Ben Bova – Farside
Farside 1st ed. – 2013
This writer is big in the world of Sci-Fi and yet I have never been a fan. It just goes to show that you can’t please everyone. The story itself was interesting. I did not get too invested in this book. The Moon local and the interesting possibilities of the science kept me reading. This book is OK but I prefer more depth to my characters. There was a lot of time spent talking about their past, their foibles and their goals both intellectually and emotionally and yet most of the characters seemed too simplistic. Except for the 2 heros and the microbiologist [?], I didn’t find anyone else interesting.
Because of all his awards and acclaim, I feel I’m missing something but I can’t find it yet.
Summary
A new science fiction novel by a six-time Hugo Award winner
Six-time Hugo-Award winner Ben Bova presents Farside. Farside, the side of the Moon that never faces Earth, is the ideal location for an astronomical observatory. It is also the setting for a tangled web of politics, personal ambition, love, jealousy, and murder. Telescopes on Earth have detected an Earth-sized planet circling a star some thirty light-years away. Now the race is on to get pictures of that distant world, photographs and spectra that will show whether or not the planet is truly like Earth, and if it bears life. Farside will include the largest optical telescope in the solar system as well as a vast array of radio antennas, the most sensitive radio telescope possible, insulated from the interference of Earth’s radio chatter by a thousand kilometers of the Moon’s solid body.Building the Farside observatory is a complex, often dangerous task. On the airless surface of the Moon, under constant bombardment of hard radiation and infalling micrometeoroids, builders must work in cumbersome spacesuits and use robotic machines as much as possible. Breakdowns-mechanical and emotional-are commonplace. Accidents happen, some of them fatal.What they find stuns everyone, and the human race will never be the same.”Bova’s latest novel is one of his best, and a classic use of the old sf theme of humanity reaching out for immortality among the stars.”- Booklist (starred review) on Farside
Mark L. Van Name – Jon & Lobo Series
One Jump Ahead 2007
I haven’t read this author before. I chose his 1st book of this series. It has very good reviews – one from Orson Scott Card. The story was good. The characters were OK. Unfortunately I had to push myself to read it through. I am not sure if it is me or the book. Perhaps because it is a 1st book it is a bit raw. I can understand that the character is weary, frustrated, lost, and looking for a purpose. I even understand that sometimes you return to what you do best – in his case, as a hired gun. I found the sarcastic machine intelligence not too smooth but this will hopefully improve as the series goes on. It seemed more cookie-cutter than the regular pulp Sci-Fi that I will read.
It appears that the author is very morally focused and this must be the appeal that the reviews have found commendable. As I have said before I am not interested in bad reviews. This story was well written and the characters were interesting. The whole series seems to be well received.
Aside: I enjoyed my 1st revue [M. C.Planck’s The Kassa Gambit], another ‘1st book’ author more, because it was more fast paced, had a bit of levity and I read it happily and quickly.
Summary
Jon Moore: A nanotech-enhanced warrior who wants nothing more than a quiet life and a way back to his strange home world. Lobo: An AI-enhanced Predator-Class Assault Vehicle, a mobile fortress equipped for any environment from the seabed to interstellar space. TWO WOLVES IN A GALAXY OF LARGER PREDATORSJon Moore wanted only to relax on the pristine planet of Macken–but Macken was the secret battleground of two megacorporations, both determined to control the local jump gate and the riches of an undeveloped world. Moore was too valuable a tool not to be used, whether or not he was willing. What the corporations didn’t realize was that Moore had a mind of his own and a conscience that wouldn’t let him quit until he’d righted the wrong they’d tricked him into making. And Moore had Lobo–or just possibly Lobo had Jon Moore, because this Assault Vehicle had a mind of its own. . . .Finding allies and enemies among terrorist groups and elite mercenaries, gun-runners and the only kind of government possible on a frontier short on rules and long on riches, Jon and Lobo fight to a climax with a corporate army that can’t afford to leave any witnesses. Exotic settings, fast action, real tech, mechanically-enhanced animals—and a beautiful woman who’s as deadly as a cobra!One Jump Ahead:the first novel in the Jon & Lobo series
Slanted Jack 2008 – 2nd in the series
Slanted Jack: the second novel in the Jon & Lobo series. – Unread
Summary
Mark L. Van Name’s first book in the Jon and Lobo series demolished all the already high marketing projections. In Slanted Jack he’s vaulting that stunning success with a novel that bobs and weaves, takes you on a headlong race through a strange but believable future, and never slows down.
