Michael Cassutt & David S. Goyer are both new to me. I enjoy new things.

This starts out as a space-race between NASA and Braziln-Russia-India  to a Near Earth Object and turns into a first contact situation that somewhat parallels Rendezvous With Rama. As in Rama the characters are important. The preparation for the mission and the back-story of the astronauts makes them real so you can root for them as they explore the mysterious vessel. Zack Stewart is the main protagonist and leader of the NASA expedition. The story involves his teenage daughter on Earth, his dead wife and his new girlfriend the former leader of this expedition.

This is space porn as it best with a lot of technical details on the crafts and the spacesuits to enjoy for a fanboy like me.

There are many surprises inside not least the method of contact (it has been done before but not quite like this). The aliens are alien and I still don’t understand them fully but that is okay since this is the first book in a series.

Heaven’s Shadow was a good read even if it didn’t blow my mind. I definitely want to read the sequel to find out how it goes.

Book Information

Heaven’s Shadow (Heaven’s Shadow Trilogy book 1) by Michael Cassutt & David S Goyer (Tor) - Amazon US | UK

Heaven’s Shadow begins with the discovery of an object of unknown origin headed toward Earth. Speculation as to what it might be runs high, and leads to an international competition to be the first to land on it, to claim both the prestige and whatever other benefits there might be. Thus, two rival teams of astronauts begin a thrilling and dangerous race – but what they find when they reach their goal will turn out to be unlike anything they could have imagined . . .

What they have landed on is no asteroid but a spacecraft from a civilization that has travelled tens of thousands of years to reach earth. While the team try to work out what it is they are needed for, more sinister occurrences cause them to wonder if their involvement with this alien race will ead to anything but harm for humanity.

When reading is good it bring you into a different world. The people step out of the pages and become close to you. Fuzzy Nation is such a book.

It is a book about a disbarred Lawyer who meets a family of cute little fuzzy aliens and saves them from the clutches of the Big Bad Mining Company ZaraCorp. Jack Holloway is the kind of unwilling hero you love to read about.  At first he blows up half a mountainside prospecting for the Company and hit the big one, gets fired for the destruction and rehired straight afterwards when his favorite enemy prospector liaison learns what he found. Relationships like that is something I like reading about. They drive one another crazy but there is respect between them. In the brief time Jack is unemployed he claims the find and bring in the ZaraCorp as his partner to help extract the find.

When he arrives home at his tree house (Yeah that’s right) he finds a fuzzy little animal inside his cabin. Carl ,his well-trained dog (well he can set of explosives) takes offence at the intruder and chases it up a bookshelf. Jack has never seen anything like the cute little catlike biped before so he put Carl outside and offers fruit to win its trust before it leaves for the jungle. That is basically first contact for you.

What follows is immersive and fun. Jack involves a former girlfriend who happens to be a biologist to look at the creatures. She has moved on to a new fiancé which makes for interesting chemistry, maybe not what you expect though. The Company is very excited about the new find but they are only allowed on the planet because it has no sentient specie. They would do anything to stop the Fuzzies from being declared sentient including exterminating them.

Jack is at first convinced they are just animals and I guess the money he would lose if ZaraCorp weren’t allowed to mine the find of rare jewels he made also helps. But he is also a lawyer and uses that to his advantage. His relationship with the former girlfriend continues to deteriorate as she is convinced they are. She is idealistic and he is self-serving.

There is action but most of the decisions in this novel take place in the court room. It is funny how enjoyable the whole experience is. Never in a thousand years would I have guessed I would enjoy a story about lawyers so much.

Fuzzy Nation is an homage to H. Beam Piper and his Hugo award-winning novel  Little Fuzzy.

Heineken doesn’t do science fiction, but if they did it would be something like Fuzzy Nation to paraphrase their promo. John Scalzi is a brilliant scoundrel and Fuzzy Nation is the most brilliant fan fiction I ever read. I so hope there will be more books in this universe.

Book Information

Fuzzy Nation by John Scalzi – Tor (2011) – Amazon US | UK

Excerpt: Chapter 1-4

Jack Holloway works alone, for reasons he doesn’t care to talk about. Hundreds of miles from ZaraCorp’s headquarters on planet, 178 light-years from the corporation’s headquarters on Earth, Jack is content as an independent contractor, prospecting and surveying at his own pace. As for his past, that’s not up for discussion.

Then, in the wake of an accidental cliff collapse, Jack discovers a seam of unimaginably valuable jewels, to which he manages to lay legal claim just as ZaraCorp is cancelling their contract with him for his part in causing the collapse. Briefly in the catbird seat, legally speaking, Jack pressures ZaraCorp into recognizing his claim, and cuts them in as partners to help extract the wealth.

But there’s another wrinkle to ZaraCorp’s relationship with the planet Zarathustra. Their entire legal right to exploit the verdant Earth-like planet, the basis of the wealth they derive from extracting its resources, is based on being able to certify to the authorities on Earth that Zarathustra is home to no sentient species.

