2019 Dragon Awards, Best Fantasy Novel: "House of Assassins"

The customary Amazon link I post is flummoxed for some reason. However, Here is the cover art, and a link to the book on Amazon.

Here's the link to get the book

To get the CONDENSED version of the review, you can go to Goodreads, which already has it posted. I'll also post a link to the Amazon review, when they clear it. It seems I have a lot of reviews gone AWOL, though.

Greetings, Internet friends and neighbors, and to those who are following along with the month-long series of Dragon Awards book reviews: I've got two books read and ready for review, actually, three, but the load looks larger every day. And for my family who happened by: Today is cousin Stan's birthday. It's amazing how much like his daddy he looks, isn't it?

Yesterday was a marathon reading day! I read almost 800 pages, and fortunately “House of Assassins” came first. It's quite the compelling read, and:

The purity of the writing created a momentum in my reading, and I was able to accomplish much more than I normally would. 

Actually, I just made that up. The truth is that I finished reading “House of Assassins” too early to knock off for the day, but I didn't want to try to write anything, so I grabbed the next book in the queue and started reading.

Upon reflection, the page count is rather more than 800, because it's been a LONG time since I read the first book in the series, and I had to keep referring back to it to refresh my memory.

“House of Assassins” is the second book in the “Saga of the Forgotten Warrior” series, released three years after “Son of the Black Sword.”  It's helpful, but not necessary, to read SOTBS first. There are plenty of storylines which originate in SOTBS and which are advanced or completed in HOA, but the intro material is sufficient to introduce a newcomer into the story without problem. All of my clicking back and forth between the two installments in the story were for satisfaction, and not because of confusion.

The book opens with an emotionally rich flashback into the life of Thera, the Prophet. We see her as a little girl ferociously becoming a warrior, under the guidance of her father, Andaman Vane, respected leader of his house and troops. And we discover what set her apart: a “bolt from heaven pierced her skull.” The injury/intrusion has a broad impact: her father refuses to leave her side, and those in power use this as an excuse to strip him of his position as a leader. 

The flashback ends as Thera regains consciousness in the House of the Assassins. They had captured her at the climactic battle at Jharlang, when the magic sword Angruvadal had self-sacrificed to defeat a demon hybrid, according to the terms of the prophecy. Sikasso, the leader of the Assassins, is determined to discover the source of her power and control it. Her protestations that she has no idea of how the power works, or even when it works, only make him determined to rip the secret from her by force.

Ashok has gathered a small army, an outcome not entirely to his liking. He is still under the command of Grand Inquisitor Orman, who ordered him to find and protect the prophet agitating against the rule of the Law, and standing for the protection of the casteless. Having discovered that the prophet is none other than Thera, a person he does not particularly care for, he sets out to find the House of Assassins and rescue her. In his company are Jagdish, a dishonored noble warrior, determined to regain his status by killing the wizards who wiped out his men, and Keta, the former butcher turned (mad) evangelist/priest of the Forgotten. 

They are being tracked by the Protectors, Ashok's former companions, lead by Devedas, the closest thing to a friend he has ever had. Also the most formidable foe he will face, Devedas may actually be able to defeat Ashok, now that Andruvadal is destroyed.

Along the road, they pick up Gutch, a former blacksmith turned magic smuggler. He has the ability to detect magic from a distance, and offers his services to help Ashok find the House of Assassins, who are noted for paying top dollar for magic-bearing items. 

Meanwhile, back at the city, Grand Inquisitor Orman is preparing his plan to wipe out the casteless, overthrow the ruling first-caste aristocracy, and make himself the supreme authority over all. To accomplish this, he sends out teams to devastate the countryside, and claim to be a part of Ashok's rebellion. 

And there are some really, really strange secrets that few know, and no one talks about. Anyone who stumbles upon the truth dies. (But no battle plan survives contact with the enemy.)

There is a particular type of lazy writer who drools out a story in which no rules apply, at all. That, in itself, separates them from the body of science fiction, in which the rules matter. It is perfectly acceptable practice to violate one particular reality (FTL travel is the most common example), but after that, a good writer has to work hard to provide internal consistency. When someone points out to the lazy writer that their mythical beast actually can't DO that, or that instant communication isn't established, or that there was no reason for the guy in the hat to have a yo-yo in their pocket, they offer up the excuse: “It's fantasy!” And, if the story is GOOD enough, a writer can do that, but, the lazy writers aren't that good.

And Larry Correia is the OPPOSITE of the lazy writer. In more ways than one, of course, because his output is...impressive. But here, I speak of the fact that he has an ESTABLISHED fantasy series going, when rules CAN be violated without penalty, and: he works very, very competently to rationalize it. There are science hints throughout, but the emphasis on the storyline is on the irrational, but I THINK that's along the order of “sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” 

It's not an approach taken often, and even less often is it done well. Handwavium has been around, and been popular, for a long time. It's what provides Superman with an origin story, and why Spiderman had to be bitten by a radioactive spider; those are SCIENCE explanations for fantasy. The best earliest  rationalization of fantasy that I am personally familiar with is 1969's “Not Long Before The End,” by Larry Niven. That was followed by other short stories and books with the same theme: magic is a natural resource,  and it can be depleted. 

