WHERE TIME WINDS BLOW - Book review

Robert Holdstock’s Where Time Winds Blow was published in 1981 – and on the surface it appears he is still haunted by time-displacement which he wrote about in Earthwind (1977).  

We’re on an alien planet, Kamelios; the planet is quite like a chameleon; for example there are electric storms called fiersig – ‘the power-fields of change, twisted and distorted the stable mind just that little bit more, scarring the mind irreversibly in a way too insignificant to note at the time, but with mounting effect over the months and years’ (p27).

The archaeological team consists of the leader, Lena Tanoway, Leo Faulcon and Kris Dojaan. They can only venture outside Steel City when wearing protective masks. Steel City is unusual – ‘the city rise on its engines, and hover almost silently above the blackened crater that had been home for the last quarter year’ (p31).  [Interestingly, Philip Reeve’s Mortal Engines (2003) concerns mobile cities].

The archaeologists investigate a particular rift valley where time winds blow and a phantom human occasionally lurks: ‘he had been snatched by time and flung somewhere, somewhen, some place and time where he had screamed and not-quite-died... a prison where the walls were centuries, where time itself was his gaoler’ (49). The winds deposited ancient buildings, or futuristic edifices, and then frustratingly swept them all away. These ephemeral deposits draw scientists and fortune hunters – all of whom risk being caught in a time squall and sent to oblivion. ‘Faulcon watched as white towers winked out of existence, to be replaced by moving spiral shapes that radiated redly as they turned... an immense spider’s web of girders was torn from vision, flickering a moment as a time squall knocked it into Othertime and back, and then it was gone and a hideous shape stood there, the carved, gargoyle-decorated gateway of a primitive era...’ (p185).

In the mountains were other humans who had been altered ‘to accept the organic poisons of the world, to be able to see without their eyes melting away, to breathe without corroding the linings of their respiratory tracts’ (p99). The manchanged.

The actual phrase ‘where the time winds blow’ is used on p202.

Holdstock’s world-building is excellent. The characters interact and are conflicted. There’s hubris, cowardice, bravery and (perhaps too much) philosophising.

A rewarding science fiction excursion from a brilliant mind.

And interestingly the prolific Holdstock wrote The Night Hunter series of supernatural thrillers using the pen-name Robert Faulcon!

Editorial comment:

‘Faulcon thought to himself that...’ (p212). Faulcon thought that... is all that is needed!

EARTHWIND - Book review

Robert Holdstock’s followed his science fiction novel Eye Among the Blind (which I read in 1982) with Earthwind which was published a year later in 1977.

The main character is Elspeth Mueller, a lone black Earthwoman who is presently living and studying with the Stone Age natives of Aeran, an alien planet. She is sharing a low-roofed cawl with the young native Darren; all the natives are fur-clad save for their faces above the jawline.

Holdstock is inventive. The natives are naked, as is Elspeth – except for her leather mocks (moccasins); their village is a crog; ‘... her calves were covered with white blisters where yellowspins had fed on her during her light sleep. The blisters were not the result of the bites but her body’s immune reaction to the whip-like parasites that the yellowspins had injected into her’ (p7); she regarded like a nue – hairless humans of either sex (p8) who dwell in the snowlands; blackwings which are huge leathery avians who provide food, bone weapons and decorative garments. Elspeth joins Darren in an exhilarating hunt of blackwings – employing tangleweed as whip-cum-lasso and finally celebrate their success by ‘hanging’ – ‘she didn’t know whether or not she liked the idea of having sex whilst dangling from two whips’ [suspended in trees] (p21). Indeed, she considered that the Aerani ‘communicated, cooperated with and utilised nature without precipitating some drastic ecological change’ (p66).

Elspeth spent her childhood in ‘the sprawling metropolis of New Anzar on Pliedase IV...’ and suffered ‘the ritual mastectomy...’ (p25) which involved sewing two red jewels on her in place of breasts! (This brutalisation is not adequately explained; yes, it’s a ritual, but why?) Later, at some point she volunteered to join a team going to Earth for an archaeological restoration programme in Western Europe. ‘After a three hour war of some centuries before, much that was of historical interest was still buried beneath dust, sand and rubble...’ (p72).

There’s a lot of theorising about the Aerani culture. ‘But imagination is reason’s worst enemy’ (p23).

