Empire Builders by Ben Bova
an audiobook review by Ivy Reisner
In this sequel to Privateers, Dan Randolph can save the world from ecological devastation -- if the politicians will let him. The earth is heading towards a greenhouse cliff, a sudden climate change that will destroy much of the planet in ten years if something isn't done soon. The ice caps will melt. Cities will be flooded. Millions will die.

The Dead Girls' Dance by Rachel Caine
an audiobook review by Gil T. Wilson
Morganville, Texas is home to Texas Prairie University and vampires. The university attracts new, young "blood" and the vampires rule the town. The locals are all under protection from a vampire patron, with the families entering a contract giving them protection. It's very much like life insurance, but instead of a payout when you pass on, you simply don't pass on at the hands of a vampire.

Dead Men Kill by L. Ron Hubbard
an audiobook review by Gil T. Wilson
For some reason, horror fans seem to be drawn to zombies. There are podcasts of zombie stories, several books and, of course, the re-writing of Jane Austen's novel as Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.  Many fans will consider George Romero's Dawn of the Dead as the beginning of this craze, and some die-hard fans will think of Max Brooks, with his Zombie Survival Guide, as reason for the trend.  But back before these guys brought about the flesh-eating scourge called zombies, L. Ron Hubbard wrote a mystery that brought the living dead into America.

Dead Men Kill by L. Ron Hubbard
an audio review podcast by Gil T. Wilson
First published in 1934 in Thrilling Detective magazine, "Dead Men Kill" is a great zombie/detective story.  Galaxy Audio has released this novella as a pulp book and a pulp audiobook.  The audiobook is produced with the same fervor and nostalgia as all the other Hubbard audiobooks.  The narrator keeps you in the story, performing as a narrator from one of the old radio serials. 

Blue Moon Rising: Part 3 by Simon R. Green
an audio review podcast by Fred Greenhalgh
This concluding episode of the Blue Moon Rising series wastes no time getting straight down to the action. The story opens with a bedraggled Prince Rupert rushing into the Forest Castle, barely escaping from pursing demons. Surprisingly, his return is anything but a prince's welcome.

Bellwether by Connie Willis
an audiobook review by Sarah Trowbridge
This story, winner of a 2010 Audie Award for audiobooks, is science fiction only in the sense that it is a work of fiction whose principal characters are scientists. As the work of 2009 Science Fiction Hall of Fame inductee, however, it is inevitably classified in the genre. It tells the story of Sandra Foster, a researcher laboring in the corporate catacombs of a company called HiTek. Her work focuses on fads and their sources, and for her current project she is trying to track down the mysterious catalyst for the 1920s craze for hair-bobbing.

Nexus Graphica
a column by Rick Klaw and Mark London Williams
As summer quickly approaches and temperatures in Central Texas are already hitting the high 90s, Rick Klaw has discovered a selection of recent titles to enjoy while basking in the balmy breezes -- or lounging in your air conditioned domicile.

Galileo's Dream by Kim Stanley Robinson
reviewed by Steven H Silver
At times, it feels as if this story is two separate novels woven together. One is straight historical fiction about Galileo Galilei's struggles with the Catholic Church in the early seventeenth century while the other novel is a science fiction tale which places Galileo in the far future.

Fitzpatrick's War by Theodore Judson
reviewed by Nathan Brazil
A steampunk speculative future history beginning in the year 2415, the initial setting is a North America under the control of the United Yukon Confederacy; a puritanical, militaristic regime, loosely modeled on Victorian England. The story is presented as the memoir of Sir Robert Mayfair Bruce, and is a personal account of a man who, at times, was a close friend of the most powerful political figure of his day.

Escher's Loops by Zoran Živković
reviewed by Kit O'Connell
Escher's Loops is divided into three chapters of increasing size, each labeled a loop. Each loop is a series of interlocking narratives, in which something bizarre and inexplicable happens to the narrator -- in the first loop, we follow strange memories held by distracted people, beginning and ending with a surgeon who halts suddenly on the way into the operating room.

Black Gate #14, Winter 2010
reviewed by Sherwood Smith
This issue, clocking in at 384 pages, is more book than magazine. The editor's lack of free time due to the day job during 2009 is the reader's gain, as in addition to fifteen stories there are three novellas. Even the comic "Knights of the Dinner Table" is longer. (And a crack-up. See Neil Gaiman accused of plagiarism!)

Babylon 5.1
TV reviews by Rick Norwood
Rick offers his thoughts on the new Doctor Who, on the end of Lost and what shows will be returning in the Fall. He also gives us a list of what SF is on TV in June.

Your Hate Mail Will Be Graded by John Scalzi
reviewed by Rich Horton
Rich has to admit that before writing this review he had to go into his house's smallest room to retrieve the book. But not because he was using the individual pages! Your Hate Mail Will Be Graded is perfect bathroom reading: it's composed of short, sharp, essays on a vast variety of subjects, readable in any order, and enjoyable in brief snippets.