Galactic Courier
A Bertram Chandler
Baen, Dec 6 2011, $12.00
ISBN: 9781451637632

“Star Courier.” Former Federation Survey Service Commander John Grimes establishes the Far Traveler Couriers. As owner and solo operator he makes deliveries from his home base of Tiralbin to Boggarty on board his Little Sister vessel until the Shaara capture him and display him as a low level beast.

“To Keep the Ship.” Little Sister remains under arrest to be auctioned to pay Grimes’ fines on Pangst for taking native animals to the New Syrtis Zoo. Grimes needs money so he takes the tedious job on the Bronson Star. However, when he rescues Susie and her friends; they reciprocate by taking over the cruiser and threatening to kill him unless he cooperates.

“Matilda’s Stepchildren.” On the Bronson Star, Grimes transport muckraker Fenella Pruin so that she can do a story on the sex industry of Venusberg. The pair mutually detest one another though the boring voyage is made fun by fighting for top potion. Grimes ends up in the midst of a clean-up operation and meets Underpeople Shirl & Darleen

“Star Loot.” After Little Sister is sold, Grimes buys Epsilon Scorpii; which he rechristens as Sister Sue. He joins the El Doradan Navy as a privateer.

The third exciting John Grimes omnibus saga (see To The Galactic Rim and First Command) reprints his adventures as a Galactic Courier. There is somewhat a sameness in tone as Grimes meets females fatales who “help” him step into the crosshairs of dangerous rogues. The best two tales are the fresh Star Courier in which Grimes starts his new career and Star Loot in which much of what is going on is deftly tied together with an exciting climax. Fans of Grimes will relish his time as a courier.

Harriet Klausner

Ghoul Interrupted
Victoria Laurie
Obsidian, Jan 3 2012, $7.99
ISBN: 9780451235503

Ghoul Getters TV reality show investigator M.J. Holliday, her lover Heath Whitefeather whose late grandfather Sam is her spirit guide, and her BFF Gilley Gillespie are on ghost busting tour. The trio is on their way to Dunkirk when the spirit of Holliday’s mom warns her that she will soon be on the most dangerous hunt of her perilous career. Sam informs her that a horrific evil attacks the Pueblo and if not stopped will kill all Whitefeather kin just like what happened to Heath’s late uncle.

Heath receives the call his uncle is dead. He informs M.J. he must go to the Zanto Pueblo in New Mexico. M.J. and Gilley accompany him. They learn that a demon, freed from a long incarceration, is causing deadly havoc. No one believes the threesome’s assertion even after a humongous claw mark is found embedded in a tree. The dragon-shaped demon continues its killing spree while the trio risks their lives to end the murders even though most of the tribe including the elders thinks they are loco.

The latest Ghost Hunter mystery (see What’s A Ghoul to Do?) is a fantastic paranormal serial killer thriller as the group battle against a demon of Native American mythos. Heath fears for his kin (and himself) while Gilley brings eccentricity, humor and loyalty as he supports her Georgia childhood friend in dark deadly scenarios; this time with no local help. However, once again M.J. is the star who rushes in where the brave dare not enter as she takes the hill first and thinks afterward how crazy her actions were. Victoria Laurie is one of the best at creating exciting supernatural mysteries.

Harriet Klausner

The Guardian
Sherrilyn Kenyon
St. Martin’s, Nov 1 2011, $7.99
ISBN: 9780312550059

With some Egyptian God in his blood, Seth the Guardian has never lived the life of a deity as he has spent millennia being betrayed as an exile. Over the past several thousand years he has been a tortured slave to the god Noir who assigns him to use any means necessary to obtain from the incarcerated Dream Hunter Solin where the key to Mt Olympus is hidden. To ensure a successful expedited mission is accomplished, Noir the impatient god threatens Seth and others.

Hybrid Dream-Hunter Kattagarian Lydia enters the Nether Realm to rescue her father Solin. Instead the Nether Realm’s most terrifying Guardian Seth captures her. Expecting nightmarish torture from this vicious miscreant, she is stunned to find instead a tortured soul who has never been loved and expects Lydia to betray him if he displays his attraction to her.

The Guardian is a strong Dream-Hunter romantic fantasy that has ties to the rest of the vast Kenyon mythos. Filled with action and pathos, readers will root for Lydia as she falls in love with her worst nightmare (Stockholm syndrome comes to mind), but wonders how to teach a person to accept love when they never received anything positives from relationships. Although the confrontational climax feels abrupt, fans of the saga will relish the love story between a Guardian allegedly with no heart and a Hunter giving him her heart.

