A Sorcerer's Legacy and the art of Vincent Di Fate
01/02/2002 . Source: Geoff Willmetts 

A round-up of all the latest book releases, including Janny Wurts latest fantasy extravaganza, and an eye-popping art book featuring the works of Vincent Di Fate.

The Obsidian Tower: Book 3 of The Jewelfire Trilogy by Freda Warrington
pub: Earthlight. 708 page paperback. Price: £6.99 (UK). ISBN: 0-7434-1607-4

This has been a difficult book to review. Not because it's the third book in a trilogy, but because of the complexity of the story and the names of the characters, some of which are so long that I couldn't remember who was who or doing what to whom.

To explain the story is difficult. The main characters are being held prisoner by the Bhadradomen, a lizard-like race.

The Queen, Helenanth, has been forced to abdicate, and is imprisoned with her main supporters, whilst her mother and brother are being held in a different part of the palace as hostages to her good behaviour.

Eventually, they find a means of escape and make their way to the resistance. Ysomir, the former Queen and murderer of her father is also being held separately. She has powers which enable her to escape with the aid of one of her jailers.

Why he aids her is held back until the end, when all is revealed. Needless to say they triumph over adversity and win the day. But how they overcome the situations which they find themselves in is what makes the book riveting reading.

There are some nice twists to the end of the story, not least are the complicated parental issues of Tanthe who is part-Aelfyr and part-human, which I won't explain because it would spoil this particular twist. Certainly Freda Warrington isn't afraid to add sex to the mix, and what a mix it is.

Although it is the third book in the trilogy, it does stand alone. There is enough explanation through the dialogue to explain what has gone before. A cracking good read. Recommended.

check out websites: www.earthlight.co.uk and www.members.aol.com/FredaMike/index.html

John R. Oram

False Memory by Dean Koontz
pub: Headline Book publishing. 626 page hardback. Price: £16.99 (UK). ISBN 0 7472 2057 3. First pub. in 1999. 818 page paperback (new edition 3 Aug. 2000) ISBN 0 7472 5834 1.

Martie has a seemingly normal life. She works as a games designer and is happily married to her loving husband Dusty who is a house painter. For many months she has supported her dear friend Susan who suffers from agoraphobia (a fear of large open spaces) by taking her to her weekly therapy sessions with a rather charming therapist.

On one particular day when she is due to pick up Susan, she starts to suffer from a psychological problem - a fear of her shadow which worsens to a fear of herself (autophobia). On the same day Skeet, Dusty's brother, succumbs to a mentally irrational act by trying to throw himself off the roof of a house saying that he was told to do it by an angel of Death. It then slowly becomes apparent that the four are involved in something a lot more dark and menacing than just mere coincidence.

Although this is quite a long book, it is fast paced and rapidly you become attached to the main characters due to some very well executed character development. In a very short amount of time you really start to care about Martie and Dusty. The plot twists and turns opening out into something that wouldn’t be out of place in a ‘Fortean Times’ article or an episode of 'The Lone Gunmen' but it never feels like these remarkable events and characters are unbelievable. Koontz’s writing keeps you staying firmly in reality.

This book addresses some quite poignant subjects accessing your own deepest paranoias going beyond your own conspiracy theories into a much darker place. Difficult scenes and ideas are dealt with in a constructive way but never feel unnecessary or put in for just effect.

This is one of Koontz’s best novels. Its fast writing and sheer heart pounding, spine-chilling events will thrill along with a twist at the end that you just do not see coming provides a very enjoyable read. This will appeal to both Fans and those new to Dean Koontz’s books.

Phil Jones

check out websites: www.headline.co.uk & www.hodderheadline.com

Sorcerer's Legacy By Janny Wurts
pub: Voyager. 304 page paperback. Price: £5.99 (UK). ISBN: 0586204822. re-issue: 27 July 1989

This was the first fantasy book I ever read that featured an effective female as the lead character. Away from the clichéd whore/ineffectual princess/hag of pulp fantasy fiction, Elienne is a feisty, intelligent woman with a developed, unique character and a smart mouth.

