Howling Stones

Humanx Commonwealth #16

by Alan Dean Foster

Enter another realm in the amazing world of the Humanx Commonwealth--the interstellar empire governed jointly by humans and aliens!The newly discovered planet of Senisran was a veritable paradise--a sprawling world of vast oceans dotted with thousands of lush islands and copious deposits of rare-earths and minerals. First-contact specialist Pulickel Tomochelor's mission to Senisran was Secure mining rights for the Humanx Commonwealth before the vicious AAnn Empire beat them to the chase. With Senisran's Parramat clan resisting entreaty, negotiations could be difficult, but Pulickel was more comfortable with aliens than with his own species, and looked forward to a triumphant return to Earth.He hadn't counted on the incredible secret of Parramat, the strange, powerful green stones that the tribe used to manipulate the forces of nature. Within those stones lay an awesome technology the origin of which was lost in time--a technology that had to be kept from the AAnn at any cost . . .

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Fantasy, Science Fiction Fantasy, Aliens, Audiobook, Space Opera

337 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 28, 1997

About the author

Bestselling science fiction writer Alan Dean Foster was born in New York City in 1946, but raised mainly in California. He received a B.A. in Political Science from UCLA in 1968, and a M.F.A. in 1969. Foster lives in Arizona with his wife, but he enjoys traveling because it gives him opportunities to meet new people and explore new places and cultures. This interest is carried over to his writing, but with a twist: the new places encountered in his books are likely to be on another planet, and the people may belong to an alien race.

Foster began his career as an author when a letter he sent to Arkham Collection was purchased by the editor and published in the magazine in 1968. His first novel, The Tar-Aiym Krang, introduced the Humanx Commonwealth, a galactic alliance between humans and an insectlike race called Thranx. Several other novels, including the Icerigger trilogy, are also set in the world of the Commonwealth. The Tar-Aiym Krang also marked the first appearance of Flinx, a young man with paranormal abilities, who reappears in other books, including Orphan Star, For Love of Mother-Not, and Flinx in Flux.

Foster has also written The Damned series and the Spellsinger series, which includes The Hour of the Gate, The Moment of the Magician, The Paths of the Perambulator, and Son of Spellsinger, among others. Other books include novelizations of science fiction movies and television shows such as Star Trek, The Black Hole, Starman, Star Wars, and the Alien movies. Splinter of the Mind's Eye, a bestselling novel based on the Star Wars movies, received the Galaxy Award in 1979. The book Cyber Way won the Southwest Book Award for Fiction in 1990. His novel Our Lady of the Machine won him the UPC Award (Spain) in 1993. He also won the Ignotus Award (Spain) in 1994 and the Stannik Award (Russia) in 2000.

Reviews

[Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is one of Foster's Humanx Commonwealth novels that puts a pair of human explorers/problem solvers on a unique and complex world and in a challenging situation. The societies, races, and ecological systems of the planet Sensiran are fascinating, but the human characters and their quest are not as engaging as in most of the other books set in this universe... or maybe it's just that the pacing felt a little off to me. Pip and Flinx don't appear in this book, but the events do have an impact of their path. It's a fun, stand-alone story in which the puzzle of the stones has to be solved before the evil AAnn get control of them.

[Mary JL · Rating 3 out of 5]

This story begins with the arrival of Pulickel Tomochelor on the planet Senisran. "Pu'il"--as the natives call him is a contact specialist and he is bound and determined to get a treaty with the Parmaratti tribe.

This is a common theme in SF--the "primitive" aliens turn out to be not what they seem. After a slow start, Foster handles the story quite well. The ending was different from his usual style, and was interesting.

This is not a slam-bang, shott-em up , fast paced novel. What it IS is an excellent picture of a truly alien and fascinating society. One of Foster's BESTt skills is creating interesting alien societies, such as the Thranx and the AAan. If you like to read about alien societies and worlds, you will enjoy this book. Foster's single novels tend to be stronger than his series books.

Recommended for any SF fans; especially recommended if you like Foster's other aliens.

[Andy Zach · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoy Alan Dean Foster in general and this book impressed me with his writing. His opening chapter reveals his main character Pulickel Tomochelor. (Don't you love that name? He's Indonesian.) He's a diplomatic problem solving being sent far away to a troublesome planet teetering on the border between the Humanx Commonwealth and AAcon Empire, a rival alien species. (Raptor-like).

Mr. Foster carefully builds up the background of the planet and depicts Pulickel interacting with people, revealing his character. Then like any good author, throws in a character completely different from Pulickel, one he has never met before.

Meet Fawn. A six foot tall exo-diplomat who looks like a goddess, in Pulickel's opinion. Since he's her direct superior, he can't tell her this. And she irks him. She's very casual about diplomatic protocols and dress. She's wearing a bikini that could fit in one of Pulickel's pockets when she meets him. Then she saves his life. And the story continues.

