The One Bad Thing About Father

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Many great things about this book

A winner

The One Bad Thing About Father
F. N. Monjo
Manufacturer: Trophy Pr
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Ages 4-8 | Children's Books | Subjects | Books
General | Literature | Children's Books | Subjects | Books
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Customer Reviews:

Many great things about this book.......2005-11-08

"Being President can practically ruin your whole life." Who can't love it? Monjo portrays one of Americas most distinguished families as ordinary people trying to find time to be together. They just happen to live in the White House. The story is warm and reasonably accurate. This was one of the first books I read where I got the jokes - and they are still funny. Reading this will inspire you to learn more about a fascinating family. Definitely worth cuddling up with a little one.

A winner.......2000-04-01

No, the illustrations are not gorgeous, but my five-year old and I adored the witty, engaging text. He had already heard of Teddy Roosevelt from watching "Arsenic and Old Lace" ("Chaaarge!") but even if he hadn't, I'm sure he would have enjoyed the book just the same. I wish more history books for young readers were presented in the form of personal narrative. It really helps to convey to children a sense of immediacy about history that standard third-person accounts lack.

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1066 and all that: A memorable history of England, comprising all the parts you can remember including one hundred and three good things, five bad kings and two genuine dates
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One Bad Decision Can Change Your Life
ONE GREAT BOOK
One False Move, Then Your Life Totally Changed
There's not One Bad Thing to say about this gem. . . .
There's not One Bad Thing to say about this gem. . . .

One Bad Thing
Bill Eidson
Manufacturer: Tor Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

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Spy Stories & Tales of Intrigue | Thrillers | Mystery & Thrillers | Subjects | Books

Frames Per Second

ASIN: 0812579593

Amazon.com

Rob McKenna and his wife, attempting to rebuild their marriage after the death of their daughter, seek solace in a new life aboard the boat they've bought and sailed to the Caribbean. But the effort fails, and Catherine leaves Rob midway on the voyage, forcing him to take on a crew member to help sail the boat back to Boston. Tom Cain turns out to be more than a capable sailor. He's also a thief and a con man, implicated (at least fictionally) in the biggest unsolved art theft in history--the disappearance of a $300-million-dollar trove of old masters from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum.

When McKenna realizes the truth about Cain, he's confronted with a Hobson's choice, and the decision he makes between two evils catapults him into a world of hurt, violence, deception, and murder. Can a moral man do an immoral thing and still consider himself a good human being? That's the philosophical question at the heart of this engrossing "what if." Unlike some speculative suspense thrillers based on actual events, this one stands on its own as a lively, well-told tale regardless of the historical circumstances that suggested it. Both Rob and Catherine are empathetic characters whose fate quickly grips the reader. The secondary figures, such as the incestuous brother-sister team who've been double-crossed by Tom Cain and the Vietnam vet who repays his debt to Rob by putting his own life on the line are equally well-drawn. The pacing is swift, careening to an explosive and satisfying conclusion--a page-turning read for armchair sailors with a penchant for true crime stories as well as made-up mysteries. --Jane Adams

Book Description

McKenna is a good man who takes a new crewman onto his boat in Bermuda to sail back to Boston, handsome young Tom Cain. When Cain is about to be caught smuggling diamonds by the Coast Guard, he convinces McKenna to lie to save him . . . for a share. McKenna does this one bad thing, and finds himself bound by chains of murder. That one lie puts his life, and the life of his wife, in danger; forces him to murder, and enmeshes him in a web of international crime and evil. The dark romance of the thriller has never been more potent than in One Bad Thing.

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The dark romance of the thriller has never been more potent than in One Bad Thing.

Customer Reviews:

One Bad Decision Can Change Your Life.......2001-06-10

Rob McKenna and his wife, Catherine, decide to sell their home and cruise the world on their sailboat, in order to rebuild their lives following the tragic death of their teenage daughter. But their marriage seems beyond repair, and half way through the journey she leaves him and flies home, leaving him to sail back alone from the Caribbean. He picks up a crew-mate, Tom Cain, without really knowing anything about him, and then things start to go wrong.