At the opening of the book, a new widow to her beloved Duke and her lands in tatters, she does not buckle under terror but stands her ground, saying to her captor:

‘Khadrach_mervine_! May Hell's own demons defecate on your tongue. It seems fit for little else.’

This sets the tone for the whole book, in which her resourcefulness and quick wits are tested to their limits by courtly and supernatural intrigue. Saved from certain death, Elienne is plunged into a hostile new land, Pendaire, where malevolent forces are trying to remove Prince Darion and seize the kingdom before his succession.

Faisix, the wily Regent with a ‘honey and ice’ voice, is one of the rare breed of admirable villains and the novel resounds with a gripping plot and some truly beautiful imagery.

This book would be a great prelude if you are thinking of reading the 'Empire' series, which Wurts co-authored with Raymond E. Feist. The initial plots share many themes, but 'Sorcerer's Legacy' sustains a breath-taking pace by comparison. Where Mara often had time to dwell on her affairs, Elienne is constantly under pressure just to simply survive.

Going back to the concept of 'an effective female as the lead character', at the time I first read this book the most adventurous female character I had been exposed to was Kitiara, evil sister of Raistlin and Cameron in the 'Dragonlance' saga. I was still full of fairy tales and legends, so I could forgive the occasional over-sentimental moment that interrupted the story's flow.

I was also new to reading full-length novels for fun, so the heavy, formal dialogue sounded unusual rather than forced. Reading it now I can see the flaws, but the power and the originality of the work has not faded - there is still a great magic system and a vivid creative mind behind the work.

'Sorcerer's Legacy' is definitely worth a look if you like fantasy that focuses on character rather than world-construction. It is a fast read, but never in a way that compromises plot or prose.

Though the feminist in me hates the fact that Wurts's women only seem truly happy when they have a good man to love, it is always refreshing to read a fantasy story that pivots on intellect rather than the point of a sword (no disrespect to Moorcock).

Lucy Ward

Check out website: http://www.paravia.com/JannyWurts/

The Northern Lights by Philip Pullman
pub : Scholastic Children's Books, 1995. 399 page paperback. Price: £4.99 (UK). ISBN: 0 590 13961 4.

A frozen Northern landscape, witches and armoured bears, experiments on kidnapped children and a deep mystery surrounding them all. This is the premise of Philip Pullman's 'Northern Lights', the first in the ‘His Dark Materials’ trilogy, which has been hailed as the next Harry Potter phenomenon.

12-year-old Lyra is drawn into this strange and enthralling world when her friend Roger is kidnapped. On her quest to find him she makes friends and enemies, learns of her own past and destiny and overcomes all manner of challenges and obstacles to reach the answers that lie within the Northern Lights - the Aurora.

As she begins to solve one part of the mystery another presents itself and, when one danger is over, another appears as she journeys first to save Roger, then her father before fulfilling her destiny. One question remains, though - what is the mysterious Dust which is the source of such secrecy and danger to Lyra and her friends? She makes it part of her quest to uncover the truth behind this as well as behind the savage experiments on the kidnapped children.

Pullman has created an intriguing and compelling world and, in Lyra, a character who serves to lead us through it in a humorous and entertaining way. She is witty and courageous, yet still a child. Younger readers will relate to her, whilst adults will enjoy Pullman's vivid descriptions and sense of escapism. This is a universe a step removed from our own but presented just as matter-of-factly.

Here people are accompanied through life by daemons, who are part of a whole and make a person who they are, here the Church is in control and a curious mixture of the modern and scientific merges with the old-fashioned and mystical. Talking bears and flying witches, airships and balloons, secret laboratories and scientific fortune-tellers.

What is also interesting is that, unlike some fantasy books, there are logical reasons behind many of the fantastical elements. For example, daemons are explained as part of a person's soul and there is discussion of science, religion and philosophy. All of which helps to explain to both Lyra and the reader why the Northern Lights and Dust are so important.

