Strange Music

August 21, 2017
Foster’s popular adventuring team return, eight years after the publication of Flinx Transcendent, for their lively 15th sci-fi adventure, set in a world where language is song. Genetically engineered empath Flinx and loyal flying serpent Pip are called out of quiet retirement by the religious branch of the galaxy-spanning Commonwealth to investigate rumors that someone is illegally passing technology to Largess, a low-tech world that’s not ready for it. What sounds like a simple job quickly turns into a mission to prevent a war when the first-born daughter of a powerful Larian lord is kidnapped by the man behind the illegal weapons trade. An added complication is the Larian language, called “singspeak”: sentences are phrased artfully and sung. It’s like being surrounded by “rehearsals for a dozen different operas,” and once someone starts to sing, Flinx’s ability to detect emotions or truthfulness is blocked. As usual, Foster balances brisk action with humor and supplies his alien worlds with lots of local color. Adventure-loving readers new to the series, as well as old fans, will enjoy Foster’s return to Commonwealth space. Agent: Vaughne Lee Hansen, Virginia Kidd Agency.

September 15, 2017
Another adventure for empathic fix-it operatives Flinx and Pip, in a series that's been appearing sporadically since 1972 (most recently Flinx Transcendent, 2009).Philip Lynx, the product of illegal eugenics experiments, has the ability to perceive and project emotions, as does Pip, his venomous flying-snake sidekick. While they're enjoying a well-earned extended vacation, an alien thranx from the Commonwealth shows up to request their assistance. The cool, damp planet Largess is home to "almost seal-like" alien Larians, whose backward technology and dangerously unstable politics prevent the Commonwealth from trading freely with them or offering full membership. An unscrupulous human, it emerges, has kidnapped the daughter of a Larian bigwig and is also distributing embargoed technology and weapons. War must be prevented. Flinx and Pip, with their unique abilities, seem well-suited to locating and neutralizing the malefactor. The Larians communicate by means of "singspeak," a language that's sung rather than spoken, which Flinx anticipates no difficulties in learning. Once on Largess, however, Flinx discovers his empathic abilities don't work while the Larians singspeak; only when they're silent can he read their emotions. Worse, his Larian contact, Wiegl, may or may not be trustworthy. The investigation that subsequently unfolds will prove cozily familiar and reasonably satisfying to fans of the duo--Foster, prolific both as a novelizer (Star Wars, Star Trek, Alien, Transformers, Terminator, etc., etc.) and author of stand-alone novels and series, capably turns out blandly pleasing potboilers, and this one assumes no previous knowledge of the series. However, issues arise with singspeak: representing it in prose required obvious effort, and it rapidly grows tedious to read.Nondescript entertainment, especially if you find the notion of yodeling Yodas appealing.

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August 1, 2017
Foster's return to his popular Pip & Flinx series follows the human empath Flinx and his Alaspinian minidrag Pip as they travel to Largess, a planet whose furry, water-loving inhabitants express themselves solely through song. Flinx is tasked with discovering who or what is introducing and using prohibited technology to the relatively preindustrial world of Largess and disrupting the Commonwealth's attempts to unify the Larian clans. Foster's greatest strength remains his world building, easily creating evocative alien landscapes and populating them, filling the world of Largess not only with the songs of the Larians but also with a wide variety of other alien fauna and flora. While the story has occasional references to earlier adventures and past relationshipsas well as being a relatively late entry in a long-running seriesnew readers will not need any previous familiarity with the other Pip & Flinx books or the Commonwealth universe as a whole to enjoy Strange Music. Recommended not only for fans of Foster's other books but for anyone looking for a fun and breezy sf adventure.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)