last reads

Ukkusiksalik: The People's Story By David F. Pelly Toronto: Dundurn, $21.50 Reviewed by Russell A. Potter When I was in Gjoa Haven for ten days in 2004, I remember a local Inuk who, though he was happy to answer my newcomer's questions, regarded my interest in his community as a short-term one, despite my protestations to the contrary. When I asked him why, he put it plainly: many  Qallunaaat say the same thing -- but then that's the last you see of them -- they never come back. David F. Pelly is one who came back -- again and again -- and so earned the trust and the friendship of the people he sojourned among. And these qualities are vital to the  project of  Ukkusiksalik , which is no less than to provide a comprehensive oral history of this area from the earliest appearance of humans to the establishment of the national park that bears its name in 2003, and beyond. Indeed, Pelly opens with an account of the geological history of the area beginning with the last Ice Ag...

USU by Jayde Ver Elst Publishing Information: Paperback; 180pgs Publisher: Bad Dreams Entertainment; 1 Jan 2014 ISBN: 9780996038133 Standalone Copy: Provided by Author Reviewer: Tyson Amazon Synopsis: "Humans are gone and bloody good riddance to the lot of them. The planet, left barren and lifeless by the long extinct species, has since been inherited by their own creations. Now all that roams the hollow cities and landscapes of man are the various machinations left bestowed with intelligent (or in some cases barely functional) programming, including the likes of janitorial robots, violently affectionate androids, and one very unfortunate stuffed rabbit. Separated by distance and time, two unlikely soul mates, Usu and Rain have been rekindled by fate only to struggle once again to hold onto their fragile union. To save a friendship that has stretched across lifetimes they must trek across a land as exotic as it is unforgiving, joined in their adventure by cleaning droids, cannibal...

Star Trek Pop-ups by Paula M. block & Terry Erdmann Courtney Watson McCarthy (artist) Publishing information: Hardback; 25 pages Publisher: Thames & Hudson; 20 Oct 2015 ISBN: 9780500517499 Standalone Copy: Provided by author Reviewer: Tyson Amazon Synopsis: "Star Trek is one of the most enduring franchises in Hollywood entertainment history. Part of the public consciousness since 1966, it spans the worlds of television and the movies and counts millions of fans worldwide. Now Star Trek Pop-Ups delivers seven iconic Star Trek moments in a new way popping off the page in three dimensions. From the original USS Enterprise in flight to the dreaded Borg cube from The Next Generation and beyond, here is an unforgettable series of alien encounters and thrilling action scenes, featuring memorable moments from Deep Space Nine, Voyager, and Enterprise. Bursting with energy and ingenuity, Star Trek Pop-Ups will capture the imaginations of fans young and old. 7 pop-ups and 25 illustra...

Chains of the Heretic by Jeff Salyards Publishing information: Kindle Publisher: Nightshade Books; 16 Feb 2016 ISBN: 978-1597808132 ASIN: B014TOVQ4Q Series: The Bloodsounder's Arc #3 Copy: Provided by Author Reviewer: Tyson Amazon Synopsis: "Men are more easily broken than myths. Emperor Cynead has usurped command of the Memoridons—Tower-controlled memory witches—and consolidated his reign over the Syldoonian Empire. After escaping the capital city of Sunwrack, Captain Braylar Killcoin and his Jackal company evade pursuit across Urglovia, tasked with reaching deposed emperor Thumarr and helping him recapture the throne. Braylar’s sister, Soffjian, rejoins the Jackals and reveals that Commander Darzaak promised her freedom if she agreed to aid them in breaking Cynead’s grip on the other Memoridons and ousting him. Imperial forces attempt to intercept Braylar’s company before they can reach Thumarr. The Jackals fight through Cynead’s battalions but find themselves trapped along ...

On Target by Mark Greaney Publishing Information: Paperback; 544 pages Publisher: Jove; 28 Sept 2010 ISBN: 978-0515148459 Series: The Gray Man #2 Copy: Out of Pocket Reviewer: Tyson Amazon Synopsis: "Killing is his business. But his business is about to get personal. Four years ago, Court Gentry was betrayed by his handlers in the CIA. To survive, he had to eliminate his own brothers in arms. Now, as a master assassin known as the Gray Man, he makes his living killing other people. But when an old comrade he thought dead returns to haunt him, his own life is put in the crosshairs. The man wants Court to complete a mission, with one crucial catch to his orders: Instead of a difficult assassination, the job will entail a near impossible kidnapping—and Court must return his quarry to the very CIA team that turned on him. With his unforgiving employers on one side, his blackmailing former friends on the other, and a doomed mission ahead, Court Gentry would kill to get out of this one ...

The Revenant by Micheal Punke Publishing Information: Paperback; 272pages Publisher: Picador; 6 Jan 2002 ISBN: 9781250066626 Standalone Copy: Out of pocket Reviewer: Tyson Amazon Synopsis: "The year is 1823, and the trappers of the Rocky Mountain Fur Company live a brutal frontier life. Trapping beaver, they contend daily with the threat of Indian tribes turned warlike over the white men's encroachment on their land, and other prairie foes—like the unforgiving landscape and its creatures. Hugh Glass is among the Company's finest men, an experienced frontiersman and an expert tracker. But when a scouting mission puts him face-to-face with a grizzly bear, he is viciously mauled and not expected to survive. The Company's captain dispatches two of his men to stay behind and tend to Glass before he dies, and to give him the respect of a proper burial. When the two men abandon him instead, taking his only means of protecting himself—including his precious gun and hatchet— w...

The Boy Who Drew Monsters by Keith Donohue Publishing information: Paperback; 288 pages Publisher: Picador; 13 October 2015 ISBN: The Boy Who Drew Monsters by Keith Donohue Standalone Copy: Provided by publisher Reviewer: Tyson Amazon Synopsis: "From the New York Times bestselling author of The Stolen Child comes a "classically hypnotic horror story" (Time Out New York) about a young boy trapped inside his own world, whose drawings blur the lines between fantasy and reality. Ever since he nearly drowned in the ocean three years earlier, ten-year-old Jack Peter Keenan has been deathly afraid to leave his home in a small coastal town in Maine. Instead, Jack Peter begins to draw monsters, and when those monsters take on a life of their own, no one is safe from the terror they inspire. His mother, Holly, begins to hear strange sounds in the night coming from the ocean. When she seeks answers from the local Catholic priest and his Japanese housekeeper, they fill her head with...