Conference noted::sf

    It's Patricia Kenneally. I freaked out when I first saw the first
    book, because one of my public school classmates had that name.
    Reading the author bio made it obvious that the two women were
    not the same.
    
    --- jerry

Did I hear/read correctly that Patricia Kenneally [sp?] was [some time when he 
was alive] Jim [Doors] Morrison's wife? Even if true, it's irrelevant 
gossip...

    re:.2
    
    Yes, it's true. That was what was mentioned in the author bio that
    tipped me off that it wasn't the same Patrica Kenneally as the one
    I knew in school.
    
    --- jerry

    I just finished reading the prequel, "The Silver Branch", and it is
    as good as the first two books.
    
    "The Silver Branch" is about the life of Aeron up to the point where she
    becomes Ard-Rian, and about the reign of her father, Fionbarr.  Several
    aspects of the story of the Keltiad are explained, like why the Bres,
    the Fomorian king has a personal grudge against Fionbarr, and how the
    princess Arianara came to dislike Aeron to the point of betrayal.
    
    There is mention at the end of the book of three more books about Aeron
    and Keltia.  I just hope Patricia Keneally can write faster than David
    Eddings ...
    
    ... Bob
    

    
         Hawks Grey Feather just came out a month or so ago.  I'm not
    sure if it's related to the Keltiad.  I believe it's a retelling
    of the Arthur story.
    
    
                                 L.J.

    JUST WANTED TO MAKE SURE YOU'D ALL SEEN THE HAWK'S GRAY FEATHER,
    HER LATEST NOVEL ABOUT THE KELTIAD (AND, BTW, ABOUT ARTHUR).  IF
    THE BLURB IN THE BACK IS TO BE BELIEVED, THIS WILL BE A TRILOGY
    ALSO !AND! THERE'S A THIRD TRILOGY IN THE WRITING.  THEY GAVE
    DATES, BUT GIVEN HER PREVIOUS WRITING RECORD, THEY MAY BE QUITE
    OPTIMISTIC.

    Just finished it this week-end.  It's a different angle on the 
    Arthur/Guenivere/Merlin/Taliesen story. 
    
    As with all of Kennealy's books, a very well-written novel.
    Enjoyed every page, but it leaves you with a cliff-hanger ending.  
    I hate it when that happens and the sequel isn't in print yet.
    
    ... Bob
    

    What I like the most about this series is the way that science fiction
    and fantasy are blended together organically so to speak.  The majesty
    of Kenneally's Keltic society is the way that everything seems to work
    together and how comfortable and natural everything, including the
    technology seems to be.  Technology does not invade needlessly, peoples
    lives, but rather enhances it, it does not isolate psople from one
    another, rather it helps to draw them together into community, and it
    does not dehumanize the world, but rather helps humans to understand
    more.  An interesting idealistic concept all in all.  I especially
    liked the idea that the Ard-righ/rian is responsible to the people
    rather than dominating them.  Reminds me a bit of the other favorite
    author of mine, Katherine Kurtz, whose Kelson agonizes over every
    decision he makes regarding his people, and who places kingdom and
    subjects before himself in almost all things.  Such characters are
    refreshing and exciting.  
    I also liked the idea in the Keltiad of not allowing technology to
    dehumanize warfare, (as we have done) doubtless the nastiness of it
    prevents warfare for anything other than the most extreme reasons.
    
    Good books
    
    Andrew 
    

    re: .-1
    
    Interesting comments on the technology of the series.  What
    accounts for the rather mild effects of technology on this culture?
    Does it simply change more slowly than it does in ours?  Or are these just
    more moral people in some sense?  /jlr

    re:-.1
    Technology is organically blended into regular life in a way that we
    are unable to manage because of the sheer practicality of our lives. 
    Because of the clan-system based government of Keltia, everyone's needs
    are basically taken care of and no-one really needs to worry about
    making enough money to survive, therefore, more time is available for
    aesthetic pursuit and the pursuit of careers of interest rather than
    necessity.  This, coupled with the Celts traditional penchant for
    things aesthetic, even in practical constructions, allows them to
    integrate technology into their lives in an organic and aesthetic
    sense.  Computers and such are not just tan or grey boxes on desks, but
    organically designed and artistically executed.	
    	Mass media is also presented in a community fashion rather than an
    individual.  When important announcements are to be made, they are made
    on large communal viewscreens in public squares and gathering places. 
    The clan system itself lends to this close-knit community relationship
    in that under the clan system, everyone depends on everyone else in a
    non-selfish fashion, giving freely what is required without the
    expectation of immediate return, but in the knowledge that if return is
    required, it will be given freely.  The clan system also provides the
    basic foundation of society and law in Keltia, the worst possible
    punishment among the Kelts being held "clan-fast"  that is without a
    clan and therefore, without connections, without family and without
    status.  A terrible punishment for people who are raised in the sure
    knowledge that no matter what they did, they would always have their
    clan to fall back upon.	
    	The kelts developed a morally advanced outlook on an inherently
    immoral subject, war.  Understanding that although war was terrible, it
    would always be a factor in dealing with people of different beliefs,
    they decided to wage war in the most honourable fashion possible.  They
    fight the war to win and to win fast, by total domination of the enemy
    forces both militarily and politically.  The Kelts developed powerful
    spy networks and fantastically skilled warriors, both space-naval, and
    land forces.  As to the conduct on the field of battle.  According to
    the books, the Kelts discovered long in their past that the use of
    weapons of mass-destruction ( a nice, new catchword for our age), made
    war too clean, too easy to contemplet without the harsh requirement of
    having to look the enemy in the face to dispatch him or her. 
    Therefore, they developed rules of war that precluded the use of
    weapons that allowed this sort of distant slaughter and reverted to
    less sop[histicated, but more human warfare techniques requiring
    fighting ranges measured in swordlengths.  This type of war is dirty
    and nasty, and very human, never allowing a person to forget exactly
    what they were doing.  I think if this concept, along with the idea of
    rulers actually participating in the fray, was brought back, there
    would be far fewer wars today.
    
    Andrew, who is out of time.
    

    Interesting!  Thanks for entering that in.  In our world, of
    course, technology did not really take off until people were
    ripped from the social networks you describe.  Rather than
    humming along in the same rural villages in which people had
    lived for centuries, they went off to work in the factory towns. 
    They lost their family and their culture when they moved, but
    certainly made more money.
    
    I don't know if social dislocation actually sped up technological
    progress (pro: it jars people out of old ways of thinking, con:
    it's psychologically disruptive), but it was certainly a part of
    the Industrial Revolution.
    
    /jlr

    I have just recently finished reading the all the book in print of this
    series.  I did enjoy it very much and am quite impatient for the next
    book in her Arthurian cycle!!  (anyone heard a due date?)
    
    However, I have had something "bugging" me about these stories.  The
    Heroines and Heroes are very nearly perfect if not completely perfect. 
    And what is ascribed to them as flaws, aren't *really* flaws e.g.
    Aeron's "heedlessness" as a young adult.  While I do not expect every
    Hero to be as flawed as Donaldson's Thomas Covenant, some real failing
    is necessary to ensure growth and struggle.  
    
    Did anyone else see this or am I imagining things?
    
    Tricia