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LAST UPDATE 12/31/25

The Year of the Ransom by Poul Anderson, Walker, 1988

A Time Patrol novel. A researcher is covering the delivery of a ransom to Pizarro in the 16^th Century when thieves from the far future show up, intent upon stealing it. The thieves are thwarted, but one of the Spaniards learns about time travel and steals the agent’s machine. He travels to the future where he plans to gather technology that will allow Spain to dominate the world in the past and, presumably, a new present. The Patrol is warned and Manse Everard has to chase the man through time and space in order to prevent the man from altering history. This was in my opinion the most consistently well written of Anderson’s various series. 12/31/25

The Boat of a Million Years by Poul Anderson, Tor 1989

This was Anderson’s most ambitious novel, and possibly the best researched. It follows a small group of immortals from the 10^th Century BC to the distant future. For most of that time, they live separately and the story advances through a long series of vignettes of varying degrees of interest. Eventually they meet and in the closing chapters, set in the far future, they leave Earth in a starship to contact aliens and explore the universe. I found this tedious going when I first read it, and it has not improved over the years. I was happy to see Anderson attempt to do something outside his comfort zone but his preoccupations began to pop up in the second half of the novel. 12/31/25

The Multiverse War by Allen Steele, Amazing, 2025

The latest in Steele’s Captain Future series is, I think, the longest installment. Our hero and his friends are transported into a parallel universe where aliens have conquered the solar system, Earth has been destroyed, and one of his friends is in this timeline a major villain. The greater threat is that the interstellar war from that reality might spread into our hero’s original universe and possibly even beyond that. These are larger than life stories with lots of super science and action, patterned partly after the original series created by Edmond Hamilton. Steele captures his tone perfectly while updating some aspects, particularly the quality of the prose. 12/27/25

The Game of Empire by Poul Anderson, Baen, 1985

The final Flandry novel – which is about his daughter Diana – is very disappointing. She is politically naïve but despite that she and her intelligent feline humanoid friend begin to pick up clues that a rebellious admiral who wants to become emperor is actually a puppet of the nefarious Merseian empire. She and her friend eventually expose and disrupt the plot, but it is mostly the friend who does the heavy work. The book is twice as long as it should have been, padded out with irrelevant and over lengthy descriptions, mini-essays on the author’s philosophical ramblings, and other distractions. Diana’s character is never well developed – the aliens are more human. 12/16/25

Mars Awakened by Bob Buckley, 2017

Buckley contributed several short stories and one serial to the prozines, particularly Analog, but had been quiet for many years. This is his sole book, self published, a hard science look at the colonization of Mars. It was based on the then current form of privately financed space exploration and real and speculative information about artificial intelligence. The premise is that a variety of robots using AI will function in much the same way as dogs and other domesticated animals helped early human civilization to move forward. The story contains some interesting speculation but is very slow moving. 12/12/25

Space Folk by Poul Anderson, Baen, 1988

Starship by Poul Anderson, Tor, 1982

Two collections of short fiction, although the Tor title includes the complete novel, Virgin Planet. Almost all of the stories in both collections take place in space or on distant planets. Several are problem stories – usually with the characters having to deal with a malfunction or unexpected events. They involve encounters with berserker ships intent upon destroying all life, alien civilizations both hostile and potentially friendly, a possibly self aware computer, astronomical events that have unexpected side effects, and similar situations. Most of these are somewhat formulaic, although “Hunter’s Moon” and “Murphy’s Hall” are notable stories. 12/10/25

Framed in Death by J.D. Robb, St Martins, 2025

I believe this is #61 in this futuristic police procedural series by Nora Roberts. They are all written to a formula, but the formula is entertaining so long as you don't read them all in bunches. This time the serial killer is a frustrated and untalented artist who murders his models and then poses them to duplicate famous paintings. Eve Dallas and crew have to track him down, mostly aided by his care to use authentic and hard to acquire costumes and props, and simple logic about the resources that have to be available to him -  he is very rich. There is a satisfying apprehension, escape, and re-apprehension. If you liked any of these, you'll like this one. 12/5/25

The Martian Trilogy by John Moore, Amazing Selects, 2025

This is a collection of a series of three stories published in a magazine aimed at Black readers during the 1930s. I had never heard of it before. It is a typical space opera of the time. A man is approached by someone with a radically new kind of aircraft which takes them to Mars. Mars has an intelligent, advanced civilization and the visitors have some low key adventures. It is neither better nor worse than the similar stories appearing in the mainstream SF magazines of that era, but is of some historical interest. The book contains more nonfiction than fiction. 12/4/25

Hokas  Pokas! by Poul Anderson & Gordon R. Dickson, Baen, 2000

Three longish stories of the Hokas, a teddy bear shaped alien race that has decided to adopt various human scenarios. One involves a Hoka recreation of the Napoleonic Empire and, unfortunately, also the Napoleonic Wars. One takes place in a recreation of the India described in the books of Rudyard Kipling, but unfortunately for a human visitor, the rules change along the way. The third is a short novel for younger readers involving Hokas playing at medieval England and causing the usual trouble. These were all kind of minor and the jokes had all been done in earlier stories. 11/30/25

Orion Shall Rise by Poul Anderson, Pocket, 1983

An overly long novel in the Maurai series, set after a nuclear war has radically rearranged the world. Some of the successor states eschew technology as evil while others see it as the sign of progress and the means to world power. What amounts to a world war erupts when the Union, based in the Pacific Northwest, decides to create a space program and nuclear weapons. Most of the rest of the world goes to war to stop them and eventually does so. There really aren’t good guys or bad guys in this, which is a plus, but Anderson spends far too much time providing unnecessary background about the various societies involved in the conflict, and some irritating promotion of libertarian political ideas skewed so that they are proven “right.” By this point in his career, he was overly concerned with messaging and less interested in story telling. 11/20/25

There Is No Antimimetics Division by QNTM, Ballantine, 2025, $29, ISBN 978-0-593-98375-`

Apparently this is a revised version of a novel that first appeared online. The science may be a bit wonky but the concepts are thought provoking, as original as it is possible to be, and they are brought together in a suspenseful and engaging manner despite the annoying present tense narration. The idea is that there are entities which can gobble up memories and spread new concepts and whose powers are nearly godlike in that they can ultimately change natural laws. The protagonist is engaged in a battle with one such entity, but we are introduced to quite a variety of others with different abilities, natures, and intentions. Definitely for those who like their minds bent while reading. 11/18/25

The Dark Between the Stars by Poul Anderson, Berkley, 1981

A collection of stories that includes one of the author’s best, “The Sharing of Flesh,” which involves cannibalism in a lost colony. A few of the stories are pretty minor. “Eutopia” is an interesting alternate history story. “The Pugilist” is marred by lengthy, sophomoric political arguments. “Gibraltar Falls” is one of the better Time Patrol stories. “Windmill” is a Maurai story. “Call Me Joe” involves human exploration of Jupiter by projecting consciousness into the bodies of Jovian fauna. “The Big Rain” is a novella about a dictatorship on Venus, which is interesting when it is dealing with the efforts to terraform the planet, but boring as hell during the constant political lectures. 11/10/25

Explorations by Poul Anderson, Baen, 1981

This collection includes a couple previously collected. The gem in the book is “The Saturn Game,” a novella, in which an expedition to the Saturnian system runs into a near disaster. The scientists have been playing an elaborate role playing game which provides alternate views of what is happening. The other stories are relatively undistinguished. “Epilogue” is pretty good. “Voortrekkers” isn’t bad. I didn’t much care for “The Way of Love” or “The Bitter Bread.” Both of these last two have a tendency to preach. It's mostly a worthwhile collection but the political discourses are boring, over simplified, and interrupt the flow of the plot. 11/6/25

Pluto by Ben Bova and Les Johnson, Tor, 2025, $32.99, ISBN 978-1-250-29665-8

This is presumably the final volume in the Grand Tour series that Bova had been writing, providing looks at the various planets and moons in the solar system. It is not clear how much of this book was written by Bova, or if it was just an outline or notes. I suspect Johnson wrote most or all of the text. An accident at a research station investigating Pluto has caused a bizarre merge of a human with an artificial intelligence, and this enables him to detect alien artifacts lying dormant on Pluto. Subsequent investigation leads to an even more unsettling discovery on Charon, Pluto's moon. And this artifact is not really dormant. I still enjoy hard SF when it's done right and Johnson has captured the spirit of Bova's excellent series in that vein. There is a steady build in tension and a satisfying climax. I have never tried any of Johnson's solo novels, but will do so. 11/5/25

