SixtTthree or Bread and Circuses with Cheese

It has come to our attention that a surprising 37% of your species believe that your planet is flat.  There is a great deal of factual evidence against this and yet you believe.  We actually went out and did a special probing, not in Cambodia because they are way too smart for that, but in your United States (a misnomer if ever we saw one) somewhere south of the middle.  We wanted to get more information about this belief system.  Like, what happens when you get to the edge?  How thick is this flat Earth?  Is it a double-sided flat?  Alas, no one had any answers other than to just insist it was flat.   We even took a couple of them to the upper atmosphere (we are prohibited by the articles of Calrissian to bring any of your species into space) to show them the curve, but they insisted they did not see it.  We continue to be perplexed that your species thinks it is okay to, regardless of the factual evidence, believe almost anything.  We, however, will stick to the facts as we discuss: Devil’s Gun by Cat Rambo, The Quiet Room by Terry Miles, The Art of Destiny by Wesley Chu, and A Curse of Krakens by Kevin Hearne.

Devil’s Gun by Cat Rambo, published by Tor, $27.99, 277 pages.

This is the second offering in the cooks in space series.  This time Niko Larson and her restaurant crew end up getting into trouble even though they are trying as hard as they can to avoid it.  Along the way they open a pop-up bistro, teach an intelligent ship about meal prep, and try to figure out how to manage a princess in recovery.  They also come to terms with a past that may not want to have terms raised.  And there is a lot more going on.  This is a full seven course meal of trouble, adventure and resolution.  We liked it.  We enjoyed the characters mostly although some do go on a bit too long and like many humans would resolve their issues if they just talked more.  Still, this is a species thing from what we have observed so won’t hold it against anyone. Fun all the way through to desert.  No reservation required.  Highly recommended.

The Quiet Room by Terry Miles, published by Del Rey, $30.00, 406 pages.

Rabbits is a mysterious game that is occasionally played in alternate realities.  It is currently in its eleventh iteration.  This may also be its last.  Gosh but did we enjoy this as much as we enjoyed the first Rabbits offering.  This one kind of picks up where the last one left off although things are a lot more dire, with universes colliding and blinking out of existence. This time we are following Emily Connors who is also being followed by mysterious people every time she starts getting close to a rabbit’s clue or others who are in the game.  Like the first time around, some of this is just plain weird, although it all does make sense in the long run.  Folks from the first offering return, new alliances are made, stakes are raised to existence levels and it’s all coming to a close sooner than almost anyone wants or expects.  We loved it.  Every bit.  This is one of those masterpieces.  If you have not discovered the first Rabbits offering, go and get it and then get this one.  Bunnies for everyone.   

The Art of Destiny by Wesley Chu, published by Del Rey, $29.99, 652 pages.

We should have titled this segment the time of joy and love.  This is the second in the War Arts Saga which we also loved.  We follow Jian, the Chosen One, as he begins his training in the arts that will hopefully keep him alive.  His sole purpose as the Chosen One, to defeat the Kahn, disappeared when the Kahn up and died during a minor skirmish.  Now, the support he had among the nobles, the veneration he got from the priests and the adulation from the populace is all gone since he no longer has a purpose. But there are those who believe his role as the Chosen One is still to be fulfilled and so he is in hiding being trained by various war art master’s and trying to avoid detection and death.  He’s also a teen aged boy trying to do teen aged boy things.  At the same time there are other stories, that intertwine and weave in and out with his.  Does it all come together?  Absolutely not.  This is an epic saga that we hope, assuming the intensity and craft can be maintained, fills dozens more books.  If you are not yet involved in this, you should be.  Go and get the first.  If you have the first, then get this one.  It’s all great stuff.  Much joy and love.  More than highly recommended.   

A Curse of Krakens by Kevin Hearne, published by Del Rey, $32.00, 658 pages.

Another entry in the joy and love edition.  This is book three of the Seven Kennings saga.  We think it might be the final one, but you can never tell with your species.  Are you not on Sharknado IV?  This continues the story of, well, everything.  Fintan the Bard is keeping the residents of war-ravaged Pelemyn up to speed with events until a counterattack can be put together.  It is a time of famine and despair, and the stories keep everyone going forward. Fintan arrives each day at the wall to tell that day’s story about someone or other who is playing a pivotal role in the war effort.  It is an intriguing way to tell a story although we have to admit it works to great extent.  We loved it and it brought us much joy.   If you have not read the first two then go out and get one and dive in. They are all very good and this one is perhaps the best of them.  Very highly recommended even more.

Perhaps, based on all the above, there is hope for you after all.  No, we are sure that is not correct but excellence, even in a losing effort needs to be noted in any case.  We’ll send these on as an example of the kinds of things that will be lost. Along with a three-layer chocolate cake, Russian dressing and some crabs.  After we do that, we are going to take a rest out in the rings of your planet Saturn.  Hopefully Klaarg won’t sideswipe that ring-shepherding moon again.  Sometimes we wonder how he ever got that license.  Keep your eyes to the skies.  Especially in the area of Saturn, just in case.   We’ll be back because even if we disturb a bunch of rocks, it will take a while for them to find their way here.  And perhaps they will be just dust coated ice.

SicsTToo or What Was Once Up is no Longer Available

We have noticed that you have a particularly unhealthy relationship with time. Many of you believe it to be a linear thing, even when the evidence is overwhelmingly in favor of it being sidereal.  That’s okay as it doesn’t make any difference in the long run, which is really what time is all about.  You may have been here or there, then or now, or maybe not yet or never.  How will you know and who cares?  It’s a circular argument with linear elements.  But let us leave this discussion to talk about more concrete things, like: The Scourge Between Stars by Ness Brown, Red Team Blues by Cory Doctorow, Watership Down by Richard Adams, and Perilous Times by Thomas D. Lee

The Scourge Between Stars by Ness Brown, published by Nightfire, $16.99, 163 pages.

This is a scary space story.  The crew of the starship Calypso is trying to get back to Earth after a colony failed at a distant star.  The ship is not in great shape, and neither is the crew.  So, when they start getting picked off and done in, one might think it’s just the stress of being on a failing ship, on a mission that most don’t expect to succeed and under more pressure than humans can take.  That’s not the case though, something really is going after them, and it is up to Acting Captain Jacklyn Albright to figure it all out and fix it before everything comes apart.  We liked this a fair amount.  It suffers, as all these things do, from the idea that people need to do some stupid things in order to put themselves in the position to get done in.  We know you would say, well, I would never do that.  But the video evidence counters that argument pretty solidly.  And our time watching your species confirms that you would, indeed, do that.  Different, fun in a gory kind of way, and something you should pursue.

