Ambushed is the third in Carol Potenza’s De-Exinct Zoo Mystery Series. Veterinarian Milly Smith trained in Siberia and now works in Pleistocene BioParAmbushed is the third in Carol Potenza’s De-Exinct Zoo Mystery Series. Veterinarian Milly Smith trained in Siberia and now works in Pleistocene BioPark, a zoo dedicated by resurrected extinct megafauna (giant short-faced bears, dire wolves, smilodons, mammoths, woolly rhinos) brought back by de-extinction geneticists. Milly’s first de-extinct animal is Maskwa, a bear she raised from a cub and cares for deeply. She's next involved with Pleistocene giant apes who learn American Sign Language for the deaf. Now, she's facing Quinkanas, huge crocodilians, that are released into tunnels beneath the BioPark by a nefarious fellow biologist, Evan Bowie—and is present at a fourth murder. She learns more about her own past and genetics, finally faces the fact that the head of the zoo, Dr. Luther Nikolai, is never going to return her love, and opens herself to another man, Warren Carter, with devastating consequences.
Potenza is a biochemist, and her knowledge shines through in the mystery. The De-Extinct Zoo series is akin to Michael Crichton’s Jurassic Park series in its blend of science and fiction. Potenza incorporates enough technical details to provide verisimilitude while not overpowering the reader with obscure details. It is a quick read, full of twists and turns, and a touch of unrequited love. ...more
A Quantum Love Story is quantum physics meeting a Fifty First Dates sort of romance; though doesn’t meet the Romance Writers of America definition of A Quantum Love Story is quantum physics meeting a Fifty First Dates sort of romance; though doesn’t meet the Romance Writers of America definition of a romance, it is a slow-burn romance that fizzles out before true completion. When a San Francisco particle accelerator blows up, Carter Cho and everyone in it is thrown into a four-day time loop that seems to repeat endlessly, though Carter was apparently the only one zapped by a mysterious green current.
Even Carter’s memory, bank account, and even his cholesterol levels reset every Monday morning.Though he failed his quantum physics major in college, he is enough of a scientist that, once he realizes he is looping, he determines to break out of it and does experiments to determine how. He writes notes to himself in note books so offset the memory loss. Mariana is a neuroscientist working with the ReLive project, a firm developing perfect memory recall. She visits the Hawke accelerator project one day and also becomes trapped in a time loop. Carter manages to get her to work with him to solve the problem. They are just beginning to feel something for each other when Carter starts losing his memory.
The first part of the book deals with Carter trying to solve the loop problem and getting Marina to help him. In the second part of the book, Mariana takes the lead and makes a huge sacrifice to save the world from the loop.
Chen avoids much of the repetitiveness inherent in a time loop story by showing the progression of Carter and Mariana’s efforts to defeat the loop. The story never bogs down in too much hard science, yet I was able to suspend disbelief. ...more
Dinosaur Summer is a coming-of-age story set in an alternate past after the two world wars. On a plateau in South America, dinosaurs still exist. In tDinosaur Summer is a coming-of-age story set in an alternate past after the two world wars. On a plateau in South America, dinosaurs still exist. In the 1920s, the creatures were captured and used in circuses. The top circus at the time was the Lothar Gluck Circus which features avisaurs, centrosaurs, ankylosaurs, and a huge predator named dagger. Gluck is retiring after the circus goes bankrupt from falling attendance and plans to return the animals to their home. In Manhattan, Peter Belzoni lives with his father after the divorce. His father, after serving in Italy, decided he no longer wanted to be a geologist but a photojournalist instead. He contracts with National Geographic to document the transfer of the animals and takes Peter along as his assistant.
This is a rollicking science fiction novel set in a world similar to those created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in The Lost World, Edgar Rice Burroughs in the Pellucidar series, and Jules Verne in Journey to the Center of the Earth. The prose is taut. There is lots of adventure especially once Peter and his father get marooned on the plateau and have to face dangers they never dreamed of. A fun read....more
Juris Ex Machina is a genre-bending science fiction thriller set in the distant future. The city of Arcadia exists under a dome, and all its functionsJuris Ex Machina is a genre-bending science fiction thriller set in the distant future. The city of Arcadia exists under a dome, and all its functions are controlled by artificial intelligence. Computers have taken over so entirely that they are the “jury” that decides the guilt or innocence of criminals. The story chapters are interspersed with excerpts from books both real (Extraordinary Popular Delusions & the Madness of Crowds by Charles Mackay) and imaginary (A Brief History of the Wychwood Penal Facility by A. R. Wilchcombe) which provide a background history of the means men used historically when judging the crimes of others.
