The Harem of Aman Akbar

Description

The Djinn Decanted:
By his genie's standards, Aman Akbar was a pervert. He was not content to marry his cousin, the beauteous Hyaganoosh, as custom demanded. Instead he chose three ugly foreign wives--a pale skinned barbarian Rasa, a sharp-tongued Chinese acrobat, Lady Aster, and the tall ebony skinned 100th daughter of the Great Elephant, Amollia. Just about the time the women were sorting out the whole polygamy thing and dealing with their new mother-in-law, Um Aman, Aman Akbar lost control of the genie and got turned into a white ass (it happens a lot in the Arabian Nights) at the wish of none other than Hyaganoosh. What's a foreign wife to do? The three women and Aman Akbar's mother have no choice but to seek a way to undo the spell and restore the fellow to his former shape and state but along the way they have some hair raising adventures involving monkeys, shape shifters called peris, the dangerous divs who make the djinn look jolly, and a rather nice elephant.
"Delightful reading! Shades of Scheherazade and Sinbad in the sort of Scarboroughian treat that one is beginning to expect of this beguiling writer." Anne McCaffrey
Elizabeth Ann Scarborough is the winner of the 1989 Nebula Award for Best novel.

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Customer Reviews

Typical Scarborough--light, bright, and not too deep
Although Scarborough has some serious and even troubling fiction under her belt--"The Healer's War," for instance, a harrowing look at the Viet Nam conflict from a nurse's point of view--the majority of her books are lighter, airy confections. "The Harem of Aman Akbar" falls into this latter category. Set in a fantasy version of the Islamic world, it tells the story of Aman Akbar and his multiple wives. When their husband lands in big trouble while going after wife number four, his wives show their mettle by rescuing him. With great humor, Scarborough shreds the stereotype of sultry and submissive harem women. One of the joys of this book is seeing the different personalities of the wives and how they not only get along with each other, but work together to save their husband. There are no deep ideas or complex characters in this book, but Scarborough's wit makes it a quick, fun read.

2004-11-18 | abt1950 (usa) | Helpful Votes: 4 | Rating: 5

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A delightful fantasy adventure in a non-western setting.
I have just finished reading this. (okay, I have 3 pages left when I put it down last night). I had never heard of it before, and just happened to pick it up for 50 cents in a used bookstore when I was stuck in Idaho, and it had interesting cover art.

It is delicious!!!!!! What a wonderful little piece of fiction. I found it very charming; and I am going to look for more of this author's stuff now just to see if she tries this alternative theme again.

It is a "fantasy" book, set roughly on earth, but in a non-western setting (well the main character is westerner) starting in the "Islamic" world and ending in newly conquered "Sindh" in the Subcontinent. (I use " " because all the names are altered) It has a genie and other magic bits, but it is not common place. I think it is a really great little book and I am just tickled pink that I found such a well put together story.

2003-05-26 (Seattle, WA USA) | Helpful Votes: 4 | Rating: 5

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Saturday Morning Serial, Middle-eastern Style
This novel is diverting the way a Saturday morning series would be: it emphasizes action over theme, plot over character, peril episodes over suspense. The main characters show little motivation, but instead work with various magical powers. The plot never really endangers any of the primary players, and therefore will not be disturbing to sensitive readers. The fantasy world depicted is not meant to make any incisive remarks or observations of our world-- rather, it serves to provide an escape from our world.

2003-05-14 | disco75 (State College, PA United States) | Helpful Votes: 1 | Rating: 2

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Cute. Don't take it seriously.
It's fun fantasy, thr kind that breaks the fourth wall without shame, making fun of itself and several others in the process. Packed with jokes, outrageous schemes, and the just plain weird... I'd highly recommend this first book of a now well-known author. Elizabeth S. has a great writing style and truly unique ideas. It brings to mind Castle in the Air, though I can't for the life of me remember the author of that. Ah well. I do recommend this book!

2000-06-18 | Helpful Votes: 4 | Rating: 4

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Great trio of female heroines
A rough-and-ready shepherdess/princess is swept off by a genii to be the wife of the charming Aman Akbar. The problem is he can't get enough, and is unforturnately turned into an ass while trying to get a fourth wife. The other three wives set off to save the ass and prevent the marriage. This book is full of exciting adventure and surprising twists. Scarborough is at her best here, and, as always, is extremely funny.

1999-08-04 | Helpful Votes: 6 | Rating: 5

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The Lady in the Loch

Description

This novel is not the typical kind of science fiction or fantasy story. I should also mention that The Lady in the Loch is not about good old Nessie, the Loch Ness Monster. If you are interested in a story that has a combination of fantasy, mystery, and just the right gothic overtones, then this novel is worth picking up today for your reading pleasure. . . I believe this novel is perfect for those of you with some time to kill riding a train or an airplane, or perhaps sitting in the waiting room in a doctor's office This is a novel you won't be able to put down for even a moment. I enjoyed reading The Lady in the Loch and I hope that you will do the same.

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Customer Reviews

Magical Murder Mystery
The protagonist of this tale is the young Walter Scott, sheriff of Edinburgh. When bones are discovered after draining a city loch, Scott is set on the trail of a murderer who is stealing away gypsy girls. An engrossing and delightful tale, full of matter-of-fact supernatural aspects.

2005-10-18 (North Little Rock, AR) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 5

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A murder mystery with a real twist
Walter Scott, lawyer, romantic author and newly appointed sheriff of Edinburgh, finds a mystery on his hands. The slowly draining Nor' Loch is giving up a collection of bones and bodies - recent bodies - incomplete bodies. And, when women begin disappearing, snatched right off the street, it becomes very worrying indeed. Someone is up to something hideous and diabolical, and Scott needs to get to the bottom of it!

I tripped across this book by accident, and boy am I glad! Ms. Scarborough spins a fascinating story of magic and murder, suspenseful and gripping. I must say that the book reminded me a lot of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein or Bram Stoker's Dracula; I think that it has many things in common with those classics of horror.

So, if you like a good old fashioned horror story, or a murder mystery with a real twist, then get this book, you won't be disappointed!

2004-11-03 (North-Central Illinois, USA) | Helpful Votes: 2 | Rating: 5

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Murder mystery, horror story, historical novel
This book is all of these things. One thing, though, the dialogue is written in dialect. While if I had known this, I probably wouldn't have gotten the book, I actually enjoyed the Scottish flavor. It's not so unitelligable that you lose the plot. Most of it is easy enough to understand, especially after being read out loud. Even if the dialogue can't be understood, the writing is so good, that the point is driven across anyway.

After all that, what is left is a look into a different society; a murder mystery where young gypsy girls are going missing, and a horror story where the dead rise to sccuse their killers, and a crazed doctor tries to assemble parts to bring his lover back to life.

A definite must read.

2003-08-05 | sassybroad12 (Philadelphia, PA United States) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 5

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Pleasant, but somewhat predictable
I've enjoyed Scarborough's previous fantasy works. They're always quite readable and did a fine job portraying ordinary people put into extraordinary circumstances. However, I found this novella particularly predictable. It's not just that the identity of the villain is handed to the reader in the first chapters of the book (no, it doesn't pretend to be a mystery novel), but also all the plot twists and complications are very straightforward and usually loudly heralded before Scarborough brings the reader to their advent. On the positive side, the depictions of Edinburgh are vivid and plentiful, and will strike a chord with anyone who has trod the Royal Mile or gazed on the Salisbury Crags. And, as ever, Scarborough provides likable, lively characters with wit.

2002-08-17 | Helpful Votes: 1 | Rating: 3

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Gorgeous, intriguing and scintillating! Keeps getting better
I don't know how E.A. Scarborough does it, I've been reading her books for years and this lady never grows stale or repetious! The Lady in the Loch is a wonderful mystery, a wonderful fantasy and a wonderful historic fiction rolled up into one incredibly clever book, set in Scotland, with a mood and a scenery so real you can smell and feel it, it's a gripping story... my husband doesn't like fantasy, but loves mysteries and I really think this is the book that will convert him!!! Thank you Ms Scarborough! For the hours of enjoyment and another book I can re-read into tatters and discover something new every time! And thank you for another well researched tale that will get me to the library to learn more about your incredibly interesting locales and historical figures!!!

1999-08-08 | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 5

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Maelstrom: Book Two of The Twins of Petaybee

Product Details

• ISBN13: 9780345470058
• Make ready: New
• Notes: BUY WITH Assurance, Over one million books sold! 98% Positive feedback. Compare our books, prices and utility to the competition. 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed

Description

In Changelings, bestselling authors Anne McCaffrey and Elizabeth Ann Scarborough returned to the sentient planet Petaybee with a story of growth and transformation in the face of deadly new threats. The telepathic, shapeshifting twins Murel and Ronan found that Petaybee had plans for them as well. Now those plans begin to bear fruit with fresh possibilities . . . and dangers.

MAELSTROM

Now that Petaybee is forming a new equatorial island, the planet has agreed to harbor a group of new refugees, workers indentured to the powerful InterGal Corporation. But the mission to collect the immigrants becomes a rescue operation when it is revealed that InterGal is doing nothing to help these survivors of a world devastated by a meteor shower. Murel and Ronan set out to persuade the frightened refugees to come out of hiding, leave their world, and bring along their sacred totem animals, the gifted sea turtles called the Honus. But the twins discover that they’ve taken on more than they expected: The Honus are not the only animals sacred to the refugees. There are also the Manos, intelligent sharks who have lost none of their predatory habits–and who cannot be left behind to die.

When the Manos are released into Petaybee’s waters, a tragic misunderstanding endangers the whole resettlement operation. At the same time, the mysterious sea otters who once rescued the twins’ father are suddenly revealed to be much more than they appear to be.

Now it is up to Ronan and Murel, with the intrepid assistance of their river otter friend Sky, to smooth the waters before a maelstrom of revenge destroys Petaybee’s harmonious way of life.

But even as the twins uncover startling new facts about Petaybee’s past that will change everything they thought they knew about the planet, the forces of InterGal are gathering, preparing to strike. . . .


From the Hardcover edition.

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Customer Reviews

Malestrom, 2nd book about Petabee
Other reviews have described the plot of this book so I am not. Petabee is a sentient planet. Human and other species have inhabited the planet and can communicate with the planet. This book is the second in a series of three. What an interesting concept!
Petabee likes all of the life on her surface but there are rules. Some nasties show up and have evil plans for the planet.

There is dramatic conflict and the villans are really evil. How does this come out? Read the next book and find out.
I have read Ann McCaffrey for years ever since she started her Pern series. What a wonderful author! Her books are so enjoyable
that I spent one Christmas Day glued to the pages of the "White Dragon".

Sara Howard, Author of "Something Funny Happened on The Way to The Moon" and "The Biggest Explosions in the Universe".

2010-04-17 | Apollo Engineer on the Saturn V (Tallahassee, FL USA) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 5

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maelstrom
i was happy with the book being in great shape,and everything they said it would be but, yes there is a big but. the book was not the original publication, the size of the book was made smaller and i wish they would have put it in bold letters that it was. i would not have purchased this book otherwise.

2009-03-30 (buckley, wa usa) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 3

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Good story
Good story. I always liked the "Petaybee" storyline. However, this is most definitely more geared towards a younger audience; age range would be more around 9 to 13. I appreciate Elizabeth Ann Scarborough's assistance to Ms. McCaffrey to keep this storyline alive.

I'm hoping that the next one of this series is more geared to a little older audience as the twins get older.

2008-04-20 | Denise G (Olympia, WA USA) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 3

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Worth having
This book is the 2nd in the Petaybee twins series. It is well worth having and be warned that you will probably want to have the next book (Deluge) nearby when you finish it.
It flows well from Changelings (the 1st book) and the characters are full and clear. As always Anne McCaffrey and Elizabeth Ann Scarborough marry well in their writing and this series continues to be a very enjoyable read.

2008-04-06 | Lainey (NSW, Australia) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 4

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Maelstrom
The McCaffrey/Scarbourough partnership has produced another quick read in the Power That Be cycle of books with Maelstom, second in their new trilogy. If all you want is to continue reading of the adventures of the twins of Petaybee, revisting a familiar universe and no challenges, read this book. If you want to have your perceptions of the world shaken - go and find some harder sci-fi. What you have here is a cosy kitchen sink drama with little real danger. A fine tea/coffee break read. But not something that sticks in the mind long afterwards.

2008-04-06 | Tracey (Lancashire, U K) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 2

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Deluge: Book Three of The Twins of Petaybee

Product Details

• ISBN13: 9780345470072
• Accustom: New
• Notes: BUY WITH Courage, Over one million books sold! 98% Positive feedback. Compare our books, prices and utility to the competition. 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed

Description

InterGal Corporation has long desired to exploit the resource-rich Petaybee. But the planet and its guardians, led by Yana Maddock and Sean Shongili, along with their twin children, Ronan and Murel, have successfully thwarted every attempt by the Corporation to impose its iron-fisted dominion. Until now. With a bold move, InterGal’s military arm has dispatched an invading force to subdue the planet once and for all.

While their parents work to foil the assault, Ronan and Murel are captured and sent to a desolate prison world where an old enemy, Dr. Mabo, waits to continue her cruel experiments on the shape-changing siblings. The twins’ only hope of escape lies in the uncharted seas of the prison planet. But in the murky depths, something else is waiting. . . .

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Customer Reviews

Disappointing in a way
I have read all of Anne McCaffrey's books as well as those with her son. I loved the original Power Play Trilogy but was somewhat disappointed with the final 3. I am yet to read the final in this trilogy. They seemed a little tame and childish in some ways (of course the main characters are children).

2009-11-15 | ASB (Canberra, Australia) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 3

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Petaybee three
In the McCaffrey/Scarborough tradition this read was a fast moving adventure with great characters, human, changeling, native and even alien. Yep, I'm a fan.

2009-07-12 | Aonbarr (South Jersey) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 5

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deluge
It was in great shape. Would have no problem in buting from this dealer.

2009-07-06 | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 5

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A Grand Conclusion
Deluge (2008) is the third SF novel in the Twins of Petaybee trilogy, following Maelstrom. In the previous volume, Marmion de Revers Algemeine was arrested onboard the Piaf by Colonel Cally and two Federation Council representatives. All on the ship were taken to the Gwinnett Incarceration Colony.

Intergal Company troops were also sent to Petaybee to arrest the Shongilis. However, the communications officer on the Piaf left a channel open and the Intergal plans were broadcast to Petaybee. The copter on Petaybee picked up enough of the signal to realize the situation and to warn the Kilcoole villagers.

In this novel, Marmie and her companion (and First Officer) Adrienne Robineau are offloaded at the prison. Zuzu -- Adrienne's cat -- has been hiding from the troopers, but follows her mistress as she debarks from the ship. When the humans are placed in cells within the prison, Zuzu slinks through the crawl spaces, ratholes and other minor ways within the cellblock and locates Adrienne and Marmie.

On Petaybee, Murel, Ronan and Sky Otter hitch a ride in the Deep Sea Otter city/ship to Versailles Station. They infiltrate into the station with the Deep Sea Otter's transport beam and hide in Marmie's suite, but find her already gone. They observe the InterGal Company Corpsmen rounding up the residents and soon found themselves among the station children. The Intergal troopers ship everybody on the station to the Gwinnett prison colony.

Meanwhile, Company Corps troops are raiding Kilcoole. Naturally, they find nobody left in the village. While they are searching the village, snow begins to fall and the temperature drops. So they settle down in the town meeting hall to keep warm.

In this story, Yana discovers that the Company Corpsmen are onplanet and that her husband and children are gone. She and a few others capture the troopers in the village. Then Sean returns with the news that Murel and Ronan have gone offplanet.

Then Yana leads a raid against the Intergal ship and finesses the rest of the Company Corpsmen off it so that the villagers can capture them. Yana and a few others take the Intergal troop transport and follow Murel and Ronan. Once they are outside the interference of Petaybee, they send messages to Marmie's friends in the Intergal Corporation and the Federation Council telling of the illegal arrests and other illicit activities.

The adult captives from Versailles Station are locked up within the prison facility, but the children are carried across the sea to an island. Sky Otter follows the adults and joins with Zuzu. Together they help to free Marmie and Adrienne.

Murel and Ronan scout the ocean around the island and discover several interesting bits of information. There is little life in the sea other than fish, but giant squid live in the deeps. Then the Deep Sea Otters show up on the planet.

This tale concludes the trilogy. The various storylines are brought together in this volume. Yet there may be more to come. Enjoy!

Highly recommended for McCaffrey & Scarborough fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of interstellar civilizations, shapeshifters and daring youngsters.

-Arthur W. Jordin

2008-10-11 (Smyrna, GA USA) | Helpful Votes: 2 | Rating: 5

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Another winner!
This duo of authors writes a good book! I can only wish they continue. Make sure you read the Powers That Be trilogy and then the Twins of Petaybee trilogy so that you get the full story.

2008-09-30 (Dwight, IL United States) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 5

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Song of Sorcery

Description

Elizabeth Ann Scarborough's Song of Sorcery is another light-hearted contemporary fantasy adventure which will please the author's many fans. Colin Songsmith sings a song to an old witch who takes an unlikely revenge. The witch's granddaughter rescues him from the dire threat of being eaten alive by the cat. She hears the song, which happens to concern her recently married sister and a gypsy. Convinced that she has to save her sister, she takes the minstrel, the cat and her magical resources to Rowan Castle. The story is rich with descriptive details of setting and encounters with magical and fantastic creatures such as a talking cat, a lovesick dragon, and a bear prince. The characters speak in contemporary slang which plays nicely against the traditional fantastic settings.

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Customer Reviews

Deliciously irreverent
As in most fantasies, "Song of Sorcery" thrives on description of its setting and encounters with creatures who could not have been anything but not real, i.e., a talking cat, a lovesick dragon, and a bear prince (who unfortunately cannot be kissed to perfection).

Although there are drab and dragging moments, times when you want to say "enough already" with the descriptions, the story successfully combines the traditional concept of fantasy-fiction and modern-speak. The characters deliciously mouth off slang which, under different circumstances, would have been out of place. Scarborough controls her prose up to a point and also manages to have fun with her characters. Of course, you expect good to triumph over evil and a happily-ever-after but you also want to look at the places and converse with the characters. When it ends, it is as if you were saying goodbye to them. You can always turn the pages back but the first time pleasures and hurts like no other. (Sounds like something one would say about sex.)

But yes, it's also true that I'm partial to stories that flat out couldn't have been real. I suspend my disbelief longer, I tend to be more accepting of implausibility. There can be that "one true love" and I wouldn't mind if the characters wait for 100 years for it to come. At least, I know it will come. And 100 years would only be a number of pages.

2004-12-07 | MORASS (Batangas City, Philippines) | Helpful Votes: 3 | Rating: 4

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Funniest Book I've Read in Years
Song of Sorcery is hilarious. The characters are interesting, and real.(Well, mostly.) Anyone looking for a good time without the disembowling and stereotypical protegenists, this is it.

1999-08-20 | Helpful Votes: 2 | Rating: 5

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Absolutely Hilarious!
This book was incredibly full of wit and humor that I was laughing almost every time I turned a page. Colin Songsmith sings a local song to an old witch who takes an unlikely revenge. Her granddaughter rescues him from a certain death of being eaten alive by the cat and hears the song herself which happens to concern her recently married sister and a gypsy. Convinced that she has to save her sister, she takes the minstrel, the cat and her magical resources towards Rowan Castle. I absolute recommend this book to anyone who's looking for a good time.

1998-10-27 (Hollywood, Cali) | Helpful Votes: 6 | Rating: 5

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Fantastic, couldn't live without it!
The usage of other witches from other stories was masterful. The author grabbed your attention and held it all the way, and left you wanting more. She made you see things in a different light. I applaude you!!!!

1998-06-08 | Helpful Votes: 1 | Rating: 5

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a different view of witches and unicorns for its time
This book is set in medieval(somewhat) times and yet the heroine is not your typical, old time witch. The author uses light humor and familar themes to tell a wonderful story. This book always makes me smile and reach for more of her Unicorn stories.

1997-11-11 | Helpful Votes: 1 | Rating: 4

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Changelings (The Twins of Petaybee, Book 1)

Product Details

• Demand: New
• Notes: BUY WITH Nerve, Over one million books sold! 98% Positive feedback. Compare our books, prices and serve to the competition. 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed
• ISBN13: 9780345470034

Description

With three acclaimed novels–Powers That Be, Power Lines, and Power Play–bestselling authors Anne McCaffrey and Elizabeth Ann Scarborough launched a vibrant new science-fiction saga that told the story of a sentient planet, Petaybee, and the humans who fought to protect it from the rapacious designs of an all-powerful interstellar corporation determined to exploit the icy world’s natural resources. Led by Yana Maddock and Sean Shongili, Petaybee’s protectors prevailed. But now Petaybee is changing in mysterious, unprecedented ways, and the return of off-world scientists threatens the amazing planet and its equally amazing inhabitants with new dangers.

CHANGELINGS

They are Ronan Born for Water Shongili and Murel Monster Slayer Shongili. Twin brother and sister. Children of Yana and Sean. Children of Petaybee. As such, theirs is a destiny deeply intertwined with the sentient planet that is their home. For Ronan and Murel are more than human. Like their father, each can transform into a seal and converse telepathically with the planet’s creatures–such as the friendly otter whose life they save one day from a pack of ravenous wolves.

But the twins’ bravery has unforeseen results when a visiting scientist witnesses their startling metamorphosis and becomes obsessed with their capture. To protect their children, Sean and Yana send them to stay with a powerful family friend on an orbiting space station. But no one realizes that Ronan and Murel hunger to discover the origins of their shape-shifting talent–and that their search for knowledge will place them squarely in the path of peril.

Meanwhile, Petaybee is changing–and much faster than an ordinary planet’s natural evolution. It appears that portions of the sea are heating up and a landmass is suddenly rising from the depths. To investigate the startling occurrence, Sean heads out to the open water in his seal form. But the newly unstable region holds untold mysteries–and the potential for disaster.


From the Hardcover edition.

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Customer Reviews

Another great Anne McCaffrey adventure !
This story is really good. About twins that have exceptional powers in the future. First of three (3) stories.

2010-07-22 (Summerdale, Al.) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 4

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I enjoyed the book.
I enjoyed reading the book, but do not feel that I must have the next one.

2009-11-15 (Bloomington, IL USA) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 3

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That we all could be changlings
My twin stepsons have the telepathy communication. I even know when one of them is needing to talk,but not the other. They are alike, yet different in that respect.
I would certainly want to be able to change into a 4 legged creature at times and experience new things. Maybe that's the child tucked away in this 54 year old woman.Who cares what age group a book is geared toward, if it's a good story. I hope my grandsons will enjoy some of the Kindle Books I download. They've read everything else in my house. I might have to buy them their own Kindles, I'm not wanting to share mine outside of this house.

2009-10-29 | fl mule lady (Live Oak,FL) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 5

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It was OK
It was kind of... how do I say it, luke. Could have been a 6 stars out of 5 kind of book. If you know what I mean.

2009-10-02 | Tonga Nurse | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 4

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A good story
I'm a sucker for books by Anne McCaffrey ever since I read the Pern series. I enjoyed Changelings however it's not up to the quality I enjoyed in the early Pern books. The characters are a little too "plastic". Not enough character development for me to really get to know them. They seem to be just caricatures. And the story line was just a little too predictable. Of course the evil Dr. Mabo would wind up encountering the children. And of course, Sean was conveniently unavailable to warn them. And of course, the rescue arrives just in the nick of time. Ah well, I'll probably read the rest of the series anyways but I really do miss the quality of those early Pern books.

2009-09-08 (FL United States) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 4

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