New America by Poul Anderson, Tor, 1983

This collection of short stories makes up a sequel to Orbit Unlimited, a novel. By this point in his career, Anderson was injecting libertarianism into his stories on a regular basis, usually in the form of a political debate among characters. The first story, “My Own, My Native Land,” is about a man realizing that the only way to be free is to escape all governments. The rest of the Rustum related stories show how humans adapt to a planet with two different environments. Some humans can only live in one of them. The last two stories are unrelated to Rustum and were previously collected. 10/30/25

Only You Can Save Mankind by Terry Pratchett, Harper, 1992

This was the first in the Johnny Maxwell trilogy. This is a plot element also used in The Last Starfighter and by Orson Scott Card. Maxwell is superb at playing a space invaders video game until he discovers that real and not inimical aliens are dying as the result of his play. The aliens appeal to him for help against the other players before their race is destroyed and he agree. This was for younger readers and lacks the depth of content of Pratchett’s Discworld novels, but's it's mildly amusing. 10/25/25

Observer by Robert Lanza and Nancy Kress, Tor, 2025, $19.99, ISBN 978-1-250-37646-6

There is some fascinating speculation embedded in this interesting novel about the nature of consciousness. The protagonist is a doctor who has to leave her position after some controversy and who is hired by a secretive project that is exploring the possibility that consciousness spans alternate realities. It is believed that implantation of a computer chip and other procedures could enable someone to be more aware of their perception of an alternate world. It is more a novel of ideas rather than action, as the experiment leads to unexpected revelations and crises. I won't spoil things by saying too much about the plot, but the writing is excellent, the sense that this is a real enterprise with convincing meetings, conflicts, and procedures is the best I've encountered since The Andromeda Strain, and the characters really come to life. 10/16/25

The Avatar by Poul Anderson, Berkley, 1978

Anderson’s longest novel was billed by the publisher as his masterpiece, but it is actually pretty bad. It actually consists of two novels, altering the story dramatically halfway through. The first half is about the battle over use of an alien technology similar to Frederik Pohl’s Gateway series that allows access to the stars – with a catch. No way to navigate. One side wants to suppress all colonization off world and the other wants to spread to the stars. The second half involves a major figure from the latter group going on a random trip around the galaxy to describe various strange sights. The protagonist is so caricatured that it is impossible to take the story seriously. He is irresistible to women, charming, competent, handsome, commanding, intelligent, and effective. Some of the supporting characters who are meant to be admirable are decidedly offputting. This highlights Anderson’s weaknesses and largely ignores his strengths as a writer. 10/11/25

A Stone in Heaven by Poul Anderson, Ace, 1979

A Flandry novel. Another local ruler is plotting against the Emperor of the Terran Empire. An ageing Dominick Flandry is approached by a scientist who reports that the Duke of Hermes has refused to help the primitive humanoid inhabitants of a nearby world who are facing extinction because of a new ice age. They could be rescued fairly cheaply and the Duke would get a lot of good press, but he not only refuses, he opposes her efforts to find help. Flandry rightly figures out that the Duke is a traitor and that there is evidence of his conspiracy on the doomed world, so he teams up with the scientist to expose him and save the aliens. 10/11/25

Elnovia by Geoffrey Faber, Armchair, 2025

This lost world novel, published in 1925, is an interesting variation since this lost world is floating in the upper atmosphere. Yes, it’s a floating continent that we never knew was there. An experimental Australian aircraft is on its maiden flight when it encounters and lands on the floating island. The story is silly and the premise is nonsense, but it seems likely that this was meant as satire rather than a serious proposition. The prose is dated and sometimes dull, though not awful. Until I started looking for them, I had no idea how many lost world novels were published in the early 20th Century. 10/6/25

White Python by Mark Channing, Armchair, 2025

Originally published in 1934, this was the second of four novels about Colin Gray. This is better written than a lot of similar books from this period. Gray is a government agent exploring in Tibet when he stumbles upon a secret underground city whose inhabitants worship the White Python. There is the obligatory high priestess who has the hots for our hero, and there is also another outsider, a beautiful woman whom Gray has met previously. The two of them are in great danger, of course, and have to pick their path carefully to avoid their projected fate. They eventually concoct an escape plan between them. Some weird critters provide some window dressing for a fair adventure story. 10/6/25

A Submarine Tour by Frank Balch, Armchair, 2025

Originally published in 1905. This is another Jules Verne ripoff. A scientist is crossing the Arctic ocean when mischance leaves him overboard and apparently doomed. He passes out and wakens inside a submarine, a vessel so advanced that he can hardly believe it is real. This leads to a series of mostly undersea adventures involving creatures the author has invented and other wonders. There is a lost city under the ice where the story reaches its climax. The prose is pretty primitive in this one although the story – though hardly original – is reasonably entertaining. 9/30/25

A Subterranean Adventure by George Paul Bauer, Armchair, 2025

Originally published in 1930. This is a hollow Earth story in which two entrepreneurs are attempting to dig a tunnel completely through the planet and discover an unknown civilization living in vast caverns. They have the usual adventures – although above average in both plotting and prose – before escaping back to the surface. The science is very dated, of course, and there are some plot holes, but this was not an awful book, even though it didn’t appear promising and starts rather badly. 9/30/25

The Earth Book of Stormgate by Poul Anderson, 1978

This is a large collection of stories from the Polesotechnic League series which includes the entire short novel, The Man Who Counts (aka War of the Wingmen). “The Problem of Pain” addresses theological questions and “How to Be Ethnic in One Easy Lesson” addresses cultural differences and the fading of art with the passage of time. There are a couple of puzzle/problem stories of no particular interest and a sappy one about celebrating Christmas on an alien planet. “Lodestar,” in which a non-violent alien tricks a group of human criminals, is pretty good. 9/23/25

The Scarlet Planet by Don Mark Lemon, Armchair, 2025

Originally serialized in 1930. Although Lemon had written some earlier short stories that fall into the genre, this appears to be the only piece he ever sold to a genre magazine. It a far future space adventure and is written in an episodic manner, introducing us to different planets. The writing is barely readable, the characters laughably unreal, the situations implausible, and the science ludicrous. I had never even heard the author’s name before, and I’m not surprised that he wrote nothing further in the field. This is certainly an oddity, but it is not really an interesting oddity. 9/23/25

The Voice of Dashin by Ganpat, Armchair, 2025

Originally published in 1927, this is one of a half dozen lost world adventures by the author – actually Martin Gompertz – who was clearly heavily influenced by H. Rider Haggard and who probably influenced James Hilton’s The Lost Horizon.  The setting is Tibet where the protagonist finds a secret pass in the mountains that leads him to a hidden civilization. Some of the inhabitants are descended from Europeans and they are cruelly used by the majority Tibetans. As it happens, he has been looking for someone who disappeared in that area and has received indications that they wandered into the lost land and never came out. You could almost write a close outline of the rest of the plot without any further knowledge. Not badly written though. I’m kind of surprised the author has been so completely forgotten. 9/21/25

Golden Isle by Roland Ashford Phillips, Armchair, 2025  Chelsea

This 1925 lost world novel is pretty obviously a ripoff of Jules Verne’s 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and its sequel, The Mysterious Island.  An escaped convict hides aboard a yacht that turns out to be an experimental submarine, the Nautilus, upon which he is transported to a mysterious hidden island with unusual animals and other dangers. There is also a young woman to be placed in jeopardy, rascally crew members, a strong and forthright captain, and the usual adventures. The prose is pretty bland and occasionally actively awkward. Not a lost classic, although interesting for its quasi-plagiarism. 9/17/25

