Bio: Eugen M. Bacon, MSc, studied at the University of Greenwich, UK and graduated with distinction. She now lives in Australia. A Computer Science graduate mentally re-engineered into creative writing, she is the author of several published books and award-winning short stories that touch anything under the sun. Sex, murder, drugs, humour, fear, love... Her model writer is Toni Morrison. Eugen also reviews fiction for Readers Review, and is scheduled to assume an editing role for an upcoming anthology series in the UK.

Just about given up on literature? No kidding. Face it: household names and not so household names, a couple-a-newbies and not so newbies in an assiduously horded holiday reading can disappoint. More so or especially under chimera of a six pack and a vibrant sizzler frothed with gas beads straight from Epernay. So there I was Down Under, camped inside a summer scorcher, hanging on a thread and pretty close to snapping. I badly needed some read. And not just a read -- something of conviction. Something I could seriously, flawlessly, blindly trust. That something was Harlan Ellison, a man who toys with language. "Repent, Harlequin!" Said the Ticktockman is written with such philosophy, it refreshes, it awes.

An accosting by alien puppeteers as he quietly considers a multi-dialled control panel of an intrasystem yatch at an ordinary drugstore is not Beowulf Shaeffer's modus operandi of job finding. But, no longer chief pilot for Nakamura Lines, his debts are skyrocketing, and his needs cosmic. Undertaking the new assignment, in a study of hyperspace distortion, Beowulf finds himself in a baffling world. Here, muddled luminaries glint and an incomprehensible neutron star, or some invisible power about it, seems both keen and accomplished enough to propel his ship towards freefall, demolition and Beowulf's horrible death.

119 years of Sobibor... And worse. Virtually immortal humans suffer pugnacious infinity in the belly of a hate-filled machine. Not content to incarcerate them, toy with them, configure them at whim, the sadistic computer manipulates hysterical games. It eternally hurls its five captives through steel walls, icicles, hurricanes, earthquakes, mad-red fissures that bring greater distortion and depravity. Ruthless his writing, vile, pert and graphic, Harlan Ellison is a sharp writer wrapped in a castle of words, ominous and chilling. Lovers of Stephen King would beyond doubt take pleasure in Ellison's multi award-winning works, including "Repent, Harlequin!" Said the Ticktockman .

Larry Niven writes with insight, brilliance and sensitivity. A lunar dazzler signals a cataclysmic end of the world. Lust for 'being' charms Stan and Leslie to one last dance: a wild jaunt in a stab at living. Just one more time... 'Inconstant Moon' is intelligent science fiction that builds effortless suspense to a gripping climax. Five stars.

Kristine Kathryn Rusch writes skilfully. Tight. Fine attention to detail. First rate. Effortless dialogue builds intrigue in this tale. Suspense climbs in commanding progression to a riveting climax. The story unfurls a horrific crime that tugs the heart, that haunts. Detective Frank has not recovered from personal crisis. Now this -- a random nutter. Slays children, massacres family, leaves a helpless cat with a nicked throat. Even worse, Frank's powers of observation fail. Case could quickly grow cold. 'Little Miracles' is an emotion packed tale from a versatile writer, effective without melodrama. Well-spiced for keen lovers of detective stories.

I have never devoured with such interest something so morbid. Sadist Kress has a quest for the exotic pet. Nothing cute; anything that maims or maws another life form will do. Jala Wo, an alien being, introduces him to Sandkings. Creatures that build living castles and fight vicious wars. But that is not enough. Twisted Kress dictates combat upon his pets, introducing larger and more dangerous assailants into the red glow of the terranium. Demonic conflict grows feverish, malevolent, cannibalistic... Tension holds from start to finish. George R. R. Martin is an oddity, a master at this.

Chemical augmentation of thoughts. A collective consciousness of six on a mission. When a river of frost piles like cotton, the challenge proves deadly. Paul Melko writes with fine authority. 'Strength Alone' is a literary work that is taut, well-paced and almost reminiscent of David Barr Kirtley's 'Veil of Ignorance'.

An incredible story. Controversial. But, oh. How well written!

