Disavowed

"I am extremely happy to see that John Stith’s career is experiencing something like a renaissance. ... I am even happier to report that his newest novel lives up to his old standards, with no diminishment of sense of wonder, suspense, or thrills. ...

"Stith is a master of dialogue and banter and humor... Zippy dialogue propels much of the story with easy flow. His evocation of ancient mysteries reminds me of the thrills I got as a youngster reading Andre Norton’s Galactic Derelict. The First Contact angle is on a par with and reminiscent of Vernor Vinge’s limning of the Tines in The Children of the Sky. And it would take an Eric Frank Russell to match Stith’s antagonism against bureaucracies.

"From time to time in my reviews, I have tried to adumbrate a class of writers who deliver straight-up SF adventure that nods to postmodernism and current cultural expressions while still retaining the best of the classic ways. I think this group has its origins in writers like Keith Laumer and James Schmitz, and its recent expounders in William Barton and John Barnes.

"We can certainly add John Stith to this illustrious rollcall."

https://locusmag.com/2025/01/disavowed-by-john-e-stith-review-by-paul-di...

Date: 
Fri, 2025-01-17
Publication: 
LOCUS
Issue: 
17 January 2025
Reviewer: 
Paul Di Filippo