Books - Reviews by ppint.

Books - Reviews by ppint.

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Member	Item		Review/Comment
ppint. 1st Oct 2019		Book Norman Spinrad - The Iron Dream (1972)	Review readers and bookcatters enamoured of, or otherwise impressed by adolf hitler's novel, "the lord of the swastika"/norman spinrad's "the iron dream", may well find richard lupoff's "space war blues" fix-up novel (1972-7, 1978), q.v. to be of interest and also of some further degree of edification. 1 person found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
ppint. 17th Sep 2019		Book Claude M. Steiner - Scripts People Live (1975)	Review transactional analysis, together with more specific examples of more limited aspect, like eric berne's 1964 "games people play" q.v., and "principles of group treatment", were very much parts of the mid-seventies revolutionary "new wave" in psychiatry and psychoanalysis, re-examining the mental health professionals' ideas of quite what the definitions of "sane", "sanity", "insane" and similar ought to be, judged from the needs and requirements of the individual in society rather than being imposed upon them by traditional schools of theory, and hence determining what therapies might be most appropriate. well-written account of the theory with examples, as well as definitions, which makes it a readable account of how the method works; how far it is applicable, and where its boundaries of usefulness may lie, is still debatable. 1 person found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
ppint. 17th Sep 2019		Book Ernest Callenbach - Ecotopia (1978)	Rated 8/10 a utopian novel written in a variation upon the epistolary novel, "ecotopia" is in the form of investivative articles and lengthy reports upon different aspects of the republic of ecotopia established in the former merkin state of california sent back for publication in the writer's newspaper in the heavily-polluted usa. how enjoyable the reader may find it doesn't actually depend upon their agreeing with the viewpoint reporter's - nor the republic's inhabitants' - ideals; one fairly extreme, unreconstructed old fogey yr hmbl srppnt. knew really enjoyed expostulating at bits he disagreed with, and tried to convince three of us all this ecological stuff was nonsense... 1 person found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
ppint. 13th Sep 2019		Book Leigh Brackett - The Sword Of Rhiannon (1967)	Rated 10/10 superb, technically "sub-burroughsian", "planet stories"-style science fiction adventure, and a gem of its kind, with the accent almost as heavily upon the powerfully exotic setting, as upon the adventure that pits a low-life chancer of a man, a would-be tomb-robber, against a veritable god - and against the saurian race that rules their thalassocracy(!) on mars of yore - and dominates all other races, including lowly humanity - upon the planet through their fawning worship and apparent obedience of him, and his kin, and studying his technological teachings, and wielding the powers they gain thereby without any shred of conscience, nor achilles heel of mercy - thousands of years before our would-be tomb-robber was born. . . - against such inhuman and uncaring, overbearing and unfeelingly cruel ovetlords, what chance does one, very far from heroic - let alone perfect - and utterly out of his depth chancer-on-the-run have ? 1 person found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
ppint. 1st Sep 2019		Book Terry Pratchett - Where's My Cow? (2005)	Review the pictures by melvyn grant do more than merely illustrate terry's story, which is more than merely a children's bedtime illustrated story book - and, indeed, more than merely the telling of a particular child (young sam)'s bedtime story book: it is both of these, and a discworld™ book, and also a discworld™ meta-story book, as it incorporates the story of one particular telling of young sam's favourite bedtime story book, which not-that old sam, his dad, must tell him before he (young sam) can go to sleep, which means not-that old sam, his dad, must get back from doing boring old dangerous stuff like preserving the peace in ankh-morpork (and beyond) in another discworld™ novel, in time to tell it to him. . . - good fun for the bedtime story reader to read, as well as for the appropriately-aged bedtime story listener(s); though they are liable to want to follow the story sitting up, looking at the pictures upon the printed pages, and joining in identifying what "that's not my (whatever)" actually is. . . 1 person found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
ppint. 30th Aug 2019		Book Rich Parsons - Krap The Conqueror (1995)	Review poor, allegedly humorous fantasy piss-take sequel. avoidance is recommended. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
