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Mt. Holz Science Fiction Society
Club Notice - 09/10/93 -- Vol. 12, No. 11
MEETINGS UPCOMING:
Unless otherwise stated, all meetings are in Holmdel 4N-509
Wednesdays at noon.
_D_A_T_E _T_O_P_I_C
09/15 WORLD AT THE END OF TIME by Frederik Pohl
(Modern Stapledonian Fiction)
10/06 SARAH CANARY by Karen Joy Fowler (Nebula Nominee)
10/27 THE MOON IS A HARSH MISTRESS by Robert A. Heinlein (Classic SF)
11/17 BRIAR ROSE by Jane Yolen (Nebula Nominee)
12/08 STAND ON ZANZIBAR by John Brunner (Classic SF)
01/05 A MILLION OPEN DOORS by John Barnes (Nebula Nominee)
01/26 Bookswap
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. Our book to discuss next Wednesday is Fred Pohl's _W_o_r_l_d _a_t _t_h_e
_E_n_d _o_f _T_i_m_e. Unfortunately, I have had very little time to prepare
a blurb, so let me just say that Pohl achieves a Stapledonian sweep
of time in his story, using a pair of techniques. I don't want to
give it away, so let me just say that it owes a bit to Joe Haldeman
and a bit to Poul Anderson, and a bit to some other people. In
addition to the timespan, the book features alien aliens, political
struggles, religious wars, and just about everything else. Come
join us for details! [-ecl]
THE MT VOID Page 2
2. A couple of weeks ago we discussed Iain Banks's _C_o_n_s_i_d_e_r
_P_h_l_e_b_a_s, and by request of our Scottish members, here is a summary
of that discussion:
What did people like about the book? Well, the Culture is an
advanced civilization that _a_c_t_s terribly advanced, and Banks pays a
lot of attention to society. The book is about a well-thought-out
conflict, which is also a different sort of conflict that we have.
(The claim was made that as civilizations grow and develop, what
they fight wars about changes, and that why we fight wars would be
incomprehensible to someone from 500 years ago. This theory was
not universally accepted.)
There was a lot of discussion of the appendices. While some people
had read this as being about the far future descendents of
humanity, it turns out that the action all takes place somewhere
else in the galaxy (or maybe on Mars--my own personal theory)
during the 13th Century. In any case, the conflict is between the
Culture--capitalist, libertarian, almost anarchic--and the Idirans-
--religious and imperialist. Of course, the Culture has some
structure, and does work toward "uplifting" other humanoid races;
one person described its function as "the Peace Corps with nuclear
weapons." The contrast between the Culture and the Idirans is
shown in the choice of ships' names in the two groups. The Idirans
have serious names for their ships (e.g., "Hand of God 137"--they
also have a _l_o_t of ships), while the Culture's names are more
frivolous (e.g., "Only Slightly Bent").
What did people dislike about the book? Well, there are many
unpleasant parts. (Someone on the Net said, "This novel is the
only book that has made my stomach churn with nausea.") The
argument was made that these parts are necessary to emphasize what
can be the result if you have a libertarian, laissez-faire system.
There has also been a recent discussion on the Net about Banks's
books. Leif Magnar Kjonnoy says of the background: "The basic
premise behind this universe is that there is an interstellar
civilization (The Culture), which is so incredibly advanced in
technology that there is no longer such a thing as scarcity. No
need for war. Humans (actually, I guess they should be called
Para-humans) and human-level intelligent machines inhabit various
worlds (mostly artificial ones; the Culture seems to go in for
small ringworlds and such rather than terraforming planets). Huge
sentient computers ("Minds") manage what needs to be managed.
Sentient starships (which are large enough to have hundreds of
millions of people living in them) rush around at forty thousand
times lightspeed. The Culture is just about the most ultimate
tech-utopia I've ever seen."
"The stories mostly concern the interactions between the Culture
and civilizations outside of the Culture. They contain a lot of
THE MT VOID Page 3
very nasty things -- people die in horrible ways, and so on. As I
already said, I think they're brilliant. You would be well advised
to seek out anything Banks has written, SF or not SF (he's written
various things outside the SF genre; I haven't got hold of any of
those yet, but I know I'll swoop down on anything of his I see on a
shelf in any book- store I'm in.)"
In addition, Donn Seeley provided the following bibliographical
information generated from an interview with Banks which appeared
in Mark Ziesing's JOURNAL WIRED (quotes from Banks derive from the
interview). This was written in 1988, so is somewhat out-of-date;
AGAINST A DARK BACKGROUND, for example, has just appeared in the
United States in mass market paperback.
