Pangaea

Pangaea by Michael Burstein
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Pangaea was a project I backed via Kickstarter for many reasons, a number of the authors included in this anthology were very familiar to me having read many of their other works both original and licensed properties and I find the idea of a central theme being shared amongst authors very appealing. In this collection the core idea is that the Earth has a single supercontinent and many of the environmental conditions which created our global society as it is never happened so how would mankind develop with say no huge tracts of water separating the evolution of species and development of technologies?
In this anthology we have a main story arc that is central to some of the stories and in others only mentioned in a single sentence but this method really binds the whole concept together. I'm not going to go into detail in regards to specific stories because they all offer their own unique appeal but I will say there were some fantastic tales being told and again not to repeat myself the fact that they are linked adds a level of enjoyment that pure stand alone anthologies can not offer.

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Strong Arm Tactics

Strong Arm Tactics by Jody Lynn Nye
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Lt. David Wolfe the black sheep of a family that has incredible power and influence on a galactic scale has a problem, joining the military may have been to forge his own path but his superiors are justifiably worried if anything should happen to him so they rely on a tried and trusted solution. Lt Wolfe is given command of X-Ray platoon aka The Cockroaches a dumping ground for Galactic Defense Force misfits who have yet to be court martialed or just to be kept out of the way. Lt Wolfe is an idealist and no matter the reputation of his new command he is determined to bring it into shape and rival any regular platoon, well that's the idea anyway but it doesn't quite go according to plan:)
Strong Arm Tactics was a fun read, granted the bad guys of the story are certainly not very pleasant and our "heroes" are probably nicer than they should have been but the tropes of this type of story are well covered with the twist of being a space faring military force and the author's own humorous spin. Specifics are best left for the reader to enjoy but war games on a starship in and around the organic waste processing facilities has it's own inherent issues not to mention a simple mission to the galaxies most renowned theme park for a simple three day mission, what could possibly go wrong?
A highly recommend read for some good action, characters and humour.

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Recovering Apollo 8

Recovering Apollo 8 by Kristine Kathryn Rusch
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Richard Johansenn as a boy watched along with the world as Apollo 8 missed it's trajectory which would have brought it around the moon and back to Earth, years passed and he built an empire which made him a billionaire and when the opportunity presented itself he reached for the stars to discover the fate of the three astronauts who have ventured into the darkness and never returned home.
Recovering Apollo 8 was included in a collection of science fiction offered by Storybundle, as is often the case I found novels and authors who I never would have come across otherwise and this quiet tale of obsession and courage struck a cord. The story has a lot of heart and you can feel the passion and drive which propelled the older Richard to risk his business, reputation even the wrath of his own government. It may be said that the story didn't quite finish as strong as it started which knocks a star off my rating but I thoroughly enjoyed it.

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Lost Tribes of the Dire Planet by Joel Jenkins

Lost Tribes of the Dire Planet by Joel Jenkins
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

In the final novel of the Dire Planet series the story picks up from the end of Strange Gods with Mellifis having to deal with the events in Orastus and bring the trade caravan back to Ledgrim. As the city continues to recover from the last battle with the exiles the powers within and without continue to attempt to usurp the Dire clan who through Garvey have huge amounts of influence on the council. At this point we learn much more about the very secretive Technopriests and the lost tribes who have been rallied by forces unknown for the objective of destroying Ledgrim. Lost Tribes was an easier read than the previous book even though there is a lot of information being put into the narrative at such a late stage but it works very well. The threat to Ledgrim and of course Garvey the "hero" of the tale escalates yet is kept in check by some well written set pieces and characters and at the end you will come away very satisfied.

