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Mt. Holz Science Fiction Society
Club Notice - 01/12/90 -- Vol. 8, No. 28
MEETINGS UPCOMING:
Unless otherwise stated, all meetings are on Wednesdays at noon.
LZ meetings are in LZ 2R-158. MT meetings are in the cafeteria.
_D_A_T_E _T_O_P_I_C
01/24 LZ: "The Borribles" Trilogy by Michael de Larrabeiti (Urban Fantasy)
02/14 LZ: Science Fiction and Romance
03/07 LZ: THRICE UPON A TIME by James Hogan (Affecting the Past)
_D_A_T_E _E_X_T_E_R_N_A_L _M_E_E_T_I_N_G_S/_C_O_N_V_E_N_T_I_O_N_S/_E_T_C.
01/13 Science Fiction Association of Bergen County: Victoria Poyser
(book cover artist)
(phone 201-933-2724 for details) (Saturday)
01/20 NJSFS New Jersey Science Fiction Society: James Morrow
(phone 201-432-5965 for details) (Saturday)
HO Chair: John Jetzt HO 1E-525 834-1563 hocpa!jetzt
LZ Chair: Rob Mitchell LZ 1B-306 576-6106 mtuxo!jrrt
MT Chair: Mark Leeper MT 3D-441 957-5619 mtgzx!leeper
HO Librarian: Tim Schroeder HO 3D-225A 949-5866 homxb!tps
LZ Librarian: Lance Larsen LZ 3L-312 576-3346 lzfme!lfl
MT Librarian: Evelyn Leeper MT 1F-329 957-2070 mtgzy!ecl
Factotum: Evelyn Leeper MT 1F-329 957-2070 mtgzy!ecl
All material copyright by author unless otherwise noted.
1. I am a rational human being, right? (Okay, Evelyn, stop
laughing. At least I think I am rational.) Rational people do not
believe in conspiracies. A belief in conspiracies is the sign of
an unbalanced mind. To this day I still believe that Adolf Hitler
acted alone. He was just a master of disguise and could run around
very, very fast.
Believing as I do that there are no conspiracies, I find it all the
harder to understand why every ant in my neighborhood has it in for
me personally. They all seem to figure that my house is the place
to be. Perhaps I am lucky. My neighbors get termites; I get
carpenter ants.
THE MT VOID Page 2
Now you may think that you have had ants too in your time, but let
me assure you that you are a piker unless you live, as I do, in a
drained swamp. Ants are just one of the many species trying to
reclaim the housing development as it slowly sinks into the ground.
In Lakeridge even the spiders--not known as one of your more social
animals--tend to band together in armies and try to make my life
miserable. Lakeridge is the only place I have ever lived that has
dangerous attack butterflies.
But my house is under siege, these being the cold months of the
year and my house being the ant equivalent of Fort Lauderdale.
(Have you ever seen an ant in a revealing bikini? Not a pretty
sight!) We have swamp ants, thought by most of the world to be
antediluvian. They are roughly the size of packs of Benson and
Hedges.
Now this in my mind creates a moral dilemma. I try not to kill any
animal for sport, convenience, or any other reason but survival. I
think unnecessary killing is wrong. This is a deeply held belief
arising out of my empathy for all living creatures. It has nothing
to do with the fact I'm a wimp.
I make every attempt to avoid killing in my house. I will not kill
a spider in my house. And you know, the spiders seem to sense that
I am trying to help them. Animals usually do not understand
kindness from the same species that makes films such as _B_a_m_b_i but
also invented the NRA, but I truly believe that the spiders sense
that I am a sympathetic soul, since they invite their friends and
neighbors from all over the country to invade my house and put up
disgusting webs.
Anyway, I try to explain to my friends about the moral dilemma of
having to kill the ants. Uh ... that's the human friends I try to
explain it to. Spiders have no conception of what a moral dilemma
is. Neither do most of my friends. "No moral dilemma there," they
say. "The ants will eat your house if you don't stop them." Of
course, that is just why there _i_s a moral dilemma. The spiders are
welcome. The ants would be too if they would be reasonable house
guests and not trash the place. None of my human friends trash the
place. They let their kids do it for them.
So I have asked an exterminator to come and look at the problem.
An ant must have heard me calling. All of a sudden I cannot find
one of the darn little cusses to show the guy. He may come and
find nothing. I left out pieces of Hershey Bar on the floor to
tempt them out. Nothing. I really would like to give the
exterminator a live ant, this being the holiday season and all. I
just know that after he leaves it is going to be business as usual
for the ants.
