6 • PHILLYFREEPRESS.com • UcREVIEW.com • SEPTEMBER 05, 2018


ing ghost, Rose Marshall, The Girl in the Green Silk Gown (paper from DAW). Her enemy, Bobby Cross, who can live forever as long as his spirit-eating car is kept fueled. Rose was always the one who got away, and his current plan in- volves using the special conditions of Halloween to turn her human which means dealing the mortal needs like peeing, that she hasn’t had to face in 60 years. She has to get help from a human who almost captured her. Her only way back is through Hades, which has mul- tiple dangers and a cute three-headed dog. Lots of fun. A ghost world has been


created from our super highways filled with ghosts who died by them and then took Alternate Routes (hard from Baen). The Secret Service uses access to these ghosts


Science Fiction for September 2018 S


eanan McGuire tells a second tale of the hitchhik-


to predict future attacks on the president, and according to Tim Pow- ers, are willing to kill to keep their secret. Sebas- tian Vickery, new to the service who entered the wrong car, survived an assassination attempt and has been on the run for four years. Then the ser- vice uses the ghost of his suicided wife to track him down. Warned by current agent, Ingrid Castine, and helped by people already aware of the ghosts, the only way for the two of them to survive and keep Los Angeles from explod-


ing, is to enter the ghost world while still alive, Very exciting, but I found the mythology a bit con- fusing and convenient. Christina Henry won- ders what would have happened if The Mermaid (Paper from Berkley) that P. T. Barnum exhibited had actually been real. The Mermaid had been captured and let go by a fisherman in northern Maine. Touching sand turns her human and so she decided to stay with him for decades till his death while she still looked young. Rumors cause P. T. Barnum to send his assistant Levi.


The mermaid (Amelia) first turns Levi down, and then decides that the offer would give her an oppor- tunity to see the human world. Unfortunately this is a world where believ- ers might try to kill her, and a place where slavery is still legal. This is a nice stranger-in-a-strange land tale that stays enthralling and very human. Alan Dean Foster considers the fate of Ru- sian, a Relic (hard from Del Rey) of the insectoid Myssari as the last hu- man. Humanity had never met aliens despite having colonized numer- ous planets. Another species, the Vrizan, are


also investigating the hu- man ruins. Rusian had asked the Myssari to help him find Earth before he would let them use his cells to recreate humanity, and the search leads to another planet with two surviving older children. There are more surprises later in this fun version of the last human. Jeff Wheeler contin- ues his tale of Cettie Pratt, once an orphan and moneyless, and Sera Fitzempress, only child of the Regent Prince. For four years they have been roommates studying the mysteries at Muirwood Academy. They are al- most ready for the test


that will reveal important facts about their world, when the Emperor finally dies. The Privy council has to decide between sixteen-year-old Sera and her father as the new em- peror. Cettie is attacked at the Academy by someone who can turn off the mag- ical protections, while Sera has to fend off at- tempts to ruin her reputa- tion. A war starts between another world connected via a Mirror Gate (paper from 47north), Kingfoun- tain. I can’t wait for the final volume in this fun Victorian fantasy. Martha Wells sends her


Murderbot to an aban- doned Terraforming sta- tion that the evil GrayCris Corporation had been using to dig up ancient alien technology. The station was supposed to crash on the planet below, but a new company pur- chased it and stabilized it. The rogue security bot attaches itself to the expedition investigating the station and helps the members of the expedi- tion survive the Rogue


continued on page 7


H A I R V Y C E STUDIO


THURSDAY SEPT EMBER 13 5PM


4828 BAL T IMORE AVE PHI L LY


HAIRVYCE .COM


A YEAR


NNIVERSARY PARTY


5


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12