Chanticleer Book Reviews

Tag: Science Fiction

ASCENSION – KELAHYA UNBOUND by V. & D. Povall – Space Opera, Science Fiction, Epic Fantasy

Kronos Deucarrion is dead. The Director of the League of One, Supreme Commander of the Alliance of Stars, Supreme Pontiff of the Galactic Sanctuary (and a few other titles) lies dead in a pool of blood, his throat sliced from ear to ear. His ward and mistress, General Kelahya Devona, herself, one of the most powerful people in the galaxy, runs from the Alliance. In her mind, she sees Kronos lying dead at her feet, his eyes fixed on her. Her mind screams at her, “Murderer!”

So begins Ascension – Kelahya Unbound, a space opera in the grand style of the 30s and 40s where one skilled enough can rule the galaxy, fleets of space ships roam the universe, whole planets can be destroyed in an instant on a whim, and palace intrigue runs deep. This novel gives the familiar trope a fresh look by embedding a murder mystery at its heart and using it to delve deeply into its central character’s mind. Kelahya must ask herself whether she did, in fact, commit the murder of the most powerful man in the universe or whether her mind is playing tricks on her.

In the era of this novel, minds are critical to the life of the empire. Evolution has developed to the point where a few people can read the minds of various species on many planets. Kronos, the supreme commander, has this ability, and so does Kelahya, the daughter of a key Kronos ally who was murdered when she was a child. Her mother and father’s death, places Kelahya in the hands of Kronos, who sees in her the potential to join him at the top of the planetary pyramid.

From the time she is a child until she becomes a full-grown woman, she is trained to be a Minder, the highest class of the mind’s abilities, master of military maneuvers and leadership techniques, and to be the consort of Kronos. Even as he seats her next to him at the empire’s most important occasions, he keeps her somewhat at arm’s distance until she is an adult. The sexual tension between the two takes its time to develop.

But all is not what it seems. There are deep secrets held by virtually every major character that is slowly and most carefully unlocked. The credibility of everyone and every deeply held belief is called into question. Past and present collide in the life of Kelahya as she finds herself on the run from a murder she may or may not have committed and finds herself captured by the empire’s most insidious enemies.

The level of detail in the novel is remarkable, very much in the spirit of Isaac Asimov’s famed Foundation trilogy, even to the invention of an extraordinary chronicle that precedes every chapter and acts as a Greek chorus to introduce the empire’s history, culture, and mores. In other words, a space opera that sci-fi fans will devour. Readers will undoubtedly fall for Kelahya, and her struggle to find out the truth of what happened to her: some of which may change her life. It’s science fiction with heart, and one we highly recommend!

October 11, 2020
APEX FIVE by Sarah Katz – Colonization Science Fiction, Post-Apocalyptic Sci-Fi, Epic Sci-fi Series

The first book in the Plane series, Apex Five, begins with a catastrophic storm hellbent on ending all life on the Plane. Many escape into the Void, leaving all who remain to perish. Now 12,000 years later, civilization is once again thriving on the Plane, but not without rivaling nations, political tensions, and religious persecution. The Tabiran government is the ruling body of the Plane, and they have been working for years to eradicate religious belief in the Zaam and the culture surrounding the megaliths found in each nation of Tabira, Lir, and Garo. The origins of these megaliths are forgotten and transformed into myth.

During a diplomatic mission from neighboring Lir, First Lasha Nasin meets with Tibira’s leader Mak Eta when the accomplice of the recent usurper is caught. That night Nasin finds the prisoner to be a young boy named Rohem, who never sleeps and only needs sunlight as sustenance. Around this time, Mak Eta’s sister Vata and her two children Inad and Ara, are journeying to the primitive colony Ayam intending to dissuade the Ayam people of their religious beliefs. Almost two decades pass, and the unrest between nations under the guise of partnership with Tabira has come to a breaking point. Efforts towards suppressing religion have seen technological and scientific advancement soar in Tabira. In Ayam, a deadly curse reigns that cause all inflicted to transform into monstrous creatures each night. To prevent war, Tabira sends a group from Lir and Garo that includes Rohem and Avithia, to find a solution to the curse. Rohem has felt an increasing pull towards the megaliths, and while in Ayam, he finds answers about himself and the Plane that will change the world forever.

