History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)

Book Description

Recorded history is a finely-woven magic fabric of intricate lies about events predating the sixteenth century. There is not a single piece of evidence that can be reliably and independently traced back earlier than the eleventh century. This book details events that are substantiated by hard facts and logic, and validated by new astronomical research and statistical analysis of ancient sources.

Customer Reviews:

Calculations are only as good as your numbers.......2007-08-03

Yes, we can all agree that mainstream history is nearly 100% BS due to politics, economics, ego, problems with dating techniques, and various conspiracies. Agreed. But, I've been researching the distinct possibility that human history (in terms of civilizations) are much more ancient than we've been told, so coming across this book was very interesting to me. I wondered how Fomenko could be wrong (if at all) because he is very persuasive in his presentations. Then it dawned on me. If at previous times in prehistory, due to the various catastrophies that are well documented (comets, asteroids, planetary disruptions, plasma discharge, pole reversals, etc) the Earth was in a different position in relation to the sun, different tilt on its axis, different orbit, different rotation (in terms of velocity and DIRECTION), and the continents were in different positions, then would this not cause the ancients to see the sky (constellations) differently? In other words, is Fomenko making erronious assumptions about the physics of the Earth in pre-history, which then corrupt his data with regards to dating the relevant astrology? The last event to seriously disrupt our planet occured roughly 3500 years ago, according to other good researchers, so is it possible Fomenko has been confused by this? The vastly different physics of our planet in the not so distant past may explain this confusion, which is not to say the "mainstream" version of history is correct; on the contrary. I am not an expert in these fields, but wanted to see if this idea could spark discussion.

Pants on fire?.......2007-07-19

Will people ever read before spamming? Yes, Jesuits could not rewrite world history alone, they had help. Anyway, Dr Prof Acad A.Fomenko does not point to jesuits as the driving force of world wide history manipulation in published volumes 1,2,3;, actually he barely mentions the poor devils. Check it with 'Search inside' feature, please. China is rarely mentioned either, in fact, Dr Fomenko is completely eurocentric. Right, his theory contradicts all mainstream schools of history, because in their actual state they are all built on blatantly erroneus chronology. You don't need a mysterious cabal (conspiracy) to falsify history, the falsification is its modus operandi. It is inherent to history(ians) to falsify (distort) events, as it is inherent to humans to boast as it is inherent to power (authority) to legimize itself by referrring to glorious past made to its own order. Dr Prof Fomenko and team have identified scores of instances of such manipulation in Russian, European, etc.. history, and delivered valid statistical proof thereof. His own 'reconstruction' is completely another story. Forget c14 as a valid method of dating. W.Libby has initially discovered a brilliant method of INDEPENDENT dating. Too bad, c14 method has become a joke after a forced marrige with dendrochronology with consensual chronological scale inbuilt. Radiocarbon method can't stand blind tests, but is so very productive as a rubberstamp.

Accepted History & Chronology Must Be Changed. .......2007-04-09

There is no doubt that history as most know it is a sham, & institution's version of History both University & Church is fradulent & inaccurate. Everything was established with an agenda, The real "Dark Ages" are now when we have access to incredible amounts of information past authorities & more important 'common folk' didn't have but our institutions & educators are slow to evolve because of what has ignorantly & arrogantly been taught for too long. This is on many subjects not just Chronology.

For anyone to question "Why would a Mathematician have anything credible to say of History?" The answer is from Dr. Fomenko's preface in the book: "It would be worthwhile to remind the reader that in the XVI-XVII century Chronology was considered to be a subdivision of Mathematics." These volumes could possibly be some of the most important works to date & should be read by everyone with an interest in History, especially professors & educators who have a duty to the public. I have read both books & must say that 'Chronology 1' has some very eye opening & revolutionary information. Even if these volumes are part true the implications are profound & opens the doors to further investigations & questions which must be done. I speak several different lanquages & must say the logic Dr. Fomenko uses with "inflection" of words & words being read from left to right in one region & right to left in another then written backwards, the removal of vowels & get down to basics of words, or different cities & locations having the same name etc. is correct. Vowel usage has always been optional & varied, actually complicating linquistics & study. The first thing one has to understand is that words never had a fixed spelling in history like we do now, the spelling of words was mutable & regional, as well as names & titles of people were vast, varied & changed, NOTHING WAS FIXED or understood linear. Matters of Life & Death as well as financial profiteering yesterday & today were & are made with ignorant, illogical & conspiratorial views of history & reality, it's time people get closer to the Truth & society collectively grow up.

Very Interesting.......2007-03-07

It is a good proposal and I believe it will mature into something even better in the future. I think it deserves to be read.

History as Science Fiction.......2007-01-10

Anatoly Fomenko has written a very intriguing book, full of pictures, charts, and computer 'proof' of his thesis: backwards of AD900 we don't really know what happened or when. Between AD900 and AD1600 there is more certainty, but there is still a lot of fuzzy ground, and things don't get reliable until we get past the 1600's where the printing press made it very difficult for the perpetrators of this timeline manipulation to change anything that had been committed to print. The Dark Ages did not happen. Books were burned for a reason. One organization has doubled the actual length of its existence by expanding the real chronology. Read why.

I had always wondered why Christ died about AD33 and yet men waited until the 11th century to form the Knights Templar, the Cathars, etc and go after the Holy Land by force. Why the 1000 year gap? Turns out there wasn't more than a 10-12 year gap and he proves it using astronomy. This also implies that the planet is not as old as we have been told, and current Christian and other creationist scientists are already championing that idea without being aware of Fomenko's book. The two groups, creationist scientists and the Russian mathematical analysts corroborate each other. Fascinating.

Of course, all this flies in the face of what we have been told traditionally is the 'proper' chronology of western civilization, and most readers will experience 'cognitive dissonance' in reading this book. It means that our history going backwards from AD1600 becomes progressively more incorrect and unreliable until it cannot be trusted at all... in the space of 700-800 years.

Naturally, the curious, open-minded reader will want to know WHO did this, WHY, and did any of the events we think of as really ancient ever happen?
Dr. Fomenko is a respected scientist/mathematician at Moscow State University who has already answered these questions to the satisfaction of his initially skeptical colleagues. Most of them are now believers, a few still refuse to believe (the usual diehards), and of course the western press has ignored Fomenko's work -- for obvious reasons when you read the book. The ones who perpetrated this chronology ruse have a lot to answer for. They are still with us. That's why this book is a well-kept secret.

I gave the book a 4-star rating because I was unable to check out some of his claims; those I checked were as he said. But if even 1/3 of his claims are true, this punches a big hole in what we think is our history, the meaning of western civilization, our educational process (for repeating the ruse as gospel), and the trustworthiness of the organization that perpetrated this ruse, well-intentioned or not.

This book relates to current research into a Young Earth paradigm, to John Keel's discoveries about our planet, and Fr Malachi Martin's insights (in his now out-of-print books). We are indeed sheep who are manipulated and kept ignorant -- for a reason. While knowing what these men have to say may be the "booby prize" (as in: 'what can you do with this knowledge?'), it will provide interesting reading. Didn't someone say: "...and the Truth will set you free."?? For you to judge if this book contains the truth.

