Revolution: Preview Review

I caught the complete first episode of Revolution last night - set to premiere later this month on NBC - courtesy of NBC putting this up On-Demand. Herewith a review, with soft (non-specific) spoilers.

Revolution is J. J. Abrams' latest. Now, I know what you're thinking - or, what I was thinking, anyway. With the exception of Fringe and (to a lesser extent) Person of Interest, Abrams has not come anywhere close to his extraordinary triumphs of Lost or even Alias. Half of his efforts have been like last year's Alcatraz, promising at first but pretty soon an irredeemable turkey.

So I approached Revolution with caution, and - I found the debut episode superb! It's chock full of punch-in-the-gut surprises, with characters we think are major dying on and off camera, and big, unexpected revelations right up until the end. The set-up, though it might seem at first glance to have too much in common with the ill-fated FlashForward and the high-flying Walking Dead, turns out to be refreshing and original.

The world has been beset by a power failure from hell - all electricity is gone, including battery power (which, in our real world, the Amish use instead of electricity from power plants). This means that everything digital is gone - useless - too.

We follow a family - no Family Robinson - in the Chicago area. (You notice how often Chicago is popping up in television drama these days? Boss, Revolution, Chicago Fire, last year's Playboy Club - probably another good consequence of Obama, seriously). Charlie, the daughter - a little under 20 - is strong, attractive, and believable. The others are good, too, and I found myself disappointed when the first episode was over - disappointed that I couldn't see more.

There's an endearing hipness about Revolution - the Hurley-like character (we had one, Hurley himself, in Alcatraz last year) - was a big exec at Google, before the permanent blackout. So far, I like this guy better than the Alcatraz guy.

"You say you want a Revolution, well, you know ..." I'm looking forward to this one on NBC.




"As a genre-bending blend of police procedural and science fiction, The Silk Code delivers on its promises." -- Gerald Jonas, The New York Times Book Review

"Daddy, this the best book I've ever read!" -- Molly Vozick-Levinson, age 12 at the time

"cerebral but gripping" -- Booklist

Breaking Bad Final Half Season Finale

Well, it had to happen.   After staying just out of narc brother-in-law Hank's field of vision as a master meth maker for years, Walter's luck looks like it finally ran out.   In the last scene of last night's show, Hank, picking up a book of Walt Whitman's poetry on the throne, realizes that the "W. W." is not Whitman or Woodrow Wilson, but Walter White.  No joke.

And so the stage is set for the ultimate confrontation.  Hank was always Walt's greatest danger, because you can only hide effectively for so long in plain sight.   Hank of course is not a threat to literally kill Walter - as Walter's past opponents have been - but he is threat to kill all the benefits Walter has received from his new way of life these past few years.  And because Hank is not threatening to literally take Walter out, he is a much more serious threat.  One which Walter is not really prepared for.

Walter has taken Hank seriously only sometimes, and not always completely.  In fact, this season, Walter effortlessly bugged Hank's office, as Hank easily fell for Walt's crybaby routine.

There are a variety of possibilities here.  Is there any chance that Hank might leave the Feds and happily take some of Walter's money?  Not very likely, even though Hank does have his frustrations with the job.  Skyler may well come to Walter's support now, seeing as how he apparently left the business.  But what good can she really do?   Walter can also count now on Jesse's support, having given Jesse his fair share.   But what good can Jesse do Walter now?

Walter is no less brilliant now than before.   He thinks very quickly on his feet.  If Hank doesn't directly confront Walter with what Hank thinks he has realized, but Walter gets wind of it, Walter may find a way to twist the threads into one last complex, confusing knot to make Hank unsure in his suspicion of Walter.

Should be a great second half of the final season in store.

See also Breaking Bad Season 5 Premiere: Riveting Entropy ... Breaking Bad 5.3: Deal with the Devil ... Breaking Bad 5.7: Exit Mike

And see also My Prediction about Breaking Bad ... Breaking Bad Season 4 Debuts ... Breaking Bad 4.2: Gun and Question ... Breaking Bad 4.11: Tightening Vice ... Breaking Bad 4.12: King vs. King ... Breaking Bad Season 4 Finale: Deceptive Flowers





"As a genre-bending blend of police procedural and science fiction, The Silk Code delivers on its promises." -- Gerald Jonas, The New York Times Book Review

Stan Schmidt Retiring from Analog

I read the news today, oh boy - came like a kick in the solar plexus - Stan Schmidt's retiring from Analog.

It's a cliche to say people made a difference in your life.  But like everything else Stan did at Analog, this was no cliche.  When Stan published my first Analog story - "The Way of Flesh," a Probability Zero piece in 1995 - I had no other "pro" publications, with the exception of one, "Albert's Cradle," a few years earlier in Amazing Stories.  The probability that I would have any career as a science fiction writer was truly not that much more than zero when Stan bought "The Way of Flesh".

But his next purchase from me, "The Chronology Protection Case," really opened up the gates.  The story has been reprinted half  dozen times, is used in a class at University of Southern California, has been made into a movie and an Edgar-nominated radio play.   It was a Nebula nominee finalist.  And its lead character, Dr. Phil D'Amato, went on to appear in two more Analog novelettes, and in three Tor novels. David Hartwell, my editor at Tor, came to know Phil D'Amato in the third novelette Analog published, "The Mendelian Lamp Case".

Did you know that I killed off Phil D'Amato in the first version of "The Chronology Protection Case"?  When Stan asked for revisions, he asked what was the point of killing off this new character?

Editors each have unique tastes that make them different from all other editors.  I was fortunate indeed to have started writing science fiction at a time when Stan was at the Analog helm.  As fate would have it, I had occasion to think a lot about Stan just this past Friday, when I signed off on a new "author's cut" Kindle edition of The Silk Code published by JoSara Media (the original edition was published by Tor in 1999, and won the Locus Award for Best First Science Fiction novel of that year).  I thanked Stan again in the Acknowledgments, for the life he had given to my character.

It's been said that Stan should at last get the Hugo Award for Best Editor.  True point, that.  But, you know what?  That doesn't really matter.   Stan wins an award, and will continue to win, every time someone reads one of the stories he edited at Analog.



my 2007 interview with Stan



Stan, David Hartwell, and me in 2010 interview

appreciations of Stan by Analog writers James Van Pelt and Juliette Wade

Breaking Bad 5.7: Exit Mike

A peaceful scene.  Mike sitting by the water.   Walter hurries over.  And the last thing we hear Mike say - to Walter - is "let me die in peace".

