There There

 

By Tommy Orange

Are group of people of Native ancestry come together for a big powwow in Oakland, California. They are all connected in various ways, some of which they are aware of and some of which they are not. 

Unfortunately some of them are not interested in the actual powwow. A drug dealer of Native and Hispanic origin owes dangerous people money and he and his associates have heard that the powwow will be giving away cash prizes. So they have a plan to attend the powwow and take the cash. 

The stories of the lives of the various people who come together for the powwow were interesting. These are people who have struggled and fought poverty and addiction and are working to overcome adversity and who are  heading to a hopeful outcome only for the reader to see it all brought to disaster because of a gang of hapless drug dealers. Some people find this sort of juxtaposition compelling and dramatic. I didn't. I frankly hated the violent and cruel ending. It spoiled the whole book for me.

The Way West

 

By A. B. Guthrie, Jr.

The story of a wagon train headed from Missouri to Oregon back in the 1840s.

Lije Evans was a farmer in Missouri with a loving wife and a teenage son. The three of them work hard and have a good life. But Lije is having second thoughts. He feels like he is just breaking even, not improving. So when folks start talking about immigrating to Oregon, which was currently part of the United Kingdom, Lije came to think maybe he should try his luck there. The word was that the land there was rich and productive and a man could get ahead if he was willing to put in the work. 

Lije talks his wife Becky into selling the farm and going west, even though Becky is happy in their little home on their Missouri farm. So off they went, sold the farm, loaded up their wagons, bought their provisions and headed to Independence, Missouri to form up a wagon train and brave the trials of the trails. They face the typical wagon train problems, accidents, deaths, natives, arguments, bison, heat, bugs, dust, river crossings, steep trails, lack of water, the usual. Actually, not too many people die in this story. One man dies of sickness, a woman has a miscarriage, a child dies of snakebite, a native gets shot by a settler. That's about it unless I am forgetting someone. 

This was a fairly good read. Not very exciting, and to someone who grew up in the 1950s, familiar territory. Lije is the main character with him moving up from traveling in the train to becoming the wagon train leader. Secondary characters are his son, his dog Rock and lastly his wife Becky. Rock gets more text than Becky does. Her main function is to tell Lije what a good guy he is. In fact, women in this story are mostly only there to cook and clean and take care of the kids and keep their menfolk happy. Their trials and tribulations are only touched on lightly. Not surprising for a book written in the 1940s.

Also not surprising for a book written in the 1940s is Guthrie's depictions of the natives encountered which he dismisses as lazy, dirty, heathen, ignorant, thieving savages. Near the end of the book, as the settlers are traveling by boat downriver, they pass a native cemetery. One of the settlers remarks about so many good indians, a reference to the old saying, the only good indian is a dead indian. 

If you have never read a story of the wagon trains headed west in America, this will probably be a very interesting story. But as a child of the 1950s, this story didn't tell me anything I wasn't already familiar with. I think the author touches too lightly on the suffering endured by the settlers and romanticizes it all a bit too much.  It did win the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 1950. It is also one novel in a series that Guthrie wrote about settlers headed to Oregon, which I didn't know until I looked up the Wikipedia page about the book: Wikipedia. 

The Bone Is Pointed

 

By Arthur W. Upfield

First, a note about the title. "Pointing the bone" is a kind of magic the native people in the story use to curse their enemies to death: death by suggestion. 

Detective Napoleon Bonaparte aka Bony comes to the outback to investigate the disappearance of a jackeroo (ranch hand) Jeffery Anderson. He was out riding the fence line on the Lacy station, Karwir, and failed to return home. His horse came back riderless. Karwir is a large station (what Americans would call a ranch) and although they searched as best they could, no trace could be found of Anderson. But the owner of the station, called Old Lacy, wants to know what happened to him. Enter Bony to solve the mystery of a disappearance that is several months old.

After such a long span of time, not much in the way of trace evidence remains to be investigated. But Bony does his best, spending much of his time scouring the land searching for the minute clues that will lead him to the answer. His investigations cause the local native people to turn against him and they place a curse on him called pointing the bone. This is where they will an enemy to death mainly by informing the target that the curse has been placed on him. It really only works with people who believe it will work. Unfortunately, Bony, due to his native blood, is one of those who believes even though he tries to convince himself he doesn't believe in curses. Will he be able to solve the mystery before the curse does its deadly work?

Fascinating story, not for the mystery, really, but for the picture of life on Australian sheep and cattle stations in the 1940s. Bony, of course, solves the mystery which turns out to be not that mysterious. The only thing I really didn't care for was the silliness involving the curse. I thought Bony was above those kind of superstitions. 

Their Eyes Were Watching God

 

By Zora Neale Hurston

Janie Crawford never knew her mother or her father. She was raised by Nanny, her grandmother. Her grandmother was born into slavery and her mother was raped by a white man. Her mother left Janie with Nanny and disappeared. Nanny worried about Janie's future, concerned that she would end up like her mother. So when Janie grew up a beauty, Nanny decided it would be best if Janie married right away and thus be under the protection and rule of her husband. And so she convinced Janie to marry Logan Killicks. But Logan was a hard man and he slapped Janie around. When a sweet talking man, Joe Starks, came around, Janie gladly left Logan and went off with Joe to start a new life in a town being constructed in Florida. 

Joe opened a grocery store in the town, Eatonville, and built a two story house and soon became the mayor of Eatonville and a big deal in the tiny town. But Joe was a jealous husband and criticized Janie and they gradually became estranged, although their marriage lasted twenty years until his death from kidney disease. 

Now Janie was a wealthy widow and she had lots of men hanging around hoping to get a chance at her. But she was not interested. Until Vergible Woods, aka Tea Cake, arrived in Eatonville. He charmed her and amused her and won her and she left Eatonville with him. He was a guitar player and a gambler and field hand and he made friends everywhere he went. Sometimes she doubted him, but eventually she realized he was the love of her life and she was willing to follow him to whatever crazy location his travels took him.

Overall, I like the story. However, I did skip some of the men's conversations. I would read a couple paragraphs, but it was all big talk and BS and I just don't have the patience for such nonsense. I suppose it was meant to be humorous or illustrative of the man-talk of that time but it was just annoying. Other than that, I did enjoy the story, although the dialect sometimes required a couple of readings to understand the language. I was glad Janie found her true love after her two disappointing marriages.

See also a review by Kirkus Reviews.

Sing the Four Quarters

 

By Tanya Huff

When Princess Annice was 14 she persuaded her dying father, the king, to decree that she could become a Bard. This made the her brother, Prince Theron, the king-to-be, angry because he wanted to wed her to the prince of the neighboring kingdom to create an alliance with that kingdom, Cemandia. So when he became the king, Theron decreed that Annice was no longer a royal princess and that if she ever bore a child without his permission, she would be committing treason.

So Annice goes on to become a Bard, one of those special people who can command the nature spirits of air, water, earth and fire. In Annice's case, she can command all four kinds of spirits when most Bards can control only one type of spirit. 

