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Mt. Holz Science Fiction Society
Club Notice - 7/10/92 -- Vol. 11, No. 2
MEETINGS UPCOMING:
Unless otherwise stated, all meetings are on Wednesdays at noon.
_D_A_T_E _T_O_P_I_C
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.
07/11 SFABC: Science Fiction Association of Bergen County: Nicholas
Jainschigg (artist) (phone 201-933-2724 for details)
(Saturday)
07/18 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 hocpb!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. Of the next book discussion in *Middletown*, Mark Leeper says:
For years there have been fairly comprehensive guides to films on
television. Leonard Maltin and Stephen Scheuer each have edited
thick books with thousands of films, each rated from one to four
stars and with short one-paragraph reviews. There has been no
attempt to write a single guide to science fiction books nearly as
exhaustive. David Pringle, who has written books of his choice of
the hundred best novels of science fiction and the hundred best
novels of fantasy, is now attempting such a guide with _T_h_e _U_l_t_i_m_a_t_e
_G_u_i_d_e _t_o _S_c_i_e_n_c_e _F_i_c_t_i_o_n.
THE MT VOID Page 2
For each of over 3000 science fiction books, he has given a few
sentences of review and a rating of one to four stars. The result
tells you something about the books he is reviewing and also quite
a bit about Pringle himself. I certainly disagree with much of his
taste. But once you have a feel for what he will rate high or low,
the book becomes a useful guide to science fiction books. It is
particularly useful to help you decide if that book you've had in a
box since high school is worth digging out and reading. [-mrl]
Reminder: The room is MT 1P-364.
2. Okay, two issues ago time I had the date wrong; last issue I had
the volume number wrong. It should have been 11, not 10. I _t_h_i_n_k
I have it right this time around; between moving to a new machine
and changing volume numbers, it's been a bit confused.... [-ecl]
3. From those people voting on the Hugos, good news: For perhaps
the first time ever, all the stories nominated for the short story
Hugo award are now available free, in one place, during the voting
period.
Brad Templeton has gotten permission to provide the Hugo-nominated
short stories via anonymous FTP or e-mail. The files are available
via anonymous ftp from "sf.clarinet.com" in the directory "sf". If
you don't have access to anonymous FTP you can still get the
stories via E-mail. Send mail to ftpmail@decwrl.dec.com or
att!decwrl!ftpmail. The subject is ignored other than as an
identifier for you in the mail you'll get back from the ftpmail
server. The text should be as follows:
connect
chdir pub/sf
dir
ascii
get READ.ME
get cretaceous
get dogs_life
get perfectmorn
get pressann
get walkinthesun
get wintersolst
get buffalo
get howto.read
get esf.ballot
quit
IMPORTANT NOTE FROM BRAD: These stories are all copyrighted,
professional stories. The writers should be thanked for taking
this sort of new venture, allowing you to have the stories for
free. They are granting you permission to download these stories
for your personal use. However, you may not copy them further,
forward them to others, put them in archives or republish them in
THE MT VOID Page 3
any way. Please respect the rights of these superb SF Pros.
This is free, though if you want to send a donation to the authors
to reward them for this move, Brad will pass on 100% of donations
(less collection costs) to them. The easiest way is to send a
check to ClariNet Communications (make checks payable to this), Box
1479, Cupertino, CA 95015-1479. Brad suggests $3 (which he claims
is the price of a small paperback--where is he buying his books is
what I want to know!), which will be divided amongst the authors.
[-ecl]
Mark Leeper
MT 3D-441 908-957-5619
...mtgzy!leeper
As far as the laws of mathematics refer to reality,
they are not certain; and as far as they are certain,
they do not refer to reality.
-- Albert Einstein
THE MODULAR MAN by Roger MacBride Allen
Bantam Spectra, 1992, ISBN 0-553-29559-4, $4.99.
A book review by Evelyn C. Leeper
Copyright 1992 Evelyn C. Leeper
David Bailey has downloaded himself into his home maintenance
unit (a.k.a., vacuum cleaner, a.k.a., "Herbert"--it's a pun, get
it?) and now Herbert is being charged with first-degree murder,
because the complete download of a personality destroys the
original. The district attorney hopes Herbert's owner (Suzanne
Jantille, who is also David's widow and a lawyer) will take the
obvious path and ask for dismissal on the grounds that Herbert can't
be charged because he isn't human. This would set a precedent for
preventing the rich from achieving immortality by replacing all the
parts that wear out--in effect, turning themselves into cyborgs.
But Suzanne takes another tack.
Allen raises a lot of interesting issues here, but eventually
short-circuits them (you'll pardon the pun) by providing an ending
that does not follow at all from what comes before, but from the
whim of one character (which means, basically, the whim of the
author).
