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OtherRealms Issue 16 Part 03
Electronic OtherRealms #16
June, 1987
Part 3
Words of Wizdom
Reviews by
Chuq Von Rospach
Copyright 1987 by Chuq Von Rospach
God Game, Andrew M. Greeley, Tor
The Grey Horse, R.A. MacAvoy, Bantam
The Sun, The Moon, and the Stars, Steven Brust, Ace
Cardography, Orson Scott Card, Hypatia Press
Sword at Sunset, Rosemary Sutcliff, Tor
The Discovery of King Arthur, Geoffrey Ashe, Henry Holt
Take Off Too!, Randall Garrett, Donning/Starblaze
The Year's Best Science Fiction, Fourth Annual Collection,
Gardner Dozois, St. Martin's Press
A long standing debate between authors and the critic/reviewer is the
relevance of the book review. Does a good review help sales? Does a bad
review hurt? Does it matter?
A review must be written in context to the work itself, a fact many
reviewers seem to miss. Reviews where a book is mentioned in passing,
or a book is thrashed because the reviewer would have written it
different. Abusive reviews, Ghetto reviews ("This isn't bad, for
*snif* Science Fiction"). You cannot forget why you are here -- to help
someone find something they will enjoy reading. You don't review Moby
Dick as light reading, and you can't take a Conan novel and fit it into
the Great Art category.
This is a rather roundabout way of bringing up Andrew M. Greeley.
Greeley recently wrote some disparaging, but generally true, things
about book reviewers in a Publisher's Weekly editorial, thoughts rather
similar to what I've written above. Not surprisingly, the book
reviewers of America are outraged, and have been screaming back about
relevance and the importance of the book reviewer, never realizing how
silly they all sound trying to prove that the review is as important as
the work itself.
Greeley, besides twitting off some stuffy critical egos, is an author
and a Jesuit Priest in the Chicago area, known for writing things the
Vatican wishes he wouldn't. In God Game [Tor books, $4.50], he uses
Science Fiction as a way to examine the concept of the Author as God.
After all, isn't writing the book the same as creating a Universe? If
Author was really given Godhood, could they hack it? And how does that
relate to our reality and how God has handled it for us?
Greeley (the character, as this story is written about a writer who is
writing about the story) is given a new interactive fiction game by his
friend the mad programmer to test. He fires it up, and is working with
it when a bolt of lightning strikes his Satellite dish, mucking up the
works and tying the computer game into another reality. From then on,
the commands given to the game are translated into actions into the
alternate universe. We follow Greeley as Greeley (the author) writes
about his slow acceptance of the fact that he has become God, and the
changes and problems this new responsibility create.
Through all this, Greeley does things that are obviously designed to
irritate the upper echelon of the Vatican. Greeley (the character)
insists on calling his God Her. One of the societies in the other
Universe worships in their underwear, to be closer to their God. But it
is always in good fun and never gets in the way of his main story, the
search for And They Lived Happily Ever After.
In the hands of many writers, a plot like this would degenerate into a
pseudo-metaphysical mess. Greeley, fortunately, is trained in God. He
understands the implications of what he is saying, and avoids the traps
a more naive writer would fall into.
His main theme seems to be that God isn't perfect, and can't be. God
works in real-time, and makes split decisions, and sometimes lives to
regret them. But She has a responsibility, and does the best She can.
I enjoyed God Game thoroughly, for the writing as well as the story.
There are deep concepts in this book, but they never get in the way of
a good story, and Greeley is as good a storyteller as you'll run into.
[****+]
People who have read OtherRealms for a while will know that I've been
rather critical of R.A. MacAvoy. Anyone who enters the field with a gem
like Tea With the Black Dragon is bound to disappoint later, but I've
felt there has been a slow, constant decline in the quality of her
work, each book a little more shallow and less inviting than the
previous. MacAvoy's strength lies in strong people and strong stories
with just a hint of the Fantastic, and as she moved away from that to
other parts of the field (the heavy Celtic Fantasy of Book of Kells, or
the murder mystery of Twisting the Rope) I believe she wrote things she
wanted to write but couldn't completely control, and did both herself
and her readers a disfavor. So I went into The Grey Horse (Bantam
books, $3.95) hoping to enjoy it, but expecting another disappointment.
