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Mt. Holz Science Fiction Society
Club Notice - 08/14/92 -- Vol. 11, No. 7
MEETINGS UPCOMING:
Unless otherwise stated, all meetings are on Wednesdays at noon.
_D_A_T_E _T_O_P_I_C
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.
08/15 NJSFS: New Jersey Science Fiction Society: TBA
(phone 201-432-5965 for details) (Saturday)
09/12 SFABC: Science Fiction Association of Bergen County: Michael
Kandel (author) (phone 201-933-2724 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, it was on the news this morning. (This morning it is
August 6, by the way.) They said that somebody or other, an Olympic
hammer thrower, got what they call "bad news." What was the bad
news? It was that he had been using steroids. Now I am on record
as being just about the only United States citizen who is totally
unimpressed by the spectacle of hundreds of people going to some
public place like Spain to compare whose muscles are the biggest
and strongest. It reminds me of other locker room comparisons when
I was growing up. To be honest, I see no reason to care who is the
best in the world at throwing hammers. And this is an event I
participated in once myself. In wood shop. Just after hitting my
thumb. And we're not sure how far it would have gone because they
embed wire mesh in the glass in the windows of high schools. But I
digress....
THE MT VOID Page 2
Anyway, I was trying to understand their wording.
"Hey, we have some bad news for you."
"What dat?"
"You have been using steroids."
"[gasp] I have? Is dat what Coach was puttin' in dat cattle
syringe? I thought he said it was some kinda super-vitamin."
I mean, does anybody really believe it comes as news to anyone that
they are using steroids? The news is that they have been
mainlining enough of the stuff that it is detectable in blood
tests. You are supposed to get as close as you can to the
detectable line without going over. That's the Olympic spirit.
That's what makes the Olympic Games so great. And that's our
President's message on the importance of physical fitness. That's
why he picked as our symbol of physical fitness the great Arnold
Schwarzenegger. "Arnie," the President says affectionately, "can
benchpress the National Debt." Of course, he said that a year or
so ago. The National Debt has gotten a whole lot bigger since.
Arnie is, however, George Bush's official unofficial National Hunk,
Austrian accent and all. And what is Arnie but a human testimonial
to "Success Through Steroids." Is it any wonder that our Olympic
team is getting little surprises like being told they use steroids.
It's a wonder they don't have to be told things even more obvious,
like don't pee in the sink. Or do they?
Mark Leeper
MT 3D-441 908-957-5619
...mtgzy!leeper
Most moralists have been so obsessed by sex that they
have laid much too little emphasis on other more
socially useful kinds of ethically commendable conduct.
-- Bertrand Russell
DOOMSDAY BOOK by Connie Willis
Bantam Spectra, ISBN 0-553-35167-2, July 1992, $10.
A book review by Evelyn C. Leeper
Copyright 1992 Evelyn C. Leeper
The gist of _D_o_o_m_s_d_a_y _B_o_o_k can be summed up in two sentences:
"It's no fun to come down with an unknown disease in 14th Century
England. It's not much better in the 20th Century." The first part
may seem obvious, the second less so (though the parallels to AIDS
are definitely there). One of the main things Willis does is show
us that our comfortable notions about how we're protected by
technology and medical advances are based as much, if not more, on
wishful thinking as on hard facts.
Willis does this be telling two stories in parallel: one of
Kirvin, who has traveled back to 14th Century England to study it
first-hand, and one of the rest of her research team left behind
(ahead?) in the early 21st Century. Kirvin was sent back to 1320,
well before the Black Plague burst into Europe (and hence England)
in 1348. So why does she fall ill almost immediately upon arriving?
And why, in spite of all her language training and her embedded
translator, is she unable to understand or make herself understood
to anyone around her?
Back (forward?) in the future, things are not much better.
Immediately after sending Kirvin back in time, the technician
collapses with an unknown flu-like illness, and cannot report the
exact coordinates Kirvin landed at. (There is almost always drift
from the target coordinates, and Kirvin can't be retrieved unless
her landing coordinates are known.) He lies delirious for days,
while Kirvin is lost and more and more people in the present fall
ill.
Obviously there are a lot of elements of mystery, and far be it
for me to ruin any of them for you. Suffice it to say this is a
book about sickness and plagues and dying, and how people react to
it. Many reviewers have lauded Willis for giving an accurate
portrayal of a plague in a pre-Industrial, pre-germ-theory society.
But to students of history, this won't be particularly new, although
Willis does her usual excellent job of giving us realistic people we
can believe in and care about. No, it is the parallelism that is
unique here. For all our progress, Willis says, a new disease can
easily bring us back to the problems of 600 years ago. Consider the
Influenza Epidemic of 1917 to 1919 which killed 25,000,000--the same
number as the Black Plague of 1348-1666. Yes, the world population
was higher in 1918, but the Black Plague lasted over three hundred
years, the Influenza Epidemic only three. (During the Influenza
Epidemic, 4600 people died in one week in Philadelphia.) And
millions died of the bubonic plague in India between 1921 and 1923.
Doomsday Book August 10, 1992 Page 2
Even with the more advanced technology of Willis's 21st Century, all
is not easy. Technology can break. People can make mistakes.