I do not know where this series is going to conclude.  But, I find myself hoping that he woke up one night with a perfect ending in mind, and that everything this far has been in support of that superlative final scene where All Is Revealed. 

And now, The Question: Is “House of Assassins” a contender for the 2019 Dragon Award for Best Fantasy Novel?

Elsewhere, I have discussed the matter of series novels winning awards vs. stand-alone works. It's a factor, but the fact that the intro material covers the background well speaks in favor of HOA.

In prior years, I think HOA might have a lock on the award. However, this is the year in which nominations for Dragon Awards have come for books which came from sources which have previously held the Dragons in contempt. That being the case, I'm inclined to say that this is a different game than the game we played last year, and the year before, etc. 

Is it worthy of the award? Affirmatively, yes. Will it win the award? I would not bet money on it. 

Peace be on your household.

2019 Dragon Award Finalist, Best Alternate History Novel: "The Calculating Stars”

Well, the Amazon Associate links seem broken. That's okay, we don't have cookies, but we do have home made images and links.

And a link to buy it.

This is a longish review, because I needed to document some things. However, I have posted a condensed version on Goodreads, and submitted a similarly small review on Amazon. 

Greetings, Internet friends and neighbors, and a big hug and kiss to those who are following along with the month-long series of Dragon Awards book reviews: here is the SECOND review for today! 

(Ummm, no, it isn't. This was supposed to go out last night. Sorry.) 

And for my family who may have stumbled onto the site: every once in a while I re-learn why we only had dogs growing up, and not cats. Tonight is one of those times.

If my count is right, I have read 10 of the 2019 Dragon Award Finalists, and this is my 9th review. I have one I am holding in reserve, for a day when LTUE decides I don't get to read or write much for a bit. I am highly gratified to report that I finally have my daily average read required down below 300 pages per day, at least for the next 1 hour and 46 minutes. (Nope) One day real soon I'm gonna have to tackle the monster on the list (784 pages), 

BUT IT WILL NOT BE THIS DAY!

Hmm. Viggo Mortensen got more mileage out of that line. Must be the costume.

“The Calculating Stars” is, if nothing else, a paean to the courage and strength of the women featured in “Hidden Figures,” although Dilly's Girls and the Debs at Bletchley Park in WWII could also accept some of the homage given to those women with amazing math and problem-solving skills. At the time, their contributions to their countries were largely anonymous, a status which has been partially rectified in recent years. Also receiving well-earned  recognition are the women who served with the Women Airforce (or Army, or Auxiliary) Service Pilots (WASP), a cadre of over 1000 pilots who flew in various essential non-combat roles in WWII, replacing male pilots who were cleared for combat status. All of these groups are worth the time it would take to research them, and the author includes some additional information in an appendix.

Protagonist Elma Wexler York and her husband Nathaniel are taking a brief semi-honeymoon, prior to returning to jobs with the newly founded National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics in Washington, DC. He is an engineer, she a mathematician, although that title is not used for her. Rather, she and her fellows are called computers. Both served during WWII, he as an Army captain, she as a WASP.

Although the catastrophic meteorite ocean strike offshore Washington DC, at 9:53 AM on March 3rd, 1952, is the foundation of the story, this story diverged from our timeline before that event. We are told that Dewey actually did defeat Truman, and also that NACA has launched three satellites. No additional background is provided, but the author explains that she made the changes so that Wernher von Braun and his crew could receive funding from a Dewey Administration.

The couple survive the blast effects from the strike, and are able to reach their private aircraft, parked some distance from the cabin. Along the way, they see wreckage and body parts, but no living humans. Elma pilots the plane to the nearest open airfield, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. There they meet with Air Force colonel Stetson Parker, who suggests that because of the casualties in the DC area, his command may extend well beyond the boundaries of Wright-Patterson. He is delighted to see Nathaniel, as he believes that the catastrophe may be a result of a Russian rocket attack, and wants to use his expertise to prepare a counter-attack. He is far from pleased to see Elma, though, as he believes she reported him for sexual harassment ('conduct unbecoming for an officer') when they happened to be serving in the same area during WWII. 

NOTE: Throughout the book, he remains the Bad Guy. While his skills as a pilot are never in question, and his ability as a flight instructor is commended, his character strives to denigrate Elma and block her from advancement.

By virtue of family connections and her own expertise, Elma is able to gather data which predicts  global extinction within 50 years. She is able to get the attention of the acting president, the former Secretary of Agriculture. And, what with one thing and another, the nascent American space program is funded to research immediate development of off-planet colonies. NACA is absorbed into the new International Aerospace Coalition, IAC.

