More Stories from the Twilight Zone
Carol Serling
Tor, Jul 2010, $17.99
ISBN: 9780765325822

The second Twilight Zone anthology edited by Carol Serling contains nineteen strong entries that will remind readers of the TV series with final twists and intriguing paradoxical morality dramas. None of the entries are bad, but a few are excellent. This author especially enjoyed the historical lessons of “Curve” by Loren Estleman, “Reversal of Fortune” by Robert J. Serling and “The Mystery of History” by Lee Lawless. Also super are David Gerrold’s twisted take on employment in the Twilight Zone “Sales of a Deathman” and Nancy Holder’s romantic spin in “By the Book”. Fans of the series will fully appreciate the compilation fittingly ended with “An Odyssey, Or Whatever You Call It, Concerning Baseball” by Rod Serling as next stop is Yankee Stadium, a dimension as vast in centerfield as space but with a short leftfield porch that makes it timeless.

Harriet Klausner

Masques
Patricia Briggs
Ace, Sep 28 2010, $7.99
ISBN: 9780441019427

Aralorn the shapechanger has been a spy for Sianim for years as the money is great. She is assigned to penetrate the Kingdom of Reth where the powerful sorcerer Geoffrey ae’Magi has established a cruel dictatorship; her mission is to assess how potent the mage is and what he is scheming on beyond this beleaguered land. To Aralorn accompanied by Wolf, this is another easy task.

However, once inside she realizes how dangerous and powerful Geoffrey is. Aralorn quickly completes her mission and rushes back to Sianim to report. Only she now learns how far Geoffrey has ties as his insidious control reaches everywhere. With Wolf at her side, Aralorn the mercenary takes her first stand without a thought of money when she joins the resistance.

This is a revision of Patricia Briggs’ first fantasy from the early 1990s; the sequel never released before will soon follow. The rebellion against magical evil story line is entertaining even without Mercy although the cast comes across stereotypical of the sub-genre. Still fans will root for Aralorn as she goes from avarice give me the money realist to rebel with a cause idealist.

Harriet Klausner

Memories of Envy
Barb Hendee
Roc, Oct 5 2010, $15.00
ISBN: 9780451463531

There are very few vampires in existence today because they failed to abide by the laws of the elders such as not killing humans. Instead they should use their powers to insure the mortal they drank blood from forgets the incident. Eleisha Clevon lives by that rule and the other laws. She has gathered two vampires Rose and her protector Philip to the Portland underground, an abandoned church set up as vampire headquarters. Wade Shelfield is the investigator who has located vampires so that Eleisha can reason with them to diligently stick to the old laws and offer them sanctuary in her Oregon home.

Standing in their way is Julian who has no telepathy, but he likes power and ignores the ancient laws. He has killed vampires before and uses, without their knowledge, Eleisha and her group to take him into the hiding place of other vampires so he can kill them too. Eleisha learns about the dead vampire Maggie’s progeny Simone Stratford and is determined to bring this Roaring Twenties ingénue to her home. She fails to realize that cute innocent looking Simone enjoys the hunt and plans a deadly game with her wannabe savior and Philip who she is attracted to.

Urban fantasy vampire readers will thoroughly enjoy the latest Vampire Memories thriller (see Hunting Memories). Eleisha is a good individual who lives by the moral code of the elders. Her vulnerability is being a Good Samaritan trying to help her peers see the light as she hopes to forge a law-abiding community. She is naive as her faith in her species is strong with her only picturing Julian as evil. Her protector was a predator for years, but now is there for her by trying to abide by her rules. However, it is Simone who makes the tale entertaining as she teaches Eleisha a lesson not to judge a book by its cover.

Harriet Klausner

Mass Effect: Retribution
Drew Karpyshyn
Del Rey, Jul 27 2010, $7.99
ISBN: 9780345520722

The Reapers starships have entered the galaxy where earthlings have joined other alien sentient races mostly in harmony (see Revelation). These bellicose outsiders have come with one purpose in mind; “harvesting” the organic.

