"Friedrich the Snowman" by Lewis Shiner

First Publication:  Tor.com, December 2013

Cover Artist:  Ross MacDonald

I remember fondly watching “Frosty the Snowman” on the television each holiday season.  Lewis Shiner must have watched it too.  He incorporates parts of the song into this fascinating short story about reincarnation, being a stranger in a strange land, Nietzche, and the horror of finding your work subverted into something it was not meant to be.  After reading this touching story, “Frosty the Snowman” will never be the same again.  I know I will be thinking of this story every time I hear the song.

Highly recommended.

Treecat Wars by David Weber & Jane Lindskold

First Publication:  2013

Source:  Net Galley

Summary (from Goodreads):
New York Times and Publishers Weekly Best Selling Young Adult Series. Book Three by international writing phenomenon David Weber. Two young settlers on a pioneer planet seeks to stop a war and to save the intelligent alien treecats from exploitation by unscrupulous humans.

"Treecat Wars" brings back good memories of the many young adult science fiction books of my youth.  "Two young settlers on a pioneer planet..." makes me think of many of the classics Robert A. Heinlein.  When you mix in the "intelligent alien treecats" and the "unscrupulous humans" my mind turns to Andre Norton's work.  In both cases this is a good thing.  Both authors helped to mold my love of science fiction.  I have seen David Weber's name on numerous books but never tried his fiction.  Jane Lindskold's byline appeared on her collaborations with the great Roger Zelazny.  I figured I was in for a treat.

I found this to be a solid entry into the science fiction YA field.  The authors did a good job of developing the characters.  I was puzzled by the title.  I thought the war would play a bigger part in the story.  As this is book 3 in the series, I was worried that I would be lost.  Weber and Lindskold filled the reader in while keeping the story moving.  I had no problem following the story.  The story impressed me enough that I will go back and read the first two books in the series.

If you are in the mood for a good old time Norton style book, I recommend picking up "Treecat Wars".

The Incrementalists by Steven Brust & Skylar White

First Publication:  2013

Source:  Net Galley

Summary (from Amazon):  
The Incrementalists—a secret society of two hundred people with an unbroken lineage reaching back forty thousand years. They cheat death, share lives and memories, and communicate with one another across nations, races, and time. They have an epic history, an almost magical memory, and a very modest mission: to make the world better, just a little bit at a time. Their ongoing argument about how to do this is older than most of their individual memories. 


Phil, whose personality has stayed stable through more incarnations than anyone else’s, has loved Celeste—and argued with her—for most of the last four hundred years. But now Celeste, recently dead, embittered, and very unstable, has changed the rules—not incrementally, and not for the better. Now the heart of the group must gather in Las Vegas to save the Incrementalists, and maybe the world.

Steven Brust is an author I have been meaning to read again.  I read his "Agyar", which happens to be another novel that deals with a form of immortality, and was very impressed by it.  In addition to that, many people have told me that since I am a big Roger Zelazny fan i would enjoy Brust's work(especially his "Vlad Taltos" series).  i plan on reading one of that series but thought I would try this book first.

"The Incrementalists" demonstrates that Brust is indeed an author who is working with similar themes to Zelazny.  And that is a compliment.  What is not to like in this book?  I enjoy adventures with immortals, a battle to save the world, and a quest to make the world a better place.  Most of the books dealing with such ideas make the immortals out to be bigger than life and fighting epic battles.  I thought this was an interesting change of pace.

Some of the other reviewers have commented that this is not like Brust's other work.  That it does not have the grand scale.  While I enjoy the big adventure stories, I found this smaller love story to be a good change.  Brust took a chance on this story and it paid off for me.

38. Salvage and Demolition by Tim Powers

Writer:  Tim Powers

First Publication:  2013

Summary from Amazon:
Salvage and Demolition, the astonishing new 21,000 word novella by Tim Powers, begins when Richard Blanzac, a San Francisco-based rare book dealer, opens a box of consignment items and encounters the unexpected. There, among an assortment of literary rarities, he discovers a manuscript in verse, an Ace Double Novel, and a scattering of very old cigarette butts. These commonplace objects serve as catalysts for an extraordinary--and unpredictable--adventure.


Without warning, Blanzac finds himself traversing a 'circle of discontinuity' that leads from the present day to the San Francisco of 1957. Caught up in that circle are an ancient Sumerian deity, a forgotten Beat-era poet named Sophie Greenwald, and an apocalyptic cult in search of the key to absolute non-existence. With unobtrusive artistry, Powers weaves these elements into something strange and utterly compelling. The resulting story is at once a romance, a thriller, and the kind of intricately constructed time travel story that only the author of The Anubis Gates--that quintessential time travel classic--could have written. Ingenious, affecting, and endlessly inventive, Salvage and Demoliton is a compact gem from the pen of a modern master, a man whose singular creations never fail to dazzle and delight.

