Book Description
This new book explores the hidden niches of American history to discover the tug between Americans' yearning for privacy and their insatiable curiosity. The book describes Puritan monitoring in Colonial New England, then shows how the attitudes of the founders placed the concept of privacy in the Constitution. This panoramic view continues with the coming of tabloid journalism in the Nineteenth Century, and the reaction to it in the form of a new right - the right to privacy. The book includes histories of wiretapping, of credit reporting, of sexual practices, of Social Security numbers and ID cards, of modern principles of privacy protection, and of the coming of the Internet and the new challenges to personal privacy it brings.
"Robert Ellis Smith's expose of privacy invasion will be one of the sleeper best-selling books..." wrote columnist William Safire in The New York Times, December 1999. "His numerous books are required reading for anyone concerned about the ongoing threats," said Simson Garfinkel in Database Nation, 2000.
Here's a chapter-by-chapter description: "Watchfulness" describes church monitoring in the Colonial period. "Serenity" shows the craving for solitude by our founders, which shaped the rights they enshrined in the Constitution. "Mistrust" recounts early battles over confidentiality in the Post Office, the Census, and Western Union. "Space" describes the quest for privacy in living arrangements (including the first moves to suburbia after the Civil War) and the lack of privacy on Southern plantations. "Curiosity" traces the epic development of sensational journalism in the Nineteenth Century. "Brandeis" chronicles how Louis Brandeis reacted to gossip journalism and other new technology by "inventing" a legal right to privacy. "Wiretaps" is the story of electronic surveillance from the invention of the telephone to the 1970s.
"Sex" traces changing attitudes towards sexual privacy over two centuries, and provides a chronicle of a Clintonesque sex scandal that changed attitudes forever after the 1880s. "Torts" describes court battles that eventually provided great latitude for gossip journalism. "The Constitution" is a remarkable new look at the very narrow decisions of the Supreme Court that shaped the very narrow Constitutional protections for privacy in the Twenty-first Century.
"Numbers" tells for the first time where Social Security numbers came from and how they are used now, and describes subtle political efforts to create a universal identity document in the U.S. "Databanks" provides histories of credit reporting, database marketing, and government record keeping from the 1950s to the present. "Cyberspace" is a look back at the overnight development of the World Wide Web and its impact on personal privacy.
Lastly, the epilogue entitled "Ben Franklin's Web Site" offers specific tips for protecting your privacy. It is modern guidance that Ben Franklin himself would have provided on his Web site.
Customer Reviews:
Distortion of John E. Holts Public Record.......2006-07-05
The information in this book about John E. Holt, former GSA Official is false.
Privacy education even at the gym!.......2006-01-11
I take your Ben Franklin privacy book to the gym...I can't tell you how many people are intrigued by the title. You can open to any chapter, and still be educated. I love it.
Broad and accurate - a wonderful book.......2004-05-09
Ben Franklin's Web Site is a wonderful book - clear, detailed, engaging, hype-free.
So many books have been published on the topic of privacy (especially in recent years). Robert Ellis Smith has written one of those rare pieces that offer a balanced view and provide a truly broad approach to privacy's multifaceted issues. Smith covers historical, philosophical, technological, and legal aspects of the privacy debate, current threats, as well as the relations between privacy and the economic environment. His material is presented in a story-like, chronological order full of interesting anecdotes that grip the attention. Reading this book was a delight.
Best Book on Privacy.......2004-03-28
Robert Ellis Smith's _Ben Franklin's Web Site_ is the best book written on privacy (I've read a lot of them). Smith thoughtfully explores the nuances of Americans' conception of privacy in this book. I use Ben Franklin's Web Site frequently in my work, and think it's just wonderful that it's now in a 2nd printing.
Fascinating Book on Privacy.......2000-08-03
Robert Ellis Smith colors the historical settings for the many pivotal developments, cases and treatise related to privacy. From a description of the Puritan "Tythingmen", who were charged with keeping their eyes on ten families (including the right to inspect the inside of homes), through Madison's early drafts of the First Amendment, forward all the way to the "DoubleClick" controversy, "Ben Franklin's Web Site" covers the myriad of privacy related issues with great elan.