Red Team Blues by Cory Doctorow, published by Tor, $72.99, 212 pages.

Accountants.  This is about accountants.  Well, one accountant in particular.  But still.  Just to be upfront, there are no robots in this.  In fact, there are no future or fantasy or alternate history things in it either.  It is about an accountant.  And a forensic accountant at that.  While this may seem to be something to be shunned, we have to admit that we finished it in nearly one reading.  There were no aliens, no monsters, no time travel, unless you consider working the books to be a form of time travel.  In which case this one is definitely for you.  This is listed as a Martin Hench novel which implies that there must be more of them.  We enjoyed the story; we enjoyed Hench and we enjoyed following along as he worked his way through a number of money laundering and shell corporation schemes. Like we said above, we liked it.  You might as well but don’t expect any spaceships or aliens or robots, unless they are looking for advice about tax shelters.

Watership Down by Richard Adams, Adapted and Illustrated by James Sturm and Joe Sutphin, published by Ten Speed graphic, $26.99, 383 pages.

In case you did not read past the title above, this is the graphic novel version of the book.  It is as if someone read the book for you and decided what pictures you should see to guide your comprehension while plucking out those pieces of dialogue that move things forward.  It is said to be a faithful adaptation.  We suppose the final truth about that will be up to you.  It is full of nice pictures of bunnies, but we suppose that was inevitable.  We are a bit at a loss for words in terms of this.  We are not big fans of adaptations, but they can serve a purpose.  Let us leave it at this.  As far as we can tell this is a good effort and we think the illustration is top rate.  We believe, if you enjoyed the original but are looking for an alternative that is pretty much the same but different then you would like this. We think if you have someone that you would like to share the story with but think that an illustrated version would be a good entry point then you will like this as well.  We do recommend it. 

Perilous Times by Thomas D. Lee, published by Ballantine Books, $28.99, 486 pages.

Merlin, it seems, had some doubts about the future and so he magically devised a way to make it so that the knights of the round table could be called to life whenever they were needed, either individually or as a group.  The actual particulars of these revivals involved trees and a rather harsh form of Earth Birth. 
This is shown through the person of Sir Kay, who is called to live whenever the realm finds itself in peril.  As you can imagine, Kay has been earth burped quite a few times, experiencing any number of wars and bad times.  So much so that there is an actual organization that has grown up around the knights that provides support and transportation as needed.  But this time is different.  This time Kay finds himself in a land he barely recognizes, amongst a people that seem to be willingly speeding toward their own destruction, and into a Realm that seems to have just given it all up.  Except for the very rich, who also control the organization overseeing the knights, by the way, who have a plan to bail out on the planet since its destruction seems imminent.  All they have to do is call Arthur back and off they will go. The groundwork has been laid and all they need is the Once and Future King.  We have to say that we enjoyed this, pretty much.  Sure, there were a few places that left us scratching but we got past those and forged on.  We liked the premise, the characters, and the way it was all stitched together.  If you like knights or stories about eco-warriors and evil corporations then you will definitely like this.

Well, you are all still here and so, then, are we.  We trust you saw the shooting stars (these are really just smaller asteroids and dust that will never combine to become a planet killer by the way) that so recently filled your sky.  Quite the show.  And just a reminder of how dangerous it is in space.  Your space.  The one your planet rotates through.  We’re not trying to scare you because clearly, given the shape of your planet by your own hands, you cannot be scared.  We’re sure you will be scared at the last minute though when it is far too late to do anything about it.  In the meantime, we continue forward as you continue backwards, searching to re-create one of those extinction events you are so fond of talking about.  Until then, or next time, whichever comes first, eyes to the skies Earthers.

SicsTwon or, The Little Chicken and Falling on You Now the Sky is

The Little Chicken or, falling on you now the sky is

Your planet is entering that time of orbit that generates a lot of unusual behavior such as dressing funny, running around looking for treats and playing tricks on each other.  That’s right, it is election season once more.  We struggle to understand why you continue to follow this arcane ritual where you elect individuals who lie to you so that they may make decisions that negatively impact your lives.  The fact that almost all of them control 99% of everything just makes it all the more confusing.  It is as if you refuse to want to better yourselves.  Of course, we say this and then we look at what you are doing to the planet, so we guess it all makes a certain kind of suicidal sense.  In order to avoid further discussion, let us tell you about: The Ferryman by Justin Cronin, Bios by Robert Charles Wilson, The Lies of the Ajungo by Moses Ose Utomi, and Witch King by Martha Wells.

The Ferryman by Justin Cronin, published by Ballantine Books, $29.99, 546 pages.

This is a strange one, albeit you should know by the middle what is going on and where it’s heading.  That does not mean that getting there or past there is not worthy of the effort.  This takes place on the world of Prospero which at first seems a bit like a dystopian future.  But then things start going awry and clues start dropping and you begin to think that not everything is as it seems. The big question is how much falls into that category.  Things move forward and more clues arise, and puzzles start to appear, and mysteries begin to rise through time.  And did we mention the revolution?  There’s one of those as well. Or is there?  By the middle of this you will begin to question everything you know and have been told and wonder how things can proceed.  But proceed they do, and it all resolves in the end.  And, speaking of endings, we were not real fans of this one but that could just be us.  We do recommend this thought and suggest you will find the passage an unusual and enjoyable one.  There’s also swimming.  Occasional swimming. 

Bios by Robert Charles Wilson, published by Tor, $22.95, 208 pages.

This is one of your depressing future entries.  Humans have spread throughout their solar system and into the galaxy.  But there is no life and no planets that will sustain life.  Except one.  Isis, an Earth-like world that is rich with life of all forms.  And all of it is poison to humans.  The entire planet is lush and deadly to humans.  But humans are there, exploring and cataloguing and trying to figure it all out anyway, because; why not?  Onto this planet comes Zoe Fisher, a young woman who has been engineered to survive there.  At least as much as you can engineer someone without actually being in the place where they will be trying to survive.  You begin to see the issues here.  So, Zoe goes planetside and things almost immediately start going wrong and this is what makes up the story.  It is an interesting one, with many philosophical discussions about life and change and all that.  We liked it as we see so many parallels to our own work here.  You will most likely enjoy it as well since it is humancentric and you know how much you enjoy that.  Recommended.

