James Rollins News and Author Interview (By Mihir Wanchoo)

Official James Rollins Website

Read FBC’s Review of “The Judas Strain”

Read FBC’s Review of “The Last Oracle”

Read FBC’s Review of “The Doomsday Key”

Read FBC’s Review of “The Devil Colony”

James Rollins is an author who is admired by both Robert and me over here at Fantasy Book Critic. I was first introduced to his writing via his debut “Subterranean” which was released more than thirteen years ago. We have been covering his SIGMA series over the past few years and so we are always excited to hear news about his upcoming projects and what’s new with our favorite literary veterinarian.

Recently James revealed the cover of the next SIGMA book which is titled BLOODLINE. Here are the blurb details that promise another exciting adventure for the SIGMA crew:

Fleeing from Somali Pirates, a yacht bearing a young American Family crashes into a jungle atoll off the coast of Madagascar, only to face a horror far more terrifying: an experiment run amok has turned the island into the bloody hunting grounds for a new form of life. The single female survivor, rescued by Captain Tucker Wayne and his advanced military team, bears a terrifying secret. She is pregnant and something is already changing inside her.

Halfway around the world, firebombing at a fertility clinic in South Carolina reveals a group of women kidnapped from around the globe and enslaved to bear children by artificial means. One woman lives long enough to give birth to a stillborn child at a local hospital. A genetic study reveals the child bears a strange abnormality-a triple helix of DNA.

Commander Gray Pierce of SIGMA Force and Captain Tucker Wayne must team up with a deadly assassin on a journey from the sparkling towers of Dubai to the crumbling ruins of an ancient French fortress, from the halls of power on Capitol Hill to the dark secrets buried at the heart of a centuries-old southern plantation, all in the quest for the truth-and to save an unborn child that may be the key to the future of mankind.

The blurb promises another thrill ride across the world in various exotic locales similar to the earlier books. For those readers who want to get a sneak peek, hop over to James’s Facebook page and start reading an exclusive chunk!

And yesterday there was something absolutely new on his blog, here’s a bit about the new venture in James’s own words:

While I have done many interviews over the years, this is the first interview of an author I'll do on my blog. I'm pleased that the person I'm interviewing is someone I've known a long time that I personally find interesting as well as admirable. That individual is author Jon Land. In observing Jon over an extended period of time, I know that he is first in line to help others. First in line to share his experience and advice to the up and coming, and first to admit mistakes and do all he can to fix them. Don't we all know many others who could benefit from those qualities? It's my pleasure to invite you to visit Jon's website to learn more about him and his books, and my privilege to share with you this, my first author interview.

(Pic Credit: Erika Ekdahl)

So in this wonderful interview the reader will get to know more about Jon, his concept of heroism, his thoughts and the various minutiae that Jon admires. Also to get to you interested, here’s what he thinks about storytellers:

The imagination binds us together in worlds that only exist as we share them. That is the complex and personal nature of the relationship between reader and writer. And though it may seem like casual entertainment it is much more than that. We share the great “what if?” as a story teaches us about the world we know, the one we don’t and more importantly, about ourselves as we walk within the skin of a character we’ve grown to love.

Authors are storytellers. It’s an age-old profession that has captured the hearts and minds of millions of people throughout time. Often, people wonder about storytellers. Where do the stories come from? Why is someone compelled to put a character through hardships, in danger, in love? I invite you to join me as we get to find out the story of the storyteller.

And now to read the entire interview, head over to James’s blog and enjoy!

Shadow Ops: Control Point by Myke Cole (Reviewed by Mihir Wanchoo)

Official Myke Cole Website

Order “Shadow Ops: Control Point” HERE

Read an excerpt HERE

AUTHOR INFORMATION: As a security contractor, government civilian and military officer, Myke Cole’s career has run the gamut from Counter-terrorism to Cyber Warfare to Federal Law Enforcement. He’s done three tours in Iraq and was recalled to serve during the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. He’s also a graduate of the Viable Paradise writer’s workshop and is a close friend of Peter V. Brett. He also won the 2003 Writers of the future award for his story “Blood and Horses”. His passions include comics, fantasy novels and late night D&D games which eventually set him on a path of being a wordsmith.

OFFICIAL BLURB: Across the country and in every nation, people are waking up with magical talents. Untrained and panicked, they summon storms, raise the dead, and set everything they touch ablaze.