It kept me up until two in the morning.
In the time when Ireland is fighting for independence, we have the
story of the romance of Ruari, a prince of the stallions, and Maire,
his chosen. Romance it is, as he must find a way to prove himself to
her and win her to himself. As he does, as he must. As it was with Tea,
the Fantastic elements are subdued and secondary to the history and the
romance of the story MacAvoy tells. It is a good book, if not as good
as Tea then better than she has done in a long while. Give this one a
try. I don't think you'll be disappointed. [****]
The Sun, The Moon, and the Stars (Ace books, $16.95) is the first
volume in a series of authors re-telling classic fairy tales. In
reality, the Hungarian tale on how the Sun, Moon and Stars were placed
in the sky, is less than 40% of the book.
The rest of the book is an introspective view of Artist and Self-Doubt.
Greg is part of an artist co-op that has been sharing a studio for three
years and going nowhere. The book is the story of this co-op, the
struggles, the doubts, the very human problems of having to come to grips
with the possibility that maybe, just maybe, you aren't going to succeed.
The rent is due, the critics haven't noticed you, neither have the buyers,
and maybe you should just throw it all in an get a Real Job, because you
aren't doing anyone any favors the way things are.
What Brust is saying about artists is just as true about writers, so it
is impossible to read this book without assuming that it is primarily
auto- biographical in feeling if not fact. Whether this is true or not,
only Brust can say. The truth is, that this book connected with many of
my own feelings, and caused me to react very negatively, so it is hard
for me to review this book objectively. There are a couple of minor
structural flaws -- a major relationship that ought to be pivotal to
the book is ignored, and Brust never really ties the fairy tale into
the story.
For some folks, I think the book might be a disappointment, if only
because it is merely a good Steven Brust work. It is better than many
of the books being published, but it isn't as good as Brust is capable
of writing. [***-]
Although Orson Scott Card is not well known for his Fantasy, Hypatia
Press has come out with a limited edition hardback of his stories.
Cardography [183 pages plus foreward and afterword, limited to 825
copies total and 750 signed and numbered] collects five works. Only one
("Porcelain Salamander" from Unaccompanied Sonata) has been previously
published in a collection of his works. The others are from works as
varied as Swords Against Darkness #4 and Dragons of Darkness, so it is
likely that many of you haven't seen most of these works before.
All of the works are wonderful, and I'm hard pressed to choose a
favorite. Least typical to me was "Middle Woman," a Chinese parable
that really shows off Card's writing abilities in ways you wouldn't
expect from someone who primarily writes SF. I'm also very impressed
with the quality of the book itself, with truly stunning art, and a
loving care put into the production that makes not only the words a
work of art, but the vessel that stores them as well. Highly
recommended. [****]
It seems that every writer tries to write about King Arthur. In recent
years, Arthur has been back in vogue, thanks in large part to the well
written and highly successful Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer
Bradley. The problem with many of them is that they don't really add
anything to the mythos -- they are satisfied at rehashing what other
others have endlessly rehashed. As a confirmed Arthurian fan, I'm
always on the lookout for new and interesting works in this subgenre,
and they are few and far between.
