Reviews and Comments

An interesting 'sequel' to the classic H.G. Wells book. Keeping to what is known at the time about the solar system and the information about the Martian invasion from the book, Baxter weaves a fascinating tale about the next Martian invasion and how it affects mankind. However, the book feels overlong: the resolution to the Martian invasion feels forced (bacteria play a small role here) and the ending hints at future problems in store for mankind.

Written after the end of the second invasion (so you know mankind survives), the story splits the tale into the viewpoints of people who are related (directly or otherwise) to the original Narrator of the Wells' tale, with the main viewpoint being a woman journalist who is in the thick of the invasion. The second Martian invasion is anticipated by the world and the British are prepared for it; or so they think.

As usual, the Martians are one step ahead and the next invasion starts with a devastating blow to the prepared defenders, followed by a swift attack that rapidly overwhelms the defences. Retreating, England is left to the Martians. The journalist, at the urging of the Narrator, returns to England to try to establish communications with the Martians. This is quickly subverted by a plan to hit them at their presumed weak spot at the heart of their compound.

This plan gets abandoned as the journalist realizes there is only one force that can stop the Martian invasion, but it has to be done fast: for the next wave of Martians now hits the rest of the Earth. In the end, the invasion is stopped. But now Earth must come to an accommodation with the Martians, and who knows what will be in store for the future.

The book does a pretty good job of extrapolating what happens to geopolitics and technology after the end of the first Martian invasion. Britain becomes militarized and co-operates with Germany, producing weapons based on the tools and materials the Martians leave behind while America remains isolated from the rest of the world. The Martians' devastating heat ray is used to good effect and the view of England under the heel of the Martians is grim, yet plausible knowing what we know about Martian biology and how they would treat mankind.

All that grimness is probably what pulls this book down. Despite valiant attempts by British, European and American forces, there is not really much hope of defeating the Martians, apart from disabling a few war machines. That probably is what makes the way the journalist uses to end the war somewhat 'hand wavy' and depend upon unsaid assumptions. And as the world picks up the pieces, the issue with the Martians is not over; for they are still around and may have other plans.

Still, an interesting book that is probably worthy to be called a sequel to Wells' book.

An anthology of stories by various writers released by the EFF. The quality and themes vary a lot, but there are a few stories that stand out for being thoughtful looks at what a future with less freedom could be like. Stories I liked include those by Paolo Bacigalupi, Cory Doctorow, Ramez Naam, Hannu Rajaniemi and a long, sex charged story by Carolyn Jewel.

• “Be Seeing You” by Madeline Ashby: in an enclave, a woman who is tasked with being a bodyguard needs to be fitted out with sensors that reveal her whereabouts. But when she tries to help a friend who is in trouble, being caught in a situation where people can't locate her will bring dangers.

• “I’ve Got The Music In Me” by Charlie Jane Anders: people are being punished for playing songs without paying the artist: even if the song is just one that plays in your head.

• “The Gambler” by Paolo Bacigalupi: when a coup overtakes Laos, and it drops off the internet, the refugees do what they can to keep in touch. In this story, a journalist from Laos who prefers to write environmental stories that few people read and is in danger of losing his job is given the chance to get eyeballs by interviewing a well-known Laotian. But will he use it to keep his job or will he keep writing what he wants, in an echo of his dissident father, still caught in Laos?

• “Slipping” by Lauren Beukes: set in a future where exoskeletons and bio enhancements are up for bidding, the story follows a girl from Africa who loses her legs in a running accident but is now given the chance to show off her abilities. But is it her running abilities on show here, or is she just a 'product' showing off her enhancements to the highest bidder?

• “The Smartest Mob” by David Brin: an excerpt from his novel, Existence, it follows a journalist who, while travelling on a floating dirigible, gets a chance to investigate a possible terrorist plot on it. But she will need the help of a networked smart-mob forming around her to help her investigate it.

• “Business as Usual” by Pat Cadigan: people may be told to do or not do certain things that may be bad for their health. But what if this is taken further and home appliances are the ones now telling you to stay healthy; and reinforcing it by monitoring your food intake (and output).

• “Scroogled” by Cory Doctorow: when Google run the Immigration services and gets to set what ads were displayed for your Google searches, Google Mail, etc. you better be careful of what you search for as one woman finds out. Yet, the story shows how easy it can be for people to rationalize their decisions, especially after a friend goes on the run for helping her to sanitize her search items.

