New Year in an Unquiet Land
The Lampworks Lamplighter SF & Fantasy News & Reviews
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In this issue
New Year in an Unquiet Land
My wife and I made our annual New Year’s Day trip to Japan. This year, that day was interrupted by the massive Noto earthquake. Fortunately, we were far enough away that we only felt a rolling sensation, like the deck of a ship cresting a wave. We were in a store at the time; the overhead signs swayed a few inches, but the main effect was everyone’s cell phones simultaneously sounding an emergency alert. For those who were closer, the quake shifted the entire coastline of the Noto peninsula by up to 800 feet. The destruction was immense. The TV networks showed nothing else for the next week.
After New Year’s Day, we headed south to Kagoshima, where we had booked a hotel that looked out across the bay at Sakurajima volcano, just a few miles distant. The mountain dominates the skyline above the city, smoking and steaming, with a trail of fine ash drifting away to the southwest (away from the city). Sakurajima is one of the most active volcanoes in Japan with frequent eruptions disturbing the bustling city.
We toured the volcano and the area around the bay. We saw massive black lava flows from recent eruptions, amazingly with small towns tucked between them with people still going about their lives. A shrine gate buried in eight feet of an old ash flow was mute testimony to how life can change when the land grumbles.
We also saw spectacular waterfalls, some steaming hot and laden with sulfur, beach sands that were hot to the touch, and numerous hot springs where Japanese flocked to bathe in the waters. It’s one of the most mountainous areas I have seen. The peaks aren’t very high, but they’re squeezed together so tightly that nothing is flat and the roads make their way through tiny valleys that wind between them. It was a reminder that no matter what alien worlds we imagine, this planet has wonders aplenty if we just get out and see them.
Our Books
Sellenria: The Starship and the Citadel
Chuck Boeheim, Daniel Elswit
Believing in the impossible may be my only chance of survival.
I was a professor of archaeology at the University of Trondhjem. I did digs via telepresence and lectured in simspace classrooms. Life was stable and predictable, just the way I liked it. But then I found a relic that turned my world upside down. Now I’m stranded without hope of rescue on a pre-technological planet full of monsters and mysteries, hundreds of light-years from home. After a terrifying and nearly fatal encounter with a creature that couldn’t possibly exist, I was rescued by a fey assassin who decided that I should become her apprentice. I became advisor to the king but now I’m on the run after we were framed for the assassination of his brother. It’s mad enough to be a fantasy simspace, but it’s deadly real.
The most confounding part is that these people think my ancestor was an ancient warlock and that I can wield those same powers. I’m a man of science, of order, of logic; I don’t believe in magic.
But that’s not the way this world works.
Find it on amazon
What We‘re Reading
Visit our archive of reviews and recommendations on the Books We Like page of our website. You‘ll find over one hundred recommendations in Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Non Fiction.
Lord Valentine's Castle
Robert Silverberg
Valentine’s memories start one day on the outskirts of a great city, as a festival begins to celebrate the reign of the new ruler. He remembers nothing before that day. Is it only coincidence that he shares a name with the new Coronal? Is it fate that brings him into the company of traveling jugglers, who can help him on his journey? Silverberg tells a compelling tale of Valentine’s journey, both across a wildly imaginative planet and through his personal quest to become himself once more, or perhaps more than he was. The art of juggling is woven throughout the story, a metaphor for balance, insight, teamwork, and much more.
Buy on amazon
Implied Spaces
Walter Jon Williams
Implied spaces are those unintended elements that exist, just because something has to fill the void between the spaces that are deliberately created. This metaphor starts with architecture, but the swordsman and scholar Aristide extends it to the created worlds, societies, and pocket universes of post-singularity humanity. He discovers a plot emanating from the implied spaces that threatens to destroy all that he created, from a nemesis who can match or exceed Aristide’s nearly god-like powers.
