Customer Reviews (13)

Still with me after all these years
Put simply, you would most likely not go wrong in purchasing this book.

It is a work of substantive art, thought shamefully underrated and unappreciated.

"I time travelled in spirit...."
Told alternately from first person (the past) and third person (the present) POV, this unique time travel story manages to be a modern take on the family as opposed to that of human ancestors two million years in the past. The main character, Josh, is beset with vivid dreams of a place and time long ago, but his dreams are far from normal. They are more accurately to be described as links to the past and it is this unique 'gift' that allows him to travel back in time. Others, including the physicist Kaprow who invents the time machine, are likewise afflicted but for different times and places.
It is often very intense, filled with very unusual passages that made me wonder what was really happening, if it was all a dream or real, and that is part of the intrigue leading up to the satisfying conclusion.
This is not your typical time travel novel, where a person goes back in time to change the future. In fact, for most of the novel, the time travel seemed incidental to the story, odd as that may sound, because this novel is about love and acceptance within the family unit and crosses the most unusual of boundaries, sometimes in shocking unexpected ways.
I have to admit, I did not see where this one was going but I'm happy I went along for the adventure. Well written, beautifully structured and well worth the time.
Highly recommended.

Time travel of the highest caliber
This is a great time travel SF.The theme is certainly not new, but Michael Bishop has created here a very unique and interesting main character, Joshua Kampa.Early in the book, Bishop provides a rich mosaic of Joshua's childhood:severely distressed, handicapped mother; adoption into a loving family; racism in white America; and severe confusion brought on by persistent, uncommonly realistic dreams.Joshua is quiet, confused, frustrated, and very complex.Bishop brings us to a point where we can understand, at least in some ways, how the young man might be more at home living in the early Pleistocene past than in the present.The story is complex enough to remove our naïve impressions about that past.We live through the hugeness of Joshua's sacrifices and his rewards.He is no hero, rather a normal caring person trying to learn and love, and survive.

Joshua's journey is completely captivating.No Enemy But Time is a great book with its wonderful mix of themes:deafness, prostitution, adoption, racism, extreme sacrifices, time paradoxes, familial interactions.Bishop weaves this tale in engaging, literary prose, and is a joy to read.

Very highest recommendation.

somebody didn't like it
I saw some glowing reviews for this book so I tried reading it. I got 30 or 40 pages into it and I decided there were too many good SF books I could be reading instead. It is just an opinion though. Sometimes some books are just hard to get into and this book fell into that category for me. Apologies to those who like the book and to the author, but I just could not force myself to like it.

Kind of a time travel story
If I recall correctly, Nebula awards are typically voted on by the SF Writers of America Association, which means that by winning one it's generally a mark of recognition by your peers, a sign that you're admired by other writers in your field and worthy enough that a majority of them voted to give you an award (as opposed to the Hugo, which is generally voted on by the fans).In that sense, this is probably a book that will appeal more to writers than SF fans, if only because there is very little SF in the book at all.That doesn't mean it's not a well written, well constructed novel, it's just not very science-fictional.Those looking for a time travel type novel in the realm of Gregory Benford's "Timescape" or even HG Wells' "The Time Machine" will probably find themselves disappointed.Some time travelling apparently does occur but this isn't really a book where the focus is on fancy machinary and weird theories involving quantem physics.What we have here is the story of Joshua, a man who constantly "dreams" of a prehistoric past, a time when the forerunners of man walked the earth.He's tapped for a secret Air Force project in Africa where they have machines that will somehow harness his dreams and take him back to that time period, where he can report on what actually went on back then, things that the anthropologists can't figure out with just fossils and tools and whatnot.So Joshua goes back and winds up spending way more time there than he initially planned.Interspersed with the story of his adventures with proto-man are scenes from his early life, showing him growing up, interacting with a foster family and laying the seeds for what eventually would be his time travelling.The weird thing is, these interludes are far more interesting than the time travelling story, infusing the character with a lot more emotion and dimenesions than the other sequences do.The trip back starts out interesting, as Joshua runs into a small group of early man and integrates himself into their lives, and Bishop does a really good job speculating at what the society of early man might be like, their family groups and interactions with each other, as well as how they existed from day to day.Thing is, he gets that out of the way early and it just becomes aimless wandering, with Joshua's frequently flippant narration (he gives all the proto-men (and ladies) names, but I can't tell them apart, and tells them stories that are basically nonsense because they can't understand him anyway) substituting for anything resembling actual human interaction (because they can't talk to him and only have a limited understanding it's like he's rooming with a bunch of mimes) the prehistoric scenes start to suffer from a lack of direction, like Bishop found he liked the story of Joshua growing up a lot more and was just using the main story to kill time and space.Some scenes are pretty effective, especially the moments that deal with early mortality.But Bishop seems to be suggesting the whole thing is just a weird dream (does the gun ever run out of bullets?) and as such there are moments that don't make any sense at all (who the heck gets eaten?) and can only be attributed to dream logic.The big climax scene is basically solved by a "and then I decided we all could fly" solution and the aftermath of his time travelling is just . . . odd.Don't get the impression that I didn't like the book, I really did and Bishop gets credit for tackling the subject of time travel, both by using a different focus (prehistory) and for going about it in such an offbeat way.And by shuffling in the scenes of his youth, he adds a welcome depth to the character, to the point where I was looking more forward to the family scenes than anything else.That said, you can probably chalk this book up to "reach exceeds his grasp" sort of deal, where his ambition outstripped his ability.However, it's still well worth your time to track it down, especially if you're looking for something that isn't the tried and true and don't mind a little bit of the fantastic mixed in with your science. ... Read more

