Darwin Elevator grabs readers with unique post-apocalyptic premise

The Darwin Elevator
Book 1 of The Dire Earth Cycle
Jason M. Hough
Del Rey 2013

Review by Clare Deming

In this debut novel by Jason M. Hough, humanity has fallen on hard times after the mysterious arrival of an alien space elevator in Darwin, Australia. While first heralded as a promising technology, the elevator's appearance is followed by a plague which turns the majority of those affected into feral sub-humans, if it doesn't kill them outright. Only the protective Aura encircling the elevator can prevent the disease from infecting and transforming the population.

The underlying cause of the disease is unknown, but a few rare souls are immune to its effects. By the time the novel opens, nearly all of humanity has either died from the plague, been converted to a sub-human, or found refuge in the disease-free ring of land and space encompassed by the elevator's Aura.

Skyler Luiken is one of those fortunate immunes, and since he can travel outside the Aura without a sealed suit, he makes his living as a scavenger of earth's former civilizations, recovering items requested by those restricted to Darwin. His small team runs into trouble when the elevator loses power at the same time that Skyler's ship crosses the Aura on their return from a routine mission. His ship is subjected to a search and his crew draws the suspicion of Russell Blackfield, prefect of Nightcliff, a fortress built to guard the base of the alien elevator.

Humans also live on a series of orbital habitats, tethered along the elevator. They grow food for all mankind, while Nightcliff fortress oversees the exchange of this food for air and water from below. One of the Orbitals, scientist Dr. Tania Sharma, has developed a theory that the alien Builders are set to return in the very near future. Together with Neil Platz, the entrepreneur who built many of the human additions along the elevator, Tania launches a secret investigation into the aliens' imminent return.

Tania's research leads her to recruit Skyler to retrieve data from abandoned astronomical facilities. In the course of his missions, Skyler draws more scrutiny upon himself and his crew from the overbearing Russell Blackfield. Tension builds as repeated malfunctions in the elevator and political wrangling both threaten the fragile economy of Darwin. At the same time, the sub-humans are becoming more aggressive and dangerous to those outside the Aura, or even on its periphery.

The world that Hough has built in this book was very easy to visualize, and the plot kept me guessing with abundant tension and action that never became exhausting. After a few unforeseen surprises in the plot, I was truly enjoying myself. The vivid characters presented a realistic mix of cultural backgrounds, with both male and female personalities shining in their roles. For me, Russell Blackfield's actions became a bit over-the-top as the novel progressed, but it did not detract from the rest of the story.

The Darwin Elevator shows marvelous skill for a new author and was one of the best books that I've read all year. It is the first volume in The Dire Earth Cycle, but fortunately you don't have to wait for the next book - the remaining two volumes have already been released. I have the second book, The Exodus Towers, in my hands already.

Channel Zilch is a wild and funny ride

Channel Zilch
Doug Sharp
Panverse Publishing 2013
Review by Ann Wilkes

I loved Doug Sharp's sense of humor in Channel Zilch. He maintains levity throughout, even through dire straits (literally), guns in faces and threatened torture. Mick Oolfson, former NASA astronaut, reduced to spreading manure from his plane, The Flying Cow, is approached by a wealthy entrepreneur with a zany plan to go to space, make money and then buy a ticket home.

The plan is to steal the Enterprise shuttle before it heads to its next display gig and get it to Kazakhstan, strap it onto the Energia and launch into space . . . to broadcast a reality show: Channel Zilch. This guy, Manuel Chin, tells him about how he's got a ticket to use the Energia rocket because the Russian guy who's in  possession is a huge 60s rock and roll fan and Chin pays with old Turtles, Herman's Hermit's and Monkees albums and the chopper Peter Fonda rode in Easy Rider.

Crazy, Mick says. But the more he hears, the less crazy it sounds. And then there's the gorgeous, but totally geeky daughter who is completely screwed up emotionally that knows just how to push all of Mick's buttons.

She shoots me a narrow-eyed, nostril-flared gaze that curls my toes, with a tight little smirk like I'd asked her the color of her panties. I see her fingers twitch and the light grid on her belly comes to life--flipping between

xxx
and
???
Pop Chin emits a guffaw. "Do not let my daughter pull your chain. Heloise has an unfortunate propensity to toy with men's psyches. What do you call this charming avocation, my dear?"

Heloise looks at me mock-sweetly and bats her lashes.

TESTOSTERONE SURFING

And here's some of Sharp's delicious sarcasm as delivered by Mick.

Right. Mustn't let the other Maritime Byproduct Moguls steal your killer business plan to branch out into media by launching a space shuttle. I ask, "What sort of aggressive security steps are you talking about? Just because I'm an astronaut doesn't mean I'm part ninja. Nunchuks are hilarious in microgravity."

He signs on and the adventure begins. They actually steal the shuttle, right under Mick's old nemesis' nose and manage (mostly) to hide the huge bulk that is the Enterprise from satellites and Navy Seals all the way to Kazakhstan. Just when I thought it couldn't get any more interesting, Chin gets them safely away from their pursuers with the help of the Russian Mafiya. As you can imagine, getting in bed with the Mafiya leads to more unpleasantness.

Mick is yanked around on Heloise's chain, driven to distraction by the nutty star of Channel Zilch and working long hours with little sleep while always pursued and occasionally attacked by the NASA creep who got him canned. Non-stop action with non-stop sweet sarcasm.

Now you want to read it, right? Find it here.

Judas Unchained provides non-stop geeky thrills

Judas Unchained
by Peter F. Hamilton
Del Ray 2006 (first published 2005 by Macmillan, London)


Review by Carl Cheney

In Judas Unchained, humans have colonized hundreds of planets; most of them part of the Intersolar Commonwealth. Transport and communications is instantaneous from planet to planet via wormholes; typically people travel by rail through the wormholes.

Humanity is under attack by the ruthless relentless Primes, aliens intolerant of any other life in the galaxy. Curious humans accidentally allowed the escape and expansion of the Primes by releasing the force field that had previously bottled them up in their own solar system for thousands of years. The genie escaped from this bottle shows no gratitude, instead intending genocide.

The story kicks off with a killing in a train station. It’s one of many great action sequences—this time there are dozens of security agents attempting to catch the killer in an immense train yard. Yet the assassin somehow escapes despite being surrounded.  As the investigation widens, it becomes evident, always by maddeningly indirect evidence, that a bogeyman most people don’t believe in, the Starflyer, is real.  Somehow the Starflyer has the power to twist people’s minds so that they act in the Starflyer’s interest betraying humanity; this is the Judas of the title.