Elma recruits a cadre of women to run the calculations necessary to develop the hardware for the space program. Former WASPs are heavily represented, and she is also preparing the women to participate fully in the operational aspects of the program, by the formation of a women's flying club. The woman who was her original hostess when she arrived at Wright-Patterson puts her in touch with some black aviators, and the group incorporates black aviators, as well as a Chinese woman.

Elma's contact with the black women opens her eyes to the segregation in the system. The refusal of the IAC administration to consider women for training as astronauts, as well as the exclusion of non-white candidates, and her efforts to overcome that choice, provides the text for the remainder of the book.

Stories classed as science fiction absolutely get to take liberty with facts. That's NOT a negative. I'm thinking specifically about Heinlein's “Waldo” and “Magic, Incorporated,” and how much I've enjoyed re-reading those over the years. Even so, I am permitted to point out points in which the narrative seems stretched. 

I doubt seriously that there was a data base available that would have permitted such specificity of climate predictions in 1952, and even if some relevant records were available, the number crunching power of methods available at the time simply couldn't make anything like a reliable prediction. While the author does gain some leeway here, by establishing that early results weren't consistent with the original prediction, that isn't quite the point; the point is not coming up with an accurate forecast; the point is coming up with a forecast that policy-makers will accept. It simply couldn't be done. It's not a deal-breaker, though; this IS, after all, science fiction.

The massive number of innovations needed to achieve a space colonization effort large enough to guarantee the survival of the human race, within the 50-year time limit imposed, is more than unrealistic. It's not a deal-breaker, though; this IS, after all, science fiction.

One of the main supporters of the space program is said, in August of 1956. to have been a vocal supporter of Dr. Martin Luther King. That's not likely to be the case, for several reasons. At that time, King had essentially NO national reputation; he did not start to gain notice until the Birmingham Bus boycott. In addition, the possibility of the economy recovering enough by August of 1956 for a non-violent sustained civil rights demonstration along the order of the Birmingham action to take place is small, particularly since the headquarters of the NAACP is in Baltimore, which was destroyed. Finally, King was likely dead. When the meteorite hit, King was a doctoral student in Boston, and Boston streets flood during routine weather. With coastal areas being obliterated from the wave surge, it's not likely that anyone in that area survived.  It's not a deal-breaker, though; this IS, after all, science fiction.

I think the author is wildly optimistic about implementing race- and gender-free recruiting for military programs in a post-meteor US. In our own timeline, President Truman signed Executive Order 9981 AFTER he received his party's nomination for the 1948 election, and even so, the last military segregated unit wasn't eliminated until late 1954. In the chaos following the decapitation of the military in 1952, the military would revert to tradition, not accept innovation. It's not a deal-breaker, though; this IS, after all, science fiction; bit it's CLOSE.

There are two items, which taken together, DO amount to a deal-breaker for me, and they are related, via one particular scene. 

Three of the Lady Astronaut trainees participate in an exercise which simulates an aircraft crashing in water. The “Dilbert Dunker” is a real device used in training, but in this scene,  the women are given bikinis to wear, instead of a flight suit, and are photographed by a horde of reporters as they go through the process. 

This is absolutely implausible. At the time, the bikini was a new and risque item of swimwear, banned from many public beaches. A conversation with a retired NASA scientist affirmed that the intensely conservative space administration would NEVER have exposed trainees to what amounts to a wet T-shirt contest. They might have suicided before permitting women to participate in the training program, but they would NEVER have permitted such a violation of standard dress codes in such fashion.

Besides being implausible, it was the scene that convinced me that the book was less about science fiction and alternate history, than it was about polemics. We are given many examples, prior to this, of the wicked treatment the women are subject to, without any negative consequences to those who block their advancement, or even actively persecute them. There is no disputing the historic fact of systematic segregation and discrimination based on gender and race, which are the two factors presented in the book. However, the author made the point a LONG time before this scene. I found the bikini scene to be clownish and grotesque, and it utterly took me out of the narrative. 

And then we come to the question: Is this book a likely candidate to win the 2019 Dragon Award for Best Alternate History Novel?

The answer to THAT question is largely going to depend on who you ask. The Science Fiction Writers Association gave it the 2019 Award for Best Novel. It also won the 2019 Locus Award, which is determined by an online vote, with votes from subscribers to the magazine given twice the weight of non-subscribers. It also won the 2019 Hugo for Best Novel; those are determined by WorldCon members voting. And so on. So, there is plenty of support for the win.

However.

There are just too many impossible things for me to believe, and I truly was disturbed by the bikini scene. 

It is, however, guaranteed not to put a live octopus on your face.

Peace be on your household.

