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Mt. Holz Science Fiction Society
Club Notice - 07/30/93 -- Vol. 12, No. 5
MEETINGS UPCOMING:
Unless otherwise stated, all meetings are in Holmdel 4N-509
Wednesdays at noon.
_D_A_T_E _T_O_P_I_C
07/31 ****Deadline for Hugo Ballots to be postmarked****
08/04 Hugo Short Story Nominees
08/25 CONSIDER PHLEBAS by Iain Banks
(Space Opera with a Knife Twist)
09/15 WORLD AT THE END OF TIME by Frederik Pohl
(Modern Stapledonian Fiction)
10/06 SARAH CANARY by Karen Joy Fowler (Nebula Winner)
(tentative)
10/27 A MILLION OPEN DOORS by John Barnes (Nebula Nominee)
(tentative)
11/17 BRIAR ROSE by Jane Yolen (Nebula Nominee)
(tentative)
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 HO 1E-525 908-834-1563 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 LZ 3L-312 908-576-3346 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. There is a Leeperhouse film fest announcement later in this
notice. (We didn't want you to miss it.)
2. The next discussion meeting will talk about (and possibly rank)
the Hugo nominees for best short story of 1992. The stories are:
"The Winterberry" by Nicholas A. DiChario (in _A_l_t_e_r_n_a_t_e _K_e_n_n_e_d_y_s),
THE MT VOID Page 2
"The Mountain to Mohammed" by Nancy Kress (in _A_s_i_m_o_v'_s Apr), "The
Lotus and the Spear" by Mike Resnick (in _A_s_i_m_o_v'_s Aug), "The
Arbitrary Placement of Walls" by Martha Soukup (in _A_s_i_m_o_v'_s Apr),
and "Even the Queen" by Connie Willis (in _A_s_i_m_o_v'_s Apr).
Without giving too much away, let me say that these represent a
wide range of topics and style. "The Winterberry" is an alternate
history about John F. Kennedy, "The Mountain to Mohammed" is set in
a future in which medical treatment is heavily regulated, "The
Lotus and the Spear" is another in Resnick's "Kirinyaga" series,
"The Arbitrary Placement of Walls" is about the ghosts of a woman's
past, and "Even the Queen" is Willis's response to those who go
perhaps too far in "celebrating" their heritage.
There are no free electronic copies this year, but I suspect one of
the major libraries in the area must have _A_s_i_m_o_v'_s available, and
since they are short stories, a single evening in an air-
conditioned library should suffice. [-ecl]
3. In the 1870s Sudan was governed by an Egyptian suzerainty--that
is, the government had autonymy in domestic issues, but in all its
foreign affairs it was ruled by Egypt. And Britain more or less
controlled Egyptian interests in the Sudan and was using its power
to stamp out the Muslim-backed slave trade. But the Sudan also did
not control its own affairs. The man most responsible for the war
against the slave trade with General Charles "Chinese" Gordon. He
was called "Chinese Gordon" because he come to the Sudan already a
hero from the wars in China--but that is another story. Gordon had
once again made a hero of himself making both friends and enemies
in the region but substantially stamping out the slave trade.
But, even while Gordon was in the Sudan, the Sudanese mystic
Muhammad Ahmad proclaimed himself to be The Mahdi--a title meaning
"the one guided by Allah." The Mahdi was one of the most powerful
and mysterious men in history. In 1881 the Mahdi's unstoppable
waves of The Mahdi's followers overthrew the suzerainty of Sudan.
The Mahdi's forces rolled over Egyptian and British forces in
powerful religious fervor. The British government wanted to act to
save the forward-looking (British-sympathizing) Egyptian governors
of the Sudan from the fundamentalist and fanatic Mahdists. And
they didn't want to do anything that would entangle them in a
costly war. So they privately asked General Gordon to go on his
own initiative and evacuate the Egyptian government from the
capital city of Khartoum and save them from the tremendous forces
of the Mahdi. Even even the heroic Gordon believed that retreat
was the best policy, and they privately asked him to back that
policy, they would save face in not supporting the Egyptians.
Gordon's heroic reputation was really what the British parliament
thought he would need, but they reconned without his Gordon's
heroic ego. Gordon saw that the tremendous forces of The Mahdi
THE MT VOID Page 3
would undoubtedly engulf the entire region. Gordon took it into
his head that rather than retreating, he had to take a stand
against The Mahdi, fortifying rather than evacuating Khartoum.
