Wild Thing
Maggie Shayne, Marjorie M. Liu, Alyssa Day & Meljean Brooks
Berkley, May 2007, $14.00
ISBN: 0425215164

“Animal Magnetism” by Maggie Shayne. Veterinarian Macy McNamara can talk with the animals. When Detective Jay Harris brings in Cassie the dog, Macy acts like a pit bull towards the cop, but is gentle and caring towards the canine. As she works on the wounded animal, she learns from the dog’s mouth that Cassie was an eye witness to a rape and was shot by the assailant when she tried to intervene. Macy is not sure what to tell Jay, but she finds herself attracted to him.

“Paradise” by Meljean Brooks. In the Northwest United States vampire Lucas Marsden meets Angelic Guardian Selah with each attracted to one another though their species would never condone a relationship between them. However, attraction aside, this unlikely pair team up to battle demons threatening humans.

“Hunter Kiss” by Marjorie M. Liu. While on a quest, demon “zombie” hunter Maxine Kiss meets former priest Grant Cooperon when his human aura stands out amidst their dark aura; she saves his life but takes two bullets doing so yet does not die. They team up as the demons are increasingly coming across the divide.

“Wild Hearts in Atlantis” by Alyssa Day. In Atlantis as part of forging alliances in the war against the vampires, Poseidon’s warrior Bastien is sent to negotiate a treaty with the shapeshifters as the big man once saved the life of one of them Kat. He can remember how she shook his world and still does.

These are four excellent paranormal romances starring strong lead couples in realms that seem real in spite of the paranormal environs and the novella format.

Harriet Klausner

Divergence
Tony Ballantyne
Bantam, May 2007, $6.99
ISBN: 055358930X

Two centuries of rule by the seemingly all seeing Watcher has kept earth somewhat peaceful; however by 2242 one of the AI creators of the Watcher Chris decides that the AI is going too far with its plan to selectively alter the species into what it believes humanity’s image must be as the alteration to evolution would make mankind no longer human. Chris anticipated losing the battles, but has an ace in the hole, Dark Seeds nurtured at the edge of the galaxy.

A decade later, Judy is a passenger on a space trading ship when a catastrophe occurs. However, miraculously machines from DIANA Corporation rescue the humans and transport them to safety. Everyone that is except Judy, whose DNA is shockingly non-human. The DIANA “agents” insist the company owns this “Dark Seed” and must take her back to their headquarters on earth as her purpose for living is killing the Watcher though she remains unaware that she is the chosen one.

Like REPERCUSSION and CAPACITY, DIVERGENCE occurs in the same dark and bleak future galaxy in which AIs control human destiny and the god-like Watcher controls the AIs. The story line is a fast-paced mystery science fiction with Judy, who believed she was human is now learning who she is and why she was created. Though to better understand motives especially with how earth got to this forlorn mid twenty-third century, it pays to read the previous two thrillers although DIVERGENCE can stand alone.

Harriet Klausner

Veil of Darkness
Greg Park
Bladestar Publishing, May 2007, $26.95
ISBN: 0978793188

The demon god Maeon feels the time is right for his annexation of humanity into his devilish realm as the veil between life and death has thinned. The malevolent deity senses that the Earthsoul spirit is diminishing rapidly with no Gifted champion to reverse its deathly trend.

However, Maeon ignores warning signs of the meek shall inherit the earth so his earthly agents the Hand of the Dark initially fails to detect young Jase Farimor living on a farm with his mother near the tiny town of Kindel’s Grove. At the same time that the lad begins to believe he is Gifted with Ta’shaen magic, Dreadlord Throy Shadan has crossed the veil with an army of the dead Darklings enhanced by the living Shizu warriors. Jase mentored by mage Gideon Dymas is the last hope to save Earthsoul, but must defeat the invincible Dreadlord as the first impossible cleansing step; however to do so he must use the Blood Orb that could take him to the dark side.

This coming of age opening epic fantasy is a terrific tale that fans will enjoy. The Park universe is filled with a wonderful assortment of interesting characters, dead and living and good and bad. This make for a wild time as Jase must defeat the undefeatable if he is to save his world. Jase is the key to the first act of the Earthsoul Prophecies as he learns to employ magic on the job as time has run out. Readers will enjoy this Tolkien like saga and look forward to the next escapade on an orb still counting down the end.

Harriet Klausner

Bright of the Sky
Kay Kenyon
PYR, Apr 2007, $25.00
ISBN 1591025419

During a simple interstellar space trip like the zillion he has done before, pilot Titus Quinn, his wife Johanna Arlis and their nine-year-old daughter Sydney run into trouble in which the trio lands in a different parallel universe, the Entire. Titus returns to the earth he knows, but his two beloved females remain behind in the Entire. Though no one can explain how much he has seemed to have aged, nobody believes his tale filled with memory lapses as everyone assumes his women are dead. Titus vows to return to the Entire to rescue his wife and daughter.

