sign in sign up
<<
Home , Before Armageddon, Charles de Lint, Charles Sheffield, Cosmic Engineers, Dennis Etchison, Evangeline Walton

SCIENCE FICTION REVIEW

$2.00 SUMMER 1981 NUMBER 39 REVIEW ,SSN “> Formerly THE ALIEN CRITIC

P.O. BOX 11408 FEBRUARY 1981 — VOL. 10, NO.2 PORTLAND, OR 97211 WHOLE NUMBER 39 PHONE: (503) 282-0381 RICHARD E. GEIS> editor & publisher COVER BY PAULETTE MINARE', ASSOCIATE EDITOR

PUBLISHED QUARTERLY ALIEN THOUGHTS FEB.MAY, AUG., NOV. BY THE EDITOR...... A STALL PRESS NOTES BY THE EDITOR...... 41 SINGLE COPY ---- $2.00 THE ENGINES OF THE NIGHT ESSAYS OF SF IN THE EIGHTIES BY BARRY N MALZBERG...... 6 OTHER VOICES...... 43 BOOK REVIEWS BY GENE DEWEESE BACK COVER BY MARCO BIANCHINI THE TWO TRACTATES OF MICHAEL VERNON MACKAY JOHN DIPRETE PHILIP K. DICK BY STEVE BROWN....11 STEVEN EDWARD MCDONALD SUE BECKMAN INTERIOR ART------NEAL WILGUS AND THEN I SAW.... TOM STAICAR TIM kirk—2,4,13,29,41 BY THE EDITOR...... 13 ANDREW ANDREWS ALEXIS GILLILAND---- 3,5,8,11,18,19, RONALD R. LAMBERT W. RITCHE BENEDICT 22,23,28,31,43,44,51,56,58,61 INTERVIEW; PAT MATHEWS GEORGE O'NALE---- 6,49 CONDUCTED BY JOAN GORDON...... 18 PAULETTE MINARE' ALLEN KOSZOWSKI—7.16^25^26/16, STEVE LEWIS GEORGE KOCHELL—9,24,2,33,35,37, NICHOLAS SANTELLI 39,43,48,50,53,54 THE NUKE STANDARD DONN VICHA TEDDY HARVIA—10 BY IAN WATSON...... 23 ANDREW TIDMARSH LAWRENCE LIPKIN—17,47 LEE WEINSTEIN VIC KOSTRIKIN—20,52 FREDERICK PATTEN KURT ERICHSEN—45 LEFTY'S LATENT DEAN R. LAMBE KEN HAIM—55,62 A POEM BY NEAL WILGUS...... 24 ELTON T. ELLIOTT BRUCE CONKLIN---- 60 MIKE GILBERT—65 KURT REICHEL---- 66 THE VIVISECTOR TEN YEARS AGO IN SF - spring 1971 BY ...... 25 BY ROBERT SABELLA...... 55

AND THEN I READ.... SHORT FICTION REVIEWS BY THE EDITOR...... 29 ANALOG---- PATRICIA MATHEWS...... 56 asimov's—Robert sabella ...... 57 F & SF---- RUSSELL ENGEBRETSON...... 58 LETTERS...... 31 TWILIGHT ZONE---- JAT-ES JJ WILSON..59 PHILIP K. DICK AMAZING---- PATRICIA MATHEWS...... 60 URSULA K. LE GUIN HANK STINE Copyright (c) 1981 by Richard E. RONALD R. LAMBERT THE HUMAN HOTLINE Geis. One- rights only have JERRY E. POURNELLE SF NEWS been acquired from signed or cred­ SHELDON TEITELBAUM BY ELTON T. ELLIOTT...... 61 ited contributors, and all other STEVE BROWN rights are hereby assigned to the NORMAN FINLAY Postcard contributors. GENE DE WEESE from ALIEN CONCLUSIONS BRUCE D. ARTHURS BY THE EDITOR...... 66 THE ALIEN CRITIC CHARLES PLATT SCIENCE FICTION REVIEW EDWARD L. FERMAN Available in microform from: PATRICIA MATHEWS OXFORD MICROFORM PUBLICATIONS, LTD A.D. WALLACE Wheatsheaf Yard, Blue Boar Street KIM SMITH Oxford OXI 4EY, United Kingdom STUART SCHIFF SCIENCE FICTION REVIEW is published LETTER FROM I.G. PENHALL at 1525 NE Ainsworth, Portland, OR WAYNE N. KEYSER 97211. JAf€S VAN HISE DWIGHT R. DECKER NO ADVERTISING WILL BE ACCEPTED

CHESTER TWAROG Second Class Postage Paid DOUG HLYLMAN at Portland, OR 97208 DARRELL SCHWEITZER REVIEWS------GENESIS REVISITED...... ...... 4; ... INTERNATIONAL CiDWSPipAC/ ( z VALIS...... HANS SOLO S REVENGE...... 4 of electric T’ov'ER compares.' a _ SEEKING- ivDRQ> coM4>vest,.. zxV ■ THE DIVINE INVASION...... DRINKING SAPHIRE WINE...... BLOOD BEACH...... THE JULES VERNE COPAN I ON.... FIRST FAMILY...... THE DEMETER FLOWER...... MIDDLE-AGE CRAZY...... ENGINE SUPER...... ANY WHICH WAY YOU CAN...... SPACE WARS - WORLDS & WEAPONS MOTEL HELL...... DUNCTON WOOD...... TirES SQUARE...... ...... FATE...... THE SPACE MAVERICKS.. LA SALAMANDRE...... THE BARBIE MURDER AND OTHER ANGI VERA...... STORIES...... HANGER 18...... THE HAUNTED MAN...... SPHINX...... THE CROOKED COPPLTTER ASHANTI...... THE MUDHEAD...... 4$79 I MY BLOODY VALENTINE...... ARMADA...... GODSEND...... THE NORTHERN GIRL ALTERED STATES...... THE HUMAN ZERO: THE SF STORIES SUBSCRIPTIONS ROCKERS...... OF ERLE STANLEY GARDNER.. SCIENCE FICTION REVIEW THE CHANT OF JIPHIE BLACKSMITH. HIDDEN PLACES, SECRET WORDS P.O. BOX 11408 MIDNIGHT OFFERINGS...... THE MANY-COLORED LAND PORTLAND, OR 97211 ORDINARY PEOPLE...... YOU CANNOT DIE...... GLORIA...... THE UFO ENCYCLOPEDIA. For One and Two Years RESURRECTION...... At Four-Issues-Per-Year Schedule FORT APACHE, THE BRONX...... BREAKING GLASS...... &JT bog-js ...... : $7.00 One Year H.P. LOVECRAFT: FOUR DECADES OF $14.00 Two Years CRITICISM...... wAnT MY c>Lbt> Zip’ ? THE RINGWORLD ENGINEERS...... *: US$7.50 One Year MOCKINGBIRD...... US$15.00 Two Years THE IN TFE GLACIER...... ^Canadians may pay with personal THE DESTINY STONE...... cheques if the chequing acct, LANARK...... number on their cheques is print­ TFE REVOLUTION FROM ROSINANTE.. ed in computer numerals. (Thus A SENSE OF SHADOW...... ALL SUBSCRIPTIONS, NEW AND OLD, we become slaves to the needs of NIGHT SCREAMS...... ARE HONORED AND FULFILLED ON AN the Machine .) THE CHANGING LAND...... ISSUES NUMBER BASIS. TWO CAPE CALLING...... UNITED KINGDOM: Send pound equiva­ EVENT HORIZON ^2...... lent of US$7.50 One Year NEWSLETTER #35...... US$15.00 TWo Years SCIENCE FICTION MONIYOR #4...... Next Issue. to agent WM. DAWSON 6 SONS RIPE OF STARDUST #4...... Cannon House, AMANITA BRANDY #1...... Folkestone, Kent CT19 5EE OVERLOAD m...... or write for current quote DRAGONFIELDS #3...... INTERVIEWS WITH AND ROBERT SHECKLEY SOME BACK ISSUES OF TAC AND SFR WOMAN OF THE ELFHOUNDS...... ARE AVAILABLE FROM: DRAWINGS FROM THE HARP OF THE A CONVERSATION BETWEEN ARTHUR FANTAST (MEDWAY) LTD GREY ROSE...... C. CLARKE, , HOW TO COLLECT UNEMPLOYMENT INS AND 39 West Street, Wisbech, Cambs., PE13 2LX HOW TO BURY YOUR GOODS...... HOW TO FIND MISSING PERSONS.... AUSTRALIA: Send A$ equivalent of HOW TO BUY LAND CHEAP...... COfPLETE GUIDE TO LOCK PICKING. SELECTED ESSAYS FROM US$7.50 One Year JOB OPPORTUNITIES IN THE BLACK THE ENGINES OF THE NIGHT US$15.00 Two Years BY BARRY N. MALZBERG to agent SPACE AGE BOOKS 305-307 Swanston St. Melbourne, 3000 Vic.

