KEVIN : Like everyone on staff here, Kevin reads across a broad spectrum of authors and genres. His favorites are sci-fi, especially the "Golden Age" authors; fantasy; local history; monster lit; middle readers and young adult books combining fantasy, adventure, and/or stories about animals; unusual history; or natural science essays. Trained as a massage therapist and certified as a personal trainer, Kevin can also recommend books on exercise, rehabilitation, training, and weight lifting, as well as some books on nutrition and diet. With his experience as a entrepreneur, Kevin has excellent suggestions for marketing and PR for small businesses, and for writers who wish to improve their sales. Although he continues to work on several fiction pieces, currently it is Kevin's nonfiction columns which garner him attention and awards.
Here are some of Kevin's standard recommendations (not in any particular order):
*Monster Hunter International , by Larry CorreiaOld Man's War , by John ScalziRats (A History), by Robert SullivanThe Forever War , by Joe HaldemanPennsylvania Disasters , by Karen IvoryMonsters of Pennsylvania , by Patty A WilsonStarship Troopers , by Robert HeinleinTunnel in the Sky , by Robert HeinleinWorld War Z , by Max BrooksRot & Ruin , by Jonathan MaberrySunshine , by Robin McKinleyFlatlanders and Ridgerunners , by James York GlimmBig Red , by Jim KjelgaardNeverwhere , by Neil GaimanFragile Things , by Neil GaimanPower to the People: Russian Strength Training Secrets for Every American , by Pavel TsatsoulineBrawn , by Stuart McRobertGuerrilla Marketing , by Jay Conrad Levinson
$6.39
ISBN-13: 9781439132852
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 days
Published: Baen, 7/2009
I'm pleased and proud to have discovered this when Larry was still a self-published author. I reviewed this for the local newspapers, and sold it like crazy out of the bookstore, until one day, when I went to re-order it, I couldn't get it any more. That's when we found out Larry had been picked up by Baen Books!! Larry has several books to his name now, and a ton of devoted fans.
$5.59
ISBN-13: 9780765348272
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 days
Published: Tor Science Fiction, 1/2007
Scalzi is the current president of the Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America, and pens the best new science fiction I’ve read in the last five years. His work has the feel of a classic, but with a modern perspective and some imaginative new ideas. I grew up reading and rereading science fiction by Robert Heinlein and Joe Haldeman and it’s obvious that John Scalzi did too. He shows us that the universe isn’t near as big as what we’d like to think, and not nearly as friendly either…
$11.96
ISBN-13: 9780312536633
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 days
Published: St. Martin's Griffin, 2/2009
First published in 1974, this novel was thought to be too controversial and almost was not printed. It was rejected by eighteen publishers before St. Martin’s Press decided to take a chance on it. It went on to win both the Nebula for best science fiction novel in 1975 and the Hugo Award for best novel in 1976. The Forever War, however, is not just a science fiction novel about Vietnam, but a novel about war, and soldiers, and why we think we need them. Joe Haldeman is a veteran of the Vietnam War, and The Forever War is as much about the war as Tim O’Brien’s "The Things They Carried." It’s a novel about the tedium and futility of war, the brutality of combat. It’s a realistic look at the military from the perspective of the fighting man, and about the isolation a soldier feels when returning home…
$12.00
ISBN-13: 9781416505518
Availability: Special Order - Subject to Availability
Published: Gallery Books, 4/2005
A lot of people don't realize that Heinlein did some wonderful books for the young adult audience. I love recommending this book to kids who love the adventure and survival stories of Gary Paulsen and Gordon Korman. I tell them it's like "Hatchet" and the TV show "Survivor", but it takes place in space. We've gotten many a reluctant reader to make the jump into a higher reading level by talking with them about this book.
$12.80
ISBN-13: 9781582344775
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 days
Published: Bloomsbury USA, 4/2005
"Rats" is such a fun and unusual history. In the same vein as Mark Kurlansky's books, "Salt" and "Cod", Sullivan writes a natural history of the ways that rats and humans have interacted, using New York City as his main example. In the hands of another author, this topic might be gross, boring, or convoluted, but Sullivan makes it fascinating.
$11.16
ISBN-13: 9780762742868
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 days
Published: Insiders' Guide (CT), 3/2007
I am fascinated by disasters. Acts of nature; acts of men…these tragic events touch our lives and scar our hearts. It becomes part of who we are. It becomes our history. One journalist that understands this is Karen Ivory. She’s the author of Pennsylvania Disasters. She takes us back to some of Pennsylvania’s most catastrophic events, vividly recreating moments that changed the Keystone State forever. There are twenty-two true stories arranged chronologically from The Yellow Fever Epidemic in 1793 to the Quecreek Mine Rescue in 2002. There’s an account of Three Mile Island—the most serious accident to take place at an American commercial nuclear power plant, and there’s information on the Johnstown flood that killed more than 2,000 people. Shanksville and Flight 93 are there, too, along with other stories that are a chilling reminder to expect the unexpected.
$10.36
ISBN-13: 9780811736251
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 days
Published: Stackpole Books, 3/2010
Pennsylvania is home to an odd assortment of creatures, and this volume features the best of the bunch.
$7.99
ISBN-13: 9781442402331
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 days
Published: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 5/2011
It’s fifteen years since “First Night” and Benny needs to join the work force—or he’ll lose his food ration. He’s not really interested in taking on the family business, zombie hunting. He expects a boring job of destroying zombies for cash. What he discovers is a job that will teach him what it really means to be human. Rot & Ruin is about more than just the brains, but the heart as well. Benny’s brother Tom is a first class bounty hunter who prefers to be called a “closure specialist”. A zombie may be a shambling, rotting meat puppet, but it was once someone’s loved one, and would you want just anyone to mulch mom? Just because you’re a zombie doesn’t mean you are a monster, and sometimes the most terrible monsters of all are human.
$7.16
ISBN-13: 9780823423910
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 days
Published: Holiday House, 6/2011
This was one of my all-time favorite books growing up. Who can resist a good animal story? Kjelgaard imbued each of his many books for children with his two great loves: nature and dogs. Although born in New York City, he grew up in Potter County, Pennsylvania. Combining his personal experiences of the woods and wilds he knew as a boy and the animals he came to know and love, he wrote many popular children’s stories, including "Big Red", "Irish Red", "Stormy", and "Snow Dog."
$27.96
ISBN-13: 9780938045199
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 days
Published: Dragon Door Publications, 1/2000
"Whether you're young or old, a beginner or an elite athlete, training in your room or in the most high tech facility, if there was only one book I could recommend to help you reach your ultimate physical potential, this would be it. Simple, concise and truly reader friendly, this amazing book contains it all -- everything you need to know -- what exercises (only two!), how to do them (unique detailed information you'll find nowhere else), and why. Follow its advice and, believe it or not, you'll be stronger and more injury-resistant immediately... Follow this program for three months and you'll not only be amazed but hooked. It is the ultimate program for "Everyman" AND Woman! I thought I knew a lot with a Ph.D. and 40 years of training experience...but I learned a lot and it's improved my training significantly." -- Jim Wright, Ph. D., Senior Science Editor, Flex Magazine, Weider Group Editor
