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The Last Astronaut by David Wellington

The Last Astronaut by David Wellington
Review by Ernest Lilley
Orbit Paperback  ISBN/ITEM#: 9780316419574
Date: 23 July 2019 List Price $15.99 Amazon US / Amazon UK
Links: Author’s Webosite / Show Official Info /
OP: SFRevu July 2019

On the one hand, this is really good hard sf with a Stephen Baxter / Arthur C. Clarke vibe. On the other, it’s a mashup of Rendevous with Rama and the Expanse with a fair amount of Alien thrown in.

When a large interstellar object comes at us from out of the ecliptic plane of the solar system, it’s exciting news, but when one decelerates and changes course for Earth, it’s problematic as well. Still exciting, but mostly terrifying. Continue reading →

Medusa in the Graveyard by Emily Devenport

“Oichi Angelis, former Worm, along with her fellow insurgents on the generation starship Olympia, head deeper into the Charon System for the planet called Graveyard.
Ancient, sentient, alien starships wait for them–three colossi so powerful they remain aware even in self-imposed sleep. The race that made the Three are dead, but Oichi’s people were engineered with this ancient DNA.” – Publisher

Medusa in the Graveyard by Emily Devenport
(The Medusa Cycle #2)
Paperback, 304 pages
Expected publication: July 23rd 2019 by Tor Books
ISBN 1250169364 (ISBN13: 9781250169365)

The generation ship Olympia is nearing its destination, the Charon system, and Oichi Angelis, once a tunnel worker and rebel leader, is now the leader of the ship clan. But before they can settle at their destination she has to sort out the ship’s ownership from the Weapon Clan who originally built it, and she’s got to confront the powerful alien entities known as the Three, whose DNA is mixed with that of the Olympians. 

Continue reading →

Science Fiction Books to Look For This Month – July 2019

July’s here, and whether you’re waiting for the fireworks, sunning at the shore, or sensibly staying in where it’s cool, July is a great month for reading, not only because there are a diverse range of good novels to choose from, but also because there are some excellent annual collections and other anthologies. Neil Clarke has two of note: The Eagle Has Landed: 50 Years of Lunar Science Fiction, which commemorates the Apollo 11 landing on July 20, 1969, and his The Best Science Fiction of the Year: Volume 4. Neil is emerging as one of the field’s leading anthologists, along with Jonathon Stratham, whose Mission Critical anthology comes out this month with a really stellar collection of authors and a theme that answers the popular question: What could possibly go wrong?  Well, running out of things to read this month shouldn’t be on that list. Here’s mine. Continue reading →

The Hive (The Second Formic War #2) by Orson Scott Card and Aaron Johnston

The Hive (The Second Formic War #2) by Orson Scott Card and Aaron Johnston
ISBN: 0765375648
Publisher: Tor Books (June 11, 2019)
Publication Date: June 11, 2019

The Hive is the next to last book in the runup to Ender’s Game. If you haven’t read the earlier books, what you need to know is that Ender’s Game was set in the Third Formic War, when we took the fight to the aliens, and Card has gone back to fill in the backstory of the First and Second wars to lead up to the classic Ender’s Game trilogy.In the first war, aliens invaded China and Mazer Rackham, who you probably remember as the hero of the Second Formic War meets up with a pack of Chinese orphans drafted into the resistance by a Colonel Li. Bingham, or “Bing.” is a sort of stand-in for Ender, insightful and just charismatic enough to lead his band of orphans into combat, and he’s developed a close relationship with Mazer.

I found the writing slow at first, but after a few chapters found myself hooked by Bing’s story, as well as the other main characters in separate storylines. Continue reading →

Science Fiction Books to Look For This Month – June 2019

Originally posted on Amazing Stories – June 3rd, 2019

June’s here and it’s time to start in on your summer reading. I’ve got a collection of titles coming out over the month that should keep you in reading the material at least until July’s rocket red glare appears on the horizon. They range from exciting space dramas like Velocity Weapon, Megan E. O’Keefe’s debut novel, to a wild road trip across a fractured USA with another debut, Reed King’s FKA USA. For those who want to return to familiar settings, Orson Scott Card and Aaron Johnston have teamed up again for the next to last Ender’s Game prequel, The Hive, as the International Fleet prepares to confront the buggers mothership and make Mazer Rackham a hero. You can also travel back to just after The Last Jedi and watch the Alphabet Squadron chase down Imperials that won’t accept they lost the war, but I’m not sure that turns out the way they hoped in the long run. In Stealing Worlds, Karl Schroeder has come up with a tale cyberpunk authors could only dream of where augmented reality makes all the world a game, at least until somebody gets hurt. We don’t see a lot of paranormal powers in science fiction, at least short of superhero tales, but we get a very nice take on it in The Girl Who Could Move Sh*t with Her Mind by Jackson Ford.  So, here are my picks. Continue reading →