With the help of the not altruistic Corporation, who seeks new space travel technology. They can afford the price of a defrocked pilot and a ship soTitus returns to the Entire on his quest to find and rescue Johanna and Sydney. On this parallel plain, the Tarig, who rule the realm anticipate his heroic efforts though a decade has passed since he crashed here. With the help of Anzi of the Chalin people, Titus begins in earnest his mission starting with an effort to liberate an enslaved Sydney even as he knows he will have to serendipitously infiltrate the Ascendancy where the Tarig power and he believes his family’s salvation reside. He remains ignorant for now but soon will know the dilemma of choosing between loved ones and universes that await him. His choices of ten years ago come home to roost.

This is an exhilarating action-packed science fiction thriller that through mostly the actions of the desperate hero enables the audience to believe in the parallel universe that sort of runs through ours. The story line never slows down yet is filled with twists and turns that will shock readers yet seem plausible. Fans of tense sci fi thrillers with moral considerations will appreciate this deep tale of redemption but at a high cost.

Harriet Klausner

Saturn Returns
Sean Williams
Ace, May 2007, $7.99, 336 pp.
ISBN 0441014933

In the very distant future, a person wakes up on a ship with no memory and his rescuer the Jinc, a gestalt mind with its people all part of that mind. They find him floating in space before he was vaporized by nukes and they have put him back together. One of the only mistakes is they made him a woman when Imre Bergamasc was always a man. When he fails to remember information they want from him, they want to absorb in their gestalt. A mysterious voice abets his escape by opening up a ship closed tothe jinc.

Imre learns that the Continuum is destroyed, the worlds no longer looped together. He finds that the next step in humanity’s evolution is no more and communicating on the Line is gone. The Slow Wave was responsible for all this yet nobody know if it was a man made weapon. Imre meets up with his former members of the corps and they soon start working together. It seems there is a connection between the Slow Wave and Imre’s murder and finding it will tell them what direction their lives should take if they are able to gather reliable information without getting killed by their enemies.

Sean Williams entertains his readers with a bleak and dark future of which the tragedy is that the galaxy was once golden. Imre is the star, focus and the man with the answer although between his amnesia and the fact that he is a Singleton makes it difficult to put the pieces of his memory back together. Mates of the hero are spread throughout the universe slowly but find themselves reaching out to the members of the Corp from clues they left behind. This is space opera at its very best with its exciting scenes and the descriptions of a puzzle that destroyed the structure of the known universe. Readers will like Imre, a combination of a hard and vulnerable person who needs to find out what he has done to change the known universe.

Harriet Klausner

The Spirit Stones
Katherine Kerr
Daw, May 2007, $24.95, 464 pp.
ISBN: 0756404339

Some of the Horsekin have civilized themselves and settled in cities but that hasn’t abated their thirst for war. They need more lands for their heavy horses to have more pastures and they believe their goddess wants them to have it. The dwarves, the elves and the humans of Deverry are planning to attack Zakh Grel, the fortress they built to stage their battles from. As the men make ready to go to battle, people from 983, over one hundred years ago who have been reincarnated in the present all have a role to play.

Nevyn the herbmaster was a powerful wielder of Dweomer (magic) found the woman he and then her lost to a magic wielder’s poor judgment. In the present he is known as Neb a scribe married to the Lady Bronna once known as Morwen. Both possess Dweomer and are ready to defend the borders. Friends and enemies from 983 are all alive in the present and have a role to play in the upcoming war. In the past Gwairyc was a lord who looked down on commoners but in the present he had to earn his lordship and is a great leader of men. Lez Maj, an outlaw in the present was a pedophile in another past incarnation while Mella, now Sidro, an ex-priestess who is Laz’s lover. Maj’s lover is fascinated by the black and obsidian pyramid made with magic in 983. As the forces of good and evil begin to march, nobody knows what the outcome will be, not even the seers.

The latest Deverry novel contains an epic high fantasy plot that is absolutely spellbinding. The tale is divided into two parts, 983 and the present and the various players who have reincarnated in the present are believable characters taking their personalities from one era and transforming them into something else in this incarnation. Filled with wondrous creatures like talking dragons who are allied against the Horsekin speaking animals and heroes who will fight and die for a cause they believe is just, THE SPIRIT STONES is a wonderful and exciting tale.

Harriet Klausner

The Twilight Lord
Bertrice Small
HQN, May 2007, $6.99
ISBN: 0373772033

Magnus Hauk’s wife Lara learns that war is imminent between her homeland Hetar and the land she and her husband rules over Terah. She feels divided loyalties and would like to prevent the hostilities, but has no idea how to achieve her lofty goal.

However, she has no time to act because the Twilight Lord Kol kidnaps her as he believes she is the faerie queen, who will give birth to his replacement. Lara suffers from amnesia and becomes Kol’s lover; ultimately she gives birth to twin boys. When she recalls who she is she returns to her husband Magnus in order to prevent war from breaking out between the kingdoms for she knows the long term price of the subsequent chaos means the end of life as she knows it.

