A Legacy of Daemons

Product Details

• Qualification: New
• Notes: BUY WITH Belief, Over one million books sold! 98% Positive feedback. Compare our books, prices and usage to the competition. 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed
• ISBN13: 9780756406035

Description

Third in the paranormal detective series

Evan Davis and his partners, Brad and Lily, attract the jobs no other detective can handle-cases with a dangerous, otherworldly slant. But no one is better equipped for this because Lily and Brad are powerful daemon lords, and Evan is Brad's half-daemon son. Now, however, the trio face a real challenge---involving armies of daemons, and wealthy mortals who have delved far too deeply into the dark arts...

---

Customer Reviews

Good read
This book is great on so many levels. It is a fantasy book, with strange beings and many levels of existence. It is also a page-turner mystery. And it actually has women (females, I guess, would be the better description in most cases), who actually have feelings and do things. Not to mention a little bit of romantic stuff. I cared about the characters, and cannot wait to see the movie. In case it is not made soon, I will read the other two books.

2010-07-11 | Helpful Votes: 1 | Rating: 5

---

A great read
This book picks up almost directly after the previous novel. It is not truly a stand alone and I highly recommend that you read the first book to understand some of the context of this one. That being said, as a follow up to the previous book, this was excellent. The plot was interesting, we continue to learn a bit more about Evan, Brad, and Lily, and there are some new developments which complicate their interpersonal relationships. Evan had the most character development in this story which makes since as he is the only one of the 3 main characters who is human, at least partly. As essentially timeless, immortal beings, Lily and Brad should stay somewhat static and observers of the world. They should not be overly affected by it. I think the author does a great job of this for the most part. I never get the feeling that she forgets exactly WHAT these creatures are. The new supporting characters in this story are interesting. I really enjoyed the characters of Mat Shields. And also Uncle Ray was amusing. I hope he shows back up in a later book. My only criticism would have to be with the ending of the story. I won't go into detail but it did leave with with a since of dis-satisfaction. Nothing was wrapped up well IMO. I understand leaving cliff hangers but this felt more like we stopped mid story.Still, I highly recommend this book and look forward to the next.

2010-06-01 | jtouchst (TX) | Helpful Votes: 2 | Rating: 4

---

super urban fantasy
They are upscale Philadelphia private investigators specializing in all things supernatural, but that is mostly because the three partners are part of the paranormal community. Brad and Lilly are full blooded daemons of the house of Ariton who live in their spirit form in the second celestial sphere; the one closest to the first sphere which contains earth. Evan Davis is a half-breed son of Brad, an abomination who should not exist, but for now Ariton is staying his hand and will not kill him.

Everyone is shocked when Matt Shields (who is really a daemon) asks Evan to bid for a box at Sotheby's. He was a daemon who was forcibly bound to the evil Donne family forced to do their biding. Now that the last Donne is dead he is still bound to the box and can't leave the earth for home. Inside the box is another daemon who has gone mad from centuries of captivity. Bound by the contract Evan signed and their Princes of the Host s agreed to. The trio must find the box and free the daemon trapped inside. There are many obstacles and enemies to overcome in order to get the box. Evan remains ignorant how much power he possesses to destroy his adversaries, but makes the wrong move when challenged by the Princes of Ariton and Paimon.

This urban fantasy like its predecessors (see Eye of the Demon and Eyes of the Empress) is loaded with action, but is character driven. Brad to his shock has feelings towards his offspring although he refuses to admit they exist even to him. Evan feels upbeat to learn he is not insane as his differences are due to his legacy not his brain failing him. Lilly and Evan are lovers who make a formidable pair and she is incredibly powerful as is Brad who is part of their "family" unit. Camille Bacon-Smith affirms she is a great fantasist who pioneered the urban fantasy genre.

Harriet Klausner

2010-05-07 | Helpful Votes: 2 | Rating: 5

---

Daemon Eyes

Description

The paranormal mystery of Eye of the daemon and eyes of the empress Together for the first time!

