In the Lion's Mouth

A review in the San Diego Union-Tribune, second item:

#8220;"In the Lion’s Mouth”
Michael Flynn
Tor; 304 pages, $25.99

Michael Flynn continues his space opera series around the adventures of Donovan buigh — no typo; these characters often speak Gaelactic — and his former employers, the Confederation of Central Worlds. His daughter, the master harper Mearana, had hoped to reconcile him with her mother, a Hound of the League, one Bridget ban, but Donovan’s gone missing … kidnapped by Ravn Olafdsdottr, who shows up at Clanthompson Hall to tell the story of her interactions with Donovan.

Continuing the rich, cheery, grim density of the two previous novels in the series, “The January Dancer” and “Up Jim River,” Flynn shuttles us from Bridget ban’s estate to the ship where Donovan, in all his many personae, is captive, to conferences between operatives of the Confederation and the United League of the Periphery, to odd planets where some differences are … worked out. In engagingly violent ways. Flynn plays joyfully with more than one language, but even in straight English: “One no more despises an enemy than the knife despises the whetstone.” (I found that net searches for some of the Gaelic terms helped me appreciate more of the humor here and in the first two books).

There’s spying and thieving and politicking, both clean and not-so, and rifts in the bureaucracies that think they run this part of the Spiral Arm … and, as we are reminded often enough, it’s a big Spiral Arm. Certainly big enough for this lovely series, and, by the way, the ending does seem to leave room for a sequel, now that Donovan has more or less reintegrated all the characters who live in his head.

Jim Hopper, of Normal Heights, sometimes has trouble
enough with the single character in his head.

"Rich, cheery, grim density."   "Engagingly violent."  Interesting comments.  Not many books display cheering grimness or engaging violence.  And he hasn't laid eyes on ON THE RAZOR'S EDGE yet. 

Weather Gods

Subject of the Reading

The Reader

The weather gods reached out with uncanny pinpoint accuracy to dump 5 inches of snow on the very day I was to have a reading/signing at the Barnes and Noble, the only serious snowfall so far since Halloween. 

Consequently, only four people showed up.  Unless they were trapped in the store by the snow and couldn't get away.  A small group, but enthusiastic and participative, and we had good conversations.  I read from the recently escaped book IN THE LION'S MOUTH.  But you already knew that. 

Could have been worse, I guess.  In mathematics, 4>0.  I'm not sure how big a crown might even show up there in theory.  I was told that when the musical performer Pat Benatar did a signing, they sold only 150 books instead of the 500 they had hoped for.  I signed a bunch of books that will now go on display for the weenies who did not defy the snow to come. 

Reviews for In the Lion's Mouth & a PODCAST

I blush to add the the following links to reviews.  But I'll add them naetheless:

Fanatsy Book Critic

"I would say that a major part of the series' attraction is its execution - style, characters, world building"
LitStack

The quality of Michael Flynn’s writing is apparent in every sentence. In the first pages of In the Lion’s Mouth, his latest novel, we get the following description of one of his central characters, Francine Thompson:

“She stands by the large bay window that overlooks the endless prairie, though she herself overlooks nothing.”

By toying with the word “overlook”, Flynn gives his reader insight into his character – who is a kind of interstellar secret agent – by layering description with a nod to her constant and unerring attention to detail. This single example is significant only in what it indicates about Flynn’s writing as a whole, that he is both concerned with and playful with language. What this means is that In the Lion’s Mouth, like all the novels in his Firestar series, are more nuanced than merely being adventure fiction. They contain a depth and a whimsy that makes them enjoyable to read and easy to recommend.

+ + +
I am reliably informed that Interzone has a not-so-favorable review; but it is not web-accessible; so I don't know if the criticism is literary or political or for not writing the book the reviewer wanted to read. 

+ + +

PODCAST

As part of the Great Lion's Mouth World Tour - which nowadays can be conducted from my office - Dungeon Crawlers Radio will host an interview with yr. obt. svt., TOF on Monday January 23rd @ 6:15pm MST (which is 8:15pm in real time) .  Be sure to tune in.  Or not, as it pleases you.  

Listeners can access the show by going to www.DungeonCrawlersRadio.com and clicking on the audio player on the right hand side of the screen.  Fun times for all!

Received today by UPS courier, my official copy of IN THE LION'S MOUTH

Sing, O harper, the anger of Donovan buigh,
That graced us all with boundless grief,
And left brave men a prey to dogs and kites
As we foresaw upon that fateful day
When Donovan buigh and Those of Name
First fell out.

