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2004 Announcing 
New Original Sime~Gen Novels 
by
Jacqueline Lichtenberg
Jean Lorrah

From
Meisha Merlin Publishing Inc. 

Sime~Gen Inc. Presents

ReReadable Books

April 2005

"Standing Against The Group Mind, Part II"

By

Jacqueline Lichtenberg

 

 

 To send books for review in this column email Jacqueline Lichtenberg, jl@simegen.com for snailing instructions or send an attached RTF file.  
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Son of Avonar Book I ofTthe Bridge of D’Arnath by Carol Berg, RoC Fantasy, Feb. 2004

Guardians of the Keep Book II of The Bridge of D’Arnath by Carol Berg, RoC Fantasy, Sept. 2004

Compass Reach by Mark W. Tiedemann, Meisha Merlin, June 2001

Dead Witch Walking by Kim Harrison, Harper Torch Fiction May 2004

Last month, in our search for American Myths that may shape our lives over the next few decades, (see Jan. 05 column) we examined the restructuring of Ursula K. LeGuin’s Earthsea Cycle novels into the Sci Fi channel’s Legend of Earthsea miniseries. Essentially, they reverse-engineered the story and reconstructed it around a Good Vs. Evil vision of Reality.

We entertained the possibility that they did that to give it a more commercial "spin" for the young viewers – making it like Harry Potter, Charmed, and Buffy/Angel.

But Harry Potter, Charmed and Buffy/Angel have something else in common besides the universe setting where Good must always fight Evil without winning definitively. Like many stories aimed at youth, they focus on an individual or very small group standing alone.

Last month we also noted the 1st House/ 7thHouse dichotomy of the individual vs. the group as a source of tension in the USA value system. We are a country founded by rugged individualists, but ruled by the will of the majority. The current security situation invites the eroding of the rights of the individual for the sake of the safety of the majority. More and more power is accruing to "The Majority."

The teen years our Boomer Echo generation is now facing are typically the years of defining the individual’s identity, the search for who to be in adulthood. That process starts with the 1st House/ 7th House differentiation as awareness of other people’s rights and emotions blossoms. While on the one hand teens conform to Group Mind peer pressure, desperate for acceptance, on the other hand they strive mightily to distinguish themselves as individuals.

And so stories of youths exiled, cast out from their groups, or venturing outward and facing situations where everything depends on their strength, courage, fortitude, skills, etc are the main stories of interest to teens. They become totally absorbed in stories that pit the individual against the group usually with the individual winning.

That about describes the Hero Archetype. A Hero is not a team-player even when a member of the team. If Carol S. Pearson’s thesis (http://www.herowithin.com/HeroTranceCampaign.html) is valid, our new teens (children born in the 1990’s) steeped in stories which depict life as Good vs. Evil with the Individual cast as Good and the Group Mind as Evil, will live that Myth, viewing all Majorities as Evil. And these new teens are the majority in this country.

Let’s look at some novels aimed at more mature readers to see what variations are currently awaiting these teens as they grow up.

In Carol Berg’s epic series The Bridge of D’Arnath, (500 page pb’s with small print), we have a woman cast into exile for consorting with a magician – actually marrying him. In her world, all magicians have been exterminated. She is a noble woman, so they can’t just execute her. They wait until her baby is born, take it away to kill it, and send her into exile with nothing but the clothes on her back.

She ends up caring for an old couple versed in herb lore, and then inheriting their cottage when they die.

As the story opens, she rescues a prince from another dimension who has amnesia but can do magic. From there it gets very complicated and complex, as befits a long fantasy novel. But Berg never loses control of the material. There is nothing extraneous, nothing tossed in just because it’s interesting, and no blind-alley side plots.

The writing is firm, sure, dynamic, and briskly paced. Here is a writer at the top of her form, and she has presented us with enough material for academics to analyze for allegory and myth for decades to come. We discover this world has two dimensions existing side by side but divided by a nearly impenetrable gulf. In one, magic rules and in the other no one has magical talent. Several groups are in contention over building and maintaining an open bridge between these two worlds. Some magicians gain their power via that bridge. And there’s a cost.

The individuals drawn into this conflict must attempt to do the "right thing" – but it isn’t always clear what "right" is. Read it and make up your own mind about the worth of the individual in the face of the needs of a group.

Compass Reach by Mark W. Tiedemann is a whopping good read, a page turner that’s just fascinating fun. But it also has a message that neither overshadows the fun nor gets lost behind it.

Here is an interstellar civilization which has spawned a group of loners, roving from place to place, doing the high-tech equivalent of a tinker’s job. They have no credentials and aren’t part of "the system" – and they "ride the rails" interstellar style, stowing away on space ships while crews look the other way. Their credo is to owe nothing to anyone, ever. Freedom is not owing favors even to each other.

Complicating this are overtures from an alien civilization that doesn’t quite grasp the significance of the human Freeriders. So they pick one to help them negotiate a treaty with humanity.

Here is the story of a Hero called Fargo who has been expelled by the system and made his peace with that. Now he must once again accept status within the system and function as part of a group, or two groups. As he is ensnared by a network of obligations he doesn’t want, we feel the gut-level tension between the individual and the group mind.

We want to see this perfectly free individual turn his back and walk away – just get out. But we know that the Good Individual won’t do that – can’t do that. Conscience demands service to the Group. But the personal price is so high we have to ask if it’s worth it.

Tiedemann makes us understand the difference between being a loner and being lonely. Compass Reach has all the hallmarks of a timeless classic.

Dead Witch Walking has such an odd title, especially for a vampire fan like me, it took months of amzon.com throwing this book in my face before I went after a review copy. I don’t like zombie stories usually. So the title put me off. I love vampire stories, and this was billed as one, so I wanted to read it. But I really didn’t think I’d like it.

This novel is excellent and bodes well for future novels in the series. Kim Harrison has crafted a tight action drama but given us enough character depth and relationship to keep the story moving while the plot unfolds.

However, the Witch isn’t the Vampire! The Witch is befriended by the Vampire. And the Vampire isn’t a vampire yet. Her mother is a full vampire, and she herself has drunk blood but hasn’t become fully immortal. At the moment she’s sworn not to drink human blood.

These two women worked for a supernatural law enforcement agency in a future-USA where a catastrophe has divided the population into a variety of types – some who use magic, some who don’t, and some who are magical (fairies and pixies). All these groups are trying to learn to live together.

The Witch, Rachel Morgan, uses her powers to police the supernatural population. But she resigns from her job. This is where the title comes from – her ex-employer takes out a contract on her life and supernatural hit-men appear from every direction. Everyone else who’s attempted to get out of an employment contract with this organization has died messily and in short order. So she’s considered dead.

She resigned fully expecting to be alone against the system, but her friends, the Vampire who is her sometime partner on the streets, and the pixie (with his whole family) resign with her.

We are never quite sure of the motive, or the truth of anything the Vampire says.

The two of them, and the pixie family, now pitting themselves alone against the system, move into an old Church where they plan to found a business, helping people with supernatural problems. This strains the Vampire’s will to resist human-Witch blood and lust rises. This part would have worked better for me if the vampire were male.

To solve their financial problems, they go after a local politico who’s dealing drugs, hoping for a reward if they can nail him, and in the process they develop a relationship, a reputation and find new employment.

But there’s lots of room left for more stories in this somewhat dark universe. If the Vampire were male, I guarantee I’d be reading every one. Maybe a new character will come along.

To send books for review in this column email Jacqueline Lichtenberg, jl@simegen.com for snailing instructions or send an attached RTF file.  

 

 

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