Category Archives: Science Fiction

Currently Reading – and Mocha Lisa’s

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Had a great time at Mocha Lisa’s on Saturday evening with my fellow Mavens: Amy Patrica Meade, Frankie Bailey, Liz Irish, Chris Keefer, Jacqueline Boulden, and Shelley Jones. Great coffee, great pastries (just ask my husband) and a wonderful and engaged crowd. I also picked up some new books. Expect reviews.

This week I read The Last Wizard’s Ball, by Charlaine Harris. It is number six, and listed as the final volume in the series. I hope not since it ended on several cliffhangers.

Lizbeth Rose accompanies her sister Felicia to the Wizard’s ball in the Holy Russian Empire. The ball is similar to the Regency London season, a chance to see and be seen. Since Felicia is a powerful death wizard, and beautiful as well, she is much in demand. But, on one of their outings, someone fires an arrow which strikes Felix, another death wizard and Felicia’s mentor. Another attack occurs at a ball, and then another. At the same time, Lizbeth Rose experiences several odd conversations. What is going on?

War is brewing in Europe. It seems far away to Lizbeth but the Germans and Japanese are represented at these events, and they are desperate to add Felicia to their stable of wizards. Lizbeth realizes her husband and her sister are keeping secrets from her, serious, earth changing secrets. Then Felicia, who is only sixteen, does something so reckless, so dangerous, and so earth shattering, it changes everything.

Highly recommended.

Currently Reading

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I regularly read Science fiction and this week, on the advice of a friend, I read Project Hail Mary. It doesn’t hurt that Ryan Gosling will be starring in a movie soon.

A lone astronaut wakes up with no memory of who he is or what he is doing in this metal room with two corpses. Gradually, as his memories returns, he remembers he is Ryland Grace, scientist/school science teacher, on a mission to save humanity. And how did he go from scientist to teacher? He disagreed with the establishment and left research in a huff.

A space microbe, named by Grace as Astrophage, has infected the sun and is drawing the energy away in such large amounts the sun’s output will diminish by several percent. All life on earth will perish and the Hail Mary project is an effort to reach Tau Ceti and find out why it is not infected. The space ship, hastily cobbled together by the nations of earth, and with three crew members from different countries, have been put into induced comas and sent on this dangerous and likely to fail mission.

And then, as Grace enters the Tau Ceti system, he is met by an alien ship.

There are so many twists and turns in this novel, it is hard to keep up. This is truly hard science fiction, full of physics and math. (It at least all sounds plausible.) I very much liked Grace’s reasons for, not only helping with the research, but pushing his way onto the ship. As a teacher, he feels the kids he teaches are HIS kids so he has a stake in saving them, a feeling I both agree with and totally understand.

Highly Recommended.