Crazy Antics and Dreams

Book Review – Long Journey to Rneadal

July 30, 2009 at 7:00 am | as seen at http://axiomsedge.wordpress.com/ 

By Sam Christopher

 A little while ago a couple of authors came to this site and posted in our Comments section, taking the opportunity to also advertise their books. At first I thought it was cheesy but then I realized that it was pretty unobtrusive, and that this site is partially here for the purpose of adding to the interest in Science Fiction that all of our staffers and, presumably, our readers share. So I decided to go them a step further and offer them a review of their works, with the idea that (hopefully) more people would read a review than read the comments made in our blog entries. This is the first of those reviews looking at Long Journey to Rneadal by Sharon E. Dreyer. Now, I’ve decided to make these reviews without a rating because the authors are new and I’m assuming are working mostly alone without the benefit of an editor.

First, the positive. This book starts off pretty well. The opening is fairly straightforward and interesting, with an explanation of the Affiliation and Tricanorian Empire (the Tricks, as they are known in everyday Affiliation language) and their relationship and a good introduction to both the crew of the Star Cruiser RELENTLESS and Dr. J.L. Hunter. Some of the sections with the unidentified (at the time) woman having bad dreams are well done and build a sense of suspense that really has the reader wanting to know more. The first meeting between Captain Jake Granger of the RELENTLESS and Dr. Hunter is actually extremely well done and was fun to read as this mysterious woman just boards the ship, does whatever she feels like, and then leaves, all with ship’s security apparently hanging all over her. Sure, some of the dialogue was a little on the clunky side but I used to read critics saying the same thing about Babylon 5, and that was one of the two or three best running science fiction shows ever in my mind. And, speaking of dialogue, later in the book there is quite a bit of discussion between married couples and their close associates and some of that is positively Heinleinian as you read it, especially echoing some of his earlier novels. Also, the ostensible main story, that of Dr. Hunter having to travel to Rneadal (pronounced “Na-dal”, by the way), isn’t bad, either. It’s fairly classic sf, all about royal family obligations and the like, but it’s still not a bad idea if handled correctly.

Before we get to the negatives I’d like to take a brief intermission to say that I never really paid enough attention, I guess, to “Acknowledgements” in books. In there the authors almost invariably thank their editor. It really never occurred to me they were doing anything more than being nice. When it came to writing, I’ve read Isaac Asimov describe how he wrote, and Harlan Ellison write about how he writes all of the time. Asimov said once that he always thought he was the greatest thing ever because he wrote his stories out twice, the second time just to smooth out kinks he found in the first draft and correct spelling, until he boasted of that to Robert Heinlein, who, according to Asimov, wondered why Asimov couldn’t just get it right the first time. The point is, having never had anything published, it didn’t occur to me how valuable a good editor could be until I read this book.

So, now to the negatives. Whereas the aforementioned nightmare sequences are effective early on, there are entirely too many of them; they just wear the reader down after awhile. That, plus the fact there are no chapter breaks (plus something else we’ll get to in the next paragraph) just, as I said, wears the reader down over time. And then there’s the reason for the trip to Rneadal: it’s never really fleshed out why everyone around Dr. Hunter feels it’s so imperative she go. I understand why she thinks she needs to go, and I can make the leap as to why it’s so ingrained in her that she must, even though logically there is no reason she should feel so strongly about it. More, the action itself on Rneadal feels too short and vague and kind of lame for the amount of time it takes the reader to get there. It almost seems like the author spent so much energy on building up to the trip and its consequences that by the time the main event arrived she had nothing left to give.

But the real problem with the novel, to my mind, is that the author fell in love with the character of Dr. Jessica Layne Hunter. Jessi can simply do no wrong, other than push herself to work too hard. She’s telepathic, telekinetic, can tame any animal on sight, can tame any child on sight (a much harder feat from what I’ve seen). At the age of eight (or thereabouts) she was foiling Trick plans in the war between the Tricanorians and the Affiliation. She’s the greatest negotiator and gambler who’s ever lived, has several identities under which she works, is the most brilliant scientist in the Affiliation, and its richest person. There are just way too many times when everyone around her is “amazed” or “astounded by” or “marveled at” something she’s done or is doing. Basically, she’s Guinan from Star Trek: The Next Generation; with her along, why should anyone else be there and why should they do anything. Too many vignettes about how wonderful Jessi is drag out the novel way beyond where it should have ended, and this is where I believe a good editor would have come in most handy. A good editor could have curbed the author’s excesses here and made this a better story all the way around, giving the author more energy and space at the end to give the reader a more satisfying conclusion to what was supposed to be the main story.