ppint. 3rd Aug 2019		Book John James - Men Went To Cattraeth (1972)	Rated 10/10 in the year 600 a.d. or as near as makes no difference, mynyddog mwynfawr, mighty and wise king in dun eidin, sent out a challenge to the whole of britain, whose warring kingdoms and quarrelsome principalities were sorely beset by the invading angles, under their jutish, saxon and anglic nobilities and royal houses: he would feast the three hundred greatest champions for a year and a day, during which they would lead the lives of heroes - his kingdom would refuse them nothing, no food, wine, mead or beer they demanded, and his womenfolk would refuse them nothing - after which he or his greatest generals, at the head of his armies, would lead them south against the invading angles of deira and bernicia, the two most powerful saxon kingdoms in the north of britain, slaughtering all who stood against them, and did not run back to their ships, and back to the angle whence their pestilential brood had come. and the three hundred champions gathered, and they were feasted as had been promised, and no woman refused them; and, at the end of the year and a day, they set out, riding with his generals at the head of the wise and mighty king of dun eidin's mighty armies, marching south against their enemies. and when they came upon resistance, from bands of warriors or armed, assembled farmers, or overtook folk fleeing too late, they made great slaughter; and much land was taken back from the invading foreigners. but when the time came for the battle against the combined armies of deira and bernicia, that were so many that they were countless, innumerable and well-equipped for war - if few or none of them properly armed and mounted as champions and heroes should be - the army of mynyddog mwanfawr the wise and mighty had all but disappeared, fallen far behind the three hundred heroes, who were left to fight - which they did, making great slaughter - and to die - which they also did, eventually, as though they were mightier in arms than any of those they faced, and were all also champions, and truly heroes, the armies that they faced were too many: the odds were overwhelming; and the tale that came back of the end they had made was glorious, indeed; but it came back by courtesy - if it can be called this - of their enemy, who did not understand why they had behaved so, either. - but why did mynyddog mwynfawr the wise and mighty, king in dun eidin, so basely betray the champions of the british? why did he devote the wealth of his kingdom and his people - aye, and his womenfolk - to feasting these heroes for a year and a day - giving not only the champions, but also the saxon, anglic and jutish chiefs, nobles and kings good warning of the whirlwind he would unleash upon the kingdoms of deira and bernicia? - john james here constructs a superb historical novel upon the bare bones of y goddodin, using his intelligence and a gift for imagining himself into not only the champions' minds, but also that of his survivor, to tell a powerful and exciting story well indeed: but, i think even more impressively, perhaps, he comes up with a reason mynyddog mwynfawr the wise and mighty might just have had, for plotting, planning, and paying so much and then - apparently - achieving so little but ruin. a gem. 5 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
ppint. 30th Jul 2019		Book John Norman - Beasts Of Gor (1978)	Rated 1/10 gor series #12: #1: "tarnsman of gor" (1966), q.v. for series listing, and links. #12 in the interminable torture: the word-count of sentences, the syllable-count of words, and the thought-count (other than of s+m & bondage of nubile young women) have all dropped well below the point of providing any significant reward for continued perseverance with this rubbish. 1 person found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
ppint. 29th Jul 2019		Book Marion Zimmer Bradley - Darkover Landfall (1978)	Review although this is the first novel by internal chronology, it is not a good place to start reading the darkover stories, as the unique darkovan neo-medieval society with a nobility based upon the laran abilities the families have selectively bred to defend themselves and their clients has not even started to develop. reading "landfall", therefore, is best left until after one's image of the world, and the comyn-dominated society of the classic period, has become well-enough established for the events immediately surrounding the inadvertent forced human colonisation of what is fundamentally an only marginally suitable planet to have become a matter of interest. 1 person found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
ppint. 30th Jun 2019		Book John Halkin - Slither (1980)	Rated 4/10 i am not aware of these books possessing any redeeming failings. (- nancy - do you accept any of your share of the responsibility for the thrid book's title ?) ✔︎ Helpful Review?
