Subject: Burning Bright by Melissa Scott

From: [email-masked] (Alayne McGregor)
Date: 12 Feb 94 03:36:50 GMT

BURNING BRIGHT by Melissa Scott
                reviewed by Alayne McGregor

     In the far future, the Game is an interstellar addiction.
Using one base world and a number of variant scenarios,
players don virtual reality headsets to join in
adventures -- the more complicated the plots, the better.

     The free-port planet of Burning Bright is the centre of
the Game in all of the human civilization. When spacepilot
Quinn Lioe unexpectedly gets a 10-day layover on Burning
Bright, it's the perfect opportunity to try out the latest
Game scenario that she has designed.

     It's even more popular than she thought, and she
prepares to enhance her Game reputation and her bank account
by running her Game sessions for the rest of her layover.
Unfortunately, some of the players are playing real-life
games as well, and Lioe finds she has to be a master player
in real life too.

     This is not a gaming novel -- it is a novel of intrigue
and character, where the Game only counterpoints the real-
life maneuvering. Scott has also done an excellent job of
describing her aliens, the Hsai, (even if they have more
than a hint of the Orient) and of building her storm-tossed
planet. I could feel myself walking on top of the dike that
protects the city from the sea; I could hear the acid in the
verbal dueling.

     Recommended.

%T      Burning Bright
%A      Melissa Scott
%C      New York
%D      May 1993
%I      Tor
%O      hardback, US$21.95
%G      ISBN 0-312-85502-8
%P      349pp