Old Tea Leaf Reviews 4: 1984 Locus Poll Best First Novel
James Nicoll
Best First Novel
1 Tea with the Black Dragon R. A. MacAvoy
This was a charming first novel about a man who is really a
dragon and how he helps a woman look for her missing daughter in
then-modern day America.
I think that MacAvoy had a novella published last year but
there was a long dry spell between that and the previously published
work, WINTER OF THE WOLF (1993).
2 The Blackcollar Timothy Zahn
If I read this, I forgot it.
Zahn is prolific and successful to this day.
3 A Rumor of Angels Marjorie B. Kellogg
I did not read this.
Kellogg doesn't seem to have been particularly prolific but
she is still being published.
4 King's Blood Four Sheri S. Tepper
One of a vast number of Tepper books that I have not read.
My impression is that Tepper's core market is not male SF readers
like myself.
There are many people who can be described as "not a male
SF reader like James Nicoll" and so Tepper has enjoyed at least
a quarter centuy of success to date.
5 Starrigger John DeChancie
When humans reach Pluto, they discover something like a Tipler
device [1] on its surface, left there by advanced aliens who knew how
to handle all of the technical issues that you will spot after you look
at the article I linked to. Our hero is an interstellar trucker who
learns that a lot of nasty people believe that he has a map to the
interstellar road system.
This was good dumb fun (the trucker really is literally a
trucker) but the second book in the series ends on an infuriating
cliffhanger. His comic fantasy never did anything for me so while
he has lots of books out, I have only read a few of them.
His most recent material appears to be Witchblade tie-ins.
Ah, well, better that than TAROT: WITCH OF THE BLACK ROSE tie-ins
(Don't google that from work).
1: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tipler_device
6 The Shadow of the Ship Robert Wilfred Franson
This was an odd book about a human starfarer marooned
on an alien world whose inhabitants have a low tech method for
traversing interstellar distances. He joins a caravan travelling
from planet to planet.
If he ever had a second SF novel, I did not see it.
7 Harpy's Flight Megan Lindholm
I did not read this.
My impression is that Lindholm's fiction did not sell all
that well and that she was forced to rebrand herself as Robin Hobb.
I prefer her Lindholm books.
8 Anvil of the Heart Bruce T. Holmes
Is this the one where muscular but not necessarily
all that bright humans overcome their inhumanly intelligent
post-human offspring?
As far as I know, Holmes is a successful musician but
this was his only SF novel.
9 The Forest of App Gloria Rand Dank
I did not read this.
Dank does not appear to have had any other books published.
10 Ratha's Creature Clare Bell
I also did not read this.
Bell's career as an SF writer is on-going.
--
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)
David DeLaney
>4 King's Blood Four Sheri S. Tepper
>
> One of a vast number of Tepper books that I have not read.
>My impression is that Tepper's core market is not male SF readers
>like myself.
This one was the start of a trilogy, which turned into a triple trilogy. If
she ever writes more in this setting I'll read them too. A fantasy setting
with some SF elements, and a whole society of people each of whom has one or
more magical-type powers, all of which (but see sequels) can be categorized
as combinations of a basic set of eleven. (Mind-reading, healing, energy
storage, necromancy, shapeshifting, "rulership"/charisma/beguilement,
clairvoyance/prediction, telekinesis, flying, teleportation, and pyrokinesis.)
And a society based on an idealist's vision of how they should interact, very
long ago... Also contains the original inhabitants of the land these humans
came to and colonized, in various forms.
I like her True Game series better than a lot of her other books.
>5 Starrigger John DeChancie
> When humans reach Pluto, they discover something like a Tipler
>device [1] on its surface, left there by advanced aliens who knew how
>to handle all of the technical issues that you will spot after you look
>at the article I linked to. Our hero is an interstellar trucker who
>learns that a lot of nasty people believe that he has a map to the
>interstellar road system.
>
> This was good dumb fun (the trucker really is literally a
>trucker) but the second book in the series ends on an infuriating
>cliffhanger. His comic fantasy never did anything for me so while
>he has lots of books out, I have only read a few of them.
The trilogy did tie up most of the loose ends, including the temporal-
displacement ones, by its end. He also wrote the Castle Perilous series,
which went far longer than this trilogy but was more episodic, and was
humorous fantasy.
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.
Default User
> 5 Starrigger John DeChancie
>
> When humans reach Pluto, they discover something like a Tipler
> device [1] on its surface, left there by advanced aliens who knew how
> to handle all of the technical issues that you will spot after you
> look at the article I linked to. Our hero is an interstellar trucker
> who learns that a lot of nasty people believe that he has a map to
> the interstellar road system.
>
> This was good dumb fun (the trucker really is literally a
> trucker) but the second book in the series ends on an infuriating
> cliffhanger.
Yeah. He did come out with a third one to wrap up the whole thing.
