Science Fiction Trails #9
reviewed by Sandra Scholes
Already into its eighth issue, this one is titled the All Martian Spectacular. It has the bonus of being separate from the previous ones, as its speciality is Martians featured in one way or another. Being set in the 1800s, the attitudes towards aliens were different. H.G. Wells wrote his novel about Martians attacking Earth, and many believed there were beings and life on other planets, especially Mars.

Science Fiction Trails #8
reviewed by Sandra Scholes
The art for this issue's cover is a new look at a character from an old story, the original robot was on the cover of issue #4 as it was thought it would be a good idea to bring the artwork and the pesky character back for another airing. The theme this time around seems to be on alternate worlds. The emphasis is still on science fiction mixed with the westerns, but this was thrown in at the last minute and gave the whole magazine a new edge they thought readers would enjoy.

Science Fiction Trails #7
reviewed by Sandra Scholes
For readers who enjoy reading steampunk stories, the ones in this latest issue runs along similar lines except David B. Riley's chosen selection of stories are also featured in the Wild West of old. The caption on the front of the magazine, "Where science fiction meets the Wild West," is very apt as it shows what would happen if the technology of today was available to the few over a hundred years ago.

Science Fiction Trails #6
reviewed by Sandra Scholes
Still a rarity in fiction writing, science fiction meets the Wild West results in a wealth of time travel and steampunk adventures. In this issue of the magazine, we find nine tales in this rather well-presented glossy magazine that is really a book by the looks of it. It features works by C.J. Killmer, Laura Givens, David Lee Summers, Raymond Broadbeard and Lee Clark Zumpe.

Ethan Hamilton Trilogy by Jefferson Scott
reviewed by Suzanne Krein
Ethan Hamilton is an unlikely hero. He is a computer nerd who is completely immersed in the world of virtual reality. The virtual world has become as real to him as his wife, son, and daughter. Perhaps this is why Ethan is able to perceive the pattern in a series of "accidental" deaths where each victim was in the virtual world at the time of death.

Papaya Myths by Kimberly Scott
reviewed by Lisa DuMond
Don't you fall for any labels attached to this book; it defies such comfortable categorization to become more than the sum of those simple parts. The author has found a way to take a little science fiction, a bit of mystery and suspense, and a tale of lives past, and combine them into a narrative that flows like a river through deep, quiet pools into deadly white water. Dive in at the first chance.

Boudica: Dreaming the Eagle by Manda Scott
reviewed by William Thompson
Opening in 32 C.E., the earliest Roman legions under Caesar have departed, leaving Britain under the hereditary rule of loosely related tribes, bound by religion and a shared cultural history, past enmities and friendships, linked by trade and dominated politically if not in fact by Cunobelin, known as the Sun Hound, from a dun in the southeast that will eventually become present-day Colchester. Son of the military leader who first opposed the legions of Caesar, he has since united two of the southern tribes and grown wealthy and powerful through trade with Rome. Astute political marriages have given him three sons and extended his influence, though he has violently expelled the dreamers of Mona in order to consolidate his power. But Cunobelin grows old and his three sons are at visible odds...

Melissa Scott

Point of Dreams by Melissa Scott and Lisa A. Barnett
reviewed by Victoria Strauss
Every winter in Astreiant, a masque is held. Based on ancient traditions and aligned with the stars, it's integral to the health of the queen and the realm -- and more important now than ever, for the queen is soon to announce her chosen successor. This year, the play that is the source of the masque is itself sourced in an ancient text, the Alphabet of Desire, a compendium of flower- and plant-based spells, which most people believe to be a hoax but which may, just possibly, be real.

The Alchemyst by Michael Scott
reviewed by Dan Shade
Fifteen-year-old twins, Sophie and Josh Newman, find themselves in a world of hurt when they befriend a seven-hundred-year-old Alchemyst, Nicholas Flamel. While in his bookstore, they are attacked by Golems, men created out of mud, that are controlled by the infamous Dr. John Dee. As they come to Flamel and his wife's support, they save the day by inadvertently providing the opportunity to fight another day.

The Magician by Michael Scott
an audiobook review by Amy Timco
The Dark Elders are immensely powerful Immortals who are seeking to regain their control over Earth. All they need are the last two pages of the Book of Abraham the Mage, which are in the possession of Nicholas and Perenelle Flamel. Mixed up in all this are Sophie and Josh Newman, two ordinary human twins who have magical abilities they never imagined. There is a prophecy about twins with powerful, pure silver and gold auras... Are Sophie and Josh those twins?

