Review: THE SEVENTH PLAGUE by James Rollins

5 Speculative Stars

Another of my choices for Pandemic reading, and an apropos one it was. Quite a bit of useful information contained herein about Epidemiology and the spread of Pandemics,  plus intriguing biology of Archaea, which I found fascinating.  Additionally author Rollins successfully weaves in ancient Egypt and whether or not the events recounted in the Biblical Book of Exodus occurred,  and if so, in what time frame. I really enjoyed this thriller; but the reader's hook,  I have to add, is Nightmarish.

Review: THE SEVENTH SUN by Ken Lester

5 Speculative Stars 

As we endure the Coronavirus Pandemic,  I am impelled to read novels and nonfiction about Plague events,  pandemics,  and wildly mutating evolution.  Whether or not Coronavirus is a "black swan event," I found THE SEVENTH SUN  (a reference to the ancients' view of the final Extinction Event) highly apropos.  With a protagonist of high moral integrity and an adrenaline-driven, near-fearless, female evolutionary scientist, this tale of rampant conspiracy, genetic manipulation,  corporate greed, governmental emptyheadedness, seems very real and tremendously up-to-date now that we seldom can predict what even the next day might bring.

Review: THE GREAT DOME ON MERCURY by Arthur Leo Zagat

Vintage Science Fiction

3 Stars 

Review: THE TRAINS THAT CLIMB THE WINTER TREE by Michael Swanwick

5+ Stars!

This was a short sitting read, but a story with the metaphysical impact of a suitcase nuke, turning my mind and imagination inside out and upside down,  churning me through untold universes of non-Euclidean geometry and weightlessness,  confronting cosmic horror--and all this via Mirror Portals and Pullman trains.  What an incredible story!

Review: THE HERON KINGS by Eric Lewis

4 Stars

The strong and willful heroine of this epic heroic fantasy, Alessia, reminds me of two strong women in Michael Swanwick's IN THE DRIFT,  which I had just read. All three are leaders by nature as well as design, healers, women to whom followers naturally gravitate,  women who risk their lives for their righteous causes. It's refreshing to me to discover women characters in such roles in fantasy, science fiction,  and apocalyptic speculative fiction.

Review: MOTHER OF FLOODS

4 Stars 

Combining cutting edge digital advances (such as artificial minds) with prehistoric mythology and enwrapped in literary imagery and lyricism, MOTHER OF FLOODS is a sometimes fatalistic but eminently hopeful perspective of the unavoidable end of the world and its eventual new building. Its spirituality and  character evolution will appeal.

Review: EJECTA by William Dietz

5 Stars!
An excitingly suspenseful thriller which I found very apropos in the current Coronavirus Pandemic climate,  EJECTA grounds itself in Science [geology, biology , exobiology] while remaining true to human nature, failings, and emotions. A parasitologist meets a geologist who hunts meteorites,  and the premise is based on Meteorites.  As Space objects that fall to Earth, possibly they contain germs, viruses,  bacteria,  or Parasites which are literally out of this world. If the drive of all Life forms is to expand the species,  then wouldn't such exolife strive for this as well? Deserves consideration.

Review: KILLING FLOOR by Mark Gillespie

5 Stars

Every single title I've read by author Mark Gillespie l enjoyed,  but above all my favorites so far are WAXWORLD and KILLING FLOOR.  Both rendered me speechless,  as the horror is so subtle at first,  creeping up to characters and reader on "little cat feet, like the fog." But make no mistake: the eventual delivery is deadly. Implacable,  inescapable,  unavoidable.  In KILLING FLOOR,  we watch as a tautly-knit but as yet unsuccessful rock band gets a weekend getaway to compose five new songs.  Then the horror is announced, but "oh, it's just a prank. Just BBC foolishness.  Just advertising." How wrong! KILLING FLOOR is a story you really cannot set aside or ignore. I can't stop wondering "BUT WHAT IF?"

Review: NOTHING TO SEE HERE by Kevin Wilson

5 Weird Stars!

Tremendous,  deep, and rich. The characterizations are superb: the protagonist/first person narrator Lillian, her "best friend"  Madison, the "Fire Kids" Bessie and Roland; even secondary characters such as Lillian 's mother,  Madison's horrid father, Senator Jasper Roberts, his henchman Carl, the children's maternal grandparents. Also here the quality of "Weird " is a character all in itself. You're familiar with "Place" as Character? Author Kevin Wilson introduces us to "Weird" as Character; as Flavor; as Setting.  Welcome to the contemporary Twilight Zone. 

NOTHING TO SEE HERE is a "Wow" book. Termed "perfect " by the Washington Post,  I agree. I"ll be coming back to this one!