The Karma of Physics and a Fantas -Tick Boy: Review of James Dashner's "The13th Reality" Quadrilogy

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Reviewer: Forrest Schultz schultz_forrest@yahoo.com 770-583-3258

Blog Address: http://newsciencefictionandfantasyreviews.blogspot.com/

October 28, 2016

The  Karma  Of  Physics  And  A  Fantas--Tick  Boy

A Review of James Dashner's The 13th Reality Quadrilogy

Reviewer:  Forrest W. Schultz

     In the late 1960s a book titled The Tao Of Physics was published showing the similarity between various concepts in Eastern religions (such as the Tao) and the Copenhagen School of Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics (held by most physicists).  In the book under review here, in which quantum mechanics is very important, the Tao is not mentioned but Karma is.  In fact Karma is so important that the story ends with a victory produced by Karma when the hero, a boy nicknamed "Tick", presses a button on a (magical??  scientific??  both??) box which releases the Karma.  In the world-view of this story the science fiction and the fantasy are so tightly interwoven that it is really impossible to classify by genre as one or the other.  AND on p. iv the story is NOT designated as either or both but as 1. Space and Time --  Fiction; and 2. Adventures and Adventurers -- Fiction.  To see what I mean, you really need to read the story, which I encourage you to do:  it is one of the most interesting tales I have ever read, and the characters are well-drawn and unforgettable.  It will be especially interesting for those who like to read about alternate time-lines, which, in this story are referred to as alternate realities, of which there are 13.  And the story involves a good deal of solving riddles, which are similar to some of those found in Tolkien's Lord of the Rings.  For info on this quadrilogy and its author you can visit his website at www.jamesdashner.com or the13threality.wikia.com. 

 

 

 

A Very Strange Alternate Time Line Tale -- Review of Blake Crouch's "Dark Matter"

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Reviewer: Forrest Schultz schultz_forrest@yahoo.com 770-583-3258

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September 28, 2016

 

A Very Strange Alternate Time Line Tale

 

A Review of

 

Blake Crouch Dark Matter (Crown, 2016)

                       $26.90   342pp   ISBN: 978-1-101-90422-0

 

Reviewer:  Forrest W. Schultz

 

     Among my favorite kinds of stories, both to read and to write, are those involving identical twins and those involving alternate time lines.  Blake Crouch's newly published tale is among the best of these: the only one I can think of that can equal it is Keith Laumer's Imperium.  Comparing them would be a good topic for an essay!

 

     Crouch's story is not only an exciting read, but it also shows how alternate time line travel can be used for nefarious purposes.  In this case, a man tries to steal the wife of his alternate self!!  This generates one of the most exciting and interesting stories I have ever come across.

 

     I would like to thank someone from Lost Genre Guild (I forget now who it was) who via Goodreads recommended this book.

Dramatic Action, Believable Dystopia, But Dubious Science -- Review of Mind Writer

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Reviewer: Forrest Schultz schultz_forrest@yahoo.com 770-583-3258

Blog Address: http://newsciencefictionandfantasyreviews.blogspot.com/

 

September 15, 2016

 

Dramatic Action, Believable Dystopia, But Dubious Science

 

A Review of

Mike Lynch & Lisa Godfrees  Mind Writer (Elk Lab Pub., 2016)

                                                 $12.95   361pp   ISBN: 978194430115

 

Reviewer:  Forrest W. Schultz

 

     As my title of my review indicates, the action in this story is quite exciting and dramatic, and the dystopia is believable, but the science in it is "dubious", to put it mildly!  Here is verbatim what the jacket (and description in Amazon) say about the main character,  Rinee Newburgh:  "... her unique talents give her the ability to transfer a person’s thoughts, memories, personality—their soul—into a clone created for those deemed vital to society’s continued survival.".  This is clearly not "hard" science fiction!  If the only sf you wish to read is hard sf, you will not want to read this one.  If you are unconcerned about the science factor, you will like the book if you enjoy dystopias and dramatic action.  

