Electronic OtherRealms #22 Fall, 1988 Part 12 Copyright 1988 by Chuq Von Rospach All Rights Reserved OtherRealms may not be reproduced without written permission from Chuq Von Rospach. The electronic edition may be distributed or reproduced only in its entirety and only if all copyrights, author credits and this notice, including the return addresses remain intact. No article may be reprinted, reproduced or republished in any way without the express permission of the author. No Prisoners! Laurie Sefton Copyright 1988 by Laurie Sefton Divided Allegiance Elizabeth Moon Baen Fantasy, 522pp, October 1988, 0-671-69786-2 [*****] The Oathbound Mercedes Lackey DAW Fantasy, 302pp, July 1988, 0-88677-285-0 [****] Snow-Eyes Stephanie A. Smith DAW Fantasy, 222pp, July 1988, 0-88677-286-9 [***] The Final Planet Andrew M. Greeley TOR, 398pp, May 1988, 0-812-58338-8 [****] The Irish Americans Andrew M. Greeley Warner Books, 256pp, August 1988, 0-446-38558-1 [****] The Chernobyl Syndrome Dean Ing Baen Books, 330pp, 1988, 0-671-65345-8 [**+] In my last column, I discussed what makes a story appealing to me, and what I considered to be the "rules" for a good story. As with any other good rule, corollaries start popping up. Therefore, I present Sefton's First Corollary to these rules: Stupid people get killed. Why is this important? Because I've read one too many story that hinged on the lead characters constantly keeping important information from each other. Now, how did these people get to their position, usually quite lofty, by either: 1) Listening and believing every fool who comes down the road, or 2) Believing something incredibly stupid about their leader, true love, or whatnot, and not bothering to check with the person in question. Of course, the fool, or the rumor are sent by the Truly Evil Person. The misinformation will keep our heroes running in tight little circles until the last chapter, at which point they will realize what has been done to them. Happily, this style appears to be on the wane. Authors are beginning to turn out books that have fantastic elements, while not throwing out psychological and physiological reality. Elizabeth Moon's Divided Allegiance, the second book in The Deed of Paksenarrion, is such a book. In the first book, Sheepfarmer's Daughter, the physical aspects of battle are brought to bear. This is continued in Divided Allegiance. Again, people get hurt in battle; they don't either die gloriously or come out without a scratch. The aftermath of war is also explored, another area usually ignored by fantasy writers. Battlefields and conquered people just don't disappear after the battle, and there is much not normally covered. The aftermath of the final battle in Sheepfarmer's Daughter is what propels Paksenarrion into her current adventure. The Girdsmen, introduced in Sheepfarmer's Daughter, play a much larger role in Divided Allegiance. A good part of the book examines the lifestyle and philosophy of the Girdsmen, who transcend the usual warrior sect that is presented as the Paladins or Rangers of many world. Moon also breaks another fantasy cliche; she introduces the stock snotty elf, who is usually the secondary lead, and then gets rid of him. Very refreshing. The use of horses is another area in which Moon breaks with the fantasy mold. Horses are some of the most beautiful, intelligent, obstinate, and obnoxious beasts known. However, you wouldn't know this by quite a few fantasies. The horse is always perfectly groomed, its tack in splendid order, and of course the horse never throws, kicks or bites the rider. There is also a squire handy to take the horse off-scene for a fill-up, and presumably, a tire rotation. The horses in Monn's books are real horses; they need to be curried, their hooves get stones and mud, and they kick and throw their riders. Divided Allegiance is an excellent partner to Sheepfarmer's Daughter. I'm looking forward to the third book, Oath Of Gold. The story just keeps getting better. The Oathbound is the first in a trilogy by Mercedes Lackey. The story and characters are from the same world that the lackey's previous series, The Heralds of Valdemar. However, the Heralds don't enter into this book except as a reference. The two main characters, Tarma, and elite swordswoman, and Kethry, a sorceress will be familiar to those who keep up With Marion Zimmer Bradley's Sword and Sorceress series. In fact, one of the chapters in this book is also a chapter in this year's anthology, which was published one month later. It was mildly unnerving to read The Oathbound, and then come across the same material in the next book I read. The Oathbound is a much better work. While the book is episodic in format, Lackey fleshes out the characters beyond their primary motives. One of the aspects I've always enjoyed about characters is Lackey's stories is that not only are they talented, they're intelligent. They have the abilities, and they also have the resourcefulness to use them. Once again, Lackey has come through with another winner. Snow-Eyes, by Stephanie Smith, is a bit of a puzzle. There isn't a lot of action going on here; in fact, most of it takes place in one house. The drama and conflict is almost entirely psychological. The mother/daughter conflict in this story makes Mommy Dearest look like a walk in the park. On top of a neurotic need to not be usurped, and an almost crazed jealousy of her daughter, this mother has the magic abilities to