Stephen GoldinRecensioni

F/SF

F/SF

I don't have the "final" edition, I've got the one from the 80's so that's what I read.

I thought Shrine of the Desert Mage was a lot of fun, so decided to try another book from Stephen Goldin. I wasn't disappointed. Like the other book, you can definitely tell this book was written in the 80's. There's a "brashness" to it that wouldn't go over as well today.

I thought the idea of "freezing soldiers" and then just bringing them out when needed, was both interesting and horrifying, and the results were definitely interesting and horrifying. Goldin didn't seem to hold back postulating about what the future would be like, and it was cool to see his imagination just running wild.

There is a lot of sex in the book, but most of it is not described. There is a single line about a rape (that's pretty shocking), but overall, it fits with the story and doesn't seem to be gratuitous.

Extremely TOS-style. Features very underdeveloped Klingons. Again.

Stereotypical characters and inconsistencies make this otherwise action-packed descriptive story a pain to read. I gave up half way through.
Story opens with Alain barely able to function because of not being able to block his telepathic reception, yet in just about every other scene in the book he is apparently untroubled by being in crowds or around others.
And then there is the obligatory (in old space operas) young uneducated nubile female who falls in love with him. That's the point where I stopped.
The last chapter does contain a good insight by the director of the government spy agency: "We ran around in circles, biting our own asses, playing games with life and death as though we were about the most important, most serious task in the universe. And what does it all come to?...I think we were all fools, so caught up in our own self-importance that we couldn't see the sense to anything."

This was kind of old school (which makes sense seeing as it was published in 1988), but still fun. It's a creative, fantasy romp with 3 main characters, a king, a storyteller and a thief. The setting is an alternate middle eastern with all the flavor and beauty that comes with that culture. Now we just have to hunt down the other books.½

Couldn't finish it--gave it the old "your age 1" pages (and I'm pretty old!) but it's not for me.

I don't mind that it's "fun" sf (I like fun!), it's that it was Stupid Writing. For instance, the protagonists are supposed to be the agency's 2 best spies. Except ... they've never worked in the field. And sorry, it doesn't matter how much talent one has, the New Kid is never going to be as good as someone more seasoned. It's irritating!

(Note: 5 stars = amazing, wonderful, 4 = very good book, 3 = decent read, 2 = disappointing, 1 = awful, just awful. I'm fairly good at picking for myself so end up with a lot of 4s).

A perfect mix of science fiction and a spy / adventure novel from the elder statesman of the space opera (E. E. "Doc" Smith) and his co-author (Stephen Goldin). The d'Alembert siblings, Yvette and Jules, are super secret special agents for the intergalactic government who also happen to be seasoned circus performers from a home planet with a higher gravity level that gives them super strength pretty much anywhere else. That's bad news for a highly organized criminal conspiracy on the gambling pleasure moon of Vesa where rich tourists are being systematically strangled, robbed, and disposed of. This has been going on for decades, but because of the huge numbers of tourists on Vesa, no one noticed until the wrong couple got caught in the web. Lots of action, some cool descriptions of the planet and it's people, and just a slight tinge of racism (you'd think sci-fi could get over that by the 70s but, no).½

This book was actually great. Classic science fiction adventure for older young adults - an interstellar journey in a mysterious alien craft. The style, written by a teen girl as a journal to her dead sister, worked surprisingly well - much better than I would have ever expected. Engaging and interesting.

Polly! is an original and creative story, and I was surprised to see it mirror my own views on God and organized religion. A man, down on his luck, stumbles across an amazing woman named Polly in her equally amazing house. It's a life-changing meeting. That said, the story was only mildly entertaining to me and didn't really grab my attention. I prefer sci-fi, fantasy, and paranormal types of fiction, so I don't know why I had such a lukewarm reaction to this story. I must say, though, that the story is generally well-written and was still worth reading. And from the other reviews, it seems to have struck a chord with other people.

I found this short novella well written and engaging. I thought the characters were simple but appropriate for the length of the story. I liked the ideas explored and the vagueness I initially felt was quickly sorted by realising that was intentional. There is nothing too complex going on and don't look to make this a deeply complicated read as you will be disappointed. However if you are commuting or waiting in a room it is perfect.

