_Shadow's Blade (Case Files of Justis Fearsson)_ by David B. Coe

[Lynn McGuire]

_Shadow's Blade (Case Files of Justis Fearsson)_ by David B. Coe

https://www.amazon.com/Shadows-Blade-Files-Justis-Fearsson/dp/1481482424/

Book number three of a three book fantasy mystery series. I do not know
if there are more books planned in the series. I read the MMPB version.
There are short stories on one of the author's websites.
http://www.baen.com/long_nights_moon (original short story)

Justis Fearsson is a weremyste and former Phoenix police officer. He is
now a private investigator. A weremyst is a person with a wizard’s
gifts. Unfortunately, weremystes also tend to go crazy during the full
moon, which is why Justis is no longer a cop. And now we have blood
magic and earth magic.

The author has a blog at:
http://magicalwords.net/ and http://www.davidbcoe.com/
And also writes as D. B. Jackson:
http://www.dbjackson-author.com/

If you are a fan of Harry Dresden and Alex Verus, I especially recommend
this book to you. The book is an captivating read and almost meets my
five star criteria, holding me up at night reading instead of going to
sleep.

My rating: 4.4 out of 5 stars
Amazon rating: 4.6 out of 5 stars (11 reviews)

Lynn

[Ahasuerus]

On Monday, July 24, 2017 at 4:07:55 PM UTC-4, Lynn McGuire wrote:
> _Shadow's Blade (Case Files of Justis Fearsson)_ by David B. Coe

> [snip]

> http://www.baen.com/long_nights_moon (original short story)

Also "New Moon Wolf" at http://www.baen.com/free-stories-2015.html

[Lynn McGuire]

Nice ! And short stories there from Ryk Spoor, John Lambshead, and
several others.

Lynn

[Robert Carnegie]

Is this review meant to be mostly identical
(as it is) to what you said about book 2,
including it holding you at night?

[Lynn McGuire]

Yes. I plagiarized myself. Or, I phoned it in, take your pick.

One of the reviews stated that the third book was the best of the lot.
I do not disagree.

Lynn

[Robert Carnegie]

Well, you gave the first one 5.0 stars.
(What's 0.4 of a star - a white dwarf bunary
companion?)

[Lynn McGuire]

Yes, I did. Originality gets a bonus half point. I am still awed by
the concept of weremystes. And weredeer. Me, myself, and I, we would
prefer to be a werewolf, the top of the food chain of the were animals.

4.4 is about as close to 5 stars as one can get without crossing over.

Lynn

[Anthony Nance]

Lynn McGuire <lynnmc...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>
> Yes, I did. Originality gets a bonus half point. I am still awed by
> the concept of weremystes. And weredeer. Me, myself, and I, we would
> prefer to be a werewolf, the top of the food chain of the were animals.

I think were-mosquitos[1] would surely create bigger problems, though.
- Tony
[1] More properly "weresquitos", of course.

[hamis...@gmail.com]

that's highly dependent on what you're reading.

Werebears, werelions and weretigers are commonly up there at least comparable to werewolves
and if you start bringing in wereelephants, werehippos or wererhinos I suspect that a lot of werewolves will be hoping that they're faster...

[Default User]

On Thursday, July 27, 2017 at 8:00:52 AM UTC-5, hamis...@gmail.com wrote:

> Werebears, werelions and weretigers are commonly up there at least comparable to werewolves
> and if you start bringing in wereelephants, werehippos or wererhinos I suspect that a lot of werewolves will be hoping that they're faster...

I think it was Poul Anderson's Operation Chaos where the wereanimals had to obey conservation of mass. So a weretiger was a huge man when in human form.


Brian

[Default User]

The mosquito's a clever little bastard.


Brian

[Lynn McGuire]

Marvel's Hulk is the most significant violator of that law that I know
of. Bruce Banner goes from 200 lbs to a ton upon transformation.

So a werewolf doubling their mass doe not bother me much.

