The Year the Cloud Fell, Kurt R.A. Giambastiani, Roc Books, 2001
Shadows Bend, David Barbour and Richard Raliegh, Ace Books, 2000
The Wonder, J.D. Beresford, University of Nebraska Press, 1999
Genesis, Poul Anderson, Tor Books, 2000
The Glass Harmonica, Louise Marley, Ace Books, 2000
Evolution's Darling, Scott Westerfield, Four Walls Eight Windows Press, 2000
Past the Size of Dreaming, Nina Kiriki Hoffman, Ace Books, 2001
Don't Dream: The Collected Horror and Fantasy Fiction of Donald Wandrei, Philip J. Rahman and Dennis Weiler (ed.), Fedogan and Bremer, 1997
Point of Dreams, Melissa Scott and Lisa Barnett, Tor Books, 2001
St. Patrick's Gargoyle, Katherine Kurtz, Ace Books, 2001
The Cream of the Jest, James Branch Cabell, Ballantine, 1971
Atom, Steve Aylett, Four Walls Eight Windows Press, 2000
Metapocalypse, Mark Branden, Hollow Hills Publishing, 2001 (e-book)
He isn’t killed immediately, even though he is the son of Long-Hair (Custer), because one of the Cheyenne women, Speaks While Leaving, had a vision several years previously, of a white man who fell from the sky and would help her people. But George Jr is still a loyal member of the US military. Slowly, his attitude toward the Cheyenne starts to change.
Back in Washington, imagining all sorts of horrible things happening to his son, George Sr asks Congress for authority to change the undeclared war against the Cheyenne into a declared war. Later, the Cheyenne camp is found by the US cavalry and its leaders are invited to what is supposed to be a peace conference at a site on the Missouri River. While the conference is going on, the undefended Cheyenne camp is attacked by the cavalry. Heavy casualties are inflicted on the Cheyenne women and children, but the cavalry also suffers heavy casualties when the Indian warriors, led by George Jr, get back almost too late.
Seeing the aftermath of the US attack, George Jr throws away all loyalty to the US government and thinks up a bold plan to, figuratively, force the Indians down Washington’s, and his father’s, throat.
This is an all-around very good story. The look inside Cheyenne culture feels accurate, there is enough action for anyone, and the characters seem like real people. On more than one level, this one is worth reading.
Lovecraft travels to the Howard residence in Grants Pass, Texas, with a tale that sounds like one of his horror stories come to life. It involves a Hopi kachina doll sent to him from someone who received it in error. Inside the head of the doll is a living thing, about the size of a shirt button, that can change color and gives off its own light, something obviously not of this earth. Lovecraft also relates the near certainty that because of his possession of what he calls The Artifact, he is being followed by minions of the evil god Cthulhu, the sort of being that makes Satan look like an amateur.
Howard is no stranger to weird things himself; they agree that the only person to consult is Clark Ashton Smith the third member of the Weird Tales “Three Musketeers,” living in California. At first, Howard refuses to go, not wanting to leave his bedridden mother, but is convinced by his father that if there any chance that The Artifact will be able to help her, he should go.
In a nearby town, they rescue a young woman named Glory who was being harassed by a group of ruffians. She was a college student before she became pregnant out of wedlock. In a time when such a thing was a major scandal, she was sent away to have the baby and ended up becoming an oil-town prostitute. She is dropped off in the next town to catch a bus to visit her sister in Las Vegas. She is nearly taken captive by minions of Cthulhu before being rescued by Howard and Lovecraft.
Along the way, all three are tormented by dreams worse than nightmares. At one point, a flat tire off of Howard’s car explodes, and hundreds of scorpions emerge. At another point, the car is engulfed by hundreds of possessed animals ranging from mice to cougars. A Couple of times, Glory is possessed by Cthulhu, and nearly gets them all killed. The final “battle” takes place in a series of chambers under a Hopi pueblo in New Mexico, chambers that were ancient before man ever walked the Earth.
Others are more qualified than I to judge the accuracy of the portrayals of Messrs Howard, Lovecraft and Smith, but I enjoyed this book. It’s sufficiently weird and creepy, and is very well done.
