Heaven's Shadow is a thrill ride

Heaven's Shadow
David S. Goyer and Michael Cassutt
Ace Penguin Hardback, July 2011

Reviewed by Ann Wilkes

Heaven's Shadow begins with quite a few familiar sci-fi elements: alien artifact, space exploration, first contact and pod people. But what David S. Goyer and Micahael Cassutt do with these still shiny plot elements is magic. In 2017, a Near Earth Object has come within the range of existing manned spacecraft. NASA and the Russian-Indian-Brazilian Coalition both divert manned missions to the moon to the NEO instead.

After both vehicles touch down, NASA suffers a casualty when an astronaut is thrown by what they believed to be the venting of a volcano. The home team, headed by Harley Drake, discovers that the "ventings" aren't random, but have served to park the NEO in a stable orbit. The X2016 K1 NEO, dubbed Keanu (yeah, that didn't thrill me either), is actually an alien space ship. The Coalition team helps to get the injured astronaut to safety and then members from each team explore the vent together.



Zack didn't have to ask any of them to take pictures, or do a radar scan. Lucas, Natalia and Pogo swarmed the marker, recording every possible angle. Lucas had hauled a new camera from the sled, bulkier and less finished-looking than the other instruments. "What's a Zeiss MKK?" Zack said.

At that moment, Pogo noted a wisp of vapor on the leg of the commander's suit. "Boss," he said, suddenly worried, pointing. "Check your pressure."

But Zack didn't seem worried. "This chamber is pressurized. Look at the ground..."

Pogo did, and saw a puddle. "Zack," he said.

"I think its water," the commander said quickly. "It appeared to be melt from my boots. Yours, too, I'm guessing."

Natalia disagreed. "There's more here than we were carrying."

Then Lucas said, "I hear something."

And Pogo realized he'd been hearing it, too. "Is that wind?"

"What the hell is going on?" Natalia said. She sounded nervous. Pogo couldn't blame her. Puddles of liquid? Air pressure? Wind? Some of those conditions could exist on the surface of Mars, so it wasn't unthinkable.

But on a NEO – inside a NEO?


Commander Zack Stewart must keep control of a mission that has taken a serious left turn into unexpected first contact and is further complicated with an injured comrade, the death of another ... and then there's the appearance of his undead wife.

Heaven's Shadow is a thrill ride from start to finish with exciting action back on Earth as well. Zack's friend, Harley Drake, in addition to his regular NASA Home Team duties, is tasked with keeping track of Zack's teenage daughter while she's there in the visitor area. Things get really interesting for Rachel when she's able to talk to someone who claims to be the mother she lost two years before. And Harley is then tapped as point person and team leader of the “48 Committee” which is the pre-designated term for experts assembled for any possible alien contact situation.

The book is first in a series. I'm sorry I have to wait a whole year to find out what happens next. Heaven's Shadow does have an ending of sorts. Much is resolved, though the journey has only just begun.

I appreciated the very human drama embedded in the science-laden, near future world. It's like space opera meets techno thriller. Heaven's Shadow is a must read – and soon to be a must see. Goyer is a screenwriter, comic book author, film producer and director. Cassutt is a screenwriter, American TV producer and author. They have been working on both the movie and the books. Look for Heaven's Shadow from Warner Bros., possibly as soon as July of 2012.

Read my interview with Goyer and Cassutt.

Greatshell writes Mad Skills with, well, mad skills

I raced through Mad Skills like a madwoman. What a fun ride through the looking glass. Young Madeleine Grant goes from average teenager struggling to fit in, to vegetable to government experiment with "mad skills" in a very short period of time. Who can be more vulnerable than someone who is trapped in a body with a damaged brain, who is unable to process her surroundings and voice her needs? Scientists use experimental technology to literally hardwire Maddy's brain. But now that she's part tech and the creators are monitoring their tech, what's next? What's real? How can you tell with someone feeding ideas into your head?

Maddy has her faculties back and then some. The speed at which she analyzes a situation and uses raw materials at hand to build a solution makes MacGyver look like an idiot.

Maddy goes back to school after her operation. News crews show up to see the spectacle. After having her Dad drop her around the corner, she gets to work.