Few humans understand the extinction danger posed by the reapers. Cerberus leader The Illusive Man not only does, he plans to act by gaining critical insider knowledge of the deadly Reapers to prevent pandemic slaughter though few support his means. He selects his former operative Paul Grayson as his guinea pig. Paul is abducted and implanted with reaper technology so he can be studied like a rat in a lab. Ascension director Kahlee Sanders, who helped Paul rescue his daughter Gillian (see Ascension), is worried about the disappearance and asks Alliance war hero Captain David Anderson to help her investigate as she believes the outlawed evil Cerberus is behind the kidnapping. As they serendipitously sneak inside the experiment zone, Grayson is turning increasingly into a Reaper as the alien make up supersedes his humanity; leading to him being a galaxy-wide threat from within.

Obviously targeting the fans of the Mass Effect gaming universe, Retribution is a fabulous outer space thriller although it helps to have either played the games or read the previous books. The irony within the story line is that the species who The Illusive Man wants to save is the species that claims he and his Cerberus black ops agents are evil. This fun tale warns the audience to beware of science and technology with questionable ethics while also pondering whether ever the means justifies the end as Stalin said “A single death is a tragedy, a million deaths is a statistic”, but trillions dead is neither as none will be left to mourn.

Harriet Klausner

My Soul To Keep
Sharie Kohler
Pocket, Aug 31 2010, $7.99
ISBN: 9781439101599

In Paris her father was abusive to everyone especially his family. In that cruel world, Sorcha the half-breed Lycan grew up distrusting everyone. In fact only her father’s top assistant, half-breed Jonah was ever nice to Sorcha. She never forgot the kindness he gave her.

Twelve years later, Widow Sorcha seeks to avenge the murder of her husband that she blames on a demon-witch who cursed the Lycan. The person she wants to murder is under the protection of Jonah who thought his Sorcha was dead and felt guilty all these years for failing her. They have not seen each other in what seems to each as forever, but their attraction that both avoided in the past explodes between them. As they fall in love, Sorcha and Jonah must move beyond their pasts if they want a future preferably together especially when someone wants both dead.

The lead couple is a terrific pairing as they have a past that ended tragically and seemingly no future second chance at love since they are adversaries. The story line focuses deeply into the souls of Jonah and Sorcha so the action is somewhat muted. Still fans of the Moon Chasers urban fantasy woo enjoy this spellbinding tale.

Harriet Klausner

The Mists Of Time
Susan Squires
St. Martin’s, Aug 31 2010, $7.99
ISBN: 9780312943554

San Francisco romance writer Diana Dearborn meets a stranger who gives her an ancient tome. Somehow the old book propels her to Dark Ages Camelot. She returns to the present with no time elapsing, but has brought forward with her severely injured Medraught of Orkney.

Diana feels no desire towards the hunk she brought into his future. Instead she feels an attraction to a stranger who she has noticed in the shadows seemingly stalking her or her guest. His father ordered Gawain to keep Diana safe, but he arrived in San Francisco a few years later than he needed to be there; as he learns her trip in time periled her. To begin correcting the scenario they must return Medraught to the past, but he refuses to go willingly as he loves the modern world.

The Mists of Time is a well written complex time travel Camelot romance that grips the audience from the moment a feral teen Diana is in lock up and never slows down as the readers learn what happened to her. The story line is fast-paced with intriguing paradoxes and a wonderful link between San Francisco and Camelot while the lead pairing and the knight they need to send home seem real though their flaws are reiterated too frequently. Fans will admire Susan Squires as she refreshes the Camelot legend.

Harriet Klausner

Married with Zombies
Jesse Petersen
Orbit, Sep 1 2010, $7.99
ISBN 9780316102865

Seattle based David and Sarah hope to salvage their faltering marriage as they love one another. When they go to their appointment with their marriage counselor, they find Dr. Erica Kelly dining on another couple. Shocked, they flee in spite of charges for a missed visit.

They manage to reach their home safely, but remain stunned with what they witnessed. After discussing what next, David and Sarah decide to visit his sister in nearby Longview to insure she is okay. Everywhere they go they are chased by a zombie horde. Having seen the Romero and Ron Zombie films and other sub-genre movies of the walking dead, they know how to fight the enemy. As they remain struggling first with seemingly irreconcilable differences, they team up as married slayers battling the dead while having each other’s back but also thinking of placing the knife elsewhere.

