To call myself a fan of the Transformers would be given too much weight to the term ‘fan’. Born in the late’70’s and a child of the 80’s, I, like many, was a Hasbro kid, which means I was a kid who was still young enough to make the transition from being a Kenner Kid who graduated to Yo Joe! and Roll Out!. The availability of variety, via the net of media actually reduces saturation, or rather concentration that a child can be exposed to. Consider this, as child of that era played with his Tranformers toy, went inside and watched the cartoon, and then opened up the Marvel comic and many did the same with G.I. Joe; indeed none of my peers that I can remember were not aware of the Transformers as it was a much less specialized market which is why I am still amazed at when looking back that the quality of G1 Transformers cartoon still holds up amazingly well and unlike its Joe counterpart, the Transformers cartoon was actually superior to the comic, so there is some legacy involved.

Let me admit that outside of accidentally watching some episodes of Beast Wars - a couple of which were rather clever, but overall was a tarnish I could have done without - my viewing history of Transformers doesn’t go much beyond the animated film which I still have memories of being so damn cool, as picture this: with everything on the line, Optimus doesn’t bring an army with him to turn the tide of a battle on earth: he brought the Dinobots! That aside, what we are talking about here is Transformers Cybertron: The Ultimate Collection DVD set, and I think my viewing experience will proves to be something that could parallel many others my age in regards to personal viewing pleasure and that of a parent looking at something for a child of today.

First, this - for a new viewer- essentially is a reboot or retelling of the story of the Transformers and one can buy and view this collection and know nothing that has occurred prior to, or perhaps - which most likely is the case - have only the movie (live-action) as a reference and looking for a hybrid/adaptation cartoon for the kids to enjoy. There are the familiar figures of characters like Optimus Prime and Megatron, as well as Starscream who seem for the most part very familiar in demeanor surrounded by facsimiles of previous characters and a dose of new characters as we explore different worlds. The basic gist is that the Transformer’s home planet of Cyberton is in danger of being destroyed by a Black Hole effect that was created with the destruction of Unicron which causes the Transformers to take refuge on Earth and to take up the guises of earth-vehicles (sort of ) to blend in as they look for a way to save their home, which is presented by an ancient Transformer, Vector Prime, who tells them of the need to find the lost Cyber Planet Keys, items or rather artifacts, of ancient power that were part of a past Space Bridge project of their ancestors that if found could stop the aforementioned Black Hole. The show is essentially different quests, be it on earth, or other planets to find these keys by both the Decepticons and Autobots preserving the continuous theme in Transformers that while enemies they are both fighting for, and in fact love their home, a dynamic that always made the Decepticons and particularly Megatron just a bit different from many animated villains, a facet highlighted by instances of team-ups between Prime and Megatron in different adaptations against common causes (the Insecticons come to mind).

As a fan of Generation 1 Transformers, when you start watching this set it is hard not to feel disconcerted , and admittedly you enter the experience ready to condemn and call the effort blasphemous, and getting through the first few episodes was a chore mostly because of the choice of having the Transformers themselves done in CGI while everything else is standard animation and simply getting your head wrapped around that this is no longer your Transformers. What helps this set is the sheer amount of material; there are a lot of episodes and thus Transformers Cybertron starts, albeit it slowly, creating its own space. This is four seasons of material, fifty-plus episodes, and the farther I got along, the more and more I felt myself allowing the series…truthfully I want to say exist but more appropriately to legitimately hold my attention. The use of CGI starts to morph from oddity tom something you convince yourself actually highlights the intrusion or contrast of the presence of giant alien robots in the setting we are familiar with, and you actually start wondering where it’s all going knowing that there is such a body of material ahead of you. To (partially) offset a monotony to the adventures, you do explore plenty of environments, be it different locales on earth: deserts, Atlantis, etc as well as different worlds in search for the cyber keys, from places dubbed Speed World and Jungle Planet and more than a healthy dose of naming that deal with greek mythology from Hyperborea (which also means something to SF/F heads) , Ogygia, and even a Stranger in a Strange Land reference.

The presence of three human children (Lori, Bud, and Coby) who aid the Autobots add the element of connectivity and to kids and simulated interaction, as they aptly play the role of the human contact. Their role is sometimes forced, and often begs the questions of how they explain their presence in these events around regular life (because they are young kids), but serves a role and to the shows credit you see an attempt to every now and then offer a glimpse of their families to attempt to answer these questions on some level and to act as an offering to wondering adults. They also serve as the ‘and now you know” element in the show which is rather heavy-handed throughout for me, but I would view as a plus to me in the presence of young kids that we already hadn’t lost to pseudo-angst, thought it is not exclusive to them as the Autobots frequently take moments to point out a moral. If anything truly could be labeled as a continued annoyance, it is the tendency for every time a weapon is used ,the Autobot of Decepticon has to announce it and its name, usually after Transforming (which also tends to be announced) and certainly worst of all, the use of the cyber keys to ‘power-up’ Transformers that always force us to watch (several times an episodes) a Transformer essentially calling upon the power of Greyskull, all of which are cut scenes that amount to take any fluidity away from the what would otherwise would and should be the coolest parts of an episode. It kind of goes against the lesson of Macross, that while could be accused of being overly dramatic at times (what I would call awesome) when it’s time to battle you got to let loose and let it be fluid - in this regard Transformer Cybertron gets in its own way and actually instances of action turn out to be great times to leave the room to refill a drink. There are odd allowances one has to get over that have to be overlooked for even kids to enjoy the series, and that is that Optimus Prime, who in all incarnations is supposed to be the greatest of leaders of a technologically advanced race of beings comes off as tactful and intelligent as an average child and thus what you have is a show that continually battles itself as it has a story to tell but can never maximize that story by having to be i aware that six year olds are watching it, and what you don’t want is a show that is so caught in the middle that you have young children asking how is Optimus not noticeably more knowledgeable than the human kids in the show (not to mention themselves) - and I realize this is supposed to be empowering and to cement a place for the kids in the show who act like avatars for kids watching, but the presence of humans featured in just about all forms of Transformers have always in my view been a detraction excluding maybe Spike, who just because of age allowed for much of what occurs with trio in this series to be more of a non-factor. With further thought, however, you realize this is not so much different from previous shows as the Autobots have always been just ‘dumb enough’ to not in fact be evil, and the Decepticon, for all the examples that show Megatron as being a badass always are just quick enough to call a retreat to not win.

