Lee Willard

Oarsman of the Princess (eBook, ePUB)

• Format: ePub

Produktbeschreibung

No matter which prince her father chose for her, the others promised war so he believed the only way to keep the peace was to marry her off to a bishop of Karasis, whom all princes would have to respect, not only because of their religious faith, but because of the might of the vast republic at the western end of the canal. The one she preferred had far too small an army so that sending her to him would certainly cause his death.

My duty was to row the princess fifty one miles to the great Temple in Yuhal, far to the west on the ancient canal. There would be nineteen of us, including guards and domestics, on the grandest barge the canal had ever seen. I felt the honor at being one of those chosen, but also the dread because five miles of our row was thru the land of one of the princes vying for her and thirty one miles thru the lawless wilds of the Aitol where we were not even sure the canal is navigable. We had only four warriors with us, far too few, I thought, to brave the savage tribes of the Aitol even if all we carried was bulk cargo.

This story happens in 951bc., long before the Instinct when violence was possible. This is probably the most violent story in the Lee Willard collection, though there have been many larger wars on Kassidor. This story is really about the stupidity of war.

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Produktdetails

• Verlag: Lee Willard
• Erscheinungstermin: 3. April 2021
• Englisch
• ISBN-13: 9781005968212
• Artikelnr.: 72788190

Autorenporträt

I am a retired embedded systems engineer and sci-fi hobbyist from Hartford. Most of my stories concern Kassidor, 'The planet the hippies came from' which I have used to examine subjects like: What would it take to make the hippy lifestyle real? How would extended lifespans affect society? What could happen if we outlive our memories? How can murder be committed when violence is impossible?

I have recently discovered that someone new to science fiction should start their exploration of Kassidor with the Second Expedition trilogy. To the mainstream fiction reader the alien names of people, places and things can be confusing. This series has a little more explanation of the differences between Kassidor and Earth. In all of the Kassidor stories you will notice the people do not act like ordinary humans but like flower children from the 60's. It is not until Zhlindu that the actual modifications made to human nature to make them act that way are spelled out. To aide that understanding I've made The Second Expedition free.

I am not a fan of violence and dystopia. I believe that sci-fi does not just predict the future, but helps create the future because we sci-fi writers show our readers what the future will be and the readers go out and create it. I believe that the current fad of constant dystopia and mega-violence in sci-fi today is helping to create that world, and I mention that often in reviews and comments on the books I read. I also believe that the characters in those stories who are completely free of any affection are at least as unnatural as the modified humans of Kassidor.

In my reviews, * = couldn't finish it. ** = Don't bother with it. *** = good story worth reading. **** = great and memorable story. ***** = Worth a Hugo.