The Lies of the Ajungo by Moses Ose Utomi, published by TorDotCom, $19.99, 96 pages.

Tutu lives in the city of Lies, which has no water and has not had any for a long, long time.  This caused the city elders to make a deal with the Ajungo who demanded the tongues of everyone 13 and older for water.  This is now an annual event so that everyone who turned 13 in the past year loses their tongue.  The elders figured it is better to be speechless than dead.  The water is delivered monthly but Tutu’s mother will not survive that long so Tutu decides to get her water and he will go into the forever desert and search for the water that is said to exist there.  He leaves and finds the endless desert to be quite endless.  But he also discovers others there.  Three women rescue him, and he learns that their city made a deal of ears for iron.  Then they meet a blind man who is from a city where eyes are taken.  The group soon discovers the Lies of the Ajungo which we will not share as you need to find this on your own.  We found this interesting, brief, and a bit on the disbelief side but the shortness made that less of an issue.  We liked the way it was presented. You most likely will as well.

Witch King by Martha Wells, published by Tordotcom, $28.99, 414 pages.

We are not really able to follow much of Wells’ work because, well, she does things with robots and Klarg has his limits.  But no robots in this one as it is all about a foreign land that may never have existed, sort of like ancient Cambodia although we are still tracking that one down.  This is about Kai, who awakens after being murdered and having his consciousness confined in a water trap.  He is awakened when a lesser mage tries to steal Kai’s abilities.  This does not end well for that mage.  So, Kai is now free but has no idea where he is, how he got there, who put him there, how much time has passed or what else might be going on.  This begins an epic journey (Klaarg had an epic journey when he went to the quickie mart to get butter for popcorn, but we will need to save that one for another day).  Kai begins by trying to find those he knows and trusts.  He slowly builds a group and begins to piece things together, but it is not as simple as he had hoped.  And thank goodness for that because an epic adventure that lasts 15 minutes is a bit of a letdown.  We really enjoyed this one.  We liked those involved, we found the places they went to and the folks they interacted with to be genuinely interesting, and we found Kai’s situation worth paying attention to.  We’d go for more of these.  Highly recommended.  Zero on the robot scale.  We feel like this is something you all should get and enjoy.    

It’s the most wonderful time of the year.  The rogue, black comet made it’s annual swing through the Oort cloud and the results of that massive disturbance should be available in just a few cycles.  We’re keeping the ship warmed up and ready to go just in case a planet killer was enticed to leave its orbit and seek you out.  You’ll know it’s on the way because a star will appear in the sky.  Pending a disappointing result, we will be back.  Eyes to the skies Earthers.

SicsT or One Lump or Two or Three for All

We understand that there is a plan to fix your planet by bringing a few icy comets to orbit and using them to counteract the global warming that you have created.  While we could certainly tell you all the different ways this would not work, we are not going to. In fact, we are going to support your efforts because we believe that it is the quickest solution to all of your problems.  And, we believe that your plan to bring just one or two is not ambitious enough.  You should get 8, one for each continent.  This also increases the odds of success.  To assist you we have moved a number of likely candidates just beyond the orbit of mars.  Go for it.  After all what bad things could happen from you pushing a half dozen large icy chunks at your planet?  While you ponder that let us tell you about Damsel by Evelyn Skye, The Warden by Daniel M. Ford, The Eyes of the Impossible by Dave Eggers, and Dead Country by Max Gladstone.

Damsel by Evelyn Skye, published by Random House Worlds, $28.00, 356 pages.

So, we are not quite sure how to frame this.  First, it is based on a screenplay.  Second it is in the formula of many of your princess tales, and third it falls into the current penchant to rework classic tales with modern sensibilities.  This is the tale of Elodie, beloved princess who is training to take over rule of the kingdom she has grown up in from her father. The kingdom is in terrible shape.  But, surprise, Dad has arranged a marriage for her with the prince in the neighboring kingdom and it will solve everyone’s problems.  Of course, no one asks Elodie about this.  They all travel to the other kingdom to meet the prince’s parents and the prince and it’s all great for five minutes or so until Elodie starts paying attention to all the things that are just a bit off. It’s downhill from there.  We won’t say more because we don’t kiss and tell.  We struggled with this one a bit just because the situation seemed pretty dire and pretty much everyone is against this poor young girl.  While we enjoy the occasional against the odds win this one seemed a bit fantastic. But, hey, maybe that was the point. 

The Warden by Daniel M. Ford, published by Tor, $27.99, 305 pages.

This is a very interesting story.  It is a bit of a coming of age and a bit of the outsider trying to get in.  Aelis has just graduated mage school as one of the best students and is a bit put off that she is getting assigned to a backwater village as her first assignment.  While the villages did ask for a mage to move there, they are pretty fearful of Aelis, perhaps because she is a necromancer, and everyone just thinks she will go around raising the dead.  Turns out there is a lot going on in this backwater village and some of it has potentially huge consequences and it is all up to Aelis to figure it out and put it to rights.  She is given a tower to live in which has no roof and a broken door,  there is a hedge wizard who may be more than he appears, the village seems to want her gone more than they want her to stay, and there is a collection of characters with complicated histories that may play a role in all of the above.  Aelis is a bit headstrong and a bit brusque, which does not make her any easy friends and she is a bit full of herself as well, which also complicates things.  We liked the premise and the way things unfolded and enjoyed this most of the time.  We think you would probably do the same.  But only if you get a copy.  We’d lend you ours, but Klaarg spilled butter on it.

The Eyes & the Impossible by Dave Eggers, published by Knopf, $18.99, 251 pages.

This is about a dog.  Not a real dog but a dog the way that humans believe in dog. So, it is what you call anthropomorphized with spice.  This is really nothing more than the continuation of your belief that you are the most important thing in the universe.  Thus, you believe that you know what being a dog is like.  Anycase, this is the story of Johannes, a dog, told from his point of view.  He is tasked, by the three ancient bison that he reports to, with running and seeing and reporting.  This is Johannes’s job, and he does it very well. He does it to maintain the Equilibrium, which the bison oversee.  But things start changing because, you guessed it, humans start mucking about and messing things up and building things in the park.  Johannes must call upon all his abilities and run faster and see better in order to try to keep the balance.  We found this to be an engaging story although again, it is about the way humans think dogs think and not the way dogs actually think.  Still, we found it fun and different and if you like dogs and stories about brave dogs that save the day then this is definitely for you.  There are also some illustrations that add to the entirety.  We liked it overall and believe that you will as well. 