THE MT VOID Page 3
2. Here is more on WIZARD OF SPEED AND TIME:
> WIZARD OF SPEED AND TIME will also be shown (in 35mm rather than NTSC)
> Jan. 31 and Feb. 1 at the Cinema Village in NYC [12th Street east of
> Broadway] - could you post this information also?
>
> --Mike Rubin
>
Mark Leeper
MT 3D-441 957-5619
...mtgzx!leeper
To be nobody but yourself in a world which is doing
its best night and day to make you like everybody else
means to fight the hardest battle any human being can
fight and never stop fighting.
--e. e. cummings
JASON COSMO by Dan McGirt
Signet, 1989, ISBN 0-451-16289-9, $3.95.
A book review by Evelyn C. Leeper
Copyright 1990 Evelyn C. Leeper
_J_a_s_o_n _C_o_s_m_o is a tongue-in-cheek fantasy. It won't set the
literary world on fire, or win any Hugos, but it makes an enjoyable
read.
Jason Cosmo is a woodcutter in Hicksnittle who somehow gets tapped
to be the hero who will save everyone from the Demon Lords and assorted
other nasties. He gets to rescue princesses, fight monsters, and do all
that other hero-type stuff. Of course the plot isn't original--hero
plots rarely are. But for a novel that starts out in the Festering Wart
Tavern, you can forgive a familiarity of plot.
McGirt has a talent for coming up with humorous names, but he also
has an ear for clever dialogue. For example:
"If Rae City falls and the man Jason Cosmo is captured by
the minions of the dreaded Society or the pawns of the
Demon Lords--whichever these marauders may be--then
beauty and truth, honor and justice, hope and peace, may
be forever lost to the peoples of all kingdoms."
"In other words," said Mercury. "This is very
important."
Later, Jason asks Mercury why Mercury has come with him; is it
because he is Jason's friend? Mercury replies, "That's true, but you
loan a friend garden tools. You don't escort him through the Incredibly
Dark Forest." (As usual, one might wish for a better copy editor--one
who would have caught the punctuation error in the first example and the
grammatical error in the second--but heck, what do you expect for $3.95
these days?)
There is a lot of what passes for humorous fantasy these days, but
much of it falls into the Xanth trap--what's funny the first time around
is marginal by book three and positively stupefying by book seven. This
book is original and fun. I hope we see more from McGirt, possibly even
more humorous novels (though he could probably do a straight fantasy if
he wished). I just hope we don't end up with _J_a_s_o_n _C_o_s_m_o _V_I_I: _J_a_s_o_n
_t_a_k_e_s _M_a_n_h_a_t_t_a_n.
YABSR - Yet Another Batch of Skran Reviews
Book reviews by Dale L. Skran Jr.
Copyright Dale L. Skran Jr. 1990
_P_r_o_c_y_o_n'_s _P_r_o_m_i_s_e
by Michael McCollum
This book has an interesting premise--interstellar travel is
extremely difficult, so difficult that somewhen, an ancient race gave up
trying except for one effort--seeding the galaxy with Von Neumann probes
seeking other races that _h_a_v_e found the secret. A couple of centuries
in our future, one of these probes enters the Solar System. It offers a
deal--a wealth of technology in return for true FTL. Hot-minded
Earthlings blow up the main-brain of the probe, forcing the remaining
part of the ship to make a deal with more calm folks to continue its
efforts. Apparently, it has just detected apparent FTL in the vicinity
of Procyon, and needs help to get there. Help is given, and in due
course the probe and an Earth ship leave for Procyon. Centuries pass,
and a second interseller probe arrives. Then the fun really starts.
If this is a bit over-complex, so is the novel. While constantly
on the verge of being really insightful, in the end McCollum writes an
unbelievable space opera. Not really recommended.
_B_u_y_i_n_g _T_i_m_e
by Joe Haldeman
This well-crafted book has the premise that the Stileman foundation
holds the secret of immortality--but will only sell it ten years at a
time--and the price is 1,000,000 pounds, or your net worth, whichever is
greater! Up until its let-down conclusion, Haldeman writes a crackling
good hard-SF adventure yarn, full of believable characters, convincing
thought on how immortals might behave, and a mystery within a mystery
that keeps the pages turning. Recommended.