Kevin Bradley and his partners are uniquely qualified to handle cases involving the occult-he and Evan Davis are far more than the mere mortals they appear to be. Kevin is a powerful daemon lord, and Evan is his half-daemon, half-human son. Solving mortal crimes should be a cinch for them. But somehow, they never get the easy, open-and-shut cases.

---

Customer Reviews

Great Story and well crafted world.
Ok, some of you may have read a number of recent paranormal, but this one is one of my favorites from over 10 years ago. I love how it started with the hint of some great backstory. Classic, paranormal investigation. Great!!11

2010-04-09 | melgaye (Lathrup Village, MI USA) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 5

---

Very disappointed
I made it half way through this book but couldn't finish it. I like the authors concept and created world, that was interesting. But this book just seem to drag on and on.

2008-06-10 | Kathy (Bristol, CT) | Helpful Votes: 3 | Rating: 2

---

Heard the Author Read It
I heard the author read from this at Philcon 2007 and resolved then and there to use up the last two slots of my phone's address book to enter the book information so I remembered to get it. While I am not an aficionado of the genre, I found her plot, characters and dialogue to be compelling, and I look forward to reading the rest of the book! If you get the chance to go to a reading of hers, I highly recommend it; she is a dynamic reader and opinionated lady.

2008-01-09 | acaliforniancustomer (SAN JOSE, CA United States) | Helpful Votes: 3 | Rating: 5

---

Entertaining
Depressed and terrified, Evan has horrific dreams which cause him to contemplate suicide. After allowing two close friends to drag him to a satanic bar (you can tell Evan doesn't make the smartest life choices), he soon becomes a captive of the evil barkeep Mac who is secretly a demon in disguise. Ritually tortured, he is eventually freed, and must come face to face with the frightening reality of who his father is and what he must become to survive.

I admit, I picked this book up because of the cover. Two hot guys.. You can't go wrong, right? Well, the novel was a bit slow to start. It takes about 30 pages of Evan self-pity (and stupidity) to get to the good parts... The good part in my case, being Evan's Dad, Brad. Reading about Brad (no its not his real name) is perhaps the best part of the book. His evolution as a character makes it all worthwhile. Evan grew on me a bit too...But I found it difficult to like him.. Evan's not a bad kid... But he is a victim and for the first half (the first book), his victimhood and pain and abused nature did not make light reading.

Which brings me to the final issue with this novel which kept it from being a five star read. At times the author strays off target and brings in a lot of minor characters at once. There are heavy amounts of dialog and I felt like the story strayed from the tight action-packed urban-fantasy package it had previously been. Any time Claudia and her brother were mentioned for instance... Just didn't seem to fit in the whole storyline that well. The dialog in particular between these characters seemed cheesy and overdone. Also, at times I felt the story lacked grounding. The demons can teleport wherever they want to be, and sometimes the real world and the demon world was difficult to distinguish and because the writer does not employ alot of environmental description, this makes this problem worse.

Overall, a good story. Entertaining.

2007-09-11 (California, USA) | Helpful Votes: 19 | Rating: 4

---

Great book!
Anyone who likes a book w/action, heroes you can sympathize with, and simple entertainment will love this book! It is an Awesome book!

2007-07-19 | BMD0123 (Michigan) | Helpful Votes: 1 | Rating: 5

---

Eyes of the Empress

Description

Bradley, Ryan, and Davis, Private Investigaors was the most unique detective agency in Philadelphia, because Kevin Bradley and his partners, Evan and Lily, were not the mere mortals they appeared to be. Brad and Lily were powerful demons, and Evan was Brad's half-demon/half-mortal son. Solving earthly crimes ought to have been a cinch for them. But when someone began stealing the crystal balls which had belonged to the centuries-dead Dowager Empress of China, Brad, and Evan found themselves hard-pressed to track the criminal down. For the thief was a dangerous--perhaps unstoppable-- adversary...even for those with powers beyond anything known in the mortal realms!

