Activity Update...

Podcasts:
There have been a couple of pocasts released that I have listened to and enjoyed since the last time I wrote on this blog.  Scott and Miles of the Scifi Diner Podcast released a Scifi Rewind of the movie, Galaxy Quest.  Scott describes this movie as a parody of Star Trek as opposed to being a satyr.  I did watch this film and sent in a comment.  At first, I thought that I wouldn't care for Galaxy Quest but ended up enjoying it.

If you haven't seen it, Galaxy quest is about a group of actors that starred in a television series that had been off the air for twenty years.  The actors were never really cast into new roles because they were stuck with the personas that they achieved while on that show.  So they were relegated to continually attending conventions to appease the cult following that their show created for them.  While at a convention, the "captain" of the cast, played by Tim Allen, was approached by what he thought were fans, but were actually members of an alien race who needed help in defeating an enemy.  The aliens had seen the broadcasts as they received them in their star system thinking they were actually historical accounts of factual events.  Before you know it, the entire cast is taken into space and do help the aliens defeat their nemesis.

Brea Grant

It really is a good movie and the Rewind is very good.  Scott and Miles are also joined for this Rewind by Colin of the Trek News and Views Podcast.  It is a great episode.

The Scifi Diner also released a Scifi Diner Classic episode which was their interview with Brea Grant of Dexter, Halloween II, Heroes, and We Will Bury You.  This is a great interview with and Grant is a good guest.

Speaking of Trek News and Views Colin is joined by Charlynn, Lorries, and Gwen in a review of the last episode of Star Trek the Original Series, Turnabout Intruder.  This is an episode where Kirk's personality is forcibly interchanged with a guest star who wants to be a Starfleet captain.  This is a very hilarious episode and I laughed all the way through it.  A fun listen.

Colin has also released another episode of Trek News that I haven't had a chance to listen to yet, and it is on the movie Star Trek: The Wrath Of Kahn.  Scott and Miles join him for this look at the iconic trek film.


Books and Television:
After Eleuthera, I went back to the ST: New Frontier series and read Missing in Action, the 16th book in the series by Peter David.and have since picked up with reading Edward of Planet Earth by Nicholas Eftimiades.  I am up to chapter five and have found this book quite amusing so far.  I will report back when I finish with this one.

I have also made it through about half of the old television series Earth 2, and continue to watch a second season episode of Fringe when I have a chance.

Well, that's about it for today.  In light of the Turnabout Intruder episode, a Twitter friend and fellow contributor to Colin's podcast, Renee,  pointed me to this video. It is from a 1991 short-lived Carol Burnette show and I have been laughing over this for a while.  Enjoy

Eleuthera (Novel by Ralph Ewig) and Some Sad News...

 Book Recommendation!  Outstanding Story!

While on my trip to Green Bay for the Christmas holiday, I finished reading Eleuthera, a novel by Ralph Ewig.  I very much enjoyed and recommend this book to anyone that enjoys Sci-Fi.  Here's a little about the story...

The story centers around two main characters, Rascor Griffin, Jump Pilot aboard the luxury star-liner Sanssouci.  The other character is Cerise Trenton, a young woman who was traumatized, involved in an accident, and suffering from a mild case of amnesia in which she is not able to completely remember the details of how she was traumatized until later in the story.

Other characters that appear during the story include Kris, the computer that runs the Sanssouci and interacts with the passengers and crew of the ship.  Alexander Trenton, father of Cerise and owner of the Sanssouci;  David Jadro, private secretary to Trenton; BlueEyes, a Reaper and protector of Griffin and Cerise; and Jyn, an android protector of Griffin and Cerise.

During the course of the story the characters are introduced one at a time telling a little of their back stories as it develops.  Griffin is not just any ordinary pilot, he is a jPilot, a man with some very special abilities.  Unlike the other pilots, his ability is to combine space-time, and thought to instantaneously propel a ship between star systems.  Apparently, Griffin only has to visualize where he wants to ship to go and it arrives at its destination.  He is also unique that he is able to do this over very long distances while other pilots need multiple jumps.

Griffin, Cerise, BlueEyes, and Jyn team up to expose some very unsavory activities that Trenton and Jadro are involved in and work to right some of the wrongs perpetrated by the Sanssouci owner.

This is Ewig's very first novel and is a masterpiece of writing.  The story is gripping and is well paced; there is very little down-time and while not immediately apparent, every element in the story is weaved into a complete picture by the end of the book.  I am hoping that it is not the end of the story, because I am looking forward to the next installment soon.  So why the title Eleuthera?  Well you're just going to have to get the book and read it for yourself.  It is available from Amazon or directly from Ewig's publisher, or it is available as an e-book in all of the popular formats for an extremely reasonable price from Smashwords.  The author requests that you buy the book and not loan it to others, and at the price ($4.00) for download, anyone can afford to honor that request.

Ralph Ewig is an engineer with SpaceX and one hell of a writer in my opinion. His Eleuthera is well worth the price and the time to read and enjoy.

On A Sad Note...
I was saddened this past Sunday when I checked my Twitter feed and saw an announcement from author Peter David that simply said "I have had a stroke."  As you may have read in earlier posts on this blog, Peter David is the author of numerous Star Trek novels as well as a plethora of other works.  Those of you who are interested in learning the details can read Kathleen's Post (Peter's wife).  Please join me in thinking good thoughts, offering prayers, or whatever you do to send good karma to a great author who has given myself and many others hours upon hours of entertaining stories.