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Citizens is a new kind of science fiction anthology. The names appearing between its covers are not only veteran authors, among the very best in the field, they are military veterans as well. New York Times best-selling author John Ringo (a veteran of the 82nd Airborne) and Brian M. Thomsen, a Hugo finalist and one of the most respected editors in the field, have selected a treasure trove of gems written by writers who know first hand what it means to wear their country’s uniform.

Among the top writers appearing in Citizens are Robert A. Heinlein, Arthur C. Clarke, Elizabeth Moon, Gordon R. Dickson, David Drake, Joe Haldeman, Harry Harrison, Keith Laumer, Frederik Pohl, Jerry Pournelle, Gene Wolfe and more, nearly all authors of best sellers, and recipients of Hugo and Nebula awards. Citizens will have strong appeal to readers of military science fiction, as well as more general readers.

1. Field Test by Keith Laumer: The human generals are unwilling to field test the new Bolo Mark XX model B because it can control itself and then the enemy attack with overwhelming strength. It is a beautiful piece that proves that calculations aren’t the only thing that governs a battlefield.
2. Allamagoosa by Erik Frank Russell: An entertaning saga about what overzealus inspections might do to a poor starship captain.
3. Exploration Team by Murray Leinster: It is a tale about two men, a hawk and three bears who saves a colony and their self respect.
4. Superiority by Arthur C. Clarke: This is an old story I read before but quite enjoyed. It is about a war lost against a technologically inferior enemy and a simple request from the last commander.
5. The Horars of War by Gene Wolfe: Artificial soldiers fight in a Vietnam like jungle war
6. Fireproof by Hal Clement is a story about grounder preconceptions in zero-G sabotage
7. Peace with Honor by Jerry Pournell. Political intrigue in a Cold War like future.
8. Under the Hammer by David Drake: About a new recruit on his way out learns the hard way about the decisions you have to take in battle when his transport is attacked.
9. Time Piece by Joe W. Haldeman is about a soldier from the Forever War sitting in a bar contemplating life.
10. Neither Sleet, Nor Snow, Nor Alien Invasion by Dave Freer is a funny story about a mailman who saves us from an alien invasion and makes the whole human race go postal. Dave is a guy i have to look into.
11. Light by Kacey Grannis is where two Iraqi advisors  meet Babylonian myth.
12. The Question by Patrick A. Vanner is about first contact negotiations with a new alien race viewed from the point of view of the leader of the bodyguards that accompany the diplomats.
13. The Price by Michael Z. Williamson is about the crew of a small Freehold recon craft who get their final order.
14. Earth’s First Improved Chimp Gets a Job as a Janitor by John Ringo. The title say it all.
15. The Long Watch by Robert A. Heinlein is his classic tale of duty.

My View

I should start by saying I am not really into short stories but this was up my alley. It was a good read and if you like military short stories you will like this one.

55 Formidable Female Protagonists to help me celebrate Midsummer Eve or maybe to give you ideas of books to read this lovely summer. I am chipper today the first day of holiday. Today’s five mighty awesome protagonists include a fierce covert operative, two mighty psi talents, an undaunted and intrepid space diver and the recorded personality of a dead woman.

I will present new FFPinSF every Friday for at least four more weeks. They are selected by me drawing their names out of a bowl.

1. Cally O’Neal – Secret Assassin (John Ringo)
2. Angharad Gwyn – the Rowan (Anne McCaffrey)
3. Sira di Sarc – Welcome Stranger (Julie E. Czerneda)
4. Boss – Safety First (Diving into the Wreck – Kristien Kathryn Rusch)
5. Rebel Elizabeth Mudlark – Mind Recording (Michael Swanwick)´

Cally O’Neal – Secret Assassin

Books: Cally’s War (2004) free online edition, Sister Time (2007)  free online edition, Honor of the Clan (2009) free online edition, Eye of the Storm (2009) free online edition
Series: Cally’s War Series, Hedren War
Author: John Ringo
Genre: Military Science Fiction
Publisher: Baen

Co-written with Julie Cochrane, this series is more cloak and dagger spy genre fiction as the humans strive to overcome the game rigged by the Darhel race which has the rest of the galaxy’s races in virtual thralldom—except for the Posleen and humans whom they fear, while they systematically use humans to combat the Posleen while bleeding the humans when and where possible by underhanded clandestine acts to weaken future options of humanity.

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Angharad Gwyn – the Rowan

Books: The Rowan (1990)
Series:Tower and the Hive
Author: Anne McCaffrey
Genre: Psi | Science Fiction
Publisher:ACE | Bantam | Corgi

Entertaining novels, The Rowan is the protagonist of the first novel but she figures in the remaining books to where her children are the main characters.

Told in the timeless style of Anne McCaffrey, The Rowan is the first installment in a wonderful trilogy. This is sci-fi at its best: a contemporary love story as well as an engrossing view of our world in the future.

The kinetically gifted, trained in mind/machine gestalt, are the most valued citizens of the Nine Star League. Using mental powers alone, these few Prime Talents transport ships, cargo and people between Earth’s Moon, Mars’ Demos and Jupiter’s Callisto.