Another protagonist is shipMeister Karl Gorstein who is on a mission for the Electra, the invaders who have taken over Earth. His ship is the Gilbert Ryle (named after the British philosopher (1900-1976) who coined the phrase ‘the ghost in the machine’. Gorstein is tasked with studying the colony on Aeran and reporting back. He is aided by the ship-board rationalist, Peter Ashka, who uses the oracle to guide the entire crew. The oracle was in effect the tao: ‘Everything is related to everything else, overlapping, intertwining, matter and time as products of the structure of the great tao, each man a fragmentary side effect of that same structure...’ (p37).

It’s probable that Holdstock was influenced by Fritjof Capra’s book The Tao of Physics (1975) which I read in 1980 when studying Psychology: Capra contended that “Science does not need mysticism and mysticism does not need science. But man needs both.”

In her studies of rock-markings made by the Aerani culture, Elspeth encountered a rare triple spiral which Darren said it identified the Earthwind (p51). Now she had an absolute goal, to locate the source, the Earthwind... Elspeth’s several discussions with Ashka are almost mind-blowing: to paraphrase one chat, the special triple spiral appears on many ancient taoist works of art – one spiral = ching or change, the second is the shen, the luminous inner spirit, and the third is the ch’i, the moving vitality – which is in us all (p78).

The leader of the Aerani consults their oracle – the Earthwind – and while there are surprising similarities, they ultimately are destined to conflict, especially when Elspeth discovers the distinct nature of Aeran and its effect on the humans on its surface.

Holdstock tinkers with memory, time-displacement, and psychic energies. When a character states ‘it began to make sense’ (p73) that depends on several factors, not least the reader’s attention!

He clearly hadn’t finished with the conundrum of time; he tackled it with his 1977 novel Where Time Winds Blow.

Robert Holdstock died in 2009, aged 61, leaving behind an incredible output of fiction and non-fiction.

Editorial comment:

Always a problem, this: ‘What was happening to him, she wondered?’ (p155) Of course, it should read What was happening to him? she wondered. The word-processor automatically capitalises ‘she’ so it needs changing. Or alternatively, leave it as: What was happening to him? (The context should show who is doing the wondering.

 

Book review - The Labyrinth (Night Hunter #6)

 At last, The Labyrinth (1987), the final novel in the Night Hunter series (#6) begun in 1983.  So, by some writing standards, reaching the conclusion with the sixth book after four years isn’t too bad. Some series feature a specific character who has unrelated adventures; other series are motivated by a quest initiated in the first book and continued through the remainder, with in passing, resolutions of some plot issues, but still no answer to the initial problem. Night Hunter falls into this second category, and benefits from a finite length.

For Daniel Brady, the problem was that followers of the entity Arachne invaded his home, left him for dead and abducted his wife, daughter and son to use for their obscure esoteric purposes.  Gradually, through the different books, Dan (recovered and driven) learns a little more about Arachne and  meets other individuals who are fighting the same evil. Along the way, there are casualties.

Now, contacted by a ghost of a character from the third book, Dan is given a clue to the whereabouts of at least one of his children. It’s near Hadrian’s Wall. A small village there has been plagued by unaccountable deaths and tragedy for forty years – and seemingly they could be linked, if only somebody would make the connection.

Dan witnesses the bizarre death of the town’s priest and suspects there are a number of people in the village hell-bent on helping Arachne. Yet he elicits help from surprising quarters, and in the process uncovers a poignant history of the builder of the labyrinth, a man who only seeks freedom from Arachne, but at what cost to him?

There are neat shifts in time, past, and parallel present, and enough tense moments throughout this finale to keep the reader turning the pages. Faulcon writes some clever prose twists that suggest something that is not the case in a late cliff-hanger. There is heroism and sacrifice, and happily several threads are finally tied together, evolving into a satisfying end to a finite series.

It’s taken me thirty years to get round to reading these books on my bookshelves, and I’m pleased I finally found the time.

As the cover of the book reveals, Robert Faulcon was one of the pen-names used by Robert Holdstock, who died in 2009, aged 61. He also wrote books in several other series.

Book review - The Hexing (Night Hunter #5)

Night Hunter #5 by Robert Faulcon (the late Robert Holdstock) was published in 1984 and we’re approaching the climax to Daniel Brady’s search for his abducted wife and two children.