So is this it for Mike?  Probably so.  Bested by Walter, whom Mike has had diminishing contempt for over the years.   Out-thought, out-maneuvered by Walter in the end.   Mike was stronger than Walter, vastly better at physical intimation and gun play, but it didn't matter.  On Breaking Bad, the breaks go in there own twisted way to Walter. 

But the kicker?  There's always a kicker on Breaking Bad.  Walter realizes that he didn't have to have this confrontation with Mike after all.  Walter could have gotten the names which Mike had refused to divulge - from Lydia.  So there was no reason to shoot and presumably kill Mike.

And this is another prime example of the why the show is named and about breaking bad.   As brilliant as Walter is, things always go wrong, all too often very wrong, in the business he's in.  Or maybe this is characteristic of life in general, for which Breaking Bad is an indelible announcement. No matter how smart you are, how well you plan, the ball can take a bad bounce.  One week killing a kid in a heist that was meticulously planned so that there would be no killings, a few weeks later killing Mike when there was no reason.

So now it's back to Walter and Jesse, who is insistent on wanting out.  The Gus era is more fully gone, with just Lydia now, who wasn't even on the show until this year.  And Hank remains a threat to everything - in fact, an increasing threat, given his promotion and new power.  He was the one who forced Mike into a series of moves that put Mike in the way of Walter.

Next week is the semi-final-season finale.  I'm going to really miss this series when it's over, and savor every episode until then.  There's nothing like it on television.

See also Breaking Bad Season 5 Premiere: Riveting Entropy ... Breaking Bad 5.3: Deal with the Devil

And see also My Prediction about Breaking Bad ... Breaking Bad Season 4 Debuts ... Breaking Bad 4.2: Gun and Question ... Breaking Bad 4.11: Tightening Vice ... Breaking Bad 4.12: King vs. King ... Breaking Bad Season 4 Finale: Deceptive Flowers





"As a genre-bending blend of police procedural and science fiction, The Silk Code delivers on its promises." -- Gerald Jonas, The New York Times Book Review

The Newsroom Season 1 Finale: The Lost Voice Mail

An O'Henryesque thread which has wound its way through many a narrative is the letter that never arrived.  Whether through mis-delivery or act of nature or plane crash, a letter professing true love never reaches its intended recipient.  In an age prior to email, such a gap could wreak emotional havoc for both parties, or at very least quietly change their lives for the worst forever.

Will left a message on Mac's voice mail on the night that bin-Laden came to justice.  Will had been high when he went on the air to announce the bin-Laden news - Bill had been at a party when the news broke - and he mentions that he was high in his voice mail for Mac, but that was not the most important part of his message.  He tells Mac that he "never stopped" ... presumably never stopped loving her.

We don't actually hear this, and the TMZ reporter stops and then erases the recording before we can hear its conclusion, but assuming he was declaring his continuing love for Mac, and she never heard it, and Will may not even clearly recall saying it, that's Shakespearean tragic indeed.   Of course, all is not completely lost - the TMZ reporter presumably listened to the whole message, Will also discovers in last night's episode  that it was indeed Mac in the audience at the beginning of the season (he was not imagining her there),  and Will can tell Mac he loves her any time he wants.  But given their star-crossed relationship, that's not likely to happen again any time too soon.

Star-crossed love also rules the day for Maggie and Jim.  They finally kiss, but Jim, the idiot, walks away when Maggie wants more.  So of course Maggie is still with Don, Jim's with Lisa, and just to make it in an even more complex five-sided triangle we have Sloan loving Don.   They, along with Will and Mac, can bring clarity to the reporting of world and national news more easily than to their own lives.

Good material for next season - when, just think of it, we'll have commentary on yesterday, today, and tomorrow's news the way it should be - which is to say, even better than Lawrence O'Donnell on MSNBC, which is damn good indeed.

See also The Newsroom and McLuhan ... The Newsroom and The Hour




"As a genre-bending blend of police procedural and science fiction, The Silk Code delivers on its promises." -- Gerald Jonas, The New York Times Book Review

Neil Armstrong, RIP: Lament for Space

Neil Armstrong's passing is sad not only for the man and his family, but for the whole human species, and, in particular, everyone who regrets how little we have progressed in space faring since Armstrong's steps on the Moon in 1969.

No further walks on the Moon since the end of the Apollo program a few years after Armtrong's walk.   No settlements.  No humans any place else in our solar system, and, no place beyond.

In July 1969, it seemed that all of that was possible.  I thought back then that by 2012 we certainly would have colonies on the Moon, and people on Mars, and on or around other planets and places in the solar system.

None of that happened.   The stand down from the most exciting and crucial adventure of humankind began with Richard Nixon.  And, indeed, no President since JFK, no Democrat or Republican, has ever inspired our nation to do more.   No Congress, either.

Europe and China have picked up some of the reins, but those space efforts haven't progressed very far yet, either.  Private enterprise is starting to do some space work, but those efforts have a long way to go to catch up to where NASA and Armstrong and humanity were in 1969.

It will happen, someday.  We humans are a part of the cosmos, and we'll get out there.   But unless something changes, it won't happen any time soon.

"Author's Cut" Kindle Edition of The Silk Code published by JoSara MeDia

I'm delighted to announce that JoSara MeDia has just published Kindle and ePub editions of my first novel, The Silk Code.

The Silk Code, originally published by Tor Books, won the Locus Award for best first novel of 1999, and reached #8 on the Locus paperback Best Seller list in February 2001. The novel received praise from The New York Times, The San Francisco Chronicle, and reviews in dozens of other places.

I'm especially excited about this new edition because it is an “author’s cut” of The Silk Code. The Tor edition, like all books brought out by big publishers, went through extensive copy editing. In this new eBook edition, I reinstated a lot of my original wording, which I always liked better. I see such author’s cuts as a major step forward in publishing. The Silk Code is not only available as a Kindle, but as an eBook on Barnes & Noble and all the digital outlets.

The Silk Code ebook sports a new cover, created especially for the novel by Joel Iskowitz, whose designs have appeared on stamps around the world, US coins, and NASA murals.

I chose JoSara MeDia because I wanted for The Silk Code a savvy, small publisher, unencumbered by baggage from the pre-digital age. JoSara MeDia has published award-winning authors in multiple formats, including print, eBook, and enhanced eBooks in the form of iPad and Android applications. JoSara MeDia also works with non-profit organizations, such as the Texas State Historical Association, assisting them with strategies and solutions to get their content available in these multiple formats.



