[Pyramid Books, 1961; no ISBN; $0.50]
- Rating: 2 Cause: CS Result: MX Significance: +
Description: + Saturation: +. A rocket intended to make plants grow on the moon fails
to reach a proper orbit and instead causes a worldwide rain that turns about half the
people in the world bright green. As this might indicate, the book is often very funny.
However, Tabori is hopelessly weighted down by trying to be An Important Statement About
Racism. While the subject matter could not let the story ignore racism, it is often dealt
with in so heavy-handed a matter as to crush the narrative flat. When it stops trying, it
can address many subjects--including racism--in an often hysterically funny manner;
contains one of the best fictional Presidential Campaigns I've seen outside
Heinlein. -104 (98/02/06)
[Circlet Press; 1994; 54 pp; ?]
- [Result: LY.] Werewolves and the humans who
love them .. an interesting examination of the emotional and anatomical problems that
would come with such a relationship. I don't know if this is up your alley for the list,
but it definitely caught my eye as being different. :) -113
[The Isle of Glass: ?] [BBT]
[The Golden Horn: ?] [BBT]
[The Hounds of God: ?] [BBT]
[collected: Orb; 1993; 0312853033; $14.95 softcover] [BB]
- [Cause: MA? Result: BX/AN.] The female
character is an elf who shifts into different forms, and in the third book is being held
by a priest in wolf shape while pregnant, and has her children (who are born in wolf forms
as well). All of her work is worth tracking down and reading, an excellent historical
fantasy writer. -72
[Bantam Spectra; 1989; 0553276093; $3.95] [BB]
[Dell Abyss; 1992; 0440212855, $4.99] [BB]
- [Result: LY.] Lycanthropy. -83
- Female werewolves in Denver. I haven't been able to read through this one either,
although the writing and characterization is fairly good. -87
- Lycanthropy. -154
[Bantam Corgi; 1991; 0552135402; $4.99?] [BB]
[Bantam Spectra; 1993; 0553285653; $5.99] [BB]
[Marianne, The
Magus, and the Manticore: Ace; 1985; 044151944X; $2.95] [BB] [BBT]
[Marianne, The Madame,
and the Momentary Gods: Ace; 1988; 0441519628; $2.95] [BB] [BBT]
[Marianne, The
Matchbox, and the Malachite Mouse: Ace; 1989; 0441519644; $3.50] [BB] [BBT]
- [Cause: DT Result: BM.] These three books all
have the main action set in shadow worlds created as traps, beings going there find
themselves bound in forms that fit the local rules. -28
[The Song of Mavin Manyshaped:
Ace; 1985; 0441775233; $2.75] [BB] [BBT]
[The Flight of Mavin Manyshaped:
Ace; 1985; 0441240925; $2.75] [BB] [BBT]
[The Search of Mavin Manyshaped:
?] [BBT]
- [Result: SC.] ...Tell the story of Peter's
mother Mavin Manyshaped, her origin and history. -28
- It's about the life of a shape shifter in the land of the true game. Beautiful book.
Tepper always has interesting ideas. A good book 3. -47
[Grafton; 1992; 0586212124; $5.99?] [BB]
[Bantam Spectra; 1993; 0553415109; $5.99] [BB]
[?]
- [Result: GC.] This is a very strange and
unusual book, but one of the protagonists is a person who shifts between male and female.
This one was actually Tepper's first book but was published fourth, after the first three
books of the True Game. -28
[Bantam Spectra; 1993; 0553560980; $5.99] [BB]
[King's Blood Four: ?] [BBT]
[Necromancer Nine: ?] [BBT]
[Wizard's Eleven: ?] [BBT]
- [Result: SC.] ...Deal with Peter Mavin's son
and the truly shifty things he got into. For of course he being a shifter could not but
cause trouble. -28
- The sequel to the Mavin Manyshaped chronicles about her daughter, who is also a
shapeshifter. Brilliant book, my first Sheri S. Tepper book and fell instantly in love
with her works. Rating: 5. -47
[Jinian Footseer: ?]
[Dervish Daughter: ?]
[Jinian Star-eye: TOR; 0-812-55614-3;
$2.95]
On Mavin Manyshaped trilogy, True Game trilogy, Jinian Footseer trilogy:
- [Result: SC.] In the books shifters are
shapechangers capable of changing form from as small as a dog to as large as they can gain
the bulk for. -28
- Two of the main characters of this tri-trilogy are shapeshifters--able to take on a wide
range of forms at will. (They are, however, restricted by mass--cannot reduce, can absorb
more if needed.) Others in the world have this power, or others. Fantasy (mostly). -38
- ...All of which take place in the same world. Good stuff. -42
[Signet; 1981; 0451097203, $2.50] [BB]
[Berkley; 1989; 0425118924; $?] [BB]
[?]
- A rare book hard to find, but very much worth it. A computer programmer comes up with an
ultimate computer and goes on the serach for data to input into the computer. He undergoes
a transformation during the process. The computer undergoes a type of transformation.
