@@@@@ @ @ @@@@@ @ @ @@@@@@@ @ @ @@@@@ @@@@@ @@@ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @@@@@ @@@@ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @@@@@ @ @ @ @ @@@@@ @@@@@ @@@ Mt. Holz Science Fiction Society Club Notice - 2/5/88 -- Vol. 6, No. 32 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 02/10 LZ: DRAGON WAITING by John Ford (Recent Fantasy) 02/13 Science Fiction Association of Bergen County: Lou Aronica (phone 201-933-2724 for details) 02/20 New Jersey Science Fiction Association: TBA (phone 201-432-5965 for details) 02/24 MT: Best SF Novels of 1987 03/19 New Jersey Science Fiction Association: TBA 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: Will Harmon MT 3C-406 957-5128 mtgzz!wch Factotum: Evelyn Leeper MT 1F-329 957-2070 mtgzy!ecl All material copyright by author unless otherwise noted. 1. In Lincroft, recent fantasy as exemplified by John M. Ford's _T_h_e _D_r_a_g_o_n _W_a_i_t_i_n_g will be discussed. Written in 1983, this book won the World Fantasy Award for that year and is one of the best fantasy novels of recent years. At first glance, it seems like a straight historical novel with some fantasy elements (a vampire and a werewolf among other things). Things are, however, a bit odd and at first I figured it was just my inaccurate knowledge of history. At some point I finally caught on that this was an alternate history novel, as well as a fantasy novel. So for those of you starting out I will say, "Read the historical notes at the end _f_i_r_s_t." When I finished the book, I immediately went back and re-read it and enjoyed it a lot more the second time. So this novel can be enjoyed on two levels--one for just its fantasy content, the other for its alternate history content. It is, all in all, well worth reading. Ford has recently written a THE MT VOID Page 2 very successful "Star Trek" novel, _H_o_w _M_u_c_h _f_o_r _J_u_s_t _t_h_e _P_l_a_n_e_t?" which is very funny even if you're not a Trekkie/Trekker. Another Ford book (which I haven't read) is _W_e_b _o_f _A_n_g_e_l_s. [-ecl] 2. National Public radio recently ran a piece on the President's falling ratings. No, not that people consider that he is not as good as they once considered him (though that is perhaps true also), but his falling television ratings. It seems that Presidential television appearances are suffering the same fate as other broadcast television: people are being given more media choices and more people are tuning out the President for more stimulating fare like Michael Jackson's latest video on MTV. Independent stations have this tendency to put their best movies opposite Reagan, though none as yet have counter-programmed with _H_e_l_l_c_a_t_s _o_f _t_h_e _N_a_v_y or worse, _B_e_d_t_i_m_e _f_o_r _B_o_n_z_o. It is clear, however, that the "Ronald Reagan Show" is suffering in the ratings and is going to have to pick up some pizzazz if it wants to compete or even if it wants the networks to continue to carry it. I am told also that in an effort to cadge more ratings, the show will change its lead actor sometime early next year. Later this year there will be public opinion polls to see who the public would like to see in the starring role. Mark Leeper MT 3E-433 957-5619 ...mtgzz!leeper SCARLET IN GASLIGHT Written by Martin Powell Artwork by Seppo Makinen Eternity Comics, November 1987, $1.95. A comics review by Evelyn C. Leeper Copyright 1988 Evelyn C. Leeper I know I don't usually review comic books, but this is about Sherlock Holmes _a_n_d Dracula, so I could I resist? But understand that these are the opinions of a non-comics-reader and may reveal some ignorance of the state of the art in the field today. For the novice (like myself), there are more aspects of a comic book than of a regular novel, so I'll discuss them one by one. Layout: I find this very confusing. The dialogue is not printed within the frames, but overlapping the frames. So you can't tell if a certain line belongs with the frame above it or the frame below it without a lot of back-tracking. In addition, you get only 22 pages of story, which seems pretty slim for $1.95. (This may be standard, for all I know, but to the non-expert, it seems steep.) Characters: Sherlock Holmes is introduced and by the end of this installment has gone insane at the thought of vampires--or at any rate, of