All the Secrets of the Universe and Some Really Important Stuff Too!
Science fiction and Fantasy book reviews by a classic sf&f fan
Dave Freer asks the question, how many decades does it take for challenging tired tropes to become a tired trope? Dave is one of the indie sf/fantasy writers who took on the boring multi-culti establishment in science fiction during the dreaded “Puppy Wars” of a few years ago.
So, on Thursdays I usually headed downtown for dinner at the Club. The food was okay. The service was slow. The drink selection was limited. The dues were outrageous. But the company was never bad. Not that it was always exceptional, but it was never annoying. There was a rule against annoying. You could be boring or quiet but if management saw you annoying one of the other guests you would be gone very soon, and you wouldn’t be back. Or rather you might be back but the Club would be gone. It was a by-invitation-only organization that could and did change venue seemingly at random. If you didn’t show up for a week (or a month or a decade) no one would bat an eye when you showed up next. But if you didn’t get a change of venue notice then your presence was no longer desired. So, who was invited? Well any member could recommend a new member. But only the Owner sent out invites. And if someone was brought along by any member uninvited then both men would not be returning. Oh, and all members were men. Also, a rule. The first few times a new member attended he might mention the lack of women as an oddity (or even a relief) but soon it just became the norm. Now you might think that such an arrangement would dissolve sooner or later due to the friction that such arbitrary rules would create. Or that the desire to continue in such a seemingly mediocre establishment would not be strong enough to maintain a decent showing. You’d be wrong. On any given night twenty patrons would be in attendance. Some nights there might be forty. This popularity must be attributed to the ability of the Owner to pick men. He had a profile that provided almost fool-proof selection. His vetting process was scrupulous and thorough. The selection failures were few and so far, the fallout from these had always been repairable. Apparently, his damage control methods were effective and discrete.
So, what was the profile? Married with children, wife raised the kids and made a home for the family, husband supported the family (employed or a businessman), over thirty-five years of age and intolerant of the presence of idiots. Who decided what idiocy was limited to? In this case the Owner. He looked for signs and circumstances. Negative evidence was probably more important than positive. A lack of bumper stickers with slogans like Coexist and Tolerance was a given. The absence of financial support for any organization that explicitly or implicitly supported involuntary redistribution of wealth was a bare minimum requirement. Mostly he used second hand accounts followed up by field work. He was very thorough. There were no idiots. Finally, the smoking prohibition. You were prohibited from bothering anybody who wanted to smoke. There was a no-smoking section but that was pretty empty most nights.
Oh, and once a year you had to be able to tell a truly interesting story. So, either you were someone who had interesting things happening in your life or you had to be a great story teller. Either would do. Of course, how would you know if the story were true? Well, you couldn’t ask (another rule).
So, it was a Thursday. It was a warm night for early October. Barely jacket weather. No clouds and a bright moon. When I arrived, I was greeted at the front desk by Dave and buzzed in to the main hall. I could see it was a slow night, maybe twenty-five patrons were milling around and waiting for seating. I noticed the Owner (Dan) standing in a corner talking to a new face. I headed over to say hi and find out what was on the menu.
“Hey Dan, what’s good tonight?”
“If you ask me, nothing. I’d stick with the chicken fried steak. Unless you’re well insured, then go with the fish.”
“Wow. That’s grim. Maybe you should lie until the new members have ordered the special.”
“I’m not worried. Have you met Jim?”
“Nice to meet you Jim.”
“Jim, this is John. He’s a regular. Guess his wife is sick of looking at him.”
“On the contrary, I’m adored and pampered by the missus. I only come here to allow her a night to visit her family. When she gets home from seeing her sisters, suddenly I seem like more of a catch compared with her brothers in law. They’re quite a group.”
“Hi John. Nice to meet you. Yeah, I know what you mean. My wife’s got three sisters and from how they describe their husbands I’m guessing someone’s going to be on a most wanted show sooner or later.”
Dan broke in:
“So, Jim here is new, can you introduce him around and find a spot for him?”
“Sure. Jim, you interested in some penny ante poker before dinner?”
“I like poker, but I’m a pretty lousy player. I tend to bet over enthusiastically.”
“Great, you’ll be the most popular guy here tonight.”
“That’s what I’m afraid of. Seriously I’ve only got a few bucks in my pocket. Will that get me through?”
