Pulp of the Week - Phylogenesis

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Phylogenesis by Alan Dean Foster

I have read many of Alan Dean Foster's Humanx Commonwealth novels like Ice Rigger, Midworld, and the Flinx and Pip adventures. These are great adventures and I enjoyed them immensely. I still have my autographed 1975 printing of The Tar-Aym-Krang. I like that Foster continues to go back and tell stories in that science fiction universe. Over the past decades my reading decreased and it wasn't until a recent library trip that I learned of the Founding of the Commonwealth series. I borrowed Book One, Phylogenesis and gave it a read.

I found this story an interesting way to begin the story of the alliance between the humans and the insect-like Thranx. This is not the story of diplomats and presidents, of hive leaders and royalty. Phylogensis tells the story of two unlikely heroes.

Desvendapur is a Thranx poet and healer. For the insect-like race, those two occupations are nearly one. The Thranx live in an orderly, nearly crime free society on Willow-Wane. But Des has a secret. He is obsessed with the strange fleshy creatures recently discovered. He wants to meet these mammals; these baffling creatures. How could they be intelligent and how could such squishy, unstable things have developed a stardrive? Is there really a secret colony of the things in the wilds of Willow-Wane?

At great personal sacrifice Des decides to find out. His plan succeeds beyond his wildest dreams but at great personal cost.

Cheelo Montoya is a hustler operating on the streets of Golfito, Costa Rica. When a robbery goes awry, he flees into the Reserva Amazonia, waiting for things to cool off. If he can stay out of sight long enough, there is a huge payoff waiting for him.

There is never a doubt that these two deeply flawed individuals will meet, but their relationship is wonderfully played and makes the book. Some of the prose is a little clunky, but the story pushes ever forward toward an exciting and somewhat surprising climax. A satisfying tale of (nearly) first contact and the beginning of the Human and Thranx alliance - The Humanx Commonwealth.

I'll give Phylogenesis a 7 out of 10. This is not Foster's best, but was fun and I am looking forward to reading more tales in this universe and in this series. The Jacket painting is by Mark Harrison.

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Pulp Film of the Week - Prometheus

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Warning - Spoilers abound in this post. Unlike my usual spoiler-lite fare, this one is spoilery and thus, if you have not seen Prometheus and have any intention of doing so...

READ NO FURTHER

Pulp of the Week - Phoenix Rising

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Tee Morris and Pip Ballantine have created an absolute gem of a novel and a spectacular opener for a series in the tremendously long titled, "Phoenix Rising: A Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences Novel." The lovely cover art is by Dominick Finelle.

Reading this book was the most fun I've had with a novel in a very long time. The characters are great, the story clever, and the dialog witty, biting, and clever without being precious.

In a nutshell, Phoenix Rising is a murder mystery nougut wrapped in a spectacular Steampunk, Steed and Peel, Wild, Wild, West, X-Files candy shell. It is delicious.

In Phoenix Rising, our Steed and Peel are Wellington Books and Eliza Braun, agents in the Queens Ministry of Peculiar Occurences. Books is a Ministry agent that has spent his career in the basement archives, cataloging and preserving the case history of the Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences (MPO). He is shy and bookish, a British gentleman that embodies the opposite of brash. Braun is a human hand grenade - oft referred to as a 'pepper pot' - that hails from the colonies (New Zealand) and prefers bombs to stealth.

The names are obvious (Books and Braun) but fit the cheeky tone and fun nature of the story.

The novel starts with a bang as Braun rescues Books and then, due to extenuating circumstances of that rescue, is assigned to the archives to assist Books in his duties. This doesn't sit well with Braun and she, of course, coerces Books into an astounding adventure.

What I loved about this novel is how much heart the story has in addition to the thrills and humor. The action and adventure was made even more thrilling due to the readers attachment to the characters.

I will give Phoenix Rising a 9 out of 10 and I am looking forward to other stories in this series. I will give this book a Mature rating due to some Adult content of a sexual nature and some gore.

I read the Kindle eBook for this review.

The Ministry series continues with the follow-up novel "The Janus Affair" and a series of short story ebooks grouped under the "A Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences Tale from the Archives." These are written by a variety of authors and are available for 99 cents.

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Pulp of the Week - Doc Savage #32

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October 1935 - Dust of Death

Dust of Death is another Harold A. Davis novel (revised by Lester Dent) and like The King Maker, it is another story of a country in turmoil, or in this case two South American republics at war. Those countries are the ficticious Delezon and Santa Amoza.

The tale begins with a mysterious telegram from South America that is signed by Long Tom, but Doc realizes that it is clearly a fake designed to keep him from heading to South America. This, of course, causes Doc to leave immeadiatley. Ham and Monk accompany Doc in the Stratospheric Dirigible which flies at over 300 mph. 

Trouble follows and the heroic trio have to jump out of the airship before it crashes. Along the way they meet up with death by firing squad, death by army ants, and death by dust of death. None of these methods take.

I will say it straight out. Dust of Death is a fine Doc Savage novel save one story point. Chemistry. Someone decided that the pig wasn't enough and that they needed to step up the funny animal quotient in Doc Savage Magazine, so they gave Ham a pet monkey. Ham names him Chemistry and the ape is a spitting image of Monk Mayfair down to the red hair on its arms.

Outside of the simian shenanagans, this is an OK Doc book with political unrest again taking center stage. When a series of mysterious killings makes its way to Manhattan, Doc gets involved and tracks the Inca in Gray all the way to the small South American republics of Delezon and Santa Amoza.

There are some nice moments and twists, and of course "the girl", but she isn't really a femme fatale in this tale. Senorita Anita Carcetas is more the damsel in distress. Also featured is mercenary pilot, Ace Jackson along with some vicious army ants. But in the end it all comes down to the monkey, and the monkey pushes the series even more to the juvenile side of things, and that is not where I like it. Even as a kid, the monkey and pig bothered me because it took time away from the action.

Highlights include the stratospheric airship (I want me one of those!), pilot Ace Jackson, pygmies that speak Mayan, and the sinister Dust of Death.

This is a decent tale, the villainy is enjoyable, and the story is mostly about maintaining war for the benefit of oil companies and munitions manufacturers. I guess that has been on people's minds for centuries.

The pulp cover is by Walter Baumhofer and the Bantam paperback cover by James Bama is particularly nice. I'd give Dust of Death an 8 out of 10, but I have to deduct a point for Chemistry, so it gets a 7 out of 10.

The Print Books are here!

Yes, The Horn and The Zeppelin are now available in print at Amazon and still available via the links to the right.

Honestly, I would prefer you to use the links to Create Space, but I understand you may want to add them on to an Amazon order, or you may have Amazon Prime.

Either way, the books are there to enjoy!

The Zeppelin is on sale for 99 cents!

Yep, Amazon has put The Zeppelin on sale for 99 cents! Who knows how long that will last?


Buy now at half price!

Smashwords is live!

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I have finally posted Uchronic Tales: The Zeppelin and Uchronic Tales: The Horn to Smashwords! You can try a sample and buy any one of a kabillion file formats there.

This also means that iPad readers should be getting their versions soon (depending on how long the Smashwords vetting process takes).