Philotic Web

http://www.amazon.com/Stonefather-Orson ... 761&sr=1-1

I get Subterranean Press' newsletter, so I knew this was sold out on publication, I didn't realize that amazon was one of their wholesalers and would have it available for a nice discount.

there's only 2000 copies of this out there, so a good idea to buy now. I think it's an expansion of a recent short story of Card's.

What is it about? Is it scifi? Fantasy? This is the first I've heard of it.

It's fantasy, it's set in the world of one of OSC's short stories, I can't remember which one, but it was one of my, Dave and Nathan's favorite. I'll pull out maps in a mirror and see if I can find that story. the short story Stonefather was in an anthology, and also in Keeper of Dreams, iirc. This is more a novella.

It's about a prodigy who has an affinity for stone and how that brings him into conflict with a culture where that affinity has long been strictly controlled and monitored due to abuses and wars in the past.

I found the short story set in the same world that is in Maps, it's called "Sandmagic". But I don't see the original "Stonefather" short story in Keeper of Dreams (which I have). Maybe it was in an anthology but not included in Keeper? Anyway, I don't think it's worth it to me to spend the money since I'm really trying to save right now. And I'm sure it'll be in some collection or novel form in the future.

the book showed up today I read a bit of it to confirm it was the story I read in Borders in a scifi/fantasy anthology about six months ago. same story. decent story, til you get to the point where card finds a love interest and starts lecturing us with dialogue about friendship and relationships and just how far a girl should go and how men are endowed with inner strength to resist their natural desires and I just tuned out.

The beginning and end of the story is pretty good though. very alvin makery. I've no hope at all Mithermages will be a good series though, it's going to be too self-bowdlerized to hold any interest for me.

I am amazed that every single time a male meets a female in a recent Card novel they have a discussion about their cleverness of their own banter followed by falling over themselves to declare themselves not to be flirting because they are naturally chaste and flirting is just too close to sex for them to be comfortable, then they have a discussion about sex and when it's appropriate (only in marriage), all within seconds of meeting each other. This scenario plays out every single time a strange male meets a strange female, unless they're related. I can't help it, I've started calling these characters "The clones" in my head.