Things can go wrong. And people can die.
Willis even keeps the reader in the dark about the ending, not
an easy task given the book's structure, but she manages to set up
the situation so that more than one outcome is possible. (I hope
this is sufficiently vague.) I am not entirely happy with the
ending, but it's a minor quibble.
I strongly recommend _D_o_o_m_s_d_a_y _B_o_o_k, for what it teaches about
the reality of history (if you don't have a strong background in
history), and for what it teaches about the reality of the present
(even if you do). (And for all those people who think Willis writes
only humorous fiction--this will change your mind.)
THE ROWAN by Anne McCaffrey
A book review by Frank R. Leisti
Copyright 1992 Frank R. Leisti
Anne McCaffrey has created another sympathetic hero, a
superstar, gifted with abilities beyond those of normal people. The
star in this story is "The Rowan," a Prime. After the ability of
ESP was scientifically proven, colonies expanding from the Earth
have relied on people with this paranormal ability. On the planet
Altair, a freak weather induced accident brings the mental cries of
a three-year-old female child. When her cries interrupt the smooth
workings of the current Altair Prime, whose duties include the
teleportation of sending and receiving goods and personnel, a
frantic effort is made to locate this girl.
The use of a clairvoyant searcher brings forth two prophesies
about the girl. She is discovered in the remains of the lost mining
colony of Rowan, hence her name, The Rowan. During her growth, she
is trained and supported by other lesser talented people who attempt
to provide her a rounded life. To replace her parents, she is given
a Purza, a fur-covered mechanical construct that can be programmed
to adjust itself to The Rowan. Her attachment to this Purza proves
to be a strong stumbling block as she is trained and developed to
bring her to the state where she might become the first Prime.
The subsequent life of The Rowan is filled with boredom,
especially as she and others believe that she can not teleport
herself through space without suffering extreme agony. Of course,
the conflict that she finds herself involved in, provides the
backdrop against which she must pit her beliefs and her talents.
The Rowan is a story with love and honor, missteps and foolish
actions, a sense of reality mixed with the unreal. Yet the weaving
of the tale is made to bring the reader into the state of cheering
for The Rowan as she conquers herself as well as her enemies.
It seems that yet again, Anne McCaffrey has set up another
viewpoint into the fabric of science fiction where another
world/universe is created. While this is similar to her story of
the Crystal Singer, of the female superstar, she is borrowing
certain characteristics from E. E. "Doc" Smith's stories of the
Galatic Primes. The grading of the ESP abilities of people is
slightly different, using T-1, T-2, ..., T-9, etc., designations;
however, the people with the top abilities are referred to as
Primes.
One can also compare the changes brought about when the lead
character, The Rowan, meets her potential lifemate, Jeff Raven. Her
life completely changes as the result of sensing him. In a similar
The Rowan August 6, 1992 Page 2
fashion, Lessa of Pern has a generation of growth when she meets her
lifemate, F'lar of Benden Weyr.
Although she has developed this story from a short story I read
years ago, it is good to feel the forces which shape the character
of The Rowan. I look forward to reading the next related book.
On the Leeper scale (-4 to +4), I would rate this story as a
low +2.
UNFORGIVEN
A film review by Mark R. Leeper
Copyright 1992 Mark R. Leeper
Capsule review: A film to debunk most of the
myths in other Western gunfighter films. Perhaps
Eastwood made _U_n_f_o_r_g_i_v_e_n as an act of contrition for
glorifying violence in so many of his previous
pictures. In any case, this is a very adult and
intelligent Western about myth and reality. Rating:
high +2 (-4 to +4).
"This is the West. When the legend becomes a fact,
print the legend."
Newspaper reporter in _T_h_e _M_a_n _W_h_o
_S_h_o_t _L_i_b_e_r_t_y _V_a_l_e_n_c_e
I understand that the Marlboro Man died recently. For years he
represented the spirit of the Old West with a tattooed hand holding
a pack of Marlboros while he sat around the campfire or rode a
magnificent horse through snowy prairies. The cause of his death,
in wonderful irony if not total coincidence, was lung cancer. He
spent the last part of his life doing public service messages to
warn people against smoking. The myth of the macho smoker and the
reality were, in his case, very different. He lived off the myth,
but at some point he realized the myth was dangerous and wanted
people to know the reality.
I picture Clint Eastwood as having gone through a similar moral
crisis. He was the Man with No Name who could kill men by reflex.
He was Dirty Harry, who made his day by gunning down punks. Eastwood
made his living by that image. Perhaps there are even kids in urban
high schools and even junior highs who have patterned their own gun
skills on Eastwood's. Perhaps that was a concern of Eastwood's;
perhaps not. But he certainly has made a film about the myth and
reality of gun fighting. Saul Rubinek plays a small but very
central role as W. W. Beauchamp, who follows around the great
gunfighters and writes dime novels that glamorize the life of the
gun. He turns the dirty, disgusting, demeaning profession of
killing into exciting and completely inaccurate accounts for avid
readers. _U_n_f_o_r_g_i_v_e_n is a story of gunfighting as it really was--and
it was a little less romantic than killing chickens for a living.
