"WARSLAYER" -- an old review of a very good read
Yesterday, appomattoxco mentioned the 2002 novel by Rosemary Edghill (who also writes under the name "Eluki Bes Shahar" according to one reference I found), The Warslayer, to me in a comment, noting that it's now available free from Baen's free e-book library:
I was thinking of you yesterday as I read,"Warslayer" by Rosemary Edgehill. It's about an actress in a Xena/Buffy like role kidnapped "Galaxy Quest" style to save a fantasy universe. The kidnappers read a Greg Cox [hee!] penned tie- in to "The Incredibly True Adventures of Vixen the Slayer" (TITAoVtS for short.) They decide that Aussie ex-gymnast turned SF TV star is what they need to save their world from the Warmother.
DO check this book out, if you've never read it but are a fan of genre TV shows about women warriors or of what-happens-when-our-fantasy-becomes-reality fiction in general. (And thanks, appomattoxco, for the welcome reminder and recommendation!)
In case anyone wants more information about The Warslayer, I went looking through my old e-mail archives for the review I'd written after gleefully devouring this book, on June 18, 2002, now reprinted below:
I just tore through a novel (which I first saw mentioned on a SF book club mailing last week and immediately tracked down in used paperback form via Amazon.com) by Rosemary Edghill, entitled THE WARSLAYER, and I recommend taking a look at it, if you're at all interested in "Xena," "Buffy", science-fiction media fandom, pop culture and religion, or just happened to REALLY enjoy "Galaxy Quest".
THE WARSLAYER starts out a lot like "Galaxy Quest", in that Gloria "Glory" McArdle -- the Australian Olympic gymnast turned phys. ed. teacher (when she grew to be 6 feet tall and failed to win any medals in Seoul) turned actress, who plays the title role in the hit syndicated TV series, "The Incredibly True Adventures of Vixen the Slayer" (TITAoVtS, for short) -- is approached by some very short people who turn out to be mages who've been shopping interdimensionally for a hero to defend them against annihilation by a great evil. Having seen the series (and been turned down by everybody else they've asked), they want Vixen the Slayer to come and save them.
There's even a foreword by Greg Cox, in which he recounts a brief history of "Vixen" fandom, its online fan fiction, and his own participation in unauthorized additions to the adventures of "Vixen" (see also the "Episode Guide" with fan commentary at the end of the book, givng detailed information about all 20 first-season episodes of the imaginary series).
From all this, the reader gathers that, in spite of superficial similarities to "Buffy" (Vixen is a Ninja-trained demon-slayer battling the occult each week, though she does her slaying in Elizabethan England wearing a leather corset) and frequent references to that show (as well as to other pop culture products, including "Xena", "Star Trek," and the movie "Galaxy Quest") in the text, "TITAoVtS" is intended to be a pretty direct parallel and spoof of "Xena" and "Xena" fandom (right down to the extensive "alt. fiction" genres, depicting sexual encounters between Vixen and her sidekick, the ex-Anglican nun Sister Bernadette, or between Vixen and her arch-nemesis, the 'Duchess of Darkness' -- parallels to Callisto, anyone? -- or occasionally all three).
As with "Galaxy Quest"'s parallel to and spoof of classic "Trek" fandom, the spoofing is mostly accurate and affectionate, as well as delightfully iconoclastic and sharp.
However, once Glory inadvertantly winds up in the mages' homeworld, with no immediate way back to her own universe, things begin to get a bit more serious than "Galaxy Quest" ever dared to do.
With nothing but the discipline and determination developed during her many years of athletic competition (which keeps her going forward even when scared spitless or beaten to a bloody pulp), and an accurate self-awareness and lack of vanity not usually found in professional actors, Glory has to somehow face down "the Warmother", the personification of war and evil which had been chained for a thousand years but has of late been running loose and casually destroying cities and people for sheer love of cruelty and power.
Though I hit a slow patch early on in the novel, before the fighting gets started, once enough pieces of the mystery of the Warmother started to come together, I was hooked.
The climactic battle has (nonspecific, but still readily identifiable) references to Abraham's almost-sacrifice of Isaac in Genesis, the betrayal of Judas Iscariot in the Gospels, the crucifixion, and to several Classic and Next Gen "Star Trek" episodes (especially "The Apple" from TOS and "Skin of Evil" from ST:TNG).
If I read it correctly, the author was (through the moral choices made by her heroine, Glory, when push came to shove) reflecting rather critically on the Biblical stories, while envying Captain Kirk's ability to make world-altering decisions and still sleep easy at night.
In a way, it all comes down to ideas about "informed consent" and the essential wrongness of sacrificing an unknowing innocent, no matter what the greater good. (Shades of BtVS "The Gift", anyone? Not to mention parallels to some pastoral theology books I've read -- including one by my old professor Donald Capps -- which argue that the crucifixion of Jesus Christ qualifies as child-abuse on the part of God, as they interpret Jesus to be God's victim rather than God himself sacrifcing himself in the very definition of informed consent.)
Really interesting stuff, and a lot deeper than I was expecting when I started this book.