When his wrath at first arose ’twas I he fixed it on.
Oh, yes. ’Twas I who hauled him from his happiness
Off those same Jehovan streets where once he walked,
And had he not his eye upon more distant joys affixed,
We’d twain lie dead in those same gutters, gutted
By each other’s skills. But he foreknew, and so forbore to fight
And did submit him to my plea. But know this now, O harper.
It was to thee that he was bound when I untimely snatched him up.
Attend my tale and learn
Why once-great cities burn. 


Prize of a Hearty Handshake to the first who spots the allusion and guesses the theme of the book.

In the Lion's Mouth

Two More Reviews heard from

First, from ConNotations:

In the Lion's Mouth
by Michael Flynn
Tor Books, 2012, $25.99, 299 p

When's the last time you were smitten with a writer's word-smithing? Which authors have the power to transport you? Patricia McPhillip? Emma Bull? Steven Brust? Lois McMaster Bujold? Well, if you haven't already discovered Michael Flynn, get ready to add him to that list. Flynn is amazing. I haven't gotten this drunk on sheer words since I read Bone Dance. And the story is dam' good - no lack of action here.

Donovan, the scarred man, was on his way home - sort of - at least, he has a daughter he rather wants to see again, and maybe, just maybe his daughter's mother won't kill him on sight. Unhappily, he got abstracted by Ravn Olafsdottr, a Shadow agent, under orders to bring Donovan to a planet - not his destination - to assist in a little matter of rebellion and war.

Donovan, like Odysseus before him, is a man of many tricks. He is also, thanks to the Confederacy, a man literally of many minds. So he is remarkably resourceful - but how can you trust a man with a personality like a dodecahedron?

Ravn manages to survive Donovan's displeasure - one assassin can recognize another's repertoire - and has come to tell the women Donovan loves why Donovan himself never arrived. She spins out a tale of exceptional violence, triple-treacheries, and the strange loyalties that turn war's outcome. Embedded in her narrative is a challenge, one which Bridget ban, a Hound with the authority to summon and command other Hounds, must decide how to answer. But quietly listening all the while, and drawing her own conclusions, is Mearana, Donovan's daughter, and she has a mind very much her own.

In the Lion's Mouth is a sequel to The January Dancer and Up Jim River, and it is of course best to read them in order. However, it is possible to start a series midway and made very good going; so, do as you will.

This is space opera at its best: it ranges across galaxies; it involves empires, political intrigue, thwarted romance, and heroic deeds. In addition, Flynn, whose name suggests Irish ancestry, uses his bardic talent to emulate Homer in some passages, to ravish your soul in others, and to play most exquisitely the polyglot game.     Characters frequently use languages as a kind of warfare or to test each other (when they aren't testing each other in more lethal ways). John M. Ford would have delighted in this. In fact, if you wish Ford had written sequels to Growing Up Weightless, you might consider this series the great-great, ever so great descendant, the distant future of that cryptic storyline. With more Gaelic. Flynn has the good grace to be prolific, with eleven-plus books published through Tor, so there is much, much more to enjoy of his imagination and craft. - Chris Paige

The second is from RT Book Reviews:

IN THE LION'S MOUTH
by Michael Flynn
Genre: Science Fiction, General Science Fiction
RT Rating
Space opera is not usually rife with mythological references or Celtic-flavored fantasy elements, but this third installment in a trilogy that began with The January Dancer uses both to interesting effect. Flynn’s unusual approach adds a layer of interest to a rather standard plot of civil war and betrayal, but readers who like their science fiction straight up might grow impatient with his use of multiple dialects, poetic devices and ballads, and a narrative technique that relies on numerous points of view throughout.

In the long struggle between the Confederation of Central Worlds and the United League of the Periphery, the Hounds and the Shadows are the secret agent arms of each power. Long enemies, when Ravn Olafsdottr, a Shadow, arrives at the stronghold of Bridget ban, a Hound, with the story of Donovan buigh, Bridget’s missing former lover, a truce is called. As Ravn relates the story of her capture of Donovan, Bridget learns of Donovan’s unwilling involvement in a civil war between rebels and loyalists in the Lion’s Mouth, the Shadow’s organization bureau. (TOR, Jan., 304 pp., $25.99)
Reviewed By: Donna M. Carter

(I suppose it's a good review when the only complaint regards the "use of multiple dialects, poetic devices and ballads, and a narrative technique that relies on numerous points of view."  I have actually gotten kvetches in the past that my books have "too much characterization" and that all he (the reader) wanted was "content."  This is much easier to do with a single POV, no differences in voice, and none of that poetry stuff.  I think it's called an "outline" or "cliffnotes.")

Starred Review

In the Lion’s Mouth received a starred review in today’s issue of Publishers Weekly!

