Henry L Lazarus
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Science Fiction for October 2018
by Henry L Lazarus
Fantasy and Science Fiction can be great in
October. This year they are truly amazing.
Derek Kunsken has a tale set in a
far future where genetic engineering has created new human species.
The Numen made themselves to gods to their slave Homo Pupa, until
their slaves decided it was better to lock their gods up. Belisarius
Arjona is a flawed Homo quantus. He can’t leave the
quantum-computing fugue state voluntarily and almost died several
times before leaving the Garret to work con games to keep his mind
interested enough to stay alive. Now living in the Federation of
Puppet Theocracies, he is approached by members of the sixth
Expeditionary Force of the Sub-Saharan Union. They need the con man
known as The Quantum Magician (paper from Solaris) to
smuggle a dozen ships through the wormhole in the center of Puppet
space. For forty years the Sixth Expeditionary Force has been
building new drives and weapons and the Puppets want half of the
ships as payment to let them through. The fleet wants to break their
world from the Congregate. To work his con, Belisarius needs an old
partner, his long-long girl friend who hadn’t followed him in his
exile, a genius geneticist, a pilot designed to live deep in an
ocean, an A. I. who thinks it is the reincarnation of St.
Matthew, and an explosive expert who has to broken out of prison.
What follows is an impossible-to-put-down tale full of twists and
counter-twists and, of course, treachery. This is an amazing tale.
In Becky Chambers future, humanity
was forced off Earth when it became uninhabitable , launching the
survivors in an Exudus fleet. In her present contact was made with a
galactic civilization filled with many alien species and many people
have left the fleet to seek opportunities. Record of a Spaceborn
Few (hard from Harper Voyager) is a tale of people living in
the communist culture of the fleet, aliens visiting, and even one
who moved from an alien planet who dies. It starts after a horrible
accident destroys one of the ancient ships. In the end lives are
changed. Some leave, some go off and then return. This is a quiet
tale that allows Ms. Chambers a chance to show off her
world-building skills I suspect it will be on future award
nominations.
Richard K. Morgan, whose Altered
Carbon made for a great Netflix series, has a tale of a corrupt Mars
with its cities under laminate bubbles of Thin air (hard
from Del Rey) and controlled by a huge corporation. Hakan Veil
was modified pre-birth to protect the freight moving around the
solar system. He was dumped on Mars after a bad incident, and earns
his keep with semi-legal enterprises. He murdered a Casino owner and
was sitting in lock-up, when he was suddenly asked to guard a member
of the high level audit team. When she gets kidnaped despite five
guards, and an attack on his home with a Naval missile at the same
time. The audit was triggered by a missing lottery winner of a trip
to Earth, but the roots go far deeper and so do the attempts on
Hakan’s life. This will also make for a great, pulse-pounding
Netflix series.
Tomas Piety had been a gangster in
the industrial city of Ellinburg. When the war is won, leaving
an impoverished country. He had been picked by his commander as a Priest
of Bones (paper from Ace) and leader of a squad. He and his
brother make their way home, only to discover all his
properties, like the gambling house and whore house, had been
stolen. As he begins to reclaim his turf, a knight-agent for the
Queen, Ailsa, wants him to push harder. Behind the new gangs were
agents of another country hoping to use Ellinburg as a base to
conquer the weakened country. Peter McLean sets an intense and
exciting stage with magic and nineteenth century technology. It ends
at a stable point, but I can’t wait for more.
The demon Tarrik Nal-Valim
is summoned to a human world by a powerful sorceress Serenity “Ren”
Branwen who is one of the nine sorcerers trying to bring back a very
powerful demon who almost conquered the world. Ren knew of him from
her Grandfather who somehow had been Tarrik’s friend. Forced into
helping her even though it will mean his death, Tarrik soon
discovers Ren has deeper plans that will help her confront the Shadow
of the Exile (paper from 47th North) Mitchell Hogan tells an
enthralling tale and sequels are promised.
The first Martian expedition
landed on Mars in 1963 in Mary Robinette Kowal’s alternate history
that diverged from ours when a meteor hit the Eastern Coast a decade
before and threw enough water into the air to create a greenhouse
effect. The Calculating Stars (trade) introduced us to Elma
York, pilot and physicist, who becomes the “Lady Astronaut” from
being on the Mr. Wizard television show. The Fated Sky
(trade) has her as one of the two calculators, both female, on the
Martian Expedition. From dangers on Earth from wild protestors, to
the dangers of a three year trip to Mars, the tale is an exciting,
yet well-researched tale. Excellent.
