need to cooperate in order to survive. He has a
reputation for reliable storytelling and intelligent
plotting as well as a very clear and accessible nar-
rative style.
Gentle, Mary(1956– )
Although Mary Gentle started her writing career
with a traditional fantasy novel, Hawk in Silver
(1977), she diverged into science fiction for a
while, and when she finally returned to fantasy, it
was with a very different approach. Rats and Gar-
goyles(1990), the first in the White Crow se-
quence, is set in a timeless city where intelligent
rats rule and humans are slaves. There are forces
poised to effect potentially violent change stirring
from behind the scenes in this richly detailed,
complex novel set in a world distinctly different
from anything that had previously appeared in fan-
tasy fiction. The story is many-layered and filled
with complex metaphors, but despite the elaborate
structure, the story is quite straightforward and ap-
peals to even less-sophisticated readers.
The Architecture of Desire(1991) takes place in
a kind of warped Renaissance Europe, where rival
magical forces contend for control of the architec-
ture in the city of London, because by doing so
they can seize control of the empire and later the
world. The specific plot involves medical ethics,
the consequences of rape, and the disillusionment
of the protagonist. Grunts(1992) was considerably
less weighty, a humorous tale told from the point of
view of an orc soldier who knows not only that he
is fighting on the side of evil, but that he is
doomed to lose.
Gentle’s major recent work is the Ash se-
quence, published in one volume in England as
Ash: A Secret History (1997), but split in the
United States as Ash: A Secret History and
Carthage Ascendant,both in 2000. The Wild Ma-
chines(1998) continues the story. The setting is an
alternate 15th-century Europe where magic and
technology both exist and where the empire of
Carthage never fell and now threatens to over-
whelm the civilized world. The protagonist is a fe-
male mercenary who hears a voice inside her head
that she initially believes to be God but later as-
cribes to more mundane causes. 1610: A Sundial in
a Grave(2003), Gentle’s most recent novel, is also
set in an alternate, magical Europe and follows the
exploits of an assassin who successfully kills the
king of France.
Gentle’s short fiction, which is often related to
her novels, has been collected in large part in Left
to His Own Devices(1994) and Cartomancy(2004).
The quality of her short fiction is, if anything, su-
perior to that of her novels. Of particular note are
the title story from the first collection plus “A Har-
vest of Wolves” (1983), “Anusazi’s Daughter”
(1984) and the amusing “Orc’s Drift” (1997). Gen-
tle is a powerful writer whose often violent themes
are designed to support subtle and thoughtful ex-
aminations of human interaction.“The Ghost Ship”Richard Middleton(1912)
Although Richard Middleton’s stories, many of
which are fantasy, were well received when they
first appeared, he was a troubled and insecure man
who took his own life while still in his 20s. A few
of his stories, including this one, his most famous,
were ghost stories, although most were not in the
usual tradition. The setting in this case is Fairfield,
a small English town that is comfortable with the
presence of ghosts, and, in fact, the narrator in-
forms us that he has seen people pass them with-
out a second look since they are so common
thereabouts.
One day there is a terrible storm, the winds so
powerful that many of the ghosts are blown away
and have to spend days traveling back to Fairfield.
There is also a ghost ship blown in from the ocean
left lying in a field of turnips, although since it has
no solid properties it has not done them any harm.
But as time passes, the ghost ship remains where it
is, and, in fact, it becomes detectably solid. A re-
connoiter turns up its captain, Bartholomew
Roberts, who apologizes for his unannounced visit
but who seems disinclined to leave. His presence
seems innocuous at first, but then the villagers
begin to notice that all of the ghosts of young men
have taken to drink, and the carousing becomes so
annoying that the local vicar finally confronts Cap-
tain Roberts, who promises to sail off the following
night. Another storm arises, and the ship is gone.
He takes with him all of the ghostly young men,“The Ghost Ship” 131