The many points of view include: the leaders of the 15 dynasties (groups so rich they are based on their own private planets); working class folk; soldiers fighting the invasion of the Primes; gorgeous Melanie, a reporter determined to get the story no matter how many men she has to seduce; the terrorist group, the Guardians of Selfhood; and the investigators working long hours trying to crack the case. At every turn, politics interferes as the legendary chief investigator is discharged and attempts to find people and weapons are blocked for seemingly unrelated reasons.

One of the dynasties was founded by Nigel Sheldon and Ozzie Fernandez Isaac, inventors of the wormhole. Ozzie reminds me of a flashy version of Steve Wozniak, while Sheldon is the businessman of the pair with a flair for living large. Ozzie is a techno wizard with an adventurous streak that has him falling off the edge of a world in a seemingly infinite waterfall, and sailing his raft around in a zero-G gas cloud accompanied by an adolescent boy and an alien of a previously unknown species who speaks by modulating ultraviolet light through his eyes.

This novel is positively stuffed with wonderful ideas, including body modifications such as tattoos. Not merely decorative, the tattoos empower vital functions like sensors, weapons, and even private communications that cannot be intercepted. Most people install retinal inserts granting visual superpowers like zoom or vision outside of normal light frequencies. Working with the retinal inserts, private butlers estimate the sizes of large objects, the closing rate of approaching floating islands, and overlay vision with handy diagrams and icons of electromagnetic radiation, friends and enemies.

People maintain backup stores of their memories for implantation in freshly grown clones if they die. Those who can afford it live forever by moving into a new clone every century or so. The new bodies can be customized. Ozzie: “That was one of my lives where I’d got myself a little bit of a boost where it matters most to a guy, you know. Not that I need much of a boost, but hey.”

If I ran a large diverse conglomerate, I’d retain Peter F. Hamilton to name my new products. Everywhere there are clever names for his numerous creations including a variety of ‘bots.  Soldiers patrolling are accompanied by a ring of stealthy sneakbots (my favorite). Treats and remedies are fetched by maidbots. Mowerbots and gardenerbots landscape. The Internet of the future is known as the Unisphere.

People employ personal butlers in their brains to manage communications, look up useful data and display video feeds on their internal vision. Whatever gadget you need to manage (e.g. spacesuit, hyperglider, armored combat suit, taxi) interfaces wirelessly and seamlessly with your personal butler as you press controls on your virtual desktop with your customized virtual hand.

The Naval armor suits deserve special mention. Within 10 seconds, five armored soldiers within a smart gel ball are blasted through a rapidly moving wormhole into hostile territory. Meanwhile chaff, drones and communications jamming are besetting the enemy to cover their arrival. The smart balls match the coloring and temperature of their surroundings to cloak the soldiers within. Hiding from the enemy, the balls can also power down to virtually no activity to avoid detection. The ball and suit’s passive sensors scoop up so much information that the soldier’s virtual vision begins to resemble a stained glass window of icons overlaying their field of view. When it’s time to move on, they can haul ass by rolling up to 80 kilometers per hour over wild terrain under their own power while protecting the warrior inside from bumps and keeping her perfectly level. When ready, the soldiers emerge in armored suits ready to dispense serious firepower. I really enjoyed the armor suits in Robert A. Heinlein’s Starship Troopers (1959). Then John Scalzi one-upped Heinlein in Old Man’s War (2005). In 2005, I think Hamilton bests them both in this arms race of imagination, equipping a small band behind enemy lines with an amazing package of goodies combining serious lethality with stealth.

Judas Unchained is a fantastic kick in the pants. This is my first Peter F. Hamilton book, but it won’t be my last! I was constantly barraged with delightful ideas, distinctive, well-drawn characters, wonderful action sequences, hot sex and mysteries that yield to investigation only by stubbornly revealing further mysteries.

Read Ann Wilkes' interview with Peter F. Hamilton here at SFOO.
Read her review of The Temporal Void and The Evolutionary Void at Mostly Fiction.

The Burn Zone is a blood zone

The Burn Zone
James K Decker
Ace Roc Feb. 2013

Reviewed by Ann Wilkes

I picked this book up off the stack of books I had sent to me for review even though I had others ahead of it. The others weren't grabbing me and I wanted to read something that would suck me in and not let go. The Burn Zone definitely fit the bill. It starts off with impending doom and intrigue and quickly moves to the run-for-your-life phase. In fact, the majority of the book is running, fighting, investigating, running some more, fighting some more, injuries, sorrow, more running, more fighting . . . and dismemberment. Lots and lots of dismemberment. Personally, I'm not a fan of vivisection in my fiction - or anywhere else.

The Burn Zone's protagonist is a surrogate mother to alien babies, who takes drugs to numb the pain from her troubled childhood. No. Not troubled. Horrifying near-dismemberment. Dragon freed her from the meat farm and raised her as his own. The surrogate program is meant to help the aliens who crash landed on Earth to empathize with and understand the humans better. Sam has cared for several of them. It earns her a little scratch and she feels needed.

When Dragon comes home early saying that they must leave with bare necessities right now, she wants to take the baby. While they argue a bit over that, the soldiers come, beating Dragon possibly to death. Sam makes a spectacular escape only to come back to save him, but it's too late. They've taken him. As part of the surrogate program, she has Haan nanomites that connect her to the babies she cares for. Her mites picked up the brain activity of the female soldier in charge. Why would a Haan abduct a human and be so hateful and violent? Everything she has learned about the Haan say it isn't possible. They are uber fragile and have no concept of violence.

She returns the child to the alien settlement to keep it safe before hunting down the people who took Dragon and rescuing him. Dragon is accused of treason, but Sam refuses to believe it. But he has smuggled a woman and two children from the Pan-Slav region and, so the news is saying, a biological weapon.

Sam is helped by a Haan sent to her by the Haan woman that Sam convinced to take the baby back from her. She doubts Nix will be much help and struggles with truly trusting him, but she's desperate and her options are limited.