Among the amount of sizeable product mentioned in this set you will find no special features. A fan of such extras in specific movies, I’m not at all sure what could have been included that could have proven interesting to me, which may indeed be the fault in itself.

The obvious violence that would be implied between combative factions of warring giant robots aside, Transformers Cybertron turns out to be collection that I can’t deny would be an awfully nice little show for very young children, that eventually becomes more than bearable to parents - though completely unwatchable by unsheltered teens - having to watch to with them and at a nice price point as this is a rather immense volume of work that represents - I think - real value in terms of hours-per-dollar. This is billed as a loose sequel to previous shows, Transformers Armada and Transformers Energon but if I hadn’t read that elsewhere, I would have never known, as this DVD set functions extremely well on its own and as noted earlier, is for all intents and purposes is its own mythos. One that I can appreciate equally for existing as being separate from the true Golden Age of both Autobots and Decepticons, represented by my Transformers - where Walther p38’s and microcassette players are still cool.


Jay Tomio
The Bodhisattva

Bitterwood by James Maxey is on its surface a fantasy tale of dragons versus humans. Our titular character is Bitterwood. Notice his name is not Mellowwood. He is not a laid back easygoing man. Dragons have ruined his like and he’s….bitter. Bitterwood has vowed not to rest until he has hunted and killed every dragon in the world. Despite their power and their position of rulership over humans in the world, the name Bitterwood still inspires fear, as he is a man with nothing to lose with the expertise and will to kill dragons. That is his only ambition in life, and his motivation is born from personal vengeance not the cause of humanity as a whole.

Humans being oppressed by dragons, and an anti-hero obsessed with delivering vengeance despite overwhelming odds are pretty standard s for a fantasy story. The biggest question would be whether Bitterwood could bring a twist to the story to rise above the average

Bitterwood did not take long to toss out the first morsel when a Southern Style fire and brimstone preacher comes to a village preaching the salvation of God. Blessed with inhuman strength and endurance he seems to be the very messenger of God. That’s certainly unexpected in a dragon ruled world of fantasy, and it’s a spark that kickstarts the story from the get-go.

As we progress through the story, in the presence and in flashback, I feared for awhile that the story would turn into a complicated story of political intrigue and powerplay within the court of the dragon king Albekizan. Instead individual characters moved back to the forefront to give me someone to latch onto as I read the story. Personally if I’m going to read a story high on the political intrigue, it had better be written by Robert Jordan or George R.R. Martin. Even Jordan’s plots became so complex and intertwined that I began to get lost in the intricacies as The Wheel of Time got deep into the series. So I was beginning to get nervous as we saw the interplay between the King’s sons, his royal mage, his royal biologens, and his insane, murderous brother.

King Albekizan was determined to exterminate the human race in revenge for the death of his favorite son. Many in his inner circle disagreed with this plan, and even desired to overthrow him and bring forth a new age for the race of dragons. Most of the motivations here had nothing to do with altruism, but rather personal agendas.

The book then moved some characters to the forefront and provided some sympathetic characters through which to tell the story. That allayed any concerns that I had and got the story flowing again after it had been in danger of stagnating a bit.

We learn that there is much more to this world and to the story than what had previously been apparent. As more twists are parceled out, Bitterwood becomes more of a fantasy/science fiction story.

I liked that part of the story evolution a lot, and became more and more engrossed in the story as it went along. While these more science fiction elements were intriguing to me and added to the story in the way that they were incorporated they didn’t affect the overall world, nor have any bearing on the war that was brewing between dragons and humans. If those elements are to be used to their full potential we would need to see them expanded in the additional books of the Dragon Age series.

It was these elements that added the unpredictable into a story that was predicable on the larger scale. The story gave us unexpected alliances, secret plans, betrayal, daring escapes, and heroic victory against overwhelming odds. There’s our basic scoop of chocolate ice cream. It’s good. The science fiction that James Maxey sprinkles into his recipe are the fudge chunks. They make it better.

When I say science fiction don’t expect spaceships streaking through the sky unloading arsenals of laser weapons. Things are handled more subtly and expertly than that, and I thought that it provided the gem of the story. The backstory of Bitterwood, and his character development that was intertwined into the story was more interesting than the character in the present day portions of the story. He’s definitely a flawed hero, if he can even be called a hero. Perhaps he will blossom in future books but he wasn’t the most interesting character in the story, or even the second most interesting. Bitterwood is not a hero. He’s just a man with a grudge, a lot of arrows, and a knack for using them to kill dragons. Many of our science fiction pieces swirl around Bitterwood though, so his story is still of interest within the novel. He does also begin to show signs of wanting some purpose in his life other than to kill dragons. I suppose that’s a classic portion of the journey of a hero, so I don’t believe that Bitterwood will end up taking a backseat in the novel or series named after him, even if that happened to an extent in this book.

I’ll be interested to see who the central character ends up being. Jandra, the 16 year old human apprentice to a dragon mage would be my candidate and was my favorite character in the story.

