Book Review of Lois McMaster Bujold’s “Cyroburn”

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© James Pyles

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I feel like this book review requires a bit of an explanation. I thought “Women in SciFi Month” was in March, but according to this, it’s in April, so I’m not late.

Actually, thanks to Cora Buhlert (she and I are very different people but she’s one of the few folks who doesn’t take it personally) and the twitter hashtag #FiveSFFWritersWhoArentBlokes, I compiled a list of female SFF writers I want to read (a lot more than five). I’m usually against “you have to read these authors or you’re racist, sexist, misanthropic, whatever…” but I am also aware there are tons of science fiction writers I simply don’t know about. After all, if not for twitter, I’d have no idea Adrian Tchaikovsky even existed, let alone have read and reviewed his novel Children of Time (it has issues but overall, a great book).

Because my list is alphabetical, I started with Lois McMaster Bujold. I found out that a bunch of her books were at my local public library just a few miles from where I live. I shot on over but hadn’t looked any of them up first. I set aside anything that looked like fantasy and drilled into her science fiction works. I settled on Cryoburn because the blurb was interesting:

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Spring Into SciFi 2022 Comes Out in Two Days!

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Cover art for “Spring Into Scifi 2022”

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Wow! That came up fast.

Spring Into Scifi 2022 becomes available on Monday, March 21, 2022. Amazing. I’m so fortunate to have been a contributing member to this anthology series since 2019. My short story “Tiamat Descending” is featured within it’s pages. Here’s a small taste.

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Book Review of E.E. “Doc” Smith’s “Gray Lensman”

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Mass market paperback cover for “Gray Lensman”

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Gray Lensman by E.E. “Doc” Smith (I bought the cheap kindle version) is the fourth book in the Lensman series following Triplanetary, First Lensman, and Galactic Patrol.

After my binge read of James S.A. Corey’s nine-book The Expanse saga, I realized I hadn’t read a Lensman book in over a year. Part of the reason was that they’re hard for me to read. They’re really old fashioned, to the point of being almost farcical.

But they are also an important part of science fiction history and the development of the classic space opera.

This particular book was originally published in serial form in Astounding (later Analog) magazine in 1939. It made it to book form in 1951 and to the paperbacks I became familiar with in the 1960s.

As I’ve mentioned before, in the mid to late 1960s, while all the other guys were reading the Tarzan and Lensman books, I was absorbed in the Barsoom and Skylark books, by Edgar Rice Burroughs and E.E. “Doc” Smith respectively.

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“The Fallen Shall Rise” Promoted by Speculative Fiction Showcase

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Promotional image for “The Fallen Shall Rise”

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I received the wonderful opportunity to have my SciFi novella The Fallen Shall Rise: A 224-Verse book promoted at Speculative Fiction Showcase. SFS describes itself as:

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Book Review: “Swirling Darkness” by Sam M. Phillips

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Promotional art for Sam M. Phillips’ “Swirling Darkness”

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Sam Phillips is an author, poet, and a co-founder of Zombie Pirate Publishing with Adam Bennett. They published some of my very first short stories and have been a lot of fun to work with.

Sam is branching out as an individual author and I recently read two of his books, Infinity and I, published by the aforementioned Zombie Pirate, and Swirling Darkness published as part of the Underground series by Black Hare Press

The description for his anthology is:

INFINITY AND I is a collection of seventy brand new science fiction stories from Sam M. Phillips, the co-founder of Zombie Pirate Publishing. Inside you’ll find surreal space journeys, bizarre aliens, futuristic technology, rogue AIs, and a girl who just wants to be loved. Follow a huge array of exotic characters across the galaxy as they use inter-dimensional drugs and fight battles on faraway worlds. Action, drama, and science combine with the complexity of the human soul in the year’s most exciting new sci fi release. Open up a portal and step into the depths of a unique mind with INFINITY AND I: Seventy Science Fiction Stories!

As an aside, I should note that my novella Time’s Abyss is also part of the Underground series.

Sam publishes his poetry on his blog Big Confusing Words. That’s important to know for my review as you’ll soon see.

The blurb for “Darkness” states:

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My Short Story “Dollface” to be Published by Dragon Soul Press

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Cover art for the Dragon Soul Press cyberpunk anthology “Surge”

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I am pleased to announce that Dragon Soul Press has accepted my novelette “Dollface” for their cyberpunk anthology Surge.

Here’s the description from the original submissions call:

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Pre-Order “Spring Into SciFi : 2022 Edition” Now!

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Cover art for the Cloaked Press anthology “Spring Into SciFi 2022”

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You can now go to Amazon to pre-order the Cloaked Press anthology Spring Into SciFi 2022. Here’s the announcement from Cloaked’s newsletter:

You can now preorder the ebook edition of our 5th Spring Into SciFi. This series has been very popular over the years and we are excited to introduce a lot of new members to the Cloaked Press Family. Our release date is set for March 21st, 2022.

This year, my space opera short story “Tiamat Descending” is included in the collection. Here’s a small sample:

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One 4 and one 5 star rating for “The Fallen Shall Rise” on Amazon

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The Fallen Shall Rise, my latest SciFi novella published by Starry Eyed Press as part of the 224-verse series has only been available for a week. It already has two Amazon ratings, one 4-star and one 5-star.

I won’t post the entire review, but it says in part:

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Interviewed by Starry Eyed Press for “The Fallen Shall Rise:” A 224-Verse Novella

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As part of the promotion for my latest SciFi novella The Fallen Shall Rise, I was interviewed by the publisher Starry Eyed Press. My story takes place in their shared 224-Verse, which includes millions of spacefaring civilizations in the Andromeda galaxy.

The interview begins…

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Book Review of “Leviathan Falls”

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Cover of the novel “Leviathan Falls”

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This is it. I just finished the ninth and final book in the Expanse novel series Leviathan Falls by James S.A. Corey (really Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck). I checked it out of my local public library like all the others. It’s a new book, so I put a hold on it December 1st and finally got my hands on it February 9th. I have to give it back after two weeks, so I’m pushing things a little.

The quality of the series held up, which is important. I’ve read a lot of book series that started out great and then fizzled at the end. That’s usually because the author (or publisher) decides that they’ll make more money on more books people like, but don’t have a clear vision of the end from the beginning.

I’m not sure Abraham and Franck did either when they wrote the first in the series. Some things got a little repetitive in some of the stories. It seemed for a while that going from an earlier book to a later book meant the disasters got bigger and worse. That didn’t happen this time around, but there’s definitely a resolution. There’s not a lot of room for the characters to reappear in the long haul except Amos and maybe Jim. No, no spoilers but I’m not above dolling out a few hints.

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