The deeper into the mystery Sam goes, the more gruesome the truths and the actions. I have to say that I don't recall reading a more gory book ever, and this is a sci-fi novel, not a horror novel. Even the evil werewolf horror novel I read had less dismemberment and gore. And I read this while I had the stomach flu. Really bad timing. Or maybe good timing. I didn't have to worry about losing my appetite. It was already gone.

Nix closed the distance between them and I heard a chirp as he punched through the spot underneath her breastplate.

His fist went straight through, and splintered the latticework bones underneath. I expected to feel agony from her, but it didn't come. Even when he wrenched his fist free and I saw he had dragged something out with it, I sensed no pain. Instead, she looked down at the wormy mass that pulsed between his fingers and I felt fury from her, and something else . . . betrayal maybe.

So, if your stomach can take it, The Burn Zone is a thrill a minute. I really liked the protagonist for her determination to save her guardian and ultimately her world. She had her issues of distrust, fear and insecurities, but she fought them as hard as she fought the enemy.

I would have actually appreciated more down time to recover from the relentless chase scenes, torture and brutal fighting. Sam lost a lot of battles. I kind of wanted her to catch a break more often, to have more hope threaded through. But, I think it's more realistic when it doesn't come easy. She really is fighting against insurmountable odds.

I'd like to say something about the ending, but I really can't without spoiling it. I'll just say it will surprise you. It's dark, but leaves hope for a future.

You might not recognize the author's name, but you might be familiar with his Revivor's Trilogy as James Knapp, the first book of which won the 2010 Compton Crook Award and was nominated for the Philip K. Dick Award. This is his debut novel under the pseudonym, James K. Decker.

Fleet of Worlds - World Herding at its Best! :)

Fleet of Worlds 

Larry Niven and Edward R. Lerner

TOR August 2008

Reviewed by Carl Cheney

Imagine fleeing danger (that’s 20,000 years in the future) by moving your entire solar system, accelerating it up to ninety percent of the speed of light!  This is the solution adopted by the Pierson’s Puppeteers.

Pierson's Puppeteers are an alien race created by Larry Niven, which appears in Fleet of Worlds by Niven and Edward R. Lerner. They (the Puppeteers not Messrs. Niven and Lerner) have three hoofed legs supporting a maned body, topped by dual, flexible necks. Upon each neck sits a head with an eye and a mouth. The heads resemble two sock puppets, hence the nickname. Their lips are prehensile and their voices are amazingly flexible—in fact you can’t properly pronounce their names unless you can sing two-part harmony.

Originally, the Puppeteers were grazing herd animals where caution became their watchword, their M. O., in fact, their entire approach to existence! Their leader is known as Hindmost because leading from the safest place has the most status. Now they are fleeing the galactic core to avoid a cascading chain reaction of supernovae that will arrive in their planetary system’s original location in only 20,000 Earth years.

In general, Puppeteers are way too careful to travel in starships, so they take along several planets from their solar system and some adopted planets with a couple of stars in their long migration toward galactic north, somehow pushing the whole artificial solar system using an inertialess drive.

However, there’s always the possibility of encountering something scary along the way, an intolerable idea to the Puppeteer psyche. Enter Nessus, the insane (though not too insane!) Puppeteer scout. A sane Puppeteer wouldn’t venture from its home planet of Hearth, much less go looking for trouble and nevermind meddling in the affairs of humans.

Sometimes Puppeteers have an odd idea of being cautious. When alien races appear to be a threat or an opportunity presents itself, Puppeteers meddle in their affairs. In fact Puppeteers are shameless meddlers. Working through bribed proxies, they carefully shape the human politics and technology of Earth, discrediting policies and individuals as needed to create the conditions they wish. For example, they decide to alter the human genome—never mind why. To destroy the humans’ administration that controls procreation, they plant misinformation making the process seem corrupt.

In Fleet of Worlds, there is a whole planet for farming. Humans tend the crops and some areas are set aside as natural preserves. According to revealed Puppeteer history, the Puppeteers found a derelict ship stuffed with human embryos, home unknown. Humans turn out to be useful as farmers and later as scouts since they don’t have to be insane to take risks. Humans that the Puppeteers keep as unknowing slaves are completely ignorant that the Puppeteers are also involved with the humans of Earth and its colonies.

Kirsten Quinn-Kovacs has a gift for mathematics and computer science. This pursuit is hard to justify in an agrarian setting, so she signs up as navigator on a journey to examine a potential threat to the Puppeteers. A faint radio signal has been detected near the future path of the Fleet of Worlds. Nessus and his human crew are dispatched to examine the source of the signal. They discover a fledgling, waterborne race using primitive technology to discover what lies beyond their knowledge. An orbiting comet is arranged by the Puppeteer-led crew to smash the home world of the Grouth on command, just in case it becomes necessary to eliminate this potential threat.

Examining the onboard computer in the scout ship, Kirsten discovers that there are big holes in the information concerning how Puppeteers came to know their enslaved humans. Her quest to reveal the truth leads her to find the original colony ship and eventually much more.

Niven and Lerner spin a delightful saga with logical consequences following each bold element of their story. The characters, human and otherwise, are fascinating as are the intricate webs they weave. I especially love the grand scale of things with the cowardly yet clever Puppeteers fleeing long-term doom by moving a whole solar system as though pushing around toys.

Larry Niven with and without other authors has written interlocking stories in what he calls “Known Space”. Although Fleet of Worlds is first of three books about the Puppeteer exodus (Juggler of Worlds and Destroyer of Worlds continue the theme), there are numerous other books set in the same universe with additional characters, themes, and wondrous stories. This website suggests an order of reading books in this literary canon. If you explore this encyclopedia of Niven’s stories, you may find yourself hip-deep in spoilers, although they’re carefully labeled. You could easily start with this book and then branch out, although someone who is a devout avoider of spoilers would begin at the beginning with Neutron Star (unfortunately now out of print). The avid science fiction reader would not care to miss Ringworld, perhaps Niven's magnum opus.

Fleet of Worlds contrasts the thinking and beliefs of three different races as their destinies intertwine and bonds are created and severed. There are strong female characters, alien sex, interspecies politics, surprise developments and infinite empty space where anything can happen. I loved it.