Fire in the Night: Wingate of Burma, Ethiopia, and Zion

Average customer rating:

"ORDE WINGATE: IRREGULAR SOLDIER"-book by Trevor Royle
Gifted, Offbeat But Marginal Hero
incomplete portrait of a complex figure
NOT THE STANDARD WARRIOR GENTLEMAN
Extraordinary story of a unique person

Fire in the Night: Wingate of Burma, Ethiopia, and Zion
John Bierman , and Colin Smith
Manufacturer: Random House
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0375500618
Release Date: 1999-12-28

Amazon.com

Few men have made as outstanding contributions to their country's cause as Orde Wingate, yet few have divided opinion so completely. "We don't want any more Wingates in the British Army," says an Army Council minute written after the end of the Second World War, and after his death. In contrast, no less than Winston Churchill himself said, before the House of Commons, "There was a man of genius, who might well have become a man of destiny."

John Bierman and Colin Smith's enlightening and rigorous biography of this brilliant man amply demonstrates how the conservative establishment of the British Army could come to adopt such an ungracious attitude to one of their most dynamic sons, who contributed so much to the war effort with dazzling performances in Abyssinia and Burma, and so much to future strategic thinking with his bold formulation of new methods. He ruffled feathers with his uncompromising style, unconventional thinking, and eccentric nature (perhaps most memorably expressed in his unaffected penchant for receiving visitors in the nude). Together with an acute intelligence and great breadth of learning, Wingate was a man possessed of awe-inspiring will and single-minded application, and he was often seen flying into a rage when things were not done as he thought they should be. Many, regardless of rank, felt the lash of his tongue. His almost fanatical commitment to the cause of Zionism, a highly sensitive and ambivalent political hot potato for the British at the time, seems also to have rankled many who simply could not understand a man so unlike the typical public-school-educated officer. Although not Jewish himself, to this day he is widely honored in Israel. Zvi Brenner, his Jewish bodyguard in Palestine before the war when he was commanding the Special Night Squads, elegantly encapsulated the man when, in describing Wingate's uncanny ability to negotiate all terrain in darkness, he said, "Wingate didn't follow any paths but walked in straight lines." A truly exceptional man; there is, unfortunately, little chance of the British Army's having any more Wingates. --Alisdair Bowles, Amazon.co.uk

Book Description

Winston Churchill thought he was a military genius; others considered him greatly overrated; a few even thought him mad. Almost sixty years after his death at age forty-four in an airplane crash, Orde Wingate remains perhaps the most controversial of all World War II commanders.

        Born into a fundamentalist Christian sect and raised in the Cromwellian tradition of Sword and Bible, Wingate was an odd mixture of religious mystic and idealist, combining an unshakable belief in an Old Testament God with an insatiable interest in music, literature, history, philosophy, and the politics of his day.

        But his overriding and enduring passion was for Zionism, a cause that--although he had no Jewish blood--he embraced when posted to British-ruled Palestine in 1936. There he raised the Special Night Squads, an irregular force that decimated Arab rebel bands and taught a future generation of Israeli generals how to fight.

        In 1941, Wingate led another guerrilla-style force, this time into Italian-occupied Ethiopia, where he was instrumental in restoring Emperor Haile Selassie to his throne. But the campaign that was to bring him world fame was conducted behind enemy lines in Burma, where his Chindits shattered the myth of Japanese invincibility in jungle fighting, giving Allied morale a much-needed boost at a crucial point in World War II.

        Throughout his career, Wingate's unconventionality and disdain for the superiors he dismissed as "military apes" marked him as a difficult if not impossible subordinate. He was that, but also, as this vigorous new study reveals, an inspiring leader.

Customer Reviews:

"ORDE WINGATE: IRREGULAR SOLDIER"-book by Trevor Royle.......2007-05-27

My mother thought Orde reminded her of Stonewall Jackson of American Civil war fame. There are many similarities between the two, but I think Trevor Royle's book title nails his character right on the head. Both Jackson and Wingate were average military scholars, but brilliant field commanders. They had no equal on the field in terms of battle tactics. Both were deeply religious, both eccentric, though in very different ways. Both were Gideons of the supreme, heavenly order. I am convinced if Stonewall were alive today, he would be an ardent zionist as Orde became when his command led him to palestine in pre-WWII years. Orde's first assignment was in the Sudan where he became fluent in Arabic. His Hebrew which he tried to learn was terrible according to Moshe Dayan. His few days in palestine, however, bore much fruit in that he taught the jews of palestine tactics which would help transform the IDF into the amazing fighting force today and which served them extremely well in the immediate days and years following.

Orde's success in restoring the Ethiopian empire to Haile Selassie was definitely Stonewallian. How he routed the entire Italian fascist force residing in Ethiopia with a small force was little short of miraculous.

I don't think Stonewall was as outspoken as Orde and was a bit surprised at how Orde got by with some of his very strong opinions which he was not afraid to voice. That for me was the biggest contrast between the two.

Most important, I think, about Wingate was what he had accomplished in the jungles of the far east where he died in a tragic aviation accident during WWII.

This book was thoroughly enjoyable, is well written, but I defer to the better judgement of one of my favorite Amazon friends and recommend Royle's book as being most accurate as to Orde's views of the jews and palestine. This book was a good prelude to me, a good introduction into the life and character of this most remarkable of British soldiers, Orde Wingate.

Gifted, Offbeat But Marginal Hero.......2007-04-28

Like Lawrence of Arabia, Orde Wingate is a perennially fascinating figure of the later British Empire and era of World Wars I and II. Unlike Lawrence, Wingate was not a literary artist who immortalized his own career, so we rely on biographies to understand him. This work is thorough if not definitive, using a wide array of sources to describe his military/political adventures in Palestine, Ethiopia, and finally Burma where his long-range penetration strategy was most publicized and problematic, but at least partly successful. Such a forceful, idiosyncratic figure will always stimulate controversy, and the authors explore the disagreements well enough, though they cannot satisfy all readers. Why marginal? Wingate's and Lawrence's successes, and failures, occurred in peripheral theaters of both wars. Scholars debate whether such operations significantly influenced the outcome of campaigns in Africa, Southwest and Southeast Asia, or primarily served to expand or protect the Empire. But major (and costly) sea, air and especially land campaigns were essential to winning world wars; the character of 20th century total war effectively marginalized the efforts and the theaters where romantic individualists fought, though they remain dashing, compelling figures. "Fire in the Night" is exciting and deserves 4-5 stars taken on its own terms, but excess attention given to special ops ultimately obscures the nature of Allied triumphs. A. Mockler, "Haile Selassie's War" narrates the 1935-41 Ethiopian conflict. In "Defeat Into Victory" William Slim recounts the inspiring reconquest of Burma, with pointed critiques but general praise for his difficult subordinate. (The authors seem overly hard on Slim in this respect.) J. Nunneley, "Tales from the King's African Rifles" captures well the brutal, unglamorous experience of most Burma veterans.

incomplete portrait of a complex figure.......2004-07-22

Like many sources, this book praises wingate without enough
careful examination of his flaws. The book focuses mostly
on three chapters in Wingate's life. It starts with his
service in palestine in 1936.

Driven by religious fanaticism and his contempt for what
he saw as uncivilized peoples (arabs or any non-europeans
really), he attached himself to Zionism and zionist politicians.
In the process he exceeded or ignored his orders, then after
politically compromised himself in open alliance with zionist
groups to a point where he could not possibly serve there.
His great "vision" for the region was for a "sub-empire"
with Zionists serving as a sort of spartan military elite
to subdue and westernize those considered lesser humans. All
as part of some sort of twisted fanatical vision of christianity.

