Eventually, Bodenland and some of his new ac-
quaintances are transported back to his home era,
where the final conflicts are resolved. Aldiss deliv-
ers his sometimes melodramatic but always absorb-
ing story in an intelligent, clear prose and forces the
reader to take a fresh look at the implications of
unrestrained scientific research and the obligations
of the scientist to the world at large. The novel was
turned into a moderately loyal but essentially disap-
pointing movie in 1990. Aldiss returned to this
theme for a somewhat related but less interesting
novel, Dracula Unbound(1991), in which Bram
STOKERdiscovers that vampires are actually time
travelers from a distant future in which humans
have evolved into a blood-drinking race.
“Friend’s Best Man” Jonathan Carroll(1987)
Many of Jonathan CARROLL’s stories lurk some-
where in the borderland between fantasy and hor-
ror, a region that editors and critics have come to
call “dark fantasy.” Carroll is a particularly original
and inventive writer, however, and it is very diffi-
cult to categorize many of his stories, which do not
fit easily into existing pigeonholes. This short story,
which won the World Fantasy Award, includes
some of his most brilliantly realized characters and
delivers its fantastic elements more by hint and
suggestion than by actually revealing them.
The narrator protagonist is an unmarried writer
whose closest companion is his dog, Friend. While
walking one day, Friend sits down on a railroad
track and is nearly run down by a train but is saved
by his owner, who loses a leg in the process. Hospi-
talized, he meets Jasenka Ciric, a seven-year-old girl
who is terminally ill and wise beyond her years.
Jasenka eventually meets Friend and tells the narra-
tor that he is able to talk to her and that she will
relay the messages because Friend wants to do
something good for his master in recompense for the
loss of his leg. Their relationship develops, as does
his other connection, a female neighbor to whom he
is attracted and who he eventually marries.
Although he dismisses Jasenka’s claim as play-
fulness, some of the information she passes on is
extraordinary. She predicts that he will win a con-
test, and he does, although not quite as she had in-
dicated. But she also knows of his wife’s interest in
another man, and his phone number, and provides
other information she could not logically have
known unless she were indeed receiving some kind
of telepathic communication from Friend. Just be-
fore she succumbs to her illness and dies, Jasenka
passes on one last warning. She tells the narrator
that all of the animals in the world are finally fed
up with humans and that within a few days all of
humanity will be killed except those who take shel-
ter in one area allocated for the true friends of ani-
mals. The story ends at that point, leaving the
reader as well as the narrator uncertain whether
this is all just her imagination or whether the end
of the world really is at hand.Friesner, Esther(1951– )
Although Esther Friesner’s first few published sto-
ries during the early 1980s were science fiction,
most of her subsequent novels and short stories
have been fantasy, often humorous. Her first novel,
Mustapha and His Wise Dog(1985), which initiated
the Twelve Kingdoms series, is an unconventional
quest story. Mustapha is exiled by his family and
wanders the world accompanied only by his loyal
dog. Eventually, he learns that he has been chosen
by the gods to investigate an ancient evil and pre-
vent its reemergence. The series continues with
Spells of Mortal Weaving(1986), a more familiar
story in which a prince travels to a distant land to
rescue his kidnapped lover, The Witchwood Cradle
(1987), a clever story in which 12 witches are each
given one power to oppose evil, and The Water
King’s Laughter(1989), the least-interesting in the
series. The Silver Mountain (1986) and Harlot’s
Ruse(1986), both of which stand alone, respec-
tively pit an amnesiac prince against a variety of
enemies and put a young woman in the middle of a
battle among legendary creatures. They are com-
petently written but do not compare favorably to
Friesner’s other early work.
Much more interesting is New York by Knight
(1986), the first of several contemporary fantasies
that quickly established Friesner as an important
new talent. Two magical beings, an immortal
knight and a powerful dragon, manifest them-
selves in modern New York to continue their bat-
tle of good against evil. Druid’s Blood(1988) is aFriesner, Esther 123