15 Miles by Rob Scott
reviewed by Katherine Petersen
The book is named for a nursery rhyme, but it's also the distance from Richmond to the farmhouse where two bodies in various states of mummification are found. The Virginia State Police are spread thin since it's a holiday weekend, so Samuel (Sailor) Doyle is tasked to head up the investigation. A recent transfer to homicide from vice, this is Doyle's first opportunity and he's terrified. But that's only a piece of Doyle's problems.

The Hickory Staff by Robert Scott & Jay Gordon
reviewed by John Enzinas
This novel tells the story of three people from modern Colorado who fall through a mystic portal into another world. There they join forces with freedom fighters who are struggling to free their world from the grip of Evil. The present­day trio discover that both their modern skills and their newly discovered powers will be instrumental in freeing this other world. If this sounds familiar, it should. The juxtaposition of modern man and fantasy man has, of course, been done many times before.

Love in the Time of Fridges by Tim Scott
reviewed by Rob Kane
The story revolves around Huckleberry Lindbergh, an ex-cop from the city of New Seattle who returns to the city after an eight year absence to find that things are not as they seemed before. As he adjusts to this new city, he gets involved with a mysterious woman and a gang of talking, (semi-)intelligent fridges she is taking to safety. Or rather, a gang of fridges and a spin dryer. His involvement with the woman, Nena, gets him on the wrong side of the law as he helps unearth a vast conspiracy that threatens New Seattle.

Love in the Time of Fridges by Tim Scott
reviewed by John Enzinas
Huckleberry Lindbergh is an ex-Cop who returns to New Seattle after an 8-year self-imposed exile following the death of his wife. Thanks to a random police stop, Huck is pulled into a plot to liberate a group of fridges and take them to freedom in Mexico. Soon he is on the run from the police, the Fridge Patrol and New Seattle Health and Safety.

Babylon Steel by Gaie Sebold
reviewed by Rich Horton
The novel is set in Scalentine, a city which seems to be most of its "plane," sort of a universe among multiple universes, accessible from other planes by multiple portals. (Scalentine seems to be a sort of neutral ground for multiple races from different planes.) The eponymous heroine is that old cliché, a whore with a heart of gold.

The Secret History of Moscow by Ekaterina Sedia
an audiobook review by Susan Dunman
Living in a grimy Moscow apartment with her mother and younger sister, Galina has recently returned home from a stay in a mental institution. She is determined to say nothing that might send her back to the psychiatric ward, but her world verges on another breakdown when her very pregnant sister, Masha, goes to the bathroom and simply vanishes.

Paper Cities edited by Ekaterina Sedia
reviewed by Mario Guslandi
As pointed out in Jess Nevins' introduction to the volume, urban fantasy -- intended as a type of fiction where cities are the setting and the supporting character of the story -- has a long-established tradition in the literature, can be traced as far back as the Arabian Nights and appears throughout the centuries in Gothic novels, Dickens' London and modern horror and SF fiction.

Doctor Who Regeneration by Philip Segal with Gary Russell
reviewed by David Maddox
With an almost forgotten wheezing and groaning sound, time and space were torn asunder to reveal the familiar shape of a blue police box. The TARDIS appeared. The Doctor had returned. It had been 7 long years that the heroic Time Lord had been absent from the television screen and BBC Enterprises, Universal Studios along with Fox Entertainment were determined to make his return the spectacle it should be. The entire history of the made-for-TV film is recounted in this volume which succeeds in bringing back the excitement surrounding the attempted resurrection of Doctor Who.

Nightmare Logic by Larry Segriff
reviewed by Cindy Lynn Speer
Lately Jonathan Hayes has been plagued by nightmares, but usually they end when he wakes up. But not today. The police surround his house and tell him to come out peacefully. He is arrested for the extremely brutal murder of a sixteen-year-old girl. Someone apparently called in and accused him, and when they ran his name through the computer they found warrants out on him for the murder of two agents -- another act he never committed.

Sky Girl and the Superheroic Legacy by Joe Sergi
reviewed by Nathan Brazil
This is the story of ordinary American teenager DeDe Christopher, who has an extraordinary destiny. DeDe dreams of winning the National Gymnastic Tournament and dating the school quarterback. Until she begins to develop powers strangely similar to those of a fictional superhero named Sky Boy. DeDe enlists the help of her best friend and comic book geek, Jason Shewstal, to discover her true destiny.

