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OtherRealms Issue 09 Part 01
OtherRealms
A Reviewzine for the Non-Fan
Where FIJAGH Becomes a Way of Life
Issue #9
October, 1986
Table of Contents
Part 1
The Dream Years
by Dan'l Danehy-Oakes
Reviewing the Reviewers
by Chuq Von Rospach
Schismatrix
by Michael C. Berch
Books Received
Part 2
Pico Reviews
1986 Hugo Awards
OtherRealms Notes
Part 3
Words of Wizdom
Reviews by Chuq Von Rospach
Insufficient Transmission
Fiction by Jim Brunet
End Papers
by Chuq Von Rospach
The Dream Years
by
Lisa Goldstein
Bantam Books, $2.95, 195 pages
[****+]
Reviewed by Dan'l Danehy-Oakes
djo@ptsfd.UUCP
Copyright 1986 by Dan'l Danehy Oakes
This is not the easiest book in the world to read. It isn't
"difficult," in the sense of DHALGREN, but it keeps yanking the rug out
from under its readers -- the reader builds up a set of assumptions
about "what kind of novel this is," and then the damned thing goes and
violates those assumptions.
The first thing to notice about it is that nowhere on the cover is THE
DREAM YEARS marked with the term SF, Fantasy, or indeed any genre label
whatsoever. This is good, for reasons I'll come back to later. Things
become rather more problematic if one reads the blurb, which is both
misleading and egregious: it will tend to encourage the reader to think
they are in possession of a sf novel, which is not true.
We are introduced to our protagonist immediately; he is Robert St.
Onge, a novelist in the Surrealist movement in Paris, 1924. The reader
may thus begin to organize the data as if this were an historical novel
about that place and time.
By the end of Chapter 1, however, Robert has moved, with neither
intention nor explanation, to the Paris of 1968, and returned. The
reader who (whether because of the blurb, or because the book was found
in that section of the bookshop) was expecting science fiction now
believes that they have confirmed that expectation.
But, in the same sequence, the antagonist is introduced: a horned human
figure constructed mostly of fur and metal, with a droning, hypnotic
voice; in short, a mythic figure. The mythic nature of this creature
becomes more pronounced in subsequent appearances, jarring with the
science fictional elements until the reader may be forced to reorganize
his/her reception of the novel as fantasy.
THE DREAM YEARS is not, however, fantasy, any more than it is sf or
historical. Ms. Goldstein has succeeded in producing a true surrealist
novel, a novel whose images, actions, and characters derive from the
subconscious, not of the individual writer or reader, but of the
culture, and which, finally, transcend that culture.
You may have gathered by now that I liked this book. I did, very much.
It is NOT a perfect book. There are a few lines of dialogue
(particularly when the principal female character, Solange, talks about
"a love more powerful than time," or words to that effect) which struck
me as nothing more than heavy-handed cliche, and the one thing that a
book of this sort can not afford is cliche.
Nonetheless, THE DREAM YEARS overcomes what is, finally, a very light
dose of cliche.
THE DREAM YEARS is a very, very impressive book, a major achievement
from a writer whose first book (THE RED MAGICIAN) seemed to leave her
nowhere to go but down. (THE RED MAGICIAN, because of its "type,"
because of its extremely personal nature, and especially because of its
unusual (for a first novel) success, seemed to me to threaten a career
of endless repetition; and at the same time, I had some concern on
picking up TDY that, given her success at writing one type of novel, Ms
Goldstein might prove unable to make the "leap" into another. She has
skimmed very neatly indeed between this Scylla and that Charybdis.) I
recommend this one with no reservations.
Reviewing the Reviewers
by
Chuq Von Rospach
Copyright 1986 by Chuq Von Rospach
There are upwards of 100 titles published in the Science Fiction and
Fantasy genres a month. Trying to keep up with this number of books is
impossible, and no single person or publication, can hope to cover
everything. With a limited amount of time and money to spend on books,
everyone must set priorities on which books to buy and which to let
pass.
Helping a consumer make those decisions is the primary purpose of a
book review. Most magazines review books to some degree. In this
article I'm going to take a look at the magazines and their reviewers
to give you an idea of other places you might want to look for ideas on
what to add to your reading list.
First, though, a quick sidetrip. A distinction has to be made between
the job of a reviewer and that of a critic. A reviewer asks the
questions "What?" and "Is it good?" They try to put themselves in the
place of the reader and help the reader decide which books they want to
read and which they want to enjoy.
The critic, on the other hand, asks the question "Why?" They look at
the book as it relates to the genre and try to put it in some kind of
perspective. Reviewing is a practical, down to earth evaluation.
