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OtherRealms Issue 11 Part 01
OtherRealms
A Reviewzine for the Non-Fan
Where FIJAGH Becomes a Way of Life
Issue #11
December, 1986
Part 1
Novels of the Diadem
Alan Wexelblat
Always Coming Home
Dan'l Danehy-Oakes
Letters to OtherRealms
The Broken Worlds
Danny Low
Flamesong
Brett Slocum
OtherRealms Notes
Books Received
Part 2
Pico Reviews
Part 3
Words of Wizdom
Chuq Von Rospach
Two Views of the Hugo
Conspiracy? What Conspiracy?
Dan'l Danehy-Oakes
What's Wrong with the Hugo?
Chuq Von Rospach
Novels of the Diademi
by Jo Clayton
Reviewed by Alan Wexelblat
Copyright 1986 by Alan Wexelblat
ARPA: WEX@MCC.ARPA
UUCP: ut-sally!im4u!milano!wex
DIADEM FROM THE STARS 235pp, (c) 1977 [***+]
LAMARCHOS 224pp, (c) 1978 [***]
IRSUD 191pp, (c) 1978 [***]
MAEVE 220pp, (c) 1979 [***]
STAR HUNTERS 207pp, (c) 1980 [**+]
THE NOWHERE HUNT 208pp, (c) 1981 [*]
GHOSTHUNT 221pp, (c) 1983 [**]
THE SNARES OF IBEX 320pp, (c) 1984 [**+]
These eight books tell part of the tale of Aleytys, a half-breed member
of a semi-mythical super-race called the Vryhh. Although they could
probably be read independently, the significance of much of the theme
elements would be lost.
The stories are what I call soft SF in that they use psionics, magic,
and other non-hard elements, but are not sword-and-sorcery or any other
fantasy genre.
Jo Clayton has a real talent for description and detail. She writes
from a decidedly female perspective. Her feel for story is there, but
it often gets lost in the description she piles on. Daw did her a real
disservice by not assigning a tough editor to her manuscripts. The
quality of the stories varies widely. None of them are truly great, and
one is downright awful. Some of her characters are good; the problem is
that she seems to create her characters from about eight stock types.
Over the course of the books, this becomes a real problem, as the minor
characters from one story blend into those of another.
In addition, she has the annoying habit of using lots of alien words as
part of the scene-setting, and expecting the reader to figure out what
is going on. I find this annoying, as it detracts from the flow of the
story. In general though, Clayton's alien societies are pretty good and
shouldn't need this sort of cheap trick.
The first book, DIADEM FROM THE STARS, starts off with a Clayton
narrative favorite: the story is being told from the point of view of
someone other than Aleytys. The other person sets the scene, often by
outright exposition, and then we switch to Aleytys' point of view. In
this case, we follow a thief on his quest to steal the RMoahl diadem
and escape with it. He does, but fails in the escape attempt, crashing
on the primitive world of Jaydugar, where Aleytys lives in her father's
household. Her mother, once slave to her father, has escaped. Before
leaving, she wrote a letter describing herself, hinting about the
Vryhh, and telling her daughter how she can be found.
Aleytys, faced with the prospect of being burned as a witch (she has
some psionic powers, apparently inherited from her mother), runs away.
The rest of the book tells her story as she treks across her world,
meeting the thief, Miks Stavver, and getting the diadem. The diadem, it
seems, is a permanent gift because once put on, it doesn't come off
while the wearer is alive. However, it does greatly enhance her
powers.
DIADEM is the best of the books. Aleytys whines a bit too much, but the
story is interesting, as are the secondary characters. There are
several encounters with different cultures on Jaydugar, and Aleytys
really seems too mature.
LAMARCHOS is the name of the world where Aleytys goes after Jaydugar,
and the book tells the story of her trek across that world. There is a
strong druidic theme to the story, as part of Aleytys' new powers allow
her to work in concert with Nature on the planet. Unfortunately, Nature
demands some services in return for its aid.
From the readers point of view, Clayton works these out into
interesting plot twists as the characters move toward their goal.
Aleytys' character continues to mature, and her powers increase as she
learns more about the diadem.
This book is not quite as good as the first. Clayton is inconsistent
with Aleytys; she is mature, intelligent, and sophisticated when
dealing with the natives of Lamarchos, but naive and annoyingly
dim-witted when dealing with her off-world companions. Clayton needs
this in order to advance the plot, and that's a shame. She could have
achieved better results with a little more care.