• “Nanolaw with Daughter” by Paul Ford: in a future where terms and conditions are rampant, and you will get sued for not strictly following it, a man helps his daughter to navigate through the letters of demand for payment.

• “Changes” by Neil Gaiman: a story about a future when the cure for cancer can also do other changes on a person, leading to all kinds of social and cultural upheavals.

• “The Light Brigade” by Kameron Hurley: on a devastated Earth, one soldier in a war against aliens finds out that what he has been told about the war isn't the truth; and that he has the power to not only end (or start) the war, but to also save numerous lives.

• “Declaration” by James Patrick Kelly: a group of students working together are tasked to put together a declaration of independence and to spread its message. But the message and its intent has deeper meanings to some students, for in a world where people can be physically or virtually present, some want to be independent of their physical selves.

• “Water” by Ramez Naam: in the future, access to implants comes with a price: ads that implore you to buy their product, unless you can pay for ad-free access. The story follows what happens when a malware causing product rejection is introduced into one company's water product, leading to a world-wide free-for-all as other companies vie to win over that company's customers (including its now unemployed salespeople).

• “Unclaimed” by Annalee Newitz: a story that starts out interesting but has an unsatisfactory ending. A private investigator is asked to search for an author who has hidden herself from the world. The search would end when the investigator finds the author in an altered state, and became murderous when the author discovers what the media companies have done with her books about altered biological beings. But what I find hard to accept is that the author would not know what has happened to her books (made into games, movies, etc.) after all those years, despite having ready and quick access to the world, as made clear near the ending.

• “His Master’s Voice” by Hannu Rajaniemi: a dog and a cat gain intelligence in the hands of a master. But their world comes tumbling down when the master creates an illegal copy of himself and is sent to prison for his troubles. Missing their master, the cat and dog hatch a plan to rescue him.

• “Hive Mind Man” by Rudy Rucker and Eileen Gunn: a man who likes to hook into social networks and other online activities gets more than he bargains for when a deal to become even more connection for commercial purposes gets him really connected with the world.

• “Stompin’ at the Savoy” by Lewis Shiner: a rather dated piece about a cashier who suddenly ends up with a list of things "the government doesn't want the people to know". That leads to a chase and refuge among mutants who want to bring the government down.

• “The Brain Dump” by Bruce Sterling: a day in the life of a hacking community in Eastern Europe.

• “RE: RE: RE: RE: RE: MICROWAVE IN THE BREAK ROOM DOING WEIRD THINGS TO FABRIC OF SPACE-TIME” by Charles Yu: what happens when people don't follow email instructions and leave things in the microwave oven that can open time warps.

• “Dance Dance Revolution” by Charlie Human: Soldiers dance to control their weapons. Okay.

• “OMG GTFO” by S.L. Grey: written as a series of snippets, including social media post and comments about people suddenly speaking in tongues and relaying information from dead people who are in hell. It initially causes a drop in crime and misdemeanours and people try to repent, but then a further set of dead people in hell make themselves known, leading to a backlash from the still living.

• “Free Fall” by Carolyn Jewel: a long, interesting story about a world where witches, warlocks, mages and demons live among us. In this world is one witch who is aware of her powers but is barely able to contain them as she is untrained. Add to this mix a mage who may be physically and magically abusing her. She wants out of the relationship and calls on the help of the only man she trusts, who turns out to be a very horny (in the sexual sense) demon. The mage turns out to have been abusing magical beings to enhance his powers and now wants them dead. Before the climax of the story, there is a long section on sex between the demon and witch which probably is necessary to highlight their relationship, so be prepared for a lengthy digression.

A fascinating book to read to learn about how life on earth is related to each other for one simple reason: we are all descended from one common ancestor. Changes may have occurred as all life on Earth branched out from that common ancestor, but you can still trace that common lineage between us all; even between humans and fish.

Shubin is best known for discovering Tikta`alik, but he uses his other experiences (searching for other fossils, teaching human anatomy, running a lab that explores both palaeontology and genetics) to help guide the reader as he shows the various ways we are connected to various life forms on Earth: to fish via our hands and arms, to amphibians via the way our heads and faces developed, to reptiles via the way reptile jaw bones became parts of our inner ear and to mammals via the way our teeth develop.