After having been booted out of Palestine, he eventually ended
up in Ethiopia where he again ignored his orders. His goal
this time was to force a royal government on Ethiopia regardless
of what anyone else thought and in spite of serious reservations
on the part of politicians and his superiors. His campaign
was a wonderful "boys adventure" sort of a affair, but in the
end it was army won the campaign. Wingate's great accomplishment
was saddling Ethiopia with an unstable and territorially
aggressive monarchy that eventually collapsed in a bloodbath
in the 1970s.

After, he went into open revolt against the entire leadership
of the army in the area. He openly insulted them and held them
in utter contempt. In his mind, though he had never held
a position of high responsiblity in the army, he saw himself
as being some sort of grand illustrious figure. And when
his campaign of alination, insults and personal attacks failed
to get him recognition, he attempted suicide. Contrary to the
book, his megolmania and self-destructive behavior would indicate
someone with serious problems rather than a great leader.

He was rescued from career oblivion by a friend in India. He
was sent into Burma in 1942 to see what could be done in the
way of irregular warfare. For all his bluster, he did nothing.
And beyond that, while other men were suffering and dying
on the march back to India, Wingate arranged to be flown out.

Back in India, he was given a brigade to test out his theories
with. He whined about what he was given in terms of men. He
only wanted british soldiers. He threw the men into jungle
camps during the monsoon with the idea that by inflicting the
maximum amount of suffering and disease, that british men
who had his opinion been weakened by access to health care
and doctors in britain would be made strong again. When the
casualty rate reached over 50%, he moved the men into regular
housing and they recovered. The book presents the self-serving
fiction that the casulaty rate declined due to weeding out
"bad men" when in reality it only improved because the monsoon
ended and the worst of the camps was abandoned.

Wingate's first mission into Burma served no real purpose. It
was originally to be part of a broader plan, but when the
broader plan was cancelled, wingate demanded that the operation
go ahead anyway as a training exercise. He led the men into
Burma, put a railway out of operation for a few weeks and
then led his men deep into Burma where they accomplished nothing.
Eventually, Wingate executed one of his brilliant strategies
to solve the situation. He broke up his command and effectively
gave the order every man for himself. The force or more
properly what survived of the force returned in small parties
to India.

Once back, Wingate ignored his men in favor of launching a
press and publicity campaign on his achivements. He wrote
a self-serving account of operations and when his commanders
raised objects to it, he arranged for a copy to be given
directly to Churchill and the cabinet. Wingate decided to
bypass the entire army and come under the patronage of
politicians. The politicans heard about the brilliant victory,
but they did not hear about the officer running naked in the
jungle or of the man who believed bringing back flogging was
necessary for real dicipline.

When he returned to India in the fall of 1943, he fell ill
because he had recklessly drank contaminated water in north
africa on the way back. He had been given a blank cheque
for any resources he wanted for operations in Burma.

However, due to a combination of him being out of the country
and ill, his operational role in developing the second chindit
force wasn't very large. Eventually, an plan was thrown
together for operations in 1944. Rather than being an evolution
of his supposed theories, it mostly involved a new idea of
fighting a special operations war with a division-sized formation
operating from large bases in enemy controlled territory.

Wingate died early on during the operation so its impossible to
know what would have been the result if he had lived. However,
the only other time his 1944 strategy was used was by the
French in Vietnam where it led to total disaster.

Wingate has a number of followers. Obviously, Israelis are
greatful for the help he provided in forming what eventually
became their army. There are also those who, like wingate,
who see the british army as a failed institution and somehow
see innovation in the form of a man who cut his own throat,
ran around naked in camp, wanted to bring back flogging and
credited broader access to good health care in civilian life
as being responsible for weakening the british soldier.

A good work on Wingate has to deal with the positive aspects
and the negative ones. Too many draw a one-sided portrait
(including this one) while sweeping the not so nice parts of
the story under the rug.

NOT THE STANDARD WARRIOR GENTLEMAN.......2004-03-18

Having been brought up on stories from my early years about the brave and often forgotten exploits of the Chindits I was very enthused to tuck into this book. Orde Wingate has been the hero of many, not so much because he was a military successful warrior, but because he was wildly unconventional at a time when staid ethics and methods of war were leading to defeats of the western allies on all fronts.

A fierce Old Testament fear and learning of the bible bread in what would now be called a fundementalist christian family, he blended this with [...] eccentricities like, indifference to appearing nude before his collegues and newspapermen, a complete indifference to British Monarchy and the hierarchical class-bound society and way of thinking. An appreciator of new ideas and probably quite to the left of many of his superiors, he had no hestation in punishing and physically striking his recruits (no matter their colour), and could kill the enemy mercilessly, or order large groups knowingly to their death without a blink.

Wingate pioneered unconventional warfare with his notion that large unit groups can function in the rear of the enemy for long periods of time if they were self-sufficient and well trained. He eschewed the entire idea of "special forces" as they are often called nowadays. In the end I do not think that he squared the circle large unit action and special forces --- he wanted both and got really neither. His tactics worked rather well against the Italians (but that was no surprise he realised), but they were problematic against the Japanese. The first operation, "Long Cloth" was an unmitigated disaster, with enough adventures from its many participants to fill an entire library (they still make some of the most heart thumping reads available). The entire operation broke down and became in some cases, every man for himself. Wingate himself giving the order.

His second operation was more problematic. No doubt these operations had significant effect on the enemy and no doubt were very helpful in the taking of Myikyena and Mogang, but I really think that 14th Army would have rolled up the Japanese flank nicely anyway, as they did and win the Battle of Burma with overwhelming firepower and troops as well unmitigated air superiority.

In the end the Japanese in Burma were beaten by traditional large unit engagements.

That is not a defeat of the ideas of Orde Wingate, nor do they negate the incredible bravery of the men who served with him. What it does DO however is to put to rest the idea that Orde Wingate was a purveyor of "Truth" -- his ideas were worthy, but they were not the be-all end-all of jungle combat. His developments were prodigeous and his personal bravery never in doubt. But I think that, like Moses, he got involved too much in fanatical devotion to one idea and was willing to sacrifice a lot for an idea. In the case of Moses, his people --- in the case of Wingate, it was often his own troops.

This books admirably chronicles the multifacted nature of Wingate. It is factual and comes across as neutral as possible, often citing critical sources and those men (also of incredible courage) that did not fall under his spell.

The narrative is tight and WELL EDITED. Unlike your regular 1000 page biography Smith and Beirman are able to deal with the subject adequately in 400 pages with nothing substantive missing. Also there is just enough detail of almost all of his life. The final 150 pages deals with the Burma campaign the authors are very skillful in their use of detail. They include all of the crucial elements necessary of his many campaigns.

I found the book to be a very admirable read. I think that it only deepened the questions I have about Wingate --- was he a daring experimenter or a madman? --- I think that one can add, bitterly-troubled person to the heap of other appelations surrounding this man.

I still ask myself, if this man were my commander would I succumb and become a convert? Would I stand aloof and protest that something is terribly wrong? I do not know, and cannot judge because I was not born at the time these events transpired. I was not a part of this great crusade, the glory they gained or the horrors they endured.

