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Another tale of talking animals and misdirected magic in the #1 New York Times–bestselling author's whimsical series: "Foster knows how to spin a yarn" (Starlog).Jon-Tom has been trapped in a strange land of talking owls and wizarding turtles for a year now, his sole consolation that in this universe his musical abilities have inadvertently made him something of a sorcerer. But when an encounter with some burglars leads to him snapping the magical duar that channels his power, he finds show more himself an ordinary human again—on a quest to repair his instrument with nothing but his staff and his semi-faithful, ever-complaining otter sidekick to defend him.
The journey takes them to the ends of the earth—and beyond. On the run from some half-wit pirates, they dart into a cave and find themselves in San Antonio, the shortcut to home that Jon-Tom has long dreamed about. But Texas wants nothing to do with this long-haired wizard, or the unpleasant creatures who are tracking him.
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Jon-Tom, a human from our world living in a fantasy realm, must journey across the Glittergeist Sea to repair his broken magic instrument, the duar.
While protecting the wizardly turtle Clothahump from thieves, Jon-Tom accidentally breaks his magical duar, the instrument he uses to cast spells. Left with only his staff for defense, an ordinary Jon-Tom and his cantankerous, loyal otter sidekick, Mudge, set out on a dangerous journey to find the only person capable of fixing the duar.
They travel to the edges of the world, encountering obstacles including cannibal muskrats, ogres, and a pirate king parrot. During their adventures, they discover a cave that serves as a magical passage leading back to San Antonio, Texas.
Jon-Tom finds himself show more back on Earth but realizes the modern world no longer fits him. He must decide whether to return to his life as a human on Earth or go back to his magical life as a spellsinger. show less
While protecting the wizardly turtle Clothahump from thieves, Jon-Tom accidentally breaks his magical duar, the instrument he uses to cast spells. Left with only his staff for defense, an ordinary Jon-Tom and his cantankerous, loyal otter sidekick, Mudge, set out on a dangerous journey to find the only person capable of fixing the duar.
They travel to the edges of the world, encountering obstacles including cannibal muskrats, ogres, and a pirate king parrot. During their adventures, they discover a cave that serves as a magical passage leading back to San Antonio, Texas.
Jon-Tom finds himself show more back on Earth but realizes the modern world no longer fits him. He must decide whether to return to his life as a human on Earth or go back to his magical life as a spellsinger. show less
SPELLSINGER
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Genre Benders: Comic Fantasy
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music to my eyes
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Author Information
363+ Works 73,695 Members
Bestselling science fiction writer Alan Dean Foster was born in New York City in 1946, but raised mainly in California. He received a B.A. in Political Science from UCLA in 1968, and a M.F.A. in 1969. Foster enjoys traveling because it gives him opportunities to meet new people and explore new places and cultures. This interest is carried over to show more his writing, but with a twist: the new places encountered in his books are likely to be on another planet, and the people may belong to an alien race. Foster began his career as an author when a letter he sent to Arkham Collection was purchased by the editor and published in the magazine in 1968. His first novel, The Tar-Aiym Krang, introduced the Humanx Commonwealth, a galactic alliance between humans and an insectlike race called Thranx. Several other novels, including the Icerigger trilogy, are also set in the world of the Commonwealth. The Tar-Aiym Krang also marked the first appearance of Flinx, a young man with paranormal abilities, who reappears in other books, including Orphan Star, For Love of Mother-Not, and Flinx in Flux. Foster has also written The Damned series and the Spellsinger series, which includes The Hour of the Gate, The Moment of the Magician, The Paths of the Perambulator, and Son of Spellsinger, among others. Other books include novelizations of science fiction movies and television shows such as Star Trek, The Black Hole, Starman, Star Wars, and the Alien movies. Splinter of the Mind's Eye, a bestselling novel based on the Star Wars movies, received the Galaxy Award in 1979. The book Cyber Way won the Southwest Book Award for Fiction in 1990. His novel Our Lady of the Machine won him the UPC Award (Spain) in 1993. He also won the Ignotus Award (Spain) in 1994 and the Stannik Award (Russia) in 2000. He is the recipient of the Faust, the IAMTW Lifetime achievement award. Alan Dean Foster's Star Wars: The Force Awakens, was a 2015 New York Times bestseller. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
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Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- The Time of the Transference
- Original publication date
- 1987-01
- People/Characters
- Clothahump (turtle); Corliss (gibbon); Foison; Izzy; Magriff; Marley (goat) (show all 13); Jon-Tom (Jonathan Thomas Meriweather); Mudge (otter); Opoltin (marten); Sorbl (horned owl); Talea; Teyva; Weegee the otter
- Dedication
- For Richard and Karen and Michele and Dawn hirschhorn, A small detour down the byways of life.
- First words
- "Jon-Tom, there's someone in the tree."
- Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)He bent to kiss her but Wicket bit her on the leg.
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- Members
- 784
- Popularity
- 35,387
- Reviews
- 2
- Rating
- (3.30)
- Languages
- English, German, Russian
- Media
- Paper, Audiobook, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 12
- ASINs
- 8
