The Darwin Elevator

by Jason M. Hough

Promo copy:

Jason M. Hough’s pulse-pounding debut combines the drama, swagger, and vivid characters of Joss Whedon’s Firefly with the talent of sci-fi author John Scalzi.

In the mid-23rd century, Darwin, Australia, stands as the last human city on Earth. The world has succumbed to an alien plague, with most of the population transformed into mindless, savage creatures. The planet’s refugees flock to Darwin, where a space elevator—created by the architects of this apocalypse, the Builders—emits a plague-suppressing aura.

Skyler Luiken has a rare immunity to the plague. Backed by an international crew of fellow “immunes,” he leads missions into the dangerous wasteland beyond the aura’s edge to find the resources Darwin needs to stave off collapse. But when the Elevator starts to malfunction, Skyler is tapped—along with the brilliant scientist, Dr. Tania Sharma—to solve the mystery of the failing alien technology and save the ragged remnants of humanity.

VR Troopers: Season Two, Vol. 1

Promo copy:

When three young teenagers are granted extraordinary powers, enabling them to transform into virtual superheroes, they’re charged with the task of defending our world from the encroaching powers of the evil mutant known as Grimlord. Join Ryan Steele and his best friends, Kaitlin Star and J.B. Reese as they battle the virtual horde as the VR Troopers!

The exciting second season begins here with the first 20 episodes!

Pathfinder Tales: Pirate’s Honor

by Chris A. Jackson
Cover by Denman Rooke

Promo copy:

Rough Seas

A pirate captain of the Inner Sea, Torius Vin makes a living raiding wealthy merchant ships with his crew of loyal buccaneers. Few things matter more to Captain Torius than ill-gotten gold—but one of those is Celeste, his beautiful snake-bodied navigator. When a crafty courtesan offers the pirate crew a chance at the heist of a lifetime, it’s time for both man and naga to hoist the black flag and lead the Stargazer’s crew to fame and fortune. But will stealing the legendary Star of Thumen chart the corsairs a course to untold riches—or send them all to a watery grave?

From award-winning author Chris A. Jackson comes a fantastical new adventure of high-seas combat and romance set in the award-winning world of the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game.

I recently re-watched Rango via Netflix streaming. Here’s my March 2011 review of the Oscar winner.

Rango
Reviewed by Rick Klaw

Directed by Gore Verbinski
Written by John Logan from the story by Logan, Verbinski, and James Ward Byrkit
Starring Johnny Depp, Isla Fisher, Alfred Molina, Bill Nighy, and Ned Beatty

In a seemingly impossible bit of movie alchemy, director Gore Verbinski (Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End) with the aide of Johnny Depp (The Tourist) masterfully combines Chinatown, Sergio Leone’s Man With No Name films, and the best of Looney Tunes into the hilarious and entertaining Rango.

Pet chameleon and struggling actor Rango (Depp) literally falls off the back of a truck, finding himself stranded in the desert. After receiving advice from Roadkill (Alfred Molina), a wise armadillo on a spiritual quest, and meeting contrary iguana Beans (Isla Fisher), who at seeming random moments enters a brief paralytic state, Rango wanders into Dirt, an outpost under the iron grip of The Mayor (Ned Beatty), a wheelchair-bound tortoise. In a desperate attempt to avoid a barroom brawl, he conjures up the role of a legendary gunman, which eventually leads to Rango assuming the mantle of the town’s sheriff (after all he claimed in descriptive and vivid detail that he killed seven dangerous critters with one bullet). The newly-minted lawmen defends Dirt against the evil Rattlesnake Jake (Bill Nighy), a band of thieving moles, a murderous hawk, and water-stealing desperadoes.

While borrowing liberally from a variety of sources, the screenplay by John Logan (Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street) melds all the disparate elements into a cohesive and thoroughly original story. The magnificent ILM animation, their first animated feature, sparkles, granting each beautiful scene with lush details and the countless characterizations, a unique vision.

