chuq@plaid.UUCP (02/26/87)
Electronic OtherRealms #13
March, 1987
Part 1
Table of Contents
Part 1
Beasts
Alan Wexelblat
The Hercules Text
Donn Seeley
The Ecologic Envoy
Dan'l Danehy Oakes
The Uncanny X-men
Alan Wexelblat
The Berserker Throne
Jim Day
Teckla
Jim Johnston
The Unconquered Country
Donn Seeley
Editor's Notebook
Chuq Von Rospach
Part 2
Books Received
Pico Reviews
Part 3
Much Rejoicing
Dan'l Danehy-Oakes
Words of Wizdom
Chuq Von Rospach
Letters to OtherRealms
Beasts
John Crowley
[***+]
Reviewed by
Alan Wexelblat
Copyright 1987 by Alan Wexelblat
When an author's first novel wins the World Fantasy Award, it is hard
not to compare his second novel to the first. This is one of those
cases; Crowley's Little, Big was a masterpiece of fantasy that richly
deserved the 1982 award.
Beasts is a more modest effort both in scope and in tone. Its language
is less complex and ornate than that of Little, Big, but it is still a
pleasure to read his fine wordsmithing. The story, however, is not so
pleasant.
Beasts is aptly titled. It is a story about beasts--animal and human,
individual and organizational. It is also a story about how these
beasts act and interact. The story is set in a not-too-distant future
in which the United States had been fragmented and badly decimated by
civil war. The population has been reduced, allowing the remainder to
survive, although at a lower standard of living.
In addition to the human population, there is a small population of
genetic constructs extant. They are artificial crossbreeds of human
and animal genes. Most of these mutants do not survive the laboratory.
Some do, but are forever sterile. However, one species, a cross between
man and lion called leo, survives and reproduces outside the lab.
Painter, the character around whom the story revolves, is a leo.
Beasts, though, is not "Painter's story" so much as it is "a story
about Painter." In particular, it is the story of the dying Federal
government to recapture its escaped "lab animals," prime among whom is
Painter. Their extermination is seen as the first step toward
purifying the land so that it can be reunified.
This is not a pretty story, nor a nice one. The leos are more lion
than man and have culture, society, morals, and behavior that reflects
this. Throughout the novel, they do what they must to survive and
achieve their goals, often without concern for the humans around them.
In this novel, Crowley has drawn a fascinating picture; his characters
are exceptionally well-developed. He shows a keen perception for the
bestial ways and his leos are more alien than most aliens found in SF.
He is particularly adept at showing how the differing bestial cultures
clash when they meet.
The action takes place against a fine mesh of detail; in this sense,
Beasts is a richer tapestry than most novels its size. On the other
hand, this richness works against the plot. There is material for a
larger work, but the story seems lost against that background. Painter's
story just isn't enough to totally capture and hold the reader.
Aside from this weakness, Beasts is a good book, finely written. Buy
Little, Big first, but don't pass up Beasts.
The Hercules Text
Jack McDevitt
Ace Books, 307 pages, $3.50
Reviewed by
Donn Seeley
Copyright 1987 by Donn Seeley
I've seen a lot of first contact stories. When a new one turns up, I
look first for solid entertainment and then for some original
speculation, something new about an old genre. I've read many novels
which succeed at one or the other but not both... Stanislaw Lem's
novel His Master's Voice, for example, is the heavily analytical tale
of a mathematician who was a member of a team of scientists who were
assigned to decipher an intelligent signal from the stars. While Lem
comes up with some very intriguing ideas about what we might see in
such a signal, the story itself is extremely dry, a style quite
befitting its arrogant and obnoxious narrator but very wearing on the
reader. I keep hoping to see a competent first contact story which is
as deep as Voice but less alien, more human. Terry Carr has a much
better than average record in picking first novels for his Ace Specials
line and thus I was ready to be pleasantly surprised by Jack McDevitt's
The Hercules Text.
Harry Carmichael is a NASA bureaucrat who supervises a group of
scientists at Goddard Space Center who are studying X-ray pulsars. On
the night Carmichael's wife tells him she's leaving him, he gets a
phone call from the office about a peculiar change that has been
observed in the signal from an X-ray source in Hercules. Something is
modulating the pulsar's pulses to produce a little table of powers...
Well, of course, what the Goddard scientists have detected is a
transmission from an alien civilization, and as the signal monitoring
progresses it becomes apparent that a huge amount of data is going to
arrive on a variety of subjects. Carmichael has to fight to keep the
project from being taken away from his people, and as he gradually
discovers the importance of the information in the Hercules Text, he
must struggle to prevent the new technology from being misused. What
happens when a new, cheap source of electrical power is made available?
What about a simple and inexpensive way to turn an object of Earth's
mass into a black hole? By the end of the novel, I was on the edge of
my seat wondering whether even some sizable fraction of the planet
could be saved...
What's good about The Hercules Text? McDevitt writes some very nice
suspense; once the action gets moving, it stays moving very smoothly.
He does an excellent job of describing the effects of the Text on our
culture--we hear the reactions of the Catholic and fundamentalist
Protestant clergy, we find out how the Text turns into a political
football and observe how it affects domestic politics and international
relations, and we see how the dusty towers of academia are tumbled by a
tidal wave of alien thought. The chapters of the novel are interleaved
with 'monitor' sections presenting headlines, excerpts from interviews
and papers, and so on; I found this to be a perspicacious means of
keeping attention on the way popular culture adapts to the alien
influence. McDevitt hasn't quite hit his stride with his
characterizations, but overall he does a more than adequate job. He
makes his bureaucrats seem like real people rather than caricatures (I
do take issue with one incident, in which Carmichael goes over the head
of his creepy superior to the White House, and this superior does not
subsequently find an opportunity to decorate his office with
Carmichael's guts...). McDevitt's casting suffers from tokenism -- the
Eminent Scientist, the Beautiful Female Psychologist, the Catholic
Priest Who Must Struggle With His Conscience -- but it's not offensive.
Unfortunately The Hercules Text has its weaknesses too. There are some
quite glaring mistakes in the science, mistakes which an editor really
ought to have picked up, mistakes which were so blatant that even a
non-scientist like me could spot them. At one point in the story, the
Goddard scientists have encountered a dead end in analyzing the signal:
they've run it through their best search programs on their biggest and
fastest computer and can't make the least sense of it. Someone
suggests that small is beautiful, and perhaps their office PC could
decode the signal more easily than their vast number cruncher. On a
lark they feed the disk into the PC, load up Star Trek, and guess
what--the Enterprise encounters a mysteriously spinning cube beyond the
edge of the galaxy. Ouch. McDevitt doesn't seem to know the
difference between a psychologist and a psychiatrist, he apparently
thinks that optical disks can be erased by electromagnets, and he has a
biologist state that myopia could be cured in adults using DNA repair
techniques. A lot of other 'science' looked fishy to me but I don't
have the right background to catch it all. I also felt that the plot
had some gaping holes in it. I won't spoil the ending for you, but I
thought that it suffered from what Arthur Clarke calls a 'failure of
nerve.' (I think Bear's Blood Music and Wilhelm's Welcome, Chaos are
examples of how to conquer this.) There are a few practical problems,
too--for example, when the characters are worrying about the possible
destruction of the Text, they never seem to consider the possibility
that the Alien Broadcasting Company might show reruns...
I hope I don't sound too hard on this book, because it really was fun
to read and showed some good thinking. But I'm still waiting for the
definitive first contact novel.
The Ecologic Envoy
L.E. Modesitt, Jr.
[***]
Tor Books, $2.95
Reviewed by
Dan'l Danehy-Oakes
Copyright 1987 by Dan'l Danehy-Oakes
In an era of jaded, cynical cyberpunqs, this book is refreshing -- the
author has created what I'm fairly sure is the first "technoyuppie"
novel. It follows a fairly standard cyberpunq plot: High-tech
protagonist uses superior technology and underhanded methods, including
murder, to achieve his ends. But it's full of reversals on the
cyberpunq feel: The hero is a "Professor of Trade" (Read: MBA in
international economics) and "Ecolitan" (Read: agent provocateur
working for his planet's Establishment) who acts from idealistic,
rather than cynical, ends. The book is filled with loving descriptions
of gourmet meals. One chapter is basically an argument about the
economics of protective tariffs (which suspiciously reminds one of the
current US-Japan situation). Yuppie.
It is also a finely plotted book. The story of Nathaniel Whaler's
attempts to negotiate a simple(?) trade agreement in the face of
mysterious intrigue and repeated assassination attempts is
fascinating. It kept me turning pages -- in fact, I wanted to give it
four stars.
But there are two problems. (1) Character. A number of the supporting
characters are fascinating, but the personality of Whaler himself is
about as thin as a crepe. (2) Style. The writing is mostly
inoffensive, if pedestrian, but in a few places the author drops
syntactical glitches that made me want to scream. In all, a somewhat
flawed book, but too good for two stars.
The Uncanny X-Men
Chris Claremont and John Byrne
[***+]
Marvel Comics Group
Reviewed by
Alan Wexelblat
Copright 1987 by Alan Wexelblat
I can hear it now: a chorus of groans. "A comic book?" "That's kiddie
stuff." Well, if you'll bear with me a minute, I'll explain myself. If
you have any interest in the illustrated/comic art form, I think it'll
be worth your while.
It's true that the majority of American comic books aren't worth the
paper they're printed on. In animation and sophistication, American
products almost invariably trail their Japanese counterparts. U.S.
products are usually aimed at a younger audience and most submit to the
censorship of the comics code. Sometimes a story rises above the
muck. Sometimes idea men like Claremont and Byrne team up with good
artists and put together a nice graphic novel.
This book, the story of Dark Phoenix, is such a novel. It is a
reprinting of the nine issues of the X-Men comic book series that made
up that story. Phoenix is the name given to an alien being. An
extremely powerful creature, it normally exists as disembodied energy.
However, the mutant Jean Grey has managed to tap into this energy, and
the Phoenix manifests itself through her. The Phoenix has no concept
of human morality; it has only hungers and desires. The story centers
around Jean's struggle to control those hungers and to use the power of
the Phoenix for good ends.
I liked the story, although the ending was not as good as it could have
been. (As noted in the introduction to the book, that ending was and
is one of the most hotly debated happenings in the Marvel comics world.)
The characters of the X-Men are well-drawn. Jean is a strong female lead;
her character is equal to or better than the males around her. One of
Claremont's triumphs is his ability to write good female characters.
The universe of the X-Men is populated with things we normally
associate with SF and with fantasy: FTL travel, mutants with strange
powers, space warps, psionics and magic. One of the best things about
this novel is that these elements do not tell the story. Rather, they
serve as the canvas on which the stories of the people involved are told.
This is not, however, deep or sophisticated writing. In the condensed,
action-oriented world of comics, some things are outright explained
that would have only been hinted at in a textual novel. On the whole,
I recommend it as a good afternoon (or airplane ride) read.
The Berserker Throne
Fred Saberhagen
[***]
Tor Books, $3.50
Reviewed by Jim Day
Copyright 1987 by Jim Day
Programmed to kill, that's what the berserkers are, deadly doomsday
machines created long ago as ultimate weapons in an interstellar war
between the Builders and the Red Race. Repairing and replicating
themselves, the berserkers search the galaxy to fulfill their goal of
total extermination of all life. This is the premise of Saberhagen's
popular Berserker series.
