@@@@@ @ @ @@@@@ @ @ @@@@@@@ @ @ @@@@@ @@@@@ @@@
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @
@ @@@@@ @@@@ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @
@ @ @ @@@@@ @ @ @ @ @@@@@ @@@@@ @@@
Mt. Holz Science Fiction Society
Club Notice - 01/24/92 -- Vol. 10, No. 30
MEETINGS UPCOMING:
Unless otherwise stated, all meetings are on Wednesdays at noon.
LZ meetings are in LZ 2R-158.
_D_A_T_E _T_O_P_I_C
01/29 LZ: A CLOCKWORK ORANGE by Anthony Burgess (Dystopias)
02/19 LZ: V IS FOR VENDETTTA by Alan Moore and David Lloyd (Dystopic
Graphic Novels)
03/11 LZ: THE FUTUROLOGICAL CONGRESS by Stanislaw Lem (Who defines
reality?)
04/01 LZ: The XANTH series by Piers Anthony (Ponderous Social Commentary)
04/22 LZ: WONDERFUL LIFE by Stephen Jay Gould (Science non-fiction as a
source of ideas)
05/13 LZ: ONLY BEGOTTEN DAUGHTER by James Morrow (Books we heard are
very good)
_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.
02/08 SFABC: Science Fiction Association of Bergen County: Ginjer
Buchanan (Ace Books editor) (phone 201-933-2724 for
details) (Saturday)
02/15 NJSFS: New Jersey Science Fiction Society: TBA
(phone 201-432-5965 for details) (Saturday)
HO Chair: John Jetzt HO 1E-525 908-834-1563 hocpb!jetzt
LZ Chair: Rob Mitchell LZ 1B-306 908-576-6106 mtuxo!jrrt
MT Chair: Mark Leeper MT 3D-441 908-957-5619 mtgzy!leeper
HO Librarian: Rebecca Schoenfeld HO 2K-430 908-949-6122 homxb!btfsd
LZ Librarian: Lance Larsen LZ 3L-312 908-576-3346 mtfme!lfl
MT Librarian: Mark Leeper MT 3D-441 908-957-5619 mtgzy!leeper
Factotum: Evelyn Leeper MT 1F-329 908-957-2070 mtgzy!ecl
All material copyright by author unless otherwise noted.
1. The next book discussion in Lincroft will be about Anthony
Burgess's _A _C_l_o_c_k_w_o_r_k _O_r_a_n_g_e. Due to my vacation, I forgot to ask
the person who volunteered to write the blurb for it until about an
hour before I needed it, so as punishment, I get to write it.
While most people know _A _C_l_o_c_k_w_o_r_k _O_r_a_n_g_e from the Kurbick film
version, the book's contents may lead to some totally different
THE MT VOID Page 2
discussions. For example, Burgess is an accomplished linguistician
who invented a whole "futurespeak" for the book _A _C_l_o_c_k_w_o_r_k _O_r_a_n_g_e,
a futurespeak based on a conglomeration of English and Russian.
(Okay, so he didn't predict the fall of the Soviet Union.) He was
also called in to create the prehistoric language in _Q_u_e_s_t _f_o_r
_F_i_r_e, and most recently wrote the English subtitles for the French
film _C_y_r_a_n_o _d_e _B_e_r_g_e_r_a_c. His translation, in addition to being
perfectly understandable, maintains the same meter and rhyme scheme
as the original Rostand, a great accomplishment.
(Of course, the topic is dystopias rather than linguistics, but you
write about what you know.) [-ecl]
2. Our local news reported that Mattel Toys did a poll on whether
Barbie should continue with Ken or get a new boyfriend. 64% of the
respondents said Barbie should stick with Ken, "the boyfriend she
has been going with for thirty years." It leads you to wonder how
much of modern behavior kids pick up from their toys. Here the two
have been "a thing" for three decades and Ken is still not ready
"to commit." And why should he? After all, he still looks
youthful and healthy. This guy is the archetypal playboy. Have
you ever seen him with a briefcase accessory? No. How about a PC?
This guy has nothing to do but have a good time. Life is one long
party for him. He was engineered as a white, Anglo-Saxon,
Protestant, rich teenager who little girls across the country can
dress and undress. This guy lacks for nothing. Well, maybe one
thing. I guess what made Barbie so popular was that she was the
first doll that had, well, features. She was developed to be
developed, so to speak. I have it on good authority, however, that
Ken was not given equal accuracy. Which may be why after thirty
years he still is not ready to commit.
