Henry L Lazarus
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Science Fiction for January2021
by Henry L Lazarus
Welcome to a new year of Fantasy and Science
Fiction. There should be an abundance of great stuff because writers
had plenty of time to write in 2020.
Marie Brennan and Alyc Helms
writing together as M. A. Carrick have a fantasy sure to be
nominated for an award. Arenza Lenskaya had been a street urchin who
fled Nadezra with her blood sister. She returns as Renata Virauda
supposed daughter of an exiled member of the Traementis family. The
idea is a long scam to weasel her way into the family register. Her
time as a maid to the exiled woman and stolen jewels provide what
she needs to pull off the scam. Nadezra resembles the Republic of
Venice ruled by its nobility, and magic seem superficial, until it
proves to be very powerful, powerful enough to sink the city
into the nightmares of The Mask of Mirrors
(paper from Orbit). Somehow Ren is thrust into a position to save
the city from a nightmare from her past and a noble bent on amassing
more power. Aided by a Zorro like figure called the Rook who has
been around for over a century and a crime boss, she survives and
leaves enough of the city unexplored for the next two parts of the
trilogy. Excellent.
Tim Pratt tells of Zaxony Delatree
who every time he goes to sleep, he goes through the Doors of
Sleep(paper from Angry Robot) in a new universe. Unfortunately
The Lector, a scientist he met on one world, has discovered how to
travel the same way and wants to conquer every world he enters.
Helping him stop this evil is Minna, a slave botanist who can work
magic with plants and a crystal intelligence small enough to fit on
a ring. The worlds he and Minna travel are wild and very
imaginative, ranging from paradises to dangerous dystopias. I
suspect this will be up for an award. Excellent.
Nnedi Okorafor tells of Sankofa, a
young girl wandering the world with the ability to bring death at
will. They call her Remote Control (hard from Tor) and both
hate and fear her. Her abilities from from a meteor she found and
planted by her favorite tree. At age twelve she was hit by a truck
and somehow killed her whole town in reaction. Electronics die near
her, including cars, so she wanders on foot, euthanizing people who
need death and protecting herself as needed. This is
impossible-to-put-down, and will probably end on an award list.
Joshua Phillip Johnson sets his
tale of pirates and ancient cities on The Forever Sea (hard
from DAW) of an endless prairie. Ships float over the endless plants
using the magic of their hearthfires to help harvest the food needed
for the towns. It’s a harsh environment, with permanent rationing of
the water collected from dew and rain. Kindred Greyreach is one of
the few hearthfire keepers who can hear the voices of the fire. She
is second keeper of the harvest ship Errant, when the ship is forced
to flee Acadia because of the rise of a would-be tyrant. Their only
hope is the Once-city, an ancient and magical place constantly
moving. After barely surviving a monster attack, they arrive at the
Once-city now under attack by Acadia, and with it’s own problems.
This is an exciting adventure from a new voice and the first of a
trilogy. Highly recommended.


. Peter Keith starts his massive
tale of an odyssey across the stars with the exploration ship
Ulysses and it’s small crew of explorers heading to Jupiter.
In Wine Dark Deep (paper) the ship has its refueling tankers
refused by a rebellion on the small colony on Ceres who think
independence can make them rich. Captain Cal Scott has to use the
space taxi left in orbit to go down to the colony and somehow rescue
his needed supplies. Then they have an Encounter at Jupiter
(paper) were an ancient alien craft docks with them and sends them
hurling down through the center of the huge planet to emerge from
another gas giant. There The Odyssey (paper from Uphill
Downhill Press) as they explore this new system, work with the alien
device that stranded them and find an alien who learns to talk to
them. A lot more is coming in this hard science fiction tale that is
careful with its orbital mechanics and its near future technology.
Fun.
Jeff Wheeler’s latest trilogy is
set in a world of armored knights. Marshal is a knight,
nicknamed Ransom. He had been a hostage to the previous king, who
was too kindly to have him killed when his father rebelled. This Knight's
Ransom (paper from 47North) is a bit too honest for his own
good, especially with his contacts with the ruling family. Including
being sworn to the son when he attempts to overthrow the king.
Ransom is fountain blessed which gives him greater stamina and fast
healing. This is a fun beginning to an adventure that will lead to
the tale of a great man.
In 1890, Anna May Jones was sickly
in her mining town, so her mother sends her to her Aunt Jinny. She
soon learns that her Aunt is an Earth wizard and that she is
to. Soon, she learns to use her abilities, and finds a
boy in the farm next to her new home who loves carving stone. Then
there’s Jolene (hard from DAW) who seems human but is really
The Queen of the Copper Mountain, a spirit who protects miners and
artists. Jolene just offers to teach her, but the foreman of local
mine, who uses his elemental abilities in evil ways, wants to
collect her. But Jolene wants the boy, Anna is falling for,
for her collection. Mercedes Lackey tells in down-to-earth story of
young love and fairy tale problems set in a very real rural America.
Angie Fox has a properly silly
tale of Dr. Petra Robichaud drafted into a M.A.S.H. unit in Limbo
saving the lives of the demi-gods and humans injured in the
centuries old war between the old gods and the new gods. For
non-immortals service in The Monster MASH (ebook from
Moose Island Books) is for life, but they make the tedium between
incoming injured pass with practical jokes on their commander, and
helping each other out with their problems. Petra has three problems
no one can help with. She has a knife she removed from a patient
that keeps finding its way back to her. She used her illegal
abilities to touch ghosts to pull a dying patient’s soul back into
his body, and that sexy demigod doesn’t want to leave. Then there’s
the prophecy about ending the war that seems to be about her. Lot’s
of fun. I pre-ordered the sequel.
