Jane Gaskell

There's an old Bloom County strip featuring a handful of characters watching TV and wondering what they’re watching—it’s either an entertaining shoot-‘em-up movie or a horrifying news segment. It’s an important question, because nobody knows whether they should be enjoying themselves or not. And that’s exactly the way that I felt while reading Jane Gaskell’s Atlan Saga—was it a tongue-in-cheek parody of the male-oriented world of sci-fi/fantasy, or was it just straight-up cheese? If it’s the former (and I’m pretty sure that it is), then it’s spot-on satire. If it’s the latter… well, then it’s kind of like the literary equivalent of a Boris painting.

Note: Jane Gaskell is a distant relative of Elizabeth Gaskell.

Aftertaste:
See review.

Availability:
Very, very limited. Try e-Bay.

Other Recommendations:
Restoree, by Anne McCaffrey