She loves her life, traveling the land and performing her Bardic functions. Until she discovers she is pregnant. And the father of her child, a one-night-stand, has been arrested for treason and has been hauled to the capitol in chains. From what she knows of the man, Pjerin, Duc of Ohrid, she is certain he did not do the crime he is accused of, even though he has admitted it. So she sneaks into the King's castle and frees Pjerin. Pjerin tells her that he knows he admitted to the treason but also knows he didn't do it and he doesn't understand what strange force compels him to admit to actions he didn't do.

Together Annice and Pjerin travel back to Ohrid to unravel the mystery of his false confession, both hunted by the king's guard, Pjerin for conspiring with Cemandia to invade the kingdom and Annice for bearing a child without the king's permission. 

This was a fairly good story. It starts out pretty slow and doesn't really become more interesting until Pjerin and Annice set out on their journey to Ohrid. Until then, it's not that exciting.  

It's the first book in a four part series. It was not interesting enough to entice me to read the rest of the books in the series. Although I will say, unlike many series, this book stands alone quite well, with no really annoying cliffhangers.

Enchantment

 

By Orson Scott Card

Ivan Smetski never knew he was Jewish until his father decided the family need to leave Russia, and, based on their Jewish ancestry, immigrate to Israel. However, immigrating to Israel was just the excuse to get out of Russia. In reality, the father's goal was America.

Before Ivan left Russia for America, he spent some time at his cousin Marek's farm. One day, while wandering around the nearby woods, Ivan stumbled upon a Sleeping Beauty, a princess on a pinnacle. But as he approached her, he saw she was being guarded by some kind of hidden monster. As he was just a lad, Ivan had to leave the sleeping princess behind. 

Once in America, Ivan went to become a scholar of ancient Russian languages and fairy tales. He returned to Russia to do research and decided to visit cousin Marek's farm again. He remembered the Sleeping Beauty in the forest and found his way back to the site. She was still there, asleep and still being guarded by the monster which turned out to be a giant bear. Ivan managed to defeat the bear and wake the princess with a kiss. 

The princess, Katerina, took Ivan back to her land, thousands of years in the past. She had been cursed by an evil witch, Baba Yaga, who wanted to acquire Katerina's father's kingdom. And now Katerina and her father were relying upon Ivan to defeat Baba Yaga and save the kingdom. But the only way Ivan can do that is to return to the present with Katerina, now his wife (in name only) and enlist the help of his father and mother in defeating the evil witch.

I really enjoyed this story, it's just wonderful. Ivan is a sweetheart as are his amazing mother and loving father. Lots of surprises, one of which is cousin Marek who turns out to be an ancient weather god. And Baba Yaga is a formidable foe who almost succeeds in her evil designs.  

For another opinion see this review by Kirkus Reviews.

The Dream Walker

 

By Charlotte Armstrong

Early 1950s, in the depths of the Red Scare in the United States, what better revenge is there than to frame an upright and respected man by smearing him as a part of the Communist conspiracy? This is the idea Ray Pankerman came up with to pay back John Marcus for exposing Pankerman's financial ties to the Communist Party. He enlists three other people in the plot: Kent Shaw who is in it for the money and for the thrills, Cora Steffani, two-bit actor who is in desperate need of cash, and Darlene Hite who is under the mistaken belief that she is performing in a publicity stunt.

Cora assembles her "audience" and goes through her act, going into a trance and waking up and relating a strange dream where she is walking on a beach and encounters a famous person and they briefly talk. The person, Josephine Crain, a successful and respected performer, verifies that she was approached on the beach by a woman who looked like Cora.

Cora pulls her act several times, each time going into her trance and waking to recite her story of approaching some respectable and well known person and while at the same time being in her apartment in New York City, each incident verified, with qualifications, by the other persons.

Of course, it is a scam. The dream walker is a woman who resembles Cora, Darlene Hite. It is all orchestrated by Kent Shaw, with codes and secret signals. Cora's best friend, Olivia Hudson, can't understand why her friend is pulling what she is positive is a scam. 

Then someone turns up dead, someone connected to Darlene. And now the four plotters know they are in too deep to turn back.

This is not a tale of the supernatural. The "dream walking" is a scam to frame an innocent man. It all blows up in the plotters faces when one of them takes it too far and murders a witness. But it is quite intriguing to watch the plotters carry out their scam and fool the police and the press and, in Cora's place, her closest friends as to how they are doing it. Plus there is also a rather soapy love story included. An enjoyable read.

Genesis

 

By Poul Anderson

Computer technology has advanced to the point that people can upload their minds into machines and thus "live" forever if they so desire. Eventually most people choose to do so and humanity dies out while human/machine minds  spread throughout the galaxy. Artifical intelligence combines with the human minds and Earth is left behind, a relect of a time long past.

One artificial intelligence is left in charge of Earth called Gaia. Millions of years go past. Life on Earth adapts as the planet changes over time. The sun begins to age and enters its period of decline. 

A notion takes hold among the hybrid intelligences that span the universe. They have the power to restore the sun and protect Earth, the birthplace of humanity. Yet Gaia has done nothing to protect the Earth from the dying sun and life is fading away on the planet as it gets hotter and hotter. When asked to take steps to stop Earth's decline, Gaia refuses, claiming there is much information to be gained by watching the planet and the sun die. 

So the extraterrestrial intelligences send an emissary to examine Gaia and understand why it is refusing to preserve life on Earth. The emissary, called Wayfarer, contains, among other things, the mind of Christian Brannock, a man from back in the days when humans were first exploring the solar system. While Wayfarer examines Gaia's data, Christian will explore Gaia's studies of history through the simulations it has created. And a third aspect is a robot, Brannock, who explores the actual surface of the world. They eventually stumble upon Gaia's secret: it has recreated human beings and is trying to inspire them to save themselves from the dying Earth. 

The most interesting part of this story was that of the robot Brannock exploring the world. But that part of the story is just a very limited. The major part is the story of Christian and Laurinda who fall in love as they experience the various simulations Gaia takes them through. I wasn't particularly moved by that, though. Overall, it was just too much talk and not enough action.

Review by Publishers Weekly.

Web of the Chozen

 

By Jack L. Chalker

Bar Holliday is a scout for Seiglein Corporation. His job is to look for likely planets for humans to live on. He finds a planet but there is a large spaceship orbiting the planet. It is one of seven colony ships that set out hundreds of years ago looking for new worlds to establish new societies. Holliday enters the ship and finds it deserted and figures the people must be on the planet. 

He lands his ship on the planet but can find no sign of people although there are thousands of large, ugly, kangaroo-like herbivores everywhere. He returns to his ship only to find it encased in a hard, white shell. He tries to melt the shell with his gun but it stops working and then his clothing and equipment crumble away to nothing. He's stranded, nude and locked out of his ship.

He starts to feel really hungry and begins to gorge on the local plants. His hunger overwhelms him and he can only stop when he is gorged. Long story short, he changes into one of the ugly herbivores that infest the planet. 

These creatures are the human colonists, transformed into these strange beasts by a virus that was engineered by the artificial intelligence computer that operated the ship that brought them there. The computer, called Moses, was just doing what he thought was best for them. They are extremely healthy, long-lived, peaceful and self-sufficient. But because of their high reproduction rate, they have filled the planet to capacity. And because their lives are so easy and unchallenging, they are degenerating into the herd "cows" they appear to be.