Rachel Graves starts a fun PI tale
set in an alternate America in which a war against things that
enslave women. Ex-vet Elisabeth Hicks was wounded in that war and
hides her artifical flesh. She discovered in the war that she was a
spirit witch and could talk to the dead. On a first date with a
masseuse who her family thinks is gay, she ends up discovering the
dead body of a close friend. She hadn’t helped the dead recover a
ring from a vampire. Then the vampire goes missing and her husband
and mother are at odds at finding the missing because it leads to
the missing vampire. Dead Man's Detective (ebook) is a fun
mystery and a nice introduction to a fun world.
Greta Kelly kept me up late
reading her tale of the princess heir to The Frozen Crown
(hard from Harper Voyager). To fight for her homeland invaded by an
emperor who wants to conquer all of the northern continent, Askia
travels to the capital of the empire that rules the southern
continent to seek an army to restore her kingdom. Her parents had
been admired healing witches who had helped save the Queen, and who
had been murdered by a cult that hated witches. Askia has the
ability to see ghosts and talk to them, which helps navigate the
emperial court. Alas this is only the first half of a fun,
fascinating tale.
John Rast is a college, student
home for the summer, who likes competing in sword duels in the
local Renaissance Fair. He didn’t expect opponent to turn into a
dragon, and he also didn’t expect to use his mother’s volvo to kill
the thing. That gets him selected for Knight Watch (paper
from Baen) along with an ex-girl friend who wants to be an elfin
queen. The organization keeps the unreal from interacting with the
mundane, and there’s an evil stirring in John’s town that needs all
their efforts to keep the world safe. Tim Akers has an exciting romp
that gets a bit nightmarish at times. I look forward to John’s next
adventure.
Dellaria Wells , child of a drug
addict and partially trained fire wizard, gets a job working with
people far above her class. The group is assigned to protect a
future wealthy bride from an assassin. Unfortunately the assassin
escapes her capture, and kills one of the group guarding the bride
to be. C. M. Waggoner has a taste of Breaking Bad
in The Ruthless Lady's Guide to Wizardry (paper
from ACE) set in a version of Victorian England with magical
talents. Because the assassin is a drip addict like Delly’s mother,
the group figures that creating a better product will let them get
close to where the assassin is hiding with the distributers. Add in
a slight love story, and a resurrected mouse that steals the show,
and you have a fun read. I’d love a sequel.
Rysa Walker continues her tale of
the origin of Chronos with its time traveling historians in the 24th
century who opposed a group from an alternate time line trying to
alter their present by changing the past. Then they were helped by
Madi and her friends in the 22nd century who were the ones who
historically invented time travel. In Red, White, and the
Blues (paper from 47North) the other group has kept the US
out of World War II with only three moves as part of a new game, Ms.
Walker has intensively researched the American Nazi party of the
late 30's and brings the horrible ideas of the German Bund and
Albert Einstein at the 1939 World’s Fair. Our group of hero’s not
only have to reverse the changes , but somehow convince the group of
meddlers to stay out of their timeline. Fun.
War with time ships is like
submarine war only in four dimensions. Jacob Holo and David Weber
set up their time war after the tale of The Gordian Protocol
(paper) by three people stealing a timeship, and crashing in the
sixth century where they aid Justinian (Byzantine Emperor) in curing
the black death and then steering the new universe around all the
bad events of our past. Unfortunately there’s a sociopath with
god-like aspirations. It also doesn’t help that the technology
they’re using has already killed two other alternate universes, and
the new dominion’s destruction will also destroy our universe.
The Valkyrie Protocol (hard from Baen) takes a bit long to
get to the fun parts. It’s still worth the read.
Larry Chorreia continues his story
of a warrior forced to join the rebels when he was discovered to be
classless. This time the Capital has decided to wreck genocide on
the classless, something Ashok Vadol and his rebels cannot permit,
despite their wish to merely find a place to hide from the rest of
the world. To help their fight against overwhelming odds, they have
been given muzzle loading rifles which promise to be Destroyer
of Worlds (hard from Baen). I always worry about series that
pass the third book with no end in sight. I still enjoy this
exciting tale of magic and gunpowder, and look forward to the next
volume.
I tend to avoid horror tales in
this column because either their logic doesn’t make sense, or they
give me nightmares. Christoher Laine kept me absorbed in his tale of
monsters out of time who love out Screens (paper from
Gardenpath books) It seems there are copies of a hand-typed
manuscript that people, who own it, are being murdered over. There’s
also a rare Chinese drug that lets people see the real universe. Our
hero, an ex-junkie bike messenger gets fascinated by the tragic
death of Halpin Chambers, and follows the clues down the rabbit
hole. Fascinating.
Baen has four collections : Straight Outta
Deadwood (paper) edited by David Boop about the crazy doings
in the frontier town; Stellaris: People of the Stars (paper)
edited by Les Johnson and Robert E. Hampson about evolved humanity;
a collection of Larry Correia tales in a Target Rich Environment
volume 2 (paper); and Weird World War III tales edited by Sean
Patrick Hazlett (trade). They have also reprinted one of Jophn
Ringo’s earlier tales There will be Dragons (trade); Anne
McCaffrey and Elizabeth Moon’s Sassinak (trade) about pirate
hunters; and D.J. Butler and Aaron Michael Ritchey’s 1930's tale of
The Cunning Man.
Black Spot books has an ebook,
horror/fantasy anthology edited by Lindy Ryan and set in the Dead
of Winter.
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.