Who's the author?  Doug?

This one is written by Rik Hoskin.

Is it just my copy or is this one about a half inch shorter than the rest and about 2/3 as thick ?

Also I must be getting old as the typeface looks a hell of a lot smaller too ?

My copy is exactly the same height as the previous books, although it does seem to be slightly thinner. The typeface looks about the same as well.

Hmmm...
I may have to speak to Amazon.

I was just looking at the Amazon reviews for the OL books by UK writer Rik Hoskin...interesting that all the reviewers seem to be from the UK too and they're posted by people who never reviewed an OL book before in its many years of being published and written by Mark Ellis.

Also the contortions they go through to avoid mentioning Mark Ellis by name even though all these books feature the characters and concepts created by Mark.

None of the fill-in writers (or as Doug referred to himself "a parasite") have come up with anything new, all the books are just sequels to material Mark had already written, some of it over 10 years ago.

Seems to be it would be easier for GE just to make peace with Mark so he can go back to writing the series he created and made a success and let the parasites--I mean fill-in writers--move on to something else.

Posted By )3az )3aziah on 11 Aug 2009 04:43 AM
Hmmm...
I may have to speak to Amazon.

Or ease back on the single malt. Plays havoc with depth perception ...  

Every time I see that title, I mentally drop the initial "J". It doesn't help that the previous title in the OL series was also a crude sexual metaphor. I feel like I am trapped in a bizarre, post-apocalyptic game of "If you know what I mean...." from Who's Line Is It Anyway?

Posted By Ron Miles on 11 Aug 2009 12:39 PM
Every time I see that title, I mentally drop the initial "J". It doesn't help that the previous title in the OL series was also a crude sexual metaphor. I feel like I am trapped in a bizarre, post-apocalyptic game of "If you know what I mean...." from Who's Line Is It Anyway?

Are you visualizing a kind of "built-in" device, meant to snare unwary others?  Or something external that would suddenly spring shut when a person is seated, pants-down, etc.? 

Either would make a strong statement if used in cover art.

Posted By Ron Miles on 11 Aug 2009 12:39 PM
Every time I see that title, I mentally drop the initial "J".

Based on the quality of some past fill-in books, it very well may read that way.

Haven't read it yet, but I have heard good things about Rik Hoskin in general.

An enjoyable sequel to "Death Cry", with the return of the intriguing cyberpunk Aboriginals known as The Original Tribe. The most SF heavy Outlanders book I've read yet, with virtual reality being the lynchpin of the story. The villains are tough and capable, which brings the best out of the regulars. A great little surreal moment where Grant is being operated on by dogs in surgical masks! Another highlight is the James Bond style prologue featuring a battle with scuba diver assasins. I found it very entertaining.

[All - this thread is for discussing the book Janus Trap. If you want to criticize it on the merits of the writing, that is fair game. If you just want to insult the author without any context and without regards to the actual text of this book, please take it elsewhere. - Ron}

I've noticed in the last few books the authors seem to be lax or lazy in looking up their Greek/Roman mythology, particularly the "three" headed dog Cerberus. In this book on Page 18, he mentions Cerberus the "Two" headed dog. I mean come on, that painting at the redoubt was mentioned hundreds of times throughout Deathlands and early Outlanders that it was a three-headed dog.

That's just some lazy researching IMHO and it drives me nuts. I don't even know my mythology all that well, but I do know Cerberus has 3 heads. I wish these guys would get this straight. Sheesh.

I've noticed in the last few books the authors seem to be lax or lazy in looking up their Greek/Roman mythology, particularly the "three" headed dog Cerberus. In this book on Page 18, he mentions Cerberus the "Two" headed dog. I mean come on, that painting at the redoubt was mentioned hundreds of times throughout Deathlands and early Outlanders that it was a three-headed dog.

That's just some lazy researching IMHO and it drives me nuts. I don't even know my mythology all that well, but I do know Cerberus has 3 heads. I wish these guys would get this straight. Sheesh.

That's a real problem...of course to solve the problem, GE could simply put MARK ELLIS THE OL SERIES CREATOR back on it.

But doing that would be an admission that quality matters.