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Mt. Holz Science Fiction Society
Club Notice - 07/15/94 -- Vol. 13, No. 3
MEETINGS UPCOMING:
Unless otherwise stated, all meetings are in Middletown 1R-400C
Wednesdays at noon.
_D_A_T_E _T_O_P_I_C
07/16 Movie: THE MAN FROM PLANET X (Saturday night, 8PM, RSVP)
07/23 Movie: THE THING (Saturday night, 8PM, RSVP)
07/30 Movie: WHEN WORLDS COLLIDE (Saturday night, 8PM, RSVP)
08/03 Book: MOVING MARS by Greg Bear (Hugo Nominee)
08/09 Movie: THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL (Saturday night, 8PM, RSVP)
08/24 Book: VIRTUAL LIGHT by William Gibson (Hugo Nominee)
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.
MT Chair: Mark Leeper MT 3D-441 908-957-5619 m.r.leeper@att.com
HO Chair: John Jetzt MT 2G-432 908-957-5087 j.j.jetzt@att.com
HO Co-Librarian: Nick Sauer HO 4F-427 908-949-7076 n.j.sauer@att.com
HO Co-Librarian: Lance Larsen HO 2C-318 908-949-4156 l.f.larsen@att.com
MT Librarian: Mark Leeper MT 3D-441 908-957-5619 m.r.leeper@att.com
Distinguished Heinlein Apologist:
Rob Mitchell MT 2D-536 908-957-???? r.l.mitchell@att.com
Factotum: Evelyn Leeper MT 1F-329 908-957-2070 e.c.leeper@att.com
All material copyright by author unless otherwise noted.
1. We got more giant rings in the sky. I wrote several years ago
about a ring that was found in the sky and reported by _S_c_i_e_n_c_e _N_e_w_s
but could not be explained. If I remember right what was
particularly odd about it is that as near as we could tell we were
on the axis of symmetry of this giant ring. If the ring were a
giant wheel, its axle would go through the Earth. That sounds
suspiciously like some sort of optical aberration. But it was kind
of fun to toy with. I don't remember that phenomenon ever getting
explained, though I suspect that it did and the explanation was
just not reported. Perhaps the same principles apply to all
THE MT VOID Page 2
magazines that apply to tabloids. It could be that the exciting
stuff gets the press and the explanations, which are less
interesting, get shuffled off to the back pages or never printed at
all. Besides, in science when you explain something weird as being
your own mistake, you don't make a big thing of it. You just hope
everyone forgets.
Anyway, there are rings in the news again. Some of you may
remember that seven years ago there was a supernova. That is a
star that for no readily apparent reason just explodes spewing
light and matter all around. You can often see these things in the
daytime sky after they go off. Well supernova 1987A occurred in
1987--I suspect the name was not a coincidence. Actually I doubt
if there was a 1987B, but I don't know. Anyway astronomers have
looked at the site of the explosion and what do they see but three
huge rings. It looks a little like the big space station in 2001.
It is three parallel rings with the one in the center maybe of half
the diameter. There is a nice color picture in the May 28 _S_c_i_e_n_c_e
_N_e_w_s. It comes with two explanations as to how the rings were
formed. One is that the explosion might have been in the shape of
an hour-glass. That explanation comes from Robert P. Kirshner of
Harvard. Christopher Burrows of the Space Telescope Science
Institute of Baltimore thinks the explosion may have been channeled
into two jets by a nearby compact object, a neutron star or a black
hole. A black hole would send a jet of matter in its direction,
but as it rips apart the matter it would send a jet in the opposite
direction also.
The fact that this phenomenon can be explained two different ways
is my answer to the Fermi Paradox. That is the paradox that says
if the probability for intelligence on a given planet is so high,
why haven't we seen any signs of extra-terrestrial life. Well,
like the two jets of matter in opposite directions, there could be
directly opposite explanations as to why we have not seen sign of
extraterrestrial life, both occurring at the same time. Suppose
that there is some huge unimaginable race out there who fill up
their tank by finding some star about to supernova then sucking up
a piece of that energy. The thing is that tapping a supernova
leaves these telltale rings afterward. Maybe we are so smart we
can come up with multiple explanations about what those rings are
doing there and at the same time so stupid that we do not recognize
what is happening. I can tell you the first sign of
extraterrestrial intelligence probably will not be a flying saucer
landing on the White House lawn, it is probably going to be
something like some funny rings left around a supernova and we will
have been both too stupid and too smart to recognize them for what
they really are. Am I suggesting a change in how we do anything?
No. I am just pointing out the irony. We may get so good at
explaining things that we miss something essential.
