Henry L Lazarus
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Science Fiction for May 2015
by Henry Leon Lazarus
After this review of Fantasy and Science Fiction
books is printed, I post individual reviews on line at Amazon
and Goodreads. Most books I read get a three star rating. While that
might be considered low, I have a different scale. To me a
three is average. They’re fun and enjoyable and the reason I keep
reading. A four star book is noted here by suggesting that it should
be considered for award nomination. Usually less than ten
books a year make that qualification. I see a book deserving five
stars once a decade.
I found myself jumping in on Christopher
Nuttall’s latest Schooled in Magic (ebook) tale, moving it
to the top of the pile.. Emily was kidnaped from our world to the
no-named lands by a necromancer looking for a child of destiny
(Emily’s mother was named Destiny) and rescued by Void, a powerful
mage, who sends her to Whitehall for training. In the previous book
she finished her third year. She also, with the help of the
industrious family of a friend, has been introducing Earth
technology like the printing press, steam power, and dynamite to
this world and it is making massive changes. She has
neglected the Duchy of Cockatrice she was given because she saved
the princess heir to the local kingdom and unfortunately agreed to
host the Magical Faire this year, leaving her steward in charge. He
invited all the magical families, including Ashworth and Ashfall,
families who have been feuding for generations and who are never
invited to the same event. It’s a case of Love's Labor's Won
(ebook from Twilight Times Books) when the heir of one family falls
for the heir of the other. Mr. Nuttall is very aware of Romeo and
Juliet, so that a far better result occurs. The stage is set for the
fourth year in which she has to work on a project with another
student. I don’t know where this mixture of Connecticut Yankee and
Harry Potter. Is going, but I’ve been enjoying the ride and glad
that each book has a solid ending.
Harry Connolly has a nice, exciting
trilogy with magic coming from portals in The Great Way. Many
intelligent species have made their way to that world, including
humans. One portal opens in the Palace of Song and Morning every
twenty-three years bring the Evening People, humanoid aliens who
gift one spell if they are properly regaled. This time giant purple
apes come pouring out of the portal. The Way Into Chaos
(ebook from Radar Avenue Press which I bought) starts with the
destruction of the capital by these monsters Tyr Tejohn Treygar, the
only landless Tyr watches the king and Queen killed, but gets the
prince and his entourage onto a flying cart. Lar, the prince wants
them to head to his uncle’s tower where the magician has a spell
that could win the day. Alas, the prince is bitten and, like all
those bitten, becomes a monster himself. Cazia Freewell, royal
hostage whose been taught magic is along. They run into Giant Eagles
and their cart is destroyed. Tejohn decides to continue Lar’s quest
and sends Cazia with Ivy, Lar’s future wife to Ivy’s home. But Cazia
decides instead to investigate the Eagles home, which may be another
portal. She, Ivy, and another girl head toward the mountains.
Cazia has to tunnel through the mountains with magic and finds
herself hollowed out by the excess use. In the valley between the
mountains the girls discover intelligent insects with a anti-magic
stone that removes Cazia’s magic and restores her to herself. This
is The Way into Magic (ebook) but first the girls have to
escape the insect Queen. Tejohn on foot, finds the empire in ruins
with petty Tyr’s running things and not offering
much of a defense to their people. Turned into a slave, he has to
escape and save several communities. The Cazia and Tejohn reunite to
go to Lar’s uncle’s tower only to discover that Lar’s uncle had gone
hollow and was killing everyone that got close to him. The Way
into Darkness (ebook) is an exciting conclusion that first
send Cazia to the land she was born in, only to find her father has
been horrible to his people. Then the two face the aliens who were
responsible for the curse. This tale is pulse-pounding and
impossible to put down.
The physics at the atomic level are weird
with electrons in multiple places at the same time. My simplified
theory at henrylazarus.com/utf.html explains why. These effects like
Superposition (trade from Tor) and the possibility that
someone might be alive and dead at the same time are explored, and
explained well by David Walton and attributed, somehow, to a super
collider built in New Jersey in the future. Jacob Kelly used to work
at that collider until he quit to teach Physics at Swathmore.
Then an old colleague, Brain Vanderhall shows up and tries to shoot
Jacobs wife to prove he wouldn’t hurt her. When Jacobs goes to
Brian’s office and then to his hidden lab, he finds Brian’s dead
body and a monster he calls a Verolac, Back at his house the Verolac
murders his family in front of him and he escapes. Another version
of him is put on trial for Brian’s murder, while the version who
escaped tries to find the actual murderer. The Physics of the
strange situation are well-explained and who the murderer is, is a
nice twist and makes sense too. Fun.
John Birmingham cautions that drilling
deep into the ocean floor can have monestrous consequences.
BP’s Longreach rig is setting records in depth. Divorced
Safety Engineer Dave Hooper is coming off a weekend toot when his
rig is attacked by orc-like monsters. Centuries ago something
separated their lair from the surface and the rig broke the capstone
that kept them apart. Somehow Dave kills one of the leaders and that
gives him super strength and a fast metabolism. Emergence (paper
from Del Rey),has Dave fighting the monsters in New Orleans with the
help of the Navy, the local authorities and the gangs. It’s filled
with comic book action and a good start to a fun trilogy.
