Lost Geography: A Novel

Book Description

In her triumphant debut novel, Charlotte Bacon explores the transitions that sixty years visit upon the members of an unforgettable family-a Saskatchewan woman and her Scottish husband; their independent daughter who moves to Toronto; and her daughter, who lives in France with her Turkish-English husband. In settings both rural and urban, these stalwart, resilient people respond not only to new environments and experiences but to the eruption of sudden loss. Taking the complexity of migration as its central subject, Lost Geography invites us to witness how habits of survival translate from one generation to another.AUTHORBIO: Charlotte Bacon teaches English at the University of New Hampshire in Durham. Her collection of stories, A Private State, won the PEN/Hemingway award for First Fiction. Lost Geography is her first novel.

Customer Reviews:

A beautiful tale of many generations.......2007-06-05

I loved this book. It was eloquent, intersting and grabbed my attention. A very smooth read. When I read books like this I marvel at those who have the gift of telling a story.

Excited/nervous!.......2003-12-21

I have'nt read this book as of yet but looked up reviews for it because I will be taking a form and theory fiction writing class in the spring taught by Charlotte Bacon. I wanted to see reviews of her book and what her writing style is like. I am excited that it seems to be a generally well liked book, but nervous because I don't usually write in a depressing manner. Well, I'm sure I will learn a lot!! I will let everyone know how her class is!

Some geographies were lost, but new ones were found.......2003-12-01

The common thread in this book is the transcontinental distances that characters put between themselves and their families. It all starts with Davis leaving Scotland for Canada, not so much to find a living, but to escape the stifling constraints of tradition. Then Hilda, his daughter, left her past in Regina and moved to Toronto. Hilda's daughter, Danielle, needs to escape her mother, who is larger than life without even trying, and in order to find hr own identity, moves to Paris. There she falls in love with Osman, who has also abandoned his native England escaping a sad childhood. And so it goes...

The first chapters of the book are definitively for the impatient reader, as the author does not spend too much time recreating scenes or circumstances. There is a certain economy of language, and the flow hassles through. Once we get to Paris, the pace slows down, and we get to savor the intricacies of the characters. I enjoyed this book, and identified especially with Danielle's character. I did not appreciate the common use of archetypes that the author used, though, above all when it came to define French or Canadian people. Still, this is well worth a read.

deeper than it seems.......2003-04-15

Lost Geography is a story about the search for each character's place in the world. Each character is uprooted from the familiar and must find a place that 'fits' in a new and strange landscape in which they are in many ways an outsider. And as they find a place in which they 'fit', they find that each choice closes off channels of possibility, of adventure, and that in settling into their place, they must face up to the joy and pain of real (though sometimes mundane) life. These common threads of exploration, adaptation, choice, these tie four very different generations together. Margaret and Davis find on their wedding night that they really do fit. Hilda finds Armand, then devotes herself to her daughter. Danielle is both the light and the anchor for Osman's roving soul. And Death is, inevitably, part of life. In this story the separation of children from their parents severs them from familiar modes of understanding, from their history, and this forces them, with varying degrees of success, to forge new ways of understanding their place in the world.

I found the last scene quite moving. Osman's carpets, thick with dust from their previous owners, are a piece of history that he cannot let go of, just as he cannot let go of his memories of Danielle. Lost Geography is an easy read, but I believe the 'morals' may be deeper than it seems at first glance. Osman's story as he tells it to his children during Danielle's illness may be much like Bacon's intention for her novel. Sasha and Sophie are disappointed with the story because they did not expect such an abrupt ending. "What's the moral?" they ask. And avoiding cliche, Bacon also seems to answer casually, "I don't know," leaving the pondering to the reader.

Bacon has a talent for carving out unique characters in simple, spare terms. With love stories that resonate with deep romance, subtle shades of understanding, sharp observations about people's intentions, Lost Geography is a very moving account of four generations of 'migrants', in the literal and metaphorical sense of the word.

Strange and Depressing.......2001-11-22

I thought this book was a little strange--not necessarily in how it was written, but that the lives of the women in this book seem so SILENT. Margaret & Davis don't talk to each other, Hilda goes through live pushing everyone away, and not saying the things that are important, Danielle & Osman drift along until Danielle gets sick, and then no one talks about her being sick. Sophie has to struggle through live without a mother and trying to bring her father back to life.

It's depressing because just when you think life is turning around for the characters, someone dies. Some of the deaths are romanticized, but it doesn't quite erase the fact that the person is dead.

THe writing on the book jacket sounded interesting--maybe they were trying to relate the title to the novel itself. I can understand why some people are drawn to stay in one place and others aren't, but that really only affects the first part of the book. Davis stays in Regina because he falls in love with Margaret, Hilda moves to Toronto to escape after her parents' death, Danielle is forced by her mom to move to Paris to protect her from men, and Sophie is forced to move to New York with her family to escape memories of her mom.

Book Description

Long out of print, these three Darkover books tell the tale of two Free Amazon women whose lives are irrevocably entwined.

