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OtherRealms Issue 26 Part 04
Electronic OtherRealms #26
Winter, 1990
Part 4 of 8
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.
From Beyond the Edge
Reviews by our Readers
Ancient Images
Ramsey Campbell
Scribner's, 0-684-19081-8; 311pp, 1989; $18.95
The last novel that I enjoyed by this highly acclaimed British author
was Obsession; much too long a wait. This has now been remedied with
Ancient Images, a story that I feel could be his best book to date.
For some unknown reason, an old 1930's movie starring Boris Karloff and
Bela Lugosi, Tower of Fear, has been suppressed and all known existing
prints have been destroyed. However, Graham Nolan, a movie buff and film
buyer for a British TV station, has managed to track down the only copy
of Tower of Fear. Before he can view it, he is brutally murdered and the
film again disappears. A friend of his, Sandy Allen, decides to try and
solve the murder of Nolan and others who have come in contact with the
film, hoping to find the missing movie. Her search takes her to Northern
England where she begins by interviewing the surviving members of the
production crew. This eventually leads Allen to the town of Redfield and
the family who originally suppressed the films release. All this leads
to one of the darkest climaxes in any of Campbell's books.
Ancient Images is one of those books where every word must be carefully
read so as not to miss all the subtle horror that Campbell instills
throughout the story. Ancient Images is an entertaining, highly
innovative and original novel which grips the reader from the first
grisly murder to the final confrontation between Allen and Lord
Redfield. This is a novel that should not be missed.
--Richard Weilgosh
Ash Ock [****]
Christopher Hinz
St. Martin's, $18.95, 308pg.
This is the sequel to Liege Killer. This book is as good as the first
book, but incomplete and with no proper ending. Instead the story stops
just after two major revelations.
It is 56 years later. The paratwas are about to return. The humans are
ready. However the paratwas know the humans know they are returning and
have implemented a secret plan to undermine the human defense plans. A
key human has been subverted by the Paratwas and is hindering the effort
to resist the Paratwas. Nick and Gillian are revived secretly and are
now operating in secret even from most of the Council of Irrya.
The plot mirrors that of the first book. There is a Paratwa killer
operating secretly in the colony. Nick and Gillian have to find the
killer and determine the reason for the killings. The story ends with
the exposure of the Paratwa and the reason for the killings. Nick and
Gillian break up and Aristotle returns. The return of Aristotle is
expected. The first book made a big deal over the mysterious death of
Aristotle and the fact his body was never found. This screams that
Aristotle is still alive and will return. The book hints at who
attempted to kill Aristotle and why he has remained hidden until now.
Very little is resolved and the book abruptly ends with the exposure of
the killer leaving lots of unanswered questions. Supposedly, the third
book is the final book.
The situation at the end is quite intriguing. The humans appear to be
doomed, but Aristotle seems to be on their side and strategic planning
was Aristotle's specialty. The Paratwas have some reason for returning
other than conquering. Gillian is in danger of becoming a Paratwa again.
The strengths of the book are a very well done plot and good
characterization. All the clues as to what is happening are there for
the reader, although some of it comes from being able to listen in on
the paratwas, since the story is told from the omniscience viewpoint of
the author. The plot convolutions are sufficiently complex that it is
not obvious what is happening until just before the revelation by the
author.
In the first book, Nick is the main character of the Paratwa hunting
pair. This is Gillian's book. His character is developed better and
undergoes logical changes as a result of what happened in the prequel.
One other character is carried over from Liege Killer, Jerem Marth. He
is now the Lion of the Alexanders. Hinz does a very good job of
transforming Jerem into an old man while retaining the character of the
twelve year old boy from the prequel.
Despite the cliffhanger ending this book is one of those rare sequels
that equals its predecessor.
--Danny Low
Bimbos of the Death Sun
Sharyn McCrumb
TSR, 1988, 0-88038-455-7, 228pp., $3.95
Some instant classics disappear from the racks almost as fast as they
are printed. Fortunately, TSR has had the good sense to reprint Bimbos
for the further edification of fen everywhere. You'll still have to look
for it on the mystery racks where it was an Edgar Award winner, for it's
yet another murder at a SF convention, and the punctured characters
aren't all entirely fictional.