ppint. 24th Jun 2019		Book Arthur Koestler - The Thirteenth Tribe (1977)	Rated 9/10 koestler makes a very strong case that by far the great majority of modern european (and, therefore, the vast majority in the americas and israel/palestine) jews are descendants of the turkic khazars and the local populations in the lands they migrated into, after the destruction of the khazar empire.° but this is by no means the only argument or logical proposition made in this absorbing account of a period of history in lands invaders have swept over from north and west, as well as - and mostly - the east: this is a very good read. ° - the existence of the khazar empire is little-known in europe and the americas, but well-attested to in modern turkey and in both some european, and in turkish historical documents and reference books including historical atlases. 1 person found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
ppint. 21st Apr 2019		Book Beverley Nichols - The Wickedest Witch In The World (1983)	Review though mrs. judy and young judy, as well as miss smith reappear in this much later story, there's little else in common with the characters from nichols' classic 1945-50 trilogy, and none of their atmosphere: i would not and do not count it a part of that series, and cannot recommend it, even as a stand-alone. 1 person found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
ppint. 9th Apr 2019		Book Amabel Williams-Ellis - Tales From The Galaxies (1973)	Review "the odour of thought" aka "the odor of thought" robert sheckley (1953) sees an interstellar postman crash-landing his mailship on an unexplored, adequately oxygen-atmosphered planet on which the animal life is green° - and lacks eyes. it does not, however, lack teeth. . . ° - or mostly green "exploration team" murray leinster (1956) is another classic, an sf story of a subgenre rarely seen now, since the mid-late sixties, but entertaining and maybe food for thought, besides... - all-in-all, a good, readable collection, not too thick to frighten off young & sub-teens, which was the piccolo target market aimed at by pan books, but with stories fun for adults, too, to read. reference copy supplied by courtesy of tony at the old pier bookshop, morecambe seafront. 1 person found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
ppint. 11th Mar 2019		Book Brian M. Stableford - The Blind Worm (1970)	Review "it's by brian - everyone dies." (friendlily-scoffing review overheard - i wish i could remember for certain who said this - i think it was jackie - in langwith jcr, on her being asked about the plot.) 1 person found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
ppint. 11th Mar 2019		Book Brian M. Stableford - Cradle Of The Sun (1969)	Review "it's by brian - everyone dies." (early-to-mid 70s friendlily-scoffing comment in reply to a query about the plot; i wish i could remember for certain who said it - i think it was jackie° - in langwith jcr. . .) (° - but it might've been lainey - elaine. . .) 1 person found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
ppint. 3rd Mar 2019		Book Andrew J. Offutt - My Lord Barbarian (1979)	Rated 2/10 about as bad as it looks - and it doesn't look much better in the original ballantine/del rey mmpb: sub-(erb)burroughsian fantasy, with mighty-thewed barbarian heroes and voluptuous sluts. . . yeuccch! ✔︎ Helpful Review?
ppint. 11th Dec 2018		Book C. J. Cherryh - Gate Of Ivrel (1977)	Rated 8/10 morgaine and nhi vanye meet, under circumstances neither fully appreciate about the other - vanye, because he has no concept of morgaine's nature, far less her purposes, and she, because she neither knows, nor can afford to care what effects she has upon the people she passes through upon her quest to close down the gates between worlds destabilising, and well on their way to destroying, the universe. to vanye she is a legend; an ill omen, perhaps; but still someone who he, outcast from his people, can serve, and so regain honour; to morgaine, vanye is useful, offering possibly essential local knowledge and help in completing one part of her mission in the here and now, *this* here and now; but liable to be at best an encumbrance, quite possibly an embarrassment, in and on the other worlds she must visit, to continue closing down the gates. - but, since she needs his help now, she accepts his offer of service - not realising that, for nhi vanye, this offer is of his service for life. through the greater and lesser dangers of their journey across unfamiliar country, they begin to realise to some extent quite how much they have misunderstood in their initial appreciation of each other, and the relationship between them begins to change from that which either of them presumed it to be. first uk edition of the morgaine and vanye series #1: #1: "gate of ivrel" (first edition, u.s. 1976), q.v. for series listing and links. 5 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
