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Mt. Holz Science Fiction Society
Club Notice - 05/04/90 -- Vol. 8, No. 44
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
05/09 LZ: Incarnations of Immortality Series, by Piers Anthony
(Mythology as Science)
05/30 LZ: L. RON HUBBARD PRESENTS WRITERS OF THE FUTURE #5 (New authors)
_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.
05/12 Science Fiction Association of Bergen County: Joe De Vito (artist
with a slide show of his work) (changed from previous guest)
(phone 201-933-2724 for details) (Saturday)
05/19 NJSFS New Jersey Science Fiction Society: Saul Jaffe (editor of
SF-LOVERS DIGEST (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 homxa!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. Frank Leisti provides the following description of the next
discussion topic in Lincroft [minor spoilers]:
Piers Anthony has created and finally finished another storyline so
large that seven volumes are required. His series, "Incarnations
of Immortality," spans a universe where science and magic co-exist.
The world is loosely parallel to our world's events -- where the
United States is referred to as a Sugar Daddy to the Third World
states. In this world, airplanes are as common as flying carpets,
illusion and scientific devices each add their special part to the
structure of the world.
THE MT VOID Page 2
In this world, we are thrust into a small magical gem shop where a
penniless customer is willing to try anything to get out of a
suicidal depression. It is in this first book, _O_n _a _P_a_l_e _H_o_r_s_e,
that we are introduced to Zane -- the soon-to-be future
officeholder of Death. With the combination of science and magic,
we discover that each of the major Incarnations is supreme in his
sphere of influence and that transitions of office holders occurs
infrequently and yet provides a certain sense of inadequacy for the
new office holder.
Although each of the seven books deals with each Incarnation --
from Thanatos to Gaea, including Satan and God, the sub-plots lead
up to the major plot of the entire series. It is fascinating in
the methods that Piers Anthony has devised for the succession of
Death, Time, Fate, War, Nature, Evil and Good.
An added feature of these series is the Author's Notes -- the
little musings where Piers explains what happens to him personally
during the writing times of this series. A great idea -- perhaps
it is intended to let more people understand what he is undergoing
while he writes.
This is a wonderful series with a somewhat predictable ending --
yet very enjoyable. The price of immortality for these office
holders is that they get to do some very hard work -- for a long
time. [frl]
2. A while ago I wrote a review of _H_e_n_r_y _V in which I claimed that
Shakespeare over-rated the value of Henry's pre-battle pep talk and
under-rated the value of the longbow. A number of people commented
that while what I said was very likely true, there were other
factors, such as Henry's choice of the battlefield. One
correspondent sent me an article about the Washington D.C. police
force demonstrating for the public their bullet-proof armor. The
armored jacket was put on a dummy. Then all the fire-power the
police force could muster was brought to bear on the dummy. Sure
enough, the smile never faded from the dummy's lips and the armored
jacket was never pierced.
Then an uninvited guest across the field fired an arrow from a
longbow at the dummy. While no bullet could pierce the jacket, the
arrow shot from a longbow actually did. Twice. Once in front,
once in back. The dummy still had its smile but it was somewhat
belied by the hole through its chest. They found the arrow lying
on the grass on the far side of the dummy.
The D.C. police department reportedly were unamused by this little
demonstration of the power of the longbow. It is unlikely that we
will see many of the street gangs of the urban centers of this
country giving up some of the fine convenience features of the
machine guns and bazookas that they have currently been collecting
THE MT VOID Page 3
just in case they are needed. You know how things are. It is good
to follow the Boy Scout motto and be prepared. It is good to know
that real fire-power is possible from a technology that is too
simple to outlaw and that even modern drug lords might have been no
match for Henry and his dilapidated little army.
This message was brought to you by the National Rifle and Longbow
Association, who suggests there is little in life so satisfying as
using a bazooka on an unwanted intruder.
3. This year's Nebula winners are:
Novel: Elizabeth Ann Scarborough, _T_h_e _H_e_a_l_e_r'_s _W_a_r
Novella: Lois McMaster Bujold, "Mountains of Mourning"
Novelette: Connie Willis, "At the Rialto"
Short Story: Geoffrey A. Landis, "Ripples in the Dirac Sea"
4. The SF Club library in Lincroft now has Algis Budrys's
_W_r_i_t_e_r_s _o_f _t_h_e _F_u_t_u_r_e _#_5. [-ecl]
Mark Leeper
MT 3D-441 957-5619
...mtgzx!leeper
All great truths begin with blasphemies.
-- George Bernard Shaw
THE GODS MUST BE CRAZY II
A film review by Mark R. Leeper
Copyright 1990 Mark R. Leeper
Capsule review: "Pleasant" is the word for this
lightweight African adventure starring N!xau again as the
benevolent if not always well-understood Xixo, the
Kalihari Bushman. Again slapstick and political farce
mix in this cultural-misunderstanding comedy. Rating:
+2.