Tom has smuggled diamonds onto the boat, and agrees to share the bounty with Rob if he promises not to reveal the contraband to the customs authorities. This "one bad thing" starts to snowball. Tom tries to kill Rob before the boat reaches the Boston harbor, and out of self-defense Rob ends up killing Tom and another accomplice. Tom just wants the problem to go away so he can return to his old life, get back together with Catherine and start over.

But "one bad thing" leads to another. Rob is pursued by some nasty thugs who want the diamonds back, and the plot starts to get more complicated and less believable. The first half of the book was fast-paced and intriguing. After Rob returned to land and got more and more involved in evading the criminals, the plot got tedious and unrealistic. The dialogue and the characters were ludicrous and unbelievable, and the plot overly complicated and torturous.

ONE GREAT BOOK.......2001-01-26

I had the good fortune to discover Bill Eidson when I picked up his THE GUARDIAN, a knockout thriller which led me to his ADRENALINE then to FRAMES PER SECOND. One after the other, Eidson's books are page-turning thrillers written with grit, wit, and sensibility. And now ONE BAD THING has confirmed my belief that this guy is a first-rate story teller and deserves the mantle of the late great John D. Macdonald as one reviewer has proclaimed. This is a gem of a book that keeps the pages turning while exploring important moral issues that speak to us all.

One False Move, Then Your Life Totally Changed.......2000-12-23

Bill Edison now has become even greater. The writing, the plot, the...., almost everything is good. He should be nominated for many literary or mystery awards, don't know why didn't get too much attention so far. Got marketing problem? Or, the critics simply too jealous of his talents? Only a few writers out there could have written all the books and every one of them is good! I am a split-the-hair reader, but I could never become picky against Mr. Edison. All I could do is holding my breath awaiting his next one. Live healthily, Mr. Edison, enjoy the longest writng era with your wonderful Muse and, thanks.

There's not One Bad Thing to say about this gem. . . ........2000-12-20

Ever picked up a book without knowing a thing about it? You just got this itch, probably somewhere deep inside the most primitive area of your brainstem, and it not only drew you to the book, but kept you super-glued to it all the way to page 348. And, like Super Glue(R), it wouldn't let you go. . . . ONE BAD THING by master storyteller Bill Eidson is that very book. And Bill's Super Glue is his unique ability to write just enough of a good thing, without detracting from his brilliantly told story.

Simple and elegant.

It was a Friday night a week or so ago, and I was sitting at the computer, breezing through Amazon.com's Mystery section. As I scrolled down, something caught my eye; I never even paid attention to it, because it was undefined. All I know is that ONE BAD THING arrived two days later, and I recall ripping off the packaging, clutching it under my arm, and running for the bedroom. After a few minutes of setting up my nest of 13 or so pillows, I dived right into Bill's gift. . . .

Ten hours later, I found myself wishing the remaining 500 pages would soon show up at my doorstep.

Bill dreamed up half a dozen true-to-life characters, esp. Rob McKenna, the protagonist who appears to fall into the old "Good Initiative, Bad Judgement" trap. McKenna's heart is fresh from the blender: his daughter Samantha is killed by . . . and his marriage to his soulmate Caroline is crashing into the surf with the incoming tide.

On a sailing voyage from the British Virgin Islands, McKenna, sans Caroline who leaves him alone in Tortuga, takes on a young fast-talking (not to mention dangerous!) Tom Cain as his deckhand. The moment McKenna disregards his own keen intuition, which raises more than one red flag over Cain, he begins to take on water and start the slow, downward death spiral.

On the way down, he runs the gauntlet of near-death encounters with notorious organized-crime figures, and continually faces his own reflection. As in the beginning, McKenna ignores his intuition, throws caution to the wind, and gets inexorably tangled in a sticky web of intrigue, drama, murder, and money.

Bill turns on the afterburners at Chapter 23, after a nice trot that keeps you on your toes without letting up. If you're not in great cardiovascular shape, then I advise renting a "crash cart" with a defibrillator that's had a recent servicing. A tank of 100% oxygen might be in order, too. I'm in super shape, with a resting heart rate of 50 beats/min. When I met Tom Cain, and tried to warn Rob McKenna about him, my heart rate jumped to 75 and stayed there 'til Chapter 23 rolled around, then accelerated into the red zone for the remainder of the story.