Mirkheim by Poul Anderson, Berkley, 1977

I recalled disliking this intensely and it fares no better fifty years later. Van Rijn and Falkayn have to plumb the secrets of a belligerent alien race during a dispute over ownership of a planet rich in rare metals. After setting up the plot reasonably well, Anderson spent most of the second half of the novel ranting about the virtues of libertarianism, stacking the deck so that his assertions were “justified,” and spent little time actually trying to entertain the reader. Unfortunately, this inclination pervades all of his subsequent novels and I never particularly liked anything that followed. 9/17/25

Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro, Knopf, 2021

Klara is a kind of sentient robot who develops an almost religious connection to the sun while sitting a store waiting to be purchased. Eventually a family buys Klara, who is meant to be a kind of companion to their child, who has emotional and developmental problems. Klara has an odd personality because while she is very perceptive and sympathetic, she also knows relatively little about how human personalities work. This is an unusual SF novel by a Japanese writer who relocated to England and writes in English. Ishiguro won the Noble Prize for literature, not for this novel, and most of his other work is mainstream. 9/16/25

The Best of Poul Anderson, Pocket, 1976

More than half of this book consists of stories collected elsewhere, but it did provide a second chance for five stories that had not been reprinted. “The Last of the Deliverers” describes the fatal results when the last Republican and the last Communist meet after civilization has collapses, and they kill each other. Oddly this story has a favorable depiction of socialism, although I doubt Anderson would have called it that. “My Object All Sublime” is a routine time travel story in which a fugitive is caught by a policeman from his own time. “Sam Hall” is a fictional character created to be the head of the resistance against a future dictatorship. “Kyrie” is about an odd effect of a supernova. “The Fatal Fulfillment” is a boring novelette about virtual reality.

The Essential Fantastic Four Vol 6, Marvel, 2007

As this volume opens, the Thing can now change to his normal human shape at will, but somehow his mind has been altered and he is a villain. He has a fight with the Hulk, after which he is presumed to be dead. Richards brings him back and restores him to his altered shape and mind, just in time to confront the Overmind. Richards becomes a villain under the Overmind’s influence. Dr. Doom has to take his place temporarily and the Stranger shows up to save the day. Further stories involve Diablo, the Inhumans, the Black Panther, Gabriel, the Silver Surfer and Galactus, Mole Man, the Frightful Four, the Dragon, and a few others. Prime FF stories with a good variety of villains. 9/12/25

The Winter of the World by Poul Anderson, Signet, 1976

Although there are some good parts to this novel, Anderson’s increasing concentration on pushing his political views colors the whole story. Following an ice age, humans have three civilizations with different traits. The evil Empire wants to conquer the ruggedly individualist nomads, unaware of the fact that they have evolved into a new form of human – mentally only – who cannot organize into groups larger than families, who are fiercely independent, and would seem to be the heroes of the story. But they expose unwanted children to the elements and execute any prisoners that they take. They frequently demonstrate the negative side of libertarianism rather than its occasional good points and it is impossible to choose sides rationally in the ensuing war. 9/11/25

Homeward and Beyond by Poul Anderson, Berkley, 1975

This was an above average collection of Anderson’s shorts. The first is one of those stories where humans have to figure out how an alien culture works. The second involves mental time travel into the past. There is an overly long humorous story about Earth being secretly watched by the Galactic Federation. A supernova destroys an intelligent civilization and a ruthless man plans to exploit their tragedy. “Goat Song” is one of Anderson’s best stories, using the tropes of fantasy in a rationalized future session when a supercomputer decides to be a god. A couple of the other stories are very minor. 9/9/25

The Heist of Hollow London by Eddie Robson, Tor, 2025, $28.99, ISBN 9781-250-37206-2

I almost always enjoy heist stories and movies. You know, those where a team of idiosyncratic characters are recruited to penetrate some secret facility in order to steal something valuable. In fantasy, the equivalent is the team quest story. Well, this is a pretty good one, set in a future where the evil corporations are pretty much the law and a process has been developed to create duplicates of people - artificial but self aware individuals - who are virtually slaves until they earn enough to pay off for their creation. If they aren't lucky, their originals need a replacement body part and harvest them from what are essentially clones. Two of them are central to the story and are coerced into organizing a raid designed to harvest data. But naturally things are not as straightfoward as they seem. Complications and subplots proliferate. Nicely done. 9/8/25

The Book of Poul Anderson, DAW, 1975

Originally published as The Many Worlds of Poul Anderson. About half of the stories had been previously collected. There are a couple of critical essays by Sandra Miesel and Patrick McGuire. “Tomorrow’s Child ren” is a rather depressing after the war story and “Journey’s End” is an even more depressing tale of two telepaths who cannot stand each other.  “The Longest Voyage” describes a very different equivalent of Columbus’ voyage on an alien world.  The collection also contains a long essay in which Anderson created an imaginary planet in a distant solar system as the basis for an anthology of stories. 9/.6/25

One Last Game by T.A. Chan, Fairwood Press, 2025, $16.99, ISBN 978-1-958880-34-0

The central premise to this short novel has been used before. Rather than commit an entire economy to support an army in disastrous battles costly in lives and money, the world now has proxy battles which are conducted by having players compete in elaborate games, the results of which translate to real world consequences. It’s an amusing idea but I’ve never been able to find it plausible. This comes close, however. One of the game players has decided to retire, but that is not an option supported by his government. He becomes a fugitive and is sought by a determined woman who was once part of a cult and who is firmly convinced that the games are the best hope for humanity. And there is some truth to that because the world is on the brink of a major war that could return to the scale of destruction in the past. The story goes by very quickly thanks to clean prose and a nicely focused plot. 8/30/25

Changelog by Rich Larson, Fairwood Press, 2025, $20.95, ISBN 978-1-958880-33-3

A hefty collection of twenty-six short stories in Larson's second collection. Better than half of this collection was new to me and the stories were all originally published during the last fifteen years. I remembered the name but had not realized how prolific he has been. There are some very good pieces of fiction here, including "Headhunting," "Our Lady of Perpetual Disdain," "You Are Born Exploding," and "The Old Man."  Larson is very varied in subject matter and construction of his stories, though most are narrated in a straightforward manner. Personally I think he is best in his longer stories. There are several very short ones here and while amusing, they seem rather trivial standing right beside his more substantial work. He will likely always entertain you, although in different ways at different times. This book and its predecessor, Tomorrow Factory, both provide a lot of material at a pleasantly affordable price. 8/27/25

Future Weird edited by Jason V. Brock, Hippocampus, 2025, $25, ISBN 978-1-61498-436-8

This is a collection of reprints of stories in the SF genre that also involve weird or horrific elements. Only a few of the stories were new to me, but there were many favorites including "I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream" by Harlan Ellison and "The Star" by H.G. Wells. They are quite a varied lot and a few of them did not seem to me to fit the theme, but that doesn't mean they weren't good stories. The authors include Robert Silverberg, William Hope Hodgson, Robert Sawyer, F. Paul Wilson, Larry Niven, Charles Beaumont, and many others.  It's a very good selection and a good sized book that should appeal to varying tastes. 8/26/25

The Compleat Boucher by Anthony Boucher, NESFA, 1999

I decided to reread this very large compendium of all of Boucher’s fantasy and science fiction stories. His novels were all murder mysteries. The vast majority are light and comedic. There are a number of classic stories here, including "The Quest for St Aquin," in which robots embrace religion, the title story - which I actually didn't care for. "They Bite" was a favorite of mine when I first started reading SF and it's still great. "Snulbug," "Nine Finger Jack," and several others were like being reunited with old friends. This is a real deal for the price tag, one of the best single author collections of all time. 8/20/25

Star Prince Charlie by Poul Anderson & Gordon R. Dickson, Berkley, 1975

I suspect this was intended for younger readers. The introverted son of a Scottish noble decides to send him to visit a distant planet, hoping that exposure to new cultures will bring him out of his shell. The planet chosen is a dictatorship, and neither the prince nor his tutor companion are very pleased at the political situation there. The prince eventually becomes an important figure in the resistance, which overthrows the repressive kingdom and restores freedom, while transforming the prince’s personality – rather unrealistically. There is a good deal of humor, which clashes with the serious plot. Very minor for both authors. 8/19/25