Then a small furry biped—trusting, appealing, and ridiculously cute—shows up at Jack’s outback home. Followed by its family. As it dawns on Jack that despite their stature, these are people, he begins to suspect that ZaraCorp’s claim to a planet’s worth of wealth is very flimsy indeed…and that ZaraCorp may stop at nothing to eliminate the “fuzzys” before their existence becomes more widely known.

The crew of the Destiny is exploring the ship. No, not their own ship, a seed ship they found drifting.

This sets off all kinds of interesting things. They find enough energy there to dial earth but when they connect the ships aliens that been hibernating on the seed ship starts to tap Destiny of power and Rush is forced to use the Bridge to disconnect the ships and save Destiny revealing more or less that he has discovered the bridge in the first place.

Colonel Telford is left behind on the ship with all the creepy aliens. I imagine how he would feel in that situation. It is chilling. I am sure he will turn up again somewhere down the line.

Colonel Young keep on handling the Lucian Alliance personnel left with mistrust and disdain. Wray on the other hand, starts to make sense. They did kill their leaders to save the crew of the destiny.

I like the way the characters all make sense now. They are also not serving us all the answers on a silver platter. It is obvious something is happening with Chloe, but it is hinted at instead of written on our noses. Chloe got long gorgeous legs, yes but she was also writing on that notebook. But they didn’t show the writing like they could have done.

TJ had a great moment this episode when one of the Lucian tried to get fresh with her she got rough right back and he had to back down. I love TJ.

Rush ends this episode in the captains chair on the bridge. He sits there because he doesn’t want to face the music.

Next episode will be mighty interesting. It looks like it will focus on what is happening with Chloe which is about time. I love this new season of SGU. It is really hitting its stride now.

Related posts

• Stargate Universe 2.02 – Aftermath [TV Review] October 7, 2010
• Stargate Universe Returns [TV Review] September 30, 2010
• New Stargate Universe Trailer September 22, 2010
• The New TV Season for Science Fiction Fans (Fall 2010) August 25, 2010
• Watch the SGU Season Two Trailer August 2, 2010
• Stargate Universe – Incursion – Season Finale June 12, 2010
• Stargate Universe 1.18 – Subversion May 22, 2010
• Stargate Universe 1.17 – Pain May 15, 2010
• SGU 1.16 – Sabotage May 11, 2010
• SGU 1.15 – Lost May 4, 2010
• Stargate Universe 1.14 – Human April 24, 2010
• Stargate Universe episode 1.13 – Faith a review April 20, 2010
• First Contact in Stargate Universe Impress April 9, 2010
• Stargate Universe MGM Spring Season Trailer March 11, 2010
• Stargate Universe Teaser March 4, 2010
• New Stargate Universe(SGU) Q&A February 3, 2010
• Syfy renews Stargate Universe & Sanctuary December 14, 2009
• SGU: Stargate Universe (TV Series) November 9, 2009
• Stargate Universe Trailer March 24, 2009

Order from: Amazon US | UK

I am not into short stories much but this is a book I picked up in a used-bookstore in London last summer. It was a collection of short stories by Frederik Pohl and I had fond memories of the Heechee series so why not. Being a bit outside my comfort zone I read them one by one when I had time. The stories all have survival as a theme.

The Knights of Arthur (1958)

This story takes place in a post-apocalyptic New York and portraits some unlikely companions of Arthur the teletyping computer. The story is a bit jaded but not without merit.

Mars by Moonlight (1958)

This is quite a surprising story that doesn’t end where you think at all. In the future Mars is a penal colony where the inmates all have had their memories erased. This story feels very fifties and the ending makes you want to know how it goes then.

The Haunted Corpse (1957)

Haunted is fitting for this military science fiction about a general in charge of protecting an eccentric scientist with an invention that can kill humans by removing their soul. I liked this one even if it was chilling.

The Middle of Nowhere (1955)

Another Mars story, this one about a colony that faces technology superior to their own when the Martians attack and it becomes a story about survival. Alien mysteries and first contact in a very time typical way.

The Day of the Boomer Dukes (1956)

Naive time traveler wants to hook up with the Mafia for some fun and games. It doesn’t go as he planed when the Boomer Dukes get hold of his weaponry. An entertaining cookie, could I have another?

Survival Kit (1957)

The title story for this collection is about an alien time traveler who hires a local guide for a futuristic New York. It is set in some kind of post event future where some things are different. The guide is a small time con man who tries to con the amazing and versatile survival kit off his employer and he gets what he deserves in the end.

I Plinglot, Who You? (1959)

The last story in the collection is about first contact. Plingalot contacts all the nuclear powers and make them believe they are the selected ones where the aliens are going to land and that he is a trusted intelligence officer. It is fun to read such an early story about aliens set out to eliminate all competition.

My View

Not a bad collection if you want some fifties vibe. I enjoyed the stories even if some of them where a bit jaded. They all have that special kind of simplicity and naiveté that seems to originate in the fifties but they are not as good as his Heechee novels in my opinion. I always feel hungry for more with short stories, it is like eating fast food; it satisfies for the moment but leaves you craving for more in a few hours.

I prefer female protagonists and this series of posts is homage to some of the most formidable female main characters in science fiction novels or series. This weeks formidable females contains some new favorites like Mearana, Briar, Caitlin and some old.