Heaven's War Will Grab You and Not Let Go

Heaven's War 
David S. Goyer & Michael Cassutt

ACE July 2012

Review by Ann Wilkes

I called Heaven's Shadow a thrill ride. Heaven's War keeps that ride going from the first page to the last. In this second book in their Heaven trilogy, authors Goyer and Cassutt take an interesting cross-section of humanity and put them in an alien environment as castaways. The struggle to survive inside the Near Earth Object that has been dubbed Keanu (Really? Still don't like the Matrix reference. Probably because I'm not a big Keanu Reeves fan.) is only the beginning of the conflict that the shipwrecked crews and the abducted humans face.

In Heaven's Shadow, astronauts from a Russian/Indian/Brazilian Coalition and NASA are sent to investigate the NEO. They soon discover that the NEO is an alien spacecraft. Not only that, it can recreate people from the Brahma and Destiny crews' pasts to communicate with them. At the end of the last book, two big white blobs or "vesicles" sent by Keanu scoop up about 100 people from Bangalore and another 80 from Houston. One of the pod people hatched by the NEO is the Destiny Commander Zack Stewart's dead wife - who he must watch die again. Feel free to read or reread my review of the first book, Heaven's Shadow, herein.

While some of the Bangalore folks acquaint themselves with the alien technology in "The Temple", replicating food and vessels to serve it in, a small group led by Zack Stewart search for a way out of the human habitat into an adjacent one in hopes of increasing resources and finding the control center of the ship.

Camilla seemed equally surprised (at seeing the lipstick duplicated). Hesitantly, she reached out for the "new" lipstick. 

"It's warm," she said. She handed it to Valya.

"Shouldn't you keep the new one?"

"My mother told me I couldn't wear lipstick until I was twelve."

Valya wanted to laugh. This girl had died and been reborn on another planet! She had just taken part in some type of alien techno-magic! Yet she remembered some argument with her mother! For an instant, Valya wished she could become mother to a daughter — just to know that one of her parental strictures would sustain itself across time and space, and through death!

On the heels of finding one of the refugees murdered, Zack's 14-year-old daughter Rachel and Pav, the 16-year-old Brahma commander's son, go missing. You know that the new normal is really whacked out when former astronaut and close friend Harley Drake sends a murderer out to find Rachel. The interplay of the characters with each other is nearly as riveting as their struggle with the aliens and the alien environment. Each of the main characters stands out in chapters in their own point of view. I have seen this done better, but still the technique was effective, allowing the reader to see not just the outward reactions, but the inner thoughts that we dare not utter. How would you react in a situation in which almost nothing is familiar? That's what I liked best about the book, though the plot and descriptions were top-notch. I love seeing how humans react when pushed to the limit and when put into foreign situations where they have little or no control. 

The humans have not been the first to be scooped up and brought to Keanu, where a war wages among the residents for control of the ship. Both Zack's group and Rachel's meet creatures along the way that may or may not share their goals.

My only complaint about this book, and its the same as with its predecessor, is the poor editing. It wasn't just the stray typo. Some sentences just came out plain wrong and indecipherable. And there were more than a few places where it was hard to tell who was speaking because of the inefficient placement or lack of proper dialog cues. Both authors are primarily screenplay writers, with an impressive list of credits. In fact, they simultaneously wrote the screenplay, which perhaps accounts for some of these anomalies popping up.

I can't wait to read the final installment and see Heaven's Shadow, the movie! It's still in development, but is slated for a 2013 release. You can check back with IMDB for more details as they are made available. I also invite you to read my July 2011 interview with the authors. 

Dorm life in The Highest Frontier

The Highest Frontier 

by Joan Slonczewski

TOR 2011

Reviewed by Deirdre Murphy

Jennifer Ramos Kennedy is descended from American Presidents in a world where “ultra” is the new kudzu.  Left emotionally damaged by the sudden death of her twin brother, and despite a congenital abnormality that left her unable to speak in public, she has a straight A+++ average,  is an award-winning young scientist, and a volunteer who works both as an EMS and with Homeland Security dealing with everyday incursions of ultra.  As the book opens, Jenny is preparing to go to Frontera, a university on a space station circling the Earth.

Ultraphytes are an alien menace, a life form that crash-landed in the great salt flats of Utah, and which grows and mutates fast.  When stressed, it emits cyanide, killing things—and people.  Between ultra and global warming, the Earth is in trouble.  Some people look to the space stations for a safe escape from the troubles of Earth.  Others seek religious freedom or freedom from Earth’s gambling and morality laws. 

Jenny’s father runs the North American branch of Toynet, which is the super-Internet of Jenny’s day.  People text and video-chat, vote, attend classes, experience the news, and much more in Toynet.  As they ride modified anthrax strings into space, in between frequent messages in various Toynet windows, Jenny’s parents warn her to tie her shoelaces, keep her protective HIV up to date, do her homework, play (not a typo) her taxes, and, of course, listen to the mental they installed into her Toynet diad after her twin's death to watch over her mental health.

As this interaction shows, the setting is a graceful blend of the strange new world of the future and the normal, everyday life of a college student.  Jenny is warned away from Professor Abaynesh’s Life class by an upperclassman who doesn’t know Abaynesh is already signed up as Jenny’s advisor.  Jenny ignores the advice—a good thing for the reader.  The first Life class is an adventure in itself, combining the day’s lessons with the excitement of a time-travel scavenger hunt and a roller-coaster ride on a strand of DNA.

At first, the dangers at Frontera seem limited and ordinary, despite being on a space station.  Jenny believes she has been sent here rather than to one of the larger prestigious universities on earth because she needs a safer environment than she would find there—after all, she has a chromosomal impediment to speaking in public and she was emotionally damaged by the death of her brother.  This college is run by friends of the family and the grounds are totally free of invasive species—no need to worry about ultra or catching Dengue fever again (though Jenny finds she misses kudzu).

Still, college is a challenge.  Jenny has to learn to live with a very strange roommate (another damaged rich girl), face down her advisor (and her advisor’s two-headed pets), push herself to speak to strangers, and call tech support to attend to her new residence’s Toybox.  The normal challenges of a girl having to live on her own for the first time.  But then she swats a mosquito, there is a malfunction in her lawn, and a piece of space debris blocks a portion of the power being beamed to the station, cutting off Toynet and causing a brown-out.  Suddenly Frontera University seems more like an actual frontier than a safe haven for damaged rich kids.  In the meantime, the American Presidential race is heating up.