Criticism is an attempt to look at something from the point of view of
Art, to look beyond the words into their underlying importance, and to
spot the places that the field is going (or should be). Criticism
requires a strong knowledge of writing, of the genre, and of the people
in it.
Lets look at some of the people who look at the books for you. There
are five major fiction magazines: Amazing Stories, Analog Science
Fiction/Science Fact, Fantasy and Science Fiction (F&SF), Isaac
Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine (IASFM), and Omni. Of these, Omni
does not have regular book reviews, and Amazing stories is in process
of changing reviewers (prior to the November, 1986 issue reviews were
split between Robert Coulson and John Betancourt. November has no
review column, and I've heard that Charles Waugh will be taking over
the position).
The book column in Analog is written by Tom Easton. As fits the
strongly SF bent of the magazine, there is little Fantasy in his
column. He tends to be analytical, taking whatever length necessary to
put the book in perspective for the reader. He doesn't get overly
wordy, though, and rarely emotionalizes or hypes a book. For me,
Easton is the epitome of the reviewer. Art rarely rears its head in
his column, and he rarely misses the point in a book. I consider this
the best review column in the industry, and SF readers should have him
on their list every month.
At the other end of the spectrum, Algis Budrys writes the book review
column for F&SF. A.J. is a critic from the word go, and his columns
wander far and wide over the genre and life in general, using the books
he reviews as cornerstones for discussions of the wider ranging topics
that revolve around SF and Fantasy. If you are interested in seeing
those books put into perspective with the whole of SF, then A.J. is the
only game in town. A.J. happens to be indirectly responsible for the
existence of this magazine, since he was willing to sit and talk at
length about reviewing at Baycon a couple of year ago, and was silly
enough to suggest that a reviewzine might not be a bad idea. The
results you hold in your hand. I've decided I want to be A.J. Budrys
if I ever grow up; higher praise is not possible.
Baird Searles writes the column for IASFM. He is somewhere between
Easton and Budrys, writing what are primarily reviews with an
occasional sidetrack while putting things in perspective. He reviews a
lot more Fantasy than Easton, but I don't think he does quite the same
analytical work; he is more intuitive and emotional. I also don't
feel that he has quite the critical grasp as Budrys, but he doesn't
pretend to. His writing is quite accessible and he is fun to read.
Being third in this race is nothing to be ashamed of, it is almost a
photo finish for all.
All of the reviewers in the prozines do a fine job. You could read any
one of them and find books you probably would have missed otherwise.
For a serious reader, any of them would be a good reason to subscribe
to the magazine if you aren't already. My only real problem with the
prozines is that space is always at a premium, and the columns aren't
given enough space to do a thorough job. The books they review they do
fine, but they don't review enough of them. To some degree or another
they also tend to review works that don't need further comment at the
expense of the newer and lesser known works that deserve some
publicity. My belief is that Asimov or Clarke don't NEED another
review, especially when it means that Dave Smeds' or Katharine Kerr or
Marty Asher don't get any notice at all. The reviewers should spend
more time nurturing the next generation and new new trends in the
field, not creating more publicity for the old masters.
The second place to find reviews is in the semiprozines. Of these, the
two best known are Locus and Science Fiction Chronicle. Both are
monthly newsmagazine for the SF field and keep their readers informed
with what is happening in publishing and fandom. The magazine Fantasy
Review is less well known, but is a Fantasy and review oriented monthly.
Locus runs three review columns, by Faren Miller, Debbie Notkin, and
Dan Chow. Amy Thompson has also started reviewing short fiction, both
magazine and anthology published. There is no duplication between the
columns, so a large number of books get covered every month.
Of the three, Notkin is far and away the best reviewer. She tends to
review fewer books than the Miller or Chow, spending more time with
each one. She has a good mix of both SF and Fantasy, is strongly
analytical and at the same time has a good feel for criticism. I
consider her reviews, alone of the semipro group, to be on a par with
the pro magazine columns. Notkin is just one of many good reasons for
subscribing to Locus, but she is an important one.
Faren Miller reviews a lot more Fantasy than Debbie. She has a good
sense for Fantasy, less so for SF. My only problem is that she seems
to aim for criticism, but falls short, leaving some of her reviews
muddled and unclear. There is potential here, sometimes unrealized.
When she is good, she is good, but I find her inconsistent.
The third Locus reviewer, Dan Chow, is hard for me to comment on,
simply because I stopped reading him months ago. Chow has a tendency
to fall into two reviewer traps: reading the authors motivations into
a book and using a book as an excuse to review or comment upon an
author. In my eyes, the only thing that matters is the word, and the
person behind it should be safe from attack. Chow has, on occasion,
stepped beyond the realm of good taste and gone after an author, and I
just won't tolerate that. I went back through recent issues for this
article, and he seems to have gotten this tendency under control to a
good degree, but I still don't think he has picked up a sense for
evaluating books and turning them into reviews. His columns have
little personality and little to recommend them.
