A King of Infinite Space Allen Steele Copyright 1997 1st Mass Market Ed. 12/98 Harper Prism

"Welcome to Heaven, Here's a mop," reads the blurb on the back of this book. And, at first, this seems to be what this story is about. William Alec Tucker III is into drugs, sex, and Rock 'n' Roll in 1995 when his life comes to an abrupt end in a car wreck. Then he wakes up in the future. Seems dear old dad had bought him a second chance at life via the Immortality Partnership. His head's been frozen in liquid Nitrogen for about a hundred years. At first, he's little more than a vegitable, but little by little his mind begins to reorganize itself. It isn't really making much progress until a stomach virus leaves him unable to eat for a few days. His overseers have been feeding him drugs in his food. When they wear off, he finds that he's a "deadhead" aboard an asteroid named for Jerry Garcia. This novel is part of Mr. Steele's "Future History." Its as technologically deft as any work I've ever read. And the action is really well-written. As Mr. Steele brings the plot to a boil, the book gets harder to put down. Beware of this one - you might wind up staying up late and losing sleep.

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The Cyborg from Earth by Charles Sheffield Copyright 1998 1st Mass Market Ed. 1/99 TOR Science Fiction

Jeff Kopal has had a bad time of it as a poor little rich kid. Dad's dead, Mom's been hospitalized, and he's about to flunk the entrance exams for the Space Navy because he can't ride a horse properly. Think this is unlikely? You should read some History. Its an obvious sign that Jeff lives in a society which is in its decline. It is slowly being taken over by latter-day Robber Barons, and Jeff's family is one of the worst. Jeff's pretty small potatoes compared to the rest of his family, however. They arrange for him to pass the exam and ship him off to the outer reaches of Earth's empire. unbeknownst to him, they have a role they wish him to play - sacrificial lamb. If they can get him killed, then they will have an excuse for the "retaliation" that they are planning. Mr. Sheffield takes us on another visit to the Messina Dust Cloud. Things have progressed a bit since we were last there. Earth is even more backward than before, and the citizens of the dust cloud even more technologically advanced. And Earth wants some of that technology - no matter what they have to do to get it! Another gem, this one reminds me somewhat of The Rolling Stones (the book, not the rock group). Most of the technology is believeable, except for the stuff which is "newly discovered." Since most of the characters in the book aren't physicists, they don't understand it either. This is the most sensible approach to explaining the un-explainable I've seen in more than a decade. It beats the hell out of the "Star Trek techno-babble" we've all been subjected to for years. Good work again, Charles!

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Text Copyright © 1999 Paul Roberts

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(Space Reader Illustration © 1998 Joe Singleton)