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LAST UPDATE 2/18/12

Three Science Fiction Novellas by J.H. Rosny aine, Wesleyan, 2012, $35, ISBN 978-0-8195-6945-5

I have fond, though distant, memories of Quest of the Dawn Man by this early Belgian SF author. The three novellas collected here were all new to me and all three are quite interesting. The first recounts the meeting and subsequent battle between prehistoric humans and a very bizarre kind of alien. I liked this best of the three. The second involves an entity whose differing system of perception effectively places him/her/it in another reality. Although I didn't like this as much, I was surprised at how sophisticated the concepts were. The last is an interesting variation on the end of the world story. All three of these hold up well. There is a lengthy essay about the author included. An interesting counterpoint to American and British SF from that same era. 2/21/12

Fountain of Age by Nancy Kress, Small Beer, 2012, $16, ISBN 9781931520454

I think of Nancy Kress primarily as a novelist, but she has also written a fairly robust number of very good shorter works as well. Two of those included here are award winners, the Hugo for "The Erdmann Nexus" and the Nebula for the title story. They're probably the two best in the book, but the others are for from being filler and several of them are excellent. I particularly liked "Safeguard" and "Endgame." Kress blends the accuracy of hard science fiction with well developed characters and thoughtfully constructed plots, a combination that is absent in the work of many of her contemporaries. She also has the rare ability to infuse her stories with a sense of wonder about the universe, the element which drew many readers to the genre in the first place.

Living Proof by Kira Peikoff, Tor, 2012, $24.99, ISBN 978-0-7653-2930-1

Given some of the frightening nonsense being promulgated by some current politicians, the premise of this dystopian novel was more than slightly disturbing. Less than twenty years from now, destruction of an embryo is first degree murder and the government rigidly controls what happens in fertility clinics and elsewhere. A scientist suffering from a fatal disease uses one such clinic as a screen to experiment with stem cells in search of a cure. An agent investigating the clinic has conflicting emotions, complicating his efforts.  The author tries to present the conflicting attitudes without coming down on either side and usually succeeds. Nicely written, suspenseful, well constructed, but rather depressing 2/18/12

Article 5 by Kristen Simmons, Tor, 2012, $17.99, ISBN 978-0-7653-2958-5

Inspired perhaps by the success of the Hunger Games series by Suzanne Collins, this is a post apocalyptic dystopian novel for teens. We don't really learn exactly how it was that democracy failed and the major cities were all abandoned, apparently because of a war, but now the Bill of Rights has been replaced by a theocratic code and the police enforce the laws in the fashion usual in theocratic military dictatorships. The protagonist is a teenaged girl who manages to survive with her mother until the latter is arrested for political crimes and the arresting officer is the man to whom the daughter is emotionally attached. Although there's more or less a conclusion to the story, it clearly leaves an opening for sequels. Not badly written and while the plot has a few clunky spots, it was pretty good overall. It's also a first novel. 2/15/12

The Liminal People by Ayize Jama-Everett, Small Beer, 2011, $16, ISBN 978-193152033-1

I'm afraid a plot description of this one will make it sound like the X-Men or the Heroes television series, both of which it superficially resembles. It's actually more like the Wild Card series, but even that's not really right. Various mutations have given some people extraordinary powers including the protagonist, whose ability to heal the sick also works the other way, as a potential invisible weapon. Taggert, the hero, is involved in the search for a missing girl, who turns out to have powers of her own. There's also someone trying to organize the mutants for reasons not immediately clear. The novel is very well written and I enjoyed it despite my prejudice against present tense narration, which for some reason seemed far less intrusive than usual. Or perhaps I'm just getting used to it. 2/15/12

The Advance Team by Will Pfeifer and German Torres, Tor, 2012, $15.99, ISBN 978-0-7653-2712-3

Judge Dredd: Crusade & Frankenstein Division by Grant Morrison, Mark Millar, Carlos Ezquerra, and Mick Austin, 2000 AD, 2012, $16.99, ISBN 978-1-907992-67-4