IRSUD is the name of the world where Aleytys is brought as a slave to
be a host-body for the egg of the queen of an insectoid race. The egg
will hatch inside her and the new queen will absorb Aleytys' powers,
which have been suppressed with a psi-damping implant.
The plot is much simpler than the first two books, involving no
world-spanning treks. This is Clayton's first attempt at writing
intrigue. As with much of her work, it's all right but Clayton attempts
to write intrigue with exposition, describing in great detail how
everyone looks and how Aleytys feels. This weakens the impact
considerably in some places. Also, the aliens of Irsud are far too
human for my liking. What makes this book as good as it is is Clayton's
advancement of the meta-plot. The diadem has inhabitants, people who
wore it before and died with it still on. Their minds, personalities
and talents are still available to the diadem's current wearer. Once
again, I don't want to spoil the plot, but I took a great joy in
watching Aleytys grow in power.
MAEVE is the next world Aleytys travels to. Here is a book with several
good plot ideas, none of which are really well developed. The RMoahl
want "their" diadem back, Aleytys wants to help the natives of Maeve
(and Nature) against the ravages of the Companies (inter-planetary
mega-conglomerates), and the local machinations are endless. Clayton
weaves these threads together into a nice picture, but it ends up
looking forced. The theme also advances slowly, but enough to be
satisfying. The minor characters are also interesting.
STAR HUNTERS uses the other narrator trick to set the scene, and it's a
mighty confusing one. Aleytys has joined an organization known as the
Hunters, who perform special missions for hire. She is sent to
Sunguralingu to stop the ravages of a psionically-endowed villain known
as the Haremaster. Clayton appears to have grown bored with Aleytys at
this point; she spends much of the book on secondary characters,
switching viewpoints all over the place. The main story is barely
novella length, and most of the padding is dull. The only saving grace
is the climactic confrontation between Aleytys and the Haremaster;
unfortunately, even that has a weak ending.
THE NOWHERE HUNT should have been titled the Nowhere Book. It's a
terrible story that goes nowhere, and goes there at a snails pace.
Clayton has dropped the druidic overtones of the earlier books and
spends more than half the book on minor characters, most of whom we are
glad to see die. Aleytys doesn't grow at all, and the minor characters
seem repetitive. I would say skip this book entirely, except that the
theme is advanced in two important aspects so grit your teeth and bear it.
GHOSTHUNT is a vast improvement on NOWHERE, but it is still a weak
book. Clayton attempts a detective story here which doesn't work well
with her exposition. This book is much more cerebral than her others.
However, her switches in viewpoint are less annoying this time because
some of the other narrators are familiar and likable characters. Thus,
even though we know where the book is going, it's still fairly
enjoyable. Several of the loose ends from earlier books are tied up
here, and not too badly. Once again, the aliens are very human-like and
the minor characters look like ones from previous books, but the style
is more interesting and the characters motives are more moving. The
year layoff after NOWHERE definitely helped.
THE SNARES OF IBEX is a truly annoying novel in the sense that someone
should have edited out some obviously extraneous material. Why didn't
Daw? The story seems very unbalanced. About 90% of the books 320 pages
are used to describe half the journey that Aleytys undertakes. Ibex,
you see, is the world where her mother has left a means of contact. But
the only person on Ibex who knows how to access that data is missing
and must be tracked down.
Knowing all this in advance, the reader is led to expect a lot more
than Clayton delivers. At one point she falls into the pattern of
having characters tell each other stories. It's a change from Clayton's
usuall exposition, but not a good one. What makes this a good book is
its promise. If Clayton writes another, she will have some really
interesting material to work with.
Reading over these reviews, you might wonder why I read the books if I
felt so negative about them. It's hard to explain. There's so much
potential that I couldn't wait to see what Clayton would make of it.
Get these books used if you can; I don't think they're worth the cover price.
ALWAYS COMING HOME
by Ursula K. LeGuin
[*****]
Reviewed by
Dan'l Danehy-Oakes
Copyright 1986 by Dan'l Danehy-Oakes
UUCP: ptsfd!djo
There's a story about LeGuin's multiple-award-winning novel THE
DISPOSSESSED; I think it's relevant. She said once that, the founders
of the Odonian society knew that humans must have some harmless outlet
for their competitive instincts. Therefore they began the custom of
having every permanent settlement make pickles. These pickles became
the source of civic pride for each town; there was a pickle barrel set
up in the center of town, and persons from out-of-town were invited to
sample the local pickle and judge its superiority for themselves. For
whatever reason, this facet of the Odonian culture never made it into
THE DISPOSSESSED.
