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Science Fiction for November 2025

by Henry L Lazarus

I’ve been reading Science Fiction and Fantasy for almost seven decades. Most tales are fun, but not unique. Every so often I read books that amaze me. Some of them go on to receive major awards. Their first three books in this column belong in that category. I still have Katharine Kerr fantasies from the nineties in my collection. I was amazed to find that her dip into science fiction was equally masterful. Her latest is about a special ops ship, the Dancing Mary.  hidden as a merchant ship. Their pilot,  Dan, had been cashiered from the fleet for Haze  (hard from CAEZIK SF & Fantasy) addiction. The ship is following the trail of a murder, but complications  soon ravel into very problems related to a destroyed shunt point centuries before, and a group placing bombs on planetary ports. There are eight major species in the Known Space. A war had created human genetic super-soldiers, and their genes show in throwbacks with various talents, including pilots who can see the complications of shunt space. The tale also depicts AI constructs that match what the future of such intelligence might look like. Wow! I hope this wins tons of awards.
Anne Bishop introduces the Isle of Wyrd. Visitors can pay for the Ferry to take them to Destiny Park to have their fortunes read or see magical beings, but sometimes the Turns of Fate (Hard from Ace) twist their lives into horrible nightmares. The tale starts with a teenager jumping through a moon gate while shouting he was a ratfaced chicken. Unfortunately after turning into that creature, a harpy eats him. The tale mostly follows Detective Beth Fahey who is part of a team working with arcane cases. There’s a tale of a person turned into a fish because he refused to pay the ferry tale, and a writer fleeing a bad boyfriend who gets turned into a lark for a year. More tales are promised for this wonderful island, but this tale is complete in itself. Wow!
The Slow Gods(paper from Orbit) announce that a supernova is arriving within a century and that causes a reaction among the many settled worlds, some of which will have to be evacuated. Claire North follows what happens through the next few centuries through the eyes of Mawukana na-Vdnaze. Maw was unfortunately near a protest on Shine which got him thrown into prison. Picked to be a pilot into Arcspace, a job that turns most mad, he has a unique reaction. He becomes a poor copy of himself, recreated every time he dies. He also can walk through walls and is considered very dangerous. He also is an excellent Arcspace pilot. Over the course of centuries he finds himself on a planet almost evacuated before the destruction of the radiation coming from the supernova arrives. He is also part of the complications that lead to a war with Shine. Intense and impossible-to-put-down.
M. R. Carey mixes western and science fiction with a tale of Dog-Bitch Bess, one time school teacher, turned raider in the equivalent of the civil war. She carries a high-tech gun brought from the Pandominion multiearth empire, and lives on an Outlaw Planet (paper from Orbit). At the end of the war  she goes on the run from a posse hunting ex-raiders from the other side. This is an odd world with massive ancient towers dotting the landscape. There are brief tales of an engineer who was trapped on that world. The tale comes together with an exciting conclusion. I would recommend this for award nominations.
Yolanda Sfetsos has a tale of a demon, Destiny, who had been found and raised by a private detective. She works on finding missing people with her magical abilities and hiding her tail, horns, and cloven feet with magic. Then a nun hires her to find a missing cherub pulled from heaven and Destiny soon senses that the cherub is being tortured. Fallen Destiny (paper from Brigids Gate Press, LLC) is an exciting urban fantasy that is worthy of sequels.
After the defeat and defeat of a dark sorcerer, the knight tells the Thornwitch not to be evil anymore. Since Violet Thistlewaite Is Not a Villain Anymore (paper from Ace), she decides to move to the nearby Dragon’s rest to use her magic to create and sell flowers. She rents space from former alchemist  Nathaniel Marsh, who with his sister is trying to keep their parent’s apothecary from being closed for debt. Unfortunately there’s a blight in the village. One of the villains who worked for the sorcerer has come to town. And who knows what the rock gnomes are up to. The tale is properly silly and I wouldn’t mind a sequel.
Fox and Wren are part-time, teenage  thieves working off the bond to the Lady that they expect will never be able to pay off. Fox can see into the magical Aetheric world where ghosts go. One day she spots a possessed man attacking the carriages of the prince, the new ruler of the stronghold., and she foolishly goes to help. Chloe Neill starts her tale of Ember Eternal (hard from Ace) when the Aetheric god has disappeared for a decade and Aetheric magic has practically disappeared. Of course there’s a sexy prince and the hidden villain, somehow impossibly using Aetheric magic, wants him, and his whole family dead. I ate the tale up. 

Amanda Foody and  C. L. Herman set their tale of a small island where magicians with living wands fight the monsters that come with winter. Domenic Barrow never expected to wield the most ancient wand that chooses its hero when things are most dire, a hero who usually dies in the fight. This season is different. Ellery Caldwell somehow creates a new living wand with winter power,  A Fate So Cold (hard from Tor Teen).  The chosen two are lauded by their nation, as they fight the encroaching cataclysm, and of course they fall for each other. . There’s a Romeo and Juliet vibe to this fun tale. 

