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Song of Earth #3
Fang the Gnome
The third book in the Song of Earth series. First books are The Celestial Steam Locomotive and Gods of the Greataway.
When the alternate worlds of humankind and gnomedom begin to merge, only the bravery of a gnome and the help of a young woman can save the gnomes. This is a strange and fun combination of Arthurian legend, gnomes, and spaceships.
When the alternate worlds of humankind and gnomedom begin to merge, only the bravery of a gnome and the help of a young woman can save the gnomes. This is a strange and fun combination of Arthurian legend, gnomes, and spaceships.
345 pages, Hardcover
First published February 1, 1988
About the author
Michael G. Coney
120 books28 followersMichael Greatrex Coney was born in Birmingham, England and educated at King Edward's School.
He started a career as a chartered accountant and went on to become a management Consultant. Then he went into the catering business, managing an inn in south Devon with his wife, Daphne for three years and a hotel in the West Indies for another three. He worked for Financial Services in the B.C. Forest Service for seventeen years before retiring .
He Passed away 4 November 2005. peacefully of Cancer (Mesothelioma). He was married with three children and lived on Vancouver Island.
He started a career as a chartered accountant and went on to become a management Consultant. Then he went into the catering business, managing an inn in south Devon with his wife, Daphne for three years and a hotel in the West Indies for another three. He worked for Financial Services in the B.C. Forest Service for seventeen years before retiring .
He Passed away 4 November 2005. peacefully of Cancer (Mesothelioma). He was married with three children and lived on Vancouver Island.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
July 23, 2016
I don't know if this would have made more sense had a read the preceding two installments. I didn't realize till just not that it was a series. I read it in middle school and don't remember much about it other than that I thought it was trippy. Other reviews indiciate there was some Arthurian element, but I only recall gnomes and rabbits and... aliens?
November 19, 2024
A profoundly weird story, but one that I have to admit that I liked better than I thought I was going to based on the author's previous entries in this series and the very embarrassing title and cover art of the book.
I had read Cat Carina, the Celestial Steam Locomotive, and Gods of the Greataway previously, but enough time has passed that I have only pretty dim memories of the experience. I do recall that I was not very into them. This book is certainly more fantasy than science-fiction and its not a genre that I usually read much.
What surprised me and that I found likable about the story is that it is essentially a comedy, and actually not a half bad one. The gnomes that occupy a good portion of the story are plagued by endless infighting, cowardice, and inability to come to collective decisions. The human side of the story features Arthurian proto-figures including Merlin, and deals in part with the creation of the Arthurian legend; similarly to the gnomes, our human figures are often played for comedy.
Then there is a whole side order of batshit stuff including a god named Starquin; "Dedos" which I guess are immortal, vaguely magic beings who take human form and whose agenda is very hard for a reader to understand; the continuing business revolving around "happentracks" (alternative realities) and the "ifalong" (the long arc of future history in a specific happentrack); the "umbra" separating the happentracks which is so thin that figures in different realities can actually see shadows of each other on the other side; and so forth. It's a lot of stuff packed in here and it is fairly wearying on the reader eventually.
While many of the comic elements worked well for me, the characters do not get well-developed beyond this aspect, and remain pretty stock. The more dramatic elements have no stakes since the reader doesn't care much what happens to anyone.
So overall a pretty mixed bag, but again, given my very low expectations, a mixed bag was a lot better than I thought I was getting.
I had read Cat Carina, the Celestial Steam Locomotive, and Gods of the Greataway previously, but enough time has passed that I have only pretty dim memories of the experience. I do recall that I was not very into them. This book is certainly more fantasy than science-fiction and its not a genre that I usually read much.
What surprised me and that I found likable about the story is that it is essentially a comedy, and actually not a half bad one. The gnomes that occupy a good portion of the story are plagued by endless infighting, cowardice, and inability to come to collective decisions. The human side of the story features Arthurian proto-figures including Merlin, and deals in part with the creation of the Arthurian legend; similarly to the gnomes, our human figures are often played for comedy.
Then there is a whole side order of batshit stuff including a god named Starquin; "Dedos" which I guess are immortal, vaguely magic beings who take human form and whose agenda is very hard for a reader to understand; the continuing business revolving around "happentracks" (alternative realities) and the "ifalong" (the long arc of future history in a specific happentrack); the "umbra" separating the happentracks which is so thin that figures in different realities can actually see shadows of each other on the other side; and so forth. It's a lot of stuff packed in here and it is fairly wearying on the reader eventually.
While many of the comic elements worked well for me, the characters do not get well-developed beyond this aspect, and remain pretty stock. The more dramatic elements have no stakes since the reader doesn't care much what happens to anyone.
So overall a pretty mixed bag, but again, given my very low expectations, a mixed bag was a lot better than I thought I was getting.
August 6, 2021
Mr. Coney's cosmology is as rich and fantastic as his other books i've read ("The Celestial Steam Locomotive" and "Gods of the Greataway"), but this layers in Arthurian legend and weaves a really fun and memorable new take on the tale.
Read
April 5, 2011I'm not sure whether this is the edition I have, but it's the only hardcover one listed, so I'll assume so.
