@@@@@ @ @ @@@@@ @ @ @@@@@@@ @ @ @@@@@ @@@@@ @@@
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @
@ @@@@@ @@@@ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @
@ @ @ @@@@@ @ @ @ @ @@@@@ @@@@@ @@@
Mt. Holz Science Fiction Society
Club Notice - 02/22/91 -- Vol. 9, No. 34
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
03/13 LZ: TOM SWIFT by Victor Appleton II (Juvenile SF)
04/03 LZ: Book Swap
_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.
03/09 SFABC: Science Fiction Association of Bergen County: TBA
(phone 201-933-2724 for details) (Saturday)
03/16 NJSFS: New Jersey Science Fiction Society: TBA
(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 mtgzy!leeper
HO Librarian: Tim Schroeder HO 3B-301 949-4488 hotsc!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. There is a psychopathic serial killer loose and an FBI agent on
his trail. But the FBI agent needs help that can only come from
another psychopath. It takes a psychopath to catch a psychopath.
And the psychopath whom the agent needs help from is the brilliant
and dangerous Dr. Hannibal Lecter. I bet you think I am describing
the current hit film _T_h_e _S_i_l_e_n_c_e _o_f _t_h_e _L_a_m_b_s. Actually, no. I am
describing the first of two suspense thrillers we will show for the
next Leeperhouse Film Festival. On February 28, at 7 PM, we will
show two great thrillers.
Serial Killer Thrillers
MANHUNTER (1986) dir. by Michael Mann
NO WAY TO TREAT A LADY (1968) dir. by Jack Smight
THE MT VOID Page 2
Thomas Harris's _S_i_l_e_n_c_e _o_f _t_h_e _L_a_m_b_s is the sequel to an earlier
novel, _R_e_d _D_r_a_g_o_n. Another director from another studio made the
film version of _R_e_d _D_r_a_g_o_n. Michael Mann directed MANHUNTER, which
features Will Graham, the agent who originally captured Dr. Lecter
and who intentionally went crazy in the process. Now Will Graham
has to become a psychopath to catch a serial killer who kills whole
families. At least as far as violence this film is very
restrained. This is a film very much in demand and rather hard to
find. For my tastes it goes a little overboard in style, but it
also is a good detective story.
Much lighter in tone is NO WAY TO TREAT A LADY, a comedy suspense
film starring George Segal, Rod Steiger, and Lee Remick. Somebody
is out there killing nice little old ladies, and searching him down
is Lieutenant Morris Brummel, a Jewish cop hen-pecked by his
mother. This is an adaptation of a novel by William Goldman. It
really is a lot of fun.
Mark Leeper
MT 3D-441 957-5619
...mtgzy!leeper
The foolish and the dead alone never change their opinion.
-- James Russell Lowell
STRANGE THINGS IN CLOSE UP by Howard Waldrop
Legend, 1990, ISBN 0-09-964440-1, L4.50.
A book review by Evelyn C. Leeper
Copyright 1991 Evelyn C. Leeper
This long-awaited collection of Howard Waldrop's work is, alas,
almost impossible to find in the United States. Since the original
publications of most of them were also hard to find (Waldrop explains in
one of his introductions why he has the reputation of selling to the
lowest bidder), this is a double whammy. So far as I can tell, this is
an omnibus volume which includes _H_o_w_a_r_d _W_h_o? (Doubleday, 1986) and _A_l_l
_A_b_o_u_t _S_t_r_a_n_g_e _M_o_n_s_t_e_r_s _o_f _t_h_e _R_e_c_e_n_t _P_a_s_t (Ursus Imprints, 1987). Lots
of luck finding those either. However, large specialty stores will
probably have a limited supply of _S_t_r_a_n_g_e _T_h_i_n_g_s _i_n _C_l_o_s_e _U_p, or try
your favorite mail order house. Is it worth all that effort? Yes.
_H_o_w_a_r_d _W_h_o? comprises the first twelve stories in _S_t_r_a_n_g_e _T_h_i_n_g_s _i_n
_C_l_o_s_e _U_p. The first is "The Ugly Chickens." If you know only one
Howard Waldrop story, chances are this is it. You will get two things
from reading this story: an encyclopedic (well, almost) knowledge of the
dodo, and an inkling of what makes Waldrop's stories so unique.
"Der Untergang des Abendlandesmenschen" has Bronco Billy and
William S. Hart helping Hermann Go"ring fight a vampire in a typical
Waldrop "alternate history" where unlikely people get together and do
unlikely things. The "split point" of these universes--the event that
causes them to differ from ours--seems to be some time when the ancient
Israelites threw some peyote mushrooms in with their burnt offering and
God got more than just a "sweet savour." Certainly no rational
explanation will suffice.
