Scrapyard Ship by Mark Wayne McGinnis

Scrapyard ship is a near future novel involving a salvaged starship of unknown origins, and a massive threat to the security of the Earth.  I have read a number of these types, and It is a very good example.  The characters are what differentiates this book from its peers.  The action, and pace are very quick, and I got very caught in finding out what happened next.

The only complaint I have about the book is that I could tell the generally tell the broad plot outline from the type of book it was.  That being said there is nothing wrong with following a trope if you do it well and the author does it very well.

The main Character Jason Reynolds is a navy seal who has found himself in a bit of trouble because his sense of justice and honor sometimes outvotes his common sense.  The story starts with him under house arrest at his old family scrapyard with a shiny new ankle bracelet after an incident with some pirates.  When his daughter comes to visit they both end up finding out that there is an ancient starship hidden on the property the hard way.  It turns out that his father didn't disappear years ago, but has instead been fighting a long war against an alien menace that is now coming for earth.  Very shortly the invasion arrives and Jason must scramble to get those he cares about to safety.  Before he can get to her his ex-wife, who he still has feelings for, is captured and the alien Craing have made a fatal mistake.  Before her capture Jason was not sure he would take up the challenge from the father who abandoned him, but now the aliens have made it personal, and unlike his father he is not afraid to discover everything his new ship can do.

This book will appeal to readers who enjoy military science fiction, and ancient alien benefactors.  There are a lot of boarding actions, space battles, and hand to hand combat scenes for the military science fiction fan and plenty of clever capabilities that the crew unlocks on their salvaged ship along the way for the fan of the ancient alien technology.

The book can be found at www.amazon.com in print or as an e-book.

Alien Taste By Wen Spencer Book Review

Alien Taste starts out as a good murder mystery novel and explodes into a science fiction adventure complete with shape shifting alien invaders.  As with all of Wen Spencers books you will really empathize with and understand the characters.  The world they are in feels very real and you will have a hard time putting the book down because it will keep you engaged to the very end trying to see what happens next.  I know I should write what I didn't like about the book at this point but really the author didn't do anything I didn't like with this story.

Ukiah Oregon, and Max Bennett, are a private detective team who specialize in finding missing people.  In fact when it comes to weird missing persons cases they are the best.  Ukiah has almost magical tracking abilities, and Max handles everything else.  For their latest case they are trying to find a missing co-ed with three hacked apart roommates.  Ukiah knows that something is off about this case almost immediately because he really does have superhuman tracking abilites, and he can tell that the blood from the girl he is trying to find isn't completely human.  When he does find her she is insane, Armed with a sword, and being taken over from the inside out by something that is hauntingly familiar to Ukiah.  The fact that Ukiah doesn't remember his early childhood or how he came to be in a humane wolf trap in Ukiah Oregon(he was named after the town) has never been a problem for him until now.  By taking this case the past he can't remember is about to catch up to him, and he will discover that his tracking abilities and sense for DNA are only the tip of the iceberg.  Ukiah discovers that like the thing that was changing the girl he found he isn't completely human and he is not alone.  His fathers people have been battling for the future of our world for a long time and the fight just came to him.  The question is can he learn enough about himself to be anything but a pawn in the long war between the descendants of his father Prime and the hive mind known as Hex.

This book should appeal to mystery fans, and science fiction fans alike.  I really think that anyone who gives it half a chance will love it.  Wen Spencer has a gift for writing compelling stories that you just can't put down, and when they are over you just want more.

This book can be found at www.amazon.com as an e-book.

Out of the Dark by David Weber Book Review

Out of the dark is a near future Alien Invasion science fiction book.  Like many books of this type the aliens invading earth wipe the floor with us.  I am talking most of our cities gone, our military forces wiped out,  complete subjugation of the populace kind of wiped the floor.  Then as is common with this type of novel something turns the tide.  Whats different about this story is that its not some fancy new technology the government was hiding, or an ancient alien spaceship hiding out on the moon that turns the tide.  In this case the aliens find out the hard way that there is a reason humans fear things that go bump in the night, and they have just pissed that reason off.

The only thing I didn't like about this book is that the destruction of a good chunk of humanity was too well described.  The first part of the book was good but depressing.  On the other hand it was worth it because the payback in the second part was awesome.