Ayana Gray brings the classic monster, I, Medusa (hard from Random House) to life. Meddy, as her immortal sisters call her, was born mortal  to two minor sea gods exiled to a hidden island. Athena decides to make her a priestess in Athens and she is very happy there, even when a close friend is raped and thrown out of the temple. But , alas, Poseidon makes her break her vows to Athena and is punished with snake hair. Thankfully her classic death is off screen. Intense.
Travis Baldree’s tale of Brigands & Breadknives (hard from Tor) reminded me of a silly version of Xena. The Gabrielle part is taken by Fern, a middle-aged Ratkin bookseller who gets drunk one day and ends up in Astryx’s cart  Astryx is an elven bounty hunter Her current bounty is a goblin named Zyll who steals all the cutlery near by and somehow can slip bonds easily. Fern slowly learns to assist Astryx as the two of them fend off people chasing after Zyll. I had a good chuckle.
Kate Elliott concludes her tale of The Witch Roads([paper)  tale set in a world almost destroyed in the war against the sorcerers. The first tale took Elen, as part of Prince Gevulin’s party, to a fort at the edge of the Empire. The prince's body has been taken over by a haunt, and along the way Elen falls for the haunt who leaves the prince for the poisonous  Pal that covers some of the land. Now that the haunt has left them, and the Prince remembers everything, the road takes them into The Nameless Land (hard from Tor), the land she had been born and escaped from. Unfortunately politics leaves the small party on the run back into the Empire where old enemies await. Elen needs her special talents, like the snake that lives in her heart, to survive. I really liked this series.
Jayu City is built of huge towers and five huge corporate cultures, all very different and all competing with each other. Elise Corto-Intel, a corporate spy and thief, has four replacement limbs that allow her to accomplish impossible things while carrying tools in those limbs. In The Cordelia Solution (paper from Castle Bridge Media) she has to go undercover to stop the accession of a new CEO because he intends to merge his company with an evil one. She is an honorary body double for the other contender for the CEO position, Gloria. Chris M Arnone tells a pulse pounding tale as Elise faces her arch-enemy from previous tales I haven’t read. I enjoyed this tale well enough to put the two previous adventures on my reading list.
Stephen K. Stanford continues his tale of Col Perolo, now security chief for the gambling world Jubilee raising  toddler twins with his wife Danee. Unfortunately the movement has built warships and they are attacking the worldlet. Col barely escapes with his ex-wife Sana, and is soon chased around the galaxy by the growing movement that is taking over one planet after another. The  League is hopeless and when they are attacked by movement followers, they head towards Col’s homeworld of Briouggh where Col finally tries to solve the cold case of his long missing brother. Stars Like Us (paper from Flame Tree Press) is a nice sequel to a solid space opera that nicely expands the universe. I look forward to more adventures.
Asil is centuries old and living more and more apart from others. So his friends find internet women who might like a Blind Date with a Werewolf (hard from  Ace.) One date is evil, and the other dates have supernatural problems. Patricia Briggs tells a fun set of tales in which blind dating is taken to a new level, and one of them might provide Asil with a new relationship with another and with his inner wolf.
Benedict Jacka has the third part of the tale about Stephen Oakwood who has learned about Drumagic on his own, discovered that his mother had been part of a rich Drumagic family, and found that there were hidden major power in the magical world like the Winged who would like to recruit him because he has a unique ability to actually see magic.A Judgement of Powers (paper from Ace)  finds him secretly meeting with his father, working with his mother’s family, and having that family having to deal with the Winged. This is a great series and I can’t wait for the next installment. 

Baen has three hardcover additions to three fun series.
John Ringo and Casey Moores continue the adventures of extremely bright Michael Edwards, now thirteen and looking at colleges. This is a world where people get superpowers and Mike has Earth powers. In the first tale he discovered that his mother had not abandoned him, but had been murdered by a Society of pedofiles that just wanted access to her billion dollar trust. Most of this second adventure is devoted to thwarting evil lawyers to get his inheritance. Welcome to the Jungle  doesn’t disguise its conservative politics. It’s a lot of fun particularly when Mike has to be assessed by psychiatrists for mental competency.  The scene had me rolling in laughter.
Catherine Asaro has been writing about the Skolian Imperialate for almost thirty years. The ancient, harsh  undercity of the world of Raylicon has people who run all the time. It makes sense to send them to the Galactic Olympics to try for the Gold Dust  of medals. Major Bhajaan, as one of the coaches, has to help deal with the politics of both the huge Eubian Concord and Earth. This is basically a tale of poor athletes from the wrong side of the tracks having to deal with prejudice that go on to do well, but there is enough Skolian politics to add a science fiction veneer.
Hiram Woolley, the cunning man, and his son Michael are lured to Mormon settlements in Mexico during the depression. The Familiar Spirit has them facing a man who can control ghosts and who is cursing the area. D.J. Butler and Aaron Michael Ritchey prove that a locked room mystery is easy to solve when ghosts are involved. Very exciting and a nice addition to the fun series. 

Ashley Perrin has a new job in Constituent Service (hard from Subterranean Press) for the mostly alien third district. John Scalzi tells how she deals with illegal pets, sewer problems, and a missing pet chicken. The tale left me wanting more and with a smile on my face. 

George R. R. Martin has collected some wildcard tales in Aces Full (hard from tordotcom). I love the series about an alternate history that gave people comic book powers from an alien virus. Tor has reprinted Bears Discover Fire and Other Stories by Terry Bisson in hardcover. 

There are more reviews at http://www.henrylazarus.com/sf.htm

Henry Lazarus is a retired Dentist and author of several books.