Old Tea Leaf Reviews 8: 1988 Locus Poll Best First Novel
James Nicoll
Best First Novel
1 War for the Oaks Emma Bull
Hey, remember when fantasy set in modern cities seemed new
and interesting? This dates from that period. In fact, I think this
was one of the earliest examples of the revival of this sort of thing.
I enjoyed it at the time and do not reread it to preserve
my memories of it.
Bull is not particularly prolific and there seems to be a
ten year gap between consecutive novels at one point (I also recall
some problem getting the rights for WftO back from Ace). She is still
getting published both at novel and short story lengths.
2 Mindplayers Pat Cadigan
I missed this.
Cadiagan is reasonably successful as a novelist and short
story writer. I believe that she is also a catalyst, someone whose
name often pops up in the backstory to other people's careers.
3 In Conquest Born C. S. Friedman
I was inadvertantly conditioned to react badly to Friedman:
someone raved to me about her while repeatedly accidentally nudging
my leg whose knee I had destroyed a few days earlier. It took decades
before I could look at her name without feeling a twinge in my leg.
Friedman is still with us and in fact I think she has a novel
coming out early next year.
4 Liege-Killer Christopher Hinz
This is the first book in the Paratawa trilogy. Earth is toast
and humanity lives in space (a frequent scenario for SF written during
this period. See, for example, the Eight Worlds or John McLoughlin's
THE HELIX AND THE SWORD). The Paratawa, legendary assassins, are
supposed to be as dead as Earth but evidence surfaces that at least
one of them is still active.
As far as I know, Hinz only published four novels. I see nothing
past 1991.
5 The Net Loren J. MacGregor
I am embarassed to say it has been long enough since I read this
and my ability to overlook copies to replace the one that I lost that
I cannot comment on this book.
I believe Loren has had writer's block since this book was
published.
This was an Ace Special.
6 Arrows of the Queen Mercedes Lackey
I did not read this.
Lackey is prolific and very successful.
7 Becoming Alien Rebecca Ore
This was the first in a trilogy about a young man from a
disfunctional background who inavertently is an accessory to the
murder an alien observer. He is given the chance to atone by working
for the aliens, something that lets him rebuild his life.
Ore is not prolific but she is still getting published.
8 After the Zap Michael Armstrong
Is this the one where an event erases everyone's memories?
As far as I can tell, Armstrong's most recent novel (of
three) was in the early 1990s. His most recent short story appears
to have been in the late 1990s.
9 Reindeer Moon Elizabeth Marshall Thomas
If I recall correctly, this is about prehistoric Siberian
nomads and it was fairly successful in its day.
I believe that she had two or three more novels but that she
is better known for her non-fiction, anthropoligical and otherwise.
10 Swordspoint Ellen Kushner
I did not read this. Yes, I am a horrible person.
She isn't as prolific as some of her fans would like but
she has published fairly steadily since her first book appeared.
11 Memoirs of an Invisible Man H. F. Saint
An accident renders a business man invisble. I don't think
I finished this.
I think this was Saint's only book (Unless he published under
another name). I have a terrible feeling this was made into a Chevy
Chase movie, before EPA regulations banned that sort of thing (I
assume).
12 Napoleon Disentimed Hayford Peirce
A conman is drawn across time into an alternate universe,
where he tries to prosper by applying his ability to bilk people.
I was a big fan of his in the 1970s but I remember being cool
to this novel.
Peirce has published a respectable number of novels over the
years, both SF and mystery, and somehow I have managed to miss seeing
almost all of them. Curse you, sucky Canadian book distribution!
13 A Death of Honor Joe Clifford Faust
This was an SF noir mystery set in a US readying itself, IIRC,
for the Inevitable Soviet Victory That Must Inevitably Come, Inevitably.
Faust was moderately prolific in the late 1980s and mid-1990s
but I don't see anything past 1998.
14 The American Book of the Dead Stephen Billias
I missed this.
As far as I can tell, Billias wrote a few books in his own
worlds and more written in other people's worlds (in particular
R. Talsorian and FASA's) but I don't see anything by him past the
mid-1990s.
