One Jump Ahead (1) (Jon & Lobo)

Imagine a galaxy where a mysterious set of gates exists and keeps growing; gates that allow humans to travel faster than light throughout the galaxy...and nobody knows how they work or who built them, and why the number of gates keeps growing... Imagine a genetically altered retarded man from the planet Pinkelponter (!) who is now brilliant, a former mercenary, and who has a deep abiding relationship with a cloud of nanomachines who live in his body... Imagine a world where all the machines are AI-enabled and talk to each other like old folks gossiping... Imagine a tank with a heart and maybe a soul... Now you have the world of Jon and Lobo in Mark L. Van Name's first novel, One Jump Ahead. This book rocks. I wish I could write as well as Mark does. I am going to nominate this book for the Hugo next year. If you liked what John Scalzi is trying to do in resuscitating intelligent action science fiction, you will love this book. Go out and buy it. Selfishly, I want to see more Jon and Lobo stories, and in order to do that, I have to convince you to buy this book. So why are you still reading this review??? Walt Boyes Associate Editor/Marketing Director Jim Baen's Universe magazine

Jon Moore is tired of war although nanotechnology enhancements make him the best known combatant in the galaxy even if at times like this he feels more like a combat machine than a human. Still he just wants to go home to live the rest of his life in peace and quiet on his planet. His only friend is Lobo, an artificially intelligent Predator-Class Assault Vehicle; a tank that works in any environs. Jon Moore, soldier extraordinaire, arrives at the planet Macken for some needed R & R. However, the leaders of the two major corporations that dominate this orb and control the use of the jump gate see things differently as they feel Moore is a machine to be employed and discarded. They demand Moore handle a simple action for them; the abduction of an innocent to be used a pawn. What the bigwigs failed to account for is Moore learning the truth. So with Lobo directing him and with some anti galaxy-wide business allies, Moore begins an assault on the invincible armies of the corporate moguls to right the wrong he committed when they lied to get him to act before he realized that they double crossed him. ONE JUMP AHEAD would be just another military science fiction in which a lone cowboy and his horse battle against avaricious corporations whose leaders are willing to kill to insure the bottom line is mega profitable. However, this rider and his steed turn Mark L. Van Name's first Jon and Lobo thriller into a great opening triumph. Fans will appreciate the bone weary hero who needs a breather, but his "owners" treat him as a disposable machine as well as his sentient tank side kick Lobo who is more than just an advisor; this PCAV directs Jon as they battle the evil empire. Sub-genre fans will appreciate this terrific military science fiction novel. Harriet Klausner

I don't write comments often, but One Jump Ahead has an engaging, twisting plot, and great characters. But most of all, the author creates a world with technology that has a depth and practicality that makes it believable. It doesn't have that artificial, made-up feel of many SF stories. Many authors simply lose readers in tech or use it to solve problems in their stories. I hope Jon and Lobo have many more adventures!

Don't be put off by descriptions of this book that pigeon hole it as military science fiction. Yes, it does have an intelligent tank and main character who was once a mercenary, but what it has that really matters is heart, plot, action, and characters you care about. I don't read military SF but I loved this book, as have the other women I know who have read it, so this isn't just a book for boys. If you love a good adventure story or are a fan of mysteries or thrillers you will really enjoy this book.

This book is the third debut by a new author in as many months, following Russian Amerika by Stoney Compton in April and Lucy's Blade by John Lambshead in May. I loved both of those books and I'm happy to say this one completes a Trifecta. As mentioned in the blurb, it's the first of a series, and it has both the virtues and drawbacks of a "meet the characters" novel. The virtues are, of course, that you get to meet some very nice people *and* some not-so-nice people, and learn about their backgrounds and the world in which they play. The drawback is that you do have to spend a bit of time learning both the playing field and the players. In the end, it's worth it. Jon, the human half of the team, is a seriously universe-weary ex-mercenary with a few extra things going for him that I'll leave for you to read about. He's smart, tough, confident and very much on the side of doing well by doing good. I ended up thinking of him as Simon Templar's attitudes inside an intelligent wolf. Lobo, on the other hand, is the AI for what I thought of as a "mini-battleship." Like his human partner, he too wants to do well, but he resents the fact that, since it's kind of hard to hide the _Graf Spee_ in your pocket when you're trying to sneak around a town gathering intel, he's frequently left to sit on the sidelines. I ended up thinking of him as an Orca with a sense of humor and a supply of "Sarcasm - just one of many services I offer." T-shirts. The environment in which we meet this duo is about what we would expect if we want stories with lots of action and conflict. It's the Wild West with plasma weapons, multi-way fights between governments, criminal elements, and multi-planet corporations that make Halliburton and the RIAA look like the very implementations of honor and generosity. Like James H. Schmitz' classic "Federation of the Hub," just staying alive in a mix like that requires a lot of careful footwork. On top of this is Jon's quest, which I'll leave you to enjoy discovering. It's a fun book, and over the course of the story, I got to like both Jon and Lobo a lot. They're not quite friends of mine, but I'd at least trust them at my back in a dark alley. This was well worth the time and money spent on it, and I'm very much looking forward to Slanted Jack (Jon & Lobo), the next adventure. Thank you, Mark. Bring it on!