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Today I received the following notice from the Gaylactic Spectrum Awards:
Gaylactic Spectrum Awards
PO Box 73602
Washington, DC 20056-3602
info@spectrumawards.org
http://www.spectrumawards.org/
For Immediate Release
January 29, 2009
Contact: Rob Gates
Washington DC: — The Gaylactic Spectrum Awards Foundation is pleased to announce the winners of the 2008 Gaylactic Spectrum Awards. The Gaylactic Spectrum Awards were created in 1999 by The Gaylactic Network, the premiere organization for gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender (GLBT) fans of science fiction, fantasy, and horror (SF/F/H), to honor works in SF/F/H that deal positively with gay characters, themes and issues. The independent Gaylactic Spectrum Awards Foundation was created in 2002 to manage and further the mission of the awards, which is to educate and raise awareness of GLBT content in SF/F/H. Nominations for the Gaylactic Spectrum Awards are open to everyone. Winners and a short list of recommended works in each category are selected by a jury. The 2008 Awards were presented in three categories – Best Novel, Best Short Fiction, and Best Other Work – for works originally appearing in calendar year 2007.
The novel selected by the judges as the best science fiction, fantasy or horror novel with significant positive GLBT content from 2007 was Wicked Gentlemen
The work chosen as the winner in the short fiction category was Ever So Much More Than Twenty by Joshua Lewis from the anthology So Fey
Other novels recommended on the judges’ short list were Daughters of the North
In the Best Other Work category – for works that do not fit in either of the two other categories – the judges identified the following recommended works: the comic book series 52
The 2008 Gaylactic Spectrum Awards were presented at Gaylaxicon 2008 in Washington DC on October 11, 2008 at a banquet celebrating ten years of award winners. Winners in the Best Novel and Best Short Fiction category receive physical awards and a cash prize. The 2009 Awards will be presented at Gaylaxicon 2009 in Minneapolis MN in October 2009.
For more information about the Gaylactic Spectrum Awards, including a complete listing of all nominated works from 2008, a handout listing winners and short list recommendations with brief descriptions, or to nominate works for the 2009 Gaylactic Spectrum Awards, you can visit the website at:
http://www.spectrumawards.org/
or send email to:
info@spectrumawards.org
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This is a weekly opportunity to talk about books, music, and other things you enjoy.
- What are some of your favorite books?
- What are you currently reading?
- What kind of music do you like?
- What are you listening to now?
- What else is on your mind?
I’m currently listening to Songs from the Shire
I’m currently reading Echoes in the Dark (The Summoning, Book 5)
I’m currently rereading Crystal Dragon: Book Two of the Great Migration Duology 
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- Book Promotions
JoSelle Vanderhooft hosts an author site and a LiveJournal. You may have read her previous book The Tale of the Miller’s Daughter
The Memory Palace
This collection tells a single story, shattered into dozens of sharp-edged, silvery poems. Each one captures a shard of the narrator’s life. Together they reflect her image like the pieces of a broken mirror, smooth and glittering.
JoSelle Vanderhooft handles free verse deftly, with a twist of alliteration and an undercurrent of assonance. These poems are thick with allusion and allegory, using ordinary things to represent a tale of violence and abuse. (People with survivor issues should probably avoid this book; it has more triggers than a gun shop.) Yet there are warm family times in here too. That is the fundamental idea of a “memory palace” – a part of the mind where recollections manifest as places and objects. Here is an example from the beginning of “Thick as Thieves” (page 43):
Some people, I am told, adorn their mental palaces
with mnemonic curios both fantastical and strange.
A betrayal may bubble up through a marble fountain,
a father’s death ricochet through supporting walls
while smoke curls from the Winchester on the fireplace.
As for me, I’ve lined my palace walls with photographs
some small as flies, others vast panoramas,
but each one blazing like a fire in perfect Technicolor.
This book holds the most appeal for people who like dark poetry. If you liked Sylvia Plath’s Collected Poems
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Betrayals: Book Four of the Blending (The Blending, Book 4)
Betrayals (The Blending Book 4)
If you haven’t already read the first three books in this series, you might want to back up and start with Convergence (The Blending Book 1)
The basic premise is that five people wielding the five magics (Earth, Air, Fire, Water, and Spirit) can come together and form a Blending. The Seated Five rule, and are now ready to retire, hence the competition for their successors who are supposed to be the strongest practitioners of their type. The whole thing is rigged every whichaway, and the whole society is a corrupt mess. So the five main characters wind up fighting for their lives as well as for their rightful places. The characterization is good, interpersonal dynamics excellent, and plot intricate to the point of being baroque.
