Hallucinations: or, The Ill-Fated Peregrinations of Fray Servando

Book Description

In the brilliant tradition of Don Quixote and Candide, Hallucinations is a modern masterpiece of Latin American fiction. Fray Servando-priest, blasphemer, dueler of monsters, irresistible lover, misunderstood prophet, prisoner, and consummate escape artist-wanders among the vice-ridden populations of eighteenth-century Europe and the Americas, fleeing dungeons, a marriage-minded female, a slaveship captain, and the Inquisition. Whether by burro, by boat, or by the back of a whale, Fray Servando's journey is at once funny and romantic, melancholy and profound-a tale rooted in history, yet outrageously hallucinatory.

"An impenitent amalgam of truth and invention, historical fact and outrageous make-believe. . . . A philosophical black comedy." (The New York Times)

Customer Reviews:

hallucinations.......2005-02-18

Although it was a bit difficult do get into, once I did, it was non stop. I knew that it was somewhat based upon factual occurrences but the "hallucination" parts were a bit disconcerting. He talks of escape a number of times and these can vary between mental as well as physical escape. It was a bit mind-blowing when I finally finished and had time to process the entire story. Wow.

move on, christian soldiers.......2003-08-16

The author clearly choose to forgo such things as character and detail of description in creating this short, yet way too long, epic of astoundingly bad proportions. The aesthetic is of his choosing, but it's simply not very good, IMHO. A very poor man's take on the picaresque tale.

Some sentences were quite pleasing, however. And the scenes in the Cadiz prison with the rats are also good. On the whole, though, please do not waste your time. Move on to some of the author's other work, which is probably better since it could be no worse.

Book Description

Recorded history is a finely-woven magic fabric of intricate lies about events predating the sixteenth century. There is not a single piece of evidence that can be reliably and independently traced back earlier than the eleventh century. This book details events that are substantiated by hard facts and logic, and validated by new astronomical research and statistical analysis of ancient sources.

Customer Reviews:

Calculations are only as good as your numbers.......2007-08-03

Yes, we can all agree that mainstream history is nearly 100% BS due to politics, economics, ego, problems with dating techniques, and various conspiracies. Agreed. But, I've been researching the distinct possibility that human history (in terms of civilizations) are much more ancient than we've been told, so coming across this book was very interesting to me. I wondered how Fomenko could be wrong (if at all) because he is very persuasive in his presentations. Then it dawned on me. If at previous times in prehistory, due to the various catastrophies that are well documented (comets, asteroids, planetary disruptions, plasma discharge, pole reversals, etc) the Earth was in a different position in relation to the sun, different tilt on its axis, different orbit, different rotation (in terms of velocity and DIRECTION), and the continents were in different positions, then would this not cause the ancients to see the sky (constellations) differently? In other words, is Fomenko making erronious assumptions about the physics of the Earth in pre-history, which then corrupt his data with regards to dating the relevant astrology? The last event to seriously disrupt our planet occured roughly 3500 years ago, according to other good researchers, so is it possible Fomenko has been confused by this? The vastly different physics of our planet in the not so distant past may explain this confusion, which is not to say the "mainstream" version of history is correct; on the contrary. I am not an expert in these fields, but wanted to see if this idea could spark discussion.

Pants on fire?.......2007-07-19

Will people ever read before spamming? Yes, Jesuits could not rewrite world history alone, they had help. Anyway, Dr Prof Acad A.Fomenko does not point to jesuits as the driving force of world wide history manipulation in published volumes 1,2,3;, actually he barely mentions the poor devils. Check it with 'Search inside' feature, please. China is rarely mentioned either, in fact, Dr Fomenko is completely eurocentric. Right, his theory contradicts all mainstream schools of history, because in their actual state they are all built on blatantly erroneus chronology. You don't need a mysterious cabal (conspiracy) to falsify history, the falsification is its modus operandi. It is inherent to history(ians) to falsify (distort) events, as it is inherent to humans to boast as it is inherent to power (authority) to legimize itself by referrring to glorious past made to its own order. Dr Prof Fomenko and team have identified scores of instances of such manipulation in Russian, European, etc.. history, and delivered valid statistical proof thereof. His own 'reconstruction' is completely another story. Forget c14 as a valid method of dating. W.Libby has initially discovered a brilliant method of INDEPENDENT dating. Too bad, c14 method has become a joke after a forced marrige with dendrochronology with consensual chronological scale inbuilt. Radiocarbon method can't stand blind tests, but is so very productive as a rubberstamp.

