Henry L Lazarus
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Science Fiction for April 2021
by Henry L Lazarus
Science Fiction and Fantasy tales can have lots
of action.
J. S. Dewes tells of a sentinel
ship, the Argus, located at the energy barrier at the edge of the
universe, which passes near our Milky Way Galaxy. Commanded by war
hero Adequin Rake, who did something to upset her superiors so much
that she was promoted to her forgotten command. The rest of her
command are the dregs of the Human navy. Cavalon Mercer was
once the heir to the human empire, and now is a new recruit on the
ship. He pissed off his emperial grandfather with an act to
horrible, he also had to disappear. Then the edge on the universe
starts collapsing, destroying the Argus and much of its crew.
Looking for help the survivors of The Last Watch (hard from
Tor) discover the nearest gate has been closed, leaving the
few survivors under attack. There is a way to save the universe, but
the remaining Argus crew have to do the impossible to save not only
themselves, but the whole universe. This is edge-of-your-seat
excitement. A sequel is due out later this summer.
Heather Walter borrows heavily
from Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty to produce a disturbing tale of
Malice (hard from Del Rey). Briar is a very rich kingdom on
the edge of Fairy. The royal family has been cursed for generations.
Princesses (no princes are born) must kissed their true love by age
twenty-one or die. Aurora is the last of three daughters and forced
to kiss all potential suitors. Alyce is the cinderella. She lives in
the Graces homes. The other graces provide charms and
blessings with elixirs made from their golden blood.
Alyce is part Vila, the dark elves destroyed in a war. Her blood
helps produce curse elixirs. One day, in a ruined castle, she
discovers a trapped shape shifting Vila who starts teaching her of
her true powers. Then Aurora comes to her for help in lifting the
curse. One thing leads to another. It is obvious by the ending of
this first half of the tale, that Heather Walter liked the Disney
version of Sleeping Beauty. Fun.
Mirah Bolender completes her fun
trilogy set in a world where misused magical amulets turn into
monsters and sweepers fight the monsters and clean the
amulets. The hive mind that controls the monster has set its
eyes on Amicae, attacking the Fortress of Magi (hard from
Tor) where the city council meets. Laura Kramer has to fight it and
the mob trying to take control of the city from its corrupt council.
Great ending.
Ben Aaronovitch’s London is where
the rivers are represented by human avatars. Now it is told What
Abigail Did That Summer (hard from Subterranean Press) in 2013
when she was thirteen. Some her friends, and other kids from
Hampstead Heath are missing. Abigail Kamara, with the help of a
group of talking foxes discovers the haunted house collecting them,
and, of course, helps save them. Lots of fun and a nice side story
to the major series.
Dan Stout returns to the city
state of Titanshade built in the frozen north to supply
oil. This time police detective Carter has to face a buzzing Titan
Song (hard from DAW) that make people so mad they murder the
person nearest them. There’s a music festival at one of the
abandoned rigs, a huge cave-in of the caverns under the city, and a
pilgrimage of the huge Barekusu to the city. The Barekusu were the
first known intelligences on the world and set the others on the
righteous path. There’s also corruption and murder and Carter and
his partner have to save the city from destruction. This is a noir
detective series that keeps getting better and better.
Julie E. Czerneda’s universe is
filled with truly alien, aliens. Esen, the youngest of the web
beings, can shift into any one of them. The latest problem brought
to All Species' Library of Linguistics and Culture, that she and
Paul established, is of missing starships. Unfortunately the monster
destroying the ships and eating their crew is an ancient one that
used to eat web beings as the flew between the stars eons ago.
There’s also the Spectrum (hard from DAW) of politics to
complicate what could have been a simple whale hunting tale. A new
tale of Esen and her friends is always very welcome, and this is a
good one.
Martha Wells has a new tale of
murderbot, a security robot self controlled. No longer pretending to
be an augmented human. He is asked to help solve a murder on
Preservation Station. While the heart of the murder due of problems
common to any port, the situation is complicated because of Fugitive
Telemetry (ebook from Tor). This is a fun series and I look
forward to new tales.
Subterranean Press has a fun
sequel in John Scalzi’s The Dispatcher: Murder by Other
Means (hard) about a world where people return instantly after
being murdered. This time there’s a missing dispatcher and a
detective who wants Tony Valdez’s help.
World Weaver Press has a collection of tales set
in Multispecies Cities (paper).
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.