- THE HUNGARIAN LIFT JET. Written in 1970, unpublished. '[A]
spy story, absolutely full of sex and violence, neither of
which I'd had any experience with at the time [laughter].'
- TTR. Written in 1972, unpublished. 'Just gigantic. ... It
had a cast of thousands and was very silly.' Quasi-SF in the
mold of CATCH-22 and STAND ON ZANZIBAR.
- THE USE OF WEAPONS. Written in 1974 or 1975, unpublished in
its original version; apparently rewritten in the summer of
1989 for publication. SF; the first novel of the Culture.
Like the later novels THE PLAYER OF GAMES and CONSIDER
PHLEBAS, it apparently concerns a misfit or outsider in the
interstellar utopian anarchy of the Culture.
- AGAINST A DARK BACKGROUND. Written after WEAPONS;
unpublished. SF but not connected to the Culture stories.
- THE PLAYER OF GAMES. Written three years after BACKGROUND,
published in 1988 after a bit of rewriting. The second
Culture novel. A story about the nature of competition and
cooperation that takes place on a planet where society is
built around an incredibly complex game. Fun, although the
politics is a bit heavy-handed.
- THE STATE OF THE ART. Written in 1979, published in 1989
after some polishing. A novella about Earth and the Culture
published as a book. A Culture starship discovers Earth and
members of the crew have different reactions to our own
culture circa 1977. How does a utopia like the Culture react
to an ugly mess like Earth? Some interesting insights into
the Culture but the story doesn't stand by itself.
- THE WASP FACTORY. Banks's sixth novel, first one published,
in 1984. The first book 'that I did a second draft on.' As
for content -- to quote the author, 'Well, you can call THE
WASP FACTORY a lot of things, but MEDIOCRE it AIN'T.' If you
had to classify it, I suppose you could call it 'psychological
horror'. FACTORY made a big stir in the UK when it came out
-- some people found it pretty shocking. It's great fun even
when it's being egregiously nasty... Highly recommended.
- CONSIDER PHLEBAS. Written after FACTORY; published in 1987,
making it the first published Culture novel. A big and gaudy
THE MT VOID Page 4
novel, written as a kind of send-up of or tribute to classic
space opera. As space opera, it kicks ass -- plus it's
wonderfully funny. Says Mr Banks: 'CONSIDER PHLEBAS would
make a fucking BRILLIANT film...' It would, too.
- WALKING ON GLASS. Written after PHLEBAS; published in 1985.
Very complex novel about the different ways people experience
reality. Reminds me of Phil Dick and Christopher Priest.
Hey, and it's funny too. I read this first and I still think
it's great, but David Hartwell didn't like it and you might
not either. De gustibus.
- O. Written after GLASS; unpublished. 'It wasn't very
good...'
- THE BRIDGE. Written after O; published in 1986. Very strange
fantasy about a man who finds himself in a world where
civilization is built on an infinite bridge over an infinite
sea. It contains some bits from the unpublished novel O. The
editor had Banks cut some 40,000 words from the novel; Banks
mentions the idea of publishing an unabridged BRIDGE someday.
However, he says: 'I'm certainly very happy with the way it
IS' -- the book is still very effective. I liked it a lot.
- ESPEDAIR STREET. Written after BRIDGE; published in 1987. A
novel about the career of a rock musician from Scotland who
makes it big but falls from grace. I liked it but I wasn't
overwhelmed; it's a nice character study with many details
from the music business.
- CANAL DREAMS. Written after the rewrite of GAMES; published
1989. A short novel that combines a character study of a
classical musician with nail-biting suspense. The musician is
a woman cello player from Japan, so it's more exotic than it
might sound. I rather liked it.
Forthcoming: The rewritten WEAPONS for 1989; a new non-SF book for
1990 ('something more like THE BRIDGE, that complicated and
intricate [but] a bit bigger, beefier, as it were, the size of
PHLEBAS perhaps'); the rewrite of BACKGROUND for 1991.
3. With the proving of Fermat's Last Theorem, we have passed one of
those oh-so-rare instants of time when the American public is
suddenly aware that there is mathematics. Oh, many people knew at
one time that there was mathematics, just like most people over
thirty have heard that there is a country called "Malaysia"
somewhere. But the majority of Americans go for years without
thinking about Malaysia or any math beyond simple arithmetic. The
public in general thinks of mathematicians about how they think of
professional golfers--people who are doing something totally non-
productive and being paid for it. Except some of the public
understands the appeal of golf. As for the value the American
public places on mathematics, it ranks considerably below nail
polish and roughly on a par with those two plastic balls on a
string that you twirl in opposite directions and which hit each
other with an annoying clack-clack-clack noise.
