SFBC 1993 (final quarter)
James Nicoll
Lists courtesy of Andrew Wheeler.
Contents for anthologies and omnibuses from the Locus Index
to Science Fiction www.locusmag.com/index/
October
GLORY SEASON by David Brin
This is the story of two sisters from a hominid species designed
to allow women to occupy the top positions in society. The females are
mostly parthenogenic and the reproductive goals of the two sexes are more
opposed than in our species. The sisters are a pair of the relatively rare
products of a male/female mating who belonging to no established sisterhood
of clones must go out and find their own path in life.
The plot loses a wheel and careens into a tree near the end.
For some reason the author choses to end the book with an anouncement
by the rest of the human galaxy that to keep variation from passing
certain limits, vast numbers of colonists are being sent to the planet
to mate with the locals and bring them to human norms -or- force the
locals to kill vast numbers of incomers. Which choice will the women
take, I wonder?
Mostly notable for the tantrum Brin threw when he did not win
the Tiptree.
I can't recall it having a diatribe on Transparent Society,
rather odd for a recent Brin.
WINDS OF FURY by Mercedes Lackey
I missed this.
RING OF SWORDS by Eleanor Arnason (Alternate)
And this.
DEERSKIN by Robin McKinley (Alternate)
And this.
HARD LANDING by Algis Budrys (Alternate)
And this, I think. I belive it's about aliens on Earth and a
catastrophic contact between them and us but I may be confusing it
with one of Budrys' short stories.
BY THE SWORD by Greg Costikyan (Alternate)
I don't know why I don't read more Costikyan. In his day he
was one of my favourite wargame and rpg designers.
November
ARROWS OF THE SUN by Judith Tarr
Missed this.
VANISHING POINT by Michaela Roessner
This is set some time after a large percentage of the human
population mysteriously disappeared. I thought it was good, so why
can't I finish her subsequent books?
FAERY IN SHADOW by C.J. Cherryh (Alternate)
Missed this.
HARM'S WAY by Colin Greenland (Alternate)
And this.
CRASHCOURSE by Wilhelmina Baird (Alternate)
And this, although I think I own it.
TEMPTATION by Cynthia Blair (Alternate)
Missed this.
SPLIT HEIRS by Lawrence Watt-Evans and Esther Friesner
(Alternate)
And this.
December
A PLAGUE OF ANGELS by Sheri S. Tepper
And this.
THE POSITRONIC MAN by Isaac Asimov and Robert Silverberg
And this.
THE GOLDEN by Lucius Shepard (Alternate)
But surprisingly I read this one. As I recall, it's a competent
vampire book.
STAR TREK: SHADOWS ON THE SUN by Michael Jan Friedman (Alternate)
Missed this.
A NIGHT IN THE LONESOME OCTOBER by Roger Zelazny (Alternate)
And this.
MCLENDON'S SYNDROME by Robert Frezza (Alternate)
A comic space opera about syndromes that mimic vampirism against a
backdrop of interstellar intrigue. I got the impression the author
thought it was funny as hell. Shame I didn't share that impression as
it would have made reading it (more) interesting.
Winter
WHEN TRUE NIGHT FALLS by C.S. Friedman
Missed this.
NIMBUS by Alexander Jablokov
Moody dystopian book about a man forced by circumstance to
resurrect a buried identity he had put behind him, as I recall. Set
in Chicago in the 2030s. It could be called cyberpunk but it seems
much deeper than most cyberpunk books.
As ever, competent. I want to know when the next Jablokov is
due out...
MORE THAN FIRE by Philip Jose Farmer (Alternate)
Avoided this.
THE DEATH AND LIFE OF SUPERMAN by Roger Stern (Alternate)
Missed this. I wonder if it is based on the Death of Superman
story arc from around that time?
HEART-BEAST by Tanith Lee (Alternate)
Missed this.
THE DOLPHINS' BELL by Anne McCaffrey (Alternate)
And this. I think I like Jablokov's take on cetaceans best of
all the ones I have read in SF.