3. Once again, the Holmdel Science Fiction Library is looking for a
home. If you have space for the large file cabinet that is its
home (or have extra shelf space--a _l_o_t of extra shelf space),
please contact Rebecca Schoenfeld (HO 2K-430, 949-6122,
homxb!btfsd). [-ecl]
Mark Leeper
MT 3D-441 908-957-5619
...mtgzy!leeper
Man has reached his present state through the process of
evolution. The last great step in evolution was the
mutational process that doubled the size of the brain,
about one million years ago; this led to the origin of
man. It is this change in the brain that permits the
inheritance of acquired characteristics of a certain
sort--the inheritance of knowledge, of learning, through
communication from one hum being to another.... Man's
great power of thinking, remembering, and communicating
are responsible for the evolution of civilization.
-- Linus Pauling
EARTHGRIP by Harry Turtledove
Del Rey, 1991, ISBN 0-345-37239-5, $4.99.
A book review by Evelyn C. Leeper
Copyright 1991 Evelyn C. Leeper
If Tony Lewis ever updates his _A_n_n_o_t_a_t_e_d _B_i_b_l_i_o_g_r_a_p_h_y _o_f
_R_e_c_u_r_s_i_v_e _S_c_i_e_n_c_e _F_i_c_t_i_o_n, here is another addition, for this is a
novel in which science fiction itself plays a role. Well, more
accurately, this is a novelette, a short story, and a novel, with
science fiction playing a major role in two of them (and Sherlock
Holmes filling that category in the third).
In "The G'Bur" (originally titled "6+" and appearing in the
September 1987 _A_n_a_l_o_g), we meet Jennifer Logan, a student of Middle
English science fiction--like the works of Robert Heinlein. (The
story is set in the future, year unspecified, but everyone speaks
Spanglish.) She decides to travel with the Traders into space to
see firsthand the current reality in order to compare it with the
fictional predictions of the old stories. And in the process she
gets to use some tricks she learned from reading these old books,
sort of like someone today using a Trojan horse to get into an army
base. Well, that's not quite fair, because we expect most people to
be familiar with the story of the Trojan horse, but there's no
reason to expect aliens to be familiar with Heinlein.
The second story, "The Atheters" (originally "Nothing in the
Night-time" in the March 1989 _A_n_a_l_o_g) uses a Sherlock Holmes story
as the key to the solution, but the whole thing is a bit too
obvious. Still, as an interlude between the two longer pieces it
provides a brief diversion.
The main part of the book is "The Foitani" (originally
serialized as "The Great Unknown" in _A_n_a_l_o_g from April 1991 to June
1991). Here we finally have a chance to see Jennifer use her
talents in more than just a cursory fashion. It all works fine,
until once again she starts using her knowledge of science fiction.
And then it falls apart, because it's all too pat and neat and easy.
The result is that the whole story ends up sounding very self-
congratulatory: "We always knew that science fiction was better than
all that other stuff, and here's proof." (It doesn't surprise me at
all that these stories appeared in _A_n_a_l_o_g; they're just the sort of
thing Schmidt prints.)
On the positive side, Jennifer Logan is a female protagonist
who gets by on her brains, not her beauty. Turtledove describes her
as "blond and beautiful" (making the eye-catching cover at least
reasonable accurate), but also points out that all humans probably
look equally ugly to aliens anyway, and it is with aliens that
Jennifer is dealing. And Turtledove is a competent author, so the
Earthgrip December 29, 1991 Page 2
stories are readable and for the most part enjoyable. But the stress
ultimately placed on the value of science fiction undermines them.
(If the novels Jennifer uses in "The Foitani" were that convincing,
we'd have a lot fewer problems now on this planet than we do.) If
this were the summer, I'd say this would be an okay "beach book"--
acceptable for passing the time, but nothing more.
(It's a refreshing note of honesty that Turtledove, or Del Rey,
or somebody, listed the previous appearances of the stories on the
copyright page. All too often this information is hidden from the
reader, and given the title changes here, without this information
the reader would have _n_o way of knowing this was not the first
appearance of this work.)