I don't mean to nitpick, Tom, but is this really your plan?

C.J. Cherryh, Lois & Clark: A Superman Novel: As geekturnedvamp said to me, it warms my fannish heart to know this book exists. Cherryh’s talents of describing situations coolly and rationally are perhaps well-suited to the tie-in, where no emotional development is allowed to take place. The plot is divided between Lois investigating a building collapse in Metropolis and Clark attempting to save a village threatened by bursting dams in the Caucasus. Superman uses brains as well as brawn to manage the disaster, while Lois endangers rescues kids from the collapse and braves Lex Luthor in jail in search of explanations. Though there’s some attempt at emotional interest as Clark struggles with his desire to protect Lois and Lois debates whether she can be with a man if he’s always going to be second-guessing her, there wasn’t much at stake either in the relationship or the plot – always a problem with a nearly-invulnerable superhero. As a “week in the life” story, it was fine, but I don’t think it’s a must for fans.

Elizabeth Moon, Trading in Danger: Set in the same universe as the Herris Serrano etc. adventures, this book introduces Kylara Vatta, a young woman expelled from her beloved military for trusting the wrong person and rescued by her family by being sent on an easy mission to dispose of an obsolete ship. But Ky isn’t willing to just follow her family’s dictates, and risks everything to make herself a success and refit her ship. There is a lot of proper procedure in this book, which makes things safer and less interesting than if people were acting stupidly, but does provide the satisfaction of seeing most of the characters possessed of full brains rather than partial ones. I’m not sure I’m as invested in Moon’s military/trading families setup as I could be; the misunderstood-girl-makes-good thing that is her basic story works for me about half the time.

Alan Dean Foster, Sliding Scales: A Pip and Flinx Adventure: I think, though I haven’t gone back to reread, that what I liked about the Pip and Flinx stories as a kid is probably what annoyed me about this one: the lavish attention to detailing exotic alien species and ecosystems (and artworks and gestures) at the expense of plot and character. In this book, Flinx tries to take a vacation, and ends up in a struggle for his life with the reptilian and human-hating Aann on a planet whose dominant species is a sort of sentient mushroom. Poor Flinx! Will he never get to relax? Probably not, as long as he’s got special empathic powers and a lifebond with a minidragon. Seriously, I doubt this book is much different than the earlier ones in the series, but I have outgrown my interest in alien world-portraits for their own sake.

Laurie Marks, Fire Logic: Shaftal, a land where elemental magic runs deep, is conquered by alien invaders; the spirit of the land barely survives embodied in a drug-addicted mage whose drug deprives her of the very connection to the land that gives her power. The sole survivor of a massacred tribe allied with Shaftal joins her, setting great events in motion. There were a lot of interesting things in this book, first and foremost the acknowledgement that after a while the conquerors become the inhabitants, and relatedly the idea that armed conflict was unlikely to “free” the land. I didn’t really connect with the characters, though. Probably good for those who want to read fantasy that implicitly responds to a lot of other “the land has been conquered and only the magical prophesied one can save it” narratives.

Wandering Stars: An Anthology of Jewish Fantasy & Science Fiction, ed. Jack Dann: Published in 1974, this collection mostly relies on broad stereotypes of Jews: Jews have many opinions; Jews have nagging mothers and wives (Jews are, of course, like most sf/f protagonists, generally men); Jews are smart but oppressed wherever in the universe we go. What stands out more than the outdated technology – fiche readers, computers bigger than a living room – are the outdated gender roles (see above). Lots of big names – William Tenn, Avram Davidson, Isaac Asimov, Robert Silverberg, Horace Gold, Pamela Sargent, Robert Sheckley, Isaac Bashevis Singer, Harlan Ellison, George Alec Effinger, Carol Carr, and Bernard Malamud are the contributors – but not much there. The Singer story of heavenly souls reborn onto earth-as-hell has a creepy poetic feel – and not much self-identified “Jewish” content.