An orphaned young girl, simply called The Rowan, is discovered to have superior telepathic potential and is trained to become Prime Talent on Callisto. After years of self-sacrificing dedication to her position, The Rowan intercepts an urgent mental call from Jeff Raven, a young Prime Talent on distant Deneb. She convinces the other Primes to merge their powers with hers to help fight off an attack by invading aliens. Her growing relationship with Jeff gives her the courage to break her status-imposed isolation, and choose the more rewarding world of love and family.

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Sira di Sarc – Welcome Stranger

Books: A Thousand Words For Stranger (1997), Ties of Power (1999), To Trade the Stars (2002)
Series: Trade Pact | The Clan Chronicles
Author: Julie E. Czerneda
Genre: Space Opera
Publisher: DAW

I am currently reading Ties of Power, book two of the Trade Pact series. Trade Pact and another series called Stratification is part of Julie’s Clan Chronicles. Sira is member of the clan with supreme mental powers. Unfortunately for her she is too powerful for any male of her specie to overcome which by their biology dooms her to eternal life without any chance of ever mating. But she has a plan which includes her loosing all her memories …

A review is coming up soon.

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Boss – Safety First

Books: Diving into the Wreck (2009), City of Ruins (spring 2011)
Series: Boss
Author: Kristine Kathryn Rusch
Genre: Science Fiction
Publisher: Pyr

This story is written entirely in first person. The female protagonist are called the Boss by everyone. She is a loner, preferring her privacy above everything else. Kristine gives her some of the old man and the sea kind of vibe.

When she was a little kid, she lost her mother and her father stopped talking to her. Now she travels around the sector searching out old ships and dive in them. Her main interest  is historian but she also makes money on tourist adventure dives.

While traveling in her small one person spaceship, she comes on a strange energy disturbance and what she finds is beyond anything she could have expected. She have found a Destiny Vessel, once built on earth itself some five thousand years ago when there wasn’t any faster than light engines. No such vessel should have been able to go this far, not even in five thousand years.

After researching the Destiny Vessels and hiring a crew she returns to the Destiny. It’s interesting how well the the author describes the diving operation. The operation comes to an halt when one of the divers get caught in a strange field and dies. One of the divers steal a skip and reported the derelict to the Empires  Military. Suspecting that the Destiny Vessel was equipped with lost stealth technology the military took over the site and closed it off from civilians.

Next she is hired by Rita Trekov the daughter of a war hero that never showed up for the peace ceremony. She wants her to get him out of the Chamber of Lost Souls. This wakes memories of her own mother being lost there. So she researches him. She also goes back and see her dad. They both have issues. Rita and her father follow the team she assembles back to the old station the chamberis at. Thats when the secrets begin to come out.

The world building is better than average, the characters are vivid and the story is catching. The end build up for a sequel I would definitly buy. I have to check up other books by Kristine Kathryn Rusch.

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Rebel Elizabeth Mudlark – A Mind Recording

Books: Vacuum Flowers (1987)
Author: Michael Swanwick
Genre: Cyberpunk
Publisher: Arbor House | Simon & Schuster UK | ACE | Legend

Elizabeth and Michael Swanwick are both new to me and a story about a mind recording escape slavery for the corporation that owns it and goes into hiding in a fully inhabited solar system (our own) sounds worth reading even if it was only for the vistas.

Among the vanguard of today’s boldest writers, Michael Swanwick presents his world of plug-in personalities, colonized asteroids, and a daring fugitive named Rebel Elizabeth Mudlark, a high-tech criminal seeking refuge on Earth’s orbiting settlements–where all human evils blossom in the vacuum of space.

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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

Before reading Paul Anderson’s Flandry series of a far future where a crumbling and decadent empire need saving from crafty aliens. You can get the Dominic Flandry series in new omnibus releases, but they probably win the contest of bad covers (James Bond like man draped in nude/semi nude women).

I upped my game a bit when it came to secret agents with Morgan Roche in the Evergence Trilogy.

Cally was inherited from John Ringo’s Posleen series and I came to that from John Ring & David Weber’s excellent Prince Roger series (That one is still one of my favorites). I might in fact have read Neal Asher’s Agent Cormac series before Cally’s War but I wanted to finish with the best.

Enjoy!

Cap Kennedy of F.A.T.E

Author: Gregory Kern (pseudonym for Edwin Charles Tubb)

Cap Kennedy, is space opera in the style of Perry Rhodan. Known as F.A.T.E. in the UK (where only the first six books have ever been published), the novels follow the adventures of Captain Kennedy, an intergalactic investigator and Free Acting Terran Envoy (F.A.T.E.) of the Mobile Aid Laboratories and Construction Authorities (M.A.L.A.C.A.) who is assisted by his team of companions, engineer Penza Saratov, veteran scientist Professor Jarl Luden, and the human chameleon Veem Chemile. Tubb wrote 17 Cap Kennedy novels, all under the pseudonym Gregory Kern.

Dominic Flandry

Author: Poul Anderson

Dominic Flandry is the central character in the second half of Poul Anderson’s Technic History science fiction. He first appeared in 1951.

