg for balance. The only thing that stays with him are the grenades in his front pockets, since he doesn't plan to lie down on his stomach.
Richard Morgan has a new series out. The main character, an Envoy named Takeshi Kovacs, is not your typical Knight in Shining Armor...
Very high on the cool list is the television program Babylon 5. A five season show with an overlying story arc and great characters.
Season one is out on DVD
Season two on DVD
Buckaroo Banzai is back in print!
Except no lard-ass subsitutes, Fahrenheit 451, by Rad Bradbury
Eclipse's Good Reading Click here to get out of a frame.
Good Tunes