kgbooklog

Jane Lindskold, Brother to Dragons, Companion to Owls
Orb (1994) ISBN: 0-765-31481-9
Score: 2

A story set in the future about a woman who can hear inanimate objects speaking, but she can only talk in quotes from literature. The pacing was a bit uneven and the conflict seemed to be dealt with too easily, but still enjoyable.

Rene Goscinny and Albert Uderzo, Asterix and the Class Act
(translated by Anthea Bell and Derek Hockridge)
Orion (2003) ISBN: 0-75286-068-2
Score: 1

A collection of short stories (in comic book format), most of them promotional bits. It is subtitled "Fourteen All New Asterix Stories", though as you can see from the contents below, in this case "all new" means "published in the last 50 years" and "fourteen" means "thirteen", unless you count the one page intro which is a slightly modified version of the "Press Conference" used to promote Asterix and the Big Fight. This does seem to be the first English publication of these stories (except for the press conference and "The Birth of an Idea", both of which appear (B&W, with slightly different text) in Kessler's The Complete Guide to Asterix, and "In 50 BC" which was originally published in National Geographic). Not a very good introduction to the series.

Starred entries were written by Rene Goscinny:
* "Asterix and the Class Act" (1966, 2 pages)
"The Birth of Asterix" (1994, 4 pages)
* "In 50 BC" (1977, 3 pages)
"Chanticleerix" (2003, 5 pages)
* "For Gaul Lang Syne" (1967, 2 pages)
* "Mini Midi Maxi" (1971, 2 pages)
"Asterix as you have never seen him before..." (1969, 3 pages)
"The Lutetia Olympics" (1986, 4 pages)
"Springtime in Gaul" (1966, 2 pages)
* "The Mascot" (1968, 4 pages)
* "Latinomania" (1973, 1 page)
* "The Obelix Family Tree" (1963, 4.5 pages)
* "The Birth of an Idea" (1962, 1 page)

Next Book: Kristine Smith, Law of Survival

4-16-05
Robert Weinberg, A Logical Magician
Ace (1994) ISBN: 0-441-00059-2
Score: 2.5

A hard to find urban fantasy, with a premise similar to Butcher's Dresen Files (myths and folklore are true, but secret; set in modern Chicago). But it feels more like Anderson's Three Hearts and Three Lions or Pratt and de Camp's Incomplete Enchanter stories (reason trumps superstition, academic quickly becomes a powerful wizard).

Rosemary Edghill, Speak Daggers to Her
Forge (1994) ISBN: 0-312-86768-9
Score: 3

First Bast book, amatuer detective mysteries set in the Wiccan community in New York City in the 1990's. Ambiguous as to whether it's fantasy or not (Bast believes in magic, but that's because it's part of her religion). Quote from the last page:
Did Miriam Seabrook die of black magic of just liver failure? Does the intent of the person who sincerely wanted her dead not matter just because his tools weren't good enough -- if they weren't?
And was I right -- never mind effective -- to do what I did?
You have your version of the truth and I have mine. I know what killed Miriam. And I know why ______ died.

Next Book: Camille Minichino, The Hydrogen Murder