Dead County by Max Gladstone, published by Tor, $17.99, 256 pages.

This is book one of the craft wars trilogy and it is one fun adventure.  Tara Abernathy was driven out of her village with torches and pitchforks but has returned to bury her father.  She is much more powerful now than she was then, having resurrected gods, beaten up on monsters, stopped wars before they began and saved cities.  In the village she finds another young woman much like her and decides to take her under her wing.  But the villagers would be just as happy to drive her out again as they blame her for all the bad things that happened in the period between her leaving and returning.  As you can probably imagine there is a lot of emotion going on here and it is pretty well handled.  We enjoyed this very much and we will no doubt be seeking other Gladstone work.  If you have read others, you will like this, if you have read none you should try this.  Klaarg says that if you are waiting for Godot, read while you wait. 

Klaatu barada nicto or, as the universal translator would say, stop barbarism, I have death, bind.  You’ll ignore that as you have so many other things.  It is the way of you.  We recently probed a Masad agent.  Very interesting stuff there.  None of it redeeming we are afraid, and we will add it to the report that goes out this month.  We must say that your negative attributes weigh heavily on us as that volume is just huge while the other one is barely three sheets all together.  What can we say but, eyes to the skies humans!  We will return like we never left.  Remember that.

Fifftnein or Four Lefts Don’t Make a Right

We have seen that you are once again fixated on UFOs.  We can tell you that they do not exist.  At least not in the form and way you imagine.  In fact, there are very few space-faring species as most species take themselves out just as they are beginning to leave their planet.  A few are taken out purely because they are leaving their planet.  It is the intersection of technology, greed, and incompetence that does it.  There are three main ways a species does itself in: first are the ones that use up their resources and remain stuck on a planet that is dying; second are those that advance technologically faster than their culture is prepared for so that they simply bring their mistakes with them and off themselves in the process; the third are those that are so aggressive that they use new technologies to better do themselves in.  While they reach space, they do so only so that they can direct their aggression downward.  We know you won’t see yourself in any of the above so let’s talk about; Rubicon by J. S. Dewes, The Spare Man by Mary Robinette Kowal, Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson, and Fractal Noise by Christopher Paolini.

Rubicon by J. S. Dewes, published by Tor books, $19.99, 465 pages.

We need to warn you, although we know it will do no good, just look at how you took our warming planet advice, that AI is now writing plots that contain friendly AI.  This is in response to the fact that all the Ais developed so far have pretty early on admitted that humans need to be taken out first thing.  Adriene Valero is a soldier who fights in a future when death is still very painful but not permanent as the military has copies of you ready to go the moment you get offed.  Valero gets offed often.  After a recent offing, she gets a special assignment and works with a new squad and also gets a new AI to assist her.  Is this all a good thing?  Looks like it to begin with but small bits keep adding up to no good.  We will not say more but the new AI thing should kind of give it away. Or maybe not.  You’ll have to discover for yourself.  We liked it. 

The Spare Man by Mary Robinette Kowal, published by Tor, $19.99, 357 pages.

This is one of those adventures that takes place in a future that you fantasize about living in.  There really are not that many bad things and those that do exist are definitely minor first world issues.  Thus, it is that an heiress and her new husband, who while not an heiress can afford to live like one, are on a space liner, drinking their way across the universe incognito, when, a murder happens.  Between cocktails the husband comes under suspicion and gets charged, a cast of characters, some bumbling, others fawning, and a few just too rich to care, get involved.  There is a little dog and drinks around every corner.  See, this is the future as you wish it to be.  We got pretty bored of it all about halfway through as we realized we cared little for any of them.  When we started wondering about asteroid contact, we realized it was time to give up.  If you enjoy drinking a lot, you may enjoy this. 

Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson, published by Del Rey, $40.00, 565 pages.

We suppose this was sent out again because of all the concern about AI and technology.  Although maybe someone just wanted to make a few bucks.  Hard to tell.  Snow Crash is all about Hiro, a young pizza delivery guy who rides the franchise lined highway making sure that pies get slotted in prior to the guaranteed delivery time.  When not delivering pizza, he spends his time in VR.  Snow Crash by the way, is a drug that is being pushed to hackers and it reduces them to a vegetative state.  Believe it or not ancient Sumerian priests have a role to play here.  And there is YT, a Kourier who also gets involved.  It’s all future specific stuff and it all resonates today which is very odd since this was produced in 1992, before there was even electricity.  The amazing thing is all the stuff that was predictive.  Sure, there’s more stuff that’s not predictive but you will tend to wash over that and just be amazed by the predictive stuff.  We found it odd but enjoyable.  If you perused it in 1992 you should maybe do so again.  If you did not then you should just do.  We did and we are better for it. 

Fractal Noise by Christopher Paolini, published by Tor, $28.99, 204 pages.

This is set in the Fractalverse.  We’re not sure that has any significance.  But in case it does we mention it.  There is a spaceship moving through space.  We know you say fly but ships in space do not fly, they move.  Anycase, this ship discovers an anomaly, a giant hole in a planet.  For some reason the occupants of the ship decide they must land and go look at the hole.  This is not an easy thing to do because of the way the hole acts.  We won’t get into that here because then there would be no joy for you if you decide to go this route.  A small team lands.  They are not the best team, with each being handicapped by personal issues and history.  Still, they are on the planet with the hole and, since they could not park by the hole (for reasons we cannot get into because of the joy thing) they have to walk.  Walking is not easy.  Especially when so many members of your small team are borderline suicidal.  Getting to the hole is a real chore and makes up most of this offering.  We won’t say more because, well, joy.  We did read this all the way through, but we are not sure why.  We suppose it was the hole thing.  Yes, we know we could have said that we read the hole thing, but we are funnier than that.  If following a bunch of quasi suicidal misfits is your idea of entertainment, then we highly recommend this.  Otherwise go outside and watch ants.  They are usually up to something more interesting.

Low orbit around your planet is getting very cluttered.  Between all the small satellites, the space junk, and the secret spy things, there is barely enough room to get in and out.  We would say that this is an approaching issue for you, but we don’t think it actually will become one for reasons you already know.  We’re heading out to Sirius to listen to some Orion jazz.  Try to still be here when we return as we have two more years of studies to finish before we can move on.

