Let me start by saying I love Richard Foster. His books "The Freedom of Simplicity" and "The Celebration of the Disciplines" have been live-changing for me. I expected the same things of this book, but was horrified by a lot of the content. I hadn't begun to read the book yet, but I saw a quote from it in an article I was reading about sex, and had to make sure it was accurate. It was. Some of Foster's views is this book are not Biblical at all. I was thoroughly appalled! Mind you, I'm 28 years old and I've been a Christian for 4 years. I'm not a prude who think people shouldn't hold hands or kiss before they're married, but Foster saying that purity is a impossible burden to place on Christian singles is over the top. God told us, "Be Holy, for I am Holy." I recognize that that is impossible, but God still tells us to try.

Stick with the other 2 books I mentioned, but please do not expect to get any Biblical guidance from "The Challenge of the Disciplined Life."

I think this is one of the best books on the difficulty of living in a society driven by money, power, consumerism, sex and continual change.

Foster has a compassionate, realistic view of what life is really like and how to deal with it. His opening chapter, Money, Sex and Power in Christian Perspective lays out the focus of the book - it is difficult to walk the walk. He isn't focusing on the external morality of ethical behavior, but on the social implications. He offers historical views of attitudes on money, sex and power, and divides the books into sections that focus on each issue.

In a small section titled "When Good Things Go Bad," he says, "There is, of course, a proper place in Christian life and experience for money, sex, and power. When properly placed and effectively functioning, they have the ability as nothing else does to enhance and bless life." He goes on to identify what the problem is in each area -the demon in money is greed; the demon in sex is lust; the demon in power is pride. And he tells us that these really are not matters we can be neutral about in hopes that they will disappear - if we ignore them, we will be dominated by them.

How do we avoid be controlled by our own desires, instead of controlling them to our own advantage? In the Power area, Foster suggests that we face the demons within, instead of projecting them on others. In addition, he suggests that we stop trying to manage and control others, and focus on our own spiritual powers.

Foster manages to be 'proper' without being unrealistically 'prim.' Whether read by fundamentalist Christians, small "c" christians, or Buddhists, this book gives food for thought. Agnostics, athiests and many free spirits will be turned off by references to the Bible and the focus on Jesus.

I used to think you had to agree with everything you read in a book, to find it of any use. There are parts of this book I don't agree with, but I took what was helpful, and left the rest. Those who keep an open mind will find that this is not a dogmatic, preaching book, but one that will make you think.

I first read this book in 1988 it has guided me often from then until now. Its clear ethics will give valueable insight to all who will apply its ageless principals regardless of their personal faith practice. Foster's blending of practical reality linked with bibical concepts leaves one thinking in new (old) ways that still make since in a world who's ethics seem to be changing daily; humanism like marxism will be soon forgotten, yet the insights exponded by Foster will continue to make a profound positive impact. Having taught Business ethics and philosophy I have found no better book to read.

I read this series for the first time as a teenager, and I have to note with some sadness that I think it's definitely lost stars for me as an adult reader.

The premise of the Spellsinger series is that an aspiring singer/lawyer (Jon-Tom) is pulled into an alternative universe where all animals except lizards can talk and think and he has magical powers as a spellsinger. But since all he knows are rock songs from our western world, his results are occasionally unpredicatable.

In this book, Jon-Tom has to go searching for medicine for his mentor Clothahump. On the way he picks up a 7-foot high white tiger, his irascable companion Mudge, and a teenage street kid named Folly. Hilarity and mayhem ensues.

The spellsinger books are light on the realism and heavy on the humor. Note that many of the jokes are dependent on knowing pop culture from the 80s. I laughed at the Def Leppard jokes. Current teens may not get them.