Accepted History & Chronology Must Be Changed. .......2007-04-09

There is no doubt that history as most know it is a sham, & institution's version of History both University & Church is fradulent & inaccurate. Everything was established with an agenda, The real "Dark Ages" are now when we have access to incredible amounts of information past authorities & more important 'common folk' didn't have but our institutions & educators are slow to evolve because of what has ignorantly & arrogantly been taught for too long. This is on many subjects not just Chronology.

For anyone to question "Why would a Mathematician have anything credible to say of History?" The answer is from Dr. Fomenko's preface in the book: "It would be worthwhile to remind the reader that in the XVI-XVII century Chronology was considered to be a subdivision of Mathematics." These volumes could possibly be some of the most important works to date & should be read by everyone with an interest in History, especially professors & educators who have a duty to the public. I have read both books & must say that 'Chronology 1' has some very eye opening & revolutionary information. Even if these volumes are part true the implications are profound & opens the doors to further investigations & questions which must be done. I speak several different lanquages & must say the logic Dr. Fomenko uses with "inflection" of words & words being read from left to right in one region & right to left in another then written backwards, the removal of vowels & get down to basics of words, or different cities & locations having the same name etc. is correct. Vowel usage has always been optional & varied, actually complicating linquistics & study. The first thing one has to understand is that words never had a fixed spelling in history like we do now, the spelling of words was mutable & regional, as well as names & titles of people were vast, varied & changed, NOTHING WAS FIXED or understood linear. Matters of Life & Death as well as financial profiteering yesterday & today were & are made with ignorant, illogical & conspiratorial views of history & reality, it's time people get closer to the Truth & society collectively grow up.

Very Interesting.......2007-03-07

It is a good proposal and I believe it will mature into something even better in the future. I think it deserves to be read.

History as Science Fiction.......2007-01-10

Anatoly Fomenko has written a very intriguing book, full of pictures, charts, and computer 'proof' of his thesis: backwards of AD900 we don't really know what happened or when. Between AD900 and AD1600 there is more certainty, but there is still a lot of fuzzy ground, and things don't get reliable until we get past the 1600's where the printing press made it very difficult for the perpetrators of this timeline manipulation to change anything that had been committed to print. The Dark Ages did not happen. Books were burned for a reason. One organization has doubled the actual length of its existence by expanding the real chronology. Read why.

I had always wondered why Christ died about AD33 and yet men waited until the 11th century to form the Knights Templar, the Cathars, etc and go after the Holy Land by force. Why the 1000 year gap? Turns out there wasn't more than a 10-12 year gap and he proves it using astronomy. This also implies that the planet is not as old as we have been told, and current Christian and other creationist scientists are already championing that idea without being aware of Fomenko's book. The two groups, creationist scientists and the Russian mathematical analysts corroborate each other. Fascinating.

Of course, all this flies in the face of what we have been told traditionally is the 'proper' chronology of western civilization, and most readers will experience 'cognitive dissonance' in reading this book. It means that our history going backwards from AD1600 becomes progressively more incorrect and unreliable until it cannot be trusted at all... in the space of 700-800 years.

Naturally, the curious, open-minded reader will want to know WHO did this, WHY, and did any of the events we think of as really ancient ever happen?
Dr. Fomenko is a respected scientist/mathematician at Moscow State University who has already answered these questions to the satisfaction of his initially skeptical colleagues. Most of them are now believers, a few still refuse to believe (the usual diehards), and of course the western press has ignored Fomenko's work -- for obvious reasons when you read the book. The ones who perpetrated this chronology ruse have a lot to answer for. They are still with us. That's why this book is a well-kept secret.

I gave the book a 4-star rating because I was unable to check out some of his claims; those I checked were as he said. But if even 1/3 of his claims are true, this punches a big hole in what we think is our history, the meaning of western civilization, our educational process (for repeating the ruse as gospel), and the trustworthiness of the organization that perpetrated this ruse, well-intentioned or not.

This book relates to current research into a Young Earth paradigm, to John Keel's discoveries about our planet, and Fr Malachi Martin's insights (in his now out-of-print books). We are indeed sheep who are manipulated and kept ignorant -- for a reason. While knowing what these men have to say may be the "booby prize" (as in: 'what can you do with this knowledge?'), it will provide interesting reading. Didn't someone say: "...and the Truth will set you free."?? For you to judge if this book contains the truth.