Harriet Klausner

The Goblin King
Shona Husk
Sourcebooks, Oct 1 2011, $6.99
ISBN: 9781402259852

A thousand years ago the druid exiled Celtic King Roan and his warrior horde including his brother into the Shadowlands. A lump of symbolic gold replaced his heart, but time is running out on the former monarch; if not saved by the love of a human he will either vanish into nothingness or join the soulless Goblin Horde.

Eliza Coulter summons Roan to protect her from the rage of her fiancé Steven Slade. An heiress she trusted Steven after her dad died, but no more. She knows he has stolen from her and fears his temper. Thus she has turned to the Goblin King. Roan hopes to make Eliza his queen, but she would have to give up so much for him. Destroying his wardrobe will not keep her safe from the abusive Steven, which he knows is his prime mission.

This is an intriguing romantic fantasy with an interesting psychological spin in which the duo worlds of Sharon Husk seem real yet also metamorphic. Roan is a heroic individual who willingly sacrifices his chance for the return of his soul to keep his beloved safe. Eliza is the more fascinating protagonist as she is the ultimate damsel in distress unable to function without a man’s protection. However, her passivity to the nth degree helplessness is two edged as readers observe an emotionally crippled person failing to take action beyond calling for help to protect hers even when facing peril but also makes her too damaged to be the lead female in a contemporary setting.

Harriet Klausner

Ganymede
Cherie Priest
Tor, Sep 27 2011, $14.99
ISBN: 9780765329462

In New Orleans, brothel owner Josephine Early asks her former lover Andan Cly to pilot the Ganymede submarine to the North. Since this mission fits his prime assignment to bring needed supplies to the human Seattle underground in which zombies and gas rule the surface, Cly agrees as he tries to go a bit more legal with his endeavors.

However, Jo fails to inform the air pilot of the Naamah Darling that the ship has never been driven successfully, that the ship sits at the bottom of lake Pontchartrain, and the Texian and Confederate armies, who wait at the mouth of the mighty Mississippi, will kill to possess it. If he survives the military forces waiting for his run, Cly still has to drive the vessel that has proven to be a death trap for all his predecessors.

The latest Clockwork Century steampunk historical fantasy (see Boneshaker, Clementine and Dreadnought) is a great alternate Civil War thriller. Cly is a super antihero who wants to atone for his dealing in sap with the supply run though not quite going totally legal as gun running remains a lucrative activity. Loaded with action, fans will appreciate the reunion of the Union spy brothel owner and the bootlegging air pilot.

Harriet Klausner

Glow
Amy Kathleen Ryan
St. Martin’s Griffin, Sep 13 2011, $17.99
ISBN: 9780312590567

The two ships (the New Horizon and the Empyrean) are the only hope for mankind to find a new earth as the old planet is dead. However, Pastor Anne Mather on the New Horizon wants to establish a theocracy so believes her vessel must land on the new earth first and needs the young breeding females on board the sister ship; as there are none on her vessel. She leads a preemptive attack killing most adults on board the Empyrean and abducting all the breeding age females and younger girls.

Pastor Mather explains to her female prisoners they were rescued to birth the next generation. The young women and girls are stunned but turn to fifteen year old Waverly for leadership; she directs a passive resistance. On the Empyrean rival teenagers, Waverly’s boyfriend Kieran and sly Seth, compete for control of the rudderless ship.

The first Sky Chasers outer space thriller is an entertaining young adult science fiction. The fast-paced story line rotates perspective between the twin ships fueled by betrayal (not just by Pastor) being the means of choice to achieve a certain end. Although the male lead teens on the Empyrean seem incompetent with Kieran hesitant and Seth uncaring about others when compared to heroic Waverly who quietly leads her troops in opposition, readers will enjoy Amy Kathleen Ryan’s engaging tale.

Harriet Klausner

Ghosts by Gaslight: Stories of Steampunk and Supernatural Suspense
Edited by Jack Dann and Nick Gevers
Harper Voyager, Sep 6 2011, $14.99
ISBN 9780061999710