Galactic Dystopia, Lethal War Games, A Reluctant Gladiator, and A Tough Woman -- Review of Arena Planet

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Reviewer: Forrest Schultz schultz_forrest@yahoo.com 770-583-3258

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September 13, 2016

 

Galactic Dystopia, Lethal War Games, A Reluctant Gladiator, and A Tough Woman

 

A Review of

 

Mike Lynch & Brandon Barr Arena Planet (Silver Leaf Books, 2016)

                                             $18.95   258pp   ISBN: 978-1-60975-161-6

 

Reviewer:  Forrest W. Schultz

 

     The Arena Planet serves as the stage upon which small teams of gladiators fight each other in contests which are observed and studied by the galactic dictators who are looking for ideas to enhance the military skills of their armies.  The story focuses upon the leader of the Earth's new gladiators, Carter Stone (who is mad at being drafted because he prefers to live a peaceful life) and their mentor/trainer Taliah, who is unusual in two respects -- she is a woman and she is a member of a secret revolutionary group planning to overthrow the dictatorial regime, which has created a galaxy-wide dystopia.  Although these dictators are aliens, they behave in a totally human way, just like Earth's dictators do.  The story is interesting and well written and it has three features which are popular with many of today's readers -- a dystopia, a tough woman, and lots of armed combat.  Information on the authors and publisher is available at http://www.mikelynchbooks.com,/ http://www.brandonbarr.com,/ and http://www.silverleafbooks.com/    

Armageddon: Peculiar Style !! -- Review of Ransom Riggs' The Library of Souls: The Third Novel of Miss Peregrine's Peculiar Children

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Reviewer: Forrest Schultz schultz_forrest@yahoo.com 770-583-3258

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August 30, 2016

 

Armageddon:  Peculiar  Style  !!

A Review of

 

Ransom Riggs Library of Souls:  The Third Novel of Miss Peregrine's Peculiar Children (Quirk Books, 2015)

                        $18.99   458 pp   ISBN: 978-1-59474-758-8

 

Reviewer:  Forrest W. Schultz

 

     The final volume of this trilogy provides more insight into the origin of the evils among the peculiars; examines the hopes  "to make peculiardom great again" (p. 189); shows the good guys leaving their loopy safe havens and going on the offensive against the "hollows" and "wights", which results in an ultra-bizarre and super-ferocious Armageddon, in which crucial roles are played not only by Miss Peregrine but also by the contemporary American teenager Jacob Portman and his paramour Emma Bloom (the girl with fire), and a very peculiar dog Addison and lots of other bizarre beings and bizarre stuff too numerous to mention!  And, finally, following the climactic dramatic victory by the good peculiars is a non-Armageddonish, but no less dramatic and happy ending I shall not mention but allow you to discover for yourself -- 'tis one of the finest endings I have ever read!  Information on the author is available at www.ransomriggs.com and www.quirbooks.com.                        

 

    Postscript: I am pleased to announce that  Peculiardom has entered The Mythosphere where it received the Bizarro Maximus Award.  Mr. Riggs, of course, was too modest to mention this --  it is what I myself saw directly by means of the particular kind of peculiar vision I have!

Battles and Bizarreness Multiply in Second "Peculiar" Episode -- Review of Ransom Riggs' The Second Novel of Miss Peregrine's Peculiar Children

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Reviewer: Forrest Schultz schultz_forrest@yahoo.com 770-583-3258

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August 25, 2016

 

Battles  And  Bizarreness  Multiply  In  Second  Peculiar  Episode

 

A Review of

 

Ransom Riggs Hollow City:  The Second Novel of Miss Peregrine's Peculiar Children (Quill Books, 2014)

                        $17.99   400 pp   ISBN: 978-1-59474-612-3

 

Reviewer:  Forrest W. Schultz

 

     The bizzareness which permeated the first Peculiar novel and the horrific battles of its ending both continue (with greater magnitude and ferocity) in the second novel.  Perhaps we could designate it as "bizarreness squared"!  And, surprising as it may sound, the author is such a good writer that before you know it you have suspended your disbelief and you see the narrated events happening before your eyes!  I have read many fantasies, and I think this one takes the grand prize for believable bizarreness!!  There are also some hints as to the meaning of some of the bizarre terms, but you will need to wait for the third and final volume of the story to get the answers to these.    For information on the author you can visit these websites http://www.ransomriggs.com/   and http://www.quirkbooks.com/ .   

Feisty Pious Nun Astronauts Investigate A Crashed Alien Spaceship -- Review of Karina Fabian's "Discovery"

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Reviewer: Forrest Schultz schultz_forrest@yahoo.com 770-583-3258

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August 23, 2016

Feisty  Pious  Nun  Astronauts  Investigate  Crashed  Alien  Spaceship

A Review of

Karina Fabian Discovery (Full Quiver Press, 2016)                      