Product Description
Now back in print--a powerful science fiction masterwork from the Nebula Award-winning author of Count Geiger's Blues. Ancient of Days is among Michael Bishop's most appealing works--the story of a prehistoric man found wandering in a Georgia orchard, whose honesty and deep spirituality bring him into conflict with the modern world. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Imaginative, a wonderful sensitivity absent in most SiFi.
I feel a certain closeness to this tome, for I live in this little Georgia town and operate the Restaurant featured in the tale. Michael and his wife have been my land persons for over 10 years . . . This gifted writer has the ability to take an impossibility and build it into a charming character. His habaline grew so believibly in every aspect that I felt a kinship to him and echoed his emotional experiences as they occured. If this is his statement of personal philosophy, Michael Bishop is a very strong and admirable person! Treat yourself to a well-written story that will leave a lasting impression with you. ... Read more

Product Description
In 1943, with the country at war, seventeen-year-old shortstop Danny Boles joins a Class C baseball farm club and sets out on an odyssey into strange relationships, dramatic escapades, and lessons about life, dreams, desire, and growing up. Reprint. NYT. PW. K. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (11)

What Now?
I thought I was getting a book about baseball when my in-laws gave this to me for Christmas. Frankenstein's monster? Who'd a thunk? And to imagine that he's a vegetarian power hitter for a minor-league club in Georgia. Well, don't that just beat all.

The strange thing is that, though I should have hated this, I didn't. I was charmed.

I'll take fantastic baseball novels for $200, Alex.
Set in 1943, Brittle Innings is the story of a 17 year old minor league shortstop from Tenkiller, Oklahoma named Danny Boles.If it weren't for baseball, Boles would have very little going for him.He's short (5'5"), has big ears, stutters (only to lose his voice altogether early in the novel due to an assault while on board a train), and he has no idea where his father is.While most of America's young men (including players like Joe Dimaggio) were busy fighting overseas, Boles is invited to play for Georgia's Highbridge Hellbenders.

Boles' transition from playing for his high school to a potential lauching pad to the big leagues is not easy one.For some his teammates, the Hellbenders is their last chance to make a living playing baseball, and for others, it's a means to avoid the draft.And some of these players care little about a mute 17 year-old boy playing a "grown man's" game.Come Hell or highwater, they'll do what they can to keep playing the game.

That's when Boles' roommate "Jumbo" Hank Clerval enters the picture.Clerval is in many ways Boles' antithesis.Clerval is over seven feet tall, is extremely articulate, and he's nearly 150 years old.He is also a vegetarian and a pacifist, the latter of which was not a popular stateside belief after Pearl Harbor.Despite their superficial differences, Boles and Clerval are both able to forge a friendship that is rooted in their internal similarities - one of them being how both men endured turbulent relationships with their fathers.Clerval protects Boles from the bullying from some of the teammates, and Clerval places his trust in Boles to write the missing chapter from his life.The first chapter of which was in real life written by a woman born Mary Godwin (who is known better by another name, but I'll let you figure that out).

This is one of those novels that should have for all intents and purposes been a colossal failure.It could have been played like a cheap B-movie with the unbelievable inclusion of two vastly different plot devices.Instead, it is in my opinion an unheralded triumph in late 20th century American literature.This book is like Newton's Law in reverse: everything that can work DOES work.Michael Bishop, who is mostly known for writing science fiction, channels William Faulkner, W.P. Kinsella, and the aforementioned Godwin in ways that compliment rather than clash.It truly speaks volumes for Bishop as a writer the way in which he changes perspectives from Boles' 1940s southern dialect as opposed to Clerval's sesquepedalian vernacular (YIKES, Now I'm beginning to write like Clerval talks - Help me) while staying well within the context the story.But what's best of all is how he humanizes Clerval, even if he is a construct of cannibalized body parts.Even though Clerval has had well over a century of practice at being a human being, he still sometimes fails - like the rest of us.As far as Michael Bishop goes, I'm sure he's had failures in his life.This book is most certainly not one of them.

Don't overlook it!
This is a terrific, literate, well-researched book.It is evocative of To Kill a Mockingbird, and you might swear that it was written during that same era, yet it was published in the 90's.I don't care for baseball, and I loved the book.The characters will draw you in, and the plot unfolds--again--like the best literature from the 40's and 50's. The meaning behind the title is finally revealed late in the book, and it fits incredibly well with the story of young Danny Boles.

Adults of all ages will like this, but surprise someone who likes literature from the mid-20th century with a gift of this book.Find an English major whose specialty is literature from that era.People like this will be especially appreciative of the language, the tone, and the feel of the book.

Not Your Typical Fantasy Baseball Story
More than anything else in this novel,which is presented as a semi-biography
is Bishop's ability to weave together the lives of some many disparate people who all have one thing in common...they are outside of the normal limits.They all are involved with a WWII (1943)Class C minor league team in the Alabama/Georgia region, the Highbridge Hellbenders.

The three main characters are a young okie (seventeen) who is signed out of high school to play on this team of misfits.Daniel Boles daddy teaches him to play baseball, but one day while fighting with his wife, hits Danny so hard that he doesn't speak for two years.By the time he leaves home he has developed a major stammer.After an encounter on the train to Georgia with an army DI who knew his dad, he lapses back into silence.

Jumbo Henry Clerval is a giant, over seven feet, and so ugly that people cross the street to get away from him.In reality he is a gentle giant, a vegetarian and autodidact, with a whopper of a secret (it comes out early in the book), who becomes Danny's roomate and mentor.

