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Science Fiction for October 2026
by Henry L Lazarus
I like to recommend Fantasy and Science Fiction. Sometimes I come across books that are very popular, that don’t work for me. I tried to read The Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu first when I got a review copy, and then when it won a Hugo. I also couldn’t even finish the Netflix version. This year’s Hugo winner, The Everlasting by Alix E. Harrow (Tor US; Tor UK), also didn’t work for me. Sigh.
Time travelers are created by stress according to Claire North and As We Fall Through Time(paper from Orbit) we are affected by time eddies. Cal, who is sometimes male and sometimes female has fallen for a Napoleonic soldier and has manipulated time to spend years with him, suddenly finds his lover has been erased. Another time traveler walks into a museum to find her own dead body(later version of herself. So she asks Cal to solve her murder. Meanwhile he is haunted by the ghost of his erased lover. At the heart of the murder mystery is a massive paradox that is large enough to destroy everything around it. This is an intensely complex tale that I hope will find some award nominations.
Captain Morgan Fenwick commands the CNS Argosy that repairs ships damaged on local patrol. Then the Rhelun strike a local system, leaving her trying to get a few damaged war ships and thousands of civilians out of harm's way.She needs to take this Severed Command (ebook) to a safe system. Unfortunately Rhelun warships are waiting outside the portal to the only available system. Owen Rainer tells a pulse-pounding tale impossible to put down.
Tad Williams returns to the world of Osten Ard three centuries before the events of Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn. Teenage Vedra has been using her ability to scry the future in the deadly dream land to earn a small living. Daley is a boy, who watched his mother thrown from a railing, and finds the warehouse where Vedra has been squatting. Daley loves to climb and accidentally steals important information when Vedra is asked to scry for the mother of one of Scaeth, one three princes who rule parts of the kingdom since their father had moved out of the kingdom to Osten Ard. Ewain, the youngest and only legitimate prince, has to travel there to gain his father’s approval before the king dies. This is almost impossible because his brothers want him dead. Helping him are Flann Alderwood, Robin Hood outlaw, and Xaniko, an immortal Norn exiled from Norn lands. The Splintered Sun(hard from Daw) is a nice addition to Tad Williams work and a must for his fans. I’m sure a sequel is coming.
Magnus Baikie has a magical version of the invasion of Attila the Hun, The tale follows three graduates of the legion school for orphans, Marcus d ’Ostia wants to be an engineer in the Legion, but proves to be a military genius. Septimus rises in the thieves guild to to own his own brothel, and Timolen rises to become a master assassine. One of the heirs to the Emperor decides to take matters into his own hands He arranges the death of the other heirs from which Princess Antonia only survives with the help of Timolen. Septmus forges her death and she is whisked out of the capital to a city besieged by the Huns that Marcus has given his oath to defend. All the orphans are very aware that The First Law is Survival (hard from Atmosphere Press). I couldn’t put the book and really enjoyed the solid ending.
The bodiless beings of the elfinlands love human dreams and some of them manifest as humans to steal dreams. At the end of Prohibition in a small town, young women's bodies are found in the local river. Like Evelyn Pulaski, most of them worked as dancers, dancing for strangers to earn a living.Raife is one of the elfin nixies who can appear both human and feline. Rowenna Miller tells an interesting historical fantasy in which The Dancer and the Dream Thief( paper from Redhook) have to learn to trust each other to stop the murders but also to save themselves from the elvin authority with different reasons to hunt each of them. Highly recommended.
The road to an advanced degree is always filled with snags and sometimes with corrupt professors. Gardenpath’s single-celled beings believe themselves to be the only intelligent life forms in our galaxy. This belief is so set that Gardenpath could be expelled from the university if it isn’t careful because it has discovered one such planet. After several expeditions to the planet it uses a modified galaxysuit to appear like one of the humans living in Pompeii at the time of the Mount Vesuvius eruption. There it works in a brothel and makes good friends while at the same time taking the five exam levels on its way to a degree. A Wall Is Also a Road(hard from Tor) is an interesting look at both university politics and Roman life during the first century. Annalee Newitz is an interesting writer and I enjoyed this tale.