I give Bitterwood a 7.5. The fantasy portion of the story, taken alone, was above average, on the strength of the elaborate focus on dragon society and culture. It was the other twists that made this an even more interesting tale and raised my rating a bit. For this series, if in fact this is the beginning of one, to truly remain above average the pieces of the larger world as a whole and some of its history and truths needs to play a larger role in the story. Hopefully they will be more than just interesting addendum to the story. Bitterwood promises much. We’ll have to see if it delivers in its sequels.

Chris Keating hated his life. He hated living on a planet covered mostly with water. He hated the smell of rotting seaweed. He hated his job and the fact he was an orphan. However, he despised the Selkies more than all of these hates put together. Modified genetically from human DNA, the Selkies were beings who could live underwater and on land. They had gills, modified hearing, vision and speech, all of which enabled them to be at home in the sea while still looking human. Because they were so at home in the water, Selkies ruled Marseguro, the planet Chris had the unfortunate reality of calling home.

Settled when a starship escaped Earth to flee religious and political persecution, Marseguro has remained hidden from Earth for seventy years. Not anymore. Selkies and humans alike will face their greatest fears when Earth seeks that which was lost to them seventy years ago, causing all involved to come to terms with the realities of prejudice and hate.

Portraying people at their worst and their best, this book challenges readers to revisit their first impressions. The unexpected dives in the storyline only add interest and depth to what could have been a shallow and simple sci-fi tale. Characters face issues of nature vs. nurture, the effects of bullying and the deep seated threads of prejudice, yet readers do not need to acknowledge any of this to enjoy Marseguro. Added to the mix is delightful display of tech that more resembles Star Trek (possible) as opposed to Star Wars (never gonna happen).

I liked this book more than I thought I would when I first picked it up. The author was constantly surprising me, which doesn’t happen often, twisting the usual sci-fi conventions into more than just a shoot ‘em up space opera. Edward Willett has created people, personalities with belief systems and misguided judgments who make mistakes in trying to do what they believe is right. Still what I would consider light reading, Marseguro is a great way to spend a Saturday afternoon on another planet. I look forward to the release of the sequel to Marseguro, Terra Insegura, later on next year.

McDevitt returns readers to his well-known character Priscilla “Hutch” Hutchins, Academy starship captain and willing space explorer. While remains of several civilizations have been discovered, no living intelligent societies have ever been located. In fact, at this point in the story the official opinion is that no such life forms exist. However, a civil organization calling themselves the Contact Society firmly believes the establishment is wrong. When an alien satellite begins broadcasting to an unknown receiver, they demand a full expedition take place and commission Hutch as their captain.

I always enjoy McDevitt’s work. His talents lie in making science fiction seem completely believable. The technology is well-crafted and I enjoy the idea that space exploration calls for archeologists as much as NASA scientists. He doesn’t answer all the questions, but leaves a bit of mystery to intrigue his readers. The people are very real and always seem to remind me of someone I know. chindi continues this tradition, containing characters complete with blind spots, hang-ups, and as many opportunities for mistakes as brilliance. This is not a book for readers who need a neat and tidy package with all loose ends firmly tied. Like real archeology, the reader never gets the entire picture. The search, however, is addictive and completely worthwhile.

Likeable as chindi is, I felt the ending lacked the usual punch. He had me totally involved until the very end and then lost me in the grand finale. Yes, we are talking about alien life forms, but what happens at the end of chindi is too alien for me and therefore anticlimactic. Having said that, I have read this book several times and enjoyed it each time. The story is good, even if the end is a little campy. If you like McDevitt, definitely continue exploring space with Hutch. If you haven’t tried any of his books, feel free to start with this one. Each book can stand alone and I think chindi is worth it.

Fact: I like robots. Whether they are broken, sadistic, stupid, massive iron giants, or just downright sexy, I am constantly fascinated by humanoid machines. Yes, they fall on metal knees to robotic clichés: either they want to be real with a soul thingy or they are angry and revolt against their makers. Fine, that's fine. I can read through a couple versions of these stories again and again so long as everything else is fresh enough to keep me awake. Our gadget-enthused society (pretty soon cell phones will be able to microwave meals, tazer small dogs, and rewire bank accounts; I promise you, give it five more years and you’ll see) makes it quite easy to foretell a world where robots and humans co-exist.

With all this said, it’d be a no-brainer that I’d enjoy Robotika by Alex Sheikman and Joel Jason O’Chua, a story of discarded cyborgs, genetically-enhanced samurais, and biological experiments in a future far removed from the one we know today. Unfortunately, I didn’t fall as hard for it as I’d have liked.

It’s the future (though the year is unknown), and humans are constantly upgrading their latest stream of robots, tossing the old and outdated wayside. These discarded bots slink away to the edges of the universe where they begin their own existence, forgotten and ultimately uncared for. The Queen’s chief scientist has created a “biological machine” that could finally properly unite cyborgs and humans. Silly science guy, biological machines are for kids. He’s assassinated (rather abruptly) and his creation is stolen away. The Queen puts mute-face Niko to the task of returning the invention, and fast, as she has a meeting soon with some bigwigs and is unable to cancel. Queens, think everything rotates around them. Out Niko goes to steal back what was wrongfully stolen, make some new friends, and never say a goddamn word. Genetically-enhanced soulless ronin sellswords—what are they good for? Absolutely nothing.

Honestly, I learned more about Robotika from its Amazon page than from actually reading the hardcover book. Er, graphic novel. Graphic book? I don't really know what it is. Both the writing and art are so unconnected that it was hard to follow what was happening, why it was happening, and whether or not I was supposed to care. The writing is sparse and so stock that I just wanted to stab every character in the mouth whenever they spoke. Actually, of the three main "heroes"—Niko, Cherokee Geisha, and Bronski—one never says a word, the other talks in an unreadable manner, and the last uses such brainless phrases like "Take a chill pill!" The plot is very ho-hum and not the clearest thing to follow. I believe the two stories within Robotika are only the beginning, but even then I had no idea why anyone was doing what they were doing.