15 The Architects of Hyperspace Thomas R. McDonough
I missed this.
As far as I can tell, McDonough was not very prolific and he
has had no SF published since the early 1990s.
16 The Shadow of His Wings Bruce Fergusson
I missed this.
I can only find a handful of books by him, all in the early 1990s.
I am not sure if this is just a sign that that's he's badly documented.
I could swear that he had an anti-nuclear war novel but I don't see any
mention of it.
17 Pennterra Judith Moffett
This is on the short list of SF novels about quakers and the
even shorter list of SF novesls about Quakers that I missed (I did
read a later one by her).
I don't think Moffett was particularly prolific and I don't
see any novels by her past the mid-1990s.
18 The Leeshore Robert Reed
I missed this (Although I've read a fair amount of Reed since
then).
Reed is a fairly prolific SF writer whose career continues to
this day.
19 A Rose-Red City Dave Duncan
Mera is inhabited by people gathered from every era in time.
I remember a crack team being sent out to deal with some problem but
not what that problem was.
Duncan is fairly prolific but he dumped SF in favour of fantasy,
possibly out of some quixotic desire to live indoors.
20 The Movement of Mountains Michael Blumlein
I missed this.
Blumlein does not appear to be prolific at the novel level
and there seems to be a roughly decade-long gap between his most recent
novel and the one before it. He has been more prolific at shorter lengths.
21 Station Gehenna Andrew Weiner
I missed this.
Weiner is far more prolific at the shorter lengths than at the
novel length. In fact, I think that this is one of two novels that he
has published so far.
22 Soldiers of Paradise Paul Park
As I recall, this is set on a world with a very long year
many years in our future. The local society has been highly stratified
for a long, long time but in this book things begin to fall apart.
I loved this when I read it but I liked each book less,
particularly when the French Revolution was suddenly recapitulated.
Park has had a reasonably prolific career thus far.
23 Teot's War Heather Gladney
Not only did I miss this, I didn't even hear rumours about it.
As far as I can tell, she had this book, a sequel and at
least one short story but nothing since about 1996.
24 Soulstring Midori Snyder
I missed this.
She appears to have been reasonably prolific but I think 2002's
HANNAH'S GARDEN may have been her most recent novel.
25 Frame of Reference Jerry Oltion
I missed this as well.
Oltion appears to have been reasonably prolific at novel and
shorter lengths.
--
http://www.livejournal.com/users/james_nicoll
http://www.cafepress.com/jdnicoll (For all your "The problem with
defending the English language [...]" T-shirt, cup and tote-bag needs)
Mike Schilling
> Best First Novel
>
> 1 War for the Oaks Emma Bull
>
> Hey, remember when fantasy set in modern cities seemed new
> and interesting? This dates from that period. In fact, I think this
> was one of the earliest examples of the revival of this sort of
> thing.
>
> I enjoyed it at the time and do not reread it to preserve
> my memories of it.
>
> Bull is not particularly prolific and there seems to be a
> ten year gap between consecutive novels at one point (I also recall
> some problem getting the rights for WftO back from Ace). She is
> still
> getting published both at novel and short story lengths.
>
There have been a lot of people on these lists (Dean, Bull, Shetterly,
Lindholm) whom I, perhaps unfairly, group as "Steven Brust's less
talented buddies".
> 18 The Leeshore Robert Reed
>
> I missed this (Although I've read a fair amount of Reed since
> then).
>
> Reed is a fairly prolific SF writer whose career continues to
> this day.
You still see him in Brady Bunch reruns.
>
>
> 19 A Rose-Red City Dave Duncan
>
> Mera is inhabited by people gathered from every era in time.
> I remember a crack team being sent out to deal with some problem but
> not what that problem was.
>
> Duncan is fairly prolific but he dumped SF in favour of fantasy,
> possibly out of some quixotic desire to live indoors.
And he still coaches for Tony LaRusa.
Gene
@reader2.panix.com:
> Duncan is fairly prolific but he dumped SF in favour of fantasy,
> possibly out of some quixotic desire to live indoors.
