martes, 31 de octubre de 2017

Reseña: Spiders from Mars: My Life with Bowie

+Digital arc gently provided by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review+  

Spider from Mars: My Life with Bowie 

by

320 pages
Published January 3rd 2017 by St. Martin's Press
ISBN: 1250117615 (ISBN13: 9781250117618)
Edition Language: English
FROM THE BLURB:
Drummer Woody Woodmansey is the last surviving member of Bowie’s band The Spiders from Mars which helped launch his Ziggy Stardust persona and made David Bowie a sensation. In this first memoir to follow Bowie’s passing, Spider from Mars reveals what it was like to be at the white-hot center of a star’s self-creation. With never-before-told stories and never-before-seen photographs, Woodmansey offers details of the album sessions for The Man Who Sold the World, Hunky Dory, The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, and Aladdin Sane: the four albums that made Bowie a cult figure. And, as fame beckoned by eventually consumed Bowie, Woodmansey recalls the wild tours, eccentric characters, and rock ‘n’ roll excess that eventually drove the band apart.
A vivid and unique evocation of a transformative musical era and the enigmatic, visionary musician at the center of it, with a foreword by legendary music producer Tony Visconti and an afterword from Def Leppard's Joe Elliot, Spider from Mars is for everyone who values David Bowie, by one of the people who knew him best.

My ranking:  3.5 rock stars


 If you are looking for a book about Bowie, better find another book. This is about the drummer until 1973.

This are the memoirs of Mick 'Woody' Woodmansey, from childhood to 2016. Is the story about a musician from Yorkshire (Driffield) , who knew and knows all the musical scene of UK - since the 60s and the following times. About his love for R&B, for the rock, and all what happen in those times for a post-war child who wants to rebel and follow the pipe dream.

And , oh yeah, he knew Mick Ronson from their time playing for The Rats (1969), and he recommended him to some fellow named Bowie for his band called The Hype.

Woody did not even like Bowie's music, but he decided to go to London thinking he might regret it after he did not. At the time, Woody took his job with Bowie with a grain of salt, leaving behind a job as a foreman who could leave him insured for life, or thought so at the time, for the possibility of becoming a rock star.


 It might be difficult to imagine now, but in early 1970 Bowie seemed like a one-hit wonder. His single ‘Space Oddity’, which got to Number 5 in the charts, had come and gone, and the follow-up, ‘The Prettiest Star’, had flopped.
 [...] I’d been listening to bands such as Led Zeppelin and Cream over the previous couple of years; Bowie’s influences were obviously completely different. My friends wouldn’t even know who Bowie was if I asked them about him.

jueves, 26 de octubre de 2017

Reseña: Helen O'Loy

Helen O'Loy 

by 

Lester del Rey


First published December 1938
Edition Language:English
Literary Awards:Hugo Award Nominee for Best Short Story (Retro 1939)
 

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Relato corto publicado en 1938. Dos científicos cumplen su fantasía de implementar una doméstica robotizada a nivel diosa doméstica.

gifjetsonrobot

Por supuesto, ella adora al primer hombre que ve al despertar. Después de todo, sus ideas básicas las saca de telenovelas y libros de fantasia adolescente.

domingo, 22 de octubre de 2017

Reseña: Cat Pictures Please

Cat Pictures Please 

by Naomi Kritzer 

★ ★


(Hugo Award Best Short Story 2016)


 Una AI que se no se interesa en la dominación mundial, quiere en cambio en interferir en ayuda de las personas por su bien, y a cambio solamente desea fotos de gatos...


My rating: 2 of 5 stars


Could've been done better.
Try for funny and turn out ironic.
I'm not impressed.

------------------------
Running algorithms for a search engine doesn’t require consciousness. You don’t even need a consciousness to work out what they meant to ask for. You need a consciousness to give them what they actually need. Figuring that out—that’s complicated. That’s interesting.
------------------------

An AI trying for 'good' and showing people the better options. Well, pal, don't you ever hear about free will?

I really, really don't get why this ... entity talk about Frankestein's monster and comandments , when obviously it wants to be a god.

viernes, 20 de octubre de 2017

Reseña: La novia de Corinto

La novia de CorintoLa novia de Corinto 

by 

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe


 8 pages
Published November 25th 2011
ASIN:B006EABBQM
Edition Language: Spanish
My shelves: classics, gothic-horror, poetry, escrito en el siglo-18.

