Adam-Troy Castro

Minnie and Earl are a contented old couple who live in a small oasis of old-fashioned normality on the Moon. You can only find them if you need them, if your air is running out as you trudge across the lunar landscape in the early days of the first permanent lunar colony. There are not many places on the Moon where you can breathe outside air, rock on the porch, and drink a cool glass of lemonade. The three novellas in this collection were originally published between 2002 and 2020.

Is the gimmick totally original? Well, no. Star Trek and The Twilight Zone have done something similar, and, of course, there is Spider Robinson's Callahan’s Crosstime Saloon and Gloria Naylor’s Bailey’s Café. Nevertheless, the Minnie and Earl stories have a pleasing near-future vibe.… (meer)

To me this is a good follow up in that you once again are engrossed in the well developed world of Andrea Cort. There is even more insight into the character, suspense, murder in the dark and intrigue of all sorts. However, I can't quite rate this one as high as the last just due to the flow of the action. In Emissaries Andrea was nearly always doing, here she is doing but its mostly questioning with some action to break things up. Now her job and the nature of the setup of the events are limiting and that is a structure that Adam-Troy established and follows throughout. But it does mean that after the events of the initial murder that there is a long pause full of information and conversation that goes on for quite some time. You'll need the info to put the pieces all together but you'll be waiting for the other shoe or in this case Claw of God to drop. Sadly according to Adam-Troy War of the Marionettes, Andrea Cort 3 is currently only set to print in Germany. There are two more Andre Cort novellas out there to locate for the interested reader....… (meer)