Steam, romance and the supernatural intertwined

Sir Merrick Hadrian's life is turned upside-down by five talented orphans - and the governess he hires to care for them - in Cindy Spencer Pape's first Gaslight Chronicles story "Steam & Sorcery."

It's hard to be a governess. Never mind the children; even when they're spoiled brats there's usually something to work with. No, Miss Caroline Bristol's problem has been with the master of the house. Specifically, when she (rather firmly) refuses their advances, she generally finds herself tossed out of the household. Thankfully Sir Hadrian, while certainly the most attractive of Miss Bristol's employers, seems completely oblivious to her.

Perhaps that's because Merrick has his hands full. Besides the fact that he found this group of street urchins while breaking up a den of Vampyres, there's some magickal-ness to them as well. The oldest is obviously a Knight, and the girl has a way with mechanicals that seems almost magickal as well. Out of an obligation to children of Knights, whether acknowledged or not, he takes young Thomas in, and along comes the rest.

But even the household of a lord isn't perfectly safe. In fact, in searching out the origins of the vampyres Merrick encountered, he and Caroline must seek out London's seedy underbelly. And with Jamie's visions warning them that death is in their future, it will take all of their talents combined to come out whole.

Cindy Spencer Pape creates a world rich with European traditions interwoven with a London that never was. Steampunk elements are little more than window dressing in this story, but even as such, they add to the rich descriptions of the era and the talents of the characters. Steam & Sorcery is one of the better 'Steampunk Romance' novels out there, written by someone who understands that the fantasy element and characters are at least as important as the more...steamy scenes.

Highs: It's wonderful how Pape starts out with generic character types (street urchins, attractive governess, Lord of the manor) and fleshes them out into characters that the reader really cares about

Lows: As much as I love Merrick and Caroline, I wish there was more to do with the kids

Verdict: A very well-written 'Steampunk Romance' that never quite falls into the traps of more poorly-written romances

Further Reading: 'Photographs and Phantoms', Soulless

If the human body is inefficient and messy, why not replace parts?

Engineers tend to be a funny breed. Oftentimes identifying with their science better than the other humans they work with, they see the world from a much more analytical and logical viewpoint than people whose focus is on the arts, or even the 'softer' sciences.

Therefore, the premise of Max Barry's Machine Man makes a certain twisted sense. An engineer like Dr. Charles Neumann is exactly the type of person to be fixated on misplacing his cell phone to the exclusion of everything else. Including putting on pants before going outside to check his car (although one would think he would have a tracker app on it...). It's this single-minded intensity that leads him through his lab and into the Clamp.

It's also this tunnel vision that lands him in the hospital, sans one leg.

The prosthetic legs that the Lola Shanks brings to fit him with vary. The cheapest, little more than a bucket on a stick, is an insult. There are more aesthetically pleasing options, but Charles has never been one for trading function for form. But that last one, the Exegesis Archion with the microprocessor in the knee...that's something he can work with.

Because engineers fiddle. They simply can't leave well enough alone, especially where technology is concerned. So it's not long before Charles has completely taken apart his new leg. As always, it takes a little longer to get it back together again, but he ends up making some pretty sound improvements to it. And since he works with other engineers, they're nothing but encouraging regarding his new side project. There's just one problem: his flesh-and-bone leg can't keep up. It's obsolete, so to speak. But that can be taken care of.

While the end result of this process may be a bit predictable, the path that the story takes to get there is quite fun. The situation, both with Dr. Neumann and his company as a whole, escalates to a degree that is almost incredulous. And yet, given the characters that Barry has introduced us to, it is in keeping with their personalities perfectly. 

Throughout the novel, a dark humor peeks out. This is not a book that takes itself too seriously. Many of the characters are fairly one-dimensional caricatures of positions such as 'HR Lady,' 'Over-Enthusiastic Engineer' and 'Superfluous Middle-Manager.' This lack of characterization doesn't detract from the story; rather, using known tropes helps to move along the plot without bogging it down introducing the reader to a whole company of employees.