In the Lion’s Mouth
Michael Flynn. Tor, $25.99 (304p) ISBN 978-0-7653-2285-2

Prometheus Award–winner Flynn follows Up Jim River and The January Dancer with another powerful tale of far-future humanity. Donovan buigh, an amnesiac with multiple personalities, is en route to his lover and their daughter when assassin Ravn Olafsdottr kidnaps him. Ravn plans to make Donovan a rallying symbol in a secret rebellion undertaken by the assassins called Shadows against the Confederation oligarchy. Donovan reluctantly agrees, at first watching from the sidelines and then overturning all expectations in a glorious culminating firefight. The story, which Ravn relates with dramatic oratory, is a marvelously heroic ancient legend reborn in humanity’s future days. Space opera fans will be swept away by the poetic rhythm and subtle plot construction, and the open-ended conclusion will leave them clamoring for future Donovan buigh adventures. Agent: Spectrum Literary Agency. (Jan.)

In the Lion's Mouth

Cover Art!

Christmas Time is Here, By Golly

Yesterday, Margie and I wended to the wilds of Manhattan, where we had lunch at Rolf's German Restaurant, with its tastefully understated Christmas decorations (see left).  We were hosted by my esteemed editor, David Hartwell of Tor.  I had Jäger Schnitzl mit Spätzl with creamed herring for appetizer.  I asked if anyone wanted to help me eat the fish, but I had no herring aid. 

David indicated that he had finished reading In the Lion's Mouth and in his opinion, it was "magnificent." 

Now I am not one to disagree, but I thought it was crap.  Of course, that's what I always think when I have gotten to the end of a book.  All of its flaws are so glaring!  But there you have it.  He said he especially liked the linkage to Huizinga's book, which he had sensed in the Shadow culture even before he got to my acknowledgments.  How did he finish it so quickly, I asked.  He said he couldn't stop reading it. 

In the Lion's Mouth

O frabjous day!  Callooh!  Callay! 

The frumious Bandersnatch is slain!

It now remains to dress the carcass.


One man with a dream, at pleasure, 
Shall go forth and conquer a crown; 
And three with a new song’s measure 
Can trample an empire down.

 – Arthur O’Shaughnessy (1844-1881), “We Are the Music Makers”

The Banners of the Shadows of the Names

In the Lion's Mouth

For your amusement, a snippet of dialog from the new book.  Donovan has just been removed from an autoclinic following a long recovery by two "magpies".  (These are Confederal subordinates to the Shadows.)  The younger magpie is a medic, and after a bit of talking......

Donovan looked at the older magpie.  “You don’t talk much.” 
“Don’t need to, usually.” 
“And you are…?” 
“Your sparring partner.  Physical therapy.” 
“I had enough sparring with Ekadrina.  I was hoping to relax.” 
The older magpie nodded toward the autoclinic.  “You have been.” 
“I think I like you…”  Donovan looked at the brassard.  “Should I call you Five, or do you have a nicknumber?” 

Oderint dum Metuant

For your amusement, a short draft passage from In the Lion's Mouth

In this passage, Donovan is a passenger on the ship of Gidula, one of the leaders of a revolution among the Shadow-agents of the Confederation.  The rebels are trying to convince Donovan to join them.  Present are Donovan (whom the rebels call "Gesh"), Gidula, and Gidula's servant Podiin, who has just brought some appetizers and drinks.  Gidula calls citizens of the Periphery "Peripherals," and praises Confederal society thusly:

Beware the man of one book
The Feast of Thomas Aquinas

Today is the feast of Thomas Aquinas!  Do something reasonable in his honor!>

Some Thomistic Quotes:
(I've added sources where I know them, but did not chase them down.  If anyone knows the source text, let me know.)

1. Beware the man of one book.

2. It is better to illuminate than merely to shine, to deliver to others contemplated truths than merely to contemplate.

3. By nature all men are equal in liberty, but not in other endowments.
(Not even Thomas Jefferson said it better....) 

4. If to provide itself with a king belongs to the right of a given multitude, it is not unjust that the king be deposed or have his power reduced by that same multitude if, becoming a tyrant, he abuses his royal power.
(On Kingship, I:6)  (Not even Thomas Jefferson said it better....) 