The space opera series is set in the thirty-first century, during the waning days of the Terran Empire. Flandry is a dashing field agent of the Imperial Intelligence Corps who travels the stars to fight off imminent threats to the empire from both external enemies and internal treachery. His long-time archenemy is Aycharaych, from the planet Chereion, a cultured but ruthless telepathic spymaster who weaves plots for the expansionistic rival empire of the alien Merseians. Similar to the James Bond stories (which started two years later), every new adventure brings Flandry another beautiful damsel to woo and rescue.

The illegitimate son of a minor nobleman, Flandry rises to considerable power within the decadent Empire by his own wits, and enjoys all the pleasures his position society gives him. Still he is painfully conscious of the impending fall of the Terran Empire and the subsequent “Long Night” of a galactic Dark Age. His career is dedicated to holding it off for as long as possible. In time, he passes the mantle to his daughter Diana, who is also illegitimate.

Flandry is willing to disregard conventional morality and use his foes’ tactics against them. He can cheerfully deceive, seduce, and blackmail; grimly and regretfully, he mind-probes his son into a vegetable in A Knight of Ghosts and Shadows, and in that same book, bombards Aycharaych’s homeworld of Chereion into radioactive ruin to punish Aycharaych for his part in fostering trouble in the marches of the empire.

Novels

• Ensign Flandry (1966)
• A Circus of Hells (1970)
• The Rebel Worlds (1969)
• A Knight of Ghosts and Shadows (1974)
• A Stone in Heaven (1979)
• The Game of Empire (1985)

Collections

• Agent of the Terran Empire (1965)
• Flandry of Terra (1965)

Morgan Roche

Author: Sean Williams & Shane Dix

Morgan Roche is an intelligence agent for the Commonwealth of Empires and the protagonist in the Evergence Trilogy.

• The Prodigal Sun (1999)
• The Dying Light (2000)
• The Dark Imbalance (2001)

Cally O’Neal

Author: John Ringo

Co-written with Julie Cochrane, this series is more cloak and dagger spy genre fiction as the humans strive to overcome the game rigged by the Darhel race which has the rest of the galaxy’s races in virtual thralldom—except for the Posleen and humans whom they fear, while they systematically use humans to combat the Posleen while bleeding the humans when and where possible by underhanded clandestine acts to weaken future options of humanity.

Cally’s War Series

• Cally’s War (2004) free online edition
• Sister Time (2007)  free online edition
• Honor of the Clan (2009) free online edition

Hedren War

• Eye of the Storm (2009) free online edition

Agent Ian Cormac

Author: Neal Asher

Ian Cormac is an agent for Earth Central Security and the protagonist for the Agent Cormac series. I recently reviewed the books here on Cybermage.

Agent Cormac Series

• Shadow of the Scorpion (2010)
• Grindlinked (2001)
• The Line of the Polity (2003)
• Brass Man (2005)
• Polity Agent (2006)
• Line War (2008)

This is my totally biased list of the top military science fiction series of our time. These are the ones I found entertaining to read and reread. My focus is as always the characters and the wow moments. Thats why there is lots of space opera here. I have followed some of the authors here for decades others for just a few years. They are all good, the focus in there books lies on different things though.

I like binary counting it seems. Counting down from 10001 in seventeen steps.

Edit: I added RCN, which I love but forgot.

10010. RCN is about Captain Daniel Leary and his friend the formidable Adele Mundy and their military adventures aboard the Heavy Cruiser RCS Milton. David Drake rewrite historical battles and wars and make beautiful military science fiction out of it.The next Royal Cinnabar Navy book to come out is What Distant Deeps that will be out in September 2010. I read RCN 7: In the Stormy Red Sky about a year ago before I started doing reviews.

10001. Starfire Series – is built on a board strategy wargame about interstellar conquest. A survey fleet travels trough a previously uncharted wormhole and run into a hive-like speice called the Bugs, all communications attempts fail and the Bugs ambush the fleet and launch an invasion against the Terran federation and nearby powers. In the center of the series is the arms race with the bugs. Later in the series there are other opponents. Solid political and military technology world building if somewhat weaker in character building by David Weber and Steve White. The fifth book Exodus is written by Steve White and Shirley Meier.

10000. Confederation of Valor – is about the futuristic career of a non commissioned officer fighting aliens for the elder races in the alliance. There is a secret behind the scenes that are gradually revealed. The Protagonist Staff Sergeant Torin Kerr keep her space marines and and superiors alive. Tanya Huff writes good characters and the dialog is to die for. My reviews of the first four books, there is a fifth book The Truth of Valor coming out in september 2010.

01111. 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.

01110. Major Ariadne Kedros – is a woman with a dark military past working as a surveyor. Her past catches up with her, both from old enemies and old friends. The world is built on Greek culture with the dominating race being the Minoans called so because they share symbols with the Greek. Temporal buoy’s play a significant part in the story as well as their weaponization. Laura E. Reeve is the creator of this resourceful and guilt ridden heroine. The third book Pathfinder is out this summer.

