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Mt. Holz Science Fiction Society
Club Notice - 09/21/90 -- Vol. 9, No. 12

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

10/03 LZ: MICROMEGAS by Voltaire (Philosophy)
10/24 LZ: THE WORM OUROBOROS by E. R. Eddison (Classic Horror)
11/07 MT: WANDERING STARS ed. by Jack Dann (Jewish Science Fiction)
11/14 LZ: WAR WITH THE NEWTS by Karel Capek (Foreign SF)
12/05 LZ: EQUAL RITES or THE LIGHT FANTASTIC by Terry Pratchett (Humorous SF)

_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.

10/14 NJSFS: New Jersey Science Fiction Society: TBA
(phone 201-432-5965 for details) (Saturday)
10/21 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 3E-301 949-4488 hotld!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. Yes, friends, the Leeperhouse Film Festival is not yet dead. It
returns again at 7 PM on September 27 for a tribute to the great
Akira Kurosawa, director of _Y_o_j_i_m_b_o and _S_a_n_j_u_r_o (previously
featured at a film festival), _S_e_v_e_n _S_a_m_u_r_a_i, and _R_a_n.

Kurosawa
"Akira Kurosawa" (1980)
KAGEMUSHA (1980)

We begin with a documentary on Kurosawa made at the time he was
making KAGEMUSHA. It includes a retrospective of his films. It
will be followed by the film KAGEMUSHA:

THE MT VOID Page 2

Nippon is in the throes of civil war. Two armies vie for control
of the land. Leading one army is Takeda Shingen; the other army is
led by Oda Nobunaga and the young Tokugawa Ieyasu. (For those who
read _S_h_o_g_u_n, the shogun was called Toranaga, but was the grown-up
Ieyasu.) The war is going in favor of Shingen, so respected by his
troops that just the sight of him overseeing the battle inspires
his troops to victory. For additional safety, Shingen has an exact
double, a thief saved from the gallows. Then Shingen is killed and
the double finds himself in command of the most powerful army in
Japan--but only so long as he can fool people into thinking he is
Shingen. Among other awards, KAGEMUSHA won the Golden Palm at
Cannes and was nominated for Best Foreign-Language Film.

2. EQUAL RITES and THE LIGHT FANTASTIC by Terry Pratchett are
available in the LZ Science Fiction Club Library. [-ecl]

3. The Science Fiction Writers of America (SFWA) has launched a
campaign to collect paperback novels to be sent to our soldiers
deployed in Saudi Arabia. Any novels of nearly any genre are
acceptable with the exception of romance novels.

As many of you know, we currently have over 160,000 military
personnel deployed in Saudi Arabia. There is a distinct lack of
entertainment and ways to pass the time. Your books will be sent
to various units and passed from person to person, giving much-
needed relief and a morale boost for our soldiers, Marines, airmen,
and sailors.

Now is your chance to show your support for our military men and
women in Saudi Arabia. Collection points have been established as
follows:
HO 2L-420 (Alan Gopin)
HR 1A-113 (Steve Harclerode)
LZ 1A-208 (Steve Goldsmith)
MH 2F-213 (Lorraine Lapsley)
MH 2F-131 (Counseling Office)
MT 3D-441 (Mark Leeper)

If you're not in any of those locations, you can send *small*
quantities (less than six) via inter-office mail to me (Mark
Leeper) at MT 3D-441; call me at 957-5619 if you have bulk
quantities to donate or want to volunteer your office as a
collection point for your location. If anyone wants to volunteer
to help collect, pack, and/or ship these books, contact me. (The
Veterans' Club has offered to pack and ship books collected in
South Jersey, but many of their members have been mobilized, so
they would welcome any help you could give. [Above composed by
ecl, but I have the space to do the collecting due to the recent
defection of my officemate to an organization in Holmdel-- mrl]

Mark Leeper
MT 3D-441 957-5619
...mtgzx!leeper

AUTHOR'S CHOICE MONTHLY 8: James Morrow
Pulphouse, 1990, $4.95.
A book review by Evelyn C. Leeper
Copyright 1990 Evelyn C. Leeper

Pulphouse Publishing is issuing a series of "Author's Choice"
books--stories selected by the author rather than by an editor. This
slim volume contains seven of Morrow's short stories, including one
never before published ("Bible Stories for Adults, No. 20: The Tower").
The other six are "The Assemblage of Kristin," "Bible Stories for
Adults, No. 17: The Deluge," "The Eye That Never Blinks," "The
Confessions of Ebenezer Scrooge," "Bible Stories for Adults, No. 31: The
Covenant," and "Spelling God with the Wrong Blocks"; there is also an
introduction by Morrow.