--
"I'm always making a comeback but nobody ever tells me where I've
been."
Billie Holiday
Mike Schilling
"James Nicoll" <jdni...@panix.com> wrote in message
news:bea3cb$a8e$1...@panix3.panix.com...
>
> THE POSITRONIC MAN by Isaac Asimov and Robert Silverberg
>
> And this.
Asimov short" novels, the progenitor in this case being "The Bicentennial
Man". If I read this it made no impression.
> THE DEATH AND LIFE OF SUPERMAN by Roger Stern (Alternate)
>
> Missed this. I wonder if it is based on the Death of Superman
> story arc from around that time?
It is. Fun, but definitely a comic book translated into unillustrated
words.
Taki Kogoma
to rec.arts.sf.written decree...
>Winter
>
[...]
> THE DEATH AND LIFE OF SUPERMAN by Roger Stern (Alternate)
>
> Missed this. I wonder if it is based on the Death of Superman
>story arc from around that time?
Novelization covering death through rebirth.
[...]
> THE DOLPHINS' BELL by Anne McCaffrey (Alternate)
>
> And this. I think I like Jablokov's take on cetaceans best of
>all the ones I have read in SF.
It's a short, previously published in _Chronicles of Pern: First
Fall_, covering events mentioned in the last 100 or so pages of
_Dragonsdawn_. It's Pern before dragons got established: The
magic-horse-surrogate being non-telepathic, talking, quasi-uplifted
dolphins.
--
Capt. Gym Z. Quirk | /"\ ASCII RIBBON
(Known to some as Taki Kogoma) | \ / CAMPAIGN
quirk @ swcp.com | X AGAINST HTML MAIL
Veteran of the '91 sf-lovers re-org. | / \ AND POSTINGS
Peter D. Tillman
jdni...@panix.com (James Nicoll) wrote:
>
> RING OF SWORDS by Eleanor Arnason (Alternate)
>
> And this.
Definitely a winner -- comparable in quality to _A Woman of the Iron
People_. This is a hi-tech Hwarath novel, well in the future of her more
recent Hwarath shorts. Ah, here's a decent review:
http://sf.www.lysator.liu.se/sf_archive/sf-texts/books/A/Arnason,Eleanor.
mbox
"So why did I like this book? It's far more intelligent than most books
published. It examines issues at the heart of our humanity and
civilizations, without preaching. The characters and the Hwarath society
are highly plausible (if difficult to like). The action feels like real
events, not conventional story plotting."
>
> HARD LANDING by Algis Budrys (Alternate)
>
> And this, I think. I belive it's about aliens on Earth and a
> catastrophic contact between them and us but I may be confusing it
> with one of Budrys' short stories.
>
Yup, and it's a good one -- I've been meaning to reread it. His latest
novel per ISFDB. How is Budrys health these days? (he's 72)
Cheers -- Pete Tillman
Book Reviews: http://www.silcom.com/~manatee/reviewer.html#tillman
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/cm/member-reviews/-/A3GHSD9VY8XS4Q/
http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/iplus/nonfiction/index.htm#reviews
http://www.sfsite.com/revwho.htm
Doom & Gloom Dave
> Lists courtesy of Andrew Wheeler.
>
> Contents for anthologies and omnibuses from the Locus Index
> to Science Fiction www.locusmag.com/index/
>
>
>
>
> I missed this.
End of the Mage Winds trilogy. Up next, Mage Storms. Though in publishing
order the Gryphons may come between the winds and the storm.
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Mike Mehl
> A NIGHT IN THE LONESOME OCTOBER by Roger Zelazny (Alternate)
>
> And this.
I remember something about a dog, and Jack the Ripper. Obviously it
didn't leave a big impression.
--
mjm
Email address should be obvious.
GCarr
>
> Contents for anthologies and omnibuses from the Locus Index
> to Science Fiction www.locusmag.com/index/
>
> I missed this.