---

Customer Reviews

A Grand Sequel
I truely hope Bacon-Smith continues with another book of Daemons Inc. This book wsa as great as the first and i would encourage anyone to buy it! Like the first Eyes of the Daemon, the book was never slow and both kept me reader till 2 in the morning. The plot is intriguing and always entertaining, and the complications add flavor to the overall story. To sum-up the book, the private detective agency of Bradely, Ryan, and Davis is called to protect the Dowager Empress Crystals, but before they can start they're gone and Kevin Bradley has become the top suspect! With these and other "family" problems bursting into life, the agency is in for a rough ride, and Kevin maybe in for a greater betrayl...

2003-04-14 | Angela (Oregon) | Helpful Votes: 1 | Rating: 5

---

Let's hope Ms. Bacon-Smith keeps this series going
She hasn't continued with it but I sincerely hope she has more ideas in the works for the detective agency of Bradley, Ryan and Davis. These two books (Eyes of the Daemon and Eyes of the Empress) are unique and utterly fascinating. I keep picking one up to re-read a favorite passage and end up reading the entire book all over again. I never know whether to check the Mystery, Sci-Fi, or Fiction sections to see if she's written a third book in this series, so I check them all regularly. A skillful and incredibly talented writer!

2002-08-14 | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 5

---

a great read - you won't want to put it down
I picked up this book and the first title "eye of the daemon" together on the off chance that they would be good. I wasn't dissapointed. Both titles are one of the best reads I have had in a long time. A contempoary fantasy that has great characters. You won't want to put either book down. I am looking forward to more books with these characters from this author.

I read a lot of SF, Fantasy and horror and these titles really do stand out from the crowd. Definate 'keepers'.

1999-05-29 | Helpful Votes: 4 | Rating: 5

---

Ironic, exotic, erotic, and not to be missed
I'd advise having the following handy when you read this book. First, an extremely comfortable chair; you aren't going to want to put this book down anytime soon. Next, a DO NOT DISTURB sign so the world will leave you alone while you chortle or in some cases laugh hysterically at the book's ironic and often sly humor. Finally, a fan for cooling off after you get through the steamier passages. This worthy successor to EYE OF THE DAEMON picks up several years after the first book, with half-human/half-daemon Evan settling into something resembling a happy existence with daemon father Brad and daemon lover Lily. At least, Evan suspects it's a happy existence because neither has tried to kill him lately... he's a remarkably well-adjusted boy. I'm a fantasy and science fiction reader, and I still don't know what genre this book belongs to, but I can attest to the fact that it's the most legal fun you can have without getting into Serious Literature. The humor is wonderful, the premise delightful. Read the other book first if you can because it's more fun that way, but if you can't, don't worry. I look forward to more in the series!

1999-04-20 | Helpful Votes: 7 | Rating: 5

---

Not like anything else
Evan has got it tough. His dad is a Damon from the Second Sphere where time doesn't exist and his Mom's from the Material Sphere - Earth and that makes hims a monster that's not welcome anywhere. Although the main plot-line of this book is a mystery, it serves only as a backdrop to the real story, Evan's relationship with his Daemon dad, Brad and his Daemon lover, Lily. Evan longs for a family, but the Daemon's just don't get it. Their totally non-human outlook on life is effectively captured by the author when Brad, puzzled by why Evan want's him around so badly says to Lily regarding his son, "He was just . . . interesting, nothing more. I never told him I liked him". Of course Daemon's aren't much better then humans at understanding their emotions and that's the source of much of the fun. What I like most though, is the unabashed celebration of the individual. So many books glorify self-sacrifice and heroics for the common good, by Evan wants to live despite the fact it might be better for all of creation if he had never been. This is the second book in the serious and it read better then the first. It can be probably be enjoyed by itself but will be a lot richer if you have read the firest one. Unlike the first this book contains no gore and no murders, which suits me just fine. Hopefully there will be many more books to follow.

1999-02-27 | Helpful Votes: 5 | Rating: 4

---

Eye of the Daemon

Description

On a quest for her kidnapped half brother, Marnie Simpson hires a Philadelphia group of private investigators whose ties to the supernatural enable them to combat a staggering plan of conquest. Reissue.