The job looks simple enough: Jon Moore, the nanotech-enhanced, world-weary, soldier of fortune, agrees to help a con man, a friend from a part of his past he’d rather forget, protect a very special young boy. The deal doesn’t stay simple, as each move Jon and Lobo make results in more danger and more enemies. The situation grows even more complicated when a beautiful woman with an unclear agenda joins them in their quest.
The best con man Jon’s ever known, a ruthless gang boss, a heavily armed group of religious fanatics, and an interstellar government out to clean up a dangerous frontier world rush together toward an explosive climax — and Jon and Lobo are caught in the middle.
They’re willing to do anything to save the life of the boy —
But there may not be anything even they can do!
Overthrowing Heaven 2009 – 3rd on the series
Unread
No summary available
Children No More 2010 – 4th in the series
Unread – this book’s message looks really interesting and I will probably check it out.
Summary
The Sequel to One Jump Ahead, Slanted Jack and Overthrowing Heaven. Jon and Lobo are back and On a Mission to Save Children Whose Childhood has been Stolen and Replaced with the Horrors of War.
Jon and Lobo rush straight into the darkness at the heart of humanity to save a group of child soldiers-and then face an even tougher challenge. When we’ve trained our children to kill, what do we do with them when the fighting is over?
Because the plight of these children is so near to the author, he is donating 100% of his hardback proceeds (including his advance) to a non-profit that helps to reintegrate children soldiers in the Congo. For every hardback book that sells, Falling Whistles will get a donation from the author.
No Going Back 2012 – 5th in the series
Unread
Summary
#5 in the popular Jon and Lobo military science fiction series, nanotech-enhanced soldier-of-fortune joins with his A.I.-equipped intelligence and weapons platform (spaceship-sized!) on a mission to acquire forbidden tech that leads Jon to a confrontation with his own shadowy origins on a deadly planet.
Jon and Lobo are back–and enemies on all sides are out to get them. Haunted by memories of children he could not save, Jon Moore becomes so increasingly self-destructive that even his best friend, the hyper-intelligent Predator-Class Assault Vehicle, Lobo, is worried.nbsp; So when Jon receives both a job offer and a message from a woman from his distant past, he and Lobo leap at the welcome diversions.
That the job is illegal is the least of their problems.nbsp; They’re happy to retrieve stolen artifacts from Jon’s quarantined home world, and their fee is high even for a job so highly illegal.
The forces protecting their targets are formidable, and the assault team that’s chasing them is even more dangerous–but Jon and Lobo are used to that. The scientist Jon and Lobo need for the mission has an agenda of her own, but they’ve faced that problem before. This time, though, the knowledge that they and the others seek spells doom for Jon.
Racing from planet to planet, Jon and Lobo come at last to a world so inhospitable that its statues and monuments;outnumber its living inhabitants. Desperate and out of options, they encounter their deadliest challenges yet and must make life-changing decisions
A substantial portion of Van Name’s profits from the Jon and Lobo saga are dedicated to Falling Whistles, a fund for the rehabilitation of child soldiers.
John Scalzi – Old Man’s War Novels and more
I really enjoy John Scalzi’s stories. If you like movies that are full of action, heroic individuals and still can joke around – you will love this writer. This is an Independence Day, Die Hard kind of story telling.
Before I begin this review I have to say – check the books you are reading in case they are a series. Because this is a series I must remind you. Today I have finished the 3rd book. Somehow [through the lovely art of ordering many books from the library and not checking which goes 1st] I got a later book before this one and started reading. Once I realised I didn’t know the events leading up to the story at hand, I had to stop and wait for The Last Colony 2007 to arrive.
To date there are 5 Old men War Stories. In the prologue to The Human Division 2013, Mr. Scalzi pays tribute to the artist John Harris, who worked on all the covers – therefore I had to put them in the review. I try to include the art every time as I think it is a big part of the Sci-Fi genre. In the epilogue to The Last Colony, John Scalzi says he is letting the characters go [perhaps the story too] and turn to other ideas. He did mention his fan base – urging him to write more of these stories. I guess he had a few more in him.
