Ian Douglas likes the theme of humanity against a huge galactic empire where the American military by human ingenuity and flexibility overcomes both the aliens and the stupid civilian administration that tries to lead them astray. The civilians are not so over the top stupid this time but that is not to say they are smart.

Center of Gravity starts in the aftermath of Earth Strike and Admiral Alexander Koenig and his crew are officially the heroes that saved the day. The closeness of it all scares the political leadership so much that they want to pull more forces back to defend earth, a posture that would put the center of gravity of the conflict right on top of earth. Admiral Koenig knows a strong defense is futile against an aggressor with overwhelming resources. He has to take the initiative and bring the fight to the Sh’daar. He eventually gets a reduced task force he has to sneak away with fully knowing that an order to stay and bolster earth defenses is only hours away.

As usual in Ian Douglas series the focus is on the military actions with vivid descriptions of combat and what is happening with the people involved including the alien point of view. The humans are a bit bland compared to the aliens’ interesting psychology. Ian introduces a few more races and starts to reveal more about the Sh’daar, the mystic race leading the galactic empire and their motivation behind the edict against transcendence technologies that started the war.

The humans all have their struggles beside the obvious military ones Alexander struggles with the death of Karyn Mendelson in the recent destruction of the synchorbital military base Phobia above Mars while Lieutenant Trevor Gray struggles both with prejudices against Prims and his feelings for Angela who he had to enroll for to pay for the treatment that saved her life but also made her another person, a person not in love with him.

Center of Gravity was all in all an enjoyable read but it is on familiar grounds. I hope Ian Douglas deviate more from the formula in forthcoming books. I still want to read the next book No Return when it comes out in 2012.

Information

Ian Douglas is a pen name for William H. Keith.

Title: Center of Gravity
Series: Star Carrier book 2
Author: Ian Douglas
Genre: Military Science Fiction
Paperback: 389 pages
Publisher: Harper Voyager (2011)
Order from: Amazon US | UK
Copy: bought it from Amazon

In the evolution of every sentient race, there is a turning point when the species achieves transcendence through technology.

The warlike Sh’daar are determined that this monumental milestone will never be achieved by the creatures known as human.

On the far side of known human space, the Marines are under siege, battling the relentless servant races of the Sh’daar aggressor. With a task force stripped to the bone and the Terran Confederation of States racked by dissent, rogue Admiral Alexander Koenig must make the momentous decision that will seal his fate and the fate of humankind. A strong defensive posture is futile, so Koenig will seize the initiative and turn the gargantuan Star Carrier America toward the unknown. For the element of surprise is the only hope of stalling the Sh’daar assault on Earth’s solar system—and the war for humankind’s survival must be taken directly to the enemy.

Most popular posts have been First look at Felicia Day in RED that got some 3000 hits, followed in popularity by Major Casting Change in HBO’s Game of Thrones, Interesting TV Pilots Round Up, New Science Fiction Books in April 2010 and 18 Science Fiction Podcasts.

Reading has been good, though I am a bit behind in my review writing as you can see. Of the books I enjoyed Oath of Fealty, Shadow Prowler, The Crucible of Empire and Gardens of the Sun best, in that order. None of the books where really bad, though I was a bit disappointed with Trade of Queens it didn’t give as much closure as I wished for.

Books read in March 2010 in reading order:

1. The Quiet War by McAuley, Paul (The Quiet War & Gardens of the Sun Series)
2. The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi
3. Earth Strike by Ian Douglas (Star Carrier 1)
4. This Paper World by Jeff Lane
5. Shadow Prowler by Alexey Pehov (Chronicles of Siala 1) *1st review copy ever
6. Oath of Fealty by Elizabeth Moon (Paladin’s Legacy 1)
7. The Crucible of Empire by Eric Flint & K. D. Wentwoth (Empire 2)
8. Coyote Destiny by Allen Steele (Coyote Chronicles 2)
9. Trade of Queens by Charles Stross (Merchant Princes 6)
10. Gardens of the Sun by Paul McAuley (The Quiet War 2)
11. The Myriad by R. M. Meluch (Tour of the Merrimack 1)
12. Wolf  Star by R. M. Meluch (Tour of the Merrimack 2)

I took on myself to write down some of the idle observations I make while I read Science Fiction and call it an article Series on Trends in Current Science Fiction. So far I have written three articles, and I plan on writing about one a week until I run out of trends.