FANTASY #§... ALL OTHER FOREIGN US$7.50 One Year NYCTALOPS #16 ~SUT MfiliOES US$15.00 Two Years 5-ElS SHAVERTON # All foreign subscriptions must be Mnt mY OL-~!> paid in US$ cheques or money orders FOUNDATION i BOONFARK #4 Z|P CObE 2 except to agents. WILD SEED.. KILL THE DEAD THE BUG WARS. 43 MAKE ALL CHEQUES, CHECKS AND A TOLKIEN COMPASS...... 43 MONEY ORDERS PAYABLE TO SCIENCE THE CATALYST...... FICTION REVIEW ALIENS!...... ■ ■ ...... 44 BLACK HOLES AND WARPEDSPACETIPE SAVE A HASSLE AND EXTRA EXPENSE THE VISITORS...... IF YOU MOVE WE NEED YOUR FORPER SCHRODINGER S CAT...... 41 ZIPCODE AND YOUR NEW COMPLETE THE HOUSE THAT STOOD STILL...... ADDRESS. ANTIMONY...... 46 throughout the world—often make ALIEN THOUGHTS dumb mistakes, miscalculate, screw up. They are controlled by humans and their snafus are as inevitable BY THE EDITOR as yours and . Only theirs cost more—and while they pay in loss of multi- billions of dollars...losses of markets...losses of sectors (na­ tions, sometimes) — the resulting TIE SPEAKS IN... damage in local financial and soc­ on us with quiet little feet. ial terms can be and usually is We don't quite notice it in the devastating and often fatal. corners of our vision. Then— The basic message of this ed­ WHAM! Television. CRASH!—space­ itorial is that the future is not flight. THUD!—cloning and gene­ in our control and we have to under­ splicing. KABLOOOIE!—robots. stand that. The future is not be­ The Japanese have developed ing designed for our benefit, and robot factory 'workers'. They we have to realize that. The fu­ don't look human, but they out­ ture is dangerous as hell, and we perform humans in their narrow damn well better know that—or fields. These robots are only suffer the consequences. smart machines...with a limit to In the world we live in now their smarts...so far. But the we bet our lives our fortunes and cunning Japanese are into giving our honor, and it's best to know machines the ability to understand the who-what-when-where-why and how a limited amount of human speech... of the bet and the game and the about 100 words so far...and of house. course they can talk, too. So what we have here is the I'm not saying these gigantic likelihood of a factory full of These super corporations which corporate octopi are wrong or evil. various grades of robots, serviced really, now, rule our planet, are They have been growing and develop­ by robots, monitored by top-of-the- the Genghis Khans of today. They ing through the centuries since the line robots who are in turn managed are utterly ruthless, utterly merci­ end of Medieval . With the by a small cadre of humans. less in their savage competition a- growth of technology, populations All this made possible by micro mong themselves and in their treat­ and the exploitations of the plan­ chips and the related computer tech­ ment of those inconsequential humans et's mineral wealth, the concentra­ nology . who suffer when these gods do battle. tions of financial/ownership power It's an extension, the progres­ have also exploded in size. sion of labor-saving machines. In­ The future in our future is not They exist. They manipulate. sidious . being created for your benefit or They struggle for domination. It We have (and will have much more mine. If we prosper it will be be­ is to their advantage that the mass­ of) dozens of world-wide super corpor­ cause of chance or because we hap­ es of people they control directly ations controlling thousands of other pen to live in the right corporate and indirectly not realize the true corporations in every mixed economy sector...or because we perceive flows of power and control in the in the world. These super corporat­ the masked reality behind the facade world. That has always been the ions think big: a billion dollars of "government" and "nation" and case above the tribal level of soc­ saved is a billion dollars earned. adjust our thinking—and allegianc­ ieties . People don't count except as tools, es?— to that reality. The super, 'transnational' cor­ as conduits for transmission of In the future planned for us, porations are natural.and inevitable wealth and power. Super corporat­ your mission will be to buy as you given our level of civilization and ions think of people in masses — in are told, work as you are forced, economies. And I'd say the present millions. On that level a carefully and think as you are convinced. "mix" of socialism/capitalism, demo- disguised holding company in New If you choose to accept that role cracy/dictatorship in the world is York (let's say) which controls ten you'll be a victim of the future. also natural within a cycle, within conglomerates, each of which controls If you realize the significance instinctual social limits. thirty diversified or specialized o the coming wave of robotics and Mankind is natural. Our works manufacturing companies or financial "artificial life" created for com­ and organizations and desires are institutions... That innocent-ap­ mercial use, and if you can "see" natural. And the constant deep pearing holding company and the man the gigantic, interlocked power tidal shifts of social, cultural, or family or small group which con­ structures behind the corporate psychic—instinctual — forces is trols it, will easily order a con­ sector called government, then you natural on every level. version to robotics for this divis­ possibly can turn those insights to It's a great show. ion, that sector....and will not be your advantage...mostly by getting And we're all actors. And if bothered with tiny local consequenc­ out of the way of onrushing "adjust­ you really want to, you can choose es . ments" and titanic power struggles. your role (within limits) and how The intent is to cut costs and It might even be possible to take long your part lasts (within limits.) increase profits. The intent is to advantage of the surges and eddies So it goes. increase market shares, to gain sell­ of the tides of power...and disast­ ing leverage, to gain ever more con­ er. trol! To elliminate competition and Disaster. Yes, Virginia, that to minimize X-factors—to create a little holding company in smooth-running, all-powerful money­ controlled by a few people and their MEANWHILE> WHERE THE TIRE MEETS THE making organism of linked agents, high-priced advisors—and the doz­ ROAD.... employees, organizations and machin­ ens of other key holding companies A new product report. As many es . 4 of you know, I'm a dedicated bicy­ clist, and I've pissed and moaned HI"HO, THE R.E.G. IS DEAD, ONE- We want letters containing solid for years off and on about the cre­ TRACK R.E.G., BORING R.E.G...... information and a credible conspir­ tins who throw bottles out of cars acy angle. Pure opinion, dogma and This will be essentially a re­ (presumably to hear the nice tinkle vituperation letters will find the peat of the last entry in REG, so as the bottle breaks, but actually round file. REG-subscribers may wish to pass as an act of aggression, an expres­ We will be trying to show our onward. sion of hostility to society and readers the news behind the news, Briefly, because of a dissatis­ in a malicious hope that some poor the lies and management of what-is- faction with REG—A Personal Journ­ bicyclist (or car with very bald revealed. The underlying forces. al, I've decided to stop trying to tires) will get a flat). These days, the paranoid mind make it be a personal journal, re­ I've had more than my share of is the sane mind. title it, and, with the collabora­ flats, I think. tion of a friend (and letter-writ­ And I've prayed for a company ers) create a new publication more to develop an airless bicycle tire. suited to my current (and growing) Some one has. Sears now sells interests. an airless tire in three sizes— REG began a couple years ago with 27" for racing bikes, 26" for your basic three-speed or one speed a fairly lc.rge personal-experiences touring bike, and the 20" for those content. It wasn't like the naked psyche REGs 1-2-3 of 1971-2 before immitation-motorcycle designed bikes with the banana saddles. it metamorphosed into THE ALIEN And just in time, too, with cit­ CRITIC, but it was okay. ies and counties cutting back on As the issues passed it became more and more an opinionzine, a com­ street-cleaning budgets, leaving mentzine ...and more and more devoted that broken glass to accumulate to dismal economics and doomsaying and spread (it's a malignant social politics. Or vice-versa. disease) for an extra week or two or three... I made terrible personal vows to make it more varied, more person­ It has reached the point now that every curbside area of every al. I failed. I failed. And so, major street is a glittering mine­ with #23, I bowed, scraped, and gen­ uflected to the inevitable. field that traffic forces the bi­ cyclist to ride through. And this I might not have capitulated so situation will only get worse. soon had not a young man entered in­ to my life who is markedly intelli­ gent, with astonishing curiosity, How good are these airless tir­ and "linkage" abilities—a es? How are they made? What do phenomenal store of knowledge, and they cost? an incredible array of sources of information. Basic info. Behind- They're made of polyurethane the-scenes info. He has a psychic and have a nylon-reinforced bead. nose for buried bodies in the news. CONSPIRACY They have a comparmentalized inner So it was natural that our com­ structure to keep the shape of the plementary interests and slants-of- NEWSLETTER tire and to resist flattening by mind be joined in unholy labor to the weight of the bike and rider. write, edit and publish the bloody child of REG. Ihey give a harder ride—you CONSPIRACY NEWSLETTER feel bunps more and you have to Behold, shrieking in anger, monitors the lies and work a little harder. The bike hanging by its feet: CONSPIRACY manipulations behind won't coast as well. The tires are NEWSLETTER. the news: heavier than regular tubes-and- CONSPIRACY NEWSLETTER will be tires. in the REG format: eight pages, INFLATION They cost $12.99 each for the [but always offset], mailed first CANCER 26" size. I presume that price class in #10 envelopes. And CON­ PORNOGRAPHY holds for the other sizes, too. SPIRACY NEWSLETTER will be monthly. ROCKEFELLER They are supposed to last twice Indeed, the first issue should RECESSION as long as a regular bicycle tire. be published and available by the TAXES And they cost twice as much as time you read this. ASSASSINATIONS a regular tube-and-tire. The price will be $1. for a sam­ FOREIGN "DEALS The trade-off is flat-free ple copy. $10. per year. THE COMING WAR riding against a harder, more Current REG subscribers will effortfull ride. receive CN at their original REG rates through their subscriptions. Pay your money—take your Renewals will be at CN rates. choice. I tried two and liked My co-editor and co-writer has them well enough to buy two for some sensitive D.C. and Paulette's bike. If she doesn't New York (and other areas) sources. Sample $1. -- $10 Yr. like them I'll save them for re­ He does not wish to be identified. placements on my bike. Nor, for that , do I. There Send to: Now I know if I ride five miles will be no credit lines in CONSPIR­ CONSPIRACY NEWSLETTER downtown I won't ever have to walk ACY NEWSLETTER. We'll be publishing P.O. Box 11408 back part or all the way. a few letters per issue, if appropri­ Portland, OR 97211 of mind is worth a little ate, and all letter writers to CN extra work. should indicate if the letter is By the way, getting these things for publication, and if the writer's on a rim is a helluva job. name should be used (and address?). PART TW teie SON OF THE TRUE AND TERRIBLE There is no way in which a con­ temporary audience -- even the con­ temporary audience for quote serious unquote fiction -- can understand the degree of humiliation and self­ revulsion many science fiction writ­ ers suffered until at least the early sixties. Phillip K. Dick in a recent EEEIFES introduction to a collection has writ­ ten movingly of this; all through his first decade it was inpossible for a science fiction writer to be regard­ ed by writers in other fields or in the universities as a writer at all. College professors of English regard­ ed the genre as sub-literate, the timeless man-on-the-street thought it was crazy. Word-rates were low, or n r the readers were limited and one op­ erated from the outset in the convic­ tion that work of even modest ambi­ tion would live and die within the same walls that the debased work did. Dick remembers meeting the literary writer Herbert at a party in the mid-fifties and asking for his auto­ graph; Gold gave him a card inscrib­ fllOUT ed "to my colleague, Phillip K. Dick" and Dick carried this around for years because it was the first ac­ knowledgment from a literary person that his work had any existence. Phillip Klass has an anecdote even more horrible in his essay "Jazz Then, Musicology Now", published in a 1972 FANTASY § SCIENCE FICTION "col­ BY BARRY N. MALZBERG lege issue". (At that time courses on science fiction at the university level were in the first flush.) In 1945, Klass and a graduate student in English friend of his met in an automat; Sturgeon (whose "Killdozer!" had just about then been published in ASTOUNDING) talked passionately and at length of the artistic problems of science fic­ tion, the particular challenges of the genre, the demands of a medium in which expository matter was of central importance to a story yet could not be permitted to overbalance it. After Sturgeon left them, Klass's friend said with an amused laugh, "These science fiction writers, they really think of themselves as writers, don't they? I mean he's talking about this stuff seriously as if he were writing literature!" A writer who came into this field after 1965 cannot really know what it must have been like for Sturgeon and Dick, Kombluth or Sheckley. At Selected Essays From no time has it ever been easy to at­ tempt serious work in this form but THE ENGINES OF. THE NIGHT: Science Fiction in the Eighties after 1965 science fiction's audi­ To Be Published By DOUBLEDAY ence had increased, there was some crossover of that audience and the audiences for literature of other sorts and because of Sputnik, the as­ Copyright (c) 1981 By Barry N. Malzberg 6 sassinations, the Apollo Project and the employment of the cliches of the spirit (or its perversity) perhaps breathing in its center was not an form by certain successful commerc­ unparalleled in the history of the idea which had once had merit, there ial -- Drury, Wallace, Le­ so-called arts. is never one so good that it cannot vin all had bestsellers which were ### be seen at the bottom to repose (un­ thematic science fiction -- the form easily but positively) on the cliches had a certain grudging cachet; peop­ "What you have to do with this and assumed clutter of the form. le might not know what you were writ­ stuff, a science fiction writer/edit- There ain't nothing so good that we ing (or care about it) but at least or warned me a long time ago, "is cannot get a glinpse of the worst, they had heard of it. In the nine­ just to sit down with an outline and ain't nothing so bad that it doesn't teen- fifties the only people other crank it; reel it out the same way show a little of the good ... there's than crazy kids who would even admit that you'd do pornography or a sado­ the best in the worst of us, worst to knowledge of the form were a few masochistic suspense novel. Other­ in the best, all of us dumnies of engineering or scientific types and wise it doesn't pay; if you really varying workmanship and attractive­ they kept the magazines well hidden. get involved with it, try to have ness in the case of the Great Ventril­ There must have been a lot of original conceptions or work them out oquist who do, he surely do, give voice to us all. rage in these fifties writers, rage in an original way; you'll slow down to the point where you can't possib­ and recrimination and (most commonly) 1980: New Jersey self-loathing for even being involv­ ly justify the word-rates. If you're ed in the form and, after a while going to write science fiction for a living or even try to make it work (because you fell into the habits and also because you became labeled) be­ as a sideline you have to do it fast. ing unable to write anything else un­ You can't take it seriously like so less one was willing to repudiate the many of you guys nowadays are trying totality of one's career, adopt a to do." pseudonym and start all over again. Without making a value judgment That rage was fueled by low advances, on the remarks (which are obviously capricious editors, predatory pub­ correct for most of us; even in the lishers, policies in the book mark­ decade of five-figure advances for ets which consigned any science fic­ genre science fiction, the average tion novel to a defined audience, return for a science fiction novel printed or overprinted a given num­ is about five thousand dollars), ber of copies and after throwing them they function as explanation of why into the market out-of-printed the no science fiction writer has publish­ book. (And then cheated on the roy­ ed more than two or three books of alty statements.) It was fueled yet the first rank. In 1960, reviewing further by the perception of most of Budrys' ROGUE MOON, stat­ these writers of the disparity be­ ed that no science fiction writer had tween their work -- galaxies, world­ ever written more than one master­ conquering, heroes, superheroes, gal­ piece (he felt that if Budrys were actic drives, the hounds of heaven -- able to go on he would break the pat­ and their lives which were limited, tern) and even two decades later THE CUTTING EDGE entrapped, penurious and often drench­ there is not much evidence in contra­ ed with alcohol. Even a moderately indication: Silverberg has done five Everyone plays with ten best intelligent writer could see the dis­ or six which are very strong lists; science fiction people are no junction and its irony, some dealt and so has Phillip K. Dick now but exception ** but here is a proposal with it by writing witty and highly even, as we regard the LeGuins or De­ for a different one: the ten best ironic science fiction but others lanys or Wolfes, even if we regard science fiction short stories of all went deeper into megalomania and fan­ James Blish himself (who was a strong time. Whether it is possible to de­ tasy and their promise was lost. writer who died untimely in 1975 at fine a ten (or even a hundred) "best" None of these writers were helped, the age of 54) who can be said to is arguable of course; the qualifica­ either by the fact that television have published more than two? tions and the criteria of the compil­ and the movies were appropriating The economics of the business er are pressed every step of the way their work to make cheap, mass-mark­ may change but other exigencies are but that the job should be done for et pap of it; sometimes they paid not. Science fiction is, if taken the is beyond dispute. low rights fees (Campbell got $500 seriously, a difficult, rigorous, ex­ for the movie rights to WHO GOES Science fiction, at the cutting hausting form demanding at the top THERE?) but most often they simply edge, has always existed in the short the concentration and precision of plagiarized. The fifties science story. Perhaps the genre by very def­ the chess master and the skills of fiction writer was a true Van Vogt inition will sustain its best work the first-rate literary writer. How protagonist: surrounded by vast, in that form; here a speculative pre­ often do these qualities occur in inimical, malevolent powers who re­ mise and a portagonist upon whose one writer ... and how often can they garded him without conpassion, strug­ life that premise is brought to bear be reproduced? gling to reach some kind of goal can be dramatically fused in their which-he could not define. 'But un­ Fortunately for most of us, sci­ purest form. Novels tend to be ep­ like the Gosseyns the fifties science ence fiction on the chapter-by-chap­ isodic or bloated; even tend fiction writer had no weapon shops of ter level can be cranked, can fill to either say too much or too little Isher, no Korzbyskian logic, no see­ space, can be mechanically conceived but the short story -- comnonly de­ saw, no secret plans, no occasionally and rapidly written ... it is a genres fined as a work of prose fiction of helpful overlords. He had only his it has recourses to devices and a colleagues to help him along and they handy stock of the familiar, a well­ ** I have a novel list elsewhere is were in as nuch trouble as he. Under mapped universe. But here too the this book and Harlan Ellison riskily these circumstances the body of work schism at the center of the genre is attempted to name the ten best living writers of science fiction turned out by the best twenty or manifest: there has never been a in a book review column in the 5/74 thirty writers and its astonishing science fiction novel so bad that issue of FANTASY 6 SCIENCE FICTION. quality are a monument to the human 7 In fact, Ellison ranked them. from now might want to change three- a metaphor for the shocks and injur­ quarters of it ... or ten years from ies of existence which prefigure and now might agree that work yet to be replicate death (and make the state written has displaced several of of death their eternal re-enactment) these stories. Whether or not our is almost unknown today; it appears best work is ahead of us, a lot of only in the out-of-print FINAL STAGE good work is still ahead: in hardcover and paperback and out- of-print Tiptree collection, STAR 1) VINTAGE SEASON, by C.L. SONGS OF AN OLD PRIMATE. It will re­ Moore (ASTOUNDING SCIENCE FICTION, ward the most careful study and Tip­ 1946). Published as by "Lawrence THE^E tott-J- BE A tree's afterword to the story -- al­ O'Donnell", the second most inport­ GTf

