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Nomads
Eileen Flax finds her life in danger when she becomes involved with a French-Canadian anthropologist, who has discovered a strange evil force lurking among drifters in California
256 pages, Mass Market Paperback
Published January 1, 1984
3 people are currently reading
133 people want to read
About the author
Chelsea Quinn Yarbro
259 books477 followersA professional writer for more than forty years, Yarbro has sold over eighty books, more than seventy works of short fiction, and more than three dozen essays, introductions, and reviews. She also composes serious music. Her first professional writing - in 1961-1962 - was as a playwright for a now long-defunct children's theater company. By the mid-60s she had switched to writing stories and hasn't stopped yet.
After leaving college in 1963 and until she became a full-time writer in 1970, she worked as a demographic cartographer, and still often drafts maps for her books, and occasionally for the books of other writers.
She has a large reference library with books on a wide range of subjects, everything from food and fashion to weapons and trade routes to religion and law. She is constantly adding to it as part of her on-going fascination with history and culture; she reads incessantly, searching for interesting people and places that might provide fodder for stories.
In 1997 the Transylvanian Society of Dracula bestowed a literary knighthood on Yarbro, and in 2003 the World Horror Association presented her with a Grand Master award. In 2006 the International Horror Guild enrolled her among their Living Legends, the first woman to be so honored; the Horror Writers Association gave her a Life Achievement Award in 2009. In 2014 she won a Life Achievement Award from the World Fantasy Convention.
A skeptical occultist for forty years, she has studied everything from alchemy to zoomancy, and in the late 1970s worked occasionally as a professional tarot card reader and palmist at the Magic Cellar in San Francisco.
She has two domestic accomplishments: she is a good cook and an experienced seamstress. The rest is catch-as-catch-can.
Divorced, she lives in the San Francisco Bay Area - with two cats: the irrepressible Butterscotch and Crumpet, the Gang of Two. When not busy writing, she enjoys the symphony or opera.
Her Saint-Germain series is now the longest vampire series ever. The books range widely over time and place, and were not published in historical order. They are numbered in published order.
Known pseudonyms include Vanessa Pryor, Quinn Fawcett, T.C.F. Hopkins, Trystam Kith, Camille Gabor.
After leaving college in 1963 and until she became a full-time writer in 1970, she worked as a demographic cartographer, and still often drafts maps for her books, and occasionally for the books of other writers.
She has a large reference library with books on a wide range of subjects, everything from food and fashion to weapons and trade routes to religion and law. She is constantly adding to it as part of her on-going fascination with history and culture; she reads incessantly, searching for interesting people and places that might provide fodder for stories.
In 1997 the Transylvanian Society of Dracula bestowed a literary knighthood on Yarbro, and in 2003 the World Horror Association presented her with a Grand Master award. In 2006 the International Horror Guild enrolled her among their Living Legends, the first woman to be so honored; the Horror Writers Association gave her a Life Achievement Award in 2009. In 2014 she won a Life Achievement Award from the World Fantasy Convention.
A skeptical occultist for forty years, she has studied everything from alchemy to zoomancy, and in the late 1970s worked occasionally as a professional tarot card reader and palmist at the Magic Cellar in San Francisco.
She has two domestic accomplishments: she is a good cook and an experienced seamstress. The rest is catch-as-catch-can.
Divorced, she lives in the San Francisco Bay Area - with two cats: the irrepressible Butterscotch and Crumpet, the Gang of Two. When not busy writing, she enjoys the symphony or opera.
Her Saint-Germain series is now the longest vampire series ever. The books range widely over time and place, and were not published in historical order. They are numbered in published order.
Known pseudonyms include Vanessa Pryor, Quinn Fawcett, T.C.F. Hopkins, Trystam Kith, Camille Gabor.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
April 30, 2023
"Esos ojos vacíos, ardiendo en rostros que eran máscaras de desdén."
Una historia que me ha parecido muy original, inquietante y que atrapa desde el inicio.
Los acontecimientos están asentados en un frenesí psicológico que se logra transmitir muy bien.
Aunque no me termino de convencer la forma en la que conectó los acontecimientos, la forma en la que fue hilando la historia la sentí poco fluida.
Una historia que me ha parecido muy original, inquietante y que atrapa desde el inicio.
Los acontecimientos están asentados en un frenesí psicológico que se logra transmitir muy bien.
Aunque no me termino de convencer la forma en la que conectó los acontecimientos, la forma en la que fue hilando la historia la sentí poco fluida.
November 17, 2017
Creepy and atmospheric, this is one of those horror reads that can sound silly, and even feel pedestrian at first, until it begins sneaking up on you as you're reading, sticking with you after you put it down, and distracting you as you drive down the street. Maybe it's a bit dated, but it's also fun, and has a bit of everything you'll want if you're a horror fan.
I do wish, perhaps, that it had been a bit longer and more complex, but considering that this is a novelization based off of a movie, I actually wasn't expecting to enjoy it nearly as much as I did. No doubt, I'll be seeking out more of Yarbro's work.
I do wish, perhaps, that it had been a bit longer and more complex, but considering that this is a novelization based off of a movie, I actually wasn't expecting to enjoy it nearly as much as I did. No doubt, I'll be seeking out more of Yarbro's work.
September 3, 2016
Chelsea Quinn Yarbro, Nomads (Bantam, 1984)
[originally posted 17Sep2001]
Yarbro's novelization of megastar director John McTiernan's first script is your basic Yarbro novelization—sticks close to what the final film looked like, doesn't embellish too much, lends itself to easy, quick reading.