FREE SAMPLE of The Silk Code

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Read more of The Silk Code -  Kindle US ... Kindle UK  ... Kindle France ... Kindle Spain ... Kindle Italy ... Kindle Germany ... Kindle Japan ... Kindle India ... Nook US ... Nook UK ... Kobo

What the critics said:

"As a genre-bending blend of police procedural and science fiction, The Silk Code delivers on its promises." -- Gerald Jonas, The New York Times Book Review

"As twisted as a double helix. " -- Wired

"D'Amato is an appealingly savvy character, and Levinson brings a great deal of invention to the endeavor." -- San Francisco Chronicle

"It is hard to put down, easy to pick up again, and an interesting read. " -- San Diego Union-Tribune

"Mixes up-to-the-minute biotechnology with ancient myth, science fiction with police procedure, and prehistory with the near future. It's an impressive debut." -- Joe Haldeman

"Forensic detective Phil D'Amato is one of my favorite characters, and the puzzles he solves are always imaginative, ingenious, and addictive, but Paul Levinson really outdoes himself this time in a mystery involving murders, moths, mummies, the Silk Road, poisons, fireflies, and forensics, all woven into a mystery only D'Amato could solve! A marvelous book!" -- Connie Willis

"This damn book has everything: interesting science, suspense, characters that live on the page - and that we like! -- and it debuts a new series hero, Dr. Phil D'Amato, forensic detective. I couldn't put The Silk Code down. I'll wager you won't be able to either. Oh, and this is the kicker: The Silk Code is Paul Levinson's first novel. " -- Jack Dann

"At last we get Paul Levinson's superb forensic sleuth, Phil D'Amato, in a full-length novel. If you know Phil from his previous appearances, I need say no more. If you don't, kick back and enjoy a mystery that spans the ages." --Jack McDevitt

"The Silk Code is an intriguing story refreshingly rich not only in action but in ideas. Seldom have I seen a story so engagingly weave together so many seemingly disparate (dare I say it?) threads." --Stanley Schmidt, editor of Analog

"Paul Levinson is an exceptional new writer, behind whose work stands an impressive body of knowledge and a great deal of human understanding. His first novel signals a writer to watch for the provocation and pleasure that he will bring to thoughtful readers. The Silk Code is smoothly written, evocative, and spicy! Highly recommended." -- George Zebrowski

"The Silk Code is a splendidly imaginative novel that explores worlds of ideas both scientific and philosophical, while carrying the reader effortlessly across countries, times, and cultures." -- Charles Sheffield

"The Silk Code is science fiction in the classic style, with an innovative mystery that breaks new ground. Acclaimed for his short fiction and insightful writing on the computer age, Paul Levinson now brings his many talents to a complex novel that will keep you guessing until the last page. " -- Catherine Asaro

"... sheer conceptual verve" -- Robert K. J. Killheffer, The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction

"...cerebral but gripping" -- Booklist

"Combining Neanderthals and mechanical looms, cantaloupes and coded butterflies, Levinson's debut novel...offers a flurry of amazing prehistoric technologies, demonstrating that the mysteries of our past can be just as fruitful as those of our future... Levinson creatively explains gaps in both ancient history and biology... providing more wonders than many a futuristic epic." -- Publishers Weekly

"...well-informed and imaginative" -- Kirkus Reviews

"...spins an ingenious web of genetic manipulation and anthropological evidence" --Library Journal

"A rare thriller that actually achieves its goals as a detective tale and a work of boldly speculative sf." -- Gary K. Wolfe, Locus Magazine

"I read this book quite a few years ago but I felt compelled to re-read it because parts of the story have been so firmly wedged in my brain that I needed to experience the entire thing again." -- Cannonball Read

"This is one I don't hesitate to recommend." - Jandy's Reading Room

"Paul Levinson's The Silk Code is inventive. I can't said I'd ever read another SF novel that included Neanderthals, bioengineering and the Amish." - Kristin's Book Log

"I found the genetic manipulation that Levinson describes absolutely fascinating." - Silk Screen Views  "Levinson's first novel - already brilliant." -Jaroslav Bláha

and ... "Daddy, this is the best book I ever read!" -- Molly Vozick-Levinson, 12 years old at the time

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FREE SAMPLE of The Silk Code
The Life and Times of Dr. Phil D'Amato, hero of The Silk Code ...

The Silk Code on The History Channel

The Life and Times of Phil D'Amato
100 members for fans and would-be fans of Dr. Phil D'Amato, the fictional NYPD forensic detective

View this group on Goodreads »

Political Animals Wraps Up First Season

Political Animals wrapped its first season on TNT - a "mini"-season - with a fine episode and a great twist, which may utterly change the show next season.

Secretary of State Elaine Barrish had been first preparing to fight President Paul Garcetti in the Democratic primary, but then was having second thoughts.  It all became moot in the finale, and its news that Garcetti was likely dead in a plane crash.

Of course, if it somehow turns out that he survives, then that will make for a different next season than if he's gone.  Or, perhaps the show will leave the option hanging, with no body discovered, and thus the chance that Gracetti could come back at some future date.

But assuming he's lost for good,  Barrish now has to contend with a now Interim President, on his way to becoming President, the conservative, obnoxious VP Fred Collier.  Bud punched him in the face episode before last, and in the finale Barrish had to get the cabinet on board to prevent Collier from getting himself sworn in as President before there was any conclusive evidence that Garcetti was dead.  But that seems likely to the upshot soon.

Elaine has to be thinking if only she'd accepted Garcetti's invitation to run with him as VP, she would now be in line to become President.   Of course, Collier knows this too - he knows that Garcetti chose him only when Elaine Barrish was not available - and two will clearly be on increasing collision course next season, as Elaine has renewed interest in running for President.

Political Animals is a fine, tempestuous political drama in a year just perfect for that, and I'm looking forward to more.

See also Political Animals: Alternate Hillary History




The Plot to Save Socrates


"challenging fun" - Entertainment Weekly

"a Da Vinci-esque thriller" - New York Daily News

"Sierra Waters is sexy as hell" - curled up with a good book  

The Real Motive for Todd Akin's Comment

I just heard Hogan Gidley tell Thomas Roberts on MSNBC that Rep. Akin's comment about women not getting pregnant from "legitimate" or forcible rape has no connection to the view that life begins at conception and abortion should therefore be prohibited at any time after conception and regardless of the circumstances of conception (such as rape).  Gidley says "leftist Democrats" are seeking to "tether" Akin's comment to the GOP position prohibiting all abortion when in fact there is no connection between Akin's comment and the GOP position.

