@@@@@ @ @ @@@@@ @ @ @@@@@@@ @ @ @@@@@ @@@@@ @@@ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @@@@@ @@@@ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @@@@@ @ @ @ @ @@@@@ @@@@@ @@@ Mt. Holz Science Fiction Society Club Notice - 12/24/93 -- Vol. 12, No. 26 MEETINGS UPCOMING: Unless otherwise stated, all meetings are in Middletown 1R-400C Wednesdays at noon. _D_A_T_E _T_O_P_I_C 01/05 A MILLION OPEN DOORS by John Barnes (Nebula Nominee) 01/26 Bookswap 02/16 Demo of Electronic Hugo and Nebula Anthology (MT 3D-441) 03/09 A CANTICLE FOR LEIBOWITZ by Walter M. Miller (Vividly Memorable SF) Outside events: The Science Fiction Association of Bergen County meets on the second Saturday of every month in Upper Saddle River; call 201-933-2724 for details. The New Jersey Science Fiction Society meets on the third Saturday of every month in Belleville; call 201-432-5965 for details. HO Chair: John Jetzt MT 2G-432 908-957-5087 holly!jetzt LZ Chair: Rob Mitchell HO 1C-523 908-834-1267 holly!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 HO 2C-318 908-949-4156 quartet!lfl MT Librarian: Mark Leeper MT 3D-441 908-957-5619 mtgzfs3!leeper Factotum: Evelyn Leeper MT 1F-329 908-957-2070 mtgpfs1!ecl All material copyright by author unless otherwise noted. 1. Carl Aveyard wrote with the following request regarding meetings at other locations: "Well, what about good ol' Leeds? Convenient for all major roads, rail and airport to boot (don't ask where boot is)!" I'm sorry. I have to exercise Power somehow or there is no point in being Chairperson. Let me be arbitrary and capricious and say no, you cannot have meetings in Leeds. Well, not the Southern part of Leeds. That is unless you can get some people who are willing to meet in the Southern part of Leeds. If you can let me know and I will change my mandate to not the Northern part of Leeds. Well, unless you think you can get people to meet both places. Ah, let me amend that. You can meet anywhere in Leeds, but absolutely not THE MT VOID Page 2 in North Yorkshire. Unless you think you might. I don't know. I think I may not have the hang of this Power thing just yet. =================================================================== 2. PASSION PLAY by Sean Stewart (Ace, ISBN 0-441-65241-7, 1993, US$4.50) (a book review by Evelyn C. Leeper): I find science fictional looks at religion intriguing, and in that category I would include future theocracies. _P_a_s_s_i_o_n _P_l_a_y is about a near-future America that is a theocracy, having been taken over by the Redemptionists. The "reds" (as they are somewhat confusingly called) have taken over the entertainment media as well, and everything is now instructive or uplifting. The Reds seem to have some idea of art--though movies and such financed by religious groups now don't seem to show much evidence of this--and it is during the production of a version of _F_a_u_s_t that the murder which forms the core of the book's plot occurs. The story is told in the first person by an independent investigator (who has some semi-psychic powers which are never explained). Reading the book, I felt like a stone skipping over the surface of a lake. There's too much "stuff" in this short book to have any of it examined in depth. The Redemptionist government, the religious structure (what happened to all the non-Christians in the new United States?), new uses of the media (along with a distrust in technology approaching the neo-Luddite level--how do these contradictory ideas get resolved?), puritanism (along with drugs and sex)--all these are touched on, but never examined or even made consistent. And wrapping all this around a murder mystery confuses the issue. There's too much the reader is trying to figure out about the background to give him or her a fair chance at figuring out the crime. (Yes, I know a murder mystery is not necessarily a puzzle. Still, it does seem as though the science fiction nature of this merely mystifies the reader further.) _P_a_s_s_i_o_n _P_l_a_y suffers from a super-abundance of aspects. I rarely find myself complaining that a book is too short, but Stewart needed either to lengthen the book or cut back on the various changes introduced. (It's also possible that an "expository lump" explaining some of what was going on might have made the rest less confusing.) _P_a_s_s_i_o_n _P_l_a_y is an intriguing novel, but ultimately disappointing. (In fairness, I show note that many people have liked it more than I, and it did win the Aurora Award for Best Canadian Science Fiction Novel in English. But my reaction was that it showed a lot of promise, but didn't deliver on it.) THE MT VOID Page 3 =================================================================== 3. The 1993 Skran "Batch Review" (book reviews by Dale L. Skran): Periodically, I write a "batch review" of books I have read, but didn't like enough to write a full-length review. In some cases, I just want to warn people that the book should be avoided. Since I moved in the fall of 1992, I have had my hands full with "house chores" and work, and thus have fallen _r_e_a_l_l_y behind on the little reviews. However, at long last I am attempting to catch up. _D_a_r_k _S_k_y _L_e_g_i_o_n by William Barton: Barton is one of the authors of IRIS, a book I previously reviewed and liked a good bit. Dark Sky Legion has as its premise a galactic empire