The Bonus and Sister Planet Tara: The Complete American Stories-Edited [Paperback]

Jeneen Diane Sterling (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 420 pages
• Publisher: 1st Book Library (October 21, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1403357382
• ISBN-13: 978-1403357380
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,868,600 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars 5 Stars Times 5 Stars, November 24, 2002

By 

M Walker (Michigan) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Bonus and Sister Planet Tara: The Complete American Stories-Edited (Paperback)

In The Bonus, White thirty-four year old male (computer engineer) with a physical disability -- Michigan State grad -- falls in love with a single, ex-elementary teacher -- Albany State grad-- African American forty-two who starts working for the hero at his company. The two are introduced innocently enough by mutual older friends (black married couple) trying to help the heroine find a job. But both the reader and the heroine are in for a surprise when the company turns out to be more than what was expected. The story has so many exciting and believable twists (starting with the actual printing and publishing of those two unedited books by the author that are actually part of this story). The Bonus follows the timeline of actual calendar events that lead up to Y2K and beyond while introducing jump-off-the-page characters that you'll remember. Positive story that throws in real accounts of American history, military, music, government, holidays, parenthood, money, humor, sports, social causes, morals, education, familiy traditions, and on and on. Makes us as Americans realize and know that even with our infighting and differences we still will/can help each other in times of need. Worth reading over and over and over again.
Sister Planet Tara is a continuation of ideas from the Bonus meaning the author actually tells you in The Bonus how she came up with the idea for Sister Planet Tara. A story of two older college women friends -- African American and Chinese American who are snatched from their backyard and wind up on Planet Tara. They meet human-looking (including sexually functioning) aliens who have already determined that these two women will become their new family members. With so many detailed details (including you-are-there love making scenes in both The Bonus and Sister Planet Tara), both books will have you asking yourself "is this really fiction or non-fiction?" And you find yourself pulling for all the characters. Outstanding. There has to be a movie in the works for both stories. Definitely ten stars and more.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars WARNING! WARNING!, June 21, 2003

By 

"djohnso430" (RAIN DRENCHED GEORIGA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Bonus and Sister Planet Tara: The Complete American Stories-Edited (Hardcover)

THIS BOOK TURNS YOU IN EVERY DIRECTION SO THAT YOU'RE NOT SURE WHAT'S NOT TRUE. And especially with some of the things happening in the news that are in the book. It makes you think, laugh (some times out loud!!!), cry, and wipe your brow and go "WHEW" in diffrent ways.
The book has money, politics, sex (& birth control), education, some profanity (not near as much as some books)for more expression, families, history, holidays, music, military, disabilities, sports, humor.
There's different things going on in both stories but the two stories are related; and the stories can be read together as one complete book even starting from the back with the modern day scifi story that has politcal undertones and then read THE Bonus at the front a modern day contemporary story that also touches on politics so that the book becomes a complete scifi book.
But you can also switch and then read THE Bonus from the front through SISTER at the back and get an entirely different and complete story that becomes all TODAY and contemporary. Or read just one of the stories and still get a complete story. It's like having three different books all in one but still telling one story.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars WILL READ again and again and again..., January 25, 2003

By 

Monica Wallace (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Bonus and Sister Planet Tara: The Complete American Stories-Edited (Paperback)

The most positive, entertaining, educating, emotional (catches you off guard), uplifting book I've read in a long time. There's a today's love story mixed in with real things that are happening in the world today. If its fiction its really good fiction including the scifi story. Definitely not a quick mass generated book. Finally something written that really pulls you in both the contemporary story and the Scifi one (entire book is just one main story split into two books inside this one book). I cannot say enough about the entire book. Maybe not for the closed minds because the male heros in both stories have a disabiilty and there are gooood lovemaking scenes between hero and heroine in both stories (the part later involving the heorine's jealous cat in THE BONUS is verrrry funny!!). The author did a good job in throwing all kinds of sensitive things together to create a good book to read. I read it all the way through scifi story and THEN turned around and started reading the book again from the beginning with the contemporary story (THE BONUS) again. Good.