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The Best
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Abnett, Dan
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Adams, Douglas
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Aguirre-Sacasa, Roberto
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Allen, Roger MacBride
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Allie, Scott
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Allston, Aaron
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Anderson, Kevin J.
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Barclay, James
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Barnes, Steven
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Baum, L. Frank
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Bear, Greg
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Bendis, Brian Michael
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Bischoff, David
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Bisson, Terry
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Blackman, Haden
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Bova, Ben
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Bowen, Carl
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Brooks, Terry
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Canavan, Trudi
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Card, Orson Scott
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Chadwick, Paul
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Clarke, Arthur C.
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Clarke, Susanna
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Clemens, James
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Collins, Paul
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Crichton, Michael
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Crispin, A. C.
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Cunningham, Elaine
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Daley, Brian
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David, Peter
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DeMatteis, J. M.
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Denning, Troy
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Dick, Philip K.
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Dickens, Charles
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Dietz, William C.
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Dixon, Chuck
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Donaldson, Stephen
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Eddings, David
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Edginton, Ian
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Elrod, P. N.
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Erikson, Steven
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Feist, Raymond E.
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Foster, Alan Dean
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Fraction, Matt
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Furman, Simon
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Gaiman, Neil
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Gemmell, David A.
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Gerber, Michael
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Gibbons, Dave
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Golden, Christopher
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Goodkind, Terry
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Goodwin, Archie
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Graham, Mitchell
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Grant, Alan
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Green, Jonathan
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Green, Laurence
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Guggenheim, Marc
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Hagberg, David
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Hambly, Barbara
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Hamilton, Laurell K.
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Hand, Elizabeth
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Harras, Bob
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Harrison, Mick
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Heinlein, Robert A.
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Herbert, Frank
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Herbert, James
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Hine, David
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Hobb, Robin
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Homer
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Howard, Robert E.
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Jacques, Brian
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James, Charlie Hamilton
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Jenkins, Paul
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Jeter, K. W.
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Johns, Geoff
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Jones, J. V.
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Jordan, Robert
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Jurgens, Dan
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Karpyshyn, Drew
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Kennedy, Mike
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Kerr, Katharine
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Keyes, Greg
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King, Stephen
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King, William
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Knaak, Richard A.
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Kube-McDowell, Michael P.
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Lawhead, Stephen
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Layman, John
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Le Guin, Ursula K.
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Lewis, C. S.
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Lieberman, A. J.
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Loeb, Jeph
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Lorey, Dean
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Lowder, James
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Luceno, James
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Lumley, Brian
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Macan, Darko
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Manning, Russ
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Martin, George R. R.
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Marz, Ron
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Matheson, Richard
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McCaffrey, Anne
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McIntosh, Neil
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McIntyre, Vonda
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Michelinie, David
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Millar, Mark
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Miller, John Jackson
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Miller, Karen
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Milligan, Peter
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Moench, Doug
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Moesta, Rebecca
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Moore, Alan
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Nicholls, Stan
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Nicieza, Fabian
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Nylund, Eric
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O'Neil, Dennis
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Ostrander, John
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Paolini, Christopher
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Perry, S. D.
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Perry, Steve
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Pratchett, Terry
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Pullman, Philip
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Quinn, David
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Reaves, Michael
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Reed, A. W.
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Reed, Brian
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Rice, Anne
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Richardson, Nancy
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Roberts, Adam
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Rowe, Matthew
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Rowling, J. K.
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Rubio, Kevin
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Rusch, Kristine Kathryn
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Salvatore, R.A.
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Shelley, Mary
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Shultz, Mark
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Simone, Gail
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Simonson, Louise
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Simonson, Walter
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Smith, L. Neil
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Spurrier, Simon
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Stackpole, Michael A.