I would recommend this if you are "between books"

Much funnier than The Shack, but with the same apparent basic idea: that God is bigger than the restrictions that people and religions try to confine him with.
Herodotus Shapiro is at the end of his tether and out of ideas when he comes into contact with Polly who does many things and leaves him with a whole new perspective on his life and the realization that he is not the only one with problems, nor is God a Fairy Godfather.
Thanks to LibraryThing Giveaways for the opportunity to read this short book.

This story is definitely creative, well written and different then a lot of other stories and I did not find it offensive. It's not to be taken seriously although it does prove the old saying that there is always someone else who has it worse than you do. I have to admit that I did skim over some of the conversations between Rod and Polly as they did not hold my interest and started getting too deep for this type of book. All in all it was just OK for me; however, it got my attention enough that I will probably try another one of Mr. Goldin's books.

Stephen Goldin is a gifted writer and in Polly! he spins a tale that is a page turner. The story offers a man, who is quite down on his life due to recent events that have happened involving different aspects of his life, a different way to look at and approach his life, life challenges, and humankind after a chance meeting with Polly. His chance meeting with Polly and the adventures and people she exposes him to results in many of life’s questions, some of which you may even have asked. Please read to see if some of your life questions are addressed, and the importance of people (and maybe you) doing kind deeds (mitzvahs), expecting nothing in return.

This just isn't the kind of science fiction that I like. I had heard of "space opera" and didn't know what that means. I just looked up a definition in the dictionary: "a novel, movie, or television program set in outer space, typically of a simplistic and melodramatic nature." That describes what this book was like to me. The simplistic style with lack of character depth along with the melodramatic nature of everything that happens doesn't appeal to me.

Yes it is dated but it's not a bad read. I enjoyed it anyway.

A good, honest Sci-Fi fun read but I think I could soon get bored of these crime fighting siblings. I think the next two on my shelf will remain untouched for a while.

Wow! Just one more chapter…

As a child, I loved the Tales of the Arabian Nights, of djinns and wizards, clever thieves and maidens-in-peril. The Parsina Saga has that same feel of exotic landscapes and ordinary people caught up in the clash between ancient good vs. evil. I could smell the spices and feel their exhaustion as they stumbled through desert heat, cheered for the characters who jumped right off the page, and found myself staying up late into the night to read 'just one more chapter' like Sheherezade's mad sultan.

What was most interesting about this series is the fact it's not your same old boring re-hash of Lord of the Rings (which, let's face it, while we all love it, does every … single … epic fantasy series really need to be set in a medieval world?) I found myself running to the computer to google exotic words such as caravansary which, while I understood perfectly in context of the story was a camel-stable, I just -had- to find out if such a thing existed in real life (they did). Of course then I fell down the Wikipedia rabbit hole to learn about djinns and the ancient caravan routes. Some of the ruins of these caravan-cities were beautiful (google Qalaat al-Madiq). After reading this series, I could picture what they must have looked like in their heyday.

While the length and worldbuilding in this series was excellent for a hard-core epic fantasy doorstopper fan like me, I would feel very comfortable giving these books to my teenage daughters to read. Fingers crossed: maybe THEY will fall down the Wikipedia rabbit hole as well. There is a nice blend of characters of different ages, genders, backgrounds and personalities that there is something for everybody. I think I learned more about the history and geography of the Middle East than in two semesters of World History classes.

My only criticism is the first chapter starts out with an 'old style' history of the city from an omniscient narrator. I'm an action-oriented reader, so I was a lot happier once I got into the head of the characters and started seeing the city through their eyes. Once there, I was absolutely hooked through the next 1,000+ pages of epic goodness.

This book sounded pretty good at first and read pretty well at first, but then it simply just degenerated into smut, so I gave up in disgust midway through and didn't finish it.

