K55 is a Swedish science fiction novel, the start of a new series. A mining colony has lost contact with the main site and earth due to an unknown plague. The former management still runs the show while most of the inhabitants live in poverty.

The scene reminds me a bit of the roleplaying game Paranoia. Where it is forbidden to belong to a secret society but everyone does. Where it is forbidden to be a mutant but everyone is. And everyone is out to get you more or less.

The story starts with team Alpha taking a break beside their vehicle in the greenery and sunshine on their way to reestablish contact. However they meet with misfortune and team Bravo is called to take their place to venture outside and try again.

That however is something for part two. This is all about their training and how they survive it and the many plots and subplots around them. Eddie Lorenz is team leader and the one we get to follow. It is here the lies come in; more or less all he thinks he knows is false.

The characters are colorful if a bit archetypical. Someone is out to get the group while others try to subvert them on by one. There is a crime boss with a fetish for the British, sinister managers with otherworldly contacts, religious nutcases, seers, assassins and more.

K55 is a decent start and I want to read the sequel mostly reminiscent of playing Paranoia.

Book information

K55 Lögnernas Valv [English:K55 Vault of Lies] by Erika Johansson Oscarius (Foldspace 2011) – review copy – sfbok

På den lilla sterila planeten K55, isolerade av en okänd pest och avskurna från omvärlden, kämpar en grupp människor för sin överlevnad, instängda i en nedlagd gruvbas. Denna värld leds av Styrelsen, som med järnhand kontrollerar invånarnas vardag, liv och tankar, samtidigt som de febrilt försöker att bryta valvets isolering.

Paranoia, rykten, missnöje och oro kokar under ytan hos invånarna. Anarki och våldsamheter börjar bli en naturlig del av vardagen. En fullständig kollaps står för dörren. Styrelsens svar är Grupp Bravo, som oförklarligt utvecklat en immunitet mot den pest som härjar på K55′s yta. En storstilad kampanj sätts igång runt denna samling av udda och missanpassade individer som valts ut för uppdraget – att bryta isoleringen och skapa en möjlighet för alla att kunna leva uppe på ytan. Eddi Lorenz utses till gruppens ledare, men snart sker våldsamma och oförklarliga händelser i Grupp Bravos spår. Någon saboterar för dem och den värld Eddi känner börjar spricka. Bit för bit avtecknar sig ett nät av lögner. För att kunna hitta svaret på vad som sker under ytan i valvet måste Eddi gå sin egen väg. Samtidigt kämpar han med sina och gruppens inre demoner. De sanningar som tränger upp hotar att omkullkasta allt han värderat och litat till.

This is a shiny new space opera trilogy called The Expanse. It explores the idea of humanity spreading out in a universe that is stranger and more hostile than they ever expected while keeping it about the characters.

Most of the solar system is colonized with the Belt, Mars and Earth as the major political blocks. Venus was never colonized due to technical and economic difficulties. Tension is high with a looming war of Belter independence the inner planets are not too happy about when they are not plotting against each other.

The two point of view characters are Ice Miner captain Jim Holden and Ceres Detective Josephus Aloisus Miller.

Detective Miller is on a downward spiral as we meet him. He used to be someone in the force. Suspicious thing are happening with the police, but someone don’t want Miller to investigate that. Instead he gets assigned a lost girl case, Julie Mao. Her powerful earth family wants her kidnapped and brought back to earth.

Captain Holden and his crew stumble on a derelict ship and a secret someone is willing to kill for. Now Holden has to find out what is really going on and stay alive. Eventually his search converges with Miller’s.

Miller’s partner Dimitri Havelock from Earth serves as an example of the mistrust the Belter feels. His story is interwoven with Miller’s even if it takes a different path.

This weave of plots eventually becoming one is on par with the best detective novels I have read. Some of the parts are pure horror but most is divided between Miller’s noir reminding of old Hammer novels and Holden’s optimism and camaraderie reminding of Serenity and Firefly. I would compare it to The Shield meets Firefly.

