@@@@@ @ @ @@@@@ @ @ @@@@@@@ @ @ @@@@@ @@@@@ @@@
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @
@ @@@@@ @@@@ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @
@ @ @ @@@@@ @ @ @ @ @@@@@ @@@@@ @@@
Mt. Holz Science Fiction Society
Club Notice - 9/11/92 -- Vol. 11, No. 11
MEETINGS UPCOMING:
Unless otherwise stated, all meetings are on Wednesdays at noon.
_D_A_T_E _T_O_P_I_C
09/16 HO: THE SILMARILLION by J.R.R. Tolkien (Alternate Mythologies)
(HO 4N-509)
10/07 HO: THE FORGE OF GOD and THE ANVIL OF STARS by Greg Bear
(The Fermi Paradox) (HO 4N-509)
10/28 HO: Book Swap (HO 4N-509)
11/18 HO: DOOMSDAY BOOK by Connie Willis (Plagues) (HO 4N-509)
12/09 HO: A FIRE ON THE DEEP by Vernor Vinge (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.
09/12 SFABC: Science Fiction Association of Bergen County: Michael
Kandel (author) (phone 201-933-2724 for details)
(Saturday)
09/19 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. Note that this notice contains both a film fest announcement and
a book discussion announcement.
2. Nick Sauer provides the following information for our next
discussion meeting in Holmdel:
The subject of the next SF club meeting is "alternate mythologies"
or "man-made mythologies." Now, before all the atheists in the
club cry out that any mythology or religion is man-made I would
like to specify the discussion topic a little more clearly. What
we will be discussing are religions that were created in works of
THE MT VOID Page 2
fiction, and that are nearly universally acknowledged as fictitious
religions. I say "nearly universally" to avoid offending any
worshipers of Cthulhu or Eru out there.
I have been interested in man-made mythologies ever since I first
encountered H. P. Lovecraft's imaginative mythos. I happened to
mention this at an SF club meeting to explain why I was watching
the Hellraiser movies. This also happened to be a meeting where
new books and subjects were being selected for future discussions
and Rob Mitchell thought this might be a good topic. Unfortunately,
the only "popular" book that we could come up with which pertained
to this topic was _T_h_e _S_i_l_m_a_r_i_l_l_i_o_n.
I read _T_h_e _S_i_l_m_a_r_i_l_l_i_o_n several years ago. Actually, I started
reading it several years ago and just have never gotten around to
finishing it yet. If a book doesn't capture my imagination within
the first 100 or so pages this is what usually happens to it. _T_h_e
_S_i_l_m_a_r_i_l_l_i_o_n had all the color, adventure, and complex character
interaction of the New Jersey Bell Yellow Pages. I apologize in
advance for any perceived slight to the NJ Bell Yellow Pages. This
turgid tone was especially startling because I had just finished
reading _T_h_e _L_o_r_d _o_f _t_h_e _R_i_n_g_s when I started to read this book.
_T_h_e _L_o_r_d _o_f _t_h_e _R_i_n_g_s is one of my all time favorite books. _T_h_e
_S_i_l_m_a_r_i_l_l_i_o_n didn't make it quite that far on my list.
In any case, I have probably offended enough people by now to make
the next SF club meeting a rather lively one. Who knows, I may
even finish reading _T_h_e _S_i_l_m_a_r_i_l_l_i_o_n by then. I would then be able
to speak intelligently (for the first time, some club members would
say) about the discussion book. [-ns]
3. In my recent review of _R_a_i_s_i_n_g _C_a_i_n--not a very good film--I
observed that at his peak Brian De Palma could do a Hitchcockian
thriller as well as Hitchcock did. And as far as I am concerned,
De Palma's best Hitchcock thriller is _O_b_s_e_s_s_i_o_n. Well, now we are
going to let you decide. We will show the best Hitchcock thriller
of De Palma and what is often pointed to as the best of Hitchcock.