Max Barry has created a hugely funny, dark comedy look at where technological advancements could lead when factors such as an irrational attachment to the physical body is replaced with a seemingly logical desire for efficiency and advancement. Neumann is the logical extension of the classic science-focused, asocial engineer, and people with friends or coworkers like him will be smiling throughout as the recognize some of the traits.

Highs: The contrast between Dr. Neumann's response to the addition of the 'enhancements' and another characters' response really shows how far off the deep end Charles gets.

Lows: It's almost a certainty that some people will be upset at what they see as a mockery of the less socially-apt 'geek' character, but to me it seems like it's all in good-natured fun.

Verdict: This is hardly great literature, or an in-depth examination of the use of technology to enhance the human form, but it's not trying to be.

Further Reading: 'The Perfect Match', The Mad Scientist's Daughter

This small-town middle school is even stranger than usual

In the last decade, Japanese horror movies have become more and more popular in the West. Beginning with the American remake of The Ring in 2002, and the subsequent popularity of the Japanese version, Japanese cinema has terrified audiences worldwide with their brand of dread-filled horror. Following this trend, Yen Press has released Another: Volume 1 as an ebook to American audiences, giving them a new format with which to scare themselves silly.

Koichi Sakakibara is in the unenviable position of starting a new middle school in his third year. His mother died when he was less than a year old, and his father is spending a year abroad in India as an anthropologist. Since he'll be gone for a full year this time, Koichi has been sent to live with his maternal grandparents in Yomiyama. 

On the very day that he was supposed to begin school, he's hospitalized with a second spontaneous pneumothorax. Not completely unheard of in adolescent boys, especially those who are, like Koichi, tall and thin, it's a painfully annoyance that delays his starting in the new school. Even a strange visit from the class presidents isn't terribly reassuring.

Perhaps it's just a matter of moving from a metropolis like Tokyo to a smaller town, but everyone seems just a little bit off here. Her aunt (who is closer in age to a cousin) went to the same middle school, and has been strangely elusive about the traditions and customs of his new school. 

When he finally does make it to class, things get even stranger. The students don't follow the normal morning routines, such as rising to address the teacher or taking attendance. And there's something strange about one of the girls in class. She doesn't interact with anyone else, and no one acknowledges her either. And her desk...is strangely old-fashioned.

Part of the joy of the Japanese horror stories is the slow build that they have. To give anything more away would ruin a bit of that dread that forms, and far be it from me to break down what Ayatsuji as worked so hard to create. If this is representative of the standard Japanese horror novel, it's a crime that so few have made it to the West. One word of warning: as this is the first of two volumes, there is a rather cruel break in the story halfway through. Be warned that when you get to the end, it may be a hard wait for the rest of the tale.

Highs: So many of the oddities that the narrator runs into can be explained away as coincidences or the culture of a small town, except that there are so very many of these oddities.

Lows: A two-part scary story, with months between the parts, is just plain mean on the part of Yen Press.

Verdict: A lovely departure from the traditional ghost story, Another: Volume 1 leaves the author wishing they read Japanese so they could find out how it ends.

Further Reading: The Midnight Palace, Dingo 

Manga Monday: A forgotten Tokoypop license that deserved more

Taisho, Takana-san and all the rest come back in one final volume before Tokyopop's collapse in Neko Ramen Volume 4: We're Going Green! Kind Of...

Neko Ramen Volume 4: We're Going Green! Kind Of... is, of course, the sequel to Neko Ramen Volume 3: A Cat After All.  Check out the review for Volume 1 here, and Volume 3 here.  Otherwise, read on!

It takes a village - or a circus - to raise a child

It's an old-fashioned Scottish witch-burning in Cindy Spencer Pape's 5th Gaslight Chronicles story, Cards and Caravans.

Note: Cards and Caravans is the fifth story of the Gaslight Chronicles series. While the stories work well as stand-alones, there are inherient spoilers, especially where the romances are involved.

One of the space program's pioneers gets one last chance to fly

“Dorothy lived in the midst of the great Kansas prairies, with Uncle Henry, who was a farmer, and Aunt Em, who was the farmer's wife.”

L Frank Baum used this line to start his most famous work, The Wizard of Oz. Now, Mary Robinette Kowal uses this same line to start a whole new story, 'The Lady Astronaut of Mars.'