Levithian Wakes is an easy to read cop procedural slash space opera with great ideas. It has what it looks like its own take on the Fermi paradox. The human interest parts are great and Miller’s obsession slash love story is epic if it continues in the next book. I liked it quite a lot.

James S. A. Corey is a pen name for fantasy author Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck, George R. R. Martin’s assistant. They are both new to me and this is Ty Franck’s first full length novel. The novel started out as a MMORPG pitch, went through paper and dice rpg before Daniel offered to co write the novel with Ty.

The trilogy continues with Caliban’s War next year before the concluding volume Dandelion Sky 2013.

Bottom-line it is a perfect summer read for you to enjoy.

Book Information

Leviathan Wakes (The Expanse 1) by James S. A. Corey (Orbit 2011) – Amazon US | UK

Welcome to the future. Humanity has colonized the solar system – Mars, the Moon, the Asteroid Belt and beyond – but the stars are still out of our reach.

Jim Holden is XO of an ice miner making runs from the rings of Saturn to the mining stations of the Belt. When he and his crew stumble upon a derelict ship, The Scopuli, they find themselves in possession of a secret they never wanted. A secret that someone is willing to kill for – and kill on a scale unfathomable to Jim and his crew. War is brewing in the system unless he can find out who left the ship and why.

Detective Miller is looking for a girl. One girl in a system of billions, but her parents have money and money talks. When the trail leads him to The Scopuli and rebel sympathizer, Holden, he realizes that this girl may be the key to everything.

Holden and Miller must thread the needle between the Earth government, the Outer Planet revolutionaries, and secretive corporations – and the odds are against them. But out in the Belt, the rules are different, and one small ship can change the fate of the universe.

I became interested in this book when I researched new science fiction and fantasy releases for May and came across The Deserter book two of The Bone World Trilogy by Peadar Ó Guilín. The blurb sounded good and I like this kind of stories about segregated societies kept in the dark by technologically superior conspirators and how one of the deceived finally starts to learn the truth.

The Inferior is about Stopmouth and his coming-of-age and learning the world. He is considered slow and most likely soon to be volunteered for flesh-trade by the tribe. So far his family has protected him. His brother Wallbreaker is everything he isn’t, social, witty and a successful hunter. Then one day he saves his brother’s life by freeing him from capture killing some of the capturers but he gets captured and injured himself instead while his brother flees never looking back. Fortunately for him strange globes in the sky appear and starts to fight each other allowing him to flee while his capturers are occupied watching the fireworks. Injured he returns to the village only to find his brother taking the fame for the killed capturers. His brother seems very self-centered and running his own agenda. He married Stopmouths first love and when a woman like nobody has seen before crashes a globe in their village he wants to marry her too. She has perfect skin and a brilliant smile. But she is also not as subservient as the clan’s women. She takes care of Stopmouth’s recovery. Her name is Indrani and she is from the Roof and clearly unprepared for the savage lives of the tribe. But she seems to take a liking for Stopmouth and he for her. I like love in my stories when there are obstacles to overcome and here there are plenty, she is married to his brother, she is from a different culture and don’t even speak his language for starters.

The human tribe is also threatened by extinction as neighboring tribes band together in an unprecedented way and attack the remaining tribes one by one.  Tension builds up nicely about survival, jealousy and truth until a great betrayal forces him and Indrani to run. They set out for the Roof but the journey is long. That is when we learn about the world. Another endeavor I enjoyed.

Inferior is the kind of story I like. It is a world built on some kind of lie or hidden truth. There are still secrets about the world I want to learn after reading this novel but I guess that is what you have book two and three for. There are quite a few mysteries our hero figures out along the way though. The mix of primitive and technology is another thing that I like in general and here the gadgets are plausible and adds to the story.

Stopmouth is a likable character you will like to read about and he grows from an insecure youth to a solid leader of men. I liked all the characters even the ones I didn’t like.

The Inferior is captivating, intense and slightly disturbing. Savage tribes of creatures fight for survival while the Roof people watch from their high technology haven. It is a great love story but it is also about the have and the have nots. I wonder what is going on down there. Is it a punishment or is it some kind of breeding experiment? I love to find out in the next one out in May.