Inheritors of Earth by Poul Anderson and Gordon Eklund, Pyramid, 1974

Expanded from Anderson’s short, “Incomplete Superman,” and inferior to most of the other work by both authors. A mutated strain of humanity has psychic powers so incredible that they are virtually magic. But there is a third strain of humanity as well, and the conflict is largely behind the scenes. The authors throw a wide variety of ideas into the story, almost at random, including mutation, immortality, androids, an alternate existence, various psychic powers, secret societies, a murder mystery, and a few other subplots. This was a dreadful novel and I skimmed the last third. 8/16/25

Better Dreams, Fallen Seeds and Other Handfuls of Hope by Ken Scholes, Fairwood, 2025, $19.99, ISBN 978-1-958880=32-6

I've read two previous collections of stories by this author and enjoyed them both but this one seems to be even better. Scholes has a real gift for creating characters who don't quite fit into the usual patterns, and he also employs cleverly original plots and variants of old ones that feel fresh and new. This collection includes stories set in space and in the future, among the asteroids and in tourist traps. I had read only two of them before, so this was a real treasure trove. "Harley Takes a Wife," "Let Me Hide Myself in Thee," and "Better Dreams Than These" are the ones that resonated best with me, and the vignette "The Monsters Underneath His Bed" is also amusing. A couple of the stories are fantasy. The prose is good enough that it almost took me out of the story once or twice. A very fine selection that never disappoints. 8/8/25

A Catalog of Storms by Fran Wilde, Fairwood Press, 2025, $18.99, ISBN 978-1-958880-35-7

Fran Wilde falls into the category of authors whom I always enjoy seeing on a new contents page because I remember liking her earlier work, but not until I see these stories gathered into a single collection do I realize how really excellent a writer she is. Not all of these stories are science fiction - some are fantasy, some contain elements of both genres. "How to Walk Through Historic Graveyards in  the Digital Age" is probably my favorite, although there are several topnotch stories including "Clearly Lettered in a Most Steady Hand" and the title story. Her versions are often quite original, sometimes draw on mythology, sometimes modern technology, and almost all of them contain at least one unexpected twist. I have only read one of her novels, and I don't recall much about it. I need to correct that lapse. It is becoming increasingly common to find new authors whose prose is excellent but who have nothing to say and cannot tell a story. Wilde has neither of these faults and the result is a very readable collection that hopefully will demonstrate to readers that she is a writer to follow. 8/3/25

Spicy Zeppelin Stories by Will Murray, Odyssey, 2023, $19.95

This is a combination of pastiche and spoof the stories that used to appear in the pulp magazines of the 1930s. They represent seven different genres - generic adventure, air combat, mystery/detective, Old West, space opera, government agent, and weird fiction. They contain all of the over the top excesses of the time - melodramatic plots that are more interested in fast pacing than logic, scientific double talk, strange aliens, super-patriotism, mysterious figures lurking in the shadows, improbable adventures, and brushes with the supernatural. This was written as the supposed first issue of a new pulp magazine and each of the stories appears under a different pseudonym, but they are all, I believe, Will Murray. Nostalgic fun from a time when fiction was a lot simpler and story telling was more important than style. 8/3/25

When Mothers Dream by Brenda Cooper, Fairwood, 2025, $18.99, ISBN 978-1-958880-35-7

I have found over the years that writers tend to produce most of their best efforts at a particular length. Poul Anderson was best at novelettes and novellas. Andre Norton was far better at novels than at short stories. There are a few who seem more balanced, like Fritz Leiber or Theodore Sturgeon or Shirley Jackson. Another one on that list is Brenda Cooper, whose novels I have enjoyed without except and whose short stories still often manage to waken by jaded sense of wonder. So I was delighted to see a new collection and even more delighted to discover that I had read relatively few of the entries before. There is a kind of loose theme to the collection - women refusing to be pigeonholed and taking positive steps to improve their environments. It's hard to pick favorites, but I'll mention "In the Garden," "Southern Residents," and "Biology at the End of the World" as the stories that resonated most with me. There are a few stories and a handful of poems that are all original to this collection, and about half the stories appeared originally in comparatively obscure publications. There are so many relatively obscure publications lost in the mass of new published material that I could probably say this about any new collection. Well worth the price for such intelligent and stimulating fiction. 7/31/25

Six Scarlet Scorpions by Kenneth Robeson (Will Murray), Altus, 2016

This was the first adventure of Doc Savage's cousin Pat, who becomes a kind of Lara Croft variant in this wild adventure story. Pat is approached by a peculiar looking man with a peculiar request. This leads to a convoluted mystery involving ancient ruins, a secretive tribe essentially hidden from public scrutiny, and other complications. She even finds herself chief suspect in a murder inquiry. She is accompanied by Monk, who was my least favorite character in the original stories but who has a more developed character in this one, and opposed by various enemies. Daring escapes, chases, sinister conspiracies, and relatively low key battles follow as she discovers the truth at last. Like many of the Doc Savage novels, this story flirts with science fiction but really is more of a mundane adventure story. For the sake of consistency, I'll put it here. 7/29/25

Fire Time by Poul Anderson, Ballantine, 1974

The planet Ishtar is inhabited by intelligent centaurs, but because it is affected by three separate stars – one of which only appears at thousand year gaps – civilization collapses periodically. Now that humans have a small base on the planet, some of the centaurs from the most advanced state hope that human technology will allow their culture to fend off the barbarians and survive the catastrophe, which would alter the development of the planet forever. At the same time, humans are involved in their own war, against another alien race that has interstellar travel. The two conflicts have parallels, and Anderson clearly had the Vietnam War in mind as well. Readable but it did not live up to my memory of it. 7/19/25

Tarzan: The Epic Adventures by R.A. Salvatore, Del Rey, 1996

This was adapted from the teleplay by Burt Armus for the short lived Tarzan television series of the 1990s, although as far as I can see, this episode was never actually filmed. It starts with a different first encounter between Tarzan and Rokoff, who became his arch enemy in the first few Burroughs novels. Rokoff steals a magical amulet that can open gateways between realities, including a direct link to Pellucidar and its dinosaurs and telepathic bird creatures. Tarzan foils the bad guy and recovers the amulet, but only after a series of battles and adventures. It did not feel much like Tarzan to me, but it wasn’t a bad story. 7/19/25

Space by the Tale by Jerome Bixby, Ballantine, 1964

Mirror, Mirror by Jerome Bixby, 2014

These two collections gather most of Bixby’s readable short stories, although there is some duplication between them. The latter includes “It’s a Good Life,” which is far and away the best story the author ever wrote. Others of note include “The Holes Around Mars,” a puzzle story with a clever, though improbable solution. “Angels in the Jets” and “One Way Street” also age well, while some of the others do not. Bixby was never much concerned about the plausibility of his scientific content. Several of his stories, particularly the early ones, are completely forgettable and just take up space.

Spores by Michael McBride, Preternatural, 2025

An earthquake in Denver leads to the discovery of a cavern under the airport which was created because the government injected millions of gallons of contaminated water from a biological warfare laboratory into the ground. This led to the mutation of two forms of fungus, which can now infect and literally take control of its victims. A team of specialists is rushed to the area, but complicating matters is the presence of a secret military group which was involved in the original disposal of the water, which wants to cover up all evidence of what was done, and which considers the mutation as a possible new weapon. This is one of the books one calls “action packed” and it delivers a pretty good story, some creepy scenes, and some new twists in the monster business. This is one you’ll want to read in a single sitting if you can. 7/10/25

A Knight of Ghosts and Shadows by Poul Anderson, Signet, 1975

A considerably older Dominic Flandry comes out of semi-retirement when a new threat rises with the Terran Empire. The first half is very slow moving, the second not much better, and Flandry’s misogyny is more pronounced than ever. Women are just sexual gadgets for him and naturally even those who hate him are seduced by his charms. He gathers information about a planet which is being visited by agents from a possibly secession oriented power.  Ultimately he finds a way to convince the potential rebels to remain part of the empire, in return for some degree of autonomy. I thought this was pretty dull and not a particularly good addition to Flandry’s career. 7/3/25

Space Trucker Jess by Matthew Kressel, Fairwood, 2025, $20.95, ISBN 978-1-958880-27-2