Well done Alan Dean Foster! Anyone who likes alien based scifi, go for this book.

[Roger · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Howling Stones was a old-fashioned science fiction novel and just what the Doctor ordered after I spent several days struggling with a book I finally had to put in the get rid of stack. Alan Dean Foster can usually be counted on to tell an absorbing tale; I can only give this novel four stars because the main characters develop a stunning case of TSTL (Too Stupid To Live) virus about mid way thru the narrative tho eventually redemption is achieved. The action takes place on a bio-diverse world. Two alien civilizations (one of which includes humans) are trying to make a treaty with the aboriginals who happen to be sitting on top of valuable rare earth deposits. Not all is as it seems and the “primitives” have other plans.

[Maggie Haberman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Parts of this book were extremely enjoyable and parts were extremely tedious. Foster’s writing style is necessarily pleasant and engaging. However the main character, Pulickel, is kind of a moron and hard to side with.

[Gary · Rating 1 out of 5]

from the beginning of the book
Pulickel Tomochelor "was, in short, that most valued of all commodities in both business and government: the reliable employee without a personal agenda."
"Where Pulickel shone was in his ability to understand alien cultures and an alien point of view."

So I read the first third of the book excited to see how Pulickel demonstrates his delicate touch with first person contact.

He is personally insecure, impatient, inflexible, demanding...
He is facile with language and an adequate gymnast ???
That's it.

So, can anyone tell me about the these special stones? Better yet, is this book worth finishing. There was so much unresolved disparity between what the author WANTS us to believe about Pul, and what Pul's behavior actually make us feel about him, I couldn't get any further in the book. This book joins the rank of less than a handful of books I've put down without finishing.

[Will IV · Rating 3 out of 5]

This has been sitting on my bookshelf for years and I have no idea where it came from. Finally decided to read it even though it's book 16 in a series. I can tell it works as a standalone and it wasn't necessary to have read any of the other books in the series. I enjoyed it enough that I'll definitely read more of the series, and start at the first one this time.

[Leftenant · Rating 3 out of 5]

(annoying: this wasn't available in Kindle (US), had to read a grubby used paperback).
This was the last of Humanx books - series done & have read 5 of the Pip/Flinx. I hope the remaining books in that series fully explain the deux ex machina sub-plot that turns up here & again in Quofum and initially in Voyage to the City of the Dead...also (maybe) part of ADFs larger vision touched in in Pip/Flinx Tar-aiym Krang.
Here, the Stones are part of it & I'm (assuming) are how the Ulru-Ujurrians (Flinx in Flux) travel between space. Dunno, it's not clear yet...and if you just read these books you'll never know because I doubt ADF will write another strictly Humanx book - be lucky to get another Pip & Flinx.
Point being - both series have to be read in order to piece it all together. To be honest, this part of the Humanx Universe is my least favorite - give me Icerigger, Mid-World any day.
Per usual, ADFs world building here is fantastic & the AAnn get a bit more screen time...but not developed enough to really glean any additional insight on their modus...they're just bad guys.
In the end, I didn't buy that the stones can affect fish in the sea and help crop plants grown. The vast evil void the human gets sent to is clearly the same on in Quofum - a large, evil planet-shaped vessel...and some mysterious Ancient Aliens (Greys or whatever) looking on. We get no answers.
Also, it's just too hokey. I think the humans should have perished (Mid-World style).
All in, I mostly enjoyed it - but like Quofum & Voyage, it just ends...personally, I think ADF should have abandoned this larger sub-plot and just stuck with Bugs & Humans exploring.

[Tim Martin · Rating 3 out of 5]

_The Howling Stones_ by Alan Dean Foster is a novel set in his Humanx Commonwealth universe, the setting of such earlier works as _The Icerigger Trilogy_ and _Cachalot_ and more recent efforts such as _Drowning World_. An enjoyable novel and a fast read it is similar to other books in the series, depicting exploration and adventure on alien worlds within the Commonwealth, worlds generally with distinct endemic sentient alien species.

The world of this novel is known as Senisran, a largely ocean planet, devoid of any substantial continental landmass but instead spotted with thousands of islands, many of them in archipelagoes. Most of the islands are fairly small, the largest being about half the size of Madagascar. The climate over most of the globe is hot and humid, the islands being covered in tropical vegetation (with a fair amount of venomous fauna).

The native race is known as the seni and are bipedal humanoids, tending to be a bit shorter than adult humans, with smooth skin, pointed ears, drawn faces, relatively small mouths, and powerful hind legs easily capable of allowing their owners to hop great distances and over large obstacles. On the cover of the book one is depicted, the illustration pretty much spot-on for what is described in the text.

