This the most important book I’ve read all year—quite possibly, the most important book I’ve read since graduating from university in 2010. In some ways, it’s the antithesis of Saul Alinsky’s Rules for Radicals, or at least it provides a useful and practical counterpoint to it. In other ways, it’s a history of the parts …
Author Archives: onelowerlight
Short Story Roundup for November 2020
I think I’m going to turn these short story roundup posts into a monthly thing, rather than a weekly thing. I’m subscribed to just about every science fiction and fantasy podcast, and a bunch of ezines as well, but if the story doesn’t grab me (or the totally unnecessary political commentary from the editor/host puts …
Review: Anti Life by Allen Kuzara
I got to about the halfway mark of this one before I gave up on it. When I skipped to the end, though, it looked like the action picks up in the second half, so if none of my issues are problems for you, it may be worth checking out. First, I felt like there …
Review: Legend by David Gemmell
[This review originally appeared on my writing blog in July 2009.] This book was incredible. Magnificent. It made me think, it made me cry–it made me want to be a better man. David Gemmell examines issues and themes such as life, death, and love in ways that are as meaningful and honest as they are …
Short Story Roundup for November 14th
Hell to Pay by Mark Johnson I enjoyed this story about identity theft and a deal with the devil. If it was any longer, I probably would have found it tedious, but as a flash fiction piece it worked well, and definitely made me smile. You can listen to it here, at the Manawalker Studio’s …
Review: Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
DNF after the first chapter. Here’s why: Strike one: the book is aggressively atheistic. I’m fine with reading a book by an atheist or with an atheist’s general world view, but when the book explicitly states that there is no God and all religions are false, and beats you over the head with that message …
Water damage!
So I was reading The Fourth Turning by William Strausse and Neil Howe, and I made the mistake of leaving it on the pillow next to the baby while she was taking a nap. When she woke up, she grabbed it and started sucking on the corner of it, so now those pages are water …
November 12th Orem Library Trip
Took the family to the Orem library today. We’re making it a family tradition to go every Thursday, and so far it’s working out really well. Carried Princess Hiccup in the baby carrier, and while she didn’t sleep this time, she didn’t fuss much either. Here are the books I checked out: Children of Time …
Review: The Maze Runner by James Dashner
There were a lot of things I enjoyed about this book. It was very fast paced, had some interesting turns, and definitely had me rooting for the main character. It was also a fairly clean book, aside from the constant violence—but I never felt that the violence got too graphic. This is the kind of …
Welcome to 1001 Parsecs Books!
Hello, and welcome to my new book blog! I hope you find it interesting and useful. I launched this site a little over a year ago, but until now I’ve only put up landing pages for the books I share in my author newsletter. I’ve decided to expand it, though, because I want to make …