01101. Aldenata universe – Posleen War | Cally’s War | Hedren War – takes place in a world where an ancient race, the Aldenata uplifted a number of races, screwing them up at the same time. The only race not uplifted is the humans. When the galactic society is attacked by the ferocious Posleen there is a need for someone that can fight so they turn to the humans, who they fear almost as much as the Posleen. The O’Neal clan unite the different series. The redheaded feisty warrior princess Cally stands out together with her war hero father Mike. It’s John Ringo’s universe and he cooperate with Tom Kratman, Mikael Z. Wiliamson and Julie Cochrane there. This is also another example of a series where other races taking advantage of the human race’s ability to fight.

01100. Stellar Marines Universe – Heritage Trilogy | Legacy Trilogy | Inheritage Trilogy – is Ian Douglas Stellar Marines family saga. The Garroways fight in the sands of Mars to the Magellanic Cloud. Humanity is on the brink of extinction time after time as they fight the Xul, a galaxy spanning race of xenophobics. Built on ‘Hard science’. Ian Douglas is really a pseudonym for William H.Keith.

01011. Tour of the Merrimack – is about the  finest battleship in Earth’s fleet and its crew.The series’ arc about how to deal with the ravenous Hive, a race of space traveling insects that devour all life they come across. In The Myriad the Mack was out looking for the Hive’s Home world when they stumbled on the time traveling aliens who eventually caused the universe to throw them into an alternative reality to avoid paradox. In Wolf Star the war between Earth and the New Roman Empire is going at full blast and Merrimack is in a deep strike mission behind enemy lines when they meet the Hive again and the Romans have to bow down and admit they need help. In the Sagittarius Command they go after the cause. I love Rebeca M. Meluch’s characters.

01010. Dahak Series – Earths Moon is in reality a gigantic camouflaged battleship who’s crew become the human race. This is discovered by a lone human astronaut that has to face the ancient ship’s computer Dahak. It’s not enough that he has to deal with mutineers that survived in Antarctica, he also has to do with an onslaught of hordes of genocidal aliens and traitors. David Weber is at his best in this awesome space opera

01001. Empire of Man – Prince Roger is a failure and a brat when his starship is sabotaged and he and his company of marine bodyguards has to land on the other side of an hostile planet and walk all the way to the star port on the other side. Wonderful four armed aliens, an epic journey and a prince that becomes a man and the soldiers that fights with him. Nice technological progression from stone age to space age. Written by John Ringo and David Weber.

01000. Lost Fleet - The Alliance has been fighting the Syndics for a century – and losing badly. Now its fleet is crippled and stranded in enemy territory. Their only hope is a man who’s emerged from a century-long hibernation to find he had been heroically idealized beyond belief . Captain John ‘Black Jack’ Geary’s legendary exploits are known to every schoolchild. Appalled by the hero-worship around him, Geary is nevertheless a man who will do his duty. And he knows that bringing the stolen Syndic hypernet key safely home is the Alliance’s one chance to win the war. But to do that, Geary will have to live up to the impossibly heroic ‘Black Jack’ legend. Victorious the final book in the series is out now in April. Written by Jack Campbell

00111. Seafort Saga - is built on C. S. Forester’s novels about Horatio Hornblower and written by David Feintush. The books are set in a future human society that is largely dominated by unified Christianity. The main protagonist is a naval officer who strives always to do his duty, both to the navy and to his God, at great personal cost. Beside the personal story there is an interesting race of fish like aliens central to the story.

00110. Kris Longknife – is about a formidable woman with a knack for getting in trouble and getting out. She is one of them Longknifes and if life wasn’t enough complicated being an officer in the navy, the society of humanity dissolve and her grandpa is named King making her a reluctant princess. The Peterwald family with their long standing grudge with the Longknife set up their own little pocket empire and starts to make life for Kris and her family difficult. Lots of humor, fantastic characters by Mike Shepherd. The next book Redoubtable will be out in November this year.

00101. The Vorkosigan Saga - is about Miles and his mother Cordelia Naismith. It begins with Cordelia’s military career and the unlikely love story between her and Miles father. Miles is crippled in vitro by an assassination attempt but grows up to a crippled formidable interstellar spy and mercenary admiral. Lois has modeled the series after Hortio Hornblower with a taste of Lord Peter Wimsey. The novels stand alone pretty well but benefit from each other. Another Miles novel, CryoBurn is coming later this year. Written by Lois McMaster Bujold.

00100. Safehold – is the world where humanity hides from extermination from the Gbaba, something went wrong thou, the leaders of the colony reprogrammed the colonists in cold sleep creating a medieval world ruled by the church and themselves as Angles. When a fraction tries to revive advanced technology they are ruthlessly exterminated by orbital strikes. 800 years later their second line of defense wakes up. Nimue Alban is an android with the mind and memories of a long dead starship captain. Her mission is to restore civilization and prepare Man for the inevitable re-encounter with the Gbaba. David Weber’s knowledge in history comes to life in this beautiful military saga. The latest novel A Mighty Fortress is out this April (it arrived April 20 for me).

00011. Family’s Regnant universe – Heris Serrano Trilogy | Esmay Suiza continuation | Suiza and Serrano - is about two formidable females Heris Serrano of an old navy family and Esmay Suiza of an old army family. Characters easy to love and formidable old ladies. Much of the driving force for conflict in this universe comes from longevity treatments. Those who get it and will live long life, those who fear the consequences or those who wont wait their turn. Elizabeth Moon is an amazing crafter of characters and worlds.