1. Mearana - The Harper (Michael Flynn)
2. Sparta – Venus Prime (Paul Preuss)
3. Briar Wilkes – Persistent Mother (Cherie Priest)
4. Caitlin Decter – Best Friend of the Web (Robert J. Sawyer)
5. Ilia Volyova – Triumvir Ultra (Alastair Reynolds)

Mearana - The Harper

Books: The January Dancer (2008), Up John River (2010)
Series: The January Dancer
Universe: Firestar
Author: Michael Flynn
Genre: Gaelic Space Opera
Publisher: Tor | Tantor Media

My reviews: The January Dancer | Up Jim River

In the beginning of the January Dancer a beautiful redheaded Harper walks into a bar in search for histories to sing. She approach the Scarred man that tells her the story of The January Dancer. In Up Jim River she and the scarred man goes looking for her disappeared mother. It reads like an epic gaelic saga with beautiful prose. I can recommend the audio version of The January Dancer it is just awesome, it blew my mind.

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Sparta – Venus Prime

Books: Breaking Strain (1987), Maelstrom (1988), Hide & Seek (1989), The Medusa Encounter (1990), The Diamond Moon (1990), The Shining Ones (1991)
Series: Arthur’s C. Clark’s Venus Prime
Author: Paul Preuss
Genre: YA | Science Fiction
Publisher: Avon | Pan | iBooks

I remember these books from my youth. Sparta is a beautiful and mysterious woman with advanced abilities due to her bioengineering. But she don’t remember the last three years and tries to recover her past and save her future. Beautiful description and adventures on the planets of the solar system based on short stories by Aurthur C. Clark.

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Briar Wilkes – Persistent Mother

Books: Boneshaker (2009)
Series: Clockwork Century
Author: Cherie Priest
Genre: Steampunk
Publisher: Tor

Briar Wilkes name used to be Briar Blue before her husband poisoned downtown Seattle with a gas that turned humans into Zombies with his infernal digging machine – The Boneshaker. Now her son is lost inside the walls erected to keep the gas out and she would do anything to save him. Much steampunk fun with airships and zombies.

A second book, Dreadnought in the same universe will be out in September 2010, but it has a different protagonist.

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Caitlin Decter – Best Friend of the Web

Title: Wake (2009), Watch (2010), Wonder (2011)
Series: WWW
Author: Robert J. Sawyer
Genre: Science Fiction | First Contact | Emerging AI
Publisher: ACE | Gollancz

My reviews: Wake, Watch

Caitlin Decter is a feisty young blind girl that is quite ordinary besides being a mathematical genius and after an experimental treatment to make her see again she starts to see the world wide web. Out there in the web she encounters an emerging intelligence and befriends it.

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Ilia Volyova – Triumvir Ultra

Books: Revelation Space (2000), Redemption Ark (2002)
Universe: Revalation Space
Author: Alastair Reynolds
Genre: Space Opera
Publisher: Gollancz | ACE | Tantor Media

Triumvir Ilia Volyova of Nostalgia for Infinity is an implant-free Ultra, and a major character in both Revelation Space and Redemption Ark. At the beginning of Revelation Space, Volyova is the keeper of the Cache Weapons. It is during her search for a means to control these weapons that she enlists Ana Khouri (who was planted in the role by the Mademoiselle), thus setting off a chain of events that continues throughout the novels. She maintains a long friendship with Captain Brannigan, a man melded with with his ship. When I am reading this I realize I have read these books a long time ago, it makes me want to go back and reread them.

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Read part 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | index | afterword

Title: Wake
Series: WWW 1
Author: Robert J. Sawyer
Cover art: Steve Biver/Getty & John Lundh/Getty
Genre: Science Fiction | Coming-of-Age | First Contact
Publisher: ACE 2010 (1st serialized in Analog 2008)
Paperback: 352 pages
Order from: ACE | Amazon US | UK | B&N | sfbok

This week’s Formidable Female Protagonists contain one of my favorite protagonists, Nimisha. Its fun researching the list; I pick up new books to read all the time. I got 47 more protagonists to go, got six more last week. The females are carefully selected by me, their names written on paper, folded and put in one of two bowls, one for new-to-me and one for read-by-me. I then select four read and one new-to-me and write about them. I am open to suggestions for more females to include.

1. Margaret Bain – Seven of One (Sheri S. Tepper)
2. Jenny Casey – Cyborg Pilot (Elizabeth Bear)
3. Nimisha Boynton-Rondymnse – First Family Castaway (Anne McCaffrey)
4. Freya Nakamachi-47 – Soulful Machine (Charles Stross)
5. Nausicaä – Ecological Princess (Hayao Miyazaki)

Margaret Bain – Seven of One

Books: The Margarets (2007)
Author: Sheri S. Tepper
Publisher: Eos (Harper Collins) 2007
Genre: Science Fiction | Fantasy | Space Opera

Margaret Bain grows up a lonely child on Martian moon Phobos and as many such kids she has make-believe friends. The friends include a healer, a telepath, a warrior, a linguist, a queen and a spy who had different names and lived on different worlds. The difference is that her friends come alive as extensions of her personality at different times in her life.