I've enjoyed all of the Berserker stories and found Berserker Throne to
be a well-written tale of action, suspense, human conflict and the
continuing struggle against the implacable berserkers. The book held
my interest from cover to cover, although the first half proceeds at a
rather leisurely pace compared to the second half.
Most of the action takes place in the Templar Fortress, a hollow sphere
of stone and metal surrounding a very small, starlike object. The
main character, Prince Harivarman, has been exiled to the fortress by
the Council of the Eight Thrones. Base Commander Anne Blenheim,
responsible for Harivarman's welfare during his exile, agrees with him
that the galaxy must unite to combat the berserkers but otherwise
remains neutral.
Chen Shizuoka, a shy university student from the planet Salutai, is a
minor character who serves to connect several important elements of the
plot. Unjustly accused of treason and regicide, he joins the Templars
to elude the Salutai secret police. Harivarman's political enemies
hope to use Shizouka, dead or alive, in their plot to dominate the
Eight Worlds.
The Templar Fortress is twelve kilometers in diameter, enclosing a
hollow sphere eight kilometers across, in the center of which is the
tiny Templar Radiant. One of nine known to exist, the radiant produces
an exponentially decreasing field of inverse gravity, providing the
inner surface of the fortress with earth-normal gravity. The
two-kilometer thick shell of the fortress contains about six hundred
cubic kilometers of stone and is honeycombed with a maze of chambers
and corridors.
The fortress is also the locale of an earlier Berserker story, "Some
Events at the Templar Radiant," which first appeared in the May-Aug
1979 issue of Destinies magazine and was reprinted a month later in The
Ultimate Enemy, an Ace paperback collection of Berserker stories. In
this earlier story, an inert but potentially functional berserker is
discovered in a remote area of the fortress by Georgicus Sabel, Doctor
of Cosmography. Sabel tries to extract scientific data from the
berserker's computer-like brain, with tragic consequences.
Like the unfortunate Dr. Sabel, Prince Harivarman discovers a damaged
berserker in a remote area and tries to probe its brain. While doing
so he discovers in the berserker's memory banks a code sequence that he
believes might allow him to control not only that particular berserker
but all berserkers, giving humanity a way of putting an end to the
berserker menace for all time. To reveal more of the plot would spoil
the story for prospective readers, so I'll just add that the ending
takes a dramatic and unexpected turn that some readers may find lacking
in plausibility.
Teckla
Steven Brust
[***+]
Ace Fantasy, $2.95, 214 pages
Reviewed by
Jim Johnston
Copyright 1987 by Jim Johnston
Teckla is the third in Brust's tales of Vlad Taltos, not-quite
small-time mobster, part-time assassin, and all-around good guy. Vlad
and his wife, Cawti, who killed him once, (just in the line of
business, mind you, nothing personal) were introduced to us in Jhereg,
the first and perhaps most original tale of Brust's Cycle series, which
was perhaps not intended to be a series.
In the second, Yendi, we are introduced to the younger Vlad and learn
something about how Vlad got to be a not-quite small-time mobster,
part-time assassin, and all-around good guy. In Teckla, we meed Vlad
and Cawti at some time after they're established in their mutual career.
Teckla, we're told, are lazy and stupid, only smart enough to realize
that they should be cowardly. Of course, the Teckla are also
revolting, which certainly represents at the very least a change in
their behavior.
Vlad, we're also told, is in very good shape, and is wondering what to
do with all of his money. He's debating if he should buy a small
castle somewhere, perhaps a better title than Baronet, or perhaps
expand his operations, and naturally he's not terribly interested in a
small, ill-fated revolt, even if he might sympathize.
Of course, life just isn't quite that simple. While I could spoil the
story, I'll let Brust explain it all because he's so good at it.
Teckla seems to represent somewhat of a change for this series. While
Jhereg and Yendi were both self-contained, and not necessarily part of
a series, Teckla has unanswered questions, some unclear motivation,
and, one suspects, at least one sequel forthcoming in order to clear
things up. I found this a bit annoying, as one of the enjoyable
things in all of Brust's other books was the neat trimming and
crocheting together of the loose ends. Teckla didn't do that, and I
docked it a quarter-star as a result.
Vlad grows a bit as a character here, seemingly at the expense of
Cawti, who has a lot to do, but whose motivation seems lacking. Of
course, I'm hoping to have that explained later.
For Brust, Teckla seems to be somewhat off his usual, although he's
given himself a lot to live up to. If I had to rate his books, I'd
put Teckla next to last, well above To Reign in Hell, and a bit below
Yendi. Of course, that's a pretty good recommendation, given that all
five of his books are in the top 5% of the fantasy books that I've
read, and Brokedown Palace threatens to take first place.
Would I recommend it? Yes. Without hesitation. While I've
complained quite a bit in the last few paragraphs, the book is
satisfying, well written, interesting, and hard to put down. It's fun
to read, fun to second-guess, and likely to contain a few surprises.
The Unconquered Country
Geoff Ryman
Allen & Unwin (UK)
Reviewed by
Donn Seeley
Copyright 1987 by Donn Seeley
Sometimes you hear things in the news that you know just couldn't have
happened. I felt that way when I first heard about the massacre of
Cambodia, when I saw the pictures of blood-stained torture chambers and
their manufactured products, the neatly stacked piles of human skulls,
decorating the museum at Tuol Sleng. Intellectually I know that human
beings are capable of boundless cruelty, but I still manage to be
surprised every time I see another example of it. To me it seems to
take place in another universe... When I find a story that drags me
into that other universe, it can prove to be a shockingly alien
experience. Geoff Ryman's The Unconquered Country took me on a tour
I'm not likely to forget.
The Unconquered Country is a little Buddhist nation which has never
before been occupied by foreigners. Third Child lives in the capital
city, a refugee from the perilous hinterland where the Neighbours are
conducting an extermination campaign against the villagers in preparation
for the final attack which will wipe out all resistance. Third supports
herself by selling her body, but not in the way you'd expect:
Third rented her womb for industrial use. She was cheaper than the
glass tanks. She grew parts of living machinery inside
her -- differentials for trucks, small household appliances. She gave
birth to advertisements, small caricature figures that sang songs.
There was no other work for her in the city.
Third's world has living houses, living trucks, living aircraft -- a
burgeoning life which is unprepared for the approaching massacre. A
culture which is built upon respect for life lies in critical danger
before the murderous forces of the Neighbours, the Big People and...
the Country's own army of resistance?
Fantasy isn't supposed to work this way...
I found Ryman's Country to be superbly strange. It's not quite the
same as any real country: not in culture (it's perhaps more like
Thailand than the real Cambodia, which has been conquered many times),
not in recent history (the Neighbours, an analogue for the Vietnamese,
are shown as invading before the massacre rather than after), and
certainly not in technology (houses with feet and elephantine trunks).
But Ryman manages to capture the gritty feel of the war and immerse the
reader in its alienness. The many fantastic elements of the story
combine to enhance the tale rather than to distract from it, and lead
to a quite moving conclusion.
In its original form as a novella in Interzone #7, this story won the
World Fantasy Award. The novel adds detail to the original story, but
I still rather like the novella because I think it has more punch, an
uncut dose of weirdness. I'm not unhappy with the novel form, which is
illustrated with some very nice drawings by Sacha Ackerman and has an
afterword by Ryman which relates how he came to write the story, but if
the novel sounds intriguing to you, you might want to track down the
novella and try it first.
Editor's Notebook
Chuq Von Rospach
Polly Freas dies
I'm very sad to have to announce the death of Polly Freas at 12:45AM,
January 24th of cancer. Polly was a long time East Coast fan and the
wife of artist Kelly Freas. A fund has been set up to help Kelly
offset medical costs. Your donations should be sent to Butch Allen,
C/O HAROSFA, P.O. Box 9434, Hampton, Va. 23670. According to
CompuServe, the news broke at Confusion, and an impromptu auction
raised over $2000.
Kelly has requested that donations be sent in her name to the
Children's Welfare Fund, Stabur Graphics Inc., 23301 Meadow Park,
Detroit, MI 48239 in lieu of flowers. This is an organization that she
helped found, and it is appropriate that we support it in her memory.
Cards and letters to Kelly should be sent to him in care of OtherRealms
and I'll make sure they get forwarded. There are other comments on
Polly in this months lettercol. My sympathy goes out to Kelly and all
of their friends. We've lost another of the wonderful people that
makes Fandom a wonderful place to be.
Publishing News
St. Martin's Press will be publishing a mass market paperback line to
supplement their hardcover offerings. Horror is edited by Lincoln
Child and Science Fiction is edited by Stuart Moore.
Baen Books is also starting a Fantasy paperback line. It will be
edited by Betsy Mitchell.
Murphy Strikes Again Dept.
A couple of issues ago, Locus converted to a laser printer, and Charles
Brown discussed some of the startup problems they had. So it was with
some glee that I put last month's issue (my first on the Laserwriter)
to bed ahead of schedule and with no pain whatsoever. I'd done a lot
of planning on it, and having worked with the technology for a while,
felt I had all the angles covered. When nobody was looking, I even
chortled a little bit for outsmarting my arch-nemesis, Lord Murphy.
Well, just to make sure everyone knows that the proud will do
themselves in, it wasn't until the last issue of OtherRealms was
printed, stuffed and stamped that I found out that the database with my
subscription lists in it wouldn't print mailing labels on a Laserwriter.
A couple of days of frantic scrabbling and patching and I finally got a
set of usable mailing labels. This little episode shows a couple of
things: that when you know nothing can go wrong somewhere, it will go
wrong somewhere else, and even someone who knows technology can get
tripped up by assuming the obvious. When a computer salesman tells you
that what he is selling you is a complete solution, you better make
sure that your definitions match. Murphy will out.
By the way, since last issue I've got new and wonderful software that
does mailing labels just fine, as well as a few things the old program
couldn't do. The new functionality is useful enough that I'm finally
getting around to indexing OtherRealms reviews, a compilation of which
will be out as soon as I'm done.
The New Address
Astute readers will notice a new address in the masthead. OtherRealms
has moved, so please make sure your mailing lists, publicity
departments, address books and whatever else might be interested in the
new address get the information. If I get mail from you, you'll
probably get a private note as a reminder as well, just to make sure
everything gets where it belongs.
Actually, OtherRealms hasn't moved, but since we're planning on finding
bigger quarters in the next few months, I finally got around to renting
a drop box. Both U.S. Mail and UPS are acceptable, and with any luck,
this will mean the suicide notes from my postman will stop.
Grade Inflation?
A couple of people have written in complaining of grade inflation,
suggesting that in the last couple of issues the reviews grades have
been trending upward. Well, thanks to my new database and the
OtherRealms review index (see next item) I've been able to crunch some
numbers and see what's been happening.
The numbers are really aren't changing. The average for all reviews in
a given issue has been solidly around 3.2 or 3.3 since issue five. The
low point was a 3.1 in issue 5, and the hight point was issue 9 with a
3.5. The last three issues were 3.2, 3.3, and 3.3 respectively. So
there isn't any real grade inflation in the magazine, the averages are
staying pretty steady.
