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OtherRealms Issue 27 Part 07
Electronic OtherRealms #27
Spring, 1990
Part 7 of 11
Copyright 1990 by Chuq Von Rospach
All Rights Reserved.
OtherRealms may be distributed electronically only in the original
form and with copyrights, credits and return addresses intact.
OtherRealms may be reproduced in printed form only for your personal use.
No part of OtherRealms may be reprinted or used in any other
publication without permission of the author.
All rights to material published in OtherRealms hereby revert to the author.
Small Press Overview 1989
(continued)
Non-Fiction
Braude, Anne (editor); Andre Norton: Fables & Futures; Niekas
Publications, 380 Morrill St., Gilford NH 03246; 0-910619-04-2, $5.95.
This look at Andre Norton is more adulatory than some of Niekas' other
special issues (see the Arthur issue below), but this may be because the
object of its study is still alive. I found this of less interest than
some others will because, unlike many science fiction readers, I did not
get my start reading Andre Norton books, and in fact have to this day
read no more than two or three. But I realize that many have a fondness
for her works and for them I would recommend this collection of
articles.
Brown, Charles N. & Contento, William G.; Science Fiction, Fantasy, &
Horror: 1988; Locus Press, P. O. Box 13305, Oakland CA 94661;
0-9616629-6-4; $50.
On the final ballot, but not seen.
Corrick, James A.; Double Your Pleasure: Ace SF Doubles; Gryphon Books,
P. O. Box 209, Brooklyn NY 11228; 0-936071-13-3; $5.95.
I don't believe anyone has done an exhaustive list and description of
Ace science fiction doubles before this. (Dick Spelman did issue a list
of Science Fiction and Fantasy published by Ace, but that included
non-doubles and was not as thorough in its descriptions. In any case,
many people collect Ace doubles without having any special interest in
the rest of the Ace line.) My one complaint is that it is not as
complete as it might be; for example, there are no page counts for the
novels, and no indication of which had the blue half of the binding and
which the red (or white). The introductory material is of interest
historically, particularly Wollheim's observations on some of the
business problems involved. Some of the other introductory sections are
a bit dry, unless you are fascinated by descriptions of exactly how the
format changed and in which month the changes took place.
Cummings, Michael S., and Smith, Nicholas D. (editors); Utopian Studies
II; University Press of America, 4720 Boston Way, Lanham MD 20706;
0-8191-7305-3; $12.75.
While it is fitting that a book of Utopian studies begin with a look at
H. G. Wells's works, I find Robert Shelton's suggestion that the Time
Traveler's hostility to the Morlocks is based in homophobia to be a
ludicrous attempt to be trendy and politically correct, though God knows
why the poor Time Traveler should bear the brunt of this. (I note in
passing that Shelton notes that Wells dedicated The Island of Doctor
Moreau to Oscar Wilde. Make of all this what you will.)
The other fifteen essays range from the incomprehensible ("Fallacy and
Deception: The Discourse of Equality in Denis Veiras' L'Histoire des
Sevarambes" by Lise Leibacher-Ouvard, which I'm sure I would have had a
better understanding of if I knew the original work at all) to the
ridiculous ("Utopia Through the Looking Glass: Lewis Carroll as
Crypto-Utopian" by Alex MacDonald). There are several articles on
feminist utopias, and one on computers in utopian fiction (Micharl
Orth's "The Computer in Recent Utopias: A Transcendental Teleology"). Of
interest no doubt to the student of utopias, this collection is probably
not of great value to the reader who has not already done serious
research in the subject.
Delany, Samuel R.; The Straits of Messina; Serconia Press, P. O. Box
1786, Seattle WA 98111; 0-934933-04-9; $19.95.
On the final ballot, but not seen.
Dick, Philip K.; The Dark-Haired Girl; Mark V. Ziesing, P. O. Box 76,
Shingletown CA 96088; 0-929480-??-?; $?.
On the final ballot, but not seen.
Ellison, Harlan; Harlan Ellison's Watching; Underwood-Miller, P. O. Box
1707, Novato CA 94948; 0-88733-067-3; $19.95.
On the final ballot, but not seen.
Fandata Computer Services; Fandom Directory #11; Fandata Computer
Services, 7761 Asterella Court, Springfield VA 22152-3133;
0-933215-11-8; $12.95.
This is a computerized not-very-complete listing of fans, clubs, and
conventions. It would be useful to dealers, clubs, and conventions
interested in enlarging their mailing lists (it is arranged by state and
ZIP code), but not useful for locating specific people or organizations
(several major fans were simply not listed -- no doubt because they did
not send in the form Fandata sends out to fans whose names are culled
from various places). Still, it's all there is of this sort of thing.
