THE OTHER
REALM
Book
Three of the Utgarda Trilogy
By Joab
Stieglitz
Rantings
of a Wandering Mind
185 pgs
In the
first two books of this trilogy we were introduced to Father Sean O’Malley, a
Catholic priest, Anna Rykoy, a Russian anthropologist, and Dr. Harold Lamb. The
three of them encountered strange occult happenings at a north-east college
which in turn led them to New York and the strange disappearance of pulp writer
Brian Teploy. At the conclusion of the second novel, the trio discovered Teploy
had been committed to a sanitarium having suffered a mental breakdown and were
off to find him.
“The
Other Realm” picks up where the last ended only to have our heroes uncover a
startling revelation. Aliens from another dimension have been visiting our
world and in doing so run afoul of a scientist with delusions of grandeur. He ultimately
goes insane with the power he is able to leech from them. At the same time he
manages to kidnap Teploy and imprison him in another dimension actually
constructed from the pulp writer’s own imagination.
The only
way to save Teploy, according to alien beings, is for Anna and Harry’s minds to
enter that fictional world and become a part of it. Thus after two books
clearly set in a normal 1920s background, Stieglitz then throws us into a sword
and sorcery adventure that reads like a blending of H.P. Lovecraft and Edgar
Rice Burroughs. He offers up a dangerous quest unlike any we’ve ever
encountered before.
“The
Other Realm,” is as enjoyable as the first two books and the added genre twist
gives it a surprising romp we were not expecting. At the conclusion the author sets
the stage for possible future adventures with O’Malley, Rykoy and Lamb. We’d
like nothing better.
No comments:
Post a Comment