The Day of the Dissonance (Spellsinger Book 3) [Paperback]

Alan Dean Foster (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1994 | Series: Spellsinger Book 3

Clothahump, the wizard, is dying. All that can save him are rare medicinal powers to be found across the Glittergeist Ocean, past distant Snarken, Jon-Tom, the Spellsinger, sets out on the most perilous pilgrimage of his still-young career, armed with only his music-making duar and a reluctant Mudge, the otter, as his guide. Along the way he conjures up Roseroar, Amazonian tiger, rescues Jalwar, the ferret, and together they free Folly, the beauty, from bondage! Spellsinger and his motley crew press on, confronting a forest of Fungoid Frankensteins on the Muddletop Moors, a parrot pirate on the high seas, cannibal fairies in the enchanted canyon, and the evil wizard of Malderpot who poses the greatest challenge of all!

--This text refers to the Mass Market Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“One of the most consistently inventive and fertile writers of science fiction and fantasy.” —The Times

“Alan Dean Foster is a master of creating alien worlds.” —SFRevu

“Foster knows how to spin a yarn.” —Starlog

“Foster does a fine job with his misfit heroes and even with his minor characters.” —Publishers Weekly

--This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

About the Author

Born in New York City in 1946, Foster was raised in Los Angeles. After receiving a Bachelor's Degree in Political Science and a Master of Fine Arts in Cinema from UCLA (1968, l969) he spent two years as a copywriter for a small Studio City, Calif. advertising and public relations firm. His writing career began when August Derleth bought a long Lovecraftian letter of Foster's in 1968 and much to Foster's surprise, published it as a short story in Derleth's bi-annual magazine The Arkham Collector. Sales of short fiction to other magazines followed. His first attempt at a novel, The Tar-Aiym Krang, was bought by Betty Ballantine and published by Ballantine Books in 1972. It incorporates a number of suggestions from famed SF editor John W. Campbell. Since then, Foster's sometimes humorous, occasionally poignant, but always entertaining short fiction has appeared in all the major SF magazines as well as in original anthologies and several "Best of the Year" compendiums. Six collections of his short form work have been published. Foster's work to date includes excursions into hard science-fiction, fantasy, horror, detective, western, historical, and contemporary fiction. He has also written numerous non-fiction articles on film, science, and scuba diving, as well as having produced the novel versions of many films, including such well-known productions as Star Wars, the first three Alien films, and Alien Nation. Other works include scripts for talking records, radio, computer games, and the story for the first Star Trek movie. In addition to publication in English, his work has appeared and won awards throughout the world. His novel Cyber Way won the Southwest Book Award for Fiction in 1990, the first work of science-fiction ever to do so. Though restricted (for now) to the exploration of one world, Foster's love of the far-away and exotic has led him to travel extensively. After graduating from college he lived for a summer with the family of a Tahitian policeman and camped out in French Polynesia. He and his wife JoAnn Oxley, of Moran, Texas, have traveled to Europe and throughout Asia and the Pacific in addition to exploring the back roads of Tanzania and Kenya. Foster has camped out in the "Green Hell" region of the Southeastern Peruvian jungle, photographing army ants and pan-frying piranha (lots of small bones; tastes a lot like trout); has ridden forty-foot whale sharks in the remote waters off Western Australia, and was one of three people on the first commercial air flight into Northern Australia's Bungle Bungle National Park. He has rappelled into New Mexico's fabled Lechugilla Cave, white-water rafted the length of the Zambezi's Batoka Gorge, driven solo the length and breadth of Namibia, crossed the Andes by car , sifted the sands of unexplored archeological sites in Peru, gone swimming with giant otters in Brazil, and surveyed remote Papua New Guinea and West Papua both above and below the water. His filmed footage of Great White Sharks feeding off South Australia has appeared on both American television and the BBC. Besides traveling he enjoys listening to both classical music and heavy metal. Other pastimes include basketball, hiking, body surfing, scuba diving, collecting animation on video, and weightlifting. He studied karate with Aaron and Chuck Norris before Norris decided to give up teaching for acting. He has taught screenwriting, literature, and film history at UCLA and Los Angeles City College as well as having lectured at universities and conferences around the country and in Europe. A member of the Science-Fiction Writers of America, the Author's Guild of America, and the Writer's Guild of America, west, he also spent two years serving on the Planning and Zoning Commission of his home town of Prescott, Arizona. Foster's correspondence and manuscripts are in the Special Collection of the Hayden Library of Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona. The Fosters reside in Prescott in a house bu

Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Warner Books Inc (Mm) (October 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0446343633
• ISBN-13: 978-0446343633
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,754,374 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Alan Dean Foster's work to date includes excursions into hard science-fiction, fantasy, horror, detective, western, historical, and contemporary fiction. He has also written numerous non-fiction articles on film, science, and scuba diving, as well as having produced the novel versions of many films, including such well-known productions as "Star Wars", the first three "Alien" films, "Alien Nation", and "The Chronicles of Riddick". Other works include scripts for talking records, radio, computer games, and the story for the first "Star Trek" movie. His novel "Shadowkeep" was the first ever book adapation of an original computer game. In addition to publication in English his work has been translated into more than fifty languages and has won awards in Spain and Russia. His novel "Cyber Way" won the Southwest Book Award for Fiction in 1990, the first work of science-fiction ever to do so.