In the Humanx Commonwealth novels, there are two competing interstellar civilizations, rivals not unlike the two superpowers during the Cold War, one being the human-thranx (the thranx being an insectoid race, not seen in this novel and indeed most of the Commonwealth books), the other the AAnn Empire (this being a civilization of bipedal endothermic reptiles, something not unlike what dinosaurs might have evolved into according to some). Both the Commonwealth and the Empire have been in competition for control of Senisran, not through force of arms, but through diplomacy, trying to gain mineral and other rights to many of the various islands on the planet. Complicating their efforts tremendously is the fact that not only is there nothing approaching a world or even a regional government on Senisran, there are countless tribes, clans, and alliances, each with a unique governmental system, morality, mythology, religion, and/or social system. Making contact and trade arrangements with the stone age seni has been a time consuming and difficult process but has nonetheless yielded many successes.

Until now that is. One particular island group, Parramat, has resisted all efforts by either the Empire or the Commonwealth. Eager for the rare earth mineral wealth of the archipelago, both powers have failed in efforts to get the Parramati to sign a mining treaty. Though physically no different in appearance from the other tribes and clans of the world, the Parramati are unique in having politely but stubbornly refused the gifts of both the Commonwealth and the Empire, disdaining all but the most basic of gifts, stating simply that it violates their kusum, their custom, to accept anything approaching advanced technology. They believe that they will be much better off following their centuries long tradition, that while they would accept humans and the AAnn as visitors and friends, they could not tolerate any large scale changes of their environment or society.

In addition, the Paramati seem to have a unique governmental structure; they are almost totally democratic. There are big persons and little persons in the system, big persons having more of a say in things than a little person, though many little persons can outweigh individual big persons. There is not even a clan chief or tribal leader anyone can negotiate with; in essence, almost each and every adult on the island would have to agree to a treaty before it could take effect.

Enter Pulickel Tomochelor (Foster seems fond of tongue-twisting futuristic names for some of his main characters), a rather smug but accomplished xenologist ordered to journey to the island, aid the one human already stationed there, and secure a mining treaty. Supremely confident in his abilities, Pulickel believed that he could in a few months time come to understand the Parramati and get them to agree to mining.

Of course, things do not go that easily. The one Commonwealth representative in the archipelago, the imposing and beautiful Fawn Seaforth, is quite a bit different in personality from Pulickel, and they don't see eye to eye at first, Fawn believing Pulickel humorless, uptight, by-the-book, and a bit smug while Pulickel in turn feeling that Fawn has gone native to some extent, has let standards slide while stationed alone in the tropical near-paradise, not properly attending to her duties, and too fun-loving. Further complicating their mission is the rival AAnn outpost on the opposite side of the archipelago, the aliens scheming how to win the islands to their side and possibly forcibly remove the competition.

The title of the book hints at a further complication; the natives seem to possess some sort of magic, various stones that are said to aid in fishing, farming, healing, weather-forecasting and what not. By themselves, the stones appear as green glassy volcanic rock, inert and unremarkable, but somehow when combined with other stones these rocks are rumored to be able to do very powerful feats. Is this true? If so, perhaps this explains the natives' unique resistance to the considerable charms offered by Empire and Commonwealth civilization and technology. And if true, is it magic, or something else?

The exact nature of the stone is revealed (to a large extent) and their ultimate implications were extremely interesting. The ending of the book I found quite surprising and wonder if Foster ever planned to follow up on it, though strictly speaking no sequel is really necessary. All in all a good solid effort and another nice installment in the Humanx Commonwealth series.

[Lucy Takeda · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the Pip and Flinx novels. There was lots of humor. This—-not so much.
Pulickel arrives on a new planet with a huge desire to get a treaty signed quickly, and to make a name for himself with a book on an outstanding phenomena. The human he is assigned to work with seems to be gorgeous, but rather lackadaisical in her work. The natives are not hostile, but each island has its own political system, so any treaty would only be between the humans or Aan and one island, not the thousands of other islands. The planet, Senisran, holds numerous minerals that both humans and Aan would love to have access to. The Parramati aren’t interested in any of the technology that the humans offer in trade, because it would interfere with their connection with the universe.
There’s tons of exuberant descriptions of the landscapes and creatures, but I found the plot dull.

[Colin bamforth · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the best book of the first series of the humanx commonwealth set of books by
Alan Dean Foster, the world of Senisran is a mystical place, the local tribes mysterious, the way they achieve things secretive. I will just say this, the world of Senisran reminds
me of the world Luke Skywalker ends up on after The Return of the Jedi film, an author
recycling a world, who nows, but Senisran is much more mysterious and dangerous for
the humans and the indigenous people of that world, and an evil which lurks beyond it.

