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Mt. Holz Science Fiction Society
Club Notice - 01/21/94 -- Vol. 12, No. 30
MEETINGS UPCOMING:
Unless otherwise stated, all meetings are in Middletown 1R-400C
Wednesdays at noon.
_D_A_T_E _T_O_P_I_C
01/26 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. Well, welcome to the 90's... with all that entails.
Relationships are changing. People used to assume that love was
forever. I remember going through the attic when I was a kid and
saw books that my parents loved and had cherished for years. That
was their generation. For better or for worse the Baby Boomers and
the "me" generation have redefined the whole basis of love.
These days relationships are much shorter. One person can expect
to have many different books in a lifetime and one book can expect
to have many different owners. Now even the science fiction club
is giving way to the inevitable. Our next event--assuming our
management does not get wind of it and objects--is going to be a
shameless swap of books. Right on company premises!!! Come and
watch what the 90s have brought us. See people making fools of
themselves with come-on lines like "I'm a Capricorn, are you a
THE MT VOID Page 2
Libro?" You can even participate if you like. The scene of this
action is Middletown room 1R-400C (follow the signs for the
"Teleconferencing Center"); the time is noon on Wednesday, January
26. It's a date.
===================================================================
2. HOT SKY AT MIDNIGHT by Robert Silverberg (Bantam Spectra, ISBN
0-553-09248-0, 1994, 336pp, US$22.95) (a book review by Evelyn C.
Leeper):
Robert Silverberg's last two solo novels (_T_h_e _F_a_c_e _o_f _t_h_e _W_a_t_e_r_s
and _K_i_n_g_d_o_m_s _o_f _t_h_e _W_a_l_l) take place on alien worlds. _H_o_t _S_k_y _a_t
_M_i_d_n_i_g_h_t takes place on Earth (and an orbiting space habitat) and
is definitely a return to the more familiar setting--Silverberg
even has a large part of the action taking place in the San
Francisco Bay area, his current home. But the world of _H_o_t _S_k_y _a_t
_M_i_d_n_i_g_h_t is not completely familiar--we are thrust into a future in
which many of the ecological disasters which have been predicted
have come to pass. The ozone layer is destroyed, the air is
unbreathable without masks and filters, there are deserts where now
there is fertile land, and vice versa, and San Francisco and Los
Angeles are reduced to towing in icebergs for their water supply.
In this world, Paul Carpenter is a "salaryman" for a multi-national
corporation who takes on any job assigned with the help of advanced
learning techniques. His friend Nick Rhodes is a genetic engineer
who is on the verge of developing new techniques to modify humanity
to survive in this new environment. Also a major character is
Farkas, a man who had been genetically engineered as a fetus by a
renegade scientist: he has no eyes but has instead some other sense
corresponding to sight which could prove valuable in space travel.
Silverberg is too careful a craftsman for the names "Carpenter" and
"Nick" to be accidental. Unlike the Biblical view of their
predecessors, both these characters have their good sides and their
evil sides. Carpenter is taken into the desert (symbolically) and
tested--he doesn't do so well this time around. Nick is not giving
humanity a huge change in their mental state, but rather in their
physical state.
I'm not sure all the futuristic elements--space stations, multi-
nationals with lifetime employment, environmental disasters, and so
on--fit together entirely consistently, but Silverberg makes it at
least plausible for the duration of the story. _H_o_t _S_k_y _a_t _M_i_d_n_i_g_h_t
has a lot of ideas, not the least of which is "if we modify
ourselves to live in a very different environment, are we still
human?" The spy plot seems at times overdone, but on the whole
this book is worth a read.
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===================================================================
3. BY ANY OTHER FAME edited by Mike Resnick and Martin H. Greenberg
(DAW, ISBN 0-88677-594-9, 1994, 316pp, US$4.99) (a book review by
Evelyn C. Leeper):
I like to read alternate histories. Many people use the terms
"alternate history," "alternate universe/world," and "parallel
universe/world" interchangeably, but they are not the same.
Alternate histories are about history. Maybe I'm just being
contentious, but a re-telling of _T_h_e _M_a_l_t_e_s_e _F_a_l_c_o_n with Gypsy Rose
Lee as the detective is not, to my mind, about history.
Now to be fair, I should say that _B_y _A_n_y _O_t_h_e_r _F_a_m_e is not billed
as an anthology of alternate history stories. It's billed as an
anthology of "23 alternate futures of the world's most famous and
infamous celebrities"--a description equally inaccurate, since
almost all of the stories are set in the past. DAW's back-cover
label of them as "What if?" stories is more accurate, though the
fact that Golda Meir's name is misspelled in the blurb suggests
that accuracy is not a high priority there in any case.