---

Customer Reviews

Slow to Start
I pulled this one off my shelves the other day and decided to read it right away. But things started out confusingly with references to adventures made in a way that made me think I had missed a previous volume.

What we have is a detective agency that specializes in retrieving lost or stolen art (so why does their ad mention the occult?). The agency is made up of a father, a son and a distant cousin. Father and cousin are daemon lords and the son is a half-breed. Their new case has been thrust upon them and it brings up old memories of how dad got reunited with son (this part really seems like a reference to an earlier book). The case takes them around the world and involves a rival daemon lord.

Much of the plot revolves around the mythology of the seven spheres (humans in the first, daemons in the second) and the interactions of daemon lords and princes. By the last third of the book things are clearer and it became enjoyable to read even if the ending was a bit cliched. I found the cosmology interesting but not the way it was integrated into the story. Since none of heroes are human, their actions, motives and dialogue are hard to understand. I don't feel the reader is brought into the picture properly but if you can handle a book that starts slow and confusing it could be worth sticking with it to the end.

2005-12-01 (Chicago, IL United States) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 3

---

A Great Book
I was really amazed by this book. I got it as an interesting read, not expecting such a great tale! I do agree with one problem, and that is i felt there should or was a book before this since the large reference to the past. However, the past is all explained in this book, but i was disapointed to learn there is NOT a book before this one , otherwise i'd be reading it now. The book doesn't qualify as a mystery but more a sci-fi, which makes it all the better to me, and paranormal type book. The book was NEVER boring and happily i never has to skip any "slow parts". If you like daemons, paranormal, etc. i can almost gaurantee you'de like this book. To be more clear on what it is ABOUT, its about a woman who goes to a private detective agency of Bradely, Ryan, and Davis, that specialize in handling "cases involving the occult with descretion", though by some rather daemonic means...However, the plot is raveled with alterial motives and our protagonists soon find themsleves in a rather difficult situation. I highly recomend this book, as well as "Eyes of the Empress." to add a last quote from the hardcover additoin Daemons, Inc.--"They're detectives on a mission. And their methods are...diabolical."

2003-04-14 | Angela (Oregon) | Helpful Votes: 1 | Rating: 5

---

Not a detective story
I was somewhat misled by the plot description, essentially "a detective agency, run by demons, investigates a kidnapping." I expected, well, something more of a mystery to be involved. But the identity of the kidnapper is never a mystery, nor is the mysterious Eye of Omage that the kidnapper claims to want for ransom. Villains explain their dark plans at the slightest prompting, and every character introduced, like in a Scooby Doo cartoon, proves to have a role in the Big Plot. Had I been expecting something more in the vampire genre of "sex, death, and angst" I might have been better prepared to like this book.

The description of daemon thinking was interesting, and is what gives this book its second star, for me. One daemon explains: "You see a painting and feel a set of emotions you translate as appreciation. [...] If you could become the painting, love your own beauty, and then pass on, [...] then you'd be getting close [to how daemons experience things]." However, while the description of how daemons are different was interesting, by the fourth or fifth time it was explained in detail that for daemons, it's always now, I was ready for more plot, less exposition. Or, please, a little mystery.

2002-12-30 (Somerville, MA USA) | Helpful Votes: 3 | Rating: 2

---

To Hell with The Daemon!
This book is so badly done in so many different ways, it's hard to know where to start. That seems to be the author's big problem too: the book reads like some of the worst sequel novels I've seen, where the first hundred pages are spent explaining, in unlovely prose, what happened in the first book. In this case, there was no first book, but the author presents his characters in that manner anyway. The narrative moves with the speed of frozen molasses -- when it isn't moving backwards. Then there are the characters themselves. Billion-year-old daemons who are as tempramental and un-self-controlled as two- year-old kids. This is just really, really stupid stuff. For a couple books that handle similar themes much better, check out Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle's "Inferno" and Steven Brust's "To Reign In Hell"