Apex Five manages to pack a lot of big ideas into a small package. At first, the worldbuilding is very dense, but the story flows a lot smoother once the groundwork is there. Fans of Ursula K. Le Guin’s Left Hand of Darkness will likely enjoy Apex Five because the story also takes place in a world of stark political and cultural differences where resulting tensions are reaching a high point. Another similarity with Le Guin’s Left Hand of Darkness is Avithia, who fluctuates between male and female on a bi-weekly basis. Katz manages to engage in the tradition of science fiction to explore divergences from what is considered normal. Avithia is a gender-fluid character judged by almost everyone on the Plane except a few close loved ones. Another character faces tragedy and persecution for having a sexual orientation that is illegal in their society. Oria balances a line trying to bridge the worlds of religion and science, hoping to better understand both.

Katz creates a lot of compelling and multilayered characters in a relatively short amount of time. With over a dozen different perspectives, Katz attempts the impossible task of fleshing out everyone equally. Fortunately, Apex Five is only the first book, and the story is far from over.

Sara Katz builds a foundation for a complex science fiction world in Apex Five and invites readers to connect with many characters in what will likely be an epic journey. There is something else about this book, Katz manages to touch on all-too-human themes of science versus religion, sexual orientation, and a possible messiah figure that just might be able to save the evolution of humankind. All in all, it’s no wonder Apex Five won 1st in Category in the CIBA 2018 CYGNUS Awards for Science Fiction!

September 3, 2020
The SELAH BRANCH by Ted Neill – African American Science Fiction, African American Thriller/Mystery/Suspense, Time Travel

The Selah Branch combines two surprising stories into one enthralling whole.

It begins with a ripped from the headlines feel, diving deeply into issues of race, class, poverty, and hopelessness in Selah Branch, WV. A town whose brighter future of uplift, integration, opportunity, and prosperity was wiped out one summer night in 1953 when a chemical explosion destroyed the promising university town and replaced it with a hazardous waste site. Like Chernobyl, only with a smaller footprint and chemical residue substituting for nuclear waste. But just as deadly.

The story views Selah Branch through the eyes of Kenia Dezy, an African-American public health student on a summer practicum. She’s to determine if a simple app can steer people towards healthier food choices and better health outcomes in a town empty of jobs, filled with poverty and hopelessness, marooned in the middle of a food desert.

At first, the current state of Selah Branch and its sharp contrast with the hopefulness of its past confuses Kenia. Then she finds herself there, in that past, with the ability to re-write the history that she sees as already written in her present.

A past that contains not the tragic accident that everyone believes destroyed the town, but instead a deliberate act of sabotage designed to eliminate the beacon of hope and integration, Selah Branch. The participants mostly wanted to obliterate a place where blacks and white really were treated equally. Although some wanted to end a centuries-long family feud by murdering the bodies and the dreams of those they despised.

It is up to Kenia to use her un-schedulable, unplannable trips to that past nexus point to change the future. But there are descendants of that past who are just as willing to kill to maintain the status quo. Even if it only brings them death and destruction.

These are two great plots that shouldn’t blend well together, and yet they do, as all of the action in both the past and the present is seen through Kenia’s sharp eyes. The reader experiences her despair at the conditions in the 21st century Selah Branch and feels both with and for Kenia as she comes to the depressing conclusion that no matter how much she wants to, there are some things she simply cannot do. The situation they are living in is just too big for one person to even make a dent in, no matter how well-intentioned she might be.

And as a well-educated and relatively affluent black woman in a poverty-stricken, rural, mostly white town, Kenia is confronted with the contradiction of her economic privilege and racial and gendered lack of it at the same time.

The reader feels for Kenia’s hopelessness in the present and is swept away with her into a past where there is one desperate chance to make things better. Kenia’s journey in 1953 becomes a dangerous but determined thrill ride, facing enemies at every turn while finding surprising friends along her fast and furious way.

Readers can’t help but be caught up in Kenia’s there and back again quest to change the past and shift the present, to bring about a hope for a brighter future. Readers will cheer for her and despair with her, but they will desire, more than anything, that she succeeds.

The Selah Branch won 1st Place in the CIBA 2018 CYGNUS Awards for Science Fiction novels.