Michael Coney (he added the middle name 'Greatrex' to his name for this book. If it's his given name, he didn't use it for The Celestial Steam Locomotive) is another of those authors who came up with a really good conceit--then hadn't the narrative talent to follow it through.
I don't know if I've read all of this before. I don't remember how it goes on, and it may change later on.
I like the characterization of the gnomes (though it's a little odd: the root of the word 'gnome' is 'knowledgeable', but the gnomes in this book are mostly NOT particularly knowlegeable). I like that they are relaxed, and don't tend toward heroism or other stressful behavior. They take their time over things, and hide out when that's appropriate and possible. And they're truly wealthy--they have what they need to live comfortably, with little effort--and they use their advantages well.
The concept of the happentracks is more or less let lapse. It's given lip service, but it's not really explored, at least in the beginning. Also, I frankly find the pretext for the fantasizing of the human (and 'Dedo', which is never really explained) characters inexplicable. What exact problem is the introduction of a fantasy in which violence 'in defense of honor' is regarded as exemplary seen to (possibly) resolve? What's the threat, and why would violence be a solution? Even imaginary violence?
The fantasy that's created (or at least started) is Arthurian. Why? Why not, for example, (as many people have) focus on (say) Robin Hood? Robin Hood is not (mostly) an exemplary violent figure. He's admittedly a thief, and argues that, failing other remedies, thievery is the only resolution to the miserly state (a feudal state which is lauded in Arthurian lore). He's a trickster figure, and heirs to this tradition (such as Zorro, or even Raffles) are plentiful. Why not recommend that as a resolution for whatever ill-defined danger is anticipated?
Of course, Coney's societies (at least so far) are not authoritarian. They're not quite anarchistic, but 'rulers' seem to play very little part in everyday life. So, lacking an authority to rebel against. maybe trickster figures are superfluous? But how does inventing an Arthurian society (which seems to be almost entirely without a peasantry to opress, have you noticed that? The existence of the peasantry is implicit (who makes the tableware or grows the crops?), yet they almost never appear onstage) remedy anything?
The humans seem to be unable to understand the gnomes' wealth. The Dedos don't help. The Dedos don't take advice to encourage humans to find nonviolent, inactive solutions to problems.
The humans assume that if the gnomes are well-off, it must be because they have hidden treasure. If they actually listened to the gnomes, rather than asking questions and supplying the answers themselves, they might adopt some of the gnomes' advice. Or not. People who ask questions and won't wait for the answers often aren't really good at accepting advice.
The innovative aspects don't really make up for the uncritical acceptance of a lot of standard nonsense. Happentracks, for example, don't arise only as a response to decisions by intelligent beings. ANY decision point creates alternate happentracks--including whether a thunderstorms starts earlier or later, and whether a radioactive particle decays in this half-life or not.
Furthermore, there's no evidence whatever that meeting people's needs without making them scrabble for their supper reduces people's will to live. But if it WERE so, the source of the services and supplies doesn't matter. An organic 'spacebat' doesn't nurture either more or less than a mechanical 'tin mother'. I do like the philosophical dreams of the hibernators, though.
Once again, there is no such THING as a 'mindless killing machine'. This nonsense has got to stop. Such a creature is not only ergonomically unworkable, it's also not possible to kill without using some sort of mentality. Especially mobile animals, which don't act predictably, and tend to resist being killed.
The ridiculous notion that 'instincts' and 'memories' for complex behaviors (like how to deal with wild warts) can be passed down genetically...well, I've already characterized it. I don't believe that the gnomes have a 'memory lobe' in their brains which can only be accessed by trained educers (called, oddly, 'memorizers', though they don't memorize things any more than others do--they just call back the memories). And I CERTAINLY don't believe they can remember the memories of others. Even the trained Memorizers apparently only recall what they choose to. There's some lip service given to the limited capacity of memory--but limiting what you remember will only be partly successful. You also have to come up with some sort of filing system. Fang makes some attempts to trace answers to particular questions. But he'll probably never know if his search strategies are the right ones. What if there WERE answers to those questions, but some previous Memorizer didn't bother to remember them?
The limited geographical space in the story is more than a little misleading. Were there gnomes only in the region of Mara Zion? If not, what happened to the others? If so, is this a reflection of their slow metabolisms, long lives, and limited reproductive drive?
The happentracks are little explored, but there are clues they're there--keep an eye on the moons, for the key to the (rare) event of a merging of happentracks.
Michael Coney (he added the middle name 'Greatrex' to his name for this book. If it's his given name, he didn't use it for The Celestial Steam Locomotive) is another of those authors who came up with a really good conceit--then hadn't the narrative talent to follow it through.
I don't know if I've read all of this before. I don't remember how it goes on, and it may change later on.
I like the characterization of the gnomes (though it's a little odd: the root of the word 'gnome' is 'knowledgeable', but the gnomes in this book are mostly NOT particularly knowlegeable). I like that they are relaxed, and don't tend toward heroism or other stressful behavior. They take their time over things, and hide out when that's appropriate and possible. And they're truly wealthy--they have what they need to live comfortably, with little effort--and they use their advantages well.