The emotional plot is, of course, the story of Jenny’s coming-of-age.  It’s hard to give a hint of the main science-fiction plot without offering spoilers.  Nearly everything that’s happening matters, in big or small ways, to the central problem that Jenny must face and the clues to that mystery blend seamlessly into the background.  I don’t want to tell you what to look for—part of the pleasure of reading the book was figuring it out for myself.

The characters in The Highest Frontier, from Jenny’s very political family to her professors and the coterie of students that Jenny hangs out with are memorable, quirky, and real.  There’s a lot going on, with science and politics—and, of course, Jenny’s actions—affecting the outcome.  Jenny has enough skills to be a satisfying hero and enough flaws to be a believable and sympathetic college student.  The main plotlines are resolved but it is clear that, as in the real world, life goes on.  I am left wondering if there will be a sequel.

Shadows in Flight delivers a unique family struggle

Shadows in Flight
Orson Scott Card
2012 Macmillan Audio

Reviewed by Ann Wilkes

I still remember the original trilogy in Orson Scott Card’s Ender Wiggin series (Ender’s Game, Speaker for the Dead, Xenocide) fondly, decades later. I haven’t read any of the others in that universe, which includes the Shadow series of which Shadows in Flight is book five.

This fifth book follows Shadow of the Giant. The Giant is Bean, who, as a boy, fought in the wars of Earth and was friends with Ender Wiggin. Bean and three of his children are both blessed and cursed. They are the result of an experiment which gave them super intelligence, but also gave them giantism (a real human disease in which the body never stops growing until the heart gives out in very early adulthood). Bean separated from his wife and other children to take their affected children to safety. He and the children are antonines (the genetic mutation is called Anton’s Key) and are feared by humans both because of their intelligence and the possibility of the spread of the mutation. They are aboard a starship heading away from the human worlds, but still linked to them through the ansible (although they never use their real identities when communicating over it).

Bean has grown so large (four and half meters tall) that he only fits in the cargo hold, and only on his back. The children each have special areas of talent. Ender continually searches for a cure for the giantism that will spare their hyper-intelligence. He has a temperament very similar to his namesake. Carlotta makes it her business to know everything there is to know about the operation of the ship and its maintenance. She also keeps the gravity low in the cargo bay to make it easier on the Giant's heart. Their brother, "Sergeant", concerns himself with weapons and war. Sergeant often gets Carlotta to side with him against Ender. Faced with this new possible threat, they must put aside their differences. These six-year-old children are smarter than any adult, but still, at times, have impulses and reactions, which makes for a very interesting dynamic.

Just when their life support is dwindling along with their father's life, they come across another ship near a habitable world. The ship seems empty, yet is piloted. Ender suspects it is a Formic ship. But how can any of the Formic have survived the “xenocide”? The answer to that question and much more awaits the children aboard that ship. They have no choice but to risk taking a closer look - and boarding it.

The thing I liked most about this story was the interplay within this unique family. They are more than just a family. They are the only surviving antonines – or leguminotes, as they prefer to call themselves in honor of their father – and the only living beings they may ever know; the only community they will ever be physically a part of. Even when Ender discusses genetics with scientists back home over the ansible, he cannot form friendships because he can’t even let on who or what he is.

The action in this audio book is fast-paced and the emotions palpable. I never found my mind wandering while I listened. The narrators did an excellent job holding my attention with this riveting yarn. With a novella length, it was a quick “listen”. At the end of the book, Orson Scott Card talks about how he came up with the idea for the book and what it means to him. That’s worth a listen as well.

Matheson is a master of inner dialog

Steel and Other Stories
Richard Matheson
TOR 2011

Review by Ann Wilkes

I thoroughly enjoyed Steel and Other Stories by Richard Matheson. His prose sings like poetry and his inner dialog has a grit and genuineness I seldom find. The stories aren't all speculative, but they are all excellent stories. Oddly, "Steel", though it has been produced as Twilight Zone episode and a movie (Real Steel with Hugh Jackman), was not my favorite. Of course, I'm not much for boxing, either, so I could be prejudiced against it for that reason. I think my favorite was the last one, "Window of Time", in which a man is able to browse through a day in his past on the street where he grew up. The inner dialog in that piece is thrilling. I felt as though I was walking those streets with that 82-year-old man and feeling the delight, the terror, the awe that he felt.

I also enjoyed "Grantville", a story set in the Wild West for the same reason. The inner dialog was addicting. In this story, a young man dressed in fine clothes clutching a mysterious bag is a fellow passenger of the protagonist's on a stagecoach. He reminds the man of his dead son and the man feels a sense of protectiveness towards him in spite of the fact the mysterious stranger, upon arriving in Grantville transforms himself into gunslinger intent on killing the fastest gun in town.

"The Splendid Source" is an interesting farce with a certain film noir appeal. It was made into a Family Guy episode apparently. An idle rich man goes on a quest to discover where all the dirty jokes originally come from. It's tongue-in-cheek cloak and dagger.

"A Visit to Santa Claus" is another story that has no speculative element, but has awesome inner dialog. A man arranges for his wife's death and must take his son to see Santa Claus to give the hit man his opportunity. His emotions swing wildly and he goes from panic, to hopefulness to fretting, to irritation, to regret - the whole gamut. The ending is a little predictable, but the journey made it not matter. And it was delicious all the same.

This excerpt from "The Traveler" provides an example of Matheson's vivid descriptions:

Silent snows descended like a white curtain as Professor Paul Jairus hurried under the dim archway and onto the bare campus of Fort College.

His rubber-protected shoes squished aside the thin slush as he walked. He raised the collar of his heavy overcoat almost to the brim of his pulled down fedora. The he drove his hands back into his coat pockets and clenched them into fists of chilled flesh.

Though the book is 319 pages, its size is small and its font large, making it a wonderfully quick read for an airport layover or a quiet evening.

Rate Me Red worth being read

Rate Me Red
Richie Chevat
Self-pub (2009)

Reviewed by Clare Deming

In Rate Me Red, by Richie Chevat, it is 2043, and reality television, social media, and online shopping have united into the VidNet. Anyone can host a VidNet show, and the popularity of the show is one factor that determines each individual's rating. In this exaggerated social future, your rating on the VidNet determines where you can live, who your friends are, and which modes of transportation are available. The scale ranges from Blue to Red, with the Blues living as near-outcasts, and everyone in-between aspiring to become Red. This is all sorted out by the VidNet computer system, which displays your color rating on a button, worn at all times.