ppint. 7th Dec 2018		Book T. H. White - The Book Of Merlyn (1978)	Review the intended fifth book of "the once and future king", q.v., cut (unfinished) by the author from the same for a variety of considerations, and some parts rewritten and included in the tetralogy as published. interesting, even absorbing, reading after reading the definitive series of four novels; i imagine it would be somewhat confusing as well as distinctly lacking in substance, read alone and without the context of the main work. 7 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
ppint. 18th Nov 2018		Book Damon Knight - Beyond The Barrier (1978)	Rated 8/10 once peter lavery, now hamlyn paperbacks' editorial director, had decided (whilst back at methuen) that yr hmbl srppnt. was both knowledgeable and competent as regards sf & fantasy, he ceased doing much more regarding evaluation of sf/fantasy books offered by agents, merkin publishers, uk hardcover publishers for the methuen paperbacks/magnum books sf list, and then for the hamlyn paperbacks sf list - though i was never a full-time employee of either, and played no part in the financial, nor hardly any part regarding the production sides. - but, somewhat unfortunately, peter didn't actually tell me that the recommendations i was making regarding the publishability (sfnal/fantastic excellence, etc.) of the books being offered hamlyn paperbacks were now being taken by him as definitive judgement upon their suitability for these lists - that i was effectively taking most of the editorial decisions for the two sf/fantasy lists in turn - excluding size of advances offered, royalty rates offered, cover art to be used and other production matters - and publication dates. this had some mildly strange, occasionally definitely unintended effects, as the criteria by which one sets out to build an sf&f list are somewhat different from those by which one judges individual books - and hamlyn paperbacks' publishing damon knight's "beyond the barrier" is an example. it's a wonderful load of science-fictional adventure tripe, damon knight "doing" a. e. van vogt in that sf luminary's classic wide-screen baroque, flash! - bang! - non-stop action mode: and there are progressive denouements or discoveries that what the characters (or most of them) - and therefore you, the reader - knew, or thought you knew, was not in fact what was happening at all, - but, unlike van vogt's classic cosmic jerry-building, the plot of the pyrotechnic adventure, and the sub-plots, and the plots laid by the competing sets(!) of bad guys, do actually hang together - the end of the headlong career through action, illusion and revelation does actually make sense, and it all comes to a satisfying conclusion. - so; great wide-screen adventure sf, great fun to read, and a good book for hamlyn paperbacks to publish, yes - ? - well, not really that last: vastly entertaining though the book is, and was, the advice that it was - and is - a minor gem of its kind was originally given in the context of advising methuen/magnum books' fiction editor, knowing we'd already published three excellent collections of damon knight's wonderfully well-thought out and told novellas & novelettes (with some very fine short stories, too) - a recommendation peter carried with him when he moved to set up hamlyn paperbacks for reed/ipc: so, on the embryo hamlyn paperbacks sf/f list, this was a firework display without its backdrop - and yr hmbl srppnt. didn't know that naught more'd be done to chase after further damon knight sf titles, because neither he, nor anyone else'd told me i should tell them they ought to. - but it's still a wonderful, zap-bangy, veils of illusion-spinning and penetrating, evil plot-weaving, uncovering, discovering, and countering, and eventually confusion-busting, barrel of fun. 7 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
ppint. 6th Nov 2018		Book James Blish - Black Easter (Or Faust Aleph-null) Including The Day After Judgement (1981)	Review "after such knowledge" thematic trilogy #2 (omnibus of #2a and #2b): the world's dominant private armaments tycoon and major promoter of wars decides to give himself a monumentally memorable birthday present: he hires the services of the foremost black magician alive, theron ware, to set free the demons of hell for the night. powerless to prevent this, the catholic church is nevertheless able to insist, by ancient compact, upon nominating a priest-observer to be present and, if needs be - and only if, to act to prevent things getting utterly out of hand; - but really, practically speaking - what could possibly go wrong after they return from their night out? - blish's understanding of demons, evil and the moral vulnerability of the purely scientific approach of enquiry combine to produce a vivid realisation of different aspects of ''hell on earth'', and people's reactions to the various catastrophes with which they are presented - including the devils' - and the devil's - none of whom were expecting this opportunity ever to arise. sequel to the historical science fiction novel, #1: ''doctor mirabilis'' (1964), q.v.; plus: #3: "a case of conscience" (1958), q.v. for series listing and links: together comprising james blish's thematic trilogy, ''after such knowledge'', examining the proposition that it is in fact mankind's lust for knowledge - rather than money, or power - that is the root of all evil. 1 person found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
