SUMMER KING, WINTER FOOL is one of the few Lisa Goldstein books I’ve never read and, as far as I can recall, her only secondary-world fantasy (most of her work is historical fantasy or contemporary). The protagonist is a nobleman exiled to a small village by his cousin’s scheming court machinations. There he discovers evidence in the vast, ancient library that he’s the rightful heir to the current king. When an invading force conquers the realm it appears that’s irrelevant — or does that make him the champion the kingdom needs?
This wasn’t A-list Goldstein but it’s certainly readable, and I do like some of the social details. Protagonist Val’s culture is hierarchical and climbing the ladder to a higher rung is everyone’s prime directive; the invaders are hierarchical but rising above your station is considered an insult to the gods. The magic, built on poetry, is strange and slightly chaotic and effective as Goldstein’s magic usually is.
THE MARTIANS: The True Story of An Alien Craze that Captured Turn-of-the-Century America by David Baron tells a story I already know but with enough detail to be worth reading. An Italian astronomer in the late 19th century sketches “channels” he’s seen on the Martian surface. In English that becomes “canals,” which implies canal-builders — and dilettante astronomer Percival Lowell became the prime advocate for the existence of intelligent life on Mars, insisting even in the face of contradictory evidence that the canals were real, ergo Martians.
This touched off a fascination with the Red Planet that still endures today, even though improved telescopes and scientific criticism killed the fantasy in the early 20th century. Baron does a good job on the details, which explain why so many authors such as Leigh Brackett and Edgar Rice Burroughs portrayed Mars as an older, dying world — by planetary creation theories, a smaller world would have formed out of swirling cosmic dust sooner than Earth and so be closer to extinction than we were.
I’m a fan of Paul Levitz’ long run on DC’s Legion of Super-Heroes but I was disappointed with UNFINISHED BUSINESS, a graphic novel he penned with artist Simon Fraser (no relation). A rabbi, a minister and a priest walk into a bar, only it turns out they’re all dead in a terrorist incident. The strangely mystical bartender informs them they have, yes, unfinished business so back to life they go … but for how long? It’s possible to make a story like this work, even though it’s been done many times, but Levitz didn’t pull it off.
MINOR THREATS: A Quick End to a Long Beginning by Patton Oswald, Jordan Blum and Scott Hepburn reminded me a little of Astro City in its take on D-list supervillains. Frankie Follis used to be Playtime, tech whiz sidekick to her supervillain mom (who’s now retired). Now, though, she’s trying to keep her nose clean enough she can see her little girl again (dad’s unenthused) and working at a bar for loser villains to make ends meet.
Then Stickman (think Joker) kills Kid Dusk, sidekick to the Insomniac. The latter vigilante is ruthless tearing through the underworld to find the killer, the other superheroes are locking villains up before Insomniac kills one of them. It’s a bad time to be a crook but hey, there’s a reward out on Stickman that could turn Frankie’s life around. Can she mold Mr. Pigeon, Brain Teaser and the others into a team that can take him down? This was a lot of fun
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