"Literate and exciting." (The New York Times Book Review)

Customer Reviews:

A long ride, not always rewarding, but not a complet loss.......2006-12-08

This Saga of the Renunciates, makes only any sense if read all togheter. Dismiss all those comments that say you can enter Darkover at any novel.
And this books are a proof of that. "Shattered" is a short novel, almost nothing realy important happens, is just an introduction for the characters. "Thendara" is long book about the lead roles, Lorne and Jael, and as all this saga, this is a story about two particular beings, and has no impact on big planetary scale, or in Darkover history. Altough very long, I found the books very adult oriented, and heartbroken, wich made me feel the troubles and sorrows of this two girls. I was amaze how Bradley managed to pull me inn with her view of the woman`s world. "Sorcery" on the other hand is an adventure driven story, and is very entertaining. (spoilers head) But the end is somehow dissapointing, more even so, considering that is the end of all the saga. It took some time to read them all, (one after the other, I might add) and I felt exausted at end, but somehow altough this is not best on Darkover, I end up missing those the girls.

Riveting and memorable...definitely worth your time.......2006-08-07

I wasn't sure what to expect going into this book - I loved Mists of Avalon, but wasn't fond of the other Avalon books. I wanted to like Darkover, but the two other Darkover novels I read (Stormqueen and Hawkmistress) didn't appeal to me much.

And then I began The Shattered Chain.

It started off exactly as I'd feared it would - a band of Amazons (just...read the other reviews for technical details) walk into a town and are laughed and jeered at by the men and treated with greater hostility by the women. I thought at this point that the book would be full of "Woman Power" and show how strong these Independent Women had to be to exist on a world like Darkover.

But the novel quickly became something more than that. I felt that it greatly picked up when we were introduced to Magda, the Terran - because for the Terrans, men and women are pretty much equal. And this viewpoint GREATLY helped balance out the supressing Darkover views, and made them not just bearable, but interesting. The resulting main plotline between the Terrans and Darkover people, with the Amazons building the bridge between the two worlds...it was pretty awesome. And of course there's all the subplots, and the huge personal developments taking place within the two main characters: the Terran woman and the Amazon one.

This book has some good action scenes, but the major focus is definitely on the characters themselves, and their relationships to one another and the world. Normally I would stay away from something like that, but the Terran/Darkover worlds created here are so interesting that it's pretty much impossible to not be caught up in it.

It had great, memorable characters, a great plot, and scenes you'll remember for a long, long time. I'd say it's definitely worth a read for anybody who likes fantasy/sci-fi...and books in general.

Terrific Darkover trilogy!.......2005-10-16

I've read most of the Darkover series during the last five yrs. I started off with MZBs Avalon books & ended up hooked on the Darkover series.
In many the Darkover books the renunciates (free amazons) are mentioned, but usually not in much detail. It was wonderful to stumble upon a whole trilogy of books about them. They explain
how & why the group started, and how they worked out a way to marginally fit into the society by being of service to both Darkovans & Terrans. I thoroughly enjoyed this series & would highly recommend it to any MZB fan.

More than a fantastic novel, a manifesto.......2005-07-28

I am an avid MZB fan and have read most of her novels, but the Darkover series is the closest to my heart and The Saga of the Renunciates stands above all. This novel is more than just a story, deconstructing femininity is a central part of this trilogy: as a reader I found myself pondering the same questions that trouble the women on Darkover and thinking that eventhough they are only sci-fi characters, their insigth would change a lot of women.

The first novel is about a group of mercenary warrior women who hire themselves out to Lady Rohana to rescue her cousin from the Dry Towns, a country where married women are kept in chains. Rohana's cousin never makes it but she does bring back Jaelle, her 12 year old niece and a very unconfortable awareness of the invisible chains she has fashioned for herself.

In the 2nd part we meet Magda and Peter, two Darkover-born Terranan and the best spies the Empire has on Cottman 4. Altough Magda is the better agent, as a woman there is not much she can do outside HQ. When Peter goes missing on a mission and his superiors have no plans to rescue him Magda disguises herself as an Amazon and goes looking for him. All goes well until she meets some real Amazons whose leader is none other than a grown up Jaelle.

The final chapter in this story is about a journey to a mythical city in the enormous mountains of Darkover where an all-knowing sisterhood of wise women is supposed to be hidden from all but those by whom they wish to be seen. Jaelle leaves everything behind for even a chance to get there and Magda has no choice but to follow.

Better on rereading.......2005-01-01

I read these 3 novels in the late 70's-early 80's and loved them...recently found the 3 novel compendium and enjoyed it more the second time around. What a wonderfully imagined world!! How I wish we had something like the Guild here on Earth! As an old feminist in my 70's, I cannot recommend them more highly...READ!!

Hollowfaust: City of Necromancers (Dungeons & Dragons d20 3.0 Fantasy Roleplaying)

Average customer rating:

Unusual and Intriguing Setting
The Dead Rule
Outstanding source book
Not what you would think

Hollowfaust: City of Necromancers (Dungeons & Dragons d20 3.0 Fantasy Roleplaying)
Sword and Sorcery Studio
Manufacturer: White Wolf Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Puzzles & Games | Entertainment | Subjects | Books

General | Fantasy | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 1588461637

Customer Reviews:

Unusual and Intriguing Setting.......2002-02-04

This is a really interesting setting that is intended for the Scarred Lands setting by SSS but it fit easily into my campaign and will provide an interesting twist as far as settings go. The city is a refuge and center of learning for Seven Guilds of Necromancers, yet it is a thriving city as well. That is what makes it so intriguing. The citizens are governed by the Guilds and undead help to keep the city safe. There are endless possibilities for adventure and mysterious intrigue for any campaign. The "normal" city and its interesting spots and locales are given plenty of space but the meat of the sourcebook comes from the description of the necromancers and their part in the city's history and government. The city and its environs are well detailed and there are several new spells, creatures and prestige classes that are suited for the setting that can be added to your campaign. The seven necromantic guilds and their beliefs (as well as their leaders) are profiled as well. There are several adventure hooks provided also. It is a well written supplement that will put a twist on almost any campaign that you set it in.