When _T_h_e _B_e_a_r was released, I said that it was one film that I
would not mind see being turned into a series because the character is
interesting enough that I would not mind every year or so looking in to
see what he was up to. Now that I have seen two "The Gods Must be
Crazy" films, I think I would enjoy seeing as many of them as Jamie Uys
wants to make. I thought the 1981 _T_h_e _G_o_d_s _M_u_s_t _B_e _C_r_a_z_y depended a
little too much on political farce and on a brand of comedy that goes
back to the silent film days. But then perhaps the film industry in
Botswana is as young today as the American film industry was when those
gags were popular here. What really was excellent about the first film
was its view of modern society through the eyes of a Kalihari Bushman,
Xixo (played by N!xau). In the newer film, Xixo is back, once again
played by N!xau, who is by now running the risk of being typecast as a
Kalihari Bushman and who may never get to play the classic roles such as
the one uncorrupt cop in a big-city police force or the odd new partner
of two policeman chasing down a killer.
The new plot has nine people running around the Kalihari in small
groups that invariably got split up and united in various combinations.
You have one adult Bushman, two Bushman children, two soldiers fighting,
two poachers fleeing, one woman lawyer, one lost game warden, and a
micro-plane high up in a tree. The chaos starts when Xixo's two
children find a poachers' truck and climb on, only to have it start up
so that they cannot get off. Xixo reads the tracks in the sand,
understands what happened, and sets off to find his children.
Meanwhile, Ann Taylor, a New York Lawyer (played by Lena Farugia), goes
up for a half-hour plane ride with one game warden and finds herself
stranded with another warden and an ultra-light airplane that is out of
fuel. Also on the loose are two enemy mercenaries: one African, one
Cuban.
As with the previous film, there is humorous animal footage, though
this time obvious mock-ups of animals are often used and in one scene
there appears to be two men in a rhinoceros suit. There is also a bit
too much slapstick and fast-motion photography for intended humorous
effect. There is, alas, less of the Bushman's view of our culture, but
the story is affectionately told and charming if not always convincing.
_T_h_e _G_o_d_s _M_u_s_t _B_e _C_r_a_z_y _I_I is a likable if lightweight film. I rate it a
+2 on the -4 to +4 scale.
22ND INTERNATIONAL TOURNEE OF ANIMATION
A film review by Mark R. Leeper
Copyright 1987 Mark R. Leeper
Once again it's time for a release of an _I_n_t_e_r_n_a_t_i_o_n_a_l _T_o_u_r_n_e_e _o_f
_A_n_i_m_a_t_i_o_n. Each year a feature film is edited together from award-
winning short animated films and from other films judged to be deserving
by the producers. The resulting film then tours the country where
typically it will show only in major cities and play in one theater at a
time. For all I know there may be only one print that tours the
country. Generally once I publish a review of a _T_o_u_r_n_e_e I get asked by
people if it will be coming to their city or if the films are available
on cassette. I am sorry, but I cannot be very helpful with the first
question. Sometimes before or after I see the _T_o_u_r_n_e_e I hear that it
has played in another city, but I have no advance information. You can,
however, get the best of the last two _T_o_u_r_n_e_es on video. An ad given
out at the _T_o_u_r_n_e_e offers cassettes of "the best" of the _1_9_t_h and _2_0_t_h
_T_o_u_r_n_e_e (no telling how long the selections are). Each is available
for $44 (including shipping and handling) from Animation, P.~O.~Box
25547, Los Angeles CA 90025.
The quality of the films chosen is spotty with the worst selections
being "just okay." The best are often very impressive. I am, for
example, a great admirer of a short made for the BBC called "Skywhales"
and I saw it for the first time at the _1_9_t_h _T_o_u_r_n_e_e _o_f _A_n_i_m_a_t_i_o_n.
Surprisingly absent from the _T_o_u_r_n_e_e was Pixar, Inc., who do nice
work with computer animation. In general I find that the films that
have been nominated for Academy Awards are not the best films and the
Academy Award winner is the weakest of the nominees. This year the two
best films were the Academy Award nominees. They were "The Cow" and
"Balance." I have a minor preference for "The Cow," but "Balance" was
the Academy's choice. It is a much more intelligent film than they have
chosen in the past, and I do not fault them for the choice.
That is probably sufficient for general comments; let me get to
discussion of the films themselves. I will rate them on a scale of -4
to +4, though my lowest rating here is -1 and the highest is +3.
Unadvertised, and punctuating the _T_o_u_r_n_e_e at various points, are a
set of enjoyable little sketches from MTV called "Plymptoons." These
are little animated films about twenty seconds in length that start with
a caption and then show about fifteen seconds of scene. The humor is
much like that of Gary Larson's "Far Side" cartoons and are often just
as funny. We saw three groups shown at different times with about four
in each group. These have no great animation techniques, but they
certainly are enjoyable. Rating: +2.