ONE BAD THING brings to mind a great movie years ago, Into The Night, with Jeff Goldblum, who plays an insomniac that goes for a leisurely walk late one night, and ends up caught in Michelle Pfeiffer's nightmare. The premise and message are similar: Good Initiative, Bad Judgement.

Even though the long summer reading season is now over, it wouldn't be overindulgent to pick up ONE BAD THING . . . Go ahead, treat yourself.

Just remember the "crash cart" and oxygen.

Dean Garner, Santa Barbara, CA

P.S. Hey, Bill, what about those extra 500 pages!?

There's not One Bad Thing to say about this gem. . . ........2000-12-20

ONE BAD THING by master storyteller Bill Eidson is that very book. And Bill's Super Glue is his unique ability to write just enough of a good thing, without detracting from his brilliantly told story.

Simple and elegant.

Ten hours later, I found myself wishing the remaining 500 pages would soon show up at my doorstep.

On a sailing voyage from the British Virgin Islands, McKenna, sans Caroline who leaves him alone in Tortuga, takes on a young fast-talking (not to mention dangerous!) Tom Cain as his deckhand. The moment KcKenna disregards his own keen intuition, which raises more than one red flag over Cain, he begins to take on water and start the slow, downward death spiral.

ONE BAD THING brings to mind a great movie years ago, with Jeff Goldblum, who plays an insomniac that goes for a leisurely walk late one night, and ends up caught in Michelle Pfeiffer's nightmare. I don't recall the name, but the premise and message are similar: Good Initiative, Bad Judgement.

Even though the long summer reading season is now over, it wouldn't be overindulgent to pick up ONE BAD THING . . . Go ahead, treat yourself.

Just remember the "crash cart" and oxygen.

Dean Garner, Santa Barbara, CA

Book Description

Ever have one of those days? Like the kind where you find yourself selling garbage or hiking in the middle of someone's backyard? Well, Victoria Schmitz has had plenty. Call it a young heart or sheer stupidity, but it is obvious that she has had her fair share of bad luck! From sour romances to holiday blunders and chance happenings to elderly rivalries, Victoria shares her most personal life experiences. Her sarcastic tone mixed with her light-hearted nature makes for a hilariously intelligent first novel.

Whether it is fate, a naïve soul, bad choices, or all of the above, Victoria is living proof that life hardly ever goes according to plan. Rather than dwell on this unfortunate trail of incidents we call life, she laughs at them. Come along for the ride as she invites us to laugh -- with and at her!

Customer Reviews:

HEY...Wha Happand!.......2004-03-29

You know when you meet someone whose trials and tribulations make you feel like you are OK in the grand scheme of things. Well Victoria Schmitz and her heaps of hilarious hijinks and antic dotes found in her book "If it's Not One Thing it's The Other" have actually managed to thrust me up a rung or two on my own internal "normalcy scale". I was thoroughly entertained for all 76 pages of this impressive first novel, which strikes a great balance of whit, humor, and of course exquisite insight into life's inevitable curveballs. I definitely feel that her upbeat and lighthearted approach to those odd days in one's life is a great way to cope. I know that I had a great time laughing at her for a large portion of the book and laughing at others, well... that's just good, down-home fun and I really think that is what she was trying to capture here. After thumbing through this 0.18" x 9.00" x 6.00" paperback, $10.95, steal of a book I totally felt like I knew the author and could relate to many of the stories. I would recommend this read to anyone who was ever awoken by a stranger with a golf club in a basement that's not their own. This book will definitely cue up the fact that others go through this as well; it's NOT just you. I know I'll be looking for the sequel.

A Laugh a Minute!.......2004-03-03

This book is absolutely hilarious. I found myself laughing out loud through the whole thing!