That's the good news. The bad news is that looking back over the last
couple of Words of Wizdom columns, there has been a tendency for me to
get into "best book of the year this month" mode. Part of this is on
purpose -- I firmly believe that the good books should be featured, so
I select my reviews to emphasize the positive works I've read. Average
or lesser works, in general, go into the Pico Review section. At the
same time, though, I've seen situations where a given book might
deserve the rating I've given it, but in comparison with other books,
things get out of skew. I'm going to work on consistency in the next
few issues, to make sure this doesn't get completely out of hand.
OtherRealms Review Index
Thanks to the wonders of computers, I've compiled an index to all of
the reviews in OtherRealms. Over the previous 12 issues, there have
been 433 reviews. Issue one had 13, issue 12 had 71; I feel like we
covered a lot of territory in the last year.
I'm still working out the report parts of the database, so the index
isn't quite ready to distribute. What I'll probably do is key in this
issue, and then make it available next month.
Having all those numbers in the database gives you a good chance to
play around and see what happens. According to the database, the most
popular publishers (based on number of works reviewed in OtherRealms, a
definitely biased sample) are Ace (46), Tor (42), Del Rey (37) and
Bantam (30). Not surprising, since they are the largest paperback
houses and have the widest distribution. What was more surprising,
though, was that two hardcover houses (Doubleday at 19 and Arbor House
at 16) had more reviews than major paperback houses such as Daw (18),
Questar (6), and Signet(12). OtherRealms readers seem to read more
hardback books than I'd expected. The number of different publishers
reviewed were 73, which means the readership of OtherRealms gets around.
Another thing I took a quick look at was the popularity of a given
author. If you base popularity on the number of works reviewed, the
Frederik Pohl, with 12, was the most read author. Orson Scott Card was
runner up with 10, and Larry Niven and R.A. MacAvoy both had 9.
If you look at the average rating, you get different names. If you
throw out people with three or fewer reviews in the last 12 issues (to
make sure a single 5 star review doesn't skew things too far), the
favorite authors is Steven Brust, with a 4.4 rating. Runners up
include: Raymond Feist (4.2), William Gibson (3.9), Orson Scott Card
(3.75), David Brin (3.75), Ben Bova (3.4), and Anne Rice (3.8).
What does all this mean? Damned if I know. Statistics are wonderful
for proving whatever it is you want to prove, but beyond that the
utility of things like this are left up to the reader. Regardless, the
index should be out by next issue.
OtherRealms Recommends
The other night, a friend that I haven't seen for a couple of months
asked me the fatal question "So what do you recommend reading?"
Twenty minutes of rooting through the bookshelves later, I had a stack
of books that will keep him busy for most of 1987, and a chance to give
a second mention to some works I feel define the good side of Science
Fiction in 1986. So, in no particular order, OtherRealms recommends:
Death is a Lonely Business by Ray Bradbury; The Falling Woman by Pat
Murphy; A Malady of Magicks and A Multitude of Monsters by Craig Shaw
Gardner; Sword-Dancer by Jennifer Roberson; Mythago Wood by Robert
Holdstock; The Sorceror's Lady by Paula Volsky (which seems to be her
second novel, not a first novel as Locus claimed); Teckla by Steven
Brust; Bridge of Birds by Barry Hugart; A Baroque Fable by Chelsea
Quinn Yarbro; Wild Cards edited by George R.R. Martin; Tailchaser's
Song by Tad Williams; Silence in Solitude by Melissa Scott;
Windmaster's Bane by Tom Deitz; Artificial Things by Karen Joy Fowler;
and Soldier of the Mist by Gene Wolfe.
Which means I don't have to write a 1986: the year in review column.
Thank Ghod...
And Now a Word From Our Sponsor
This month has been an interesting month, working out glitches in the
layout and the software, playing with the new database, keying in the
index data (ouch, my poor fingers...) and trying to catch up on all of
the administration of publishing a magazine. The one thing this didn't
leave a lot of time for was reading, which is why Wizdom is very short
this month -- most of the books I read simply didn't deserve more than
a Pico, so I'm filling space here rather than pushing books that I
don't feel should get that much push. Besides, after reading the new
Bradbury, everything else is anti-climactic.
There are a few formatting changes since last issue. The typeface for
the headlines has changed because the original face, while quite
pretty, simply disappeared into the page. Also, I've put a little
more white space between lines (from 9/10 to 9/11 points for you
publishing types) because the text looked cramped. Thanks to everyone
who sent me mail discussing the new layout and making suggestions--your
feedback is making a good start even better.
Finally, if you sent me an article or review prior to January first,
and it hasn't been published yet, it won't be. As far as I know, all
my old inventory is gone, so if I haven't printed it or contacted you,
either the December disk crash (see last issue) ate it, or some other
random factor has come into play. If something is missing, please let
me know.
See you next month...
Electronic OtherRealms #13
March, 1987
Copyright 1987
by Chuq Von Rospach.
All Rights Reserved.
OtherRealms may be reproduced only for non-commercial purposes. With
the exception of excerpts used for promotional purposes, no part of
OtherRealms may be re-published without permission.
Chuq Von Rospach chuq@sun.COM [I don't read flames]
There is no statute of limitations on stupiditychuq@plaid.UUCP (02/26/87)
Electronic OtherRealms #13
March, 1987
Part 2
Books Received
Avon Fantasy
Abbey, Lynn. Unicorn & Dragon, 230 pages, February, 1987, $5.95
trade paperback.
Feisner, Esther M. The Witchwood Cradle, 241 pages, March, 1987, $3.50.
Avon Science Fiction
Moorcock, Michael. The Cornelius Chronicles Vol III., 341 pages,
February, 1987, $3.50.
Moorcock, Michael. Breakfast in the Ruins, 172 pages, 1971, $3.50.
Slonczewski, Joan. A Door Into Ocean, 406 pages, February, 1987,
$3.95. A second novel.
Williams, Michael Lindsay. FTL: Further Than Life, 327 pages, March,
1987, $3.50.
Bantam Books
Bradbury, Ray. Death is a Lonely Business, February, 1987, 216 pages,
$3.95. A murder mystery from one of the greats of the genre.
Geary, Patricia. Living in Ether, 214 pages, March, 1987, $3.50. A
First Novel.
Bantam Fantasy
Feist, Raymond. A Darkness at Sethanon, February, 1987, 430 pages,
$3.95. Concludes the Riftwar Saga. Reviewed in OtherRealms
#8 [***+]
Bantam Science Fiction
Benford, Gregory and Brin, David. Heart of the Comet, 477 pages,
March, 1987, $4.50.
Brin, David. The River of Time, 295 pages, February, 1987, $3.50.
Harrison, Harry. To the Stars, 472 pages, March, 1987, $4.95. Combined
edition of the novels Homeworld, Wheelworld, and Starworld.
Starblaze Graphics
Abbey, Lynn. Thieves' World Graphic #4, 64 pages 8 1/2" x 11" b&w
trade paperback, January, 1987. Fourth graphic adaptation of
the Thieves' World environment. Art by Tim Sale.
Asprin, Robert and Foglio, Phil. Myth Adventures Two, 110 pages,
$12.95, 8 1/2 x 11" 4 color trade paperback. Issues five
through eight of the Warp B&W Myth Adventures compiled and
colored by Phil Foglio.
St. Martin's Press
Longyear, Barry B. Sea of Glass, 375 pages, February, 1987, $18.95.
Tor Adventure
Marsh, Geoffrey. The King of Satan's Eyes, 281 pages, $3.50,
February, 1987.
Tor Fantasy
Bailey, Robin W. Frost, 208 pages, 1983, $2.95. Volume 1 of the
Saga of Frost. First Tor printing.
Fenn, Lionel. Web of Defeat, 284 pages, February, 1987, $2.95.
Sequel to Blood River Down, second volume in the Search for the
White Duck series.
Tepper, Sheri S. Northshore, 248 pages, shipping March 23, 1987,
$14.95 hardcover. First volume of The Awakeners series.
Wagner, Karl, editor. Echoes of Valor, 286 pages, February, 1987,
$2.95. Includes stories by Howard, Leiber, and Kuttner.
Tor Fiction
Maxin, John R. Time out of Mind, 511 pages, February, 1987, $4.50.
Tor Horror
Grant, Charles L. The Hour of the Oxrun Dead. 284 pages, February,
1987, $3.50.
Jeter, K. W. Dark Seeker. 317 pages, February, 1987, $3.95.
Laymon, Richard. Tread Softly, 311 pages, February, 1987, $3.95.
Tor Science Fiction
Card, Orson Scott. Speaker for the Dead, 415 pages, February, 1987,
$3.95. Odds-on favorite for 1986 Hugo and Nebula, now in paperback.
Carver, Jeffrey. The Rapture Effect, February 27, 1987, 371 pages,
$18.95 hardcover.
Tor Suspense
Hoyt, Richard. The Manna Enzyme, 308 pages, February, 1987, $3.95.
Peters, Elizabeth. Die for Love, 274 pages, February, 1987, $3.50
Pico Reviews
The Amsirs and the Iron Thorn by A.J. Budrys []
An unfortunate piece of hackwork trash that should never have been
printed, a shame from the author of such a masterpiece as The Falling
Torch. We all have our off days. The dreary tale of a young man in a
genetic experiment on Mars in the far future, filled with what must
have seemed cool, Salingeresque wisecracking at the time but which
today just reads like a third-rate detective novel. Bad dialogue, bad
characterization, bad plot, bad atmosphere, bad description, and bad
narration.
--Davis Tucker
ihnp4!druri!dht
Beyond Apollo by Barry Malzberg [****]
Re-reading a book usually, for me, is a disappointing experience. Not
in this case, however, depth sometimes requires more introspection.
This is one of Malzberg's best works, and is a definite must read for
anyone who wants to understand the best of the New Wave. A mad
spaceman is the lone survivor of a failed two man expedition to Venus.
We are put inside his mind as he lies, disassociates, fantasizes, and
chews the fat with himself. A fantastic exploration of altered mental
states and their effect upon the outside world. Well written,
experimental even now, and very expressive. Malzberg is one of those
writers who has a definite, singular style, his and no one else's.
--Davis Tucker
ihnp4!druri!dht
Bio of a Space Tyrant V: Statesman by Piers Anthony [**]
The latest and final entry in Piers Anthony's Bio of a Space Tyrant
series continues the story of Hope Hubris, the Tyrant of Jupiter. It
follows his final days as he pursues his dream of launching man into
interstellar space. In this book, Anthony's analogies to political
situations on current day Earth are not only obvious, the author
bludgeons us over the head with them. While the story flows smoothly
enough, the solutions to purportedly complex issues are pat and
unsatisfying. Readers who have followed this series from its inception
will enjoy this entry as well, even though it is weaker than the other
books. Anthony has done a competent if uninspired job of concluding a
strong series. Some readers may be annoyed that provisions for further
stories are made at the end, but this appears to be standard practice
in todays publishing world. Only to be read by readers of the first 4
books in the series.
--Peter Rubinstein
Boating for Beginners by Jeanette Winterson [*****]
Methuen, 3.50 pounds, 1985.
This is supposedly the true story of Noah's flood. Like the
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, it may be inaccurate, but anything
this good has got to be definitively inaccurate. Winterson presents
Bunny Mix (the greatest romantic novelist of all time), an orange
elemental (who constantly annoys Doris the cleaner), Gloria Munde (who
leaves her slightly eccentric mother to work in Noah's household), as
well as the more well-known characters from the biblical version of the
story. She reveals how the creator was created, how Noah started his
religious cult and why he was upset by the sight of Black Forest
Gateau, how the first hamburger chain began, the state of pre-flood
psychoanalytic techniques, and why Noah chose to write his story
instead of this version. Hilarious.