THE MT VOID Page 5
The last time the public got some interest in any higher math, it
was a group theory problem wrapped in plastic called "Rubik's
Cube." And even with Rubik's Cube it was mostly children who were
interested. I had a weird experience with Rubik's Cube, by the
way. This is true. We were meeting a friend in Manhattan during
the craze and I was waiting in a hotel lobby and playing with a
Cube I had been carrying. After about ten minutes I looked up and
realized there was around me a ring of Japanese businessmen, just
intently watching how I went about solving the Cube. They smiled
at me, and I smiled back, but I knew in that instant that the race
was over and America could not hope to compete with a country whose
businessmen are more interested in learning something as abstract
as a Rubik's Cube when they could have been sitting in a bar or
watching television or just sitting and doing something non-
productive. At the time I tried to tell people about the incident
and my conclusions, but the reaction I got back at that point was
that a country that eats raw fish and makes Godzilla movies did not
seem to be anybody's idea of a serious threat.
4. The 1993 Hugo winners are:
Novel: _A _F_i_r_e _U_p_o_n _t_h_e _D_e_e_p by Vernor Vinge (Tor) and
and _D_o_o_m_s_d_a_y _B_o_o_k by Connie Willis (Bantam) (tie)
Novella: "Barnacle Bill the Spacer" by Lucius Shepard
(_A_s_i_m_o_v'_s July)
Novelette: "The Nutcracker Coup" by Janet Kagan (_A_s_i_m_o_v'_s Dec)
Short Story: "Even the Queen" by Connie Willis (_A_s_i_m_o_v'_s Apr)
Non-Fiction Book: _A _W_e_a_l_t_h _o_f _F_a_b_l_e: _A_n _i_n_f_o_r_m_a_l _h_i_s_t_o_r_y _o_f
_s_c_i_e_n_c_e _f_i_c_t_i_o_n _f_a_n_d_o_m _i_n _t_h_e _1_9_5_0_s by Harry Warner
Jr. (SCIFI)
Dramatic Presentation: "The Inner Light" (_S_t_a_r _T_r_e_k: _T_h_e _N_e_x_t
_G_e_n_e_r_a_t_i_o_n) (Paramount Television)
Professional Editor: Gardner Dozois (_A_s_i_m_o_v'_s, various
anthologies)
Professional Artist: Don Maitz
Original Artwork: _D_i_n_o_t_o_p_i_a by James Gurney (Turner)
Semi-Prozine: _S_c_i_e_n_c_e _F_i_c_t_i_o_n _C_h_r_o_n_i_c_l_e edited by Andy Porter
Fanzine: _M_i_m_o_s_a edited by Dick and Nicki Lynch
Fan Writer: Dave Langford
Fan Artist: Peggy Ranson
John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer of 1991-1992
(Sponsored by Dell Magazines): Laura Resnick
5. THE QUARREL (a film review by Mark R. Leeper):
Capsule review: Two men, old friends and
adversaries with different theological perspectives
have each assumed the other died in the Holocaust.
Years later they meet by accident and continue a
riveting philosophical argument of faith vs.
rationalism. Extremely intelligent and rewarding.
Rating: +2 (-4 to +4).
THE MT VOID Page 6
Chaim Kovler (played by R. H. Thomson) survived the Holocaust, but
lost his wife and children to the Nazis. He also lost his best
friend and worst philosophical opponent Hersh Rasseyner. And while
he still believes in the existence of God, he no longer cares since
he blames God for allowing the Holocaust. Even back at religious
school as a boy he had his own ideas about religion and God. Now a
year or so after the end of the war he is living in the United
States and has become a popular novelist and advice columnist.
Visiting Montreal, on the morning of a Rosh Hashonah that he
chooses not to acknowledge, he finds Hersh (played by Saul Rubinek)
alive and a very Orthodox rabbi. The two men, one staunchly
religious, the other just as staunchly a rationalist finally have a
chance to talk out their different world-views after being
separated for so long and with so much tragedy that has happened to
each of them. If this sounds a lot like all too many Sunday
morning television religious dramas, it is not. This is not the
story of somebody regaining his faith after a few pat religious
arguments. It is a fair and even-handed exploration of two valid
but diametrically opposed philosophical points of view. Chaim
Grade's story, adapted into a play by David Brandes and directed by
Eli Cohen, is itself at times coldly rational, at others sad and
moving.
