Raising Stony Mayhall

Wednesday, January 4, 2012 at 7:00pm

From award-winning author Daryl Gregory, whom Library Journal called "[a] bright new voice of the twenty-first century," comes a new breed of zombie novel-a surprisingly funny, vividly frightening, and ultimately deeply moving story of self-discovery and family love.

In 1968, after the first zombie outbreak, Wanda Mayhall and her three young daughters discover the body of a teenage mother during a snowstorm. Wrapped in the woman's arms is a baby, stone-cold, not breathing, and without a pulse. But then his eyes open and look up at Wanda-and he begins to move.

The family hides the child-whom they name Stony-rather than turn him over to authorities that would destroy him. Against all scientific reason, the undead boy begins to grow. For years his adoptive mother and sisters manage to keep his existence a secret-until one terrifying night when Stony is forced to run and he learns that he is not the only living dead boy left in the world.

Robert A. Heinlein was the most influential science fiction writer of his era, an influence so large that, as Samuel R. Delany notes, "modern critics attempting to wrestle with that influence find themselves dealing with an object rather like the sky or an ocean." He won the Hugo Award for best novel four times, a record that still stands.

The Moon is a Harsh Mistress was the last of these Hugo-winning novels, and it is widely considered his finest work. It is a tale of revolution, of the rebellion of the former Lunar penal colony against the Lunar Authority that controls it from Earth. It is the tale of the disparate people--a computer technician, a vigorous young female agitator, and an elderly academic--who become the rebel movement's leaders. And it is the story of Mike, the supercomputer whose sentience is known only to this inner circle, and who for reasons of his own is committed to the revolution's ultimate success.

Stackpole says this is actually the first novel he ever wrote. It sees the light of day now because of his track record in the Battletech and Star Wars series, and it is as good as many an author's tenth novel. The protagonist is a Talion Justice, an administrator of justice who is still functional and feared long after the emperor who founded the Talions and the empire they served became dust. The plot consists of two parallel strands, one concerned with the Talion's training, the other with his current activities, duties, and often-as-not perilous adventures. The first strand is particularly well spun and lends considerable depth to the character, but overall, the book displays intelligence, originality, the superior narrative technique familiar to readers of Stackpole's other work, and that most essential of qualities--the impetus to keep the reader turning pages

Wednesday, April 4, 2012 at 7:00pm 

Dick's Hugo Award-winning 1962 alternative history considers the question of what would have happened if the Allied Powers had lost WWII. Some 20 years after that loss, the United States and much of the world has now been split between Japan and Germany, the major hegemonic states. But the tension between these two powers is mounting, and this stress is playing out in the western U.S. Through a collection of characters in various states of posing (spies, sellers of falsified goods, others with secret identities), Dick provides an intriguing tale about life and history as it relates to authentic and manufactured reality. Tom Weiner reveals an impressive vocal range that delivers the host of characters with distinct culture, class and gender personas, which helps to sort the various plot strands. His prose reading is engaging, though sometimes lacks sufficient emphasis and energy.

In the first book of this brilliant series, Stephen King introduces readers to one of his most enigmatic heroes, Roland of Gilead, The Last Gunslinger. He is a haunting figure, a loner on a spellbinding journey into good and evil. In his desolate world, which frighteningly mirrors our own, Roland pursues The Man in Black, encounters an alluring woman named Alice, and begins a friendship with the Kid from Earth called Jake. Both grippingly realistic and eerily dreamlike, "The Gunslinger" leaves readers eagerly awaiting the next chapter.

Beginning with a short story appearing in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fictionin 1978, the publication of Stephen King's epic work of fantasy-what he considers to be a single long novel and his magnum opus-has spanned a quarter of a century. Set in a world of extraordinary circumstances, filled with stunning visual imagery and unforgettable characters, The Dark Towerseries is King's most visionary feat of storytelling, a magical mix of science fiction, fantasy, and horror that may well be his crowning achievement.

In the Garden of Iden

Wednesday, June 6, 2012 at 7:00pm  

"The debut of a major talent. Kage Baker is a fresh, audacious, ambitious new voice, wry, jazzy, irreverent, sharp as a razor, full of daring, dash and elan, sometimes surprisingly lyrical. She is also one hell of a storyteller. If you're reading something by Kage Baker, fasten your seat belt - you're in for a wild ride."
-Gardner Dozois, editor of The Year's Best Science Fiction

In this "highly impressive and thoroughly engrossing" (Kirkus Reviews) debut novel of the Company, Mendoza is sent to Elizabethan England to collect samples from the garden of Sir Walter Iden all in an effort to save the Company. But her quest is jeopardized by Nicholas Harpole, who stirs unfamiliar emotions within her about her future-with a man she will long outlive. "If you're reading something by Kage Baker, fasten your seat belt-you're in for a wild ride" (Gardner Dozois).

Gun with Occasional Music

Wednesday, July 11, 2012 at 7:00pm 

Because of the July 4th Holiday, we will meet one week later

Gumshoe Conrad Metcalf has problems-there's a rabbit in his waiting room and a trigger-happy kangaroo on his tail. Near-future Oakland is a brave new world where evolved animals are members of society, the police monitor citizens by their karma levels, and mind-numbing drugs such as Forgettol and Acceptol are all the rage. Metcalf has been shadowing Celeste, the wife of an affluent doctor. Perhaps he's falling a little in love with her at the same time. When the doctor turns up dead, our amiable investigator finds himself caught in a crossfire between the boys from the Inquisitor's Office and gangsters who operate out of the back room of a bar called the Fickle Muse. Mixing elements of sci-fi, noir, and mystery, this clever first novel from the author of Motherless Brooklyn is a wry, funny, and satiric look at all that the future may hold.