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OtherRealms Issue 14 Part 01
Electronic OtherRealms #14
April, 1987
Part 1
Table of Contents
Part 1
Editor's Notebook
Chuq Von Rospach
Time Out of Mind
Barb Jernigan
A Voice for Princess
Danny Low
The Myth Series
Alan Wexelblat
Living in the Ether
Liralen Li
No Safe Place
Danny Low
Borderland
Alan Wexelblat
The SF Book of Lists
Jim Day
Part 2
Pico Reviews
Part 3
Books Received
Words of Wizdom
Chuq Von Rospach
Letters to OtherRealms
Editor's Notebook
Chuq Von Rospach
Quarterly cutover
I've decided on the date for the cutover to quarterly. The last
monthly issue of OtherRealms will be the July issue, due out the end of
June. OtherRealms will then return in the fall, in its new, improved,
and larger format. I'm currently guessing that a quarterly issue will
run about 72-90 pages, more or less, as opposed to the current 26-30.
Since I'm starting to use more art (a trend I hope will continue),
total wordage will probably drop to somewhere around the equivalent of
2 and a half of the current OtherRealms.
From my printing and postage estimates, I don't see that cover price
or subscription charges will change (although if my subscription base
grows, I might be able to drop it again due to economies of scale).
I'll know better after I do some more research and get some estimates.
Other Changes
I'm planning a number of changes to OtherRealms over the next year to
go with the conversion to a quarterly. One is the increasing use of
artwork. I'm planning to move from Xerographic printing (meaning the
local copy shop) to a real printer, so that OtherRealms starts looking
more like a real magazine. That will also give me the capability of
using cover art to compliment reviews (something I plan) and photographs.
I'm already testing layouts with cover art, and you should see the
first results in a couple of months. I'd like to encourage publishers
to send me cover flats if they'd like them used in OtherRealms.
I'm also planning to change the article mix over the next few months,
and cut down on the size of the Pico Review section to make room for
more feature material. One feature I have in the works is a series of
articles tentatively titled "Where it came from." This feature would
give an author a place where they can discuss the background of a book
and the research and information that went into it -- in many ways an
extended version of the Author's Notes that many recent books are
carrying. As an example of what I'm talking about, look at Poul and
Karen Anderson's wonderful Roma Mater from Baen Books. If you or one
of your authors in interested in writing an article on an existing or
upcoming book, please write to me. I'll try to schedule articles to
match publication dates to the best of my ability.
Another thing I'm planning to start printing is publishing information --
things like contracts, promotions, and other news dealing with authors and
the publishing industry. I don't plan on turning OtherRealms into a full
newszine (Locus and Science Fiction Chronicle both do a fine job of it
already), but I'm looking to get a wider base of material than just
reviews. That is hard to do in 26 pages, but in the larger size I have
a lot more flexibility.
I'm always interested in ideas for articles, so if you have any
suggestions, please feel free to drop me a note.
OtherRealms
Readers
OtherRealms' readership continues to grow. Issue #13 shipped over 100
copies of the printed version, and this issue is likely to match or
beat that value. Even more astounding is the electronic readership,
where it looks like I'm over 4000 readers if you believe the statistics.
My direct mailing lists go to well over 600 readers, and the Usenet link
goes to around 3200 more. There are also readers on a number of computer
systems that I don't know of, as I'm constantly hearing about new computers
networks that have OtherRealms on it. Once something is sent out to the
electronic ethers, it takes on a life of its own. Even if the figures are
off by a whopping 50% (the maintainer of the sampling program claims it to
be +- about 5%) the size of OtherRealms is rather amazing.
Almost as astounding is the geographic distribution. OtherRealms
reaches all of the U.S. and Canada, of course, but I also have readers
in Australia, Japan, England, West Germany, Finland and Sweden. I
probably have readers in Moscow, but they aren't known for advertising
their presence.
All of this is a bit mind-boggling. When I started OtherRealms, I felt
that I'd be happy with a subscription base of 200, but the first issue
of OtherRealms was mailed to almost 300 readers, and the growth has
been steady since. I think it has just about hit the practical limit
of the network, but I really don't know.
