adventure

  • Adventure Romance for Summer

    Adventure Romance for Summer

    Summer is the perfect time to go into the great outdoors in pursuit of treasure (and romance)! As with all genres, there are many possible sub-genres to be had here; adventure romance can be modern, historical, set in a desert, a jungle, or on the sea! What matters is the journey.   Let’s set the scene with movies! Romancing the Stone is a classic romantic comedy from… Continue reading

  • (Steam)Punk’s Not Dead

    Remember steampunk, that intriguing genre of “What If…,” featuring fantastic steam-powered machines, airships, clever sartorial uses of brass, and goggles, all set against a Victorian backdrop? What about its close speculative subgenre cousin, gaslamp fantasy? With the recent release of Jim Butcher’s The Olympian Affair, the second book in his steampunk Cinder Spire series, it’s… Continue reading

  • Sharknado!

    2013 was a watershed moment for disaster films. While many folks were updating their anti-Zombie kits some of us were shopping for chain saws in case the absolute worst-case came to be – a Sharknado. This terrifying premise is exactly what it sounds like – a huge Oz-level tornado sucks up sharks (and only sharks)… Continue reading

  • Family Reads: Trains and Trails

    Summer is finally here! Kids are out of school and vacations are under way, which means it’s a great time for kids to stock up on some great summer reads. I always love to start summer with a grand adventure, and I think many kids will as well. Kenneth Oppel’s The Boundless fits the bill… Continue reading

  • Extreme outdoors

    Although I’m fairly wimpy in “real life,” I enjoy the vicarious experience of reading about other peoples’ travails in harsh climates. Here are some favorite tales of true adventure and survival (with a bit of history thrown in): The Cruelest Miles by Gay Salisbury When isolated Nome, Alaska, was struck by a diphtheria epidemic in… Continue reading

  • Your Next 5 Books: Real life adventure

    In this column we regularly highlight a Your Next 5 Books submission that we find interesting, funny, unique, or useful to other readers. Submit Your Next 5 Books entry now, or stop by and see us in person, and maybe you could see your (anonymous) reading habits on Shelf Talk! Continue reading

  • Into the Unknown: Pacific Northwest Maritime and Overland Exploration

    While the story of Juan de Fuca’s tale of an inland route, later known as the elusive Northwest Passage is of doubtful reliability, the later major sea explorations of the Northwest Coast during the late eighteenth century are well documented. Noteworthy coastal explorers include Vitus Bering, Dionisio Alcala-Galiano, George Vancouver, Robert Gray. Lewis and Clark,… Continue reading

  • AND I ALONE SURVIVED!

    Do you like to take a walk on the wild side?  Or would you rather read about it when you know everything turns out okay?  Check out this list of daring adventure stories by some who lived to tell the tale. Walking the Gobi: A 1,600-Mile Trek Across a Desert of Hope and Despair by… Continue reading

  • Get Lost (Part 3)

    (Third in a series) You look to the sky…                                 Set your course on into the night… You say good-bye…                                                             You hold your head high…     Wherever you’re goin it’s alright… Second stop was Cannon Beach and Salem: 1 day, 1 night We headed out early morning on a sunny Sunday from Portland to… Continue reading

  • High adventure and inspiration

     Do you like a touch of inspiration with your real-life adventure? Three Cups of Tea: One Man’s Mission to Fight Tby Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin errorism and Build Nations — One School at a Time OK, I’ll admit I picked up this book because “everyone’s reading it.” It was featured in The Seattle Public… Continue reading