Lastly is Darius Satterfield, the illegitimate negro son of the owner of the team. Darius has great talent but can't play on a 'white' team in the Deep South, so he helps to coach and drives the team bus.

The lives of these three men are wrapped around different machinizations that include a sodomy rape, the death of Danny's father, adultory, a presidential visit, more adultory, miscengation, another death, a self-immolation suicide, a murder and a few other situations thrown in to make the book interesting.

The story is interesting for Bishop's ability to make everything that is happening seem plausible, but the book is no great shakes.

They said it couldn't be done
Or maybe they did.Or maybe nobody ever thought of it before.If you hada contest of either the most unlikely types of books or ideas that you justdidn't think would work, this would probably top the list.Baseball andGothic horror?Taking place in WWII-era South?In the summer?But oh manis it good, in large part to Bishop's attention to period detail and hiscreation of a unique and feisty narrator in the young (and old) DannyBoles.The premise is that a young reporter has tracked down Mr Boles inan attempt to write a book about his life (he's a well known baseballscout) and Danny agrees, only if the first book the reporter does is astory of his only season playing in a professional fashion, with theHellbenders.Thus the story begins, winding along, following Danny and hisattempts to fit in with his team.The team consists of some of the mostinteresting characters, nay, people to come by in a long time.There is noone there that you can either straight out love or hate, the worst personhas an endearing trait, the best of them hides a secret of some sort. Towering over it all literally is Jumbo Hank Clerval, the man who winds upbeing Danny's roommate (partway through the book he loses the ability tospeak, which makes it even more interesting because Danny is forced towatch without acting more often than not) and the focus of the book itself. If you don't know how Mr Clerval is, well I won't spoil it for you, butthat's where the unlikely concept comes in.The rest of the book is pitchperfect summer baseball, I don't even like sports that much and I lovedthis book.You sweat with the team as they win and lose game after game,fighting for the pennnant, trying to get some dignity and recognition in acountry where everyone else is focused on the war effort and using baseballjust as reason to forget their worries.Against this backdrop the summerfalls and you are immersed into the South, warts and all, racism andtruimph, tragedy and heroism.It's all there, this book breaks genres andit's a book you can recommend to most anyone.And I suggest you do. ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (13)

Awesome Product
I recieved the book in record time while in Iraq.It provided me a well need refresher in organic chemistry.

Great Price, Fast Delivery, Great Condition
Great price for the book, the book came within the week, and was packaged properly with minimal damage.Willdefinitely do business with again

Can't wait to sell it back!
This book was very unhelpful to me.It was much more involved then I needed it to be.Like one other review said, it takes so long to figure out what the heck they are talking about.. It's not in plain enlgish.Its more for people who ACED chem 1 and 2.You have to really understand the concepts to get anything out of it.For techs just learning, I believe it needs to explain the simple concepts more before going into great detail.I would not recommend this book if you really use your books to study like I do, it didn't help.Like another reviewer said, google is more helpful and I agree!

Not the greatest textbook
This book does have a few typos. It really could be formatted a lot better. My instructor does a great job of pulling out the important information otherwise this book would not help me at all. Some of the tables and graphs are good except for the typos on some of them. I would look elsewhere for a better book.

THIS BOOK IS THE DEVIL!!!
Dont bother buying this book. save your time and money. it takes hours just to read one page. if you have to look up key words forget about it google is better than this book. Google is much quicker. save time and money becausethis book sucks. You should buy Tietz clincal chemistry book its the best simple format easy to look up information.

Im gunna burn my book its horrible
:) if you wanna buy mine ill can still sell you the ashes!! ... Read more

Product Description
In "Blue Kansas Sky," Sonny Peacock comes of age in this poignant tale set in the Kansas heartland of the early 1960s. "Apartheid, Superstrings, and Mordecai Thubana" is set in 1980s Pretoria, South Africa, where a black man's quest for the "Theory of Everything" is juxtaposed against the inhumanity of apartheid. In "Cri de Coeur," aboard a 21st century generation wheelship, agrogeologist and poet Dr. Abel Gwiazda and his Down's-syndrome son Dean travel on course for a new home in Epsilon Eridani. In the final novella, "Death and Designation Among the Asadi," reprinted here for the first time in 20 years, ethnologist Egan Chaney's private journals of his studies of the alien Asadi are the centerpiece of the story.Amazon.com Review
Blue Kansas Sky collects four powerful and beautifully written novellas (one previously unpublished) by one of science fiction's best writers, Michael Bishop, winner of the Nebula Award, the Mythopoeic Fantasy Award, and the Locus Award.

The opening story is "Blue Kansas Sky," which is original to this volume, and may or may not be fantasy. The story line alternates between the coming-of-age of Sonny Peacock, fatherless child of the '50s and '60s, and the redemption of his ex-inmate uncle, Rory Peacock. Set in 1988, the World Fantasy Award-nominated "Apartheid, Superstrings, and Mordecai Thubana" examines South Africa's brutal institutionalized racism through the lens of awhite Afrikaner who becomes a quantum-mechanical invisible man to members of his own race. In the Hugo and Sturgeon Award finalist "Cri de Coeur," three Earthly starships travel to the Epsilon Eridani star system, with disastrous results. In the Hugo and Nebula Award finalist "Death and Designation among the Asadi," an anthropologist comes to the planet BoskVeld to study an inexplicable alien race; he may be the first to unlock their secrets, or he may be going mad--or both. --Cynthia Ward ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Quintessential Bishop
In his eloquent introduction, James Morrow, another writer of "moral fiction", deftly analyzes the major imperatives of the four works included in Blue Kansas Sky, focusing on two major themes, the inclusion and redemption of the "other."Although his insights add to one's enjoyment of the collection, they only touch briefly on another important facet of Bishop's work, the clash between his essential optimism, his generally hopeful attitude towards the world, and his seemingly reluctant acknowledgement that optimism alone does not suffice in the face of the hardships the world has to offer.

