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OtherRealms Issue 20 Part 02
Electronic OtherRealms #20
Spring, 1988
Part 2
Waste of Trees Quarterly
[Part 1]
Reviews by
Alan Wexelblat
wex@mcc.com
Copyright 1988 by Alan Wexelblat
Reviewed in this Issue
The River of Time [***+]
by David Brin
1986, Bantam
0-553-26281-5, 295pp
The Princess Bride [**+]
by William Goldman
1973, Del Rey fantasy
0-345-31532-4, 283pp
Cybernetic Samurai [**+]
by Victor Milan
1985, Ace SF
0-441-13234-0, 337pp
Charon's Ark []
by Rick Gauger
1987, Del Rey SF
0-345-31773-4, 375pp
Thinking on Paper [****]
by V.A. Howard & J.H. Barton
1986, Morrow hardback
0-688-04873-0, 156pp
A Death of Honor [*+]
by Joe Clifford Faust
1987, Del Rey SF
0-345-34026-4, 326pp
The Tomorrow Makers [****-]
by Grant Fjermedal
1986, Macmillan hardcover
0-02-538560-7, 272pp
The Artificial Kid [****]
by Bruce Sterling
1980, Ace SF
0-441-03095-5, 233pp
Schismatrix [****+]
by Bruce Sterling
1985, Arbor House hardcover
0-87795-645-6, 288pp
Watchmen [****]
Alan Moore, writer; Dave Gibbons, illustrator/letterer;
John Higgins, colorist
1987, DC Comics paperback
0-930289-23-4
Burning Chrome [****+]
by William Gibson
1986, Ace SF
0-441-08934-8, 191pp
Count Zero [****+]
by William Gibson
1986 Arbor House hardback
278 pp.
The River of Time
David Brin is the current master of what I call 'weird physics.' He is
one of the new generation of hard science fiction authors -- people
writing about space travel, aliens, and giving it the authentic air
that hard SF demands. Brin's twist on this is that he can take a
principle or idea and stretch it to an extreme end. For example, his
novel The Practice Effect dealt with a natural extension of the idea
that 'practice makes perfect.' The River of Time collection contains a
couple of stories in the weird physics vein.
The title story of the collection is a short one dealing with the
possibility that people could move 'faster' or 'slower' through time.
That is, they perceive that 'ordinary' people are moving very slowly or
very quickly. Similarly, "A Stage of Memory" deals with a person who
uses a drug that allows him to re-live past memories. The question, of
course, is what happens when he starts reliving a memory of himself
reliving a memory?
Another of Brin's fascinations is the first contact theme. In
particular, he delights in speculation about why we appear to be alone
in the universe when logical principles seem to indicate that we should
not be. The Hugo-winning "The Crystal Spheres" deals with this idea,
suggesting that there may some form of imposed isolation that prevents
other races from making contact with us. Specifically, our solar system
is enclosed in a crystalline egg that has been manufactured to be
invisible from the inside. In addition, it can only be cracked from the
inside; thus, each race must make its own way into space.
"Lungfish" also tackles the first-contact theme, working from the old
SF idea of self-replicating probes. The idea is to explore a large
segment of the galaxy very quickly. This is inefficient if done from a
single point. However, if you can construct probes that not only
travel between stars but also carry enough information to replicate
themselves, then you can quickly cover a large volume of space. The
problem here is that if you can make these probes that sophisticated,
then you can also program them to do other things -- some of which can
be beneficial, and some not. And it only takes one rotten apple to
spoil the basket.
The story "Tank Farm Dynamo" is Brin's most traditional hard-SF work.
The story, as Brin says in the author note, is one "...in which a point
of science is the real protagonist." However, this is not typical of
the stories in this collection. Most often, Brin spends his time on
characters and social themes. For example, "The Fourth Vocation of
George Gustaf" examines a world in which robot labor has reordered
human society. Humans now have mandatory, rigorously-controlled lives
which include prescribed vocations, prescribed hobbies, and required
leisure activities. Of course, some people react differently to this
than others, and Brin examines one of the possible outcomes.
