Henry L Lazarus
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Science Fiction for February 2015
by Henry Leon Lazarus
I don’t always include books in this column on
Fantasy and Science Fiction that I buy for light reading. These are
light fun and well-written books that get pushed out of the column
because of serious books supplied as review copies. Many are
self-published on Amazon.
Sierra Dean has been telling the
adventures of Secret McQueen a young woman who is half vampire
(though still mortal) and half werewolf. When the series started was
working for the vampire tribunal as their executioner for vampires
gone rogue and knew nothing about the werewolf community. It’s been
eight books. In A Secret to Die For (ebook) Secret faces the
worst things she has ever faced, corpses raised by a necromancer
bike gang that is terrorizing New York City. Not only that but her
secret dual existence is in the open, To survive she has to convince
vampires to work with werewolves despite the fact they hate each
other. And she needs extra powers from the Fae with a price too
high. It’s a nice and satisfying ending for an exciting and fun
series.
Matthew Cannonbridge (paper from
Solaris) is a major literary figure of the nineteenth century
that you’ve never heard of He was at the gathering where Mary Shelly
invented Frankenstein; gave money to Charles Dickens to get him out
of the poor house, and got drunk with Edgar Allen Poe on his final
drinking spree and visited Oscar Wilde in prison. Until in modern
times Toby Judd discovers he is a fraud and finds himself chased all
over England by forces that need to maintain the illusion. According
to Jonathan Barnes there is magical sand from an unused island off
the coast of England. But there is also deviltry and evil.
Fascinating.
Brian Staveley continues his tale of
treachery that started with the assassination of an Emperor, causing
his three children to become The Emperor’s Blades (paper).
It was necessary for Kaden to study with the Shin monks to learn a
quiet peace that would let him pass through teleporting gates
scattered throughout the empire. His circuitious path sends him
eventually to the capital Annur where he weaves a hard path between
enemies trying to kill him. His brother Valyn, the trained Kestral
wing leader (they fight from huge birds) who saved him by ignoring
orders has a hard path home through the bloody Urghol and finally to
face his father’s killer on the battlefield that holds the Urghol
back. His sister, Adare, thinking Kaden, flees to worshipers of
Intarra whos high priest she had destroyed in the first tale, but
learned that another, the head of her father’s army is actually
responsible for her father’s death. All three must face The
Providence of Fire (hard from Tor) in this second book of an
exciting trilogy.
Aria Marmell’s tale of the thief
Widdershins who, because of the death of all its other followers,
has been linked to a god Olgun who gives her extra lift and agility.
Olgun is only a minor God and not part of the pantheon of gods. But
in this fourth and final adventure Widdershins returns to her home
town of Davillon to find that demons have been raised against the
population. She still has her friends and allies, including the
local Bishop, but these are strong demons raised by her worst enemy.
Only a Covenant’s End can save her and her town. Fun
conclusion to an exciting series.
Eric Flint and Ryk E Spoor borrow heavily
from Swiss Family Robinson with a tale of the Kimei and an
European, squid-like Bemmie, Whips are together in a life boat drill
on their colony ship when their life boat is suddenly cut loose.
They manage to make it to a nearby sun and crash land on a Castaway
Planet (hard from Baen) with a floating continent. They have
connected earphones and some high-tech tools. They are also
protected by nanopods in their blood help heal. With two parents,
two teenagers and a nine-year old they have to find food and make
shelter and survive the wild predators. This take place
decades after their previous trilogy about finding alien technology
on Mars and Europa and shares none of the same characters. Lots of
fun.
Myke Cole starts a prequel to his series
about magic returning to the real world and the marines who have to
fight in this changed environment. US Navy SEAL Jim Schweitzer is at
the top of his game when bad guys attack his home and kill him. The
U. S. Has a Gemini Cell (paper from Ace) division that
raises his dead body, using the dead soul of a jinn, Ninip who had
lived centuries before. Other warriors raised soon lose their bodies
to the jinn, but Jim fights against this ancient warrior who only
wants to kill. Especially when he learns his wife and child are
potentially under attack. Exciting but I don’t identify well with
zombies.
Adam Roberts borrows from Jules Verne in
a strange tale about Twenty Trillion Leagues Under the Sea (paper
from St. Martin's Griffin). On June 27th 1958 a secret French
nuclear submarine, the Plongeur, dived too deep and all nine crew
and observers were lost at sea. Unfortunately that was not true
because the ship was directed through a portal to a universe of
water. Pulled down past underwater suns, and attacked by creatures
hunting its air, its crew doesn’t understand what his happening. The
captain dies from internal fires, the lieutenant goes nuts and some
of the rest of the crew become religious fanatics. An observer from
the French Government finds himself shot and then tossed out into
the endless sea. Yes there’s a tie in to Captain Nemo in an
unexpected way. This was a bit dark for my taste, but impossible to
put down.
James Enge tells how his character
Morlock, son of Merlin, got exiled from the Warded Lands where he
was raised. He’s been happily married to Aloê for a century when the
wardlands get invaded by Khnauronts whose staffs suck life force.
They’s been send by a dragon who wants to leave the world before the
sun is destroyed. Morlock, his dwarf friend Deor, and a cured
Khnauront, Kelat set off to find the Dragon. Along the way they
discover that Kelat is a prince (one of three hundred) and add
Morlock’s sister Ambrosia to their party heading to The
Wide World’s End (trade from Pyr). In the warded lands Aloê
investigates a strange murder in which the victim dies several days
after his actual murder. It’s a murder with ties to many of her
friends. Mr. Enge has a lot of fun with his background with whole
cities becoming cannibalistic to survive the sun’s death. At bit
light but fun.
The Science Fiction Society will have its next
meeting on, February 13th 2015 at 8 p.m. at International
house on the University of Pennsylvania Campus. The guest
speaker is Rosemary Edghill, writer and editor whose works are
usually a lot of fun. 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).