Other Republicans have said similar things in the past day.

And they're all untrue.

Why did Akin make his comment in the first place?   Clearly, because he was trying to justify the prohibition of abortion in cases of rape by saying in real or forcible or "legitimate" cases of rape, there would be no pregnancy (because, according to the junk, pseudo science that Akin alluded to, the woman's body would somehow prevent conception from taking place in cases of forcible rape).  Whether Akin - and others who quietly support his position - feel guilty about prohibiting abortion in cases of rape, or, more cynically, find such a position politically untenable, their motive in accepting this non-scientific nonsense is to hold that all cases of pregnancy are in some sense wanted by the woman or not resisted by the woman in "non-forcible" rape.  This shifts the burden of responsibility in such non-forcible cases to the woman, which in turns makes it less repugnant to anyone with any decency to insist that victims of rape be obliged to bring any resulting pregnancy to term.  The Republican implication is that, if woman would just practice more self-control, there would no unwanted pregnancy in the first place.

But the fact is that as even Akin now has been pressured to admit, all rape is, by definition, against the victim's will.    So does that mean rape victims should not be prohibited from having abortions?  Romney and Ryan, in the wake of Akin's statement, have said rape should be an exception from any no abortion policy - but this contradicts their earlier positions and the platform of the Republican Party.   Gidley's implication - in saying Akin's statement has no connection to the GOP policy of total prohibition of abortion - is that Republicans could condemn Akin's statement but still support a total no abortion policy. 

But if Republicans agree that Akin's statement is absurd, they'll have to come up with another justification for prohibiting abortion even in cases of rape.  The view that human life begins at conception - also nonscientific, because although the embryo has a full set of DNA, the DNA has not yet created a complete human being - is not only questionable, but not enough to warrant government regulation of women's bodies.

Falling Skies Second Season Finale

Falling Skies wrapped up its excellent second season on Sunday.   The last few episodes, especially, were outstanding, with these highlights -

• the fake-out of getting to Charleston, and seemingly finding ruins, only to find a vibrant underground community of new United States
• the fake-out after that of a misguided scholar in charge, on the path of undermining democracy and becoming a dictator of the new government
• the surprise with the military - among its leaders and vis-a-vis the rebel skitters

On the other hand, I wasn't thrilled with the revelation of yet an additional alien at the end - it's beginning to get a little crowded in the alien species roster.

Hal being taken over by a (presumably and apparently) bad alien lizard or insert in the ear is an interesting development.  It didn't seem to hurt his father Tom, why?   Because it had been sent by a good alien, in contrast to Hal's by Karen?  Or, because it only entered Tom's eye and then left? (I can't recall - did it also go into Tom's ear?  - maybe one of them entered my brain, and that's why I can't recall.)

I also like Ann and Tom together, and Ann being pregnant, and Ben back in the fold at least for now.  All in all, a fine conclusion to a fine season, brimming with energy and possibilities.

See also Falling Skies Returns  ... Falling Skies 2.6: Ben's Motives

And see also Falling Skies 1.1-2 ... Falling Skies 1.3 meets Puppet Masters ... Falling Skies 1.4: Drizzle ... Falling Skies 1.5: Ben ... Falling Skies 1.6: Fifth Column ... Falling Skies 1.7: The Fate of Traitors ... Falling Skies 1.8: Weaver's Story ... Falling Skies Concludes First Season





What the critics said:

"As a genre-bending blend of police procedural and science fiction, The Silk Code delivers on its promises." -- Gerald Jonas, The New York Times Book Review

"As twisted as a double helix. " -- Wired

"D'Amato is an appealingly savvy character, and Levinson brings a great deal of invention to the endeavor." -- San Francisco Chronicle

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The Plot to Save Socrates
"challenging fun" - Entertainment Weekly

"a Da Vinci-esque thriller" - New York Daily News

"Sierra Waters is sexy as hell" - curled up with a good book

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=old science fiction magazines for sale=

Boss is Back for Second Season

Boss was back for its second season last night on Starz.  Aptly compared to The Sopranos and Rome in its no holds barred intensity and life-and-death plotting and plot twists,  Boss stars Kelsey Grammer as the ruthless Mayor Tom Kane of Chicago, ready and willing to do anything to keep in power.  That's not easy, given that he has a neuro-degenerative, ultimately fatal illness (five years), and the anything includes betraying his own daughter (who had been helping him with his illness), and killing his second-in-command (Ezra) who at least did betray Kane.  All of this makes Kane one of the most appealing mixes of brutal and oddly sympathetic to come along on television well - since The Sopranos.   And, actually, Kane is even more ruthless than Tony Soprano, for whom selling out his daughter Meadow would have been unthinkable.

The second season of Boss looks to be in as good form as the first.   And last night's episode ended in something we didn't see in the first:  an attempt on Kane's life, after a rally, results in his beautiful wife Meredith getting shot.   She of course wasn't killed - thank you, coming attractions, for spoiling any uncertainty we may have had about that - though she's too important and charismatic a character to remove from the series.

But who did the shooting?  Or, more important, who put the shooter up to it?  I'm thinking Kane hired a sharp shooter to do the job.   Indeed, he had been hallucinating about Ezra right before the shooting.  Meredith had betrayed him too in the first season - not as badly as Ezra, and she had been suitably punished, but maybe not enough for Kane, who is a stickler for the right level of payback.  Or, maybe Kane needed the sympathy lift, which is what he got by busting his loyal daughter.

Should be provocative, riveting viewing, like first season, and I'm looking forward to it.

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The Plot to Save Socrates
"challenging fun" - Entertainment Weekly

"a Da Vinci-esque thriller" - New York Daily News

"Sierra Waters is sexy as hell" - curled up with a good book

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Enjoy listening to audio books? Get a free audio book copy of The Plot to Save Socrates - or any one of 85,000 other titles - with a 14-day trial membership at Audible.com ...

New Dallas One Season One Evaluation

The new Dallas wrapped up its first season last week.  A good time to size up its strengths and weaknesses.

Among the best parts of the new Dallas:

• J. R. and Bobby are both excellent.  J. R. continues to be a pleasure to see, and Bobby is frankly better - a more powerful character - than he was in the original series.  I hope we see even more of J. R. in the second season.
• The new generation - John Ross and Christopher, Elena and Rebecca - are also excellent.  John Ross and Christopher are both well motivated and unpredictable in their actions (Christopher helping John Ross in a life-and-death matter a few weeks ago, as just one example).  Elena is sassy and appealing as a woman in love with both Ewings, and the twists in Rebecca's story, including her very identity, are right up there with the highlights of the classic Dallas story.

