HIGH-TECH CONSPIRACY THRILLER is packed with suspense, grandly over the top in the best Crichton tradition. B PLUS

INFLUX
Dutton Books
2014

THE WILD, DREAMLIKE WORLDS of M. John Harrison span galaxies and centuries, woven with science and magic. SOLID B

NEAR-FUTURE HORROR TALE follows four young women fighting to survive a terrifying viral pandemic. Chilling!

Paige Daniels’s NON-COMPLIANCE: THE SECTOR starts with a great premise. In her imagined dystopian future, governments mandate high-tech neural implants as a way to make social processes, from economics to national defense, move more smoothly. Those who reject the technology are exiled to a Non-Compliance Sector, a combination ghetto, refugee camp, and frontier settlement.

Set against this intriguing backdrop, Daniels creates a complex outlaw heroine. Shea Kelly is a tough lady, a skilled computer and electronics hacker, and a fiercely loyal friend. She’s ready to fight when she needs to, which in the rough world of the Non-Compliance Sector is often, but she’s also capable of love, trust, and even yearning. It says a lot for Daniels’s skill that she’s found new twists to put on the noir hero(ine)’s outsider code, and the nuances of Shea’s rebellion and resistance are compelling.

NON-COMPLIANCE: THE SECTOR is a fast-paced read that delivers plenty of action along with its intriguingly imagined world. And it has a sequel, NON-COMPLIANCE: THE TRANSITION, for those wanting further Shea Kelly adventure!

COMPELLING DYSTOPIAN FUTURE noir focuses on rebels scratching out a living without mandated brain implants.

Science fiction and humor can be a tricky combination. When done well, the result can be as memorable as The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy; when handled clumsily…well, it’s best to pass over those books in silence. In his book Sequence, Adam Moon shows a gift for incorporating everyday humor into a familiar science-fiction plot.

Moon’s protagonist, Chris, is an average bro abducted by advanced aliens onto an ark-style spaceship for experimental breeding purposes. Where Moon absolutely shines is in catching the comedy inherent in a completely ordinary guy’s reaction to an extraordinary, and often imagined, situation. Chris knows enough about the conventions of UFO stories to understand that he’s an unlikely hero, but he’s also comfortable enough in his own skin to talk back to the aliens he encounters, and to trust in his own instincts even in these bizarre circumstances.

Comedy is hard, and Moon’s skill with it is impressive. Where the book falls a bit short is in its mechanics; the prose is still rough enough to distract from the story in places. All in all, though, Sequence is an enjoyable read.

ENGAGING RIFF ON the science-fiction standby of alien abduction shines with its humor, but could use editing.

NAZI CYBORG WARRIORS, warlock magic, and time travel combine in this brilliant, spooky World War II thriller.

ON A POSTAPOCALYPTIC EARTH, bunker-dwelling survivors try to regiment the world around them.  Thoughtful SF.

A WILD HISTORICAL PICARESQUE races from 1930s Berlin to LA, complete with pulp staples like ghosts and spies.