Here we have a couple of SF oriented graphic novels. The first is primarily humorous - a pizza delivery man discovers that various popular celebrities are actually alien invaders and he sets out to eliminate them before they can call in the full invasion force.  Or is he just nuts? I can't tell from the galley whether or not the finished product will be full color throughout but the black and white version is visually okay but not eye grabbing. The story is kind of cute, but can't decide whether or not we're supposed to take it seriously.  The Judge Dredd title contains two separate stories and they are definitely full color. In the first, a scientist returns from space convinced that he has been contacted by God himself. The second involves a reanimated corpse in the mode of Mary Shelley. Some of the graphics in these two stories are quite striking although the stories are fairly bland. 2/14/12

Blueprints of the Afterlife by Ryan Boudinot, Black Cat, 2012, $14, ISBN 978-0-8021-7091-0

There was a time when broad satires of the not so distant future were a staple in SF, but satire went out of style some time ago, perhaps because the real world seemed to be taking on the semblance of one. This one is set in a post apocalyptic future when a sentient glacier has destroyed much of North America and various other unlikely events have come to pass. As humanity faces the possibility of extinction, it finds new and sillier ways to spend its time, including building a replica of the devastated Manhattan.  The author mixes a crew of idiosyncratic characters with a variety of outlandish situations and the novel quite frankly doesn't flow in a concerted direction, although it ultimately doesn't matter. Comparisons with Kurt Vonnegut and Philip K. Dick are inevitable, and with some justification. This is likely to be overlooked by a lot of regular SF readers - the cover doesn't draw the eye either - and that's a shame. 2/13/12

After the Fall Before the Fall During the Fall by Nancy Kress, Tachyon, 2012, $14.95, ISBN 978-1-61696-065-0

This relatively short novel follows two connected sets of characters. One is a mathematician who has analyzed a series of abductions for the FBI and can predict where the next one takes place even though the kidnapper and his victims literally disappear into thin air. The second involves a small group of survivors of the death of Earth's ecology who were imprisoned in an alien structure. They believe that the aliens were responsible for the disaster but we know better because we've been shown incremental changes in the ecology that led to the devastation. Eventually the two sets of characters intersect, changing the worlds of both. I didn't really buy the concept that the Earth would spawn earthquakes and super tsunamis to get rid of human polluters, but otherwise this was a neat little story. 2/9/12

Boneyards by Kristine Kathryn Rusch, Pyr, 2012, $16, ISBN 978-1-61614-543-9

Boss is back for her third adventure in outer space. This series reminds me slightly of the Alex Benedict novels by Jack McDevitt, and I enjoy them almost as much. Boss and her crew salvage technology from derelict ships and installations while the authorities conducting dangerous research encounter one frustration after another. Boss is persona non grata with the Empire conducting this research, and she knows some of the secrets they are desperate to uncover. Her main effort gets derailed this time when one of her friends commits an act of sabotage and gets into big trouble. There's a puzzling anomaly in the writing this time - toward the end of the book the author switches to present tense narration, I suppose in order to provide a greater sense of urgency. If so, it doesn't work, but it's brief enough not to be too great a jolt to the story line.  I could do without the cute names - Squishy and Boss and Turtle - but otherwise this continues to be some of the most entertaining SF being published lately. 2/3/12

The Rings of Time by Greg Cox, Pocket, 2012, $7.99, ISBN 978-1-4516-5547-6

This Star Trek novel is based on the original series and I enjoyed some pleasurable nostalgia as I read it, even though Kirk is taken out of his normal environment. Back in 2020, an expedition to Saturn encounters an alien probe which transports a man from that time into the future, swapping him with Kirk, who finds himself back in the early days of human space exploration. Each man then faces a crisis, but the two events are linked and unless both succeed, it won't matter if the other does. There's some occasional humor and a lighter touch than in some of the other tie-ins to this series that I've read during the last few years, perhaps an attempt to return to the roots of the series. Sure it's derivative, but it's fun derivative. 2/2/12