He sums it up by showing that evolution can only work with what it has, explaining why some parts of our body seems to have developed in a haphazard way. The obvious answer is because our original body plan started out as fish and as we developed, parts of us get moved about, leading to all sorts of strange routes taken by our body parts as they moved from the original fish-related positions to where they are now.

He also shows that some of the problems that ails us are due to this fish to human way to development. Probably the most unexpected is the reason we hiccup; it was a response originally required by tadpoles to help breathing, but is now a relic response that causes hiccups.

It is such insights and others in the book that make you understand just how we are all connected to one another and to all life on earth. And you will definitely learn to appreciate your inner fish.

An interesting book about the (first) adventure of Curt Newton (who takes on the name Captain Future). Raised on the moon by a self-aware android, robot and a brain encased in a drone, he learns who murdered his parents and sets out to avenge them. But as he is about to get his act of revenge, he gets pulled into a plot to assassinate the President of the Solar System. And now he has a new mission: to discover who is behind the assassination attempt.

Using characters from the Edmond Hamilton version of Captain Future, while updating the people, technology and the physical aspects of the Solar System, Steele puts together a pretty good story. Some background information is dumped on to the reader but otherwise, the story flows pretty smoothly, starting with how the Newtons get to the moon to the climactic finale on Mars, where Curt has to make some pretty big sacrifices to save his life and those of his companions from the clutches of the Magician of Mars, Ul Quorn.

There are enough left-over elements by the end to make up more stories about Captain Future. We'll just have to see if this is a one-off or whether Steele plans to write more stores about the updated version of Captain Future.

An amazing book with fabulous images of Saturn, its moons and its surroundings as taken by now departed Cassini space probe.

What makes this book outstanding are not just its images, but the descriptions that come with it. You'll discover details on what you are seeing and how Cassini took the image. This is important, as Cassini sends back the images as a stream of data. The scientists who receive the data have a responsibility to explain how the data should be interpreted as an image, and to explain to the viewers just what they are seeing.

This is much better than just seeing an image by itself with no explanation; which can lead to false interpretations as to what is being seen.

This book is a good resource to use if you've seen the images of the Saturn system as imaged by Cassini and want to learn more about just what you're seeing. The book also serves as a wonderful legacy for Cassini which, after it's many years in space, has been retired by being sent into Saturn, to protect the environment of the many moons of Saturn from contamination from Earth via Cassini.

When David Attenborough was just starting on his career at the BBC, he presented an unusual request to the broadcaster: to go on expeditions for the London Zoo to collect animals and film themselves there, wandering about and catching animals. This book is a collection of three of those Zoo Quests: to Guyana, Komodo Island and Paraguay. Written by him and updated with a new introduction, the book serves as an excellent travelogue and a snapshot of the countries at those time.

In each country he visits as part of the Zoo Quest, he had a particular set of animals he wishes to collect; but he also collects other animals as part of the quests. Along the way, he meets a colourful host of characters who either help or hinder his quest. Attenborough also describes the country as he travels, giving the reader a feel of how the various countries were in those days before cheap air flights and instant communication have made travelling so much easier.

Of course, as Attenborough notes in the introduction, Zoo Quest would never have been done now; collecting animals is now frowned upon and the London Zoo now acts as more of a way to preserve wild animals that may be close to extinction.

For those who enjoy watching and reading about David Attenborough, this is a good book to read. It fills in a lot of the details about the Zoo Quests left out in his biography and other books, and documentaries, about that period of time. The book also comes with a small selection of black-and-white and colour prints showing the various people and environments he encountered in those three Zoo Quests.

An above average issue, with a ghostly theme running through it, with various ghosts in various forms featured in some of the stories. Kate Wilhelm's ghost story is the strongest, with a test of wills between ghosts and the living. Marc Laidlaw's story is another good one, while the tale by J. R. Dawson features a metaphorical ghost from the future, or perhaps the past, depending on your time point of view.

• "Attachments" by Kate Wilhelm: an interesting story about ghosts who are cursed to be attached to an abandoned castle for all eternity. But two of the ghosts manage to attach themselves to a girl who wanders into the castle, setting off a chain of events involving apparent violent revenge by one of the ghosts against the girl he loves, and a hunt for gold by the other ghost to help free all the other ghosts trapped by the castle. But then the girl comes up with an alternative suggestion to free the ghosts which, perhaps also helps free herself from her own internal ghost of a relationship.