When the Alien Shongairi  invade the earth they pretty much hit the high points of the alien invader handbook and with most of the population wiped out things look pretty grim for humanity.  Part of the book follows a resistance cell in the United States that is doing what it can to fight back and keep the human race alive.  The other part of the book follows Master Sergeant Stephen Buchevsky through the balkans after he and some of his people narrowly escape destruction.  The master Sergeant does what he knows best and begins resisting the invaders and linking up with local forces doing the same.  One of the locals he befriends named Mircea Basarab is a little bit strange, but willing to help.  When most of Stephen's group gets destroyed defending Mircea's homeland, the terrifying truth is revealed.  By the time Mircea gets to Stephen his new friend is nearly dead and he must reveal his true self in order to save him.  It turns out that he once inspired a book by the name of Dracula and he was called a vampire for good reason.  For years he has been holding back the monster inside, and now the Shongairi have woken it up.  You heard me right its aliens vs Dracula.  As crazy as that sounds it is done really well, and I can't think of a better use for the horde of vampires that gets made to combat the aliens than what the author does.

This book will appeal to science fiction fans that can take a little bit of the paranormal thrown in, and any others that give it a chance will probably find it a good read.

This book can be purchased at www.amazon.com in print or E-book form.

Independence Day Movie Review

This is an older science fiction alien invasion story, but in my opinion it is one of the best alien invasion movies I have ever seen.  There are a lot of very sad moments, and great depictions of heroism in this movie.  The way it shows humanity pulling together in the face of the threat is how I hope it would happen if something like this were to become reality.  I really like that the aliens in this movie are here for resources and we just happen to be in the way.  They are basically acting like colonial Europeans.  This motivation is much more understandable than the motivation in some of the alien invasion movies I have seen.

What I didn't like about this movie was the depiction of computer technology, programming, and the reliance of the aliens on our own communication satellites for a synchronization signal.  To me this is a flaw in the plot that almost breaks suspension of disbelief.  First off nobody who has shields is going to use our satellites to bounce an important signal.  They will drop off their own and have secure communications.  This doesn't mean we can't intercept it and do some hacking, but using our own hardware makes it too easy.  Second what kind of rinky dink invasion force lets a scout ship that's been MIA for 50 years with life signs aboard dock without communicating to the people inside? I mean that's some impressive hacking, programming, and translation that had to go into that. The time frame there is just implausible.  In this movie the aliens are woefully stupid when it comes to information security.  I suppose that this is plausible if their culture never came up with hackers.  If this is the case then many of the issues with the plot disappear.  These elements aside the movie was really good and they had to fit all the action in a movie somehow.

The plot of this movie is really simple.  The aliens attack and destroy most of our major cities and military bases.  We then regroup and counterattack using a trojan horse to disable their main advantages which lets us win.  It has been done lots of times mostly badly.  Independence day does it right however.  It uses the human angle and follows small groups of survivors and combatants to give a good feel of what is going on, and the human cost of what has happened.  The ending Trojan horse comes in the form of an alien scout ship that crashed in Roswell New Mexico, and a talented computer geek who learns how to break into their systems and shut down their shields.  Once that is down our weapons are plenty destructive and the tables turn.

This movie will appeal to most Science Fiction fans, and some Action Adventure fans.  It may not be the best movie to watch with small children because of the destruction of cities, and one creepy alien scene, but families with older children should enjoy the show.

This movie can be found at www.amazon.com on disk or as a stream for rental or purchase.

The Faculty Movie Review

This science fiction movie is a story about an alien invasion that is more like a disease.  The main character Casey Connor, played by Elijah Wood, finds a strange creature at school one day, and takes it to his science teacher.  They do some brief studies and find out that the creature is very strange, and Casey leaves with his science teacher promising to send the creature off for study.  After that things start to get a little crazy as the faculty and students start to have drastic personality changes overnight.  Knowing about the strange creature Casey correctly jumps to the conclusion that the two things are related

Being an unpopular photography geek Casey finds it difficult to get people to believe him, but in the end he manages to get several fellow misfits, as well as some isolated popular students on his side as things go from bad to worse in their town.  As the crew of misfits, and screw-ups seeks help it becomes clear that all the adults and many of the popular kids in town have been converted.  The only people left untouched are socially isolated for one reason or another.

In the end it becomes clear that if this is not stopped soon then it will spread to the whole world.  At this point the converted people begin to target the misfits, and it is made clear that what they have on their hands is a collective alien intelligence that has been targeting those with the most power first.  The misfits have a secret weapon however.  Zeke the school bad boy has been making an selling a synthetic drug at school that the alien organism's cannot tolerate, and Casey manages to garner his help to save the town and the world.

In the end it comes down to a battle between Casey and the alien collective.  Casey must also battle his own inner demons as the queen of the collective offers him what he has always wanted, A chance to belong.  All he must give up is his pesky humanity.  In the end he overcomes this temptation, and prevails.  This has the effect of raising his status, and his new self confidence allows him to get the things he wants out of life.

I really enjoyed this movie because the enemy doesn't come in guns blazing with starships filling the sky, but rather chooses to take over the planet one person at a time functioning much like an epidemic.

This movie is available on disk or streaming at www.amazon.com , and prime members can watch it streaming for free.