Two story threads that were not as good:

• Sue Ellen running for governor?   Yeah, I'd vote for her in heartbeat against Rick Perry, but I just don't believe it.   Where's Sue Ellen's previous political experience?  Meg Whitman did run for governor of California with no prior positions in government, but she was the CEO of eBay.  Sue Ellen might have been head of Ewing Oil at some time in the past, but if that's what got her the nomination in Texas, we need to see more of the connection.
• Ann Ewing - Bobby's wife - brandishes a shot gun every time she sees herself or family in any kind of danger.  I know she's supposed to be a rough-tough Texas woman, but I'd like to see a little less of the shot gun and a little more of the guile she used to get the better of her former husband in the finale.

The best news is the new Dallas is coming back for another season.  Relaunching an iconic series is a difficult task, and  Dallas did enough of it right to make its return for another season something well worth waiting for.

See also The New Dallas: An Outright Pleasure

Added November 23, 2012:  Saddened to learn of Larry Hagman's passing.

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The Closer Opens into Major Crimes

A very smooth and satisfying segue last night as The Closer closed for good and Major Crimes opened for business.

The best part, for me, is that Gabriel is ok.  He won't be on Major Crimes not because anything bad happened to him, but because Brenda took him with her to her new position in the LA DA's office.

Which, of course, is good news about Brenda for us, too.  Contrary to a lot of what's been said or implied in cast interviews, Brenda could indeed come back for a guest appearance - just as Fritz in fact did last night in Major Crimes.

But the new show will significantly different in tone and storyline from the original, if only because Raydor is so different from Brenda.   The Captain speaks softly, is much of a team player than Brenda, but gets things done and has a heart of gold, too.  She doesn't have Brenda's sweet tooth, but seems every bit as good as Brenda in sweet talking.

The kid who was with Brenda when she shot Stroh - in self defense, and whom Brenda promised about finding his mother - will continue in Major Crimes, indeed under the same domestic roof as Raydor, who also promises to find his mother.  Rusty (the kid's name) looks to be a good addition to the mix.

Beyond that, the emphasis of the new show and remade unit will be not on getting not confessions but convictions.  We'll likely see more courtrooms than in The Closer, and of course more lawyers.

Law and Order: LA had a tough time of it.  I expect Major Crimes with its lighter touch to fare much better.

See also:  The Closer 7.2: Pope ... Who's The Leak on the Closer? ... Who's The Leak on The Closer, Part 2 ... Penultimate Closer

And  The Closer 6.1: The New Building ... The Closer 6.2: Fun Bumps ... The Closer 6.11: Andy Flynn

And from Season 5:  The Roots of Testimony on The Closer and Finding Killers vs. Hearts on The Closer and Brenda Leigh's Niece and Libby from Lost on The Closer and Tom Skerritt on The Closer and Det. Richard Tracy on The Closer and Pres. Laura Roslin vs. Chief Brenda Leigh Johnson  and The Closer Closes on a Fine Note for the Season

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The Plot to Save Socrates
"challenging fun" - Entertainment Weekly

"a Da Vinci-esque thriller" - New York Daily News

"Sierra Waters is sexy as hell" - curled up with a good book

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The Romney Cylonic VP App

Mitt Romney announced Paul Ryan with a spiffy VP app, available to anyone who wanted it on social media.  This announcement came a little past 7am New York time, a few hours before the two appeared together on television.  But this was hours after Chuck Todd had said on MSNBC that three very reliable sources had confirmed  Ryan as the choice.

Obama tried something similar for the Biden VP announcement in 2008, but word was leaked beforehand to mainstream media.   Bottom line: social media are just not that important when it comes to VP announcements.  But unlike in 2008, both Republicans as well as Democrats are now adept at using them.

Aside from the app, what does the Ryan do for the Romney ticket?  It certainly humanizes the robotic Romney, who I've been saying since 2007 may be a Cylon.  But, politically, it puts Romney hand-in-hand with the man who wants to undermine social security, and whose calls for cuts in government spending for the poor have been condemned by the US Council of Catholic Bishops - which is saying a lot, since Ryan is also an opponent of abortion.

I think this is a very good development for our political process - whether you're a progressive like me or otherwise - because it puts before us in this election some remarkably clear choices.

The Newsroom and The Hour

I just saw the first season - or, first series, as the say in the U.K. - of The Hour, the 2011 BBC2 show about a news show struggling to be news worthy, during the Suez Crisis and the Soviet Union's invasion of Hungary (to crush its attempt to leave the Soviet block) in the Fall of 1956.  The show, which has been renewed for a second season, is superb on many levels, including a primer on the self-destructiveness of any democratic government trying to regulate its media.  The United Kingdom has no First Amendment, as was made clear regarding coverage of the Suez War in 1956 and the Falklands War in 1992, when the British government, well, dictated what UK media could report and criticize about those war efforts.

That makes England a very different news environment than what we have here in the United States, where the Supreme Court has by and large struck down any attempt on the part of the government to muzzle reporting (not so much when it comes to perceived "indecent" language).  But the dynamics of news shows striving to be cutting edge, aiming at the ideal of presenting the truth to the people, regardless of what the government (or, in the U.S., corporate masters) may want, is much the same, and makes The Hour a great older sibling to The Newsroom.

And there are other family resemblances, including love affairs between the dynamic female producer and the male anchor (played by Dominic West of The Wire in The Hour), and their ability to put on a great show despite or maybe in part because of this.  Are such relationships a staple of news rooms in real life, or were Abi Morgan (writer of The Hour) and Aaron Sorkin (The Newsroom) just similarly inspired?

Since The Hour was on last year - or a year before the debut of The Newsroom this year - there is a fair likelihood that Sorkin was inspired by The Hour, and that's ok.  The Hour, taking place in the 1950s, could be seen as inspired by Mad Men, and that's just the way television works.  There is sufficient difference between the two series.   The Newsroom, currently situated in 2011 in its story, addresses a wider array ethical issues, including the quintessentially 21st century problem of the anchor as bully (not as in bully pulpit, but in bullying guests on the shows).

And the topic of news show fighting to be free is so important, so crucial to our democracy, that it more than deserves two superbly written, superbly acted shows on both sides of the Atlantic.

See also The Newsroom and McLuhan

Penultimate Closer

And in the next-to-last ever Closer, we find out who the leak was: Gabriel's fiance.

