WALTZ FOR A PAGAN DRUM. Scott, Munroe. Lindsay (Ont.), Tri-M Publishing, 1988. 249pp, cloth, $22.95. ISBN 0-921050-01-1. Distributed by Natural Heritage/Natural History Inc., P.O. Box 69, Station H. Toronto, Ont. M4C 5H7. CIP Adult Reviewed by Margaret MacLean Volume 17 Number 1 1989 January Munroe Scott takes a historical and geographical situation and compares it to a science fiction/fantasy future time. Chapter one is called "Now," chapter two "Then," chapter three "Now," chapter four "Then" and so on till chapter twenty-one, which is called "Thereafter," and chapter twenty-two, which has no title at all. The odd-numbered chapters describe a science fiction nightmare that takes place in "Miller," Ontario, the even-numbered chapters, an Angolan nightmare presumably set in the mid-1980s. In both settings our protagonist suffers and overcomes. The distinct strands are developed with authority and reality until the dénouement. "Thereafter" is a hurried "finished with" rather than a compelling finale. The most damaging aspect of the dénouement for this reviewer is the statement that rape and seduction are not necessarily traumatic. Male authors continue to write in such a strain even in the late 1980s! A public library acquisition. Margaret MacLean, Central Technical School Library, Toronto, Ont.