The Peshawar Lancers: First Impressions, Continued

(viii) ...Lancers is published by Roc, an imprint of New American Library, a division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc! How complicated and not how things used to be. When I began reading paperbacks in the 1960's, there was a small number of publishers and I could usually identify the publisher by the design of a book's cover.

(ix) The text of the novel begins, as it should, on p. 1 and ends two thirds of the way down p. 458 with no blank pages and very few empty spaces at the ends of chapters between pp. 1 and 458. Good.

(x) There are twenty four numbered but untitled chapters and an Epilogue: no Parts, Books etc.

(xi) The world map (not in the book but copied from the Internet) reminds me of the map of Poul Anderson's "Delenda Est" world, also copied from the Internet. In both, political geography is changed but not physical geography.

(xii) The blurb on the back of ...Lancers refers to the unpredictable role that will be played by "...one man, Captain Athelstane King, reluctant spy and hero..." The text begins, "Captain Athelstane King..." (p. 1)

And now maybe it is time that I started to read the novel...