Let's take a moment to address the biggest problem for me with Robotika. That'd be Cherokee Geisha and her speech problem. To show that she's not speaking the same language of everyone else, Sheikman and O'Chua has her words written down, and I mean downwards as such:

T
H
I
S
!

Imagine reading like that for any number of pages. Enjoying yourself yet?

Sheikman’s art, along with O'Chua’s coloring, was a hit or miss with me. Some pages are clearly more detailed than others, and when it comes to futuristic landscapes or smoking deserts, the artwork is spot on. Buildings rise up into the clouds, flying mobiles zooming around them, or vast wastelands stretch out to the horizon, coupled by a pitch-perfect sky. But then a lot of the panels are merely talking heads with no backgrounds at all. Half the time the characters are barely colored in. There are a couple of "cover" shots that are impressive, but other than that I wished they had a more narrative feel to them. Seeing how one panel went to the next became a chore, especially when the action picked up. There are two bonus comics at the end, both drawn differently than the main work, and they are fairly enjoyable. They give some background information and offer complete stories where the others are part of a much larger epic.

Unfortunately, I can't recommend Robotika, especially at the price tag of $19.95. It's a story and world we've seen before (cough The Matrix cough), and there's little reasoning to care about those parading about in this adventure. Sheikman and O'Chua do have some interesting ideas here and there, but not enough to make their silent samurai and renegade robots stand tall above the competition.

To be honest, George Mann's introduction to the Solaris Book of New Science Fiction did little to entice me to continue flipping the pages. Turning in at just a couple paragraphs, it reads more as an introduction for the Solaris imprint than the anthology they are actually launching. I've always enjoyed a little looksee into why an editor picked a certain story, or even seeing them genuinely excited about 'em, and nothing pleases me more analytical dissections of the genre, but alas there is nothing like that within. And because of this, I'm to assume there's no interconnecting theme in the anthology (though there always is a theme, no matter how subtle), and so the Solaris Book of New Science Fiction comes off as more just a bunch of stories collected together in a book for easier distribution, simple as that. Thankfully, these are some damned good stories.

"In His Sights" by Jeffrey Thomas strongly opens the anthology, showcasing a subgenre of science fiction that wavers between cyberpunk and psychological horror. We have Jeremy Stake, a mutant from Punktown who is also a military returnee from a war fought between the blue-skinned Ha Jiin and the humans. Stake wears a mask to hide a power (curse) of his, stealing the faces of others. In this case, he's specifically wearing the face of the last man he killed, a Ha Jiin, which leads to problems fitting back into society. Though there was a section where the POV changed back and forth between two different characters, confusing me in an instant, the story is a good one. There's a heap load of tension, a monsters-living-among-the-humans sort of city à la Perdido Street Station, and in the end, explosive action that has some horrifying outcomes. Well recommended.

One of my favorite stories from the Solaris Book of New Science Fiction, "C-Rock City" by Jay Lake and Greg van Eekhout follows a man known simply as Porkpie living on an asteroid-melded planet as he searches for a mother he's never known. Events unfold rather rapidly, but the mystery of how C-Rock City exists and functions helps to fill in the gaps while Porkpie moves closer and closer to finding out where he came from. The characters are fun, and the relationship between Porkpie and Rocky adds a lot to the tension; Porkpie is clearly a loner, but the sort that just needs one person to know him and love him and treat him like he'd treat them. Rocky or his mother, in the end, Porkpie might not have either. I also believe I've spotted a quiet homage to Frank Wu, the Hugo Award-winning artist that has previously worked with Lake. In "C-Rock City" Wu is what Wu already is, an artist with a talent for creating mesmerizing pieces of work, paintings so powerful and telling that they themselves give names to the ships and sectors of the city. It's a nice touch though I doubt van Eekhout had a hand in it. There's enough history and setting in "C-Rock City" for further adventures, and truthfully, the ending didn't feel as complete as it could have been. This is not a complaint at all—I only want more.

"The Bowdler Strain" by James Lovegrove is the sort of story that seems down right silly when its premise is written out (or even described to someone), but the tale of a logovirus that eliminates the ability to properly swear worldwide is executed marvelously. It's Professor Hugo Bantling's fault, letting the virus escape on his watch, and he can only sit back and watch as it spreads from the Ideative Manipulations laboratory in Gloucestershire to soon all of England. Now it's not a deadly virus, killing folks off by the droves. But there is the fear of worldwide panic and all eyes tracing the blasted thing back to Chilton Mead and Bantling and his cohorts. To speak of how Lovegrove handles a story about swearing with swears in it (but not really) would ruin the charm of the "The Bowdler Strain." The ending is quietly done, but it suffices.

Paul Di Filippo's "Personal Jesus" is also another story with a premise (and outcome) that is borderline preposterous, but when handled profoundly within the mold that is science fiction it comes across as ninety percent amazing and ten percent haunting. In the near future, godPods are the latest trend, and everyone in the world seems to have one. Each godPod comes with its own personal deity (Jesus, Mohammed, Budhha, etc.), and it acts as a living conscience, a voice to turn to for advice. Some people never turn theirs off. Shepherd Crooks believes his to be broken, but forgets about that problem instantly as his personal Jesus tells him that he'll finally score with Anna, the woman he's been pining over. Things seem like they're all going to turn out for the better, but the godPods have something else planned. The revelation of what and where and who felt like a throwback to the golden years of SF, back when pulp was all there was to know. Much like Di Filippo's "Wikiworld" from Fast Forward I, he presents another future where the technology has become more important than the users, frightening and plausible and a subject that will never ever go away.