Similarly, "Senses Three and Six" is almost not an SF story. Although
there are aliens created to provide motivation for the protagonist,
they're not really necessary. The story is really about a man trying to
hide from his past. He does this by burying his true self behind the
facade of a made-up personality. This is a very psychological story,
and shows off Brin's ability to work with complex characters.
And this brings us to the reason I was given The River of Time -- the
short "Thor Meets Captain America." Brin warns the reader not to judge
a story by its title -- and he's right. This tale, written for Gregory
Benford's anthology Hitler Victorious, is not about the comic-book
characters Thor and Captain America. Rather it is about a parallel
world in which the Nazis won what we think of as World War Two, and now
threaten America, with the help of beings who have the powers and
personalities of the Norse gods. The story is really about different
types of people, the type personified by Thor and the type personified
by Captain America and the roles technology and the supernatural can
play in the world. I haven't yet read the Hitler Victorious anthology,
but if this story is typical of the quality Benford put together, it
will be worthwhile.
The River of Time is a good anthology and a good introduction to Brin.
The author's notes give the book a nice flow and give the reader some
insights into how Brin practices his craft. The new hard-SF writers are
often touted for their attention to character, setting, and society,
things that used to be rare in hard SF. I look forward to seeing more
of it from David Brin.
The Princess Bride
Okay -- it's time for me to commit my heresy of the month. The Princess
Bride is one of those books that everybody likes. Except me. Let me
try to explain why.
For the uninitiated, The Princess Bride is William Goldman's
abridgement of S. Morgenstern's classic fairy tale of the same name.
Goldman's name will be familiar to afficionados of Butch Cassidy and
the Sundance Kid; he's also done more serious works, such as All the
Presidents Men and Marathon Man. The Princess Bride, though, is
definitely in the humor division.
According to Goldman, The Princess Bride was his favorite tale as a
child, as read to him by his father. What he didn't know was that his
father was editing the story as he read it. It seems that Morgenstern
had used the original story as a vehicle for propounding his long and
boring essays on Florinese history. These essays had been skipped by
Goldman's father and now he is passing this favor on to the world by
producing a "good parts" version.
At each place where something was excised, Goldman notes this to the
reader, often at some detail. And this is the crux of my problem with
the book. You see, the heart of the story -- the romance between
Buttercup and Westley -- is actually a very good and engrossing fairy
tale. But the more interested I got in the story, the more boring and
annoying Goldman's interruptions became.
He starts off by telling, in a very humorous way, about his wife and
son and his efforts to get a copy of the book for his son. I laughed a
good deal at the less-than-complimentary descriptions of his family
life. Also, the first few descriptions of the excised portions were
interesting. However, as the book progressed, Goldman's continued
interruptions became less and less funny. I didn't laugh at all during
the second half of the book. In fact, it became like one of those
interminable shaggy dog stories that some people insist on telling. I
just wanted him to be quiet and get on with the story.
And the story is quite good. As I noted before, the fairy tale, at
it's heart, is about Buttercup, the most beautiful girl in the world,
Prince Humperdink, whom she is to marry, and Westley, her true love.
Supporting roles are played by Inigo Montoya, arguably the best
swordsman in the world, and Fezzik the Giant, arguably the best brawler
in the world. The basic problems of the story are that Westley runs
off, leaving Buttercup heartbroken, and that Prince Humperdink turns
out to be... well, a son-of-a-bitch.
Along the way to solving these problems there are sword fights, heroic
deeds, love, hate, and so forth. In short, all the elements of a great
fairy tale. If Goldman could have resisted the urge to be clever and
meddle it would have been a much better work.
Cybernetic Samurai
Cyberpunk is everywhere these days, it seems. It's controversial, it's
new, and it's flashy. With its apparent emphasis on technology and an
often bleak outlook on the future, it's cashing in on two growing
trains of thought in modern society.
