ccs019@ucdavis.UUCP (Allan McKillop) (04/26/85)
*** REPLACE THIS LINE WITH YOUR MESSAGE *** Has anyone out there read any books by Kim Stanley Robinson? If so, what did you think? I think he only has two books out (Ice Henge and another whose name escapes me), but I may be wrong. Thanks... -- Allan McKillop (... ucbvax!ucdavis!minnie:ccs019) " My mission, to find intelligent life among the users, to boldly go where no man is supposed to..."
@RUTGERS.ARPA:donn@utah-cs (04/30/85)
From: donn@utah-cs (Donn Seeley)
Funny you should ask about Kim Stanley Robinson when the machine you're
posting from is at UC Davis, where Robinson is a writing instructor (or
at least he was as of last summer or so)... I won't speculate on your
motives...
Robinson has two books out: THE WILD SHORE (Ace, March 1984, 371pp) and
ICEHENGE (Ace, October 1984, 262pp). He apparently has a novel coming
out some time this year from Tor titled THE MEMORY OF WHITENESS (source:
Terry Carr in UNIVERSE 13). SHORE is a story about life in a
post-Holocaust America written in a style reminiscent of realist
mainstream novels. It is very strong on characterization and shows a
fine attention to prose which is often lacking in generic sf, but the
plot, which concerns a young man coming of age on the coast of a
dramatically altered Southern California, is very episodic and
languorously paced. I liked the book anyway -- I'm still not convinced
of the value of the sort of novel which SHORE mimics, but SHORE is
modest enough about its goals that I didn't feel intimidated by it...
ICEHENGE takes place on the new frontier of the solar system, where
Mars is being terraformed and colonies are being established on the
moons of the outer planets. Unlike SHORE, this novel is real sf, and
it has some interesting ideas about life in the next six centuries
which are integral to its plot. The story consists of three segments,
each presenting a different point of view on an episode of history
which starts with a revolution on Mars and leads up to the discovery of
a peculiar artifact at the north pole of Pluto. ICEHENGE reminds me
strongly of Gregory Benford's writing, and if you like Benford (as I
do) you will really enjoy ICEHENGE.
I once went to a reading given by Robinson at UCSD, sponsored by the
Lit Department. It proved to be a peculiar experience. Robinson got
his degree from this department and he was introduced by his former
advisor, whose description of SHORE made it sound like a major advance
in the history of Marxism; the rationale for this analysis went over my
head... The reading went well -- Robinson picked one of the more fun
and amusing anecdotes from SHORE -- and when he was finished I was all
prepared to ask him questions about SHORE and about his dissertation on
the novels of Philip K Dick. It was then that I discovered that I was
perhaps the only actual sf reader in the room: everyone else seemed to
be a Lit student or faculty member, except for David Brin, who had
spent most of the reading sitting in the back of the room doodling and
peering through photocopies of physics papers. Nobody wanted to know
more about the structure of SHORE'S universe or Robinson's opinions
about Dick; they wanted to know why he was writing sf, of all things,
and how much money there was in it. Robinson had facetious anecdotes
about growing up in the LA suburbs and suddenly acquiring an interest
in science when as an undergraduate he was forced to take a physics-
for-English-majors class. I'm afraid I grew progressively less
impressed. I stupidly managed to divulge my naivete by asking if he
would write any more about the SHORE universe ('If you want to see more
about it, write it yourself and send it to me. Next question?')...
The only remotely amusing exchange occurred when I asked what he had
against Orange County (Disneyland takes a nuclear strike in SHORE):
Brin: 'Ever driven down Katella?' Robinson: 'The place DESERVES to be
nuked...'
After I thought about the incident, though, I realized that Robinson
wasn't so obnoxious after all: EVERY author I've ever met in person has
been thoroughly artificial in just that way. It must be an occupational
disease...
Donn Seeley University of Utah CS Dept donn@utah-cs.arpa
40 46' 6"N 111 50' 34"W (801) 581-5668 decvax!utah-cs!donnchabot@miles.DEC (05/02/85)
Donn Seeley > After I thought about the incident, though, I realized that Robinson > wasn't so obnoxious after all: EVERY author I've ever met in person has > been thoroughly artificial in just that way. It must be an occupational > disease... Hey! I think it's about time to speak up for Wild Authors I Have Known, or something. Those I've inspected at close range in environs closely resembling the native habitat behave like human beings with an apparent ease with language. Others I've seen in less natural circumstances, say signing books or lecturing, have, in my experience, conducted themselves with grace and usually treated me with no artificiality I could ascertain. But readings and lectures and other large gatherings suggested by publishers or alma maters or whatever have in their nature an element of artificiality. (Being asked to participate in these in an *occupational hazard*.) Members of the audience will ask you all sorts of questions, some of them useless ("Where do you get your ideas?") which seem to just *beg* for silly answers ("There's this spring in Maine and every year on March 21st I jump into it."); it's kind of an occupational disease of audience members to want to ask these kinds of questions (good grief, the person up there wrote a book that got you excited-- you want to ask them something, maybe if only to try to settle the confusion about that excitement)(or maybe you want to verify if your idea for a book has some congruency with what a Real author does to get ideas). Some people deal with audiences and their questions with serious grace, others don't. Some audience members like flip answers, some don't. I believe the issue is not whether *authors* become artificial, but how does anyone behave in those circumstances. What do you do when confronted with a large group of strangers, some of whom (by their looks? by their questions?) don't have the appearance of having much in common with you. (I'd get nervous.) What do you do when they ask strange questions you don't want to answer, can't answer, consider ridiculous? (I'd make up answers.) (I admit, I'm not an author. & I know people who are better at communicating interactively than I am. However, communicating interactively is not something required to be an author.) Robinson's answer sounded to me that he never intends to write more stories in the post-holocaust environment of _The_Wild_Shore_. To be honest, I'm pleased. I enjoyed the book and I think it stands well on it's own as a novel. I don't think it needs a continuing saga. I don't see any further problems I'd like solved in it. (But that's, of course, Robinson's choice.) I realize some ideas or realizations will take more words/volumes than others... I'm strongly reminded of a review column by Joanna Russ in an old issue of F&SF which I recently rediscovered and re-cherished; it ends with a paragraph about how art ends and life ends, but escapism just goes on and on. L S Chabot ...decwrl!dec-rhea!dec-amber!chabot chabot%amber.dec@decwrl.arpa PS And that's one reason why, although I have fondness for Vlad Taltos, I think _To_Reign_In_Hell_ is the best Brust published so far. --lsc