16. Red Thunder (411 pp.) by John Varley (Apr. 4). I know I got this book for Xmas because I asked for it but I'm not sure where I heard about it first. I ended up liking it way more than I thought when I started it. For the first 30 pages I was thinking: okay, kids want to go into space. This is nice. But as you get into it, there are these incredible characters and a family forms from people on the fringe who are attempting this crazy adventure. Jubal was a fabulous character who steals every scene he's in. My only complaint is that it was a tad long and repetitive in spots. They didn't get to the adventure until page 300 and once that got going, Jubal all but disappeared (for reasons related to the story, but still.) Recommended esp. for people who love space travel stories.