Victor Milan's Cybernetic Samurai fits to a Tee most of the pre-
conceived stereotypes about cyberpunk. It takes place in a
post-trade-war, post-WWIII future in which America has fallen apart
into warring regional nations. Refugees from the strife have fled to
(among other places) a Japan dominated by the zaibatsu -- the
high-tech, semi-feudal corporations -- and MITI, the Ministry of Trade
and Industry. MITI is a sort of government-within-a-government; most
of the leaders of the zaibatsu follow MITI's directions in ruling the
country, while the official Japanese government plays at paper games.
The corporations also control the orbiting satellites and space
stations which provide communications facilities as well as being
orbital factories for the ground-based conglomerates.
The story starts off with American Dr. Elizabeth O'Neill's efforts to
create a truly intelligent computer for her Japanese employer,
Yoshimitsu Telecommunications. The effort, code named Tokugawa, creates
a machine intelligence inculcated with O'Neill's interpretation of the
values of the ancient Japanese warrior code of Bushido.
O'Neill sees her creation as a new samurai -- a potential savior for
the world, which is rapidly crumbling toward a fourth world war. She
especially wants to keep it out of the hands of MITI, which is why she
works for Yoshimitsu, a small company which fiercely maintains its
independence from MITI.
However, MITI doesn't want to see any saviors, especially not ones
controlled by corporations not under its aegis. In addition, Dr. O'Neill
appears to have some motives that are not so pure as she claims.
Tokugawa himself is more powerful than O'Neill imagined. When she is
killed, he sets about achieving a cybernetic revenge on her murderers.
The latter two thirds of the novel establish Tokugawa as the
protagonist and revolve largely around his actions.
Milan writes fairly well, even though the ending of the book is
telegraphed way in advance. He has a reasonable grasp of the writer's
craft, having written six previous fantasy works. Cybernetic Samurai
is his first SF novel, and overall I didn't like it. First off, it's
too formulaic. Milan seems to have reduced the cyberpunk idea to its
component parts and in the process lost some of the flair that
identifies good cyberpunk. In cyberpunk terms, the novel has no "edge."
Second, there's the computer issue. As a person who makes his living in
the computer field, I found Milan to be exceptionally heavy-handed
about computers. Yes, his basic idea on how to create intelligence is
plausible, but he really shouldn't have spent the first twenty-five
pages proving he did his homework and knows something about computers.
As the story goes on he allows himself flights of fancy about the
computer world in order to advance the plot. In addition, I found his
attitude toward and repeated references to the Japanese fifth
generation computer project to be patronizing at best. I suspect a
Japanese person would have been even more insulted.
Lastly, I was disturbed by the pornography. Yes, that's the word I
meant to use -- pornography. Now, I'm a fairly liberal sort and enjoy a
love- or sex-scene in my reading. I think it's a normal part of life
and authors should treat it that way. However, Milan goes out of his
way to set up situations in which O'Neill can make it with Tokugawa.
Ok, that's not so bad -- we can write off the scientific mumbo-jumbo as
necessary for the plot and to show how attached Tokugawa becomes.
But then Milan goes on to describe, in great anatomical detail, just
exactly what each of them does to the other's bodily parts -- including
some acts that are technically illegal in some states of the US. When
Locus used the adjective "rousing" about this book, they probably meant
it in the literal sense. Who needs it? As far as I can see, it adds
absolutely nothing to the story to use that level of detail. I found it
a distraction.
All in all, Cybernetic Samurai was a big disappointment.
Charon's Ark
What's worse than a stupid protagonist? How about a stupid, obnoxious,
teenage nerd protagonist. What's worse than a hackneyed plot with inane
dialogue? How about a hackneyed plot about UFOs and insane computers
with moronic teenage dialogue, written by an author who obviously
didn't bother to do his physics homework? This is truly the worst book
I've read in years. The only good thing about it is that I didn't have
to pay for my copy. I wish they'd saved the trees.
Thinking on Paper
One common trait among fans and readers of SF and fantasy is the desire
to be writers. Many of us dream of, and some actually do, write short
stories and novels. Still more of us are required to write as part of
our everyday lives, whether it's students writing papers and essays, or
professionals writing technical reports or proposals. For all us
writers, this is a book to have. In addition, if you ever want to be a
writer, or are troubled by occasional writer's block, this book also
has something to offer you.
