From rec.arts.sf-reviews Fri Aug 23 01:58:29 1991 Path: herkules.sssab.se!isy!liuida!sunic!mcsun!uunet!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!samsung!know!mtgzy.att.com!ecl From: ecl@mtgzy.att.com Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf-reviews Subject: A MATTER OF TASTE by Fred Saberhagen Message-ID: <31617@know.pws.bull.com> Date: 20 Aug 91 19:29:00 GMT Sender: wex@pws.bulL.com Reply-To: ecl@mtgzy.att.com Followup-To: rec.arts.sf-lovers Lines: 59 Approved: wex@pws.bull.com Original-From: mtgzy!ecl (Evelyn C Leeper +1 908 957 2070) A MATTER OF TASTE by Fred Saberhagen Review Copyright (c) 1991 Evelyn C. Leeper [Bibloigraphic info at end. --AW] This is the fifth of Saberhagen's "Dracula" series (also known as his "Old Friend of the Family" series). (The first four are THE HOLMES-DRACULA FILE [1978], AN OLD FRIEND OF THE FAMILY [1979], THORN [1980], and DOMINION [1982].) The idea of a good vampire was certainly unusual when Saberhagen wrote the first one, but Saberhagen had already toyed with the concept once before. His DRACULA TAPE [1975] was a retelling of Bram Stoker's DRACULA-- from Dracula's point of view. For whatever reason (poor distribution may have contributed), that work vanished after a couple of years. When Saberhagen revived the idea (so to speak), he started fresh, and in what was certainly a good move commercially included Sherlock Holmes as well. Whether Saberhagen initially envisioned a new Holmes series rather than a vampire series is not clear. This time the series persisted, at least until 1982, when it went into hiding and has only now resurfaced, almost a decade later, with A MATTER OF TASTE. Alas, the series, like the main character, may be getting a little long in the tooth. (Sorry, I couldn't resist that.) Once again, the central character is Dracula, under the name of Matthew Maule, still protecting the same family we first met in THE HOLMES-DRACULA FILE. The story is really two interleaved stories--one of Dracula's origin and early life after death, and one of the present, where bad vampires are threatening Dracula's "nephew" and the latter's fiancee. The origin story was by far the more interesting of the two, though its historical setting seems influenced as much by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro's "Saint Germain" series and Les Daniels's "Sebastian" books as by the Dracula legend. This is interesting, since I suspect that their success in the period between Saberhagen's fourth and fifth books may be due to a revival in interest in vampires caused by Saberhagen's series in the first place. Even with this similarity in the historical story, however, I found the modern story more an interruption to what I considered the primary story than a story in its own right. Had Saberhagen published the historical story by itself as a novella (or even as a short novel), the story would have flowed much more smoothly and achieved a higher level and a wider appeal. As it is, I can recommend A MATTER OF TASTE only for fans of the rest of the series. I might further note that this is the first to appear in hardback. If this were a great book, it might be worth getting in hardback; as it is, you might as well wait for the paperback and have a matching set. %T A MATTER OF TASTE %A Fred Saberhagen %C New York %D July 1990 %I Tor %O hardback, US$16.95 %G 0-312-85046-8 %P 284pp %S Dracula %V #5 Evelyn C. Leeper | +1 908 957 2070 | att!mtgzy!ecl or ecl@mtgzy.att.com From archive (archive) From: ecl@mtgzy.UUCP (Evelyn C. Leeper) Organization: AT&T, Middletown NJ Subject: The Pilgrim Series by Fred Saberhagen Date: 23 Feb 88 15:49:54 GMT PYRAMIDS by Fred Saberhagen Baen, 1987, 0-671-65609-0, $3.50. AFTER THE FACT by Fred Saberhagen Baen, 1988, 0-671-65391-1, $3.95. A book review by Evelyn C. Leeper These are the fist two books in the "Pilgrim" series; things being what they are today, I'm sure there will be more. In PYRAMIDS we meet Pilgrim, an interstellar time traveler of sorts who needs 20th Century graduate student Tom Scheffler to help him recover part of his ship from Pharaonic Egypt. Well, sort of--one of the annoying aspects of this series is that the concept of time travel is not only different in the two books, it is actually contradictory. Without giving too much away, let me say that PYRAMIDS comes up with a unique way around the Grandfather Paradox, and AFTER THE FACT seems to assume that the method used in PYRAMIDS doesn't exist. In AFTER