Harold Flashman’s astonishing adventures begin in the early 1800s with his expulsion at age 17 from Rugby School (named after the town, not the sport) for drunkenness. It’s a bawdy, dark comedy that would never past muster in this politically correct era. The man is too much of a scoundrel, and his many sins include […]
The longer I explore steampunk, the more I discover new and interesting examples of the genre. I am always encountering new titles, some of which were written before the genre got its name. The late Ronald Clark’s novel Queen Victoria’s Bomb, published in 1969, is one of these. Though it lacks the stereotypical steampunk elements […]
In science fiction, I have my specific interests, such as steampunk and alternate history. I didn’t pay attention to annual awards until the “Sad Puppies” controversy* concerning the politicization of the Hugos arose in 2013. I heard about Scalzi due to his feud with right-wing sci-fi/fantasy author Vox Day regarding this movement. I’ve read several […]
Clockwork Imperium is a set of three stories by J. P. Medved set in an alternate history of the British Empire. All feature the same three characters, British soldiers Henry Emerson and James Billingsworth and their Sikh comrade Raheem Aranjapour. The author establishes their friendship in the prequel story, “The Great Curry Contest,” available for free […]
Recently I wrote a review of Volume 2 of Jerry Pournelle’s “There Will Be War.” The series began in the 1980’s and came to an end in 1990 when the Soviet Union fell. After 9/11/2001, however, it was apparent that Fukuyama was quite wrong about “The End of History.” Notwithstanding the continuance (and increase) in […]
In the early 1980’s, renowned sci-fi writer Jerry Pournelle compiled the first in a series of story collections with a military theme. For several years they came out regularly until the end of the Cold War seemed to make the series obsolete. Though I hadn’t been interested at the time, my interests have broadened since […]
