REVIEW SUMMARY: Revenge is a dish best served rare and bloody, with side dishes of complex characters that might be good, or bad, or actually flawed like real people.

MY RATING:

BRIEF SYNOPSIS: General Monza Mercatto, leader of the mercenary Thousand Swords, is mutilated and left for dead by the Duke she was working for, her beloved brother slain. She survives, and plots revenge on Duke Orso (who wants to be King of Styria) and the six others who participated in her brother’s murder. She assembles a crew of fighters, poisoners and criminals to help her along the way.

MY REVIEW:

PROS:Bloody well choreographed fight scenes; great flawed characters.

CONS: Sometimes too bloody many fight scenes; didn’t understand some of the references to The First Law series (perhaps because I haven’t read book three!).

BOTTOM LINE: A great revenge novel, with characters that are not only interesting but evolve through the enacting of the revenge. This is a bloody book (keep your kids away) but it is a bloody good book too.

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REVIEW SUMMARY: The world needs balance, grasshopper, and when I need balance from the onslaught of the vampires of Twilight I will enjoy the martial arts, sword wielding vampire that is Lawson.

MY RATING:

BRIEF SYNOPSIS: Lawson heads to Japan to unwind after some nasty work as the Vampire Council’s Fixer. But the intersection of the Yakuza, organ stealing, a rouge vampire out to create hybrids and his old human girlfriend (ex-KGB, of course) give no rest for weary sword wielding vampires.

MY REVIEW:

PROS: Very well done martial arts sequences, both in the streets and in the dojo; excellently paced (first book I’ve read in one sitting in a long time); different take on the Vampire reality; vivid descriptions of Japan.

CONS: Little SF (hey, this is SF Signal after all); some backstory from earlier books in the series provided, but some points unclear for those of us experiencing our first read in the series; Lawson’s wisecracking gets old by the end of the story.

BOTTOM LINE: Any read that pulls you into its clutches for a one-sitting read is like this one: well paced, well thought out, lots of action…the swords, martial arts and vampires creating hybrid vampire-humans don’t hurt either.

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REVIEW SUMMARY: Ender’s Game meets Payback in this standalone novel of the Stardoc universe.

MY RATING:

BRIEF SYNOPSIS: The death of her mother exposes Jory as a half-human/half-alien. She is expelled from Earth, charged by her mother to find six similar creatures who were conceived through violence. Gathering the six, Jory goes to assassin school to become a “Blade Dancer” to seek revenge on the one responsible.

MY REVIEW:

PROS: Fast-paced action; believable depictions of racial prejudice; and a military school reminiscent of the Orson Scott Card classic Ender’s Game.

CONS: Minor difficulties jumping into a world without the background of the Stardoc novels and their universe.

BOTTOM LINE: An action packed story in a socially complex universe that has me adding the Stardoc novels to my reading list.

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This post is not about science fiction. Or is it? How out of this world is a 47 country NATO force in Afghanistan, situated at Northern Kabul Airport, working to bring about not only security, but assisting with education, governance and overall development?

Throw in a couple of nanotech induced zombies, and it could be a scene right out of Patient Zero by Jonathan Maberry.

But it is real. And I’m here to pimp for books. For my friend and San Antonio homeboy, Vincent Yznaga, Lieutenant Colonel, US Army, Infantry (the mah-ve-lous looking young man in the plane on the way to Kabul). Veteran of tours in Iraq, Afghanistan and my Halloween parties, before he got smart and joined the Army. I am asking for your help to send books to Vince and his NATO force at the address included after the jump. I’ve included a note Vince sent me that describes the work they are doing with the Afghanistani people and government.

We already have books being shipped from a diverse group of friends and colleagues, including authors (Paul Levinson is sending books, as is Robert Flynn , who wanted to make sure the Army knew it was coming from a Marine), the Texas State Historical Association (who we are working with converting some of their excellent history books to eBooks), the Yang Martial Arts Association (YMAA)(excellent martial arts instructional books and fiction) and friends. Read more below, and even you biblioholics like me (I’ve sent copies of my books and many others) and John D. will be sending a book or two to Kabul.

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REVIEW SUMMARY: Joe Ledger is back, he’s mad, and ready to take on genetically enhanced humans, animals and anything in between.

MY RATING:

BRIEF SYNOPSIS: In this follow up to the Bram Stoker nominated Patient Zero, Joe Ledger and the Department of Military Sciences team fight two sets of related genetic mad scientists, one group out for profit and another aiming for race extinction. The crooks try to outwit each other while Joe Ledger and the DMS teams try to track them down. The clock is ticking on “the Extinction Wave”!

MY REVIEW:

PROS: Maberry is one of the best at writing action sequences; Ledger is a believable flawed hero; the scenarios are frighteningly realistic.

CONS: A bit too much genetic science-speak in places; some cliché bad guys and conspiracies (former Nazis are always the genetic mad scientists).

BOTTOM LINE: Global in scope, scary in its realism, this fast paced novel is only slowed by occasional overdoses of science-speak.

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REVIEW SUMMARY: Celtic gods and creatures, Arthurian legends emerge as the technology of the current world fails. A well paced, character and setting rich “old world dies, new world begins” fantasy novel (first of a trilogy)

MY RATING:

BRIEF SYNOPSIS: Our current age of technology is ending, as creatures of myth awaken. Five seemingly ordinary people in England are thrust into fighting for humanity against the gods of old. They must figure out who they are, find objects of power, and complete impossible quests…all while the world they know stops working, dodging dragons and ghouls.

MY REVIEW:

PROS: Transition from modern normalcy to chaos smooth and believable (even for a fantasy novel); Celtic myths and Arthurian legends interwoven with English landscape; awesome Picacio cover; bad ass fire bombing dragons!