1. When Margaret is nine Wilvia is the first to split off when she meets her future husband Prince Jozire.
2. At twelve, she is on earth and is granted a water ration while another one of her imaginary splits off is not granted a water ration. She becomes the foster daughter of the being known as the Gardener on another planet.
3. At twenty-two another split occurs and one Margaret is sold as a bond slave.
4. Another Margaret marries the man who loves her and goes to the colony world Bright.
5. One Margaret is a shaman
6. The lone male of the split becomes a warrior.

Full of fascinating characters and beautifully detailed settings, Tepper’s complex and multifaceted far-future SF novel follows the many selves of Mars colonist Margaret Bain on a mission to save the human race from annihilation.

Humanity got the eternal hatred of tha foul-tempered Quaatar a long time ago when some pre-humans stowed away on one of their survey ship. Now humankind is at the brink of self-destruction through overpopulation and ecological collapse. The farsighted Gentherans have taken up the human cause within the Interstellar Trade Organization, but as Earthgov struggles to conform to ISTO’s enforced sterilization laws while trading excess children for offworld water, the Quaatar continue plotting to destroy humanity.

Only Margaret, a secret organization called the Third Order of the Siblinghood and the truth behind an old Gentheran folktale can stop the genocide and give humanity a future.

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Jenny Casey – Cyborg Pilot

Books: Hammered (2004), Scaredown (2004), Worldwired (2005)
Series: Jenny Casey Trilogy
Author: Elizabeth Bear
Publisher: Random House
Genre: Military Science Fiction | First Contact | Space Opera

Jenny Casey used to be a former retired Canadian special forces living in the hellish streets of Hartford, Connecticut. Earth is in shambles from environmental disasters. Jenny becomes a pawn in game of world dominance between Canada and China over being the first to reach the stars. In Hammered Jenny tries to survive, in Scardown she has to fly and in Worldwired she has to teach the aliens to talk with each other. The world is a bit noir and gritty as Elizabeth Bear likes to write.

Hammered

Jenny Casey is hiding from herself and the Canadian authorities in former USA. She is half metal since a war accident, now her metal half is acting up. And now her former handler wants her back so he sends her whacked out sister. Mix in an escaped AI and new technologies derived from alien space ships found on Mars and you have a very down to earth Space Opera. Jenny might be the only one that has the reaction time and the wiring to handle the new tech. But she will have to work for people she hates again and suffer another set of operations to replace her failing prophesies.

Scardown

For being about the world’s first FTL ship it’s a lot about earth and staying in orbit. More about the interesting alien tech is revealed in this novel. International tension rises as Canada and China race to be the first to fly faster than light. There are many aspects to this book. I like the ecological aspect and the aliens that comes to visit. I would hate to live in the world she paints, but it is very realistic.

Worldwired

The second book in the Jenny Casey Trilogy, Scaredown left the world on the brink of war just as the aliens arrived. World ecology is in scrambles after centuries of misuse and the PanChinese dropped a meteorite on Montreal, center of the Commonwealth since England sunk under the sea, causing further damage to an already fragile system. The world face a few years of darkness and cold before global warming kicks in with a vengeance. As a last resort Casey and company crashes one of the starships into the sea infecting the world with hacked alien nanites under the command of Richard, the AI.

Elizabeth Bear has an annoying habit of building up to a decisive point and then spending twenty pages talking about other stuff until you get any resolution. Otherwise it is good. It’s all good, it’s just frustrating sometimes. I think she does it just to tease us readers.

Wordwired is the final book in the Jenny Casey Trilogy, but I hope she will write more books in this universe and the people in it. The contact team tries to establish communication with the birdcage aliens and the shiptree aliens. Elizabeth has made up some really original aliens; I haven’t heard anything like the birdcage people before.

The AI’s Richard and his alter ego Andre try to save the planet from catastrophe while the sleazy political intrigue continues unabated. PanChina is responsible for the meteor hit on Canada and the Commonwealth wants them to pay. At the same time both countries are suffering from internal political conflicts. The Unitek Corporation play commonwealth against PanChina and uses the opposition in both countries to help. Unitek wants control of the alien nanotechnology.

Exellent series. Pity it’s over. Hmm, I need more books

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Nimisha Boynton-Rondymnse – First Family Castaway

Book: Nimsha’s Ship (1998)
Author: Anne McCaffrey
Publishers: Del Ray | Corgi Adult| Bantam Pres | Random Houses (UK) | Ballantine
Genre: Science Fiction | First Contact

This is one of my favorite Anne McCaffre books, mainly because of Nimisha’s charming personality, her competence and the emphasis on friendship and romance. The first contact situation and how it is resolved is also quite attractive. If you are new to Anne and into gritty fast paced adventure you should maybe start with her Pern stories.

On Vega III, Lady Nimisha Boynton-Rondymense loves the challenging world of her father, Lord Tionel, owner and principal starship designer of the famous Rondymense Ship Yards. Precociously gifted, Nimisha becomes his secret assistant–and, in the aftermath of a shocking tragedy, his chosen successor at the helm of the Ship Yards.