End of the Mage Winds Trilogy. Elspeth & Co. travel to Hardron to kill
Hadron's eeevil king. They travel as a circus with a 'magic' act (stage
magic) and strip show. Introduces An'dsha, the most annoying character in
the Valdemar series next to Daren. For a *very* funny take on their journey
to kill Anar read http://www.fanfiction.net/read.php?storyid=1236267 Note:
in the '80s there was a computer game that many school children such as
myself played called The Oregon Trail. This is based on that.
> DEERSKIN by Robin McKinley (Alternate)
>
> And this.
Based on the not-very-well-known fairytale Donkeyskin. I remember liking
this.
> WHEN TRUE NIGHT FALLS by C.S. Friedman
>
> Missed this.
The second book in a series. Tarrant ("The Hunter", *not* a nice guy) and
Co. cross the ocean to see what's going on at the other side, and find that
the people living there have managed to *safely* harness the fae via the
power of faith (trust me, it makes perfect sense in the book). Naturally
there turns out to be a huge problem... The series is interesting in that
Tarrant (who is considered eeeevil by most of the other 'good guys' in the
book) is the protagonist.
> THE DOLPHINS' BELL by Anne McCaffrey (Alternate)
>
> And this. I think I like Jablokov's take on cetaceans best of
> all the ones I have read in SF.
Another one of those 'booklet' things they do to keep the Pern series fans
shelling out the $$$. Dolphins help to evacuate Landing (combined Volcano
and Thread) by guiding a flotilla of not-very-ocean-going boats up the coast
of the southern continent. A storm hits. That's all I can recall really.
Gloria
Richard Horton
> HARD LANDING by Algis Budrys (Alternate)
>
> And this, I think. I belive it's about aliens on Earth and a
>catastrophic contact between them and us but I may be confusing it
>with one of Budrys' short stories.
It is about aliens on Earth but I don't think the contact is quite
catastrophic for us. For them maybe, but largely because of "contact"
with the "earth" in the sense "ground" -- i.e. the "hard landing"
(crash) of the title.
It's a very short novel. I like it quite a bit. I think Budrys is
persistently underrated.
--
Rich Horton | Stable Email: mailto://richard...@sff.net
Home Page: http://www.sff.net/people/richard.horton
Also visit SF Site (http://www.sfsite.com) and Tangent Online (http://www.tangentonline.com)
Richard Horton
> SPLIT HEIRS by Lawrence Watt-Evans and Esther Friesner
> (Alternate)
>
> And this.
>
Farcical fantasy novel. Good fun. As I recall it's about twins
separated at birth or something, who are jointly heirs to a kingdom.
Hijinks ensue. But I may be misremembering. Perhaps Lawrence can set
me straight.
Mike Schilling
"Richard Horton" <rrho...@prodigy.net> wrote in message
news:Yj5Oa.35$941.4...@newssvr15.news.prodigy.com...
> On 6 Jul 2003 17:12:43 -0400, jdni...@panix.com (James Nicoll) wrote:
>
> > HARD LANDING by Algis Budrys (Alternate)
> >
> > And this, I think. I belive it's about aliens on Earth and a
> >catastrophic contact between them and us but I may be confusing it
> >with one of Budrys' short stories.
>
> It is about aliens on Earth but I don't think the contact is quite
> catastrophic for us. For them maybe, but largely because of "contact"
> with the "earth" in the sense "ground" -- i.e. the "hard landing"
> (crash) of the title.
>
> It's a very short novel. I like it quite a bit. I think Budrys is
> persistently underrated.
"Not sufficiently well-known", perhaps? I think he's rated quite highly
among people who have read much of his work.
Garrett Wollman
James Nicoll <jdni...@panix.com> wrote:
> WINDS OF FURY by Mercedes Lackey
>
> I missed this.
Third, and least, of the Mage Winds trilogy, in which all of the
characters act rather out-of-character with their
previously-established personalities after being kidnapped by ghosts
from Valdemar's past. Includes some howling continuity errors, mostly
of a geographical nature. The whole story arc of this trilogy could
probably have been better told as a single volume (with most of the
material in book two included and most of books 1 and 3 elided). The
quality goes up markedly in the next eight volumes, although I doubt
that it can be sustained. We'll see in October.