“Sure, it really is penny ante. We only use money to keep it from getting too boring. Mostly we play to slow us down while we’re scarfing down cold cuts. Come on. I’ll introduce you to the boys.”
We headed over to a table of regulars that had a few empty seats. I introduced Jim and we all got to talking about the latest travesty in D.C. This proved very popular with everyone. Within five minutes Jim was right in the thick of the grumbling and indistinguishable from the veterans. A few minutes later the waiter came by and took our orders. As I mentioned earlier the food was so-so. But tonight, rib-eye was on the menu and the steak was usually very good. I think it was something Dan liked so we benefited from his choice in that respect. I ordered it along with a couple of baked potatoes and got back to the conversation. Consensus had built to the effect that if Obama was not actually Satan then at the very least, he was a close relation. The usual fifty-seven states and “corpseman” jokes were worked over again and everyone settled in for the dinner. Someone asked Jim where he was from. “I’m originally from Brooklyn but I’ve been living in various places in New England for the last twenty plus years”. This elicited the obligatory “pahk the cah in Hahvahd yahd” responses and a few heartfelt shots at the Sox and Pats from the mostly New York City group. He laughed it off and said he was a die-hard Yankees fan but that he didn’t pay any mind to the rabid New England fans. “Mostly I just wait for the bad years and feign sympathy while they wallow in misery. It really is fun to watch.” Then I asked Jim if he had given his first annual story yet. He looked troubled and confessed that he was dreading it. “I’m not much of a public speaker. It’s gonna be like getting a root canal without Novocain.” “Hey, it’s a piece of cake. First of all, have a couple of belts before you get started and we don’t get started until we move into the sitting room. The chairs are very comfortable in there and really reduce the stress levels. Concentrate on someone sitting next to you and it won’t seem like public speaking. More like just a bull-session.” After that we got caught up in an argument over whether “The Maltese Falcon” was a better Bogey movie than “Treasure of the Sierra Madre.” This lasted about half an hour and introduced all kinds of heretical views and produced much heat but almost no light. Luckily at that point the food arrived. Sure enough, the rib eye was just about perfect. By the time I was done with the second spud and was sopping up a little juice with a hunk of French bread I had reached what I imagined Gautama must have been hoping for when he started sitting cross-legged under that tree.
The beer and wine were flowing pretty freely at our table and the dishes had been removed and someone asked if we should start the card game up again but there were no takers so we wandered into the sitting room and the group continued with a discussion on the latest movie. It was a science fiction adventure yarn with Earth being invaded by super-intelligent lobsters from the Andromeda Galaxy. Many rude comments were expressed over the lack of actual proof that shellfish had what it takes to invent a really convincing warp drive. Interestingly, Jim was extremely quiet when disparagement of the idea that extraterrestrials might visit the Earth was being discussed.
Dan showed up and instructed the wait staff and the members to drag the chairs into the traditional half circle around the speaker’s seat by the fire place. By this point I could see that the crowd was about thirty men. And surprisingly Dan was leading Jim over to the speaker’s chair. As he settled himself in, I could tell that he was pretty nervous. Dan introduced Jim as a new member and applauded him for the courage to tell his story on his first night in the club. Jim thanked him, looked around the circle nervously and cleared his throat. Everyone expected him to proceed so a very noticeable silence built up for about two minutes while Jim seemed to be staring at his feet. Finally I could see several men fidgeting in their chairs and scratching their faces in a sort of impatient way. Then Jim cleared his throat again and began.
“As the subject of my story I’d like to tell you how I saved the Earth almost single-handedly from interstellar invasion.”
I could tell it was going to be a really good Thursday.
