The Book Plank

Transhuman by Ben Bova Luke Abramson, a brilliant cellular biologist has one joy in life, his ten-year-old granddaughter, Angela. When he learns that Angela has an inoperable brain tumor and is given less than six months to live, Abramson wants to try an experimental new therapy that he believes will kill Angela’s tumor. Her parents object and the hospital bureaucracy blocks the experimental procedure because it has not been approved by the FDA. Knowing that Angela will die before he can get approval, Abramson abducts Angela from the hospital. He plans to take her to a private research laboratory in Oregon. Luke has turned his old SUV into a makeshift medical facility, treating Angela as best he can while they are on the road, desperately trying to keep his granddaughter alive long enough to give her the treatment he believes will save her life. Abramson realizes that he’s too old and decrepit to flee across the country with his sick granddaughter, s...

Angel Stations by Gary Gibson Eons ago, a super-scientific culture known as "Angels" left incomprehensible relics all over the galaxy. Among these phenomena were the Stations, whereby human spacecraft could jump instantly from one part of the galaxy to another, and from them the brilliant Angel technology could be explored and exploited. One of these stations orbits the planet Kaspar, where the only other known sentient species outside Earth has been meticulously allowed to continue evolving in its own world of primitive ignorance. But suddenly Kaspar's mysterious "Citadel" has become the vital key to repelling the fast-approaching threat. At what cost, though, to its native inhabitants—and to the human residents of the orbiting Angel station? There are quite a few well known names that represent the current sci-fi scene, but I for one hadn't heard of the author Gary Gibson and his books. Looking up some of his books they did strike me as most...