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Science Fiction for September 2024
by Henry L Lazarus
Most of the fantasy and Science Fiction tales reviewed here are the tales I enjoyed out of the many review copies I received for this month. Occasionally I buy a book that I feel is worthy of inclusion.
William Cartwright grew up in a small village helping his mother administer herbs. Then he uses wild magic to heal a child, and his mother knows he faces The Choice of Magic (hard). Most wizards have to limit magic because it ages them. Sorcerer's cheat by getting magic from an elemental, and others from demons. But Arrogan, a local hermit, is the last of the real wizards, wizards who can use the natural magic in the air. To master that is dangerous and can feel like torture. Just as Will manages to survive and begin learning how to use magic, his village is attacked by a neighboring kingdom, and Arrogan is killed.Michael G. Manning uses the rest of this tale to show how Will joins the army and, with the help of the King's daughter, helps drive the invaders out. The other four books of the Art of the Adept show how Will slowly masters magic, finds friends at a school for magic, and eventually faces an unkillable Big Bad whose children will destroy Will’s world. I really enjoyed the series and was glad that a sequel series has started. Recommended
Jason Pargin has a fun romp about a road trip across America that somehow goes viral. Part-time Lyft driver, Abbott Coburn driving his father’s expensive SUV, is offered 200k to drive her and her box from California to Tennessee. If he hadn’t left a note to his internet friends, probably everything would have gone fine. It doesn’t help that the occupant where the box came from was quite mad when he died and there are radioactive traces over his house. There’s also an ex-con biker chasing after them to steal the box. And in a retired FBI agent, Abbott’s father and a million internet rumors, and everyone is thinking, I'm Starting to Worry About This Black Box of Doom (hard from St. Martin's Press). I laughed a lot at the sheer audacity and recommend it highly.
Tere Sanchez has been a widow for a year, and is on a leave of absence from her position as a professor of literature, when she begins to levitate.Ann Dávila Cardinal sees levitation as a problem and sends Tere to Avila where her ancestor, St.Teresa wrote books and levitated. We Need No Wings (paper fromSourcebooks Landmark) is a whimsical look of a Puerto Rican tourist in Spain who finds a friend and a relative in this beautiful part of Spain. She also discovers the emotional reason she has been levitating. Enjoyable but I wanted actual flying.
Amy Leow tells the tale of a girl who will do anything to keep falsely representing a goddess and to keep sitting on the The Scarlet Throne (paper from Orbit) Binsa got the position at age six when the other applicants were mysteriously poisoned. Her mother bonded her to a demon and she uses the abilities it gives her to fake being bonded to the goddess. But, after a decade, it’s time for another child to be chosen. What actually happened to the goddess is a puzzle, as is the relationship between goddess and demon. It’s a bit disquieting to look through the eyes of a person who would be a villain in any other tale, but it was fun watching her come close to achieving her desires. I look forward to the second part.
Colonel Butler is living happily in retirement, quite well off from his precious adventures, when a preteen girl asks him for help in finding her father. That’s the excuse Michael Mammay uses to send the retired Colonel to Taug, a moon orbiting Ridia 5 that has two major consortiums, Caliber and Omicron, mining it. The father was working for Jacob Whiteman, a famous archaeologist. The moon is practically empty with a small military base. Whiteman is unavailable, with his dig located on the Darkside (paper from Harper Voyager). Soon Colonel Butler and the soldiers on the planet are caught between mercenaries hired by the consortiums who want what Dr. Whiteman has found. Lots of fun.
Anthony Ryan sets his latest trilogy with a viking culture set south of the Equator. Thera of the Blackspear is sent by the sister queens to discover why people from the outer regions stopped paying taxes. What she finds is an attack on the kingdom from an unknown people, Nihlvarians, from the North who have sent A Tide of Black Steel (paper from Orbit) to conquer Ascarlia. Her brother Felnir, is sent on a quest to find the Vault of the Altvar which is supposed to have mythical weapons. Finally there is Ruhlin, a boy who can turn into a red Hulk, and who is captured by the Nihlvarians who value him because of their love of gladiatorial fights. Very exciting beginning.
Drew Hayes is one of the best writers of super-hero tales. His world is full of capes and villains but he doesn’t borrow from DC or Marvel. Tori Rivas has the ability to turn into flame which she uses to power her super suit as Hephaestus. Her two roommates are also superpowered with one able to turn into a powerful dragon and the other able to make a cliche come true. They are all in the villains guild which means they are concentrating on other paths. Chilling Reflections (ebook from Thunder Pear Publishing) starts with Tori getting ready to launch the defense products she designed to protect regular people Then a multi-universe dimensional nova erupts, opening bridges from other universes and sending monsters through the gates. There’s a mechanical being that slips through that is trying to capture Tori. There are criminals trying to use bombs to create a diversion for their crimes, and a lot more. All in all, this is a lot of fun with plenty of super fights, and many characters finding their true potential.
Rumor Has It (hard from Tor) that the crew, who used to run a restaurant, and are now the crew of the AI ship You Sexy Thing (paper) has made it to the garden station of Coralind during their annual festival. All Nico, their captain, wants is to get their insurance company to pay for the loss of her restaurant, and to say hello to Biboban, the brain that had once run a starship, and is now currently running the station. Skidoo is convinced she is dying and wants help, Atlanta is trying to figure out what being a Paragon is. Other crew members also have problems, and there are financial problems. Then Gnarl Gusson, who hates Nico comes to the station and poisons Biboban, making Nico a suspect. The insurance company finds loopholes so they don’t have to pay. Cat Rambo makes everything come up roses on the Garden station. I enjoy this series.
Allen Stroud completes hisThe Fractal series that started when Captain Ellisa Shann of the Khidr, goes to rescue a commercial ship under attack and the Fearless(paper) captain and crew end up capturing the attacking ship, the Gallowglass. Unfortunately they must be Resilient (paper) as the same group attacks Phobos station. But at the heart of the matter is an alien ship that has observed Earth for thousands of years. Vigilance( hard from Flame Tree Press) is required as various plots are uncovered and the reason the alien ship got involved is uncovered. Allen Stroud tells an exciting hard science fiction tale with a solid understanding of life in space. I really enjoyed the tale.
Wen Spencer has been writing about Tinker (paper), a young girl who lives in a version of Pittsburgh that jumps from Earth to Elfhome on a regular basis since 2003. In the 6th tale she and her friends have to face the Storm Furies(hard from Baen) of war as the Oni attack on Pittsburgh intensifies. There’s a spell designed to remove magical abilities from Elf mages, and monsters designed to weep the city clean of both humans and elves. All the characters from the previous books face death and only a seeress working in the shadows and maneuver events to insure survival. There’s also baby dragons. This may be the conclusion to a fun series, though there is enough pending to allow for sequels. Great series that should be read in order.
Aliette De Bodard has a new novella set in her world of mind ships. Khuyên has been helping the crisis after a major war, when she learns that her grandmother is dying on the mind ship Nightjar where she grew up. Unfortunately, In the Shadow of the Ship (hard from Subterranean Press) kids are being kidnapped and the ship is falling apart. This is a fun edition to an award winning series.
. Hank Davis and David Afsharirad put together classic tales about Tomorrow's Troopers (trade from Baen) Baen has reprinted in paper the last Indrajit and Fix tale from D.J. Butler, Between Princesses and Other Jobs.
Henry Lazarus is a retired Dentist and the author of A Cycle of Gods and Unnaturally Female. Check out his unified field theory at henrylazarus.com/utf.html that suggests fusion generation requires less energy.
More reviews are at http://www.henrylazarus.com/sf.htm.