For all lovers of Arthur, Tor has reprinted Rosemary Sutcliff's Sword
at Sunset (498 pages, $4.50), a classic 1963 work. Unlike T.H. White's
Once and Future King and Mary Stewart's Crystal Cave series, both of
which explore Arthur as legend and myth, Sword at Sunset brings Arthur
down to earth without removing any of the glory or wonder. There is no
magic here, no Sword in the Stone, no Camelot or Round Table. What we
have is a War King, a supreme ruler attempting to turn back the tides
of barbarians in the hope, not of winning, but simply to gain a few
more years of civilization. Sutcliff's Arthur is very real, fighting
very real battles and dealing with the end of a united England. By
stripping the myth from the man, Sutcliff has shown that the man is the
myth, and has written what is, to me, one of the three best
interpretations of the Arthur legend ever written (the other two being
Stewart and Bradley). For Arthur fans, and for everyone else, I can't
recommend it highly enough. [*****]
For real Arthur aficionados, a neat book to find is Geoffrey Ashe's The
Discovery of King Arthur (Owl Books, 224 pages, $8.95). This is an
archaeological and historical expedition into the facts behind the
legend. If you assume that there has to be a factual basis for a myth
as firmly rooted as Arthur, then Ashe's explanation of who Arthur
really was and how the legends propagated is a fascinating blend of
history and detective work. [****]
If you read Randall Garrett's wonderful series of satires and pastiches
in his collection Takeoff! you should be aware that a companion volume
is now available. Takeoff Too! (Donning/Starblaze, 306 pages, $7.95
trade paperback) is a different sort of book than Takeoff! was, but an
important addition to the collected works of Garrett. Randall Garrett
was stricken with a brain infection in 1979 that left him with permanent
memory loss, so this volume was compiled by his wife and collaborator,
Vickie Ann Heydron. Its purpose was to try to compile in one place the
best of Garrett's humorous works he'd written over the years. It
contains 26 works (plus biographical and commentary material by Heydron)
spanning the years 1953 to 1978. It is uneven, but when Garrett is good,
he's wonderful. My only gripe with the work is the tone that Heydron takes
when talking about Garrett, for while he is permanently disabled, he
hasn't (as of this writing) died, and her insistence of talking about
him in the past tense bothered me. A minor problem in the light of
having a single collection of a great (and in my eyes, underrated)
author's work. My hope is that this collection is followed by future
ones until all of Garrett's work is easily accessible. [***+]
Finally, a quick note on The Year's Best Science Fiction, Fourth Annual
Collection, edited by Gardner Dozois (St. Martin's Press, 602 pages,
$11.95 trade paperback). This year Gardner seems to have attempted to
print the Year's Best by seemingly sticking everything published in
1986. That isn't quite true, but at 27 stories and 250,000 words of
fiction, he's covered most of the bases. Only one of the short Nebula
winners is missing (Kate Wilhelm's "The Girl Who Fell Into the Sky"),
and he's limited himself to a single story by every author, so Lucius
Shepard, who could have been represented by three or four stories has
only "R&R" published. I won't quibble with his selections on a case by
case basis -- what I will say is that this is a very strong collection
and well worth grabbing to take a look at the stories that you might
have missed in some of the magazines you don't normally read. [****]
Strut Your Stuff
Reviews by
Alan Wexelblat
wex@mcc.com
Copyright 1987 by Alan Wexelblat
Teckla, Steven Brust, Ace Fantasy
Drinker of Souls, Jo Clayton, Daw Fantasy
Beyond the Dar Al-Harb, Gordon Dickson, Tor Fantasy
AEgypt, John Crowley, Bantam Books
There is a real correlation between creative writing and performance
arts such as theater. In both cases, a cast of characters is brought
forth to perform upon a stage of some kind. In the theater, the stage
is a physical one; in writing, the stage is an environment -- either
real or fictional. There are other parallels, of course, but what is
interesting is the one major difference.
In theater, the production put on for the audience is inevitably a team
effort. The characters are created and given dialogue by an author, but
it is the actor who makes the character live. This is done on a stage,
under lights, in costumes all of which are designed and built by groups
of people. Directors and producers are often as well-known as the
actors but they, too, work with a team of assistants, stage managers,
crew people, and so forth.
In a novel, however, all these roles must be played by the author. One
person takes on an enormous task and the result is very much a tour de
force of the writer's talents. If the author is good, the novel will be
good; if not, there is no one else to blame. In a way not possible in
theater, novels allow authors to strut their stuff.
Of course, editors, publishers and so forth affect the success of a
novel in many ways. In a future column I will review some books that I
think suffer for reasons that are not the author's fault. This month,
however, I will consider four books which show authors strutting their
stuff with varying degrees of success.
Steven Brust is, without a doubt, one of the best authors in the
business of writing Science-Fantasy today. He has a knack for
characters that most others lack; the people in his stories come alive
within the space of a few well-chosen phrases. The characters grow and
develop, and in his stories even the minor players have life. He also
has a knack for description; he seems to know instinctively what to
spell out and what to omit. This makes for some fascinating reading.
Teckla [Ace Fantasy $2.95, 214pp.] is indeed a fascinating book. I
devoured it in the course of a long afternoon, stopping only to change
planes in Denver and LA. But when I was done, I was left feeling
vaguely unhappy.