Fantasy: Fiction about people who live outdoors, by people who live indoors.
SciFi: Fiction about people who live indoors, by people who live outdoors.
Romance: Fiction about people who live indoors, by people who live indoors.
Westerns: Fiction about people who live outdoors, by people who live
outdoors.
John M. Gamble
James Nicoll <jdni...@panix.com> wrote:
>
>Best First Novel
>
>1 War for the Oaks Emma Bull
>
> Hey, remember when fantasy set in modern cities seemed new
>and interesting? This dates from that period. In fact, I think this
>was one of the earliest examples of the revival of this sort of thing.
>
> I enjoyed it at the time and do not reread it to preserve
>my memories of it.
>
> Bull is not particularly prolific and there seems to be a
>ten year gap between consecutive novels at one point (I also recall
>some problem getting the rights for WftO back from Ace). She is still
>getting published both at novel and short story lengths.
>
I seem to recall someone stating, perhaps on this newgroup, that
Bull considers herself to be a musician who occasionally writes,
rather than the other way around. So we're lucky that we've got
what we've got.
--
-john
February 28 1997: Last day libraries could order catalogue cards
from the Library of Congress.
Dimensional Traveler
> Best First Novel
>
>
>
> This is the first book in the Paratawa trilogy. Earth is toast
> and humanity lives in space (a frequent scenario for SF written during
> this period. See, for example, the Eight Worlds or John McLoughlin's
> THE HELIX AND THE SWORD). The Paratawa, legendary assassins, are
> supposed to be as dead as Earth but evidence surfaces that at least
> one of them is still active.
>
> As far as I know, Hinz only published four novels. I see nothing
> past 1991.
>
learned there were others in the same setting and years more before I was
able to find and read them. I seem to recall that things got very, very
strange really quickly in the sequels.
--
History Channel is showing 'Ice Road Truckers' as part of their
"American Originals" brand of shows.
Too bad they're Canadian truckers.
Andrew Plotkin
> James Nicoll wrote:
> > Best First Novel
> >
> > 1 War for the Oaks Emma Bull
> >
> > ten year gap between consecutive novels at one point (I also recall
> > some problem getting the rights for WftO back from Ace). She is
> > still
> > getting published both at novel and short story lengths.
>
> There have been a lot of people on these lists (Dean, Bull, Shetterly,
> Lindholm) whom I, perhaps unfairly, group as "Steven Brust's less
> talented buddies".
I'd say that *is* unfair. Dean, Bull, and Lindholm have all produced
books that really impressed me. They each do certain things very well,
and I am at least as excited about Dean's in-progress work as I am
about _Jhegaala_.
Brust is the one who (a) wrote a lot and (b) figured out how to
combine broad gonzo appeal with subtle thoughtful appeal. (Lindholm
has done all of those but not all under the same byline.)
(I don't leave Shetterly off that list as an insult; but the only solo
Shetterly books I've read are _Cats Have No Lord_, which I didn't care
about, and a couple of Bordertown novels, which I enjoyed but not as
much as the other Bordertowners' Bordertown stories.)
Have we mentioned Shadow Unit in this thread? Shetterly, Bull, Sarah
Monette, and Elizabeth Bear have been working on a collaborative SF
story series. (It's a little tighter than "shared world" -- I'm sure
someone has a taxonomy for this. :) Donationware, online.
> > 19 A Rose-Red City Dave Duncan
> >
> > Mera is inhabited by people gathered from every era in time.
> > I remember a crack team being sent out to deal with some problem but
> > not what that problem was.
> >
> > Duncan is fairly prolific but he dumped SF in favour of fantasy,
> > possibly out of some quixotic desire to live indoors.
35 books in 20 years is more than "fairly prolific".
> And he still coaches for Tony LaRusa.
?
--Z
--
"And Aholibamah bare Jeush, and Jaalam, and Korah: these were the borogoves..."
*
If the Bush administration hasn't subjected you to searches without a warrant,
it's for one reason: they don't feel like it. Not because you're an American.
David Cowie
> Best First Novel
>
I'm too lazy to look this up: who won?