THE MT VOID Page 3
===================================================================
2. For those of you who are tracking such things we were in Latvia
from May 13 to May 17 of this year. Yesterday in Riga, Latvian
Prime Minister Valdis Birkavs announced his government's
resignation in the wake of demands by farmers for more price
supports and protection from imported food. So far no new
government has been announced for Latvia and there have no reports
of disasters yet from the other countries we visited.
International specialists are closely watching those countries and
tensely waiting for the inevitable.
Riga is a nice city, by the way.
===================================================================
3. RHINEGOLD by Stephan Grundy (Bantam, ISBN 0-553-09545-5, April
1994, 721pp, US$23.95) (a book review by Evelyn C. Leeper):
This is a remarkable first novel, though I must admit at the start
that my ability to judge its faithfulness to its sources is
limited. It is a retelling of the classic Germanic legend, but my
knowledge of the legend is based almost entirely on Wagner's
operatic interpretation--which was undoubtedly colored by his
philosophy--and by Anna Russell's summary of Wagner's story which
is, to say the least, eccentric. So all I can say regarding
Grundy's faithfulness to the original legend is that knowing Wagner
may be more hindrance than help.
But as a story in its own right, _R_h_i_n_e_g_o_l_d succeeds admirably.
Though part takes place earlier, it is primarily set in the period
when Rome was on the decline but Christianity was making inroads in
Germany. It is full of the stuff of epics: battles, magic,
forbidden loves, dragons, ancient gods, oaths, and marvels. Grundy
eschews a "formal" style, the result being a very direct and
realistic re-telling. (So direct and realistic, in fact, that I
found reading a vivid description of a wolf attack during a
somewhat bumpy plane flight was _n_o_t a good idea!) This style gives
the reader a real feel for the geography of the area--a real sense
of place, if you prefer. And it makes the story seem real and
serious, something happening to real people with real feelings,
rather than merely symbols.
Will you like this book? It's not like other fantasies that are
popular, though I haven't read _M_i_s_t_s _o_f _A_v_a_l_o_n by Marion Zimmer
Bradley, and suspect that there might be some level of similarity
between the two. But _R_h_i_n_e_g_o_l_d is almost definitely darker and
heavier, simply because it is so dark and heavy. It doesn't rely
on gratuitous gore, but it does have its share of explicit violence
when necessary. I have no idea what Grundy will do for an encore,
THE MT VOID Page 4
but this strikes me as a serious contender for a Hugo nomination
next year.
(Note: At 700-plus pages, chances for a mass-market paperback seem
slim--if that's not an oxymoron. Give it the "page 117" test and
if you like what you read, spring for the hardback.)
===================================================================
4. THE ASCENT OF WONDER: THE EVOLUTION OF HARD SF edited by David
G. Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer (Tor, ISBN 0-312-85062-X, June 29,
1994, 992pp, US$35) (a book review by Evelyn C. Leeper):
I will confess up front that I have not read this book cover to
cover. In the interests of getting this review out in a timely
manner, I compromised by reading the introductions and a sampling
of the stories that I had not previously read. (I "fell off the
book wagon" a couple of weekends ago and bought thirty books, so my
reading schedule is in some disarray.)
In any case, I think that I can shed some light on two of the three
questions people may be asking about this hefty (3-1/2-pound) tome:
What is it attempting to do?
Does it succeed?
Is it any good?
The first question--what is the purpose of this book?--is one I
can't answer. The book is subtitled "The Evolution of Hard SF,"
but evolution implies a flow of time, a continuity (of cause and
effect, perhaps), and the stories here are in what appears to be
random order. They are not arranged chronologically or
thematically, but are divided into "Part I," "Part II," and "Part
III," with no clue as to what the parts represent. (The alternate
ordering given in the back has at least some logic to it.) In
keeping with this random order, Benford's introduction appears to
be a series of one-liners about various hard science fiction
stories, also in random order.
Hartwell claims on page 30 in his introduction that this is the
first anthology to focus on all of hard science fiction. I would
debate that: Healy & McComas's _F_a_m_o_u_s _S_c_i_e_n_c_e _F_i_c_t_i_o_n _S_t_o_r_i_e_s:
_A_d_v_e_n_t_u_r_e_s _i_n _T_i_m_e _a_n_d _S_p_a_c_e did it in 1947. The blurb for the
latter was "35 great stories of the world of atomic power, rockets,
robots, time and space machines, etc." These are definitely "hard
SF," but Hartwell and Cramer, with an additional four and a half
decades to choose from, have not even stayed within the incredibly
broad range of "hard SF" stories, but include stories based on
anthropology, psychology, and other "soft" sciences. The result is
that many well-known hard science fiction authors are missing,
while there are _t_w_o stories by each of J. G. Ballard, Ursula
THE MT VOID Page 5
K. LeGuin, John M. Ford, and Hilbert Schenck. And why include
Rudyard Kipling's "With the Night Mail"? In terms of the evolution
of hard science fiction, it was a virtual dead end, inspiring
little or none of what came after it. Nathaniel Hawthorne's
"Rappaccini's Daughter" isn't hard science fiction. Jules Verne's
"In the Year 2889" is minor, even according to Hartwell and Cramer,
and seems to be here only because Verne was a major influence
(through his novels). Poe is known as a major influence in the
fields of horror and mystery; his inclusion here seems strained. I
suppose part of the issue was what Hartwell and Cramer could get
the rights to, but many of the classic hard science fiction stories
that Healy and McComas collected are missing from this anthology.
