phr (12/04/82)
Jim Frenkel (the former editor of the Binary Star series at Dell) said at a panel at Apricon V (a NYC one-day con held last month) that the security leak which allowed you to get copies of Binary Star #5 by mail-order from Dell has indeed been stopped, and that \\Dell will reprint 'True Names' in trade paperback form in mid-1983//. This would seem to confirm the rumor that Dell hoarded the remaining copies to hang onto the pub rights. The book will probably contain True Names all by itself, in a horribly overpriced edition with large type, lots of blank pages, and so on, like Jonathan Livingston Seagull. ~= I think this action is despicable. Ace issuing SF in trade paper before regular paper was bad enough; Dell has gone one better in the eternal struggle for greed. Hardcovers, at least, have aesthetic merits and carry some promise of withstanding the test of time, etc. Trade paperbacks are nothing but an excuse for higher retail prices. (Exception: publishers like Starblaze can justify it, because they're only able to sell a limited number of copies and need to make back their investment). Everyone should write letters to Dell deploring what they've done, and demanding a rack paperback reprint of Binary Star #5 (Nightflyers is a good story too). =~ PS. Has anyone asked Vernor Vinge what's going on? Does he show up at West Coast cons (I'm in New Jersey)? PPS. Jim Frenkel, who's a very nice person, is now running his own publishing house called Bluejaybooks. I wish him well. P3S. I've been told that the WSFS constitution was amended at Chicon IV to allow works which received inadequate distribution in the year they were published to be eligible for Hugo nomination a second time. Can anyone confirm or comment on this? ~= Might True Names yet win the Hugo award that it richly deserves? =~ Note: stuff enclosed as in '~= ... =~' is designated as flame. See other net traffic for explanation. --Paul
parks@kpno.UUCP (04/18/84)
TRUE NAMES was written by Vernor Vinge, who is the author of
the currently running serial in Analog this (and next) month.
I also really enjoy his writing, but he doesn't write all that
much. According to this month's Analog Biolog, he is a mathamatics
prof at San Diego, and interested in FORTH among other computer
languages. They also say that the movie rights have been picked
up on True Names!
I would very much like to find out about any other works by Vinge
(Vernor, not his ex-wife Joan). He has three books published called
"Grimm's World", "The Witling", and "True Names". He also published
several shorts in Analog and Galaxy, including "The Infinity Sense" (An),
the frontliner (?) series (Galaxy), and "The Peace War" (the current
Analog). Does anyone know of any others?? Also, what issues of Galaxy
did the frontliner series appear in, and how many stories?
Jay Parks
(decvax!hao!ihnp4!seismo)!kpno!parks :uucpeich@uiuccsb.UUCP (04/28/84)
#R:kpno:-30900:uiuccsb:15500018:000:219 uiuccsb!eich Apr 28 23:42:00 1984 From Analog 5 (ancient anthology) I recall vividly a Vinge short story called "Bookworm, Run!" Anyone know if this is included in a currently available collection? Quite good. Brendan Eich ...uiucdcs!uiuccsb!eich
emjej@uokvax.UUCP (05/01/84)
#R:kpno:-30900:uokvax:5400055:000:257 uokvax!emjej May 1 10:09:00 1984 Another of his *Analog* shorts, sometime in 1972 I think, concerned a sentient colonizing ship with some flavor of humans (I forget whether they were full-grown and in suspended animation or just gametes) aboard. I don't recall the title. James Jones
leeper@ahutb.UUCP (m.r.leeper) (04/16/85)
TRUE NAMES by Vernor Vinge
Bluejay, 1985, $6.95.
A book review by Mark R. Leeper
TRUE NAMES is a science fiction story with a very good word-of-mouth
reputation not entirely deserved. The story takes place on two planes, our
own and that of a computer game universe. The second plane combines the
ultimate in computer games with the ultimate in illegal hacking. The
players appear to each other only as their game-playing alter-egos, without
learning who each other really are. Our hero, Mr. Slippery, has been
blackmailed by the real plane government to try to capture a sort of
ultimate amoral hacker known as the Mailman.
While I was unconvinced while I was reading the novel that all the
computer technology is a likely outgrowth of current technology, other
people I have discussed the story with were impressed with how well Vinge
has taken the elements of classical fantasy and made them possible with
computer technology. As a straight fantasy story, TRUE NAMES is flawed. It
has most of its action towards the middle, and while it promises an
important confrontation for near the end of the story, it sidesteps the need
to have it. In fact, it is structured more like a long story followed by a
short story with the same characters.
The illustrations in the Bluejay edition do not add a whole lot of
wonder to the story. I think several of the artists that Jim Frenkel is
getting for Bluejay Books are not a whole lot more visually imaginative than
his readers. Most of the illustrations appear a page or two before or after
the action they illustrate, and in at least one case putting an illustration
too soon telegraphs an important plot twist. The illustrations are supposed
to add to the effect of the story and these detract.
The story is followed by an afterword by Marvin Minsky, who ties the
story into his artificial intelligence work, but somehow his enthusiasm for
TRUE NAMES seems a matter of form for an afterword. His enthusiasm for his
own work may be somewhat greater than his enthusiasm for the story. In
fairness, I should add that it is clear from Minsky's lectures and some of
the illustrations he gives that he is a science fiction fan.
TRUE NAMES has enough good ideas to make it a worthwhile story, but it
is not really clear to me that the new Bluejay edition has enhanced much
more than the price.
Mark R. Leeper
...ihnp4!ahutb!leeper
But, on May 1, I become ...ihnp4!mtgzz!leeper