Henry L Lazarus
Home
4603 Springfield Ave.
Philadelphia, PA 19143
Science Fiction for January 2014
by Henry Leon Lazarus
Science Fiction and sometimes fantasy sometimes
are about real scientists who are rarely as logic driven as they
appear in most books.
James Cambias takes us to a deep sea lab
on the planet Ilmatar; a Ceres like world covered with ice with a
deep ocean where intelligent beings see with sonar. The Human
expedition has been prevented from any interaction by the more
Powerful Sholen, a species that has blown themselves to the stone
age four times and will do anything to prevent other species from
doing the same thing. In A Darkling Sea (hard
from Tor) one of the researchers, an adventurer who sells his
adventures, comes too close to the Ilmatarans in a stealth suit,
they dissect him. That’s the trigger the Sholens need and their
powerful ship arrives to remove the human expedition. Passive
resistence turns active, andthen to guerrilla war aided by the
Ilmatarans. Mr. Cambias has a nice ear for cultural differences and
nicely has very few actual villains. This is a tale I would nominate
for an award. It’s an amazing look at interspecies interaction that
feels very real.
DK Mok shows us another type of
scientist, one with a quest. Chris Arlin is a crypto-batonist When a
representative from Sinacorp, a huge evil corporation, tries to
recruit her to join an expedition to find the real Eden and The
Other Tree (paper from Spence City) that can confer
immortality. Chris mother was killed on the last expedition,. But
her father is dying of cancer, so she decides to hunt for Eden on
her own, a place written about in Sumerian and Pre-Sumerian records
that are far older than civilization. She enlists the help of a
priest in the department of Religion and the two of go off hunting
for clues around the world From Naples to a strange University in
Australia, to a desert location deep in the Middle East. One
group is trying to stop them first by scaring them off, and then by
attempting to kill them. The Sinacorp people are buying up all the
clues. But somehow they manage to face the gates to Eden deep in a
cave. Ms. Mok somehow manages to make this quest feel quite real and
even Eden somehow feels as if did protect early humanity one hundred
fifty thousand years ago. Think Indiana Jones with normal people.
Highly recommended.
Matt Willis borrows from a real sighting
of a sea monster in 1848. Daedalus and The Deep (trade from
Fireship Press) tells of the British corvette heading home on its
final voyage. They were supposed to hunt pirates, but instead they
found the monster and pursued it only to have themselves under
attack from a determined, intelligent being from the ocean depths.
We see the tale mainly through the eyes of Midshipman Colyer, a
woman posing as her dead brother to send money to her family. It is
impossible not to get caught up in the lives of these interesting
characters as they face both monster and hurricane in the great
Southern Sea. This rivals one of the best sea yarns and is
impossible to put down.
Ian Tregillis has a fun angel noir tale
that is Something More Than Night (hard from Macmillan)
Humans only become angels when an angel dies and all others just
die. Bayliss, who thinks of himself as a Philip Marlow character
picks a random stranger. Molly Pruett, who is visiting Australia for
her mothers funeral, is crushed beneath a trolley and becomes an
angel while the ashes of Gabriel fill the sky. Thrown into a totally
new world where a beating can throw memories around, Molly is
attacked by Cherubs looking for the missing Jericho trumpet. Then
human souls appear in structure of heaven, something unheard of. As
Molly and Bayless investigate the murder of Gabriel, Molly learns
how to interact with people almost killing her old girl friend on
the first attempt. People are being murdered on Earth by someone
using the trumpet. There’s a great twist to the mystery, and a solid
mythos that takes a bit of work to understand but is well worth the
effort. With glorious poetic prose, the tale is memorable
fascinating .
K.A. Stewart builds a wild west built on
Magic with artificial horses and two types of magic. Indian magic
can’t be felt by the Americans, and vica-versa Caleb Marcus was a
powerful magician able to alter the flight of cannon balls during
the Civil war, but he was injured and lacks most of his power. He’s
part of the Peacemaker (ebook from Intermix) corps. He and
his jackalope familiar, Ernst have come to a small town with a
rancher who has a small army. Children are losing their inborn
magical powers, the land has dried up and earthquakes are coming
more often. The Rancher, of course blames the red skins, but when
Caleb goes for help he ambushed and tied up as food for the local
predators. I really enjoyed this oddball mix of genres that somehow
works. The sequel should be lots of fun.
All religious books are historical
fiction with Gods no more real than the ones walking around in
Homer’s Iliad. It’s easy not to believe. Jillian Campbell, The
Atheist (paper from Norn Publishing) in Sarah Ettritch’s fun
tale of people with powers who get their orders in their sleep from
God., is a government agent who infiltrates organizations to find
while collar criminals. Her latest target, a new church. Then the
Pastor is murdered and she blamed for it with fake evidence planted
in her apartment. But, according to the people who break her out of
jail, she is a fledgling Deiform, one of only fifty in the world.
