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Mt. Holz Science Fiction Society
Club Notice - 07/19/91 -- Vol. 10, No. 3
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
08/07 LZ: EARTH by David Brin (Hugo nominee)
08/28 LZ: QUEEN OF ANGELS by Greg Bear (Hugo nominee)
09/18 LZ: THE FALL OF HYPERION by Dan Simmons (Hugo nominee)
10/09 LZ: THE QUIET POOLS by Michael Kube-McDowell (Hugo nominee)
10/30 LZ: MINDBRIDGE by Joe Haldeman
11/20 LZ: EON by Greg Bear
12/11 LZ: MIRKHEIM by Poul Anderson
_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.
07/22 NJSFS: New Jersey Science Fiction Society: TBA
(phone 201-432-5965 for details) (Saturday)
08/10 SFABC: Science Fiction Association of Bergen County: TBA
(phone 201-933-2724 for details) (Saturday)
08/10 Hugo Ballots due
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: Rebecca Schoenfeld HO 2K-430 949-6122 homxb!btfsd
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. A few weeks ago I wrote about how the German government has a
problem with East German plastic-bodied cars being abandoned on the
street in Germany and how the government developed a bacterium to
eat the cars. The response I got was that I had a great sense of
humor. That is as may be, but the story was not an example of my
humor. It was actually true. I'm not _T_h_e _N_a_t_i_o_n_a_l _I_n_q_u_i_r_e_r. I
don't make the news; I just report it.
THE MT VOID Page 2
Now I have another one for you from the amazing worlds of science
and politics. This one comes from the _W_a_s_h_i_n_g_t_o_n _P_o_s_t of June 30,
1991, page A23. It seems that the country of Columbia has decided
that the time has come to modernize. The country has a reputation
for being a peanut-whistle, slap-dash, two-for-a-nickel sort of
place. But not any more, by God! Everything is going to be 21st
Century plus. They wanted to draw up a new constitution with new
judicial, political, and economic structures. Boy, were they going
to show the world. And to top it all off, they were going to store
it _o_n _a _c_o_m_p_u_t_e_r! Wow.
But this material was highly sensitive. Who can you trust not to
tamper with the material and not to leak the contents. Family! It
just so happened that one of the framing committee had a nephew who
was a big computer technician. He could be trusted. He was
family. And he had had a whole year of computer correspondence
school so he _h_a_d to be qualified. Right? So you know what
happened next? No? Well, neither do I. Nor does the nephew. All
that is known is that one instant Columbia was a major South
American country with a new constitution. The next instant it
wasn't. It just had a useless diskette. I think you could call
this the "oops" heard around the world.
"Well, anybody could have erased his country's constitution.
Nobody's perfect!" That's what he probably said. What's that you
say? Backup? Well, yes, they did have some backup of sorts. At
least they had pieces of paper in wastebaskets. A high but not
very happy source said, "We literally have people going through
trash cans looking for scraps of paper." Even if they could
reconstruct the constitution, it might not do them any good. The
portion lost was the result of three days of crucial debate and
compromise. If you can't prove that this is the correct version of
the constitution, nobody is going to ratify it. They are probably
just going to have to start those three days over. Maybe they
should write it with a quill pen on parchment. In two hundred
years, who is going to want to frame an authentic-looking
reproduction of a diskette.
2. Re the reviews last week of action heroines: Frank Leisti points
out that Eddie Murphy, not Richard Pryor, is the star of _4_8 _H_o_u_r_s.
[-ecl]
Mark Leeper
MT 3D-441 957-5619
...mtgzy!leeper
Be ashamed to die until you have won some victory for
humanity.
-- Horace Mann
STRANGE MONSTERS OF THE RECENT PAST by Howard Waldrop
Ace, 1991, ISBN 0-441-16069-7, $3.95.