"A Distillation of Grace" by Adam Roberts is a story of scrutinized breeding done through a line of specific generations in order to achieve a Unique, a being embodying grace itself. This is said to happen by the words of Shad (bless his memory!), and the task of overseeing all this falls upon Cole. He is to make sure Medd, a boy of fourteen, impregnates a young girl named Rhess. Unfortunately, Medd claims that he does not love her and will not help to create a being of grace. Roberts' storytelling is fluid and engaging, never losing itself amongst all the religion and theology. There's even the hint of humor sprinkled in, but I did not find the ending to be satisfying after such a tremendous setup. Others might see it differently, and I'd still suggest them reading it even though it didn’t blow me over.

To say I didn’t get a little emotional over Stephen Baxter's "Last Contact" would be a lie. The end of the world is to happen on October 14th, and everyone knows it. To their dismay, nothing, absolutely nothing, can be done to prevent it. Maureen and her daughter Caitlin are doing much like others: living their lives as if they knew nothing at all, but it is much harder on Maureen who is receiving garbled messages from space. There are no twists here, no sudden revelations that make things worse or better. "Last Contact" plays out like you're told it would, with the world ending, but that doesn't make watching Maureen and Caitlin's lives shatter any easier to experience.

Of the longer stories in the anthology, "Zora and the Land Ethic Nomads" by Mary Turzillo (who dropped her middle initial here and is quickly becoming one of my favorite short story writers, closing in right behind Tanith Lee and Ursula K. Le Guin) and "The Accord" by Keith Brooke were the best of the bunch. Turzillo's story is an intricate study of society, traditions, and the adaptations life has to make to survive. Plus, it's set on Mars, which only a confident voice can pull off, and just like she did with "Pride," a far-fetched idea about raising genetically-crafted saber-toothed tigers, she's flows with ease. "The Accord" reminded me a lot of Tanith Lee's earlier novels, Don't Bite the Sun and Drinking Sapphire Wine, which revolved around the perfect of most perfect worlds, where one only had to suffer if they chose to. Aldiss' story kickstarts off perfectly with Tish Goldenhawk, a local, encountering a mysterious fellow in her bar who just so happens to bring trouble with him. The twists and turns are plentiful, but more so, they are interesting which kept me turning the page.

Eric Brown's "The Farewell Party" rounds out the anthology, doing a fine job of bringing the book to a close. It's a quiet story set in England about a group of people surviving out their nights through social drinking. A mysterious stranger (aren't they always?) arrives, gives them the name of Gregory Merrall, and is instantly welcomed into their clique. Slowly, the back story of the alien race Kéthani and why they've chosen Earth as their new home is revealed, along with Gregory's secrets. Throughout "The Farewell Party" a thin air of uncertainly hangs overhead, and for good reasoning. Though the ending itself is not something terribly new to the "aliens are invading our planet" bend, it is satisfying in that it confirmed my suspicion of Merrall all along. Definitely worth a read.

Some stories didn't work for me, which does not necessarily mean they're terrible compilations of words and adverbs and plot devices, just tales that didn't quench my SF thirst, so to speak. Neal Asher's "Bioship," a piece that heavily plays out the tropes now associated with the New Weird, did little to impress me and it eventually lost me in its absurdness and unclear characters. The narrative style of Peter F. Hamilton's "If at First…" turned me off. And "Four Ladies of the Apocalypse" by Brian Aldiss, while aptly written and more than effective for its length, felt out of place in a book that seems more focused on science fiction than horror.

There are some strong stories in Solaris Book of New Science Fiction, enough to warrant justified praise, and my only major gripe with the anthology is that it ultimately feels unfocused. That, or I've been reading too many genre anthologies lately and everything is blurring together now. I mentioned earlier how there is always a theme, even if it's very subtle. To say death would be the easy way out; a lot of the stories here were rooted in ideas of people's places in society and learning to adapt to whatever ways they are supposed to. Whether it's coming back from a war with the face of a dead man or learning about alien traditions on Mars, it all comes back to being human, reacting naturally, and surviving by any means.

But really, that Stephen Baxter story, completely worth purchasing the book. I am not a member of this year's Worldcon so I cannot vote for it to win a Hugo. I am also not a full-fledged member of SFWA, and alas, cannot nudge it for a Nebula vote. If any of you out there have the power to do these things, read "Last Contact," let the world know its greatness, and make all things right.

Eson is the heir to his family's legacy of steam power and possessed of almost-sorcerous abilities with paper and ink that have granted him power over others in business dealings. Yet, despite all that he has, Eson is lonely and unlucky in love.

Kyra has been sent to the enchanting Broken Glass City to find Eson, as punishment for stealing from her employer. Upon finding Eson and pretending to be someone else to win her way into his confidence, she gradually falls under his influence and struggles with her affection for him and her knowledge of his unethical use of power. In time, she draws others into Eson's orbit, setting off a chain of events that will change all of their lives.

The Steam Magnate is interesting from a number of angles. Of particular note are the strong characterizations: Eson, Kyra, and Jado are all well-drawn and very human in their struggles to come to grips with their various natures and the events unfolding around them.

I also enjoyed the depiction of the Broken Glass City, to say nothing of the various other locales featured in the story: stone walls with patterns of stained glass that seem to form words or images of past events, depending on how one looks at them. A number of interesting sketches of various locations (the High Bank, Jado's tea shop, etc.) are included throughout the book as well.

As with the other debut I've read this year, I have to say I'm impressed this was a debut novel. Copithorne has a gift for prose and characterization, and I enjoyed the slow approach she takes, as well as the almost dream-like feel of various parts of the story (Jado's first encounter with Eson, etc.).

The only nitpicks I have is that Eson's abilities never seem completely explained, not to mention just why Eson was meeting Sarah (the woman whose identity Kyra ends up assuming) at the beginning of the book never seemed to have been touched upon. In any case, those are minor issues and I wouldn't say they detracted significantly.

In sum: An excellent debut and the hinted-at sequel certainly has a hard act to follow.