Average customer rating:
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Widow's Web: The True Story of a Little Rock Beauty Whose Deadly Wiles Led to Two Murders and Scandalized the Entire of Arkansas
Gene Lyons
Manufacturer: Simon & Schuster
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0671641859 |
Customer Reviews:
A work your Lifetime reveals .......my love for meandering life journaling....began here............2007-01-26
The reviews I found here for this work are very good. Represent the range Wolfe can inspire. I've seen people get so furious and extreme over his work I was shocked into associating this with art.It can provoke extreme reactions. This work is one of two published after his death, and after his break with Max Perkins, where it's documented in his letters he changed publishers in great turmoil and emotional outpouring. Wolfe always argues his actions into the ground and beyond. This is a source of great volumes of writing. He was always writing. My favorite photos include the rooms he had piled with the papers that somehow 6 feet high came to be collected and edited after his passing into this work. It was then I realized that he really was driven to write and that this compulsion and his voice were so powerful and broad. He was beyond my comprehension. A collection of a life of thought.
When I read this book it's foreshadowing of the 2nd World War, just a fragment wound through the story was so there for me, such a part of the message. I'm teaching now and dealing with forces that I need not explain how they hit me as a vague point of connection related to poverty and injustice, prejudices, something Wolfe dealt with so brutally frank. His writing related to the poverty of the depression is well known. Sometimes his work is so ugly one is revolted into turning inside out. I just realized that after he went to Europe having broken with the woman he loved and knew would never risk being with him and set in a life of comfort and her security, in his anguish and his pain, he returned to the feel of America again having seen so much of the world's coming nightmare in Europe. He went to go across this country and died with tuberculosis of the brain. The horror of his health, his death. It's still such a raw part of how I perceive the work. What I know of his health is enough to say he had a life cut short in a way no one would want. This was a man saying the last he had to say. Saying it without the ability to refine and to reflect long enough, carrying the ordinary and the flash of genius.Tales of a man just like he writing of the life he had lived keeping as close to that life as one can while transforming it into a platform to describe life and man. It's so broad and so flawed and just so very much a part of how life seems...it reads as journal. Wolfe was foremost in the world a man seeing society for it's inequities, failures to reconcile truths, for man's flaws and struggle against himself. The hate filled demon that was to come.....he saw that too. No one to me spoke to that quite like Wolfe.
It was a horror to know. I think Wolfe saw what would happen to the Jewish people and he knew, he knew that the intolerance within us as a people had been triggered and turned into a societal force through group mind and group action into what he foreshadowed.Boundaries were gone, in service to one's truth things that were very mean could be condoned. As long as a group supports itself in these actions, in harming, insulting, denigrating and nods to itself, things are okay. Ironically he rails in anger against his Jewish lover for her religion, yet I think in the volume is revealing what this led to...what I found was someone looking at the ugly filth in self. Few can look their own bile in the face and see it for what it is.Self loathing and insecurity to name two.
I also think the book never leaves me for this reason. It was to speak to me as a young woman,young teacher. Person searching for meaning. It still does. Reading I understood something about the character of people within systems breeding hate and intolerance with scarcity and with means to project reasons onto scapegoats...leadership of cowards and opportunists...., the way it begins, the unleashing of hate, shame, ugliness and condemnation , the group against some. It was there in his writing for me.
Wolfe was hailed by Faulkner as the best, and as a story teller his work remarkable. I was raised in this southern tradition of people telling one another story to relate their thoughts. Through ancedote I find meaning making opportunity. I tell story to seek truth in this tradition learned at the knee of my family. I had the distinct pleasure of reading this work in my teens and reading, how editor Perkins was thrown over for Aswell, of Wolfe's passion filled love affair with his older patroness...letters...a life reflected in his letters.... and in his writing. If you compare the letters to this work the transparency is so evident. The fiction and fact boundary lie just here right against your cheek. It is poetic, rhapsodical, and impressionistic, autobiographical and repeating, wearing, unpleasant at times. Gosh almost a nightmare.....
