Photo credit to The Purpose Pusher’s ProcessI love science. So many of our questions are explored, and this one is one that I have wondered about many times. How is it that I manage to forget something just because I walked through a door-way???? It is incredibly annoying to stand there wondering what on earth I am doing there.
The filing systems of humans are truly wonderful and complex. It is amazing for a lay-person to get sort of an answer to something that has been bothering her time and again. I have no idea how many times I have walked into another room and immediately forgotten what I was supposed to do there. Phew. Knowing won’t change all of the slips, but it does help to know that there is a kind of a reason for being such an air-head – and not just the fact that I am an air-head.
I remember reading The Amytiville Horror (1977) as a teen-ager. It had me freaked out. After that the house on the cover of the novel was part of my nightmares for a long time.
While not as paranormal as the novel, the real-life story of the Amytiville family is just as frightening/strange. What motivates a young man to kill his parents and siblings? Craig Hill gives us a look at the story behind the story.
On October 14th 1975, Ronald DeFeo Jr. went on trial for the killings of his parents and four siblings in their Amityville, New York, home.
The family’s house was later said to be haunted and served as the inspiration for the Amityville Horror book and movies.
On the evening of November 13, 1974, Ronald “Butch” DeFeo Jr. entered an Amityville bar and told people his parents had been shot inside their home.
Several bar patrons accompanied DeFeo back to his family’s home, at 112 Ocean Avenue, where a man named Joe Yeswit called Suffolk County police to report the crime.
When officers arrived, they found the bodies of Ronald DeFeo Sr., age 43, his wife Louise, 42, and their children Dawn, 18, Allison, 13, Marc, 11, and John, 9.
The victims had been shot dead in their beds.
Ronald DeFeo Jr., 22, initially tried to say the murders were…
My first comment on this book sounds negative. Maybe I mean it that way. I haven’t made up my mind yet. Bruce Chatwin is another white dude in a long line of white people telling the story of the Aborigines of Australia. It isn’t Bruce’s fault that I bought The Songlines at the library. That is mine and I am glad that I did.
Here in Norway there aren’t many books by indigenous Australians that are sold. But what does the term aboriginal Australian mean. After all, there used to be at least 250 languages spoken among the people. Now, all but 20 are endangered. The Songlines represents one of these groups.
Chatwin grew up with a dream of Australia. As an adult he went there and got to know Arkady, a son of Russian and Ukranian immigrants to Australia. Arkady had fallen for the Aboriginal way of living and he had shown the Indigenous people that he was trustworthy and would respect their traditions. That is why they agreed to show him their Songlines or paths that intersected with the Dreamtime (holy places).
This is why Arkady was the perfect go-to person for Bruce. He had answers to the questions Chatwin wondered about and the means to introduce him to at least some of the decision making elders.
The Aboriginal Land Rights Act of 1976 “defines ‘traditional landowners’ as a group of Aboriginals who have “primary spiritual responsibility” for sacred sites on a piece of land, and who are entitled by Aboriginal tradition to hunt and gather on that land. Traditional landowners are the key decision makers for their land, although Land Councils must also talk to affected communities.”
Arkady Volchok was mapping the sacred sites of the Aboriginals. Part of his mapping was done as a surveyor for an engineer planning on starting the building of the Alice Springs/Darwin railline. But first the engineer had to make certain that the line did not cross the work of a Dreamtime hero.
The Dreamtime has partly to do with the creation of the world and totems. Somehow the world was sung into being from an idea, a singing that is still going on and that the Aboriginal sacred rites help support. Being able to stay off the songline had become important to the railway company – or at least its engineer.
To the Aboriginal people one could even say that all of Australia is a sacred site, one that is extremely important to disturb as little as possible.
I think I like this idea. It makes more sense that the European one and is certainly a whole lot more beautiful and carries a much greater degree of respect toward the preservation of the Earth. Where we Westerners are so caught up in greed and consumption, environmentalism seems to be the way of the Aboriginal people.
I admit it. I got caught up in Chatwin’s writing. I had to go online to research a bit more, trying to figure things out. Great trick that.
Chatwin’s goal with this book is to document the nomads of Australia. Nomad to Chatwin means a person who “moves from pasture to pasture”. He had previously gone into the desert of Sudan with Mahmoud, a nomad. Now he wanted to know what the Australian nomadic trails were like. What he discovers is an incredibly complex world including trade, marriage and survival strategies. I am not even going to try to explain any of this because I do not even begin to understand the songline, anymore than I understand what it means to be a man. Read the book.
I’m trying to decide what I thought about The Iron Wyrm Affair. It took a while for it to get off its butt, but once it did it really got going. This is my first experience with Lilith Saintcrow. Looking at her website, I see that she writes to a different audience than myself. That might be why I didn’t get wowed by The Iron Wyrm Affair.
Saintcrow’s Bannon and Clare world is an alternative Victorian one. The queen is Victrix who is also a vessel for the spirit of Britannia. London is Londonium. All the names are changed in minor ways like this. The world shares a similar yet different history to our own.
For one thing, it is a world run on magic. Magic is everywhere and in general the world works on different rules to our own. Machines run on magic and not all machines are only machines. Sometimes there is a mixture of animal and machine or person and machine. I guess kind of like magical cyborgs.
In this world there are (among lots of others) sorceresses/rors and mentaths. Bannon is a sorceress (of the Black, no less) and Clare is a mentath. To reach the rank of sorceress one must have a high degree of affinity to magic. Mentaths are addicted to logic. If they do not get puzzles to solve, they usually end up going insane.
We meet both Bannon and Clare as Bannon is trying to save Clare from being killed. It seems unregistered mentaths are being killed for who knows what reason. Saving Clare from murder, just happens to save him from insanity as well. Being bored just does not suit a mentath. Now Clare gets to join in on solving who is killing off mentaths.
There is plenty of action and some humorous interplay between the various characters.
The Iron Wyrm Affair is probably going to be a good fit for Saintcrow’s target group.
Coming out of whatever closet you are in will lessen the anxiety we feel and hasten our ability to accept ourselves for who and what we are according to psychologist Carl Rogers. I believe that people who accept who they are and who others are will be people who are able to feel true happiness in their lives.
With apologies to Glinda, I only changed one word to make a point. I’m sure she won’t mind because she’s an ally who supports equality and justice for all, gay, straight, or otherwise.
Whereas Glinda had asked the little Munchkins to come out of hiding, I ask that all future LGBT folk come out, too. Not from hiding in the bushes like the Munchkins were, but hiding from their true selves — or even from themselves.
Today more non-LGBT allies are championing us and lighting the way (thank you Lady Gaga) and we have more opportunity to express ourselves than in other times and places.