Teckla is the third story in the tale of Vlad Taltos and Cawti,
professional assassins of the house of Jhereg. Readers not familiar
with this series should pick up its predecessors Jhereg and Yendi
before attempting this book. Although Brust tries to make the story of
Teckla stand on its own, there is too much background that is needed.
Unlike the first two stories in the tale, Teckla is not a simple
adventure story. Instead, it is a philosophically-oriented story, in
much the same style as Brust's To Reign in Hell. It tells the story of
the revolt of the Easterners and how Vlad and Cawti end up on opposite
sides of the revolution.
This dose of philosophy mixed in with the adventure was not what left
me unhappy. While the perceptive reader may spot the shadows of Marx
and Lenin in the speeches of the Eastern leader, Kelley, these shadows
do not impede the story. Brust's characters are easily strong enough to
carry off this clash of Communist and Libertarian ethics.
What caused my unhappiness was the ending. Both Jhereg and Yendi came
to definite ends. But Teckla does not. Its end is like a cease-fire in
a war zone or an intermission in a play. You know instantly that it is
not a resolution; rather, it is a brief respite before the action continues.
And it didn't have to be that way. In fact, Brust organizes the story
along lines that lead the reader to believe exactly the opposite. It
will not spoil the story any to say that Brust opens with a letter from
Vlad to his laundry/tailor, giving a list of repairs and cleanings to
be done. The chapters of the novel are each headed by an item from that
list and the action of the chapter shows how the item came to be on the list.
So why, then the list is done, is the story not done? I don't know; I
can only wait for the curtain to go up on the next act. [****-]
While waiting, Jo Clayton's Drinker of Souls [Daw Fantasy $3.50,
335pp.] is poor intermission fare. It's the same story she's been
telling for nine or ten books now: Woman with Special Powers crosses
Strange World in pursuit of Objective. Ho Hum. If you put Brann -- the
protagonist of Drinker of Souls -- next to Aleytys -- the protagonist
of the Diadem series -- in front of me, I couldn't tell the two apart.
For those who haven't bought the Diadem series, I recommend buying
Drinker of Souls instead. For those who have read any other Clayton
book, skip this one. [**+]
On the other hand, Gordon Dickson provides a very interesting interlude
in Beyond the Dar Al-Harb [Tor Fantasy, $3.50, 253pp.] This work is an
unusual collection of three of the author's short stories. The title
story provides a fascinating glimpse of an alien culture. Not on
another planet, but here on Earth.
These days it is easy to find shelves full of Western-European and
Celtic Fantasy; even the Chinese and Japanese mythoi are beginning to
see some exposure. Never one to follow the pack, Dickson instead takes
us to the dark and mysterious world of Crusades-era Arabia. He gives us
a tale of an exiled Scots prince, Jami al-Kafir (Jamie the Heretic),
and the revenge he takes on an old Bedouin enemy. The culture of the
Moslem world is alien to what we are used to, and Dickson uses this to
great effect. The reader is given just the right amount of background
to savor the tale. The simple themes of lust, hunger for power, and
revenge are spun into an engrossing story.
The second story in the book, "On Messenger Mountain," is a 1964 work.
Still, it provides a refreshing angle on the old SF theme of "first
contact." It is also well-written; Dickson's protagonist is easily to
dislike, but we are eased into his thoughts so smoothly that we forget
our initial reactions.
The story here is also quite simple: a battle between an alien and
Earth ship causes both to crash on an inhospitable world. The race is
quickly on between the survivors of each ship to reach the top of a
mountain from which a rescue rocket can be launched. The aliens are
shape-shifters armed with awesome natural weapons -- teeth and claws.
They seem murderous and unstoppable, but are they really?
The final story is called "Things Which are Caesar's". It is a
straightforward psychological tale, dealing with one of my favorite
themes: what would happen if Jesus reappeared? What if God came down
to Earth and performed a miracle for all to see, something that no one
could doubt, like stopping the Earth? What would happen to people who
experienced this Sign? What about people who do not believe in God?
Dickson's answer may surprise some readers; it surprised me.
As with the previous two stories, the characters are finely drawn and
the ideas in the story are fascinating. The plotting is tense and even
though I was surprised, none of it seemed unreasonable. Taken as a
whole, I was quite pleased by the book. It is truly a tour de force of
Dickson's talents. [****]
Once in a very great while, an author makes a reviewer feel justified.
