''The Unicorn Girl'' is a

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel uni ...

novel by

Michael Kurland Michael Joseph Kurland (born March 1, 1938) is an American author, best known for his works of science fiction and detective fiction. Kurland lives in San Luis Obispo, California. Writing career Kurland's early career was devoted to works of sc ...

, originally released in 1969, that follows the adventures of two men from San Francisco in the 60s after they meet a mysterious young woman looking for her missing unicorn. This novel is the second installment of the Greenwich Village Shared World Trilogy, with

Chester Anderson Chester Valentine John Anderson (August 11, 1932 – April 11, 1991) was an American novelist, poet, and editor in the underground press. Biography Raised in Florida, he attended the University of Miami from 1952 to 1956, before becoming a ...

writing the first book (''

The Butterfly Kid ''The Butterfly Kid'' is a science fiction novel by Chester Anderson originally released in 1967. It was nominated for a Hugo Award for Best Novel in 1968. The novel is the first part of the Greenwich Village Trilogy, with Michael Kurland wri ...

'') and the third volume (''

The Probability Pad ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...

'') written by

T.A. Waters Thomas Alan Waters (also known as T.A. Waters) (1938–1998) was an American magician, writer about magic, and science fiction author. History Born to Thurston Alan Waters and Pauline Ruth (Kunkle) Waters, T. A. Waters was a professional magic ...

. Kurland, Anderson, and Waters wrote themselves as characters in each book.

Plot summary

Michael is watching Chester's band performing in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

in the 1960s, where he meets the girl of his dreams, Sylvia. She tells Michael she needs help finding her

unicorn The unicorn is a legendary creature that has been described since antiquity as a beast with a single large, pointed, spiraling horn projecting from its forehead. In European literature and art, the unicorn has for the last thousand years o ...

, Adolphus. After Michael and Chester get to know her, Sylvia explains that she lost Adolphus after she had gotten off of the train. Chester and Michael remember that the last train in their area ran 6 years ago. Sylvia explains that she is from the circus and her crew is looking for Adolphus. She got separated from them after she took a winding road. Sylvia asks Chester to play "Barkus is Willing" while she calls Adolphus because he is fond of

woodwind Woodwind instruments are a family of musical instruments within the greater category of wind instruments. Common examples include flute, clarinet, oboe, bassoon, and saxophone. There are two main types of woodwind instruments: flutes and re ...

music. When Sylvia sees cars, she doesn't know what they are. Chester and Michael start to wonder if time travel is involved in how Sylvia came to be with them. While searching by a forest, they meet Sylvia's circus friends - Ronald, Arcturian, and Dorothy. The groups decide to split up to search for Adolphus. Sylvia reveals she is from 1936. While in the forest they see a

UFO An unidentified flying object (UFO), more recently renamed by US officials as a UAP (unidentified aerial phenomenon), is any perceived aerial phenomenon that cannot be immediately identified or explained. On investigation, most UFOs are id ...

. As it's beginning to move closer, they run away. The UFO disappears in sections and the whole group goes through a blip. They leave the woods they were in and appear in another forest, where they discover a yellow brick road. Sylvia starts crying because going through the blip made her sick. Sylvia reveals that she has been through a blip before, when she was on the train in her own time, that's how she ended up in Michael and Chester's time. Sylvia hears Dorothy signalling her with a whistle, and whistles back to alert Dorothy of where they are. Dorothy reunites with the group after she hears Sylvia's response. They decide to follow the yellow brick road, where Chester notices the deliberate order of the nature around them and realizes that they're in a garden. A

horse-drawn carriage A carriage is a private four-wheeled vehicle for people and is most commonly horse-drawn. Second-hand private carriages were common public transport, the equivalent of modern cars used as taxis. Carriage suspensions are by leather strapping an ...

approaches them, and a man named Robin gets out of it to speak with the group. Chester assumes they've been transported into Early

Victorian Era In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the period of Queen Victoria's reign, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. The era followed the Georgian period and preceded the Edwardia ...

. Robin's Aunt, who is traveling with him, and Robin offer the group a ride. (This universe was inspired by

Randall Garrett Gordon Randall Phillip David GarrettGarrett, Randall
in ''

Lord Darcy) On their journey with Robin, they run across an orgy in the grass alongside the road, but unlike Sylvia, Michael, Dorothy, and Chester, Robin and his aunt cannot see the orgy. They reach a town called West Mutton and Robin and his aunt offer them a place to stay at the suite they reserved. They have dinner and get introduced to many Victorians, and all the maids begin to take off their clothes. None of the guests notice the maids, even when they steal jewelry from them. The Victorians accuse the group of stealing the jewelry, so the group begins to flee. They realize that if they remove their clothes, no one can see them, so they do so. Sylvia ends up kissing Michael, and they run to the train to escape the angry mob. Another blip happens while they're on the train, jumping them into another time. In this world, they get stuck with an army troop that demands that Michael and Chester leave Sylvia and Dorothy behind, or else they'll kill them. Sylvia jumps on the commander and kills him, urging the others to launch an attack on the rest of the troop - killing all of them. After looking at the troops, they realize that they've been transported again, this time into a

