David
Liss’s fans hated his inclusion of fantasy into his latest historical tale
of Regency England at the time of the Luddite rebellion. Lucy Derrick,
like all Jane Austin heroines, is on the low end of the upper class, living
on sufferance with her uncle and engaged to a factory owner she dislikes.
She, however, has a talent for magic that is found when Lord Byron shows
up at her house with a curse on him. Be she gets training from a neighbor
who has access to magical books that her talent allows her to use correctly.
Soon she is hunting all over England for The Twelfth Enchantment
(trade from Balentine books) to save her niece who’s been replaced by a
changeling and save England itself from ancient revenants, people who have
used magic to become immorta. This would have been nominated for awards
if the fantasy world had found it.
David
Freer has a tale set in an alternate 1953. A short first world war and
a thawing have left England in control of the seas. Submarines smuggle
goods in and our of blockaded cities including London which is partially
underwater. The Cuttlefish (trade from Pyr) is a neat submarine
that navigates the deep sea with sails and hydrofoils but dives to avoid
detection. On board are Clara Calland and her mother, a chemist hunted
by the British who will stop at nothing to kill her to keep her idea for
artificial nitrite secret. Tim Barnabas is the cabin boy who helps her
search for spies on board. There’s definately a Treasure Island feel to
this fun adventure that also includes every submarine trope Mr. Freer
could think of. Lots of fun for all ages.
J.
R. Rain was a P.I. and knows the field. Samatha Moon (paper
from BenBella Books) was an investigator for HUD until an attack
left her unable to go out in the sun. She is still raising her two kids
and buying her blood from a butcher. In these first four tales she handles
some private investigations, gets a divorce from her cheating husband,
and meets other vampires. She is so fascinating that I immediately went
and bought her next adventure Vampire Dawn for my kindle app which
has her hunting a murderer who supplies blood for vampires. I can’t wait
for the next adventure.
Devon
Monk continues her tale of a wild wild west that never was. Though I never
read the first I was brought quickly up to speed. Werewolf Colin Hunt is
taking two women east to Kansas along with his brother who can only be
human once a month. The magical strange has made the west very dangerous
with deathless people and the ability to create zombies. Colin is one of
the few people who can sense an evil weapon broken up into seven pieces.
In this book there’s Captain Hink of the flying ship Tin Swift (trade
from Roc) and his enemy, a dishonored civil war general, Alabaster Saint.
Fast action, both in the skies and on the ground ensue. This is an impossible
book to put down and I look forward to continuing the series.
Kelly
McCullough has a second adventure of a sort-of private eye in a magical
world. Aral Kingslayer lives in a medieval world where magical power comes
from being linked to a familiar. Aral’s partner/ familiar, Triss, is a
shadow creature who lives literally in his shadow and allows him to disappear
into shadows, perfect for the assassin he used to be when he worked for
a goddess of Justice. But she’s dead and he is wanted for murder and he
takes cases that need justice. So a dyad (two women linked together to
form a mind meld) walks into his bar soon followed by the King’s enforcers
with their stone dogs and Triss asks him to help them. The macguffen of
the tale is a stolen magical ring sought by two groups of magical creatures
that can literally swim through stone. But everybody wants the ring and
Aral and friends face impossible odds trying to retrieve the ring and stop
a war. Luckily there are strange creatures, like river dragons, Aral’s
friends, and his Bared Blade (paper from Ace) to help. This is a
fun, sold action piece that makes we want more.
Trish
Milburn continues her tale of a teenage White Witch (trade) on the
run from her dark witch coven. The trail has led to Salem where the dark
witches first found their power. Where Jax finds witches without power
hiding from the covens and another group of Bane(trade from Bell
Bridge Books) witches who also want to fight the covens. Add in the evil
hunter trying to kill all witches and you end up with a fun middle book
of a trilogy. This is more serious than the first part.
Lisa
Shearin concludes her tale of half-elf Raine Benares who has been linked
to an evil magical stone called the Saghred. A goblin king stole it and,
unless she can use a magical knife on the thing, now located in the Goblin
capital, it will be a case of All Spell Breaks Loose (paper from
Ace). This is a fun ending to a silly tale with enough action to keep the
reader on the edge of their seat.
The
late Anne McCaffrey and her son Todd McCaffrey conclude their tale of how
Pern survived the dragon plague in the third pass. This is mainly the tale
of Xhinna, who rides a blue dragon and is one of the few female wind leaders
in Pern history. The Sky Dragons (hard from Del Rey) make their
home on one of the western islands and have to deal with egg eating snakes
and finding enough candidates. There is probably too much ‘timing’ flights
that send the dragons to local spots in the past but the survival problems
seem real enough. Fun and a must for Pern fans.
Egil
and Nix, bearers of The Hammer and the Blade (paper from Angry Robot)
are tomb robbers who have done well enough to retire and buy a run-down
bar. But, as Paul S Kemp, tells it, they made a mistake of killing the
wrong demon in their last raid, they get kidnaped and put under a spell
of compulsion to rob another. This is fun classic fantasy. Very exciting
and I’m looking forward to Egil and Nix’s next adventures.
You can’t miss with the Year’s Best SF 17 (paper from Harper Voyager) in which David G. Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer pick the best tales of 2011.
Fans the HBO series will laterally eat up A Feast of Ice and Iron (hard from Bantam.) Chelsea Monroe-Cassel and Sariann Lehrer have put together a succulent group of recipes. I took it home.
Kelly Armstrong has two tales The Hunter and the Hunted: Two Stories of the Otherworld (electronic from Penguin Publishing ) that lead into her final book of the Overworld series.
Among Others by Jo Walton (tor) won the Nebula Award.
The Science Fiction Society will have its next meeting on July 20th at 8p.m. at International House on the University of Pennsylvania. Campus. This is the Annual Hugo Award Panel which discusses the award nominations.. 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)