The Dead Rule.......2002-01-26

Hollowfaust is a great campaign setting. The city of Necromancers can be filled with danger and intrigue. You can also just drop it into your current campaign without an extensive rewrite. My only problem with it is that the NPC stats arent always handy to where they are listed in the text. They are in the same chapter usually within a page or two. For example: It is annoying when your reading about a temple and high priest and then have to go looking for that priest stats elsewhere. The setting is a 5 The layout is a 4. The quality of the material is a 5. So if you dont mind a minor problem with the layout this is a very high priority purchase. Not only for the Scarred Lands setting, but for any campaign.

Outstanding source book.......2002-01-16

I've read most of the SSS sourcebooks, and in my opinion this is - BY FAR - the best DD3E product they have released. I do not use the Scarred Land campaign world myself, but I do plan on integrating this into my campaign world immediately.

Hollowfaust continues the dark theme of the Scarred Lands campaign world, but flips the stereotype of the evil Necromancer on its ear, and turns what could be a very predictable city into a unique supplement. The idea of Necromancers as somewhat benign scholars is as intriguing as it is bizarre, as are all of the attendent situations, such as undead acting as both unskilled labor and the city "protectors".

The treatment of the city, its history, adventure hooks and resident personages is detailed enough to make the city playable, but not so detailed as to overwhelm or restrict.

The prestige classes are a useful continuation to those provided in Relics and Rituals and Tome of Blood, and can provide depth to a campaign world, although for the most part I would not use them as PC classes.

All in all, I enjoyed the City of Necromancers immensely and think that anyone could use this in their world with a minimum of hassle and maximum results.

Not what you would think.......2001-12-19

I like this book, in that it paints Hollowfaust as a place of learning for Necromancers. Most people would think that this place is a place of evil, but it actually is not. I even used the material after I got the book in my Scarred Lands campaign that I am DMing and my players loved it. I recomend this book to anyone who is running a Scarred Lands campaign or who is interested in playing in the Scarred Lands campaign.

Average customer rating:

an excellent adventure "holy grail" style quest
Really gripping!
A incredible sequence to adventures from Magdalen Lorne
Good Book, but the least good of the trilogy
Almost a Grail quest story for women ...

City of Sorcery
Sound Editions
Manufacturer: Random House Audio
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio Cassette

General | Books on Cassette | Audiobooks | Formats | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 0394299965
Release Date: 1987-04-27

Customer Reviews:

an excellent adventure "holy grail" style quest.......2004-06-08

A Terran Mapping and Exploration aircraft crashed on the other side of the mountain range that circles the planet. It was presumed there were no survivors and the plane lost. It was presumed so until Alexis Anders walked back into Thendara unscathed, but without her memory. Cholayna, the Head of Terran Intelligence on Darkover, called in Magda Lorne to help her figure out what happened. Magda Lorne, a legend in the Intelligence field, is not simply an intelligence agent, but rather someone who was raised on Darkover from childhood and possesses the "laran" psi power that would allow Magda to see into Anders' mind and find out what happened to Anders. Magda is more than an intelligence agent, she is a woman who has "gone native" and is a member of the Order of Renunciates, an organization that gives women another choice of what they can be in this incredibly patriarchal society.

What Lorne finds in the mind of Alexis Anders shouldn't be possible. By all accounts, there is nothing on the other side of that mountain range. Nothing. Satellite photos show nothing, and it is common knowledge on Darkover that nothing can survive over there. Yet, the mind of Alexis Anders reveals the existence of a hidden city deep in the mountains, a city where there are women of power who are wearing robes. This may not seem too exceptional (except for a city existing where one shouldn't exist), but from the previous novels which feature Magda Lorne, we know that in a couple of instances using her "laran" Magda has encountered strange women wearing robes on the spiritual plane who have called themselves the "Dark Sisterhood". She originally dismissed this because there was no confirmation that what she thought she saw was real, but with this additional confirmation from Anders, Magda believes there truly is a Dark Sisterhood.

When Alexis finally regains her memory, she secretly commissions a guide to find this hidden city. Magda figures out what is happening and that Alexis is attempting something that she does not truly understand, Magda, along with her freemate Jaelle (another character we are familiar with by this point), and a couple of other women (including Cholayna and Camilla) try to track Alexis before she can find the city (or die trying to find the city).

"City of Sorcery", at its heart, is an adventure story, or perhaps a kind of "holy grail" story. The women are all chasing this mythical story, and there are Darkovan legends about this city, but nobody truly believed it could be real. It becomes something of a holy quest against impossible odds. This wasn't a story I expected to be that good (my expectation was that this would be one of the weaker Darkover novels), but it was. This is some excellent storytelling by Marion Zimmer Bradley, and just when she gets to the part of the quest where the story begins to drag, she changes direction and brings it on home and it is fresh and exciting again. This novel was a surprise for me, but a pleasant one. The Renunciate trilogy ("The Shattered Chain", "Thendara House") are some of the strongest of the Darkover novels that I have read, and I can only hope that Magda Lorne and the consequences of this quest will appear in the later Darkover novels (or short stories).

-Joe Sherry

Really gripping!.......2000-10-16

This is the third in the mini-series focusing on the Renunciates, within the larger Darkover series. It features the characters that have developed within the previous two novels, Jaelle, Magda, Camilla, and the Terran Cholayna. This novel is much more action packed than the previous two had been, with a fraught and perilous journey across mountains, facing dangers both natural and supernatural, in search of a mythic city mentioned in obscure legends--the city of sorcery.