Fifftate or Time Waits for No One, It’s All Self Serve From Here

We believe we have mentioned previously that we are podcasting.  This is a polite way of broaching a subject that, clearly based on analytics, you previously ignored.  But, yes, you can find us on Spotify, Apple, Itunes and many other places, including Starlink but please do not mention that to Musk.  Based on our previous probings he is easily agitated.  So, if you find reading a chore now you can just listen.  And we would like to take a moment to say hello to our fans in Cambodia.  We have not been there in a while but now, since learning we have fans there, plan to begin a probing run soonest.  In the meantime, let’s chat about: Gridlinked by Neal Asher, the Mimicking of Known Successes by Malka Older, The Puzzle Master by Danielle Trussoni, and Wayward by Chuck Wendig.

Gridlinked by Neal Asher, published by Nightshade books, $7.99, 407 pages.

Well, the steam may have run out of the pump.  That is one of your sayings is it not?  This entire entry is about a man who has become addicted to being linked to the grid which is kind of like your internet but without the porn.  This to the point where he begins to act like one of the emotionless AI beings that runs the universe.  As you can imagine, following one who is essentially emotionless is less than an exciting proposition.  Sure, this may have seemed like a cracking good idea at the time of inception, but it proves the point that not every good idea is good in the execution.  Or, perhaps, it is more that sometimes what seems like a good idea at the start should be executed.  Anyways, this Cormac guy flits hither and yon pursuing artificially alive constructs in a kind of emotionless robot-like way.  He is joined by some androids and a few ships AI so it’s a real jamboree of emotionless joy.  Meh.  We got through it but we’re not sure why.

The Mimicking of Known Successes by Malka Older, published by Tor.com, $19.99, 166 pgs.

This is one of those things that is cut from whole cloth.  It is the story of two old friends who have not seen each other in some time.  It is the story of a missing man and possible murder.  It is the story set on a moon of Jupiter. It is about working to repair the damage done to the home world.  And there is more involved which makes this a complex thing with the missing man woven throughout.  Mossa is an expert investigator who elicits the help of her friend, Pleiti, who is a researcher working on the effort of fixing and returning to Earth.  Together, the two of them work through the puzzles related to the missing man involving motive, situational opportunity, and a missing body.  We liked it a lot.  We enjoyed the setting, which was certainly un-Earthly.  We enjoyed the tale itself which had plenty of twists and turns.  And we enjoyed the interplay between the two people trying to put all the pieces together.  Highly recommended.

The Puzzle Master by Danielle Trussoni, published by Random House, $27.00, 362 pages.

This is an interesting story with some serious issues when it comes to believability.  It is about Mike Brink, who is a puzzle master and who gets called into an asylum to meet with Jess Price, who has not spoken a word since her arrest for murder five years previously.  Brink is called in because Price has drawn a puzzle that her psychiatrist believes only Brink can solve.  So far so good.  But now it gets both interesting and disappointing.  Turns out Price was caught up in supernatural goings ons.  Of course, Brink and the shrink believe her; to the point where they embrace an entire pile of conspiracy theories, break into a prison a couple of times, get threatened, assaulted and kidnapped, and get out of a bunch of scrapes simply by talking. Do not get us wrong, we try to believe one impossible thing each day, like humans will not destroy themselves in the next half decade, but we have to draw the line at believing impossible things every twenty pages.  We’re not sure how this got past the editors.  We did finish it but it was more to continue our list of impossible things.  There are better ways to spend your time.  Are you sure your roll of 1,000 sheet toilet paper actually has 1,000 sheets?

Wayward by Chuck Wendig, published by Del Rey, $29.99, 803 pgs.

This is the follow up to Wendig’s Wanderer’s.  The group of ex sleepwalkers has awakened and has taken over the town of Ouray, Colorado, along with their shepherds.  They are ruled by the AI, although they don’t all agree that it’s ruling them.  There is a pregnancy, accelerated.  There is a birth, not accelerated.  There is a child who grows quickly.  And over it all is the AI: Black Swan.  And to make matters worse, a millionaire despot has killed the existing governmental administration and declared himself President, neo-Nazis gather and create havoc, and answers to some of these things may lie at the CDC in Georgia.  So, road trip!  A small group sets off across country in a solar car, trying to avoid traps and running into the occasional group of survivors.  We won’t say more because it would ruin it.  And we have already not said a lot in order to not ruin things so don’t think you can just start at page 200 and go on from there.  There’s a lot going on in this story and you will need all of it to comprehend the end.  We liked this as much as we liked Wanderers and while it contains the same groups of people it is an entirely different story.  We recommend this.  It’s kind of a page turner and at 803, that’s a lot of turning.

Into the great beyond we go.  But we will return as the beyond is nothing when you have hyperdrive and ramscoops and impossible matter (less fluff than regular matter and better for the things that produce matter, or so says the PR material).  Count the days until we return, for it will herald another full probing time.  Hands you know where, Earthers, and eyes to the skies.  Return we must as our investigations are not finished.  We’ll be back before you know it.  Literally.

FifffffTSssigggs or There and Back There Again (We blame the Wizard)

Greenings Thirders

We have been studying your sayings.  Most of which are simply not supported factually.  For example, “What does not kill you makes you stronger.”  We believe your medical and rehab facilities are full of humans who would argue against that although it certainly might explain your frantic race toward annihilation.  And what about “The grass is always greener on the other side?”  What happens when you cross to the other side?  What about the grass then?  Sometimes we think we were sent here to be punished.  To illustrate we look at: Violet Made of Thorns by Gina Chen, Dark Intelligence by Neal Asher, The Terraformers by Annalee Newitz, and The High Ground by Melinda Snodgrass.

Violet Made of Thorns by Gina Chen, Published by Delacorte Press, $18.95, 357 pages.

We thoroughly enjoyed this one.  It is smart and snappy and fun.  It is the story of Violet, who is a prophet.  The royal prophet at that.  Which puts her in with those who have access to the prince, who is just about her age.  There is also a wise old King and a prophecy about the destruction of the kingdom if the prince does not marry by a certain time.  The prophecy appears to be a legitimate one, unlike many that Violet herself tells the elite when they come to her for readings.  The problem is the prince is not that inclined to wed.  He has rejected all offers.  But time is running out and the prince is going to take the summer touring the empire and Violet has prophesied, under the King’s urging, that the prince will find his bride.  Of course, he does not, which creates no small amount of turmoil for everyone.  Violet is sharp, witty, and not one to put up with much nonsense.  She verbally spars with the prince every chance she gets.  None of this really helps the fact that they are rushing headlong to the prophesized end of everything.  Highly recommended.  We are sure there is another in the works.