The story of the next fifteen years is very nicely covered by two
very good adventure films that happen to dovetail together
extremely well. On Thursday, August 5, at 7PM, the Leeperhouse
film festival will tell the story of that next fifteen years in the
Sudan.
Britain Against the Mahdi
KHARTOUM (1966) dir. by Basil Deardon
THE FOUR FEATHERS (1939) dir. by Zoltan Korda
Charleton Heston plays General Gordon and Laurence Olivier is The
Mahdi in the 1966 film _K_h_a_r_t_o_u_m. This is the story of two powerful
opponents whose names will forever be entwined. It is the story of
General Gordon's stand at Khartoum. It is the story of one man
taking a stand against and entire religious movement. I have
always found this to be one historical film which is intelligent
and exciting. This is not just the clash of two men or two armies,
but of two world-views. George MacDonald Fraser says "_K_h_a_r_t_o_u_m is
a spectaular devoted to [Gordon's] last mission, and as an action
picture has its share of good blood-and-thunder sequences, is
extremely well acted, and contains beautiful photography of the
Nile.... All told, _K_h_a_r_t_o_u_m does well by history in the broad
sense, and great pains have been taken with small detail, giving
the film an authentic period quality." Also starring is Richard
Johnson. And what would a British historical film be without Ralph
Richardson? Here he plays Gladstone. I have always had a
particular fondness for this film, sort of one step behind _L_a_w_r_e_n_c_e
_o_f _A_r_a_b_i_a.
We move forward by historic chronology, though backward by
cinematic chronology, to the best of many adaptations of A. E. W.
Mason's novel _T_h_e _F_o_u_r _F_e_a_t_h_e_r_s. This story is not so close to the
prime movers of history, but you do see what happens to Sudan. The
story centers on a young man Harry Faversham (played by John
Clements) from a military family who decides he does not want to go
fight in some far off corner of the world. He is branded a coward
by those nearest and dearest to him. He decides he must prove his
courage. Well, when you are really out to prove something that
everybody doubts, you sort of go overboard. Harry certainly proves
his valor and courage in a sort of rousing adventure that Maltin
goes overboard and gives 4 stars to (Scheuer gives it 3-1/2, I
might say it is worth about 3). Again there is a lot of good
photography and a fair amount of good adventure. I would place
this a few steps beneath _K_h_a_r_t_o_u_m, though it is way ahead of the
_G_u_n_g_a _D_i_n sort of historical British-military film. It stars C.
Aubrey Smith, and, of course, Ralph Richardson.
(Note: these are both long, so we will try to start on time.)
Mark Leeper
MT 3D-441 908-957-5619
...mtgzfs3!leeper
HARVEST by Robert Charles Wilson
Bantam Spectra, ISBN 0-553-37110-X, 1993, $12.
A book review by Evelyn C. Leeper
Copyright 1993 Evelyn C. Leeper
What if aliens offered us the chance to live forever--if the
only price we had to pay was to give up being human? That is the
premise of Robert Charles Wilson's latest book, _H_a_r_v_e_s_t.
As might be expected from the premise, _H_a_r_v_e_s_t is more a study
in characters than an action story, though there is a very
impressive storm sequence. Wilson looks at the world through the
eyes of those few who chose to remain human. And they are a motley
crew--a doctor, a fundamentalist Christian, a car salesman, a
politician, two teenagers, a farmer's wife, an Army colonel, a
retired worker. They have little in common--except their decision.
What makes some choose one way and some another is one of the main
questions of the book, but Wilson never satisfactorily answers it,
and indeed, towards the end _H_a_r_v_e_s_t becomes very much like an update
_E_a_r_t_h _A_b_i_d_e_s, as the remaining humans cope with lack of electricity,
the search for food, and so on. Wilson also makes a few flubs. He
says that on election night, "a long Republican ascendancy over the
White House had come to an end," obviously expecting Bush to win in
1992. (Internal evidence says the story takes place in 1996.) He
also seems to think Lima is in a time zone between Los Angeles and
Anchorage, while it is actually in the same time zone as New York.
In spite of these minor quibbles, however, I would still
recommend _H_a_r_v_e_s_t. Wilson at least touches on the nature of
humanity, and his characters and their reactions to the situation
and to each other may give us some clues, if not to _t_h_e answer, at
least to _a_n answer.