Time Spike
Eric Flint and Marilyn Kosmatka
Baen, May 2008,
ISBN: 9781416555384

Supervisor Captain Mark Stephens was observing the guard mount shift changing at Illinois’ maximum security prison when the ground rumbled. He and others assumed an earthquake occurred. However, looking outside, the geography has changed radically; The Mississippi river vanished and all evidence of human activity outside the prison like roads are gone. Instead they see strange looking flora and shockingly a dinosaur that uses the prison wall to scratch its skin.

Mark quickly concludes somehow they have been transported back in time to a pre-human era when dinosaurs ruled the planet. They are not alone as other people from various millennia have also gone back perhaps a million years. Some of those locked up are cold blooded killers and some from the other groups like conquistadores quickly prove human life is expendable. Mark and his staff know they have their backs against the wall as they deal with human killers and dinosaurs, but enforcing the law of thou shall not kill is critical for their survival.

The Assiti who relocated Grantville, West Virginia into seventeenth century Europe have stirred earth chronology again this time moving several periods into the dinosaur era although the displaced Illinois crowd is the prime focus. The story line will remind the audience of the first Ring of Fire tale as the story line is fast-paced and filled with action, but has not quite become overly complex with time paradoxes as later tales begin to have. Fans will appreciate this strong opening act of a new Assiti time experiment as humans continue to be their guinea pigs, but for Mark and his staff survival of the fittest means containing the violent prisoners and some as vicious other era travelers.

Harriet Klausner

The Twisted Citadel
Sara Douglass
Eos, Jun 2008, $25.95
ISBN 9780060882150

Escator King Maximilian and his former Queen Ishbel battle their strong feelings for one another. However, both have doubts about reheating their romance as the first time it ended sadly and though they care for one another they both fear it will end badly again.

At the same time the rulers debate the merits of their on and off relationship, Escator’s military chieftain Isaiah and the Icarii enchanter Axis SunSoar plot strategy to fight the powerful evil demonic god Kanubai. Since DarkGlass Mountain has absorbed Kanubai, the demon has become even more dangerous to the country and this malevolence is growing stronger. Both Isaiah and Axis know they must act promptly before it is too late; their fear is that it is already too late.

Although not as strong as the Axis Trilogy or the first DarkGkss Mountauin entry (see THE SERPENT BRIDE), THE TWISTED CITADEL is predominently a middle book quest fantasy. Still bone weary and mentally exhausted Maximilian makes the tale with his tired muses that being a hero and champion is not fun; he just wants to stay home for a change and ignore his responsibilty of battling evil. The cast is solid regardless of species especially the human and Icarii teamup and the story line is fast-paced, but progress in spite of some vividly described encounters is limited as this second act mostly sets up the grand finish.

Harriet Klausner

Tigerheart
Peter David
Del Rey, Jun 2008, $22.00
ISBN: 9780345501592

He is a home boy; Paul Dear is. His father tells him stories about magical creatures that his mother does not believe in, but accepts the tales as part of her overall happy life. In his dreams, Paul visits Anywhere located on the third star on the right and straight on to morning. The Boy, who is part of Anywhere, meets with him in Paul’s mirror teaching him things like talking to the animals.

Trouble strikes the Dern household causing the father to leave and the mother to mire in a deep depression. While shopping, Paul finds an interesting curio that turns out to be the Fiddlefix the boy’s pixie. . Brought back to life and Paul as Paul seeks something in Anywhere that will bring his family back together. The Boy abandons Gwenny and two of his Boys to go pirating with the Bully Boys. Everyone learns what caused the Boy to transform from a flitter gibbet to a cowardly pirate; his friends do their best to bring him back to his former frolicsome self. A battle between the Boys and the Pirates is coming with Paul, who wants to go home caught in the middle. Fiddlefix intends to kill her true enemy and Gwenny wants her old friend back.

Peter David pays homage to Barrie’s Peter Pan. The Boy is a Pan type hoping to not grow up and eager to have exciting adventures, but his escapades place him in harm’s way and turn him into a villain. His friends prove their love for him by trying to turn him back. Although part children’s fairy tale and part adult treatise on growing up, TIGERHEART is an engaging fantasy that is a magical retelling of the classic, but never quite settles on a prime audience.

Harriet Klausner

The Touch of Twilight
Vicki Petterson
Avon, Jun 2008, $6.99
ISBN: 9780060898939

Light and Shadow are constantly are war with one another. In Las Vegas, Zodiac Troop 75 keeps the Shadows in check; protecting mortals from adversaries who would harm, kill, or convert them to evil. One of the newest members of the unit is Joanna Archer, who now looks physically like her dead sister Olivia. No longer mortal, she cannot have a relationship with the love of her life Ben, but she refuses to let her evil Shadow counterpart Regan lure him into something malevolent.

