Copy Link
Add to Bookmark
Report
OtherRealms Issue 18 Part 06
Electronic OtherRealms #18
Fall, 1987
Part 6
Words of Wizdom
Reviews by
Chuq Von Rospach
Copyright 1987 by
Chuq Von Rospach
Reviewed in this column:
To Sail Beyond the Sunset
Robert A. Heinlein
[*****-]
Across the Sea of Suns
Gregory Benford
[****]
Bimbos of the Death Sun
Sharyn McCrumb
[***-]
Dreams of an Unseen Planet
Teresa Plowright
[**]
War for the Oaks
Emma Bull
[****]
Wyrms
Orson Scott Card
[***]
A Dark Travelling
Roger Zelazny
[***-]
Strangers from the Sky
Margaret Wander Bonanno
[***+]
Writers of the Future
Volume III
A.J. Budrys, Ed.
[***+]
The Planet on the Table
Kim Stanley Robinson
[****-]
Guns of Darkness
J.E. Pournelle
[***]
Fantasists on Fantasy
Boyer & Zahorski
[****+]
How to Write Tales of Horror, Fantasy
and Science Fiction
J.N. Williamson, Ed.
[***-]
Mr. Scott's Guide to the Enterprise
Shane Johnson
[**]
The Science Fiction and Heroic Fantasy Author Index
Stuart W. Wells III
[***+]
Arthur C. Clarke's July 20, 2019:
Life in the 21st Century
[]
To Sail Beyond the Sunset, subtitled The Life and Loves of Maureen
Johnson (Being the Memoirs of a Somewhat Irregular Lady) [Ace/Putnam,
407 pages, $18.95] is the latest from Robert A. Heinlein, one of the
acknowledged masters of the field. The book seems to finish the trend
started in The Number of the Beast, as Heinlein carefully and
methodically ties together the universes in his many stories and novels
into a single unified whole.
This book will be controversial, as every Heinlein work has been since
he discovered sex in the classic work Time Enough for Love. This book
is about sex and, almost incidentally, the history of the human race.
It sports an, um, interesting cover by Boris. No, to be honest, it
sports an anatomically perfect naked Boris female cover, tastefully
arranged and perfectly static -- I don't like Boris, because all of his
covers look like something out of Gray's Anatomy -- biologically
perfect and at the same time very lifeless, static, and boring. This is
no different -- when you see the cover at a distance, it will make you
take a closer look, but when you do, there is nothing there.
What really matters are the words. And words there are, 400 pages of a
more-or-less monologue by Maureen Johnson (later Maureen Smith, later
Maureen Long), born 1882, mother of seventeen, including Woodrow Wilson
Smith, later known as Lazarus Long.
Readers should be aware that this is not Science Fiction, in any real
sense. A better classification might be Historical Romance, a romantic
and erotic biography that happens to be set in the fictional world that
Heinlein developed. It is, strictly speaking, a sequel to both The
Number of the Beast and The Cat Who Walks Through Walls, but it is also
spiritually a sequel to his entire canon. This book, however, stands on
its own, and is one of his best works.
That is a statement that cries out for justification. Heinlein
polarizes readers like few authors do; it isn't a matter of whether you
like his works, but whether you're a fan of his "early" works, or his
"later" material, the boundary falling somewhere around Time Enough for
Love. Heinlein is, the best active writer of dialog. When the dialog is
under control and working with the story, as it does here and in
Friday, his books live and breath. When it isn't, however, and the
dialog becomes an end to itself, pages and pages of cloying triviality
show up as the characters try to show each other up. In the meantime
the plot, stuck off in a corner, dies of loneliness. Both Beast and Cat
suffered from this disease -- to the point where I was unable to finish
either.
This book avoids that trap. It is almost 100% dialog (actually
monologue, Maureen to reader), and unlike Beast or Cat, the primary
purpose of the book is to tell Maureen's story. The story does tie up
many loose ends, but within context, not simply for the sake of tying
things together.
