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OtherRealms Issue 18 Part 02
Electronic OtherRealms #18
Fall, 1987
Part 2
Two Books on Robert Bloch
Reviewed by
Jerry Boyajian
boyajian@akov68.dec.com
Copyright 1987 by
Jerry Boyajian
The Complete Robert Bloch
Randall D. Larson
Fandom Unlimited Enterprises
P.O. Box 70868
Sunnyvale, CA 94086
126+ pages, $10.00
[*+]
The preface starts with "The Complete Robert Bloch is intended to
provide the first complete [emphasis in the original] and comprehensive
bibliography of all of the work of Robert Bloch..." Obviously, the
quality of such a work depends on its completeness and accuracy. I
regret to say that Larson fails on both counts. It would be both
time-consuming and silly to both check each entry for accuracy and
search down other items. The reason for getting Larson's bibliography
would be so that I wouldn't have to do the work myself. So, what I did
was to use a variation of the Budrys Test. Algis Budrys, author and
book reviewer for Fantasy & Science Fiction judges a biographical
reference work based on what it has to say about him. If his entry is
accurate (presumably, he knows his life better than anyone), he figures
that the rest of the book is equally so; if his entry is full of
errors, he figures other entries are likely to be as well. To judge The
Complete Robert Bloch, I cross-checked information against two other
works: Michael Cook's Monthly Murders (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press,
1982), an index to mystery magazines, and Frank Parnell and Mike
Ashley's Monthly Terrors (Greenwood Press, 1985), an index to fantasy
and horror magazines.
The first thing that becomes obvious is that Larson is missing (or
perhaps ignores) completely the British editions of such American
magazines as The Saint Mystery Magazine, Ellery Queens Mystery Magazine
and Unknown Worlds. This might be because Larson, if he was aware of
these, assumed that these were exact duplicates of the American
counterparts. In fact, the contents of these British editions do not
match the American ones, but are usually shuffled from various American
issues (sometimes there is a 100% match, and usually a 60-75% match,
but quite often it's almost a totally separate set of contents).
Bibliographically, these are completely different magazines, and
bibliographically, they should be treated as such. In some of the cases
in which a Bloch story was reprinted in a magazine's British edition,
the British appearance followed the American one by a few months. In at
least two cases, the British appearance preceded the American one by up
to five months, which illustrates the importance of including these
citations. I also noted a few other missing citations, but the lack of
above mentioned British editions is a major hole. So much for
comprehensiveness.
As to the information that is present, I noted several instances in
which the citation is a month off (reading, for instance, June when it
should be July). In a couple of other cases, it's a year off (e.g. 1971
instead of 1970). The most jarring was a citation that read "Ed McBain
Magazine, Jan 1961" -- not one element of that citation is correct.
Since I have that issue, I can say that (1) the actual title of the
magazine is Ed McBain's Mystery Book, (2) there is no month listed in
that issue, and (3) the year is 1960, not 1961.
From what Larson says in his preface, the impression given is that Bloch
allowed him access to the author's files for much of the information.
This certainly has its advantages in noting obscure appearances (though
at least one obscure appearance, cited in Monthly Terrors, is missing),
as well as foreign sales. But there are also disadvantages in that the
published story may differ in some way from what it says in Bloch's
records. This may account for the aforementioned Ed McBain's
inaccuracy, for example, or for the lack of the British editions of
American magazines, since they probably counted only as a single sale
in Bloch's files). Another example is in the case of a story that
appeared in Hustler called "The Shrink and the Mink." Undoubtedly, that
was Bloch's original title, but it actually appeared in the magazine as
"The Shrink and the Nympho." It's my guess that Larson relied too much
on Bloch's files, and didn't avail himself of the bibliographic works
that had gone before. It's also likely that Larson did not ultimately
check his information against actual copies of the works themselves.
This is something that any would be bibliographer must do, if possible,
to ensure accuracy. It's obvious that Larson is a dedicated fan of
Bloch's and that this book is an attempt to show that dedication, but
it's equally obvious that in the field of bibliography, he's a fish out
of water, and isn't aware of what resources already exist.