Extraordinary story of a unique person.......2004-02-25

This is actually three wonderful stories in one. Beginning with a short introduction of the `early years' the book quickly opens with Wingate in 1936 Palestine/Zion where is quickly discovers the passion that he will keep for the rest of his life, namely Zionism. Wingate, witnessing the anti-Semitic nature of the British officer corps, gravitates towards the Zionists due to his penchant for sticking out and backing underdog causes. This book tells the riveting story of Wingate's training and arming of the famous `night squads' which became the backbone of the Palmach who eventually led Israel to victory in the 1948 war.

The second story is the story of Wingate in Africa. Exiled to Africa because of his deep connections to the Zionists Wingate once again latches onto a new cause, the 1941 liberation of Ethiopia, which had been the last free African state before the Italians invaded it.

The third story is where Wingate once again shined, namely in Burma leading the Chindits who operated behind enemy lines fighting the Japanese. Once again Wingate's penchant for native causes and brilliant ability to adapt unorthodox fighting techniques helped prepare the way for British victory. Churchill called Wingate a genius and when you read this book you will wholeheartedly agree, this is truly the story of the man who was the `fire in the night' when the world was becoming dark with fascism.

Seth J. Frantzman

Average customer rating:

Fifth times the charm

Totally swept away in another world!

Like the Star Wars prequels without the kiddie elements and other flaws

The Final War with the Hydrogues

Of Fire and Night

Of Fire and Night (The Saga of Seven Suns, Book 5)
Kevin J. Anderson
Manufacturer: Aspect
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Hunters of Dune

A Forest of Stars

ASIN: 0446577189

Book Description

The alien Klikiss robots, pretending to be allies of humanity, have covertly planted an insidious Trojan Horse throughout the Earth Defense Forces. The sudden rebellion of Earths soldier robots leaves millions dead and the Terran Hanseatic League defenseless. In a desperate attempt to save his own race, the Ildiran Mage-Imperator, Jorah, is forced into a devils bargain with the evil hydrogues, requiring him to ambush and destroy what remains of the human race. But the gypsy Roamer clans and the green priests of the worldforest are discovering innovative ways to rebel, and have found strange allies with incomprehensible power. As the climactic battle begins, the Ildiran Solar Navy, the Earth Defense Forces, the Roamers, green priests, Klikiss robots, and hydrogue warglobes collide in a fury that will destroy manyand devastate the landscape of the Spiral Arm forever.

Customer Reviews:

Fifth times the charm.......2007-10-21

My kids got this for me after I put it on my wish list. I had read the first four but hadn't got any after that, and this was a treat. The Saga of the Seven Suns follows Scattered Suns and it took me a bit to get back into the story. I found myself rereading the first hundred or so pages once I reconnected everything in my mind. Two thumbs up!

Totally swept away in another world!.......2007-06-28

I absolutely adore the Dune series. The most recent books of which are coauthored by Kevin J Anderson, and Brian Herbert (Frank's son).

While waiting for the next Dune book to come out, i decided to try Saga of the Seven suns. I quickly devoured each available book in this series, and for the last two have eagerly anticipated their release. I can't wait for the next one!

The plot line is so intriguing, the characters so well developed. I love the way the story is told from each person's perspective. Sometimes it will even overlap events two characters shared in common and show it through each character's eyes.

I recommend you start from the beginning, but Dune and Saga of the Seven Suns are both written with little flashbacks here and there to anchor the current events and remind you of what happened before. (kinda like a 'previously on such and such tv show'). That might help you follow along if you jumped in the middle. But you'll probably enjoy it the most if you get to know the characters through their lives by starting at the beginning. (that way you don't have to play catchup)

To summarize the series, There are 4 races of Elemental beings that have been at war for thousands of years. Earth, Water, Fire, and Gas. There are also humans (still anchored at Earth), and a race called Ildrians which have like a telekenesis that links them all together. There are insectoid robots fashioned by a long suspected to be extinct race of insectoid organic creatures the Klikiss. There is also a vagabond group of ragtag humans who have learned to survive the most extreme conditions, known as the Roamers. And there are robots (compies) created by the human race to service their needs. The smaller less sophisticated races Humans, Roamers, and Ildrians are swept into this galactic battle that has been waged for centuries between the elemental races. And join forces with Verandi (earth), and Wental (water) to fight the Hydrogues (Gas).

This book has it all. Love, War, magnificent battles. Heartache. Happiness. Victory and Triumph. The battle of good versus evil. Internal conflicts of conscience. It is fantastic.

Like the Star Wars prequels without the kiddie elements and other flaws.......2007-04-18

Since filing an initial review or two back when this series commenced, I haven't checked in lately with my feelings on the later installments of Anderson's "Saga of Seven Suns" epic. Well, I've still been reading this series (or, more precisely, listening to it) for the past few years and I'm still quite enjoying it. The Saga is big, sweeping space opera at its finest, but without- thankfully- ever becoming too self-consciously "pulpy".

To be clear, we're not quite talking (at least, not yet) "Dune" level quality here, in terms of both complexity and depth, but we are talking good solid storytelling encompassing a variety of worlds and races, peppered with lots of smaller, human-scale storylines revolving around a variety of characters who make it easy to invest our interest and sympathies with them. Making things even more interesting is the happy fact that this latest installment, "Of Fire and Night", doesn't just take the various characters' established storylines further along in a "kind of/sort of" unpredictable fashion, but offers several surprising new directions for them that were completely unforeseen in previous volumes.

One caveat: I still wish the author would give us a little more detail about the workings of the Earth government. We gets lots of great stuff about the corrupt Chairman (and true ruler) of the Earth government going head to head with the figurehead "King" of the same government, but we're not told if there's also some kind of Congress or other lawmaking body somewhere in there, too. Wouldn't they have something to say about the Chairman and King's political battles? Such details would also explain who was running the obstensibly democratic government while the Chairman and King were busy trying to outguess each other's plans.

But enough nitpicking... this continues to be a fun and involving series, and the audiobook versions of the books continue to be produced in an artful and polished fashion, even with the new narrator who came onboard a title or two ago. Keep these books- and audios- coming!

The Final War with the Hydrogues.......2007-04-12

Of Fire and Night (2006) is the fifth SF novel in The Saga of the Seven Suns, following Scattered Suns. In the previous volume, DD used the Klikiss gate to find Margaret Colicos on an alien planet. Tasia Tamblyn was captured by Klikiss robots. Patrick Fitzpatrick III negotiated a deal with his grandmother for the freedom of all Roamers within the Osquivel system.

King Peter and Queen Estarra found the friendly dolphins slaughtered and realize that they can no longer hold back in their struggle with Hansa Chairman Basil Wenceslas. Mage-Imperator Jora'h converts the thism of most of the rebels back to himself, but Rusa'h escapes to a faeros city within the Hyrillka sun. Anton Colicos reads Homer's epics to Rememberer Vao'sh until he recovers from his thism withdrawal. The verdani battleships finally reach Theroc.

In this novel, the Osquivel survivors return to be welcomed by enthused crowds. The scientists push through the crowds, impatient to begin investigating the hydrogue derelict vessel. Dignitaries pose for the cameras in front of the small ship.

King Peter and Queen Estarra are there to greet the rescued EDF soldiers. Chairman Wenceslas is also there, although the survival of these men and women was a surprise and embarrassment to the EDF and himself. He wants the public ceremony over as soon as possible.

Admiral Lev Stromo commands the forces sent to rescue the "dunsel" commanders of the EDF rammer fleet, but they find no escape pods and no debris around Qronha 3. Headquarters sends further instructions and his communications techs pick up a faint hidden signal that shows them lost EDF crewmembers and Klikiss robots. Unfortunately, the soldier compies serving on the bridge also receive a signal to take over the ship.

