Papa Pat Tiny Devotionals

The nice picture link, for those without ad blocker...     ...and the bare-bones text link for ad blocker users:  A Call to Vengeance by David Weber, Timothy Zahn, and Thomas Pope. Preliminaries and disclaimers.  This is the 18th AND LAST book review I'll be doing for the finalists for the 2018 Dragon Award; this is also the 5th (and last) of the books in the 'Best Military Science Fiction or Fantasy Novel' category, out of the six finalists. A quick recap: For the 'Best Science Fiction Novel' category, I was able to get 4 out of 6 finalists. 'Best Fantasy Novel (Including Paranormal)' category, 5 of 6. 'Best Alternate History Novel' category, 4 of 6. No conclusions should be drawn about the 6 novels I couldn't obtain. I contacted all of the authors, with a single exception, but it's likely that my signal got lost in all the noise that the Dragon Award and good book sales generates. Therefore, if you have the chance to read one of the books ...

A picture link for those without ad blocker software...     ...and a text link for those who do: Price of Freedom by Craig Martelle and Michael Anderle. Preliminaries and Disclaimers.   This is review #17 in the series I'm doing on the finalists for the 2018 Dragon Award, and is #4 in the category of 'Best Military Science Fiction.' It's also the next to last of the books I'm reviewing, which is a good thing, since Dragon Con is this weekend, and voting ends at midnight tomorrow. It's ALSO the last of the books I was able to get through the Kindle Unlimited program, which was the biggest single source of all the books I obtained, with 11 coming from KU, four coming from Baen, and three received directly from the author. Several of the books I reviewed were part of a series, going as deep as #8, I believe. "Price of Freedom" is number three in the series, and I suppose it was inevitable that this was going to happen: : I had problems with continuity. T...

An ad blocker will keep THIS picture link from showing...     ...so if you don't see the picture, here's a text link: The Traitor God by Cameron Johnston . Preliminaries and Disclaimers. This is book #16  in my series of 2018 Dragon Award finalists, and is the 5th and LAST book in the category 'Best Fantasy Novel.' That's 3 out of 4 categories completed; I have two more Military Sci-Fi books to read and review to complete the not-quite-Herculean task I assigned myself. This book was not available through my usual sources, but the author responded most kindly and promptly to my request for a review copy, for which I am grateful. In this picture, you can see in the background the reason that so one in Scotland grows rice: the land goes up and down, not side to side. A Scotsman (not on a horse) And speaking of pictures, this is only my opinion, BUT: I like the cover art. It's by a person who is so cool, my ordinary character set won't even get the name right....

For those who are NOT running an ad blocker, here's a lovely picture link:     And for those who HAVE an ad blocker, here's a text link:   Sins of Her Father by Mike Kupari. Preliminaries and Disclaimers.   Unless I have miscounted, this is the 15th book I have reviewed in this series of Dragon Award Finalists. It is the 4th and last of the entries I will be reviewing in the 'Best Science Fiction Novel' category; I have yet to receive a response to my request for a review copy for the last two books in this category. By my count, after this book, I will have three more books to review, and 4 days to do it in, so that's a walk in the park. This is the second novel in the series "Privateer Andromeda;" I have not read the first in the series, but I do believe that all of the important issues covered in the narrative of this work, without spending a lot of time on artificial means to bring the reader up to date. A bit of a review. Nickson Armitage is at loos...

This blog post reminds us of  the life and sacrifices made by Sgt. Rodney M. Davis, USMC. He graduated from a segregated public school system in 1961, and joined an integrated Marine Corps. On September 6, 1967, at the age of 25, Sgt Davis gave his life that his fellow Marines could live . When his body was returned to his family in his home town of Macon, GA, it could not legally be buried within the city limits. More than forty years later,  h is burial site was rescued from obscurity , thanks to his fellow Marines, and by other concerned citizens. I am honored to say I come from the same home town as Sgt. Davis. For those without ad blockers, a picture link:     And for those of you WITH ad blockers, a text link: Ghost Marines: Integration Preliminaries. This is the 14th book I have reviewed in the series for the 2018 Dragon Awards. This is only the THIRD military science fiction novel I have reviewed, which speaks of great restraint on my part, as mil sci-fi is by far my c...

