THE REPOSSESSION MAMBO

HARPER

Written by Eric Garcia

Copyright 2009 by Eric Garcia




In The Repossession Mambo - written by Eric Garcia, which is the basis for the movie Repo Men - a bio-repo man, who works for a credit union and repossesses artificial mechanical organ transplants in people when they stop paying for them, is on the run from his own repossession people when his own credit goes bad.

I admit, I got this book because I work for a credit union and the repo man works for a credit union. As I am familiar with our Collections Department, it was interesting for me to see the workings and philosophy of the book's credit union. Having the repo men targeting their members for repossessing of the credit union's property, almost like a hit man, is a little disturbing as it is all legal. Not even celebrities are safe. The idea of marketing artificial transplants for anything in the body taken to the ultimate extreme was an interesting comment on society, as it is all about money and not in preserving the quality of life for people. Everything was geared toward artiforgs and not any type of medicine. The society of the book seemed like what is depicted in the movie Blade Runner. I was surprised at how many ex-wives the protagonist had. I think my favorite scene is when a member did a surrender, and the manager was livid because members do not do that sort of thing.

Pancho
All people smile in the same language.

STAR TREK CORPS OF ENGINEERS - WOUNDS

POCKET BOOKS

Written by Ilsa J. Bick, Keith R.A. DeCandido, John J. Ordover, Terri Osborne, Cory Rushton

Based upon STAR TREK and STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION created by Gene Roddenberry and STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE created by Rick Berman & Michael Piller

Copyright Star Trek S.C.E.: Malefictorum copyright 2005 by CBS Studios, Inc. All rights reserved.
Star Trek S.C.E.: Lost Time copyright 2005 by CBS Studios, Inc. All rights reserved.
Star Trek S.C.E.: Identity Crisis copyright 2005 by CBS Studios, Inc. All rights reserved.
Star Trek S.C.E.: Fables of the Prime Directive copyright 2005 by CBS Studios, Inc. All rights reserved.
Star Trek S.C.E.: Securitycopyright 2005 by CBS Studios, Inc. All rights reserved.
Star Trek S.C.E.: Wounds copyright 2005 by CBS Studios, Inc. All rights reserved.

2008 by CBS Studios. Inc. All Rights Reserved.
STAR TREK and related marks are trademarks of CBS Studios Inc.



In Wounds, an anthology of the Star Trek Corp of Engineers with five stories by Ilsa J. Bick, Keith R.A. DeCandido, John J. Ordover, Terri Osborne, and Cory Rushton,

I like the fact that, while each story in this anthology can be read separately, the stories interconnect and build on each other. The SCE deal with the aftermath of the Dominion War. Starting with the murder of two crewmen, to dealing with a threat from the Mirror Universe, to eventually having Doctor's Lense and Bashir crashing on a war-torn planet.

After being stranded on the war-torn planet, Doctor Lense's life changes forever.

Pancho 
All people smile in the same language.
 

THE AGE OF ODIN

Solaris

Written by James Lovegrove

Copyright James Lovegrove 2010



In The Age of Odin, the third book in the Pantheon series written by James Lovegrove, former British Army soldier Gideon Coxall gets in a car accident in the middle of a severe snowstorm while looking for the Valhalla Project, which is recruiting former military personnel for unspecified combat operations, and winds up recovering at the Project. Gideon soon finds himself fighting along with real Viking gods to prevent Ragnarok - the end of the world.

I liked that several figures from the Viking gods were made into modern day versions. I was able to relate to these gods as they were made into interesting and relatable characters, especially as they fight along the mercenary soldiers, all of whom were special operations, that the gods have recruited for their battles as well as fighting with modern-day weapons. I never realized before how much the Viking gods were all related and that they were such a dysfunctional family. The women from the Viking gods were all very strong women. Fumblewinter was very apparent in this book. I was always aware of the winter's cold while I was reading the book. Oftentimes, the background does not make a significant impression on me while I read a book.

Pancho
All people smile in the same language.

BATTLESTAR GALACTICA - RESURRECTION

ibooks, inc.

Written by Richard Hatch and Stan Timmons

Copyright 2001 Universal Studios PublishingRights,
a Division of Universal Studios Licensing, Inc.

Battlestar Galactica
is a trademark and copyright of Universal studios.
All rights reserved.

Edited by Howard Zimmerman
Cover art by Matt Busch
Cover design by j.vita & Joe Bailey



In Resurrection, written by Richard Hatch and Stan Timmons, the Battlestar Galactica and the Colonial Fleet have been depleted of food and fuel after their battles with the Cylons and the alien race Chitain. War veteran Commander Cain challenges Apollo for leadership.

Meanwhile, with their new quantum-shift technology, the fleet gets warped across the galaxy - back home to their starting point, the planet Kobol.

While I can understand a veteran such as Commander Cain questioning Apollo's strategy of following the alleged path of the Thirteenth Tribe and would challenge young Apollo for leadership of the fleet, it was still rather annoying to see instead of Cain challenging Apollo instead of working with Apollo on helping the fleet recover. Having the people losing faith in Apollo was sad. Winding up back at their starting point of the planet Kobol was a little unbelievable, but eventually made sense.