5. We marvel at something when, seeing an effect, we do not know the cause.  And since one and the same cause is at times known to certain people and not to others, it happens that some marvel and some do not. 
(On the truth of the catholic faith against the gentiles)

6. Since Holy Scripture can be explained in a multiplicity of senses, one should adhere to a particular explanation only in such measure as to be ready to abandon it, if it be proved with certainty to be false; lest Holy Scripture be exposed to the ridicule of unbelievers, and obstacles be placed to their believing.
(Summa theologica, Part I, Q. 68, art. 1) 

7. Nature is nothing but the plan of some art, namely a divine one, put into things themselves, by which those things move towards a concrete end: as if the man who builds up a ship could give to the pieces of wood that they could move by themselves to produce the form of the ship.
(Commentary on Physics II.8, lecture 14, no. 268) 

8. Sciences are differentiated according to the various means through which knowledge is obtained. For the astronomer and the physicist both may prove the same conclusion—that the earth, for instance, is round: the astronomer by means of mathematics (i.e., abstracting from matter), but the physicist by means of matter itself.
(Summa Theologiae, Part I, Q. 1, art. 1)

9. The suppositions that these astronomers have invented need not necessarily be true; for perhaps the phenomena of the stars are explicable on some other plan not yet discovered by men
llorum tamen suppositiones quas adinvenerunt, non est necessarium esse veras: licet enim, talibus suppositionibus factis, apparentia salvarentur, non tamen oportet dicere has suppositiones esse veras; quia forte secundum aliquem alium modum, nondum ab hominibus comprehensum, apparentia circa stellas salvantur.
(De coelo [On the heavens], II, lect. 17)

10. The theory of eccentrics and epicycles is considered as established, because thereby the sensible appearances of the heavenly movements can be explained; not, however, as if this proof were sufficient, forasmuch as some other theory might explain them.
Sicut in astrologia ponitur ratio excentricorum et epicyclorum ex hoc quod, hac positione facta, possunt salvari apparentia sensibilia circa motus caelestes, non tamen ratio haec est sufficienter probans, quia etiam forte alia positione facta salvari possent.
(Summa theologica, I, Q.32, art.1)

11. Practical sciences proceed by building up; theoretical sciences by resolving into components.
Necessarium est enim in qualibet operativa scientia ut procedatur modo compositivo, e contrario autem in scientia speculativa necesse est ut procedatur modo resolutivo, resolvendo composita in principia simplicia.
(Sententia libri Ethicorum [Commentary on the Nicomachean Ethics], Bk. I, chap. 3, no. 4)

A miscellany of quotes:
Some of the following seem a bit too colloquial, but the Internet cannot be wrong, can it? 

Good can exist without evil, whereas evil cannot exist without good.

A man has free choice to the extent that he is rational.

All the efforts of the human mind cannot exhaust the essence of a single fly.

If the highest aim of a captain were to preserve his ship, he would keep it in port forever.

Because of the diverse conditions of humans, it happens that some acts are virtuous to some people, as appropriate and suitable to them, while the same acts are immoral for others, as inappropriate to them.

Friendship is the source of the greatest pleasures, and without friends even the most agreeable pursuits become tedious.

How is it they live in such harmony the billions of stars - when most men can barely go a minute without declaring war in their minds about someone they know.

It is requisite for the relaxation of the mind that we make use, from time to time, of playful deeds and jokes.

Sorrow can be alleviated by good sleep, a bath and a glass of wine.

To bear with patience wrongs done to oneself is a mark of perfection, but to bear with patience wrongs done to someone else is a mark of imperfection and even of actual sin.

It is possible to demonstrate God's existence, although not a priori, yet a posteriori from some work of His more surely known to us.

Which Brings Us to Today's Bonus Feature

The First Proof of the Existence of God
(The Cosmological Argument)

In the Lion's Mouth

Fair Yuts'ga
An excerpt from In the Lion's Mouth, a sketch of the world of Yuts'ga, whose name derives from the Cantonese for "Second Earth." 

There is an introductory poem, followed by the sketch:

VII A Role, in the Hay

Fair Yuts’ga, whose star once spied from Earth
In nameless twinkle, whose seas once swam
With proto-life prolific, joined in metazoic joy,
Her skies well-crossed by many streams, convulsed
At times by strife to seize them, have now in gentle peace
Reposed these slumb’rous years, to dream… of what? 
Here, too, a crucial bottleneck where messages import
Must criss and cross their way along the stars,
A place where proper hands may stay or hasten
Intelligence sore-needed elsewhere by the foe. 
And so have Shadows dimmed Fair Yuts’ga
In stealth to play the game upon the razor’s edge;
Life sweetly-tasted 'long the borderlands of death. 
They circle, gath’ring ever closer, one upon another
Until the shades envelop all in that fatal commonwealth
In which we all find membership.  Ah, Yuts’ga!
Frontier no more, her ancient Commonwealth forgot,
Her star-crossed skies now routes to other worlds,
An incubator once, now into the grave be hurled!
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