Books Read #5: "Farthing" by Jo Walton

An English country house murder mystery set in alternate history where the Americans are isolationist and the British make peace in 1941 using Rudolf Hess' flight as a pretext for opening talks. Well written from two points of view, the wife of the main suspect and the investigating Scotland officer. Recommended for those who like character driven stories. Things are not always what they seem.

Books Read #6 "Seeker" by Jack McDevitt

Another great science fiction mystery by Jack. The Seeker was a ship used to set up Earth's first lost colony over 5,000 years ago and now a cup from it has turned up. The story follows the main characters as they follow leads to determine where the cup came from and what happened to the colony. A really good read.

Books Read #7 "Retro rockets: Experimental rockets 1926-1941" by Peter Alway

I picked this up at ConFusion and it is an apparently complete history of private liquid fuel rocketry up to the last launch of Robert Goddard. It also describes some significant solid fuel rockets as well. The main players are Goddard and the Germans including Von Braun with coverage of what was happening in the Soviet Union as well. Written by Michigan fan Peter Alway and published in Ann Arbor. I found it interesting to read and fill in the gaps about what was happening before liquid fueled rocketry became a government backed phenomenon.