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Who was Mark Twain? Not a real person. It was the name Samuel Clemens picked for himself for his writing and speaking career. It was a term used by steamboat men on the Mississipi River. Little did Sam Clemens guess that this pseudonym he’d chosen, his false name, would soon seem to have a life all its own. Soon very few people remembered that he was really Sam Clemens and thought only of Mark Twain, a wonderfully funny speaker and terrific writer. He became the talk of America, and everyone, even today, over a hundred years later, can recognize him by his white suit and mustache. But who was the real man? What was he like? The story of Sam Clemens is an amazing one, tied into the growth of the United States itself. ... Read more

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Describes the origins, training, and techniques of calf roping, as well as animals and gear used, judging the event at a rodeo, and more. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Rodeo: Ropers and Riders
I like the way it has the techniques in Calf Roping?

I like the roping event in the Calf Roping?

"Their Up Rebond?" Jim the cowboy in the book yell ... Read more

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A chronological presentation of the launching of satellites for observation of the solar system and deep space, with a discussion of what we have learned from such satellites. ... Read more

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Explores the history of the Internet--how it was developed and refined, the people involved, and future possibilities. ... Read more

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More Transformers, More choices
This is the last book in the Transformers Find Your Fate Jr Book series.These books are very much like the Choose Your own Adventure books, in that they allow you to choose your own way through the stories and each of your decisions decides the outcome of the story good or bad.The plot for this book is about an experimental invisibility device that renders things invisible. DUH, Right? Well it's up to you to decide whether the Autobots or Decepticons get their hands on it and how it is used.Fans of the Transformers brand will like these books as the stories are fun, and have plentiful illustrations throughout. ... Read more

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Dale Earnhardt Jr. is the son of the legendary race card driver Dale Earnhardt Sr. Everyone from his family to racing fans were sure that Dale Jr. would also become a race car driver. They were sure he would follow in his father's footsteps. But then, Dale Earnhardt Sr. was killed in a tragic crash during a NASCAR race. Everyone wondered if Dale Jr. would lose his nerve to continue driving. Would he be afraid to race again? It would be up to Dale Jr. to prove that he too is a true champion. ... Read more

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Another Great Volume
Vol. II of the Pirate Writings 'Best of' series is just as good as volume I. Peppered with tales from big name writers and rising stars, this volume has something for everyone. I must read for lovers of SF/F short fiction. ... Read more

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Having won his Faerie love, Ailanna, at great peril to himself, young Aidan finds himself torn between a call to aid his embattled half-brother, the king, and a mighty oath sworn to the Lord of Faerie. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

so sweet
A light, fun, gentle romantic read.I couldn't put it down, and the characters were very engaging.All SHerman's books are so much fun.I also recommend The SIlver Falcon.

I can't believe its out of print!
I thoroughly agree with the other reviewers.I love this book and have reread it so many times that I need a new copy! I find it hard to believethat, with so much rubbish around, this book is out of print! It was notbased on any fairytale that I am familiar with - and isn't about twobrothers in love with the same woman. . .rather it is a story in which MsSherman weaves the powers - and obligations - of a magician into awonderful mixture oflove, sorcery (black and white) and good triumphingover evil. Aidan, the son of a (good) witch and a king finds he has abrother and promises his dying mother that he will help his brother, theking.He does so despite the fact that he would rather stay with his truelove, an elven lady in a land which bears a strong resemblance to a paganWales. He faces the suspicion of his brother's courtiers and new wife andthe emnity of a neighboring king who dabbles in black sorcery and has apact with demons. This king captures him and he gets free only with thehelp of one of the Fair Folk for whom he has done a favor. When he getsback he finds he is being blamed for the death of his brother's wife.Oncehe gets over the illness engendered by his imprisonment he finds a perfectmatch for his brother AND defeats the wicked king and his dark allies. Splendid stuff! Definitely read it if you liked her "ShatteredOath" and Mercedes Lackey's Valdemar and fairy tale series !

My favorite Josepha Sherman book
Josepha Sherman writes a lot of books about elves, both in urban settings and in more traditional settings.Out ofall her books (the ones about magic and elves anyway), this is my favorite."King's Son Magic'sSon" is about Aidan, a human magician raised in the forest by hiswitch mother. Magic is second nature to him and he even falls in lovewith an Elven maiden.When his mother dies she makes him promise to get toknow his half brother, who happens to be the king of the neighboringcountry.Reluctantly, Aidan leaves the forest and his lady to find hisbrother.