Nghi Vo tells of an alternate 1890’s New York where magic is very real and high society women marry demons to give them power.Judith Ban, on the run from her mistakes in Paris is asked to impersonate Iphigenia Marshal, who has disappeared, by her grandmother. There’s a magical mask to make that possible. She has to attend various balls where demons select their potential wives and sometimes kill the women. Hopefully Iphigenia will be found before The Scarlet Ball(hard from Tor). This is an intense look at gilded age mores and impossible to put down.
Wanda Hellmund has an intense tale about White and Dark magical abilities. The dark magicians fight demons and white magicians heal them. After a civil war between the two types, Ivercrest University was reopened, Mira Winters, a healer during the war, wants to remove a magical scar in the White side of the university, but unfortunately is assigned to Dark Magic. Our Dark Incantations (hard from Ace).The problem is that some of the Dark magicians are looking for magical objects to help regain their power, Mia with the help of a powerful dark mage her own age, Aidric Dawson. The plots and corruption are deep in society. Mia and
Aidric face impossible challenges that will kill them if they fail. Very intense.
Under the real world is the dreaming world where magical objects make their bearers immortal. Ortiz is literally digging his own grave (he stole from his crime boss) when he discovers a magical sword that is Unbearable(hard from Baen). Unfortunately the sword has released the dragon of the void which can destroy the world. A. Lee Martinez creates a very strange universe that somehow includes Avalon and a magical ferryman. I really liked the tale.
Mira McKinney says there is a lattice under the world that can sometimes Fracture(ebook from Free Mettle Press). Stephanie Cross has spent nineteen years after her husband’s death raising her twins and teaching science in high school. Then a fracture opens up in front of her and she somehow knows how to close the hole. There's an organization to deal with the fractures, and they had erased her memories when her husband was sucked into the lattice. Now, while a crisis is forming that could literally end the world, she has to relearn her old abilities. Luckily her twins are both out of town. I had fun with this.
In a world where stress brings out magical powers, Tovah Silver got her fire ability during menopause. She runs Mad Queens Inc with her three partners, an agency that deals with magical objects. Then when she is having a mammogram, she is attacked by a rogue Golem. Deborah Wilde tells of the case of Golem for Broke(ebook from Te Da Media Inc.) in which a much smarter Golem is looking for revenge and Tovah is one of the victims. There’s also a magically snide mirror that has to be exorcized. This is a light fun tale set in magical Vancouver and has plenty of possibilities for future cases and I’m looking forward to them.
Kennard of Grimm can see magic, but manipulate it, so he teaches magic at the mundane Edensa University. Shereen Vedam tells what can happen When the Magic Comes(ebook) because one of Kennard’s students is murdered by magical means. The head of the university assigns him to solve the mystery. So with his newly hatched dragon, the groundskeeper whose son has been accused of the murder, and his sister visiting their very pregnant mother. I had fun with the tale.
In The Secrets of Everlight(paper from Ace) at a time when most Fae magic has been lost, the King’s brother Prince Dryden has to pick a wife in a competition of princesses. Rowan is a thief who has been hired to prevent Dryden’s assassination by posing as one of the contestants. That is if she can avoid stealing jewels from the royalty around her. Julie Hall tells a fun, romantic tale with a number of fun twists.
In a world where everyone has a talent that can be quite powerful like teleportation, Kelly is Talented(paper from Owl Hollow press) with the ability to turn off talents by touch and an evil government agency wants her. This is an agency that collects powerful talents and has no problems taking them off the streets and even breeding them. Meradeth Houston tells of a US afraid of falling behind in the talent race and willing to violate human rights to accomplish that. Fascinating.
Katee Robert tells of a city in a harsh world that picks five of its leaders by The Tarot Trials( hard from Tor) where twenty-two contestants are bound to the gods represented by the Tarot Acarna cards and get magical abilities based on their card. Each night they fight until only five survive.Each day they are feted by the various political parties trying to manipulate the games in their favor. Kestrel, brought up in the Dregs of the city, is trying to discover why her mother, a winner in the previous trials twenty-two years before, had been executed for treason only a month into her term. Linked to the Moon, she has to discover how to use her new abilities of shadow to protect both her and her allies Wheel of Fortune and the Sun. Very intense.
