Henry L Lazarus
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Science Fiction for November and December 2019
The more the world keeps changing, the more
important it is to read Fantasy and Science Fiction to stretch the
mind.
Seventy years from now the Aldrin,
named for the astronaut who proposed her, keeps a steady orbit
between Earth and Mars. It takes a year and half to make a full
loop, but delivers goods at a minimal cost. Shuttles have to
dock for cargo and passenger delivery. Captain Nicolau Aames, the
first and only captain for over two decades, has been accused of
mutiny against Earth’s space navy, possibly making the current orbit
The Last Dance (hard from 47North) Aames is a polarizing
figure. His crew loves him and will follow him anywhere. The problem
is that economic forces are need for the Aldrin to ben enlarged, and
that compromises safety. Inspector General Park Yerim, way over her
head, has been assigned to find a solution that will settle the
problem. Martin L. Shoemaker lets crew members close to the
captain tell Park their stories, while an admiral on board keeps
causing problems as he tries to help add two environmental rings to
the huge ship. Aames had been involved in the disaster of the
first Martian settlement and responsible for most of the crew’s
survival. He sets high standards and dislikes those who refuse to
even try to match them. This is the sort of tale I hope to find on
award lists. There is a well-crafted future and impossible to put
down.
Elizabeth Bear starts with a
standard tale of a small salvage ship run by Halmey Dz and her
partner Connla Kurucz and an AI named singer (who is going to be
drafted into government service) who finds a ship from an unknown
alien species locked in white space (used for ftl travel) that had
been scuttled by a human built device. In this Ancestral Night
(hard from Gallery / Saga Press), Halmey is infected with an alien
parasite that gives her the ability to read gravity waves and
eventually modify them. Pirates attack them when they begin to
translate the ship out of white space, and they flee, barely
surviving. Ms. Bear is concerned with the effects on society of
implanted computers that can warp personalities, a civilization
where leaders are drafted rather than elected, and the interaction
with intelligent aliens. There’s also wonderful, huge, ancient alien
artifacts. I was overwhelmed by this amazing tale and hope it finds
numerous awards.
Generation ships brought humanity
to a series of worlds orbiting a red dwarf. Unfortunately the
previous inhabitants went extinct but left deadly weapons. Centuries
later, each of the worlds distrust each other, but luckily the
Kaiser family-run-ship, Fortuna (paper from Orbit) has
siblings born on separate planets except for the second oldest
Scorpia who was born in space. Her older brother, Corvus, enlisted
in the civil war on Titan, the coldest planet. Scorpia is hoping to
impress her mother with side deals on Gaia, the most earth-like
planet, but succeeds in getting the family in trouble. But her
brother is coming home and Gaia has a shipment of Primus weapons to
be delivered. Unfortunately the weapons prove far more deadly than
expected, killing Fortuna’s captain and mother of the siblings,
leaving them trying to survive and save their ship. Kristyn Merbeth
has a nicely drawn series of planets and a plucky family able to
handle both planetary authorities and pirates. Lots of fun. Luckily
a sequel is coming.
Echoes have been genetically
engineered to seem human, but they resurrect when killed, usually in
a younger form. They came to Earth in the eighteenth century, but in
the 2060's some of them tried to conquer the Earth as Wardens.
According to Cheryl Campbell, Dani resurrects as age 10 with no
memory of her previous lives. Each time she gets herself killed, her
brother Jace raises her. Living as scavengers (brigades), they avoid
the war between the Wardens and the Commonwealth CNA soldiers.
She dies trying to save brigades trapped in the war for Portland
Maine, and is re-raised by her brother in Bangor. But the third
time’s the charm in this Echoes of War (trade from
Sparkpress) after she saves the life of the son of a lover in her
previous life. She decides its time for the brigades and the CNA to
work together to recover Maine. This is a well-limned look at a
war-torn future. I enjoyed it and look forward to the continuing war
against the Wardens.