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

war zone. Chester and Dorothy are killed by a

Tiger tank Tiger tank may refer to: *Tiger I, or ''Panzerkampfwagen'' Tiger ''Ausf. E'', a German heavy tank produced from 1942 to 1944 *Tiger II, or ''Panzerkampfwagen'' Tiger ''Ausf. B'', a German heavy tank produced from 1943 to 1945, also known as ''Kön ...

in the fight. While trying to escape the Nazis, Sylvia and Michael are blipped to a circus, where they run into Tom. After Sylvia and Michael explain what's happened, Tom realizes they blip in moments of crisis. They proceed to crash a circus performance and blip over a lake. Once they get out of the water, they're summoned by soldiers to meet Lord Gart. The New England government is suspicious of all the travelers coming to their area and want to learn more about it, so the group decides to meet with them so they can trade information. They're asked to record all of their travels and then meet with Lord Gart for dinner. They learn that, in this universe, magic is real. They are asked to do experiments to recreate the feeling of blipping with Sir Thomas. New England is experiencing an exponential increase of visitors from other worlds and the government is worried that an ending is coming. They finally find Sylvia's unicorn, Adolphus, in this world when he is brought to them. Chester and Dorothy, no longer dead, find Michael. After talking about their experiences, the group concludes that Chester and Dorothy didn't actually die - the Chester and Dorothy of that other world did. After two weeks, Sir Thomas discovers that all worlds from all universes are merging into one. He tells them they have to destroy a machine to stop the blips and everyone will return to their original world. Michael and Sylvia learn that if they tightly hold hands, they may be able to return to the same world. They blip again to a world filled with dinosaurs, but Chester falls into a beam of light in the process. Reality begins to break apart and Sylvia yells for her and Chester to hold hands, but they don't make it in time. Chester, Tom, and Michael are transported back to their timeline without Sylvia, Dorothy, and Adolphus. Back in his own time, Michael Kurland asks Sir Thomas to contact him through his website or email.

Main characters

—protagonist and author who is helping Sylvia find her missing unicorn *

(based on the author of ''

'', the first book in the Greenwich Village Trilogy)—Michael's friend; travels with Sylvia and Michael to find Sylvia's unicorn * Tom Waters (based on the author of the third book in the Greenwich Village Trilogy, ''

'')—professional magician, friend of Chester and Michael who had disappeared prior to the events of the book *Sylvia—the Unicorn Girl, the girl of Michael's dreams who is looking for her lost unicorn *Dorothy—a tall, beautiful, red-haired girl; a member of the circus

Minor characters

*Ronald—a centaur and member of Sylvia's circus crew *Arcturian (stage name Giganto)—a cyclops from the circus *Adolphus—Sylvia's unicorn *Sir Thomas—a man in

New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the Can ...

researching the source of the blips and searching for a means to end them *Robin—a man who offers them a ride and place to stay in the

Victorian era In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the period of Queen Victoria's reign, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. The era followed the Georgian period and preceded the Edwardia ...

*Lord Gart—ruler of New England, also searching for the source of the blips

History

This book was published in 1969 after Kurland met

, who wrote ''

'', the first novel in the Greenwich Village Trilogy. Anderson was a poet in the Greenwich Village; Kurland had recently returned from traveling with the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

in Europe. The pair decided to abandon their previous career goals and become

authors. Kurland was influenced by his group of friends, all of whom bore unusual names, such as Bob "The Pope" Silverberg and Willy "The Professor" Ley. Together Anderson and Kurland wrote ''Ten Years to Doomsday'', deliberately emulating the style of

Poul Anderson Poul William Anderson (November 25, 1926 – July 31, 2001) was an American fantasy and science fiction author who was active from the 1940s until the 21st century. Anderson wrote also historical novels. His awards include seven Hugo Awards and ...

. The book was published by

Pyramid Books Jove Books, formerly known as Pyramid Books, is an American paperback and eBook publishing imprint, founded as an independent paperback house in 1949 by Almat Magazine Publishers (Alfred R. Plaine and Matthew Huttner). The company was sold to ...

;

Ed Emshwiller Edmund Alexander Emshwiller (February 16, 1925 – July 27, 1990) was an American visual artist notable for his science fiction illustrations and his pioneering experimental films. He usually signed his illustrations as Emsh but sometimes used E ...

illustrated the cover. Anderson subsequently wrote ''The Butterfly Kid'', basing the hero and sidekick on himself and Kurland and telling the story from the perspective of the character Chester. He suggested Kurland write the sequel. Kurland's original idea was to retell the story from the perspective of the character Michael, rather than telling a story that followed that of ''The Butterfly Kid'', but eventually settled on writing a more traditional sequel instead.

Reception

James Nicoll James Davis Nicoll (born March 18, 1961) is a Canadian freelance game and speculative fiction reviewer, former security guard and role-playing game store owner, and also works as a first reader for the Science Fiction Book Club. As a Usene ...

reviewed the book, stating that it was "exactly the cheerful light comedy it set out to be" and noting that "Somewhat atypically for the time, the two women in the group—Sylvia and Dorothy—manage to kick serious ass."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Unicorn Girl, The 1969 American novels 1969 science fiction novels Novels by Michael Kurland Pyramid Books books