A book review by Evelyn C. Leeper
Copyright 1991 Evelyn C. Leeper
Six months ago I reviewed _S_t_r_a_n_g_e _T_h_i_n_g_s _i_n _C_l_o_s_e _U_p, a British
edition which combined _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). This
(American) volume contains the seven stories (and the foreword by Lewis
Shiner) that made up _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, as
well as "A Dozen Tough Jobs," a novella originally published in novel
form (Zeising, 1989). As best I can tell, publishers do this to drive
readers and collectors crazy.
(I will review "A Dozen Tough Jobs" first, then the stories from
_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. If my comments on the
seven stories from that other earlier collection seem familiar, it's
because they are basically what I said about the stories six months ago.
If you've read that review, you can skip them.)
"A Dozen Tough Jobs" is basically a retelling of the Labors of
Hercules. This would be a bit of a spoiler, except that everything you
have ever read about this novella tells you that. Now this way you can
go and read up on the source material before you read the novella. I
can understand why Waldrop is not selling as much as some other
authors--most authors make their references to McDonald's and Madonna,
while Waldrop makes his to Anatolia and Agamemnon. He does, however,
mix his metaphors by throwing in Egyptian references as well as Greek
(yes, I know the Greeks ruled Egypt for a while, but not during the
periods he is referencing). If you like Greek mythology (and are up on
your references), you will love this story. If you don't know Mercury
from Medusa, you will probably go away from this story asking what the
fuss is about. What this means, of course, is that this piece may be
more of a curiosity piece a la David Gerrold's _F_l_y_i_n_g _S_o_r_c_e_r_e_r_s than a
piece of great literature. But what the heck, everyone's entitled to
little fun. (And what I want to know is when the "Annotated Dozen Tough
Jobs" is going to come out!)
"All About Strange Monsters of the Recent Past" is an unabashed
copy of the monster films of the 1950s--all of them. To tell more would
be to spoil many of the surprises.
"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. Perhaps because of this, this story seems
a trifle on the Luddite side--and Waldrop admits to not owning a word
processor, or even an electric typewriter.
Strange Monsters Past July 12, 1991 Page 2
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.
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. (I had originally
suggested an anthology of stories based on works of art, along with the
art that inspired them, mentioning W. H. Auden's "Muse'e de Beaux Arts"
and Hal Clement's _O_c_e_a_n _o_n _T_o_p. It turns out Ian Watson has collected
an anthology _P_i_c_t_u_r_e_s _a_t _a_n _E_x_h_i_b_i_t_i_o_n which does just that.
Unfortunately, the only copy I've seen so far was priced at more than I
wanted to pay, so I can't report on its contents.) There is an
undercurrent in this story that ties into one that other Waldrop stories
display: 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
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 a 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 of this set, "He-We-Await" is another story set in
Africa (it is, you know). This one 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 set on a
suitably apocalyptic note.
As you might have suspected from the fact that I bought a whole
book just for one Waldrop novella, I like Waldrop's writing and I
recommend this book. But he's difficult to review 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. Now that
these are available in a relatively easy-to-find edition, I suggest you
go out and find it.
THE ICICLE THIEF
A film review by Mark R. Leeper
Copyright 1991 Mark R. Leeper
Capsule review: A satire on how films are treated
on television becomes a weird fantasy, not totally
original but surprisingly creative. Rating: high +1 (-4
to +4). (Note: heavy spoilers follow the first
paragraph.)
Italian actor, screenwriter, and director Maurizio Nichetti is
probably more recognizable by sight than by name to most American
audiences. Nichetti plays a little artists with a big (false) moustache
in the international hit _A_l_l_e_g_r_o _N_o_n _T_r_o_p_p_o. That film was directed by
Bruno Bozetto, but now Nichetti is very much an _a_u_t_e_u_r, writing and
directing _T_h_e _I_c_i_c_l_e _T_h_i_e_f in which he himself plays the two main roles.
