Flood Tide

As in all the anthologies in this series, _Flood Tide_'s stories are written in a braided format, so that the effect is almost seamless as the events of the book flow forward. My comments are organized more by author than by appearance in the book. This volume (which has only had 1 edition to date) has a Hildebrandt painting of Cardinal Exeter confronting Rif and Rat on its cover, which I mention only to joggle the memories of those who may have read it before. If you're hard up for a Merovingen-like story, try _The Shadow of the Lion_; Mercedes Lackey, one-third of the writing team, gave medieval alternate-history Venice some distinctly Merovingenish touches.Cardinal Willa Exeter and the hard-line anti-tech faction of the College have been cracking down on any signs of anything but Revenantist orthodoxy. (It's just an excuse for manipulating high and low town through fear, though.) Strangers aren't welcome in any tavern in town, and people speak their minds only to trusted intimates. Public topics for gossip are scarce, but anything that's safe to talk about is talked to death.Abbey, Lynn "Marriage" - The city's gambling on which will come first - Marina's baby or her contract-wedding to Raj Takahashi. Maverick Uncle Bosnou from the Kamat stancia comes to the city for the first time in decades to perform the ceremony. The Kamats, being relative newcomers to hightown, have been careful to keep their resources decentralized; the sheepfarming that provides the wool for their dye-vats is the real heart of their holdings. And Bosnou seems to be the only hightowner who can control bridge-brat Denny Takahashi long enough to have a chance to salvage him.Asire, Nancy "The Testing" Being a student - or even a priest and teacher - at the college is no guarantee of safety. The students are to be tested to check whether they meet the new standards of orthodoxy, and Father Rhajmurti is doing everything in his power to see that his best students - especially Adventist converts Justice and Raj - have enough coaching to be able to 'correctly' reason their way through the tests. This thread concentrates on viewing the orthodox persecution from the eye of the storm: the halls of the College itself.Cherryh, C. J. "Flood Tide" The thread tying all the others together. Mondragon has had to move into Kamat itself, away from Petrescu, and lock his door against Marina Kamat. Anastasi's having him Disappear people, and Jones won't run, and can't bear confinement long enough to hide anywhere but out in the open. Mondragon himself is getting closer and closer to his own horror of being in a prison again, if he isn't killed outright while playing so many factions against one another.Fish, Leslie "Walking on the Waves" Another night trip with Rif, to install another Janist-designed change in Merovingen's ecology as a check on the tangle-lilies. Worse, Exeter's finally gotten to Rif and Rattail on the list of suspect people to be questioned. (The cover art's from that scene,

Imagine, if you will, Mercedes Lackey's character development in a world created by C.J. Cherryh. Add a number of other talented authors, simmer until well-blended, then bring to a rapid boil. Now it boils over, but wait -- it was supposed to do that!The Merovingen Nights anthology series is one of my all-time favorites. The city of Merovingen is created with incredible depth (no pun intended; like Venice, it sits on canals and is gradually sinking), the characters are deep and sympathetic (even the "villains," who are mostly real people stuck in very stressful circumstances), and the plot is twisty and turney without being confusing (much). The Merovingen Nights books do need to be read in some semblence of order, however, or you can miss a LOT of subtle details important to later character development.In the early Merovingen Nights books, stories and characters created by individual authors are fairly self-contained. As the series continues, not only are the stories "braided" together for better continuity, but the characters move freely from author to author and writing styles mesh extremely well. By #6, Flood Tide, you can barely tell who is writing what or about whom.In Flood Tide, the situation in Merovingen is coming to a head. Tensions are building from hightown to canalside, and something is going to blow. Character relations are straining, cracking, and occasionally breaking. Excellent lead-in the the final book in the series.If you like fantasy, science fiction, and filk music, Merovingen Nights is not to be missed.Just wish they'd reprint them...