Bar Holliday refuses to accept his fate and graze and screw and poop and sleep like the herd does. He has a plan, a plan to get back in his ship and warn the folks back home what the computer Moses has done to the humans in its care.

But as the poet says, "The best laid plans o' mice an' men Gang aft a-gley." And do Holliday's plans go awry! Instead of rescue, Seiglein Corporation sends destroyers that lay waste to all life on the planet. Bar Holliday has a motto though: "Noboby beats Bar Holliday." Holliday will make Seiglein pay very dearly indeed.

This was a pretty good book. Although the author's idea of an ideal race of beings is more than a little peculiar. He makes them blind and gives them hooves instead of hands and turns them into weird cows. The most exciting part of their day is taking a poop, I'm guessing.

Anyway, this is the last Jack L. Chalker book I will ever read. His ideas just don't appeal to me. 

War of the Maelstrom

 

By Jack L. Chalker

Book Three of the Changewinds series. 

The book opens with Klittichorn and the Storm Princess plotting their attack against Boolean and Sam, the Storm Princess' identical twin. Sam is beginning to understand her power over the storm and is standing up successfully against the Storm Princess.

Crim/Kira is concerned about Sam's state of mind so he/she takes her to see Etanalon, a healer/shrink/sorcerer. She has Sam look into a magic mirror which helps the girl see herself clearly and she comes away more steady in her thinking and purpose. 

Klittichorn is again hunting for Charley and Boday, thinking to use them to against Sam. Halagar, the hunk Charley is smitten by, is supposed to guide them to Boolean, along with the third rank wizard, Dorion, who is in love with Charley. But Charley is with Halagar until her slaps her around one day. Halagar betrays them and joins Klittichorn's side, turning Charley into a camp whore, until Shadowcat tears his throat out, dying in the process but freeing Charley from her enslavement to Halagar. Charley escapes and is found by Dorion.

Sam gets sent to a plantation to do farm work again but then gets sent on to a penal colony to be wife to four convicts. Once again she under a spell than makes her willing and compliant. Klittichorn's agent and his gang is on her trail and Crim/Kira show up in time to warn Sam and fight off the attackers. Boolean finally makes an appearance and reveals the truth of his and Klittichorn's past. They also realize that Klittichorn's goal isn't mere conquest. What he is really after is attaining divinity and Boolean and company may have to die fighting him to prevent the madman from becoming a god.

This was an OK story. Sam and Charley both spend most of time under some kind of potion or spell that makes them meek and compliant. And naked most of the time. Really makes me wonder about the author's feelings about women. Most of the story is about the characters' struggles just to get somewhere. Anyway, happy ending. But Charley sure does get the short end of the stick. I won't say what happens to her, but in my opinion, it sucks. 

 

Vengeance of the Dancing Gods

 

By Jack L. Chalker

Book Three of the Dancing Gods series.

Macore starts out this tale by trying to steal a demon gem which results in the demon placing a spell on him that causes him to attempt to break into Ruddygore's vault and ending up trapped in the Magic Lamp. Meanwhile, Joe and Tiana are bored of being worshipped as gods and want some time off. So Ruddy enlists them and Marge, Macore, and Poquah on a mission to stop the Dark Baron and Dacaro the wizard who are causing problems on Earth. But first they must visit the oracle to receive his prophecy about their mission. Naturally they have lots of strange adventures on the trip to see the oracle and there is a lot of body switching. Joe ends up briefly as a nymph and Tiana becomes a mermaid. 

The Baron was stripped of his magic abilities by Ruddy as punishment before being exiled to Earth but Dacaro is a skilled wizard and is becoming more skilled under the Baron's tutelage. They have established themselves as leaders of a religious cult and have a large congregation of fanatical and murderous followers. 

Ruddygore will not be able to accompany Joe and Marge and the others in their quest to stop the Baron and Dacaro. Macore's task will be to get them past the guards and the guard dogs and the security equipment and into the Baron's stronghold in the forests of northern California. They will be joined on the way by two people from Earth, a New York pixie named Gimlet and a Catholic priest, Father O'Grady, who knows how to perform exorcisms but who has a serious drinking problem.

This was a more interesting story than the first two books in the series. The gang has lots of strange adventures in the first part of the book before they ever get to Earth. There are lots of body changes, so many that I lost track of who looked like what.

But the story bogs down a bit when they get to Earth. Chalker just skips over nearly all of their travels from west Texas to Northern California, a lost opportunity for some fun, in my opinion. But the story picks up again when they take on the two bad guys and their adherents. There is more body switching and Ruddygore makes a surprise entrance at the end.

Demons of the Dancing Gods

 

By Jack L. Chalker

Book Two of the Dancing Gods series finds the Dark Baron routed in his battle with Ruddygore. The Dark Baron's true identity is still unknown. 

The sorcerer's council is having a big meeting and all the council members will be there, including the Dark Baron. Ruddygore wants Joe and Marge to be there as he tries to figure out which member of the council is the Dark Baron.

Joe and Marge have gone through some changes since the first novel. Joe has been bitten by a were and now changes into whatever creature is nearest during the full moon. Marge has totally changed into some kind of fairy creature, lost about six inches in height, grown some wings, turned into a Playboy caricature of woman and goes around totally nude except for a bit of jewelry and is no longer celibate. 

Ruddygore wants them to infiltrate a powerful witch's castle and get him access to the castle. Ruddygore believes the witch is one of the Dark Baron's allies. They do manage to get inside but soon run afoul of the witch who locks them up. Macore, the thief from the first novel who is now working for Ruddygore, manages to get them free, along with another prisoner, Boquillas, a council member who has been missing for several months. 

Oh, and Joe has a love interest, Tiana, a barbarian warrior princess. Tiana was on the run from the man who killed her father and she spent most of her childhood hiding on Earth. But now she is back and looking to take her father's kingdom away from the powerful sorcerer who killed him. 

This was an okay read, although a bit boring at the beginning. But once Joe and Marge leave the sorcerers' convention, it becomes a lot more interesting, with a shocking and touching final battle between Ruddygore and the Dark Baron. 

The River of the Dancing Gods

 

By Jack L. Chalker

One night a trucker picks up a hitchhiker on a Texas highway. The trucker, Joe, and the hitchhiker, Marge, end up lost when Joe takes the wrong turn. They stop at what looks like it might be a rest stop only to be approached by a portly older well-dressed man. The man, Ruddygore, claims that if Joe continues on with his trucking, he will soon die in a fatal crash. If Joe wants to live, he must come with Ruddygore to another place, a different Earth. For some reason, Joe believes Ruddy and he and Marge join him on his magical ferry to cross the Sea of Dreams and come to a land where wizards and witches, demons and fairies, dragons and unicorns are real and where Ruddygore is one of the most powerful sorcerers in the world. 

Ruddygore needs a person from Earth to help him in his battle against the Dark Baron and a prince of Hell who trying to bring about the End Times, Armageddon. As a man from Earth, Joe's soul will be immune to the demon's powers, which will give Ruddygore a sneaky advantage in the coming conflict. Marge too will have that same protection.

