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Mt. Holz Science Fiction Society
Club Notice - 06/12/92 -- Vol. 10, No. 50
MEETINGS UPCOMING:
Unless otherwise stated, all meetings are on Wednesdays at noon.
_D_A_T_E _T_O_P_I_C
06/24 HO: RAFT by Stephen Baxter (Gravity) (HO 1N-410)
07/15 MT: THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO SCIENCE FICTION by David Pringle (SF
reference books) (MT 1P-364)
08/05 HO: THE SILMARILLION by J.R.R. Tolkien (Alternate Mythologies)
(HO 1N-410)
08/26 HO: BONE DANCE by Emma Bull (Hugo nominee) (HO 1N-410)
_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.
06/13 SFABC: Science Fiction Association of Bergen County: Trip
to Library of NASA in Manhattan (phone
201-933-2724 for details) (Saturday)
06/20 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 HO 1D-505A 908-834-1267 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. The unlucky among you may remember that at one point I wrote
some articles about a magazine that Evelyn subscribed to called _T_h_e
_K_o_s_h_e_r _G_o_u_r_m_e_t. The name, I am sure, was intended humorously since
I can think of few greater oxymorons. The cover dish of the first
issue we got showed some sort of meat dish in gravy with a layer of
orange grease on top. I think that was to make the statement that
_T_h_e _K_o_s_h_e_r _G_o_u_r_m_e_t was in no way affiliated with the American heart
Association. This dish was actually an illustration for an article
about special dishes in which you combined ingredients whose
symbolic meanings went well together. This only confirms for me
that the great kosher chefs all have their minds on something other
than flavor.
THE MT VOID Page 2
Well, there is more to the story. It has been some eight months
since we got an issue and I had been looking forward to getting
another issue as an excuse to go on a diet. Well, nothing came and
after a while some inquiries were made. It seems that _T_h_e _K_o_s_h_e_r
_G_o_u_r_m_e_t has gone belly-up. Now it may be that the cover dishes
nauseated so many people that the magazine did not sell. And it
may be that the publisher ate the cover dish and suffered third-
degree coronary artery blockage. But I have this fantasy that I
enjoy every once in a while. I close my eyes and picture a mob of
spouses of subscribers. (Okay, I picture husbands. Can I help it
if the insides of my eyelids are sexist?) I picture this mob
descending on an office printing _T_h_e _K_o_s_h_e_r _G_o_u_r_m_e_t. In deference
to the great mobs of the old Universal horror films, my mob
descends on the printing presses with torches and shouts. The
leader pulls the new issue hot off the presses. He reads the
cover. "Haddock and lentil loaf ...!" he yells to the mob. And
there is an angry rumble. "... with gefilte fish gel sauce!" he
screams. This, of course, is the last straw. The shrieking mob is
now more ravening beast than human. The rage and anguish is more
than this many-headed beast can bear. First the plate glass window
is smashed. Somebody finds a printing plate. "Glazed liver loaf,"
he screams, breaking it over his leg. Someone has set fire to a
picture on the wall of "Vegetarian Shallot Stew," but the fire has
freed itself and the yellow rim nibbles its way up the wallpaper.
Unknown to the mob--and it is just as well--just a few yards away,
up the hill, the editor and publisher of _K_o_s_h_e_r _G_o_u_r_m_e_t hide behind
a bush. Sadly they watch as the printshop gives way to tongues of
flame and to smoke. "Well, that's it, I guess," one says.
"Yeah, I guess it is."
"You hungry?"
"I guess so. Wanna go for pizza?"
Mark Leeper
MT 3D-441 908-957-5619
...mtgzy!leeper
The fact that an opinion has been widely held is no
evidence that it is not utterly absurd; indeed, in view
of the silliness of the majority of mankind, a
widespread belief is more often likely to be foolish
than sensible.
-- Bertrand Russell, in "Marriage and Morals" (1929)
PATRIOT GAMES
A film review by Mark R. Leeper
Copyright 1992 Mark R. Leeper
Capsule review: _R_e_d _O_c_t_o_b_e_r fans may be a
little disappointed at this surprisingly humdrum and
downbeat political thriller. This is more like a
watchable police procedural and generates just about
as much excitement. This film does not generate the
excitement of the previous Clancy film, but does
generate at least a very low interest in what happens
next. Rating: high +1.
A Tom Clancy novel lies somewhere between a James Bond thriller
and a textbook on American defense and intelligence systems. Clancy
gives a lot of technical details but makes it enjoyable by putting
it into the context of a good spy story. Technophiles may be a bit
disappointed by the technical content of the film _P_a_t_r_i_o_t _G_a_m_e_s. We
do see a bit of how the CIA operates, but it is much less the thrust
of the film than it is in _T_h_e _H_u_n_t _f_o_r _R_e_d _O_c_t_o_b_e_r. Harrison Ford
plays Jack Ryan as older, more bitter and introspective, and
certainly less exuberant than Alec Baldwin played him in _T_h_e _H_u_n_t
_f_o_r _R_e_d _O_c_t_o_b_e_r.
The story--which curiously begins much slower in Peter Iliff
and Donald Stewart's screenplay than it does in the original novel-
-starts with Jack Ryan foiling an attack by Irish terrorists in
London. In the screenplay's one concrete improvement on the novel,
the victim of the attack was only a distant member of the Royal
Family and so spares us the indignity of having the Queen of England
fawning all over Jack Ryan. In both stories, however, the
terrorists decide they now have a vendetta against Ryan personally
and are quite willing to punish the whole Ryan family. Jack uses
the facilities of the CIA to protect his family and end the career
of the particularly faction of Irish terrorists.
It is no secret at this point that Tom Clancy was less than
totally pleased with the screen treatment of his novel. He legally
had his name removed from the film, and only in the last week or so
before the release agreed to have it put back. The advertising I
saw does not mention his name at all and simply says "From the
best-selling novel." In fact, as film adaptations go, the film is
reasonably faithful to the novel, though some fair-sized liberties
were taken. About midway into the film Ryan makes one of his famous
deductions and concludes something that in the novel Ryan was told
in a briefing very early. Worth noting is one interesting touch in
the film--intentional or not. In British spy films the Americans
are allies, of course, but very often characterized as boorish
cowboys. In this film, the Americans are cleancut and bright, but
Patriot Games June 6, 1992 Page 2
interrogating the terrorists are two of the most greasy-looking,
weasely Britons they could cast in the role. Touche'!
_P_a_t_r_i_o_t _G_a_m_e_s is directed by Philip Noyce, who also directed an
exceptionally good thriller, _D_e_a_d _C_a_l_m. The music by James Horner
is notable: he makes extensive use of two pieces of music by other
composers. He uses the "Gayne Ballet Suite" by Khatchaturian,
previously used in the jogging sequences of _2_0_0_1: _A _S_p_a_c_e _O_d_y_s_s_e_y to
give the emotion of the tedium of space flight. More interesting is
that Horner used the end credit song from the film _H_a_r_r_y'_s _G_a_m_e for
the end title music here. (And if you want to see a _r_e_a_l_l_y good
thriller about the tensions in Northern Ireland, see if you can find
the rest of _H_a_r_r_y'_s _G_a_m_e someplace.)
_P_a_t_r_i_o_t _G_a_m_e_s caps off this Irish Spring, joining _T_h_e _P_l_a_y_b_o_y_s
and _F_a_r _a_n_d _A_w_a_y. It is not the thriller Clancy fans wanted; it may
not even be a good adaptation of the book. But there are moments
when it does show some taste and style. I give it a high +1 on the
-4 to +4 scale.
PRAYERS TO BROKEN STONES by Dan Simmons
Bantam Spectra, 1992 (1990c), ISBN 0-553-29665-5, $5.99.
A book review by Evelyn C. Leeper
Copyright 1992 Evelyn C. Leeper
In the last ten years, Dan Simmons has written eight novels (or
seven, if you count _H_y_p_e_r_i_o_n and _T_h_e _F_a_l_l _o_f _H_y_p_e_r_i_o_n as the two
halves of a single novel). These include fantasy (he won the World
Fantasy Award for _S_o_n_g _o_f _K_a_l_i), horror (he won the Bram Stoker
Award for _C_a_r_r_i_o_n _C_o_m_f_o_r_t), science fiction (he won the Hugo award
for _H_y_p_e_r_i_o_n), and even mainstream (_P_h_a_s_e_s _o_f _G_r_a_v_i_t_y. This is his
first collection, and shows that same range.
Unfortunately, Bantam has chosen to start this collection with
an introduction by Harlan Ellison, in which he congratulates himself
for having discovered Dan Simmons. But after describing this feat,
he says Simmons can remember and tell it better. And sure enough,
in the introduction to "The River Styx Runs Upstream," Simmons does.
Interestingly, he remembers if differently. In Ellison's version,
Ellison makes Simmons identify himself at a writers' workshop only
when he wants to praise him; in Simmons's version, he is singled out
and verbally abused before his story is even read. The two tellings
provide, I suppose, further evidence that _R_a_s_h_o_m_o_n shows us an
accurate view of human memory. (By the way, be sure to read all of
Simmons's introductions--they're as good as the stories.)
In any case, "The River Styx Runs Upstream" was Simmons's first
published story and is a blend of the science fiction and horror
genres. What if through scientific means we could bring the dead
back to life? The horror is not the George Romero sort of horror,
but a quieter horror that comes from knowing that something very
important is missing from someone close to you.
If "The River Styx Runs Upstream" is about something missing,
"Eyes I Dare Not Meet in Dreams" is a perfect counterpoint: a story
in which there is more to some of the characters than one would
think. The basic premise may seem familiar, but Simmons handles it
with a skill that carries the reader along, and characters that the
reader cares about.
