No Earthly Sunne

by Margaret Ball

Long ago, wicked Kit Arundel had been spirited away by the Queen of Faeries because of his musical masque, leaving his lover Eleanor bereft, and now, Ellen Ainsley flies to England as the spheres of Earth and Fairie collide once again. Original.

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Fae, Historical Fiction, Urban Fantasy, Science Fiction Fantasy, Historical Fantasy

343 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published November 1, 1994

About the author

Margaret Ball lives in Austin, Texas, with her husband and near two grown children. She has a B.A. in mathematics and a Ph.D. in linguistics from the University of Texas. After graduation, she taught briefly at UCLA, then spent several years honing her science fiction and fantasy writing skills by designing computer software and making inflated promises about its capabilities. She has written a number of science fiction/fantasy novels as well as two historical novels, and is currently working on a science fiction series to be released on Kindle and in paperback in the fall of 2017. She would love to be influenced by Connie Willis and the other authors listed but fears that is mainly wishful thinking.

Reviews

[Mary Catelli · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ellen is dreaming again. . . .

When studying Rennaissance music at college, she suffered a nervous breakdown, starting to argue with the professors about who had written works, and it had started with dreams like these, of Elizabethean times. She dropped the studies for computer programming and now is industriously at work at a computer project out to model the world.

And now the dreams are back.

But a strange young man who can heal headaches and persuades nevertheless gets her and her friend Bethany into a compeitition to sing the parts of a masque -- the masque she had been dreaming about.

And it weaves on into a tale involving the -- ehem -- Good Folk. Also the stone age arrows, an SCA event, children's books, a heroic sacrifice, lies, treachery, and backstabbing, a maze with Fibonnacci numbers, and a computer simulation in a plot that has taken four centuries to come to fruition.

[Geri Hoekz · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked up this book because of the historical music element, specifically Elizabethan-era madrigals, having sung in a madrigal group myself for several decades. Some of the other elements weren't quite believable enough. Time-travel romances where the modern female protagonist finds that she's linked to a partner who lived hundreds of years ago abound: Anya Seton's "Green Darkness," Pamela Dean's "Tam Lin," and the entire Outlander series are a few. Characters and storyline in that subgenre would have to be pretty special to make such a book earn five stars. The writing itself could have used a good editing, as another reviewer noted. Nonetheless, readers who enjoy music-themed fantasy with Medieval - Ren settings worked into it, such as Peter Beagle's "Folk of the Air" or Elizabeth Hand's "Wylding Hall" might like this one.

[Rose · Rating 4 out of 5]

read this because it was on a list of tam lin adaptations i've been slowly working through. but it's... not tam lin? so that was a little disappointing; not a fault of the book itself, but disappointing to me. but it also means i haven't yet used up my tam lin quota for the year so i can read another one!

the opening was so perfectly what i like best - everyday life mingled with bewildering fairy moments that hint at faulty memories and perceptions - that i felt sure i would love this book. in the end it wasn't quite perfect for me, but it still had a lot of my favorite things: the slow reveal of ellen's dreams and various fairy stuff, the elizabethan authenticity and details, the understated love story.

[Jeanette C. Montgomery · Rating 3 out of 5]

The novel, set alternately in the late 1500's England and mid-'90s Texas is an intricate story of magic, faerie, kidnapping and alternate spheres of existence. It involves Kit Arundel and Eleanor living in the Elizabethan countryside and Ellen, Bethany and Payne living in Texas. The writing is good but the story bogs down in detailed description of musical theory and computer programming. It could have done with a good hard edit before going to press.