Professor Gordrow arranged his thoughts and began his lecture again. “Now before I was interrupted, I was touching on the general topic of First Contact and I mentioned the classic Earth example. But to provide the background for that remarkable event I will remind you neophytes of the underlying mathematics. As anyone who has the intelligence to understand it knows Gordrow’s First Theorem of Quantum Chrono-Cosmo-Moiro-Dynamics states that when the probability of historical change uniformly approaches zero in a volume of space that continues to increase toward infinity then the quantum time-space probability reversal will be centered on the asymptotic fault line. This theory in fact was proven following the First Contact we are considering. At that time Earth was at the periphery of a rapidly expanding galactic civilization that had spread from the galactic core over the course of a billion years and was now so rapidly expanding that the odds of any possible combination of events halting its engulfment of the entire Milky Way galaxy was essentially zero. What a perfect test of the theory! Now if you inspect the terms in the denominator of the third term you’ll see …”
“But Professor Gordrow!” exclaimed Dorson Tendandren. Gordrow radiated annoyance and shot back, “Why are you interrupting me now you idiot?” Dorson continued, “Professor none of this is clear to me. How could such a regression occur? What possible sequence of events could reverse such an unstoppable force and in such a short time? It seems inconceivable. Can you show us the historical record?” Gordrow was disgusted and his aura reflected it. “Show you? What is this kindergarten? Would you like me to sing you a lullaby too? Would you like me to count from one to a googolplex just to prove that there are numbers in between? Wasting my time in this way is a sin against intelligence and a victory for entropy and just one more fatal step toward the heat death of the universe. Neophyte Tendandren, I intend to see that you suffer exquisitely during my final exam. I will recommend to the professional board that your truest vocational assignment would be as gravitational ballast.”
Professor Gordrow summoned his composure for a moment and continued. “For the intellectually challenged who are very temporarily among us I will now play the historical record of the singularity event. Those with normal intelligence are free to take a nap. Dolts, attend!”
[I’m working on an outline for a series of stories. Here’s a starting point for the framework.
photog]
Dorn had been daydreaming through the first period of his Quant class and now he realized he had lost the thread of Professor Gordrow’s lecture just as the professor called on him. “Well, neophyte Dorn, I notice that your cortical penumbra hasn’t changed potential since the lecture began, so you must already know everything I’ve transmitted.” “Yes, your sagacity, I mean no, your sagacity.” “Well which is it? Are you now conversant in the primary examples of the seven first order patterns of First Contact, or aren’t you? Answer me, you vacuous waste of neutrinos.”
Hearing the question, Dorn relaxed, for he had spent last semester studying First Contact under the foremost Quantum Historian in the Multiverse, Banstat Fabobble. For this reason, Dorn confidently answered, “Yes your sagacity I am.” “Well then tell the class what you think is the most unlikely quantum outcome for any First Contact scenario.” Dorn raised his transmission to the highest polite output level and declared, “As proven by Fabobble’s first theorem of interspecial dynamics, no species below the level of independent interstellar travel can ever compete successfully against a species above that level. In fact, it’s axiomatic.” Feeling very proud of himself Dorn allowed his cortical penumbra to pulse through the electrogravitic spectrum for a noticeable time.
Professor Gordrow replied, “Very glibly stated Dorn, and also utterly wrong! Banstat Fabobble is a hack and a fraud who has made his reputation kowtowing to administrative nincompoops who wouldn’t recognize a quantum paradox if it swallowed up their own boring corner of the multiverse.” Dorn’s penumbra shriveled up and he retreated to the periphery of the academic cloud and Professor Gordrow continued.
“Now attend to what I say. Every First Contact is unique and the seven first order patterns account for barely 99.999999999% of all known cases. This leaves an infinity of less probable cases, of which some subset, which itself includes an infinity of examples is composed of just the type that that fathead Fabobble claims is impossible.”
“If it please your sagacity, can you give us an example?” asked a nervous thought from the front of the class. Gordrow was silent for a moment and then continued. “Of course, I can. In fact, I’ll use the most famous First Contact of all. I’ll use Earth.” “But Earth’s First Contact was a case of two advanced races meeting in neutral space” corrected the nervous interlocuter. “Hah!” exclaimed Gordrow, “that is what we teach the dust clouds before they coalesce. But you are ready for the messy truth. Record this data. Attend!”
This is the story of a research space vessel travelling through the universe in a great scientific endeavor obviously named after Darwin’s ship HMS Beagle. The ship is filled up with scientists of various disciplines; chemists, physicists, biologists, etc. But one of the scientists is a generalist, or to be precise a Nexialist. This man, Elliot Grosvenor is the story’s protagonist and the book is just as much about his struggle to proselytize his fellow scientists about the wonders of Nexialism as it is fighting various interstellar monsters.
