A Wizard in Midgard

by Christopher Stasheff

Overview

IF YOU'RE TOO TALL OR TOO SHORT, YOU'RE A SLAVE.

Gar Pike, a.k.a. renegade psychic wizard Magnus D'Armand, finds himself on the distant planet Siegfried amid a lost colongy modeled after medieval Scandinavia from Old Earth, complete with the Norse pantheon, dwarves, and even giants.

But the three human races have hated each other since the dawn of time, and the planet is beleaguered by racism and prejudice. Giants, dwarves, and humans have waged constant war with each other for as long as anyone can remember.

It's a tough nut to crack, even for an experienced psychic liberator. Can Gar unify the peoples of Siegfried, teach them to tolerate and live with one another in peace? And, most importantly, can he teach the lonely girl Alea to live with and - dare he hope - love him?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781953215598
Publisher:	Stasheff Literary Enterprises
Publication date:	03/01/2023
Series:	Chronicles of the Rogue Wizard , #6
Pages:	170
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.36(d)

About the Author

Christopher Stasheff was a teacher, thespian, techie, and author of science fiction & fantasy novels. One of the pioneers of "science fantasy," his career spanned four decades, 44 novels (including translations into Czech, German, Italian, Russian, and Japanese), 29 short stories, and seven 7 anthologies. His novels are famous for their humor (and bad puns), exploration of comparative political systems, and philosophical undertones. Chris always had difficulty distinguishing fantasy from reality and has tried to compensate by teaching college. When teaching proved too real, he gave it up in favor of writing full time. He tended to pre-script his life, but couldn't understand why other people never got their lines right. This caused a fair amount of misunderstanding with his wife and four children. He wrote novels because it's the only way he could be the director, the designer, and all the actors too.

Editorial Reviews

Planet healer Magnus d'Armand, aka Gar Pike, takes on Norse mythology and the proto-Nazi mentality spawned by its use in Wagner's Ring cycle in Stasheff's sixth installment of his The Rogue Wizard saga. Landing on Siegfried, a planet settled centuries earlier by Terrans, Gar falls afoul of the vicious slave-keeping Midgarders, normal-sized humans who fight continually with huge giants and tiny dwarves. An accident to the original colonizing ship's defrosting unit killed most of the initial settlers, forcing the inbreeding that created the planet's three races. With the help of Alea, a large but lissome escapee from Midgard slavery, Gar telepathically implants the songs and dreams of peace and freedom that will heal this unlikely but appealing world. Stasheff's Crayola-colored backdrops and childish stick-people befit his simplistic but morally decent messages: love your enemies, treat women as equals, govern your society with justice. When Gar and Alea sail off into the galactic sunset (though occupying separate bedrooms), not overwrought Wagnerian thunder but bouncy, reassuring strains of "It's a Small World After All" echo through the imagination. (June)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

A witty tale of medieval space colonies and political intrigue. If this is your first encounter with the rogue wizard-it will not be your last.

Realms of Fantasy

Another outing for the psi-powered wizard Magnus d`Armand (A Wizard in Chaos, 1997, etc.) and his intelligent spaceship, Herkimer. This time, Magnus (he calls himself þGar Pikeþ when he's on a mission) arrives on planet Siegfried, rescues young Alea (she'll eventually become his new, strictly platonic, sidekick) from a bunch of thugs, then realizes that he'll have to rescue all the inhabitants (Vikings, giants, dwarves, all constantly feuding) from the meddlesome galactic do-gooders of SCENTþbut most of all from each other. Standard fare for series regulars.

Kirkus Reviews