22nd Int.Tour.Animation April 29, 1990 Page 2
- "Kakania" (Karen Aqua; First Place--New York Film & Video Expo;
USA; 3:53): The title apparently refers to a dance and that is all
there is to this film: figures dancing. Mixed in are Amerind
images but that purpose is obscure. Rating: 0.
- "A Touch of Deceit" (Michael Gagne; Canada; 2:04): This is sort of
a gag on film, but much longer than a Plymptoon and not as funny.
It is just not substantial enough to rate very high, though there
is some feel of a send-up of Disney traditions. Rating: +1.
- "The Cow" (Alexander Petrov; Academy Award nominee 1989; USSR;
10:00): I found this a very moving film. It is apparently the
narrator's memories of a cow on his farm when he was a boy. Life
was hard for him but, as he thinks back with some guilt, much
harder for the cow who was treated as if she were a piece of
machinery. Her calf was taken away and sold as meat. She was
forced to give her milk to people. She was harnessed to a plow.
In the end she is killed in a vain attempt to find her calf and she
is eaten by the family that owned her. The film could have become
maudlin or ridiculous, but doesn't. The animation technique is
very unusual, but well-suited to illustrating memories. It starts
with a painting, then the artists paint over those parts that have
moved and they fade from one picture to the next. I consider it to
be the best piece in the entire _T_o_u_r_n_e_e and rate it a +3.
- "Cat & Rat" (Jim Richardson; Student Academy Award Winner; USA;
3:46): This film uses several kinds of animation, from line
drawings to three-dimensional models, but the ideas can all be
found in old Warner Brothers cartoons and if you have seen those
you don't really need to see this. Rating: +1.
- "A Very, Very Long Time Ago" (Olive Jar Animation Studios; USA;
2:38): This is a very short film that seems as if it is going one
way and then takes a sharp right turn right out of Monty Python.
What the film is about is the first attempt of a sea animal to
crawl onto the land. Amusing. Rating: +1.
- "Sand Dance" (Richard Quade; Student Academy Award Winner; USA;
3:53): Like "Kakania," this is just figures dancing to music, but
what sets this film apart is that the individual frames are sand
paintings. And surprise! sand paintings turn out to be a very
inappropriate medium for animation. The figures are hazy and
without the needed definition. Nice try, but somebody should have
realized early on that this was not working. Rating: -1.
- "Pictures from Memory" (Nedjelko Dragic; Best Animation--Golden
Gate Awards Competition; Yugoslavia; 11:58): Supposedly animated
photographs from the life of the artist's father. They, in fact,
piece together to show the viewer a quick thumbnail picture of the
history of Yugoslavia in the 20th Century. There is surprising
historic scope in this one short film. The animation is not
22nd Int.Tour.Animation April 29, 1990 Page 3
greatly original, but I would rate the film a +2.
- "Shadrach" (Nathanial Hornblower, Chris Casady; USA; 4:05): This is
a rap song by the Beastie Boys with paintings on the screen that
are impressions of a rap concert. The paintings are sequential but
this is not really animation to any great extent. It is just
illustrated music with a lot of corners cut. Rating: -1.
- "Vykrutasy" (Garri Bardin; First Prize--Los Angeles International
Animation Celebration; USSR; 10:15): This is a parable illustrated
in figures made from shaping wire from a coil. The story deals
with a man who builds a farm and then must protect it from
trespassers who would inadvertently and carelessly destroy his
crops. The man has to decide how far to go to protect his farm.
Not great but generally pretty good. Rating: +2.
- "Gisele Kerozene" (Jan Kounen; First Prize--Avioraz Film
Festival; France; 4:40): This is a fun piece of slapstick about
modern witches with mechanical flying brooms fighting it out
against the backdrop of a modern building complex. No profundity,
a little blood and a little bad taste. Still, it is good-natured
and fun. Rating: +1.
- "The Bedroom" (Maarten Koopman; Netherlands; 1:08): This is a very
short piece of animation with a non-humorous surprise ending.
Apparently in a small bedroom furniture is coming out of the walls
and moving itself into place. To guess the surprise--and there
really is no reason you should--you have to look at what pieces of
furniture are going where. An okay little gimmick film. Rating:
+1.
- "Balance" (Christoph and Wolfgang Lauenstein; Academy Award Winner
1989; West Germany; 7:38): This is another parable but a more
intelligent one and also one with a good deal of suspense. Imagine
a platform floating in space (or on water?) with five sepulchral
men in grey coats standing on it. They stand in a circle to
balance their weight so that the platform does not tip and drop
them off. If one steps away from the center, they all must in
order to maintain the balance. Then one finds a valuable box and
they all want it. But how to get it without tipping the platform?
This is an Oscar winner and deservedly so. Rating: +2.
- "Train Gang" (Paul Driessen; Canada, Netherlands; 2:01): Very
unoriginal animation techniques tell a story whose point I must
have missed. Rating : low 0.
