Guten Morgan: Richard K. Morgan AUDIO

I have now acquired the three Kovacs novels on audio CD. Rick and I are going to listen to them on the commute. I am toying with the idea of listening to each of them twice. I recall thinking, after reading each of these books, that I should turn right around and re-read them immediately. I didn't do that with any of them in print form, but now I may just give it a go on audio.

The first one ALTERED CARBON is narrated by Todd McLaren. He has just the right amount of sarcasm in his voice to pull off Kovacs. His inflection of female voices is also superb, never becoming comical, as some other male narrators are prone. I am five discs into this one, and it is great. I find myself laughing out loud in the car on nearly every scene. Morgan is a marvel.

"Guten Morgan" should be the official greeting of all Richerd K. Morgan fans, regardless the time of day.

CREATIVE DESTRUCTION

I finished CREATIVE DESTRUCTION by Edward M. Lerner. I particualrly enjoyed the story "The Day of the RFids." Nice pun in the title, and a plausible extrapolation of the current RF-ID technology. Big Brother even in your socks.

The title story, "Creative Destruction," is also quite good. It is another take of the problems caused by an infucion of alien technology carried by radio beams. Think Ophuichi Hotline. I read this book to see if Niven had paired up with a writer of just someone to carry the water for him. Lerner is a writer that knows the basics of telling a story. And he manages to insert some cool science into it. The forthcoming book FLEET OF WORLDS promises to be a fine one.

THE PREDICTORS & FROM LANCE TO LANDIS

I finished reading THE PREDICTORS by Thomas A. Bass. I also finished FROM LANCE TO LANDIS by David Walsh.

THE PREDICTORS is a natural sequel to THE EUDAEMONIC PIE and follows the exploits of the Chaos Cabal in their forray into the realm of high finance. If you wish to find out how ephemeral the world's money market is, then this is the place. Thomas A, Bass paces this account to read like a novel. A worthwhile read but tackle THE EUDAEMONIC PIE first. It is magic.

FROM LANCE TO LANDIS convinced me that the sport of professional cycling has been usurped by the dopers. It is impossible to compete at the top level without chemical enhancement. Insightful, if a little terse.

PROPHECY'S ARCHETECTURE by Cameron Fultz

I finished reading PROPHECY'S ARCHETECTURE by Cameron Fultz. This is a
how-to book on eschatology. The method he outlines is similar to the
one that led me to reject pretribulationism. He takes the most clear
prophecy passages and simply observe how they align themselves to form a
chronology of events. The book never admits to espousing a Pre-Wrath
system, but that is the end result. I recommend it because it allows
scripture to shape the reader's eschatology rather than the reader trying to
shape scripture to fit an existing eschatology. Good for anyone holding
to the literal hermeneutic.

FOOTSTEPS OF THE MESSIAH

I finished reading Arnold G. Fructenbaum's THE FOOTSTEPS OF THE MESSIAH. As with ISRAELOLOGY Fructenbaum here writes with a clearly understandable style. His theme in this book is to outline the sequence of end-time events using Revelation as the guide. Of particular interest to me were (1) His concept of Imminence, not from the Ascension, but from A.D. 70. He realizes that several prophecies had to be fulfilled, namely Jesus' prediction of the destruction of Jerusalem. (2) The idea that the 7 churches of Rev. 2-3 parallel the 7 periods of church history. The last one, Laodicea, not commencing until 1900. Both of these point out inconsistencies with Pre-tribulational thought. A.G.F. is prone to making bold statements of opinion presented as fact. The ungarded reader will be easily led by such a presentation. In spite of this it is recommended.

(Deus Vult)