This is Peadar Ó Guilín’s promising debut novel. I hope to read many more. This one is supposed to be a young adult book but is quite enjoyable for older kids too. It gets my whole-hearted recommendation.

Book Information

The Inferior (Bone World book 1) by Peadar Ó Guilín – Corgi (2008, first 2007)
I bought my copy from Amazon UK (US)

STOPMOUTH AND HIS family know of no other life than the daily battle to survive. To live, they must hunt rival species, or negotiate flesh-trade with those who crave meat of the freshest human kind. It is a savage, desperate existence. And for Stopmouth, considered slowwitted hunt-fodder by his tribe, the future looks especially bleak. But then, on the day he is callously betrayed by his brother, a strange and beautiful woman falls from the sky. It is a moment that will change his destiny, and that of all humanity, forever. With echoes of Tarzan, Conan the Barbarian, and The Truman Show, Peadar Ó Guilín’s debut is an action—and idea-packed—blockbuster that will challenge your perceptions of humanity and leave you hungry for more

The Bengali Station series is what got me really into Eric Brown’s writing and it still is the best of what I have read of him a year later. I started with Xenopath and Cosmopath because this one took forever to get to me, I think there was snow in the UK and everything stopped including the Royal Mail (that is really exotic for us who are used to a meter of snow in the winter. No we don’t have polar bears on the streets that are in Norway).

The setting is Bengali station and just the name tickles your imagination. Jeff Vaughan, the main character is a bitter and jaded telepath earning his living scanning arriving starships for unwanted elements. He hates being a telepath seeing the severs in the minds of the humans he meets at work, but he hates himself most of all so he hangs at a bar where he befriends a young girl Tiger who becomes his only friend but she is even lower than he and before long she overdoses on a new drug called Rhapsody. This set of a chain of events that tie into another discovery he makes concerning his boss at the spaceport and an off-world religious cult with ambitious plans. What is going on is much bigger and grander than you suspect at first but it is released step by step and it keeps you guessing up until the very conclusion.

I particularly liked the Hindu and Thai cultural parts of the story exemplified by Tigers younger sister Sukura left behind in the bar district below, dreaming of reuniting with her sister. Her life is really miserable and unfortunately it might only be the aliens that are the difference for many people that make their living there today. It is chilling if you really think of what is going on in some of those scenes.

This would make a great movie; the tension and suspense are great. Vaughan explores mysterious temples and alien worlds, are stalked by would be assassins from his past and are trapped by aliens while trying to uncover the truth with his reluctant police confidante Chandra.

This is a gritty and earthy story set on a space station that reminds of the tourist traps of the Far East. Jeff Vaughan is a flawed piece of humanity but that makes him more interesting and you know how much I like characters and there is a lot of personality in this one. It lives up to the high expectations I got from reading the two sequels. Highly recommended.

Book information

Necropath (Bengali Station 1) by Eric Brown (Solaris 2008) – Amazon US | UK – I bought my copy from Amazon

Bengal Station: an exotic spaceport that dominates the ocean between India and Burma.

Jaded telepath, Jeff Vaughan, is employed by the spaceport authorities to monitor incoming craft from the stars. There, he discovers a sinister cult that worships a mysterious alien god. The Church of the Adoration of the Chosen One uses drugs to commune with the Ultimate, and will murder to silence those who oppose their beliefs. The story follows Vaughan as his mistrust of his fellow humans is overturned by his love for the Thai street-girl Sukura, while he attempts to solve the murders and save himself from the psychopath out to kill him. Necropath is Eric Brown’s triumphant return to hard SF.

 

Money Shot concludes Christopher Rowley’s noir action tale Netherworld about Rook Venner a cop who brought the evidence home to protect her from rape. Said evidence being Pleasure, a Pleasure Model owned by the murdered victim general Sangacha. Pleasure carries secrets in her mind that the powers behind the government will do anything to get their hands on. So Rook, Pleasure and the other witness Angie a dominatrix that goes under the name Mistress Julie has been on the run since.