Birk Aaland is a world class scientist who invents an awesome new space ship engine that revolutionizes space travel and he becomes wealthy and famous. Then, a military dictator takes over and starts purging Earth of undesirables. He imprisons, tortures, and murders millions. Birk is stupid enough to speak out, thinking that his fame will protect him, and he soon joins the other political prisoners. His beautiful wife divorces him, his colleagues lie about him, he is sentenced and tortured and doesn't know when he's going to be executed. However, this dictator has filled up so many Earth prisons, that he has to start shipping prisoners off planet to colony worlds, so Birk is loaded on a ship with other prisoners and they take off. And they mutiny and take over the ship, but take some damage. Birk is the only one who knows how to fly, so they fly seeking a suitable planet to land on and finally he flies into a huge gas cloud in desperation and spots an unmapped, perfect planet. However, he doesn't know how to land and crashes the ship. He's the only survivor. He wakes to find he was saved by robots and the world is fully developed and full of functioning robots, but empty of its previous civilization, whom he begins to refer to as the Makers, a warlike alien race, long gone. And so he spends 11 years there, exploring and basically enjoying his solitude.

However, we learn early on he's horny as hell and masturbates frequently. Even the robots joke with him about it. He wants a woman, preferably one who looks like and reminds him of his ex-wife. So, his life is uprooted one day when a new space ship crash lands on the planet. The robots rush to the crash site, while he has ambivalent feelings. What if they're looking for him? What if they're after him? He goes to the site and discovers that, sure enough, it's a military ship. There are six critically wounded survivors, two of whom are women. And so it begins.

One, a tall blonde, reminds him of his ex in his fantasies, so he begins masturbating while fantasizing about her. Three of the men die and then this woman dies. He's distraught because the remaining woman is Japanese and apparently Asians aren't nearly as attractive in his book. The robots come to him with a dilemma. Both of the remaining survivors are doing badly, but it's possible one could survive -- with organ transplants from the other. So he has to play God and decide who lives and who dies. And while he makes a big show about trying hard to decide, naturally he chooses the woman, because above all else, he wants to get laid and he's already begun fantasizing about having her as his sex slave, er mate, and is masturbating frantically to the fantasy.

Michi Nakamura survives. She awakes in a hospital surrounded by robots, confused, and wondering where the people are. Arthur, the robot boss, comes to talk to her and tells her there are people in charge and she'll see someone soon. But that's not good enough for her, so she escapes from her room and flees through the building, eventually locating Birk, where she tells him her colony world was invaded and it's imperative she reach Earth to warn them. He tells her she can't, she's stuck there and she pretty much loses it. And he loses it back. And then the book is full of them fighting and his continued stupid fantasies about her. When he sees her or even thinks about her, no matter how much he despises her, he gets an erection and wants to bone her. Honestly, I know many sci fi writers are perverts, but the only writer I've seen that's more sex obsessed than this one is Heinlein and he's a pervert of the first degree, beaten only by de Sade. I don't know whether Goldin himself is a sex starved maniac or just likes to create characters who are and I can buy someone who hasn't had sex with a woman in over a decade being horny, but every single thought and action surrounding this single woman has to involve sex? It's ridiculous! And Birk also acts like a spoiled brat, like a small child. He's got the emotional breakdown of a four year old. At first I kind of liked him and his explorations and interactions with the robots, but when he went to a dark city to have sex with a robot who, through somehow magically reading his thoughts and memories, could look and act like his ex-wife, I was just kind of repelled. And it just got worse. I don't know how this book ends. I suspect that they wind up fucking each other's brains out and loving it and they both escape this planet and make it back to Earth where she warns the government and he is granted a reprieve. But who knows? I do know that I don't want to continue reading this one track smut to find out. I'm no prude -- I've read de Sade -- but I don't like gratuitous sex just for the sake of turning horny teenage readers on. It's really quite stupid. This could have been a good book. Instead, I can't recommend it at all.