His writing of Aline Bernstein his lover, turned into the characters he frames for story .... it is hard to look at her, older, a talented theater designer....E. Jack is so hard to love for a reader...especially placed against their letters. She would not join him; he couldn't believe that given the depth of their love that this was her decision.He calls her coward, his heart is crushed. He finds that love must be fought for....or everthing one ever believed is hollow. It propelled him to Europe, away, into darker thought...into this text...and it all winds in and out of the genius of the piece.On and on bringing criticism and derision for repetition and ranting. You sit reading, absorbed, held, and feeling like you are almost as voyeur into the affair and the thoughts of this man about his life love. That they loved so deeply and felt such pain in the realities of their lives is wrenching. Good grief it's a thousand nightmares but I have to recall he wrote it in despair. And that his brain was afflicted. I can barely think well taking the medicines for cancer.
In a way Wolfe removes no rind, he lets the stench and the ordinary and the gray and the grit, the clinging moss sit all over the doings of his fictional cardboard cut-outs of his relating to Aline. But you hear his love too. And you feel this. All I can say is they suffered for their love, but it did not let them go, they loved forever and they loved as the core of their being. Certainly this telling was a life record of how love brought both of them their other half and left them to struggle with this.
It was wrenching for Wolfe. You want to just hold him. You want to take him in your arms and give him comfort.For all of it. For daring to try.
Reading and absorbing this in the volume is rather a long and tortured journey for a reader. Maybe I read this younger learning of relationships. Maybe it was something of that that held me, or that in future would be understood. Older I find myself just crying and unable to hold on through it. It is too much.
And yes, his building of the inner life of his character, the love/hate dynamic of his affair, his feelings of inadequacy, God-like creation and the depth of knowledge of your poverty of mind, of his ability to be cruel, to be provoked, to try, to fail, all told in long story with rich telling. I just can read Wolfe forever and sometimes run away from him too. I loved Don Marquis and Wolfe's disgust with him as a writer is an example of how well Wolfe can show you something from a view you never considered. I have a friend with this capacity. A cutting frankness and a logic structure I could read for the rest of my life, for the rest of my life, and find it challenging and fresh. And the work is ever so completing.
They say this is the poetic work of Wolfe, the passionate work of Wolfe. For me it is the life's mission work. Driven unto death he created and explained. He served his art. He fought a long and hard struggle to see directly and to the core.
I have to agree with a reviewer I read who finds Wolfe America's genius. And agree with another defining him as not for him, a trip through the muck of one mind. I think he is acquired taste. One looks to understand him in his context. Original, telling life story, writing directly out of his experiences trying to take this body of life into a place of art, it's amazing to me.
A quintessential bildungsroman..........2006-07-01
Preface: I would give this book ten stars if I could.
Thomas Wolfe was a [woefully underrated] master of the English language and character development. The Web and the Rock, perhaps the finest of his works, invites you into the tortured mind of George Webber without any sort of forceful literary entry. His forays into Webber's psyche are never contrived, never as dissonant as the failed attempts of other writers to accomplish the same sort of candor. The alternating ebb and flow of George's dialogue and inner monologue feel as natural as inhaling and exhaling, and the text takes on a sort of organic quality in that sense. Though some criticize Wolfe's writing for its convoluted streams of consciousness and tangents, these are the things that make his characters so intense and tangible to the reader.
There is an unapologetic candor to Wolfe's bildungsroman, an innate willingness to open up a secret world to the reader, one of mental anguish, feelings of inadequacy, and the passion that can simultaneously electrify and destroy a man's life. There is nothing forced about his philosophical asides--they are natural progressions of Webber's inner monologue and some of the most deliciously probing prose I have ever had the pleasure to read.
I will leave you with two of the most compelling quotes of the novel--and, perhaps, some of the most honest, candid passages in all of American literature:
"So all were gone at last, one by one, each swept out into the mighty flood tide of the city's life, there to prove, to test, to find, to lose himself, as each man must--alone" (272).
"The sight of these closed golden houses with their warmth of life awoke in him a bitter, poignant, strangely mixed emotion of exile and return, of loneliness and security, of being forever shut out from the palpable and passionate integument of life and fellowship, and of being so close to it that he could touch it with his hand, enter it by a door, possess it with a word--a word that, somehow, he could never speak, a door that, somehow he would never open" (170).