_D_e_m_o_n_s _a_t _R_a_i_n_b_o_w _B_r_i_d_g_e
by Jack Chalker
If you like what Chalker writes--semi-realistic space opera--this
will satisfy you. Be warned, this promises to be the first book of a
long series. The entire volume--375 pages--is devoted to INTRODUCING
THE CHARACTERS! Of the real plot, only about 20 pages exist. Only for
the Chalker fan.
Reviews January 8, 1990 Page 2
_T_h_e _L_a_s_t _L_e_g_e_n_d_s _o_f _E_a_r_t_h
by A. A. Attanasio
This novel sits on the cusp between hard SF that has vast scope,
such as _R_i_n_g_w_o_r_l_d, and frank fantasy such as _T_h_e _D_y_i_n_g _E_a_r_t_h. There is
the veneer of a vast battle between the Rimstalker and the Zotl, a
battle so vast that the resurrection of humanity from its forgotten
grave to take part in the war is just a small part of the millennium
spanning action. Overall, Attanasio tells a good tale, with powerful,
characters, interesting ideas, and immense courage. What this story is
not, finally, is probable. The science frequently verges off into
magic, leaving the reader wondering about the author's intent. Worth
reading.
_T_h_e _M_u_m_m_y, _o_r _R_a_m_s_e_s _t_h_e _D_a_m_n_e_d
by Anne Rice
I think Anne needed some bucks quick, and decided to crank out this
imitation of her excellent vampire series (_I_n_t_e_r_v_i_e_w _w_i_t_h _t_h_e _V_a_m_p_i_r_e,
_T_h_e _V_a_m_p_i_r_e _L_e_s_t_a_t, and _T_h_e _Q_u_e_e_n _o_f _t_h_e _D_a_m_n_e_d) using a mummy instead
of a vampire as the immortal character. Although better than pulp
fiction, this novel is simply _n_o_t up to the high standard Anne Rice has
set with her vampire stories. The scenes without Ramses on stage are
dreadfully dull, and the end promises sequel after sequel without the
vast scope and detail of the vampire series. _N_o_t recommended.
_T_e_a _W_i_t_h _t_h_e _B_l_a_c_k _D_r_a_g_o_n
by R. A. MacAvoy
Every once in a while I read something fans everywhere have been
raving about for years, and after reading it I wonder why. I felt that
way after reading Gene Wolfe's _S_h_a_d_o_w _o_f _t_h_e _T_o_r_t_u_r_e_r and I felt that
way after reading _B_l_a_c_k _D_r_a_g_o_n. Politely put, there is very little
substance to this slow-paced, delicately written tale of an ancient
Chinese dragon who has taken on the guise of a man, and who has come to
America to seek enlightenment. This theme is rich with the possibility
of contrasting the viewpoint of an immortal dragon with that of
contemporary humans, but little is done with this.
I get the impression R. A. MacAvoy is a middle-aged woman who has
led a dull life, and this is her idea of an exciting experience--a
middle-aged women finds love while meeting a Chinese dragon and solving
a mystery. I could barely keep turning the pages, and never would have
gotten past the first five if this wasn't so highly recommended. I
intend to steer clear of MacAvoy in the future. It's just not my cup of
tea!
Reviews January 8, 1990 Page 3
_P_r_e_n_t_i_c_e _A_l_v_i_n
by Orson Scott Card
This is the third book in the tales of Alvin the Maker, Card's
excellent series blending American history with backwood's magic (The
first two are _S_e_v_e_n_t_h _S_o_n and _R_e_d _P_r_o_p_h_e_t.) So far, Card is still going
strong, but a bit of the overpowering enchantment of the first novel has
worn off as Alvin gets older. Among other things, Alvin meets the torch
who has been watching over him all his life, fights Mike Fink, forges a
golden anvil, and survives a harrowing battle with the "unmaker" who has
stalked him from birth. Overall, an excellent book by a Hugo-winning
author (_E_n_d_e_r'_s _G_a_m_e and _S_p_e_a_k_e_r _f_o_r _t_h_e _D_e_a_d) who is still growing
artistically.
_D_a_w_n'_s _U_n_c_e_r_t_a_i_n _L_i_g_h_t
by Neal Barrett, Jr.
The conclusion of the hard-bitten adventures of Howie Ryder as he
seeks his sister, long ago taken to Silver Island. A down and dirty
after-the-bomb story. Pretty good, but read the first book in the
series first. Also, plenty of blood, guts, and sheer meanness for the
fans of films like _T_h_e _G_o_o_d, _t_h_e _B_a_d, _a_n_d _t_h_e _U_g_l_y.
