Wheels Within Wheels

The LaNague Federation #2

by F. Paul Wilson

Winner of the first Prometheus Award!

A monstrous conspiracy is brewing against the LaNague Federation and the freedoms its guarantees to its member planets—at least that’s what Old Pete says. He's come to the offices of Interstellar Business Advisors, a firm he co-founded more than half a century before, to enlist the aid of its current CEO, Josephine Finch. Dubious at first, Jo humors the old man by promising to look into the matter.

She does not have to look far before she is convinced that something is afoot, something that will not bear the light of day, something involving a revolutionary means of interstellar travel. And when one of the trails leads to the planet Jebinose, site of her father’s bizarre death, Jo finds herself personally involved.

She is soon pitted against one of the shrewdest, most devious minds in Federation politics, and against a wild-card psi who might well destroy them both. But what Josephine Finch begins, she finishes.

Wheels Within Wheels follows her on a course that involves five planets and three alien races. Before she is through she will bring the galaxy’s largest corporation to its knees, avenge her father’s death, abort a cynical political plot, and start an interstellar war.

Don’t mess with Josephine Finch.

(Bonus LaNague short "The Man with the Anteater" and "Higher Centers" - plus a foreword by the author)

"You’re whirled off into an interstellar conspiracy plotted by a Watergatish bunch of baddies, with industrial espionage, psi-murder, and extortion as sidelights. Finally the wheels all mesh. If you’ve caught the cleverly planted clues, you close the book with all the satisfaction of a good Agatha Christie. Viva la Federation!" Library Journal

"A fast-paced, well-written story that holds reader interest from the first chapter. Since WHEELS WITHIN WHEELS is blurbed as 'A Novel of the LaNague Federation,' I imagine Wilson is going to make a regular series out of this. If he can keep up the quality he reached in the first two novels, it will be quite an impressive series." Future Retrospective

"Mr. Wilson is that rare find among modern SF novelists, a writer in the classic style of Asimov, Tubb, Heinlein, Pohl and Kornbluth – especially the last two, whose 'Space Merchants' this book most closely resembles. Easy to follow, hard to put down." Manchester Evening News (UK)

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Space Opera

192 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 3, 1978

About the author

Francis Paul Wilson is an author, born in Jersey City, New Jersey. He writes novels and short stories primarily in the science fiction and horror genres. His debut novel was Healer (1976). Wilson is also a part-time practicing family physician. He made his first sales in 1970 to Analog and continued to write science fiction throughout the seventies. In 1981 he ventured into the horror genre with the international bestseller, The Keep, and helped define the field throughout the rest of the decade. In the 1990s he became a true genre hopper, moving from science fiction to horror to medical thrillers and branching into interactive scripting for Disney Interactive and other multimedia companies. He, along with Matthew J. Costello, created and scripted FTL Newsfeed which ran daily on the Sci-Fi Channel from 1992-1996.

http://us.macmillan.com/author/fpaulw...

Reviews

[hotsake (André Troesch) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting for what it was while also reminding me of Heinlein.

[Stephen · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. I am a fan of F. Paul Wilson in general and his LaNague Federation novels in particular. This is another really good installment in the LaNague series though I did not like it quite as much as the previous two, An Enemy of the State and Healer. This is probably because both An Enemy of the State and Healer had main characters that I really, really liked. Enemy introduced Peter LaNague, the man behind the LaNague Federation and dealt with economics and monetary theory. Healer had Steven Dalt/Pard which I thought was an excellent character team.

That said, this is still a very good story. The writing is good and the plot is engaging. I did think the ending was a little weak but it didn't take away much from the enjoyment of the rest of the story. I woulkd suggest you start with the other two books first if you haven't read any of these stories, but would certainly recommend this one as a good read as well.

Winner: Prometheus Award for Best Novel (1979).

[David Russell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not a deep science fiction novel ... Just a trip roaring whodunnit set in a SF context ... And a rather a clever one at that. Many times we reinvigorate classic genres and I enjoyed this one as much as any of the Agatha Christie gems.
And like these novels there are two clear parts: the setup and the rollercoaster conclusion.
At first many readers may give up thinking they are digesting spurious information about warp gate technology or a simple story of a person trying to right discriminatory wrongs.....please don't! These are vital parts to the enjoyment of what is to come...

[Lisa (Harmonybites) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't think you have to be a libertarian to like this book, but it helps. F. Paul Wilson is best known for his horror fiction, particularly his bestselling vampires-among-the-Nazis, The Keep. I rather enjoyed that pot-boiler, but I like his LaNague novels much more--but then I am a libertarian. This first of the LaNague books, An Enemy of the State, deals with a favorite theme of science fiction--a interstellar empire. Enter Peter LaNague and down with the empire, up with the Federation. It's very much space opera of the Star Trek/John W. Campbell kind. There are faster-than-life ships using warp drives and crystals and aliens and even time-travel tech, but above all the first book was economic fiction as much or more as science fiction, weaving in economic theory on monetary policy into the yarn. There's some of that in this second book, which takes place in the middle of Healer, the first published novel set after the events of the first book. I like Wheels Within Wheels a bit more than the first book, which I'd finished just before. I just plain like Jo Finch and Old Pete more. And this feels more like classic space opera rather than libertarian screed. Plenty of action and intrigue.

[Kristin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This doesn't start off or even really address anything from book 1 of the series. I enjoyed The Healer immenseley so that was a bit of a let down but if you can look at it as an independent story, it's a great story in it's own right.

[Kellie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A sci-fi politico. It's about aliens the way Animal Farm is about farm animals, and Fahrenheit 451 is about firemen. I liked it.

[Ron · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun libertarian sci-fi.

[Jacki Morris · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wouldn't call this book a thriller. However it's enjoyable and clever.

[Bent Andreassen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good libertarian sci-fi novel.
The first author to win the Prometheus Award (1978).

[Adam · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wish people in general understood how bad government is for our economy. Reading this novel would surely help.

[Drooglord · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5/5 Stars

[Tobey · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is my second LaNague Federation book but my 'nth F. Paul Wilson book. I really stepped out of the box with this one as Sci/Fi is really not in my comfort zone and after reading the first LaNague book, I wasn't excited for this one.

I was pleasantly surprised. I enjoyed this book much much more than the first LaNague book that I read. I was really able to connect to the characters (the humans, that is) and the story was very interesting with a few twists thrown in!

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read most of the stories that make up this book, many, many years ago, so long that I don't remember much about them. I mean to read it again, because every time I look at the magazine cover for the title story (nice piece by John Schoenherr, best of the realist artists working in the SF field in the 1960s & 70s), I remember how much I liked the story.

[Kallierose · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book, although not quite as much as the other two I've read by this author. Don't know why. Maybe it was the plot/subject matter. Anyway, it was still a good read.

[CK · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bit over-the-top compared to Wilson's other "libertarian" books (even the author admits it in the foreword). Still an enjoyable story!

[Marty · Rating 3 out of 5]

ok. not great.

[Whitaker · Rating 3 out of 5]

A really great book shows us how love is great and worth to die for

[Howard]

k

[David Wogahn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good story but I've enjoyed his other books more.

[Ron Judenberg]

to-read