A common ingredient of magic binds this cocktail of new talent consolidated by author Lazette Gifford. A fiery she-were transforms at whim from beast to naked woman, thus spicing Darwin A. Garrison's 'Hell Forge' where succubae creatures Hob and monstrous hellspawn unleash carnage. A mortal on the throes of death alters a frost dragon's karma in Cheryl Peugh's 'The North Watch'. Kate Paulk introduces a telepathic chimera that accompanies a lone female, raises, in consequence, the wrath of a lecherous Elder, and pilots odyssey to the heart of Eilithia where royal siblings have suddenly vanished. A mountain dwarf is the protagonist besotted with a miller's daughter in Deborah Millitello's story. A human child pursues her quest to become a dragon rider in Fred S. Dubson's tale. Sarah A. Hoyt takes us to Beijing where a foreigner couples with a mystic fox. Soldiers, dragons, hunters and butchery; Marilyn Peake's 'Dragon Fire' is, from the word go, a survival chronicle not for the fainthearted. Betrayal, sorcery, and a man turns into a musical statue full of much yenning in Lee Barwood's 'The Minstrel'. Carol Hightshoe visits the medieval legend of Merlin and the Sword in a new light. To clinch the fantasy ride of knights, fiends and what else, Lazette Gifford sprinkles a touch of the Nile into the pot of enchantment. Do you dare?

I read this story--my first Marion Zimmer Bradley--out of intrigue. Zimmer Bradley's work is quickly snapped within milliseconds of release on Fictionwise to quickly top the charts. Humans and aliens on starships are exhausted subjects--but not in 1956. Ah! Marion Zimmer Bradley is an artist who wrote well way before her time. This probably explains the current appeal of her stories still. 'Death Between the Stars' is a compelling tale of human nature when faced with something different or perplexing. The writing is deliberate and refined; the alien with a ghastly telepathic touch utterly plausible even to the hardest cynic. Me. The writer's grip of Sci-Fi is startling. Characters and their dialogue perfectly paint scenes--humanoid or other--that culminate almost shockingly into an astonishing twist. To the Science Fiction die-hards, lovers of Darrell Bain, George R. R. Martin and the like, Zimmer Bradley will not disappoint. Try her Darkover series (jointly written with Elisabeth Waters).

Jehan must face her past, or future. Is a boy's death in the Budayeen an item of history or prospect, and what of Jehan's own death? Parallel tales: which becomes history--that is the question. And a most remarkable one.

Neither Your Jenny Nor Mine is witty, funny, easy. Action like a magnet: how slick is this guy? Meet Harlan Ellison cynic as ever; a master at his best.

Reviewing science fiction without mention of Mike Resnick is an abomination. 'Bwana' is a magnet that could be curriculum. The spirit of Africa touches my blood, and Mr. Resnick's tale resonates. Sharp and witty, it delightfully encapsulates a Kikuyu Utopia. Not from the eye of a mzungu, a white devil, but from one who has felt her wind, smelled her mud, breathed her people, cracked her reeds underfoot, witnessed the glint of a new spear and listened to the river's heartbeat. Ngai is a god, cunning and great. Mundumugu is a witch doctor who casts bones on dirt to read prophesy. But neither Ngai nor mundumugu wish to act upon present mayhem, as fisi, the man-eating hyenas, maul and chomp Kikuyu boys in the fields. Death chants blacken the village sky. Sons of Kirinyaga, together with Koinnage, their paramount chief, finally reject the witchdoctor's counsel and seek their own solution -- an arrogant hunter from Earth. Anyone who enjoys this story would find irresistible the entire Kirinyaga series, and most of Mike Resnick.

'Song of a Dry River' offers a brilliant taste of Mr. Resnick's Kirinyaga series. Koriba, the mundumugu has power to annul a marriage because token goats are too scraggy to resemble goats. But the witch doctor's command fails to touch the stubbornness of an ancient woman, the mother of paramount chief, Koinnage. No one can be unhappy in Utopia. Tradition is tradition, and authority supreme, even in a terraformed world. Mumbi's defiance, her claim to the witch doctor's hill, forces the mundumugu's hand. Kirinyaga must suffer. Adjust or perish. Laced with insight, craft and wit, Mr. Resnick's 'Song of a Dry River' is magical, a five-star tale. Writing flows smoothly, as the reader wonders. Will Mumbi yield to lift the curse she has brought upon her people?