2019 Dragon Award Finalist, Best SF Novel: Record Of A Spaceborn Few"

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The cover art, and a link to get it on Amazon!

If you want REVIEW ONLY, with no commentary, you can find that on my Goodreads review.

I also will post links to ALL my Amazon reviews in the Dragon series as the SECOND comment, and would much appreciate it if you voted on them. Amazon is slower about posting reviews these days, even when they don't put them in jail.

Greetings, Internet friends and neighbors, and a continued SPECIAL greeting to those who are following along with the month-long series of Dragon Awards book reviews: today you are going to get TWO servings, and you might just get three. And for my family who may have stumbled onto the site: Yes, my finger WAS on the trigger, but only for purposes of posing the scene. I had removed the magazine and cleared the chamber, and I verified that before each picture.

Full disclosure: as I gathered the materials for this reviewing project, the title of this book caught my eye, and I found it very difficult to postpone reading it until yesterday. I don't know exactly WHY the title hooked me so significantly; if I understood that, I'd probably start a consulting business writing titles for books. I also found that the thumbnail pic of the author spoke to me, a bit, about a person who had fun writing a book. It seemed such a contrast to a few headshots I'd encountered lately of blustery guys with beetling brows and fierce expressions, and some glam shots of vampires;  people I wouldn't ask for a lift to the next service station if I ran out of gas.

This person enjoys writing books.

(IMHO)

This is Book 3 in the Wayfarers series, and it shows. The background work in establishing the world has already been done; we are told exactly where in the story arc this book is found. It's my hope that those who prefer origin stories above all things can find them in the other installments in the series, but I confess that I cannot testify to that of my own experience.

There are a couple of points I found confusing, although I can't really say that they detracted from the presented story in any major way. The primary confusion I had was this: we have a huge exodus of humans from a worn-out planet Earth; they have spent generations in space on their voyage. The departure from Earth is referenced in a ritual followed by those who live on the ships:

We left the ground behind. We left the oceans. We left the air. We watched these things grow small. We watched them shrink into a point of light.
(Chambers, Becky. Record of a Spaceborn Few (Wayfarers) (pp. 34-35). Harper Voyager. Kindle Edition. )

This, I understand; I've read unknown stories of giant habitat-ships among the stars. What I DON'T understand is the mechanism by which the Exodans (for so they are called) maintain contact with remaining humans on Earth, on Mars, and living in other artificial environments in the Solar system.

The other issues are more trivial. I understand that there are two primary languages spoken by humans, Ensk and Klip, and that Ensk is primarily Terran in origin, while Klip is Galactic, but I wasn't able to determine how the mix began. It's easy to pick up, and is, in fact, a central story point, that humans are significantly limited in their technological prowess. It SEEMS that they gained almost all of the essential technology currently in use as a gift from more advanced species, but the nature of the technology transfer is undefined. And the ability of humans to adapt easily to different gravities (okay, accelerations!) isn't addressed. As I said, though, these are trivial.

There is one respect in which they MIGHT matter, though, and I don't have enough evidence from this single exposure to know whether it applies. With the exception of a tiny area of science fiction literature, that dealing with the intrusion of a new technology on current society, it's accepted that you can violate any ONE aspect of reality with no penalty whatsoever. That's usually some form of hyper-space, but it can vary. However, given that single violation, anything else has to be explained, or at least justified. It's all a matter of acceptable limits. Within the context of “Record of a Spaceborn Few,” I don't know how many of the technological marvels have been properly introduced. I'm inclined to give the benefit of the doubt, as technology transfer is a significant part of the storyline. However, if it's ALL handwavium, or even if it's ALIEN handwavium, then: ouch. 

This is a mere quibble.  

The book delivers EXACTLY what the title promises. These are the personal stories of a few individuals, told over the span of a few years. I'm not really good at paying attention to chapter headings (actually, I'm very bad at it). However, the kind author provided a subtle clue about which character's POV was going to be represented in each section, via the esoteric method of TELLING US THE NAME! (Yes, I am slow to catch on.)

The protagonists are Tessa, a materials handler and young (almost single) mother of two; Isabel, a keeper of the archives of the Exodans, and administrator of rituals; Sawyer, a young adult, orphaned on a planet, who enters life aboard the Fleet; Kip, a ship-board teen who has to fight the coming-of-age crisis in an environment he finds unreasonably limiting; Eyas, a Caretaker, the high-status professional who manages the funeral rites of the ship, including preparing the bodies of the deceased into compost, which is then returned to the soil which grows the oxygen-providing plants.  Each one is surrounded by a rich community, and it's in the interaction of these with the primaries that we really understand the tensions experienced by the humans who have fled Earth.

Without exception, the characters presented seemed very real to me, and likable. There was something about each character, other than Caretaker Eyas, that I could relate to, whether encroaching limitations of aging, the perils and joys of parenthood (& grand-parenthood), or the struggles Kip and Sawyer were facing in discovery of their place in the world. As for Eyas, her story was told with such beauty and power that I didn't feel a need to recognize myself in her. 

