"Pulse of the Earth: a Tale from the Triumvirate Universe" by Christopher Andrews

 A new angle on the Triumvirate series -- 5 stars

When I searched for my next book to read, I was pleased to discover that one of my favorite authors, Christopher Andrews, has released another novel in his Triumvirate series, “Pulse of the Earth.” But instead of its having the tag line, “A Triumvirate Novel,” like those that preceded it, this one is officially subtitled, “a Tale from the Triumvirate Universe.” And I’m here to say, this is truth in advertising.

What makes “Pulse of the Earth” so different from the rest is that it does NOT feature the Triumvirate themselves. Alistaire, Sean, and Trey -- the trio who usually star in this series -- are present within the story, especially Trey. But this book explores other aspects of this increasingly super natural world, and our hero this time is an American-Egyptian journalist named Jason Samir.

Jason works for an organization called “Watchdogs of the Weird & Unusual” -- an online news site that focuses on unexplained phenomenon that gets ignored by the main stream media (and which just happens to be run by the Triumvirate’s Trey, though Jason is oblivious to Trey’s undead aspect). He is sent to a local airport to interview a cryptic anthropologist, and from this assignment, two things happen:

1) He meets an enigmatic, tall, fellow reporter named Regina.
2) He discovers that the anthropologist, and everyone else on her plane, were savagely killed by a large, black wolf, which escapes into the rainy night.

As Jason attempts to follow up on the black wolf, and to build additional “relations” with Regina, he finds himself experiencing far more than he bargained for. It would be difficult to share many details without shortly slipping into spoiler territory, but Andrews keeps the plot chugging along at a smooth, steady pace.

Jason’s experiencing bizarre dreams, clashing with an abusive neighbor, interacting with his cop friend/source, pondering over a mysterious steamer trunk, and struggling to make heads or tails of Regina’s place in that very mystery -- all those elements interweave into an unexpected, but satisfying, entry in the series.

“Pulse of the Earth” has, arguably, a little less action than previous entries (until the climax, which is one heck of a blow out!), but it is rock solid on mood and intrigue, keeping this reader turning the page wondering what Jason will learn next. Because each big reveal proves to be a stepping stone toward the next bigger reveal, which is yet another sign of Andrews’ continual maturing as a writer.

“Pulse of the Earth” is, yet again, worth the wait, and another 5 star effort from Christopher Andrews. It is captivating, and left me urgently awaiting the next entry, which promises to return its focus to the Triumvirate (though I hope we’ll be seeing Jason again, too!). Check it out, it’s more than worth your time.

“A Plague of Demons” by Keith Laumer

We’ll call this one ... “different.” -- 2 stars

I enjoyed Laumer’s “Dinosaur Beach” well enough that I decided to check out more of his work, which is how I ended up reading 1964’s “A Plague of Demons.” Unfortunately, this one wasn’t quite so pleasurable, for me.

This book was released 7 years earlier than “Dinosaur Beach,” and it shows. Meaning that I’m glad Laumer had improved by the time I discovered him. Both works share lofty ambitions, particularly in their third acts where spectacle takes center stage. But where “Dinosaur Beach” found its balance, “A Plague of Demons” overreaches, tumbling past the line of credibility that its successor so carefully toed.

Over the course of the novel, the hero, John Bravais, transforms from hard boiled detective to mechanized monster. He begins as your typical film noir gum shoe, delivering sardonic one liners about mundane observations. Even his physical weaknesses come wrapped in witty packaging. But midway through, our hero undergoes extensive bionic enhancement, rockets away from North African intrigue, and finds himself pursued across the American heartland by extraterrestrial hell hounds intent on harvesting his cerebral matter -- and these “demons” succeed in killing him!

But then consciousness returns to John in the midst of combat, his mind now housed within a colossal war machine standing seventy feet tall upon some faraway lunar landscape. He discovers he’s been thrust centuries forward into an interstellar conflict where human minds serve as the literal cognitive engines of battle.

Later, through some unexplained mechanism, John transfers his consciousness into a feline-robotic hybrid, vanquishes a tentacled adversary, and ... these wild twists and turns go on and on. And while I won’t give any specific spoilers, I’ll note that the narrative concludes rather abruptly, without clear resolution or subsequent novels to pick up the thread.

“A Plague of Demons” reaches for the stars with its psychedelic vision, even as it stumbles over its own contradictions and over ambitions. I can see the seeds of what would later bloom in “Dinosaur Beach,” but this one just didn’t do it for me.

Still, between my 4-star experience and this 2-star dud, I might remain just curious enough to check out some of Laumer’s other works. Maybe one of those can be the tie breaker.