This novel takes place seven years after 'Thendara House', and Jaelle and Magda are full-members now of the Forbidden Tower. They've both been fully trained in the use of their Laran, and their abilities have grown considerably.

If you've enjoyed the other two books in this series-within-a-series, 'Shattered Chain' and 'Thendara House,' you will love this one--it's definitely the best, and it truly delivers on the potential of the other two. If you've missed the first two, you'll still enjoy this one on its own--Bradley makes sure to provide recaps of relevant past events and relationships, allowing a new reader to dive straight into this story. But, there's no question, if you already know and love these characters from their previous adventures, you'll be even more deeply engaged in this great story.

A incredible sequence to adventures from Magdalen Lorne.......2000-07-19

This story is the sequence of adventures of Magda Lorne/ Margali n Ysabet. A terran who join the renunciants group (you can read why and how in Shattered Chain), need to adapt herself to this new ewality, discover who she really is (read about it in Thendara house) and finally goes to search for the city of sorcery, a mistic city, where " crows" cry and dark woman help humanity trhough centuries... she has to face many fears and one dark society... discover who trust and who not trust...This book is plenty of surprises and has links to many others. Im sure you will enjoy reading it!

Good Book, but the least good of the trilogy.......2000-06-12

Having read the entire series, I find that this book is enjoyable, but not as good as the previous two books in the trilogy.

Still, it is worth the purchase and it is good to find out what happened to the main characters.

MZB rarely disappoints.

Almost a Grail quest story for women ..........2000-05-12

I know some people consider this finale to the Renunciate trilogy a disappointment. I don't.

If you've already come to love Magda, Jaelle, Camilla and Cholayna, you'll of course want to know more about what happened to them. And Vanessa makes a valuable addition to the group.

I've always enjoyed books about the making of a fantasy-world legend, and this finale to Magdalen Lorne's story is no exception. The reader gets to see her as a very human and somewhat flawed person, as well as the powerful "Lorne Legend."

If you're new to Darkover, I think you should read The Shattered Chain and Thendara House before reading this book (for spoiler reasons), but this one is definitely worth picking up.

Despite being a sword-and-sorcery quest in a sci-fi/fantasy setting, this is in some ways one of the most realistic books I've read. The characters, their motivations, and the interactions between character and society are vivid and ring true for me.

Average customer rating:

Good Regional Sourcebook
Mithril: City of the Golem (D20 Generic System)
Deidre Brooks , Ben Lam , and Anthony Pryor
Manufacturer: White Wolf Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Puzzles & Games | Entertainment | Subjects | Books
General | Role Playing & Fantasy | Puzzles & Games | Entertainment | Subjects | Books
General | Fantasy | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

Hollowfaust: City of Necromancers (Dungeons & Dragons d20 3.0 Fantasy Roleplaying)

Blood Bayou (Scarred Lands D20)

The Divine and the Defeated (Dungeons & Dragons d20 3.0 Fantasy Roleplaying)

The Faithful and the Forsaken (Sword and Sorcery)

Strange Lands: Lost Tribes of the Scarred Lands (Scarred Lands D20)

ASIN: 1588461629

Customer Reviews:

Good Regional Sourcebook.......2001-08-31

Mithril is an excellent first sourebook from Sword and Sorcery. It gives a good overview of the city itself (although the city map is of at best average quality), provides details of the church of Corean (with new rules for paladins and monks as well as one new prestige class), and includes excellent regional material for the northeast portion of Ghelspad.

Specifically, the book gives us a map and description of Mullis Town (as well as a few adventure hooks), and shows a map detailing the human, titanspawn, and orcish areas of influence in Lede. The adventure hooks are well done, as they incorporate sufficient detail to make "filling in the blanks" easy, but remain concise. The descriptions of the various orcish tribes and their political/social environment is a great jumping point for a campaign that could treat orcs as more than faceless cannon fodder.

Equally important, Mithril itself, despite its lawful good character. has a wide variety of options and tensions within that can lead to all manner of adventures - ranging from exploring the ancient catacombs beneath the city to ethnic human/half-orc conflict to political and religious intrigue.

Overall, a good book and a great buy. Although, like most S&S products, the art is all monochrome (and frequently not up to the standards of Wizards of the Coast products), this is a minor complaint because the content is great.

Average customer rating:
City of Sorcery

Manufacturer: Daw Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000HNVA04

Average customer rating:
City of Sorcery
Marion Zimmer Bradley
Manufacturer: New York Daw Books, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000W9LIMS

Average customer rating:
City of Sorcery

Manufacturer: Daw Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000HN5QZE

Average customer rating:
City of Sorcery
Marion Zimmer Bradley
Manufacturer: New York: DAW Books, Inc. Donald A. Wollheim, 1984
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000O3P3IM

Average customer rating:
City of Sorcery

Manufacturer: Daw Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000HMTUC0

Average customer rating:
City of Sorcery
Marion Zimmer Bradley
Manufacturer: New York: DAW Books, Inc. 1984
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000NXCTN0

Average customer rating:

For Fuzzy fans only

ardath mayhar hits another home run

A spinoff of Piper's Fuzzy series

Fun, but excessive liberties with Piper's world

Sentient life from the alien viewpoint

Golden Dream: A Fuzzy Odyssey

Manufacturer: Ace Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

General | Science Fiction | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

Fuzzy Sapiens (The Other Human Race)

Complete Fuzzy

Little Fuzzy

ASIN: 0441297269

Customer Reviews:

For Fuzzy fans only.......2005-10-11

H. Beam Piper (1904-64) enjoyed a brief career as a science-fiction author, which ended with his suicide in 1964. In 1963 he published Little Fuzzy, which revolved around the discovery of a race of small humanoids on a human-colonized world and the battle to get them recognized as a sapient race. In 1964 he published The Other Human Race as a sequel. Though there were reports of a nearly completed third book, it was not found after his death, so in 1981 Ace Books printed a sequel written by William Tuning, Fuzzy Bones. In Fuzzy Bones, we find out that the Fuzzies are actually marooned members of a star-traveling race, whose ship had crashed on the planet generations previous.