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Stevenson, Robert Louis
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Stewart, Sean
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Stoker, Bram
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Stover, Matthew
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Straczynski, J. Michael
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Stradley, Randy
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Strnad, Jan
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Sutcliff, Rosemary
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Tolkien, J.R.R.
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Traviss, Karen
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Truman, Tim
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Turtledove, Harry
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Tyers, Kathy
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van Belkom, Edo
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Veitch, Tom
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Wagner, John
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Watson, Jude
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Whitman, John
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Williams, Sean
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Williams, Tad
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Williams, Walter Jon
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Windham, Ryder
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Wolverton, Dave
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Woodring, Jim
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Wurts, Janny
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Yeovil, Jack
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Zahn, Timothy
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Collaborations A - F
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Collaborations G - M
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Collaborations N - R
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Collaborations S
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Collaborations T - Z
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Anthologies A - R
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Anthologies S
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Anthologies T - Z
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Still to come
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Reviewing Literature
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The Books of Ben Bova
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Ben Bova holds degrees from both the State University of New York and Temple University, Philadelphia. Editor and
President of the Science Fiction Writers of America, Bova has written shed-loads of SF novels. He and his wife live
in Connecticut and Florida.
Average Review Score: 4 out of 5 (2 books)
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Mars
Part of Bova's loose Grand Tour series, 'Mars' tells the story of mankind's first journey to our nearest neighbour.
It centres around Jamie Waterman, a man of Native American descent, who is added to the international team of scientists at
the last minute. Bova's science is solid and believable, but like Arthur C. Clarke, he know that it is important to
make the actual people the focus of the story. There is plenty of tension created by politics, international and sexual,
and the interpersonal relationships develop well. The actual events on Mars itself make for excellent reading, although
vitamin C deficiency isn't necesarily the most dramatic threat he could have featured. The book's only real failing
is that it belabours old prejudices that really shouldn't be a factor. The American-Russian thing is one such, but by
far the worse offender is the constant references to the persecution of the Native Americans. I mean, it gets to
the point where you think 'brush the chip off your shoulder and get over it'. I'm not trying to trivialise the issue,
but it simply wasn't relevant. There's also a rather hideous stereotype of an Englishman too.
4 out of 5
'Listen to the wisdom of the Old Ones:'
Venus
Part of the Grand Tour series. Now, I'll give you three guesses as to which planet in the solar system this book
deals with... The reason for the interplanetary mission is slightly different here however. The ruthless and arrogant
billionaire Martin Humphries sets a challenge worth ten billion dollars; for someone to recover the remains of his eldest
son who crashed on Venus years before. The first to take up the challenge is Humphries' younger son, Van. The
relationship between these two characters started off as painfully cliche, with the father resenting the son for a) killing
the mother in childbirth and b) surviving when the older child died. Basically, think Denethor and Faramir in Lord of
the Rings. The other character to take up the challenge is the secretive and rage-filled Lars Fuchs, determined to get
one over on his old enemy Humphries. Together with the cliched family dynamic and the fractured skip-a-bit nature of
the first few chapters, I found it hard to get into this book. However, if you persevere, you will be rewarded.
The story becomes intriguing and thrilling once the descent into Venus' sulphuric acid clouds begins and soon had me hooked.
The twist in the family tale is fairly predictable, but is a hell of a lot better than how it starts off. In the end
it is the ferocity of Venus as a planet which steals the show, even if Bova's otherwise brilliant descriptions are occasionally
marred by overuse of the Hell metaphor.
4 out of 5
'I was late and I knew it.'
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If you liked Bova:
The I strongly recommend Arthur C. Clarke's Space Odyssey books (particularly '2010: Odyssey Two').
JUST FOR SEARCH ENGINES:
FSFH Book Review - Fantasy - Science Fiction - Horror - Book Review - Hardback - Paperback - Comics TPB - Anthologies
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TPB - Anthologies - Star Wars - Book Review - FSFH Book Review - Fantasy - Science Fiction - Horror - Book Review - Hardback
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