Which reminds me, a while back the Iranian President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, was asked how gay people in his country were treated. His response? “There are no gay people in Iran.” To which I retorted (yelling at the TV), “Yeah, as soon as…
Death by pulonium-210. Pulonium in the blood is not a pleasant way to go. But then I guess quite a few ways of dying are rather unpleasant. What makes it a sensational death is that Litvinenko was poisoned and quite a few people suspect that it is a political death – like the death of Anna Politkovskaya.
So who was Alexander Litvinenko? Why was it necessary to kill him?
Some of Death of a Dissident is bleak reading. Unsurprising but bleak. The lengths to which some people will go to gain and retain power is frightening. It seems there is always someone who is willing to give up their integrity for gain.
Boris Berezovsky with bodyguards
Warning right away. As you read Death of a Dissident you might keep in mind that one of the writers of the book was Alex Goldfarb. Goldfarb was/is employed by Boris Berezovsky. Goldfarb admits to this relationship at the beginning of the book. Whether it is possible to trust all of the information in Death of a Dissident is something worth asking oneself.
Alexander before poisoning
In 2000 Litvinenko decided that it was time that he and Marina ran from it before he was arrested once more. After the claims against the FSB leadership, it had become unsafe for him to stay in Russia. With the help of Boris Berezovsky and Alex Goldfarb they left and finally arrived in the UK.
During their drive across Turkey, Alex Goldfarb felt he got to know Sasja. His life had not been a dance on roses and Sasja felt that Marina was the one who ultimately saved him.
Alexander Valterovich Litvinenko was born in 1962 (so a year younger than my brother) in Russia. His route of service went from the Internal Troops of the Minstry of Internal Affairs to the Dzerzhinsky Division of the Soviet Minstry of Internal Affairs. From there he entered the KGB and finally the FSB. He had lived a long life of service to the system and it could not have been easy for him to betray that system.
Before marrying Marina, Litvinenko had been married to Nataliya. Together they had a son and a daughter. In 1994 they would divorce.
Litvinenko’s meeting with Boris Berezovsky changes Sasja’s life Even though he know how much Boris likes money, and that the ends justify his means, Alex sticks with him through thick and thin. This relationship is part of what brings so much trouble into Sasja’s life. When the system wishes to charge Boris with crimes, Alexander’s loyalty to the state gets challenged.
Along with all of the bad military experiences Sasja has in the Chechenian was, experiences with poorly equipped soldiers being asked to do impossible things, Alex is also influenced by the shifting power in the FSB. Deniability was becoming increasingly difficult. When Sasja was arrested after becoming a whistleblower (along with several others) his life in Russia becomes untenable and escape becomes a real option for him and Marina.
Once they get to London, Alexander Litvinenko begins telling his tale of power struggles in Russia – depicting Putin as Mr. Bad while Boris is often the alleged victim. When he is poisoned, one of the claims is that Putin is behind the poisoning.
How much of this book that is truth and how much of it that is fiction is difficult for me to say. Putin is indisputably a bad boy in a country where rules and regulations seem to have taken a vacation. This is a country where survival of the strongest and most brutal is a reality. It is a fascinating story of one man’s journey (along with all of the people around) and well worth reading.
Sometimes I wonder if power is THE most basic of our needs. The power to control our own lives, the power to control our environment and the power to control others.
Take the power to control our own lives. Genvieve Taylor never had power over her life. Her creation was a genetic experiment between two incompatible races. Once that succeeded she was promised to someone extremely powerful and extremely deranged. And finally, at the age of 14 she was injected with a poison (V3) that made her vulnerable to vampires.
Our main character never seriously thinks about giving up the fight for the right to decide what to do with herself and her own life. The Sweet Scent of Blood is for the most part about that battle. And battle it is.
At the beginning of The Sweet Scent of Blood Genny imagines she has achieved a modicum of control over her life, in fact about as much power as most of us can expect to have. She has a job, protection against the vampires, a place to live and friends. Yet power over our own lives is often an illusion. Illusions are easily snatched away by someone more powerful or someone willing to engage the help of the powerful.
Being one of the sidhe fae, a bean sidhe, would normally make Genvieve one of the more powerful people of the world of Suzanne McLeod. But her mixed heritage is unhelpful and Genny’s inability to accept who and what she is acts as a barrier in reaching her potential. In McLeod’s London she also happens to be the only sidhe fae. Sadly, this only makes her more attractive to both those who wish to use her and those who wish to destroy her.
In my mind the only person in The Sweet Scent of Blood who is wholly on Genvieve’s side is Hugh Monroe. Hugh has an intense need to protect those who are in need of help. Genny came into his life when she was infected with V3 and has remained there ever since. His protectiveness made it natural for him to wish to enter the police force. He works as a DI at The New Scotland Yard and happens to be one of the straight cops at that facility. We soon discover that not all who work for the police do so for the same need to protect and serve the public.
The Sweet Scent of Blood starts out as a mystery and ends up as a battle amongst the mighty of Genny’s London. Genvieve seeks the answer to who killed Melissa. Was is Roberto, her boyfriend, or was it another character? Through the story we see that sometimes Genny is aided in her search for answers but for the most part barriers are thrown up, one after the other.
In their scrabble to stay on top, the powers that be have decided that the faery are to remain without civil rights. Civil rights is something a great many of us take for granted. I find it comforting to imagine that if something terrible happened to me then I would be safe because Justice would have its day. Sure, it’s just an illusion but one that is legislated for the likes of me. One hundred years ago women did not have the right to vote nor did they have many of the other rights that men did. Disabled could still be sterilized in Norway a long time after that. Many people have sacrificed a great deal to make it possible for me to have the power over my life that I do.
Faery do not. Vampires do, but faery do not. Witches have civil rights, but faery do not. Regular humans have civil rights, but faery do not. Do I have to look far to find people without written legislation to protect them even today? Sadly, no. In The Sweet Scent of Blood the reason for this lack of power lies for the main part in looks. Some of the faery can be frightening looking and some of them are extremely dangerous. Their ethics are unfamiliar to humans. All of these factors have been utilized by the masters of power games in making the faery less powerful.
The Sweet Scent of Blood is one of my re-readables. I know it is supposed to be Suzanne McLeod’s first published novel, but it holds none of the earmarks of a first novel. Indeed she manages to stay on-key throughout the whole story. Definitely recommended.
Freaks is a mystery with some very unlikely detectives. Detectives who work in a freak-show are kind of visible wouldn’t you say? It must be difficult to blend in when necessary. But this novel occurs in the chaotic and messy London of the 1800s.
Sheba, the were-something (we don’t know at the beginning of the book exactly what she is) is the main attraction of the Grunchgrindle’s World of Curiosities at the end of Little Pilchton pier. One day a man (Plumpscuttle) buys her and the other attraction (a two-headed sheep) for his own show and takes her to London. There she and the other “freaks” of the show set up for the public every evening.