Moonbase One by Raymond F. Jones, Abelard, 1971

I don't believe this ever had an American edition. It's one of Jones' young adult novels, and he was generally better in that format. This one features an experimental moonbase that is danger of failing when an accident wipes out most of their water supply. It has the usual features of YA books of its time. Teenagers allowed more latitude than they would be in real life, and coming up with solutions the adults miss. The one short sighted, not quite villainous kid and his equally obstructive father. The coincidental discovery of a water bearing rock only minutes before the crisis. It turns out there's a saboteur but everything comes out right in the end. None of this is particularly plausible but it was mostly necessary to make the teenager the protagonist and the hero. Not badly written but with nothing outstanding to make it memorable. 1/27/12

Under the Moons of Mars edited by John Joseph Adams, Simon & Schuster, 2012, $16.99, ISBN 978-1442420298

I never read the John Carter novels until I was in college, but I still enjoyed them while recognizing that they weren't the world's greatest literature. There have been a few imitations since then but this is the first in a while, a collection of original stories set on Barsoom. Some of them feature John Carter, others subsidiary characters from the original series, and still others new characters entirely, some of them other visitors from Earth. Some do an excellent job of capturing the feel of Burroughs, particularly those by Joe R. Lansdale, Garth Nix, and L.E. Modesitt Jr. Peter S. Beagle has Tarzan visiting Mars and encountering a John Carter who comes across as a villain rather than a hero. One story involves Martians ethereally transported to Earth. Other contributors include Chris Claremont, S.M. Stirling, and Catherynne Valente. This was a lot of fun and made me nostalgic for the originals. 1/22/12

The Whisper by Emma Clayton, Scholastic, 2012, $17.99, ISBN 978-0-545-31772-6

Despite some minor plot problems, I thought The Roar - to which this is the sequel - to be a pretty good young adult SF novel in an era when most YA fiction is either fantasy or horror.  The setting was a walled city, the plot involves the conspiracy to keep the residents from knowing that Earth is not dangerously polluted, and the main device involves a pair of twins who are telepathic. They're back for their second adventure, this time opposed to a would be dictator who wants to steal the secret of immortality so that he can rule forever. There are mutants and space stations and lots of other embellishments as well.  I find Clayton's prose style a bit sparse at times, particularly the dialogue, but she tells her story well and paces things nicely. This should appeal to fans of of Suzanne Collins. 1/21/12

Snapshots from a Black Hole & Other Oddities by K.C. Ball, Hydra House, 2011, $14.95, ISBN 978-0-9848301-0-7

A debut collection from an author whose name was unfamiliar to me. Most of these stories are SF; a couple are more properly fantasy. They range from full length to flash fiction, and vary considerably in theme, mood, and subject matter. The humor is sometime sharp at the edges, which is always nice. There are touches of alternate history, space travel, and other familiar icons of the genre, but the stories are much more about the characters than the situations, although generally without sacrificing storytelling. They are much more polished than I would have expected from a new writer and a new publisher. I think "Flotsam" was probably my favorite. As I said, I hadn't really heard of this author before now, but I expect to hear from and about her again. 1/21/12

Deliverance Lost by Gav Thorpe, Black Library, 2012, $8.99, ISBN 978-1-84970-062-7

Another novel in the Horus Heresy subset of the Warhammer series involving a civil war among the various factions of space marines and others in the distant future.  This one involves a unit which has suffered devastating losses and has withdrawn from combat in order to regroup and reinforce itself. Although this is military SF there is an element of mystery this time around because some of the new recruits are actually agents of the opposing forces determined to undermine its cohesiveness and battle effectiveness. This series is entirely about action and Thorpe certainly doesn't stint on that element despite the relatively low level of violence.  About average for this series. 1/20/12

Lightspeed Year One edited by John Joseph Adams, Prime, 2011, $16.95, ISBN 978-1-60701-0304-4