If you liked Machiavelli’s The Prince
This review was originally submitted to Spicy Green Iguana.
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According to this article, both Switzerland and France are making attempts to salvage the sinking newspaper industry. Switzerland is exploring the possibility of a personalized PDF newspaper. (I prefer my news stream on Grazr.) France is offering free newspaper subscriptions to teenagers.
Several American media outlets have reported in the last few days about the French government’s new initiative aimed at resuscitating their print media. President Sarkozy—lately seen flitting to meet the Dalai Lama in Poland and floating to Gaza to barter a ceasefire, certainly the most hyperactive of Western leaders—has announced a vast increase in state support for print media. Included in this is a pilot program by which teenagers will be given a free yearlong subscription to the newspaper of their choice on their 18th birthdays. In our frigid print media climate, with The New York Times flailing and other papers doing far worse, Sarkozy’s program seems like the kind of warm, fuzzy socialism that might help the industry weather the global recession. That’s with the added benefit of forcing social and civic consciousness on unsuspecting youngsters, which you apparently can’t get from online media. Or MyFaceSpace, I guess.
What do you think? Do these efforts have a chance of reviving print newspapers, or will the speed and customization of online services win?
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This book was followed by Into the Thinking Kingdom: Journeys of the Catechist Book 2
Carnivores of Light and Darkness: Journeys of the Catechist Book 1 
Once again Alan Dean Foster brings us a world replete with complex characters and lavish scenery, each depicted with his customary attention to detail. Although it begins with a classic motif — a quest laid upon an innocent bystander by a dying warrior — the story rapidly departs from recognizable terrain and dashes off into an exotic wilderness of originality. Etjole Ehomba is a modest fellow, honorable to a fault, perfectly plausible despite an amazing array of abilities that emerge from his past. His quest to rescue the Visioness Themaryl from the wicked Hymneth the Possessed takes him far from his family, past monsters of bizarre make, and into the company of companions questionable in many regards. Foster manages to make the whole thing both engrossing and understandable. He is also one of the few authors left to my knowledge who can reliably demonstrate a larger vocabulary than my own; I can count on learning at least one new word from every book he writes, and that’s only one proof of his technical skills.
Carnivores of Light and Darkness incorporates motifs from several branches of speculative fiction; although fantasy dominates, I also counted some horror motifs and at least one of science fiction. The mythic overtones will really appeal to fans of fairy tales and mythology, especially for those fond of African and Middle Eastern settings. Highly recommended.
This review was originally submitted to Spicy Green Iguana.
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Today I found this announcement of John Updike’s passing:
John Updike, the great chronicler of sex and divorce among ordinary people in postwar America, died this morning, aged 76.
A prolific novelist, short-story writer, poet and critic, Updike’s most famous works include The Witches of Eastwick, and his quartet of novels about the life of Harry “Rabbit” Angstrom. Two of the Rabbit books won the Pulitzer prize for fiction – first Rabbit is Rich, in 1981, and then Rabbit at Rest, in 1991.
Updike’s works include Rabbit Angstrom : The Four Novels : Rabbit, Run, Rabbit Redux, Rabbit Is Rich, Rabbit at Rest (Everyman’s Library)
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To learn more about the author and her work with animal spirits, visit the Wolf Clan Teaching Lodge.
Creature Teachers: A Guide to the Spirit Animals of the Native American Tradition
Interested in the underlying symbolism of totems? Check out this book. It lists 52 spirit animals including well-known favorites like Bear, Coyote, Hawk, Spider, and Wolf as well as the lesser-known but still powerful Ant, Bat, Frog, Hummingbird, Snipe, and Turtle. Elements of numerology also appear in the format discussion, such as the importance of the number 52. Unfortunately, it lacks the supporting material necessary to make a truly great reference book; no index, notes, or even bibliography.
Each animal gets a two-page spread. On the left side you see two diagrams, one for Truth (which shows the relationship between Love/Cause and Peace/Effect) and another for Focus (showing the Earth Path). The Truth diagram demonstrates how that totem does various things, such as “Honor through: Guardianship” for Raven. The Focus diagram supports this with other observations based on the four directions, as in “North, Wisdom through: Justice” for Mountain Lion. On the right side, you find a legend featuring the animal, its “decree” of essential quality (like “Decree of Enthusiasm” for Otter), and usually a verse or three of appropriate poetry.