Mage-Imperator receives a visit from hydrogue warglobes at the invitation of his daughter Osira'h. Still, the hydrogue emissary is not interested in negotiating with the Ildirans. First he threatens to destroy the entire race, but mental prodding by Osira'h causes him to provide the Mage-Imperator with a choice: exterminate the Terrans or die.

In this story, the Roamers are definitely not cooperating as ordered. The Terran Hanseatic League is also losing control of its colonies. Meanwhile, Chairman Wenceslas is losing control of his judgment and temper; he starts indulging himself with paranoiac fantasies and planning the death of Peter, Estarra and their unborn child.

Elsewhere, the various enemies of the hydrogues are gathering forces to terminate the ten thousand year old war. The Terran colonies and Roamers are allying with the faeros, the verdani and the wentals to take the war to the hydrogue planets. The Ildirans have an incidental role in this war, but the Hansa government is mostly unaware of the allied offensive.

This novel concludes one phase of this story, but the series does not end with this volume. Stay tuned for Book 6.

Recommended for Anderson fans and for anyone else who enjoys old fashioned space opera with a cast of billions. If you have not read any of the previous books in this series, start with Hidden Empire.

-Arthur W. Jordin

Of Fire and Night.......2007-01-16

I have read all the Dune books and enjoy good sci-fi. Nevertheless I could not get started on this book for the highly detailed introduction with all the strange names. Perhaps if I had read the earlier books my review might have been kinder. I might do that yet.

Average customer rating:

Best one in the series!
Great book, especially if you love historical fiction!
Fabulous Book!
EXCELLENT ENJOYABLE READ
An Amazing Book

Fire by Night (Refiners Fire Series #2)
Lynn Austin
Manufacturer: Bethany House Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1556614438
Release Date: 2003-11-01

Book Description

Book 2 of Refiner's Fire. The drama of the Civil War unfolds through the eyes of two very different Northern girls. Lovely Julia Hoffman has always enjoyed the carefree life of her well-to-do family, but when she fails to attract the attention of Rev. Nathaniel Greene, a fierce abolitionist, she determines to bring meaning to her empty and shallow existence. When she becomes a Union nurse, her eyes are opened to the realities of war and suffering. She also meets Phoebe, who has entered the army under false pretenses--and whose journey to understanding herself, as well as the tumultuous world about her, is revealed with sensitivity and drama.

Customer Reviews:

Best one in the series!.......2007-07-20

If you only have money for one book from this series, I would recommend this one. It is definitely the better of the three stories.

Great book, especially if you love historical fiction!.......2007-05-03

I never had read historical fiction regarding the civil war before this book. This was such an interesting book, and so full of information. I loved the characters. It was really neat to see how some of the women of the time helped in the war. Men made many sacrifices during this war, but so did the women. You will not be disappointed in this book if you love the civil war era. I accidentally got this one first over the first book in the series (Candle in the Darkness), I liked this one much better.

Fabulous Book!.......2006-11-22

I couldn't put it down and read it in 2 days! I recommend this book for anyone who wants to read a great book.

EXCELLENT ENJOYABLE READ.......2006-07-26

This book was better than the first one, I enjoyed reading it very much! I really liked how Julia's character developed and Phoebe was such a likeable character. Lynn Austin is a great writer, she really knows how to keep your interest. Highly recommend this book!

An Amazing Book.......2006-06-29

This is the best book I have read in a long time. The two women and their struggles and triumphs are so very interesting. Every page is full of suspense, and I found myself reading faster and faster not being able to wait to read what was next. I recommend this book wholeheartedly to anyone who loves a historical romance, and even to those who don't.

The Long Night of Centauri Prime (Babylon 5: Legions of Fire, Book 1)

Average customer rating:

Whatever happened to Londo and Vir anyway?
Great storyline, writing a little off
Picks Up Where the TV Series Implies
Not quite good
You will be alright.

The Long Night of Centauri Prime (Babylon 5: Legions of Fire, Book 1)
Peter David
Manufacturer: Del Rey
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

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ASIN: 0345427181
Release Date: 1999-12-07

Book Description

The beginning of an exciting new adventure that continues the Babylon 5 legacy . . .

Bombed to the brink of oblivion, the planet Centauri Prime is starting the slow and painful process of rebuilding, under the watchful eye of Emperor Londo Mollari. But Londo is in turn being watched--and manipulated--by the conquest-hungry Drakh. The malevolent beings are reshaping the Centauri Republic into a secret seat of power from which to strike out at their enemies--especially the Interstellar Alliance.

All but helpless to resist, Londo watches as his beloved Homeworld is transformed into a ruthless police state. And the Drakh have willing allies, including one of Londo's own countrymen--Durla, a powerful official with his own sinister agenda.

As the abuses of the repressive new Republic escalate, the double-edged Drakh master plan begins to unfold. Their goal is to smash the Interstellar Alliance by assassinating its president, John Sheridan, and to obliterate Earth, using a fabled, monstrous Shadow weapon known as a Planet Killer . . .

Customer Reviews:

Whatever happened to Londo and Vir anyway?.......2005-11-25

Peter David fleshes out Michael Straczynski's outline on whatever happened to Londo Mollari after the series Babylon 5 completed its five-year run. The three novels--The Long Night of Centauri Prime, Armies of Light and Dark, and Out of the Darkness detail the tragic fall of Emperor Mollari at the hands of the vengeful Drahk and Vir's quest to undermine Centauri Prime's enemy and reveal them as the agents working to destroy his homeworld from within the government.

Aside from some rather unbelievable coincidences and some rather stupid "superior aliens" (who cannot figure out that Vir is leading the guerilla movement), the novel is well-crafted and well plotted. In fact, the novels are more satisfying B-5 fare than the Psi-Corp trilogy written by J. Gregory Keyes a few years back; here there is definitely a sense of closure to the characters and their actions make sense. And, should you even be interested, there are some characters from Straczynski's short-lived follow-up series Crusader appearing, apparently an attempt to tie the novels in with the television show. Of course, the show had come and gone before the series had even been completely published.

Great storyline, writing a little off.......2005-02-12

For Babylon V fans, getting more on what is occuring on Centauri Prime is a boon. Londo, now emperor, was involved with the Shadows, but betrayed them, something that the Drakh have not forgiven.

This book reintroduces us to some familiar characters, former Ambassador, now Emperor, Londo Mollari, his former aide de camp, now ambassador in his own right, Vir Cotto, Londo's divorced wive Mariel, and the one he kept Timov.

The storyline itself was written by J. Michael Straczinski, but the quality of the writing was not up to the level of the story itself. For Babylon V fans, this is a must read due to the background info we gain about the situation on Centauri Prime. If you are not family with Babylon V, I recommend getting familiar with it before reading this book, because it does assume a familiarity with the general plot line of the series, particularly as they played out over the last two or three seasons.

Picks Up Where the TV Series Implies.......2004-09-01

Babylon 5 is simply one of the best SciFi tv shows that I have ever seen. This book picks up from the tv series where Londo Mollari has acended to the position of Emperor. In the last three tv episodes, much is alluded to as to what happened to Londo and his friend Vir Cotto. This book jumps right into what is alluded to, and how Londo handles his "hidden enslavement" to the Drakh. The twists and turns the plot takes are excellent reminders of the twists and turns that Londo's scheming and planning took the entire tv show over its five seasons. Very good beginning to a series, and it leaves you wanting more in the final pages.