A doppelganger is being formed in an alternate reality, but is investigating Joanna before coming to our realm by tearing holes in reality and if not stopped the world will cease to exist. Her father, the evil Tulpa, meets the doppelganger and knows Joanna who is part light and part shadow can stop it. He wants them work together to destroy it. The troop leader wants Joanna to let him change Ben’s memories forgetting Joanna from the time she changed into a superheroine. The moves Joanna makes will determine who rules. She must find the strength to let Ben forget her, but doesn’t know if she can.

Part urban fantasy, part mystery and part pulp add up to a tale that is impossible to down as the audience will want to know how the problems are resolved. Vicki Petterson keeps readers’ attention with several red herrings and unexpected twists. Fans will feel for the heroine who has so much on her plate topped off with what to do with the man she loves.

Harriet Klausner

Twilight
Stephenie Meyer
Little, Brown, Sep 2006, $10.99
ISBN: 9780316105849

Seventeen year old Isabella Swan leaves her newly married mother in Phoenix to live with her father Charlie, the police chief of Forks, Washington on the Olympic Peninsular; a four hour flight to a place she has never visited, but life starts anew for her. Her first day at Forks High School leaves her nervous as there were three hundred and fifty seven students yesterday who know each other. Today there is one more pupil who nobody knows; Bella knows no one.

On that first day in potential purgatory, Bella meets the enigmatic Edward Cullen. She is very attracted to him, but he acts schizoid towards her. One moment he seems to want her; the next he loathes her. She also acts out of character as she spit out her life to this stranger. However, she begins to unravel the mystery of the teen she desires who at times acts as obsessed with her as she is with him. Although she does not fully believe what she has found out, Bella realizes Edward and his adoptive family are vampires whose sustenance comes from animals. Other vampiric clans are not as regimented as they feel vampire superior should dine on inferior beasts including humans; Bella is fair game.

This is an exciting young adult romantic fantasy starring two teens besotted with one another in a taboo love. The story line is driven by the lead couple as their attraction causes problems for each of them and their families especially when outsiders intervene. Although the climax is rushed and too much of what occurred is passively explained instead of actively happening, readers will enjoy forbidden teen love between a purebred human and a purebred vampire.

Harriet Klausner

Tales Before Narnia: The Roots of Modern Fantasy and Science Fiction
Douglas A. Anderson (editor)
Ballantine, Mar. 2008
ISBN 9780345498908

The twenty-one short stories, poems, essays and other writings that make up this collection are considered by editor Douglas A. Anderson as the sub-title states The Roots of Modern Fantasy and Science Fiction. Though this reviewer has some doubts about that assertion, the entries are well written and entertaining from a who’s who of literature (Dickens, Tolkien, Grahame, Stevenson, Wells, Potter, Clarke and Kipling, etc) even though the authors were in many case key players (no novels are included which in my opinion would be more likely to be influential). The contributions are excellent with the little notes prefacing them adding to the fun as Mr. Anderson explains the author’s link to C.S. Lewis. The anthology provides a glimpse into the science fiction-fantasy short writings that were out there prior to Narnia, written in the early 1950s. As he did with the equally delightful TALES BEFORE TOLKIEN, Mr. Anderson provides a strong, enlightening and fun to read compilation; hard to resist “a never before published story” The Wood That Time Forgot: The Enchanted Wood by Roger Lancelyn Green (Lewis’ biographer) that inspired THE LION, THE WITCH, AND THE WARDROBE.

Harriet Klausner

Sexy Beast IV
Kate Douglas, Deanna Lee and Dawn Thompson
Kensington Aphrodisia, Mar 2008, $12.95
ISBN: 9780758219886

“Chanku Destiny” by Kate Douglas. The Chanku shapeshifting werewolves are elated to locate two more of their species, Adam Wolf and Eve Reynolds, who deeply connect with one another on a soulmate level.

“Abundance” by Deanna Lee. For over three decades King Jude and his Yaw panther shapeshifters have had no contact with purebred humans until Kayla lands her space ship on their world.

“Passion of the Cat” by Dawn Thompson. In 1810 in the Hindu Kush, when a snow leopard viciously attacks Captain Lyle Claridge, Ihita heals him, but after he goes back to England, the full moon makes him sexually in need.

There three erotic shapeshifting romantic fantasies are well written fun short stories filled with various sexual encounters and a little less other action. The Kate Douglas entry feels like the prologue to the upcoming Wolf Tales VI while the other two are more complete. Sub-genre fans will enjoy these shapeshifters in heat tales.