Unlike most guides of its type, Creature Teachers provides a method of identifying your animal spirits and their relevance to various aspects of your life. Nine Creature Teachers offer you their guidance, and as you work your way through the mapping process you find answers to questions like “Why am I here?” “How do I communicate my Knowledge?” and “When do I feel Gratitude?” In addition to the method provided in the book, other methods of divination should work well with the totem guide section, so that you can choose another means of identifying your spirit animals; you can also use the book to look up animals for which you already feel a strong affinity.
Most suitable for beginning and intermediate practitioners, this book also makes a great “textbook” for advanced practitioners with students. You could plan a whole workshop or class around it. The “Native American Tradition” referred to in the title is the author’s own Seneca tradition, though it generalizes well to other Native American systems and should appeal to anyone with an interest in the indigenous religions of North America. Recommended.
This review was originally submitted to PanGaia and was later reprinted in Facing North.
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The author’s website features a general description, a bibliography, and links to the author’s columns and other projects online: John Clute
The Book of End Times – Grappling with the Millennium (Destruction of the World As We Know It)
Now that we’ve all survived the Y2K scare -– for which we are duly grateful –- we can sit back and enjoy the fruits of the millennial fever. This book is done up in a flashy, fast-paced style with full-color pages so that it looks sort of like a Website or MTV clip pressed onto paper. Reading it is a real head trip. The major sections are “A Story Called Millennium,” “What to Do in Dreamland Till We’re Dead,” “There Is a Wasteland and It Is Us,” and “How Are Tricks?” along with some interesting tidbits at the end about the artwork and so forth.
The Book of End Times is a dark and rather surreal look at life, death, and catastrophic change. It touches on science fiction but also on reality. Cyberpunk fans should love it. Recommended.
This review was originally submitted to Spicy Green Iguana.
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This book about magic for fantasy roleplaying was more than a little inspired by Isaac Bonewits’ nonfiction book for Pagan spellcraft, Real Magic: An Introductory Treatise on the Basic Principles of Yellow Magic
Authentic Thaumaturgy (Second Edition)
Have you ever noticed that the magic systems in fantasy role-playing games, and the psionic systems in science fiction role-playing games, bear little resemblance to reality or logical facsimiles thereof? This dandy guide explains what is wrong with most such systems and proposes a delightful series of alternatives that are both sensible and playable. In case you aren’t familiar with the author, he is a real-life Druid and very well-known as an accomplished practitioner of magic, so he knows the material. What you do with it, of course, is between you and your Game Master … or between you and your hapless players if you happen to be the Game Master. Read on!
Overview: The introduction explains the uses and background of this book and answers some basic questions. Chapter 1: Games of Magic & the Magic of Games covers different types of game scenarios, theories of magic, etc. Chapter 2: What Is Magic, Anyway? answers that question for traditional occult, fantasy game, and the author’s personal definitions plus miscellaneous tidbits about how magic works. Chapter 3: About Those Psychic Talents discusses the difference (or lack thereof) between magic and psychic powers, varieties of power, and a terrific smorgasbord of talents to choose from. Chapter 4: Varieties of Magical Experience highlights the distinction between thaumaturgy (mage spells) and theurgy (cleric spells), the modes of magic and people who practice them, magical specialties, and methods of measuring ability. Chapter 5: Creating or Converting a Magic User delves into the intricacy of character generation and adaptation, and is applicable to all game systems. Chapter 6: The Laws of Magic presents these useful rules including such classics as “The Law of Similarity” and “The Law of Perversity.” Chapter 7: The Mage as Juggler touches on the scientific concept of variables including the magician’s rank, available magic energy in the area, target’s resistance, bonuses, ley lines, and so forth. Chapter 8: The Mechanics of Magic looks into basic spellcasting procedure, raw talent use vs. spell use, methods of raising energy, spell decay, etc. Chapter 9: The Fastest Wand in the West opens up the intricacies of condensing spells, spell variations and recipes, magical devices, and working on other planes. Chapter 10: The Gods Are Alive, Magic Is Afoot! covers deities and pantheons, the importance of not playing with genuine deities, methods of creating plausible gameworld deities, and assorted types of deities and other entities. Chapter 11: Divine & Human Interactions explores the relationship between deities and followers, clerical magic, communication, and different types of cosmologies. Chapter 12: The Quest for the Sacred Mehleetah is a very humorous little micro-module demonstrating how all this stuff works in action.