There is a rather ludicrous sense of majesty surrounding the Spellsinger series. A sometimes comic, sometimes morbid world where the imagination of one obvious rock fan can proceed uninhibited by the averages of fantasy guidelines. Mr. Foster, accidently, I believe, created a bit of a masterpiece when he sculpted the first of the Spellsinger series,which has, all the way through it's last installment, Chorus Skating, supplied new and various dishes for those travelers on this world which the offer never bothers to identify. This book, in particular, captures the sheer ridiculousness and fun at the heart of the Spellsinger series; it's a kind of jovial feeling you sense that the characters would partake of as well, were they confronted with this astounding piece of literature. Now, all I want to know is...will there be any more? : ) I can only pray and hope!

There are a few lyrics to the Eagle's 'Take it Easy' that would fit this book: the love of Jon-Tom's life has gotten cold feet and run off; he tries to get himself out of a jam and conjures up a seven foot tigress that's a little bit sweet on him; and he meets a pretty girl that really wants to be his friend - too bad she's jailbait! And to top it all off, Mudge gets into trouble with the ladies at every turn.

Prolific SF writer Alan Dean Foster wraps up the adventures of the stranded Ethan Fortune and Suka September on the ice planet of Tran-ky-ky in a nice little package for fans of the series. Turns out the thawing of the ice at the equator Ethan saw in the second book (Mission to Moulkin) was not natural at all, someone is actually attempting to thaw out the planet. That could mean possible extinction for the Tran, which is unexceptable to Fortune and September. They and their Tran friends head out on the Slanderscree to see that the process is stopped, permanently. A wonderful ending to a wonderful series, highly recommended.

The finale of the Icerigger series does not have quite the adventure of the other two and harbors a pretty silly villain and plot. None-the-less, anyone reading Icerigger and Mission to Moulokin will have to read Deluge Drivers, if only to spend the last few minutes available with our new friends the Tran. There is definitely something wonderful and personal about this series. The characters are very rich and you really want to know more about them and share in their adventures.

This was the final book in this trilogy, and I enjoyed it as much as the rest. It kept my interest through the whole series. Foster gripped me in the drama of the Ice world I came to admire in the first two books, only now the entire planet was now in serious danger. The ultimate global warming destroying the planet and miraculously being saved by rouge adventuring heroes kind of story. This series made me a Foster fan. If you enjoyed the Flinx series, you will really enjoy this one!

A quite interesting book about visual arts since '1960 written by the author and editor of "Anti-Aesthetics".@Especially the analysis of the recent relationship between Art and Anthropology/Ethnography is unique and suggestive.

Granted, I'm not a Phd. in art history, so I can't claim how much of Foster's thinking is his own and how much he "borrows," but these essays, all interrelated and commenting on each other, carefully dissect postwar art, culture, politics, theory. I've read these essays four or five times and come away with a different insight on art each time. The definite highlight for me was the essay on traumatic realism (which ranges from the opposing simulacral and ideological readings of Warhol, to the tearing of the screen in Cindy Sherman, to the abject in art, to the opposing needs to deconstruct the subject and also reaffirm the subject in racial/sexual/cultural discourse.) Whew! It's a daring essay and is the rosetta stone, I think, of the entire book. His insight on the loss of critical distance (which accounts for why the Left and Right sound so much alike these days)needs to be heeded. Long live all the October writers!

The book is full of productive suggestions for writing on contemporary visual arts. For a foreign reader, it provides a cogent overview of different moments in recent art; a fine sampling of commentary on theoretical writing, and valuable insight into current art criticism in the U.S. "The Return of the Real", meaning by that the Lacanian "Real", is a thought-provoking, stimulating idea that runs through the book and has refreshed my own critical work. I am indebted to this book.

I read the other books in the Flinx series years ago and enjoyed them. This one was only fair-to-middlin'.

The characters seems wooden and two-dimensional. The plot line was predictable and didn't seem to have much content. The emotional communication portion was overdone and a fairly tedious. There just wasn't a lot there.

Perhaps it's just my tastes have changed...I'll have to go re-read Tar-Aiym and Mother Not to see...but this one just seemed a bit pro forma.

