Tomorrow Log

Gem ser'Edreth is a wizard with electronics and a freelance thief. He is a loner by choice. The only help he wants is that given to him by the small robot spiders he creates. These little fellows help him enter computers via cracks to take it over or steal data, help check for traps, pick locks, even crawl into rooms and spy. Lady Saxony Belaconto is a planetary crime boss. She wants an ancient object, a Trident, that would allow her to control the hesernym trade. She seeks Gem out with a commission to steal it. Of course, he refuses. Being a loner no one has any hold over him. Persistent, the crime boss waits and watches. Then she learns Gem has a cousin. Corbinye Faztherot, if you ask the people who live on land "Grounders", is an assassin. If you ask the people who live on ships "Worldwalkers", she is a seeker. Her duty is to bring back the ship's Captain-to-be so that his Crew (A.K.A. family) may know him and he may be about the business for which he was foretold in "The Tomorrow Log". Gem suddenly finds himself embroiled in interplanetary politics, a potential interstellar war, a ship filled with an unwanted Crew, and in possession of an ancient object of power and its Witness. Things will never be the same. ***** W-O-W-! When authors Sharon Lee and Steve Miller team up marvelous things happen! This is one of those rare books that hook the reader, not in the first chapter or on the first page, but in the first sentence which contains only nine words. I eagerly await the next in this fabulous series! ***** Reviewed by Detra Fitch of Huntress Reviews.

As with all of Lee and Miller's work, this is a wonderful, enthralling read, filled with fascinating characters and situations. Deftly written, with rich, lyrical prose, this is a book to savor. It's also a book to read in a great, gallumphing hurry, a book to speed through to find out what happens next! This is how action and adventure should be done! It also has lots of intriguing science-fictional ideas thrown in for good measure -- Gem's spiders, for instance, and the Blue House, where you go to get a new body after your old one dies. What's not to love?The only sour note -- the plot was left unresolved at the end of the book. This is clearly the set-up to a new series, and it introduces the characters and concepts of this new universe very well. Well enough that I wanted more! "The Tomorrow Log" does resolve all the main plot issues raised at the beginning of the novel, but there are many loose threads that still need to be tied off. This book doesn't end so much as stop. If you're the sort who can't stand an unfinished story, you might want to wait until the sequel comes out to start this book. However, if you don't mind being teased, then buy this book in a hurry! What a fantastic, fun novel!

I'm always a bit wary when authors of a known series branch out into a new universe, but The Tomorrow Log did not disappoint. It's creatively and wonderfully written, with fully fleshed characters, fascinating personal relationships, and action-packed adventure to boot. The only disappointment is that it's only one book and we'll have to wait for the further adventures of Gem and Corbinye. If you love the Liaden series, you'll love The Tomorrow Log. And if you've never read any of the Liaden series .... what are you waiting for?!

First off, let's say up front that this is space opera. There are grand themes of good vs. evil, spaceship battles, etc. If you are looking for the latest in cyberpunk, you are in the wrong department. Second, let's say that although this is a new series by Lee & Miller, it doesn't have any amazing new themes- no startling insights into the nature of the universe, none of the newest discoveries in physics; just their usual themes of the problems with insular cultures, how human(ish) hybrids tend to be more vigorous and smarter than those who are inbred, how people change if they are accidentally placed outside the culture they are grown up in, and of course, romance based on the admiration of the significant other's intelligence and battle skills (regardless of gender). Mind you, I am emphatically NOT belittling those themes- I like them, and I think this pair of authors handles those themes well. I just don't want to say merely "great new science fiction!" and then have disappointed fans of dark and bitter techno-futures email me, saying "Thou hast deceived me!" Come to think of it, if you're the sort of person who ever likes to throw "Thou hast" into conversation, you won't be emailing me, 'cause I'm preaching to the choir- you'll like this book. Unlike the Liaden Universe (r) series, the language in this book does not actually get that formal, but you can tell that it could. (Yes, yes, I know that "thou" is actually the familiar form, not the formal, but that's not how most people today know of it.)What we have is well-written, fast-paced adventure with wonderfully drawn characters. Gem is not a Val Con clone, despite the fact that a casual reading of the short blurbs might make him sound that way. The plot includes, let's see, "haunted" objects to be stolen, an interplanetary Mob (not that dissimilar to the one in the Liaden books), a generation ship that's falling apart, recycled bodies and parts a la Harry Harrison, martial arts, mystical objects that turn out to be alien technology, the Witness (who certainly reminded me somehow of Nelirikk Explorer, I can't figure out why) who follows the object around, interlocking mysterious "prophecies" from several cultures... and lots of hints of the future of the series, as well, since the planet where the object is returned, turns out to have mysterious hints that a Gen ship may have landed there aeons ago.There is one somewhat intriguing idea- not brand new, but I like the way they do it, and that's "spiders" - small electronic spy devices. More or less. What makes these interesting, besides their powers, is the number of associations they will call up for the fan with varied tastes: since Gem controls them from a wrist computer, sending spiders out from his cuffs, it somehow is reminiscent of Peter Parker shooting webs from his cuffs; the spiders write messages to help save a girl imprisoned, harking back to, of all things, _Charlotte's Web_; the wrist cuff reminded me of the one Dylan Hunt use

After torturing myself with the excerpt on www.meishamerlin.com for what seemed like an eternity, I finally got to read the entire book! (and in one night!) This is a wonderful book about acceptance of life and destiny (and a thief and the Crew and many other different types of barbarians...). I just hope there is more to come!!! (Though I see shades of waiting for more of Gem and more of Liad and am not sure how I feel about it!!!)But really--just get the book. It's good. You'll like it.