Bitter, yet compelling.......2001-04-15
A bitter, imperfect and yet compelling novel. As in his earlier works, I found Wolfe to be stronger when he describes small-town life in the South than when he moves onto a wider stage. The illustrations of youth are particularly powerful, and I should imagine strike a chord with anyone brought up in a small town, anywhere.
Wolfe pulls no punches when attacking the idolisation by the old of their poverty-striken past: for Wolfe there is no fondness at the recollection of grinding poverty, of the unceasing production of children to be born into penury. The bitterness of the "nostalgia" of Webber's uncle Mark Joyner is starkly contrasted to the drivel spouted at the young Webber by his other relations. Wolfe's descriptions of the horrible Lampley family also stick in the mind.
The novel then moves to New York and the affair between Webber and the married woman, Esther Jack. The descriptions of the attitudes of Southerners in the North could be written of Northerners in the South of England, and are at times funny yet ascerbic. The details of Webber's relationship with Esther grated on me after a while (the endless repetition of the same old arguments), yet is it true that we often hurt the ones we love the most? Wolfe seemed to be exploring similar territory to DH Lawrence, who (among other things) described the mixture of deep emotions - love and hate are so strong that they often exist with each other rather than to the exclusion of each other. Yet I was left wondering what of Mrs Jack's husband and daughter - how did her affair with Webber affect them? Wolfe barely mentions them in passing.
Woven into this complex novel are Wolfe thoughts on the persistence of memory and the transience of time. I detected heavy Proustian influences at work here. In all, an emotional, moving and powerful piece of work.
You have to persevere with it..........2001-02-10
This book is best described as a kind of bildungsroman. Unfortunately Thomas Wolfe has been overshadowed by that other more modern writer sharing his name. It would be safe to say that that other writer was more revolutionary. Thomas Wolfe is not doing much new, he is a story teller, and one not to all tastes. Tom Wolfe you read for his place in literary history, Thomas Wolfe you read more for its description of the second quarter of the twentieth century and New York.
He rambles a lot. He repeats himself. Sometimes it's hard to tell where he's going with something, and sometimes it's very obvious we're dealing with roman a clef, or what Wolfe wished his life to have been. It's more a collection of incidents, until he meets his "gal". I get the feeling Wolfe was striving after that elusive "Great American Novel", and its whole look at life is very American. It concerns the boy from the small town south (thinly veiled North (? South) Carolina), symbolically coming together with the North (including his girlfriend who is an epitome of the North). But it's difficult to see much more depth than that, that's not to say it isn't there, but there isn't much sign of it.
If you keep on at it, it's not a bad read, but it's not the best read I've had either. His style makes for fairly slow reading and it drags a little a third of the way through.
One of the Finest Books in the English Language.......1998-07-19
I am astounded that such a moving, powerful, and lyrical book is out of print. Wolfe writes with such a commanding and passionate love of language. His prose *is* poetry. There are passages in this book that rank with the most romantic and ethereal ever written. The sense of place in NYC is virtually unparalleled. George Webber's love for Esther Jack--the lost half of the broken talisman--remains one of the more beautiful and moving of interpersonal relationships set down in print. That such hackneyed, commercial tripe as "The Bridges of Madison County" goes through multiple printings while this gem languishes out of print is beyond me.
Average customer rating:
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The Virtual Guitarist: Hardware, Software, and Websites for the Guitar (Classic Rock Albums)
Fred Noad , and
Frederick M. Noad
Manufacturer: Schirmer Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 0028645847 |
Book Description
Pick, Pluck, and Strum without Striking a StringThe Virtual Guitarist offers the first-ever complete guide to electronic, Web, and computer resources for the guitar. For everyone from classical pickers to heavy metal shredders, this book offers a wealth of information written in a straight-forward, easy-to-understand style. Noad, a long-time guitarist and teacher, shows how guitarists can use computers to learn to play; notate their music; edit and create compositions; track-down hard to find information; and generally enhance their playing lives. Illustrated with sample screen captures and graphics, this is bound to be the one essential resource for all guitarists who want to expand their horizons into the electronic world. Written specifically for guitar, and covering all styles from folk to classical to rock and jazz Shows exactly how to operate the most popular guitar instructional and notation programs Applicable to all popular plaforms (IBM, Mac), and to both electric and acoustic guitarsFred Noad is the author of dozens of guitar methods. A noted teacher and performer, he has written about the instrument for over 30 years, and developed several software packages for guitar-music notation. He is the author of Schirmer Books best-selling Playing the Guitar and Solo Guitar Playing.
