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Mt. Holz Science Fiction Society
Club Notice - 12/04/92 -- Vol. 11, No. 23
MEETINGS UPCOMING:
Unless otherwise stated, all meetings are on Wednesdays at noon.
_D_A_T_E _T_O_P_I_C
12/09 HO: A FIRE ON THE DEEP by Vernor Vinge (HO 4N-509)
12/30 Location TBA: The Best of 1992 (room TBA)
_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.
12/12 SFABC: Science Fiction Association of Bergen County: TBA
(phone 201-933-2724 for details) (Saturday)
12/19 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 mtgzfs3!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 mtgzfs3!leeper
Factotum: Evelyn Leeper MT 1F-329 908-957-2070 mtgzy!ecl
All material copyright by author unless otherwise noted.
1. Our next discussion book is _A _F_i_r_e _U_p_o_n _t_h_e _D_e_e_p by Vernor
Vinge, of which Dale Skran says:
Vernor Vinge, one of the little heralded great pioneers of modern
SF, returns after a long hiatus with a sweeping tale of an
unlikely, even impossible future. He creates a gimmick to allow
him to write the kind of "super-science" stories he likes to read-
-the Slow Zone. In some twisted fashion, the center of the galaxy
inhibits thought, both human and electronic, as well as faster than
light travel, which is apparently tied in some complex fashion to
thought itself. This gimmick is similar to that used by Poul
Anderson in _B_r_a_i_n _W_a_v_e, but with some significant differences.
In the "Unthinking Deeps" no civilization can arise; real
intelligence is simply impossible. Woe betide the ships that
wander here! In the "Slow Zone" thought is possible, as well as
simple computers, but faster than light travel is not. In the
THE MT VOID Page 2
"Beyond," computers and minds work much better, and "ultra-drive"
works. Finally, in the "Transcend," it is possible to achieve
transcendence and vanish from the ken of lesser beings.
On this canvas Vinge spins a tale of pack-intelligences and little
boys, of a woman who survived the murder of billions and a man who
was godshatter, of a Power who learned too late that there are
always the greater and the lessor, of a hollowed-eyed crew lusting
for vengeance the heroism of the tool of an ancient evil, and of
the courage of a young girl. By showing us this unlikely caravan
of miracles, Vinge is reminding us of just how strange the universe
may yet be! There are even those, such a Roger Penrose (_T_h_e
_E_m_p_e_r_o_r'_s _N_e_w _M_i_n_d), who believe that thought and consciousness may
have a quantum mechanical component. And if it did, is it
impossible that the subtle twisting of spacetime by the black hole
at the center of the galaxy might, just might have some effect on
thought--human and machine? [-dls]
2. Every once in a while I like to take different hare-brained
scientific speculations and see if they fit together. Let me
bounce this one off you and see if anybody has a comment. A while
back I observed that flying seems to be an almost universal
fascination with humans. It gets manifested in different ways with
different people, but a majority of the world's population exhibits
some fascination with flight. It doesn't have to be aircraft
enthusiasm, though that counts. Some people like to dabble in
paper airplanes, some in hot air balloons. Some people like to
watch birds or bats or insects in flight. Kites are popular all
over much of the world. Pretty much anyone like to play with
helium balloons and lots like to build models of aircraft. We make
folk heroes of Superman, Peter Pan, Steve Canyon, Mighty Mouse,
Captain Midnight, Flash Gordon, Buck Rogers, and Spaceman Spiff.
Earlier I suggested that this inbred fascination with flight was a
rebellion against being able to see in three dimensions but walk
only in two, but maybe that's not true. Maybe we think so much
about flight because our bodies are equipped for it. Maybe for
part of our development as a species we _c_o_u_l_d move in three
dimensions and now somehow miss it.
Am I suggesting that at some point in human evolution we were a
primate who could fly? Wells, perhaps. Did we have feathers? No.
But take a look at how you do look and act differently from most
primates. We are not covered with hair like other primates, though
if you look at Alec Baldwin's chest (or my father's) you see some
have not lost it entirely. But most of us are covered with only
very sparse hair. Our most common sex position is front-to-front,
while other primates do it front-to-back. And we have elevated
intelligence. These characteristics are unusual among land
mammals., but are actually common among aquatic mammals. The
theory has been suggested that at some point in our development we
were aquatic apes.
THE MT VOID Page 3
The concept of aquatic apes sounds strange at first, but of course
so does that of aquatic lizards. And we did see aquatic lizards in
the Galapagos. It has been seriously suggested by reputable
scientists (how should I know who? I heard this quite a while
back!) that what sets humans apart from other primates is that we
spent some time developing in water.