One evening a mud-lark named Till manages to sneak in and befriend Sheba. When Till goes missing her parents come to the show to ask for help. It turns out Till is not the only one who has disappeared on the mud-flats. Then one day, the gang gets a break in the case.
Freaks is a fun read. It has everything a 10-year old would like. The Monkeyboy likes to throw snot and earwax at the public, a ninja is part of the show and so are rats and a giant. London stinks terribly, there is a monster and the gang gets into strange and dangerous situations. Larwood has written a mystery with plenty of humor and action.
Kieran Larwood‘s daytime job is as a Reception class teacher at a Primary School. After working towards being published for quite a while, Freaks finally won The Times/Chicken House Children’s Fiction Competition 2011 and publication was in the box.
Cover artist “Rivers of London”: Stephen Walter Cover artist “Midnight Riot”:
Before starting on the Peter Grant series – mystery books – Ben Aaronovitch was busy in the writing business. He has been involved in screenwriting, audiodramas, television-series, short stories and spin-off novels. While being mainly an author, Aaronovitch has also had the great pleasure (as so many other writers) of supporting his writing habit with non-writing jobs.
On his blog he states that the Peter Grant series was in part influenced by these sources:
When Peter Grant gets out of being assigned to the Case Progression Unit by being sent to Chief Inspector Nightingale, he “left in a hurry before he could change his mind, but I want to make it clear that at no point did I break into a skip.” Brits. Gotta love them.
What Peter discovers when he gets to DCI Nightingale is that magic does exist and so does everything else paranormal literature delves into. His and DCI Nightingdale’s job (being the only representatives of that side of life) is to regulate the super-natural community, making sure they uphold the laws.
Rivers of London is at heart a mystery. A serial-killer is on the loose making use of magic in her/his/its killings. It is vital that Nightingdale and the rest of the Met find the serial-killer before more people are found without their faces. Peter has his chance at being a detective at the same time that he has to negotiate peace between the lower and upper sides of the Thames (mother and father Thames). His baptism into the super-natural community is at times frightening for him and delightful for us.
While a mystery with death and mayhem, Rivers of London is a light-hearted novel. There is plenty of humor and an irreverent look at society that I enjoy.
Thus far, Rivers of London is the only book in the series that I have read. I do believe I am going to read the next one as well. Aaronovitch manages to balance humor and action in true British style. I like Peter Grant’s distracted manner, something that gives us insight into his character but also into the city of London.
Fanart by DeaDiscordia Upper left: Beverley Brook, “daughter” of Mama Thames and goddess of a small river in South London Bottom left: Police Constable Lesley May Centre: Police Constable Peter Grant Upper right: Detective Chief Inspector Thomas Nightingale, head of the Folly and the last officially sanctioned English Wizard. Bottom right: Molly; The Folly’s domestic helper.
Patricia Briggs was born in 1965. Her joy in storytelling manifested itself early, and scaring her friends (including her husband Mike) was one of her funner hobbies. Patricia kept her story-telling abilities alive through college and her life in Chicago. When she and Mike moved to Montana she got the peace and quiet she needed to finally sit down and write, and she was able to publish Masques in 1993. Then Steal the Dragon followed as her next novel. After that one novel has followed the other. In the Sianim series Wolfsbane was the last one published thus far in 2010.
For best effect, the books should be read in this order: Masques, Wolfsbane, Steal The Dragon, When Demons Walk.
My version of Masques is the reworked one. Patricia Briggs writes a foreword warning the reader of this. Due to the years that had passed since the first edition of Masques, Briggs and her editor felt it appropriate to remove some of the traces of an author’s first attempt. The book is supposed to be full of clichés, but I’m lucky because I would not recognize a cliché if it bit me on the backside of forever.
Geoffrey ae’Magi is gaining in power and followers. Ren, the spymaster of Sianim sends Aralorn off to see about a death-threat to the magician. At the time, Aralorn felt that switching places with one of the other slaves would be a good idea. With green magic as hers, she is able to change her physical appearance. But while at a party the Archmage is holding for various dignitaries, Aralorn changes her mind. She has been placed in a cage wearing the illusion of a snowfalcon form the ae’Magi has created. But one of the visitors seems to see through the illusion. The King of Reth comes up to Aralorn asking if she is in need of help. She says no.
After the party the Archmage asks Aralorn a few questions. His magic is such that he can do the most horrendous things to people and still have them adore him. Aralorn is not sure how long she will be able to endure her stay with him. When she discovers that his plans for her include her demise, she decides to run.
With her companion Wolf and her war-horse Sheen, Aralorn decides to find a way to fight the great and beloved Archmage’s evil magic.
Wolfsbane is a tightly-coupled sequel to Masques, and won’t make much sense by itself. Masques had not been a hit and Steal the Dragon hadn’t done all that well either. Briggs wrote Wolfsbane for her own enjoyment and left the book on her shelf. Eventually, she brushed the dust off it, and got it published.
Wolf has been missing for a few weeks and Aralorn has been dreaming dreams of his childhood. Someone seems to be looking for him in them.
Aralorn’s father has died, and Aralorn goes to attend his funeral. She has been gone from Lyon’s keep for ten years and finds it extra difficult that the circumstances are so sad. When she sees her father’s body, Aralorn discovers that Lyon is not quite dead. Instead, some kind of black magic seems to be involved.
Steal the Dragon is the second book Patricia Briggs wrote. It wasn’t a great hit at the time, but did better than Masques. It has since become more popular.
Steal the Dragon is set a little later than Wolfsbane. Geoffrey ae’Magi is already dead, but not for very long.
In Sianam Ren, the spymaster, decides to send Rialla (former slave from Darran) and Laeth (brother to an important Lord in Darran) to Lord Karsten to try to prevent another murder attempt. Both are highly motivated to do so (Rialla after some convincing) for different reasons.
When they get to Lord Karsten’s keep they play their roles as slave and master. When another attempt at Lord Karsten’s life occurs, they become worried for his safety. Then Rialla’s old master turns up at the keep and the two of them realize that they have probably stepped into a hornet’s nest. It turns out they are correct.
When Demons Walk seems to be a while after the previous three installations in the Sianam series. Like the others, When Demons Walk is light and entertaining reading. Patricia Briggs has her own style that is apparent in all of her novels. She is a good author, the quality of her writing is solid and her characters entertaining.
Sham is an orphan from one of the take-overs of the Prophet of Altis. The Cybellians have taken over Southwood, and Sham is left to thieving. Her master (she is a magician/wizard) does not approve, but he does recognize that other venues might be more dangerous.
Sham is surprised when she meets up with the Lord of Southwood – Lord Kerim. He is more likeable than she had thought, but still one of the enemy. But when attempts are made at various people’s lives (which include killing her master and trying to kill Lord Kerim), Sham put enmity aside and gives a helping hand in finding the culprit.