Given, therefore, that I read alternate history stories for the
historical content, I have to say that I found _B_y _A_n_y _O_t_h_e_r _F_a_m_e
disappointing. The best story--and perhaps even the only good
story--is Kristine Katheryn Rusch's "Sinner-Saints," about Lillian
Hellman, Dashiell Hammett, and the House Un-American Activities
Committee with-hunts of the 1950s. There's history, there's
characterization, there's meat--all missing from most of the other
stories. The only other story I enjoyed was "A Bubble for a
Minute" by Dean Wesley Smith, in which the main character discovers
that history may not be what it seems, and that it's far from dead.
It uses an old idea, but Smith executes it well. (The same idea is
used by Janet Kagan in "Space Cadet," which immediately follows "A
Bubble for a Minute"--very poor placement in my opinion, since it
forces the reader to compare the two. Kagan's piece also strikes
me as derivative of Pamela Sargent's "Danny Goes to Mars" and has
the same mean-spiritedness of the latter. I am no fan of the main
character of these stories, but I still see the stories as somewhat
childish attacks.)
Twelve stories--more than half the stories in the book--center
around Hollywood stars or other figures in the entertainment
industry. And too many of them have not just one person following
a different path, but several, and for apparently unrelated causes.
Where is Occam's Razor when you need it? Also too prevalent are
familiar stories retold with other participants (e.g., Gypsy Rose
Lee in "The Fifteen-Minute Falcon" and Amelia Earhart in "The
_D_e_f_i_a_n_t Disaster"). Laura Resnick's "Under a Sky More Fiercely
Blue" has at least some relation to history, as does Michelle
Sagara's "Four Attempts at a Letter" (though this is more musings
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on an alternate event than the possible outcomes of it) and Barry
N. Malzberg's "Hitler at Nuremburg."
I suppose the cover illustration (Marilyn Monroe, Elvis Presley,
Humphrey Bogart, and film sprockets) should have given me a clue,
but I have to say I found this a disappointing anthology and hope
that Resnick's future "alternate" anthologies go back to the
history part. When they focus on history, they're some of the best
around. (It's also true that his more historical ones seem to have
been done for Tor, so it may be that he has different types of
anthologies for different publishers. It is true that Resnick
seems to have suggested topics to the authors for many of the
stories, so perhaps he was aiming for something less historical
here.)
===================================================================
4. IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER (a film review by Mark R. Leeper):
Capsule review: This is the true story of the
victims of a conspiracy by British police to
scapegoat eleven innocent people, many from a single
family, for an IRA bombing. The main character
spent fifteen years in prison before an enterprising
lawyer uncovered the conspiracy and was able to
overturn the conviction. Pete Postlethwaite is
particularly effective as the main character's
father who is imprisoned in the same cell as his
son. Rating: low +3 (-4 to +4).
In 1974 eleven people from Belfast were sentenced to prison for an
IRA bombing of a Surrey pub--four charged with the bombing itself,
seven with complicity. Fifteen years later that conviction was
proven in court to be a gross miscarriage of justice. Though this
conviction could not have been obtained without a conspiracy to
subvert justice and knowingly to scapegoat innocent people, the
British government has yet to acknowledge wrong-doing. _I_n _t_h_e _N_a_m_e
_o_f _t_h_e _F_a_t_h_e_r tells the whole story of one of the men falsely
imprisoned from his background several months before the bombing to
his eventual exoneration. Daniel Day-Lewis plays Gerry Conlon, a
petty thief who was in the wrong place at the wrong time and is
railroaded to prison along with several members of his family.
Gerry, who has never been able to get along with his stern father
Giuseppe (Pete Postlethwaite), finds he now must share not a house
but a small cell with that father. Where the film could have
bogged down as standard prison movie fare we find an engrossing
father-son relationship that gives more meaning and poignancy to
the court proceedings that will eventually clear the names of both
father and son. The insertion of this father-son theme would seem
contrived in a fictional account, but since it is true, the film
THE MT VOID Page 5
uses it well.
It almost goes without saying that Daniel Day-Lewis's performance
turns in a good performance. He is a first rank actor.
