I was thrilled to get two gifts for Yuletide this year. One of them is for Janet Kagan's Hellspark, a very rare fandom. The other is for The Charioteer.


"Five Years Later" is a delightful story that pops into the Hellspark world to catch us up on what's been going on. It's the sort of sequel that warms the cockles of a fannish heart! Practically everyone is in it, with their own cameo, as Tocohl and Maggy return to Lassti to revisit the Survey Team and find out how much progress has been made in the intervening years. The story is clearly written by someone who knows the book and the speech patterns of the characters—all the more important, given the significance of language in Kagan's worldbuilding.

There are so few Hellspark fics: it's lovely to have another one. :)


In "Unbreakable Ties", Laurie's mother has unexpectedly died in childbirth, and he has to return to the village to attend her funeral. Although he meets relatives and in-laws he had hoped to avoid forever, he is a couple of years more mature than in The Charioteer, and startled by new insight into their feelings.

My immediate reaction was that the (still anonymous) author must be someone aware that my mother just died. Belatedly, I realized that this need not be so, for it is not a new idea that Lucy might, at her age, be endangered by pregnancy. I'm sure anyone might have chosen such a topic. However, the timing seems significant; and, if it was written by a friend, then it was a most sensitive and kind gift, indeed, and much appreciated.


Thank-you, both of you, whoever you may be! I hope your own gifts were equally satisfying.