- "Juke-Bar" (Martin Barry/National Film Board; Grand Prix--World
Film festival, Montreal; Canada; 10:15): A diner, infested with
cockroaches, gets a new juke-box. The cockroaches, have humorous
faces, see the juke-box as a great addition. They play the juke-
box and start really partying, led by one wild and crazy cockroach,
22nd Int.Tour.Animation April 29, 1990 Page 4
Three-dimensional animation is used to tell a fun story. This is
not profound or creative, but is a lot of fun with partying
cockroaches reminiscent of partying little monsters in _G_r_e_m_l_i_n_s.
Rating: +1.
- "Animated Self-Portraits" (David Ehrlich; Silver Plaque--Chicago
Film Festival; USA, Yugoslavia, Estona USSR, Czechoslovakia, Japan;
7:56): This piece is itself an anthology. An international cast of
animators--at least ten--each does a very short animated film
including a picture of him or herself. Almost as funny as the
Plymptoons, this has not much depth but a lot of off-the-wall
ideas. Rating: +2.
- "A Warm Reception in L.A." (Vincent Cafarelli and Candy Kugel;
Golden Plaque--Chicago Film Festival; USA; 5:04): This was the only
piece I had seen before. It is a music video for the ballad of the
main character's attempts to sell some of his writing to a film
studio. The animation is in day-glow on a black background. Just
okay. Rating: +1.
- "The Arnold Waltz" (Craig Bartlett; USA; 2:51): Having amusing
animation in three dimensions, this story nonetheless goes no
place. The unoriginal story shows a misfit schoolboy with
fantasies of a more exciting life. Not really very funny or very
interesting. Rating: +1.
- "All My Relations" (Joanna Priestly; USA; 4:53): This is a cartoon
with a few amusing scenes but overall it is a pretty lackluster
piece to end the _T_o_u_r_n_e_e with. It is really just the story of a
number of people going through the crises of life. It has no real
conclusion, and not much punch. Rating: +1.
This was a very nicely rounded edition of the _I_n_t_e_r_n_a_t_i_o_n_a_l
_T_o_u_r_n_e_e _o_f _A_n_i_m_a_t_i_o_n with some more substantial and serious pieces than
in previous years. Now I want to get "The Cow" on video.
CINEMA PARADISO
A film review by Mark R. Leeper
Copyright 1990 Mark R. Leeper
Capsule review: A loving look at a post-World War
II Sicilian village and a boy who loved the movies.
Salvatore Cascio is excellent as the boy and Philippe
Noiret is good as his mentor. Sentimental but often
moving. In re-editing much of the thrust of the film has
apparently been redirected to make it a much different
film than was screened in Italy. (If you have seen the
film, please read the note at the end of the review.)
Rating: low +3.
It is just after World War II in Giancaldo, a small town in Sicily.
Life is hard, troubles are large, and most pleasures are small. One
pleasure is big, bigger than the richest man in town. It is the big
screen down at the Cinema Paradiso. The big screen tells big stories,
stories of tortured love, action stories, musicals with big production
numbers. And in front of the big screen is a small boy, Toto. To Toto
there is school, there is sleep, there is work, there is food, and there
are movies. The first four are mundane and leave Toto in Giancaldo.
Movies are magical and can take him any place in the world, from the
houses of the rich to the Wild West. To Toto not just the stories are
magical but the theater is also, with its bright beam coming from a
sculptured lion's mouth. Toto has even sneaked a look at the machine
that makes the picture and at old Alfredo, the irritable man who runs
the machine that makes the movies. For Toto to get closer to the movies
he will have to make friends with Alfredo and maybe learn how Alfredo
runs the projector.
Thus begins a life-long friendship between young Salvatore--called
Toto--and Alfredo the poor projectionist. And the friendship is built
around the love both have for the movies. Set against the backdrop of
the Sicilian peasant village the story shows Salvatore himself become a
projectionist; we see him grow up and fall in love. The story is told
in flashback as it is remembered by the adult Salvatore on the night
that he has heard of Alfredo's death.
_C_i_n_e_m_a _P_a_r_a_d_i_s_o, directed and written by Giuseppe Tornetore, is
full of loving detail about the post-war movie exhibition business and
has many endearing portraits of the Sicilian peasants who mob the
theater to get a touch of something that transcends their unglamorous
lives. Ennio Morricone scored this film, originally three hours in
length, shown in Italy at two and a half hours in 1988, and cut to about
two hours for American audiences. This is a sentimental and endearing
film that will be well remembered. I rate it a low +3 on the -4 to +4
scale.
Cinema Paradiso April 30, 1990 Page 2
(Note for those who have seen the film, spoiler for those who have
not: The following is a quote from the _V_a_r_i_e_t_y 11/23/88 review of the
film, then called _N_u_o_v_o _C_i_n_e_m_a _P_a_r_a_d_i_s_o. It reveals an important plot
twist edited out of the version released in this country. "[Salvatore]
returns to Sicily for Alfredo's funeral and finds his long lost love,
now played by Brigitte Fossey. Amid many tears, Salvatore learns it was
his blind friend who broke up this one, true romance of his life." In
fact, it was a weakness of the film that that loose end was never tied
up. Apparently the American distributor did not want Alfredo to be made
less sympathetic, though anybody who steals pieces of films is not
particularly sympathetic as far as I am concerned.)
