Welcome to a new and exciting monthly feature from yours truly here at Astroguyz.com. As you know, when we’re not creating science and science fiction literature, we’re consuming it with gusto. This is a tradition that goes back to the halcyon pre-internet days of our youth, when books and Space: 1999 reruns were “what there was…” [Read more...]
Review: How Dark the World Becomes by Frank Chadwick
April 26, 2013 By Leave a Comment
Out now from Baen Books!
Word is out in the cosmos; humans are first class criminals.
This week’s review offers an interesting insight into a question astrobiologists and science fiction fans have often pondered; how would we stack up against other alien species? Are we smarter, dumber, faster or the only race dexterous to play Eruption on the guitar this side of the Milky Way? [Read more...]
Review: Reaper’s Legacy by Tim Lebbon
April 19, 2013 By Leave a Comment
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It’s always great to see major world cities laid to waste all in the name of an apocalyptic science fiction saga.
Perhaps, the promise of an eventual Armageddon is comforting in a way, a realization that the mundane drudgery of daily life may yet come to pass. Hey, there’s no shortage of world-ending scenarios to choose from these days in sci-fi, from zombie plagues to alien invasions, zombie alien invasions… and, well, you get the idea.
Review: Tiger by the Tail by John Ringo and Ryan Sear
April 12, 2013 By 1 Comment
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Always count on a spec ops team to get the job done. Or, as in the case of this week’s review, deliver the goods on action and adventure. Tiger by the Tail by John Ringo and Ryan Sear is a first rate, no-holds-barred action-fest that spans Southeast Asia. Out from Baen Books, the book is a standalone work in the Paladin of Shadows series. [Read more...]
Review: Necessity’s Child by Sharon Lee & Steve Miller
April 5, 2013 By Leave a Comment
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Nothing says science fiction like old school world-building. Through the use of a thoroughly constructed backdrop, the reader soon gets lost in a world as familiar as their own neighborhood. Some of our faves in terms of science fiction world building include Dune, City without End and The Quiet War saga. [Read more...]
Review: Apollo’s Outcasts by Allen Steele.
March 22, 2013 By Leave a Comment
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It’s time to go back to the Moon. With the recent passing of Neil Armstrong, it’s a bit disconcerting to think that in a decade or so to come, we may inhabit a world where no living human has walked on the Moon’s surface. [Read more...]
Review: Sixth Column by Robert Heinlein.
March 15, 2013 By 2 Comments
On sale now!
Heinlein is one of the greats, an American Science fiction master on par with Arthur C. Clarke and Isaac Asimov. I grew up reading such works by the seminal great at Space Cadet, Farmer in the Sky, and Friday. To date, die-hard fans still rave about his Starship Troopers as “Star Wars before there was a Star Wars” and lament its 1997 movie adaptation. And with his naval background, Heinlein can arguably be called the grandfather of military sci-fi to boot. [Read more...]
Review: Earth Girl by Janet Edwards.
March 1, 2013 By Leave a Comment
Out in March!
You can’t go home again as the old cliché says, but what if you were trapped there permanently? We’re uniquely adapted for life on our tiny blue-green planet, but one often wonders if our space-faring descendants might see it as otherwise. Would a living on the Earth be seen as a blessing or a curse?
Review: The Crossing: Blood of the Lamb Book One by Mandy Hager.
February 22, 2013 By Leave a Comment
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Anyone that follows this space knows that we love us some dystopian science fiction. From 1984 to The Hunger Games, there’s just something that’s oddly comforting about a warning presented by a frightening future heeded.
But what is it that makes us think that doom and destruction is always just around the corner? Why is it that while half of America is tuned into Downton Abbey on Sunday nights, the other half is watching The Walking Dead? And hey, is there a market for a series that mashes up the two?
Book Review: Perfect Planet, Clever Species by William C. Burger.
February 1, 2013 By Leave a Comment
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It is one of the biggest questions in science. How unique are we? Has the drama of life and intelligence played out countless times in the history of the cosmos, or are we so improbable that we are effectively alone? Either answer is a stunning relation. In this week’s review, Perfect Planet, Clever Species out from Prometheus Books, author William C. Burger uses some of the most recent cutting edge findings to tackle the question of how human intelligence arose. We’ve discussed the “Rare Earth Hypothesis” and reviewed the book of the same name. Proponents posit that the Earth and life on it are the result of a fortuitous set of circumstances, from the existence of plate tectonics to a large axis-stabilizing moon to a large gas giant world (Jupiter) “goal-tending” the inbound stream of comets & debris. [Read more...]
Book Review: The Skybound Sea
January 25, 2013 By Leave a Comment
Sam Sykes’ The Skybound Sea, Book Three of the Aeons’ Gate Trilogy, is a remarkable cap to an absolutely action-packed trilogy.
First, the title is very enigmatic. The explanation comes well into the book as our adventurers work their way — individually or in teams — to the island of Jaga to stop Ulbecetonth, the Kraken Queen, from returning to the land of the living. Jaga is where sky and sea have no boundaries. The action in the skybound sea with water plants and swimming creatures acting as though they’re in the sea tweaks the imagination. It adds another level of complexity to an already somewhat less than simple plot and cast of characters.
Our heroes/heroines continue their personal battles with internal and external demons throughout this book. What remains surprisingly intact is their dedication to the quest and, by extension, to each other. All are needed to make it happen, and each works to that end. The character development, interplay and evolution is fascinating and not so fantastic. At any point, dark or light could prevail. Sykes never really lets us know until it happens.
I was very taken with Sykes’ concise and still very descriptive depiction of beings, landscape, and combat. As I’m writing this, I can still see in my mind’s eye physical attributes of various characters, the essence of the skybound sea, and the ebb and flow of the several conflicts throughout this story. Description is always key to storytelling, but essential in a fantasy story. Until the author puts pen to paper, all the color lives only in the author’s mind. In my opinion, Sam Sykes nails it.
I’m thinking we’ve not seen the last of Sam Sykes; possibly not the last of the adventuring team that survives Aeons’ Gate, either. That works for me. I for one am anticipating whatever Sykes is serving up next.
The Mammoth Book of Futuristic Romance edited by Trisha Telep.
January 18, 2013 By Leave a Comment
On sale now!
Ah, it’s the bane of many a writer, science fiction or otherwise; just how do you write a good sex scene? How do you “come at it” (bad pun intended) without sounding like the letters to the editor in the Penthouse forum? Where does romance end and erotica begin, and for us speculative fiction writers, just where do aliens and zombies fit into the mix? [Read more...]
2012: The Year in Science Fiction & the Look Ahead at 2013.
January 12, 2013 By Leave a Comment
Katniss kicks butt in 2012!
(Credit: Lionsgate).
Ah 2013… at last, another Trek Year is upon us. And with the flip of a calendar, we realize that we’re ritualistically late for our yearly roundup of the Year in Science Fiction and a look at the year ahead. And like previous years, this list is a highly biased, highly opinionated look at what engaged our web-shortened attention span in the world of science fiction in 2012. It’s of note that not a lot of indie sci-fi flicks caught our attention in the past year… or did we simply fail to dig deep enough? Squirrel!
Review: The Lazarus Machine by Paul Crilley.
December 14, 2012 By Leave a Comment
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By now, we should have given you, the curious reader, a firm grounding in the sub-Sci-Fi genre of all that is Steampunk. From The Strange Affair of Spring Heeled Jack to Mike Resnick’s The Buntline Special to the Society of Steam series of books, there are copious alternate history timelines to explore with a snifter of brandy by the e-reader cyber-light…
Review: A Red Sun Also Rises by Mark Hodder.
November 30, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Available for pre-order now!
It’s interesting what can inspire a story sometimes. Asimov said his Foundation series sprung from looking at a coffee table book with an image of a dancing soldier; The “OZ” of Wizard of Oz fame came from a second volume filing cabinet marked “O-Z.”
Review: Blowback by Kristine Kathryn Rusch.
November 23, 2012 By 2 Comments
Audible Edition on sale now!
Technology is a Pandora’s Box. Once you put something out there into the universe, you never can predict the manner in which people or (other sentient species) will use it. Or in the case of this week’s review, how it’ll come back to haunt you. This week, we look at Blowback by Kristine Kathryn Rusch, the 9th book in the Retrieval Artist series out in December from WMG Publishing. Fans of this space will recall our reviews of Rusch’s excellent Diving universe series, including Diving into the Wreck, City of Ruins and Boneyards. Rusch is an excellent world builder, and we especially enjoy the refreshing new universes she utilizes along with the engaging characters that populate them.
Blowback deals with the fallout and the aftermath of the Anniversary Day attacks on Earth’s Moon. We thought it elegant and fitting that the Earth Alliance has a Port named Armstrong on the Moon; hopefully it’ll be in or near the real series of craters named after the Apollo 11 astronauts. The book takes a fascinating turn into an alien underworld as Retrieval Artist extraordinaire Miles Flint returns along with his daughter Talia to uncover a plot that may dwarf the initial Anniversary Day attacks. This is juxtaposed against interplanetary politics and efforts by the Moon’s Chief Security officer Noelle DeRicci to hold an uneasy United Domes government coalition together. We always like our intergalactic politics as truly alien, and Rusch delivers the goods. Its one thing to depict members of a Federation whining about treaties, quite another to depict motivations that are truly, well, alien.
And speaking of which, there’s another excellent twist to think about as depicted in the book; the psychology of alien criminals. While it’s easy to depict their motivations as similar to our own (in fact, science fiction serves as a sort of “modern day mythos” in this fashion), Blowback offers another tier of realism by giving alien criminals often inscrutable goals and motives. Which raises the question; what is a crime? While it’s arguable that an alien civilization will by necessity be subject to the same crucible of evolution and have to come up with laws against murder, stealing, etc in order to co-exist, how those might apply to outsiders and differ in more sophisticated concepts is less clear. While Blowback and the Retrieval Artist series touches on these issues, perhaps there’s healthy fodder for Law & Order: Alpha Centauri out there in the sci-fi universe?
But as usual, we digress. Do give Blowback a read. We’d like to point out that the author has an excerpt of the book up on her site for the month of November, and puts featured chapters of her work up every month. We have to admit that we’re a newcomer to the series, but may have to dig in to the earlier books. Blowback does stand on its own as a great read!
Note: A complete listing of Tales of the Retrieval Artist universe can be found here.
Review: The Doctor & the Rough Rider by Mike Resnick.
November 9, 2012 By 1 Comment
Available for pre-order!
The West has never been wilder… as a veteran of the 2011 & 2012 NecronomiCon, we’ve noticed the enduring fascination with fans in all that is Steampunk. Strange, in that said genre really doesn’t have a flagship franchise such as a Trek or Star Wars. Or at least, not yet. [Read more...]
2012-2013: The Year in Science Fiction Poetry
An excellent collection!
Some years ago, we toyed with the idea of writing a post on Science Fiction poetry. As it came up in the queue, we pondered if there would even be enough to write an entire blog post about. We’d encountered a few examples of sci-fi poetry over the years, but it still seemed to be very much beyond the purview of the mainstream… [Read more...]