Neopro Dr. James Owens Mega, author of the hard SF novel that lends its
name to this story, embarks upon his first con at the urging of his
significant other. Marion Farley, tenure-seeking professor of literature
and/or science fiction, pushes her lover into the fray of fen and filk
to promote his first book, but they both find the paths crossed at
Rubicon more than they expected.
As his nom de plume, Jay Omega, the engineering prof threads his way
through filkers, gamers, Big Name Fans, visiting Scottish troubadours,
costumers, SCA sword swingers, a runty egotistical BNP, a Trekkie
wedding, and the odd assassination. Miles Perry, the con chairman, does
his best to juggle the demands of the masses vs. the "feed me" tantrums
of the GOH, author of the 28 book Tratyn Runewind series, Appin
Dungannon. Brenda Lindenfeld, whose appetites overflow both costume and
bed, searches for her perfect soulmate, while Clifford Morgan struts his
stuff into fan history.
When one of this merrie band falls victim to excessive zeal, police Lt.
Ayhan keeps muttering "I love this case," as his own band of magicians
work the halls. Then Omega takes role playing a little too seriously,
and ups the body count, while the Concom vows to carry on.
When names like Isaac Asimov and Fredric Brown have tilled this soil
before, what new harvest has McCrumb reaped? For one, her jabs at fans
and pros alike are tempered with understanding, keen insight, and
tolerant charity. For another, this is the best introduction to SF cons
anyone could receive. If any of these terms puzzle you, you need this
book; even if they don't, you'll enjoy it.
--Dean R. Lambe
The Complete ElfQuest: [****]
#5: Siege at Blue Mountain
#6: The Secret of Two-Edge
Wendy and Richard Pini
The good news is, the latest ElfQuest collection is out. The bad news
is, these collections aren't quite as good as the first ones. My vote
for the best fantasy series of the decade goes to Wendy and Richard
Pini's ElfQuest series. The most recent adaptation is The Complete
ElfQuest, published by Father Tree Press, which collects the two series
of comics books. The first four books were also published several years
ago by Donning/Starblaze. Both collections added color to the
black-and-white comics. The stories deal with a group of elves searching
for a safe home. Unlike the lofty, ethereal beings from Tolkein, these
elves are earthy creatures with human desires, foibles, and
personalities. Characterization is strong in ElfQuest, not only for the
main elf characters but also for the trolls, humans, and other villains
that they meet. There is a well-done quest plot and excellent art.
If you are a first-time reader, I would not suggest diving in with Siege
at Blue Mountain and The Secret of Two-Edge; too much of the action
depends on things that happened in the first four collections. I'd also
say to track down the Donning/Starblaze collections if possible. The
Complete ElfQuest recolored the art in the old collections, and in my
opinion did a horrible job. The new colors are generally muddy and often
don't fit the mood of the scene.
--Chuck Koelbel
Cradle [**]
Arthur C. Clarke & Gentry Lee
Warner; 408pp; $4.95; 0-446-35601-8
This novel is about aliens coming to Earth, and the 3 main characters,
plus several support players, who find them. However, that's telling the
ending. The plot of this 400 page book begins at about page 250. The
first two hundred pages consists of telling us about the way sexual
situations have messed up the minds of the major characters or
describing robots building machines.
In fairness, the prose is well written, but the information is boring.
When they are dealing with the main plot I see the potential for an
interesting story. But in this book the main plot seems secondary, and
the ending would make you moan in pain if you were watching it in a
movie theatre.
--Jim Winner
The Drabble Project
Rob Meades & David B. Wake
Beccon Publications, 75 Rosslyn Ave., Harold Wood, Essex RM3 ORG, ENGLAND
A Drabble is a story of exactly one hundred words. Up to fifteen
additional words are allowed to cover title, sub-titles and so on. The
genre originates in the Birmingham Science Fiction Society, where the
game of Drabble has been played for many years. This book is a
collection of exactly one hundred Drabbles written by both professional
and amateur authors who took up the challenge from the brilliant Brum
crowd.
The writers include Brian Aldiss, Isaac Asimov, Josephine Saxton, Garry
Kilworth, Brian Stableford, Patrick Tilley, Larry Niven, Barrington J.
Bayley, Terry Pratchett, Gene Wolfe, Harry Harrison, John Brunner, Bob
Shaw, Charles Platt, to mention only a few of the pros -- in addition,
the book reads like a "Who's Who in British Fandom".
Nobody will like all the stories -- but there are a few stories that will
tickle anyone's fancy, and of course there's the attraction of owning
this little green-bound jewel of a book. Bound to be a collector s item
and a great conversation piece.
--Heidi Lyshol
Eve's Rib
Bryn Chandler
Pageant, 1989, $3.50, 270pp, 0-517-00645-6
The only survivor of an Earth colonization ship, Eve Conner is stranded
on the unknown planet she chooses to call Genesis. She is, however,
equipped with a mechanical biolab and a generous supply of human ova and
sperm. From these, Eve will populate her colony. Yet it is up to her to
shape the moral, ethical and political structure of humanity's last
hope. Eve faces hard choices as she struggles to define the perfect
society.
This is apparently the first SF novel by an experienced writer. As a
first effort by a mundane, it's not too bad. The book spends too much
time explaining the obvious; it's somewhat preachy in places, and pulls
too many convenient technological rabbits out of hats. It would have
been much improved by one ruthless pass from an experienced SF editor
such as Ben Bova. Still, Eve's Rib has a clear vision of where it's
going, and a certain sense of irony, however muffled.
--David M Shea
Farside Cannon [**]
Roger MacBride Allen
Baen, 1988, $3.95, 406pp, 0-671-65428-4
A mining corporation is shifting an asteroid to Earth orbit. A
geological team is drilling off the coast of Iceland in search of proof
of an ancient disaster. A rabidly anti-tech ecological group is stirring
up trouble. On the Moon, politicians from several planets are arguing
about the economy.
Mr Allen has shown he can write a killer novel when he has a real idea
(Orphan Of Creation); and can create lively characters even in the
service of a routine plot (Rogue Powers). Alas, little of this talent
shines through in Farside Cannon, a stolid techno-disaster story which
just never came alive for me. It's not awful, but I've come to expect
more from this author.
--David M Shea
Feather Stroke
Sydney Joyce Van Scyoc
Avon, 1989, 264pp, $3.50, 0-380-75438-X
Dara was raised a daughter of the simple folk, a people who had
abandoned the old gods and farmed their valleys in peace and security.
But one day a pirate lord from the coastal cities came, demanding a
marital alliance. Confronted with unacceptable choices, Dara must
confront her heritage and learn to use the powers she has suppressed all
her life. Destiny awaits Dara and her bird-companions: a showdown with a
mad flame-priest in the rubble of a burning city.
This is billed as the author's first "fantasy", yet it shares many
elements with her acclaimed trilogy Darkchild/Bluesong/Starsilk: an
abiding sense of family; an almost instinctive ecological sense; an
internalizing of the standard "quest" factor toward personal identity
rather than an exterior goal. A moody book, it reminded me of James
Taylor's "deep greens and blues"; yet the attentive reader will find the
sun shining in late afternoon.
--David M Shea
Feral Cell
Richard Bowes
Questar, 1987, 212pp, $2.95, 0-445-20352-8
Manhattan, 1999: Robert Leal is a "game master", one who stages perverse
role-playing games for debauched clients. He is haunted by the
melancholy music of a dead friend; and people keep appearing and
vanishing in the unknown realm called Capricorn, muttering cryptic
slogans about "the Undying Cabal" and "the Feral Cell". Robert Leal
faces almost certain death in New York, possible immortality in
Capricorn; but the price of either may be appalling.
