Hey it's been a while. I have been super super busy, if anyone even remembers me.
Anyways to the matter at hand.
S.M. Stirling....
Well just look at his picture in the back cover of his books Dies The Fire and The Protector's War. Okay that's just mean. Don't read the books they are crap. Complete and utter crap. Yet, they remain interesting, just enough to keep you hooked to the sad bitter end if you are unfortuneate enough to pick one up.
If you like an assult of Wiccanism that makes Mormoms look like atheist then, pick it up.
This rant is disjointed, yes I know but time is short. I'll be back later with a better one. Unless some other poor bastard, who also has been afflicted, would like to fill you in with greater detail.
Actualy I rather liked that series of books...
Fire Dies, Protectors war and A meeting in Corvallis.
S.M.Stirling is a writer of alternate history books, of people in the wrong Timelines. The main ideal of these books is actualy an off shoot of his Nantucket series. "Island in the sea of time", "Against the Tide of years", and "On the oceans of Eternity" The island of Nantucket gets sent back in time to the bronze age...Circa 1250's BC...yeah the ideal is a bit of a stretch but i liked the storyline...
Well interaction of unknown aliens had caused this shift of Nantucket, the Emberverse or "The Change" series of books is the story of what happens to the rest of the world after the Island of nantucket was moved back in time...starting with "Fire Dies" they follow three groups of people trying to survive the "Change"...apparently all forms of High energy no longer works...at all. Gas will burn but not explode, firearms are useless, all forms of modern life stop dead in its tracks... the survivors scratch out a living falling back on old tech. Swords and long bows, Pikemen that ride to the battle field on bikes...all centered around Portland Oregon. A Wicca clan, A Feudal dictatorship lead by a professor and a outfit lead by a former marine...its all good fun...
a second trilogy is in the works starting with "The Sunrise Lands" That follows in the years after "A meeting in Corvallis" with some familier characters... If yoiu like fantasy and Sci-fi... its worth a look i think. If you cna find it his "General" is a good read...but its out of print i think at this time...
Yeah reading my last entry I noticed my post was a bit harsh.
Dies the Fire actually wasn't that bad. If you can get beyond some of the extraordinary circumstances and some pretty big flubs, it's a good read. It doesn't hurt that one of the main characters is a former Marine. The main problem I had with the first book is the sheer ridiculousness of titles, such as "Lord Bear", and how quickly everyone is willing to descend into a feudal frame of mind. Overall this book, from me get's a solid B- . ( First to Fight is an A).
The Protector's War is complete crap in my mind. Which is why I had such harsh things to say earlier. I had just finished and was pissed I wasted $7.50 (almost two gallons of gas!) and two days. BTW there is no war in this book at all. I have no idea where the title came from. Ok, it wasn't all that bad. The Loring sub-story was actually pretty good but, too small a part of the story. The rest of the story was just one long Wiccan ceremony and even more ridiculous feudalistic titles and customs. The McKenzies are good for battles but absolutely boring at any other time. It often took ten pages (more or less) just to get through one ceremony! And none of it moved the story forward. The book could easily have been 1/4 it's length and still accomplish all it needed to. And most of that would be the Loring sub-story. The Wiccan stuff was about as bad as trying to take your girlfriend to Planned Parenthood through a thong of Christians. And to add insult to injury, he gives us the Dunedain. Complete with fluent elvish prerequisites and a deaf warrior. Overal an awful book. D- and the only saving grace, as I said earlier was the Lorring sub-story.
Currently I'm about 3/4 of the way through A Meeting in Corvallis. As bad book II is this book is that good. So I sort of have to eat my first words there. I saved us from about 90% of his Wiccan fantasy world and cut about 70% of the Christian bashing out. This book is very engaging and well written. Haven't gotten to the end, which I read is a let down, but I'm confident I shall be satisfied in the end. A.
Now, I am almost positive that I saw one of the Sunrise Lands books at Barnes & Noble the other day when I picked up The Protector's War. In fact, they are on amazon.com if you care to purchase them. I am left with mixed emotions and might do something unprecedented and actually go to the library for them.
And thanks Jep for the aditional info!