Henry L Lazarus
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Science Fiction for April 2015
by Henry Leon Lazarus
Fantasy and Science Fiction specialize in strange
worlds. Often they are very similar to our own. Other writers
explore worlds that could never exist.
Marie Brennan sets her memoirs from Lady
Trent in a Victorian Age in which dragons are part of the natural
order. Lady Trent is a famous naturalist who has investigated
dragons all over the world. Her latest, and the voyage that made her
famous in her world, is Voyage of the Basilisk (hard from
Tor) a ship, she and some other researchers have hired to hunt
dragons all over her world. The ship also trades in order to help
pay its expenses. She brings her son Jake, now age seven,
along and he has the time of his life. They face pirates, swim with
dragon turtles, and, after the ship is thrown on a reef by a
horrible storm in the broken sea, ride a sea serpent and rescue a
princess. There’s no magic. The world comes to life and feels very
real. I love this series.
Alex Marshall sets his tale, A Crown
for Cold Silver (hard from Orbit), of revenge and magic on a
dark world still recovering from the collapse of an earlier
civilization. Zosia was a bandit queen out of legend. She and her
five villains conquered an empire. Then, a year later she was
killed. Peace has returned to the Empire in the next twenty years
with the empress sharing power with the Pope of the Burnished Chain.
Then a new Cobalt army appears and the first Zosia hears of it is
when her village is attacked. Things are far more complicated. The
rumors of her return have brought most of her villains out of
hiding, including the sorcerer. And a battle looms between the
Imperial Army and the heavily outnumbered Cobalt army. I really
liked this world, but the ending left questions. I suspect this is
the first book of a trilogy and I’m looking forward to see more of
this complicated, and dark world.
Nicole Peeler has a fun new series about
Jinn and Juice (paper from Orbit). Leila amy work as a belly
dancer but her thousand year curse to be a Jinn is almost over. As
long as she isn’t bound by a Magi, she’ll return to human in only a
few weeks. Alas, zan Sawyer, a sociologist trying to find the
daughter of family friends stolen from Afghanistan binds her.
He thinks she’s been kidnaped, but the truth is far more complicated
and related to the fact that Leila the only human Jinn (the rest are
made of fire). The Jinn who cursed her needs her to break him out of
Jinn prison. It all has to do with the fact that
Pittsburgh’s huge, magical fountain has been contaminated by
the local steel and the only magical being who can draw on it
without being poisoned is Leila. I had a grin the whole time I read
this, and am looking forward eagerly to Leila and Oz’s next
adventure.
Most military sf star versions of marines
who are gung ho and eager to kill. Casey Calouette finds a penal
battalion filled with drug addicts, drunks, and even a few
civilians. In a future filled with aliens and star gates, The human
Vasilov Worlds have been fighting with insectoid Kadan for decades
on a world they really don’t want. However bravery in battle brings
nobility, so they have happily fought a trench war. Unfortunately
the Kaden have gotten powerful allies and they might just conquer
that world and follow the humans to the settled areas. Colonel Cole
Clarke has been observing another human fighting force, the Sigg
Military. They won their war against other aliens. So Colonel Clark
buys used tanks from them, and trains the penal battalion he’s
been assigned. The troops somehow have to keep their fellow fighters
sober so they can survive. Steel Breach (ebook which I
bought) is lots of fun in a future that promises great sequels.
Helen Treharne approaches the vampire
world refreshingly without romance. Sophie Morgan is a normal
college grad at her first job in London, when she is attacked by
vampires on vacation in Antwerp. She actually kills a few and meets
a friend, Mickie who with his brother Sean are working as bartenders
at the Pub she and her friend find. Going back home she discovers an
upstairs neighbor is a vampire. These Relative Strangers
(paper from CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform) have to
adapt to the idea of vampires who have no problems with
sunlight, holy water, etc but can be killed with a tire iron. Mickie
falls out of touch because of a Death in the Family (paper),
Sean, and Sophie moves back to Wales with her mother, working in the
family business of leasing homes. There is something special about
her. It turns out she was conceived when her father was turning
vampire. Her father comes to town and works with his still-human
brother, a religious scholar, to decipher an stolen artifact
suggesting that half-vampire human might be a danger to the hidden
vampire community. I’m eagerly waiting for the third book.