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Strange Gods of the Dire Planet

Strange Gods of the Dire Planet by Joel Jenkins
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

In the aftermath of the assault against Ledgrim and the tragic losses incurred Lana Dire is accused of murdering Selah Shaw who refused to accept the warning Lana brought to the outer guard posts. Garvey now the chief of the council of elders offers restitution in line with the traditions of the tribe but this accusation is not about justice, there are elements at work who want to bring down the Dire clan and the trial and execution of Lana would be a good start.
This sets the tone of this fourth novel in the series, politics, greed and ambition are all in play amongst the various tribes of Mars and Garvey is finally getting a full taste of his adopted world. The narrative itself splits into a number of plot lines featuring the various characters both in present day and events in the past. It did get a little confusing if I am honest but all the events covered merge into the whole quite well yet leave a number of avenues open for the next book in the series. If nothing else Strange Gods really opens up the Mars that Garvey is living in both the world itself and the tribes and individuals. Traditions and religions all clash and well the blood certainly flows freely, life can be cheap on this world.
A good addition to the Dire Planet series but a tad confusing on first and second read and definitely not a good place to start if you're new to Garvey's adventures on the red planet.

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Exiles of the Dire Planet by Joel Jenkins

Exiles of the Dire Planet by Joel Jenkins
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Stuck on Mars and 47,000 years in the past is not that big a deal for former US astronaut Garvey Dire who has carved out a niche for himself within the native Muvari tribe both as a warrior (rare for a male) and a husband. Mars however is a still a wild place with competing tribes some of which are viable and well maintained societies and others feral and predatory including the cannibalistic Galbran race and mercenary Exiles. A hard fight with a band of Galbran once again racks up an impressive body count and leads to Garvey encountering his old "friend" Arnold Stechter who was also pulled back in time after the Mars missions Chinese mishaps. Unfortunately Stechter is the leader of assorted "exiles" groups of warrior mercenaries and his next goal is to take everything Garvey which leads to Garvey and Ntashia venturing into the wilds in search of Caladrex to claim it's advanced weaponry.
Exiles of the Dire Planet is simply bigger in every way than the first novel of the series (Dire Planet) and although we leave the present day action behind we do bring Arnold into the current time frame which adds a whole bunch of quite significant distractions. We learn a lot more about the Martian races and civilisations most of which are pretty blood thirsty although some by necessity and without the need for an origin element there is much more room for epic and quite bloody thirsty battles.
If you liked Dire Planet you'll love Exiles and if pulp scifi or simply a good action scifi adventure is your thing then you won't go wrong with this book or series.

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Crisis of Consciousness

Crisis of Consciousness by Dave Galanter
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A routine diplomatic mission to usher the Maabas into the Federation runs into some difficulties when an alien ship arrives in system and demands the removal of the Maabas from the planet. The Maabas were refugees after their homeworld was attacked and then settled on this planet and now it seems the race who evolved on this world have returned to reclaim it. Kirk offers to mediate a discussion between the two races and it turns out that the Kenisians are of Vulcanoid stock and have embraced the concept of absorbing the souls/katras of their descendents into their own minds. This makes reading the alien race very difficult but it's obvious to Kirk and Spock that the Kenisian presence in the system is not for the simple reason they state and it also raises the interesting point as to why the Maabas were so eager to join the Federation.
In Crisis of Consciousness Dave has given us a very entertaining original series adventure which has a very interesting premise as the Kenisians crew all contain the minds of their ancestors and the Commander of the ship has hundreds in her mind which makes their motives always in doubt since it would be almost impossible to gain consensus. It certainly perplexes Kirk but Spock is intrigued as it mirrors a practice his people are known under certain circumstances to practice but when discussions break down and action taken it is upto Spock to analysis and act in a way that will do the least amount of harm while attempting to save a good portion of the quadrant from destruction.
An excellent Star Trek novel, well written with an interesting plot with a few twists to maintain the mystery and to keep everything on track with Spock being the more central character and I do have to say I did like one element of the epilogue as it pertained to movie canon.


