Penny is a normal girl, doing a normal job, a clerk at a law firm. She’s never been what one would call beautiful. More like a plain Jane with an inferiority complex. That is until the meteor. She was struck by one, but she didn’t die. Instead, she was transformed.

Now she’s a superhero by day and law clerk by night. The ultimate secret identity, since her heroine self looks nothing like plain old Penny. Just in time, because the city needs her help. There’s a new drug on the street. Highly addictive since it makes people feel like they have super powers. For some it has fatal consequences. It’s up to Penny to find the ones behind it, before the bodies really start piling up.

Niall Teasdale breaks new ground in his first superhero novel, Ugly. A classic set of heroes and villains with the lines getting blurred from time to time.  I especially liked the part where Penny find mentors in old heroes that have been injured in the line of duty. If you like DC or Marvel stories this novel will reel you in. And because it’s Niall Teasdale, it’s liberally sprinkled with sex.

#bookreview #niallteasdale #superheroes #actionadventure

Honor Harrington is having a bad life. She’s upset the wrong people and they’ve decided to make an example of her. They’ve put her on a relic of a ship, picketing a planet no one cares about, near a hostile neighboring star empire. Everything is about to come to a head. A lesser captain would ground up in the gears of war. That captain would not be Honor Harrington.

Weber’s naval battles are reminiscent of Nelson and Hornblower. If you’re a fan of military scifi, and you haven’t picked up this series, get out from under your rock and go get it. Weber writes in a highly descriptive style. He sets up the politics and background and then let’s the ordinance fly. Fair warning, once you start reading, you won’t want to stop.

#scifi #bookreview #spaceopera #thleatherman #navalcombat #sciencefiction

Louis Wu has been kidnapped. Not that his life was all that great to begin with. After his last trip to the Ringworld the human authorities want him badly. They’ve told no one about the advanced new drive technology he brought back, or about the woman he came back with. She disappeared. Another puppeteer is taking him and his kzin companion back to the unusual world beyond known space.

When they get there, they find the Ringworld in danger. It’s begun to wobble. In about a year it will wobble into the sun. It’s a race against time to find the answers to save the world, and get out from under their puppeteer kidnapper.

Larry Niven takes us back to the Ringworld in Ringworld Engineers. A few physics errors from the first book get solved here. Louis Wu meets more of the Ringworld inhabitants and learns a hard lesson. You can’t save everyone. Sometimes the best you can do, at the end of the day, is save as many as you can. A great sequel, every bit as engaging as the first.

#spaceopera  #larryniven #bookreview #scifi #sciencefiction

James is in trouble. He can’t afford to go to college. When you live on Earth in 2099, that’s a big problem. To avoid abject poverty, he chooses the lesser to evils and joins a mercenary unit. He’ll become the best soldier he can be, even if it kills him. Unfortunately for him, it does. He’ll get the chance to do better next time. When his unit get sent to a planet nicknamed Steel World, the stakes will be more than his life. They’ll have to prove that Earth has the best soldiers in the galaxy. If not, it’s curtains for the entire human race.

Larson puts together a wonderful universe where it’s do or die, and dying is very inconvenient.  Sure you can be regrown, but in the game of planetary politics every mission could spell doom for humanity. Soldiers learn to rely on their fellow man, but what they have their own agenda? Larson’s characters have depth. Everyone has their own goals. Sometimes those goals go against James. Sometimes those goals could spell disaster for the human race. It’s action and danger around every corner. An excellent read.

#Scifi #bookreview #spaceopera #thleatherman #militaryscifi

Liam and the crew of Loose Nuts are in a bind. Their beloved cutter is barely more than scrap after their last tangle with pirates. To put their letter of marque back in action, they’ll need a new ship. The age old smugglers question, do you want to be fast, or be able to bring decisive firepower. You can’t have both. An ancient British blockade runner, may be just the ticket.

The pirates have plans of their own, and they include more than an annoying band of privateers. They plan to take out the Mars navy fleet, and Liam’s girlfriend is in it. Loose Nuts is, once again, squarely in the middle of the approaching doom. They need every trick they can muster to win this battle, and it may mean trusting someone who wants Liam dead.

Number six in Jamie McFarlane’s Rookie Privateer series, brings more of what we love. Lots of action and space battles. Way back in book one, the relationship between Liam and Tabby is set up, and we haven’t seen the two get together much. This book changes all that. Tabby rejoins our fearless pirate fighters and is a welcome addition to the team. Three cheers for our rookie privateers!

#spaceopera #spacepirates #jamiemcfarlane #bookreview #scifi #sciencefiction

I enjoy good sci-fi, but I also enjoy a good adventure novel. Who better to review than one of the masters of this genre.

