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This month, we're taking a look at three very different types of books.

The first, by Fred Pohl, is a high-tech thriller about aliens intervening in Earthly affairs. The Siege of Eternity is a continuation of the story started in The Other End of Time.

Also being reviewed this month is Foundation and Chaos, the second volumn of "The Second Foundation Trilogy". This volumn is written by Greg Bear. Almost everyone who reads Science Fiction knows both the subject matter and the author.

Lastly, we're looking at a relative newcomer, William R. Forstchen. He's written a juvenile (or young adult) novel which I think will appeal to all age groups.


    The Siege of Eternity
    Frederik Pohl

    Copyright 1997
    1st Mass Market Ed. 10/98
    TOR Science Fiction

The story begun in The Other End of Time continues in this tightly-written tale. For those of you who haven't read the previous book, extraterrestrials have taken over an orbiting observatory. An expedition was mounted by the earth-bound administrators of the observatory to try to obtain some of the un-earthly technology aboard the satelite. While there, the expedition was kidnapped and copied by the aliens. These copies were sent back to replace the original crew with no memory of anything unusual aboard. At the end of book one, the crew that stayed behind trashed the aliens devices, and made good their escape aboard the Assured Crew Return Vehicle.

As this book opens, Daniel Dannerman's employer, the National Bureau of Investigation, has realized that the returnee Dan is not telling the complete truth about his experiences aboard the satelite. In addition, they have found that he is carrying around a very strange appliance inside his brain. They arrest him, and the Observatory head Dr. Pat Adcock, who also has a strange object in her brain. Then the escapees call from orbit. The voice from orbit is undeniably Dan's.

Interactions between two Daniel Dannermans, several Pat Adcocks, and other crew members who have both dead and alive versions would seem to make for a lot of confusion, but Pohl carries it off without a hitch.

This story is even better (although less kinky) than the Gateway series. Its well-told, technologically innovative, and gritty. The spy-craft is almost worthy of Le Carrie. The NBI is both overly-bureaucratic, and totally chilling in its complete disregard for individual rights. The aliens are alien enough to make the story work, but understandable enough to avoid confusing the reader. I can't wait for the next installment of this story!

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    Foundation and Chaos
    by Greg Bear

    Copyright 1998
    Hardbound
    Harper Prism

Once again, we revisit the beginnings of Asimov's Foundation Trilogy. In this installment, humans finally confront the humaniform robots which have secretly shaped much of their history. Hari Seldon, his grand-daughter Wanda Seldon Palver, and her husband Stettin are desperately trying to complete the work of founding the two Foundations.

The Emperor, Klayus I, is about to put Seldon on trial (as told in the first Foundation Trilogy), and things must go just right! But things are apparently not quite right. Wanda is having trouble with the founding of the Second (secret) Foundation on Trantor. Citizens with mental talents such as Wanda seeks are being hunted down and killed by the Empire.

The Emperor is unaware of this because an aspiring bureaucrat, Farad Sinter, has taken it upon himself to hunt down these people. He has the mistaken belief that most of them are humaniform robots. After they have been murdered, an examination of their bodies reveals that they are not. This only makes Sinter more anxious to find a real robot and expose it, so the killing continues. Meanwhile, not one, but two, factions of real robots vie to shape man's destiny.

I was very surprised to find that Mr. Bear had so closely copied the writing style of "Dear Doctor Asimov," right down to the types of sounds used for character's names. This only proves just how good he can be at his best. There seem to be a lot of good writers today, but one who can concentrate on a project until his own writing style becomes secondary to the proper execution of the work is rare indeed. I must salute him on a well-written, thoroughly Asimov, Foundation book. This one might have been written by the master himself!

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    Article 23
    by William R. Forstchen

    Copyright 1998
    1st Printing 9/98
    Baen Science Fiction

Justin Bell and Matt Everett are best friends at the Academy. They do everything together. They go hi-tech skydiving together, study together, and talk about girls together.

But they hadn't planned on having a crazy captain on the training voyage they took together. And they certainly hadn't planned on committing mutiny together.

This is among the best juvenile (or young adult) novels I've read during 1998. Some may see thins as a re-hash of material from Heinlein's Space Cadet or Dave Feintuch's "Seaforth Saga," but personally, I think that there is more than enough original material here to establish this as an original work. After all, how many types of space academies for young adults can you have? All of them would be required to teach honesty, integrity, idealism, and proficiency in the military arts.

All in all, this is a fine story, and makes excellent reading for "juveniles" of all ages. It combines that sense of idealism, which only the young seem to have in abundance, with the insanity of The Caine Mutiny. Forced to make a choice between following orders and doing the right thing, these youngsters manage to make the right decision. If my future were in the hands of young men and women such as these, I wouldn't worry. I heartily recommend this book!

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'Til next month, keep reading!

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Text Copyright © 1998 Paul Roberts

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(Space Reader Illustration © 1998 Joe Singleton)