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I just finished another book by Eric Flint and I enjoyed it just as much as the others I've read.
It continues the saga of the citizens of Grantville, WV which was moved from the current time back to 1632. The story picks up the main stories from where they were left in the 1633 novel.
Mike Stearns is still the Prime Minister of the United States of Europe.
The King of Sweden is still the Emperor of the United States of Europe and is still under seige by the French, English, Spanish, and Danish.
Mike Stearns' wife Becky is still stuck in Amsterdam by the Spanish seige.
Eddie Cantrell is still a prisoner of war in Denmark.
Rita and Tom Simpson are still held in the Tower of London.
The iron clads and timber clads have to make it up the river to lift the seige at Leubeck. Some of the German Princes are still making it difficult to get the new ships where they need to go. Scuba gear is stolen and the King of Denmark is experimenting with deep diving suits as well as mining the entrance to the harbor and testing torpedos.
It is a very good book and I really enjoyed it.
It's been much too long since I wrote in my blog, and I apologize for my inattention. I've been trying to find ways to generate income on the internet, and I got tunnel vision. There is no excuse, but I'll let you know what's been going on in my life.
The past year has been very interesting. If you've heard that Chinese curse that wishes you interesting times, well that has been the story of my life for the past year. I could use a little boring.
At the end of October last year my husband's osteoarthritis and degenerative disc disease made it impossible for him to work. I have my own health problems that make it pretty much impossible for me to work outside the home. We've been working with the local Job Store and at first I was going to try to find something I could do as an employee, but that wasn't working out, so I started looking on the internet for ways to generate income.
When I had an appointment with a gentleman that works with people with disabilities to start their own businesses, he pointed out all the reasons why what I was doing wasn't making any income, and that I needed to find something that would actually make money. Well, I kind of went into a tailspin because I had no idea what I wanted to do. I kind of jumped on the idea of desktop publishing, but I'm not sure that it will work for me, and I just kind of let everything go.
Well, I'm back and eager to get going. Still don't know what I want to do to actually make money, but I know I want to keep on with affiliate marketing and blogging.
My next post will be back on subject.
Dale L. Edwards
September 29th 2006 03:26
Ann McCaffrey carries on her story of the Talented in this sequel continuing the story started in To Ride Pegasus. This story begins many years after the Talented first discovered the Goosegg that proved the existence of telepathy and other powers of the mind. Dorotea, that baby gifted with the ability to determine if applicants actually had Talent, is a grandmother. Rhyssa Owen is the head of the Eastern Paraspychic Center.
Peter Reidinger is a young man with a lot of Talent. Paralized by the fall of a wall, Peter is able to tap into the hospital's generators to make midnight journeys to the grounds of the Center, not physically, but mentally. The talents find him and Dorotea takes him into her home. He quickly learns to use generators to move and do most things that require movement. He just has a tendency to float above the floor instead of standing on it.
In another part of the city another young talent is living hand to mouth, using her talent to keep herself fed and out of the hands of the criminal element. Her talent is languages. She can understand and speak any language after she hears a few words of the new language. She also ends up in Dorotea's home.
The world is so crowded that the authorities are trying to build a very large space station as the first step to reaching the stars. The woman in charge of the station is arrogant, dishonest, and generally impossible to work with. She forces the talents into space without the proper shields for their quarters, but the talents are needed up there to prevent so many deaths among the laborers on the space station. There is also the problem of getting supplies up to the station on time, which the talents are able to solve.
Another book that I've read many times and want to read again.
September 18th 2006 13:42
I really enjoy Eric Flint's series about a piece of West Virginia transferred to 1632 into the middle of the 100 Years War. The story opens with a wedding in the small town of Grantsville, WV. Mike Stearns' sister is getting married to the son of wealthy parents who don't approve of their son's choice of wife.
During the reception, a bright light blinds everybody for a second and the electricity and phone no longer work. Mike is the President of the UMWA, and the members of the Union and the local police chief set out to check out what happened
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September 16th 2006 23:29
To Ride Pegasus by Ann McCaffrey consists of short stories written over several years all dealing with the Talents. Talents are people with extra abilities.
The book starts with Henry Darrow, astrologer and precognitive, involved in an accident that he should have forseen. While in the hospital, a new brainwave machine was used to monitor Henry. Molly, a healer and nurse, realizes there's something different with Henry's strip from the machine. With this machine they could prove the existance of extra abilities that most people scoffed at
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September 10th 2006 17:48
My favorite series by L. E. Modesitt, Jr. is the Spellsong Cycle. I bought the Soprano Sorceress because I liked other books Modesitt wrote and it was on sale. I'm rather cheap. It was a hardback selling for less than a paperback, and the premise sounded interesting.
The series starts with Anna feeling out of sorts and very tired of the life she was living at that time. She wishes she could be anywhere but where she was at that moment. The next thing she knows she's staring at 2 people dressed in strange clothing and speaking strangely. All the people in that world insist she's a sorceress, but she doesn't believe them at first. Learning by trial and error, Anna doesn't realize there are rules to the magic she's using that she, unknowing, has broken. Many of the rulers in the lands that are enemies of Defalk, her adopted land, tried to kill her. Even the conquerer of her adopted land used her to defend Defalk and then wanted to kill her after she defeated a huge army. However, she killed him first and took over the country. This isn't the end of the first book, but I don't want to spoil the book for you.
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September 10th 2006 01:02
An alternate universe novel explores what our world might be like if an important event in history was changed or didn't happen. What would our world be like if Germany, Italy, and Japan won WWII? What if Columbus didn't discover America? If you give any writer an assignment and tell them they have to write about, let's say the Crusades, and change the outcome of this event for their story, every story would be different. This is what I find so fascinating about these stories.
Andre Norton wrote the first alternate universe story I read. In fact, she wrote the first SciFi book I ever read. She introduced me to SciFi and I still read and enjoy SciFi and Fantasy. I'm always looking for new authors to enjoy. I hope you'll share with me the authors you've read and liked. I'm hoping to have a discussion about the authors and their books.
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Comments (5)
Comment by dalelynn21
on How To Deal With Trouble
Alternate Universe Authors and Their Books
Very ingenious. That's a good story. Kids do the darndest things.
We went to the Grand Canyon when our children were 13, 6, 4, 2, and 2 months. We, of course stopped and got out to look at the big hole in the ground, and the 6 year old, our oldest son, ran straight to the fence that was supposed to protect him from the drop off, and started to climb. The next two youngest were running that way when my husband grabbed 2 and I grabbed 1 and threw them back into the car and left.
If I had thought about it, we wouldn't have stopped, because that was typical of that child.