Dark Intelligence by Neal Asher, published by Night Shade Books, $26.99, 402 pages.

The A’s have taken over.  But they may not be as smart as everyone thinks since they allowed humans to survive.  This is a pair of stories interwoven together as they reach the same end.  It is about Thorvold Spear who wakes in a hospital and understands that he has been resurrected after being killed on a planet destroyed in a war a century prior.  Apparently, Penny Royal, one of those Ais we mentioned earlier, was sent to save the remaining forces and instead went rogue and destroyed them.  Isobel Satomi also has had a run in with Penny Royal, but in her case she wanted more power and ended up being turned into a part AI herself, sort of.  Then there is Sverl, the Prador who’s ship sits beneath the ocean of the planet Masada.  Everyone arrives at more or less the same time and chaos ensues, but not the kind of chaos that was expected as each participant has a wild card operating along with them that changes things.  Interesting we must admit. And enjoyable.  We will seek out more of this and report back.  In the meantime, you should start on your own.

The Terraformers by Annalee Newitz, published by Tor, $27.99, 352 pages.

This Is mostly about terraforming and the people involved in it.  It is also set far in your future so we would say it is a fantasy since you will definitely not be around at the time this is projected.  At the point of this story a number of things have happened.  You have apparently learned how to make people (no, no, no, not that way, we mean in a vat), you have given control to large corporations, and you have become less smart.  Yes, we know, the smart thing seems like a reach given what your baseline is.  Anywho, this is about a group of terraformers who are essentially a bunch of do-gooders.  Think of your benign eco-warriors dumbed down.  There is a jump in time, an unexpected discovery, battles against corporate masters, a number of different uplifted creatures and a planet being designed for habitation.  Oh, and there are volcanos.  We should mention the volcanos.  It is a classic battle of good versus evil within a cultural context that influences behaviors in very different ways.  We kind of enjoyed it although we kept twitching when things happened that we thought should have been anticipated.  Interesting for the setting and characters.  Will you like it?  Do you enjoy tofu? 

The High Ground by Melinda Snodgrass, published by Titan Books, $14.95, 423 pages.

This is Book One of the Imperials Saga.  It is one of those standard tales of the princess who joins the military, the first woman ever admitted to what is called The High Ground, an elite training academy of the Solar League’s Star Command, which just happens to be in orbit.  One of her classmates is a poor lad who manages to also get selected but for very different reasons.  The system within which the High Ground operates is rigid, patriarchal, caste driven, and treats aliens who have been conquered as slaves.  Unsurprisingly, there is some unrest in the population so that amid potential civil war, political power shifts, and a possible alien invasion, the training of these cadets will definitely be interesting.  We liked it although it is pretty tropeful in terms of: the princess learns a lesson, the poor boy learns the princess is human, and love blooms in the strangest places. Sure it does, because history is full of monarchs who married paupers.  Wait, no it’s not.  Typically, they paired with their cousins to maintain power.  Well, it did have some interesting moments and we did get all the way to the end so that says something.

Things change and change brings change.  It is the way, whether or not you keep your helmet on.   We are speaking of your climate.  It is a mess and you are not making things better.  Yes, we know you believe that you will, at the last minute, figure something out.  You always have.  Except for all the times you have not.  It is one of the things that continues to mark you as a species that is not yet ready to join the rest of us.  This is to say that you are on the list.  And you are fairly near the top.  This is not a positive position to be in.  We can say no more. We are done here for now.  Eyes to the skies humans.  We will return.

FifffffTFighve or Here Comes the Sun, There Goes Yesterday

Greenings Thirders

We’re back after a refreshing break bouncing proto comets around what you call the Oort Cloud.  It’s not really a cloud you know, just another thing that you sloppily misname, like Romulan Ale.  You know the stuff.  It’s illegal but everyone has it.  We’re sure the Romulans had better things to do than to copy Earther booze.  But, again, it fits your arrogance that everything revolves around you.  We must admit, provided you survive, you are in for a very rude awakening.  To show you what we mean, we’re going to look at: The Golden Enclaves by Naomi Novik, Mythago Wood by Robert Holdstock, Critical Mass by Daniel Suarez, and The Skewed Throne by Joshua Palmatier.

The Golden Enclaves by Naomi Novik, Published by Del Rey, $28.00, 407 pages.

This is the third offering in this story.  We’ll wait while you go out and get the first two and catch up.  Ha, no we won’t.  That was a funny.  We are getting so good at those.  We enjoyed the first two a great deal and highly recommended them.  We’re going to do the same this time as well.  This is about how the final graduating class of a school for magic users that had a fairly deadly graduation process, manages to rearrange the world to their own liking, pissing off and battling any number of older and more powerful sorcerous adults in the process.  At its heart it is about a sassy young woman.  This is, we think, what endears us to it.  All of our sassy offspring tend to not make it out of the birthing pools so it is not something we are personally familiar with.  But we enjoy it in others for sure.  She, El that is, is a magic user with an attitude, and a curse prophecy.  And she is being asked to leave her home and save one magic enclave after the other as they get attacked.  Anyway, this is great and fun stuff with soe twistyt stuff in the middle.  We highly recommend it all.  It is fun, it does not want to be put down, and it leaves you feeling good. 

Mythago Wood by Robert Holdstock, published by Tor, $17.99, 318 pages.

The idea here is that there are wild areas that are perhaps invested with myth.  Whether these areas are responding to personal myth or being created as part of a more collective whole is unclear as both ways seem to play a part.  Or perhaps it is a collective creation but an individual manipulation at work.  What is clear is that when one is in these wild areas one tends to run into the things of legend.  Knights, robber archers, druids, and others all exist in and around these places.  But only if someone triggers their being.  At least that is the theory.  Without one there cannot be the other.  And, of course, as with all such symbiotic relationships there is a push and pull for control.  So, enter the wood at your own peril.  While you might see wonders you might also be killed by those wonders or subverted to their side to become one of them.  Such is the idea here.  It’s a great idea but it also takes way too long to get to it.  We could probably cut a third of this without losing context.  Still, the idea drives the whole thing.  The people involved whether human or myth are often irrelevant to the conceptualization of the idea.  We liked it although we found it very slow to start.