A rough-hewn cedar beam stands vate Philip Dick, that a reader of on a museum floor. It is three feet AND HEfcE HE his correspondence and the interviews high and four inches on a side. It would have developed, Dick begins to is surrounded by a velvet rope and I HE TEV1L. THAT MAPET tvpas -so irr convince his most hardened and scep­ lit by discreet track lighting. A tical fan that he or she is reading small brass plate identifies it as a what amounts to thinly-disguised work of sculpture. The intent of autobiography. The reality that the the artist in this, and in many simi­ author, Philip Dick sets up through lar pieces, is to force the viewer the persona of the character, Philip to confront the validity of the term Dick becomes that of the world out­ "sculpture" in an age when art is side the covers of the book, the seen as a bought and sold commodity "phenomenal world". legitimized solely by its price tag and its placement in a museum. This Then, after 120 pages of often is an interesting but fragile concept. tedious philosophical soul-searching, What happens when the artist becomes VALIS slips into narrative. Fat and a comnercial success, his work shown his friends see a movie which seems worldwide, comnanding four-figure to answer some of Fat's theological prices? The viewer is then no longer questions. They track down the film­ confronting an assault on his defin­ makers (members of a rock group known itions of art, he is merely seeing as Mother Goose) and confront the lit­ the work of a famous artist: "Ah, eral God in the form of a two-year- the new Billington". Therefore, the much-needed objectivity". old girl named Sophia. This encount­ artist, to remain true to his prem­ er demonstrates Dick's capacity to ise, must go to ever more elaborate For the first 120 pages of VALIS, be both frightening and funny simul­ lengths to create that necessary we witness Horselover Fat's gradual taneously. It is funny in the very doubt in the viewer's mind. He be­ descent into a chillingly realistic idea of the issuing gins to hide his art in the museum's madness. He cannot bear the thought from a rock star, and in Sophia's bathrooms and under stairwells, hop­ of a random world, accidentally cre­ silly death -- cut down, not by a ing that the unwary viewer will see, ated. Yet, as he sees the people Judas, but by a poor deluded soul not a new Billington, but instead around him living in pain, torment­ who meant well -- before she had a something inexplicable, something ing themselves and each other, Fat chance to go forth and confront hu­ that sets up that all-important mo­ cannot believe in a benign deity. He manity. It is frightening inSophiis ment of confusion without which Bil­ is drawn to the inescapable conclus­ cold and relentlessly logical state­ lington's art is simply a chunk of ion that this deity must be irration­ ments, and in the moment when she wood. Paradoxically, the more ac­ al at best, actively malevolent at peels away the facade of Horselover cepted the artist becomes, the more worst. Each new suffering he wit­ Fat from the character Philip Dick, difficult his job of creating new nesses adds fuel to this conclusion, showing him that Fat never existed -- art. a conclusion he cannot face for what that Dick's friends have been humor­ it tells him about his own worth and Philip K. Dick is certainly no ing his schizophrenia for years. We that of the human race. Fat hunts laugh, but it is an uncomfortable minimalist: if anything, his rambl­ for solace and enlightenment in the ing, crowded novels are the work of laughter; the intensity of the char­ writings of the Judeo-Christian mys­ acter, Philip Dick's delusions make a maximalist. Yet, after a long and tics. prolific career in which he has es­ us feel as if we were witnessing a tablished himself as SF's master il­ This section of the book is dense very private moment in the life of a lusionist, Dick has reached a simil­ and difficult to read. The author, respected public figure. ar dilemma. In his 31 published nov­ Philip Dick, leads Horselover Fat, The book ends with the character els, Dick has consistently taken his the character Philip Dick and the Philip Dick, locked tightly to his readers' preconceptions of objective reader ever deeper into an elaborate madness, scanning Saturday morning reality and shattered, twisted, side­ philosophical maze as Fat amalgamates TV programning for messages from God, stepped, ignored, transmuted and per­ every scrap of mystic thought he can buried deeply in cartoons and com­ muted them. By now Dick's audience find into a whole that hovers on the mercials; a scene both harrowing and expects the world of a Dick novel to edge of logical synthesis, but never ludicrous for what it appears to say become a shifting matrix that can quite achieves it: about the author, Philip Dick. bend and flow into any shape. We "'We did not fall because of a anticipate this before we open the The complementary second half of moral error; we fell because cover. Like Billington, Philip Dick this double novel is THE DIVINE IN­ of an intellectual error: that must go to increasingly greater VASION. This is a book written, not of taking the phenomenal world lengths to set up a reality his read­ by the author, Philip Dick, but by as real. Therefore we are mor­ ers will believe in, so that he may the character Philip Dick, last seen ally innocent. It is the Em­ modulate it into something different. staring at his television. The char­ pire in its various disguised acter, Dick, has written the book to In VALIS, Dick has upped the polyforms which tells us we fictionalize his confusions and con­ ante by using himself as the constant have sinned. clusions regarding the nature of God. that defines the book's reality. In "The Empire never ended.'11 Given the irrational God in VALIS, this novel, Philip Dick is the first- TDI is a novel of redenption, not person narrator, identified not only By placing himself directly into only of the human race, but of God by name, but as the author of sever­ the narrative, and in a manner con­ Itself. al well-known Dick titles. He intro­ sistent with the picture of the pri- duces the protagonist, Horselover The book opens with an odd note Fat, as another reflection of him­ of deja vu. A short story by Dick, self: "I am Horselover Fat and I am BY STEVE BROWN "Chains of , Web of Aether", was published in STELLAR #5 last year. writing in the third person to gain 11 This story concerns the relationship and Inuiaculately Conceives the Sec­ and the character, Philip Dick in between Leo Me Vane and Rybus Roniney, ond Coming (or Third, if you count VALIS (who becomes the author of THE who live in neighboring domes on a Sophia) into the dying body of Rybys. DIVINE INVASION) was calculated, as methane planet. They are both losers Elias/Elijah walks into Rybys' dome Dick states in his letter elsewhere and loners; Leo is distracted by an from the methane, filthy, wearing in these pages, then Dick has out­ infatuation with a popular singer beggar's robes, sent by God to shep­ done himself and produced a double- and dislikes contact with people; Ry­ herd Herb, Rybys and the Infant lobed masterpiece, and one that ends bus is foul - tempered and is (tying of through their destinies. The three on a rare (for the author) upbeat multiple sclerosis. The first half return to Earth (ostensibly seeking note of salvation. But then, as many of this story is contained almost help for Rybys' multiple sclerosis), Dick fans who have read VALIS believe verbatim in the opening sections of smuggling God back to Earth in fetal he could be quite serious about all THE DIVINE INVASION, with tiny dif­ form. God is bom as a boy named this, and the accompanying letter is ferences (Leo McVane has been renam­ Enmanuel, but it is a rough birth simply disingenuous rationalization, ed Herb Asher in the novel, Rybus' that kills the mother and leaves the and there is no real distinction be­ name has been changed to Rybys). divine child brain-damaged. tween the author Philip Dick and the character Philip Dick. The novel diverges from the short The rest of the novel is a pot­ Then again, several completely story when God manifests to Herb Ash­ pourri of the thought-provoking, the different versions of the "truth" er, and when he and Rybys are visit­ mundane, the frightening and the hil­ could be equally valid. It is the ed by Elias, a four-thousand-year-old arious as Enmanuel debates the fate essence of Philip K. Dick that an being known in the past as the Pro­ of Himself and humanity with a mys­ actual truth does not exist, that phet Elijah. The short story con­ terious quasi-divine being manifest­ interpretation and subjective opin­ tains no mysticism, and remains a ing as a young girl named Zina. Em­ ion is the only reality, a reality painful and realistic tale of two un­ manuel, in his brain-damaged state, that differs for everyone -- the likely people interacting. When the has a lot to (re)learn: novel opens, Herb Asher is lying in phenomenal world is merely a some­ a cryogenic tank, waiting for years '"When Masada fell," Elias times useful fiction. said, "all was lost. God for a needed organ to become avail­ For now, I prefer to take Dick did not enter history (be­ able. While he lies frozen, his mem­ at his word (in the letter), and fore Masada); he left his­ ory replays his past life with Rybys that's my personal subjective real­ tory. Christ's mission was on the methane planet in real-time. ity. A brilliant author has found a failure.'" Thus he cannot tell if he is remem­ a new place in the museum to display bering these events, or if he is ac­ The debate between Enmanuel and his chunk of wood. tually living them. The Dick reader Zina is acted out in Herb Asher's ************ *A*** ******** who has encountered the short story personal reality. The unfortunate months before reading the novel has Asher is carried into and out of sev­ the same problem; the events seem as eral versions of what he perceives strangely familiar to the reader as to be true, his memories sometimes SIDEBAR they do to Asher. The publication altered, sometimes left untouched. VALIS and THE DIVINE INVASION of the short story adds a resonance Philip Dick masterfully blurs the have had a strange history in the to the novel that perfectly mirrors distinction between what is true and PhilDickian world of the book indus­ Asher's own problem in differentiat­ what is hypothetical, leaving the try. VALIS was submitted to Bantam ing reality from memory. At one reader no reality to cling to but several years ago. Bantam held onto point Asher cries: "I had the strang­ the actual existence of Enmanuel and the manuscript until two years had est most weird sensation for just a Zina -- which is, of course, debat­ elapsed, thus reverting the rights second there. It's gone now. As if able. this had all happened before". I back to the author. Apparently, felt exactly the same as I read that The book is fast, funny, convol­ they didn't know what to make of it. passage; I didn't recall the short uted and an absolute joy to read -- Then the book, and its thematic se­ story until much later. It is also a journey into a sunny backyard aft­ quel (THE DIVINE INVASION, in propos­ possible that the story, where God er days spent in the murky, filthy al form) ended up in the hands of takes no active role, and where Herb/ basement of VALIS. The surrounding Envid Hartwell at Simon £ Schuster. Leo and Rybys/Rybus never leave their cultural milieu is that of a totali­ At that time, THE DIVINE INVASION domes, is actually "real", and that tarian world government composed of was entitled VALIS REGAINED. Hart­ all of the event in THE DIVINE IN­ an unlikely but funny alliance be­ well loved THE DIVINE INVASION (crit­ VASION are Herb Asher's fevered vis­ tween the and the ic and publisher Paul Williams came ions as he lies in his cryogenic Conmunist Party. The minutiae of fu­ up with the new title), but didn't tank. ture life is as conplete and as anus- care for VALIS. So VALIS went back ing as in most of Dick's novels, like to Bantam, which had a new editor by Dick has done this several times the -powered home stereo speak­ then, and it was accepted and publish­ in the past. I recall feeling the ers for which you have to keep buy­ ed as a paperback original in Febru­ same sense of deja vu when reading ing tanks of helium. Herb Asher's ary, 1981 -- and with a beautiful THE THREE STIGMATA OF PALMER ELDRITCH lust for a popular singer -- Linda John Berkey cover. REfSAZMKD and finding out months later that Fox, used as a Joblike lever by Em­ THE DIVINE INVASION will be publish­ Dick had published a short story cal­ manuel and Zina --is pathetic, fun­ ed on June 5, 1981, as a Simon § led "The Days of Perky Pat" almost ny and warmly real, qualities which Schuster hardback. It all ten years before publication of the remain with the relationship no mat­ makes you wonder. Which version of novel that contained most of the ter how twisted the events become; which book was "supposed" to be pub­ characters and the seeds of the sit­ as when dead characters return, lished when. Was it all calculated uations in the book. events happen before their causes as a further confusion by the author? In the far future of THE DIVINE and Asher's own memories lose their Or are the "actual" books you hold INVASION, Earth is under a "zone of continuity. in your hand (the phenomenal actual­ ization of the subjective concept evil” placed around it by Belial, If the ambiguity of the relation­ "book", as it were) merely disguised the Adversary. God has retreated to ship between the author, Philip Dick the outer colonies where he manifests reflections of something else? Himself to the hapless Herb Asher, 12 ************************************ AND THEN I SAW....