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Savage Trade

Savage Trade by Tony Daniel
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The Enterprise is sent to investigation the loss of communications with the science outpost Zeta Gibraltar at the outskirts of the Alpha Quadrant in a region of space known as the Vara Nebula a huge spawning ground for new stars and totally unexplored by Federation vessels. Upon arrival the outpost is found to be deserted yet there is something not quite right apart from the blood and an alien body part, some quarters are furnished with what amounts to antique items totally out of place but the chase is on as the Enterprise follows an ion trail deep into the nebula.
So that's the basic premise of this story by Tony Daniel, a mystery at the edge of explored space and maybe the rise of a threat to the security of the Federation and who or what had such lavious furnished quarters on what was advertised as a simple science outpost? Of course the novel is well fleshed out with a Vulcan official who serves under Sarek and represents the Federation because as per usual Starfleet hasn't quite been honest with what Kirk and the Enterprise have to deal with and she is written well and her ties to Spock also add a lot of depth to the story. The protagonists and antagonists are maybe the weak parts of the novel but while I can't say they really got me excited at least the protagonists were developed throughout the story and I do have to say I enjoyed the twist in the story near the end.
Overall a solid original series novel, not quite as good for me as Tony's last TOS novel "The Devil's Bargain" but enjoyable in it's own right and it's never really a bad idea to mine the original televised series for characters and races to expand upon.

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Blood of the Cosmos

Blood of the Cosmos by Kevin J. Anderson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Blood of the Cosmos is the second novel in the current The Saga of Shadows series and continues the story of the Confederation and Ildiran empire a couple of decades after the Elemental war and we see the results of those first few pebbles that began to fall in the first novel (The Dark Between the Stars).
The Shana Rei an entity that defies belief seeks to destroy all life, they are entropy and chaos in raw form yet somehow conditions have conspired to present them with an ally in the form of the last few Klikiss robots and together they strike at various planets, settlements and worlds yet the old Sagas of the Ildiran offer help in weapons that were used when last the Shana Rei appeared in the galaxy.
That's all I am going to say because I'm not doing the novel any justice, Kevin has once again presented a complex world with many good characters and a story that is both personal and galaxy wide affecting people and worlds in many different ways. While the story contains an awful lot of detail, action and characters it is a very easy read although I did appreciate having many of the chapters indicating the main characters that were going to be covered, helped me to keep everyone in their place:)
When the last page was turned I admit I swore a little under my breath and immediately looked for the publication date for the third novel, what more do you need to know.


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The Middle of Nowhere

The Middle of Nowhere by David Gerrold
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I really enjoyed this novel in the Star Wolf series, again we are back on the LS-1187 newly named as Star Wolf but alas the Admiralty has refused to acknowledge the ship and crews contribution to the recent mission they barely returned from. Morale continues to decline as Korie who remains the ship's executive officer breaks the news to the crew and tells them those in power see the Star Wolf as a source for parts rather than a fighting ship and they will be denied a chance to join the planned assault against the Morethan fleet. As the Star Wolf rests in empty space going through a decontamination process it dawns on the crew that something is not quite right and despite their hard work and commitment components and systems continue to fail, the idea that the Morethan assassin is still influencing the ship despite his death grows from suspicion to reality as once again they are alone facing an almost impossible to find opponent and the realisation that events are coming to them in a big way.

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The Search for Orion

The Search for Orion by Saxon Andrew
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The Search for Orion continues the universe spanning action adventure which never lets up, seriously no character in this series ever gets any rest unless they get killed and even that that's no guarantee. So the Earth had pretty much extracted their revenge on the Raiders who were the dominant known race in the galaxies but alas they've used their military strength to carve out an empire of their own committing as many atrocities as the Raiders ever did. Decisions have to be made and once again questions have to be asked and answered, the truth has yet to be revealed about the destruction of Avalon and the pattern continues as those with power are prepared to do anything to both maintain it and expand it.
This was a fun read, yes it was a little over the top and can not be considered as serious scifi but that's fine, I knew what I was getting after the first novel so came away from this one very satisfied and pretty sure I will be checking out other novels from Saxon Andrew, my reading list has room for all shades of science fiction.

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Second Paradigm Review

Second Paradigm by Peter J. Wacks
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I do enjoy a convoluted time travel tale and Second Paradigm delivered in spades. It was a highly entertaining story and well I'm not even going to try to explain it just start reading and lose yourself in the cause and effect and paradoxes that come with the characters manipulating time with good or bad intentions depending upon circumstance.