The two old friends meet in park and argue not just about religion,
but about rain and the paths in the park and anything else that can
momentarily distract them from their real and fundamental
philosophical differences--which they will be resuming shortly.
This is not the first time these three--Rubinek, Thomson, and
religious differences--have come together. Rubinek was a man
trying to get his friend out of a religious cult and Thomson was a
deprogrammer in the excellent 1982 film _T_i_c_k_e_t _t_o _H_e_a_v_e_n. They are
both very good actors, albeit very different types, and they are
very good on the screen together. But while a few films were made
on religious cults (_T_i_c_k_e_t _t_o _H_e_a_v_e_n is merely the best of the lot)
_T_h_e _Q_u_a_r_r_e_l is in a category by itself. Few films have respected
their audience sufficiently to give them this density of ideas and
concepts. You basically would have to have a two character play
that is solid dialog. In fact, cinema is probably not the best
medium for this story. At the risk of saying "this is a great
film, but don't go" I have to say that the best way to appreciate
this film will be on a videotape that will allow you both to see
the actors expressions and will allow you to go back and replay
portions to better take in what is being said. And since _T_h_e
_Q_u_a_r_r_e_l is a theatrical release of American Playhouse (like the
film I saw minutes before it, _T_h_e _M_u_s_i_c _o_f _C_h_a_n_c_e) it will almost
certainly show up on PBS sooner or later. However, with that one
minimal cavil, this film is recommended. I give it a +2 on the -4
to +4 scale.
THE MT VOID Page 7
6. THE MUSIC OF CHANCE (a film review by Mark R. Leeper):
Capsule review: This is a very unusual allegory
about two modern men trapped by fate in a feudal
world. Where they are forced to build a wall for
two unearthly old men who seem to have supernatural
powers. The story is full of ambiguity and
uncertainty, and is always riveting. Rating +2 (-4
to +4).
The rise of feudalism, power of money, and considerably more are
the subject of an odd, allegorical film of two people caught up in
a very weird vortex of circumstance. This little film has a
"Twilight Zone" surrealism, but definitely keeps the viewer on edge
as to what is going to happen next. _T_h_e _M_u_s_i_c _o_f _C_h_a_n_c_e is a
strange film about about two men who virtually become serfs in
modern day Pennsylvania. Jim Nashe (played by Mandy Patinkin)
picks up on a road a stranger who calls himself Jack Pozzi (played
by James Spader) and is pulled into Pozzi's scheme to win large
sums of money playing poker with two old multi-millionaires named
Stone and Flower (played by Joel Gray and Charles Durning). Stone
and Flower have an immense fortune built on top of a lottery win
and have used it to insulate themselves from the real world and
replace it with a perfectly functioning model world. They even
have a little dollhouse model of their ideal world and are
recreating it in real life. Pozzi has played poker with the two
old men before and thinks that they will be easy marks if he takes
them up on their invitation and play them again. Nashe stakes him
to the money he will need, but things go wrong and Nashe and Pozzi
find themselves owing the old men. To pay off he debt they must
build a wall on the vast estate of Flower and Stone. This task is
placed under the supervision of a particularly insensitive
functionary played by M. Emmet Walsh.
There is a lot that is strange but compelling about this story.
There is a hypnotic quality to Flower telling with absolute lack of
self-doubt how they built their fortune and authoritatively
philosophizing about the world. There is almost a supernatural
quality about how the two men--dressed entirely in white--control
the world around them, much of it modeled in miniature in their
scale model. They are reminiscent of the gods on Olympus in _J_a_s_o_n
_a_n_d _t_h_e _A_r_g_o_n_a_u_t_s who control the lives of humans, manipulating
them with little models.
This is a story that has a very literary feel. It is based on a
novel by Paul Auster and clearly has a very literary sensibility.
In some ways it is a sort of fantasy akin to the writings of Franz
Kafka. Ambiguity and uncertainty as to what is actually molding the
fate of Nashe and Pozzi abound. Does the model world affect what
is happening to our characters? Once they are limited to receiving
their information from their overseer, how much of what he tells
THE MT VOID Page 8
them can be believed? Perhaps the only false move in this
compelling story is the very last scene which is a little cliched.
However, _T_h_e _M_u_s_i_c _o_f _C_h_a_n_c_e is a compelling allegory and a genuine
pleasure in its originality. My rating would be a +2 on the -4 to
+4 scale.
Mark Leeper
MT 3D-441 908-957-5619
leeper@mtgzfs3.att.com
The idealist walks on his toes, the materialist on his talons.
-- Maurice de Chazal