September 1, 2020
DESTINY’S WAR (Saladin’s Secret #1) by Pyram King – Alternative History, Alternative History Science Fiction, Historical Fantasy

Destiny’s War is the first in a series of novellas that fictionalize the experiences of a war correspondent, occasional amateur archeologist and sometimes caravan guard Francis Marion Jager during the Desert Campaign of the Great War; the war that was supposed to have been the end of all wars, later known as World War I.

Jager, a young American far from home scraping together a living at the edge of an unsung campaign of a brutal war, left behind a diary of his exploits – a journal that the author has turned into compelling prose wrapped around meticulous research.

Jager is a character caught between multiple sides and perspectives while carefully observing them all. As an American, his observations of the British units with whom he serves, including their attitudes towards their Bedouin allies as well as their German and Turkish enemies, is often sly and cutting. At the same time, he exhibits empathy with the common soldier.

It is 1917, and the war has been going on for three years. Everyone seems to have lost track of its purpose, morale is low, and some have lost their moral centers.

Although still a very young man, Jager has already seen too much; he is as war-weary as any of the soldiers he reports on, and is afraid to befriend anyone out of the very reasonable fear that they will not survive. He is a man who has taken too many losses to sign himself up for more. And yet he becomes involved again anyway.

As a speaker of not merely English but also his grandfather’s native German and the Arabic language of the Bedouin tribes, Jager can see into all the sides of this conflict. Having learned his Arabic while traveling with those tribes, he respects their position considerably more than the British who are allied with them by policy but disparaging of them in practice.

He is the quintessential outsider, able to see all sides of the conflict while being part of none.

Destiny’s War is just the tip of the iceberg of Jager’s experiences. As the story opens, the young man is attached to the Camel Corps, spying for the famous Gertrude Bell. Quite suddenly, he has a historical artifact that entirely too many factions will kill to obtain.

This is only the beginning of his story. Readers who love the epic sweep of Lawrence of Arabia will find themselves immersed in that bygone era, as seen through the eyes of a man who met everyone and experienced it all.

In the end, Destiny’s War feels like the opening chapter of an absolutely fantastic story. It’s a small sampling, the merest taste of a tale that feels like it will be epic. Indeed, the only criticism that most readers are likely to have is that the story feels too short. It’s a tease and a treat.

Readers will be left salivating for the next chapter. This one is highly recommended for readers who love the sweep of history and want to feel as if they are there.

December 5, 2019
RIDE the UNIVERSE by Mark Rues – Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Philosophy, Magic Realism

A young boy goes on a journey through the solar system searching for the spirit of his sister, discovers the basics of science and spirituality with the help of a mystic teacher and a super-powered cat.

Teddy DeXue’s ride around the universe begins in the summer of 1963, just as his amazing catch wins the Little League Championship for his team. But it doesn’t really start there. It really began the year before when Teddy’s sister Jean died, and his family fractured into broken, grieving pieces.

Teddy has a secret. He believes that his sister is out there, somewhere, and that the moon, the big, bright full moon that helped him make his game-winning catch, is going to help him find her. With training from a mysterious spiritual master, a bit of scientific knowledge gleaned from his dad and guarded by Henry, his strange and slightly super-powered cat, how can he fail?

While his best friend, Tem, thinks that Teddy’s quest is nothing more than wishful thinking, he goes along for the ride – and what a ride it is!

As Teddy searches through the stars for his sister, his engineer father introduces him to scientific concepts about the nature of the universe; even the many ways that light can be refracted, reflected, and split. In his dreams, Master Fu-Hsi teaches him the spiritual side of what his father’s talking about. It’s up to Teddy to put that knowledge together to make his journey into the stars – and back.

The story and the way it proceeds is reminiscent of the way the best-selling novel, Sophie’s World by Jostein Gaarder introduced young Sophie to the basic concepts and history of philosophy while pulling readers along for the fascinating journey.

There’s also an element of the classic YA SF novel, A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle in Teddy’s search among the stars for his lost sister.

The combination of the two elements draws readers on Teddy’s journey as he finds his way to his sister and back. Along the way, he grows up and learns what it is to love, even as his family finds their way back from heartbreak.

Ride the Universe crosses genres of Sci-Fi, Fantasy, and Philosophy, as it uses those tropes and more than a bit of magical realism to tell its story.

