Reviewer: Debbie Walker (SoSF Contributor)

© A Slice of SciFi Book Review:

Bright of the Sky , by Kay Kenyon

Titus Quinn wakes up on a distant planet six months after he piloted a colony ship through a black hole and it was destroyed. His explanation of spending 10 years in a parallel universe doesn’t fly and he’s blamed for the death of the colonists and the lost of the ship and eventually becomes a hermit. A few years later when scientists discover proof of this parallel universe, Quinn is called back to work. Because he’s been there before, they want to send him back to negotiate a trade and peace agreement with this parallel universe.

Quinn agrees to travel through the veil but his primary motivation is to find his wife and daughter left behind when he escaped. His biggest problem is he has very little memory of this other place (The Entire) and must re-learn everything he once knew in order to save them. The author weaves a spellbinding tale of the faux-Chinese culture, the intrigue of alien politics, and Quinn’s struggle to stay under the evil Tarig ruler’s radar and complete both his personal and professional missions without getting killed. Yes, they have been watching our universe (called the Rose) and they don’t really want us coming over.

This is book one of three and I can’t wait to get to the next installment.

Published by: Pyr
ISBN-10: 1591025419
Genre: Science Fiction

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Spindrift, by Allen Steele

When automated telescopes detect a large alien artifact drifting past a distant star, a small crew is sent in the spaceship Galileo to investigate. The Captain is a good ole’ rich boy appointee completely out of his league, while the second in command appears to have gained the respect of the crew. Add in the world’s foremost alien expert/mass murderer specially released from his lunar prison cell, stir in a political representative and a nuclear torpedo and there you have it.

The Commander and his trusted crew try to keep the peaceful exploratory mission from turning into a disaster by taking steps both before they go into status for the trip and after arriving, to no avail. When they arrive at the artifact dubbed Spindrift, there is more there than they bargained for. Not only is there the Spindrift showing signs it might either be a rogue planet or some sort of alien starship but there is also a starbridge, similar to the ones built by humans, but not quite the same. The Captain decides to split the crew, sending Commander Harker, shuttle pilot Emily Collins, Ramirez the alien expert and Ruiz to the Spindrift to determine exactly what it is. Meanwhile the Galileo explores the starbridge on the dark side of the little planet.

The best part of the story is the reader gets to explore the Spindrift with the shuttle crew and that is a story in itself. At the end of that adventure you find out what happens to the Galileo and how the shuttle crew survives. You meet an alien and then learn of humanity’s place in the scheme of things.

This storyline happens after Coyote Rising (2004) and although that history is glanced over, it is not necessary to have read the Coyote trilogy. But you’ll want to after reading Spindrift. I really liked this book and plan on searching out more contributions by this author.

Published by: Ace Hardcover
ISBN: 0441014712
Genre: Science Fiction