This Nexialism is akin to the synthesists that Heinlein sometimes mentions in his writing. They are able to rise above the narrow expertise of the subject matter experts in each of the sciences and see the big picture. Gregory Kent, the head of the Chemistry Department is Grosvenor’s nemesis. He uses all methods normal or criminal to prevent Grosvenor from spreading the gospel of Nexialism but, inexorably, Grosvenor’s string of victories in figuring out the nature of the threats that each of the alien monsters presents bring more and more of the scientists on his side until by the end of the story Grosvenor is able to take control of the mission and bend it to his purpose.
Interestingly one of the monsters, the Ixtl, is the source for the creature in Alien. The creature takes its victims alive and implants an egg in each to reproduce its kind. The other threats are less frightening; a cat-like predator, a hive mind that sends out its thought telepathically and finally a giant gas cloud that feeds off the life of a whole galaxy at a time.
Re-reading this book so many decades later it’s plain to see that as a kid I never noticed how badly A. E. van Vogt’s writes people. In some ways it reminds me of the phenomenon I sense in Lovecraft’s writing. There is a fertile mind that can create images that are striking but the dialog and the characters are flat and lifeless. His human characters are not very interesting. But a ten-year-old boy isn’t really interested in reading deathless prose. Surprisingly, his monsters are livelier. Perhaps he wrote from the point of view of the aliens. And the science fiction in the stories can be quite entertaining. The scientists have to jury rig all sorts of science projects to outwit their enemies in each chapter and the technical mumbo jumbo is a lot of fun.
So, do I recommend this book. Let’s do it this way. If you are from the literary camp of science fiction then forget it. The Space Beagle won’t work for you. If you like space opera of the old school then by all means give it a shot. Just don’t get mad if you find out A. E. van Vogt isn’t Bill Shakespeare.
Order of the Centurion is another of the stand-alone Galaxy’s Edge series that branch off from the main narrative. This first story in the series tells the story of a rash decision by a “Point,” which is derogatory slang for the appointed officers that the House of Reason has imposed on the “Legion.” Lacking the training, discipline, skills and motivation to lead the supremely capable warriors in the Legion, they are despised by the men and real officers of the Legion. And the points equally despise them back. But these appointed officers don’t pursue Legion service as a career but rather as a political stepping stone in their efforts to reach the privileged position as an elite member of the House of Reason.
But one young man, Lieutenant Washam (or just “Wash), who was appointed to the Legion was different. He was skilled, disciplined and motivated enough and he took advantage of the training that his other point brethren eschewed and became an actual legionnaire.
This is his story. And it’s the story of how he allowed an old friendship with a fellow point to send them on an ill-advised but fate driven mission to discover the location of enemy artillery hidden deep in the deadly jungle that had taken a heavy toll of the Legion and the other Republic military services fighting the hostile Doros on planet Psydon.
Because the protagonist and his friend come from wealthy and high culture backgrounds this book differs somewhat from the earlier Galaxy’s Edge books in that the points are treated as outsiders by the legionnaires, at least at first. A part of the story is composed of Wash figuring out how to prove himself to his enlisted men and at the same time keep his unskilled friend and superior officer from getting the whole platoon killed.
Although I though some of the internal monologue was a little unfocused, for the most part the action of the plot carries the story along at an exciting clip.
Although I am anxious for the Galaxy’s Edge books to continue on with the main sequence series, this Order of the Centurion is an enjoyable side course and I think the fans of the main series will enjoy it too.
For the sake of accuracy let me say that his is actually an audiobook. It’s found on Audible which is an Amazon company.
This is the third installment in the Tom Stranger saga but Audible has bundled all the earlier episodes in with three new chapter in the series adding up to eight hours of listening time. The Tom Stranger stories are a goofball joke that Larry Correia of “Monster Hunter International” fame spun out in 2016 as a lark. But he got Adam Baldwin (of Firefly and Chuck fame) to do the narration and the first one was so much fun to listen to that I’ve kept up with the nutty series ever since.
The idea is exactly what the title implies. Tom Stranger is an interdimensional insurance agent. He travels throughout the multiverse settling claims on any policies meant to protect a client in one dimension from interference by any being from a different dimension. So, as a for instance, while in our dimension back in 2016 Barack Obama was president of the United States, in another universe Adam Baldwin wasn’t just an actor but was also elected president. So, when something from our universe threatened this alternate reality, Tom Stranger was called in by the policy owner, Adam Baldwin, to restore the balance and repair the damage.