• "Carbo" by Nick Wolven: another story with ghost-like attributes. Here, an AI powered car nicknamed 'Carbo' has picked up the habit of constantly showing porn, taking inappropriate shots of women and taking sex-related routes for its driver. But how much of its behaviour is really due to the driver's own porn habit, and how much to illegally installed 'software enhancements' and malware is left as an exercise to the reader. Getting rid of the behaviour would take a very involved conversation with the driver's mother and intensive car hacking.

• "Big Girl" by Meg Elison: a fantasy tale about a girl who is suddenly very big and the problems it causes to both the nearby city and to herself personally, as told via voyeuristic social media posts about her nakedness. It gets too much, and she leaves, only to return when she starts to shrink again. But her problems aren't over.

• "Stillborne" by Marc Laidlaw: another interesting tale of Gorlen Vizenfirthe and the gargoyle Spar. In this story, partially told in flashback, we discover the circumstances by which Gorlen's and Spar's hands have been magically switched, and their ongoing quest to find the sorcerer who did it, so they can switch them back. The main story involves a journey towards the 'philosopher moths' which can grant mental insight or physical healing to those who imbue a certain liquid, perhaps aiding them in the quest. Caught up in it is the girl which was involved with Gorlen at the time of the hand switching and whom they encounter again during the journey. But when the depleted moths finally fly, the results may not be what the people making the journey expect and may lead the trio to reconsider their future path.

• "By the Red Giant's Light" by Larry Niven: a short piece of the far future when the sun is turning into a red giant and gradually swallowing the inner planets. Set on Pluto, it sees an inhabitant struggling to divert an incoming object (a comet) from Pluto: if only it can convince a robot with the right equipment to help.

• "Marley and Marley" by J. R. Dawson: an interesting tale of a time loop when an older self is sent back in time to take care of her younger self. The youngster resents her older self, especially when she (the older one) refuses to divulge what happens in the future. Question is, should she (the younger one) try to alter her future, and can the future be altered?

• "Water God's Dog" by R. S. Benedict: in a land that worships a god that provides water, an old priest is consumed by the god's desire for a certain young boy. After locating the boy, they proceed into the heart of the mountain where the god lives and see his water based gifts. But when the god's desire is satiated, what is the priest to do?

• "Racing the Rings of Saturn" by Ingrid Garcia: a fascinating story about a race around the rings of Saturn, tied in with politics as rebellious settlements around Saturn (and Jupiter) vie with authoritarian regimes for control and freedom.

• "Whatever Comes After Calcutta" by David Erik Nelson: (Calcutta here refers to Calcutta, Ohio) A man is nearly killed when he stumbles into an affair his wife was having. Chasing after her and her lover, he runs into an apparent lynching of a witch and rescues the woman. But all is not as it seems as the woman starts to have an influence on him as he continues the hunt for his wife.

A below average issue of Interzone, containing eerie tales not quite to my taste. The ones that I found most interesting are by Laura Mauro and the 2017 James White Award Winner story by Stewart Horn.

• "Looking for Laika" by Laura Mauro: a story about a kid living near a beach with his grandparents and younger sister who has a paranoid fear of nuclear war. He fights the fear by keeping to a routine while keeping his sister occupied with a story of the Soviet space dog, Laika, exploring the universe to find a new place to live. Things come to a head when his sister finds a strange dog tag and a tragic event occurs in London.

• "After the Titans" by Rachael Cupp: in a strange time when titan roam the earth, a girl makes an agreement with a titan to heal her injured brother. But it may force her to sacrifice the object of her desires.

• "Fully Automated Nostalgia Capitalism" by Dan Grace: in a future where nostalgia for things past is regulated, a couple tries to escape their regulated lives.

• "The Big So-So" by Erica L. Satifka: in a future, humanity has been divided into those who pass a 'test' via a pleasurable chemical and are accepted by aliens into 'Paradise' and those who do not. Naturally, civilization has broken down as people not accepted give up hope. But two people want to change things: one by stealing the chemical, and the other by raising civilization again. Only time will tell who succeeds.

• "The Garden of Eating" by R. Boyczuk: a tale of a boy in a brutal post-war like future, looking for food. He is warned by a mysterious guide who intones UN-like 'resolutions' against working with a woman who apparently represents America.

