“Variation on the Theme of Man” by Toni V. Sweeney, 2014 This is a work of science-fiction, set hundreds of years in the future, in which humans have traveled into space and rub shoulders with dozens of alien races. As such, it seems jarring that the hero of the tale, galactic assassin Gabriel Marsh, expresses rather puritanical attitudes about a supposedly Gay man. He calls this man a “twist” and a “beddy-boy” and cringes at the thought of seeing him kissing another man.

How Are Conscientious Objectors Treated in the Future? Allan McAllister is a paxist in a world at war, what we today would term a conscientious objector. His uncle Egan Rand is the leader of a movement protesting the current war in which the UTF—the United Terran Federation—is involved, a war the Federation claims results from an Earth settlement being attacked without provocation by the Felidan navy. (Later this assertion will prove ironically false.) Egan Rand wants the

“ESPER FILES—A Steampunk Superhero Series” by Egan Brass The book starts with a prolog, set in something resembling Victorian times, in which a grandstanding professor creates a machine that blows up. The resulting explosion alters… something. And as a result, twenty percent of Earth’s population become Espers—mutants whose abilities are based on their personalities. So an easily-enraged individual can suddenly shoot fire from his hands and melt metal. Or a timid girl ca

Gilson Creek, Maine is a town with a history of lycanthropy. A werewolf has killed before and now he’s back for more mayhem. An early, brief scene where the hero, Sheriff Joe Fischer, recollects the history of the town’s old, abandoned cemetery is quite effective and evocative. The revelation of the werewolf’s identity came shortly after I had guessed it. That identity is a bit different from the usual suspects in books of this sort. The story begins with the monster on th