All these seem like small quibbles, and indeed, in one respect they
are. But, there are two points to be made. First, if one claims to be
complete and comprehensive, one should make damn well sure one is.
Secondly, if in cross-checking a small amount of information, I find a
fair number of incorrect citations, how much can I trust the rest of
the information to be accurate? Some typos and a certain percentage of
error are inevitable (having compiled and published some indexes
myself, I well know this), but the error rate for what I checked I
judge to be rather high.
I don't wish to totally denigrate this work. There certainly is some
welcome information in here regarding foreign editions of Bloch's work,
as well as his work for radio, TV, and the movies (but again, can I
trust it?). And the book is full of reproductions of covers of Bloch's
books and magazines with Bloch's stories in them. For those who aren't
picky about every citation, but are interested in finding out what
Bloch has done and where his work can be found, this bibliography can
be a useful guide.
Robert Bloch
Starmont Reader's Guide 37
Randall D. Larson
Starmont House
P.O. Box 851
Mercer Island, WA 98040
148+ pages, $8.95
[***]
Unlike The Complete Robert Bloch, this book I can recommend. First, at
the back of it, there is an abbreviated bibliography of Bloch's work.
It's not as detailed or comprehensive as The Complete Robert Bloch
(and, of course, containing the same errors where applicable), as it
only lists first appearances, though in the case of short fiction, it
also cites reprintings in Bloch's collections). As a guide to finding
out what Bloch has done and where he has done it, this is as useful as
The Complete Robert Bloch, and not as cluttered with details.
But the bibliography merely serves as something of an appendix to the
main body of Robert Bloch, which is a discussion of Bloch's work
itself. Larson divides Bloch's work up into discrete groups: his early
work, his Cthulhu Mythos stories, his Science Fiction, humorous
fiction, psychological terror, and so forth. A brief plot synopsis is
given for each of Bloch's short stories and novels, and for the more
"important" works, a critical analysis of Bloch's style follows, as
well as an assessment of where the work stands in Bloch's oeuvre.
At first, Robert Bloch seems superficial, but it serves its purpose
well, being just what the series title suggests it is: a reader's guide
to Bloch. It introduces the reader to the subject, and helps him find
other work in the same vein as stories that he has sampled. If, for
example, you liked one or two of Bloch's Cthulhu Mythos tales, this
will tell you what others Bloch has written. If you liked the suspense
of Psycho, herein you will find out what else Bloch has written along
the same lines, as well as assessments of the relative merits of each
work. Larson obviously knows his subject well, and has a readable
style. Since he is a fan and not an academic, his approach is more
oriented toward whether a particular story succeeds or fails than where
it falls in some imagined Literary Scheme of Things.
I'm not sure that the hard-core Bloch fan will get much out of this
book. It's really aimed (whether intentionally or not) at the reader
who has sampled some of Bloch's work and would like to try more. The
person who hasn't read anything of Bloch's but is curious about his
work would probably spend his money better by first buying a novel or
collection or two of Bloch's (if you like down-to-Earth suspense or
terror, I recommend his work) and reading the material itself, and then
come to this book to get an idea of what else to look for.
Double Nocturne
Cynthia Felice
DAW Books, $3.50
[****]
Reviewed by
Danny Low
hplabs!dlow
Copyright 1987 by
Danny Low
The basic plot of this book is similar to Jack Vance's Planet of
Adventure series. There is a similar richness and "alien-ess" in the
cultures described in both stories. Yet, the two stories are very
different in flavor.
The planet Islands were cut off during the Homeworld wars. During the
interregnum, the stranded colonists developed their own culture. This
appears to have been partially due to a faulty AI (Artificial
Intelligence) unit that was supposed to govern the planet. The
Homeworlds wars are now over. Hark is a member of a team sent to
Islands to repair the faulty AI. The first landing party is shot down.
