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OtherRealms Issue 23 Part 11
Electronic OtherRealms #23
Winter, 1989
Part 11
Copyright 1989 by Chuq Von Rospach
All Rights Reserved.
OtherRealms may not be reproduced without written
permission from Chuq Von Rospach. The electronic
edition may be distributed only if the return address,
copyrights and author credits remain intact.
No article may be reprinted or re-used in any way
without the permission of the author.
All rights to material published in OtherRealms
hereby revert to the original author.
Lots and Lots of Reviews
by Lots and Lots of People
Part 2
The Making of the Atomic Bomb [****]
Richard Rhodes
Simon & Schuster, 0-671-65719-4
The history of the A-bomb, from the discovery of subatomic particles to
Hiroshima and Nagasaki (plus an epilogue taking the story through the
first H- bomb tests). Highlights include very clear nontechnical
explanations of the science and interesting personality portraits of
the scientists, generals, and statesmen involved. The sidelights on
military strategy and nuclear diplomacy are also worthwhile. The book
won the 1987 Pulitzer Prize for general non-fiction. An important book
for anyone living in the atomic age.
--Chuck Koelbel
Prelude To Foundation [**-]
Isaac Asimov
Doubleday, 432pp, SFBC
This is the sixth book in Asimov's classic Foundation series, though
chronologically it is the first. In the Author's Notes section of each
of Foundation's Edge, Foundation and Earth, and this book, the Good
Doctor claims he had no intention to write yet another Foundation book,
but that his readers/publishers pressured him into it.
It shows. Prelude To Foundation is thoroughly predictable, even more so
if you're aware that Asimov has been caught up in the recent merged
universe mania from which Robert Heinlein suffered. He has been trying
to merge the Foundation series with his Robot series, and the result is
a loss of credibility. Robots are starting to pop up more and more
frequently, whether as myths or as actual entities, to the point that
one has to wonder why they have such a mythical status in the
Empire/Foundation in the first place.
The characters in Prelude To Foundation are two-dimensional at best,
consistent with those in the first three books. That worked fine in the
1950's, but is out of place with today's more sophisticated audience.
Such characters work in Asimov's lighthearted works (such as his short
stories featuring Azazel, the two- inch demon), but fail in his more
major, serious works.
If you've slogged through the first five books, you might want to pick
up Prelude To Foundation, if for no other reason than completeness.
Otherwise, give this one a miss.
--Rick Genter
Red Sun of Darkover [****]
Marion Zimmer Bradley
DAW, $3.95, 1987, 287pp.
Darkover continues to expand through short stories as a shared world
anthology. This is yet another collection by MZB and the Friends of
Darkover, with stories covering a mix of periods. Some are about
familiar characters from the novels, such as Regis Hastur and Dani
Syrtis in "The Shadow" by Bradley herself, and the Renunciates Camilla
and Rafi, who appear as incidental characters in "Different Path" by
Penny Buchanan, but most are about original characters. Some explore
the alienness of Darkover, such as "Salt" by Diann Partridge about a
native sea-dwelling race, or "Coils" by Patricia Shaw Mathews about a
different sort of dragon ("How do you burp a baby dragon?--very very
carefully!") and two involve the meeting of Darkover tradition and
Terran influence--"The Sum of the Parts" by Dorothy Heydt, where a
Keeper and a Terran pilot must work together and "Devil's Advocate" by
Patricia Anne Buard, about a Terran priest investigating the Darkovan
cristoforo beliefs. Many are adventure stories, but "The Wasteland," by
Deborah Wheeler, has more of a horror effect. Another good collection
for people like me who can't get enough Darkover.
--Mary Anne Espenshade
Roger Zelazny's Visual Guide to Castle Amber [*]/[***]
Roger Zelazny and Neil Randall
Avon Books $ 8.95 221 pg.
This book gets a double rating because of its specialized subject
matter. If you are an Amber fan, this book is a must buy. If you are
not, then this book is of little interest. The book is an illustrated
guide to Castle Amber, done in the form of a guided tour by Flora,
Princess of Amber. The illustrations are all black and white. They are
very competently done but hardly great works of art. Almost half the
book is taken up with black and white reproductions of the Greater
Trumps. The main problem with this book is that it should have been a 4
color slick coffee table book with extensive and lavish illustrations.