> 6 The Shadow of the Ship Robert Wilfred Franson
>
> This was an odd book about a human starfarer marooned
> on an alien world whose inhabitants have a low tech method for
> traversing interstellar distances. He joins a caravan travelling
> from planet to planet.
Oddly, this book read to me like the second in a series. There were all
kinds of infodumps explaining how the Earthman came to the part of
space where the trails exist, how he met his aircat partner, and later
his wife. But it wasn't.
> If he ever had a second SF novel, I did not see it.
I don't believe so. I googled around one time, and he seems to be an
essayist or some such thing now.
Brian
--
If televison's a babysitter, the Internet is a drunk librarian who
won't shut up.
-- Dorothy Gambrell (http://catandgirl.com)
news.iglou.com
news:g3beg0$m9o$1...@reader2.panix.com...
>
> Best First Novel
>
> 1 Tea with the Black Dragon R. A. MacAvoy
>
> This was a charming first novel about a man who is really a
> dragon and how he helps a woman look for her missing daughter in
> then-modern day America.
Until one scene near the end, it could have been a version of "The
Equalizer" set in San Francisco; there was nothing particularly "magical"
about the guy.
His name as a dragon was "Oolong" -- black tea. Groan.
> 4 King's Blood Four Sheri S. Tepper
>
> One of a vast number of Tepper books that I have not read.
> My impression is that Tepper's core market is not male SF readers
> like myself.
What the guy said upthread about her works. Tepper was very careful
about building worlds and when she started writing for a Purpose she lost
the verve of her earlier work.
>
> There are many people who can be described as "not a male
> SF reader like James Nicoll" and so Tepper has enjoyed at least
> a quarter centuy of success to date.
I liked the True Game trilogies-trilogy (this is the first one) and her
Marianne trilogy.
Joseph T Major
GSV Three Minds in a Can
person news.iglou.com <jtm...@iglou.com> said<snip>
>> 4 King's Blood Four Sheri S. Tepper
>>
>> One of a vast number of Tepper books that I have not read.
>> My impression is that Tepper's core market is not male SF readers
>> like myself.
>
> What the guy said upthread about her works. Tepper was very careful
>about building worlds and when she started writing for a Purpose she lost
>the verve of her earlier work.
>
>>
>> There are many people who can be described as "not a male
>> SF reader like James Nicoll" and so Tepper has enjoyed at least
>> a quarter centuy of success to date.
>
> I liked the True Game trilogies-trilogy (this is the first one) and her
>Marianne trilogy.
Both of those were, iirc, before she got Apis-ised headgear, which was
presumably not unconnected with events in her real life.
--
GSV Three Minds in a Can
11,952 Km walked. 2,380 Km PROWs surveyed. 43.0% complete.
Gene
$d94e...@news.iglou.com:
> Tepper was very careful
> about building worlds and when she started writing for a Purpose she lost
> the verve of her earlier work.
Plus a protag whose solutions to problems could include eating the antags.
Even Kim Kinnison never did that.
Thomas Lindgren
> Best First Novel
>
> 1 Tea with the Black Dragon R. A. MacAvoy
>
> This was a charming first novel about a man who is really a
> dragon and how he helps a woman look for her missing daughter in
> then-modern day America.
>
> I think that MacAvoy had a novella published last year but
> there was a long dry spell between that and the previously published
> work, WINTER OF THE WOLF (1993).
Do you mean THE BELLY OF THE WOLF by the same author? That one closes
a very underappreciated trilogy: LENS OF THE WORLD / KING OF THE DEAD
/ THE BELLY OF THE WOLF.
Best,
Thomas
--
Thomas Lindgren
monetarism + human capital + property rights + public choice
Andrew Plotkin
> Bitstring <48597f66$0$18896$d94e...@news.iglou.com>, from the wonderful
> person news.iglou.com <jtm...@iglou.com> said
> >"James Nicoll" <jdni...@panix.com> wrote in message
> >news:g3beg0$m9o$1...@reader2.panix.com...
> <snip>
> >> 4 King's Blood Four Sheri S. Tepper
> >>
> >> One of a vast number of Tepper books that I have not read.
> >> My impression is that Tepper's core market is not male SF readers
> >> like myself.
> >
> > What the guy said upthread about her works. Tepper was very careful
> >about building worlds and when she started writing for a Purpose she lost
> >the verve of her earlier work.
> >
> >>
> >> There are many people who can be described as "not a male
> >> SF reader like James Nicoll" and so Tepper has enjoyed at least
> >> a quarter centuy of success to date.
> >
> > I liked the True Game trilogies-trilogy (this is the first one) and her
> >Marianne trilogy.
>
> Both of those were, iirc, before she got Apis-ised headgear
[*]
> which was
> presumably not unconnected with events in her real life.
The Marianne trilogy is my favorite of hers. I really, really need to
reread it.
--Z
--
"And Aholibamah bare Jeush, and Jaalam, and Korah: these were the borogoves..."
*
You don't become a tyranny by committing torture. If you plan for torture,
argue in favor of torture, set up legal justifications for torturing
someday, then the moral rot has *already* set in.
Thomas Lindgren
Andrew Plotkin <erky...@eblong.com> writes:
> The Marianne trilogy is my favorite of hers. I really, really need to
> reread it.
Agreed. My copies are getting a bit long in the tooth ... It's a pity
there aren't any hardcover editions. (Or are there?)
Konrad Gaertner
>
> jdni...@panix.com (James Nicoll) writes:
>
> > R. A. MacAvoy
>
> Do you mean THE BELLY OF THE WOLF by the same author? That one closes
> a very underappreciated trilogy: LENS OF THE WORLD / KING OF THE DEAD
> / THE BELLY OF THE WOLF.
This trilogy is the only thing I've read by her, and I was extremely
disappointed in it. Mainly because a couple people here (I think
including James) told me it was "similar to Rosemary Kirstein" when
in fact it was exactly the opposite of what I was looking for.
--
Konrad Gaertner - - - - - - - - - - - - email: kgae...@tx.rr.com
http://kgbooklog.livejournal.com/
"I don't mind hidden depths but I insist that there be a surface."
-- James Nicoll
John F. Eldredge
> "James Nicoll" <jdni...@panix.com> wrote in message
> news:g3beg0$m9o$1...@reader2.panix.com...
>>
>> Best First Novel
>>
>> 1 Tea with the Black Dragon R. A. MacAvoy
>>
>> This was a charming first novel about a man who is really a dragon and
>> how he helps a woman look for her missing daughter in then-modern day
>> America.
>
> Until one scene near the end, it could have been a version of "The
> Equalizer" set in San Francisco; there was nothing particularly
> "magical" about the guy.
>
> His name as a dragon was "Oolong" -- black tea. Groan.
Oolong (whether referring to the character, or the tea) translates as
"black dragon".
--
John F. Eldredge -- jo...@jfeldredge.com
PGP key available from http://pgp.mit.edu
"Reserve your right to think, for even to think wrongly is better
than not to think at all." -- Hypatia of Alexandria
Rebecca Rice
>
> 10 Ratha's Creature Clare Bell
>
> I also did not read this.
>
> Bell's career as an SF writer is on-going.
This has a bit of a YA feel to it, but I remember liking it.
Ratha is a member of the Named, a race of cat-like
creatures that has just managed to get past the sentient
stage. They are the Named to distinguish them from the
other cat-like creatures that look like them, but don't
understand what a name is. This book deals with Ratha
taming a creature, the Red Tongue, and how that affected her
society.
James Nicoll
Thomas Lindgren <***********@*****.***> wrote:
>jdni...@panix.com (James Nicoll) writes:
>
>> Best First Novel
>>
>> 1 Tea with the Black Dragon R. A. MacAvoy
>>
>> This was a charming first novel about a man who is really a
>> dragon and how he helps a woman look for her missing daughter in
>> then-modern day America.
>>
>> I think that MacAvoy had a novella published last year but
>> there was a long dry spell between that and the previously published
>> work, WINTER OF THE WOLF (1993).
>
>Do you mean THE BELLY OF THE WOLF by the same author?
Bah. Yes, I do.
That series was reprinted recently, wasn't it?
Thomas Lindgren
> Thomas Lindgren wrote:
>>
>> jdni...@panix.com (James Nicoll) writes:
>>
>> > R. A. MacAvoy
>>
>> Do you mean THE BELLY OF THE WOLF by the same author? That one closes
>> a very underappreciated trilogy: LENS OF THE WORLD / KING OF THE DEAD
>> / THE BELLY OF THE WOLF.
>
> This trilogy is the only thing I've read by her, and I was extremely
> disappointed in it. Mainly because a couple people here (I think
> including James) told me it was "similar to Rosemary Kirstein" when
> in fact it was exactly the opposite of what I was looking for.
I bought Kirstein's books when they were reissued, but haven't gotten
around to reading them. Why the disappointment with LENS et seq?
Anything beyond inadvertently reading the wrong sort of book?
Thomas Lindgren
jdni...@panix.com (James Nicoll) writes:
> In article <m27icmz...@dev.null>,
> Thomas Lindgren <***********@*****.***> wrote:
>
>>Do you mean THE BELLY OF THE WOLF by the same author?
>
> Bah. Yes, I do.
>
> That series was reprinted recently, wasn't it?
Not that I know, but I've been a bit out of the loop. (In the outer
loop perhaps?)
ronincats
> Best First Novel
>
> 1 Tea with the Black Dragon R. A. MacAvoy
>
> This was a charming first novel about a man who is really a
> dragon and how he helps a woman look for her missing daughter in
> then-modern day America.
