Sunday, May 17, 2009

I just had to share


I have been reading some reviews of "Storming Hell"

The first is by good ole Lois Tilton (the lady who accused me of poor spelling - becaue I put 'u' in words like colour):

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Storming Hell by John Lambshead

In an alternate world with some resemblance to our early nineteenth century, Sarah Brown is a neophyte pilot [a warrant officer, although the author does not say so] newly posted to Her Majesty's Aethership Cassandra. Pilots guide the ship through the equivalent of a jump, known here as metastasis, but from Sarah's point of view, she is being led through space by a spirit guide, who is in her case a highwayman known as Captain Hind. The Cassandra's mission is to eliminate piracy in the vicinity of a world named Lucifer. They engage a much larger pirate ship, but it is employing a sorcerer as a pilot, leaving the battle largely in Sarah's hands.

Sarah noticed ghostly figures on the edge of her vision that vanished as soon as she looked at them directly, like trying to see a dim star at night. She enthasised and was horrified to see goblin-like forms lurching around the bridges like small boys who had got out of their governess' control. The spirit world was overflowing into the natural realm and something was psychically boarding the Cassandra.

In essence, this is a comedy of manners in the guise of a naval adventure. The primary story is of Sarah's struggles for acceptance in the sexist, class-obsessed milieu of a naval warship. In some ways, it is reminiscent of Weber's Honor Harrington series, which is in turn based on the adventures of Horatio Hornblower in the milieu on which this story is modeled, but Sarah, while competent at her position, is not an ubersuperwoman. I was enjoying this one until the conclusion, when I was Not Amused by the lechery of Captain Fitzwilliam, which left a really bad taste that ruined all the fun.""

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The second is by Sam Tomaino

he Fantasy section has two stories. The first is "Storming Hell" by James Lambshead. Set in an alternate universe where ships sail the aether by use of cavorite and guides from the spirit world, Sarah Brown is the pilot of Her Majesty's Aethership Cassandra. She pilots the ship through space by entering the spirit world and having the help of the ghost of Captain James Hind, "a highwayman and cavalier who was hanged for high treason in 1652". She guides them to the New Isle of Wight, a moon of the planet Lucifer. There they are to set a trap for pirates in a fun and exciting tale.

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If Lois thinks Storming Hell is lecherous then imagine what she would make of Beauty is a Witch?

3 comments:

Rowena Cory Daniells said...

The premise of this story sounds like fun, John.

Unknown said...

Erm. You fell foul of a different case of hell. In this case its hath no fury like...
It was good story John.

John Lambshead said...

Dear Dave & Rowena

I think it was a good story. Lois hates Baen on general and Eric Flint in particular so....

Actually, she was quite kind about my story. She went through the mag trashing the stories one by one.

John