Comments:

Tim Powers is another one of the authors whose works I have wanted to try.  In the early days of my science fiction reading, this would have been a normal length novel at 160 pages.  Now it is considered a novella.  Since it is a shorter work, I thought it would be a good place to start reading Powers.

The first thing that caught my eye was the inclusion of an Ace Double Novel.  I was a big fan when these first appeared.  Ace advertised that you were getting two novels in each book.  When you reached the end of the first one, turn the book over and start reading the opposite way.  Each story had it's own cover.  Ace was done publishing them by the time I started collecting but I was able to occasionally find them in used book stores.

Powers came up with an interesting method of time travel.  The traveler had to have some connection to a person from the past.  To say more would give it away.

The story of the people who wanted to summon the god who killed himself was a different take on an elder gods tale.

Powers did an excellent job of combining an elder god, time travel, noir mystery, and books.  I found it to be a good read.

Highly recommended.  This is another author I hope to read more of in the near future.

30. Summer Falls by Amelia Williams

Writer:  Amelia Williams (J. R. Hartley)
First Publication:  2013
Challenge:  Once Upon a Time VII


“Summer Falls” is a very interesting take on meta-fiction.  In an episode of Doctor Who, Clara (the current companion) is talking with a child who is reading a book with this title.  The BBC decided to have one of their author’s ghost write that book.  Amelia Williams is the name of the previous Doctor Who companion.  She was Amy Pond, real name of Amelia, who married Rory Williams.  Amy and Rory were trapped in the past.  Speculation is that it contains clues to future episodes of Doctor Who.

So what is the story about?  It features a young girl who acquires a painting called “The Lord of Winter”.  Through various events, the Lord of Winter is summoned to the village.  The adults disappear and she is forced to rely on two boys she befriended.  But then she receives a call from the museum curator.  If the Lord of Winter succeeds, the village will be trapped in winter forever.  One of the characters will receive eternal youth, but at what cost?

If you are a fan of Doctor Who, it is easy to figure out who the Doctor is in this story.  Various clues are given that reveal his identity.  If you are looking for a short novel for someone who enjoys adventure tales featuring young characters, a talking cat, possible magic (or maybe not…) this is a fun book.  It definitely falls in the fable/mythology genre.  I read it while vacationing in the Outer Banks of North Carolina and it was the perfect setting for such a story.  It brought back memories of stories I read in my younger days.

29. Analog Science Fiction and Fact, March 2013

This issue was the end of an era.  I remember when I received the December 1978 issue of Analog in the mail.  At first, I did not notice that Ben Bova was not listed as editor.  At that time, Stanley Schmidt was only known to me as a writer.  I recalled his serial "Sins of the Father" that appeared in late 1973 and early 1974.  I no longer have those magazines but I do have the paperback edition sitting on my shelf.  Little did I know that Schmidt would have such a long tenure on the title.  December 1978 through March of 2013.  Whether or not you like his work on the title, Schmidt deserves credit for editing a major science fiction magazine for almost 35 years.

Schmidt's first issue contained a mix of classic and new (at that time) writers.  Among the ones who appeared in that issue were Jack Williamson, Frank Herbert, F. M. Busby, Joan Vinge, and Orson Scott Card. 

"iRobot" by Guy Haley

Title:  iRobot
Author:  Guy Haley
First Publication:  Interzone, Jan-Feb 2013
Cover Artist:  Jim Burns

Thank you, Guy Haley.

This short story reminds me why I like science fiction.  It is about the last functioning robot on Earth.  Humanity has died out but it is still trying to fulfill it's programming.

The title is obviously a tribute to Isaac Asimov's classic story with the same name.  Looking back even further, it is also the name of an older story by two brothers who wrote under the name Eando Binder.  In more recent times, Cory Doctorow also used this title.

Why do I like this story so much?  In addition to the title reminding me of Asimov, the writing also reminds me of the short fiction of another favorite of mine-Roger Zelazny.  The idea of the last robot on Earth is a story that Zelazny might have written in his prime.

It is worth buying this issue of Interzone for this story alone.  I will definitely be adding more of Haley's works to my "to be read" pile.

Illustration by Jim Burns

New and Old Asimov Stories

The "new Asimov stories" are ones from Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine.  So in one respect, I am reviewing new Asimov's stories.


Title:  Dolly
Author:  Elizabeth Bear
First Publication:  Asimov's Science Fiction, Jan. 2011
Cover:  Tomislav Tikulin

Elizabeth Bear must be a fan of Isaac Asimov’s robot stories.  “Dolly” seems like a modern version of the classic Asimov robot mystery.  Bear’s robots are not as advanced as Asimov’s.  The positronic brain has not been developed.  The main characters, two detectives, are called in to investigate a closed room murder.  Only the victim and his robot companion are in the room.  The robot obviously had to commit the murder.  The question becomes who hacked into the programming to orchestrate the deed.  Or is something else going on…  Bear has captured the spirit of classic science fiction short story telling and combined it with a modern writing style.  After reading this story, I will be looking for more of Bear’s work in the future.