And now we come to the question: is this book a real contender for the 2019 Dragon Award for the Best Science Fiction of the Year?

I've already addressed the issue of whether or not a series novel has the same chance of winning the award as a stand-alone novel. My answer is ALMOST the same as before “I have no clue.” However, in this case, the book in question is not the first of a series, it's the third. And, for a mid-series work to qualify for Best Science Fiction Novel of the Year, I think the burden is SIGNIFICANTLY higher; it must tell an ENTIRE story, not just a part of one.

This is just my opinion, and you can take it or leave it: while “Record of A Spaceborn Few” is an excellent read, I just don't think it brings enough innovation to the table to warrant “Best of the Year” status. Too much depends on the other books in the series. This is NOT a criticism of what I found between the covers, because I really enjoyed the book. However, I don't find myself highly motivated to interrupt my sleep to read the other installments in the series, and frankly, I think that's exactly what a mid-series nomination for Best SF of the Year ought to do.

Having said that, it was an excellent read, and I recommend it.

Peace be on your household.

2019 Dragon Award Finalist, Best Alternate History Novel: "Machines Like Me”

Don't buy this book. It's awful

Usually, at this exact point in my blog post, I include a cover image and a link to Amazon for people who want to buy the book, but are running an ad blocker.
I almost decided not to do that, because I think the book doesn't deserve to be bought.
But, what the heck. If you are determined, go ahead.

I wouldn't click here if I were you; 

it will take you where you can buy the book.

By the way, for all of those indie and small house authors: if you were wondering what benefits you get from a Big House, read the burbs on Goodreads. You'd think this was the definitive work on Life The Universe, and Everything.
I must dissent.

Greetings to all my internet friends and neighbors, and  for those of you who are following the Dragon Race To Review, here is that second installment I promised you! And to any of my family who have made an appearance:STOP. Close this file, don't read it. You will NOT benefit by going any further.

Alternate history. As soon as I started reading this book, I had to do a LOT of thinking about the field, and the most hopeful thing I came up with is: maybe it's not even science fiction, and everyone will realize that, and thus I will never have to read something like this again.

Yeah, that WAS the most hopeful thing I came up with, and the hope lasted maybe 30 seconds. It was at that point that I remembered some of the EXCELLENT alternate history I've read in the past, and hope to read more of in the future. In fact, prior to reading THIS work, the only BAD alternate history I've encountered was written by Harry Turtledove about the Civil War. It was bad, because I found NO creativity in the writing; all he did was flip North and South, turn black slaves into blond slaves, and assign slightly modified names to the principal characters, like Avram for Abraham Lincoln. That's a book your word processor can write, if you know how to use the search-and-replace function.

Still, I'd much rather read THREE works like that, than one like “Machines Like Me.”

This is, clearly, alternate history, and thus qualifies for the category. It's hard to say exactly what the point of divergence could be; Alan Turing is the most prominent secondary character, and one source said the divergence was that Turing refused chemical castration, and took a year in prison instead. That doesn't fly, though, because Turing was arrested in 1952, and died in 1954, while the book also mentions that the US did NOT drop the atomic bomb on Japan, which would have been a divergence in 1945. Whatever the divergence point, in the setting of the book, England in the 1980s, there are numerous technological advances that vary from our timeline, and that leads to a British loss to Argentina in the Falklands War.

So, yes. Alternate history.

But that hardly seems the point. Although a chief plot device is the ability to purchase a human-appearing robot, which then acts more-or-less like a human, almost all the action takes place in the mind of the protagonist. And his mind is a terrible thing to waste your time on. He's a boring drone; although not born to wealth, he has inherited a great deal of money due to the sale of his family home. He then proceeds to squander it, mostly on the purchase of a robot, but on a smaller, more constant scale by online trading. He is really a zero, going nowhere, and the purchase of a robot human mostly serves to give him the opportunity to whine about how pathetic he is.

He's right, you know. He IS pathetic. He has a wretched love affair with his neighbor, which he is afraid to invest in. They appear to have some sexual chemistry, the details of which transpire behind a closed bedroom door, thankfully, but otherwise, don't really seem to like each other.

There are plot developments. They transform the story from a dull monotonous tale of a drone who owns an android to a dull monotonous tale of a drone who owns an android and has a couple of things happen to him. However, none of the things which happen to him seem to result in any change at all.

It is entirely possible that this is a brilliant, scathing satire on middle class British life. If so, it went over my head entirely, and makes me ever so grateful that my ancestors fled the island for America.

It took me the better part of a day to read this. If it weren't for the honor of the thing, I would rather have done just about anything else.