Now Larry Correia was the originator of the Sad Puppies campaign against the SJWs of pink science fiction so tweaking liberals and other weirdos is a healthy chunk of the content and motivation for the stories. But everyone else, including himself, Adam Baldwin and even nominal allies like President Trump come in for abuse somewhere in the story. The only group that consistently escapes abuse are manatees. Tom is presented exactly like the earnest insurance agent he is, humorless, efficient, extremely uncool and incorruptible.
I will say right up front that if you don’t like goofball humor and don’t appreciate pretty heavy handed SJW bashing this may not be your cup of tea. Also, right now the book is free if you start a trial membership of Audible. I guess if you cared to you can get it free and then cancel the trial membership. But I just bought it because I’m a trillionaire. Otherwise it is $28 dollars which seems like a lot of money for a goofy book. So, I’ll say that this book is definitely not for everybody. Also Audible is one of those services where the audio file doesn’t reside on your computer but streams from their servers. Being a geezer, this annoys the hell out of me.
Going back to the story, it’s something that I like but it has several things going for it for my tastes. First off, I was a participant in the Puppy Wars and enjoy anything that tweaks the SF SJWs. Secondly Larry Correia is a very funny guy and writes a really clever satire. And finally, Adam Baldwin is great fun as the narrator.
So, there it is. A specialty product that isn’t for everyone but satisfies a niche for a special audience.
By the title you can see that the Galaxy’s Edge franchise has branched out. This book is the first installment of a spin off series that follow the adventures of quasi-immortal bounty hunter, Tyrus Rechs. Tyrus was a component in Book 2 -Galactic Outlaws of the main sequence of the Galaxy’s Edge series. This series is a prequel to that time line and gives us the back story for Rechs and several other important components of the ancient history of the Galaxy’s Edge universe.
Requiem for Medusa is a standalone story. It’s a revenge story that involves Tyrus tracking down the murderers of the only woman that still had any connection to his weary soul. The story reads like a noir but ends up as a military assault against desperate odds to take down the criminal gangs and the corrupt security apparatus that flourishes in the lawless depths of the Reach, the section of the Edge that had been abandoned for centuries to outlaw operations that even the Republic’s Legion left alone.
For the faithful readers of the Galaxy’s Edge series, this is not required reading. This is a personal story of Tyrus Rechs and although it will answer some questions about Rechs, it won’t matter if you skip it from the point of view of the main narrative. And this story differs from the other stories in that it contains a love interest component. Whether this would distract the reader from the story is of course a personal preference. But it should be mentioned in my opinion.
Now my opinion. This is a separate story from the Galaxy’s Edge narrative but the characters are interesting and the character development for Tyrus Rechs doesn’t hurt him at all. He performs his murderous rampage without any loss of skill due to the emotional component of his motivation. There is a very clever plot device called the nano-plague that is probably linked to some of the other important ancient history for the Galaxy’s Edge universe but in this story, it is used to advance a plot element in the revenge story.
All in all, I liked this story and recommend it. As with all the Galaxy’s Edge books it is well written, holds your interest and contains exciting combat action. However, if you do not want to explore the periphery of the Galaxy’s Edge fictional universe it can easily be omitted without sacrificing your knowledge of the series. Highly recommended.
Special congratulations to Larry Correia and Brad Torgersen for their awards (list below). Larry and Brad were charter members of the Sad Puppy movement and took an enormous amount of abuse from the sad pathetic people who game the Hugo Awards every year. But based on the fate of Campbell Award this year I’m assuming it won’t be the Hugos for much longer but instead the Noras or the Samuels or some other first name of an author who didn’t have the bad manners to be born a straight white man.
Larry championed the DragonCon’s fan popularity based Dragon Awards contest and it has since displaced the Hugos for all normal humans. I’m a big fan of Larry’s Monster Hunter series because they’re great fun and because I’m hoping that Adam Baldwin will get the chance to play Agent Franks in the big screen version of the stories. That would be awesome.
