Land of Eight Million Dreams by Deena McKinney et al.
a gaming module review by Don Bassingthwaite
A lynch-pin for the Year of the Lotus products, the Shinma have a lot of crossover
potential. Their story crosses that of the Kuei-jin and their concern over
the activities of the Yama Kings to the Kithain of the west, creatures of superficial similarity and
surprising differences.
Zom Bee Moo Vee by Mark McLaughlin
reviewed by Lisa DuMond
If you spent any amount of time plunked down in front of the TV on Saturday afternoons, watching Ghoulardi, Dr. Paul
Bearer, Zacherley, or any of the scores of horror movie hosts that brought you your weekly fix of truly bad movies,
you'll recognize the occasional music immediately -- zom bee MOO VEE... zom bee MOO VEE...
Bunker Man by Duncan McLean
reviewed by Chris Donner
A masterful tale of how one man's obsession grows to the point where it
overtakes and obliterates his former personality, turning him into what he
hates. The tension and ambiguity build until the reader is uncertain
whether the protagonist is going mad, whether he is simply evil, or whether
he is actually trying to ward off a genuine threat.
Dance of Knives by Donna McMahon
reviewed by Victoria Strauss
Set in a 22nd century North America drastically altered by rises in sea levels,
catastrophic earthquakes, plague pandemics, and the draconian social engineering of the USA, which sought
to solve the problems of poverty and crime by massive relocation of inner-city residents. The city of Vancouver is a
microcosm of these changes but also a vital example of recovery, for it's still a busy seaport,
and the headquarters for the various industry Guilds which are gradually rebuilding the economy of the Pacific Northwest.
Into this chaotic environment comes Klale Renhard, a young Fisher Guildmember tired of her life on
boats and looking for something new. Klale is all set to become a crime statistic until she's saved,
inexplicably, by Blade, a neurally and behaviourally altered "tool" who is more like a deadly automaton than a human being.
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Souls in the Great Machine by Sean McMullen
reviewed by Rich Horton
Many years after a disaster called Greatwinter destroyed human civilization, people in what
was once Australia live in smallish city states. Technology includes fairly ingenious mechanical
devices but no electricity or electronics. A central feature of local civilization
is the libraries, where the intelligentsia seem to maintain what records of the past they can.
The Centurion's Empire by Sean McMullen
reviewed by Lisa DuMond
Suppose a person were to travel centuries forward at a time, in nothing more
than their own body. Vitellan Bavalius is making the long journey from 71
AD to the 21st century alone -- with a few interesting stops along the way...
The Serpent's Tale edited by Gregory McNamee
reviewed by Georges T. Dodds
Snakes, in Western culture, have tended to be portrayed in a less than favourable light: tool of the devil in Genesis, ungrateful
and nasty in European folk tales, engine of suicide for Cleopatra, etc... Besides the fact that snakes are fascinating
animals in terms of their adaptation to environments as dissimilar as sea and desert, as well as with respect to
their physiology, it is not in every culture that they are the pariahs we take them to be. If nothing else,
this collection of 50 accounts of snakes gleaned from all over the world, should open
one's eyes to the wide range of snake-human relationships which have existed across the world and through time.
Alpha Transit by Edward McSweegan
reviewed by Peter D. Tillman
In the mid-22nd century, humankind is taking its first steps into
interstellar space. Two living worlds have been discovered in the Alpha
Centauri system -- one even has sentients, the Bronze-age Troodons. A
small human colony has been established on the other, dubbed Norumbega.
The third starship to Centauri is damaged by a meteorite as it is
decelerating towards Norumbega...
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