Is this a legitimate contender for the 2019 Dragon Award for Best Alternate History? If it wins, the fix is in, and the people who are responsible for the fix wish to kill enjoyable science fiction.

Peace be on your household.

Year's Best Military and Adventure SF, Volume 5

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Here's the cover image and a LINK, if you DO have an ad blocker:

Now, I'm blogging this because it has been a LONG time since my last blog, and because I last reviewed Volume THREE in this series two years ago, and because Dragon Awards are around the corner at Dragon Con, and one of these stories will receive a reader-nom award at that time. Plus, I likely will be reviewing like crazy in August. Whatever.

Here's the review:

I'm not sure why this should be the case, but I can't find that I have reviewed the fourth volume in the series. I DID review Volume 3, and posted the review on my blog “Papa Pat Rambles” on July 2, 2017, with the title “The Year's Best? REALLY?” 
My timing is a bit off, here. I actually got an Advanced Reader Copy, but had to set the review aside, since pre-pub review isn't something I'm involved in. I set it aside for a month too long, though, and that's significant, because pre-Dragon voting is involved. 

PREFACE by David Afsharirad. Read this for two reasons: first, Afsharirad discusses his rationale for the selections, which is nice background, but SECOND! The amount of effort put into harvesting out a 'best of' collection is something I simply cannot comprehend. Anybody who does that deserves the trivial amount of effort the reader expends to read his comments.

LOVE IN THE TIME OF INTERSELLAR WAR by Brendan DuBois. It's a grim future postulated, with alien monsters in control of space, and thus in control of the surface of the planet. If you think that a fatal disease, amputation, and alien domination will prevent love, then you have never spent time in the company of a teenage boy. 

GOING DARK by Richard Fox. Again, a grim future, because the aliens have landed, and with superior technology are making a mess for the humans. Part of the human solution : develop cyborgs/golems. These are large, not-very-smart, powerful and intensely loyal soldiers, bonded to their team leader. Loyalty runs both ways, though, as anyone who has lead a team under stressful circumstances can attest.

THE SCRAPYARD SHIP by Felix R. Savage. This one is FUNNY! Yes, the technology is there, and the aliens, and the carnivorous bushes, but the deep joke is found elsewhere. It ALWAYS comes down to the little guy making the big guy look stupid. Even when the little guy is a shape-shifter. I'm not quite sure how the beautiful human girl and the strange alien guy work through their relationship, though. Sigh. Love is beautiful.

BROKEN WINGS by William Ledbetter. A beautiful story. The most SCIENCE-y part of the science fiction is an artifact found floating in space, but we don't need to know ANYTHING about it for the story to be wonderful. It's really a story about what happens when you do as much good as you can with what you've got, and don't allow what you DON'T have to rule. 

A SONG OF HOME, THE ORGAN GRINDS by James Beamon. I believe all steampunk is supposed to be creepy. Maybe not. But, in this alternative universe, an organ grinder has more than one function, and more than one meaning. Yes, there are monkeys involved. And I recommend you get a music source that allows you to hear the songs mentioned in the story. 

ONCE ON THE BLUE MOON by Kristine Kathryn Rusch. Sigh. Kristine Kathryn Rusch. It is astounding to me that a person this young could be this talented and this accomplished. It wouldn't surprise me to discover that she also knows how to repair televisions. In this story, however, she takes elements from adventure, family pathos, space treachery, hacking, and cruise ships, and gives us a heroine to admire, and one who, if she moves next door to you, makes you move to Alabama.

CRASH-SITE by Brian Trent. Creepy, convoluted, and with enough intrigue and betrayal for anyone interested in that sort of thing. Although all of the action doesn't take place in a swamp, it feels like one has soaked your underwear as you read it, and there is sand in your shoes, and no dry towels, anywhere.

THIRTY-THREE PERCENT JOE by Suzanne Palmer. Black humor, nicely done. When a guy who wants to be a baker is thrust into a combat role because his psycho mom wants that, it's hard to imagine a good outcome. And, to help us understand the story a bit better, he has various prosthetic replacements of battle wounds that talk to each other. And to him. 

HATE IN THE DARKNESS by Michael Z. Williamson. Mad Mike has so constructed a universe that we MUST root for the people who are devastating Earth. Is that not strange? In this case, there are additional ethical dilemmas, centering on the core issue of who it is that has to pay the price for policy decisions. It's all couched in an edge-of-the-seat, long distance pursuit. Yes, something can be boring and terrifying at the same time.

HOMUNCULUS by Stephen Lawson. I believe that civilization has one primary purpose: to provide for the special needs of the replacements. To be less obtuse: pregnant women and children. This story is consistent with that; in a highly toxic environment, people go to extreme lengths to rescue a small child who has escaped the safe quarters provided for him.

