First Contract by Greg Costikyan (Tor, 2001)

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When the aliens finally come, it’s not going to be to kill us, mate with our women, enslave us, destroy us, or enlighten us. No, it’s going to be to open up new trade routes, and do to the Earth what McDonalds, WalMart, and Starbucks have done to every town in America. Who ever would have thought that the aliens would be such merciless capitalists?

First Contract is the riches to rags story of Johnson Mukerjii, CEO of a small but profitable company in Silicon Valley. A fast-talking wheeler-dealer, he’s inches away from bust or boom, if only his company can get their new product working. He’s rich, powerful, a personal friend of the President, married to a gorgeous woman, and on top of the world. Then the aliens arrive. Far from being ambassadors of peace, these are hucksters, traveling salesmen who buy Jupiter in exchange for their equivalent of $24 worth of geegaws and technology. That’s just the beginning. As the tech market crashes, and alien technology becomes more and more prevalent, Mukerjii’s personal life heads down the drain. His wife drains the bank account, sells the house, and leaves. Banks refuse to return his phone calls. Ultimately, he’s out on the street with a bottle of Sterno to keep him company. From there, the only way he can go is back up. And that’s just what he’ll do, no matter who he has to bribe, con, or cajole, or what laws he has to bend.
Even if he can figure out a way to beat the aliens at their own game, will he beat the IRS, and survive the interstellar version of a trade conference?

First Contract is a fast read, but a biting satire that mixes humor, business, and science fiction to paint a refreshingly different picture of first contact. These aliens land at the White House because our media says it’s traditional. NASA turns a bigger profit by transforming their facilities into a shopping mall than they ever could as a spacefaring agency. Johnson Mukerjii, one of those dot.com entrepreneurs is Earth’s best, last, and only hope. The book is genuinely funny, and all too plausible given the most logical reasons for traveling thousands of lightyears. Why go to say hi, when you can go to make a profit off of the gullible natives?

Not the sort of book that will revolutionize the industry or change the world, First Contract is still enjoyable, intelligent, and just warped enough to make one chuckle a few times, and go away thinking about boning up on a few economics classes. Just in case.

Fallen Host, by Lyda Morehouse (Roc, 2002)

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In this sequel to Archangel Protocol, Lyda Morehouse takes another look at a future society forever transformed after a disastrous war. Religion has taken hold in a serious way; either you believe, or you’re a non-citizen. Now, the world’s only known
Artificial Intelligences are about to be tested for something new: a soul. Inquisitor Emmaline, part of the elite forces of the Church, has been assigned to track down the two known A.I.s and determine once and for all where they stand on the matter. However, a stumbling block appears in the form of Morningstar, who may actually be the Biblical Lucifer, who certainly intends to bring about the end of the world with the Apocalypse.
Between Emmaline and Morningstar, where will Page, an A.I. seeking Mecca, go?
Science fiction and theology are always a rare, uncomfortable mix unless done just right. Luckily, Morehouse pulls off the attempt, bringing together the disparate elements in an exciting, provocative story that’s sure to entertain. This is a setting ripe with potential, and she’s barely scratched the surface.

The Doomsday Brunette, by John Zakour and Lawrence Ganem (DAW, 2004)

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Zachary Nixon Johnson, the last freelance private investigator on Earth, is called upon to unravel yet another bizarre case in The Doomsday Brunette, his second outing. This time, he and his AI partner are summoned to the estate of Ona Thompson, one of the world’s four most perfect woman, in order to investigate the murder of her sister, Foraa. It seems that the Thompson Quads, four genetically-enhanced clones, have finally had the falling out people have been predicting for years. So who killed Foraa? Was it Twoa (the would-be superhero)? Was it Threa (the fairy princess)? Was it W, the ancient butler? Sturm and Drang, the identical cousin security consultants? Opie, the intelligent gorilla? Or was it indeed Ona, who inherited everything from her father/creator, leaving nothing for her sisters? Once Zachary starts digging, it becomes clear that everyone had a reason for wanting Foraa dead… including the murder victim herself.

Naturally, this means everyone wants Zachary dead, also. Luckily, he’s a hard man to kill. He’s had plenty of practice at surviving ridiculous odds. He’ll risk his life, his reputation, and his career to see justice done properly and earn that fat paycheck at the end of the case. Now if only he wasn’t caught between disgruntled aliens, and a doomsday device….

