Anthology: Gifts of Darkover

I have always approached the publication of a new anthology of stories set on Darkover with joy and delicious anticipation. I grew up with the world of Darkover, it is a part of my core experience of SFF, and I have always been excited by each opportunity to return to this complex world, with its thousands of years of history to play in. And my delight has always been rewarded with stories that felt like Darkover, despite the time period chosen, and the somewhat varied skills of cobtributors.

But this newest anthology, Gifts of Darkover, edited by Deborah J. Ross, didn't quite work the magic I've been accustomed to. Perhaps my recent reread of a large segment of the Darkover canon sensitised me, but a few of the stories felt "off." Deborah Ross knows Darkover as well as anyone now living - she worked with Bradley, she has been chosen by Bradley's Literary Trust to write new novels in the universe of Darkover, and most of them (with the exception of the very odd Hastur Lord) have satisfactorily captured the Darkover experience. But still... Some of these stories felt out of place to me.

In her introduction to the anthology, Ross says: "I believe it’s a healthy thing to allow for the introduction of new characters, themes, and resonances while staying true to the spirit of the world, a wondrous place of telepaths and swordsmen, nonhumans and ancient mysteries, marked by the clash of cultures between a star-faring, technologically advanced civilization and one that has pursued psychic gifts and turned away from weapons of mass destruction."

It's possible that in seeking to grow the world of Darkover in new ways, open up new themes and resonances, Ross simply went further than I feel comfortable with in accepting stories that pushed the boundaries of what Darkover is. Certainly, most of the stories were ones I felt were true to the spirit of Darkover.

"Learning to Breathe Snow," by Rosemary Edghill and Rebecca Fox is set in the early days of the Terran presence on Darkover, just after the Thendara spaceport was established, and presents an early attempt to by the Comyn to divert Terran interest away from the special gifts of Darkover.

"Healing Pain" by Jane M. H. Bigelow is the story of Taniquel, a young woman with laran and a desire to study Terran medicine to make her a better healer.

"Blood-kin" by Diana L. Paxson also deals with medical themes, as Terran training and Darkovan laran make it possible to immunise those at risk during an outbreak of plague.

"The Tower" by Jeremy Erman is set not long after the events of Darkover Landfall and deals with the desire among some of the exiles to remember the things of Earth.

In "Stonefell Gift" by Marella Stone, a powerful but dangerous form of laran brings tragedy to an entire family.

"Compensation" by Leslie Fish is one of the stories that simply did not work for me. Set at the time of recontact, it positions the christoforos as preservers of Terran knowledge from the era of the first landing, presents the chieri is a light that is quite at odds with what is known of them, particularly the elements of their history revealed in The World Wreckers, and argues that laran and logic are mutually exclusive gifts.

"Green Is the Colour of Her Eyes So Blue" by Deborah Millitello is set in the Dry-Towns shortly after the events of The Children of Kings, and features Gareth Elhalyn and his wife Rahelle. While in Shainsa to negotiate a treaty, they find a young girl with a rare form of laran - and a heavy responsibility.

"Renegades of Darkover" by Robin Wayne Bailey is another of the stories that felt wrong to me. Set at some point after recontact, it casts the descendant of Dan Barron and Marietta Storn from Winds of Darkover as a terrorist who harbours a deadly animosity toward the Comyn elite.

In "Memory" by Shariann Lewitt, a young woman with the ability to preserve memories in crystals uses her gift to protect herself and her loved ones from a predator.

In "A Problem of Punishment" by Barb Caffrey, a judge and a group of Renunciates join together to capture a bandit who orders his men to break the Compact.

In "Hidden Gifts" by Margaret L. Carter, a young nursemaid, the nedestra daugher of an Alton, uses the laran no one suspects she has to save the lives of her charge.

"Climbing to the Moon" by Ty Nolan takes place in the Hellers in an alternate history Darkover, where an intelligent species bred during the Ages of Chaos to serve as war-beasts are threatened by those who fear that an attack on the new Terran spaceport would bring down the vengeance of the Alderans.

Despite my dissatisfaction with some of these stories, I hope there will be more anthologies to come. I am always looking for the chance to revisit Darkover.


* This anthology contains 12 stories, nine of which are identifiable as being written by women.

