Tin Men

February 9, 2015
Golden (Snowblind) spikes this superior near-future shoot-’em-up with hints of deeper concerns. The U.S. uses the “Tin Men” of its Remote Infantry Corps—virtually indestructible robots controlled at long distance by American soldiers—to enforce its will on the rest of the world. One platoon patrolling Damascus, however, is attacked by anarchists who have new bot-killing weapons, just as a worldwide electromagnetic pulse fries all electrical circuits and seals the soldiers’ minds inside the metal bodies. The isolated Tin Men must get to Athens, where a global anarchist group is targeting a conference of world leaders. Meanwhile, a saboteur is at work back in the robot operators’ underground headquarters in Germany. The characters sometimes note that bullying by world powers inevitably produces hostility among the people who are being pushed around; immediately, however, this is drowned out by the clamor of dying anarchists and exploding robots. Within its chosen limits, this is a wonderfully effective SF thriller. Agent: Howard Morhaim, Howard Morhaim Literary Agency.

April 15, 2015
A futuristic thriller that mixes science fiction, world politics, and gobs of action. In an unspecified future, America polices the world, deploying robots-Tin Men-to quell civil wars, "defuse the world's hot spots," make the globe safe for democracy, and get resented for it. The U.S. Army Remote Infantry Corps operates out of an underground base known as The Hump in Wiesbaden, Germany, where military personnel climb into "metal coffins" for eight-hour shifts to mind-meld with armed robots that operate in remote trouble spots such as Syria, where much of the novel takes place. The robots are tough but not invulnerable, as mercenary Bot Killers sometimes demonstrate. Bad guy Hanif Khan decides he must not only destroy the Tin Men, but kill specific talented operators such as Pvt. Danny Kelso. Then a worldwide electromagnetic pulse from an unknown source devastates most of the Earth's technology, although the Tin Men continue to function. "The world isn't ending," one character claims. "It's already over." Human society is in mortal danger, but the Tin Men have a chance to save it. Readers will never be far from the nearly nonstop mayhem that pervades the story, yet the rage against the machines often feels unaffecting. Arms get blown off, faces charred, eyes put out, yet the Tin Men soldier on unless they are reduced to shrapnel. Meanwhile, the lives of real humans-good guys, the people readers are expected to care about-are at stake: presidents Matheson of the U.S. and Rostov of Russia, along with American enlistees. Don't look too closely at the logic behind the technology or the logistics, and imagine that you're reading an extended comic book without the pictures. In fact, the author writes comic books, and his style shows it. An enjoyable and almost plausible peek into a future world under American protection.

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April 15, 2015
Imagine a contemporary black-ops SEAL-team novel set in the futuristic world of Avatar and Pacific Rim, and you wind up with something like this intriguing sf thriller. The U.S. no longer sends human troops directly into dangerous situations, but instead deploys robots. Inside an underground facility, far away from harm, neurologically connected soldiers remotely control the machines. When an electromagnetic device activates, however, the soldiers are unable to break their connection and become essentially trapped inside the mechanical men, and the mission turns from routine to survival, with the life of the U.S. president in danger as well. The action and intrigue never relent in this all-too-real scenario of our future. Military-fiction fans will not find the technical aspects too complicated or jargony since the focus is not on the tech but rather on the characters who inhabit the steel skeletons.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)

January 1, 2015

Sometime in the future, the United States deploys the Remote Infantry Corps: robots remote-piloted by soldiers in underground bases. Then anarchists disrupt electrical connections. Optioned by Warner Bros.

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