Pancho
All people smile in the same language.

STAR TREK _ DEPARTMENT OF TEMPORAL INVESTIGATIONS - WATCHING THE CLOCK

Pocket Books

Written by Christopher L. Bennett

Copyright © 2011 by CBS Studios Inc. Star Trek and related marks are trademarks of CBS Studios Inc. All Rights Reserved.



In Watching the Clock, written by Christopher L. Bennett - the first book of the Department of Temporal Investigations series - a series of temporal incursions threatens to open up a new front line from the Temporal Cold War. This has DTI agents Lucsly and Dulmur using their unimaginative government discipline in stopping the war.

This book makes reference to every time travel story that were ever written for Star Trek - from the books, the movies and all of the TV series, including stories from the animated TV series. You get to know DTI agents Lucsly and Dulmur, who were originally just minor characters from the Deep Space Nine TV episode Trials and Tribble-ations. Lucsly and Dulmur are now the major characters in both the book, and as well as in the Department of Temporal Investigations.

In the book you get to see the origin story of Dulmur, whose home life turns into ruins and eventually joins the Department of Temporal Investigations, that has it's origins on Earth, to effect temporal justice when Dulmur's efforts to catch a thief is thwarted by a temporal experiment which affected all of space by Dr. Paul Manheim.

As a fan of time travel stories, I happened to enjoy this book. While some of the science behind all the time travel theories may be over my head, I like the fact that Bennett involved all of the time travel stories - including the animated TV series which a lot of people do not really consider as really part of the Trek universe. While I find agent Lucsly rather rigid, his devotion to maintain a stable timeline is important in the temporal scheme of things. The villain at the very end of the book did not seem as strong as a villain as I would have expected the villain to be, but he seemed logical. The villain is definitely evil enough, especially when he targets a DTI agent.

Pancho 
All people smile in the same language.
 

YELLOW EYES

A Bean Books Original

Written by John Ringo & Tom Kratman

Copyright © 2007 by John Ringo & Tom Kratman



In Yellow Eyes, written by John Ringo & Tom Kratman - which is part of the Posleen War series/Legacy of the Aldenata - the Panama Canal is the target of the alien race Posleen. Without access to the Canal, the U.S. is doomed to defeat and starvation. With the U.S. already stretched to the limits in defending itself from the alien race Posleen, they can only afford to send some soldiers in advanced Armoured Combat Suits, some old rejuvenated U.S. Veterans and three old naval warships - and one of the warships is haunted.

It was great to see that the U.S. military worked with the local forces in defending Panama. I have never really understood or liked the fact that in the book there were traitors amongst the people of Central America to the human race and worked with the Posleen. And having an American soldier being forced to become a dictator to a country was rather disturbing to me, but at least the American was still fighting the Posleen.

The battle scenes are intense - and sadly there are consequences with the war amongst the spouses and girlfriends when several of the characters get killed. Rejuvenating old worn-out seniors from Panama into young combat ready veterans and having them leading the people of Panama is an awesome idea that I have rarely seen. The closest idea to this that I have seen was from the TV show Stargate SG-1. I liked the fact that one of the warships, the heavy cruiser U.S.S. Des Moines developed a personality when it was accidentally outfitted with an insane Posleen AI after it was refitted and the Des Moines eventually fell in love with her captain. The images the Des Moines AI created was very hot and the Des Moines eventually cared deeply for her crew, similar to how Rommie acted and felt in the TV show Andromeda.

Pancho
All people smile in the same language.

STAR TREK - DEEP SPACE NINE - MISSION GAMMA - THIS GRAY SPIRIT

POCKET BOOKS

Written by Heather Jarman

Copyright 2002 by Paramount Pictures. All rights reserved.



In This Gray Spirit by Heather Jarman, Cardassian ambassador Natima Lang arrives at the Bajoran space station Deep Space Nine for a hopeful diplomatic mission between the enstranged planets Cardassia and Bajor. While continuing it's exploration mission in the Gamma Quadrant, the starship Defiant has been damaged and is getting repaired by an unusual species - whose biological differences have created a civil war.

It was interesting to see the juxtaposition of the genocidal civil war of the Yrythny, as well as the aftermath of the Cardassian occupation of the world of Bajor. Colonel Kira struggles with trying to help the Cardassian people who had occupied her planet. Having Shar's bond mates pining away for Shar, who is of course stationed on Deep Space Nine as a StarFleet officer, to come back home to them was rather annoying to me. Perhaps I do not really understand Andorian bonding, but I would be able to understand the bonding more if the bonding was more of a physical medical necessity, like the Vulcan Pon-Far, instead of the Andorian bonding being a racial necessity. While I understand Shar wanting to be independent, his not wanting to confront his bond mates - which is basically his family - was both immature and disconcerting to me, with tragic consequences. Shar's developing a relationship with a Yrythny girl in order to search for a cure for both of their peoples was almost infidelity to his family.

Pancho
All people smile in the same language.