WEEKLYPRESS.COM • UCREVIEW.COM • DECEMBER 5 • 2012 11


GIFT GUIDE By Henry Leon Lazarus


T


he singularity, a term invented by Verner Vinge in the 80’s is a time coming soon in which computer intelligence has grown so great it has out- stripped humanity and everything imaginable is possible. It is a time when minds are uploaded to the cloud and back into artificial bodies. It is a wonderfully confusing future that I doubt will ever happen.


Imagine Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy written by techno nerds and filled with technical jargon that will de- light people familiar with cur- rent technology and confuse others. Cory Doctorow and Charles Stross have so much fun with their post-singularity tale The Rapture of the Nerds (hard from Tor). Huw has been avoiding the growing cloud of micro-processors that have eaten all the rest of the inner Solar System ever since his parents uplifted, but mak- ing clay pots in Wales. Then he is requested to join a tech- no-jury to evaluate the safety of new technology dropped to Earth in Lybia and at the same time in infected by a unique virus. Chased out of Libya with his teapot guide, he is dumped in an extreme religious right southern US


Science Fiction for December 2012


work with Persephone and her friend Johnny MacTav- ish as they look into a super church in Colorado. It seems the true believers want to wake as sleeping monster on another plane, thinking it is really J. C. They’ve used mind parasites to take over the local police and blocked all the roads out of Denver. As usual the action never stops and our heroes barely survive. It’s impossible to put down.


Christopher L. Bennet tells of a time when the asteroid belt is a lawless area filled with habitats. To handle the problems a group of trouble- shooters enhanced with ge- netic and bionic superpowers try to stop the terrorists and criminals. They have become very good at their task, at- tracting movers and shakers


ed by a demon which didn’t stop her from loving her daughter who was mostly normal except for the tail. She earns a living as a part- time file clerk at the police department and also as Hel’s agent. Calliung her father for help, however, could cause Armageddon. Dark Cur- rents (hard from Roc that I bought electronically) starts with a college student who drowned in the river when drunk, except his lungs were filled with salt water. Work- ing with a werewolf cop as a partner, she has to question the local undines, fairies, and the immortal, emotion-eating ghouls who are important to the case. The boy did die ac- cidently, but in an unbeliev- able way. This tale sets the stage for a long series, and I intend to keep reading.


Kill a magical beast called War Bonnet and Geranimo will lift the barrier blocking American Expansion. Doc Holliday is on his last legs before TB gets him and Roo- sevelt had only come to the black hills because his wife and mother died on the same day. Thomas Edison and Ned Buntline are there to help, as they have been in the three previous books in the series. Lots of action and fun. Kelly McCullough returns us to a fantasy world in which magicians get their magic from bonding to magi- cal creatures. Aral Kingslayer became an alcoholic after his goddess who preached justice was killed and his order destroyed. Jax, another assassin and one time lover tells him that other blades have been captured and he and Triss, His shadow famil- iar that gives him magical powers, are needed to rescue them. So he has to pull him- self together and become the best assassin of the age with his Crossed Blades (paper from Ace) But in this fun adventure, not everyone is honest and treachery lurks behind every meeting. Im- possible to put down even though this is Aral’s third adventure.


Mike Shepherd tells a tale


where he discovers that the virus is shaping his larynx so he can talk to an ambassador dropped to Earth. That’s only the first third. In the second he is uplifted to the cloud as a witness to help stop the government from destroy- ing Earth and sending all its inhabitants to a simulation. Wow!


Charles Stross has a new laundry tale about the de- monologist Bob Howard. The fun of the laundry books that mix spy novels with Lovecraftian demons is that Mr. Stross always chooses his style from a popular spy nov- elist. The first stole from Len Deighton and the delightful Ipcress File. The second bor- rowed from Ian Flemming, which didn’t work as well since everybody has spoofed James Bond. The Apocalypse Codex (hard from Ace which I bought electronically) uses Peter O’Donnell’s fun 60’s character Modesty Blaise found in comic stip, book, and even a movie. Bob has to


who want to use them. Emer- ald Blair, Emry to her friends, is one of their newest mem- bers. Her father left the habi- tat of Vangard, a pioneer in genetic engineering. Vangard had closed itself from the rest of the belt during the revolu- tion from Earth, but now they have decided to become leaders at the same time the Troubleshooters have gotten new funding and sugges- tions that they move in dif- ferent directions. Emry, who is Only Superhuman (hard from Tor which I bought at Philcon), is pushed in differ- ent directions not knowing everyone is trying to use her. Lots of fun and hard to put down. I hope there’s a sequel. One of my favorite au- thors, Jacqueline Carey, has entered the paranormal field with fun tale of a quirky town, Pemkowet, where magical elements like vam- pires, fairies, ogres, etc are open. They are ruled by the goddess Hel. Daisy Johans- sen’s mother was impregnat-


The most amazing person ever to be President was, of course, Teddy Roosevelt. Mike Resnick has him in a major role in his alternate version of the 1880’s in which Indian magic has kept the U. S. from crossing the Mississippi. This time it’s The Doctor and the Rough Rider (trade from Pyr) have an offer from Geronimo.


of Kris Longknife Furious (paper from Ace which I bought at Philcon) Last epi- sode she had commanded


a flotilla that had attacked aliens who threatened an avian civilization and re- fused any attempt at contact. She’s been sidelined and a hundred and fifty planets want to arrest her and try her for murder. Then her grandfather decides that the aliens need trade goods and in stopping him, she ends up arrested and facing the death penalty. I love this space op- era series and hope it contin- ues for a while. David Weber and Jane Lindskold continue the tale of teenage Stephanie Har- rington who first discovered treecats on Sphinx. It’s Fire Season (hard from Baen) and not only the settlers but also the treecat colonies. In addition to the usual teen worries like getting a license and problems with parents, Stephanie finds a cute guy, the son of the leader of the anthropology team investi- gating whether treecats are sentient. This is a problem since they are telepathic and don’t speak. Then the anthro- pology team parks on a bog and their aircar sinks. Their communicators don’t work because of another problem. So of course treecats manage to get word to Stephanie who is helping fight a major fire and also rescuing another treecat colony. This is a nice continuation of a series that precedes David Weber’s Honor Harrington tales. Clara, whose mother has in- vented an artificial process for


continued on page 12


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17