The Ordinary - Tapa dura

"A story that will appeal to both diehard fantasy and science fiction readers, which makes it quite an accomplishment." "Unlike many 'literary' authors who fail when they write SF, Grimsley has the necessary world-building skills to shine brightly here." "By bringing two alien worlds together, Grimsley brings them both to us. It is a gift of unearthly power." -- Michael Alec Rose "Bookpage" (06/01/2004) "Grimsley''s novel is extraordinary in all worlds." -- Paul Di Filippo "scifi.com" (05/10/2004) "Unlike many ''literary'' authors who fail when they write SF, Grimsley has the necessary world-building skills to shine brightly here." "An important novel. . . . Think of high-quality anthropological SF where antithetical societies meet, as in Le Guin's The Left Hand of Darkness."--Faren Miller "Locus " "By bringing two alien worlds together, [Grimsley] brings them both to us. It is a gift of unearthly power."--Michael Alec Rose "Bookpage " "Grimsley's novel is extraordinary in all worlds."--Paul Di Filippo "scifi.com " "A beautifully developed spirituality, a compelling love story, mak[e] it a quiet sort of page-turner elegantly evoking fascination and wonder."--Paula Luedtke "Booklist (starred review) " "Jim Grimsley is one of the most exciting new voices in science fiction. I expect great things from him." ---Robert Silverberg "An audacious, ambitious, and highly literate author with a unique, inventive, and exotic vision of the future, and a profound understanding of the human heart." ---Gardner Dozois, editor of "The Year's Best Science Fiction anthologies" "Readers will find themselves immersed in a vivid story at once intensely human and imaginatively mind-stretching. In fact, I can't recall another novel since Ursula Le Guin's classic "The Left Hand of Darkness" that clicks on so many cylinders in its characterization or spins so many rich and variegated narrative webs. An outright triumph." ---Michael Bishop "Grimsley's descriptive density, intimate grasp of social textures, and spiritual insight, reminiscent at times of Vance and Le Guin, are maturing into a formidable authorial palette." ---Locus "Grimsley writes lucidly and well." ---People

The Twills Gate links two very different realms. On one side of the portal is Senal, an advanced technological civilization of some thirty billion inhabitants. On the other side is Irion, where the world is flat and mighty wizards once ruled. Jedda Martele, a linguist from Senal, shares her people's assumption that Irion is backwards and superstitious and no match for her homeland's superior numbers and science. But as the two realms march inevitably towards war, Jedda finds herself at the centre of unimaginable events that will challenge everything she has ever believed about the world - and herself.