Thursday, July 29, 2010

A Review of Coyote: A Novel of Interstellar Exploration by Allen M. Steele

This review is dedicated to Jane, his wife...

Coyote: A Novel of Interstellar Exploration by Allen M. Steele

A Review by dj Bowen

 

The story opens in the year 2070.   At some point after the present time and before the beginning of this novel America has been fighting revolutions.  On it’s own soil.  Again.  In 1776 British colonists who had fled religious oppression and settled the new world rebelled against King George III and England.  Then the revolution known as the civil War, or, the War Between the States.  The South rebelling against the North and the oppression of the industrial north over the agricultural south.  The northern army was led by General Ulysses S. Grant.  And the South was led by General Robert E. Lee.  Lee surrendered to Grant in Appomattox in April 1865 and for the next two hundred years, America struggled to rebuild herself.  Resentment of the north by the south did not dissipate entirely though.  America continued to struggle with prejudice and anger and while it seemed for a time the wounds had been healed, we discover in this novel what could happen if those wounds manage to remain open and continue to fester. 

 

In “Coyote: A Novel of Interstellar Exploration”, the first of two books in the “coyote Rising” series which first debuted in the Isaac Asimov science fiction magazine, author Allen M. Steele explores in a must read science fiction thriller, an America torn apart by another revolution.  The country is fragmented, and a new socialist government is installed.

 

In spite of the social upheaval, scientists and astronomers have continued the exploration of space under the thumb of an oppressive and brutal  government.  Far away, in a distant corner of deep space, they have discovered a universe that contains a small planet that has the possibility of supporting human life.

 

The new United Republic of America wants to be the first to reach this new planet and claim it for the expansion  of socialism to the far reaches of space.

 

To accomplish this in an economy already on the brink of collapse after decades of war, the government turns it’s back on the masses and pours trillions of dollars into the development of a star ship capable of traveling a distance of 46 light years and carrying with it a crew of government controlled scientists, engineers and civilian colonists to claim coyote, the name given the planet in question,  for the U.R.A. .

 

a band of freedom fighters with the resolve of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, and the other leaders  of the first American revolution refuse to capitulate and soon a group of people born into a generation where it seems the south has risen again from the ashes of the civil war, led by Robert E. Lee, great grandson of the famous General of the confederacy hijack the United Republic Star ship Alabama, with it’s on board shuttle the URSS Jessie Helms and URSS George Wallace, taking over a mission that was supposed to spread socialism to far and distant galaxies and instead turn the mission into a flight for freedom.

 

Captain Robert E. Lee, commander of the URSS Alabama is the mastermind of a complex and secret plan to preserve freedom.  He, along with several other high ranking government officials who secretly dream of the old America, have decided to commandeer the starship and replace the government controlled colonists with a band of free thinking civilian scientists, engineers, doctors and educators who have been labeled dissident intellectuals by the government with hopes of  turning coyote into a land of the free and a home  for  the brave.

 

The more people that are involved in a conspiracy proportionately increases the risk of detection and betrayal.  And there are a good many people involved in this conspiracy.    The captain, the chief science officer, shuttle pilots, scientists and engineers who developed the technology that made the starship possible and many more.  And with each of these participants, the level of suspense as the critical moment draws near is honest to goodness edge of your seat non stop page turning stuff.

 

Will they succeed?  Will freedom fly or will socialism continue to strangle the hope and dreams of people who once lived free?  Or will there plans be thwarted simply because too many people have to be involved for a hijacking of this magnitude. 

 

This novel is a captivating and plausible combination of science fiction, political fiction, social fiction adventure, daring and even a little romance.

 

The author does a superb job of weaving high tech and low tech together in a seamless tapestry that will leave you spellbound.  this book is nothing like Star Trek, Star Wars, The Jetsons or Lost In Space.  It is real.  Or I should say, it seems real.  Check it out and see for yourself.  Thinking really is the best way to travel!

 

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Library of congress Annotation

Coyote: A Novel of Interstellar Exploration

Steele, Allen M. Read by Alec Volz. Reading time 15 hours 42 minutes.

Science Fiction

Earth, 2070. Just before the Alabama launches, Captain Robert E. Lee hijacks the spaceship with over one hundred men, women, and children aboard. After 230 years in biostasis, passengers and crew awaken at a distant moon named Coyote and start a new colony. Some violence and some strong language.

2002.

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Thank you for your support,

Dj and Lucky

Note:  I am a human being, not a robotic spammer.  I do this out of my love for my family, my guide dog and my music.  You are receiving this message because I have come to consider you a friend of mine and a friend of Music for Sight.  If I am mistaken and you would just as soon not hear from me, simply hit reply and type the words “remove me” or something to that effect and I will remove your email address.  Again, I do all this manually.  I do not use any type of robotic spam software.  So, if you do receive future messages after requesting removal, simply reply again.  While I often mess up once on a thing, I rarely do so twice.