In this book, Ardath Mayhar takes the Piper/Tuning story, and presents it from the Fuzzy's perspective. The narrative moves from Fuzzy to Fuzzy (Gashta in their own language), showing the reader their trails, as they try to survive on a hostile and dangerous world, always looking to the stars for rescue.

Overall, I found this to be a very enjoyable work, even though Tuning's story was overturned when Piper's third Fuzzy novel was found and published in 1984. The narrative, though somewhat choppy, was interesting, making me really feel for the Fuzzies. But, what if you haven't read the earlier Fuzzy books? Well, I do believe that you will find the story fragmented and ultimately unsatisfactory.

So, I guess I would say that I highly recommend this book to any fan of H. Beam Piper and his Fuzzies, but do not really recommend it to anyone else.

ardath mayhar hits another home run.......2005-03-09

I just finished this book and really enjoyed it! I'll have to go back and reread mr. Piper's novels, I think ardath ties into them very well.It's my second favorite book by this author, the world ends in hickory hollow is first. Found out she's written about 60 books under various names and so far I have enjoyed those few I've gotten my hands on.

A spinoff of Piper's Fuzzy series.......2003-06-09

_Golden Dream_, the second Fuzzy book to be written by someone other than their creator, H. Beam Piper, was written after Tuning's _Fuzzy Bones_ but two years before the rediscovery of Piper's own _Fuzzies and Other People_. It contains massive spoilers for _Fuzzy Bones_ and for Piper's own _Little Fuzzy_, so bail out of this review now if that matters to you.

This isn't really a novel, covering various episodes in Fuzzy history - the first half is neither fish nor fowl, being not quite a set of linked short stories nor a single flowing narrative. The stories follow the Fuzzies' own point of view, but Mayhar made no effort to use Piper's style. (Piper conveyed the alien viewpoint of the Fuzzies by writing their dialogue, even when speaking among themselves in their own language, in a kind of pidgin English - they just didn't have words in everyday Gashta for complex tools and the like, and it showed.)

"The Valley of the Gashta" would be known in later ages to humans as 'Fuzzy Valley', the area around Mount Fuzzy. This opens with one of the early Stargazers, who with his brother is of the last of the generation to be born in the caverns before the massive cave-in killed so many of their people and wiped away the last of their technology. Mayhar uses Stargazer's confidences with his brother and their despair over how much their people have lost beyond recall to recap the salient points of the catastrophes the archeologists deduced in the grand finale of _Fuzzy Bones_. (Mayhar also makes a point that the Fuzzies survived with such a small genepool by requiring non-monogamous matings, regardless of what permanent pairings might exist, and the subsequent changes to Fuzzy social structure.)

Brief passages change from character to character and generation to generation, illuminating the diet-related fertility problems Fuzzies were doomed to have outside Fuzzy valley, and the social problems brought on by overcrowding when they stayed there.

"The Dry Times Come" The Fuzzies, of course, didn't know about human settlement on Zarathustra at the beginning of the great drought, let alone that humans were causing it courtesy of the Big Blackwater drainage project. The humans later deduced that it had caused the great Fuzzy migration into human-occupied territory; this shows the beginnings of the migration from the Fuzzy point of view.

"The Hagga" (That being the Fuzzies' name for humans.) This is the part I have a problem with, taking up the 2nd half of the book. Mayhar wasn't content to let Piper's history stand; she invented her own mother-and-child team of Fuzzies, and had to have *them* be first to encounter humans. She downplays Little Fuzzy's unique role even further by having Leaf *send* him and his family into human territory rather than even acknowledging him as an independent discoverer of the aliens. At that point, the rest of the book becomes a retelling of the story of _Little Fuzzy_, from the viewpoint mainly of the Gashta known to humans as Little Fuzzy and Superego.

Personally, I recommend Tuning's book and Piper's own works, but not this book - I like Piper's treatment too much to enjoy her revision of his material. Try Mayhar's _How the Gods Wove in Kyrannon_ for a better sample of her own work.

Fun, but excessive liberties with Piper's world.......2001-07-01

I recently re-read all my Piper books, then re-read this one, and came to the same conclusion I had when I bought it new years ago: it was fun to read more about fuzzies, but the author took unacceptable liberties with a world that did not belong to them.

On its own it is an enjoyable and well written story, though not in anything like Piper's style. Think of it as a "television adaptation" of a story in the "real world" of Piper's Fuzzies, with the stretching and massaging that modern day TV types are genetically unable to avoid. The author tried to make this book their own, and in so doing made it an uncomfortable fit in Piper's world. Enjoy it, but don't try to think of it as the definitive extension of the Fuzzy storyline.