Justin Norman’s beautiful illustrations boost the noir feeling of the book as we dive into an explosion of action and combat machines. The pace is breathtaking as our heroes struggle to survive and uncover the secret before they are crushed under the avalanche assault of the Tactical Robotic Regiment. Deep underground an isolated mountain ridge lays the secret base that holds the chilling answers.

As before we get a bit of social commentary about artificially created humans and not only from Rooks feelings for Pleasure but from the colonies of liberated and free mods that they comes across. Police State America comes back to haunt us again too.

The characters are still a bit sketchy but totally pulp and Gung Ho basically what you can expect from this kind of story. If you take it for what it is they are perfectly all right. They continue to grow and come to realizations about their world that deeply affects them which is something I like in any story.

The conclusion does a good job of tying together the threads from the previous books and we meet many of the characters again.

I must say that I immediately fell in love with this series when the first book, Pleasure Model came out. The second book The Bloodstained Man ended in a cliffhanger so I eagerly awaited this conclusion.

Money Shot is the explosive conclusion to the Netherworld series a fine heavy metal take on crime noir about secret government conspiracies, robotic war machines, a man and his pleasure model with pictures. It might not be for everyone but take it for what it is and you will love it.

Information

Title: Money Shot
Series: Netherworld book 3
Author: Christopher Rowley
Genre: Heavy Metal
Paperback: 272 pages
Publisher: Tor 2010
Copy: Bought by me
Order from: Amazon US | UK

Detective Rook Venner was a successful investigating officer for the Hudson Valley Police Department—until the General Sangacha murder case came across his desk and his world exploded.

Now after being dragged through hell and back, Rook is on the run with Plesur, a Pleasure Model who is the one eyewitness to the murder. Plesur carries a secret in her brain that terrifies the powers-that-be. A secret that they will do anything to destroy—even bring in a Tactical Robotic Regiment to track Rook and Plesur down and annihilate them.

The only choice the two have is to locate the coordinates that were planted in the pleasure mod’s head to the isolated mountain ridge where it all began. Deep underground, in a warren of machine halls and ice caves, something so horrific is happening that just knowing three code words is enough to get you killed: Operation Taste Imperative.

Rook and Plesur have no way back and no way out. If they want to survive and have any kind of life together, they must uncover the terrifying secret that lies deep inside the mountain.

What if there was a cover-up so big that even the President was on a need-to-know basis? And what if some average guy stumbled upon the truth – a secret so powerful it could literally change the course of humanity? You think that guy would stand a chance of survival?

Title: The Event
Genre: Mystery | Conspiracy | Thriller
Network: NBC
Status: Premieres September 20
Timeslot: Monday 9/8c
Length: 13 episodes

Time to take a look at the Fall season. The Event is one of the shows that create most buzz at the moment but I will try to cover them all in the coming weeks. This article contains spoilers.

Is this a new Lost?

After suffering through last season’s failed attempts I don’t really care that much as long as it is fun to watch and there is some kind of ongoing resolution that doesn’t leave years of questions to be answered in a handful episodes. The producers promise that it will not happen here some major answers will be given as early as the second episode. My guess is that we will learn what the Event is but they will keep us guessing on what is behind it or how it was done. The show will contain genre elements but it is 95 percent based on the real world according to actress Laura Innes. It got some similarities, there is a central mystery “The Event” and there are multiple timelines, though so far no indication they take place in different realities. I am not a fan of multiple main characters so I am happy the Event seems to focus on one main character Sean Walker even if it will feature multiple points of view at times.

Producer Evan Katz (24) says this show is not going to be as dark. And part of that lightness stems from the innocence and optimism of its young hero. That makes me very happy. There is no indication on what level of friendly banter or bickering this show is going to have but I have no problem imagining Scott Patterson who does grumpy so well paired up with a very intense and verbal Jason Ritter. Banter and Bickering is an important factor for my viewing enjoyment so here is me hoping.

The Plot

The event is [an alien invasion] at least according to nymag.

Sean Walker (Jason Ritter) is on a romantic cruise with his fiancée, Leila (Sara Roemer) when she  mysteriously disappears. While searching for her he stumbles on the biggest cover-up in US history. The newly elected US President is about to go public about “The Event” against advice by CIA Director Blake Sterling not to while Sean is freaking out aboard an airline flight piloted by Leia’s father about to crash into the presidential retreat.

