FFB: A Candle for the Dead -- Hugh Marlowe

Some of you will understand perfectly when I say that I remember quite well pulling this book off the shelf at a little used-book store in Abilene, Texas, back in the early '70s.  I must have known at the time that Hugh Marlowe was in reality Jack Higgins/Harry Patterson/James Graham, or else the memory wouldn't have stuck with me.  

Sean Rogan is in prison for his political crimes, but he was a hero in WWII, having saved the life of Inspector Vangbrugh, now of Scotland Yard.  Rogan escapes from prison and agrees to help out the IRA one more time, but only because of the pleading of Colum O'More, who's dying of cancer.  The help involves pulling off a Big Caper, and much of the book goes into the planning and execution of the caper.  Besides Rogan, a corrupt cop, a couple of hardened criminals, an alcoholic accomplice, a scheming solicitor, and a beautiful woman are involved.  

You might know where the plot's headed, but there are crosses and double-crosses along the way, along with a nice surprise or two.  Marlowe's descriptions of weather and landscape are as spare and poetic as ever, and the book is an entertaining way to spend an evening.

One thing needs to be said.  Many of you know Lachman's Law, which states, "Never buy a book with a swastika on the cover."  This one's different, however, as the only Nazis involved are mentioned briefly in flashbacks to WWII.  So although there's a swastika on the cover and this book was published at the height of the swastika-on-the-cover phase, the image has nothing to do with the contents.

The God Engines -- John Scalzi

The God Engines is a story of the far future when science has been displaced by religion. The gods live and breathe. They can be hurt, killed, and enslaved. That's where the title comes from. Gods are the engines that drive ships through the vast distances of interstellar space. In this future, faith and belief matter. So does the lack of them, and when a god's power begins to wane, he needs new believers.

This science fantasy is very different from John Scalzi's other work. It starts out dark and gets darker as it goes along. Some of his readers might be so surprised that they won't like the book (it's not a novel; it's a novella). Others will love the new direction and want to see more. You'll have to read it to see which camp you fall into.

As for me, I enjoyed it, but my pleasure was marred by the kinds of things that don't bother anybody other than old English teachers. Things like the use of aide as a verb, or a sentence that begins, "Whomever he was, . . ." Or the misuse of lay when lie would be correct. There are a few other little things like that. Maybe Subterranean needs a better proofreader, but I make so many errors myself that I really shouldn't complain. But I will, just a little.