ruled by Earth using light-speed-limited ships. This empire (the MetaStable Order) is controlled by Televoxes (Far Voices) for the Order. The Order has an extremely advanced technology (which the far-flung planets generally lack), including a limited range "Star Trek" type transporter, which is actually a copying machine. The Televox is stored as a pattern during the long, slow intersteller voyages, and then created anew at each planet he/she inspects. The Televox's job is to assess how far the planet has drifted from the MetaStable Order, and to take corrective action, up to and including obliterating the planet. Note that this system assures the Order that the Televox changes very little from the person that originally left Earth many thousands of years ago. If the Televox is killed on a planet, another one is created from the pattern and continues the mission. _D_a_r_k _S_k_y _L_e_g_i_o_n follows Maaron Denthurion as he judges Olam and its inhabitants. The result is an original, thought provoking tale that does not duplicate previous science fiction efforts on "Galactic Empires." A brief look at the appendix is helpful in understanding the special terminology of the MetaStable Order. Recommended to fans of space opera, galactic empires, and thought- provoking SF. _T_h_e _R_e_m_a_r_k_a_b_l_e_s by Robert Reed Reed wrote _D_o_w_n _t_h_e _B_r_i_g_h_t _W_a_y, which I enjoyed greatly, and have previously reviewed in these pages. I liked it so much that I started reading his other books, including _T_h_e _R_e_m_a_r_k_a_b_l_e_s. _T_h_e _R_e_m_a_r_k_a_b_l_e_s is a "little story" in the sense it is not about the clash of empires or the fate of the universe. It concerns a man with a secret (Ranier Lu) who joins in a dangerous expedition on the only planet ever found that contains non-human intelligent life. There is a bit of a plot, but mainly the story concerns the relationship of the travelers to each other, and to the aliens (the THE MT VOID Page 4 Remarkables). I did read the whole story, and although it isn't quite my cup of tea, I came away with more respect for Mr. Reed's writing talents. Recommended to fans of SF character stories, encounters with aliens, and out-of-doors adventures. _B_l_a_c_k _M_i_l_k by Robert Reed _B_l_a_c_k _M_i_l_k jumbles together too many elements to make a good story. Much of the tale concerns a Dr. Florida and the genetically engineered children he has created. This part of the story is pretty interesting, but Reed tacks on a world shattering threat or two, and a plot more suited to Marvel Comics at the end. In truth, I didn't get past page 161. However, Reed's talent is visible even in this earlier work, and I hope to see better stuff from him in the future _B_l_a_c_k _M_i_l_k was written before _D_o_w_n _t_h_e _B_r_i_g_h_t _W_a_y and _T_h_e _R_e_m_a_r_k_a_b_l_e_s, and it shows, oddly enough, not in the writing (which is very good), but in the poorly cobbled-together plot. Recommended to fans of mutant children, genetic engineering, and Reed completists. _R_a_f_t by Stephen Baxter This novel got tremendous hype from people like Clarke and Niven, and indeed, it resembles their styles to a large extent. It concerns what happens when a spaceship from our universe ends up in a universe where the force of gravity is a billion times stronger than in our universe. The "one speculation" granted Baxter is that everyone doesn't die right away, and indeed they set up a struggling colony. Five centuries later "Rees" begins to wonder about the odd limits of his rather brutal life, and begins explore and generally get into trouble in the best SF fashion. What follows is traditional exploration SF that reminds the reader of a Heinlein young adult novel with just a touch of sex, or of the adult Heinlein generation ship story. I like this better than a lot of recent Niven/Forward books--Baxter seem less tired and more interesting then Niven/Forward's recent works. For a first novel, Baxter writes with excellent control, and once you get used to the single grand and unlikely premise, the story rips right along. Recommended to fans of Hard SF, "sense of wonder" SF, Heinlein, Clarke, Niven, and Sheffield. Warning: There is some sex and a few THE MT VOID Page 5 gross scenes with a primitive tribe. _T_i_m_e_l_i_k_e _I_n_f_i_n_i_t_y by Stephen Baxter I jumped into Baxter's second novel with great eagerness, and was rewarded (at least initially) with a complex time-travel plot. Humans from the future seek to return to the past to prevent the alien Qax from enslaving the Earth. The story ends with a rock- 'em-sock-'em super-science battle that would do Larry Niven or Doc Smith proud. Unfortunately, an extremely promising novel ends abruptly and in an unsatisfactory and confusing fashion, leading the reader to suspect an artificial page limit, or, worse, sequelitus. Perhaps, I am just too dense to appreciate the ending, but read it yourself and make your own decision. However, even with this complaint, there are many worse books than _T_i_m_e_l_i_k_e _I_n_f_i_n_i_t_y (see the review to come!). Recommended to fans of Hard SF, "sense of wonder!!" SF, Clarke, Niven, Sheffield, Forward, time travel stories, and the end of IT ALL. Mark Leeper MT 3D-441 908-957-5619 leeper@mtgzfs3.att.com To know, to think, to dream. That is everything. -- Victor Hugo THIS PAGE INTENTIONALLY LEFT ALMOST BLANK