You decide. On *WEDNESDAY*, September 16, at 7 PM, the Leeperhouse
fest will feature
Hitchcockions
OBSESSION (1976) dir. by Brian De Palma
VERTIGO (1958) dir. by Alfred Hitchcock
(Note we are showing these out of chronological order to be fair to
De Palma. We have chosen a Hitchcock from the top of Hitchcock's
form. _O_b_s_e_s_s_i_o_n is more comparable to just a good Hitchcock.)
_O_b_s_e_s_s_i_o_n stars Cliff Robertson, Genvieve Bujold, and John Lithgow.
Robertson plays a man who cooperates with the police and does not
pay the kidnappers of his wife and daughter. The plan to catch the
kidnappers is botched and Robertson is left without a family.
THE MT VOID Page 3
Several years later he finds a woman in Italy who resembles his
wife and from whom he thinks he can recreate his wife. The pulsing
Bernard Herrmann score, the single-word title, and much of the feel
of this moody film give this the feel of a Hitchcock.
_V_e_r_t_i_g_o was Jimmy Stewart's last Hitchcock film and is probably
among the best remembered of Hitchcock's thrillers. Stewart is
hired by a school friend to watch the friend's wife (played by Kim
Novak). But when Stewart starts watching her a little too closely,
things start to happen. Again the score is by Bernard Herrmann.
Mark Leeper
MT 3D-441 908-957-5619
...mtgzy!leeper
Real charity doesn't care if its tax-deductible or not.
-- Anonymous
FATHERLAND by Robert Harris
Random House, 1992, ISBN 0-679-41273-5, $21.00.
A book review by Evelyn C. Leeper
Copyright 1992 Evelyn C. Leeper
Usually alternate history novels are written by science fiction
authors, but every few years we see one by a "mainstream" author.
And for whatever reason, they seem to choose the "what if Germany
won World War II" scenario. In 1978 we had what is probably the
best-known, Len Deighton's _S_S-_G_B: _N_a_z_i-_O_c_c_u_p_i_e_d _B_r_i_t_a_i_n _1_9_4_1; in
1980, we had Kenneth Macksey's _I_n_v_a_s_i_o_n: _T_h_e _G_e_r_m_a_n _I_n_v_a_s_i_o_n _o_f
_E_n_g_l_a_n_d, _J_u_l_y _1_9_4_0; now we have Robert Harris's _F_a_t_h_e_r_l_a_n_d.
The year is 1964. The Reich extends from the Caspian Sea in
the east to the French-German border in the west. Western Europe is
apparently joined in something similar to the Common Market which
follows the Reich's lead (though the included map shows them as
separate nations still). The president of the United States, Joseph
P. Kennedy, Sr. (yes, _a_n_o_t_h_e_r alternate Kennedy story as well), is
about to visit Berlin on the occasion of the Fuhrer's seventy-fifth
birthday. And then the corpse of Joseph Buhler, high-ranking
official (now retired), is found washed up on the riverbank near his
home. In the course of investigating this death, Detective Xavier
March is led into some of the best-hidden secrets of the Reich.
Harris is the author of _S_e_l_l_i_n_g _H_i_t_l_e_r: _T_h_e _H_i_t_l_e_r _D_i_a_r_i_e_s and
therefore has a good background for this novel. (He did make one
minor technical slip on page 73: although this takes place in
Europe, dates are given in the American format [mm/dd/yy] rather
than European [dd/mm/yy].) His extrapolations on the whole are
reasonable (though I question the Beatles playing in Hamburg in
Harris's world--does it seem a likely locale for the gay Jewish
manager to pick?). If there is a weak point, it is in the secret
the Reich is trying to hide. Without revealing it, let me just say
that 1) it isn't a secret to us, 2) it doesn't seem to be a real
secret to most of the people in Harris's world, and 3) I'm not
convinced the Reich would be so concerned about keeping it a secret.
Evidence in our world indicates quite the contrary.
The result is that the book failed to involve me--I kept
thinking, "This is supposed to be exciting, or at least suspenseful,
but it isn't." It has some interest as an extrapolation of the
Reich twenty years later, but whether that will satisfy the reader
who is expecting a "taut thriller" is doubtful, and readers who find
any suspense in the story won't appreciate the background.