"The Higher Heresies of Oolimar" by Lin Carter (1973)
Originally appeared in Flashing Swords #1 edited by Lin Carter for Dell Books 1973. Plot: Amalric the Man-God is sent by his dieties to meet a wizard who will go on a quest with him. He finds Ubonidus the magician in the goblin-haunted hills, where the Man-God uses his bronze staff to kill the horde. Together the two men fly on a giant bumblebee called a hlagocyte, and land in the city of Oolimar for rest. They are arrested as heretics then subdued by a crystal ball of gas shot from a catapult. Their prison is luxurious and well-stocked. They are subjected to religious rewiring but finally chose to escape. Ubonidus summons his bird-like familiar, Roquat, and he gives them the answer to escape. Monsters: Riding Lizard - Ubonidus charms a giant lizard in the fens to use as a mount. He has to use his cloak as saddle because of the ridge of spines running down the lizard's back. Goblins of Lakhdool - Seven-foot tall white creatures with large pop eyes and claws. Their teeth are needle-sharp and drip with venom. Hlagocyte - A giant bumblebee thatis ridden from to side-by-side seats that the riders are strapped into. History: This story clearly demonstrates that Lin Carter was writing a novel in segments (to be entitled Amalric). The sequel to this story "The Curious Custom of Turjab Seraad" from Flashing Swords #3 is the only other segment he finished. The tone of the Amalric stories is comical, a distinct difference to Carter's Thongor tales. The names of the towns and cities are created with a Dunsanian verboseness which adds to the humor. Personally I don't care for humorous Fantasy and found the comic asides and "funny" but illogical actions of the hero jolted me out of the story. Amalric has a magic staff that will allow them to escape but he doesn't even think to use it until Ubonidus's familiar reminds him. The weird religion of the Oolimarines was fun but shouting heresies at soldiers to disarm them is again illogical. Why don't the guards shoot them from a distance with arrows? To Carter's credit, he tried this thing a decade before Piers Anthony's Xanth novels. Carter's fight with the goblins is one of the most gruesome fight scenes I've ever read in a S&S story. Perhaps he meant it to be "over-the-top" violence? Ubonidus's name may have been inspired by Robert E. Howard's Red priest, Nabonius in "Rogues in the House". Rating
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