The Eternity Brigade is innovative, thought provoking, action packed, and horribly disturbing. Written in 1980, it follows the military career of an army man named Hawkeye and his friends, Green and Symington. After Vietnam, America gets involved in a big war in Africa that is apparently pretty brutal. The military, and I assume politicians, come up with a plan to cut costs while maintaining military preparedness: cryogenics. Roughly 100 "volunteers" are given a bonus and three weeks leave if they agree to be frozen cryogenically only to be unthawed at some point in the future to fight a future war when the time comes. Hawk and the other two decide to do it, with some reservations, and are frozen. Moments later, they're awoken and get out of their "coffins." They're shocked to discover it's been nearly 12 years! They've been unfrozen to help lead a new, untrained army against Chinese rebels and the Russians, while aiding the Chinese government, which they think is pretty odd. They win, go back to their base and are discharged and sent home. Before they were frozen, they had come up with the idea that if they pooled their money they'd be collecting while paid while frozen, they'd have enough to be rich and go into business together. To their surprise, money has been devalued and they're only worth about 40% of what they thought they'd be worth. They go to New York City and try to find work, but there's none to be had. People have changed, food has changed, they can't go to college on the GI bill because most colleges have shut down and the few remaining have incredibly high standards. They become disenchanted and decided to reenlist. More soldiers are doing it now, many more. This time they're frozen for 14 years. They don't age however. They fight another war. They leave the army again, only to find that the politicians have seized all of their assets while they were frozen and have taken their pay away from them. They're dead broke. So they reenlist. When they get back to base, they're given a new briefing about a new technology. It involves something other than cryogenics. Now, pictures can be taken of them, instantly putting their atoms into computers, storing them for as long as necessary, easier to transport, and able to put them back together again when it's time to fight again. They see taped demonstrations of this and even though they have misgivings, they decide to do it. After all, they have nothing to go home to in the real world. Instantly they're awakened, ready to fight another war. This one is with Russia. On the moon. And Hawk sees Green die. He's devastated. Until he finds out the next time around that Green and Symington, who also died, are both there, ready to fight. Now that they're computerized, they can always be brought back to life. They can never truly die. They're immortal, always ready to fight wars for whoever commands it. Countries change, alliances change, aliens appear, more worlds are discovered, wars are fought everywhere for hundreds of years and they all live and die a million times over. They're trapped, slaves of the system. They can never get away, never get their freedom. Until they land on one planet that's special. And something "wrong" happens to Green. Something that's never happened before. And all of a sudden, Hawk realizes there actually is a way out, a way to freedom, a way to end this nightmare existence of hell he's been living. And so he takes it. And it's pretty freaking awesome. But in the process of what transpires in this book, as Green brings up, what has happened to their souls? They no longer exist as humans. They're only a microchip. Do they even have souls anymore, if they ever did? Does God exist and if so, does he even care? This book takes a hard look at a number of things and the answer(s) it provides isn't always pretty and it portends some awful possibilities for our future. But there are ways out. There always are. This isn't the best book I've ever read, but it's quite good and it stretches one's mind. There's gratuitous sex, but that's probably more the result of the '70s sexual revolution during which it was written than anything. The violence isn't overly extreme. It's a short book, so it's a quick read. But it's a sobering book, so be prepared. Nonetheless, recommended.

Goldin created an interesting character in Jade. Computer-augmentation, a fierce intelligence, and years of military training have made her tough, nearly invincible in a fight. And yet, she lives in fear - fear of the past, fear of discovery, fear of other being hurt or betrayed. This makes her vulnerable in ways she doesn't see. It takes a rich businesswoman and a man with honor and nothing else to help her see herself for real. The book starts slow, it seems, with details about Jade waking up, getting dressed, eating breakfast. It seems like it would be boring, but it wasn't. I enjoyed reading about her life, her work, her character. Goldin put the same depth in his secondary characters - creating multiple alien species, as well as the two main secondary characters. The author is creative, to say the least. Plots and Pace are both good, with action, adventure, mystery, and emotion. But in the end, it's the character of Jade that kept me hooked. The books ends when several unanswered questions, but since there is a sequel, I expect to find the answers there.

I picked up the fifth in the series at a thrift shop, and it looked intriguing, so I purchased this first book for pennies online. It proved as amusing as I'd hoped. Written in the 1972, it has all you'd expect from a cheesy space opera. With lasers, flying cars, strange planets, gold lamé hot-pants, and villain with a goatee and red silk robes - hell, there are even communist! While the plot is somewhat predicable and far-fetched, it in no way detracts from the book. Action, humor, dastardly deeds, and heroic feats - this book has it all! I highly recommend if you are looking for a pleasing, light, read.½

I'm a sucker for a massive, galactic-spanning space opera that has everything but the kitchen sink in it (Star Wars anyone?), so when the tongue-in-cheek Tsar Wars came across my recommendation list, it was a given I'd snap it up.

