Alan J. Porter

This biography of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry takes a fact based approach to examine the life of a complicated man.

As such it swings from portraying Roddenberry as a visionary creator, to him being a self-serving narcissist who happily took credit and money from those who helped build that vision into a cultural icon. As a result it doesn’t really draw its own conclusions, other than in a passing remark in the notes section at the back that Roddenberry was “an imperfect individual.”

Despite this, it provides an highly readable overview of the development of Trek and how it went from cancelled TV show to one of the most successful franchises in pop culture

A book with a fairly basic premise - scientist explains the science behind stuff we do - turned out to be both an entertaining and educational read.

But I will say the levels of enjoyment did fluctuate. Chapters on things that had some personal resonance held my attention, but others I found a bit of a slog. Basically I enjoyed the engineering ones, but not the math heavy ones so much.

But the one constant I did like was the reinforcement of the idea of curiosity of not just how something worked, but why it worked the way it did.

An excellent researched look into the life and career of the notorious Victorian serial killer who poisoned victims in Canada, America, and Britain and was brought down by his own hubris.

The book raises some interesting points around victim-blaming, class-prejudice, and social assumptions. It also raises questions about the state responsibility for unintended consequences. In the US, Cream was charged with murder and acquitted, then found guilty and sent to prison, before being pardoned and moving to London. How much responsibility did those failures in the system hold in relation to the fates of his later victims?

By examining questions such as “what sort of man was he?”, “How did he write his plays?”, and “What made him laugh?” noted Shakespeare historian Stanley Wells distills eight decades of study into this compact (138 pages) volume to provide an insightful portrait of the Bard.

A delightful and informative read that delivered more that must of the more volumous Shakespeare biographies on my book shelves.

It was working on my book on the history of Star Trek comics when I learned the name of the artist who painted the amazing on the early Trek comics from Gold Key - George Wilson.

I also began to realize that his style seemed familiar from many other painted comics covers I’d seen over the years. He was more than just a cover artist, he was, as described in this volume, a “narrative illustrator” who made the fantastic seem real, and that every image told a story.

This excellent collection of his art opened my eyes to just how prolific and wide ranging his work was, and not just in comics, but magazine and paperback covers too.

This is a well deserved tribute to an influential artist who didn’t get the recognition he deserved during his lifetime.

I struggled with this concluding book of Kim Sherwood’s Double-O trilogy. But I think that was more with me than down to Kim Sherwood’s writing.

It’s been two-years since I read the previous volume, which I remember really enjoying, but had a hard time recalling all the plot and sub-plot details that this one brings together and wraps up. It also took me a while to reconnect with the various characters and their backstories.

As a result I tended to read this in chunks between reading other things and felt I never really connected with the story.

At some point I’ll be doing a reread of all three volumes to write up annotations for the online Bond Lexicon updates, and I’m guessing this one will work better when read in conjunction with its predecessors.

1976 has always held a special place in my memory as a magical year. I was the year of the seemingly never ending summer when I got my first motorcycle and was free to head out on the road. It’s the year that I became obsessed with motor sports - spending weekends out at the Oulton Park racetrack with friends or at the Belle Vue speedway stadium with my Dad. It was the year of house parties, great music, and so much more.

But reading this volume also reminded me it was in many ways a dark year, that I was only peripherly aware of. The UK was on the verge of economic collapse, inflation was a staggering 26%, industrial unrest was rife. And we were dealing with IRA bombings on a regular basis.

The UK had in many ways abandoned the ideals and hopes of the swinging sixties and switched its focus backwards rather than forwards. Prejudice was rife, be it gender, social, or race often leading to violence and riots.

It was in some ways the last gasp of the analogue world as the first stirrings of a digital future beckoned.

Maybe this look back from 50 years on dwelt a little too much on the more negative aspects of life back then, but a lot of it also made me smile and go “oh I remember that.”

It’s 1976 an a friend turns up with a cool looking new album with a comics style cover called “Jailbreak.”

A few years later I’m at the Empire theater in Liverpool watching and photographing the same band in action in what I still consider one of the top three gigs I ever attended.

Jump forward a few more years and I met this cute girl on the first day of college and we find out we both love the rocking sounds of that same band.

