Author Archives: Keith West

A Review of Search and Recovery by Kristine Kathryn Rusch

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Search-Recovery-ebook-cover-webSearch and Recovery
Kristine Kathryn Rusch
WMG Publishing
trade paper, 248 p., $18.99
ebook $5.99

I’ve been reading and reviewing Kris Rusch’s Anniversary Day Saga, with reviews alternating between here and Amazing Stories. Search and Recovery is the fourth volume in the series, so as an even numbered entry, it gets reviewed here.

The previous installment, A Murder of Clones (click here for review), introduced a new set of characters in a different part of the Earth Alliance who are very much a part of the story. Search and Recovery goes back to the days immediately after the Anniversary Day attacks and focuses on two characters, although there are some others who will be familiar if you’ve been keeping up with the story. Continue reading →

Conspiracy Theories and Moon Landings

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The Cassandra ProjectThe Cassandra Project
Jack McDevitt & Mike Resnick
Ace Books, mmp, 343 p., $7.99
ebook $7.99  Kindle Nook

I’ve been a big fan of both of these authors for years, so it was with high expectations that I approached The Cassandra Project. Now the thing to keep in mind is that collaborations rarely read like the work of either author involved. In the best cases, the result is something that surpasses what either author could produce on their own. A prime example of this would be the works of Niven and Pournelle or Pohl and Kornbluth. On the other hand, when the collaboration doesn’t work, the results can be downright awful.

Fortunately, the work under consideration here is much more of the former than the latter, even if it doesn’t quite rise to the level of Niven/Pournelle or Phol/Kornbluth. I’ll say more about that shortly. First, here’s the setup. Continue reading →

Rest in Peace, Leonard Nimoy 1931-2015

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SpockThe news media is reporting that Leonard Nimoy has passed away.  He was 83.  In spite of other roles, he will forever be remembered as Spock on the original Star Trek.

I was a fan of the original ST, although I had to catch the shows in reruns at odd times when I was growing up.  I’m not sure I’ve seen all of the episodes.  I did read the James Blish novelizations when I was in 5th and 6th grades.

Spock was always my favorite character on the show.  I went through a mild phase where I tried to model myself on him by not displaying emotions and using only logic.  That didn’t last long.  I’ve no Vulcan blood.

Rest in peace, Mr. Nimoy.  You lived long and prospered.

A Review of Blowback by Kristine Kathryn Rusch

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Blowback-ebook-cover-rebrand-2014-webBlowback
Kristine Kathryn Rusch
WMG Publishing
ebook $5.99
trade paper $18.99

As I announced in my last post on this blog, I’m going to be reviewing all of the Anniversary Day Saga titles in order, alternating between here and Amazing Stories.  The even numbered titles will be reviewed here, while the odd numbered titles I’ll review at Amazing Stories.  The first one of those was a few weeks ago.

Blowback is the second novel in the series, and it takes place six months after the events of Anniversary Day.  The residents of the Moon are struggling to put their lives back together amidst the devastation.  Only the actions of Miles Flint, Noelle DeRicci, Bartholomew Nyquist, and other investigators kept the death toll from being higher.

Now these people are trying to trace where the clones came from and who sent them.  Along with the shock and grief that don’t seem to go away is the fear that something like Anniversary Day will happen again.   It’s a fear that’s well-founded, since the only clone captured alive in the previous book said that Anniversary Day was only the beginning.  Continue reading →

A Review of The Retrieval Artist

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The-Retrieval-Artist-cover-webThe Retrieval Artist
Kristine Kathryn Rusch
WMG Publishing
Paperback $12.99 Powell’s
Ebook $3.99 Kindle Kobo Nook

Over the decade and a half (roughly) Kristine Kathryn Rusch has been building what has come to be known as The Retrieval Artist Universe, a set of novels and shorter works set in a common universe.  The Retrieval Artist is the first of these and was originally published in Analog.  I know because I remember reading it in the hotel the weekend one of my brothers got married.  (Don’t ask me how I remember this; I don’t know.  I just do.)

For the past year, Ms. Rusch has been writing a five novel sequence set in the Retrieval Artist Universe called Anniversary Day.  The first two are out, and the remaining three will be published in January, February, and March.  ARCs for these three arrived in my mail box the Friday before Christmas.  I’m going to read through the whole series, alternating reviews between here and Amazing Stories.

But I decided to go back and refresh my memory of the inaugural story in the series and post a review as an entry point for those of you who haven’t read any of the books yet.

