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Mt. Holz Science Fiction Society
Club Notice - 06/15/90 -- Vol. 8, No. 50
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
06/20 LZ: PRENTICE ALVIN by Orson Scott Card (Hugo Nominee)
07/11 LZ: HYPERION by Dan Simmons (Hugo Nominee)
08/01 LZ: A FIRE IN THE SUN by George Alec Effinger (Hugo Nominee)
08/22 LZ: RENDEZVOUS WITH RAMA by Arthur C. Clarke
09/12 LZ: STAR MAKER by Olaf Stapledon (Formative Influences)
_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.
06/16 NJSFS: New Jersey Science Fiction Society: Social/Dance
(phone 201-432-5965 for details) (Saturday)
07/13 Hugo Ballot Deadline
07/14 SFABC: Science Fiction Association of Bergen County: TBA
(phone 201-933-2724 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 hotle!tps
LZ Librarian: Lance Larsen LZ 3L-312 576-3346 mtunq!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. The film festival has been taking a rest for the last few
months, but it is back and we are starting with two very powerful
black comedies about bucking the system in unusual ways. On
Thursday, June 21 at 7 PM, we will be showing:
Going for It
BLUE COLLAR (1978) dir. by Paul Schrader
KING OF COMEDY (1983) dir. by Martin Scorsese
Paul Schrader's directorial debut (before making films such as _C_a_t
_P_e_o_p_l_e and _M_i_s_h_i_m_a) starts out as a comic heist film about three
THE MT VOID Page 2
Detroit auto workers their union, but it becomes much more than
that when the plan turns to blackmail and they find themselves
riding a tiger. Danny Peary called it an "excellent, unusual film
... strongly written, provocative, extremely well-acted." Richard
Skorman said, "The acting throughout is outstanding. [Richard]
Pryor gives one of his most controlled performances to date and
[Harvey] Keitel and [Yaphet] Kotto are equally convincing."
One of Robert DeNiro's most memorable characters is Rupert Pupkin,
who idolizes the celebrity of superficial talk show host Jerry
Langford (played by Jerry Lewis). Thwarted too often in his plans
to become famous on Langford's program, he decides to take matters
into his own hands. While the character is very different from the
one in Scorsese's _T_a_x_i _D_r_i_v_e_r, there are some surprising parallels.
2. We now begin our annual cycle of discussions of the Hugo
nominees (at least those available in paperback), and our next
Lincroft discussion book is therefore _P_r_e_n_t_i_c_e _A_l_v_i_n by Orson Scott
Card, of which Lance Larsen says:
"_P_r_e_n_t_i_c_e _A_l_v_i_n is the third book in _T_h_e _T_a_l_e_s _o_f _A_l_v_i_n _M_a_k_e_r. You
can read this book without having read the previous two volumes
(_S_e_v_e_n_t_h _S_o_n and _R_e_d _P_r_o_p_h_e_t), but I would recommend reading them
all--in order. This fantasy series is set in an alternate United
States (that aren't) where magic works. Alvin Maker is the seventh
son of a seventh son; hence he is blessed with very potent
abilities that he must learn how to use. In this volume, while
apprenticed to a blacksmith, Alvin comes of age and learns to use
(and not use) his magical abilities. In this novel, as in the
previous two, Card does a wonderful job of storytelling in this
alternative history. The characters struggle and grow throughout
the story. He is creating an epic, and getting it right!" [-lfl]
3. The following donations have been made to the Lincroft science
fiction library from Patricia Eisenstein via Kathleen Kennedy:
Robert A. Heinlein THE STAR BEAST
Robert A. Heinlein THE ROLLING STONES
Robert A. Heinlein ROCKET SHIP GALILEO
Mark Leeper
MT 3D-441 957-5619
...mtgzx!leeper
Of tyrannies on human kind
The worst is that which persecutes the mind.
-- John Dryden
THE UNCONQUERED COUNTRY by Geoff Ryman
Bantam Spectra, 1987 (1986c), ISBN 0-553-26654-3, $2.95.
A book review by Evelyn C. Leeper
(with some comments on CHEAP TRUTH)
Copyright 1990 Evelyn C. Leeper
[This started out as a review of _T_h_e _U_n_c_o_n_q_u_e_r_e_d _C_o_u_n_t_r_y, but, like
some mutant plant, it grew off in a different direction and ended as
much about _C_h_e_a_p _T_r_u_t_h as about the book in question.]