There are two stories in this book. The primary story is that of
Maureen, from her early childhood to her present time in the far
future, but the primary focus is from the late 1890's to the end of
World War II. The secondary story is barely a subplot -- Maureen in
captivity awaiting trial and execution on some unknown parallel world,
hoping for rescue. This subplot leads off each chapter for a few
paragraphs, and then steps out of the way for Maureen to continue her tale.
The memoir is two things: a continuing dialog of her sexual beliefs,
exploits, and encounters, and a critique (and occasional rewrite) of
American society and morals. Maureen lives in the world that is, but
talks about the world that should be, as seen through the eyes of
Heinlein. The erotica (for it is that, and not pornography) is mental,
not graphic. Maureen isn't afraid to tell you exactly what she thinks
or feels, but Heinlein avoids the nitty-gritty details. It reminded me
of an updated, low key Fanny Hill. She is upfront about her moral and
social values, and lives by a Libertarian standpoint that is critical
of and different from our reality.
I'm sure lots of people will find reasons to dislike this book -- the
sexuality portrayed, the morals, the attitudes --JHeinlein has written
a lot into this work without being particularly afraid about who he
offends. That this book could be as important to the genre as Stranger
in a Strange Land or Time Enough for Love were; it is also possible
that it will be written off as another throwaway book by a man obsessed
with S*x. I hope the latter doesn't happen -- and I feel sorry for the
folks who feel that way, for being unable to see past their own
inhibitions to the work behind it.
This book feels as if it was written to be the last Heinlein book. I
sincerely hope not -- I want to see if he can top this.
Last month Jim Brunet talked about the troubles in the Hard SF field.
This month I'm happy to point out that Hard SF isn't quite dead --
Gregory Benford is alive, well, and delivering good, solid, Hard SF.
His latest, Across the Sea of Suns [Bantam, 353 pages, $3.95] is a case
in point.
This book is related to In the Ocean of the Night, and tells the story
of an interstellar ship sent to look for life among the nearby stars.
Interweaved through this story is a subplot on Earth -- something has
come from the stars and seeded the oceans with a breed of deadly
animals. Between these, we get an extrapolation of the local bit of
the universe. Benford's primary purpose in the book, though, is to try
to answer the age- old question "If there is life throughout the
Universe, why haven't we heard from them before now?" His answer, very
plausible, is also very chilling, and one that I hope fails the test of
Occam's Razor.
This book is much more than a technology tome, though. Unlike many Hard
SF writers, Benford uses the hardware as a base and builds a strong
story around it, populating it with strong characters. The protagonists
of the story are involved in a group marriage, and there is a lot of
byplay about the stresses and compromises this involves (this book, as
a matter of fact, makes a good counterpoint to some of Heinlein's
overly simplistic "Group Marriage is simply wonderful -- with an
emphasis on the simple"). The primary focus of the action of the book
is also slanted away from the technology to the political interactions
of a group of people on a long-term space voyage.
Across the Sea of Suns isn't perfect. Benford uses a couple of
experimental dialog tricks to try to get around the hated expository
dialog problems -- with limited success. While he gets his information
across, I found that the style was very hard to follow and rather
confusing, forcing me to break my train of thought and have to
backtrack through it two or three times trying to figure out what he
was saying. Other than that, though, there isn't much to complain about
here, and this is definitely a book worth reading.
How could anyone resist a novel with the title Bimbos of the Death Sun
[Windwalker books/TSR, 219 pages, $2.95]? I certainly couldn't, and not
even the well-endowed woman in the leopard fur bikini space suit on the
cover could keep me from trying it out. This book is marketed as a
mystery, but it really isn't. What it is is a satire of Science Fiction
conventions, and for the most part it is a lot of fun.
The first half of the book describes many of the places and caricatures
that show up at many cons -- the wargamers, the costumes, the art show,
the huckster room, the total chaos behind the scenes. McCrumb tells the
story by tossing a complete novice, Dr. Jay Mega, author of his first
novel (which happens to be the same title as McCrumb's book) into the
grinder and letting him try to explain it. By the time the Guest of
Honor Appin Dungannon, author and resident obnoxious boor, is killed,
the book goes downhill rapidly and dissolves into a real-life D&D game
used to trap the murderer. The first half of the book, with one
exception, is a real hoot, and a must read for anyone who has ever been
stuck in a middle of a con wondering why they enjoy going to these things.
