Henry L Lazarus
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4603 Springfield Ave.
Philadelphia, PA 19143
Science Fiction for December 2017
Religion and rational thinking rarely get along.
Fantasy and Science fiction writers can imagine a different view.
Tracy Townsend introduces a 19th
century world in which people believe in a rational god and
that the world is his experiment. There are two other intelligent
species on the world;
Aigamuxans;apes with eyes in their feet, and and lanyani;
mobile plants. At the heart of the tale is a book that gives
constantly changing information about the location of The Nine
(trade from PYR) individuals around the world. Various groups are
hunting the book to either protect the individuals in the book or to
kill them. Rowena Dowshire is a pre-teen delivery girl trying
to earn enough money to buy her mother out of debtors prison.
The book is stolen from her and that group wants everyone who
touched it dead. Luckily she comes into contact with the Alchemist
and Anmselm Meteron, a former assassin. They have to break into the
cathedral where Phillip Chalmers is translating the text under guard
and fight off many Aigamuxans. Its lots of fun and an introduction
to a interesting world.
There are only about one out of a
thousand people who feel they were born into the wrong gender. April
Daniels adds superpowers to the emotional mix. Fifteen-year-old
Danny Tozer was hiding in the mall painting his toenails when Utopia
killed Dreadnaught. Danny draggs him to safety and in return
receives a bundle of energy. This gives him Dreadnaught’s powers
while transforming him to female. Needless to say his parents,
particularly his abusive dad. His best friend is only interested in
her new body. The legion Pacifica only admits adults and some of
their members are prejudiced against transsexuals. She finds a
friend in Calamity who lives to hunt minor criminals. Together they
go after Utopia. Dreadnought: Nemesis ( paper from
Diversion Books)is a fun look at an odd heroine. I immediately
bought the sequel.
The latest Wild Card weave novel
shows the final trip of the steamship Natchez as it moves up from
New Orleans on a Mississippi Roll (hard from TOR and edited
by George R. R. Martin) going to Cincinnati where it is supposed to
be converted to a casino, . The original owner, Captain Wilbur
Leathers, turned into a steam creature in 1951 has been locked to
the boat ever since. There are Kazakh Joker refugees hidden on
board, Joker entertainers like Wild Fox who can create illusions
provide entertainment ans sometimes find adventure. Retired NY
police detective Leo Storgman is looking into the suspicious death
of a crew member. And I.C. E. Is waiting at ever stop. This is a
light entry to a series that takes comic book tropes to higher
level.
I enjoyed it a lot. The Amazon listing suggests the series is still
being considered for television.
Katherine Arden returns to Rus of
the 14th century when the Mongols still technically ruled. Vasilisa
Petrovna (Vasya) can see the spirit beings and had to deal with The
Bear and the Nightingale (paper) which resulted in her
father’s death and mad friend with Morozko, Lord of Winter and
death. She decides to travel with her magical horse dressed as a boy
for protection. Local villages have been attacked by bandits who
steal young girls. Rescuing some girls she meets with Dmitry
Ivanovich Donskoy, Prince of Moscow who is also hunting the bandits
with her monk brother Aleksandr. Vasya hides her gender until
a horse race with a Prince reveals her. Dmitiry would make her
The Girl in the Tower(hard from Del Rey), for all high born
women, including her pregnant sister, are locked in towers, or even
burn her as a witch. Alas the prince who tricked her has a plot to
kill Dmitiry and only she and her brother can stop him. This is a
lush look at the early years of Moscow and is fascinating. I look
forward to the final book in the trilogy.
Michael Livingston’s final tale of
the five stones that grant magical abilities, the shards of heaven,
is set in the turbulent period after Herod the Great’s death. The
demons released in the last tale are trying to enter The Realms
of God (hard from TOR). The riots in Jerusalem allow roman
troops entry into the Chamber of Holies in the rebuilt Jewish Temple
to find a hidden shard that allows teleportation. From there the
action moves to Petra where one of the other shards was hidden. Real
historical events and actual historical figures, like future emperor
Tiberius pepper the scene. The mythology of the tale is based
on mystic Jewish and Christian writings which I found disconcerting.
This is a nice end to the trilogy.
Lois McMaster Bujold has a series
about Penric, am infected with the two-century demon Desdemona who
also has collected the personalities of her previous hosts. Penric's
Mission (hard fromSpectrum Literary Agency, Inc) is to help a
General Arisaydia in Cedonia who has fallen under suspicion of
treason. Thrown into jail and then set to drown because his mission
was known, Penric has to excape, and help the blinded general and
his widowed sister Nikys leave the dukedom safely. His using his
abilities to heal Arisaydia makes things worse. Halfway to a dukedom
the promises safety Penric has to call up the personality of a
previous host for Mira's Last Dance (hard) and dress
accordingly. Lots of fun.
\Ellen Kushner’s Swordpoint created
a 16th century world in 1987 that was remarkable free for its time
in the freedom of sexual preference. It also had lots of politics
and swords. In Teemontaine Season 1 (hard from Sega Press by
Ellen Kushner and six other authors), which is a prequel to the
previous book, the Duchess has a dark secret. Ixkaab Balam is newly,
a member of the Chocolate trading family from South America. The
family holds the secret of ocean navigation. But Rafe, a scholar who
wants to prove that the Earth goes around the sun, and Micah, a girl
just arrived from the farm with her cousin selling Turnips and who
just happens to be a calculating genius, might have a way to solve
the mystery of Navigation. Add in murder. Several torrid love
affairs. There’s a nice mix here, but many plot threads still dangle
at the end. Fun.
Some people think that
life-extension is around the corner. In Robert Buettner’s a wealthy
industrialist is murdered with a bomb under The Golden
Gate (paper from Baen) bridge. There’s a good excuse to delve
into all the philosophical complications of extending human
life. Dredging for the car is difficult and there are no
DNA traces to help identify any washed up bodies. Kate Boyle, a
journalist with a very-connected father, and Ben Shepard, an Iraq
war vet serving as aide to the Department of Homeland Security
secretary. The only clues are a series of objects donated to
various museums around San Francisco. Manuel Colibri, the victim,
was a very wealthy head of a research center into life
extension. Fun, but a bit predictable.
Baen has The Jim Baen Memorial Award: The
first decade(trade) and Down and Out in Purgatory
(hard), a collection of tales by Tim Powers. They also have
reprinted None but Man (trade) from one of my favorite
writers of the 60's Gordon R. Dickson.
The Science Fiction Society will have its next
meeting on December 8th The meeting starts at 8
p.m. at International House on the University of Pennsylvania
Campus. .Roberta Rogow, a writer of mysteries starring Louis Carol
and Arthur Conan Doyle will speak. She also writes filk songs
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).Check out his unified field theory at
henrylazarus.com/utf.html that suggests a simpler way to achieve
fusion generation.