Average customer rating:
- Some People Never Learn
- My best computer book of 1999 so far !!!
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DCOM Explained
ROSEMARY ROCK-EVANS
Manufacturer: Digital Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 1555582168 |
Book Description
DCOM Explained describes what services DCOM provides, both development and runtime. Thus the aim of the book is not to teach how to program using DCOM, but to explain what DCOM does so readers will become better able to use it more effectively, understand the options available when using DCOM, and understand the types of applications that can be built by using DCOM.
This book describes:
· what each of the services mean, including load balancing, security, guaranteed delivery, deferred delivery, broadcasting and multi-casting, and session handling.
· what the service aims to do, such as saving time and effort or providing a secure, resilient, reliable, high performance network
· how the service could be provided, and what other solutions exist for achieving the same end
· how Microsoft has tackled the problem
Provides a complete, easy to understand, and compact picture of all the services of DCOM
Written from a designer or manager's point of view
Compares DCOM with other middleware
Customer Reviews:
Some People Never Learn.......2003-11-12
Micro$oft is famous for its ability to push out new development technologies. The reason behind this planned obsolesence is obvious, every time they come out with something new people will have to open their wallets to "keep up."
DCOM is just another disposable technology. As such, it was a complete failure; one that the marketing folks at M$ have tried to bury as quickly as possible under an avalanche of .NET hype.
DCOM was hard to port because, like COM, it is based on a binary standard (i.e. a standard that changes when you leave x86 and go to 64-bit RISC). Not only that, but DCOM doesn't support distributed transactions. Worst of all, DCOM is a very, very complicated technology to use. Three strikes... YOU'RE OUT!
The half-wit MBAs at Micro$oft realized their mistake and have abandoned DCOM, leaving it forever in the backwaters where the only record of its sorry existence are stupid books like this.
I have no idea why someone would want to buy this book. Folks, this is a dead technology. It is no more. It is an ex-techology. If you buy this book, you are lying to yourself. This book will sit an gather dust, unless you can find more productive uses for it...like burning it to stay warm.
My best computer book of 1999 so far !!!.......1999-03-27
I been a computer programmer for 15 years! Using Visual Basic for about 2 years. Found that this book gives high level overview of com and dcom. It is easy read and easy understand but, must have good computer background to follow it. If you want to know more about dcom you must buy this book !
Average customer rating:
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The Good Web Guide to Music
Mary-Louise Harding
Manufacturer: Good Web Guide Limited
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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Rock
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ASIN: 190328211X |
Average customer rating:
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The Incredible Internet Guide to Pop Music (Incredible Internet Guides)
James R. Flowers
Manufacturer: Facts on Demand Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
General
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ASIN: 188915024X |
Book Description
Over 1,500 web sites show you where to find lyrics, images, MP3, fan clubs, concert info and much more!
Average customer rating:
- Great read!
- A book full of everything.....
- Don't waste your time! Don't waste your money!
- Wonderful
- Excellent
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Angelfire
Linda Lael Miller
Manufacturer: Pocket
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
Miller, Linda Lael | ( M ) | Authors, A-Z | Romance | Subjects | Books
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Moonfire
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Memory's Embrace
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Corbin's Fancy (Corbin Series)
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The Vow: A Novel of the American West
ASIN: 0671737651 |
Book Description
Shocked by the threat of an arranged marriage to an aging magistrate, Bliss Stafford fled through the rugged New Zealand countryside. But chance -- and the barrel of her father's pistol -- wed her to Jamie McKenna, a handsome, headstrong rancher whose bold touch flamed her innocent senses...
In his embrace she discovered the wonder of desire, and the passionate man who would be her destiny. Yet his heart was captive to a beauteous widow -- and a hidden, bitter sorrow. Only a rare courage would drive Bliss to face the secrets of Jamie's past...to defy death itself for the radiant prize of a lifetime of tomorrows...