Call it cyberpunk without the "cyber-", an alternate-worlds novel as it
might have been conceived by Lenny Bruce. This book combines dark
Sixties nostalgia and future-shock paranoia, with a low-key style not
ideally suited to either. Feral Cell is a weird and challenging, if not
entirely successful book; admirers of, say, Delany might want to check
it out. (Note to the publisher: Hire a proofreader who can punctuate
correctly.)
--David M Shea
Firebird
Kathy Tyers
1987, Bantam, $3.50, 265 pp, 0-553-26716-7
Lady Firebird Angelo is a Wastling: an excess princess in the ruling
family of Naetai. When the birth of her sister's child pushes her to the
fatal fifth place in the succession, Firebird's duty is to die:
heroically in combat if possible, so long as she dies. A battle and two
suicide attempts fail her, however. Captured by the Federacy,
interrogated by the telepathic Sentinels, Firebird must choose between
the traditions she was raised to, and a potential new loyalty to a
higher cause.
Routine in concept, largely predictable, about forty pages too long,
this melodramatic little space-opera-cum-romance still has a certain
modest appeal in the actual writing. This would rate as above average
fan fiction, though short of real pro standards.
--David M Shea
Laying the Music to Rest
Dean Wesley Smith
Questar, 1989, 0-445-20934-8, 194pp., $3.95.
First novels grant readers a look through an unique window and carve the
benchmark by which future works are judged. Smith has set himself an
especially heavy task with this book, for it begins a series of vast
temporal dimension, yet only hints at the underlying rationale and conflict.
When friends Fred and Constance ask his help in clearing a female ghost
from their rustic inn, Doc Kellogg Jones agrees immediately. Jones, a
dropout from Academia and a widower, readily abandons the bar and grill
he runs in Boise, and hops jeep and packhorse for the Salmon River
Primitive Wilderness Area. Once at the Roosevelt Lake Inn, he soon
encounters ghostly Gretchen, the piano-playing saloon girl who drowned
when a mudslide flooded the town of Roosevelt in 1909.
Wait a minute...a ghost from 80 years ago, underwater, on the shore, in
inn, out and about, in a science fiction novel? Well, yes, and that's
just one of the questions left hanging. Anyway, guests of the inn
include Susan Rule, who mutters something about coming from a future
Earth reseeded with humanity from past and present, and psychic
researcher Steven Jerome, who's in empathic contact with the ectoplasmic
lady.
A fortuitous skindiving dip to the bottom of the lake gains a magic
mirror for Fred and Doc. Susan, who apparently told some truths about
her origins, activates the mirror's transdimensional trigger and
disappears. Doc, with nothing better to do, argues that he must use the
mirror to follow Susan, since that's the only way to find Alex, ghostly
Gretchen's long lost lover. So Doc rubs the mirror, and finds himself
aboard the Titanic, yes, that Titanic, mere hours before the fateful
iceberg. Just when he thinks he's going mad and going down with the
ship, Doc meets Marjorie, and finds hundreds of fellow "prisoners" of a
six-hour temporal recycling process. Meanwhile, back at the ranch, eh,
the inn uptime 78 years, the Lomaxes are gunning for...well, you get
the idea.
Was it some publishing decision to give us only fragments, hints and
loose images about what's really going on here? Certainly the characters
are just beginning to show development by the last page, and only one of
several major plot elements reaches a meaningful conclusion. Yet, the
saddle sores and Titanic banisters feel authentic, and Smith's full
story seems worth waiting for.
--Dean R. Lambe
Orbital Decay
Allen Steele
Ace, Nov. 1989, 0-441-49581-5
New hard SF authors are rare these days, and a first novel that manages
to combine fiction with technology is even rarer. Allen Steele's new
book is both good hard SF and good fiction, and deserves the promotion
it will receive as Ace's lead title for November. While the book has its
flaws, Steele has written a genuinely original near-Earth orbit novel.
And even though the blurbs will make the inevitable comparisons to
Heinlein, Orbital Decay is far more realistic and subversive than
anything the Master ever wrote.