Now let's tie the two ideas together. Could it be that the reason
the dream of flight is so widespread is that it is a lost facility
to move about in three dimensions? Aquatic animals do have a form
of flight. They do move in three dimensions. The medium just is
not air. They glide about--over and under each other--in water.
Whales, porpoises, and otters glide very gracefully in three
dimensions. It is an experience for which we could still be
prepared psychologically, but physically it might be impossible.
What do you folks think? I'll listen to arguments that I'm all
wet.
Mark Leeper
MT 3D-441 908-957-5619
...mtgzfs3!leeper
The multitude of books is making us ignorant.
-- Voltaire
ALADDIN
A film review by Mark R. Leeper
Copyright 1992 Mark R. Leeper
Capsule review: Good animation but an otherwise
very bad non-telling of the story of Aladdin and the
wonderful lamp. The story has little to do with the
Arabian Nights tale and even that story keeps being
derailed by Robin Williams's much too topical humor.
This film is many cuts below _B_e_a_u_t_y _a_n_d _t_h_e _B_e_a_s_t.
Rating: 0 (-4 to +4).
I am not a great fan of the animated versions of fairy tales
and, in this case, Arabian Nights tales, as produced by Disney
Studios. I frankly questioned that proclivity when I saw _B_e_a_u_t_y _a_n_d
_t_h_e _B_e_a_s_t just about a year ago. It seemed to me at that point
Disney (the studio, not the man) had learned how to tell a story
with complexity and one that worked on multiple levels. _B_e_a_u_t_y _a_n_d
_t_h_e _B_e_a_s_t, it seemed to me, was a film that said something about the
human condition. Now the same company makes _A_l_a_d_d_i_n. Is it as good
as _B_e_a_u_t_y? Try asking if it is even as good as _T_h_e _L_i_t_t_l_e _M_e_r_m_a_i_d.
This one is a solid disappointment.
Let us start with the story. I think we all know the story of
Aladdin, right? Good. Will somebody tell it to the good folks at
Disney, please. Disney is often less than faithful to source
material. In this case perhaps one or two scenes of the story made
it to the film. The screenplay by Ron Clements and John Musker (who
also produced and directed) in fact is almost a reasonable version
of the modern story "The Thief of Baghdad." The setting has been
moved from China to Arabia for reasons best know to Clements and
Musker. In this version Aladdin falls in love with the princess of
Aqaba and sets out to win her. Even telling that story would not
have been a bad idea, but the film goes desperately wrong with its
use of Robin Williams as the genie of the lamp. When the genie is
on the screen we go from the usual timeless story-telling to a bunch
of topical allusions that may be amusing on first viewing, but will
not be a second time. Williams lampoons Arnold Schwarzenegger,
William F. Buckley, Jack Nicholson, Robert DeNiro, Groucho Marx, and
a host of other celebrities. Williams totally derails any style
that the film has been able to build up. The story-telling often
just stops dead as Williams does his thing or the film goes off into
slapstick.
At least there is something positive to say about the art and
animation, some of which is actually quite nice. There is a cave
whose mouth is the head of a tiger that is both well drawn and well
animated. Backgrounds are intentionally blurred and then focused
sharply to shift the eye of the viewer and give a feeling of depth.
There is a very nice sequence involving a rolling cylinder--I will
not describe how it fits into the plot. The animation is sufficient
but the extremely uneven tone and the almost total lack of fidelity
to the story make this a lesser effort from Disney. My rating is 0
on the -4 to +4 scale.
MALCOLM X
A film review by Mark R. Leeper
Copyright 1992 Mark R. Leeper
Capsule review: Spike Lee has brought _T_h_e
_A_u_t_o_b_i_o_g_r_a_p_h_y _o_f _M_a_l_c_o_l_m _X to the screen in a film of
large virtues and large faults. We get some feel for
the sweep of historic events and a feel for how
Malcolm's views were transformed over time, but we
get insufficient views of his beliefs at any point in
time, nor which set of his beliefs the film is
championing when it champions him. Rating: +1 (-4 to
+4).
