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Mt. Holz Science Fiction Society
Club Notice - 05/10/91 -- Vol. 9, No. 45
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
05/15 LZ: THE SCREWTAPE LETTERS by C.S. Lewis (Getting to Hell)
06/05 LZ: UBIK by Phillip K. Dick (Death and Hell)
06/26 LZ: ALTERNATE WORLDS by Robert Adams ("What If Things Were Different?")
_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.
05/11 SFABC: Science Fiction Association of Bergen County: P. M.
Griffin (author) (phone 201-933-2724 for details)
(Saturday)
05/18 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: Mark Leeper MT 3D-441 957-5619 mtgzy!leeper
Factotum: Evelyn Leeper MT 1F-329 957-2070 mtgzy!ecl
All material copyright by author unless otherwise noted.
1. Evelyn used to work with a flake. Well, let me correct that.
Evelyn has always worked with _a _l_o_t of people she has considered
flakes, but this was a particular flake. She was put on medication
by her doctor but then she took herself off. She said her body
told her when she'd had enough. The result of her doing this was
that she got a lot sicker. They speak in medicine of the "wisdom
of the body." Well, let me amend that. They used to speak in old
doctor shows on television of the "wisdom of the body." But let me
tell you, it is a load of duck tires. I myself have a body (I hope
this comes as a surprise to nobody out there--lots of people have
bodies) and I can tell you my body lies like a son of a gun.
Let me tell you some of the things my body tells me. It tells me
THE MT VOID Page 2
that one of the best things for my body is lemon meringue pie.
Lime is even better, but much harder to find. My body tells me
that hamburgers and pizza are better for it than salad. It sure
wants them more. You want to hear more of the things my body tells
me? It tells me that while a few ginger snaps are good for me, a
whole bunch of ginger snaps are a lot better.
You want to hear what else my body tells me. It says exercise must
be avoided. Yeah. I ride 80 miles a week on my exercycle. You
think my body tells me that's a _g_o_o_d thing? Guess again. I hop on
and what happens? My body looks up at me and says, "What are you,
_n_u_t_s? It's too _e_a_r_l_y in the _m_o_r_n_i_n_g to be _d_o_i_n_g any _t_h_i_n_g so
active. _W_h_y don't you _g_o back to _b_e_d?" Yes, I exercise, but only
over protests by my body.
And what does my body do when I try to lose weight? Suddenly it
starts trying to defend itself. It starts setting terms like
Saddam Hussein. You want to lose weight, you must eat only salads.
You put cheese dressing on one of your salads, the deal's off. One
reasonably enjoyable meal kills days of dieting. Is that fair?
Speaking of fair, the health magazines tell me I absolutely _m_u_s_t
avoid foods that get more than one third of their calories from
fat. Can you imagine that? Can you imagine anything more
hypocritical? As a matter of fact, I myself get more than one
third of my calories from fat so why should I avoid a food just
because it does the same thing I do? Actually what that principle
really tells me is if I am going eat a bag of potato chips and a
diet soda, I would be breaking the rule. More than a third of
those calories are from fat. I should take a _n_o_n-_d_i_e_t soda. That
brings the proportions more into balance.
I tell you, my body is a vicious, vengeful thing. I think if it
wasn't so good-looking I'd get rid of it.
Mark Leeper
MT 3D-441 957-5619
...mtgzy!leeper
There is no expedient to which man will not resort to avoid
the real labor of thinking.
-- Sir Joshua Reynolds
BLACK WATER 2 edited by Alberto Manguel
Potter, 1990, ISBN 0-517-57559-0, $14.95.
A book review by Evelyn C. Leeper
In 1985, Alberto Manguel came out with _B_l_a_c_k _W_a_t_e_r, an excellent
anthology of "fantastic" stories from all over the world. Unlike most
anthologies published in the United States, it was not slanted toward
American or British authors, but had a wide assortment of Latin
American, European, and Asian authors. Now he has followed that up with
_B_l_a_c_k _W_a_t_e_r _2, 65 stories of the fantastic from around the world. These
aren't science fiction stories. Most aren't horror stories in the
usually accepted sense (of vampires, werewolves, and other such
staples), though some are horrific in nature. The closest common
appellation would be fantasy, though if you're expecting unicorns and
elves, look elsewhere. (There is a mermaid, though.) I found this just
a notch below the first anthology in quality, but still far more
interesting than most of what one sees today. These are older stories,
but for the most part have not been widely reprinted in the United
States (with the possible exceptions of Jerome Bixby's "It a _G_o_o_d Life,"
Bernard Malamud's "Jewbird," and Arthur C.~Clarke's "Nine Billion Names
of God," but even those are known more within the science fiction
community than to the public at large). Highly recommended.
THE MIND MONSTERS by Howard L. Cory
Book reviews by Frank R. Leisti
Copyright 1991 Frank R. Leisti
Howard has brought together the love of the Irish in this story
about the struggle within the ideals of a person confronting a supported
society. The events of Terence O'Corcoran, single scout from Earth
begins when all of the failsafe systems on his scout ship fail at the
same time. His problems really got tough when his ship crashed on the
top of a mountain and he was having to get down off the mountain over a
huge cliff. When he finally arranged to get off the mountain, he had to
face various bug-eyed monsters that seemed to pop up in the most
disturbing ways.
Yet, this was only the beginning for Terence. He would discover a
sheep-like civilization in peril of being destroyed by an organizer and
recruiter destined to bring about revolution on this world. The manner,
situation, circumstances of such a revolution and counter-revolution
brings forth interesting reading. This brings to the reader's mind the
concern of any type of revolution on its society. It also enforces that
any act of revolution will bring about changes -- often not thought
about by the original desires of the revolution.
A new life form is introduced, or to be more exact, re-introduced
in this story. The Genie or leprechaun that informs Terence as to his
destiny and need in this society also has other duties, such as putting
out fires, healing broken bodies, and most interesting of all, doing a
Mind Probe. Well, the Mind Probe is more accurately called the Pleasure
Probe, in that when requested, the Genie is able to reach inside the
person and bring all types of pleasure to mind. The taste of chocolate,
the smell of roses, a beautiful sunset, a wondrous orchestra playing,
feeling furs instead of clothes, each sense having more pleasurable
sensations cascading over the previous set.
Terence discovers the desire and trap of this Pleasure Probe. With
this knowledge, he is able to bring new ideas to the society when the
leprechauns assist in his recruiting. The work involved in saving a
society from itself is presented in the light of honesty and respect
meeting force and drugs. With each step of the fight against the
revolution, further information about the society that is supported by
the leprechauns is given until at last Terence finds the answers that he
is looking for.
I would rate this story at +1 on the Leeper scale, from the ideas
and the application of the inherent division of two different life forms
interacting on a grand scale, shaping the forces of society and all of
its outcomes.