2000-10-29 (Glendale, CA USA) | Helpful Votes: 1 | Rating: 1

---

Good book!
This was a good book. The biggest thing wrong with it is that I kept thinking there was a book before it I should have read. It keeps refering to events in the past, like I should already know of it. I eventually figured it out, but I think that this one should have been a sequel, not a first book. I would recommend it to most people though, it is a good book. They run a detective agency, and all of them seem to be trying to figure out why they like Evan. Kevin is struggling to understand his paternal feelings. Lily occasionally gets confused by her emotions for Evan. Even Evan is trying to figure out why he wants to stay alive. Meanwhile, you are trying to figure out why they don't know. I mean, he is such a great guy!

2000-04-11 | j65bryan (Guthrie, OK USA) | Helpful Votes: 1 | Rating: 4

---

Enterprising Women: Television Fandom and the Creation of Popular Myth (Contemporary Ethnography)

Description

A study of the worldwide community of fans of Star Trek and other genre television series who create and distribute fiction and art based on their favorite series. This community includes people from all walks of life—housewives, librarians, secretaries, and professors of medieval literature. Ninety percent of its members are women.

---

Customer Reviews

Fandom's female subculture
Being a woman who is an occasional writer of Klingon fan-novellas, I was interested in this scholarly book on fanfic and its female following. The author does an in-depth study of female fans of not only Star Trek, but Blake's 7 (a British sci-fi series), Starskiy & Hutch, The Man From Uncle, Alien Nation, Doctor Who, and other TV shows. Her conclusions: 98% of fanfic is written by women, who prefer intimacy, character-interaction, and continuity over action and special-effects. (I guess that makes me a "2%er" -- I prefer plot-driven adventure, decriptive carnage, and characters of my own creation.) Immersing herself in the subculture, Bacon-Smith delves into the very personal and sometimes secretive world of 'zines and fannish writing. With great respect toward the community which generously contributed to her study, she exposes the genres of fiction which appeal to most female writers and readers. They are the "MarySue" and "LaySpock" which are basically an extension of the writers' own personnae and fantasies; the "Hurt-Comfort" tender tales of nurturing and caretaking; and "Slash" or erotica featuring explicit sex between established characters. Bacon-Smith also cautiously explores the underground realm of homoerotic "Slash" (sometimes called "K/S" after Kirk/Spock) in which female fans envision intimate relationships between the two male partners of various favorite series. This is an intriguing book, containing much technical terminology and psych-evaluation. I thought I might identify with it, but instead I found the subculture wholly alien (no pun intended). At least I know now why my klinzines are not a big hit with the mainstream fandom!

2000-07-30 (Tovarischi Imports, USA/RUS) | Helpful Votes: 10 | Rating: 4

---

Interesting
I think people could be surprised at how much fanfic, esp on the Internet, can mean to people. Let alone that it was a big enough topic for people to write books and scholarly essays about! Could be something of a surpise, esp if you had no idea so many people enjoyed this hobby.

2000-03-27 | Helpful Votes: 1 | Rating: 3

---

An intriguing look at fandom on the verge of major change
A fascinating look at fandom, managing to catch the world of zines, video, and small communities just before the 'Net fully hit fandom. Occasionally a bit too filled with academic lingo for the average reader, but an utterly engrossing read for anyone involved in fandom.

2000-03-27 (New Orleans) | Helpful Votes: 5 | Rating: 3

---

Science Fiction Culture

Description

In a century that has taken us from the horse and buggy to the world wide web, science fiction has established itself as the literature to explore the ways in which technology transforms society while its counterpart, genre fantasy, insistently reminds us of the magical transformations of the individual in response to the demands of the social. So it should come as no surprise that the fans and producers of these genres come together to create the culture of the future around the ideal that tales of wonder about the future and the imaginary past can be shared as both symbolic communication and social capital.