NOT MADE FOR US by Christopher Ruocchio. The United States is CONSTRUCTED around the concept of the citizen soldier. With all of the hoopla about the Second Amendment, you'd think that would be a bit more well-known, but it's not. But, the decisions made at the time of the writing of the Constitution, and carried out since then, is that if we go to war, we pull in a bunch of civilians, arm and otherwise equip and train them, let them do the fighting, and then go back home. It's worked...okay. It's a better system than relying on a large standing professional military. But, what if you had the technology to put your soldiers on ice? Just bring them out when there was fighting to do? This isn't a novel concept explored here, but it IS something worth thinking about, over and over again. Where will their loyalty be placed? That's just one of the first questions.

THE ERKENNEN JOB by Chris Pourteau. Ah, loyalty. The topic arises again, and it will KEEP on coming up as long as the possibility exists for their to be conflicts. Tough guys with .38s walk the mean streets of the Moon, because the game isn't EVER money; the game is POWER, and money is just how you keep score. Industrial espionage, control of narcotics, and dames. 

Now, in my review of Volume 3, I designated which of the stories I felt were worthy of being included in Year's Best, and which were marginal, and which flabbergasted. This time, not gonna do that. Last year, I took on the task of reviewing as many of the Dragon Award nominees as possible, and I found that with a few exceptions, they were ALL worth a win. And this year, I have read some AMAZINGLY good short stories, mostly in the military & sci-fi category. I don't trust my ability to make a recommendation about which is 'the best.' I can tell you that there are some that I ENJOYED more than others, but I must disclose that there are some stories that I HATE that are stark raving excellent. 
But the bottom line is this: David Afsharirad made the call to include these, and his expertise surpasses mine. 
So, that's all I have to say about that.

Noir Fatale, With Graphics (I Think)

O be joyful, internet friends and neighbors, and those relatives who are taking a break from the things which are really important! For, Papa Pat has written a REVIEW again! YAY!
Not just ANY review, either! This is a review of the lovely, delightful, occasionally scary collection of stories called NOIR FATALE!

If you DON'T have an ad blocker running, what you ought to see next is a link to Amazon's page for "Noir Fatale":



For those of you who DO have an ad-blocker running, here's a link to click. Click that, and you get a free trip to the book!

Noir Fatale: if the title doesn't hook you, you probably weren't paying attention. It is fortunate for me that Good Girls are attracted to Bad Boys; that's how the Motorcycle White Boy, aka Redneck Biker, became a permanent fixture in the life of the Church Lady, aka my gift-from-God, happily-ever-after trophy wife Vanessa, the elegant, foxy, praying black grandmother of Woodstock, GA. Flip the genders: is the opposite true as well? Do Nice Boys fall for Bad Girls? I have not a clue, never having been a Nice Boy. I suspect, though, that whether Naughty of Nice, there is something of danger, need to be rescued, sweetness of lips, with the outside hope of being shot, stabbed, or poisoned that does give these noir fatales something to work with.

MAJOR kudos to Sarah A Hoyt on the cover. She has captured a representative of the genre in the act of....something.

Kacey’s Introduction & Larry’s Introduction. Long, long ago, when I was first discovering the excitement of STORY (!), I always skipped the prefatory material. It took about twenty more years for me to discover that there was often some VERY interesting and important things going on in those ignored sections. Today, I love them! Particularly when, as in this case, we are given a peek backstage, and get an understanding about How It Works. Don't miss these!

Ain’t No Sunshine by Michael J. Ferguson and Christopher L. Smith. Slade and Collier are tough, hard-nosed PI types, not out of place in the 1930s Los Angeles setting, but in this little twister, they are in space. Slade's a bit of a techno-phobe, much to the amusement of others. Their business is (just) scraping by. Under those circumstances, you can't AFFORD to do much pro bono work. However, when an old flame, now one of the most powerful women in the habitat, dies under mysterious circumstances, penniless techno-phobes are on the job. Side characters include a second old flame, and a little sister-type. Remember the little sister in 'The Big Sleep?' The one who kept biting her thumb?

Recruiting Exercise by David Weber. Sometimes, when I read David Weber's work, I want to grab up a couple of history books, and re-examine the entire section of Western Civ that dealt with the various insanities that visited France in the 18th & 19th centuries. However, I just don't like the French very much- sorry – and so I haven't done that. This particular story deals with a young woman, starving, and with food and medicine withheld from her ailing brother, who decides to prostitute herself in order to get the things the utterly corrupt bureaucrats are holding back.

Spoils of War by Kacey Ezell. One day, Kacey Ezell is going to write a bad story. Maybe. From the evidence I've seen so far, though, that day is likely to come after the sun burns out. This gem sits on layer upon layer; the mysterious woman; the gent she seeks out for assistance, a war-time friend of her brother; and what WAS her brother up to, anyway? An evil, wicked Bad Man sends gunsels. And she has found the man of her dreams, and desires nothing more than to run away with him, and just be Joe and Betty Grumble; and Ezell writes in such a way that WE want this for her as well, and we are so very, very glad when it is finally in her grasp...
Apropos of nothing at all, did you know the most famous painting in the world wasn't really THAT famous until it was stolen? And that it's painted on wood, not canvas?