Rich Horton
Nicoll) wrote:
>
>Best First Novel
>
>1 War for the Oaks Emma Bull
>
> Hey, remember when fantasy set in modern cities seemed new
>and interesting? This dates from that period. In fact, I think this
>was one of the earliest examples of the revival of this sort of thing.
>
> I enjoyed it at the time and do not reread it to preserve
>my memories of it.
>
> Bull is not particularly prolific and there seems to be a
>ten year gap between consecutive novels at one point (I also recall
>some problem getting the rights for WftO back from Ace). She is still
>getting published both at novel and short story lengths.
>
I enjoyed this book but I enjoyed most of Bull's other stuff much
more.
>
>5 The Net Loren J. MacGregor
>
> I am embarassed to say it has been long enough since I read this
>and my ability to overlook copies to replace the one that I lost that
>I cannot comment on this book.
>
> I believe Loren has had writer's block since this book was
>published.
>
> This was an Ace Special.
>
He used to be a regular at rec.arts.sf.fandom, as I recall. Or
somewhere I used to frequent, anyway. Not a bad first novel, though as
you say, nothing since.
>
>10 Swordspoint Ellen Kushner
>
> I did not read this. Yes, I am a horrible person.
>
> She isn't as prolific as some of her fans would like but
>she has published fairly steadily since her first book appeared.
>
And often in the SWORDSPOINT universe. I am particularly fond of the
novel she published just last year, set a couple of decades after
SWORDSPOINT: THE PRIVILEGE OF THE SWORD.
>17 Pennterra Judith Moffett
>
> This is on the short list of SF novels about quakers and the
>even shorter list of SF novesls about Quakers that I missed (I did
>read a later one by her).
>
> I don't think Moffett was particularly prolific and I don't
>see any novels by her past the mid-1990s.
>
Moffett's best known stories are her "Hob" pieces, about aliens coming
to Earth to forcefully make us treat the environment better. Two
novels in the early 90s, then nothing for a while, but she's got back
to the series in the last couple of years, including a decent novella
last year in F&SF, "The Bird-Shaman's Girl".
>
>22 Soldiers of Paradise Paul Park
>
> As I recall, this is set on a world with a very long year
>many years in our future. The local society has been highly stratified
>for a long, long time but in this book things begin to fall apart.
>
> I loved this when I read it but I liked each book less,
>particularly when the French Revolution was suddenly recapitulated.
Norman Spinrad's rave about the first book said, more or less, "Of
course the novel is not complete and he'll have to give good
explanations for the cool mysteries" ... and then he didn't.
I have, however, enjoyed most of Park's work a lot, at both shorter
and longer lengths.
David DeLaney
I've read it but have to go look online to remember what it was about... hmm,
okay, "making the human mind a real, explorable place".
>3 In Conquest Born C. S. Friedman
Iribhtglotrwiwa... wait, something's coming back - competing alien races,
two of whom fall in love? The C stands for Celia, it seems. I enjoyed her
Coldfire trilogy.
> Friedman is still with us and in fact I think she has a novel
>coming out early next year.
Yes, second in a new series.
>6 Arrows of the Queen Mercedes Lackey
> I did not read this.
> Lackey is prolific and very successful.
And this was the very first Valdemar novel. Rather young-protagonist-takes-
hero's-journey-ish, now that I think about it.
>10 Swordspoint Ellen Kushner
>
> I did not read this. Yes, I am a horrible person.
Then you have an interestingly wonderful experience awaiting you. Wiki styles
it as "mannerpunk", which does fit nicely. Liked a lot. Out of all your "I
missed this" books from this year, this is the one I'd most recommend finding
and reading.
Dave
--
\/David DeLaney posting from d...@vic.com "It's not the pot that grows the flower
It's not the clock that slows the hour The definition's plain for anyone to see
Love is all it takes to make a family" - R&P. VISUALIZE HAPPYNET VRbeable<BLINK>
http://www.vic.com/~dbd/ - net.legends FAQ & Magic / I WUV you in all CAPS! --K.
