ted@usceast.UUCP (Ted Nolan) (03/10/85)
In article <799@topaz.ARPA> @RUTGERS.ARPA:A.ALDERSON@[36.48.0.1] writes: >From: Alderson@Score > >Regarding Piers Anthony: _Sos, the Rope_ was acceptable, as was the first >Xanth novel (although the puns were painful, they were non-obvious). The >Juxtaposition trilogy was much better. The rest of his stuff is schlock, like >that of Herbert (excepting only DUNE) or Murray Leinster. > > Rich Alderson@Score > I disagree. Murray Leinster was a master of the sf problem story (wherein you give a man a problem, and the story grows from his working it out). He was always able to come up technical solutions that sounded so plausible that you wondered if they might not actually work. The greatest example of this side of Leinster comes in _Colonial Survey_, possibly his best book. I have never seen a copy of this for sale, but try your older libraries (and look under Jenkins in the stuffier ones). His Med service books are also well worth finding. Of course, his most famous story "First Contact" is a pure problem story also. Leinster had something few sf authors have, an readily identifiable style. There are very few sf writers whose works you can pick up, read a few paragraphs and guess the author (Vance and Lafferty come easily to mind) Leinster was one of them. He wrote with deceptive simplicity, getting his ideas across in a no nonsense manner. Sometimes you could even tell a Leinster story by the title; I remember some years ago buying an old issue of Astounding and seeing a story title in the "Analytical Laboratory" (where stories from previous issues were rated) called "The Ambulance Made Two Trips", and betting, before looking, who the author had been. I know some people can't abide his style, but I really enjoy it. Leinster's work had something else I value highly: the idea that problems are solable. His heroes might have to battle the powers that be ("Brass Hats" he called them once), but reason would prevail; there was very little that a man who thought things through could not accomplish. Although Leinster's Catholic faith started to show through in some of his later books, they were still all arguments for the progress of the human race through reason. His just reissued _The Forgotten Planet_ is almost a parable of mans ascent by virtue of mind (though the Burl is by no means a superman, Leinster was aware as well of the drives of vanity and power). He wasn't perfect, or course, he never could handle man/woman relationships very convincingly, and his women were rarely problem solvers themselves. (This probably comes from the attitudes of his childhood years; he wrote for a long,long time). What should you read of Leinster's? Well, you probably won't have much choice. The only book of his that I know is in print now is _The Forgotten Planet_, which is not his best work, but is worth having. (It is a hardback in some classic reissue series; the same one to finally reissue Harness' _The Paradox Men_). Not too many years ago, Del Rey put out _The Best of Murray Leinster_, which can probably be found in used book stores still. As I recall, an omnibus edition of the Med series was also recently done. His short stories are widely anthologized in the older anthologies. One of my personal favorites, "Keyhole" is one of the more often collected. Aside from that, you'll just have to trust to luck, but he wrote so many books that odds are you'll find something. -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ted Nolan ...decvax!mcnc!ncsu!ncrcae!usceast!ted (UUCP) 6536 Brookside Circle ...akgua!usceast!ted Columbia, SC 29206 allegra!usceast!ted@seismo (ARPA, maybe) ("Deep space is my dwelling place, the stars my destination") -------------------------------------------------------------------------------