Q & A
A film review by Mark R. Leeper
Copyright 1990 Mark R. Leeper
Capsule review: Sidney Lumet directed a very adult
look at police corruption, racism, and politics. The
story is complex and often hard to follow but it has a
strong feel of authenticity. Rating: +2.
I generally claim that a film can tell the same story you could
tell in forty to sixty pages of prose. That rule is not infallible. _Q
& _A is a long film (at 132 minutes) but it is amazing how much happens
in the course of this realistic thriller looking at police and politics.
It is difficult to believe this hard-edged film could have been directed
by the same man who last year directed the much softer _F_a_m_i_l_y _B_u_s_i_n_e_s_s.
_Q & _A is complex and frankly, difficult to follow, with many more major
characters than one expects to see in a film. It is nice to see a film
that does not talk down to its audience even if perhaps it goes a little
far in the other direction. Not making the film any easier to follow,
much of the dialogue is spoken in (realistically) thick accents.
_Q & _A opens with policeman Mike Brennan (played by Nick Nolte)
murdering a Puerto Rican drug pusher and then intimidating witnesses
into saying the dead man pulled a gun on him. Called in purportedly to
investigate (but actually to whitewash) is Al Reilly (played by Timothy
Hutton), the new D.A.'s assistant. Reilly was formerly a policeman and
the son of a much-loved legend on the police force. The case does look
simple enough to start with, but a friend tips off Reilly that there may
be more going on than is immediately apparent. The more Reilly digs the
more he finds. His chief subject, Brennan, is a big, easy man instantly
likable and quickly detestable. He has an open love of crude, though
often funny, ethnic jokes that soon gives way to an obvious racism.
Brennan is finding himself in an increasingly multi-ethnic, multi-racial
New York and resents how things have changed since the "good old days."
In fact, there are many ethnic and other minorities represented in the
plot--virtually every important character is from a minority--and the
hatred each group has for the others is part of what the story is about.
The plot involves Irish, Italians, Puerto Ricans, gays, and Jews--
Sephardic and Ashkenazic. The plot also involves a D.A.~with higher
political aspirations (played by Patrick O'Neal) and a drug runner
(played by Armand Asante) involved with both the victim and with
Reilly's former fiancee. There is no chance I can do a reasonable job
of explaining a complex and highly inter-woven plot such as _Q & _A in a
paragraph or two.
_Q & _A has a very downbeat feel to it, without the sorts of heroes
this sort of film would usually have. Lumet is not trying to make us
like his characters but instead just wants us to see the way things are.
It is set in a New York City that is as easily recognizable by the feel
as by the buildings. The music is by Ruben Blades, who also wrote the
song under the titles. (Blades, incidentally, is reportedly very likely
to announce soon his candidacy for the presidency of Panama.) For Lumet
_Q & _A represents a return to a more serious style of filmmaking, such as
his _P_r_i_n_c_e _o_f _t_h_e _C_i_t_y. I rate it a +2 on the -4 to +4 scale.
THIS PAGE INTENTIONALLY LEFT ALMOST BLANK
Readercon 3
Con report by Evelyn C. Leeper
Copyright 1990 Evelyn C. Leeper
(Part 3)
_S_t_o_p _M_e _I_f _Y_o_u'_v_e _H_e_a_r_d _o_f _T_h_i_s _O_n_e: _M_o_r_e _G_r_e_a_t _O_b_s_c_u_r_e _B_o_o_k_s
Terry Bisson, John M. Ford, Scott E. Green, Franklin Hummel
Sunday, 2:30 PM
As usual, I will provide just a listing of the books recommended
(with who recommended them, if I made a note):
- Blish, James, "After Such Knowledge" series (_A _C_a_s_e _o_f _C_o_n_s_c_i_e_n_c_e,
_B_l_a_c_k _E_a_s_t_e_r, _D_a_y _a_f_t_e_r _J_u_d_g_e_m_e_n_t, and _D_o_c_t_o_r _M_i_r_a_b_i_l_i_s, which Ford
described as "a novel about Bacon"--it took some clarification from
me to explain that he meant _R_o_g_e_r Bacon, not bacon as in "bacon and
eggs"!)