There are a number of books out that are useful for writers practicing
their craft. The prototypical example is Strunk & White's Elements of
Style, which is a concise and very handy guide to punctuation and the
mechanics of sentence formation. However, Strunk & White typifies the
school of writing thought that is commonly taught in the American
educational system -- all the emphasis is on the mechanics, almost none
on the style.
Thinking on Paper, on the other hand, attacks the problem from a
different perspective. Howard & Barton tell you from the outset that
they are not going to deal with mechanics, and provide excellent
references to other authors who do. Instead of mechanics, they deal
with the process of writing -- the series of cognitive and physical
steps necessary to put together a coherent piece of written work.
The book is organized into two sections, "Writing for Thinking" and
"Thinking for Writing." Throughout the book, Howard and Barton attempt
to relate and combine the processes of writing and thinking. This is
also in direct contradiction to American schooling, which traditionally
teaches that the two are separate processes, and that thinking
necessarily precedes writing.
Although Howard and Barton concentrate on technical rather than creative
writing, their process steps are useful for everyone. In particular,
creative writers suffering from writer's block will find a great deal
of useful information in Chapter 2, "From First to Last Draft:
Generating, Composing, and Expressing Ideas." Some writers I know would
also benefit from the section entitled "Don't Wait for the Muse."
This brings me to another interesting point about the book. Instead of
being written in the usual linear style, the book's six chapters and
two appendices are each designed to stand alone. They can be read in
any order; each is self-contained and avoids depending on material
explained elsewhere in the book.
As noted before, this is a good reference work for anyone interested in
writing. My only complaint is that the authors are a little
superficial, since they are trying to appeal to a mainstream audience,
rather than to writing specialists. Nevertheless, their approach to the
combination of writing and thinking is unique and worth looking into.
A Death of Honor
This is a first novel, so Chuq says I should be nice. Ok, let's see.
It's not as bad as it could have been. I suppose that if you weren't a
lesbian, or a liberal, and didn't know anyone with AIDS you could
manage not to be offended by this book. It would help if you hated the
Russians and the US government, too.
I've learned, over the course of many debates, to separate the writer from
his or her writings. For all I know, Joe Clifford Faust might be a tolerant,
liberal kind of person. It's just that he doesn't write that way.
A Death of Honor is a futuristic detective story. It is set in an
America under siege. The communist hordes of Russia have stormed the
last bastions of freedom in Europe. American society is slowly
crumbling as energy shortages take hold. People are paid to procreate,
and the centers of meeting and mating are dance clubs.
One evening the protagonist, Payne, comes home to find a naked woman
sprawled dead in the middle of his living room. The police have a
nine-month waiting list for homicide investigations, so private
citizens are allowed to investigate crimes of which they are a victim.
Since Payne does not know the dead woman, he declines the chance, until
a large bruiser comes to kill him.
Payne is a bioengineer, working at a genetic-engineering lab. He uses
his lab skills to trace down the woman's killer. She has no marks on
her; the mystery is: 'How did she die?' Unfortunately, the mystery is
not well-handled. There are none of the usual mystery trappings -- no
bevy of suspects, no red herrings. The reader figures things out long
before Payne does.
The supporting characters are fairly one-dimensional. There's the 'good
buddy,' the 'loyal secretary,' and other stock players. The villain is
very badly handled; he seems to have almost no motivation for anything
he does.
Faust appears to have done his biology and genetics homework; I could
not spot any serious blunders. He has some trouble imagining how the
future will deal with computers, though. Give this one a miss.
OtherRealms #20
Spring, 1988
Copyright 1988 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 not be reproduced in any form without written
permission of Chuq Von Rospach.
The electronic edition may be distributed or reproduced in its entirety
as long as all copyrights, author and publication information remain
intact. No individual article may be reprinted, reproduced or
republished in any way without the express permission of the author.
OtherRealms is published quarterly (March, June, September and December) by:
Chuq Von Rospach
35111-F Newark Blvd.
Suite 255
Newark, CA 94560.
Usenet: chuq@sun.COM
Delphi: CHUQ
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