Here, the space program played out a little bit differently. Instead of simply being content with reaching the Moon, humanity kept pushing out into space. While computers were still in the punch-card phase, man reached Mars and eventually colonized it, beneath bio-domes to keep in the air.

Elma York was the face of the Mars program. With the mind of a scientist, the heart of an explorer and the looks of a starlet, she was the perfect choice to be the face of the colonization program, along with her computer-science husband.

Fast-forward several decades and their lives have become the same as any couple in their later years. Elma keeps in shape for her NASA-compliance physicals, and also to help take care of her husband. While his mind is as sharp as ever, his body has begun to betray him. The tremors have gotten so bad, and his muscle mass has gotten so low, that he is transitioning into 'it's a matter of time' territory.

But how much time? Because NASA has a new project in the works. They need a person to make a one-way trip to the nearest star system, to set up an array to facilitate travel. Does Elma live out her marriage with her slowly dying husband, or take her last chance to fly among the stars?

Mary Robinette Kowal's talent lies in finding the humanity in her characters. Whether they be a clockwork toy, an IT girl on a generational ship, or a woman living on Mars, Kowal makes the reader wonder what they'd do in their place. This is the real joy of Kowal's stories, and what keeps readers coming back time and again.

Highs: It's a amazing what a little girl from the Kansas countryside remembers years later.

Lows: I might resent the narrator using her looks in this way, but then again it was the 1960s.

Verdict: Very much worth the read, for free, on Mary Robinette Kowal's site here.

Further Reading: 'Paper Tiger', Shades ofMilk and Honey

An AI to make HAL look like a kitten

Technology is becoming more and more of part of our everyday lives. Surgeons can preform complex operations halfway across the world using mechanical arms and video feeds. Factories automate many of the production lines run by humans just a few decades ago. Google Cars have driven over a million miles, in traffic, without intervention by humans. Drones, some piloted by humans well away from the front lines and others controlled by sophisticated programming, have the ability to identify persons of interest and buildings, both for surveillance and for military action.

All of these are controlled by computer programming. All are connected to some form of network. And anything connect to a network can be compromised.

In Daniel Wilson's near-future novel Robopocalypse, even more aspects of our lives is influenced by computers and automatons. Many households and businesses are aided by domestic robots, as well as the military version that can help with everything from routine patrol of war zones to active combat situations. Vehicles come with automatic driving programs. Even buildings have their electrical grids and other systems tied into these omnipresent computer systems.

Dr. Nicholas Wasserman has been working on a truly conscious AI program. He took every precaution when he brought Archos into being. He enclosed the system in a Faraday cage; no signals should have been able to enter or leave. He only gave Archos limited information about the human race, to help control the views that the program had of humans. He did everything he could to keep his creation from escaping. But humans are sloppy. A laptop left on, with an IR port, was all it took for Archos to slip into the rest of the world. And like any other living creature, its goal is to survive. By any means necessary.

It began slowly. A domestic seemingly on a frozen yogurt run malfunctions and attacks the clerk. A child's toy scares it's young owner with too much knowledge about the family. A phone phreak notices something a bit strange. But nothing to make a coherent picture of what is to come.

And then...Zero hour. 

Written as a series of short stories taking place around the world, Robopocalypse is a terrifying look into a seemingly possible future. Even without an AI to instigate it, humans' reliance on technology and lack of attention to security is already manifesting. From reprogramming insulin pumps to lethal shocks from hacked pacemakers, the general public seems completely unaware of the creativity and ruthlessness of hackers. If the computers themselves were to turn on humans, the results would be catastrophic.

Written as something like a series of short stories, many revolving around a core set of half a dozen humans, Robopocalypse is an amazing novel. As the crisis unfolds and the resistance takes form, Wilson creates a believable world that seems just a few steps away.

Highs: Mr. Nomura and his factory in Japan almost deserves a companion novel all of its own.

Lows: Like many authors, Wilson doesn't quite succeed in writing for our youngest protagonist.

Verdict: A thoroughly creepy book, I would suggest against reading this in a dark room with a computer's standby light blinking.

Further Reading: 'The Perfect Match', 'For Want of a Nail'