Thin Lizzy has been a constant in our lives for 50 years, but it’s taken me a while to get around to reading this biography of the man out front.

At times it’s an absorbing read about how an abandoned child could remake himself, about the soul of a poet inspired by the mythology of his adopted home, about a man who knew he was on a path to perform.

Yet it’s also a difficult read of missed opportunities, insecurity, controlling behavior, jealousy, and addiction.

A sad tale of an amazing talent that could handle almost everything life threw at him, except the one thing he craved, fame.

This fourth novella in the excellent and entertaining Murderbot Diaries series brings the first story arc to a satisfying conclusion.

Peppered with the right amount of snark, wry humor, and pithy observations on the way we humans conduct ourselves, balanced with some cool action sequences and entertaining insights into the ever evolving rogue Security Unit and its relationships.

Collecting the TMNT series relaunch from 2011 in recommended reading order, this volume includes the first 12 issues plus five single character focused one-shot issues.

It’s a great introduction to the current incarnations of the Turtles as they battle evil ninjas, corrupt corporate bosses, as well as come to terms with both their past lives and recent incarnation.

This extensive oral history of Paul McCartney’s career in the 1970s provides some interesting insights into the creation and success of Wings, while at the same time openly discussing its numerous line up changes and the tensions that came with working with McCartney.

The book expands on the material from the recent Man On The Run documentary and provides greater depth and context.

I know I’ll be listening to my early McCartney solo and Wings albums from now on with a greater appreciation of the stories behind their creation.

This posthumous collection of essays and speeches compiled by the daughter of the American historian and biographer provides a more personal insight into his approach to his work, and his love of learning.

It’s a well balanced collection that resonated with me on different topics. Unsurprisingly it was the section on writing historical non-fiction that I found the most compelling and informative.

If you’ve read and enjoyed any of his books, then I’d recommend this as a complementary text.

This three part graphic novel tells the story of three young people in pre-war Silesia who share a passion for flying. But world events overtake them and their lives take different paths.

Told in parallel is their story in the waning days of World War 2 when once again their flying skills bring them together in unexpected ways, and secrets are revealed.

I was Alain Henrit’s stunningly detailed and accurate renditions of a variety of WW2 aircraft in general and the esoteric experimental German aircraft of the late war years in particular that attracted me to this series. But it is the heartfelt story of friendship and sacrifice that really made it memorable.

I’d only ever heard of the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald because of the Gordon Lightfoot song, and knew nothing about it beyond that.

This deeply researched and excellently structured telling of its story, and the history of the Great Lakes region changed that in a day. Yep, I was so absorbed in the book that I read it in a single day.

It’s a gripping tale that introduces and develops the characters of the lost crew, and their families, while firmly presenting the background to the myriad factors that led to the tragic sinking of the ship.

It’s poignant, heartbreaking, insightful, and equally informative and thought provoking.

This graphic novel biography of director Sergio Leone plays with the comics format almost as much as its subject plays with the concept of film. Using mixes of different techniques, color pallets, page design, and even a few prose articles, to tell the story of an iconic director.

The stories of the behind Leone’s struggles to get his movies made way he wanted are fascinating reading, and he doesn’t pull his punches in the quoted interview transcripts.

A must read if you are a fan of Leone’s work.

Think I’ll be putting the Dollars Trilogy back in the DVD player soon.

As much as I enjoy watching the Game of Thrones TV series and its various spin-offs I’ve never read the original novels. Having also enjoyed the recent TV adventure of hedge-knight Sir Duncan the Tall and his squire with a secret, Egg, I thought I’d check out this collection of the three novellas that recount some of their travels.

They were a fun read full of adventure, jousting, and intrigue through which our two heroes blunder their way pulled into situations beyond their control.

The heart of the stories is the relationship between Dunk and Egg which is masterfully written.

While the world building is very effective in placing the main characters in context, it does pay to have at least a basic knowledge of the kingdoms of Westeros and its various houses.

Originally published in 1954 this memoir by the secretary to London’s leading forensic pathologist during the war years promised much, but failed to deliver.

I found the prose style dreary and hampered by the author’s class prejudice and unquestioning acceptance of the societal injustices of the time.

Yes it’s a product of its era, but some things are hard to put aside.