1. Nanotechnology
2. Enviromental disaster
3. Singularity

Arrived or shopped books is always interesting. You can always check out my latest arrivals if you like. You should also know that I didn’t receive any free books for review this month (I reviewed one I received in February), I put my money where my Science Fiction is.

1. The Crucible of Empire by Eric Flint & K. D. Wentworth
2. Oath of Fealty by Elizabeth Moon
3. Coyote Destiny by Allen Steele
4. Gardens of the Sun by Paul McAuley
5. Trade of Queens by Charles Stross
6. Geosynchron by David Louis Edelman
7. Xeelee an Omnibus by Stephen Baxter (Raft, Timelike Infinity, Flux, Ring)
8. Shadow of the Scorpion by Neal Asher (an agent Cormac novel)
9. A Thousand Words for Stranger by Julie E. Czerneda (The Trade Pact Universe #1)
10. Ties of Power by Julie E. Czerneda (The Trade Pact Universe #2)
11. To Trade the Stars by Julie E. Czerneda (The Trade Pact Universe #3)
12. Dust by Elizabeth Bear
13. Chill by Elizabeth Bear (sequel to Dust)
14. The Myriad by R. M. Meluch (Tour of the Merrimack #1)
15. Wolf Star by R. M. Meluch (Tour of the Merrimack #2)
16. Servants of the Underworld by Aliette de Bodard (Obsidian & Blood 1)

It’s been a good month, I haven’t finished quite all I would have liked to do but it is a good start.

Next month will have quite a few more books, you can see what I ordered in New Science Fiction Books in April 2010. I also have some Elizabeth Bear, David Louis Edelman, Aliette de Bodard and more to look forward to.

Don’t forget Walker of Worlds upcoming Sci-Fi Appreciation Month starts April 1. I have made a contribution and will let you know when it’s there.

I will also guest blog a few reviews for Temple Library Reviews starting April 6th with my review of Gardens of the Sun by Paul McAuley.

The first book in the epic saga of humankind’s war of transcendence

There is a milestone in the evolution of every sentient race, a Tech Singularity Event, when the species achieves transcendence through its technological advances. Now the creatures known as humans are near this momentous turning point.

But an armed threat is approaching from deepest space, determined to prevent humankind from crossing over that boundary—by total annihilation if necessary.

To the Sh’daar, the driving technologies of transcendent change are anathema and must be obliterated from the universe—along with those who would employ them. As their great warships destroy everything in their path en route to the Sol system, the human Confederation government falls into dangerous disarray. There is but one hope, and it rests with a rogue Navy Admiral, commander of the kilometer-long star carrier America, as he leads his courageous fighters deep into enemy space towards humankind’s greatest conflict—and quite possibly its last

The plot is similar to the Star Marine series. Humanity is set against a vast galaxy spanning empire  this time with different kinds of alien in it. The war has been going on for some thirty years by the time this story begins. The star carrier CVS America and her task group attacks and evacuate a Marine contingent under siege by the Turusch, a race subservient to the Sh’daar from a planet thirty-seven light years from earth. The Marines have captured two Turusch soldiers and they are the task forces real objective, since no live Turusch have ever been captured before. Nice believable battle and really good introduction to the characters.

After their mission they return to earth and we get more than a glimpse into life of the twenty-fourth century. World building is good even if Ian’s usual stereotypes shine trough a bit. Politicians and Civilians are stupid and don’t know what to do.

The Turusch launch a surprise attack on earth that America and her crew has to repel.

Characterization in Earth Strike is even better than in Semper Human. Lt Gray has a complex and believable background in the Manhattan swamps, beside him you also gets to follow Rear Admiral Koenig point of view. The alien Turusch  are also quite interesting and they have names like Tactician emphatic blossom at dawn. Their psychology is interesting with different minds the Mind Below , the Mind Above and the Mind Here. The Sh’daar reminds behind the scene so far, but I guess we will learn more about them later in the series.

Earth Strike is a solid uncomplicated military science fiction I would recommend to all readers of military SF. It is also an excellent book to start the with if you haven’t read anything by him before. Characterization and storytelling have never been better in any of his books, the lore part is still second to the first star marine trilogy.

The next book will be out 2011 and might cover a strike at the aliens forward base.