ppint. 21st Oct 2018		Book L. Sprague De Camp - The Exotic Enchanter (1995)	Review again, not "the fifth book in "the incomplete enchanter" trilogy"; the four novellas in this original anthology are nevertheless firmly based upon the ideas that de camp and fletcher pratt turned into five delightful fantasy adventures written with the rigour of the science fiction writer's understanding that magic must follow its own, logical rules - even when neither the enquiring scientist nor the theorising logician truly understand quite what they're getting themselves into. . . de camp and fletcher pratt stopped producing these stories when the magazine unknown, the original market established for them by john w. campbell, folded; they started again when h. l. gold started beyond in the fifties, but when that in turn folded, the markets for adult fantasy novellas shrank back down to f&sf, and those paying half the going rate for sf and less, seldom on time - and too often, only "upon lawsuit", or threat thereof. christopher stasheff's career as, inter alia, an exponent of a logically-based fantasy set in a science fictional universe leavened with not a little humour, is based firmly upon the seventies' re-invention and the creation of fantasy as a publishing category in its own right by the del reys at random house's ballantine books, and james baen's revitalising of ace books for grosset & dunlap in the late seventies; both of his major series, "the dragon and the george" & ff., q.v. and "the warlock in spite of himself" and its sequels, q.v., helped make him very well-suited indeed to persuade de camp that his and his old colleague's creations had legs on them yet; and newer authors, that the opportunity to create unknown-style logical fantasies for sir harold in the worlds of "pasts that never were" was one that should not be allowed to escape. .. the four novellas in this original anthology are a little uneven, maybe; but all four're good fun reading, and mostly "simpatico" in theme, and in characterisations. 1 person found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
ppint. 19th Oct 2018		Book L. Sprague De Camp - The Enchanter Reborn (1992)	Review n.b. not "the fourth book of l. sprague de camp and fletcher pratt's incompleat enchanter trilogy"; the novelelette and four novellas in this anthology nevertheless constitute five further adventures based on the ideas those two authors developed so well in the forties and fifties, that theoretician in magic, but magically-ungifted professor chalmers and his talented - but slapdash - pupil, harold shea, could visit their best-imagined ideas of worlds long since past - except that these fantasy worlds would adhere to the rules and natural laws of the fantasies, rather than those of the real world we're rather more familiar with - and, perhaps, more comfortable in. . . fun reading - and there's no *need* to've read the original series of five stories, to find these fun°. ° - though you will then want to - this is inevitable: yhbw 1 person found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
ppint. 10th Oct 2018		Book Edward D. Hoch - The Fellowship Of The Hand (1981)	Review "comparable to the andromeda strain. if you enjoy science fiction and mystery, you shouldn't miss the fellowship of the hand!" - south bend tribune er, possibly. "hand" is "humans against neuter domination", which doesn't seem particularly obviously connected with or to utah, nor the storage of radioactive wastes in the caves in the salt mines there - nor anywhere else, that i'm aware of. (yr hmbl srppnt.'s no idea where the south bend tribune might be, or have been, based: it may even be, or have been, in salt-mine caves under utah. . .) - nor, indeed, account it a particularly likely salt mines-based threat to human beans any time soon. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
ppint. 26th Sep 2018		Book Captain W. E. Johns - Kings Of Space (1970)	Review i didn't realise there were ten of these books. nor that i'd read - perhaps - as many as eight of them. since i can (dimly) recall the plots of a few, and the set-ups of a number - possibly most - of them, through the eighth book in the series, i think it becomes more understandable that they made and left a permanent impression upon yr hmbl srppnt. - if mainly that one of the - always humanoid - aliens the crew makes friends with continues for years after to make diversions from his trips to other planets in order to visit them in their castle in one particularly isolated scottish valley, "because it's the only place in the solar system he can get a properly-made cup of tea." they may conceivably possess period charm for people of a generation prior to that of this ppint., but they are not well-written science fiction, as w. e. johns' grasp