There is also the Mount Inostranka Facility, a secret prison in Alaska where I assume the people who somehow were involved in ‘the Event’ are kept.

Who is in it?

Jason Ritter (Life Unexpected) as Sean Walker. He’s a nice guy who went to MIT,” says Ritter. “The main drive of my character is love for my almost-fiancée, and he’ll do anything to get her back. And that means he has to do a lot of crazy things”.

Sarah Roemer (Fired Up!) as Leila Buchanan, Sean’s fiancée a MIT-educated biochemist who disappears as part of the conspiracy to force her father to crash an airliner into the presidential retreat.

Scott Patterson (Gilmore Girls) as Michael Buchanan Leila’s father an airline pilot described as affable, Marlboro Man good looks.

Blair Underwood (Dirty Sxy Money) as President Eli Martinez, a family man who wants to fight the good fight. The role was originally written for a Hispanic man. Lisa Vidal as First Lady Christina Martine.

Zeljko Ivanek as the ‘fervid and brash’ CIA Director Blake Sterling.

Bill Smitrovich as Vice President Raymond Jarvis

Laura Innes as Sophia Maguire who is the leader of a mysterious group of detainees at the Mount Inostranka Facility.

Taylor Cole as Vicky Wallace and Wes Ramsey as Greg Kervin a couple who Sean and Leila befriend while on vacation that may have ulterior motives.

Ian Anthony Dale as Simon Lee is a government operative with mysterious ties to detainee leader Sophia. He is key to the show’s multiple storylines Ian told SFX. He added that the character of Simon will link the show’s various plot strands together.

“What’s really cool is that there are all these rich, diverse, grounded characters inhabiting these very separate worlds,” he explained. “They are all dealing with some critical personal dilemma which keeps it grounded, but Simon more or less becomes the bridge that connects all of the stories together.”

Who is behind it?

The Event is a production of Universal Media Studios and Steve Stark Productions. Stark (Medium, Facing Kate) serves as executive producer, Nick Wauters (The 4400, Eureka) is creator/co-executive producer and Jeffrey Reiner (Friday Night Lights, Trauma) is the director/executive producer; Evan Katz (24) also is an executive producer.

My View

The buzz at Comic Con was very positive and that talk for the Event but on paper it looks like yet another fast paced action adventure with character development be damned. Some sources that saw it at Comic Con have said the pilot was fun to watch but all over the place and we have to wait on episode two to get any answers. Much rides on the characters and how much fun it will be to watch. I will give the Event 3-5 episodes to convince me. I am looking forward to check it out but it’s nothing I jump up and down for.

Videos

Promo

Official Preview

Sources

The Futon Critic, Blastr, Wikipedia, NBC, EW.com, Deadline.com and others

Related Posts

• The New TV Season for Science Fiction Fans May 25, 2010
• The Event Ordered to Series May 8, 2010
• Supernatural Season 5 so far December 22, 2010

Order from: Amazon US | UK | sfbok

Three hundred years in our future, in a world of alien infiltrators, religious hackers, a vast convoying nation of Nomads, city sized orbital elevators, and a cyborg pirate king who believes himself to be a mythological demon Jakob is having a bad day: “Nothing gets in the way of a hangover like being reactivated by your old C.O and told to track down an alien killing machine. The same kind of killing machine that wiped out my entire squad. And now it’s in my hometown. My name is Jakob Douglas, ex-special forces. I fought Them. Just like we’ve all been doing for 60 bloody years. But I thought my part in that was done with. My boss has other ideas. If I didn’t find the infiltrator then he’d let the Grey Lady loose on me. And believe me; even They’ve got nothing on her. So I took the job. It went to shit even faster than normal. And now I’m on the run with this teenage hacker who’s had enough of prostitution. The only people I can rely on want to turn the internet into God. And now it turns out that They aren’t quite what we’d all thought. I’ve been to the bottom of the sea and the top of the sky and beyond trying to get to the truth. And I still can’t get far enough away from the Grey Lady. All things considered I’d rather be back at home deep in a whiskey bottle.”