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One Bad Thing
Bill Eidson
Manufacturer: Forge
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OTV5A6

One Bad Thing About Birthdays (Let Me Read Book)

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One Bad Thing About Birthdays (Let Me Read Book)
David R. Collins , and David Wiesner
Manufacturer: Harcourt Childrens Books (J)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Ages 4-8 | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

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THE ONE BAD THING ABOUT FATHER

Manufacturer: Harper & Row
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000HI7GYI

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The One Bad Thing About Father
F.N. Monjo
Manufacturer: New York Harper & Row 1970.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000P75V9S

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One Bad Thing About Father Inscribed
F N Monjo
Manufacturer: HARPER & ROW
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000PKUG9U

Book Description

Here are strange, beautiful stories covering the full spectrum of the late Roger Zelazny's remarkable talents. He had a rare ability to mix the dream-like, disturbing imagery of fantasy with the real-life hardware of science fiction. His vivid imagination and fine prose made him one of the most highly acclaimed writers in his field. Three times he won the Nebula Award, and six times the Hugo Award, for excellence in novels and short fiction. Roger Zelazny possessed a unique, dazzling talent; his visions of the future, of other worlds and of other realities are, by turns, enchanting and disturbing, and always memorable.

Customer Reviews:

Ideas Galore.......2007-09-23

The story that stays with me is "Love Is An Imaginary Number." It is only 5 or 6 pages long, but it spawned at least a dozen novels!

The germ of the idea for the whole "Amber" series is here, that of the person who suddenly comes to realize his true abilities and "shifts" at will, shaping reality as he goes. The ending encapsulates "Lord Of Light" about the man who wants to give technology to the masses -- Prometheus.

"Lord of Light" has been one of my top-ten SF novels forever. ("Many kilowatts of prayer had he offered, but static kept him from being heard on high.") Yet I never saw Sam as Prometheus until now, probably because the setting is so un-Greek.

I can see it, a 600-level humanities course. "Your assignment this weekend is to read 'Nine Princes in Amber' and 'Lord of Light.'" Then on Monday, give them a 3-page handout of "Love Is An Imaginary Number" and have them compose an essay tracing the similarities and differences.

Exquisitely crafted tales of fantastic alternate realities.......2005-07-24

"The Doors of His Face, the Lamps of His Mouth," by Roger Zelazny, is a collection of 17 science fiction tales that range in length from two to 88 pages. Altogether the collection is over 500 pages long. Some of the most striking selections in the book are as follows.

"The Keys to December": A group of bioengineered intelligent beings seek to re-shape a planet in order to suit their unique needs, but the massive project has some unintended--and ethically challenging--consequences. "Devil Car": In a future where cars have artificial intelligence, a human and his heavily armored vehicle embark on a mission to hunt down a killer rogue car. "This Moment of the Storm" takes place in a human colony on the planet Tierra del Cygnus, a world of monstrous beasts and dangerous weather. This story's main character is almost 600 years old, but has spent most of his life "sleeping" during long interstellar space voyages. In the quirky "A Museum Piece," an unappreciated artist decides to live in a museum, posing as a statue--thus becoming a living work of art. "Divine Madness" is a stunning tale about a man suffering from a condition in which time seems to be moving backwards. And the book's title story tells of a quest to catch a gigantic sea monster on the planet Venus.

Zelazny has crafted some remarkable gems in this collection. These stories, while clearly in the great tradition of science fiction, often have the flavors of myth, fantasy, and folklore. Zelazny's prose is truly a sumptuous banquet; his style is extremely literate and learned, with a crisp, clean elegance. He weaves many cultural references into his writing; along the way he cites Dante, "Aida," Dylan Thomas, Miniver Cheevy, the Iliad, Poe, Havelock Ellis, Vishnu, Rimbaud, and more. Such references strike me as an integral and intriguing part of Zelazny's style.

Zelazny succeeds in marrying strong science fiction concepts and settings to some really "down-to-earth" emotions and situations. He creates well drawn characters, and is skilled at fashioning alternate worlds and cultures. The stories touch on many powerful and resonant themes: love, loss, religion, crime, the passage of time, man's relationship to technology, the desire for a home, etc. Lovers of serious literary science fiction should not miss this fine collection by a truly gifted prose stylist.

Early Zelazny at his best.......2003-02-08

From his career's inception, Zelazny had a distinctive style: fast, poetic, allusive and dense sometimes to the point of being a trifle obscure. Characterization was one of his strengths. He also had a deft way with mythological reference: he wove it into his stories, either symbolically (e.g., in "He Who Shapes") or by science fictional means, as in his novel _This Immortal_. Early and late, the story rather than the novel seems to have been his true metier.

In this collection of early stories, we see a nice harvest from the first 5 years of Zelazny's career. A goodly number of the best stories he wrote between 1962 and 1968 are included.

