Author of sci-fi/fantasy, horror and adventure/thriller fiction

THE HIDDEN LIFE OF TREES by Peter Wohlleben

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In THE HIDDEN LIFE OF TREES, forester Peter Wohlleben reveals that trees are fascinating life forms able to communicate, function as communities, form symbiotic relationships, and adapt to various environmental conditions. Trees, it turns out, are highly complex and perform many actions analogous to human experience. By revealing their hidden life, Wohlleben provides one of those rare books for the layperson that takes the familiar and provides a completely different understanding of it.

In each chapter, he examines an aspect of tree behavior, whether it’s their ability to ward off predators and communicate alarm signals, how trees often sustain each other, how they work with fungi to support a virtual neural network throughout a forest, how they compete and nurture their young, how they sustain themselves and move such high volumes of water, and how climate change is impacting forests and migrations. The result is a real appreciation for one of the oldest life forms on the planet, a thoughtful and enjoyable reading experience.

THE FOREST FOR THE TREES by Betsy Lerner

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Betsy Lerner’s THE FOREST FOR THE TREES is a venerable rumination on book publishing, summing up the observations of an editor during her years at Houghton Mifflin, Ballantine, Simon & Schuster, and Doubleday. Viewing writers as inherently neurotic–lone cats with a penchant for self-aggrandizing and feelings of self-worthlessness–she breaks down the six basic writer personalities she’s worked with and how editors get the best out of them (and vice versa). The second half of the book describes the publishing process from an insider’s perspective, all the things that can go right or wrong with publication, and what makes an author-editor relationship work (or not).

While I tend to look for writing books that have a strong practical as opposed to an inspirational bent, I enjoyed this book a great deal. Lerner knows writers and the publishing business inside and out, has the various writing personalities pegged, and writes with authority. From working with agents to acquisitions to marketing to editing to fighting over the book cover design, this book tells all about the process, and while it’s more rumination than how-to guide, there are practical tips to glean here. In particular, Lerner provides an inside look at not only what she perceives about what makes writers tick, but also into the editor’s mind. What editors want, how they think, what drives them, what makes them happy. All the other highly interesting stuff aside, that for me alone was worth the cover price.

CLEMENTINE: A SONG FOR THE END OF THE WORLD by John T. Biggs

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John T. Biggs’ intriguing apocalyptic sci-fi novel CLEMENTINE: A SONG FOR THE END OF THE WORLD is fast-moving, punchy, and filled with strange ideas–a very entertaining read, though the last act diffuses to a soft resolution.

In this novel, Clementine, a teenage girl living in Oklahoma, hears voices–as if her brain were a receiver for radio signals. Only these radio transmissions are from the future, and they predict the end of the world. This attracts the interest of Carl, a government scientist looking for a way to save humanity from extinction. She runs for it, only to be killed one of Carl’s agents–and then wake up a thousand years later. Clementine but not Clementine, and as for Carl, well, now there’s two of him.

The story rolls out as juicy as this setup sounds (no spoilers there, by the way, it’s all on the back cover). Carl and Clementine are strong characters and solid antagonists, and I found their cat and mouse conflict fun. My only criticism is the last act, while strange in its own right, becomes repetitive toward a diffused conclusion.

Overall, I liked this odd sci-fi story. Biggs is fearless in his writing and knows how to create sympathetic characters. I’m curious now to check out his other work.

ALL ROADS END HERE by David Moody

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David Moody’s ALL ROADS END HERE is a very strong follow-up to ONE OF US WILL BE DEAD BY MORNING, the first in his second HATER trilogy, and in my opinion one of the strongest in the series.

If you’re not familiar with HATER, it’s about a final war spanning the human race that begins with a certain percentage of the population begins to react with terror and hate against anybody not sharing the Hater gene. The Haters, as they’re called, start killing everybody else, and the government reacts with a program of detainment then extermination. Most of the first series focuses on the Hater point of view, while the second focuses on the Unchanged.

ALL ROADS END HERE picks up soon after ONE OF US WILL BE DEAD BY MORNING leaves off, where Matt finally makes it home to his city, now turned into a massive, overcrowded refugee camp under siege by thousands of Haters. His months spent trying to get home have taught him how to be a survivor while in a constant state of extreme danger. Now he must acclimate himself to being around people again, though the struggle to survive continues. Soon, he discovers a group trying to condition the Haters to accept the Unchanged so as to broker peace, but it may have bigger, more nefarious plans.

From back in the day when Moody was self-publishing HATER and his AUTUMN series as PDFs, I’ve been a fan of his original twist on tropes and meticulous attention to realism and human psychology under stress. While his work deals with the fantastic, everything about it rings true and makes the story, characters, and action all the more compelling. With ALL ROADS END HERE, Moody once again proves he’s still got it and remains one of the best authors of zombie fiction.