Optimism positively suffuses the title story, a Bildungsroman featuring one Sonny Peacock, a young man who comes to understand his place in the world through the almost shadowy presence in his life of his ex-con uncle, Rory Peacock.Although warned off by his mother, who blames Rory for her husband's death, Sonny is drawn to his uncle, who enters the story looking like an accident waiting to happen.That no "accident" occurs is testament to the human capacity for change; that Sonny learns so much about life from his neer do well uncle is both ironic and touching.Taut and intellectually satisfying, "Blue Kansas Sky" contains several uplifting messages about redemption and human nature.Yet, Sonny's essential optimism is in constant danger of being eroded, and the story's ending is a heartbreaker.

The story most like it in the collection is former Hugo finalist,"Cri de Cour," which examines the nature ofbigotry and the power of the powerless.It is the tale of star traveler Abel Gwiazada, and his son Dean, who was born with Down's syndrome.For Abel and most of the crew, Dean is easily lovable, a veritable repository for the positive emotions for those one board.Yet, to crewman Kazimierz Mikol, he is a freak.Mikol's presence provokes much tension, and much exposition about the nature of parental choice in an age where gene technology may make conditions like Dean's obsolete.Even though Mikol grows to love and accept Dean as the others already do, the novella ends on mixed note, as the travelers are forced to deal with a disaster that nearly renders their long journey meaningless.

The remaining stories (both Nebula Award finalists) are far darker, dealing with the nature of prejudice and the power of obsession, describing two personal journeys into the very heart of darkness. "Apartheid, Superstrings, and Mordecai Thubana" is essentially a science fictional play on books like BLACK LIKE ME and Ralph Ellison's INVISIBLE MAN.The latter is especially pertinent, in that the main character, a white man, is rendered invisible, and thus given a special insight into the plight of the black man in South Africa.Even though it is obvious that the character has seen the light, his personal epiphany is essentially meaningless against a backdrop of institutionalized racism."Death and Designation Among the Asadi" is also about a journey of understanding, but one which proves impossible to complete.Here, Bishop plays with the theory of the observed being acted on by the observer, but deftly turns the tables, as the observer is slowly driven mad by his inability to understand the alien race he studies.Seemingly about institutionalized alienation, it really is more about the arrogance of human beings in assuming their mindsets are universal.

So, we have optimism, but optimism tempered by reality.We see closed minds opening, but also minds that shut down when reality intrudes.True, Bishop is an optimist, but this doesn't prevent him from being simultaneously tough minded, intelligent, skeptical, and morally aware.The magic is in the careful balance he strikes in his writing, tempered by his fiction's two essential ingredients:his clear, strong, trustworthy voice, and the obvious compassion he feels for his creations.

Bishop Soars
Blue Kansas Sky is a collection of 4 novellas spanning 3 decades and the full spectrum of Bishop's talent. The title story is a sweet, poignant coming-of-age story set in Bishop's semi-fictional Van Luna, KS: it's all about life and growing up and the random difficulties of doing so. The last line is guaranteed to send you reeling. "Cri di Coeur" and "Death and Designation among the Asadi" are stunning morality tales in the guise of science fiction; as usual, Bishop's characters, no matter where or when they are, portray humanity at its most believable, wanderers who find hope in the most fragile of circumstances. The ringer for me, though, is "Apartheid, Superstrings, and Mordecai Thubana," a magical-realistic look at the horror of racism, the sin of inaction, all neatly and convincingly tied up with the Theory of Everything.Quite simply: amazing.

This is a collection for fantasists, for realists, for anyone who enjoys one of our best unsung writers at his very best.

Great Work from a Genre-Flexible Storyteller
Michael Bishop, Nebula Award-winning author of No Enemy but Time, has just released Blue Kansas Sky, which collects four of his short works - one never before been seen in print - in a single volume.These stories showcase his mastery of different genres, and provide the reader with an sampling from various phases in Bishop's writing career.

"Blue Kansas Sky"is a moving story of a young boy in 1950s small-town America, who struggles between his love for an uncle just released from prison and loyalty to his mother (who blames the man for her husband's death).Bishop incorporated many details from his own childhood to make this tale come alive.There's no science fiction here at all - just an engaging tale, extremely well written.Michael Bishop is adept at incorporating fresh words and unexpected turns of phrase without making the reader scramble for a thesaurus.

In "Apartheid, Superstrings, and Mordecai Thurbana," a well-to-do Afrikaner "ghosts" in and out of reality after a freak auto accident and is forced to watch as the security police interrogate two black laborers - one who plays around with cosmic string theory as a hobby; another who receives pirate radio broadcasts courtesy of a metal plate in his skull.This story is very difficult to get through - not because it is poorly written (indeed, just the opposite); but because it captures in chilling detail the horrors of the old Apartheid system.

"Cri de Coeur" (Cry from the Heart) tells the story of a man who must cope with the responsibilities, and revel in the joys, of raising a son with Down's Syndrome aboard a generational starship seeking to colonize another star system.

"Death and Designation among the Asadi" deals with a human anthropologist living in the wilds of an alien planet, struggling to understand the enigmatic rituals of its lion-maned hominids - without losing his sanity.[After reading this story I asked the author what I should do if I didn't fully understand it - read it again, or embrace the mystery?His answer: "Death and Designation" is my Solaris (a novel by Stanislaw Lem).Real aliens, Lem implies, defy comprehension because they ARE alien.On the other hand, you could read my novel Transfigurations, which incorporates the novella, and which more than one critic badmouthed for explaining rather than embracing the original mystery.They may have done so with some justice.]

Blue Kansas Sky is a wonderful collection of stories that I heartily recommend.It's published by Golden Gryphon Press (a small firm specializing in anthologies).

A must-read for Bishop's legion of SF & fantasy fans
Michael Bishop is a Nebula and World Fantasy Awards winning author. Blue Kansas Sky showcases four of his best novellas under one cover. These superbly written stories include Apartheid, Superstrings, and Mordecai Thuban; Cri De Coeur; Death and Designation Among the Asadi; and the title piece, Blue Kansas Sky. This outstanding anthology is enhanced for the readers with an informative introduction to Michael Bishop and his writing by James Morrow. Blue Kansas Sky is "must reading" for Bishop's legion of science fiction and fantasy fans.

Blue Kansas Sky
Blue Kansas Sky takes us from the rural heartlands of the early 1960s to the furthest reaches of 21st century space and beyond. From ordinary people to extraordinary people, from human alien to the enigmatic alien. Michael Bishop's writing is engaging, thought-provoking, lyrically poetic; sweeping us along with the gentle lullaby of magic, memory, and estrangement that is, and will always be, the human spirit. Gary S. Potter Author/Poet. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Mike Todd's World
I was just a young teenager when Mike Todd and Elizabeth Taylor were dating. I was caught up in all that. He had just finished making Around the World in 80 Days. The publicity was wonderful. I've read the biography's of Mayer, DeMille, Cohn, Warner and others, but not one on Todd. It was a good read and I learned alot about him that I didn't know.

Informative!
Often wondered about the "Todd-AO" in movie credits and remember reading about "Liz and Mike" in my youth, so curiosity led me to purchase the book. It's a page-turner from the introduction! Mike Todd was something else! It's informative, well written and exciting to read! ... Read more

Product Description
Explores atheist Michael Newdow's constitutional challenge and how the news media marginalized him from the moment the Ninth Circuit handed down its controversial ruling that the Pledge of Allegiance was unconstitutional. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Mr. Bishop is correct, the media largely failed America here
The book's Foreword, written by Nadine Strossen, has a good concise summary of both the lawsuit's assertions and the media's distorted characterization of the lawsuit.Newdow maintained that the public school policy of requiring teachers to daily lead the students in pledging allegiance to one nation Under God violated his parental rights to influence his young daughter's beliefs without the state placing its imprimatur on a particular opposing religious belief.Strossen writes "... he certainly did not seek to strip all religious references from public life, notwithstanding the widespread, overblown media accounts that mischaracterized his claims in these ways.""... the media tended to demonize him as an egocentric individualist who was taking advantage of his biological relationship with his daughter to advance his own ideological agenda.""... the media generally disparaged and trivialized Newdow's legal claims, implying that they had garnered the support of only a few judges on an allegedly--but actually not--extremist liberal court..." "In sum, the media coverage of Newdow's case wrongly impugned the virtues of both his legal claims and his motives in pursuing them."

Bishop starts by discussing "Frame Analysis".He says journalists utilized "several distinct frames to position Newdow as an erratic outsider who had the audacity to challenge one of this nation's most revered rituals in a time of national crisis."Next, under the title "Narrative Analysis", he promises to pay special attention "to what journalists invited their readers and viewers to think and to not to think about Newdow and his lawsuit."Lastly, "The Guard Dog Function" section accuses journalists of acting as "sentry for dominant institutions, patrolling the perimeter, searching for threats [in this case the threat is Newdow's lawsuit], and sounding the alarm when one is identified".This is the opposite of the better known "watchdog" role of monitoring "the conduct of public officials and large corporations, and expose corrupt behavior for the public's benefit" which journalists like to claim for themselves.

The next chapter discusses the history of the "Under God" phrase in the Pledge of Allegiance.This is very damning as it reveals the central role that anti-atheist bigotry had in the arguments made by the leading "Under God" advocates.With Eisenhower listening from the front pew, the Reverend George Docherty of the New York Presbyterian Church in Washington DC called atheists "spiritual parasites" that live off of the "accumulated spiritual capital of Judaio (sic)-Christian civilization" and "deny the God who revealed the divine principles upon which the ethics of this country grow."An atheists "cannot deny the Christian revelation and logically live by the Christian ethic.And if he denies the Christian ethic, he falls short of the American ideal of life."The 1954 Washington Post treated Docherty's bigoted sermon "like the act of a true hero."The New York Times also favored the Pledge revision.The Hearst newspapers went further, engaging in a relentless nationwide campaign to promote the revision to the Pledge. It is clear from their pronouncements that the advocates of "Under God" considered the addition of that phrase to be necessary because it was a statement of the Christian, or Judeo-Christian, character of the country and, ironically, to emphasize the difference with the Soviet Union whose government established atheism as a component of its official governing ideology.