As soon as he was out of sight, she walked to a nearby convenience store and browsed the automotive shelves. Making chemical connections in her head, she bought various items and took them behind the store, where she fashioned a peculiar device out of plastic bottles and volatile compounds. It looked like a toy spaceship. The warhead was a can of degreaser with a steel penetrator made from a lug bolt. It took a few minutes to assemble everything, then she had to hurry with it down the street -- she didn't want to be late for school.

A few blocks over, she found what she was looking for: a clear view of the local TV news affiliate. Estimating trajectory, she angled the device just right and lit it off. It went shoosh! and streaked upward, arcing high over the town common. A second later, there was a crash and a puff of flame -- the station's big satellite dish was on fire. People came out, yelling and screaming, and in minutes the news trucks started showing up.

Maddy passed them going the other way. The front of the school was clear of media people. She slipped onto campus unnoticed, grateful that she hadn't missed the bell.

But her functioning brain has come with a price. Not least of which is her freedom. Still in the balance is her sanity. What's with that talking raccoon, anyway? The more she learns of the project and it's goals, the more the carpet is pulled out from under her. She has no one left to trust.

Greatshell's pacing is excellent. And he manages to introduce boy to girl without things getting all mushy and complicated. Maddy has complications in abundance. And what do you do when you find out you're a lab rat and there are lots of other lab rats like you? What do you do when people you've trusted aren't who you thought they were? Read Mad Skills to find out what Maddy does. You won't be disappointed.

It was a real treat to chat with Walter about Mad Skills, his Xombie books and writing.

AW: You wrote a very convincing female protagonist. And I'm sure those in your Xombie novels are equally well-rendered. Maybe I should ask your wife this next question. Do you seek female input or are you really that good?

WG: My wife says, "He's strongly in touch with his feminine side." Which is funny, since I look like a Mack truck. But any little boy who loves books more than sports can't help but feel a certain kinship with girls, who tend to be the most ferocious early readers and writers. And I was raised by a single woman, so that probably helped.

AW: Okay, what's a Xombie?

WG: A Xombie is a person who has been infected by Maenad Cytosis, the disease called Agent X, which attacks the X chromosome and turns women into unstoppable killing (or rather, infecting) machines.

AW: How do they spread it?

WG: By suffocating their victims--either by strangling, or by literally sucking the breath from their lungs. Agent X doesn't work in the presence of oxygen molecules. The O2 has to first be evacuated from the victim's body.

It's a real "kiss of death". My idea was to create a situation where women were the aggressors, and no man was safe. They call it Sadie Hawkins' Massacre.

AW: Who do you credit with nurturing your unique sense of humor?

WG: My sense of humor probably comes from being a bit of a class clown all through school. I liked being a ham, and also loved reading my stories in class.

AW: Have you ever had your sense of humor get you in trouble?

WG: A few times, yeah. I remember once I was being disciplined in front of my 2nd grade class, and I made goofy faces behind the teacher's back--the class cracked up. But then I got caught, and got slapped with a ruler. The good old days...

AW: Mad Skills is a far cry from your usual satirical horror. You seem to be diversifying. What else can we look forward to?

WG: I have a bunch of different books in various stages of development. A Godzilla-like satire about a man who grows to giant size, called Enormity [original title still listed on website is The Leaf Blower]. A steampunk type story about girl flyers at the dawn of aviation. Also a horror novel about a voodoo-type cult on an island (Catalina Island, actually), called Terminal Island.

AW: What genres do you read?

WG: Everything! Lately, a lot of nonfiction. I just read a bio of William Golding, which made me buy his sea trilogy To the Ends of the Earth. But I grew up on all the science fiction greats, as well as Stephen King.

AW: Where did the idea for Mad Skills come from?

WG: Mad Skills was my attempt to do a psycho-thriller in the vein of The Stepford Wives or Coma. That kind of paranoia thriller that was so popular in the '70s. I also am a fan of Dickey's book Deliverance, and always wanted to do that kind of suspense. My agent suggested I work on something in the urban fantasy genre, and Mad Skills was what I came up with. Actually, once I had the rough idea for the novel, it sort of wrote itself. That doesn't happen often, so it was nice.

AW: In Mad Skills, did you ever get tangled up in your layers? How did you keep track of it all?

WG: I just took a lot of notes on scraps of paper--I have a very cluttered type of organization...but it seems to work.