Dj Bowen

Music for Sight

 

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Featured Artis - Music for Sight - Paul simon Art Garfunkel

 
 

Music for Sight

Featured Artist Simon and Garfunkel

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Featured Artist

Paul simon and Art Garfunkel Brought To You by Music for Sight

While you are reading, if you would like, you may listen to two of my favorite songs by our featured artists, simon and Garfunkel...  "For emily, Whenever I May Find Her" - and "April, come She Will".

 

 Listen to For Emily, Whenever I May Find Her

Listen to April, come She will

 

Ever since the Dutch arrived on the North American shores of the Atlantic Ocean in the early seventeenth century, and began the chain of events which many say swindled the Algonquin, Iroquois and Lenape native American Indians out of their ancestral homelands, The region we know as New York has been the progenitor of many amazing things.  Chief, (no pun intended),  among them, in the middle part of the twentieth century, in Forest Hills, Queens, New York City, the emergence of Tom and Jerry, who would one day make a permanent and indelible mark on the soundscape of the American folk, country, jazz and rock  music scene, equal to the impact of the Europeans on the landscape. 

PaulSimon & Art Garfunkel
A photo of Simon and Garfunkel
aka Tom and Jerry

Paul Frederick simon was born on October  13, 1941 in Newark, New Jersey.    His mom, Bella, and his papa Louis, both of Jewish and Hungarian ancestry, were the kind of folks you would imagine could produce such a son.  Paul’s mom was an elementary school teacher, and his dad, also known on the music circuit as Lee Sims, was a bassist, dance band leader and college professor.     Louis “Lee Simms” Simon was one of the first musicians in Hungary to have his music broadcast over the new fangled wireless radio.

 

Across the river, in Forest Hills, Queens, New York, Arthur Ira Garfunkel was born a few weeks later on November 5th, 1941.    Art’s mom and dad, Rose, a housewife,  and Jacob Jack, a traveling men’s clothing salesman, Garfunkel were fine working folks whose parents had migrated from Romania seeking among other things, I suspect, freedom to practice their Jewish faith in the new world.  While Art’s parents had no musical background per se, Art has recalled to interviewers in the past that his mom and dad both sang a lot and inspired their son to do likewise.

The Featured Artist Discography

 

Simon  and Garfunkel released a total of six albums between 1964 and 1970

 

Wednesday Morning 3 a.m.

sounds of Silence

Parsley, Sage, rosemary and Thyme

The Graduate soundtrack

Bookends

Bridge Over Troubled Waters

 

There are quite a few collector's editions, box sets, greatest hits, essentials, and three very good live albums that were released after Paul and art called it quits as a recording duo in 1970.  Over the years, Art and Paul have reunited on stage and my favorite is The concert In Central Park.  The Live In New York City 1967 is memorable as it is just Paul playing his Martin and singing with Art providing those unimaginable tight vocal harmonies .  To view these click on the link in the catagory section below.

Listed below are the five original Simon and Garfunkel albums.  Click on the play button and enjoy!

Promotional Red Vinyl 45
A picture of the red 45 promo of the song I Am A Rock
I Am A Rock

Music

Becoming New Friends

So these two kids, Paul and Art , who still had not met, each decide to have a go at tryouts for the PS 164 in Queens  graduation play, “Alice In Wonderland”.  Art got the part of the Cheshire Cat and Paul got the part of the White Rabbit.  I’m guessing it was an awkward, yet somehow affable meeting of these two future superstars.  And now that they have become new friends, they are, though unbeknown to either,  on the path to becoming “Old Friends”.

 

First Recording Contracts

It happened in 1957.  The two had been gigging around school dances and the like, doing their imitation of The Everly Brothers.  Paul and Art certainly had the vocal skills for executing the tight vocal harmonies of their favorite big time stars.  Under the name of Tom and Jerry, Art and Paul signed their first recording  contract with Big Records and recorded their first single “Hey Schoolgirl”.

 

 

 

 

The Concert In Central Park
The concert In Central Park album cover
1981 New York city

Becoming Old Friends

Pablo Picasso told an interviewer once that “it takes a long time to become young”.  And we all know it takes a long time for people to become old friends.  Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel’s stint as a duet has seen it’s share of breakups and reunions.  They first broke up in 1959, got back together in 1963, broke up in 1964, got back together in 1965, broke up again in 1970, got back together on several occasions during the seventies and early eighties for reunion tours, got back together once in 1983 to record a new studio album, a project that led to another breakup before the album was released, (Art’s bits were stripped from the master tapes and the album was released as “Hearts and Bones”, a solo album by Paul), back together again three times during the nineties, and several times here in the 21st century.  A tour scheduled for right now, summer 2010, has been postponed due to a problem Art his having with his vocal chords.  The duo said they were postponing the show out of respect for their fans.  Art’s doctors say a full recovery is very likely.