--Danny Low
Shadow of the Warmaster [***]
Jo Clayton
1988, DAW books, 3.95, 398 pages
Some more escapism from Jo Clayton, who in my opinion uses real sugar
in her mind-candy, avoiding the generally rampant saccharine.
For a book that's essentially action/adventure, this one has some
interesting features. For example, the interlocking sequences told from
various viewpoints keeps the subordinate characters and subplots from
seeming too much like spear-carriers. It is worth noting that it does
not extend this courtesy to characters who are really nasty, I suppose
so that we don't feel so bad about them when they are dispatched by
somebody from the set of "good guys." But at least we have a pretty
good and pretty large ensemble cast heroing around here, not just
Generic Hero and His Capable Band of N (for small numbers of N).
This is interesting because you don't notice this at first. At first,
it looks an awful lot like it'll be just another GHaHCBoN action adventure.
It is centered around a heroic band of mercenaries who hire themselves
out for rescue operations. But it quickly grows more intriguing than
that. I think it is all part of Jo Clayton's gradual improvement over
time. Lately, with Skeen, Soul Drinker, and things like the current
book, the reading has been quite good and getting better.
Speaking of the Diadem series, this book borrows the background and
follows some of the subordinate characters from that series. In
particular, the Generic Hero here is Swardheld Quale, late inhabitant
of the Diadem, set free by Aletys. Not much is made of this in the
story and the cover blurb doesn't even mention the Diadem series. But
it is interesting for us in-the-know to pick up the few mentions of old
characters passing by, old scenes and circumstances mentioned.
One last point. We have here a society dominated by Mega-corporations,
with the attitude being rape and exploit everything around and about
before it can rape and exploit you. In several ways, it reminded me of
Cyberpunk without the mirrorshades or cyberspace.
Good stuff.
--Wayne A. Throop
Spacer: Window Of The Mind [***]
John Maddox Roberts
Ace, 1988, $2.95, 182 pp
Rescued from a rampaging slum mob by spacers, young Kiril is soon
adopted as "ship's girl," the juniormost crew member of the tramp
freighter Space Angel. She has little time to adapt to the job, as the
Angel and its crew are hastily drafted onto a top secret alien contact
mission. When an old enemy of the captain shows plans of beginning a
war and blaming it on the crew of the Angel, it proves to be Kiril's
semi-telepathic talent which is the key to unlocking a peaceful contact
with the alien Dzuna, and possibly preventing a confrontation the human
race can scarcely afford.
This is a good straight-ahead action adventure story, thoroughly within
the mainstream of entertainment type science fiction. On that basis, it
is a good solid read.
--David M. Shea
Spock's World [*****]
Diane Duane
Pocket, 1988, $16.95, 310pp.
The first Trek hardback, and well worth it. Duane is one of the best
recurring Trek novelists and this novel is one of the best I've read in
the series. Character use and plot consistency across novels is
settling down and much improved over the early Trek novels. The story
opens with more detail than we usually get on day-to-day starship
operation. This is more a character interaction piece than an adventure
tale. We even get to look in on a ship-wide party--listen to the
Starship Enterprise String, Reed and Banjo Band, with a three handed
banjo player and "a synthesized percussionist (the musician, not the
instrument...)," see Lt Naraht munching on expired data solids with
crude oil and iron filings dip, and watch Sulu play "video" games.
There is even a ship BBS, complete with an enterprise.flame that looks
very much like USENET (responses to an article include agreement,
misunderstanding, claims that it was just a joke or quoted out of
context, and one flame that the original poster violated copyright by
including a newspaper article-- some things never change). Sarek and
Amanda are again major supporting characters, central to the debate
over Vulcan's place in the Federation and other characters from
episodes turn out to be important. Chapters on the debate alternate
with interesting looks into Vulcan history and cultural development. An
excellent book for Trek fans, but not one for the action/adventure crowd.
--Mary Anne Espenshade
Star Rider [****+]
Doris Piserchia
Bantam, 1974, $1.25, 219pp
This is a novel I'd nominate as a Closet Classic.
Her name is Jade and she is a jak, which is to say, more or less human.
her companion is named Hinx, and he is a mount, which is to say, a dog--at
least his ancestors were dogs, two million years ago. Individually helpless,
jak and mount together form a telepathic, teleportative team who can
skip anywhere in the galaxy in the blink of an eye. Jade is an ignorant
hedonist with only two ambitions: to find the legendary home planet,
Doubleluck; and then to "go to glory" (depart this galaxy entirely).