Finx in Flux is probably the most polished Flinx book. Clearly Foster learned a little more about writing between this one and the last (The End of the Matter). This is another direct sequel in which we find Flinx rescueing a beautiful gengineer (genetic engineer) who is under assault by eco-terrorists. The character development in Flinx in Flux is much richer than the other Flinx books, but what really set this one apart (for me) was the dramatic conclusion where Flinx learns of the existence of a great malevelolence, perhaps great enough to destroy the entire universe. Sadly, that is no delved into very deeply, instead leaving that open for another novel.

I just finished re-reading the book again for the umpteenth time. As always it was a great read, I really enjoy the Flinx series in the common wealth. Flinx is such an interesting character to watch develop. Just a note as to the comments below that the author is not going to be writing any more Flinx novels, that is untrue. Another one will be out latter this year(2000), or early next (It is titled Reunion).

[...] In a word, this book is utter tripe. The plot is trivialand has large gaping holes in it. I've read many of his other booksand loved them, but this reads more like a first draft than a finalproduct. It's hard to believe that Alan Dean Foster would put his nameto this work. [...]

With all due respect to Mr. Foster, don't buythis book. [...]

If you approach this book as mindless entertainment you probably won't be terribly disappointed. Of course, neither will you be wholly satisfied. The book has an interesting premise but one that is perhaps impossible to deliver on fully.

The main character, Kees van Loo-Macklin is the most brilliant, ruthless human the known galaxy has ever dealt with. It is, of course, very difficult for an author to realistically portray characters who are smarter than themselves. Foster tries to get around this by rarely having Loo-Macklin in the narrative. Instead, most of the story is told from the viewpoint of the one alien who devotes his entire life to trying to understand Loo-Macklin. This has the unfortunate effect of making the alien Nuel seem more human than Loo-Macklin. So not only does the author seem unable to realistically portray Loo-Macklin, he further disappoints by giving us an alien that doesn't feel very alien.

The removal of Loo-Macklin from the main narrative, while understandable both because of the difficulties of accurately portraying such a supposedly brilliant and ruthless person and in an attempt to keep him as mysterious to the reader as he is supposed to be to the rest of the universe, ends up being the biggest problem with the book. The reader is simply left with very little reason to accept both Loo-Macklin's brilliance and motivation other than the author tells us so. The final denouement when the alien gets Loo-Macklin to answer the question, "Why?" ends up feeling, although not quite as empty and trite as Alfred Bester's The Demolished Man, not much better, either. Without having critical insight into Loo-Macklin a great many of the choices he makes don't make a whole lot of sense, even in retrospect.

One final complaint: the plotting was a little TOO pat. Loo-Macklin has schemes within schemes within schemes and they all seem to work out perfectly. It would have been nice to once, just once, have seen his first plan fail and have backup plans come into play. It would have been so much more impressive if Loo-Macklin's final scheme were realized even in the face of errors along the way.

I've liked this book since I first read it, 10 year ago, and I still find myself picking it up and re-reading it again and again. The flow of the plot is simply to absorbing to put it down, and the complex plans made by the main character amaze me afresh every time. I've read this book so often, and lent it to so many people, that my first copy fell apart. So I got another one ;-)

This was my introduction to the works of M. A. Foster. His depth of character construction, and interweaving of complex yet believable patterns is a style I would like to emulate as a writer myself. As highly as I rate this book, "Gameplayers" is even better, and the Morphodite series is absolutely fascinating. You won't be disappointed, unless you have failed as a reader to plumb the true depths of this fantasy. It is deeper than you know.

From "The Warriors of Dawn" in 1975 through "Owl Time" in 1985, M. A. Foster gave the world some very very special stories. I still have the eight DAW paperbacks and reread them often. I've been checking the bookstores (and now the web) for a new M. A. Foster book, ever since - no luck. Whatever happened to take this fabulous author away from us? And why no awards? If you've never read a Foster story, you've really missed something.

The Ler novels ("The Gameplayers of Zan", Warriors, "The Day of the Klesh") are rich in character development and mystery, set in a future galaxy where humans interact with other intelligent species, one of which (the Ler) humans genetically engineered from human stock. The Ler, generally benevolent but different from humans, escape from Earth. Downstream and out in space, some deviant Ler groups create "breeds" of humans, the Klesh.

"The Morphodite", "Transformer", and "Preserver" deal with conflicts between interworld political intrigue and human values, brought about by the creation of a person with special perceptions and abilities - including changing gender and becoming younger by 20 years - the perfect assassin, but also the victim of biological and emotional manipulation.

"Waves" deals with a mystery at a remote experiment station, leading to discoveries about information structure, sentience, and time. "Owl Time" is a collection of novellas that explore unusual dimensions of human meaning, in which Foster celebrates and emulates several older authors.

Hint to publishers: These stories are timeless and precious. They explore issues that we struggle with today. A reprint (maybe in omnibus hardbacks) would certainly ease the pain of old fans and attract new ones too.

Hint to Foster: 17 years is a long time to wait, but I'm patient.

I love this book. I first read it when it was first published. I know the author in question. Though not well. I think it helps to know his background. It is an Excellent book. The whole Ler series is awesome. I only have one copy which is autographed and I keep it put up since I have not come across another in a long time. Read these books!

Mike I miss your work!

The Worst Way To Spend Your Summer Or Is It? Four young black teens from New York are caught by the police spray painting a rail road car and are sentenced to work in an old folk's home for the summer. One of the young boys has been in trouble with the law several times before but finds he has more in common with the seniors from the home than the others. They are forced to be together, none or them liking the circumstances that brought them together; however, as they get to know each other they find their lives are changed. Earl, the boy who has been in trouble before is living with Steve and Steve's parents on a trial basis but wants to have a permanent home. The book is written as if Steve Perry is writing to his journal. If you like good humor mixed with serious problems dealing with old age then you would like this book as I did.

This story is about a group of four kids that get into trouble with the law.As punishment the kids have to help the senior citizens that live at Micheaux House Senior citizens home.The senior citizens that live there are both black and white.After
reading this book you will find out that the senior citizens home might get closed down. In order to try to save the home the senior citizens decide to open a deli and the kids help.

I thought this book was funny because of the waythe people talk and the the words that they use. The pedicaments that the kids and the senior citizens get intoare pretty funny also.Plus the problem in this story probably happens every day,and this book tells you about a group of people that are different nationalities and age s worked together to try to save a senior citizens home. So all in all I thought this book was funny and realistic.

The Main Character of my book is Steve. He's thirteen, likes basketball, and collects nickels. His best friend Hi-note is the toughest guy on the block until Steve's parents adopted a thirteen-year-old kid named Earl. Hi-note and Steve try to prove to Earl that they are tough by spray painting the word Visigoths. They tell these teenage guys that's the name of their gang and they always spray paint their gang name on trains. Well what they didn't know about these guys was that they were the Royal Transit Police. The police sent them to court and the judge gave them the choice of spending a little time in jail or work at an old age home. Hi-note, Patti, Earl, and Steve. While they were at the old age home they try to get along with the old people but they are very grumpy. Later on in the book they find out that the reason they are so grumpy is because they keep calling them old folks and not seniors and they keep on helping them like there a child. After they find out that was the only thing wrong with the seniors

As a big fan of Flinx, especially his earnestness, I looked forwarded to following his growth in Foster's second Flinx book. Sadly, Flinx is less than a minor character in this very confused tale. Bloodhype is (oddly enough) actually a story about an alien intelligence so powerful it devours all life on planets it attacks and is a threat to the entire galaxy. Mixed in the story is also some unsavory drug dealers who deal in Bloodhype, a kinda futuristic crack that gets you addicted after one dose and you will die without another. Still, the last 80 pages or so made it actually worth finishing and possibly made the whole book worth reading.

This book is an interesting tie-in book to the Flinx series. It is enjoyable to see Flinx largely from outside his POV for almost the entire time he appears in this novel (the latter half). I found it to be a nice contrast to the 'hardcore Flinx' novels. The main characters are both deadly serious and lightheartedly silly. A strange combo that works well and provides a constant stream of banter between the main characters.