the type of supernatural creature that Dracula shows himself to be-- really existing. Dracula is...Dracula. I'm not going to enjoy this series very much if Holmes spends the whole time staring glassy-eyed at the walls. But, more importantly, I think that having Holmes go into this state is acceptable only if he snaps back fairly quickly--it doesn't ring true otherwise. Artwork: The artwork is competent enough, though in particularly "active" frames is sometimes confusing. The cover says "Recommended for Mature Readers" and the artwork (and story) are more graphic--both in sexuality and in violence--than one tends to think of comics as being. But then, that is the current trend, spurred on my the success of Japanese _m_a_n_g_a, which are much more violent than American comics. Story: It's too soon to judge on this. Basically, it seems to be a retelling of the novel _D_r_a_c_u_l_a, with the same characters, except that Holmes and Watson are added. Whether they do anything with this new combination remains to be seen. If Holmes spends the whole series out of commission, thereby neutralizing the only new element, the story can't help but suffer as well. CASES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES Artwork by Dan Day Renegade Comics, May 1987--?, $2.00 each. A comics review by Evelyn C. Leeper Copyright 1988 Evelyn C. Leeper Having started reviewing Sherlockian comics, I might as well talk about this series. There have been ten issues to date, all but one based on a Canonical story. The issues so far are: 1 The Adventure of the Beryl Coronet 2 The Adventure of the Dancing Men 3 The Strange Adventure of the Vourdalak (story by Gordon Derry) 4 The Adventure of the Six Napoleons 5 The Adventure of the Engineer's Thumb 6 The Adventure of the Resident Patient 7 The Adventure of the Musgrave Ritual 8 A Scandal in Bohemia 9 The Adventure of the Copper Beeches 10 The Adventure of the Greek Interpreter 11 The Adventure of the Black Peter (announced) Layout: These are done with illustrations surrounding the text, rather than in frames. It is sometimes difficult to tell which block of text follows which, as they are sometimes scattered over the page, but one of the many problems in the earlier issues has been solved by going to ordinary text instead of all capital letters, as the first 6 issues had. Each issue contains 28-30 pages of story (the full text) as well as a letter column. Characters and Story: With the exception of Issue #3, all stories are from the original Canon. Issue #3 is a reasonable enough pastiche. I would not object to more non-Doyle stories on an infrequent basis, but I suspect that was a one-time aberration. Artwork: The artwork is good, at times excellent, particularly the larger illustrations. "The Adventure of the Musgrave Ritual," for example, is done entirely in three-quarter-page illustrations-- marvelous! The covers are wonderful also, though not really illustrative of the stories contained within the issue they are on. Some are portraits of Holmes and/or Watson and others illustrate events that I don't recall from any story. The cover for Issue #10 is recognizable, but it's not from "The Adventure of the Greek Interpreter"; it's from the story announced for Issue #11, "The Adventure of the Black Peter"! On the whole, this is much better than _S_c_a_r_l_e_t _i_n _G_a_s_l_i_g_h_t, even if I have read the stories dozens of times before. Boskone 25 Con report by Evelyn C. Leeper and Mark R. Leeper Copyright 1988 Evelyn C. Leeper and Mark R. Leeper (Part I) [Most of this is written by Evelyn. The parts of this that are written by Mark will be labeled as such as they occur.] In keeping with the new stripped-down Boskone we didn't take Friday or Monday off. Rather, we packed ourselves in the car noon Friday and tooled on up to scenic South Hadley, Mass., where we stayed with a friend instead of in the hotel. It was just as well; the hotels were full and people were in the overflow hotel, so room space for people who had no local place to stay was at a premium. (Of course, someone who stayed with us had his shoes pissed on my our friend's cat, so he may have a different opinion!) Much has been said about the "new Boskone" (actually the Classic Boskone, thought new mostly by those who had started attending Boskone in the last four years or so). I