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OtherRealms Issue 08 Part 02
OtherRealms
A Fanzine for the Non-Fan
Where FIJAGH Becomes a Way of Life
Issue #8
September, 1986
Part 2
Pico Reviews
Ratings:
[*****] A classic, must read book
[****] Well above average, don't miss
[***] A good book, probably worth reading
[**] Book has its moments, flawed
[*] Not recommended
[] A book to avoid
COILS by Roger Zelazny [*****]
COILS is an absolutely wonderful adventure story. Its main character
is a psychic computer programmer who has to rescue his girlfriend from
the bad guys. If you like computer consciousness and telepathy and all
that nice stuff, this is one of the best. Like many other things that
Zelazny has written, COILS is completely different from anything else
he has written.
--David Muir Sharnoff
muir@ucbvax
COUNT ZERO by William Gibson [***+]
Arbor House hardback, 1986, $15.95, 278 pages
Gibson's first book, NEUROMANCER, surprised everyone by deservingly
winning the Hugo, the Nebula, that the Philip K. Dick award. He's
back, and he's got another book to be proud of. COUNT ZERO is set in
the same society as NEUROMANCER, but is not a sequel. It is another
high velocity adventure into the inner venues of computers and their
jockeys. I don't think COUNT ZERO is quite as good as NEUROMANCER, but
it is still way ahead of the pack. Gibson can do no wrong, it seems.
-- chuq von rospach
DARKOVER LANDFALL by Marion Zimmer Bradley [****]
DAW Fantasy, 1972, $2.50
The beginning of Darkover, MZB tells the story of how the planet was
colonized. Good, solid SF, and a good introduction into the world of
Darkover. It, and the entire series, are highly recommended!
-- chuq von rospach
THE GAME OF EMPIRE by Poul Anderson [*]
Baen Books, 1985. Paperback, $3.50.
Heinlein's Disease claims another big name. A Dominic Flandry book.
Not much plot. Flandry and wife walk on, but do not advance the plot
at all. Main characters: D. F., a Terran; A., a devoutly religious
Wodenite; a cat-like being from a barbarian culture. (Sickeningly
familiar from his Polesotechnic League stories.) Style: talking-head
expositions frequently halt the "plot"; most are boring to readers of
other Flandry stories. One star for the settings (that's all Anderson
has left).
-- Tim McDaniel
mcdaniel@uicsrd.CSRD.UIUC.EDU
KILLASHANDRA by Anne McCaffrey [*+]
Del Rey, 1986, SFBC
A sequel to McCaffrey's CRYSTAL SINGER, this isn't SF. It is a
Harlequin, and McCaffrey seems to have taken up writing romances.
Unlike the warm and personal NERILKA'S STORY this book is plodding and
predictable. Girl Meets Boy. Girl Lays Boy. Girl Loses Boy. Girl
Gets Boy. This book has little to do with CRYSTAL SINGER and less to
recommend it.
-- chuq von rospach
LYTHANDE by Marion Zimmer Bradley [****+]
Daw Fantasy, August 1986, $3.50, 237 pages
A collection of six stories about MZB's character Lythande, the Adept
of the Blue Star. Lythande originated in THIEVES' WORLD, but after one
volume Bradley dropped out and Lythande moved into her own world.
Since then she has appeared in a couple of anthologies and in F&SF
magazine. Lythande was my favorite character in THIEVES' WORLD and I'm
happy to see her stories continue. These are all well written and
occasionally tongue-in-cheek accounts of Lythande's adventures. My
only gripe is with the cover. Lythande's Secret, the knowledge of
which would destroy her power, is that she is a woman, travelling as a
man. MZB handles this perfectly in the stories, but the person on the
cover is obviously female -- if THAT is Lythande, she doesn't stand a
chance. Another foobar from a sloppy artist.
-- chuq von rospach
THE SECRET TRADITION IN ARTHURIAN LEGEND []
by Gareth Knight
Aquarian books (UK) #5 95
A hopeless hodgepodge of pseudo-paganism, occult, and every other
weirdity you can think of tossed in, swirled around, and proven to be
part of the mystique of Britain's Great Hero. Feh.