The subject of the film, at least for a while, is what commercial
television does to a film. The title is a reference to Vittorio De
Sica's _B_i_c_y_c_l_e _T_h_i_e_f with part missing, just as films are shown on
television with part missing. The title, of course, works only once it
has been translated into English, indicating the film is aimed for an
international market, which indeed it has gotten. As the film opens,
Nichetti, playing himself, arrives at a television station to host his
own film, _T_h_e _I_c_i_c_l_e _T_h_i_e_f. We see the chaos at the station, we see a
typical family watching the film, and in black and white we see the film
itself. What the television station does to the film is the springboard
(but only a springboard) for the pandemonium that is to follow. This is
an innovative and at times very funny film. I rate it a high +1 on the
-4 to +4 scale.
***HEAVY SPOILERS TO FOLLOW***
While it is not entirely a new idea, Nichetti very cleverly mixes
the three levels of the film with a fourth level, the commercials. At
one time it was very common to have cross-over elements between the text
of a radio or television play and the commercials. The FCC decided this
was a deceptive practice and made it illegal, though radio disk jockeys
commonly violate the rule. There have been many times when usually
disjoint planes such as audience and actors interact in live plays and
in fantasy films such as _T_h_e _P_u_r_p_l_e _R_o_s_e _o_f _C_a_i_r_o. In this case of the
film characters, the director, the people in the commercials, and the
audience, five of the six pairings of planes do take place. Characters
from the film at some point find themselves in commercials, talking to
the director, and even once looking out from the television to see what
the audience is doing. The missing pairing is that at no point does
there seem to be any sort of unexpected meeting between the audience and
the characters in the commercials.
Icicle Thief July 15, 1991 Page 2
The use of color is singularly impressive, perhaps more so than the
script itself. This is true not just in the amazing scene in which a
scantily-clad commercial actress breaks into the film world and has her
color wiped off by Antonio as her dries her off. There is also use of
subtle color shifts throughout the black-and-white sequences to simulate
the variable film stock available in post-war Italy when _T_h_e _B_i_c_y_c_l_e
_T_h_i_e_f was made.
Where Nichetti falls down most is in his acting of Antonio, the
poor laborer in the internal film. Had Nichetti captured some of the
tragic desperation of Lamberto Maggiorani's performance in _T_h_e _B_i_c_y_c_l_e
_T_h_i_e_f, it would have strengthened the humor by contrast. It would also
have demonstrated some depth in Nichetti's acting ability. He may have
felt such a somber note had no place in a light comedy, but if so, it
was a serious lack of vision. His failure to put any meat in his
performance of Antonio is the weakest point of an otherwise creative
film.
TRULY, MADLY, DEEPLY
A film review by Mark R. Leeper
Copyright 1991 Mark R. Leeper
Capsule review: Nina is slowly disintegrating after
the death of her lover. Then he returns as a ghost, and
she must decide what her new relationship will be with
him. Slow and overly drawn-out at times but watchable.
Rating: 0 (-4 to +4).
(Contains minor spoilers important to explaining the premise.)
A perennial fantasy film subject is that of ghosts coming back to
affect the lives of the living. I don't mean the horrific approach of
_T_h_e _U_n_i_n_v_i_t_e_d, _T_h_e _H_a_u_n_t_i_n_g, or _T_h_e _L_e_g_e_n_d _o_f _H_e_l_l _H_o_u_s_e. The films I
am talking about have spirits walking among us relatively benignly.
_T_o_p_p_e_r is a good example; so is _B_e_e_t_l_e_j_u_i_c_e and _D_o_n_a _F_l_o_r'_s _T_w_o
_H_u_s_b_a_n_d_s. The success of _G_h_o_s_t will probably spawn several more
examples in the next year or two. However, because of timing it seems
likely we can ascribe to coincidence the similarities between _G_h_o_s_t and
the BBC film _T_r_u_l_y, _M_a_d_l_y, _D_e_e_p_l_y, though in some ways the two are quite
similar.
