Quick Takes: Lucius Shepard, Roy Morris Jr, Elaine Cunningham

The Golden, by Lucius Shepard: I find it very interesting to see what various authors do with well worn story ideas. Here Lucius Shepard takes on the "Vampire Novel", but Shepard does it in the form of a 19th Century novel with some of the form and restraint found in that era. Set in 186-, The Golden is something of a mystery. We are introduced to Michael Beheim, once a Chief of Detectives in Paris, now a vampire, a member of The Family. The Family has a breeding program which leads to a mortal having such perfect, exquisite blood that the individual is called The Golden. There is a Decanting Ceremony for the clans. Before the Decanting can take place, however, The Golden is murdered and drained of her blood. Beheim is chosen by the Patriarch to investigate the murder. He has three days, otherwise there will be serious repercussions and he must investigate other vampires who will not take kindly to this intrusion. The Golden is a mystery, a romance, a vampire novel, and a well told tale. Shepard seldom disappoints with his fiction and while there is a bit of rigidity in the prose (fitting the style and setting, but rigidity all the same), The Golden is an excellent work of fiction and another example of what else can be done within the vampire subgenre. The Golden is nothing like the contemporary vampire fiction being published today, or even like Stephen King or Richard Matheson's take. If anything, it harks closer to George R. R. Martin's Fevre Dream, but in an entirely different setting. The bottom line is that The Golden is worth the read, as is most of what is published by Golden Gryphon.



Fraud of the Century: Rutherford B. Hayes, Samuel Tilden, and the Stolen Election of 1876, by Roy Morris, Jr: Remember the George Bush / Al Gore Election of 2000 with all the voter fraud, the contested state of Florida, accusations, and overall mess the election was? It's happened before. Same states, different players, potentially worse fraud. Remember, this is not long after the Civil War and the Southern states are only just being admitted back into the Union and the Republicans (the forerunners of the modern Democratic party) have had control for some time now. The Democrats are itching to gain control of their own Southern states and of the Presidency. Both Hayes and Tilden are nobody’s first choice for the nominees, but that's the way it goes. Roy Morris, Jr, takes us through the nominations and how these two men took center stage in the 1876 election. This is probably the largest issue I have with Fraud of the Century. After the introduction where Morris compares the 2000 election to the 1876 election and shows how they were similar Morris takes a step back and spends time introducing the players and their political worlds. It's important, I know, to understand Hayes and Tilden, but it's dry. Very dry. By the time we hit the real Presidential Intrigue, vote theft, disenfranchising, electoral manipulation, and all the other illegality of the election it is difficult to really maintain interest. Morris tells the whole thing in a very dry tone that runs through even the darkest dishonesty on the whole thing. Great subject and puts a historical perspective on 2000, and Morris does speculate on what might have been different with Tilden at the helm (very little), but overall the 250 page book is a bit of a let down due to the dry prose of the narrative.



Dark Journey, by Elaine Cunningham: With Dark Journey we hit the midpoint in the 19 volume New Jedi Order series dealing with the invasion of the galaxy by the Vong. The Vong has hit Coruscant and the evacuation has begun. Anakin Solo is dead, Jacen is captured, and Jaina is on the run. This is a bleak time for the New Republic...and I think the only thing that Cunningham really accomplished here was pointing the characters in the right direction for the second half of the NJO. Underwhelming to say the least. The writing is blah, the story does not move at nearly as quick a pace as previous NJO efforts, and honestly, I can't say that enough happened here to warrant an entire book.

Quick Takes: Pratchett, Denning, Sittenfeld

Small Gods, by Terry Pratchett: There are large gods and there are small gods. The small gods are the ones which have very few worshipers. Despite there being a nation built around the worship of the god Om, Om only has one worshiper, a rather simple young man named Brutha. Brutha is a Novice who will never get the opportunity to become a priest. When Om begins speaking to Brutha, everything will change. This Discworld novel, while it does not appear to connect much to the goings on in Ankh Morpork, is a quality read. Small Gods appears to have the best construction and most coherent story thus far in the Discworld series and contains the usual dose of humor and silliness one would expect from Terry Pratchett. While not as funny as Pratchett at his best, the story itself is perhaps stronger than those that have come before.

Star by Star, by Troy Denning: No Star Wars novel needs to run 600 pages, not even one written by Matthew Stover...which this one was not. Ye s, there are two rather large, significant events which occurred in this novel, but even building to those two events...400 pages, tops. The first half of Star by Star drags a bit, especially coming after two fast paced, pleasing entries by Greg Keyes. This was the ninth volume in the New Jedi Order series (of 19) and for all the darkness which has come before, Star by Star takes a turn for the worse (the two aforementioned events). By the end Denning picked up the pace of his storytelling and things improved, but the first half of Star by Star is rough going after the smooth sailing of Greg Keyes.

The Man of My Dreams, by Curtis Sittenfeld: Author Sittenfeld follows up her bestselling and acclaimed novel Prep with The Man of My Dreams, another quick reading novel about a girl growing up and the relationships she forms and fails at. This time the protagonist is Hannah Gavenor. Hannah is a bit of an outcast, never quite knowing the right thing to say and never quite fitting in with any crowd. In chapter long episodes (each taking place at a progressively later part of her life, from her teenaged years to her late twenties), Sittenfeld gives the reader sufficient glimpse into Hannah's life and we see her growth and in some cases, lack of growth. Hannah never really bemoans her lack of experience with men, but she notes it several times and in comparison we have her cousin Fig, who, to quote Renee Zellweger's character in Empire Records, is "a turbo slut". Still, Hannah tries very hard to fit in. She eventually finds men (or a man finds her) late in college years and while Hannah would potentially dispute this, she is ultimately defined by her relationships (or lack thereof) with men.

Some of the prep-school-charm of Prep is lost in The Man of My Dreams and while I am not sure where the line is, I think that The Man of My Dreams falls into the sub genre of "chick-lit" than it does in the category of "just a good book", which is where I'd place Prep. I read plenty of genre novels (SFF, not chick lit), so I know the danger of categorizing novels as just a genre novel, but there are those novels which are decent stories within the genre, and then there are the novels which rise above any genre label and are simply good, no matter where there are space ships, magic schools, or girls in prep schools. While Prep rose above the genre label it could have been slapped with, I am not so confident that The Man of My Dreams does. Curtis Sittenfeld is a talented writer and her novels have both been fast paced affairs which are enjoyable to read, so I expect further good things from Miss Sittenfeld. The Man of My Dreams is not a misfire, but neither did it connect on all four (or six) cylinders.