Ruddygore uses his powers to change Joe into a muscle-bound barbarian and Marge into a young, sexy nymph. Back on Earth the two were just ordinary people in their thirties, a bit beaten down by life and hard luck, especially Marge who was definitely on the skids. 

There's a certain magic lamp that the Dark Baron and his demon prince are desperate to get their claws on as they want to use the powers of the genie of the lamp to win the coming battle. So this is Joe and Marge's first big task Ruddygore needs them to perform. Get the lamp before the enemy gets it. 

This was an OK read. I had just finished reading a couple of Chalker's Changewind novels and the resemblance is quite apparent. As in that series, two normal people are pulled into a world of magic and stripped of their past and thrust into new, dangerous situations. According to Google, the Dancing Gods series predates the Changewinds series. Maybe Chalker returned to that theme in the Changewinds series because he had more he wanted to say about two normal people in such an different and unnatural setting. The similarities between the two series is quite striking. Especially his tendency to have main female characters naked and tarted up for most of the story.  They can't just be pretty or cute, no, they have to be sex pots or nymphomaniacs and butt naked except for some jewelry or tattoos. Makes me wonder about Chalker. Not that it matters, he's dead now.

Swan Watch

 

By Budd Schulberg

Budd and his wife Geraldine bought a house on Long Island that was a riverfront property. Wasn't long before they discovered that a pair of swans lived nearby on the river. As is generally true, these swans were aggressive. Locals warned them that swans could be dangerous and advised them to steer clear of the pair. 

But Budd decided to embark on a campaign of gaining the swans' trust. He began by feeding the two birds bread. His campaign worked, although it did take some time. But eventually he got the birds to take bread from his hand. The male was the bravest of the two and let Budd get the closest to him. But the female remained a bit wary. 

Eventually the two swans built a nest and raised a brood of baby swans, seven in all. The cygnets all fledged and were ultimately driven away by their parents in due time. The mated pair stayed on the river year round and the next spring again hatched a brood of baby swans. But this time things did not go well and all the cygnets were victims of predation by a new arrival to the river, the black backed gull.

The book ends with the author wondering about the ability of these two swans to successfully raise their offspring to adulthood with this aggressive new predator on the scene, the black backed gull.

The swans the author was enamored of were mute swans, a non-native species originally from Europe which now considered invasive. This is what Cornell University has to say about mute swans in New York:

Some mute swans are very aggressive and territorial and will chase off and sometimes kill other waterfowl species that enter their territory. With the swan’s large breeding territories in wetlands, they displace many native birds for breeding habitat. Swans tend to be most aggressive during the nesting and brood-rearing stages.

Schulberg's true story about this pair of mute swans dates from the 1970s and I suppose that was before the birds were considered an invasive species. So maybe the arrival of the predatory black backed gulls was not really a bad thing, although he clearly felt it was.

Whatever their ultimate fate in the United States, I did enjoy this short story about Budd Schulberg and the mute swans.

 

Riders of the Winds

 

By Jack L. Chalker

Book Two of the Changewinds series finds the two main characters, Sam and Charley once again in peril and separated. Sam gets found by a winged man and Charley and Boday get captured by raiders and sold off at a slave market. All three women's minds are tampered with using magic and potions, Charley and Boday to be obedient slaves and poor Sam's memory is completely removed and she is brainwashed into believing that being a field hand is a wonderful to life for her.

Eventually Charley and Boday are liberated by Dorion, a third rank sorcerer who is working for the wizard Boolean. The two women are still somewhat controlled by the enslavement magic but at least they are once again on the road to Boolean, facing the adversaries sent against them by Klittichorn, the horned sorcerer. 

Sam is also liberated from her enslavement, although she is so brainwashed she was happy to be a slave. She is rescued by a Navigator, Crim and his alter ego Kira, both of whom were sent by Boolean. 

In the process of their travels, all three women undergo changes. Charley and Boday lose their distinctive body art and tattoos. Charley goes completely blind and acquires a seeing eye cat, Shadowcat. Sam, due to the labor demanded of a field hand, becomes physically fit but remains fat because of the curse put on her in the first book. After all she has gone through, Sam begins to gain confidence in herself and her ability to survive.

The lands the characters travel through are part of a vast confluence of worlds. The author explains it thus: 

 Akahlar intersects with thousands of worlds, but the only common points are the hubs, the points of greatest force and power. The rest are compressed around the hubs and only intersect at certain random intervals. But when they do touch, they are worlds touching round worlds—so that the actual point of overlap is very narrow.

A shadow man also lays out the goals and possible consequences of Klittichorn and his ally the Storm Princess to Sam after she has been freed from her life of hard labor:

"She [the Storm Princess] and all her armies cannot overthrow the Akhbreed sorcerers in their hub citadels or hope to match the great armies of the rulers. She needs the power of true sorcery behind her, and that Klittichorn brings. He has convinced her that he shares her dream, but he does not. For if the power of the Akhbreed sorcerers is somehow halted, and if the Akhbreed themselves are destroyed, there will be no controls. Instead of all hating the Akhbreed, the thousands of races will begin to suspect and hate and then war with one another. And out of this chaos will come the only remaining, untouchable source of great power, which will be Klittichorn. This he believes, but he, too, is wrong. To destroy the Akhbreed and their sorcerers he must loose the terrible changewinds themselves, the only things against which no Akhbreed sorcerer has power. He will loose them by the score and the Storm Princess will guide them."

"Is that—possible?"

"Kittichorn thinks so. She thinks so. He has somehow managed to summon many small changewinds to the places he commands, although how this is done is a mystery, and she has managed to shape and turn them. But those were small, and one at a time. To control great ones, all at once, and all over Akahlar—that is something reason says cannot be done. Reason and experience also tell that such an event, done all at once, would create such an instability that the worlds themselves would collapse upon each other, that the changewinds would roam unchecked and over vast areas, and none would be safe. Such weight alone might draw all of creation down to the Seat of Probability and to oblivion. All that has ever existed, all that exists, and all that can or will exist will be no longer."

 

 War of the Maelstrom is the next book in the series. I liked Riders of the Winds more than I did the first one, which gives me hope that the third book will be worth reading.

 

Lost Dorsai

 

By Gordon R. Dickson

What is a Dorsai? The Dorsai are the people of the planet of the same name. Their specialty is producing elite mercenaries, so much so that Dorsai is a synonym for mercenary throughout the inhabited planets of the Dorsai universe. 

So then what is a "lost Dorsai?" The author explains, "It (the term lost Dorsai) was reserved for those of Dorsai heritage who seemed to have chosen their life work, whatever it was, and then—suddenly and without explanation—abandoned it." The lost Dorsai of the title is Michael, who, "had graduated from the Academy with honors; but after graduation he had abruptly withdrawn his name from assignment and left the planet [Dorsai], with no explanation, even to his family." Michael explains his feelings to another Dorsai, "When I graduated and had to face going out to the worlds as a fighting officer, I finally had to make that decision [about the 'killing part']. And so I did. I can't hurt anyone. I won't hurt anyone—even to save my own life, I think."