When I reviewed John Crowley's Little, Big in these pages, I got
indignant messages from readers. They wanted to know why I had rated
the book as five-stars-minus. The book did win the World Fantasy Award
and I did use the word "masterpiece." So why, I was asked, did I give
it a minus?
My answer usually did not satisfy these questioners; I replied that I
thought he could do better. Now, having read AEgypt [Bantam Books,
$17.95, 390pp.], I feel justified. This work is better than Little,
Big and I have no hesitation about giving it a full five stars.
What's better about it is hard to define. The plot is, if anything,
even more tenuous than its predecessor's. It is not, in any strict
sense of the word, Fantasy. Therefore, it may be harder for many
readers to relate to. The thing that separates AEgypt seems to be the
writer's level of experience, which has increased with age.
Crowley's writing style has always been dense, ornate and articulate.
He uses words that are unfamiliar to casual readers and puts them
together in sentences that are forty, fifty or even seventy words long.
This creates a style that requires an enormous talent to master and to
pull off properly. In early works, such as Beasts, Crowley seemed not
to be in control of his own writing. In Little, Big he came very close
to putting it all together. And in AEgypt he has finally matured into
his style.
AEgypt is a joy to read. The flow of the words catches you up and
transports you into the story. I carefully rationed the book, allowing
myself no more than one or two chapters a night. In the end I gave in,
though, reading the last hundred pages in one sitting.
When I review Crowley, I spend most of my time talking about his style,
his ability to put together incredibly beautiful writing. I have also
mentioned his incredible skill at description, at setting moods, and at
building characters. Yet for the most part I avoid talking about his
plots. These are as hard to describe as smoke is to grab. The more
words I throw at them the more elusive they seem.
On the surface, AEgypt 's plot is maddeningly simple: it is the story
of a history professor's search for himself, set against the backdrop
of the Eastern US during the late sixties and early seventies. But
there is so much more going on behind the scenes.
Stop for a moment and think: Why do people believe gypsies can tell
fortunes? It doesn't matter whether they can or not; why do people
think they can? And what if there was more than one history of the
world? What if when Dante wrote about Heaven and Hell there really were
crystal spheres in the heavens and there really was a Pit and a Satan
and all the other things he wrote about? And what if history didn't
simply flow the way we ordinarily experience Time? What if it changed
suddenly in a quantum way so that things that were once true of history
were suddenly no longer true?
And lastly, what if there was a place called AEgypt that was much like
ancient Egypt and only existed in one history but might exist again in
the history of that young college professor in those turbulent times?
Read the book carefully, and maybe you'll find out. [*****]
Terry Carr (1937 - 1987)
An Appreciation
Terry Carr is dead. The facts are pretty straight forward. Born
February 19, 1937, died April 7, 1987 of congestive heart failure as a
complication of diabetes. Terry won three Hugos: in 1959 for best
fanzine for Fanac; in 1973 best fan writer; and 1985 for best
professional editor -- the only non- magazine editor to win this award.
He was an occasional novelist with Warlord of Kor (1963), Cirque
(1979), and short story writer, The Dance of the Changer and the Three
(1968, Hugo and Nebula nominee). He was best known, however, for his
editing -- he edited the classic Ace Double series as well as the
recent Ace Discovery series, the highly acclaimed Universe original
anthology series and the Best SF of the Year anthology series.
What the facts don't say is how important Terry Carr was to Science
Fiction. In his first stint as an editor at Ace, he published such
works as Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. LeGuin and Right of Passage
by Alexei Panshin. For his second round of Ace Specials, specifically
aimed at first novels, he published Neuromancer by William Gibson, The
Wild Shore by Kim Stanley Robinson, and Green Eyes by Lucius Shepard --
three of the brightest stars of the 1980's. He was one of the few
people who actively shaped Science Fiction with their own internal
view. John W. Campbell brought the magazines out of the pulps;
Judy-Lynn Del Rey brought the genre a commercial viability and
acceptance, and Terry Carr brought it quality, a sense of worth, and
the new ideas that shaped and expanded the genre. His editing abilities
were tuned to the next wave, the next barrier for the field to tumble,
was was always in front leading the way. His Universe series of
anthologies was generally considered the most innovative and important
professional market available.