Not quite good.......2004-06-22

First off I would like to say the authors like Peter David are what has killed sci-fi literature. This book, and the others in the series, only offers stale and emotionless sequence actions taken by the fairly flat characters in the book. It would have been more enjoyable as a two-page outline of events. At least then I would not have felt cheated.

You will be alright........2004-02-23

This book, based on an outline from Babylon 5 creator J. Michael Straczynski (so you know it's official), covers the period in B5's history detailing the first years of Emperor Londo Mollari's rule of Centauri Prime, all while under the thumb of the Drakh.

Weaving in and out of the final episodes of the Babylon 5 series, this book gives a greater insight into the events shown, and explains things that were never fully explained as well.

Plus, an unlikely hero starts to emerge from all this in the form of Vir Cotto. Initially through no fault of his own, he starts to leave behind the Flounder-ness of his character and starts to go down the path that will someday lead him to becoming Emperor himself. Strongly recommended for Babylon 5 fans.

Average customer rating:

Perfect combination of spooky and sexy

3 stars is being generous. Pine Forest was a wonderful setting.

FIRE, molten heat!

strong erotic vampire romance

Deep Is the Night Trilogy: Dark Fire (Book 1)
Denise Agnew
Manufacturer: Ellora's Cave
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Night Watch

Haunted Souls: Deep Is the Night

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Special Investigations: Impetuous

The Dare

ASIN: 1843605635

Book Description

Whispers, secrets, and tales of ghosts abound in Pine Forest, but new librarian Erin Greenway doesn't believe in goblins.

Yet the Victorian monstrosity she works in creaks and groans and speaks of horrible secrets she cannot deny.

When the mysterious Scot, Lachlan Tavish claims to be chasing a thousand year old vampire, his dark, dangerous looks make her wonder if he's the hunter or the hunted.

Download Description

Book 1 in the Deep is the Night series Whispers, secrets, and tales of ghosts abound in Pine Forest, but new librarian Erin Greenway doesn't believe in goblins. Yet the Victorian monstrosity she works in creaks and groans and speaks of horrible secrets she cannot deny. When the mysterious Scot, Lachlan Tavish claims to be chasing a thousand year old vampire, his dark, dangerous looks make her wonder if he's the hunter or the hunted.

Customer Reviews:

Perfect combination of spooky and sexy.......2006-03-30

I really enjoyed Dark Fire. This book does an excellent job of setting up the series without getting bogged down in exposition.

The concept of a "haunted town" where everybody is so laid back about it is really cool too. It's just there, part of the scenery, and doesn't really draw attention to itself. Very nicely done, and creates a spooky backdrop to this perfect story.

Erin came across as a tough heroine. She could hold her own, didn't believe in ghosts, and really didn't want to accept Lachlan's help. Yet, at the same time Lachlan seemed determined to protect Erin, even though he knows she doesn't want his help. Lachlan was sexy from the first time we saw him, and I completely understand why Erin couldn't keep her hands off him -- I wouldn't be able too either. :) The supporting cast seemed very real, and this world feels very fleshed out, which is something I look for in my paranormal reading. Does this world feel as if it begins and ends with the two covers, or does it feel as if these people are still walking around, loving, and living, even after I close the book. The town, the characters, all of it feels vividly real. It's like a place I wish I could visit on vacation. As if it's there, on the map somewhere.

An excellent read. I read it pretty much all in one sitting -- it was just TOO GOOD TO PUT DOWN!
:)

3 stars is being generous. Pine Forest was a wonderful setting........2006-03-19

A small town where the unexplained is the norm. The male lead (Lachlan)was fine, and most of the secondary characters, but the "heroine" Erin was one of the most annoying creatures I've encountered in a long time. The book is 334 pages and Erin is still whining about "Can I trust him, can I trust him" blowing hot and then cold towards Lachlan through the first 200 plus pages in the book. We are told that Erin is a strong woman and has recently left home (at the age of about 29 as I understood it) where her parents have been very domineering and controlling. Her immaturity and angst could be understood if she were a teenager, but wasn't particularily attractive in a woman pushing 30. Also as a librarian (again I am assuming that she has a degree in library science.)she should be an expert at researching and gathering information, but apparently this never crossed her mind when strange things began happening to her and in the community. There was also a scene where the local cop (Danny) mentions a possible rape and the sexual habits of previous victims. Have you ever heard of confidentiality! There is a protocol and chain of evidence that must be maintained in cases of suspected rape. Medical and law enforcement professionals are aware of this, even in small towns. This series has potential but definitely needs some work.

FIRE, molten heat!.......2003-12-27

In Pine Forest, the residents believe the tales of ghosts that run amuck, all except Erin Greenway. This new librarian doesn't believe in the ghosts or the tales that the native's of Pine Forest believe.

Erin has been in Pine Forest for four weeks, settling in and adjusting to her new life and job. The last thing on her mind really, is a man. Especially when a woman is attacked in the park, Erin is wary of strangers. But when Lachlan Tavish shows up on her doorstep, fangs bared, all of the common sense that she possesses goes flying out the window and her libido takes over. Even though Erin is immensely attracted to Lachlan, she senses secrets beneath the surface with Lachlan that she doesn't completely trust him. Lachlan claims to be tracking down an ancient vampire, but Erin can't help but wonder what prey Lachlan is really seeking...this vampire or her!

What evil is lurking in Pine Forest? Who is Lachlan Tavish? Will Erin realize that danger is on her doorstep, in more ways than one, before it is too late?

Sensual, riveting, exciting and explosive is Denise A. Agnew's first book in the Deep is the Night Series, DARK FIRE. Erin and Lachlan are profound characters who draw readers deep into the story, make us crave their lust and sensuality and we hate to see their story end. A combustible couple who arouse our senses and each others, who are perfect for each other. DARK FIRE literally sent chills down my spine when reading it. The creaks and moans, the movements of the mansion where Erin works in, had me jumping, looking over my shoulder and straining to hear every sound. This is the first story I have read by Denise A. Agnew and after reading it, I have already added her to my auto-buy list. The prologue itself, draws readers in before it is even over. The words are hypnotic and seductive, luring the reader to keep reading.

DARK FIRE is wonderfully written, suspenseful, highly arousing and intriguing. The Deep is the Night Series is off to a fantastic beginning with DARK FIRE. I can't wait for the next tale in this series, to find out what else this talented author has in store for us next.

Reviewed by Tracey West for The Road to Romance

strong erotic vampire romance.......2003-11-10

Needing freedom from the overwhelming expectations of her parents, Erin Greenway moves from Arizona to Pine Forest, Colorado, to become a librarian in the small town described to her by her best friend, who insists most locals believe in ghosts. Since it is Halloween, Erin and another librarian decorate the library for a children's spooky story hour. As she arrives at the library, Erin hears eerie noises and smells a nasty odor. She is thinking of yesterday's assault on a woman when the voices enter her mind. One sounds threatening while the other seems protectively sexy.

Visiting Scot Lachlan Tavish is in town hunting the Ancient Vampire, who killed his parents and left him for dead. Lachlan believes that the vampire has staked out Erin and he plans to keep her safe though she distrusts his motives. Still, neither can resist the passion between them and soon make love. However, the malevolent blood sucker is coming for both of them and love is not a good emotion to have when one needs logic, and rational thought, items that have abandoned Erin and Lachlan.

