Tinker (Elfhome, Book 1) - Softcover

John W. Campbell Award Winner Wen Spencer resides in paradise in Hilo, Hawaii with two volcanoes overlooking her home. According to Spencer, she lives with "my Dalai Lama-like husband, my autistic teenage son, and two cats (one of which is recovering from mental illness).  All of which makes for very odd home life at times." Spencer's love of Japanese anime and manga flavors her writing. Her novel Tinker won the 2003 Sapphire Award for Best Science Fiction Romance and was a finalist for the Romantic Times Reviewers' Choice Award for Fantasy Novel. Her Wolf Who Rules was a Top Pick by Romantic Times and given their top rating of four and a half stars.  Other Baen books include Endless Blue and Eight Million Gods. The Elfhome series includes Tinker, Wolf Who Rules, Elfhome,  Wood Sprites and Project Elfhome.

Wit and intelligence inform this off-beat, tongue-in-cheek fantasy from Spencer (Alien Taste, etc.), set in near-future Pittsburgh-or rather, the part of Pittsburgh that's been translated to the Faerie world of Elfhome by a faulty hyperphase gate created by the Chinese. After 18-year-old tech genius Tinker saves Windwolf, the elven governor of North America on Elfhome, from a pack of nasty wargs, Windwolf in gratitude turns her into an elf and makes her his consort. In her new and important position, Tinker becomes the target for a conspiracy of humans, elves and oni (Japanese demons that control their own part of Faerie) who are trying to build another gate for use in conquering Earth and Elfhome. Furious action, including a memorable car chase, good characterization, playful eroticism and well-developed folklore all help lift this well above the fantasy average. The routine jacket art, of an elven biological dirigible, probably won't help, but Buffy fans should find a lot to like in the book's resourceful heroine. FYI: Spencer has won the 2003 John W. Campbell Best New Writer Award.
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