Customer Reviews:
Great read!.......2007-03-10
I love how it is set over-seas. It isn't one of the typical Washing territory or Arizona territory books. The secrets, and lies, and the characters, and EVERTHING made this book great!
A book full of everything............2001-09-27
I just finished Moonfire by Linda Lael Miller and didn't think I would like another book as much....but then I read Angelfire. The characters we fantastic, the story line has so many twists and turns...very exciting, very enjoyable reading...it had me hooked until the very last page. A definite "must read"!
Don't waste your time! Don't waste your money!.......1999-09-16
This is the second of this author's books that I have read, and just as with the other one, this story just doesn't flow smoothly. The impression I get is that she's just out to present "up"s and "down"s in extremely quick fashion. There isn't any real feeling of cohesion between the disasters and the recoveries. I'm not even going to waste the time it would take for me to finish the book. And, sorry, but I'm convinced that I'm finished with Ms Lael-Miller. Neither this nor My Darling Melissa were worthwhile endeavors.
Wonderful.......1999-03-15
"Angelfire" is another wonderful romantic little book by Linda Lael Miller. It is a quick read and a great escape. "Angelfire" is a continuation of "Moonfire" which I have not read yet, but I am going out to find it now.
Excellent.......1998-12-07
I think Linda Lael Miller is a brilliant author! She shows a headstrong woman in the 19th century, making her way as a doctor, which was unheard of at the time. Truly a romantic little book!
Average customer rating:
- Not Free SF Reader
- A well developed set of characters never fails
- Awkward at times
- Magic Time shapes up to be a well-told, inconsistent series.
- Anfelgire - a worthwhile read.
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Magic Time: Angelfire
Marc Zicree , and
Maya Kaathryn Bohnhoff
Manufacturer: Eos
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
Psychological & Suspense | Thrillers | Mystery & Thrillers | Subjects | Books
Bohnhoff, Maya | ( B ) | Authors, A-Z | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books
General | Fantasy | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books
Magic & Wizards | Fantasy | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0061059587
Release Date: 2003-09-30 |
Book Description
Across America, technology has been eclipsed by magic, as ordinary people become the embodiments of their darkest desires, deepest fears -- and purest selves. Searching for the source of this terrifying phenomenon -- and to save his sister Tina, transformed by it into one of the ethereal creatures known as flares -- former lawyer Cal Griffin and his band of unlikely heroes follow the visions of the charming lunatic Goldie and the fragile song of a cursed bluesman to a secret haven hidden from its malevolent power. The domain of the bluesman and his protector Magritte -- a callgirl turned flare -- is a wondrous sanctuary from the madness. But how long can it survive if the evil beyond it is allowed to flourish? For the world is unraveling little by little. And the salvation of everything left worth saving requires that Cal and his companions journey deep into the very heart and soul of darkness to confront the beast ruling the Ruby City once called Chicago. But first they must conquer the darkness within themselves.
Customer Reviews:
Not Free SF Reader.......2007-09-03
I just could not get into this book, and I tried a couple of times. The setup is certainly something I would often enjoy, with the coming of a supernatural world overtaking modern technology, which fades. However, this is not a patch on Mark Chadbourn's take on a similar story, for example.
A well developed set of characters never fails.......2004-07-16
Beginning this book I was unsure as to where the author was going with the story. It seemed that we had a motley crew of people that had not only fallen through the cracks of society but through the fingers of the "Source". It was in this that I realized the brilliance of the book. It gave me an impossibly intimate feeling of each character and a look into each of their minds as they wandered together through the story. Un-like every other book I read where the thoughts and reasoning of the secondary characters is truly secondary if not altogether left out. I was privy to the brilliance of the authors being able to spin the tale and give me so many different, yet deeply developed, points of view. I feel in a way I understand society better now after reading this book. Again hats for such amazingly rich characters.
Awkward at times.......2004-06-28
the flow of the book is a bit troubling, as they, the characters seem to be bumbling along, they also seem to overcome impossible odds, i love fantasy, but the odds of them defeating some of the things they overcome isnt very likely.
the plot does seem to redeem itself with a few twists on character roles, but somehow i feel as though these were due to the authors styles, and ideas on the plot going back and forth, and makes this a ad-lib transcript they worked out for enjoyment.