THE FACT Pilgrim uses yet another graduate student, Jerry Flint, to save President Lincoln from assassination. PYRAMIDS is interesting in the way it uses the ancient Egyptian gods (reminiscent of Zelazny's CREATURES OF LIGHT AND DARKNESS, I suppose) and its descriptions of ancient Egypt. AFTER THE FACT is more accessible, being about a time the average reader knows better, but this very accessibility makes it less interesting, and the denouement is singularly unsatisfying. Saberhagen has the makings of a good series as soon as he settles on a consistent rationale, and I hope he returns to more interesting and alien settings with it. Evelyn C. Leeper (201) 957-2070 UUCP: ihnp4!mtgzy!ecl ARPA: mtgzy!ecl@rutgers.rutgers.edu Copyright 1988 Evelyn C. Leeper From /tmp/sf.4146 Tue Aug 9 02:12:51 1994 Xref: liuida rec.arts.sf.reviews:629 rec.arts.books:94887 alt.books.reviews:4289 alt.horror:17770 Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.reviews,rec.arts.books,alt.books.reviews,alt.holmes,alt.horror Path: liuida!sunic!trane.uninett.no!eunet.no!nuug!EU.net!howland.reston.ans.net!europa.eng.gtefsd.com!newsxfer.itd.umich.edu!zip.eecs.umich.edu!yeshua.marcam.com!charnel.ecst.csuchico.edu!csusac!csus.edu!netcom.com!postmodern.com!not-for-mail From: mcb@netcom.com (Michael C. Berch) Subject: SEANCE FOR A VAMPIRE by Fred Saberhagen Message-ID: <9407281419.ZM1173@mtgpfs1.mt.att.com> Followup-To: rec.arts.sf.written Sender: mcb@postmodern.com (Michael C. Berch) Organization: Date: Wed, 3 Aug 1994 21:35:21 GMT Approved: mcb@postmodern.com (rec.arts.sf.reviews moderator) Lines: 62 SEANCE FOR A VAMPIRE by Fred Saberhagen Tor, ISBN 0-312-85562-1, 1994, 288pp, US$21.95. A book review by Evelyn C. Leeper Copyright 1994 Evelyn C. Leeper This is the sixth novel in Saberhagen's "Dracula" series, which starts with THE HOLMES-DRACULA FILE (in which Count Dracula meets Sherlock Holmes). Actually, it's the seventh, since Dracula refers back to Saberhagen's DRACULA TAPES, making that now officially part of the series. (I think of it as book zero, sort of like Tolkien's HOBBIT is book zero of his "Lord of the Rings" trilogy). The other books in the series are AN OLD FRIEND OF THE FAMILY, THORN, DOMINION, and MATTER OF TASTE. In SEANCE FOR A VAMPIRE, Holmes is called in by a friend whose wife may be being deluded by mediums. Well, the mediums are certainly fake, but the friend's drowned daughter shows up at one of the seances anyway, and Holmes calls in Dracula for some expert advice. Their search for the truth eventually leads them to St. Petersburg (Russia), and there the story grinds to a halt while we are given a complete travelogue of the city, including mention of all the major buildings and details such as which side of the road people drive on and that water needs to be boiled because of a cholera epidemic. I kept waiting for these things to matter, but they never did. Did Saberhagen make a trip to St. Petersburg that he wanted to write off as a business expense? It's a pity, really, because until the story goes to St. Petersburg, it moves along fairly briskly, in spite of switching between Dracula and Watson as narrator, often in mid-chapter. But Saberhagen manages to let the reader know in the first few sentences after a transition who is speaking. And I have a couple of technical quibbles. Dracula says he has a problem with running water, yet another vampire apparently has no problem concealing himself in the same stream Dracula wants to avoid. And would a vampire really stay in a house which displayed large crosses on the tables? I know Saberhagen has changed the mythos a bit, but the first is an internal inconsistency and the second is also fairly blatant. In spite of these complaints, though, SEANCE FOR A VAMPIRE is still better than some of the middle books of the series, and a return to the engaging style of the first couple. I would recommend this, but wait for the paperback. %A Saberhagen, Fred %T Seance for a Vampire %I Tor %C New York %D June 1994 %G ISBN 0-312-85562-1 %P 288pp %O hardcover, US$21.95 %S Dracula %V 7 -- Evelyn C. Leeper | +1 908 957 2070 | Evelyn.Leeper@att.com "Am I politically correct today? Do I do crystals and New Age? Obviously, women's music's for me--Edith Piaf, Bessie Smith, and Patti Page." --Lynn Lavner From /tmp/sf.4146 Tue Aug 9 02:13:22 1994 Xref: liuida rec.arts.sf.reviews:631 rec.arts.books:94906 alt.books.reviews:4293 alt.horror:17775 Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.reviews,rec.arts.books,alt.books.reviews,alt.holmes,alt.horror Path: liuida!sunic!pipex!howland.reston.ans.net!europa.eng.gtefsd.com!newsxfer.itd.umich.edu!ncar!taos.Craycos.COM!csn!csus.edu!netcom.com!postmodern.com!not-for-mail From: Evelyn.Leeper@att.com (Evelyn C. Leeper) Subject: SEANCE FOR A VAMPIRE by Fred Saberhagen Message-ID: <9407281419.ZM1173-repost@mtgpfs1.mt.att.com> Followup-To: rec.arts.sf.written Sender: mcb@postmodern.com (Michael C. Berch) Organization: The Internet Date: Thu, 4 Aug 1994 01:15:16 GMT Approved: mcb@postmodern.com (rec.arts.sf.reviews moderator) Lines: 62 SEANCE FOR A VAMPIRE by Fred Saberhagen Tor, ISBN 0-312-85562-1, 1994, 288pp, US$21.95. A book review by Evelyn C. Leeper Copyright 1994 Evelyn C. Leeper This is the sixth novel in Saberhagen's "Dracula" series, which starts with THE HOLMES-DRACULA FILE (in which Count Dracula meets Sherlock Holmes). Actually, it's the seventh, since Dracula refers back to Saberhagen's DRACULA TAPES, making that now officially part of the series. (I think of it as book zero, sort of like Tolkien's HOBBIT is book zero of his "Lord of the Rings" trilogy). The other books in the series are AN OLD FRIEND OF THE FAMILY, THORN, DOMINION, and MATTER OF TASTE. In SEANCE FOR A VAMPIRE, Holmes is called in by a friend whose wife may be being deluded by mediums. Well, the mediums are certainly fake, but the friend's drowned daughter shows up at one of the seances anyway, and Holmes calls in Dracula for some expert advice. Their search for the truth eventually leads them to St. Petersburg (Russia), and there the story grinds to a halt while we are given a complete travelogue of the city, including mention of all the major buildings and details such as which side of the road people drive on and that water needs to be boiled because of a cholera epidemic. I kept waiting for these things to matter, but they never did. Did Saberhagen make a trip to St. Petersburg that he wanted to write off as a business expense? It's a pity, really, because until the story goes to St. Petersburg, it moves along fairly briskly, in spite of switching between Dracula and Watson as narrator, often in mid-chapter. But Saberhagen manages to let the reader know in the first few sentences after a transition who is speaking. And I have a couple of technical quibbles. Dracula says he has a problem with running water, yet another vampire apparently has no problem concealing himself in the same stream Dracula wants to avoid. And would a vampire really stay in a house which displayed large crosses on the tables? I know Saberhagen has changed the mythos a bit, but the first is an internal inconsistency and the second is also fairly blatant. In spite of these complaints, though, SEANCE FOR A VAMPIRE is still better than some of the middle books of the series, and a return to the engaging style of the first couple. I would recommend this, but wait for the paperback. %A Saberhagen, Fred %T Seance for a Vampire %I Tor %C New York %D June 1994 %G ISBN 0-312-85562-1 %P 288pp %O hardcover, US$21.95 %S Dracula %V 7 -- Evelyn C. Leeper | +1 908 957 2070 | Evelyn.Leeper@att.com "Am I politically correct today? Do I do crystals and New Age? Obviously, women's music's for me--Edith Piaf, Bessie Smith, and Patti Page." --Lynn Lavner From rec.arts.sf.reviews Sat Jul 31 15:08:40 1999 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!news.lth.se!feed2.news.luth.se!luth.se!logbridge.uoregon.edu!news.maxwell.syr.edu!firehose.mindspring.net!gatech!18.181.0.27.MISMATCH!sipb-server-1.mit.edu!senator-bedfellow.mit.edu!usenet From: "Aaron M. Renn" Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.reviews Subject: Review: The Face of Apollo by Fred Saberhagen Date: 23 Jul 1999 12:48:43 -0400 Organization: GNU's Not Unix! Lines: 62 Sender: wex@ronin.media.mit.edu Approved: wex@media.mit.edu Message-ID: NNTP-Posting-Host: ronin.media.mit.edu Follouwp-to: rec.art.sf.written X-Newsreader: Gnus v5.5/Emacs 20.3 Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.sf.reviews:2405 The Face of Apollo by Fred Saberhagen Review Copyright (c) 1999 Aaron M. Renn Conclusion: Worth Reading, Barely In the movie Heathers, Veronica Sawyer's father asks, "God damn, won't somebody tell me why I read these spy novels?" to which she replies, "Because you're an idiot." I feel the same way about Fred Saberhagen books. I read and enjoyed Saberhagen's Berserker works. I think his Empire of the East trilogy is a true