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Mt. Holz Science Fiction Society
Club Notice - 07/31/92 -- Vol. 11, No. 5
MEETINGS UPCOMING:
Unless otherwise stated, all meetings are on Wednesdays at noon.
_D_A_T_E _T_O_P_I_C
08/05 HO: Hugo-Nominated Short Stories (HO 1N-410)
08/26 HO: BONE DANCE by Emma Bull (Hugo nominee) (HO 1N-410)
09/16 HO: THE SILMARILLION by J.R.R. Tolkien (Alternate Mythologies)
(HO 4N-509)
_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.
08/08 SFABC: Science Fiction Association of Bergen County: Multi-media
astronomical presentation (phone 201-933-2724 for details)
(Saturday)
08/15 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 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. Well, for the August 5 discussion no one will have the excuse
that they couldn't find the works being discussed. Why not?
Because the discussion will be about the seven Hugo-nominated short
stories, and these are available _f_r_e_e to anyone who requests them.
(Instructions were in the July 10 and July 17 issues of the MT VOID
[Vol. 11, Nos. 2 and 3], so I won't repeat them here.)
The stories are: Terry Bisson's "Press Ann" (a light-hearted look
at the possible future of money machines), John Kessel's "Buffalo"
(not science fiction, strictly speaking, about a fictional meeting
between the narrator's father and H. G. Wells), Geoffrey
A. Landis's "A Walk in the Sun" (hard science fiction of the
"solve-this-problem" variety, with some characterization and
retrospection thrown in), Mike Resnick's "One Perfect Morning, With
THE MT VOID Page 2
Jackals" (another Kirinyaga story, and the prequel to them all),
Mike Resnick's "Winter Solstice" (a tale of Merlin and his burden),
Martha Soukup's "Dog's Life" (an interesting look at animal
rights), and Connie Willis's "In the Late Cretaceous" (again, not
science fiction, strictly speaking, but quintessential Willis).
Come and vote for what _y_o_u think should win. Results of the
balloting will be announced in next week's MT VOID. [-ecl]
2. Well, guys, I think the jig is just about up. Here for years
we've loved science fiction without telling the non-fans what is
was _r_e_a_l_l_y all about. I think lots of us may have kidded ourselves
what we were reading about, but deep inside we knew. But now that
the world knows what science is really all about, I think we will
be a target in the very near future.
It was someone named Elizabeth Fee who wrote her "Critiques of
Modern Science" for the New Jersey Curriculum Transformation
Project. She is quoted on page 29 of the June 22, 1992, _U. _S. _N_e_w_s
& _W_o_r_l_d _R_e_p_o_r_t:
"Mind was male. Nature was female, and [scientific]
knowledge was created as an act of aggression--a
passive nature had to be interrogated, unclothed,
penetrated, and compelled by man to reveal her
secrets."
And now that I know what science is all about, I realize that my
science fiction fandom has just been egging scientists on from the
sidelines. Now I understand why so many science fiction books have
cylindrical rockets headed for the craters of the moon. But that
was old science fiction. These days the rockets head for black
holes or worm holes. No, I can't go on. I'm gonna be sick. Oh, I
feel so tainted and tawdry.
How wonderful that it is my own state that is leading the way to
the new understanding. I do hope my tax money helped to put the
"fund" in this "fundamental" new understanding of the aggressive
nature of science.
I think I would like to contribute to Elizabeth Fee's cause. I
wonder if she would be willing to accept from me an animal skin and
a sharp stone. Or maybe that is too aggressive. How about a large
leaf and a nice, shiny crystal?
3. And congrats go out to one of our members, Avi Hauser: "Avi
Hauser, a research physicist at Holmdel, served as one of two
coaches of the U.S. team competing in the International Physics
Olympiad in Helsinki, Finland. For the first time ever, all U.S.
team members won prizes, including two gold medals, in the rigorous
competition against students from Asia and Europe. This was the
best performance by the U.S. since it began participating in 1985.
AT&T co-sponsored the team along with IBM." [from "Bell Labs
E*News," 7/29/92]
Mark Leeper
MT 3D-441 908-957-5619
...mtgzy!leeper
THE KING by Donald Barthelme
Penguin, 1992 (1990c), ISBN 0-14-014992-9, $8.
A book review by Evelyn C. Leeper
Copyright 1992 Evelyn C. Leeper
The Nazis are bombing London, but King Arthur also has to
contend with Lord Haw-Haw's broadcasts accusing Guinevere of
infidelities. If this sounds just a little "off"--well, that what's
it is. It's the "transhistorical party" (described by Brian McHale
in _P_o_s_t_m_o_d_e_r_n_i_s_t _F_i_c_t_i_o_n and perhaps made most popular by Steve
Allen in his "Meeting of the Minds" television series)--the meeting
of people of different historical eras and different "ontological
statuses" (Lord Haw-Haw was real; King Arthur may have had a real
existence but the King Arthur we know from story and legend bears
little resemblance to that; the Black Knight was purely a literary
creation).
Maybe I just don't get it. It was amusing enough, seeing the
old ideas of chivalry contrasted with the realities of the modern
world, but there's only enough there for a short story, and this is
a 30,000-word novella. (And though it may be heresy, I think Howard
Waldrop would have done it better.) I know that Donald Barthelme is
well-respected in literary circles; it's just that from this book I
can't tell why. (I did like Moser's illustrations, perhaps even
more than the text.)
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