 

So after nearly five decades, Paul and Art, who first met at that elementary school play in 1953 have indeed become old friends.

 

Dj Bowen

June 2010

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Wednesday, July 21, 2010

A Review of "Holmes On the Range", or "I Read My First Holmes On the Range Mystery and Am completely Charmed

A Review of “Holmes On the Range”, or “I Read My First Holmes On the Range Mystery and Am completely Charmed by Steve Hockensmith’s Yarn Spinning and Tale Telling Methodology”

 

Meet Gustav “Old Red” and Otto “Big Red” Amblingmeyer.  The most unlikely pair of detectives you are likely to run up on should you find yourself somehow drawn back through the mists of time into the great wide open western regions of the United States during the 1890’s.

 

The brothers, part of a large family of German immigrants and raised by strict Lutheran parents find themselves alone in the world when their Pa and older brothers are taken by small pox and then a few years later, their Ma and little sisters taken by floods that wiped the Kansas plains clean of every evidence of life, including the very grave markers of their Pa and brothers.

 

While Big Red, the younger brother, has had the good fortune to have had some book learning thanks to the insistence of his Ma and sacrifices of  his siblings, Old Red’s only education has been that of a cowboy, working herds, riding rails and rounding up lost doggies for cattle ranchers in Kansas and Wyoming.

 

It was while Old Red was away working a distant cattle ranch that the floods that devastated the plains  left Otto, Big Red, alone in the world.  Gustav receives word of his Ma and little sisters tragic deaths and heads  back to Kansas to round up his little brother whom he tells with little fanfare and not much apparent sorrow, although his heart was indeed broken, that Big Red needs to pack up his war bag.  They have jobs waiting for them in Montana.

 

Entertainment was a little harder to come by a hundred and twenty years ago than it is today.  Yes little buckaroos, no TV, movies, radio, mp3 players, nothing except a few books and magazines.  Ok, there were saloons and dance hall girls, but remember, our characters have had a strict Lutheran upbringing.

 

So one day Otto finds a copy of Harpers Weekly and begins reading stories from it out loud to Gustav in the evening as they sit around the campfires.  The magazine featured detective stories.  Several  of those stories were written by the venerable Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.  The creator of Sherlock Holmes and John Watson.  The first story Otto read to Gustav was “The Big Red League”.  And Gustav, after insisting Otto re-read the story a couple or three dozen times over,  began memorizing phrases and mannerisms of “the man” Sherlock Holmes and was hooked.  Old Red didn’t have much of a formal education, in fact, he had no education at all.  This did not mean he was an “idjit”.  Quite the contrary.  Gus had a keen mind and a real knack for the somewhat scientific art of deducification that would have impressed Mr. Holmes.

 

Within the first couple chapters of this mostly comical , somewhat tragic, occasionally harrowing story, our heroes have landed jobs on the Bar B R, a cattle ranch owned by some high saluting’  English lords and soon find themselves in the center of a murder, or two, or three, back handed dealing and bullying by over zealous range bosses.

 

When the second body is discovered, Gustav manages to convince the English owner that foul play may be a foot and a wager between the duke and his wanna be cowboy son give Gustav the opportunity he needs to put the techniques of the man, Sherlock Holmes, to work.

 

If you are a fan of westerns, detective mysteries, comedy, tragedy, historical fiction and light hearted reading then download this book from the BARD.

NLS Annotation

Holmes on the Range DB63619

Hockensmith, Steve. Read by Jack Fox. Reading time 8 hours 36 minutes.

Westerns

Montana, 1890s. Sherlock Holmes stories read around the campfire and the frightful remains of Perkins's body convince Old Red to be a detective as well as a cowboy. Soon he and his brother, Big Red, are applying Holmes's methods and stirring up danger.  Some strong language. 2006.

 

Not a member of the NLS BARD? Visit the Book Review Intro at Music for Sight to find out how easy it is to sign up.

 

 

or follow one of the links at the Music for Sight Book Review of this book for  alternate means of acquisition and get ready for a real treat!

 

Your friend In Music (and books),

Dj bowen

Music for Sight 

On Blogger, FaceBook, Yahoo, SKYPE  and Twitter we are musicforsight…  Come join us!