Shadow Planet by William Shatner
reviewed by Cindy Lynn Speer
Jim Endicott and a group of young people are leaving the colony ship Outward Bound. They fought a group of Kolumbans, a race of aliens that look like huge gorillas, and have stolen their ship. These Kolumbans were selling a drug called Heat, whose main effect is killing who ever takes it, and Jim Endicott wants to find out why the Kolumbans are producing this poisonous drug and stop them. Before he can accomplish any of this, he needs to settle things on board.

The Extra by Michael Shea
reviewed by Seamus Sweeney
One of the most abused clichés of reviewing a thriller is to describe it a "ride" -- or sometimes a "roller-coaster ride" or "roller-coaster." This is ne book that merits the tag, it is a fun blend of many speculative fiction subgenres -- the near future dystopia, the reality TV show satire, the hunt for "the most dangerous game" of them all -- man. Added to the mix is a witty send-up of the pomposity and greed of the movie world.

Remember Why You Fear Me by Robert Shearman
reviewed by Mario Guslandi
He is an eclectic fantasist, whose stories range from the surreal to the horrific, from dark fantasy to black humor. But labels count precious nothing for good writers and, if you want to know how good a writer he is, this collection, arguably featuring the best of his short fiction, is an unique opportunity. Including twenty stories,the volume does offers a complete overview of the author's different narrative styles and of his personal approach to reality.

Mindswap by Robert Sheckley
an audiobook review by John Ottinger III
Mindswap is a 1966 novel by Hugo and Nebula nominated author Robert Sheckley. An absurdist tale that is a precursor to Douglas Adams's Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, this zany novel tells the tale of one Marvin, a dreamer and poor college student who only wants to see the universe.

Mindswap by Robert Sheckley
reviewed by Greg L. Johnson
The nature of reality, and the consequences of living in a universe where reality seems to depend to some extent on our own perceptions and expectations is one of those topics that inspires writers to deep and serious discussions packed with insight into the human condition and its place in a hostile universe. Thank goodness, then, that Robert Sheckley came along to skewer all those pretentious and serious discussions with a series of novels that took serious subjects and mixed them all up into one hilarious concoction that left his readers certain that even if the nature of reality is not readily comprehensible, it sure is funny.

Close To My Heart: The Scherezade Machine by Robert Sheckley
reviewed by Trent Walters
The book that changed Trent's life (not to mention the world's) was Robert Sheckley's The Scherezade Machine -- what they later called a "sleeper." He hadn't heard about it before when he found it in the Barnes and Noble bargain bin. There were a few enthusiastic quotes on the back that were interesting...

A Long, Long Sleep by Anna Sheehan
reviewed by Katherine Petersen
Rosalinda Fitzroy wakes up from 62 years of chemically-induced stasis in a forgotten subbasement to a kiss. Normally, her mother wakes her up from stasis to a champagne brunch and a warm welcome, so her awakening is as jarring as the world which has self-destructed and put itself back together in the time she's been gone. She may have lived for over 100 years, but she's still a 16-year-old girl, frightened, knowing no one and recognizing little from the time she left behind.

Charles Sheffield

Frankenstein by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
reviewed by Sandra Scholes
The story tells the tale of a young man, Robert Walton who writes letters to his sister, Mrs. Saville, over in England about a sea voyage he undertakes alone. Feeling somewhat depressed and bored, the voyage is disrupted by another man's dire health and has to save him from freezing to death. Trying to keep him in good spirits, Robert converses with him and he becomes the companion and friend he wanted all along, yet the other man thinks he will be seen differently when he tells his own tale of woe.

Officer-Cadet by Rick Shelley
reviewed by Lisa DuMond
Anyone familiar with police procedurals and their concentration on the process of investigating a crime will recognize this novel as, perhaps, a new branch of the genre: the military procedural.

Lucius Shepard

Kris Longknife: Redoubtable by Mike Shepherd
reviewed by Michael M Jones
Lieutenant Commander Kris Longknife, Princess of Wardhaven and "one of those damned Longknifes" is up to her eyeballs in trouble once again. She's been patrolling the Rim of human space, her ship of soldiers and scientists disguised as a merchant vessel, acting as bait in order to shut down the pirates and raiders plaguing humanity's far-flung outposts. Mostly, it's been routine.

Kris Longknife: Intrepid by Mike Shepherd
reviewed by Michael M Jones
The infamous Princess Kristine Longknife of Wardhaven is, surprisingly enough, bored. Sure, she has her very own warship, disguised as a merchant vessel, laden with scientists and researchers intent on exploring beyond the rim of human space, but she's a creature of action, and the action just isn't happening. To most people, this would be relief. To her, it's the sheer knowledge that something will happen, and she's tired of waiting. And so Kris Longknife goes hunting for pirates and trouble anyway.

Kris Longknife: Audacious by Mike Shepherd
reviewed by Michael M Jones
Naval lieutenant Kristine Longknife, Princess of Wardhaven, is in dire need of a vacation, after the way things have gone for her over the past few months. Thusly, she packs her bags and her entourage, and hies off to the planet of New Eden, where she hopes things will stay quiet for the time being, while she (reluctantly) fulfills various diplomatic and military obligations. The first assassination attempt suggests that things aren't going to be quiet.

Star Wars: Jedi Trial by David Sherman and Dan Cragg
reviewed by David Maddox
The time draws near, a Jedi Padawan's training is almost complete and he nears full Knighthood. But there is something more growing within him, something dark and dangerous. Will this mission prove his courage and valor, or lead him down a darker path?

The Freedom Maze by Delia Sherman
reviewed by Trent Walters
Sophie's mother is dropping her off at the Oak Cottage in Louisiana with her aunt and grandmother -- people Sophie doesn't particularly enjoy -- so that the mother is freed to pursue her accounting degree since the father has left the family. Sophie, on the cusp of becoming a woman, doesn't feel like she has any power over her life, and these women don't help. Behind the Oak Cottage is a maze constructed out of tall shrubs. It is there that Sophie is first haunted by the Creature who taunts Sophie when she gets lost in the maze.

Changeling by Delia Sherman
reviewed by Amal El-Mohtar
Set in a place called New York Between, one of many potential New Yorks sharing the same space as New York, it's a vibrant, colourful mishmash of folkloric and literary creatures and characters living in Central Park, on Broadway, in the Metropolitan Museum, in Chinatown or Wall Street. Each of these places has a Genius, a spirit that embodies it. Into all this comes Neef, a mortal changeling girl being raised in Central Park and longing to take part in adventures. Before long, her curiosity has her breaking rules and getting into trouble and the only way to get out of it is to complete a quest.

Through A Brazen Mirror by Delia Sherman
reviewed by Lisa DuMond
Here is quite possibly the finest, most accurate fantasy written since the middle ages. This is a stunning recreation of a place, a time, and its people long gone, with such a vivid depiction that readers will feel firmly in the heart of the action. Sherman's grasp of setting, language, and behaviour act as a snare to pull readers ever deeper into the story of a widowed woman's search for peace and survival.

Son of Darkness by Josepha Sherman
reviewed by Alexander von Thorn
A prince of the Unseelie Court abandons his world to hide in the realm of mortals. A demon of death and disease strikes people down at random. A dark hunter sends his spellbound minions to sacrifice their lives. A fanatic cult dabbles in occult mysteries. Nothing too unusual in the days and nights of New York City.

Star Trek: Vulcan's Forge by Josepha Sherman & Susan Shwartz
reviewed by Alexander von Thorn
The novel introduces David Rabin, a human who befriends Spock. The plot shows two intersections in their lives, once as boys and then years later when both men hold the rank of Starfleet Captain. Alex found the writing style deft and the pacing easy for tracking the novel's events.

Elsewhere and NeverNever by Will Shetterly
reviewed by Michael M Jones
Somewhere beyond the World, past the ever-changing expanse of the Nevernever, there's a city that used to be part of the real world, now just known as Bordertown. It's a place where humans and the Fae live and interact between their respective worlds, where magic is real and sometimes works as planned, where music plays an important part and anything can happen. Into this world comes Ron, a young man trying to escape his mundane past and follow in his missing brother's footsteps. And for Ron, it's the start of a long, strange journey.

The Works of M.P. Shiel
reviewed by Georges T. Dodds
Unless you're a fairly diehard aficionado of early science fiction or detective literature, you're likely wondering who M.P. Shiel was, and why close to 1800 pages of biography, bibliography, literary criticism, reprinted magazine appearances of his stories as well as letters are being discussed here. M.P. Shiel wrote what remains among the two or three best last-man-on-Earth novels: The Purple Cloud (1901), an equally seminal collection of early detective tales: Prince Zaleski (1895), as well as classic horror short stories.

Earth Abides by George R. Stewart / The Purple Cloud by M.P. Shiel
reviewed by Georges T. Dodds
Classics of science fiction, both are post-holocaust novels in which a single man survives. Beyond being rousing adventures, and having almost opposite approaches to the human nature of their last man, they explore the role of personal integrity and of knowledge in the development of humanity -- one centred on the concept of the all-controlling, all-conquering Übermensch; the other on its hero's uneasiness of the absolute power his deification by fellow survivors has brought him.

