The Novels of Christopher Rowley
James Nicoll
books (at least the space operas) are basically crap but I own them
all. I can't judge his fantasies, because I can't finish his fantasies.
Someone else will have to review them.
FENRILE
The Founder
Young man organises a hasty mass exodus to another stellar system
as an oppressive Earth-based government (Run by someone not unlike Ming
the Merciless as I recall). Being a bit of doofus, he is duped out of
control of the mission fairly quickly by whiley Arabs. When they get
to the new world, they eventually notice that the balance of nature
there includes Godzilla-sized "woodwoses" (I think) who are more than
happy to do the squishy dance on stupid humans. Despite this, the colony
prospers.
The main character should have skipped Patsy class more
often. If you've read the later books in the series (which were mostly
published first) there's a certain amusing anticipation while one waits
for the idiots from Sol to get a good look at the local wildlife, which
they generally get from underneath as heavy bodyparts descend rapidly
towards them.
The War for Eternity
One of the unlikely benefits of the local ecosystem is a drug
which is for humans a fountain of immortality. Unlike most worlds, Fenrile
is nothing like united and the various factions come into violent conflict
in this book over control of the stroon...uh, whatever they call the
stuff. As I recall, they get a better idea of the history of the world
but it doesn't make them any happier.
This was summer movie sort of book. Not that smart, not that
well done and yet odding compelling. It was also his first novel, if
memory serves.
The Black Ship
Political refugees use an experimental FTL ship to travel to
Fenrile, where they hope to engage in some quick and dirty piracy.
Unfortunately these are _evil_ refugees, although not as bad as the
people they are fleeing from.
At some point, offworlders all realise attacking Fenrile is a
bit like jamming one's arm into a fire ant hill (_Visiting_ Fenrile is
not much better as the whole place is a test bed for a godlike alien's
work and sometimes he alters visitors who are too noticable so that they
fit the decor better). They all seem to realise this far too late.
To A Highland Nation
Never ever saw it.
VANG
Starhammer
In the backstory, the glorious human spirit of exploration led
to an FTL ship, which led to contact with a slightly more advanced and
far more numerous alien race, who then promptly enslaved much of humanity
and dominated the rest. Some time later, a telepathic ex-slave turned
cop gets unwillingly involved in the search for the extremely ancient
"Starhammer", a device which can make stars explode at some great range.
This irritates the overloards and lets him have a very, very brief
glimpse of the beings who building starhammers a good idea. It all
ends in tears, but not for humanity.
Very much in the same subgenre as _Aliens_, and far too reliant
on nasty behavior to drive the plot and illuminate character for my taste,
parts were still interesting.
The Vang: The Military Form
A long time ago, a froglike race felt it necessary to destroy
the empire of the Vang, a eusocial species which was very very good
at turning the universe into more Vang. The frogoids are long gone and
so are most of the Vang. Unfortunately someone finds a Vang in cold
storage and when it wakes up, it is the work of weeks to convert a
nearby planet's ecosystem to a Vang-oriented one. This is done with
lots of icky slurping sounds and introduction of objects into orifaces
whose owners never invented the introduction of those objects. The
surviving humans and their little alien buddies (native to the doomed
world) manage to carry out Ripley's advice in a similar situation,
nuking the world from orbit.
Like _Aliens_ but with a larger cast and much gooier. Also
with a more involunatary sodomy, and I have to say that in retrospect
I really prefer Ridley Scott's choice in this matter. Parts are
quite off putting and yet I bought the sequel.
The Vang: The Battlemaster
Another world, a different form of Vang. A corrupt but
nearly penniless nobleman on a world whose history makes the Balkans
look like a utopia finds a Vang relic and goes to a lot of trouble
to wake it up. Perhaps he should have tried a different idea. Again
once the beast is on the loose, the planet falls quickly (Three days,
perhaps?) but at least one of these Vang has enough personality to be
horrified to discover the loss his species has suffered, expressing
this in a rather final manner (At least for him). There's also a
strong hint that the Vang are no more immune to the Peter Principle
than humans are.
Vang novels are a lot like Roadrunner cartoons, only with
more ick in. You pretty much know that once the genie is out of the
pulsating egg sac, the planet is doomed to be converted and then nuked.
As I recall a considerable time passed between the two infestations and
if I were the humans, I'd invest in a Search and Destroy program for Vang
relics.
STAND ALONE NOVELS
Golden Sunlands
An odd book where humans on an isolated world are kidnapped
by extradimensional aliens. Some of the aliens want to enslave the
humans (being very very decadent (1), they need smart servants) while
other want to exterminate us. Unfortunately, it reads like half a book.
Not sure if a sequel was planned or what.
BOOKS I NEVER READ
BAZIL BROKETAIL
Bazil Broketail
A Sword for a Dragon
Dragons of War
Battledragon
A Dragon at World's End
STAND ALONE
The Wizard and the Floating City
Dragon Ultimate
The Ancient Enemy
--
"I think you mean 'Could libertarian slave-owning Confederates, led by
SHWIers, have pulled off a transatlantic invasion of Britain, in revenge
for the War of 1812, if they had nukes acquired from the Sea of Time?'"
