4/5 - Second (and last) book of The X-Files: Middle Grade series that I own (although not for long, as they're both going in the library donate pile).  The writing is slightly more mature, fortunately, for the more sophisticated reader.  The plot is possibly even more disturbing and less appropriate for 'middle grade' readers than X Marks the Spot; with the eating of livers, bile infused nests, and a man who can get into your house no matter how much security you have (definitely creepy enough to induce nightmares in the hardiest of adult readers).  This has long been one of my favourite episodes as it was quite scary, the idea that no matter what you do to make yourself safe he can still get in, and I think that translates quite clearly to the page.  To be continued...

 

5/5 - The ending had my heart pounding as I read of the battle between Scully and Toombs, but I did get a bit irritated by the constant refrain of "if Toombs got his hands on her/him she/he wouldn't stand a chance", which was obviously an exaggeration as Toombs had a hold on Scully a couple of times and both times she got free without anything more serious than scrapes and bruises.  Although Squeeze earned a 1/2 to 1 star more than X Marks the Spot it's still being donated to the library this morning - now that I've reviewed it I wouldn't read it again.

2/5 - This is marked as a 'middle grade' book on GR.  Knowing the episode pretty well and knowing that the book follows the plot and dialogue of the episode pretty closely, I'm not sure I understand that rating.  You're what, 10 or so, in the middle grade?  Considering some of the gruesome scenes I remember from the show, I wouldn't be recommending this to any 10-year-olds.  This isn't what I would consider suitable reading for anyone under 13.  To be continued...

 

3/5 - After finishing this, I concede that the language is simplified for younger readers, but still think the subject matter would be too disturbing.  The strange alien baby would be enough to give me nightmares, let alone a primary school aged child.  The story is, from what I remember of the show, almost an exact copy of the dialogue and plot of the pilot episode of The X Files, X Marks the Spot.  Some of the internal comments from Scully don't sound quite like I would imagine she thinks, but that seems to be a common problem with novelisations of tv shows, the author has to be pretty talented to get the 'voice' of each of the characters just right.  I'm not going to read this again, so it's going in the donate to the library pile and has been moved from the 'books I own' shelf to the 'books I used to own' shelf.

29/9 - I was surprised to see an Australian wrote this as it was set in Oregon and he measured distance in miles. I was also surprised by the plot, because after reading the blurb on the back I thought it was going to be about a terrorist group (called the Sht'gal) who hijacked a chemical plant and how they are defeated (or not). It turned out to be a slightly disjointed story of aliens from another universe searching for a narcotic drug derived by refining radioactive waste (toxic to humans, obviously). Another book with an over abundance of chapters. Every time the point of view changed from one character/area to another it would mean a new chapter, (the shortest was one page, the longest about three) which became a bit confusing at times. Sometimes I would have trouble remembering where each of the characters were in the story - what had been happening to them in their last scene. I also thought the plot was a bit brief - Harrison could have fleshed out the story a lot - the book could have been double the length and you'd still feel like he could've written more. I don't know if this is Harrison's first book, but it certainly feels like an amateur's first time effort. Hopefully he grows as a writer with any subsequent books.

This is from the Science Fiction Writing Series, and is geared towards those interested in writing science fiction, although I actually think this would be of interest to the general science fiction reader. According to the biography in the back, Stanley Schmidt was the editor of Analogue Science Fiction & Fact, has a Ph.D. in physics and has taught both physics and science fiction at the college level. So he's definitely well qualified to write this book--one on plausible world-building that illuminates the issues you'd have to take into account in creating well-thought out aliens. I love the suggested reading in the back--"A Xenologist's Bookshelf" made up of both non-fiction and fiction. Although both the reading and the science presented might be a little dated since this book was published in 1995.