The reason I gave this book a five was because I can go back andread this book again and again.Aidan's arrival into a court full of"civilized" courtiers that are both suspicious of the King'sbastard brother and of magic in general is both funny and exciting.Thecharacters, though represent the usual fare in fantasy, have a certaindepth.The main characters are especially unique.Aidan is torn betweenwanting to help Estemere, his wary brother, and going home to his lady. Estemere wants to trust his bastard brother, but is cautious ofhisposition and politics.

This is the type of book that isn't too in depthor long, but is satisfying and a pleasure to read. I highly recomment itand if you can find it, read it quick!

Enchanting re-telling of an old ballad
King's Son, Magic's Son is the perfect book to read when you want to remind yourself why you started to read fantasy in the first place.This is high fantasy with one major difference-- it's done well.

While itmight sound rather cliched with its many Faerie Folk, magicians andsorcerers, Josepha Sherman brings them all vividly to life.It's classicfantasy, done with high adventure and a romantic air.

To sum it up inone word-- EXCELLENT!If you're a fantasy fan of any sort, King's Son,Magic's Son is a refreshing change from some of the trash that getspublished.

Absolutely Wonderful
This has got to be one of the most enjoyable fantasy books I have ever read. Usually, I don't like books that are set on 'this' earth because they are too realistic. This book, however, manages to combine faeries,fantasies, kings, and princesses without getting dull. Aidan is a verylikeable character, and I sympathized with him through his trials. Thisbook has just the right pace, and doesn't need a sequel (although thatwould be enjoyable) to tie up the loose ends. A classic tale tale of botmeets girl, boy finds out he is a prince, boy helps brother (the king), andboy saves everyone. ... Read more

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Another Russian-based fairy tale
The Horse of Flame is actually a sequel to The Shining Falcon, though it stands up pretty well on its own.Based heavily on Russian folk-lore and mythology, it contains plenty of magical trials, court intrigue, and (asalways) True Love.It seemed slightly less fresh than The Shining Falcon,though, and I did not find the protagonists, Princess Marya and her consortEmelian, to be nearly as delightful as Finist and Maria.The title alsoseemed inappropriate, as the horse in question was not a terribly majorcharacter.

Despite its few faults, The Horse of Flame is a very funfantasy adventure book and a decent sequel to The Shining Falcon.Thosewho liked the first will probably want to read it (though Finist and Mariaare given less attention), and it is also recommended to fans of Lackey'sThe Firebird. ... Read more

Product Description
Fifteen all-new stories of sorcery about mastering the craft... From an attack by beings older than humans to an illicit charm spell gone awry to a young wizardess whose devotion to a rock star may be her undoing, these tales are sure to enchant.

Stories by Josepha Sherman * Laura Resnick * P.N. Elrod * Michelle West * Rosemary Edghill * Robert Sheckley * Jody Lynn Nye* and more... ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Juast bad!
This book is one of the worst I have ever read. Most of the stories are poorly written and make little sense. Every now and then an author throws in a cheep reference to Harry Potter or Tolkien and that is as good as it gets.

It's just like Harry Potter, but it's not.Really!! Kind of
"Gee, this sounds just like Harry Potter."That was my first thought when I picked up The Sorcerer's Academy, a collection of short stories edited by Denise Little.Indeed, in the introduction, Little brings up that very point, though she mentions that there has been a long line of "learning to be a wizard" books even before our bespectacled friend came about.Little acknowledges that Harry Potter is popular and decided she wanted to see what an American wizardry school would be like.Thus, she came up with the concept of an Academy in the desert of Arizona, near Sedona.She also brought a bunch of friends along for the ride.The result is a series of stories that are hit or miss (as many anthologies are).Thankfully, there are more near misses than there are stories wide of the mark.

Little has gathered an impressive array of mid-list fantasy and science fiction authors to contribute stories.The book starts with a story by Josepha Sherman, introducing the concept of the school and the three main students of the Academy for Advanced Study (or, as the students call it, Sorcerer's U):Barry Silverhorse, Janice Redding, and Matt Johnson.They have a small adventure as they are trying to get to the Academy for the first time, but it's pretty inconsequential.It does set up a plot thread that sounds like it's supposed to run through (or at least in the background of) the rest of the stories, but it never really comes up again until the "final exam" piece by Sherman that ends the book.It does a good job of introducing us to the three students, though, as Sherman does an impressive job of characterization.

While the beginning isn't the most impressive, the last story (Sherman's "Final Exam" is only one page, so I'm not including it in the count) is a standout story.Written by Von Jocks, "Parenthetical References" starts out with an English class all receiving very low marks on a research paper (not exactly the most exciting idea for a story).It turns into a wonderful character piece starring Cassi, a girl who doesn't talk (it's unclear until the ending whether or not she can but won't talk, or if she is incapable).She feels ostracized by the other students and she is having trouble fitting in, but she's included in a study group to help improve their papers.She finds out the true meaning of friendship and magic during their studies.She's initially unsure if they are just accepting her as a burden to their study group or if they are truly interested in being her friend, and snide remarks from other girls in the class don't help.It's a wondrous revelation when she truly does become part of the group, as well as when we find out exactly what the secret is behind her silence.It's a perfect capstone for the book and should have ended it rather than "Final Exam."