[Brad]

Commonwealth

[Jon Latham · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was a little confused in spots but this was an outstanding novel

[Jeff Crosby · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have enjoyed Alan Dean Foster since the early 1970s, but he often frustrates me. He creates compelling worlds with believable environments and societies of alien culture. He can usually capture my interest with storylines that follow adventuresome paths. And then, he fizzles to an end that leaves me dissatisfied, such as Cachalot. The Howling Stones is better than that novel, but at the end of the journey I found myself underwhelmed.

I think this novel was intended to further the development of the Flinx and Pip story arc, but I didn’t care.

[George Polansky · Rating 4 out of 5]

Entertaining. Great characters.

[Kylie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm a fan of Foster and have read around 50 of his novels. This one had a few problems that are uncharacteristic for him.

First, the novel has some definite pacing issues. The introduction phase seemed to take about 70 pages, which is considerable for a relatively short novel. Very little happened in the first 100 pages, and there was a lull around the 200 mark. Again, for a 320 page novel (give or take), I found the pacing to be an issue. If it hadn't been a foster book, I would have quit around the 200-page mark, as it hit a stretch in which I was sure that the course of events was obvious.

After putting the novel down for a week or so, I was surprised to find that just after this boring section, the novel became packed full of trippy, hallucination-style scenes that were quite well done. The book was well-worth the read just for these passages and the similar ones that occur toward the end of the novel. There also seemed to be a fair amount of philosophizing in these sections, which was a pleasant surprise for a Foster novel.

Another issue for me was the lengthy descriptions, which were far more frequent and obnoxious than is typical for the author. I have never scanned so much of a Foster novel, but I was bored to tears by the long descriptive passages. Those who enjoy fantasy-style descriptions will undoubtedly like them, but they are not my cup of tea.

Foster usually excels (in my opinion, is one of the best) at writing alien encounters, but they were done in near-montage style in this novel. The first few pages of the protagonist's "first encounter" were amusing, and after that, it was just plodding and dull. The culture created for the aliens was somewhat boring, and the the author never delved into many interesting idiosyncrasies of the species, which is unusual for him.

Overall, the novel seemed to me like a bare-bones plot padded with tons of description. The book was an alright little romp, but compared to his other work, it was light on adventure, heavy on tropical descriptions, and devoid of humor, twists, or (to be honest), fun.

I would recommend it for completist fans only.

[Conan Tigard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Let me just start off by saying that I have always liked Alan Dean Foster as a writer. So, it came to no surprise to me that I enjoyed this book. Sure…it was a little slow in the beginning, but the native alien species make up for it. I really liked them. In fact, I found myself rooting for them and hoping that they would somehow turn down the treaty that would let the Humanx Commonwealth mine their beautiful islands. It is also nice to read about those slippery ol’ AAnn again.

The story moves a little slow for the first 100 plus pages, but is still interesting to read. The human characters are well written. The aliens are fascinating in that there seem to be a very peaceful race, but can be quite ruthless when provoked. Pulickel is quite insistent that he will get the treaty signed, at any cost. He is quite devoted, almost to the extreme. Fawn offsets his fanaticism by playing the other side and basically siding with the aliens. It is a good mix and it works well.

One thing that I found refreshing was listening to Pulickel’s thoughts about Fawn. Sure, some women out there may get offended (there are not dirty…don’t worry), but I found them to be true in portrayal. It is not required that you have read any of the other books that take place in this realm. This is a stand-alone book.

I rated this book an 8 out of 10.

[Stuart Gathman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Heh, I am only half way through. But I wanted to comment about this difficult juncture in the story. The protagonist is SO STUPID! It is totally realistic, however. I have seen people use the same rationalizations to justify doing what they know is wrong. But they pretend not to know it is wrong, because those feelings are old fashioned, superstitious, or otherwise not "modern" and "scientific". Anyway, I am having trouble getting past these few pages. It is so painful to read!

[Mike S · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this story, it was so vivid in my imagination that when I thought back on the story while not reading it, it was like I was remembering a movie I'd watched. This story was so good it would make a great movie, very similar in feeling to Avatar. I've read maybe 8 or 10 books by Foster, this is one of his best.

[colleen · Rating 3 out of 5]

read 07.27.05

[DaNela · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pip & Flinx adventure story #9
*BIO*

[Shirley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent depiction of aliens and alien cultures, evocative and very enjoyable

[Daniel · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was good, it was just hard to get into the story. However nice tie in with the Pip and Flinx stories.

[Isaac Benge · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome!

[Clyde Ruth · Rating 3 out of 5]

good, not my favorite of his, but interesting