Dorothy J. Heydt (1942–2022)

This novel is really unlike anything else in fantasy, and that is a good thing. There are two intertwined narratives, each quite conventional, but the combination is unique. Is it a surprise that The Darkness is conquered? No. Is it a surprise that the PTA succeeds in getting a new computer lab built? No. Both in the same novel? That is new.

Jo Walton points out another rarity, the book takes housework seriously. Baking bread, getting homework done, painting the living room, gardening the front yard, all these are on an equal footing with getting the Heart of Darkness to the Duke of War. Really.

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This book is very odd, and not just because it was published in 1990 and so is chock-full of 1980s concepts of gender and sexuality (and 1980s whiteness, with no acknowledgement of race or racial difference).
In a book like this, with parallel speculative fiction and mundane fiction stories, I expect the two to come together at the end. In this book, they remain separate and parallel throughout. The only connection is that Sue is watching (imagining? creating) the fantasy story, and that the characters can communicate with her as they give each other advice. The two stories otherwise stay separate. The fantasy story gives Sue the motivation and self-confidence to make changes in her own life, but she doesn't step into the plot of the fantasy story, except in one very small way late in the story.

It's also odd that neither story would really stand alone. The fantasy story without Sue's perspective would be a middle-of-the-road plot, maybe something from the middle of a fantasy magazine from the 1970s. The mundane story of Sue's life probably wouldn't be publishable anywhere - nothing much happens. But the juxtaposition of the two sets Sue's housewifely struggles and triumphs up against the epic fantasy quest, giving grandiosity to the former and everydayness to the latter.

I had a bit of a hard time relating to Sue, not only because our lives are very different, but more because she unquestioningly accepts the norms of her society. She accepts that she "has to" dress and act a certain way to succeed in her role as a housewife, and doesn't seem to question that role at all. The glorification of dressing in nice clothes, throwing successful parties to impress people, and generally making an impact on suburban middle-class society is bizarre to me as a single, urban, nonconformist.

But I do appreciate how unusual the attention to the detail of the housewifely life is. This book is, in its own way a (white) feminist narrative.

Parts of the fantasy sections were a bit of a slog to read - somewhat overwrought and description-heavy. But in general, both halves of the story kept my attention, especially the conclusion(s), which kept me up past my bedtime.… (more)

This has been in my library since it came out, and I've just picked up the e-book. Heydt is offering them as a free download (with tip jar), so I got it along with some other titles I'd not previously seen.

Sir Mary de Courcy is a virtual knight; she plays in the VR world of Chivalry as a tourney knight. At a tournament, she defeats a knight who is unable to pay his ransom, and offers her a (virtual) manorial holding instead. However, the holding turns out to be a poisoned chalice - on the way home, her plane nearly crashes, she's driven off the road, and an intruder breaks into her house that night. Nest day, while helping to train new players in VR, someone sticks a hacked digitalis patch on her...

It turns out the manor is illegal; it's being used as a back door into a fantasy VR game based on a book - and the creator has forbidden any VR or other derivative work. The hackers are willing to kill to protect their secret.

It's very good; it's set in the near future (unspecified how far ahead) but Heydt was prescient in terms of global warming (although this USA is not in denial). There's been a bit of updating - the copyright of life+50 has been updated to life+70, and there's maybe some other minor tweaks.

Recommended - it's an interesting take on cyberpunk.… (more)