Henry L Lazarus
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4715 Osage Ave.
Philadelphia, PA 19143
Science Fiction for August and September 2018
Imagine if our world were different because of
differences in historical events, or major alterations in science.
Both Fantasy and Science Fiction use this to sometimes create great
tales.
In 1952 a Meteorite hit the
Eastern Seaboard of the US, with the Tsunami wiping out New York,
Washington D. C. and, of course, our own Philadelphia. Mary
Robinette Kowal tells of The Calculating Stars (trade from
TOR), the women computers of the new space age who did the
calculations now done by electronic computers. Apparently enough
water vapor was thrown into the air, that a run-away greenhouse
effect will eventually boil the oceans. So the rush is to get off
the planet. This is a prequel to her Hugo winning novella "Lady
Astronaut of Mars." and is the tale of Elma York, former WASP pilot
in the war and brilliant calculator attached to the International
Space Coalition space program where her husband is chief engineer.
The tale follows her from surviving the meteorite strike to the
first launch for the Moon Landing in 1958. Ms. Kowal’s excellent
research allows a lot of interesting borrowing from the actual space
race and is absolutely fascinating. I expect this tale to garner
award nominations.
Robert Jackson Bennett imagines a
world where writing sigils on materials can change their
properties. A thousand years before an ancient empire had
unimaginable power. The merchants of the city of Tevanne found a
primer and in a few decades have created all sorts of devices, using
them to conquer a small empire. Sancia Grado was experimented as a
slave kid, an can talk to the sigils. She lives in the
Foundryside (hard from Crown) , the neglected part of the
city. She is hired to steal a key recovered from a treasure of
ancient artifacts which she does and the key talks to her and can
open any door. Then her fence is murdered and assassins are sent
after her. Her only home is the captain of the guards, Gregor
Dandolo who just wants her arrested. Orso, the head sigil writer for
one of the merchant houses and the original owner of the key somehow
also comes to her aid because the whole city is in danger from the
machinations of one of the merchant houses. This is a solid romp and
impossible to put down.
Drew Williams tells of a far
future with seventeen different but well-integrated species. The
problem was different sects willing to kill star systems over small
differences in ideas. The the pulse came, radiation that destroyed
technology randomly dropping settled planets back to the stone age.
One group, the Pax, was lucky enough to be spared, and, like Star
Trek’s Borg, want to absorb all the intelligent life in our
Galaxy. Jane Kamali, agent of the Justified, is an old soldier
helping to find the few people effected by the Pulse to have psionic
abilities. On one of The Stars Now Unclaimed (hard from
TOR) heavily effected by the Pulse, she finds a powerful telekinetic
teenager, Eva. Unfortunately the Pax are willing to destroy a
battleship to send enough soldiers after them. Escaping them just
leads to more battles, until the Pax come with enough ships destroy
the Justified home base. This tale is impossible to put down, with
fights in space, on land, and even with-in starships. There probably
are sequels coming. I can’t wait.
There’s a tale from the old west
about a prospector who struck it rich, had an assay done on what he
had found, and then disappeared, leaving others searching for the
lost mine. In S. K. Dunstall’s version a freighter, Road
to the Goberlings led by Captain Hammond Roystan, is surprised by
the exploration ship Hassim coming out of jump with its crew
murdered and the company men on board willing to murder them too.
The company believed that the Hassim had the secret to the Goberling
treasure planet. They didn’t know that Josune Arriola, former
engineer of the Hassim, was on board the Road. Stars Uncharted
(paper from Ace) soon adds a renowned body-modification artist, Nika
Rik Terri on the run because she had a way of temporarily switching
bodies, and an assassin had used her body for something, and will be
after her when he wakes up from the body modification she gave him.
In a very corrupt future, these few have scant chance to survive in
the rollicking adventure that is impossible to put down.
The final volume of John Ringo’s
prequel to Larry Correia fun series, Monster Hunter Memoirs:
Saints (hard from Baen) tells of Chad Gardenier’s attack on a
massive monster living under New Orleans and causing all the
problems with Zombies, Ghosts, and other monsters. The government
has also decided that he’s behind a virgin kidnaping gang based on a
supernatural reading. There are the usual violent monsters and
problems with the local government monster hunters trying to keep
the monster hunting quiet. The usual lots of fun.
John Dixon likes to put powerful
teens in harsh, controlled environments. Apparently a generation
ago, troops were exposed to a gas that altered their DNA and their
kids have powers. These kids are forced into The Point (hard
from Del Rey) a darker version of West Point that includes training
in their special abilities. The problem is that the first group of
these post humans went rogue and are committing terrorism. Scarlett
Winter, who just graduated high school, ends up at the school when
she stumbles on a bomb while sneaking into a friend’s party and
manages to absorb the blast. At the school she learns to control her
abilities while coping with difficult classes and West Point Plebe
rules. Then the rogues attack. Lots of fun.
P. Djèlí Clark tells of New
Orleans that is a free city separate from a civil war decades long.
An orphaned thirteen-year-old who calls herself Creeper, overhears a
plot to steal The Black God's Drums(ebook from TOR) a supernatural
weapon that helped free Haiti. Helped by airship captain
Captain Ann-Marie and her connection to the air god Oya, she has to
help stop wannabe slavers from taking the city with their new
weapon. Lots of fun.
