The Stainless Steel Rat Sings The Blues – Harry Harrison, 1994 ★

When Sci-Fi and Comedy Don't Mix

Comedy is hard enough under normal circumstances. Being funny while writing in a genre as demanding and conceptual as science fiction must be even more so. Yet we know it can be done.

Sci-fi fantasy readers often sing the praises of “The Stainless Steel Rat,” which for decades mixed adventure and laughs in the far-flung future. The series features Jim diGriz, also known as “Slippery Jim,” one of very few active criminals left in a universe where such impulses are controlled by technology and social engineering. Even the thought of crime is inconceivable to most.

But Jim is nothing if not determined to think for himself. He may be a thief, but he’s got a good heart, and in a cosmos dominated by bland conformity, offers a real rooting interest for readers.

In Search Of History: A Personal Adventure – Theodore H. White, 1978 ★★★

Prioritizing the Political Over the Personal

Tragedy nearly struck journalist Theodore H. White twice in November 1963. Right after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, White’s aged mother suffered a heart attack while White was visiting her in Massachusetts.

At that very moment he had a summons from the President’s widow, Jacqueline. She wanted White’s services immediately for an article to honor her husband’s legacy in the next issue of Life magazine. He asks: “[I]f the widow of my friend needed me and my mother needed me, what should I do?”

The answer: He left Mom to await a doctor with his wife, and sped off to Hyannis Port where Jackie told him how her husband’s Presidency reminded her of the popular musical Camelot. White dutifully made the comparison in his article; a myth was born.

Much Ado About Nothing – William Shakespeare, 1598-1599 ★★★★

Blinded by Love

There is no such thing as a B-plot in a Shakespeare play.

In Midsummer Night’s Dream, Bottom’s antics with the fairies is better remembered than those Athenian kids falling in and out of love with each other. In The Merchant Of Venice, the hatred both generated by and from Shylock makes you forget the other part that’s a comedy.

Much Ado About Nothing centers on young lovers Hero and Claudio, and whether their new love can survive the cruel suspicions and designs of others. But ask people who have seen the play what it’s about, and they recall the pair bickering on the sidelines: Beatrice and Benedick.

The Dogs Of War – Frederick Forsyth, 1974 ★

A Thriller That Never Thrills

You know things are going bad when a book is down to its last few pages and that big attack built up since chapter two still hasn’t come.

Will our mercenary protagonists drown before making landfall in the tiny African nation whose government they are trying to overthrow? Will they run afoul of Soviets or the conniving capitalists who put them up? Will they ditch their assignment and make off with the loot?

At risk of spoilers, no, no, and no. What happens instead is a white-knuckle journey to nowhere. After much bump and grind, Frederick Forsyth lamely drops us off with a shrug. Dogs Of War is more than a disappointment; it is a brush-off.