Hmm. All four books in the Sianim series are interesting additions to Briggs’ archive. I liked them. Like I said, Briggs does solid work. Michael Enzweiller’s maps are a great addition to her website.
Musical writers. What a treat they are. Anne Bishop is one such writer, one who knows how to make all of her chords fit together into a song that satisfies the reader. She manages to portray the darkness in people without stepping into the land of horror. I love dark fantasy when it is performed like this.
Like all of Anne Bishop’s stories, Ephemera is character driven. Generally two or three of them are three-dimensional, while the rest end up complementing the main characters. Ephemera comes from an idea of our outer world reflecting our inner one. What if that were literal? Playing with that idea brought about the Ephemera world (Reading Cafe interview). As we discover in reading these books, the world of Ephemera is ephemeral (transitory). One can never know where one ends up, seeing as one’s heart shows the way.
SEBASTIAN (2007)
German cover
“Long ago, in a time that has faded from memory, a mother’s tears forged the bridge that, ever after, connected the power of the living, ever-changing world to the human heart. – Myth”
Sebastian is a love story, but more than that it is a story about the choices we make. Do we dare to follow our dreams, or will we make “safe” choices? In the end it might not really matter, because the choices we make could very well all be the ones we really want.
Sebastian is an incubus, an incubus who has begun longing for something more than the life he is living right now in the Den of Iniquity. The Den of Iniquity is a place of ever-lasting carnival, a place where people come to fulfill those dark desires they have.
You can relax if you are worried that we are being cast into a place where the sex and violence is explicit. While the Den of Iniquity might well be a place where that is the case, Anne Bishop has been kind enough to keep us as readers away from the details.
Anyways, back to Sebastian. The Den of Iniquity has been his home since he was about 15. His past was not a good one with a succubus mother and wizard father. Sebastian’s mother left early on and his father left Sebastian’s care to others, people who were afraid of incubi. But Sebastian has turned out pretty well, thanks to Nadia, Belladonna and Lee (adoptive family). They have shown him that there is sunshine in a person. Now he wants someone to love.
BELLADONNA (2008)
Australian cover
“Heart’s hope lies with Belladonna.”
The Eater of the World is once more loose in Ephemera, free to wreak havoc where it sees fit. Dreams are invaded, monsters set free and lives are becoming darker due to its influence.
The only hope lies with Belladonna. Glorianna Belladonna is of the old blood, the blood of the Guides and Guardians. Her heritage is one of light and darkness. Only through the combination of the two is there a possibility of winning.
Unfortunately, Belladonna and Lee do not have all of the answers to her search for a solution to the Eater. She sends out a Heart’s Wish to Ephemera with the hope that someone will come with what she needs to save Ephemera.
In a sense that says it all. What price are we willing to pay to save the ones we love? I have no idea myself. In the world of fantasy people are willing to go to extremes to save the world and not just those close to themselves. Sometimes the price could end up being horrendous.
BRIDGE OF DREAMS (2012)
Australian cover
Anne Bishop pulls it off again. This time we get to hear more about Lee.
Ever since Glorianna Belladonna became Belladonna in every sense of the word, Lee has been frustrated, hurt and angry. Part of his anger is at Glorianna for placing herself in this position and for not going back to how she was previously. Another part of his anger is toward Michael, the Magician, for giving Belladonna the chance to make her choice, and for stopping him when Lee wanted to jump in and save her. Quite a bit of his hurt is toward the relationship that has developed between Michael, Glorianna and Sebastian. Why was Sebastian the one to call Belladonna back and not Lee? It seems unfair. Lee feels unwanted, and unable to come to terms with the way things have turned out.
When he stumbles upon wizards trying to invade one of Belladonna’s landscapes, Lee uses a one-shot bridge taking the wizards with him. He ends up in a city called Vision having to endure torture and the insidious whispering of the wizards.
Danyal, the Shaman, is sent to Vision to figure out what needs to be done to save the city from those places that no Shaman is able to see any longer. Shamen are like the Landscapers in that they take care of their landscapes. But unlike Landscapers they do not seem to have access to Bridges. Upon meeting up with other ways of doing things, Danyal is about to have his beliefs about the world challenged.
So, what can I say about Bridge of Dreams? I liked it. I like Anne Bishop’s version of the darkness that lives in all of us. Our shadows balance out the light in us. When we accept both sides of ourselves our potential becomes greater. All three books in the Ephemera series (trilogy?) follow the pattern of Anne Bishop’s other novels. I guess most authors have a unique style of writing (much like musicians), and sometimes that style works. In Bishop’s case I find myself embracing and enjoying her characters. Getting people to care about the characters in a novel seems to be what being an author should be about.
The Pip and Flinx series has spanned 35 years which is quite a long time to follow a series. Alan Dean Foster has written a typically young adult series. They are quite innocent and free of explicit sex and violence. I guess you could say that the Pip and Flinx series is fairly wholesome. Thankfully, Flinx is no angel. He is, however, a good person – for a given definition of good.
The series begins with Flinx as a child on the Planet Moth and ends with Flinx as an adult on the planet Cachalot. He has had many adventures travelling around the galaxy trying to figure out who and what he is. We are in the science fiction world with loads of drama and very little realism. I guess that is part of the charm of the series. Sometimes there is more fantasy in science fiction than there is in fantasy itself. All in all, the Pip and Flinx series has been an enjoyable journey. In spite of the writing being fairly average a lot of the time, I got caught wondering how the whole thing was going to resolve itself.
Flinx (later discovers his name is Philip Lynx) appears for the first time in For Love of Mother Not (1983). For Love of Mother Not was written after the first three books in the series, but for you as a reader it would be a good idea to read For Love of MotherNot first as it explains Flinx’ background.
At the time of For Love of Mother Not, Flinx is not aware of who he is or where he is from. On the planet Moth Mother Mastiff buys Flinx at an auction and raises him as her own. It does not take long for them to discover that there is something unusual about Flinx, and both decide that it is a good idea to keep Flinx’ erratic abilities under wraps.
One night Flinx wakes hearing an emotional distress signal. His empathic abilities are reading loud and clear for once. He goes out into the rain to see who is in trouble and discovers an Alaspin dragon that he names Pip. We never find out how Pip ended up on Moth, nor is it all that important. Pip’s venomous spitting abilities come in handy when the two of them go after Mother Mastiff and her kidnappers.
After having read For Love of Mother Not you go back to the original reading order. Because For Love of Mother Not was written so much later than The Tar-Aim Krang (1972) you will probably notice a couple of discrepancies. You will survive, believe me.
As The Tar-Aim Krang begins Flinx and Pip are still with Mother Mastiff on Moth. They discover a treasure map on a dead man. Flinx meets Bran Tse-Mallory (human) and Truzenzuzex (thranx) for the first time, while acting as their guide. Flinx and Pip end up travelling with the two to the Blight. To get there, they need to go by space-ship. Flinx’ empathic abilities will play an important part in the group’s discoveries.