Jamie (played by Alan Rickman) has been dead for a while now, but
Nina (played by Juliet Stevenson) refuses to close that chapter in her
life and get on with the business of living. She imagines Jamie is
still around giving her advice. Nina sleepwalks through a life that is
shattered and crumbles more day by day. Then a spectral Jamie does
return and takes up residence as Nina's secret live-in (if "live" is the
right word) lover. He explains his presence by quoting Dylan Thomas
saying, "And death shall have no dominion."
If the plot of _T_r_u_l_y, _M_a_d_l_y, _D_e_e_p_l_y resembles that of _G_h_o_s_t, in
style the two are very different. There is a lot that _G_h_o_s_t tries to do
that _T_r_u_l_y, _M_a_d_l_y, _D_e_e_p_l_y does not. The British film is far more sad,
slow, and introspective. _G_h_o_s_t throws in a major sub-plot of a crime
story; it has a comedy sub-plot with Whoopi Goldberg; it stops and
closely examines just what powers a ghost would and would not have. It
also has its sad and introspective moments, but they do not last too
long. To pack so much into a film may be of dubious value, but it is
all there. _T_r_u_l_y, _M_a_d_l_y, _D_e_e_p_l_y clearly has different priorities and
very different pacing. It takes its time to build Nina's character, but
it glosses over the metaphysics and there seem to be notable
inconsistencies in the nature of ghosts (e.g., at times the ghosts seem
to take care that they cannot be overheard; at other times it does not
seem to bother them). There is some whimsy, some warm comedy, and one
character who is well-observed, but overall this is a rather slight film
and a disappointment. I would give it a 0 on the -4 to +4 scale.
UNAUTHORIZED AMERICA by Vince Staten
Harper & Row, 1991, ISBN 0-06-096514-2, $9.95.
A book review by Evelyn C. Leeper
Copyright 1991 Evelyn C. Leeper
This book is subtitled "A Travel Guide to Places the Chamber of
Commerce Won't Tell You About," and in general, that's true. I'm
reasonably sure that the Chamber of Commerce doesn't advertise the spot
where Jayne Mansfield was killed in a car crash--for one thing, it's
probably not in any town, let alone one large enough to have a Chamber
of Commerce. On the other hand, the spot where Martin Luther King was
assassinated probably is advertised by the Memphis Chamber of Commerce-
-after all, the Lorraine Motel has been turned into a King Museum.
You can find out where famous movie stars got into fist fights,
where politicians (and evangelists) met their downfall, where Elvis has
been spotted (seems to me that would take a whole book of its own!), and
even where there was a gun battle with aliens from outer space. Some of
the sites, as you can tell, are less than thoroughly authenticated, but
then Mark and I frequently go see sites of even less authenticity ("This
is where they were digging the Underground in _F_i_v_e _M_i_l_l_i_o_n _Y_e_a_r_s _t_o
_E_a_r_t_h when they dug up the spaceship") and 221B Baker Street is still
doing a land-office business, even though it's a banking company rather
than the residence of Sherlock Holmes.
This book also has something that many books of this sort lack--an
index. In fact, it has three: by person, by subject, and by location.
For those who want to see the sites they happen to be near, rather than
those who plan their whole vacation around, say, the Stripper Museum in
Helendale, California, having an index by location is a real bonus. So
when I'm in Chicago next, I know just where to find Al Capone's grave
and the site of John Dillinger's ambush, not to mention the site of the
St. Valentine's Day Massacre. (Of course, there is a company that runs
gangster tours of Chicago--much to the dismay of the Chamber of
Commerce, I might add, which only serves to validate the subtitle of
this book.)
Oh, and of course I checked for the attractions closest to home.
New Jersey has the "Lean on Me" high school, the birthplace of duct tape
(no tours, though there is a factory in North Carolina that offers
tours), the "Blind Faith" murder site, the Jersey Devil, Mike Tyson's
mansion, Jimmy Hoffa's grave (okay, so this is still in dispute), where
Jackie Wilson had a heart attack, where condoms are made (sorry, no
tours), and toxic waste beaches. Maybe I'll pass.