Fans of erotic vampire romances will gain great pleasure from Denise Agnew's fantastic DEEP IN THE NIGHT: DARK FIRE. The story line is action-packed as readers anticipate a powerful final confrontation, but also is filled with an ardent romance so that the audience receives additional pleasure from the cleverly designed plot pulling in two directions. Erin and Lachlan are a delightful couple regardless of which vernacular they use and the villain is as vile a foe as one can imagine. Halloween is rarely as good as this tale is.

Book Description

Dear Reader:

Night Fire, the first of the Night Trilogy, was first published in early 1989. I haven't rewritten it, just cleaned it up a bit and Avon books has given it a wonderful new cover.

Arielle Leslie is a sixteen-year-old girl forced to wed Paisley Cochrane, a sadistic old man who abuses her. When he dies, she believes herself free. But she's not.

Burke Drummond, Earl of Ravensworth -- a young man she'd worshipped three years before -- is home from the wars, and he wants her. When he catches her, he's in for an appalling surprise.

I hope Burke and Arielle are two people who will touch you as deeply as they touched me. They face problems and obstacles never spoken of in Regency times.

If you haven't yet read Night Fire, do give it a try.

-- Catherine Coulter

Download Description

Dear Reader:

Night Fire, the first of the Night Trilogy, was first published in early 1989. I haven't rewritten it, just cleaned it up a bit and Avon books has given it a wonderful new cover.

Arielle Leslie is a sixteen-year-old girl forced to wed Paisley Cochrane, a sadistic old man who abuses her. When he dies, she believes herself free. But she's not.

Burke Drummond, Earl of Ravensworth -- a young man she'd worshipped three years before -- is home from the wars, and he wants her. When he catches her, he's in for an appalling surprise.

I hope Burke and Arielle are two people who will touch you as deeply as they touched me. They face problems and obstacles never spoken of in Regency times.

If you haven't yet read Night Fire, do give it a try.

-- Catherine Coulter

Customer Reviews:

Night Fire.......2006-02-10

Hurray to an author who can caringly deal with difficult issues even for suave and savvy readers of modern times. This book gave me hope for all abused women and men. Hope, that curelities can be put where they belong, in the past and left there. Granted not everyone will have a Burke Drummond to help them through difficult times but Night Fire did help me understand that we each have the power within ourselves to heal and live happy productive lives.

On the right track but misses a beat...........2005-05-02

I have read almost all of Catherine Coulter's books and find this to be one of the most lacking. The small meeting between Arielle and Burke... well it is difficult to imagine it leading to such an obsession on Burke's part. Also Coulter should have allowed Arielle some regression to at least get in touch with her counter feelings for Burke because I felt up until page 150 or so... well I felt Arielle really did want NOTHING to do with Burke. Hmm... I read it through but I had to force myself. I appreciate the reality of the situation but I think Jane Feather did a much better novel similar to this in The Diamond Slipper (I think that is the correct title). I will continue to read and admire her novels but this is by far my least favorite series.

Sigh............2005-03-02

I have just started to write my reviews on this website. I always read the other ones before I write my own. I love how Catherine Coulter writes so differently from other historical romance writers. Her books always have taboos and serious issues. According to a lot of the reviews I read about Catherine Coulter on this website, alot of people are always putting her down for writing about things that actually did and do happen to women all over the world. I don't enjoy reading romance novels that are sugar coated, so her books always make me rush to the book store to pick them up. If things like domestic abuse and over bearing men offend some women, then quit reading historical romances. Besides, it's only fiction anyway.

Good love story - maybe could have been better?.......2004-12-14

Airelle is certainly a young lady with a sad and horrific past and she is so fortunate to have someone like Burke Drummond to have fallen in love with her 3 years before, and devoted and patient to find a way to achieve marriage between them. This is such an unbelievable love story - I think the only weakness is perhaps the development of how Airelle began to change her feelings for Burke. Certainly he was patient and unbelievably caring and devoted and seemed to do all the right things - just on an emotional level I am not exactly sure what caused Airelle to actually accept Burke's love. And the ending with the crazed nanny and Entinne - that would have seemed to immediately drawn Burke and Airelle together - to skip then to the wedding 3 weeks later and they are still coming together just seemed a little weak - I mean most of the time when there is such an intense scene as almost dying in the fire couples cannot bare to be away from one another. For the most part though I love Coulter books and look forward to the others in this series!

It was Good in 89 and its good now!.......2004-01-27

I have read all three books in the Night Trilogy. I like it when Catherine goes back and cleans up a book or even adds to it. I personally like the orginials. This book is no exception to her skills. It was kind of hard for me to read through the abuse part but at least she had some one to love her completely.Its not for those who like your typical girl meets boy amd fall in love. I felt sorry for the nanny who lost her mind and became a murdering psycho who turns on her charge.Then there's the sister who keeps her husband with sex. Talk about a screwly family. Its a must read.

Bingo Night at the Fire Hall: Rediscovering Life in an American Village

Average customer rating:

Charming author in a strange new world
Ruminations from the rural/suburban interface
Great Writing Ability, However This Holland Book Has Some Problems
A continuous page turning story
A Local's Review of "Bingo Night"

Bingo Night at the Fire Hall: Rediscovering Life in an American Village
Barbara Holland
Manufacturer: Harvest Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0156006650

Book Description

When Barbara Holland inherited her mother's small cabin in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, she quit her job in advertising and moved from Philadelphia to her new home high on a mountain, with only her cat for company. In Bingo Night at the Fire Hall, Holland recounts her adventures and misadventures adjusting to life in a rural community, as her small town adjusts to the inevitable encroachment of suburbia. Whether writing obituaries for the local paper or learning how to handle a chainsaw, Holland shares the triumphs and travails of being a newcomer to an old land with a rich history, a beautiful place sadly losing ground to subdivisions and four-lane highways. Filled with wonderful anecdotes, humor, and insight, Bingo Night at the Fire Hall is a fascinating portrait of a paradisical yet disappearing world.

Customer Reviews:

Charming author in a strange new world.......2007-10-12

When she was in her early 60's author Barbara Holland moved from Philadelphia to Loudon County in Northern Virginia, to a small house in the Blue Ridge Mountains some 60 miles outside of Washington D.C. It might as well have been a different planet. In Bingo Night at the Fire Hall Holland describes the world she came almost by accident to inhabit, a place somehow "unreachably far beyond the headlines and the evening news." Her house on the mountain overlooks a fertile valley in which the same families have farmed for generations. As she describes it, the people there live (or lived, at least, in the 1990s, when she was writing this book) in a sort of time capsule, a Mayberry-like idyll of 4-H clubs and church picnics. It's a place where nobody locks their doors (locking them would seem unneighborly), where people are defined not by their resumés but by their family ties.

Holland approaches her subject from a number of different angles, with chapters on the area's extensive role in the Civil War, for example, and on the weather and wildlife:

"I was pleased and excited to have a bear, until I followed the tracks to the lower porch and considered the remains of the trash bags. Among the strewn litter of crushed cans and coffee grounds the bear, like a psychotic burglar, had defecated copiously."