Science Fiction Chronicle has one reviewer, Don D. Amassa. He seems to
have taken as his task reviewing everything in the world -- a recent
issue had 42 reviews in it, and he rarely reviews less than 20 a
month. He gets the completeness award, but there is always a tradeoff
between volume and quality, and he falls well short in the latter.
Most of the reviews are little more than a typical Pico review in
OtherRealms, and many of them are nothing more than plot summaries. In
a number of cases, it is impossible to tell what he thinks about a work
or whether it is worth reading from the review -- just what it is
about. I wonder if he really reads all of those things, or whether
he's cribbing from the cover notes. He would likely do everyone a
favor, and enjoy the books a lot more, if he would read less and
discuss them more completely. As it stands, though, his column is not
recommended.
Fantasy Review(FR) takes an approach similar to our Pico reviews. It
has a large section of reviews written by a number of different
people. Because of this, the quality is erratic, but in general FR is
a useful tool for finding a comment about most recent books. They try
hard to cover the entire field -- Fantasy, SF, Horror and non-fiction
entries. Overall, they do a very good job and, for me, do the best of
the semi-pro magazines. They have just been bought by a new publisher,
but the editor will remain with the magazine. All this is for the
good, as it looks like the chronic financial shortages will finally
end. On the negative side, the person running the review section,
Carol McGuirk, is leaving the magazine for a number of reasons, not the
least of which is getting stuck in the middle of an assinine political
battle with the Science Fiction Research Association. The SFRA is
being idiotic, and we're losing a serious genre resource because of
it. She's left a strong reviewing system, though, and hopefully someone
will step in and carry it forward. Fantasy Review is highly recommended.
Finally, an honorable mention. Science Fiction Review, a Fanzine
published by Richard Geis, has been the premier review oriented fanzine
for a number of years, and a number of different authors have been
known to hang out there. There are quarterly review columns by Geis,
by Paulette Minare, by Gene DeWeese and Elton Elliot. Other people
also review works on an irregular basis, including Larry Niven, Dean
Lambe and Charles de Lint. Orson Scott Card does the Herculean job of
trying to review AND criticize the previous few months short fiction,
and does a great job of it.
SFR is what a reviewzine ought to be, and it is a lot more beside. I
would normally cajole all of you into subscribing, but Geis has
decided to end the magazine. A lot of very good voices, especially
Card and deWeese, will be stilled when this happens. I will miss my
quarterly SFR fix.
If you only want to read one reviewer, read Easton, and anyone serious
about SF should be reading Budry's column for the perspective it
brings. I also highly recommend subscriptions to Fantasy Review and
Locus, not just for reviews but for all of their material. The most
important thing, though, is to find the reviewers that match your style
of reading and stick with them.
Subscription Information
Here are the prices and addresses to subscribe to the semiprozines
mentioned in this article. The prozines can be found at most large
newstands.
Fantasy Review: $20/year (12 issues)
500 N.W. 20th Street
Boca Raton, FL 33431
Locus: $24/year (12 issues)
P.O. Box 13305
Oakland, CA 94661
SF Chronicle: $23.40.year (12 issues)
P.O. Box 4175, New York, NY 10163-4175
Schismatrix
by
Bruce Sterling
Ace, 1986, 288 pages, $2.95
[****+]
Reviewed by
Michael C. Berch
mcb@lll-tis-b.ARPA
Copyright 1986 by Michael C. Berch
At a recent con panel on the Cyberpunk movement, John Shirley called
this "the novel that should have won the Hugo" instead of William
Gibson's NEUROMANCER. I'm not sure I agree, but SCHISMATRIX is
nonetheless a very fine, absorbing, and complex book.
SCHISMATRIX is a novel painted on a very large canvas: the numerous
orbiting worlds of the solar system after humanity has expanded beyond
Earth. These worlds and their political and cultural movements dissolve
and re-form and Sterling traces their fulminations through the eyes of
Abelard Lindsay, a former diplomat and current revolutionary,
entrepreneur, and politician. Life extension and mental/physical
enhancement are available through various biotechnologies, but humans
have split into two factions: the Mechanists, who use prosthetics,
bioelectronics, and lots of drugs and the Shapers, who prefer genetic
engineering and physical/mental conditioning.
The two factions are at war, but the fighting is on many fronts
(military, commercial, technological), and the battle lines are
blurred. Indeed, Lindsay is himself a hybrid of the two factions, and
he is alternately drawn to one or the other, or as often as not to a
new faction that is an offshoot of both. The Mechanist/Shaper universe
will be familiar to readers of Sterling's other work, such as "Swarm"
and "Spider Rose"; in SCHISMATRIX we get to see what's really going on
underneath.
