Hank Quense's Zaftan Entrepreneurs: Book One of the Zaftan Trilogy Reviewed By Lois Henderson of Bookpleasures.com
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Lois Henderson
Reviewer Lois Henderson: Lois has a MA General Linguistics, BA (English) Honors, Higher Education Diploma, Higher Diploma in Library and Information Science - indexer of more than 130 books; editor of dozens of theses and study manuals at university and college level.
By Lois Henderson
Published on February 3, 2011
Author: Hank Quense
Publisher: CreateSpace
ISBN: 9-781456-349387
Click Here To Purchase Zaftan Entrepreneurs: Book 1 of the Zaftan Trilogy
Following in the wake of Avatar and many other politically correct works of the 21st century comes Hank Quense’s first book in the Zaftan trilogy—Zaftan Entrepreneurs. Comfortingly enough, in the comparatively ‘safe’ world of fantasy at least the exploiters can be seen as tangibly less appealing than humans—the zaftans, as the alien race, are presented as intruders with “grayish-black skin covered with green, oozing slime.” The robots that they use as prospectors and miners to garner the mineral wealth of Gunderland add yet another element of distancing to the confrontation between the aliens from outer space and the planet-dwelling inhabitants. Rather than being portrayed as warmongers per se, the zaftans employ such a means as only part of their arsenal against those whom they wish to rob of their treasures, only to be brought into play if their chicanery and hoodwinking of the locals fails. That they are unscrupulous exploiters, bent only on their own self-aggrandizement, is without doubt.
Against such an obnoxious force, find pitted the dwarfs, elves, half-pints, humans and yuks of Gunderland, who, despite having their own shortcomings, are generally a much more attractive bunch, who clearly take pride in their appearance (even if that does entail curling and braiding their toe hairs) and in their professionalism. Life in Skensfirth (the town on which the zaftans descend), in short, has much to do with small town life in our everyday world. As Quense puts it, “All social classes need another social class to look down upon, a group that makes them feel socially superior. As long as someone is lower than they are, folks are content and put up with the situation.”
Quense also shows his keen interest in matters anthropological and ethnographic in his revealing of the origins of Gunderland in “a godly sneeze,” termed the “Big Achoo” made in response to the taking of recreational drugs by the great god Gundar. In fact, Quense seems to find as much pleasure reveling in the universe of his own creation as does s small boy in getting plastered with mud in the middle of a rainstorm. And we, as his readers, delight with him too, especially when his multi-layered meanings become transparently clear, reflecting the multiplicity of foibles that affect us as humankind. In their portrayal of an intriguing world of fantasy (that, nevertheless, has a great deal to do with the reality of our own), the remaining two volumes of the Zaftan trilogy are awaited with glee.
Click Here To Purchase Zaftan Entrepreneurs: Book 1 of the Zaftan Trilogy
Author: Hank Quense
Publisher: CreateSpace
ISBN: 9-781456-349387
Following in the wake of Avatar and many other politically correct works of the 21st century comes Hank Quense’s first book in the Zaftan trilogy—Zaftan Entrepreneurs.
ISBN: 9-781456-349387
Following in the wake of Avatar and many other politically correct works of the 21st century comes Hank Quense’s first book in the Zaftan trilogy—Zaftan Entrepreneurs.
Publisher: CreateSpace
ISBN: 9-781456-349387
Click Here To Purchase Zaftan Entrepreneurs: Book 1 of the Zaftan Trilogy
Following in the wake of Avatar and many other politically correct works of the 21st century comes Hank Quense’s first book in the Zaftan trilogy—Zaftan Entrepreneurs. Comfortingly enough, in the comparatively ‘safe’ world of fantasy at least the exploiters can be seen as tangibly less appealing than humans—the zaftans, as the alien race, are presented as intruders with “grayish-black skin covered with green, oozing slime.” The robots that they use as prospectors and miners to garner the mineral wealth of Gunderland add yet another element of distancing to the confrontation between the aliens from outer space and the planet-dwelling inhabitants. Rather than being portrayed as warmongers per se, the zaftans employ such a means as only part of their arsenal against those whom they wish to rob of their treasures, only to be brought into play if their chicanery and hoodwinking of the locals fails. That they are unscrupulous exploiters, bent only on their own self-aggrandizement, is without doubt.
Against such an obnoxious force, find pitted the dwarfs, elves, half-pints, humans and yuks of Gunderland, who, despite having their own shortcomings, are generally a much more attractive bunch, who clearly take pride in their appearance (even if that does entail curling and braiding their toe hairs) and in their professionalism. Life in Skensfirth (the town on which the zaftans descend), in short, has much to do with small town life in our everyday world. As Quense puts it, “All social classes need another social class to look down upon, a group that makes them feel socially superior. As long as someone is lower than they are, folks are content and put up with the situation.”
Quense also shows his keen interest in matters anthropological and ethnographic in his revealing of the origins of Gunderland in “a godly sneeze,” termed the “Big Achoo” made in response to the taking of recreational drugs by the great god Gundar. In fact, Quense seems to find as much pleasure reveling in the universe of his own creation as does s small boy in getting plastered with mud in the middle of a rainstorm. And we, as his readers, delight with him too, especially when his multi-layered meanings become transparently clear, reflecting the multiplicity of foibles that affect us as humankind. In their portrayal of an intriguing world of fantasy (that, nevertheless, has a great deal to do with the reality of our own), the remaining two volumes of the Zaftan trilogy are awaited with glee.
Click Here To Purchase Zaftan Entrepreneurs: Book 1 of the Zaftan Trilogy