00010. Honor Harrington is about a competent man kind of military woman with an empath treecat called Nimitz that becomes the foremost military commander of her time battling expansionist empires and human slavers. She is called the Salamander because she thrives in the heat of battle. There are so far eleven books in the series that starts with On Basilisk Station and the next book Mission of Honor will be out this summer. The series is written by David Weber and the success so far have lead to two sub series Saganami and Wages of Sin. The first written together with Eric Flint.

00001. Old Man’s War start with protagonist John Perry joining the army on his seventy-fifth birthday and goes off to fight in The Colonial Defence Force where he meets the love of his life, fight aliens, become leader of a colony and in general make himself useful. I am afraid to tell you much about this series because I so enjoyed the surprise  I got as piece after piece fell in place. John Scalzi is one of my favorite authors, I love his characters and his humor.

And before you say how could he miss Hammer Slammers, I didn’t. I tried to read them a couple of times but never really fell for it. Bolo is another ‘series’ that I considered but I feel its less a series and more of a loose concept even if i love them. I have probably missed some, because I haven’t read them, so as usual give me a comment, I love to get to know more military science fiction series.

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.

Books I have on Order

The Crucible of Empire
by Eric Flint & K. D. Wentworth
Empire Series 2

This is a book I am very exited about. The characterization and alien point of view from the last book in the series were fantastic [review]. The blurb is weirdly short and uninformative, rumor says Eric is very busy but is there no one else to write one?

There are nine sample chapters on webscriptions you can read instead.

The sequel to the critically acclaimed The Course of the Empire.

Trade of Queens
by Charles Stross
Merchant Princes 6

A dissident faction of the Clan, the alternate universe group of families that has traded covertly with our world for a century or more, have carried nuclear devices between the worlds and exploded them in Washington, DC, killing the President of the United States. Now they will exterminate the rest of the Clan and keep Miriam alive only long enough to bear her child, the heir to the throne of their land in the Gruinmarkt world.

The worst and deepest secret is now revealed: behind the horrifying plot is a faction of the US government itself, preparing for a political takeover in the aftermath of disaster. There is no safe place for Miriam and her Clan except, perhaps, in the third alternate world, New Britain–which has just had a revolution and a nuclear incident of its own.

Coyote Destiny
by Allen Steele
Coyote 7 (or 5 if you don’t count the stand alone books)

The unexpected arrival of a ship from Earth after their long isolation from their home world leaves the inhabitants of Coyote both hopeful and wary. The lone passenger brings news-both good and bad.

The good news is that there was a survivor of the long-ago explosion of the Robert E. Lee and he is living still on Earth, in the ruined city called Boston. The bad news is that the person responsible for that act of terrorism is also still alive-and somewhere on Coyote…

Oath of Fealty
by Elizabeth Moon
Paksenarrion universe

Elizabeth Moon is one of my favorite authors, so this is a must.

Elizabeth Moon’s bestselling science fiction novels featuring Kylara Vatta have earned her rave reviews and comparison to such giants as Robert Heinlein and Lois McMaster Bujold. But as Moon’s devoted fans know, she started her career as a fantasy writer. The superb trilogy known as The Deed of Paksenarrion is widely judged to be one of the great post-Tolkien fantasies, a masterpiece of sustained world-building and realistic military action. Now Moon returns to this thrilling realm for the first time in nearly twenty years. The result: another classic in the making.

Thanks to Paks’s courage and sacrifice, the long-vanished heir to the half-elven kingdom of Lyonya has been revealed as Kieri Phelan, a formidable mercenary captain who earned a title—and enemies—in the neighboring kingdom of Tsaia. Now, as Kieri ascends a throne he never sought, he must come to terms with his own half-elven heritage while protecting his new kingdom from his old enemies—and those he has not yet discovered.

Meanwhile, in Tsaia, Prince Mikeli prepares for his own coronation. But when an assassination attempt nearly succeeds, Mikeli suddenly faces the threat of a coup. Acting swiftly, Mikeli strikes at the powerful family behind the attack: the Verrakaien, magelords possessing ancient sorcery, steeped in death and evil. Mikeli’s survival—and that of Tsaia—depend on the only Verrakai whose magery is not tainted with innocent blood.

Two kings stand at a pivotal point in the history of their worlds. For dark forces are gathering against them, knit in a secret conspiracy more sinister—and far more ancient—than they can imagine. And even Paks may find her gods-given magic and peerless fighting skills stretched to the limit—and beyond.

Citizens
Edited by John Ringo & Brian M. Thomsen
Military science fiction by military veterans

It was the really impressive list of authors I like that got me to order this one.

