Kate Hawks (1929–2013)

An extremely funny and moving book about what happens when the beings we call "God" and "The Devil" collaborate to prevent the conception of a possible Hitler. Young, conservative Charity and Roy are snatched from a seedy hotel room and taken on separate journeys through the afterlife, with the cooperation of theatrical and historical figures recruited to play supporting roles. Meanwhile, "Judgement Day" is coming for the two puppet masters as their long-lost past catches up to them.

In the book's afterword, Godwin himself notes the difficulties that confront a modern author trying to translate the epic poem into terms a 21st century audience can grasp. Given those limitations, Godwin, a gifted and literate writer, does a good job of making Beowulf a figure comprehensible to modern readers.

Godwin has kept the more fantastic of the saga's images while explaining them to readers who may be unfamiliar with Norse mythology. Grendel and his mother are tormented immortals, show more trapped in grotesque bodies, and with abominable appetites for living flesh. They yearn for beauty, love, and warmth, and are condemned to live without any of these comforts except the little they can offer each other. Grendel's attacks on Heorot are set in the context of a disputed inheritance, and his mother's grief at the loss of her only solace in the world lead to her final confrontation with Beowulf.

But Godwin does more than just reclothe the poem in the trappings of modern language. He leads the reader into the minds and hearts of the characters, from Beowulf himself, fighting always to prove himself the brave warrior his father never believed him to be; to Grendel, yearning for acceptance from both gods and men.

Not my cup of tea, I'll admit, but a good piece of writing for those who prefer fantasy to hard science fiction. Godwin is particularly skilled at making the complex motivations of his characters understandable. show less

An interesting if not totally successful satirical SF fantasy with echoes of 2001 and Hitchhiker's Guide with darker themes. The framing story involves two super-advanced immortal aliens, basically college students, who end up stranded on Earth about the same time as the monoliths of 2001. They do a little completely unauthorized twiddling with the one ape, leading to modern humanity, as represented by Roy Stride, a Nazi-wannabe, and Charity Stovall, his religious girlfriend. The aliens show more believe that the offspring of Roy and Charity would bring about a modern apocalypse. They decide that the only way to prevent this is to bring Roy and Charity to TopSide and Below Stairs, the Heaven and Hell that they created to house post-death human souls over the millenia. All of this fictional construction is to engineer a combination of farce and philosophy about human nature and religious bigotry.

Whether this works for you depends on your views of religion and tolerance for artificially constructed scenes to set up another auctorial monologue. When Heinlein did this, it drove me crazy, but I'm OK with Parke Godwin. show less

Firelord, by Parke Godwin, tells the familiar tale of the King Arthur legend and yet features Godwin’s precise and evocative prose and humor, to weave an earthy and believable story of soldiers in muddy trenches and the magic of love while ultimately showing that chosen family may be stronger for the realm than alliances made through betrayed family branches. The conflicts between retreating Roman solders and fierce British inhabitants and tribal leaders brings the young Artorius Pendragon show more to his destiny to courageously battle for his people while he loses his heart and gains glory. show less