Foster's sometimes humorous, occasionally poignant, but always entertaining short fiction has appeared in all the major SF magazines as well as in original anthologies and several "Best of the Year" compendiums. His published oeuvre includes more than 100 books.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A good rousing adventure with reservations, May 17, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: The Day of the Dissonance (Spellsinger Book 3) (Paperback)

In the field of fantasy, there is an inadequately explored sub-genre that I feel needs addressing. The fact that this is a genuine sub-genre is not in doubt, if one only looks at its proliferation in graphic novels and comic art. It is the genre of animal anthropomorphics.

Today's fantasy authors are so often concerned with rewriting Tolkien, Grimm and Herbert that they often neglect this field, which does remarkably well when published (view the success of Brian Jacques), as "childish". Disney has done a lot to bring this impression about, causing "serious" fantasy writers to steer clear of bipedal animals as strictly grade-school stuff, preferring the "mature" elf- and dragon-lore instead. (Although Tolkien had talking eagles. Are you going to argue with him?)

Alan Dean Foster's "Spellsinger" world, it would appear, is animal mostly by default. The key theme of these books is the "rock singer making magic with music", and the animal inhabitants of the alien world seem often to be just an attempt to add a sense of novelty to the proceedings.

Which is a shame, because elements of the books, and this one in particular, really bring a sense of charming reality to the "anthromorphic animals" idea. In this book, Jon-Tom, our "wizard rock-musician", travels across the ocean to find a mysterious remedy for his wizardly mentor, a turtle wizard named Clothahump. Travelling with him is a licentious otter, Mudge, a seven-foot tiger named Roseroar (who speaks in a sort of Scarlett-O'Hara dialect for some reason) and a deceptively aged ferret named Jalwar. Along the way they encounter many adventures, some of them exciting (the pirate ship, the Friends of the Street) and some downright embarrassing (the Muddletup Moors, the cannibal fairies). All of the Spellsinger books are episodic by nature; for some reason Foster is not keen on sustaining a single narrative thread throughout the book. And as some of the adventures are more inspired than others, the characterization as a result suffers. At times Mudge is heroic; at others he is a coward. The revelation about Jalwar at the end is a surprise, to be sure, but not a convincing surprise. There are times when the whole "quest" is subverted by schtick and filler tissue.

But there are tantalizing moments: Folly, a human girl, hints at not being a virgin because of the crew of the pirate ship that abducted her. Since the crew is at least 98% non-human, this brings up some interesting issues that are thrown away by Foster. The idea of skunks being law-enforcers because of their unique natural weapons; the suggestions of unusual inter-species dynamics; the aimlessness of society because of a lack of a single common thread of understanding. There are moments in the book when Foster seems to want to explore these issues and make an intriguing story out off it but suddenly realizes he's writing a cheap paperback fantasy and should snap out of it. The man is as prolific as Asimov and therefore probably feels that he should waste no time on intricacies of plot, characterization or theme; particularly not on a silly book that deals with magical rock singers and talking animals.

Sigh. The "anthropomorph" genre's day will come, I'm sure; it's only a pity that Foster wasn't able to make it happen as it is clear he could have

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars In vain hope I pray for more Spellsinger novels..., October 26, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Day of the Dissonance (Spellsinger Book 3) (Paperback)

There is a rather ludicrous sense of majesty surrounding the Spellsinger series. A sometimes comic, sometimes morbid world where the imagination of one obvious rock fan can proceed uninhibited by the averages of fantasy guidelines. Mr. Foster, accidently, I believe, created a bit of a masterpiece when he sculpted the first of the Spellsinger series,which has, all the way through it's last installment, Chorus Skating, supplied new and various dishes for those travelers on this world which the offer never bothers to identify. This book, in particular, captures the sheer ridiculousness and fun at the heart of the Spellsinger series; it's a kind of jovial feeling you sense that the characters would partake of as well, were they confronted with this astounding piece of literature. Now, all I want to know is...will there be any more? : ) I can only pray and hope!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Jon-Tom's having female problems..., October 15, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Day of the Dissonance (Spellsinger Book 3) (Paperback)

There are a few lyrics to the Eagle's 'Take it Easy' that would fit this book: the love of Jon-Tom's life has gotten cold feet and run off; he tries to get himself out of a jam and conjures up a seven foot tigress that's a little bit sweet on him; and he meets a pretty girl that really wants to be his friend - too bad she's jailbait! And to top it all off, Mudge gets into trouble with the ladies at every turn.