Triffids Beard 2 - The Bearded Triffid

See what I mean?
The Earth has entered a new age, a time of legend and heroes, romance, wizardry and wonder. Max
Karrien (aka Max Carrion) is an imagineer and that is the last logical thing that happens in the book. The
rest is indescribable (like most of Rankin's novels, come to think of it) which probably explains why the
blurb has virtually nothing at all to do with the plot. Mind you, very little has anything to do with the plot.
Even the plot has very little to do with the plot. I think it ends happily. I think it ends. I think.
It was definitely time for Roger Zelazny. Forever After was the last book he worked on before his
death. It is a fantasy. The scenario posits a time when the forces of evil have been thoroughly defeated
by the forces of good, with the help, of course, of four magical artefacts. Now that their purpose is
accomplished, the artefacts must be returned from whence they came. Four novelettes by Robert
Asprin, David Drake, Jane Lindskold and Mike Stackpole describe the adventures of the heroes and
heroines as they struggle to accomplish their mission. These stories are joined by linking material written
by Roger Zelazny himself. He maintained very firm editorial control over the project and insisted that the
fantasy elements of the stories be strongly leavened by humour and the same sardonic wit that was
peculiarly his shines through all the material. I loved it. Even the artefacts are funny -- I particularly liked
the magical ring Sombrisio, which farts a lot and insults everybody.
I'll finish up this month with the new novel by Jack McDevitt. Of whom you may well say who? Well he
has written two rather good novels, The Hercules Text and A Talent for War. Now comes his third,
The Engines of God and it is his best yet. It is an archeological thriller -- not a common genre, I'll grant
you. Scattered across various planets in the galaxy are artefacts left by an ancient race. Statues and
cities and inscriptions. They are majestic and puzzling at the same time. Why does a planet have a city
on its moon when the inhabitants of the planet never developed space travel? Why does the city consist
of solid blocks of stone? Each building is solid all the way through. Why is the city partially destroyed as
if by fire?
I'm not going to tell you why, that would be a spoiler of massive proportions and most unfair. Suffice it
to say that there is a good reason. The further into the book you get, the more puzzling the mysteries
become. Strangeness piles upon strangeness, (and also insight upon insight). There is tragedy and
splendour here and a truly satisfying climax made even more so by the light it sheds retrospectively over
the book as a whole. It makes you want to go back and read it again immediately with the benefit of your
new understanding. This is quintessential science fiction and the sense of wonder tingle in the spine is
absolutely authentic. Books like this one are the reason we all started reading this stuff in the first place.
Iain Banks Whit Little, Brown & Company
Jonathan Lethem Amnesia Moon New English Library
Kim Newman Anno Dracula Pocket
Jack Yeovil Drachenfels Boxtree Books
Genevieve Undead Boxtree Books
Orgy of the Blood Parasites Pocket
Stanley Asimov (Editor) Yours, Isaac Asimov Doubleday
Peter F. Hamilton Mindstar Rising
A Quantum Murder
Pan
Robert Rankin
The Garden of Unearthly
Delights
Doubleday
Roger Zelazny Forever After Baen
Jack McDevitt The Engines of God Ace