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From: tillman@aztec.asu.edu (P.D. TILLMAN)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
Subject: Review: Flesh & Gold, by Phyllis Gotlieb
Date: 7 Jun 1998 12:47:15 -0400
Organization: Rutgers University
Message-ID: <9806071647.AA05342@aztec.asu.edu>


Review: Flesh & Gold, by Phyllis Gotlieb 
(Tor, Feb 98, 286 pp, $24)			 

Rating: "A". Gorgeous writing, wonderful 1960-ish space-opera 
plot, marred by an unsuccessful ending. Recommended. 

review copyright 1998 by Peter D. Tillman	<tillman@usa.net>

Sta'atha Anfa Skerow is a senior interworld judge on the GalFed 
Assizes Circuit. A citizen of the Northern Spine Federation on 
Khagodis, she resembles (to Solthree eyes) a "streamlined baby 
allosaurus". A routine smuggling trial on Fthel V opens a trapdoor 
into a cesspool of treachery and corruption, cruelty and murder, 
slavery and redemption in a far-distant future.


"My knife is missing," Nohl said.

"What does that matter?" Ferrier turned his eyes from the smoking 
volcanic peak on the horizon to the east and watched the waters of the

bay dancing in glints of light from the lowering sun. On Khagodis the 
air is so thin that the stars are sometimes visible in daylight; now 
in the flaring blue Ferrier could see three of the system's other 
worlds. He had hooked the oxygen tube into the corner of his mouth and

it bubbled slightly.

Amber lights glinted on Nohl's scales. With a pearl talon he flicked 
away an insect buzzing near his eye and looked down at the the thin 
figure whose head came to his elbow. Ferrier was wearing white against

the equatorial heat; his short jacket was closely fitted, and had 
double-breasted black buttons. Nohl was thinking that Ferrier's eyes 
were like the buttons, fixed and sharp on white skin. A thin skin over

arrogance and greed.
                           *   *   *

She felt other eyes on her. The madam, a blue-skinned Varvani woman, 
was standing in the doorway; she balanced her elephantine legs on gold

clogs, and the enormous bosom above her chain-mail skirt was tattooed 
with red kissystars... "Don't block the window, dear heart. You want a

sample, come on in."
                           *   *   *

Zella's people [on New Southsea] were secular fundamentalists who 
lived on solar energy, avoided electronics more complicated than 
radios, raised all their own food, and went to bed with the chickens. 
The energetic young left early and sometimes came back when they were 
tired. Zella did not repudiate her community's ideals, but wanted 
excitement. She was getting it.


Well. The first two paragraphs open the novel. What can I say? 
"Gee, I wish I could write like this?"
Instead, here is Ursula K Le Guin's cover quote:

"Sex, violence, intricate plotting, light-speed pacing, an amazing 
variety of aliens, touches of Philip K Dick's sardonic humor and 
Cordwainer Smith's obstinate idealism make this novel dazzling."

"Flesh & Gold" is a delight to read. I found myself constantly backing

up to reread choice bits, and to check earlier glosses on the large 
and, umm, colorful cast. Gotlieb's prose is spare, elegant, polished 
to a lapidary glitter. As I approached the end, I wondered how she 
would tie off loose threads and resolve the novel. Well, she didn't. 
The book just tails off  and  stops.         

Oh well. Jack Vance never figured out how to end a novel either.
So - enjoy the ride, which is truly exhilirating, and brace yourself 
for a cold-water dump back into Real Life.

I knew Ms Gotlieb only from a lackluster short-story collection that I

put aside years ago, so this wonderful novel came as a delightful 
shock. She's into her stride at age 72. This lady could make creme 
brulee from Chinese gooseberries. I hope she's in good health.  

How do her earler novels compare to "Flesh & Gold"? Does she plan to 
write a sequel?

---------------
Note: I read "Flesh & Gold" largely due to Lisa DuMond's 
enthusiastic review at:

        http://www.sfsite.com/mar98a/fle28.htm


Thanks, Lisa. The LeGuin blurb didn't hurt, either.