‘Northern Lights’ is a delightful and well-written book. It is dark and deep but easy to read in a way than makes it appealing to both adults and children, drawing you in before you even realise what is happening. It will appeal to general fantasy readers but is also a mystery and a right-of-passage story. It did take me a couple of chapters to really get into the story but once I did, I couldn't put it down. There are two more books in the series, and I for one, intend to read them after this fascinating introduction to Philip Pullman's dark materials world.

Laura Kayne

The Science Fiction Art Of Vincent Di Fate by Vincent Di Fate
pub: Paper Tiger. 112 pager hardback. Price: £20 (UK), $29.95 (US). ISBN: 1-85585-949-1) Publication date: 22 February 2002.

Like several recent artist books from Paper Tiger, Di Fate’s work is mostly seen in the US than seen in the UK, although I had come across him as the writer of another artbook called ‘Infinite Worlds’. That doesn’t mean to say you might not have seen his work in the old US pulp magazines just that poor reproduction might not have struck home just how good some of his early work was.

This book, however, is solely devoted to his own work. As an illustrator and painter, Di Fate has done everything from scratchboard illustration to magazine, book covers and posters to art for the space program. He freely admits that publishers associate him more with gadgetry and rocket painting though this book clearly illustrates he’s equally at home with organics as well when given the chance. He really ought to be doing more aliens and humans based on these examples.

The text covers pieces about his upbringing, the history of Science Fiction and UFOs. There isn’t nothing new in the last two pieces for us seasoned hacks but newcomers will no doubt appreciate his summing up here. As an artbook, the text associated with each of his pictures here fills in a lot more information about why the work was done as opposed to too much info on his technique.

Di Fate’s art spans forty decades in the SF world. It’s interesting looking over these pictures to see how he adapts to each period. He could also undoubtedly fill several more books beyond what must only be a sample of his some 3000 pieces of work here.

As a book illustrator, Di Fate admits to painting what he is commissioned to do. Based on his work here, he really ought to consider doing some non-commissioned pieces outside of purely hardware to show his really immense range. Being pigeon-holed in any one particular aspect of SF illustration is never fair to any illustrator, such as Di Fate, who clearly can do more.

From a production POV, this is a lavish book. Only a couple paintings stretch across two pages and I really mean stretch across than just a couple inches and would have looked too small had they been compressed to one page or even put in on the horizontal.

Several of the paintings, including one of George Pal’s ‘War Of The Worlds’ Martian war-machines, makes the owning of this book a must.

GF Willmetts

Check out website: www.papertiger.co.uk

Worlds of Wonder: How to Write Science Fiction & Fantasy by David Gerrold
pub: Titan books. 237 page coffee-size paperback. Price: £12.99 (UK). ISBN: 1 -84023 -357 -5.

Despite the 237 pages, you'll whiz through this book in little more than a day because there's 53 chapters, plenty of margin space, headings, blank bits and relatively large print. It looks as though David Gerrold has modified his lecture notes then sent them to a publisher who's spaced everything out to give the appearance of a substantial volume (I didn't count but it's maybe 40000 words).

If you want plenty of words for your money you'll be disappointed but what's there could be worth reading for science fiction and fantasy authors at most stages of their careers.

Gerrold is an American who achieved first success writing the famous 'Star Trek' episode ‘The Trouble With Tribbles’. He was later to write Science Fiction novels including 'The War Against the Chtorr' series. The novelette 'The Martian Child' won a Nebula Award, the Locus Readership Poll and a Hugo Award all within 1995 - a considerable achievement - and is also employed as a lecturer, teaching literature and writing in an American university.

As a scientist, albeit of ill repute, I was pleased to read of Gerrold's expression and understanding of the scientific method and how SF and fantasy story construction, in order to be believable for the reader, must be based on some form of logic.

This essence of belief, he states, is essential and must be continuous throughout the entire book; it doesn't matter if the setting is a world orbiting Alpha Centauri or a fairy tale kingdom suspended in mist, each must have its own logical framework, its own rules and continuity.

As with any novel, you must have main characters. It's suggested that they are initially worked out in immense detail, so detailed in fact that the author knows them as well as he knows himself. Even if nine-tenths of this information isn't used directly in the novel, the characters will be strong and multi-dimensional; they'll come alive for the author.

