Judy Gill

For the record, I’m reviewing The Refuge 2nd Edition and I haven’t read the original printing of this colonial science fiction series but as the page count has changed in this update, I thought that suggested post-publication improvements and extra content. I’ve since found a note from the author at the back which says that the changes were to connect the first book to later developments in the sequels.

This story is set at a future time when humans have spent one or two hundred years colonising other planets, yet still haven’t mastered the elements on this particular one, which suffers from terrible winters on alternate years, with wind speeds and cold at such a magnitude that even the Viking sagas couldn’t keep up with them. When walls are breached by the gale, people really do get sucked out to their doom, so the colonists rely on cryogenic technology to survive the winters. (Spoiler alert for the next sentence) What doesn’t work too well at this colony is the rule of law, as someone has been selectively tampering with the life support freezers.

Judy Griffith Gill has presented us with soft sci-fi of the children and families type, then spiced up the plot with psychic awakenings, murderous deeds and officials who don’t have their hearts in the right places. Survival is another strong theme, combined with parenting and protection. The pace is not fast but that’s good sometimes as you need time to soak in the atmosphere and believe it, slowly compiled drama, lengthy and solid like the early sagas, which the structure and open system setting that already suggests this installment will fit into a longer form.

The original name for Star Trek was going to be ‘Wagon Train to the Stars’ and this story feels like that sort of journey, with men, women and children (not necessarily family) homesteaders exploring a new and untrusted territory and trying to work out how they can naturalise into it, to survive and not be rejected by the land, the sky and carnivorous beasties. It’s a voyage into ‘the Wide’, as the characters call it, the blue yonder of old, so paint yer wagon and herd the critters. Can they do it? Can they survive when even their own kind are resistant to change. In another sense, can these technological folk return to nature when their technological support fails and rusts, as it has to eventually? Taking a step backwards in tech is hard, particularly for those who have lost the knowledge because they never thought it would be useful to anyone again – the same reasoning behind me never bothering to learn how to knap flint.

I would normally classify this as a 3 star story, well told and plodmanlike, imaginative enough to avoid negative comments and so on, but what elevates it with a jolt is the inventive vocabulary. Just as many writers have done before her, Judy has assumed that language will have morphed and twisted in a few hundred years from now as it is a living tool that adapts to the people that use it. Quite correct. The grammar in this story has stayed the same but it would be a step too far to alter that too because it would harm the book’s readability, so another good bit of reckoning. Other writers have tried this method, adding language, particularly with elements of youth gang-slang (Anthony Burgess) but usually the invented words are not credible, just cop-out swear words like ‘frak’ or a string of nonsensical pants like Tolkien’s poems in Elvish. Judy’s dialect words are really good and very credible. Really good. I can imagine feeling comfortable (not ludicrous) saying I shouldn’t vetch (currently: “a widely distributed scrambling herbaceous plant of the pea family, which is cultivated as a silage or fodder crop”) as it’s a better use for the word than our time’s definition. I might start using it now. Vetch vetch, I love that crunchy sound, like slippers in the snow. Apolz is an obvious contraction, as it pute and lavo, all representing the end of an existing trend of shortening words in our hurried lifestyles (this process has already started in text language), which will presumably become more hurried and words will keep transforming. Then there’s the new plant, animal and object names, the glasses of sillyberry juice (yes please) and children chasing the dragonflitter (sounds fun), running in your gummies and a string of useful alien farm animals (the Earth species all failed to adapt). If the author can keep it realistic, I suggest she should keep going with this language invention because she’s done better than not only Star Trek and A Clockwork Orange (which was good for exploring crime and punishment, not for “blood running red and kroovy”. The more celebrated devotchka, chai and droog don’t even count as invented because they are loan-words) but has also matched the credibility of some of the stuff Lucas Films and Jim Henson invented.

If you don’t mind me going all decimal on you, this is my internal dialogue typing, towards the end I was forming an opinion and thinking a 3.6 value doesn’t deserve to be put down to 3 stars when it’s a more professional piece than that but raising it to 4 stars would need at least another layer, like a twist in the tail. Fortunately, this was provided in the nick of time by a sudden change of direction with a whole bunch of new input, like new characters, spaceships, FTL travel, nanobots, arrested ageing and reconnection with space travel heritage which hinted that the colony had been established on the wrong planet by mistake, which is a splendid way to start but only revealed at the end, all of which had the welcome feel of a fresh rain and oxygen into what was feeling like a fully explored and overly circled pool. The slider in my mind moved up to 3.9 as the new material gave a starting point to the next book. New is healthy and these were the first green shoots of a new phase. Every colony needs to plan for the future.