Shimmer, Autumn 2005
reviewed by Amal El-Mohtar
Shimmer is a glossy, perfect-bound quarterly magazine devoted to speculative short fiction. The first issue, released in the autumn of 2005, features stories by J. Albert Bell, Mel Cameron, Dario Ciriello, Edward Cox, Richard S. Crawford, Stephen M. Dare, Kuzhali Manickavel, Michael Mathews, and Jeremiah Swanson; it also showcases artwork by Sam Tsohonis, Mary Robinette Kowal, Chrissy Ellsworth and Stephanie Rodriguez.

365 Views of Mount Fuji by Todd Shimoda
reviewed by Lisa DuMond
You have never read a book quite like 365 Views of Mount Fuji. Probably, you have read nothing remotely like it. It's time to correct that flaw in your cultural character.

Dark Tangos by Lewis Shiner
reviewed by Seamus Sweeney
Few countries have had as dark a half-century as Argentina. Once one of the ten wealthiest nations on earth, and blessed with outstanding natural resources, Argentina's post-war history became a catalogue of repression, oppression, exploitation and (perhaps worst of all) a pervasive sense that justice was never done. The most intense and damaging period of repression was the so called processo, which introduced "disappeared" as a noun to the lexicon. We meet the narrator, Robert Cavenaugh, who works for a fictional American corporation whose Buenos Aires office was, it turns out, complicit in all this.

Love in Vain by Lewis Shiner
reviewed by Seamus Sweeney
In this beautiful limited edition paperback of the author's 1997 collection, these are great stories, ranging over genres and locations with admirable disdain for the artificial boundaries that disfigure literature. To use one of the great clichés, there is something for everyone. More accurately, there are multiple stories to suit multiple tastes.

Cursed by Jeremy C. Shipp
reviewed by John Enzinas
For the last 12 days Nick has:
1) thought about the state of his life,
2) made lists,
3) gotten slapped.
That last item has caused him to decide that he has been cursed by some malevolent entity. His best friend Cicely received her own curse. She woke up with a tennis ball in her hand and absolute certainty that if she ever let go, the world would end.

Collected Stories by Lewis Shiner
reviewed by Nathan Brazil
Short story collections can be such good value for money, providing of course the contents are up to scratch. The first few works in this set had Nathan thinking the book was going to be one of the best of its type, delivering absolutely spellbinding visions spanning a rich diversity of subjects. It is quite a large collection, and has its share of ups and downs, but the ups have the numbers to make it a worthy addition to anyone's home library.

Sharon Shinn

Batman: Dead White by John Shirley
an audiobook review by Ivy Reisner
Be aware, this title isn't work safe or kid safe. It contains foul language and racial epithets. The story is overdone. Everything is overstated and larger than life, and that's exactly what a comic book novel should be. There is no subtlety here, no layers of meaning. You have the good guys, who are in all ways good, duking it out with the bad guys, who embody everything we could consider bad.

Really, Really, Really, Really, Weird Stories by John Shirley
reviewed by Lisa DuMond
Sometimes there's just no way to keep reading a variety of material and come out unscathed. Sooner or later, exposure to all the experimental, creepy, stomach-churning fiction sneaks up on you. Lisa suggests substituting such words words as "clever," "inventive," "unique," for all those "really"s in the title.

Silicon Embrace by John Shirley
reviewed by Glen Engel-Cox
Yes, the aliens are among us, and they have been for thousands of years. The fractionalization of the U.S., including a second Civil War, has resulted in the world of 2017 resembling John Carpenter's Escape from L.A., complete with megalomaniac warlords and ex-military commandos. Glen loved the book.

An Alternate History of the 21st Century by William Shunn
reviewed by David Hebblethwaite
In his afterword, the author cautions against the natural human tendency to look for patterns in everything. And, indeed, anyone trying to fashion a single, coherent future history from the six stories in the book will be disappointed. Nevertheless, the tales do comprise an interesting set of snapshots of where we might be heading -- or (as Cory Doctorow's introduction reminds us) where we are now.

Thief of Souls by Neal Shusterman
reviewed by Georges T. Dodds
This is the second installment in the Star Shards Chronicles. It follows 6 young men and women who receive special powers when the radiation from a distant supernova reaches them on Earth. This time around they must defeat a powerful enemy that has survived since the days of ancient Greece.

Cross and Crescent by Susan Shwartz
reviewed by Steven H Silver
Steven finds Shwartz exhibits a strong knowledge of the period and location. Even if her characters' motivations often seem strange, Shwartz's understanding of the political situation and culture comes through, making her characters seem even more extraordinary than they already are.