Royce Sears-Sci-Fi/Fantasy Author

What about Teddy? By Royce Sears Billowing clouds. Blackened soot. Embers, ashes Rises to the dawn. Pictures and memories Writhe among flames. Tears falling. Silent sobs Among a fire engine’s roar. Splashes of water Dousing dreams. Hopes, carried on streams Toward the drain. Clutching her doll. Watching the flames. “What about Teddy?” Mom shakes her head. “We’ll get a new Teddy, baby.” 

I found myself standing at the rear of a small boat with the lights of my ship, the USS MISSISSIPPI, ahead of us on the dark harbor. Beside me stood my division officer—we’ll call him Ensign Longfellow. “Sears, aren’t you out past curfew?” Ensign Longfellow asked. I glanced at my watch and noted the time as 01:22 AM. He was right. The Captain’s rules for this port visit were for E3 and below to back aboard ship by midnight. I remember the panic settling on me at that moment, but we’ll get to that later. These are my first coherent memories of our first night of liberty in Naples, Italy. Now I’m guessing, you, my dear reader, are probably curious about the events leading up to just how I found myself out after curfew and standing beside my division officer at the rear of the liberty launch. I am too, but I will try to give an accurate accounting—to the best of my ability. The ‘Ole’ Miss ‘(CGN-40), having departed Norfolk in late February or early March, (I honestly ...

War Dogs by Greg Bear My rating: 4 of 5 stars War Dogs is sadly my first experience with Mr. Greg Bear. Through the pages of War Dogs I developed a great respect for Mr. Bear and his ability to reach through the pages of the book to tell the story of a Skyrine - a marine trained specifically for the rigors of space combat. Having worked with Marines as a Navy Corpsman, Marines have a mindset that is very specific and very singular to the Marine culture. They speak alike, they fight alike, they're honest, loyal, courageous- and most of all- Marines are BADASS! In my opinion, Greg Bear captures the essence of how a Marine thinks, acts, and fights in War Dogs and that alone is worth the price of admission. As much as I liked this book, I gave it four stars because there were several places within the novel where I had to back-pedal a few pages to try to understand what was going on with the story. Setting those little things aside, it's a gr...

The Player of Games by Iain M. Banks My rating: 5 of 5 stars I have to say that I found The Player of Games to be a much better experience with Iain M. Banks than Consider Phlebas. Banks introduces us to Gurgeh, a stylized game-player from the Culture. Ahh, the Culture, such an advanced and modern civilization that engulfs almost all of the known galaxy, or so it seems. Gurgeh is reluctantly drawn into the attempted coup of a game-obsessed empire; a coup to be affected by Gurgeh's mastery of the very game through which the empire defines itself. As an outsider of the Empire, Gurgeh must learn the game quickly and unknowingly confront the evils of this empire via the game. Can he learn the intricacies and subtleties of the game in time? Can he learn enough about himself and his opponents? Is it all just a game, or is it a none-too-subtle clash of cultures taking place on the game board before him? Highly Recommended SF reading! Royce www.royces...

Morning Star by Pierce Brown My rating: 5 of 5 stars Morning Star is a heartfelt and dizzying end to the Red Rising Trilogy. Although Morning Star is a great book, it IS the end of the trilogy--much to my dismay. The author's acknowledgments and comments make the last book even more loveable because we can see the struggle Mr. Brown had in bringing Darrow through the conflicts arising within Morning Star. Where Red Rising and Golden Son focused on Darrow himself, Darrow has to learn that he can't always do everything by himself. As much as I wanted to savor this last book, it was another Pierce Brown novel that I couldn't put down--and alas it is done. I'm looking forward to Iron Gold scheduled for release in 2018. Royce Sears www.roycesears.com View all my reviews

Golden Son by Pierce Brown My rating: 5 of 5 stars Golden Son by Pierce Brown is the second novel in the Red Rising Trilogy. I have fallen in love with these characters, so much so that as soon as I finished Red Rising I had to acquire Golden Son and Morning Star simultaneously. Written in the first-person POV, Brown takes us on an epic adventure through a stratified society's strengths and weaknesses via Darrow, a low-born miner, who begins to tilt this society's views of place and caste in Red Rising. Between the covers of Golden Sun, Darrow's rise through the ranks of aureate society continues as he struggles to protect the secret of his low-born identity and build the relationships he will need in the days ahead. Golden Son is a maze of friendships, betrayals, loyalties, and power struggles that provides the reader with nonstop hours of page-turning, mind-bending thrills. Royce Sears www.roycesears.com View all ...

Red Rising by Pierce Brown My rating: 5 of 5 stars Red Rising ! The cover quote by Scott Sigler says it all, "Ender, Katness, and now Darrow." The social stratification we see in Ender's Game, The Hunger Games, and Divergent, is taken to all new levels in Red Rising. Pierce Brown's delightful use of a Eugenic's obsessed culture makes Darrow's rise from a lowly Red to an iron Gold an enjoyable story that will go down in history as 'classical' and 'epic' science fiction. This is one of those books that you just CANNOT put down. We feel every betrayal, every heartache, and every triumph as Darrow faces impossible odds in a system stacked against him in every way possible. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED! Royce Sears www.roycesears.com View all my reviews

Hyperion by Dan Simmons My rating: 5 of 5 stars Hyperion by Dan Simmons is a wonderful science fiction novel that combines a number of scifi elements in a fantastically woven story. Simmons tells each character's story separately, in a delightfully artistic manner, that escorts the reader through the many and varied facets of the incredibly complex world he's created. Using character archetypes, Simmons tactfully uses his characters as ciphers to decode the mysteries of a backwater world known simply as Hyperion. Aspects of military-scifi, cyberpunk, space opera, mythology, religious mysteries, and a profound appreciation of literature--expressed through his mad poet character--make Hyperion a delightful reading experience. The only place throughout the entire novel where I felt let down was the end...and I'll leave it at that. Royce Sears www.roycesears.com View all my reviews

A Vision of Fire by Gillian Anderson My rating: 4 of 5 stars I enjoyed A Vision of Fire by Gillian Anderson. This novel takes the reader down a twisted path toward the Piri Reis map via lost artifacts and a consciousness extending across time to invade the minds of those who suffer traumatic experiences. Anderson explores several facets of mythologic tales, ranging from Norse and Celtic tales to Vodoun legends, and interweaves these facets into a larger fabric to spin a science fiction yarn of mystery, intrigue, and suspense. Royce Sears www.roycesears.com View all my reviews