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Mt. Holz Science Fiction Society
Club Notice - 2/28/92 -- Vol. 10, No. 35

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

03/11 LZ: THE FUTUROLOGICAL CONGRESS by Stanislaw Lem (Who defines
reality?)
04/01 LZ: JOB: A COMEDY OF JUSTICE by Robert A. Heinlein (Future careers
in humor and law)
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.
03/14 SFABC: Science Fiction Association of Bergen County: Barbara
Hare (computer gaming) (phone 201-933-2724 for details)
(Saturday)
02/21 NJSFS: New Jersey Science Fiction Society: TBA
(phone 201-432-5965 for details) (Saturday)
03/30 Hugo Nomination Forms due

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: Nick Sauer HO 4F-427 908-949-7076 homxc!11366ns
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. Now a piece from the lighter side of sports: Skiers in
Anchorage, Alaska, having been having a bit of a problem of late.
It seems a Great Horned Owl has been swooping down and attacking
the skiers as they glide over the snow. Why is the owl so angry?
Well, it may be that the skiers are frightening off its food supply
or are just skiing too close to the owl's nest. This is the
nesting season. Who can say what is going on in an owl's mind? It
is just an animal, ha-ha!

THE MT VOID Page 2

So what are the authorities doing about this menace? Well, they
have fashioned a funny sort of trap. They have built an owl trap
that is a cage with a live rabbit. And they have some wire
entanglements above the cage. Then they play recordings of rabbits
in distress. They expect the owl to hear the recordings, see the
rabbit in the cage, swoop down on it, and get entangled in the
wire. That should give the rabbit some excitement. He is
completely enclosed so he is in no danger except from heart attack-
--ha-ha! That will give the people a good opportunity to separate
the owl from his or her nest. In the meantime the rabbit can just
sit in the cage and listen to his screaming buddy on the tape.
Must be a real fun time! And soon, we are promised, the trails
will be safe again for the skiers to enjoy the Great Outdoors. And
as consolation for the owl, if enough are wiped out, maybe we can
name a football team for them. Ha-ha!

2. Last Friday's _N_e_w _Y_o_r_k _T_i_m_e_s had an article in the Arts Section
on "futuristic novels." They did actually use the term "science
fiction"--once. [-ecl]

3. No, we're not becoming Siskel and Ebert, but this week's MT VOID
does contain two reviews of Robert Charles Wilson's _T_h_e _D_i_v_i_d_e.
[-ecl]

Mark Leeper
MT 3D-441 908-957-5619
...mtgzy!leeper

The fundamental argument for freedom of opinion is the
doubtfulness of all our belief. If we certainly knew
the truth, there would be something to be said for
teaching it. ... When the State intervenes to insure
the indoctrination of some doctrine, it does so because
there is no conclusive evidence in favor of that doctrine.
-- Bertrand Russell

MEMOIRS OF AN INVISIBLE MAN
A film review by Mark R. Leeper
Copyright 1991 Mark R. Leeper

Capsule review: It is unusual to find a film of
quality and style being released outside the summer
fluff season. Generally pretty good special effects
from ILM are the real star of this very lightweight
sci-fi (as opposed to science fiction) adventure.
Rating: high 0 (-4 to +4).

Stories of people with the ability to make themselves invisible
(and the power this gives them) go back to ancient Greece. Perseus
had a cap of invisibility, Gyges made himself king with a ring of
invisibility, H. G. Wells questioned just how powerful a totally
transparent man could be in _T_h_e _I_n_v_i_s_i_b_l_e _M_a_n. (Wells,
incidentally, recognized that a totally invisible eye would not
focus and hence would be blind. The serum in his novel leaves the
lenses of the eye intact and Wells says, questionably, that his
invisible man just has to take care that the lenses of his eyes are
not seen.)

Early silent films would occasionally have people turn
invisible, usually for comic visual effect. 1933 brought
Universal's adaptation of Wells's novel and a whole series with it
using the special effects of Arthur Edelson. Since then there have
been only occasional films with invisible people. Mexico made a
series of "Invisible Man" films; there have been two television
series claiming to be based on the Wells. Films like _T_h_e _I_n_v_i_s_i_b_l_e
_B_o_y, _T_h_e _A_m_a_z_i_n_g _T_r_a_n_s_p_a_r_e_n_t _M_a_n, and _T_h_e _I_n_v_i_s_i_b_l_e _D_r. _M_a_b_u_s_e have
used the gimmick. The 1970s television series with David McCallum
was an early application of bluescreen for the effect. The latest
film version is _M_e_m_o_i_r_s _o_f _a_n _I_n_v_i_s_i_b_l_e _M_a_n based on the novel by
H. F. Saint and directed by John Carpenter.

Like most of the people Chevy Chase plays, Nick Holloway is in
the wrong place at the wrong time. In Nick's case the wrong place
is Magnescopics, a high-tech research lab. The wrong time is when
their fusion experiment goes awry. (Computer experts beware. You
will _n_o_t like the scene that shows how the experiment went wrong.
_V_o_y_a_g_e _t_o _t_h_e _B_o_t_t_o_m _o_f _t_h_e _S_e_a fans might like it, though.)
Through some freak accident, large portions of the building are
rendered invisible. So is Nick. What is the most pedestrian and
predictable plot that could come out of this beginning. Yup! You
got it. Sam Neill plays the villainous CIA operative who wants to
get hold of Nick and use him as a weapon. Can one man with the
power of invisibility outwit a CIA assassin who has a whole brigade
of men in suits and sunglasses with guns? The suspense is terrible
and the writing not much better. Of course, this is a part made for

Memoirs Invisible Man February 23, 1992 Page 2

Chevy Chase since it involves a lot of falling down and knocking
into things. One of the things he bumps into is Alice Munro (played
by Darryl Hannah) who does not really take much of an active part in
the story. She is there more to react and to give the audience
someone attractive to look at. They certainly don't have Chase to
look at.

Industrial Light and Magic no doubt was anxious to see what
their technology could add to Edelson's invention for the 1933 film.
Edelson's approach was to put an actor in a black suit so that
nothing showed, then put visible pieces of clothing on the actor and
film it against a black background. The negative would then be
nearly transparent except for the visible clothing. Superimposing
this on a scene of a room and then printing the result would give a
look of empty clothing. Bluescreen--ILM's specialty--is a
refinement of this process using video technology. ILM's
imagination shows with some new invisibility effects, the nicest
being a mask of facepaint visible from front and back.

The special effects are about the only thing to see this film
for. Well, ..., perhaps there is a little original playing with the
concept of invisibility, but not enough to make it worthwhile. I
give this film a high 0 on the -4 to +4 scale.

THE DIVIDE by Robert Charles Wilson
Doubleday Foundation, 1990, ISBN 0-385-26655-3, $8.95.
A book review by Dale L. Skran
Copyright 1992 Dale L. Skran

There has long been one overpowering classic of super-intelligence,
Stapledon's _O_d_d _J_o_h_n. Author after author has tried and failed to
produce a believable super-intelligent character, but none have
succeeded as well as Stapledon's haunting tale. The problem, in
nutshell, is how does a SF writer of above average intelligence present
to a general audience of non-geniuses a character who is more
intelligent than both the writer and the audience? This is clearly
extremely difficult, akin to a blind person who has never seen color
writing about blending colors in an oil painting.

There have been some notable efforts that fall short. Thomas
Disch's _C_a_m_p _C_o_n_c_e_n_t_r_a_t_i_o_n deals with a prison camp filled with
geniuses. Daniel Keyes skips around the problem in _F_l_o_w_e_r_s _f_o_r _A_l_g_e_r_n_o_n
by telling the tale of a retarded character who first becomes normal and
then briefly super-intelligent before a final descent to retardation
again. A very recent and quite well done (I suggest it be nominated for
the Hugo) is _B_r_a_i_n _C_h_i_l_d by George Turner. By the device of presenting
three fundamentally different types of super-intelligent post-humans,
Turner succeeds in conveying some of the complexity of this thing called
intelligence. Another notable effort is Bruce Sterling's _S_c_h_i_s_m_a_t_r_i_x,
which deals peripherally with genetically engineered "Super-brights" as
well as other experiments in intelligence. Sterling, like Turner,
recognizes that intelligence is not just one thing. In his short story,
"Sunken Gardens" (now available in the collection _C_r_y_s_t_a_l _E_x_p_r_e_s_s--
highly recommended!), the main character has a highly enhanced left
brain, leading her to leaps of pattern recognition far beyond the
ordinary, but keeping her dancing on the knife-edge of paranoia.