What the stories have in common (besides being selected by Morrow)
is that they are all religious in nature (some might say irreligious).
Of course, this is true of much of Morrow's writing, and certainly of
his latest novel, _O_n_l_y _B_e_g_o_t_t_e_n _D_a_u_g_h_t_e_r. Still, the trend is not so
obvious until one sees the pieces collected in one volume. Morrow may
question the traditional religions, and certainly his "Bible Stories for
Adults" do that, but his works also display a more deeply religious tone
than do many whose religion is more conventional.

This is not to say there aren't logical problems in some of the
stories. In "Bible Stories for Adults, No. 31: The Covenant," Morrow
postulates an alternate world in which Moses couldn't get a replacement
set of tablets for the ones he smashed on the golden calf, so the world
proceeded with the Ten Commandments. Morrow then sets up a scenario
where the tablets are reconstructed by one computer, but another
computer claims that these commandments will be mis-interpreted to lead
to, well, our world. For example, "Thou shalt not kill" will be
interpreted to first say, "Thou shalt not kill unnecessarily" and so on
until it eventually leads to a weapons race, to which the first asks
"What are weapons?" Morrow overlooks that many civilizations who had
never heard of the Ten Commandments seem to have had weapons (and
weapons races). (And also that the original Hebrew of the commandment
is better translated "murder" than "kill," which means the
"unnecessarily" is already there.)

But perhaps in the context of these stories this is an unreasonable
quibble. And the story I picked is the one with the largest holes in
it. Though he plans some day to produce an entire book of "Bible
Stories for Adults," don't wait--buy this now. (For those of you
interested in the physical look and feel of a book as well as it's
contents, I recommend Pulphouse books; they have a wonderful parchment-
like cover and cream-colored pages which are a joy to hold as well as to
read. And the cost is the same as your usual cheapy paperback. Your
local bookstore almost definitely won't carry this, and there is no
ISBN, so you can order direct from Pulphouse Publishing, P. O. Box 1227,
Eugene OR 97440.)

THE SECRET ASCENSION by Michael Bishop
Tor, 1989 (c1987), ISBN 0-812-53157-4, $4.50
A book review by Evelyn C. Leeper
Copyright 1990 Evelyn C. Leeper

This book is actually titled _T_h_e _S_e_c_r_e_t _A_s_c_e_n_s_i_o_n _o_r, _P_h_i_l_i_p _K.
_D_i_c_k _I_s _D_e_a_d, _A_l_a_s. And it is a tribute to Dick in more ways than one.
In the world of _T_h_e _S_e_c_r_e_t _A_s_c_e_n_s_i_o_n (which is, to state it up front, an
alternate world), Dick has achieved a far greater fame than he did in
our world. Yet he has also become known as a subversive author in this
world of totalitarian government. We never find out just where things
changed, but it was nothing obvious. There are many minor changes
(instead of Ted Turner, this world has Tod Turner, for example) that
indicate that something happened much further back than the major
changes would indicate.

But in addition to using Dick as a character, _T_h_e _S_e_c_r_e_t _A_s_c_e_n_s_i_o_n
also uses Dick's technique of playing with reality and levels of reality
and of asking "What is reality?" The result is unusual, and not quite
describable. The best I can do is to say I recommend this novel even if
you're not a Philip K. Dick fan (if you are, this recommendation is
probably superfluous anyway).

Capsule review: An outsider gets involved with the
tinder of the vanities, a clique of young, chic, semi-
intellectuals who talk like the _A_t_l_a_n_t_i_c _M_o_n_t_h_l_y but
whose lives are just as mis-managed as anyone else's.
Walt Stillman's dialogue is the main reason to see
_M_e_t_r_o_p_o_l_i_t_a_n. Rating: +1.

There is a separate sort of film I think you would have to call
"the dialogue film." It is a concept parallel to that of "the special
effects film." A dialogue film is built around and shows off its
dialogue the way a special effects film is built around and shows off
its visual effects. While films one would classify as dialogue films
have been more common in Europe than in the United States, obvious
American dialogue films include _R_e_t_u_r_n _o_f _t_h_e _S_e_c_a_u_c_u_s _S_e_v_e_n, _T_h_e _B_i_g
_C_h_i_l_l, and especially _M_y _D_i_n_n_e_r _w_i_t_h _A_n_d_r_e. _M_e_t_r_o_p_o_l_i_t_a_n has marginally
more plot than the former three films, but it probably still qualifies.