Features: This book works best in conjunction with a calculator, a pencil, and plenty of paper. It is jam-packed with useful diagrams, tables, formulae, lists, and other tidbits. The illustrations vary from a clever woodcut-block style to fairly standard and attractive pictures of the type that typically accompany stories in magazines. In the back you’ll find some lavish and handy supporting material. A splendid glossary defines all the magical terms you ever wondered about and then some. A modest bibliography & ludography section offers ideas for further exploration of magic and games. “Types of Non-Mages” discusses different intensities of magical practice. Finally, a generous index helps you find your way around. Everything is neatly organized, making the book easy to use.
Recommendations: If you play or orchestrate any role-playing game that incorporates magic or psionic powers, you need this book. Authentic Thaumaturgy adapts well to any system and addresses many drawbacks common in gaming today. It is also worth reading just for the fun of it, as the author’s sense of humor is truly awesome. Most highly recommended.
This review was originally submitted to Spicy Green Iguana.
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The most recent book in this series is Blood Noir (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter, Book 16)
Burnt Offerings
Come enjoy the next of the “Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter” novels. This one picks up approximately where the previous book, The Killing Dance (Book 6)
It starts out when a fireman shows up at Anita’s office, wanting her to stop a pyrokinetic arsonist before property damage turns into a high bodycount. Next comes a double twist involving Anita’s obligation to protect non-dominant shapeshifters — the werewolves look up to her as their lupa even though technically she isn’t their leader’s girlfriend anymore, and the wereleopards look up to her because their leader pushed her into killing him. So Anita winds up in the emergency room trying to arrange some semblance of safety and sanity for assorted shapeshifters.
No sooner does that matter get temporarily settled than two vampire-council toadies interrupt a charming dinner with some very unwelcome news. Apparently the council wants Jean-Claude to take over the seat vacated by Mr. Oliver, whom our heroes had to kill back in Circus of the Damned
Once again, Hamilton brings us a gripping story of horror, romance, mystery, betrayal, and loyalty. Her writing skills continue to improve, though I still find myself captivated by the same elements. She has a masterful hand when it comes to plotting, but the characterization outshines even that. It’s a matter of finding a unique and colorful setting, picking out some distinctive characters, and watching for them to get themselves in trouble. The story arises from a flawless interaction of all three, perfectly plausible and impossible to put down until you finish it. I stayed up all night reading this one. Again.
In particular, I love the way Hamilton is developing the cultures of the preternatural creatures in her world. The more we see of the werewolves, wereleopard, vampires, and even Anita as necromancer, the more real they seem as increasingly intimate details of their interactions emerge. The scene with Jean-Claude negotiating with Anita over menu choices is incredibly cute, and the scene with the werewolves slinking along the floor to fawn on Anita is dramatic — punctuated by comic relief when someone walks in on them. Given my interests in xenobiology, I can’t help but admire the results.
The other thing I love most about the series as a whole is the way it keeps building on itself, especially the way the characters grow and change from one book to another. Most authors don’t allow that, which tends to fray my suspension of disbelief. Here, we see the effects of small actions echo down through the months, and we characters cross lines they never meant to cross, but have been pushed into crossing by the inexorable tide of events. In this case, one of the key themes is Anita’s ever-deepening involvement with “monsters” which she desperately wants to avoid but only seems to speed up, a good example of which is the way that killing the vile Gabriel has made her the wereleopards’ leader. The element of change greatly enhances the element of surprise, which I rarely find in fiction and which I enjoy immensely when it does succeed.
Burnt Offerings reaches the epitome of horror by my standards: it forces characters to look at their own shadows. Dark fantasy fans will love it too. Those of you not already familiar with the series can actually pick it up at any point, because the explanation is good enough for you to track the action, but you’ll get more out of the experience if you’ve read the previous novels. Most highly recommended.
This review was originally submitted to Spicy Green Iguana.
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Elizabeth Moon is building a website, Chronicles of Paksennarion’s World, to detail the background of the setting made famous by The Deed of Paksenarrion
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Visit the author’s website, A Universe Full of Positive Possibilities.