Lynn

[Scott Lurndal]

Well, there's this bit from Don Sample's 'To Be or Not To Be':

<begin excerpt>

That still doesn't mean that you swallow superstitious nonse -

Willow waved her hand dismissively. "Lepus" Dr. Ramsey vanished in a
brilliant flash of light, and a rabbit hopped up onto the table.

"I don't need a hat," she told the startled onlookers.

"Uh ... Miss Rosenberg ...could I have my Chief Medical Officer back, please," said Jack.

"Since you asked nicely." Willow waved her hand again. "<i>Metti le cose a posto</i>."

- ense!" said Dr. Ramsey. He looked around the room. "How'd I get onto the table?"

"You annoyed Miss Rosenberg," said Jack. "Why don't you get back in your chair, and we can get
on with this meeting."

"That was incredible!" said Colonel Carter, as Dr. Ramsey scrambled back to his seat. "How was
that possible?
Conservation of mass alone wouldn't allow for something like that to happen, to say
nothing about the cross species transformation!"

"The extra mass gets refolded into 10-space," said Willow. "To transform between species
you have to -"

<end excerpt>

[Robert Carnegie]

Marvel Comics just put up Squirrel Girl
(talks to squirrels and vice versa, has
squirrel powers, and a proportionate tail)
up against mosquitoes, declaring that they're
the most dangerous animal to humans according to
the actual World Health Organisation, including
other humans - but counting by victims, not
by aggressors. One mosquito is manageable...
unless it is a were-mosquito.

[Lynn McGuire]

Just imagine a 200 lb were-mosquito.

Lynn

[Robert Carnegie]

Only the females are dangerous. So I'd fat-shame
her. I feel bad about that but it's life or death.

[Default User]

On Thursday, July 27, 2017 at 4:51:21 PM UTC-5, Robert Carnegie wrote:
> On Thursday, 27 July 2017 22:26:42 UTC+1, Lynn McGuire wrote:

> > Just imagine a 200 lb were-mosquito.

> Only the females are dangerous. So I'd fat-shame
> her. I feel bad about that but it's life or death.

Just convince her to go Vegan. The long E kind.


Brian

[Ahasuerus]

But what if she chooses Atkins?

[Robert Carnegie]

Poor old Atkins then.

[Robert Carnegie]

...Tommy Atkins was Din-din-din.

[Anthony Nance]

...You can track him for days and days. ...

Heh - nice.

[Anthony Nance]

Faith Hunter also addressed the mass conservation thing in the
first Jane Yellowrock book, but I'mnot quite remembering how
she did it - something with/about Jane having access to rocks,
I think.

Tony, who could be mis-remembering

[Default User]

In Space 1999 they had some shapeshifter alien. My recollection (yeah years) was that when she'd change into a hawk or whatever there was a burst of light with the explanation that the excess mass was converted to energy. Which, you know, e=mc**2 would be more than a little flash.


Brian

[Jerry Brown]

I don't think they ever gave any kind of explanation for the weight
changes when Maya shifted, Space 1999 wasn't particularly rigourous in
its science from day one and the second season (when she was
introduced) slipped still further. Possibly you read one of the
novelisations which were sometimes done by real SF writers who felt
the need to do a bit of tidying up.

ISTR one of the regulars here (Sea Wasp?) considering embarking on a
rewatch, and I warned him to be prepared for a level of hardness which
made Ray Bradbury look like Hal Clement.

That said, for all its faults, I still harbour a degree of affection
for the show (or its first season at least).

--
Jerry Brown

A cat may look at a king
(but probably won't bother)

[Magewolf]

Jane could pull mass from almost anything around her but she had to
transform every bit of it into flesh. She found it easier to work with
things that had never been alive and had a uniform composition so she
used rocks as much as possible. I always thought that she would be
better off going with steel or glass but I guess they would not be
natural enough..

[Dimensional Traveler]

I was a big fan of Space 1999. Got the DVDs and made the mistake of
listening to some of the commentaries. They were trying to go for the
mystical crystal mojo oneness with the universe schtick. Which was too
bad because it was obvious from the design of the Eagles, Moonbase
itself and the props that to start with it was supposed to be a more
grounded SF show, so I assume the crystal aura gazing crowd joined the
production later.