Hark, while trying to rescue his fellow crewmates, is forced to land by
a storm and is captured by local Islanders. He discovers that the
Islanders have a religious matriarchal society where men are treated as
inferiors. The Islanders are also divided into three nations and each
nation is in turn divided into various political and religious
factions. The Islanders are split as to whether they want to
reestablish contact with the Homeworlds. Some Islanders see Hark as a
means to gain ascendancy over their religious and political rivals.
Hark is in a lot of trouble.
Hark has three tasks. The first is to escape from his captors. This is
not an easy task as his captors know his value as a prisoner. The
second is to rescue his fellow crewmates. However both of them are
seriously injured and held under close guard in a hospital. The third
is to leave this planet. Unfortunately, one of the two landers is
destroyed. The other is damaged and hidden under guard. Furthermore,
the AI that controls the mothership will automatically leave Islands
for the Homeworlds if it cannot find any trace of the landers or the
crew after conducting a standard space search. Hark is not a Vancian
super competent hero. In fact, he is foolish, stubborn to the point of
being pigheaded, lacks social tact and can take some time to figure out
what's going on. On the other hand, he is a rather good looking blond
that many of the Islander women find attractive. Their desire for him
as a sex object clearly saves Hark in several instances.
Felice has created a credible religious matriarchal society that is
clearly not our patriarchal society with all the sex roles exactly
reversed. She has clearly thought out how a matriarchal society would
be different from a patriarchal society aside from the simple change in
the sex of the dominant sex. Much of the society is hinted at but never
explained which gives the society more richness and at the same time,
gives the reader a sense of culture shock because so much of the
society cannot be comprehended. In addition, social statements on
sexual equality, while important, is not allowed to get in the way of
the story. This is a very well done book and well worthwhile reading.
The Uplift War
Dave Brin
Bantam Books, $4.50
ISBN 0-553-25121-X
Reviewed by
Fred Bals
bals@nutmeg.dec.com
Copyright 1987 by
Fred Bals
It's always dangerous to meet -- and hear -- writers. They never match
your preconceptions of what they should be. For instance, I'm unable to
enjoy one writer's stories anymore simply because he speaks in a
strange whine of a voice. Certainly not his fault, of course. But the
problem is exacerbated because he writes "tough-guy" hard-boiled
stories. I used to enjoy them a lot. Now, I burst out laughing every
time I start reading one of them. All I can hear is the sound of the
author's voice in my head.
On the other hand, some writers are exactly like what they write. I
recently "met" David Brin at a book-signing. "Met" is in quotes because
it's the wrong term. I viewed a performance. In the space of a couple
of hours Brin kept up a running monologue as he signed books,
alternately happily haranguing the crowd to sign some sort of petition
he was flogging, and lambasting the cyberpunks for what he seemed to
feel was their negative world-view.
No one would ever accuse David Brin of a negative world-view. He's more
like Pollyanna as author. He's so cheerful and positive. I expected
people in the crowd to start going into diabetic convulsions at any
time.
Before I'm accused of making an ad hominem attack on David Brin, let me
note that this unrelieved optimism spills over into his writing, and
that is the crux of my problem with The Uplift War. In many ways, the
book -- as are the other books of the Uplift series -- is designed as a
didactic, instructive manual to promote Brin's view of mankind's
relationship with nature and the creatures sharing this planet with us.
It is propaganda, pure and simple. Brin himself implies as much in his
Postscript to The Uplift War. So, if Brin wants his game on that sort
of playing-field, then the reviewer has to take into the consideration
the man himself, as well as his writing, in order to review his works
adequately.
I have nothing against optimism per se. I play the lottery every week
and have been known to go the track once or twice, too. I just prefer
my optimism tinged with some realism, which is usually a quick lesson
if you're into serious gambling. Perhaps David Brin should take up
gambling, as anything approaching realism is sadly lacking in The
Uplift War.
The statements that I heard Brin make of his problems with the
cyberpunk crew's depressing world-view are very indicative, as the best
of cyberpunk extrapolates from the firm foundation of present-day
trends. If the worlds evolving from that extrapolation are often bleak,
grimy, and depressing, they also can trace their roots quite clearly to
the world of today.