will therefore be brief. Boskone 24 was a zoo. There were 4200 members and who knows how many non-members, all of the latter and many of the former roaming the halls 24 hours a day looking for free booze. There were a lot of program items, a lot of costumes, a lot of planning, and a lot of problems. In an attempt to avoid the last, many of the others were cut back. Having been basically thrown out of Boston, Boskone was held in Springfield, and not advertised heavily. In addition, there was a membership cap and membership restrictions, less programming, hardly any films, no costume programming, etc. So how was it? I will describe individual aspects first, and then summarize my opinion. Hotels The hotel was spread between two hotels, the Marriott and the Sheraton Tara. The two are across the street from each other, and are also connected by a walkway from the Tara to Baystate West, a mall connected to the Marriott. However, Friday night the guards locked the walkway at 6 PM (when the mall closed), meaning people had a cold dash between hotels until the Con Committee got it open again. (It was below freezing outside.) The hotels were friendly and co-operative. The Tara staff dress in Beefeater costumes, so the scaled-back costumes that the convention members had couldn't even compete. Each hotel had a snack bar set up near the programming areas--coffee was only 50 cents in the Marriott, a delightful change from Boston prices! The hotels also had a lot of sofa space near the programming areas, so it was possible to sit down between items and talk to people. The mall had a couple of bookstores, a comics store, and a video store. Unfortunately, it closed 6 PM Friday and 5:30 PM Saturday and didn't open at all on Sunday. Welcome to downtown Springfield, folks! Mark and I managed to get out for lunch Saturday and go to Johnson's Boskone 25 February 5, 1988 Page 2 Bookstore, a Springfield tradition and where we did a lot of our book- buying during our Western Massachusetts years. I think being ninety miles away from their clubhouse forced NESFA to consider what was really necessary to bring and what wasn't. The harder it is to transport something, the more you think about whether you really need it. The result was that there was not a lot of "stuff" piled up all over the place in registration or other areas, yet everything ran as smoothly as it ever did (even before the Boskone population explosion). The badges were particularly nice--laminated plastic clip-on badges with the names lettered large enough to read from across the room. Hucksters' Rooms There were two hucksters' rooms, one in each hotel. This had its advantages and its disadvantages. (Talk about waffling!) The advantages were that wherever you were, you were near a hucksters' room and could browse and that people had additional incentive to go to both hotels and check out what was going on. The disadvantages were that it was difficult to shop for a particular book, since you had two widely separated areas to search, and that if you were attending a lot of panels in the Marriott (the primary programming hotel), you might not have much time to get to the Tara hucksters' room. I suspect the advantages outweighed the disadvantages and this mode of operation will continue. The hucksters' rooms dealt mostly in books. I thought this was good, even though some people felt that you could buy books anywhere, but media items, jewelry, etc., were harder to find. I have several chain bookstores near me but I still need to travel into New York's Science Fiction Shop or Forbidden Planet to do any serious science fiction book shopping, and I found the wide assortment of books (especially older paperbacks) very useful. There were only two or three dealers who duplicated even the specialty stores near here. I asked one book dealer how this year's business compared to last year's. He admitted it was down slightly, but also said there were about 2000 people last year he could have done without. I got the feeling he was willing to take the slight decrease in sales for an easier time of it. Art Show The Art Show was one of the things they _d_i_d_n'_t plan on cutting back, and while it was smaller than last year's, the overall quality was higher. This is probably due to the smaller attendance, and the cutback was primarily in the area