Eastwood produced and directed a powerful and nightmarish Western.
It is 1880 in the flyspeck town of Big Whiskey, Wyoming. Two
cowpokes are in town taking advantage of the local whorehouse. One
of the whores makes an ungenerous comment and her client goes after
her with a Bowie knife. In the dark, his partner may have tried to
restrain him, but the end result is a woman cut up very badly.
Unforgiven August 9, 1992 Page 2
Sheriff Little Bill Daggett (played by gene Hackman) wades in to
bring peace. In his judgement, it is the owner of the whorehouse
who has been wronged and must be paid off in valuable ponies.
Whores, being whores, do not need to be paid back. This is not a
decision which goes over well with the women. They decide to pool
their money and offer $1000 to anyone who will kill the two men,
whether it is one or both who are guilty.
A young gunslinger, anxious to make a name for himself (played
by Jaimz Woolvett), decides he can collect if he teams up with the
legendary gunfighter Bill Munny (played by Clint Eastwood).
Marriage has made a very different man of Munny and now he is a
widower with two children to raise, a failing pig farm, and
nightmares of the men he has killed. In spite of being incredibly
out of practice, he decides to go along, but only if his old partner
Ned Logan (played by Morgan Freeman) will join them.
_U_n_f_o_r_g_i_v_e_n is a dark Western. It is dark in tone and often
dark in photography. It is a murky film about murky moral
decisions. Nobody is totally good; nobody is totally bad. While
there is not a lot to redeem to cowpoke who sets the whole fiasco in
motion, there is at least a modicum of understanding of why he did
what he did and the feeling that his intended punishment may
outweigh his crime. I could be wrong, but it seems to me his
partner was only well-intentioned and he too is pulled far too
deeply into the mess that ensues. If the timing had been different,
Hackman's character as a sadistic sheriff could have been inspired
by Daryl Gates. He combines a laudable desire to defend justice
with a dangerous desire to define it.
This film shows a surprising bitterness about the myths of the
Old West. Yet where they are debunked, the film rings true.
Sleeping out under the stars may be nice, but with storm clouds it
is a different matter. the great gunfights of the West are about as
romantic as the great gunfights of Vietnam. An obvious "happy
ending" is foreshadowed and then avoided. And one nice touch of
bitter irony it would be a pity to miss: the saloon and whorehouse
that is the core of the hellhole town of Big Whiskey, Wyoming, is
called "Greeley's."
_U_n_f_o_r_g_i_v_e_n ranks up with _T_h_e _O_u_t_l_a_w _J_o_s_e_y _W_a_l_e_s as one of
Eastwood's two best films. I give it a high +2 on the -4 to +4
scale.
ANTONIA AND JANE
A film review by Mark R. Leeper
Copyright 1992 Mark R. Leeper
Capsule review: At first glance Antonia and
Jane appear to be a real fox and an unattractive
washrag. Yet each wants to walk in the other's
shoes. Beeban Kidron tells her story with plenty of
wit, but the result comes off far too short and a bit
episodic. The wit along the way satisfies more than
the story does. Rating: +1 (-4 to +4).
Jane frumps her way through life. She never knows how to act
or how to dress. Jane thinks that everyone else has read the book
_H_o_w _t_o _F_u_n_c_t_i_o_n _i_n _t_h_e _W_o_r_l_d and nobody ever offered it to her. To
make matters worse her best friend, whom she envies and hates, has
just about everything. Antonia lives the good life. Married to the
lover she stole from Jane, she has a responsible job high in the
publishing business and a beautiful home. She also goes to the same
psychiatrist that Jane does. From her point of view her life just
goes from bad to worse. From her point of view her life stagnates
while Jane has the courage to reinvent herself constantly and to
explore new aspects of her personality.
Jane Hartman (played by Imelda Staunton) finds herself
constitutionally unable to complain or assert herself. She floats
like a cork on the currents of life, letting the tides of others'
wills push her one way and then another. And like the cork, she
never floats half in the currents and half out. She has a series of
freaky relationships, like one with a boyfriend unable to have sex
until he has been read to from the works of Iris Murdoch. Meanwhile
her lifelong friend and rival Antonia McGill (played by Saskia
Reeves) faces a different set of problems, mostly bred of her fast-
track lifestyle. Her husband has an unfortunate taste for variety
in bedmates. Her own extra-curricular activities do not satisfy her
and only serve to complicate her life in bizarre ways.
Beeban Kidron, who previously directed _O_r_a_n_g_e_s _A_r_e _N_o_t _t_h_e _O_n_l_y
_F_r_u_i_t presumably made _A_n_t_o_n_i_a _a_n_d _J_a_n_e from BBC television. Kidron
gives some Woody Allen twists to the old saw of the grass growing
greener on the other side of the fence. The writer seasons her
story with plenty of clever wit, but in an end that comes much too
soon in this 79-minute film, the story amounts to no more than a
humorous platitude. I rate _A_n_t_o_n_i_a _a_n_d _J_a_n_e a +1 on the -4 to +4
scale.
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