This chapter also details the blunt arguments made by Newdow against Ninth Circuit Judge Nowinski who he characterized as not being the first federal judge to "have wounded America's atheistic religious minority due to contorted legal doctrine, his reliance on the prejudices of others does not save him here".Newdow argues that a federal judge must evaluate wrongs committed against dissenters "from the point of view of both the Constitution and the minorities they are sworn to protect" but he says the judiciary has chosen to "assault logic, invent sophistry, twist prior case law and completely disregard a denial of fundamental religious liberties because, as Judge Nowinski noted, 'no one wants to take that step'." resulting in disarray in Establishment Clause rulings.

The third chapter explains the arguments of both sides in more detail, pointing out the school district Attorney's failure to "address Newdow's contention that the policy and the Pledge contribute to the treatment of atheist's as second-class citizens" funded by his taxes.Newdow quoted Congressman Louis Rabaut, the 1953 author of the congressional resolution to amend the Pledge, as saying "an atheistic American is a contradiction in terms."He argued that the change made in 1954 was purely religious in nature, based on the invalid idea that "belief in God is morally superior to atheism."Newdow again slammed Judge Nowinski for his "ridiculous" statement that the Pledge would not be "perceived by [theists] as an endorsement, and by [atheists] as a disapproval, of their individual religious choices."This is followed by a description of the Ninth Circuit's ruling that the Pledge policy violated all three of the tests used to evaluate Establishment Clause claims and the dissenting opinion.There is a refutation here of the media's false claim that the Ninth Circuit was reversed more often than any of the other 12 circuit courts.

The rest of Bishop's book leaves no room for doubt that Strossen's Foreword contains an accurate characterization of the overall media coverage.Reporters quickly developed a "preferred reading" of Newdow's case, "one that would not allow for full consideration of his reasons for filing suit in the first place." The media cast Newdow and those who supported him as reckless zealots trying to purge God from public life.They falsely depicted the issue as a choice between supporting or opposing the Pledge with no middle ground."Journalists reduced his challenge and the Ninth Circuit's decision to an opportunity for jingoistic chest-thumping and pathological name-calling.""Missing was even a passing acknowledgement that freedom of religion does in fact mean freedom from religion."The media trivialized Newdow's complaint, endorsing the "ceremonial deism" defense that references to God had lost their religious flavor after decades of repetition and reassured readers that the Supreme Court would almost certainly keep "Under God" in the Pledge.The mother of Newdow's daughter, Sandra Banning, was widely depicted by journalists "as victimized mother looking out for her daughter's interests."

The full Ninth Circuit ruling upholding the 3 judge panel's decision is covered in chapter 7.The media tended to falsely depict this decision as having "backed off" from the earlier decision.The accusation that this decision was an imposition of minority atheism on the majority became prominent in media coverage.Only one newspaper, the Seattle Times, sided with Newdow and the court.The argument that parents should determine how and when their children are exposed to religious messages received almost no coverage.

On to the Supreme Court and the debate regarding Newdow's standing to bring his lawsuit, how establishment was defined historically, and the religious or non-religious and inclusive or non-inclusive nature of the Pledge with the "one nation Under God" phrase.Coverage in the print media became more balanced, painting a more complete, less neurotic picture of Newdow.Coverage on television still depicted Newdow as "a publicity-obsessed zealot, bent on eradicating religion from our lives." Journalists still depicted Banning as the "good mother" and failed to explore the considerable support she was receiving from various right wing sources while implying that Newdow was exploiting his daughter.

The book ends with a discussion "On Being a Dissenter in America".Bishop writes "If we can take anything from Newdow's story, it is this: we must, as a nation, reintroduce ourselves to the notion that anyone can mount a challenge to a policy or law that is perceived to be unjust or discriminatory."He characterizes as disingenuous the assertion that we would be better off discussing "real problems instead of focusing on battles that have no significant impact on Americans' daily lives." He asks "When did the right ... to be free ... from the endorsement of religious expression by public officials ... become a secondary issue?""Even though ... the nation was not going to rush to support Newdow; we--and the news media--at least owed him the chance to take his best shot." ... Read more

Product Description
It is 1982. The United States has a permanent Moonbase. Richard M. Nixon is in the fourth term of the "imperial presidency." And an eccentric novelist named Philip K. Dick has just died in California.

Or has he? Psychiatrist Lia Pickford, M.D., is nonplussed when Dick walks into her office in small-town Georgia, with a cab idling outside, to ask for help. And Cal Pickford, a longtime Dick fan stunned by the news of his hero's death, is electrified when his wife tells him of the visit.

So begins a sequence of events involving Cal in the repressive Nixon regime, the affairs of an aging movie queen, a hip but frightened Vietnamese immigrant and an old black man who works as a groom--all leading up to a fateful confrontation between Dick, Cal, and Nixon himself on the moon.
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Customer Reviews (9)

Very Good Product
I really didn't care for this book. I bought it on a lark, but that reflects nothing upon the seller, who was prompt in delivery, and who provided me with a book in mint condition. Next time I want to buy a book, I'm looking this person up FIRST! Don't be fooled by lesser sellers; this person is the real deal. Good, accurate description, very reasonable prices, and item in even better condition than advertised.

Seriously, this is a human you can trust.

