Tiltangle

by R. W. Mackelworth, Hyemeyoh Storm

The small, tight-knit community was locked in an ice-cold numbing world. For all their lives, and those of many generations before, all they had known was snow and frost. From time to time forays were made outside the cave, their only shelter, for food. But many never returned—torn apart by the wild bear or savage wolves.

But there was a dream, a memory they had of an earlier time, when there had been 'warm' and 'sun'. A time before the great holocaust that had destroyed their world. It was only hope for a return to this other life that kept them together, that kept them alive. Even though it would mean destruction of the peace and sanity they had built together.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction

184 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1970

Reviews

[Ed · Rating 1 out of 5]

A confused and disappointing novel. It utterly fails to commit to any thread for long enough to really be coherent; so we get snapshots of a trek across a world covered in ice, veterans of an old war hunkered down to survive, barbarians who've made their living in the wilderness, and then a world that isn't so covered in ice and possibly ICBM launches and dogfights, along with an exodus of people fighting automated gun turrets I think? It gets so confused by the end it was honestly difficult to determine what was actually happening, and almost totally impossible to care about it either.
The cover is fantastic though, great new-wave sci-fi stuff. And you can feel the imprint of similar better works in this; just a real shame that it fails to create anything of its own.

[Isaac · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a very slow burning post-apocalyptic sci-fi novel set in an ice world.

The characters seek a mysterious location called "the warm" that lies somewhere outside their ice world, and thematically we learn the dangers of false hopes in a world of brutal austerity.

It could have been good.
....If not for the interchangeable POVs, and overly serious and detailed writing style and a non-existent plot. It reminded me of Hugh Howey, actually.

I will admit I liked the descriptions of the setting, thus the 2 stars.
Good frosty descriptions that evoked the unusual setting nicely.
I now want to see what a parhelion looks like.

[Apocryphal Chris · Rating 2 out of 5]

Tiltangle is a rather boring story which reads like a novel expanded from a short story, but without the author having enough of an idea to fill a novel. The prose is nice enough, but description is often lacking, as if Mackelworth wasn't himself interested in fully describing things (like why the world is this way, why people are doing what they're doing, and who are these other people anyway?) And really not a lot happens, chapter after chapter - or at least not enough to parse into a coherent story. All wrapped in an intriguing title and beautiful John Berkey cover (both only impressionistically related to the story). Looks nice on the shelf, I guess.

[Rog Petersen · Rating 2 out of 5]

1.5 stars
This book has an awesome John Berkey cover.

[Keith Hall · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF at 32%.

[Nicholas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Despite a very strong sense of the oppressive ice-age landscape, this book remains too enigmatic with respect to its characters, their motivations and their eventual end. Mackelworth presents a very harsh world of ice and his prose is very focused on the physical survival of this terrain. His characters however remain ciphers throughout the book and even when we are privy to their innermost thoughts and feelings, we know so little about them as to have no real context sometimes to relate to them. The character of Tomas is by far the most defined and interesting as as long as he is front and center the book is a compelling read. The background of who the survivors are is so oblique that one can almost call it allegorical; the reader can insert any minority into the sanctuary of White Mountain to lend the story some added resonance. The Welkans are a creepy invention, but again another unexplained part of this very alien landscape. The cover with two nude girls frozen in ice bears no relation to what's in the book. I can't say I can recommend this novel very much, but the author does present an intriguing premise and environment.

Some reading from Contemporary Authors Online indicates that it was common for the author, Mackelworth, to feature leads who were "simple men of action" and certainly Tomas fits into this mold. Likewise Mackelworth liked to explore the theme of the corruption of power and the character of Bergan carried this theme in the novel very well.

[Pierre · Rating 2 out of 5]

Smeltende wereld