prediction to further their interests in the presidential elections due soon. The cartel penetrates the Foundation, and tweaks their field data so the prediction is revealed to be a few months sooner. The cartel wins the elections, and Lewis loses credibility when the quake does not occur on the announced date. A postmortem at Foundation uncovers the altered data, and the fact that the quake is still due in a few months. After much public relations work, a few people are willing to take precautions, but many are not listening, as the governmental authorities attempt to silence Crane and his Foundation. The quake hits as predicted, and Lewis emerges a hero and a prophet. The fourth and final episode involves a bold plan to banish earthquakes from Earth forever by "spot welding" the plates forming earth's crust at about 50 strategic places, thus stopping their movement. This welding will be done by detonating powerful nuclear bombs deep inside the earth with energies directed downwards, with no impact on the surface. There are two objections from naysayers; first, that the detonation of nuclear bombs is dangerous, and second, that there may be unforeseen consequences by stopping all Earth's tectonic activity. This is when another long-range earthquake prediction is made. A few decades hence, a Richter 10 quake will split much of California from the North American mainland, and make it an island in the Pacific, with massive losses of life and property. However, if the first of the 50 odd "spot welds" is done at a certain location in the Western US, and within a certain time window, this disaster can be averted. Lewis convinces the powers that run the country of the event, and a secret project on the lines of Manhattan Project is conceived for the first "spot weld". Just before the nukes are to be triggered, a terrorist attack on the project destroys the facility; Lewis loses his wife and child in the attack. The book ends with Lewis's suicide by remaining in the quake zone when it finally hits. Reception Gideon Kibblewhite reviewed Richter 10 for Arcane magazine, rating it a 3 out of 10 overall. Kibblewhite comments that "The words 'well trodden' and 'ground' spring to mind. Yes. The characters are very poor, too. It will still be a blockbuster, though, even if the earth didn't move for me." Reviews Review by Gary K. Wolfe (1996)