Tate

Author at http://www.100megsfree3.com/fauxpaws08/tate.html.

Reality Echoes (Sentinel)

Reviewed by Kathryn A on 7th January 2000 (3)
Tags: Short Story
(39K)

Interesting. Odd. Definitely a Twilight-zone-ish thing; if the preamble hadn't said it was based on an idea from an episode of Outer Limits, I might have been completely lost.

Addendum: this story was nominated in the 2000 Cascade Times Awards in the Angst category.

Lifeline

(1) Mind Over Matter (Sentinel)

Reviewed by Kathryn A on 14th January 2000 (1)
Zine: Lifeline

Good AU. I like the twist that the psychic bond is risky, something less cosy and more perilous.

Addendum: this series was nominated for favourite series in the 2001 Cascade Times Awards.

(2) Fatal Flaw (Sentinel)

Reviewed by Kathryn A on 14th January 2000 (2)
Zine: Lifeline

Sequel to Dead Drop: Alternate Ending. Good again. However I find it frustrating that Our Heroes are dancing around the issue - even though that's in character!

(3) Remembering the Silences (Sentinel)

Reviewed by Kathryn A on 14th January 2000 (3)
Zine: Lifeline

Sequel to Fatal Flaw. Good again. More interesting aspects, and things done which seemed like a good idea at the time, but which have consequences.

(4) Severed (Sentinel)

Reviewed by Kathryn A on 14th January 2000 (4)
Zine: Lifeline

Sequel to Remembering the Silences. Good again. And here's the consequences. This series is also available, with two additional stories, as a zine from Mysti Frank, called "Lifeline", at http://www.agentwithstyle.com

Struggle

Struggle trilogy (Sentinel)

Reviewed by Kathryn A on 10th January 2000

This set of three stories (The Struggle, For Sanity And Sense and Above All Else) needs to be treated as one story, with each part one chapter. This is a smarmy and h/c kind of story, the more so because there isn't actually anything else going on in it. (I wonder why it seems to be so popular to make Jim accidentally hurt Blair so much?) The first-person perspective shows how massively the two of them are misunderstanding each other - in a completely believable way. Ironic. However the smarm-level is a bit high for me.

Watermark

(1) Watermark (Sentinel)

Reviewed by Kathryn A on 11th January 2000 (1)
Tags: Novella
(170K)

This is really good. Maybe I like it better because this time the situation of hurt and comfort isn't artificially induced, but comes straight out of the series. I liked Blair's astonishment at Jim's actually saying what he feels - that's more like it! If you read nothing else by Tate, read this.

Addendum: this story won the 2000 Cascade Times Awards in the "Sentinel Too story" category, and the "best epilogue" category. It was also nominated in the Alternative Universe Story category.

(2) Wellspring (Sentinel)

Reviewed by Kathryn A on 11th January 2000 (2)
Tags: Novella
(240K)

The sequel to Watermark, and just as good. It leaves me begging for a sequel! One interesting thing I liked was that it raised the possibility of Jim changing his life, rather than the usual thing of Blair having to make his life around Jim. The other thing that's good about this series is that it also takes into account that you don't just bounce back from the "critical" list as if nothing happened. And I'm not just talking about nightmares.