redford%jeremy.DEC@decwrl.DEC.COM (12/30/85)
From: redford%jeremy.DEC@decwrl.DEC.COM (John Redford) Re: Brian Ritchie's comments on Mark Geston I'm glad to see that Geston has another fan; his books are hard to find. "Out of the Mouth of the Dragon" is an old favorite, full of memorably morbid scenes: the fighter planes decaying on the floor of the cathedral, the taciturn outlanders in olive-drab tinkering with their howitzers while the knights party in gay pavilions, the Last Supper staged with skeletons in the desert. I think the other book that Ritchie mentioned was "The Lords of the Starship", which is a little more common in the used book stores. There are two more recent books by Geston, "The Day Star" and "The Siege of Wonder". The premise of "The Day Star" is that there is a succession of parallel worlds, connected by a mysterious road. As you travel down the road the worlds become fuller and more marvellous because they feel the corroding effects of the Time Wind less and less. The protagonist is born in the city of R, where the Time Wind comes howling down the streets, destroying dreams and dulling thoughts. He makes friends with a strange old man who tends a beacon up on the hill. The beacon is there to protect the ships of the final city, the city at the end of the road. These ships search the ocean looking for pieces of the Day Star, the shield that will block out the Time Wind forever. The boy and the old man find their own piece of the Star and set out on the road to return it to the final city. A curious and evocative story. In "The Siege of Wonder", magic and science have been battling for centuries. Magic relies on some people's ability to exploit parallel worlds. The science side has discovered this too, and is slowly gaining an edge. A spy with a video eye is sent over to the magic side, and loses his loyalties. Not up to "The Day Star" or "Out of the Mouth of the Dragon", but worth reading. Does anyone know of other books by Geston? Does anyone know anything about Geston himself? I've never seen him at cons. His books are dark and melancholy, but worth looking for. John Redford DEC-Israel Posted: Sun 29-Dec-1985 20:05 Jerusalem Local Time (GMT+2) To: RHEA::DECWRL::"sf-lovers@rutgers"