Alison Brooks (1959-2002)
GSV Three Minds in a Can
James Nicoll <jdni...@panix.com> said
<snip>
> STAND ALONE NOVELS
>
> Golden Sunlands
>
> An odd book where humans on an isolated world are kidnapped
>by extradimensional aliens. Some of the aliens want to enslave the
>humans (being very very decadent (1), they need smart servants) while
>other want to exterminate us. Unfortunately, it reads like half a book.
>Not sure if a sequel was planned or what.
ISTR from somewhere that one was, but since volume 1 sucked (I agree
with your review) I doubt we'll ever see it.
--
GSV Three Minds in a Can
William T. Hyde
> Rowley is for me very much a guilty pleasure. I mean, the
> books (at least the space operas) are basically crap but I own them
> all. I can't judge his fantasies, because I can't finish his fantasies.
> Someone else will have to review them.
>
I thought that Rowley was one of the few remaining
unashamed purveyors of space opera, and was quite
disappointed when he ventured off into fantasy
(though I think it is actually sf with fantasy
trappings).
The Fenrile novels are spotty, with good and bad
intermixed. On the whole I enjoyed them, but
more as a harbinger of better things to come
(so much for expectations) than for themselves.
>
> VANG
>
>
> Starhammer
>
> In the backstory, the glorious human spirit of exploration led
> to an FTL ship, which led to contact with a slightly more advanced and
> far more numerous alien race, who then promptly enslaved much of humanity
> and dominated the rest. Some time later, a telepathic ex-slave turned
> cop gets unwillingly involved in the search for the extremely ancient
> "Starhammer", a device which can make stars explode at some great range.
> This irritates the overloards and lets him have a very, very brief
> glimpse of the beings who building starhammers a good idea. It all
> ends in tears, but not for humanity.
>
> Very much in the same subgenre as _Aliens_, and far too reliant
> on nasty behavior to drive the plot and illuminate character for my taste,
> parts were still interesting.
It's a book of extremes. The Vang are important
only towards the end, in the meantime Rowley gets to play
with Very, Very Evil people and has plenty of fun describing
a truly nasty set of aliens. I enjoyed his descriptions of
the planet (a very, very nasty one, of course) on which
Starhammer resided. I found this book to be a great
deal of fun. I've been known to reread it when recovering
from illness.
Basically, there is enough in the way of plot twists
and scenery for this to have been padded out to multi
volume series. One of the things I like about it is
its brisk, not to say dizzying, pace.
>
>
> The Vang: The Military Form
Isn't this the one with the planet of New
Saskatchewan? You have to enjoy any book with
a New Saskatchewan in it.
I'm not kidding. It's in the constitution. Romanow
had that clause inserted in 1982.
>
>
> STAND ALONE NOVELS
>
> Golden Sunlands
>
> An odd book where humans on an isolated world are kidnapped
> by extradimensional aliens. Some of the aliens want to enslave the
> humans (being very very decadent (1), they need smart servants) while
> other want to exterminate us. Unfortunately, it reads like half a book.
> Not sure if a sequel was planned or what.
I've heard that a sequel was planned but will not
be published. No idea if it was written.
>
> STAND ALONE
>
> The Wizard and the Floating City
> Dragon Ultimate
> The Ancient Enemy
As I said, this last is part of a series (the
second volume came out a while ago). No idea as
to quality, but it looks like intelligent apes
vs evil humans in some low-tech world with
slight amounts of magic.
William Hyde
EOS Department
Duke University
William December Starr
jdni...@panix.com (James Nicoll) said:
> The Vang: The Military Form
>
> A long time ago, a froglike race felt it necessary to destroy the
> empire of the Vang, a eusocial species which was very very good at
> turning the universe into more Vang.
Whoah. I had to go all the way to the OED for that one.
(Eusocial: "Characterized by, pertaining to, or designating an advanced
level of social behaviour in animals, spec. that occurring in certain
species of social insect.")
[ *snip* ]
>The Vang: The Battlemaster
>
> Another world, a different form of Vang. A corrupt but nearly
> penniless nobleman on a world whose history makes the Balkans look
> like a utopia finds a Vang relic and goes to a lot of trouble to
> wake it up. Perhaps he should have tried a different idea. Again
> once the beast is on the loose, the planet falls quickly (Three
> days, perhaps?)
Hmm. Anybody remember how long it took for Earth to get lost to
Aliens in Steve Perry's _Earth Hive_ (the first in a line of Aliens
novels based on the licensed Dark Horse graphic novel series, I
believe)? It all wend bad awfully quickly, as I recall, though more
on the order of weeks than days, I think. And the aliens had some
help from a nutjob human cult. Which, these days, I have to say is
more credible than one might like to admit.
> but at least one of these Vang has enough personality to be
> horrified to discover the loss his species has suffered, expressing
> this in a rather final manner (At least for him).
Like the guy who could hold his breath and inflate his body in "Big
Trouble in Little China?"
[ *snip* ]
> Golden Sunlands
>
> An odd book where humans on an isolated world are kidnapped by
> extradimensional aliens. Some of the aliens want to enslave the
> humans (being very very decadent (1), they need smart servants)
> while other want to exterminate us. Unfortunately, it reads like
> half a book. Not sure if a sequel was planned or what.
Does that "(1)" indicate a footnote left on the cutting-room floor?
-- William December Starr <wds...@panix.com>