Tag Archives: Science Fiction

My Review of “The New Lensman”

New Lensman: The Space Age Sequel To E. E. Doc Smith’s Immortal LENSMAN Series by William B. Ellern

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I am a huge fan of Doc Smith’s Lensman series, but there was one book I had never read because I needed to locate a copy. This is that book, and I located an old but quite readable paperback copy online. This novel is not by Doc Smith, but it was authorized by him. Would it stand up?

The story is set contemporaneously with the events of First Lensman, and a number of those happen off-stage in this book. Some of these include the attempt on Virgil Samms’ life, and the climactic battle between the Grand Fleet of the Galactic Patrol and the Black Fleet of the enemy. And characters like Knobos, the Martian Lensman, Roderick Kinnison, and Virgil Samms make appearances. But while the Lensman novels cover vast distances, this novel is all set in one place, the Moon. Our hero, Lieutanant Larry McQueen of the Triplanetary Service, goes to Copernicus Base because there are plots afoot. Early on in the book he is kidnapped by enemy agents, but manages to escape. But people keep showing up to attempt sabotage, and it eventually becomes clear they are part of the same enemy as the Black Fleet, and that their sabotage is intended to coincide and align with the Black Fleet attack. Copernicus Base is a major military installation and taking it out of action would be a major loss to the Patrol. As Lieutenant McQueen is trying to stop these attacks, he starts to hear that Virgil Samms is turning the Solarian Patrol into the Galactic Patrol, and that he is creating a force of “Lensmen”. And in due course McQueen receives his Lens and joins that elite fraternity. Of course, in the end the good guys prevail.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and would recommend it to fans of Doc Smith. That said, unlike the Lensman books proper, this isn’t really Space Opera because all off the action happens in one small, confined space. But I think the fans will find it very familiar, and it does touch on an aspect not really covered in the series proper, about how the changes Samms made affected the lower level operatives of the Triplanetary Service.



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My Review of “Doctor Who: The Early Years”

Doctor Who: The Early Years by Jeremy Bentham

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This large-format paperback does what the title says. It starts with Sydney Newman, the father of Doctor Who, who came from Canada to eventually wind up as Head of Drama at the BBC. He had an idea for a show about a mysterious character who traveled through time and space in a ship that was bigger on the inside than on the outside. When no one at the BBC wanted to be the producer he grabbed a young lady who had been a production assistant for him at ITV, and talked her into being the producer. That of course is Verity Lambert, who went on to a very successful career in TV and film production. Then they had to assemble a cast, and a production team, and get the show going. The book discusses all of this and is a good introduction to this historical material. This is useful, but honestly there is nothing in this that is really unique.
Then the book goes into discussions of selected stories from the run of the first Doctor, played by William Hartnell. It isn’t all of the stories, but it mostly picks the ones that are significant to get this attention. It is the illustrations that make this book something you want to have in your library if you are a fan. While there are a few color photos, most are in black-and-white, but then so was the show itself in this time. What you will particularly enjoy are the production drawings and models, and the discussion in particular of Raymond Cusick, the Production Designer for some of the most important stories including “The Daleks”. I am rating this 4 stars out of 5 and recommended for the true Doctor Who fan.



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My Review of Robert A. Heinlein: A Reader’s Companion

Robert A. Heinlein : A Reader’s Companion by James Gifford

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


This is an excellent book, but not exactly a page turner. What it does is provide the metadata for nearly everything (Some things have come out sine it was written) that Heinlein wrote. It will tell youwhen a piece was written, when it was published, where it has been collected, the circumstances surrounding the writing of it, and any “Curiosities and Anomalies” he finds in the piece. As such, it is not a book to be read in a sitting, but rathere one to be kept by the bookshelf and consulted when reading a Heinlein story or novel. And so it is really only for the hardcore Heinlein fan. Since there are still many such in the science fiction public, it has an audience, but if you are not a hardcore fan I would skip it in favor of something more congenial. I happen to be a hardcore Heinlein fan and consider this an important part of my collection.



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My Review of Heinlein in Reflection

Heinlein in Reflection: Robert A. Heinlein in the 21st Century by Christopher G. Nuttall

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


I am big fan of Heinlein dating from my earliest memories of reading his juvenile books when I was a kid. And I did get recruited by Bill Paterson to manage the web site of the Heinlein Society for a short period, before someone with better skills took it over. So I have bona fides with respect to Heinlein. That said, I can be critical. Some of his stuff is not terribly good (e.g. I Will Fear No Evil; Farnham’s Freehold). And I got this book because I am interested in the critical literature on Heinlein. So, how did I like it? There was a lot of stuff I disagreed with, and a lot I agreed with. And I think a lot of this hinges on the tension between extreme individualism and social responsibility. Nuttall falls in the camp of “SJW is destroying America”, which is pretty weird to me, although it is arguably something Heinlein might have agreed with. Where I think Nuttall does a good job is in looking at Heinlein in terms of the time he was writing, and the constraints he was working under. Writing books for adolescent boys in the 1950s, there were things you could not say directly, but could only hint at obliquely. If you are a big Heinlein fan you might enjoy this book, but if you haven’t read all of his books I doubt you will enjoy this volume; it really presumes a strong familiarity with his work. But I have that familiarity, and I mostly enjoyed it.