- Carr, J. H., anything (Green)
- Cover, Arthur Byron, _A_n _E_a_s_t _W_i_n_d _C_o_m_i_n_g (far future Sherlock
Holmes pastiche of sorts)
- Davidson, Avram, _O_n _t_h_e _E_i_g_h_t_h _D_a_y (written as Ellery Queen) (Ford)
- Davies, L. P., anything (Titles include _T_h_e _A_r_t_i_f_i_c_i_a_l _M_a_n,
_D_i_m_e_n_s_i_o_n _A, _P_s_y_c_h_o_g_e_i_s_t, and _T_h_e _T_w_i_l_i_g_h_t _J_o_u_r_n_e_y) (Green)
- De Angulo, Jaime, anything (part of Jack Kerouac's crowd, I
believe)
- Ehrlich, Leonard, _G_o_d'_s _A_n_g_r_y _M_a_n (novel based on the life of John
Brown) (Bisson)
- Gibbons, Floyd P., _R_e_d _N_a_p_o_l_e_o_n: _A _N_o_v_e_l (Ford)
- Guin, Wayman, _A _S_t_a_n_d_i_n_g _J_o_y (Green)
- Hodgson, William Hope, _T_h_e _H_o_u_s_e _o_n _t_h_e _B_o_r_d_e_r_l_a_n_d
- Holland, Cecelia, historical fiction, _T_h_e _D_e_a_t_h _o_f _A_t_t_i_l_a _t_h_e _H_u_n
(These hardly seem obscure to me.) (Bisson)
- Jakes, John, _M_e_n_t_i_o_n _M_y _N_a_m_e _i_n _A_t_l_a_n_t_i_s
- Klise, Thomas, _T_h_e _L_a_s_t _W_e_s_t_e_r_n
- Lafferty, R. A., _O_k_l_a _H_a_n_n_a_l_i (Bisson)
Readercon 3 April 13, 1990 Page 2
- Lafferty, R. A., _T_h_e _F_a_l_l _o_f _R_o_m_e (Ford)
- Langguth, A. J., _J_e_s_u_s _C_h_r_i_s_t_s
- Lymington, John, anything (Titles include _T_h_e _C_o_m_i_n_g _o_f _t_h_e
_S_t_r_a_n_g_e_r_s, _F_r_o_o_m_b_R, _T_h_e _G_r_e_y _O_n_e_s, _T_h_e _N_i_g_h_t _S_p_i_d_e_r_s, _T_h_e _N_i_g_h_t _o_f
_t_h_e _B_i_g _H_e_a_t, _T_h_e _S_c_r_e_a_m_i_n_g _F_a_c_e, and _T_h_e _S_w_o_r_d _A_b_o_v_e _t_h_e _N_i_g_h_t.)
(Green)
- McKenna, Richard, _C_a_s_e_y _A_g_o_n_i_s_t_e_s
- Maclean, Katherine, anything (Titles include _T_h_e _D_i_p_l_o_i_d_s, _T_h_e
_M_i_s_s_i_n_g _M_a_n, and _T_h_e _T_r_o_u_b_l_e _w_i_t_h _Y_o_u _E_a_r_t_h _P_e_o_p_l_e.)
- Mitchison, Naomi, _T_o _t_h_e _C_h_a_p_e_l _P_e_r_i_l_o_u_s (The description made it
sound a bit like PBS's "Timeline," but Ford claims it is not.)
(Ford)
- Morgan, Dan, _T_h_e _N_e_w _M_i_n_d_s, _T_h_e _S_e_v_e_r_a_l _M_i_n_d_s, _M_i_n_d _T_r_a_p, and _T_h_e
_C_o_u_n_t_r_y _o_f _t_h_e _M_i_n_d (The latter is the fourth book of the series,
but printed only in England.) (Hummel)
- Serafini, Luigi, _C_o_d_e_x _S_e_r_a_p_h_i_n_i_a_n_u_s (This is more an art book--
there are no words in any known language in it.)
- Silverberg, Robert, _A _T_i_m_e _o_f _C_h_a_n_g_e_s
- Smith, Martin Cruz, _T_h_e _I_n_d_i_a_n_s _W_o_n (This is an alternate history
that I have been looking for--Books in Print claims it is still in
print, but I have my doubts.) (Bisson)
- Sobel, Robert, _F_o_r _W_a_n_t _o_f _a _N_a_i_l (my recommendation--an alternate
history written as a history book, complete with footnotes and
bibliography, all fake!)
- Tevis, Walter, _T_h_e _Q_u_e_e_n'_s _G_a_m_b_i_t and other works (Bisson)
- Thomas, D. M., _A_r_a_r_a_t, _T_h_e _F_l_u_t_e _P_l_a_y_e_r, _S_p_h_i_n_x, _S_w_a_l_l_o_w, and _T_h_e
_W_h_i_t_e _H_o_t_e_l and others (Green)
- Waltari, Mika, _T_h_e _E_g_y_p_t_i_a_n, _T_h_e _E_t_r_u_s_c_a_n (Green)
- Wilhelm, Kate (?), _L_e_t _t_h_e _F_i_r_e _F_a_l_l (I could not find any such
novel written by Kate Wilhelm, but Michael Scanlan has one of this
title. Given Green's track record, this is probably it.) (Green)
- Wilson, Steve, _T_h_e _L_o_s_t _T_r_a_v_e_l_e_r (a novel about Hell's Angels) (Or
should this be Steve Toth's _L_o_s_t _A_n_g_e_l_s? With Green you never can
tell!) (Green)
Readercon 3 April 13, 1990 Page 3
- Wylie, Philip, everything (again, this does not seem all that
obscure) (Titles include _T_h_e _D_i_s_a_p_p_e_a_r_a_n_c_e, _T_h_e _E_n_d _o_f _t_h_e _D_r_e_a_m,
_G_l_a_d_i_a_t_o_r, _L_o_s _A_n_g_e_l_e_s _A_D _2_0_1_7, _T_h_e _M_u_r_d_e_r_e_r _I_n_v_i_s_i_b_l_e, _T_h_e
_S_m_u_g_g_l_e_d _A_t_o_m _B_o_m_b, _T_h_e _S_p_y _W_h_o _S_p_o_k_e _P_o_r_p_o_i_s_e, _T_o_m_o_r_r_o_w, and
_T_r_i_u_m_p_h,. I doubt that they were really recommending _W_h_e_n _W_o_r_l_d_s
_C_o_l_l_i_d_e or _A_f_t_e_r _W_o_r_l_d_s _C_o_l_l_i_d_e, but who knows?)