Veteran is a fast paced, intricately plotted violent SF Thriller set in a dark future against the backdrop of a seemingly never ending war against an unknowable and implacable alien enemy.

Information

Veteran is Gavin Smith’s debut novel and it is dedicated to Ruth & James Nicoll. I believe that they are “The problem with defending the purity of the English language is that English is about as pure as a cribhouse whore. We don’t just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary” – James Nicoll and his wife. I found the quote online and I just had to include it here. English’s actions as described are appropriate to the novel.

The Author

Gavin Smith is new both to me and the world but he writes like a pro. I had to check inside if it was a pseudonym for an established author. Gavin Smith is 35. Born in Dundee he now lives in Leicester. He has a degree in Media Production (specializing in script writing) and a MA in Medieval history. He owns his own marketing company.

World building

Earth is a gritty place with social segregation after a long war with the alien Them and Gavin paints it well even though the story is written in first person. There are flashbacks to the time Jakob Douglas fought in the war that explains a great deal. There is also a lot of discussions that sometimes slows down this otherwise fast paced story but makes it clear to the reader what really is going on.

Plot

The plot is in short that Jakob Douglas is reactivated to hunt down one of Them. Then he discovers that there is more going on than meets the eye and become the hunted himself. He must fight back to stay alive. Which he eventually does after a number of adventures in some spectacular and intriguing places with names like Rigs, Crawling Town and Atlantis.

Characterization

The characters are what I really love with this story. They are gritty and twisted but in a good way. Jakob is no superman he has lots of luggage from the war to carry around but he grows as the story grows. But no one grows more than Morag, first the story play her as an almost insignificant figure which reflects the way Jakob and the others  treat her. This is something she resents but it is also her driving force to grow later in the story where she becomes principal.

There are a great many other notable characters both friends and enemies that easily takes up life in the mind of the reader.

The banter and bickering is excellent and that is a huge plus for me.

My view

Veteran is an excellent read, I had trouble putting it down. This is one of the best books I read so far this year. It got mysterious aliens, conspiracies, realistic battle scenes, fast pace, lots of wow moments and wonderful characters. I would say this is a mixture of Heavy Metal, Cyber Punk and Classic SF. It is Military Science Fiction at its best and I would recommend it to a wider audience. I can’t wait for his next book.

Related Posts

• New Science Fiction Books in July 2010 – Revisited
• Cybermage’s Summer Reading 2010

Rubicon is a new conspiracy show on AMC, Premieres Sunday August 1. Looks like an interesting show. Probably not genre related but I will have a look anyway.

Source: SpoilerTV.com

The Event is a NBC drama picked up for series according to the Hollywood Reporter.

It might be something science fiction with it, the description says “a global conspiracy that could ultimately change the fate of mankind” … that sounds SF.

Does Jason Ritter’s casting here mean what I think? Will Life Unexpected be canceled soon? It is on the bubble.

“The Event” is an emotional high-octane conspiracy thriller that follows Sean Walker (Jason Ritter, “The Class”), an Everyman who investigates the mysterious disappearance of his fiancée, Leila (Sarah Roemer, “Disturbia”), and unwittingly begins to expose the biggest cover-up in U.S. history.

Sean’s quest will send ripples through the lives of an eclectic band of strangers, including: newly elected U.S. President Martinez (Blair Underwood, “Dirty Sexy Money”); Sophia (Emmy Award nominee Laura Innes, “ER”), who is the leader of a mysterious group of detainees; and Sean’s shadowy father-in-law (Scott Patterson, “Gilmore Girls”).

Their futures are on a collision course in a global conspiracy that could ultimately change the fate of mankind. Ian Anthony Dale (“Daybreak”) and Emmy winner Željko Ivanek (“Damages”) also star in the ensemble drama.

“The Event” is a production of Universal Media Studios and Steve Stark Productions. Stark (“Medium,” “Facing Kate”) serves as executive producer, Nick Wauters (“The 4400,” “Eureka”) is creator/co-executive producer and Jeffrey Reiner (“Friday Night Lights,” “Trauma”) is the director/executive producer.

