Category Archives: Book Reviews
Heinlein Publishing History is Made
Heinlein publishing history was made on March 26, 2013 when the Kickstarter project to fund a graphic novel version of Robert A. Heinlein’s Citizen of the Galaxy achieved its funding goal! With several days yet before the funding date of … Continue reading
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My Virginia Edition Arrived!
My Virginia Edition of the Complete Works of Robert A. Heinlein arrived and has a new home on shelves in my office! My goodness… with as many things having to do with Heinlein and his legacy I’ve been involved in … Continue reading
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The Hunger Games
Originality of concept often isn’t as important as the freshness and the vitality of the approach. As the Harry Potter series breathed a vibrant new life into some very old fantasy concepts, The Hunger Games gives a hint of that vitality to the post-apocalyptic survival scenario, at least in the first book. Continue reading
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Emeralds, Diamonds and Amethysts
It’s with a great deal of pleasure I direct your attention to an upcoming book by friend, and college roommate, Mary Matthews. Emeralds, Diamonds and Amethysts is the sequel to Splendid Summer, a novel of the Roaring Twenties set in … Continue reading
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The Long Winter
Laura Ingalls Wilder and The Long Winter When I lived out west for ten years or so, and it never snowed and summers were brown and winters were rainy, the book I most read and reread when I was homesick … Continue reading
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The Ghost in the Little House by William V. Holtz
The Ghost in the Little House: A Life of Rose Wilder Lane by William V. Holtz, reviewed by Deb Houdek Rule. A biography of Laura Ingalls Wilder’s only daughter, Rose Wilder Lane. It is rather controversial among Laura’s fans as a major premise of the book is that Rose, not Laura, was the real writer of the beloved Little House series of books. Continue reading
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Little House in the Ozarks: The Rediscovered Writings
Little House in the Ozarks: The Rediscovered Writings, by Laura Ingalls Wilder, edited by Stephen W. Hines, reviewed by Deb Houdek Rule. A collection of articles Laura Ingalls Wilder wrote in the decades before the first of her “Little House” books came out. For about twenty years before her first book, “Little House in the Big Woods,” Laura was a regularly published writer of articles and essays in regional newspapers and farm magazines beginning in 1911. Continue reading
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The Iowa Story by William Anderson
The Iowa Story: Laura Ingalls Wilder’s life in Burr Oak, Iowa by William Anderson Reviewed by Deb Houdek Rule This is a small book, only fifty-two pages long, but it ably fills in the story of the Ingalls’ year in … Continue reading
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The Spectre of Death Rode the Land by Lois Glass Webb
The Spectre of Death Rode the Land: A Southern Family Caught Up in the Union Invasion of Missouri, 1861-1865 by Lois Glass Webb reviewed by Deb Houdek Rule for Civil War St. Louis “The war in Southeast Missouri was not … Continue reading
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Autobiography of Samuel S. Hildebrand, Edited by Kirby Ross
Autobiography of Samuel S. Hildebrand, Edited by Kirby Ross reviewed by Deb Houdek Rule for Civil War St. Louis “Hooray for Hildebrand,” the bandits at the Ste. Genevieve robbery (presumably the ultimately famous James-Younger gang) shouted as they rode out … Continue reading
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Guerrilla Season by Pat Hughes
Guerrilla Season by Pat Hughes reviewed by Deb Houdek Rule for Civil War St. Louis Season of light, season of darkness… this was 1863 in Clay County in northern Missouri. Boys hunted, swam, and played with their friends. They also … Continue reading
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Vengeance In My Heart by David K. Moore
Vengeance In My Heart: A Novel of the Civil War by David K. Moore reviewed by Deb Houdek Rule for Civil War St. Louis Cover blurb: In 1863, Confederate guerrillas raided Lawrence, Kansas, unleashing in turn a torrent of revenge … Continue reading
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When the Heavens Fell by John Koblas
When the Heavens Fell: The Youngers in Stillwater Prison and The Great Cole Younger & Frank James Historical Wild West Show by John Koblas reviewed by Deb Houdek Rule for Civil War St. Louis Author John Koblas adds two new … Continue reading
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Blessed Are the Peacemakers by Joe W. Smith
Blessed Are the Peacemakers by Joe W. Smith reviewed by Deb Houdek Rule for Civil War St. Louis Joe W. Smith, author of “Blessed Are the Peacemakers” tackles the difficult subject of the bushwhacker war in the Ozark countryside of … Continue reading
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Little House in Brookfield by by Maria D. Wilkes
Little House in Brookfield by by Maria D. Wilkes reviewed by Deb Houdek Rule Sloppy writing and a severe lack of editing make the book read as a hastily tossed-together piece written to meet a deadline for commercial, rather than … Continue reading
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Bachelor Girl by Roger Lea MacBride
Bachelor Girl by Roger Lea MacBride reviewed by Deb Houdek Rule Bachelor Girl was a nice closing episode to the ‘Rose’ series of books. It was a well-chosen ending place to the story as Rose clearly is leaving the child … Continue reading
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Free Land by Rose Wilder Lane
Free Land by Rose Wilder Lane reviewed by Deb Houdek Rule The Homestead Act promised people “free land” if they lived on it and worked it for five years. This book by Rose Wilder Lane, daughter of Laura and Almanzo … Continue reading
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Recollection of Alexander H. Stephens: His Diary
Recollection of Alexander H. Stephens: His Diary Kept When a Prisoner at Fort Warren, Boston Harbour 1865 by Alexander Hamilton Stephens by Deb Houdek Rule for Civil War St. Louis This is the journal of Alexander Stephens, the Vice President … Continue reading
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In the Wet by Nevil Shute
In the Wet by Nevil Shute reviewed by Deb Houdek Rule Nevil Shute has the most emotionally compelling writing styles I’ve ever encountered. “In the Wet” is a odd and lovely example of this. Without ever being maudlin, in a … Continue reading
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Story of Cole Younger: By Himself by Cole Younger
Story of Cole Younger: By Himself by Cole Younger reviewed by Deb Houdek Rule for Civil War St. Louis Cole Younger’s autobiography doesn’t answer all the questions. It creates more. For one thing, Cole Younger claims that the Northfield robbery, … Continue reading
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Cole Younger: Last of the Great Outlaws by Homer Croy
Cole Younger: Last of the Great Outlaws by Homer Croy reviewed by Deb Houdek Rule for Civil War St. Louis Homer Croy is a first-rate storyteller in a very casual, homey sort of way. He writes this book about Cole … Continue reading
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For Us, the Living
The finding and publishing of “For Us, the Living” by D. A. Houdek. ©2003 D. A. Houdek (Deb Houdek Rule) Continue reading
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Robert Heinlein: Murder Suspect
An article examining Rocket to the Morgue by Anthony Bouche, a mystery novel in which Heinlein appears as a character. Originally published in The Galactic Citizen, Issue 12, Spring 1996. ©1996 D. A. Houdek and G. E. Rule Continue reading
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