- _F_o_r_g_o_t_t_e_n _F_a_n_t_a_s_y magazine (Green)
Hummel, a librarian, reminded people that even if their own library
did not have some of these items, they could request an inter-library
loan by asking their librarian. It was observed that in small towns you
might have to explain this concept.
Bisson (I believe) mentioned the "No-Frills" books marketed a few
years back, and told who had written them. The mystery was written by
Clark Daman (spelling?), the western by Victor Milan, and the science
fiction by John Silbersack. So now you finally know.
_T_h_e _L_i_t_e_r_a_c_y _C_r_i_s_i_s _v_s. _t_h_e _I_n_f_o_r_m_a_t_i_o_n _E_x_p_l_o_s_i_o_n
Teresa Nielsen-Hayden (moderator),
Alexander Jablokov, Kathei Logue.
Sunday, 4:00 PM
Kathei Logue talked about her experiences working in a shelter for
the homeless. Children there may start out interested in reading, but
pretty soon they discover that they can get by without it, and having no
incentive, they just stop.
Someone in the audience said they thought the problem (never
defined, by the way) was that students were never held back in schools.
The panelists pointed out that the current education system is not
structured in such a way as to make this feasible. Everyone did seem to
agree that the major factor was the student/teacher ratio.
On another level, this question was raised as to whether the state
could compel people to read, or rather to learn to read. And for that
matter, should it? One audience member put forth John Holt's theory
that the compulsory school system is a prison, and that students realize
that discipline is more important to the administrators than learning
is. In this, Holt of course assumes that children understand the
education process and could make rational decisions regarding it and
that parents care about their children's education. Holt was promoting
home teaching--which is an option to the "compulsory" education system
he decried, but very few parents are dissatisfied enough with the latter
to undertake it.
When someone asked the panelists about the information explosion,
Teresa Nielsen-Hayden asked, "May I rant to that question?" She thinks
most people lack the necessary skills to deal with this explosion. At
this point, the panel seemed to drift into complaining about how few
Readercon 3 April 13, 1990 Page 4
people had the necessary skills or training to be a reference librarian,
rather than to be an informed reader. The fact that people are starting
to call any book a "novel" ("Do you have any novels on spectroscopy?")
makes me think the latter is a bigger problem than the former. (See
also my caveat on recommending anthologies, above.) One audience member
seemed to think all this information on a topic could be filtered easily
enough by going to the college bookstore and buying the cheapest
"required reading" paperback on a given topic. The logic is that the
only books printed in paperback are those that are expected to sell a
lot, the cheaper paperbacks are expected to sell even more, and if it is
required at least there is some guarantee of quality (or that the author
is teaching the course!). Of course, this just says to let the
professors do the pre-filtering for you.
One aspect of the information explosion is that we do not lose
books through attrition anymore. Libraries and all the microfilm, and
other technologies for saving information have resulted in many books
being permanently saved which in earlier times would have gradually
disappeared. Paper disintegrates and when saving books was more
difficult, there was some minimum quality requirement for a book to meet
before someone would bother to save it. Now everything is saved "just
in case."
As one person said, if reading is the map to knowledge, we now need
a meta-map to _w_h_a_t to read, and then perhaps a meta-meta-map, ....
At 5 PM, we left, ate dinner at the Turkey Farm restaurant in New
Hampshire, then drove back to Amherst to drop Kate off, and then home,
arriving home about 1 AM. Connecticut was again foggy.
Other notable programming items that occurred without the benefit of my
attendance were:
Judging a Book by Page 117
The Senator from Elfland's Daughter: Why Is Fantasy Hung Up on Monarchy?
Towards a Readers' Lobby
Hacks Anonymous vs. the Art Police
Stopping Glaciers with Hot Words: The Awful Warning Novel
Is "Magic Realism" Just Spanish for "Literary Fantasy"
(I wanted to attend this, but it was one of those overlap
conflicts I complained about earlier.)