Lafferty, R. A.; True Believers; United Mythologies Press, P. O. Box 390
Station A, Weston ON M9N 3N1; 0-921322-06-2, C$4.
When most people in science fiction fandom want to comment on the state
of science fiction, they do a fanzine of their own reviews and
commentary. Lafferty, being Lafferty, has a chapbook issued by United
Mythologies Press, which appears to specialize entirely in his work.
Lafferty is not afraid to take aim at recognized authors in prose and in
verse, and is more than willing to review Harlan Ellison as an
institution rather than as an ordinary author. If only the publisher
would proofread better! When "Aldiss" is spelled "Aldis" and "Budrys" is
spelled "Budris" you know someone is asleep at the tiller -- and I'm
sure it's not Lafferty.
Lefanu, Sarah; Feminism and Science Fiction; Indiana University Press,
Tenth & Morton Sts., Bloomington IN 47405; 0-253-33287-7; $29.95.
Not for the casual reader, this assumes you have read all the books
discussed. Among those who have, this may generate some controversy;
Lefanu seems to claim, for example, that LeGuin is more a male
chauvinist than a feminist.
McCarthy, Patrick A. (editor); Legacy of Olaf Stapledon; Greenwood
Press, Inc., 88 Post Road West, Westport CT 06881; 0-313-26114-8;
$37.95.
I'm probably the wrong person to ask about this since I am such a
Stapledon fan, but I think this volume comes closer to actually
analyzing an author's work than many of the other critical works listed
here. For one thing, a plot summary of a Stapledon novel would look
ridiculous. (You can't even tell what are novels and what are
philosophical works; The Opening of the Eyes falls nicely in the crack
between them.)
I will say that I find Stapledon more readable than I find some of the
authors in the anthology. For example, in her thesis that Stapledon is a
"Modernist" writer, Cheryl Herr says, "Another way to state this
distinction is to observe that Stapledon is a Modernist writer who
shares the teleological preoccupations of his era, which were variously
construed by fellow Modernists like D. H. Lawrence, E. M. Forester, and
Ford Madox Ford. Delany writes out of a science fictional post-moderism
that is postapocalyptic; his writing sympathizes more with the
techno-assumptions of cyberpunk than with the specific philosophic
dichotomies that exercised Stapledon."
Huh?
Before you read this book, read Stapledon -- all of his works you can
find, not just the best known. I was surprised to find that the
panelists on the Stapledon panel at Conspiracy had read only his four
major novels (Last and First Men, Star Maker, Odd John, and Sirius), and
perhaps Nebula Maker and Last Men in London. As far as The Darkness and
the Light, The Flames, or his other less available works, they had no
comments because they hadn't read them. If you cannot find some of
these, try to get the collection Far Future Calling, issued in 1980 by
Oswald Train Publishers. Then this will make more sense.
Mann, Jim, ed.; The NESFA Index to Short SF 1987; NESFA, Box G, MIT
Branch Station, Cambridge CA 02139; 0-915368-41-2; $12.
On the final ballot, but not seen.
Meskys, Edmund R. (editor); The Once and Future Arthur; Niekas
Publications, 380 Morrill St., Gilford NH 03246; 0-910619-03-4, $5.95.
This excellent NIEKAS publication is a top-notch collection of articles
on Arthur and Arthurian legend. The articles are well-written and
present some new ideas instead of re-hashing the old ones (though
"Patterns" does attempt to answer the question discussed at a recent
convention: "Why Not Charlemagne?"). One author points out, by the way,
that the Arthurian mythos now forms a sort of "shared world," which
leads to a lot of authors re-writing the same story instead of writing a
new story. In addition, Don D'Ammassa provides a list of ten classic
horror novels and ten modern horror novels that he thinks form a basic
horror reading list. As Robert Bloch says in a letter of comment,
"Niekas commits the sin of literacy."
Go thou and do likewise.
Pierce, John J.; When World Views Collide: A Study in Imagination and
Evolution; Greenwood Press, Inc., 88 Post Road West, Westport CT 06881;
0-313-25458-5; $39.95.
This is the third of a trilogy (honest!) of which I have not seen the
first two. A series of articles on modern science fiction authors, it is
not presented that way -- rather, it is composed of chapters which
attempt to group the authors by philosophical attitude. In this it is
not always successful, and the book as a whole lacks focus, although the
individual articles are informative.
Rickman, Gregg; To the High Castle Philip K. Dick: A Life 1928-1962;
Fragments West, 2705 E. Seventh St., Long Beach CA 90804; ?; $19.95.
On the final ballot, but not seen.