When Nimisha takes an experimental ship on a solo test flight, something goes horribly awry, marooning her light-years from home on a planet as deadly as it is beautiful. Now the ruthless members of a rival branch of the Rondymense family are given the chance they’ve been waiting for: to reclaim the Ship Yards by any means necessary.

Only Nimisha’s ingenious child, Cuiva, stands in their way. But for how long? For just when her daughter needs her most, Nimisha is in a precarious situation herself–and unable to help. But Nimisha has never given up in her life–and she’s not about to start now . . .

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Freya Nakamachi-47 – Soulful Machine

Book: Saturn’s Children
Author: Charles Stross
Publisher: Penguin
Genre: Science Fiction | Space Opera | Post human

Drunk on battery acid Freya consider jumping from the balcony of the pleasure palace floating in the stratosphere of Venus. It is the 200th anniversary of the extinction of her One True Love, the human race. Some bored Aristos stumbles on her there and take enough interest to start a fight. Annoyed and drunk Freya ripes the head off one of them. That particular Aristo take offence and promise to pay her back. Aristos is the name of the cruel slave owning class. Most of the robots are slaves and called arbeiters.

Freya is of a line of pleasure robots, the Rhea line that help each other out, they buy out indentured siblings and they also share memories of each other’s lives with memory chips. Freya has just put in Juliett’s chip and now she has to get off Venus before the aristo or his henchmen can find her. She is offered a job on Mercury that includes the travel there, she jumps on the opportunity.

After she lands on Venus and make the acquaintance of the sentient hotel she has a run in with some siblings of the offended aristo. Her new job turn out to be to work for the Jeeves Corporation as a courier carrying some organic matter in her womb, avoid the pink police (nice name), and deliver it to the recipient on Mars.

This is when it starts to heat up for her. She learns more about Julietta during her trip. There are enemy operators on the ship but she succeeds in avoiding them and the pink police. She is also more or less force-seduced by Aristo Granita Ford who turns out to be in league with the police.

The rest you have to read yourself.

This is another story about Freedom and self governance. It is thought provoking, action packed, seedy (at least some) and in an imaginative original world. I love it!

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Nausicaä – Ecological Princess

Comics: Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind 1-7 (2004)
Author: Hayao Miyazaki
Publisher: VIZ Media
Genre: Manga

Manga isn’t exactly new to me but it’s not something I usually reads, Nausicaä comes well recommended so I think I can include one as a teaser.

Nausicaä (ナウシカ Naushika?, pronounced [na.uɕika]) is a fictional character from the science fiction manga and anime film Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind created by Hayao Miyazaki. Nausicaä is the princess of the Valley of the Wind, a very small nation with fewer than 500 inhabitants (and steadily declining in population). She is the eleventh child of King Jihl, and the only one to live to maturity. She is rarely seen without her Mehve or her companion, Teto the fox-squirrel. In the legends of Dorok, she is also called “The Blue Clad One”.

Nausicaa is the gifted teenaged princess of a small valley on a devastated far-future Earth, where a growing poisonous forest is threatening the last human settlements. As an excellent gunship pilot, she is drawn by an old alliance into a war between neighboring kingdoms. But the pacifistic Nausicaa is much more interested in exploring the secrets of the forest. This complex ecological adventure epic – a true comics classic – is the only extended manga work by renowned anime director Miyazaki (Spirited Away). His lush, detailed art, reproduced here in sepia ink, is more reminiscent of European artists such as Moebius than of most manga, but manga fans will be drawn into the story nonetheless. Highly recommended for teens and adults alike, this tremendous series belongs in every library.

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Read Part 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | index | afterword

Part of Walker of Worlds Sci-Fi Appreciation Month during April.

Colonel Young gets the surprise of his life when he uses one of the stones to report back to Earth when he instead ends up on an alien spacecraft. An alien arrive and wave friendly to Young before walking off. Meanwhile on Destiny Young’s mental guest goes bonkers and attack the group assisting Young.

Stargate Universe impress with a strong return after a long hiatus. According to people involved in the show it’s going to get even more intense in the following episodes.

Synopsis: Using the communication stones, Col. Everett Young (LOUIS FERREIRA) prepares to file a report to Earth regarding the recent untimely deaths on board the Destiny. But upon initiating the device, his consciousness is diverted into an unknown being. Worried about the repercussions of the connection, Young puts the communication stones temporarily off limits.

Soon after the malfunction, an alien vessel appears in Destiny’s path and demands surrender. The standoff doesn’t last long. The alien vessel launches an attack and captures Chloe (ELYSE LEVESQUE). Realizing this is more than a coincidence; Col. Young must use the stones again to get aboard the ship and try to rescue Chloe. He quickly realizes, however, Chloe isn’t the only prisoner aboard the ship.

We ended with Colonel Young and Rush fighting it out on an alien planet which ended with Young returning alone to Destiny and Rush alone outside a locked alien vessel.

They have definitely upped the game this part of the season if this episode is any guide. There is evidence of more money, a bigger budget all over this episode.

The acting was also over all excellent this episode. At the beginning Young is shaving himself and have a tough time looking himself in the mirror. He really gets to show emotions here.