Juan Cabrillo and the corporation have been called to service again. This time we have a Tesla twist on the story. The Oregon and her crew are back to solve the problem. A tramp freighter that perpetually looks like it’s about to fall apart. A crew of specialists hiding just out of view ready to handle whatever the mission needs. The Oregon files is known for tactics, gadgets, and trickery and this book delivers. We start with a Russian prison break and just keep going. Page after page of action, action, action.

If you’re looking for an action/spy thriller, I highly suggest you pick up Mirage.

#actionadventure #clivecussler #bookreview

Alex has problems. Not the normal young adult problems like girlfriends, finding yourself, and what you want to do with your life. Well, I guess it is like that, except that his girlfriends are an angel and a succubus. Finding yourself involves having to deal with vampires, werewolves, and sorcerers bent on world domination. Also, it’s hard to figure out what you’re going to do with your life when you’ve been teleported halfway around the world to a war zone. It must be Tuesday. Alex could never get the hang of Tuesdays.

Lorelei is learning what it means to love a mortal. Being a succubus has some advantages. Two thousand years of experience, magic, and being incredibly tough. What it doesn’t have, is freedom. Hell wants her back, and won’t leave her alone. To win the right to stay on earth, Lorelei may have to do the unthinkable. Return to hell, fight an army of demons, and become a lord of the pit. It could be worse. She could have to go to Cleveland.

Elliott Kay tells a fantastic tale of angels, demons, and magic. They crew is back to help Alex and his girlfriends out. The stakes are the Seattle and beyond. If you like action, adventure, magic, mayhem, mixed in with a generous portion of sex, this is the book for you. I’m not ashamed to admit I stayed up until 3 AM trying to get in ‘one more chapter’. I’m sure you’ll enjoy it as well.

#bookreview #fantasy #urbanfantasy #erotica #elliottkay

High school is over, now what? For Alex, it’s community college to try and figure out what he wants to do with his life. Photography class? That’s a way to meet cute girls. Searching for the right image to impress leads him to a cemetery at night. The very night a cultist is performing a ritual sacrifice. Alex stops it, but at what cost? Now, with a sexy angel and demon magically bound to him, girls are the least of his worries. They each must figure out how to reconcile their new lives with their old ones. They’ll have to figure it out fast, because the cultist had friends. Those friends will do anything to get their hands on Alex.

Good Intentions is an Urban Fantasy novel with Erotica leanings. I say Erotica leanings because it is very much a plot driven story. Unlike many stories I’ve seen where the plot serves only to get the charters to their next tryst, Good Intentions is well put together. The Erotica accents the story and not the other way around. A playful romp through an urban fantasy landscape, Elliott Kay does a great job of creating a believable world filled with angels, demons, vampires, werewolves, and things that go bump in the night. A thoroughly enjoyable read.

#bookreview #fantasy #urbanfantasy #erotica #elliottkay

Louis Wu is bored. If you’ve lived for two hundred years, you might get bored, too. However, and alien has just approached him with a job offer. Join a select crew and travel two hundred light years into unexplored space. There is an impossibly large object out there, and we don’t know what it is.

Each crew member brings a unique skill. The leader comes from a race known for their guile. A kzin, a race of large humanoid cats known for their ferocious ways. Louis Wu, a human known for his survival skills. The last crew is another human. One chosen because she is… lucky? Together they’ll travel to the edge of civilized space to uncover the secrets of the Ringworld.

Larry Niven tells a story about four people so at odds with each other, it seems impossible that they should get along at all. Unfortunately, they’ll need each other if they are to survive. The world they find is nothing like what they expected. As the crew suffers one calamity after another, Louis Wu will have to use all his wits to find a way out. It seems that it is much easier to get to the Ringworld than get back off of it alive.

#spaceopera  #larryniven #bookreview #scifi #sciencefiction

Ian Black has many responsibilities. Saving the earth is foremost among them. The path has been painful. He’s lost friends and found that people he trusted had betrayed him. As Ian races around the Earth to avert a series of disasters, he is become more distant from his best friend and the woman he loves. What he needs are allies as strong as he is.

Jerrod has been fighting a guerilla battle from inside the ranks of the Weir. Their latest attack, a serum that will kill any of the Pur exposed to it. It’s war and sacrifices must be made. When the life of a little boy becomes the next target, Jerrod will need to take drastic measures to protect the Earth. His choices will put him at odds with Ian. Two of Earth’s champions could be pitted against each other, when they should be working together.

Masks and Mirrors is the exciting sequel to Fade to Black. Sue Duff continues her story of the magic wielding Weir as they struggle to control the Earth. One side fighting to preserve our future, the other on a mad quest for power. A fun read and an attractive story for sci-fi and urban fantasy readers alike.

#scifi #sciencefiction #fantasy #urbanfantasy #sueduff