ALWAYS COMING HOME is chock-full of pickle barrels.
Another way of looking at this book: suppose that, instead of THE LORD
OF THE RINGS, J.R.R. Tolkien had published a vast miscellany of Elvish,
Dwarvish, and Gondorish poems and lore, mingled with tracts on their
social institutions; then suppose that he had mingled in with this
book, broken up into pieces, the story of Bilbo's journey -- and, as a
footnote to the last part, a brief summary (in the form of official
Gondorian documents) of the War of the Ring.
Somewhere between those two ideas you will find ALWAYS COMING HOME.
It is a book for those who revel in Tolkien's appendices. (I freely
admit that I am such a person.) Broken into three parts is the only
"novel" part of the book, the tale of Stone Telling, a woman who goes
"there and back again." Her journey is very different from Bilbo's, but
it bears a more than passing resemblance to those of Shevek and Genly Ai.
Let me explain that last comment. Shevek, Genly, and the occasional
protagonist of ACH begin in a country which the author seems to
"approve" of, move across barriers to one which the author seems to
"disapprove" of -- in each case, one which is bureaucratic and
oppressive -- and returns to the place where he/she began, sadder and
wiser. (I think my biggest problem with LeGuin, at this point, is
simply that she too easily divides her societies into "the peaceful
country" and "the warlike country" -- a surprisingly dualistic attitude
for an author of LeGuin's blatantly Taoist leanings.) In each case, the
protagonist comes at a time when he/she has some small influence on a
major change that is already occurring in the relationship between the
two countries.
ALWAYS COMING HOME is about the Kesh, a people who "might be going to
have lived" in the Napa valley of Northern California some very long
time from now. An unspecified event or series of events which may or
may not have been an atomic war has separated humanity from technology.
(I do not mean that technology has been destroyed, but to say more
would be to destroy one of th book's most pleasant surprises.) The Kesh
are a people of whom I -- and, I believe, the author -- can approve of
heartily while not in any way wishing to be one: their lifestyle is NOT
for me.
In the aforementioned tracts, poetry, lore, and so forth, LeGuin paints
a surprisingly holographic picture of the entire Kesh culture.
The book is told as if it were the report of an twentieth-century
archaeologist who has done her field work by living among the Kesh for
a time, learning their ways and taping their ceremonies. (Accompanying
the paperback of ACH -- but NOT the hardback -- is a cassette tape,
"Music and Poetry of the Kesh," a group of "in the field" recordings
which allow us to actually hear the language of the Kesh pronounced and
sung. It is a significant part of the book's overall impact and I
highly recommend NOT buying the hardback for this reason.) The various
documents from this fieldwork include, but are not limited to,
discussions of Kesh "religion" (not what we mean by religion), technology,
food, language, trading, warmaking, medicine, and much else; they include
samples of Kesh drama, poetry, literary prose, and mapmaking.
ALWAYS COMING HOME is one of the most complete books I have ever
encountered. It is an exhausting book to read, and I do not recommend
it as a "good read." It is hard work, but, if you enjoy the work of
reading, it repays the work amply.
Letters To OtherRealms
Dear Chuq.
I'll bet your friends call you "Up-Chuq".
You evince an inability to figure wordage, a wrongheaded perspective on
historical or scientific extrapolation, an intolerance of the tastes of
others, a tendency to condemn what you do not understand, and a desire
to censor according to your own limited horizins. In short, you have
the makings of a typical literary critic. You might consider confining
yourself in future to fantasy of your level, such as the works of Lin Carter.
I may quote from your comments on my work in the Author's Note for
Incarnations #6, which I am now writing. You have no need to read
material that distresses you, of course.
Piers Anthony
Inverness, Florida
The Broken Worlds
by Raymond Harris
[****]
Ace Science Fiction 1986 248pp $2.95
Reviewed by
Danny Low
Copyright 1986 by Danny Low
UUCP: hplabs!hpccc!dlow
This book starts out as a simple tale of intrigue, becomes a journey of
wonders and ends with a gigantic space battle with a deus ex machina
ending. You are warned of the ending towards the middle of the book.