Old Man’s War 2005 
The 1st: It has been some time since I read this book. I remember really enjoying it and found the characters and the wars they were involved in quite exciting. The whole idea of meeting space-faring people who offer you a 2nd chance is quite compelling. The idea of becoming a soldier is quite another matter.
Summary
John Perry did two things on his 75th birthday. First he visited his wife’s grave. Then he joined the army.
The good news is that humanity finally made it into interstellar space. The bad news is that planets fit to live on are scarce-and aliens willing to fight for them are common. The universe, it turns out, is a hostile place.
So: we fight. To defend Earth (a target for our new enemies, should we let them get close enough) and to stake our own claim to planetary real estate. Far from Earth, the war has gone on for decades: brutal, bloody, unyielding.
Earth itself is a backwater. The bulk of humanity’s resources are in the hands of the Colonial Defense Force, which shields the home planet from too much knowledge of the situation. What’s known to everybody is that when you reach retirement age, you can join the CDF. They don’t want young people; they want people who carry the knowledge and skills of decades of living. You’ll be taken off Earth and never allowed to return. You’ll serve your time at the front. And if you survive, you’ll be given a generous homestead stake of your own, on one of our hard-won colony planets.
John Perry is taking that deal. He has only the vaguest idea what to expect. Because the actual fight, light-years from home, is far, far harder than he can imagine-and what he will become is far stranger.
The Ghost Brigades 2006 
2nd: This was not just a continuation of the 1st story. The hero is really the Special Forces soldier, Jared Dirac. It is a very moral book. Questions about the rights of others and the rights of the individual are played out over and over in this book. I remember being quite torn-up over the many hurtful and insensitive actions that are quite believable in our world today.
Summary
The Ghost Brigades are the Special Forces of the Colonial Defense Forces, elite troops created from the DNA of the dead and turned into the perfect soldiers for the CDF’s toughest operations. They’re young, they’re fast and strong, and they’re totally without normal human qualms.
The universe is a dangerous place for humanity – and it’s about to become far more dangerous. Three races that humans have clashed with before have allied to halt our expansion into space. Their linchpin: the turncoat military scientist Charles Boutin, who knows the CDF’s biggest military secrets. To prevail, the CDF must find out why Boutin did what he did.
Jared Dirac is the only human who can provide answers – a superhuman hybrid, created from Boutin’s DNA, Jared’s brain should be able to access Boutin’s electronic memories. But when the memory transplant appears to fail, Jared is given to the Ghost Brigades.
At first, Jared is a perfect soldier, but as Boutin’s memories slowly surface, Jared begins to intuit the reason’s for Boutin’s betrayal. As Jared desperately hunts for his “father,” he must also come to grips with his own choices. Time is running out: The alliance is preparing its offensive, and some of them plan worse things than humanity’s mere military defeat
The last colony 2007 
the 3rd: A very satisfying read. It was good to see the enrichment and continuation of the story, by introducing another group who isn’t the CDF. I liked that the main hero is allowed to affect the democratic outcomes and fight against bureaucracy and dictatorship. The alternative group of co-operative alien worlds under an organization called the Conclave seems like a sane evolution but the egos of the CDF won’t allow it to join or allow humans to either. As with the Odin – we don’t really know who the ‘brains’ are behind the CDF, only that they want soldiers and offer immortality [unless you’re a statistic in their wars of course].
Summary
Retired from his fighting days, John Perry is now village ombudsman for a human colony on distant Huckleberry. With his wife, former Special Forces warrior Jane Sagan, he farms several acres, adjudicates local disputes, and enjoys watching his adopted daughter grow up.
That is, until his and Jane’s past reaches out to bring them back into the game – as leaders of a new human colony, to be peopled by settlers from all the major human worlds, for a deep political purpose that will put Perry and Sagan back in the thick of interstellar politics, betrayal, and war.
~ there seems to be a novel unlisted in the jacket of the 2013 book – called The Sagan Diary 2007. Unfortunately there isn’t a copy or any info on the book.
