The Book Plank

Author interview with William C. Dietz Author bio:    William C. Dietz grew up in the Seattle area, spent time with the Navy and Marine Corps as a corpsman, graduated from the University of Washington and worked as a surgical technician, college instructor, and news writer. Later he worked for US West in a number of different marketing communications and public relations related positions, before leaving to accept a job as Director of Public Relations and Marketing for international telephone company edge2net. Dietz has been a full-time writer since 2002. Among the works from Dietz is also the novel adaptation of the highly rated computer and video game Halo: the book was titled The Flood and released in 2003. Dietz and his wife Marjorie live near the city of Gig Harbor in Washington State.  ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hi William, welcome over at The Book Plank and for taking your time to ...

The Causal Angel by Hannu Rajaniemi, Jean Le Flambeur #3 With his infectious love of storytelling in all its forms, his rich characterisation and his unrivalled grasp of thrillingly bizarre cutting-edge science Hannu Rajaniemi has swiftly set a new benchmark for SF in the 21st century. And now with his third novel he completes the tale of his gentleman rogue, the many lives and minds of Jean de Flambeur. Influenced as much by the fin de siecle novels of Maurice leBlanc as he is by the greats of SF Rajaniemi weaves, intricate, warm capers through dazzling science, extraordinary visions of wild future and deep conjecture on the nature of reality and story. And now we find out what will happen to Jean, his employer Mieli, the independently minded ship Perhonen and the rest of a fractured and diverse humanity flung through the solar system. Last year I had the chance to read Hannu Rajaniemi's sequel, The Fractal Prince, to his stellar debut,  The Quantum Thief. I am a b...

The Better Part of Valor by Tanya Huff, Confederation #2 When Staff Sergeant Torin Kerr makes the mistake of speaking her mind to a superior officer, she finds herself tagged for a special mission for the interplanetary Confederation to act as protector to a scientific exploratory team assigned to investigate an enormous derelict spaceship. Along with her crew and her charges, Kerr soon finds herself in the midst of danger and faced with a mystery that takes all her courage and ingenuity to solve. Two months ago I read the first book in the Confederation series of Tanya Huff and was very impressed with the story that she managed to set down. I have read a few military SF books but I think all featured an male protagonist. In her Confederation series, Tanya Huff introduces a very strong female protagonist, Staff Sergeat Torin Kerr. She doesn't hesitate one moment to speak what on her mind, she's down to her point and when push comes to shove she stands her own man. Aft...

Andromeda's Fall by William C. Dietz, The Prequel Legion Series #1 The roots of the Legion of the Damned lie deep within the mythology of the future. But now, national bestselling author William C. Dietz goes back to the Legion’s early days with the story of one recruit’s rebirth and redemption… Hundreds of years in the future, much has changed. Advances in medicine, technology, and science abound. Humanity has gone to the stars, found alien life, and established an empire. But some things never change... All her life, Lady Catherine Carletto (called Cat) has lived for nothing but the next party, the next lover, the next expensive toy. Until, in a bloodthirsty power grab, Imperial Princess Ophelia and her cadre of synth assassins murder her brother the emperor, and go on to purge the galaxy of his friends and supporters—including Cat’s family. The Carlettos are known to be staunch supporters of the Emperor and Carletto Industries has been in the forefront of his pet p...

Valour's Choice by Tanya Huff, Confederation #1  In the distant future, humans and several other races have been granted membership in the Confederation--at a price. They must act as soldier/protectors of the far more civilized races who have long since turned away from war.... Valour's Choice is one of the latest titles to strengthen the science fiction line up of Titan Books. Tanya Huff's books have been out in the US for quite some time already and as with many other titles both US only and these of Tanya Huff and books by other authors, Titan Books is bringing them to the UK! Tanya Huff is an Canadian author who is well known for many of her books including The Silvered , the Confederation series of which Valour's Choice is the start and the Gale Women series, which also will be published by Titan Books. Her works feature different genres from Science Fiction to Urban Fantasy. I have heard a lot of positive news about Tanya Huff's books, so I couldn'...

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...

The Plague Forge by Jason M. Hough, Dire Earth Cycle #3 The elevators connected Earth to the stars. The towers suppressed the deadly plague. As the final Builder event approaches, five keys will unlock their secret. After discovering the first key in the wreckage of a crashed Builder ship, Skyler Luiken and his crew follow the migrating aura towers in search of the four remaining relics. But time is running out: the survivors learn that the next Builder event will be the last, and one of the objects has already fallen into dangerous hands... As the alien Key Ship looms above Earth, and the surface below is ravaged by corrupt councils, fanatical cults and infected subhumans, the team race to retrieve the missing artefacts. Will they finally reveal the Builders’ plan? OK so first off YES the conclusion to the Dire Earth Cycle! Ever since picking up The Darwin Elevator this has been a series that I have been looking forward to read. Its action packed, has great characters ...

Transcendental by James Gunn  Riley, a veteran of interstellar war,  however, is not journeying to achieve transcendence, a vague mystical concept that has drawn everyone else on the ship to this journey into the unknown at the far edge of the galaxy. His mission is to find and kill the prophet who is reputed to help others transcend. As the ship speeds through space, the voyage is marred by violence and betrayal, making it clear that Riley is not the only one of the ship’s passengers who is not the spiritual seeker they all claim to be. As tensions rise, Riley realizes that the ship’s journey is less like the Canterbury Tales and more like a harrowing, deadly voyage on a ship of fools. Looking for allies, he becomes friendly with a mysterious passenger named Asha, who, like so many others on the ship, is more than she appears. But while she professes to be just another pilgrim, he comes to realize that like him, she is keeping secrets could be the key ...