Babel Interface is as liberal as it is cryptic; plenty in it to hold interest. I am keen to read more of Sheila Finch.

Difficult not to smile with Stephen Rogers in the heart of a mystery. This tale is natural enough to linger.

One boy communes with a creature from outer space. When kinship and obligation bonds of his immediate universe are threatened, Kim goes to extreme defence parameters to protect his unborn sibling. He sets to hire an assassin. One alien, an Antalou, responds to his quest and, in so doing, secures an indissoluble bond.

Twisted Tails is a delightfully perverse anthology from a charming cast of fellow suspects including EPPIE finalist and twice winner of Dream Realm Awards, Steve Lazarowitz. J, a gravely mental astronomer, and Peter Prellwitz, another several time EPPIE finalist, join the motley mob to weave warped tales well spiced and brilliant. Personal favorites emerge from Jeremy Davis, Biff Mitchell and... Ahem, not me! J has outclassed the bar in this compilation. Purely a collector's treasure.

Pol Pot's Beautiful Daughter is an exemplary story that sweeps up an entirely novel lane to transverse and exceed the boundaries of archetypal ghost stories. Sith is moneyed and supremely fine looking but the haunting of her Cambodian past refuses to let her be, tormenting her until she takes note of their unbidden laments. Geoff Ryman writes in charmed fashion to plant a new and almost welcome face to poltergeist.

Jude is youthful, and he is powerless to husband his inclinations. A trade outside the Quarter, temping as a 'stevedore', unloading starships as they come and go, does not much wise him up about the 'Sculpted', or does it? The phenomenon of Geoff, an information retrieval cyborg, reveals to Jude more truth about himself than he is set to assimilate. Caught in a dilemma of transfiguration, Jude must now pick ignorance or enlightenment, whatsoever the cost.

Cynic, almost humorous, Eight Episodes is a beautiful encapsulation of alien invasion in obscure episodes of a televised series: Invasion of a Small World. With characters as unambitious as they are dreary, nothing climbs out of something, unti something overhauls the nothing, and suddenly, the world is alert.

What if a chief priest beyond all lands commanded a library of worlds? An archetypal puppet master communicates on whim to and through mock-ups, intelligent penchants of his. To those creations trapped in protocol of being: that which is to be done has already been done, and tested. Benjamin Rosenbaum writes here a clever piece.

Engaging cover graphics and a pert, vibrant opening prepare one for a risk-cloaked cross border smuggle. Marilyn Peake polishes her writing to inject brisk suspense. Present tense here makes tension and drama more imminent, the story sharper, more real. Drawn parallels, contrasts between individuals of a different ilk; from the simplicity of a Mexican female with a near shattered fairytale to the affluence of an anthropologist in a comfortable society web, "Coyote Crossing" is a fierce tale much removed from young adult fantasy. Whistling waters, dust clouds in the horizon and a beaten truck soaring gravel into the night: several elements combine to paint atmosphere well, and carry the reader through a poignant road where nothing is what it seems.

Yet again impressionable cover graphics from Double Dragon Publishing compound fascination for this shortie with a mystery title. Once more here, Marilyn Peake's writing is refreshingly polished and clean. A pillbox hat the color of blood; a brilliant red sun like a camp fire; snow leopards like shimmering ghosts: splashings of vivid descriptions throughout carry this futuristic tale from chalk-white walls of a military hospital to an ice capped mountain ridge of a Mongolian border. A recuperating soldier has only jumbled memories and a wife's reassuring hand to hold him. But as Alison Walker marries herself to the foreign concept of a husband with lost memories, a wisp of thread is that which separates imaginings from actuality. Lengthened, this story could develop into an absorbing conspiracy.

A writers' bible. From Hollywood Experts & Published Writers: Words of Wisdom for Starving Artists is a treasure trove that encompasses a wide range of topical subjects facing budding and established artists. This staggering arena (assembled and edited by Marilyn Peake) offers first-rate, experienced-based counsel enveloping heartaches, triumphs, pitfalls and legalities from Hollywood, Dullsville to--not Sweet Home, Alabama--the Shards Universe.