-- chuq von rospach
SHELTER by Marty Asher [*****]
Arbor House hardback, 1986, $12.95 136 pages (sort of)
SHELTER is a weird book. It isn't SF, and it isn't Fantasy. The only
word for it is experimental. This is probably not a book you would
normally buy. It is very short, especially considering that each page
is only about half filled. The book, however, is like an early
Vonnegut without the anger. Asher is making a point and plays with the
words to help you see it. If you like Vonnegut's work, you'll love
SHELTER. Buy it, read it, enjoy it.
-- chuq von rospach
SPECIAL DELIVERANCE by Clifford D. Simak [***+]
Balantine, 1982, $2.75, 217 Pages
Special Deliverance is a fun little adventure. It eventually loses its
zest, but it concludes fairly soon after that. F&SF role play gamers
take note: the adventure and world could be adapted into a game with
very little trouble. The book is in a sense, too logical: given the
major premise (you learn it at the end) you realize that the whole book
had to be exactly what it was to fit the author's framework.
--David Muir Sharnoff
muir@ucbvax
THE SPELL SWORD by Marion Zimmer Bradley [****]
Daw Fantasy, 1974, $2.50
I'm finally getting around to reading the Darkover series. My only
comment is "Why did I wait so long?" The people of Darkover are a lost
civilization from Earth, a society that has built itself around
paranormal abilities. THE SPELL SWORD tells of the battle between the
Darkover people and a band of intelligent natives fighting to reclaim
their planet. Strong on suspense and a solid blend of SF and Fantasy.
-- chuq von rospach
THE STARCROSSED by Ben Bova [***-]
Jove/HJB, 1975, $1.75, 223 Pages
The Starcrossed is a comedy. In fact, it is a joke. Ben Bova writes a
satire of Hollywood in the future, that holds together fairly well for
most of the book. But reading the book, one gets the feeling that he
got bored towards the end and just tried to finish it off; he succeeded
by reducing the book to a one-line cliche. The hero/heroine plot
doesn't finish and neither do many other subplots. The book had the
potential to be very good, but what can I say?
--David Muir Sharnoff
muir@ucbvax
Readers Survey
It's been a while since I've run a readers survey, and since the
readership has grown significantly over the last few months, I thought
it would be appropriate to learn a little more about you and your
interests. The latest readership statistics show the subscriber base
to be somewhere around 4000. I'm not sure whether to believe that
number, and I hope that the surey will tie it down.
Please mail this to any of the addresses in the Masthead, either E-mail
or by more traditional ways. I am very interested in hearing from the
people off the beaten path -- it is easy to get feedback from USENET,
but much more difficult from the people with less direct access to me.
The feedback I get from these surveys helps me guide the direction of
the magazine. Surveys will be accepted until October 1, 1986.
1) Sex:
2) Age:
3) Profession:
4) Where did you get this copy? (e.g. USENET, ARPA,
BITNET, BBS, Hard Copy. Please name the BBS)
5) How many people read this copy of OtherRealms?
6) How many SF books do you read per month?
7) How many Fantasy books do you read per month?
8) How many hardcover (not book club) books did you buy
in the last year?
9) How many book club books did you buy in the last year?
10) What SF and Fantasy magazines do you read?
11) What Fanzines (other than OtherRealms) do you read?
12) What SF conventions do you attend?
13) What do you think are the best and worst features of
OtherRealms? What would you like to see added?
Gateway
(part one of a trilogy)
Frederic Pohl
Del Rey books, $2.95, 313 pages
[*****]
Reviewed by
Dave Taylor
taylor@hplabs.ARPA
Copyright 1986 by Dave Taylor
For all you fans who've been following my complaints about not finding
anything worth reading: good news! I've finally found a book not only
worth reading, but worth buying to be able to read again and again!
GATEWAY is the first of three books by Frederic Pohl known as the
"Heechee Saga. " The premise of the series is that as we continue
expanding our exploration of the galaxy we encounter mysterious
artifacts from an alien race that appears to have disappeared millions
of years ago. This race, for reasons unknown, are dubbed the "Heechees"
and become a road for unimaginable riches and technologies.
