Myth Alliances

Book excerpt: Skeev the Wizard is back, flying, so to speak, from a new publisher's masthead. A land of Wuhses has been taken over by 10 female Pervects (who are green, scaly, and fanged, but varied in size, skill, and fashion sense) bent on debt collection. The Wuhses call on Skeev, who, with girlfriend Bunny, sidekick Trollop Tananda, and dragon Gleep, is soon off to troubleshoot or, at least, trouble-negotiate. It soon seems that, while the Pervects may be taking advantage of the Wuhses' economic illiteracy, susceptibility to marketing manipulation, and inability to make a decision without unanimity, they aren't doing all that much harm. On the other hand, they do have the Wuhses producing addictive, magically activated, virtual-reality glasses for export. By the time the Wuhses are shut of the Pervects, satires on marketing, fads, pop psychology, fashion, computers (which are pets in some lands in the book), and many other things have gone down, and the reader has very probably had fun.