In response to some of the other reviews below...

While Flinx's adventures in this story seem to be forgotten in the next book (the timeline at the end of 'Flinx in Flux' places the Vom/Guardian event _AFTER_ the 'FiF' events), I have hope that there is a reason for this that will be revealed later in the series. I say this because in each novel, Flinx is forced to grow and to develop his mysterious Talent in some way. As this happens more pieces are put into place regarding his destiny and the sheaf of other ongoing plotlines that Foster weaves in.

What both frustrates me (mildly) and yet draws me to the next book, is the fact that each time he aquires some new aspect of his Talent, he seems to forget he can do that particuar thing in subsequent novels. (i.e. the offensive capability he uses at the end of Flinx in Flux is never even mentioned in "Mid-Flinx," even when he is in deadly danger and would most certainly have at least considered using it.) The pattern is set in the (timeline-wise) first novel "For Love of Mother Not" when Flix experiences a haeadache and amnesia after he mysteriously resuces himself from the middle of a firefight... destroying a building in the process.

Either Foster is a schitzo or there is a deliberate pattern to this. I trust it is a pattern.. and that there is a reason for it... one that will be revealed and make sense. If that is so, I feel confident that the Vom, the Guardian, & Flinx's participation in the battle from this novel will fit into that pattern. I point to the final communication between Flinx and the Guardian for an enticing possibility.

I just hope Foster does not string this out too long. Too much frustration and I'll quit being interested in buying. Like I did with X-Files after a few years.

But for now I am content to read and enjoy the unfolding story of Flinx.

Dear Mr. Foster, WE NEED MORE FLINX! NOW! heheh

This is a truly well done novel. No, Flinx is not the only character in this book, but he is the main character. In response to a previous review, I think he is totally in character. I read this novel when it was brand new (I think I was twelve at the time) and saw the series evolve. This is truly an entertaining read, I've read it many, many times. I cannot but say that you will not be disappointed with this book, unlees you happen to be that "Reader from California". (See lame review below) :) Enjoy!

CYBER WAY is one of those rare science-fiction novels that, while not being a pathbreaking contribution to the genre, well repays rereading.

It fuses the kind of mystery pioneered by Tony Hillerman (in which Navaho culture is central to the plot and most of the cast is Navaho) with cutting-edge science fiction dealing with cyberspace. The MacGuffin that drives the plot is not merely a throwaway -- instead, it is central to the action and plausibly, chillingly developed.

There are a few holes -- at first, the Navaho detective treats his out-of-town white-bread Floridian colleague with surface good humor and respect but with an undercurrent of impatience and condescension that is never really explained -- but you forget about them after a while.

I wish that Alan Dean Foster would write another novel or two about Paul Ooljee and Vernon Moody.

This book's a hoot. It is the sci fi version of the murder on the rez' genre (pioneered by Tony Hillerman.) The book takes place in the not to distance future. The Navajo Indian reservation is now a haven for hi-tech firms (mostly Asian) seeking skilled labor and tax havens.

Although the Dineh have pretty much abandonned the ancient superstition...it turns out that there's something funky going on with the sand paintings. The cops in the book get to explore the sand paintings, Navajo culture and computer technology and more.

As mentioned in another review. The book is not well written. The characters are weak, and the author never really develops the plot or the symbology in the sand paintings. I really wish the author or editors had taken the time to turn this fantastic idea into a block buster.

But if you are willing to overlook the faults, the book is an absolute riot. The concept behind the books is so strong that I give it a five star rating despite the poor writing

doo ahashyaa da

This book was a slow starter for a few chapters but became very interesting later on. The plot revolves around a near future detective and an advanced internet for law enforcement. It then incorporates the idea that Navaho sand paintings and associated chants are an aural real world access to an N Dimensional data base left by past visitors to earth. If your interested in philosophy - American Indian history - or computers this is for you. It approaches Colin Wilsons Philosophers Stone in some ways