Zoe’s Tale 2008 
~ haven’t read this yet
Summary
How do you tell your part in the biggest tale in history? ¿ I ask because it’s what I have to do. I’m Zoe Boutin Perry: A colonist stranded on a deadly pioneer world. Holy icon to a race of aliens. A player (and a pawn) in a interstellar chess match to save humanity, or to see it fall. Witness to history. Friend. Daughter. Human. Seventeen years old. Everyone on Earth knows the tale I am part of. But you don’t know my tale: How I did what I did — how I did what I had to do — not just to stay alive but to keep you alive, too. All of you. I’m going to tell it to you now, the only way I know how: not straight but true, the whole thing, to try make you feel what I felt: the joy and terror and uncertainty, panic and wonder, despair and hope. Everything that happened, bringing us to Earth, and Earth out of its captivity. All through my eyes. It’s a story you know. But you don’t know it all.
The Human Division 2013 
~ I did start this book and to my horror I realised I had missed the 3rd and 4th books. I stopped reading around page 125. Despite the holes in my understanding, the characters are great, as always. The story is moving along with the insane ideology from the 3rd book. Trapped in this political nightmare are as usual good people.
Summary
John Scalzi returns to the world of his bestselling Old Man’s War
Following the events of The Last Colony, John Scalzi tells the story of the fight to maintain the unity of the human race.The people of Earth now know that the human Colonial Union has kept them ignorant of the dangerous universe around them. For generations the CU had defended humanity against hostile aliens, deliberately keeping Earth an ignorant backwater and a source of military recruits. Now the CU’s secrets are known to all. Other alien races have come on the scene and formed a new alliance-an alliance against the Colonial Union. And they’ve invited the people of Earth to join them. Fora shaken and betrayed Earth, the choice isn’t obvious or easy.Against such possibilities, managing the survival of the Colonial Union won’t be easy, either. It will take diplomatic finesse, political cunning and a brilliant “B Team,” centered on the resourceful Lieutenant Harry Wilson, that can be deployed to deal with the unpredictable and unexpected things the universe throws at you when you’re struggling to preserve the unity of the human race.Being published online from January to April 2013 as a three-month digital serial, The Human Division will appear as a full-length novel of the Old Man’s War universe, plus-for the first time in print-the first tale of Lieutenant Harry Wilson, and a coda that wasn’t part of the digital serialization.
I will leave you with an incompetent review of this series. I’ve read 1,2 ,3 and part of 5 – all good reading and very entertaining.
John Scalzi has written may other books. I have to say I didn’t enjoy The Android’s Dream 2006. I won;t be talking about books I didn’t get into because experience has told me it can be as much about my head and what I am doing, as it is about the book.
Redshirts 2012 
My notes say I really enjoyed this crazy story. It takes a while before you and the characters figure out what is going on. It’s a little bit like Galaxy Quest ’99, when the actors found out they were space heros – but in reverse. It is classic Sci-Fi in that this Redshirt phenomena has been going on for a while – it was a comedy focus on Star Trek spoofs.
Summary/Review: Enjoying his assignment with the xenobiology lab on board the prestigious Intrepid, ensign Andrew Dahl worries about casualties suffered by low-ranking officers during away missions before making a shocking discovery about the starship’s actual purpose.
Jason Aaron – Scalped Series [Graphic Novel]
I had to post this one – fantastic is the main word that comes to mind with this collaboration of writer and illustrator. Graphic Novels, Westerns and Crime are a bit of a departure from the intent of this blog. It is also not so much fiction as a dark side of society – a marginalized society in the heart of America.
Where to start with this extraordinary collaboration. When you talk about a Graphic Novel you have to acknowledge the tremendous effort of the illustrator. The illustrator is R.M. Guera. Loved the 1st 2 books I’ve read. Currently there are 10 in the series. I found the latest in the new section at the library and had to start from the beginning – just in case it was worth reading and it is. If you don’t like violence and hard/bitter sex – don’t get into these. It isn’t a problem for me as the real message is bigger and the violence and sex are the paint the authors use to get us to see the despair. The illustrations are gritty, powerful and fantastic – no little detail is unimportant. I just don’t know how the artist gets any sleep. The writing is very real and typical of spaghetti westerns – Clint Eastwood would love them, I think.
Scalped: Indian Country 2007
SummaryJason Aaron, the up-and-coming writer of the critically acclaimed series The Other Side teams with gritty artist R.M. Guera for an intense crime drama that mixes organized crime with current Native American culture. Fifteen years ago, Dashiell “Dash” Bad Horse ran away from a life of abject poverty and utter hopelessness on the Prairie Rose Indian Reservation in hopes of finding something better. Now he’s come back home armed with nothing but a set of nunchucks, a hell-bent-for-leather attitude and one dark secret, to find nothing much has changed on “The Rez” — short of a glimmering new casino, and a once-proud people overcome by drugs and organized crime. Is he here to set things right or just get a piece of the action?