The Doomsday Brunette, like its predecessor, The Plutonium Blonde, is a wild and crazy adventure that blends noir detective fiction and far-out future SF to create a tongue-in-cheek, thoroughly enjoyable story. It doesn’t take itself too seriously, which is one of its best features, allowing it to stand out from all the other humorous science fiction murder mysteries out there. I know it’s a relatively small field, and all the better. Give this one a shot if you want some amusement.

The Disappeared and Extremes by Kristine Kathryn Rusch (Roc, 2002 and 2003)

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In the future, we’ve finally made contact with alien races. The only problem is, they come complete with laws and mores that occasionally seem incomprehensible to us, and part of the diplomatic concessions made to these aliens grants them the right to exact punishment from those who break their laws. Even humans aren’t exempt, and death is an all too common option. In the future, the only way to escape this fiendish justice is to vanish, to become one of the Disappeared. Companies exist to fulfill this need, and their records could save or damn thousands of people currently hiding from sentences ranging from enslavement to death. It looks, though, like someone’s cracked those records. All of a sudden, the Disappeared are no longer safe, and only one man has the tenacity to get to the bottom of this mystery, in The Disappeared.
Miles Flint, a space cop stationed in Armstrong, the Moon’s oldest and largest city, has just been handed a particularly nasty set of murders, which look just like alien vengeance killings. Add in several kidnapped human children, and he’s got a real mess on his hands. Lives are at stake, more than he can imagine. But is he willing to pay a heavy price to stop the betrayal and killing of thousands of people he’s never met?
In Extremes, Miles Flint has set himself up as a Retrieval Artist, one of the specialized investigators trained in the art of finding people who can’t or don’t want to be found. He’s inherited the caseload of his mentor, the now-retired Paloma, and he’s about to find out that old secrets die hard. Even as a major company seeks to hire him, a bizarre murder during the infamous Extreme Marathon on the Moon leads to the resurrection of an deadly plague. Is Flint’s new case connected to the resurgence of the feared Tey virus? If Flint screws up, or if fellow Retrieval Artist Miriam Oliviari fails in her own mission, Armstrong will become a tomb on the Moon.
Both The Disappeared and Extremes are excellent examples of science fictional police procedurals, mixed with adventure and complex plotting. Flint is a quintessential hardboiled character, too stubborn to quit no matter what the cost or how lonely a life he leads as a result, while his former partner Nicole DeRicci is an extremely strong female character, more than capable of holding her own under the most stressful of situations.
If there’s one quibble I have with Rusch’s Retrival Artist series, it’s that we’ve spent two books so far and haven’t really tapped into the central conceit of the “Retrieval Artist”. The first starred Flint as a cop, paving the way for him to become an Artist, while the second was more of a suspense/adventure set on the Moon. We haven’t seen him really try to “retrieve” anyone beyond Armstrong’s dome, yet. There’s a lot of potential, and I just hope we get to see more of it in the next book. On the whole, though, Rusch is off to a great start.

Deathstalker Return, by Simon R. Green (Roc, 2004)

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In the latest installment of Simon Green’s universe-spanning space opera, things just keep getting worse for the main characters, and the universe as a whole. Former Paragon and King’s Champion Lewis Deathstalker is on the run, disgraced and condemned by the people he used to protect. His companions include his lover, the famous Jesamine Flowers, the alien reptiloid known only as Saturday, the psychic con man Brett Random, and the sociopathic gladiator Rose Constantine. Their mission is an impossible one: find and bring back the legendary Owen Deathstalker, former hero of the Empire of Man, missing in action and presumed dead for two hundred years. They don’t have much time, as the unimaginably powerful Terror has appeared at last as prophesied, and is destroying entire planets as it steadily approaches the very center of the Empire.
To make matters worse, Finn Durendal, the greatest Paragon ever has gone bad, tearing down civilization with a bloody, brutal, unforgiving agenda of hatred and nihilism. He’s influenced a King, made unholy allies and turned them against one another, engineered genocides and rebellions, and committed atrocities, all to bring the Golden Age to its knees. Intrigue, violence and wildly imaginative plotting all combine in Green’s trademark over-the-top style. No one’s merely ordinary in Green’s books; rather, they embrace their extremes whole-heartedly, giving the characters and the plots a wide-screen feel, like Star Wars on psychotrophics and steroids. Green’s an acquired taste; either you like his style, or you don’t, and there’s very little middle ground. His stuff uniformly turns the dial to ‘11′, so to speak, with visceral fight scenes and complex plotting that doubles back on itself, laying false trails so nothing is predictable, and twists and surprises abound. It’s hard to match the scope (and occasional depravity) of his imagination, which makes each new book all the more welcome. Deathstalker Return is best read after Deathstalker Legacy, and preferrably after the five or so other books that made up the original Deathstalker series. Fans won’t want to miss this book, but newcomers are advised not to start with this one.

