P. C. Hodgell - Seekers Mask

Back in the summer of 1993, when I was asked by Alan Newcomer of Hypatia Press to do an introduction for a third novel in P.C. Hodgells Jame series, I was happily anticipating Pats return to the field, not only with this new book, but with further volumes yet to come. I was sure that some Big Name Publisher would snap up the mass market rights and if not fame and fortune, then certainly some measure of it, would come her way.
Sadly, that didnt happen. The wonderful Seekers Mask came and went, and here we are some seven years later and its only now coming out in a more consumer-friendly (read: less expensive) edition.
But things are looking up. While Meisha Merlin isnt a Big Name Publisher, theyre certainly a respected independent publishing house with better distribution than a specialty publisher such as Hypatia Press has, and they have the ability to produce both hardcover and more affordable trade paperback editions. Having already released Dark of the Gods (an omnibus collecting the classic Godstalk and Dark of the Moon), plus contracting a fourth volume from Pat, theyre obviously committed to her work in the long term and that should make a difference.
And you, gentle reader, can make a difference as well. If you like this book as much as I think you will, tell your friends, spread the word. Lets show the publishing world that quality storytelling can still do well, even if it doesnt have a huge budget behind its publication and promotion. Speaking of that earlier Hypatia Press edition, I was pleased to be invited to write an introduction for it at the time, and Im happy now to have been asked by Stephen Pagel of Meisha Merlin Publications to update it for this new edition. To put what follows in context, I wrote it in September of 1993 when I was very busy juggling a number of projectsthe story of my life, it seems, ever since I misplaced my spare time and have had to play catch-up every since...
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And How Weve Missed Her
When Alan Newcomer called up to ask if Id write this introduction, the last thing I needed to do was take on a new project. It was mid-September and I was already running two weeks late on the deadline for my current novel, which in turn was threatening to make me late on a number of short fiction commitments, not least of which was a second Newford collection due at my publisher by the beginning of Octoberand I still had a couple of stories to write for it as well.
So trust me on this, I wasnt looking for work. But I jumped at the chance to write this introduction all the same.
It wasnt because Alan offered me fistfuls of money. To my recollection the only time remuneration came up in the conversation was when Alan said something along the lines of, Of course, I cant actually pay you anything for doing this. And it wasnt because of the spiffy books Alan offered to send. Id already read his two previous publications by Hodgell in their earlier incarnationsChild of Darkness and Bones, which appeared in Berkley Showcase II (1980) and Elsewhere III (1984), respectively. And it certainly wasnt because I like signing my name so often in a row for a signed edition that eventually I begin to forget what my signatures supposed to look like.
(This is not as easy a thing to do as you might think when you consider I have a signature that looks more as though someones checking to see if theres enough ink in their pen rather than one composed of letters that are actually supposed to spell out a name. Perhaps its a legacy of my grandmothers Japanese blood and what Im offering is less a signature and more a chop, my own quirky identifying ideograph. But I digress.)
No, the only reason I agreed was because it would give me an advance look at the manuscript of Seekers Mask and after all these years (lord, has it really been eight years since the last novel?), Ive been desperate to find out what happens next.
Can I assume that youve bought this because you, too, were just as enthralled with Pat Hodgells previous two books, God Stalk (1982) and Dark of the Moon (1985)? Were you perhaps also somewhat resentful of this Ph.D. of hers that was taking her away from her fiction? Well, fret no more. Her doctorate on Sir Walter Scotts Ivanhoe is over and done with and finally we have a third installment in our hands, withdare we hope?the promise of not nearly so long a wait for the next book?
If this were a fair world, readers would be falling all over themselves in great numbers to acquire this new novel because, simply put, Pat is one of the very few true and original voices to write in the field of fantasy set in a secondary worldby which I mean high fantasy, that sub-genre inadvertently popularized by Tolkien with the publication of his Lord of the Rings. But fair, as they say, is only the first third of fairy tale, and like an elfin enchantment, fairness is difficult to pin down.
The truth is P.C. Hodgell isnt the household name it should be. Her wondrously dark and tangled fantasies dont command a huge audience and it has nothing to do with the high quality of her work.
Part of the blame lies with that vast monolith, the NYC publishing machine: because Pats name didnt come up in its internal lottery where its decided whos going to be hot and who not, her books were basically sent out to fend for themselves, wandering the byways and backroads up bookstores and libraries like itinerant rogues or adventurers. Im sure theyve had any number of grand escapades along their way and made many true, life-long friends, but without the help of those two Fairy Godmothers, Publicity and Real Publisher Support, fame and fortune has remained elusive.
Its also partly Pats fault in the sense that her output has been so small that she and her work become easily forgotten in a world where public memory only encompasses the last big thing and all information is preferred in fifteen-second bites. (This reference to Pats output, I should add, isnt meant in a negative sense. Its always important to follow your muse and if your muse insists on your straying from one form of creative endeavor to another, all you can do is comply. The curious thing is that youre usually better off for the break, but I digress again.)
Hopefully Pats status in the field will change, now that her academic obligations are completed and she has the time to once again enrich our field with her singular fiction. Its all well and fine to have a rabid cult following, but Id much rather see her do so well that she can concentrate as much of her time as feels right on the telling of tales.
And what tales she has to tell us.
If you remember, the last time we saw Jame (in Dark of the Moon), she had finally tracked down her twin brother Tori and now had to find a place for herself among the Kencyrs, those warrior-magicians shed been searching for throughout the previous books. Seekers Mask opens with the unruly Jame trying to fit into the constricting life found within the Womens Halls at Gothregor. Knowing Jame as we do, we also know its a lost cause and in no time at all, she has set the quiet Womens Halls topsy-turvy, though its not entirely her fault.
True, she finds it difficult to fit in, but she does try. Only what can you do when Shadow Guild assassins come hunting you, not to mention old ghosts from her days in Tai-tastigon, the city of a thousand gods? It doesnt help, either, that no one in the Womens Halls seems willing to help her, or that her brother will have nothing to do with her. So in no time at all she and Jorin, the blind, cat-like ounce with whom she has bonded, are off and away once more, barely one step ahead of a multitude of dangers.