Red Slippers: More Tales of Mithgar

Rating:
Summary: More "Tales," good and bad
Review: Any long-running series is going to have a lot of loose ends by the time it finishes. And Dennis McKiernan's "Red Slippers: More Tales of Mithgar" deals with a handful of the loose ends from his now-finished fantasy series. They're a mixed bag, but McKiernan's faux-Tolkien writing is somehow more palatable in short stories.

Aravan and his crew from the Elvenship arrive at the "Red Slipper," a bordello/inn, for some R&R. They eventually start swapping stories: The story of Durek the Dwarf and how he almost drowned. The story of two Elves and a human who went hunting a giant leech. A legend and a real story clash in the tale of Gelvin, a petty thief whose stolen jewel destroys him. The evil mage Modru takes a horrible revenge on the swordsmith Dwynfor.

And when Urus, Riatha, Bair and Bair's girlfriend Jaith all arrive, there are some extra stories: How they went to the world of the Fey folk, and discovered what happened to drive them to Mithgar -- not to mention a comic tale about how they destroyed a cursed throne. And the Warrows share a particular tale about how the spirit of a dead High King ordered three Warrows to repay a debt handed down through the generations.

As proven in "Tales of Mithgar," Dennis McKiernan is a lot better at writing short stories than novels. Newbies to this series will be hopelessly lost, but fans will probably be glad to see their old favorites again. His writing still pulls heavily from half the writings of Tolkien, but fortunately his generic Elves, halflings, dwarves and evil beasties are kept strictly on leashes.

McKiernan does a passable job of filling in the gaps, although one long-running mystery is brought up, then left unsolved. The story about Gelvin is so choppy that it's almost unreadable, and "Groaning Stones" is just flip-forward boring. However, in many of the other stories -- with comedy, action, and a bit of tragedy -- he manages a few solid thrills and chills.

His language is still painfully ye olde and sometimes incredibly clunky, with lines like "He makes my very essence cower." There's also an unfortunate tendency to make the characters either bicker over minutiae, or laugh like lunatics. By cut-and-pasting chunks of his earlier novels, he makes some of the stories seem unevenly written. Not to mention that, again, he tends to be very repetitive -- especially when describing sexy dancing by Riatha and Jaith.

Those who have read the Mithgar series will probably gobble down McKiernan's latest, especially since it ties up most of the loose ends. These "Red Slippers" are deeply flawed, but passable.

Rating:
Summary: twelve terrific tales
Review: In Port Arbalin, known as the major trading town on the Avagon Sea, is a lesser recognized brothel the Red Slipper frequented by the eleven members of the ship Eroean when not at sea. Here the eleven, dwarves and other adventurers meet for R&R sharing daring do from their past.

The twelve terrific tales that tie together as the Return to Mithgar share in common keen intricate philosophical undertones that lead the reader to ponder the meaning of civilization and a host of negative isms that detract from society. The tales employ different techniques to get the cerebral message across to the reader. Some use trauma and tragedy while others employ humor and satire. Though the heroic and the malevolent may seem stereotypical fantasy musings, Dennis L. McKiernan furbishes a powerful anthology that will leave a grateful audience wanting to share more pints with the crew of the Eroean.

Harriet Klausner

Rating:
Summary: Questions Resolved and Raised
Review: Red Slippers is the fifteenth volume in the Mithgar series. Although it is a collection of twelve tales, most contain more than one yarn shared among the crew and friends of the elvenship Eroean as they sit before the hearth in the common room of the Red Slipper. Little action other than drinking, laughing and fighting occur in these tales, but the yarns themselves tell of death, destruction and defeat as well as courage, determination and triumph.

Seventeen millennia afore, the First Era began with the crowning of Awain as the High King of Mithgar, the realm formed by the merger of Pellar, Jugo, Hoven, Valon, both Riamonds, and Garia. Much has happened in the intervening years, some known to all, some known only to a few, and much known only to the gods. These tales reveal something of those little known occurrences, yet raise other questions which hopefully will be answered in future works.

In this collection, the Eroean sails in Port Arbalin after a long and dangerous voyage to the long-dead Lost City of Jade. Since some of the crew were lost during the adventure, the remainder will have a long layover while replacements for the slain Drimma are recruited. Thus many of the crew are staying at the Red Slipper rather than onboard.

After toasting absent friends, the crew start telling tales. First is the myth of Gelvin's Doom as told by Noddy, but Aravan can't help thinking of the real events as found in Gelvin's diary and the evidence of his corpse. Then Aravan tells of events which happened at a well in the desert, involving a giant black worm-like bloodsucking creature. Afterwards they talk about tokens of great power and a confrontation between Modru and the Elven smith Dwynfor.

As these yarns are told, Pipper and Bington and Aylissa and Wooly and the others interrupt with questions and comments and sometimes the conversation goes off on a tangent with another story before returning to the original yarn. Vex the fox wanders out and comes back with a great fat brown wharf rat as a present for Fat Jim. Some crewmembers drink too much Vornholt ale, fall flat on their faces, are carried off to bed, and have a terrible hangover the next morning. After a while, four more friends -- Urus, Ritha, Bair, and Jaith -- sail into port on their way back to report on their mission to destroy the Black Throne of Hadron's Hall and they add a few yarns of their own.

In case you didn't notice, this work is set in a bordello and has all the rowdy, lusty ambiance one would expect. However, do not expect tidy little packets of fiction with clear-cut beginnings and endings, for these stories actually intertwine among themselves as well as with all that has gone before. Imagine yourself before a fire in the company of boisterous friends and with a tankard in your hand, ready to discuss the entire history of the world with some of those who helped make it!

Highly recommended for McKiernan fans and for anyone else who enjoy tales in the Tolkien tradition.

-Arthur W. Jordin