The book starts out in a fairly light tone with a young man, Rainville, living his ordinary life. He’s a typical young adult whose crimes are limited to flash mob shoplifting and scamming pizza delivery robots out of their wares. It soon deepens.
This book has the most unusual ticking bomb I’ve ever read: a toaster. A rather anachronistic product, it works like any other conventional toaster—but inside lies a lethal circuit that destroys a section of Arcadia. Rainville is captured, wrongfully convicted, and sent to Wychwood prison outside the dome. Here, the tone darkens as this relatively innocent man is subjected to the horrors of Wychwood Penal Facility, enduring the torments of being inside, seeing people killed before his eyes, and the degradation of all the inmates into their most violent and primitive state. Rainville must escape and join forces with his lawyer and girlfriend to save the city of Arcadia from an unknown terrorist.
The world building here is extraordinary. I was easily able to suspend disbelief and enter life in Arcadia. The author has degrees in law and computer engineering and has worked in computer technology litigation, so he is well-versed in his subject matter. Juris Ex Machina is well worth reading for its insights into artificial intelligence....more
In Mia’s Journey, author Diane Byington creates a genre-bending novel combining science fiction, paranormal activity, and women’s fiction. Mia Gray toIn Mia’s Journey, author Diane Byington creates a genre-bending novel combining science fiction, paranormal activity, and women’s fiction. Mia Gray took over her brother’s dream of becoming an astronaut after his death. She’s worked for years to be assigned to a launch. Three weeks before she’s due to head to space, her world crashes. She’s run over by an SUV and suffers significant injuries, all of which heal—except her brain. NASA grounds her because her reaction times are slow. In a desperate attempt to complete her dream, she learns of a commercial space launch company. Before they will send her to space, she must endure a two-week simulation course in Colorado.
Mia’s Journey is a lovely story of how one woman learns to deal with adversity and her path back to her life, her marriage, and her discovery of new dreams....more
I’ll be upfront and say I’m a long-time fan of Michael Crichton and the Jurassic Park series of books and movies. If you enjoy that sort of sci-fi/thrI’ll be upfront and say I’m a long-time fan of Michael Crichton and the Jurassic Park series of books and movies. If you enjoy that sort of sci-fi/thriller, this is the book for you. I read it in its entirety in one night. I simply couldn’t put it down.
Erebus Resort, a safari-type resort populated with prehistoric animals recreated via genetic manipulation, is set in the Colorado wilderness. The uber-wealthy can pay for backpacking trips to see wooly mammoths and other creatures up close and personal. When a newly-wed couple disappears, law enforcement presumes an eco-terrorist group is responsible. As incident piles upon incident, the resort starts to crumble. The last ten chapters or so reveal how wrong they are.
Preston takes current genetic research and turns it in a horror story as he depicts the pros and cons of mankind resurrecting extinct species. He does this quite successfully without bogging the reader down in arcane scientific terms. Like Jurassic Park, it’s a marvelous cautionary tale on hubris of man as well as our rapacious appetite for destruction in the guise of progress. The afterword was an interesting read as well.
Preston’s prose is tight. The suspense bounds off the page. The female protagonist, Frances Cash, the Colorado Bureau of Investigation’s agent in charge, is an atypical female in modern fiction: overweight but fit, sharp-tongued, and outspoken. However, Preston seems overly concerned about her diet and size. The remaining characters are full-realized and interesting (other than the surprise folks at the end who work as a mob rather than individuals).
I received an advance copy through Netgalley....more
Signs is the second in Carol Potenza's new De-Exinct Zoo Mystery Series and continues the story of veterinarian Milly Smith, who trained in Siberia anSigns is the second in Carol Potenza's new De-Exinct Zoo Mystery Series and continues the story of veterinarian Milly Smith, who trained in Siberia and now works in Pleistocene BioPark, a zoo dedicated by resurrected extinct megafauna (giant short-faced bears, dire wolves, smilodons, mammoths, woolly rhinos) brought back by de-extinction geneticists. The current mystery deals with Gigantopithecus blacki, a giant ape-like creatures, intelligent enough to learn American Sign Language for the deaf. I particularly enjoyed this aspect of the novel because I was at the University of Oklahoma when the chimpanzee, Lucy, was learning ASL from primatologist Roger Fouts. I also enjoyed that the idea of having to de-extinct the diets for this animals had to be considered when bringing them back to life.