Ellen Mary Jakes is a friend of the family, and is getting on in years. She calmly weighs the pros and cons of marriage (she hasn’t exactly been inundated with marriage proposals) and decides it would be worth her while to become Mrs Ginger Stott. An appropriate amount of time later, Victor Stott is born.
He is born with an abnormally large head, so the first thought is that he will grow up to be some sort of hydrocephalic idiot. That is, if he survives that long; he also comes out of the womb absolutely silent and still, as if he was stillborn, but is later revived. From the time he is an infant, his eyes are practically hypnotic. Adults are unnerved by what look like the eyes of a 50 or 100-year-old man. Victor is kept away from the other children in the town.
When Victor is about four years old, he is introduced to a local anthropologist with a personal library of about 40,000 books. Victor starts by actually reading an unabridged dictionary, then reads an entire set of encyclopedias. He then goes through the library like a buzzsaw, picking and choosing what to read. Later, some of the town’s local intellectuals visit Victor to talk philosophy. He proceeds to tear their cherished beliefs to shreds. The novel ultimately ends on a sad note.
First of all, many kudos to the University of Nebraska Press for bringing back long neglected science fiction novels like this. Perhaps this story is best on a historical basis; here is where the “superman” sub-genre started. As to the novel itself, it belongs somewhere in that large gray area of Pretty Good or Worth Reading.
One billion years later, the galactic intelligence sends a ship called Wayfarer, with another copy of Brannock aboard, to Earth, now called Gaia. Planetary intelligence is now common, and all planets are supposed to send periodic reports concerning conditions on their planet. Gaia’s reports have been getting less and less satisfactory. No one likes to have “the boss” check up on them, and, if Gaia was human, Gaia would be no exception. Wayfarer is allowed to land, and Brannock, in a new body, takes a look around. He meets Laurinda Ashcroft, another former human, who was uploaded into Gaia. The intention is that Wayfarer and Gaia talk “face-to-face.”
Mankind’s days on Gaia are numbered. It’s not due to any disease or holocaust, it’s just that man is nearing the end of its natural lifespan. Gaia has been changing the parameters on various groups that are left and letting things develop naturally, as if this was an immense computer program. If the results are unsatisfactory, the program is terminated, with the loss of everyone who was living in it. Ashcroft and Brannock see the results of a variety of “experiments” being run by Gaia. They also fall in love with each other.
I really enjoyed this novel. Anderson is my favorite science fiction writer, so I don’t claim to be totally impartial. This is a well done, idea filled story, done on a huge scale, with a writing style that I have yet to find elsewhere. It is highly recommended.
Erin Rushton is a virtuoso on the glass harmonica in 2018 Seattle. It’s a time of America as theme park; a certain neighborhood must, by law, look as if time stopped in the 1950s, including clothing, another must look like the 1930s, etc. Undesirables, like the homeless, are pushed out of sight into permanent tent cities.
Charlie, Erin’s twin brother, has spent most of his life unable to walk. The only way to counteract a neurological condition when he was little was to give him an engineered virus which had the side effect of forcing him into a wheelchair. Erin watches as doctor after doctor fails to restore use of Charlie’s legs. She is less than impressed at Gene Berrick, a neurophysiologist who came from a tent city, who tries sound plus small bits of electricity, to force Charlie’s brain to make new neural pathways to his legs. Charlie is very impatient, and tries a huge “dose” of the treatment, on his own, with disastrous side effects. Erin’s attitude changes, when, in desperation, she consults Gene with the fear that she’s losing her mind. Erin has been troubled by random visions of a young woman near her age. Did I forget to mention the reputation the glass harmonica has for driving insane those who listen to it?
I think I liked the near future society building a little bit more than the story. The story is not bad by any means, with more than a bit of historical fact included, and is well worth reading. I guess I liked the vision of America less than twenty years from now just a little bit more.
