Science Fiction and Fantasy New Releases: 9 April 2022
Saturday , 9, April 2022 Uncategorized Leave a comment
The Arrival (Annihilation #1) – Joshua T. Calvert
It’s our planet. But it’s their war…
On New Year’s eve 2022, unknown flying objects appear over Europe and ignite an inferno of violence among themselves. Debris from one of the spacecraft falls on Athens, turning the city center into a smoking crater.
The destroyed remnant of the former metropolis is declared a restricted zone by NATO forces and sealed off. Amidst the few survivors struggling for food, medicine, and clean water, Nikos takes care of his girlfriend Maria, only to soon find out that to avert a creeping death, there is only one way out of the hell of Athens—the wreckage of the alien ship.
At the same time, a special forces team is sent on an impossible mission, as NATO’s European Command has evidence that another spaceship has landed in the jungles of Africa and its Alien crew appears to still be alive…
Celestial Citadel (The Rogue Dungeon #6) – James Hunter and eden Hudson
Build. Evolve. Conquer. Welcome to the dawn of a whole new kind of Boss Battle…
Roark von Graf has been fighting for one thing since the night his family was slaughtered: to kill the Tyrant King. Even when he was transported to a strange new world called a VRMMORPG, Roark recruited an army of Trolls, built a nation of high-level Dungeons, and crushed his opposition through trickery, seedy alliances, and sheer overwhelming force, all in service of revenge.
But the Tyrant King was two steps ahead all along, and now Roark and everyone he cares about are trapped in a land where there are no respawns, no second chances. Every death is forever-death, and Marek is looking to plant his head on a spike.
If Roark’s going to survive the onslaught of the Tyrant King’s forces and finish Marek once and for all, he’ll have to overcome the massive difference in their levels, fend off a Health-draining curse, unlock the ultimate cheat, and find a way to use the very fabric of reality as a weapon… all without a single extra life.
This is the end, the final showdown between tyranny and freedom, and all of creation hangs in the balance.
Dragon Forged (Blood of the Ancients #1) – Dan Michelson and D. K. Holmberg
The dragons are gone, leaving behind their essence for those who follow.
Firewater is sacred. Touched by the power of the dragons, those who consume it can become more like those ancient beings. Most become dragon forged, their bodies strengthened to help fight the dangerous creatures attacking the valley.
But firewater didn’t change Rob.
When invaders threaten to destroy his people, what Rob discovers may save all he cares about—and provide the key to forging his own power.
Infinity (First Colony #13) – Ken Lozito
Venturing into the unknown means pushing the limits of everything thought possible.
10 years ago, the Ark II departed on a long journey through interstellar space, but shortly after they reached their destination, all communications ceased. All attempts to re-establish contact have failed.
Utilizing prototypical FTL technology that he invented, one brave man will lead a small expedition into the unknown to discover the colony’s fate.
The challenges of establishing the first interstellar colony nearly destroyed humanity. What new challenges will the second colony bring? Read More
Science Fiction and Fantasy New Releases: 4 April, 2022
Wednesday , 6, April 2022 Uncategorized Leave a comment
The Hallowed War – T. E. Bakutis
Drafted into a private army, he must fight monsters… or be hunted as one…
A century after the Break destroyed much of the world, the wealthy island nation of Dios stands alone as a paradise for those than remain… so long as they aren’t poor and homeless.
For street orphan Grant Riven, life is a series of kicks to the face. Until exposure to a powerful mutating agent gives him super strength, passive-regeneration, and the ability to use powerful weapons.
The downside? Lots of other people have mutated as well, except they’re insane and want to eat everyone.
After he’s recruited by Cloud Nine Engineering, the most powerful corporation in Dios, Grant is labeled “Hallowed”–the fancy name for his new mutation–and drafted into a war against the Mutes, the cannibalistic mutants overrunning Dios.
The deal is simple. In exchange for risking his life to fight monsters, Cloud Nine will provide him with the cure that keeps him from becoming a monster himself.