(You'd think, with such a long and mostly-unexplored backstory, that
Lackey could pull herself away from the ``present'' for a while and
write something that doesn't put her disdain for continuity so much on
display.)
> DEERSKIN by Robin McKinley (Alternate)
>
> And this.
McKinley retreads another obscure fairy tale.
-GAWollman
--
Garrett A. Wollman | As the Constitution endures, persons in every
wol...@lcs.mit.edu | generation can invoke its principles in their own
Opinions not those of| search for greater freedom.
MIT, LCS, CRS, or NSA| - A. Kennedy, Lawrence v. Texas, 539 U.S. ___ (2003)
Robert A. Woodward
> Lists courtesy of Andrew Wheeler.
>
> Contents for anthologies and omnibuses from the Locus Index
> to Science Fiction www.locusmag.com/index/
>
<SNIP>
> November
>
> ARROWS OF THE SUN by Judith Tarr
>
> Missed this.
>
Sequel to the _Avaryan Rising_ trilogy, about 2 centuries later.
>
> FAERY IN SHADOW by C.J. Cherryh (Alternate)
>
Sequel to the story "The Brothers" (found in the collection _Visible
Light_. Somewhat reminiscent of _Rusalka_ and its sequels, but is Celtic
rather than Russian. Arguably less cheerful than those as well.
<SNIP>
--
Robert Woodward <robe...@drizzle.com>
<http://www.drizzle.com/~robertaw
Nancy Lebovitz
>
> And this.
I don't remember details (was it the one about majority-gay aliens?),
but I have Arnason mentally filed as interesting and intelligent.
>
> DEERSKIN by Robin McKinley (Alternate)
>
> And this.
A very good fantasy based in generic fairy tale. Especially recommended
if you like dogs.
>
> HARD LANDING by Algis Budrys (Alternate)
>
> And this, I think. I belive it's about aliens on Earth and a
>catastrophic contact between them and us but I may be confusing it
>with one of Budrys' short stories.
>
A naturalistic novel about a group of aliens stranded on earth. IIRC,
nothing really dramatic happens, but I found it oddly engrossing.
> BY THE SWORD by Greg Costikyan (Alternate)
>
> I don't know why I don't read more Costikyan. In his day he
>was one of my favourite wargame and rpg designers.
And _First Contract_ was really cool.
>
--
Nancy Lebovitz na...@netaxs.com www.nancybuttons.com
Now, with bumper stickers
Using your turn signal is not "giving information to the enemy"
James Nicoll
Peter D. Tillman <til...@aztec.asu.edu> wrote:
>In article <bea3cb$a8e$1...@panix3.panix.com>,
> jdni...@panix.com (James Nicoll) wrote:
>
>>
>> RING OF SWORDS by Eleanor Arnason (Alternate)
>>
>> And this.
>
>Definitely a winner -- comparable in quality to _A Woman of the Iron
>People_.
Ah. I think the lack of Arneson may be an unfortunate flaw in my
collection.
David Allsopp
>
> A NIGHT IN THE LONESOME OCTOBER by Roger Zelazny (Alternate)
>
> And this.
We get to meet Jack The Ripper, his talking dog Snuff, a certain Count
who dislikes daylight, The Great Detective, and a number of other
interesting people and animals. They all get together on certain
Halloweens for the Great Work, which is...Lovecraftian. Not a major
work, but I found it hugely enjoyable.
--
David Allsopp Houston, this is Tranquillity Base.
Remove SPAM to email me The Eagle has landed.
Lawrence Watt-Evans
<rrho...@prodigy.net> wrote:
>On 6 Jul 2003 17:12:43 -0400, jdni...@panix.com (James Nicoll) wrote:
>
>> SPLIT HEIRS by Lawrence Watt-Evans and Esther Friesner
>> (Alternate)
>>
>> And this.