of amateur art. I think the professional artists recognized that the cutbacks in Boskone wouldn't affect their sales all that much. There were a lot of panels on art; I would suggest that perhaps they should even schedule a formal artistic programming Boskone 25 February 5, 1988 Page 3 track next year. Film Program The film program consisted of _E_x_c_a_l_i_b_u_r, _R_a_d_i_o _R_a_n_c_h, _T_r_i_p _t_o _t_h_e _M_o_o_n, _T_h_e _F_i_r_s_t _M_e_n _i_n _t_h_e _M_o_o_n, and _T_h_e _F_a_b_u_l_o_u_s _W_o_r_l_d _o_f _J_u_l_e_s _V_e_r_n_e. (However, _R_a_d_i_o _R_a_n_c_h was canceled.) These were all based on literature, which is probably why they were chosen. I saw only _T_h_e _F_a_b_u_l_o_u_s _W_o_r_l_d _o_f _J_u_l_e_s _V_e_r_n_e, having seen the others before. It could have been a larger film program, but it is difficult to find films that people can't see on cable or video easily enough. I would like to see them try to find more obscure films--Lem's _S_o_l_a_r_i_s, for example, or other foreign films that can't be seen elsewhere. (After I wrote this, I discovered that they had tried to get _S_o_l_a_r_i_s, but couldn't find a distributor.) Programming The panels were varied. There were many that seemed to be forming an art track, and there were some hard science panels (see below), many of them about the space program or lack thereof. I couldn't attend all of them, but I will describe what I did attend. And Now for Something Completely Different... Friday, 6 PM Jim Mann, Laurie Mann This was a description of the plans for this year's Boskone. The theme was "Smaller is better," but the plan was focused cutbacks, not just across-the-board cuts. One interesting sidenote is that the dual- hotel situation, while being forced on them, led them to try to make it truly a "two-hotel" convention, rather than one main hotel and one overflow hotel. This was why, for example, there was a hucksters' room in each hotel. Dinner: The Student Prince We wanted to get a quick dinner between 7 and 9 so that we could make 9 o'clock panels, but we also wanted real food (not Burger King). We got the real food (at The Student Prince, also known as The Fort) but didn't quite make it back in time. The Student Prince serves good German food and I think we agreed it was worth the slight loss in panel time. Sherlock Holmes and SF Friday, 9 PM Tony Lewis, Ann Broomhead, Esther Friesner, Mark Keller, Priscilla Olson, Joe Siclari I got to this about fifteen minutes into it. The panel had enlarged from what was announced--apparently anyone in the audience who Boskone 25 February 5, 1988 Page 4 contributed in the first five minutes was drafted onto the panel. Several science fictional Holmes stories were mentioned, including the _D_r. _W_h_o episode, "The Talons of Wen-Chiang." Other, more literary, references included John J. McGuire and H. Beam Piper's "The Return" (anthologized in the generally unavailable _S_c_i_e_n_c_e _F_i_c_t_i_o_n _S_h_e_r_l_o_c_k _H_o_l_m_e_s edited by Norman Metcalf), Anthony Boucher's "The Greatest Tertian" (anthologized in Groff Conklin's _I_n_v_a_d_e_r_s _f_r_o_m _E_a_r_t_h), and Mack Reynolds's "Case of the Extraterrestrial." Worth especial note is the anthology edited by Isaac Asimov and Martin Greenberg, _S_h_e_r_l_o_c_k _H_o_l_m_e_s _T_h_r_o_u_g_h _T_i_m_e & _S_p_a_c_e, but a complete list would be extremely long. There are many sub-categories of science fiction Holmes stories. There are straight science fiction/horror stories with Holmes as a character, such as Richard L. Boyer's _T_h_e _G_i_a_n_t _R_a_t _o_f _S_u_m_a_t_r_a and Austin Mitchelson's _E_a_r_t_h_q_u_a_k_e _M_a_c_h_i_n_e. There is even a story in the Canon of this type: "The Adventure of the Creeping Man." There are stories in which Holmes meets various science fiction authors or science fictional characters, such as P. H. Cannon's _P_u_l_p_t_i_m_e (where he meets Lovecraft) and Philip Jose Farmer's _A_d_v_e_n_t_u_r_e _o_f _t_h_e _P_e_e_r_l_e_s_s _P_e_e_r (where he meets Tarzan). There are at least two in which he meets Dracula (Loren D. Estleman's _S_h_e_r_l_o_c_k _H_o_l_m_e_s _V_s. _D_r_a_c_u_l_a and Fred Saberhagen's _H_o_l_m_e_s-_D_r_a_c_u_l_a _F_i_l_e) and another two in which he meets Jack the Ripper (horror rather than science fiction). There is also a new comic book, _S_c_a_r_l_e_t _i_n _G_a_s_l_i_g_h_t, in