(NOT THAT YOU ASKED): Rants, Exploits, and Obsessions -- Steve Almond

Random House -- hc
New York -- © 2007 -- 288pp
ISBN: 978-1-4000-6619-3

A collection of essays by Steve Almond.

"How This Book Became and Official Oprah's Book Club™ Pick (Not That You Asked)"
"Dear Oprah"
"Why I Crush on Vonnegut (Not That You Asked)"
"Everything Was Beautiful and Nothing Hurt, Part One"
"Part Two"
Part Three"
"Postscript"
"About My Sexual Failure (Not That You Asked)"
"Shame on Me"
"Chestfro Agoniste"
"My First Fake tits"
"How to Write Sex Scenes: The 12-Step Program"
"Why, Upon Publication of This Book, I Will Have to Leave the City of Boston Under Cover of Night (Not That You Asked)"
"Red Sox Anti-Christ"
"Concerning the Laughable Nature of Literary Fame (Not That You Asked)"
"How Reality TV Ate My Life"
"Blog Love"
"Heart Radical"
"Pretty Authors Make Graves"
"A Recipe to Die for, A Band to Worship (Not That You Asked)"
"Death by Lobster Pad Thai"
"Tesla Matters (Dude)"
"In Tribute to My Republican Homeys (Not That You Asked)"
"Cash Cowed"
"Where'd You Hide the Body?"
"Demagogue Days"
"How I Became a Baby Daddy (Not That You Asked)"
"You're What?"
"10 Ways I Killed My Daughter Within Her First 72 Hours of Life"
"Ham for Chanukah"
Acknowledgements

#####

For the record...I'm a fan of Steve Almond's writing, and; I do not like most modern essays. I'm probably one of the few readers who really can't stomach Augusten Burroughs and who finds David Sedaris to be only occasionally amusing, and nearly almost always self-aggrandizing.

Now that this is out of the way, let me address this book in particular.

Almond opens this book with the rather odd, and very immature little spoof/rant. Let's write letters to Oprah, trying to knock her down a peg, and then follow it up with a batch of letters apologizing. Ooh, how clever. How witty!

How terribly freshman!

Sorry, Steve, I wrote crap like this in high school and college. Yeah, you get the bucks to have it published, but it doesn't make it unique, clever, or, well, good.

I was worried, then, if the entire book was going to be this way. If I wanted dreck, I'd read Burroughs. Fortunately, I immediately began reading the "Why I Crush on Vonnegut" which hooked me in to the rest of the book.

THIS is an essay! This is how an essay should be written! A lot of personal reflection about a very personal (to the writer) subject, but not about the writer himself.

I felt every nuance, every pain or anger that Almond expressed. I want to go back and re-read every Vonnegut book, I want to go and knock the heads of the women on the panel with Vonnegut (I'll do something better...I will actively NOT buy their books). This essay alone kept me reading through the entire book.

The rest of the book falls somewhere in between these first two essays.

Anyone familiar with Almond's fiction writing knows that he writes about sex quite well, so his essays of a sexual bent are also strong. "How To Write Sex Scenes: The 12-Step Program" is both, fun and informative.

"Red Sox Anti-Christ" didn't hit me particularly well. I'm not a huge baseball fan, and really, the essay wasn't 'about' anything, was it? It wasn't quite a personal reflection, it was more of an essay trying to be clever. The historical anecdotes, about growing up and being a fan of the A's was interesting, but trying to pin on the label of Red Sox Anti-Christ was just too much a of a stretch.

Enjoyable essays were "How Reality TV Ate My Life," "Death by Lobster Pad Thai," and "Tesla Matters." Here Almond explores a topic, again personal and with personal reflection, as an essay should be, but not really about the essayist (I would argue that "How Reality TV Ate My Life" is more about the phoniness of "reality" TV and selling out to it in general than it is about Steve Almond's absorption in it).

Of lesser interest were "Blog Love" and "Ham for Chanukah" -- two essays that I couldn't relate to and held little interest for me.

The rest were decent.

But I'd much rather read more fiction from this fine author.

NOTES FROM THE UNDERGROUND -- Nancy Armstonrg, editor

NOTES FROM THE UNDERGROUND: THE MOST OUTRAGEOUS STORIES FROM THE ALTERNATIVE PRESS
Chamberlain Bros. -- tpb
New York -- ©2005 -- 238pp
ISBN: 1-59609-008-1

A collection of non-traditional newspaper stories. Stories collected from 'alternative' newspapers.

Introduction -- Steve Almond
"The Hobohemians" -- Ben Ehrenreich LA Weekly
"Evil Eyes" -- Glenna Whitley Dallas Observer
"Bound By Fear: Polygamy in Arizona" -- John Dougherty Phoenix New Times
"I Was Queen for a Day" -- Chris Wright The Boston Phoenix
"Academia Under Siege" -- Barbara Solow The Independent (Durham, NC)
"Spray It, Don't Say It" -- Andrew Kiraly Las Vegas Mercury
"An Unresolved Death" -- Mike Keefe-Feldman Missoula Independent
"Blue Lines, Steel, and the Hour of Myth" -- Celeste Fraser Delgado Miami New Times
"Dead Wrong" -- Wendy Grossman Houston Press
"Good-bye to All That" -- David Ritchie New York Press
"What About the Kids?" -- Jessica Rae Patton The Fairfield County Weekly
"A Village Transformed" -- Brita Brundage The Fairfield County Weekly
"Soul of the Brute" -- Kevin Hoffman Cleveland Scene
"Quitting the Business" -- Eileen Loh Harrist Gambit Weekly (New Orleans)
"Haidl Your Daughters / Unreasonable Doubts?" -- R. Scott Moxley OC Weekly
"Dope" -- Dan Savage The Stranger (Seattle)
"Out of The World" -- Mara Shalhoup Creative Loafing (Atlanta)
"Stalking the Bogeyman" -- David Holthouse Westword (Denver)
"When Girls Go Wild" -- Geri L. Dreiling Riverfront Times (St. Louis)
"Vanishing Act" -- Carlton Smith Willamette Week
"Hip-Hop Turns 30" -- Greg Tate The Village Voice (New York)
"The Last Executioner" -- Jennifer Gonnerman The Village Voice (New York)

#####

Journalism, the way it was intended.

Today's newspapers are little more than twitteresque reports and media splash -- hook 'em, tell them something dramatic, move on.

This collection of newspaper stories from "alternative" newspaper -- generally those free papers with lots of ads and night-club listings -- break the rules by actually going a little in-depth, reporting, interviewing, AND ... personalizing and offering opinions.

Not all of these stories grabbed me. Some still felt incomplete. Yet overall, these were much more interesting, and in many ways, still relevant, than most daily newspaper stories.

Ben Ehrenreich teaches us that riding the rails as a 'hobo' is still something that happens, though the days of the transient worker is a fading memory. Today's hobos treat it as an extreme sport, or a fun dare.

Glenna Whitley scars us with the in-depth exploration of a serial killer who manages to escape true punishment, and who threatens, again and again, to continue killing.

Although the television media had a field day with the polygamy and compound marriages to teens not too long ago, John Dougherty goes deeper into how a town and a state can keep polygamy on the fast track, and how hard it is for anyone to escape from the beliefs.

Not every story moved. "I Was Queen For A Day" didn't do a thing for me. Perhaps I've just never even considered dressing like a woman and going out on the town. Perhaps the writing just wasn't strong enough. either way, it was my first let-down in the book.

A number of stories seemed interesting, but I'd like a follow-up -- they didn't resolve it. Okay...not all stories get resolved, but newspaper stories, collected and published in a book...could we get just a little more, please? Some of those stories, for me, where..."Academia Under Siege" "What About the Kids?" "Quitting the Business" "Vanishing Act" and "The Last Executioner". All of these were interesting and I just wanted to read more.

Those that really didn't touch me include: "Blue Lines, Steel, and the Hour of Myth" "Good-bye to All That" and "A Village Transformed".

Even so, this is a collection worth reading. No collection will please 100%, but this is a nice way to start.

THE UNICORN CHRONICLES: BOOK TWO - SONG OF THE WANDERER -- Bruce Coville

Scholastic Press -- hc
New York -- ©1999 -- 330pp
ISBN: 0-590-45953-8

Cara attempts to cross Luster in a desperate effort to rescue her grandmother. Each stage of Cara’s journey brings new peril, wondrous new characters, and new clues to the mystery of her grandmother’s past. And through it all threads the haunting melody of the “Song of the Wanderer”.

*****

If you read any of my reviews, you'll know that I'm a fan of Bruce Coville's writing. His Unicorn Chronicles is one of the best series for fantasy readers of any age.

Although I first read this book many years ago, I've begun reading the series to my boys, ages 11 and 12, and they absolutely love it.

They were both hesitant at first, and neither would read the series on their own, thinking that it was a 'girl's' book. But neither wants me to read anything else now until I've started the series.

The first book was fun, but this second book begins to weave an intricate tale. Alliances are defined and the characters take on a depth that helps us identify with them. The adventure isn't so new, but we discover new areas to Luster (the land of the unicorns)and meet new characters.

It's a thrilling adventure and really makes us thirst for the next book.

STRIPTEASE, REPEAT PERFORMANCE, AND THE PROPHETS -- Slawomir Mrozek

Grove Press, Inc -- hc
New York -- ©1972 -- 166pp
ISBN: 0-394-48280-8


In Striptease, two characters - one an intellectual, the other an activist - find themselves inside a room where a gigantic hand instructs them to remove their clothes until both act out an elaborate dance of rationalized submission. In Repeat Performance, a middle-aged man on an escapade with his sonÕs young wife encounters a ghost from his own youth - the charismatic political leader to whom he had sworn everlasting allegiance, and whose spirit has now returned to claim either the father or the son. The Prophets tells what happens when two prophets show up to fulfill the prophesies instead of just one. [from Amazon.com]

#####

It has been ages since I've read any Slawomir Mrozek and I was a little worried that either he, or I, might not have aged too well. Fortunately my fears were unfounded. A good playwright tells a story in a strong fashion, and Mrozek is a good playwright.

Theatre of the Absurd is certainly not something that is commonly popular. In fact, I often wonder if it's only popular as history ... studied after the fact. But while I agree that Mrozek's play are absurdist, I'd rather label them Theatre of Metaphor, for he tends to be telling us something by showing us something slightly different. In "Striptease" we learn about power (the power of a single white glove), imprisonment, and the fear of the unknown.

"The Prophets" is a wonderful, humourous, absurdist metaphor for our popular religions.

"Repeat Performance" is the weakest of the plays in this collection. The only two act play (the others are both one acts) in the book, this one seems to try just a little too hard to make a point. There is little, to no subtext or subplot, but Mrozek wears it all on his sleeve. If we, as an audience, don't have to think about it and say "Ah ha! I think I know what you're doing" then we just don't have fun.

Still, the U.S. and Britain just don't produce fascinating works the way Poland does. Not since Jean-Claude van Itallie have we had a playwright expound so metaphorically.

WOBEGON BOY -- Garrison Keillor

Viking -- hc
New York -- ©1997 -- 305pp
ISBN: 0-670-87807-3

A young man from Lake Wobegon, Minnesota decides to hed for greener, or more active, pastures and moves to Upstate New York.  But as most of us know, and the young man must discover, you can take the boy out of the country, but you can't take the country out of the boy.

#####

Garrison Keillor writes very cleanly. Meaning...his style is simple and direct. There's some purple prose, and he does veer from stating a point to describing an event or character that is only marginally related to what he was initially writing about, but he does bring it back on topic. If you are familiar with his PRAIRIE HOME COMPANION radio show, then this isn't anything new to you.

I chuckled, I laughed out loud, I recognized myself more than once. It was a pleasant way to pass some reading time. But I didn't necessarily become enriched or enlightened in any way. Does one need to become enriched or enlightened? No. But once I finished reading it, it was already a book that I knew I wouldn't be thinking about again. In a year or so, I'll wonder if I ever read it. It's just not memorable.

How do you rate a book like that? It wasn't bad, but you never really care about anyone or any thing that's happening. It's a very middle-or-the-road book. So you give it a middle-of-the-road rating.

Three stars.

If you like Keillor's radio show, specifically the News From Lake Wobegon segment, then you'll probably enjoy this book. If you're new to Keillor, maybe this isn't the place to start.

THE UNICORN CHRONICLES BOOK ONE: INTO THE LAND OF UNICORNS -- Bruce Coville

Scholastic, Inc. -- hc
New York -- ©1994 -- 159pp
ISBN: 0-590-45955-4
autographed


A young girl is sent to Luster ... a world where unicorns reign ... by her grandmother.  The girl discovers that her grandmother had many secrets related to this world ... secrets which only slowly reveal themselves as the girl begins a journey with the unicorns.

#####

Bruce Coville is one of the best fantasy writers out there. Because he tends to write toward the younger market, many adults aren't familiar with him, which is a shame.

I first read this many years ago, when I was reading children's books at a tremendous rate. It's possible that this was one of the first Coville books I read. I immediately became enchanted by the book and by Coville's work, which I have sought out on a regular basis.