>
>Farcical fantasy novel. Good fun. As I recall it's about twins
>separated at birth or something, who are jointly heirs to a kingdom.
Triplets, two males and a female.
Esther and I had independently come up with stories involving twins --
mine both male, hers mixed -- and when we combined them we decided to
make them triplets so we could keep both plots.
>Hijinks ensue. But I may be misremembering. Perhaps Lawrence can set
>me straight.
You have the gist of it. Decadent kingdom ruled by barbarian
conquerors, barbarian king forcibly married to decadent queen,
triplets result -- except barbarians assume multiple kids mean
multiple fathers, so the queen has to hide two of them. Story
includes dragons, doddering old retainers, Robin Hood parody,
poisonous mushrooms, rightful heirs in dungeons, wizards, sheep, lots
of stuff. Great fun to write. Still in print in paperback, last I
checked.
Alexx S Kay
>In article <bea3cb$a8e$1...@panix3.panix.com>,
>James Nicoll <jdni...@panix.com> wrote:
>> BY THE SWORD by Greg Costikyan (Alternate)
>>
>> I don't know why I don't read more Costikyan. In his day he
>>was one of my favourite wargame and rpg designers.
>And _First Contract_ was really cool.
I recently read this as well. Fairly light, but definitely recommended.
Structurally, it's your basic "Plucky human fights off alien invaders"
story. Only in this case, the "invasion" consists of aliens destroying
the earth's economy (more out of greed and carelessness than malice),
and the plucky hero is a bankrupt CEO who sets out to make the first
earth-based business that can turn a profit in the galactic marketplace.
Some of the satire is heavy-handed, but most of it worked for me. I even
felt like I learned a few salient points about how economics works in the
Real World :-)
Alexx
Alexx Kay
Opinions expressed are my own and not necessarily those of my employers
al...@world.std.com
http://world.std.com/~alexx
THE PESSIMIST'S GUIDE TO ENGINEER-TALK:
What They Say: "That's interesting."
What They Mean: "Shit! I've never seen anything remotely like that before."
[Off of rec.humor.funny]
Danny Sichel
> A NIGHT IN THE LONESOME OCTOBER by Roger Zelazny (Alternate)
The daily diary of Jack the Ripper's sentient dog for the month of
October, in a village where there are several quite strange people with
equally strange familiars, all playing a strange game.
> THE DEATH AND LIFE OF SUPERMAN by Roger Stern (Alternate)
>
> Missed this. I wonder if it is based on the Death of Superman
> story arc from around that time?
Yep, and it's reasonably good, which makes it much better than the
comicbook version (a product of several writers with varying levels of competence.)
--
"Beware of two-year-old humans with clothespins."
David Tate
> In article <bea3cb$a8e$1...@panix3.panix.com>, James Nicoll
> <jdni...@panix.com> writes
> >
> > A NIGHT IN THE LONESOME OCTOBER by Roger Zelazny (Alternate)
> >
> > And this.
>
> We get to meet Jack The Ripper, his talking dog Snuff, a certain Count
> who dislikes daylight, The Great Detective, and a number of other
> interesting people and animals. They all get together on certain
> Halloweens for the Great Work, which is...Lovecraftian. Not a major
> work, but I found it hugely enjoyable.
Well put.
I find it very difficult to describe just why I like this book as much
as I do. I think it has to do with perfectly accomplishing that which
it sets out to accomplish. Rather like writing the perfect formula
regency romance, or painting the perfect watercolor abstract
landscape.
(In many ways, this book is the antithesis of those appalling
Zelazny/Sheckley collaborations that marred the end of Zelazny's
career.)
David Tate
GCarr
"Garrett Wollman" <wol...@lcs.mit.edu> wrote in message
news:bear95$2680$1...@grapevine.lcs.mit.edu...
> In article <bea3cb$a8e$1...@panix3.panix.com>,
> James Nicoll <jdni...@panix.com> wrote:
>
> > WINDS OF FURY by Mercedes Lackey
> >
> > I missed this.