David DeLaney
>jdni...@panix.com (James Nicoll) wrote:
>>10 Swordspoint Ellen Kushner
>>
>> I did not read this. Yes, I am a horrible person.
>>
>> She isn't as prolific as some of her fans would like but
>>she has published fairly steadily since her first book appeared.
>
>And often in the SWORDSPOINT universe. I am particularly fond of the
>novel she published just last year, set a couple of decades after
>SWORDSPOINT: THE PRIVILEGE OF THE SWORD.
And in between there was The Fall of the Kings, about the last of the
pagan-divine-right (I don't have a better short phrase to express the concept
handy) rulers of the country. More magicalicious than the first one. And yes
there's three but no they're NOT a trilogy as such.
Ahasuerus
> 12 Napoleon Disentimed Hayford Peirce
>
> A conman is drawn across time into an alternate universe,
> where he tries to prosper by applying his ability to bilk people.
>
> I was a big fan of his in the 1970s but I remember being cool
> to this novel.
>
> Peirce has published a respectable number of novels over the
> years, both SF and mystery, and somehow I have managed to miss seeing
Probably because he hasn't been published by a major publisher since
the early 1990s. His post-1989 novels that we list at
http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ea.cgi?Hayford%20Peirce have all been
done by Wildside Press and such.
Lawrence Watt-Evans
<erky...@eblong.com> wrote:
>Here, Mike Schilling <mscotts...@hotmail.com> wrote:
>> James Nicoll wrote:
>> >
>> > Duncan is fairly prolific but he dumped SF in favour of fantasy,
>> > possibly out of some quixotic desire to live indoors.
>
>35 books in 20 years is more than "fairly prolific".
It is?
I suppose it is; it took me about twenty-five years to write that
many.
--
My webpage is at http://www.watt-evans.com
The eighth issue of Helix is now at http://www.helixsf.com
Lawrence Watt-Evans
Nicoll) wrote:
>13 A Death of Honor Joe Clifford Faust
>
> Faust was moderately prolific in the late 1980s and mid-1990s
>but I don't see anything past 1998.
I believe he's been writing under other names.
news.iglou.com
news:g3jek2$nsu$1...@reader2.panix.com...
> 6 Arrows of the Queen Mercedes Lackey
>
> I did not read this.
>
> Lackey is prolific and very successful.
The original idea had a good bit of interest, but it lost coherence as
Lackey kept on going to the well too often.
>
>
> 7 Becoming Alien Rebecca Ore
>
> This was the first in a trilogy about a young man from a
> disfunctional background who inavertently is an accessory to the
> murder an alien observer. He is given the chance to atone by working
> for the aliens, something that lets him rebuild his life.
For some reason I kept on expecting the guy to come back from one of his
missions and find out that his entire department and his family had been
'disappeared' due to some internal political struggle. But then at the time
I was reading a lot about the Stalin-purges-era Soviet intelligence
services, where that would happen.
> 12 Napoleon Disentimed Hayford Peirce
>
> A conman is drawn across time into an alternate universe,
> where he tries to prosper by applying his ability to bilk people.
>
> I was a big fan of his in the 1970s but I remember being cool
> to this novel.
>
> Peirce has published a respectable number of novels over the
> years, both SF and mystery, and somehow I have managed to miss seeing
> almost all of them. Curse you, sucky Canadian book distribution!
He got started as one of those writers in Ben Bova's stable in Analog.
When Bova went to Omni and Schmidt took over, Schmidt jettisoned Bova's
stable and started a new one that wasn't as good. Pierce wrote a bunch of
midly satirical stories about an Anglo-Chinese trader who made a lot off
contact with nonhumans.
>
> 19 A Rose-Red City Dave Duncan
>
> Mera is inhabited by people gathered from every era in time.
> I remember a crack team being sent out to deal with some problem but
> not what that problem was.
There was some magical idea and as part of it, there was nothing in the
city that was pure black or pure white. I suppose that had some Symbolic
Meaning.
Joseph T Major
Andrew Wheeler
Thrillers: Fiction about people whose houses blow up, by people who live
in very nice houses.