This book came off the shelf again the other day as I was looking for something to read aloud to my boys (ages 10 & 12) at bedtime. Although both will read on their own, they enjoy having me read to them. I chose this book because I knew they weren't likely to read it on their own (unicorns and a female protagonist made this seem a little too 'girly' for them). They absolutely loved it!

It was hard to stop at night, because both boys would want 'just one more chapter'.

Coville does a good job here by making the unicorns male, to balance the fact that the main human character is female. Throw in a creature that resembles a half man, half bear; a Disney-ish squirrel-like creature called a Squijum; a dwarf, a dragon, and a whole glory of unicorns, and you have one of the most unique fantasy stories around.

The book is a quick and easy read, and we're already well in to book #2.

THE GREAT AMERICAN NOVEL -- Philip Roth

Penguin Books -- tpb
New York -- ©1973 -- 328pp
ISBN: 0-14-007678-6

The Ruppert Mundys, the only homeless big-league ball team in American history .. with drunken home-run sluggers, and a battle of midgets, this story takes a crazy spin on the sport of baseball.

#####

An American novel...definitely. Great? No so much so.

The writing of this is typical 1970's humor. Think M*A*S*H (yes, I know the book was published in '68, but the movie was released in '70, which helped popularize the book series) or the works of Kurt Vonnegut. It's a sort of intelligentsia humor. Sophisticated. Dry. Not a laugh-out-loud type of humor. And for me, this didn't work.

I have to be up-front. I'm not a huge baseball fan. I enjoy it a little bit more, now as I'm older and can look for some of the strategy, but I still find it a slow and mostly dull game. So...to have a book, full of dry humor around the sport of baseball, probably is not a good choice for me.

In large part, though, I had trouble visualizing anyone from this book. The characters were never real for, and without them being real, or characters that I could picture, I didn't really care anything for them. And for that I blame the author.

This is my second Philip Roth novel, and so far, I'm not particularly impressed.

SON OF LAUGHTER -- Frederick Buechner

HarperSanFrancisco -- hc
San Francisco -- ©1993 -- 274pp
ISBN: 0-06-250116-X

The story of Jacob, son of Isaac, grandson of Abraham, told simply, realistically.

#####

I think that Buechner is an amazing author.

While I was disappointed with THE STORM (and I realize that I'm in the minority on that), this book was quite exceptional.

First, I didn't realize, before reading it, that it would be an historical fiction account of Jabob (of Jacob and Esau notariety). I have to admit that I might not have been as eager to read it, had I been aware of that. There's something about historical biblical fiction that has not held a great deal of appeal to me. That might change now, after reading Buechner.

Buechner's characters are 'real.' You get a sense of people that you can relate to, despite their having lived nearly 3000 years ago. I goute here my favorite passage in the book, which made me laugh and typifies the 'real-ness' of the characters:

I was like a man caught out in a storm with the wind squalling, the sand flailing me across the eyes, the chilled rain pelting me. The children were the storm, I thought, until one day, right in the thick of it, I saw the truth of what the children were.

One boy was pounding another boy's head against the hard-packed floor. Another was drowsing at his mother's teat. Three of them were trying to shove a fourth into a basket. Dinah was fitting her foot into her mouth. The air was foul with the smell of them.

They were (God's) promise. That is what I suddenly saw the children were. I forgotten it. They were the dust that would cover the earth. The great people would spring from their scrawny loins. Kicking and howling and crowing and pissing and slobbering food all over their faces, they were the world's best luck.

I started to weep. ...

What parent can't identify? All children are mankind's best hope for the future ... no matter what stupid, childish thing they might be doing at any given moment.

There is quite a bit of biblical information here, well time-lined, but the way in which Buechner manages to infuse it with a real ordinariness, and yet still hold our interest, is remarkable.

Definitely worth reading.

IN THE LAKE OF THE WOODS -- Tim Obrien

Houghton Mifflin -- hc
Boston -- ©1994 -- 306pp
ISBN: 0-395-48889-3

A man's run for U.S. Senate ends badly and shortly after, his wife goes missing in northern Minnesota.  What are the secrets he harbors?

#####

This is a book that has caught my attention over and over on the library bookshelf, so I finally decided that I would give it a read. As a Minnesotan, I enjoy reading books set in Minnesota. In that regard, this didn't disappoint.

But over-all, the book DOES disappoint.

