As regular readers will know, I am a huge fan of H bean Piper's 1966 novel, Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen. If you've never read it, find a copy somewhere, and read it, NOW! It is irresistible stuff for a wargamer; I've put several Lord Kalvan battles on the table over the years. Piper's other books, especially those related to "Little Fuzzy", are darned good too, but not likely to inspire wargamers to tabletop actions. The copyright having expired, Lord Kalvan isnow available as a free download (since 2016) from a number of sites.
Sadly, Piper died by suicide not long after completing it, and before its publication, despondent about the abysmal situation of his finances; truly a great loss, as his works were just becoming popular and appreciated. His freind and fellow writer, John Carr, has undertaken to continue the Kalvan saga over the course of 7 novels, Down Styphon being the conclusion of the series.
Map of the relevant portions of "Otherwhen".
Without giving too much of the plot away, this book sees Kalvan, Rylla and company finally end the awful Gunpowder Theocracy of Styphon's House, and the isolation of the time line from the Paratimers, thus ending our window on the saga of Kalvan and his world. I enjoyed it a lot, although pace of events seemed a bit rushed to me. Still we get sieges, naval battles, land actions and, as always, lots of intrigue; what's not to like? The hardcover book, like it's predecessors, is gorgeous but pricey; all of the books in the series are now available for digital download at a much more reasonable cost from John Carr's publishing company. Recommended!
Never heard of this before.
ReplyDeleteJon, you HAVE to read this book. It is now available free in multiple formats, such as from here:
Deletehttps://www.fadedpage.com/showbook.php?pid=20160535
I read the first few books many years ago and was both impressed and inspired. I had not realised they had been continued, I feel the need to get these and be inspired again
ReplyDeleteBy all means do so. The pdf versions are much less costly and offer immediate gratification... even though I have all but the original in hardback myself.
DeleteDefinitely good news on another book in the Kalvan series. Does this augur a rematch between the paratimer and the Styphon conspiracy? If you have not read at least the first book in the series, put in in your queue of things to read. Great fun, and another excusetotro out some 16th & 17th Century themed toys!
ReplyDeleteExactly, Joe! The siege in this book woukld be very suitable for Vauban's Wars as well!
DeleteMy first contact with it was the set of rules "Down Styphon!" (Publisher...Fantasy Games Unlimited - apparently still available ) I did read the book iir but it was in the mid '70's so....
ReplyDeleteRoss - yes, I have the Down Styphon! rules myself as, well, by Mike Gilbert of Minifigs USA and Empires Eagles, and Lions fame, if I recall correctly. Give Kalvan a read again! :-)
DeleteI thoroughly enjoy the "Kalvin" books and I've read and re-read them a lot. I used to live in that area of the Alleghenies and I've seen some of the areas Piper described. My old wargames group even tried to run a campaign based on the "Down Styphon!" rules. Piper was a gripping writer and I prefer his writing to Carr's (taking nothing from that writer's skills!) Playing that setting and using pike-and-shot in Hollidaysburg would be a blast!
ReplyDeleteI've corresponded a fair amount with John Carr in the past (hIs Hostigos site has a piece on wargaming Kalvan by your truly), and he is a bit of a wargamer himself. He lives in the general area of "Hostigos" as well, so such event is far from impossible. I'll not disagree with you regarding the relative merits of the two writers , but I am deeply grateful that John and other have undertaken this decade plus long labor of love.
DeleteIt was a good read (I downloaded the kindle version when if first came out). I do hope that Carr ties up the loose ends with the Paratimers.
ReplyDeleteIn addition to the Kalvan books, John has also written a number of Paratime sequels; I haven't read any of those... yet.
DeleteI haven't heard of this either. It would be nice to read something light once my studies have finished at the end of the year.
ReplyDeleteIt would serve very admirably for that, although you may find yourself wanting to re-read it to loom for battle scenarios for the tabletop!
DeleteI really liked gunpowder god, I thought Jerry Pournelle was down to continue them at one point? His Janissery book has a similar feel if you haven't read it?
ReplyDeleteBest Iain
Gunpowder God is the title of both one of John Carr's sequels, and the very first installment of Kalvan, published in one of the sci fi magazines of the 1960's. There's a lot of background information on Piper and the history of the series on the Hostigops.com site.
DeleteThe book was called Gunpowder God, maybe it was a different uk title? I liked his future histories too, Space Viking is a great space opera!
DeleteBest Iain
If it was a relatively short book, about 150 pages, it was probably the UK title for Lord Kalvan. Agreed on Space Viking, and I've already mentioned Little Fuizy and its sequels (which concerns sentience, morality, and legality when an established "prime directive" meets an at first ambiguous and then quite inconvenient case.
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