There are definite advantages and disadvantages to electronic
distribution. I don't need to deal with large print-runs or postage,
but at the same time a lot of the extras get lost, since all the
electronic readers see is text, and reading text that is minimally
formatted is a lot more strenuous on the eyes than reading on paper.
And the electronic readers miss out on the artwork, since there is no
way to pass that stuff around electronically, so they don't get the
entire magazine.
Someday, I expect, technology will catch up to all of this. But not
for a while...
There are Awards,
and Then There are...
Awards. Locus #314 has announcements for two more awards: the Theodore
Sturgeon Memorial and the Arthur C. Clarke award. Philip K. Dick has
an award. It seems like awards are propogating as fast as people can
get to the trophy shop.
Now, I don't want to denigrate any of these folks. Sturgeon and Dick
were very important influences in Science Fiction, and Clarke still
is. But I find it very disappointing to see the most important person
in the field since John W. Campbell ignored.
If any contemporary Science Fiction person deserves an award, Judy-
Lynn Del Rey does. She almost singlehandedly took Science Fiction off
the pulp rack and put it on the Bestseller list. She pried many of the
best works out of many of the best authors in the field. John W.
Campbell defined Science Fiction, Judy-Lynn Del Rey legitimized it and
broke it out of the ghetto.
Someone, a major con, a major fan group, perhaps even Del Rey books,
should bring forward an award that honors her name and what she means
to Science Fiction. She never got the recognition she deserved while
alive, and I'm sorry to see her being forgotten so quickly now that
she's gone. For all she gave us, a little honorarium is seriously
needed.
Corrections
Last issue I inadvertantly gave one of my artists a new identity -- my
apologies to Wendy Christensen who was arbitrarily metomorphosized into
Ward. This is just a great example why I try to type all of my notes.
Sorry, Wendy.
See you next month!
Time out of Mind
John R. Maxim
[***]
Tor Books, 1986, $4.50
Reviewed by
Barb Jernigan
barb@oliveb.ATC.OLIVETTI.COM
Copyright 1987 by Barb Jernigan
"He did not have the look of a man who frightened easily. But what
made him afraid, in a way no bar bully or snarling dog could, was
snow... Jonathan Corbin saw things in the snow. For when it
snowed, another consciousness claimed Corbin, memories not his own
filled his senses, memories of 1880 New York City, of a blizzard,
of a woman he stalks... and murders."
Ancestral memory? That's what psychiatrist Harry Sturdevant believes --
an explanation plausible as any impossibility to his "niece," Corbin's
lover and confidant Gwen Leamas. Or ghosts? That's what paid
investigator Raymond Lesko refuses to believe, what his employers are
terrified may be true -- and they want Corbin dead.
A dual mystery. A single yarn spun from two threads, a murder
committed a hundred years ago, a murder in the planning now. And
caught in the vortex is Jonathan Corbin, pulled increasingly into a
dead man's memories.
Maxim handles the two threads well. His style is quite descriptive,
full of sensual detail that brings 1880 and 1980 New York City alive --
often simultaneously. Corbin's "flashbacks" (or should I say
"Corbin's" flash-backs) are like a stone skipping across a lake, at
first brief touches, then sinking deeper and deeper until.... Indeed,
Maxim loses marks in the last two chapters for becoming pedantic - -
he's in a rush to fill in the last of the historic detail, to confirm
beyond doubt what the reader should already suspect. But the wrap- up
is interesting enough to overcome this technical difficulty.
On the whole, Time Out of Mind is a well written, engaging read. By
its cover, it's geared for the newstand reader, and is more a detective
tale of inner circle intrigue and a waltz through history than what the
fantasy/sf reader might expect from a "ghost story." There is no horror
other than the darkness of the human soul -- and the lingering effects
of a dying curse that comes full circle. Maxim is a talented writer --
other than the pedantic, get-it-all-in ending, he only faltered once.