Being dead is just the start when there's no time
The original title of this book was "The Secret Ascension" and I'm not really sure which one works better, in all honesty.The current title is probably a little more evocative but a little misleading as well, since the book isn't really about Philip K Dick, not in the strict sense.Sure, he's in it and the book works in a few of his recurring themes, but in the end it comes perilously close to Bishop attempting to emulate a style that he doesn't have the mindset for.The setup for the book is great, taking place in a then-contemporary early eighties America where Richard Nixon is entering his fourth term and has turned the country into a near-fascist police state.We've won Vietnam and are currently engaged in "reorienting" the natives into our wonderful American way of life.Meanwhile dissent is actively crushed and matters are way closer to what everyone imagines Communist Russia was like.And in the midst of this, a faded writer named Philip Dick decides to have a stroke and die.Thus our story begins.Even though his name appears in the title, the author rarely appears in the book itself, after a bit in the beginning where he starts to interact with the characters, he sort of vanishes, maintaining a presence, although not an active one.The story focuses more on Cal Pickford, a Colorado native transplanted into Georgia with his wife.A big fan of PKD, he's trying to make a living in the new oppressive America, and finds himself actively engaged in trying to change it, almost against his will.Bishop's vision of a repressed America is actually quite well done and does feel real, which is something that Philip Dick was good at, circa "Man in the High Castle", for all the splits from known history, it does feel like ordinary people going about their lives.Cal and his wife come across as real characters, although the rest don't quite succeed as much, since they seem to exist more to push the plot along to wherever it needs to go.It seems at points that Bishop is trying to play with Dick's themes of different reality and rewriting our way into a better one.The thing is that Dick was able to convey the sheer weirdness of this in near psychedelic fashion, while letting the story remain somehow grounded.Bishop isn't quite up to that task and so the weirdness starts to feel way out of place, especially as the story reaches its climax and things start to make less sense.Dick was never big on explaining in his novels, preferring to let you make your own judgements, while here enough is laid out for us that we can get the scope of it, and it just doesn't resonate.Still, when he focuses on the ins and outs of this new wrong America, the book works pretty well, showing what happens when you let one person get too much power.More a homage than a recreation, Bishop does a credible job but at the same time only reinforces that the only person who could do Philip K Dick was, well, Philip K Dick.And that's not necessarily a bad thing.

If you like PKD, Do Not Read this book
Although the author's heart is in the right place, the book is sorely disappointing. Bishop captures none of the depth, anxiety, or mental displacement common to a Dick novel. Even Dick's characters, who aren't often noted for psychological breadth are superior to the ones in this book. I wanted to like this book, I really did, but it's failure really makes clear how unique an author PKD really was.

More coherent than PKD, less weird
Dystopian SF novel (and homage to PKD) in which Richard Nixon is in his fourth-term and the US has become a right-wing police state. PKD comes back to earth as an angel of sorts (clad in a "resurrection body" like the one worn by Jesus on Easter) to help a few disparate free thinker/weirdos release the universe from the grasp of "King Richard" (who, it turns out, is possessed by a demon).

Although the ending was fairly hokey, the details of the novel are terrifyingly prescient, in that it describes the mindset and the modus operandi of the Bush administration to a T.

FAILED SEANCE
Alas, Bishop climbed aboard the PKD Express without a destination in mind.His attempt to contact the ghost of PKD only produced some raps on the ceiling.Using bumper sticker brevity, there was too much of this and not enough of that.Alas, too many of his characters had nothing to do but fester in their boring world.Dick, himself, usually gave his quirky characters an alternate world to escape into.This story's tacked on Brave New World ending, the "redemptive shift," a gift from super aliens, didn't quiet work.

Admittedly, it is difficult to develop character for a ghost.But giving him a craving for strong coffee doesn't quite do it.And it was hard for the other characters to react to the command, "Don't touch me."There were some interesting characters drawn.Cal Pickford, who idolized PKD much as the author Bishop must have, was very well developed.But most of the others were butwheels to keep the story moving, that alas, kept falling off.Still, not a bad read when you're snowed in for the winter.
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Customer Reviews (3)

Great SciFi - One Of The Best IMO
I discovered this book on a top shelf, and read it a second time.I could not put it down the first time I read it many years ago.Ditto for my second reading.I agree with the first reviewer, placing it the same category as "Rama".It is one of the best, if not the best, novels I have ever read.The writing is spellbinding. You feel you are really "there" on the planet BoskVeld.The mysteries surrounding the totally alien Asadi presented in the first part of the book will force you to read the rest.You will HAVE to know the answers: the mysteries of the Asadi society (if you can call it that), the role of the bat-like creatures they interact with, the fate of the missing scientist who went to live among them.This book should be "rediscovered", reprinted, and placed on lists of great SciFi novels (or simply lists of great novels).

Amazing....
I too am sad to see "Transfigurations" is out of print.Definitely one of the best book sI have ever read, the same caliber as Clark's "Rendezvous With Rama" or "Childhood's End".Superb.

brilliant, haunting study of the human and subtly inhuman
I am distressed that this book is out of print and seems to have fallen into obscurity.It is one of the best of the anthropological science fictions novels (Left Hand of Darkness and others) that delve deeply into what it means to be human.It is the haunting and disturbing tale of an anthropologist who follows the footsteps of his brilliant former partner who disappeared into the alien jungle after totally immersing himself physically and psychologically in the life of another species.The Asadi are hominids that appear to have degenerated from a much more advanced society into the primitive daily reenacting of brutish,incomprehensible, almost hallucinatory rituals.The closer he comes to the intuitive leap that would let him understand them, the deeper he slips into the madness, which may be the fate of any member of a species that too deeply partakes in the nature of another.The aliens are some of the most convincing ever invented, the story is gripping and the conclusion (actually the whole story) is unforgettable. ... Read more

Product Description
In 1792 the Catholic bishops of the United States began issuing joint pastoral letters at periodic intervals, intending the letters to be missives directed to validating patriotism and gathering the support of the faithful. Today the U.S. bishops continue to issue letters, which, along with the letters that preceded them, explain the historic conditions confronting American Catholics.