But Jade and Hinx between them have a unique talent, and all the
oddballs of the galaxy--the gibs, the dreens, the varks, Big Jak, and
cross-eyed Shaper--want a piece of the action.
Other novels by this author have never done a great deal for me, but
Star Rider is a barn-burner. It takes off at a dead sprint in the first
paragraph and seldom slows down thereafter; the plot is complicated but
never loses sight of where its going. True to its own eccentric vision,
this far-future adventure scatters humor, drama, and ideas like sparks
off a skyrocket. The characters are all a little whacked out, but all
are convincing, with the narrator Jade having a special appeal. Star
Rider remains one of the least known good novels in the genre. It's
well worth looking for.
--David Shea
Steam Bird [***+]
Hilbert Schenck
Tor, 1988, $3.50, 213pp
Hilbert Schenck is best known for his evocative and moody tales of the
sea-- the collection Wave Rider (1980) and the mystic novel At The Eye
Of The Ocean (1981). This short novel represents something of a
departure. The "steam bird" of the title is the world's only
nuclear-fueled, steam-powered aircraft: an idea which the author
insists, the U.S. Air Force seriously worked up design criteria in the
early 1950's. Schenck postulates an alternate universe in which this
strange device was actually built. The President of the United States
orders the steam bird to launch--and then must figure out what to do
with the aerial monstrosity once its aloft. Uncharacteristically,
Schenck plays this as very broad gonzo farce a la Ron Goulart. The
result was like what I feel when reading a Goulart book: I found it
amusing, though I didn't believe it.
The volume also has "Hurricane Claude," which is much more in the usual
Schenck vein, a hi-tech but thoroughly human oceanic thriller, not
unlike the author's "Bouyant Ascent." In this tale, a research company
attempts to short- circuit a hurricane before it can smash ashore with
devastating force. Schenck's careful attention to detail at least
makes for a plausible adventure. In their disparate ways these two
stories are both interesting additions to the author's repertoire.
--David Shea
The Stones of Nomuru [***]
L. Sprague and Catherine Cook de Camp
The Donning Company $8.95 215pg.
This is a typical de Camp adventure story. Keith Salazar is an
archaeologist excavating an alien ruin on the planet Kulkulkan and
Conrad Bergen is a developer who wants to put a resort on the site of
the dig. In addition, both Salazar and Bergen are wooing the same
woman, Kara, who is also Salazar's ex-wife. Bergen is vain and violent
and does not like Kara's rejection. Complicating matters is an
imminent invasion by the local equivalent of Genghis Khan.
Salazar is a typical de Camp hero, self-deprecating but very competent.
He's is not quite a super-hero. For example, Bergen is always able to
beat up Salazar as he is much bigger. The story is filled with the
satirical humor that characterizes de Camp's stories.
This story has a slightly more Monty Pythonish flavor than de Camp's
previous stories. Salazar has to do several outrageous deeds to save
his dig and his life. The result is very much like a toned down Monty
Python skit where the protagonist has to maintain a calm front while
the world is turned upside down around him.
The only criticism is one of the problems, the invading nomads, is
solved in too much of a deus ex machina style. This is a well done book
which is a treat from an Old Master such as de Camp.
--Danny Low
The Suiting
Kelley Wilde
Tor Books, 1988, ISBN 0-312-93069-0, 239 pp., $16.95
The haunted suit of clothes tale has been off the rack for a few
centuries, yet Wilde manages a fresh bit of tailoring. Set in
contemporary Toronto and Montreal, this tasty bit of modern horror
truly fits the old adage: the clothes make the man.
When wise guy Jean-Paul Bouchette sneaks back to Toronto to buy the
finest of suits, his old nemesis bookie, Derek Cole, arranges a private
baseball game-- with Jean-Paul's head as the ball. By a fluke, Victor
Frankl, a nerdy little maritime shipping clerk comes upon the soulless
suit, with its "Good Luck Made to Measure..." label, and Victor vows to
shape his body to the cloth. After months of extensive dieting and
body building, Victor comes close to a proper fit, and begins to dream
of dating the lovely Vivvie from his office. Victor's friend George
notices more disturbing, nonphysical changes, however, as the meek
clerk takes strange, historical trips to Montreal, and starts to covet
his boss's job.