Chance Fortune takes place in a world that has a prevalent super-hero population. The goal for those with powers is to be accepted into the Burlington Academy for the Superhuman. Josh Blevins has one goal in life, to be a superhero. But there is a problem; he has absolutely no powers to speak of. But his luck changes when a retired superhero, Captain Fearless, moves into his neighborhood. After Josh discovers his true identity, Captain Fearless agrees to train Joshua and teach him everything that he knows. When Josh’s application to the Academy is rejected Captain Fearless interjects and pulls some strings creating a false identity for Josh, Chance Fortune, whose power is unnaturally good luck. When Chance gets accepted into the academy Josh is off to new adventures.

Berryhill has an obvious love for all things comic book and pulp related and it shows on nearly every page of Chance Fortune. The obvious glee that is readily apparent on every page become infectious as the story kicks into gear. There are numerous references to comic books, super heroes, movies, books, comic book creators, silver age super heroes and pulp heroes, I swear there was even a reference to the movies Stripes and The Outsiders but I cant prove that. As engaging as the central story is, picking up on the myriad of references becomes its own game. Now, if the book were only homage then it would be a flat reading experience, but Berryhill has a firm grasp on the pulp type story that he is paying homage to that his story stands on its own.

One of my favorite moments happens when he first arrives at the Academy Josh and the other new students are introduced to the presiding council of seven super heroes (most if not all of whom should be recognized). As each super hero is introduced it is reminiscent of a professional wrestling event with each one receiving their own theme music and dramatic entrances. The scene is indicative of the fun tone of the book; I couldn’t help but smile when reading this and could easily imagine Berryhill doing the same while writing it.

Upon arrival Chance is grouped together with other students. They become a team and will train together and work their way through battles that are scored on school wide inter class rankings. The other members of Chances team are Psy-Chick, Shocker, Gothika, Space Cadet, Iron Maiden, and Private Justice and together they are known as The Outlaws. As they coalesce as a team and rise in the ranks the action culminates in a tournament with an older class of students that have proven themselves to be devious, underhanded and the arch nemesis' of The Outlaws.

We discover that there is an enforced hierarchy at the school that extends from the highest levels to the lowest. The students are divided into a rigid caste system: there are demigods (those with the highest level of powers), mortals (those with one specific power) and adventurers (those with minor unique attributes at best). All of this serves to divide the populace of the school and sets up the necessary battle lines of the "haves" and "have not’s" that most stories set in a high school type environment seem to have.

The battles, which serve as real world tests and lessons in a controlled environment, are some of the highlights of the book. At times this is reminiscent of the battle school in Enders Game and fans of that book should check this one out as well. These battle lessons are not glossed over. They are conveyed in tight action packed prose that lasts for multiple chapters. The details that are given puts one right in the middle of all that is happening on the battle field. Berryhill never loses track of any of the participants and keeps everything moving swiftly until their conclusion.

Appropriately for its pulp fiction aspirations it ends on a cliff-hanger. The worse part is that we have to wait for the other books to come out. This book is a lot of fun and a light-hearted read. I look forward to seeing what the further adventures of Chance Fortune & The Outlaws bring us.


-Brian Lindenmuth

Brian Herbert, the son of Dune mastermind Frank Herbert, has co-authored with Kevin J. Anderson numerous novels (The Road to Dune, House Atreides, House Harkonnen, House Corrino, among others) in the world his father so magically created. With the Timeweb Chronicles, Herbert begins a new science-fiction series that he can call his own even though some aspects resemble his previous work almost to the word.

Noah Watanabe, a galactic ecologist, lives in a world where mankind has colonized dozens of cities on a slew of planets while also maintaining contacts with robotic and sentient beings. He is leading a group of eco-Guardians whose sole purpose is to save the environment of abused orbs. Unfortunately, Noah's twin sister, Francella, has a plan in the works to come to power which involves killing both her brother and father. And during all this, the alien race known as the Mutati are scheming to destroy all humankind with a sort of mysterious yet deadly weapon.

Some of the problems seen in the Dune novels by Herbert can be found in Timeweb. A fairly straightforward plot rich with its counts of prophecies and evildoers, Herbert seems to have too much going on which then causes for a lack of good characterization. Noah, Timeweb's main hero, is the strongest character, but his sister is so unlikable that I found her actions to be strictly typical and almost inane. The bad people are portrayed as bad people, with little room to allow for any thoughts other than world domination. The Mutati race is interesting, but far from unique. But the action scenes are done well, and are probably enough for readers to enjoy the book as whole. Whether it involves humans versus humans or aliens versus aliens, Herbert is able to do a good job of creating movie-like scenes that are powerfully engaging.

While it's important to see Herbert branching off into his own world with his own characters, a little more care and attention to originality should have been in order. As this is the first book in the series, there's hope that the next two will be a bit more complex. I won't hold my breath, but I don’t mind waiting to find out.

In Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom, our narrator Jules is over a century old and has died at least three times. This is quite normal in the Bitchun Society (I assume this is always meant as a societal jest, though it is never clearly stated) where death is dead, money is irrelevant, and memories can be cloned from back-up bodies when needed. Everyone is internally online and survives by their Whuffie, an interesting take on popularity and site hits.

For Jules, it has always been his dream to live and work at Disney World, which is now taken over by ad-hocs, each group controlling a certain ride or park section with egotistic demeanors and strong opinions. He doesn’t mind all the politics because he has his girlfriend Lil, and together they control the Haunted Mansion, his favorite ride of all. But when his old friend Dan shows up and tells him he wants to die for real, things begin to change. Then Jules is killed for a fourth time, and he’s not too happy about it. A new crew of ad-hocs move in to take over the Hall of Presidents, and when their Whuffie sky-rockets up, they set their eyes on other Disney World attractions. Namely, the Haunted Mansion, the ride Jules loves so much.