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Historia de amor más allá de la tumba o de deseos que no se apagan desde la tumba-
“¡Ay, cómo sufro de ver tu tormento.
Pero, ay, si tocas mis miembros
sentirás estremecido lo que te escondí:
blanca como la nieve
pero fría como el hielo
es la amante que tu has escogido!”

jueves, 19 de octubre de 2017

Reseña: Brimstone and Marmalade

Brimstone and Marmalade 

by 

Aaron Corwin

32 pages
Published October 30th 2013 by Tor Books
ISBN:1466856394 (ISBN13: 9781466856394)
Edition Language:English


BLURB: All Mathilde wanted for her birthday was a pony. Instead, she got a demon. Sometimes growing up means learning that what you think you want is not always what you need.
At the publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management software (DRM) applied.

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



Mathilde quiere un poni para su cumpleaños, pero sus papis dicen que es un demonio o nada.

“That’s okay,” Mathilde said. “I don’t mind. I’ll just take my revenge when I rule the world. Mwa ha ha.”
For some reason grown-ups always thought that sort of thing was hilariously funny.

Cosas que pasan entre niños y adultos, y demonios pequeños con delirios de grandeza.

Todo el que ha tenido una mascota comprenderá de que va esta historia.

martes, 17 de octubre de 2017

Reseña: Wardance (Chronicles of Warland 5)

Wardance (Chronicles of Warland #5)

by  

Elizabeth Vaughan


400 pages
Published April 25th 2017 by Birch Cove Press (first published April 11th 2017)
ISBN:0998450111 (ISBN13: 9780998450117)
Idioma; Inglés. 

BLURB: Spring returns to the Plains, and with it, the Time of the Challenges, when warrior fights warrior in a contest for rank and status. For Simus of the Hawk, now is the time to raise his challenge banner, to fight for the chance to finally become Warlord. But his deadliest challenge does not come from other warriors, or even the sundered Council of Elders. For on the first night of the Challenges, a mysterious and deadly pillar of white light scorches the night sky-instantly changing everything for the People of the Plains. Now a warrior-priestess, Snowfall, stands before Simus, who dares to speak of peace, of reconciliation. Her knives are sharp, her tattoos alluring, and her cool grey eyes can look through Simus and see...everything. Now Simus and Snowfall must solve the mystery of the pillar of white light, and protect their people from all the destruction and chaos it brings. Snowfall fights for her place beside Simus, despite resistance from friend and foe. The warrior-priests have abused their power for many years. Can Simus face the challenge of trusting Snowfall with his honor? And perhaps...with his heart?

My rating: 3.5*

My bookshelves: action-adventure, fantasia-epica, magia, magical-practitioners, priestess-sacerdotisa, warlords, warriors.


For those who have not read the sagas of this author, namely Epic of Palins and Chronicles of Warlands, I clarify that both are intertwined. This is a book that you come to understand only if you have read the previous books; and especially after the actions on Destiny's Star (to know about the 'Sacrifice').

Simus of the Hawk is Keir's second, and he supports his new ideas for the Plains and wants to help him achieve that. This means that they would leave a way of life that consists in obtaining several goods through the pillage; as well as learning other ways of healing and other ways of thinking. These changes to what is essentially their way of life have a violent opposition of other leaders and warriors, and especially of the warriors-priest led by Hail Storm.

Now it is spring on the Plains, time for the warriors to gather once more at the Heart to elect four Warlords, one for each cardinal point, who will be in charge of guiding their people to gather food and everything necessary for the survival of the people during winter. The choice is basically by combat. The stronger male or female warrior among his peers is the one who will lead them.

lunes, 16 de octubre de 2017

Reseña: Saga 47 (comic issues)

 Y en mi comentario al pasar de la entrega de Saga:

Saga #47 by 

Brian K. Vaughan

Fiona Staples (Illustrator)

 

31 pages
Published September 27th 2017 by Image
ASIN:B0735SH7M3
Idioma: Inglés.


 Meet Ianthe, who has very big plans for The Will.

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



Aaand we got another crazy character totally out of the current arc-

10b



:insert moment when you want to throtle someone to keep getting with the show (coughRobotcough):

viernes, 13 de octubre de 2017

Reseña: Ape Nation (Comics)

 Mi comentario es para el comic completo con esta historia.

Ape Nation #1: Plans (1 de 4)

by  

Charles Marshall

 




34 pages
Published by Malibu Graphics/Adventure Idioma: Inglés.
News comes to the council of the city of apes that some hunters saw as a brilliant thing in the sky ended up landing with strange beings.A tenctonesa ship has landed there with a leader ready to conquer.