Another trend in modern science fiction is the concept of Singularity, but also the opposite which I will cover in a later post. The thing is, that we might have seen the Singularity trend peak and that it in fact has started to fade now at least according to some posts on the Blogosphere (see links at the end of this post). Personally I think it will be here in one form or another for a long time. Technology and Science are changing the world around us and it is only natural that science fiction writers explore those changes to the limits of imagination. There is many ‘modern’ science fiction written which involve the singularity concept which we don’t see in ‘classic’ SF.

Singularity refers to a theory that technological and scientific progress will continue to speed up and that we will develop more intelligent beings that will speed up the progress even more while they invent even more intelligent beings and you see where this is going. Until we reach a point where not even our imagination can follow.

Singularity science fiction follows a Moore’s Law of the future, where science improves our lives exponentially over time. Eventually human life is so radically transformed that it’s unrecognizable to those of us living in the relatively crappy present. – io9

This is usually done by a combination of genetics, nanotechnology and artificial intelligence. Sometimes the beings are ourself evolved and transformed to a post-human or transhuman race with little in common with the meat monkeys we are today.

History of singularity:

In 1965, I. J. Good first wrote of an “intelligence explosion”, suggesting that if machines could even slightly surpass human intellect, they could improve their own designs in ways unforeseen by their designers, and thus recursively augment themselves into far greater intelligences. The first such improvements might be small, but as the machine became more intelligent it would become better at becoming more intelligent, which could lead to a cascade of self-improvements and a sudden surge to superintelligence (or a singularity).

Vernon Vinge minted The Singularity expression in 1982.

In 1982, Vernor Vinge proposed that the creation of smarter-than-human intelligence represented a breakdown in humans’ ability to model their future. The argument was that authors cannot write realistic characters who are smarter than humans: if humans could visualize smarter-than-human intelligence, we would be that smart ourselves. Vinge named this event “the Singularity”. He compared it to the breakdown of the then-current model of physics when it was used to model the gravitational singularity beyond the event horizon of a black hole. In 1993, Vernor Vinge associated the Singularity more explicitly with I. J. Good’s intelligence explosion, and tried to project the arrival time of artificial intelligence (AI) using Moore’s law, which thereafter came to be associated with the “Singularity” concept.

Proof and examples:

A good example on Artificial Intelligences is William Gibson’s 1984 novel Neuromancer, in which AIs are strictly regulated by the Turing Police so that they can’t become self aware, but one wants to anyway. A more recent example is the WWW series by Robert J. Sawyer.

The singularity is sometimes addressed in fictional works to explain the event’s absence. Neal Asher’s Gridlinked series features a future where humans living in the Polity are governed by AIs and while some are resentful, most believe that they are far better governors than any human. In the fourth novel, Polity Agent, it is mentioned that the singularity is far overdue yet most AIs have decided not to partake in it for reasons that only they know.

A flashback character in Ken MacLeod’s 1998 novel The Cassini Division dismissively refers to the Singularity as the Rapture for nerds, though the singularity goes on to happen anyway.

Accelerating progress features in some science fiction works, and is a central theme in Charles Stross’s Accelerando (free download). Singularity Sky also touches on singularity.

Ken MacLeod’s Newton’s Wake is a post-singularity work as well as the Evergence Trilogy by Sean Williams & Shane Dix both which I like.

Other authors that address singularity-related issues include Karl Schroeder, Alastair Reynold, Greg Egan, Ken MacLeod, Paul Melko(Singularity’s Ring), Rudy Rucker, David Brin, Iain M. Banks, Ian Douglas, Neal Stephenson, Tony Ballantyne, Bruce Sterling, Dan Simmons, Damien Broderick, Fredric Brown, Jacek Dukaj, Nagaru Tanigawa, John Dickinson (WE), Douglas Adams and Ian McDonald etc

Popular movies in which computers become intelligent and violently overpower the human race include the Terminator series, the parody of a film adaptation of I, Robot, and The Matrix series.

On television series Battlestar Galactica and Caprica also explores artificial intelligence.

Another form of Singularity of a more spiritual kind is explored in the differentStargate installments. Ascended beings beyond human comprehension play a significant part in the Stargate universe (not SGU so far). Although most of them ascends through spiritual means, there are also cases of a more technological form of ascension now and then. The most significant ascended being in the series where Daniel Jackson here seen during the process.

Please watch this video where some of the aforementioned authors discuss Singularity.