which Holmes meet Dracula. There are science fiction stories in which there are Holmes-like characters, such as Poul Anderson and Gordon Dickson's Hokas in "The Martian Crown Jewels" and the main characters in William Kotzwinkle's _T_r_o_u_b_l_e _i_n _B_u_g_l_a_n_d and L. Neil Smith's _T_h_e_i_r _M_a_j_e_s_t_i_e_s' _B_u_c_k_e_t_e_e_r_s. (The children's fantasy field is represented here by the "Basil of Baker Street" books, Basil being a mouse who lives in the walls of 221-B Baker Street and solves mouse mysteries.) One final mention: _T_h_e _H_o_l_m_e_s_i_a_n _F_e_d_e_r_a_t_i_o_n, a journal of Sherlock Holmes Star Trek stories. One of the difficulties with writing Sherlock Holmes science fiction is that Holmes operates best in Victorian London. Arthur Bryon Cover's attempt to move him millennia into the future was not successful and few others have tried to move him even into the present. One reason for this anchoring is that Holmes's deductive methods would not work as well today. As one panelist pointed out, Holmes's talent for identifying people's professions would be lost--he could say that someone worked at a computer keyboard, for example, but that still wouldn't say whether they were an insurance salesman or an author. Holmes is the deductive reasoner versus the man of action. He needs someone like Watson to play off of. (Mycroft is even less active than Holmes, of course.) In fact, most archetypes need a contrasting personality. It is well-known in detective fiction, but even in other genres it is hard to find counter-examples. Boskone 25 February 5, 1988 Page 5 As for science fictional copies of Holmes ("Sherlock's Clones," as Joe Siclari named them), there are some which are less obvious than the Hokas and such named above. Mr. Spock and Data (from _S_t_a_r _T_r_e_k) were named, of course. Esther Friesner said she would love to see Data in a deerstalker cap, and was immediately told by everyone else that it's been done already (but I can't remember the name of the episode). Someone else pointed out that there is another very famous character who is tall, thin, has grey eyes, and was supposedly (but not really) killed by a fall from a cliff--Gandalf. Much more could be written on the connections between Sherlock Holmes and science fiction, but it wasn't said in this panel, so I will save that for another day. Sex and Death Friday, 10 PM Ginger Buchanan, Esther Friesner, Ellen Kushner [This section was written by Mark R. Leeper.] It used to be there was a midnight horror that seriously discussed horror and/or vampires at a late hour. At later conventions it was still called the Midnight Horror Panel but it had really degenerated into the Midnight Drunk Panel, with more laughing (especially at things that are only funny if you are drunk) than serious discussion. Well, this year Boskone had mostly serious panels. This was the drunk panel even though it was at 10 PM. Ginger Buchanan, Esther Friesner, Ellen Kushner, and a fourth forgotten woman wasted about twenty minutes of my time admitting that none of them knew what the panel was really supposed to be about, but had a great time laughing at the fact that they liked sex. At 10:15 I told myself that they would say something of interest by 10:20 or I would leave. At 10:20 I made good my threat. [--Mark R. Leeper] Hobokon Party Friday, 10 PM In keeping with the new Boskone policy, this was a closed party because they were serving alcohol. It was less crowded than in previous years, but just as enjoyable. The foodstuffs served ranged from chocolate truffles to kielbasa (after all, Springfield is right next to Chicopee, home of the World Kielbasa Festival!). One of the problems seemed to be ice, as the team they sent out to find some took an extraordinary amount of time to return. I Just Read the Stuff! Friday/Saturday, 12 Midnight Robert Colby, Mark Keller, Jim Mann We left the party to go to the midnight panel on what people enjoy reading. The title seems to indicate a fairly unstructured panel, and Boskone 25 February 5, 1988 Page 6 that was accurate. Mark Keller pointed out that many historical novels are like science fiction in that they must make an alien society seem real, and perhaps this was why so many science fiction fans were also interested in historical fiction (as witness the continuance of the