BY THE EDITOR

BLOOD BEACH (r) destroys credibility by the gallon with each idiot who goes out onto the Santa Monica beach where they know damn well others have been sucked down into the sand by a Thing. In the end, after massive police irresponsibility and incompetence (required by the plot to allow more deaths), the "nest" of a mutated or heretofore unknown sea/sand monster is discovered and rigged with TV cam­ eras and explosives. An idiot detective with a termin­ al case of Crude who goes for final solutions disobeys orders and pushes the bonib button (plunger) and the creature is blown to bits. Well, it Bob Newhart plays the his marriage, his family, and (one had this habit of collecting memen­ moronic, egotistic, incompetent assumes) his business and the fortune tos of its victims—a head, a torso, president. Madlyn Kahn does her Bruce Dern plays the part and almost an arm... whining-voiced schtick, and Gilda gets away with it. The problem is There is the ritual scientist Radner is their 28-year-old virgin that no actor alive could trianph ov­ called in to speculate and be help­ daughter who will do anything to er the script and the upper-class en­ less, who warns of Consequences and get laid. Actually, in Africa, on virons which make the emotional prob­ wants to keep it alive for study... a state visit, she loses it to a lem seem the pathetic, childish tan­ There are the ritual pretty girls who fertility god---a stone statue trum of a spoiled brat. disappear... There is the tension as with a huge phallus. the beach patrol hero's girl friend There is some inane fan­ (and real love) flirts with death on tasy concerning a secret fertilizer the sand... (His stewardess trans- which grows gigantic fruits and ANY WHICH WAY YOU CAN (r) cient interest is a victim. Tsk.) veggies which the president secret­ And unanswered is howcum the is a sequel ly deals for with the black chief/ creature has this uncanny knack for to Clint Eastwood's ANY WHICH WAY BUT leader of a tiny African island being directly under people all the LOOSE. This one is cruded-up with nation. too much Clyde humor (the orangutan time, and howcum it can move at all The movie visibly deteri­ through dense, dry sand hundreds of likes to shit in police patrol cars) orates before your incredulous eyes. and a straining to top itself by re­ yards from the sea. The ending sweeps all before it in a John Saxon plays the frustrated sorting to exaggeration and self-par­ tidal wave of bad taste. This may ody. Eastwood, , et.al. police chief with some intensity. be the worst film of 1981--already. [Note: the locales are Santa are very good. The overblown, impos­ Monica Pier and the remnants of the sible events they inhabit bring down old Ocean Park Pier which supported the film. the Ocean Park Amusement Center before And, too, the resort to The Mob trying to force Eastwood to fight a the Park went broke and before a big MIDDLE-AGE CRAZY (r) ballroom (name forgotten) burned tries to make bare-knuckle fighter who has killed down many years ago in the Sixties. the audience feel sorry for a suc­ people in matches is so cliche-ridden These locales are "merged" in the cessful contractor just turned 40 and dumb it is painful to watch. film. ] who goes mildly hysteric at the Stay away from this film—it's prospect of growing older, losing a lousy horror effort. hair, accepting more responsibility and living with a lush wife played by Ann-Margaret who likes lotsa sex. He rebels by leasing a 40,000 MOTEL HELL (r) dollar Porsche, buying some urban sticks its tongue in FIRST FAMILY (r) cowboy clothes and chasing a sweet your cheek and makes sport of horror is an occasionally young cheerleader who digs sex on films, compartmentalized morality, funny derision of politicians, the a purely non-involvement plane. and the secret ingredients in a small presidency, the military... It is Oh, he also rebels by nearly business's sausages. about five years too late. But the losing his biggest customer and As the blurb says, "It takes a writer-director, Buck Henry, is a his key to a fortune. lot of different critters to make knee-jerk cynical Liberal, so this This asshole with the perspec­ Farmer Vincent fritters." [There is mostly inept, contemptuous and con- tive of a 14-year-old kid, abruptly no meat in fritters, by the way; a tempible film is bombing out at the sees the error of his ways and saves fritter is a small quantity of fried box office. 13 batter or batter-covered fruit, com, etc. But is it fair to ask a Holly­ Well worth seeing. If you're stroying, ruthless, cruel methods of wood publicity man to know (or care) young the anti-establishment, let- the party/government as it weeds out what he's writing about? Naw.] me-be-free theme will strike a nat­ non-conformists, "deviationists" and Farmer Vincent is played straight ural chord in your psyche. those with residual non-communist at­ by Rory Calhoun--now in his sixties titudes and pasts. it looks like--whose sausage and smok­ The end is always justified ed meat business needs human flesh to FAME (R) and rationalized by the means by give it its special tang and fame. in spite of cliche, stereo­ those in power. To assure a goodly supply of human type and set-up has a great vitality And in the end the girl is ingredients he waylays cars on a local and power as it shows in semi-docu- chosen for a high position and in­ road and sinks the vehicles in a con­ mentary/dramatic style the lives of stantly feels the gap between her­ venient swanp. some talented (and some untalented, self and the conwion people; she is To keep the victims fresh until or not talented enough) teen-agers now of the elite, a full party mem­ needed he and his sister plant them in New York who first must audition ber. upright in the ground in a special, for places in the city's high school The film is in color, is well walled "garden", and cut out their devoted to music, dance and drama paced, well directed. Made in Hun­ vocal cords. The victims are fed and who then must stick it out for gary, it includes an all-woman conin- a gruel and bags are placed over four years...changing, learning, unal shower scene that unhesitatingly their heads. growing. shows full frontal nudity, as well But Farmer Vincent takes a shine Their teachers are dedicated as, later, a pretty explicit love­ to one waylaid girl and takes her and long-suffering. The five or making scene. home. Ah, but he won't kiss her or six students whose lives we follow It would appear the party in have extra-marital sex with her even from auditions to graduation are Hungary is feeling very secure to al­ though she is liberated and really confused, uncertain, vulnerable/ low this film to be made and exported. likes him. He insists they be mar­ defensed, tough, soft... All of Or that the director and script writ­ ried first! Old-fashioned man. the young people in his film, and er put one over on the government Inevitably his younger brother all the adults are excellent actors bureaucracy. (played as a retard) finally catches and actresses as well as skilled on to what's going on, and one of the dancers, and/or musicians. voiceless planted victims gets loose A fine movie that combines and helps the others from their holes realism with idealism. The dance and... The climax of MDTEL HELL is sequences are great! so horrible in its casual use of hum­ HANGER 18 (PG) an bodies and so lighthearted and un­ uses a documentary abashed in its use of hoary suspense style to tell an increasingly in­ cliches (would you believe the hero­ LA SALAMANDRE (PG) credible story. It isn't hard to is a French black- ine tied to a moving cutting board swallow a satellite launched from which is tracking toward a running and-white film by a young director the space shuttle, or that a nearby bandsaw, as she screams for rescue?). which tells the story of two writers observing flying saucer could be Would you believe a duel with chain of low sales and high artistic integ­ hit by the accelerating satellite... saws? rity who accept money to write a or that the U.S. government would There's a bit of naked breast movie script and in the end don't spirit the crash-landed saucer into photography. Mostly the R is for deliver. a special space testing facility violence and grue...and the full im­ The movie idea centers on a real camouflaged as a hanger on an Air plications of cannibalism. incident: a young woman was accused Force base...or that two dead aliens I suspect this will become a and denied shooting her uncle with a are found in the saucer along with rifle. cult film in a small way. It is specimens of Earth life, including often funny. The two young writers get to a young woman. know her—a rootless, neurotic, self And it is credible that stupid destructive girl—have sex with her, Presidential assistants and military visit her family, the uncle...and in men would try to con and freeze-out the end decide not to complete the and double-deal the two NASA astro­ TIMES SQUARE (r) script. Everyone goes separate ways. nauts who saw the alien craft from is an idealistic, age The quality is in the acting and the space shuttle. old story of two girls—16 and 13— in the life-style of these very true- What is not credible is that both with massive emotional problems, to-life characters. Of equal interest these Presidential assistants (in­ who meet and become friends and, in the for me is the life-style of the French cluding the White House Chief of squalid, perverted, dangerous lower- people, the farmers, the small busi­ Staff) would order the astronauts class jungle that is Times Square and nessmen with whom these three inter­ killed because they feared the story environs in New York, work out their act. problems and heal each other...emerg­ of the saucer would defeat their ing from their experiences, their President in his re-election bid successes, their failures, as bett­ (with the election only days away) and—in extremis as they realize er, more whole personalities. ANGI VERA (R) They are innocents in spite they are about to be exposed—ord­ is the story of an er an "accidental" plane crash into of the 16-year-old's street wisdom honest, sincere young woman who, dur­ the secret facility and order it and foul language. Somehow they ing the communist take-over of Hungary exist unharmed in the dirt and evil loaded with only incendiary bombs. in the mid-to-late 1940s, is chosen The saucer could not be counted on and in spite of the fears of the to be trained for leadership at a establishment, straight world. to melt down to slag. Nothing less communist party school. than an atomic bomb (that would un­ Yeah, it's a , but The acting is excellent, and the it could happen, and its picture of fortunately take out the entire base) personal, emotional involvements (and would be effective and a sure destroy­ scavenger living styles in the low­ communist indoctrination) are the sur­ est levels of the underculture is er of all the key, knowledgeable face interest. Lurking in the back­ personnel and physical evidence. fascinating. There are echoes of ground, constantly, are the soul-de- ancient Rome's street people...of But ordering an atom bomb into Cairo's street people.... 14 a small private plane...that would be extremely difficult given all the William Holden as a seemingly pecially at the dance held clandest­ safeguards and paperwork involved... callous mercenary helicopter pilot inely at the mine recreation and din­ What was very well done in the who decides to help Caine follow ingroom. movie was the really convincing sau­ the slavers is quickly killed (an­ There is a particularly effective cer, inside and out. And the revela­ other Name for the advertising), sequence down in the shafts where tions of mankind's origins revealed and Rex Harrison as an official of three couples go on a lark. The by the computer-assisted translation the Anti-Slavery Society spends lark is fatal for all but the hero of the alien language "books" found ten minutes on-camera to lend his and heroine. in the saucer. name to the credits. The revelation of the killer What was also inexcusable was miner's identity is predictable the casual, cavalier exploration of He turns Caine over to an Arab and his motivation unbelievable. the saucer and experimentation with whose wife and children were killed Don't bother with this unless its controls. Every move, every word by the slaver Suliman a few years you're a gore freak. of the first-in people would be re­ previously and who is thirsting for Revenge. corded and filmed/videotaped. Every But here the movie--already GODSEND (PG) bit of searching, opening of recep- on weak legs — falls on its face. ticles, of pushing buttons would be is a British film, slow­ Suliman opts to force his fifteen or paced, nicely done, well-acted, with recorded. None of that happened in so slaves to trek across the Sahara this movie. no gore or sex. as if this were medieval times and A strange pregnant young woman So I rank this film as a good airplanes didn't exist. He does use is invited into the rural home of a try, but flawed—spoiled—by the a covered truck to reach the Sahara, successful artist by his wife, for suspense-danger-chase exaggerated though. plot elements. Overkill in more tea. The weather turns nasty, the The worst casting mistake in strange woman goes into labor, and ways than one. Another example of decades is using Peter Ustimov as gives birth to a girl child. (this time relatively mild) contempt Suliman. His whining accent and in­ The next morning the woman has for the audience and the material. ability to restrain his comedy tal­ They never learn! left and the couple--who already have ents turns the film into a joke. four small children--adopt the aban­ His many comedy roles in the past doned infant. are too much for the audience--or As the years pass the couple's him--to overcome. children die—apparently accidenta- The standouts in the movie ally, although the artist comes to SPHINX (R) are the beautiful black woman and suspect strongly that the adopted wastes good actors and the Egyptian actor playing Malik, child is responsible, that the child actresses in a trivial, formula the revenge-seeking Arab. is an amoral, jealous monster. greed-in-the-Near-East story in­ The violence and ruthlessness This suspicion and the death of volving the theft of Egyptian of the slavers (and their pursuers) the last natural child of the coup­ artifacts from ancient tombs. is very realistic. Lesley-Anne Down as a beaut­ The lovely black woman has an le destroys the already strained marriage. The monster-child (phys­ iful woman Egyptologist of English obligatory nude scene in the begin­ ically a beautiful little origins who studied in Boston defies ning of the picture as she bathes in girl) has won, has claimed the art­ common sense and elementary coward­ a lake. Small tits, great ass. ice by persisting in attempts to Worth seeing, but don't ex­ ist's wife and the mother of the trace a golden statue and to find pect too much. four children it has killed. the tomb of a little-known Pharoah. At the end the artist, divorced, Frank Langella as Egypt's spots the mother of the monster child chief of its ancient artifacts pro­ across a park pond as she is just tection department is wasted as he going off with another young moth­ is required to fall instantly in MY BLOODY VALENTINE (r) er ... . love with Downs and constantly save has the Good to fine acting, and the her from ruthless international virtue of the gritty realism of a film sustains interest, but it some­ thieves. small mining town, its young, crude how doesn't pay off. Apparently Only John Gielgud as a cunn­ workforce, and some good acting. these children the young woman gives ing Egyptian dealer in stolen goods But the movie soon reveals it­ birth to are by nature a different is credible—up to a point. He self as just another sloppy varia­ breed of humans, and she is "seed­ seemingly walks into a situation he tion of the psycho-killer-on-the- ing" them all over England. But knew was deadly--and is gorily loose formula, with a family resem­ no real answers or solutions to killed. The plot is stupid and mot­ blance to . this danger are given. ivation, action, dialog is too often Twenty years ago on Valentine's dumb and inept. Day a maddened miner killed two oth­ Gielgud was employed in his er miners responsible for his entomb­ ALTERED STATES (r) five-minute sacrificial role only ment for weeks after a cave-in. He is a superior for his name in the advertising. was committed to the state hospital film until it degenerates into just- And the Sphinx is nowhere in for the insane. another special effects extravaganza the movie. Now, on the eve of a Valentine's at the expense of plausibility, cred­ This is a second or third- Day dance, the killings resume, with ibility and science. rate film. Don't waste your time the victim hearts delivered to oth­ It starts with a young scientist or your money. ers in Valentine candy boxes. experimenting with his body/mind by Has the old, insane miner es­ use of an isolation tank---depriving caped? his body of sensory contact—no feel, ASHANTI (R) Gruesome murders continue apace, no hearing, no sight, no smell—in is another action ad­ with the miner—dressed in a mine order to induce hallucinations and venture with some virtues. It tells breathing mask and clothes—an im­ an exploration of the deepest levels the story of Michael Caine as the personal killing machine who uses a of the human psyche and brains. husband of a beautiful black woman pickaxe with horrible efficiency, At first he is interested in the who has been kidnapped by a small picking off old and young alike, es- religious experience—finding God— slaver team in west-central Africa. 15 but in later years, at Harvard, after a shattering psychedelic experience The young scientist is saved from sets out to make his living building with an obscure Mexican indian tribe regression death by true love. The fences for ranchers and farmers. who use a strange soup made of mush­ banal ending reiterates the bromide He is cheated, beaten, treated rooms and other indredients, he is "Love Conquers All." And we learn with contempt and prejudice. convinced that the human brain poss­ that Truth is ephemeral and there is He has enough pride and rage esses genetic memories/blueprints nada at the end of the knowledge rain­ and (perhaps) aborigine culture and of human development on Earth, and bow. savagery to—with his easy-going that by "tripping" on this drug in Fine acting! Fine scenes of brother and older relative—go on an isolation tank he can regress to interpersonal interaction--you really a killing rampage against those who previous quasi-human levels of ex­ believe this young man is a very gift­ mistreated him and his fellow abos. istence. ed, neurotic scientist, and his wife The violence comes so abruptly And he does regress for brief, equally smart, though far more bal­ and brutally and realistically that terrifying periods, and is manic in anced. The supporting roles are all it shatters your conposure. The his drive to go back further, for excellently cast and acted. It rings murders have the unpremedited, al­ longer periods. of reality—until that werewolf sch­ most impulsive character of real His associates and his wife (and tick comes on. life murder, and they are often then his former wife after separat­ The R-rating is for the natural­ sloppy and incomplete at first. ion and divorce) think he is crack­ istic language and lovescenes. In the end Jimnie's brother ing up. But we know he's right, we This is a fine, adult movie— can't continue and allows himself see him Change into a pre-human until it goes overboard into impos­ to be shot to death. His older beast... sibility and drowns. relative is hung. Jinmie is final­ When the film sticks to his ly caught, too, a victim of his interior psychedelic and devolution imposed Christian morality...a vic­ visions, it's credible. When Paddy tim of a system that educated him, Chayevsky (the writer) and Ken Rus­ civilized him, and sent him out to sell (the director) insist he actual­ ROCKERS (R) be used for cheap labor and humili­ ly, physically changes shape and un­ has three virtues: it ation. dergoes radical structure changes is full of Jamaican pop music, it He is treated like shit, yet, (like Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde) and is spoken in the delightful Jamaican ironically, marries a white woman returns to normal in minutes--or lower class patois—sometimes Eng­ whom everyone thinks he has gotten seconds!— then I for one shake my lish, but most of the time it re­ pregnant. head and start to sneer. quires subtitles—, and it demon­ A superior film. See it if The final "trip" in the Harvard strates the free and easy life­ possible. isolation chamber is so extreme— style of the common people. The he devolves to one- existence story is about evil upper class and the process is so powerful it people who rip-off the underclass blows out a monitoring camera, fills and this time get their comeuppance. the lab with intense white radiance, A fun movie, really. MIDNIGHT OFFERINGS (iv) blows out an observation window, warps is pretty pipes and conduits on the walls and sloppy in confusing psi-powers with ceiling, renders unconscious the ob­ magic/witchcraft powers, but in this servers ... THE CHANT OF JIFNIE BLACKSMITH (r) story of a teen-age witch who is Evil The film has become totally un­ and is out to control those she wants is an Australian film, beautifully and kill those who oppose her, a de­ scientific, unbelievable, a victim of photographed in wide-screen color, gree of credibility is built up, es­ special effects overkill, a victim of set around 1900 A.D., and deals pecially by the girl's mother who a need or desire by Russell to blow with the life and times of one mis­ had the Talent but gave it up for the minds of the viewers_ to outdo sionary-educated aborigine, Jimmie. the benefits of love and a normal the other "trips" in other sf movies He is young, idealistic, and life. A new girl comes to the high school and the young witch's boy friend is attracted to her. The new girl has great natural psi talents, including telepathic reception, tele­ kinesis, and the ability to start fires at a distance. The witch tumbles to her and a deadly rivalry is set up. Melissa Sue Anderson is remark­ ably Evil—contemptuous, arrogant, with the most malevolent expressions I've seen in a long time. She may make a career of being a villainess and bitch. [She used to be the blonde blind daughter on LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE.] Mary McDonough [a daughter on THE WALTONS] is good as the innocent teen­ ager plagued by wild talents. After a tool-and-lumber-throwing battle in the school carpentry shop, the two girls seem destined for a knock-down, drag-out battle in the final scenes. But the movie fizzles as the nice girl is locked into a bon­ fire by a spell and is unable or un­ 16 willing to fight back. The witch's mother enters the dead people she had known or heard struggle and helps neutralize her about, and was moving joyously toward daughter's black magic long enough her dead husband who waited for her for the good girl to escape the flam­ there in the far radiance__ es and long enough to throw herself Crippled by the crash, she re­ and her evil daughter into the in­ turns home to the family farm in ferno. Kansas. A let-down ending. There she discovers she has the power to work miracles of healing by laying-on-of-hands. She cures her own paralyzed (nerve damage) legs. MOVIE REVIEW: BREAKING GLASS Soon she is drawing crowds--and the United Kingdom, 1980 ORDINARY PEOPLE (r) sick and lame. turned me off Ellen Burstyn was perfectly cast Reviewed by Andrew Tidmarsh instantly as it began to detail the for this role (or is a magnificent emotional problems of an upper mid­ actress) as she shows love—pure Set in Britain in the not-too- distant future, this film is more a dle class family. Why are we sup­ altruistic love—for the afflicted. showcase for the songs of its star, posed to care about the problems of The healing scenes are convincing. Hazel O'Connor, than a diagnosis of the privileged?—these nice, clean, Her problems come from local re­ the nation's ills. It is of interest neat, well-dressed, well-fed, plenty- ligious fundamentalists who demand because she mentions "1984", "Big of-money families who live in lux­ she acknowledge her gift comes from Brother", "" and be­ urious $300,000 homes.... God or admit it comes from the Devil. cause by its end she has become a ro­ Yes, despite all their money and She attracts the notice of scien­ bot of which she sings. cars and good schools—ah, the tists and goes to L.A. for testing poor things have guilts and up­ and demonstrations of her gift. The O'Connor is a talented outsider tight moms and fears and attempted scientists and professors are con­ who is determined in her own way, in suicides and baffled papas. They founded. her own time, to change the world. also have fine Jewish psychiatrists But she doesn't want all the She is picked up by a seedy record to see them through the rough times problems inherent with Healing. She promoter (who buys the records that and make them well. resolutely refuses to say she is ah are to become hits) and, managed by That off my chest, let me say agent of God. Her solution to her him, acquires a band: guitar, bass, that ORDINARY PEOPLE is a fine film problem is just right and is fore­ drums, sax. She writes; they play. with intense, finely delineated act­ shadowed earlier in the film. Step by step, the group BREAKING ing by Mary Tyler Nbore as the rigid, Again, Burtyn is very fine in GLASS force themselves, are forced hating, unforgiving, unloving mother, this, and everyone involved does a into the spotlight from pubs to clubs with Donald Sutherland as the baffl­ great job in supporting roles. to the largest venues. They sign ed, unhappy, finally resolute father, As you leave the theater you'll away their publishing rights for two and with Timothy Hutton as the guilt- wish that such Healers existed, and years and win a record contract. ridden, suicidal, socially inept son. that there really is an afterlife as Money comes with fame, but the words Judd Hirsch was a fine psychiatrist. shown. begin to change. It is a familiar All others were excellent in their story, no better done than before. supporting roles. In the background, Britain grinds to a halt: a rail strike, mounting unemployment, increased police pow­ FT. APACHE, THE BRONX (r) ers of arrest. But the film ignores is, un­ these items. O'Connor is the focus GLORIA (R) der all its surface of topicality is a fine, well tension­ of attention, with her white face and social concern, just another ed chase film, with Gena Rowlands and black or blue lips and finger­ cliche-ridden cop film. We have giving a remarkable performance as nails; her thick mop of red-blonde all the crummy junkies, the amoral an ex-girlfriend of a Mafia biggie hair, cut straight at her jaw-line pushers, the thieves...we have the abruptly trying to keep herself and or swept back behind her ears; her cop-with-a-conscience who is torn a six-year-old boy alive because voice so like Bowie's yet more harsh and anguished by stupidity, police they both know too much about under­ bitchy. To begin with, she is crit­ brutality, death in the streets. world finances. ical of her audience, who won't per­ We have his nurse girlfriend who is The parts that wow an audience form as she performs, "because you a secret junkie and who is overdosed into cheering and clapping are when are a programne"; then she notices by her shitty dealers and who dies. she pulls out a .38 and blasts away that blackmen are different from We have this Good Cop's loneliness at Mafia/Mob soldiers. She knows white; then is disdainful of big and decision to resign... We have the score and isn't afraid to pull brother, whose petty repressions the new, by-the-book chief of the a trigger. She's tough, and vulner­ she will "kick up his arse"; then precinct. able, loving, and has had it up to she dresses in white with stuck-on We have blood and guts and some here with Mob final solutions. silver strips and jerks as though a bad words and some nice tits. The ending of the film is com­ clumsily-strung puppet (in her words But aside from a few words about pletely dishonest, of course, but "a robot"), to describe how man has the Fort Apache aspect, and aside happy endings usually are. marked the world and with his mach­ from showing a crummy slum neighbor­ ines replaced himself. hood, there is nothing about street gangs, about the Mafia, about the To end, the contradiction is re­ vealed: a human who is human -- who RESURRECTION (PG) wholesale arson endemic in the South loves her manager -- cannot also be tells the story of Bronx. a machine. The enlightened mind a woman who, after a car crash, died Paul Newman is the "Liberal" on the operating table for a few cop. He did his best with a flawed flickers and dims. minutes, then was revived. While role. By no means a great film, but "dead" she experienced a long, white one to look out for. foggy tunnel, encountered (silently) 17 ************************************ AN INTERVIEW WITH