Citizens is a new kind of science fiction anthology. The names appearing between its covers are not only veteran authors, among the very best in the field, they are military veterans as well. New York Times bestselling author John Ringo (a veteran of the 82nd Airborne) and Brian M. Thomsen, a Hugo finalist and one of the most respected editors in the field, have selected a treasure trove of gems written by writers who know first hand what it means to wear their country’s uniform. Among the top writers appearing in Citizens are Isaac Asimov, Robert A. Heinlein, Arthur C. Clarke, Elizabeth Moon, Gordon R. Dickson, David Drake, Joe Haldeman, Harry Harrison, Keith Laumer, Frederik Pohl, Jerry Pournelle, Gene Wolfe, and more, nearly all authors of bestsellers, and recipients of Hugo and Nebula awards.

Other Books of Interest

Mindover Over Ship
by David Marusek
Counting Heads? book 2

“David Marusek is one of the best-kept secrets of science fiction, a wild talent with a Gibson-grade imagination and marvelous prose, and a keen sense of human drama that makes it all go”
–Cory Doctorow, author of Little Brother

The year is 2135, and the international program to seed the galaxy with human colonies has stalled as greedy, immoral powerbrokers park their starships in Earth’s orbit and begin to convert them into space condos. Ellen Starke’s head, rescued from the fiery crash that killed her mother, struggles to regrow a new body in time to restore her dead mother’s financial empire. And Pre-Singularity AIs conspire to join the human race just as human clones, such as Mary Skarland and her sisters, want nothing more than to leave it.

Welcome to Mind Over Ship, the sequel to Marusek’s stunning debut novel, Counting Heads, which Publishers Weekly called “ferociously smart, simultaneously horrific and funny.”

Epitaph Road
by David Patneaude

This sounds different, I am tempted to order it now.

2097 is a transformed world. Thirty years earlier, a mysterious plague wiped out 97 percent of the male population, devastating every world system from governments to sports teams, and causing both universal and unimaginable grief. In the face of such massive despair, women were forced to take over control of the planet–and in doing so they eliminated all of Earth’s most pressing issues. Poverty, crime, warfare, hunger . . . all gone.

But there’s a price to pay for this new “utopia,” which fourteen-year-old Kellen is all too familiar with. Every day, he deals with life as part of a tiny minority that is purposefully kept subservient and small in numbers. His career choices and relationship options are severely limited and controlled. He also lives under the threat of scattered recurrences of the plague, which seem to pop up wherever small pockets of men begin to regroup and grow in numbers.

And then one day, his mother’s boss, an iconic political figure, shows up at his home. Kellen overhears something he shouldn’t–another outbreak seems to be headed for Afterlight, the rural community where his father and a small group of men live separately from the female-dominated society. Along with a few other suspicious events, like the mysterious disappearances of Kellen’s progressive teacher and his Aunt Paige, Kellen is starting to wonder whether the plague recurrences are even accidental. No matter what the truth is, Kellen cares only about one thing–he has to save his father.

Pinion
by Jay Lake

Another tempting book, this one is a steampunk, got to order the other book first…

“The delight is in what’s seen en route, as Lake has configured his world-dominating empires, one British, the other Chinese, with huge and devoted attention to the last detail. The delight of the next volume–prefigured with unrelenting clarity in Escapement’s final pages–should be the discovery that the destination adds up.” –Washington Post Book World on Escapement

Rejoin the Librarian and the Chinese submarine captain, the British sailor, the clockwork man, and the young sorceress who has gone south of the great equatorial wall. This adventure in Lake’s Clockwork Earth continues the tale begun in Escapement.

“The very cosmology of this world is an enigmatic astonishment, and it underpins every single bit of action and character….Lake has a ball transporting his characters up and down this magnificent world, subjecting them to all sorts of perils and escapes in a wild variety of settings. His three main protagonists all exhibit distinct and memorable personalities that allow us to filter their world through three prisms of intelligence and attitude….Fantasy has always been “escapist” in the best sense of the word, and Lake engineers a fine tale of humans in search of liberation from the clockwork and customs that ensnare them and us as well.” –Sci-Fi Weekly on Escapement

The Dream of Perpetual Motion
by Dexter Palmer

Starred Review. Palmer’s dazzling debut explodes with energy and invention on almost every page. In a steampunky alternate reality, genius inventor Prospero Taligent promises the 100 kids he’s invited to his daughter Miranda’s birthday party that they will have their “heart’s desires fulfilled.” When young Harold Winslow says he wants to be a storyteller, he sets in motion an astonishing plot that will eventually find him imprisoned aboard a giant zeppelin, the Chrysalis, powered by Taligent’s greatest invention, a (probably faulty) perpetual motion machine. As Harold tells his story from his airborne prison, a fantastic and fantastical account unfolds: cities full of Taligent’s mechanical men, a virtual island where Harold and Miranda play as children, the Kafkaesque goings-on in the boiler rooms and galleries of Taligent’s tower. Harold’s narration is interspersed with dreams, diary entries, memos and monologues from the colorful supporting cast, and the dialogue, both overly formal and B-movie goofy (“I’m afraid the death rays are just a bunch of science fiction folder”), offers comic counterpoint. This book will immediately connect with fans of Neal Stephenson and Alfred Bester, and will surely win over readers who’d ordinarily pass on anything remotely sci-fi.