Riemer, James D.; From Satire to Subversion; Greenwood Press, Inc., 88
Post Road West, Westport CT 06881; 0-313-25569-5; $35.
This study of James Branch Cabell's works consists in large part of plot
analyses, and in general reads like a Ph.D. thesis -- not surprising, I
suppose, from an academic press. Fans of Cabell will be interested,
naturally, but the average reader can pass this by. (This is not an
entirely negative review. This is one reason why the small press exists:
to provide a medium for books that are not going to make the New York
Times bestseller lists.)
Schweitzer, Darrell; Pathways to Elfland; Owlswick Press, 4426 Larchwood
Avenue, Philadelphia PA 19104; 0-913896-16-0; $25.
This is an oddity in the criticism field, a book about an author,
written by someone who obviously likes that author's work, which is not
wholly positive. In fact, there may be more negative than positive in
this book, but at least when Schweitzer recommends something, you feel
he's being honest rather than slavishly recommending everything Dunsany
ever wrote. (Schweitzer's offhand writing style, very much like his
talking style, makes this book very readable in both its positive and
negative modes.) Much of what he recommends is out of print,
unfortunately, though you may be able to find some in used book stores
or convention dealers' rooms. (Perhaps not so coincidentally, Owlswick
has issued several Dunsany volumes recently.) Nice Tim Kirk cover and
interior illustrations, though the cover is reused as the frontispiece
and there are only three or four illustrations.
Slusser, George E. and Rabkin, Eric S. (editors); Mindscapes; Southern
Illinois University Press, P. O. Box 3697, Carbondale IL 62901;
0-8093-1454-1; $29.95.
Having read this book, I am no more enlightened as to what "mindscapes"
are than before I started. I did find it interesting that I read Poul
Anderson's description of "world-building" in this the same day I found
the following on an electronic bulletin board:
Some of us are sick of Generic Fantasy Adventure Trilogies, sick of
authors endlessly cranking out the Nth book in the Kludge the Klumsy
series, sick of repetitive fictional demonstrations of the superiority
of good old American rightwing militarist values, sick unto *death* of
dragons, mercenaries, amazons, cute furry aliens, barbarian
swordspersons, and insanely improbable solar systems set up to show how
clever the author's celestial mechanics are.
Some of us want to see writers doing something new. -- Dan'l
Danehy-Oakes
Mindscapes seems more a series of unconnected essays/lectures on science
fiction than a coherent presentation on "mindscapes." It has its
moments, but in the total is disappointing.
Stephensen-Payne, Phil, and Benson, George, Jr.; Frederik Pohl: Merchant
of Excellence; Phil Stephensen-Payne, P. O. Box 40494, Albuquerque NM
87196; 1-871133-09-2, $6.50.
This publication uses those manila term paper covers instead of a fancy
binding, but is invaluable for the collector or scholar. The fact that
it is not more elaborately bound just means it's more affordable by more
people. This is one of a series of several dozen such bibliographies.
Stephensen-Payne, Phil, and Benson, George, Jr.; Theodore Sturgeon:
Sculptor of Love and Hate; Phil Stephensen-Payne, P. O. Box 40494,
Albuquerque NM 87196; 1-871133-07-6, $4.
See comments on the Pohl bibliography (above). This is cheaper than the
Pohl because it is shorter -- the Pohl is long enough to require two
volumes.
Sullivan, C. W., III; Welsh Celtic Myth in Modern Fantasy; Greenwood
Press, Inc., 88 Post Road West, Westport CT 06881; 0-313-24998-9;
$42.95.
Sullivan covers the field sufficiently but in rather a dry fashion. The
author's love of the topic at times makes the presentation less than
even-handed (at least to me), and it seemed to me that a fair amount of
time was spent touting the superiority of Welsh myth over the
better-known mythologies such as Greek and Roman. Though at times
awkwardly written, for those interested in the field it will be an
informative guide.
Thorner, J. Lincoln; A Guide Through the Worlds of Robert A. Heinlein;
Gryphon Books, P. O. Box 209, Brooklyn NY 11228; 0-936071-17-6; $5.95.
Thorner has set himself a difficult task, given that Panshin has written
what may be the definitive work about Heinlein already (though it is, of
course, somewhat outdated now, not covering Heinlein's later works).
Unfortunately, Thorner's scholarship does not seem to be up to this
formidable job, and he manages to get some basic plot details wrong.
While there is some appeal in reading people's opinions on Heinlein, I
cannot recommend this book as a basic reference work.
Veeder, William and Hirsch, Gordon (editors); Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
After One Hundred Years; University of Chicago Press; ?; $?.
On the final ballot, but not seen.
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