Henry L Lazarus                                                                                                                                                                                                                HOME
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Science Fiction for December 2020
by Henry L Lazarus

    While 2020 was not a fun year in reality, there have been plenty of fun Fantasy and Science Fiction to read.     
Genevieve Cogman’s seventh adventure in a multiverse comes after the peace treaty between the Invisible library, the Fae and the Dragons. Unfortunately there’s The Dark Archive (paper from ACE) of villains after her and her friends to try to disrupt the treaty. One of the fae villains was murdered in a previous book, and another in an infamous evil Librarian. Lots of light melodramatic fun as usual.
Marko Kloos restarts an old series about a soldier fighting aliens in a harsh future. It’s been four years since the Lankies have been chased out of the solar system and some of the colonies. Major Andrew Grayson is assigned to head the drop-ship detachment of the Avenger war ship Washington as part of a fleet to return to the lost colony in the Capella system. AlasAlas, despite Orders of Battle (paper from 47North),  there are no easy answers and the ship is in more trouble at the end of the tale. More to come.  
Two years a revolt almost destroyed the City of Lies (paper), Silasta and was saved by a giant water spirit, new attacks, including assassins and witches, begin. This time the Hollow Empire (hard from TOR) has no idea who the Prince is who is attacking the city and what the reason is. Jovan, his sister Kalina, and his apprentice Dija have to find details in drug sellers and dead spirits in the villages surrounding the city. Sam Hawke continues his complex tale of politics, poison, and magic.
Seven years after the war told in Walter Jon Williams’s Dread Empire's Fall series, there is an attempt to kick humans out of the fleet of the multi-species Praxis empire. It touched off The Accidental War (paper) in which humans captured the fourth fleet. Now these Fleet Elements (hard from Harper Voyager) have to face the rest of the fleet in the largest battle in Praxis history.  Former lovers and now adversaries Gareth Martinez and Caroline Sula have to learn to work together to command such a large fleet. There’s more coming in this exciting tale of space battles without artificial gravity and  where Newtonian  physics creates the tactics.  
Cass Morris returns to her version of the Roman Republic were some people have magical abilities. From Unseen Fire (paper) introduced us to Latona of the Vitelliae a mage of fire and spirit, and Senator  Sempronius Tarren who is hiding his abilities. They had to work together to save Aven (Rome) from revolt and foul sorcery. Give Way to Night (hard from DAW) sees  Sempronius leading troops in Iberia against tribal mages releasing evil spirits who have laid siege to an Aven Legion at Toletum. Latona and friends are facing similar discordant magic in Aven created by mages who wish to use disorder so that the populace will want order returned. Unfortunately a third tale is required to finish the story.
    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.