>
> I think that MacAvoy had a novella published last year but
> there was a long dry spell between that and the previously published
> work, WINTER OF THE WOLF (1993).
This was a favorite book, and nothing she has written since, even the
sequel, has lived up to it IMO. I hated the Damiano trilogy, the Lens
of the World series was okay.
>
> 3 A Rumor of Angels Marjorie B. Kellogg
>
> I did not read this.
>
> Kellogg doesn't seem to have been particularly prolific but
> she is still being published.
>
I remember liking this one. I also own her Lear'sDaughters set from
1986. I have the first book of her Dragon Quartet but have never read
it.
> 4 King's Blood Four Sheri S. Tepper
>
> One of a vast number of Tepper books that I have not read.
> My impression is that Tepper's core market is not male SF readers
> like myself.
>
This is the first of a 3 trilogy set, pre-strident feminist voice,
although I like some of her later books very much. This first trilogy,
of which this is #1, is close to a YA.
>
> 5 Starrigger John DeChancie
>
> When humans reach Pluto, they discover something like a Tipler
> device [1] on its surface, left there by advanced aliens who knew how
> to handle all of the technical issues that you will spot after you look
> at the article I linked to. Our hero is an interstellar trucker who
> learns that a lot of nasty people believe that he has a map to the
> interstellar road system.
>
> This was good dumb fun (the trucker really is literally a
> trucker) but the second book in the series ends on an infuriating
> cliffhanger. His comic fantasy never did anything for me so while
> he has lots of books out, I have only read a few of them.
I read this trucker series, but culled them out of my library a few
years back. They were fun.
>
> 7 Harpy's Flight Megan Lindholm
>
> I did not read this.
>
> My impression is that Lindholm's fiction did not sell all
> that well and that she was forced to rebrand herself as Robin Hobb.
> I prefer her Lindholm books.
This was the first of a fantasy series, another of my favorite light
reads, and I've not liked anything she did as Hobb nearly as well.
>
Rhonda
Lynn Calvin
Nicoll) wrote:
>
>Best First Novel
>
>1 Tea with the Black Dragon R. A. MacAvoy
>
I loved her work and wish she was more prolific.
>
>
>2 The Blackcollar Timothy Zahn
>4 King's Blood Four Sheri S. Tepper
>
> One of a vast number of Tepper books that I have not read.
No, I would agree that Tepper, especially later Tepper is not your thing.
>7 Harpy's Flight Megan Lindholm
An author I like in both incarnations.
--
Lynn Calvin
lca...@interaccess.com
William December Starr
jdni...@panix.com (James Nicoll) said:
> 5 Starrigger John DeChancie
>
> When humans reach Pluto, they discover something like a Tipler
> device [1] on its surface,
Not too much like one, though, or else Pluto probably wouldn't
really exist anymore.
> left there by advanced aliens who knew how to handle all of the
> technical issues that you will spot after you look at the article
> I linked to.
They had Time Police?
--
William December Starr <wds...@panix.com>
William December Starr
GSV Three Minds in a Can <G...@quik.clara.co.uk> said:
> news.iglou.com <jtm...@iglou.com> said
>
>> I liked the True Game trilogies-trilogy (this is the first one)
>> and her Marianne trilogy.
>
> Both of those were, iirc, before she got Apis-ised headgear, which
> was presumably not unconnected with events in her real life.
Somebody else has already said "[*]" but in this case I think it
bears repeating. [*], a/k/a wha?
Ahasuerus
[snip]
> James Nicoll <jdnic...@panix.com> wrote:
> >5 Starrigger John DeChancie
> > When humans reach Pluto, they discover something like a Tipler
> >device [1] on its surface, left there by advanced aliens who knew how
> >to handle all of the technical issues that you will spot after you look
> >at the article I linked to. Our hero is an interstellar trucker who
> >learns that a lot of nasty people believe that he has a map to the
> >interstellar road system.
>
> > This was good dumb fun (the trucker really is literally a
> >trucker) but the second book in the series ends on an infuriating
> >cliffhanger. His comic fantasy never did anything for me so while
> >he has lots of books out, I have only read a few of them.
>
> The trilogy did tie up most of the loose ends, including the temporal-
> displacement ones, by its end. He also wrote the Castle Perilous series,
> which went far longer than this trilogy but was more episodic, and was
> humorous fantasy.
I filed the latter under "vaguely Amber-esque, but lacks polish,
subtlety or purpose". At least it was reasonably inoffensive, which
wasn't always the case with his later books.
GSV Three Minds in a Can
William December Starr <wds...@panix.com> said
Apis - Bee. Route of Apiarist (beekeeper) etc.
Headgear - e.g. Bonnet.
Good grief, doesn't Google work on this timeline? 8>.
--
GSV Three Minds in a Can