A picture link, for those without ad blockers:     And a text link for those WITH ad blockers: Uncharted. Preliminaries and Disclaimers.  This is the 13th book I have reviewed in the series on Finalists for the 2018 Dragon Awards. This is the fourth book in the category of 'Best Alternate History Novel,' and will in all likelihood be the very last I review in this category(!),  as thus far, requests for review copies of the other two finalists have gone unanswered. I obtained my copy directly from the Baen website, although the book is also available on Amazon. I'm pretty sure I have never gotten a BAD book from Baen, although there have been a couple, but ONLY a couple, I didn't finish. I've also never gotten a bad book from either Sarah A. Hoyt or Kevin Anderson, DESPITE having to silently close the Magical Shakespeare trilogy and sneak away under the cover of darkness; I'm just not enough of a Shakespeare/ Shakespeare era scholar to catch the nuances. It...

A link with a PICTURE (YAY) if you don't have an ad blocker running:     And, if you DO have an ad blocker running, a text link: The Dream of the Iron Dragon Preliminaries AND Disclaimers.  This is the 11th book I have reviewed in my series on the Finalists for the 2018 Dragon Awards; I've also written two additional blog posts ABOUT the series, that don't review specific novels. This is the third nominee in the category 'Best Alternate History Novel.' Disclaimer: I am not on the Dragon Awards Committee, and that's something for which I am truly grateful. However, if I HAD been on the Committee, I don't think I could have allowed this as an entry in the 'Alternate History' category. Yes, it SAYS it's alternate history, right there in Amazon listing, the full version of which is:  The Dream of the Iron Dragon: An Alternate History Viking Epic (Saga of the Iron Dragon Book 1).  But, for those of us of a certain age, we remember that there used to b...

For those of you without an ad blocker, the picture link:     And if you DO have an ad blocker running, here's the text link: Qualify. Preliminaries AND Disclaimers. I'm writing a series of reviews of the 2018 Dragon Award Finalists in the categories of Best SF novel, Best Fantasy Novel, Best Mil SF novel, and Best Alternate History Novel. This is the 11th book in that series, and the third contender in the Best Science Fiction Novel category. NO, IT ISN'T EITHER! The novel which is the finalist is 'Win,' by Vera Nazarian. I HAVE a copy of that novel, courtesy of the author, but it is my understanding that THIS is a case in which reading the novels in sequence will make a difference. It's a tough problem for me, because my time is limited; I only have 10 days left before Awards Day. That's further aggravated by the fact that these are hefty tomes. 'Qualify' comes in at 600 pages;  the second installment, 'Compete,' has 530 pages, and the thi...

For those who are not running an adblocker, here's a picture link:     And for those of you who ARE, a text link: Legend. Preliminaries.  This is one of the two Dragon Award Finalists (the other was "Minds of Men" by Kacey Ezell ) that I reviewed before the finalists were announced. I didn't select them because they were going to be award finalists; I just wanted to read some good books by authors that I have enjoyed reading in the past. Good call, huh? I am just now posting this blog post, because I don't always blog on books I review. My lack of consistency in this causes me only the SLIGHTEST discomfort, but I wish I had written this earlier.  Alas, I didn't. Commentary.  I really, really love reading stories about blue-collar heroes. I have no particular objection to stories about millionaires who slip into costume and fight crime on the streets of Gotham, or the debonair couple who identify the murderer while dancing and sipping champagne, but I don'...

