Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time
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About sabian30

CBR 7
CBR 8
CBR  9
CBR13 participant
CBR14 Participant

Sixty something retired banking software analyst in Little Rock, Arkansas who writes science fiction and fantasy short stories. Has four great kids (one the editor of Cannonball Fodder) and one awesome grandson.

sabian30's Reviews:

More Than a Female James Bond

The Night of Morningstar by Peter O'Donnell

April 4, 2022 by sabian30 4 Comments

This is a recreational reread for me. I love the pulp novels of Peter O’Donnell and his exciting secret agent, Modesty Blaise, and reread the 13 novels every couple years. Modesty, in this novel, works with her equally competent partner, Willie Garvin, to combat a worldwide organization attempting to take over the world. In the other books, her beginnings as the head of a European crime syndicate is mentioned, but in this story, we watch her early retirement as she and Willie have decided crime […]

Filed Under: Fiction Tagged With: action, adventure, Peter O'Donnell, spy thriller, Strong Female Character

sabian30's CBR14 Review No:10 · Genres: Fiction · Tags: action, adventure, Peter O'Donnell, spy thriller, Strong Female Character ·
· 4 Comments

Heroine as Victim

Tregaron's Daughter by Madeleine Brent

April 4, 2022 by sabian30 2 Comments

When I started reading this, I was surprised how similar the plot was to Madeleine Brent’s (Modesty Blaise writer Peter O’Donnell in reality) first novel, Merlin’s Keep. We have a spunky young lass, a dying father, a benevolent and rich foster father who takes her into his family, and a handsome young man with a checkered past who seems to dislike her but secretly pines for her. Cadi Tregaron from Cornwall is the spunky heroine. She takes care of her father in a small fishing […]

Filed Under: Mystery Tagged With: Gothic Romance, historical mystery, Madeleine Brent, Peter O'Donnell

sabian30's CBR14 Review No:9 · Genres: Mystery · Tags: Gothic Romance, historical mystery, Madeleine Brent, Peter O'Donnell ·
Rating:
· 2 Comments

New Ideas for Old Tropes

Characters, Emotion & Viewpoint by Nancy Kress

March 4, 2022 by sabian30 Leave a Comment

Nancy Kress is a well-known writing instructor. I was in a lecture just like week where the instructor quoted Ms. Kress. She’s an easy educator to read. Her style is smooth and conversational. In this book, subtitled “Techniques and Exercises for Crafting Dynamic Characters and Effective Viewpoints” she deals with the more common aspects of writing: developing characters, showing them emoting, and the different points of view you can use as a writer when telling your character’s story. Her format is easy to read and […]

Filed Under: Non-Fiction Tagged With: #writing, Characters, emotion, nancy kress, Viewpoint

sabian30's CBR14 Review No:8 · Genres: Non-Fiction · Tags: #writing, Characters, emotion, nancy kress, Viewpoint ·
Rating:
· 0 Comments

Where Do You Get Your Story Ideas?

Story Behind the Book, Volume 3 by edited by Kristijan Meic and Ivana Steiner

March 4, 2022 by sabian30 Leave a Comment

This short collection of author essays by speculative fiction writers is an informative little series. Inside the 37 authors describe why and how they wrote their respective books (or series of books). At only a page or two, the excerpts seem more like introductions to their books then lengthy information on their writing processes, but the insights into the way they write is inspiring and interesting. I’m ashamed to say I only recognized one of the writers, Adrian Tchikovsky, because of his Children of Time […]

Filed Under: Non-Fiction Tagged With: #writing, edited by Kristijan Meic and Ivana Steiner, Story Ideas

sabian30's CBR14 Review No:7 · Genres: Non-Fiction · Tags: #writing, edited by Kristijan Meic and Ivana Steiner, Story Ideas ·
Rating:
· 0 Comments

A Rose by Any Other Name

Merlin's Keep by Madeleine Brent

February 13, 2022 by sabian30 Leave a Comment

As a big Modesty Blaise fan, I’ve always enjoyed Peter O’Donnell’s writing ability and reread his 15 Modesty books every couple of years. Imagine my surprise from his obituary to discover that he wrote gothic historic romances under the name “Madeleine Brent.” Merlin’s Keep (named after the birds and not the wizard) won the Romantic Novel of the Year for 1978. While I’ve probably never read a gothic historic romance in my life, I ordered several of his romances and started with Merlin’s Keep (because […]

Filed Under: Romance Tagged With: gothic historical romance, Madeleine Brent, Peter O'Donnell, strong female lead, victorian england

sabian30's CBR14 Review No:6 · Genres: Romance · Tags: gothic historical romance, Madeleine Brent, Peter O'Donnell, strong female lead, victorian england ·
Rating:
· 0 Comments

I Should Reread These Modesty Blaise Books in Order

A Taste for Death by Peter O'Donnell

February 13, 2022 by sabian30 Leave a Comment

I enjoy rereading all the Modesty Blaise novels, but two of the characters who fall in love in this book were an old married couple in the last one. While the exploits of Modesty and her partner, Willie Garvin, are exciting, this has one of the best fight scenes in all the Modesty novels. In fact, she has a scary encounter with a swordsman AND Willie meets up with a gorilla-like sadist who had battered him almost to the death during a previous encounter. Stuck […]

Filed Under: Fiction Tagged With: action, adventure, Modesty Blaise, Peter O'Donnell, strong female leads, Willie Garvin

sabian30's CBR14 Review No:5 · Genres: Fiction · Tags: action, adventure, Modesty Blaise, Peter O'Donnell, strong female leads, Willie Garvin ·
Rating:
· 0 Comments
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Recent Comments

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