One of the things I hate most is coming to a movie after it has already started. I spend precious minutes catching up on the plot and characters, and before I know it, the movie is over and I've missed it all!

I have to admit this was one of my concerns when I picked up Nalini Singh's Caressed by Ice since it is the third installment in her Psy-Changeling Series. Lucky for me and for all you spec fiction readers out there, Ms. Singh does a great job of catching us up and pulling us into the action quickly.

Judd Lauren is the man you want at your back if a bar fight breaks out. He's strong, fast and can melt a person's brains with a single thought. It doesn't hurt that he's incredibly sexy and mysterious too. What a combination!

Have you ever envisioned a world of your own? Perhaps just a daydream of something you wish you could have? In My Fair Lady the song Wouldn't It be Loverly spoke of such a thing: a world away from the current cold streets of London. It is from here that science fiction author Arryn Heath makes another leap.

"What if humans were part of a community of space faring beings?" is how Arryn Heath takes that thought of “what if” and leads us on a trip to the dark side of such an idea populated with persistent hope; the kind of hope that keeps the human race alive against overwhelming odds. Where humans designed to be slaves on one ship suddenly and mysteriously die.

Okay, so humans aren't always the sharpest tools in the shed, but we do have some pretty good ideas when it comes to deception. Especially where survival is concerned. We can reach back into our history and pull up interesting ideas that can be useful in our current situation. That is what the next generation of Guardians do in Christopher W. Wilcox, Sr.'s fifth installment of the Æthereal series, Æthereal's Children.

If one could live forever, what would one do? This has been a source of fiction and philosophy since our own brains first conceived the thought. For many, insanity, or power-hungry corruption seems to be the end results. Basically, to have immortality is a kind of hell no one really wants.

As a reader of Science Fiction and all the subgenre glory of the genre, I am amazed that so little has been written about an immortal that does not go crazy or power hungry.

The Mars Imperative, by Mark Terence Chapman, joins the long list of speculative fiction about our planetary neighbor, Mars. C. S. Lewis, Ray Bradbury, Robert Heinlein, Kim Stanley Robinson, and a dozen others have been fascinated by the Red Planet. Chapman, like Robinson, produces hard science fiction using the narrowest of definitions of SF. Nothing written conflicts with current scientific knowledge; any advanced technologies are theoretically possible.

How delightful it is to come across a book that seems to hold hidden treasure. As a reader of many books, I often find the usual formula and conclusion. Being a writer myself, I fully understand the challenges in undertaking an idea and bringing it to fruition. It is not easy and is a labor of love and hate and passion. With the Eyes of Light series, I have found in myself, the reader again.

Since the golden age, science fiction has been well-paved with heroic characters on desperate quests to perform indispensable deeds against impossible odds. This is the stuff wherein our paradigm of "American Mythology of Individualism defeats all" comes out in places other than Westerns. The macho man, the clean-cut hero, the defeat of those who would enslave us is classic to the core.

Modern writers, however, aim to put depth into their characters by trying to show a more complex side--like the result of heroism on relationships; of always being the heroic man rescuing others; of the enemy not being the one dimensional horror the media would have us believe. The dance of morality is played out, a conflict of going for what you most desperately want versus that which is what you need.

I have always loved Science Fiction for the variety of ideas that it brings up, the morality plays, the drama, the humor, and the stretches it provides to dormant brain cells. So it is with enthusiasm I dived into this third and, I am assuming, final installment of the Behold the Eyes Of Light series. I will state honestly, that when I closed the cover digitally for the last time, it was with a sad sigh. I was not ready to leave that place and indeed my writing mind was imagining all sorts of things for the characters I became friends with.

Once upon a time there were arranged marriages. Luckily we don’t have to worry about such things now. At least, those of us who aren't half-alien with mysterious pedigrees don't have to worry about arranged marriages. They bring up all kinds of issues that most contemporary cultures don’t have to worry about. The initial relationship in Forced Mate falls into that category of unavoidable arrangements. In most situations, characters swept into life decisions by powers beyond their control would be thought of as a couple of limp biscuits, ready to crumble at the merest conflict.

A well-written story can go beyond the medium upon which it has been printed, be it a simple paperback, leather-bound treasure, or the electronic screen. What must always be constant, however, is to grip, draw, or tease the reader into the story and do not let them go, til the end. Akashan'te, I am please to say, delivers.

Rowyn, a child of virgin birth, was foretold in prophecy hundreds of hundreds of years before. She, of course knows nothing of this, but her Aunts, who are raising her, do. And now, on the day of her reaching her eighteenth birthday, she is sent innocently enough to go down to the nearest village and to the markets, just as she wished, all by herself. So begins the quest in Akashan'te.

Mythical saga traditions are difficult to write, let alone one that is only one hundred and twenty six pages. Such stories are generally written in dense prose and hundreds of pages long. Others are written in dry historical facts of family names and the roles they play. While this type of story telling is mostly from Iceland and Norway's medieval past, the flavor is what Behold The Eyes Of Light imparts. The main difference, of course, is the modern method of telling from the eyes of the heroine.

Way back when, in the dim, dark days of yesteryear, when books were only on paper and the world had never heard of pixels, there were entire genres of books consisting of basically "Go West, young man," or "Go to sea, young man." These books consisted of just that, the adventures of young men venturing off into the wilderness or the frontier and finding adventure. Welcome to the 21st Century equivalent of that genre: "Go to space, young woman."

Are you a fan of wizards, riddles and things that go bump in the night? Do you ever imagine yourself with supernatural powers or hope for a guardian who does have those powers? Instead blaming the vagaries of everyday life on simple coincidence, do you see a pattern? If you do, then Marc E. Robling’s latest novel, Trigon: The Riddle of the Keys is the book for you. Powerful wizard Emit is the guardian of his world for the last 1500 years. He has kept it safe, but his power is waning and the demon is creeping closer, ready to devour the planet. He creates a trigon riddle, a three-part puzzle, to mystify the demon while leaving instructions for three future champions to save the world.

Take the absurd twisted tail of ‘Alice in Wonderland’ turned dark and for adults. Throw in dialog along the likes of C. J. Cherryh and the scathing sarcasm of William Blake and you will have the premise of this book. When Darkness Fell follows the adventure of a young man who just entered adulthood from a society completely controlled by the Penultimates. Controlled--from their thoughts (shades of “1984”) to when they may eat and what they may eat, and many other such things. Infractions are dealt with by training or harsh sentences.

Among science fiction that takes place on Earth, all things Egyptian seem to be a reoccurring theme. It is where Vampires supposedly originate, or Aliens come to teach us civilization, or something from so long ago happens there that shapes us even today. There are far older and more fascinating places all over the world. But Egypt seems to hold a special place in our mythological western hearts. It is different enough to be exotic, but familiar enough to be comfortable. It is in this place, this space of thought, that this story takes place.