“Texas and Oklahoma think they’re ready for the hell that awaits them in the college football heaven known as the Southeastern Conference.

“They are not.”

https://www.al.com/alabamafootball/2023/12/goodman-with-new-schedules-georgia-cant-hide-anymore.html

Retrophisch Review: Montezuma Strip

Kindle cover art for Alan Dean Foster's Montezuma StripSome times, the Kindle Daily Deal email can really deliver, and one day this month, it did with Alan Dean Foster’s Montezuma Strip. A collection of short stories originally published in 1995, it focuses on an imagined USA-Mexico border a century in the future. Here, “stretching from the Pacific to the Gulf of Mexico,” is the center of techno-industrialization for the world. Like any such place, where there’s industry, there’s greed, and where there’s greed, there’s crime. And crime is the industry Angel Cardenas works in.

Cardenas is a Tex-Mex federal cop based out of Nogales. He is also an “Intuit.” Born with a heightened intuition, he is something of a living lie detector. Angel is able to pick up the subtle visual and audible cues we all give off, but rarely glean from others, and this, coupled with his experience and his own logical thinking, makes him a damn good officer. One who is in much demand when crimes in other districts are beyond the ken of local law enforcement.

From figuring out how two software designers were killed, or in Foster’s parlance, “vacuumed,” to infiltrating a protection racket masquerading as a religious order, Cardenas has his hands full in a world where First World technology butts up against Third World labor practices.

I found the world Foster created fascinating, on par with those built by Gibson, Sterling, Stephenson, Rucker, and others in the 1980s and ’90s. If you’ve ever read those authors’ dystopian science fiction works, you’ll feel right at home in the Montezuma Strip. Angel Cardenas reads to me like a prototype for Steven Kotler’s Lion Zorn. Given the current socio-political situation on the US-Mexico border, and the deteriorating relationship with China as an economic partner, Foster’s work from nearly two decades ago doesn’t sound as far-fetched as it might have when first published.

If you’re a fan of Alan Dean Foster, cyberpunk-style sci-fi, or just good characters and great writing in general, you won’t be disappointed with Montezuma Strip.

5/5 phins, I loved it.

Amazon: Kindle, Mass Market Paperback

New Signum Regis single and music video released today! Joha’s vocals are terrific on “Servants of the Fallen One,” as well as Filip’s usual shredding. And a guest solo by Jimi Cimbala! https://youtu.be/V1dWWuwiPk4

Oh man, if only.

What if a fantasy band of adventurers were treated like we treat rock bands in our time?

That’s the premise behind one of my favorite fantasy novels of the past decade, Nicholas Eames’ “Kings of the Wyld,” on sale for $3 on Kindle today. Definitely recommended: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B01KT7YTXW/retrophisch-20

The fact that the first song the Apple Infinite Playlist algorithm churned out after the entirety of the debut album by Bad English finished playing was Steve Perry’s “Oh Sherrie” makes me think said algorithm programmer has a very good sense of humor.

Happy Signum Regis release day to all who celebrate.

And is that a kick-butt metal cover or what?

I pulled up “Close My Eyes Forever” by Lita Ford & Ozzy Osbourne, and the Apple Autoplay has been doing yeoman’s work with the ’80s hard rock/heavy metal since.

Just musically wandering through my teenage years while working…

It’s been a pretty great year for baseball in our house! #GeauxTigers #LetsGoRangers

Started and finished Eric Bishop’s novella Ransomed Daughter today.

A great introduction to The Omega Group, looking forward to the next tale. Though between the name and the Arnold jokes at the beginning, I suspect this was just one big homage to True Lies…