Beginning with the four owl mariachi band narrators, who break the fourth wall and like some Greek tragedy eventually become immersed within the story itself, and then Rango’s manic one man, one act show co-starring a nude, headless doll and a windup fish, both inanimate, all from within his terrarium, Verbinski, who along with Logan and James Ward Byrkit (Fractalus) conceived the story, brilliantly establishes the tenor of the tale. While heavily infused with Western tropes and anamorphic animals, Rango quickly moves beyond the traditional boundaries of the genres. When Rango and his posse encounter a large group thieving moles, the sheriff convinces his band to dress as a band of traveling thespians. One of the moles declares, “Thespian? That’s illegal in seven states.” Then in one of the film’s abundant and excellent action sequences, the moles attack riding bats and wielding Gatling guns! Both further differentiating and re-affirming from its influences, mysticism often of the Daliesque surreal variety challenges the perceptions of Rango and the viewer.

With superior acting, an imaginative story, and some of the century’s finest animation, Verbinski and company expertly re-imagined the postmodern Western. All this sans 3-D. The sensational Rango proves once again that excellence and quality need no technological gimmicks.

First on Saturday:

April Reading: Mary Robinette Kowal & Rick Klaw

Saturday, April 20th

Premiering at the LoneStarCon 3 (aka The 71st Annual World Science Fiction Convention) in San Antonio, TX, August 29 – September 2 2013, Rayguns Over Texas, an anthology of predominantly new science fiction tales by Texas authors, features 17 original stories, 2 reprinted tales, 2 introductions, a history of Texas science fiction, and 3 appendices. Contributors include Bruce Sterling, Michael Moorcock, Joe R. Lansdale, Bradley Denton, Stina Leicht, and many other fantastic scribes.

How to Fake a Moon Landing: Exposing the Myths of Science Denial

by Darryl Cunningham

Promo copy:

Is hydro-fracking safe? Is climate change real? Did the moon landing actually happen? How about evolution: fact or fiction? Author-illustrator Darryl Cunningham looks at these and other hot-button science topics and presents a fact-based, visual assessment of current thinking and research on eight different issues everybody’s arguing about. His lively storytelling approach incorporates comics, photographs, and diagrams to create substantive but easily accessible reportage. Cunningham’s distinctive illustrative style shows how information is manipulated by all sides; his easy-to-follow narratives allow readers to draw their own fact-based conclusions. A graphic milestone of investigative journalism!

Fascinating use of the graphic medium. More on this later.

Nightshade and Damnations

by Gerald Kersh
Introduction by Harlan Ellison

Promo copy:

An expedition in South America uncovers a terrifying race of men without bones who literally suck the life out of their prey. A man in 20th century London makes a horrifying discovery about a monster found off the coast of Brighton in 1745. A sea captain goes ashore on a deserted island and finds what seem to be the bones of a previously unknown species of monster, only to learn that the bones tell a much more tragic tale than he could ever have imagined. A war correspondent, none other than Kersh himself, is sailing to America when he meets a strange man who claims to be 438 years old. These are the plots of just a few of the weird tales you will find in this book.

Gerald Kersh (1911-1968) was a brilliant and inventive writer acclaimed in his time for his gritty novels of London life and his often bizarre short fiction, but he has unfortunately become neglected since his death. This volume includes an introduction by award-winning science fiction author Harlan Ellison, who also selected the eleven stories that appear in this collection and which represent the very best of Kersh’s short fiction. Includes: “The Queen of Pig Island”, “Frozen Beauty”, “The Brighton Monster”, “Men Without Bones”, “Busto Is a Ghost, Too Mean to Give Us a Fright!”, “The Ape and the Mystery”, “The King Who Collected Clocks”, “Bone for Debunkers”, “A Lucky Day for the Boar”, “Voices in the Dust of Annan”, “Whatever Happened to Corporal Cuckoo?”

The definitive Kersh collection finally returns to print! In danger of being forgotten, Kersh was one 20th century’s finest writers of the bizarre and should be experienced by all fans of the unusual.