Magic Time shapes up to be a well-told, inconsistent series........2003-10-26
It's always interesting to see one author write in another's world. That's what's happening here; despite his top billing on the cover, Marc Zicree's only contribution to Angelfire was the world and overall story it takes place in - all the writing is Bohnhoff's.
Bohnhoff fits her story well into the continutity set up in Magic Time, adding new layers to this twisted version of the US. Her locations are imaginative, and the new characters sympathetic - as in the first book, none so much as the ones who aren't quite human anymore. She also does an admirable job of adding depth to the main characters - particularly Colleen, who I was glad to see shake off the tough, masculine stereotype she embodied in the first book. There are some genuine relationships, friendly and un-, cropping up between the questers, too.
Much of this development comes from Bonhoff's use of a first-person viewpoint that rotates between the four main characters. This technique, a significant change from Magic Time, is at best a mixed blessing. While first-person storytelling allows for useful insight into the protagonists' characters, it abandons two of the elements of the first book that I enjoyed.
First, there is very little insight into the minds of the "tweaked" humans, since Bonhoff, unlike Zicree and Hambly, chose not to use them as viewpoints. In Magic Time, those viewpoints provided not only the most interesting characters in the book, but a perspective on "the Change" that was refreshingly -not- that of a normal person in a world gone mad (which, let's face it, aren't that hard to come by). Cal and co. are deeper this time around, but they're not nearly as interesting as what we were shown in the first installment, and the cast feels generic without the inclusion of the series' most inventive aspect.
Second, relegating the storytelling to a tight-knit group means that there's no hint of events outside of their personal experiences. Magic Time left a few threads dangling with regards to the country as a whole, and Angelfire doesn't even acknowledge them. Most supporting characters from the first book have ceased to exist, and the remainder have only references in the dialogue, not actual appearances.
You'll notice that I haven't said much about the actual plot. That's because there's not much to say. It starts well enough, and development for the protagonists is well-done, but there's not much happening other than character growth and introduction up through the middle of the book. And once the climax comes, it's stocked with cliches and almost aggressively predictable. To top it off, there's next to nothing in the way of new information about the series' presumed villain, the power called "Source". Fortunately, Bonhoff's pacing and characterization keep the writing interesting, but the plot is disappointingly generic all around.
If you liked the beginning of Zicree's series, Angelfire is worth the read. Just don't expect the expansiveness of the first book - Magic Time was about the world as much as its characters, but Angelfire is first and foremost a quest story.
Anfelgire - a worthwhile read........2003-04-11
The second book in a series based on an idea by Marc Scott-Zicree, Maya Kaathryn Bohnhoff has crafted an absorbing post-apocolypse tale about a group of friends on a quest in a magically changing landscape. I read the first book by Scott-Zicree and thought it was ... OK; an interesting idea in which technology is replaced by magic. Bohnhoff has taken the intrepid group of characters created by Marc, and imbued them with depth and interest. I liked the fact that the flaws of the characters turn out to be strengths essential to the survival of the group. I also liked the fact that she has imbued the romantic aspect of the novel with some surprises - the hero who gets the girl is not the obvious candidate. Definitely a worthwhile read
Book Description
Contains randomized miniatures that add to any player's collection. Themed around the ultimate battle between angels and devils, the Angelfire Booster Pack contains a randomized selection of figures designed to expand any collection of DUNGEONS & DRAGONS® miniatures. The figures in this set will be chosen directly from key D&D titles, including Complete Divine™, Monster Manual™ III, Complete Adventurer ™, the Book of Exalted Deeds™, and more.
Booster pack components:
o Eight randomized, pre-painted, plastic miniatures.
o Stat cards for each miniature.
o Angelfire set checklist.
Product line features:
o There are 60 unique miniatures in the Angelfire set.
o Miniatures are pre-painted, plastic and are built to standard hobbyscale (32 mm).
o All D&D miniatures packages are randomized and made up of rare, uncommon, and common figures.
o Miniatures can be used to add dimension to role-playing games or to play skirmish-level or mass-battle
combat scenarios.