Regency Dance at Boskone). Keller teaches at a junior college, which he describes as "high school with ashtrays." A lot of this panel consisted of listing recommended books and authors. Colby (chairperson of Readercon) recommended Michael Bishop's _W_h_o _M_a_d_e _S_t_e_v_i_e _C_r_y? and J. G. Ballard's _E_m_p_i_r_e _o_f _t_h_e _S_u_n. Jim Mann recommended the two Gregs, Bear and Benford. Greg Bear writes both science fiction and fantasy (_T_h_e _I_n_f_i_n_i_t_y _C_o_n_c_e_r_t_o). Benford, on the other hand, could be described as a "science fiction fundamentalist" in that he refuses to allow even the most common "impossible" plot devices like faster-than-light travel to creep into his works. Someone recommended Ellen Kushner's _S_w_o_r_d_s_p_o_i_n_t (this book was recommended several times over the weekend). Some off-the-beaten-track books that were mentioned were John C. McLoughlin's _T_h_e _H_e_l_i_x _a_n_d _t_h_e _S_w_o_r_d (a novel based in bio- technology) and Bjorn Kurtin's _D_a_n_c_e _o_f _t_h_e _T_i_g_e_r (anthropological fiction about the meeting of the Neanderthal and Cro-Magnon races, and described as being better than Jean Auel's "Earth's Children" series). Both of these were not marketed as science fiction, so they may be more difficult to find. McLoughlin also wrote _T_o_o_l_m_a_k_e_r _K_o_a_n, currently available only in hardback. Harry Harrison's _W_i_n_t_e_r _i_n _E_d_e_n was recommended for all the dinosaur fans in the audience--and there were many--though the panel admitted they did find it ultimately disappointing. Another "dinosaur" book mentioned was Damon Broderick's _D_r_e_a_m_i_n_g _D_r_a_g_o_n_s. The panel then briefly digressed to dinosaurs in general, and mentioned that Christian fundamentalists find dinosaurs bothersome. As someone mentioned, the entire concept of "prehistoric" life, when the Bible claims to present history from the Creation on, is oxymoronic to Christian fundamentalists. In general, the panelists agreed that they liked stories with good ideas, good characterizations, no glaring errors, etc., etc. This is hardly an amazing revelation. However, while a detailed background is good, a too-detailed background can sink a novel. Piers Anthony's "Bio of a Space Tyrant" series, for example, is an allegory of a Cambodian refugee that has so much background that the reader is swamped. It was also agreed that re-readability was a valuable test of a good novel. Some classic novels mentioned that could be read and re- read were Edgar Pangborn's _D_a_v_y and J. R. R. Tolkien's _L_o_r_d _o_f _t_h_e _R_i_n_g_s. Of course, wanting to re-read something may lead to wanting to read more like something, which in turn leads to what someone referred to as "Piers Anthonyism." (His name seems to crop up a lot in these panels.) Harlequin Romances and their offshoot, Laser Books used this Boskone 25 February 5, 1988 Page 7 formulaic approach. The writers' guide for Harlequin, for example, says in which chapter the heroine meets the hero, in which chapter they quarrel and break up, in which chapter they are re-united, and in which chapter they do or don't do whatever actions the line allows. (I've never read a Harlequin romance, but my understanding is that at least up until recently the heroine used to remain not only virginal but un- kissed as well until the final chapter.) Back in science fiction, though, this phenomenon appears as multiple-book series. Orson Scott Card's _S_e_v_e_n_t_h _S_o_n is good, but it's the first book in a septology. And then we have the shared-world anthologies and the franchise novels...but more on these later. Panelists liked to read books on new topics. Arthurian legends, for example, may have been mined out by now. Barry Hughart's _B_r_i_d_g_e _o_f _B_i_r_d_s, on the other hand, delighted many because it was based in a different background. Various sub-genres were recommended. All the panelists liked alternate histories, and were often willing to forgive bad writing for interesting concepts (though I would contend that an author who can't be bothered to learn to write well probably won't get the historical aspects right either). Two particular alternate history books mentioned were Steven R. Boyett's _A_r_c_h_i_t_e_c_t _o_f _S_l_e_e_p and Harry Turtledove's collection _A_g_e_n_t _o_f _B_y_z_a_n_t_i_u_m (which no one I