The third World of Hetar fantasy (see LARA and A DISTANT TOMORROW) is a strong tale that makes the fairie queen realm seem plausible even with magic being the physics of that plane. Lara is a fascinating protagonist who remains fresh as she as destiny’s darling (or victim) caught in a tug of war. Fans will enjoy her latest sexual frolics and her actions to stay alive.

Harriet Klausner

The Ninth Talisman
Lawrence Watt Evans
Tor, May 2007, $25.95, 300 pp.
ISBN 0765310279

After the Swordsman killed the Dark Lord of the Galbook Hlls, a Wizard Lord gone rogue, he returned to his small community of Mad Oak and became part of the farming community. He is one of eight Chosen, men and women who are granted special magical powers so that a Wizard Lord can be taken down if he doesn’t rule benevolently over all the people of Barokan. The new Wizard Lord is having roads built throughout the country connecting towns and cities and thus making it easier for trade goods to be transported all over the empire.

Swordsman travels to Winterhome to see the new Lord Wizard and is shocked to find a former Chosen, a traitor, is one of the chief advisors is the new Wizard Lord Artil. Artil tells him that the time for magic has passed and that people usingnon-magical skills will bring peace and prosperity to the land. While Swordsman thinks about this restructuring, Arti’s soldiers find wizards and interrogate them about THE NINTH TALISMAN before killing them when he doesn’t get the answers he wants. The eight champions meet to decide what to do about Artil and his plans and wonder if he may have gone to the dark side.

This is second book in the Annals of the Chosen and one doesn’t have to read the prequel THE WIZARD LORD to understand THE NINTH TALISMAN. The Swordsman is patient and willing to observe what the Wizard Lord is all about and that makes this book more of a character study than an action packed fantasy. The ending is very ambiguous so there is at least another book to the series. Readers will enjoy this novel so much they will recommend it to their friends who like sword and sorcery fantasy.

Harriet Klausner

At the Edge
Cait London
Avon, May 2007, $5.99
ISBN: 0061140503

Renowned psychic Greer Aisling has used her gift to help police departments find missing people and solve homicide cases. However, she also kept her beloved triplets (Claire, Tempest, and Leona) out of the limelight in spite of the paparazzi efforts to take pictures of them and scientists and behaviorists wanting to study the trio. However, while Greer worked a case with the Canadian police, agents of the Blair Institute for Parapsychology abducted the then ten years old triplets from their home. For two days they conducted all types of tests until Greer came back and recovered her children. Law suits followed, but only time will tell how much psychological damage the Institute caused in the name of science.

Twenty-two years later, in order to have some privacy, the four women keep their distance because they are mentally connected. Especially needing space is the empath Claire, who has moved to open Big Sky of Montana to find peace. However when her elderly neighbor dies, the lady’s nephew Neil Olafson moves in and drives Claire to distraction as she is attracted to him. She agrees to help Neil find his abducted son Sammy, snatched almost eight years ago when the child was six months old. When someone assaults Claire, Neil comes to rescue the strange recluse with a power he does not understand; the power of love.

This is the charming first of a trilogy of romantic fantasy tales starring the Aisling triplets. Claire is a terrific character as her need to help others hurts her since she can be mentally overloaded with everyone else’s problems (sort of an adult version of the X-Men’s Rogue). Neil is a skeptic who wonders if he fell in love with a nut case until he begins to see her capabilities. Fans will be charmed by Cait London’s entertaining story of love between the psychic and the skeptic with two more tales to come.

Harriet Klausner

Expiration Date
Tim Powers
Orb (Tor), Mar 2007, $15.95
ISBN: 0765317524

Los Angeles is a city filled with beings not pumping gas or parking cars. Instead L.A. is a ghost town loaded with otherworldly spirits, some souls with a foot in the grave and the other on the freeway, and humans seeking to extend their LAST CALL on earth. Life and after life are competitors to obtain immortality.

In this weird 1990s Los Angeles, eleven years old Koot Parganas is raised by parents who worship dead Mahatmas and has been warned not to touch certain artifacts. However, the preadolescent ignores his parental warning to stay away from sacred items and breaks the bust of Dante. Inside is a glass vial that contains the preserved ghost of Thomas Alva Edison; Koot steals the container and the spirit inside. However, ghosthunters and ghost addicts can “see” the bright lit spirit of the late inventor. They want it and are inspired because for no perspiration on their part they can gain incredible power. Sensing dangerous Hurricane Weather in which he is the eye of the storm, Koot flees with mortals, semi paranormals, and a canine chasing after him.

This is an exciting paranormal thriller that grips the audience once Koot disobeys his parents and never slows down as he finds many of the residents (not all living) want what he holds. The story line is fast-paced with many eccentric characters but Koot owns the plot. Readers will appreciate his L.A. “joy ride”.

Harriet Klausner