>
> Third, and least, of the Mage Winds trilogy, in which all of the
> characters act rather out-of-character with their
> previously-established personalities after being kidnapped by ghosts
> from Valdemar's past. Includes some howling continuity errors, mostly
> of a geographical nature. The whole story arc of this trilogy could
> probably have been better told as a single volume (with most of the
> material in book two included and most of books 1 and 3 elided). The
> quality goes up markedly in the next eight volumes, although I doubt
> that it can be sustained. We'll see in October.
Well, _Exile's Honor_ was pretty good, and she does seem to be able to keep
the quality consistent within a trilogy. I personally liked the 'Winds'
trilogy better then the OwlBlight trilogy [1].
> (You'd think, with such a long and mostly-unexplored backstory, that
> Lackey could pull herself away from the ``present'' for a while and
> write something that doesn't put her disdain for continuity so much on
> display.)
There is _Brightly Burning_. Personally I wish she would go back to the very
beginning of the Valdemar/Karse problems. Or maybe she should do a book (or
trilogy) about the other Herald that was repudiated by his/her Companion.
Gloria
[1] OwlFlight. I hate it. Most of the Valdemar series I can enjoy, even
with problems. But not this series. The only interesting character was
killed off in the first half of the first book, the male MC is unlikeable.
The female MC's sister was made into an Empath and then Chosen just so she
could have Problems in the third book. Firesong gets turned into a freakin
saint (ACK!!). I could go on and on. The only character in the entire series
I liked (other then that hedge wizard) is the gryphon.
Scott Beeler
> In article <bea3cb$a8e$1...@panix3.panix.com>, James Nicoll
> <jdni...@panix.com> writes
> >
> > A NIGHT IN THE LONESOME OCTOBER by Roger Zelazny (Alternate)
>
> who dislikes daylight, The Great Detective, and a number of other
> interesting people and animals. They all get together on certain
> Halloweens for the Great Work, which is...Lovecraftian. Not a major
> work, but I found it hugely enjoyable.
Indeed, it's not deep, but it's compulsively readable. I just read it
for the first time a couple months back. Loads of mysterious
characters and intrigue, fun snappy dialogue. Great fun.
--
Scott C. Beeler scott...@home.com
Jens Kilian
[_A Night in the Lonesome October_]
> Indeed, it's not deep, but it's compulsively readable. I just read it
> for the first time a couple months back. Loads of mysterious
> characters and intrigue, fun snappy dialogue. Great fun.
It should of course be read during the month of October, a chapter a day :-)
--
mailto:j...@acm.org phone:+49-7031-464-7698 (TELNET 778-7698)
http://www.bawue.de/~jjk/ fax:+49-7031-464-7351
As the air to a bird, or the sea to a fish,
so is contempt to the contemptible. [Blake]
David Allsopp
<dt...@ida.org> writes>C...@tqbase.demon.co.uk>...
>> In article <bea3cb$a8e$1...@panix3.panix.com>, James Nicoll
>> <jdni...@panix.com> writes
>> >
>> > A NIGHT IN THE LONESOME OCTOBER by Roger Zelazny (Alternate)
>> >
>> > And this.
>>
>> We get to meet Jack The Ripper, his talking dog Snuff, a certain Count
>> who dislikes daylight, The Great Detective, and a number of other
>> interesting people and animals. They all get together on certain
>> Halloweens for the Great Work, which is...Lovecraftian. Not a major
>> work, but I found it hugely enjoyable.
>
>Well put.
>
>I find it very difficult to describe just why I like this book as much
>as I do. I think it has to do with perfectly accomplishing that which
>it sets out to accomplish. Rather like writing the perfect formula
>regency romance, or painting the perfect watercolor abstract
>landscape.
I think that's it exactly. It's a small work, but perfectly formed.
