From archive Thu Jul 30 17:01:06 MDT 1992 Path: sssab.se!isy!liuida!sunic!uupsi!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!husc6!abacus!jmf From: jmf@abacus.uucp (Joan Frankel) Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf-lovers Subject: Mary Gentle Message-ID: <3119@husc6.harvard.edu> Date: 1 Jun 90 23:24:45 GMT Sender: news@husc6.harvard.edu Reply-To: jmf@abacus.UUCP (Joan Frankel) Organization: DAS Purchasing, Harvard University Lines: 63 I'd like to recommend 2 books by the above author; the first, "Golden Witchbreed", is best described as thoughtful & well-crafted but owing a lot in inspiration & features of cultural description to Ursula LeGuin's ""Left Hand of Darkness"; the 2nd, "Ancient Light", while being technically a sequel to the first, owes nothing to anything except perhaps first-hand-seeming experience of a conflict like the current middle-east situation, and is best described as frighteningly realistic, hauntingly memorable & exceptionally well-written. I haven't read that it was even nominated for any awards; in my opinion it should have received them. Golden Witchbreed Ignore the misleading title; no witchy-magicky stuff in the book at all; title could more accurately be "Ambassador to the Planet of the Technophobes", but as that's not very catchy, I can see why they wound up with Witchbreed. Witchbreed is the term the predominant culture on said planet uses to refer to suspected genetic descendants of the technologically superior race that enslaved & genetically manipulated them several thousand years previous to the period in which the novel is set. The features of the planetary inhabitants which are reminiscent of "Left Hand" are not direct borrowing but rather, skilled variation on a theme; the features of the plot which are reminiscent of "Left Hand", such as having the protagonist be a human ambassador & having a long trek across a vast wasteland occur mid-novel, were hardly coined by LeGuin; however, having similarities to "Left Hand" in so many areas gives "Witchbreed" a derivative feel at first. In my opinion, "Witchbreed" is far more thoughful, more carefully written & better plotted than "Left Hand" & is the better novel of the two, but "Left Hand" did come first. Ancient Light The planet of "Witchbreed" revisited 10 years (or 8 native years) later; the ambassador of the former book is now a cultural liason officer for one of those large-multiplanetary-conglomerates we all know & loathe. This change-of-job is a necessary plot device, not a change-of-heart, but everyone else in said conglomerate is doing their level best to sell technology to the technophobes while simultaneously prying into what they're so phobic about, for its potential resale value. The novel has a lot to show about the expediency of using "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" as a viable tactic in economic & political gamesmanship, and about the advisability of ignoring inconvenient populations. I may be reading the middle-east analogy in where it doesn't belong, but as the book early-on takes on a similarity to "every-day life in East Beirut", its hard not to do so. A quite admirable aspect of "Ancient Light" is that scenes from "Witchbreed" are referred to for appropriate wistful reminiscence but never re-created in situ. This is difficult for an author in love with the world they've created to avoid, judging from the many books I've read which are in whole or in large part clones of their prequels in not only atmospheric stuff but plot itself. Gentle avoids that trap remarkably well. In fact, she effectively re-casts some of "Witchbreed"'s major atmospheric stuff & some essential background detail to give it the power it must have for its use in "Ancient Light". "Ancient Light" suffers in its early segments from some obvious plot manipulations, but they're forgiveable (& forgotten) by the end. I'm still thinking about this book months after ending it; rare for any book. From rec.arts.sf.written Mon Jul 20 11:55:34 1992 Xref: herkules.sssab.se rec.arts.sf.written:9018 alt.fan.pratchett:890 Path: herkules.sssab.se!isy!liuida!sunic!mcsun!uknet!gdt!eesshlgb From: eesshlgb@gdr.bath.ac.uk (S H L G Bisson) Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written,alt.fan.pratchett Subject: _Grunts!