Gerrold has imaginary interviews with his characters. Sitting down at an imaginary table, he asks them questions and the responses and actions evoked get better the further the characters are defined. Strong characters are essential to the success of any novel.

Science Fiction is more difficult than conventional fiction because the setting is often removed in space and time from that which surrounds us. Where a crime writer like Ian Rankin can set his stories in Edinburgh, a science fiction writer may place the action on a world totally unlike Earth, one totally unfamiliar to the reader. This involves more work in constructing the setting. Even a location as conventional as a moon base requires a lot of thought and research. It's also important to have some astronomical knowledge - you can't have aliens evolving on planets where the stars are perhaps spectacular but lethal to life.

The film 'Independence Day' is criticised on the fallibility of the alien's software. Would hacking their system really have been possible? Apart from that, the alien ships were just too large. The mothership was so large that its tidal effect would have ripped earth's surface apart, a more deadly weapon than even their destructive rays.

A major tip given in the book is that the author should aspire to 'Show' and not 'Tell' a story. Showing is often shorter, more interesting, more absorbing and is less like a text book in nature. This is true not just for SF and fantasy but for other genre and media. Surprisingly, writing a radio play is all about showing and not telling.

Gerrold writes actions and scenes on cards and places them on a table, shuffling them to produce the skeleton of a story. More scenes are added, some are removed and eventually the basis of a novel, play, movie script or TV script appears. One plot isn't enough: there should be two or even two and a half. Remember 'DS9'? That always had a plot and a sub-plot.

OK, so you've got the mechanics worked out. Gerrold goes on to mention style. He considers the analogy of artists depicting the same object. How would Dali, Rembrandt, Titian, Monet, Picasso and Moore represent the same thing? Writers have their own style, too, and the same basic story written by Asimov, Clarke, Heinlein, Delany and others would appear equally as diverse.

He says that slavishly copying the style of an admired or favourite author could be a mistake because your mind will, in all probability, work in a different way from theirs. Finding your own style is all very well but maybe Gerrold is talking about the established author.

I would disagree with him in that authors, especially new authors, must adopt the style of the publication or publisher they're aiming for. It's no use sending a story into ‘Interzone’ that's more suited to ‘Women's Own’. (mind you, there's maybe no use in sending any story to ‘Interzone’!). I thought the first rule about writing is that you should study the market and write accordingly.

The final two-fifths of the book gives instruction on how to write virtually anything, not necessarily science fiction. I found the chapter on metric prose very illuminating: it gave an insight on how to create pace and tempo in your writing. However, the chapter on pronouns had particular relevance to Science Fiction. What do you call an alien creature who may be neither he nor she? It? This word could be derogatory and shows us that our language is deeply ingrained in our biology.

Gerrold believes in setting writing targets. By stipulating a minimum target of 2500 words per day, he can strive to beat this or even break his own record. He mentions a student who refused to write anything until she had read everything about being an author so that she'd make the first attempt perfect. She ended up writing nothing. It's only by writing that improvements are made and it's only by writing that books are produced. He says that once you've written your first ten novels and your first million words, you'll get an idea of what it's all about.

This is all very well but I imagine people could follow his rules, working at it for twenty years to produce really good novels and then get nowhere. Gerrold doesn't tell us how to get published. Books only live in the minds of people and if they're lying unread in a drawer or on a dusty disk, then essentially they are dead. Writing a novel can be a difficult and labour intensive process but I wouldn't say it amounts to even half the battle of getting the same book published.

In conclusion, I think 'Worlds of Wonder' is worth reading if only for the few valuable tips that it offers. The style is easy to follow, it doesn't strain the mind to comprehend and there are a few moments of light entertainment within.

Much of the text can be found elsewhere in the scores of other books that purport to tell you how to write. Of course, this is merely business. There are thousands of people out there with ambitions to be a financially succesSFul author so books and magazines of this sort are published to make money from those seeking to make money.

If you have a few pounds to spend, buying this book may be a worthwhile exercise if you don't mind a lot of empty space.

Roderick S. MacDonald