_D_i_v_i_d_e_d _A_l_l_e_g_i_a_n_c_e (_B_o_o_k _I_I _o_f _t_h_e _D_e_e_d _o_f _P_a_k_s_e_n_a_r_r_i_o_n)
_O_a_t_h _o_f _G_o_l_d (_B_o_o_k _I_I_I _o_f _t_h_e _D_e_e_d _o_f _P_a_k_s_e_n_a_r_r_i_o_n)
by Elizabeth Moon
Ms. Moon has apparently led a more exciting life than Ms. MacAvoy-
-more anon. There are two main claims being made for this series. One,
according to the jacket, Judith Tarr (whoever this may be?) states that
"This is the first work of high heroic fantasy I've seen that has taken
the work of Tolkien, assimilated it totally and deeply and absolutely,
and produced something altogether new and yet incontestably based on the
master ...." This is certainly true--although I am not a big fan of
Tolkien, he did produce stories with an enchanting background. However,
Ms. Moon has simply borrowed the characters (orcs, dwarves, elves,
thieves, paladins, etc.), although more from D&D games than Tolkien, and
strung them together in a series of action sequences that at their worst
resemble D&D games. There is no coherent sociology or logic that
underlies her society or her magic. Stuff just seems to happen as
needed by the plot. Women are treated equally with men in a feudal
society with not the slightest explanation. Lesbian love is accepted
along with heterosexual love, again with no explanation. This "no means
of support" style of writing should be contrasted to Niven's _T_h_e _M_a_g_i_c
_G_o_e_s _A_w_a_y.
This is not to imply that Ms. Moon is a poor writer (I did read
both books, after all), but that she has not applied sufficient thought
to the background of her stories. The other claim (also of the jacket)
Reviews January 8, 1990 Page 4
is that "Her (Ms. Moon's) background in military training and discipline
imbue _D_i_v_i_d_e_d _A_l_l_e_g_i_a_n_c_e and its companion volumes with a gritty realism
that is all too rare in current fantasy." Apparently Ms. Moon was at
one point a 1st Lieutenant in the U.S. Marine Corps. This part of the
promise is delivered on--the action is gritty, and much of the book is a
series of lectures on the reality of military life.
I'm not sure whether to recommend this series or not, but readers
should be warned that it is gritty and realistic, including at one point
extended descriptions of medieval tortures.
THE BOOK OF A MILLION YEARS by Poul Anderson
A book review by Dale L. Skran Jr.
Copyright Dale L. Skran Jr. 1990
I got this for Christmas, and read it immediately.
It has been quite a while since I really enjoyed anything by Anderson
(_T_h_e _A_v_a_t_a_r). It seemed to me that he had given up on writing realistic
SF, and retreated to "Scandinavians in Space" opera. "By Ya, fur dem
turpedos, Ya bluker. Ah dur blur skie ist bwueterful." Poul has at
last found a way to write historical fiction _a_n_d hard SF in the same
novel. The premise is that a very, very small number of humans are, by
chance, naturally immortal. Most die, but a small number survive. This
is their story. It starts in Norway in 310 B.C. and ends somewhere in
the infinite depths of space, focusing on the lives (and some deaths) of
little more than a half dozen immortals. At first separated from
humanity by their immortality, they survive until they are the only true
humans left who still aspire to human dream of exploration and love.
The Fermi paradox is answered darkly - humanity has lost interest in
outer space once the machine/human interface allows the exploration of
inner space. Only the original immortals still follow the dream of
interstellar voyaging, and as kind gesture, the god-like machine/human
intelligences of Earth build them a single matter/anti-matter vessel and
send them forth, the only such human ship to ever travel the dark ways
between the stars. As to what they find, well, that makes sense too.
Most of the novel is historical. I especially liked the interview
between one of the immortals and Cardinal Richelieu. Overall, this is
perhaps the most realistic novel about historical immortals I have read.
Anderson has done his homework, and written a solid novel.
Unfortunately, although I liked it a fair amount, I wasn't quite as
taken by it as I was by my off-beat Hugo picks, _M_a_r_o_o_n_e_d _i_n _R_e_a_l _T_i_m_e,
_C_o_u_r_t_s_h_i_p _R_i_t_e, _S_c_h_i_s_m_a_t_r_i_x, or _N_e_v_e_r_n_e_s_s. This probably means it'll
win the Hugo! Recommended.