His name dropping could also be seen as a flaw (Col. Cody, John L.
Sullivan, Teddy Roosevelt), although perhaps his point, beyond giving
his story a firmer grounding in history, is that these people were not
the outstanding notables -- "heroes" is one word that comes to mind --
that a hundred years of history has shaped them into. Roosevelt, for
example, was merely an energetic young man with a tendency to shout.
And Buffalo Bill Cody was "that long-haired actor fellow with the Wild
West Show."
If you're looking for an entertaining diversion, tightly written by a
man who has apparently done his homework ("apparently" as I know too
little of NYC history to be certain of Maxim's "facts"), Time Out of
Mind is well worth the money.
A Voice for Princess
John Morressy
[****]
Ace Books, 1986, $2.95, 213pp
Reviewed by
Danny Low
hplabs!hpccc!dlow
Copyright 1987 by Danny Low
Kedrigen is the finest counterspell wizard around although he sometimes
is impetuous which results in a counterspell that doesn't quite lift
the original spell cleanly. That is the reason for the title of the
book. When Kedrigen hastily unenchanted his wife, she went from a
talking frog to a croaking princess. The underlying story in the book
is about Kedrigen's attempts to restore his wife's voice. This main
story is not enough to fill out a book, so Morressy has interspersed
short stories about Kedrigen's efforts to counter spells for various
clients throughout the book. The main story and the short stories hang
together well resulting in an episodic novel.
The book is clearly written tongue-in-cheek. While it has its share of
puns, it is not a punishing book like Piers Anthony's Xanth series.
The comedy is broad but it is not slapstick. The characterization is
quite good for the main characters. Kedrigen's wife, Princess, is a
better developed character than Kedrigen.
In the end, Princess gets her voice back but there is room for a
sequel.
The Myth Series
Robert Asprin
Another Fine Myth [***+]
Myth Conceptions [***+]
Myth Directions [***]
Hit or Myth [***]
Myth-ing Persons [**]
Little Myth Marker [*+]
M.Y.T.H. Inc. Link [**]
Reviewed by
Alan Wexelblat
wex@mcc.com
Copyright 1987 by Alan Wexelblat
I don't normally buy large-size, illustrated, paperback editions; usually
they are overpriced novellas padded out to novel length with large type
and pictures. In the case of the Myth series, though, I have made an
exception. The illustrations are by Kelly Freas and Phil Foglio, two of
my favorite artists, and their work is worth the extra money.
I should point out to the unwary that there are actually three editions
of some of these books. There are the illustrated ones which were
first issued. There are also un-illustrated, small-sized versions of
each. In addition, the first two books were originally illustrated by
Kelly Freas. The latter five have art by Phil Foglio. Sometime after
the switch, Starblaze decided to go back and reissue the first two with
Foglio illustrations. I suspect that the Freas first editions will be
hard to find.
The Myth series concerns the mis-adventures of an aspiring wizard,
Skeeve, and a demon (that's short for dimension-traveller) named Aahz.
The two, plus an assortment of odd companions, manage to scheme and
bumble their way through a series of fairly humorous adventures. Along
the way, Asprin develops their characters and relationship at a nice
pace. The books are fast-paced and fun, with jokes aplenty. Aahz and
Skeeve were designed to parody the familiar hero-sidekick style of many
Fantasy books. People who hate puns and parody should stay away.
Reading these books is a little like riding a roller coaster you've
ridden dozens of times before. You know you're going to be thrilled,
perhaps scared, by the ride. You know that you're going to `defy' the
laws of physics. And knowing that you'll arrive safely at the end of
the ride doesn't spoil the fun. In this series, Asprin uses hoary old
plots (the insane wizard, the unstoppable army, etc.). He gets away
with this only by making it lots of fun. In those cases where it's not
fun, the entire book flops.