--
Inquiring minds want to know while minds with a self-preservation
instinct are running screaming.

[Gutless Umbrella Carrying Sissy]

Dimensional Traveler <dtr...@sonic.net> wrote in
news:olg7bo$1hf$1...@dont-email.me:

The first season of Space: 1999 was what Gerry Anderson salvaged
from what was supposed to be the second season of UFO, which never
happened. Heavily altered, obviously, and made with a budget of the
change the found in the couch. Once it was on the air, I suspect
they were willing to do pretty much anything to keep the ratings up
enough to keep getting a paycheck. Except purple wigs.

--
Terry Austin

Vacation photos from Iceland:
https://plus.google.com/u/0/collection/QaXQkB

"Terry Austin: like the polio vaccine, only with more asshole."
-- David Bilek

Jesus forgives sinners, not criminals.

[Ted Nolan <tednolan>]

In article <pl4nncp3uf0ia9c5a...@jwbrown.co.uk>,

I still remember an episode where they had encountered an inimical
AI probe like Trek's "Nomad" or something on that order and had
to convince it to stand down since the people who had built it were
extinct so there was no point to trying to conquer the Moon. (OK, I'm
a little hazy..). Anyway they gave it a narrated slide show like:

Q: "Isn't this the galaxy your creators were from" (picture of
a comet).

A: "yes"

Q: "And isn't this the solar system your creators were from" (picture
of a spiral galaxy)

A: "yes"

Q: "And isn't this the planet your creators were from?" (picture
of a spaceship)

A: "yes"

etc

Not a single picture matched what it was supposed to be..
--
------
columbiaclosings.com
What's not in Columbia anymore..

[Jerry Brown]

On 28 Jul 2017 23:41:35 GMT, t...@loft.tnolan.com (Ted Nolan

Gerry Anderson's staff's grip on cosmology was never very strong even
(a full decade) before Space 1999. Here's further proof in the lyrics
of the closing song from Fireball XL-5, which suggests that the best
path from Jupiter to the Moon is via the Miky Way:
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nXGGuqXB8h4>.

BTW that credit sequence appears to be inspiration for those in the
Abrams Star Trek movies.

Anderson did have quite a good knowledge on human nature though. In
one episode of Thunderbirds he invented the concept of locking an
explosive onto a hostage in order to force them to commit a crime
(thirty years before this became a real thing), and the whole cold war
situation in Captain Scarlet was initiated by the human side being a
bit too trigger happy when faced with an alien camera that looked like
it might be a gun.

[Jerry Brown]

The first season was pretty lavish; the second season seemed to be
trying to match the monsters-with-paper-mache-heads look and feel of
Lost in Space. It's noteworthy that the second season was showrun
(into the ground) by the same person as the third season of classic
Trek.

[Jerry Brown]

The mysticism was there almost from the very start, production
order-wise. From epguides it appears that the broadcast order was
messed around with to move some of the harder SF (by 1999's relative
standards) episodes to the front. For example, "The Black Sun" came a
lot earlier originally, and culminates in a conversation between two
of the leads and The Cosmic All.

BYW, the episode "Death's Other Dominion" is worth watching, if only
for the rare chance to see !BRIAN BLESSED! out-shouted and out-hammed
by fellow guest star John Shrapnel.

[Gene Wirchenko]

On Fri, 28 Jul 2017 16:21:59 -0400, Magewolf <Mage...@nc.rr.com>
wrote:

[snip]

>Jane could pull mass from almost anything around her but she had to
>transform every bit of it into flesh. She found it easier to work with
>things that had never been alive and had a uniform composition so she
>used rocks as much as possible. I always thought that she would be
>better off going with steel or glass but I guess they would not be
>natural enough..

I agree about the glass and steel.

If rock were so uniform, I would not have my job. I work for a
company that does testing of rock (and soil) for mining and
exploration companies.

