Galatea in 2-D

by Aaron Allston

When illustrator Roger Simons realizes that he has the power to pull living beings from his paintings, he must use his newfound abilities to fend off an attack from a powerful--and dangerous--rival.

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction

272 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 1993

About the author

Aaron Dale Allston was an American game designer and author of many science fiction books, notably Star Wars novels. His works as a game designer include game supplements for role-playing games, several of which served to establish the basis for products and subsequent development of TSR's Dungeons & Dragons game setting Mystara. His later works as a novelist include those of the X-Wing series: Wraith Squadron, Iron Fist, Solo Command, Starfighters of Adumar, and Mercy Kill. He wrote two entries in the New Jedi Order series: Enemy Lines I: Rebel Dream and Enemy Lines II: Rebel Stand. Allston wrote three of the nine Legacy of the Force novels: Betrayal, Exile, and Fury, and three of the nine Fate of the Jedi novels: Outcast, Backlash, and Conviction.

Reviews

[Dalen · Rating 3 out of 5]

A pretty silly read that was enjoyable if you were willing to suspend disbelief enough to get into it. The climactic battle was a fun exploration of the limits of the magic system created. The main character was a bit annoying, but overall it was a fun, pulpy ride.

[Meggie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very silly but a fun romp. Roger discovers that he has the ability to both go into his pulpy fantasy paintings and bring objects and people out of them, and faces off against his former friend Kevin. Roger starts out as rather a sad sack but develops over the story, and his friend Donna was great even if their romance felt rushed.

[Mary Catelli · Rating 5 out of 5]

Roger has worked rather too late, and just completed a little sketch of a nymph when he knocks over the ink. Knowing it's futile, he doesn't try to stop it; he just closes his eyes -- and opens them to see the nymph walked away.

He tries to deliver for a job only to find that his past -- an occasion where a client swore he had not delivered -- is still haunting him. And he sees his old friend and fellow artist Kevin doing a signing, along with his trophy wife Julia -- Kevin's ex-wife Donna, looking ghastly, shows up to dun Kevin, and Roger tells Kevin he must have been hallucinating: he saw a drawing come to life.

When he gets home, he finds he wasn't hallucinating at all. The little nymph even comes out of the drawing to walk. Except that two people, Penny and Red, show up, claiming to want to buy an original, but producing a painting and going to shove him into it, after telling him they are from Kevin. (They do look like Kevin's painting of Achilles and Penthesilea, but Kevin doesn't use live models any more.) Roger, in the heat of the moment, manages to thrust himself into a different painting, one of his own.

Then there's just escaping it, discovering what Kevin is up to, and stopping him. . . .

Just.

It features a superhero, a SF convention, an enormous spider, games of volleyball, things right out of Edgar Allen Poe, tangled romance, a father-and-son reconciliation, an expert in guns and cooking, ninjas, a troll, and much more. I particularly like what he did with Red and Penny.

[Sean Randall · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow. Whilst lacking the modernity of Libriomancer this managed to be hugely entertaining. I'm a bit of a sucker for this sort of novel, and this one pleased on all levels. A shame it had to be 22 years old to do that, but forsooth, it was fun.

[Mark Smiley · Rating 4 out of 5]

An artist finds a way to make his paintings come to life trouble is, his rival has already figured out the system and vanishes the hero to live in a painting. Full of good fun and excitement, using the imagination of painting and ideas from sci if and other themes. Will the good guy win? Read on!

[Brandon · Rating 5 out of 5]

A book in the genre of Libriomancer. Really enjoyed it. Action, sci fi, and a bit of Greek myth. Can't argue that at all.

[Little Timmy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent SiFi story. Allston always creates an interesting and different read. Very recommended