“There once lived a man named Martin Dressler, a shopkeeper’s son, who rose from modest beginnings to a height of dreamlike good fortune” (opening line). Steven Millhauser’s bildungsroman, Martin Dressler: The Tale of an American Dreamer, winner of the 1997 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and finalist for the 1996 National…
1996 Pulitzer Prize Review: Independence Day by Richard Ford
“In Haddam, summer floats over tree-softened streets like a sweet lotion balm from a careless, languorous god, and the world falls in tune with its own mysterious anthems” (opening line). The first novel to win both the Pulitzer Prize and the PEN/Faulkner Award in a single year, Richard Ford’s Independence…
Book Review: Chapterhouse: Dune (1985) by Frank Herbert
“Those who would repeat the past must control the teaching of history” -Bene Gesserit Coda After previously jumping 3,500 years into the future in God Emperor of Dune and then another 1,500 years forward in Heretics of Dune, the final book written by Frank Herbert Chapterhouse: Dune is a return…
Star Trek Book Review: Perry’s Planet (1980) by Jack C. Haldeman II
“There are no troublemakers on Perry… none at all…” Stardate: 6827.3 The Enterprise is in a stable orbit around a dead uninhabited planet (an unnamed orange planet). The ship is strained from weeks of work and the crew is long overdue for some rest and relaxation on Starbase 6 but…