D. J. Butler and Aaron Michael
Ritchey tell a tale of magic set in the depression. There’s a coal
mine closed because of fights between the three heirs to the missing
owner. Monsters have been spotted in the mine, but the real problem
as beet farmer Hiram Wooley discovers when he volunteers to drive a
truck full of food to the mine, is the starving workers who owe too
much to go running. Luckily The Cunning Man (hard from
Baen), and his adopted son, have enough magic to fight not only the
monster already killing people, but also a witch with his own ax to
grind. I read the tale with a smile on my face, and look forward to
more of Hiram’s adventures.
P.S. Newman writes of L. A turned
into a Nightmare City (ebook from BooksGoSocial) because
dreams become real people and monsters called shades. Eden Maybrey
is a private shade hunter working during curfew hours with a talking
sword (Aunt Vy). She’s hiding the fact that she is actually a
shade created from a graphic novel by a teenager and illegally given
papers to prove her human. Then a Sean Baptiste, a billionaire and
ex-boy friend, dreams up a doppelgänger of himself who can shoot
fire his fingers. The case keeps getting worse, as the doppelgänger
targets Sean’s brother David, the boyfriend of Cecelia whose younger
sister, Bella, dreamed up Eden. Not only that but the city was
infected by a pit from hell dreamed up a year before. Soon she has
to team up with a professional shade hunter, Vaughn Taylor,
and somehow save the girl who created her without giving away her
secret. To add to the mix, she dreams up hell hounds and her lover
from the graphic novel. Yes this is as much fun as it sounds. I’m
eagerly waiting further adventures of Eden and Aunt Vy.
Sikander Singh North returns now,
after eighteen years in the Aquilan Commonwealth Navy, he is captain
of the destroyer Decisive. Pirates are causing problems in the
province of Zerzura of the Terran Caliphate. The governor of the
province is playing with succession, and is looking for help for
both Aquilan and the Empire of Dremark (think England, Germany, and
the Ottoman Empire in the nineteenth century.) With
Scornful Stars (hard from Tor) looking on, Sikander is caught
in an impossible conundrum, when after successfully capturing some
pirates, he learns that the governor, Marid Pasha, is heavily
involved in the local Piracy. As usual Richard Baker tells a
fun tale and I look forward to Sikander’s further adventures.
I’ve been following Sharon Lee and
Steve Miller’s Liaden universe with Clan Korval with its intelligent
tree from its very beginning in 1988. The villain of the
series, the Department of the Interior, forced the clan to move from
Liaden to the planet of Surebeak where the clan has been slowly
growing. Twenty-two books later it’s time to start Accepting the
Lance (hard from Baen). This final confrontation with the
agents of Change is a must for fans of the series, but comes not
with a bang but a whimper. Previous books have detailed the failure
of the Department and that has hollowed it out. There are also far
too many characters for me to keep track of. Fun but a bit
disappointing.
Baen books has put together the three novels and
some short tales of the mercenary group Dead Six in Invisible
Wars by Larry Correia in trade, reprinted the final Honor
Harrington tale by Dqvid Webber Uncompromising Honor in
paper.and the last Sharon Lee and Steve Miller Liaden tale Conflict
of Honors.
Collections by Baen this month include : The
Best of Jerry Pournelle (trade and edited by John F.
Carr); Star Destroyers (paper edited by Tony Daniel and
Christopher Ruocchio); silly tales Straight Outta Deadwood
(trade edited by David Boop); Freehold Resistence with tales
set in Michael Z. Williamson’s universe (trade); and the second
volume of Target Rich Environment (trade) with more tales
from Larry Correia.
The Science Fiction Society will have its next
meeting on December 6th.The meeting starts at 8
p.m. at the Rotunda on the University of Pennsylvania
Campus. Audrey Schulman, a Philip K. Dick Award winner will
speak. As usual guests are welcome.
Dr. Henry Lazarus is a retired Dentist and the
author of A Cycle of Gods (Wolfsinger Publications) and Unnaturally
Female (Smashwords).Check out his unified field theory at
henrylazarus.com/utf.html that suggests fusion generation requires
less energy because only one frequency is needed rather than a full
spectrum. It also explains dark matter, the proliferation of
subatomic particles, and the limit of light speed for matter.