Sentient life from the alien viewpoint.......2000-02-06

I'm a *big* Piper fan. When I got this story I devoured it in a single sitting. It's not Piper's style, at all, but the story of how the Fuzzies survived a thousand years of being stranded was utterly engrossing. Strongly recommended.

Average customer rating:

Golden Dream - Fuzzy Odyssey
Ardath Mayhar
Manufacturer: Ace Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000RJ1O86

Average customer rating:

Best Stevia Recipe Book I've seen

Not for low-carbers at all...

Tried the Banana Bread Recipe

Wonderful!

Observation of the author or HONEST NUTRITION

Stevia Sweet Recipes: Sugar-Free-Naturally
Jeffrey Goettemoeller
Manufacturer: Vital Health Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Spiral-bound

Herbs, Spices & Condiments | Cooking by Ingredient | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books
General | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books
Diabetic & Sugar-Free | Special Diet | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books
Healthy | Special Diet | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books
Natural Foods | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books
Low Sugar | Special Conditions | Diets & Weight Loss | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

Sensational Stevia Desserts

Stevia: Naturally Sweet Recipes for Desserts, Drinks, and More

The Stevia Cookbook: Cooking with Nature's Calorie-Free Sweetener

Sugar-Free Cooking With Stevia: The Naturally Sweet & Calorie-Free Herb (Revised 3rd Edition)

Gluten-free, Sugar-free Cooking: Over 200 Delicious Recipes to Help You Live a Healthier, Allergy-Free Life

Accessories:

Tanita BC533 Glass Innerscan Body Composition Monitor

ASIN: 1890612138

Book Description

The author offer health-conscious readers 168 creative recipes using the herb Stevia as a sweetener. In addition to dozens of mouth-watering dessert suggestions, this book provides a tantalizing array of breakfast, main course, salad and side-dishes - all sugar-free!

Customer Reviews:

Best Stevia Recipe Book I've seen.......2007-10-06

Of the 3 Stevia cookbooks I own, this is my favorite. I would think that most people who want to use stevia, are looking for healthy too, and lower carb, not just how to replace sugar with stevia. He uses whole grains in his recipies, which are much lower on the glycemic index than their refined counter parts, making them good for diabetics and some less restrictive low carb diets. I was looking for a recipe for zucchini bread and none of the books had one, so I took his Oatmeal Banana Bread recipe and replaced the fruit with zucchini and it came out fantastic! I could do that because the basic recipe is sound. He gives a lot of info on stevia including the fact that you have to adjust it to your taste. He covers pretty much all the bases in this book, except as one person pointed out, the use of liquid stevia, other than to say that he prefers to use the powders to the liquid.

Not for low-carbers at all..........2007-10-01

Well, I was excited to get a better idea of how to use stevia more. Here is the value of the book for me: 1 cup sugar equals about 1 t. stevia extract. Hmmm. Everything in the book has flours and high-sugar fruits, or is so ridiculously simple that I already do it (ie lemonade or adding a touch of sweetness to a dressing or sauce). I adapted one pumpkin chiffon recipe fairly well, but that is all I will be making :-( I would have returned it right away but it wasn't worth it after shipping costs both ways...

Tried the Banana Bread Recipe.......2007-08-25

I've only tried one recipe so far but was amazed at the results. For this recipe I tried NuNaturals' NuStevia that really does have a less bitter taste than other forms of stevia I've tried. In the finished product I could not tell that the bread was made without sugar. I'm very excited about using this book for other recipes.

Wonderful!.......2007-08-06

This book is absolutely wonderful. I've tried 4 or 5 of the recipes, and all but one have turned out really well. The best thing about this book is that the recipes use whole-wheat and other healthy products (as opposed to other books I've seen that use the stripped all-purpose flour and other less-healthy alternatives). The book contains a good mix of recipe types--breakfasts, salads, dinners, and (the main reason I bought the book!) desserts.

If you are planning on using Stevia often, I highly recommend this book!

Observation of the author or HONEST NUTRITION.......2007-07-25

This author has a serious arithmetic deficiency resulting in sweet, SWEET, recipes. An oatmeal recipe uses 1/2 tsp of stevia extract, which at 200 times sweetness as claimed on the back cover, would be the equivalent of 100 tsp sugar. WOW! No, the 200 times is by weight, and stevia is a very light powder, but still that would be perhaps 20 times too much. The amount used for oatmeal is as much as I have used to sweeten a 3-quart pot of rhubarb. I use only sprinkles of stevia, not teaspoons.
Stevia leaf is listed as 10 to 15 times as sweeet as sugar, and extract at 150 to 300. Recipes call for three times as much leaf as extract. A tsp of extract is claimed equivalent to 1 cup of sugar, which figures out to be 48 times as sweet. Again, the difference would be partly explained by the lightness of stevia extract, with powdered leaf being somewhat heavier.
Many people use a liquid extract, not mentioned in this book, so they would need to make a guess at the equivalent amount to use.
Also not mentioned is that the most common source of stevia is the expensive packets in the grocery stores, which have a large amount of filler with a little stevia.
Not mentioned is the herbal flavor of the leaf, with a little still in the extract. This can be a problem, or an attractive new flavor. Unless covered by other strong flavors, stevia gives a different flavor.
With less stevia than called for, these recipes might be very good for people like me who are not super-sweetness addicts.