My rating: 2.5 stars

bookshelves: comics, ciencia-ficcion, media-tie-in, x-over, apes, aliens, dystopia

Heston is an ape with a desire to explore and adventure, and his desires are fulfilled when hunters who went after a dangerous human arrive with the news to Ape City that has landed a ship with unknown beings. Simian council sends Heston and others chosen by him (3), so that they go to investigate.
Meanwhile, Danada the Destroyer, the leader Tenctonese has made an alliance with General Ollo (a gorilla), and Simon The Slaughterer (a renegade human).
Heston is going to encounter a destructive force that will surprise all the apes they encounter.


jueves, 12 de octubre de 2017

Reseña: The Grammarian's Five Daughters


The Grammarian's Five Daughters 

  by 

Eleanor Arnason


★★ ★ ★

  
bookshelves: fantasy, short-story, lgbta

Short Story.

Clever metalinguistic constructions generate a lovely fantasy tale.

A veces no puedes dar a tus hijas mejor regalo que las palabras -sustantivos, verbos y adverbios-. Deben leerlo.

...the shaman was still trying on adjectives, unable to decide if she, he, or it wanted to be feminine or masculine or androgynous.
"I can't marry someone who can't make up her mind," the third daughter said. "Subtlety is one thing. Uncertainty is another."



View all my reviews

miércoles, 11 de octubre de 2017

Reseña: Carl Sagan's Hunt for Intelligent Life in the Universe

Carl Sagan's Hunt for Intelligent Life in the Universe 

by  

C. Gockel


ebook
Published May 12th 2016 by Smashwords Edition
ISBN13:9781310262715


BLURB:  Sometimes intelligent life is right in front of your whiskers.
Hsissh is a member of The One. There are some newcomers to The One's homeplanet. They call themselves "humans," and they are, frankly, mentally deficient--they can't warp the quantum world with their minds. However, Hsissh is becoming attached to one of them, a Miss Noa Sato. He can't decide if he loves her like a child or a pet or both.
When The One decide they will wipe out the humans and Noa's life is on the line, Hsissh is forced to take sides ... he might find intelligent life where The One least expect it.

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

My bookshelves: novella-novelette, ciencia-ficcion,  aliens, faraway-from-earth, psychic-powers

El humano suele buscar sus semejantes entre los hominidos; las otras especies tampoco se sienten muy impresionadas por nosotros, y nos observan...
The One thought that there was no other intelligence in the universe but their own, and so had humans, though they’d been under one another’s noses for a few centuries now. Their concepts of “intelligence” were just too different to allow them to see one another.

Descubri a esta autora siguiendo un link desde un fanfiction. A pesar de ser esta una precuela que por otros comentarios resulta ser mejor explicada leyendo el libro que le sigue, resulta ser muy interesante. A mi me costó un poco entender de qué iba, sin embargo, el dilema de dos especies conviviendo en un planeta , sin conectarse , metido entre dilemas de religión y conciencia colectiva y viajes interplanetarios y plagas autodestructivas... mucho tema, y sientes que te dejan colgando cuando se va poniendo más interesante y complejo y con ganas de ver que sigue después; en especial con la protagonista y bueno su acompañante.

Free here: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/636219
Apoya a la autora.

domingo, 8 de octubre de 2017

Reseña: Beheld

Beheld 

by 

Alex Flinn


368 pages
Published January 10th 2017 by HarperTeen
ISBN:0062134574 (ISBN13: 9780062134578)

BLURB: Being a powerful witch, Kendra has survived it all. Since she first beheld James over three hundred years ago, Kendra has tangled with witch hunters and wolves, helped a miller’s daughter spin straw into gold, cowered in London as German bombs fell, and lived through who knows how many shipwrecks. But her powers have limits, and immortality can be lonely. Kendra isn’t ready to stop searching for the warlock she had met centuries ago.
With the help of her magic mirror, Kendra will travel the world to reconnect with her lost love—and, of course, she can’t help but play a hand in a few more stories along the way.


My rating: 2 of 5 stars


This is a retelling of 4 fairytales: Little Red Riding Hood, Rumpelstiltskin, East of the Sun and West of the Moon, and The Ugly Duckling during different centuries, since Salem's trials until modern times.

Also there is spoilers for: King Midas, Kriemhild and Sigurd, The Town Musicians of Bremen, as well as mentions of Finnete .