Sincerely,

Gene Wirchenko

[Anthony Nance]

Magewolf <Mage...@nc.rr.com> wrote:
> On 7/28/2017 7:37 AM, Anthony Nance wrote:
>>

>> <much snipping for brevity>

>>
>>
>> Faith Hunter also addressed the mass conservation thing in the
>> first Jane Yellowrock book, but I'mnot quite remembering how
>> she did it - something with/about Jane having access to rocks,
>> I think.
>>
>> Tony, who could be mis-remembering
>>
> Jane could pull mass from almost anything around her but she had to
> transform every bit of it into flesh. She found it easier to work with
> things that had never been alive and had a uniform composition so she
> used rocks as much as possible. I always thought that she would be
> better off going with steel or glass but I guess they would not be
> natural enough..

Excellent - thank you.
- Tony

[Ted Nolan <tednolan>]

In article <oln4ft$5vr$1...@dont-email.me>,

Also note that Jane is self-taught and a lot of what she worries
about might not faze a skinwalker who did the pre-reading.

[Anthony Nance]

Ah, good point. I really should go find book #2 in that series.
- Tony

[Lynn McGuire]

BTW, thanks for the book recommendation. I am ordering _Skinwalker_.
https://www.amazon.com/Skinwalker-Jane-Yellowrock-Book-1/dp/0451462807/

Wow, an urban fantasy series of 11 books that I missed somehow.

Lynn

[Dorothy J Heydt]

In article <oltdtm$n0e$1...@dont-email.me>,

Lynn McGuire <lynnmc...@gmail.com> wrote:
>On 7/28/2017 6:37 AM, Anthony Nance wrote:
>> Scott Lurndal <sc...@slp53.sl.home> wrote:
>>> Lynn McGuire <lynnmc...@gmail.com> writes:
>>>> On 7/27/2017 10:31 AM, Default User wrote:
>>>>> On Thursday, July 27, 2017 at 8:00:52 AM UTC-5, hamis...@gmail.com wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>> Werebears, werelions and weretigers are commonly up there at least
>comparable to werewolves
>>>>>> and if you start bringing in wereelephants, werehippos or
>wererhinos I suspect that a lot of werewolves will be hoping that
>they're faster...
>>>>>
>>>>> I think it was Poul Anderson's Operation Chaos

The first story, actually, "Operation Afreet," which was bundled
with several others into _Operation Chaos._

>where the
>wereanimals had to obey conservation of mass. So a weretiger was a huge
>man when in human form.

Yes.

And a werefennec in his human form was a tiny little dwarf.

And our hero, once restored to human form, comments after the
war, "As a wolf, I've got a stumpy tail; and as a man I don't
like to sit down in wet weather. It's a hell of a thing to get a
Purple Heart for."



--
Dorothy J. Heydt
Vallejo, California
djheydt at gmail dot com

[David DeLaney]

You haven't ... ? Okay - Jane is a shifter. But is NOT a were-panther. There
are also vampires, oy are there vampires, witches, were-creatures, ghosts,
and more. Plus a big heapin' helpin' of vampire politics & history. I think
you may find it to your taste. I know I do!

Dave, all out in MMPB except the collection of short Jane stories, which I
thought was well worth plunking down TPB prices for. YMMV. TDNF. DNTHFB.
--
\/David DeLaney posting thru EarthLink - "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>
my gatekeeper archives are no longer accessible :( / I WUV you in all CAPS! --K.

[Default User]

On Monday, July 24, 2017 at 3:56:40 PM UTC-5, Ahasuerus wrote:
> On Monday, July 24, 2017 at 4:07:55 PM UTC-4, Lynn McGuire wrote:
> > _Shadow's Blade (Case Files of Justis Fearsson)_ by David B. Coe
> > [snip]
> > http://www.baen.com/long_nights_moon (original short story)
>
> Also "New Moon Wolf" at http://www.baen.com/free-stories-2015.html

I have been reading that anthology, and just finished the story. I'm not a big urban fantasy fan, but the story was enjoyable.


Brian