It’s been over fifteen years since
Julie E. Czerneda had a tale about Esen, the youngest of six
web-shifters who can shift to an individual on any species she has
records. She and her human friend Paul Ragem have created All
Species' Library of Linguistics and Culture on his original home
planet. Then an old human friend, Evan Gooseberry arrives with a
problem. The Dokeci Na have discovered a new intelligent species,
and all their efforts to save them, have made the elf-like beings
conditions worse. Search Image (hard from DAW) shows the
love that Julie E. Czerneda puts into the aliens who range from
silly to imposing. I’m really glad that more tales are promised.
Charles Stross’s Laundry Files
series mixes Lovecraftian monsters with a British spy agency
assigned to keep magic a secret while protecting England and the
world from an emergence of these powers. In the previous tale, the
worst happened and an elder god N’yar Lat-Hotep is now Prime
Minister. The Labyrinth Index (hard from Tor) tells of a US
agency, the Nazgûl, who are occupying the government and
attempting to summon Cthulhu. They have created a geas to remove the
American President from the memory of all Americans. The real
President is protected by Secret Service agents trying to stay awake
so they remember their charge. Enter Dame Mhairi Murphey, an agent
afflicted with the PHANG (vampire) curse. She is entrusted to create
a team to rescue the American President. Along for the ride are: the
only female elf wizard; Jim her superhero boyfriend, Detective Chief
Superintendent Jim Grey; and Brains, a former gamer with magical
dice. A very exciting tale with lots of twists and impossible
situations. Great series.
S. L. Huang introduces us to Cas
Russell, a young woman who can read the vectors and angles of the
world around her to pull off impossible feats, like throwing a rock
to take out several attackers at once. Off grid, she works as a
retriever of stolen objects. The case starts with a girl held by a
drug lord. That part was easy, despite have to kill a number of
henchmen. It turns out that girl was not what she seemed and working
for Pithica, an organization using mind control to create a better
world. They are after her friend Rio, a psychopath, who uses
religion to provide the morality he needs and loves to take down
evil corporations like pithica. Helped by an ex-cop Arthur Testing
and his hacker friend, Cas is facing a Zero Sum Game (paper
from Tor) that could easily get her killed. The tale kept me up
late, and I can’t wait for Cas’s next adventure.
George R. R. Martin, who isn’t
writing new Game of Throne books, has edited a heart-warming wild
cards tale, Texas Hold'em (hard from Tor) set at a
high-school Jazz band competition in San Antonio. The band from
Xavier Desmond High are all jokers, causing lots of bible belt
protests. There’s a stink bomb, a kidnaping, and a lot of music.
Prejudiced kids are taught lessons, and somehow it all works out. It
left a tear in my eye.
John Varley was the best SF writer
in the early 70's. His high tech future in which humanity had been
kicked off Earth by aliens and survived on the other planets
depicted an awesome future with body switching and other odd life
styles. Christopher Bach is a glitch veteran who likes to pretend to
be a 30's gumshoe with his intelligent dog partner, Sherlock.
Because of his horrible experience, he doesn’t allow brain
connections to the local net. This leads him, indirectly to the case
of the Irontown Blues (hard from Ace) where a dame claims
she was infected with leprosy without her permission. Her trail
disappears despite both his and Sherlocks efforts. The best part is
a translation of Sherlocks story in his own words. This is a minor
addition to the universe, but still fun.
Brian Trent has a gritty far
future. Humanity has recovered from a nuke exchange, and its
government, based on Archologies on Earth, has settlements all
over the solar system. Waste lands on Earth remain outside the
recovery and grow with stolen weapons, and a hatred of the haves.
The destruction of a shuttle coming in from Mars to the Moon,
creates a cascade of events. Gethin Bryce was on the shuttle,
rebirthed with memories from his last backup two weeks before, and
set to investigate the strange energy that destroyed the shuttle. He
is assisted by two employees of Prometheus corporation, one his
ex-wife. A wasteland warrior is added after she is attacked by
something strange. At the heart of the puzzle are ancient gods who
preceded the creation of life on Earth. Ten Thousand Thunders
(hard from Flame Tree Press) is set in a wonderful, and complicated
future. It’s a complicated mixture of technology and culture and
makes Mr. Trent a writer to watch.