Public Witness: The Pastoral Letters of the American Catholic Bishops allows readers to learn of the highlights and obscure portions of the letters without reading through several volumes of Victorian prose. While viewing the letters as a stable genre that evolves to accommodate change in form and purpose, Kari provides historical background, summaries, and rhetorical analyses of the pastoral letters. The origin of the practice, production, and reception of the letters by the public and press are explained. Well-documented and accessible, Public Witness is suited for the scholar and the general audience.

Chapters are: "Frontiers and Foreigners: 1792-1884," "The Twentieth Century: 1919-1980," "The Challenge of Peace," "Economic Justice for All," "The Pastoral That Wasn’t," and "Contributions to Public Discourse." ... Read more

Product Description
As the most respected anthology of the year in science fiction, Nebula Awards 24 gives what science fiction writers themselves regard as the best of the best. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A Stellar (Nebular?) Collection
This is one of the books written every year to commemorate the nominees and award recipients for the Nebula awards, essentially the Oscars of science fiction. These awards which are chosen every year by the Science Fiction Writers of America seem to do a pretty good job of recognizing the most outstanding contributions of that year. This series was put together to publish some of the shorter fiction that won each year and to also mention some outstanding things that happened that year. For awhile this series was edited by Michael Bishop, and this is one of them, published to recognize the 1988 awards.

I bought this book several years back on a bargain table at Borders or Barnes & Nobles. I really love short fiction and I love science fiction, so this is a great combination. I actually had several of these stories already ("Last of the Winnebagos" was printed in Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine and I had a subscription for awhile), but I decided it would still be interesting to read what others had to say about the works. Anyway, I finally got around to reading it.

The anthology starts out with an introduction by Michael Bishop where he essentially explains his philosophy and how he wants to try and recognize all of the works that won awards but also just to emphasize major accomplishments from that year. He also lists the winners and nominees, the winners were:

Novel-Falling Free by Lois McMaster Bujold (some controversey surrounded this selection since many considered it a juvenile) Novella-"The Last of the Winnebagos" by Connie Willis Novelette-"Schrodinger's Kitten" by George Alec Effinger Short Story-"Bible Stories for Adults, No. 17: The Deluge" by James Morrow

Ian Watson continues the anthology with a piece that basically summarizes and analyzes each of the pieces nominated, and he mentions his disapproval with the choice of a juvenile for novel. Since the full novel can't be reproduced, Lois McMaster Bujold then talks about Falling Free, and responds to Ian's allegations, basically stating that the novel deals with universal themes and therefore whether or not it is a juvenile is irrelevant. Both of these are interesting in there discussion of science fiction themes but of course somewhat dated and don't seem very relevant nowadays.

Ray Bradbury was also immortalized with a Grand Master award (essentially a lifetime achievement award). Greg Bear talks about Ray Bradbury's contributions to the field. This is a very personal look at Ray and not very in-depth but provides a side we usually don't see. Ray himself contributes an original poem, "The Collector Speaks" which is interesting and definitely an example of Ray's style of art. There is also a reprint of Ray's nonfiction piece, "More Than One Way To Burn A Book" which warns about the dangers of censorship in any form. It's something everyone should read at least once.

At this point we start to look at some of the winners and nominees. "The Devil's Arithmetic" by Jane Yolen is actually a nominee for the novella category, and is not reprinted in its full version but a significant portion is present. This piece which has a young girl being transported back to Nazi Germany, is definitely a juvenile, and not all that original. "Bible Stories For Adults..." the short story winner is a unique rewriting of the flood story and it will obviously be considered sacrilegious by some but it is funny and fairly innovative.

The three winners of the Rhysling award for 1987 are also reprinted. This is essentially science fiction's poetry award, and though the pieces are very good, I didn't find any of the really outstanding.

"Schrodinger's Kitten" is about a woman trapped to repeat a certain set of events in life until they work out correctly. This is extremely original and very interesting, since it combines quantum theory and traditional laws (a Muslim code of ethics) in a very unique and well told story. "The Fort Moxie Branch" is another short story nominee and is perhaps one of the better non-winners present in this collection. This story about a weird library that appears in a small town, asks questions about what it means to be good, and makes us wonder how much we've lost in the last 2000 years simply because no one thought it was worth preserving.

Clifford Simak and Robert Heinlein also died the year this book was put to press and hence there are memoriams to them by Gordon Dickinson and Frank Robinson respectively. I'm not a big Simak fan, but was a huge Heinlein fan and the memoriam to Heinlein I thought was particularly well done. I knew most of what was contained in it, but for those interested in Heinlein's life it is a very well done summary.

There are then several more stories reprinted. There is also a discussion of movies from the year 1988. The most notable of all the reprints in my opinion is "The Last of the Winnebagos" by Connie Willis. This novella is set in the not too distant future, and conjures up a world where dogs are extinct. The world it envisions is interesting in its own right, but Connie does a great job as well of developing great characters who really have to go through some emotional trials and growth in just the short span of a novella, and she pulls it all off quite successfully.

The second to last piece in this collection is perhaps my favorite. It is called "My Alphabet Starts Where Your Alphabet Ends" and essentially is a work by Paul Di Fillipo that tries to argue that Dr. Seuss is perhaps the best and most visionary science fiction writer of the last century. Written in a very witty style Paul does a very good job of convincing me by the end.

This is a great collection all around and if it weren't so dated by now I'd give it five stars. I highly recommend this as well as the whole Nebula series to anyone who likes to read short science fiction, or who is interested in science fiction as a whole. A remarkable combination of pieces and very well edited. ... Read more