Of course, trying to include "everyone's who's anyone" appears to
have been the downfall of _L_a_s_t _D_a_n_g_e_r_o_u_s _V_i_s_i_o_n_s, so one shouldn't
be too hard on Hartwell and Cramer. At least this book has been
published.
In the introductions as well, there is much room for debate.
Hartwell, for example, says on page 39 that 1965 was the last year
"Campbell's magazine" (_A_s_t_o_u_n_d_i_n_g/_A_n_a_l_o_g) won the Hugo as Best
Professional Magazine, and attributes this to the rise of the New
Wave. The fact is that the award was replaced in 1973 by Best
Professional Editor and Ben Bova won it from 1973 to 1977--for
editing _A_n_a_l_o_g. Gregory Benford on page 21 says _L_a_s_t _a_n_d _F_i_r_s_t _M_e_n
was Olaf Stapledon's first work; it was his first _f_i_c_t_i_o_n work, but
his _t_h_i_r_d published work.) And on page 43 it is claimed that "Nine
Lives" is "perhaps [Le Guin's] most famous" story. Really? More
than "The Word for World is Forest" or "Vaster than Empires and
More Slow" or "Buffalo Gals Won't You Come Out Tonight" (all but
the first of which were nominated for Hugos, which "Nine Lives" was
not, though it was nominated for a Nebula). And drawing a parallel
between Marcel Proust and Bob Shaw's "slow glass" seems like a real
reach. (Whether from an attempt to elevate science fiction or not,
Cramer also quotes M. C. Escher, Poincare, and Leonardo da Vinci in
her introduction.)
There were also a few minor annoyances. The editors seem to have
decided that the correct abbreviation for science fiction is "sf"-
-and at the beginning of a sentence, "Sf." They repeatedly talk
about the "affect" of a story (and, no, they don't mean "effect").
This may be correct English, but it is an uncommon usage that will
cause many readers to think the editors don't know the difference
between "affect" and "effect." And they use a sans serif font for
the introductions that I find very hard to read.
Having said all that, I _s_t_i_l_l recommend this book. Why? Well, you
get sixty-seven stories which, while not all classics, or even all
hard science fiction, certainly all have something to recommend
them. Some are indeed classics (Arthur C. Clarke's "Star," James
Blish's "Surface Tension," and Tom Godwin's "Cold Equations," for
example). It's a sign of how far _A_n_a_l_o_g has fallen that it
THE MT VOID Page 6
recently published a pastiche of "The Cold Equations" in which was
changed the one thing that made the Godwin story a classic.) Some
are famous even if they aren't classics (in which category I would
put the Kipling and Poe stories). Some are "merely" good stories
by the important writers in the field of science fiction (hard,
soft, gooey, or otherwise). With the three introductions, this
works out to fifty cents a story. If you're a longtime science
fiction fan, you may already have many of these stories, but if
you're relatively new, this is a great book for discovering authors
and stories and ideas that can lead to further exploration.
===================================================================
5. A few weeks ago, Evelyn Leeper reviewed the Tor hardcover
edition of Mike Resnick's _W_i_l_l _t_h_e _L_a_s_t _P_e_r_s_o_n _t_o _L_e_a_v_e _t_h_e _P_l_a_n_e_t
_P_l_e_a_s_e _T_u_r_n _O_f_f _t_h_e _S_u_n? It has just been re-issued in a trade
paperback edition by Orb, and this is as good an opportunity as any
to tell people that Orb is Tor's trade paperback line for books
they do _n_o_t intend to issue in a mass-market edition. So if you
see a book in an Orb edition, there's no point in waiting for the
mass-market edition--there won't be one. (Just to clarify the
terms: a mass-market paperback is about four inches by seven inches
and costs about US$4-US$6 in the United States. A trade paperback
is about seven inches by nine inches and costs about US$10-US$15 in
the United States. In Britain both the books and the prices are a
little larger.) [-ecl]
Mark Leeper
MT 3D-441 908-957-5619
m.r.leeper@att.com
Women want mediocre men, and men are working hard to
become as mediocre as possible.
-- Margaret Mead