O'Brien's writing is crisp and engaging, and I really appreciated his mixing up of styles, but the book does not open up the material well. By page 280 I still had not learned anything new that I didn't know back about page 50. The book takes too much time to reveal nothing.

Others have commented on the ending, and frankly, I didn't mind the ending -- I rather expected it -- but to have read so much, getting so little, and to end with nothing, well...I don't understand the point. There are lots of writers whom I enjoy for their style, but they usually have something to say as well, or at least have a character that you like.

This book just doesn't work. It'll be awhile before I try a Tim O'Brien book again.

HOLY FIRE -- Bruce Sterling

Bantam Books -- hc
New York -- ©1996 -- 294pp
ISBN: 0-553-09958-2

In an era when life expectancies stretch 100 years or more and adhering to healthy habits is the only way to earn better medical treatments, ancient "post humans" dominate society with their ubiquitous wealth and power. By embracing the safe and secure, 94-year-old Mia Ziemann has lived a long and quiet life. Too quiet, as she comes to realize, for Mia has lost the creative drive and ability to love--the holy fire--of the young. But when a radical new procedure makes Mia young again, she has the chance to break free of society's cloying grasp. (Amazon review)

#####

Ouch. A Bruce Sterling book that didn't work for me.

Like many of the other reviews here for this book, Sterling has some nifty concepts and a strong character and setting, but the follow-through is slow and meandering.

I never got the 'holy fire' aspect. Yes, I understand that it's our heroine's search for her 'holy fire' (art), but it isn't delivered strongly enough to carry on as the theme of the book (and if that isn't the book's theme, then what is?).

This book felt as though Sterling had a pretty good concept, but had trouble finding his own 'holy fire' to accomplish the goal and the publisher was breathing down his neck for a finished product.

Just not fulfilling.

THE FIVE PEOPLE YOU MEET IN HEAVEN -- Mitch Albom

Hyperion -- hc
New York -- ©2003 -- 196pp
ISBN: 0-7868-6871-6


On his 83rd birthday, a maintenance man tries to save a young girl from a failing ride and meets his demise. He then goes on an afterlife journey, meeting five people in heaven who help him understand his life.

#####

I was in the library, looking for a 'quick read' and, starting in the 'A' section of the fiction shelves, came across this book. I'd heard about it, seen Albom on Letterman or Ferguson, and decided to give it a try.

First, it IS a quick read. Easy language; short, consecutive, predictable chapters. But these don't necessarily mean 'cheap' writing. Albom still manages to do a nice job getting a message across.

Second, the message. This IS a feel-good, message book. Part of me would sarcastically define this as 'chick-lit' because of the feel-good message, but it defies the label because the hero isn't a young, available, hero. He's an old, dead guy (and that's not a spoiler...if you're meeting people in heaven, as the book title suggests, you kind of have to assume that the person is dead).

So, what is this book? It's two hours of your time, after which you'll likely think "Aw, I hope it's like that."

But will the book stay with you? Will you think about it suddenly while driving in rush-hour traffic, or while cutting up celery to go with a Sunday dinner? Probably not.

Despite the accolades this book has received, it won't be a treasured book in your home or something that you insist everyone read. It will be a book you recommend to people at a party, but that you don't push.

THE WILLIAMSON EFFECT -- Roger Zelazny, editor

Tom Doherty Associates Book -- hc
New York -- ©1996 -- 349pp
ISBN:0-312-85748-9

A collection of short fiction; a tribute to Jack Williamson.

Introduction: A World in Love with Change -- David Brin
"The Mayor of Mare Tranq" -- Frederick Pohl
"Before the Legion" -- Paul Dellinger
"Inside Passage" -- Poul Anderson
"Risk Assessment" -- Ben Bova
"Williamson's World" (poem) -- Scott E. Green
"Emancipation" -- Pati Nagle
"Thinkertoy" -- John Brunner
"The Bad Machines" -- Fred Saberhagen
"The Human Ingredient" -- Jeff Bredenberg
"Child of the Night" -- Jane Lindskold
"A Certain Talent" -- David Weber
"Nonstop to Portales" -- Connie Willis
"No Folded Hands" -- Andre Norton
"Darker Than You Wrote" -- Mike Resnick
"Near Portales ... Freedom Shouts" (poem) -- Scott E. Green
"Worlds That Never Were: The Last Adventure of the Legion of Time" -- John J. Miller

#####

I have to admit that I am not particularly familiar with Jack Williamson's work. I am aware of his work, but I don't think that I've ever read any of his books. So why buy and read this collection of short stories written in tribute to Williamson? Because it was edited by Roger Zelazny ... whose work I AM familiar with and greatly admire.