[Advance Reader Copy]  ISBN: 978-1-987970-01-2

Reviewer:  Forrest W. Schultz

     I have seen many changes take place in my 77 years of life on Planet Earth.  I remember a long time ago a Roman Catholic man saying that when he was a boy he thought that the nuns who were his parochial school teachers had been dropped down from Heaven!  Since that time nuns have become ever more human and feisty.  By the time in the future in which Karina Fabian's new SF novel Discovery is set, there are nuns who are astronauts, and three of them play a major role in the story, in which a team of scientists travels to the Kuiper Belt to study an alien space ship which has crashed there.  These nuns display an interesting exciting mix of feistiness and intelligence and piety in their interactions with the other astronauts, which you really have to read to understand what I mean.  However, you can have too much of a good thing:  in my humble opinion, Fabian prolongs this phase of the story to where it becomes a surfeit.  If you agree with me, do not put down the book, but just say "Enough, Already!!" and skip to the final section of the book where they investigate the alien ship -- and WOW lots of surprises there!!  This is an exciting thought-provoking read!

     The book is scheduled for publication on September 18.  Information on the author is available on her website www.fabianspace.com 

                       

A Loopy, Circus-Like, Steampunk-Flavored New Fantasy -- Review of Ransom Riggs's Debut Novel

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Reviewer: Forrest Schultz schultz_forrest@yahoo.com 770-583-3258

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August 22, 2016

 

A  Loopy, Circus-Like, Steampunk-Flavored New Fantasy

A Review of

Ransom Riggs Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children (Quirk, 2011)

                           $17.99   352 pp   ISBN: 978-1-59474-476-1

Reviewer:  Forrest Schultz

     On a remote island (at age 16) Jacob succeeds in solving a mystery concerning his grandfather only to encounter a much deeper mystery – a war between two secret groups endowed with “peculiar” abilities which are mostly of a bizarre circus-like nature rather than the usual kind of supernatural phenomena found in most fantasy literature.  And Miss Peregrine is a Victorian lady, thus giving a “steampunk” kind of aroma to the portions of the story in which she appears.  And there is a very unusual romance in which Jacob falls in love with Emma (one of the “peculiars”) who is still the same age (due to the loopy kind of time travel they do) as she was when she was in love with Jacob’s grandfather when he was a youth!!

    This is the first book of a trilogy by a new novelist, whose writing has so intrigued me that I am now preparing to read and review the second and third books also (which were published in 2014 & 2015).  Information on the author is available at www.ransomriggs.com and www.quirkbooks.com.    

The "Human Side" of SF -- Review of "Soulmates" by Mike Resnick and Lezli Robyn

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Reviewer: Forrest Schultz schultz_forrest@yahoo.com 770-583-3258

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August 10, 2016

 Companionship Examined Via SF Short Stories Or

The "Human Side" of SF

A Review of

Mike Resnick & Lezli Robyn Soulmates [A Collection of Short Stories] (Arc Manor, 2016)

                                              $14.99   210 pp   ISBN: 978-1-61242-314-2

                                              [Advance Reading Copy]

Reviewer:  Forrest W. Schultz

     I believe that Robert J. Sawyer (author of Rollback and many other award-winning SF gems) is probably right in stating that Soulmates "will be remembered as one of the major collections of this decade".  This is an interesting achievement because these short stories bear comparison with the "human interest", "human side of the news" kind of stories often found at the end of the evening TV and radio news programs, which are mostly filled with reports of wars and crimes and terrorism, just as so much of science fiction consists of distopias and violence, and one of the most popular SF film series, Star Wars, has the very word "wars" in its title!   Soulmate and the Arc Manor "Stellar Guild" series are good example of the "human side" of SF not only in their stories but in the help given by established SF authors to SF neophytes.  It should not be supposed, though, that this is unusual because during the fifteen years in which I attended Dragon Con and other Atlanta area SF conventions, I witnessed numerous examples of aspiring SF writers receiving help from some of our nation's best SF authors.  Info on this and other SF books by the publisher, you can visit these websites:  www.soulmates.space and www.arcmanor.com  

Teens Become Ancient Warriors As They Attack Invading Space Aliens -- Review of James Cambas's "Traitors"

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Reviewer: Forrest Schultz schultz_forrest@yahoo.com 770-583-3258

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July 9, 2016

 

Teens  Become  Ancient  Warriors  As  They  Attack  Invading  Space  Aliens

A Review of

James Cambas Traitors:  Book 2 of Ancient Warriors Series (2014)

                            271 pp   $10.99   ISBN: 978-1494875374

Reviewer:  Forrest Schultz

     In the science fiction series which Coweta County author James Cambas is writing, space aliens from Xynoffus are attempting to conquer the Earth.  They begin by surreptitiously arriving and taking control of the bodies of humans so that we are unaware that these aliens are Among Us, (the title of the first book in the series).  In the second book, Traitors, they are now also in the process of openly appearing to several selected humans whom they convince to join the conquest by promising them rulership over various cities under the direct command of the invasion leader GroThar.  The only opposition the Xynoffans meet is a small group of teenagers, revealed in this book as “Ancient Warriors”, who are able to draw upon the arcane powers of several unearthly “Cubes”.

