Henry L Lazarus
HOME
4715 Osage Ave.
Philadelphia, PA 19143
Science Fiction for 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.
Jacqueline Carey tells a tale of a
world that is Starless (hard from Tor) because they were
exiled from the heavens, living as gods among the various lands.
There is, of course. Khai was picked by the gods and raised by
the monks of the Fortress of the Winds to become the protector of
Princess Zariya at age sixteen. Magical fruit allows the court
of the ageless endless life, but that doesn’t stop the
deadly plots among the heirs who may never rule. Unfortunately
an evil god is rising in the deep ocean and threatens the world.
Chance throws Khai and Zariya among prophecy seekers on a
quest to save their world. This is a marvelously detailed world from
one of my favorite writers, and has enough detail to easily have
been lengthened to trilogy. Lots of fun.
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.
Somehow the thought of Frosty the
Snowman wandering through the Nevada desert is ridiculous. Alfred
Wurr somehow pulls it off by making his Phantom Frost (paper
from Wurreal Games) an unhuman who has escaped from a secret
underground lab. Shivurr had been found in a cave filled with
strange technology in 1973. He has lost his memory. A decade
later he escapes from the Bodhi Institute with the help of a new
technician who promises he’ll find help in Las Vegas from a bulletin
board sysop. Helped by some teenaged tourists who he rescues from
bandits in the desert, he then has to rescue them from fire
elementals attacking him. Gradually his memory returns, giving
enough background for games, the most fun was in the beginning where
he has to hide his nature in 1983 America. Lots of fun.
Lola Dodge has a fun new series
about Ivory ( ebook from INscribe Digital,) a member of a
tribe that uses ice abilities to hunt in the Polar regions. She’s
found her way to civilization, working as a flight attendant and
hiding her abilities. Unfortunately her flight loses
air-conditioning and a passenger who hates people with powers tries
to kill her. That brings her to the attention of Jag, a Jaguar
changer and member of New York’s Manhattan Ten. Jag recruits
her and soon she has to deal with someone who is killing people with
powers. This is a fun beginning of a series that is fun, but a
bit heavy on the romance.
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