And the supposedly innovative solution to resolve the problem
of the "immortal rich" is one that has appeared before, and in a
very well-known work. (I'm desperately trying to avoid spoilers
here.)
In addition, I'm no lawyer, but it seems obvious to me that if
Herbert can stand trial as David Bailey, then David Bailey isn't
dead, and so no one can be tried for his murder. If the prosecution
is claimed Herbert is David Bailey, but a *different* David Bailey,
then it's clear that the original David Bailey did all the set-up
for the transfer ("murder") and so the new one is not responsible.
(If I rig up a suicide device so that I'm killed when someone rings
my doorbell, is the unsuspecting mailman guilty of murder?) Allen
tries a bit of hand-waving to get around this, with some obscure
point of law not introduced until near the end of the story (future
law, not any law we have), but it's not very convincing.
This is probably the last of the "Next Wave" series, and even
this is an abbreviated entry: instead of an introduction by Isaac
Asimov and an essay by a "working scientist," it has three short
articles by Asimov strung together in place of the essay and no
introduction.
_T_h_e _M_o_d_u_l_a_r _M_a_n started out with some great ideas, but didn't
carry them through. I wish I could recommend this book, but
ultimately I found it disappointing and annoying.
BEAST by Peter Benchley
Fawcett Crest, 1992 (1991c), ISBN 0-449-22089-3, $5.95
A book review by Mark R. Leeper
Copyright 1992 Mark R. Leeper
In writing this review I have tried not to reveal to what kind
of beast the title refers. But if Peter Benchley tried to keep it a
surprise, he is lousy at keeping a secret. I heard an interview in
which he gave some teasers about what the creature was. Some of his
teasers would have told me by themselves and certainly there was no
doubt in my mind from the whole set what he was talking about. The
cover of the book shows a tentacle of a characteristic shape. So if
you want to keep it a secret, buy coverless. Also skip the
dedication page.
Okay, so why did I read _B_e_a_s_t? No, I didn't expect an edifying
experience. To be honest, I like monster movies. I loved them when
I was young and I never grew out of it. The idea of an attack of a
giant cephalopod conjures up memories of _I_t _C_a_m_e _f_r_o_m _B_e_n_e_a_t_h _t_h_e
_S_e_a and _2_0,_0_0_0 _L_e_a_g_u_e_s _U_n_d_e_r _t_h_e _S_e_a.
_B_e_a_s_t is a beach novel. It is clearly intended to be read on a
beach when the reader has come out to dry off and rest and maybe get
some sun. Then with the ocean lying in front of him or her, the
reader can have Benchley tell him or her scary stories about what is
in the water. Essentially this is the same story Benchley told in
_J_a_w_s. Here he is telling it again, but with another nautical nasty.
Despite the back cover comments about Benchley's great literary
family, nobody would mistake _B_e_a_s_t for being much more than Benchley
borrowing from Benchley. And doing a lukewarm job of it at that.
There is not really a whole lot of plot to tell. It takes
place in and around Bermuda. A number of people start disappearing
from the sea. We are given spooky stories of tentacles grabbing
people from boats. It leaves behind clues that some nasty sea
creature is getting them. William "Whip" Darling is a former
fisherman who now hunts interesting specimens for an aquarium. His
hobby is protecting the seas from fishermen who would exploit it.
He is a younger and more pleasant Quint from _J_a_w_s. He is eventually
called upon to go out and help hunt the beast. There is little that
happens in the book that the reader has not read or seen in a movie
somewhere. The ending is pure cliche--one used in many films. The
cause of the problem--what brings the beast--is also cliche: man
tampering where he does not belong.
Probably the best thing about _B_e_a_s_t is the detail about a
rather intriguing sea creature. Benchley gives us the interesting
facts and tells his entire story in clean, clear prose. That is no
common talent these days. He writes to convey, not to impress or to
Beast July 1, 1992 Page 2
amuse. He tries to make reading his novel as easy and passive as
watching an action film, and at that he actually succeeds. You have
to admire the crisp clarity of his story-telling.
Benchley indulges himself, making at least two references to
_J_a_w_s and the effect the film had on swimmers who learned to fear the
water. Perhaps it is vanity, or an inside joke.
Still _B_e_a_s_t gives you just about what you expect, a feather-
like monster movie in portable form. It could be worse.
A LEAGUE OF THEIR OWN
A film review by Mark R. Leeper
Copyright 1992 Mark R. Leeper
Capsule review: Move over, Rosie the Riveter:
this film celebrates Betty the Baseball Player.
Penny Marshall tells the story of the women's
baseball league founded during World War II. The
script is a little cliched and predictable, but
Marshall, as usual, tells an engrossing story.
Rating: +1 (-4 to +4).
