Tag Archives: Bruce Peltzer

Dragon Ship – Chapter 24

Codrescu Station

In which Theo consults with the Guild Master.

It occurs to me that the publication dates of Dragon Ship and “Skyblaze” are close enough together that the authors were probably working on them around the same time. The reason it occurs to me now is that the reaction of the pilots at Tradedesk brings to mind the discussion in “Skyblaze” about the phrase “somebody ought to do something”, and the idea that some people feel that their responsibility ends once they’ve uttered the phrase, while others feel that uttering the phrase gives them a responsibility to be the somebody.

Dragon Ship – Chapter 23

Codrescu Station

In which Bechimo reports a ship lost with all hands.

I don’t have anything to say about Theo’s half of the chapter; it’s one of those occasions where I feel the situation calls for something to be said but I don’t have the words for it.

I neglected to comment on Ban Del ser’Lindri’s first appearance, a few chapters back. I was suspicious of him immediately, the first time I read the novel, but I don’t know if that means anything because I had a predisposition: I’d heard a few things about the plot before I got around to reading it myself, and one of them was that Kamele was going to encounter somebody who meant her ill. Since she’s kept to herself on this trip, we’ve only seen her interact with two people, and I can’t bring myself to suspect the waitress at the Ice Cream Shoppe.

Dragon Ship – Chapter 22

Codrescu Station

In which Bechimo arrives at Codrescu.

Theo’s verbal fencing with Eylot Control is very amusing – from a safe distance.

Eylot’s demands are several kinds of unreasonable, of course. The one that particularly strikes me is the newly-promulgated law against close approach to the planet without prior permission, the penalty for a first offense being impoundment and confiscation. Granting that Bechimo didn’t announce their arrival in a properly official way, I still find myself wondering whether, if they’d made a normal approach, Eylot Control would have thought to mention the new law before they came near enough to break it.

There’s a minor continuity lapse in this chapter, with Joyita announcing Bechimo‘s affiliation to the station as “Lucky Cat” instead of “Laughing Cat”. (I can’t think of any in-story reason for him to have got that wrong, either inadvertantly or deliberately.)

Dragon Ship – Chapter 21

Codrescu Station

In which the occupants of Codrescu live in interesting times.

Guild Master Peltzer, Arndy Slayn and Qaichi Bringo were all, as we were reminded last chapter, present for Theo’s last visit to Codrescu in Saltation, which was exciting enough that they surely remember her name. (The cheerful comment that “The lady’s dangerous” is specifically a call-back to a conversation from that visit.)

We’ve seen more of Peltzer and Bringo since then, during Kara’s exciting time on the station in “Landed Alien”. That was also when we met Codrescu’s official station master; I noted at the time that “Landed Alien” goes out of its way to avoid establishing any personal details about the station master, including gender, so I’ll add that this chapter does at least tell us that he’s male (and that we’re unlikely to be seeing or learning any more about him in future).

Dragon Ship – Chapter 20

Departing Tradedesk

In which there are pilots in peril.

I think it’s probably for the best that the Guild Office wasn’t open when Theo went to see about advertising for a captain for Theo. It might be a good way to find a captain for a normal ship, but Bechimo‘s kind of a special case and I’m not convinced there’d be a good chance of finding a good match without broadcasting just how special in more detail than would probably be wise.

That’s an interesting moment when Theo and Bechimo are butting heads over going to Eylot, and Joyita seems just as amused by the situation as Clarence does.

Landed Alien

In which Kara ven’Arith takes a very long tenday tour.

I take note of the way Kara’s mother and Kara’s delm are always mentioned in this story in the same breath, and the way those mentions are worded, and in addition consider the similar mention of Kara’s mother early in Saltation, and the conclusion I draw is that this is one of those Liaden melant’i situations where “mother” and “delm” are two hats worn by a single person but spoken of separately because the same person might be required to consider a situation differently depending on which set of eyes she’s regarding it with.

The Station Master is another addition to the list of characters for whom the authors of have chosen not to provide gendered pronouns. I might not have found it worth mentioning, but that there’s a sentence near the end of the story which attracted attention by going somewhat out of its way to avoid a pronoun.


Tomorrow: Agent of Change

Saltation – Chapter 27

Codrescu Station
Eylot Nearspace

In which Theo is involved in a salvage operation.

Guild Master Peltzer, with his historic Eylot name, stands as a reminder that Guild pilots have much in common wherever they hail from, and that not all pilots from Eylot are like the Young Pilots of Eylot. Mind you, he’s seen more of the wide universe than the Young Pilots, if — as seems likely — he’s the same Pilot Peltzer from Mouse and Dragon, who first gave Hevelin a job with the Pilots Guild many years ago and many light years from Eylot. (Or is it too obvious to say that a pilot who’s achieved Guild Master has seen more of the wide universe than a young pilot still in the academy?)

Firegems have been mentioned before, but I think this is the first time we’ve had such a detailed explanation of their place in the economy of the galaxy.

Mouse and Dragon – Chapter 21

In which Hevelin is employed and Jen Sar Kiladi is recognised.

The fame of the Revisor of the ven’Tura Tables is spread far and wide; not even by travelling into Terran-held space has Aelliana avoided being greeted as that Caylon by the pilots she meets. (That implies that there are underlying principles shared by both the Terran and the Liaden methods of space travel, if the ven’Tura Tables are of use to both.)

The norbear with the rusty streaks in his fur is named Hevelin, in tribute to the authors’ friend Rusty Hevelin, who by all accounts was that happy person mentioned in the chapter quote who found a friend at every port.