Foster is not big on explanations of how Flinx and the rest travel from one solar system to another. To him the plot is the important part. Flinx and Pip’s interactions with others and their adventures are what drives this story up, up, up and away.
Flinx is still searching for clues to his ancestry in Orphan Star (1977). During his unwilling stay with the merchant Conda Challis, Conda hinted heavily about Flinx’ parentage. Flinx’ chase brings him into contact with the female Thranx, Sylzenzuzex, who just happens to be the niece of Truzenzuzex. Eventually, the pair of them end up on the edicted planet Ulra-Ujurr, where they meet a highly telepathic race (Ulra-Ujurrians).
Flinx and Pip now have their own space ship – Teacher – making the search for Flinx’s parents a whole lot easier. On their way they acquire a new pet by the name of Abalamahalamatandra (Ab for short). In The End of the Matter (1977) Bran and True turn up out of the blue looking for Ab. What a coincidence. That is the way it is with some authors. The coincidences line up. The human Skua September tells Flinx something of the Meliorare Society and the Qwarm (assassins) are sent after Flinx. Each book takes us a step closer to the end of Flinx’s search.
Love is in the air. Flinx in Flux (1988) shows us a new side of Flinx. I’m hopelessly in love with you, he tells Clarity Held. It cannot be, I’m an experiment. OK. So I exaggerate a bit. But he did tell Clarity Held that due to his experimental state, he felt that the two of them could not be an item. Trouble appears on the horizon in form of Clarity’s boss. He wants what Flinx has, even if he has to kidnap him. But Flinx has these strange abilities, and it might be a bad idea to be mean to him.
By now there are a whole lot of people who want to get to Flinx. There are the authorities who want him for various crimes. The Qwarm want to assassinate him and a few criminal bosses want to use Flinx. As we enter the world of Mid-Flinx (1995) Flinx has become quite a popular person. Maybe the saying “All PR is good PR” isn’t all that correct. To get a break Pip and Flinx go to Midworld. But breaks from trouble only happen to people who are not in adventure novels. On this semi-sentient planet Flinx and Pip learn to respect this dangerous planet, and also find that through this respect they have some protection when the baddies come to get them.
In Reunion (2001) Foster once again throws his heroes Pip and Flinx around the galaxy in search of an answer to Flinx’s heritage. Somehow Flinx thinks that this will make his choice of saviorhood or not easier. Together Pip and Flinx discover more about the Meliorare Society, the eugenicists who experimented with Flinx and other children in their search to create the perfect human.
Due to the information they uncover, Flinx and Pip go to Aan space where the walking lizards live – enemies of both humans and Thranx. Once there, Flinx’s unusual abilities come in handy in uncovering information and keeping himself hidden from the Aan – who would like nothing more than killing a human.
In Flinx’s Folly (2003) Flinx discovers exactly what the Great Emptiness (mysterious force) approaching the Milkyway is. Getting that knowledge almost tore his mind apart, and he would like to avoid repeating the experience. Like all mysterious things, the Great Emptiness has its set of followers. The cult of the Order of Null is set on stopping Flinx permanently. Extinction of life is the goal to have it seems. Fortunately for Flinx, he has loyal friends who want to help him in any way they can. One of these is the love of his life, Clarity Held. I wonder if she really holds clarity.
Flinx is tired of the expectations and just wants to go somewhere peaceful to think. His AI-space-ship Teacher suggests the planet Jast. Jast is where the action in Sliding Scales (2004) takes place. As you’ve probably understood by now, the Pip and Flinx series isn’t so much about Flinx’s search for an identity, nor is it all that much about winning over the Great Emptiness. These books are mainly about the trouble Flinx gets into hopping from place to place.
On Jast three seemingly incompatible races live together in peace. The Vssey, Aan and humans live in apparent harmony though apart. When Flinx upon arrival gets attacked by one of the Aan, he loses his memory and ends up in an Aan artist community. A Vssey rebellion is in the offing, and Flinx and Pip get caught in the middle of it.
In his search for a super-weapon that might destroy the darkness, Flinx has problems with his space-vesse,l and the Teacher has to make an emergency landing on an uncharted planet. In Running From the Deity (2005) Flinx experiences for the first time what it is like to live without his headaches and his empathic abilities going haywire.
The prime directive of the Commonwealth is to not interfere with primitive species, especially when using technology. Flinx breaks that rule and ends up being worshipped as a god. These compatible beings aren’t any nicer than any other species, and two opposing sides on the planet both want Flinx for their own. This leaves Flinx running again.
In 1973 Foster wrote Bloodhype. Flinx appears in the latter half of the novel. In a timeline sort of sense this action and humor filled novel should appear after Running From the Deity and before Trouble Magnet.
Bloodhype is a powerful drug that addicts you the first time and kills you if you do not continue with it. A pretty good deal for the producers, I would think. Pip and Flinx end up trying to stop the Bloodhype industry and end up on the planet Repler. We get to meet the Vom and a revived Tar-Aiym Krang in psionic battle, with the Tar-Aiym Krang more or less on the Commonwealth’s side. So, drugwar and psionic battle make for an interesting scifi adventure.
In Trouble Magnet (2006) a group of street-kids need to be rescued several times by Flinx. Once again Flinx has been side-tracked from his mission to find a solution to the problem of the Great Emptiness. As such, Flinx’s visit to Visaria seems part of a tendency to delay the ending of the series. Flinx’s aim seems to be to see if there is still any good out there worth saving, but Foster did not convince me of those intentions. Not one of his better ones.
With Patrimony (2007) Foster is finally back on track, both in terms of the quality of his writing and with the storyline. Oh, well. What would writers do without faithful readers (or suckers as anyone else would call us)? Flinx and Pip go to the planet Gestalt to follow-up on a clue they received in Trouble Magnet.
In showing his face, Flinx has once again come to the attention of the cult of the Order of Null. This time they are not about to fail in destroying him. Flinx is tracked and finally shot down in a river. His native guide is severely wounded but Flinx and Pip are OK. They are discovered and saved by the native Tlel. Together dangers are faced and Flinx discovers what he has wondered about his father.
Flinx Transcendent (2009) is the last story in the adventures of Pip and Flinx, or the last three stories in one novel. The first part of the story sees Pip and Flinx on the Aan home world. Flinx’s interactions with a young Aan are well-paced and well written.
Flinx is once again with the love of his life, Clarity, and his two friends, Bran and True. Once again, the Order or Null are after Flinx, and he will need the help from all of his friends to survive their attention.
And finally, Flinx faces the Great Emptiness that is speeding its way across the universe towards our galaxy. Flinx still does not know how to defeat it, but fear not, a solution will arise.