Seanan McGuire tells a second tale
of the hitchhiking ghost, Rose Marshall, The Girl in the Green
Silk Gown (paper from DAW). Her enemy, Bobby Cross, who can
live forever as long as his spirit-eating car is kept fueled. Rose
was always the one who got away, and his current plan involves using
the special conditions of Halloween to turn her human which means
dealing the mortal needs like peeing, that she hasn’t had to face in
60 years. She has to get help from a human who almost captured her.
Her only way back is through Hades, which has multiple dangers and a
cute three-headed dog. Lots of fun.
A ghost world has been created
from our super highways filled with ghosts who died by them and then
took Alternate Routes (hard from Baen). The Secret Service
uses access to these ghosts to predict future attacks on the
president, and according to Tim Powers, are willing to kill to keep
their secret. Sebastian Vickery, new to the service who entered the
wrong car, survived an assassination attempt and has been on the run
for four years. Then the services uses the ghost of his suicided
wife to track him down. Warned by current agent, Ingrid Castine, and
helped by people already aware of the ghosts, the only way for the
two of them to survive and keep Los Angeles from exploding, is to
enter the ghost world while still alive, Very exciting, but I found
the mythology a bit confusing and convenient.
Christina Henry wonders what would
have happened if The Mermaid (Paper from
Berkley) that P. T. Barnum exhibited had actually been real. The
Mermaid had captured and let go by a fisherman in northern
Maine. Touching sand turns her human and so she decided to
stay with him for decades till his death while she still looked
young. Rumors cause P. T. Barnum to send his assistant Levi. The
mermaid (Amelia) first turns Levi down, and then decides that the
offer would give her an opportunity to see the human world.
Unfortunately this is a world where believers might try to kill her,
and a place where slavery is still legal. This is a nice
stranger-in-a-strange land tale that stays enthralling and very
human.
Alan Dean Foster considers the
fate of Rusian, a Relic( hard from Del Rey) of the
insectoid Myssari as the last human. Humanity had never met
aliens despite having colonized numerous planets. Another species ,
the Vrizan, are also investigating the human ruins. Rusian had
asked the Myssari to help him find Earth before he would let them
use his cells to recreate humanity, and the search leads to another
planet with two surviving older children. There are more surprises
later in this fun version of the last human.
Jeff Wheeler continues his tale of
Cettie Pratt, once an orphan and moneyless, and Sera Fitzempress,
only child of the Regent Prince. For four years they have been
roommates studying the mysteries at Muirwood Academy. They are
almost ready for the test that will reveal important facts about
their world, when the Emperor finally dies . The Privy council has
to decide between sixteen-year-old Sera and her father as the new
emperor. Cettie is attacked at the Academy by someone who can turn
off the magical protections, while Sera has to fend of attempts to
ruin her reputation. The a war starts between another world
connected via a Mirror Gate (paper from 47north),
Kingfountain. I can’t wait for the final volume in this fun
Victorian fantasy.
Martha Wells sends her Murderbot
to an abandoned Terraforming station that the evil GrayCris
Corporation had been using to dig up ancient alien technology. The
station was supposed to crash on the planet below, but a new company
purchased it and stabilized it. The rogue security bot attaches
itself to the expedition investigating the station and helps the
members of the expedition survive the Rogue Protocol
(hard from TOR) involving treachery and armored attack robots. I
enjoyed this exciting tale and one of these days will read the first
two books in the series.
Laurell K. Hamilton practically
invented the paranormal mystery genre with her exciting Anita
Blake: Vampire Hunter series about a modern world with
vampires, werewolves, and other creatures living openly. The 26th
adventure sends Anita to a wedding party on one of the Florida Keys
in which she is the best man for Edward, a fellow U.S. Marshal and
rogue vampire killer. There are several weddings on the Key and of
course a Bridesmaid is murdered and another kidnaped. At the heart
of the mystery is a police officer with siren abilities, and a
family of people warped by Serpentine (hard from Berkley)
genes that cause snakes to grow from their bodies. I’ve learned to
skim over the porn in these later Anita Blake tales, and the rest is
still exciting.
At a small outpost protecting
their country in a war almost lost, a discovery of a new enemy
airbase suggests that they can loot supplies. Teado a changer whose
other form is deadly and hard to kill, is dropped from the outpost
plane onto a supply plane where he kills its crew, but unfortunately
goes out the side. Brian McClellan’s War Cry (ebook from
Tor), is a short and exciting tale about the war secrets he
discovers making his way back to his base that has come under
attack. This is an interesting world.
Pyr has the Nebula Awards Showcase 2018
edited by Jane Yolen in Trade. Baen has volume 3 of the Complete
Psychotechnic League by the late, great Poul Anderson in
trade, and a collection of essays and stories by Michael C.
Williamson, Tide of Battle, in trade. Subterranean Press has a
collection of tales by Jack McDevitt, A Voice in the Night
in hard cover.
The Science Fiction Society will have its next
meeting on August 3rd/ Linda Jean Lee, a Folklorist at the
University of Pennsylvania, will speak The September meeting is on
the 14th. Miriam Seidel, author of The Speed of Clouds (paper
from New Door Books) about sf fandom. Both meetings
start at 8 p.m. at International House on the
University of Pennsylvania Campus. As usual guests are welcome.
Dr. Henry Lazarus is a retired Dentist and the
author of A Cycle of Gods (Wolfsinger Publications) and Unnaturally
Female (Smashwords). Check out his unified field theory at
henrylazarus.com/utf.html that suggests a simpler way to achieve
fusion generation.