Fledgling
by Sharon Lee & Steve Miller
A New Liaden Universe Novel

Theo Waitley has lived all her young life on Delgado, a Safe World that is home to one of the galaxy’s premier institutions of higher learning. Both Theo’s mother, Kamele, and Kamele’s onagrata Jen Sar Kiladi, are professors at the university, and they all live comfortably together, just like they have for all of Theo’s life, in Jen Sar’s house at the outskirts of town.

Suddenly, though, Theo’s life changes. Kamele leaves Jen Sar and moves herself and Theo back into faculty housing, which is not what Theo is used to. Once settled back inside the Wall, Kamele becomes embroiled in faculty politics, and is appointed sub-chair of her department. Meanwhile, Theo, who has a notation in her file indicating that she is “physically challenged” has a series of misadventures, including pulling her best friend down on the belt-ride to class, and hurting a team mate during a scavage game.

With notes piling up in her file, Theo only wants to go “home,” to the house in the suburbs, and have everything just like it used to be.

Then, Kamele uncovers evidence of possible dishonest scholarship inside of her department. In order to clear the department, she and a team of senior professors must go off-world to perform a forensic document search. Theo hopes this will mean that she’ll be left in the care of the man she calls “Father,” Professor Kiladi, and is horrified to learn that Kamele means to bring Theo with her!

What’s on your list?

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

First Contact Was Friendly

When aliens trundled a gate to other worlds into the solar system, the world reacted with awe, hope and fear. But the first aliens to come through, the Glatun, were peaceful traders and the world breathed a sigh of relief.

Who Controls the Orbitals, Controls the World

When the Horvath came through, they announced their ownership by dropping rocks on three cities and gutting them. Since then, they’ve held Terra as their own personal fiefdom. With their control of the orbitals, there’s no way to win and earth’s governments have accepted the status quo.

Live Free or Die.

To free the world from the grip of the Horvath is going to take an unlikely hero. A hero unwilling to back down to alien or human governments, unwilling to live in slavery and with enough hubris, if not stature, to think he can win. Fortunately, there’s Tyler Vernon. And he has bigger plans than just getting rid of the Horvath.

Troy Rising is a book in three parts—Live Free of Die being the first part—detailing the freeing of earth from alien conquerors, the first steps into space using off-world technologies and the creation of Troy, a thousand trillion ton battlestation designed to secure the solar system.

I had great expectation when I unwrapped the parcel from Amazon as I have enjoyed the Posleen/Aldenata universe series by John as well as the Prince Roger series he wrote together with David Weber. The Prince Roger series have been re-read many times. So I went in expecting a new great series to look forwards to. And I wasn’t disappointed.

The hardback has an appropriate  cover art by Kurt Miller. The printed cover is significantly darker than the original picture which unfortunately hides details.

Rip-off

Troy Rising takes place in Howard Tayler’s Schlock Mercenary’s Universe (please check it out)  a couple of thousand years before the comic. It’s all done with consent, but the author calls it a rip-off.

The cartoons are quite funny and they portrays aliens and humans quite alike with the same kind of motivations and life, for good and bad. But it works for me, both there and in the book.

Plot

The book is divided into three parts The Marple Syrup War, SAPL and Troy Rising.

The Marple Surup War is about how a cunning man – our protagonist Tyler Vernon who I am sure have no semblance to Howard Tayler (being a cartoonist who likes sf), in the best tradition of country folks everywhere, figure out what to trade with the Glatun and get them invested in Earth, at least for the Marple Syrup.

It starts out with first contact, which is done by phone in an amusing sort of way.

Alien trade and technology disrupt the global economy and many it professionals become redundant. Tyler Vernon has an it background but he has to make do with small jobs, cutting wood, working extra in shops and selling a few illustrations from his time as a cartoonist at scifi conventions. It is at a convention he meets his first alien.

SAPL is when the Horvath strike back at Earth and the story takes a few wierds twists. The Blond twist is a bit over the top in my opinion so is the heat thing. Tyler Vernon’s visit to an alien world as the first human and get a brain implant in an interesting episode.

Troy Rising kicks off the human’s first magnificant steps of self defence. Tyler thinks big, a thousand trillion ton big battlestation big. It’s Big. I think you get it, it’s Big.

Style

I find myself thinking a lot of cunning country folks when reading this book. It tries to stay down to earth and as matter of fact even when heading out into Space Opera. I like it.

Characterization

The most real person in this book is the main character Tyler Vernon. The characters are all a bit sketchy without much depth. Character growth is there to some extent, but Tyler Vernon is bigger than life, a renaissance man who handles alien cultures, governments and science with the same easy flair. This is to be expected in Space Opera.

World building

The world building is still a bit sketchy, but we get to know more and more of the world as the story unravels. As I said before, aliens and humans are quite alike and have more or less the same kind of motivations in this universe.

The world view is a bit politically slanted as often in John’s books, but it doesn’t make the book less enjoyable.

My view

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.

January was a good month for reading, I was on vacation until the 11th so I had lots of time to read. None of the books here was made a bad review, even if I wasn’t as fond of Multireal as I was of Infoquake, sorry David. It was really hard to rank the 7 first books this month, they all blew my mind. Ask me again tomorrow and I might change the order. If I included re reads into the list it would be different.

