True Review : If You Have A Story, We Have You Covered!

Number 75 Vol.19 No.4 June 2010

Snowbound:

SNOWBOUND, by Richard S. Wheeler. TOR/Forge (www.tor-forge.com), 2010, 302 pp., $25.99. ISBN 978-0-7653-1662-2

John Charles Fremont, also known as the legendary and notorious Pathfinder, former candidate for U.S. President, and a great explorer of the West, is center point in this novel of his greatest expedition.

Fremont the entrepreneur. Fremont the risk-taker. He leads five expeditions to provide knowledge of routes to the far western boundaries of the U.S.

On the 4th expedition to follow the 38th Parallel over land to connect the eastern U.S. with western trade routes, the expedition is an attempt to come up with a map from St. Louis to San Francisco for all-weather, all-season train passage. Fremont endures court-martial hearings because of the charge of insubordination and resigns his commission instead to make this terrible trek.

Fremont ignores advice from just about everyone and proceeds to lead a band of loyal followers into the midst of the worst of winter. For the expeditionary force, mountains are so perilous and conditions deteriorate so dramatically that most reasonable and seasoned travelers would have balked at the very idea. Except for the stalwart and stubborn Fremont. And many died as a result of his lack of judgment.

The man was an enigma – distant yet involved with the idea of exploration and expansion. His determination was compelling to many who dauntingly followed him anywhere he planned to go. Even to death.

SNOWBOUND will remind you of Dan Simmons’ TERROR, a bleak survival tale, and one in which you can actually see the true outcome.

Andrew M. Andrews

Skinny Bastard - Rory Freedman and Kim Barnouin

The Intrigue At Highbury - Carrie Bebris

Making Rounds With Oscar - David Dosa, M.D.

WINGS OF FIRE, ed. by Jonathan Strahan and Marianne S. Jablon. Night Shade Books (www.nightshadebooks.com), 2010, 499 pp., $15.95. ISBN 978-1-59780-187-4

Of all these classic tales in the WINGS OF FIRE anthology, it was certainly a lot of fun to read “The Dragon on the Bookshelf” by Harlan Ellison and Robert Silverberg. Also, it was a pleasure to look over and read again many of these classic tales, collected as a treasury of the best dragon fiction of our era.

THE ARK, by Boyd Morrison. Touchstone/Fireside/Simon and Schuster (www.simonandschuster.com), 2010, 420 pp., $24.99. ISBN 978-1-4391-8179-9
An archeologist’s father may have found Noah’s Ark, but is missing, with the only clue about his whereabouts coming from a man who dies at Los Angeles Airport – and the quest to find the truth begins.

NEVERLAND by Douglas Clegg. Vanguard Press (www.vanguardpressbooks.com), 2010, 288 pp., $15.95. ISBN 1-59315-541-4. A woodland shack on an island off the southern U.S. coast becomes a forbidden place, a key to an age-old mystery. Kids, of course, find it and are caught up in its mysterious past.

INTO THE WORLD OF MIGHT BE, by W.A. Harbinson. BookSurge Publishing (www.booksurge.com), 2002, 2008, 167 pp., $13.99. ISBN 1-4196-7639-3

ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK, by Piper Kerman. Spiegel & Grau (www.spiegelandgrau.com), 2010, 298 pp., $25.00. ISBN 978-0-385-52338-7

RECOVERING APOLLO 8 and Other Stories, by Kristine Kathryn Rusch. Golden Gryphon (www.goldengryphon.com), 2010, 316 pp., $24.95. ISBN 1-930846-62-2

THE GREAT LIFE MAKEOVER, by Daniel A. Monti, MD & Anthony J. Bazzan, MD. HarperCollins Publishers (www.harpercollins.com), 2008, 248 pp., $24.99. ISBN 978-0-06-143540-9

THE DERVISH HOUSE, by Ian McDonald. Prometheus Books (www.pyrsf.com), 2010, 359 pp., $16.00. ISBN 978-1-61614-204-9