But what makes the book stand out is her description of the ethos of this place, where families' lives are intertwined over generations and where one is surrounded by one's family:

"On any given day a person in the supermarket could come across his or her entire extended family, one by one, aisle by aisle, pausing to exchange fragments of news among the canned goods. This would horrify city folk, whose relatives tend to get on their nerves, but we're a low-strung lot around here and our satisfaction with our birthplace spreads to include our kin -- or perhaps we consider them one and the same."

It would horrify me, certainly. But Holland writes about this way of life so well that one not only understands it, one almost pines for it:

"Relatives are more useful here than in the city or suburb. They have tools you can borrow. They're someone to call, in a taxiless world, when you need a ride. Someone to leave the kids with or go hunting with; someone to help get your firewood in or your boat painted. Someone to carry your coffin. From cradle to grave, my neighbors here swing in a hammock of family ties and nobody leaves except for the churchyard. Even the few who fled to Florida get carried home in the end."

The book makes clear how much modern lifestyles differ from the way of life that was natural to so many generations before us: small communities of neighbors living off the land, interdependent, clustered around a handful of public buildings--the bank and post office and general store. Nowadays, Holland writes, people don't need towns. They need highways between their work places and their living spaces, with places to shop in between.

At the same time that Holland is celebrating life in her valley, however, she is also recording its demise. The land that fed armies on both sides during the Civil War is yielding--increasingly, inexorably--to strip malls and housing projects. The fertility of the soil doesn't matter if you're only interested in paving it over. One can see through Holland's eyes how this influx of rootless Others is an affront to the land.

Holland, of course, is herself an immigrant, but unlike the housing developers who are carving the valley into subdivisions, she did not efface her surroundings; she adapted to them. Being an outsider also made her a keen observer of the world around her, which we can only be thankful for. I enjoyed Holland's book enormously. It is charmingly written and wise. I'll be seeking out more from her.

-- Debra Hamel

Ruminations from the rural/suburban interface.......2007-05-29

During the 1700s and 1800s, as the burgeoning population of the White Man, backed by his relatively sophisticated farming methods and industrial capacity, slowly encroached upon and suffocated the Native American cultures, there must have been those writers who bemoaned the passing of the Noble Savage and his way of life. Here, in BINGO NIGHT AT THE FIRE HALL, Barbara Holland, at the interface of vanishing rural, small-farm America and metastasizing, mall-happy suburbia, performs the same function.

The place is northern Virginia, less than an hour's drive west of Dulles International. Barbara places herself in a mountain cabin inherited from her mother near the village of Pikestown, a short distance from North Hill, at a gap in the Appalachians. After determined inspection of a Rand McNally, I can state with some degree of certainty that these are fictional place names. I suspect her point of view to emanate from somewhere in the Front Royal-Chester Gap-Sperryville arc. The time is the mid-1990s, and Holland herself is perhaps in her 60s.

Those readers who enjoyed Endangered Pleasures: In Defense of Naps, Bacon, Martinis, Profanity, and Other Indulgences and Wasn't the Grass Greener?: Thirty-three Reasons Why Life Isn't as Good as It Used to Be are acquainted with the author's style, which is similar to that of the curmudgeonly Andy Rooney, but without the mean streak. But while the other two volumes deal with specifics, BINGO NIGHT AT THE FIRE HALL concerns itself with a way of life, a more nebulous concept, that otherwise gets lost in the mundane details of everyday living. This life, represented by family farms, local general stores, town meetings, bingo nights, a deeply felt Civil War heritage, local fund-raisers, school Christmas pageants, clean-cut and drug-free adolescents, and an environment where everyone knows everybody else, is giving way to the impersonal, stressed-out, multicultural, politically correct, acquisitive, self-centered and insidiously spreading suburbia created by the maturing post-war Baby Boomers and their spawn. And Barbara, a former big city dweller herself, observes this transition creeping over the ridgeline into her own back yard, and hints at a loss of deeper, traditional values.

This book is unlikely to appeal to the young or middle aged, but to those older who are simply getting old and marginalized. This fact doesn't invalidate Barbara's observations, but rather makes them irrelevant to the newest generations, who will, in time, have their own turn at disenchantment.

Great Writing Ability, However This Holland Book Has Some Problems.......2006-07-11

After reading Barbara Holland's "When All the World Was Young", which I absolutely adored, I immediately had to order another of her books. I must say I was not nearly as enamored of this story. I will say I still think she is a gifted writer. Many of her descriptions are a joy to read. However, I had a couple of problems with this story. First, there actually is little story here. In a few places, the long description of the dedication of the new post office comes to mind, it became so mind-numbingly boring that I skipped ahead a few pages. Second, I became a little confused and frankly less than sympathtic to the main character, Barbara. If she so hates the winters in the mountain, why does she stay there? It's obvious she is miserable much of the year. Also, why live in a rural area where "everyone knows you business" and privacy is, in fact, harder to come by than in the big city, if you are a loner at heart (which she obviously is.) Where are her children? Grown now, but why does she never see them, so it seems, and practically never even mentions them. Finally, I found her criticism of the families in the new subdivisions to be a bit cruel. When I read "When All the World Was Young", I found it to be a delightful journey back to the 1950's, the same time I grew up. But in reading "Bingo Night", which takes place in contemporary times, I began to feel that Ms Holland, in fact, would be happier living in the past. As people grow older, some of us adapt to change better than others. Ms Holland's obvious discontent with modern life in American today suggests that she does not adapt well to change. I so loved the other book! I wish she would give fiction a try, she is such an amazing writer, but I'll not read any more of her nonfiction stories.

A continuous page turning story.......2004-04-25

I am not much of a reader. As usual I was fumbling through the book store on one of those boring family vacations and fell into this book. I could not seem to put it down. This book was very well written and I plan to read all of Barbara Hollands books she is a very creative writer and I would recommend any of her books ( even though I have only read this one ) to anyone.

A Local's Review of "Bingo Night".......2002-02-19

Barbara Holland writes about her experiences in moving out to "rural" Loudoun County and about the effect of the encroaching development on the country lifestyle.

I grew up and worked on a farm in western Loudoun. As one of the "locals", I enjoyed her account of the old way of life and it was fun to read about places and people I knew--it brought back a lot of memories. I also enjoyed (and shared) her obvious distaste for the suburbanites who have invaded and taken over Loudoun. That being said, I found her book overly simplistic and highly embellished.Despite her apparent love for the "locals", she understands them only on the most rudimentary level, which is why her analyses are often simplistic.

Readers should be aware that the book is half fiction and half fact. The "Mountain" where she lives is not nearly as inaccessible and remote as she portrays it. Her towns of "Pikesville" and "North Hill" are actually literary conglomerations of several real towns. In addition, Ms. Holland moved to Loudoun in the 1990's. By that point, the County had already been under transition from rural country to suburban life for almost 10 years. Many of the old-timers and old families had long since moved on or passed away. Which is perhaps why she felt the need to embellish the story. However, it was still fun to read about my High School and to recognize the few people and families that she names. All in all it was an enjoyable read. Potential readers should just be aware that it is a work of fiction, with its setting in reality.

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Night of Fire
Barbara Samuel
Manufacturer: Avon Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

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Book Description

Lady Cassandra St. Ives had sworn off marriage ever since becoming a happy widow, but lately her affections have been engaged by a mysterious, long distance correspondent. Cassandra has shared her soul with her far-off admirer, and whe he invites her to visit his home she accepts the invitation gladly. Expecting a kindly of gentleman, Cassandra is stunned to find that Count Basil