Army officer Oscar Britton sees the worst of it. A lieutenant attached to the military's Supernatural Operations Corps, his mission is to bring order to a world gone mad. Then he abruptly manifests a rare and prohibited magical power, transforming him overnight from government agent to public enemy number one.

The SOC knows how to handle this kind of situation: hunt him down--and take him out. Driven into an underground shadow world, Britton is about to learn that magic has changed all the rules he's ever known, and that his life isn't the only thing he's fighting for.

CLASSIFICATION: The Shadow Ops series is a multi volume urban fantasy series which combines the superhero aspect showcased in X-men comics along with the military themes espoused in stories by Glen Cook. Stirring the pot with his own style, the author unleashes a potent tale upon the readers.

FORMAT/INFO: Shadow Ops: Control Point is 389 pages long divided over thirty-four numbered and titled chapters. Narration is in the third person solely via Oscar Britton. There is also a glossary about the terms, acronyms and slang utilized in the story. Shadow Ops: Control Point is the first novel of the Shadow Ops series.

January 31, 2012 marks the North American Paperback and e-book publication of Shadow Ops: Control Point via ACE books. Cover art is provided by Michael Komarck.

ANALYSIS: I first heard about Myke Cole via Peter V. Brett’s blog, he had mentioned his friendship with Myke a few times and this particular section about his then book titled “Latent” caught my attention nicely:

“It is great Military Fantasy – the X-Men meets Black Hawk Down. Myke has been one of my inner-circle test readers for many years, and vice-versa. There is a lot of him in The Warded Man, and a lot of me in Latent. Keep your eyes peeled for it.”

The military fantasy line along with that awesome elevator pitch made me aware of Cole and I was particularly awaiting more news about it. a few months ago, I had the privilege of interviewing Anne Sowards. Anne had pointed out his book as one to watch out for and had some effusive praise for it as well. Thereafter Myke was awesome enough to send me the book’s ARC and I dug in wanting to see how justified the hype was all about in regards to Control Point.

Firstly the story opens with a nice action packed sequence which not only introduces the main protagonist Oscar Britton but the world which is vastly similar to our own except for having one crucial anomaly, that is MAGIC! A world wherein people are waking up with various elemental powers that have to be classified and kept under study. Thus the nations around the world are trying to adapt themselves around this change and started their own official magic-infused soldiers and battalions. Oscar is a simple soldier however once he’s involved in the take down of two teenage “Probes” [Rogue Magicians or Selfers], he witnesses casual brutality which shakes his conscience and he’s forced to help the US Supernatural Corps take down the two at the expense of the safety of his own team members. Once the task is accomplished, while recuperating Oscar suddenly goes Latent and manifests a rare type of magic called Portamancy which not only places him squarely at the top on the wanted list but also makes him special in the eyes of those who are on the search for greater power.

Thus begins the tale of Oscar Britton, who discovers that not all conspiracy theories are false and things are never what they seem to be. The story then moves on to the next phase of his rehabilitation at the hands of the US government which is the true meat of the story and makes this debut such a fantastic one. Author Myke Cole has indeed worked on this story for a long time and it shows vibrantly as the themes which are nuanced within the plot are felt strongly by the reader. The characterization of the main protagonist as well as the fellow character cast is a rich one, perhaps a bit impeded with the third person view chosen. Yet the author resolutely gives the reader a terrific view of the protagonist’s thoughts, feelings and the profound metamorphosis through a narrative prose style which nails the reader’s attention through and through.

Perhaps the best part of the book (for me at least) is the vividly imagined worldscape, to come up with the explosive mix of Magic in today’s world is not hard at all. However to postulate the world scenario created and then convincingly entrance the readers with it, is something of a rave-worthy talent. To find it in a debutante makes it special, and this is the best thing about this book. The world and magic system showcased seems to be so thoroughly constructed that its hard to point out flaws in it (not that they are absent, but on a very close examination are the few ones visible). These minute aberrations can perhaps be better explained with the reason that since this is the first book, the author went in for a more action packed plot eschewing the detailed expositions so as to not sacrifice the narrative energy.

I also want to see how the author expands this world/magic system as there are some glimpses shown that are tantalizingly cool. Lastly the author being a military personnel brings to life a veritable slice of the military life and all the good & bad aspects of it. This exploration creates a rather catch-22 situation for the protagonist and which is wonderfully exploited by the author with some terrific shades of the 1990s X-Men Saga seen. Also within it we are also introduced to perhaps one of the best counter-foil characters ever created, this character is one of those which the readers will just love to hate giving almost no reason to ever change those thoughts.