"Ike at the Mike" is another alternate history: Dwight David
Eisenhower is a rock star and Elvis Aaron Presley a successful
politician. A whole bunch of other famous people turned out differently
too. But I'm not a big rock music fan and so found this less involving
than some of Waldrop's other works, even though this did win a Hugo.
If you like old horror movies (and my old I mean 1940s, not _E_v_i_l
_D_e_a_d _I or even _C_a_r_r_i_e), you will appreciate "Dr. Hudson's Secret
Gorilla," an old story told from a new point of view. (If the names
Rondo Hatton and George Zucco ring no bells, however, you may react as I
did to "Ike at the Mike.")
Once, scientists believed in phlogiston. A hundred years later it
was just another crackpot idea. But what if it wasn't? Well, "The
World as We Know't" gives us one look at what might have happened. As
with many of Waldrop's stories, it's not a pleasant look--one problem
with describing a Waldrop story is that its bizarreness makes it sound
like a fun romp when frequently it's quite the opposite.
Strange Things Close Up February 22, 1991 Page 2
"Green Brother" is a story of mysticism set among the Lakota
Indians. In his introduction Waldrop talks about his penchant for
telling stories of "cultural and biological losers and underdogs." One
possible reason he doesn't mention is that be doing so he can give them
another chance, if not to emerge totally victorious, at least to rise
higher, or last longer, or have that "one brief shining moment." And if
not that, to try to understand why not.
George R. R. Martin describes "Mary Margaret Road-Grader" as a
"tour de force about post-holocaust tractor pulls." Well, it's
certainly the best story in that genre _I'_v_e ever read. Okay, sorry, old
joke. And it was, after all, nominated for a Nebula.
The next story is a total change of pace. (Well, to a great extent
they all are.) "Save a Place in the Lifeboat for Me" was inspired by
the question, "Where were you the Day the Music Died?" Can Laurel and
Hardy, Abbott and Costello, and the Marx Brothers save ... well, that
would be telling (though not much). I found this rock-music-inspired
story more interesting than "Ike at the Mike," possibly because it was
full of old movie comedy teams and comedians. It reminded me a bit of
parts of John Kessel and James Patrick Kelly's _F_r_e_e_d_o_m _B_e_a_c_h.
I can't say that I think the motivation in "Horror, We Got" makes
sense to me--but it makes as much sense as the history that leads up to
it and causes it, and the damn story does stick with you. Maybe it
bothers me because people may use these characterizations to justify
"more of the same," even though (I hasten to add) this is not Waldrop's
intent. What does all this mean? Well, Waldrop sets up a world in
which time travel is discovered in Israel and the newly constituted
Elders of Zion decide rather than changing history, they will
"implement" it. They will do or arrange to have done everything the
Jews were accused of doing throughout the ages. They will control the
world and its history. To me this seems a somewhat pointless revenge
but then every time someone in a time travel novel tries to change
history they only make things worse, so who can say that this isn't the
best solution? Or maybe Waldrop is just saying we are trapped by
history.
I find sumo wrestling no more interesting than any other sport and
even Waldrop's infusion of Japanese culture and philosophy was unable to
get me interested in "Man-Mountain Gentian." But in one way it's like
every other Waldrop story: it's unlike any other Waldrop story. (Take
that, Bertrand Russell!)
"God's Hooks!" has Isaak Walton fishing for something out of "The
Revelation of Saint John the Divine." John Kessel, on hearing it read,
said that Waldrop could sell it either to _F_i_e_l_d & _S_t_r_e_a_m or to _C_a_t_h_o_l_i_c
_D_i_g_e_s_t. Or maybe it was that he could sell it to _o_n_l_y those two. So
naturally it was nominated for a Nebula.
Strange Things Close Up February 22, 1991 Page 3
"Heirs of the Perisphere" shows more of Waldrop's fascination with
popular culture (an oxymoron?). This reminded me of Arthur C. Clarke's
"Expedition," but of course Waldrop goes in an entirely different
direction than Clarke did.
The remaining seven stories formed _A_l_l _A_b_o_u_t _S_t_r_a_n_g_e _M_o_n_s_t_e_r_s _o_f
_t_h_e _R_e_c_e_n_t _P_a_s_t. Where "Dr. Hudson's Secret Gorilla" is an ode to the
horror films of the 1940s, the title story of this section is an
unabashed copy of the monster films of the 1950s--all of them.
