author : F. M. Busby

Books

• All These Earths. 1978
• The Demu Trilogy. (omnibus) 1980
1. Cage A Man. 1973
2. The Proud Enemy. 1975
3. End of the Line. 1980
• Getting Home. 1987
• The Breeds of Man. 1988
• Islands of Tomorrow. 1994
• Hulzein
0. Zelde M'Tana. 1980
1. Rissa Kerguelen
1. Young Rissa. 1976
2. Rissa and Tregare. 1976
3. The Long View. 1976
2. Bran Tregare
1. Star Rebel. 1984
2. Rebel's Quest. 1984
3. The Alien Debt. 1984
4. Rebels' Seed. 1986
• Slow Freight
1. Slow Freight. 1991
2. Singularity Project. 1993
3. Arrow From Earth. 1995
4. The Triad Worlds. 1996

Short works

• A Gun for Grandfather. 1957. (In Getting Home )
• Of Mice and Otis. 1972. (In Getting Home )
• Proof. 1972. (In Getting Home )
• The Absence of Tom Leone. 1972. (In Getting Home )
• The Puiss of Krrlik. 1972. (In Getting Home )
• The Real World. 1972. (In Getting Home )
• 2000 1/2: A Spaced Oddity. 1973. (In Getting Home )
• Once Upon a Unicorn. 1973. (In Getting Home )
• Pearsall's Return. 1973. (In Worlds of If: July-August 1973 )
• Road Map. 1973. (In Getting Home )
• Tell Me All About Yourself. 1973. (In Getting Home )
• The Learning of Eeshta. 1973. (In Getting Home )
• Three Tinks on the House. 1973. (In Getting Home )
• Getting Home. 1974. (In Getting Home )
• I'm Going to Get You. 1974. (In Getting Home )
• If This Is Winnetka, You Must Be Judy. 1974. (In Getting Home )
• Misconception. 1974. (In Getting Home )
• Retroflex. 1974. (In Getting Home )
• Time of Need. 1974. (In Getting Home )
• Advantage. 1975. (In Getting Home )
• The Signing of Tulip. 1975. (In Getting Home )
• For a Daughter. 1982. (In Amazons II )

Other information

Author review:
F. M. Busby's stories often involve a protagonist who overcomes a poor, even abusive, upbringing (the Rissa and Tregare novels take this to extremes!) to become a competent hero, involved in various 'space opera' style adventures, usually with some fairly 'hard' science component. Good romps.

Books : reviews

F. M. Busby.
Getting Home.
Ace. 1987

(read but not reviewed)

Contents

• A Gun for Grandfather. 1957

• Of Mice and Otis. 1972

• The Puiss of Krrlik. 1972

• The Absence of Tom Leone. == Here, There and Everywhere. 1972

• Proof. 1972

• The Real World. 1972

• Tell Me All About Yourself. 1973

• Once Upon a Unicorn. 1973

• Road Map. 1973

• If This Is Winnetka, You Must Be Judy. 1974

• Three Tinks on the House. 1973

• The Learning of Eeshta. 1973

• I'm Going to Get You. 1974

• 2000 1/2: A Spaced Oddity. 1973

• Time of Need. 1974

• Retroflex. 1974

• Misconception. 1974

• The Signing of Tulip. 1975

• Advantage. 1975

• Getting Home. 1974

F. M. Busby.
Islands of Tomorrow.
Avon. 1994

rating : 3.5 : worth reading
review : 23 March 1997

Luke Tabor is a physics grad student in a near future university. He get involved in a protest against a new tax, egged on by a charismatic figure, Derion. The next thing he knows, he's in jail with the protest group, which is rescued by Derion, who drags them to his own time in the far future. There Luke and his companions undergo various adventures, being flung around in time by Derion's enemies and allies, as they try to find a way home.

Derion turns out to be one of the Changed, mutants with psi powers, who can move through time. This travelling is restricted to certain 'Islands' in the past, and no one can be in the same time twice. Derion's solution of how to get round this latter constraint is quite interesting.

The complexities of time travelling, and how it can affect the past, is all handled quite well. But the story takes a long time to get going, and is rather choppy. And all the women have secondary, rather passive, roles -- and accept their final fate with mind-boggling equanimity.

An engaging enough story on the whole, but not riveting.

F. M. Busby.
Zelde M'Tana.
Dell. 1980

Young, untried, but a lethally trained fighter, Zelde M’Tana found herself legally shanghaied by the oppressive UET – imprisoned on a starship bound for the brothels of a mining planet. There was no way Zelde was going to stand for that – and when the ship’s first officer, Parnell, led an anti-UET revolt, Zelde joined the mutineers and single-handedly turned defeat to victory.

First as Parnell’s lover, then as his assistant, Zelde was mistrusted by the crew – but when the UET struck once again and Parnell died, there was only one choice for Captain: Zelde M’Tana.