--Dave Berry
db@itspna.ed.ac.uk
Book Reviewing edited by Sylvia E. Kamerman. [***]
215p. 1978. $12.00. The Writer, Inc.
Comprising 21 chapters by nationally known editors and reviewers, this
book explains, clearly and concisely, how to write various kinds of
book reviews. It also tells how to get advance information about
forthcoming books and how to request review copies from publishers.
Equally important, it gives advice on how to get reviews accepted and
published in a local or regional publication. Its eclectic
presentation of theory and practice provides a valuable introduction to
the reviewer's craft.
--Jim Day
JimDay.Pasa@Xerox.COM
Boxen: The Imaginary World of the Young C.S. Lewis
Edited by Walter Hooper [***-]
A Harvest/HBJ Book (Harcourt Brace Jovanovich)
$4.95 ISBN 0-15-614000-4
Long before Narnia, there was Boxen. When he was a child, Lewis and
his older brother played in imaginary countries: CSL's was Animal-Land,
and has brother's was India. Hooper has selected the best of the texts
from young CSL's notebooks and presented us an idea of what Narnia
might have been like if Lewis had never returned to Christianity.
Lewis wrote this material from age (roughly) eight to twelve, but it
reads less like the work of a schoolchild than of an incredibly naive
and just slightly dyslexic old man.
--Dan'l Danehy Oakes
ptsfa!pbhyc!djo
Broken Symmetries by Paul Pruess [***+]
Pocket Books, $3.95, 1983, 370 pages
In the near future, a trillion-volt accelerator in Hawaii is producing
mysterious particles called I-particles, which are constructed from the
newly discovered inside quark (i-quark). Peter Slater is a snobbish
theoretician who becomes entangled in the web of espionage surrounding
this powerful new substance. There's also some interesting diversions
into Japanese culture. Good hardcore SF, plot ok, characterization
kind of weak. I enjoyed it.
--Brian Yost
bellcore!motown!bty!yost
Circuit by Melinda Snodgrass [****+]
Berkeley Books, $2.95, 1986, 232 pages
In an effort to regain control of Earth's rebellious space colonies,
the President of the United States appoints his friend Cabot Huntington
as the chief justice of the newly created Fifteenth Circuit Court. Cab
goes to space as the President's puppet, but after the USSR nukes a
rebel Soviet moon colony--with the President's cooperation--Cab must
either join the rebels' fight for freedom, or throw away what's left of
his own self respect. An excellent novel, I highly recommend it.
--Brian Yost
motown!bty!yost
Companions on the Road by Tanith Lee [***+]
Bantam 12397-0 1.95
Probably out of print, but I found this little gem on a used bookstore
shelf. It is actually two stories, the title story and "The Winter
Players." Both stories show Lee at her best, with all the power she has
for telling, good, solid stories that captivate all the old,
archetypical fears and loves of folk tales and fairy tales. The first
is about three men in the sacking of the newly defeated city of a demon
king. They steal a chalice from the grounds, and the curse upon the
thing catches up with them. The second is almost impossible to
summarize, but involves a priestess, magic of will, werewolves, an evil
spirit and time travel; and it is a tribute to her powers of
storytelling that this story not only works but is unforgettable.
--Liralen Li
li@vlsi.cs.washington.edu
Crash by J. G. Ballard [*****]
Probably the most disturbing novel ever written by this admittedly
disturbing author. It deals with autoeroticism in its literal
sense--modern man's love affair with the automobile, his flirtations
with imminent death, his rendezvous with traffic interchanges. The
primary theme is that of car crash as sexual act, and we follow his
insane but lucid protagonist on a harrowing journey through abandoned
car parks, junkyards, deliberate accidents, ambulance chases, and
sexual fascination with Elizabeth Taylor. This is one of the most
important works of the 1960's, perhaps of the modern era, and deserves
to be ranked with Burroughs' Naked Lunch and Burgess' A Clockwork
Orange for its sheer power and visceral punch, combined with feverish
intellectual fascination. The images of semen and crunched dashboard,
orgasm and illegal right turn, dismemberment and love, lust and a
steering wheel column through the chest, all of them combine into a
masterful exploration of insanity and sex. Pornographic in the real
sense, obscene in its truthfulness, desperate in its unfolding. Not
for everyone.
--Davis Tucker
Cybernetic Samurai by Victor Milan [***+]
Ace Science Fiction 0-441-13234-0 3.50
It was the afternoon after my last final, my brain was fried and I
wanted some easy reading, something fun and irreverent and somewhat
silly, so I picked up this book from the title and the back cover. I
was in for an amazing surprise. For the first few chapters I was
really impressed with the wealth and detail of scientific backing that
Milan put into this book. It contains the first explanation for
artificial intelligence that I've ever been able to suspend disbelief
for. Then, as I read further and further into it, I became more
impressed with the development of Tokugawa, the created artificial
intelligence; however, the development of the flesh and blood
characters lacked quite a bit. Finally, at the end, it hit me that I'd
been reading a classical tragedy. Very heavy stuff, and the truly
amazing thing was that Milan had done such a thorough job of it that I
hadn't even minded reading it while set for something completely
different. I recommend it highly for someone who is in the mood for a
true tragedy that is set in a hard SF period.
--Liralen Li
li@vlsi.cs.washington.edu
Daughter of Regals & Other Tales by Stephen R. Donaldson [***+]
Del Rey, 1984, 337 pp, $14.95
Daughter of Regals is a collection unrelated short stories. The
stories cover both fantasy and SF, but the entire work is more
fantasy. There is also a social fiction/horror story (Bradbury-ish
style). All of the stories are simple and fun to read, though I don't
expect any of them to stick in my mind like a great story does. The
only disappointment is Gilden-Fire, which is a chapter that was removed
from the first Thomas Covenant series because of size. By itself
Gilden-Fire had no appeal to me, but it might be much more enjoyable if
read as a chapter in its proper place in the Thomas Covenant series.
--Jim Winner
winner@cua.bitnet
The Dispossessed by Ursula K. LeGuin [*****]
This is probably my all-time favorite. It tells the story of Shevek,
an emissary from the anarchistic world of Annares, and his adventure to
Urras, the propertarian parent world of Annares. Alternating between
his present life on Urras and his upbringing on Annares, Le Guin
contrasts the two drastically different cultures, uncovering the good
and bad qualities of each. In the process, of course, one gets a new
perspective on our own society. This book is bound to hit you where
you live. 1974 Nebula and Hugo Winner.
--Brian Yost
bellcore!motown!bty!yost
Dr. Who: Search for the Doctor by David Martin []
Ballantine Books Find Your Fate series, $2.50
Written in second person, this is a book-adventure. You read the
story, make a decision and the story continues based upon your
(limited) decisions. Aimed at the 8--12 year old audience, and not
very well done.
--chuq von rospach
Enterprise: the First Adventure by Vonda McIntyre [***]
Pocket Books, $3.95, 1986, 371 pages
I generally steer clear of Star Trek novels, but this one looked
interesting. And even though the plot was ludicrous--the Enterprise
has to transport a vaudeville show to various starbases--I liked the
book. They meet up with some interesting aliens and, of course, some
Klingons. Kirk starts off on the wrong foot with everybody, and has to
win their loyalty by the end of the story. McIntyre does an admirable
job of staying within the strict guidelines of the Star Trek universe.
--Brian Yost
bellcore!motown!bty!yost
Gilpin's Space by Reginald Bretnor [***]
Ace, 1986 218pp
An eccentric scientist discovers a faster-than-light drive that can be
manufactured cheaply--and just in time, too. Authoritarian governments are
gaining power all over the world, and this will be the last chance for freedom
lovers to escape their clutches. The story is told first person in 3 parts, and
the middle third lags since the character telling the story doesn't seem very
involved. The extra star is for those readers who enjoy books about space as
the next open frontier for freedom seekers.
--Chris Hibbert
Hibbert.pa@Xerox.COM
The Imperial Stars edited by Jerry Pournelle []
I'm not going to pick on Pournelle's politics, or his bludgeoning
attempt to cram disparate stories into some great Neolithic framework
proving his point that yes, might does make right (or whatever point
he's trying to prove--I confess that sometimes his logic confuses the
hell out of me). No, the problem with this anthology is that he chose
terrible stories, with a few exceptions, to prove his thesis that the
natural state of man and his government is empire. Bad stories by
mediocre authors, bad stories by great authors, with only a few
occasional romping, rollicking good reads among them. The ground that
he covers has been done far, far better by Brian Aldiss in his
anthology of space opera, Galactic Empires; in fact, he includes one of
Aldiss' best choices - Poul Anderson's The Star Plunderers. It's all
been done before, and better, and certainly without as much rabid
right-wing political filler as this - too many times I found myself
saying, "let's get on with it, Jer." Too much deification of John W.
Campbell. Too much 40's-50's space opera for a book put together in
the 80's (it wasn't sold as a history of science fiction). Not radical
enough--Pournelle usually gets me really pissed off, but here it's
pretty ho-hum stuff. Too much repetition.
--Davis Tucker
Involution Ocean by Bruce Sterling [***]
Sterling's first novel, it deals with a strange world of a dust sea and
giant "whales" that are hunted for food by the inhabitants. As with
much of his later works, Sterling throws away more great story ideas
than many writers use over and over again; his imaginative potential is
giant. While suffering from many of the common problems of first
novels, especially a poorly-worked-out ending, the world of Nullaqua
and his drug-addicted protagonist are very well-drawn and compelling.
Especially good is his character of the captain of the whaling ship,
Captain Desperandum, a man who is 400 years old and not a little bit
insane. Any similarities to Moby Dick and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
are purely intentional.
--Davis Tucker
ihnp4!druri!dht
The Ladies of Mandrigyn by Barbara Hambly [****]
Del Rey Fantasy 345-30919-7 2.95
Here Captain Sun Wolf, the captain of a mercenary troop, is kidnapped
by the women of a captured city and told by them that he must train
them well enough to free their men and homes or else die by slow
poison. The grit, intelligence and sheer desperation that made it
possible to steal the captain from the midst of his men, are the
character traits of the women of the city. This book follows their
adventures as well as the adventures of the captain's second-in-command
as she tries to find her captain. Yup, she, and an amazing she at
that. Once again, Hambly draws characters more concerned with their
reality than the legends that have grown up about them. And she gives
a story that is as filled with the perils and absurdities of the
politics that crop up whenever a group of people must live together as
it is with physical dangers.
--Liralen Li
li@vlsi.cs.washington.edu
Law and the Writer Edited by Kirk Polking and Leonard S. Meranus [****]
Writer's Digest books, $10.95.
A technical discussion of the laws affecting writers, with an emphasis
on Copyright law. Includes the complete text of the 1978 Copyright law.
--chuq von rospach
Magician by Raymond E. Feist [***]
Granada, 2.95 pounds, 1983.
A long book, using stock fantasy characters, about a war between worlds. Feist
does it better than most, but I don't see why Chuq raves about it.
--Dave Berry
db@itspna.ed.ac.uk
The Meaning of Liff by Douglas Adams & John Lloyd []
Harmony books, $8.95 hardback.
This book will change your life says the cover copy. Not likely. An
attempt to cash in on the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Universe series,
this is little more than an attempt to make up silly sounding words
with sillier sounding definitions. Few of them are the least bit
funny, unfortunately.