The first book, Another Fine Myth, shows how Aahz and Skeeve meet and
team up. In addition, several minor characters are introduced. The
dimension of Klah, of which Skeeve is a native, is being used as a base
by the insane wizard Isstvan. He plans to take over all the dimensions
and it's up to our heroes and an assortment of friends and unwilling
allies to stop him. This book is just pure fun - the dialog is snappy,
the characters are interesting, the jokes are funny, and the plot is
nicely handled. I reread the book for this review and enjoyed it as
much as I did the first time.
In the second book, Myth Conceptions, the dauntless duo set out to seek
gainful employment which they find in the tiny kingdom of Possiltum.
The job of court magician is quite cozy -- until a marauding army
decides that Possiltum is between the army and where the army wants to
be. Aahz and Skeeve assemble another improbable group of companions
and attempt to stop the army. There are a few rough spots, but this
book really establishes the trademark of the Myth series: the setting
up of and escaping from a seemingly-impossible situation.
Myth Directions continues in the same vein. If you've dealt with the
largest army in your dimension, what do you do for diversion? Steal the
most valuable object in another dimension, of course. It would spoil
things to say more. This book is, like the two before, a great deal of
fun. You know they'll solve the impossible situation and you enjoy
almost all of it. As with Myth Conceptions there are a few rough spots
but they're hardly noticeable.
Hit or Myth changes the direction of the series. Rather than trying to
create bigger and badder opponents, Asprin divides the previously
inseparable team. Early in the story, Aahz is lured back to his home
dimension of Perv, leaving Skeeve to face the wrath of a medieval Mob
and a scheming bride-to-be who would make Machiavelli pause. This
time, Skeeve must assemble and direct his own team. The problem is, he
does it too easily. The plot has potential complexities that Asprin
doesn't develop deeply enough. Things just happen and a good deal of
the fun is lost. In addition, there's a good deal more talking and
less doing than in previous books. Characters stop and lecture each
other every so often. The resolution of the action is fun though, and
saves the story from being a total loss.
Speaking of total losses, Mything Persons resembles that pretty
nicely. Oh, it starts off well enough. Some shady characters use
Skeeve's house to escape from the wrath of a group of merchants and so
he has to hunt them down or lose his all-important reputation.
Unfortunately, Aahz decides it's too risky for "the kid" and so knocks
Skeeve out in order to do it himself. Naturally, Skeeve has to rescue
him. It's a good premise and there are glimpses of interesting new
characters. But that's about it. Asprin seems to think that it's okay
to stop the action at any time so that characters can have long- winded
discussions about emotional issues. The jokes are really strained; the
framework they're in doesn't help them along at all.
Last year, Asprin talked about the Myth series while at a mini-con here
in Austin. He claimed that Aahz and Skeeve "just weren't funny any
more." Well, after reading Little Myth Marker, I'm convinced it's
Asprin who's not funny. He's definitely running out of material for
jokes. The plot of the book is very simple: Someone has hired a
character assassin, known only as The Axe, to do a hatchet job on
Skeeve's reputation. No one knows who The Axe is or who hired him.
Even this simple an idea could have been interesting, I guess, but it
isn't. Asprin spends page after page on emotional exposition. There's
virtually no action and the talking that fills this book just isn't
funny. The witty dialog that characterized the first three books is
totally gone by this point. Give this one a miss.
I bought the last two books together, and, after suffering the
disappointments, I cheated. Instead of buying the next book outright,
I borrowed it from a friend. M.Y.T.H. Inc. Link is a tough book to
explain. Unlike the other book, Asprin wrote this collection of short
stories with a purpose. The idea is to split Aahz and Skeeve off from
their entourage, yet allow readers to enjoy both. Thus, we will have
Myth books about the dauntless duo (told from their point of view), and
M.Y.T.H. Inc. books about the other characters (told from, I gather,
varying points of view). This book serves as the link between the two
new series and the unified old one - thus the title. Confused yet?
M.Y.T.H. Inc. Link is a collection of five short stories, each told
from the point of view of a different character. A couple of the
stories are pretty good, almost up to the quality of the first books.
The problem is that Asprin doesn't differentiate the characters
enough. They all say pretty much the same things. And most of them
have that stop-the-action-and-talk habit that really ruined the later
books. The stories tie together nicely, and there are hints that
things could get really funny, if Asprin can think up new material.