upon scientific knowledge, even that of the twenties and thirties, was weak, verging upon non-existent; and he regarded what he did know as being tantamount to magic - which puts an enormously strong restriction upon an author's ability to imagine the problems and opportunities that science-based technological and social advances° might present his or her characters, let alone how they might react differently to these, each in their way, and how they might match up to these challenges. - the result is that these adventures are essentially westerns, or pale - and very tame - sub-h. rider haggardian exotic adventures in foreign lands, that just happen to be set on imaginary other worlds - - with added properly-made pots of tea, in a castle in a scottish glen. . . ° - through into the nineteen-sixties, scientific discoveries and technological change were almost always presented as advances - despite hiroshima, despite nagasaki, despite the holocaust of the industrialised slaughter of civilians in wwII and of armies upon the battlefields of wwI. . . 3 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
ppint. 19th Sep 2018		Book Keith Roberts - Pavane (1970)	Rated 10/10 the classic story cycle set in a vision of the england that developed after queen elizabeth's assassination, and the reclaiming of the country for roman catholicism (and himself) by philip II, widower of queen mary, with sword and arquebus, crossbow and cannon ruling the european battlefield, horse, pack-horse and horse-and-cart or ox-cart transport on the rutted, muddy roads of england - though the steam-powered traction engine is beginning to make an impact; and telecommunications provided somewhat uncertainly - and only for the few - by carrier-pigeon and a limited coverage of semaphore stations, some set really isolated in the wilds, and their dedicated service of signallers. a gem - or a bejewelled bracelet of small gems - of quietly beautiful storytelling, with adventure as well as vision - and a delicate touch. 5 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
ppint. 18th Sep 2018		Book W. Lambert III - Encores In Fade (1981)	Rated 1/10 barely above basic literacy in some ways, though with an interesting vocabulary. a ham-fisted attempt at heroic fantasy with, or possibly within, a master computer. really deserves a "0" or a negative rating, save perhaps for turkey-readings to raise money for conventions' charities. carcass of book patchily/inconsistently inked/over-inked/(mostly) under-inked, making reading the thing - or attempting to - even more of a chore. avoid, unless collecting turkeys (see above). 5 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
ppint. 17th Sep 2018		Book C. J. Cherryh - Chanur's Legacy (1992)	Rated 10/10 this is not "the third p'yanfar chanur novel" - though it does feature "the pride", at some remove, and characters we met earlier - assuming you also've read the first two novels in the chanur sequence - hilfy chanur par faha is now the captain of the clan's newest trader, chanur's legacy, and most of her aunt's crew she's not exactly inherited - they've chosen to serve with her on the legacy, who was once the starstruck, hero-worshipping youngster in awe of p'yanfar, and apprenticed with them - and also her family's favourite daughter - who survived capture and lengthy solitary imprisonment and torture by a hakkkt-captain of the kif, and came through the experience sane - if understandably somewhat unwilling to trust a kif ever in her life again. . . chanur, the clan, has political problems back home where the elders of clans who've not ventured into space mostly cannot comprehend the size, scale, opportunities - or threats - of other space-faring species' civilizations, are jealous of chanur's position, and deeply suspicious of p'yanfar chanur's recognition by at least two species as a major player far more important than they - and doubly so of her leadership of the kif (!) (- for just so long as she's seen to be successful). the chanur clan has invested deeply in their new merchant ship, and in getting permissions and clearances to trade, as well as in hilfy's captaincy, prepared to take the full twelve years they expect for her to clear the debts if necessary; but the chanur clan's finances are stretched - and some see opportunities in this. so when the s'stsho commander of meetpoint station requests the niece of p'yanfar chanur to transport an item of great (cultural? political? religious? all of these?) historical significance to a particular other s'stsho at a station on the edge of kif territory, under conditions of utmost suitability, elegance, propriety and secrecy, and bearing in mind the likely catastrophic consequences to chanur of failure, hilfy's immediate reaction is that this is one opportunity she must not fail to decline. . . until s/he/it (but prob'ly - almost certainly - not "it") mentions the money: it's enough to pay off chanur's debts in their entirety! hilfy, trained and experienced at interpretation from the languages of the main alien species with whom