I do want to point out the exception, however. Early on McCrumb makes a
comment that female fans fall into two classes: if you weigh less than
120 pounds, you wear as little as possible, and if you weigh more, you
wear lots of velvet and try to hide your bulk. She also has one
character, an obese woman who's two aims in life seem to be eating and
finding a nerd to sleep with to save on hotel costs. Now, while all of
the other characters are amusing caricatures, I found this character
very offensive. She's shown to be slow thinking, conniving, a
compulsive eater, manipulator and with very little self image or
motivation. Nothing, from my experiences from conventions, is further
than the truth, and this reinforcement of stereotypes in a nasty way
really bothered me, and I think it is unfortunate that this one problem
mars an otherwise enjoyable look at a fun part of fandom. Don't expect
much from the mystery, but enjoy the scenery.
Teresa Plowright's first novel, Dreams of an Unseen Planet [Arbor
House, 273 pages, $16.95] shows potential, potential unfortunately to
some degree unrealized in the first encounter. She's taken on an
ambitious task, trying to meld together many different ideas and
themes: Earth is on the edge of a world war, an outpost is sent to a
foreign planet to make a fresh start, the planet seeming has a sentient
intelligence that is affecting the colonists, although only one
colonist seems to notice its existence. She also weaves in both
dystopian and feminist subtexts.
Ventura is the American outpost on Gaea, settled (along with sister
outposts from China and Russia -- none of whom talk to each other, just
like on Earth) in a hurry because it looks like the Earth is finally
going to blow itself up.
Things are in pretty bad shape. Fertility is zero, despite ever attempt
by Center (the nameless controlling administration) to promote births
and reproduction. Crops are in bad shape, livestock isn't reproducing,
the colony is failing, and nobody can figure out why. Miera, a working
in the botanical gardens, is haunted by shapeless, sensual red dreams,
and is fascinated by views of the planet outside -- views most
colonists shun.
Plowright writes well, and I'll be in line for her next book, but
Dreams never gels. There are simply too many things running around
looking for attention, and she doesn't quite get it all tied together.
I ended up feeling vaguely confused about what she was really trying to
say because the book lacks a strong focus. There are no major flaws,
but no real enchantment, either, potential, but potential unrealized.
Another first novel is War for the Oaks, by Minneapolis writer Emma
Bull [Ace Fantasy Special, 309 pages, $3.50]. This is the book in the
Fantasy sister to the highly regarded series of first Science Fiction
novels edited by the late Terry Carr, and if this is any indication of
what editor Terri Windling is going to do with the series, you can put
the entire line on your buy list right now.
Bull tells a modern Fantasy, a battle for ownership of Minneapolis
between the Seelie and Unseelie courts of Fairie. Thrust into the
middle of this is Eddi McCandry, who is a musician in the Minneapolis
bar band circuit. She is the Seelie talisman, for only with a human on
the battleground may a Fairie die, and this battle is for keeps.
Bull tells the story at two levels. There is the story of Fairie and
all that is done out of the site of the humans living in the city. She
also weaves in a second story about the music -- not the top forty big
business music, but the intense, personal music scene in operation in
any big city. I'm frankly not a big fan of music, but I still found
this entire book entrancing. The right folks win in the end, although
the victory is not without its losses as well. This is a very enjoyable
book, and a great start for a new author.
Wyrms [Arbor House, 263 pages, $16.95] is the latest from Hugo and
Nebula winner Orson Scott Card. It's a rather simple book, the story of
Patience, a young diplomats daughter trained in diplomacy as well as
the arts of the assassin. She is, it turns out, heir to the throne of
the Heptarch as well as the prophesied seventh daughter of the seventh
daughter of the seventh daughter, whose geas is to mate with the
Unwyrm, ruler of the underworlds.