The big advantage of this solution is that it explain how Gabriel - who we know was deeply disturbed about how Brenda Leigh left Terrell Baylor to die, but who we also know is loyal to her to the core - could have been the source of the leak.  He didn't know that he had leaked anything.  He expressed misgivings about the fate of Baylor to the woman Gabriel loved, and never imagined she would pass that and much more that Gabriel told her over to Goldman.

The one weakness in this otherwise fine and satisfying resolution to the central mystery of The Closer is that the fiance was a rabbit pulled out of a hat, first introduced just a few episodes ago.  This gave the viewers no chance to include her in the realm of suspects for the leak until very recently.  Had we seen her, even briefly, around the time Baylor met his end,  then her perfidy would have a thoroughly great - and fair -  twist.

But it was still effective, and the scenes with her and Gabriel, with Gabriel and Brenda, with Gabriel and the squad, were among the best in the series.  Predictably and powerfully, Sanchez is the only one who doesn't forgive him.  Provenza is the first to accept Gabriel's apology - Provenza has been there as far as talking too much to women in his life.   Flynn is the last to accept Gabriel's apology, but still holds Gabriel responsible, and suggests he put in for a transfer.

Gabriel attempts to resign outright, but Brenda won't have it.  So what will be Gabriel's fate?  He's apparently - based on the coming attractions - not in Major Crimes.  I hope he at least survives the final Closer, and puts in an appearance from time to time in its successor show.

See also:  The Closer 7.2: Pope ... Who's The Leak on the Closer? ... Who's The Leak on The Closer, Part 2

And  The Closer 6.1: The New Building ... The Closer 6.2: Fun Bumps ... The Closer 6.11: Andy Flynn

And from Season 5:  The Roots of Testimony on The Closer and Finding Killers vs. Hearts on The Closer and Brenda Leigh's Niece and Libby from Lost on The Closer and Tom Skerritt on The Closer and Det. Richard Tracy on The Closer and Pres. Laura Roslin vs. Chief Brenda Leigh Johnson  and The Closer Closes on a Fine Note for the Season

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The Plot to Save Socrates
"challenging fun" - Entertainment Weekly

"a Da Vinci-esque thriller" - New York Daily News

"Sierra Waters is sexy as hell" - curled up with a good book

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Breaking Bad 5.3: Deal with the Devil

The show, after all, is called Breaking Bad.  Which means just about new venture goes very badly, much worse than expected, at first and throughout most of the season.   Walt did his best to entice Mike into Walt and Jesse's new business.  Mike said no.  But with Gus's people vulnerable to DEA pressure, and Mike standing to lose big if they break, he decides to go in with Walt and Jesse, to get money sufficient to pay off his people.  Good news for Walt?

Not exactly.  Mike was in many always more dangerous than Gus - perhaps not as brilliant strategically, but not as subject to emotional rampages which could come back to hurt him.  Mike's view of what his business expenses entail - big payment to all of Gus's now Mike's people to make them "whole" i.e., keep them quiet - of course makes Walt unhappy, and puts the two on a collision course which promises to be at least as explosive as Gus and Walt's.   Jesse tries to make a little peace, and we all know that this won't last long.

Meanwhile, my favorite part of Breaking Bad 5.3 is the new lab that Walt decides upon - not a single lab, but multiple, rolling labs, in which homes scheduled for exterminator treatment get commandeered for blue meth production.  It's a brilliant idea.  The home owners have to leave their home for a few days.  The home is draped, so no one can see what's going on.  The extermination will leave a bit of a strange smell anyway.  So what better place to do a little cooking?

We had a new roof put on our home a few months ago.   We didn't have to leave, but might have, given the noise.  The house was mostly draped.   I didn't see anyone who looked like Walt and Jesse walking around, but was that smell really from the fertilizer my neighbor was putting in?

See also Breaking Bad Season 5 Premiere: Riveting Entropy

And see also My Prediction about Breaking Bad ... Breaking Bad Season 4 Debuts ... Breaking Bad 4.2: Gun and Question ... Breaking Bad 4.11: Tightening Vice ... Breaking Bad 4.12: King vs. King ... Breaking Bad Season 4 Finale: Deceptive Flowers

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The Plot to Save Socrates

"challenging fun" - Entertainment Weekly

"a Da Vinci-esque thriller" - New York Daily News

"Sierra Waters is sexy as hell" - curled up with a good book

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Enjoy listening to audio books? Get a free audio book copy of The Plot to Save Socrates - or any one of 85,000 other titles - with a 14-day trial membership at Audible.com ...

MSNBC's Olympic Gamble

MSNBC has already begun its Olympic programming, with pre-Olympic coverage for most of the day prior to 6pm this week.  When the actual games start, there will be no regular MSNBC programming until Rev. Al Sharpton at 6pm and then continuing with Hardball, Ed, Rachel Maddow, and The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell for the rest of the evening.

Why is MSNBC putting its regular daytime programming - and the superb Up With Chris Hayes and Melissa Harris Perry on weekends as well - on the shelf?  MSNBC expects the Olympics to draw big audiences, as they have in the past.  That's a safe bet.  But MSNBC also has a long range strategy at play here - they're hoping that some of the new viewers who come by to see the Olympics will stay for Rev. Al, Hardball, and the rest of evening.

This could happen.  But the reverse is also already at play.  The Cycle, struggling to find its footing in the afternoon, has not been on MSNBC the past few days.  I watched whatever was on CNN.  How many other news junkies, accustomed to leaning forward on MSNBC, will lean away to another news source during MSNBC's daytime Olympic coverage?   And will those people equal or outnumber the new viewers who come for the Olympics and stay?

It's a gamble.  And were I calling the shots, I wouldn't take it.  MSNBC has struggled long and hard to surpass CNN and get in second place in the 24/7 cable news races.  I would double down on the news, and leave the daytime Olympic coverage to some other NBC division, like NBC itself.

Thoughts about The Dark Knight Massacre

Some thoughts about the horrendous shootings in the Colorado movie theater showing The Dark Night 3 last night:

1. The single most effective way of preventing such tragedies in the future, or reducing their likelihood, is for President Obama and Congress to step up and restore the ban on assault (semi-automatic) weapons.  No law-abiding citizen should have need for them.  Their banning would not violate the Second Amendment - which, unlike the First Amendment, does not say "Congress shall make no law".  Rather, the Second Amendment says government should not "infringe" upon the rights of people to bear arms.  The banning of a weapon of mass killing would not infringe on the right of citizens to bear other kinds of guns. (Just a ban on sale of assault weapons to anyone under 30 years of age would help - it would have prevented the attack on Rep. Giffords last year, the murders at Virginia Tech, and what happened in Aurora.)

