Omega Zero

Omega Zero, by Ryan Henry, brings back a necessary niche long absent from literature: the novella.  A post-apocalyptic novella to be precise, a genre that has recently been flooded by self-help manuals disguised as literature.  Too many novels are filled with hundreds of pages describing meaningless sub-plots or vain attempts to boost up a mediocre plot.  The reader does not need a twenty page description of a minor character’s choice of firearm.  We need to know that it shoots, perhaps accurately or not, perhaps a make and model if it helps.  Many authors betray themselves by including their own extremely specific personalities into the stories that they right.  The benefit of humanity however, is that we are all different.  A good author can look past his own preferences to reach out to a wider audience or better still, look for generalities in himself that appeal to others.  Omega Zero accomplishes this.  The fact that our “hero” Trent Hazen is a former drug dealer makes the story so much more delightful.  The almost split personality that arises when Trent finds himself alone is delicious.  As anyone who has spent any significant time alone can attest, this is a natural occurrence without the world falling apart.  In the absence of companionship, we often create our own. 

Our hero does eventually find an actual companion but when facing the end of the world, any relationship can become strained, including those with strangers.  The outcome of all this straining is that Omega Zero is filled with what seems an extraordinary amount of adult language.  This does subside the further one reads and we can hopefully chalk it up to our hero’s former lifestyle since he is the one spewing most of these epithets.  The story takes place in the South, in the mountains…cue banjo music.   The obligatory Bible-thumping hillbilly scenes are included.  One may hope these characters are somewhat tongue-in-cheek humor although their treatment did seem a bit overdone.   One final warning: this is a realistic novel that contains the reactions of a drug-dealer and several gang members to an “end of the world, we are the only survivors” scenario.  There is extreme violence and the previous mentioned language.  A movie would be completely rated R.  The novel is not a hopeless one and becomes touching at times as we watch our protagonist work through the unimaginable complexities that are thrust at him.  I will not include a spoiler but if you read most of the book, please finish it.

The story felt rushed at times and although I believe in the resurgence of the short novel, I truly hope the author decides to turn this into a full length novel or at least write a part two, give some of those Old Testament Mountain Men a chance to redeem themselves.

Available for Nook or Kindle: January, 2013

Midshipman's Hope (Seafort Saga)

 

Midshipman’s Hope, by David Feintuch, is an excellent escape.  The first novel in what would become the Seafort Saga, Midshipman’s Hope is a rousing space adventure to rival Starship Troopers in dominating militancy and overall action.  The ceaseless comparisons to C.S. Forester’s Horatio Hornblower series are well founded but fall short in accurately describing the trials and tribulations faced by our Midshipman hero, Nick Seafort.  Where Forester took several novels to bring Hornblower to maturity and full command,  Feintuch brings the reader there successfully in one.  For those unfamiliar with Hornblower, his was a life spent in the nineteenth century British Navy, with accompanying pomp and circumstance, strict rules, and an above-all unquestioning loyalty to military discipline during war or peace.  Feintuch flings the idea several centuries forward.  Man has conquered space and the traveling of interstellar distances.  Earth is ruled by a somewhat domineering United Nations who has a healthy respect for a strict social order.  Young Mr. Seafort is just entering a life of naval service as the novel opens but is quickly faced with life-altering decisions that will affect not only himself but those hundreds of people with whom he comes in contact throughout the book.  For fans of Hornblower, I have six words: imagine Hornblower in space with aliens.  For everyone else, think classic space opera: Flash Gordon, Captain Future, Starwolf, Deathworld.  For adult audiences only as there are some adult situations and language.

Open Road Integrated Media, available January 2013

Crown Thief

Easie Damasco continues his reluctant heroics in David Tallerman's newest contribution to his Thief series.  Crown Thief picks up where Giant Thief left off with Damasco continuing his adventure along with most of his compatriots from his first adventure.  In Crown Thief, we are treated to more of Damasco's uneasy attempts to do the right thing, attempts that do seem to become more natural to him over time.  Without giving away too much, Easie loses some friends, gains some enemies, and repairs a few relationships from Giant.  Saltlick the gentle giant is still a major character (perhaps with as much claim to a protagonistic role as Easie in this book). If for no other reason, you SHOULD pick up this book to read Easie's neverending banter with his would be assassins; who else could stay so cool under pressure...Han Solo anyone? Easie finds himself teaming up with one of his antagonists from the first book, Captain Alvantes, and their squabbling banter comes close to resembling long lost brothers (You read it here first if it shows up in a book later!).  They are out to stop a cabalistic group of conspirators from taking over the land. 

Crown Thief manages to retain the light air of Giant Thief in the adventures of our roguish and hesitant hero thief.  Where Crown Thief excels is in bringing a greater and more serious sense of danger to Easie's life while that danger is still treated by Tallerman with Tolkein-esque respect for the reader's imagination. Too many new authors try to cram 50 Shades of Gray or Reservoir Dogs into The Lord of the Rings but the very thing that has resonated with readers of Tolkien throughout the years, the very thing that keeps Frodo, Gandalf, and the rest of the Fellowship at the top of a nearly unreachable Parthenon of fantasy literature, is that Tolkien left so much to the imagination.  He focused on fantasy and the creation of new worlds and characters, not overly descriptive texts on sex or torture.  Perhaps he did the world a disservice by preventing new generations of authors from inventing new realms of fantasy on their own.  Perhaps the new generation just lacks his imagination, for what covers much of bookshelves today are soap operas and treatises on pain wrapped in pretty fantasy paper.  A good author can create a sense of desire, love, or danger without turning the stomach or becoming inappropriate for younger readers.  Tallerman accomplishes all this. His Thief series can be enjoyed by readers of all ages.  Alpha Double Plus!