Charlie J. Eskew has an odd,
almost satyric look at superheroes. His Tales of the Astonishing
Black Spark (paper from Lanternfish Press) is the tale of
Donald McDougal, a young man in a dead end job who gets power
over electricity after being struck by lightning. Trained by someone
with the same powers, he applies to join the American Collective for
Resolving Overtly Negative Yowled Misconducts when the first African
American member quits. Eventually he is the second African American
superhero. He has to survive being killed and chasing away both his
girl friends, before earning real income from the PantheUsa group
and advertising. Lots of fun with a giggle.
Merrin Smith, an orphan on Isla
Perla, joins pirate ship Riptide disguised as a man. Her captain,
Erik Winters, is hunting for his lost love stolen to mythical
island of Bracile that exits in a hole of reality. The Isle
of Gold (paper from Black Spot Books) turns out to have a sea
goddess on it, and on it Merrin is faced with both her parents and
the sister she never knew. Seven Jane tells a fascinating, and
well-researched tale of magic and the high seas that is hard
to put down.
A decade after the adventure in Valiant
Dust (hard) , Lieutenant Commander Sikander North is
assigned as the intelligence officer on the commonwealth ship
Exeter. He’s part of a diplomatic fleet to the ancient alien Tzoru
Empire. Like ancient China in the 19th century, technology has
passed by the Tzoru, Even though they were the ancient astronauts
that visited Sargon, now they are a technologically a good century
behind. Politics lets an anti-alien philosophy loose. Richard Baker
tries hard to put Skiander’s Restless Lightning (hard from
Tor) to use, and puts him in a number of dangerous situations with
his researcher friend Lara, but he is not in charge of what is a far
bigger story. I still will eagerly read the next adventure.
After her father disappeared,
Tessa Andrews spent her last year of High School delivering food to
the local elderly. Then one of her clients, Professor
Brandard, has his house go up in flames with him turning back to his
twenties. That was Tessa’s introduction to magic. Unfortunately a
very powerful wizard is making his way to America and Tessa has to
help the The Late Great Wizard (paper from DAW) help find
the relics that have pieces of his memory and are scattered all over
the North East cities. Other eccentric wizards sometimes help and
sometimes hinder. When she learns her father has been caught in a
magical trap, it makes the quest personally important to her. A fun
tale.
October Daye, fae changling and
Knight of the Realm located in our San Francisco, is back for a 12th
adventure. The daughter, Gillian. she had to give up when she was
turned into a fish for fourteen years, has been kidnaped from UC
Berkeley. Her ex-husband and his new wife are frantic and blaming
her. Night and Silence (hard from DAW) sends her into area’s
of the fairy world she never knew existed and also introduces to her
all-too-human grandmother who also is immortal. Seanan McGuire
brings back an old villain thought captured, and a fae form of
vampire. As usual, lots of fun.
Ernestine “Ernie” Terwilliger is
now playing with a full deck. She is one of the immortal dealers who
use magical cards that are also the animals tattooed on their skin.
Her father had been one, and has been missing for twenty years. In The
Guardian (paper from 47North), Sarah Fine finds Ernie
sent to an alternate universe where a giant grasshopper is eating
people. Her father had been sent there twenty years before. Is he
still alive? This is a fun series, but this second adventure is a
bit generic.
Daw has a novella and two short stories set
in the universe of the best selling Green Rider series by Kristen
Britain, The Dream Gatherer (hard). Great series that’s been
around for twenty years.
Baen has a collection of Eric Flint’s tales,
Worlds 2 in trade, the late Gordon R. Dickson’s classic Outposter
in trade and reprinted in paper Sharon Lee and Steve miller’s last
Liaden tale The Gathering Edge.
The World Fantasy Award finalists are: The
City of Brass by S. A. Chakraborty (Harper Voyager);
Ka: Dar Oakley in the Ruin of Ymirby John Crowley (Saga
Press); The Strange Case of the Alchemist’s Daughter by
Theodora Goss (Saga Press); Spoonbenders by Daryl Gregory
(Bond Street Books CA/Knopf US/Riverrun UK); The Changeling
by Victor LaValle (Spiegal & Grau); and Jade City by
Fonda Lee (Orbit).
The Stone Sky by N.K. Jemisin (orbit) has
won the Hugo Award.
The Science Fiction Society will have its next
meeting on October 5th at 8 p.m. at the Rotunda on
the University of Pennsylvania Campus. Aaron S. Rosenberg, author
and Game designer, will speak. 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.