Imperial Gambit (Archangel One #3) – Evan Currie
The Empire, in it’s refusal to be dissuaded from hostilities, have placed the fledgling Terran Allance and their Priminae Allies into a corner from which there seems no reasonable escape.
Steph and his Archangels continue their mission deep within the enemy territory, posing as mercenaries and pirates to gain intelligence on the Imperial command but as they go deeper and learn more, little of what they gather seems good. The Imperial push for war has a deeper root than anyone expected, and Steph does not like what he is learning.
While his young Protégé and friend conducts one mission, Eric Weston is embroiled in another. His efforts have held the Empire at bay despite their tenacious attempts at probing into the space controlled by Earth and the Priminae, but he knows that it cannot last. The enemy has too many ships, and is willing to spend far too many lives to further their goals… but even Eric Weston is not ready for just how far this enemy will take things.
The Empire has super weapons of their own.
Peace can only exist so long as all sides are in accord… War, however, only requires one dissenter.
The Empire Dissents
Redacted Weapon (Four Horsemen: Rise of the Peacemakers #11) – Kevin Ikenberry and Kevin Steverson
Peacemakers. The Galactic Union’s most capable enforcers and resolute negotiators, their name alone elicits fear and awe among the Union’s citizenry.
In the aftermath of the Guild War, the trail of Kr’et’Socae has gone cold. Young Peacemakers Jyrall and Larth continue their search with the intent to bring the disgraced Enforcer to justice. With new intelligence in hand, they make a move on a known associate and the game’s afoot once more.
Cora McCoy and the Blue Ridge Kin have completed their initial mission on the ocean world Krifay only to have their contract terminated by the Crusaders. Forced off world, Cora and her friends join the Peacemakers on the pleasure planet Prestone with the intent of taking down the mysterious Hatfield and getting one step closer to Kr’et’Socae.
On the way to bring down Hatfield, though, they discover a corrupt, inhumane racing system which pits a group of normally docile aliens in a dangerous and deadly race for a stolen effigy. With little choice, the Peacemakers—as well as friends old and new—must undertake a daring mission to end Hatfield’s operation, face down the Crusaders, and set things right without losing sight of their goal… or losing their very lives. Read More
D&D (Jeffro’s Space Gaming Blog): For two years, countless people told me I was mad. They told me I was reading things into the rules that were just not there. They told me that NOBODY, not even Gygax himself played the game like what I claimed would happen if you just played a few rules that nobody has ever really paid much attention to.
Paleontology (Phys.org): Prehistoric mammals bulked up, rather than
develop bigger brains, to boost their survival chances once dinosaurs had become extinct, research suggests. For the first 10 million years after dinosaurs died out, mammals prioritized boosting their body size to adapt to radical shifts in the make-up of Earth’s animal kingdom, researchers say.
Hugos (John C. Wright): Unfortunately, the Hugo nomination and voting information is not always consistent– in a handful of cases, the total number of ballots in either the nominations or final vote are not explicitly stated, and therefore the total information is incomplete. Nevertheless, the released data provides a useful look at just how many people have been voting for what since the year 2000.
Rosemary Sutcliff (1920-1992) is best remembered as a young adult writer. Sutcliff, Henry Treece, Roger Lancelyn Green, and Geoffrey Trease were all part of the same era bringing past historical periods to life for young readers.
Sutcliff is best remembered for The Eagle of the Ninth, The Lantern Bearers, and her historical Arthurian Sword at Sunset.
She is an interesting case of being stricken with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis that confined her to a wheelchair. She was a real life version of Robert E. Howard’s James Allison, a cripple who remembers past lives.
Fantasy (Ken Lizzi): Swords and Sorcery fiction provides us with exciting
action in memorable settings. It also drops terrific characters into those settings and lets them run free. Some of those characters have stood the test of time. I’ve selected ten of those that I consider the pantheon of the genre. There is no science here. It is arbitrary and personal. Feel free to disagree. There is no way to be wrong in these exercises.