The first book opens some time after the initial discovery of the
"Heechee" artifacts. A corporation has been formed by all the
superpowers to exploit the artifacts and they're based in an asteroid
orbiting our Sun on an orbit considerably skewed from the plane of the
planets. This base is called Gateway and is a sort of Grand Central
Station of Heechee ships. Unfortunately, the technology to program
courses into the ships hasn't yet been worked out, so there is a group
of people called prospectors who climb into the ships and press the
start button. Some of them come back after having been to new planets,
others go to other Heechee artifacts, and some never come back at
all.
The main protagonist of the story is Robin (for Robinette) Broadhead.
Through his eyes and emotions we learn the terror of taking an
uncontrolled flights, the alien strangeness of the Heechee and the
Gateway, and the breakdown of his rationality and slow reconstruction
with the aid of a computer program he calls "Sigfrid Von Shrink.
"
The book starts with a discussion between Robin and Sigfrid, and the
chapters alternate between their discussions centered around Robin's
anguish and frustration at his condition and the events that
transpired. I found myself wishing for the book to be told in either
vein instead of both, but really wasn't that harmful to the narrative.
For those that are impressed with awards, the book has won, quite
deservingly, the Hugo and Nebula awards. I'd give it a top rating and
recommend it for anyone who likes SF!
David Lindsay,
the Arcturan Voyager
Gary A. Allen, Jr.
ESG7@DFVLROP1.BITNET
Copyright 1986 by Gary A. Allen, Jr.
David Lindsay is a unique phenomenon in Science Fiction. He was a
contemporary of Jules Verne and H.G. Wells. However, he was so far ahead
of its time that today he is widely regarded as an author without equal.
Lindsay's history as an author is both sad and interesting. Lindsay was
born on 3 March 1878 in a London suburb. Until about 1916, he worked
as an insurance clerk for Lloyd's of London and had not written a
single book. In 1916 at age 38, he married and opted to give up his
secure job as a clerk to take up writing. His first book is in the
opinion of many his greatest achievement. This book was entitled A
VOYAGE TO ARCTURUS and was published in 1920. His second book THE
HAUNTED WOMAN was published one year later. THE HAUNTED WOMAN is regarded
by some commentators as being even better than A VOYAGE TO ARCTURUS.
Both books were commercial failures and were remaindered. A VOYAGE TO
ARCTURUS sold only 596 copies from a press run of 1430 copies. The
London Times panned the book without mercy, and it was subjected to
ridicule by contemporary literary critics. It should be emphasized that
these first two books represented the commercial high point of
Lindsay's career as an author. His later books, which even by modern
standards were inferior to the first two, fared even worse in the
commercial world. By 1939 after failing to find a publisher for his
last book THE WITCH, Lindsay gave up writing and turned to running a
boarding house for a living. On 6 June 1945, David Lindsay, a broken
and despondent man, died from a tooth infection.
The writings of David Lindsay would have died a dusty death along with
their author had not Victor Gollancz, a friend, republished A VOYAGE TO
ARCTURUS in 1946, one year after Lindsay's death. Then something truly
marvelous happened: 26 years after the book had been written, it
achieved a limited popularity. Even so, it was not popular with the
general public. Instead it was an underground success with England's
literary elite.
One of Lindsay's early fans was the Christian apologist C.S. Lewis.
Lewis wrote about Lindsay in a letter to Charles Brady:
The real father of my planet books is David Lindsay's A VOYAGE
TO ARCTURUS, which you will also revel in if you don't know
it. I had grown up on Wells' stories of that kind, but it was
Lindsay who first gave me the idea that the "scientifiction"
appeal could be combined with the "supernatural" appeal.
From that time on A VOYAGE TO ARCTURUS was considered required reading
among England's literary elite, and yet his books were once again out
of print and seemed destined for obscurity. It didn't happen, as about
every 15 years a reprint would turn up. His works have never had a
wide popularity. Nevertheless, Lind-say's books have always
maint-ained a core of devoted readers that refuses to dissipate with
time. Lindsay himself realized this would occur and once commented to
Gollancz: "Somewhere in the world, someone will be reading a book of
mine every year. " Many books and articles have been written about
Lindsay and A VOYAGE TO ARCTURUS. The following are the more important
commentaries:
The Strange Genius of David Lindsay by John Baker 1970
The Haunted Man by Colin Wilson 1979
David Lindsay by Gary K. Wolfe 1982
The story of A VOYAGE TO ARCTURUS has a rather mundane beginning. By
page 39 (page references refer to the Gregg press edition which is a
reprint of the 1920 original), one is seriously thinking of flinging
the book into the trash can. In the first 39 pages all that apparently
happens is that the 3 principle characters meet and are transported
from the Earth to an alien planet which will be the scene of action.