Average customer rating:

Very disappointing
Only Suited To Male Readers
Not up to par
Not so Grand nor much of a Design
A weak ending but not a bad book

The Grand Crusade
Michael A. Stackpole
Manufacturer: Spectra
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

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ASIN: 0553578510
Release Date: 2004-08-31

Book Description

In this incredible conclusion to the epic fantasy saga, continuing from When Dragons Rage, New York Times
bestselling author Michael A. Stackpole returns to a world of mystery, prophecy, and magick, where dreams-for better or worse-can come true...

The Grand Crusade

The hope of the future, Will Norrington, prophesied to bring down the northern tyrant Chytrine and redeem the world, is said to be dead, lost in the heart of a fiery volcano. The news has thrown the Council of Kings into a furor and drained the spirit from once united factions. As questions swirl about as to Will's legacy, and even his identity, one thing is clear: a divided alliance lacks power. And this may be exactly the opening Chytrine needs to seize control-and capture the empowering artifact, the DragonCrown-once and for all. Still, Will's friends and comrades remain true to his cause, preparing to continue the fight. Among them is the Vilwanese hero, Kerrigan Reese, and Alyx, groomed to lead an army. Sayce, pregnant with Will's child, must remain behind as the new custodian of the Norrington future in case they fail. But even as they draw up battle plans, with the enemy nearer than they think, a shattering betrayal-and a stunning revelation-may change the course of everything.

From the Trade Paperback edition.

Customer Reviews:

Very disappointing.......2005-04-07

I've never read Michael Stackpole and was pretty happy with the first book in this series..couldn't wait until the second one came out. Of course, the ending was a bit of a shock (the author's own notes warn about ill will towards him because of it) but I still was hoping the story would pick up a bit of speed and resolve itself in the third installment. What did I find? Ho-Hum...I had to force myself to finish. Nothing is resolved to any satisfactory measure - the most important character is a lump of clay (literally) and the other characters just seem to start fading away. We can't always expect a happy ending, but there didn't even seem to be one at all! A thoroughly disappointing way to spend some hard earned cash. Next time one of his books come out I'll be sure to see if my local library has it first so I at least don't bother spending my own money.

Only Suited To Male Readers.......2005-03-23

I enjoyed The Dark Glory War, the prequel to this trilogy, a fair amount. That being said, the story took a steady downhill slide from there.

It is pure fanboy fantasy, and at it's very worse. These heroes have all the personality of mud. The men are all "humble" and act completely shocked to find themselves in the roles of heroes. And the women are downright offensive. These strong, proud, independent women, who turn into docile, eager to please slaves when their men look at them. They fall in love with the male protagonists, even though they hardly know them, and the males have few qualities worth falling in love with as it is.

The "heroes" of the books are always going on in the vein of "We're heroes, because..." as though they're trying to reassure the reader that they really are heroic. Unfortunately, their actions are only heroic through use of something known as Deus Ex Machina. Absolutely nothing they attempt ever fails. With the exception of Fortress Draconis and one small scene in When Dragons Rage, no one ever dies because the heroes made bad choices.

In fact, no one ever dies. At least, no one important, and the important ones never stay dead. Oh, a building collapsed on your head? Well, you're still alive! Severely poisoned? Well, not only do you come back to life, but we've convinently burned off those extra three hundred pounds that make you less attractive to the women!

The "love scenes" make you wonder if Mr. Stackpole has even seen a woman. Even romance novelists no longer use the old "their tongues entwined" crap. It was one of these disgustingly gratuitous scenes that made me shut the third book without even finishing it. The whole trilogy reads as the ultimate fantasy of a guy who could never get a girlfriend. And now he's suddenly the hero, with a hot blonde warrior woman who turns into a vapid nothing when he's around.

Go read Lynn Flewelling, Carol Berg, or Mercedes Lackey. THEIR characters won't spend the whole book insisting that they're heroes.

Not up to par.......2004-10-16

The first two books in this series, and I'm including the prerquel, were excellent. This book was way to brief. We spent hundreds of pages building up to a final battle that was boring, over way to quickly, and didn't make alot of sense compared to the chain of events seen in the previous novels.

The Will dilemna is solved in a very unsatisfactory way as were pretty much all the resolutions. It seemed as if Stackpole thought hey time to end it and just threw something together thtat tied up all loose ends. I didn't feel like the ending was given much thought.

Not so Grand nor much of a Design.......2004-10-09

This book should be a lesson to all authors. If you try to do something clever while writing your trilogy, like killing off the most interesting character in the whole book, then you better replace this character with someone or something even MORE interesting. Unfortunately, Michael Stackpole did nothing of the kind in the final installment of his DragonCrown series and the whole epic falls flat in the end.