The book has its flaws: an acceptable, if not amazing plot, a number of
anachronisms (e.g. Steele's characters only like music from the sixties
through the eighties), and a weak ending. But it does have a unique
vision of the future. Orbital Decay works within believable human and
physical constraints, and as such, is close to the ideal of a book from
rather than about the future.
--Ken Meltsner
Prisoner of Dreams [***]
Karen Ripley
Ballantine Books $3.95 263pg.
This is a very fast paced action story. It starts off running and never
stops. Jo-lac is forced by a lack of money or a better cargo to pick up
an indentured human, Lewis, as cargo. On takeoff the Military Authority
tries to destroy her ship. It is clear her cargo is no ordinary person.
The story is about Jo-lac's attempts to discover the secret of Lewis.
The plot, while predictable, is sensible. The relationship between
Jo-lac and Redding is very obvious. Lewis's origins are obvious to the
reader long before Jo-lac figures it out. The background society is well
done and quite sensible as made up societies go. Except for Jo-lac most
of the characters are developed just enough to avoid being cardboard
cutouts but not enough to avoid being stereotypes. Ripley manages to
present Jo-lac as a head strong impulsive person who is not a spoiled or
stupid brat. This is an entertaining first novel that is competently
done.
--Danny Low
Sinbad: The Thirteenth Voyage [****]
R.A. Lafferty
Broken Mirrors Press, Box 473, Cambridge, MA 02238, $9.95 + $1.00 p/h
R.A. Lafferty's popularity of the 6O's and 70's when he appeared on
Nebula and Hugo ballots (winning the Hugo in 1973 for "Eurema's Dam")
has sadly decreased in recent years. Now, his unique short stories and
novels are published only by small presses. Sinbad: The Thirteenth
Voyage is his latest novel.
Essindibad Copperbottom, the true Sinbad the Sailor (and spy) and his
wife, Grand-Dame Tumblehome, travel from the planet Kentauron to Earth
during the time of the Arabian Nights to find Harum, the golden child,
who has been born again. Once there Sinbad and his wife encounter more
spies; John Scarlatti Thunderson of North Chicago, inventor of the
Almost-Anything Space-and-Time Ship; and Scheherazade. They all get
caught up in a wonderfully funny and crazy tale of Harum, two brothers
fighting over a kingdom, dragons, demons, spaceships and a battle at the
Gates of Hell. No attempt to describe the plot would do it justice.
There's a lot of Lafferty's own brand of humor, twists, turns and double
crosses, strange characters (including the spaceships) and a perfect
ending. Highly recommended.
--Steve Pasechnick
Target
Janet Morris and David Drake
Ace, 0-441-79955-8, 312 pp., July 1989, $3.95
Morris and Drake have worked together before in Kill Ratio and Active
Measures fairly successfully. Their books tend to fall into the
military/political categories as far as plot goes and their strength
lies in believable behind-the-scenes action and realistic
characterization.
Target is a novel of first contact, and while this is certainly not a
new topic, Morris and Drake do provide enough twists to make it
worthwhile. The story revolves around Channon, an alien negotiator whose
peacekeeper mission to Rillian space is quite rudely interrupted when
his ship is blown apart by those he's going to negotiate with. The
destruction of his ship has thrown his survival capsule through a hole
in spacetime and into our universe. Landing his ship on the farside of
the moon, Channon makes his way to a United Nations-run moonbase. From
here the novel flies.
This really is quick-paced stuff with barely enough time to catch your
breath before another conflict bursts upon you and tugs you along for
the ride. While I found the aliens (both Channon, representing the Unity
and the Rillian warriors who are environmentally developed to fill their
roles) quite interesting, the strength of the book lies with the human
characters. Yes, at first Morris and Drake seem to be casting up
stereotypes--the square jawed American Deputy of Security, the Russian
General, the American Diplomat who's really undercover intelligence--but
it doesn't last. These are real people, and that's both a negative and a
positive.
Every time I found myself starting to like one of the characters and
thought I had them figured out, they went ahead and did something
totally human. This threw me at first. Who was I supposed to identify
with? But as I read on, I couldn't help but be impressed with how true
to form these characters were--how their thoughts and actions mirrored
reality.
