Henry L Lazarus
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Science Fiction for November 2015
by Henry Leon Lazarus
Books considered for SF’s many awards are usually
published in the Fall. Publishers expect that readers will only
remember the most recent books, and thus present their best wares in
this season.
Ian McDonald has a very decadent,
libertarian society set on Luna. New Moon (hard from Tor) is
the first half of a duology telling the beginning of a war between
two of the five dragons, controlling families, that dominate the
moon. Mackenzie Metals was the first and resents all the rest. The
Corta’s ship energy producing Helium 3 to Earth and were the last to
be created. Dying Adriana clawed the dragon out of Mackenzie and her
children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren live in style in
caverns she discovered when she was a dust grubber. The moon is a
place of high technology reserved to the rich and the poor find
trouble even paying for essential like air. Natives and the emigrees
who have lost too much bone density, usually two years, cannot
survive Earth. The Corta family, who came from Brazil and still use
Portugese, are our protagonists along with Marina Calzaghe and
immigrant living in poverty after her promised job disappeared.
Luna’s law is all contract because even murder with the right
contracts is quite legal. This is a fascinating look at an unusual
society and I can’t wait for its conclusion.
L. E. Modesitt, Jr borrows from the
classic Rendevous with Rama for a tale set a century from
now that is unlike anything he has written before. Alayna Wong is on
a post-doc as the only person at COFAR, the large telescope on the
ar side of the moon. She spends her time doing research, repairing
the giant array, and writing to her parents and the pilot who
piloted her to the moon, Christopher Tavoian. Then an object on a
cometary orbit, turns out to be manufactured. At a time when the
Sianese are flexing their muscle in space and threatening India,
Noram stands apart. Chris is selected to investigate the object
using robots on a solo expedition. The Sianese launch a month later
with a larger crew and actually land on the object, labeled Solar
Express (hard from Tor) because it is actually moving faster
than predicted. This is a quiet tale of normal scientists working
with a strange object. Despite little action, I found the tale
fascinating. I hope it gets nominated for some awards.
Mitchell Bogatz has a sentimental tale of
a future where geniuses are cloned, but remain property. The fifth
Timothy Cottard is remarkable smart. We meet him as a teenager when
he tries to escape and learns that his body will poison itself at
forty. In the last year of his life he meets a lab assistant Alan
Turner who works with him on his final project of nanotech Tiny
Instruments (paper from Publicity) and then helps him escape
to the real world for his final six months. This will bring a
tear or two.
Brandon Sanderson’s Mistborn trilogy
about a world where powers come from ingesting metal ended with the
destruction and rebuilding of that world with one of the characters
becoming its god. The first tale of Waxillium Ladrian, a lawman from
the rough who returns home to take up his position as a Lord
of Elendel who apprehends criminals on the side. It’s a year later.
He’s engaged to a lovely woman whose family has helped restore his
family’s fortunes. Then the Governor’s brother is murdered while
selling his vote on council to criminal elements (also murdered) A
crazed immortal being who can assume the shape of anyone is
responsible. Wax has to face these Shadows of Self (hard
from Tor) with the help of his friends, his fiancee, and another of
those immortal creatures sent to help. Exciting.
Christina Farley introduced us to
sixteen-year-old Jae Hwa Lee in Gilded (paper) who returned
with her Father, after her mother’s death, to Korea from Los Angeles
where she was raised. As the descendent of one of Korea’s demigods
One such demigod, Haemosu, has been stealing the souls of the eldest
of each generation and she has to kill him to survive. Then in
Silvern (paper), she has to find a magical orb in North Korea
to stop the god of Darkness, Kud from causing a war between North
and South Korea. Unfortunately Kud cursed Jae’s boyfriend and to
save his life, she has to swear allegiance to Kud. In Brazen
(paper from Skyscape) she has to find another orb hidden in China to
finally stop Kud and save her homeland. These three tales show a
very real Korea from the viewpoint of a teenager who is both native
and new to the environment. Jae is a very gutsy girl adept in
hand-to-hand combat and archery, but is still very female. There’s a
nice solid ending to the series. I really enjoyed the series.
Eliza Nolan has a nice tale of a girl
developing super powers in an American High School in Minneapolis
where her father hid her after her mother disappeared when Julia
Long was a tot. Phoenix Awakens (ebook for Amazon) tells how
her dreams of secret rituals turn out to real when the hunk in them
transfers to her school. Eventually with the help of a good friend,
she hops freight trains to get to Charleston where her boy had been
kidnaped to complete the ritual stolen from Phoenixes. I really
enjoyed it and hope to read the sequel.
