@@@@@ @ @ @@@@@ @ @ @@@@@@@ @ @ @@@@@ @@@@@ @@@ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @@@@@ @@@@ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @@@@@ @ @ @ @ @@@@@ @@@@@ @@@ Mt. Holz Science Fiction Society Club Notice - 8/28/87 -- Vol. 6, No. 9 MEETINGS UPCOMING: Unless otherwise stated, all meetings are on Wednesdays at noon. LZ meetings are in LZ 3A-206; MT meetings are in the cafeteria. _D_A_T_E _T_O_P_I_C 09/16 LZ: THE UPLIFT WAR by David Brin (Future Histories) 09/23 MT: The Vampire in SF (Lee, Matheson, Saberhagen, Sturgeon, Wilson) HO Chair: John Jetzt HO 1E-525 834-1563 mtuxo!jetzt LZ Chair: Rob Mitchell LZ 1B-306 576-6106 mtuxo!jrrt MT Chair: Mark Leeper MT 3E-433 957-5619 mtgzz!leeper HO Librarian: Tim Schroeder HO 3M-420 949-5866 homxb!tps LZ Librarian: Lance Larsen LZ 3L-312 576-6142 lzfme!lfl MT Librarian: Bruce Szablak MT 4C-418 957-5868 mtgzz!bds Factotum: Evelyn Leeper MT 1F-329 957-2070 mtgzy!ecl All material copyright by author unless otherwise noted. 1. Ah, August 27. Let's take a look at today in history. 1841 An earthquake in Cartago, Costa Rica kills 4000. 1881 Cyclone on the Carolina coast claims 700 lives. 1883 Krakatoa, the greatest volcanic eruption in recorded history kills 50,000. 1886 Earthquakes in the Ionian Islands. 300 fatalities. 1954 A B-36 crashed in Ellworth AFG, South Dakota. 24 killed. 1972 A bus fell down a 150' ravine killing 19. Mark Leeper and Evelyn Chimelis marry. A DC-3 crashes in Canaima, Venezuela taking 24 lives. Mark Leeper MT 3E-433 957-5619 ...mtgzz!leeper THE LAST ELECTION by Pete Davies Vintage Contemporaries, 1986, ISBN 0-394-74702-X, $6.95. A book review by Evelyn C. Leeper Copyright 1987 Evelyn C. Leeper This is a non-cyberpunk novel or, rather, a non-cyber punk novel. The England of the future (1990s would be my guess) is definitely punk, but the technological revolution that Gibson et al portray has bypassed England, and pretty much everyone else. Instead, London is a decaying city, with crumbling buildings, pot-holed streets, thousands of homeless living in garbage heaps, and 24-hour-a-day televised snooker matches to keep the populace happy. All this is overseen by "Nanny," who from the description is a aging, possibly senile, version of Margaret Thatcher and the leader of the "Money Party." On top of everything else, the "Last Election" is coming up. Cyberpunk novels postulate a society of great technology, where many, perhaps even most, live in comfort. Though the characters portrayed in them are the lower strata, we do get a glimpse of the better life that most people lead. In _T_h_e _L_a_s_t _E_l_e_c_t_i_o_n, few people are at that level. The mass of people are unemployed, kept on the dole and pacified with television. People who do manage to drag themselves away from snooker go to state-run discos where they can get loud music, drinks, and drugs. Naturally, there is more to the plot than this. There are the antics of Wally Wasted, top snooker commentator, and Thor Thunders, the candidate of the People Party. There is the whole question of what the Money Party's plans really are, where the new drugs that are circulating at the discos are coming from, and whether there is any hope for the future. _T_h_e _L_a_s_t _E_l_e_c_t_i_o_n is an engrossing book. It is, however, extremely depressing. The blurb compares it to _1_9_8_4, _A _C_l_o_c_k_w_o_r_k _O_r_a_n_g_e, _B_r_a_z_i_l, and _B_l_a_d_e _R_u_n_n_e_r. Of the four, it is most like the vision of the recent film of _1_9_8_4, that of a Britain slowly falling apart while everyone tries to pretend that everything is fine. The solutions held out by Nanny are dishonest in much the same way as Big Brother's are--they are solutions, true, but they are not what they appear to be. As long as you're not the type who gets suicidally depressed by the shape the world is likely to be in ten years, I would recommend this book.