NBC’s newly picked up drama series The Event is looking to become the new 24 and now it is close to tapping one of the key writer-producers behind the departing real-time Fox drama, Evan Katz, as showrunner. (deadline.com)

Learned from castings:

A thriller about a regular Joe caught up in a large conspiracy. It is about Sean a regular man fighting his way through the mysterious circumstances of a conspiracy to assassinate the U.S. president.

Ivanek is set as Blake Sterling, the “fervid and brash” director of the CIA.

Dale as Dan Taylor, a government operative assisting Sean in thwarting the assassination attempt who might have ulterior motives.

Sarah Roemer (Fired Up!) will play Sean’s girlfriend, Leila Gasiorowski, an MIT-educated biochemist who disappears as part of the conspiracy to force her father, Mark Gasiorowski played by Scott Patterson (described as affable, Marlboro Man good looks”), an airline pilot, to crash an airliner into the presidential retreat.

Laura Innes is believed to be playing the leader of the inmates at the Mount Inostranka Facility, a secret prison in Alaska. Said role, Neil McCann, was originally written as male.

Blair Underwood (“Dirty Sexy Money”) has been tapped as the president on the drama pilot, a thriller with a unique storytelling device that features multiple points of view concerning a decent, regular fellow who battles against mysterious circumstances that envelope a larger conspiracy.  His role, Elias Martinez, a family man who wants to fight the good fight, was originally written for a Hispanic man. (efc)

Wes Ramsey (“CSI: Miami”) and Taylor Cole (“Heroes”) have both landed roles in The Event. While not indicated, they’re believed to be playing Greg and Vicky, a couple who Sean and Leila befriend while on vacation that may have ulterior motives.

Nick Wauters is behind the hour, which is set up at Universal Media Studios.

The Erasmus System is a sprawling realm of slavery, smugglers, spies—and constant, creeping decrepitude. Here everyone who is not part of the ruling Four Families is a slave of one kind or another. But the Guardians, a special-forces branch inside the United World Government for Earth, have deemed Erasmus a “hot spot.” Somehow, it is believed, this failing colony intends to launch a war upon the solar system.

Ex-Field Commander Terese Drajeske, now a mother of three, has been called back to active duty and sent to Erasmus, ostensibly to investigate the murder of her colleague—and friend—Bianca Fayette. At first blush, the death defies explanation: Bianca was immortal. But beneath that single murder lies a twisted foundation of deceptions. Suddenly Terese is plunged into a vortex of shattered lives, endemic deceit, and one dreadful secret. In this society without hope, someone has put into motion a plan that will cast humanity into chaos. And Terese, who has given up her family and her sanity to prevent war, may be asked to make the ultimate sacrifice….

Bitter Angels is a story about hope and the belief that you might end all conflicts without killing. It is  not an  especially military science fiction if you with that mean soldiers, technology and battles.

It is a story about friendship. Bianca was Terese Drajeske’s best friend and mentor and when she dies under mysterious circumstances Bianca leaves her husband David and her three daughters to find her killers and stop the threatening war that she was trying to uncover. But it’s not a blind friendship, Terese soon find reasons to doubt Bianca’s motives.

It is also about the bound between three survivors from Oblivion, one a pilot in the security forces, one a doctor and one a renegade smuggler. And how that bound affect the fate of a whole system.

It is about how peace keepers sometimes keeps a morally wrong status quo for fear of  something worse. The Blood family keep the Erasmus system in slavery and economic depression. Trying to remove them might lead to war so the Guardians don’t.

I liked the mystery part, but it took a bit too long to get to when it started to make sense, around page 300. I wouldn’t mind if the author made faster work of that. It left only 150 pages for the real action and the characters to grow.

Now and then I felt it was too much talks, meetings and dead ends that didn’t bring the story forward, but I might have missed a point or so. It slowed it down from excellent to good in my mind. Bitter Angels is a good mystery-spy science fiction and if you like that it’s a book for  you.