Hugos (John C. Wright): There is a very sharp divide between the lenses through which the recent Hugo Awards are viewed. The motives and ideologies of individuals on all sides of the controversy have been called into question by opponents, and this article is meant as an introduction to a handful of the most hotly contested points specifically levelled against the Sad Puppies as opposed to a thorough analysis of all of the various points of dispute about all sorts of people in recent years.
Gaming Magazines (Grognardia): ssue #31 of White Dwarf (June/July 1982)
marks the fifth anniversary of the magazine. Alan Howcroft provides its cover, which depicts a coastal fantasy town, perhaps intended as an illustration for “The Town Planner” by Paul Vernon. This article is the first part of a follow-up series to Vernon’s previous two-part “Designing a Quasi-Medieval Society” series.
E. C. Tubb’s “Dumarest of Terra” ran for thirty-three novels from 1967 through 1997. Ace Books published the first eight novels. Donald A. Wollheim took the series with him to DAW Books from 1973 through 1985. Wollheim’s daughter, Betsy, appeared to have purged a lot of her father’s favorites in the mid-1980s when she took control of the company. For me, DAW Books died in the mid-80s. I lost interest in what was coming out after Wollheim the Elder’s departure.
Earl Dumarest is a character originally from Earth in the far future. He left Earth at an early age and he is trying to return to his birthplace. The character is tough and laconic. The books are short by today’s standards, probably around 60,000 words. Most years, Tubb would produce two novels. The Dumarest books have a consistency and when I don’t know what to read next, I will grab one. I have been slowly reading the earlier ones as I pick them up. Just about any used bookstore is going to have a couple Dumarest paperbacks in the science fiction section. Read More
Jay Allan’s Blood on the Star space opera series concludes this week with Empire Reborn, the 18th in the series. Blood on the Stars has earned praise on this blog as the successor to Honor Harrington. Will its conclusion live up to the Salamander’s? While that review will be written soon, here’s a retrospective of Castalia House reviews of the series.
War is coming.
The Confederation battleship Dauntless has spent ten months patrolling the border, alone, watching for an attack from the enemy Union. Her crew is exhausted and the aging vessel needs repairs.With the fleet mobilized, and the forward bases overloaded beyond capacity, she is sent clear across the Confederation, to a base along the peaceful and sleepy sector known as the Rim.
But the quiet frontier isn’t what it seems, and when a distress call is received from a mining colony at the edge of Confederation space, Captain Tyler Barron must take Dauntless forward into the unknown.
Barron and his crew have their ship–and each other–but they can expect no reinforcements. His superiors believe that Union deceit is at play, that the attack is merely a diversion, intended to draw Confederation forces from the disputed border. Their orders are clear: no ships will be transferred from the front. Stopping whatever is happening on the rim is Barron’s responsibility, and his alone.
Barron’s grandfather was the Confederation’s greatest hero, the father of the modern navy. His name has always carried great privilege, and crushing responsibility. Now he must prove that he has inherited more than just a name. He must face the enemy, and win the victory.
Before the Confederation is caught between two enemies and destroyed.
If The Dark Wing is the philosopher’s choice, and With the Lightnings the historians, Jay Allan’s Blood on the Stars is the adventure fan’s choice. Allan uses World War II as a model for space combat, relying on the familiar mix of fighters and battleships to hammer apart fleets. Instead of the Manticore Missile Massacre, the deciding factor in this naval conflict is, the bravery of engineers at their stations is just as vital as the gunners and pilots. Allan manages to illustrate this damage control race in broad strokes without resorting to technobabble, detailed technological descriptions, or deus ex machina, preserving a backdrop of suspense to the clashes between captains. Tyler Barron’s career echoes Honor Harrington’s, from the dueling ships at the start of the war to leading fleets through two separate and vicious wars, complete with backstabbing from the politicians back home. But like the worldbuilding, the conflicts are described in broad strokes, with enough detail to paint the situation without delving into minutia like Weber can. The result is a stripped-down version of a naval space epic focusing on the action and emotion battle and intrigue that is among the best current stories in all of science fiction, not just indie. Read More
Science Fiction and Fantasy New Releases: 26 March 2022
Saturday , 26, March 2022 Uncategorized Leave a commentNext week’s SFF New Release will be postponed to 5 April 2022.
