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derful first novel and I only wish that the Le Cirque des Rêves were real so I could explore its marvelous tents. L. E. Modesitt, Jr. likes to cre- ate prequels to his marvelous works, frequently set cen- turies before the first set of tales. He returns to his world where magicians create through imaging things. Quaeryt is a Scholar (hard from Tor), and an adviser to one of the major rulers. He hides his ability to im- age, though has no qualms us- ing that talent to kill some of his enemies. Tilbor had been conquered a decade before, and unfortunately still re- quires too many soldiers. So Quaeryt quietly heads there, using his skills as a sailor to help support the trip, which unfortunately ends with him in a shipwreck from which he barely survives. In Tel- bor he discovers a governor with a regiment under his control that would die for him, and rebel landholders who have grudges that pre- date the conquering of their land. Quaertl is a quiet per- son who hides his abilities so well that it is hard to get a true sense of him. The tale is worth the read. I am already looking forward to the con- tinuation of his saga. John Nassise introduces us to Jeremiah Hunt, a man so obsessed with finding his missing daughter that he used a magic ritual to give him Eyes to See (hard from Tor) the ghosts that haunt the Earth. Instead nearly blind, he finds he can borrow sight from a friendly ghost he calls Whisper. Now, no longer a pro- fessor of exotic languages, he exorcizes ghosts and works as a consultant for the police, who think him merely psychic. Then a series of murders leads him to the spirit who stole his daughter. Very intense. I gulped this down and am looking forward to the promised sequel. Jacqueline Carey introduced us to Santa Olivia (paper), a town under martial law


on the border with Mexico. Loup is the daughter of a genetically modified soldier and in the first tale managed, with her girl friend Pilar, to escape into the real world. These Saints Astray (trade from Grand Central Publish- ing) are recruited into a body- guard agency, which gets them aliases. Train- ing is, of course, very hard for Pilar but she shows surpris- ing strengths. They have sev- eral gigs as bodyguards be- fore ending up working for an internationally famous band.


Soon Loup is an icon, selling T-shirts bearing her picture. Then an old friend, who was supposed to testify about Santa Olivia, is kidnapped in Las Vegas, and that forces Loup to head to the U.S, a place where she isn’t consid- ered human. It’s impossible not to be caught up in the fun characters here, especially the rock band members who fit every cliché, and yet are lovable. Catherine Asaro continues her tale of the peace finally growing between the Sko- lian and Eubian empires. Jaibriol, Emperor of Aris- tos, is really a Ruby telepath. Kelric the Skolian Imperator knows this but must keep it secret. A decade before, the song Carnelians (hard from Baen) finally had been hushed up, but now on the eve of negotiations schem- ers trying to stop peace get it widely released—and then Del, the Ruby prince turned holo- singer, is kid- napped. Adding to the complica- tion is a Ruby telepath seeking refuge at the Skolian Embas- sy who unknow- ingly becomes a pawn. Many of


the threads from previous books are finally completed in this tale, which is a must for fans of the series. A practicing physician her- self, Mickey Zucker Reichert


is the perfect choice to show the first few months of Su- san Calvin’s residency in child psychology. Susan Calvin, who will become the robot psychologist of Isaac Asimov’s famous series, has four cases to start with, three of which are actually medical puzzles. But I Robot: Protect (hard from Roc) also has Susan involved with a medical study using nano- robots, robots corrupted by a protest group. She also makes friends with Nate, a robot designed by her father, that her hospital is afraid to use to its full potential. Very absorbing and an interest- ing look at the near future of medicine and what technol- ogy has allowed to change, and what elements of medi- cine seem set in stone. I re- ally enjoyed it. David Chandler concludes his tale of a thief who gets in over his head by befriend- ing one of the knights of the ancient swords. In the last book they found an ancient dwarf city inhabited by the last elves, and in surviving, they managed to bring down both the city and the mountain over it. Now the bar- barians of the east have a wide path to invade. Croy, ever-faith- ful knight, stays to fight the in- vaders and pro- tect his king. But Malden takes


Cythera, Croy’s betrothed and Malden’s, love back to Ness, where strange cir- cumstances make him Lord Mayor of a town missing all its able-bodied men. Soon the barbarians have Ness under siege and Malden has to find the Honor Among


Thieves (paper from Harper Voyager) and the strength of the prostitutes to defend his city. It doesn’t help that his love has decided to follow her mother’s path and be- come a witch, which means no lovers or husbands. This was an exciting end to a fun series. Kylie Chan con- tinues her tale of a nanny in Hong Kong whose em- ployer is really a celestial God. In Red Phoenix (pa- per from Harper Voyager) Emma has to deal with being John Chen’s heir once he loses the ener- gy needed to en- able him to become his pri- mary form and leave Earth. She helps set up martial arts schools and gets better at the art herself, doing things that should be impossible for humans. She also finds her- self dreaming about being a snake. I’m eagerly awaiting the conclusion of this fun se- ries next month. Jennifer Estep, whose books have become one of my dirty pleasures, concludes her tale of Gin Blanco, an assassin with ice and stone elemen- tal powers, who runs a Rib joint on the side. In Spider’s Revenge (paper from Pocket) she finally faces her enemy, Mab, a powerful woman with fire elemental powers who dominates the corrupt city, and who has a put a huge bounty on Gin’s head. This is a fun, classy ending to a great series. Kelly Meding takes a dark look at an alternate Earth where super-powered meta- humans have a city-destroy- ing war. Trance (paper from Pocket) was just a kid in that


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war that ended when all Me- ta’s lost their powers. Since then she has grown up and served time, and she works three jobs to pay her rent. She has new powers and very powerful energy con- trol—and so does an old ene- my. Her allies are the grown- up kids who now have their powers back; a shape-shi f ter, a man with su- per senses; and a few others who come to the old Ranger headquar ter s that somehow have been main- tained. Con- stantly under attack by a meta


who can take over other meta’s minds and use them to attack the new Rangers, she has to find this hidden meta before he kills her. Very exciting beginning to a new series. David Weber revisits A Beau- tiful Friendship (hard from Baen) between Stephanie Harrington and Climbs Quickly, a telepathic tree cat from the for- ests of Sphinx. This first contact was briefly men- tioned in Mr. Weber’s Honor Harrington se- ries, and got a short story a de- cade ago. This fun young-adult novel fleshes out the details and adds a tale of Stephanie and Climbs Quickly fight- ing an off-planet poacher determined to sell tree cats off world. Lots of fun and it looks as if it is the beginning of a fun series. Mike Shephard has kept his


heroine facing internal en- emies in her part of the gal- axy. In the eighth book of the saga, he has Kris Longknife: Daring (paper from Ace) go- ing into unmapped parts of the galaxy where they meet humanoid enemies who shoot first at anything chal- lenging them, and they also destroy planets with living civilizations. Kris is out- gunned even with eight bat- tleships with her, along with a new devastating weapon. I gulped this down in a day and can’t wait for her next encounter with this vicious enemy. Chuck Palahnuik manages a modern Dantean look at hell with his tale of Madison, a thirteen-year-old girl who thinks she is Damned (hard from Doubleday) because she died of a marijuana overdose. Madison is the daughter of two extremely rich and liberal film stars who are constantly adopting orphans to make themselves look good, and who have houses around the world. Madison had been watch- ing her mother win the Acad- emy Awards on television with the latest orphan, a boy slightly older than herself she is interested in, when she died. Hell is properly disgusting, but somehow it is a place for Madi-


son to discover who she is, how she really died, and what she wants out of death. In between she has to find a way to tame a giant demon- ess, and work the telephones to interrupt people’s dinner


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