Anthology: Music of Darkover

The Music of Darkover, edited by Elisabeth Waters and Leslie Fish, is a rather special anthology - in addition to the stories - some new, but with three reprinted from earlier volumes in the series because of the role that music plays in them - it collects the songs that Bradley herself wrote for the Darkovan series, the original (mostly Scottish Gaelic) songs Bradley based them on, "traditional" Darkovan songs written by others, and various filksongs with a Darkovan theme. Elisabeth Waters says in her Introduction:

... this anthology started with a song: “The Horsetamer’s Daughter,” written by Leslie Fish in 1983. It was hardly her first filk song; I owned a copy of her record (and I’m talking about an LP here) Folk Songs For Folk Who Ain’t Even Been Yet, which was released in 1976.

Leslie, in addition to being a gifted songwriter, also writes fiction, so eventually she wrote the story behind the song. When Deborah J. Ross and I started working on STARS OF DARKOVER, the new Darkover anthology scheduled for June 2014, Leslie sent us “Tower of Horses.” The problem is that it is over 30,000 words long and would take up more than a third of the anthology, so I came up with the idea of slipping an extra anthology into the schedule a year early.

Fish's novella, "Tower of Horses" comes first in the anthology, and it is a good one. Set a generation after the destruction of the Tower of Hali, it is the tale of a young woman with the Hastur gift born into a family of horse-trainers. Fish presents the Ages of Chaos as a time when the ordinary working classes suffered greatly from the arrogance and excesses of the Comyn and the deadly laran weapons used in their endless wars. Free of overlordship for years after the fall of Hali, when the Comyn and their laranzus and leronis return, the people resist, and even though she has no matrix and no training, Cath is able to form a Keeper's circle with horses rather than humans, in order to protect her people, her land, and her beloved wild horses.

India Edghill's story "Right to Choose" is a variation on the story of Melora Aillard from The Shattered Chain - in this tale, the Renunciates hired to free a kidnapped Comyn woman from a Dry-Towner discover that the young woman is no victim, but a willing bride, who eloped with her lover and freely chose his chains. The story is complemented by the lyrics of a song written by Edghill's sister Rosemary Edghill, which has as its refrain:

But all who breathe are chained
For power, love, or wealth
By laran, breeding, family
By others or by self.

Vera Nazarian's "Danila's Song" is a reprint from the eighth Darkover anthology, Renunciates of Darkover (1991). It is the story of psychological healing following trauma, triggered by a song. While some things bothered me - reference to a male Keeper in a time when the Terrans have just arrived on Darkover, and a debate over whether a person can inherit two donas, or laran abilities - I enjoyed the story, although I found that I wanted to know much more about the eponymous Danila than the few bits of information Nazarian gives us.

Raul S. Reyes' "The Starstone and the Mirror Ball" begins with a whimsical premise - after unknown centuries, Terrans still love disco. When a young Ridenow explores the Thendara disco scene, the lights and music trigger threshold sickness, and the development of an unusual and feared form of laran.

In Michael Spence's "Music of the Spheres, set - at least in the beginning - in the era of the Hundred Kingdoms, a quartet of retired Tower technicians take to writing and performing music, with unexpectedly transcendent results.

"Poetic Licence" by Mercedes Lackey is another reprint, having first been published in the twelfth Darkover anthology, Snows of Darkover (1994). Set in the time of Varzil the Good, it is a light, almost comic account of a young noble with a predilection for plagarising the work of his fellow music students and the ultimate consequences of his folly.

Elisabeth Waters' "A Capella," another reprint from Snows of Darkover, features Gavin Dellaray, a minor character from The Heirs of Hammerfell, caught in the difficult position of trying to teach Capella Ridenow, the tone-deaf nedestra cousin of the King, the soprano part in his next cantata.

The final story of the anthology, also by Waters, is a comic sequel to her reprint, "A Song for Capella," in which Gavin Dellaray is hard put to produce a suitable musical program to celebrate the marriage of Capella to Lord Alton.

As for the music of Darkover, Margaret Davis, one of several musicians in Bradley's circle of companions, presents a brief account of the role Bradley and other played in the creation of several published works, including a suite of songs taken from Tolkien's work with music written by Bradley, and a record of songs from the Darkover books, written or adapted by Bradley or other musicians, and arranged by Davis and her husband Kristof Klover.

Following this account are the lyrics of the songs themselves - including all twenty-odd verses of the ballad of Callista and Hastur.

An anthology with a difference, and a most enjoyable one, especially for those who have always been interested in the songs of Darkover.


*Of the eight pieces of short fiction in this anthology, six are identifiable as being written by women.