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Angel Cardenas #1
Montezuma Strip
In a collection of science fiction stories, top police officer Angel Cardenas must survive in a nightmarish future world where wealth and high technology mix with Third World poverty and street gangs. By the author of Alien. Original.
224 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published August 1, 1995
33 people are currently reading
191 people want to read
About the author
Alan Dean Foster
498 books2,033 followersBestselling science fiction writer Alan Dean Foster was born in New York City in 1946, but raised mainly in California. He received a B.A. in Political Science from UCLA in 1968, and a M.F.A. in 1969. Foster lives in Arizona with his wife, but he enjoys traveling because it gives him opportunities to meet new people and explore new places and cultures. This interest is carried over to his writing, but with a twist: the new places encountered in his books are likely to be on another planet, and the people may belong to an alien race.
Foster began his career as an author when a letter he sent to Arkham Collection was purchased by the editor and published in the magazine in 1968. His first novel, The Tar-Aiym Krang, introduced the Humanx Commonwealth, a galactic alliance between humans and an insectlike race called Thranx. Several other novels, including the Icerigger trilogy, are also set in the world of the Commonwealth. The Tar-Aiym Krang also marked the first appearance of Flinx, a young man with paranormal abilities, who reappears in other books, including Orphan Star, For Love of Mother-Not, and Flinx in Flux.
Foster has also written The Damned series and the Spellsinger series, which includes The Hour of the Gate, The Moment of the Magician, The Paths of the Perambulator, and Son of Spellsinger, among others. Other books include novelizations of science fiction movies and television shows such as Star Trek, The Black Hole, Starman, Star Wars, and the Alien movies. Splinter of the Mind's Eye, a bestselling novel based on the Star Wars movies, received the Galaxy Award in 1979. The book Cyber Way won the Southwest Book Award for Fiction in 1990. His novel Our Lady of the Machine won him the UPC Award (Spain) in 1993. He also won the Ignotus Award (Spain) in 1994 and the Stannik Award (Russia) in 2000.
Foster began his career as an author when a letter he sent to Arkham Collection was purchased by the editor and published in the magazine in 1968. His first novel, The Tar-Aiym Krang, introduced the Humanx Commonwealth, a galactic alliance between humans and an insectlike race called Thranx. Several other novels, including the Icerigger trilogy, are also set in the world of the Commonwealth. The Tar-Aiym Krang also marked the first appearance of Flinx, a young man with paranormal abilities, who reappears in other books, including Orphan Star, For Love of Mother-Not, and Flinx in Flux.
Foster has also written The Damned series and the Spellsinger series, which includes The Hour of the Gate, The Moment of the Magician, The Paths of the Perambulator, and Son of Spellsinger, among others. Other books include novelizations of science fiction movies and television shows such as Star Trek, The Black Hole, Starman, Star Wars, and the Alien movies. Splinter of the Mind's Eye, a bestselling novel based on the Star Wars movies, received the Galaxy Award in 1979. The book Cyber Way won the Southwest Book Award for Fiction in 1990. His novel Our Lady of the Machine won him the UPC Award (Spain) in 1993. He also won the Ignotus Award (Spain) in 1994 and the Stannik Award (Russia) in 2000.
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
July 20, 2024
Libby library book. Read on laptop with Libby.
December 31, 2024
This is a surprisingly deep little sci-fi book. It’s a set of short stories all set in a future where the southern border has become a “country” of its own revolving around the poor who provide the labor to maintain the hugely wealthy & their giant technology corporations. Fantastic world-building and layered complex characters will absorb you completely. The Spanglish and slang took me a bit to get used to but I did pretty quickly. Really amazing book and I am ordering the 2nd book ASAP! Top book and favorite of the year!
“In a collection of science fiction stories, top police officer Angel Cardenas must survive in a nightmarish future world where wealth and high technology mix with Third World poverty and street gangs.”
“In a collection of science fiction stories, top police officer Angel Cardenas must survive in a nightmarish future world where wealth and high technology mix with Third World poverty and street gangs.”
January 1, 2024
Short stories and novelettes set in the future. We follow Sergeant Angel Cardenas and others as they live through the weird amalgamation of the strip. There are a lot of slang words, Spanish words, and Spanglish. There is no glossary, though some will be easy enough to figure out. Ninlocos = street punks, danspec = endangered species.
The setup in the first story is touched on once more in the last one, but I wished it had been pursued further, as implied at the end of that first story. But definitely still worth a read!
