Armageddon in Retrospect
Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
Putnam, Apr 2008, $24.95
ISBN: 9780399155086

This is a terrific collection by one of the great commentators on human condition in the since WW II. As always Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. uses wry humor to rip into those warmongers who always send someone else to die. The anthology contains nonfiction like the letter he sent to his dad in Indianapolis in which the GI Grunt explains he is fortunate to escape the firebombing of Dresden in 1945 and “Wailing Shall be In All the Streets” where he discuses his POW job of burying the dead in Dresden. The short story fictions are also haunting as the title story advocates that good can never win over evil because good needs evil to exist just like the world can never be at peace for that “Great Day” would lead to war; the author makes the case that violence is in the human DNA even the very young look to fight. This anthology is a fitting final tribute by the late great author who throughout displays his droll sense of the paradox that makes up the “Guns and Butter” of life and death on planet earth.

Harriet Klausner

Dagger-Star
Elizabeth Vaughan
Berkley, Apr 2008, $7.99
ISBN: 9780425220610

With the devastating wars apparently over (see Chronicles of the Warlands trilogy), sisters Red Gloves and Bethral seek employment as there is little work available at the moment for mercenaries. They wander into the war-ravaged Palins where they stop for a respite at a demolished farm. Also there is the despondent former Baron of Athelbryght Josiah, whose people were exterminated.

However Josiah suddenly has hopes for the few survivors amongst his people when he notices the birthmark of the Chosen One on Red. He explains she is the one who will save what is left of the Palins as she is destined to sit on the empty throne. Red assumes Josiah never recovered from the war and besides even if he is right about her birthmark, she could not care less about impoverished strangers; she just wants to survive. Even when the Priestess Evelyn validates what Josiah told her, she still prefers to find her next meal not a country’s next repast; of course each time she tells Josiah that he looks hurt, which make her feel guilty as she cannot understand why she needs him to think better of her.

This is an excellent romantic fantasy as the devastated countryside makes the story line feel genuine. Red is a fascinating lead character who has no interest in being a nation’s legendary savior as she is a mercenary to the core of her bone marrow; but Josiah makes her feel guilty with his looks of disappointment and loving devotion at the same time. Readers will enjoy Elizabeth Vaughn’s superb clever return to the desolate Warlands.

Harriet Klausner

Rogue
Rachel Vincent
Mira, Apr 2008, $6.99
ISBN: 9780778325550

Their pride (actually her father the alpha) has teamed up lover-werecats Faythe Sanders and Marc Ramos as territorial enforcers. Their prime job is capturing strays who the pride does not like wandering around because that usually means trouble. However, sometimes they investigate the deaths of werecats.

They are currently working two homicide cases. First they are searching for a serial killing rogue werecat who murders tomcats as if he or she is a predatory king of the jungle; second the duo also seeks another serial killer preying on human female strippers who bear an uncanny likeness to Faythe. As the two enforcers work the Arkansas-Mississippi line and rolling on the gravel, they wonder if the two investigations have a link.

As with STRAY, Faythe remains a chip off the alpha block of her father and the sassy block of her mother as she fights strays and other rogues, but this time embraces her love for Marc. Her escapades and asides will turn readers into believers of the Vincent mythos. Fans of werewolf sagas will enjoy this entertaining paranormal investigative thriller with a chick lit bite as the Enforcers search for a serial killer jungle were and someone else with Faythe being the link.

Harriet Klausner

Rolling Thunder
John Varley
Ace, March 2008, $24.95, 352 pp.
ISBN: 9780441015634

Mars is an independent republic with colonies of its own having won the war with Earth and keeping the bubble technology for itself. The wave killed millions of people all over the land and made much of the land unusable for growing crops. It is considered hardship duty for anyone from the Martian military to be assigned earthside but Ensign Podkayne Strickland is a one woman show at the California when she is summoned home to say good bye to her ailing grandmother who is going into stasis until they find a cure for her.