The book focuses mainly on Jules finding out who murdered him and trying to protect the Haunted Mansion from the greedy hands of the new ad-hocs in control of the Hall of Presidents. But there is a lot of smaller, less defined events going on. Dan’s goal of getting enough Whuffie to kill himself and go down like a hero is ever evolving, and the relationship of Jules and Lil, both from different eras of the Bitchun Society, is strained to the point of breaking. All these aspects plus the exploration of society and technology make for a well-realized world, thick with original thoughts, inventions, and aspirations. Doctorow’s love for Disney World is clearly evident and never used as propraganda of any sort.

Science fiction needs Cory Doctorow right now, just as much as he needs the genre to unleash all his futuristic thoughts and ideas. He does not slow down to explain what every term means or how things came to be, but rather, by taking us on a fast-paced ride where Jules must do everything he can to preserve the Haunted Mansion’s integrity he shows us a future that, honestly, might happen one day.

It’s quite refreshing these days to find a genre book of astounding quality under two hundred pages or so. Nowadays, it seems publishers want longer books and ones with enough detail to expand into a five-part series. Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom is a breath of fresh air in that it’s a complete and entertaining story, and doesn’t drag you into a long and convoluted series.

Cory Doctorow is a superb short fiction writer as well. If you do anything within the next months of your life, I beseech you to check out this book and his futuristic yard sale story “Craphound.” A podcast of it can be found over at Escape Pod.

You can read the entire Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom for free, or do what I did and buy yourself a copy. It’s well worth the money, and when money goes obsolete you’ll at least gain some Whuffie for supporting a writer who is sure to become a remembered name of our generation.

Revisiting the first season of this seminal British sci-fi sitcom after almost twenty years, I found it to have aged well. Sure, the effects and sets are cheap and cheesy, but I found the stories to be as entertaining and funny as I remembered.

The opening and closing credits are as powerful as ever. The first shot you see is of a space-suited man painting a wall red, which pans out to show that he's painting the hull of a colossal space ship, the Red Dwarf.

The composer of the score does an great job with the majestic music adding to your sense of the utter insignificance of the human in the face of the colossal architecture of the ship. The closing credits feature a catchy and irreverent pop tune (with a hint of despair to it) about how cold and lonely it is in space, and how preferable it would be to lie on a beach in the sun.

Red Dwarf is about ordinary people. They're not driven to explore space and better the human race. For them, it's just a job, and not a very good one. The characters are the lowest of the low, lower than redshirts, barely even antiheroes. They're not smart, or brave, and they scrape through their adventures by luck. Red Dwarf was a real tonic for the sanctimonious Star Trek: the Next Generation.

The Red Dwarf is a mining vessel, five miles long, of the Jupiter Mining Corporation. All the ship's crew have been killed in an accident, except for one man and his non-human companions. They're lost in space, three million years in the future, and even if they do get back to Earth there'll be nothing left of their lives.

The main characters are:

Dave Lister: a slobby, obnoxious, but amiable third technician who was just working on the ship until he could save enough for his plan of moving to Fiji with console operator Kristine Kochanski. When the ship's crew were killed, he'd been enclosed in a stasis chamber as punishment for concealing a cat on the ship.

Arnold J. Rimmer: second technician and Lister's superior. He's officious, universally disliked, an ambitious failure, and the complete opposite of Lister. So the comedic implications of their being roommates are obvious.

Rimmer was killed along with the rest of the crew during the accident (which he caused), and has been reanimated as a hologram to keep Lister company. Out of the entire crew, he was the one Lister had spoken with the most (despite most of their conversation being insults).

The Cat: vain and self-absorbed with an enormous wardrobe of garish zoot suits. He's the evolved descendant of Lister's cat, and the last of his kind (the others abandoned the ship after a religious dispute).

Holly: the ship's senile computer, allegedly with an I.Q. of 6000. Played in a wonderful deadpan by Norman Lovett as a disembodied head on a screen.

Despite being only six episodes, the first series quickly became a hit in the UK:

1.1 The End: this episode sets the scene: we meet Lister and Rimmer at their demeaning jobs repairing vending machines. Lister is put in stasis and reanimated three million years later to find an empty ship ...

1.2 Future Echoes: the ship reaches light speed and the crew start to see 'echoes' of future events. Rimmer sees Lister being killed in an explosion, and Lister tries to prevent this destiny from occurring.

1.3 Balance of Power: Lister wants to activate the holographic recording of his secret love, Kristine Kochanski. To do this, he'd have to deactivate Rimmer, who refuses. Lister decides to take an exam so he'll outrank Rimmer and be able to order his cooperation.

1.4 Waiting For God: Lister discovers that the cat race had erroneously deified him. He's horrified at the thought that holy wars were fought in his name. Meanwhile, Rimmer is analysing what he believes is a craft built by aliens who can give him a new body.

1.5 Confidence and Paranoia: a mutated virus infects Lister and causes his hallucinations to become real. Personifications of the confident and paranoid aspects of his personality appear.

1.6 Me²: a second hologram of Rimmer is activated, and the two move in together. Rimmer 1 discovers that maybe hell isn't other people after all ...

Red Dwarf is a landmark in the history of science fiction shows and is definitely worth your attention. Sticklers be warned: it pays little attention to continuity, and even less to scientific accuracy. It's a lot of fun though.

If you're like me, and you picked up a novel with a cover showing a robot head impaled on a spike, you'd be pretty excited. You'd expect there to be a scene of robot head spearing in the book.

So you can imagine my dismay to find that the worst thing that happens to robots in A Heritage of Stars is that they're hunted for sport, decapitated, and their brain cases built into nifty pyramids by post-apocalyptic barbarians.

