Jump Gate Twist, 5

by Mark L. Van Name and Brando Skyhorse

Book Overview

Jon Moore: A nanotech-enhanced warrior who wants nothing more than a quietlife and a way back to his strange home world. Lobo: An AI-enhancedPredator-Class Assault Vehicle, a mobile fortress equipped... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1439133700
• ISBN13: 9781439133705
• Release Date: July 2010
• Publisher: Baen
• Length: 736 Pages
• Weight: 1.20 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.6" x 5.6" x 8.7"

Customer Reviews

Van Name's plot twists and great characters

Mark L. Van Name has risen quickly among Baen's stable of science fiction novelists and with good reasons. Many of those reasons are on full display in //Jump Gate Twist//, an omnibus containing //One Jump Ahead// and //Slanted Jack//, the first two novels in his Jon and Lobo series plus two short stories set in the universe. Jon is the human protagonist and first person narrator while Lobo is the living, space-faring warship who provides dry responses to Jon's rhetorical questions. The dialogue between Jon and Lobo is entertaining and provides a strong narrative current. I was reminded a bit of Steven Brust's assassin Vlad Taltos and his familiar Loiosh in that both duos communicate on a silent, mental wavelength. Jon is not exactly normal human. As a result of experiments conducted while Jon was younger, his body is teeming with nanobots which provide him a level of superhuman abilities, not the least of which is the ability to communicate with machines. //One Jump Ahead// introduces both characters as Jon acquires Lobo when vacationing on the planet Macken, and Jon is convinced to help save a young kidnapped girl. Before the second full novel, we get a very early glimpse at Jon before he is the experienced courier and ex-military man. The story, "My Sister, My Self," is set on Jon's birth planet Pinkelponker and offers readers the only glimpse at Jon's sister Jenni, the memory of whom haunts Jon in the two novels in the omnibus. In //Slanted Jack//, the second novel in the omnibus, Jon runs into an old `business partner' who lures Jon back to his side in order to save the life of a young boy who is contention point between a religious cult (with ties to Jon's home planet of Pinkelponker); a crime lord who wants the boy for his own purposes; and strong-armed government. While the setting of the books is a vast galaxy, Van Name does a great job of making these stories personal and intimate deftly balancing character and action. One of the cooler SF-nal elements allowing for such widespread travel are the Gates, which allow quick travel across galaxies and are thought by some to be relics of an ancient civilization or even gods. All told, I highly recommended this book both as an introduction to Van Name's work and a great value for containing two flat-out entertaining science fiction novels. Reviewed by Robert H. Bedford

strong fun collection

This omnibus focuses on the distant future outer space adventures of Jon Moore nanotech warrior and his partner Lobo the artificially intelligent Predator-Class Assault Vehicle. The tale contains two novels, two short stories and several articles. "My Sister, My Self". On Pinkelponker, Jenny heals an injured Jon. "One Jump Ahead". Pinkelponker has been shut off from the rest of civilization, but Jon got off planet before the blockade could be enforced. He travels to Macken for R & R hoping to forget his warrior past although his nanotech enhanced body serves as a constant reminder. Jon is informed of the kidnapping of a girl Jasmine. Her father affluent Ron Slake of Kelco hires Jon to rescue his daughter from the Gardeners who demand Kelco leave. Jon finds a broken Predator-class assault vehicle Lobo that he borrows to challenge the Gardeners. "Slanted Jack". Jon and Lobo become couriers, but Moore discovers his partner is incredibly intelligent with emotional issues that make the killing machine confrontational. At a restaurant in the Falls, con artist Slanted Jack arrives needing his aid. He ignores Jack but not the shyster's client Manu who needs help. Jon checks out the Research Institute and a warehouse owned by Dougat with Lobo's assistance leading to a secret secure basement. All hell breaks out with Jon rescuing Maggie and Jack before taking them on board Lobo. Agrateful Jack injects a chemical into Jon knocking him out. "Lobo, Actually". Before Lobo meets Jon, he worked with other humans not as sensitive to his needs. This is a strong collection in which the two shorts tells the early days of Jon and Lobo respectively; while the novels are exciting action-packed though similar with the pair going from one firefight to another. The real fun is the bickering relationship between two hard-butt warriors. Harriet Klausner

Brains and Brawn

Jump Gate Twist (2010) is an omnibus SF edition, including One Jump Ahead and Slanted Jack. It also contains two short stories and five short articles by the author. Several centuries in the future, interstellar colonies are common and artificial intelligence is widespread. The gates provided by some unknown agency allow travel between to systems without special drives or technology. The gates sometimes develop additional portals to other systems. "My Sister, My Self" (Tommorw's Voices, 1982) is the first story in the series. It takes place on Pinkelponker and describes Jenny's healing of Jon and her departure from his life. One Jump Ahead (2007) is the first SF novel in this series. It occurs a hundred and thirty-nine Standard years later than the first story. Pinkelponker is now closed off from the rest of civilization. Jon Moore escaped shortly before the embargo. Now he is an independent operator who comes to Macken for solitude and rest. He has only one souvenir of his home: nanotech devices within his body. Because of his enhancements, Jon can talk with household appliances and other AI controlled devices. Naturally, they know all the local gossip from their machine peers and are starved for human conversation. But he has to outwait the boring discussions of human sexual affairs before getting to the good stuff. After the clothes washer tells him about a kidnapping, Jon isn't very surprised when the father of the abducted girl contacts him. Ron Slake is a VIP at Kelco -- one of the major sponsors of frontier planets -- and a very rich and influential man. He hires Jon to rescue Jasmine, his only child. The kidnappers are a local antidevelopment group called the Gardeners. They want Kelco off the planet. Unfortunately, Slake doesn't have the power to give them what they want. A disabled Predator-class Assault Vehicle named Lobo has been sitting in the central square as an ornament of sorts. It has a nonfunctional central weapons control complex and thus cannot fire its weapons. Jon negotiates the loan of this vehicle with the local mayor. Then Jon arranges to let the Gardeners know that he is coming. Later he goes and lies down in a pit dug by the Gardeners to capture him. Slanted Jack (2008) is the second SF novel in this series. Jon Moore is now a professional courier. He had Lobo repaired, so the PCAV is now armed and dangerous. Lobo is much more intelligent than other machines and has an attitude problem and a belligerent nature. Yet what would you expect from a deadly weapon? Jon is having a quiet and blissful luncheon in the Falls, a restaurant run by a gourmet chef. As he opens his eyes after absorbing the exquisite taste of a bite, Slanted Jack appears at the doorway into the dining room. After talking to a few people here and there, the con artist finally arrives at Jon's table and seats himself. Jon is more worried about Jack's frequent mentions of Pinkelponker than the alleged condition. But J