chanur trades, translates the contract, which is of course written entirely in s'stsho and presumes the s'stsho's eye's viewpoint, mind-set and awareness, to the best of her ability and with her senior crew's help and advice, and sufficiently to understand fairly well quite what she's taking on, including the liabilities and penalty clauses; but there remain many grey areas where the full implications are not immediately obvious, especially implications that may, or may not apply in convolutedly complicated circumstances, many of which are both inter-dependent and mutually exclusive of one another, and some whose significance concerns the specific s'stsho person to whom the precious artistic object of great cultural, religious(?) and historical significance is to be delivered in - and *only* in - person. more - much more - follows this set-up of an extremely fine sf adventure, in the course of which hilfy and her crew discover an awful lot more of s'stsho personal, as well as political life, and the implications of both, including of import to and with impact upon their species', as well as their clan's position and reputation within the trade compact space; and more about the reliability of their mahendo sat allies (or is it "allies" ?) and sometimes rivals; and even about the kif, of whom hilfy was probably already the most knowledgeable in certain ways, but regarding which she possesses no desire whatsoever to increase her knowledge via any further personal contact, having been the prisoner of one kif pack leader for all too long, and experienced torture at his hands. . . this is a book that bears re-reading, and after thinking on, and re-re-reading, and thinking on yet again: and whilst the bones of the adventure story's plot may appear to be based upon the structure of a classic circular joke, or poem, or song, or epic saga, it's one that could come to bite clan chanur very, very hard, if hilfy and her crew don't deliver on the contract and their clan's word. 1 person found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
ppint. 12th Sep 2018		Book C. J. Cherryh - The Pride Of Chanur (1987)	Rated 10/10 set in an arm of a galaxy containing at least seven mutually alien space-faring species that may have evolved from obligate carnivore stalkers like the hani, who don't generally go looking for a fight - but can really enjoy one if it comes to them; or from pack cursorial hunters, who delight in long distance chases, and happily pile in en masse upon the slightest provocation or excuse, drawing no distinctions between trade, piracy and war; or from herd herbivores, who have to be at least slightly mad by their own species' standards, to have any direct dealings with carnivores, no matter how intelligent and civilised they may be, so who must employ members of one such species or another to defend them from the other races more or less unreliably in the trade compact - and cannot trust them, even then. . . in this setting, where mutually alien space-faring species meet mostly at trading stations in space, at a station controlled by the herbivore s'stsho, p'yanfar chanur, a trader captain of the most-recently space-faring species, and in most ways the weakest, with but their home planet to their name, who would quite like her crew to finish the loading and unloading of cargo and get on with the job of making a - reasonably honest - profit for their clan, learns that a hunter-killer ship of the kif, a culture that draws no distinctions between trade, piracy and war, is at the same station - so she'd like to finish and get away as soon as possible now. . . - when something they've never seen or heard the like of before on previous journeys succeeds in running onto their ship, and tries to hide. it's definitely intelligent, seems to be sapient, and it could be a member of a new space-faring species - which might upset the uneasy balance of power between the races of the compact, such as it is - if it's a space-faring species - but they can't understand it, it's almost naked, it's filthy and frightened. . . - and the captain of the kiffish hunter-killer ship contacts her and demands his escaped pet, his property, back now - "or else. . ." (and as a minor, almost completely trivial and irrelevant detail, it happens to be a human being.) . . this is just the set-up for one of the best adventure sf novels i have ever read. . after this, things start happening (!) - and they barely stop for breath as p'yanfar chanur and her crew - and ''tully'' - have to find out what is happening, and who to trust, all the while they are under pressure to take decisions fast, knowing they don't know enough to be sure they're making the right choices, but knowing they have to make those decisions now, if they're going to live - and if they're going to have a chance of letting their own clan and species' leaders know what they've found. once, that is, they know what they've found. . . . . and if you like this - and if you like adventure sf, it's almost unimaginable that you won't° - there's a very substantial sequel to look forward to - once you've recovered from how "the pride of chanur" ends. . . . . ° - "almost": some guys can't cope with a female captain(!) - even though she's a female of an alien species; and seemingly some readers simply can't adjust to knowing no more than particular viewpoint characters themselves know, at the time they have to jump, one way or another. . . 4 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