Other good stories include P.N. Elrod's "Dream Date," where a student discovers that the subject of her wildest fantasies (both love and musical) is secretly staying at the Academy for some mysterious reason, but is he as squeaky-clean as his image?"License to Steal" by Mel Odom is an excellent story of an outsider (a young thief in Sedona) who gets coerced into trying to steal something from the Academy and finds out that he may just have a home there.The characterization of the boy is wonderful, though the villains are a bit clichéd.There are no particularly bad stories in the book, though a few are just forgettable.In fact, looking through the book to write this review, I didn't even remember reading "Sleepwork," though I did remember bits and pieces of it so I know I did read it.

There are two main problems with The Sorcerer's Academy.First, and more minor, there are some continuity issues between the stories, mainly having to do with rules.Students spend some time in the first few stories traipsing around Sedona, but then in "Freshmen Mixer," we're told that students cannot leave the Academy grounds unaccompanied their first semester.That rule is mentioned in another story, but subsequent stories also have them leaving campus occasionally.Another continuity issue is that one story establishes that computers are housed in a special building that's protected because magic can have a bad side effect on them.Later, there's a reference to Janice having a laptop in her room.Little details like this added up and marred my enjoyment of the book.

Secondly, though, The Sorcerer's Academy didn't do enough to shy away from the whole Harry Potter idea.The fact that the main three characters are two boys and a girl, and the girl is the most studious of the bunch, gets too close for comfort.That in itself would not have been a problem, except that these three are obviously the main characters, even when the stories don't always concern them.Even the stories that have a different main character include at least one of these three as a "friend" of the main character (something that Robert Sheckly thankfully avoids with "A Salty Situation").There are far too many stories that are just about them, as well.It also didn't help that at least two stories made direct Harry Potter references (one had a student say "I don't want to be Harry Potter!" and another mentions the increase of movies showing magic in a good light recently).

All in all, this was an enjoyable anthology that doesn't do enough to distance itself from its forebears.The stories are quick reads and I am glad I read them, but most of them fall just short of being great.The attempt to tie the stories into some overarching story and theme doesn't really work, but if you can ignore that, you can enjoy the stories for what they are.

David Roy

Merely "OK"
This "shared world" type collection of short stories set at a school for young wizards in Sedona, Arizona, was only mildly amusing.While some of characters were interesting, the individual stories were too similar.On the other hand, I found myself wishing that some of the authors involved had not bothered with this collection, and instead would have written stand-alone books.This is fine if you are looking for something inoffensive to read, but there are better books out there.

I loved it!
This book may have been conceptualised as a Harry Potter spinoff, but it scores way beyond HP as far as I'm concerned. I expected completely different stories along the lines of Cat Fantastic (which would also have been nice) and was pleasantly surprised to see common characters reappearing in different stories.
Like HP, the stories are set in 'the present', the heroes and heroines are in their early teens, and magic exists. Unlike HP though there seemed more exploration of teen issues and scrapes that teens could quite conceivably get into, all with a magical twist.
My all-out favourite was the story by Michelle West. It seemed deeper and darker than the rest, was written almost as if in a dream, and had a satisfying ending. I was disappointed that Anna didn't appear in other stories as I would have loved to find out more about her. Most of the stories were above average (kudos to Denise Little) though I didn't like the one by Robert Sheckley so much. It seemed more run-of-the-mill in contrast, removing the students completely from the school context.

Great anthology
The first reaction to a fifteen-story sorcerer's academy would be Potter lite.However, the contributors to THE SORCERER'S ACADEMY spin a series of tales intercalated by the locale and by the magic that makes a reader finish in one sitting the entire collection.The stories are fun as apprentice sorcerers and wannabe Gandolfs obtain an education in the use of the arcane powers.Fans of the Potter books will realize that this is a well-done Americanized Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry.The reader will want to head past Phoenix to Sedona to audit Sorcery 101, remedial sorcery, and advanced sorcery courses.Attend the labs and the lectures of noted Professors like Edwards, but study hard for that final exam as even college grads will not have seen the likes of it and beware of being the teacher's pet or class clown in these environs.

Harriet Klausner ... Read more

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It snaps. It crackles. It makes you jump! Learn what makes lightning flash across the sky. Where does it start? Where is it going? Read all about what lights up a storm. ... Read more