The writers and magazine editors tend to get most of the publicity and
credit, but it is people like Terry Carr who make the work accessible
to the public and can see a new trend before it happens. Terry Carr's
life was Science Fiction, and to a great degree Science Fiction today
is the vision that Terry Carr had. Like the loss of Judy-Lynn Del Rey,
Terry's death leaves a vast hole in the fabric of the genre -- a far
seer is gone, and they are born, not built. Most editors publish SF,
Carr molded it.
Carr is survived by his wife Carol. His professional commitments are
being taken over by Robert Silverberg, and there will be a Universe 17
and a Year's Best Science Fiction 15. For those in the San Francisco
Bay area, there will be a memorial service on Saturday, May 30, from
1PM to 5PM.
He will be missed. He already is.
-- chuq von rospach
One of Science Fiction's least flamboyant and most talented editors is
dead. I knew Terry Carr mainly as an editor; I'm told he was very
active in fandom early on, and I don't doubt it, and a good
short-fiction writer. That I don't doubt either. But what I can confirm
was that he was one of the best editors in this field. Not content to
simply buy what the rest of the pack was buying, Terry set different
standards, standards evident in the well- regarded Universe anthology
series and the first and second series of Ace Specials. Much like Ed
Ferman has done with The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, Terry
made writers have to stretch their abilities for his anthologies and
novels. He also was one of the most personable people in the field. At
conventions, his low-key, dry humor enlivened many panels. He knew how
to make a few words say a lot. And when he spoke with you, it was as
equal- to-equal, no matter what your standing in the field. Did I know
Terry Carr well enough to call him a close friend? No. But anyone who
knew him knows he was a friend of Science Fiction's, a friend who
worked to make the field stronger, richer and more diverse.
-- Frank Catalano
We've lost another book editor.
A lot, maybe not enough, has been said of the debt SF owes to Judy-Lynn
Del Rey. If SF as a commercial genre is a ghetto, "those books on the
rack in the back," then Del Rey did more than anyone else to get us
recognized by the mainstream. She made a place for SF novels to be
commercial successes without (necessarily) giving up literary merit.
At about the same time, thanks perhaps to Star Wars and other SF media
phenomena, a rush of non-SF readers started rushing to the rack in the
back. They were looking for fun trash, and soon enough, they found lots
of it. I don't know that there was any less non-trash on the rack, but
there sure was a lot of trash.
Terry Carr had yet a third influence. With his Universe annual
anthology of original short SF, and his revival of the Ace Special
line, he kept alive the dream that enjoyable, accessible SF could be
literate. A lot of the newest "New Wave," notably Kim Stanley Robinson
and William Gibson, wouldn't have been recognized as soon or as
extensively without Carr. Carr was to '80s SF what Analog's Bova was to
'70s SF, and what Campbell was for years before that: the cultivator of
new talent. But Campbell and Bova were magazine editors. Carr's medium
was books, and he used them as a showcase for SF of all lengths.
Terry Carr made a place for SF with literary merit that didn't have to
give up the chance of commercial success. He didn't make or find the
gems we've read, but he polished and set them. I'll miss the jeweler of
the rack in the back.
-- Paul S. R. Chisholm
psc@lznv.att.com
Letters to OtherRealms
Chuq,
A few words on your rating system. There are several very good reasons
why ratings are compressed into the 3-5 star range. Let us assume that
are books published with a full gaussian distribution of 0-5 stars.
Having only limited amount of time (and money) to spend reading, I try
to only buy books that I will like (4-5 stars). I'm fairly successful
at it, I mostly buy books from authors that I know that I like, what
other people recommend, plus the occasional book that looks
interesting. Since I recognize most of the 0-2 star books on sight, why
bother to buy them? I don't need the aggravation of wading through the
latest "Gor" book. I also read more books than I review (I simply don't
have much interesting to say about many books other than I
like/disliked them). I find I'm far more interested in writing reviews
of books that I liked than books that were only OK. There is the public
service value, however, of warning people away from real dogs.
Self-selection in both buying and reviewing books conspire to leave 0-2
star books unreviewed.
