From /tmp/sf.1110 Fri Jul 23 13:54:29 1993 Path: lysator.liu.se!isy!liuida!sunic!pipex!uunet!psinntp!dg-rtp!sheol!dont-reply-to-paths From: wex@media.mit.edu (Alan Wexelblat) Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.reviews Followup-To: rec.arts.sf.written Subject: Review of TEMPTER Approved: sfr%sheol@concert.net (rec.arts.sf.reviews moderator) Message-ID: <9307020210.AA14440@media.mit.edu> Date: 05 Jul 93 03:37:52 GMT Lines: 43 TEMPTER by Nancy Collins Review Copyright (c) 1993 Alan Wexelblat I love reading novels about New Orleans in the summer. I know that no matter how hot, sticky, disgusting, etc. it gets where I am, those people have it much worse. Doesn't actually make me feel cooler, but does make me grateful. This time when the heat came on I reached for Nancy Collin's second novel, TEMPTER. Her first effort, SUNGLASSES AFTER DARK, was a chilling twist on the vampire tradition. This one promises much the same thing, with a hearty helping of voodoo thrown in. Unfortunately, it never really delivers on that promise. The story is mostly about Adam Rossiter, a washed-up rock musician with a taste for the supernatural, drugs, bad relationships, and getting into trouble. He gets involved with a voodoo circle and their high priestess. She, through the mechanism of an ancient book of spells, leads him into contact with Tempter, an ancient evil spirit. Ultimately, the priestess must track him down and confront the evil Before It Is Too Late (tm). Sorry, but that's about the level of the plot -- it's trite and thoroughly predictable. The characters don't rise above the level of stereotypes, and the voodoo just can't carry the book, especially as Collins has chosen to interpret it as "high magic," thus rendering it indistinguishable from Generic Fantasy Magic (tm). I'm really disappointed; I'd expected more from Collins, but everyone's entitle to a sophomore jinx, I guess. %A Nancy Collins %T Tempter %I Onyx Horror %G ISBN 0-451-40215-4 %O $4.50 %D 1990 --Alan Wexelblat, Reality Hacker, Author, and Cyberspace Bard Media Lab - Advanced Human Interface Group wex@media.mit.edu Voice: 617-258-9168, Pager: 617-945-1842 wexelblat.chi@xerox.com You pathetic jugglers never lowered yourselves to developing the software. You should have paid a little more attention to R & D. From rec.arts.sf.reviews Thu Jan 25 15:18:54 1996 Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.reviews Path: news.ifm.liu.se!liuida!newsfeed.sunet.se!news01.sunet.se!sunic!news99.sunet.se!erinews.ericsson.se!eua.ericsson.se!news.algonet.se!news.uoregon.edu!berkeley.linfield.edu!netnews1.nwnet.net!news.u.washington.edu!news.alt.net!news.net99.net!newshost.cyberramp.net!news.consultix.com!news.kei.com!uhog.mit.edu!news!nobody From: rickk@emu.com (Rick Kleffel) Subject: Review: 'Walking Wolf' by Nancy A. Collins Message-ID: <9601221452.AA16446@virgil> Followup-To: rec.arts.sf.written Keywords: author= Rick Kleffel Sender: news@media.mit.edu (USENET News System) Organization: Date: Mon, 22 Jan 1996 20:22:11 GMT Approved: wex@media.mit.edu (Alan Wexelblat) Lines: 38 Walking Wolf Nancy A. Collins One of the most entertaining ways to read history is to do so in a novel where a supernatural protagonist lives on through generations, and weathers changes over a period of time which would kill the average narrator. Sure, you can have a long-lived narrator, like Little Big Man. But why settle for the long-lived, when you can go for immortal, or nearly so? 'Walking Wolf' is Nancy Collins' take on American Indian history, seen through the eyes of Walking Wolf, the title character, a white man raised by Indians who happens to be a werewolf. Call it Little Big Wolf. Collins sets the tone of her tale quickly, having Billy Skillet tell his tale in a terse, conversational first-person voice. This device could wear thin, but doesn't, partially because the book is so short, but more importantly because the prose is entertaining, funny and well-written. Her characters are more than flat images lifted out of her obvious research, brought alive by her writing skill. The supernatural aspects of this novel are excellently woven into the fabric of reality, as well as impressively cohesive. Collins' 'system of the supernatural' is slick and unobtrusive. Unfortunately, the length of this novel does at times act against it. Sometimes it seems as if we are only getting the fruits of Collins research, with the barest shreds of her characters and their story shoe-horned in to keep the narrative flowing. It's an impressive amount of research, and this history in itself is entertaining, but it does tend to distract from the novelistic aspects of the story, as do some of the more startlingly violent scenes. Collins' Sonya Blue character is the subject of three immensely popular novels, and in 'Walking Wolf' she keeps her options open for any number of sequels. It's a tribute to her skill that the reader is likely to want to read them. %T Walking Wolf %A Nancy A. Collins %G ISBN 0-929480-42-2 %I Mark V. Ziesing %O $25.00; US trade hard cover edition %P 181 pages