cover image Collaborators

Collaborators

Deborah Wheeler. Dragon Moon (www.dragonmoonpress.com), $19.95 trade paper (375p) ISBN 978-1-897492-63-5

A deep-space mishap leaves the starship Prometheus and its human crew stranded far from home. Coincidentally, they’re near one of the few worlds with intelligent, complex life. The Erlind are humanoid enough to be relatable, although with significant differences in their reproductive biology. In short order the humans have granted the Erlind all the dubious benefits of human civilization, such as intrusive panopticon technology, Star Trek–like lasers suitable for stunning great masses of outraged citizens, and violent rape. The Erlind and a few sympathetic humans must figure out how to battle what amounts to an entirely unexpected invasion by a technologically superior and predatory species. Wheeler (Northlight) keeps the reader’s interest with solid prose and detailed explorations of the implications of sequential hermaphoditism in intelligent entities, but world-building flaws hamstring an otherwise solid adventure. (May)