The Mammoth Book of Black Magic

Edited by Mike Ashley

Promo copy:

Delve into the fascinating world of witchcraft and magic and let this enthralling compilation act as your guide to a realm beyond anything you’ve experienced, as you explore the stunning world of hexes, sorcery, and powerful enchantments.

This is a reprint of The Mammoth Book of Sorcerer’s Tales (Carroll & Graf, 2004).

Cherubs!

by Bryan Talbot and Mark Stafford
Cover by Mark Stafford

Promo copy:

Falsely accused of Heavens first homicide, five churlish cherubim escape to New York in pursuit of the renegade archangel Abbadon on the eve of the Apocalypse! Befriended by exotic dancer Mary and chased by unstoppable Seraphim terminators, the Cherubs alone stand against Hell’s hordes as Satan prepares to make war, not love! From Eisner Award winner Bryan Talbot and Hades-hot indie artist Mark Stafford, Cherubs! is an outrageous, irreverent, supernatural comedy-adventure that’s heaven sent and hell bent! Featuring four previously unpublished issues of the Cherubs! comic-book series.

I previously reviewed Cherubs! in Nexus Graphica:

Reminiscent of works by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett, Cherubs tromps through some well-trodden turf in an often hilarious and profound manner. Accused of Heaven’s first homicide, five churlish cherubim flee to New York in pursuit of the real criminal, the renegade archangel Abbadon. Befriended by exotic-dancer Mary and pursued by unstoppable Seraphim terminators, the Cherubs alone stand against the impending Apocalypse. The acclaimed Talbot (One Bad Rat, Alice in Sunderland) and cartoonist Stafford skewer a wide range of supernatural-inspired pop culture icons from Buffy to Scooby-Doo by way of Harry Potter, not to mention the abundant hypocrisies inherent within Christianity. Similar to the dwarfs of Disney fame, the five unique, diminutive protagonists often bicker and play among themselves, trading barbs and banter throughout. Stafford’s underground-inspired art lends the proper touch of chaos and levity to the proceedings. While at times missing the mark and perhaps a tad too long, the excellent Cherubs provides an enlightening, intelligent, and humorous entertainment.

Another film available via streaming on Netflix, the fascinating documentary Casino Jack and the United States of Money attempts to explain the whole Jack Abramoff scandal.

Casino Jack and the United States of Money

Review by Rick Klaw

Directed by Alex Gibney

Like many Americans, filmmaker Alex Gibney (Taxi to The Dark Side) had never heard of Jack Abramoff until his damning non-testimony before the 2004 John McCain-lead Senate hearings into Indian casino irregularities. By taking the Fifth, the lobbyist managed to focus the media spotlight upon his own activities. Gibney’s explorations into this previously-unknown Republican power player form the basis for the entertaining and insightful documentary Casino Jack and the United States of Money.

Rather than the beginning, Gibney wisely starts near the end of the Abramoff saga with an attention grabbing new report about the vicious, gangland-style slaying of Greek businessman Konstantinos Boulis on the streets of Fort Lauderdale. Abramoff and partner Adam Kidan, former bagel store entrepreneur with mob ties and founder of the multi-million dollar Dial-A-Mattress franchise, engaged in spurious business dealings when acquiring Boulis’ chain of luxury liner casinos.

Gibney maps out the rise and fall the complex Abramoff, who after seeing Fiddler on the Roof at fourteen , became a Conservative Jew. While as an undergraduate at Brandeis University, Abramoff joined the College Republicans where he met his later allies—Ralph Reed, former head of the Christian Coalition, and Grover Norquist, founder of Americans for Tax Reform— and organized student volunteers for Ronald Reagan’s 1980 presidential campaign. After earning a law degree at Georgetown, Abramoff joined Citizens for America, which supported “freedom fighters” in Nicaragua and elsewhere.

Setting aside his political aspirations from 1988-1994, Abramoff served as the president of Regency Entertainment. He produced and actually co-wrote (with his brother Robert) the laughable anti-communist thriller and Dolph Lundgren vehicle, Red Scorpion (1989).