CONDUCTED BY

JOAN GORDON paintings and I wish I had some of SFR: Were you an only child? them), a chanpionship-calibre bridge player. I've never really known WOVFE: Yes, I was an only child. what she wanted me to be, but I'm It's a wonderful and terrible thing Gene Wolfe is perhaps best known fairly sure it was none of the things -- terrible because one ends up be­ for his collection of three novellas, I've been. A lot of my childhood ing the last of the tribe, the only THE FIFTH HEAD OF CERBERUS and for was by , if you one who remembers the customs and the first volume of his new tetrol- know what I mean. teachings of the now-sunken land of ogy, THE SHADOW OF THE TORTURER. He Home. I remember how we used to sit has also written many fine short sto­ SFR; Did you serve in the amy? in the living room, my mother and ries, some of which are collected in my father and I and my dog, Boots. THE ISLAND OF DR. LEATH AND OTHER The couch and the chairs and the big STORIES AND OTHER STORIES; a beau­ WOLFE: I was in combat for four library table and the radio and the tifully-crafted mainstream novel months or so during the Korean War; floor lamps are all gone; the house called PEACE; an adolescent novel, I got the Combat Infantry Badge. It is sold; I am the only one left, the THE DEVIL IN THE FOREST; and a sci­ was trench fighting almost like that only thing left; if I had to, I ence fiction novel, . in World War I. I was shelled a lot could not prove it was not all a but never bombed or strafed. I sup­ dream. One of his novellas, "Seven Am­ pose the main effect the army had erican Nights", which appears in the on me was to make me see once and short story collection, illustrates for all that regimented systems both SFR: What you said about being an the special nature of Gene's writ­ do and do not work in the way their only child seemed very true to me. ing. It is a mix of Oriental ara­ designers intended. It's something When the ritual of Home lies in the besque and sordid realism, of dreams like doublethink, something like hands of only three people, it is and reality, speculation and chara­ hypnosis. Regimentation succeeds subject to frequent change and I re­ cter development, ambiguity and clar­ brilliantly when everyone involved sist it, substitute my own rituals, ity. tNo one else could have done it. wants it to -- which is to say, it fabricate old ones to insert in my If I tell you the plot concerns a succeeds best where it is needed memory. traveler to the future America after least: the paratroops, the Special it has fallen, you may think of all Forces. Combat showed me that the WOLFE: Sooner or later you're going the after-the-holocaust SF novels people who act bravely when there is to ask how I started writing, so you have read -- it is nothing like no special danger are not the people I'll tell you right now that I start­ them. America here is not a charred who act bravely when there is. I ed because ray bride and I were liv­ wilderness peopled by solitary rug­ didn't know that. ing in a two-room furnished apart­ ged individualists learning the lay ment and I had hopes of raising en- of a new land. Instead it is a de­ SFR: What are your beliefs, relig­ caying city filled with subjected ious and political? and haunted by the ghosts of its former strength. The metaphori­ WOLFE:. I am a Catholic in the real cal and literal worlds of "Seven comnunion-taking sense, which tells American Nights" are equally alive, you a lot less than you think about to us and to the protagonist. my religious beliefs ... I believe I wanted to be told the secret -- in God, in the divinity of Christ how does Gene write these stories and in the survival of the person. that shine on long after being read? I don't mean by that that I think I Though he never answered that ques­ will not die, or that (for example) tion, he has answered others in our my parents are not dead; the protag­ extended epistolary interview. Over onist in the last three years Gene and I have carries a sword inscribed with the conducted an interview by mail. The words terminus est ("This is the di- topics have been Gene Wolfe, his viding line"). Like every thinking writing, writing in general and life person, I am still working out my in general. And that is the organiz­ beliefs. ation of what follows here. Politically, I am a maverick. * * * I agree with the far left on many issues, with the far right on others, SFR: Tell me about your childhood. with the center on still others. I distrust concentrations of power, WOLFE: My childhood was fairly nor­ whether political or economic. I am mal for my place and time. I was a strong environmentalist. I be­ raised in Houston while it was still lieve that we are higher creatures a Southern city. Mather -- whom God than we think we are, and that ani­ bless -- was a Southern Belle, very mals are closer to us than we be­ energetic, very soft on the outside lieve. (I should have said the high­ and very hard on the inside. Do you er animals.) know the type? Some artistic talent (she used to do Japanese-style brush 18 ough money to make a down-payment on Whom have you learned from? With some furniture so we could move out. whom do you feel you have something Twenty-some years later I still need in common? money. WOLFE: The list of authors I ad­ SFR: D° y°u have a certain routine mire, whom I've learned from, and for writing? with whom I feel I have something in cornnon is almost endless. Damon WOLFE: No, I have no routine for Knight, Kate Wilhelm, , writing -- I can't afford one. I Ursula LeGuin, R.A. Lafferty, Saul write when I can, when I have the Bellow and , with many energy and the time and the opportun­ more among the living. Poe, Proust, ity. I write the piece all the way Dickens, Chesterton, Flaubert, Orwell, through, then start again at the be­ Thurber, Twain, Melville, Irving, ginning, then start again at the be­ Van Gulik, Kafka, Borges, Dosteyev- ginning ... Everything gets at sky, Bulgakov ... least three drafts. Most things get four. A good many get 4+. I con­ SFR: In what ways do you feel your tinue to revise until I begin to writing breaks new ground? wonder if the changes I'm making are really improvements ... then I WOLFE: I find it's almost inpossible stop and send out the piece. When­ to say, "I'm trying to break such- ever possible, I allow at least a and-such new ground ..." without Doctor Death and Other Stories") is week between revisions and I usually sounding like an ass. I'm trying to pretty much the kind of child J was, use that week to work on something express a view of the universe while lonely, naive, isolated. Nicholas else. working it out, of course, but then (the boy in "The Death of Doctor Is­ land") is the bdy I might have been I do each draft on the type­ all serious writers do -- that's what makes them serious writers. I and in some ways would like to have writer -- including the first -- then am trying to bring good writing (my been. mark it up with whatever pencil or definition) and whole people to a pen I have handy. I've tried work­ type of writing that has not been SFR: I thought the idea, in "The ing to taped music (classical, the overburdened with them, but that's Woman Who Loved Pholus", only kind I like) and it just doesn't hardly new ground. of technology bringing back (and de­ make any difference -- if I'm work­ stroying) mythology, was an especial­ ing well I don't hear it. Coffee SFR: You marked a bibliography of ly nice one. helps. So does iced tea, hot tea and skimned milk. I drink more cof­ your stories for me with checks to indicate which ones were "pivotal". WOLFE: The idea of technology "bring­ fee than I should and take more as­ What do you mean by "pivotal?" ing back" the fauna of myth is more pirin. When I'm through for the than just nice. It' is going to hap­ night, I take a three-mile walk if WOLFE: A pivotal story for me is pen. The ability to create centaurs the weather lets me. That's usually and so on will be widely available sometime between nine and eleven. one in which I feel I have succeeded in doing well something I have never within our lifetimes. When I tell really done well before -- fairy mat­ people that, they say, "Oh, no. May­ SFR: Gene, what parts of being a erial in "Thag", a certain religious be a few high-powered scientists writer are a real drag? viewpoint in "Westwind", the use of could, but --" Mow'd you like to second and third person in "The Is­ take an undergraduate course in gene­ I wasn't going to bring that WOLFE: land of Doctor Death and Other Stor­ splicing? (No pun.) Columbia will up, but since you insist ... People ies", the progression from realism offer one next year. who ask what name I write under as to fantasy in "The Eyeflash Mirac­ if they had heard of every author in les", even the primitive inventions SFR: But will people bring back myth­ the world except me. A little ques­ no one ever actually invented (and ical fauna or will they instead create tioning usually establishes that they which no one now notices) in "Track­ kitsch and com? Have you ever gone have never heard of , Er­ ing Song". Just as "Tracking Song" into a craft shop and seen the feath­ ica Jong or Norman Mailer. is about uninvented inventions of the er and pipe cleaner art that is spawn­ People who assume that every ed there? writer has thousands and thousands stone age, "" is about (partly of course) uninvented inventions of of copies of everything he has ever the middle ages. WOLFE: Some people will create their done, all provided free by the pub­ own designs (in monsters) of course. lisher. (I once asked Doubleday for "Tracking Song" is a wolf to­ But the challenge will be to do good two copies of an anthology, because tem story, by the way. The protag­ work within a set, "classical" de­ I had two stories in the book. No onist gets his original orientation sign. Obviously, we will see dino­ dice and they thought the request from a wolf tribe, then lives in a saurs as well as dragons. Anyway, was quite humorous.) People who world in which the roles of moose, it's surprising how hard it is to quite seriously ask how much I pay lion, deer, mink and so on are tak­ come up with anything really origin­ the publisher to "print" my books en by semi-human beings. Wolves are al. I just made a quick stab at it and stories. People who assume that winter symbols, of course, and birds and came up with a "centiger" and a since I write science fiction I love symbols of spring. woman with the head of a cat. But every trashy sci-fi monster flick my woman would be Bast of ancient ever made. Plus SPACE 1999, LOST IN SFR: Do you use your own life in Egypt, and my centiger very close to SPACE, (which actually your stories? a sphinx. wasn't always terrible) and the Sat­ urday morning kiddie cartoon. (I do WOLFE: Weer (the narrator of PEACE) SFR: I'd like to ask the next ques­ admit to a soft spot for ROCKY AND is a man very much like me -- I don't tion the way my students do when they BULLWINKLE.) There are more, but mean that the same things have hap­ ask me about, say, Borges. Why do that's enough for now. pened to me, but that we have simil­ you make your stories so hard to fig­ ar souls. Tackie (in "The Island of ure out? Why all those ambiguities, SFR: What authors do you admire? 19 those surprise endings and un-endings ("The Adopted Father" has sort of an bottle. The second juggler is a jug­ will be told in the first person by un-ending -- the story ends with im­ gler's juggler, though -- someone a -- does that help? SHADOW plied ...), those places where you good juggler watches to learn from. took place entirely within Nessus; can't tell what happened? most of the action of the other three books takes place outside it. Jonas, SFR: The ambiguity I associate with the man on the merychip Severian en­ your writing seemed especially con­ WOLFE: Why do I make my stories so counters near the Piteous Gate, is a hard to figure out? I don't think trolled in THE SHADOW OF THE TORTUR­ fairly important character in THE I do. Certainly I try to make my ER, as if you were relaxed about CLAW OF THE CONCILIATOR, and so on. stories as pellucid as I can, with­ space, had a long enough journey to out actually changing the story to really stretch your legs. Of course, SFR: How close is the tetrology to another story. Are you seriously you were very mischievous at the end. completion? saying that Borges' stories are dif­ I appreciate your architectural need ficult to understand? Some are ped­ to stop at the gate, but you purpose­ WOLFt: doing the final (or per­ estrian ("Rosendo's Tale"), some ly made me very curious about what haps the semi-final) draft of the are brilliant imitations ("Doctor was beyond (and inside) the wall. fourth book (CITADEL OF THE AUTARCH) Anyway, the characters, the world, Brodie's Report"), some are original now. CLAW is to be pubished this the atmosphere all got me. Triskele masterpieces ("Tlon, Uqbar, Orbis coming March. The third book (SWORD and Baldanders had little to say but Tertius"), but all are clear as glass. OF THE LICTOR) hasn't been sold yet, they lived as much as Severian. You say, "Why all those ambig­ so I can't say when it will appear. uities, those surprise endings and I don't think the cape of the Certainly it will be over a year un-endings...?" and you instance "The torturer on the cover was fuligen from now. (Note: "Now" is November, Adopted Father". Ambiguities are ab­ (I admit that would be tricky) but 1980.) solutely essential to any story that the balcony he stands on, straight seeks to counterfeit life, which is out of Gaudi, is right. SFR: How do you feel about academic filled with them. Today my wife and study of your work? I went to a music store, and I heard WOLFE: I could pick several nits her tell the clerk that she thought about the dustjacket, the worst one WOLFE: It scares me to death. The she had seem some prominent perform­ being that the executioner there colleges have killed English poetry er (I know little about music and do seems to be wearing a shirt. But -- which flourished as long as they not recall his name) in another store the important thing about a dj is confined themselves to Greek and Lat­ playing the piano. The clerk said that it reflects the spirit of the in -- deader than last year's bacon there was a local performer who close­ text, and I think that one does. Pig- ly resembled the man she thought she had seen, and suggested she had seen SFR: Why did you pick a torturer SFR: I wonder if some of the power this local man instead. My wife is for a protagonist? of SF for its readers lies in the near-sighted but seldom wears her fact that it is disapproved of. glasses and so is as likely to mis­ WOLFE: I don't know how to answer take identities as anyone alive -- when you ask why I made Severian a WOLFE: It does, of course, and that in fact, she had done just that in a torturer, except by saying that I makes me feel guilty about writing book shop a few minutes before. I chose to write the book I wrote. If all these letters and cooperating was not paying much attention to what he had been a sailor or a policeman, with you generally. I have always she and the clerk were saying, al­ that would have been a different derided and discouraged academic though they were only a few feet a- book. study of SF in theory, and nearly al­ way; and in any case, I am slightly ways cooperated with academics who Torture doesn't seem violent deaf. Had she seen the performer sought my help. The thing is that because there is no element of strug­ she named? Had she seen the local although I believe any Establishment gle. Believe me, I have thought for performer the clerk named instead? contact with SF is a bad thing, a hours and hours on the subject of Had she seen some third party, a thing detrimental to the genre, I torture while writing these books. good amateur player? Did I perhaps also believe that the harm done by The tough part is drawing