TANGENT ONLINE
by Nader Elhefnawy
The first story, Jayme Lynn Blaschke's "The Final Voyage of La Riaza,"
is about First Mate Diego Brazo of the titular airship—not a dirigible, but a flying version of the merchant ships of the age of sail. At first the story seems likely to go in familiar enough directions—the severe officer who learns the hard way that he has to be more humane toward his subordinates, the first mate who has to grow into the role of ship's captain. Blaschke, however, takes the course of letting his protagonist shape events, rather than be shaped by them. Additionally, while the final voyage includes the usual run of maritime calamities (storms, pirates, shipwreck, mutineers, etc.), the airship and its related technologies provide an element of novelty. Still, while there are some interesting bits of world-building, greater detail might have been called for at a couple of points (in a sense this universe might be just a bit too lived-in), and the story's fragmented structure makes it a somewhat choppy read, though it is never a trying one.
["a bit too lived-in." Sweet. Here I've been wrestling with achieving the right amount of detail in my world-building. Looks like I came pretty close to the right balance from this fellow's comments.]
WELCOME TO MY WORLD...
by Martin McGrath
Jayme Lynn Blaschke’s “The Final Voyage of La Riaza” isn’t really my kind of thing – pirates and flying ships and salty sea dogs tend to turn me off – so it is to Blaschke’s credit that I not only got to the end of the story but left it behind with happy thoughts. By refusing the obvious path of softening his protagonist as the story developed he retained my interest when it might otherwise have drained away. Diego Brazos started a bastard and he finishes a bastard.
[You know, early on in this story's gestation, I did keep softening up Diego, making him a nicer fellow. And it didn't work. At all. Only by making him an unrepentant hard-ass allowed the story to play out the way it needed to.]
SHELF SUFFICIENT
by Clare
The Plot
A swashbuckle set in an airship.
What I liked
I very much enjoy stories where the technology is not explained -- just alluded to. It makes me want more more more from the writer. The balloons in this story appear to be made from spider silk -- the spiders live on the ship, making repairs as necessary. The ship is powered by creatures called gigapedes. I am intrigued.
What I learnt
I am easily confused by foreign names, although I loved the exotic colour it lends. The hero is called Diego Brazos, and is referred to using both or either of these names. Characters occasionally appeal to 'Dios', and I got mixed up with that and Diego. Senor Brazos is a hard character to like -- brutal, harsh and unpopular. But you've got to admire his style; and it is easy to sympathise with him.
The reader really does not need to understand the technology to enjoy a story -- but a damaged ship is a good opportunity to share a little info in a natural way.
[Yes! Score two for worldbuilding...]
SF REVU
by Sam Tomaino
First up is "The Final Voyage of La Riaza" by Jayme Lynn Blaschke. This one is set in a system of worlds in which men travel through the air in ships that look like those that sailed the sea. Diego Brazos is first mate on La Riaza, part of the line is family owns. When the captain is killed in an attack by pirates, he must take command and show his mettle. This was a beautiful look at a world like ours was long ago but with some significant differences.
[Does "beautiful look" bring worldbuilding's tally to 3? Anytime someone uses "beautiful" in relation to my writing, I'll take that as a major victory.]
LondonKdS LiveJournal
by LondonKdS
"The Last Voyage of La Riaza" [sic] by Jayme Lynn Blaschke: Two-fisted action in a culturally Hispanic-influenced setting of a system of multiple nearby planets with a common atmosphere in which dirigible airships are used for interplanetary travel (wasn't there a famous earlier novel about that kind of thing?). Obtrusively macho but fun.
[I like that he caught that the ships were indeed dirigibles, and not magically flying seafaring vessels. And isn't "Obtrusively macho but fun" just about the best pull-quote ever?]
Internet Review of Science Fiction (requires free registration)
by Lois Tilton
Subtitled A Circumstance in Eight Parts, this one is a rousing airship adventure on the high seas of space, under the command of a captain driven by dark demons of the mind. La Riaza is the grande dame of the Brazos fleet, and First Mate Diego Brazos is a son of the owner. The elderly Capitan Ancira feels he needs to learn to be less harsh with the crew, but when Ancira is killed in a battle with pirates, Diego takes command of the damaged ship, and nothing will stand in the way of his determination to make La Riaza airworthy again.
Among the charms of this science fantasy is its cosmology:A large circle representing Cibola anchored the center of the map.
Around Cibola were broken concentric circles representing the paths of the daughter worlds: Ary and Asay, the two innermost offering nothing but slow, painful death; the four living worlds of Marlino (which they were currently departing), Ansuly, Cyodene and Jaysos; and barren Vra, airless and unreachable beyond the Cielo Mar [the Heaven Sea].
Recommended
[My absolute favorite review thus far. Lois appears to see beneath the derring-do and piratical adventure and really get what I'm trying to do with this piece (not to mention the other stories I've written/am writing in this cosmology. Science fantasy. Yeah. That'll work.]
Of course, there may have been one or two opinions regarding my story that weren't positive. I'm not reposting those. If you want them, you'll have to find 'em yourself.
Now Playing: Silly Wizard The Best of Silly Wizard
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