Star Risk, LTD. by Chris Bunch
reviewed by Cindy Lynn Speer
When M'chel Riss left the Alliance Marines for the private security sector, she thought she'd be able to make ends meet. Little did she know she'd have to deal with employers who'd gladly stiff her on the bill and leave her worrying over where her next meal is coming from. Enter into this picture Friedrich von Baldur. He is impressed with her talents and wants her to become a partner in his security firm, Star Risk LTD. She agrees, even though the company is far from solvent.

Restoration by Carol Berg
reviewed by Donna McMahon
When the king of Azhakstan is murdered, enemies accuse his son, Aleksander, of treachery and drive him from his kingdom. But Seyonne, former body slave to the prince, knows that Aleksander is the kingdom's best hope. So he leaves his quiet retreat in the countryside and returns to Aleksander's service, following him into exile and using his growing magical powers to help the rightful king regain the throne.

Bubba Ho-tep
a movie review by Rick Klaw
Based on the Joe R. Lansdale novella of the same name, this is the story of the elderly Elvis and his best buddy, President Jack Kennedy who is black. The duo fight an Egyptian mummy at a nursing home in present day East Texas. Elvis, JFK, a mummy, East Texas. Get all that? This is pure Weirdness.

The Forge of Mars by Bruce Balfour
reviewed by Cindy Lynn Speer
Tau Wolfsinger's life-long project, was developing artificially intelligent robots with the ability to build cities. He invested much of himself in it, but because he is an outsider, his plans are rejected. Kate, the woman he was about to propose to has just been assigned to Mars, where she will use her archeological skills and Egyptology fieldwork experience to unearth and study alien relics discovered on the planet. Soon, he too accepts a mission to Mars, to use his AI technology to build the cities needed on the planet's surface.

Reality Dust by Stephen Baxter and Making History by Paul J. McAuley
reviewed by Greg L. Johnson
Raise your hand if you remember the Ace Doubles. All right, that separates the old-timers from the younger readers. The Ace Doubles were a series of paperbacks that featured two complete novels, printed back-to-back in the same volume. It was extra value for the reader and allowed the publication of some books that might not have sold so well on their own. The form died out as science fiction writers moved away from dependence on the magazines as their main outlet and SF novels became longer and longer in the 60s.

Priestess of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley and Diana Paxson
reviewed by Cindy Lynn Speer
Helena is an inititate of Avalon. During her becoming of age rite, she is gifted with a three-fold vision from the goddess she serves, a vision that shows her life as maiden, mother and crone. The man she sees in this vision is a Roman officer, one, she discovers later, is to lay with her best friend in a ritual. When she takes her best friend's place in the ceremony, she is banished from Avalon. Fortunately the Roman, Constantius, returns her love, and is happy to take her with him. Whether their love can survive the many heart breaks fate has for them and the constant manipulations of politics remains to be seen.

Lynn Abbey

A Conversation With Lynn Abbey
An interview with Steven H Silver
On deciding who would be contributors:
"About two-thirds of the authors I invited into the new project accepted my invitation and all but two of those submitted stories for Thieves' World: Turning Points. Deciding which authors to invite was analogous to trying to form a chorus from a pool of soloists. I was looking for singular voices that would blend nicely together (and play nicely together). Overall, I'm very happy with the Thieves' World: Turning Points chorus."

Turning Points edited by Lynn Abbey
reviewed by Steven H Silver
In her recent novel Sanctuary, the editor resurrected the dormant titular city which starred in anthologies and several novels during the 80s. There, she brought the reader up to date on the changes which have occurred since the various wizards, warriors, and thieves had battled for supremacy in its streets. With the stage set, she turned the city over to the authors who had made such a mess of it once before. Fortunately, those authors are more than willing to destroy Sanctuary all over again.

A Conversation With Contributors to Thieves' World: Turning Points
An interview with Steven H Silver
On what he [Robin Wayne Bailey] missed most:
"Oh, there are several good answers to this. Primarily, I missed the interaction with the other writers. It was great fun to scheme out the stories. I loved calling Carolyn Cherryh up and asking, 'Where's Ischade at this point in time?' Or calling Janet Morris to tell her, 'Guess what I'm planning for Zip?' Or 'Sure, I don't mind if Tempus rapes Chenaya, but don't expect her to take it lying down.' So to speak. I've lost track of Janet, but Lynn and Carolyn and Diana Paxson, I still count as dear friends, and I loved the opportunity to work with them."