Buy on amazon
Rainbow's End
Vernor Vinge
In a world enlarged by augmented reality, where smart clothes and smart lenses add layers of context and metadata to your experience, those who came to this experience late in life are at a disadvantage compared to the younger generation. Our foil in this story is Robert Gu, recently cured of Alzheimer’s, who is struggling to re-integrate with this society. His children and their friends introduce him to this world, with mixed results. One symbol of this change is the effort to digitize all the works in the University Library – an effort that will free the world’s knowledge to be used by all, at the cost of destroying the books themselves.
Buy on amazon
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The Survivors
Richard Rimington
In this tale of space opera and cosmic adventure, the Ambassador of a mysterious and ancient family must forge a path through chaos to overcome the terrible enemies that desire humanity’s destruction.
Her plan to avert galactic catastrophe will unite a band of survivors who have faced every imaginable danger and disaster.
Free via StoryOrigin
The Crewing
Shane Shepherd
Axel Butler, an unrelenting mercenary with a passion for collecting alien artifacts, embarks on a globe-spanning treasure hunt for missing components of a cryptic alien ship. Little does he know that he’s about to unearth far more than just relics; he’s about to unravel the universe’s most enigmatic riddle.
In Des Moines, Iowa, Commander Kevin Ore’s tranquil family picnic takes a hairpin turn when mysterious agents swoop in, spiriting him away on a clandestine mission to Mars. The reason? The discovery of a drifting alien vessel beyond Earth’s reach. But the real secrets lie in the shadows, waiting to be uncovered.
June Thriller, a retired operative presumed to have left her dangerous past behind, receives an unexpected message from a covert organization. It thrusts her into a top-secret mission to Mars as part of an astronaut team. Her mission: to decipher a puzzle that could reshape humanity’s destiny.
As their paths converge in the vastness of space, the trio faces a perilous journey with limited fuel and uncertain odds of return. Betrayals, revelations, and uncharted dangers await, all leading to one burning question: What mysteries lie within the heart of the drifting alien ship?
Buy via StoryOrigin
Fire and Inferno
Luna Fox
Two years after the battle at Heartheim, Kalindra’s heart remains restless. As protector of balance, she has yet to glean new information on the Elemental Aspects. Meanwhile, trouble brews among the kingdoms of men and geans, as political allegiances shift, and the value of Dracomancers is diminished due to Kalindra’s choices.
Rina, Kalindra’s dragon companion, is changing too quickly for her understanding. Not only is her body growing in size and strength, her knowledge and thinking ability is evolving beyond what is normal for a dragon of her younger generation, causing her to be shunned and feared by her peers.
Yenderen, Kalindra’s mentor, returns from a diplomatic expedition to Sil’derel Academy, but his return heralds disaster. Battered and wounded atop his dragon Braxenar, he warns of an incoming wave of attackers from Sil’derel Academy. The demidrake shares his fears with Kalindra: That Academies, and the history around them, are a sham, and the once-proud protectors of Balance have become infatuated by their own power.
As the battle is waged on Iclindir, the question remains in Kalindra’s mind: Who, or what is behind the attack on the Academy?
Buy via StoryOrigin
Galindra and the Troll
Adrian Murphy
Long before becoming a top-notch interstellar sleuth, Galindra takes her first flight in dragon form using her magical powers. It’s almost her last.
Lost and surrounded by enemies in a remote mountain fortress, Galindra finds an unlikely ally. But can she evade the cook pot and escape from her fearsome captors?
Will she master her abilities before her vengeful dragon father incinerates the entire castle and triggers total war?
Free via StoryOrigin
Berikatanyan Dawn
John Beresford
On Earth a stranger is convicted of murder, though he has no memory of the crime. A young architect wins his Masters degree, but – still battling his demons – he makes a momentous decision. A young woman waits for her father to come home, but her troubles are only just beginning. These three people share a connection they have yet to discover.
On the remote world of Berikatanya the people suffer the most cataclysmic failure of Elemental magic in their history. How will they deal with the loss of so many powerful magicians?
Free via StoryOrigin