For those without an ad blocker, the picture link:     And for those with an ad blocker, the text link: Warhammer Preliminaries.  If my count is right, this is the tenth book in the series of reviews I am writing for the finalists for the 2018 Dragon Awards. It's the NINTH blog post, because I reviewed Christopher Woods' Legend    before the finalists were announced, and I haven't gotten around to writing the blog post on it yet (but I will). This is the fourth post for a contender in the category 'Best Fantasy Novel (Including Paranormal).' Disclaimers. I don't read a lot of fantasy, unless my betters compel me. Thus, I was previously unaware of the author or his books.  Two things to say about that: 1. It appears that I may have to abandon this prejudice without remorse, as there are some really excellent things being written in the field. 2. Somehow, the craft of the author allowed me to pick up the EIGHTH book in a series, and dive right into the world, wit...

If you aren't running an ad blocker, here's a link for you:     And for those who ARE running an ad blocker, here's a text link: Minds of Men And here is the link to my Amazon review, which was published on November 15, 2017. Preliminary comments.  This is the 8th book and the 11th blog post about the finalists for the 2018 Dragon Award; it's also the second book in the category "Best Alternate History Novel." I read reviewed, and blogged this book way, way back in November of '17, when snow had fallen and the ground was as hard as stone, or something. What you are reading is an edited version of that November blog post , deconstructed, rehabilitated, and semi-defenestrated in my attempt to give the same signal strength to THIS finalist novel as I have to the others in the series.   A much reduced bit of fan-boy praise for the author.   When she is not otherwise occupied,  she flew helicopters in places where it mattered, and that speaks to my medic b...

Greetings, all friends and neighbors out there in Internet Land! In order to calm your fears and expectations, I want you to know that you will PROBABLY not get a blog post or Amazon review today for a 2018 Dragon Award Finalist. I have started reading my next book, which is 'Warhammer' by Shayne Silvers, but I have serious doubts that I'm going to be ready to review it today. Reason: "I have engaged in a great work, and I cannot come down" (Neh. 6:3). What is this great work, you ask? Well, I'll tell you. If you have been reading this blog for very long, you probably know that I am a veteran. Yup, I am Generation 3 of 4 (so far) of enlisted Army veterans, going back to WWI. You may also know that my firstborn son represents Generation 4, although he is not the ONLY member of his generation in my family to serve. He's not fond of me telling his story, but you need to know this: He suited up, and he showed up, and he had a really bad day in 2013 at Shindand...

The professionally done graphic for 'Shoot The Messenger' by Pippa DaCosta/     And, the link for those of you with AdBlock, or similar software: Shoot the Messenger Preliminaries.  I picked this book because it is a finalist for the 2018 Dragon Award for 'Best Fantasy Novel (including Paranormal).' This is the ninth book I have reviewed in this series, and the third finalist in this category. Disclaimers . I believe I try to avoid reading books with the 'Fantasy' label, because all too often I have found them to be overblown and pretentious, and unsubtle, badly executed  imitators of either 'The Lord of the Rings' or the 'Harry Potter' series. Therefore, I probably miss out on a great deal of really very good books; and, when I am dragged by my betters, kicking and screaming all the way, and FORCED to read a fantasy work, I find that I enjoy what I am reading. Nonetheless, I prefer science fiction. I like exploding spaceships. What is Magnificen...

The book being reviewed here is:     If you have AdBlock, or something else that eats picture links,  you can go here: It Takes Death to Reach a Star Preliminaries.  I obtained this book upon request from one of the authors, in exchange for a fair review. I requested this book because it is a finalist for the 2018 Dragon Award, in the 'Best Science Fiction Novel"  category. I started working on this series on August 8, and plan to spend AT LEAST another ten days on it (more, if I can get the books). For the title of my Amazon review of the book , I took a passage from Psalm 139: If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there. And a bit more context for that verse says a bit more about the context of the novel: Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend to heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there. If I take the wings of the dawn, If I dwell in the remotest part of the sea, Even there Your hand will ...