Summary
Seven years ago, Terra Viridian was convicted of mass murder for the senseless massacre of 1500 people, and sentenced to the orbiting prison colony known as the Underworld.
Now various people scarred or obsessed by the crime converge on the prison seeking answers. All have been somehow touched by projections of the maddening, invasive visions that have overwhelmed Terra's mind. Those affected include Sydney the space musicologist, a scientist with a device capable of displaying her mental images, patroler Aaron Fisher, whose wife died in the massacre and who is still hunting Terra's twin sister Michele, Magic Man the Bach master, and his protege, the mysterious golden-masked musician called the Queen of Hearts.
The Queen of Hearts, whose band has been booked to perform an experimental rock concert in the prison, harbors her own a secret. Unknown to all, including her lover Aaron, she is herself Terra's sister, having gone into hiding after her twin's crime.
Brought face to face by the concert, the sisters' psychic connection triggers a change of events that changes everyone's lives. When Terra escapes, the pursuit that follows forces all the characters to deal with the reality behind her visions; an extra-galactic alien life form struggling towards birth.
Reception
Critical reception of the book was mixed.
Sybil Steinberg in Publishers Weekly calls the novel "[a] disappointing book from a talented author of children's SF," while observing that "[t]he denouement, like the body of this impressionistic novel, combines cliches, romantic gestures and the occasional clever gambit, such as a pianist reprogramming security codes so they'll only respond to Bach played on a harpsichord." [2]
Jackie Cassada in Library Journal views it more favorably, writing "[f]antasy author McKillip switches gears smoothly in this high-tech sf adventure for adult and YA collections." [3]
Francis Deutsch Louis in The Christian Science Monitor finds "[t]his book ... so beautifully conceived and produced that it is almost as much high art as high-tech. ... 'Fool's Run' is an original composition that is no more describable than the mystery it spins around." [4]
Rosemary Smith in School Library Journal, noting that "YA—Master of fantasy McKillip has turned her considerable talents to science fiction," calls the book "a riveting tale of romance and mystery." She concludes "[t]he strong emphasis on music and the rock group that plays it will appeal to YA readers as will the language that amazes and delights at every turn." [5]
The book was also reviewed by Debbie Notkin in Locus no. 315, April 1987, Charles de Lint in Fantasy Review, June 1987, Don D'Ammassa in Science Fiction Chronicle no. 95, August 1987, and Sue Thomason in Paperback Inferno no. 68, 1987. [1]
Sarah Zettel is an American author, primarily of science fiction. Her first short story was published in Analog Science Fiction and Fact in 1991. Zettel's novels have won multiple awards, including the Philip K. Dick Award and the Locus Award for Best First Novel, and positive reviews from critics. Her first novel Reclamation was published in 1996 and her second novel Fool's War in 1997. She has written romance novels and mysteries under the pseudonym Darcie Wilde, and the novel Bitter Angels as C. L. Anderson.
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The Moon and the Face is a science fiction novel for juvenile readers by Patricia A. McKillip, a sequel to her earlier novel Moon-Flash. It was first published in hardcover by Atheneum in September 1985, with a paperback edition issued by Berkley Books in October 1986. It was subsequently combined with its prequel Moon-Flash in an omnibus edition, also titled Moon-Flash, issued in paperback and ebook by Firebird/Penguin in March 2005.
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The Sorceress and the Cygnet is a fantasy novel by Patricia A. McKillip. It was first published in hardcover by Ace Books in May 1991, with a paperback edition following from the same publisher in January 1992. The first British edition was published in hardcover and trade paperback by Pan Books in June 1991, with a standard paperback edition following from the same publisher in May 1992. It was subsequently combined with its sequel The Cygnet and the Firebird into the omnibus collection Cygnet, issued in trade paperback by Ace Books in March 2007.