This is a fun, exciting first of a series, introducing us to a world
where Deiforms help make the world better while Beguilers try to
increase evil.
Kim Newman has been slowly writing his Anno
Dracula (paper) series since the middle nineties and I’ve been
following eagerly. He basically assumes that the events in Bram
Stoker’s Dracula happened, except that Dracula survived and came out
in the open, Marrying Queen Victoria, he created lots of vampires. The
Bloody Red Baron (paper) of World War I in fact didn’t
fly an airplane, he was a giant bat. Dracula dies in 1956 when Dracula
Cha Cha Cha (paper is a top song) But in the depths of World
War II, Dracula converted a young man. Johnny Alucard (
hard from Titan Books which I bought electronically) shows up on the
set of Francis Ford Coppola’s Dracula which resembles our Apocalypse
Now. That gets him to New York where he learns to sell his blood
creating a cocain like craze while running in Andy Warhol’s circle.
When that falls apart he ends up in Hollywood as a producer working
with big names in movies like The Rock. The real fun of this series
is how real and fictional characters interact. It’s a world in which
Captain America and Hamish Bond work together, and Jim Rockford in a
private detective. I dons’t know if the next decade will see a
conclusion to this fun series, but each part stands on it’s own.
Highly recommended.
Justin Gustainis has a third police
procedural set in a version of our world world where all the
mythical creatures exist. Stan Markowski is a cop in the
Occult Crimes Unit. His partner. Karl Renfer and his daughter are
both vampires as are many of the gang bosses. Known Devil
(ebook from Angry Robot) starts when two drug addicted elves try to
rob the diner where Markowski and Renfer are eating. Except there
are no drugs that effect the supernatural creatures. It seems a new
gang is moving in to Scranton. There’s also a political party that
hates supernaturals and is gaining popularity with every incidence
of violence that hits the local paper. This is fun and good reading
not only for fantasy fans, but also for mystery fans who like their
tales with strange backgrounds.
John Dixon, a former boxer who worked
with troubled kids has the tale of Carl Freeman who won a junior
boxing championship, but after the death of his parents fits poorly
into foster care until he stops a local football team from bullying
a weaker boy and sends some of them to the hospital. That gets him a
trip to Phoenix Island (hard from Gallery Books ), a
boot camp for troubled teens. However it’s far worse. Commander
Stark created the camp to get new mercenaries and, in the
later stages of training, the weaker recruits are hunted to death by
the stronger. There’s also human experimentation going on,
nano-technology to improve speed and healing ability. The final chip
to create the nano-tech man (like bionic but not artificial) has
left the subjects brain dead. The story will continue in the CBS
show Intelligence starting this January. The tale is very intense
with a Lord of the Flies feel.
Myke Cole resolves all the plot twists in
the third, exciting Shadow Ops: Breach Zone (paper
from Ace). Earth and another world on a different plane have
connected releasing super powers in those latent’s who have the
ability to access it. Laws were pass to make certain types of power
illegal and the laws are enforced by the Supernatural Operations
Corps. The first tale introduced us to Oscar Britton, a man who can
teleport from plane to plane, an illegal talent. The second we see
paper pusher Colonel Alan Bookbinder sent to a Fort on the goblin
world which comes under attack. In this tale, Jan Thorsson who can
fly and shoot lighting is in charge of defending New York against a
goblin assault let by an ex-girl friend who can literally rot the
wall between the worlds. He can only win with the help of Latents
who have hidden their powers. Very exciting and a must for those who
enjoyed the first two tales.
L. E. Modesitt, Jr. is one of my favorite
authors. Rex Regis (hard from Tor)completes the five part
prequel to his world where People work magic by imaging things.
Lydar was all by conquered by Quaeryt in the previous books and all
that remains is a treaty with the fifth section of the Island.
However treason sends Quaeryt to the north where he is
ambushed by enemy Imagers. Other than that excitement, the Island of
Imagers is built and a place for them found in society. It’s a quiet
tale and a nice ending. There’s another Recluse novel coming next
year.
David G. Hartwell ‘selection of the Year’s
best SF 18 (trade from Tor) with tales from 2012 is out. I’m
sure that it will include some of the award nominees.
Baen has reprinted in paper the last Keldara
tale, Tiger by the Tail which has the usual fun action; two
Andre Norton tales in The Iron Breed; and David Webers last
Honor Harrington tale, A Rising Thunder.
A second collection of tales by Sharon Lee and
Steve Miller, Constellation Volume 2 is out in trade from
Baen.
The Science Fiction Society will have its next
meeting on January 11, 2014 at 8 p.m. at International House
on the University of Pennsylvania. Campus..This is the annual
election meeting . As usual Guests are Welcome.
Dr. Henry Lazarus is a local Dentist and the
author of A Cycle of Gods (Wolfsinger Publications) and Unnaturally
Female (Smashwords).