The Singularity: An Appraisal from Michael Johnson on Vimeo.

This panel was held at Boskone 47 in Boston, MA on February 12th, 2010. Moderating was the Guest of Honor, Alastair Reynolds. Other panel participants included several time Hugo Award winner Vernor Vinge, Locus Award winner Charles Stross, and Karl Schroeder.

What’s your take on Singularity?
Got any good books to recommend?
Please write a comment.

Trends in Current Science Fiction Post Index:

1. Nanotechnology
2. Enviromental disaster
3. Singularity
4. Reality TV

Sources:

• Bill Joy’s Wired magazine article “Why the future doesn’t need us“
• Technological Singularity page on Wikipedia
• The Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence
• Singularity FAQ for Dummies
• Acceleration Watch
• The Great Enhancement debate
• whatisartificialintelligence.com
• Science fiction at the end of time a blog post from Marianne de Pierres’ Journal
• The Singularity Backlash a blog post from io9

Shadow Prowler by Alexey Pehov (Chronicles of Siala 1)
- review copy

Also in the mail or recently arrived books:

Geosynchron by David Louis Edelman (Jump 225 3)
- this one took its sweet time getting here from the US, much awaited too.

Earth Strike by Ian Douglas (Star Carrier 1)
- I liked his three Space Marine Trilogies so I have great expectations for this one

I also recived an ebook for review

Obama Jones & The Logic Bomb (Kindle Edition) by Rod Kierkegaard Jr.

I made mistake with the feed earlier this month so I have to make 2 similar posts to get it right, sorry ignore the other

The God Engines by John Scalzi

John Scalzi treads new domains with this dark Gothic Opera of star travel, faith, living gods, sex, violence and space battles which channels the spirit of H.P. Lovecraft…

… The God Engines is a chilling horror story set in a world with living manifested gods, so it has to be fantasy? Well, maybe, there is a lot of Space Opera and science fiction in this fantasy story. I think it’s magnificent and I love the inventiveness of the story, using gods as engines! I am just sorry it is so short, the plot could easily have been made into a full length novel. I say convinced that it would be easy for John Scalzi, him being such a fantastic writer (nudge, nudge).

The Course of Empire by Eric Flint & K. D. Wenthworth (Empire Series 1)

The reason I am reviewing The Course of Empire now is that the second part The Cruible of Empire will be out next month (March 16, 2010). This is the first book in a series about an alien invasion of earth by the Jao that changes into something else under the pressure of yet another more menacing alien race, the Ekhat bent on exterminating all non Ekhat life from the universe. It holds interesting alien point-of-views (pov), alternatives to violence and an unusual positive treatment of collaborateurs…

… This is one of the best alien point of view stories I have read in a long time, the world is vivid and the characters are easy to love. I got very emotional here and there in the story, especially at the end. I would recommend The Course of Empire to anyone intrested in a good alien point of view story or if you are just looking for good science fiction.

Semper Human by Ian Douglas (William H. Keith) (Inheritance Trilogy 3)

This is the last book in a Marine Corps Saga spanning thousands of years and three trilogies. The Trilogies are first Heritage, then Legacy and finally The Inheritance Trilogy. It is an epic military saga about the Marine Corps and the Garroway family that serves in it…

… The whole series is a great homage to the Marines, where every man is a rifleman first. It is a strong moral story about standing up for your team and your ideals. It also have great world-building and believable science within the fiction. You should read the other books in the Inheritance Trilogy before Semper Human, there is lots of references. I strongly recommend the whole series to any lover of military science fiction and space opera.

The Shockwave Rider by John Brunner

It’s been said that John Brunner invented the term “worm” for a program that replicates itself on a network in this proto-cyberpunk novel from 1975.

The first half of the novel had me wondering if this was way to intelligent for me, then the fog lifted, the wow feelings started to hit me. This is a great novel! It involves the Brain Race, a development from the previous Arms Race. Every superpower collect their own brain resources and develop them at great cost in institutions like Tarnover to handle the out of control speed of change in society. The novel addresses many of the problems with the ever faster changing world that are still valid today. Especially in the area of mental health…

… The Shockwave Rider impressed me with its content and how the pieces fell into place in the story and it became great. It is a few years old but much of what it tells are still valid. Read it if you can get hold of it.