This book rapidly turns into a rather standard quest novel, as Patience
chases the her destiny, meeting interesting people and having
interesting meetings along the way as she tries to find the information
and tools she needs to defeat the prophecy, kill the Unwyrm, and assume
her rightful place on the throne.
The trappings are Science Fiction, although the story is a Fantasy. If
your mumbo-jumbo mentions magic, it is Fantasy, if that same mumbo-
jumbo is genetics, its Science Fiction. The story has echoes of both
Tolkien's Lord of the Rings and Wolfe's New Sun series, in fact I think
an argument could be made that it is an homage of Wolfe's work. The
worst I can say about this book is that it is harmless -- it isn't
challenging to read, it isn't a complex plot and there aren't a lot of
new ideas, but it is well written without any serious flaws. An
enjoyable, minor book from a major writer.
A Dark Travelling is the second book in the Millenium series [packaged
by Byron Preiss and published by Walker and Company, 143 pages, $14.95]
where major authors take a new look at some of the traditional themes
of Science Fiction. In this volume, Roger Zelazny takes a look at
parallel universes with a good dash of witchcraft, psychics and
lycanthropy tossed in for good measure. It's written very much like a
juvenile, and is a fast, fun read.
Parallel universes come in three flavors -- light bands, the good guys;
dark bands, the bad guys; and dead bands, the dead guys. The dark bands
are constantly trying to take over the light bands, as you might
expect, and the light bands are constantly trying to take over the dark
bands to put them out of business. One night, Tom Wiley, keeper of the
transcomp machine on one of the light bands is attacked and kidnapped
-- evidently by a dark band group. It is up to his fourteen year old
son, Jim, to find him and set things right.
The book never really sets up the premise that well or uses it to its
full potential. What it really seems to be is a juvenile oriented
coming of age story about Jim, as he learns to deal with himself in
adult situations and come to grips with being a werewolf. Another book
that covers this same idea much better is Gene DeWeese's The 10-Minute
Werewolf, and while there is nothing really wrong with this book,
there's nothing really worth calling attention to it, either. Another
minor work from a major author.
From the Star Trek folks, a first contact novel with a difference --
what really happened when Earth first met the outsiders? In Strangers
from the Sky (Pocket Books, 402 pages, $3.95) we get a look, not at the
official doctrine of the Federation, but of what really happened and
how the Earth nearly blew it.
This book contains three stories told in two parts. The first, and most
interesting, is Strangers from the Sky itself, an account of the
original encounter as read by Dr. McCoy or Kirk. The first half of the
book switches between this story and the Star Trek folks themselves,
acting on, around, and because of the story. Kirk, reading the novel,
starts having strange nightmares and other psychological problems. At
the same time, so does Spock. The coincidence is too strong, of course,
so the two lock themselves up in an apartment with McCoy watching to
try to get to the bottom of these strange occurrences.
The third story takes up the second half of the book as Kirk and Spock
mind meld and go back to a previous adventure in which they and a
landing party are whisked to Earth at the same time the first Vulcans
crash land on the planet. The Earth authorities are hostile and
secretive and considering any number of actions (all of them nasty, of
course) so the Star Trek folks get involved and help put things to
right and steer Earth to the stars, so that everybody can live happily
ever after.
There's a very good story here, but it looks like the Star Trek people
were afraid to publish a book that didn't have the regular characters
in it -- which is too bad, because they've wrapped a couple of subplots
around the core and weakened what they were trying to say. This book
could have been cut by a third and some of the maneuvering to get the
Good Doctor and friend front and center removed and a good book could
have been turned into a great book. I think a series of stories about
the early days of the Federation is a good idea -- but I don't think
that trying to shove current people into the ancient past is a bad
idea, and the justifications used here to tie everything together are
forced and unconvincing.
Before he died, Author L. Ron Hubbard put together a contest to try to
find and promote the best of the next generation of authors in the
field. To date, it has been an overwhelming success. Among other
aspects of the contest is a yearly anthology of the best stories.