This is a lighthearted, adventurous, sometimes inventive space opera - marred for me by the intrusive present tense narration. Jess is the adult daughter of an interstellar con-man who gets caught and sent to prison. Reinventing her life, she takes a routine job and plots ways to accumulate enough cash to buy her own interstellar freighter. But before she can achieve her goal, her father disappears under mysterious circumstances and she feels honor bound to find out what happened to him. Her quest will lead her to meet enigmatic aliens, potentially treacherous humans, technical difficulties in space and practical ones on alien planets. This is a second novel and shows considerable promise, with a particuarly appealing protagonist. 6/28/25

Strata by Terry Pratchett, Signet, 1981

Before Discworld, Pratchett wrote a few science fiction stories, none of which can compare with his later work. This one predicts Discworld somewhat. An organization that builds worlds, complete with fossils, gets into difficulties when a man long believed to be dead reappears and leads one of its directors to a flat Earth where they have some mostly silly adventures. Pratchett was beginning to show his talent and preoccupation, but this novel never really fit into SF and was not really fantasy either. 6/21/25

There Will Be Time by Poul Anderson, Signet, 1973

The protagonist of this story is able to travel through time even as an infant, although he manages to get through his childhood without making too many waves.  He eventually finds others of his kind, who have established a kind of time patrol, but soon realizes that they are power hungry racists who want to manipulate human history. There is also a danger that originates in the future. Our hero has to thwart his former colleagues and neutralize the threat from beyond tomorrow in order to nudge humanity into the optimum path. The story is riddled with small political harangues and a very intrusive and one sided insert of “vocabulary” with a decidedly conservative undercurrent. 6/19/25

The Dark Heart of Time by Philip Jose Farmer, Del Rey, 1999

A Tarzan novel. Tarzan is in search of his wife, Jane, whom he discovers has been kidnapped by German soldiers – the date is 1918. His quest to find her is disrupted by a safari led by a clever man who has been hired to capture Tarzan. He does not know why but his employer is after the secret of immortality which he believes Tarzan possesses. There is also a kind of bear man, last of his race, who becomes an ally after some initial friction. The bad guys also have some internal disagreements. There is as well a lost city with a priestess who guards the Dark Heart of Time, which makes this one science fiction. Nicely told and well plotted. 6/19/25

The Byworlder by Poul Anderson, Signet, 1971

An alien spaceship takes orbit around a future Earth that is dominated by cults who generally spurn technology. Its occupants make no clear effort to open contact. A kind of hobo has an inspiration about the alien’s purpose and manages to convey his theory to the woman who is spearheading efforts to establish communication, but she is the target of assassins, kidnappers, xenophobes, and foreign agents.  They eventually determine what the alien wants and it is prepared to provide humanity with a number of technological gifts in return, but human rivalries and personal failures ruin the deal, the alien is killed, and the future becomes very uncertain. Not great. 6/7/25

The Dancer from Atlantis by Poul Anderson, Signet, 1972

This was not among my favorite Anderson novels. Four people – one from our period, one from Medieval Russia, a fourth century Hun, and a priestess from Atlantis - are all marooned in ancient Egypt when a time travel experiment goes awry. They have to survive in this largely hostile world and find a way back to their own times. Some minor paradoxes are involved but this is mostly an excuse for Anderson to write an historical novel, which he does adequately but without distinction.  There’s a bit too much coincidence in the plot for me to swallow and the characters are not developed to Anderson’s better standards. 6/7/25

The Day of Their Return by Poul Anderson, Signet, 1975

One of the author's weakest novels, set on a planet that unsuccessfully attempted to leave the Terran Empire. The well meaning governor tries to find a way to restore normalcy while the locals show varying degrees of opposition and resistance. A young man becomes a fugitive after a botched raid. There are also rumors of a long vanished alien race that might return and help overthrow the rule of the empire. Merseian agent Aycharaych arrives and spreads word that he is one of the Elders come to help throw off the Terran yoke. Very unsatisfying ending and very boring characters. 5/31/25

The People of the Wind by Poul Anderson, Signet, 1973

A very enjoyable story of a war between the aggressive Terran Empire and the lesser empire of Ythria, who are birdlike. One planet was jointly settled by both races but even the humans prefer Ythria to the Empire. When war breaks out, they are able to maintain their independence because they had the foresight to build an impressive defensive system, unlike their neighboring worlds. I'm not sure I find their final triumph very plausible - they lure a substantial invasion force into an untenable position, but it is otherwise a well told story with only one minor sidetrack into lecture mode. 5/31/25

The Dark Side of the Sun by Terry Pratchett, St Martin, 1976

A very early SF novel that does not remotely resemble the body of work that made the author a success. It is set on a planet dominated by a large family. The protagonist is about to become the new chairman, but a new kind of predictive mathematics has indicated that he will uncover a secret about his planet. Several assassination attempts fail to stop him and he picks up a robot bodyguard along the way. It often feels more like an outline than an actual story. There are a few bits of lively dialogue but reading it was mostly a chore. 5/31/25

The Visionary Pageant and Other Stories by Paul Di Filippo, Wildside, 2025

The latest collection of quirky stories from the talented Paul Di Filippo. There are only eight of them including two novellas, two vignettes, and four short stories. As usual, each is a distinct wild ride into different realities, always trimmed with humor that ranges from dark to slapstick. A couple of these are ostensibly Lovecraftian, although with byplays that Lovecraft would never have traveled, and one of them even invokes Jules Verne as well. There are nods to other familiar names in the genre as well. There is an alien invasion, sort of, weird cults, and alien hive civilizations, but none of these premises evolves traditionally. Fun for anyone who likes to have old ideas presented in new frameworks, or anyone who just enjoys intelligent, thoughtful writing. 5/26/25

Fury in Steel by Will Murray, Altus, 2021

The Spider has a new enemy, a criminal organization much less likely to be impressed by his efforts, even augmented as they are by a pretty well developed cast of supporting characters. The threat this time is a group of robots who have embarked on a destructive attack on America. The Spider and his friends have to face a foe who is literally unafraid of death. As usual, their efforts are further hampered by the well meaning but misdirected efforts of the government - in this case a special FBI unit - to arrest the Spider. There are a lot of violent deaths in this one as the plot slowly unfolds and the Spider ultimately identifies the person behind the robotic assault. A bit more science fiction than in the original pulp adventures, but also rather better written, particularly the characterizations. The action never lets up. 5/26/25

Tarzan: The Lost Adventure by Edgar Rice Burroughs and Joe R. Lansdale, Del Rey, 1995

Burroughs had written a fairly sizable part of this novel at the time of his death and it was eventually completed by Lansdale. Although it follows the same formula as most of the other Tarzan novels, it is quite entertaining, even the early chapters by Burroughs. The later ones have better dialogue and a sense of humor. Tarzan has to assist a haphazard safari searching for a lost city. In addition to the usual jungle dangers, there is a small group of deserters from the French Foreign Legion, and they prey on the other outsiders and also want to find the supposed treasure in the lost city. 5/20/25

The Hangman from Hell by Will Murray, Altus, 2024, $24.95

For the past several weeks I have been in the midst of cataract surgery, which has made it difficult for me to read more than about 100 pages per day. Hopefully this will be over with in another week. But even with that difficulty, I read this Spider novel all in one day. The story is fast paced and has some nice enough twists that I kept reading to find out where it was going next. This another pulp pastiche with the Spider - whom I like better than the Shadow - teaming up with Operator 5, who had his own series of novels, a few of which I have read. This new book is a prequel to a cycle of those novels called the Purple Invasion, which I have not. The Spider knows that the Purple Empire - clearly Germany - is planning a large scale invasion of America. He contacts Operator 5, who unwisely initially refuses to deal with the Spider, who is technically a criminal. Circumstances make it necessary, however, and the two eventually win their battle - although they cannot avert the war to come. Good fun. 5/16/25

Tarzan and the Abominable Snowmen by Barton Werper, Gold Star, 1965

Tarzan and Jane are off to Mount Kilimanjaro with an expedition that hopes to capture an abominable snowman. Jane gets captured by a tribe of yeti – what a surprise – and Tarzan has to come to the rescue. There is the inevitable combat in an arena, the yeti turn out not to be human and resistant to bullets, and conflict between the leaders of the yeti lead to enough confusion that Tarzan is able to get all of the captured explorers to safety. Really bad writing. 5/14/25

Tarzan and the Winged Invaders by Barton Werper, Gold Star, 1965

The last of the unauthorized Tarzan adventures. Tarzan finds several natives dead, their bodies drained of blood. No, it’s not Dracula in a new feeding ground. It turns out to be mutants from a distant future who use time machines to come back and harvest the blood plasma that sustains their lives. They plan a much larger scale attack, not to mention menacing Jane, so Tarzan does his usual act and destroys the invaders so thoroughly that they will never try again. This one actually approached being competently, unlike the earlier books, but it is still very amateurish. 5/14/25

Tarzan and the Cave City by Barton Werper, Gold Star, 1964

Tarzan joins a safari that is searching for a rumored one hundred pound emerald. There are a couple of nasty villains who are also after it, and on top of that Tarzan is captured by warriors from another lost city, this one underground, and forced to fight in an arena. He escapes, the evil city is destroyed, the villains are dispatched, and the emerald is found. But it’s actually just quartz and completely worthless. Pretty dull throughout.