The reader is accosted with some rather bizarre names: The three chief
characters are Maskull, Krag, and Nightspore. The alien planet is
called Tormance. If the reader had pitched the book into the trash
before reaching Tormance he would have made a big mistake. The boredom
of the first 39 pages and the funny names are all calculated for an
effect. The transition from Earth to Tormance is absolutely
breathtaking. The closest analogy I can think of is from the movie THE
WIZARD OF OZ where Dorothy walks from her house into the land of Oz,
the film changes from black and white to color, and Dorothy announces,
"You know Toto, I don't think we're in Kansas anymore." From that point
on the reader is kept in a perpetual state of information overflow.
I'm not talking about the overflow in a low grade Fantasy Role Playing
game where the author is pouring forth zillions of proper nouns without
definition. Rather, we're speaking about concepts, symbolism and fast
paced action. David Lindsay did something that no one else in SF
achieved in that he pushed the SF literary form to its limits and had
then gone beyond. The story of A VOYAGE TO ARCTURUS could not be
expressed in any other medium.
The chief character, Maskull has discovered himself on a world where
one grows and discards new senses and awarenesses with seeming
abandon. The premise upon which the novel is based is the concept of
God as an immoral and unethical entity. The true God of Tormance is
Surtur. Surtur is a creative deity from which all life emanates.
However an anti-God, Shaping, has overthrown Surtur and dominates
Tormance. Shaping feeds on life itself by giving the life force a
physical form. Maskull is unwittingly thrown into the middle of this
cosmic struggle between these two deities. Maskull was sent to
Tormance by the personification of Surtur, Krag. However he was
literally left naked and totally ignorant of the true state of affairs
upon his arrival on Tormance. Shaping, the god of lies, has the first
crack at Maskull. From there the story unfolds as Maskull travels
through the surrealistic landscape of Tormance to his own ultimate
destruction and resurrection.
One can read A VOYAGE TO ARCTURUS for pure entertainment. There is
lots of action and interesting characters are brought in with almost
wild abandon. Lindsay creates plot devices, SF concepts, and sensual
imagery that I've seen no where else.
The real thrill to this book, however, is in its intellectual
challenge. Everything in this book has triple nested symbolism. The
name Tormance can be broken down to romance, torment, dominance. Pain
is associated with Surtur, while pleasure is associated with Shaping.
The name Maskull leads to man and skull, which symbolizes the conflict
of the spirit and the body. Everything in the story is color coded.
There are five colors on Tormance based on two color systems, which in
turn are based on the two stars of the Arcturan system. The first
color system is from the star Branchspell and uses the colors yellow,
red, and blue. The second color system is from the star Alppain and
uses the colors jale, ulfire, and blue. Branchspell is the larger star
and has associations with Shaping. Alppain is a small blue binary
companion and is associated with Surtur. The colors red and jale are
compliments and associated with feeling. The colors yellow and blue
are also compliments and associated with relation. The colors blue and
ulfire form the last compliments and are associated with existence. If
a creature appears in the plot and it is colored red and ulfire, the
reader knows that the creature has the qualities of feeling and
existence and is affected by both stars and deities. By now it should
be clear by what I mean by information overflow.
The theme of the book is a SF presentation of the philosophies of
Nietzsche and Schopenhauer. If you are not overwhelmed by the
information or the symbolism, then the philosophy will blow you away.
His works demonstrate the power of SF as a consciousness expansion aid
and a medium for abstract thinking. I strongly recommend the works of
David Lindsay.
This issue is Copyright 1986, by Chuq Von Rospach
All Rights reserved
One time rights only have been acquired from the signed or credited
contributors. All rights are hereby assigned to the contributors.
Reproduction rights: Permission is given to reproduce or duplicate
OtherRealms in its entirety for non-commercial uses. Re-use,
reproduction, reprinting or republication of an individual article in
any way or on any media, printed or electronic, is forbidden without
permission of the author.
