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Review of Copperwood Double #1
May. 31st, 2011 11:17 amTitle: Drumlin Circus – On Gossamer Wings (Copperwood Press Double #1) 
Authors: Jeff Duntemann and James R. Strickland
Genre: science fiction
Price: $11.99 (paperback) $2.99 (Kindle)
Publisher: Copperwood Media, LLC
ISBN: 978-1932084016
Point of Sale: Amazon
From 1952 to 1973, Ace Books published their “Ace doubles” – two short science fiction novels bound back to back in the same volume. Each book had its own cover, upside-down from the other book. For various reasons, this process died out. Well, recently my friend Jeff Duntemann decided to revive the process via his self-publishing operation, Copperwood Press. I don’t know if the old Ace doubles had a common theme or not, but this Copperwood double does – both novels are set in the same universe and at nearly the same time, although each book stands alone.
The two novels are set on the planet Valinor. Some 250 years prior to the start of action, a human spaceship appeared in the system and suffered a massive malfunction. The colonists and crew evacuated to the surface of the Earthlike planet and set up housekeeping. Shortly after arriving, they discovered Thingmakers – alien devices that, when a 256 bit code was tapped or drummed on them, would make something. These tools, called “drumlins,” proved vital to the colonist’s survival.
At any rate, society on Valinor is very similar both technologically and culturally to that of 19th Century America. There are, however, several key differences. Specifically, there is an organization called the Bitspace Institute, which is dedicated to improving the levels of science and technology so that their spaceship can be repaired. The Bitspace Institute spends a lot of its time suppressing and denigrating the use of Thingmakers. Opposing them are groups called the Grangers and The Tears, consisting of people who are perfectly happy to use Thingmakers and stay on Valinor.
Chronologically the first, (although I read it last), On Gossamer Wings is the story of Natalie Bishop, an autistic teenager. Some of the story is told from her point of view, and she doesn’t speak, but calls speech “mouth noises.” Despite not talking, Natalie is a mathematical genius, and can drum up just about any drumlin tool she wants. So, she’s been busy making the pieces for a flying machine, something not seen in Valinor’s skies for over two centuries.
Needless to say, the Bitspace Institute doesn’t want that machine to fly, and would like to get their hands on its creator. Further complicating matters, Tommy McQueen, her neighbor, has a crush on her, and is opposed in this by his bullying brother Billy. You see, one of the downsides of 19th Century America or current-day Valinor is that women who can’t or won’t cook and clean are not acceptable members of society, let alone wives.
The other story in the pair, Jeff Duntemann’s Drumlin Circus, also stars an “unacceptable woman” – Julie, the animal tamer of a traveling circus. She’s been kidnapped by the Bitspace Institute, who are apparently after her drumlin-made whistle that she uses to tame the animals. Retrieving her and a twelve-year-old girl who was her “apprentice” is the engine that moves Drumlin Circus. I should note that in Circus we find out that the Bitspace Institute has lifted whole chapters from the operating manual of the Holy Inquisition, and thus finds torture, murder and kidnapping acceptable means to their ends.
These two short novels are wonderful complements to each other, as well as great reading on their own. The Drumlin universe is steampunk with a twist (the quirky Drumlin technology) and provides the authors room to comment on issues economic, social and political. Although Gossamer is a bit of “Girls Own Adventure,” Circus is very much a darker and more morally-ambiguous work. At the end of that work, we wonder who is really training who.
These two novels are great, and go great together. All I can say to the authors is “more, please!”
Authors: Jeff Duntemann and James R. Strickland
Genre: science fiction
Price: $11.99 (paperback) $2.99 (Kindle)
Publisher: Copperwood Media, LLC
ISBN: 978-1932084016
Point of Sale: Amazon
From 1952 to 1973, Ace Books published their “Ace doubles” – two short science fiction novels bound back to back in the same volume. Each book had its own cover, upside-down from the other book. For various reasons, this process died out. Well, recently my friend Jeff Duntemann decided to revive the process via his self-publishing operation, Copperwood Press. I don’t know if the old Ace doubles had a common theme or not, but this Copperwood double does – both novels are set in the same universe and at nearly the same time, although each book stands alone.
The two novels are set on the planet Valinor. Some 250 years prior to the start of action, a human spaceship appeared in the system and suffered a massive malfunction. The colonists and crew evacuated to the surface of the Earthlike planet and set up housekeeping. Shortly after arriving, they discovered Thingmakers – alien devices that, when a 256 bit code was tapped or drummed on them, would make something. These tools, called “drumlins,” proved vital to the colonist’s survival.
At any rate, society on Valinor is very similar both technologically and culturally to that of 19th Century America. There are, however, several key differences. Specifically, there is an organization called the Bitspace Institute, which is dedicated to improving the levels of science and technology so that their spaceship can be repaired. The Bitspace Institute spends a lot of its time suppressing and denigrating the use of Thingmakers. Opposing them are groups called the Grangers and The Tears, consisting of people who are perfectly happy to use Thingmakers and stay on Valinor.
Chronologically the first, (although I read it last), On Gossamer Wings is the story of Natalie Bishop, an autistic teenager. Some of the story is told from her point of view, and she doesn’t speak, but calls speech “mouth noises.” Despite not talking, Natalie is a mathematical genius, and can drum up just about any drumlin tool she wants. So, she’s been busy making the pieces for a flying machine, something not seen in Valinor’s skies for over two centuries.
Needless to say, the Bitspace Institute doesn’t want that machine to fly, and would like to get their hands on its creator. Further complicating matters, Tommy McQueen, her neighbor, has a crush on her, and is opposed in this by his bullying brother Billy. You see, one of the downsides of 19th Century America or current-day Valinor is that women who can’t or won’t cook and clean are not acceptable members of society, let alone wives.
The other story in the pair, Jeff Duntemann’s Drumlin Circus, also stars an “unacceptable woman” – Julie, the animal tamer of a traveling circus. She’s been kidnapped by the Bitspace Institute, who are apparently after her drumlin-made whistle that she uses to tame the animals. Retrieving her and a twelve-year-old girl who was her “apprentice” is the engine that moves Drumlin Circus. I should note that in Circus we find out that the Bitspace Institute has lifted whole chapters from the operating manual of the Holy Inquisition, and thus finds torture, murder and kidnapping acceptable means to their ends.
These two short novels are wonderful complements to each other, as well as great reading on their own. The Drumlin universe is steampunk with a twist (the quirky Drumlin technology) and provides the authors room to comment on issues economic, social and political. Although Gossamer is a bit of “Girls Own Adventure,” Circus is very much a darker and more morally-ambiguous work. At the end of that work, we wonder who is really training who.
These two novels are great, and go great together. All I can say to the authors is “more, please!”