"Helpless, Helpless" is an updating of the plague to our modern,
mechanized, computerized society. I think Waldrop overlooks (or
glosses) a lot of what would happen in a mechanical plague, and find his
ending somewhat overly rosy. (It is interesting to note that, while I
usually compose my reviews directly onto the computer, this one is being
written long-hand, albeit with a mechanical pencil. Of course, before
you see it, it will be typed in, run through the spelling and
punctuation checker, and automatically formatted. In fifty years, will
Christie's be auctioning off Stephen King's original floppy disks for
_T_h_e _D_a_r_k _H_a_l_f?) In any case, this story seems a trifle on the Luddite
side--and Waldrop admits to not owning a word processor, or even an
electric typewriter.
Even Waldrop acknowledges "Fair Game" may represent some ultimate
minimalist approach to literary criticism, or at least that's how I read
his introductory comments. Certainly no one can go further in this
direction than he does with Hemingway in this story. (Free idea to any
anthologist: _T_h_e _S_c_i_e_n_c_e-_F_i_c_t_i_o_n_a_l _H_e_m_i_n_g_w_a_y. Lead off with Joe
Haldeman's "Hemingway Hoax," follow with "Fair Game," and then--well, I
can't do all the work for you!)
It has been said that art imitates life. It has also been said
that life imitates art. One of these--perhaps both--would seem to be
the case in "What makes Hieronymous Run?" If you haven't studied or at
least been exposed to the works of Hieronymous Bosch or Peter Brueghel
the Elder, this story probably won't make much sense. If you have, this
will open a whole new way of looking at them. (Another idea for an
anthology: classic works of art and literature inspired by them.
W. H. Auden's "Muse'e de Beaux Arts" is certainly one obvious choice.
Another science-fictional example, though by no means great literature,
is Hal Clement's _O_c_e_a_n _o_n _T_o_p, inspired by a cover painting for _A_n_a_l_o_g
which happened to be sitting upside-down on the floor when he came into
their office one day. Most inspiration seems to go in the other
direction, so this would be an interesting twist.) There is an
undercurrent in this story that ties into one in "Horror, We Got": the
idea that maybe our view of history is totally out of whack with
"reality" (whatever that is).
"The Lions Are Asleep This Night" is a more conventional alternate
history, this one set in Africa. It predates Robert Silverberg's "Lion
Time in Timbuktu" but I doubt there is any connection. Maybe it's just
time for more science fiction with African themes and settings--Mike
Strange Things Close Up February 22, 1991 Page 4
Resnick is making quite a name for himself with his Kirinyaga series set
in a future recreation of pre-colonial Kenya and his novel _I_v_o_r_y. As
usual, though, Waldrop's entry in this African renaissance is different,
more subtle--so subtle, in fact, that Ellen Datlow insisted that he had
to rewrite it to explain more to an audience who didn't know history.
Even so, I think it still assumes a lot on the part of the reader.
"Flying Saucer Rock and Roll" is yet another story that I failed to
appreciate due to my ignorance of rock and roll music and history. But
since I am probably exceptional in the extent of my ignorance, you may
enjoy it more. Certainly Waldrop's need to substitute phonemes for real
rock lyrics (which would have cost a fortune in royalties) didn't help
matters.
The final story, "He-We-Await," is described by Waldrop in his
introduction to it as "original to this collection." In this case, that
mean original to _A_l_l _A_b_o_u_t _S_t_r_a_n_g_e _M_o_n_s_t_e_r_s _o_f _t_h_e _R_e_c_e_n_t _P_a_s_t, not
_S_t_r_a_n_g_e _T_h_i_n_g_s _i_n _C_l_o_s_e _U_p. Another story set in Africa (it is, you
know), this shows some influence from the horror films of the 1930s--the
Mummy series in particular. Or maybe it's just the similarity of theme,
and I'm applying Waldrop's penchant for pop culture to my reading of it.
At any rate, this story ends the book on a suitably apocalyptic note.
Also included are an introductory essay by George R. R. Martin,
some closing words by Lewis Shiner, and introductions to each of the
stories by Waldrop himself. Not included, unfortunately, are "Night of
the Cooters" (a story nominated for a Hugo several years ago that I
_s_t_i_l_l have been unable to find), nor "Custer's Last Jump," nor "The
Passing of the Western." I suppose these were written after 1987, the
copyright date of the more recent of the two component parts of this
collection, but I still miss them. I am annoyed the subtitling of this
volume as "The Nearly Complete Howard Waldrop" when it is missing not
just his more recent work (which is expected), but also older works,
such as "Billy Big Eyes," "Black as the Pit, from Pole to Pole," "My
Sweet Lady Jo," "Sic Transit ...? A Shaggy Hairless Dog Story," Sun Up,
"Unsleeping Beauty and the Beast," and "A Voice and a Bitter Weeping."
I bought this expecting finally to find all (or almost all) of Waldrop's
stories; it turned out not to be so.
The cover is wonderfully Waldropian (Waldropesque?) in that nothing
is what it first seems to be. If only they had credited the artists I
could tell you who s/he was.