At one point in _A _L_e_a_g_u_e _o_f _T_h_e_i_r _O_w_n, Dottie Hinson (played by
Geena Davis) observes that playing baseball is hard. Veteran
ballplayer Jimmy Dugan (played by Tom Hanks) tells her sagely, "If
it wasn't hard, everyone would do it. The hard makes it great." I
think that must play better to baseball fans than it does to me.
Having as I do virtually zero interest in the game itself, I would
not play no matter how easy it was for me. Nor do I believe that
the game is great or that its hardness makes it great. The presence
of baseball will not make a film very good in itself. For a
baseball film actually to be good it has to rely not on good
baseball content or the belief that playing baseball is somehow a
noble profession. That is why I like _T_h_e _N_a_t_u_r_a_l and _F_i_e_l_d _o_f
_D_r_e_a_m_s, but _T_h_e _P_r_i_d_e _o_f _t_h_e _Y_a_n_k_e_e_s leaves me cold. I think that _A
_L_e_a_g_u_e _o_f _T_h_e_i_r _O_w_n really requires of the viewer a belief that
there was something noble in women playing baseball and keeping the
sport alive while most of the men players were fighting in World War
II. For me that is a difficult leap of faith to make and you can
weight this review accordingly.
_A _L_e_a_g_u_e _o_f _T_h_e_i_r _O_w_n is, I suspect, almost pure fiction
vaguely inspired by real events as was director Penny Marshall's
previous film, _A_w_a_k_e_n_i_n_g_s. Undoubtedly some of the background
detail is accurate, but most of the drama is probably made up of the
whole cloth. The story tells how Hinson and her sister Kit Keller
(played by Lori Petty) are recruited by a hilariously rude and
obnoxious scout (played by Jon Lovitz). Sixty-four women are chosen
to field the four teams of the All-American Girls Professional
Baseball League. Kit is more anxious to play than is her older
sister, but Dottie is a natural. Not that anyone seems to care.
Their alcoholic team manager, Dugan, introduces himself to his team
by shuffling drunkenly to the locker room urinal, using it, and
shuffling back out. During the games, he shows his commitment to
the team by sleeping, scratching his crotch, or practicing what
appears to be a regimen of losing ten pounds a week by spitting.
Hanks takes to this role as if his view of baseball players mirrors
my own. League President Ira Lowenstein (played by David
Strathairn) at first is anxious only to be certain that the skirts
League of Their Own July 5, 1992 Page 2
on the uniforms are short enough to attract audience interest. The
news media seems even less interested, editorializing against the
"masculinization of women" and then making amused and patronizing
newsreels about the women's league.
The script is by Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel and is
something of a comedown for the team, who wrote _P_a_r_e_n_t_h_o_o_d and _C_i_t_y
_S_l_i_c_k_e_r_s. Much in the plot is incredibly predictable and overly
cliched. A word that is overused to describe a film of this sort is
"manipulative." Actually, a film should be manipulative, and Ganz
and Mandel have done it well in the past. Here it is often done
well, but other times done too obviously. The last ten minutes of
the film are maudlin and drag. They could and should have been cut
to two minutes. The script comes perilously close to making fun of
the awkward, plain, and shy Marla (played by Megan Cavanaugh).
While some of the male characters redeem themselves later in the
film, they almost universally are insensitive jerks when we first
meet them.
That brings me to the issue of hypocrisy in this superficially
feminist film. The order of billing is Hanks, Davis, Madonna (as a
stereotypical loose woman), and Petty. Based on contribution, the
order should have been Davis, Petty, Hanks, and Madonna. Top
billing for Hanks is absurd; he just did not do more than Davis or
Petty. The locker room scenes are G-ratable in the first half of
the film, then suddenly turn "peek-a-boo" in the second half of the
film.
The score by Hans Zimmer deserves some credit, occasionally
having some of the mythic feel of Randy Newman's score for _T_h_e
_N_a_t_u_r_a_l. However, it mixes in rock, which seems out of place in a
film mostly about the 1940s. I would like to call some attention to
David Strathairn as Lowenstein. He plays quiet and usually likable
characters of integrity. He played a policeman sympathetic to the
strikers in _M_a_t_e_w_a_n and a commander very worried for the safety of
his men in _M_e_m_p_h_i_s _B_e_l_l_e. He reminds me a lot of a latter-day Henry
Fonda. I have never seen him in a bad film, which indicates either
that he is intelligent enough to select only better scripts or that
his acting has qualities that appeal only to better filmmakers.
One final nice touch: the script calls for us to see most of
the main characters as they look almost fifty years later. Normally
this would be done with a makeup effect. These makeup effects are
rarely done believably and the results are almost always at least
suspect. Marshall went to the effort of finding look-alike actors
of approximately correct ages, then had the younger actors dub the
voices. The effect is reasonably convincing.
Considerable money and effort was lavished on this production,
but problems in the script diminish the effort to a +1 on the -4 to
+4 scale.