Mysteries also generally fall into the indoors/indoors quadrant.
I like this taxonomy, and I have to warn you that I might steal it one
day (either on purpose or through failing memory).
--
Andrew Wheeler
Gene
news:1iiwmta.1bprjr012mrpwsN%acwh...@optonline.net:
> I like this taxonomy, and I have to warn you that I might steal it one
> day (either on purpose or through failing memory).
Taxonomy: An aid to thought, by people whose thinking is failing.
Mike Schilling
Read my lips: no new taxonomies!
Mike Schilling
>
>>> 19 A Rose-Red City Dave Duncan
>>>
>>> Mera is inhabited by people gathered from every era in time.
>>> I remember a crack team being sent out to deal with some problem
>>> but
>>> not what that problem was.
>>>
>>> Duncan is fairly prolific but he dumped SF in favour of fantasy,
>>> possibly out of some quixotic desire to live indoors.
>
> 35 books in 20 years is more than "fairly prolific".
>
>> And he still coaches for Tony LaRusa.
>
> ?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dave_Duncan_(baseball)
James Nicoll
All of them, ranked in the order that I gave.
James Nicoll
news.iglou.com <jtm...@iglou.com> wrote:
>"James Nicoll" <jdni...@panix.com> wrote in message
>news:g3jek2$nsu$1...@reader2.panix.com...
>
>>
>> A conman is drawn across time into an alternate universe,
>> where he tries to prosper by applying his ability to bilk people.
>>
>> I was a big fan of his in the 1970s but I remember being cool
>> to this novel.
>>
>> Peirce has published a respectable number of novels over the
>> years, both SF and mystery, and somehow I have managed to miss seeing
>> almost all of them. Curse you, sucky Canadian book distribution!
>
> He got started as one of those writers in Ben Bova's stable in Analog.
>When Bova went to Omni and Schmidt took over, Schmidt jettisoned Bova's
>stable and started a new one that wasn't as good. Pierce wrote a bunch of
>midly satirical stories about an Anglo-Chinese trader who made a lot off
>contact with nonhumans.
>
looked like Bova could turn Analog around.
If I recall correctly, Bova got a line of books named after him,
something like "Ben Bova discoveries" and the Peirce was one of them, So
was the Ore.
William George Ferguson
wrote:
>James Nicoll <jdni...@panix.com> wrote:
>>2 Mindplayers Pat Cadigan
>>6 Arrows of the Queen Mercedes Lackey
>> I did not read this.
>> Lackey is prolific and very successful.
>
>And this was the very first Valdemar novel. Rather young-protagonist-takes-
>hero's-journey-ish, now that I think about it.
I just re-read the Arrows books (within the last week). I had forgotten
how extremely 'Mary' Talia Sue Sensdaughter is in the first book (Lackey
gets somewhat better about it in the following books, but the character
never really escapes her Mary Sue origin). At least, as time went on,
Lackey did give a valid explanation on why all the good guys like and
admire her on first sight (her superpower is emotion manipulation and she
Wants to be liked and admired, she even realizes that she is doing this by
the end of the original trilogy).
--
I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer.
Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration.
I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me.
And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path.
Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.
(Bene Gesserit)
David Cowie
> In article <2a5921bc-4636-43d7-9033-4b7896355...@k37g2000hsf.googlegroups.com>,
> David Cowie <david_co...@lineone.net> wrote:
>
> >On Jun 21, 6:43 pm, jdnic...@panix.com (James Nicoll) wrote:
>
> >> Best First Novel
>
> >I'm too lazy to look this up: who won?
>
> All of them, ranked in the order that I gave.
Thank you. I had somehow gained the idea that this was the shortlist
from which The Novel Of The Year was decided.
Joe Bernstein
> my memories of it.
I'm one of those dubious people who actually prefer this book to
Bull's later novels; I haven't found that re-reading diminishes it,
possibly because when I first read it I'd already long gotten over any
actual belief in the mythology of rock music.
> 2 Mindplayers Pat Cadigan
>
> I missed this.
I only remember that I liked it less than her later <Synners>.