Scalped [2] : Casino Boogie 2008
Summary
….. This volume explores Dash Bad Horse’s troubled origin and chronicles his day-to-day life on The Rez working for Chief Red Crow.
Scalped [3]: Dead Mothers 2008
Scalped [4]: The Gravel in Your Guts 2009
Scalped [5]: High Lonesome 2009
Scalped [6]: The Gnawing 2010
Scalped [7]: Rez Blues 2011
Scalped [8]: You Gotta to Sin to be Saved 2011
Scalped [9]: Knuckle Up 2012
Scalped [10]: Trail’s End 2012
I doubt it is over…..
Orson Scott Card – The Mithermages
2013 – 2nd in The Mithermages Series.
Here is another favourite author of mine. The first books of his that I read were The Tales of Alvin Maker. Because they are stories of wonder and superhuman adventures, they pave the way for his magical stories. I have read his Ender books – perhaps review on a future book in that series, as this blog is going forward, not back – which are all very good and some are outstanding. I discovered a while ago that not only does Mr Card write SF he writes historical fiction. I have read only one of the Women of Genesis and it was very good – I think it was Sarah but I didn’t make any notes on this book. It is my opinion that Mr. Card is a great story teller. He is a bit more humourous than C.J. Cherryh [last review], and he is very interested in psychology and societies, as is she. His series about the fall of the American Empire – Empire 2006 and Hidden Empire 2009 – is very current and quite scary.
The Magical stories are something else – he is quite free with his imagination. When I read his novel Magic Street 2005, I was completely carried away – enjoyed the whole thing. Who could have combined Shakespeare’s Fairy land and modern L.A.? Now he is writing The Mithermages Series – no knowing how big it will be, about a magical society about to outgrow its current depraved state, hiding on the edge of humanity, to perhaps a more powerful but more corrupt version. The hero reminds me of Alvin – a pure soul – wading in the not very perfect world. Lost Gate was a treat. I remember not being able to put it down. In this latest book – The Gate Thief, I am reminded about the events in the 1st book – but sometimes wish I had read it more recently. There is a lot going on – 2 worlds and many characters and stories. I like his characters, even the not so nice ones. I think Card wants us to know without any doubt that we could be that person – or have been – and it doesn’t take much to fall from grace and it is astonishingly difficult to have grace.
I recommend both – in order is the only way to read them.
Lost Gate 2011
Summary/Review: Danny grew up in a family compound in Virginia, believing that he alone of his family had no magical power. But he was wrong. Kidnapped from his high school by a rival family, he learns that he has the power to reopen the gates between Earth and the world of Westil.
The Gate Thief 2013
Summary/Review: “In this sequel to The Lost Gate, bestselling author Orson Scott Card continues his fantastic tale of the Mages of Westil who live in exile on Earth. Here on Earth, Danny North is still in high school, yet he holds in his heart and mind all the stolen outselves of thirteen centuries of gatemages. The Families still want to kill him if they can’t control him…and they can’t control him. He is far too powerful. And on Westil, Wad is now nearly powerless–he lost everything to Danny in their struggle. Even if he can survive the revenge of his enemies, he still must somehow make peace with the Gatemage Daniel North. For when Danny took that power from Loki, he also took the responsibility for the Great Gates. And when he comes face-to-face with the mages who call themselves Bel and Ishtoreth, he will come to understand just why Loki closed the gates all those centuries ago.”–Provided by publisher.
C.J. Cherryh – The Foreigner Universe
I am a huge fan of this writer. She isn’t a humourous writer but she excels in new worlds and societies. In these worlds there is adventure and conflict and parallels to our times of great change and loss of direction. I started reading her books in the 90’s and was very happy to see that she already had many titles in Hard Core Sci-Fi and Fantasy. Initially I avoided the fantasy novels until I had nothing else to read. Doggedly I started them as well – finding myself drawn in and immersed in these strange and scary stories. The Foreigner Universe is an off-shoot of the Alliance-Union Universe. In the 1st novel there is an accident with the ship during the flight and the crew and colonists arrive in unknown space and no way to return. They look for a way home and some look for a new home – a bit like the Star Trek series Voyager. Here there are 2 choices – abandon ship or stay. This is the story of both.