Inside a Witches’ Coven
Not a magical how-to text like most others written for novices, Inside a Witches’ Coven focuses on group dynamics, the characteristics of a good coven, and how to go about finding or forming one.
Overview: Drawing from her personal experience and research, McCoy introduces the reader to all the basic concepts of Pagan covens and how they work. The book opens with a general presentation of coven structure, purpose, and process followed by a set of parameters which define a coven’s feel and function. The author discusses networking, initiation, teaching customs, conflict resolution, celebrations and observances, leadership, group magic, and other key elements. A majority of the material explains in great detail how to decide what you want in a coven, how to search for and select a coven to join, and how to form a coven or discussion group if you can’t find what you want already going — information not readily found elsewhere. While the book features Wicca as its main influence, it also mentions Eclectic covens and other Pagan groups, so this text has broader application outside the Wiccan denominations. Excellent theory and analysis of human nature and small group mechanics give this book a broad appeal.
Features: Useful references include a description of common degrees, instructions for making your own “must-have list” of coven qualities, a set of basic rules for home meetings, an extensive list of questions to ask yourself and coven members before joining and a related list to ask coven applicants before accepting them, a detailed guide to designing a coven compact and the reasons for doing so, and methods of arranging teaching versus inner circles. The networking directory in the back gives contact information for Pagan periodicals and organizations. There are recommended reading lists for group dynamics, contacts, and basic Witchcraft but they are quite short and there is no bibliography. The index is good as far as it goes but not what I would call complete since it doesn’t list all the key features.
Recommendations: Suited for any level of experience from novice to expert, Inside a Witches’ Coven offers detailed information in a concise format which makes it easy to understand and implement. It makes a perfect companion for how-to texts like To Ride A Silver Broomstick: New Generational Witchcraft
This review was originally submitted to Connections.
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In addition to this book, the author has also written a sequel, Meet the Thradons!
Bobby’s Girl
This novel reads like a cross between space opera and urban fantasy. It’s light reading and it deals with some pretty standard elements, but they’re put together in hilarious ways. It would make a great late-night movie for the Sci-Fi channel.
Begin with a really stupid war on an alien planet. General Ket Mhulhar of the planet Thradon is smuggled into hiding by some of her friends – much against her will, I might add; she’d rather stay and fight the good fight. But they don’t want her to die at the hands of Eberean forces, so they remodel her into a human and ship her to Earth. The interesting thing is that Ket is just about ready to start her “second half,” the Thradonian custom of picking up a new career about midway through their longer lifespan. She winds up in Hollywood, working as a script girl. But all is not well back on Thradon, and it’s about to wash over onto Earth…
Bobby’s Girl holds the most appeal for movie mavens; it’s probably a little light for most fans of military SF. If you enjoy general fannish playfulness, you’ll get a kick out of this. Recommended.
This review was originally submitted to Spicy Green Iguana.
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Atlantis Rising: The True Story of a Submerged Land-Yesterday and Today
Here is an odd little treasure to delight young and old alike. Ignore the misleading subtitle; this really is fantasy, or perhaps science fiction depending on how you draw the lines. The format is what I call demi-fiction, a story done up to resemble fact. Essentially, the author argues that the inhabitants of Atlantis have evolved into aquatic creatures and are still alive today — even interested in the deeds of the landbound, so much as those affect the oceans where the altered Atlanteans live. The large, glossy pages boast full-color illustrations and photographs which add a lot to the text.
Atlantis Rising will appeal to young fans, but it also has some interest adults. Anyone into Atlantis theories will get a kick out of it. If you liked Dinotopia
This review was originally submitted to Spicy Green Iguana.
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Interestingly, while searching for this book online, I found two different music albums by the same name: Caribbean Voyage: Brown Girl in the Ring
Brown Girl in the Ring
Recently, Warner Aspect sponsored a first-novel contest intended to search out the future voices of science fiction, a contest which drew almost a thousand entries from writers around the world. I now present to you the winner. I’m distinctly impressed with author and novel alike. Of herself, Nalo Hopkinson says, “I was born in the Caribbean and moved to Canada when I was a teenager. In this novel, I use Afro-Caribbean spirituality, culture, and language, but placed my characters within the idioms and settings of contemporary speculative fiction. I saw it as subverting the genre, which speaks so much about the experience of being alienated, but contains so little written by alienated people themselves.” Insightful words.