When I reviewed _F_u_l_l _S_p_e_c_t_r_u_m last year, I said that Andrew
Weiner's "This Is the Year Zero," whether intentionally or not, was
basically the story of the Pol Pot takeover in Kampuchea (now once again
named Cambodia) presented as science fiction and that rewriting a
historical event as science fiction rarely results in good science
fiction, no matter how tragic the event. Someone suggested _T_h_e
_U_n_c_o_n_q_u_e_r_e_d _C_o_u_n_t_r_y as another, better written, example of the same
phenomenon. And then I saw that _C_h_e_a_p _T_r_u_t_h #16 had listed this as one
of its top ten (at least for that issue), and described it as a
"slightly expanded version of the instantly classic _I_n_t_e_r_z_o_n_e novella, a
shocking, brutally depressing SF tragedy that directly confronts the
reader with high-voltage visionary excess." In addition, the novella
version had won the British Fantasy Award _a_n_d the World Fantasy Award in
1985.
There are some basic differences between Weiner's story and
Ryman's. In Ryman's book (expanded from the novella, but still only
novella length--30,00 words) the story is presented as fantasy rather
than science fiction, and in fact is written in such a way than it is
about the Pol Pot takeover itself rather than an imitation or copy of
it. But the fantasy makes the entire story so surreal as to detract
from the human beings involved in it. (For example, houses are
apparently living beings with feelings.) There is a certain distancing,
a certain coldness, that the reader may find conflicts with the
sympathies that s/he knows s/he should have for the victims of this.
Lisa Goldstein's _R_e_d _M_a_g_i_c_i_a_n is a fantasy set in a Nazi concentration
camp that avoids this distancing, at least for me, so it does not seem
to be a necessary element. It could be that some critics will say that
the distancing is intentional and part of the literary style of the
novel. But for me, I found it disturbing (in a negative sense--one
would hope a book about Pol Pot would be disturbing) and it seriously
detracted from the book. Also, because the book is so clearly a
representation of events in Cambodia, I found myself trying to map all
the names and events onto real names and events. This, too, provided
distraction from the flow of the story.
The structure of the narrative is unusual. Although short itself,
the novella is divided into several sub-stories. The structure and the
style seemed alien enough that I found myself wondering if Ryman were
Unconquered Country June 12, 1990 Page 2
copying the style from Southeast Asian literature in the same way that
Charles Whitmore copied the style of Scandinavian sagas in _W_i_n_t_e_r'_s
_D_a_u_g_h_t_e_r.
In fairness I should say that _L_o_c_u_s and the _L_o_n_d_o_n _T_i_m_e_s _L_i_t_e_r_a_r_y
_S_u_p_p_l_e_m_e_n_t apparently loved _T_h_e _U_n_c_o_n_q_u_e_r_e_d _C_o_u_n_t_r_y (to judge from the
back cover). Maybe there is some background for appreciating Ryman's
style that I don't have. I can't say it's a bad book, but after the
build-up, I did find it a bit of a let-down.
And what of _C_h_e_a_p _T_r_u_t_h's rave review? Well, in #10 _C_h_e_a_p _T_r_u_t_h
says, "You've already heard about Gibson's _N_e_u_r_o_m_a_n_c_e_r, and if you've
got any sense you've already read it. This book had half again as many
recommendations as its closest competitor to get on the preliminary
Nebula ballot, and its brilliant depiction of a credible future has
appealled [sic] to the sense of wonder in even the most hardened of
intellects." Then when everyone has read it, in #12 we read, "Now that
NEUROMANCER has garnered so many accolades, maybe it's time to sit back
and see just what heights have been climbed. ... The book has, yeah,
STYLE.... Wonderful! ... And that slick style carries us forward on a
garbage-reeking tide for about a hundred pages. ... But then you
become uncomfortably aware that Gibson doesn't actually _k_n_o_w much about
computers beyond brand names, and you are enmeshed in a standard pulp
plot." And on, and on, demolishing what two issues ago they had been
lauding.
So what has replaced _N_e_u_r_o_m_a_n_c_e_r in _C_h_e_a_p _T_r_u_t_h's eyes? Well, in
that same issue #12, they rave about Greg Bear's _B_l_o_o_d _M_u_s_i_c: "In a
triumph of the human spirit that makes one glow, Bear has shattered the
limits of formula and is delivering truly superior fiction. _B_l_o_o_d _M_u_s_i_c
in its award-winning short form was a fine, visionary piece; as a novel,
it's staggering." Of course, come #14, they describe it as a novel
which "expands predictably his earlier ... short story" and in a later
paragraph goes on to other works saying, "Even the good stuff here [...]
is tainted with guilt and predictability."
So it seems as though recommendations from _C_h_e_a_p _T_r_u_t_h are designed
more to stir up the waters than actually to present a coherent and
consistent critical viewpoint. (Yeah, I know--who am I to criticize
Bruce Sterling and Lewis Shiner? The only answer to that is: I don't
know; who do I have to be?) But they were right about one thing:
"Really great illustrations!" (I should note that the illustrations are
by Sacha Ackerman and the cover is by Ilene Meyer.)