Spike Lee's _M_a_l_c_o_l_m _X is a mammoth 201-minute film about the
black Islamic leader that may not always be doing what Lee intended
it to do. The film does say a lot about Malcolm, both positive and
negative, but not nearly as much as one would expect for a film
almost twice the length of most feature films. The film tells in
approximately equal thirds about 1) his youth and his drift into
crime; 2) his "redemption" and his association with the Nation of
Islam; and 3) his break with the Nation of Islam, their campaign
against him, and his murder, very likely at their hands. This
should have given the audience a very good understanding of the man,
but the screenplay by Arnold Perl and Spike Lee does not use its
time well. At one point it stops the action dead for an extended
dance production number. It also spends far too much time with
Malcolm X's great good buddy, Shorty, who just happens to be played
by Spike Lee. In addition, many of the events shown in the film are
of questionable authenticity. For example, my understanding is that
Malcolm's mother denies that her husband was murdered, unlike how it
was shown in the film.
The film opens with Malcolm's youth. Malcolm (played by Denzel
Washington) begins as a teenager trying to straighten his hair with
the help of Shorty. The film then jumps around in time, never
giving us a really good feel for what years things are taking place.
We see something of his earlier youth with his family harassed by
the Ku Klux Klan. Those scenes include one amazing shot that
ironically seems to romanticize the Klan, riding off into a huge
moon on the horizon. Again it is a sign that Lee is not fully in
control of this film. Malcolm eventually moves first to Boston,
then New York, then Boston again, embarking on a life of crime cut
short by a prison sentence.
In prison, Malcolm is recruited by Baines (played by Albert
Hall) for the Nation of Islam. Malcolm is impressed by Baines's
questionable rhetoric. (His description of why Muslims eat no pork
is a real corker! As for his claims that Islam has a great in-built
Malcolm X November 29, 1992 Page 2
respect for blacks as people... am I the only person who remembers
there was a huge Arab slave trade in Africa even well after slavery
was abolished in Europe and the Americas? In fact, I believe that
the reason Swahili is still so widespread in Africa is that it was
the language created from Bantu and Arabic for the Arab slave trade.
That fact just does not seem to square with a large black movement
to champion Islam.) Malcolm leaves prison with an abiding belief in
Elijah Muhammad--very well-played by Al Freeman, Jr., who played
Malcolm X in _R_o_o_t_s _I_I--and in the precept that all whites are
devils.
The film than covers Malcolm's rise to and fall from power in
Elijah Muhammad's Nation of Islam. Here it becomes unclear exactly
what the film's attitude toward the Nation of Islam is. While
Malcolm appears in some ways to be doing very positive things, he
behaves and presents his viewpoints very differently in front of
blacks than in front of whites. Lee seems to be attacking the
Nation of Islam for hypocrisy. Eventually when Malcolm starts
presenting the same vitriolic message to the whites that he was
giving to the blacks, it starts the rift between Malcolm and the
Nation of Islam. It may be hard for much of the audience to cheer
statements like, "The Earth belongs to us ... the black man," or
banners that say, "We must protect our most valuable
property ... our women." Malcolm also rejects integration entirely
in favor of complete separation between the black and white races.
In the final third of the film, Malcolm's views shift entirely.
He is no longer an advocate of racial separation, but of racial
harmony through Islam. He is willing to accept that there may be
good whites in the world, as long as they are also good Muslims. He
is no longer willing to follow Elijah Muhammad and founds his own
rival Muslim black sect. This leads to the tragic events of which
the audience is probably already aware.
The film concludes by showing documentary footage of the real
Malcolm X. Often historical films shy away from showing documentary
footage of characters they have portrayed by actors. Perhaps it is
to avoid confusion about if it is indeed the same person. Or
perhaps showing the footage would be inviting criticism of how well
or badly the actor was made to look like the actual person. Lee's
use of real footage of Malcolm X shows that assumption may well be
underestimating the audience. After the footage, several black
celebrities are seen wearing caps bearing the "X," though it is not
clear which set of Malcolm X's sets of beliefs they are claiming to
espouse.
The performances in _M_a_l_c_o_l_m _X are generally quite good. Denzel
Washington very quickly becomes Malcolm X for the audience. Al
Freeman, Jr., is very believable as the founder of a huge movement.
Angela Bassett and Lonette McKee are both very moving as Malcolm's
wife and mother, respectively. Only notably out of place is Spike
Malcolm X November 29, 1992 Page 3
Lee himself playing basically the same jazzy character he played in
_S_h_e'_s _G_o_t_t_a _H_a_v_e _I_t, or comically fainting on hearing his prison
sentence. There is much he could have cut from the film to actually
improve its effectiveness and his own performance heads the list.
_M_a_l_c_o_l_m _X teaches some history and presents some ideas, but
does neither well enough to justify its length and hoopla. Lee's
dream project falls short of some of the films he made preparing for
it. I rate _M_a_l_c_o_l_m _X a +1 on the -4 to +4 scale.