Stevia: Naturally Sweet Recipes for Desserts, Drinks, and More

Average customer rating:

Best stevia cookbook...so far

Stevia: Naturally Sweet Recipes for Desserts, Drinks, and More
Rita Depuydt
Manufacturer: Book Publishing Company (TN)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books

Diabetic & Sugar-Free | Special Diet | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books

Healthy | Special Diet | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books

General | Vegetables & Vegetarian | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 1570671338

Book Description

The two popular volumes of Baking with Stevia I and Baking with Stevia II have been combined in this all-inclusive cookbook on preparing everything from desserts and baked goods to salads and shakes. Stevia is the perfect sweetner for anyone wanting to limit their intake of simple carbohydrates and calories, or would like to reduce their addiction to sugar..

Customer Reviews:

Best stevia cookbook...so far.......2006-08-11

I have been using stevia as my SOLE sugar replacement for just about a year now with the aid of several cookbooks to keep me going. I find it hard to use many recipes that ask for non-nutritive sweeteners because they usually happen to be low-carb, high-protein/fat, and animal products abound. My first breath of fresh air to this dilema was this book. It uses whole grain flours and provides many purely vegetarian (vegan) alternative recipes.

I have one issue with the book that leads to two problems, but I cannot seem to find a stevia cookbook that has risen above it yet. The author seems to be using a low quality of stevia, and chooses to remedy this with higher amounts of fat and calories to compensate. This is unfortunate because stevia's sweetness and bitterness varies with the brand and I have found that much of the optional fats and sugars in the recipes are unnecessary with a higher quality. However, this is easily remedied, and can be helpful when cooking for less adapted palates. (By the way, I am not a low-fat proponent by any means, so when I say this, I really do mean unnecessary)

Just as an FYI, some of my favorite brands of stevia (with regards to both price and taste) are KAL's brand of pure organic stevia extract, and NOW foods conventional stevia extract, in that order. KAL's seems to be a little bit stronger and less bitter than NOW's brand, but NOW's will definitely do the job.

My preferred cookbooks for stevia at the moment actually have little to do with stevia. They are the all fruit-sweetened dessert cookbooks on the market, either for toddlers or health-nut adults, that rely on fruit juice concentrates and fruit purees to sweeten desserts. I use these because the concentrate is easily replaced with an equal amount of water (or juice for flavor) and less concentrated purees (dates for apricots or applesauce), which can then be sweetened up the wazoo with stevia, or that is, to taste. The older, naturally sweetened hippie dessert books also come in handy, and I have foud that in baked goods, one cup of liquid sweetener (i.e. maple syrup etc...) can be readily replaced with equal parts applesauce and milk or water to make a cup, with a bit extra leavening agent to compensate the fruit's acidity. Also, if a recipe uses white flour and sugar, a direct replacement of whole grain flour and simply omitting the sugar works worderfully. The whole grain requires more liquid than the refined, so it works well by compensating for the omission of the dry sweeteners.

So if your looking for a bit of an intro to stevia, this will do the job, provided you look into a better tasting stevia than the ones recommended in the book (Sweet leaf and wisdom herbs brands, OK in tea...I guess I am spoiled). However, if you are looking into expanding your repotoire, I would recommend converting recipes from your older "naturally" sweetened recipes, I beleive you might be a bit more pleased.

Low-Carb Cooking With Stevia : The Naturally Sweet & Calorie-Free Herb

Average customer rating:

In reponse to the review...
So Disappointing
Flavor Enhancer Bible
Disappointing
Finally muffins on a low carb diet!

Low-Carb Cooking With Stevia : The Naturally Sweet & Calorie-Free Herb
James Kirkland
Manufacturer: Crystal Health Pub
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Baking | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books

Herbs, Spices & Condiments | Cooking by Ingredient | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books

General | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books

Diabetic & Sugar-Free | Special Diet | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books

Accessories:

Tanita BC533 Glass Innerscan Body Composition Monitor

ASIN: 1928906141

Book Description

Low-Carb Cooking With Stevia is the perfect companion for people on a low-carbohydrate diet. This hot new book contains revolutionary, delicious recipes like pastas, breads, even cakes and cookies all low in carbohydrates. Filled with practical advice, Mr. Kirkland is inspirational as he explains how he lost his extra weight and regained his life - All while enjoying a variety of favorite foods. Kirkland, an expert on stevia, includes in-depth information about stevia, the natural alternative to questionable artificial sweeteners. With over 175 delightful low-carb recipes and more than 60 pages of important information, Low-Carb Cooking With Stevia is the essential companion for a successful low-carbohydrate lifestyle.

Customer Reviews:

In reponse to the review..........2003-01-22

I would like to respond to the person suggesting the key to success for these recipes is to substitute Splenda for Stevia. Hello??!!! The whole point of Stevia is that it is a natural sweetener, not a chemical who's long-term effects ARE untested and will likely end up the way of toxic aspartame. This review did not help me decide at all whether this book is worth purchasing.

So Disappointing.......2002-01-30

I was so excited to find this cookbook as I am trying to eliminate harmful chemicals from my diet. I tried more than half of these recipes, each of them a total disaster. I thought it was the quality of stevia, so I bought several different kinds. Still, each concoction had a san turn out.

Flavor Enhancer Bible.......2001-11-06

I keep this cookbook in the drawer next to the stove. It has been a god send. I love the last chapter on flavor enhancers. The Sweet and Spicy Texas Rub goes in all the grill meats, and the traditional barbecue sauce makes killer barbecue wings, I would put these in competition with any sugar loaded barbecue wings. My key secret is that I replace the stevia with splenda and follow the packet requirements in the recipes. The only recipe I didn't like was a recipe for Peanut Butter balls. No-Bake Cheesecake recipe I have memorized (not intentionally). I have several Lo-Carb cookbooks this is my favorite.