"Life moves in clades" is an aphorism that Lindsay repeats often, and
it forms the central idea of the book. "Clade" does not appear in my
Random House Unabridged, but "clado-" is a Graeco-Latin prefix meaning
"branch" or "offshoot", and Sterling's meaning is clear: throughout
SCHISMATRIX various cliques such as the Nephrine Black Medicals, the
Neotenic Cultural Republic, and the Cataclysts appear, become centers
of political and cultural attention, and either fade or become the
bases for new "clades" on newer orbiting worlds.
Partway through the novel some aliens show up. They're known as the
Investors, and some readers will remember them from the short story
"Spider Rose" (1983). Investor culture and artifacts mix with the
factions of humanity in flux; as one might expect, the result is murky
and unclear, and Lindsay's diffident involvement with the aliens
further obscures our view of his character and motivations. I grant
that this is by Sterling's design; Abelard Lindsay is the antithesis of
a Heinleinian or Asimovian protagonist: we do not really understand
him, and we suspect that he does not understand himself.
The novel begins (as does Gibson's NEUROMANCER) with a distinct
Japanese flavor -- an orbiting world that proclaims itself a Zaibatsu
[corporate republic], characters named Ryumin and Kitsune, and a
mysterious financial/sexual cartel called the Geisha Bank -- but by
midbook the flavor has essentially disappeared; perhaps because the
time span involved is longer than a normal human lifetime. The
cyberpunk movement has always had a preoccupation with Japanese tech
culture, and many of the the images from NEUROMANCER, SCHISMATRIX, and
works like BLADERUNNER seem pulled from the pages of contemporary
Japanese comics.
The political and cultural intrigues of SCHISMATRIX reminded me of two
other novels that I greatly enjoyed: Kim Stanley Robinson's recent
ICEHENGE, and TRITON by Samuel R. Delany, which appeared in the late
1970's. Robinson and Delany enthusiasts, as well as followers of the
cyberpunk movement (the core of which is formed by Sterling along with
William Gibson, John Shirley, and perhaps Michael Swanwick) will
appreciate SCHISMATRIX. It is clearly a major SF novel of the 1980's,
and is worth the time spent in exploring its complexities.
Books Received
Books Received lists copies of books sent to OtherRealms for review.
Since review copies are sent out near the time of publication it is a
notice that these books are now (or will soon be) on the shelves of
your bookstore.
Arbor House
Asher, Marty. SHELTER, 1986, 136 pps, $12.95 hardback.
Gibson, William. COUNT ZERO, 1986, 278 pps, $15.95 hardback.
Roberts, Keith. KITEWORLD, 1985, 288 pps, $15.95 hardback. First U.S.
publication of an English work.
Slonczewski, Joan. A DOOR INTO OCEAN, 1986, 403 pps, $17.95 hardback.
Baen Books
Allen, Roger MacBride. ROGUE POWERS, 1986, 401 pps, $3.50. Sequel to THE
TORCH OF HONOR
Henry Holt and Company
Asimov, Isaac. FUTUREDAYS, A NINETEENTH CENTURY VISION OF THE YEAR 2000,
1986, 96 pages (many color plates), $12.95 trade paperback.
Tor Science Fiction
Anthony, Piers. STEPPE, 1986, 252 pps, $3.50.
Bishop, Michael. ANCIENT OF DAYS, 1985, 408 pps, $3.95.
Bova, Ben. PROMETHEANS, 1986, 278 pps, $2.95.
Bova, Ben. VOYAGERS II: THE ALIEN WITHIN, 1986, 344 pps, $15.95 hardback
Dickson, Gordon R. PRO, 1978, 183 pps, $2.95. First Tor printing.
Modesitt, L. E. Jr. THE ECOLOGIC ENVOY, 1986, 287 pps, $2.95.
Tor Fantasy
Baker, Scott. FIREDANCE, 1986, 380 pps, $2.95.
Roberts, John Maddow. CONAN THE VALORIOUS, 1985, 280 pps, $2.95.
First mass market printing.
Tor Horror
Masterson, Graham. DEATH TRANCE, 409 pps, 3.95
Walters, R. R. LADIES IN WAITING, 1986, 411 pps, $3.95.
Williamson, Chet. SOULSTORM, 1986, 307 pps, $3.95.
OtherRealms is Copyright 1986
by Chuq Von Rospach
All rights reserved
One time rights have been acquired from the contributors. All rights
are hereby assigned to the contributors.
Reproduction rights: OtherRealms may be reproduced only for
non-commercial uses. Re-use, reproduction or reprinting of an
individual article in any way on any media, is forbidden without
permission.