John Wenn
wenn@gandalf.cs.cmu.edu
Chuq,
While it's nice to see that you're getting more material of an original
nature, i.e. art, I'm disappointed that you want to shrink the Pico
Review section of OtherRealms. Frankly, I've been thinking that the
individual Pico Reviews are getting quite a bit too long, but I don't
think that there are too many books getting reviewed.
In other words, if you have to shrink the space available for Pico
Reviews, please do it by encouraging and editing shorter reviews.
JJ
ihnp4!icarus!jj
[[I'm shrinking Pico Review space for a number of reasons. One,
I'm not getting as many as I used to -- this could be cyclic of
course. I can't print what I don't have, as many an editor has
bemoaned.
More importantly, though, I'm unhappy with the Pico Review
format, and the utility of them. There are too many reviews
from too many people, and there is little consistency in the
ratings from review to review. This significantly reduces their
utility to most people. And I don't really believe there is
enough information in a Pico Review for someone to make a
reasonable buying decision, unless they have dealt with an
individual reviewer enough to make a judgement on the reviewer
-- and since few of the Pico Review reviewers review for me at
length as well, that is tough.
I'm looking at ways of changing the PR format to make it more
useful. Perhaps modifying the length limit and sorting them by
reviewer first insteadof title, so that you can find the
reviews of a given person more easily. I don't know, though.
I think short reviews are useful, but I'm not sure the Pico
Review format is really the best format I could use for them.
We'll see.
chuq]]
OtherRealms
Reviewing the worlds of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror.
Editor & Publisher
Chuq Von Rospach
Associate Editor
Laurie Sefton
Contributing Editors
Dan'l Danehy-Oakes
Jim Brunet
Alan Wexelblat
OtherRealms #16
June, 1987
Copyright 1987 by Chuq Von Rospach.
All Rights Reserved.
One time rights have been acquired from the contributors.
All rights are hereby assigned to the contributors.
OtherRealms may be reproduced in its only for non-commercial purposes.
No article may be reprinted without the express permission of the author.
OtherRealms is published monthly, through July, the quarterly by:
Chuq Von Rospach
35111-F Newark Blvd.
Suite 255
Newark, CA. 94560
Usenet: chuq@sun.COM
Delphi: CHUQ
Review copies should be sent to this address for consideration.
Subscriptions
OtherRealms is available for the usual bribes & trades: a copy of your
zine, submissions, letters, comments, artwork or because I want you to
see it.
People who don't like to write can still get OtherRealms for money:
$2.50 for a single issue, or $8.50 for four issues. Folks in the
publishing industry can qualify for a free subscription. Just ask.
OtherRealms is available at Future Fantasy bookstore, Palo Alto,
California. Stores interested in OtherRealms should contact me.
Electronic OtherRealms
An electronic, text-only version of OtherRealms is available on a
number of different computer networks and bulletin board systems. On
the Arpanet, Bitnet, CSNet, and UUCP networks, send E-mail to
chuq@sun.COM to subscribe. On USENET, OtherRealms is distributed in the
group rec.mag.otherrealms.
It is also available on the Delphi timesharing service and a number of
Bulletin Board systems across the country.
Submissions
OtherRealms publishes articles about Science Fiction, Fantasy, and
Horror. The primary focus is reviews of books that otherwise might be
missed in the deluge of new titles published every year, but the
magazine is open to anything involving books.
Authors are welcome to submit articles for the Behind the Scenes
feature section, where you want to talk about the research and
background that went into your book.
I'm also interested in author interviews. Interview yourself, and
finally get to that question you've always wanted to be asked. Any
thing of interest to the reader of book-length fiction is welcome at
OtherRealms. We don't cover shorter lengths, media, or fannish news.
I NEED ART. Lots and lots of art. Especially small filler art for
those little white spaces and cover art. I am also desperate for a few
good pieces of cover art. The covers for my Westercon and Worldcon
issues are still not filled (as are almost all the other issues, for
that matter). Cartoons. Genre art. Anything! Help me make OtherRealms
more fun to read!
Book Ratings in OtherRealms
All books are rated with the following guidelines. Most books receive
[***]. Ratings may be modified a half step with a + or a -, so [***-]
is somewhat better than [**+]
[*****] One of the best books of the year
[****] A very good book -- above average
[***] A good book
[**] Flawed, but has its moments
[*] Not recommended
[] Avoid at all costs