Tarzan and the Snake People by Barton Werper, Gold Star, 1964

A rehash of the plots from the first two books in this unauthorized series. Two villainous Europeans cause war to erupt between two hidden cities. The inhabitants have human heads but the bodies of serpents. The bad guys want to gain control of a supply of radium held in one of the cities. Jane gets kidnapped in an attempt to force Tarzan to intervene, and it works. He tracks down the people responsible and punishes them, then negotiates a peaceful conclusion to the hostilities. Somewhat better written than the others but predictable and sometimes implausible as well. 5/9/25

The Queen of Air and Darkness by Poul Anderson, Signet, 1973

The title novelette in this connection is set on a world where a hidden native race resembles the elves of Earth’s legends. “Home” is an interesting story that presents both sides fairly well when a group of human colonists are told to leave the planet they have lived on for generations because their presence will compromise the future of the indigenous race. “The Alien Enemy” is one of those stories where an alien threat is invented to unify humans. “The Faun” is a minor vignette and “In the Shadow” is a routine problem story involving a space phenomenon. “Time Lag” concerns conflict between two colony worlds and the consequences of relative time during space flight. An okay collection but only the title story is memorable. 5/7/25

Tarzan and the Silver Globe by Barton Werper, Gold Star, 1964

This was the first of five unauthorized Tarzan adventures that were eventually removed from sale. Tarzan sets out to steal some Oparian gold, unaware that alien visitors have landed in the jungle and are watching him. Tarzan is depicted as much more bestial than in the Burroughs novels. The first few chapters are not bad, but the Venusians and their intelligent octopus slave monster are ludicrous at best. Jane gets abducted by the aliens and Tarzan suffers amnesia and wanders around beneath Opar for a long time.  4/26/25

Josephine and the Argonauts by Paul Magrs, Puffin, 2023

Doctor who flirts with fantasy in this young adult novel. He and his friends are visiting the British Museum when they find a device that magically transports them into another reality where Greek mythology is literal history. They have to deal with Zeus himself in order to solve a local problem and eventually return to their original universe. 4/18/25

Doctor Who in Wonderland by Paul Magrs, Puffin, 2024

The Doctor and friends are visiting England during the life of Lewis Carroll and find themselves transported into an alternate universe where Wonderland is a real place. They appear to be trapped and subject to the whims of an alien entity, but they can return to their own reality if they solve a mystery embedded in their strange surroundings. Aimed at younger readers. 4/18/25

Space Is Just a Starry Night by Tanith Lee, Aqueduct, 2013

Although these stories tend to be ostensibly science fiction, they are sometimes infused with fantasy elements as well. A werewolf on the moon. A woman transformed after being trapped in a fire in a near future world. An alien uses a kind of bordello to lure humans to their deaths. A young woman is disturbed when an ancestor is taken out of suspended animation. A starship is destroyed by a mysterious force. A space station survives the destruction of its planet. A woman falls in love with her assassin. All the colors in the world suddenly change. No really outstanding stories – Lee’s SF was generally inferior to her fantasy – but almost all of them are interesting. 4/17/25

Rebellion on Treasure Island by Bali Rai, Puffin, 2023

Doctor Who visits the 18th Century and investigates the theft of some jewels from the British monarchy. This leads him to an island popular with pirates, including Long John Silver. But these are not your ordinary pirates. They are actually alien beings and they pose a new threat to the world, and the Doctor. This was part of a series of adventures of the Doctor aimed at younger readers. It does not have the feel of the Robert Louis Stevenson story at all despite the setting. 4/17/25

The Doom Legion by Will Murray, Altus, 2018, $24.95, ISBN 978-1618273550

Although the Shadow is the best known of the crime fighters from the old pulp magazine era, I have always thought that The Spider was not only a more interesting character, but in general that the stories were better written. Will Murray revives the Spider in this substantial adventure and teams him up with one of my other favorites, Operator 5, and another pulp hero whom I did not like as well, G8, leader of the Battle Aces. The real story begins when a strange meteorite lands in New York. The meteorite is the source of a previously unknown power which has soon transformed a number of people into quasi-zombies who can project pyromanic rays from their eyes. There is also a consortium of villains who want to take advantage of the situation. The Spider is, as usual, hampered by the fact that he is technically a criminal wanted by the police. Non-stop action in the pulp tradition follows and continues right to the end, with exciting chase sequences - I am really fond of good chases - and some entertaining interplay among our three disparate heroes. It's not a spoiler to say that the good guys prevail - because of course they do. But the adventures involving in getting them to that point are what stories of this type are all about. 4/11/25

Indigara by Tanith Lee, Firebird, 2007

A novella for younger readers, ostensibly science fiction although it has some fantasy elements as well. A young girl and her robot dog discover a hidden world beneath a city on their planet that is the byproduct of dramatic productions that were largely abandoned in the thriving entertainment industry above. While they are there, they are also in surface world, acting independently of their doppelgangers. At first it is all very amusing, but eventually she discovers that there are dark secrets as well. Moderately entertaining. 4/7/25

The Wild Adventures of Sherlock Holmes Volume Three by Will Murray, Odyssey, 2023, $24.95, ISBN 9798856540481

Sherlock Holmes has had a lot of adventures involving the fantastic. He has been matched against Cthulhu, Dracula, Mr Hyde, Well's Martians, time travelers, and various other powers and possibilities. This is the third volume of such stories by Murray. There is quite a bit of variation in the stories. Some of them deal with a second invasion by Mars. Several deal with a new arch enemy, whose powers may indeed be more than human. There are connections to other pulp characters and writers including Herbert West from Lovecraft and the Grey Seal, who is new to me, but who apparently was briefly popular when his adventures were appearing. There are also allusions to Doc Savage and even Jules Verne. Despite the untraditional material, the stories generally capture the feel of the original Doyle characters. Murray is able to capture the atmosphere of the pulp era without resorting to its often awkward prose and overly simplified themes. There are three more volumes in this series. 4/5/25

Beyond the Beyond by Poul Anderson, Signet, 1969

An interesting selection of stories here, of varying quality. David Falkayn attempts to help an early Merseian society avoid the problems caused by a nearby supernova. A spaceship crew has to put down an attempt by passengers to seize the ship. A man has his memory suppressed so that he can be inserted into a primitive culture to observe them. “The Sensitive Man” is about people who have learned to augment their senses, but the story suffers from its lengthy criticism of American politics and espousal of libertarianism – which Anderson touts as the only alternative in the long run to totalitarianism. There are visitors from a peculiar part of the galaxy that might be in another universe. All in all, it’s not one of his better collections. 4/3/25

The Tardis Confiscation by Matthew Petchinsky, Apophis

This absolutely awful book is almost certainly an unauthorized addition to the Doctor Who and Men in Black series. It doesn’t even have a copyright notice or publication date. There are pages of ads for various products including more books of dubious value. This purports to be the story of the Doctor getting arrested by the MIB as an alien invader. It doesn’t have chapters. Instead if has section titles, and the sections are often less than a page. The prose would get a C in a high school English class – it is certainly not professionally publishable. 4/3/25