The third story is a definite change of pace. "Vanni Fucci Is
Alive and Well and Living in Hell" has that resident of the Seventh
Bolgia of the Eighth Circle of Hell come on to Brother Freddy's
Hallelujah Breakfast Club as a guest and explain how it _r_e_a_l_l_y is.
A knowledge of Dante is useful but certainly not necessary for the
enjoyment of this tale of the true status of televangelists.
And in case the reader had any lingering doubts about Simmons's
opinion of televangelists, "Vexed to Nightmare by a Rocking Cradle"
Prayers to Broken Stones June 9, 1992 Page 2
will set them to rest. (I'm not sure this seeming juxtaposing of
stories is a good idea--they end up as halves of a pair rather than
as individual entities. Given that the stories had no connection in
their original appearances, connecting them here is probably an
ill-conceived idea.) "Vexed to Nightmare by a Rocking Cradle" is a
post-holocaust (one is tempted to say post-apocalyptic, but that
would be misleading) look at the direction one particular brand of
Christianity might take. Written as a Christmas story for a comics
catalog, this story was _n_o_t designed to brighten the reader's
Christmas morning--though depending on the reader, it just might.
"Remembering Siri," set in the Hegemony universe of _H_y_p_e_r_i_o_n
and _T_h_e _F_a_l_l _o_f _H_y_p_e_r_i_o_n, is perhaps the best piece in the book.
But some of that may be that the universe is familiar; when the
story was published in 1983, the reader had no well-developed
background to place it against. Still, the characters and their
situation are close enough that reading _H_y_p_e_r_i_o_n or _T_h_e _F_a_l_l _o_f
_H_y_p_e_r_i_o_n is not a prerequisite for appreciating this story of a
space traveler, the woman he loved, and the world he came to change
but was instead changed by. (I realize my comments make it sound as
though I am saying that the best stories are those in series; this
is not my intention. It is more that Simmons can accomplish in a
short story what might have required a longer length to do as
effectively if there was no other information to draw upon.)
The next two stories are another pair, but here at least there
is good reason for the pairing: "The Offering" is Simmons's
screenplay of his story "Metastasis." I didn't see the show when it
aired (on the syndicated television series "Monsters" in 1990, but
the transition of an almost mystical story to a television play is
instructive to see. Simmons's introduction to the script describes
some of the changes--apparently they even wanted to change the basic
premise of the "cancer vampires," but he drew the line at this.
These days it seems as though every writer is doing a Vietnam
story, and so we have "E-Ticket to 'Namland," which extrapolates our
preference for hyperreality over reality (which Umberto Eco
elucidates in his _T_r_a_v_e_l_s _i_n _H_y_p_e_r_r_e_a_l_i_t_y). In this case, of
course, one might claim that 'Namland is preferable to 'Nam, but
then the boundaries starts to blur, much as camouflage makes the
wearer blend into the background.
Now we move into horror stories od a more standard type.
"Iverson's Pit" and "Shave and a Haircut, Two Bites" are
straightforward horror stories--well-written, as all the stories
are, but nothing ground-breaking. Then comes "The Death of the
Centaur" about the power of story-telling, which failed to work for
me for a couple of reasons. First, I never got involved with the
story within the story--maybe I just have difficulty with a multi-
layered story. Secondly, no matter how well done, a story written
about the power of story-telling must appear somewhat self-serving.
Prayers to Broken Stones June 9, 1992 Page 3
But it's not unreasonable to say that no story can ever be written
about story-telling, so you may just want to write this off as one
of my quirks.
"Two Minutes Forty-Five Seconds" is what Simmons (or perhaps
Ellen Datlow should get the credit) calls "high-tech horror." It
served its purpose as a short filler in _O_m_n_i, but doesn't really
stand up.
_P_r_a_y_e_r_s _t_o _B_r_o_k_e_n _S_t_o_n_e_s finishes with the short story "Carrion
Comfort" upon which the novel was based. The short story seems to
be quite sufficient unto itself--one wonders why it needed to be
expanded into a novel (and a half-million-word novel at that). This
means, of course, that the reader is left, not desiring to run out
and read Simmons's full-length novels, but asking why, if Simmons
can tell a story in less than 20,000 words, he then expanded it to
half a million. (Okay, I haven't read the novel, and it's possible
that if I read it I would understand. But my _f_i_r_s_t reaction is to
ask "why bother?" rather than to read it immediately.)
Not every story in _P_r_a_y_e_r_s _t_o _B_r_o_k_e_n _S_t_o_n_e_s is a gem. Not
every story is to everyone's taste. But the stories show Simmons's
range and technique, so even if there are a couple not to your
liking, I think on the whole you will find _P_r_a_y_e_r_s _t_o _B_r_o_k_e_n _S_t_o_n_e_s
a rewarding experience.
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