An Angry Robot Book

The Rise of Ransom City

The Rise of Ransom City by Felix Gilman is a novel that, had it been written before the flood of self-publishing and mass-generated science fiction, could be required reading in high schools or colleges.  It is that good.  There are seeds of A Brave New World, Atlas Shrugged, even The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.  While Ransom City very much appears to be a fictionalized version of the life of Nikola Tesla set in an alternate timeline, Gilman does a fantastic job of recreating his fantasy Tesla in the form of our novel's hero: Harry Ransom.  The Rise of Ransom City actually takes place after Gilman's previous work, The Half-Made World and brings along a loosely associated storyline but it can stand alone and needs no outside introduction to any of the characters or events it contains. Ransom City is the story of Harry Ransom's rise in fame and popularity as the creator of the Ransom Process (told through a series of correspondence): a semi-magical, semi-mechanical engine that is reminiscent of a cross between the Tesla coil, Tesla's AC dynamo-electric machine, and possibly his supposed "death ray."  Much like Tesla's misunderstood inventions at the time, Ransom's creation is attributed at various times to basic mechanics, magic, madness, possibly even a hoax. Ransom's stated goal is to bring free energy to the world; meanwhile nefarious and opposing factions are out to stop him by any and all means necessary.  The story of a semi-magical, mystical energy device is interesting enough on its own but Gilman's superb writing makes The Rise of Ransom City complete as a great novel. Sample if you will a piece of the author's wit when Ransom meets with another character in the novel for the first time:

"He raised one eyebrow. I don’t know if I mentioned his eyebrows before but they were as impressive in their own way as the mustache. Throughout our conversation they bristled and flattened as he spoke so that they could express good humor at one moment, curiosity the next, fulminating wrath when necessary. Sometimes I felt I was conversing with the eyebrows and he was merely taking notes."

A great story such as the story of the Ransom Process is hard enough to come by but good writing is increasingly harder to come by and Gilman gives us that rare combination of both.  Ransom City is a page burner but set aside all distraction for the story will become complex at times and subtle nuances which are easy to miss and essential to the experience help to give the story a distinct but light voice.

Published by Tor Books

Extraction

While this is a short story, I am including it based on the placing of its context into the larger storyline revolving around one of literature's relatively newest but most commanding personalities: Agent Pendergast. The story takes place as a retroactive memory told by Pendergast to his protégé, Constance Greene, and bears out a local legend of the tooth fairy that he and his brother experienced as children. The theme of the story is obviously tongue-in-cheek horror with a touch of humor, being released so close to Halloween (and currently only available on e-Readers). As with the earlier Pendergast novels, the writing team of Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child has mixed legend with reality to create a compelling story that stands well on its own but is a must for any fan of the Agent. 5 out of 5 stars

Nexus

"There is a war coming. A world war. Not between China and America. Between humans and posthumans." The central theme of Ramez Naam's first novel revolves around the much misunderstood technology of brain computer interfacing and leads us into a realm of possible future with that technology. Kade is a young PhD candidate full of innocent idealism who is forced to face the reality of his creation, Nexus 5, a drug that can enhance the mind's interfacing with centralized networks, be they human or machine. The novel focuses more on the potentiality of a hive-minded outcome rather than a Neo-esque completely computer interfaced one (think The Matrix). The author has an agenda and that is to promote BCI for the public good.  Naam was involved in the development of Internet Explorer and has worked in the nanotechnology field so his technical expertise is complete and his passion spills through each page. The challenge for an author however is to curtail some of that into a believable story and while there is some obvious attempt at creating a protagonist moment within our hero, it never fully materializes; he never seriously questions if what he is doing is right, forcing the world to advance into a collective mind. There are some great chase scenes involving militaries foreign and domestic and some excellent, "posthuman" enhanced fight scenes (again, think Matrix-lite) but the novel is heavily dependent on a reader's knowledge of technology in order to fully grasp the intricacies of the plot. Nexus is a good read and can be a page-burner if the reader chooses to accept the reality of the world into which he is reading (isn't that why we are here?).  Heavy language and some adult situations.

An Angry Robot book
Available January 13, 2013

The Grand Slam

The Grand Slam by Mark Frost is for the true fan of golf and weaves a compelling story around Bobby Jones and his attempt to win every Major Golf Tournament that was open to play in 1930. I cannot imagine that there are many more who would enjoy this novel but for those fans to whom it was obviously written, the book is a grand slam. Taking you through almost every hole in major tournament play, and certainly the ones that mattered, the reader truly does feel that he is on the fairway with Jones and gets to relive his storied life on the course during his tournament years. The author does not stop at Jones' completion of the only single year Grand Slam in history but takes you deep into his twilight years, treating Jones' physcial descent with grace and respect. Frost leaves the links from time to time to place the birth of modern golf in a larger context of American History through the first World War, the Roaring Twenties, and the Great Depression. The book is not as dry as one would assume and can be a page burner, but a technical understanding of the sport is a must. 5 stars for any fan of golf history. 3 stars otherwise.