Two hundred years later, Darling is heading for an isolated desert planet called Malvir. It’s the sort of place that isn’t just in the middle of Nowhere, but is many light years from Nowhere. The conventional wisdom is that an extremely private, and galaxy-wide famous, sculptor named Vaddum died in a major explosion on Malvir several years previously. His pieces cost enough to buy a planet and are very prized. A couple of his pieces recently discovered suggest that Vaddum may not be dead; Darling is going to make sure, one way or the other. He goes up against Mira, a human assassin who serves her alien masters.
This is a first-rate piece of writing. It’s a very thought-provoking story of the future of artificial intelligence, individuality, and is an all-around fine science fiction story. It’s more than worth reading.
Deirdre, now a veterinarian, is the “normal” one of the group, untouched by magic, but still seems to have acquired the spirit of a coyote. Julio tangled with the force, a man named Gross who wants the group as his slaves, years ago. Over the intervening time, he turned into Lia, a female musician. Tasha and Terry are twin sisters, whose powers revolve around the elements of Air and Fire. Nathan is the occupant of House; actually, he’s a ghost who can leave the premises only through a seance.
House also brought the group together for another reason. Just before the final battle with Cross and his slaves, it asks the group’s help in fulfilling a wish it has had for a long time.
I loved this book. The writing is lyrical, almost poetic, there is just the right amount of strangeness in the story, and the author does a great job making the characters into real people. Along with its prequel, A Red Heart of Memories, this is a wonderful piece of writing.
A meteor strikes Earth near the Great Lakes and disgorges thousands of invisible fire beings who attach themselves to a person, then cause that person to spontaneously burst into flame. Two men are trapped on a sailing ship, adrift in the middle of the ocean after a storm. Many days of hot sun, salt water and food cargo below decks causes the creation of a carnivorous blob that feeds at night. A college biology lab experiment gone wrong results in the creation of a giant amoeba that escapes from the lab and absorbs people. A scientist discovers a new anesthetic that keeps the patient totally awake, even while major surgery is performed, without the patient feeling any pain at all. After it is tried on a badly injured man brought to the local hospital, the scientist discovers that the inability to feel pain becomes permanent. A half-dead jungle explorer stumbles into a camp run by a couple of scientists. While he remains unconscious, they electronically switch his personality with various animals, including a black panther and an eagle. In a Midwestern farming town, a farmer goes out to his garden to dig up some potatoes. The potato digs itself farther and farther into the earth, as if it doesn’t want to be dug up. Another farmer goes out to his orchard, only to find that the whole orchard has moved itself a couple of miles away.
There is also an account of the founding, with August Derleth, of Arkham House, the small press publisher. This later became a multi-year court battle, started by Wandrei, that almost destroyed Arkham House, and did destroy Wandrei’s reputation in the science fiction/fantasy world. That should n’t detract from the fact that this is an excellent collection of stories from the old days, written by one of the giants of the field, and is well worth reading.
The city has gone nuts with enthusiasm over a lurid play full of melodrama called The Drowned Island. A soldier named Philip Eslingen gets drafted as “swordfight coordinator” over a bunch of nobles in the play not accustomed to being told what to do. Things get really interesting when a real dead body is found on stage. Adjunct Point Nicholas Rathe, the local law enforcer and a friend of Eslingen, is called in to investigate. According to the necromancer, the deceased, another local noble, died of drowning at the spot where his body was found, without any water at all nearby. Several more deaths involved with the play, or its participants, make things worse. Rathe asks Eslingen to keep an eye on the nobles and otherwise nose around to see what he can find.
Rathe has to also investigate the appearance in the city of copies of a book called the Alphabet. It is reputed to tell how to arrange flowers in certain configurations to create a sort of magic force field, affecting anyone within range. All copies of the book have to be investigated, for there is no way to know if a certain copy actually works. Rathe begins to think that maybe one or more of the murders, especially the “drowning” victim, may have been aided by the proper configuration of flowers.
Just to make things a little more tense for everyone, is the fact that for a couple of days each month, ghosts of the dead become visible. They don’t talk, but they certainly influence everyone.