Despite the rambling nature of the plot, the events are logically tied
together.
The story does move along at a leisurely pace, but it manages to avoid
boredom. The history of the universe has the complex feel of reality.
The culture appears to be your basic Western culture with a few exotic
oddities thrown in to give a suggestion of alieness. However, it
becomes evident that the culture is truly different and the
"westerness" is only the echo of our present day culture.
The characterization is quite good. Harris has a good feel for
RealPolitik. The relationship between the various interstellar states
has verisimilitude. In many ways, this book is a collection of hoary
science fiction cliches done with just the right amount of originality
to succeed while still being recognizable as cliches.
If Harris is to be compared with an established SF writer, then that
writer would be Jack Vance. Harris' characters do not all speak with
the same baroque style of a Vancian book, but there is that same
richness in the background culture. This is definitely a worthwhile
book to read.
Flamesong
by M.A.R. Barker
[*****]
DAW Books, Sept. 1985, $3.50, pp. 412.
Reviewed by
Brett Slocum
ARPA: Slocum@HI-MULTICS.ARPA
Copyright 1986 by Brett Slocum
M.A.R. Barker is one of those writers who has created the perfect
combination of fantasy and science fiction. His world of Tekumel is a
delightfully rich tapestry unlike any other. The depth of detail rivals
or surpasses Middle Earth, Darkover, or Arrakis. While basically
fantasy, elements of technology are not far under the surface,
sometimes quite literally. Technology exists in the form of artifacts
of the Ancients, whose knowledge has been lost many tens of millenia ago.
Barker draws from East Indian, Chinese, Middle Eastern, and
MesoAmerican sources, rather than European, and his societies are
reminescent of Imperial China or Mayan civilizations. This is not your
run-of-the-mill medieval fantasy story that so many new authors write.
A quality of strangeness is inherent.
In Flamesong, his second book (Man of Gold is his first), Barker tells
of the adventures of a young military officer's attempts to bring an
enemy commander home as a prisoner, while dealing with a strange form
of Ancient transport, magic, a country that still believes itself part
of an empire that fell twenty thousand years ago, and numerous other
problems that impede his progress.
Barker writes about adventure and intrigue, palace plots and pitched
battles, magic and technology. I especially enjoy the way he describes
technological artifacts in non- technological terms, as the characters
would see it. This book has complex characters with real motivations,
unusual often bizarre cultures, and a story that won't let you put it
down. (I read this substantial book in two days, and I work full time.)
Barker is a linguist as Tolkien was, and it shows. Each country has
its own language, customs, naming conventions, etc. (e.g. At one point,
the characters are trying to figure out the nationality of a stranger
from just a name.) For those of you who are unwilling to handle unusual
names and words -- beware, this book is full of them.
Barker has been involved with the Role-playing games industry almost as
long as Gary Gygax and Dungeons & Dragons. A role-playing game called
The Empire of the Petal Throne based on Tekumel, has been available
since 1975-6, and recently a new game called Swords and Glory has been
published. Swords and Glory was written and playtested by Barker and
his two weekly gaming groups. The sourcebook which describes Tekumel is
several hundred pages long and so full of detail that it is mind-boggling.
In conclusion, I would strongly recommend Flamesong and the earlier Man
of Gold for anyone looking for unusual settings and cultures, realistic
characters, and exciting plots.
Lead miniatures for wargaming are available as well as a bi-monthly
newsletter both produced by Tekumel Games, a company that deals
exclusively with Tekumel products. If you are interested in the
roleplaying aspects of Tekumel, contact:
Tekumel Games
Box 14630
University Station
Minneapolis MN 55414
Dungeons & Dragons is a trademark of TSR, Inc.
OtherRealms Notes
Please remember that this is the final OtherRealms of 1986. I'll see
you all back in January with a new year of reviews and comments on the
worlds of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror.
The Lettercol is back dept.: Readers should note that the lettercol
has returned, and I hope that it will be again a permanent home for the
alternative viewpoint. If we got it wrong, if we missed something, or
if you simply have something to say, drop a note to the OtherRealms lettercol.
Things to come dept.: Next year will continue to see changes to
OtherRealms. First and foremost, I expect to start using a Laserwriter
in in 1987, giving me a much cleaner final look. This will also allow
me to put more material in the same number of pages, so the amount of
material will increase for the same final cost.