The ending seems to leave room for a sequel, and I think I'd really enjoy seeing where Edghill might go with this set-up. Take a look, if you get the chance.
I was thinking of you yesterday as I read,"Warslayer" by Rosemary Edgehill. It's about an actress in a Xena/Buffy like role kidnapped "Galaxy Quest" style to save a fantasy universe. The kidnappers read a Greg Cox [hee!] penned tie- in to "The Incredibly True Adventures of Vixen the Slayer" (TITAoVtS for short.) They decide that Aussie ex-gymnast turned SF TV star is what they need to save their world from the Warmother.
DO check this book out, if you've never read it but are a fan of genre TV shows about women warriors or of what-happens-when-our-fantasy-becomes-reality fiction in general. (And thanks, appomattoxco, for the welcome reminder and recommendation!)
In case anyone wants more information about The Warslayer, I went looking through my old e-mail archives for the review I'd written after gleefully devouring this book, on June 18, 2002, now reprinted below:
I just tore through a novel (which I first saw mentioned on a SF book club mailing last week and immediately tracked down in used paperback form via Amazon.com) by Rosemary Edghill, entitled THE WARSLAYER, and I recommend taking a look at it, if you're at all interested in "Xena," "Buffy", science-fiction media fandom, pop culture and religion, or just happened to REALLY enjoy "Galaxy Quest".
THE WARSLAYER starts out a lot like "Galaxy Quest", in that Gloria "Glory" McArdle -- the Australian Olympic gymnast turned phys. ed. teacher (when she grew to be 6 feet tall and failed to win any medals in Seoul) turned actress, who plays the title role in the hit syndicated TV series, "The Incredibly True Adventures of Vixen the Slayer" (TITAoVtS, for short) -- is approached by some very short people who turn out to be mages who've been shopping interdimensionally for a hero to defend them against annihilation by a great evil. Having seen the series (and been turned down by everybody else they've asked), they want Vixen the Slayer to come and save them.
There's even a foreword by Greg Cox, in which he recounts a brief history of "Vixen" fandom, its online fan fiction, and his own participation in unauthorized additions to the adventures of "Vixen" (see also the "Episode Guide" with fan commentary at the end of the book, givng detailed information about all 20 first-season episodes of the imaginary series).
From all this, the reader gathers that, in spite of superficial similarities to "Buffy" (Vixen is a Ninja-trained demon-slayer battling the occult each week, though she does her slaying in Elizabethan England wearing a leather corset) and frequent references to that show (as well as to other pop culture products, including "Xena", "Star Trek," and the movie "Galaxy Quest") in the text, "TITAoVtS" is intended to be a pretty direct parallel and spoof of "Xena" and "Xena" fandom (right down to the extensive "alt. fiction" genres, depicting sexual encounters between Vixen and her sidekick, the ex-Anglican nun Sister Bernadette, or between Vixen and her arch-nemesis, the 'Duchess of Darkness' -- parallels to Callisto, anyone? -- or occasionally all three).
As with "Galaxy Quest"'s parallel to and spoof of classic "Trek" fandom, the spoofing is mostly accurate and affectionate, as well as delightfully iconoclastic and sharp.
However, once Glory inadvertantly winds up in the mages' homeworld, with no immediate way back to her own universe, things begin to get a bit more serious than "Galaxy Quest" ever dared to do.
With nothing but the discipline and determination developed during her many years of athletic competition (which keeps her going forward even when scared spitless or beaten to a bloody pulp), and an accurate self-awareness and lack of vanity not usually found in professional actors, Glory has to somehow face down "the Warmother", the personification of war and evil which had been chained for a thousand years but has of late been running loose and casually destroying cities and people for sheer love of cruelty and power.
Though I hit a slow patch early on in the novel, before the fighting gets started, once enough pieces of the mystery of the Warmother started to come together, I was hooked.
The climactic battle has (nonspecific, but still readily identifiable) references to Abraham's almost-sacrifice of Isaac in Genesis, the betrayal of Judas Iscariot in the Gospels, the crucifixion, and to several Classic and Next Gen "Star Trek" episodes (especially "The Apple" from TOS and "Skin of Evil" from ST:TNG).
If I read it correctly, the author was (through the moral choices made by her heroine, Glory, when push came to shove) reflecting rather critically on the Biblical stories, while envying Captain Kirk's ability to make world-altering decisions and still sleep easy at night.
In a way, it all comes down to ideas about "informed consent" and the essential wrongness of sacrificing an unknowing innocent, no matter what the greater good. (Shades of BtVS "The Gift", anyone? Not to mention parallels to some pastoral theology books I've read -- including one by my old professor Donald Capps -- which argue that the crucifixion of Jesus Christ qualifies as child-abuse on the part of God, as they interpret Jesus to be God's victim rather than God himself sacrifcing himself in the very definition of informed consent.)
Really interesting stuff, and a lot deeper than I was expecting when I started this book.
The ending seems to leave room for a sequel, and I think I'd really enjoy seeing where Edghill might go with this set-up. Take a look, if you get the chance.