The picture was taken by me not very far from where I live in Norrbotten, Sweden. January is cold, it is -13C here today and darkness comes early so I prefer to stay at home with a good book.

Novels

1. WE by Dickinson, John
2. Darkship Thieves by Hoyt, Sarah A.  (DarkShip Thieves 1)
3. Infoquake by Edelman, David Louis [profile] (Jump 225 Series 1)
4. Cosmopath by Brown, Eric (Bengali Station Series 3)
5. Multireal by Edelman, David Louis [profile] (Jump 225 Series2)
6. Migration by Czerneda, Julia E (Species Imperative Series 2)
7. Regeneration by Czerneda, Julia E (Species Imperative Series 3)
8. Eye of the Storm by Ringo, John (Hedren War Series 1, Posleen universe)
9. The Tuloriad by Ringo, John & Kratman, Tom (Posleen universe) sequel to Yellow Eyes
10. Fire by Cashore, Kristin (The Seven Kingdoms 2)
11. Valor’s Choice by Huff, Tanya (Confederation of Valor Series 1)
12. Better Part of Valor by Huff, Tanya: (Confederation of Valor Series 2)
13. The Heart of Valor by Huff, Tanya: (Confederation of Valor Series 3)
14. Valor’s Trial by Huff, Tanya (Confederation of Valor Series 4)
15. Starship: Flagship by Resnick, Mike (Starship Series 5)

Re reads

1. Old Man’s War by Scalzi, John [profile] (Old Man’s War Series 1)
2. Peace & War by Haldeman, Joe - omnibus version of Forever War, Forever Free, Forever Peace

Novellas and Short stories

1. High Stakes by Hoyt, Sarah A. (DarkShip thieves universe) a free online short story
2. Judge Sn Goes Golfing by Scalzi, John [profile] (Android’s Dream universe) a novella
3. Neptune’s Orphans by Hoyt, Sarah A. (DarkShip thieves universe) a free online novelette

Books I have on order:

• Geosynchron by David Lois Edelman
• Captain Flandry by Poul Anderson
• Pleasure Model by Christopher Rowly
• Live Free or Die by John Ringo

Other books of interest:

• The Complete Hammer’s Slammers by David Drake
• Sos the Rope by Piers Anthony
• Search for the Star Stones by Andre Norton
• Steal Across the Sky by Nancy Kress
• Steppe by Piers Anthony

Science Fiction Classics published by Orionbooks UK.I had to add those I remember with fondness from  my youth.

• Gateway by Frederik Pohl
• Cities in Flight by James Blish
• Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep by Philip K. Dick
• Babel-17 by Samuel R. Delany

Tulo is a smart Posleen leader, if they continue like this the Posleen are doomed, he wants to find another way for them. The Himmel has been bribed to take them to the derelict Posleen fleet at the first planet they and the humans fought over. They fix a ship and head out, not knowing Bane Sidhe put a virus in the navigational computer. They are taken on a trip into the sad history of the Posleen race.

Meanwhile on earth Father Dan Dwyer and the Jewish Cruiser Sally marry, and it was beautiful. Dwyer’s other boss, the Pope wants to bring religion to the Posleen. Sally gets a reconstruction to space ship. They load up missionaries from all the major religion and set out after the Posleen.

I always get worried when authors start talking about religion. There is Pope smalltalk, Rabbi consultations, Muslim controversy and Guano, a Posleen preacher from Panama in this book. But it never ends up in mysticism. I prefer my hard Science Fiction boiled.

There is parallels to our time in this book. Religion screw up so much and it is still a beautiful thing. Personaly I am a bit ambivalent to the whole “For God and Glory” thing.

Much more is revealed about the Posleen and the whole Aldenata civilization. In all good read, not much fighting, some comedy especially with Sally. You can read a few sample chapters at BAEN.

I wonder how this bunch of Posleen will interfere with the other ones from the end of Eye of the Storm?

His transport to prison is intercepted  by a Bane Sidhe strike team lead by his daughter Cally, who he thinks dead. They bring Mike to earth without showing Cally.

The news of what happened leads to mutiny on the Moonbase and Fleet and they are just about to start fighting when neither side can fire their weapons.  The human mentats tell of a new enemy, more fierce and technological advanced than the Posleen.

The Darhels and the alliance depends on humans to fight their wars, and there is only one leader that can save their bacon  this time, General Mike O’Neal. But after what they did to him, his family and humanity it’s not going to  be  easy to get him to help. This time there will be change, a lot of change, with Mike O’Neal in charge of the war.

The Hedren Tyranny has invaded and they have mental powers they use for war. Michele and the other mentats have been trained in the Way that forbid violence but now they have to face the ‘Dark side’.

John Ringo is fantastic at portraing life in the military even when they are not fighting and making it  interesting to the reader. Even appointing officers and NCOs interests as much as a battle (almost). 

But there is more going on in this book, it hints of bigger powers behind the scene and the ending is a total cliffhanger. Now I have to wait for the resolution (Probably 2 more books). I was a bit disappointed by John Ringo’s homepage, there was no information on the series there, not even on this book.

Eye of the Storm (Free Online Book) was a hard book to put down, John Ringo at his best, a superb military science fiction. I recommend it.