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Liavek
Double Feature
This trade paperback reprint of the Boskone 31 Book contains 13 pieces of fiction, non-fiction, and poetry plus brief biographies and bibligoraphies of each author and an introduction by Patrick & Teresa Nielsen Hayden. Cover Art by Nick Jainschigg.
280 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1999
153 people want to read
About the author
Emma Bull
83 books690 followersEmma Bull is a science fiction and fantasy author whose best-known novel is War for the Oaks, one of the pioneering works of urban fantasy. She has participated in Terri Windling's Borderland shared universe, which is the setting of her 1994 novel Finder. She sang in the rock-funk band Cats Laughing, and both sang and played guitar in the folk duo The Flash Girls while living in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Her 1991 post-apocalyptic science fiction novel Bone Dance was nominated for the Hugo, Nebula, and World Fantasy Awards. Bull wrote a screenplay for War for the Oaks, which was made into an 11-minute mini-film designed to look like a film trailer. She made a cameo appearance as the Queen of the Seelie Court, and her husband, Will Shetterly, directed. Bull and Shetterly created the shared universe of Liavek, for which they have both written stories. There are five Liavek collections extant.
She was a member of the writing group The Scribblies, which included Will Shetterly as well as Pamela Dean, Kara Dalkey, Nate Bucklin, Patricia Wrede and Steven Brust. With Steven Brust, Bull wrote Freedom and Necessity (1997), an epistolary novel with subtle fantasy elements set during the 19th century United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland Chartist movement.
Bull graduated from Beloit College in 1976. Bull and Shetterly live in Arizona.
Her 1991 post-apocalyptic science fiction novel Bone Dance was nominated for the Hugo, Nebula, and World Fantasy Awards. Bull wrote a screenplay for War for the Oaks, which was made into an 11-minute mini-film designed to look like a film trailer. She made a cameo appearance as the Queen of the Seelie Court, and her husband, Will Shetterly, directed. Bull and Shetterly created the shared universe of Liavek, for which they have both written stories. There are five Liavek collections extant.
She was a member of the writing group The Scribblies, which included Will Shetterly as well as Pamela Dean, Kara Dalkey, Nate Bucklin, Patricia Wrede and Steven Brust. With Steven Brust, Bull wrote Freedom and Necessity (1997), an epistolary novel with subtle fantasy elements set during the 19th century United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland Chartist movement.
Bull graduated from Beloit College in 1976. Bull and Shetterly live in Arizona.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
August 21, 2019
Picked this up at the Traveler's Restaurant in CT last week while... traveling.
At first I expected to find Shetterly's writing superior, as in the introduction to it he downplayed his first story, "Captured Moments" and I was pleasantly surprised, even though it was very A Bucket of Blood (it turned out apologists introductions are par for this collection, to which I say: cut it out!). I also found Bell's essay concerning the merits of fantasy pretentious, especially in light of her first story in the collection, the mediocre "Rending Dark." But then all the Liavek stories showed up (and if you read Double Feature you better get used to them because they fill up most of the book!) and I came to realize both authors compliment each other very well. Both have a measured, workmanlike quality to their plotting, equal measures character and world building, with an occasional overwrought flourish or embarrassing "nerding out" that showed the underlying cheese of genre fiction.
Both wrote two pretty darn good genre pieces included therein, Shetterly's meta-Jack the Ripper yarn "Time Travel, the Artifact, and a Famous Historical Personage" and Bull's 70's fantasy historical "A Bird that Whistles," which I take is a prequel to a popular novel she wrote titled War for the Oaks .
The Liavek tales are likable enough, although they all share similar plots that can't seem to get past the initial gimmick of wizards having to store their luck somewhere on their birthday. The Bordertown novella is also likable, although it's very evident it was written by two people writing to each other, making up a world and trying to dare each other to write the plot as they went along, as there's much too much wallowing around and introductions before anything interesting actually happens. The characters, though, are likable- okay maybe a little insufferably cute, but at least they handled their environs realistically (i.e., one character doesn't immediately recover from being hit in the head with a tire iron, and others are repulsed by a dead body, even one of someone they loathed).
In fact, "likable" is a good enough summing up of this book, and of the authors who wrote it. Harmless might sound too snide, well-meaning too patronizing- so we'll go with likable.