The latest entry in the "super-intelligence" description race is
_T_h_e _D_i_v_i_d_e by Robert Charles Wilson. By the author of notable recent
works such as _M_e_m_o_r_y _W_i_r_e and _G_y_p_s_i_e_s, _T_h_e _D_i_v_i_d_e begins full of
promise. A secret government project in the 1950s used hormone
treatments to accelerate brain growth in the womb, resulting in a
super-intelligent child, one John Shaw. The name is in fact a knowing
take-off on _M_a_n _a_n_d _S_u_p_e_r_m_a_n and _O_d_d _J_o_h_n. This John, like the
original, is not just a smart guy who never loses at chess. He is a
super-man in every way, although lacking Odd John's telepathic powers.
His almost instantaneous apprehension of minor details most of us never
notice makes him super-Sherlockian in nature. One of the better scenes
in the book comes when he attempts to demonstrate to a scientist just
exactly what he is by reeling off hundreds of little details about her
even though they have only met moments before. Other obvious but
required scenes demonstrate the ease with which he can seduce a woman,
defeat a man in a fight, or persuade someone to sell him their car.

The Divide February 23, 1992 Page 2

This broad catalog of abilities is at least vaguely consistent with the
notion of hormones causing the growth of additional nerve tissue in the
brain.

Unfortunately, Shaw is farmed out at a young age to a normal
couple. There, his inability to fit in leads him to create an
artificial personality, "Benjamin," to deal with the mundane world.
This notion, although plausible, is scarcely original. Piers Anthony
did it ages back in _M_a_c_r_o_s_c_o_p_e. Eventually, he awakens from the slumber
of being Benjamin into an adulthood of being John Shaw, the super-
intelligent hermit living on a remote Canadian island. Eventually, the
extra brain tissue starts to break down, and he and Benjamin begin a
struggle for dominance.

There is really nothing wrong with this story, but it is not
ultimately about a super-intelligent character. It is about a super-
intelligent character who's mind is breaking down and who needs
psychological treatment. The story is predictable in every way, and
almost seems intended for a TV mini-series, with a dramatic
confrontation in a burning warehouse near the end during which John and
Benjamin predictably fuse into a third personality who is neither the
slack-witted Benjamin or the ultra-smart John. Unfortunately, John Shaw
is far more interesting than the supporting cast, and we see far too
little of him. In the end, Wilson can only show us brief glimpses of an
intelligence beyond our ken.

_T_h_e _D_i_v_i_d_e also suffers from an overall lack of plausibility. It
seems amazing that the people running the "super-intelligence" program
would send John out to normal parents (how could this lead to anything
but trouble?), or that the people running the show would be concerned
with a little detail like that fact the the extra brain tissue reverts
to normal after a while. We are asked to believe that only one doctor
ever knew about the program, and somehow all the details were concealed
from his CIA sponsors. Far too little time is spent explaining these
vital underpinning, and far too much in a burning warehouse.

Wilson promises a great novel, but only delivers a so-so effort,
leaving the reader all the more disappointed for having their hopes
raised so high.

THE DIVIDE by Robert Charles Wilson
Doubleday Foundation, 1990, ISBN 0-385-26655-3, $8.95.
A book review by Evelyn C. Leeper
Copyright 1992 Evelyn C. Leeper

Let's clear something up right away: this book is _n_o_t by the
co-author of the "Illuminati" books. That is Robert _A_n_t_o_n Wilson.
No, this is by the author of _A _H_i_d_d_e_n _P_l_a_c_e. _M_e_m_o_r_y _W_i_r_e, and
_G_y_p_s_i_e_s, all of which I read, liked, and recommended previously. So
it should come as no surprise that I liked this book as well. (My
delay in reviewing it is due to the relatively poor distribution
trade paperbacks get, coupled with an apparent change of publishers-
--Wilson's three previous novels were with Bantam Spectra and I
expected his future novels to appear under that imprint as well.)