There are a few odd things I noted in the books. Capitalization
varies among the copyright page, the table of contents, the introduction
headers, the story headers, and the page headers. Trivial, perhaps, but
disconcerting nonetheless. It's almost as if the British have different
rules for capitalization in titles, but even there it's inconsistent,
and in any case they didn't Briticize the spelling.
As you might have suspected from the sheer length of this review, I
recommend this book. This article is as long as it is because you can't
group Waldrop's stories into categories and discuss them in bunches.
Each one is an individual and insists on being treated as one. It won't
be easy for most of you to find this--make the effort.
HOW TO GO TO THE MOVIES by Quentin Crisp
St. Martin's Press, 1990, ISBN 0-312-033364-8, $15.95.
A book review by Evelyn C. Leeper
Copyright 1991 Evelyn C. Leeper
This book is a collection of film reviews and articles that
Mr. Crisp has written for _C_h_r_i_s_t_o_p_h_e_r _S_t_r_e_e_t Magazine. (Since he uses
the honorifics Mr. and Miss throughout the book, I feel it's only fair
that I should do likewise.) He begins with a series of articles on
stardom, stars, and the new Hollywood, and then proceeds to the main
body of the book, film reviews. But even here he often comments as much
on Hollywood (or France, or Britain, or wherever the film in question
originated) as on the film itself.
Mr. Crisp brings an air of gentility to reviewing that seems to
have all but disappeared. He uses each article (column) as a means of
using the English language with a delicacy and refinement that is sadly
missing from most reviews. Certainly your average newspaper reviewer
(who admittedly may have a shorter deadline for the daily paper than
Mr. Crisp has for a weekly magazine) seems to write so that "he who runs
may read" while Mr. Crisp assumes that you will stop, sit down, pour
yourself a cup of tea, and savor his column.
This is not to say Mr. Crisp cannot be serious, as in speaking of
_T_h_e _P_o_p_e _o_f _G_r_e_e_n_w_i_c_h _V_i_l_l_a_g_e: "We have come a long way from the moral
certitudes of the reign of Mr. Cooper and Mr. Wayne, the midday cowboy.
In their halcyon day, anybody who was still standing after the sound of
gunfire had wasted its bitterness on the desert air was virtuous to the
fringe of idiocy. When these paragons died, they were succeeded by the
tarnished heroes, such as Mr. Douglas and Mr. Sinatra, whose sins were
forgiven because they summoned up sufficient goodness to overcome one
last challenge. ... Now we seem to have reached the lowest ring of
Hades. In films such as _T_h_e _P_o_p_e _o_f _G_r_e_e_n_w_i_c_h _V_i_l_l_a_g_e and _A_g_a_i_n_s_t _A_l_l
_O_d_d_s, the people who survive the battle are in no way better than those
who lost it--lecherers and murderers all. Are we to interpret these
parables as demanding more of our pity? Are directors reminding us that
we ourselves would have sunk equally low in similar stressful
circumstances, or are we being told that even the effort towards
integrity is no longer worthwhile. If this is the message, beware. You
may find yourselves among men even more eager to receive this cynical
news than you are and even more adept at acting upon its possibilities."
But he can also be satirical: "I think that somewhere there is a
dim cellar in which, once a year, all the film critics of America meet.
Like Aztec priests convened for the selection of a sacrificial virgin,
they huddle together to decide which of the current movies they will
totally destroy. Their task is easier than that of the holy men
because, though a good movie may be rare, it is not as hard to find as a
good woman."
How to Go to the Movies February 22, 1991 Page 2
Certainly part of the worth of this book is the new perspective you
will get on some of the films Mr. Crisp discusses. Consider his opening
comments on _1_9_8_4: "_1_9_8_4 was written as a political satire and read as a
science-fiction fantasy. When it was first published in 1949, few
people who shuddered at Mr. Orwell's prophesies thought that any of them
would veer be fulfilled--except members of the gay community.... To
them, the whole horrifying situation described in the book was already
happening nightly in British cities. In January of this year, Mr. Steel
and I saw a secret screening of _1_9_8_4 and for me a certain irony pervaded
the occasion. Nine years previously, I had watched Mr. Hurt acting with
great intensity the story of my life, walking in terror along dark
pavements, finally having his home invaded without warnings by the
police, and being threatened with eight years imprisonment. Now I
beheld the same actor suddenly caught naked by Miss Hamilton in a rented
room and being dragged away to prison by the grim servants of Big
Brother. Things don't change much do they?"
I realize this "review" is more a selection of quotes than a
review, but somehow that seems a better way to encourage you to buy the
book than my saying, "Oh, what a wonderful book this is!"