• "The Morrigan" by Stewart Horn: a tale of gang violence as told by one of the gang members in a town when a mysterious girl appears who offers weapons of violence and slowly begins to incite the gang members to take up arms against other gangs. When he survives the violence that ensues, he sets off to hunt down the girl; but is it to bring her to justice or to join her?

A better than average issue with some fascinating tales by Lisa Mason, Matthew Hughes and J. D. Moyer. Gardner Dozois's story was disappointing because I expected more from the noted former editor of Asimov's Science Fiction. And Dale Bailey's tale of the Victorian Era with a horrifying ritual added was a fascinating read.

• "Widdam" by Vandana Singh: a story of a future where climate change is making parts of the planet hard to live. AI powered 'beasts' roam about digging for resources; if they aren't going rogue. The story, which feels like a fragment of a larger one, revolves around a journalist digging into the background of the creator of the AI beasts.

• "Aurelia" by Lisa Mason: a tale of a lawyer who becomes attracted to his client who asks him to settle some real-estate matters for her; so attracted that he then marries her. Later on, her strange behaviour begins to bother him; behaviour like not eating for days, then gorging herself, or preventing him from seeing her in her mouldy art room on certain days. And it may be tied to strange murders occurring with the victim's blood totally drained. Yes, it sounds like another one of 'those tales' but this one has an interesting and fascinating difference.

• "Neanderthals" by Gardner Dozois: a short piece about two warring groups over time control, which has caused Neanderthals to pop up in our timeline and one person who wants to get rid of them again. A rather 'run-of-the-mill' story coming from a noted writer of Dozois's calibre.

• "Jewel of the Heart" by Matthew Hughes: next in a series of stories on the assistant to a sorcerer. After he collected a powerful helm for the sorcerer (in a previous tale), he is called upon by the helm, who is an intelligent being, for a task: to find a missing part of the helm which hidden away after his creation. The task would require the assistant to call upon all his instincts and wits as he untangles the story he lands in, complete with a giant, murdering beings and a search for a lock and key that all revolves around the number three. Those who are used to playing computer games might recognize a use of that number in relation to computer games.

• "A List of Forty-Nine Lies" by Steven Fisher: a short flash fiction in which a saboteur attempts to start a revolution; but only if he can continue to lie to avoid detection.

• "An Equation of State" by Robert Reed: alien entities enter the Solar System and prepares for a battle with unstated alien enemies. But when the enemy doesn't appear, an alien diplomat gets permission to explore the Earth to see what humans are capable of. What the diplomat sees during its exploration, and does on Earth, would have an effect on the development of humanity and on the fate of the alien entities when they eventually descent on Earth to retrieve him.

• "Galatea in Utopia" by Nick Wolven: in a future where body shapes and outward sexual appearance can be changed at will, one 'guy' (XY chromosomes) takes on the appearance of a sexually attractive girl and at a bar bumps into the unexpected: a man who, due to his genetic makeup and allergies, is unable to change his appearance. Sparks fly and they become sexual partners. But then things go sour and unusual when he learns that the unchanging partner has been involved into relationships with other people and not in a good way.

• "Plumage from Pegasus: Toy Sorry" by Paul Di Filippo: a fun, short piece about a future when tiny narrators, recreated from the image and personalities of the authors, are created to give life to new multimedia books. But what happens when the narrators are inevitably stored away and forgotten by their readers?

• "The Equationist" by J. D. Moyer: a fascinating piece on the life of a man who, from young, sees the lives of the people around his as a series of curves and equations. As he grows up and progresses mathematically, he begins to see more mathematical patterns and attempts to change the lives of the people around him by 'changing' their equations. But in the end, it is only by changing his own equation of life will he find happiness.

• "A Feather in Her Cap" by Mary Robinette Kowal: a short, interesting story that a lady who makes hats who moonlight as an assassin in secret. But after her latest kill, she is denied payment by the person who hired her and who also hints that he knows her identity. She plots to get her payment and revenge with the help of a master thief. But the interesting part of the story will turn out to be her motive for being a killer-for-hire.

• "The Donner Party" by Dale Bailey: a deliciously horrifying (pun intended) tale set in Victorian times that involves a yearly ritual dinner of human meat. One up-and-rising lady is invited to dinner and gets accepted into 'higher' society. Then, she makes a terrible social mistake and is made an outcast. When after some struggles she is re-accepted with some backroom negotiations, the price of re-acceptance becomes known, making the reader think about just what people are willing to do for social acceptance.