It shouldn't come as a surprise then that I found myself really enjoying this stories and now am looking forward to reading some Williamson work.

It has been awhile since I actually finished reading this collection, so the stories are not fresh in my mind, but I don't think that there are any obvious stand-outs for being excellent. Instead, unlike so many collections I read, nearly all the stories piqued my interest, touching on something which I assume is that talent of Jack Williamson.

Fred Saberhagen's story, "The Bad Machines," has made me want to read both Williamson's The Humanoids and Saberhange's 'Berserker' books. Poul Anderson's "Inside Passage" has got me looking for Jack's Darker Than You Think. And I'm very curious to read more of The Legion of Time, and see how much Giles Habibula really is like Falstaff. John Brunner is a fantastic writer, and his "Thinkertoy" was a delight.

All around, this is a fantastic collection. It's a book like this that has me really enjoying short fiction. I've read some great fiction and hopefully discovered a new author or two.

Highly recommended for any sci-fi fan.

TOM CORBETT: SPACE CADET - DANGER IN DEEP SPACE -- Carey Rockwell

Grossett & Dunlap -- hc
New York - ©1953 -- 209pp
Book 2 in the 1950's adventure series
Willy Ley, technical advisor
Louis Glanzman, illustrations

The new space cadets, Tom Corbett, Astro, and Roger Manning, are asked to go on a new adventure, but Roger abandons the team after being found guilty of allowing an accident to happen.

#####


It surprises me that my boys manage to enjoy these older adventure books, but they do!

What I find when I read these kinds of books is that they are big on exposition, which tends to slow the pace down. However, apparently my boys, ages 10 and 12, seem to have learned how to listen to this kind of exposition.

I read this book aloud to them, at bed time, a chapter a night. They remembered what happened the night before and would often ask for a second chapter each night.

There's just enough plot here to keep the interest. One member of the three-person cadet crew is unjustly accused of allowing an accident, and through the careful conniving of the two men who are actually responsible, the cadet joins forces with them, becoming an outlaw himself. This sets up a nice conflict and obstacle. Cadets and outlaws are racing to the same goal, arrive about the same time, and in typical fashion, square off.

There is some excitement in this adventure, enough to keep us reading, but I still find them generally boring. A little goes a long way, so while we likely WILL read the next book in the series, it will be awhile before we get to it.

MORALITY PLAY -- Barry Unsworth

Nan A. Talese -- hc
©1995 -- 206 pp
ISBN: 0385479530

A troupe of players puts on a new play, the story of a recent murder in a local town, in 14th century England.

#####

This book was recommended to me based on my interest in medieval theatre. I enjoy reading (and teaching) the old morality plays. I am not generally a fan of the mystery genre ... though I'm certainly not opposed to it, either.

I thought the book seemed well researched, though I also felt it spent too much time setting up the characters and era and style. I also didn't particularly care for the narrator. He seemed generally annoying, though I understand why his vacation was chosen -- it made it possible to do many things that otherwise wouldn't have been open to the people of the time.

Once the actual mystery got going, I was enthralled. A surprise or two for me along the way always makes for a better read than something that I anticipate early.

LOST ON VENUS -- Edgar Rice Burroughs

Ace Books -- pb
New York -- ©1933, 1935 -- 224pp
0-441-49506-4

Second in the Venus series. Carson Napier begins this episode in the Room of the Seven Doors. He can leave any time he wants, but six of the seven doors lead to hideous deaths; only one is the door of life.

After navigating his way out of this logic puzzle, Carson continues his quest to rescue the planet's fairest princess. He pursues this with singlemindedness, even though more terrible dangers lie ahead; even though the princess wishes neither his help or his affection; even though her people will execute him if he enters their country! Such is the honor of an Earthman's pledge. [from Goodread.com]

#####

While I'm familiar with Burroughs' Tarzan and 'Mars' series', I'd never read any of the Carson/Venus books.

Perhaps this wasn't the right one to begin with as it starts right in the middle of some other action (and I see now that this is book #2 in the series), but it doesn't take much to pick up on the plot and the back story.

What surprised me was how easy it was to read. For whatever reason, I was expecting more flowery prose and plodding story-telling. This was fast action scene after fast action scene.

I did think the 'zombies' where a bit over the top, but the Nazi-like country was frighteningly prophetic.

This makes me want to go back and read the Mars book.