Joe Gold recently sent in this gem. If you like his story, check out his site at http://www.goldscribe.com. On Oct. 22, Joe will be launching his new book entitled 'The Lamp Post Motel' , a novel about alien university students visiting earth to study the anthropology of the human species. Hopefully we will be able to present you with a full review of his new book soon! Until then, enjoy 'Malaise'.

Malaise

by Joe Gold 

I can't say,exactly, what's been bothering me. All I know for sure is that lately I haven't been feeling right. You know, sluggish, not quite with it, like the everyday just isn't worth the trouble and I'm just going in circles. Ever feel like that?

At first I didn't pay attention to the rashes. But they've swollen to painful sores, and new irritations seem to be popping up everywhere. I'm not breathing so well, either. I sort of wheeze along.

I put myself into the hands of the medics. They scanned me sixteen ways to Tuesday, in every direction, isolating my breathing, my circulation, my digestion, my I-don't-know-what-all, examining my every molecule, it seemed, encoded into data that's supposed to tell them what's ailing me.

Maybe. Usually what they want is more tests.

A new small publisher has launched in the San Francisco Bay Area, Dailey Swan Publishing, focused on science fiction and other genre fiction. The first seven titles are all by first-time authors, including my own The Lamp Post Motel about sexual anthropology students of the future coming here to the murky past for field research. The book will be released on Oct. 22, 2006, and available from independent bookstores.

Another title, Confessions of a Virgin Sacrifice by Adrianne Ambrose is a comedic fantasy about a young lady who hurries to abandon her virginity so as not to be tossed into the local volcano, and the barbarian she meets along the way.

For young adults, Mark Jansen's Apers is about genetic engineering that creates a new life form for use as agricultural labor, and the problems when a perhaps too-bright "aper" (a smart apelike animal) decides she's got better things to do with her life than work the fields or get her intellect "pruned" back. Apers has been nominated for a Hal Clement award for best young adult science fiction of the year.

An epic poem is publisher Casey Swanson's own work, dealing with self-doubt, creating and destroying universes in Beyond the Fears of Tomorrow.

For comedy and science fiction, Dale Mettam offers The Pub at the Center of the Universe. Have a look at the full line as it grows at daileyswanpublishing.com. If you'd like to see more of my novel, check out thelamppostmotel.com.

--Joe Gold, San Francisco

I would just like to introduce to you a story written and sent to us by Mike Read, of Garland, Texas. Thanks for the Contribution, Mike!

 Orbits, Oddities, and other Issues

Mike Read

The trans-spectrum communicator sparkled just as Ronald Yukon finished lacing up his running shoes. The incessant beep-glow continued.  Okay, he said under his breath,  take a chance–it’s Day Off  Time–probably a marketeer money-taker.  “No-not-interested-thank-you-bye-transmission-snipped,” he would say.

“Ohio-Go-Zymos,” Yukon said as he opened communications with the caller. 

“Hey, Ron!  Glad I caught you this early,” Powers said.  “The boss gave us a special project.  You need to come on in to the office today, like right now!” 

Yukon glanced at Power’s smile in the receiver.  It made him as ill as a pus-pox.

“I’m committed for the morning, but....”

“Yeah? Uh-Huh!  We’ll see you in twenty moments.  Remember, the boss will be here to count noses.”  The spectrum communicator blanked before Yukon could reply to the caller.  He slammed the instrument into the cradle.

“Let the Off-Color Words Fly!

Title: The Odyssey Gene
Author: Kfir Luzzatto
Publisher: Echelon Press

Just recently, I received a copy of The Odyssey Gene by Kfir Luzzatto. I had heard about this book originally via an advertisement I saw on the Internet. Following that link sent me to the website for the book, where I was able to read the first chapter. I was immediately hooked, and I quickly obtained for myself a copy.

Being rather excitable at the prospect of reading and reviewing new books, I quickly opened the package, and pulled out the book. While they say that you can't judge a book by it's cover, and as a reviewer, it is my duty to tell you about what was inside the book, I will admit that the cover of a book heavily shapes my initial impressions of the book, and impress upon my mind a certain expectation of the book.

The cover of the book immediately shouts Science Fiction at you. With the author's name and the title of the book occupying the top and bottom positions of the cover, what immediately caught my attention was the double helix which appears over top of a planet in what seems to be a nebula of some sort. Immediately, the double helix and the title worked together to suggest to me that this book was hard science fiction.

My initial impressions were quite mistaken. This book is less of hard science fiction than it is of the journey of the central character, John Hektor. Let me assure you, though, that this is a very good. Let me set the stage for a moment.

This book is placed far into the future, in a universe where earth has colonized other planets through our galaxy. The people of earth suffer from strong prejudice, as a result a plague which had decimated the population years before. Certain humans, who were genetically immune to the plague, were now cast as secondary citizens to those who did not have the immunity gene.