Amid this setting, Gordy is an average-Joe Yellow who works at VidNet headquarters. His girlfriend, Poppy, is also Yellow, and has a moderately popular VidNet show. Gordy and Poppy love each other, but have never met in REALITY(TM). Aspiring to ascend the color rating ladder, Poppy proposes something daring. She asks Gordy (live on her VidNet show) to meet up with her to have sex in REALITY(TM). Gordy cannot refuse (and why would he?) because his rating would suffer, and they begin to make arrangements for a lunch date. While his morning passes with excitement and anxiety, Gordy cannot help but wonder - if Poppy will break up with him if her rating rises to Orange as a result of their date in REALITY(TM).

The story follows a single day in Gordy's life, beginning in his bathroom, where he fends off dietary recommendations from his toilet and advertising from his toothbrush. As he arrives at work, Gordy chats with a friend over the VidNet, even though they are standing beside each other. Further details of this bizarre world are revealed in interactions with a Rejectionist and an AD, but it all follows logically from the initial premise.

On one level, this book is a light-hearted story of Gordy's misadventures in a strange world. Yet it is also a satire of our cultural obsession with reality television, consumerism and image. It made for a surprisingly effective novel on both levels. The message is clear without becoming preachy, and although certain aspects of the ending were predictable, Chevat brought all of the character arcs to a satisfying conclusion.

As a self-published book, Rate Me Red was well constructed. I'm easily irritated by typos, slipups in grammar and awkward writing. There were a few minor glitches in the beginning of the text, but after the first third of the book I don't remember noticing these errors. Gordy's plight became so engaging, that I was completely wound up in the story. The cover is simply designed with a pleasing graphic and clear fonts that do not detract from the book. The copy I received feels as substantial and well-bound as any book from a regular publisher.

This is a tough book to categorize and may not initially appeal to regular readers of science fiction and fantasy. However, I found it just as action-packed as a traditional space opera or sword and sorcery novel. The concept, characters, plot and writing all worked to make it a riveting experience. I'm not sure what else to even compare it to, except to say that I'm glad I read it, and I think it would appeal to pop culture's fans and critics alike.

Unpossible and Other Stories - deliciously dark and surprising

Unpossible and Other Stories
Daryl Gregory
Fairwood Press (November 2011)

Reviewed by Ann Wilkes

Daryl Gregory is an exceptional storyteller. I enjoyed every story in Unpossible and Other Stories. The title story left me with warm fuzzies long afterward. All of the stories in this collection had a speculative element, though in some it was slight. However, his characters, voice and storytelling made it a non-issue for me.

His clever turns of phrase also left me smiling. Here are some examples:

From "Second Person, Present Tense":

She regards me with that standard-issue look of concern that doctors pick up with their diplomas.

From "The Illustrated Biography of Lord Grimm":

Only after her parents failed to come home did she realize that the note was a kind of battlefield promotion to adulthood: impossible to refuse because there was no one left to accept her refusal.

From "Petit Mal #2: Digital"

He was bald except for a gray ponytail, as if his hair had given up on general coverage and decided to specialize.

The other thing that really struck me about these stories is that they were not the usual, soon-forgotten fare that we have seen too much of. Gregory's stories have truly unique situations, and he isn't predictable.

In "Second Person, Present Tense", a girl is changed by a drug into a different person, detached from that girl she used to be. Her parents bring her home after she's had extensive therapy, still hoping to get their little girl back. She tries to humor them at times. Tolerate them. After all, she's still walking around in their daughter's body. It must be tough.

In the title story, mid-life crisis men seek to return to their childhood. In this tale, it is a physical place that they are no longer able to enter. I found it sad, poignant and deliciously tragic.

In "Damascus" Gregory introduces elements of religion, pseudo-vampirism, epedemic and feminism into one dark and tragic tale of questing and redemption.

I especially enjoyed "The Illustrated Biography of Lord Grimm". It's a sort of steampunk, superhero alternate history with half-mechanical men and castles. And the Americans send their superheros on air-raids over the impoverished, communist island state of Trovenia. I could read that one several times. My favorite line is below.

He claimed to have suffered the injury fighting the U-Men, though others said he'd lost the tusk in combat with vodka and gravity: The Battle of the Pub Stairs.

In "Gardening at Night" I was delighted by the twist on an old premise. The usual is that robots unexpectedly exceed their programming and rise up to declare independence. I don't want to say too much because I hope you will all read it for yourself, but his pulling in of the temptation in the Garden of Eden and the line of logic that followed: Superb!

I loved this exchange in "What We Take When We Take What We Need":

"That's not love, Paxton. That's addiction."


"Explain the difference."

This is a creepy tale of dysfunction, addiction and family curses.

I couldn't get enough of the superhero banter and the blob called Plex in "Message from the Bubblegum Factory" although I scratched my head a bit at the ending. This was the only ending that baffled me in the whole collection. I don't like being baffled, but the journey was worth the head-scratching.

"Dead Horse Point" was about loyalty and care taking. The spec element in this was thin, but the story was extremely engaging and the ending surprising.

In "Petit Mal #3: Persistence", I admired Gregory's treatment of the subjects of loss and memory, his unique premise and thoughtful ending.

I highly recommend this collection to anyone who craves something different from the tired tropes and wants to be pleasantly surprised.

Earthbound - a post-apocalyptic tale

Earthbound
A Marsbound Novel
by Joe Haldeman

Reviewed by Ann Wilkes

Earthbound is a post-apocalyptic tale with enigmatic, all-powerful aliens holding the earth's fate in their . . . well, gaseous something or others. Carmen Dula, who made first contact with the Martians by falling through the roof of their underground home and breaking her ankle, her space pilot significant other, Paul, the three spies they shared their trip to the Others with, her brother Card and Snowbird (a Martian) are back on earth after the Others have pulverized the moon.

When Earth tried to fly a ship through the thick debris field that surrounds the planet, the Others shut off the earth's "free" power. They're determined to keep humans earthbound.

In Earthbound, the group fight to survive and preserve as much of the humanity around them as they can. The perils are non-stop. Carmen must even lose her own brother while still coming to terms with missing out on seeing her children grow up. There are ambushes, deprivations, battles won, lives lost and hopes dashed.

The twelve passenger seats unfolded into lumpy beds, angled like chevrons. Some of us rested or napped. Paul took a pill. The plane was on autopilot, but if the Others turned off the power we'd be on a glider looking for a flat place to land.