the line misunderstand their conversation? the academic wing of the Establish­ between punishment and torture. If (Parts of it were inaudible.) Am I ment can be mitigated. I admit I I were to spank my 14-year-old son creating all this -- spinning a fic­ am beginning to see that attitude as would that be torture? Nonsense. tion to make my point? This much is hypocritical. If I were to give the same spanking certain: you will never know. to a grown man (assuming I could) There are two main mecjianisms What is it that bothers you surely that wouldn't be torture eith­ at work here. The first is the real­ about the ending of "The Adopted Fath­ er -- he can stand it better, if any­ ization (practically a definition of er" anyway? Mitch has found the fath­ thing, than the boy. But if I were intelligence) that Establishment- er he needs, Parker has discovered a to hit harder and harder (again, as­ approved mediums are uniformly un­ reason to go on living. Their stor­ suming I could) eventually what I truthful. If SF really becomes that ies are not over, obviously, but the was doing could be called torture untruthful, well and good. But if, story I was telling, the story of by any standard. Thus, the two shade as now seems much more likely, it is how they found each other, is over, into each other. And, of course, which is why I stopped typing. torture can be purely mental, with no striking, crushing or burning at SFR: What qualities of your writing all. might make you more a writer's writ­ er than a fan's writer? SFR: Would you give me a few tant­ alizing hints about the rest of the WOLFE: I doubt that I am, but in tetrology, THE BOOK OF THE NEW SUN? general the practitioners of any art appreciate its difficulties more. To a child a juggler who juggles red, WOLFE: I could give you better tan­ blue, gold and green balls is as good talizing hints if I knew what sort (I suppose) as one who juggles a of thing you want. All four books knife, an ax, a torch and a champagne 20 merely perceived as having such ap­ one wants to teach a student something at Gettysburg?" This was, obviously, proval, it will lose many readers it about the nature of an atom, one can a parallel universe story: In this deserves to have. In a dim, half­ do it much better in a few paragraphs case a story about a universe in witted way, that was what the "New in a textbook. which the South had won (Hurray!) Wave" was all about. (I was claimed and a military historical theorist as both a New Wave and an Old Wave The educational virtue of spec­ was speculating about the results of writer by various critics and com­ ulative fiction is that it engages what we know actually happened. It mentators, as many of us were.) In the imagination and emotions as well was, clearly, -- order to fight off that approval we as the mind, and of course, its and most of us would so classify it, have to be more or less anti-science, thrust need not be scientific in any although we don't think of Churchill anti-business, anti-government and sense except one so broad as to be as an SF writer. (of course) anti-establishment. It meaningless. (Academics sometimes also helps to be violent and mvstic- talk about the "science" of history, But of course, conventional -- al, and I think you'll agree tnat the "science" of comparative relig­ ANALOG-and-Ace-Books SF does have ad­ most of us tend to be. ion, and so on, but these subjects vantages when a writer wants to spec­ are not sciences in any meaningful ulate on the types of ideas it hand­ The other mechanism is the sense of the word.) If T.B. Swann les well. It gives him an audience radically negative effect of school- can write well enough to make me (in that is accustomed to such specula­ assigned reading. Most kids HATE the famous phrase) suspend my dis­ tion --an audience whose mind is al­ whatever they are made to read. belief in Greek mythology he will ready stretched. That's an immense (For some weird reason perhaps relat­ teach me some very important things advantage, because he knows he does ed to left-handedness, I did not; I about Greek mythology I could not not have to baby them into it. They even liked THE MAYOR OF CASTERBRIDGE, learn by reading half a dozen text­ know, for example, that a society though as far as I can recall I was books. Swann's work has nothing to doesn't have to be based on comnerce the only one in our English class do with science, but it is SF as --we just happen to have lived all who did; but it has taken me 40 defined by our culture --we talk our lives in one that is. They know years to outgrow the distaste for about him as an SF writer, shelve that it is accidental that Florida's athletics I developed when I was his books in the SF section and so climate is wanner than Maine's, and forced to take part in them.) Many on. that a shift in the poles could re­ are now being made to read SF. My verse the gradient. And so on. own story, "Eyebem" is already in Swann was speculating about one high-school text and I think is what it would be like to live in the Second, SF gives the author going into another. So you see. mental world of people who believed who is already familiar with the the stuff of Greek myth, just as field (but only to him) a ready-made SFR: Since I started as an SF fan C.S. Lewis, in the Narnia books, language of conventions -- mechanic­ and later made my enthusiasm my sch­ speculated about people who believed al human beings with emotions (thanks olarship, it's hard for me to see in the cosmology of the Middle Ages. to ), academic study as necessarily deaden­ It is obviously possible for another (thanks to H.G. Wells), starships ing. I know it can be, and I've author (or for that matter the same that can rove the galaxy at will read plenty of criticism that is author) to speculate again and reach (thanks to E.E. Smith). None of (especially criticism about criticism different conclusions, but we can these things exist outside SF, and or about literature as if it were learn from both- And the speculation many reputable scientists say all need not be concerned with past be­ just illustration of critical theory). three are utterly impossible. (It But I don't think criticism needs to liefs or erroneous ones --no stu­ is easy to progam a computer to act dent, perhaps, believes in Relativ­ be poisonous. Learning about some­ as if it possessed emotions, but thing is exciting, and sharing and ity in his heart unless he has read quibbles aside, that clearly isn't developing knowledge can be exciting some book that makes him understand the same thing as having them. To too. Isn't that what scholarship something of how it would feel to me, the interesting question is should be? approach the speed of light. whether a computer that had develop­ ed consciousness would feel the pro­ SFR: How is SF so well suited to grammed emotions as real.) W3LFE: I don't think the profs have the discussion of ideas? to be deadly (I hope I didn't say Third and most importantly, the that); it's just that most are. conventions of SF permit the writer WOLFE: Well, to begin, it is only- to set up alternate worlds that are suited to the discussion of certain logical rather than fantastic. Be­ SFR: As a literature of ideas, is types of ideas. SWANN'S WAY is a fore SF, Shakespeare might write of SF important educationally? psychological novel -- one of the the kingdom of the fairies, but that best -- and SF is not particularly kingdom was governed (and could be WOLFE: Yes, though it does not nec­ well suited to discussing the types governed) only by whim -- what Tit­ essarily follow that it should be of psychological ideas with which ania wanted she did, unless the great­ made a part of some particular cur­ it is concerned. riculum. Your question goes to the er power of her husband stopped her. heart of my preference for the term With that cavil aside, let me (It is surely no coincidence that speculative fiction. Of course we say that your question is like the that play is laid in ancient Greece both know that no one coined the sa­ old theological puzzler, why do -- its "logic" is exactly that of pa­ cred term SCIENCE FICTION and then great rivers choose to run through gan Greek religion, in which T. was went into his study and wrote the most of Earth's larger cities? If a Juno, 0. was Zeus and so on. I sus­ stuff. "Science fiction" was a puri­ study or novel is largely concerned pect strongly that the Greek setting fication of old Gemsback's "scienti- with a discussion of scientific or is the remnant of an earlier draft fiction" -- scientific fiction -- sociological ideas, it thereby "be­ using the Greek gods that Shakespeare which he made up to describe a type comes" SF whether so labeled or not was too rushed to change completely.) in the minds of many publishers and of didactic story he published in Anyway that framework can be many readers. For example, unless magazines derived from a magazine for used very effectively in much the radio amateurs. That type of story my memory is playing me false, Win­ same way beast-fable is used: Hermes/ ston Churchill once wrote a piece hasn't been around for a long time; fox, Ares/bear and so on, with each called, "What if the North had Won it failed because it (I mean in its god or fairy or animal representing pure form) engaged only the mind. If 21 a human passion or concern. But it cannot be used at all to speculate both is increased. Furthermore, you what any of his pictures looked like about real external human societies. feel that the comparison was perfect­ until he got back to the U.S. and Real rulers act because of political ly natural. Do you remember Part­ could get his film developed. It and economic constraints and only ridge (I think it was) in TOM JONES, showed the sun over Mt. Erebus. rarely by whim. Oddly enough, it who went to see Garrick play was because of the king's whimsical and said that if he had seen a ghost The thing that keeps photo­ desire to marry his lovers that the too he would have started in just graphy from being art is that it is man who did most to get us out of the same way? Like that. a mechanical reproduction of a pre­ that mess -- St. Thomas More -- was existing scene. I certainly agree killed. And lastly, good writing is that there are photographers who The voyage to a fantastic multileveled, like a club sandwich. treat themselves as artists. There country had been used often before, Savants talk of writing being lin­ are even some who are treated as art­ of course, but so far as I know, he ear -- one thing at a time. But a ists by other people. But those was the first to revive the then- good writer is often saying two things prove nothing. There have long-dead Platonic idea of a fiction­ things at once, and sometimes three been a million people who have thought al country that was not fantastic or even four. When Fielding wrote they were artists and been wrong, and but interesting and instructive. that bit about seeing HAMLET he told probably most of them were treated as He was not the founder of modem SF; us something about acting and some­ artists by at least one other person. I would give that title to Wells. thing about Partridge at the same There have been a million people who But he is almost more important than time. actually were artists but didn't the founder. We ewe him a monunent. Please understand that I would think they were and weren't treated never claim that all my writing is as artists by others. The people SFR: What is good writing? good. I do claim, however, that I who made the cave paintings are ex­ try to make it good, always. amples; so are those who carved the WOLFE: To begin with, good writing facade of Notre Dame. is grammatically correct except when SFR: What is your cure for writer's The use of techniques -- and it is intentionally incorrect. A block? especially in photography, where good reader quickly senses the dif­ "technique" is almost precisely the ference between that kind of writing WOLFE: My cure for writer's block same as "trick" --is not art. A and writing in which the writer does is to cut out all unnecessary commun­ salesman uses techniques to close not know (or perhaps care) that his ication. Don't read, watch TV, write the sale. A master of the martial subjects and verbs do not agree in letters or talk more than is needed "arts" uses techniques to break your number and so on. to get through the essential busin­ neck, but he is no more an artist Similarly, good writing is only ess of the day. Instead, take long than a football player is. In five intentionally ambiguous. Good writ­ walks alone or do manual work -- minutes I could teach you five tech­ ing is interesting to read, rather paint a room or dig in the garden. niques that would let you come up than easy. People like Rudolf Fle­ The cure usually takes only three or with pictures far removed from snap­ sch would like to see every sentence four days. shots. (For example, smearing a lit­ as short as possible, because that tle petroleum jelly around the edges kind of writing is easy to read, but SFR: I've been thinking about photo­ of your lens to give a softened bor­ it bores and exhausts the reader by graphy of late, especially the big der.) But they would not make you its easiness. Did you ever know of argument -- is it art or document? an artist. Even if you invented a anyone who backpacked on level new technique -- and people do al­ ground? In good writing, the length WOLFE: "Art" and "document" aren't most every day -- you would be an and structure of the sentences are mutually exclusive. Photos can be inventor, not an artist. varied. Many are short. A few may documents (all this is just my opin­ take eight or ten lines of type. ion, of course), although not all SFR: Why are we bom only to suf­ of them are. I don't really think fer and die? Good writing is concrete. that they can be art. A lot depends That's why our businessmen and bur­ on craft, a lot depends oneqiipment eaucrats can never be taught to write WOLFE: You may choose your favorite (if you ever see a book called BORNE answer from the selection below — well -- it is against their best in­ ON THE WIND, pick it up -- it con­ terests. A bureaucrat says econom­ tains the most wonderful photos of IJ We are not bom only to ically disadvantaged; a good writer insects in flight ... and I could not suffer and”3ie. Only you. We have says poor, and an educational bureau­ have taken them because I don't have kept this from you until now, but crat says someone has a learning dis­ the stuff) and a great deal depends it's time you were told. ability; a good writer says the same on opportunity. The most beautiful IJ We are not bom only to person is stupid or lazy; a business­ picture I can remember was taken by Suffer § Die. Other firms have chil­ man (or woman.) says conpetitively a 19-year-old sailor who had never dren too -- Goforth, Kilburn § Robb, priced; a good writer says cheap. owned a camera before he was sent to for exanple. You'll note that good writers are al­ the South Pole, and who never saw most never elected to public office. /_/ You are bom to die so I Both Norman Mailer and Wm. F. Buck- can get a word in edgewise. I_ sug- ley have tried and failed. (In fact, fer until I do. the only good writer I can think of /_/ We suffer because if we offhand who ever won a major election could not, French fries would have was Winston S. Churchill, and he was no place to go. We die to keep from overwhelmingly defeated as soon as suffering. the war was over.) /_/ We die so we don't have to Good writing is rich in tropes suffer and suffer because it beats without being pretentious about them. dying. It says, for example, that English society around 1850 was like an Oct­ IJ All of the above. ober day (I am, of course, quoting H.G. Wells), and it says it in such SFR; Thank you, Mr. Wolfe. a way that your understanding of ************************************ THE NUKE STANDARD BY IAN WATSON

