Doc Sidhe



Series of novels by Aaron Allston paying homage to Pulp Magazine adventure stories like Doc Savage and The Shadow.

The setting is an otherworld whose people were the inspiration for legends of elves. Unlike many depictions of Faerie, it isn't stuck in Medieval Stasis, but has developed a technology level and society equivalent to our world's in the 1930s. Very equivalent. While it is regarded as an association of sun worshippers, Japan and Germany are getting kinda close. . ..

Consists of two novels:


 * Doc Sidhe (available free from the Baen Free Library)
 * Sidhe Devil

"He rode atop them, cloaked in the night, his training and the pistols in his pockets ... making him more dangerous than any of them.... A laugh bubbled up out of him, and had any of the soldiers aboard the train heard it, they would have been chilled by the mad humor in it."
 * Aliens Speaking English: The native language of the fair world is, by a convenient coincidence, exactly the same as English. In the novel Doc Sidhe, this is made a plot point, as it turns out to be one of the signs that Doc's world and ours are fundamentally interconnected.
 * A Nazi by Any Other Name: In Sidhe Devil.
 * Celibate Hero: Discussed and averted. Harris thinks Doc might swear off relationships until he retires. "Why would anyone punish himself that way?"
 * Cold Iron: The people of the fair world find the touch of iron painful (which makes things interesting for construction workers building 1930s-style steel-framed skyscrapers). In Doc Sidhe, Doc and his colleagues are surprised to learn that the human protagonist, Harris Greene, carries a pocketknife with a steel blade, and even more surprised when he demonstrates that he can touch the blade with no ill effect.
 * Deadly Doctor: Alastair explains that his world's equivalent of the Hippocratic Oath only applies to his patients — and the guys he shoots aren't patients until after he shoots them.
 * Diesel Punk
 * Disney Villain Death
 * Driven to Suicide: Doc's wife in the backstory.
 * Everything's Louder with Bagpipes
 * Extreme Doormat: Harris Greene starts out as one.
 * Eye Scream: Happens to Duncan Blackletter courtesy of an exploding TV.
 * The Fair Folk
 * Fake in the Hole: Jean-Pierre does this in the first novel. When the gunmen invade Doc's office, Jean-Pierre throws a paperweight at one, shouting "Stickbomb!". While the thug is trying to get away from the supposed bomb, Jean-Pierre shoots him.
 * Fantastic Racism: forms the backbone of the plot in Sidhe Devil.
 * Faux Affably Evil: Duncan to his henchmen.
 * Flashed Badge Hijack / Follow That Car!: in the novel Doc Sidhe
 * Grew a Spine: This is the main character development arc for Harris Greene. The key Grew A Spine moment is when he holds to doing the right thing even though it will mean.
 * Groin Attack: Angus Powrie likes giving these out. Also how Zeb wins his Olympic fight.
 * Heroic Bastard:
 * Hot Chick with a Sword: Noriko
 * Meaningful Name: Doc and his group need someone to pose as Teleri Obeldon. The lookalike they find is named Swana Weiss -- and yes, "Weiss" is German or, locally, Burian for "white." To rub it in, Swana owns a dog called Odilon.
 * Doc's proper name is Desmond MaqqRee. "Maqq" is clearly much the same Patronymic as Gaelic "Mac," and "Ree" may be a variant of "Ri," meaning "king." King's son. He's actually, but close enough for government work.
 * Mythology Gag: The physical description of the villain in the novel Doc Sidhe bears a striking resemblance to The Shadow.
 * So does Zeb in Sidhe Devil -- dressed in black, fedora pulled low, scarf pulled up over his face, and unnerving laughter:
 * So does Zeb in Sidhe Devil -- dressed in black, fedora pulled low, scarf pulled up over his face, and unnerving laughter:

""That's why I am still in this business, Zeb. The newspapers talk about the good we do. But when I dream, only the ones I failed to save come to visit me. And I think, 'Maybe next time. Maybe then I'll get everyone out. Maybe then I'll take the killer down in time.' I owe it to the ones I've failed.""
 * See Disney Villain Death.
 * Our Elves Are Different
 * People of Hair Color: Played with. Blonds are considered a separate ethnicity from brunettes, but no distinction is made among darker-skinned characters.
 * Pineapple Surprise: Doc does this while possessed by the spirit of the Warbringer in Doc Sidhe; using magic to cause the grenades Blackletter's men are carrying to detonate while they are still wearing them.
 * Pre-Mortem One-Liner: In Sidhe-Devil, Rudi Bergmonk catches the man most responsible for him being forced to kill his eldest brother. The guy tries to surrender. Rudi, a crook who's working with Doc Sidhe only in order to avenge his brother, replies, "You've mistaken me for one of the good [guys]." Bang.
 * Raised by Orcs: Darig the Changeling was raised by Angus Powrie, who pretty muchly is an orc.
 * Reality-Changing Miniature: In Sidhe Devil miniature models of a city are used to cast spells that effect the real city.
 * Samaritan Syndrome: In Sidhe-Devil, Zeb Watson is upset because a mistake he made may have kept him from reducing the death toll in a terrorist attack (even further than he did). And Doc Sidhe tells him:


 * Save Both Worlds
 * Scary Black Man: Zeb when he has his war face on.
 * Senseless Violins: The thugs who attack Doc's office in the first novel arrive at the building dressed as musicians and carrying instrument cases
 * Starbucks Skin Scale: Ish has 'coffee-with-cream' skin.
 * Technopath: Gaby
 * This Is Something He's Got to Do Himself: Subverted with
 * Two-Fisted Tales
 * Uncoffee: Xioc. (It's unsweetened cocoa.)
 * Up the Real Rabbit Hole: There's a moment in Sidhe Devil when the main viewpoint character, Zeb, apologizes to Doc for having taken the attitude that the fair world was "Less real than where I come from." He's changed his view after failing to completely prevent a terrorist attack; a little girl died of her injuries as he was carrying her to a doctor. Now It's Personal.
 * Zeppelins from Another World