CONS: Took me away from my own writing; I will get Chadbourn for that (or have him buy me a pint).

BOTTOM LINE: A excellent rendition on “the end of this world” with the starting of a different one, well written, great characters…a first book that makes you go out and hunt down the next two in the series.

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SF Signal welcomes back Larry Ketchersid, whose new novel, Software by the Kilo, is now available. Purchasers of the book are also eligible to win cool freebies for a limited time. Details here.

Like many, I am obsessed with both science fiction and history books. Obviously, history shows us what has already occurred, and science fiction’s promise is to show us futures that might be.

And sometimes those two trajectories, the past and the future, cross, and even run parallel.

During my research for my new novel, Software by the Kilo, I found yet again that the environment and surroundings of the past often parallel those in some projected futures.

Though the “genre police” have created sub-genres under sub-genres for the purposes of slotting books, one simple and straightforward method of classifying science fiction is by the amount of new technology knowledge and usage available in future world lines; a lot more, about the same, or less than we have today:

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Michael Hanlon is the science editor at the Daily Mail in the UK. His recent book, Eternity, Our Next Billion Years, bucks the recent doomsday wave of apocalyptic writing, and postulates that, yes, we humans will be hanging around for a very long time. The books is divided into three time frames (the next few centuries, millennium from now, a billion years from now) and is told in part with scientific speculation with added speculative fiction vignettes. Michael is also the author of The Science of the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and 10 Questions Science Can’t Answer (Yet).

SF Signal Irregular Larry Ketchersid interviewed Mr. Hanlon about his book, ranging through a wide variety of topics including where to spend the world’s money in the future (quite enjoyable when someone else is footing the bill), the space program and the calamities that could derail humanity.

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Jonathan Maberry is a Bram Stoker Award winning author and a martial artist. His latest novel, Patient Zero, combines the threat of bio-terrorism with an anti-hero named Joe Ledger, a high octane quick-reacting fighter with some very human issues. Joe is recruited by the Department of Military Science (DMS) to battle a terrorism threat, a biological weapon that seemingly turns people into zombies; but Patient Zero is not a zombie novel; the science, action and fighting make it had to classify, but quick paced and enjoyable to read.

SF Signal Irregular Larry Ketchersid interviewed Mr. Maberry about Patient Zero, and a wide ranging set of topics including the science of bioterrorism, martial arts, genres and the future of the Joe Ledger series.

LARRY: Your novel Patient Zero revolves around a bioterrorism agent/disease that appears to turn people into a zombie like state (should be dead, but aren’t, and are aggressive). Unlike other novels where the authors merely state “Oh! Look, a zombie”, you have quite a bit of science on how the disease works, delving into prions (which are important in studying human and animal nuerological disorders like mad cow disease, as I understand it) and TSEs. Where did you learn about prions, and what motivated you to include them in an action story?

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Like most families, mine has a long history with both the DC and Marvel characters and universes. We’ve seen the movies, and, in addition, my now 18 year old son and I have waded through the entire Justice League of America graphic novel collection, and battle as the heroes themselves while playing Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe and other video games (though my son never lets me win).

So when the offer came up from the SF Signal team to review Mr. Anderson’s forthcoming novel about the first meeting between Batman and Superman, I decided to depart from the norm and do a tag team review with my son Josh (the self-proclaimed expert in this area). The following conversation ensued:

*** WARNING: There are some SPOILERS in this review ***

Larry: Josh, the SF Signal guys gave me this new book about Batman and Superman.

Josh: What’s it called?

Larry: Enemies and Allies, by Kevin J. Anderson. He’s written a bunch of those Dune novels I’ve been trying to get you to read. He’s also written a lot of Star Wars stories as well.

Josh: What’s it about?

Larry: Dunno, I haven’t read it. From the cover it looks like the first meeting between Superman and Batman back in the 1950′s.

Josh: Sweet. I’ll read it.

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REVIEW SUMMARY: More a romance fantasy than science fiction, the bestselling author of the young adult Twilight vampire/werewolf series puts a slightly original romantic angle on the highly unoriginal sci-fi vehicle of a parasite taking over human hosts.

MY RATING:

BRIEF SYNOPSIS: A kinder, gentler version of a Stargate Goa’uld, (millions of them) take over Earth forcing human survivors into hiding. One of the more experienced parasites can hear the memory of the body she is inhabiting, empathizes with it and in listening to it creates a love triangle (or maybe quadrangle?) in a hidden human settlement.

MY REVIEW:

PROS: Well written; believable characters; quick read.

CONS: Unoriginal parasitic invasion of Earth; no science in the “other species” they have conquered.

BOTTOM LINE: For Stargate fans who want to read about a world where the parasites actually won (and are “nice”), or for Romance fans who like a like a little bit of fantasy and don’t mind the lack of science fact in their aliens. Definitely for Meyer’s army of Twilight fans. For the rest: it is a “beach read”.

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REVIEW SUMMARY: A schizophrenic, somewhat self-parodying story of parallel worlds, apocalypse and ancient civilizations.

MY RATING:

BRIEF SYNOPSIS: The Earth of Martin Winters is invaded by an alien species, an ancient civilization from a parallel world entering through gates opened during the 2012 age change, while Wylie Dale in a third parallel world tries to understand how he can know and write about these events without being there.

MY REVIEW

PROS: Imaginative apocalypse; action picks up the pace in the middle and end.

CONS: Starts slow, uneven beginning; little to no science explanations of many phenomena; somewhat contrived ending (could be related to ‘no science’)

BOTTOM LINE: An intriguing hypothesis of a possible apocalypse at year 2012, slowed down by jumps in point of view, characters that are difficult to care about and lack of hard science.

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