> 7 Becoming Alien Rebecca Ore
Another one I don't remember at all.
> 24 Soulstring Midori Snyder
>
> I missed this.
>
> She appears to have been reasonably prolific but I think 2002's
> HANNAH'S GARDEN may have been her most recent novel.
She hasn't been *that* prolific. Eight novels, one YA and one kids'.
Some stories. Her bio at the Endicott Studio website claims she's
working on a novel; her own site doesn't talk about it, nor is it
prominent in her blog at the moment.
I knew her in the 1980s and (less) in the 1990s, and have the impression
that life has fairly often intervened to keep her not very prolific. But
I also have the impression, partly from the way she was talking about
her trilogy a decade before it appeared, and partly from reading her
books, that she allows her ideas to gestate a *lot* before writing them.
Which may explain why <Soulstring> has struck me as the least of her
books. I know it wasn't on her horizon as of 1982, and it doesn't
feel as inspired as her later writing does.
So I've never re-read it, nor do I remember it enough to talk about it now.
Joe Bernstein
--
Joe Bernstein, tax preparer, bookkeeper and writer j...@sfbooks.com
<http://www.panix.com/~josephb/>
Paul Ian Harman
>
> I missed this.
I have this book. I've read it. I can't remember a damn thing about it.
Apart from it's got a yellow cover.
Paul
Mark Zenier
Dimensional Traveler <dtr...@sonic.net> wrote:
>James Nicoll wrote:
>> Best First Novel
>>
>> 4 Liege-Killer Christopher Hinz
>>
>> This is the first book in the Paratawa trilogy. Earth is toast
>> and humanity lives in space (a frequent scenario for SF written during
>> this period. See, for example, the Eight Worlds or John McLoughlin's
>> THE HELIX AND THE SWORD). The Paratawa, legendary assassins, are
>> supposed to be as dead as Earth but evidence surfaces that at least
>> one of them is still active.
>>
>> As far as I know, Hinz only published four novels. I see nothing
>> past 1991.
>>
>I remember reading that one and liking it a lot. But it was years before I
>learned there were others in the same setting and years more before I was
>able to find and read them. I seem to recall that things got very, very
>strange really quickly in the sequels.
The distribution was a little strange. They were hard to find until
Tor reprinted them as mass market paperbacks several years after they
were hardbacks (or expensive UK paperbacks).
Mark Zenier mze...@eskimo.com
Googleproofaddress(account:mzenier provider:eskimo domain:com)
David McMillan
> Best First Novel
>
> 1 War for the Oaks Emma Bull
>
> Hey, remember when fantasy set in modern cities seemed new
> and interesting? This dates from that period. In fact, I think this
> was one of the earliest examples of the revival of this sort of thing.
>
> I enjoyed it at the time and do not reread it to preserve
> my memories of it.
>
> Bull is not particularly prolific and there seems to be a
> ten year gap between consecutive novels at one point (I also recall
> some problem getting the rights for WftO back from Ace). She is still
> getting published both at novel and short story lengths.
And is currently, with several other authors, writing and producing a
sort of text-based web-based "TV Show". It's essentially a serial novel
that operates as if it were a TV series. The first season just ended,
and it's quite good, IMHO. It's a bit X-Files and Millenium and
Law&Order. The SFnal element is subtle enough and recent enough to
explain why the world in the stories hasn't visibly diverged from ours yet.
There's a lot of supporting material, quite well handled. You get to
eavesdrop on the blogs of several of the characters, which sync with the
ongoing storylines. You can even interact with the characters, as long
as you don't make any 4th-wall breaking comments -- "After all, these
people don't *know* they're fictional." And there's artwork, "DVD
special features," deleted scenes, etc. The only thing they don't have
is a blooper reel.
It's at shadowunit.org. I recommend it highly, although it probably
won't be to everyone's taste.
Thomas Lindgren
"Mike Schilling" <mscotts...@hotmail.com> writes:
_All_ sorts of taxonomies?
Best,
Thomas
--
Thomas Lindgren
monetarism + human capital + property rights + public choice