Channeling Cleopatra, by Elizabeth Ann Scarborough (Ace, 2003)

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A radical new scientific discovery has unlocked the past. Now anyone can, for the right price, undergo a procedure to bond dead people to them, using their DNA to summon forth memory and personality. You can be implanted with anyone whose DNA is available, from singers to writers to religious figures to ancient leaders. Of course, how well you get along with the new voice in your head is another matter entirely. While this subject has been covered before, in the Past Lives Present Tense anthology, Elizabeth Ann Scarborough expands the idea for a full novel.
Egyptologist Leda Hubbard is on the trail of Cleopatra, but she’s not the only one. It’s a desperate race to see who will acquire the priceless DNA first, and in what form. Whoever controls that, controls Cleopatra herself, now and forevermore. And not everyone wants her for the right reasons.
The concept is relatively fresh, the twist on it enjoyable, and the follow-through gripping. This is a fast-paced, fun novel that finds something new to say about an old subject. It’s definitely worth a look.

Callahan’s Con, by Spider Robinson (Tor, 2004)

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The Callahan’s crew is back once more for another wild adventure from acclaimed author Spider Robinson. It’s been ten years since Jake Stonebender, his wife Zoey, their daughter Erin, time-traveling genius Nikola Tesla, inveterate punster Doc Webster, organ-playing Fast Eddy Costigan, the talking dog Ralph Von Wau Wau, and all of the other freaks and lunatics of Callahan’s Bar moved to Key West and opened up a bar known simply as The Place. Oh yes, and ten years since they saved the universe from certain annihilation. Given a track record like theirs, which includes multiple world saves, can anyone blame the gang for settling into a nice rum-soaked retirement? Pity it can’t stay that way.
Maybe the trouble starts when the Florida Board of Education finally decides to investigate the details behind now-teenage (and teleporting, time-traveling supergenius) Erin’s home schooling (in a bar that’s also something of a commune?). Or maybe the trouble starts with health issues for one of the Place’s most beloved members. Or possibly, it starts when Tony Donuts Jr., would-be Mafioso and very bad man, chooses to make The Place one of the first places on his brand-new and ill-advised “protection” list. Trouble always comes in threes, it seems. And if Jake and friends want to save the day, they’ll have to get creative. And this is all before Zoey winds up seconds away from death, somewhere in orbit around Jupiter….
I’m of mixed opinions where Callahan’s Con is concerned. On the one hand, it’s got plenty of rich characterization, bad puns, fast adventure, wacky ideas, brilliant social commentary, and fascinating interactions. On the other… it’s something of a train wreck. And I mean that only because I’m such a fan of the series, I hold it to a high standard. There are a few glaring plot holes having to do with missing characters, one major plot device hinges upon an apparent contradiction of something we saw in its original appearance decades ago, and part of the magic is just plain missing. Jake, who we used to be able to identify with as the Everyman, has, by his own admission, become so inured to the unreal and surreal that he has trouble thinking in terms of mundane solutions. The absence of certain popular, much-loved characters has left a void, one filled by new characters who, for the most part, don’t add very much to the mix. A trash-talking Key West deer? A merman with a skin condition? Not one, but two men suffering from rare speech disorders? These are the sort of characters that used to have entire Callahan’s stories devoted to them. Now they’re just sort of there, possibly as long-term setups for godawful puns.
Finally, the death of a major character seems to change the entire tone of things, and not quite for the better.
While I love the Callahan’s series, and can’t recommend the first few books in it highly enough, I think we were better off when the story ended with Callahan’s Key. I desperately fear that the series has jumped the shark when the title character can’t even find time (literally!) to make even the briefest of appearances. Fans of the series may very well enjoy this book; for everyone else, I strongly urge you to go read The Callahan Chronicals, a collection of the original stories, first.