Writers of the Future, Volume III [Bridge Publications, 427 pages,
$4.50] is out, and continues the tradition of publishing a highly
varied collection of (for the most part) previously unpublished
authors. Where you might have looked to Clarion for the new writers of
the Seventies, I've come to believe that most of the major players in
the Eighties (and perhaps beyond) will first be seen within the volumes
of this anthology series -- reportedly contracted through Volume Seven.
There are rough edges on some of the stories, and there are sure to be
stories that you won't like, not because they aren't good, but because
there is such a wide variety of topics and styles that some simply
won't click. But there isn't a clinker in the bunch. Writers of the
Future is a major proving ground for the next generation of superstars,
and as such it deserves your support. If that isn't enough, though,
you'll 14 good stories and a lot of enjoyable reading time. Highly
recommended.
Kim Stanley Robinson's latest collection, The Planet on the Table [Tor
Science fiction, 241 pages, $3.50] is out, and is a strong collection
of short fiction from one of the better young writers. Many of the
works will probably be unfamiliar to you, because they are primarily
collected from Terry Carr's Universe anthology series. There are also a
couple of stories from Fantasy & Science Fiction magazine and Damon
Knight's Orbit anthology series. If you know anything about Terry Carr,
you can guess that there isn't a bad story in the bunch. My personal
favorite has to be "The Disguise" which is a view into how theater
might be in the far future. This book is one of the better collections
you'll see this year.
Does politics and Science Fiction mix? Jerry Pournelle, a well known
pro-space and pro-Defense conservative as well as SF author, has been
publishing a series of anthologies under the title There Will be War.
The basic premise seems to be that War is a necessary evil, and it will
happen. You prepare for it, because it is inevitable.
If you think that these books are propogandist, however, you'd be dead
wrong. Guns of Darkness [There Will be War, Volume VI, Tor Science
Fiction, 405 pages, $3.95, edited by John F. Carr and created by Jerry
Pournelle] is an anthology of stories as bleak as the blackest anti-war
works by Harlan Ellison or Joe Haldeman. It includes both new stories
and reprints, as well as a few factual or historical articles. In
general, the stories are quite good, especially Battleground by Gregory
and Jim Benford, Doughfoot Sanctum by James William Holzer (a dead
ringer for Lucius Shepard's R&R) and The Eye of Argos by Harry
Turtledove. The only place it falls down are the factual articles,
which seem a bit strident, and The Highest Treason, a story by Randall
Garrett that is one of the very few works by that author I haven't
liked. Overall, though, the quality is high, and this book should be
attractive to people across the political spectrum. Perhaps the best
propaganda is that that doesn't preach to the converted.
This month somehow turned into a month for catching up on reference
books. One that I ran into that I recommend very highly is Fantasists
on Fantasy, edited by Robert H. Boyer and Kenneth J. Zahorski
[Avon/Discus books, 1984, 287 pages, $3.95]. This is an anthology of
various pieces about the field of Fantasy by the people who write it.
The pieces date from 1893 to the present day, and include pieces from
G.K. Chesterton, James Thurber, H.P Lovecraft, C.S. Lewis, Andre
Norton, Ursula K. Leguin, Michael Moorcock and many others. My favorite
quote, which relates to my anti-censorship diatribe last issue, was
from G.K. Chesterton, who said:
"Some solemn and superficial people (for nearly all very
superficial people are solemn) have declared that the
fairy-tales are immoral [....] This objection, however, is not
only false, but very much reverse of the facts...."
What I found most interesting about his comments was that they were
made in 1908, and they show that the small thinkers have always been
with us, and probably always will -- censorship is a battle never won,
but not one that can be left to others.
For people who are trying to learn more about the background of
Fantasy, a wonderful book. Highly recommended.