A complex plot connects the many characters of this story. It begins with a search for a suitable human heart to transplant into a politician who refuses to accept an animal substitute. Enter Ti-Jeanne, the “brown girl” of the title, who is just coming into her power and scared to death of it. Sometimes she sees how people are going to die; sometimes she dreams of spirits dancing. Her grandmother Gros-Jeanne wants to teach her all about serving the Ancestors, but Ti-Jeanne doesn’t want to learn. She’s more interested in her baby and her baby’s father Tony and all the trouble Tony gets himself into. But Tony finally gets into more trouble than anyone can fix completely, so they have to turn to the orishas — the spirits — for help. The final confrontation in the CN Tower is truly spectacular.
I enjoyed the local color, rendered with exquisite care: the dialect, the crumbling ruins of Toronto, all the intricacies of Afro-Caribbean spirituality. If you look closely, you can decipher the rules of the dialect, not sloppy at all. The orishas and most other elements of the religion are portrayed quite accurately; and the dangerous “duppy” spirit is drawn just as faithfully from Afro-Caribbean folklore. I also liked the socio-political twists at the end. It just goes to show that when you mess around with the Oldest Ones, things don’t always come out the way you expect!
Brown Girl in the Ring does everything right. Fans of sociologic science fiction will love it, and there’s enough doom-and-gloom to satisfy the post-apocalyptic crowd as well, although the destruction is contained to the immediate setting at hand. It even has a smattering of horror motifs. This novel also holds special appeal for anyone interested in Afro-Caribbean culture, or anyone who bemoans the general lack of science fiction written by women and people of color. Most highly recommended.
This review was originally submitted to Eternity Online.
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I’m pleased to announce my new blog, Gaiatribe: Ideas for a Thinking Planet. It belongs to a network of blogs called Geek Universalis. Several blogs, each with their own area of expertise, feed into the main blog, rather the way columns combine in a magazine. It’s another approach to cyberfunded creativity, combining multiple revenue streams to be shared among the authors.
Gaiatribe supports the premise that humanity is the part of the biosphere that can think, which gives us the responsibility to care for life and the Earth. Here you’ll find discussions of renewable energy, sustainable development, intentional community, nature religions, environmental awareness, and related topics. That includes some books, magazines, and publishers in this field. If you have enjoyed my writing on those topics in other venues, please visit Gaiatribe — I think you’ll love it too. So far there are 12 posts across many categories.
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A sequel to this book is available: Changespell Legacy (Baen Fantasy)
Visit the author’s site here: Doranna Durgin’s Webstead
Changespell by Doranna Durgin. Baen Books, 1997. Paperback, 338 pages. ISBN: 0-671-87765-8. Five stars.
If you read Durgin’s earlier book Dun Lady’s Jess
In this book, unscrupulous mages use dangerous drugs to circumvent the laws of Camolen and turn innocent animals into humans for slave labor. It doesn’t work out at all well, and soon the responsible Council mages find out terrified changelings wandering loose. Jess, in her human form, helps identify the changelings and urges haste in stopping the rogue group from creating more. As the mare Lady, she rides as a courier to carry messages because the magical communications are no longer secure. Intelligence, complexity, and passion highlight her human side; courage, simplicity, and peace typify the equine side. All the while, she yearns for control over her own body and life, because she can trigger the change from Jess to Lady but not the reverse. Her human friends from Earth join in the hunt, working to solve their own problems too — Dayna with her wild magic, and Jamie with her fear of the vile mage Willand who has escaped from custody with the help of the rogue mages.
Dun Lady’s Jess was a fish-out-of-water story. Changespell is above all else a story of self-discovery. Even with magical criminals on the loose, the characters find time to care for each other and for their own needs as well. They take the time and energy required to learn about themselves, so they grow and change tremendously as the story progresses. Dayna learns more about her newfound magical abilities and how they work, learns to use wild magic as an unexpected weapon. Jamie finally confronts her fear and the lingering aftereffects of torture at Willand’s hands; she also discovers an abiding affection for one of the other characters. Dun Lady’s Jess discovers the key to her own nature and finds ways to live at peace with herself; her determination to learn human customs and behaviors pays off in added self-confidence.