Now Podkayne is a lieutenant assigned to the music, arts, and drama division based on Europa where the Crystal Mountains are a popular tourist sight. They send out very powerful radio waves but nobody knows what they mean or if there is life forms in the mountains. Podkayne is visiting the tourist attraction and she sees the crystal mountain named grumpy lift off. She goes into stasis and when she wakes up ten years have passed. Grumpy and six other mountaineers have landed on earth totally decimating the planet. Mars can’t take all the people who want to immigrate to earth, and fearful that the mountains will one day turn to Mars, Podkayne and her uncle Travis subsidize a way to avoid that possibility.

ROLLING THUNDER takes place sometime in the twenty-first century when humans have colonized the solar system. Podkayne is an interesting multi-faceted character, a singer who is in the military yet thinks like a Martian as she was born and raised there. The allure of Mars and their relationship to a slowly deteriorating earth is examined in much detail. The socio-political events are witnessed through Podkayne’s eyes and readers will empathize with the plight of earth yet like the Martians realize the people of the Red Planet can’t save everyone.

Harriet Klausner

Evermore
Lynn Viehl
Signet, Jan 2008, $7.99
ISBN 9780451222848

Almost from the moment he transformed her from human to Kyn, they have loved one another. However, Scottish vampire Laird Byrne and his loyal seneschal Jayr have hidden their love for one another from each other with each having what they believe is a good reason to conceal their feelings.

However, recently Byrne has struggled with temptation, which has led to a loss of self control and jealous rage. Fearing he will harm his beloved, he hosts a tournament in which the winner will replace him as Laird of Orlando. Meanwhile Jayr has decided enough with eternal unrequited love; she plans to seduce her master and let that lead to whatever fate she wrought. Vampires from around the realm arrive for the contest, but one of them is trying to steal the prize by assassinating the host and if necessary his beloved head of household.

This is an excellent medieval paranormal romance due to the relationship between the lead couple as they share blood, but anything more is taboo. Furthermore although they love one another, he feels guilt for converting her and she is wary of what will happen if she follows her heart. Treachery at the tournament compounds the feelings as life in Lynn Viehl’s Darkyn realm turns darker.

Evermore
Lynn Viehl
Signet, Jan 2008, $7.99
ISBN 9780451222848

Almost from the moment he transformed her from human to Kyn, they have loved one another. However, Scottish vampire Laird Byrne and his loyal seneschal Jayr have hidden their love for one another from each other with each having what they believe is a good reason to conceal their feelings.

However, recently Byrne has struggled with temptation, which has led to a loss of self control and jealous rage. Fearing he will harm his beloved, he hosts a tournament in which the winner will replace him as Laird of Orlando. Meanwhile Jayr has decided enough with eternal unrequited love; she plans to seduce her master and let that lead to whatever fate she wrought. Vampires from around the realm arrive for the contest, but one of them is trying to steal the prize by assassinating the host and if necessary his beloved head of household.

This is an excellent medieval paranormal romance due to the relationship between the lead couple as they share blood, but anything more is taboo. Furthermore although they love one another, he feels guilt for converting her and she is wary of what will happen if she follows her heart. Treachery at the tournament compounds the feelings as life in Lynn Viehl’s Darkyn realm turns darker.

Harriet Klausner

Kitty and the Silver Bullet
Carrie Vaughn
Grand Central, Jan 2008, $6.99
ISBN 9780446618755

Kitty the werewolf feels good about being a werewolf as her radio show is a success and she even has a boyfriend. More critical no one has recently tried to kill her (something she could not say through three previous books).

When her mom becomes ill, Kitty drops everything to return to her Denver home to help her. However, the Mile High City was not a safe haven for her when she lived there and had a graveyard radio show. Her former pack has not forgiven her for exposing them on the air and for leaving; no one walks out on a werewolf pack. Two vampire sects are in a cold war that is turning hot blooded with the threat of pulling in the entire paranormal population into a civil war. Kitty is caught in the middle when all she wants to do is nurse her mom back to heath.

The latest Kitty werewolf damsel in distress tale is a fun paranormal chick lit as Kitty proves you can come home to face the same trouble you left behind. Kitty being her natural made self gets caught in the middle of a cold war turning increasingly hostile amidst the divided vampires and her former pack who wants her to leave Colorado immediately. As Kitty dodges silver bullets while ripping out a few hairs in her amusing satirical way, you won’t find Cheney lose what is left of his hair to appear on her show.