THE COLLECTED STORIES OF ROBERT SILVERBERG, VOLUME 1: SECRET SHARERS
Bantam Spectra, ISBN 0-553-37068-5, 1992, $12.50.
A book review by Evelyn C. Leeper
Copyright 1992 Evelyn C. Leeper
The title of this volume would lead the reader to expect
stories from Silverberg's early period, but in fact they are from
between November 1981 and September 1988. Even the previous
collection, _T_h_e _C_o_n_g_l_o_m_e_r_o_i_d _C_o_c_k_t_a_i_l _P_a_r_t_y (1984), consists
entirely of post-1980 works. So I have no idea why this is labeled
"Volume 1." (The fact that the introduction is dated over two years
ago, and the page headers are incorrect for a few pages around page
330 make me wonder even more about the history of this book.)
Still, it has twenty-four pieces of Robert Silverberg's short
fiction (short stories, novelettes, and novellas), including several
award winners and nominees. Though it omits "Gilgamesh in the
Outback" (already included in _T_o _t_h_e _L_a_n_d _o_f _t_h_e _L_i_v_i_n_g), it
includes "Sailing to Byzantium"; "Enter a Soldier, Later: Enter
Another"; and "A Sleep and a Forgetting." I see no point in giving
a detailed review of each story--they're by Silverberg and
Silverberg hasn't written a bad story in years--certainly not since
he was turning them out two a week, and possibly not even then.
Here you have two dozen previously uncollected Silverberg stories
for fifty cents each--what more could you ask for? Highly
recommended.
SPEAKING IN TONGUES by Ian McDonald
Bantam Spectra, ISBN 0-553-29239-0, 1992, $4.99.
A book review by Evelyn C. Leeper
Copyright 1992 Evelyn C. Leeper
Since this is a Bantam Spectra book, I suppose it goes without
saying that McDonald's inspirations are not those writers of
"Campbellian workmanlike prose" who appeared in the old _A_s_t_o_u_n_d_i_n_gs,
but rather such sources as Yeats and Joyce. The result is stories
that focus more on style and language than on plot or hard science
fiction ideas. McDonald also uses the Third World ambiance of
"cyberpunk." His stories don't take place in New York or London or
Amsterdam--they are about Hy Brazyl and Dahomy and Penang and
Nairobi. Not that all this is bad, but you should know what you're
getting.
"Gardenias," for example, is about the use of a matter
transmitter to achieve a new spiritual plane. The matter
transmitter makes the story sound like hard science fiction, but
McDonald is writing atmosphere, not technical details. The neo-
Latin world is more fully realized than the device. The same is
true of the dry desert world of "Rainmaker Cometh," the isolated
world of "Listen," the 1930s Germany of "Fragments of an Analysis of
a Case of Hysteria," the Caribbean world of "Atomic Avenue," even
the Borgesian hyperbolic world of "Approaching Perpendicular."
Only in a few stories does the plot overcome the background to
stand out. In "Floating Dogs," enhanced animals fulfill their
destiny in carrying out the designs of their creators. In "Fronds,"
we see the clash of species in conflict--the advancement of one will
cause the death of another. Ironically, even though this has the
strongest plot, it may be the weakest story, because the plot--even
to its use of dolphins as another sentient species--is by now
familiar to most readers. And "Winning," another plot-oriented
story (or perhaps character-oriented), just made me think, "I've
seen all this in a movie. An Academy-Award-winning movie, true, but
still...."
"Toward Kilimanjaro" is the best example of McDonald's
strengths and weaknesses. When he is putting the reader in the
encroaching plastic jungle, he is excellent; when he gets into the
specifics of what is happening, he falters badly. Is this new life
form indigenous or alien? McDonald wants it both ways. And it is
impossible for biological entities to develop wheels (see Stephen
Jay Gould's essay "Kingdoms Without Wheels" in _H_e_n'_s _T_e_e_t_h _a_n_d
_H_o_r_s_e'_s _T_o_e_s).
Still, McDonald's skills as a stylist overcome the flaws and
familiarities in plot that he occasionally falls into. _S_p_e_a_k_i_n_g _i_n
Speaking in Tongues November 28, 1992 Page 2
_T_o_n_g_u_e_s is not for everyone, but for those pursuing the literary
branch of science fiction and fantasy, this is recommended.
(I must make one minor complaint against Bantam: they chose to
use the book title for the page header rather than the individual
story titles. This makes it impossible to flip through to find a
particular story--most annoying.)