When I asked for these works I braced for the worst. They were from unknowns, they were published by a so-called “vanity press”, but I found that, while this book had its problems, it was better than the TNG novel Grounded. Much better, in fact. It says on the back of this book that Ms. Dreyer has begun another novel, and I can honestly say I would give it a try.

Long Journey to Rneadal is available at: www.amazon.com, www.bn.com, www.borders.com

Too HOT to Leave Home!

Okay, so here’s how it’s been lately. The late afternoon temperatures have been at least 100º and has gotten as high as 105º or more! You really can cook an egg on the sidewalk with these temperatures! Since the summer heat and I do not get along well, I try to do errands in the early mornings so I’m not in and out of a car that has been sitting in the sun for any length of time. Unfortunately for me, I was out and about to doctors’ appointments the other day. These little trips in the south Texas heat gave me a massive case of heat rash! How bad is it? I’m covered in this itching burning red rash over most of my body and this includes the palms of my hands! I never knew you could have a rash on your palms. Needless to say, I AM staying in the air conditioning for the next several days.

Spin the Wheel . . . You’re a Winner!

Step right up and spin the wheel! At the BookExpo America on opening day, May 28, 2009, I stopped at the Authors and Experts booth to speak with their representatives. Authors and Experts had a wheel with different prizes for the winning. Feeling lucky, I took my turn at the wheel. Fortunately for me, I won a featured ad on the Authors and Experts web site. Check out their web site and my ad at: www.authorsandexperts.com. Whoop!

 

New York City – Book Expo America – May 29-31, 2009

Okay, so this San Antonio native traveled to the big city of New York for the BookExpo America! While this was my first visit to the Big Apple, San Antonio, Texas is still my home! Now I’ve traveled to Europe and Rome, Italy was, up until now, the largest city I’ve ever visited. Simply put, there is way too much to see in New York City that five days cannot allow for a thorough tour. My daughter and I did manage to cram as much sightseeing in as possible.

Day 1 - Thursday: We spent an extra two hours at the Houston airport waiting for approval for  our flight to leave for New York City. The entire NYC area was socked-in with rain and low cloud coverage. After arriving at our hotel, we took a walk-about in Times Square. Very interesting and VERY crowded!

Day 2 - Friday: The first day of the BEA was Friday, May 29, 2009, and was said to be the least crowded day (HA!), we took a taxi and spent most of the day visiting the tables and  booths of the publishers, book buyers, sellers, marketers that were showing off their wares. In addition, there were numerous authors signing and promoting their books. For the first time, I was able to meet the people representing the AEG Publishing Group. Eloquent Books, my publisher, is a subsidiary of the AEG Publishing Group. I can’t express how nice it was to finally put a face to the people I’ve worked with via the internet. By the way, we picked up a dozen or so goodie bags, ballpoint pens, book marks, key rings, brochures, and advance copy books. By the time we ran out of energy, we were each carrying about twenty pounds of books! (My shoulder is still sore!) Our day ended with the Broadway musical, The Lion King. We’ve seen several plays and musicals, and this is one that should be seen again!

Day 3 - Saturday: While I was sore from all of the walking and carrying heavy loads, we took a three-hour harbor tour on the Circle-Line Sightseeing Cruise Boat at 42^nd Street. The weather was glorious and the best part was that we were able sit for most of the tour! As we waited to board the boat, I kept hearing the theme song from Gilligan’s Island in the back of my brain. Another great aspect of the cruise was that we were able to take great photos of the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, and about twenty bridges including the Brooklyn Bridge. After the cruise, we walked to the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center to visit the BEA one more time. After lunch, we took a three-hour bus tour of Manhattan Island followed by a nighttime three-hour bus tour of Manhattan Island.