Based on the principle the “couple who slays together stays together”; Married with Zombies is a fun lighthearted horror thriller that never takes itself even remotely seriously. Fast-paced, but eventually repetitive with a ton of zombie tangos and dysfunctional marital discord, this remains an amusing lampooning of zombie fever.

Harriet Klausner

Midnight Crystal
Jayne Castle
Jove, Sep 2010, $7.99
ISBN: 9780515148367

The new head of the Frequency Guild is Adam Winters appointed to clean up the corrupt organization. He is also the direct descendent of Nicholas Winters who found a way to enhance psychic skills. However, his concept was flawed with a curse to those who have the genetic marker. That person becomes a Cerberus, a person with three diverse psychic talents who will eventually go insane and must be killed; unless he can find the Burning Lamp and the female guide who can use dreamlight.

Adam believes he is cursed but when he meets the head of a private investigation agency Marlowe Jones who can manipulate dreamlight she fixes his brain section that was damaged. They team up to go into the underground because fractures in the walls in a certain part of the maze means the whole place blows up killing many unless Marlowe and Adam can fix it.. Before they have a chance to catch their breath, they meet the traitor in the Guild who wants to kill both of them, and probably will succeed.

Connecting the Krentz universe with the clever Dreamlight trilogy (see Fired Up by Jayne Anne Krentz and The Burning Lamp by Amanda Quick), Midnight Crystal is a terrific entry that fans of the author will relish. The story line is fast-paced and action-packed. In some ways similar in tone to the previous entries in this arc yet different as time and place widely varies (hence the three names the author uses to delineate historical, present and future). This is a winning stand alone, but the brilliance of author comes across by reading and comparing the trilogy.

Harriet Klausner

Mob Rules
Cameron Haley
Luna, Sep 1 2010, $14.95 paper
ISBN 9780373803200

Street smart and kick butt tough Domino Riley serves as the lieutenant to six millennia old Sumerian gang boss Shanar Rashan. When a low bottom rung mage Jamal is gruesomely murdered with his magic siphoned away, LAPD and the mobs assume a rival gang took the victim out with a strong-arm declaration of war.

Domino investigates starting with talking to Jamal’s ghost. The dead graffiti artist mage informs the mob lieutenant that his homicide has roots with a magical practitioner outside of their gang and not with the usual mundane competitors. Evidence mounts towards Rashan’s son Adan doing the hit, but Domino knows he lacks the ability to steal the magic. She tries to keep him safe as she is seeing him, but to do so Domino breaks the rules between the mobs. Her actions place her in danger from mortal gangsters and sorcerer killers.

Although the story line is obviously a first book in a series as establishing magical Los Angeles is the prime plot, Cameron Haley provides an enjoyable opening urban fantasy noir. The cast is strong as the support players make magical L.A. seem genuine. However besides the city, this is Domino’s tale as she investigates and keeps her boss’ son her lover safe. Sub-genre fans will be looking forward to sequels hopefully with a more robust plot.

Harriet Klausner

Mozart’s Blood
Louise Marley
Kensington, Jul 1 2010, $15.00
ISBN: 9780758242129

Octavia Voss is euphoric as she will soon sing an aria at the Milan opera house; the same place she sang two centuries ago when she shared blood with the great composer. However, during rehearsal her personal assistant Ugo vanishes. She is worried for the welfare of her ancient friend as she knows he would not desert her and she fears she will have to bite for blood since he provided her nourishment.

Octavia thinks back to when they first met during the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. She begins her quest to find her friend, but soon becomes the target of those who want her Mozart enhanced blood and by the Ancient Ones who will kill even centuries-old innocent vampires like her to prevent new ones from being promulgated.

This is a terrific vampire thriller with a refreshing interesting spin in which shared memories come with the drunken blood. The story line rotates between the frantic present day search by Octavia who is hunter and hunted, and several biting eras in her past. Fans of supernatural urban fantasy will want to drink from Louise Marley’s marvelous Mozart’s Blood.

Harriet Klausner