There are also a lot of promising plot lines to wind up during the rest of the season beside the aliens. Love is stiring both here and there, so far with a great deal of obstacles. Doctor seems to have a crush on Young and still she flirt with the guy Jane liked and she cries her eyes out. There is a civilians against military conspiracy with Rush in the middle of it. There still is mistrust and insecurity among the crew, but to my relief it felt normal, not like it was created just to emphases conflict.

The whole abduction scene was a bit stupid, If aliens drilled a big hole in the ceiling in my ship, I wouldn’t walk up and peer up in it unarmed. Otherwise it was well thought out and believable.

I am not the only one happy that Young orders the stones off limits (finally).

The ship is in pretty bad shape as shown in the battle with the aliens. Wonder how they will solve that.

Rush claims he doesn’t remember what happened on the ship and he lets Young off the hook for now. They wanted Destiny according to Rush. I am not sure Rush is Rush, he behaves more peculiar than usual. Rush and Young have a man to man talk was promising and somewhat entertaining.

And yes, Young is into crafts, mending his socks.

Next time will be different…

Title: The Myriad
Author: R. M. Meluch
Cover art: Romas Kukalis
Paperback: 384 pages
Publisher: DAW(January 3, 2006)
Genre: Military Science Fiction
Series: Tour of the Merrimack 1
Order: DAW | Amazon US, UK | B&N | Sfbok

The U.S.S. Merrimack was the finest battleship class spaceship in Earth’s fleet, able to stand up against the best the Palatine Empire could throw at them, even able to attack and kill swarms of the seemingly unstoppable Hive. But nothing could have prepared the captain and crew of the Merrimack to face the Myriad-three colonized worlds in the midst of a globular cluster that the Hive had somehow overlooked.

The plot is as stated above by the publisher, USS Merrimak is on a deep strike mission to try to find the home world of the Hive, a race of ravaging space traveling insects that have been striking ships and planets, eating anything living that comes their way and leaving only lifeless shells behind.

They come upon three inhabited worlds in a star cluster that seems to have been overlooked by the Hive. They meet a mystery. The Myriad as the inhabitants call themselves don’t have faster than light travel, but how do their three worlds broadcast the same news at the same time? The crew sets out to find out more before the Hive could find them.

The World building is intriguing and inventive. The Roman Empire never died, it just went underground. Have you ever wondered why most scientists or intellectuals speak Latin? They are part of a secret society that eventually will break loose from earth civilization and start their own Palantire Empire. The Hive onslaught forced the old enemies of the New Roman Empire and Earth to an uneasy peace to fight the new threat. The Romans are a nice twist.

Rebeca holds degrees in Communications and Classical Civilization which is noticeable in the rich historical backgrounds and the historical basis for some of her characters. She also talks Latin…

She also has a delightful and endearing ability to create lovable and colorful characters like Captain Farragut and his Roman liaison Augustus. Characterization is an important part of my enjoyment when I read, and I am very happy that I found another author that write characters I can love and root for.

I think you will enjoy this entertaining book. The Myriad has space battles, relentless insects , sword play, first contact, steamy relationships and surprising paradoxes. The characters Rebeca M. Meluch created here are on pair with the ones by some of my favorite authors like Elizabeth Moon and Lois McMaster Bujold. I can recommend the next book in the series too, a Review of Wolf Star is coming up.

When humans and their Jao overlords joined forces in a desperate battle to save the Earth from the malevolent race called the Ekhat, the relationship between the two species was changed forever. Two years later, humans and Jao are learning to work in an uneasy alliance. Then, in a distant nebula, three Jao ships detect signs of another sentient species during a battle with the Ekhat. Only one of the ships returns, with most of its crew or injured.

Earth’s Preceptor Ronz suspects the unknown species was actually the Lleix, a name out of the Jao’s past, and an ancient shame from the period in their development when they themselves were still ruled by the maniacal Ekhat.

Ronz sends the Lexington, a massive ship built on Earth and crewed by both human and Jao, to investigate. The Lexington dwarfs any ship ever built by the Jao and even outmasses Ekhat ships, which may enable it to survive the attack that destroyed two of the three Jao ships. But if the expedition does find a surviving remnant of the Leleix, will the survivors trust the Jao? And should they?

The Authors

Eric Flint has written some of my favorite science fiction series 1632 and Wages of Sin. One of his strenghts is collaborations as in 1633 and Crown of Slaves with David Weber. I haven’t read his Belisarius series written with David Drake, but I have it on my to-read list. Eric Flint is noted as the editor of the Baen Free Library, and I love Baen Free Library, I have found a number of new authors and series there. His website Ericflint.com is one the best sites on the net for Snippets from new books not only from Baen.

K. D. Wentworth is author of seven novels according to wikipedia, including Black on Black and Stars Over Stars for Baen, and more than fifty short stories. Her latest novel is This Fair Land (Hawk), an alternate history fantasy of the era of Columbus. I haven’t read anything else by her but I am inclined to do so after reading the Jao Empire books.

Format and Information

Hard cover : 448 pages
Cover art by Bob Eggleton
Published by Baen (US) / Simon & Schuster (UK)

Dedicated to the memory of Jim Bean by the authors.