THE WRITER'S HOME COMPANION by James Charlton & Lisabeth Mark
Penguin, 1989 (1987c), ISBN 0-14-011012-7, $4.95.
A book review by Evelyn C. Leeper
Copyright 1990 Evelyn C. Leeper
This wonderful little volume (128 pages, 4 inches wide and 6.5
inches high) is full of literary anecdotes and facts. For example, in
regard to the publishing industry, we learn: "It was Richard Simon of
Simon and Schuster who instituted the policy of allowing bookstores to
return unsold copies of books for full credit. ... Two years after the
return policy went into effect, Simon scrawled 'Bookstore returns too
high' across the margin of that year's financial statement. The return
figure was 3 percent. Today ... returns average 25 percent at trade
houses and up to 50 percent and higher at the mass market paperback
houses. ... CRUEL SHOES, by the comedian Steve Martin, has a 93
percent return rate...."
We also read about authors and their own views on writing: "Mickey
Spillane ... warned his fans not to look too closely for symbolic depth
in his novels. 'Mike Hammer drinks beer, not cognac, because I can't
spell cognac.'"
This book is in the same series as _R_o_t_t_e_n _R_e_v_i_e_w_s and _R_o_t_t_e_n
_R_e_v_i_e_w_s _I_I and, like those two volumes, would make an excellent gift for
a literary friend--even if that friend is yourself.
The "Kirinyaga" Stories by Mike Resnick
Comments by Kimiye Tipton
Copyright 1990 Kimiye Tipton
[Spoilers for Mike Resnick's "Kirinyaga" series follow--please don't spoil
these stories for yourself if you have any intention of reading them.]
I have to comment on [Evelyn Leeper's] thought-provoking review of
the Kirinyaga stories. I agree that the stories leave much to the
reader's interpretation. I had the chance to hear Resnick read "For I
Have Touched the Sky" at our Orlando con in May, and I mentioned to him
that he had done a fascinating job of describing Koriba's reasoning.
Mike replied, "He's a fanatic, and all fanatics are dangerous." From
this I'm guessing that Koriba does not = Resnick.
The choice in "For I Have Touched the Sky" was very clear--the
existence of a young girl or the way of life intended for Koriba's
tribe. The two could not exist together. Koriba does what he believes
is fair, which is to offer the girl a chance to remain in the tribe
under his terms. She relieves him of more than one burden with her
death--it solves the current problem and removes her dangerous super-
intelligence from the gene pool. Although Koriba regrets what happens
on a personal basis, there is essentially no choice for him to make,
since he already knows that the life of any single person is worth far
less than maintenance of tribal life.
Koriba is the ultimate reactionary in the truest political sense of
the word. He has dedicated his life and formidable intelligence to the
closed social and ecological system of Kirinyaga, in the certain
knowledge that this is the only way for his people to live. The
parallel for "Bwana" is Adam and Eve in Eden, with the Maasai hunter
appearing as the Snake, offering dangerous knowledge for too high a
price. Koriba's mistake is that he drives out the devil, rather
admitting that the mere existence of other worlds and advanced
technology will always bring the Snake back to his artificial Eden. His
intention is to keep his tribe going long enough to raise a generation
that will know about technology only as legend. His problem is finding
successors that can hold the key to contacting Maintenance for further
generations, but who will not succumb to the comforts of advanced
technology.
The question is whether Resnick intends for us to sympathise with
Koriba. Yes, he does, but only so we as readers can further understand
the fanatic mind. Koriba himself is admirable as a leader, but he is
unacceptable because of his creed. He sacrifices the individual to the
system, and would sacrifice his people to an idea(l). He has completely
removed choice from his world. He has set himself up as god, and so far
in the Kirinyaga stories, has maintained the position.
Kirinyaga January 5, 1990 Page 2
But Resnick has obviously set Koriba up for a mighty battle. The
outcome-- whether he succeeds in leaving his people ignorant and
stunted, or if even a few of them escape to the possibilities of growth
and progress, will not be near so interesting as how the mundumugu goes
about trying to keep his Eden intact. If we understand Koriba well
enough, it may be easier for us to recognize the next Gary Jones or
Adolph Hitler when he or she charismatically appears on our horizon.
After hearing Resnick read "For I Have Touched the Sky," I told him
I thought it was the best thing he had ever written. After reading
"Bwana," I am beginning to think that this series may be the best being
currently written in the sf field.