Rating: 
Summary: A real page turner
Review: A great follow on to his first book. A wonderfully down-to-earth (read bawdy) tale in the style of Asmivov. A good sense of Twilight-zone justice and characters that you give a damn about with a healty dose of lust and science-fact. I read it in a weekend and wished it went on forever....
Rating:
Summary: Very funny, feel good novel
Review: After reading the first chapter I thought this was going to be a standard, serious adventure novel after a few more chapters I was laughing out loud. The world Burns creates is extremely interesting and funny in a 'Snow Crash' sort of way. All the characters are very bizarre and you just want to know more about them. You put together Jamal, a black, over weight, omnipotent agoraphobic computer whiz; his girlfriend Amber, an Asian tabooed nymphomaniac; Dan, the 'Virtual Weatherman' with a celebrity ex-wife from Hell and a butch lesbian, biker, producer; Martina, a Russian, amazon, one-woman-army, bodyguard guarding her boyfriend the head of the United Nations; Davsheed, a gay Pakistani-American 'Media Artist' working for the UN and his Native-American UN security guard boyfriend; Jane the pilot/commander of a mission to Mars with a egotistical, back-stabbing second-in-command; Ray Sunshine a charismatic televangelist; throw in some nationalistic, multi-phobic white supremacists and you get one hell of a story. If great characters isn't enough, put in a fun story where many of these characters try to get together to save an alien living on a Martian moon and you can't miss. Finally give the story a feel good message about love makes this even more enjoyable. For a funny, feel-good story with fantastic characters you must read this book.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent
Review: An excellent novel. The story was not anything really special but the telling, the writing, was really fine. It was a novel that had me going and that was very difficult to put down. It was one of the best novels I have read for a while for being exciting.
Rating: 
Summary: Childish.
Review: I found the characters to be both superficial and extremely unreliable. The dialogs are very disappointing, often shallow and unsophisticated. Unfortunately -so is the plot.
Rating: 
Summary: Extremely absorbing and entertaining!
Review: I found this, Stephen Burns second novel, to be not as intellectually compelling as his most excellent "Flesh And Silver", but a most enjoyable and exciting adventure nonetheless.A typical good guys vs the bad guys story, the good guys here are a group of six humans who are interrupted in their complex lives by a mentally deafening call for help that just can't be ignored. The bad guys are all the rest who don't hear the call and can't believe their stories of an alien presence in dire need. I loved the characters and the characterization. Burns really brought them all to vivid and interesting life and compelled me to avidly follow their progress towards a noble and world changing goal. This is only a mild social statement, not much science in the fiction, but it is a darn good read that started out a bit slow and then came to a screaming finish. A great feeling of aaaahhhhh at the end. Try it, you'll really like it!
Rating:
Summary: Extremely absorbing and entertaining!
Review: I found this, Stephen Burns second novel, to be not as intellectually compelling as his most excellent "Flesh And Silver", but a most enjoyable and exciting adventure nonetheless. A typical good guys vs the bad guys story, the good guys here are a group of six humans who are interrupted in their complex lives by a mentally deafening call for help that just can't be ignored. The bad guys are all the rest who don't hear the call and can't believe their stories of an alien presence in dire need. I loved the characters and the characterization. Burns really brought them all to vivid and interesting life and compelled me to avidly follow their progress towards a noble and world changing goal. This is only a mild social statement, not much science in the fiction, but it is a darn good read that started out a bit slow and then came to a screaming finish. A great feeling of aaaahhhhh at the end. Try it, you'll really like it!
Rating:
Summary: Well done!!!
Review: I have read about a million books. This is one of the most enjoyable I have read thus far. I bought Mr. Burns's first book basically because it had decent reviews and a neat cover. I was surprised to find that it really was a good book. Good enough to buy this other book from him. Well, this book is leaps and bounds better than "flesh and silver". The character development is amazing. The plotline is compelling. He provides just enough detail that you actually feel as if you are living the story along with the characters. But not too much detail as to be excessive (Anne Rice). One part even made me bust out laughing. That hardly ever happens with me. I had to explain to a friend what was going on in the book so that he didn't think I lost my marbles.
The author's views of how our future may very well turn out is exciting, and fun. The way in which the book is written is very down-to-earth...and not technical or too far out. I can see this becoming a movie one day. I sure hope so. But a movie wouldn't do it justice (they hardly ever do)....but while I was reading the book I could actually see what movie stars could be filling the roles in the book. The hacker in the book could be the black guy in "the green mile"...and so on... You have to read this one. Trust me.
Rating:
Summary: Well done!!!
Review: I have read about a million books. This is one of the most enjoyable I have read thus far. I bought Mr. Burns's first book basically because it had decent reviews and a neat cover. I was surprised to find that it really was a good book. Good enough to buy this other book from him. Well, this book is leaps and bounds better than "flesh and silver". The character development is amazing. The plotline is compelling. He provides just enough detail that you actually feel as if you are living the story along with the characters. But not too much detail as to be excessive (Anne Rice). One part even made me bust out laughing. That hardly ever happens with me. I had to explain to a friend what was going on in the book so that he didn't think I lost my marbles.
The author's views of how our future may very well turn out is exciting, and fun. The way in which the book is written is very down-to-earth...and not technical or too far out. I can see this becoming a movie one day. I sure hope so. But a movie wouldn't do it justice (they hardly ever do)....but while I was reading the book I could actually see what movie stars could be filling the roles in the book. The hacker in the book could be the black guy in "the green mile"...and so on... You have to read this one. Trust me.
Rating:
Summary: Good enough to compell me to write my first review!
Review: It has been many years since I have read such a wonderful amalgam of humor, action, and science fiction. The characters are a pleasure to interact with, and the plot is a non-stop rocket sled ride.... full of powerful emotion, wry humor, and cyber-opera goodness.
Rating:
Summary: This novel was made for film
Review: Like reviewer John Rauth, Jr., reading this novel made me want to write my first review. I agree with what many of the other reviewers have said, both good and bad, about Call From A Distant Shore. In the end, however, it is nice to read a feel good space opera (including hokey foreign accents, deus ex machina, perfect loves, super talents and all) that is hard to lay aside. This novel does its job; it provides a way to escape from everyday life for awhile and let you live in a simpler world. I think that it would make a great movie.
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