I wouldn't reread Demons if you paid me, but I'm not surprised by your description. Wouldn't the eyes clash with the hair? Hee. I think I bought one of her (?) other books -- I used tie-ins as a way to find other authors, which worked okay with Haldeman and Gerrold but much less so with others -- and even as a callow youth I could tell it wasn't good. Oh, and Triangle -- I remember feeling that a lot of the sex stuff was disturbing and way over my head. In retrospect, it was probably just disturbing and I was understanding it quite well.
Still, Spock: Messiah! (which I still have; I kept all my Bantams in the great purge of '02 on the theory that they'd be harder to reacquire than the Pockets if, for example, I someday produce a fannish child) has nothing on Spock: Pirate! Yes, I know it was called Black Fire, but really. Spock's a pirate! I don't recall a Mary Sue in that one, but it was definitely this writer's fantasy. And it's not as if I don't see the appeal, but I can (sometimes) tell the difference between a fantasy that is much more compelling to me, because of my private quirks, than to everyone else and a story that might resonate more broadly.
Deeper into Mary Sue territory, I got rid of that one where Evan something-or-other comes on the Enterprise and helps them solve some galactic crisis by outprogramming Spock, outwitting Kirk, etc., etc. And developing a deep bond with the catlike aliens of the week, too. I don't remember the physical description (not pulchritudinous, but attractive to the main characters, as I recall) but the man's name and the swooping in to solve problems our boys couldn't places her firmly in Mary Sue land. And then there's Uhura's Song, which in some ways is taking over the character to make her a perfect authorial stand-in -- she bonds with warm wriggly creatures and everything.
I will admit to "The Trellisane Confrontation" as a guilty pleasure, with Chapel briefly part of a higher consciousness, and I also really like the Scott portion of "The Kobayashi Maru." While I wasn't particularly convinced by the Sulu part, and anyone could have told you what Kirk did with his test, I thought Scott's part was utterly charming.
I like Barbara Hambly's other stuff, though less so recently. I really liked The Ladies of Mandrigyn, and she headed back into that territory with the recent Sisters of the Raven. I guess I just found the increasing trials of Jenny Wayfarer (if that's her last name) too depressing. Which raises serious pot-kettle problems, I know, and it's certainly better than David Eddings with his careful insistence on pairing everyone off happily ever after at the end of five books. But Susan Matthews, for example, writes a fairly depressing story while posing some moral questions, and Jenny was just fighting and losing against pure evil. Carol Berg does demon possession much, much better, I think -- her recent trilogy was very interesting, and kept me off-balance with some of the reversals of perspective.
Gosh, I sure do read a lot of books. Where do I get the time for TV?
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Date: 2002-11-01 06:56 pm (UTC)Still, Spock: Messiah! (which I still have; I kept all my Bantams in the great purge of '02 on the theory that they'd be harder to reacquire than the Pockets if, for example, I someday produce a fannish child) has nothing on Spock: Pirate! Yes, I know it was called Black Fire, but really. Spock's a pirate! I don't recall a Mary Sue in that one, but it was definitely this writer's fantasy. And it's not as if I don't see the appeal, but I can (sometimes) tell the difference between a fantasy that is much more compelling to me, because of my private quirks, than to everyone else and a story that might resonate more broadly.
Deeper into Mary Sue territory, I got rid of that one where Evan something-or-other comes on the Enterprise and helps them solve some galactic crisis by outprogramming Spock, outwitting Kirk, etc., etc. And developing a deep bond with the catlike aliens of the week, too. I don't remember the physical description (not pulchritudinous, but attractive to the main characters, as I recall) but the man's name and the swooping in to solve problems our boys couldn't places her firmly in Mary Sue land. And then there's Uhura's Song, which in some ways is taking over the character to make her a perfect authorial stand-in -- she bonds with warm wriggly creatures and everything.
I will admit to "The Trellisane Confrontation" as a guilty pleasure, with Chapel briefly part of a higher consciousness, and I also really like the Scott portion of "The Kobayashi Maru." While I wasn't particularly convinced by the Sulu part, and anyone could have told you what Kirk did with his test, I thought Scott's part was utterly charming.
I like Barbara Hambly's other stuff, though less so recently. I really liked The Ladies of Mandrigyn, and she headed back into that territory with the recent Sisters of the Raven. I guess I just found the increasing trials of Jenny Wayfarer (if that's her last name) too depressing. Which raises serious pot-kettle problems, I know, and it's certainly better than David Eddings with his careful insistence on pairing everyone off happily ever after at the end of five books. But Susan Matthews, for example, writes a fairly depressing story while posing some moral questions, and Jenny was just fighting and losing against pure evil. Carol Berg does demon possession much, much better, I think -- her recent trilogy was very interesting, and kept me off-balance with some of the reversals of perspective.
Gosh, I sure do read a lot of books. Where do I get the time for TV?