Ride the Universe is a multi-genre novel with heart. Fasten your seatbelt! For those searching for something a bit more outside the box, look no further, Ride the Universe is a magic Thunderbird of a ride – in an actual, honest-to-goodness, T-bird.

November 11, 2019
KEELIC and the PATHFINDERS of MIDGARTH (The Keelic Travers Chronicles Book 2) by Alexander Edlund – Science Fiction, Middle-Grade Coming of Age, Action/Adventure
When it comes to high-adventure Science Fiction, why should adults have all the fun? Alexander Edlund’s novel, Keelic and the Pathfinders of Midgarth proves that younger readers want in on the action.

Twelve-year-old Keelic Travers has adults all around him dropping their jaws because he has just defeated the evil pirate Jaw Take-ta-Kua in battle and taken possession of the outlaw’s ancient battleship. In doing so, he rescues his parents from Jaw’s clutches, reversing the traditional scenario of parents protecting their child. Surely all the survivors of this recent war are eternally grateful to Keelic and will follow his every order?

Well, no.

Imagine how his parents and most of the other adults feel about taking orders from a 12-year-old, even one who can pilot a starship. While Keelic does his best to present a mature and confident facade, the reader witnesses his private moments of self-doubt, nightmares, and even adolescent jealousy when Leesol, a lovely and intelligent girl, converses with other boys. He may only be twelve, but Keelic is already struggling to balance the responsibilities of his professional life with the challenges of adolescence.

Plot and characterization fit nicely together in this novel as Keelic decides he wants to train to be a Pathfinder, a member of a highly elite team of people who explore the galaxy. To become a Pathfinder requires an extensive study with a curriculum of topics such as route finding, alliance and negotiation, threat identification range, vector speeds and energy signatures, as well as astrophysics, and planetary geophysics, among other subjects. This schooling gives Keelic a chance to interact with classmates close to his age, including a pair of twins who offer comic relief from time to time. The group, known as Keelic’s “Complement” engages in challenging and exhausting training that will test them individually and as a team. While the Pathfinders-in-training learn to trust one another implicitly, Keelic has another plan in mind.

It’s a dynamic of good versus evil with a bit of David and Goliath thrown into the mix. And while Keelic doesn’t have a slingshot, he does have the intelligence and battle skills needed to consider slaying the most destructive menace in space.

To Edlund’s great credit, the dazzling technology of the future is believable and inspires awe with prose that often merges the empiricism of science with the ethereal mysteries of space, resulting in beautiful, resonating language.

Keelic and the Pathfinders of Midgarth will appeal to a broad age range of readers – in much the same manner as the Harry Potter series continues to capture the attention of all.

And while Keelic and Harry may be growing up in vastly different places, they both begin as adolescents who realize special gifts and undertake an atypical education to develop and hone those gifts. If Keelic and his classmates found themselves at Hogwarts instead of the Pathfinder Academy, they likely would have fit right in with the other brave and loyal Gryffindors. Star Wars and Star Trek enthusiasts, as well, won’t want to miss this book or any others in The Keelic Travers Chronicles.

Luckily, outer space is large enough to fit every single fan.

A futuristic YA Science Fiction pick that will capture readers’ imaginations and entertain them for years to come. Keelic and the Pathfinders of Midgarth belongs in the hands of those who yearn for a great read with enchanting lands, fantastical adventures and a hero with a lot of heart.
April 3, 2018
FROM the SHADOWS by KB Shaw – YA, Science Fiction, Action/Adventure

In the tradition of H. G. Wells and Isaac Asimov, K.B. Shaw’s From the Shadows piques the reader’s imagination. In the world where Cameron Rush, a shy, geeky boy from Wisconsin, and Rosa Costas, the bright, sassy daughter of a New Mexico ranch foreman, live, twenty-first-century technology makes a quantum leap and changes the nature of human experience.

Sounds amazing, right? This new technology could take tailgating to a new level. Seriously, what could possibly go wrong?

Only, Robert K. Merton’s law of unintended consequences still prevail. So, there is that…

Fifteen-year-old Cameron and Rosa have never met in person. However, they know each other well, as they met in a chat room, and talk daily on their multiComs. The couple takes GundTech’s multiCom technology — computers, without cameras, that capture images and display them in a way that allows virtual eye contact among users—for granted. It’s been around forever, well, at least ten years. They also take for granted their personal AIs.