Lastly there are a couple of hiccups in this book, namely that in between Oscar’s transition from a runaway latent to a self-measured warrior of the Shadow coven, the pace of the book slackens as the book energy perhaps mirrors the protagonist’s plot-induced confusion. This aspect lasts for about 80-odd pages and once its over, the pace picks up again, and for the second drawback is that the author hasn’t quite thoroughly explained some of the crucial happenings in the book. These aspects if focused upon cause the book to feel a bit weak for example it is never quite thoroughly explained as to why/how Oscar got his powers and what marks him out as a “special water baby”. This is just me but when you enjoy certain stories a lot you want them to have almost next to nothing in the negative departments. This might not be the case for every reader and so will depend on each person’s taste.

CONCLUSION: Myke Cole’s debut is another ace from the ACE book stable and possibly heralds a series which if handled competently, can be an absolute break out saga. Myke delivers a standout book which not only gives the readers a different type of a story but also carves a further niche in the sub-genre that is urban fantasy. If you aren’t excited yet for this book, you should be, this is a superb release to start off the new year and one which can be read across genre lines. I can’t wait to get my hands on Shadow Ops series: Fortress Frontier and see where he plans to take the reader next.

2011 BSFA Shortlist with Comments (by Liviu Suciu)

Via SFSignal from which I grabbed the image above and then from Torque Control here are the 2011 shortlist nominees for the British SF Association best novel award. After a few comments, I will include the nominees in the other three categories below.

Best Novel

• Cyber Circus by Kim Lakin-Smith (Newcon Press) - Amazon link
  
• Embassytown by China Mieville (Macmillan) - FBC Rv
  
• The Islanders by Christopher Priest (Gollancz) - FBC Rv
  
• By Light Alone by Adam Roberts (Gollancz) - FBC Rv
  
• Osama by Lavie Tidhar (PS Publishing) -author site

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COMMENTS: While smaller that its US analog Nebula, and not on the scale of the best sff award today - the British Arthur Clarke one - the BSFA awards are (imho) much more interesting and "respectable" than the often butt of jokes Nebula ones and I always take a look at them. This year the shortlist contains three major sf novels that have all made my top 25 list of 2011.

You can find more information and comments in the reviews linked above.

In addition, there is the provocative "Osama" from Lavie Tidhar (the author of the superb "Bookman Files" series from which the third installment The Great Game will be published soon and I plan to review it in early February, while the first two books have been reviewed HERE and HERE). I have a review copy of Osama and I will definitely take a look in the near future too.

Then for the last nominee, Cyber Circus by Kim Lakin-Smith, a book and author I have not heard of before - one of the beauties of these lists is bringing such to attention - but as it is available inexpensively as an ebook at the link above, I have just bought it and will take a look as the blurb is intriguing and the sample reads well.

Of the three major novels above, I would go with By Light Alone as my clear top choice and I give it 33% odds to win, though I would say the big favorite remains Embassytown. The Islanders is an extraordinary book in its way, but I would say it is the "most acquired taste" of the three.

***********************************************************************

As promised here are the rest of the nominees in the other 3 categories.

Best Short Fiction
The Silver Wind by Nina Allan (Interzone 233, TTA Press)
The Copenhagen Interpretation by Paul Cornell (Asimov’s, July)
Afterbirth by Kameron Hurley (Kameron Hurley’s own website)
Covehithe by China Mieville (The Guardian)
Of Dawn by Al Robertson (Interzone 235, TTA Press)

Best Non-Fiction
Out of This World: Science Fiction but not as we Know it by Mike Ashley (British Library)
The SF Encyclopedia, 3^rd Edition ed. John Clute, Peter Nicholls and David Langford (website)
Review of Arslan by M J Engh, Abigail Nussbaum (Asking the Wrong Questions blog)
SF Mistressworks, ed. Ian Sales (website)
Pornokitsch, ed. Jared Shurin and Anne Perry (website)
The Unsilent Library: Essays on the Russell T. Davies Era of the New Doctor Who (Foundation Studies in Science Fiction), ed. Graham Sleight, Tony Keen and Simon Bradshaw (Science Fiction Foundation)