Durgin tells this deeply insightful and touching tale with a deft clarity. Her eye for detail will delight and astonish you — obviously Durgin knows a great deal about horses. If you’re sick of the usual mistakes fantasy writers make concerning horses, this is the book for you! Jess comes across as a wonderfully horsey woman and Lady as a cleverly humane mare. Body language is flawless throughout, both human and horse; Durgin also possesses a fine understanding of psychology and interaction of all kinds. Her compassion for the characters and their struggles also shines through as she describes the small accomplishments, the painful realizations, the soul-searching, and the triumphs. This book revolves around the characters and their efforts to deal with the challenges life deals them. Durgin’s skill brings it all off beautifully with eloquent prose and strong plotting.
I most enjoyed the central theme in both novels, the change from animal to human and its effects. In Celtic mythology, animals and elementals do not possess individual souls — but they can develop a soul in the presence of strong emotions. This is exactly what happens to Dun Lady’s Jess: her love for her rider Carey gives her the anchor she needs to grow a soul, a human side. Durgin follows this gradual process with great interest. In Changespell, Jess has become her own person; she moves on to the next challenge of taking control over her decisions. Then she examines romantic relationships. The other changed animals, without any anchor of strong emotion, fail to make the adjustment successfully. In some cases the mages manage to restore them to their natural forms, other times they fail. This explores the seed of truth in that old Celtic belief, namely that feelings and relationships constitute a large part of what makes us human. They give us a complexity beyond animal simplicity. Yet Dun Lady’s Jess goes beyond even this at the end, as she realizes her nature not as human or horse but a unique union of both.
Changespell is a must-read for anyone who loves horses. It gives a fine rendition of personal growth and romance for adolescent readers, too, so buy an extra copy for a girl you know. I also recommend the book for fantasy fans in general, because it takes a fresh look at many classic motifs like the magic mentioned in the title; it’s perfect if you want to consider the science of magic.
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Black Heart, Ivory Bones
Once again, two favorite editors and many favorite authors bring us a wondersome anthology of fairy tales for adults. No, these aren’t erotic stories, although some of them are indeed sexy or sordid; they’re simply very dark and sophisticated in ways that most fairy tales were whitewashed out of long ago. If you’re tired of reading insipid fantasy, read this.
Some of the stories here follow classic fairy tales very closely; some begin with a classic tale and twist it into a totally new shape; and some are entirely original. Tanith Lee offers a retelling of “Rapunzel” in her story of the same name, a much quieter and more plausible version that nevertheless manages to charm. Master of urban fantasy Charles de Lint lays out “My Life as a Bird,” a gritty and beautiful story about gifts, curses, friendship, and freedom. Bryn Kanar takes on Native American motifs in “Dreaming Among Men,” sure to appeal to the Coyote fans out there. Ellen Steiber trots out “The Cats of San Martino” which features a lovely look at Italy. Severna Park touches on matters of safety and belonging –- and the lack thereof –- in her haunting story “The Golem,” which draws on Jewish lore.
Black Heart, Ivory Bones holds great appeal for fantasy fans and anyone who collects fairy tales. If you liked earlier books in the set, such as Ruby Slippers, Golden Tears
This review originally appeared in Spicy Green Iguana.
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In addition to the original hardback edition,
The Annunciate
Go ahead and judge this book by its cover. There you can see a hint of everything inside. This is a story about need and belief, loyalty and betrayal, faith and hope, temptation and salvation, ends and beginnings. It reveals the human in the alien and the alien in the human. It tears into the soft underbelly of civilization, rips out all the innards, and dances in the resulting mess. Yet it also builds a new life out of the old, like a phoenix rising from ashes, just when it seems that all is truly lost.
Meet Eve, a young woman struggling to survive in a war-torn galaxy where the most popular weapon is a powerfully-addictive drug called Staze. Eve travels with Annmarie and Corey, who are not exactly nice people, as they visit troubled people who want to buy the Staze they make. Then there is Naverdi, Eve’s lover, and also a Staze addict. When things get too hot, Eve and company flee to a forgotten refuge -– but what they find there will change everything, everywhere, for everyone.
The Annunciate is a peculiar blend of surrealism, cyberpunk, Lesbian erotica, and sophisticated religious allegory. Fans of either science fiction or fantasy may find much satisfaction here, and of course anyone interested in same-sex romance should give it a try. I got to see this book through its forming stages, and I’m impressed with how it turned out. Highly recommended.
This review was originally submitted to Spicy Green Iguana.
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