All in all, a fluid read with a rich diet of invented words and some creatures that I quite like. It’s set up like a part of a greater story, as one person’s life is just a part of their family story, which is a part of the history of their land, which we will find out about in greater detail through sequels. It isn’t at the intense and imagination-exploding level of inventiveness that it would need to be to get a top rating from me but it’s better and much more realistic than a whole swathe of colonial soldier yarns and the weather closing in did make my fingers go cold and stick to the Kindle. Still, mustn’t vetch.… (més)

What a world Judy Griffith Gill weaved for the reader in The Dawning. When I first started this book, I thought I was going to hate it and not be able to finish it. Wow was I wrong?! The first few chapters are hard to get through because they are confusing with all the new terminology that Gill throws at the reader to weave this new world that she created. However, once the reader understands this world, the story takes you on so many adventures; you don’t know what is going to happen next.

In this new world, there are people called Talents, which are people that as the name suggests have special unworldly talents and there are the people that do not have these talents that are called Normals, that fear the Talents. The Territorial Government created an organization called the SAPPS, which want to get rid of or perform experiments on the Talents. Serena is one of these Talents that are being sought after. She finds a baby outside the farm she is hiding at, which the mother left for her to protect because of the baby’s very special talents. When she is escaping from the SAPPS, she is suddenly in the presence of the man, Andrew, who she used to love before he betrayed her and her family. Can she trust Andrew? Is Andrew trying to take her and the baby to the SAPPS? How long can they run for?

I really enjoyed reading this book after I understood the world that Gill created. This book has a little bit of everything from science fiction to mystery to romance. I would highly recommend this book to anyone that likes to read stories that have new and unique settings and love a good romance. I would give The Dawning 4 out of 5 stars.… (més)

I am a huge science fiction and fantasy fan, and, oh yes, let's not forget historical romances, so I looked forward to this read, a futuristic romance.
Whilst the storyline is interesting in some ways, it is just too familiar for me to become enthusiastic about. It is typically post apocalyptic, in this case a post biohazard war dystopian event, where Talented persons (with psi abilities), changed by the bio chemical fallout are being pursued, routed out, culled or subverted by Normals.
I must say that the reading felt like I was watching a rerun of a familiar television series.
The good guys have headed for the hills where they have caches of food and weaponry. They offer protection and training to the talented.
Given the huge current controversy over drones and their usage their inclusion is timely.
And of course there is the twisted minded presence, a talented who has gone to the Dark side (that is the State Authority for Purity and Safety, the Government law enforcement seek and destroy agency ) who is relentlessly searching for the main stars.
Andrew and Serena, are our star crossed lovers, confused by each other and their past, on the run, attracted to each other...and well you can guess the rest.
As a love story it sort of works, as a science fiction story it would have been better published in the 1980's.
That said, the writing is tight, the action is fast paced. There's plenty to get your teeth into. Grace is a curious mystery. Discovering her secret is fascinating.
Science fiction/fantasy, thriller and love story. Three great combinations but somehow it didn't pull me in.
Reading tastes are such a personal thing, like how you take your coffee.
This is not one of my top coffee likes but it might be for you.

A NetGalley ARC… (més)

The Cinderella Search by Judy Griffith Gill
4 STARS
The Cinderella Search was first published as Harlequin Love and Laughter Series in 1998. It fit that. Lots of laughter and love. All type of love. Romantic,community,father,daughter.
Lissa Wilkins works at the Inn her family owned for generations and her father dreams of owning it again. The whole community has been raising money so they can offer it.
So when they find that Steven Jackson has made reservation for three weeks and his father owns a bunch of resorts, they decide to make him think the inn is haunted.
Lissa is talked into going up to the attic and placeing the tape recorder right above his bed. She hates spiders, but is talked into it. While she is hooking it up a spider gets on her and she reacts. Lissa legs crush through to the bedroom below.
Steven is surprised when part of the ceiling falls onto his bed and a women's legs dangle from above him. He tries to help her and gets kicked in the face causing him to get a bloody nose. He sees she has a tattoo on her but and very shapely legs.
Lissa is fiesty while Steven flirts with her. He ends up helping her back into the attic when she is stuck and he can't get her down. He calls the front desk to report that a girl and a trunk fell into his room.
Lissa hurries and changes back into her own clothes & shoes answers the phone. She goes up to his room and sees the mess she made. She offers him that they will move him to a different hotel. Steven just wants another room for the night.
Steven is determined to find the lady with the shapely legs and owner of the sandle he found she left behind. He is a deep sea diver and as been out to see for six months. Right now he does not have a job so he is taking 3 week vacation. He comes up with a idea to have a booth at the festival to find the women who fits the sandle right down to the wear on the soles.
Thier are some love scenes that I skipped over. I did laugh at times in the book. In fact the book was charming.
I was given this ebook to read in exchange for honest review from Netgalley.
12/18/2012 PUB Open Road 185 pages… (més)