The Sandcats of Rhyl [Mass Market Paperback]

Robert E Vardeman (Author)

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Major Books (1978)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 089041209X
• ISBN-13: 978-0890412091
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,748,980 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Robert E. Vardeman is the author of more than 100 fantasy and science fiction novels, as well as numerous westerns under various pen names (Jackson Lowry, Karl Lassiter). F&SF titles include the fantasy Dark Legacy (Magic: The Gathering tie-in) and sf novel Ruins of Power (Battletech: Mechwarrior tie-in). The reprint of his Star Frontier trilogy from Zumaya Publications was launched with Alien Death Fleet and Genetic Menace. Black Nebula will be published soon. The Infinity Plague, the first book of the Biowarriors series, recently has been published for the Kindle.

Fantasy work included the novelization of Sony Playstation videogame God of War 1 (co-authored with Matt Stover) and the forthcoming God of War 2. All nine titles in the Swords of Raemllyn series will be published in Kindle format. Look for the fantasy pirate short story, "The Coins of Darkun," in the collection Pirates of the Blue Kingdoms.

In addition to short stories for the Kindle, his collection Stories from Desert Bob's Reptile Ranch covers almost thirty years of writing.

Editorial work includes Career Guide to Your Job in Hell and the spectacular anthology, co-edited with Joan Spici Saberhagen, Golden Reflections.

Vardeman is a longtime resident of Albuquerque, New Mexico, graduating from the University of New Mexico with a B.S. in physics and a M.S. in materials engineering. He worked for Sandia National Laboratories in the Solid State Physics Research Department before becoming a full time writer.

For more information go to http://www.cenotaphroad.com

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Strong start, decent wrap-up, June 20, 2011

By 

Mike Sobocinski (Lansing, MI) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Sandcats of Rhyl (Mass Market Paperback)

The first third of the book has a very strong start, in the style that Vardeman would become known for in his 1980s fantasy and s.f. - the "freebooter" adventure type of characters, with a nice mixture of humor, rapport, and peril to establish their special skills and heroic roles. The desert planet of Rhyl is pretty neat - the scenario is not stolen from "Dune" but is rather based upon the author's fascination with the classic journeys of the early archeological explorers... the heroes trace the path of an eminent archeologist (this was written before the Indiana Jones films, too!) on a hostile and sparsely inhabited planet.

In the final third, the tone of the book does eventually become changed by focusing more heavily on one of the villain characters in order to develop one of the plot elements, but Vardeman's prose style shows an effort to try to distract the readers from the potential cliches threatening to ensnare the story at that point, and the newly introduced elements do seem necessary for the story to present an overall theme. The result is generally successful and decently satisfying. This was Vardeman's first published novel, but is pretty well-done.

The characterization of the two heroes is very fun (I actually laughed aloud at various situations in the first third of the book), along with one of the natives of Rhyl who accompanies them. Other characters beyond those three are not as distinguished, and although this framework seems generally suited to the moderate length of the novel, as the tone darkens a bit to become more serious, by the final third of the book there would seem to have been a benefit to using some rounder supporting characters - the two villains and an accompanying woman. But the scenario and titular Sandcats themselves are quite interesting, and the story does retain interesting elements to the very end. A pretty solid science fiction adventure novel. The environment of the desert planet itself is well-presented to impress readers, and the technology vital to the characters' survival there was a neat element that kept the book rooted in a science fiction vein even when civilization has been left totally behind.