Tales of the Flying Mountains by Poul Anderson, Collier, 1970

Anderson wrote a series of short stories as Winston P. Sanders and then wrapped them up in a framing story to become this “novel.” It is actually just a series of episodes about the development of a separate nation among the asteroids and their sometimes testy relations with Earth. About half of the stories involve technical problems that have to be solved, and none are individually memorable. “Sunjammer” is probably the best, although it is not one of Anderson’s better stories. There are snide comments about the masses of humanity, the superiority of capitalism, the evils of bureaucracy and other Anderson hobby horses but they are not too intrusive. 3/28/25

The Martian Contingency by Mary Robinette Kowal, Tor, 2025, $18.99, ISBN 978-1-250-23705-7

There is something inherent in stories about the colonization of Mars that almost always strikes a chord in me. This one takes place in an alternate history. A meteor struck Earth in 1952, shattering the international order and bringing on climate change with a vengeance. It is possible that Earth will become uninhabitable. So an effort is made to plant a permanent colony on Mars. There are problems though. A terrorist group is determined to stop the space program and reclaim the Earth instead. They may be responsible for a cargo drone that explodes during its landing on Mars. The missing supplies cause a major change of planning and it is even possible that the mission may be recalled. There is also a mystery involving the first expedition, some interpersonal problems, and the predictable difficulties of adapting to the Martain environment. Kowal juggles all of these factors with her usual skill. The characters act like real people and that means they are not always completely rational. One of the more enjoyable new novels I've read in the past couple of years. 3/24/25

Back to Mars by Will Murray, Altus, 2023

Tarzan has to make a second trip to Mars when an unknown Martian tribe sends a ship full of invaders to Earth, intent upon conquering Africa. Although he and his warrior friends are able to destroy the first mission, it is obvious that more ships will follow unless he contacts John Carter and they find a way to cut off the invaders at the source. But that isn't as easy as it seems because they live inside a mountain, which makes it difficult to attack them. So the two heroes have to communicate with Jason Gridley on Earth, to see if he can tell them how to duplicate the machine that he and David Innes used to open a route to Pelludicar at the center of the Earth. The best scenes take place on Mars, featuring some new and unusual creatures, while visiting old friends like Llana of Gathol. Murray does Mars quite well. 3/14/25

The Last Dangerous Visions edited by Harlan Ellison, Blackstone, 2024

The long awaited title has appeared, though it is truncated, more recently added to, and lacks the introductions by Ellison that were so integral to the earlier books. J. Michael Straczynski has done a great job despite the many obstacles that remained – a lot of the stories that were meant to appear here were withdrawn by their authors and published elsewhere over the years. Straczynski’s long essay about Ellison is excellent and having met Ellison a few times in the past in person and on the telephone, I think he has done the best profile of an unusually nuanced personality I’ve read in a long time. The stories are generally good. The late Stephen Robinette has his very best story here. The last Van Vogt story likely to ever appear is included and it’s not bad. The same is true of the Ward Moore and Howard Fast entries, both of which are pretty good stories. A couple of the stories are recent acquisitions – James S.A. Corey and Adrian Tchaikowsky. There are only two that I thought were rather minor. The rest are all solid, but times have changed and they could not be as revolutionary and striking as the earlier anthologies. 3/13/25

Seven Conquests by Poul Anderson, Baen, 1984

Seven stories, each of which involves war, and which are rather depressing taken individually or as a whole. In “Kings Who Die,” a man who has developed a way to end an apparently permanent state of war is killed when an enemy prisoner sabotages his ship. A colony is built in the Jurassic in “Wildcat” because a nuclear war is about to destroy humanity. “Cold Victory” results in a crucial defeat for a space fleet as the result on an accident. “Inside Straight” pits a repressive civilization against a planet that has mastered the art of games theory. “Details” is the weakest story – aliens mismanage their manipulation of Earth. “Strange Bedfellows” involves a saboteur trying to disrupt a project to terraform the moon. 3/11/25

Skull Island by Will Murray, Altus, 2013

Doc Savage meets King Kong. When King Kong dies in New York City, Doc Savage relates to his companions a story from his very early adulthood, when he and his father were still involved in their friendly sparring and before he met his crew. The bulk of the novel is his reminiscence about the time when he visited Skull Island and encountered the giant ape on its own territory. This necessary means that the companions are absent from most of the story, which is just fine with me because I always thought they were basically a clown show that weakened the presentation of Savage himself. They have several adventures among the dinosaurs and other dangers of Skull Island  and for a change there is a real effort to develop the personalities of both men. I was less happy with the grandfather, who fortunately is not around for long. This is a jungle adventure, similar at times to the Tarzan books, another character Murray has resurrected in other novels. A well paced, exciting adventure story that blends some old literary friends in a new way. 3/7/25

Dissolution by Nicholas Binge, Riverhead, 2025

Comparisons of this novel to Philip K. Dick are inevitable. The story is low key at first. A woman is dealing with the slow erosion of her husband's memories, which are destroying his personality and their joint past. But nthen someone shows up and convinces her that this is not a natural, inevitable process. Another party is deliberately manipulating his mind for hidden purposes - although this man also has a hidden agenda. And it's more than just a personal tragedy. As the erosion continues, it becomes evident that reality itself is being somehow altered. I enjoyed the author's first novel, but this one is even better. Gripping prose, and a relatively small mystery that gradually develops into something affecting the entire world. Very nicely done. 3/6/25

Angel of Vengeance by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child, Grand Central, 2024

I have been a fan of this writing team since their second novel appeared. This would seem to have all the elements that appealed to me – a larger than life serial killer, Pendergast the detective and Constance, his ward. Pendergast’s enigmatic brother. The story also involves time travel to the 19th Century, murder, captures and escapes, and so on. But this time the disparate elements just never really congeal. The frantic opening chapters move too fast to draw the reader into the story other than superficially. Motives are murky, characters are exaggerated, and I found my attention wandering constantly. This is the first of their books I have actually disliked. 3/2/25

When the Moon Hits Your Eye by John Scalzi, Tor, 2025, $29.99, ISBN 978-0-7653-8909-1

One day the moon suddenly changes. It is now an enormous piece of cheese. All the moon samples on Earth change similarly. This is usually the kind of premise that is played strictly for laughs, sometimes successfully, sometimes not. Scalzi treats as completely serious and shows us a fairly wide swathe of characters and now they react to the phenomenon, and how it changes their lives. I frankly did not expect to like this – my sense of humor has turned pretty sour the last few weeks. But he manages to bring it off in a surprisingly clever way and it held my interest even at its most absurd.   3/2/25

A Circus of Hells by Poul Anderson, Signet, 1970

Another novel of young Dominic Flandry, currently assigned as a scout in the buffer region between the human and Merseians empires. He is approached by a local crime lord to fold a private mission into his next flight, a survey of a planet that might host a valuable automated mining system. He and a companion reach that planet only to discover that the robot brain has constructed a series of deadly contests to amuse itself. They have to survive various killer robots in order to contact the brain and get their ship repaired. That’s the first half. In the second, he is betrayed by his companion and they become prisoners of the Merseians, until he finds a clever way to motivate the odd indigenes on the planet that hosts their base to help him flee the world. The first half is much better. 2/14/25

Tau Zero by Poul Anderson, Lancer, 1970

Aka To Outlive Eternity. I didn't care for this when it first appeared but it seems a lot better now. An early starship encounters an anomaly in space that makes it impossible for them to decelerate. They experience relatively little subjective time but all around them the universe is growing old and eventually dies, to be replaced by a new one in which they are finally able to land. The story is mostly about the interactions among the crew, which was not usually Anderson's main focus. He does it pretty well and should have tried it more often. 2/14/25

The Rebel Worlds by Poul Anderson, Signet, 1969

A young Dominic Flandry is assigned to find out what is going on when a region of the Terran Empire erupts into civil war and one of the parties declares himself emperor. The real villain is the local governor, who had begun a complicated political scheme to acquire greater power. Flandry has to thread his way through opposing forces and find a solution that will keep the empire intact and eliminate the rebels without actually doing much harm to them. Although his solution is reasonably clever, there are various unpleasant traits he displays that made me think less of him as a character. There are also some very very improbable aliens. 2/10/25

