Some History of the book Jaguar:This is one of the very first books ever offered for free on the internet. With a bit of google searching, you can see that back in 1996 you could have visited the author's webpage at www.tcd.net/~bransom and downloaded the entire book for free in html format.(In fact, I did, but I saved it on a floppy disc. No idea where it is now.)Then, in 1999, the book made its way to Alexandria Digital Literature webpage (www.alexlit.com) and was one of its all-time best sellers.However, then a couple things happened. Bill Ransom removed the free book, and Alexlit disappeared. Both links provided above are dead, but you can google search to see that they did exist at one time.Then in about 2005 the book appeared on Fictionwise.com, but a quick search reveals that this site no longer has any works by Bill Ransom.Most recently, the book Jaguar was reprinted (in 2006) as a physical book once again, so perhaps that's why the author removed the free version. Maybe he had no choice to remove electronic copies first, as a condition for a new publisher to pick it up.But I really wish he would put it back on the web as a free ebook. In fact, that's the main reason why I'm reading it now. I clearly remember back in 1996 thinking how cool it was that he put the book online for free. Of course, I didn't have a smartphone then, and it was a pain in the neck to read a whole book sitting at my computer screen. And printing it out on paper seemed expensive.Now that I've got an ereader on my Palm Centro, I actually tried to look for Jaguar again. And couldn't find it. So I waited until I came across a copy in the used book store, and picked it up for $3.But of course, the used book store sale won't benefit Bill Ransom. What benefits him is for him to stay free from obscurity. And free ebooks on the web may just do that. Look at Cory Doctorow... and imagine that Bill Ransom was there first! I think that the time is right to offer it up for free again. And then put the other SF titles (Viravax and Burn) up on fictionwise or some other pay site.It seems to me that it'd be a good thing to have who knows how many people picking up this book for free and trying it out. But, that's the author's call, and I just wanted to point out that he should get some credit for being a pioneer in this area.--- A Review of the book JaguarHere's the briefest synopsis possible so that you can understand the book quickly. The Jaguar is a former soldier with a broken body, lying in a hospital. When he dreams, he enters the dreams of other people, both in this universe and a parallel universe. But he uses them for evil, gathering information from them and changing their dreams to support his plots, setting himself up as a god, and working through his self-created Jaguar priests to manage his "cattle" of humans.But... there are now four young children (a boy and a girl each on both dimensions) who are learning the power, and not using it for evil. Can they hide from the Jaguar long enough that they can track him down and end his evil reign?So why give this synopsis? Frankly, because the author makes the first 92 pages of this book very difficult to read. If you want to begin, keep the synopsis in mind, because the beginning is quite slow and painful. The author, wanting to make a point about dreams, decided to give all the background details in a non-linear, disjointed fashion. Just as though you were gathering it from dreams.On p. 231, Ransom quotes from Jung: "To experience a dream and its interpretation is very different from having a tepid rehash set before you on paper". Okay, so Ransom wanted to play around and give you the background in a jumbled form. That means you get all the information you need, but it takes 92 pages, and you have to be very careful while reading to keep the chronology correct. And worse, that means there is a lot of repetition - you hear the same details again and again, perhaps with a bit more clarity each time, but it's still a bit grueling.Here's an example - in one chapter we learn about Rafferty hiding in the cellar with Uncle Hungry. Each paragraph jumps around in manic fashion. First, we're at the present, and Rafferty is going into the cellar. Next, we're back in the past before Rafferty even came to live with Uncle Hungry. Then, we're in the future with Rafferty burying Uncle Hungry. Suddenly there's a description of the environment around Uncle Hungry's place. Then back in the past again. Then the same detail about the environment again, with a bit more embellishment. Then again back to the cellar. And all around and around.I may be exaggerating a bit - it's not every single paragraph that jumps like this. But it seems like it, and it's very disjointing and hard to keep track of. It's not impossible, but you will work your way through these first 92 pages.And, as the character Eddie says on p. 233, "everything inside a dream is made up of puzzle parts". After page 92, however, the novel becomes very traditional, with a linear narrative. The pace picks up considerably.Another comment - to me, this is not science fiction. I'm reading the Ace edition, and it says "science fiction" on the spine, but I disagree. This is a dark fantasy. The different planes of existence may seem Moorcockian (but there's only two of these realms), and the vast majority cannot cross the curtain. Only a very few can learn to do it, and then again the curtain is only weak in the specific valley in which the characters reside. That's a hallmark of fantasy writing, not science fiction. And I do like fantasy, and read my share of it, but I went into this expecting science fiction.Final comment - this novel is quite dark. I actually get weary reading about characters with such desolate lives. The abuse these young kids endure is monumental, with very few people in their lives that care. But it's not absolute, as there is always at least one person for each child who is kind and caring, or at least wants to understand. And the children themselves become likable as you progress with the story.I'll give it 3 stars.
I bought, and read, Jaguar many years ago, probably around 1990 when it first came out. I loved it, lost it, but never forgot it. So, I recently bought another copy, and read it again for the first time.While I did not forget the book, or the basic premise, I did forget a lot of the story, and enjoyed reading it again. Mr. Ransom is also a poet of some renown, and the poetry he so loves, come through in his prose. There were times when I stopped, and savored a sentence just for the feel of it in my mouth as I read it aloud.Great literature? Probably not, but a heckuva good read! Mr. Ransom is a great teller of stories.There are four main characters with a couple of pretty important supporting characters. The four main ones are children who have been abused in one form or another during their lives, a boy and girl on this side of the veil, and a boy and girl on the other.They meet through dreams, become friends, and together, fight the Jaguar, who would destroy them all. The fight is, literally, a fight to the death—and a fight to save their worlds and their sanity.The topics of dreaming, of abuse, of parallel worlds are come to play. I enjoyed this book the first time I read it and if possible, I enjoyed it even more this second time through. Heartily recommend Jaguar for a good read.