and scientific basis for our money cial spinoffs ... just you name it! We are privileged to print here dealings to keep in pace with this for the first time a startling ad­ new phase. Unfortunately we don't believe dress which was delivered behind lock­ that we can simply simulate a global ed doors at the recent meeting of the We've had to do it for the meas­ war footing, without the shadow box­ International Monetary Fund in Barba­ urement of time values. We could ing leading to real bloody blows. dos. It will be recalled that Rus­ still measure time well enough till And unfortunately, unlike 1940, the sian and Chinese observers were pre­ quite recently by the old industrial world would be entirely destroyed by sent by invitation for the first revolution clock methods. But when a genuine conflict. time in the history of the IMF. The computer decisions occupy only mil­ Still, please bear in mind that speaker remains unidentified but is lionths of a second a unit of time money and the tools of war do fit in­ believed to belong to a well-known like a "second" is hopelessly out of to the same economic equation ... Think Tank. date. So instead we have developed the atomic clock -- which, as you Okay, then, we can't spend our know, defines one second as way out of recession, but neither 9,192,631,770 vibrations of the mi­ can we safely fight our way out of crowave radiation emitted by caesium- it. Gentlemen, and perhaps I should 133 atoms organised in a particular add, Comrades: In this time of in­ way. That is electronic, cybernetic And this brings me back to my flation, recession and international time -- the today time. previous point: We have to develop crisis two main disaster scenarios a standard of value for the world ec­ menace all our . One of these We need something as basic to the onomy which is as physically demon­ is the likelihood of a nuclear war. world of physics --as contant and strable --as atomically guaranteed The other is the imminent collapse unchanging -=■ for the new standard of --as the units of time are by the of the world monetary system. our money system too. behaviour of the caesium atom. In­ And what do we have? Like some stead of something like gold as the The second of these two events -- standard of value, we must have ... even if it didn't automatically trig­ barbaric king three thousand years ago, we still have a crazy reverence an atomic standard,’With the equiva- ger off a global conflict -- certain­ lent of a Fort Knox to back it up. ly wouldn't limit its effects to the for ... gold. Fort Knox is filled so-called Capitalist World. I see with barbaric gold, notionally to Gentlemen, don't you see? We al­ you all nodding agreement. We are back our currency. Oh, I know that ready have this in our various coun­ realists here. The world is far too many of us talk in terms of "weight­ tries -- already partly regulated by ed baskets of currencies” and "re­ interlinked nowadays for "our" system treaties which fix the exchange rate. to collapse without "yours" collaps­ serves of convertible currency", but still people feel this yen -- if the ing too -- or at least degenerating into a pitiful shadow of its present Governor of the Bank of Japan will self. Must I mention the massive in­ pardon the expression -- for a tang­ vestment loans by the West in the ible basis to currency. Coninunist blocs? Or the urgent need Gold! People are mystically at­ for technology to spearhead tracted to it. Look how you French development: technology which must horde private stocks of gold. Look be sustained by profit feedback? at the market for Kruger Rands. Yes, it's no secret that the Yet what inherent use-value has whole Western money system is in gold got? Compared with a pellet of grave danger. How can you plan a- uranium? Or a pint of oil? (Oh, I head on an international scale when know the oil is running out --so currencies fluctuate wildly against any Arab notions of an oil-backed each other? currency are a dead duck.) Well, In the Coninunist blocs the econ­ gold is fine for filling teeth, and omies are said to be planned scien­ it has its other uses. But its mone­ tary value is irrational. tifically, by contrast with our own reliance on free market forces. But And precisely this kind of ir­ we all know that there is little gen­ rationality has helped to dump us uinely scientific in the true sense into the present recession. -- if at all -- about Marxist econ­ omic theory. Marxism is just a prod­ Of course, there's one great his­ uct of the industrial revolution toric cure for recession. I refer, phase of hunan development. And here gentlemen, to war. War was how we we all are now in the midst of the climbed out of the trough of the Thir­ third phase: of global electronic ties. War boosts an ailing economy and cybernetic revolution. like nothing else. Full employment, new weapons systems that force break­ It's crystal clear that we need throughs in technology with coniner- to adopt a genuinely technological 23 I speak of nothing less than our nuclear weapons --in the Fort Knoxes of their missile silos and submar­ # LETTER FROM NEAL WILGUS 'Related to this is my ines. Box 25771 general interest in lefthand­ A kiloton or a megaton can't Albuquerque, NM 87125 edness and left-handed people, change its value. One kilogram of March 23, 1981 an interest that recently lead Plutonium will always have an energy me to obtain a sample copy of value of 1014 joules. That value 'I was surprised recently LEFTY, the magazine of Left­ remains the same all over the uni­ when I opened up the Jan/Feb handers International. I was verse. It's defined by atomic phy­ STAR LINE, the newsletter of surprised when I opened LEFTY sics. the Science Fiction Poetry As­ too, for there in "Letters to sociation, and found a review Lefty" was a letter from a Gentlemen, to turn a recent mil­ of 's collection lefthanded SF writer, Juani­ itary saying inside out, I propose of poetry, WHEN PUSSYWILLOWS ta Coulson, a loooong-time to you: Better bucks -- and francs LAST IN THE CATYARD BLOOMED fan whom I know of mostly and rubles and yuan -- per bang. (Norstrilla Press, Australia, from the legendary YANDRO. Are you worried that radioactive 1980). I was surprised be­ It was good to see Juanita's decay will eat away at the new wealth cause Zelazny didn't mention letter and her revelation as inflation eats away at paper mon­ the book when I interviewed that her sword-and-sorcery ey? Do you fear the reverse alchemy him for SF REVIEW last year, series which includes WEB OF whereby the new "gold" will eventual­ even though I asked him a WIZARDRY and THE DEATH GOD'S ly transmute into lead? Just consid­ couple of questions about CITADEL is in fact a "left­ er the half-life of Plutonium: poetry. I was doubly surpris­ handed fantasy world". I'd 24,000 years.' Consider, too, our ed, though, when I read the re­ be interested in knowing how proven ability to top up the new Fed­ view and discovered that Zelaz­ many other SF/fantasy writers eral Reserves to the agreed level. ny and I have independently in­ are lefthanded — and how vented the same poetic techni­ many fans are too. Any left- Or do you fear a new gulf devel­ que — what I call "right­ ys who want to make them­ oping between rich and poor nations? justification" and what he selves known can write me -- Don't worry: Nuclear proliferation must call "lines irregular to or reveal all in SFR, for that is already well under way. I assure the left" since one of the matter.' you that there'll be a far speedier poems in the collection is ti­ dispersal of nuclear currency to the tled "I Used to Think in Lines Third World than there would ever be That Were Irregular to the of old-style assets. Right". Whatever you want to Gentlemen and Comrades, let me call it, the device consists Lefty's Lament simply of justifying (or lin­ propose for your consideration: The I drank a lot of coffee, end of irrationality. Let me propose ing up) the lines of poetry the scientific successor to the old to the right side of the page didn't eat too much -- instead of the traditional Gold Standard. I give you: The Nuke the food is only fuel Standard. left-justifying. Zelazny un­ doubtedly came up with the i- and the coffee's just a crutch. Adopt this and we gain one other dea first since the book is immediate boon to add to the benefit dated 1980 and the poem was But my other half is hungry of perfect currency stability. probably written a year or and needs a lot of work. more before that -- but I in­ Under the new economic order -- Poetry is food for thought -- with currency backed by our nuclear dependently developed the i- weapons, with the thermonuclear-dol­ dea in early November of 1980, just see my rightbrain perk. four or five months before I lar and ruble and pound -- who would My leftbrain is lazy -- ever wish to start a war? It would saw the STAR LINE review, and be just like burning money. the first of my poems using it needs the caffeine kick. the right-justified format It's been said, flippantly, that was "Lefty's Escape", publish­ I always have to lead it nuclear weapons have no use -- unless ed in the January, 1981 issue with a carrot and a stick. they're used. No longer true, of MENZIA, the newsletter of friends, no longer true! With one New Mexico Mensa. A second But my rightbrain's religious stroke of the pen -- with the adop­ poem, "Up Yer Evolution", was about what to eat and drink. tion of the Nuke Standard --we can published in the February, change all that. And ensure prosper­ 1981, MENZIA and more will fol­ It knows that what you eat right now ity, plus peace. low, there and elsewhere, is later what you think. Thank you all for your attention. since the device fits my poet­ ic needs very well. The pur­ 0, the leftbrain's all right -- (c) copyright Ian Watson 1981 pose of this letter is just to in its own way, I guess, Aft******AA********Aft*Aft*ftftAAftft set the record straight on who "invented" the idea -- but being too lopsided we both did, and probably a can become an awful mess. lot of other poets too, since it's a simple and obvious So what can you do -- idea and there are countless the right is all that's left. poets bouncing around this planet. Anyway, it's a good Try to get it all together -- device and I hope to see it you know, a gift is not a theft. morely widely used. —Neal Wilgus