Surprisingly, Emma Thompson is considerably less memorable in a
script that does not use her considerable acting ability. The real
surprise is Pete Postlethwaite as Guiseppe. He had roles in _A_l_i_e_n
_3, _H_a_m_l_e_t, _W_a_t_e_r_l_a_n_d and with Day-Lewis in _T_h_e _L_a_s_t _o_f _t_h_e
_M_o_h_i_c_a_n_s, but none was particularly memorable. This film may be a
breakthrough for him as a man of character and older values trying
to impart those values to his son. The relationship that the two
are able to forge only when locked in together is one of the most
moving features of the film.
Jim Sheridan, who previously directed Daniel Day-Lewis in _M_y _L_e_f_t
_F_o_o_t, both directed and co-wrote the screenplay. Even though the
film is 132 minutes, it tells a complete story and never bogs down.
Instead it gets more engrossing as we come to see more of the pain
inflicted by the miscarriage the degree of wrong-doing on the part
of the police. By the end of the film Sheridan has really roused
the passions of the audience.
This is a well-crafted film in all regards. While self-critical
British films are not really a rarity, this is probably among the
most powerful. I would give this film a low +3 on the -4 to +4
scale and will almost definitely include it among the top ten films
of 1993.
===================================================================
5. PHILADELPHIA (a film review by Mark R. Leeper):
Capsule review: This film has a muddled job of
directing and a muddled script. One often has the
feeling that Demme is trying to say something that
isn't quite coming across. The subject of AIDS is
brought down to a shallow courtroom melodrama. This
film has little to offer beyond Hanks' performance.
Wait for _A_n_d _t_h_e _B_a_n_d _P_l_a_y_e_d _O_n to come to video.
Rating: 0 (-4 to +4)
Andrew Beckett (played by Tom Hanks) is a successful lawyer for a
prestigious Philadelphia law firm. He is clearly something of a
hotshot whom his firm has working for lucrative clients. He also
is gay and discovers that he has AIDS. When the first visible
signs of his disease appear he is fired over an alleged incident of
incompetence. He decides to sue his former firm for wrongful
dismissal. The only lawyer he can get is a flashy ambulance-chaser
who is also an anti-gay bigot, Joe Miller, played by Denzel
Washington. These two little-guys take on the big-guy law firm and
THE MT VOID Page 6
the result is the predictable courtroom battle which becomes a
major media event. Beckett and Miller must slug it out with the
legal giant in a courtroom battle that Beckett may not live to see
resolved.
While the story is only too straightforward, the telling is not.
The script by Ron Nyswaner has the feel of a stage play adapted to
the screen without sufficient consideration for the differences in
the medium. The story will jump forward six weeks and then jump to
a flashback to show events that took place in that time. At one
point the evil law firm seems to have dug up information that only
Hanks and one of his lovers would have known, but there is no
explanation of how they know what they know. Yet with such a good
case they make damaging admissions on the witness stand without any
thought of the reaction.
There are major dramatic scenes that we would expect to see but
which are omitted. We never see Beckett's immediate reaction to
being told he has AIDS, yet Demme takes screen time to give us an
extended montage of street scenes of Philadelphia and a helicopter
ride around the rooftop statue of William Penn. Equally out of
place is Hanks' extended and melodramatic description of the
beautiful aria "La Mamma Morta" from the third act of Catalani's
_A_n_d_r_e_a _C_h_e_n_i_e_r. It is shot from odd angles at Hanks--Demme seems
to use a lot of strange camera angles in this film, bathed
melodramatically in red light from an unknown source. Apparently
Director Jonathan Demme needed show Beckett was a man of deep
passion while at the same time not risking showing on the screen
Beckett's passion for his lover Miguel, played by Antonio Banderas.
In fact, there is virtually nothing in the film about Beckett's
private gay life, though we get to see a lot of his biological
family and the love and support he gets from his mother, played by
Joanne Woodward.
Tom Hanks will probably be considered at Oscar time, though his
performance owes a good deal to his makeup artist. Still his
performance was at least decent. Neither Jason Robards, as the
head of the law firm, nor Denzel Washington seemed to be bringing
much to their roles to distinguish this performance from any of
their others. Joanne Woodward is given about four scenes and may
well be present only to lend her moral support to the production.
I suppose that Demme should be lauded for making a major Hollywood
film on the subject of AIDS, but _P_h_i_l_a_d_e_l_p_h_i_a pales beside _L_o_n_g_t_i_m_e
_C_o_m_p_a_n_i_o_n and this year's _A_n_d _t_h_e _B_a_n_d _P_l_a_y_e_d _O_n. The best of
intentions clearly went at least somewhat awry. My rating would be
a 0 on the -4 to +4 scale.
Mark Leeper
MT 3D-441 908-957-5619
leeper@mtgzfs3.att.com