HOME
Science Fiction for February 2026

by Henry L Lazarus

In February Science Fiction and Fantasy are still quiet.
Amy Tordoff tells a tragic love story spread over centuries. Beatrix was cursed by a fairy to never age when she returned to life after dying in childbirth. In the 15th century, she attempted to pickpocket a wealthy patron at a Shakespeare play.  Then in Venice, a century later, at a Masked Ball she meets Oliver again. It turns out he is from the 22nd century and has been given a gift of time travel tours. What follows, they think, is “All We Have Is Time( hard from Atria Books)”, but they really don't. Oliver can only visit the past so many times and for a limited number of hours each time. Beatrix has to live through the intervening time. Plus, Oliver has a problem at home that can’t be fixed. I was left with a tear in my eye and a hope that this finds its way to many awards.
Sorrel thought she was an orphan who gets her room and board from the local pub in return for cooking and cleaning. She lives in a village near where the Dark King was contained and is afraid that people will discover her magic that she uses for healing and midwifery. Then animals are cut up by demons. Desperate to leave she hires a mercenary she calls Merc to help her out and then the owner of the pub gives her a package from her mother containing a Crown of War and Shadow (hard from Bramble) and instructions to take it to a queen in the south. J.R. Ward has a quest tale with a very likable heroine who never misses an opportunity to help others. The tale has a solid ending even though it is the first of a series. I’m looking forward to what comes next.
Under our real world is a fight between fallen angels (demons) who can take over human bodies, and angels whose work is hidden. Professor Sebastian Grave was bonded to the demon Sarmodel at an early age thousands of years ago and uniquely became immortal. In 1766 he became involved with a beast that haunted the French Alps ( based on a real story) during The Red Winter (hard from Tor).  The tale takes place two decades later when it seems the beast has returned and the son of a close friend from the incident returns and asks for his help. Things are far worse than he thinks because the original beast was related to a demon that had been the Greek God Ares and had haunted Joan of Arc in the fifteenth century. All this is somehow tied to the French Revolution. Cameron Sullivan tells an exciting tale and I’m sure that Professor Sebastian Graves has more tales from his long past to share. 

Justin I. Paquette presents a transcript of an interview between a spy tagged Muse and the person writing the report of Operation Trojan War (paper from Indigo River Publishing)., Homer. President Zeus discovers that Helen has uncovered dirt on him and wants her remanded to Tartarus for interrogation. Two security firms, the Hoplites and the Trojans end up fighting each other after Paris kidnaps the beautiful woman. Yes this is the Trojan war myth including the Iliad depicted in modern forms with machine guns and drones. What a giggle.

The gods start as humans in Sarah K. L. Wilson’s tale of The Trident and the Pearl (paper from Orbit), To save her people from a massive storm that has already killed her husband, the gods order Queen Coralys to marry the first man to come ashore after the storm subsides. So she marries a man she thinks is a fisherman, but is really the God of the Sea, the god she has sworn to kill because of the storm he caused. But there is more going on, someone is murdering other gods. This is a fun shaggy god tale, with a taste of romance. I had fun with it. 

The goddess Mallt Y Nos rescues trapped souls of the dead and sends them towards the land of the Dead. During the war between the Brittons and the Romans, she comes upon a trapped soul while magic is used to cure a wounded princess. Somehow the magic turns her human, and the cured princess soulless. Only by traveling to the entrance to the land of the dead with the warrior sister Bellis can the body and soul be reunited. So the two women, Nightshade and Oak (paper from Orbit) must evade Roman soldiers chasing them and then help cure corruption in the dead lands. Fun. 

Davis Bunn starts a tale on the planet Treaty (hard from Severn House) that humans have lived for two thousand years with strong limits on their occupation. The native inhabitants are truly alien. Kirra Barret has been raised in the poor mining section of the city Florian and is determined to get out. Her ability to fake transactions get her involved with a massive theft, but then her unusual ability to link to alien bird s who first save her from being raped, Instead of stealing using a complicated scheme, she uses the birds to steal jewelery from the nobility. Eva Fourier, a new agent for the ruling Baron, is hot on her tail. Unfortunately Kirra’s ability to link to the birds may affect human interaction with the natives. I’m eagerly waiting for the rest of the tale. 

I found M.J. Markgraf’s tale of a man from our time who wakes in a robot body who wakes up on Petrov station four centuries from now from a Facebook ad. Humanity has spread through many star systems until it reached an alien empire. Alexander finds a way to free himself from his new owner and sets up a small repair shop because he has a knack for technology. Asked to repair the engines of a merchant ship, he makes enough improvements to patent the changes. Luckily that brings him real money that allows him to buy a remote research station a few lightyears out of STO space when Petrov station asks him to leave with his new adopted daughter.  With enough Blueprints for Tomorrow (ebook from MoonQuill) he intends to become a ship builder. Unfortunately Pirates take over a number of stations including Petrov and are coming for him. I preordered the sequels and am looking forward to continuing the tale.
Resistance against a conqueror has been redefined recently, but  the fight against the Nazis in France is a worthy tale to copy. Glynn Stewart adds in Mage-Captain Roslyn Chambers who can teleport and throw fire. She is the Shadow of Mars (ebook fromFaolan's Pen Publishing Inc.)  protecting civilians on Chimera from the religious fanatical Reezh. As usual this eighteenth addition to the series is exciting and fun. I look forward to the next book. 

I’ve been following P. G. Allison’s tales of Missy the Werecat for a decade. Missy was at camp when she turned into a puma and took two years to figure out how to become human again. In a present with a few rare supernaturals, she stands out as being both a shifter and a witch. Since then she has gone to West Point and graduated, used her abilities to fight gangsters and then with the US Army. Generally she is a plucky girl, always looking at the positive and eager to help her friends.  The fifteenth book Missy Gets Married(paper) to her true love. She  joins the unit, she had been working with a second lieutenant, and leads her men to sabotage some Russian assets to help the Ukrainians in their war, but keeping US involvement secret. She also continues her work undercover in Moscow. Her ability to teleport really comes handy. Missy has become so powerful that her problems seem easy to overcome, yet I still look forward to the next adventure.  

Orbit is reprinting classic Iain M. Banks novels in hardcover. The latest is the murder mystery Feersum Endjinn.

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

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