Jeff Wheeler returns to the twin worlds Muirwood and Kingfountain with a villain based on Rasputin. Princess Maia Fitzempress was raised in Muirwood, but is called to Kingsfountain as a possible heir. Hastings, one of her guards, has worked as a spy on Muirwood. His mother The Last Harbinger(hard from 47North) is trying to make sense of her visions to prevent disaster to both worlds. I’m looking forward to the conclusion of this exciting series.
Paisley Dell is a halfling chef in a small inn who doesn’t know she is Cooking Up Magick(ebook from Geek House Press). Not knowing she is the first sorcerer born in centuries, she decides to accompany two dwarves to their home to learn dwarf recipes, HL Bernabe tells us that an ancient sorcerer, Verzod, has awakened from stasis and has decided to conquer the world starting with the dwarfs. This makes Paisley’s journey very dangerous. Luckily she finds helpful companions in a talking cat, a wounded half-orc, and a high elf. While Paisley is slowly learning Sorcery and spending more time cooking, the war begins. I had a lot of fun with the tale and am waiting patiently for the tale to continue in the next book.
Christopher Buehlman continues the fun tale of Kinch Na Shannack, the Blacktongue Thief(paper) and the magical ability to read any language even if he doesn’t speak the language. Together with the knight Galva they had journeyed to a far port and stolen a magical book that is somehow alive and trying to kill them. Getting home in this current adventure involves crossing a bitterly cold mountain to avoid their enemies. Unfortunately after leaving the mountain, the two are captured by slavers. In a kingdom of half-giants, Galva has to fight as a gladiator while Kinch isThe Thrice-Bound Fool(hard from Tor) to a cruel princess. When Goblin diplomats come to get access to the kingdom’s dynamite. Kinch’s way of stopping them was so amazing that I had an OMG moment. I’m sure the next book in this series will be just as much fun.
James J. Butcher has a fourth adventure for his auditor from the Department of Unorthodox Affairs,Grimshaw Griswald Grimsby. The case starts with complaints about the place he had worked before becoming an auditor, a video game store named Mighty Magic Donald’s Food Kingdom that he had used real magic as part of a magic show. The store is a popular teenage hangout and parents are blaming the store for some kids dropping into a coma. The case is a Grim Folk Tale (hard from Ace). Then a child Grimsby had saved from a monster under the bed is found in a coma and dying faster than previous victims. With the help of his partner Huntsman Mayflower, the pair have to face ancient monsters and an immortal Knight in shining armor. I really enjoy this series.
M. H. Foster continues the tale of the Demon Overlord who retired to become a turnip farmer. Unfortunately to deal with a bad neighbor, he had moved a mountain which moved a river and two dukes who hate each other are fighting for the water rights. Before their fathers died they had been engaged to marry. Unfortunately a lust demon moves in and Galornus Prime pretending to be Willem Porter, must deal with Love, Politics, and Other Acts of War(paper from Grand Central Publishing) and his girlfriend trader finally returning, Silly.
After several prequels, Derek Künsken returns to the future of Belisarius, a designed human Homo Quantus , who in the last tale dropped into a worm hole. During that time the Venusian Congregate has used time travel to insure their dominance for the next five centuries. The Puppet priestess Rosalie Johns-10, that Cassandra and the AI Saint Matthew think point to his survival. Unfortunately the path to finding the truth points to The Quantum Dawn(paper from Solaris) when the universe is only a billion years old and a forerunner species set up the time gates. The Congregate has come to the same conclusion and has sent agents, including a clone of Belisarius. This is a tense space epic that, alas, left me waiting for the final book in this exciting series.
John Ringo and Gray Rinehart have collected stories set in John Ringo’s Troy Rising(hard from Baen) universe.
Baen reprints this month in paper include The Mills of the Gods by Tim Powers about monsters killing over and article by Ernest Hemingway in 20’s Paris; Elizabeth Moon’s classic Divided Allegiance, the second book in her trilogy; and David Weber and Richard Fox’s fun tale of a Rebel.
There are more reviews at http://www.henrylazarus.com/sf.htm
Henry Lazarus is a retired Dentist and author of several books.