Overall, I think the series is a good idea. The first three books are
worth buying. The others I'm not so sure of. I hate to think Asprin
will let these characters continue to go to waste.
Living in the Ether
Patricia Geary
[****-]
Bantam Spectra
Reviewed by
Liralen Li
li@vlsi.washington.edu
Copyright 1987 by Liralen Li
An intricate origami structure often requires folds which are undone in
order to create the proper creases needed for an entirely different,
yet necessary, fold to complete the structure. This work greatly
resembles an origami of a character, with a gradual, patient folding,
unfolding and refolding along the creases of the past. This isn't a
mainstrean fantasy, even by the farthest reaches of the imagination.
It is a careful balancing act between the fantasy and the reality of a
psychological case study. It is a first person account of a character
who is literally unsure of exactly where the line between reality and
fantasy lies.
Deirdre Gage is a medium, one whom other people hire to go into a
trance and give them access to the spirits beyond; however, even she is
unsure as to wheither there is really a spirit world, or if it is all
"a great hoax" and those spirits are merely alternate, unconscious
personalities. She never speaks directly to a spirit, other than the
illusion of the spirit of her long dead brother, a suicide. There are
signs she finds from her brother, which she reads, and then destroys,
writing that now there is no evidence, there may never have been. At
another point she realizes that she had done several tasks without
being conscious of them. She acknowledges that her memories may not be
true, and throughout is the Zen thought, "I'm lying when I just want to
be perfectly clear."
It is a disturbing piece, wound about with the sensuous and disturbing
essense of Mishima, a Japanese author of astonishing power and a grisly
past; although, on the surface, Mishima is just one of the target
spirits of one of Deirdre's customers. Deirdre is fascinated and
repelled at the same time by what is offered by what Mishima found the
essence of Japan, as well as the customer who brings it all to mind.
The power of the piece is in its delicate and intricate construction of
Deirdre, of her past, and of her reactions and desires. Deirdre is the
perfect name for her, as is the harmony of all that she is.
However, so careful is the construction I was badly disappointed with
the conclusion of the book, for it came clearly down on one side of the
delicate balance of the rest of the book, crushing the structure. I
would rather the author had stopped five paragraphs sooner. This is
not for light reading, in fact, on my first reading I was disgusted
with the thing because it just wasn't what I was led to expect from the
blurbs on either the back or inside the front cover. However, after
re-researching Mishima's works, and recollecting that state of mind
that I have to be in to even approach Zen, I found this work
fascinating.
I would highly recommend it for those that wish to read something
complex, intricate, and as harmonized as an origami structure with
knife-edge folds.
No Safe Place
Anne Moroz
[***]
Popular Library/Questar
323 pages, $3.50
Reviewed by
Danny Low
hplabs!hpccc!dlow
Copyright 1987 by Danny Low
Kate Harlin is an officer on a company ship that discovers an alien
artifact. The crew, which includes an artificial person, is decimated
by an alien life form found in the artifact. Only Harlin survives.
She escapes using a lifeboat. After being rescued, she discovers the
company does not believe her story and she is forced to lead an
expedition back to the planet.
No, this is not the book version of Aliens but the background and much
of the details of the story are so similar that it is clear Moroz
decided to write her version of Alien/Aliens. For example, the crew
has to go into hibernation for the FTL trip. Considering the lead time
for a book to get published, I suspect that Moroz worked from the story
of the original movie, Aliens, and created a sequel that is remarkably
similar to Aliens.
Moroz has used the advantages of the novel to explain the situation and
the background universe in much more detail than could be shown in a
movie. For example, the culpability of the company is fully explored.
She also resolves the conflict between Harlin and the company which is
more than has been done with Ripley and her problems with the company.
The book can stand on its own. No knowledge of the movies is needed to
read and understand the book. For someone who has seen both movies,
the book is an interesting study of what could have been.
