Bloodwinter by Tom Deitz
Tom Deitz spends rather a lot of time during the course of Bloodwinter telling the reader just how extraordinarily awful the winters of his fantasy kingdom of Eron are, how Herculean must be the efforts of those who seek to cross the frozen wasteland. Without getting cuter with this analogy, there were stretches where I felt much the same about reading the novel.
That isn’t to say that Bloodwinter is ever painful to read. Deitz has an excellent command of language and he uses it well, so the prose is never actually as listless as the events. The cover quotes inform me that the characterization was well-received and I too thought Deitz did a rather good job on that score (with a few notable exceptions, which I’ll describe below).
One recognizable problem with the novel right off the bat,... Read More
More books by Tom Deitz
David Sullivan — (1986-1998) Publisher: In Georgia’s Blue Ridge Mountains, tales are told of strange lights, of mysterious roads, of wondrous folk from enchanted realms. All these are hidden from mortal men, and those who have the gift to look on them are both blessed and doomed. Young David Sullivan never dreamed that the myths of marvels and magic he loved were real. But in his blood was the gift of Second Sight. And near his family’s rural farm lay an invisible track between worlds..where he would soon become a pawn in the power game of the Windmaster, an evil usurper among those the Celts called the Sidhe. David’s only protection would be a riddle’s answer and an enchanted ring… as he began his odyssey of danger into things unknowing and unknown…
Soulsmith — (1991-1993) Publisher: In the Georgia backwoods stands a magnificient estate — its inhabitants the possessors of awesome powers passed on from generation to generation. Local residents look upon those who dwell within with respect and fear — trusting their fortune and their future to the mysterious Master of Cardalba.
Thunderbird O’Conner — (1994-1996) Publisher: In the year 2024, in the shining New World capital of North America’s independent Indian tribes, three extraordinary young people are brought together by a series of bizarre events: Kevin Mauney, who travels halfway across the globe to deliver a cryptic, troubling message… Kevin’s estranged sister Carolyn, who dies and is miraculously reborn while investigating the unexplained murder/ mutilation of scores of intelligent sea mammals… and a Cherokee diplomat/ traditional dancer named Thunderbird O’Conner, who stumbles into a nightmare one evening on a secluded Mexican beach. A shared destiny unites the three here where the fate of civilization will ultimately be decided — for each has a unique role to play in the resolution of a multi-species conspiracy that predates humankind. And here, where the upper and lower skies meet, three unlikely warriors must now prepare to do magical battle — in order to defeat with the power of the word, faith and song a terror that has risen up from the ocean’s depths to walk the world of men.
The Gryphon King — (1989) Publisher: The contents of a mislaid box from the University of Georgia’s Rare Book Library includes crumpled newspapers, British bestsellers, old leather-bound folios, and a sword that seems possessed by a mysterious evil.
(1952-2009)