Every so often Amazon recommends a series
that just hits me and I devour it as fast as I can. P. G. Allison
has a nice series about Missy the Werecat (paper). Away at
Soccer Camp, she has her first change at thirteen and can’t figure
how to change back for two years. So she survives as a Cougar, even
wounded by a bear and shot by a hunter. Figuring how to turn back
and perfecting her ability, she heads home, only to save a family
whose car ran over a cliff. That ut her in a hospital with confused
doctors because of her tremendous healing ability. Then she works
with tutors to catch up, and also learning Hand-to-hand combat and
winning a tournament. But when she helps a friend being raped
regularly by a new stepfather, that points the mob at her. There’s
also her true love Mike who she bonds to. Then Missy Goes
to West Point (paper) where she deals with male cadets
unhappy with women in the Army. She also meets a witch (they
manipulate energy) who can throw lightning bolts and the two of them
frighten a mobster out of white slavery. Missy's First Mission (paper)
takes place during her freshman year and sends her to Afghanistan to
rescue three German engineers from the Taliban. That summer she
helps the special forces destroy the Taliban base and is
wounded, recovering quickly and also using her healing to help her
fellow soldiers. When the niece of the General is kidnaped, Missy's
Misadventure (paper) tells how other witches help locate the
girl and how she rescues her By Missy Makes Mayhem (paper
from Amazon), Missy has improved her abilities so that she can
become energy and teleport in that form. That helps her find the
suicide bombers, with the help of government agencies and witches
who locate the terrorists. There is some awkwardness to the writing
and the sex scenes, while always between bonded heterosexual pairs
and typical of teenage lust, might just offend some
people. Also while Missy can be killed and drugged and so is
vulnerable, she has become almost too powerful. I’m addicted.
Marion G. Harmon has a new “Wearing the
Cape” tale. Ronin Games sends Astra, Artemis, and Ozma to
Japan. Hope (Astra) has been dreaming of a tree, she had seen with
Kitsune. To avoid getting pulled into this dream world is to find
Kitsune in Japan, which involves getting into Japan illegally and
crossing real barriers. Then, while pretending to be Ronin
(unsanctioned supers) they have to face the Yakuza, deal with a
ghost, face a being so powerful it might merit the name god, and
help defend Japan from Godzilla type monsters. I eagerly await the
next adventure.
Jennifer Estep is a writer I’ve been
enjoying for a long time. Cold Burn of Magic (Paper)
introduced Lila Merriweather, a teenage thief living on her own
since her mother was murdered. Adopted by the Sinclair family as a
body guard for Devon Cloudburst Falls is a place dominated by
families with magical talents and magical creatures. Dark Heart
of Magic (paper from Kensington) starts with the
discovery that someone is murdering tree trolls. Then she has
to participate in a blade competition held once a year between the
families. Then someone kills one of the Sinclair guards to steal his
talents and Lila realizes that either she of Devon could be next.
Ms. Estep is starting to repeat herself, and some of the teenagers
come off as a bit obnoxious, but it’s still fun and well suited for
teenagers.
Christopher Nuttall, a very prolific writer, ends
one fun series and starts another.
Bookworm IV: Full Circle
(ebook from Elsewhen Press) completes the tale of the librarian who
had the contents of the full magical library dumped in her head.
Racing the mad emperor to the tomb of the wizard king, Johan and
Elaine hope to stop the magically alive king from rising from
his tomb. Alas they fail and only with the full magic of the capital
city and Elaine’s full understanding of magic, can he be stopped .
Fun ending.
The Oncoming Storm (paper from
47North) has an intrepid captain trying to save the commonwealth of
worlds from the growing Theocracy. Katherine “Kat” Falcone was
promoted to captain years before time because her powerful father is
worried about how the newly appropriated world, Cadiz is prepared
for a Theocracy advance. The admiral in charge has let everything
slip to avoid threatening the Theocracy. It doesn’t help that the
rebellion against the Commonwealth on the ground is
successful. When Kat’s ship captures some pirates and proves
they are funded by the Theocracy, he only wants to introduce her to
his son because of her social standing. Then her mission to find a
Theocracy secret base is too successful. Lots of fun. I’m waiting
the sequel.
Angela Holder writes of a pleasant world
run by guilds. Josiah is a bit to rambunctious to be The
Fuller's Apprentice (ebook from Deore Press which I bought)
and because of one antic is about to be sent back to his parents,
when a Journeyman Wizard offers to take him on as an assistant on
his travels around Tevenar. Wizards, acting only with their bound
familiar, can heal and open windows to see the near past and
present. They act as judges using their powers to find truth.
So Josiah joins Elkan and his donkey Sardonyx as they heal were the
goddess Mother lets them and find justice if possible. They also
face floods, and bandits and a father who beats his wife and
children. I liked this well enough that I pre-ordered the sequel
Larry Correia starts a fantasy set in a
world where the oceans are filled with demons who sometimes invade
land. The continent of Lok is protected with black swords that date
from the time that the demons were pushed back. These magical swords
pick their user by killing those that don’t meet its test. Lok has a
heavily controlled caste system, and the casteless are treated worse
than slaves. So when boy cleaning the blood of the potential users
is picked by the sword, the Valon family he is of their family,
wipes him memory, and sends him to the harsh protector guild that
maintains order, hoping he’ll die. Twenty years later this Son
of the Black Sword (hard from Baen), Ashok, is told the truth.
He immediately confronts the family, which leads to the death of the
head of the family, then believing in law above all else, he sends
himself to jail and awaits his death. Unfortunately that offers an
opportunity for a Judge seeking to rule the continent. This first
part ends with a very exciting battle and left me hungry for the
next part.
M. C. Planck continues his tale of of
Christopher who walked from our world to a world where magic works
and huge monsters attack, and promptly brings gun powder and canons
to improve the kill rate. In Sword of the Bright Lady (paper) he was
so successful protecting the drafted young men from the village he
arrived at, that he was tortured to death. But in this world money
allows revival. Gold Throne in Shadow ( Trade from Pyr) has
his army assigned to a border town. Politics force him to move to a
hastily built fort which comes under attack by an army of monsters
that outnumbers him fifty to one. Guns and nerves carry the day, but
that brings him to the attention of truly evil people, and sets of
the next tale. Fun with exciting battle scenes.
Rysa Walker concludes her fun time travel
tale about Time’s Divide (paper from Skyscape). In the basic
premise historians from 24th century were marooned when their home
base was destroyed. Only their descendants like Kate
Pierce-Keller can use the pendent time traveling devices,. Prudence,
the first, has been used by her father, Saul, to reshape the past to
create a religion Cyrisism by using time travel to create very real
miracles. But they have decided to use a disease from the 23rd
century to cull out non-believers. Kate’s quest to stop them
involves an interaction with Houdini in the past as well as a trip
to the 24th century to retrieve pendents before Prudence can get
them. So back and fourth across time she flits, sometimes being
literally in two places at the same time. Very nice conclusion to a
fun series.
David Walton continues his tale of an
artificially life form that lives on the quantum computer that is
the Universe. The Varcolac returns fifteen years after the events of
Superposition (paper). Ryan Oronzi has created a separate universe
and is using it to allow quantum effects like teleportation and Supersymmetry
(Trade from Pyr). Jacob Kelly, the hero of the first tale is
murdered by an implosion at a Baseball Stadium. His daughters,
Sandra a cop, and Alex, a physicist (they were the same person til
age 14) are on the run. The final scenes are in Poland where the
Varcolac has gotten hold of nuclear launch codes and is determined
to wipe out humanity. The Physics wouldn’t work in my little field
theory; henrylazarus.com/utf.html or in most other theories I know
about, but it is sort of fun. The ending is a time travel cheat and
I can’t recommend it.
Onward Drake (hard from Baen and edited by
Mark. L. Van Name) is a collection of original stories from major
authors honoring David Drake’s long career and his being a special
guest at the the World Fantasy Convention this year. Bryan Thomas
Schmidt has put together a collection of mostly new tales of
non-NASA space expeditions by major authors, Mission: Tomorrow
(trade from Baen)
Steve Tribe takes a neat behind-the-secenes look
at the British show, in Sherlock Chronicles (hard from Dey
St), I am amazed by the show and bought the DVD’s. My wife who likes
the classic Sherlock Holmes BBC production, hates this show.
Sherlock also streams on Netflix. Fans will go nuts over this book.
Baen has reprinted Lois McMaster Bujold’s
Shards of Honor (trade) ; Brian R. Torgersen’s fun tale of The
Chaplain’s War (paper) and David Weber and Eric Flint’s
addition to the honorverse, Cauldrons of Ghosts (paper).
The 79th Anniversary Philadelphia Science Fiction
Conference, Philcon, will be on
November 20st -22rd in the Crown Plaza Hotel, Cherry Hill, NJ. The
Principal Speakers is Wen Spencer known for her Elfhome
series that sends Pittsburgh to the land of Elves. . The artist
guest is Richard Hescox. It’s $50 for the weekend, but there
are day rates. Always fun.
Dr. Henry Lazarus is a local 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 where six formulas define our
universe.