Henry L Lazarus
HOME
4715 Osage Ave.
Philadelphia, PA 19143
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.