The cover art is beautiful and depict some kind of biological looking ship thing in front of a sun being approached by a more traditional spacecraft.

I started enjoying this book long before it was published thanks to the snippets on Eric Flint’s place on the web.

World building

The world building in this book is good and it is refreshing in that it doesn’t assume human superiority. Interaction between alien societies is a central theme of the whole series.

The new integration of humanity into Jao society is both challenging and reason for us humans to feel proud. The Jao was uplifted by the Ekhat to be their perfect servants and now they start to develop individuality and creativity under the ‘bad’ influence of their human partners. That’s like giving a loaded gun to a kid, just much more amusing.

The Lleix starting with their rigid ritualistic and yet artistic society is masterfully depicted. They have been running from the Ekhat and the Jao for a long time, some of them expect the end of days any day now especially with the Ekhat incursion into the nebula. So it’s understandable that they are far from trusting of the Jao.

One interesting part of the story is how technology evolve when Jao and human technology merge.

Plot

The plot is pretty straight forward, go to the nebula, contact the Lleix, save them from the Ekhat that are sure to return soon while pretending to be human so you don’t freak out the Lleix and help them evacuate. But of course it’s not that easy.

Characterization

The characters are easy to love and the general optimistic outlook is refreshing. Of course you find the usual competent individual that is so common in Space Opera. We also have a nice overlap in characters from book one. But we are also introduced to a few new ones.

There is good character growth especially for Tully that has to take charge of a company and Caitlin who has to handle first contact negotiations with the Lleix.

The practical jokes, long tales and banter between the humans and the Jao is delightfully entertaining.

My View

The Crucible of Empire is an entertaining story of first contact and mixing of cultures that begs for more, I can’t wait on the next novel. If you like interesting aliens and space opera this is definitely a book for you, start with The Course of Empire book one in the Jao Empire Series.

We are the only Humans left…

In the furthest, coldest, darkest reaches of our solar system, Paul Munro is on a mission from which he can never return. A desolate ice-covered moon will be his home for the rest of his life. And only from here can he see what humanity has become.

A thriller to freeze your blood. To absolute zero.

I bought this after reading Mark Chitty’s excellent review (link below) and it lived up to my expectations. This is one of the best science fiction books i have read in a  long time.

Earth is a world where everyone is online, all the time, with brain implants that assist them in everything they do. Every decision they make is habitually done by asking the net for advise. And no one living in the wired society reflects over the situation. They never knew anything else.

It takes an eight year trip to an icy moon around Jupiter and four humans alone, cut off from Earth to rediscover what it  means to be human. This is a recurring theme of our times (not for the first time in history),  what it  means to be human, there is even a British TV show called “Being human” from a  fantasy perspective. There are many issues with technologies and life sciences today and in the near future that can hold a Damocles’ Sword of Change over our heads, but I never suspected Social Media of being one of them. I understand now that I was wrong, it do have the potential.

But there is more than one terrifying secret lurking for our protagonist.

Masterful world building and characters that are lifelike, with motivations you understand and can relate to. There is a scene, when Paul the main character cry for the first time and he can’t  understand what  it is, that is really moving.

WE is a masterful story of discovery and revelation on so many levels that you have to read it, it relates to everything we are today.

Other relevant blog reviews:
- by Mark Chitty on Walker of Worlds: Review | WE by John Dickinson (David Fickling Books) his review inspired me to buy WE
- by Rob Grant on The Disgruntled Writer W.E.

Staff Sergeant Torin Kerr know better than to offend a two star general. So she beat him up. She isn’t really surprised when she is singled out for a secret mission while her company is resting.

General Morris is gathering a team to recon a alien vessel found dead in space. To keep secrecy he gathers the marines one by one from all across the sector. When Torrin meets the mission leader Captain Travik, a Krai a hotshot media-whore with political connections, her mission becomes clearer. She is there to see to that the mission succeeds and Captain Travis doesn’t make an ass of himself.

To no surprise a News ship arrive shortly, someone have been talking. And now they have to bring a news team with them, forced so by confederation law.

They also have to bring the self assured Craig Ryder the man who discovered the ship. He is very competent for a civilian and he likes to test her limits.

The ship is not what it seems to be, and then the Others appear…

Snappy fun dialogue is Tanya Huff’s signature. The Better part of Valor is a good read, maybe not as good as Valor’s Choice, but still good.

The second book in the Jenny Casey Trilogy, Scaredown left the world on the brink of war just as the aliens arrived. World ecology is in scrambles after centuries of misuse and the PanChinese dropped a meteorite on Montreal, center of the Commonwealth since England sunk under the sea, causing further damage to an already fragile system. The world face a few years of darkness and cold before global warming kicks in with a vengeance. As a last resort Casey and company crashes one of the starships into the sea infecting the world with hacked alien nanites under the command of Richard, the AI.

Elizabet Bear has an annoying habit of building up to a decisive point and then spending twenty pages talking about other stuff until you get any resolution. Otherwise it is good. It’s all good, it’s just frustrating sometimes. I think she does it just to tease us readers.