In Science Fiction Culture, Camille Bacon-Smith explores the science fiction community and its relationships with the industries that sustain it, including the publishing, computer, and hotel/convention industries, and explores the issue of power in those relationships: Who seems to have it? Who does have it? How do they use it? What are the results of that use? In the process, Bacon-Smith rejects the two major theoretical perspectives on mass culture reception. Consumers are not passive receivers of popular culture produced by the hegemonic ideology machine that is the mass media industry, nor are they rebels valiantly resisting that machine by reading against the grain of the interpretation designed into the products they consume.

Bacon-Smith argues that the relationship between consumers of science fiction and producers is much more complex than either of these theories suggests. Using a wide range of theoretical perspectives, she shows that this relationship is based on a series of continuing negotiations across a broad spectrum of cultural interests.

---

Customer Reviews

An anthropologist studies SF cons and fandom
This was a treat, an in depth anthropological study of the culture of sci-fi/fantasy reading, writing, and publishing that I picked up from Pandemonium Books here in Boston. The roles of fans and conventions were scrutinized in depth, including the changing reception of women and homosexuals. The impact of "New Wave" writers in the 60s, the ever shifting face of the publishing industry, and how fans make the transition to writers were also studied. As interesting as all this was, the hard fact of how difficult it really is to make it as a full-time writer was thoroughly driven home and made for a depressing final note.

2008-02-03 | Craig S. Shoemake (Malden, MA United States) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 3

---

Good material obscured by academic tripe
While the subject matter of this book is interesting and the writer obviously has collected a lot of good base material, including first-hand research, I found the academic jargon of the book extremely off-putting. Many time I found myself slogging through turgid, overly complex explanatory material and then finding some nugget of genuinely interesting material (making me think "Wow, I never thought of that!"), only to lose it once again amid the drek the writer uses to package it. This book would have been so much better had it used a less formal, more vernacular style, possibly even one that showed some sense of humor. As it is, it's quite dry, which is unfortunate since the subject certainly is not. Finally, I'd like to note that the review posted here by Edward Thomas Veal seems to me quite accurate in terms of spelling out the limitations of the author; some of what he points out was quite noticeable to me as well.

2004-10-10 | Reader, Writer, Editor (Atlanta, GA United States) | Helpful Votes: 5 | Rating: 3