This time, a gang of young children who are paying homage to the comic 2000AD are roaming the dilapidated buildings and deserted streets of a London borough when they uncover an underground river and awaken an evil entity. The horrors they discover are worse than any they encounter in the comic and lives are lost, but some escape.

Now, the police are taking supernatural events very seriously, though keeping it from the public. Room 17 is the operations centre where information is collated. And Detective Superintendent Sullivan is Brady’s link. A spectral black dog has been reported at the scenes of grisly deaths and they’re convinced it has something to do with the Arachne group that Brady seeks.

It’s revealed that the Government’s psychic research establishment is partly funded by ‘people like Koestler’ – (Arthur Koestler was a supporter of the paranormal, wrote The Roots of Coincidence, and endorsed extra sensory perception and other related phenomena). And while Brady consults a psychic diviner, a few other names are dropped, such as Uri Geller and the healer Matthew Manning (see his bestseller, The Link (1974)) Alas, the psychic is horribly murdered by an evil supernatural attack in Brady’s presence – but the death leads to another clue as to the whereabouts of Brady’s wife, Alison.

Hitherto, Brady has encountered a variety of magical black arts, pre-Roman, pagan, shamanistic, Norse – and the latest is the houngan from Haiti, yet this time this might serve him rather than combat him. It is becoming clear that the Arachne entity is attempting to harness all types of vile occult measures devised through the ages in order to bring about a spiritual and physical cataclysm, a fatal eclipse.

And seemingly only Daniel Brady stands in their way.

Another tense, fast-paced black magic tale, which ends with hope – and despair.

The penultimate novel in the Night Hunter series. Readers of the time would be kept waiting, however, as the final novel in the series wouldn't be published until 1987!

Book review - The Shrine (Night Hunter #4)

Published in 1984, the fourth book in the Night Hunter series of six by Robert Faulcon (Robert Holdstock) begins with a candle-lit dinner evening that changes into something ‘other’. Archaeologist Colin Saville is alarmed to find his daughter’s bedroom is unexpectedly cold for the season. There’s an interloper – a psychic force, disclosed as Daniel Brady.  A fiery death follows.

In the first book of the series, Brady’s wife, son and daughter were abducted and he was left for dead by individuals of a Black Magical bent. Since recovering he has devoted his life to tracking down his family and wreaking vengeance on the followers of an entity called Arachne. This is his latest foray, but Brady gleans little from Saville to help in his quest.

Meanwhile, in the west country, ghost-hunter Geoff Cochrane has been called in by a few farmers to exorcise a ghost that has appeared on their land near Pitthurst wood. Cochrane’s daughter Nancy is aware of her father’s ‘talent’ and has a latent ability herself. Cochrane discovers an underground shrine, and one of the farmers inadvertently unleashes a powerful and deadly influence.

Dan is called out by police superintendent Sutherland, who investigated the original abduction. Apparently, another family was attacked and by chance the invaders abruptly stopped and were summoned away to Pitthurst. Dan sets off to investigate and eventually meets up with Cochrane and they join forces.

The shrine serves a purpose. It is one of many, however. Each one requires the living essence of people to be drained and absorbed by an evil embryo from the ancient past.

Dan and Geoff find themselves besieged in the farmhouse while Geoff’s daughter is somewhere out there, at risk. More deaths are inevitable, with plenty of blood and gore; the suspense elements are ratcheted up and the showdown is epic. In the end, Dan saves one innocent life and obtains a few snippets of information to give him hope, enabling him to continue the search for his family.

A few quest series can be sustained over many books – the Dumarest saga being one – but most should be limited, and I feel that restricting Daniel Brady’s quest to six novels was probably the right decision. I’ll be following his progress in the next book, The Hexing.

The earlier books have been reviewed in this blog on the following dates:

#1 The stalking - 21 August 2015

#2 The Talisman - 20 November 2015

#3 The Ghost Dance - 27 November 2015

FFB - The Ghost Dance

The Ghost Dance, the third in the sequence of six paranormal 'Night Hunter' thrillers by Robert Faulcon (Robert Holdstock) begins in the American west, where Mary Jane Silverlock, an attractive Indian has reluctantly agreed to undergo an esoteric transformation.  Why becomes clear later – but we know it has something to do with Dan Brady in England…

Dan is struggling to communicate with dead American, Ellen Bancroft. Her message is worrisome: Danger. From the west. Over the sea.

