The last month has been pure hell - nothing but last-minute fixes and rush, rush, rush at my 9 to 5. To give you a measure of just how busy I've been, as I write this it is now after midnight on the night the CT gets published. I just archived last month's issue last night! Still, despite all the maddness of my hectic life, I've managed to find at least one book that was worth reading by an author previously unknown to me. I've also had to spend some of my own money - dammit - buying Del Rey books just so I could find out how some previously-reviewed tales end. Now I know for sure just why they give those books away at conventions!

Murphy's Gambit by Syne Mitchell © 2000 1st Mass Market Ed. 11/00 D A W Books, Incorporated

There seem to be a lot of novels set in neo-cyberpunk universes these days. That said, why should you go out and buy Murphy's Gambit? Because its a heckuva good yarn! Thiadora Murphy is a student at a military academy who is about to graduate as the top pilot in her class. She has few friends, and some of the instructors actively work against her because she is from the wrong side of the galactic tracks. Due, in part, to a ruse perpetrated by her fellow classmates and one of the higher-ups at the academy she is kicked out on the eve of her graduation. The corporations which seem to be in charge of everything worth having move in. One wants to recruit he to fly an experimental spaceship named the Gambit. Another wants to hire her to steal it. How she manages to thread her way past the desires of the corporations to achieve her own goals makes for excellent reading. You can use this link to purchase Murphy's Gambit from Barnes & Nobel.

Until next month, keep reading!

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Text Copyright © 2000 Paul Roberts

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(Space Reader Illustration © 1998 Joe Singleton)