We were over Hudson Bay, after about six hours, when we made contact with the president's people. I couldn't hear what was going on, but I presumed they were livid. They gave us a plane and we hijacked it to Russia. Paul was grinning broadly as he gave them monosyllabic replies.

The avatar of the Others pops in and out, sometimes rescuing them, but mostly just apathetically observing, adding just the right touch of creepy.

The storyline, as I said in my Starbound review, is a truly original first contact scenario. The Others play the long con or take their time with new relationships. These novels only show us a glimpse at the first tentative steps - at least from the humans' perspective. Who knows what they decide in a thousand years?

The plot moved along at a fast clip with lots of action. However, I wanted more character development and richer descriptions. I did like the ending, though.

If you've read the other books, you'll definitely want to read this concluding volume. If you haven't, you could download all three on your Kindle or other e-reader and read them in a weekend. Aside from dialogs that need more tags, Earthbound is a very easy read. I hope we hear from the Others again, perhaps with an all-new cast in our distant future.

Approaching Omega - familiar plot surprises in the end

Approaching Omega
Eric Brown
e-book, Infinity Plus (September 2011)
Novella, originally published in 2005 by Telos Publishing

Review by Lyda Morehouse

This novella length e-book by award-winning novelist Eric Brown tells the story of Ted Latimer, team leader of the maintenance crew of the Dauntless – a ship filled with thousands of cryogenically frozen colonists, headed to the first suitable Earth-like planet. Their mission: save humanity.

I could have saved Latimer some heartache. After all, cryogenic deep-freeze space travel rarely goes well in these sorts of stories, does it? No one ever wakes up, thousands of years later, arriving in paradise where everything is hunky-dory. Thus, rather predictably, Latimer and his crew are awoken early. First to a possible collision that’s left the ship massively damaged. After they set the autobots to fix things, they go back to sleep.

The second time they wake up, everything has gone from bad to worse – much, much worse.

The plot that follows reminded me a lot of the movie “Pandorum,” including the strangely up-beat ending. If you haven’t seen “Pandorum” (which many people likely haven’t), suffice to say that the autobots fixed a number of things that weren’t broken, including some of the colonists.

I’m a fan of science fiction horror, and Brown is certainly a skilled writer. Yet, for some reason, I never quite connected enough with the main character to get truly emotionally invested in his survival. Perhaps it was Brown’s stylistic choice to refer to the hero by his surname throughout the narrative that kept me at a distance. Or, maybe it was the sheer gruesomeness of the situation they woke up to the second time that left me certain that everyone left alive was utterly doomed that made it hard to connect. Strangely, I think it would have made a better movie in that way. The action was very gripping and well-rendered, but I tend to want something a touch meatier in my fiction.

None of that stopped me from reading all the way to the last page, however. The ending surprised me by pulling back from a full-on horror conclusion to something much more science fictional. Was it more satisfying? I found myself unsure. In some ways, a bleak ending is its own kind of satisfaction. On the flip-side, if you’ve been rooting for these people the whole time…

For the price (Kindle is offering it for $2.99), it may well be worth reading and deciding for yourself.

A Fire Upon the Deep - a science fiction symphony!

A Fire Upon the Deep
Vernor Vinge
TOR 1992

Reviewed by Ann Wilkes

With Vernor Vinge's new novel, The Children of the Sky, coming out that picks up where it left off, I decided to read A Fire Upon the Deep. I'd read Vinge's Rainbow's End when it first came out and was impressed with the detail, imagination and scope of his worldbuilding. And made suitable uncomfortable by the lack of printed books in that imagined future.

Fire Upon the Deep did not disappoint. It takes readers to a far distant future in which the homeworld, Earth, is all but forgotten. In this universe, that is divided into layers, or thought zones, from the Bottom to the Middle and High Beyond to the Top and the Transcend, worlds spanning vast reaches share information via the "Known Net".

Ravna Bergsndot works at a relay station for the Net when the biggest disaster of the age descends in the form of an angry Power, an awakened God that becomes known as the Blight. In Vinge's universe, races die out or transcend, some of them achieving a god-like state as a Power. As in Greek mythology, godhead and benevolence don't always go hand in hand. This Power is a destroyer of worlds.

The most interesting characters are the sentient, dog-like Tines who operate only as a pack of four to eight members. In fewer numbers, they lose their intellect down to the level of a dog. These packs function as one and cooperate to use tools. However, they cannot come nearer than 15 feet of another pack without losing their faculties. Something they only dare for sex. They can speak to each other in hums and vibrations and verbally. Once they meet humans, they can even communicate with human speech and specific voices once they learn the language.

The skroderiders are a sort of sentient sea creature with large fronds that is found across the galaxy. Skrodes lack the ability to form short term memory and ride on wheeled devices that help them store memories in order to function intelligently.

Vinge's alien cultures in this novel are incredible! These weren't talking animals. And if that's not enough, Ravna's new boyfriend Pham Nuwen turns out to be a Frankenstein made by a Power from human parts - minus the scars and knobs and possessing a personality, albeit an egotistical one. When the Blight kills the Power that made Pham, he is left with "Godshatter". This piece of the Power can take Pham over - and does at opportune moments - but Pham can't access it or be aware in any meaningful way while being used. If you're a Stargate SG1 fan, this is like Jack having the ancients' knowledge downloaded into his head.

When the Blight destroys relay, Ravna, Pham and two skroderiders head for the Bottom of the Beyond in search of the ship that fled there with what they believe is a secret weapon that will destroy the Blight. Meanwhile, the family aboard that ship is attacked by the locals, leaving the two children orphaned and held in opposing camps, neither knowing the other survived.

The interspersed transmissions from various people sprinkled throughout the book were an interesting device that added additional perspectives through the Known Net's discussion groups.

The alien version of the concept of a complete individual in the Tines culture necessitated different pronouns. That I could follow. However, the dialog was expressed three ways. There was verbal dialog in quotes. Fine. And dialog in italics that always seemed to be what we would sarcastically think or mutter under our breath so that the person we're conversing with doesn't hear. Finally, there were unuttered thoughts that were not in italics. I'm wondering now, after reading the entire book, if these were the packs talking to itself. Would have been nice to have figured that out sooner. And I'm still only guessing. I think the reader needs a little more clues when dialog has that many layers. It should not be confusing or distracting.