This is not a very easy or quick read, but, by the end, the reader will find that it is a very intelligent and well done read. The authors do a fine job throughout, with the characters, the society building and the mystery. It is a very satisfying piece of writing.
While convincing Francis that this is for real, Padraig makes a huge error. Gargoyles are actually avenging angels direct from God, and the only way to see their true, human, form is with the help of a black mirror. Padraig unintentionally lets Francis see his true form reflected in the door of Templeton’s black 1929 Rolls Royce. One of the major rules of gargoyles is: Never let a human see your true form. Any human who does so must die.
The next day, after the thieves are caught, Death comes for Francis. Padraig convinces Death to give him some more time, and to let him, Padraig, do it when the time comes. Good thing, too. During the time of the Crusades, the spirit of a major demon was buried beneath the city. The bonds holding the demon are loosening; the freeing of this demon would be a major calamity for the whole world. The demon was originally buried by members of the Knights Templar. All of the gargoyles are called in to help, but a human is still needed. Francis happens to be a member of the Knights of Malta; he agrees to help, knowing that it may kill him. He also knows that because he “saw” Padraig, his time has come. Francis gets help from a temporarily resurrected member of the Knights Templar, who died about a thousand years ago.
This novel starts off interesting and rather “cute,” but gets a lot better. Kurtz is a veteran writer, and it shows here. Besides, there aren’t nearly enough novels about gargoyles. This one is very much worth reading.
Meantime, back in the “real” world, Kennaston writes a romance called The Audit at Storisende, his Great Contribution to Literature. The publisher rejections start to pile up. They all love the book, but all feel that the potential audience is too small to make the book worth publishing. Finally, a publisher accepts the book, changing its name to Men Who Loved Allison. The initial reaction to the novel is underwhelming, but, helped by a couple of scandalous chapters, it becomes something of an underground bestseller.
Part of a series, this is a very urbane and polished sort-of contemporary fantasy story. Many of Cabell’s novels; he wrote more than fifty of them; contain much more than meets the eye. This is not a very easy or quick read, but it’s a very complex and satisfying read.
It is set in the near future city of Beerlight, a place of nightly shootouts and the sort of criminals worthy of Dick Tracy. Atom finds himself in the middle when a gang of desperadoes are willing to go to any lengths to achieve the existential peace that goes along with possessing the brain of Franz Kafka.
Of course, underworld types come with lots of firepower, but these aren’t your average pistols and submachine guns. In this city, they pack things like dumb guns, Persuader semi-egotistics, or the infamous loop mine, which cycles the victim through the same couple of hours over and over.
Beerlight is a very surreal sort of place. A gangster decorates his fort according to the principles of Bren Shui: “the art of exchanging negative energy with the environment through the correct placement of firearms around the house.” A syndication bomb might suddenly explode and convert everything to a living John Updike novel.
As you might have guessed, this is a very strange novel. Fans of Raymond Chandler or “weird” fiction will have a great time with this story. For everyone else, this is another one that belongs in the large gray area of Pretty Good or Worth Reading.
At one point, John is a business owner in late 18th century Brittania. One day, he is shanghaied by the military and put on ship to go to war against Patagonia (Argentina). On his return, he finds that the only employment open to him is to join a half-private, half-government security service. They are sent to the north of the country, equipped with 21st century truncheons and shields, to break up (violently, if necessary) a strike by a group of coal miners. Later, the service is used stifle opposition to a recently enacted Poll Tax on all citizens.
At another point, John is a big business executive in a Brittania where the Roman Empire never went away. Even though it is the eve of the 21st century, everyone wears togas, travel is by anti-gravity chariots, and the country is run by an Emperor. The company, called Hegemony, actually is the government, and begins implementation of a mandatory scheme where all citizens give a sample of their DNA. The intention is to start a private file on everyone in Brittania.
Fans of dystopian science fiction, like 1984 or The Prisoner, will love this book; conspiracy fans will love it, too. The author certainly doesn’t hold back in his satirizing of present-day Britain. This book will take some effort on the part of the reader, but, on more than one level, it is very good and very highly recommended.