Review: Bobby's Girl, by JD Austin
Peter D. Tillman
General Ket Mhulhar, on the run after the fall of Thradon, goes to
ground as a script girl in Hollywood. Fortunately, she had time for
radical cosmetic surgery, and now appears to be a gorgeous blonde --
quelle surprise! She advances quickly in the industry, and is soon
directing a big-budget sci-fi thriller about... the fall of Thradon.
This silly, light-hearted book is just right for a cozy evening's
entertainment. This isn't faint praise -- Bobby's Girl is a nice,
lightweight, warmhearted, cinematic, romantic adventure novel,
reminiscent of the "B" books that I used to devour by the yard. I liked
it a lot. Recommended for military/romance/movie SF fans; comparable
authors would include Christopher Anvil and Alan Dean Foster. Note that,
like most such books, the premises really won't stand up to close
inspection...
And note also that you'll enjoy Bobby's Girl more if you skip over the
Prologue, and come back to it later. (This is almost always good advice,
which I wish I'd followed here.)
"JD Austin" appears to be Joshua Dann, whose earlier "Timeshare" trilogy
passed by with little notice. Timeshare #1 (1997) gets some favorable
comments at Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=0441004571/
Dann appears to be an ex-military movie buff (or fakes both
convincingly), and is a pretty good writer. This is my first exposure to
him -- any opinions on other Dann/Austin books?
Another review, with minor *SPOILERS*:
http://electronictiger.com/reviews/bobby.htm
"This is a cheerful romp through some of the same territory that [David
Weber's] "Apocalypse Troll" covered..."
[and which I also recommend: http://www.sfsite.com/06a/ap58.htm ]
Review copyright 2003 by Peter D. Tillman <til...@aztec.asu.edu>
Read more of my reviews:
http://www.silcom.com/~manatee/reviewer.html#tillman
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/cm/member-reviews/-/A3GHSD9VY8XS4Q/
http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/iplus/nonfiction/index.htm#reviews
http://www.sfsite.com/revwho.htm
Richard Horton
<til...@aztec.asu.edu> wrote:
> This is my first exposure to
>him -- any opinions on other Dann/Austin books?
I reviewed his second novel as "Austin" for SF Site -- the book is
called _Second Contact_ and I thought it was simply awful. Worst book
I read in 2001.
My review is at <URL:http://www.sfsite.com/12b/sc118.htm>.
--
Rich Horton | Stable Email: mailto://richard...@sff.net
Home Page: http://www.sff.net/people/richard.horton
Also visit SF Site (http://www.sfsite.com) and Tangent Online (http://www.tangentonline.com)
Bill
You obviously suffer from some severe reading problems. I thought that _Second Contact_ and
_Bobby's Girl_ were excellent fun reads. I am hoping for more from J. D. Austin.
Bill Gill
Bill
One minor point. She was the producer, not the directory. Bobby was the
director (that's why she was Bobby's girl).
The other JD Austin book is "Second Contact", which is also a very fun read.
The "Timeshare" trilogy is pretty forgettable. I managed to read it but am
not looking for any more of them.
Bill Gill