--chuq von rospach
The Mirror of Her Dreams by Stephen R. Donaldson [****]
Del Rey, 1986. 642 pp. $19.95
Mordant is a land beset by enemy swords and renegade imagery. (Imagery
is the sorcerous art of calling up an image in a mirror and then making
it real.) Geraden is an apprentice imager sent into a mirror to bring
back the champion who can save Mordant. Instead he returns with Terisa
Morgan, whom he has interrupted in the midst of yet another evening
spent looking at her apartment walls. Some of the ideas developed in
the Covenant trilogies are expanded here. Covenant didn't believe in
the reality of his surroundings. He wouldn't have clapped if Tinker
Bell had been lying bleeding at his feet. Morgan's problem is more
common, though potentially as dangerous: she doesn't believe in her own
reality. She wouldn't clap because she wouldn't believe it would do
any good. Donaldson's writing is much better than in his Covenant
trilogies, cleaner and not cluttered with sesquipedalian words he
neglected to look up in the dictionary. But along with the
extravagance of language, he has abandoned extravagance of
imagination. The plot has no surprises. None. Although Morgan's
viewpoint is maintained throughout, we probably know or suspect much
more than she does by the end of the book--because we've read more
fantasy and science fiction than she has. The book is worth reading,
but it probably wouldn't hurt to wait for the paperback. It will be
concluded in the sequel, "A Man Rides Through."
--Dani Zweig
haste#@andrew.cmu.edu
Myth Adventures Two by Robert Asprin and Phil Foglio [***+]
Starblaze Graphics, $12.95 (8 1/2 x 11 four color trade paperback)
A colorized version of issues four through eight of the Warp B&W Myth
Adventures comic book. If you haven't seen the material before (it is
available in many different forms) a lot of fun.
--chuq von rospach
The Nagasaki Vector by L. Neil Smith [**+]
Del Rey, 1983, 242 pp, $2.75 (paper)
The Nagasaki Vector is a story about a Space Cowboy time traveler who
gets hijacked. The story then follows him as he escapes from the
hijackers and tries to get his time machine back. Unlike most time
travel novels, very little of this book deals with past historical
events, but further explanation would spoil part of the book for those
who don't catch on very early in the book. The book is full of puns
and one-liners as can be seen from titles of the chapters. The puns
are not as clever as Piers Anthony's Xanth books, but there also aren't
as many (thankfully). I eventually got tired of the space cowboy campy
humor of the book, but reading the first chapter (11 pages) should give
you a feel for what you in for in the rest of the book.
-Jim Winner
winner@cua.bitnet
The New World: An Epic Poem by Frederick Turner [****]
Princeton University Press, 1985. 182 pp. $9.95
The world of the 24th century is not portrayed as a background for the
story told by this poem. Rather, the poem is primarily about that new
world, and it is an optimistic one. The story itself is heavily
mythologized. There has been serious resource depletion, but not
holocaust. Several social and historical pendulums have swung
backwards, but the changes constitute progress in a different
direction, not retreat. Science, philosophy and art have not stood
still. The poem is not Utopian. The society to which we are most
attracted, that of the "Free Counties," visibly bears the seeds of its
own demise. The work is an epic poem because it has to be one. The
task it accomplishes could not have been done successfully in prose.
The work passes two other crucial test, as well. The poetic format
makes reading easier, rather than harder. And it is good poetry, in a
very old tradition.
--Dani Zweig
haste#@andrew.cmu.edu
Pilgerman by Russel Hoban [****]
A very strange work by the author of Riddley Walker. At times it reads
like a travelogue of Renaissance Europe and the Middle East, at other
times it is a classic medieval morality play, at other times a
rumination on what it means to be a Jew. Extremely well-written, if a
bit dense, but if you like Gene Wolfe you ought to like this, too -- a
very good example of the best of what science fiction can offer, though
it can't really be considered science fiction of any recognizable
sort. There are some fantastic narrative passages in this, some
beautiful dialogue and comments, and despite its extremely horrific
beginning this book turns out to be almost pastoral. One great passage
on how it is sex that is responsible for war is worth the price of the
book (because without sex there would be no cannon fodder, no generals,
no horses to pull the cannons...) Hoban has defied the repetition of
theme that so often occurs with writing of this style, and wanders into
some definitely heavy territory without being pedantic or obtuse. Yet
another one to watch.
--Davis Tucker
ihnp4!druri!dht
Quarreling, They Met the Dragon by Sharon Baker [****]
Avon Books, $2.95, 1984.
The story of a slave-prostitute boy who runs away with a barbarian
prince from the North, with the aim of reaching the safety of the
off-worlders' spaceport. Mostly about their journey, during which they
fall in love, with flashbacks of the slave's earlier life, and a strong
ending. The theme of the book is how people can relish in servitude,
but as a case study rather than a polemic for or against this
attitude. The endpiece suggests that the author did a considerable
amount of research for this topic. She handles sex & love well; the
book steers clear both of pornographic explicitness and of idealized
emotions, and it has some wonderful masochist images. (Not for people
offended by non-conventional sex).
--Dave Berry
db@itspna.ed.ac.uk
The Real Life of Alejandro Mayta by Mario Vargas Llosa [****]
Set in Lima, Peru in the near-future, this is about a writer writing a
novel about a real-life Trotskyist revolutionary of the 1950's, trying
to gather facts amid chaos and armed insurrection, amid invasion by
foreign countries and unpredictable cruelty by fellow Peruvians. It
sounds dull and pedantic and cloyingly self-referential, but Llosa is
one of the masters of South American fiction and the way he mixes
reality and myth, truth and fiction, is fascinating and vibrant. This
book is flesh-and-blood alive, with a great story of a bungled
revolutionary attempt in the past, fear of the future in the present,
and uncertainty of results in the future. It breathes righteous
indignation in the same moment as it exhales wise resignation. Llosa
is a marvellous writer and a sensitive observer of what is to come, and
of what has passed and how that affects us.
--Davis Tucker
ihnp4!druri!dht
Requiem for a Ruler of Worlds by Brian Daley [**+]
Del Rey paperback, 1985, 290 pages, $3.50
It's hard to write a humorous murder mystery, SF or no. Daley's effort
is commendable, but it lacks punch in both the mystery and humor
departments. A murdered ruler's will contains a mysterious inheritance
for an Earthman, Hobart Floyt. To get him safely to the world where he
will collect his inheritance, Earth government blackmails an
experienced spacer, Alacrity Fitzhugh. This unlikely duo passes
through a series of encounters on their way to collecting the
inheritance. The plotting is a little weak; it's obvious from the
start that Daley is trying to set up for an open-ended series of
adventures. Along the way, several interesting characters get
dropped. The main duo are likeable enough, but are not
well-developed. They do not have the life that, say, Fafhrd and the
Grey Mouser have. All in all, Requiem is a good light read, but is not
particularly memorable.
--Alan Wexelblat
wex@mcc.com
Seeds of War by Kevin Randle and Robert Cornett [***-]
Seeds of War describes the first interstellar conflict the Earth has
engaged in. The plot moves quickly, doing an acceptable job of
allowing the reader to overlook some of the more glaring gaps in the
story's logic. The authors use descriptions of a single scene from the
point of view of several of the protagonists effectively in order to
establish a feeling of realism. Overall, the book is moderately
entertaining, but bears a number of striking similarities to the far
superior Starship Troopers by Robert A. Heinlein. Still, it will make
good reading for the reader who like militarily oriented novels.
--Peter Rubinstein
The Silent Tower by Barbara Hambly [**]
Del Rey Fantasy 345-33764-6 3.95
An interesting premise, combining the wizardry of magic with the
wizardry of computers; however, this book fell flat for me. The
characters were not nearly as convincing as in Dragonsbane, they almost
all took themselves far too seriously, and the only one that seemed to
have any handle on reality was called insane by everyone, including
himself. Also, Joanna, the lady that was the first chosen of all the
programmers on this Earth, was having problems with one of the more
basic data structures designed for a computer! The storyline seemed
composed mostly of running up and down the countryside for long
stretches of time. Finally, just when I thought the book was going to
end with Joanna not being quite as stupid as she had been acting, I get
a page that says there is another book. It's not all bad, the
background for the characters is pretty convincing, there are
entertaining spots, and the basis for the interaction of magic and
machine is fascinating; however, I'd recommend getting it second hand.
--Liralen Li
li@vlsi.cs.washington.edu
So You Want to be a Wizard by Diane Duane [*****]
Dell, 1986. 226 pp. $2.75.
This was written as a children's book; the five stars mark this as the
most entertaining of light reading. The book is clearly by the author
of The Door into Fire. We are living in a world beset by death and
entropy, and it is the task of wizards to deal with this fact as best
they can. This is the tale of thirteen-year-old Nita, newly recruited
by her wizard's manual. With Kit, another novice wizard, she must
venture into an alternate Manhattan, where predatory checker cabs patrol
the streets (alternate?) and even the fire hydrants will attack the unwary.
A sequel, Deep Wizardry, is still in hardcover. It's even better.
--Dani Zweig
haste#@andrew.cmu.edu
Starburst by Frederik Pohl [*]
Del Rey (SF Book Club), 1982, 219 pp.
The basic story line for this book is that a scientist convinces the US
government to send a group of four couples to a newly discovered planet
in orbit around Alpha Centauri where they will refuel for their trip
home. The main problem with this book is that I found myself waiting
for the characters to die (obviously a possibility on a 20 year
journey). Eventually I became tolerant and slightly interested in two
or the main characters (one of them had to die first). The first
character I really liked showed up around page 155, by which time I was
willing to accept any method the author wanted to use to kill off the
main characters.
--Jim Winner
winner@cua.bitnet
Sword-dancer by Jennifer Roberson [****-]
Daw Fantasy $3.50
A really good book, strong writing, with very strong characters, and an
adventure that is both action-packed and developmental to both the main
characters. Like Hambley's later works, there is a closer look at the
pains and realities of actual adventuring, and the prices that are more
than mere lives or limbs. I think that this book helps to make a new
trend in fantasy, where all isn't just wish-fullfillment, where the bad
guys might not be so bad and the good guys aren't so pure. And I think
that the field is going to get more and more interesting for it.
--Liralen Li
li@vlsi.cs.washington.edu
Teckla by Stephen Brust [***]
Teckla is the third of Stephen Brust's novels set in the world of the
Dragaeran Empire, the first two being Yendi and Jhereg. While the
novel can be read on its own with a certain degree of enjoyment, it is
highly recommended that either or both of the first two be read first.
Teckla lacks some of the power and pace of its predecessors, partially
due to its more complex subject matter. Brust convincingly depicts the
main character going through a painful voyage of self discovery. The
author manages to avoid the all too common mistake of supplying
simplistic solutions or sudden changes in character to resolve
problems. While a departure from the first two fast paced, action
packed entries in this series, Teckla is well worth reading for its
well executed interweaving of characters and subtle changes in the main
character's perspectives on the motivations of the other characters.
--Peter Rubinstein
The Wardove by L. Neil Smith [***]
Berkley, 1986 223pp.
This is a murder mystery set on a spaceship carrying a rock band on its
tour to raise money for the volunteer forces defending our arm of the
galaxy from the armies of the authoritarian government of the
neighboring galactic cluster. The protagonist is a detective in the
non-coercive "government" of the society our solar system adheres to.
