John Frederick BurkeRecensioni

I picked this up on a lark from Old Inlet Bookshop in Homer, AK. It is essentially a word-for-word episode adaptation of Gerry Anderson's 1970 TV series "UFO." As such, there isn't much to review. Instead, I'd recommend you stream the series instead -- the visuals are great (if not cheesy), the stilted dialogue is just wonderful, and you can't beat Gabrielle Drake in her off-duty Moonbase outfit!

If you want some very mindless entertainment, you can find the full PDF of the book (and its complementary second volume) on the UFO Series Homepage *ufoseries dot com."

https://fromtheheartofeurope.eu/moon-zero-two-by-john-burke/

The novelisation is by John Burke, author of over a hundred books (mostly novelisations and tie-ins), of which the best known is his treatment of the Beatles film A Hard Day’s Night. I was very pleasantly surprised. Where the film stuttered a bit in terns of style and tone, Burke has gone for a relentless noir vibe in the novelisation, which also enables him to smoothe over some of the awkward bits in the story. I thought it came across much better on the page than on screen.

4/25/22

First published in 1968.
What is the connection between a disappearance in 1913, a body discovered fifty years later, and a murdered man.
This book was okay, not really that interesting, the story or the characters or the writing style. It got the two stars because I finished it.
A NetGalley Book

The Ross Foundation wishes to recreate the living conditions of an ancestor from the Highlands of Scotland clearance programme
Got fed up with the rabid attitude of a character and the story was not that interesting.

One of the most suspenseful books I've read this year.Set in postwar London, ( in the vibrant jazz and big band scene )the denouement is set nonetheless in Germany. An absolute winner....

It looks to be a selection of humorous pieces about being on public transport in the USA.

When I picked up this mass-market paperback in a used book store, it looked like a cheesy contemporary occult thriller from the 1970s. I was mistaken, and the book amply exceeded my expectations for it. It is in fact a Victorian period piece featuring a stage magician who is a skeptical member of the Society for Psychical Research (SPR) along with an actually telepathic Welsh photographer. They meet in the rural village of Hexney, where the "Devil's footprints" of the title are a parapsychological manifestation and there's something sinister about the local traditions.

Although more contemporary in its pacing and voice, this book has distinct commonalities with Arthur Machen's better work (e.g. "The Shining Pyramid") and Dunsany's Blessing of Pan. A cinematic comparandum might be the original Wicker Man. It most reminded me of the later and longer novel by Ramsey Campbell The Hungry Moon.

The magician Doctor Caspian also turns out to be something of a kabbalist, having had some mystical initiation in Prague, although the emphasis on seven sephiroth was a little peculiar. (The narrator names only five: Kether, Chokmah, Binah, Hod, and Yesod.) A couple of chapters near the middle of the book detail Caspian's competition with and exposure of some mercenary Spiritualists in London; these events are mostly by way of character development, but they were a high point of the tale for me.

The photographer character is a woman who has taken on her father's intellectual pursuits, and she struck a note similar to that of the young Amelia Peabody in the mysteries by Elizabeth Peters. A significant arc of the book is the development of a romantic interest between the two protagonists. There are two sequels in which these two continue a joint career as "psychic investigators," awareness of which does take a bit of the tension out of the mortal peril into which this story puts them.

Some of the representations of metaphysical evil in this book show influence of yog-sothothery, but none of the telltale names of entities or tomes occur to subordinate it to that "mythos." All in all, it was a solid little novel of weird horror.

Science fiction meets the creative arts. Music figures highly in these stories and is an interesting journey into a largely unexplored aspect of future fiction. The stories are thought provoking but relatively low key (no pun intended). 10 May 2018½

John Burke wrote an intriguing and thrilling mystery that will have you guessing from the beginning. It undoubtedly provides a unique plot that will have even the reader questioning what they thought they knew as they try to figure things out along with Rachel.

The plot was well-written with a fast pace, credible and great story line that will rouse your interest as Burke unravels Rachel’s mystery with his very proficient talent. He has created some realistic and striking characters encasing their development in chilling and suspenseful twists.

We all know life is full of unexpected turns but Burke makes you seriously question the old phrase “truth will set you free” in this book especially when the truth could imprison you more.

A charming if unspectacular novelisation of the Beatles' first feature film, A Hard Day's Night. Alun Owen's adapted screenplay has some spice, and John Burke seems to be a talented writer who produces one or two flourishes of his own. As a bonus, it re-introduces Paul McCartney's solo scene, which was removed from the final cut of the film. Moving the perspective more towards the point-of-view of Grandfather McCartney (and occasionally Norm the road manager) also gives this short novel enough of a character to stand somewhat apart from its source material. That said, absent the music and the on-screen charisma of the Beatles themselves, this novelisation is only of limited merit, remaining only a pleasant curiosity for fans.

On Venus a student gives her professor a plant with strange properties...rather daft

On a post-holocaust Earth survivors have taken on the names of famous past people. 'Washington' though is the only black man to survive. Slightly surreal.

Efter att under en tid varit på jakt efter någon form av översikt över engelsk historia verkade An Illustrated History of England som ett hyfsat val: köpt på antikvariat, så rätt billig, något åldrad, men helt klart en översikt, utan utrymme för alltför stora spekulationer om varför till bekostnad av vad.

Visst kan man bli förundrad även över vad som anses historiskt; jag tvivlar på att en del av de där vackra fraser som citeras verkligen uttalats, och tror nog att man kan avfärda kung Arthur med större emfas. Bristen på utrymme gör också att det blir väldigt mycket kungar-och-krig (även om det i just Englands fall rätt ofta snarare är drottningar-och-krig, eller premiärministrar-och-krig), men det var jag beredd på – syftet med läsningen var att få en bättre känsla för vilka alla de där Georg och Edvard och Henrik var, och det fick jag.

Om man kan tala om någon tendens så är den väl konservativ: när någon recension av politiska insatser bibringas läsaren är den i allmänhet patriotisk och oförlåtande inför svaghet; när sovjetiska spioner avslöjas är det tydligen viktigt att meddela om de var homosexuella; när nittonhundratalets popmusik vid ett tillfälle vidrörs är Beatles väl att anse som acceptabla, men Rolling Stones är aggressiva och The Who är på gränsen till »vild nihilism« (författarens åsikter om senare tiders musik meddelas tyvärr aldrig ).

Rolig i all sin tunga pessimism är också avslutningen: i den meddelas att om någon faktiskt läser den så är det ett tecken på att jorden ännu inte gått under i ett stort kärnvapenkrig. Det känns på något sätt trösterikt; de bekymmer vi har är knappast föraktliga, men just atomvintern känns rätt avlägsen.

An Illustrated History of England är på intet sätt något mästerverk, men det var inte heller vad som eftersöktes. Som någorlunda koncis översikt över historien om det lilla öriket som blev världsimperium och sedan åter ett litet örike är den dock fullt acceptabel.½

This is a lovely book: it follows very closely upon the film script. Were the entire back catalogue of Dad's Army DVD's and films to be destroyed, this would bring that excellent band of comedy actors back to life.