A multiCom computer’s artificial intelligence (known as its AI) allows it to think, have personalities, experience emotions, and develop self-images. Each computer’s AI is unique and requires that the user demonstrate respect and courtesy to get a requested response. Cameron and Rosa understand this — as the rules of operation were clearly explained in the operating instructions. Therefore, they are never surprised when Sam and Vee, their respective multiCom AIs, sometimes add their two bits worth during conversations.

But they never expect to meet the AIs in person.

Unbeknownst to them, Cameron and Rosa were preordained centuries ago to play an integral part in the technological evolution triggered when GundTech’s mysterious creator introduces the Interactive Holographic Transmitter. With the IHT, time and space can be manipulated enabling humans, alone or collectively, to touch, see, hear, and ultimately, smell, and taste events as they happen.

Throughout this complex, fascinating tale, Shaw manages to keep the teen protagonists real and likable. They are “in touch” with their families, community, and school; they tease, flirt, grumble and complain, and impress the reader with their spirit and ingenuity.

In this well-crafted book, the amalgam of speculative fiction with a hint of Gothic eeriness works very well. What happens, to whom, how, and why is the stuff of possibility thinking. Fast-paced and engaging, with no loose ends, From the Shadows provides readers no opportunities to rest or close the book. Here’s a YA novel that’s a good read for any age.

March 2, 2018
WIZZY WIG: THANATOS RISING, BOOK 2 by Tiffany Pitts – Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Humor
Have you ever wondered what might happen if you unknowingly ripped a hole in the space-time continuum? Jake and Kix find out firsthand just how much madness can ensue when this exact conundrum befalls them in Wizzy Wig: Thanatos Rising Book Two by Tiffany Pitts, a fun and quirky Sci-Fi romp that fans of Terry Pratchett and Douglas Adams are sure to enjoy.

The evening begins innocently enough when Jake invites Kix over with a pizza to help him solve a wave function experiment. While Kix relaxes on the couch, Jake turns his attention to an experiment he’s come up with based on the idea of Schrödinger’s cat, except instead of a cat in a box, Jake’s version uses a pizza in a box. For those unfamiliar with the concept of Schrödinger’s cat, this thought experiment posits that an unobservable cat in a box is simultaneously alive and dead—essentially the cat can exist in any or no state at all. Jake hypothesizes that an unobservable pizza in a box is inherently similar—it could exist in any state as well—and thus can have its toppings changed if one knows the right math—which he does.

Jake turns his attention to his computer and does his best not to be distracted by Kix’s (striped) tights and his massive crush on her while he attempts to alter the toppings on the unseen pizza in the box. He succeeds. And the world as they know it is altered in incredible, yet difficult to see ways. Soon, Kix is on the run for her life from the genuinely creepy and disturbing Brad, a far more sinister version of her neighbor Thad, who has crossed over from another version of reality.

Enter Thanatos, Dark Lord of the Underworld, otherwise known as Toesy. Toesy is not your normal housecat. Firstly he is part demon, secondly, he has thumbs that help him open doors (a souvenir from a previous experiment of Jake’s in book one) and lastly, he’s got Executive Wartime Consigliore Steve…the voice inside his head who helps him strategize his battles. As a cat, Toesy is a natural ‘boundary walker’ and quickly realizes what the other characters do not—that the hole Jake ripped in the space-time continuum by solving his wave experiment has caused the distinct versions of the multiverse to overlap and merge in terrifying ways.

Wizzy Wig is told through the shifting perspectives of its diverse cast of characters, some of whom are alternate versions of each other. Multiple storylines that may at first be confusing come together in the end to create a complex story set in the heart of modern Seattle. Readers should note that this isn’t the type of novel one can halfway pay attention to. Wizzy Wig requires all of a reader’s attention. We are dealing with the space-time continuum after all and characters do not only cross from one reality to another in easily tracked ways. The realities themselves overlap and merge at times, and characters may appear as one or the other version of themselves or even change personalities altogether.