The setup in the first story is touched on once more in the last one, but I wished it had been pursued further, as implied at the end of that first story. But definitely still worth a read!
July 25, 2024
Maybe not a book for everyone, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. Starting out it’s hard to comprehend the mix of Spanish and English, but once you trudge through the first few pages your brain starts to click it all together.
The writing is very well done in a short story format, but still circling back to the main character in every story, providing a glimpse of his life as an inspector in a dystopian megacorp future. I couldn’t get enough of this book and enjoyed every second of it. If futuristic mysteries are your style, this book and its stories will do you quite well.
The writing is very well done in a short story format, but still circling back to the main character in every story, providing a glimpse of his life as an inspector in a dystopian megacorp future. I couldn’t get enough of this book and enjoyed every second of it. If futuristic mysteries are your style, this book and its stories will do you quite well.
October 2, 2025
An unexpected pleasure
It's been a long time since I've read anything from Mr. Foster. I just happened to stumble on to this one. It was nothing like I expected. Some may find it difficult to read, with a mix of English, Spanish, Spanglish and some innovative slang all thrown together with computer tech, it sometimes had my head spinning. This has been one of the strangest books I have read in a long time and I enjoyed the heck out of it. If you like high tech or futuristic or crime or detective stories, I would definitely recommend this!
It's been a long time since I've read anything from Mr. Foster. I just happened to stumble on to this one. It was nothing like I expected. Some may find it difficult to read, with a mix of English, Spanish, Spanglish and some innovative slang all thrown together with computer tech, it sometimes had my head spinning. This has been one of the strangest books I have read in a long time and I enjoyed the heck out of it. If you like high tech or futuristic or crime or detective stories, I would definitely recommend this!
April 8, 2021
A roller coaster ride of short stories, set in a future that is based on technology which didn't exist at the time. Some of it does now; but, curiously, the stories are only lightly affected. My favorite character is Charliebo, a seeing eye German Shepherd. His human is an interesting person, too. He is an Intuit; a person who by talent and training is a human lie detector. As a Federale, this is a useful tool. Mr. Foster has a winner in this one. Recommended.
November 11, 2023
I really enjoyed this! It was a collection of three stories from the diaries of a federal policeman in a future where tech has eclipsed anything we have today. Every story threw you head first into a world you didn't understand, and things were revealed only by context. I absolutely loved the authors choice not to explain anything and leave it up to the reader to glean things from clues. These stories were all the best bits of a future dystopia without any of the dry and boring parts.
September 1, 2025
Great read
I really enjoyed this collection of interlocking stories. Foster made an immersive world with slang and all sorts of made up terms. A realistic blend of cultures and multinational corporations on the future US/Mexico border. A great book that combines the traditional, gritty detective tale with a high tech, near future locale. Very well written, though the ebook version has some typos.
I really enjoyed this collection of interlocking stories. Foster made an immersive world with slang and all sorts of made up terms. A realistic blend of cultures and multinational corporations on the future US/Mexico border. A great book that combines the traditional, gritty detective tale with a high tech, near future locale. Very well written, though the ebook version has some typos.
September 9, 2025
Federale Angel Cardenas is one of the best investigators there is, he was blinded and received an eye transplant and was back in the hunt. Angel is an intuit which is kind of like a mind reader going by his intuition. This is a collection of crimes he has solved. I think the best one the third one, "Gagrito". One of the better lines is, "Cotton stuffing bulged from various holes in the upholstery like bloodless entrails.". Highly recommended.
April 1, 2025
Sci-fi detective stories Rock!
Another great story from ADF . I wish they were in story line order. I guess I have to dig thru the lists. All heroes have suffer sadly enough. I morn for Charliebo.
Another great story from ADF . I wish they were in story line order. I guess I have to dig thru the lists. All heroes have suffer sadly enough. I morn for Charliebo.
May 29, 2024
Excellent collection of stories featuring the federale Detective Angel Cardenas in a cyberpunk near future. Highly recommended.
June 9, 2024
I enjoyed these stories. I really enjoyed the setting he created.
The first was the weakest, but they improved afterwards.
The first was the weakest, but they improved afterwards.
June 22, 2009
Difficult group of stories.
Read
April 22, 2009DETECTIVE; L.A. AND ENVIRONS
January 2, 2010
Angel Cardenas is not a particularly compelling
character, but most of the stories are enjoyable.
character, but most of the stories are enjoyable.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews