@RUTGERS.ARPA:maxson%vaxwrk.DEC@decwrl.ARPA (01/26/85)
From: maxson%vaxwrk.DEC@decwrl.ARPA (Rats live on no evil star) Well, in balance to Josh Susser's review of "Golden Torc", etc., I'd like to offer an alternate opinion: Yrrch. Clarke once wrote that in designing a good SF story, you make one assumption of something incredible, and then construct the rest of the story from believeable and real elements. In this way, the reader gets to try one new idea against a backdrop of sanity. In 2001/2010, for example, the "what if" is - what if there is a shepharding alien intellegence which watches over man? In Julian May's "Golden Torc" extraviganza, there are too many "what if's". What if there really are psychic powers? What if there is time travel? What if there was an alien invasion? What if there were a galactic coalition of extraterrestrials? What if pigs had wings? Any one of these assumptions would have made a credible SF story. Any two or more leaves us in an unsatisfying world of fantasy, where you can't quite swallow the whole pill. May is too interested in romantic sub-plots and her character's emotional responses to the rather ludicrous events of her plot. Like this: "John was heartbroken when the earth split apart and swallowed Sally all of a sudden. How would he live without her? Would he ever see her again?" I reiterate: Yrrch. Mark Maxson VAXworks MAXSON%VAXWRK.DEC@DECWRL.ARPA 129 Parker St PKO2-1/M21 Maynard, MA 01754