Preternatural 3 (Preternatural (Tor Books)) [Hardcover]

Margaret Wander Bonanno (Author)

Book Description

Series: Preternatural (Tor Books) | Publication Date: September 7, 2002

First, it was telepathic jellyfish. Then, it was a bit of time travel that altered history. Or did it? But now . . .

We're way beyond jellyfish this time, baby.

In the third Preternatural novel, our human friend Karen and the alien known as Govannon learn once again that time ain't what it's cracked up to be.

Govannon's people, a.k.a., TQ, have always had the knack of transmigrating from There to Here. Or is it Here to There? But then a timeline hiccuped, stranding the entire species between dimensions, out of time. In short, neither Here nor There.

Meanwhile, one of Govannon's human avatars seems to be in two places at once. Or is he actually two different people? Unless they solve this conundrum, Govannon may never find his species or his way back home. He'll have to settle for a human life and spend the rest of that life trying not to change anything. And we all know how difficult that can be. Besides, if he goes human on her, Karen's will lose him, because he'll either be married or dead, and she can't decide which would be worse. So here we go again.

Along the way, Karen and Govannon intervene in a kidnapping, tangle with a group of neo-Nazis, and encounter a woman who may be the illegitimate daughter of the Nazi mastermind Joseph Goebbels. They're even involved in the search for a missing billion-dollar Russian art treasure. All of which bears a striking resemblance to a spy novel that Karen once wrote but couldn't sell.

Except this time her fiction turns out to be fact. Again. Or is it the other way around?

With her usual stylistic flare, Bonanno takes the reader on another roller-coaster ride through the Möbius strip of time, in what is meant to be her swan song in "professional" publishing before she vanishes into a dimension all her own.

Be seeing you . . .

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Good things usually come in threes but, alas, not here. In the concluding volume of Bonanno's critically acclaimed Preternatural series, self-pity has largely displaced the wit that distinguished the first two books (Preternatural; Preternatural Too: Gyre). In the novel's opening pages, Karen Rohmer Guerreri, the time-traveling "midlist writer," happily experiences life in the form of a mud puppy, thanks to her alien lover, Govannon (time traveler and Third Thing-TQ). Then, with apologies to the "Gentle Reader," the "Narrator" interrupts the story and launches into a diatribe on the unfairness of the publishing industry to authors, segueing awkwardly into remarks on the slippery plot lines unveiled in the first two books (i.e., the S.oteri, who don't do the time-travel thing, and the TQ, who can). While clever and light in the previous books, these asides now sound whiny and intrude on a plot that's murky enough as it is, involving time-line hiccups and the dubious wisdom of falling in love with time-traveling aliens. Govannon must solve the conundrum of one of his human avatars appearing in two places at once. If he gets stuck in human form, Karen could lose him forever. Mix in the well-written subplot novel, The Amber Room, which Karen wrote and can't sell, and you have one mixed kettle of fish, or mud puppies.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Midlist author Karen Guerreri's previous encounters with a pair of alien species have introduced her to the concept of travel in time and space. When Govannon, an alien capable of taking human form, becomes trapped with the rest of his species in a place between dimensions, Karen must find a solution to his dilemma or condemn him to a solitary existence as his race's sole survivor. The author of Preternatural and Preternatural Too creates an intriguing supernatural mystery featuring a protagonist whose incisive observations on life and literary pursuits add a humorously ironic dimension to a tale that belongs in most sf collections.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: Tor Books; 1st edition (September 7, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312877609
• ISBN-13: 978-0312877606
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.4 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,883,647 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars wild science fiction, September 6, 2002

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Preternatural 3 (Preternatural (Tor Books)) (Hardcover)

Apparently, Govannon's race's effortlessly traveling through the gats of time ends when a hiccup occurs that leaves the alien people stranded in a void between dimensions. Govannon may be the last of the Mohegans unless he can patch up the flaw in the timeline. He is also stranded and forced to don a human form, which obviously equates to death or marriage and taxes. His human friend Karen, whom he met while Julius Caesar ruled, knows she must save Govannon from either odious fate.

Karen visits Govannon's home planet Relic though he cannot do so for some unknown reason. She enters the Museum, an edifice that contains the history of Govannon's race, in order to create the story of Govannon and his travels. Her theory is that everything will return to normal (whatever that disgustingly is) when Govannon re-finds his alien self once she writes up his memoirs.

As with the first two PRETERNATURAL novels, 3 is a wild science fiction ride that tears into anything and everything that gets in its path. The plot contains multiple story line to include that described above and a Neo-Nazi kidnapping that Margaret Wander Bonanno blends together while acerbically satirizing the universe, ironically including the publishing world being a road kill victim too. Margaret Wander Bonanno takes HG Wells and turns him upside down, in and out, and around. No one does time travel quite as zany and entertainingly as this author does proving that great things obviously comes in threes.

Harriet Klausner

4.0 out of 5 stars Funny story within-a-story. Saving the someone's world, December 8, 2002

By 

booksforabuck "BooksForABuck" (Long Beach, CA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Preternatural 3 (Preternatural (Tor Books)) (Hardcover)

Science Fiction writer Karen Rohmer Guerreri has been through a lot, but now she's got to write herself out of the death of an entire planet. Of the entire species of TQ (third kind alien), only her sometimes-lover Govannon remains--and he only sort of. He's counting on her to write her way to a solution for him and all of his kind. Naturally Karen doesn't have a clue what to write, but the story of Anna, the woman who just might be Joseph Goebbels' illegitimate daughter, keeps coming into her mind. So, without computer, paper, or pen, Karen writes the story. Naturally there are plenty of moments for her to back off and try to sort out where she is in her own life and to sort out the memories that belong to other people and species entirely but that seem to lodge in her mind without much of an invitation.

Neo-nazis have decided that Goebbels was truly the spiritual head of the Third Reich, and that his daughter is the best person to pick up the pieces and create a new German nation. That she's married to a Jew doesn't matter--he can quietly fade into the background. That she just might know the secret to the fabled amber room--looted by the Nazis from Russia and then lost but possibly not destroyed--means that they can actually find the financing for their dream. What Anna wants doesn't matter to them and she is drawn into their plot.

PRETERNATURAL3 is a funny and witty book. Readers who are familiar with the world or writing and the endangered midlist author will share in-group laughs with author Margaret Wander Bonanno and her alter ego Karen. Anna's adventure, and the over-adventure of the hoped for restoral of Govannon's race are compelling enough to keep the reader entertained, but the real justification for this novel is Bonanno's quirky view of the world and her insights into human nature, writing, and time. PRETERNATURAL3 will definitely repay the reader's time in smiles and outright laughs. But just how did she get the novel published through your standard New York editor?