Best Fantasy Novel (Including Paranormal)
House of Assassins by Larry Correia
Best Young Adult / Middle Grade Novel
Bloodwitch by Susan Dennard
Best Military Science Fiction or Fantasy Novel
Uncompromising Honor by David Weber
Best Alternate History Novel
Black Chamber by S.M. Stirling
Best Media Tie-In Novel
Thrawn: Alliances by Timothy Zahn
Best Horror Novel
Little Darlings by Melanie Golding
Best Comic Book
Saga by Brian K. Vaughan, Fiona Staples
Best Graphic Novel
X-Men: Grand Design – Second Genesis by Ed Piskor
Best Science Fiction or Fantasy TV Series
Good Omens, by Neil Gaimen Amazon Prime
Best Science Fiction or Fantasy Movie
Avengers: Endgame by Anthony Russo, Joe Russo
Best Science Fiction or Fantasy PC / Console Game
Red Dead Redemption 2 by Rockstar Games
Best Science Fiction or Fantasy Mobile Game
Harry Potter: Wizards Unite by Niantic, WB Games San Francisco
Best Science Fiction or Fantasy Board Game
Betrayal Legacy by Avalon Hill Games
Best Science Fiction or Fantasy Miniatures / Collectible Card / Role-Playing Game
Call of Cthulhu: Masks of Nyarlathotep Slipcase Set by Chaosium Inc.
When the story opens an adolescent boy named Thorby is being sold on the slaver’s block in the ironically named Plaza of Liberty in Jubbulpore, the capital of Jubbul, which is itself the capital of the Nine Worlds ruled by the Sargon. The Nine Worlds is presented as an oriental despotic empire complete with a caste system that includes slaves, beggars and thieves as acknowledged roles in the society. Now this is embedded in a future that includes interstellar space ships, faster than light communication and a human civilization that has spread hundreds of light years from Earth.
Baslim the crippled beggar manages to purchase the boy. He overcomes the boy’s ferocious hatred of his owners and uses kindness and fatherly discipline to raise the boy to be an honest and resourceful man. As time goes on Thorby figures out that Baslim is a lot more than just a beggar. Inside his lodgings in the underground slums of Jubbulpore, Baslim has modern teaching equipment that he uses to teach Thorby languages and mathematics and the history of the world he lives in. Also, Baslim seems to be a spy, collecting information on the slave trade on Jubbul. Eventually Baslim tells Thorby that someday Baslim would be gone and Thorby must leave Jubbul to escape from the squalor and injustice that was life in the Nine Worlds. He uses hypnotic suggestion to implant a message in Thorby, that when delivered by the boy, would tell one of Baslim’s friends, who was a starship captain, that rescuing the boy would be the payment for a favor Baslim had done for the captain’s family.
And one day Thorby finds that Baslim has been arrested and executed as a spy and that the Sargon’s men are after Thorby. Luckily Thorby had spotted Captain Krausa of the starship Sisu. The message and the implied debt are acknowledged the Captain and by clever subterfuges performed by Thorby’s friends he is smuggled aboard the Sisu and escapes Jubbul.
Overcoming his grief at the death of his adoptive father Baslim, Thorby is adopted into the family that is the crew of Sisu. A complex phratry and moiety arrangement connects the “family” on Sisu with the other Trader ships with their own “families.” Thorby struggles to adapt to the strange ways of his new family but the connection to his ship mates stabilizes the boy and gives him the sense of belonging he needs.
But what Thorby doesn’t know is that Baslim had told Captain Krausa that Thorby probably had a family somewhere out in the free worlds beyond the Nine Worlds. Krausa was committed to hand Thorby over to the authorities of the Space Guard, when he could, for reunion with his family. But Thorby’s relation to Baslim means that the Sisu would gain great status with the other Trading families by keeping Thorby in their family.
After many adventures including shooting a space pirate ship out of the skies Thorby is finally returned to the Space Guard. He learns that Baslim was a highly decorated officer in the Guard and he was doing espionage to help destroy the slave trade. For someone associated with Baslim the Guard does everything humanly possible to help Thorby and finally finds his true family. The details of this final chapter take him back to Earth and solves the mystery of his years as a slave.
Heinlein has crafted a story that combines facets of adventure stories from many sources. Others have noted that there are some elements of the story that are reminiscent of Kipling’s novel Kim. But mostly it contains the elements of Heinlein’s Future History Universe. I especially found the world of the trader ship Sisu very imaginative and enjoyable. But the whole book keeps the reader engaged, the characters are excellently drawn and the plot is lively. Once again this is a Heinlein juvenile that is highly recommended.