---

An Anthropological Trek Through SF Fandom
Camille Bacon-Smith, an academic folklore specialist, has spent almost two decades applying the methods of ethnographical research to the subculture that has grown up around science fiction literature, movies and artwork. She regularly attends SF conventions, reads fanzines, interviews both leaders and rank-and-file of the science fiction community and otherwise investigates Fandom in much the same way that Margaret Mead studied Samoa. "Science Fiction Culture" is the summation of her efforts. As one of the natives under scrutiny (being a long-time science fiction fan and past chairman of the World Science Fiction Convention), I read it with interest. Unhappily, though, it is one of those books that tries to do far too much and therefore accomplishes almost nothing.
If I wished to be denigratory, it would be easy to utilize "insider" knowledge to catalogue the book's numerous errors of fact. On the one page that mentions my own name, I found five mistakes. None of them is serious (two surnames are misspelled, two people are assigned to the wrong home towns, one very well-known fan - universally referred to as "Peggy Rae" - is called "Peggy"), but they do suggest that the author is not in total command of her material. She is particularly weak on the development of Fandom before her own contact with it. To take an important example, she guesses that the sudden growth in the size of the World Science Fiction Convention in the 1960's resulted from the entry into Fandom of the "counterculture", whereas the initial spurt (from 850 members in 1966 to over 1,500 in 1967) is readily explained by the advent of the original "Star Trek" television series. The next abrupt doubling, between 1977 and 1978, followed closely on the release of "Star Wars".
In addition, like any other stranger in a strange land, the author is at the mercy of her informants, who sometimes feed her biased information and once in a while, it appears, simply pull her leg. Her account of the bidding for the 1993 Worldcon reflects only the views of the successful bid and unfairly dismisses its opponents as motivated by resentment over being left out of leadership roles. (She also muddles the chronology of the contest.) As an instance of leg pulling, someone has given her the idea that a famous 1940's diatribe, which, among much else, deplored the (alleged and improbable) influence of homosexuals in Fandom, is a scandalous secret. This "secret" is, in fact, so familiar that another outsider, mystery writer Sharyn McCrumb, introduced a lightly fictionalized version into her novel "Zombies of the Gene Pool".
Despite some degree of inaccuracy and dubious interpretation, "Science Fiction Culture" might still be worth an additional star, were it not for three fundamental flaws. First, the author's prose is awkward, jargon-heavy and tedious. Second, she frequently theorizes before assimilating sufficient data and sees only what her theories tell her to see. Third, and most fatally, she devotes only about a third of her text to her nominal subject, an ethnographical investigation of Fandom. For want of space, vast reaches of pertinent data are virtually ignored (e. g., fanzine publishing and Fandom outside the United States) or greatly oversimplified (e. g., conventions other than Worldcons). The author apologizes for some of her omissions. It apparently does not occur to her that she could have avoided major gaps by writing a better focused book.
The sections peripheral to Fandom consist of, first, lamentations on the travails of progressively chic groups (women, homosexuals, youth, sadomasochists) as they try to enter a supposedly white, male domain and, second, miscellaneous observations on the state of science fiction publishing. The "travails" aren't very interesting. As the author concedes, women were integrated into Fandom decades ago and homosexuals have encountered little resistance. The other groups that she discusses (by "youth", it should be noted, she means the minuscule "goth" subculture, not people who are chronologically young) occasionally hang out at science fiction conventions but seem quite uninterested in associating with anyone beyond their own circles.
Worthwhile accounts of "outsiders trying to become insiders" could be written about the relationship to Fandom of neopagans, libertarians, evangelical Christians or even role playing gamers, and it would be interesting to explore why certain ethnic minorities (blacks, Hispanics, Asians) rarely become fans. "Science Fiction Culture" has nothing to say on any of those topics.
The section on the publishing industry may be of interest to aspiring writers, though a few statements are curious. Is it really common practice, as the author implies, to adopt a pseudonym in mid-career in order to fool chain store computers? I know of one prominent SF writer (Harry Turtledove) who writes historical novels under a pen name (H. N. Turteltaub) for that reason, but are there many other examples? If so, we aren't told about them here.
Except for tenure committees and fans who want to see whether they have made it into the index, it is hard to imagine an audience for this book. It would certainly have been a better work if the author could have cast off the shackles of academic orthodoxy and come to her data, evidently extensive and valuable, with fewer conclusions ready made.

2001-09-08 (Chicago, Illinois USA) | Helpful Votes: 38 | Rating: 2

---

A great read
This book is a very candid, if scholarly, look at life in science fiction fandom. It contains, among other things, a lovely treatment on the world of publishing - foibles and all. Highly recommended.

2001-09-08 | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 4

---

Sound and Engaging Examination of SF Culture
This is, in many ways, an excellent work on a oft-overlooked facet of American culture and society. Yes, there have been many volumes written on SF, but not much on the *culture* that has coalesced around the genre. This is in some ways a pioneering work, especially in its attempts to describe how subgroups within the larger culture are shaping that culture and also making it their own. Bacon-Smith's writing is very clear and to the point, and she interweaves the voices of her subjects into her analysis fairly smoothly. Whether you are a long-time fan or a curious outsider, you will learn a lot from this book.

As both a fan and an anthropologist interested in studying this culture (in essence, kinda studying myself as well!), I recommend this book highly. I gave it four stars rather than five, however, because there were areas where I wished that the author had tightened up her theoretical argument, or had done more work on linkages between what she has bounded as SF culture and inter-related subcultures. I also think more historical background would have enriched her study. Finally, I wanted a stronger sense of what brought the author into this study, and what she gets (besides academic material) from this work.

I will be using the book for a course on the anthropology of "escapist" subcultures, and I think that my students will find at as interesting as I have.

2000-09-04 | Helpful Votes: 16 | Rating: 4

---