Evidence that the American mind just doesn't want originality: of the films McTiernan has directed, Nomads is the only one that didn't gross over $50 million. ($2.5 million total, if memory serves.) Not coincidentally, it's also by far the most original work he ever did. A dying man is brought into an emergency room on the graveyard shift and, in the process of dying, bites the ear of the doctor who's attending him. The doctor starts having hallucinations—or are they hallucinations?—of the
last few days of the victim's life, and the events that led to his death. Compare and contrast Bruce Willis fighting terrorists and/or Arnie and Gov. Ventura fighting aliens with dreadlocks.
It's your standard eighties horror-movie fare, of course, and no one who's seen a film of any sort in the past thirty years will be surprised at the ending, but it's a fantastic look into the mind of a man who's since hit the very top of Hollywood's A-list, filtered through an author who's eminently capable in the script-novelization area. Worth a look. ***
[originally posted 17Sep2001]
Yarbro's novelization of megastar director John McTiernan's first script is your basic Yarbro novelization—sticks close to what the final film looked like, doesn't embellish too much, lends itself to easy, quick reading.
Evidence that the American mind just doesn't want originality: of the films McTiernan has directed, Nomads is the only one that didn't gross over $50 million. ($2.5 million total, if memory serves.) Not coincidentally, it's also by far the most original work he ever did. A dying man is brought into an emergency room on the graveyard shift and, in the process of dying, bites the ear of the doctor who's attending him. The doctor starts having hallucinations—or are they hallucinations?—of the
last few days of the victim's life, and the events that led to his death. Compare and contrast Bruce Willis fighting terrorists and/or Arnie and Gov. Ventura fighting aliens with dreadlocks.
It's your standard eighties horror-movie fare, of course, and no one who's seen a film of any sort in the past thirty years will be surprised at the ending, but it's a fantastic look into the mind of a man who's since hit the very top of Hollywood's A-list, filtered through an author who's eminently capable in the script-novelization area. Worth a look. ***
July 8, 2023
I got this as part of a lot including the Saint-Germain books I was after. I've never read anything by Chelsea outside of the SG series and this was fantastic! I have no idea why Chelsea Quinn Yarbro isn't more well known.
This books is weird & creepy in a fun way. The pacing is great, I had a hard time putting it down. I thought I would hate the storytelling style but it ended up growing on me. (The book is written from several different perspectives & the transition can be jarring & sometimes confusing.)
Definitely worth picking up if you like reading horror. I wouldn't say it's scary, more...ominous.
Anyway I'm definitely going to keep reading this author. 👍
This books is weird & creepy in a fun way. The pacing is great, I had a hard time putting it down. I thought I would hate the storytelling style but it ended up growing on me. (The book is written from several different perspectives & the transition can be jarring & sometimes confusing.)
Definitely worth picking up if you like reading horror. I wouldn't say it's scary, more...ominous.
Anyway I'm definitely going to keep reading this author. 👍
September 11, 2019
One of the better movie novelizations, in that it clarifies some murky plot points without losing the film's prime asset, its creepy atmosphere.
November 8, 2019
Excellent story...riveting from beginning to end.
November 3, 2025
Novelización realizada por Yarros a partir del guion de John McTiernan para la película del mismo título. La obra encierra buenas ideas que recuerdan, en cierto modo, a MÁS TENEBOROSO DE LO QUE PIENSAS, de Jack Williamson, aunque adolece de un desarrollo algo anodino, especialmente tratándose de una historia concebida originalmente para el cine.
La narración en flashbacks —aunque en realidad se trate más bien de visiones, que cumplen una función similar— no contribuye demasiado a mantener la trama en movimiento. Más bien se limita a explicar los motivos que han llevado a la situación presente. Además, el hecho de que el protagonista pase tres cuartas partes de la historia casi inconsciente, reaccionando a esas visiones antes de actuar realmente, tampoco ayuda.
Aun así, los elementos que maneja resultan sugerentes y tienen su atractivo, y la prosa mantiene un ritmo ágil, lo cual ya es un mérito en sí mismo.
La narración en flashbacks —aunque en realidad se trate más bien de visiones, que cumplen una función similar— no contribuye demasiado a mantener la trama en movimiento. Más bien se limita a explicar los motivos que han llevado a la situación presente. Además, el hecho de que el protagonista pase tres cuartas partes de la historia casi inconsciente, reaccionando a esas visiones antes de actuar realmente, tampoco ayuda.
Aun así, los elementos que maneja resultan sugerentes y tienen su atractivo, y la prosa mantiene un ritmo ágil, lo cual ya es un mérito en sí mismo.
October 23, 2020
I found this book lying in a old shelf of a semi-abandoned building, must say it was grateful surprise, it is a pretty good novel. It has a beginning that may seem a little dumb at first but when you keep reading it becomes really inmmersive.
Reccomend it to anyone into terror/suspense stories.
I only wish it had a second part or that it were longer...
Reccomend it to anyone into terror/suspense stories.
I only wish it had a second part or that it were longer...
July 20, 2021
I really liked the general idea behind Nomads but the way Yarbro told it and the characters she used just didn't work for me.
September 18, 2021
¡Excelente joya del terror! La manera de narrar de la autora Chelsea Quinn Yarbro atrapa desde el primer capítulo. Los personajes tienen humanidad y la fuerza antagónica sobrenatural me dio escalofríos. Además reflexiona sobre la condición humana y la importancia de tener vínculos estrechos. Un diez redondo.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews