Book Review: Rendezvous with RAMA

Rendezvous with RAMA - This is one heck of a story I should have read during my younger days when my love for Sci-Fi novels was just blooming! Took me some years to actually buy it after having bypassed it several times, thinking it would not be that interesting. Well, it was mind blowing! Had to reassemble all the pieces of my mind to gear up for 3 sequels, and each sequel was even more exploding than the former. Never in my entire reading history had I emmersed my soul and mind into these stories so deep that when I finished the last book I felt so lost after having emerged back into the real world, earth, present day.

Written by Arthur C. Clarke, this Hugo and Nebula Award-Winning Novel is a MUST for Sci-Fi lovers, not to be bypassed. Mr Clarke is one of the gurus of Sci-Fi and well reknown for his imaginative and surrealistic depiction of the future and alien encounter that sets one's mind into the wildest dream and unthinkable experience the moment one shuts out all pre-conceived and logical mindset.

Each progressive step into the story brings pieces of revelation of the characteristics of the alien creators and their intelligence beyond any human measure. And each step closer into the heart of RAMA brings the astronauts closer to the alien reality and the danger that lurks among the shadows of the alien territory.

Wait till you get to the sequels:

• RAMA Revealed - by Arthur C. Clarke and Gentry Lee
• RAMA II - by Arthur C. Clarke and Gentry Lee
• The Garden Of RAMA - by Arthur C. Clarke and Gentry Lee

These nail-biting sequels will reveal the aliens of vast intelligence who created machines and worlds in space ships of inconcievable proportion, how humanity are forced to co-exist with them, and the journey and survival of one ordinary woman of immense inner strength. I guarantee if you love Sci-Fi these books are not to be missed!

Book Review : KOP

I love reading Sci-Fi novels. Nothing else gives me much pleasure and fantasy than Science Fiction. It's like an escape, escape from my world which is all too real in depicting the problems and deteriorating moral boundaries where the weak gets sucked into the abyss of everyday rat race and being constantly at the mercy of overlords of mega corporation who suck up to the great overlord who believes he is the destined ruler..

Enough! This is one of the many reasons why I persistently bury myself deep into the world of science fiction, the only virtual world I can relate to.

KOP, or Koba Office of Police, provides readers with non-stop gritty action between a dirty cop, who is tired and beaten down by time and circumstances, and thugs and mafias trying to wrest control of the city which struggles to maintain the right to existence against the powerful forces of offworlders.

The story tells of the exploits of this dirty cop, who has given up hope on a world of crime not driven by malicious intent but simply by ordinary decent citizens constantly shoved to desperation beyond redemption, and in an economy literally in the toilet making any offworlders visiting the planet to flaunt their wealth and taking full advantage of the declining social standards.

Though constantly on the take, hell, everyone in KOP is on the take, there are some commendable trace of humanity in Juno, our hero, in incidences where decision made for the greater good often result in sometimes unconventional methods of deployment for achieving the ends. This uncharacteristic behaviour of our hero contrasts with his new partner, Maggie, coming from some rich heritage background, and constantly pursuing a desire to clean up the KOP. Somehow, their partnersip, initially against his will, seems to be building up well progressively, eventually leading to mutual respect for each other despite the contrast.

The story begins in what seems to be some back alley murder by a psycho killer, ready to be filed away and forgotten, but years of experience of our veteran hero somehow traces the crime to a conspiracy involving two rival crime families and a possible power grab involving the mayor's office

Definitely wortwhile!

Mother's Day

Had a wonderful lunch at home. My 2 daughters and my niece prepared lunch - and all from some recipe books. But, amazingly, they turned out very well!

Well, I can't really described how wonderful the lunch was - except to show you pictures as evidence..

Dishes:

• Spicy prawn salad - with mayo, yoghurt, salad cream, fruit salad dressing, lime and lemon
• Spicy beef with lime pickle
• Swiss style potato cake - wit brown sauce made from chicken stock and light soya sauce
• Crusty baked apple
• rice