I don't read online fiction very often so while I was aware of this particular website, I had never actually visited. After reading through this large collection over the last few days, I am aware that I missed a lot of good stories by doing so. There are almost fifty stories here, and they cover a very large number of themes, styles, and plots, everything from adventure to humor.  The vast majority are good stories, a handful are very good stories, and there were only a couple that I thought fell short.  The authors include Stephen King, Ursula K. Le Guin, George R.R. Martin, and Alastair Reynolds, along with a bunch of newcomers like Catherynne Valente, Nnedi Okorafor, and Ken Liu, who has one of the most interesting stories in the collection. There are too many good stories to cite individually, so suffice it to say that you can dip into this one almost at random and find something worth your time. The selections are diverse enough that there is something for even the most jaded tastes.  I'm still not planning to read online fiction, but I'll be looking forward to Lightspeed Year Two.  1/19/12

Sisterhood of Dune by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson, Tor, 2011, $27.99, ISBN 978-0-7653-2273-9

The latest addition to the Dune saga takes place well before the original series by Frank Herbert and concentrates on that mysterious order of women, the Bene Gesserit, and other matters. The various great families of the empire have been established but any trace of unity has long since dissipated. There are rivalries, alliances, animosities, and aggressions among them now and that is the source of most of the conflict in this installment, but of more interest to fans of the series are the stories of the establishment of the Bene Gesserit, the creation of the first Mentats, the beginnings of spice assisted interstellar travel, and other early moments of movements and families who will reverberate through the future, or in this case, the previously published books in the series. I've had mixed reactions to this amplified series which sometimes seems quite good but sometimes seems rather flat.  This is one of the former, a complex but neatly told story, although as always there seems much more yet to come. 1/17/12

Power Play  by Ben Bova, Tor, 2011, $24.99, ISBN 978-0-7653-1786-5

One of the most interesting subsets of SF is the marvelous invention story.  You know, what would happen if we could make glass so dense that light passed through it very slowly, or what are the implications of workable matter transmission? Ben Bova takes up this theme in this mix of SF and political intrigue as a new method of generating electricity is discovered, although it has potentially unfortunate side effects. The discovery becomes a pressure point in a political rivalry which turns ugly when two people are found dead. There are some good moments in this one, but I never understood why an ambitious politician would hitch his star to such an abstruse scientific issue and the supporting characters are uniformly uninteresting and vapid. Bova has written some very good near future technothriller style SF, but this isn't one of them. 1/15/12

Blindspot by Michael McBride, Dark Regions, 2011, $14.95, ISBN 978-1-937128-21-0

This novella is marketed as horror but it's really SF. The North Koreans have set off a nuclear explosion in a situation likely to lead to all out war as part of their effort to cover up some genetic experiments that have escaped and are wreaking havoc. A crack team of Americans is sent in to discover the truth, and they get to see and experience some of the subsequent carnage before discovering that they are just pawns in a bigger game.  The suspense scenes aren't bad, but the whole international political set up is so hokey it had me scratching my head. No one's motivations made any sense, including the doublecross with the insertion team, and why would the Americans send in the team in the first place when they had no prior suspicion of what was going on? This just didn't work for me. 1/10/12

New York to Dallas by J.D. Robb, Putnam, 2011, $27.95, ISBN 978-0-39915778-3

Like most of the previous Eve Dallas novels, this one is SF by courtesy only. We are told that it is 2060 and there are allusions to robots and other planets, but otherwise it reads like a contemporary police procedural. The enemy this time is the first big arrest of her career, recently escaped. He is a predatory violent pedophile and he wants revenge against the woman who caught him.  Most of the strong points of the series are here - very logical and progressive analysis of facts, escalating suspense, a distinctly unpleasant villain, and some plot twists to keep us guessing. Dallas goes to Dallas, Texas, without Peabody, so there is less of the usual byplay, and unfortunately there is more of the stock Eve vs Roarke sparring. There is also an incredible coincidence in this one - one of the suspects turns out to be Eve's long lost Mom - and the angst factor is rather overdone. The long counseling session with Dr. Mira is superficial and boring. Still an exciting read, but there are uncharacteristic interruptions in the story flow this time around. 1/7/12