Harriet Klausner

The Empath
Bonnie Vanak
Silhouette Nocturne, Dec 2007, $5.25
ISBN: 9780373617777

The Morphs and the Draicon detest one another as they differ when it comes to the third sentient species on the planet. The Morphs are shapeshifters who believe humans are beneath them on the food chain whereas the Draicon werewolves believe all life is sacred.

Draicon werewolf Nicolas Keenan learns that the Morphs threaten his soulmate, a Draicon veterinarian Dr. Maggie Sinclair, who thinks she is human. He races to Florida to keep her safe, but she rejects him as being a lunatic. Her belief systems changes when the evil shapeshifting Morphs attack her and Nicolas saves her life. As she realizes who she is and who he is to her, they team up in love to fight for their lives.

The key to this paranormal romantic suspense fantasy is the belief that the Draicon and Morph are genuine species who are in a shapeshifters’ civil war. Nicolas and Maggie are interesting lead characters whose relationship morphs (a bad action verb for this couple) from her assuming he is crazy to joining him in love and safety. Fans will appreciate Bonnie Vanak’s engaging thriller as her world is a dangerous place to live let alone fall in love.

Harriet Klausner

In the Cities of Coin and Spice
Catherynne M. Valente
Bantam, Nov 2007, $14.00
ISBN: 9780553384048

In THE NIGHT GARDEN of the sultan, the nameless female exile, whose eyelids are tattooed with stories, continues to tell tales to the heir. As the boy sits in rapture listening to the saga of seven, the seventh son of a seventh son, his family prepares the palace for his sister’s wedding.

On his seventh birthday, Seven awakens to find himself with other children, many of whom are dead in a city of garbage; the other residents are inhuman wraith like creatures, but they are not part of this tale. The foreman directs the children including Seven to an abyss under the ground where they slave at the Mint, a machine that transforms the bones of the dead children into coin. As the years pass, he and his friend Oubliette (a hybrid cow, tree and human) plan to escape their enslaved incarceration by converting the arm of Seven into a dozen coins. They succeed, but over time are separated. With his last coin he buys passage one way for one from a skeletal boatman to take him across a lake where his beloved Oubliette is imprisoned.

Perhaps the most complex fantasies around, the second of the Orphan’s Tales is much more intricately interwoven than that described above as there are so many delightful sidebars going on; yet with all that Catherynne M. Valente spins a perfect double helix. Readers who appreciate multifaceted entertaining stories will cherish IN THE CITIES OF COIN AND SPICE as well as its predecessor THE NIGHT GARDEN as these delightful renditions of Scheherazade and the Arabian Nights are incredibly creative and enjoyable.

Harriet Klausner

Slan Hunter
A.E. Van Vogt and Kevin J. Anderson
Tor, Jul 2007, $24.95
ISBN: 0765316757

Davis and Anthea Stewart go to the hospital to have their first child, but instead of joy they are shocked to learn that the offspring has the tendrils of a slan. Neither of the parents were considered Slans before the birthing; slans are killed on sight by the secret police as humans hate this telepathic, stronger and fast healing race. As Anthea seeks a safe place to hide, President Kier Grey is arrested because the chief of the secret police has found out that he is a hidden in plain sight slan. Also incarcerated are his daughter Katherine and slan rebel Jommy Cross.

The president tries to convince his human jailers that the earth is in danger from Mars because that is where the tendrilless slans have built a superior civilization so that they can use it as a springboard to conquer the planet. The tendril-less driven spaceships encounter little resistance as they invade. The president, his daughter and Jommy escape and try to negotiate a peace with the Slans of Mars, but fails as one of the leaders wants to rule earth, but needs to ethnically cleanse the earth of the normals and the slans.

Kevin Anderson using the late A.E. Van Vogt’s notes for a sequel to the classic SLAN completes the project with an exciting science fiction thriller that reads as if the grandmaster wrote the tale. The story line is fast-paced with the strong social message updated from Holocaust genocide to ethnic cleansing genocide. Feeling like a Golden Age thriller, fans will enjoy the return to the world of Van Vogt as Mr. Anderson finishes SLAN HUNTER an exciting action-packed war of the worlds with a social commentary thriller.

Harriet Klausner