_ Message-ID: <1992Jul16.103520.3764@gdr.bath.ac.uk> Date: 16 Jul 92 10:35:20 GMT Organization: School of Electrical Engineering, University of Bath, UK Lines: 34 Mary Gentle is perhaps better known for her science fiction and `hard' fantasy (_Golden_Witchbreed_,_Rats_and_Gargoyles_) than as a writer of humorous fantasy. However, if you've ever spoken to Mary, you'll not be surprised by the contents of her new novel, _Grunts!_. Yes, the "Pass me another elf, Sarge, this one's split!" book has finally been published. The story has a similar feel (and map!) to the Midnight Rose shared world anthology _Villains!_, an un-heroic fantasy with a certain dark lunatic edge. _Grunts!_ is the story of a group of Orcs, off to fight yet another final battle between Light and Dark, who get sent to raid a dying dragon's hoard. The dragon just happens to be a collector of otherworld militaria, who has cursed her loot: "You are what you steal". Vietnam era US marine uniforms and weapons lead to the formation of the orc marines, and to a lot of changes for the world... A certain cynicism about heroic fantasy, combined with a Bilkoesque view of the military, makes _Grunts!_ an antidote to those interminable fantasy quests and the Drake-clone military Sf that seems to fill the shelves. Watch out for the missile armed pegasi, the stealth dragon and the Special Undead Service (motto: "Death, THEN Glory!")... Basic Bibliographic details: _Grunts!_ Mary Gentle Bantam UK #14.99 (hc) ---=- Simon H Le G Bisson..net.jerriais..sf-bibliophile.. -=--- From /tmp/sf.4258 Tue Feb 1 03:40:06 1994 Path: liuida!sunic!pipex!uunet!news.sprintlink.net!dg-rtp!sheol!dont-reply-to-paths From: gdr11@cl.cam.ac.uk (Gareth Rees) Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.reviews Followup-To: rec.arts.sf.written Subject: Mary Gentle: The Architecture of Desire Approved: sfr%sheol@concert.net (rec.arts.sf.reviews moderator) Organization: U of Cambridge Computer Lab, UK Message-ID: <1994Jan28.102806.13750@infodev.cam.ac.uk> Date: 29 Jan 94 20:57:43 GMT Lines: 52 The Architecture of Desire by Mary Gentle A book review by Gareth Rees Copyright 1993 Gareth Rees This is not quite a sequel to "Rats and Gargoyles", but it does concern two characters who appeared in that novel and in the story collection "Soldiers and Scholars": Valentine Roseveare, master-physician of the Invisible College of soldier-scholars (and yes - for once the cover is an accurate portrayal of her dress), and Balthazar Casaubon, corpulent Rabelasian master-architect likewise. Together they make one of the oddest couples ever seen in the fantasy genre. The plot is unconnected with that of "Rats and Gargoyles" - indeed there are few hints that we are in the same universe as that of the magical, crumbling 'city at the heart of the world' ruled by demons and rats, that was depicted in that novel. Instead we are in a cross-dressing seventeenth-century England, where Queen Carola and the Protector-General Olivia vie for power on the brink of civil war. Seventeenth-century London is, under Gentle's eye, as lushly described as the nameless city of "Rats and Gargoyles": here, the heads on poles along London bridge mutter a recitation of their crimes; weathervanes croak weather forcasts and offer directions; the Queen cures disease with her touch; and Isaac Newton discovers that, contrary to popular opinion, the sun goes around the earth. There are, however, basic problems with the writing. The manic page-by-page scene-switching that made "Rats and Gargoyles" hard to read has calmed, but Gentle is still reluctant to call her characters by name: Valentine is referred to variously as 'White Crow', 'Roseveare', 'master-physician', 'soldier-scholar', 'the cinnamon-haired woman' and by other epithets. This is especially disconcerting as Valentine is, for much of the novel, the viewpoint character. Pages of unattributed dialogue are followed by a sentence like "She looked at the woman", and the reader must look back frantically to find out exactly