Alternative Narrative Structure and the New Spec Fic Underground
(This turned out to be the April Fool's joke panel. Kate went
and said that everyone talked very seriously about such works
in progress as someone's novel being written by putting one
word somewhere on each highway in the United States, and a
magazine devoted to being as large as possible so as kill as
many trees as possible to cause the United States to realize
how important reforestation was. She said that the panelists
said this magazine was available from Ziesing in the Dealers'
Room, but when she went in there, she overheard one of the
Readercon 3 April 13, 1990 Page 5
panelists explaining to Ziesing about the joke and asking him
to play along by saying he had them but they were sold out.)
Miscellaneous
Crowley and Disch were on several panels each. I was impressed
that Crowley also attended several panels that he was not on--how often
does one see that at a "normal" science fiction convention. All too
frequently, the Guest of Honor seems to hide in his/her hotel room when
his/her presence is not required. Readercon Guests of Honor, on the
other hand, have been very willing to spend time as participants as well
as "stars." Crowley also had a scheduled autograph session, but was
certainly willing to sign at other times as well.
Some of the committee organizers still seem to be over-extending
themselves (Eric Van was on six panels). Still, this seems to create
fewer problems than in previous years, and Eric mentioned that they had
gotten three to six new committee members this year. Perhaps also the
multiple tracks mean that a hitch in one program item is not as
noticeable.
Unlike last year, program items tended to stay on time (except for
the Saturday night events as noted). The Souvenir Book gets bigger each
year, this year including several articles about the Guests of Honor, as
well as recommended books by various authors. I do not particularly
like this feature in _T_h_e _N_e_w _Y_o_r_k _S_c_i_e_n_c_e _F_i_c_t_i_o_n _R_e_v_i_e_w. Here at least
some of the authors write a paragraph or so on each book, which tells me
a lot more than the list format used in _N_Y_S_F_R. Unfortunately, the Small
Press Awards nominations were finished so late that the finalists could
not be listed in the Souvenir Book, and ended up relegated to the
Program Guide instead. The Program Guide included a copy of the Pocket
Program plus full descriptions of the program items, an index to
participants (with computerized schedules this seems to be becoming a
standard for Program Books, and a welcome one it is!), and information
about the Small Press Awards and the program participants. They
improved the type faces on the badges this year, though they are still
not up to Boskone's readability.
There was also a "Readercon anthology" published, priced at $9.95
for a trade paperback. To keep the price down, the cover had no
artwork, just the title and the names of the contributors in black and
white. If NESFA can do a hardcover book with dust jacket artwork for
$8, why is this priced so much higher?
There were 471 people registered, with about 400 of those actually
attending. The Readercon history is therefore:
Readercon 3 April 13, 1990 Page 6
YEAR REGISTERED ATTENDING % INCREASE ATTENDING
1987 330 280 -
1988 350 300 7
1990 471 400 33
If this trend continues, Readercon 10 will be held in the entire
states of New York and Pennsylvania!
Last year the furthest attendees came from California and Utah;
this year the prize obviously goes to Robert Hood and his family, who
came from New South Wales, Australia! (His book, _D_a_y-_D_r_e_a_m_i_n_g _o_n
_C_o_m_p_a_n_y _T_i_m_e, was nominated for a Small Press Award and he said this
provided him an excuse, since he had wanted to come to the United States
anyway. Eric Van, co-chair of the Awards Committee, said he almost fell
off his chair when he got the letter from Hood saying he was coming!)
Miscellaneous
Next year's Readercon will be July 12-14, 1991, at the Worcester
Marriott (the Lowell Hilton either went bankrupt, or almost went
bankrupt, I am not sure which). All the function space will be on one
floor in the Marriott, which should help out in terms of handicapped
access. Amazingly enough, Readercon 5 will be basically the same
weekend in 1992 (July 10-12). Does this mean that Readercon will
actually become an _a_n_n_u_a_l convention?! Stay tuned, but Eric says that
is what they are aiming for! The Guest of Honor next year will be
Thomas M. Disch, with Special Guest John Crowley. I commented to Eric
that this might result in some of this year's members skipping next
year, since the guests would be the same, but he says there will also be
another, as yet unannounced, Guest of Honor, and future Readercons will
continue to have two Guests of Honor each. He also promises _n_o_t to
stagger programming starting times! Friday night they will be trying a
Meet the Pros(e) Pool Party, which should be fun even if the pros are
there yet. There will probably be a banquet (first rock 'n' roll, then
films, now rubber chicken!). (In fairness, I should add that Eric says
the Marriott's food has a good reputation, but the only really good
banquet I have ever been to was the crab feast as ConStellation.)
Because of the rapid growth of Readercon, they are setting an 800-
person limit (including complimentary memberships to guests, etc.) to
future Readercons.
Eric promised that after 1992 they will retire the Kirk Poland Bad
Prose Competition, but I am not holding my breath--they have been
promising to retire it for a couple of years now.
(The End)