John Shaw is the result of a government-sponsored experiment in
enhancing intelligence. (The back blurb compares _T_h_e _D_i_v_i_d_e to
_F_l_o_w_e_r_s _f_o_r _A_l_g_e_r_n_o_n, but there is something of _F_i_r_e_s_t_a_r_t_e_r here as
well.) But John found that greater intelligence was a curse as well
as a blessing, and so Benjamin was born. Beginning as a role that
John played, Benjamin became an independent personality, a normal
person who lived a normal life. And now, to complicate matters,
John/Benjamin gets a message that he is dying.

It is difficult to portray convincingly a genius so that the
non-genius reader (or viewer) can comprehend it. This was one of
the major failings of the film _L_i_t_t_l_e _M_a_n _T_a_t_e, for example. Wilson
knows this, and even has John comment on this in regard to Olaf
Stapledon's _O_d_d _J_o_h_n, a classic work on this theme. Wilson succeeds
in his portrayal by avoiding the specific--he doesn't show John
solving polynomials in his head or doing esoteric scientific
experiments. Rather, he is shown as subtly different in outlook,
successful at anything he sets his hand to, and alone.

On the other hand, _T_h_e _D_i_v_i_d_e does have problems. The
"psychotic boyfriend" subplot seemed unnecessary (one might almost
say gratuitous), and the resolution was singularly unsatisfying--it
was just too fortuitous. (This is similar to the problem that
Wilson had in his second and third novels, _M_e_m_o_r_y _W_i_r_e and _G_y_p_s_i_e_s,
whose endings I felt were too predictable.) Because of these flaws I
can't recommend this book as strongly as Wilson's previous works,
but if you are interested in the subject of enhanced intelligence
and its effects, this book is of definite interest to you.

Capsule review: Psychiatrist finds himself
involved with the sister of a patient and her
gangster husband. Too much of the script follows
well-traveled paths for the turns to be much of a
surprise. Gere is acceptable as a psychiatrist,
though the best acting comes from two smaller roles-
-a gangster and a detective. Rating: low +1 (-4 to
+4).

There is a crime committed about a third of the way into this
film. I turned to Evelyn and said, "Now tell me the plot of the
rest of the film." To the credit of _F_i_n_a_l _A_n_a_l_y_s_i_s, it was only the
plot of the next third of the film, but it was extremely
predictable. By the final third of the film interesting things are
happening right up to but not including the again predictable
climax. Not that _F_i_n_a_l _A_n_a_l_y_s_i_s is not a classy thriller, but far
too much of the plot is like that of too many other films with very
similar plot twists. Fans of classic thrillers, be warned.

Isaac Barr (played by Richard Gere) is a successful San
Francisco psychiatrist often called upon to be an expert witness in
legal proceedings. He makes what, having seen _T_h_e _P_r_i_n_c_e _o_f _T_i_d_e_s,
we might call "the Lowenstein mistake." That is, he has the
professional ethics not to get emotionally or sexually involved with
his patients, but he is not so careful with their family members.
He is intrigued by the strange dreams of his patient Diana Baylor
(played by Uma Thurman), but is downright enchanted by Baylor's
sister, heather Evans (played by Kim Bassinger). Heather is married
to Jimmy Evans, a sadistic and rabid Greek gangster (played by Eric
Roberts). Barr would like to rescue Heather from Jimmy the Greek.
Then things start moving.

Contrary to some reviews, Gere is perfectly acceptable as a
successful psychiatrist. He does not act like Judd Hirsch in
_O_r_d_i_n_a_r_y _P_e_o_p_l_e, but his manner is not so absurd for a psychiatrist
either. Bassinger, on the other hand, us only a mediocrity as an
actress--a dressed actress anyway. Perhaps the best acting is by
Eric Roberts, whom one can easily believe is meaner than a junkyard
dog. Keith David does a great job as an angry police detective.

Some comments should be made about the opening credits. They
are in the Saul Bass tradition of setting the tone for the whole
film, not just throwing names on the screen. Screen credit goes to
Wayne Fitzgerald for the credit sequence. Director Phil Joanou does
a competent job with the flawed script. I rate it a low +1 on the
-4 to +4 scale.