masterpiece. His followup Swords trilogy wasn't nearly as good, but was still very enjoyable. I even bought all seven of his Lost Swords books, in spite of the Swords universe getting old rather quickly. But now that he's embarked on a series that could possibly be a prequel to the Swords trilogy, I've got to say enough's enough. You're killing me, Fred. Thirteen books is plenty. We don't need anymore. Young Jeremy Redthorn saves the life of a woman named Sal who's fleeing from the evil minions of Lord Kalakh. Well, saves her temporarily. She's killed when a wave of attackers overruns Jeremy's village. He promises her that he will complete delivery of an important pouch she was taking to the Academy far downstream. The pouch contains a mask of the Face of Apollo, who was killed in a battle with dread Hades. When Jeremy puts on the mask, it seeps into his head and suddenly the consciousness of Apollo is inside him. The book is your basic fantasy adventure story. It starts off slow, but the pace picks up towards the end. Other than a few additional tidbits of information about the Empire/Swords universe, there's nothing much compelling in this book. If I weren't such an insane and compulsive collector, I probably wouldn't bother buying the remaining books in this series. But knowing myself as I do, I'm sure I'll end up picking them up. The most interesting thing about the book is trying to figure out if it is really set in the Empire/Swords universe. The general setting rings true (a fantasy world existing hundreds or thousands of years after a change wrought by a high tech culture, a Greco-Roman pantheon, etc). However, there is nothing like an Ardneh cult in the book that conclusively ties it in with the rest. On the other hand, I didn't read anything that was clearly inconsistent with the Empire/Swords world either. The nature of the gods appears to be different in this volume, but not such that Saberhagen couldn't explain it away if he wanted to. While The Face of Apollo is billed as volume one of a series called the Book of the Gods, it is a standalone. No cliffhangers await the unwary. There is no indication of how many books this new series might contain, but knowing Saberhagen, it will probably be a lot. %A Saberhagen, Fred %T The Face of Apollo %S Book of the Gods %I Tor %D 1999-07 \(original publication 1998-04\) %G ISBN 0-812-57189-4 %P 382 pp. %0 mass market paperback, US$6.99 Reviewed on 1999-07-16 Aaron M. Renn (arenn@urbanophile.com) http://www.urbanophile.com/arenn/ From rec.arts.sf.reviews Sun Feb 20 09:55:06 2000 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!news.lth.se!feed2.news.luth.se!luth.se!newspump.monmouth.com!newspeer.monmouth.com!newsswitch.lcs.mit.edu!bloom-beacon.mit.edu!senator-bedfellow.mit.edu!dreaderd!not-for-mail Sender: wex@deepspace.media.mit.edu From: tillman@aztec.asu.edu (P.D. TILLMAN) Subject: Caveat: Shiva in Steel, by Fred Saberhagen Reply-To: tillman@aztec.asu.edu Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.reviews Approved: wex@media.mit.edu Followup-To: rec.arts.sf.written Organization: none Date: 19 Feb 2000 13:51:38 -0500 Message-ID: X-Newsreader: Gnus v5.5/Emacs 20.3 Lines: 31 NNTP-Posting-Host: deepspace.media.mit.edu X-Trace: dreaderd 950986300 2944 18.85.23.65 Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.sf.reviews:2599 Shiva in Steel, by Fred Saberhagen Review copyright 2000 Peter D. Tillman Rating: "D" -- padded, clumsy and slow. Worst Saberhagen I've read. I made it through Saberhagen's new Berserker novel, but just barely -- the opening moves like rush-hour traffic in L.A.: S - L - O - W. Once it gets moving around p. 160(!) it's not too bad. Inside the padding is a pretty decent novellette struggling to get out. Maybe. The characters are so flat, cardboard looks well-rounded. Plot-threads dangle, and logical holes gape. Saberhagen clearly lost interest at the first draft, and his editor didn't send it back for a badly-needed rewrite (bad Tor!). Is he in poor health? Shiva in Steel somehow got a good review in Locus, which is why I bought it, besides having liked previous Berserker stories. So I suppose YMMV, but I doubt it. Trust me -- you don't want to read this one. Reread an old Berserker book instead. It's bad enough, I feel guilty recycling it to the used bookstore. %T Shiva in Steel %A Fred Saberhagen %D Nov 99 %I Tor %O $6 pb %P 318 pp. %G ISBN 0812571126 Read more of my reviews: http://www.silcom.com/~manatee/reviewer.html#tillman