I'm also going to start a series of new review columns by people who
have been involved with OtherRealms for a while. The hope is to make a
wider range of viewpoints available. The details of these and other
changes will be in #12.
Books Received
Books Received lists books sent to OtherRealms for review. OtherRealms
tries to list books around the time they are shipped to bookstores, so
these books are (or soon will be) in distribution.
Avon Science Fiction
Anthony, Piers. Macroscope, 1969, 480 pages, $4.50. A good work
brought back into print.
Shulman, J. Neil. The Rainbow Cadenza, 1983, 366 pages, $3.50
Leigh, Stephen. The Bones of God, 1986, 289 pages, $3.50.
Baen Books
Scott, Melissa. Silence in Solitude, 1986, 313 pages, $2.95. Sequel
to Five-Twelths of Heaven.
Bantam Books
Auel, Jean M. The Mammoth Hunters, December, 1986, 723 pages, $4.95.
Third book in the Earth's Children series, 2,000,000 copy first
printing.
Flint, Kenneth C. Storm Shield, 1986, 310 pages, $3.50. Sequel to
Challenge of the Clans.
Fowler, Karen Joy. Artificial Things, 1986, 218 pages, $2.95. First
collection of the short stories that won her the Campbell award for
best new writer.
Hill, Douglas. Colsec Rebellion, 1986, 161 pages, $2.75. Final book
in Colsec Trilogy (previous volumes were Exiles of Colsec and The Caves
of Klydor). Tor Fantasy
Fenn, Lionel. Blood River Down, 1986, 310 pages, $2.95.
Paxson, Diana L. Silverhair the Wanderer, 310 pages, 1986, $2.95. the
new Westria novel.
Pini, Richard, Asprin, Robert, and Abbey, Lynn. Elfquest Volume 1: The
Blood of Ten Chiefs, 314 pages, 1986, $6.95 trade paperback. Shared
world anthology based on Elfquest.
Tarr, Judith. The Golden Horn, 1985, 262 pages, $2.95. Volume 2 of
the Hound and the Falcon Trilogy.
Tor Fiction
Benford, Gregory. Artifact, 533 pages, 1985, $3.95.
O'Donnell, Peter. Modesty Blaise: The Silver Mistress, 1973, 284
pages, $3.50. First paperback release (and first in a series) about
the female answer to James Bond.
Rogers, Mark E. More Adventures of Samurai Cat, 1986, 127 pages, $9.95
large trade paperback. 8 1/2 x 11 format, lots of drawings. Not quite
a graphic novel. Attempts to parody everything.
Westlake, Donald E. A Likely Story, 1984, 317 pages, $3.95.
Tor Horror
Bloch, Robert. Night-World, 252 pages, 1972, $3.50. First Tor
printing.
Grant, Charles L. The Orchard, 287 pages, 1986, $3.95.
Neiderman, Andrew. Love Child, 1986, 319 pages, $3.95.
O'Callaghan, Maxine. The Bogeyman, 1986, 320 pags, $3.95.
Relling, William Jr. Brujo, 338 pages, 1986, $3.95.
Simmons, Dan. Song of Kali, 1985, 311 pages, $3.95. Just won the World
Fantasy Award.
Tor Science Fiction
Anderson, Poul. Time Wars, 1986, 374 pages, $3.50. Time Travel/War
them anthology.
Anthony, Piers and Margroff, Robert E. The E.S.P. Worm, 1970, 191
pages, $2.95.
Dickson, Gordon R. Alien Art, 1973, 184 pages, $2.95. First Tor
printing.
Douglas, Carole Nelson. Probe, 383 pages, 1985, $3.50.
Farmer, Philip Jose. The Cache, 1981, 292 pages, $2.95. Third Tor
printing.
Kelly, James Patrick & Kessel, John. Freedom Beach, 259 pages1986,
$2.95.
Kornbluth, C. M. Not This August, 1955, 255 pages, $2.95. Revised and
new forward by Frederik Pohl.
Murphy, Pat. The Falling Woman, November, 1986, 287 pages, $14.95
hardcover
Saberhagen, Fred. The Berserker Throne, 319 pages, 1985, $3.50.
Silverberg, Robert. Across A Billion Years, 1969, 249 pages, $2.95.
Wolfe, Gene. Free Live Free, 1984, 403 pages, $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.