AW: Will there be a sequel?

WG: I'm in the middle of writing a sequel right now, which I think is going to be great. I'm incredibly excited about it, but I can't give anything away because it's too early in the process...but it'll be good.

AW: Woo Hoo! Make sure I get an ARC. :)

WG: Actually I had an earlier idea for the sequel, which would have been kind of an international spy thriller type thing. But this new idea is much better. And of course you'll get the first ARC!

AW: Do you do conventions?

WG: I've just started. I went to Thrillerfest last year, and I've been to Comic Con a few times, and intend to go again. It's fun, but I'm still too obscure a writer to really be able to greet the fans. Hopefully that will change.

I love meeting people and talking about my work--it's a rare treat for me.

AW: Did you have one big break that got you going? Many authors have a dumb luck story about how they found an agent.

WG: I sold my first novel, Xombies, back in 2004. That was an incredible experience: I had been working the night shift at a submarine plant, and the idea occurred to me that people could escape a zombie-type epidemic aboard a nuclear sub.

So I talked to my wife about it, and she agreed that I should take the time to write it. I quit my job, and a year later I had a book called Dead Sea.

I sent it to several agents, and one of them agreed to rep me. He sent it to an editor at Berkley, and they immediately bought it.

AW: That's awesome!

WG: Then I sold nothing for the next five years! But I wrote the whole time, and suddenly out of nowhere, Berkley contacted me again about doing a Xombies series--three books plus Mad Skills.

A conversation about SF/F conventions with M.H. Bonham

M.H. Bonham's new book, Howling Dead just came out on Halloween. It's in my TBR pile and will be reviewed eventually. Maggie's had 30 books published and seven of those are speculative fiction novels or anthologies. She's been everything from rocket scientist to animal behaviorist. When she's not sitting at her computer writing, editing or promoting, she's racing sled dogs or hiking in the Montana wilderness where she lives. And she's a ninja!

I met Maggie at a convention this year and we were instant friends. I thought it would be fun to have her share some tips about getting the most out of conventions. We considered collaborating on a full-on little SF convention survival guide, but alas, we're both too swamped for such an endeavor at the moment. This will have to do – for now. Who knows, maybe we'll surprise the world with a Con-going for Dummies book one day. ;)

A conversation about SF conventions

AW: Do you have a special SF convention packing list?

MHB: I used to be pretty haphazard in packing until a friend at another convention told me how to pack for a writing convention (how much clothing, etc). I now know what I need to pack so I have set things I pack. I do about 8-10 cons a year so I have to have everything more or less down to what I need to bring. Basically, I'm there for three or four days. That requires two pairs of jeans, three or four shirts, socks, under things, etc. And my traveling clothes.

AW: What do you put in the suitcase for conventions that you don't for other trips?

MHB: Do I have other trips? (Add maniacal laughter here). I usually bring my costume (the Chi'lan warrior thing) and my con jacket (the red and gold one with the dragons). I drag books along much to the rampers' chagrins.

AW: Do make plans for networking while you're there?

MHB: Yes, but it's not formal.

AW: Do you google other panelists?

MHB: No, I'm too egotistical and too busy.

AW: Other Guests of Honor?

MHB: Half the time, I don't even know who the GOH is unless I know them, and even then, it's a crap shoot if I remember who it is before I get there. Are you sure you really want me to answer this? I sound unprepared, but I'm not. The reality is that I'm not there to run into a particular writer or play fan girl. I know certain people will be at a con and I know I'll have a chance to chat with them, but my number one job is to do my panels, meet with my fan base, and promote my books. If I don't do these things, then I shouldn't be there. This is just part of my job as a professional author.

AW: Do you read books by them? Bring them to get signed?

MHB: I sometimes read books by other authors at the con. Usually, I read them after I meet the person, but yes, there have been books I've read before I met the writer. But I usually won't read their books beforehand just because they're at a particular con. They've got to impress me personally, and then I'll buy their book at a con and read it. As for bringing books to get signed, that's nuts for me. See, I'm carrying my books and I'll buy books at the con, which means I'm going to break my arms lugging books around. So, no. Even if I have a book by an author, unless I buy it there, I don't bring them to get them signed.