The Giggle by James Goss, Target, 2023

This is a novelization of one of the more recent episodes of Doctor Who. It also serves as a bridge to the most recent version of the Doctor. The villain is from the very early days of the series, the Toymaker. This time he has created a puppet whose giggle is capable of driving entire populations insane. Violence threatens the Earth and even extends back and forth through history. About average for the series as a book. I have not seen the episode. 2/10/25

Bonded in Death by J.D. Robb, St Martins, 2025

Eve Dallas is back again, in one of her better and more challenging cases. A group of twelve people organized themselves into a cell in the worldwide terminal that Robb calls the Urban Wars – although her time frame is a bit out of joint. One of them went rogue and killed two of the others before he was captured and imprisoned. Forty years later, he has reportedly died in prison, but one of the others is murdered and it is clearly related. Dallas believes that the death was faked, and she uncovers clear evidence fairly easily. But the man is well financed and very experienced. How can she find him in New York City in the 2060s? The 60th book in this series is one of the better stories, even though there is no mystery involved.  We know  very early who is responsible and the problem is figuring out where he is hiding while preventing him from completing his mission of vengeance. A couple of the details annoyed me - I am getting very tried of the profiling consultant being able to draw accurate, detailed conclusions about the suspect based on manifestly inadequate information. 2/7/25

The Last Transaction/Scop by Barry Malzberg, Stark House, 2025

This is a combined edition of two of Malzberg's lesser known novels from the 1970s, both of which hold up pretty well. The first is cast in the form of the memoirs of an aging, future ex-president of the US. It mixes political speculation, satire, and speculation about how the country might change over time. The second is the better of the two. A man has decided to use time travel to go back in time and prevent the assassination of John F. Kennedy, but everything he attempts to do goes awry and he is trapped in a cycle of failure. Stephen King did this idea at much greater length, but Malzberg's version is still very much worth reading. 2/6/25

Tarzan Conqueror of Mars by Will Murray, Altus, 2020

Edgar Rice Burroughs himself merged Tarzan with the Pellucidar series, but he never took him to Mars. Decades ago Stuart Byrne wrote such a novel, but the estate managed to prevent it from ever being published. Now the estate is more amenable to that sort of thing and Murray has stepped out to the task. A witch doctor manages to astrally project Tarzan to the red planet, where he fairly quickly adjusts to the lighter gravity and the dangerous flora and fauna. He temporarily joins a tribe of four armed Martian apes and eventually becomes their leader. He hears of John Carter and suspects that Carter might be able to help him return to Earth, but misunderstanding and the pigheadedness of both men make their first few meetings taut and unfriendly. This felt much more like a Barsoom novel than a Tarzan story, if I had to pick between them. Murray adds a few new features and has guest appearances by Hadron and Thuvia from the original Burroughs novels. The ending won’t come as a surprise to anyone, but it’s good fun getting there and made me nostalgic to read the original Tarzan novels, which I haven’t touched since the 1970s. 2/4/25

The Horn of Time by Poul Anderson, Signet, 1968

A collection of six stories. It’s about average quality for Anderson. The stories include first contact with an alien civilization that has devolved, a time traveler to the Viking era in Iceland, a human colony who forsakes the land in order to live under the sea, a future in which traditional warfare has been replaced by a system of formal assassination, but the system is evolving, a political struggle in the aftermath of World War III, and a post apocalyptic spy story involving a South Pacific civilization. A lot of the stories have political subtexts in which we are told that communists are all bad and libertarians are the hope of the future. 2/4/25

Satan’s World by Poul Anderson, Lancer, 1968

David Falkayn and Nicholas Van Rijn team up to foil an aggressive and secretive race that is planning to take advantage of a rogue planet to advance their plans to disrupt human civilization. Naturally the aliens are no match for the wily humans. They sometimes verge on being satirical characters that the reader cannot really accept as a viable threat. Falkayn always struck me as Flandry with better manners and less initiative. Then story is quite readable but not realistic enough to be numbered among the author’s better works. 2/4/25

Metallic Love by Tanith Lee, Bantam, 2005 

I really did not care for The Silver Metal Lover, to which this is a kind of sequel. The first book described a love affair between a human woman and a robot. This describes another, more than a decade later, after the personality of Silver – a robot – has been reinstated. Except it really is not Silver because although the memories are the same, the personality is entirely different, and the robot – now called Verlis – is intentionally meant to be superhuman. There’s a lot of metaphysical speculation about being human, having a soul, etc., but none of it struck me as particularly interesting. Lee did some excellent SF early in her career, but the later efforts are far inferior to her fantasy. 1/24/25

World Without Stars by Poul Anderson, Ace, 1966 

Aka The Ancient Gods. This is really a novella. There are stars scattered between galaxies and some of them are home to intelligent species. A commercial human ship makes a voyage to a prospective trading partner, but an error causes them to crash on a nearby planet, fortunately fairly Earthlike. It has intelligent indigenes as well, split into two major tribes. One is quite primitive but inclined to be friendly. The other is more advanced and, convinced that they are descended from the gods that created the universe, they are not as favorably inclined toward visitors from the outside. The humans get caught up in the battle between the two, while trying to rebuild a shuttle that will enable them to continue on to their original destination. 1/24/25

The Fire Ants by Saul Wernick, Award, 1976  

Although this is a story about deadly mutated fire ants that invade a farming community and begin wreaking havoc, that is really just background. The focus of the story is a firebrand fundamentalist preacher who hates the rich and influential people who own and operate a local hotel, as well as all of their guests. He insists God sent the ants to punish the locals for tolerating the hotel and bar, and predictably violent riots ensue. The ants pop up from time to time to pick off the stragglers and once attack and overwhelm a large party. The two antagonists are caricatures and never drew my admiration or my ire and I didn’t much care when both of them were finally killed.  1/15/25

Ensign Flandry by Poul Anderson, Lancer, 1967  

This recounting of the early career of Dominic Flandry has some entertaining sections but is largely about a lot of diplomatic posturing and it frequently lost my interest. The Merseians are using a proxy war on a minor planet to engage the attention of the Terran authorities while they plan a much more valuable acquisition elsewhere. Flandry is assigned as an aide to a diplomatic mission and it is not long before he realizes the meetings are just an elaborate charade and Merseia has no intention of negotiating anything. 1/15/25

Praxis by David Gerrold, Star Traveler Press, 2024 

This is a rather short novel about a man who agrees to become a colonist on a new planet rather than submit to virtual slavery on Earth. The twist is that the planet is to be settled exclusively by men, in part because the presence of women and children creates difficulties that interfere with controlled development of a colony. The story is set mostly at the training camp where he learns how to interact with his same sex marriage partner and other aspects of his new lifestyle. There is not much in the way of plot or action. The book is designed to examine some of the practical issues involved and occasionally slips into lecture mode. An interesting approach that will not appeal to readers attracted by the spaceship on the cover. 1/6/25

The Star Fox by Poul Anderson, Signet, 1965  

Originally three novelettes, this is one of Anderson’s more polemic novels. Earth refuses to stand up for itself against an alien race that has already invaded a human colony world. The politicians and obviously demented peace activists oppose any resistance so the protagonist outfits himself a privateer and begins raiding the aliens’ supply lines. The first story follows his frustrations and his escape from Earth in the renovated mining ship. The second recounts his difficulties when a former friend attempts to capture him. The third describes his successful effort to shame Earth into defending the besieged colony world. Not as good as I remembered it. 1/6/25

The Trouble Twisters by Poul Anderson, Berkley, 1966  

Three longish stories set in the Polesotechnic League series and each featuring David Falkayn, an interplanetary trader. The first describes how he convinces a society that considers circles sacred and not for mundane use that a triangular wheel is alright. The second involves an alien invasion of a friendly system and Falkayn’s solution of their threatening position and hidden homeworld. The third and longest takes him to a quasi-feudal planet where he and his companions find themselves right in the middle of a civil war, which is bad for business and must therefore be resolved promptly. Average Anderson. 1/6/25

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