who looked at whom. This kind of thing would be so easy to correct, and would do wonders for Gentle's readability - let's hope her editor is reading this. The plot? Valentine and Casaubon are seemingly far removed from turmoil at their country estate. But trouble comes in the form of a summons for Casaubon to London where plans to build a puritan temple to the sun are being ruined by supernatural influence. Valentine meets the Protector-General's messenger, Desire-of-the-Lord Guillaime, fails to save her from rape and then gets the hots for her, with tragic consequences. Valentine is embroiled in machinations between Olivia and Carola. Casaubon discovers that the temple cannot be built. The rapist is sentenced to hang. Valentine and Casaubon fall out over Desire-of-the-Lord, and the ending is provocatively inconclusive. %T The Architecture of Desire %A Mary Gentle %I Bantam Press %D 1991 From ../rec.arts.sf.reviews Tue Nov 14 14:30:26 1995 From rec.arts.sf.reviews Tue Sep 5 08:21:33 1995 Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.reviews Path: news.ifm.liu.se!liuida!sunic!sunic.sunet.se!mn6.swip.net!seunet!news2.swip.net!plug.news.pipex.net!pipex!dish.news.pipex.net!pipex!lade.news.pipex.net!pipex!tank.news.pipex.net!pipex!newsfeed.internetmci.com!bloom-beacon.mit.edu!news!nobody From: jim.henry@lightspeed.com (JIM HENRY) Subject: Review: Rats and Gargoyles Message-ID: <8B06283.000402DA9A.uuout@lightspeed.com> Followup-To: rec.arts.sf.written Sender: news@media.mit.edu (USENET News System) Reply-To: jim.henry@lightspeed.com (JIM HENRY) Organization: Faster-Than-Light, Atlanta GA USA, +1 404 292 8761 Date: Mon, 4 Sep 1995 18:58:18 GMT Approved: wex@media.mit.edu (Alan Wexelblat) Lines: 48 _Rats and Gargoyles_ by Mary Gentle (Roc, 1992) is a very odd semi- historical fantasy. The setting, a city at "the heart of the world," fits nowhere in our history, but there are enough references to historical persons, organizations and so forth (Paracelsus, the Freemasons, the English black bee, the Temple of Solomon) that it isn't a pure invented-world fantasy either. However you like to categorize it, it's good stuff. The world-building of the city called the heart of the world is very well-done indeed, down to often-neglected details such as the dialect of its inhabitants - not pseudo-archaic, as in some fantasies, or spell-breakingly modern and colloquial, as in others, but unique and convincing. Humans are subject to Rats, and both are in turn subject to the thirty-six Decans, powerful god-daemons incarnate in stone bodies. Their mortal subjects labor at continually building new extensions to the Fane at the center of the city. The plot involves just that, plots. The Freemasons, one of the Decans, a Rat priest, and the Invisible College all have elaborate plans in action which interfere with one another to interesting effect. Whoever succeeds, the results will be such as to change the city permanently, perhaps to change the very nature of the world. There are four very nicely-done main characters, and numerous others are no detriment to the story. A word may be in order about the nomenclature. Most of the humans' names are from our own history. The Rats names sound for the most part French. The Katayan names (I suppose I haven't said anything about the Katayans; never mind, go read the book) are nicely alien. I noticed at least two names which might be a homage to James Branch Cabell (the book is dedicated to him and to G. K. Chesterton), or which might have come from Cabell's own historical sources. About the only major flaw I see is in the humour; it is too self-conscious in many places, and so is not as funny as it could have been. The characters know they are being funny, and it spoils the effect. However, since it is not primarily a comedy (except perhaps in the Cabellian sense; one might subtitle it "A Comedy of Architecture" :) this is not such a flaw as to prevent my recommending it highly. %A Gentle, Mary %T Rats and Gargoyles %I Roc %D 1992 %K fantasy Renaissance Cabell %G 0-451-45173-2 %P 475 pp cc: ALL in 170 on FTL ALL in 8 on FTL --- * RM 1.3 * Eval Day 92 * jim.henry@lightspeed.com