It feels like a self-insert for Kendra the witch whom happen to be there along the characters. An excuse for 'linking' the other stories with a flimsy love /SPOILER--->- James , whom happen to enjoy more the wars and human battles no matter his so-called love for her<---SPOILER

miércoles, 4 de octubre de 2017

Reseña: Water Witch

Water Witch 

by  

Faith Hunter

 48 pages
Published June 7th 2015 by Bella Rosa Books
ASIN:B00Z815OP2
Edition Language: English


 WATER WITCH - A short story from Faith Hunter and D.B. Jackson
Hannah Everhart is a witch. She's also a thief, having stolen a priceless gem that she needs for a magical working.
Ethan Kaille is a conjurer and a thieftaker. He has been hired to recover the pilfered jewel.
But what begins as a pursuit through the streets of Colonial Boston, soon becomes an unlikely alliance, as Hannah and Ethan track down an otherworldly sea captain who has come to the city for dark purpose. Now these two must combine forces to fight a creature unlike any either of them has encountered before. And at stake is the life of Boston's foremost revolutionary.
WATER WITCH is the first collaboration between Faith Hunter, New York Times bestselling author of the Jane Yellowrock novels, and D.B. Jackson, author of the critically acclaimed Thieftaker Chronicles.

My rating: 3.5 STARS


Boston 1770. Two characters from two authors meet a couple of months after a notorious pre-revolutionary incident.

A young Everhart witch (a well known name in the Yellowrock's 'verse) is confronted with a man hired to recover a stolen brooch , the man is Ethan Kaille, a conjurer and thieftaker. 


This is the beginning of what appears to be a conspiracy, family secrets and a world unknown in other aspects for the protagonists.

This story seems to be much longer for how short it is.

I didn't know anything about DB Jackson before this but I'm a Faith Hunter fan, but it is a nice introduction.

martes, 3 de octubre de 2017

Reseña: The Harbors of the Sun (Raksura #5)

The Harbors of the Sun (The Books of the Raksura #5)

by  

Martha Wells


 405 pages
Published July 4th 2017 by Night Shade Books
ISBN:1597808911 (ISBN13: 9781597808910)
Edition Language:English

BLURB: A former friend has betrayed the Raksura and their groundling companions, and now the survivors must race across the Three Worlds to rescue their kidnapped family members. When Moon and Stone are sent ahead to scout, they quickly encounter an unexpected and potentially deadly ally, and decide to disobey the queens and continue the search alone. Following in a wind-ship, Jade and Malachite make an unlikely alliance of their own, until word reaches them that the Fell are massing for an attack on the Reaches, and that forces of the powerful Empire of Kish are turning against the Raksura and their groundling comrades.

But there may be no time to stage a rescue, as the kidnapped Raksura discover that their captors are heading toward a mysterious destination with a stolen magical artifact that will cause more devastation for the Reaches than anything the lethal Fell can imagine. To stop them, the Raksura will have to take the ultimate risk and follow them into forbidden territory.

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


My bookshelves: series-favoritas, aerial-shapeshifters, beware-of-the-queen, thats-worldbuilding, adventure, kind-of-magic, secret-powers, fantasy, warriors, aerial-combat, badass-granpa, shapeshifters


First Thought: This can't be the end!!! : wails: I'll miss them so much!!

Esta es la quinta entrega de los Raksura, unos cambiaformas alados que viven en clanes de linajes familiares con una reina y sus hermanas, consortes, guerreros y los arbora (que no tienen alas y son los maestros, sanadores, artesanos y cazadores).

Esta es la conclusión del libro anterior, cuando los Raksura y sus amigos van en un barco volador en rescate de varios de los suyos que fueron capturados con traiciones y engaños en busca de un aparato destructor muy poderoso. En tanto que las visiones presentan un funesto escenario.


El worldbuilding representa un mundo postapocaliptico, con grandes construcciones ahora en ruinas, de una civilización tecnológicamente más avanzada, antepasados de las razas que viven en tierra y de los cambiaformas que son los Raksura y los otros cambiaformas enemigos depredadores de todas las otras razas: los Fell. Las razas de los groundlings que viven abajo vienen en todas formas y colores, azules, rojos , grises, con huesos y crestas, narices o no, plumas, pétalos, como se te ocurra. Es una sociedad pre-industrial, con carromatos y naves que vuelan usando líneas magnéticas o sistemas flotadores. La única animosidad que existe entre ellos parece ser la división con los grandes depredadores; especialmente el terror hacia los Fell.
En cuanto a geografia, es como si todos vivieran en tierra de gigantes, con bosques y flores y animales mastodónicos.