Unpossible and Other Stories by Daryl Gregory, Fairwood, 2011, $17.99, ISBN 978-1-933846-30-9

This collection runs the gamut from SF to fantasy to surreal, so let's put it here.  I confess that I have been lax in reading short fiction these past few years and hadn't realized that Gregory had written so many, particularly so many good ones. I've read two of his novels, both supernatural, and liked them both, so I probably shouldn't have been surprised. There are several very good stories in this book, the best of which are probably "Second Person, Present Tense" and "The Continuing Adventures of Rocket Boy." Gregory is unpredictable and each story stands on its own, often in contrast to the ones preceding and following. They embrace a variety of themes - how the mind works, a nostalgic look at one particular past, superheroes, new drugs, etc.  Gregory has not been prolific at this length, but he has been consistently excellent. 1/6/12

Salvation's Reach by Dan Abnett, Black Library, 2011, $26.99, ISBN 978-1-84416-821-7

In the SF branch of the Warhammer shared universe series, there is no doubt in my mind that Dan Abnett is the most consistently entertaining writer. While most of the novels by his peers fade into a blur after time - they do after all share the same few plots, same setting, even have overlapping characters - the few that actually stick out in my memory are almost all by Abnett. This one is about average for him. A unit that has not seen action in so long that they have lost some of their edge is sent on a dangerous mission into a strange region of space which holds secrets that could potentially change the course of the war. Gaunt is one of the more interesting Warhammer characters, if not always one of the more likeable, and this is the kind of novel in which he usually stands out. It helps if you have some rough background understanding of the Warhammer future. 1/5/12

Phobos: Mayan Fear by Steve Alten, Tor, 2011, $24.99, ISBN 978-0-7653-3033-8

I have become progressively less satisfied with this trilogy and am happy to see it end, which is not to say it isn't worth reading. I've always felt that Alten's assets were his ability to take a small group of characters and put them through a very intense sequence of adventures - as in the Meg novels - and that his talents became diffused in his grander scale technothrillers like Goliath. This series, if you couldn't guess by the awkward title, involves the supposed Mayan prophecy that the world will end in 2012 - this year in fact.  If so, then I suppose I don't have to do my income taxes next month. Anyway, there's too much in this book, from apocalyptic aftermath to multiple disasters to the discovery that we have had alien visitors. Reality is just a game and we don't understand the rules.  I couldn't invest any interest in the characters at all and while some of the individual episodes were very effective, as a whole this just didn't make it.  1/5/12

Thomas World by Richard Cox, Night Shade, 2011, $14.99, ISBN 978-1-59780-308-3

Here's a novel that is inevitably going to be compared to the work of Philip K. Dick, although it actually reminded me more of some early Fritz Leiber. Thomas is a troubled man who thinks he's losing touch with reality until someone tells him to consider the possibility that perhaps he's the only one in the world who is actually aware of reality as it is. His life begins to disintegrate and, perhaps most frightening of all, he begins to believe that someone is following him. Readers who want their explanations all neatly laid out at the end should avoid this because the whole point is probably that there really isn't a whole point. The prose is clear and crisp and the madness is wild and unpredictable. It goes by surprisingly quickly and you'll be sorry to reach the end. 1/5/12

Weeping May Tarry by Raymond F. Jones and Lester Del Rey, Pinnacle, 1978

I was inclined to suspect this was mostly Jones given Del Rey’s tendency to have other people ghostwrite under his name, but it’s much better written than most of Jones’ work so I suspect now that it was probably at least heavily edited by Lester. The story involves an alien race that is governed by a very rigid theocracy. An expedition to investigate an interstellar war that has been detected in the region is hindered by the resident priest, who is a stickler for protocol and more than slightly paranoid. The story goes on for too long, however, as they get stranded on the ruins of Earth – where the human race is now extinct – and are saved through the realization that humans had the true religion.  Muddled, unsatisfying ending. 1/1/12

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