Return to Mark/Space
ISBN 0-15-118503-4 (US hbk),,, 0-441-00018-5 (US pbk),,, 0-340-61842-6 (UK pbk)
novel, science fiction, military adventure, aliens, first contact, virtual reality, telepresence, war
Near future, Earth. Winner of the Locus Award for Best First Novel. An episode of this book first appeared, in a different form, in Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine , July 1992, under the title "Blue Woofers".
"In a world of greenhouse drought and fuel shortage the Arab National Army advances through Spain and Ukraine. Neutral Russia looks on. The Allies, even with state-of-the-art American and German technology, are losing.
"Then, among the misty slopes of the Pyrenees near Bagneres-de-Luchon, on a field of buttercups and corpses, a CRAV operated by Sergeant Gordan Means encounters a blue light. The light approaches the vehicle, and Gordon hears, in the back of his head, the monotonous, sleepy tap-tap-tap of sleet against a window. The light follows him like a stray dog. He calls it Rover.
"These hovering blue lights, are they friend or foe? If they save lives, why do they also sometimes kill, and drink the blood of the dying, every drop? And Linda Parisi, a middle-aged woman who lives with her excitable poodle, Lacy, in Arlington, Virginia, and writes books about UFOs she has never seen -- why does General Lauterbach want to speak with her?
"This is Patricia Anthony's spellbinding first novel. She combines humor, horror, and the thunder of high-tech tanks to tell a tale of fear, courage, politics... and enigmatic visitors who read the darkest longings of the human mind." [jacket blurb, US hbk, 1993]
"Enter a world where high-tech wars are fought by expendable human armies and those who control machines from virtual reality stations; and where the appearance of alien vampires affects the nature of war and peace... Hard to put down!" -- (in The Bookwatch ).
"The best first novel of 1993... The novel is steeped in the likely strategies and jargon of a 21st-century conflict... The perspectives keep switching like turns of a kaleidoscope... vivid prose, masterful plot handling, and an overall humane intelligence. Read it!" -- (in Locus ).
"A brilliant portrait of men and women being driven to Armageddon. Patricia Anthony is a great talent." --Walter Jon Williams.
"A scary and exciting book!" --Ursula K.Le Guin.
"Anthony's debut is a stirring, at times graphic, military adventure featuring an original blend of political intrigue and unique speculations on alien first contact." -- (in Booklist ).
"This book sat in my library for over a year before I finally picked it up and started to read it. I'd put it off because I hadn't been in the mood to read a story about war. What a pleasant surprise then to discover this gem of a novel is really about humanity.
"Global warming and the resultant famine bring the world to war. The West versus the Arab states. The battlefield is the whole of europe. What a bad time for first contact with an alien species.
"Patricia Anthony paints a vivid picture of humanity in conflict. The horrors of battle are matched by the internal turmoil of individual humans. Meanwhile this display of brutal carnage and desperation is being observed by hovering blue lights. As our perspective shifts from character to character, we begin to see the complexity of human behavior from a new viewpoint.
"I found myself totally absorbed in reading this book. Once, while riding home from work, I even missed my bus stop because I was so involved in the story. This is truly an accomplished first novel and well deserves the high praise it has received." --Henry W.Targowski (in Mark/Space , 11 January 1996).
Highly recommended.
Cold Allies
(book entry at Patricia Anthony Website... check it)
Patricia Anthony Page
(site maintained by Marq)
|
|
|