Best Art
Cover of Ian Whates’s The Noise Revealed by Dominic Harman (Solaris)
Cover and illustrations of Patrick Ness’s A Monster Calls by Jim Kay (Walker)
Cover of Lavie Tidhar’s Osama by Pedro Marques (PS Publishing)
Cover of Liz Williams’s A Glass of Shadow by Anne Sudworth (Newcon Press)

"In the Mouth of the Whale" by Paul McAuley (Reviewed by Liviu Suciu)

Official Paul J. McAuley Website
Official Paul J. McAuley Blog
Order “In the Mouth of the Whale” HERE
Read 12 Chapters from In the Mouth of the Whale
Read FBC Review of "The Quiet War"
Read FBC Review of "Gardens of the Sun"
Order Stories from the Quiet War HERE

INTRODUCTION: As I have read and hugely enjoyed almost all sff Paul McAuley has written to date as well as a few of his near future thrillers, In the Mouth of the Whale has been one of my most awaited novels of 2012. While events in the duology The Quiet War/Gardens Sun impinge a little, this novel takes place far away in time and space and it's a standalone which can be read independently.

One thing of caution: as the main points of the two above novels are retold here, In the Mouth of the Whale contains huge spoilers for the preceding duology, though to be honest the characters and world building are such a big part of the enjoyment of the author's novels, that storyline spoilers are ultimately not that important.

And of course I highly recommend you to try The Quiet War and the stories from its universe, part of which the author has recently released inexpensively HERE.

The author describes the novel much better than I can on his website and I will reproduce his "overview" below, while the first 12 chapters can be read at the link above. As Paul McAuley says (and on reading the book I feel this overview presents the book pitch perfect):

"After you die, what do you do for the rest of your life?

The posthuman Quick settled the system of the star Fomalhaut long ago, and created garden worldlets and thistledown cities in its vast dust ring. An empire that after centuries of peace fell to a second wave of settlers, the fierce and largely unmodified True People. And now the True are at war with interlopers from another interstellar colony, the Ghosts, for possession of Fomalhaut's gas giant planet, Cthuga.

In the damaged and perilous Amazonian rainforest, the precocious Child is being groomed for her predestined role. But control of her story is fraying, and although she is determined to find her own path into the future, others have different plans.

In the war-torn worldlets of Fomalhaut, a librarian, Isak and his assistant, the Horse, are harrowing hells, punishment for a failure they can never live down, when they are given a new mission. The Library of Worlds has been compromised by a deep, mysterious conspiracy; as Isak and the Horse attempt to unravel it, they're drawn into the final battle for Cthuga.

And aboard a vast scientific project floating in Cthuga's atmosphere, a Quick slave, Ori, is snared in the plans of an eccentric genius. As the Ghosts mount their final assault on Cthuga, she discovers that she hold the key that determines the outcome of the war.

Three lives. Three stories that slowly draw together. And at their intersection is the mystery at the heart of Cthuga. Something dangerous and powerful. Something that may not only shape the future of humanity, but may also give control over the shape of its past."

ANALYSIS: Structurally, In the Mouth of a Whale is pleasantly symmetric with four main parts in which each of the three threads alternate modulo 3 starting with the unknown god-like narrator of the Child's journey, followed by Isak's first person narrative and ending with Ori's thread told in third person pov style. These parts have 12,12,9,12 chapters respectively, while the last part that concludes the stories of our main characters in three final chapters reverses the order, so now Ori's story is first.

The transitions are handled very well as they make you want to read what comes next in that particular thread, but also what comes next in the upcoming thread and the book maintains this balance to the end. The style transitions well too, from the more serene and slower moving chapters where the unknown entity narrates, to the immediate saga of Isak, the Horse and later Prem, where Isak comes as the typical "naive do gooder but very likable" hero of sf, so you cheer for him, to the action packed, darker story of Ori and the Quicks.

Overall the first three quarters of the novel were the kind I really wanted to just go on and never finish, while also reminding me why sf is still the most interesting literature when done superbly like here; sense of wonder, great characters, and for once the (as genre sff goes of course) stylistic daring I mentioned above. The last quarter was all action and things converged well with a great ending.