The Privileges of Violence by Steve Diamond Consider: Russia during the darkest days of consolidation of the Soviet Union; secret police everywhere; rebellions internal, and foreign intervention always possible. Therefore, the terror police were perhaps the most active and effective part of the entire country. Did I mention the monsters? Because there are monsters. With secrets. More  twists and turns in this one than in the Runaway Mine Car at Six Flags, and I believe it captures the same bleakness of spirit that Orwell painted into '1984.'

A Goddess in Red by Griffin Barber. We use the term 'goddess' to describe a woman who takes our breath away with her beauty. This one is beautiful, and she can CERTAINLY take your breath away, but she also has some pretty creepy powers. She gets involved in a plot, and you have to wonder: what's in it for her? Is this just boredom setting in? Read it with the lights on. In every room. And a German Shepherd at your feet while you clutch a cat and a Browning Hi-Power close.

Kuro by Hinkley Correia. After reading this, I became curious as to the identity of Hinkley Correia, and her relationship to Larry. One thing I can say is this: the inclusion of this story in the collection owes NOTHING to nepotism. Great characters, GREAT story. Lots of depth, and wear your seat belt. Japanese freaky ghosts, and a significant serving of what life is like for the Japanese salaryman. Well done!

Sweet Seduction by Laurell K. Hamilton. I read this story while I was in the hospital, on a clear liquid diet. I wanted all of the cupcakes described in the book, and if they had been available, I just MIGHT have broken the rules. Now aside from that, it's a GREAT detective story, and a very nicely done social commentary as well. But I must have the address of that bakery, do you hear?

A String of Pearls by Alistair Kimble. Alistair has the credentials to write devastatingly fascinating detective fiction. However, none of that is evident here. I hated this story, which is obscure, internal, and boring. If you like internal dialogue from a protagonist who never gets to the point, you'll love this. I grew tired of internal dialogue that skirted the issue of what was really going on, and resolved that this one must be DEFENESTRATED. Hit it, Alicia Ann!

Alicia Ann destroys the printer

Honey Fall by Sarah A. Hoyt The last story in which I didn't care what was going on is followed by a story in which the protagonist doesn't know what is going on. We don't either, BUT we can see that there is a clear path that will take her, and us, there. Taking place in post-war, magic-infused world, a deliciously lovely little tale of the damsel in distress, and the distress of those who wish to harm or help.

Three Kates by Mike Massa I had the great privilege of living in what was then West Germany for two and a half years, and I worked closely with a man who was a veteran of the Wehrmacht, and a woman who was a veteran of the Luftwaffe. Therefore, I know from experience that not all Germans were Nazis, nor evil, nor anything of the sort. It had to be different during the actual conflict, even without the addition of magical themes this story brings us. Our protagonist is a German agent, sent on a mission to discover certain items of power. His crisis of conscience is NOT easily resolved, and is, in fact, perhaps even aggravated by the intervention of three lovely ladies with their own agenda.

Worth the Scars of Dying by Patrick M. Tracy Evidently, story length is of great importance to me, even if I can't define it. What starts out as a simple case of a damsel in distress, seeking assistance form an innkeeper who transforms into a beast, soon devolves into a story that seems interminable. So, I terminated it. Perhaps you will find a different outcome. Kenneth, I believe this one is yours:

The Frost Queen by Robert Buettner If someone had told me that Robert Buettner, cited as one of Heinlein's heirs, author of (among others) the Orphan series, was going to write a sweet YA adventure story about heroism, sacrifice, and falling in love, I would have murmured politely and changed the topic of conversation. BUT HE DID! It's a lovely little story; I think he gets all of the characters down perfectly. Along the way, he tosses in enough references to tension between the Earth dwellers and those on the Moon that we get it, we really do. I pass his house (sort of) every time I go Papa-sit three of my grands, and I'll wave a little more sweetly from this point on. (Not to be stalkerish: I DON'T know where his house is. I just know which exit off the highway it is.)

Bombshell by Larry Correia. If Correia didn't invent a couple of genres, he certainly made them come alive to new generations. My youngest son, the Moose, is a dedicated Monster Hunter and is enormously proud of the fact that he ran into Larry at a DragonCon. But in this delightful little tale, instead of sticking with mainstream Grimnoir-type special talents, he uses a cop with ZERO talent to solve crime, in spite of the specials. It's a great story, and, as is the case with so many others in this volume, keeps you on your toes.

All in all: despite the two stories I chose to dump, it's WELL worth your time. I found this fascinating; I don't know if it can be replicated, but I, for one, would love to see more.

And I want those cupcakes, too.

Peace be on your household.