This review was first published by Booklist on March 3, 2017.

In Avengers of the Moon, Steele resurrects Captain Future, a hero of classic pulp serials created by Edmond Hamilton, and retcons him for the twenty-first century. This all-new origin story introduces Captain Future and his crew to a new audience, pits him against his archnemesis, and sets up a continuing series. It’s a classic rollicking adventure story—exciting and entertaining, with enough callbacks to the original to appeal to existing fans. Steele states in his afterword that his intent is to recapture the magic of old pulp SF, but he doesn’t completely succeed. This isn’t the fault of the book—it’s well written, appropriately pulpy, and fun to read. It’s just that pulp doesn’t necessarily work with a modern audience. The pulp era grew out of a sense of wonder; audiences then possessed a wide-eyed credulity. Modern readers aren’t that credulous anymore. Without that innocence and idealism, pulp SF is an awkward fit. Still, this book is worth reading for the fun of it.

This review was first published by Booklist on January 9, 2017.

Coop and company are back for their second supernatural adventure (after The Everything Box, 2016). This time, they’re facing a reanimated mummy bent on world domination (and finding his old girlfriend) while Coop gets acclimated to his new role in DOPS. There are inept suburban animal-rights activists, a crooked used-car salesman, machinating DOPS agents, a possessed museum guard, crooked old mystics, a professor transformed into a cat trapped in a television mounted on a tentacled robot, a forgotten department in the bowels of DOPS with a strange box in it . . . Kadrey fans have plenty of his signature ridiculousness to sink their teeth into: Douglas Adams meets Clive Barker in a James Ellroy setting. This is smart, witty, and biting comedy. There’s a bit of a sophomore slump: the stakes of the conflict are lower than its predecessor, and the side characters feel somewhat perfunctory. Still, all the elements come together and work well, and Kadrey at slightly less than his best remains one of the best out there. This new series remains worthwhile.

This review was first published by Booklist on November 15, 2016.

People from the twenty-first century have opened a portal in rural Illinois that allows them to visit 1877. They’ve built a tourist resort called the City of Futurity, where wealthy individuals can experience the past and locals can catch a sanitized glimpse of the future. Jesse Cullum is a native of 1877 who works for the City. A man with a violent history, he meets and falls for a woman from the future. Meanwhile, someone is smuggling future technology into the past and sowing discord toward the City. Soon enough, it all starts to fall apart. There’s a lot going on in the latest from Hugo Award–winning Wilson. It’s an alternate-history novel, a time-travel story, and a whodunit all in one. It explores parallel universes, corporate greed, and culture clashes while critiquing the entitlement of modern society and our tendency to romanticize the past. Wilson wrangles all these threads with skill and vividly renders the reality of the past. The story is well paced, builds to an epic crisis, and makes for a satisfying read.

This review was first published by Booklist on October 13, 2016.

Into the Guns begins a new near-future military sf series from Dietz. In 2018, several meteors strike the earth and decimate civilization, and the American government is left in turmoil. Members of the armed forces are left stranded without command. The southern states secede from the union, a second Civil War looms, and a new president struggles to rebuild. The plot’s not very original, but it works. Dietz’s depictions of military operations and hardware are detailed. That alone is a major appeal factor. He delights in throwing around military jargon, although he’s inconsistent about defining some of the terms for readers unfamiliar with the argot. Unfortunately, characters are sketches more than fully rendered. Yet this will be a worthy purchase, given Dietz’s many fans.