Mary Jane travels to England by arcane means, carrying within her an evil force destined to join with Arachne, the entity responsible for abducting Brady’s family (#1, The Stalking).

Dan Brady is drawn to Cumbria, specifically Maron Tor, and the town of Casterigg. Here he encounters a young girl, Kelly, her father Simon and her Uncle William – all of whom seem trapped in the town. Only he is capable of effecting their release.

And all the while, the evil contained within Mary Jane gets closer… and pyrotechnics are inevitable!

Another fast-paced tale, delving into the mysteries of shamen, black magic and supernatural elementals.

FFB - The Talisman

#2 in the Night Hunter series by Robert Faulcon [Robert Holdstock](1983)

Dan Brady witnessed the abduction of his wife, daughter and son at the hands of Satanists, who  took them for undisclosed purposes. They left him for dead in the first book, The Stalking. Yet he survived and discovered there was a dark organisation, Arachne, literally hell-bent on using his daughter’s nascent psychic powers.

In this book, Brady’s search for his family takes him to Norfolk, the fenlands where an ancient curse has been awakened by the enemy. The atmosphere that Faulcon creates is definitely spooky, and you’re certainly left guessing who is innocent and who is a depraved follower of Arachne.

It’s a tale told at a pell-mell pace and a worthy successor to the first book; gruesome and graphic in places. The origin of the Talisman is haunting and tragic, providing Brady with one more crucial yet confounding piece of the jigsaw.

Compelling storytelling: I’ve started #3, The Ghost Dance.

Note: Faulcon seemed to have a fixation with the letter ‘A’ when choosing characters for this story: Alison, Angela, Andrew, Agnes, Anita and Alan!

 

 

 

 

FFB - The Stalking

Robert Faulcon’s six-part series of Night Hunter occult novels begins with The Stalking (1983). The author is actually Robert Holdstock, an award winning writer of fantasy, his most famous novel being Mythago Wood. He wrote a number of series novels under different pennames.

 

The Prologue begins with an encounter between Ellen Bancroft and David Marchant in a London street. Both worked for the Ennean Institute of Paranormal Research, though Ellen had mysteriously gone missing for some weeks. She doesn’t want to speak to him and a short while later Marchant is gruesomely murdered by some invisible force that Ellen has been evading. That’s the explosive beginning.

Then we’re into the story about Dan Brady and his family, wife Alison, son Dominick and daughter Marianna. They’ve moved into a new Berkshire home, Brook’s Corner. Dan works for the Ministry of Defence, studying thought transference. Their children begin having bad dreams and seeing people who aren’t there… An idyllic pre-Christmas family evening is ripped apart as robed intruders break in, ransacking the home, abusing his wife and kidnapping her and the two children, leaving Dan for dead with broken bones and a crushed throat. (Not for the squeamish, perhaps...)

However, Dan survives and is hospitalised for three months. Eventually, he meets up with Ellen who has become an expert on the occult forces responsible for the theft of his family.

Holdstock likes to play with time, and in chapter 15 we revisit the attack on Ellen and the death of Marchant; so the earlier 14 chapters happened before the Pplogue.

Ellen experienced a similar loss of family and now explains that both she and Dan are prey to psychic attack by someone who knows them. ‘In its commonest form, psychic attack is simply the willing, from some distance, of debilitating and distracting effects upon the victim: headaches, dizziness, lack of concentration, depression, hallucination and physiological changes that result in death.’(p111)

Their plan is to create a defensive fortress at Brook’s Corner in the hope of trapping the psychic entity and thus finding a link to its manipulator. The suspense is well done, the tension building towards the confrontation. Fans of horror, satanic action and witchcraft should enjoy this – providing you can get hold of a copy!

Naturally, not everything goes to plan, but Dan Brady survives and learns that his family is still alive, somewhere in the north. The scene is set for his search for them and for vengeance; he has become the Night Hunter.  

The other books in the series are:

#2 – The Talisman (1983)

#3 – The Ghost Dance (1983)
#4 – The Shrine (1984)
#5 – The Hexing (1984)
#6 – The Labyrinth (1987)

… and I’ll be reading them too.

Robert Holdstock died 2009, aged 61.