Coyote Horizon by Allen Steele (Coyote 6)

Humanity meets aliens in Spindrift (4) where the Hjadd saves the day and we learns to know them better in Galaxy Blues (5) when we go and trade with them. Contact with another technologically more advanced civilization always leads to change. This time the contact is with an interstellar multi-specie civilization whose very existence challenge many of our traditional belief systems. The planet Coyote become much more than a safety vault for the overpopulated and ecologically devastated home planet. It becomes a focal point of the whole human civilization when the Hjadd sets up there embassy there and not on Earth.

This book is concurrent in parts with Galaxy Blues (5). It is a two book story the last part Coyote Destiny (7) is published in March 2010…

… I like the characterization in the beginning of the book. The world building is good, it’s one of Allen’s strengths. The storyline was clear and easy to follow. I am not so hot on this many protagonists and switching back and forth between them. It works but I personally would have preferred a more central protagonist, but that’s just me. I liked the book in general and it is a good read you don’t want to put it down…

… The book ends with a cliffhanger but you don’t have to wait long to read the last part of this story. Publication is next month. You can start reading about Coyote with this book but you you misses a lot of the backstory if you haven’t read volume 1-3.

Pleasure Model by Christopher Rowley (Netherworld Trilogy 1)

Rook Venner bring the evidence home, said evidence being Plesur, a pleasure model with long golden hair, deep blue eyes, a pert little nose and large mouth loaded with heavy lips that works like triggers on the heterosexual male mind all packed into a gorgeous young body, to protect her from rape. Only to wake up in the middle of the night by a phone call telling him to get out NOW!

Presenting Heavy Metal Pulp, a new line of novels combining noir fiction with fantastic art featuring the themes, story lines, and graphic styles of Heavy Metal magazine…

… The book doesn’t end with a Cliff hanger but leaves enough unresolved that I long for the next volume. I enjoyed the fast paced illustrated action packed spicy Pleasure Model immensely. It is a good read. It lacks somewhat in depth that can be remedied by checking out Rowley’s homepage. I would recommend it to any adult science fiction fan. I myself can’t wait until I have read the next two Netherworld books. I wonder when they will be out?

Live Free or Die by John Ringo (Troy Rising 1)

This is the first book in a new series called Troy Rising. It is an alien invasion Space Opera with an unlikely hero…

… Live Free or Die is an amusing Space Opera with a bit sketchy characters and world building but quite enjoyable. I would recommend it to readers of military science fiction with a sense of humor. I will definitely buy the rest of the series as soon as it is available.

Mirrored Heavens by David J. Williams (Autumn Rain 1)

This is the action packed first book in a new cyber-thriller series, Autumn Rain.

It starts out as one of those super action packed first scenes in a Hollywood Block Buster but here it feels like it never stops. Put a handful major characters, one mega conspiracy or two and the intrigue and mysteries of a Le Carré cold war spy thriller into the mix and splatter it out on a canvas of world-wide insurrection, high technology and dystopian cityscapes and you have a feeling what this book is…

… Mirrored Heavens is a strong first novel by David J. Williams. He presents a chilly future high-tech world of espionage and double crossing that is more than entertaining, the characters are not very deep and at times the plot might feel a bit over complex at times but so far I like it. I already have volume 2 Burning Skies here waiting. I can recommend it if you like fast paced cyber thrillers.

Starbound by Joe Haldeman

Starbound left me conflicted, I have had to have a few days to think it over before writing a review. After the human race’s near extinction from an exploding martian the earth authorities decide to send an expedition after the mysterious Other’s starship that left the solar system heading for what might be the Others home world…

… not a bad book, nor an excellent, it is somewhere in between for me. It took a little long time before the action started and when it did it was over in no time. I would recommend it if you like mysterious aliens and Defying Gravity-esque personal interaction.

I haven’t read Marsbound, and it it is supposed to be a better read than this one, maybe it suffers from middle-book-itis.

Bitter Angels by C. L. Anderson (Sarah Zettel)

Bitter Angels was written by Sarah Zettel under pseudonym. It’s a military science fiction of sorts with a central murder mystery. And I liked it much more than Kingdom of Cages, which put me off from her, seems I was wrong…

… 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.

I made mistake with the feed earlier this month so I have to make 2 similar posts to get it right, sorry read either one.