A combination of real - space shoot outs, strange habitats with everything from primitive life forms, dangerous animals to post modern grifters - and virtual action - harrowing hells, immersive drone combat -memorable characters and world building involving human/posthuman clades, slavery and superb references ("wreckers", "the True"...) weave into a rich tapestry that contains hard sf - biology and physics with a sprinkle of math - sociology and politics as well as a deep sense of history and what evolution means, while the speculations about future technologies and future possibilities for humanity are very convincing.

I also want to emphasize the "realistic feeling" that the author's exquisite world building induced, without info-dumps or too much jargon. I will direct you to chapter eight, so #3 in Isak's narration for a great example of this, while I will quote a few paragraphs here:

"A steady spout of water poured from a notch in the fountain's bowl, feeding a stream that ran off along a channel cut in the lawn, rippling clear as glass over a bed of white and gold quartz pebbles. We followed it through a rank of cypresses and emerged at the edge of a short steep slope of loose rock and clumps of dry grass. The parkland I had glimpsed from the flitter stretched away beyond, a mosaic of dusty browns and reds enlivened here and there by vivid green stands of trees. The sky had taken on the dusky rose of sunset, and clumps of stones glowed like heated iron in the low and level light. Rounded hills rising on either side hid the margins of the platform: the parkland seemed to stretch away for ever, like the landscapes of sagas set on old Earth.

Lathi Singleton dismissed my praise of the illusion, saying that it was simple stagecraft. 'My interest is in the biome itself. The plants and animals, and the patterns and balances they make. This one is modelled on Africa. You have heard of Africa?'

'It's where we first became what we are, Majistra.'

'I once kept a species of early hominin in this biome. Australopithecus afarensis. The reconstructed genome is contained in the seedship library; it was easy to merge it with Quick templates. And of course we hunted the usual Quick variants as well. But those happy days are long gone,' Lathi Singleton said, and walked off down the slope, stepping quickly and lightly beside the stream, which dropped down the slope in a ladder of little rills and waterfalls and pools, its course lined with red and black mosses and delicate ferns as perfect as jewels.

It grew warmer as we descended, and by the time I caught up with Lathi Singleton, at the bottom of the slope, I was out of breath and sweating. The stream emptied into a wide pool of muddy water whose margins had been trampled by many kinds of feet. Scaly logs lay half in and half out of the water on the far side. When one yawned, its mouth two hinged spars longer than a man's arm and fringed with sharp teeth, I realised that they were a species of animal.

'They won't hurt you because they can't see you,' Lathi Singleton said. It was the first time I had seen her smile. 'None of the fauna can see or smell anyone unless I want them too. Come along. I've arranged a little picnic. We'll eat, and I'll tell you what I need you to do, and why.'"

Overall In the Mouth of the Whale (top 25 novel of mine in 2012 and very likely a top 10, possibly a top 5) delivered what I expected and more and shows Paul McAuley at the top of his game. I would love more in this superbly rendered universe as I think there is a lot of scope for stories of humanity's clades and destiny as imagined by a modern master of science fiction.

Strata by Bradley P. Beaulieu and Stephen Gaskell (Reviewed by Mihir Wanchoo)

Official Bradley P. Beaulieu Website

Official Steven Gaskell Website

Order Strata HERE (B&N) or HERE (Amazon)

Download an excerpt HERE (ePub), HERE (Mobi) & HERE (PDF)

AUTHOR INFORMATION: Bradley P. Beaulieu is a winner of the L. Ron Hubbard Writers of the Future Award, while his short story, “In the Eyes of the Empress’s Cat”, was voted a Notable Story in the 2006 Million Writers Award. Other stories have appeared in Realms of Fantasy Magazine, Orson Scott Card's Intergalactic Medicine Show, Writers of the Future, and several anthologies from DAW Books. The Winds of Khalakovo was his debut novel.

AUTHOR INFORMATION: Stephen Gaskell is a freelance videogame script consultant and speculative fiction writer whose work has been published in many venues including Writers of the Future, Nature, Interzone, and Clarkesworld. An alumnus of University College, Oxford, he is also a graduate of Clarion East, and a member of the Villa Diodati Writers Group. He is currently working on his first novel, a post-apocalyptic thriller set in Lagos, Nigeria.

OFFICIAL BLURB: It's the middle of the twenty-second century. Earth's oil and gas reserves have been spent, but humankind's thirst for energy remains unquenched. Vast solar mining platforms circle the upper atmosphere of the sun, drawing power lines up from the stellar interior and tight-beaming the energy back to Earth. For most of the platforms' teeming masses, life is hard, cramped—and hot. Most dream of a return Earthside, but a two-way ticket wasn't part of the benefits package, and a Sun-Earth trip doesn't come cheap.

