Echo One

In this rousing anthology, five SFF authors contribute to and expand the universe of Lackey’s Secret World Chronicles series by imagining the role “metahuman” superheroes played during WWII. Lackey’s opening tale, “Rise,” the only previously unpublished offering, spans 1935–1940 and tells of how a group of super humans came to fight for the Allies, and her “Sgian Dubh” injects supernatural elements into the evacuation of Dunkirk. Veronica Giguere’s “Retrieval” and Lackey’s “White Bird” and “Valse Triste” all recount the devastating wartime pressures that led to the rise of superheroes, while the rest of the tales focus on heroine Vickie Nagy, the world’s first and only “technomage,” who can wield mathematics as a powerful magical weapon against vicious metahumans controlled by the Axis powers. Though those new to this universe will occasionally be puzzled, the authors offer enough stirring action, appealing character growth, and shocking, vivid violence to move the tales along. Series readers will be pleased with this return to the Secret World. (May)