Day 4 - Sunday: The day began with Mass at Saint Patrick’s Cathedral. What a beautiful Cathedral! Saint Patrick’s is more beautiful than some of the glorious basilicas in Europe. We walked, and walked, and walked before taking a carriage tour of Central Park. Then we walked some more! Although it was exhausting, it was well worth the effort!

Day 5 - Monday: We arrived early at the airport and were fortunate not to have any delays during our return to Texas. There’s no place like home!

And the file cabinet came falling down!

Long ago in an office that I once entered from time to time, this painful antic occurred. The offices of the asset managers contained solid oak furniture including several four drawer lateral file cabinets. The cabinets were very heavy oak and were able to handle the heavy files that were used on a daily basis.

One of our young asset managers was the guardian of real estate files that I used every day. The first time that I opened the top drawer of one of the cabinets in her office, I noticed that the cabinet rocked forward when the drawer was open. Since the cabinet was supposed to be stable and balanced, I closed the drawer and investigated the problem by opening the bottom drawer. To my dismay, the bottom two drawers were empty. The first thing I did was to inform the asset manager that she needed to rearrange her files. As incredible as it may sound, she informed me that it was easier to get the files out of the upper drawers than the bottom drawers. Apparently, she didn’t want to bend down every time she needed a file. Did I mention that she was a blonde? Also, she had all of her large black binders on top of the cabinet. After her explanation, I returned to my office to continue working.

Not more than a day later, I returned to her office to put some documents on her desk. Before I could turn to leave, the top-heavy cabinet fell forward and pinned me to the front of the desk. As if that wasn’t a bad enough situation, all of the black binders battered my head and shoulders. Being alone in the office and too stunned to shout for help, I was happy to see our mail clerk passing by the office. She sprang into action and went for assistance because she was too petite to lift the cabinet herself. The president of our company was the closest man in our offices so she ran to his door and ordered him to help. He was so stunned to be ordered by the clerk that he just sat at his desk looking at her in disbelief. When he didn’t jump up right away, she ordered him again in a slightly higher voice. Fortunately for me, he left his office and ran after the clerk. By this time our IT manager was walking into our offices and helped the president raise the cabinet off of me and back into place.

Once I was freed from my predicament, I could barely stand so I sat in the nearest chair and cried from the pain and the embarrassment. By that time the entire staff came to the office to find out what the excitement was all about. While they removed all of the files from the cabinet, I tried to compose myself. The funny thing is that my boss, a very nice man indeed, was on the telephone in the adjacent office. He told me that he heard a loud thump, but since he didn’t hear anyone scream he wasn’t concerned.

All in all, I survived this catastrophe; let’s just say that I was badly bruised over eighty-percent of my body. The only good thing that came out of this incident is that all of the cabinets in our offices were inspected for stability.

“Where everybody knows your name . . .”

There are definitely times when you wish that no one knew your name; there are too many of these times for me to list here. This incident jumps to the top of the list! While leaving work with another employee one evening, the elevator was soon crowded to capacity with “suits” and other executive types. For this trip from the seventh floor I was positioned in the front corner next to the elevator’s control panel. Unfortunately, the elevator stopped about an inch or more lower than the lobby floor. A couple of gentlemen made room for me to step out of the elevator first. Sadly, I must have been the only person in the elevator car who hadn’t noticed that the floor of the car wasn’t flush with the lobby’s ceramic tile floor. When I turned to step out, my foot caught on the lobby floor and I fell sideways out of the elevator and landed with my usual lack of gracefulness. The only person in the car that knew my name exclaimed loudly, “Sharon!” I’m not certain which was more embarrassing, falling out of the elevator car or knowing that all of the strangers in the car now knew my name – go figure!

A Sears Store, My Mom, Me, and Some Cashews

As a young teenager, I didn’t always enjoy going shopping with my Mom. On one sunny afternoon, my Mom insisted I tag along with her to the nearest Sears department store. Back then all of the Sears stores in our area had a candy counter where all sorts of delectable goodies were displayed as temptations for unwary shoppers. The smell of popcorn being popped in a theatre-style popper is one that still evokes memories of fresh hot buttered popcorn. This day was different when it was announced that a new shipment of cashews had just been roasted and salted. This was a temptation that my Mom couldn’t refuse so we headed to the candy counter at best possible speed. Mom purchased one pound of hot cashews. We munched on the delicious cashews all the while Mom shopped. When we returned home, less than a fourth of the cashews were left. It’s amazing how ill one can become after eating so many cashews! I can’t remember if we even told the rest of the family that we had consumed almost the entire pound of cashews, but it is a great memory all the same!