I enjoyed this book far more than perhaps I should have. Galactic empires, political back-stabbing, genetically engineered secret agents, a princess-in-peril, and ... circus performers? Including a cameo with some otherworldly jaguar-like antagonists? Oooh! Yeah. This book hit a sweet spot that ain't been hit since Princess Leah kissed Luke Skywalker just before swinging across that yawning chasm and said 'good luck!'

Since when did it become not okay to just plain have FUN reading a book? With a happy ending? Why has everything become about some dark, tortured anti-hero? Can't heroes just be heroic because it's the right thing to do? If you enjoyed the light-hearted feel of the first three Star Wars movies (IV-VI)and lamented the loss of both characterization and feel-goodedness (is that even a word?) from the latter three prequels (I-III), then you'll enjoy this book immensely.

And oh, goody ... there are several more books in this series....

5 lightly-leaping space-faring circus tigers

I find organized religion to be deeply offensive to what I *KNOW*. Polly, however, tickled my funnybone, with a deeply irreverent take on God not seen since Alanis Morrissette played god in the movie Dogma. This story was like reading one of those funny, feel-good stories you find in Guideposts magazine, only instead of scripture, this story is hilariously blasphemous to the teeny-tiny confines organized religion has tried to place around so vast a being as God.

I can't tell you how many times I giggled as the protagonist (Herodotus ... or 'Hero') navigates his way out of personal tragedy into a Kafhaesque situation where you ask yourself if he died and went to heaven, hell, or some purgatory deeply reminiscent of the Twilight Zone. Polly is irrational and funny, and as she drags Hero in and out of various situations, it will lead you to a much more empowered viewpoint of the Dude Upstairs.

If you are a religious person who believes that God truly makes wagers with the devil and tells people to go slit their son's throats to make burnt offerings, then is NOT the book for you.

4 Perfect Points

Odd. A fairly conventional start, but the pervading sense of ethics throughout the book is suddenly twisted on its head at the end for no explicable reason which leaves an weird taste to the book.

In a universe where most of the humans subscribe to a belief in a gentle Mystic force, (somewhat akin to Gaia perhaps) the inhabitants of Euos are always seen as unusual, because they are atheists - they believe only in their own abilities. A female starship captain is also unusual. Together our heroine Dev has trouble finding work, and will take almost any paying job. A 5 month trading run to the backwaters of the Galaxy isn't optimal but at least it will pay the bills. Having her Boss along 'to see how she copes' is even worse, but again, he's paying, and she IS the captain and will enforce Captains's discipline if needed. One of their early points of call is complete uncivilised backwater where the aliens have progressed little beyond crude huts, however they have got as far as the concept of a Bar. Dev has to haul out two of her crew, when one of them loses any self restraint he ever possessed and starts insulting the locals' god. To the great surprise of the crew, the reaction is immediate, and the transgressing crewmember annihilated by lightening. Never has anyone ever in entire known space seen actual gods manifest action so decisively. Dev immediately realises that something else might be up. It is not difficult to [persuade her boss to investigate for the potential for riches is obvious. And so the Assault on the Gods begins.

Which was all fine. the characters a re a bit clunky, and the aliens somewhat unbelievable. But that Dev goes straight for a warlike option is hard to believe. That she goes for the ultimate option at the end is incredible. That she does so without any emotion whatsoever, just outright ludicrous. This is a shame because otherwise it had all been proceeding quite well. the underlying premise is soon discerned, and is substantial enough to hang the story around. There could have been a lot more discussion and other options conducted. Dev could at least have had some internal qualms - as occurs previously in many of the other scenarios - she conducts little monologues running through the precepts of her training and self reliance. But nothing just straight into wham. done. time to go home.

Readable - but the ending really didn't sit well with me.½