Gibney expertly reveals Abramoff’s early history through a series of thoughtful interviews with conservative political analyst J. Michael Waller, former Representative Bob Ney; Ney’s former-aide-turned-lobbyist, Neil Volz; and Nina Easton, author of Gang of Five: Leaders at the Center of the Conservative Crusade. Though he managed to interview the incarcerated Abramoff, Gibney was not allowed to use those recorded conversations. Cleverly, the director relied on the voice talents of Stanley Tucci to relay Abramoff’s essential testimony throughout Casino Jack and the United States of Money.

Upon returning to politics, Abramoff found his true calling as a high powered Washington lobbyist. It was in this role that he engaged in some of his most nefarious behavior. Abramoff championed the free market ideology when dealing with Congressional representatives Under the cover of campaign donations, he peddled favors at the highest political levels.

Along with some questionable dealings with Russian oil companies and the US-controlled Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Islands, Abramoff represented several Native American tribes and their casino interests. These actions combined with the Abramoff’s slanderous emails about his clients—in one he referred to the Indians as “troglodytes”—eventually led to his demise.

While tracking this labyrinthine tale, Gibney relies on a slew of revealing on-camera interviews with the likes of Susan Schmidt, the Washington Post journalist who broke the Abramoff story; reporter Shawn Martin, who followed the angle of the Indian tribes; Thomas Frank, author of The Wrecking Crew: How Conservatives Ruined Government, Enriched Themselves and Beggared The Nation; and Robert G. Kaiser, author of So Damn Much Money: The Triumph of Lobbying and the Corrosion of American Government. In the film’s most intriguing interview, deposed House Majority Leader Tom DeLay reveled in his own audacity. Known as “The Hammer,” DeLay maintained his iron-fisted control of the House Republicans through Abermof’s machinations. In a perfect coda, Gibney overlays the final credits with DeLay’s appearance on Dancing With The Stars.

Between the interviews and news reports, movie clips and popular music supply nimble transitions. Excerpts from Mr. Smith Goes To Washington, Patton, The Manchurian Candidate and footage from the “Schoolhouse Rock” animated music video “I’m Just a Bill” provide much needed levity.

Gibney’s superior documentary deftly chronicles the parable of Jack Abramoff by placing his outrageous story within its proper historical and political context. Ultimately, Casino Jack and the United States of Money serves as warning that unscrupulous men have always abused the unwary and unless we are vigilant, will again.

A Storm of Swords
A Song of Ice and Fire: Book Three

by George R. R. Martin

Promo copy:

THE BOOK BEHIND THE THIRD SEASON OF GAME OF THRONES, AN ORIGINAL SERIES NOW ON HBO.
 
A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE: BOOK THREE
 
Of the five contenders for power, one is dead, another in disfavor, and still the wars rage, as alliances are made and broken. Joffrey sits on the Iron Throne, the uneasy ruler of the Seven Kingdoms. His most bitter rival, Lord Stannis, stands defeated and disgraced, victim of the sorceress who holds him in her thrall. Young Robb still rules the North from the fortress of Riverrun. Meanwhile, making her way across a blood-drenched continent is the exiled queen, Daenerys, mistress of the only three dragons left in the world. And as opposing forces maneuver for the final showdown, an army of barbaric wildlings arrives from the outermost limits of civilization, accompanied by a horde of mythical Others—a supernatural army of the living dead whose animated corpses are unstoppable. As the future of the land hangs in the balance, no one will rest until the Seven Kingdoms have exploded in a veritable storm of swords.

K-9: The Complete Series

Promo copy:

This kid-and-family sci-fi/comedy spinoff from the hugely popular Doctor Who series, features his longtime robot pet dog, K-9, as reimagined by Doctor Who creator Bob Baker. K-9 is a cybernetic construct from the 50th century with the appearance of an earth dog. He arrives travels to the 21st century, arriving at the London home of Professor Gryffen, a renowned scientist working on the Alien Space-Time-Manipulator (STM), which can open a portal to anywhere in space and time. When alien warriors attack Gryffen and two teenagers – Starkey, a homeless rebel, and Jorjie, an intelligent young girl – K-9 self-detonates to save them, but is soon regenerated thanks to a device implanted in his mainframe. The new-look K-9 can fly and has more capabilities than ever before. However, he has lost his long-term memory, and so begins a quest to not only protect humanity but also to discover more about his time- and space-travelling past.