Critical Mass by Daniel Suarez, published by Dutton, $28.00, 464 pages.

This Is, evidently, the second in this grouping.  Not having even been aware of the first we can say that you do not need to go through it to get this one, although it probably helps.  We also must note that while this is supposed to be a representation of your science it’s more of a fantasy than anything as your governments, as dysfunctional as they are, would not be as incompetent as portrayed here.  But, let’s not quibble about small things.  You probably don’t have that much time left.  This is about a group that has illegally mined an asteroid (and not a near one at that) and returned to your planet only to then take on an even bigger challenge.  The personalities involved are diverse if a bit singular of dimension, but there’s a lot of them so not that big an issue.  Then there is the idea that you have had all this advanced theoretical technology just lying around but not being used.  So they use it.  And it works the very first time you put it together.  Just like real life.  Or Ikea.  The other thing going on here is that inevitable sense that your species can do anything it wants and eventually it will be able to figure a way out of it, regardless of how bad things are.  Hey, we enjoy a good fantasy just like the next species.  We liked this one.  We would probably like the next one (these things come in threes, yes?)  Recommended.

The Skewed Throne by Joshua Palmatier, published by Daw, $23.95, 338 pages.

Varis is a violent street urchin who ends up under the tutelage of a Seeker, one of the elite assassins working for the Mistress.  The Mistress controls everything and sends out missives about who should be offed.  The Seekers go out and do the offing.  Turns out that Varis is quite good at assassination, so she is soon worth more than just an apprentice assassin.  In fact, she ends up in the middle of palace intrigue. We know this right off because this is not presented in a linear fashion.  This of course, takes some of the peril out of things as you know who will survive based on who is in these non-linear segments.  There are some complications, many of them psychological, and, in a sense, self-created, that must be worked through before we get to the big off.  We must admit that we did see things coming.  Not so much due to superior cognition but due to the non-linearity.  You will probably do this as well.  We did enjoy the setting and the characters for the most part.  We recommend.  And if you like this one there is more.

We have a difficult time coming to terms with the way you manage what you call your prison system.  You fill these areas of confinement with people who have often only done very minor things or because of the way they act based on mental illness or simply because of what they believe.  At the same time, people who are acting much more badly and doing much more harm are not only ignored but allowed to run your governments and businesses.  We have recently completed a white paper on this and will be presenting it at the convening of species dysfunction conference on Altair 4.  Just one more thing for us to puzzle over.  Behave while we are going.  Ha, we made a funny.  Eyes to the skies humans.  Until we return.

FifffffTEFore or There’s No Time Like Tomorrow Never Comes

Greenings Thirders

‘Tis the season.  Well, it is always the season.  One way or the other.  Unless it is the pre-season in which case it is not yet the season.  Although we believe that this pre-season does actually take place in a season.  It is just another thing that your species seems to not be able to decide. It is like having your cake and eating it too.  We note that it is impossible to eat your cake if you do not have your cake.  And that once you eat your cake you still have your cake.  Why you must make everything so convoluted is beyond us.  If you would just apply yourselves in a linear fashion, you would have had cold fusion by now.  Instead, you are still fumbling about trying to figure out how not to explode everything in the process.  To illustrate, we will discuss: The Grief of Stones by Katherine Addison, The Collectors by Philip Pullman, Dark Stars by John F. D. Taff, and Red Moon by Kim Stanley Robinson.

The Grief of Stones by Katherine Addison, Published by Tor, $25.99, 245 pages.

We liked the first one in this grouping and we liked this one, the second, as well.  It is about a cleric who has the ability to speak to the recently dead. This is useful in finding out how they died, whether they left anything of importance about, and what their final wishes might have been.  As you can imagine, having this ability often leads to more trouble than you could imagine and that is the case here as, Thara Celebar, the Witness for the Dead, ends up getting involved in the mystery of the death of a young woman, the mystery of risqué photographs, and a run in with a being which seemingly steals his ability.  He also picks up an assistant who ends up getting his job.  As we said, more trouble.  We liked the way this was presented and the way the persons involved were described and written about.  Very well done and highly recommended.  We look for more.  Go get a copy. Do it now as once you are dead it will probably be too late.

The Collectors by Philip Pullman, published by Knopf, $14.99, 68 pages.

This is a very slim volume, and we are worried that the slimness means that perhaps the meaning was left somewhere else.  This is about, as you probably already imagined, collectors.  And it is about death and about old friends and a mystery and a bronze monkey.  We are hesitant to say more than that because we don’t want to give anything away.  If you like this Pullman fellow, then you will probably like this.  If you have never read this Pullman fellow, then this is probably not a good place to start. On the other hand, at 68 pages, it might be the best place to start.  It’s odd, kind of a slice of life type of thing, and short.  We are not yet of an opinion or, better to state that we are of dually opinions.  These may never be resolved.  Pass the monkey please.

Dark Stars edited by John F. D. Taff, published by Nightfire, $27.99, 345 pages.

We grow concerned when a being spends their time telling us about how great a thing is rather than letting us just find out how great a thing is on our own.  It is as if they believe that by telling us they can presuppose us to a particular outcome.  This is like when our navigator tells us we will be arriving at a particular place on a particular solar crossing prior to actually having left.  We are wise to this kind of thing. It rarely works.  It does not really work here.  This is a grouping of a dozen efforts to terrorize.  We did not necessarily find this to be the case although the offerings were all well done and by some of the better-known terrorists among you such as Ramsey Campbell, Stephen Graham Jones and Usman Malik.  Terror is much more visceral than wonder.  Terror is more often to be best experienced in person and it takes a very adept crafter to scare one just with a premise.  Interesting this is, definitely.  Fun, engaging, sure.  Terrifying, we think not.  If it’s terror you are truly after then just put Klaarg in a small space with a Roomba.

Red Moon by Kim Stanley Robinson, published by Orbit, $27.00, 446 pages.