talked to has actually seen yet). Jim Mann recommended Hal Clement's novels. The cyberpunk movement (the infamous "C-word") was of course brought up. For those few in the audience who had just returned from the planet Pluto (or is it a planet anymore? I think it got demoted.), cyberpunk was described as science fiction relating to near-future technology and in particular set in a non-white, non-Western future. The panelists found the common thread of illiterate computer jocks unlikely in reality, in spite of its pervasiveness in the literature. The two classics, Vernor Vinge's "True Names" and William Gibson's _N_e_u_r_o_m_a_n_c_e_r, were given as must-reads for the field. A recent recommended cyberpunk novel was George Alec Effinger's _W_h_e_n _G_r_a_v_i_t_y _F_a_i_l_s. Most people agreed that they didn't force themselves to finish a book they weren't enjoying or, as I said, "Life is too short to read bad books." Eastern Influences in Fantasy Saturday, 10 AM Susan Shwartz, Brenda Clough, Judith Tarr, Brian Thomsen [This section was written by Mark R. Leeper.] I arrived about ten minutes late to the "Eastern Influences in Fantasy" panel and not all the participants had name cards. There was Boskone 25 February 5, 1988 Page 8 somebody who arrived late whose name I did not catch either, but he seemed to be writing an historical novel about the Mongols. The material covered was far more applicable to writing historical novels than to writing fantasy. Much of this discussion was on what is the best strategy for writing historical fiction. It is quite possible to fall into the trap of getting involved in doing the research and never finishing it or getting the novel written. Either that or the start becomes a thesis in novel form. Brian Thomsen suggested that a good ratio was two pages of research for every page of novel. I am not sure if he meant two pages read or doing enough research that you could write two pages. A statistic was mentioned that Clavell did fifteen years of research before writing _S_h_o_g_u_n. He also recommended the book _A_z_t_e_c by Gary Jennings. One of his favorite ways of researching an historical period is to find someone over 70 who has lived in the area and have the person tell you stories. He says you will get twenty stories of which maybe five will be in research books. Clough recommends that if you are writing about a country, go there. Writing a story set in Africa you have a distinct advantage over someone writing a story set on Mars. You can buy a ticket and actually go there. The panel kept returning to the question of whether it is better to do the research and then write the novel or to write the novel, do the research, then correct the novel. The former strategy may lead to never getting the novel written. The latter may lead to a novel you can never get fully accurate, but at least you will have something written down. The claim was made that _I_n _T_h_i_s _H_o_u_s_e _o_f _B_r_e_d_e was written using the write-first-and-research-later strategy. It was countered that Rumor Godden actually knew a fair amount about nuns before she wrote the novel. (All I remember is that it was made into a TV movie with Diana Rigg becoming a nun. The film was made while Rigg was still every boy's heart-throb as Emma Peel. I can remember a friend lamenting what a waste it was for her to become a nun!) Other random comments: At one point the conversation got around to Alexander the Great. His popularity was very much heightened, it was claimed, by the traveling art exhibit "The Treasures of Alexander." It was suggested that part of the reason is that he is sort of a yuppie ideal. He was young, lived fast, and had a great eye for art collecting. As a final thought, Susan Shwartz suggested that reading the classic books of the country that is the setting for your story is a good idea. For China, she recommended _D_r_e_a_m _o_f _t_h_e _R_e_d _C_h_a_m_b_e_r and _P_i_l_g_r_i_m_a_g_e _t_o _t_h_e _W_e_s_t (the novel about the Monkey King, Sun Wu-Kong, who is like China's Mickey Mouse). I would add to her list _W_a_t_e_r _M_a_r_g_i_n and _R_o_m_a_n_c_e _o_f _T_h_r_e_e _K_i_n_g_d_o_m_s. These four works are considered the great timeless classics of China. Shwartz suggested reading for Japan _T_h_e _T_a_l_e _o_f _t_h_e _G_e_n_j_i. [--Mark R. Leeper] (End of Part I)