The Five Lives of Our Cat Zook

by Joanne Rocklin
Cover by Vivienne To

Promo copy:

In this warmhearted middle-grade novel, Oona and her brother, Fred, love their cat, Zook (short for Zucchini), but Zook is sick. As they conspire to break him out of the vet’s office, Oona tells the stories of his previous lives, ranging in style from fairy tale to grand epic to slice of life. Each of Zook’s lives have echoes in Oona’s own family life, which is going through a transition she’s not yet ready to face. Her father died two years ago, and her mother has started a relationship with a man named Dylan—whom Oona secretly calls “the villain.” The truth about Dylan, and about Zook’s medical condition, drives the drama in this loving family story.

Videssos Cycle

Volume One: Misplaced Legion and Emperor for the Legion

Volume Two: Legion of Videssos and Swords of the Legion

by Harry Turtledove
Covers by Carlos Beltrán

 Promo copy:

Harry Turtledove’s brilliant re-imaginings of major world events have thrilled fans for decades, but he first captured readers’ attention with the Videssos Cycle, a unique blend of fantasy and speculative history.

Nebula Awards Showcase 2013

Edited by Catherine Asaro
Cover by Julie Dillon

Promo copy:

The Nebula Awards Showcase volumes have been published annually since 1966, reprinting the winning and nominated stories in the Nebula Awards, voted on by the members of the Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America®. The editor selected by SFWA’s anthology committee (chaired by Mike Resnick) is two-time Nebula winner, Catherine Asaro.

This year’s volume includes stories and excerpts by Connie Willis, Jo Walton,
Kij Johnson, Geoff Ryman, John Clute, Carolyn Ives Gilman, Ferrett Steinmetz, Ken Liu, Nancy Fulda, Delia Sherman, Amal El-Mohtar, C. S. E. Cooney, David Goldman, Katherine Sparrow, E. Lily Yu, and Brad R. Torgersen.

Shield of Sea and Space
(The Chaos Knight Book Three)

by Erin Hoffman
Cover by Dehong He

Promo copy:

Vidarian Rulorat, called the Tesseract, a powerful magic-user whose abilities spread across multiple elements, finds himself at war with the Alorean Import Company, a powerful cabal of merchants wealthy enough to buy nations. By opening the gate between worlds, Vidarian released the Starhunter, goddess of chaos. With her coming, wild magic returned to the world of Andovar, bringing with it shape- changers and strange awakened elemental technologies, including many-sailed ships powered by air magic, and mechanical automata lit from within by earth and fire. Now, Vidarian discovers that the Alorean Import Company is determined to eliminate two- thirds of this new life on Andovar in the hopes of hoarding more magic for themselves in a new, worldwide plutocracy. Along with his human, gryphon, and shapechanger allies, he must stop the Company if he is to safeguard any future for the diverse life of Andovar, including his and Ariadel’s newborn daughter. With the existence of whole species hanging in the balance, Vidarian is locked in a race for the future of the world.

In Thunder Forged: Iron Kingdoms Chronicles
(The Fall of Llael Book One)

by Ari Marmell
Cover by Jon Sullivan

Promo copy:

The first novel based upon the award-winning WARMACHINE® steam-powered fantasy wargame and the world of the Iron Kingdoms™ Role Playing Game is an action-packed steam-tech fantasy that combines elements of epic wartime adventure with thrilling cloak-and-dagger espionage. The Iron Kingdoms are at war-a war fought with machine guns and magic, knights of valor, and earth shaking titans of steam and steel. And now that war may hinge entirely on nothing more than a sheaf of papers. An alchemical formula, stolen by an ally they thought they could trust, could cost the brave soldiers of Cygnar everything. Their only hope: a cunning spy, a knight out of her element, and a frighteningly small unit of the best that Cygnar has to offer. Arrayed against them is not only a single, devious enemy, but the combined intelligence apparatus-and possibly the full military might-of the most brutal martial power Cygnar has ever known.

