Ben Bova
Publisher (Mars): Bantam Books
ISBN (Mars): 055356241x
Publisher (Return to Mars): Eos
ISBN (Return to Mars):0380797259
Well, I couldn’t stop reading after *Mars* – I just *had* to find out whether Jamie saw what he *thought* he saw – so I just dived right into *Return to Mars*. You can do that when you buy older books – ones with the sequels already published, which is a *very good* reason not to ignore the back-list when looking for new books and new authors to read. (At least, it’s a good reason if you’re an impatient bibliovore, like me.)
Bova’s two classics are a bit slower paced than die-hard action fans will probably like, but there’s a lot to recommend them, even so. There *is* action, and danger for the protagonists, it just isn’t the pulse-pounding roller coaster ride that action fans might prefer.
Continue reading Mars and Return to Mars
Nancy Kress
Publisher: Tor
ISBN: 076534341x
Oh, goody! I’ve found another author to love! Of course, now I have to rush right out and buy the next two books in the trilogy, *Probability Sun* and *Probability Space*. (That’s one of the benefits of waiting to check out a series until they’re all published – there’s none of this nonsense of waiting around for a year or more to read the next one!) I suspected I’d like this book, since I’ve enjoyed her short stories in the past, but this is the first of her novel-length work I’ve read. I should note that it’s an older book – published in 2000 – but it is still widely available. Good thing too!
Continue reading Probability Moon
Steven Harper
Publisher: Roc (New American Library)
ISBN: 0451460014
Mystery, action, politics, romance and babies – what’s not to love? Well, perhaps “romance” is a bit of a stretch – after all, the guy already *got* the guy – but this fourth entry in Harper’s “Silent Empire” series does have a bit more “relationship” material than his previous novels, as Ben and Kendi prepare to become “fathers” of Ben’s embryonic “siblings.”
Continue reading Offspring
Esther Friesner (Editor)
Publisher: Baen Books
ISBN: 0743488571
I can *not* resist those chicks in chain mail! Which is probably a good thing – given their propensity for walking around with sharp pointy things and willingness to use them, resistance could be hazardous to my health. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, you’re missing a treat. I’m speaking, of course, of Esther Friesner’s series collectively known as the “Chicks in Chain Mail” series. *Turn the Other Chick* is the fifth book; the previous ones are *Chicks in Chain Mail*, *Did You Say Chicks!?*, *Chicks ‘n Chained Males*, and *The Chick Is In The Mail*.
Continue reading Turn the Other Chick
Stephen Baxter
Publisher: Random House
ISBN:0345457889
Interesting! Some of my favorite speculative fiction is that which starts with the question, “what would human society look like if….” In this case, the “what if” is, “what if humans spread across the galaxy and found themselves in a ‘forever war’ with another species.”
Continue reading Exultant
Jack McDevitt
Publisher: Ace Books
ISBN: 0441012027
Jack McDevitt doesn’t ask for a lot from readers in this book: The plot is not complicated and neither are the characters. Less appreciative readers have sometimes called McDevitt’s characters one-dimensional or “cardboard,” but I don’t think that’s accurate. It’s not that his characters aren’t well-drawn, it’s just that their motivations aren’t the product of some tortured internal struggle – they simply are who they are, and do what they do, just like normal people. 
So, I would say, rather, that in *Polaris*, as in many of McDevitt’s books, the action and the characters are forthright and straightforward.
Continue reading Polaris
Michael Crichton
Publisher: Harper Collins
ISBN: 0066214130
Michael Crichton’s newest book is basically one long anti-environmentalist screed. The story is about an eco-terrorist plot to create disasters in order to drum up support for environmental causes, and the main character’s efforts to find out who and where the plotters are, and stop them. (Interestingly enough, the main point-of-view character isn’t really the”main” character in terms of the story action.)
Continue reading State of Fear