Science, Science Fiction, and Fantasy Reviews – I’m bursting with reviews and the latest science news for you. Let’s dive right in!
Once again Patricia McKillip shows she is the mistress (mage?) of fantasy through this great mystery fantasy.
Andy Zach
What’s so great about it? It begins with a horribly close battle between a besieging army and a castle. Both sides are losing men and neither will give in or negotiate. The world’s greatest mage, Atrix Wolfe, feels compelled to intervene to stop the final battle. He’s filled with outrage at the atrocities of war, and uses all his power to make a terror worse than either army. Both flee before it and the war ends.
The king of the castle dies, with many of his army, killed by the magical thing on the field of battle. His wife dies in sorrow, leaving a baby, Tallis, who is reared by his older brother, now the king.
Unfortunately, Atrix Wolfe loses control of his magic. The thing still kills. Plus there are many magical side effects. An unknown child appears after the battle, mute and dazed. She becomes a kitchen scullery maid, named ‘Saro’.
Atrix Wolfe, horrified by the magical backlash, forsakes magic and goes into hiding. The baby prince Tallis grows up and is sent to mage school. That’s the start of the mystery, twenty years after the battle. Tallis finds a mysterious book. Seemingly a basic book of spells, why was it hidden in a broom closet? It has no author and none of the spells work correctly.
Lovers of mysteries and of fantasy will delight in this classic.
Where’s the Science, Science Fiction?
Right here you’ve got some science!
And here’s your science fiction, derived from this article. Reversing aging? Check out my villain in this book: (Hint: the villain is not the undead mother-in-law.)
Actually a better mystery each book he writes!
I read the whole book in just a few days. This is the first one that I couldn’t figure out what was going to happen before it did! I was even a bit concerned for the Zombies. (Now there’s something I never thought I’d hear myself think!)
The worst part is that I was in a rush to get back to my real life, so I hurried to get to the end…and what happens? I had to get the next book! I’m glad Kindle let me buy their unlimited plan, or else I would have to mortgage my house to find out what happens next! Save yourself the headaches and buy the set. You’re going to, anyway!
june
More Science, Science Fiction? Why Not?
I’ve got to tell you, I love 1950s SciFi, both books and movies. I grew up with it, and it’s part of me.
But where is SciFi in my books? Try this book icon for a clue:
Paranormal Privateers: The Adventures of the Undead
(The Life After Life Chronicles Book 5) Kindle Edition
by Mr. Andy Zach (Author), Sean Flannagan (Illustrator), Dori Harrell (Editor), Rik Hall (Editor) Format: Kindle Edition
Whew! Lots of stories within stories with a wink of incredulity as we read along the pages. Tongue-in-cheek adventures, modern day villains’, and zombies; wait, are they still zombies or not? Yep, we have that zombie virus run amok with various creations to transform them back and forth. How much of a zombie body do you need to regenerate?
Gung-ho leader of the group Diane Newby, husband George, are charging on fighting crime with the discreet eye of the government as their silent partners. Somali pirates, Harrod’s London Store with real bulls in the china shop, parasitic cyborgs, virus-antivirus, bacteria, and other minute details tangle the story line into a braided rug of conspiracies and innovative solutions. And little do they know, but their arch enemy is among their group.
This was a slow read for me because so many things happen that go back into something revealed earlier that I really concentrated to meditate and map out all the subplots that make this a “HOOT “of a read. Andy Zach must keep a storyboard as big as an unabridged encyclopedia! This is a read and reread type of book that will never be loaned out because the reader will want to keep it safely hoarded away for multiple times.
Kindle Customer
Do you have a favorite SciFi Story?
Let me know and I’ll give you a free book. Just click here.
Plus, I have two books going on sale on March 20th, 2022, just in time for spring. They’re superhero books, from my comic book days.
Secret Supers:
What happens when ‘differently-abled’ people become ‘super-abled’? Kindle Edition
by Andy Zach (Author), Ian Bristow (Illustrator), Leslie McKee (Editor), Rik Hall (Editor) Format: Kindle Edition
- Kindle
$0.00 Read with Kindle Unlimited to also enjoy access to over 1 million more titles$2.99 to buy - Audiobook
$0.00Free with your Audible trial - Paperback
$6.95 4 New from $6.95
Jeremy Gentle fell flat on his face at therapy. That was normal since he had cerebral palsy. But his new superpower wasn’t normal.
Then things got weirder when his best friend, Dan Elanga, got a different superpower. But Dan was still blind.
Kayla Verdera and Aubrey Wilcosky, two girls in their middle-school special ed class, discovered they too had new superpowers. Kayla was mute and needed a walker. Aubrey lost two legs and used crutches. But they were as powerful as the boys.
What should the four friends do? Jeremy knew if the word got out, it’d be a media circus. Then they started fighting crime, as the Secret Supers. Who knew a disability could be a perfect disguise? No one would ever think of disabled kids as superheroes. Then they ran into problems they never expected.
And the other book on sale is . . .
Four disabled seventh-graders with superpowers take a vacation at Coaster World. They need a break from fighting criminals. Ever since the beginning of the school year when they acquired their unusual abilities, they’ve been training and using those powers to fight crime in their town.
ittle do they know the arch-villain they recently defeated also loves coasters and is vacationing at Coaster World. Worse, the villain wants revenge. Nothing less than turning these teens to a life of crime will satisfy.
Can Jeremy, Dan, Kayla, and Aubrey withstand the villain’s attacks? Or will they become Super Villains?
You can only find out by reading the adventure ‘Villain’s Vacation’.
Amazon