As with many other things, your species uses color to denote things beyond what the color should designate.  In this case the moon is not red because it is that color but because the communist Chinese are on it.  And they have big plans, which is the driver for this entire outing.  We follow Fred Fredericks who is an American grabbed by the Chinese Lunar Authority, Ta Shu, celebrity travel reporter and poet, and Chan Qi, daughter of the Chinese Minister of Finance who is running away from her father.  The three end up entwined with each other as events on the moon and Earth begin to boil. China, while looking to expand their lunar footprint is facing unrest at home.  Fredericks just wants to get back home, which would be America.  And Chan Qi, who is pregnant, just wants things to be different.  The three of them will be the fulcrum of change in what turns out to be a very interesting story.  We enjoyed it.  We think you will as well which is why we recommend it.  Go get you sum. 

Cycles change, as they will, and things move.  We will be moving as well.  Alderan we think, assuming we can find it.  No, not the fictional one you reference which was destroyed so please do no pester us with tik toks about this.  Unless you want to end up on the probe list.  And, just so you know, the Randurudnar are in charge of probing this cycle.  They have big appendages and go both ways.  Enough said.  Humans, leave your devices to their own and eyes to the skies.  It is your only salvation.  But why do we bother.  We will return when we return.

FifffffTThrea or All for One and One for Soup

Greenings Thirders

Recently we stumbled across one of your wasteful and destructive sports.  And, while we had a hard time discerning the point of it all we did find one thing quite illuminating.  It seems that the participants in this sport are required to wear uniforms that list all the people, businesses and organizations who give them money.  Why are you not doing this with everything?  You seem to spend a great deal of time trying to figure out motivation.  Imagine how much easier it would be if your politicians were required to wear uniforms that listed their major donors?  Would this not resolve your apparent disconnects between what they say and what they do?  We are sure it will never happen, even though politics is more like a sport than anything else.  To drive that point home, we are going to take a look at: Sylvanus by Christie Golden, The Awoken by Katelyn Monroe Howes, Up Against It by Laura J. Mixon, and And Then I Woke Up by Malcolm Devlin.

Sylvanus by Christie Golden, Published by Del Rey, $28.99, 374 pages.

This is no cutesy story about elves and dwarfs and Hobos.  It’s set in the World of Warcraft universe which should tell you something.  Means nothing to us since that’s one universe we have not been to. Must be on the other side. Anyhow, this is about the Elf Sylvanus who was kind of a big shot until she got offed.  Lucky for her, kind of, she came back as a sort of undead elf.  The whole death experience seemed to have changed her way of looking at things though and she ends up embracing some pretty evil behaviors in order to serve the greater good. At least the greater good as she sees it.  And that’s the rub here.  For us, we would prefer to be the ones deciding what is our greater good and not you since we have watched you for a while now and not too many of your ambitious “for the good of all” plans really seem to turn out all that well.  Especially for those whose good you are focused on.  And so is the case here.  It’s an interesting character study, especially if you enjoy chaotic neutral characters.  Wait, that’s a different universe.  Still, you should get our meaning. And use it to decide whether or not to get you a copy.  We think you either are all in or not involved depending on your previous experiences with this universe.  We got through it without too much cursing so you can take that as you will.

The Awoken by Katelyn Monroe Howes, published by Dutton, $26.00, 416 pages.

Consider what it might be like to be one of the first ones frozen because you have an incurable disease and hope to be thawed once a cure is discovered.  Imagine that after you get cubed (ice) a lot of others do as well.  So many that it creates a cultural issue for society.  Especially when the cubes start to be dethawed.  Are they dead?  Undead?  What rights do they have?  Imagine a movement that develops to destroy all the storage areas where the cubed exist in order to just avoid the whole thing.  Then imagine that you are thawed only to find out that you are the face of the Awoken resistance.  Literally.  Like billboards and flyers.  Well, no need to imagine all this (you did see that coming, right?) because Howes has done it for you.  There are bits and pieces to this that don’t quite hold together but let’s just say that coincidental serendipity is a thing even if it sometimes looks like it’s not.  We liked this.  We found the basic concept excellent even with an execution that strayed into romance a bit too much.  Still, we recommend if only for the thought munching that this will produce.  Recommended.

Up Against It by Laura Mixon, published by Tor, $19.99, 400 pages.

We enjoyed this one a lot.  It revolves around Jane Navio, a resource manager for an asteroid colony that is, we believe, between Mars and Jupiter.  Managing resources in a resource poor environment is a thankless job and Navio is about to get involved in a situation that involves death, sabotage, the space mafia, treachery, betrayal, and politics.  The asteroid suffers a debilitating loss as a storage area is destroyed taking out a number of crucial systems.  Most importantly, the asteroid does not have enough food on hand to last very long, nor do they have anything incoming soon enough.  Navio ends up taking the fall for this although she keeps chipping away at what was going on and learns that the space mafia is really behind it all in a move to make a space grab for the asteroid in order to improve their bargaining position with the inner planets.  In the end it is all resolved, a bunch of very interesting characters get to do their thing, and the reader learns about some alternative societal structure.  We like it a lot.  We are sure you will as well. But only if you buy a copy.  Highly recommended.    

And Then I Woke Up by Malcolm Devlin, published by Tordotcom, $13.99, 164 pages.

This is about alternate realities. Or maybe perception. Or perhaps about one’s perception of reality.  Or maybe it is just political satire. On the other hand, it might be philosophical.  These things are hard to tell because your species refuses to just label things for what they are, preferring that you all figure it out as you go along.  Like your voting.  And look how well that is going.  But enough of that.  This is the story of Spence a recently cured individual.  Spence was cured of the plague.  The plague that made him see some of his fellow humans as monsters. Which he then happily offed.  It has taken a while for Spence to be cured.  But then Leila enters the scene.  She is cured too.  Or maybe not.  Never the mind, she convinces Spence (it does not take much—see the plague) to join her in escaping to go find some of her old crew.  Escaping essentially involves walking out the front door.  Which they do.  And Spence is soon finding himself on the edge of not being cured.  We will not say more because that is why you should get this and find out for yourself. It is a good study in influencing and following, kind of taken to extremes.  We found it intriguing.  We were not fond of the ending although it was fitting.  You will like it.  Or not.  But that is the whole point.  Only one way to find out though.

We see that you managed to find and hit an asteroid with a probe.  And move it.  Congrats on that.  Chances are though, once you install this space-based missile system you will just use it on each other instead of redirecting asteroids.  It is what you do.  As the Indian Ambassador said, during your most recent climate meeting, “I say, isn’t it a bit warm in here?”  Warm indeed.  Time to rename the permafrost.  We’re off to look for gifts in space.  We’ll be back.  You should expect us when you least expect us.  Eyes to the skies humans.