The Isle of Battle by Sean Russell
reviewed by William Thompson
Within a fairly typical high fantasy kingdom, the author quickly invested his realm and characters with fresh perspective, creating a world of magic and political intrigue that he could largely call his own. With a deft sense of the natural as well as unnatural world of "the land between the mountains," he set out to construct a new history and mythology which while broadly familiar, nonetheless evolved to reflect its own individuality, greatly aided by characterizations that strove as much as possible to avoid the usual stereotypes.

Ruled Britannia by Harry Turtledove
reviewed by Lisa DuMond
Remember: the Spanish Armada did not overthrow England at the time of William Shakespeare. As far as we know... If it seems impossible to imagine a Britain governed by Spain and victims of the Inquisition, just give it a few pages and this novel will likely have you wondering, too. In London under the heavy hand of Spain and the Vatican, life for an actor and playwright is one lived under sufferage. All plays must be approved by the Master of the Revels and some topics are simply avoided by a smart man who wants to keep his liberty and his head.

Geeks With Books
a column by Rick Klaw
Rick Klaw gives us a look at how things work from behind the counter of a book store. Amazed with the number of people who have sold their books to a used bookstore, he tells us about how little everyone seems to understand about the business of used books.

SF Site News
compiled by Steven H Silver
Every day, items of interest to you arrive in our email. Our bi-monthly format doesn't lend itself to daily updates. However, this is a small inconvenience to our Contributing Editor Steven H Silver. He's begun a new column which will fill you in on recent news in science fiction. We'll be updating the page as he sends in new items.

Burning the Ice by Laura J. Mixon
reviewed by Jayme Lynn Blaschke
On a frozen moon, Manda, a singleton and outcast of the clone society there, stumbles into a peculiar mystery. A computer-projected syntellect of Carli, the long-deceased founder of the colony, inexplicably shows Manda a secret room that is cut off from all electronic surveillance. A room that also holds the frozen corpse of the original Carli. As if that wasn't enough, the syntellect leaves Manda with an ominous warning that the colony ship that deposited the clones upon Brimstone decades before never actually departed the system, and even now is in orbit around the planet, monitoring the colony's terraforming efforts.

The Disappeared by Kristine Kathryn Rusch
reviewed by Donna McMahon
Detectives Miles Flint and Noelle DeRicci don't usually cover the docks, but when a space yacht full of bodies drifts into port on the Moon, they get handed the case. It looks like a Disty vengeance killing -- repulsive, but legal under interstellar law -- and Flint is ready to chalk it up as a rare, distasteful fluke until two other cases involving alien warrants fall into their laps.

The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
reviewed by Martin Lewis
Following a coup that leaves the government of the United States dead, a fundamentalist Christian regime establishes the state of Gilead in New England. Immediately all women's rights (to vote, to own property, to make any decision) are revoked. The constant civil war that followed the coup has left swathes of the continental USA blighted and the majority of women infertile. Inspired by the biblical tale of Rachel and Bilhah, Gilead decrees that all fertile woman are forced to act as Handmaids, surrogate mothers who will bear the children of infertile couples.

Debt of Bones by Terry Goodkind
reviewed by Cindy Lynn Speer
When we meet Abby, she's standing in line, clutching a precious sack to her chest. She is waiting with other petitioners to see a wizard. It is war time, and D'Hara is trying to conquer the land. When some of the wizards are finally free, the group is led inside. Abby informs the sorceress that she wants to see the First Wizard himself. The sorceress tries to dissuade her, telling her that First Wizard Zeddicus Zu'l Zorander is also known as the wind of death, and is feared by servants as well as his fellow wizards. Abby insists that she must see him.

Warchild by Karin Lowachee
reviewed by Donna McMahon
Jos Musey is only eight when his world implodes around him. Pirates attack the merchant ship Mukidori, killing his family and taking the children to sell as slaves. Jos's good looks attract the abusive attention of the pirate captain, Falcone, who takes Jos as his personal slave. A year later, Jos seizes his first chance to escape, only to flee into the clutches of enemy aliens -- the striviirc-na, who are at war with EarthHub.

The Future of Spacetime by Stephen Hawking, Kip Thorne et.al.
reviewed by Peter D. Tillman
This slim volume consists of 6 essays, based on talks presented at the Kipfest on the occasion of Kip Thorne's sixtieth birthday. Thorne, the Feynman Professor of Physics at Caltech is best known to the general public for his 1988 wormhole "time machine" proposal, and indeed much of the book is taken up exploring the question, "is time travel possible?"