“Dinosaur Beach” by Keith Laumer

 Fun little time travel book -- 4 stars

I stumbled across “Dinosaur Beach” by happenstance, and decided to give it a chance. It’s a quick read from 1971 (my edition was only 151 pages), and worth your time.

The novel’s structure initially appears pretty chaotic: Ravel -- a Time Agent whose job involves repairing a time line fractured by earlier chrononauts -- completes an assignment in 1936 while falling for a “native” girl named Lisa. But before that romance can get very far, Ravel is summoned back to headquarters in the prehistoric era, the headquarters known as “Dinosaur Beach.”

Then an attack on Dinosaur Beach sends him ricocheting through various temporal coordinates. During one of these unplanned jumps, he accidentally alters a past time line, resulting in the death of his younger self -- a paradox that further complicates the narrative.

Eventually, Ravel crosses paths with another time agent, a woman whose existence threatens his own. According to the laws of temporal physics, parallel time lines cannot coexist indefinitely -- one must be erased to stabilize the other. As they circle each other warily, neither can determine which of them belongs to the primary time line and which is the aberration destined for elimination.

As the pages turn, subtle clues emerge, hinting that these seemingly disconnected incidents share invisible threads. Meanwhile, Ravel’s identity -- both to the reader and to himself -- begins to fracture and reassemble like a jigsaw puzzle with missing pieces. The narrative builds through revelation after startling revelations that cascade into a finale that rewards the reader’s patience. 

“Dinosaur Beach” (in spite of its somewhat misleading title) makes for intellectual, and satisfying, science fiction. If you get a chance, check it out.

"Icerigger" by Alan Dean Foster

 So-so start to another new Alan Dean Foster series -- 3 stars

I continue my rediscovery of Alan Dean Foster with “Icerigger,” the first in its series. It wasn’t as good as the other Foster books I’ve read of late, but it’s not bad, either.

Ethan Fortune sold vacuum cleaners for a living, and he certainly never considered himself a “hero.” Yet here he was, marooned with two dozen strangers on a planet where the air could freeze your lungs, watching them all turn to him with expectant eyes. The next thing Ethan knows, they have appointed him their leader.

“Icerigger” hurls its readers into a world where survival hangs by a thread. Foster crafts a narrative that pulses with tension, allowing only brief moments of respite before the next perilous challenge emerges from the frozen landscape.

(As a quick aside, barring some short comings I’ll get to in a moment, I can easily imagine this story translated to the silver screen as an epic science fiction spectacle. Of course, the studio would need to allocate significant resources for visual effects, considering the narrative unfolds primarily on a frozen world teeming with diverse extraterrestrial life forms.)

As he often does, Foster excels at constructing vivid universes and throwing his characters into preposterous situations with an almost child like glee. Readers seeking rigorous scientific speculation should look elsewhere, but those who enjoy their interstellar adventures with a generous splash of violence will find themselves thoroughly entertained.

Now, my primary complaint, the reason I lowered this book from 4 stars down to 3: Foster’s handling of women (and the scarcity of them). I initially appreciated the inclusion of Colette du Kane -- a wealthy, plus-sized female protagonist -- thinking the author was breaking from the science fiction convention of every woman’s physical attributes appealing to men.

Unfortunately, as the plot progressed, the author’s treatment of her character devolved into cruel mockery centered around her body size. The novel even concludes with a visual joke at her expense that feels jarringly dated, like something from a low-brow comedy film of the era. While I recognize the book is a product of its time (1974), this approach to character development left me genuinely disheartened.

Despite this glaring shortcoming, the novel’s thrilling adventure across frozen landscapes still manages to captivate. It’s worth a look see, but as they say, results may vary. 

“Spellsinger” by Alan Dean Foster

 Foster swings back to fantasy -- 4 stars

As you may have noticed, I’m on a bit of an Alan Dean Foster kick lately. After “For Love of Mother-Not” crept more into traditional Sci-Fi territory (or, at least, the super human genre), Foster’s “Spellsinger” swings things back around to the realm of fantasy. And, as with “For Love of Mother-Not,” this book is the first in a much beloved series.

In “Spellsinger,” young twenty something Jonathan-Thomas Meriweather finds himself sucked into a magical, medieval realm of anthropomorphic animals -- which includes an otter with a heavy Scottish accent, a sorcerous turtle, and a communist dragon.

Jonathan-Thomas -- nicknamed “JonTom” -- soon discovers that he is a “Spellsinger,” a legendary figure who channels magic through music. While his newfound abilities frequently land him and his companions in precarious situations rather than resolving them, the author cleverly uses these moments to weave classic songs into the narrative.