2. The notion that violence in the movies or in any medium triggers this kind of real-life violence is not supported by the facts:  Millions and millions of people have watched violent movies and television, and played violent video games - and, thank goodness, mass killings have happened just handfuls of times.  (See my debate with Jack Thompson a few years ago about violent video games for more.)

3. But motion picture theaters need to think of ways to make their premises more safe.  Movies - especially horror movies - have for decades sought to give the viewer tingles of fear by showing people on the screen menaced and killed by monsters and psyschos in the darkness.  With what happened in Aurora, Colorado making this a reality, the motion picture industry may need to rethink such movies, or at very least provide increased means of protection in theaters, such as metal detectors. Motion picture theaters have in effect been on the ropes since the rise of television in the 1950s.  The ease today of also viewing movies on tablets and smart phones is only putting more pressure on theaters.  Unlike schools, where attendance is required, movie-going is strictly optional.  The public needs to feel that exercising this option is safe.

4. The Batman franchise - in particular, The Dark Knight trilogy - will likely forever be associated with the tragedy of Aurora.  The Batman story, at its core, is about the darkness in the human soul (which Batman is able to overcome, or channel into doing good).  The spilling over of this darkness from fiction into our reality - where it of course already exists - is a signal moment in the history of movies, and even story-telling in general.   What impact this will have on Batman's place in our popular culture is hard to say - it will likely make the masked crusader both more and less intriguing - but we can be sure that Batman will never be seen the same.

   

The Newsroom and McLuhan

I've seen the first four episodes thus far aired of The Newsroom on HBO, and I think it's the best show on television.

I've heard some people say that The Newsroom, though good, is not in a league with Aaron Sorkin's signature television creation, The West Wing, and of course it isn't - The White House and the issues and lives that move around it are indeed in a different league from any newsroom.  But for a show about the lives of cable news, The Newsroom appears just as strong, so far, as The West Wing was for the life and times of a great President.

And there's this.  If Marshall McLuhan was right that "the medium is the message" - and I think he was - then news media, and the time we spend with them, and the way they report the actions of Presidents, may have more influence on our opinions than most of the Presidential actions themselves.  McLuhan wrote in the 1960s, and we have three 24/7 all news cable stations today in addition to the three networks - as well, of course, as the Internet.

Speaking of which, there's another notion of McLuhan's that helps explain The Newsroom's appeal.  McLuhan observed that as technologies and media get outmoded, they can come to be appreciated as art forms.  As soon as I heard this, I thought of delicatessen - meat at first spiced for preservation, now enjoyed for taste.  Convertible cars are another example - first driven to keep physically cool, now (after the advent of air conditioning) to be socially cool.  Or silent movies - one of which recently won an Oscar for its unspoken art.  The more we get our information and breaking news from Twitter and Facebook, the more cable news is becoming a suitable subject of art, too.

Life and media are evolving so quickly nowadays, that specific events can become worthy of artistic treatment after just a year or two.  The Newsroom tells real news stories - at this point though 2010 and the beginning of 2011.   This Sunday brought us to The Newsroom on a Saturday in January 2011.  We didn't learn until near the end - unless, maybe, we were consulting a calendar - that the galvanizing news event for this day's story was the shooting of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords.  Anchor Will McAvoy and his brilliant, dedicated people courageously resist reporting her death, until and unless explicitly confirmed by a physician.  It was a heart rending, enobling moment, because we at home  knew the good truth.  It was also reminiscent of the misreporting by Fox News and CNN, several weeks ago, of the US Supreme Court decision upholding the Affordable Care Act.  Of the three cables, only MSNBC got that right (all three were wrong in their initial reporting of Giffords).

MSNBC is my favorite cable news station in reality.  But I like McAvoy a little better.  He and his cohorts are a little more articulate than anyone on real television. Hey, that's what art and the improved reflection it gives us of reality is all about.

See also Why CNN and Fox News Wrongly Reported the Supreme Court on Health Care

Political Animals: Alternate Hillary History

Political Animals (6-part mini-series) debuted on the USA Network Sunday night.  The Hollywood Reporter called the 2.6 million viewers "soft ratings"- I disagree, those numbers are pretty decent. I hear tell that the producers say that series was not really inspired by Hillary and Bill Clinton - that's complete nonsense, and another demonstration of literary critic I. A. Richards' admonition that the creator of a narrative is the last person you should go to for an explanation of what it means - the creator could be anything from dissembling to not being in touch with the implications of the work.

Alternate history is a form of story telling well known in science fiction.  How would the world have been different had Lincoln or JFK not been assassinated, had Germany won the Second World War, etc?  I take a similar tack about Socrates and the hemlock in The Plot to Save Socrates.

Political Animals is the story of Elaine Barrish, former First Lady of a popular two-term President (the most popular "since Kennedy") with a southern accent and a penchant for the ladies and affairs.  She loses a close campaign for the nomination for President to a young, well-spoken, dynamic opponent.   So far, the history is not alternate but all but identical to Hillary and Bill's.  But on the night she concedes to her opponent, the divergence from our real world begins:  Elaine wants and gets a divorce from her philandering husband.

So the excellent set-up for this series is: what would have happened had Hillary left Bill after conceding the nomination to Barack Obama in 2008?  One highly significant development stays the same:  President Garcetti (played by Adrian Pasdar, who also played a President in one of the realities in Heroes) makes Elaine his Secretary of State.   And the show if off and running.

There are inevitable minor differences between the reality of Political Animals and ours.  Former President Hammond and Elaine Barrish (who uses her original name, unlike Hillary) have two sons (one gay, the other engaged to a bulimic) and no daughter.  And, at this point, it looks like Obama is a better President than Garcetti (who is Italian American not African American).

But the tableau is easily recognizable as ours, with the twist, and that's its appeal.  What differences will this twist engender? Elaine is free to sleep with other people - though the only man she sleeps with so far is her former husband, at least once, for special emotional support - and she vows to run again for President. The acting is excellent - Signorney Weaver as Elaine and Ciarán Hinds (Caesar in HBO's superb Rome) as her former husband and former ex-President, and I'm looking forward to every episode of this original, courageous, and highly entertaining series.




