The fortunes of war switch to the United Federal Systems. The UFP's Polar Fleet beats back the U.C.S.'s Bridgeforce. The hunks, the United Central System's hunter-killers, which were supposed to change the course of the war, didn't. General Fortuno Mari's rescued by his own men and leads the UFP's troops in a stunning counterattack. Henley Stanmorton, a Combat Teller, assigned to Polar Fleet, meets the daughter of its commander and Frye Charltos, now an admiral, is in a cave on another planet with his lover. He has the same recurring dream of committing suicide with an antique pistol that had been in his family since Earth colonized the system. His pregnant lover comforts him.

This isn't your usual military science fiction. This is the story of Commander Frye Charltos of the United Central Systems, and Admiral Padjan- can of the Federated Systems. Charltos, the new commander of Bridgeforce. Charltos has been promoted to admiral after the death of Admiral Tunneo. The hunks, the UCS's last gamble to turn the tide of battle, have failed. The races that wish to have no part in the war are under pressure to support one side or the other. Blair Colquhoun @cybertours.com

"Shudderday has come and gone. Its cataclysmic earthquakes have killed millions, devastating the planet physically, culturally, and emotionally. Now, West Texas Jeremiah Fronterhouse Cody begins a quest on many levels: to battle invading militant factions, to solve the mystery of his missing wife, and to protect what was once the United States against a threat even larger than the shudder that forever altered the world." A novel of the near-future.

The Windhover Tapes trilogy ranks among some of the best science fiction I've read. The main story, that of diplomat Gerard Manley, takes you on a tour of alien worlds with a character isn't the emperor of the known worlds or the mightiest warrior on his planet. He's a career diplomat who finds himself in a variety of unusual situations, and makes quite a name for himself. Against this very colorful story is another, less clear story, that of Manley's missing past. Prior to the start of this novel, he was "mindwiped" and made to forget several years of his life. Plagued by dreams of a life he cannot remember, and occasionally chased and attacked by faces from those dreams, Manley forges ahead to make a new life for himself. I found it an engrossing read.