A strong sci-fi double bill from a talented new writer.
In two novellas, Pryce (Unnatural Selection, 2012) depicts a reluctant human soldier marooned during an interplanetary war and a recovering addict abducted by members of a bizarre alien species.
The first novella, War Torn, is combat-oriented sci-fi with a soft center. It describes a future conflict between earthlings and the Phraaks, a vaguely birdlike extraterrestrial race, which began as a minor trade dispute but has turned into the military-industrial-social linchpin of human society. Medic Nathan Bhat enlisted for revenge after his wife died in a Phraak attack. Now he regrets it, as he’s the one non–hard-ass in a squad of genetically enhanced soldiers conditioned to react with directed violence. The squad gets shot down on a mystery world, where they’re pursued by a Phraak warship full of troops. Bhat is the only human with enough of his wits about him to perceive that the planet itself responds lethally to any display of belligerence. The second novella, Bad Trip, features a recovering heroin addict, Sarah, who’s married to the man who saved her from suicide, New York City cop Ryan. After a suicide attempt, Sarah is mysteriously teleported to the ghastly feeding grounds of aliens in another solar system, where she witnesses them using assorted humanoid species as livestock. As Ryan tries to figure out clues to her whereabouts, Sarah fights the narcotic that keeps her and the other captives docile. It would have been fabulous if these two novellas were printed back-to-back in the tradition of the cherished Ace Double sci-fi paperbacks of yesteryear, for both yarns merit attention from that genre’s followers. (The collection also includes two other, minor pieces: a short story billed as a preview of a future property and a self-promoting gag done for a flash-fiction contest.) Pryce’s considerable talents of description, characterization, and pacing, previously showcased in Unnatural Selection, burnish this collection. Both of the novellas’ stories might have been obvious and leaden in lesser hands, but Pryce keeps the jolts and twists neatly on target in both. That said, a few of the author’s choices of pop-culture references and phrases (such as “tippy toes”) seem odd in such nightmarish circumstances.
A strong sci-fi double bill from a talented new writer.Pub Date: July 2, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-9846691-2-7
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Cenozoic Publishing, Incorporated
Review Posted Online: Dec. 9, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2016
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
A first novel, this is also a first person account of Scout's (Jean Louise) recall of the years that led to the ending of a mystery, the breaking of her brother Jem's elbow, the death of her father's enemy — and the close of childhood years. A widower, Atticus raises his children with legal dispassion and paternal intelligence, and is ably abetted by Calpurnia, the colored cook, while the Alabama town of Maycomb, in the 1930's, remains aloof to their divergence from its tribal patterns. Scout and Jem, with their summer-time companion, Dill, find their paths free from interference — but not from dangers; their curiosity about the imprisoned Boo, whose miserable past is incorporated in their play, results in a tentative friendliness; their fears of Atticus' lack of distinction is dissipated when he shoots a mad dog; his defense of a Negro accused of raping a white girl, Mayella Ewell, is followed with avid interest and turns the rabble whites against him. Scout is the means of averting an attack on Atticus but when he loses the case it is Boo who saves Jem and Scout by killing Mayella's father when he attempts to murder them. The shadows of a beginning for black-white understanding, the persistent fight that Scout carries on against school, Jem's emergence into adulthood, Calpurnia's quiet power, and all the incidents touching on the children's "growing outward" have an attractive starchiness that keeps this southern picture pert and provocative. There is much advance interest in this book; it has been selected by the Literary Guild and Reader's Digest; it should win many friends.
Pub Date: July 11, 1960
ISBN: 0060935464
Page Count: 323
Publisher: Lippincott
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1960
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with...
Talk-show queen takes tumble as millions jeer.
Nora Bridges is a wildly popular radio spokesperson for family-first virtues, but her loyal listeners don't know that she walked out on her husband and teenaged daughters years ago and didn't look back. Now that a former lover has sold racy pix of naked Nora and horny himself to a national tabloid, her estranged daughter Ruby, an unsuccessful stand-up comic in Los Angeles, has been approached to pen a tell-all. Greedy for the fat fee she's been promised, Ruby agrees and heads for the San Juan Islands, eager to get reacquainted with the mom she plans to betray. Once in the family homestead, nasty Ruby alternately sulks and glares at her mother, who is temporarily wheelchair-bound as a result of a post-scandal car crash. Uncaring, Ruby begins writing her side of the story when she's not strolling on the beach with former sweetheart Dean Sloan, the son of wealthy socialites who basically ignored him and his gay brother Eric. Eric, now dying of cancer and also in a wheelchair, has returned to the island. This dismal threesome catch up on old times, recalling their childhood idylls on the island. After Ruby's perfect big sister Caroline shows up, there's another round of heartfelt talk. Nora gradually reveals the truth about her unloving husband and her late father's alcoholism, which led her to seek the approval of others at the cost of her own peace of mind. And so on. Ruby is aghast to discover that she doesn't know everything after all, but Dean offers her subdued comfort. Happy endings await almost everyone—except for readers of this nobly preachy snifflefest.
The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with syrupy platitudes about life and love.Pub Date: March 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-609-60737-5
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2001
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