Humanity has made contact with a number of different alien races.  As you would expect, each one has its own set of beliefs and laws, which sometimes are pretty different from those of humans.  By treaty, if you break a law while in alien territory, they can hunt you down and inflict whatever punishment their laws allow, even if the infraction was unintended and no big deal in human terms. Continue reading →

Celebrating “The Season of Forgiveness”

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9781451638622“The Season of Forgiveness”
Poul Anderson
A Cosmic Christmas
Hank Davis, ed.
Baen Books
paper $12.00
ebook $8.99 Baen  Kindle Nook Kobo

Poul Anderson has always been one of my favorite writers. I’m going to be starting a project involving a number of his works next month, so watch for a formal announcement soon.

I first read “The Season of Forgiveness” when I was in high school or the first year or so of college. It’s part of Anderson’s epic future history. This story takes place fairly early in the series, during the first major series-within-a-series, that of the Polesotechnic League. (The other major sub-series is that of Dominic Flandry.)

The story concerns Juan Hernandez, an apprentice at a trading post on a planet orbiting a red dwarf near the Pleiades. A plant that produces a valuable substance has been discovered on the planet, negotiations with the indigenous aliens are underway, and a ship carrying a contingent of new workers and their families is due to arrive soon. In fact, it should land just before Christmas.

The post commander isn’t thrilled with the thought of having children underfoot, so when Juan requests permission to set up a Christmas display to make the kids feel more at home, he reluctantly grants it. During the preparations, hostilities break out among rival factions of the indigenous people.

Juan is out gathering crystals for the final touch of the Christmas decorations when he finds himself surrounded by a group of natives, and they aren’t friendly. He manages to escape, and in the process he has the opportunity to kill the natives. Instead he flees back to his skimmer, literally closing the door on a volley of spears.

When the natives ask why he didn’t kill them, he explains that in his culture, it is the season of forgiveness. That opens a dialogue with leads to a resolution of the conflict between the two groups of natives.

The resolution to the problem is a little simplistic, but this story was first published in Boy’s Life, the magazine of the Boy Scouts of America.  As such, it’s appropriate for its audience.

It’s popular in some circles to rant about how science fiction has always been about white men. Usually those doing the ranting haven’t read as much science fiction as they like to pretend.  The protagonist isn’t white; he’s Hispanic.  There are several other apprentices in the story.  They’re not white either.  And while there are no female characters, this story was written for a boy’s magazine, so I don’t see much of a problem there, {although I’m sure someone would).

I was reminded when reading “The Season of Forgiveness” of what it was I liked about Poul Anderson’s work, and what especially drew me to this particular future history.  In addition to using science to make the story work (length of planetary day, spectral classification of star, type of creatures adapted to that environment), he was able to communicate the vastness of space in just a few lines.

This isn’t one of Anderson’s major works, but it’s a solid piece of Christmas themed science fiction that works for its intended audience.  Check it out.

A Cosmic Christmas is a mix of fantasy and science fiction, all with a Christmas theme.  One of my favorite stories is included.  That would be Seabury Quinn’s “Roads”.  I looked at it in depth a few years ago.  Here’s the link to that post.

Crossing the Sea of Suns

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across the sea of suns 1Across the Sea of Suns
Gregory Benford
Kindle $6.64

Some months back I reviewed In the Ocean of Night, the first volume in Gregory Benford’s Galactic Center series.  Across the Sea of Suns takes place a number of years later, and it’s just as good as the first volume in the series.

The Lancer is a deep space ram ship that scouting nearby stars for possible Earth-like planets.  The target is a nearby star with only a catalog number that has since been christened Ra.  Signals have been detected coming from that star.

Aboard is Nigel Walmsley, the protagonist from Ocean.  He’s a bit older, but more cantankerous than ever.  He doesn’t get along with Ted Landon, the bureaucrat in charge.  After the events in Ocean, Nigel doesn’t exactly think like everyone else.  This causes friction between him and Ted because Ted is very  much a bureaucrat.  It doesn’t help that Nigel is usually right.  Too bad Ted doesn’t listen very well. Continue reading →

Visit The Fortress in Orion

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Fortress in OrionThe Fortress in Orion
Dead Enders Book I
Mike Resnick
Pyr Books
Trade Paper $18.00, 300 p.
Ebook $11.99 Kindle Nook
Audiobook $19.95
audio clip (15 min.)

Mike Resnick is one of the most prolific and honored people in the science fiction and fantasy field.  It’s easy to understand why.  The man’s work is innovative, engaging, and one heck of a good story.

