Henry L Lazarus
4603 Springfield Ave.
Philadelphia, PA 19143
Science Fiction for November 2010
By Henry Leon Lazarus
Monsters. Think of all the monsters in fiction like
Frankenstein’s creation, vampires, werewolves, and things that go bump
in the night. Blobs of flesh, and blobs of gelatin can be scary and friendly,
both in the same story. Halloween is over, but the nights are growing longer
and nightmares are no longer easily banished into the warmth of summer.
D.
M. Cornish, finally, has given us his completion to the tale of Rossamünd
Bookchild.who grows up in a world filled with monsters He was a Foundling
(paper) raised in an orphanage. His first job was as a Lamplighter
(paper) banishing the darkness on frontier roads to keep monsters away
from travelers. Now he is Factorum (trade from Putnam) to a monster
killer, the Duchess-in Waiting Europe as she returns to her home in Brandenbrass,
and sets off on several monster hunting expeditions. By now Rossamünd
has learned that not all monsters are problems for people, and in fact
that he too is a monster in human form (or is it human made from monster
parts) He also has learned of princes of monsters who frequently live quietly
among humans, some of who are so powerful they cannot be destroyed. In
the city the Duchess has enemies who will entrap her and if they learned
about him, all will be lost. D. M. Cornish has a marvelous way with words,
frequently coining odd variations of normal words. It gives a flavor of
reality to this strange world. Highly recommended for all who like a bit
of challenge in their reading.
You
can’t get more monsters than the world shown by Larry Correia and the professional
MHI crew. Government agents desperately trying to keep the secret of monsters
from the public don’t know what to do when an ex-pro goes on a Monster
Hunter Vendetta (paper from baen) hoping to throw Owen Zastava Pitt
(Z to his friends) to one of the Lovecraftian monsters who thinks
Z dropped an a nuke on its universe. Add in Z’s parents and a rock star
brother for tension, and Z is facing impossible odds again. What else is
new? I love this series.
Sandman
Slim (paper) came back from a decade in hell to throw his enemy there.
Now he’s bored, killing monsters for the Golden Vigil, a government task
group. Lucifer then claims him as a body guard, It seems that someone is
making a movie of Satan’s life and wants the ultimate consultant.
Then zombies start walking LA’s streets and, as Richard Kadrey tells it,
it’s a case of Kill the Dead (hard from Eos) or be killed. Add in
a Zombie-killing, porn star and a sapient Zombie who likes eating
raw pig, and our hero has his hands full.
To
Clay and Susan Griffith, the Vampire Empire was formed 1870 when
these hidden parasites (separate species) came out of hiding to conquer
the northern climes. When Princess Adele, of the human empire based in
Alexandria, is sent on a tour of some northern kingdoms, vampires attack
her protective fleet of dirigibles, and eventually capture her, despite
the efforts of the strange adventurer, vampire killer called The Greyfriar
(trade from Pyr). Even though she manages to kill some vampires, she is
taken to England where a king in dotage (800 years old) has two sons waiting
for his death. One of them, Prince Gareth, is actually enamored of humans
and provides help to the princess while her fiancee from American is trying
to rescue her. This is the first book of a trilogy with a lot of promise
and I enjoyed the formidable heroine and the pulp action that kept me glued
to the page.
Cherie
Priest got a hugo nod for her steam punk tale of Tacoma covered with a
poisonous gas that could be turned into a drug, Sap, and a full strength
zombifies people. Mercy Lynch is a confederate nurse working in Richmond
when she receives a letter from her erstwhile father in Tacoma at the same
time she learns of her husband’s death in Andersonville. So she decides
to travel across war-torn America, by dirigible, boat, and finally on a
train pulled by the infamous Union war engine, Dreadnaught( trade
from Tor). The Union is shipping gold to the west and doesn’t mind carrying
passengers. But Gold is the lure that sends a rebel train after her and
both into a fight with mexican soldiers zombified by the gas used to make
the addictive drug SAP. Mercy is a practical voyager, always willing to
help with the nursing supplies she always carries and rarely losing her
head. I liked this tale much more than the first book and fans of the first
tale will only find cameos of the characters from the first tale at the
conclusion of this. Fun.
Eric
S. Nylund continues his tale of twins Fiona and Eliot Post, children of
Lucifer and the goddess Atropos, who were accepted as children of the gods
in the first book. Now, as a way to learn All That Lives Must Die (trade
from Tor which I bought in Kindle form) they have to go to a neutral
school in the war between demons and gods. Paxington students not only
have book learning, but gym is a game where team has to get enough of their
team through a maze to their flag before the other team and anything goes
in trying to stop the other team. It doesn’t help that their uncles sometimes
take them out for excursions to hell, or that one of their teammates who
Eliot has fallen for, is fighting to save her home in hell. Lucifer has
his own plans and Mr, Nylund loves to mix classical mythology with demonic
mythology in a fun mix.
As I was finishing this column, Ace sent four must
reads and I managed to get through three of them in three days.
Mike
Shepherd tells of Kris Longknife: Redoubtable (paper) in finds the
princess is still hunting pirates on the edge of the Peterwald empire which
has huge economic problems (partially due to attempts on Kris’ s life in
previous books). She is also carrying food for planets literally starving
because of a huge influx of refugees from the Peterwald planets. After
taking out a torturing dictator on one planet, Kris follows the trail to
a major Peterwald, where with the help of the local authorities and Victoria
Peterwald former enemy now friend) she tracks down a pirate base farming
narcotics with slaves (including one of Kris’s kidnaped friends). The usual
fun ensues. This series always goes to the top of my reading list.
Jack McDevitt started
his career with a tale of Alex Benedict who hunts ancient antiquities to
find relics for sale about eight millennia from now. His latest starts
with garden stone with strange markings found at the house that used to
belong to a man who had spent his entire life hunting for aliens among
the various empty worlds. Someone is trying to block Alex’s investigation
and won’t stop at murder. Another person who knows the story actually suicides
when she finds out about the investigation. It all has to do with an expensive
sight seeing tour group that took people out to see comets and ringed planets
and other beautiful sites. What they found is in a star system they called
Echo(hard) and it wasn’t aliens.
Finally
we have the first Garret tale in a while. Glen Cook’s fantasy/mystery tales
use the Nero Wolfe form with the dead man who isn’t a man and who will
be mentally active for centuries is the thinker of the pair. Garrett, who
had left the dead man for Tinnie and who gotten out of the Private eye
business, is brought in when his best friend Morely Dotes is left for dead.
Who is still trying to kill Morely before he wakes from his coma? Why is
the investigation into a warehouse filled with dead bodies being quashed
at the highest level. Will Garrett get back with Tinnie who resents him
taking a case? What about the powerful fairy windwalker who says she wants
to marry Garrett? It all has to do with Gilded Latten Bones (paper).
Maria
V. Snyder tells how Opal Cowen lost her glass magic in the last tale. Now
she remembers that the villains took some of her blood, blood that might
help her recover her magic. She can still detect magic and it has no effect
on her. She also has the diamonds that her magic became, so doesn’t have
to worry about money. Her boyfriend is out on the plains dancing storms
away, so she has plenty of time, especially since her mother is working
hard at preparing Opal’s sister’s wedding and driving her nuts. So first
she has to break into the prison where her enemies are tightly locked up.
Then the trail leads to a mine for magical diamonds, and then she is captured
by a man who uses blood magic to control her. In between she runs into
old friends and trained by the spymaster Valek who gives her a Spyglass
(trade from Mira books which I bought for my Kindle App) . This is a nice
solid ending for this fun series.
Yvonne
Navarro uses demonology as a background for her tale of Highborn (paper
from pocket) Astarte who, after millennia in hell, decides it is time to
seek redemption on Earth. With Lucifer’s hunters after her and, as a wetness
to an execution of a half-angel nephilim that God puts on Earth for one
thing. Lucifer’s demons are there to destroy them, but can’t touch them
directly. There’s a human detective trying to catch the killer, with no
idea of why the victims are being chosen. I like the way that Astarte,
now known as Brynna finds a way to fit into an Earth she isn’t used to
and the nice love affair between her and the detective doesn’t overshadow
the plot. I devoured this in a day.
Maria Lima continues the tale Keira, now with the full Kelly abilities,
and heir to the Kelly clan. She comes back to Rio Seco Texas and her vampire
lover to become leader of the para-normals in the area. That includes a
werewolf pack that is under attack by a local religious hate group. In
spite of the villains being a little obvious to the reader, Keira needs
the time to do the detective work and also more werewolves die, necessitating
a Blood
Heat ( paper from Pocket) to clean thing up. Pleasant reading, but
not too original. If you’ve been following the series like I have, you’ll
enjoy this one.
Wynter Moorehawke returned home with her father, a master carpenter
and close friend to the king, after five years away to discover The Poisoned
Throne (paper) with the king’s son and heir in rebellion and the talking
cats poisoned. Even though her father is dying she sets off across The
Crowded Shadows (paper) of the kingdom to confront Alberon and try to set
things straight. Joined by the princes’s half-brother Razi, who the king
thinks dead, and his close companion Christopher they are hunted by slave
taking werewolves and helped by the gypsy like Merron (with a dark religion).
Finally they reach the camp of The Rebel Prince (trade from Orbit) only
to find that Alberon is trying to do his best for the kingdom in ways his
father wouldn’t approve. He has opened his camp to many of his father’s
enemies, including the werewolves. If he hadn’t been so obstinate, there
wouldn’t have been a rebellion (which I feel is a cheat). There’s also
a horrible weapon that Wynter’s father had designed that killed children.
Somehow I also felt cheated by the big secret of a Gattling gun, which
I think the medieval world, which saw nothing wrong with looting and pillaging,
would have relished. Celine Kiernan is an excellent writer and draws the
reader deep into the tale, creating memorable characters. I just felt let
down by the minor secrets driving the plot.
Larry
Niven and Edward M. Lerner introduce us to a relatively young Louis Wu
in the continuing prequel to Ringworld. The villain this time is a mad
puppeteer who thinks nothing of manipulating the starfish like Gw’oth in
an effort to scare the fleet of world into making him their leader. This
Betrayer
of Worlds (hard from Tor) reacts so differently than other members
of his species that he almost seems like a melodramatic villain. Larry
Niven fans will be satisfied and the action is fun.
Baen has a number of collections this month. Fred
Saberhagen’s tales Of Berserkers, Swords and Vampires (paper); new
modern vampire tales edited by Esther Friesner, Fangs for the mamaries
(paper);
Tales from the late Robert Asprin, Myth-interpretations (trade),
and classic Christopher Anvil tales with one novel, The Power of Illusion
(trade).
Philcon 2010, the local science fiction convention,
comes on November 19-21 at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Cherry Hill, NJ.
Peter S. Beagle (The Last Unicorn), will be the principle speaker. Preregistration
for the weekend is $40 through at least November for adults , but you can
buy day passes at the door. I’ll be there.
Dr. Henry Lazarus is a local Dentist and the author
of A Cycle of Gods from Wolfsinger Publications which can be bought on
Amazon.com.