Harriet Klausner

Temptation of the Warrior
Margo Maguire
Avon, Apr 2008, $5.99
ISBN: 9780061256370

In 981 on the Isle of Coruain, High Chieftain Merrick MacLochlainn knows he has no choice but to do the mission in order to keep the Druzai safe from the malevolence of their long time enemy the witch Eilinora, who escaped incarceration, killed Merrick’s father, and stole the scepter of power. The first leg of his quest is to retrieve sacred stones that will bring back powers to the Druzai. However to obtain the stones means he must travel forward in time to 1826.

Merrick goes forward over eight centuries, but upon finding himself in Regency Northumbria; he is mentally confused and cannot recall his past let alone his mission. He also has problems with just who is Jenny Keating, whom he rescued from some attackers. They travel together until the reach a Gypsy camp where she claims she is his wife. Merrick knows that is untrue but does not expose her as he wants her safe while his mind heals. As he recovers and falls in love, Merrick believes Jenny is the source for his obtaining the stones. However, both know he must go back in time, but can she accompany her beloved if they retrieve the stones while his known foe and other death sorcerers cause mayhem.

TEMPTATION OF THE WARRIOR is a fascinating romantic fantasy that employs time travel to bring together a Dark Ages Scottish warrior and a Victorian woman. The time travel is especially handled really well as he struggles with effect of the trip. The story line is fast-paced from the opening segue when Merrick tells his courageous female cousin Ana no that he not she will journey and never slows down until the confrontation. Fans will appreciate Margo Maguire’s magnificent good vs. evil thriller and want to read Merrick’s brother Brogan’s tale (see A WARRIOR’S TAKING).

Harriet Klausner

13 BULLETS
David Wellington
Crown Three Rivers, May 2007, $13.95
ISBN: 0307381439

In 1983 US Marshall Special Deputy Jameson Arkeley ended the vampire feeding frenzy killing all but one and almost dying in the war; most people feel safe as officially all of the once thought of as supernatural beasts are reported dead. However, because of laws intended to provide justice to mortals, the sole surviving blood sucker Justinia Malvern resides on life support as a guinea pig for scientific investigation in a remote Pennsylvania asylum.
Now two decades later, Pennsylvania state trooper Laura Caxton reports some weird homicides that bring Arkeley back on the scene. He knows vampires killed the victims and assumes somehow Justinia has “offspring” planning to free their queen once they are powerful enough to do so. He takes over the investigation with Laura assigned to assist him. They must follow the blood trail to the lair of Justinia’s minion to exterminate them before they can bring blood to resuscitate their leader.
This ultra-gory vampire police procedural is pure action on action as David Wellington never slows down even to bite a victim. The story line is filled with twists that at times seem too jarring especially a final spin that sets up the next encounter, but also keeps the audience alert. However, the key to this refreshing thriller is the relationship between the vampire hunter and the state trooper as no romance, no best pals, nor any Gandalf-Frodo affinity occur; instead he is an abusive arrogant ahole and she hates having to take orders from this know it all bully. With a nod to his zombie Monster Island trilogy, Mr. Wellington returns the vampire lgend to its bloodiest veins.
Harriet Klausner

Timeless Moon
C.T. Adams & Cathy Clamp
Tor, Mar 2008, $6.99
ISBN: 9780765356659

Josette Monier knows the responsibility of being a powerful Sazi seer, but also realizes how much it costs her as she can never live a normal life. She knows being near people leads to pain as she can feel their anguish so the ancient Sazi keeps her distance from everyone. Once over a century ago, Jostte was not a hermit as she fell in love with Rick Johnson, but that ended tragically with his death reminding her what she cannot have.

Meanwhile someone is killing Sazi seers ironically using of all things an incantation; the Sazi Council desperately need help to stop this serial murdering snake. They turn to Rick hoping his surfacing will bring out Aspen who seems immune to the spell. However Josette is irate that she was led to believe her beloved was dead wasting a century they could have had together while the snakes keep on attacking the one person who can prevent their latest nefarious scheme from happening.

The latest Sazi romantic suspense fantasy tale is an exciting addition to this strong saga as the story of a strong legend is told. However that is also the problem with the plot as Josette is one of the most powerful Sazi, but in spite of being the savior she spends much of the time in peril saved by her beloved; instead of the other way around. Still this is an exhilarating entry as the complicated story line filled with twists hooks the audience once the lead couple sets eyes upon one another for the first time in one hundred long lonely years.

Harriet Klausner