And so our journey with Pip and Flinx ends, or maybe not. The Commonwealth is a large place, and while Flinx might not again take main stage, he might very well appear in a smaller role – at least according to some of the speculations out there. I for one am finished with the Commonwealth.
ADAPTATIONS
Tar Aiym Krang (2M) An experiment with sequencers by Mark Earll Music.
Krang (aka Tar-Aiym Krang) music group mentioned by Wikipedia.
Check out University of Wisconsin – Madison’s article on how researchers have taken Leopold’s field notes and reconstructed a “soundscape” of how the chorus of birds must have sounded before all of our modern sound-intrusions.
If there is one thing in this world that has inspired the world of nerddom, it has to be the fantastical writings of J.R.R. Tolkien. While I’m not a Tolkien nerd/geek/fan/cult-member, I understand those who are. I mean, I’m writing a blog mostly about fantasy and science fiction – and I love doing the digging necessary for each article.
Tolkien did not only write “high epic fantasy”. He was first and foremost a Professor of Anglo-Saxon at Oxford. You can see a list of his published material at the Tolkien Library website.
While working as a lexicographer on the New English Dictionary, Tolkien began working on the elven language (primarily based on Finnish and Welsh – go to The Elvish Library to get your Tengwar baptism). At the same time he presented his The Fall of Gandolin. The Fall of Gandolin represents the beginning of what later became The Silmarillion. He ended up at Oxford in 1925, and it was after this that the work on first The Hobbit and then The Lord of The Rings began. (Tolkien Library – biography)
The Hobbit was a hit, making it easier for the publisher to contemplate publishing The Lord of The Rings. But for economic reasons, it was decided that three volumes were necessary. The three volumes were The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers and the Return of the King. My copy is the omnibus containing all three novels and the appendices at the end, appendices that are quite a bit of fun.
Generally, I try to analyze what it is about a book that makes me like it. With The Hobbit it was the adventure of the tale. The Lord of the Rings is rather more difficult to pin down. Part of my liking has to do with the quality of the work. Tolkien nit-picked at details until they fit into his Middle-Earth world. The likeability of all of the characters also plays a great role. Even the “baddies”. The way the story is told, jumping from place to place is frustrating at times but also makes a lot of sense. I absolutely hated it when Tolkien broke from one adventure when things were at their most critical, to visit someone else where he had left them off. But it did keep me reading. I remember the first time I read The Lord of the Rings. I stayed up all night to get through it. Once I get going, The Lord of the Rings is difficult to put down. I have no idea how many times I have read this book, but I have gone through it a few times.
THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING
Each book is divided into two parts. The Fellowship of the Ring consists of I: The Ring Sets Out and II: The Ring Goes South.
Bilbo is having his 111th birthday party combining it with Frodo’s 33rd. The whole Shire is looking forward to the celebration as there will be gifts for everyone and enormous amounts of food. As ordered, Gandalf shows up with fireworks for the party.
Bilbo is going to give up the ring, but he is finding it more difficult than he had thought. Somehow, it ends up in his pocket no matter what his intentions are. That is one of the problems with the ring. Once it chooses you as an owner, it will use you up until it feels like letting you go. Now Bilbo has to fight his own desires. In the end he manages to leave the ring with Frodo, his nephew, and Bilbo leaves the Shire with Gandalf.
Originally, the ring had belonged to Sauron. Sauron is a wizard who has gone over to the dark side (like Darth Vader in Star Wars). Now that he has amassed quite a bit of power, he wants his ring back and has sent his minions to search for it. The search has led him to the Shire. Gandalf returns to warn Frodo that he needs to leave the Shire. He does so, and ends up in the company of his friends Sam, Pippin and Merry. They go via the Old Forest to avoid whatever is looking for them.
The Old Forest is ruled by Tom Bombadil. Thankfully, he keeps a close watch over his kingdom and manages to be there for the hobbits when they need him. With his assistance the hobbits are able to get through the Old Forest. Their journey carries them through Barrow-Downs, Bree and Weathertop.
The four hobbits learn quite a bit about themselves, their strengths and weaknesses. Their loyalty to each other increases with their trials. Middle-Earth is not exactly a paradise, free from dangers. Once the Shire is left behind, danger seems to be the word of the day for this little troup. At Bree the hobbits meet up with a ranger called Aragorn. Together, they test the bond between human and hobbits and find out what they all are made of. Eventually, the gang manages to arrive at Rivendell, one of the homes of the elves.
A well-earned rest is taken at Rivendell. Elrond, the elven-leader at Rivendell convenes the Council of Elrond. At the Council, reports are given, and the decision as to what needs to be done next is taken. They decide that the One Ring must be destroyed and once again the hobbits set off. This time there are nine people who set out.
THE TWO TOWERS
As with The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers also consists of two books. Book III is The Treason of Isengard and book IV The Ring Goes East.
This is when Tolkien begins to get seriously annoying. Sadly, he has to because the company has split up and we need to know what happens to each party. Frodo has left the Fellowship and gone down the road he thinks is necessary. Along with him went Sam. For now, we learn very little new about them, but we will later on (of course). This part of the story belongs to Merry and Pippin and the important part they play in furthering the plot.
The group gets split even further. Merry and Pippin are taken by the Uruk-hai. The rest have to make a decision. Try to find Frodo and Sam or follow Merry and Pippin. Merry and Pippin it is. Fortunately for Merry and Pippin, their stay with the Uruk-hai is not an extended one. After their escape they come to Fangorn forest and the Ents. Treebeard’s depiction above is one of the coolest ones I’ve come accross yet. Treebeard is the leader of the Ents, tree-people who have taken a looooong rest (for some of them a permanent one).
Aragorn, Gimli and Legolas come accross tracks that remind them of hobbit feet. They follow them into Fangorn and meet Gandalf again. Meeting him is a shock and a surprise (hah, hah, hah – not telling why). Together they rouse the armies of Rohan and all of them travel on to Helm’s Deep where they are needed.
In the meantime, Frodo and Sam continue on their journey toward Mordor. Who should appear but Gollum. His attraction to the One Ring is strong and he cannot help being pulled towards it. Frodo and Sam get him to promise to guide them to the Black Gate of Mordor.
Once they get to the Black Gate, Gollum finds it easy to convince Frodo and Sam to follow him to a secret entrance into Mordor. By going there, they will avoid guards. As they keep on going, the three-hobbit-group meets up with Faramir and his Rangers. The Rangers help them on their way. Faramir warns Frodo and Sam that Gollum might know more about the secret entrance than he is telling. And he does. Does he ever. But then Gollum is true to the nature that has become his. Possession of the One Ring is all that matters to him. Means justify the end, and what an unpleasant set of means he has awaiting the two hobbits.
THE RETURN OF THE KING
In our last book of The Lord of the Ring trilogy we find the books V: The War of the Ring and VI: The Return of the King.