Michael's true love is music and he is a talented musician. He became a military band leader on the planet Ceta working for El Conde, the titular ruler of Nahar. He likes his job and is happy in his life. But all good things must come to an end and El Conde is facing a revolution and Michael finds himself the only thing that stands between the revolutionaries howling for El Conde's blood and certain death, as all of El Conde's soldiers have deserted, including the members of Michael's military band and all the workers at the fortress that El Conde and Michael are holed up in. 

Will Michael take up arms to protect himself and El Conde? Or will he stand by his refusal to harm another human, even if it means his own death and the death of that defenseless old man, El Conde?

I enjoyed this story more than I did that of the previous Dorsai story I recently read. For one thing, it didn't have as much politics and battles as the other book. It was more about a small group of people facing insurmountable odds with courage and loyalty to each other. 

Still, even though I did like the book, I have no intention of reading any of the other books in the Dorsai series. Two was enough.

Dorsai!

 

By Gordon R. Dickson

Donal Graeme was an odd boy, a condition he never outgrew. But he graduated from military school and went on to a career as an officer, as was the tradition of both his family and the planet he lived on, Dorsai. 

Donal always seemed to know what was going to happen long before it became apparent to even the most experienced of people. He used his intuition to place himself where it would advantage his objectives the most. He made a lot of enemies, but he also won some devoted allies. 

Eventually he rose to the one of the highest positions in the galaxy which put him up against one of the master manipulators, a man he had first encountered straight out of military school. And in the middle of it all was Anea, a woman who stole Donal's heart at first glance but who despises him with all her might.

I found this book quite boring. It is mostly battles and politics with a very tiny bit of romance thrown in. I just skimmed most of the battles scenes and the political mumbo jumbo. And even though it is not a long story, just a little over 200 pages in paperback, I just wanted it to be over. Tedious read.

The Importance of Being Ernestine

 

By Dorothy Cannell

When Ellie finds out her housekeeper is moonlighting as an assistant to a private detective, of course, she has to get involved too. So the two women set out to solve the mystery of the vengeful maid while the private detective is out of town. 

Lady Krumley fired a maid she accused of stealing a valuable piece of jewelry. The maid, Flossie, denied it and died cursing the Krumley family. Over the years, various Krumleys have died in strange and peculiar ways. So Lady Krumley wants to track down Flossie's daughter, Ernestine, in hopes of doing right by the girl and lifting Flossie's curse on the family. 

So posing as decorators, Ellie and Roxie, infiltrate the Krumley family home, Moultty Towers, and attempt to figure out why so many members of the family have met untimely ends.

This was a fun silly murder mystery and I enjoyed it quite a bit.

Review by Publishers Weekly.

Hard Eight

 

By Janet Evanovich

Stephanie is off on another adventure, this time to help out a neighbor who posted a bond for her daughter and now the daughter has gone missing and the neighbor is in danger of losing her home that she used as collateral for the bond. 

The missing woman, Evelyn, has a creepy landlord who suspects she stole a valuable artifact from him. And he thinks Stephanie knows where Evelyn is hiding and proceeds to threaten Stephanie with all kinds of dirty tricks, including leaving the body of Evelyn's estranged spouse in Stephanie's apartment. Of course Stephanie's car gets destroyed, a running gag in the Stephanie Plum novels.

Morelli and Stephanie are on the outs in this story and so she turns to the implacable Roger for help. She is going to have to pay a price for his help, but the price is one she had been rather looking forward to paying.

This was a fun and exciting story, if a bit gruesome at some points. Things get a bit rough, there's some torture and some dismemberment. But the wacky characters go a long ways to lighten up the story a lot.

Rogue Queen

 

By L. Sprague de Camp

The people of Ormazd live in a stratified society. The actual rulers are the members of the councils, the nominal rulers are the Queens, which are figureheads and also the only ones able to give birth. Then there are the workers, sterile females (or sterile males in some societies) who are the laborers and the soldiers. And finally, a few fertile males, the drones, whose only role is to service the Queen.

Come to this strange society are a group of offworlders, intent on tracking down the survivors of a previous expedition. Although the people of Ormazd are superficially similar to humans, they lay eggs instead of giving birth to live babies. All the eggs are laid by the queens only. 

Iroedh is a worker/soldier and a bit different. For one, she likes studying history and antiquities. For another, she has become close friends with one of the Queen's drones, Antis. She and another soldier are sent to liaison with the alien humans. The council is hoping the humans will use their offworld technology to help them overcome an aggressive neighboring community. But while she is a the human camp, Iroedh finds out that her dear friend, Antis, is due to executed and replaced by younger, more able drones. So she hatches a plot to rescue him by blackmailing one of the humans into using their helicopter to effect a jailbreak.

Her plan actually works and Antis is rescued and he and Ireodh later join the humans on an expedition to consult a local oracle. But the expedition finds themselves on the run when they are attacked by a gang of rebel drones, barely escaping with their lives. As Ireodh and Antis travel with the humans and learn more about their ways, they start to wonder about the very foundations of their own society. And the knowledge they gain reveals how they have all been abused and fooled by their selfish and cruel leaders.

Even though this story was written in the 1950s, it still makes for quite a good read. Some of the technology is a bit dated, but so what? It still was quite an adventure with lots going on in such a short novel. 

A Nun in the Closet

 

By Dorothy Gilman

A mysterious benefactor has left his 150 acre estate to the Sisters of St. Tabitha cloister. The abbess sent the two Sisters to take possession of the property that she felt were best equipped to cope with the outside world, Sister John and Sister Hyacinthe. 

When the two Sisters arrive at the property, they find a large Victorian house and barn that seem abandoned. But this is a house of secrets, the first of which is the wounded man hiding upstairs. 

He refuses to tell the two his name or how he came to be suffering from gunshot wounds but he asks for sanctuary before he collapses. The nuns decide to honor his request and set about patching him up and hiding him from nosey visitors, of which there is an unending stream. Some are obviously looking for the wounded man but others seem to be looking for something in the house, including the local sheriff. It isn't long before Sister John discovers a suitcase full of cash and Sister Hyacinthe 50 pounds of what she assumes is powdered sugar (it's not sugar). 

It's pretty apparent that the mysterious benefactor was either a gangster or an associate of gangsters. And those gangsters want their drugs and their money and the wounded man disguised as a nun hidden upstairs. But the Sisters can't call in the police because the sheriff is obviously not to be trusted. Good thing a camp of friendly hippies and their guru are willing to step in to help when the cops can't be trusted. 

This was a good story, even if a bit dated. Set in the early 1970s, with all the concerns of those days that haven't gotten any better in nearly 50 years, but the story is filled with an optimism that we could really use these days. 

They Came to Stay

 

By Marjorie Margolies and Ruth Gruber

Back in the early seventies, Marjorie Margolies decided she wanted to adopt a child from Korea. At the time, she was a career woman and not married although she had not ruled out marriage at some time in the future. In those days, unmarried women (and men, I suppose) were not encouraged to adopt children. But Marjorie was determined and flew to Korea to find the child of her dreams: Lee Heh. 

