The Lost Fleet: Dauntless

The Lost Fleet: Dauntless, Jack Campbell, Ace Books, 2006

The century-long war between the Alliance and the Syndic (Syndicated) Worlds has been going very badly for the Alliance. Now the Alliance fleet is badly outnumbered, and stuck deep in Syndic territory. But the Alliance has a reluctant ace up their sleeves named John Geary.

"Black Jack" Geary was famed for his heroic "last stand" in the early days of the war. He was thought dead, but was revived after a century in survival hibernation. He is totally disgusted with the absolute hero worship that has grown up around him during the century that he was in hibernation. He becomes the reluctant commander of the fleet when the former commander is murdered during "negotiations" with the Syndics.

In their present condition, any sustained battle with the Syndics would be a disaster for the Alliance. Geary takes the fleet into a nearby wormhole to another star system. They are able to replenish their supplies at a Syndic base before the Syndics show up. Mankind does not have faster-than-light travel (or communications); the most frustrating thing for Geary is having to deal with the communications delay. Geary takes the fleet into another star system by wormhole, not taking the route that would get them back to Alliance space the fastest. The Alliance has a couple of weeks before the Syndic arrival, so Geary drills the fleet on flying in formation and basic tactics. Some of the ship commanders are not happy with what they consider constant retreats; for them, the Alliance tactical plan can be reduced to one word: Attack!

First of a series, this book is really good. The characters, especially Geary, are real people, and not just square-jawed stereotypes. It has action, it has believability, it has a good story and the reader will not go wrong with this one.

Gaslight Grimoire: Fantastic Tales of Sherlock Holmes

Gaslight Grimoire: Fantastic Tales of Sherlock Holmes, J.R. Campbell and Charles Prepolec (ed.), Edge Science Fiction and Fantasy Publishing, 2008

Even though Arthur Conan Doyle was a well-known occult writer, he had to keep Sherlock Holmes, his most famous creation, grounded in reality. Doyle couldn't weaken his popularity by giving Holmes a number of occult and fantastic cases to solve. This book takes care of that.

Watson was severely injured, and should have died, while serving with the British Army in Afghanistan. He was saved by a blue djinn who exacts a price from Watson for his help. Years later, while solving a case of what looks like suicide by crossbow, Watson suddenly stabs Holmes with an arrow. In his death throes, "Holmes" turns into the blue djinn who saved Watson's life years before.

During World War II, Holmes is in a California nursing home. The damage to British morale would be too severe if he should be killed by the Nazis. Holmes helps a local detective discover how a man can be shot three times, twice in the chest and once in the head, and walk away. It has to do with the importation of fifty pine boxes from Romania, filled with vampires willing to work for the Allies.

In other stories, Holmes and Watson meet up with two famous literary occult detectives, Flaxman Low and Thomas Carnacki. Holmes is very much of a realist; no matter how weird and occult things may seem, there is usually a rational explanation. But he does not totally dismiss un-rational explanations.

I really enjoyed these stories. They are well done, and they are nice and weird without being too weird. Holmes fans will love this book, and so will occult fiction fans.