ppint. 30th Aug 2018		Book Frederik Pohl - The Way The Future Was (1978)	Rated 10/10 9-digit number in the isbn10 field: the sbn the dust-jacket of this book bears, is arithmetically compatible highly entertaining account of the first half of his life by one of the movers and shakers of merkin, and hence also to a very considerable extent world, sf, especially during the 1950s, 60s & 70s, as fan, professional writer, member of the merkin armed services in ww2 in europe, literary agent, editor of a repeatedly hugo award-winning magazine "stable", editor of the sf line of a major book publishers, and always through this time a professional writer and fan. and very highly recommended if you're interested in the worlds of sf, and also if you enjoy an excellently well-told entertainment. 1 person found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
ppint. 22nd Aug 2018		Book C. J. Cherryh - Angel With The Sword (1985)	Rated 10/10 altair jones is a solo boat operator, poling her fully-owned boat carrying cargoes and passengers for hire between the houses, palaces on the islets and islands of the great city at the mouth of the det, old man river, knowing his currents and his dangers as well as any and better than most, and careful of, if on good terms with - most - of the other independent folk making their living on the river, staying as clear of politics, as of religion - to the extent that these can be separated - as her mother taught her, and generally keeping her nose clean - or at least, pretty clean. - when one day, she sees a hightown stranger attacked and robbed, she supposes, and thrown off the bridge into the canal to drown - and, sticking her pole in without really thinking about it, rescues the man, discovers he's been badly wounded - his attacker-robbers must've meant to murder him - or was it an assassination attempt - but why would anyone assassinate a stranger? - ferries him to safety in her den, and then and sees him nursed back to health in secrecy, all the while cursing her own damnfoolself for not looking strictly after number one, and keeping her nose out of hightown affairs, constantly upbraided in conversation with her mother, albeit fairly strictly in her head, for failing to behave as safely as she'd been taught. - which turns a more-or-less honest canaller into an object of suspicion by all sides hightown, as the man is not only a stranger, but an agent of nev hattek (sp? check), the second most powerful city - up the det many miles, but increasingly interested in the religion - or is it the politics - of merovan (sp? check), especially as old governor-dictator kalugin is visibly aging fast, and the factions coalescing around his likely - and less likely - heirs, all suspicious of anyone as might represent a threat to their positions - and vanishingly few of whom would value a small canaller's life as high as one single groat... the "merovingen nights" seven-volume original anthology series, edited by c. j. cherryh, follows on from the conclusion of "angel with the sword": #1: "festival moon" (1987), q.v. #2: "fever season" (1987), q.v. #3: "troubled waters" (1988), q.v. #4: "smugglers gold" (1988), q.v. #5: "divine right" (1989), q.v. #6: "flood tide" (1990), q.v. #7: "endgame" (1991), q.v. contributing authors: lynn abbey, nancy asire, robert lynn asprin, leslie fish, mercedes lackey (both with c. j. cherryh and separately), janet and chris morris (both together and separately), roberta rogow, bradley h. sinor, and c. j. cherryh, herself. even though the immediate threat to his life has been seen off, the position of tom mondragon in merovingen is, ah, somewhat less than secure or stable at the end of the proceedings in "angel with the sword" - and the relationship between him and altair jones is also somewhat rocky, as she gets back to earning her living as a canaller, unaware she cannot go straight back to the accustomed obscurity of her life while he moves amongst some of the most powerful families playing for high stakes in the upper levels of the city. these shared world anthologies follow the interweavings of plots and conspiracies - some relatively benign - looking to further variously a cautious revival of scientific education, a fundamentalist reassertion of religious intolerance, different families' maneuverings for commercial advantage, as well as political calculations at the very highest level, anticipating the death of governor anastasi kalugin and inheritance of the ultimate power - by whom, in the next generation? 1 person found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?

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