Blessed Time 3: Dakkora’s Legacy – Cale Plamann
A New Threat Arises, And Time Itself May Not Be Enough
Retirement or polite exile. Whatever you want to call it, it had been kind to Micah Silver. He had saved his home of Basil’s Cove at the cost of his reputation, leaving the country to avoid further complications and settling into the comfortable life of a guild master, running a small but elite adventurer’s guild.
When war and nefarious forces split the realms, Micah dives into the breach once more, confident in his stupendous magical power and time magic will keep him and his friends safe. It won’t.
He fails, and a new enemy with a familiar face has followed him back into the past, wreaking havoc on the timeline. Now Micah’s only chance comes in the form of a map, guiding him halfway around the world to the laboratory of the greatest wizard that ever lived. If he’s going to have any chance in the coming confrontation, he will need to arm himself with the powerful artifacts she left behind.
But his enemy knows the location of her laboratory as well, turning his quest into a deadly race with consequences for all life on Karell.
Dokeshi March (Year of the Sword #3) – Dakota Krout
The House is in control. The House always wins. The House has rolled out the red carpet to welcome you home.
Grant looks forward to the vast megalopolis that is the District of March. He’s finally got a real companion, not just a voice in his head pretending to kill him over and again, and Suki’s perspective is invaluable. She’s a Noble, a warrior, and a noble warrior. With two months of intense physical training under his much-tightened belt, Lord January is ready to face whatever his next challenge might be.
Dokeshi March has decided that the District needs to be fun, and what’s more fun than games of chance? More games of chance! So many, in fact, that even purchasing basic needs is a gamble. Even so, no one complains, and why would they? That would mean they thought the game wasn’t fun! That it wasn’t fair! That line of thinking would set them at odds with Dokeshi March.
Now there’s a bet no one would be willing to take.
Empire Reborn (Blood on the Stars #18) – Jay Allan
The human powers have been pushed to the brink, battered and almost destroyed. Their sole possibility for victory, the virus they have invented and deployed seems to be too little, too late. It’s usage has only spurred the enemy to quicker action, to finish the war before they have to deal with its effects.
But the humans do not know that the Highborn are faced on another front, by a race they know little about but have battled for two centuries. The Highborn have decided to try and end that war, too, to lash out with all of their forces to eradicate the enemy, and impose peace onto the galaxy…the peace of their own, undisputed rule.
As the Highborn begin to lash out on both fronts, to complete the victory they believe is theirs, both of their foes dig in, bringing forward everything they can, fighting with all both sides have to defeat the Highborn, to secure freedom in the galaxy. There is titanic warfare all around space, massive fleets fighting desperately…but only one side can prevail, and rule space for the next 10,000 years. Read More
Firearms (Firearms News): Three decades ago, if you asked anyone who
was a handgunner or firearm enthusiast, “What’s the best handgun for self-defense or woods carry?” the majority of the time the .357 Magnum would have been their reply. Its high velocity, impressive terminal performance and deep penetration provides stellar performance not only in terms of self-defense, but also medium game hunting and steel silhouette shooting. Yet, in a duty-size revolver it was still controllable while also being capable of excellent accuracy.
Conan (Sprague de Camp Fan): Conan the Buccaneer, Lancer Books, 1971 was the 11th and last book published in the Lancer Conan Series. It is the 6th book chronologically. It is dedicated: “To the greatest living creator of swordplay-and-sorcery, J. R. R. Tolkien.” There was a two year gap between Conan of Cimmeria, Lancer Books, 1969 and this book published in 1971.
Fiction (Alexander Hellene): I have not undertaken a comprehensive survey of the old pulp masters of sci-fi, fantasy, adventure, or whatever genre label you insist on slapping on it. I have, however, read novels by Edgar Rice Burroughs, A.E. van Vogt, H. Beam Piper, Jack Vance, and Robert E. Howard, and there are several things I can tell you about the old, maligned tales these men wrote.