Earth Girl

by Janet Edwards
Cover by Himitsuhana

Promo copy:

A sensational YA science fiction debut from an exciting new British author!

Just because she’s confined to the planet, doesn’t mean she can’t reach for the stars.

2788. Only the handicapped live on Earth. Eighteen-year-old Jarra is among the one in a thousand people born with an immune system that cannot survive on other planets. Sent to Earth at birth to save her life, she has been abandoned by her parents. She can’t travel to other worlds, but she can watch their vids, and she knows all the jokes they make. She’s an ape, a throwback, but this is one ape girl who won’t give in.

Jarra makes up a fake military background for herself and joins a class of norms who are on Earth for a year of practical history studies excavating the dangerous ruins of the old cities. She wants to see their faces when they find out they’ve been fooled into thinking an ape girl was a norm. She isn’t expecting to make friends with the enemy, to risk her life to save norms, or to fall in love.

Reaper’s Legacy
(Toxic City Book Two)

by Tim Lebbon
Cover by Steve Stone

Promo copy:

Heroes and monsters clash with government forces in an apocalyptic London. Two years after London is struck by a devastating terrorist attack, it is cut off from the world, protected by a large force of soldiers (known as Choppers), while those in the rest of Britain believe that their ex-capital is now a toxic, uninhabited wasteland. Jack and his friends know that the truth is very different. The handful of survivors in London are developing strange, fantastic powers. Evolving. Meanwhile, the Choppers treat the ruined city as their own experimental playground. Jack’s own developing powers are startling and frightening, though he is determined to save his father, the brutal man with a horrific power who calls himself Reaper. Jack must also find their friend Lucy-Anne, who went north to find her brother. What Lucy-Anne discovers is terrifying-people evolving into monstrous things and the knowledge that a nuclear bomb has been set to destroy what’s left of London. And the clock is ticking.

Design by Sara Felix

I turned in the completed Rayguns Over Texas earlier this week. Weighing in at nearly 100,000 words, the all Texas writers anthology contains 17 original stories, 2 reprinted tales, 2 introductions, a history of Texas science fiction, and 3 appendices.

Table of Contents

• Texas Over Rayguns by Bruce Sterling
• It’s All Lew’s Fault by Richard Klaw
• Books Are My Thing: Adventures in Texas Science Fiction by Scott A. Cupp
• Babylon Moon by Matthew Bey
• Texas Died for Somebody’s Sins But Not Mine by Stina Leicht
• The Nostalgia Differential by Michael Moorcock
• Novel Properties of Certain Complex Alkaloids by Lawrence Person
• Rex by Joe R. Lansdale
• The Atmosphere Man by Nicky Drayden
• La Bamba Boulevard by Bradley Denton
• Operators are Standing By by Rhonda Eudaly
• The Art of Absence by Don Webb
• An Afternoon’s Nap, or; Five Hundred Years Ahead by Aurelia Hadley Mohl
• Grey Goo and You by Derek Austin Johnson
• Defenders of Beeman County by Aaron Allston
• Sovereign Wealth by Chris N. Brown
• Jump the Black by Marshall Ryan Maresca
• Timeout by Neal Barret, Jr.
• Pet Rock by Sanford Allen
• Take a Left at the Cretaceous by Mark Finn
• The Chambered Eye by Jessica Reisman
• Best Energies by Josh Rountree
• Appendix A: The Essential Texas Writers
• Appendix B: Other Texas Writers You Should Check Out
• Appendix C: The Essential Texas Artists

Rayguns Over Texas, a FACT publication, will premiere at LoneStarCon 3 (aka The 71st Annual World Science Fiction Convention) in San Antonio, TX, August 29 – September 2 2013.

The Thursday, April 4 meeting is open to the public, so I look forward to seeing all you San Antonio area people there.

The skinny:

April 4, 2013 at 7pm
Bethany Congregational Church
500 Pilgrim Dr
San Antonio, TX 78213