One of my favourite things about the book is it's...erm...(this is
harder to describe than I thought)..."non-formulaicness"? Well, you
see, among the characters, there are Openers and Closers, and Good
People and Bad People, and People Who Do Good Things, and People Who Do
Bad Things, and all these categories (and probably some others) are
orthogonal. And some people aren't in the category you expect. And
some people aren't even in The Game. And...oh, just read it. It's an
elegant, perfectly-formed gem.
>(In many ways, this book is the antithesis of those appalling
>Zelazny/Sheckley collaborations that marred the end of Zelazny's
>career.)
Indeed. "Bring Me The Head Of Prince Charming", yuck. Such a terrible
book from two such great writers.
John M. Gamble
Hear, hear. I smiled a lot as i read this book. It has the light
touch that Zelazny can give to his stories, that makes them such a
delight to read.
Neil Gaiman wrote a story in the same setting, and much to my
annoyance i can't find the book that it's in, so i can't give
out the title.
--
-john
February 28 1997: Last day libraries could order catalogue cards
from the Library of Congress.
David Eppstein
jga...@ripco.com (John M. Gamble) wrote:
[ re _A Night in the Lonesome October_ ]
> Neil Gaiman wrote a story in the same setting, and much to my
> annoyance i can't find the book that it's in, so i can't give
> out the title.
"Only the end of the world again". It's in _Lord of the Fantastic_, but
probably the book you're thinking of is _Smoke and Mirrors_.
--
David Eppstein http://www.ics.uci.edu/~eppstein/
Univ. of California, Irvine, School of Information & Computer Science
John Andrew Fairhurst
> End of the Mage Winds trilogy. Up next, Mage Storms. Though in publishing
> order the Gryphons may come between the winds and the storm.
>
FWIW, the storms trilogy and the Gryphon books look like they were
written in an interleaved fashion.
--
John Fairhurst
In Association with Amazon worldwide:
http://www.johnsbooks.co.uk/
Your One-Stop Site for Classic SF!
Updated for 2003 Publications
Doom & Gloom Dave
> "Garrett Wollman" <wol...@lcs.mit.edu> wrote in message
> news:bear95$2680$1...@grapevine.lcs.mit.edu...
>> In article <bea3cb$a8e$1...@panix3.panix.com>,
>> James Nicoll <jdni...@panix.com> wrote:
>>
>>> WINDS OF FURY by Mercedes Lackey
>>>
>>> I missed this.
>>
>> Third, and least, of the Mage Winds trilogy, in which all of the
>> characters act rather out-of-character with their
>> previously-established personalities after being kidnapped by
ghosts
>> from Valdemar's past. Includes some howling continuity errors,
>> mostly
>> of a geographical nature. The whole story arc of this trilogy
could
>> probably have been better told as a single volume (with most of the
>> material in book two included and most of books 1 and 3 elided).
The
>> quality goes up markedly in the next eight volumes, although I
doubt
>> that it can be sustained. We'll see in October.
>
> Well, _Exile's Honor_ was pretty good, and she does seem to be able
> to keep the quality consistent within a trilogy. I personally liked
> the 'Winds' trilogy better then the OwlBlight trilogy [1].
>
trilogy, but Take a Thief I found embarrasingly bad. The Fagin
character was so Fagin I expected him to start singing songs from
Oliver! Almost as if Lackey was thinking, "Ok, I know I'm ripping of
Fagin here, you know I'm ripping of Fagin here, so let's drop the
pretense. It's Fagin, Fagin in Valdemar, deal with it."
GCarr
"Doom & Gloom Dave" <dwh...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:beh3p5$f0g$1...@news1.usf.edu...
~shrug~ I liked Take a Thief quite a bit, perhaps because I have never felt
any desire to read _Oliver_. I particularly liked Young!Skif's character,
which makes what happens to him in _Winds_ even worse (Crush!Skif needs to
die, and why the hell he got strapped with Catgirl is beyond me...) My
favorite parts centered on Alberich, it was real nice to see him doing
something other then being Weaponmaster. Overall I rather liked it.
Gloria