Potenza is a biochemist, and her knowledge shines through in the mystery. Unmasked is akin to Michael Crichton's Jurassic Park series in its blend of science and fiction. Potenza incorporates enough technical details to provide verisimilitude while not overpowering the reader with obscure details. It is a quick read, full of twists and turns and a moving forward of Milly’s unrequited love for Luther. ...more
Observer is a science-fiction novel based on ideas from scientist Robert Lanza (called one of the 100 most influential people by Time magazine)and cowObserver is a science-fiction novel based on ideas from scientist Robert Lanza (called one of the 100 most influential people by Time magazine)and cowritten by Nancy Kress (a Hugo and Nebula Award winning author) and demonstrates an in-depth grasp of Science and a penchant for Speculative Science Fiction. The Quantum physics is understandable and illuminating. In short, the premise begins with aspects of the observer effect in quantum physics then makes the observer central, theorizing that observers create the universe, rather than the universe creating the individual.
The protagonist, Dr. Caroline (Caro) Soames-Watkins, is a neurosurgeon whose career is destroyed when she accuses her superior of sexual misconduct and becomes the target of a massive social media storm promulgated by misogynistic trolls. To salvage her career, she accepts a position with her great-uncle, Samuel Watkins, himself a Nobel Prize-winning scientist. He, along with physicist George Weigert and tech entrepreneur Julian Dey, have developed technology that allows people with implanted brain stimulation devices to create new universes and to revisit them at any time they are hooked up to the machinery.
Because the subject matter is complex, a lot of explication exists and the complex ideas are frequently repeated throughout the novel. Because of all the exposition, the dialog drags through extended lengthy paragraphs, much of which I skimmed. A subplot involves Caro's sister, who's has a disabled child and a non-disabled child, all of whom depend on Caro for financial support. In another subplot, Caro overcomes her distrust of men to embark on a romance. When her lover is killed, she insists on immediately being implanted with the device so she can establish a universe in which he still exists. There didn’t seem to be enough depth in the relationship for Caro to make this kind of leap.
Overall, I found Observer fascinating and enjoyed the read and the challenges of the science....more
Our Child of the Stars is a book that lingered on my Kindle for far too long. Having now read it, I wasted no time reading its sequel Our Child of TwoOur Child of the Stars is a book that lingered on my Kindle for far too long. Having now read it, I wasted no time reading its sequel Our Child of Two Worlds. Like its predecessor, it is a gem of a book, a quiet, emotional story while the action has been amped up with an alien invasion. It is a poignant look at the life of one particular, peculiar family who have adopted a purple, tentacled alien child, Cory. Set in the 1960s in Amber Grove, a small New England town, the Myers family has found a modicum of peace from the tumult Cory’s arrival caused in their lives. Author Cox does a splendid job of recreating the tensions of the 1960s and 1970s: the long-haired, pot-smoking hippies; Woodstock; the straight folks who toed the line; the Cold War; the Vietnam war; the constant fear of atomic bombs.
Cox captures the youthful exuberance of this alien child down to his voice, that of a boy so eager to get the words out that they come out in a staccato rat-tat-tat. His physical description is vague enough readers can draw their own versions of the boy in their minds. He is smart, curious, and adventurous—and utterly endearing. Despite the Myers’ efforts to normalize his life, Cory is from a planet where there is communal sleeping—and communal dreams. His own people, who are supposed to rescue him, are millions of miles away. The stresses of having an alien child, which initially pulled the Myers’ together, tugs them apart as their views of their marriage shifts.
Our Child of Two Worlds is a poignant portrait of an American family, the ties that bind this family, and the strength of those ties. The novel is also a portrait of humanity with its light and its darkness and explores what it means for humans to be in touch with aliens and upends the expected human-centered expectations. Cory encourages humanity—as well as his own kind—to rise above their darker sides....more
The most remarkable thing about this book are the Jam invaders of Earth and their communication with each other using complex body language which are The most remarkable thing about this book are the Jam invaders of Earth and their communication with each other using complex body language which are given unique names....more
Annie Beyers, the main character of Kelley McNeil’s debut novel, A Day Like This, seeming has everything she wants in life: a beautiful yellow farmhouAnnie Beyers, the main character of Kelley McNeil’s debut novel, A Day Like This, seeming has everything she wants in life: a beautiful yellow farmhouse, a loving spouse, and an adorable daughter, Hannah. When she takes Hannah to the pediatrician, she’s involved in an automobile accident. Hours later, she awakens to doctors telling her that Hannah doesn’t exist and her wonderful marriage is on the rocks. She no lives in the country but a condo in Manhattan. She adapts to these changes, but remains unsure of whether she is crazy or not, as she continues to have visions from her supposed life before the accident.
The characters are fully developed. The first half of the book flew by, but the second half seemed to drag a bit. The concept of this novel is intriguing, a skillful blend of novel and quantum mechanics and exploring the what-ifs of life. ...more
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