In _M_e_t_r_o_p_o_l_i_t_a_n, Tom Townsend (played by Edward Clements) gets
politely kidnapped to a debutante party populated by young, wealthy,
sophisticated intellectuals and pseudo-intellectuals. They call
themselves the SFRP (Sally Fowler Rat Pack) and representatives of the
UHB (Urban Haute Bourgeoisie). Tom's background is not quite so _h_a_u_t_e
as the others but he can talk the talk and with a little help from the
others he can walk the walk, in a second-hand tuxedo. But it is talking
the talk that is the main thing and while on an intellectual level Tom
has objections to this young tinder of the vanities--Tom believes
himself to be a Fourier socialist--he nonetheless finds himself
repeatedly drawn to their company.

The plot of _M_e_t_r_o_p_o_l_i_t_a_n is only very slight as one of the quieter
members of the rat pack, a literature fan named Audrey Rouget (played by
Carolyn Farina), takes a liking to Tom, though Tom is still in love with
former girlfriend Serena Slocum (Elizabeth Thompson). But this film's
fine point is not so much the plot as its view of this young aristocracy
and the often funny and always engrossing dialogue. Writing credit for
the dialogue (as well as most of the rest of the credit) goes to
writer/director/producer Walt Stillman who, according to _V_a_r_i_e_t_y sold
his Manhattan apartment to help finance the film. He probably will not
get rich making films like _M_e_t_r_o_p_o_l_i_t_a_n, but he should be able to get
another apartment. I rate this a +1 on the -4 to +4 scale.

POSTCARDS FROM THE EDGE
A film review by Mark R. Leeper
Copyright 1990 Mark R. Leeper

Capsule review: Petulant, semi-autobiographical
comedy written by Carrie Fisher about her relationship
with her mother and the world in general. There are a
couple of nice dramatic scenes but not enough to salvage
this self-pitying story. Rating: high 0.

Life can be tough. It really is not very easy growing up in
Hollywood with no father and a famous movie star mother who wants to run
your life. Then there are all sorts of Hollywood types of people and
probably none of them are looking out for your best interests or treat
you as gently as you think they should. That is the sad premise of
_P_o_s_t_c_a_r_d_s _f_r_o_m _t_h_e _E_d_g_e, with a screenplay by Carrie Fisher based on her
semi-autobiographical novel of the same name.

Suzanne Vale (played by Meryl Streep) is a second-rate actress who
can get roles in only third-rate films. She seems invariably to play
women of action committed to some cause, but she herself is committed to
nothing. She consoles herself with cocaine, which makes her even harder
to work with. Then she takes the drugs a bit too far and ends up in the
custody of her singer-actress mother, Doris Mann (played by Shirley
MacLaine), a show business legend but just as dependent on alcohol and
drugs as her daughter. This all would be pretty bleak if not for Vale's
quick wit, which at times is undeniably funny, and _P_o_s_t_c_a_r_d_s' laconic
view of the nothing-is-as-it-seems world of Hollywood filmmaking. The
sarcastic wordplay among two and occasionally three generations of women
from one family is perhaps the only thing preventing _P_o_s_t_c_a_r_d_s from
being a complete melodrama like _M_o_m_m_y _D_e_a_r_e_s_t.

It is a real pity that Fisher and Debbie Reynolds did not play the
characters who were essentially themselves. It would have added some
authenticity to the roles. Fisher would have been more believable as an
actress cast in the sort of film in which looks are the most important
thing and acting talent is optional. Streep would not have been cast in
such a film, regardless of her talent, because she does not have the
looks that women in these films have. On the other hand, had Fisher and
Reynolds starred, _P_o_s_t_c_a_r_d_s would have been criticized for where it does
fictionalize. Some courage points should be awarded to both Streep and
MacLaine for being willing to appear without make-up--each in one scene.
Streep without make-up looks just very plain; how MacLaine looks without
make-up is something of a shock and probably is going to be remembered.
The scene, however, is essential to the film and gives it the only
moments where it really says something of real interest. MacLaine's
make-up is symbolic of all the sham and pretense of the Hollywood
system, but it cannot be stripped away without stripping away the
dignity. Much of the value of the film is dependent on MacLaine being
willing to play this scene.

With the exception of one or two small powerful moments, _P_o_s_t_c_a_r_d_s
_f_r_o_m _t_h_e _E_d_g_e is mostly a thin comedy-drama. I rate it a high 0 on the
-4 to +4 scale.