“And in the end, the love you take, is equal to the love, you make”  John Lennon/Paul McCartney

 

 

Note:  I am a human being, not a robotic spammer.  I do this out of my love for my family, my guide dog and my music and books.  You are receiving this message because I have come to consider you a friend of mine and a friend of Music for Sight.  If I am mistaken and you would just as soon not hear from me, simply hit reply and type the words “remove me” or something to that effect and I will remove your email address.  Again, I do all this manually.  I do not use any type of robotic spam software.  So, if you do receive future messages after requesting removal, simply reply again.  While I often mess up once on a thing, I rarely do so twice.

Dj Bowen

Music for Sight

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Tuesday, July 20, 2010

A Review of "Holmes On the Range", or "I Read My First Holmes On the Range Mystery and Am completely Charmed by Steve Hockensmith's Yarn Spinning and Tale Telling Methodology

Something new from Music for Sight! Book Reviews! I love to read, and I love to write. so here is a new feature I hope you will enjoy!

donald e. Bowen, Jr.
Music for Sight

A Review of “Holmes On the Range”, or “I Read My First Holmes On the Range Mystery and Am completely Charmed by Steve Hockensmith’s Yarn Spinning and Tale Telling Methodology”

 

Meet Gustav “Old Red” and Otto “Big Red” Amblingmeyer.  The most unlikely pair of detectives you are likely to run up on should you find yourself somehow drawn back through the mists of time into the great wide open western regions of the United States during the 1890’s.

 

The brothers, part of a large family of German immigrants and raised by strict Lutheran parents find themselves alone in the world when their Pa and older brothers are taken by small pox and then a few years later, their Ma and little sisters taken by floods that wiped the Kansas plains clean of every evidence of life, including the very grave markers of their Pa and brothers.

 

While Big Red, the younger brother, has had the good fortune to have had some book learning thanks to the insistence of his Ma and sacrifices of  his siblings, Old Red’s only education has been that of a cowboy, working herds, riding rails and rounding up lost doggies for cattle ranchers in Kansas and Wyoming.

 

It was while Old Red was away working a distant cattle ranch that the floods that devastated the plains  left Otto, Big Red, alone in the world.  Gustav receives word of his Ma and little sisters tragic deaths and heads  back to Kansas to round up his little brother whom he tells with little fanfare and not much apparent sorrow, although his heart was indeed broken, that Big Red needs to pack up his war bag.  They have jobs waiting for them in Montana.

 

Entertainment was a little harder to come by a hundred and twenty years ago than it is today.  Yes little buckaroos, no TV, movies, radio, mp3 players, nothing except a few books and magazines.  Ok, there were saloons and dance hall girls, but remember, our characters have had a strict Lutheran upbringing.

 

So one day Otto finds a copy of Harpers Weekly and begins reading stories from it out loud to Gustav in the evening as they sit around the campfires.  The magazine featured detective stories.  Several  of those stories were written by the venerable Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.  The creator of Sherlock Holmes and John Watson.  The first story Otto read to Gustav was “The Big Red League”.  And Gustav, after insisting Otto re-read the story a couple or three dozen times over,  began memorizing phrases and mannerisms of “the man” Sherlock Holmes and was hooked.  Old Red didn’t have much of a formal education, in fact, he had no education at all.  This did not mean he was an “idjit”.  Quite the contrary.  Gus had a keen mind and a real knack for the somewhat scientific art of deducification that would have impressed Mr. Holmes.

 

Within the first couple chapters of this mostly comical , somewhat tragic, occasionally harrowing story, our heroes have landed jobs on the Bar B R, a cattle ranch owned by some high saluting’  English lords and soon find themselves in the center of a murder, or two, or three, back handed dealing and bullying by over zealous range bosses.

 

When the second body is discovered, Gustav manages to convince the English owner that foul play may be a foot and a wager between the duke and his wanna be cowboy son give Gustav the opportunity he needs to put the techniques of the man, Sherlock Holmes, to work.

 

If you are a fan of westerns, detective mysteries, comedy, tragedy, historical fiction and light hearted reading then download this book from the BARD.

NLS Annontation

Holmes on the Range DB63619

Hockensmith, Steve. Read by Jack Fox. Reading time 8 hours 36 minutes.

Westerns

Montana, 1890s. Sherlock Holmes stories read around the campfire and the frightful remains of Perkins's body convince Old Red to be a detective as well as a cowboy. Soon he and his brother, Big Red, are applying Holmes's methods and stirring up danger.  Some strong language. 2006.

 

Not a member of the NLS BARD? Visit the Book Review Intro at Music for Sight to find out how easy it is to sign up.

 

 

or follow one of the links at the Music for Sight Book Review of this book for  alternate means of acquisition and get ready for a real treat!

 

Sincerely,

Donald e. Bowen, Jr.

Music for Sight