make her daughter suffer. The mother is torn between having to complete her duty of serving the local deity, and wanting to be the alpha female in the pack. So, she uses one of the classic neurotic passive/aggressive tactics: she "forgets" to tell her daughter information she needs to understand what is happening to her. An example: The daughter is "blinded" to be taught how to use all her senses in the service of the Lake Mother. But does the mother tell her daughter exactly why this is being done? And that the daughter has a choice whether to accept this? Nope. In Snow-Eyes, Smith takes the perennial mother/daughter conflict, the transformation of child to adult, and child-like to adult, and transforms it into a horror tinged fantasy. Anyone who grew up in Chicago in the 60's and early 70's, and isn't familiar with Andrew Greeley wasn't paying attention. Besides appearing in the Chicago Sun-Times as a columnist, Greeley also appeared as the voice of reality in Chicago politics, both regular and secular. Greeley has also written across the spectrum of subjects, from sociology texts to detective novels. His latest foray into the Science Fiction field is The Final Planet, a story of the Holy Order of St. Brigid and St. Brendan, interstellar pilgrims who must be asked by the inhabitants to be able to land on a planet. The colony ship is wearing out, and in reference to the title, this is the Final Planet; the ship won't make it to the next port of call. Now, given that Greeley is an Irish Catholic, and a Jesuit to boot, one would probably expect a bit of propaganda for the Catholic Church to slip into the plot. However, this Catholic Church bears very little resemblance to the Roman Catholic Church. It's a lot closer to what an extrapolation of the Celtic Catholic Church would look like if it had been allowed to go its merry way. The Captain Abbess is a highly trained psychic; one of the best parts of the story is where she lets loose some psychic lightning bolts. This group is also missing the refined hypocrisy that marks many alleged christians today. I'm also happy to learn that they will still haven't untangled St. Brigid's and the Virgin Mary's functionality hundreds of years from now. The good brothers and sisters need to determine whether the planet they have come to is ready for them. So, Seamus O'Neill, soldier, bard, and natural politician extraordinaire is sent down to the planet Zylong to spy for the Captain Abbess. As a spy, Seamus is a total loss; his inherent ability to lead shines through,and he finds himself allied with the planet's rebels. Seamus finds a planet, which started out as an experiment in an anarchic society, to have swung in the opposite direction. Procreation is strictly controlled, as well as an sexual expression. Sex has become totally divorced from love, as the society practices either abstinence or total orgiastic abandon. This dichotomy typifies this society; very tight control with planned lapses is the method under which the dictators keep control. Add to this a Homo Erectus type race being kept as a slave class, and you have a fertile ground for not only a little sociological lecturing, but a fine story. I mentioned above that Andrew Greeley is a man of many talents; besides being a novelist and columnist, he is a professor of Sociology. The Irish Americans is an excellent introduction to the Irish and Irish-American cultures. With the deluge of Celtic and pseudo-Celtic novels, there's a lot that may be Irish, and may be the product of a fertile imagination. The Irish Americans gives an excellent background in Celtic legend and Celtic psyche. It's the end of the decade, so it's time for the gloom and doom books. I've survived this spate once before; I don't know if I can say the same for the "grab your junk silver and gold, your dehydrated foods, and head for the hills" crowd. Dean Ing's book, The Chernobyl Syndrome, avoids most of the complete mania of the 70's books, but fails to address some fairly important topics. For example, I don't see a discussion of shelf life or storage of contraceptives. I don't know about you, but the last thing I would want a year after the bomb falls is a spate of births. Without contraception, you can expect 80% of the woman who have sex regularly to be pregnant by the end of the year. Personally, I'd rather not have the local gene pool expanded at my expense. Another point is what do you do the next spring? The survival tactics hit a brick wall after six months. Given there are survivors after a biological, chemical, or atomic war, there probably isn't going to be enough protein on the hoof to go around. That means that the survivors are going to have to learn farming, and on a very low level of sophistication. I see no discussion on what to plant, when to plant it, and how to keep it from getting eaten by various pests. The best shelter in the world isn't going to help you if you all starve to death the next year. My biggest problem with this book, however, is the amoral tone. Ing suggests cozying up to your "out of town" neighbors for the express purpose of making sure that you're taken in when the big nasty happens. I find that idea disgusting. I suppose, however, that due to my tight little sets of morals, that I'll be reduced to a shadow on the wall. However, if all who's going to be saved consider lying and deception in a positive light, I don't hold out much hope for the human race. ---- End of Part 12