While the book overall feels as though it leans toward Young Adult territory, I was a little surprised that it does not shy away from adult elements -- characters curse when situations warrant it, romantic entanglements unfold naturally, and certain herbs known as “Mary Jane” make occasional appearances. Still, I felt the story strikes a nice balance for teen readers already navigating fantasy worlds or those ready to discover what the genre truly has to offer.

On the one hand, based on a little side research, it sounds like you won’t need a roadmap to navigate this series -- there is no labyrinth of prequels or tangled webs of spinoffs standing between the new readers and the story. Just one book after another, like stepping stones across a clear stream. On the other hand, I was also surprised that this first book is only half of the initial story -- apparently, the second book, “The Hour of the Gate,” finishes the story that “Spellsinger” begins.

Overall, I enjoyed “Spellsinger.” I wasn’t crazy about the “cliff hanger” element, but as time rolls by, I believe I’ll pick up a copy of “The Hour of the Gate” and find out what happens to JonTom next.

“For Love of Mother-Not” by Alan Dean Foster

More Alan Dean Foster, even more Sci-Fi  -- 5 stars

After reading Foster’s “Slipt,” I decided to return to another of his works, a book I read a long time ago: “For Love of Mother-Not,” also later known as the first “Pip & Flinx Adventure,” which was news to me.

Orphan Flinx is taken in (or more accurately, purchased) by a contentious elderly woman named Mother Mastiff, who runs a modest shop. This shop is situated in the sole major city on a planet known for its frequent, almost non stop rain. Mother Mastiff becomes the mother figure Flinx never had -- his “mother-not.”

One night, Flinx “hears” a solitary thought through his unpredictable ability to sense emotions. He tracks it to an unusual winged snake in a trash pile, which promptly decides to make Flinx its new owner/companion. Flinx names the creature “Pip,” and as it happens, Pip is an extremely dangerous snake capable of ejecting a potent, corrosive neurotoxin when it feels threatened.

When Flinx’s mother-not is abducted and whisked away across the largely untamed planet, he and Pip set off on a mission to rescue her.

Now, I don’t think I realized this back in the day, but “For Love of Mother-Not” is apparently the beginning of a quite expansive series. And I can see why. The writing in this books flows effortlessly without any dull moments, keeping this reader engaged throughout in spite of the fact that it was considered a “Young Adult” novel/series.

Regardless of age, I would recommend this book to any science fiction enthusiasts who enjoy stories about personal challenges and mysteries. While the reader discovers Flinx’s origins and the source of his strange abilities, Flinx himself only receives a few clues -- at least, for now.

An excellent foundation for the series. I might have to look into checking out more of these.

"Slipt" by Alan Dean Foster

 Toxic waste and super humans -- 4 stars

I picked up “Slipt” at a used book store, mainly because I remembered reading -- and enjoying -- Alan Dean Foster books when I was a younger man. While not the best book I’ve ever read (even by Foster himself), “Slipt” more than held my attention.

Written in the mid 80's, Foster weaves the story of an elderly man, his young niece, an evil corporation, and the issue of toxic waste. The corporation, driven by greed, has been disposing of their harmful waste in a valley near Riverside, out in California, and the story opens with a rushed, secretive cleanup of their mess, to try and dodge the county’s scrutiny. Above the valley in question, there are only poor citizens and immigrants. The corporation successfully bamboozles most of them by offering them jobs, to ensure that the county investigators have no one they can question about the previous dumping activities.

However, one man, Jake, a 71 year old with a heart condition, turns down a job offer. And the boss of the corporate cleanup crew, Huddy, worries that Jake might spill the beans and ruin everything.

So Huddy makes a final trip to see Jake, intending to bribe him into silence ... but during the visit, he learns that Jake possesses some extraordinary skills, such as removing bottle caps with his mind and “magically” tidying up an executive’s car (and, more secretly, Jake can communicate with his niece Amanda via telepathy!). Essentially, Jake can manipulate objects with his mind. While Jake shrugs off his own abilities, being able to “slipt” things, as mere party tricks for the local children, villainous Huddy envisions endless potential! 

Though the plot isn’t particularly original (especially for the 80's) -- toxic waste causes unusual changes in people -- Foster’s version offers a rather touching interpretation: Good ol’ Jake is simply trying to get along with everyone, and has a deep affection for Amanda ... but that darn Huddy is relentless in his efforts to have Jake subjected to “testing.”

Foster’s writing is solid and straightforward, and the story flows along smoothly. Overall, “Slipt” was an enjoyable read.