Kawe Ndechi is luckier than most. He's a gifted rider—a skimmer pilot who races the surface of the sun's convection zone—and he needs only two more wins before he lands a ticket home. The only trouble is, Kawe's spent most of his life on the platforms. He's seen the misery, and he's not sure he's the only one who deserves a chance at returning home.

That makes Smith Pouslon nervous. Smith once raced the tunnels of fire himself, but now he's a handler, and his rider, Kawe, is proving anything but easy to handle. Kawe's slipping deeper and deeper into the Movement, but Smith knows that's a fool's game. His own foray into the Movement cost him his racing career—and nearly his life—and he doesn't want Kawe to throw everything away for a revolt that will never succeed.

One sun. Two men. The fate of a million souls!

FORMAT/INFO: Strata is 70 pages long divided over four titled Parts/ chapters. Narration is in the third person via Kawe Ndechi and Smith Pouslon. Strata is a self-contained novella. December 22, 2011 marked the e-book publication and was self-published by the authors. Cover art provided by Doug Williams.

ANALYSIS: Bradley P. Beaulieu is an author who doesn’t exactly need an introduction, with his debut The Winds of Khalakovo, he definitely garnered attention from many readers. He had also attended the Clarion Workshop which was the common ground with his fellow collaborator Steven Gaskell. The kernel of the story came to Brad in 2008 and he wanted to explore more of the story however he needed someone with a more SF-tuned style to help him with it and so he turned to Steven whose works reminded him of Robert Charles Wilson and Robert J. Sawyer. They originally planned it to be a short story of around seven thousand words however the end result after three years was a novella of more than thirty thousand words.

The story begins rather quickly and introduces the reader to the racing team of Kawe Ndechi and Smith Pouslon, who as a pair shine spectacularly by combining Smith’s experience and Kawe’s natural racing brilliance. He’s a winning racer and a couple more races will get him off the Sun’s mining platform on a one way ticket back to Earth however Kawe’s not really aiming for just a win, what he has in mind will not only clash with Smith’s age-worn wisdom but also his heart felt desire. However if the thing is to be accomplished for the rights and lives of the workers on the solar mining platforms, it will only be possible when these two come together to pool their exuberant talents. The racing storyline runs parallel to a worker-management battle which has been silently raging for the past few years and Smith is one such casualty. He however does not wish for Kawe to emulate him in this unfortunate regard but fate and the Movement will not let Kawe go. Such are the travails which lie forth for both these determined racers whose skin color might be from the opposite ends of the color spectrum however the racer spirit is a kindred feeling which unites them with far more stronger bonds.

The novella idea is quite a simple and yet elegant one, in the forthcoming century with Earth’s gas resources being almost finished. The human race turns to the sun and so technology is developed to harness its power, this technology is not without its perils as the people who leave to work on the mining stations cannot afford their way back unless they gather a significant amount of money thus the birth of the racing pods and all the shenanigans which go along with it. Basically the story then simultaneously straddles the twin genres of SF and thriller whilst also touching upon some human social issues, the highlight of the tale being its superb pacing. At no time in the novella will the reader feel any pangs of boredom as the tale is carefully crafted and twists are inserted to make sure that the reader does stumble in his/her assumptions (I know I did with my thoughts in regards to the climax). The characterization is competent delivering the vastly different views of both protagonists and there is no disconnect in the cohesiveness of the plot. Despite it being written by different authors the seams of the collaborative effort are not to be found and this was a major plus.

Points against the plotline are that the technology and social spectrum described in the book aren’t really explored beyond what is told to the reader and some might find this to be the fly in their ointment. I personally didn’t mind it as it was not the focus of the story. The length of the story while delivering a nice compact read also robs the reader of getting to know the characters & the world they inhabit to the fullest degree.

CONCLUSION: This SF collaboration is the first between these two creative minds, however simply based on what I read. I think they ought to collaborate regularly and for longer pieces of fiction. Strata is a twisted, fast-paced SF novella for readers who yearn to read newer stories, Beaulieu & Gaskell set out to write a short story about racing on the sun but have delivered a very good novella which manages to be much more than what its blurb promises, very much recommended!