Pitts has crafted a fun, complex, modern Sci-Fi novel in which nothing is off limits. Multiverses exist, murderous banana spiders find their way into apartment buildings, sugar gliders seek their freedom, readers find themselves in the mind of a sociopath, and the boy who just may get the girl, if they can both survive long enough. Wizzy Wig: Thanatos Rising is an entertaining and quirky Sci-Fi novel, and while there are some punctuation errors throughout, it doesn’t detract from the story. Readers will find clever and resourceful heroes worth cheering for in this second installment of the Thanatos Rising series.
February 27, 2018
CYGNUS BOOK AWARDS – Short List 2016
These titles are in the running for the 5 First Place Book Awards for the 2016 CYGNUS Science Fiction Novel Writing competition!

Congratulations to these authors for their works moving up from the 2016 CYGNUS Finalists to the Short List. The novels will now compete for the First Place Category Positions!

These titles have moved forward in the judging rounds from SLUSH pile to FINALISTS LIST of 28 titles, and now has moved forward to the SHORT LIST of 15 titles for the 2016 CYGNUS Book Awards. They are now 2016 Cygnus Semi-Finalists as they compete for the limited First in Category Positions of the 2016 CYGNUS Book Awards in the last rounds of judging.

Each of the titles below have earned the CYGNUS AWARDS SHORT LIST bragging rights!
- Jonathan Renshaw – Dawn of Wonder
- Robert L. Slater – Straight Into Darkness
- Sean P. Curley – Over
- K.N. Salustro – Unbroken Light
- Greg McLeod – King of Dreams
- Nikki McCormack – Dissident (Forbidden Things Book One)
- Gary Grossman – OLD EARTH
- Elizabeth Crowens – Silent Meridian: The Transparency of Time
- Ryan London – Prophecy of the Immortals
- Cyril Adams – The Peace Proxy
- L. Woodswalker – Tesla’s Signal
- Jesikah Sundin – ELEMENTS (The Biodome Chronicles #2)
- Jim Musgrave – Life in 2050
- Dennis M. Clausen – The Accountant’s Apprentice
- Sara Stamey – The Ariadne Connection
- Stephanie R. Sorensen – Toru: Wayfarer Returns
- Tiffany Pitts – Wizzy Wig
- Rhett C Bruno – Titanborn
Good Luck to each of you as your works compete for the CYGNUS Awards First Class Category Positions.

We hope to see you at the Chanticleer Awards Banquet on April 1, 2017.
January 17, 2017
THE CLOUD SEEDERS by James Zerndt, a dystopian-future novel

Environmental dangers, such as recent droughts on the West Coast, motivate many writers to explore futures where significant resources are scarce. Imagine a world where water is a rare, precious gem that people are trying to snatch up. James Zerndt builds a dystopian future in his novel The Cloud Seeders where the lack of water, and more importantly rain, has resulted in a dictatorial regime with water police, severe punishments, and near total control.

Enter Thomas, his little brother Dustin, and Thomas’ girlfriend Jerusha.

Zerndt is an expert on point-of-view and he crafts memorable characters who have unique assets and flaws. The juxtaposed positions of Thomas being a young enforcer for the water police and Jerusha being a member of a secret society that resists the regime offers a fascinating view of young love and its willingness to put up with opposing worldviews. Dustin’s surprising capabilities further round out a strong set of diverse characters. Zerndt’s three-dimensional characters remind the reader that none of us are all good or all bad – we have faults and strengths that set the foundation for who we are and who we will become.

A prose professional, Zerndt’s pages are filled with dynamic characters and scene building craft that grips the reader from the beginning to the end. The poems between chapters, written by the two brothers’ deceased mother, are carefully crafted and also capture the reader’s attention.

The adventure the three characters go on is fraught with realistic and compelling subplots that pull you along and make you want to keep reading late into the night. The scenery has a fresh perspective that puts the reader into Orwellian territory as the devastation to the country is revealed through the storyline.

Even though this novel, which crosses the genres of science fiction, new adult, romance, and dystopian, presents a coming-of-age story, I would recommend it to either young adults with parental guidance (PG) or the 18-year-old and over audience because the coarse language, sexual content, and violence–while not gratuitous–still permeates this riveting story.

Readers will be enthralled by the novel’s climax, which is both clever and believable. The ending begs the question of what’s next.

The Cloud Seeders is a gripping dystopian-future novel that leaves us questioning just how far are we from a future of environmental chaos, and how blurred the line can be between fiction and reality.

April 8, 2016