Gaming tie-in fiction is something I had actively avoided for years. I read the anthology Realms of Valor (1993) set in the Forgotten Realms universe which I thought was overall bad. I thought the R. A. Salvatore story much better than the other fiction. As a result, I just avoided gaming tie-in fiction. I never got into playing RPG which is probably an inducement to read this sort of fiction.
The Warhammer universe caught my attention in a round about way. I have been reading some good fiction by C. L. Werner and William King in Tales From the Magician’s Skull. Looking at their bibliographies at the internet speculative fiction data base, I noted that both wrote a lot of fiction set in the Warhammer universe. Some of the writers in the Legends anthologies have also written for Warhammer.
“Let us in,” said Mangos. “We’re here to kill your dragons.”
“And I wish you the best of luck. Best you carry a cask of dipping sauce. You’ll taste better that way.”
Mangos is the Mongoose, a skilled, boastful, and hotheaded swordsman, while Kat is the Meerkat, a beautiful yet mysterious woman who favors the oblique approach to her well-chosen blade. Together, they’ll take on any job to keep their purses full and their cups overflowing.
It has been 24 months since the fall of Alness. For the first time in the adventures of the Mongoose and Meerkat, this refrain is punctuated by something new…a quick addendum that “Mangos does not indulge in history.” But the Mongoose does indulge in fanciful dreams of rewards, which brings Kat and him to the gates of Pytheas, besieged by not one but two dragons. Fortunately, the enigmatic Meerkat has the beginnings of a plan.
An uncertain plan, but a plan nonetheless.
“Adventure or death, adventure and death. What’s the difference?”
Science Fiction and Fantasy New Releases: 19 March 2022
Saturday , 19, March 2022 Uncategorized Leave a comment
Artifact (Saturn’s Legacy #1) – Joshua James
Lowell Carpenter is a disgraced Marine assigned to a remote US research station on Saturn’s moon Enceladus, where scientists have made an extraordinary discovery in the ocean below.
A special forces team, led by Lowell’s murderous former commanding officer, shows up to investigate. Almost immediately, everything begins to unravel.
Something beneath the surface has been activated.
Soon every space force on Earth — American, Chinese, Russian, and more — is converging on the tiny moon, ready to start a war.
But when a young archeologist with a knack for dead languages makes an amazing discovery of his own, Lowell realizes the stakes are higher than anyone could’ve imagined.
He soon has no choice but to disobey orders and fight soldiers he helped train as he races to stop an unimaginable chain reaction that threatens the entire solar system.
The countdown has begun…
Cirsova Issue #10 / Spring 2022 – edited by P. Alexander
At long last, the origins of the Ancient Warrior are revealed! Fleeing from the Artomique fleet, Daestar, Bully Bravo, and the Ancient Warrior find a refuge of the immortal race—it is there that the psychic locks on his past are finally released!
Dragons have cut off the smiths of Pytheas, but Kat and Mangos have a plan! Un-fortunately, it will require the duo taking to the skies themselves!
A magic potion has rendered the Duke of Vardix invulnerable! Can Morca stop the Duke’s scheme to assassinate Lady Niada before all at the Festival of Azamodius?!
An orphan is assaulted by the monstrous Professor Wilberforce—killing her as-sailant lands her in an institution, where trauma manifests in her strange powers!
These stories and more in the latest issue of Cirsova.
City World (Undying Mercenaries #17) – B. V. Larson
Earth’s entire fleet and all her legions are conscripted by the Galactics. Centurion McGill of Legion Varus is among countless troops pressed into service as cannon fodder for the Empire.
Not everyone on Earth is happy with the demands of the Galactics. Earth has built up her military for decades, and now she might lose everything in a foreign war no one understands. As the man who has killed more Mogwa than any other human in history, McGill is approached and given a mission. He has a fateful decision to make. Will he serve Earth’s overlords faithfully, or will he assassinate the arrogant alien leaders? Read More