The gradual and chilling transformation of Victor is well done, with
just the right touch of madness. Secondary characters are more than
backdrop, as well, and the sense of place and language in French Canada
adds color and intensity to this familiar story. A fast, enjoyable read
marks Wilde as a writer to watch.
--Dean R. Lambe
Swordspoint
Ellen Kushner
Arbor House, 269pp, 1987, $15.95, 0-87795-923-4.
Maybe I'm missing the point (get it?), but creating a fantasy world in
which to tell a story that would be quite at home in 17th century
France is pointless. Pseudo-historical fiction has no great advantage
over historical fiction--except that maybe you can call it fantasy,
which seems to be selling well these days.
But I'm getting ahead of the story. Swordspoint takes place in a
nameless city that could have been Paris or London a couple of hundred
years ago, but isn't-- and involves the exploits of aristocrats and
swordsmen who might have been historical figures from that period, but
aren't. The main character is Richard St Vier, the best damn swordsman
of them all, who lives in the slums called Riverside where no
respectable citizen dares to; but who is hired by all the best
aristocrats from the Hill to fight their duels for them under a strange
set of rules that are not historical, but might be.
St Vier lives with his lover Alec, an ex-student who is obviously an
aristocrat, although it's not until the end of the book that we
discover, not too surprisingly, who he really is. Alec loves to get St
Vier into situations where St. Vier has to defend or avenge Alec's
honor (such as it is), and Alec does little else except sit around and
make melancholy jokes. St Vier, meanwhile, is caught up in a series of
plots and counterplots in which the aristocrats are indulging and
aren't worth sketching here.
Make no mistake, Ellen Kushner is a good stylist and the plot itself is
well done- -some of the characters are even moderately interesting.
What I'm put off by is not the writing, which is very good, but the
pseudo-historical framework and stereotyped gyrations and character
manipulation. Or, put another way, Swordspoint might have had a
point--but doesn't.
--Neil Wilgus
Time for Yesterday [Star Trek #39] [****]
A. C. Crispin
Pocket, 1988, $3.95, 303pp.
The crew of the Enterprise helps save the very fabric of the universe,
again. The sequel to Yesterday's Son reunites Spock and his son Zar to
solve a problem with the Guardian of Forever, but that is only a small,
and rather anticlimactic, part of the plot. Most of the story takes
place in Sarpeidon's past, where Zar is trying to establish a peaceful
civilization among warring, bronze age tribes. In the timeline for the
Enterprise's crew, the story takes place between the first and second
films, setting up Kirk's teaching at the Academy and some of his
regrets over never having gotten a chance to know his own son, debating
whether or not to make time to visit Carol and David Marcus. Good
character development and foreshadowing. I wish more of the Trek
authors would note at the beginning, as Crispin does, where in the
timeline her story fits, it's often hard to guess where a story belongs
and how much to assume about the characters' development.
--Mary Anne Espenshade
Time Trap [Star Trek #40] [***]
David Dvorkin
Pocket, 1988, $3.95, 221pp.
An average Captain Kirk adventure story, in which he gets the girl and
saves the Federation, in that order, even though he has to give up the
girl at the end. It's the best use I've seen in a long time of lots of
episode information, building a story on it instead of "this reminds me
of the time when ..." references. Kirk ends up aboard a Klingon ship,
with Spock working to get him back. I was getting irked with some of
the characterizations mid-way through, but most of what is causing
people to act out of character turns out to be part of the plot. And a
very involved plot it is. Very little can be said without spoiling some
of the convoluted details. I couldn't resolve McCoy's out-of-character
behavior though. Secondary characters barely get mentioned, as many of
the Trek novels lately don't seem to do anything with anyone beyond
Kirk, Spock, and McCoy. Kalrind is an interesting new character however,
especially to speculate what would happen if she and Kirk met again
under more normal circumstances, each in command of their own ships.
--Mary Anne Espenshade
Wolfsong, Blood of Ten Chiefs, Vol. 2 [**]
Richard Pini, Robert Asprin, Lynn Abbey
TOR, $7.95, 1988, 307pp.
Nine Elfquest stories, chronologically ordered and set over much of the
wolfrider's history. Not as interesting as volume 1. Some of the
stories bring out intriguing elvish powers, "Dreamsinger's Tale" by
Janny Wurts especially. Some stretched on too long to make their
points. Regular EQ readers probably want it, but it might bore the rest
of you.
--Mary Anne Espenshade