Humanity is at war with a machine
intelligence. Their main weapon are the psi-marines who can mentally
disrupt the connection between the spiders and their fighting
drones. Caitlin’s twin brother was reported dead, but her psionic
connection to him is still broken. Then he contacts her
telepathically to assassinate the fleet admiral, but someone else
shoots the admiral before she can. Special Agent Von Kodiak is
pulled off a case against a crime syndicate after the first
assassination, and the case gets complicated when the Admiral’s
replacement is also murdered. Humanoid robots, things not seen
before, seem part of a complicated plot. Adam Christopher takes his
exciting plot to the mining machine of Jupiter where someone is
building a spider machine they hope to control. If The Machine
Awakes (hard from Tor) it could be a disaster for
humanity. Very exciting.
Kal Spriggs tells a fun tale, albeit a
bit predictable, about a robot warship on course to destroy a human
starship and the small group of ex-prisoners set to reprogram it. Fenris
Unchained (paper from Henchman Press) Melanie Armstrong is the
merchant owner trying to make a living with her parents ship with
the help of her brother with missed repairs cause it to crash. She
and her brother are co-opted into the expedition. The Fenris’s
mission was set a century before when the system it’s attacking was
controlled by aliens. It’s been out of touch while repairing itself.
The mission is complicated by pirates, including one in the
Melainie’s group. This is light fun, and promises some sequels. Jennifer Estep starts a tale set in "the
most magical place in America." Cloudburst Falls where
monsters exist and gangs with magical talents control the town. Lila
Merriweather pretends to be a normal teen despite a magical talent
in sight and the ability to absorb temporarily the talent of any
attacker if their attack is used against her. Since her mother, a
bodyguard was murdered she’s had a hiding place in the Library, and
a fence, Mo, who finds things for her to burgle. She also goes to a
normal school during the day. Then Devon, heir to the Sinclair
family is attacked in Mo’s shop and she makes the mistake of saving
him. She’s made his bodyguard to replace the one killed in the
attack. Cold Burn of Magic (paper from Kensington -Teen) has
a lot of similarities to other Estep tales. I read everything
she writes.
Jack Campbell has a world in which both
technology and magic are controlled by strong guilds that care
nothing for the commons and despise each other. Mari is the youngest
master mechanic who left the Guild Halls,. She has been sent
to Ringhmon to repair a computer (like from the sixties). Alain is
the youngest mage, and has been hired by the caravan to help protect
it from bandits with his fireballs. The Caravan is destroyed by
bandits with far more weapons than should have been expected,
drawing Mage, who has been taught to hold emotions in check, and
Mechanic who has been taught that all the Mage effects are
fraudulent. They escape the bandits and make their way to Ringhmon
where she fixes the computer and is thrown in a dungeon. He helps
her excape, and they both end up in another city menaced by
monsters, and they both have to work together, despite the
disapproval of both their Guilds to fight The Dragons of
Dorcastle (ebook from Jabberwocky Literary Agency, Inc. ) .
There’s of course a prophecy that will be explored in later episodes
of this fun series.
Kelley Grant shows us a medieval world in
which Gods are quite real and provide the magical powers. The One,
worshiped by the desert people created four other deities. Potential
priests are selected by Felis, giant cats who bond with the priests
and allow bonding to the one and to the other deities. The problem
is that the deities not only don’t agree, but are frequently in
conflict. The deity of war has been pushing to expand his armies to
attack the people of the desert and has turn more people into
Forsaken, a class frequently treated as slaves with no rights at
all. Into this comes a set of twins, born of a woman who left the
priesthood. Sulis knows herself called and has a knack of
befriending all the felis. She goes the Temple at Illian to be
trained. Her brother, Kadar, is apprenticed into his family’s
merchant business and falls for one of the Forsaken, Farrah, who his
family pays full wages to. This is the beginning of a tale of Desert
Rising (ebook from Harper Voyager Impulse) and a lot of fun.
I’m looking forward to the next part of the tale.
Baen has reprinted Robert Buettner’s fun Balance
Point (paper) set in his Orphan’s Legacy series; and two of
James P, Hogan’s tales, Cyber Rogues (paper). Open Road Media
has reprinted Greg Keyes’s first novel The Waterborn as an
ebook. It’s still one of his best.
Hugo Award nominations included: Ancillary
Sword, Ann Leckie (Orbit US/Orbit UK); The Dark Between the
Stars, Kevin J. Anderson (Tor Books); The Goblin Emperor,
Katherine Addison (Sarah Monette) (Tor Books); Lines of
Departure, Marko Kloos (47North); Skin Game, Jim
Butcher (Roc Books). I’ve read an enjoyed all but The Dark Between
the Stars which continues his The Saga of Seven Suns series which I
didn’t like and Skin Game which is part of the Dresden files.
There's a controversy going on now about this year's awards. People
have to pay to nominate and vote, and apparently the deck might have
been stacked this time.
The Science Fiction Society will have its next
meeting on May 15th at 2015 at 8 p.m. at the International
House on the University of Pennsylvania Campus . Writer
and editor Michael A. Ventrella will speak 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). Check out his non-formula unified field theory
at henrylazarus.com/utf.html