Lee Heh was a dream child, sweet, smart, enthusiastic about her new life and new mother. Sure, there were adjustments, but Lee Heh did fantastically well. So well, indeed, that Marjorie began to think of adopting a second child to be a little sister to Lee Heh. This time she set her sights on Vietnam, this being the time when the Vietnam war was winding down. 

And so Holly (not her birth name) came into their lives. Unlike Lee Heh, Holly's father was an American and Holly really didn't look Vietnamese. Whatever the truth of Holly's origin, it soon became clear that she was a troubled child. Marjorie and Lee Heh's lives were disrupted by Holly's rages and neediness. Holly spoke almost no English and Marjorie had a difficult time figuring out what she was so upset about. Eventually Marjorie found a Vietnamese student to serve as translator and together they found out what Holly was finding difficult to deal with in her new homeland. The whole family went into therapy to help Holly deal with her childhood traumas and to help Marjorie and Lee Heh deal with Holly.

This was a very engrossing and true story. But beyond adopting the two girls, Marjorie went on to have quite a life. She worked for NBC News and won several Emmys during her career. She also ran for Congress and served during President Bill Clinton's term. Holly and Lee Heh were not her only children. She later married and one of her sons is married to Chelsea Clinton. Marjorie is quite an accomplished and amazing woman.

Review by the New York Times.

The Hostage Heart

 

By Gerald Green

Terrorists burst into an operating room and hold the patient and doctors hostage for $10,000,000. The terrorists have a couple of their people planted among the hospital staff who have been working at the hospital for several weeks which gives the terrorists an inside edge. 

Dr. Eric Lake is the heart surgeon who is forced to perform surgery on the wealthy man the terrorists have targeted for extortion. The funny thing is the patient, Tench, is already under anesthesia and remains unconscious during the whole attack. He won't know anything about it until he wakes up, if he is lucky enough to survive the surgery and the terrorists. 

The terrorist are a bunch of misfits who have decided they will reform capitalist society by arousing the downtrodden peoples of the world. They call themselves the Wretched of the Earth. Needless to say, the plan blows up in their faces when they try to escape the hospital with the ransom.

This was an OK story. Written back in the 1970s, one of the main characters, Dr. Lake, is constantly lighting up a cigarette and no one ever questions this heart doctor as to the wisdom of smoking when he knows, I assume, that smoking is damaging to the heart, among other things. So that was a bit of an off note. Was the author trying to make his novel appealing to big tobacco? 

But over all this is just another typical hostage-taking type thriller, nothing particularly special. It was apparently made into a TV movie starring Bradford Dillman as Dr. Lake in 1977 and Stephen Davies as the terrorist leader, John Trask.

I wonder if Dr. Lake was as much of a tobacco fiend in the movie as he was in the book?

Spell of the Witch World

 

By Andre Norton

A Witch World collection

A small collection including a novella and two short stories, the novella is Dragon Scale Silver and the short stories are Dream Smith and Amber Out of Quayth. 

Dragon Scale Silver  is the story of young woman who has to make her own way in the world after the small town where she lives is overrun during war. 

Elys has been raised by her father to be more self-sufficient that most girls of her time. Along with her twin brother, Elyn, she has learned to hunt and ride and handle weapons.  From the village wise woman, she has learned healing skills, magic spells and herb craft. So when the people of the village are forced to flee from the invaders, Elys becomes their de facto leader, because most of the men have left to fight, including her brother Elyn.

Once she gets the villagers settled and secure in a new location in the wilderness, Elys sets out of rescue her brother Elyn, who has become ensorcelled by an ancient curse. She helped in her quest by a soldier, Jervon, whose comrades were defeated by the enemy.

Dream Smith is the story of a young man who is cruelly disfigured in an explosion that occurred when his father tried to smelt a strange new metal. Collard becomes a recluse, hiding his disfigured face and body from the gaze of the folks of his village. But, despite their first terrible experience with the strange metal, Collard continues to work with it, creating miniature statues of mythological and imaginary creatures. 

Collard then hears about Lady Jacinda, the daughter of a lord. Jacinda is said to be deformed and is being sent away from her home because her father's new wife finds her repulsive to look at. Collard begins to have dreams about his little works of art and Jacinda and he arranges to have some of his creations sent to her. He is gratified and pleased when he gets word that she really loved the gifts. He then dreams of a new work of art and creates a scene that will prove to be not just a work of art but a whole new world for the two of them.

Amber Out of Quayth  is another story of a girl who is a bit of an outsider. Her life was good until her brother got married and his new wife didn't like her new sister-in-law, Ysmay. She treats Ysmay like an unpaid servant, so when Ysmay mets a wealthy stranger at a local fair and he pursues her, she agrees to marry him, even though there is something about him that is troubling. 

Their first night together, her new husband, Hylle, explains he must remain celibate because of his mystical studies. Hylle spends most of his time in his tower with his studies and Ysmay begins to understand that he married her because she has something that is necessary to his studies and that she is simply a tool in his plot.

I enjoyed all three stories. It is always fun reading Andre Norton's Witch World stories, like visiting an old and entertaining friend.

Secrets of the Supernatural

 

By Daniel S. Levy

The author gives brief overviews of various aspects of the supernatural. He doesn't go into much depth, just touches on a wide variety of subjects.

Chapter 1: Faith, Magic & the Miraculous which includes healing and miracles, love magic, levitation, divination, sixth sense, astrology, talismans, alchemy, immortality, superstitions, black and white magic, and satanism.

Chapter 2: The World of Witchcraft

Chapter 3: The Undead: Vampires, Ghosts & More which includes zombies, mummies, werewolves and Halloween.

Chapter 4: Signs of the Otherworldly which deals with UFOs and other mysterious phenomena. 

This was a fairly interesting read, but just basically skims the subjects. Most of the items rate only a few paragraphs. But I did come across some information about the occult and the Nazis that I was not aware of before. And it has lots of color images.

The Song of Hartgrove Hall

 

By Natasha Solomons

This is the story of Harry Fox-Talbot, called Fox by his friends and family and of Hartgrove Hall, the family estate he grew up on in the 1930s and 40s.

Set at the end of WW II and in the early 2000s, we see Fox as a budding young composer in the 1940s and as a lonely, elderly man  in the 2000s.

Just a schoolboy, Fox misses out on serving in the military, unlike his two older brothers, Jack and George. Jack and George come home to Hartgrove Hall to the distressing news that their father can no longer afford to pay for the upkeep of the crumbling mansion and is planning to sell it. The three sons talk the old man into letting them try to make the property pay by improving the farms. 

Jack has a girlfriend, Edie Rose, an attractive and successful pop singer that both Fox and George are smitten by. It soon becomes clear that Edie likes Fox too, but she stays with Jack. When Jack and Edie come home and announce they are now married, Fox is devastated and leaves Hartgrove Hall the same day. 

Time passes and Edie comes looking for Fox and they began having an affair. She and Jack haven't become parents yet and when she becomes pregnant, she doesn't know which is the father, Jack or Fox. She and Fox decide she has to tell Jack about the affair and Jack is furious and leaves Hartgrove Hall, leaving Fox and Edie to do as they please.