For people who are trying to learn more about writing, Writer's Digest
Books has just published How to Write Tales of Horror, Fantasy &
Science Fiction, edited by Horror author J.N. Williamson [205 pages
plus recommended reading list and index, $15.95]. The material is
slanted rather heavily towards Horror, almost to the point where it
looks like the SF and Fantasy material was added to broaden the market
for the book. Despite this slant, most of the material can be used for
any style of writing, and it includes chapters on plotting,
characterization, naming, world building, and writing mechanics among
others, from authors like Darrell Schweitzer, Marion Zimmer Bradley,
Ramsey Campbell, Dean R. Koontz and Charles L. Grant. If you're a
working pro, you've probably passed this book far behind. It sometimes
tends to fall into cheerleader mode ("Kids! You TOO can grow horrible
monsters in your basement and sell them for lots of money!"). At the
same time, there is a lot of good information on the mechanics of
writing and the practical aspects of getting your work read and sold.
For the beginning writer and the person trying to get serious about
selling, this book can be of help. For the advanced amateur it will be
too basic.
Many years ago a set of blueprints were published for the Enterprise,
the interstellar vessel in the television series Star Trek. They were
highly detailed, and showed the entire layout, deck by deck. They also
showed, much to the amusement of Star Trek fans everywhere, that there
were basically no bathrooms on the Enterprise, lending itself to many
convention discussions of exactly what the 400+ members of the crew did
for their five year mission.
Pocket books has updated the blueprints to include design changes from
the four Star Trek movies and published them as Mr. Scott's Guide to
the Enterprise [written and illustrated by Shane Johnson, 125 pages
8.5x11" trade paperback, $10.95]. The new edition is a mixed blessing.
On the positive side, there are bathrooms everywhere -- private ones,
public ones, small bathrooms and multi-station latrines. They exist in
the bridge, in Engineering, in the rec areas. Everywhere. I'm sure the
crew will be eternally grateful. There is even a bathroom in the
transporter room these days!
On the negative side, however, there is a lot less detail than in the
original, and a lot of pages used for secondary items (details of the
shuttles, hatches, uniforms, and the like). I was rather disappointed
with the book, frankly, because so much seems missing. Some of the
areas are rather poorly thought out, also -- my personal gripe is the
sick bay and operating arena, which was very tiny and didn't include
either scrub areas or an air dam into the operating room -- both of
which would be necessities to keep an area sterile for an operation.
I think that, for what you're getting here, this is an expensive book.
If you can find the original blueprints used, you'll get a lot more
detail for a lot less. If you can't, take a look at this and see if it
has enough information for what you want -- but don't be surprised if
it doesn't.
The Science Fiction and Heroic Fantasy Author Index was published in
1978 by Stuart W. Wells III and Purple Unicorn Books (4532 London Road,
Duluth, MN, 55804, 185 pages, $9.95). It is an attempt to cover every
novel and collection published or reprinted between 1945 and 1978. It
specifically excludes areas such as horror, anthology, or foreign
publications, but after browsing it, it looks pretty complete. As a
reference work of things published in the field, I think it'll be
pretty useful, although I hope it is either revised or a companion
volume for the years since its publications are done.
Finally, Omni Magazine has come out with Arthur C. Clarke's July 20,
2019: Life in the 21st Century [Macmillan/SFBC, 276 pages hardback].
The name is misleading -- not only isn't it written by Clarke, but he
didn't have editorial control of the content. The only real contact
Clarke seems to have with this volume is the cashing of royalty checks.
Inside are a series of articles written about various subjects:
Medicine, Robots, Entertainment, Sex, War, Death and others by
uncredited contributors (their names are in the acknowledgments, but
they don't get credited to a given article -- this way, I guess, we
don't know who to blame).
Some of the articles are written from the viewpoint of how things are
today in 2019. Other articles are written about how things will be in
2019. Still others try both viewpoints at once. If this sounds
chaotic, you've got it. Many of the articles seem to be lightly
researched gosh-wow pieces, and the book is illustrated in the
traditional Omni style: glitzy stock photos with cute (not not
necessarily relevant) captions.
Skip this one. It's frankly an insult that something this schlocky
would have a name like Clarke's on the cover -- an insult to readers
who pick it up thinking they'll get Clarke on the inside, and an insult
to the visionary Clarke, whose name is being prostituted for a piece of
commercial garbage.
OtherRealms #18
Fall, 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. No article may be reprinted
without the express permission of the author.