AW: Do you make plans for visiting nearby attractions?

MHB: Usually not, but I have gone to the Space Needle and the Science Fiction Museum in Seattle. I've had a fan take me to Pike Place Market too. That was cool.

AW: What about room sharing with convention friends?

MHB: Most of the time I don't, but lately I have to save on costs. I suggest if your readers want to do that, pick some folks you get along with, otherwise you will all go nuts.

AW: Does your husband join you?

MHB: Not out of town. He gets to take care of the pups. He enjoys the local con. I know he has a lot of fun there. He's met the folks around town, and he's taking a class on fencing. He also has a lot of fun going to panels.

MHB: If he did come with me out of town, he'd probably do the con, and we'd probably go see the local attractions.

AW: What about the green room?

MHB: I wish all cons had green rooms. Unfortunately, they don't, but I've dealt with it. It's nice to have a green room just to collapse in and decompress. Norwescon and Radcon have wonderful Green Rooms.

AW: Worst food?

MHB: I would say that the worst was when the green rooms weren't stocked or were under-stocked. Otherwise, I have had no bad experiences with food.

AW: Best food?

MHB: I'm holding out hope someone comes up with really awesome food in a green room. Probably Radcon is the best thus far.

AW: Do you pack energy bars just in case?

MHB: Energy bars are a must for travel in general. So, yeah, I have some 3 year old energy bars rummaging around my bag.

AW: Worst hotel experience?

MHB: The Freddie Krueger sheet episode. I was staying with some friends at a con. Naturally we got in the room at about 2 am. Being the mistrustful sort, I looked in the bed first. I found drops of blood on the sheets. My friends looked at their sheets after they got in bed and found tons of makeup on the sheets. So, we call to the front desk which was totally apathetic. We had to change our own sheets at 2 - 3 a.m. The whole story went around the con and it became known as the Freddie Krueger sheet episode. Yes, we did get a discount on the room at the end.

AW: Best hotel experience?

MHB: Any one I won't remember, because there were no issues!

AW: Do you bring a lap top and write during the convention?

MHB: I bring a laptop but the muse has yet to strike at a con. Usually, I'm using it to get online and feed my damn Hatchlings. (If you don't know what Hatchlings are, join facebook and accept an egg from me). I've known other authors who can sit and write at a con. Not me.

AW: Do you bring money for the dealer's room and art show?

MHB: I bring some money for the dealer's room. As for the art show, I have no idea how to bid and how the auction works so I stay away from that. Plus I don't want to try to bring a piece of art home.

AW: Do you bring costumes? Mending materials just in case?

MHB: Yes, I do bring a costume, but it's for promoting the book.

Mending materials? Ha! I didn't make my costume, so it's unlikely I could mend it.

AW: Do you dress for comfort or to impress?

MHB: Comfort. I can't impress anyone if I look uncomfortable.

AW: Books – do you sell them through the dealer's room, at the signing, both? How do you find out?

MHB: Depends. If my publisher is there, they sell them. I know vendors in the dealer's room at cons I go to, so I bring some copies just in case, but they usually have copies of my books. I'll bring a few books to the signing if the publisher isn't there.

AW: What's the best thing that's happened to you at a con?

MHB: I got to talk to a number of publishers who are interested in my work at World Fantasy.

AW: What was the worst thing that's happened to you at a con?

MHB: A bunch of my books got lost in the mail going to Worldcon. A missed opportunity. Oh well.

AW: Funniest con experience?

MHB: A friend of mine didn't get her badge in time because of glitches and ended up going through panels without it. That evening, we're sitting at a party and con security came up to us and demanded that she leave. I said "Don't you know who she is?" like I meant it. They apologized and scurried off.

AW: Luggage horror stories? How do you avoid them?

MHB: Two words: Carry on. Seriously. If you can't fit everything you need for a con in a carry on, something's wrong. Also consider shipping items via UPS, Fed-Ex or even the US Mail.

Read more about Maggie and Howling Dead, a techno-thriller "with a bite."

Excited about conventions now? Finding one near you is easy. The following websites have searchable databases of regional and world conventions. You might find there are more flavors of speculative fiction conventions than you realized.


Upcoming Cons
Containment Convention Finder

And here are the home pages for World Fantasy and Worldcon (SF).


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