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Science Fiction for January 2026
by Henry L Lazarus
Baby its cold out here in Science Fiction and Fantasy.
Shen Tao tells the tale of Wei Yin, daughter of a rice farmer, who somehow makes it to the Concubine trials for the new heir of a dying Emperor in a version of ancient China in which magic is formed from poetry. Terren, the second son, has a magical ability to manipulate swords. The eldest son, Maro, has the ability to build magical roads. The problem is that Terren sets his swords arbitrarily against anyone around him. When Wei Yin is picked not as one of his concubines, but has his potential wife, she finds that prefers to torture her. This is not a book about torture, but about the politics of an Empire. Wei Yin has to violate the law and learn not only to read, but to create magical poetry to become The Poet Empress (hard from Bramble) and avoid numerous attempts on her life. This is a very intense work that I hope will find awards. Wow!
Isabel Ibañez sets her tale in 16th century Italy at a time when Leonardo da Vinci is designing war machines, and Pope Sixtus is in conflict with the Medici Family of Florence. Ravenna Maffei is a sculptress in Volterra, a city conquered by Florence. To save her family, she enters a contest and is taken to Florence by the immortal Luni family who are desperate to find a sculptor able to release magical stones. The Pope’s agents are also after the stones. As historical events work themselves out, Ravenna has to find somewhere in her Graceless Heart (hard from Saturday Books) a way to save Saturnino dei Luni from a sure doom. I suspect this tale will find itself on Award nominations
Shiloh Briar tells a fun tale of Sikras, a necromancer who earns a living creating zombies for those who want their dead kin returned. The Queen needs his abilities because his ex-friend is attacking the kingdom with zombies. She sends the only Demon in her guard, Helspira, to find a way to stop the powerful necromancer. So Helspira, Sikras, and the bones of his ex-brother-in-law are off on a quest to find a solution to a Hopeless Necromantic (paper from Orbit) problem. The tale is as fun as it sounds, I really enjoyed it.
When magic returned to the world, it created an apocalypse by frying unprotected electronics. Mages need shadow beings to work spells, and Angie Ritter gave up her bonded shadow after she destroyed a helicopter and her place in the militia of Sanwa City. She’s working dead-end jobs when a conspiracy finds her, by attacking her werewolf ex-partner, and she learns she is a powerful Source Mage (paper from Bastard Sword Press). William Stacey tells an exciting urban fantasy set in a wrecked world. I bought the next two books.
During the roaring twenties, a number of famous artists and writers like Picasso and Hemingway lived in Paris. Tim Powers tells of a book cover artist, who had been an engineer in the American Army. Harry Nolan comes into contact with Vivi Chastain, a former street girl, on the run from cult sauteurs who have discovered how to force reincarnation using the Carthaginian god Moloch. The two of them caught in The Mills of the Gods (hard from Baen) have to survive an attempt by a ghost to steal Vivi’s body, a fight in the catacombs of Paris. Finally they have to face the god at the ruins of a former sanctuary in Spain. Very exciting with minor roles from famous personages from the era.
The fun about Charles Stross’s Laundry tales is that ordinary bureaucrats in a special British agency are fighting Lovecraftian monsters in order to save the world . A few books back they lost the fight and now work for the British Prime Minister, the Black Pharoah. The tale takes place a few years before Queen Elizabeth II’s death. Bob Howard and his wife Mo have to deal with The Regicide Report (Hard from Tor) after the Queen is poisoned. There’s treachery and magical monsters to deal with. This is supposed to be the final Laundry tale. Sob!
Dan Koboldt’s final tale of Build-a-dragon has genetic engineer Noah Parker creating dragons to destroy pests like locusts in the Southwest, rats in Antarctica, and poisonous toads in Australia. Unfortunately this requires a lot of travel, creating a common relationship problem worse than Dragons Gone Wild (hard from Baen) I’ve enjoyed this trilogy and this final book is more of a postscript to the previous tales. The characters are fun, and the book kept me reading.
In a far future while investigating a formally inhabited world, Simon and the crew of Station 79 found an artifact. Simon’s brother Nick touched it and he was sent into a very real fantasy game with levels. It felt very real. Inside the world, an evil priest, Vaan, had stopped time to keep the dark star from resetting the game, but that was causing severe harm to the artifact. Level: Apocalypse(paper from Orbit) tells the final battle with Vaan from Nick and his friends with plenty of magic battles. In the meantime Simon has to get his crew and Nick’s body out of the system without risking other inhabited systems. This is impossible to put down. I look forward to the expanded universe in the next book of this fun series.
Baen has reprinted in paper Sharon Lee and Steve Miller’s I Dare which actually predates the movement of the Liaden Universe novels to Baen, and Larry Correia’s tale of the forgotten warrior Ashok Vadal facing a Graveyard of Demons.
There are more reviews at http://www.henrylazarus.com/sf.htm
Henry Lazarus is a retired Dentist and author of several books.