Wel­come to another install­ment of “Thoughts from the Ran­cor Pit” in which Andrew and David from the fab­u­lous blog “Ran­cors Love to Read” will review books tak­ing place in the Star Wars uni­verse. This time they are review­ing The Last Command the third install­ment in The Thrawn Tril­ogy which pop­u­lar­ized the Star Wars books. Also, don’t forget that today, 6 October, 2012 is the Star Wars Reads day which will be marked with activities promoting Star Wars, reading and reading Star Wars in book stores across the nation. The good folks at Star Wars Reads have given Man of la Book some cool giveaways to promote this most excellent event. Check it out and enter – THIS IS A ONE DAY GIVEAWAY, I will pick the winner on Sunday. Buy this Star Wars Book in paper or elec­tronic copy* More Books by Timothy Zahn Andrew: Orig­i­nally pub­lished at http://www.rancorslovetoread.com/2009/01/andrews-review-of-last-command.html 5/5 Rancors – The Last Command is the climactic novel in Timothy Zahn’s superb Thrawn Trilogy, a series published in the early 1990’s that laid the groundwork for much of the Star Wars Expanded Universe that was to come. All of Zahn’s carefully constructed plotting comes together here in an action-packed and highly rewarding tale, intertwining the…

While looking at covers for The First Men in the Moon, a science fiction story by H.G. Wells which I reviewed this week as part of the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen challenge (did you join?), I was quite disappointed at what I found. Most of the covers depicted the same scene and many were unimaginative and boring. While I didn’t think the story was great, I do appreciate its innovation, imagination and the way it influenced many other authors. Also, I’m known for my love of pulp covers and from some reason I couldn’t find any for this book. It could be mainly because there are no women in the story and pulp art, after all, is known for buxom babes. Check out the covers below, let me know which ones you like best. To be honest, none of them strikes my fancy. If I had to pick one it would be either the lithograph or the original covers (first and second below).

Article first published as Book Review: A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs on Blogcritics. About: A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs is a science-fiction book published in 1912. This is Burroughs first published book and stars John Carter. 160 pages Publisher: Del Rey ISBN: 0345331389 My rating for A Princess of Mars – 3 Great price on this book in paper or FREE in electronic Format through the Man of la Book Affil­i­ate Account More books by Edgar Rice Burroughs Thoughts: A Princess of Mars is Edgar Rice Burroughs’ first novel, while the novel is good, it feels like a first novel and I’m glad Burroughs continued to write and get better each time. What impressed me about the book was how imaginative it was compared to other science-fiction stories of the time. While Jules Verne concentrated on the science aspect of his stories (see my review of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea) and H.G. Wells’ science fiction stories were more about social commentary (my thoughts on The Invisible Man), Burroughs concentrated more on the story aspect, but instead of taking place on earth, he set it on Mars. The book is an escapable fantasy, and enjoyable tale which, if…

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, written by Alan Moore and illustrated by Kevin O’Neill, is a wonderful graphic novel which take several famous (and not-so-famous) literary characters and mix them up together for an adventure of a lifetime. I thought it would be fun to read those classic novels and then the graphic novel to see how the creators managed to take such classics and mix them up all together.

Decades after being liberated, the world treats the survivors differently. The perspective is not only that of the survivors themselves, but also of society

Scandalous Women: The Lives and Loves of History’s Most Notorious Women by Elizabeth Kerri Mahon – A book dedicated to women in a short biographical chapter

From what I understand, author Jane Singer used Asia Booth’s diary as her basis for this book which makes her take on the events following the assassination of President Lincoln unique.