An island in Estonia is being ruled by children who kill everyone over 40 because “You are Obsolete.” The children’s leader, Martina, has asked Livia to tell their story to the world. Livia is horrified. Just because you call out the source material you are copying (Twilight Zone and Logan’sContinue Reading
Kate’s brother, Frank, has separated from his spouse, Gary, and needs a house sitter. His house is in the eco-exclusive town of Greenloop in Washington state. Kate is an over-scheduled LA CPA who is married to the consistently unemployed Dan. She believes house sitting will be a way to relaxContinue Reading
Something evil lurks inside a Long Beach warehouse in A Walk Through Hell. Two FBI agents, Goss and Hunzikker, walk into a warehouse never to return. An eight-person SWAT team is sent in to find the missing agents. Thirty seconds later, they come out talking of dread and someone comingContinue Reading
The Last Day is about what happens to the world when a rogue star causes the earth to stop spinning. No more sunrises or sunsets. Freezing cold and darkness in one area. Burning heat and abandoned cities in another. There is one thin sliver of temperate climate. How do youContinue Reading
Shorefall is the sequel to Foundryside, which I loved. Now, the gang is back and off righting wrongs while personally profiting, of course. If you haven’t read Foundryside, please take a few days to read that book first. It will greatly increase your delight in this book if you knowContinue Reading
In the not too distant future, Korea has been overtaken by greedy companies. The populace forgets its poverty and hopelessness by playing a massively multiplayer online game, VOIDWAR. People are so obsessed with buying virtual goods for VOIDWAR that now they buy them with real money on credit. If theyContinue Reading
Welcome to the dream world that is Vagabonds! The translation creates a prose poem that lasts through hundreds of pages. In the beginning, the Earth colonized Mars. Next, came the civil wars breaking the two worlds into separate societies. Finally, came peace activities including delegations from each world visiting theContinue Reading
What happens when you mix Great Expectations with a bit of early Stephen King and a handful of Robin Cook? She has a Broken Thing Where her Heart Should Be, of course. A totally effective mashing of all my favorite 1980s books with the 1861 Dickens tale. I guarantee youContinue Reading
In Providence, Mankind is fighting an alien race that acts nothing like mankind. The derogatory label of Salamanders is applied to this exoskeletal species. They appear to live in hives the size of planets out in the far, far universe. When we first run into them, they kill the majorityContinue Reading
I’ve been a Trekker from way back. I also adored anything written by Robert Heinlein. Trigor is another optimistic space opera. It has a multitude of love, adventure, and world-building within it. Pilot X had destroyed three civilizations, including his own in the self-named previous book in the series. SoContinue Reading
It’s 2072 and most people have Augmented Reality lenses in their eyes allowing them to watch televised shows in their head. One network gets the brilliant idea of making a reality show where the winner is decided by a public vote. What is the criteria to be a contestant? JustContinue Reading
In Parable of the Sower, Lauren is a preacher’s daughter living in the broken world of the Los Angeles’ suburbs in 2024. Climate change has left the world short of water. The class battle has been fought—and won by the rich. Hope for the future is non-existent. But Lauren hasContinue Reading
Set on a foreign planet, Vanished Birds begins by telling the tale of Kaeda. Kaeda falls in love with Nia at age 7. There is only one problem. She is an alien from an alternate timeline where Earth lays dead. Unfortunately, she visits Kaeda’s planet only once every fifteen yearsContinue Reading
In New York City circa 2034, the city has been devastated by climate change. Coastal areas have been nearly leveled by massive storms. Refugees from low-lying areas have congregated in slums sporting their own money. On the morning of April 19, it is 114 in the shade. Down these meanContinue Reading
An interesting collection of twenty hard science-fiction tales selected by the author is located in the Best of Greg Egan. The longish stories deal with what it means to be human and how technology is going to change both us and our outside environment. They were originally created between 1990Continue Reading
Toyo Harada was nine when his world in Hiroshima Japan was blown apart by an atom bomb. His father died during the war and his mother died in the bombing. Harada was somehow saved. But he came back changed in the Life and Death of Toyo Harada. Harada has newContinue Reading