Kelli Ireland tells a tale of an orphan
whose father has sent hit-men after her. Supernatural beings live
out in the open and the normal’s call them freaks. Dani Fayel’s
parents abandoned her at age 8 and she was raised in foster care.
She hid that her father was the archangel of death, and her mother
was a banshee, a forbidden union. Then she worked at a Freaks’ Fair
as a stable hand hiding her ability to see people’s future
interaction with death. Then an incubus from Hell, Cain, a demon who
had been a gladiator when alive arrives. Soon Dani gets
attacked. The problem may be solved by Raising Cain (ebook
from TKA Distribution) but the real problem is that Dani’s father
has fallen to Hell and his daughter, Dani, might be the key
mentioned in prophecy to bring on the apocalypse. There’s sexual
tension, but not actual sex. Cain even throws her off a parking
garage to force her into her hidden power. Fun. I’m interested in
the sequel.
Steve McHugh has a nice thriller with
Greek Gods. Sorcerers are immortal and the Greek Gods and Titans
were immortal humans with magical powers. The Gods made Pandora the
Prison of Hope. (Paper from 47 North) by putting a demon
spirit in a human body. Pandora/Hope has the ability to coerce any
into doing anything, with a limit that once released, she can’t
coerce them again. She was the weapon that ended the God/Titon war.
Nate Garrett who was trained by Merlin 1600 years ago, is usually
the one to capture her when she escapes. In 1936 she set a plan in
motion to kill Hera at the Berlin Olympics. In modern times, her
plot involves letting Cronus escape from Tarturus (an alternate
realm that absorbs magical powers) to attack Hera. Soon Nathan and
his friends have to fight witches, sorcerers and demons to get
to the center of the plan and stop Pandora again. This is a fun,
exciting tale and I’m planning to get a hold of the first two tales.
Dana Cameron completes her trilogy about
an archeologist who discovers she is a werewolf and part of the
Fangborn community (werewolves (who fight evil), vampires (who
heal); and oracles. Zoe Miller has been hunting ancient relics that
bind to her, giving her extra power. It has to do with the makers
who apparently expected the Fangborn to rule Earth. It’s time for
the Fangborn to reveal themselves to the human community. Zoe, now
the Hellbender (paper from 47North ) starts by teleporting to
Japan, and then returns to the US to find the final pieces, is
the only one who can find the balance between humans, Fangborn, and
the makers. This was fun. I had read the first. Missed the second,
and had no problems with this conclusion. Fun.
Peter V. Brett 4th tale of demons who
attack people at night and are deflected by magical wards that
started with The Warded Man (paper). The last tale, The
Daylight War (paper) ended with both potential deliverers
diving off a cliff while fighting. Now the two enemies have to work
together and trap a demon at The Skull Throne (hard from Del
Rey). In the mean time the daylight war between humans continues,
with battles during the night when magic works. A major character
dies along with many minor characters who have been relatively
important. Good battle scenes make for exciting reading, but there’s
enough soap to slow the action down. No real cliff hangers except
for a hint of a coming demon spawn similar to the attack that wiped
out previous human civilization. The tale continues in book five.
Ellen Datlow has put together The Doll
Collection (hard from Tor) filled with the best doll tales
from top authors.
The Science Fiction Society will have its next
meeting on, April 10th at 2015 at 8 p.m. at the Rotunda
on the University of Pennsylvania Campus. Samuel Delany winner
of four Hugo and two nebula awards will speak. He is currently the
Director of the Graduate Level Creative Writing Program at Temple
University and is a member of the Science Fiction Hall of
Fame. As usual Guests are Welcome.
The Nebula award Novel nominees are: The
Goblin Emperor, Katherine Addison (Tor); Trial by Fire,
Charles E. Gannon (Baen); Ancillary Sword, Ann Leckie (Orbit
US; Orbit UK); The Three-Body Problem, Cixin Liu ( ),
translated by Ken Liu (Tor) (I couldn’t finish); Coming Home,
Jack McDevitt (Ace); and Annihilation, Jeff VanderMeer (FSG
Originals; Fourth Estate; HarperCollins Canada) (first of a trilogy)
Dr. Henry Lazarus is a local Dentist and the
author of A Cycle of Gods (Wolfsinger Publications) and
Unnaturally Female (Smashwords). Check out his non-formula
unified field theory at henrylazarus.com/utf.html