     The use of this term “Ancient Warriors” along with the special Cube powers and some of the atmosphere in these books is similar to that found in comic books of super heroes.  Therefore I was not surprised to learn that Cambas is planning to publish a comic book version of these ancient warrior tales, and is already in the process of designing super hero garb, which is already appearing in a bookmark.  You can learn of these and other new developments by checking the website www.amongus2012.com.      

The Best Alien Contact Story I Have Ever Read -- Review of Robert Silverberg's "The Iron Star" in the Humanity 2.0 anthology

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Reviewer: Forrest Schultz schultz_forrest@yahoo.com 770-583-3258

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July 9, 2016

 

The  Best  Alien  Contact  Story  I  Have  Ever  Read

A Review of Robert Silverberg’s “The Iron Star” on pp. 173-195 of

The Short Stories Anthology Humanity 2.0 ed. By Alex Shvartzman (Arc Manor, 2016)

[Advance Reading Copy] Scheduled for Publication Oct. 30   271pp   ISBN: 9781612423098 

Reviewer:  Forrest W. Schultz

     Although most of the short stories in this anthology contain some thought-provoking ideas concerning the possible impact of space travel upon the human race, Robert Silverberg’s story stands out as unforgettable and of great importance in showing the potential danger of meeting extraterrestrial intelligent beings.  In his story one of our spaceships, while investigating the effects of a supernova comes into contact with a space ship of ETs who had lived on a planet orbiting this star before it went nova.  When the captain contacts the leader of this ET ship he learns from the ensuing conversations two important facts about these ETs:   that they are “ethically challenged” (i.e. all they care about is themselves), and that they are unaware of the existence of black holes.  Using these data he devises and then implements a plan which solves the problem. (See if you can guess what it is!) 

                                

 

"Gatefather"/"Ender's Game" Similarity: Things Are Not Always What They Seem To Be -- Review of Orson Scott Card's "Gatefather"

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Reviewer: Forrest Schultz schultz_forrest@yahoo.com 770-583-3258

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January 11, 2016

Gatefather/Ender’s Game Similarity:

Things Are Not Always What They Seem To Be

A Review of

Orson Scott Card Gatefather (Tor, 2015) 

                                383pp   $25.99   ISBN: 978-0-7653-2659-1

Reviewer:  Forrest W. Schultz

     I highly recommend Osron Scott Card’s book Ender’s Game (but NOT the movie, which is a gross distortion of the book).  The story in the series it launched is not only a good read, but also teaches us that things are not always what they seem:  in this case Ender’s apparent victory was actually Xenocide.  The same principle is found in Card’s latest book Gatefather:  contrary to what seems to be the desideratum (opening the Gate), the Gate actually should be kept shut lest a great evil is set free.

     By the way, I am not giving away the story because the inside book jacket tells us this in its concluding paragraph!  It is surprising that the publisher did not preface this paragraph with a spoiler alert.  But the jacket did not contain the warning to the reader of the inane actions and dialogues of the immature teens with which the book opens, for which reason I ceased reading immediately – I could not take any more of it!   In that respect this story differs from Ender’s Game:  those dummies are not even in the same league with Ender!

Girl Genie Gets Her Wish: Review of Stellar Guild Book "Wishing on a Star"

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Reviewer: Forrest Schultz schultz_forrest@yahoo.com 770-583-3258

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January 7, 2016

 

Girl  Genie  Gets  Her  Wish

 

A Review of a Stellar Guild Series Book:

 

Jody Lynn Nye With Angela Adams Wishing on a Star (Arc Manor, 2015)

                  $14.99    264 pp    ISBN: 978-1-61242-264-0

 

Reviewer:  Forrest W. Schultz                

 

     Like the traditional magic lamp tales, this modern one includes the challenge of exercising wisdom in the selection of what to wish for.  But its focus later shifts to the "genie" -- a teenage girl who needs to mature quickly if she is going to defeat the villain.  The satirizing of show biz in the first part of the story is well deserved but rather old hat.  The fascinating part of the tale is the replacement of the traditional almost robot-like genie with a very human one who becomes the hero.  And, of course, it is very modern in having a female playing a traditionally male role.

 

     Information on this and other Stellar Guild books is available at www.phoenixpick.com