Wordwired is the final book in the Jenny Casey Trilogy,but I hope she will write more books in this universe and the people in it. The contact team try to establish communication with the birdcage aliens and the shiptree aliens. Elizabeth has made up some really original aliens, I haven’t heard anything like the birdcage people before.

The AI’s Richard and his alter ego Andre try to save the planet from catastrophe while the sleazy political intrigue continues unabated. PanChina is responsible for the meteor hit on Canada and the Commonwealth want them to pay. At the same time both countries are suffering from internal political conflicts. The Unitek corporation play commonwealth against PanChina and uses the opposition in both countries to help. Unitek wants control of the alien nanotechnology. 

Exellent series. Pity it’s over. Hmm, I need more books.

Eco cop Shan Frankland is sent to a presumed lost colony at Cavenagh’s Star only to find that it is still very much alive thanks to the alien Wess’har.

Imagine humanity meeting a race of fundamental militant vegan eco-terrorist aliens …

WorldWiredby Elizabeth Bear (Jenny Casey 3), the two previous books where much better than the cover implies (the cover art is awful)

The Wess’har Wars Series by Karen Travis

1. City of Pearl
2. Crossing the Line
3. World Before
4. Matriarch
5. Ally
6. Judge

I so hope I’m gonna like Karen. I haven’t read anything by her before, but she comes with good recommendations.

I leave to read City of Pearl now.

Awesome. I should really sort this under audio books. The book is fantastic. The mote aliens is believable, yet twisted and likable.

Did you know Heinlein consulted on this one?

The story teller isn’t the best I have heard, but he didn’t suck either.

This audio book thing is big business. I really hope people will continue to read themselves in a generation or two. The alure of audio is significantly larger than zero. What if people in a far future forget writing and reading and instead just talk (they might even record thoughts).

Anyway. At least audio books might get more people to enjoy literature.

This was my first iTunes audiobook, I didn’t find any on Amazon, so you might have to get a iPod or IPhone to get this one. Or get the paper one I’ve linked above.

It’s two years after Necropath and Jeff has married Sakura and they await their first child when Jeff gets an offer he can’t refuse. He is back as a telepathic detective and soon he is investigating murders connected with Malloy. The plot thickens  and his telepathic abilities and insight in the workings of Bengali Station serve him well when he has to find the urchin connected to the case.

The finale is a showdown on the planet Malloy where he have to stop a genocide.

This is true Space Opera. It starts in the far future when humanity have conquered the stars and inhabit thousands of planets. Senator Chromis Pasqueflower Bowerbirdpropose a program to memorise Bella Lind, the hero that started it all. Then it shifts back to 2057.

Rockhopper is a nuclear powerd mining ship, one of many that fuel earth’s space economy with a steady stream of comet raw material. Bella Lind is the captain of an elite crew of 150 or so. They call their work Pushing Ice.

So when Janus, one of Saturn’s ice moons breaks orbit and heads for the stars, Bella and her crew are the only ones that can reach it in time before it leaves the solar system.

The mission is voluntary and most of the crew is behind it. But the company has lied to them and faked their fuel situation. It is a suicide mission, they will not be able to return after reaching Janus. But Svetlana, Bella’s best friend and the ships chief engineer starts to suspect the truth. Bella confronts her former lover who is the CEO of the company but due to lack of proof she decides to continue the mission. This leads to a break with Svetlana.

The book focuses to a large part on the conflict between Svetlana and Bella. That deep friendship can turn to extreme hatred.

The Rockhopperend up slip streamed with Janus and heading for a mysterious alien cylinder some hundred light years from earth at 99% of light speed. Svetlana blames Bella and with a majority of the crew behind her they exile Bella while they try to survive on Janus.

But that’s only the first step of their travel. They are propelled at near light speed to a gigantic alien meta structure in the far future. Someone is collecting civilizations at the end of time.

The circle closes both with the future history of Man as their memento reach Bella and with Bella’s and Svetlana’s friendship. It’s a truly epic story. The painful conflict between two good friends is so well told you can feel their anguish.

Bud Sparhawk (@Wikipedia, Homepage) is best known for the strong science base in his works.

His new novel Vixen takes place in a far future where humanity expands from planet to planet in slower than light vehicles. After some kind of religious revelations a faschistoid society has evolved with 3 kind of humans. Men are the real humans that will eventually develop in to some kind of gods (acording to the religion). Men are dark haired and have brown eyes. Halflings and Mongrels are lower kind of humans only allowed to live to serve Men.

There are 4 main characters in this story. Tam Polat is the Hadir, the mission leader. Larisha is leader of the halflings and Tam’s estranged wife. Dalgrun Wolfat, Palm of the Hand of God is their religious leader.Win the intelligent mongrel is the fourth. They all have their issues. Tam was brought up embracing their society in a segregated living with only Men. He has zero empathy with “the lesser races”. Larisha grew up on a farm as a lone girl working close with all their halflings and mongrels. Dalgrun is a power hungry bitch. Win is the most likable of the characters.

The spaceship Covenant closes on the Thetti star system after 200 years of travel and the crew defrosts to find that their objective the planet Meridian lost a moon. Tam is the first to wake up and he sees a crystalline starship before any of the others wake up.

This book raises some questions about being human.