In the Introduction, editors Nick Gevers and Jack Dann explain that the premise of this excellent anthology is to explore the “great paradox of the Victorian age” in which the Queen declared the enlightenment yet superstition and paranormal species still held a grip on the people. Perhaps Laird Barron’s “Blackwood’s Baby” is the best example of that unbalanced scale between enlightened understanding and suggestive fears of the unknown. Thus the Enlightenment is a transition into the modern world. All seventeen entries are excellent examples of “Steampunk and Supernatural Suspense”. “The Iron Shroud” by James Morrow opens the superior collection with Jonathan pondering insects and hell as his dead mentor remains interred. Just after Princess Maude married the future Sultan, four men living in a rooming house learn why Turks write down everything even “Music, When Soft Voices Die” by Peter S. Beagle. Margo Lanagan provides an engaging insightful focus on the changing class combat in “The Proving of Smollett Standforth.” “The Curious Case of the Moondawn Daffodil Murder as Experienced by Sir Magnus Holmes and Almost Doctor Susan Shrike” (by Garth Nix) pays homage to the great Victorian detective and his sidekick in a razor sharp thriller. All the other entries are excellent as this may prove to be the historical fantasy (and horror) collection of the year climaxing with Jeffrey Ford’s gloomy ghostly ruins of “The Summer Palace.”

Harriet Klausner

Ghost Ship
Sharon Lee and Steve Miller
Baen, Aug 2 2011, $25.00
ISBN: 9781439134559

Theo Waitley was accepted as a student pilot at the Academy where she excels at flying but she suffers from Liadan Luck as she is the center of violent activity that is started by others. For the safety of her peers, faculty and staff, Theo is expelled from the school. She obtains work with Korval as they leave for Surebleak.

However, Theo’s Luck continues when she learns her in hiding scholarly father Jen Sar Kiladi is a deadly Korval Master Pilot and the Bechmio ancient technology on board the Arin’s Toss demands she become the ship’s captain. Theo declines until she learns her dying lover Win Ton may survive with on-board medical technology. On Tokeo the Federated Trade Commission is interested in her and her ship but Bechmio rescues her. Knowing she needs a co-pilot Theo obtains the services of Boss Clarence O’Berin who knows her father’s undead first wife. Assassins and the government want her as more frightening to Theo so does her mom.

Although newcomers will be lost in space as familiar heroes, agencies and customs are difficult to grasp for the tyro. For veterans of the Liadan Universe, Ghost Ship is a thrilling space opera adventure starring a female swashbuckling pilot who could star on Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes’ song Bad Luck. However, the key to this engaging entry is Bechmio who has developed a personality over the ages. Fans will enjoy the latest Balance of wrongs as the heroine remains in the eye of turbulence.

Harriet Klausner

The Goblin Corps
Ari Marmell
PYR, Jul 26 2011, $16.00
ISBN: 97816163770

The Charnel King Morthul of Kirol Syrreth remains stunned that his centuries of perfect plotting to rule the world from his Iron Keep failed due to a band of idiots too stupid to understand they could not win. His only dark victory in his ignominious loss to the Light is that Princess Amalia, the child of King Dororam of Shauntille, died while ending his schemes.

However, Morthul has a new concern. His spies warn him that raging King Dororam has united the Allied Kingdoms with a goal to end future treachery by the rotting immortal Charnel King and the armies of Kirol Syrreth. Taking a page from the enemy who created the rag tag band of the Light, Morthul creates his version of the Dark, The Demon Squad.

The Goblin Corps is an enjoyable military fantasy that is at its refreshing best when the plot focuses on the dysfunctional Demon Squad members; the story line loses some freshness when grieving Dororam and his top wizard DuMark take center stage. Although the climax is weak as it is more tell than show, The Goblin Corps is action-packed yet filled with jocularity (including inane but fun Stooges like slapstick). Readers will enjoy this lighthearted romp as the bickering evil paranormal unit struggle to come together before the snow melts in the mountain passes.

Harriet Klausner

Ghosts of War
George Mann
PYR, July 26 2011, $16.00
ISBN: 9781616143671

In 1927 Gabriel “The Ghost” Cross patrols New York City to keep the residents safe from evil. Though he wants to take time out to grieve the death of his beloved Celeste who saved the world (see Ghosts of Manhattan), the vigilante avenger knows he cannot.

The city has seen a series of kidnappings reportedly by flying machines dubbed raptors. The police are stymied as there is no apparent link between the victims except for the city. The Ghost assisted by his friend Police Inspector Felix Donovan try to capture one of these terrorizing mechanical kidnappers. At the same time Felix hunts a British agent whose information will cause the third war between the former colonies and the mother country. Soon the two seemingly divergent cases merge as the Ghost decides on a dangerous ploy to end the mounting terror.

George Mann provides a fun throwback pulp science fiction thriller. With plenty of rooftop activity and lucid flashbacks by the Ghost to WWI, the story line is action-packed and incredibly fast-paced as the author takes no prisoners with this entertaining save Manhattan tale (Ruth and Gehrig save the Bronx).

Harriet Klausner