This book can be enjoyed on a couple of different levels--as a straight
action adventure, as a novel of first contact with some relatively
interesting aliens or as a novel which dares to give its characters
conflicting beliefs, attitudes and behaviors--just like you and me.
You'll find enough to keep you going to the end.
--Steven Sawicki
Walkers
Graham Masterton
TOR, 0-312-93201-4, 346pps, 1989, $18.95
Not many horror novels raise goose bumps as I read them, but Walkers set
such chills through me that I had to look around the bedroom before
turning off the light (the last novel to do this previously was Phantoms
by Dean R. Koontz).
Jack Reed's life is coming apart, his marriage is crumbling and to
complicate matters he has just purchased an ancient rundown insane
asylum with the intent of turning it into a country club. However he
gets more than he bargains for as he discovers that the walls of this
asylum contain the still living bodies of the former inmates who
disappeared sixty years earlier. Now they are trying to escape and they
kidnap Jack's young son planning to use him as their gateway to freedom
and let loose destruction on the world. However in order to accomplish
their release, 800 innocent people must be sacrificed for each of the
inmates imprisoned in the walls.
With Walkers, Masterton has created a superb, well-conceived chiller of
ultimate evil. Masterton enhances the effectiveness of this
well-developed story with vivid imagery and strong characterization.
Walkers is one of Masterton's best and is very highly recommended. Some
of Graham Masterton's other works include Mirror, The Manitou, Night
Warriors and his most recent success (as editor) Scare Care.
--Richard Weilgosh
The Wall Around Eden
Joan Slonczewski
Morrow, 1989, 1-55710-030-6, 288pp., $18.95
The few, yet remarkable novels from Slonczewski share common concerns
for nonviolence in the face of the human condition, but no two of her
lyrical tales are alike in setting or plot. This time she offers a rite
of passage for a troubled young woman, against a background of
near-future alien invasion and small town survival in post-holocaust
America.
A score of years after Death Year and nuclear winter, the village of
Gwynwood U.S.A. struggles to maintain its tiny bubble of life. One of a
very few remaining pockets of humanity in North America, the
heterogeneous mix of 142 people, some Quaker, some Lutheran, token
Catholics and Jews, all of Gwynwood wonder why God or alien might have
spared them from the nuclear Armageddon, and whether alien or God may be
one and the same.
In this close, yet diffuse community, Isabel Garcia-Chase seeks escape
through the airwall that the Keepers have locked around the town. At
weekly worship and town meetings, Isabel and her friends press their
elders for answers to the what and the why of the strange alien
presence, and the workings of the Pylon devices that support what little
communication and trade remains in the world. The older generation fears
the visible horror of death that lies immediately outside the Walls, as
well as the continuing radiation hazard of the deadlands, and there
seems little chance that Isabel, her friend Peace Hope, or her
unrequited love, Daniel, will ever master the aliens' extradimensional
transport system to reach Earth's last remaining city, Sydney,
Australia.
Isobel does construct a forbidden radio, and while it gains her insight
into the nature of the Angelbees, a Committee of Concern--in the Quaker
fashion--convinces her to surrender this threat to Gwynwood security to
their enigmatic masters. Then, blind Becca, Isobel's influential
teacher, leaves a cryptic message about the hydrogen gasbag Angelbees
and disappears from the community. The ever-curious Isobel finds a way
through the Wall and earns an apparent summons from the alien hive queen
for herself and Daniel. Once beyond the Wall, the teenagers discover
more truth than they are ready to accept about both human past and
future, and the alien mission. For all she has sought escape and
independence, Isobel learns that they come at a price which may be too
high to pay.
In tone and texture, Eden recalls the very best of young adult science
fiction, and it fits well with modern classics by Yolen and Le Guin. In
religious and moral discourse, however, the novel is fully adult--albeit
a bit out of step with current "I've got mine" culture. However
categorized, it's sure to be an award contender, and a work not to be
missed.
--Dean R. Lambe
------ End ------