The Plot to Save Socrates

"challenging fun" - Entertainment Weekly

"a Da Vinci-esque thriller" - New York Daily News

"Sierra Waters is sexy as hell" - curled up with a good book

Breaking Bad Season 5 Premiere: Riveting Entropy

Breaking Bad, one of the best and most unique series ever to be on television, was back with Season 5 on AMC last night - as good as ever, or superb indeed.

This one begins with a glimpse of the future, and Walter with a head of hair and a life-and-death mission as per usual.  But this one had a special edge to it, likely because of the way Walter looked.

Meanwhile, back to a minute after Season 4 ended - another Breaking Bad technique - Walter's joy at engineering the indestructible Gus's complete death is short lived.  There's always an overlooked detail - another staple of the series - and this time it's a video cam that may have recorded more than Walter wants the police to see about how Gus came to die.

The solution is suggested by Jesse - a magnetic attack on the police evidence locker - and Mike (pretty much recovered) is pulled into this, since the vid on the hard disk of a laptop in the evidence room could well implicate him, too.  An unlikely but necessary alliance at this point.

And, as also always seems to happen on Breaking Bad, even the resolution of this problem with a successful magnetic attack engenders another problem - this time, something written down the good old fashioned way on the back of a picture frame or whatever which is damaged in the magnetic attack so the writing is now visible.

But if Breaking Bad is so predictable, why is it so excellent?  There's a fundamental principle in the universe - entropy - which says that whenever you try to eliminate noise or distortion or error or breakdown, the remedy will inevitably introduce a new noise of its own.  Breaking Bad is great because it embodies this unstoppable reality better than any other narrative I've seen.


See also My Prediction about Breaking Bad ... Breaking Bad Season 4 Debuts ... Breaking Bad 4.2: Gun and Question ... Breaking Bad 4.11: Tightening Vice ... Breaking Bad 4.12: King vs. King ... Breaking Bad Season 4 Finale: Deceptive Flowers

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The Plot to Save Socrates

"challenging fun" - Entertainment Weekly

"a Da Vinci-esque thriller" - New York Daily News

"Sierra Waters is sexy as hell" - curled up with a good book

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Enjoy listening to audio books? Get a free audio book copy of The Plot to Save Socrates - or any one of 85,000 other titles - with a 14-day trial membership at Audible.com ...

Falling Skies 2.6: Ben's True Motives

An excellent Falling Skies 2.6 tonight, in which Captain Weaver nearly dies, but is saved by Anne's persistence and Lourdes' medical insight (yes), but the deeper story resides in the return of Karen.

She's found all but dead in the woods - with other humans, formerly harnessed, who are dead - and the responses are predictable:   Hal is thrilled and in touch with the love he and Karen shared, Maggie is suspicious, Tom is mostly suspicious, too.

Ben at first is also suspicious - extremely so - but seems to be taken in by Karen as the episode develops.  In the end, he and Karen escape - so they can both be "safe".

Has Ben been really been taken in?  Or, is it possible that Karen isn't really being directed by the aliens?  I'd say neither.

First, it's clear, as the resurfaced Pope indicates at the end, that Karen has been sent on a mission to recapture or at leas neutralize Ben.   (I thought this as soon as I saw the way Ben and Karen first interacted.)

But I think Ben is more in control than that.  The strategy he's pursuing is to let Karen think she has him in her sway, and use that to get her as far away from  our people as possible.  At that point, he'll kill her.  (She wouldn't allow him to kill her on the base - her guard would be up.)

Or at least, that's his intention.  The thing about these aliens, and what makes Falling Skies so good, is that the alien powers, even over Ben, are never clearly defined ...

See also Falling Skies Returns

And see also Falling Skies 1.1-2 ... Falling Skies 1.3 meets Puppet Masters ... Falling Skies 1.4: Drizzle ... Falling Skies 1.5: Ben ... Falling Skies 1.6: Fifth Column ... Falling Skies 1.7: The Fate of Traitors ... Falling Skies 1.8: Weaver's Story ... Falling Skies Concludes First Season

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The Plot to Save Socrates


"challenging fun" - Entertainment Weekly

"a Da Vinci-esque thriller" - New York Daily News

"Sierra Waters is sexy as hell" - curled up with a good book

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Enjoy listening to audio books? Get a free audio book copy of The Plot to Save Socrates - or any one of 85,000 other titles - with a 14-day trial membership at Audible.com ...

The New Dallas: An Outright Pleasure

The new Dallas on TNT is being promoted as this summer's "guilty pleasure".  I disagree - it's just a real pleasure, period.  I don't feel at all guilty about really enjoying it.

J.R. and Bobby are as ruthless and infuriatingly decent as ever.   Larry Hagman's J.R. continues unscathed, in an arc that runs straight through the original series to the solar power commercials in 2010 (and their great J.R. cackle) to the J.R. now on the screen - older, sure, but every bit as cut throat.  He still loves Sue Ellen, who looks like she's barely aged a day.  Bobby is excruciatingly sincere, as always, which makes him an ideal opponent brother for J.R.

The next generation is also excellent.  Christopher - adopted son of Bobby and Pamela (not yet in evidence) - is not quite as decent as his father,  not quite as willing to forgive.  He sends his beautiful wife Rebecca packing, not long after they get married, because she may have been using him in her brother's scheme (the brother certainly is).   Christopher's professional interest is not oil in the ground, but alternate sources, and this creates a refreshing new scientific element in the show, as he struggles to work out technical issues.

John Ross - J.R. and Sue Ellen's son - is maybe a tad less ruthless, but he's learning, quickly.  He's discovered oil on South Fork, and needs to move Bobby out of the way so he can start digging.  His business/technological partner is another beauty, Elena, who was on track to marry Christopher, until Rebecca's brother sent her a bogus email from Christopher calling it off.  Elena also has a hot and cold romantic relationship with John Ross, and Jordana Brewster does a good job of playing the torn between two lovers part.

Cliff Barnes, Ray, Lucy are also on hand.  The key to this Dallas, even more so than in the original series, is that just about everyone is more or less or different than they seem to be.  Alliances shift with the frequency of the summer breeze, but my money is on J. R. succeeding, as he always did, whoever his opponent.

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The Plot to Save Socrates


"challenging fun" - Entertainment Weekly

"a Da Vinci-esque thriller" - New York Daily News

"Sierra Waters is sexy as hell" - curled up with a good book

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Enjoy listening to audio books? Get a free audio book copy of The Plot to Save Socrates - or any one of 85,000 other titles - with a 14-day trial membership at Audible.com ...