Brin's Uplift universe, on the other hand, operates in a vacuum, simply
ignoring present-day reality and the way people really act. To give the
series its fair due, Brin does postulate a far, far future, one in
which Man has evidently come to his senses through unknown means,
halted his ecological rape of the planet, and has become rational
enough to want to "uplift" the lesser creatures of the Earth -- most
notably chimpanzees and dolphins -- for altruistic reasons.
Yet, while Brin addresses some of the "hows" of his universe fairly
well, he leaves the "whys" to the reader's imagination. "Whys" such as:
why did mankind get so smart and nice all of a sudden? Why uplift other
species at all, unless you're going to use them as slave labor (See
Jerry was a Man by Heinlein, for instance, as a well-thought-out
example of what *really* would happen if chimps were instilled with
intelligence). If you can swallow those base premises with the lack of
rational explanation -- which I find difficult -- you may be able to
suspend your disbelief enough to enjoy The Uplift War.
The Uplift War relates the story of various humans, aliens, and
uplifted chimpanzees on the planet Garth, its animal inhabitants
themselves victims of a previous uplifted race's reversion to savagery.
Mankind has inherited the planet in their continuing bid to become an
acknowledged patron race, an important consideration in a universe
where a race's "face" is measured by the number of species it
caretakes. Because mankind is thought of as a "wolfling" species, that
is, one which has attained intelligence without the dubious benefit of
a patron, our credibility among the other members of the Five Galaxies
is tenuous at best. Thus, the mandate of the humans in The Uplift War
is to restore the dying planet with their "clients," the
neo-chimpanzees, as helpmates.
Unfortunately for both men and chimps, the events told in the previous
book of the Uplift universe, Startide Rising, has thrown the so-called
Five Galaxies into turmoil. A dolphin-crewed starship has made a
discovery that may have repercussions upon every race. War has broken
out among the Five Galaxies, and one alien race, the bird-like Gubru,
has taken the opportunity to seize Garth, embarrass Mankind, and
possibly become the neo-chimp's new patron race.
The Uplift War deals with the battle for Garth conducted by an
irregular army of one young, human male, an alien female, and various
neo-chimps versus the Gubru. A sub-plot that later becomes important to
the story's resolution is the search for a mysterious race of
"Garthlings," creatures with the potential for uplifting that may have
survived genocide.
To praise Brin with faint damns, the plot itself rollicks right along.
The Uplift War is an entertaining read if taken at pure mind-candy
level. Brin, however, has the annoying habit of interjecting ten-dollar
adjectives into otherwise mundane descriptive phrases ("Shadows were
stark, acherontic, and surprising"). Being nicer to you than Brin, I'll
not that "acherontic" is a Brin-invented adjective derived from
"Acheron," the main river in Hades. But except for similar authorial
lapses where Brin seems determined to add as many new words to
Webster's as possible, the reading is easy and fast-paced.
On the negative side, the characters are so one-dimensional that they'd
disappear if turned sideways. All seem created to advance the plot,
mere stick figures who act and react to the circumstances Brin throws
at them. Brin himself seems to have realized this, as he begins an
interesting sub- plot early in the story concerning the growing sexual
attraction between the main human male character, Robert Oneagle, and
an alien female, Athaclena, in an apparent attempt to develop the
characters of both. Yet, what could have become a welcome emotional
counter-point to the overwhelming action of the plot is simply allowed
to fade away in an unsatisfactory nonresolution.
The neo-chimp characters in the book are more human than ape-like, so
much so that one has to keep reminding himself that Brin *is* talking
about nonhuman characters. On the other hand, the Gubru are fairly
well- done, their motivations nicely extrapolated from their avian
ancestry.
Ultimately, The Uplift War is a direct descendant of the pulp novels of
the `50s, with a dash of `70s ecological awareness tossed in for good
measure. For readers who ask no more from their science fiction than a
good, entertaining action yarn, The Uplift War should be satisfying.
But for those who like to be challenged by what they read -- even when
that challenge leads us into depressing, bleak, worlds, The Uplift War
is unsatisfying fare indeed.
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.