This was very unfortunate, as I really did enjoy the first two books and the third one appeared to be a promising endeavor. Stackpole, however, just went through the motions with this one. Stackpole took a big chance killing off the lead character in the second book and while at the time I thought this was very clever and exciting, it took the whole heart and soul right out of the ensuing novel. This book had nothing to make it the least bit original, interesting or exciting. The final battle scenes were dull, the final confrontation with the ultimate ice queen, who for some unknown reason wishes to rule the whole world, were entirely predictable. The other characters in the novel lost their edge about one-third of the way through and never got it back. Characters such as Kerrigan never fully developed. The whole romance/relationship between Alexia and Crow was not only unbelievable, but repetitive and boring. (Way too many little, "I love you!!", "No, I love you more!!" scenes which were very annoying and added nothing to the book.)

I was very disappointed in this effort, which seemed to be thrown together in a rush to just get the job done. I know this author can do better. In all fairness to Stackpole, at least he ENDED his fantasy series. Unlike a few authors out there I can mention. That's the reason he gets three stars instead of two. I hope that his future novels fare better.

A weak ending but not a bad book.......2004-07-02

I'm a big fan of Stackpole and it pains me to say that this book was a let down. The Dark Glory War was an awesome book and a great way to start the series. The next two books were great as well. However the standards are set so high and what he comes back with is a very anticlimatic ending. The ending is fairly predictable and the descriptions of the battles are probably the worst of any I've ever seen him write. It does hurt the series but the quality of the rest of the books makes the series well worth the read.

Grand Crusade: Book 3 of the Dragoncrown War Cycle

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Grand Crusade: Book 3 of the Dragoncrown War Cycle
Michael A. Stackpole
Manufacturer: Tandem Library
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

Epic | Fantasy | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 1417715766

Grand Ecossais Of St. Andrew, Or Patriarch Of The Crusades Degree

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Grand Ecossais Of St. Andrew, Or Patriarch Of The Crusades Degree
Albert Pike
Manufacturer: Kessinger Publishing, LLC
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1419161636

Book Description

THIS 20 PAGE ARTICLE WAS EXTRACTED FROM THE BOOK: Magnum Opus or the Great Work, by Albert Pike. To purchase the entire book, please order ISBN 1564592456.

Coins of the grand masters of the Order of Malta: Or Knights Hospitallers of St. John of Jerusalem, with a chapter on the money of the crusades

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Coins of the grand masters of the Order of Malta: Or Knights Hospitallers of St. John of Jerusalem, with a chapter on the money of the crusades
Robert Morris
Manufacturer: T.R. Marvin & Son
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
ASIN: B00089DOFG

Crusade for total freedom;: Being a speech of the national president of the N.C.N.C. and Premier of Eastern Nigeria, Dr. the Hon. M.I. Okpara on the launching ... at Rowe Park, Yaba, Lagos, Octover 10, 1964

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Crusade for total freedom;: Being a speech of the national president of the N.C.N.C. and Premier of Eastern Nigeria, Dr. the Hon. M.I. Okpara on the launching ... at Rowe Park, Yaba, Lagos, Octover 10, 1964
M. I Okpara
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
ASIN: B0007JSOV6

The Crusade of 1383, known as that of the Bishop of Norwich

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The Crusade of 1383, known as that of the Bishop of Norwich
George M Wrong
Manufacturer: Parker & Co
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

Crusade of ideas: [Address before the annual convention of AMVETS at Grand Rapids, Mich., August 29, 1952 (Department of State publication 4696. International information and cultural series)

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Crusade of ideas: [Address before the annual convention of AMVETS at Grand Rapids, Mich., August 29, 1952 (Department of State publication 4696. International information and cultural series)
Wilson Martindale Compton
Manufacturer: Division of Publications, Office of Public Affairs
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

The Last Crusade: A grand romantic opera, in three acts. The libretto by Burdett Vyse. represented for the first time at the New English Opera House, on Tuesday, Nov. 5, 1850

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The Last Crusade: A grand romantic opera, in three acts. The libretto by Burdett Vyse. represented for the first time at the New English Opera House, on Tuesday, Nov. 5, 1850
Alexander Mitchell
Manufacturer: W.S. Johnson
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

Memoirs of John lord de Joinville, grand seneschal of Champagne,

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Memoirs of John lord de Joinville, grand seneschal of Champagne,
Jean Joinville
Manufacturer: At the Hafod press, by J. Henderson
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

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