Burden of Proof, by John G. Hemry (Ace, 2004)

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It’s been over a year since Paul Sinclair, legal officer for the Space Navy’s USS Michaelson, testified in the court-martial of his first commanding officer. Since then, he’s settled down to a life in space, serving to the best of his abilities and faithfully, if sometimes reluctantly, acting in his legal capacities. With a new promotion to Lieutenant, and an ongoing relationship with fellow officer Jen Shen (currently serving on another ship), everything seems to be going smoothly.
Then, things go horribly wrong. While the Michaelson is in port at Franklin Station, an explosion rips through part of the ship, destroying part of Forward Engineering and killing a good man in the process. The resulting investigation, conducted by Jen Shen’s father, Captain Kay Shen, leaves all of the blame upon the deceased sailor, case closed. But something’s not right. Alerted by something one of his subordinates says, Paul does some digging into the incident, soon discovering that one of the Michaelson’s newest crew members, a popular young officer, may be to blame, and evidence supporting that line of thought has been tampered with. At this officer’s court-martial, all of the secrets and lies will be stripped away, and the truth revealed. But what impact will this trial have upon Paul’s career, or his relationship with Jen?
Burden of Proof is another exciting military legal SF adventure from John Hemry, who’s fast made a name for himself as a writer to watch. Perfectly capturing the rapid-fire give and take and dramatic arguments of shows like Law and Order, or JAG (of course), or movies like A Few Good Men, and throwing in the solid characterization of classic Heinlein, the story moves at a fast pace; though the build-up takes place over several months, the court-martial itself is almost surprisingly quick. Once I started reading, I was hard-pressed to put the book down, and I’m left eagerly awaiting the next installment of Paul Sinclair’s career. Though I do admit to wondering what sort of trouble he’ll have to deal with next time, and how long he can continue to be the reluctant lawyer, when he’s clearly just right for the job. Burden of Proof, like each of Hemry’s books to date, is a must for any military SF fan.

Blind Waves, by Steven Gould (Tor, 2001)

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The future lies underwater. After the Deluge, a global flooding caused by the melting of ice caps, humanity lives on what little surface remains above water, or on any of the newly-erected floating cities, such as New Galveston. The second largest division of the American armed forces is the Immigration and Naturalization Service. There’s a thriving business in salvage and deep-water exploration, siphoning gas and fuel from the gas stations and pumps of the drowned coastal cities.

Patricia Beenan is an important woman in New Galveston, owning an entire “hex” of the city and the buildings that stand upon it, sitting on the city council, and operating her family’s salvage business. She’s got some good people working for her, and a peaceful life. That is, until a routine job turns up a horrifying discovery: a sunken freighter with dozens of bodies locked in the hold, and clear evidence that links its sinking to an INS ship.

The culprits must have guilty consciences, for immediately, Patricia is forced on the run, undergoing a nerve-wracking journey back to the not-so-safe harbors of New Galveston. There, to save herself, she’s
forced to investigate the mystery of the sunken ship and its doomed cargo. Her erstwhile partner in this investigation, Commander Thomas Becket of the INS, who has his own scarred past to cope with, is the only
one she can trust as the layers of this conspiracy are peeled back, one by one. At stake are thousands of lives, and the fragile peace of the seas.

Part thriller, part romance, part mystery, and all science fiction in the forward-looking style of the genre, *Blind Waves* is Steven Gould’s best work to date. Inspired equally by Shakespeare and Dorothy L. Sayers, it’s a masterful example of blending genres that starts off strong and never lets up on the intensity until the very end. With memorable characters and strong characterization, it’s definitely  a book worth picking up.

The Better Part of Valor, by Tanya Huff (DAW, 2002)

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Staff Sergeant Torin Kerr’s reward for surviving a near-catastrophic situation while keeping her people and her civilian charges alive is reassignment, a fact that doesn’t please her in the least. Maybe she shouldn’t have told the general who got her into the mess what she thought of him. Now she and a ragtag group of soldiers drawn from all over the Confederation have been sent to investigate a massive derelict spaceship of unknown origins. But is the real danger the ship in question, or is it the publicity-hungry commanding officer and the media following him, or is it one of the scientists sent to study the spaceship? Any way you look at it, she’ll have her hands full trying to stay alive and keep her men together this time. Not everyone is coming home from this mission. Once again, Tanya Huff produces another enjoyable book, proving that her talents, normally reserved for fantasy, lend themselves quite well to science fiction. With the Valor series, she’s clearly hitting her stride.