If you haven't noticed yet, anti-authoritarian politics is paramount
here. As a detective story, it comes off pretty well (presuming you
don't mind bumbling detectives.) The science fiction is there mostly as
backdrop, providing credible historical reasons for the politics of the
society. The nuances of the factions are sometimes hard to follow, but
the glossary gives enough detail to get you through.
--Chris Hibbert
Hibbert.pa@Xerox.COM
Wild Cards edited by George R. R. Martin [****]
Bantam Books, $3.95
Bantam's entry in the Shared World Anthology fad, this is a well done
series that tells about the time just after a virus that manipulates
genetic material has been unleashed on the country. Pays a lot of
tribute to the superhero genre in comics, and the editing is done so
well that a single person could have written the entire book.
--chuq von rospach
The Word for World is Forest by Ursula K. LeGuin [****]
169pp; 1972 Berkeley
A colony of Terrans, believing in their own manifest destiny, ignore the signs
of culture in a peaceful alien race. The natives suffer enslavement for awhile,
but eventually overcome their pacifism in order to deal with the violent
intruders. LeGuin does an excellent job of introducing us to the gentle aliens
and their society. Some of her humans are caricatures, but how else can you
portray a closed-minded bigot?
--Hibbert.pa@Xerox.COM
Wrack & Roll by Bradley Denton [***]
Questar Science Fiction, 406 pages, $3.50
This is another alternate universe story, where Roosevelt choked to
death on a chicken bone in '33. It's packaged as schlock, but deserves
better. The writing is moderately good, where he works at it. Minor
characters (well, everybody but the protagonists) are a bit stiff. The
story line--that The Music can save the world--also requires some heavy
belief suspension, which costs it a '+'.
--Mike Meyer
mwm@berkeley.edu
OtherRealms #13
March, 1987
Copyright 1987
by Chuq Von Rospach.
All Rights Reserved.
OtherRealms may be reproduced only for non-commercial purposes. With
the exception of excerpts used for promotional purposes, no part of
OtherRealms may be re-published without permission.
Chuq Von Rospach chuq@sun.COM [I don't read flames]
There is no statute of limitations on stupiditychuq@plaid.UUCP (02/26/87)
Electronic OtherRealms #13
March, 1987
Part 3
Much Rejoicing
Reviews by
Dan'l Danehy-Oakes
Episode One:
Back to Yesterday's Future
In the frozen wastes of Nador, they were forced to eat Sir
Robin's minstrels; and there was much rejoicing.
-- Monty Python and the Holy Grail
I had often wondered what, after forty years, made Dr. Asimov suddenly
begin pouring out new novels in the "Foundation" and "positronic
robots" series. In the introduction to his newest, Foundation and
Earth [Doubleday and Co., 1986; $16.95; ISBN 0-385-23312-4], Dr. A.
tells us: Doubleday offered him ten times his usual advance to write
the first of them.
Well, I, for one, do not regret Doubleday's actions in doing so. The
new books are not masterpieces of modern literature -- or even of
modern SF -- but they have been solid entertainment, every one.
Foundation and Earth is no exception. It picks up precisely where
Foundation's Edge left off, and carries Golan Trevize and his crew
through a series of adventures, looking for the birthplace of Mankind -- a
birthplace they only presume to exist and know next to nothing
about. Their quest leads them to the Spacer and Settler worlds of
Robots and Empire, and finally to... Well, that would be telling.
Questions deliberately left unresolved not only in Foundation's Edge
but also in Robots and Empire are answered, and if some of the answers
seem a bit unlikely, well, this is the 1950's. [***]
Which is rather my theme song this issue. An awful lot of SF is
looking backwards these days, reusing the ideas that fueled a series of
Golden Ages. We have met the future and we don't like it, so we're
reverting to the past, or at least its visions and versions of the future.
Nobody understands this like Michael Moorcock. He has written a long
string of novels concerning Jerry Cornelius, a fantasy hero who
resembles an amoral James Bond, wandering through incest, death,
resurrection, and an astonishing string of alternate-reality Earths in
search of an acceptable version of the late Twentieth Century, but
never quite finding it. The Cornelius Chronicles, Volume II [Avon,
1986; $3.50; ISBN 0-380-75003-1] consists of two of Jerry's unlikely
adventures, combined in one inconvenient volume -- too large to fit
into a jacket pocket, my usual keeping-place for paperbacks.
The first of these, "The Lives and Times of Jerry Cornelius," is a
loosely-connected series of short stories from the Sixties and early
Seventies. These range from London to Southeast Asia, from
uproariously funny to nearly incomprehensible. Over the years,
Moorcock has developed a range of wonderful supporting characters for
Jerry, from the grossly fat and loathsome Bishop Beesley to his sister
and occasional lover, Catherine Cornelius. Most of these put in at
least a cameo appearance in these stories, but they focus largely on
Jerry and his irregular methods for restoring balanced imbalance to a
Universe that seems, at times, to exist solely for the amusement of
Jerry and his fellow time-travellers.
The second book, "The Entropy Tango," is one of a number of books that
we have been told over the years were the last Jerry Cornelius novel.
Here Jerry's supporting cast are featured; the story is told from the
view of the actress and revolutionary, Una Persson. The novel appears
to be concerned with a series of small revolutions led by a particular
hero of Moorcock's, the Ukrainian nihilist-anarchist, Nestor Makhno.
But appearances are deceiving, and there's a lot of other stuff going on.
Both books are enjoyable, but be warned; they are highly experimental
in structure and style, and not a quick, light read. The method of
storytelling Moorcock generally uses for these novels and stories is a
series of quick slices, with little or no explanation of what goes
between. If clues are missed, this can make for extremely frustrating
reading. Not a book for speed readers. [***-]
From one alternate world to another: I've heard a lot about David Drake
over the years, but never read more than a few early short stories in
Analog. So I jumped at the chance to review Fortress [Tor hardcover,
1986; $15.95; ISBN 0-312-93001-1]. I shouldn't have bothered.
There is a basic rule in writing an alternate-world novel. You make
one change in history, no more, no less, and let your world develop
logically from that change. Drake gives us a world where, in November
of 1963, President Kennedy was not shot. We all know Kennedy was
gung-ho on space, right? So Drake reasons that Kennedy, in his second
inaugural address in 1965, might have proposed something much like
SDI. Well, okay. Then he postulates that, given a government push
beginning in the '60s, it might be operational by the mid-'80s. We're
getting into dubious waters, here; technology can only be pushed so
fast, but I'll accept it.
Now we meet our protagonist. Tom Kelly. He fought in the US "police
action" in Turkey (huh?) in the mid-'60s aiding Kurdistani rebels.
Because of this background, he is peculiarly suited to deal with a
problem in Turkey in 1985: the Kurds seem to be working with some
aliens. Well that makes sense; if Kennedy had lived, obviously we'd
have been contacted by aliens by now. And of course, it turns out that
the Kurds are really tools of the Nazis, who have been waiting all this
time in Antarctica for a chance to come out of hiding with their flying
saucers and take over the world. What could be more logical? The
aliens help the Nazis take over Fortress (the SDI-like base), then turn
around and help Kelly attack the Nazis. No hint of their motivations
leaked through to my by-now befogged brain.
Oh, and did I mention the Nazi base on the moon? Shades of Rocket Ship
Galileo... which takes us back to the '50s. [*-]
From the ridiculous to -- well, something much better, anyway. I've
never liked Keith Laumer's work, so I'm pleased to say something nice
about Galactic Odyssey [Tor, 1987; $2.95; ISBN 0-812-54385-8]. It's
fun, of the classic Earthman-goes-to-space-and-has-adventures variety.
In this case, the Earthman is a nearly-dead derelict named Billy
Danger. Danger takes refuge from a storm in a silo (as in farm, not as
in missile). The silo takes off, and so does the plot.
Danger finds himself on the hunting ship of a human (not a humanoid)
from a distant part of the Galaxy. The hunter and his assistant are
killed, leaving Danger alone with the obligatory Beautiful Woman. The
story runs through the gamut of love, adventure, hate, betrayal, and at
least one plot twist that I confidently predict you will not. This is
a reprint of a book from the sixties, and it does have a dated feel.
It makes good bedtime reading, but nothing more. [***]
Also in the eminently acceptable category, please welcome L.E.
Modesitt. I enjoyed Modesitt's Ecologic Envoy very much, so asked
specifically if I might review Dawn for a Distant Earth [Tor, 1987;
$3.50; ISBN 0-812-54586-9], which purports to be "Volume I of The
Forever Hero." Modesitt has no talent whatever for titles, alas, but
don't let that put you off.
The setting seems to be the same future Empire in which Ecologic Envoy
took place -- at least there are a number of names and terms in common
-- but from a radically different viewpoint. This books concerns
itself with the ruins of Old Home Earth, which has been poisoned so
that only a few barbarians live on its surface. One of these, a
"devilkid," is kidnapped by an Imperial survey ship, cleaned up, given
a name (MacGregor Gerswin), and sent to get an education. Later, as a
newly-commissioned officer in the Imperial Space Service, Gerswin
returns to Earth to assist in the clean-up, a project which may be
impossible. Over a period of fifty or so years, he rises through the
ranks, and accomplishes much toward the clean-up effort.
Gerswin himself is not very likeable, but is very easy to identify with
as he deals with impersonal bureaucracy and personal self-interest in
attempting to accomplish his goals. Several times, Gerswin's ploys and
tricks to acquire the resources his project requires made me want to
cheer. The ending resolves very little; not terribly surprising in the
first book of a series, but still somewhat annoying.
Modesitt has a talent for producing interesting and believable
supporting characters, which I observed in The Ecologic Envoy, is if
anything more pronounced in Dawn. One set of plot twists, when Gerswin
pays a return visit to his first lover, grows so inevitably and so
unexpectedly from their characters and the nature of their previous
encounter, that I started to read the passage aloud to the person next
to me -- then stopped. It would have made no sense; it grew so
organically out of what had gone before that I'd have had to summarize
the entire book to that point. A well-constructed, entertaining
novel. [****-]
I wondered what Gene Wolfe would do when he finished The Book of the
New Sun. The answer should have been obvious; he wrote another book.
Free Live Free [Tor, 1986; $3.95; ISBN 0-812-55813-8] is a lot of fun,
but hard to say much about. If I had to sum it up in a word, I'd call
it "amiable."
It concerns four not-very-nice, but very likeable, people -- a fat
prostitute, a psychic Gypsy witch (she really is), an unemployed
detective's op, and a lecherous novelty salesman -- who met in a house
they came to because they were told they could live there rent-free.
The house, belonging to a Mr. Ben Free, is demolished; Free vanishes.
The four of them go in search of a treasure which may or may not exist,
based on very little evidence. They don't know what it is even if it
does exist (though each has an idea).
In the course of the search they do strange and wonderful things and
meet strange and wonderful people. Wolfe maneuvers his characters
apart and back together with the skill of a master choreographer; the
high point, for me, occurs when all of them, seemingly by chance,
coincide at "Belmont" -- a thinly disguised Bellvue Hospital, which
they proceed to turn, with the aid of an electrical blackout, into a
literal Bedlam.
Wolfe's writing is no less clear, concise, and unexpected than in New
Sun. He brings the book to a conclusion as much by convincing you it's
over as by ending it. This isn't a heavy like New Sun; it's more of a
romp. [****+]
Closet Classic: It is the purpose of your Humble Servant to alert you
to books you might otherwise have missed. A number of books well worth
your attention have, over the years, passed into and out of the shelves
of your local purveyor of reading material. To this end, I'll be
ending each installment of this column with a book that appeared and
vanished some time ago, but deserves to be recalled from the dead.
You're invited to recommend books for this feature, care of my E-mail
(djo@pbhyc on Usenet) or this OtherRealms.
This time, let me introduce to you the estimable David R. Bunch. In
the late sixties and early seventies, Bunch produced a series of
bizarre and twisted stories, which appeared everywhere from Ted White's
Amazing to Harlan Ellison's Dangerous Visions.
The vast majority of these tales concerned a future version of Earth
called Moderan. In Moderan, the Earth has been covered with plastic,
the people have had their bodies replaced with wear-forever new-metal,
and the people devote their time to endless pursuit of the pleasures of
war, sex, war, the arts, war, and war.
The stories progress from a kind of youthful energy, through domestic
decadence, to the final disintegration of an entire society, in an
elegant parable on the fate of all millenial empires. The book does
end with hope -- or rather, it begins with hope, for the stories are
introduced by people from another culture, after the fall of Moderan.
Life goes on.
These stories were collected by Avon in a book called (cleverly enough)
Moderan -- originally published in 1973, out of print since. It's
pleasantly and yet depressingly easy to find in used book stores all
over the country. If you don't have a good used book store, or if they
don't carry it -- or even if you do get a copy -- I recommend writing
to Avon and asking them to reprint this little gem. I wouldn't steer
you wrong.
Words of Wizdom
Reviews by
Chuq Von Rospach
Copyright 1987 by Chuq Von Rospach
The Master is back. After 23 years, Ray Bradbury has published a new
novel. It doesn't matter that Death is a Lonely Business (Bantam, 216
pages, $3.95) isn't Science Fiction or Fantasy. Bradbury has always
been his own genre.
No matter what he publishes, Bradbury is special. To many people,
like myself, he is the genre. He was, literally, my first, and that
encounter is one you never forget. Walking through the slightly musty
hallways of the library, your own library card clutched in a sweaty
hand, you make a decision that will follow you for the rest of your
days. Much to the annoyance of the librarian, I marched right past
the kiddie section and into That Corner, where Those Books were,
somewhat reluctantly, displayed.
He was my first, and you never forget your first. Bradbury dedicated
the new library in my home town, when the old one grew cramped and
old. He spoke a couple of times at my school, spending as much time
after the lectures simply talking and being available as he did behind
the podium.
Today, he is still a major factor in my life. When I'm depressed,
when the words don't come, one of the dog-eared copies of Martian
Chronicles comes out, solace and encouragement, a reminder to myself
why I want to be a wordsmith. Out comes Dandelion Wine, or perhaps
October Tree, signed one sunny day when his life touched mine for a
short while, and carried from bookshelf to bookshelf through the years.
This is not, really, a review. It really isn't possible for me to
review a work by Bradbury and be rational and objective. The thought
of trying to judge, to make a critical and objective comment, on Ray
Bradbury seems to me the height of arrogance. He Is, and nothing will
sway me from the reality that I'm good enough, perhaps, to sharpen his
pencils, but not his prose.
I found myself avoiding Death when it came out in hardback. Because I
was afraid that he would disappoint me. And, more, because I was
afraid I would disappoint myself, to be able to see the magic and not
accept it.
I was wrong. The magic is there. Death is a very good book, and
Bradbury is still the Master. The magic is there.
This book is somewhat autobiographical. The protagonist is obviously
based on Bradbury himself. A young, struggling writer in Venice,
California, during the time that the canals were dying and the pier was
being torn down. When the trolleys still ran, red and noisy.
People start dying. An accident here, a seizure there. All natural,
all unconnected. Except to Bradbury. Death stalks the streets.
Bradbury stalks Death, and also stalks himself. In the end, he finds
what he needs to survive, to succeed.
What has always attracted me to Bradbury was his skill at all levels of
the writing process. Many authors can develop strong, living
characters. Others concentrate on the plot, or the world that is spun
out around the story. Others are known for the style the story is
told, but Bradbury is one of the few authors that can work with all of
these and meld them into a seamless whole. His characters breathe and
sweat. So does his city. You open the book and you see, not the
words on the page, but the images that Bradbury weaves inside your
head.
As you can guess by now, I enjoyed this book thoroughly. It brought
back memories of the classic Bradbury books, but it wasn't derivative
of them. It is a good, solid, mystery, but I believe it has the
Bradbury magic that will make it enjoyable to all of his fans,
regardless of the genre you prefer to occupy. Bradbury transcends the
genre. Regardless of what he writes, he defines his own category.
This is not a book you want to miss.
Editor's Notebook
Polly Freas dies
I'm very sad to have to announce the death of Polly Freas at 12:45AM,
January 24th of cancer. Polly was a long time East Coast fan and the
wife of artist Kelly Freas. A fund has been set up to help Kelly
offset medical costs. Your donations should be sent to Butch Allen,
C/O HAROSFA, P.O. Box 9434, Hampton, Va. 23670. According to
CompuServe, the news broke at Confusion, and an impromptu auction
raised over $2000.
Kelly has requested that donations be sent in her name to the
Children's Welfare Fund, Stabur Graphics Inc., 23301 Meadow Park,
Detroit, MI 48239 in lieu of flowers. This is an organization that she
helped found, and it is appropriate that we support it in her memory.
Cards and letters to Kelly should be sent to him in care of OtherRealms
and I'll make sure they get forwarded. There are other comments on
Polly in this months lettercol. My sympathy goes out to Kelly and all
of their friends. We've lost another of the wonderful people that
makes Fandom a wonderful place to be.
Publishing News
St. Martin's Press will be publishing a mass market paperback line to
supplement their hardcover offerings. Horror is edited by Lincoln
Child and Science Fiction is edited by Stuart Moore.
Baen Books is also starting a Fantasy paperback line. It will be
edited by Betsy Mitchell.
Murphy Strikes Again Dept.
A couple of issues ago, Locus converted to a laser printer, and Charles
Brown discussed some of the startup problems they had. So it was with
some glee that I put last month's issue (my first on the Laserwriter)
to bed ahead of schedule and with no pain whatsoever. I'd done a lot
of planning on it, and having worked with the technology for a while,
felt I had all the angles covered. When nobody was looking, I even
chortled a little bit for outsmarting my arch-nemesis, Lord Murphy.
Well, just to make sure everyone knows that the proud will do
themselves in, it wasn't until the last issue of OtherRealms was
printed, stuffed and stamped that I found out that the database with my
subscription lists in it wouldn't print mailing labels on a Laserwriter.
A couple of days of frantic scrabbling and patching and I finally got a
set of usable mailing labels. This little episode shows a couple of
things: that when you know nothing can go wrong somewhere, it will go
wrong somewhere else, and even someone who knows technology can get
tripped up by assuming the obvious. When a computer salesman tells you
that what he is selling you is a complete solution, you better make
sure that your definitions match. Murphy will out.
By the way, since last issue I've got new and wonderful software that
does mailing labels just fine, as well as a few things the old program
couldn't do. The new functionality is useful enough that I'm finally
getting around to indexing OtherRealms reviews, a compilation of which
will be out as soon as I'm done.
The New Address
Astute readers will notice a new address in the masthead. OtherRealms
has moved, so please make sure your mailing lists, publicity
departments, address books and whatever else might be interested in the
new address get the information. If I get mail from you, you'll
probably get a private note as a reminder as well, just to make sure
everything gets where it belongs.
Actually, OtherRealms hasn't moved, but since we're planning on finding
bigger quarters in the next few months, I finally got around to renting
a drop box. Both U.S. Mail and UPS are acceptable, and with any luck,
this will mean the suicide notes from my postman will stop.
Grade Inflation?
A couple of people have written in complaining of grade inflation,
suggesting that in the last couple of issues the reviews grades have
been trending upward. Well, thanks to my new database and the
OtherRealms review index (see next item) I've been able to crunch some
numbers and see what's been happening.
The numbers are really aren't changing. The average for all reviews in
a given issue has been solidly around 3.2 or 3.3 since issue five. The
low point was a 3.1 in issue 5, and the hight point was issue 9 with a
3.5. The last three issues were 3.2, 3.3, and 3.3 respectively. So
there isn't any real grade inflation in the magazine, the averages are
staying pretty steady.
That's the good news. The bad news is that looking back over the last
couple of Words of Wizdom columns, there has been a tendency for me to
get into "best book of the year this month" mode. Part of this is on
purpose -- I firmly believe that the good books should be featured, so
I select my reviews to emphasize the positive works I've read. Average
or lesser works, in general, go into the Pico Review section. At the
same time, though, I've seen situations where a given book might
deserve the rating I've given it, but in comparison with other books,
things get out of skew. I'm going to work on consistency in the next
few issues, to make sure this doesn't get completely out of hand.
OtherRealms Review Index
Thanks to the wonders of computers, I've compiled an index to all of
the reviews in OtherRealms. Over the previous 12 issues, there have
been 433 reviews. Issue one had 13, issue 12 had 71; I feel like we
covered a lot of territory in the last year.
I'm still working out the report parts of the database, so the index
isn't quite ready to distribute. What I'll probably do is key in this
issue, and then make it available next month.
Having all those numbers in the database gives you a good chance to
play around and see what happens. According to the database, the most
popular publishers (based on number of works reviewed in OtherRealms, a
definitely biased sample) are Ace (46), Tor (42), Del Rey (37) and
Bantam (30). Not surprising, since they are the largest paperback
houses and have the widest distribution. What was more surprising,
though, was that two hardcover houses (Doubleday at 19 and Arbor House
at 16) had more reviews than major paperback houses such as Daw (18),
Questar (6), and Signet(12). OtherRealms readers seem to read more
hardback books than I'd expected. The number of different publishers
reviewed were 73, which means the readership of OtherRealms gets around.
Another thing I took a quick look at was the popularity of a given
author. If you base popularity on the number of works reviewed, the
Frederik Pohl, with 12, was the most read author. Orson Scott Card was
runner up with 10, and Larry Niven and R.A. MacAvoy both had 9.
If you look at the average rating, you get different names. If you
throw out people with three or fewer reviews in the last 12 issues (to
make sure a single 5 star review doesn't skew things too far), the
favorite authors is Steven Brust, with a 4.4 rating. Runners up
include: Raymond Feist (4.2), William Gibson (3.9), Orson Scott Card
(3.75), David Brin (3.75), Ben Bova (3.4), and Anne Rice (3.8).
What does all this mean? Damned if I know. Statistics are wonderful
for proving whatever it is you want to prove, but beyond that the
utility of things like this are left up to the reader. Regardless, the
index should be out by next issue.
OtherRealms Recommends
The other night, a friend that I haven't seen for a couple of months
asked me the fatal question "So what do you recommend reading?"
Twenty minutes of rooting through the bookshelves later, I had a stack
of books that will keep him busy for most of 1987, and a chance to give
a second mention to some works I feel define the good side of Science
Fiction in 1986. So, in no particular order, OtherRealms recommends:
Death is a Lonely Business by Ray Bradbury; The Falling Woman by Pat
Murphy; A Malady of Magicks and A Multitude of Monsters by Craig Shaw
Gardner; Sword-Dancer by Jennifer Roberson; Mythago Wood by Robert
Holdstock; The Sorceror's Lady by Paula Volsky (which seems to be her
second novel, not a first novel as Locus claimed); Teckla by Steven
Brust; Bridge of Birds by Barry Hugart; A Baroque Fable by Chelsea
Quinn Yarbro; Wild Cards edited by George R.R. Martin; Tailchaser's
Song by Tad Williams; Silence in Solitude by Melissa Scott;
Windmaster's Bane by Tom Deitz; Artificial Things by Karen Joy Fowler;
and Soldier of the Mist by Gene Wolfe.
Which means I don't have to write a 1986: the year in review column.
Thank Ghod...
And Now a Word From Our Sponsor
This month has been an interesting month, working out glitches in the
layout and the software, playing with the new database, keying in the
index data (ouch, my poor fingers...) and trying to catch up on all of
the administration of publishing a magazine. The one thing this didn't
leave a lot of time for was reading, which is why Wizdom is very short
this month -- most of the books I read simply didn't deserve more than
a Pico, so I'm filling space here rather than pushing books that I
don't feel should get that much push. Besides, after reading the new
Bradbury, everything else is anti-climactic.
There are a few formatting changes since last issue. The typeface for
the headlines has changed because the original face, while quite
pretty, simply disappeared into the page. Also, I've put a little
more white space between lines (from 9/10 to 9/11 points for you
publishing types) because the text looked cramped. Thanks to everyone
who sent me mail discussing the new layout and making suggestions--your
feedback is making a good start even better.
Finally, if you sent me an article or review prior to January first,
and it hasn't been published yet, it won't be. As far as I know, all
my old inventory is gone, so if I haven't printed it or contacted you,
either the December disk crash (see last issue) ate it, or some other
random factor has come into play. If something is missing, please let
me know.
See you next month...
Letters to OtherRealms
Polly Freas
I've known the Freases for a long time and we encountered each other
regularly at conventions.
When did we first meet? I don't remember, but it was surely before
1974, when we invited Kelly to be Guest of Honor at Disclave.
Thinking about her, the first quality that comes to mind was her gaiety
of spirit. She had a bright smile with an infectious laugh and if you
spent time with her, some of her happiness would rub off on you.
She was also a class act. Polly was: a lady, supporting her husband
in his career by handling the business details which everyone just
naturally detests but especially artists, a loving wife, a devoted
mother, a woman of courage, all of these things. The last time we saw
here was at the Atlanta Worldcon, socializing at assorted parties as
she lavished the energy she conserved during the afternoon. You could
tell she was enjoying herself, and if her stamina was a little short,
why that was just a problem to be worked around.
To meet her was a pleasure anywhere. She enhanced the conventions she
attended, and she will be truly missed by those who knew her.
Alexis Gilliland
Arlington, VA
Polly Freas was far more than an appendage to Kelly Freas, more than an
inspiration for his art. She was a delightful, warm, generous woman
who enriched the lives of everyone she met. We shall all miss her.
Mike Resnick
Cincinnati, Ohio
More on the Hugo
I've long since stopped thinking of the Hugo award as anything but a
glorified popularity contest. In a year like this, with books from
each of the big three (Asimov, Clarke and Heinlein), it does not take
clairvoyance to know what three of the five nominees for Best Novel
will be when the ballot appears. My abilities as a handicapper aside,
I think the current state of Hugo balloting is an outcome of the change
in the SF field and in WorldCon attendance.
There was a time, in the dim and distant past, when there wasn't as
much SF as there is now, and most of it was published in magazines.
Fans, whose numbers were significantly less than legion, could (if they
put their minds to it), and often did, read everything as a matter of
course. You simply can't do it today. Even if you had the time, the
money, the ambition, and the stomach for it, you probably couldn't
track down all the titles published as science fiction or fantasy, let
alone the numerous titles that are clearly SF, but not marketed as
such. You probably don't want to know about the romances published in
the last few years that feature time travel or E.T.'s.
The two times I've been a member of WorldCon, I made a sincere effort
to nominate studiously, and to make sure I'd read all the nominees
before I voted. I'm sure it made no difference whatsoever. My vote
can be counterbalanced by the voter who's read only one item in each
category and votes for it. And who's to say that's not right; after
all, they paid for the privilege just as I did.
The upshot of all this discussion is that switching to deciding a win
by a simple plurality is adopting a new philosophy in what a vote in
the Hugo balloting should mean, and doesn't address the bigger issue of
why people want to vote for the Hugos when they've read only a few of
the nominees.
You also brought up the idea of insisting on a quorum of voters, using
the Best Fanzine category as an example. Personally, I think too many
people vote in that category already; how many people who vote for Best
Fanzine have read all the nominees? A large number of the people who
attend WorldCon these days are not fans in the traditional sense: they
entered mainstream fandom from a "fringe fandom" like Star Trek or Dr.
Who. They may not read any of the professional SF magazines at all (in
fact, they may not know that they exist!), and they may never have laid
eyes on something like File 770. If the fan awards are to remain part
of the Hugo balloting, you have to accept the fact that many people who
vote in the major fiction categories won't have read any of the fanzine
nominees, and so the quorum for the fan categories should be smaller.
Neither article mentioned a spectre that has loomed over the Hugos ever
since the attendance increased to include many people who do not spring
from the old reading tradition. I've heard a rumor to the effect that
the Church of Scientology encouraged its members to join WorldCon and
block vote a Hugo for Battlefield Earth. I know of an attempt to block
vote for a media fanzine. Whether the awards would have been deserved
is beside the point. Once someone with sufficient organization cottons
onto the fact that the Hugo can be bought with enough warm bodies
willing to spend the non-attending fee, the award won't even be a true
popularity award.
Kathy Godfrey
kgodfrey@bbn.com.arpa
And then they wrote...
Sorry to hear you'll be going to a quarterly format, but I understand
your reasons. You put an enormous amount of work into OtherRealms, and
you've made good choices for your associate and contributing editors.
Your rating system still bothers me. In case you're interested, a grep
of #12 (Ah, the convenience of electronic media!) shows:
5 stars:13
4 stars:20
3 stars:28
2 stars:15
1 star:4
0 stars:3
If this is a gaussian distribution, it's compressed at one end. I'll
be lucky to read 13 books all year, let alone manage to skim that many
of the best each month. I think one solution may be to change your
guideline of a 5-star book from "one of the best books of the year" to
"one of the best books I've read in years".
[see my comments in the Editor's Notebook on this] -- chuq
On other topics, I think you overrated Free Live Free. It started out
great, but Wolfe couldn't decide whether to write a serious book or a
comedy, and the characters all mellowed too much at the end - they were
very vivid the way he sketched them at the beginning.
[Free Live Free is one of those books reviewers hate, since it
is essentially impossible to review. I may well have rated it
a star high, but at the same time, the book has stayed wtih me,
haunting my thoughts long after most books have returned to
the shelves. It definitely struck a chord somewhere, and I
really believe that it is exactly what Wolfe wanted it to be,
so in that way it is a success. Whether it is as successful
to his readers, since it IS a real change of pace, each reader
needs to decide individually] -- chuq
Also I'd disagree with you on the Mirror of Her Dreams - I liked the
Thomas Covenant books better. MOHD had complex characters, but I'm
burned out on books about swordfights and evil magicians, no matter how
well done.
[As I've burned out on Celtic mythology books, no matter how
good. That doesn't make MOHD a bad book, but a book that you
probably shouldn't read at this time. Burnouts change over
time, so perhaps this should go on the list for later, then]
-- chuq
George S. Walker
Tektronix, Inc.
P.O. Box 500, M/S 39-222
Beaverton, OR 97077
I am really impressed with your new layout for OtherRealms. It is so
much easier to read than previously; the Pico Review section is
especially nice. From what I've read so far, I'm going to enjoy reading
your new reviewers. I like being able to develop an affinity for a
particular reviewer, which the column format allows.
I would like to commend Fred Bals for his review of Burning Chrome; he
really put the book into perspective for me. I hope to read more of
his reviews.
I was interested to see that the Latin American authors Gabriel Carcia
Marquez and Miguel Mujica Luniez were both reviewed in Issue #12, I
have been wanting to read Marquez for quite some time, and now, not
only do I have a good excuse, I have another Latin American author to try.
Brett Slocum
hi-csc!slocum@UMN-CS.ARPA
OtherRealms
Reviewing the worlds of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror.
Editor
Chuq Von Rospach
Associate Editor
Laurie Sefton
Contributing Editors
Jim Brunet
Dan'l Danehy-Oakes
OtherRealms #13
March, 1987
Copyright 1987
by Chuq Von Rospach.
All Rights Reserved.
One time rights have been acquired from the contributors.
All rights are hereby assigned to the contributors
OtherRealms may be reproduced only for non-commercial purposes. With
the exception of excerpts used for promotional purposes, no part of
OtherRealms may be re-published without permission.
OtherRealms is published by:
Chuq Von Rospach
35111-F Newark Blvd.
Suite 255
Newark, CA. 94560
usenet: chuq@sun.COM
Delphi: CHUQ
Review copies should be sent to this address for consideration.
Submission Policy
OtherRealms publishes articles about Science Fiction, Fantasy, and
Horror. We focus on reviews of authors and books that might otherwise
be missed in the crowd, but OtherRealms will publish anything of
interest to the serious reader of the genre.
Pico Reviews are solicited on any book. Duplicate the format in the
magazine, and limit your comments to one paragraph.
Your comments are solicited! Letters to OtherRealms are always welcome
-- tell me how I'm doing, what I'm missing, or where I've goofed. All
letters will be considered for publication unless otherwise specified.
If you have an idea for an article you would like to see covered in
OtherRealms, drop me a line. I'm always looking for new and
interesting things to bring before the eyes of my readers.
Artists!
OtherRealms is looking for a few good hands. I'm looking for genre
oriented pictures, comics, dingbats, doodles, and anything else that
looks good on the printed page.
I need anything up to and including full-page cover art --my inventory
is currently very small.
Book Ratings in OtherRealms
All books are rated with the following guidelines. Most books should
receive a three star rating Anything with three or more stars is
recommended. Ratings may be modified by a + or a - to for a half star
rating, so [***-] is better (slightly) than [**+].
[*****] One of the best books of the year
[****] A very good book -- above average
[***] A good book
[**] Flawed, but has its moments
[*] Not recommended
[] Avoid at all costs
Subscriptions:
OtherRealms is available at Future Fantasy bookstore, Palo Alto,
California and through the mail. A single issue is available for
$2.50. Subscriptions are for $11.00 for five issues and $21.00 for 10
issues. Please make checks to "Chuq Von Rospach." Fanzine trading
rules apply. Publishers are welcome to a free subscription upon request.
Electronic OtherRealms
Electronic OtherRealms is a text-only version of this magazine that is
available on a number of computer networks throughout the world.
On the ARPA, CSNET, BITNET and UUCP networks, send E-mail to
chuq@sun.COM for information on subscribing.
On the usenet network, Electronic OtherRealms is available in
mod.mag.otherrealms.
Electronic OtherRealms is also available in the Science Fiction section
of the Delphi timesharing system, and on numerous Bulletin Board
Systems throughout the country.
Chuq Von Rospach chuq@sun.COM [I don't read flames]
There is no statute of limitations on stupidity