I’ve enjoyed Kage Baker’s series of novels and stories about the immortal cyborg servants of Dr. Zeus Incorporated; I’m even a bit sad that I’ll soon be reading the concluding volume Sons of Heaven (I’m next on the hold list at MVPL). So getting these two books was a treat, though none of the stories in them have an obvious impact on the connecting story line of those servants preparing many separate revolts for when recorded history ends (as far as they know) in the year 2355.
Gods and Pawns collects seven Company short stories while Rude Mechanicals is a special limited edition chapbook published by Subterranean Press taking its title from the novella which is its sole content. Five of the eight tales have varying combinations of Literary Preservation Specialist Lewis, Botany Specialist Mendoza, Facilitator Joseph as the main characters; the other three look in on one-off characters that offer amusing or informative perspectives on the Company.
My favorites are:
- The Angel in the Darkness – Kage considers how an immortal might handle affairs if allowed to maintain contact with his mortal family over several centuries.
- A Night on the Barbary Coast – Mendoza and Joseph travel to San Francisco in 1850 to track down a Gold Rush miner who found a particularly valuable vein of gold, though the value is not the gold itself nor is the Company interested in stealing his claim.
- Welcome to Olympus, Mr. Hearst – In 1933, Joseph and Lewis finagle an invitation for a weekend at Hearst Castle in order to engage the great media baron’s assistance in preserving a special movie script, but Joseph has underestimated Hearst’s ability to grasp the new. Joseph is also unaware of some very pertinent information about his host.
recommended
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