MyDelphi

Archives

Bookstore

by Henry Leon Lazarus

There are supposedly only seven basic plots in fiction. The most common in fantasy is the quest where the heroes have to find some magical object to stop horrible things from happening. When fantasy novels use other plots, however, the result can be very refreshing and original.

L. E. Modesitt, Jr. likes to use the tale of a young man who overcomes the problems that confront him and slowly grows into a responsible adult. Colors of Chaos (hard from Tor) tells the tale of Cerryl, an ethical chaos mage, who rises in power in both his guild and in the world. While it takes place at the same time as The Magic Engineer (paper), Cerryl's problems have more to do with the internal greed for power and money found commonly in the White Order, than a rogue black mage. My only complaint is that Mr. Modesitt made me stay up late, unable to stop reading, and may have been responsible for my present cold.

Most good science fiction takes its form from mystery, with an additional how to be answered along with the who, what, and where. There doesn't even have to be a dead body, but there are plenty in James Alan Gardner's Vigilant (Paper from Avon Eos) which more complications to its mystery than cats have kittens. Try leftover technology from a previous colony, living hyperspace wormholes, and robot killers. Its tough, and gutsy heroine is a member of the Vigil Naderites who are hard wired to the planetary web as they work to control government. A murder attempt starts the plot rolling, but adds in artificial plagues, crazy aliens, and a living computer web to keep you confused. I hope this is the first of a series.

So much is happening in A Song of Ice and Fire that I'm not sure what plot form George R. R. Martin is using. It is set on a planet where summer has lasted ten years and now a red comet fills with skies with announcement that the long autumn and then winter is coming. Mr. Martin borrows heavily from Ivanhoe and the English War of the Roses for his background. The last king was murdered in A Game of Thrones (paper) and in A Clash of Kings (hard from Bantam Spectra), a civil war with three kings destroying the countryside has begun. However, across the small ocean in the south, dragons have hatched, bringing return of magic to this world. In the North, above the black wall, the dead walk. If Mr. Martin can finish this tale in the next book, it will easily be the most significant fantasy work in several decades.

Guy Gavriel Kay is one of the better writers in the fantasy, so it is no surprise that his entry into a magical Byzantium, Sailing to Sarantium (hard from HarperPrism) is one of the better of what has now become standard fantasy fare. A young, gifted mosaic layer is sent to Sarantium to decorate a huge shrine. It is the first of a series.

I don't always get access to the books I want to include here. I read Shirley Rousseau Murphy's Cat in the Dark (hard from HarperPrism), the latest adventure of the talking cats Joe Gray and Dulcie, in several local huge bookstores. This time there's a new talking cat, who helps his owner steal, and who thinks little of normal cats. In the end he helps Joe Gray and Dulcie solve the murders. Look for this in the mystery section instead of the fantasy one. I missed the hard cover of Catherine Asaro's The Last Hawk (paper from Tor) which is a shame because it is showing up on award pre-nominations. Ms. Asaro has one of her bio-enhanced Skolians crash land on a world ruled by a gender role mixed matriarchy (with the standard feminist mistakes). What was most interesting was the way game playing ran that world and thus the book reminded me a lot of Herman Hesse's The Glass Bead Game.

Three other nice reads include the latest about a rising officer in a mercenary army of the future. Lon gets his promotion to Captain (by Rick Shelly, paper from Ace) on the battlefield where one colony decides that the brokered peace they were given wasn't good enough and attacks their former employees. Ann Marston has a new tale of her beleaguered island with its magic swords and the death magic wizards who conquered it in the last book. In Cloudbearer's Shadow (paper from HarperPrism) Gareth has to retrieve the sword Bane and in the process discovers his own magic and finds his true love. Talk about horrible in-laws, try on an evil god for size. That's what the young couple, heirs to a barony, have to face in Alanna Morland's Leopard Lord (paper from Ace). This is one of those books where you care so much about the characters you have to look at the last page to be sure they get through their adventure safely.

Anne McCaffrey tells of a very nice heiress, owner of a shipyard, who has designed the best, most automatic ship for falling through wormholes and having adventures with. When Nimisha's Ship (hard from Del Rey) does so on its breakdown voyage with her on board, she immediately finds an interesting planet with nice aliens and nice humans survivors. Eventually nice rescuers, including her daughter come along and everybody is happy. I wish Joel Rosenberg was a little happier, because Not Exactly the Three Musketeers (hard from Tor) should have been a lot more fun. It works in part, as three rough army veterans are sent to find out why young noble woman is writing letters to the Dowager Empress about evil plots. The plots are there, and so is the adventure just not enough of either.

Fans of Honor Harrington will probably want Worlds of Honor (edited by David Weber and hard from Baen) with two of the five tales by David Weber. Then there's A Dangerous Magic (edited by Denise Little, paper from DAW) which has tales of star-crossed lovers.

One of my well thumbed books in my collection can now be replaced by a new edition of Patricia S. McKillip's Riddle-Master (trade from Ace). This is a must have for any collection missing it and I hope the first of a trend. If ACE wants suggestions for future volumes of books that need to be reprinted, I have suggestions. TOR doesn't have the rights to the better parts of Fred Saberhagen's series, so they've decided to reprint his sword books. The First Swords (trade) has three tales of the swords that can kill gods, each with its own special power.

Paperback reprints include: Robin Hobb's beginning of her liveship series, Ship of Magic (Bantam Spectra), Diane Duane's tale of cats saving the universe The Book of Night with Moon (Aspect). Charles Pellegrino's well told tale about the improbably death of all insects, Dust (Avon); Roger MacBride's final tale of a robot without three laws, Utopia which is also a nice homage to Isaac Asimov's robots; Marion Zimmer Bradley and Holly Lisle's sequel to Glenraven, In the Rift (Baen) which brings magical complications to the real world; Allen Steele's A King of Infinite Space (HarperPrism) about a boy from our time revived in the future and the plots he discovers; and Beernard Werber's odd Empire of the Ants (Bantam) about an odd house that swallows people, and an ant observatory. This was translated from French and has an odd french way of looking at the world.

The Philadelphia Science Fiction Society will have its March meeting on Friday the 12th at 8:00 p.m. at International House. Laurel K Hamilton, writer of my favorite series, Amanda Blake Vampire executioner, will talk. Guests are welcome to attend this, the second oldest science fiction club in the country. Set your calendars to August 30 to September 3, 2001 when the World Science Fiction comes to Philadelphia for the first time in fifty years. It was invented here in 1936.