In spite of that one flaw, I heartily recommend the book. It's full of action, intrigue, loss, betrayal, complex cultures, politics, warfare and evolution. And unlike so many novels written more recently, no matter how dark things got, the characters always found hope. Not many writers can do so much in one tale. Bravo! And now to read The Children of the Sky!

Ashes of the Earth - the mystery runs dark and deep

Ashes of the Earth: A Mystery of Post-Apocalyptic America
By Eliot Pattison
Counterpoint Press April 2011

Reviewed by Deirdre M. Murphy

Many things in the dark world depicted in this post-apocalyptic murder mystery aren’t what they first seem to be—a facet of this book that starts with the very first paragraphs:

The faces of the many child suicides Hadrian Boone had cut from nooses or retrieved below cliffs never left him, filled his restless sleep, and encroached in so many waking nightmares that now, as the blond girl with the hanging rope skipped along the ridge above, he hesitated, uncertain whether she was another of the phantoms that haunted him. Then she paused and reached out for the hand of a smaller red-haired girl behind her. Hadrian threw down the shovel he was using to dig out the colony’s old latrine pit, gathered up the chain clamped to his feet, and ran.

He scrambled up the steep slope of the ravine, ignoring the surprised, sleepy curse of his guard and the shrill, angry whistle that followed. Grabbing at roots and saplings to pull himself forward, he cleared the top and sprinted along the trail, his spine shuddering at the expectation of a baton on his back, his gut wrenching at the sound of a feeble shriek from the opposite side of the ridge. As he reached the open shelf of rock, he sprang, grabbed for the swinging rope that hung from a limb over the edge, heaving it up with a groan of despair. He froze as he hauled the child at the end of it back onto the ledge. What he found himself holding was an old coat fastened over a frame of sticks, and he found himself looking into the blank eyes of a pumpkin head with dried wheat for hair.

As fascinating as this opening is, much of what follows in this opening scene grated on me. Parts were heavy-handed and, well, gross. I really am capable of figuring out who’s supposed to be the hero and who’s supposed to be the villain without seeing the protagonist attempt, mostly futilely, to rescue pages of destroyed books from a latrine pit. Happily, as I got further into the book, I found an interesting, nuanced, multi-faceted future world, with an abundance of heroes, villains, and (best of all) people with aspects of both roles.

Other than the first scene, my primary quibble was an inability to resolve two facts: our protagonist, Hadrian Boone, knows nearly everyone in Carthage because he taught nearly every child born there and because he was a founding father of this first thriving settlement after biological agents and radiation killed nearly everyone in the world. Yet he keeps seeing lots of people he doesn’t know or even distantly recognize wandering around Carthage, and this doesn’t surprise him. At times, this contradiction acted like a speed-bump for me as I read, jostling my attention away from the immediate events of the story to the question of just how large Carthage is.

It isn’t long after Hadrian rescues the pumpkin that the first corpse is discovered, and the Governor of Carthage—a former friend of Hadrian’s—rushes to hide the body and the news. It is only when Hadrian points out that this murder could point to a threat to the Governor himself that he commissions Hadrian to find out what happened to the man. The governor attempts to keep Hadrian in line by threatening Hadrian’s oldest living friend, a threat that Hadrian fears even though the old man is the scientist behind much of Carthage’s success, and who is, we are told, the only reason Hadrian has not been exiled already.

Hadrian has only barely started his investigations when there’s another murder—one closer to Hadrian. This new loss turns his determination to find out what happened from a tired and fearful longing for knowledge and justice into a passionate quest.

Hadrian's investigation of the murders leads him to the gritty roots of corruption in this new world, which is all too reminiscent of the flaws in our pre-apocalyptic world. Can he redeem the dreams of the dead men and turn the children away from their suicide cult? Can he redeem himself, and overcome the emotional scars of losing his world and his family before the first log was cut to build Carthage? Can he at least save some part of the history and literature of the modern world from being used as toilet paper and cigarette wrappers?

There's an inherent promise to mystery readers that the murders will be solved. But will doing so do any good, for Hadrian or his world?

I enjoyed finding out.

Terminal World - a sci-fi, steampunk feast!

Terminal World
Alastair Reynolds
Ace (Penguin) 2010

Review by Clare Deming


The setting in Alastair Reynolds' Terminal World is a unique creation of far future science fiction and steampunk. The story leaps about this bizarrely awesome place, taking us from the vertical city of Spearpoint with its tiered levels, to the roving airship band Swarm and the drug-mad Skullboys. For reasons lost to history, Spearpoint is divided into fluctuating zones where different levels of technology function, all controlled by the Mire somewhere at its heart.

When a post-human angel falls from the Celestial levels, his body is brought to the local pathologist, Quillon. As the doctor examines the angel's remains, the creature awakens and warns Quillon that he is in danger. Few know that Quillon was once an angel himself, experimentally modified to survive in the lower technology of Neon Heights. He remembers little of his former life, but has managed to stay hidden among humans through repeated surgeries and anti-zonal drugs.

Quillon flees through secret tunnels, the railroad, and a steam-powered bath house. Spectral agents from the Celestial levels pursue him, and his only weapon fails as he crosses into more primitive zones. Guided by Meroka, a heavily-armed and foul-tempered woman, Quillon leaves Spearpoint for the unknown.

Quillon and Meroka struggle to escape a gang of Skullboys and the carnivorgs that feed on human brain matter. When the doctor finds a woman and her child left trapped in a cage, he insists on freeing them, even though the woman is marked as a witch. As Quillon is dragged further from everything he has known, a massive zone shift occurs that devastates Spearpoint.

The plot speeds on, with barely a slow moment. Quillon must solve the challenges of the zone shift and investigate the nature of the tectomancers, while dodging suspicion, betrayal, and hiding his own nature.

While this novel is not set in the Victorian period, there are definite steampunk elements. Much of the action takes place on airships, complete with goggles and clockwork gadgets. One important character in the level of Steamville is a patched-up android powered by a calliope. Yet, there are hints of a lost technology and space-faring civilization here as well. I was intrigued by Quillon's world, but at the conclusion felt a little disappointed that I didn't have all the answers I wanted.

Overall, this was one of the most intriguing and entertaining novels I've read this year. I loved the colorful characters and their interactions, and the plot was twisty and inventive. If Mr. Reynolds decides to write another book set in this world, I would pick it up right away.