At first I expected to find Shetterly's writing superior, as in the introduction to it he downplayed his first story, "Captured Moments" and I was pleasantly surprised, even though it was very A Bucket of Blood (it turned out apologists introductions are par for this collection, to which I say: cut it out!). I also found Bell's essay concerning the merits of fantasy pretentious, especially in light of her first story in the collection, the mediocre "Rending Dark." But then all the Liavek stories showed up (and if you read Double Feature you better get used to them because they fill up most of the book!) and I came to realize both authors compliment each other very well. Both have a measured, workmanlike quality to their plotting, equal measures character and world building, with an occasional overwrought flourish or embarrassing "nerding out" that showed the underlying cheese of genre fiction.
Both wrote two pretty darn good genre pieces included therein, Shetterly's meta-Jack the Ripper yarn "Time Travel, the Artifact, and a Famous Historical Personage" and Bull's 70's fantasy historical "A Bird that Whistles," which I take is a prequel to a popular novel she wrote titled War for the Oaks .
The Liavek tales are likable enough, although they all share similar plots that can't seem to get past the initial gimmick of wizards having to store their luck somewhere on their birthday. The Bordertown novella is also likable, although it's very evident it was written by two people writing to each other, making up a world and trying to dare each other to write the plot as they went along, as there's much too much wallowing around and introductions before anything interesting actually happens. The characters, though, are likable- okay maybe a little insufferably cute, but at least they handled their environs realistically (i.e., one character doesn't immediately recover from being hit in the head with a tire iron, and others are repulsed by a dead body, even one of someone they loathed).
In fact, "likable" is a good enough summing up of this book, and of the authors who wrote it. Harmless might sound too snide, well-meaning too patronizing- so we'll go with likable.
March 22, 2018
I got this collection for free at the New England Science Fiction Association convention Boskone, because I had never read Emma Bull and wanted to. I figured if I didn't care for Will Shetterly's stories (I had never heard of him), I would just skip them.
Instead, I fell in love with Liavek, a shared universe Bull and Shetterly created together, and invited other authors into as well. This anthology contains a selection of stories set in the Liavek universe, by both authors, and they were the best part of the book. While I enjoyed Bull's opening poem and essay, I didn't connect as much with her non-Liavek stories in the collection, or with Shetterly's other work.
If you've never read either author, or you have but want more, this is a great collection to pick through. I will be buying the Liavek collections to keep reading!
Instead, I fell in love with Liavek, a shared universe Bull and Shetterly created together, and invited other authors into as well. This anthology contains a selection of stories set in the Liavek universe, by both authors, and they were the best part of the book. While I enjoyed Bull's opening poem and essay, I didn't connect as much with her non-Liavek stories in the collection, or with Shetterly's other work.
If you've never read either author, or you have but want more, this is a great collection to pick through. I will be buying the Liavek collections to keep reading!
May 22, 2012
This is an excellent book, it's just not a necessary book. That is, it contains some excellent writing. I consider myself to be a fan of both authors, and have read most of their work. That meant, I'd read everything in the book with the exception of an essay on writing fantasy by Emma Bull, and a previously unpublished early work by Will Shetterly. I actually really loved the new/old Shetterly story, even though it came with a disclaimer about how it's a rough, unoriginal, juvenile work. Stop apologizing, man! It's good! (It posits the invention of a device that stops time… but only within a finite bubble. The gadget is useful for preserving food, mementos, creating artwork… and possibly more sinister purposes.)
The bulk of the stories are from the Liavek shared-world series - and they worked better within the context of the original series. Go read them!
The book also includes the excellent novella Danceland, from the Bordertown, series, which I can't praise highly enough. Again, go read them!
Other than that, there's a story set in the world of Bull's "War for the Oaks," which appeared in the Diana Wynne Jones-edited 'Hidden Turnings,' and a Shetterly story which appeared in the Jane Yolen-edited 'Xanadu.'
The bulk of the stories are from the Liavek shared-world series - and they worked better within the context of the original series. Go read them!
The book also includes the excellent novella Danceland, from the Bordertown, series, which I can't praise highly enough. Again, go read them!
Other than that, there's a story set in the world of Bull's "War for the Oaks," which appeared in the Diana Wynne Jones-edited 'Hidden Turnings,' and a Shetterly story which appeared in the Jane Yolen-edited 'Xanadu.'
May 29, 2011
Read it but I don't remember it.
April 5, 2017
The stories are more nostalgic for me than exciting. They bring back memories of a time and a place, but I enjoyed encountering them again. Definitely not up to War for the Oaks or Bone Dance standards.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews