Into the Thinking Kingdom (Journeys of the Catechist, Book 2) - Hardcover

Foster, Alan Dean

3.91

339 ratings by Goodreads

9780446521369: Into the Thinking Kingdom (Journeys of the Catechist, Book 2)

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0446521361 ISBN 13: 9780446521369

Publisher: Aspect, 1999

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Bound by honor, Ehomba has traveled through many exotic and perilous lands on a quest to save a beautiful princess he has never met from the hands of the evil Hymneth the Possessed. Through all their travels Ehomba has ignored the warnings he has heard from seers and psychics, foretelling of disaster and death if the quest was completed. Now that Ehomba and his traveling party have finally reached the destination of their epic journey, the kingdom ruled by Hymneth, will they be able to defend themselves against Hymneth's powerful and evil magic? Will they be able to rescue the princess and bring her safely home with their lives intact?

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About the Author:

Born in New York City in 1946, Foster was raised in Los Angeles. After receiving a Bachelor's Degree in Political Science and a Master of Fine Arts in Cinema from UCLA (1968, l969) he spent two years as a copywriter for a small Studio City, Calif. advertising and public relations firm. His writing career began when August Derleth bought a long Lovecraftian letter of Foster's in 1968 and much to Foster's surprise, published it as a short story in Derleth's bi-annual magazine The Arkham Collector. Sales of short fiction to other magazines followed. His first attempt at a novel, The Tar-Aiym Krang, was bought by Betty Ballantine and published by Ballantine Books in 1972. It incorporates a number of suggestions from famed SF editor John W. Campbell. Since then, Foster's sometimes humorous, occasionally poignant, but always entertaining short fiction has appeared in all the major SF magazines as well as in original anthologies and several "Best of the Year" compendiums. Six collections of his short form work have been published. Foster's work to date includes excursions into hard science-fiction, fantasy, horror, detective, western, historical, and contemporary fiction. He has also written numerous non-fiction articles on film, science, and scuba diving, as well as having produced the novel versions of many films, including such well-known productions as Star Wars, the first three Alien films, and Alien Nation. Other works include scripts for talking records, radio, computer games, and the story for the first Star Trek movie. In addition to publication in English, his work has appeared and won awards throughout the world. His novel Cyber Way won the Southwest Book Award for Fiction in 1990, the first work of science-fiction ever to do so. Though restricted (for now) to the exploration of one world, Foster's love of the far-away and exotic has led him to travel extensively. After graduating from college he lived for a summer with the family of a Tahitian policeman and camped out in French Polynesia. He and his wife JoAnn Oxley, of Moran, Texas, have traveled to Europe and throughout Asia and the Pacific in addition to exploring the back roads of Tanzania and Kenya. Foster has camped out in the "Green Hell" region of the Southeastern Peruvian jungle, photographing army ants and pan-frying piranha (lots of small bones; tastes a lot like trout); has ridden forty-foot whale sharks in the remote waters off Western Australia, and was one of three people on the first commercial air flight into Northern Australia's Bungle Bungle National Park. He has rappelled into New Mexico's fabled Lechugilla Cave, white-water rafted the length of the Zambezi's Batoka Gorge, driven solo the length and breadth of Namibia, crossed the Andes by car , sifted the sands of unexplored archeological sites in Peru, gone swimming with giant otters in Brazil, and surveyed remote Papua New Guinea and West Papua both above and below the water. His filmed footage of Great White Sharks feeding off South Australia has appeared on both American television and the BBC. Besides traveling he enjoys listening to both classical music and heavy metal. Other pastimes include basketball, hiking, body surfing, scuba diving, collecting animation on video, and weightlifting. He studied karate with Aaron and Chuck Norris before Norris decided to give up teaching for acting. He has taught screenwriting, literature, and film history at UCLA and Los Angeles City College as well as having lectured at universities and conferences around the country and in Europe. A member of the Science-Fiction Writers of America, the Author's Guild of America, and the Writer's Guild of America, west, he also spent two years serving on the Planning and Zoning Commission of his home town of Prescott, Arizona. Foster's correspondence and manuscripts are in the Special Collection of the Hayden Library of Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona. The Fosters reside in Prescott in a house bu

From Kirkus Reviews:

Second part of Foster's fantasy trilogy (Carnivores of Light and Darkness, 1998) about the self-styled ``simple cattle herder'' Etjole Ehomba's quest to fulfill warrior Tarin Beckwith's dying request, namely that he rescue the beautiful Visioness Thermaryl of Laconda from the evil sorcerer Hymneth the Possessed. Etjole and his companionsthe treasure-seeking, garrulous swordsman Simna Ibn Sind, and the huge, talking black cat Ahlitahmust cross the Semordria Ocean, and only in the distant northern city Hamacassar might they find a vessel willing to take them. But, first, Etjole and Simna have to liberate Ahlitah, who's been captured by exotic-animal dealer Haramos bin Grue. Braving marshes patrolled by mad horses, a valley of flowers engaged in warfare, and a witch-dog that herds lightning, the two reach the Thinking Kingdoms. Here, Etjole summons the ocean to defeat thought-controlling sorcerer-monks, fends off gangs of Hell's rejects, and drives away vexing insect-monkeys by showing them a mirror that reflects things as they really are. The pair acquire a guide, the man-ape Hunkapan Aub, after rescuing him from imprisonment by villagers who unthinkingly exploit others. Crossing the mountains, Etjole pipes to set the snow dancing and keep them all alive. At Laconda, where fish swim in the air, they tell their story to Count Beckwith. But Haramos, having arrived before them and still intending to grab Ahlitah, has told Count Beckwith a pack of liesand the count orders the companions to be seized. So Etjole invokes huge air-sharks to deal with Haramos and the count's guards. Finally, the travelers reach Hamacassar and take passage aboard a ship whose captain is the beautiful red-haired Stanager Rose. But the city's Gate Masters detain Etjole, and he must plunge through a time portal to rejoin the ship. Non-urgent but splendidly packed with illustrious incidents, not to mention a protagonist who grows steadily more intriguing and enigmatic. -- Copyright �1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

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