Fall Down, Go BOOM . . . again!

Well, folks, I ended 2008 with a boom instead of a bang. On the afternoon of December 28, 2008, I tripped and fell onto the tile floor. As usual, my face broke my fall. That afternoon I was at home alone and the television commercial where the elderly lady says, “Help! I’ve fallen and I can’t get up!” came to mind. As I struggled onto my knees, I soon found that my knees had hit the floor soon after my face and were very painful. By that time, blood covered my face and was dripping on the floor. Fortunately I was able to grab the small cushions from a footstool and used them to kneel on and ease myself to a standing position.

 

A glance in the mirror showed the aftermath of my clumsiness. There was a gash where my glasses cut the bridge of my nose; the inside of my upper lip was cut; my upper front two teeth felt loose; and blood was dripping from both nostrils. Now with all my various falls where my nose was the part of my body to hit first, this was the first time since I was five years old that my nose was a bloody mess.

 

As embarrassing as it is to fall on my face again, it was more so to call for a ride to the emergency room. After four hours in the crowded E.R. waiting room, I was released from the E.R. By the time I got home, both eyes and most of my nose were purple. Purple raccoon eyes are never a positive fashion statement. In addition, my upper lip was swollen and made me look like I’d been beaten with a baseball bat.

 

The following Wednesday I went to my E.N.T. and he confirmed that my nose hadn’t been broken. At last, some good news! I also went to a hand specialist and learned that I had a hairline fracture in my right hand. Unfortunately, I’m right-handed. Alas the bad news, my hand was put into a cast for four weeks. Having a cast on your dominant hand is bad enough, but when it also encases the ring finger and pinky is like adding insult to injury.

 

Needless to say, I haven’t spent much time on the computer. Hopefully, no more fall down, go boom!

 

P.E. Class Uniforms

During the summer of 1964, my Mom bought my new school uniforms for my freshman year in high school. The previous summer I had a growth spurt that added more than three inches to my height. In anticipation that I would continue to grow, Mom purchased my P.E. shirt and knee-length shorts a “little” larger so that she would not have buy another uniform if I were to continue to grow. Unfortunately, Mom’s plan backfired on me. Instead of growing out and around I continued to grow a bit taller and thinner. To prevent my shorts from falling down around my ankles I had to use diaper pins to keep my shorts on my waist. Even then I had to be careful that the oversized shorts didn’t slip below my hips when I was running laps. Believe me it is bad enough to be a clumsy adolescent, but the added embarrassment of baggy shorts is now funny to remember. Fortunately, I only had P.E. in my freshman and sophomore years. Once I no longer needed the shorts, I gave them to my Mom who was able to wear the shorts without diaper pins.

Homemade Cookies, Blackberry Wine, and Craps

One of things that my family did during the Christmas holidays was to visit our relatives. For the most part we visited the grandparents and several of my great aunts. The trip to Aunt D’s home was my favorite. Beginning the day after Thanksgiving, she would bake cookies in preparation for the Christmas holidays. My all time favorite cookie was a traditional German cookie made with anise that was a delight to the taste buds. In addition, we were able to enjoy the company of our cousins who were in town to visit their grandparents. My brother and cousin taught me to play dice games in the corner of my great aunt’s living room. One year when I was in high school I had a cold and felt bad. My dad gave me a small glass of blackberry wine. After I drank the wine, I felt better so I asked my father if I could have another glass. This time I filled the glass myself, but I switched glasses to a larger water glass. Let’s just say that I   really enjoyed playing dice with my brother and cousin. Once we went home I went to bed and happily slept in a wine-induced stupor. Sleep was a real benefit since I had coughed and sniffled for several nights in a row. Fortunately for me, my parents didn’t know about how much wine I had enjoyed and dad laughed when I told him how the wine had helped me to shrug off the cold.