And... (See Spoiler Section for more
information) -101
[Pocket; 1988; 0671648861; $4.50] [BB]
- A Clan of the Cave Bear-like book, supposedly involving transformation; not
read. -Ph
[Ace; 1995; 0441002447; $13.00 softcover] [BB]
- [Result: PE?.] Last survivor of exploration
party is saved and transformed by natives. Skin replaced to protect from allergens and
given ability to form colored patterns on skin which is aliens method of communication.
Other minor improvements. Must learn to live as an alien for years before next mission
recovers her. Quite descriptive of details and the physical and emotional
consequences is a major theme. Rating: 5 Cause: AX
Result: MX Significance: 0 Description: +. -159 (98/02/14)
[mid-1970s; ?]
- Rating: 2 Cause: AX Result: AT/MP? Significance: 0.
The story concerns an alien spacecraft which lands in a remote area of Montana and is
covertly investigated by a group of scientists. The main theme of the book is their
attempt to analyze the craft, which actively discourages and sabotages their
investigations. The Transformation element gradually becomes evident towards the end of
the book, as some of the team members realize their proximity to the craft is endowing
them with telepathic powers. This transformation theme is not central to the story itself,
but the open ending strongly suggests it will be of crucial importance (See Spoiler Section for more information)
-96
[Usually published in three volumes:]
[The Fellowship of the Ring:
Ballantine; 1977; 0345272587; $2.50] [BB] [BBT]
[The Two Towers: Ballantine; 1978;
0345272595; $2.50] [BB] [BBT]
[The Return of the King:
Ballantine; 1978; 0345272609; $2.50] [BB] [BBT]
[Ballantine; 1976; 0345253426; $1.95] [BB]
- [Result: LY.] Besides Gollum, Tolkein's The
Hobbit has Beorn, a sort of were-bear. -75
On Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit:
- [Cause: MA Result: BM.] And, of course,
there's always Gollum from LOTR. -4
- Rating: 5 Result: BM Significance: - Description:
- Saturation: -. Gollum starts life as a hobbit (like a half-sized human) but, by the
possession of a powerful artifact (the One Ring), gets transformed into a thin black
rubbery-looking creature. -64
- Tolkien's Ring trilogy has a few transformation stories which, for the most
part, are ancillary to the whole but still significant. Gandalf the Grey becomes Gandalf
the White (thus amplifying his powers) after his battle with the Balrog, in a scene that
is most definitely a sort of death/burial/resurrection allegory of Christ. In The
Fellowship of the Ring, Beorn the Berserker is actually a wer-bear. We also learn
of Gollum's transformation from proto-Hobbit (? - this is never made clear, although
Tolkien seemed to hint that Gollum was formerly a Hobbit) into what he was when Bilbo
stumbled upon him under the mountain. The evil influence of the Ring had so twisted his
flesh, mind, and soul that I feel this qualifies as a sort of transformation (albeit it
took place over many years). -115
[1: Under the Shadow: Roc/New
American Library; 1992; 0451451716, $4.99] [BB] [BBT]
[2: Gathering Darkness: Roc/New
American Library; 1993; 0451452372, $4.99] [BB] [BBT]
- [Result: LY.] Lycanthropy. -83
- Lycanthropic bodice-ripper. If you like Harlequins, and want a male werewolf lead, this
one's for you... -87
- Lycanthropy. -154
[Harlequin; 1994; 0373270356; $3.50] [BB]
[?]
[?]
- [Cause: AM Result: BM.] An unauthorized
medical treatment inadvertently makes the subject immortal. Does that count as a
transformation? -42
Werenight series {/135/} [??]
[Werenight: Baen; 1994; 0671722093; $4.99]
[BB] [BBT]
- [Result: LY.] Re: Werenight and Wereblood by "Eric Iverson":
The author, real name Harry Turtledove, has extensively rewritten the books, the publisher
had meat-axed his first novel into two books and insisted on the pseudonym,
"translated it into English" (his own words), and republished it as one volume
under his own name[...] I felt it was a pretty good read, in the light fantasy mode
mastered by L. Sprague de Camp. Some interesting transformations during the werenight (a
were-salmon?!?)
Two sequels out: Prince of the North; King of the North[...] -135 (98/02/07)
[Prince of the North: Baen;
1994; 0671876066; $4.99] [BB] [BBT]
- [Result: LY.] There are a couple of minor
transformations in the sequel during a minor "werenight" (when all 4 moons are
within a day or two of full): one minor character turns to a wolfman and a stranger, stark
naked, wanders into their camp. They cannot communicate with the stranger, and the story's
hero, realizing something strange is going on, manages to get him locked away in a cellar
before dawn. In the morning, there's a bear, somewhat drunk (they'd given the stranger
some ale) in the cellar. A "bear-were"? -135
(98/02/09)
[King of the North: Baen; 1996;
0671877151; $5.99] [BB] [BBT]
- [To be read; unknown whether transformation is involved.] -135 (98/02/09)
Where to from here?
Copyright © 1993-2000 Phaedrus /
Books S (p. 3) 
Transformation Stories List
The Green Rain {104//} [??] [BBT]
The Beast Within:
Erotic Tales of Werewolves {/113/} [BBT]
Sideshow {//79} [BBT]