Meanwhile the story shifts from his youth to his old age. Edie has died and Fox is depressed and finding life no longer worth living. But he finds new joy and purpose in the form of his young grandson, Robin, who Fox realizes is a musical prodigy. Fox sharing his love of music with Robin makes life worthwhile again.

Surprisingly interesting, I wasn't expecting too much from this story but it turned out really good. Not a typical romance, as much of the story is about Fox and Robin as about Fox and Edie. I truly did enjoy it.

Review by Kirkus Reviews.

Destiny Doll

 

By Clifford D. Simak

Four travelers are off an adventure to track down a long-lost man, Lawrence Arlen Knight. They are Captain Ross, experienced spaceship pilot; wealthy, beautiful Sara Foster, owner of the sleek spacecraft that Ross will own upon completion of their misson; George Smith, a blind man who hears a voice that speaks to him across the vastness of space; and Friar Tuck,  George's friend, companion and caretaker. They are four brave souls on a mission to solve the mystery of Knight's disappearance.

Following George's guidance they arrive at an uncharted planet and follow the planet's guidance beam down to a spaceport. It is centered in the middle of a large white deserted city. The huge spaceport is white too as are all they many vessels parked there.

They are immediately greeted by white hobby horses led by one hobby horse named Dobbin. He urges the travelers to quickly follow him as it is dangerous to remain in the open. Dobbin is persuasive and they hurry to remove their baggage and supplies from the ship. But as soon as they do, their ship is engulfed in an impenetrable coating of white, just like all the ships at the spaceport. Angry and upset, they follow Dobbin to safety to escape the beam Dobbin claims the city sends out to destroy any living creature caught out in the open.

But treachery ensues when Dobbin and the other hobby horses toss them through a warp door and onto a desert world where they encounter a very helpful alien creature that Ross names Hoot. And another creature that makes it very clear they are not welcome.

They make it back through the warp door, bringing along Hoot and angrily confront the hobby horses, forcing them into becoming their pack animals. And so they set off to take on a dangerous new world, led only by the voice in George's head.

This is a strange and enchanting story. At times it is like reading someone's fever dream. The title refers to a crudely carved wooden doll with an deeply sad face that George finds in a building on the white city's outskirts. The strange discoveries continue as the travelers try to make sense of the puzzles of this memorable, odd planet. 

Master of the Five Magics

 

By Lyndon Hardy

Once the son of a wealthy lord, young Alodar makes his way alone in the world, surviving by his wits. His inheritance stripped away by the old king, now Alodar finds himself fighting on behalf of the queen, Vendora, the old king's beautiful daughter. 

Something is amiss in Vendora's realm. Attackers besiege her borders and rumors of men possessed by demons spread through her court.  

Alodar meets the queen at an ancient fortress and is much struck by her great beauty. She has promised to give her hand to the man who helps her the most in her battle to repel the invaders and preserve her realm. This is Alodar's chance to redeem his lost inheritance and reclaim his position within the ranks of the nobility. And rule the land as the consort of the beautiful queen.

So begins his quest that to fulfill his dream and set him on the path to becoming the Archmage and the Master of the Five Magics.

This was a really good story. Every time it seems poor Alodar is close to performing that service to the queen that will win her hand, it is cruelly snatched away. He continues on in his quest, becoming wiser along the way and mastering the five attributes required for eventual success: cunning, perseverance, precision, courage and will. 

It's quite an interesting journey with an exciting conclusion.

Swords Against Wizardry

 

By Fritz Leiber

Fafhrd and Gray Mouser are off on two more adventures, chasing after that ever elusive pot of gold.

Their first adventure takes them to the high mountains of the far north. According to a cryptic poem, treasure and romance await the heroes who can scale the mighty mountain, Stardock. Fafhrd, born and bred at the foot of this mountain range, will use his expertise to guide them up the treacherous heights.
But since this is Nehwon, naturally it won't be just mountaineering. Monsters, visions, lusty maidens, and various opponents will play their part too.
The second adventure is in the peculiar kingdom of Quarmall where two princes are eagerly awaiting the death of the king, their father Quarmal. Naturally, each brother desires to be king. So they plot against each other and this is where our two heroes come in. Unbeknownst to each other, they have been separately hired as body guards, Fafhrd to protect Prince Hasjarl and Gray Mouser to protect Prince Gwaay. What none of them know is that the king has his own plot to place his unborn son on the throne instead of either of his two adult sons. And our two heroes are mere pawns in the king's plot against his own children.

Both stories present memorable locations and plots. The lads struggle up the snowy mountains is like reading a climber's story of going up Everest. And the story of Quarmall, which I first read decades ago, is of a place so odd that it has stuck in my memory all these many years.

Men at Arms

 

By Terry Pratchett

Times are changing in Ankh-Morpork. The Patrician has ordered the Night Watch to become more representative of the citizens of the city, resulting in three new hires, Cuddy, a dwarf; Detritus, a troll and Angua, a woman (and a bit more). Captain Vimes doesn't quite know what to think about this new direction for the Night Watch. But it is hardly his problem any more as he will shortly be marrying the richest woman in Ankhj-Morpork, Lady Sybil and his working days will soon be  behind him. Of course, it will be quite an adjustment for Vimes, going from being so poor that he used to line his boots with cardboard when they wore out because he couldn't afford new ones to having anything he wants just by asking for it.

Lady Sybil has a passion for swamp dragons and runs a sanctuary for them and she is worried about the disappearance of one of her dragons, Chubby. So she asks Vimes to keep an eye out for Chubby as he makes his final patrols. And he does find Chubby, or what is left of him. Someone used Chubby to blow a hole in the wall of the Assassin's Guild. All that is left of the little dragon is its blue collar.

It soon become clear that the explosion was used to gain access to a weapon in the Guild's possession, a weapon that they were supposed to have destroyed in the past. This weapon, the "gonne" is unique in a world were explosives are only used in fireworks. And the person who stole the "gonne" has a demented plot to restore a king to the throne of Ankh-Morpork, and his chosen king is the clueless and innocent Night Watchman, Corporal Carrot. And one of his first victims is the ruler of Ankh-Morpork, the Patrician himself.

This is one of Pratchett's best stories, in my opinion. Vimes finally gets the breaks he deserves and three fun, new characters are added to the watch, Cuddy, Detritus and Angua, with the possibility of even more strange policemen in future stories like zombies and vampires. Plus the story introduces us to Gaspode, a scruffy little street mutt, who, as a consequence of sleeping too near the Unseen University, has acquired the ability to talk, even though most humans refuse to hear what he says. 

Some of my favorite Discworld stories are about the adventures of  the Night Watch and this story is one of my favorites of the Night Watch series.

Review by Publishers Weekly.

Welcome to the World, Baby Girl

 

By Fannie Flagg

Dena Nordstrom is a successful news woman in New York City. She makes $400,000 a year, is beautiful and smart and doing exactly what she wants. Her life is perfect. Except for her excessive alcohol consumption and that nasty stomach ulcer.

Dena blames the ulcer on overwork and stress and when it lands her in the hospital, her doctor orders her to take time off and rest. Her relatives take her home to Missouri to her home town of Elmwood Springs. 