Customer Reviews:
I am completely addicted to Booster Packs.......2005-09-20
Since WoTC launched these pre-painted booster packs, I have bene absolutely addicted to them. don't play the miniature game, but I do use the minatures for regular pen and paper gaming. Like the other sets, the stat cards include the minature game stats on one side, and the official d20 stats for 3.5 on the other side. If you see minis as a hobby and enjoy putting them together and painting them, these aren't for you. The quality doesn't compare to a well painted metal mini. But if you are artistically handicapped like me and just like having tons of minis ready to torture players with, these are a must.
No Angels But Some Fire.......2005-09-14
This is a continuation in the D&D Miniatures line and maintains the quality of prior releases while adding a few gems.
Probably the best set so far..........2005-09-02
In terms of monster/figure variety and quality of minis. The paint jobs keep getting better and showing more detail. This set in particular has a good number of large figures, including the cool mounted paladin. For Dnd gamers, there are many interesting monsters and villains in this set. For fans of the skirmish game, there are also figures you'll want to add to your next warband.
A solid expansion.......2005-08-13
D&D Minis have three basic purposes: as pure collectibles; as pieces for the miniatures game; and as figures for D&D role playing combat. In the first category, this set is a knockout. It features some of the best sculpting to date, and the painting has definitely gotten better. As pieces for the D&D Miniatures game, I've heard both good and bad about this set. It will probably be months before all of the strategies shake out and we know for sure, but certainly this expansion adds some very useful minis (including an uncommon commander that's quite handy).
But, I'm a D&D role player, DM, and long time fan of using minis in role playing. How does Angelfire stack up? Superb! It's rare that minis give me ideas for my games, but this set has done so many times over. I'm in love with the flaming skeletons, and simply must find a niche for them in my game. The PC races are well represented and some of the new takes on standard NPC / monster races will play nicely into my Greyhawk game. If you use minis for role playing, drop the metal paints and rush down to the hobby store for a few boxes each of the basic set and Angelfire. You won't be disappointed.
Average customer rating:
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Magic Time: Angelfire: Library Edition
Maya Kaathryn Bonhoff , and
Marc Scott Zicree
Manufacturer: Blackstone Audiobooks
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: MP3 CD
General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books | Classics | Comic | Contemporary | Literary
General | Fantasy | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books
Magic & Wizards | Fantasy | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books
General | Science Fiction | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books
High Tech | Science Fiction | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books
Fantasy | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Books on CD | Audiobooks | Formats | Books
Science Fiction | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Books on CD | Audiobooks | Formats | Books
Unabridged | Literature & Fiction | Books on CD | Audiobooks | Formats | Books
Literature & Fiction | MP3 CD | Audiobooks | Formats | Books
Science Fiction & Fantasy | MP3 CD | Audiobooks | Formats | Books
ASIN: 078618454X |
Average customer rating:
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Angelfire
Linda Lael Miller
Manufacturer: Pocket Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OO7O88 |
Book Description
As time has passed on this small planet we call Earth, tales have long been spoken of the existence of a spirit world... A world in which the first race, called the Arcons, walk just slightly out of sight of mortal man... ...This is one of their stories. Little Devin has lived a rough life, with an abusive stepfather, a mother that's never around, and a bully with an unprovoked vendetta... But all that's about to change... Devin is about to find out that he has friends that he's never seen... And those friends are about to find out that little Devin has a power they've never thought possible... A power so extraordinary, it will ignite a war... A war that will forever be remembered as The Battle for the Drifter.
Average customer rating:
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The Angelfire Legacy: The Genesis Religion
Mike Banno
Manufacturer: PublishAmerica
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
Literary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 1424129621
Release Date: 2006-05-08 |
Book Description
When Alexandra Donivine has a vision of the future, she and her friends enter a world filled with prophecy and dangerous cults.
Customer Reviews:
Info on the book........2006-05-18
Alexandra is a girl still in school. When she was a child, something horrible happened that gave her psychic powers. Now as a teenager, she has a vision of things to come. Then the murders start taking place. She and her friend s are thrown into a world of prophecy and cults.
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