The Lord of the Rings is not a trilogy for the faint-hearted. From what I’ve heard, that goes for the movies as well (I have not seen them). There is violence, plenty of violence and death. As you have found thus far, people die along the way. How many of these heroes will survive, is not certain at all. But what most of you already know, due to all of the media coverage of the films, is that some of our heroes will make it – all the way to the very end.
But before we get that far, war beckons in another land. A horde of Orcs are attacking Gondor and the people of Gondor are desperate for help. The goal of Gandalf and Aragorn and the rest is to get there in time to make a difference. But when the dreaded Witch King of Angmar arrives on the scene with even more help from Mordor, nothing is certain.
As you will see when you read The Return of the King, plenty has happened to Frodo and Sam. Their journey towards the destruction of the One Ring is proving extremely problematic. Orcs are following their tracks through the desolate landscape of Mordor. Getting from Cirith Ungol to the Crack of Doom is by no means certain. Nothing of value is to be easy for the two friends.
And this is where I leave off. Like I said at the beginning, The Lord of the Rings has been an enjoyable and tense journey, one that I wish everyone could enjoy. I have not seen the films, and I will not do so either. The images evoked by this trilogy through reading, are enough for me. I wish to retain them, not replace them.
For my dyslectic son, the films were the obvious choice and one that he enjoyed. My non-dyslectic son has read the trilogy several times and seen the films and enjoyed all of them. I’m just too old-fashioned, I guess.
1978: Part I of a rotoscoped animation of Lord of the Rings was released by United Artists and directed by Ralph Bakshi. UA considered the film a flop and refused to fund Part II.
1980: Rankin/Bass use the opportunity to give out a televised animation of the Return of the King. It was targeted at a younger audience.
1998: Miramax began a live-action adaptation of The Lord of the Rings, directed by Peter Jackson. New Line Cinema assumed production responsibility and decided that there would be three, not two films. 2001: The Fellowship of the Ring; 2002: The Two Towers; 2003: The Return of the King.
2009: The Hunt for Gollum, a fan film based on elements of the appendices to The Lord of the Rings, was released on the internet in May 2009.
Awards
All three films by Peter Jackson won the Hugo Award for Best (Long-form) Dramatic Presentation in their respective years.
4 Oscars for The Fellowship of the Ring
2 Oscars for The Two Towers
11 Oscars for The Return of the King
Radio
1955: The BBC produced a 13-part-radio adaptation of The Lord of the Rings. It is a very faithful adaptation.
1979: US dramatization subsequently issued on tape and CD.
1981: BBC produced a 26 half-hour-episode adaptation of The Lord of the Rings.
Stage
1990s: Lifeline Theatre in Chicago, Illinois, produced individual plays of each of the three books.
2001-2003: Full-length productions of each of The Fellowship of the Ring (2001), The Two Towers (2002), and The Return of the King (2003) were staged in Cincinnati, Ohio.
2006: Three-hour-stage musical adaptation of The Lord of the Rings by Mirvish Productions opened in Toronto (opened in London 2007).
Music: There are groups playing anything from death-metal to folk music who are fans of Middle-Earth. Some albums are very middle-age while others are far from it.
…Of Forest And Fire…
…Where the Shadows Lie
A Night in Rivendell
All that Glitters
An Evening in Rivendell
At Dawn in Rivendell
Beyond the Western Seas
Complete Songs and Poems
Dol Guldur (album)
Evernight (album)
Firestorm Apocalypse – Tomorrow Shall Know the Blackest Dawn
The First Ring
Forest of Edoras
In Elven Lands
Inspirations of the Middle Earth
Journey of the Dunadan
Landscapes of Middle-earth
Leaving Rivendell
Let Mortal Heroes Sing Your Fame
Lost Tales (album)
Lugburz (album)
Minas Morgul (album)
Mountain Live: The Road Goes Ever On
Music Inspired by Middle Earth
Music of Middle-Earth, Vol. 1: From the Shire to Rivendell
Music of Middle-Earth, Vol. 2: From Khazad-dum to Gondor
Mystic Legends…
Nightfall in Middle-Earth
Nightshade Forests (album)
Oath Bound
Onwards to the Spectral Defile
Sagan om Ringen (album)
Shadow Rising
The Starlit Jewel
Stronghold
Sword’s Song
The Adventures of Tom Bombadil (album)
The Last Alliance (album)
The Lay Of Leithian (album)
The Middle Earth Album
Third Age of the Sun
Unveiling the Essence
Winds of Change
Audio books
1990: Recorded Books published an audio version of The Lord of the Rings, with British actor Rob Inglis.
A soft core porn comedy entitled The Lord of the G-Strings.
The Harvard Lampoon satire Bored of the Rings, and its prequel The Soddit.
A little-known BBC Radio series, Hordes of the Things (1980) attempted to parody heroic fantasy in the style of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.
A German resynchronization of the Fellowship’s first twenty minutes, called Lord of the Weed – Sinnlos in Mittelerde, portrays the characters as highly drug addicted.
Quickbeam and Bombadil, The Lords of the Rhymes, mix Tolkien’s fantasy world with hip-hop.
Two New York City based authors, Jessica and Chris, parody Tolkien’s work in Once More With Hobbits.
Several former members of Mystery Science Theater 3000 created Edward the Less which parodies the trilogy.
The episode of South Park entitled The Return of the Fellowship of the Ring to the Two Towers spoofs Peter Jackson’s version of the trilogy.
The Lord of The … whatever, a “transcribed electronic text version”, written by the Tolkien fans of the rec.arts.books.tolkien newsgroup as a reply to those who ask where can they download an electronic copy of the book. It has lots of fan in-jokes, like whether Balrogs have wings or not, a long-standing debate in the Tolkien fandom.
Flight of the Conchords claim that their parody Frodo was rejected as a theme song for Peter Jackson’s movies.
The Ring Thing – a Swiss parody of The Lord of the Rings: The Motion Picture Trilogy, however it has received mixed reviews.
MADtv spoofed the series with The Lords of the Bling.
Kingdom O’Magic by Fergus McNeill. He became famous during the eighties for games such as Bored of the Rings (influenced by, but not adapted from, the Harvard Lampoon book) and The Boggit.
Why can’t they just lose the ring in the sink?, humour columnist Dave Barry’s satire.
Dead Ringers, BBC Radio/TV satirical comedy show regularly features Lord of the Rings-themed sketches.
Bobo, a very popular Serbian voice-over video on scene from the first film, which features Boromir and Frodo as gay lovers.
British Comedy duo French & Saunders have also satired and spoofed in detail Peter Jackson’s The Fellowship of the Ring in a BBC 2002 Easter Special entitled The Egg.
A parody entitled teh l0rd of teh Ringz0r has done the rounds of bulletin boards systems.
A Spanish voice-over video of Gollum debating about which is the best football (soccer) video game.
One Man Lord of the Rings A one man show by Charles Ross, reciting and parodying the three films in an hour.
REC Studios’ Fellowship of the Ring A parody starring four people portraying multiple characters each and condensing the first third of the story to under a quarter of an hour.
MTV produced the Lord of the Piercing, a parody about the Council of Elrond, in which Frodo uses the One Ring in a piercing. The 4 minute episode comes as a hidden extra in the first DVD of the 4-disc set of The Fellowship of the Ring.
Fellowship! – A musical parody of The Lord of the Rings
Worth 1,000 – Comical images related to The Lord of the Rings.
50 Reasons Why Lord of the Rings Sucks – Only to be read if no sharp objects are within reach.
Lord of the Rings vs. The Matrix vs. Star Wars – Comical review of the three movies, not to be taken even remotely seriously.
Video games, board games, role playing games, puzzles, card games, a chess set and miniatures games include the themes from Lord of the Rings.
Sheila Kelly Viehl is from South Florida. She is a USAF-veteran with medical experience from both military and civilian trauma centers.
She writes under several names – SciFi as SL Viehl, Romance as Gena Hale and Jessica Hall, Christian Adult Fiction as Rebecca Kelly and Dark Fantasy, Young Adult and Non-fiction as Lynn Viehl.
SHOCKBALL (2001)
Shockball is book no. 4 in the Stardoc series, but the first one I’ve read. Starting here was no problem. These are all pretty much stand-alone novels that concern the doctor Cherijo Viehl. Warning right away. If you do not like descriptive surgery in your novels, you will have a problem with parts of this novel.
Life has a tendency to surprise us. Sometimes the experience is enjoyable and sometimes, well, not so much. Cherijo Viehl is beginning to get used to the idea. But getting used to having wrenches thrown into what she sees as preferable, can make her angry with herself and her surroundings (most commonly with Duncan Reever).
Cherijo and Duncan are married. As far as I’ve understood, this happened after they became interested in each other when Cherijo was Duncan’s slave (albeit not the most slavish slave around). Now they are trying to adjust to each other’s strong personalities. Tensions are bound to rise. Both are the kind who tries to protect those they love, whether that protection is wanted or not.
Shockball begins with Cherijo and Reever on the Joren starvessel Sunlace. Cherijo is an adopted clanmember, and as such under the protection of her clan. Her clan-brother, Xonea, is the captain of the space-ship. His main concern is to keep Cherijo away from trouble, but finds this intention challenged again and again by Cherijo’s repeated refusal to stay away from danger.
In the previous novel, Cherijo and Reever saved a bunch of non-terran slaves from their masters and are in the process of returning them to their planets of origin. While doing this, they are both worried about the ticking bomb that is dragged along on their journey through the stars. Cherijo’s creator, Joseph Viehl, has gifted her with a spaceship, but Cherijo does not believe for one moment that there is nothing wrong with it. She turns out to be correct.
After having run so long from her creator, Cherijo ends up back with him when Joseph has League soldiers kidnap her and Reever from the Jorens. They are taken back to Earth and Joseph immediately finds joy in telling Cherijo about her future. She is to be his mate, something Cherijo finds repugnant. Reever is held captive as guarantee against her cooperation.
Complications arise when a group of underground Navajoes rescue the couple from the laboratory and take them to their lair. There they meet the Night Horse leader Rico (who seems slightly off). Now it is up to Reever and Cherijo to figure out how to get back to the Jorens without getting killed en route. But before they can leave, they also have to find a way to save the Night Horse from themselves.
Shockball is full of action. We tend to go from one scene to the other, quite often ending up with Cherijo having to use her surgical skills. This is a rip-roaring tale of adventure. There are no attempts at trying to explain how the groups are transported between star systems, nor does Viehl try to make sense of how such completely species are different-planet-races are able to interbreed. Instead this is an action novel placed in space. Viehl writes well and manages to entertain us the whole way.
ETERNITY ROW (2002)
In Eternity Row Reever, Cherijo and Marel finally live together as a family on the star vessel Sunlace. Duncan and Cherijo are trying to figure out how to combine parenthood with their duties, as most parents do. Some children are more precocious than others. Marel is one of them. She has a tendency to appear in the oddest places.
Sunlace is taking Hawk home to the planet of his father. When they get to Taerca, everyone they see seems to be suffering some kind of mysterious disease of both mind and body. Hawk has a difficult time when he meets with his father. Like the rest of the population, his father is fanatically invested in the planet-wide religion.
Later Sunlace goes to Oenrall, Dhreen’s home planet. Cherijo had promised him to go there and see if she could figure out what was causing the population’s sterility. Once they get there Cherijo and the people going with her find that the Oenrallians are manic and addicted to a nerve-desensitizer. But this is by no means the Oenrallians main problem.
Cherijo sees it as her duty to discover the cause of both problems. But the universe is not going along with her plans. Challenges are thrown the way of Cherijo and her loved ones, distracting Cherijo from her work as a doctor and researcher.
As with Shockball, Eternity Row is an action-filled novel whose main goal is to entertain. Viehl does this well. I haven’t read past Eternity Row, but did not find it problematic to end the series here. Being stand-alone novels makes it so much simpler to leave a series, although I have to admit to certain amount of curiosity about the future of the family of Brandon, Cherijo and Marel.
Arkady Volchok was mapping the sacred sites of the Aboriginals. Part of his mapping was done as a surveyor for an engineer planning on starting the building of the Alice Springs/Darwin railline. But first the engineer had to make certain that the line did not cross the work of a Dreamtime hero.
I’m trying to decide what I thought about 
Alexander Litvinenko awaiting death
Boris Berezovsky with bodyguards
Alexander before poisoning
My version of Masques is the reworked one. Patricia Briggs writes a foreword warning the reader of this. Due to the years that had passed since the first edition of Masques, Briggs and her editor felt it appropriate to remove some of the traces of an author’s first attempt. The book is supposed to be full of clichés, but I’m lucky because I would not recognize a cliché if it bit me on the backside of forever.
When Demons Walk seems to be a while after the previous three installations in the Sianam series. Like the others, When Demons Walk is light and entertaining reading. Patricia Briggs has her own style that is apparent in all of her novels. She is a good author, the quality of her writing is solid and her characters entertaining.
German cover
Australian cover
Shockball is book no. 4 in the Stardoc series, but the first one I’ve read. Starting here was no problem. These are all pretty much stand-alone novels that concern the doctor Cherijo Viehl. Warning right away. If you do not like descriptive surgery in your novels, you will have a problem with parts of this novel.
In Eternity Row Reever, Cherijo and Marel finally live together as a family on the star vessel Sunlace. Duncan and Cherijo are trying to figure out how to combine parenthood with their duties, as most parents do. Some children are more precocious than others. Marel is one of them. She has a tendency to appear in the oddest places.
humanitysdarkerside 