Probably his most significant body of work is the Birthright Universe, which first saw light in the 1970s in Birthright:  The Book of Man.  This was an outline of roughly 18,000 years, culminating in mankind’s extinction.  That’s a lot of room to play in.  Not surprisingly, most of Resnick’s novels and many of his short stories are set in this universe.

The Birthright Universe is divided into five periods, based on the political structure of the time:  Republic, Democracy, Oligarchy, Monarchy, and Anarchy.  The Fortress in Orion is set during the Democracy.  It’s the start of what promises to be a solid series.

Colonel Nathan Pretorious is the kind of special forces operative you turn to when it’s already too late.  He’s tasked with putting together a team to try and infiltrate the Traanskei Coalition, specifically a particular fortress in Orion.  Once there, he and his team are to replace the leader, General Michkag, with a clone.  If they can get out, they bring the original with them.  If not, they kill the original Michkag and leave the clone in his place.  The clone has been thoroughly trained to take over and will end the war within a year. Continue reading →

Why We Need More Movies Like Interstellar

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interstellar 1Warning: There is an image at the end of this post that may not be suitable for young people or those with weak stomaches.

I took my son to see Interstellar yesterday. All I can say is Wow, just…wow.

All right, obviously that’s not all I can say. Interstellar isn’t perfect, but it’s a highly ambitious movie that gets so many things right. But before we get to the inevitable comparisons with 2001, along with a rant, here’s a brief (partial) synopsis of the film. Continue reading →

A Review of The Chaplain’s War

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Chaplain's WarThe Chaplain’s War
Brad R. Torgersen
Baen Books
Trade Paper, $15.00
ebook $8.99

I’m a little confused about this one. Baen’s site says the book is due to be out sometime this month (October). When I checked Amazon earlier today to find the exact release date, the book was listed as having been released on September 15. I suspect that might actually be October 15 and a slight slip-up on Amazon’s part.

None of which is really important. What is important is that Brad Torgersen’s first novel is soon to be available, and if you like military sf with a bit of depth, you should read it.

The Chaplain’s War is what is sometimes called a fix-up novel, meaning that it was originally published in parts and the parts have been fixed up to make a novel.  There is nothing wrong with this approach.

I read the first two stories that make up the novel in Torgersen’s first collection, Lights in the Deep, which I reviewed at Amazing Stories.  And while I enjoyed “The Chaplain’s Assistant” and “The Chaplain’s Legacy”, to be honest, I liked some of the other stories in the book better.

Still, I jumped at a chance to read the novel and would like to thank Baen Books for the eARC.  I discovered something.  Even though I knew what to expect for the first part of the book, I found I enjoyed the story more the second time around.

There’s a lot of military sf out there, and while I’ve not read a great deal of it in recent years, I think it’s safe to say that Torgersen’s approach is a little different.

The story concerns Harrison Barlow, a young man who is a POW on a harsh planet.  Humanity has encountered a race of hostile and very advanced aliens bent on being the only sentient race in the galaxy.  The aliens resemble preying mantises and are called mantes by the humans.  Barlow was the chaplain’s assistant.  He made a promise to the chaplain as the man lay dying that he would build a chapel for the survivors.  When the story opens, a mante scholar arrives at the chapel seeking to learn about humanity’s God.  The aliens practice no religion, and the concept of spirituality is one that is difficult for them to understand.

Through his growing friendship with the alien, Barlow is able influence the course of the war so that humanity isn’t eradicated.  A fragile peace forms, but it doesn’t last.  Barlow finds himself in the position to trying to broker a more lasting peace if he can survive.

“The Chaplain’s Assistant” is reprinted pretty much as it appeared, but Torgersen inserts a number of new chapters into “The Chaplain’s Legacy” showing Barlow’s time in basic training.  This will come to have an impact on the ending of the novel.  The military aspects feel real because Torgersen is in the reserves.

The thing I liked best about this book was that Torgersen treated the concept of faith with respect.  Not surprising since Torgersen has made no secret of his religious beliefs.  What made things really interesting is Barlow is a nonbeliever when the book opens and does his best to remain so throughout.

Before you think the author is going to beat the reader over the head with his religious beliefs or that the book is one long sermon, it isn’t.  Torgersen mixes the spiritual aspects of the book with subtlety, integrating questions about God and faith into the story organically.  The result is thought provoking questions arising as part of an entertaining story.

And the story is entertaining.  Torgersen doesn’t shy away from conflict, violence, or space battles.  Barlow is a complex character, one with his own frustrations and internal conflicts.  This is very much a military sf book, one that shows aspects of military life not always seen in other works in this subgenre.  And a book I thoroughly enjoyed.  I’m looking forward to reading more of this author’s work.