The whole book makes for pleasant reading, but I'd single out the following stories as being particularly worthy: "The Man Who Loved the Faoli," "This Mortal Mountain," and "This Moment of the Storm," the classic "A Rose for Ecclesiastes," and of course, the title story.

One of the mild peculiarities of Zelazny's collections is that stories he wrote at the beginning of his career are spread across a number of books, where they may in many cases be found side-by-side with later work. A reader wishing to explore his early short stories can't go to a single book.

The early stories span 4 collections: this book, and _Four for Tomorrow_, _The Last Defender of Camelot_, and at least one story ("But Not the Herald") in the book _Unicorn Variations_. A reader taken with Zelazny's early work should search out these collections for that reason alone.

(Note that a number of later stories are also worthy.)

Of the early work excluded from this volume, I'd single out "He Who Shapes," "The Graveyard Heart," "The Furies," and "For a Breath I Tarry" as the stories worth a look.

Although Zelazny's work has become widely available, there is a need for a _Collected Stories_. Such a compendium could put his work into historical context, as well as provide access to some stories not widely available or in some cases never reprinted.

Until such a publishing event occurs (knock on wood), we've got the story collections he published himself, for which we should feel gratitude.

(4.5 stars. "He Who Shapes" and "For a Breath I Tarry" would have made it 5.)

*****
An addendum much later: The iBooks edition of this book differs from the original book issued by Doubleday, in that the iBooks edition is enlarged to include several stories not in the original collection, among them "The Graveyard Heart" and "The Furies."

Using the same title for the collection will cause a certain amount of headache for collectors.

Almost all the Zelazny U'll ever need...........2002-08-20

This is the best single-author collection ever. From "The Doors of His Face, the Lamps of His Mouth" to "This Mortal Mountain," "This Moment of the Storm," "The Man Who Loved the Faoli," & "Lucifer," this is Zelazny at his absolute BEST. If only "For a Breath I Tarry," "Permafrost" & "He Who Shapes" were here, U wouldn't need NE other Zelazny books. This stuff puts his AMBER novels totally out 2 pasture. This guy was brilliant, & if U haven't read his stuff, U've got some catching up 2 do. Start anywhere, U won't B sorry....

Great stories, terrible editing.......2001-12-17

I'm thrilled that ibooks is releasing a series of Roger Zelazny's works, but if this volume is any indication they need to do a much better job of editing. Among the many typographical errors in these exceptional SF stories is this gem from the Bible as quoted in Zelazny's classic short story, A Rose for Ecclesiastes: "...vanity of vanities; all IF vanity" (page 132). I almost lost my suspension of disbelief! Please, ibooks, if it's worth doing, it's worth doing right.

The Doors of His Face, the Lamps of His Mouth and other Stories

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The Doors of His Face, the Lamps of His Mouth and other Stories
Roger Zelazny
Manufacturer: Science Fiction Book Club
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000HFZDWS

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The Doors Of His Face The Lamps Of His Mouth

Manufacturer: Corgi
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000G9OX62

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The Doors Of His Face The Lamps Of His Mouth
Roger Zelanzny
Manufacturer: Corgi
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000UJEXPE

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The Doors of His Face, The Lamps of His Mouth
Roger Zelazny
Manufacturer: AVON BOOKS
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
ASIN: B000PLLUL2

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The Doors of His Face, The Lamps of His Mouth
Roger Zelazny
Manufacturer: Avon
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
ASIN: B000KA86S8

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Doors of His Face, the Lamps of His Mouth

Manufacturer: Pulphouse
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: 1561469084

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The Doors of His Face, the Lamps of His Mouth and Other Stories
Roger Zelazny
Manufacturer: Avon
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Short Stories | Science Fiction | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B000IUYU7Q

"The Doors of His Face, the Lamps of His Mouth" in Star-Reach #12

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"The Doors of His Face, the Lamps of His Mouth" in Star-Reach #12
Roger; Motter, Dean Zelazny
Manufacturer: Star*Reach Productions
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000M8ANCU

The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction March, 1965: The Doors of His Face, the Lamps of His Mouth

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The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction March, 1965: The Doors of His Face, the Lamps of His Mouth
Roger Zelazny
Manufacturer: Mercury Press, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000KOZCUE

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