Disappointing.......2001-10-28

Lots of recipes that only require a little sweetening, with stevia substituted for sugar. I could do that on my own. Too many of the "tough" recipes, like desserts, flopped and had to be thrown out when I tried them, and I am not usually too stupid to follow a recipe.

Finally muffins on a low carb diet!.......2000-06-21

This book is great- much more variety than any other low carb book I have ever read. Most recipes are easy to follow. I can finally have cookies, pasta, and muffins without cheating!

Sugar-Free Cooking With Stevia: The Naturally Sweet & Calorie-Free Herb (Revised 3rd Edition)

Average customer rating:

Disappointed
good book, some math involved
UNBELIEVABLY HIGH-FAT
Still Experimenting
I so wanted to love this cookbook...

Sugar-Free Cooking With Stevia: The Naturally Sweet & Calorie-Free Herb (Revised 3rd Edition)
James Kirkland , and Tanya Kirkland
Manufacturer: Crystal Health Pub
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Baking | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books

General | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books

Diabetic & Sugar-Free | Special Diet | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books

Healthy | Special Diet | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books

ASIN: 192890615X

Book Description

Stevia is an all-natural herbal sweetener up to 300 times sweeter than sugar it contains no calories, no artificial chemicals, and no carbohydrates. It can be used by everyone, even diabetics and children, wont promote tooth decay, and is great for cooking and baking. So why doesnt everyone use stevia?

Good question. Used for centuries in South America and the most popular non-caloric sweetener in Japan, stevia has been unfairly targeted by the FDA read more about the controversy in Chapter 3.

This revolutionary sugar-free cookbook is the ONLY book that gives you:

* Nutritional Information & Food Exchanges

* The Most Frequently Asked Stevia Questions and Answers

* How to Choose the Best Stevia and Use It Successfully

* Conversion Charts Complete and Easy-To-Use for Stevia, Sugar, and Artificial Sweeteners

* A Choice Between Cooking with Pure Stevia Extract, Stevia Blends, or Packets of Stevia

* The Use of Basic Ingredients You Already Have in Your Kitchen

* Best of All, Over 200 delicious recipes everyone will love!

Customer Reviews:

Disappointed.......2007-10-06

I ordered 3 Stevia recipe books, and this is the most disappointing out of all of them. If you are simply looking to replace sugar with stevia, this book's for you.
The pros are:
It has a bunch of recipes, more than the other books.
It gives you amounts for 3 different types of stevia (not the liquid) so you are not expected to purchase a certain type to make the recipies, unless you only have the liquid.
Most recipes do not contain other sources of sugar as some stevia cookbooks were reported to do.
That's about it for the pros.
I would think most people using stevia are also looking for healthy. If they were simply looking to cut the sugar from their diet, they would be using some sort of sugar alcohol which is much easier to come, by inlieu of the stevia. This book simply replaces the sugar with stevia. He recommends to use margarine in most recipies without thought to the hydrogenated oils. He uses processed refined flours, no whole grains. He does have a few recipies with hidden sugars like his Instant Cocoa Mix which contains powdered nondairy creamer, this can also have hydrogenated oils in it as well as the sugar. At least one recipe called for molasses. To use this cookbook in a healthy way, you would have to modify almost every recipe in one way or another. I haven't made anything from it yet because I'm not up to the task of trying to alter a recipe in the way this book needs.

good book, some math involved.......2005-03-27

The nutritional data is for the entire batch of whatever you are making. On a dressing it says it is 1018 calories per serving, but if you look up the ingredients it is for the whole recipe. So for the dressing, you have to divide by 8 if you use 2 Tablespoons on your salad, which ends up being 127 which is alot better than 1018.
There are good recipes, just you have to do extra math to find out how much calories, fat, carbs, protein, etc you actually eat.

UNBELIEVABLY HIGH-FAT.......2005-03-08

Perhaps I haven't read the nutritional information correctly - if so, I will feel like an idiot, but will at least feel that that's a more logical explanation than that these recipes are actually this high in fat. I can't believe that stevia can't be used in ways that are overall health-conscious. Many of the recipes are so high in fat and calories as to be unusable, certainly for diabetics, who need to watch their weight and who are at greatly elevated risk for heart disease. There are a few lower- or moderate-fat recipes, but the rest are outrageous - hot fudge sauce, for example, that has more than 120 grams of fat per serving? More, in other words, than three Big Macs? These recipes might be all right for occasional use by the very thin who are positive that they are not genetically predisposed to any sort of cardiovascular disease, but I can't recommend it to anyone else. I also have to say that this has discouraged me from buying cookbooks online - better to get them in the store where you can check this kind of thing out before you buy.

Still Experimenting.......2002-01-07

I am still working with the recipes in this book but overall, I have been pleased...especially with the conversion chart. I believe this is worth it. I am a low-carber and I'm told that Kirkland has also come out with a Low-Carb stevia book.

I so wanted to love this cookbook..........2001-07-21

Because I'm a sugar addict trying to break the addiction. When I started learning about Stevia, and how you can still have sweets without it jacking up your blood sugar, mood, and general health, I was overjoyed. But after trying a few of the recipes I'm selling my cookbook and chunking my stevia. Maybe I'm using the wrong kind or something, I don't know. All I know is that it doesn't taste anything like it's supposed to, and I'm a decent cook.

Books:

Books Index

Books Home

Recommended Books