Norma Warren is Dena's cousin. Along with 90 something year old Aunt Elner, they are Dena's only blood relatives. So Dena comes to stay, briefly, with these people who she doesn't remember since she was only four when she last saw them. But they remember her and love her and are so happy to have her stay with them while she convalesces. 

Dena is eager to get back to New York and her job. She starts seeing a psychiatrist on the recommendation of her doctor. He feels some kind of emotional problem is affecting her health and contributing to the ulcer. Her life is still busy and stressful and pressures at work once again send her into a downward spiral and another trip to the hospital. This setback causes Dena finally start looking at her life and delving into the mystery at the root of her problems.

I liked this story. It was a bit different than what I was expecting. Although the folksy relatives and the small town where they live do play a part in the story, most of it centers on Dena's life in New York City. I was expecting the story location to be mostly Elmwood Springs and mostly Dena's relatives there. I did enjoy the mystery of Dena's mom at lot, it was quite a surprise when the truth was finally uncovered.

Review by Kirkus Reviews.

Rite of Passage

 

By Alexei Panshin

Mia lives on a spaceship. Because of humankind's stupidity, Earth is no longer livable. There are a few colony worlds, but life on them is hard and dangerous. Colony people don't like ship people and ship people don't like colony people.

Because room is limited on the spaceships, the space people have developed a method of thinning the ranks. When kids reach their early teens, they undergo a training period that will prepare them for the Rite of Passage. This involves planting the teens on colony worlds and making them live by their wits for a month. Lots of teens die in the attempt.

Mia and Jimmy are two such teens. Together they attend the training classes and become friends. Unfortunately, they have a falling out and Mia ends up facing her Rite of Passage alone. She has some bad encounters with some colonists and is rescued by a local oddball and eventually finds and reconciles with Jimmy.

This was a pretty good read. I was a teenager the first time I read it in the the 1970s and I remember I loved it. But rereading it now I found it a bit slow at times. Still an enjoyable read though.

River's End

 

By Nora Roberts

When Livvy was a little girl, she saw her father standing over the body of her mother, with a bloody pair of scissors in his hand. Her father was arrested and later found guilty of murder and sentenced to prison.

Some twenty years later, the father is being released from prison. He is dying and only has a few months left to live. He wants to reunite with his only child, Livvy, but in Livvy's mind he is the monster who murdered her mother.

Livvy's parents were successful Hollywood actors, wealthy and gorgeous. The dad began using drugs when his career began to decline while his beautiful wife's career was soaring. It caused a lot of tension and he was at times abusive. 

Naturally, the public is interested in the lives of two such Hollywood stars and successful true-crime author, Noah Brady, has been talking to the dad in view of publishing a book about the crime. His research takes him to River's End, the resort where Livvy has been living for twenty years with her maternal grandparents. She doesn't remember much of what happened that night, although she has suffered from nightmares about it. Noah makes a terrible mistake when he fails to reveal to Livvy why he has come to River's End looking for details about the murder. When she finds out, she is enraged and sends him packing, even though they initially hit it off. Then she finds out that her father is free from prison and now someone is trying to kill her. 

This was an OK story. Pretty typical murder mystery. Spoiler: the killer is someone who is barely mentioned in the story. I don't like it when writers do that. 

Review by Publishers Weekly.

Stonewall's Gold

 

By Robert J. Mrazek

The Civil War is winding down when a scary stranger shows up at Mrs. Lockhart's farm. She lives alone with her teenage son, Jamie. The man, a deserter, is looking for something and Jamie sees him looting graves of recently buried rebel soldiers one dark night. Jamie then comes home one day to discover the man trying to force himself upon Jamie's mom and Jamie kills him. Searching through the man's belongings, Jamie finds what is clearly a map. The map is in code but hints that it leads to a horde of looted gold. Jamie gets gold fever and set out on a dangerous journey to find the gold. Unfortunately, he is not the only one who knows about the gold and who are actively seeking it. He ends up in the hands of a gang of deserters who will stop a nothing to get to the gold, including torture, rape and murder.

This was a very exciting story with a rapid and enthralling plot, with a bit of romance included. Very gripping and well worth the read.

Review by Kirkus Reviews.

The Hammer of Eden

 

By Ken Follett

For the first time in his life, Ricky Priest has found peace and contentment at the commune of they call Eden. The commune is thriving and his ex-girlfriend and his current girlfriend are happy to be with him and everyone at the commune looks up to him as their leader.

Priest started out as a street thug but had great success in his young life, even becoming a millionaire at one point before he ran afoul of the law. Now he lives in peaceful obscurity with his fellow commune members. 

But the devil is coming to destroy their happy community. The electric utility company is building a new power plant and part of the plan is a dam that will result in Ricky's little piece of heaven being drowned. Ricky will risk everything to try to stop it, even if it means people have to die to get his point across.

This was an interesting story. I question whether it really is possible to cause a bad earthquake using the method described in the story. But other than that, it was pretty good.

Review by Publishers Weekly.

 

When the Changewinds Blow

 

By Jack L. Chalker

Sam and Charley are two normal teenage girls, living their lives, not outstanding in any way. Except Sam has lately been experiencing terrifying nightmares that only occur when a thunderstorm strikes.
Turns out Sam is the target of two competing wizards, one of whom is trying to take over everything, including our time and place. Although Sam is the target of their plans, both she and Charley end up in an alien place where all things are possible and where, when the changewinds blow, anything can happen, but usually bad.
Initially met by a fellow human, Zenchur, sent by the wizard Boolean (you may recognize the term boolean as having to do with computers and math) to lead the two girls to safety and away from Boolean's rival, Klittichorn. But Sam overhears Zenchur plotting against the girls, and when they arrive at a city, the girls manage to thwart his plot.
But Sam ends up the pampered pet of a local Madame and Charley ends up as one of her drugged whores. It's a comfy trap but eventually Klittichorn will track them down and kill them. Their only recourse is to set out on their own on a dangerous journey, braving bandits, rogues, Klittichorn's thugs and the cruel changewinds in an iffy attempt to reach Boolean and possible safety.

Book was kind of boring. Not a lot happens until the very end when the caravan the girls are traveling on runs into Klittichorn's thugs and a flash flood that wipes out most of the travelers. 
There were some things that I really disliked about the story: the drugged, brainwashed girls forced into prostitution and Charley's willing acceptance of being a prostitute. The author tries to dress it up by labeling her a call girl, but he glosses over the fact that she and Sam are only 17 years old. Also later on in the story two little girls, 9 and 13 are gang raped. Makes me wonder about his proclivities.

Gordon

 

By Edith Templeton

A young woman falls into a dangerous relationship with an older, disturbed man. A psychiatrist, he manipulates her neediness to maintain control over her while he physically and sexually abuses her, much to her outer resistance and her inner delight. They are two troubled people hanging on to each other to satisfy their weaknesses, his to dominate her to the point of torture and hers to be dominated. 

Supposedly based on the author's life as a young woman in post-WWII Britain, it's a tough read only because of her willingness to be abused. It is also quite graphic but not in a romance novel way. This is not the sex act glamorized, this is a brutal man raping & controlling a willing victim. It's pretty messed up.

Review by The Guardian. And by Publishers Weekly.