Borderland
Created by
Terri Windling & Mark Alan Arnold
[***]
1986, Signet books
252 pages, $2.95
Reviewed by
Alan Wexelblat
wex@mcc.com
Copyright 1987 by Alan Wexelblat
Somewhere in California, at a time when the technological world is
collapsing, the magical Elflands reappear. The area where the two
worlds overlap is called the Borderlands; the town where humans, elves,
and "halfies" mix in large numbers is called Bordertown. Bordertown is
a hard-rocking, pseudo-punk blend of magic and technology.
With a setup like this, and a bevy of talented young writers, it seems
that this shared-world anthology just can't fail. And yet, and yet...
Borderland is not so much a failure as it is a disappointment. It
raises high hopes that it just doesn't meet.
A shared-world anthology is both a curse and a blessing to its
writers. The blessing is the shared presence: The reader is familiar
with the setting, background, minor characters and other details which
support a story. The author is thus relieved of much of the burden of
setting the scene, describing the environment and so forth. This
allows them (in theory, anyway) to concentrate more on telling the
story, developing characters, or whatever else they want to do.
The curse is more subtle: In a sense, the authors in a shared-world
anthology are running a relay race; if one story lags, the pacing and
overall impact of the anthology are reduced. The lead-off and anchor
stories take on a magnified importance. In addition, the atmosphere of
the shared world creates expectations in the reader which each story
must live up to. I think that this curse has struck Borderland.
The four stories, "Prodigy," "Gray," "Stick," and "Charis" are fine
works. Submitted separately to professional magazines, I am sure they
would all have sold. But they don't work as a team.
Boyett's "Prodigy" is a long (104 pages) slow-paced story that
contrasts poorly with the tighter, faster pace of the other three.
Having it as the lead-off story in an anthology is a bad idea. It has
good plot and characters, but they develop too slowly and the answer is
obvious to the reader long before the main character gets around to
figuring it out.
Bach's "Gray" is a little tighter, but its confusing point-of-view
shifts make it a hard work to read and prevent it from easily playing a
team role. Bach, as well as Boyett, gives the impression that he finds
Bordertown too confining to write in -- something that you don't want
in a shared world.
De Lint and Kushner, however, save the book. Their stories are fast-
paced and exciting. They breathe life into Bordertown and generate
interesting characters to populate it. Although their stories are
complete in and of themselves, in each case I wanted the author to
write more. I really want to see what happens to Stick and Manda and
Charis and all the rest.
The overall impression, as I said before, is one of promises
unfulfilled. There is a lot of good material here; I think future
books (Bordertown is already out; I have it but haven't read it) will
have lots to work with.
The SF Book of Lists
Maxim Jakubowski & Malcolm Edwards
[***]
Berkley Books, 1983, 384 pages, $7.95
Reviewed by
Jim Day
JimDay.Pasa@Xerox.COM
Copyright 1987 by Jim Day
Maxim Jakubowski is an editor and critic who also writes SF and
Fantasy. Malcolm Edwards is an editor and former administrator of the
Science Fiction Foundation. The book itself is a potpourri of
informative data and a plethora of picayune trivia. I found it
delightful, despite the fact that it has neither a table of contents
nor an index. Although voluminous, the book makes no claim to being
comprehensive. For instance, the list of SF writers named Smith
mentions a mere 23 authors. Its categories include the following and
many, many more:
Fifty great aliens of science fiction.
Nine generation-starship stories.
Ten characters who have promoted the consumption of coffee in
improbable quarters of space and time.
Ten brain-twisting time paradox stories.
Ten alternate worlds novels.
The forty most popular SF short stories.
The thirty-four best SF short stories published before 1940.
The twenty-six all-time best SF novels.
The ten most unjustly neglected SF novels ever written.
Forty-three famous Astounding/Analog serials.
The five most useful SF reference books.
Six SF Short stories whose combined word length equals that of this
heading.
OtherRealms #14
April, 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 entirety only
for non-commercial purposes. With the exception of
excerpts used for promotional purposes, no part of
OtherRealms may be re-published without permission.