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My Review of Traitor’s World

Traitors’ World by Stephen Goldin

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This is #7 in the ten book series about the agents of the Imperial Special Investigation Service, and I found it to be one of the better ones. I like Goldin’s writing which I discovered through E.E. “Doc”Smith. This book is a combination of Space Opera and Spy Thriller. The two problems they have to deal with are first, that the conspiracy against the Empire is still out there and still trying to overthrow the Tsaritsa. Second, they have found a person who was supposed to be safely imprisoned on the planet Gulag, and how had she gotten out? Is there something going on there. The two husband-and-wife teams are separated, with one team going to Gulag to work from within and see what is going on, but for this to work they have to commit treason at a level below the kind that earns the death penalty but will instead earn them a sentence of banishment to Gulag. The other team will try to infiltrate the pirate fleet that is known to be part of the conspiracy. And there is a deadline because the Tsaritsa is coming of age and will be invested with full Imperial power, and this will be the obvious signal for the conspiracy to act.

As this is the part of 10 book series that has its own arc, I do not recommend it as a stand-alone novel. But it you are the kind of person who enjoys reading a multi-book series, give this a look. The books are light and a good read.



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My Review Of Stellar Revolution

Stellar Revolution by Stephen Goldin

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


In book 5 of Agents of ISIS, the wedding of Tsaritsa Natalia is the big event, but first Pias takes Eva, his fiance, to his home planet of Newforest. There he gets an initial warm reception, until he says he cannot stay. And he can’t explain why, since ISIS is very careful about letting out information, particularly about thier top agents, like Eva, and Pias is destined to join ISIS formally himself. He gets ostracized as a result and has to leave without anyone acknowledging him. But on the ship back to Earth, they are captured by pirates, and they are part of the same organization headed up by Lady A. What do they want with the passengers of this ship? And Pias and Eva are of no use to them, so they are scheduled to be killed. And who is C, who just has come up? Is he or she above Lady A, below, and is there a B? In the climax, Judah saves the day by killing a robot who was going to kill the Tsaritsa, and the wedding does eventually come off. And Judah marries his fiance Vida, and Eva marries Pias, so all is well in the end.



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My Review Of Sanctuary Planet

Sanctuary Planet by Stephen Goldin

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


In Book 4 of the Agents of ISIS series, a problem has turned up. It seems that a number of prominent criminals have gone missing without a trace. And then the daughter of thee head of ISIS has also gone missing. They suspect she went undercover to try and solve the problem of the missing criminals, but she really doesn’t have field experience and is up against a very ruthless enemy. So the top agents of ISIS, Eva and Judah, are once again called into action to try and rescue the daughter, find out where the criminals have gone, and save the Empire. Two important new characters are introduced in this book. One is the mysterious Lady A, who seems to be the head of the conspiracy against the Empire. The other is Pias Bavol, who Eva falls in love with (and vice-versa). Another space opera romp.



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My Review Of Robot Mountain

Robot Mountain by Stephen Goldin

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This is a continuation of Goldin’s reworking of his previous Family D’Alembert series as a new series called Agents of ISIS. The previous series was based on an idea by E.E. “Doc” Smith, and it was Smith who got all of the attention, so I think Goldin wanted something with his name on it. I enjoyed the story, which involves a threat to the Tsaritsa that is set to happen while she is meeting prospective husbands. The top agents of ISIS, Eva and Judah, are on the case but what does it mean that there is a bomb set to go off? And how does a planetary ruler with a fortress mountain filled with robots figure into the plot? Its a nice romp.



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My Review of Butterfly Stomp

Butterfly Stomp by Michael Warren Lucas

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


This is a short novella that is essentially the beginning chapters of the novel Butterfly Stomp Waltz, but it is a complete story so you shouldn’t be put off by that. It is an introduction to a series that Lucas has written involving a heroine who is like Mission: Impossible. The action ramps up from the beginning and never stops. Since this is available for free as an e-book from the usual places (I got it from Amazon), it is painless way to try out a new series. I’d say you should give it a try, you just might like it. I certainly didn’t put it down once I started.



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My Review of Treacherous Moon

Treacherous Moon by Stephen Goldin

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


This is the second book in the series, and once again it pretty closely follows the original from the previous Family D’Alembert series (see my review of Tsar Wars for the details on that). Suffice it to say, this is a pleasant enough romp, but I didn’t see any substantial changes over the original. I don’t mind that exactly, but it gave me no reason for a higher rating. The first book managed to improve on the original in some respects, whereas this one simply filed off the serial numbers and changed the names. I read it on a plane and it was a perfectly good way to kill time, but not a lot of meat on these bones.



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