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Reviews by Contributor: Chen, Curtis C. (2)

Laying Down the Law

Ninth Step Station

By Curtis C. Chen, Malka Older, Fran Wilde & Jacqueline Koyanagi  

8 Jan, 2019

Miscellaneous Reviews

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Malka Older, Fran Wilde, Jacqueline Koyanagi, and Curtis C. Chen’s 2018 Ninth Step Station is an anthology of serial shared-world cyberpunk fiction. It is published by Serial Box, who (to quote their site):

Serial Box is a publishing company and mobile app that produces and delivers team-written serialized fiction. We blend story production and distribution practices from television, book publishing and narrative podcasting to create professionally crafted serials that fit your life. 

Following earthquake and Chinese invasion, Tokyo is divided between Chinese occupation forces, American forces, and of course the Japanese themselves. Crime is still a fact of life. It is up to Tokyo Metropolitan Police officers like Miyako Korida to deal with it. Because there is no job that cannot be made more complicated, Miyako has the privilege of partnering with Peacekeeper Lieutenant Emma Higashi of the US Navy.

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Secret Agent Man*

Waypoint Kangaroo

By Curtis C. Chen  

25 Oct, 2016

Miscellaneous Reviews

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2016’s Waypoint Kangaroo is Curtis C. Chen’s debut SF adventure novel. 

The agent code-named Kangaroo may not be the most skilled agent in the agency, but he is their only super-powered agent. Too useful to fire, too hard to explain, a looming audit convinces Kangaroo’s bosses that this is the perfect time to send Kangaroo off Earth on an all expenses paid holiday to Mars. Independent Mars may be the player on the other side of the cold war gripping the Solar System, but it is also safely distant from the prying eyes of unsympathetic federal bureaucrats. 

The bosses should have known: when you send an agent off on holiday, you can expect unforeseen complications.

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