- Foreigner 1994
- Invader 1995
- Inheritor 1996
- Precursor 1999
- Defender 2001
- Explorer 2003
- Destroyer 2005
- Pretender 2005
- Deliverer
- Conspirator
- Deceiver 2010
- Betrayer 2011
- Intruder 2012
- Protector 2013
I have looked forward to all the installments of this series. The characters are dear to me and their adventures are exciting. Waiting for a new book can leave you wondering if you can remember everyone and what has been happening, to be ready to pick the story up again. Some of the stories are a bit repetitive and predictable. The latest – Protector – was a very good read. The author took many opportunities to refresh your memory or to tell you the past events. Thankfully it didn’t drag the story down. In fact I was quite reluctant to put it down even when I read the last line. On the whole, the society and world of an alien people, with the intrusion of humanity, proves to be good reading. The way the different societies work and are evolving is like a history lesson. The next step seems to address more alien societies. Unlike the Alliance-Union Universe infighting and political greed – where everyone was human [or human clone], here there is the cultural miss-step at every turn, to be avoided. The aliens too have alliances and cultural rules – representing a society moving from per-industrial to space faring.
This series has had an impact on other series that Cherryh has written – taking up her time and creativity. I was interested in The Gene Wars stories but they have not been picked up again. Sometimes I unkindly think she is being paid by the word. There is a lot of information , both descriptive and background that can weigh the stories down as you go. Lucky for anyone seeing this series for the 1st time – or her other series – there is a substantial amount of reading and no waiting. I like a prolific, well-trained writer, who tells a good story. If you can get a hold of her earlier novels you will see a fresher, more fast paced style. The Chanur Novels are more pulp fiction with cat-aliens. The characters were interesting and where Cherryh explored a non-human society dealing with humans and other aliens. The Age of Exploration novels , also from the 1980’s, are now available in The Deep Beyond omnibus. They look at the exploration of alien society through the eyes of a human raised as an alien.
Rhonda Riley – The Enchanted Life of Adam Hope
Another 1st novel and a delight. How lucky I have been recently to have found 2 brand new authors and another one who is only new to me.
I read this book in 2 very large sittings because I did not want to put it down. It is not a small book nor is it a simple one. I applaud the author at her task and thought she mastered the various stages of the novel. We follow Evelyn from the age of 16 to 80 and this mysterious stranger who has her heart. This is a lovely and heartbreaking tale. The characters and the locals seem very believable as does the authentic tone of the times. The review is too simplistic and doesn’t follow the changes in their relationship nor those individuals around them. An interesting note in the book is the modern philosophy of resilience being a necessary learned response – not learned as a child, we can not deal with the changes and losses we encounter as we age. This is a recurring theme in the book – the background of the dirty 30’s and the WWII hardships flow into the 60’s and Evelyn has to be resilient. The changing social mores are also explored – hitting hard on sexual and racial changes in our society.
Using the past to create a Sci-Fi novel, may seem odd. This is not about an alternative reality. It verges on the Fantasy side of Sci-Fi, rather than technologically advanced. We do not know who the stranger is – be he an alien or elemental.
Library Review
Summary/Review: During World War II, teenager Evelyn Roe is sent to manage the family farm in rural North Carolina, where she finds what she takes to be a badly burned soldier on their property. She rescues him, and it quickly becomes clear he is not a man…and not one of us. The rescued body recovers at an unnatural speed, and just as fast, Evelyn and Adam fall deeply in love. The author reveals the exhilarating, terrifying mystery inherent in all relationships: No matter how deeply we love someone, and no matter how much we will sacrifice for them, we can only know them so well.
Walter Mosley – Crosstown to Oblivion Series 2012-13
Crosstown to Oblivion Series: #2 – Merge and Disciple by Walter Mosley – I picked it up from the latest Sci-Fi books, at the library. A beloved writer is a comfort and a new author is an adventure.