The God Engines by John Scalzi

John Scalzi treads new domains with this dark Gothic Opera of star travel, faith, living gods, sex, violence and space battles which channels the spirit of H.P. Lovecraft…

… The God Engines is a chilling horror story set in a world with living manifested gods, so it has to be fantasy? Well, maybe, there is a lot of Space Opera and science fiction in this fantasy story. I think it’s magnificent and I love the inventiveness of the story, using gods as engines! I am just sorry it is so short, the plot could easily have been made into a full length novel. I say convinced that it would be easy for John Scalzi, him being such a fantastic writer (nudge, nudge).

The Course of Empire by Eric Flint & K. D. Wenthworth (Empire Series 1)

The reason I am reviewing The Course of Empire now is that the second part The Cruible of Empire will be out next month (March 16, 2010). This is the first book in a series about an alien invasion of earth by the Jao that changes into something else under the pressure of yet another more menacing alien race, the Ekhat bent on exterminating all non Ekhat life from the universe. It holds interesting alien point-of-views (pov), alternatives to violence and an unusual positive treatment of collaborateurs…

… This is one of the best alien point of view stories I have read in a long time, the world is vivid and the characters are easy to love. I got very emotional here and there in the story, especially at the end. I would recommend The Course of Empire to anyone intrested in a good alien point of view story or if you are just looking for good science fiction.

Semper Human by Douglas, Ian (William H. Keith) (Inheritance Trilogy 3)

This is the last book in a Marine Corps Saga spanning thousands of years and three trilogies. The Trilogies are first Heritage, then Legacy and finally The Inheritance Trilogy. It is an epic military saga about the Marine Corps and the Garroway family that serves in it…

… The whole series is a great homage to the Marines, where every man is a rifleman first. It is a strong moral story about standing up for your team and your ideals. It also have great world-building and believable science within the fiction. You should read the other books in the Inheritance Trilogy before Semper Human, there is lots of references. I strongly recommend the whole series to any lover of military science fiction and space opera.

The Shockwave Rider by Brunner, John

It’s been said that John Brunner invented the term “worm” for a program that replicates itself on a network in this proto-cyberpunk novel from 1975.

The first half of the novel had me wondering if this was way to intelligent for me, then the fog lifted, the wow feelings started to hit me. This is a great novel! It involves the Brain Race, a development from the previous Arms Race. Every superpower collect their own brain resources and develop them at great cost in institutions like Tarnover to handle the out of control speed of change in society. The novel addresses many of the problems with the ever faster changing world that are still valid today. Especially in the area of mental health…

… The Shockwave Rider impressed me with its content and how the pieces fell into place in the story and it became great. It is a few years old but much of what it tells are still valid. Read it if you can get hold of it.

Coyote Horizon by Allen Steele (Coyote 6)

Humanity meets aliens in Spindrift (4) where the Hjadd saves the day and we learns to know them better in Galaxy Blues (5) when we go and trade with them. Contact with another technologically more advanced civilization always leads to change. This time the contact is with an interstellar multi-specie civilization whose very existence challenge many of our traditional belief systems. The planet Coyote become much more than a safety vault for the overpopulated and ecologically devastated home planet. It becomes a focal point of the whole human civilization when the Hjadd sets up there embassy there and not on Earth.

This book is concurrent in parts with Galaxy Blues (5). It is a two book story the last part Coyote Destiny (7) is published in March 2010…

… I like the characterization in the beginning of the book. The world building is good, it’s one of Allen’s strengths. The storyline was clear and easy to follow. I am not so hot on this many protagonists and switching back and forth between them. It works but I personally would have preferred a more central protagonist, but that’s just me. I liked the book in general and it is a good read you don’t want to put it down…

… The book ends with a cliffhanger but you don’t have to wait long to read the last part of this story. Publication is next month. You can start reading about Coyote with this book but you you misses a lot of the backstory if you haven’t read volume 1-3.

Pleasure Model by Christopher Rowley (Netherworld Trilogy 1)

Rook Venner bring the evidence home, said evidence being Plesur, a pleasure model with long golden hair, deep blue eyes, a pert little nose and large mouth loaded with heavy lips that works like triggers on the heterosexual male mind all packed into a gorgeous young body, to protect her from rape. Only to wake up in the middle of the night by a phone call telling him to get out NOW!

Presenting Heavy Metal Pulp, a new line of novels combining noir fiction with fantastic art featuring the themes, story lines, and graphic styles of Heavy Metal magazine…

… The book doesn’t end with a Cliff hanger but leaves enough unresolved that I long for the next volume. I enjoyed the fast paced illustrated action packed spicy Pleasure Model immensely. It is a good read. It lacks somewhat in depth that can be remedied by checking out Rowley’s homepage. I would recommend it to any adult science fiction fan. I myself can’t wait until I have read the next two Netherworld books. I wonder when they will be out?

Live Free or Die by John Ringo (Troy Rising 1)

This is the first book in a new series called Troy Rising. It is an alien invasion Space Opera with an unlikely hero…

… Live Free or Die is an amusing Space Opera with a bit sketchy characters and world building but quite enjoyable. I would recommend it to readers of military science fiction with a sense of humor. I will definitely buy the rest of the series as soon as it is available.

Mirrored Heavens by David J. Williams (Autumn Rain 1)

This is the action packed first book in a new cyber-thriller series, Autumn Rain.

It starts out as one of those super action packed first scenes in a Hollywood Block Buster but here it feels like it never stops. Put a handful major characters, one mega conspiracy or two and the intrigue and mysteries of a Le Carré cold war spy thriller into the mix and splatter it out on a canvas of world-wide insurrection, high technology and dystopian cityscapes and you have a feeling what this book is…

… Mirrored Heavens is a strong first novel by David J. Williams. He presents a chilly future high-tech world of espionage and double crossing that is more than entertaining, the characters are not very deep and at times the plot might feel a bit over complex at times but so far I like it. I already have volume 2 Burning Skies here waiting. I can recommend it if you like fast paced cyber thrillers.

Starbound by Joe Haldeman

Starbound left me conflicted, I have had to have a few days to think it over before writing a review. After the human race’s near extinction from an exploding martian the earth authorities decide to send an expedition after the mysterious Other’s starship that left the solar system heading for what might be the Others home world…

… not a bad book, nor an excellent, it is somewhere in between for me. It took a little long time before the action started and when it did it was over in no time. I would recommend it if you like mysterious aliens and Defying Gravity-esque personal interaction.

I haven’t read Marsbound, and it it is supposed to be a better read than this one, maybe it suffers from middle-book-itis.

Bitter Angels by C. L. Anderson (Sarah Zettel)

Bitter Angels was written by Sarah Zettel under pseudonym. It’s a military science fiction of sorts with a central murder mystery. And I liked it much more than Kingdom of Cages, which put me off from her, seems I was wrong…

… 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.

Now and then he sneaks in a bit of psionic meta physics.

Among other things William served as a Navy hospital  Corpsman during the Vietnam era. That experience shows in his books.

He also has an amazing number of aliases.

Aliases

• Ian Douglas: Heritage, Legacy and Inheritance trilogy.
• H. Jay Riker: SEALs: The Warrior Breed and The Silent Service series. Used both by the author and his brother Andrew.
• Keith Douglass: Carrier (1-7) and SEAL Team Seven (1-3). Used both by the author and his brother Andrew.
• Bill Keith: Not really a pseudonym. two-book near-future military series from Harper.
• Robert Cain: Cybernarc series
• Keith William Andrews: Freedom’s Rangers with his brother Andrew.

Series

Star Carrier as Ian Douglas

1. Earth Strike
2. Book II will be published in 2011

Heritage series (Stellar Marine Universe,) as Ian Douglas

Covers the American Marine Corps mission and exploration of our solar system in the late 21st century. They find alien technology almost everywhere, and traces of repeated strikes by an alien race to exterminate intelligent life.

1. Semper Mars
2. Luna Marine
3. Europa Strike

Legacy series (Stellar Marine Universe) as Ian Douglas

Covers the first stellar missions as humanity starts to explore and colonize nearby stars. The Marines fight first the An then the Xul.

1. Star Corps
2. Battlespace
3. Star Marines

Inheritance series (Stellar Marine Universe) as Ian Douglas

Covers the interstellar wars with the Xul from the first ant like raids by the Marines to the final battle 4004 AD.

1. Star Strike
2. Galactic Corps
3. Semper Human

Links

• William H. Keith’s homepage
• William H. Keith’s Wikipedia page

Ian Douglas (Willian H.  Keith) has built a formidable epic universe with a history spanning millions of years. Here are the highlights in the history of the Milky Way you might need to place the books in perspective.

• 50-30 million of years ago the One Mind created a network of stargates across the galaxy.
• 30-10 million of years ago they where replaced by a The Children of the  Night, a nocturnal psychovore race (sounds like vampires to me).
• 10 million years ago to the present, dominance by the Xul, a xenophobic race of uploaded electronic sentients that exterminate all threats to their existence. This explains the Femdi paradox (why space is empty of intelligent life).
• 500 000 years ago the Builder civilization created an empire spanning several thousand light years, terra forming Mars and uplifting some of the primitive inhabitants of earth to be their servants, creating Homo Sapiens. Ultimately the Builder’s civilization was destroyed  by the Xul.
• 10000-7000 BC a race called the An colonize earth and the moon, later to be remembered as the gods of Sumeria. They are destroyed by Xul asteroid strikes.
• 6000 BC the amphibious N’mah visits earth and help with rebuilding civilization before departing to Sirius.
• As we ourself explore space in the near future we will uncover more and more alien technology which boost us further until we eventually attract the attention of the Xul.
• The Heritage Trilogy takes place during the later half of the  21st century and covers the marine corps fights inside our solar system mostly with European Forces.
• The Legacy Trilogy cover the first stellar deployments of the Marine Corps and the first battles against the Xul (2138-2323 AD)
• The Inheritance Trilogy covers the galactic war against the Xul to the final confrontation in 4004 (year 2229 of the Marine Corps)

Blurb.
The final conflict

Chaos has erupted throughout the known galaxy, threatening countless colonies and orbital habitats—as the Associative struggles vainly to keep the peace. Extreme measures are called for in these times of dire crisis, and the Star Marines are awakened from their voluntary 850-year cybe-hibe sleep. But General Trevor Garroway and his warriors are about to discover that the old rules of engagement have drastically changed . . .

The end begins with an old-style assault on rebels at the Tarantula Stargate. But true terror looms at the edges of known reality. Humankind’s eternal enemy—the brutal, unstoppable Xul—approaches, wielding a weapon monstrous beyond imagining. Suddenly not only is the future in jeopardy, but the past is as well—and if the Marines fail to eliminate their relentless xenophobic foe once and for all, the Great Annihilator will obliterate every last trace of human existence.

The start is a bit confusing because no one really know what is going on while it builds an interesting background for the story. In the 5th millennium the galaxy is organized in the Associative, a loose association of intelligent races.

The Marines have trouble with the changes in the society. Everyone is implanted and they have AIs monitoring thoughts and socially adjusting bad behavior. This doesn’t sit well with some of the marines. There is usually only a few crimes or acts of violence a year. Now there is tens of thousands all across the galaxy and some thinks the Xul are responsible. Others don’t and some wan’t to use the Marines to quell the unrest instead of sending them against the Xul.

This is the second book lately that takes up the issues with computers linking human minds to each other and to other entities. The other one is We by John Dickinson. And it should be considered, especially from today’s always connected socially networked perspective. Where will it end, and where do we not want to end up? I love to have instant access to all the information on the net, but I would hate to have someone manipulating me that way (as if we are not being manipulated every day as it is, with adds, placements and all  kinds of  marketing and propaganda). Maybe I’ll get used to it?

The science is interesting and the author might have taken a few liberties with it, but in general it is built on current theories. And the author reason with you and explains the ‘science’ making it believable. I liked the division of teleportation into quantum, gravitational, psychic, beamed and dimensional with explanation. I know Wikipedia isn’t the most reliable source of information but I did find a lot of stuff he referenced in these books in there.

The characters in the book is maybe it’s weakest side. But we are talking about military men and  women forged in battle, so maybe they don’t need to be so multi dimensional. It works in the story. You feel with them when they succeed and you suffer with them as they fail. But I at least didn’t take them fully into my heart. Each book has a main character, but they change over the series so its not like you fought with the same one for nine books.

Ian Douglas is a pseudonym for William H. Keith [homepage]. He writes military fiction and science fiction under many pseudonyms, many of them about the Marines. He joined the Navy and served as a hospital corpsman during the Vietnam era and his own experience shows.

The whole series is a great homage to the Marines, where every man is a rifleman first. It is a strong moral story about standing up for your team and your ideals. It also have great world-building and believable science within the fiction. You should read the other books in the Inheritance Trilogy before Semper Human, there is lots of references. I strongly recommend the whole series to any lover of military science fiction and space opera.