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Ex Machina Review

While Christopher L. Bennett is an established author both in and out of Star Trek the novel Ex Machina is the first novel of his that I have read, it may be because he's written more for other aspects of Trek than the original series and perhaps because when the book was originally released I wasn't reading Trek after the market moved away from TOS to the more modern series which I had little interest in reading. I have started reading more Trek which is going hand in hand with more new original series offerings and as we all know once you scratch the surface there will be plenty of older work which will be new to you. Ex Machina is one of these old yet new gems released in 2005 and telling a story shortly after The Motion Picture when Kirk and the Enterprise crew were trying to get to know each other again and faced with a mission from their past when has personal and Federation wide implications.

In Ex Machina we see a Captain James Kirk who is very unsure of himself, his crew are openly voicing their doubts over his command and since most were hand picked by Will Decker and supported his multi-species approach to crewing a Starship there is plenty of blame being pointed to the new Captain in terms of how he got the command the loss of two elements of senior staff. Spock is perhaps in even worse condition, his contact with V'Ger shook him to the core and has led him to question all things Vulcan and dealing with some of his people on board just shows how far away from balance he has travelled. McCoy is perhaps in even worse condition, drafted back in Star Fleet, dealing with Chapel as an equal and the mission dealing with the people of Yonada and his brief romance with their leader Natira. On their new world the people are dealing with a life free from direct mental conditioning from a super computer disguised as a god and religious elements are clashing with more forward looking aspects of the government. As bombings and attacks grow leaving innocent men, women and children dead the Federation via Kirk decide to intervene first very gently but more aggressively but the solution is far more complex than anyone could envision as Kirk is seen by some to be a God killer after the V'ger incident and Natira by supporting modernisation and the throwing down of old beliefs complicite in the betrayal of their ancestors when Yonda was launched ten thousand years previously.

Ex Machina is a weighty tome, there is little of the light heartedness many of the previous TOS novels were happy to provide which mirrored the series itself but the subject matter deserves the more constrained and deep approach. This novel focuses on the characters and the changes that have taken place over the years after the first five year mission most of which have been artfully ignored in the media. I suspect print media is the logical place to explore much of what has gone on before we were once again introduced to Kirk and company in ST II with a more action/adventure story line. An excellent original series novel, fills a hole I wasn't really sure needed filling but now after reading the book the timeline is more complete and helps to build continuity which for me doesn't always means relying on television or the movies. Highly recommended and while I doubt I'll be looking at Christopher's work on other aspects of the franchise his Enterprise novels could very well turn up on my reading list :)

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Blood Skies Review

Blood Skies
A novel by Steven Montano

A future Earth torn asunder merged with realities which brought darkness, death and evil with them to curse the few survivors of mankind who survived what was truly an apocalypse. The world now is one of stark contrasts were there is desolation and death surrounding small city states and the remnants of the human race struggle in world driven back to the dark ages. Those survivors of "The Black" know their world was once different but none can remember exactly how and with vampires, ghouls and other sentient beasts there is no looking back only forward in an effort to survive one more day. The only saving grace is the birth of magic amongst the humans, warlocks and witches were born who along with spirits bound to their souls combat the arcane forces that are everywhere.

In this world Eric Cross a Southern Claw warlock assigned to Viper squad embarks on a mission to track down a former Souther Claw leader who has betrayed her people and strives to deal with the Old One and in turn aid the vampire cause to end the war once and for all.

Blood Skies is the first book in an ongoing series and is packed with visceral imagery and stark descriptions of a world which rivals the decay of once mighty industrial areas around our own world. This new Earth is truly depressing yet life and love goes on and there is always something and someone worth dying for and the human spirit fights on against the true vampire menace, nothing nice about these guys.

It's hard to recognise a genuine hero in the story because all the characters are doing what is required to survive and self sacrifice is a common theme but it doesn't deny the truth that perhaps we can see some of the best of ourselves in those faced with such darkness with little hope.

This review may sound a little negative in places but Blood Skies is a fascinating story with quite a few surprises and I've already bought the second book in the series "Black Scars" and that I think perfectly sums up my appreciation of the work.

BLOOD SKIES