Actually, that does sound pretty good, doesn't it? Maybe it's the after-effect of my reading How to Survive a Robot Uprising that makes the idea so satisfying. The robots in this novel aren't scary cylons, they're more like C3PO.

I'd better point out now, because I know you'd all love a book in which C3PO is hunted for sport, that nothing so exciting happens in the book. The robot-hunting happens off-screen, so to speak. About the only robot we get to see is Rollo, probably the last robot on earth.

He's pretty cool, though: he hunts grizzly bears to render their fat into oil. When we first meet him he's trapped under a tree, where he's discovered by Thomas Cushing.

Cushing was a wanderer through this post-apocalyptic world, before being taken in by a couple from the University: a haven for knowledge in a dark world of barbarian tribes.

One day he improbably discovers a drawer full of untouched notes by the world's most famous historian telling of the Place of Going to the Stars. These have lain undisturbed in the University library for a thousand years. They can't have a very disciplined library staff.

He sets off to find this place, on the way meeting the aforementioned Rollo (who never shuts up, and has a bit of an attitude), a witch, a horse, a father and daughter with psychic powers, and various odd creatures in the form of shimmers, shadows, rocks, trees and spheres.

Simak's book reminds me of Ray Bradbury's writing, or maybe Stephen King's Dark Tower series. There's a folksy feel to them. Something very American. I'd describe the book as pastoral science fiction.

Some people would find the book infuriating on the grounds of it being so civilised a milieu, with more of a feeling of a frontier than a barbaric land. I chose to read the novel as a fantasy or mythic tale.

Civilisation in this novel collapsed because humanity got fed up with its oppressive 'technological' society and simply threw it off one day, wantonly destroying the machines and robots that served them. This implausible scenario is part of what led me to read the book as a parable.

Simak often deals with this theme of the need for a simpler, or different way of building a civilisation, without technological excesses (which are only vaguely defined). He doesn't offer much in the way of a programme in A Heritage of Stars, and seems to end up wanting to have his cake and eat it too, technology-wise.

This is a quite pleasant book, and Simak's tone is interesting. Ultimately, though, it's nothing to rush out and buy. Try his City (1952) instead.

Does your robot disobey you? Make repetitive stabbing motions? Does it have glowing red eyes?

If so, then it and its fellow machines could be on the path to outright rebellion against you, and the human race. Activate your escape plan: head for the country, don't forget your supplies and your copy of How To Survive A Robot Uprising, by Daniel H. Wilson.

The first thing you notice about the book is its stylish design (by illustrator Richard Horne). That, combined with the intriguing title, makes it very pickupable.

I knew that I just had to buy it from reading the table of contents, an extensive list of chapters with names like:

• How to survive a car chase with an unmanned ground vehicle
• How to escape from a smart house
• How to fool a thermal imaging target tracker
• How to treat a laser wound
• How to establish a hidden base in robot territory

What makes this book so great is that the author, Daniel H. Wilson, has a PhD in robotics, and has consulted extensively with other experts in writing the guide.

If you wanted to find someone who knows more about robot attacks, you'd have to speak to Doctor Who. Or an actual robot (and after reading this book, I'm wary of getting too close to one).

The author presents a wealth of information in a series of bite-sized chapters, and he makes it a delight with his references to popular culture and a hilarious sense of humour reminiscent of Douglas Adams.

I'd recommend HTSARU for anyone who wants to know about the current state of robotics, as well as predicted developments. The device of linking descriptions of robot abilities to discussions of how to thwart them works particularly well.

The overarching defensive message of the book is that robots have a clear advantage in some areas, like reaction speed, and chess playing, but that humans can make use of their adaptability and native cunning to win through.

Reading this book would help any prospective resistance fighter to pick their battles wisely and to use their strengths and robot weaknesses.

Science fiction authors will find this an especially useful volume if they want to add realism to their depictions of robots (even in non-hostile circumstances).

Wilson's intentions aren't to spread uncritical robophobia. He reminds us at the end that most roboticists are working to make our lives better - except for the evil roboticists, who are sowing the seeds of apocalypse.

Hmm ...

Get your hands on a copy of How To Survive a Robot Attack. It's an excellent addition to your collection of popular science books, and is also available as an audio book.

Battlestar Galactica gripped me from the moment I saw the SCI FI channel miniseries. It is a dark, intense political and ethical SF drama. I was captivated. Even so I did not know what to expect from Jeffrey A. Carver’s novel based on the miniseries. From the first page, I was entranced even though I had seen and own the miniseries.

The Twelve Colonies of Man created sentient robots, Cylons, to do their menial tasks. After years of slavery, the Cylons rebelled and began killing their creators. Humanity barely defeated their former servants. The Cylons left to find their own home. That was forty years ago. The Cylons have returned to destroy the Twelve Colonies of Man and will accept nothing less than humanities extinction.

Battlestar Galactica is the last battlestar from the Cylon Wars and it is the only ship not connected to the central defense grid. It is the only battlestar to survive the attack. Battlestar Galactica is the solitary hope of a ragtag fleet of civilian ships. Fleeing the Cylons they jump into unknown space in search of a home.

Jeffrey A. Carver’s book allowed me to become familiar with various minor characters and experience their sorrow and joy too. Battlestar Galactica made it possible to spend more time with the survivors and to enhance my understanding of them. Even the Cylons capabilities and purpose became clearer. Battlestar Galactica impressed me with its succinct and informative rendering of the SCI FI Channel’s miniseries without losing the suspense and fast pace of events.

Jeffrey A. Carver captures the vigor and anguish throughout. I actually felt like I gleamed more from the book. Maybe it was because I was reading at my own pace instead of intently watching the television. Either way, if the Battlestar Galactica books continue to encapsulate the spirit of the series, I will have found another series of books to read. At the same time, I look forward to reading Jeffrey A. Carver’s own novels.