June 9, 2019: And Did I Mention The Orcs?

Karl K. Gallagher, author of the Torchship books, has published a fantasy story in two volumes. I read and enjoyed it, so I'm passing along the recommendation.

The Lost War is about, not a war that was "lost" in the usual sense, but one that was misplaced between worlds. One of the standard tropes of interworld-travel stories is the SCA type whose special archaic ability saves everyone. Well, what if a whole group of medievalists – hundreds of them – gets transported?

In the second volume, The War Revealed, we find out exactly why those people were taken to that place. They find out, too . . . and that's all very nice but they'd really like to go home now, thank you very much! To mash a couple of phrases together: Easier said than done, and Thereby hangs a tale.

One of the obstacles our heroes and heroines face is – wait for it – orcs. Or that's what they choose to call the green nasty folk. But these are not your daddy's orcs. The author says: One of the threads going into the book was, "People aren't scared of orcs any more. What would make them scary?" Possibly I overdid it.

Possibly he did. But the results are ickily memorable. I'm not going to spoil. Both books are available on Amazon, here and here.

-- Steve Jackson