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OtherRealms Issue 22 Part 12
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