The concept of the happentracks is more or less let lapse. It's given lip service, but it's not really explored, at least in the beginning. Also, I frankly find the pretext for the fantasizing of the human (and 'Dedo', which is never really explained) characters inexplicable. What exact problem is the introduction of a fantasy in which violence 'in defense of honor' is regarded as exemplary seen to (possibly) resolve? What's the threat, and why would violence be a solution? Even imaginary violence?
The fantasy that's created (or at least started) is Arthurian. Why? Why not, for example, (as many people have) focus on (say) Robin Hood? Robin Hood is not (mostly) an exemplary violent figure. He's admittedly a thief, and argues that, failing other remedies, thievery is the only resolution to the miserly state (a feudal state which is lauded in Arthurian lore). He's a trickster figure, and heirs to this tradition (such as Zorro, or even Raffles) are plentiful. Why not recommend that as a resolution for whatever ill-defined danger is anticipated?
Of course, Coney's societies (at least so far) are not authoritarian. They're not quite anarchistic, but 'rulers' seem to play very little part in everyday life. So, lacking an authority to rebel against. maybe trickster figures are superfluous? But how does inventing an Arthurian society (which seems to be almost entirely without a peasantry to opress, have you noticed that? The existence of the peasantry is implicit (who makes the tableware or grows the crops?), yet they almost never appear onstage) remedy anything?
The humans seem to be unable to understand the gnomes' wealth. The Dedos don't help. The Dedos don't take advice to encourage humans to find nonviolent, inactive solutions to problems.
The humans assume that if the gnomes are well-off, it must be because they have hidden treasure. If they actually listened to the gnomes, rather than asking questions and supplying the answers themselves, they might adopt some of the gnomes' advice. Or not. People who ask questions and won't wait for the answers often aren't really good at accepting advice.
The innovative aspects don't really make up for the uncritical acceptance of a lot of standard nonsense. Happentracks, for example, don't arise only as a response to decisions by intelligent beings. ANY decision point creates alternate happentracks--including whether a thunderstorms starts earlier or later, and whether a radioactive particle decays in this half-life or not.
Furthermore, there's no evidence whatever that meeting people's needs without making them scrabble for their supper reduces people's will to live. But if it WERE so, the source of the services and supplies doesn't matter. An organic 'spacebat' doesn't nurture either more or less than a mechanical 'tin mother'. I do like the philosophical dreams of the hibernators, though.
Once again, there is no such THING as a 'mindless killing machine'. This nonsense has got to stop. Such a creature is not only ergonomically unworkable, it's also not possible to kill without using some sort of mentality. Especially mobile animals, which don't act predictably, and tend to resist being killed.
The ridiculous notion that 'instincts' and 'memories' for complex behaviors (like how to deal with wild warts) can be passed down genetically...well, I've already characterized it. I don't believe that the gnomes have a 'memory lobe' in their brains which can only be accessed by trained educers (called, oddly, 'memorizers', though they don't memorize things any more than others do--they just call back the memories). And I CERTAINLY don't believe they can remember the memories of others. Even the trained Memorizers apparently only recall what they choose to. There's some lip service given to the limited capacity of memory--but limiting what you remember will only be partly successful. You also have to come up with some sort of filing system. Fang makes some attempts to trace answers to particular questions. But he'll probably never know if his search strategies are the right ones. What if there WERE answers to those questions, but some previous Memorizer didn't bother to remember them?
The limited geographical space in the story is more than a little misleading. Were there gnomes only in the region of Mara Zion? If not, what happened to the others? If so, is this a reflection of their slow metabolisms, long lives, and limited reproductive drive?
The happentracks are little explored, but there are clues they're there--keep an eye on the moons, for the key to the (rare) event of a merging of happentracks.
May 10, 2011
The third book in the Song of Earth series. Now, I had not realized this going in, and had not read "The Celestial Steam Locomotive" and "Gods of the Greataway". I really wish I would have, because I think I would have appreciated the ending of this book much better.
Prior to the ending I was really enjoying the story. Three alternate worlds are coming together and this tells the story building up to and including that event. It was enjoyable to get to know each "world" and how they affect each other even before merging into one. I liked the gnomes' world best, but how the other two worlds play off of each other from the beginning was fun to read.
The writing was well done. The characterizations whole. The fairy tale/fantasy feel to what is a science fiction story was a treat.
As, I said, the ending wasn't working too well for me. But, I will read the first books and then give this one a try again in the future.
Prior to the ending I was really enjoying the story. Three alternate worlds are coming together and this tells the story building up to and including that event. It was enjoyable to get to know each "world" and how they affect each other even before merging into one. I liked the gnomes' world best, but how the other two worlds play off of each other from the beginning was fun to read.
The writing was well done. The characterizations whole. The fairy tale/fantasy feel to what is a science fiction story was a treat.
As, I said, the ending wasn't working too well for me. But, I will read the first books and then give this one a try again in the future.
July 25, 2010
An enjoyable and unusual look at the Arthurian legend and its beginnings, well worth reading
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews