In this day and age companies can afford to be picky about who they hire, but that is one of the reasons why they are able to become better than ever.  Running recruiting trips is not out of the ordinary for many of these places, as they try to find the best of the best in their fields, and Nanigen is not above trying to lock down talent by putting on a wonderful song and dance. No degrees are needed to work for this up and coming Robotics Company, just be willing to start on the ground floor and you'll become filthy rich once their stock goes public. You may ask yourself if this is too good to be true, but who cares if you are going to be paid handsomely for your work.

Eric Jansen, the VP of Nanigen, is out at Cambridge for a recruiting trip, and his dashing smile, nice clothes and a not a care in the world attitude is working famously with the students. His brother Peter who is working in a lab on campus catches wind that Eric is sporting around and telling everyone that he runs into that Nanigen is ready to hire, and no degree is necessary for the work that they will be doing. Peter, knowing that his brother means well in the long run tries to get updated information on what this robotics company will really be doing, but gets pushed away with many deflective answers. Concerned with the lack of truth his brother has given him, Peter still needs to answer to the rest of his friends who all think this will be the opportunity of a life time. An invitation has been made to the group of friends to come out and visit the headquarters of Nanigen, which is based out of Hawaii. But before the group leaves, Peter receives a strange text message from his brother, ‘DON’T COME’, then he receives an even worse phone call from someone at the Nanigen offices saying his brother Eric has been killed in a boating accident.

Undeterred by the news, Peter decides to travel along with his friends to the head office of Nanigen, because if nothing else, he can try to figure out what happened to his brother. Peter, along with Rick, Karen, Erika, Amar, Jenny and Danny are greeted upon their arrival at headquarters by Vincent Drake, the president of the company. Drake gives the group a rundown of what they are doing at Nanigen, and how they are trying to make the world healthier with all of the samples they can collect from the local vegetation. Everyone in the group has worked with plants in one way or the other and understands what benefits can come from such research, but Nanigen has taken their research just a bit further. They have been able to shrink devices, along with people down to the micro level for the collection process, then enlarge them back to normal size to provide a much larger harvest.  

Being blown away by this turn of events, the group is ready to try to impress Drake and get a nice healthy income before they lose their chance. Peter, however is not impressed, knowing that there is something going on with the company, he confronts Drake in his office about his brother’s death. Drake hands Peter a beating that no one could have seen coming, but unbeknownst to Drake, his microphone is still on and everyone in the office heard what was said about his involvement of Eric’s death. Not being able to have any bad publicity for the company, Drake needs to get rid of these kids, and what better way than to shrink them down and set them free in the terrifying rainforests of Hawaii.

This is where the main story of Micro begins. The group of grad students are shrunk and placed in the wilderness of the Hawaiian Islands. Only being half an inch tall the group tries to adapt to the environment that they have been thrust into, using only their knowledge of botany and entomology (plants and insects) to survive. Troubles that none of them would ever have to think about in everyday life quickly become reality as ants, spiders, centipedes, bats and the worst predator of them all, humans, try to find and keep them from their main objective…getting enlarged back to normal size.

This is one of the best books Michael Crichton has constructed since Jurassic Park. The imagery that is conveyed in this novel makes you feel as if you were sitting in Hawaii and being attacked by insects that are as big, or bigger than you. Even though Crichton passed away before this novel was finished, Richard Preston came in and continued the story in the classic Crichton fashion by keeping the suspense up and by not letting you get too comfortable with any of the situations. There is something around each and every corner of Micro and this keeps the pages turning until you find out if anyone will make it back to the offices of Nanigen alive to exact their revenge.  ​

Four profiteers are looking for safe passage on to what has become to be known as the Plague Star, which has earned its name based on the destruction it has left in its path. The group is low on funds and looking for any way to get to this location and make their fortune. They are able to book passage on the Cornucopia of Excellent Goods at Low Prices, Haviland Tuf’s ship. Tuf, a small time trader who is short on funds himself is more than happy to take the fare with promise of a decent payoff when the destination is reached.                            

Arriving to the Plague Star’s coordinates, the group discovers they are in over their heads further than expected since the Star turns out to be an ancient space craft that is the size of a planet. With Tuf’s ship being damaged on the first attempt to reach this relic, the group separates for survival and dominance of their new find. ‘Absolute power corrupts absolutely,’ as the group breaks apart, battles and kills for control of the ship, now referred to as the ‘Ark.’ Tuf, who has alternative motives at first when he takes part in the revolt early on, uses  presence of mind and a load of patience, to wait it out and take command of the Ark and bolster his abilities as a top trader.

The Ark, although having great defense systems, has something more valuable to Tuf and the worlds he will soon visit, a cloning facility. With the power of creating whatever was stored in the Ark’s cell library at his fingertips, Tuf would be able to become a true profiteer, an Ecological Engineer as he calls it. Visiting different worlds and hearing of their different problems, Tuf is able to provide them all with a great alternative via his cloning techniques. As he is able to leave most worlds in a better place than they were when he arrived, the Ark is truly a valuable commodity and Tuf needs to stay at the top of his game to maintain possession of it.

Tuf Voyaging is a collection of stories that takes you though a long ten year period of Haviland Tuf’s life. Tuf is a humble individual and does not crave the attention of other people, much less others touching him. He's a vegetarian with a love for his cats (for cats used to be worshiped on Old Earth) and each one  of his felines has a little bit of mind reading ability. Tuf is overly trusting, which is what gets him in deep trouble on his adventures, but he is also very strategic with his moves and motives and is able to outwit his opponents. Whether it’s securing the Ark for his own survival, saving people from sea monsters, creating monsters for a profit, or producing an alternate lifestyle style for a doomed world, Tuf is never shaken. Working at his own pace to make sure what he produces will do these worlds more good than harm, Tuf and his motives are noble, but are his own.  

Haviland Tuf is just a fantastic character, he is more than willing to help, very trusting, but wonders why no one else will ever trust him back. Tuf seems to be incorruptible and never wants to abuse his ‘god like’ power that the Ark has given to him.  It is just a joy when Tuf is able to come up with his plan to save a planet and how easy he really makes it sound. Martin nailed another character with this book and although I am allergic to cats, I sneezed only a couple times when reading about Tuf’s, since he has more than a few.

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away on the planet of Odacer-Faustin, lessons and trainings on the dark side of the Force go on as usual at the Sith Academy. The final activity of the day is a sparring match between Wim Nickter and top student Rance Lussk. The fight is lavish, but short, and ends the way all of the onlookers had predicted, with Nickter being hauled away to the infirmary and Lussk left to just straighten out his robe. A couple of Nickter’s classmates go to check on their fallen and foolish friend, but Nickter is missing. For all the group knows, he has run away, ashamed and embarrassed in his defeat. But what has really happened to him is far worse than anyone at the academy could have seen coming.

Darth Scabrous, a Sith Lord at the academy is in the process of an experiment and is in need of subjects. Nickter is the next in line to 'volunteer', for with his recent defeat in the yard, he is weak and needs a new form of training that only Scabrous can provide. Unwilling and unaware Nickter becomes much more than even Scabrous could have imagined, and now the Dark Lord just needs one more item to refine his formula, a Murakami Orchid.

Many worlds away, Hestizo Trace, a Jedi Agricultural Corps worker, Zo for short, is working at her station when a blast comes through her wall. A Whiphid bounty hunter is suddenly at her throat, searching for the orchid. The Murakami Orchid is renowned for its Force abilities, but requires a keeper with an equally high midichlorian count to keep it fully alive. After explaining this to the bounty hunter, Zo’s life of being a Jedi botanist is going to take a drastic turn for the worse. Being kidnapped along with the orchid, Zo finds herself being presented to Darth Scabrous and becomes a vital piece to his final formula.

Red Harvest takes you back to the origins of a Sith created Zombie virus, along with explaining how it works, properly. The Sith apprentices battle for survival using their training and basic understanding of the Force. Bounty Hunter Tulkh joins into the battle as well, with his hunting skills being refined from his youth, the undead Sith cannot stand a chance. Zo also stays around for the fighting, and although she is not strong as the others, she has her own special way to help dispatch the menace. All off them square off against Darth Scabrous, who has perfected the immortality potion of the ancients, with one missing factor that adds an unfortunate side effect, the resurrection of the dead.  

Taking a trip, way, way, way back into time, a time before the Republic was corrupt and before the Rebels and the Empire were at each other’s throats, Red Harvest takes you to a more civilized time of just Jedi, Sith and Bounty Hunters, since the timing of the novel is set 3,650 years before A New Hope. As in all of the zombie books you read, you have your group band together to survive, but when you add Lightsabers and the Force to that, you end up with a fun little ride. Although you do have the Sith facing off against the Jedi, you may be surprised by who you end up pulling for to survive. Happy reading and May the Force be with you.

Welcome to Eternity, a group that utilizes time travel to ensure the existence of humanity and also Eternity. Technician Andrew Harlan who is very good at his job moves up the ranks at Eternity, not just based on his performance, but due to the extra efforts he puts into his reporting. Astounded by his knowledge of the past (primitive) times that he has traveled to, Harlan is called into his supervisor's service. Senior Computer Twissell is captivated by what the young technician is able to conjure up on his visits to the primitive times and wants Harlan to pass on his knowledge to his new trainee.

Harlan takes on the training task, teaching the young bearded man on the inner workings of Eternity, taking him on an assignment and showing him how the research into the primitive times could be useful. Nothing out the ordinary occurs until Harlan is handed a new assignment that will turn his life upside down. He is to be sent back to the 24th century, which is not out of the norm, but this time with a companion, a woman companion named Noys Lambert. Trying to remember all of the proper protocols Eternity has put on relationships, Harlan tries to remain distant from the woman, but none the less, the two fall into love.

The End of Eternity is not only a story about time travel, it also focuses on one important aspect of the human condition, love. Asimov gives you a firsthand view of a young man that has never worried about anything but his job before adding the confusion of love into his life, posing the question, how far could and would you go to protect someone you just met, and have completely fallen for? Harlan takes it to the extreme in trying to protect Noys from his superiors at Eternity, hiding her in hidden centuries of time and even challenging the existence of Eternity itself.

If you like science fiction, or even time travel stories, this book is for you and it really is one of the better stand alone novels from Asimov you will read. Asimov even dumbs down all the relative terms and repercussions that time travel can cause with one of the greatest A-B scenarios I have ever had the pleasure of following. For the first book I ever read by the renowned author, I was surprised by how easy the read really was. The good doctor certainly knows how to bring together a story.