This is one busy writer. He is a well-known writer [seems he writes mysteries] but new to me. In this instance he has produced two ‘old school’ Sci-Fi novellas. He must be steeped in the craft. I enjoyed both stories a great deal. I would compare it to stories like Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham. No one in my son’s 20-something group had any knowledge of that kind of book or even the movie. I liked the writing style – blunt and creative. The journey he took me on was satisfying. The ending on Merge was a bit weaker than Disciple, which was a very surprising and creative story.
Found this info from library
first installment, the often unfocused The Gift of Fire/On the Head of a Pin (2012).
LIBRARY
Summary/Review: “MERGE Raleigh Redman loved Nicci Charbon until she left him heartbroken. Then he hit the lotto for $26 million, quit his minimum wage job and set his sights on one goal: reading the entire collection of lectures in the Popular Educator Library, the only thing his father left behind after he died. As Raleigh is trudging through the eighth volume, he notices something in his apartment that at first seems ordinary but quickly reveals itself to be from a world very different from our own. This entity shows Raleigh joy beyond the comforts of $26 million dollars….and merges our world with those that live beyond. DISCIPLE Hogarth “Trent” Tryman is a forty-two year old man working a dead-end data entry job. Though he lives alone and has no real friends besides his mother, he’s grown quite content in his quiet life, burning away time with television, the internet, and video games. That all changes the night he receives a bizarre instant message on his computer from a man who calls himself Bron. At first he thinks it’s a joke, but in just a matter of days Hogarth Tryman goes from a data entry clerk to the head of a corporation. His fate is now in very powerful hands as he realizes he has become a pawn in a much larger game with unimaginable stakes–a battle that threatens the prime life force on Earth. “– Provided by publisher.
2013
Book List Review Mosley’s Crosstown to Oblivion series (each volume of which features two short novels packaged back-to-back in the manner of the old Ace Doubles) continues with this third installment.
I haven’t had a chance to read it yet. One of the things I’ve done over the years, is to catalog authors and their books, noting those I’ve read and those I want to read. It would be a good bet I’ll like this too.
M. C. Planck = A New Book and Author – Sci-Fi
There are so many authors and books to look at. Rather than going back, I’ll start with a new author I just had the pleasure of finding. This appears to be their first book.
The Kassa Gambit 1st ed.
by M. C. Planck,
Year/Format: 2013, Book, 288 p.
Great read – classic Space Opera. Great Illustration
Yes there is heart warming character interaction [and romantic descriptions that will hopefully be refined as the author gets more work]. I enjoyed the adventure. The descriptions were well done and the story flowed well – read it in 3 sittings. Having two perspectives and two heroes was a good way to tell the story and there was a surprise and amusing twist along within the fast paced story. Yes it is a tad campy – I had no issue with that.
Library Summary:
“Centuries after the ecological collapse of Earth, humanity has spread among the stars. Under the governance of the League, our endless need for resources has driven us to colonize hundreds of planets, all of them devoid of other sentient life. Humanity is apparently alone in the universe. Then comes the sudden, brutal decimation of Kassa, a small farming planet, by a mysterious attacker. The few survivors send out a desperate plea for aid, which is answered by two unlikely rescuers. Prudence Falling is the young captain of a tramp freighter. She and her ragtag crew have been on the run and living job to job for years, eking out a living by making cargo runs that aren’t always entirely legal. Lt. Kyle Daspar is a police officer from the wealthy planet of Altair Prime, working undercover as a double agent against the League. He’s been undercover so long he can’t be trusted by anyone–even himself. While flying rescue missions to extract survivors from the surface of devastated Kassa, they discover what could be the most important artifact in the history of man: an alien spaceship, crashed and abandoned during the attack. But something tells them there is more to the story. Together, they discover the cruel truth about the destruction of Kassa, and that an imminent alien invasion is the least of humanity’s concerns”–
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John Scalzi: The End of All Things
This was a fitting end to the series – I think it may be the end. All the books in this series are readable, fast…
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David Weber – Hell’s Foundations Quiver
I am exhausted reading and holding this large hardcover book. This is the 8th book in the series. If you are looking for a great…
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David Weber – Sword of the South
I loved the 1st books David Weber wrote about Bahzell [Horse-stealer] and am thrilled that there is a 2nd series. The pace is almost exhausting. …
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Gregory Benford & Larry Niven – Collaboration
Gregory Benford and Larry Niven are my top writers and when I saw them collaborating I was thrilled. These 2 novels do not disappoint. The…
Sci-Fi & Fantasy 