24 THE VIVISECTOR BY DARRELL SCHWEITZER

THE SHADOW OF LOVECRAFT UDOMS LARGE, PART I

DARK FORCES has held back the development of the Edited by Kirby McCauley modem story more than Viking Press, 1980, 551 pp., $16.95 anyone else, the same way that Pound and Eliot have held back the develop­ There's no sense in denying that ment of poetry. I think this is this is an impressive book and it true, but maybe not in the way Den­ will almost certainly win the World nis intended. Pound and Eliot did Fantasy Award for best collection. some brilliant work. They also did Simply, as a book, it's a good buy, some very difficult work and Pound quite reasonably priced for its size especially tended to lose his read­ and printed on good paper with sewn ers. signatures and bound in full cloth. One paragraph aside for my Ezra "posthumous collaborations" ("The (One of those few cases where it Shuttered Room" is the purest exam­ does make a difference if you get Pound story. A professor I once knew told me about a professor he ple) , he enshrined the Aborted Begin­ the regular edition rather than the ning. book club.) The table of contents knew, who had spent years and years is incredible: new stories by Ray writing a vastly complicated explic­ ation of Pound's Cantos. He had nev­ An aborted beginning is a story Bradbury, Theodore Sturgeon, Robert chat ends about the time it starts Aickman, Robert Bloch, Isaac Bashe- er met Pound and finally, very late getting interesting. Derleth wrote vis Singer, , Rus­ in the poet's life, he was ushered them far more often than Lovecraft sell Kirk, , Ramsey into the August Presence, having did. As Dirk Mosig, Richard Tierney Campbell, and a been granted a fifteen-minute inter­ and others have shown, Derleth nev­ longish by ... view. He spent 14 1/2 minutes in a nonstop explanation of his theory er really understood Lovecraft. in fact, virtually every major con­ Considering how Lovecraft insisted temporary horror story figure is of the meaning of the Cantos, after which Pound remained silent as prec­ that plot is not important, that at­ present, excepting those who only do mosphere and the unadorned phenom- novels, like . McCauley ious seconds ticked away, and at the ena are everything, I suspect that expresses regrets in his introduc­ very last instant exclaimed, "You've got to be kidding". Lovecraft never really understood tion that he couldn't have Bernard Lovecraft either. His best fiction Malamud, , Julio Cortazar Now, then, I suspect that Pound doesn't follow his own rules. and a few others. Borges would have was simply tired of dumb academic been an important addition. The theorizing, but if he really was A major problem endemic in post- most conspicuously absent are Harlan pulling our legs all that time, he Lovecraftian fiction is an inability Ellison and Fritz Leiber. Still, I was at fault for what happened to to get on with it, to go beyond the don't imagine there's a single edi­ poetry because of his influence, introduction of the premise. In tor in the whole field who isn't otherwise, no. Poetry became form­ other words, right where the story envious of McCauley's achievement. less and obscure and lost most of really starts, the author stops. This wasn't a problem in Victorian And yet when I finished this its audience. The point of all this is that no artist should be blamed times. does not build up book I stopped and asked myself if I with a bunch of hints and end with might not be getting bored with hor­ for the excesses of his imitators, particularly those who carefully the ultimate shocking revelation, ror fiction. Most of the stories "My God! He's a vampire!" No, it are well written. Many are downright mimic all his superficial faults without discerning any of his real has a plot. Vampirism having been elegant. They have good character­ established, Stoker gets on with it. ization. They are good stories by strength. If someone says, "Oh, this seems formless and obscure, so Lovecraft, in his roundabout way most standards, but they failed to sometimes, does the same in, say, horrify me. Or even move me very all I have to do is be formless and obscure and it's real poetry", that "The Colour Out of Space", "The whis­ much. I concluded that I am not perer in Darkness", "Dreams in the getting bored with . isn't the fault of the original poet. Probably not anyway. Witch House", CHARLES DEXTER WARD -- If that were the case, the two stor­ any of the good stuff. (I don't in­ ies that really grabbed me (the Rus­ Similarly, if someone says, "Oh, clude "At the Mountains of Madness" sell Kirk and the Stephen King) all you have to do in horror fiction in the good stuff for this very rea­ wouldn't have. I concluded that is have a long build-up, drop a few son. It is the only aborted begin­ there is something profoundly wrong hints and then give one tantalizing ning in existence long enough to with the way most of the stuff is be­ glimpse of The Thing before ending have been serialized -- abridged, ing written. the story", the results are not nec­ no less -- in three parts in ASTOUND­ essarily H.P. Lovecraft's fault. ING.) A lot of the problem can be trac­ More likely they're 's, ed back to Lovecraft. Now Dennis since in his Lovecraft pastiches Another aside. I will ask you, Etchison said in an interview recent­ (some say parodies), such as THE for purposes of reading this review, ly (in the March 1981 FANTASY NEWS­ TRAIL OF CTHULHU and in his so-called to accept my basic premise -- that LETTER) , that he feels that Lovecraft 25 Lovecraft is too towering a figure in /horror field to get story is powerful, but it is about truly memorable horror story by mere­ away from. He is far more widely humiliation and enbarrassment. The ly presenting an idea any more than read, far more influential than any character's problem is making an ut­ you can have a science fiction story of his contemporaries. After Poe, ter fool of herself.) that way. You have to do something he is probably the first horror writ­ with it. Clifford Simak's "The Whistling er any reader encounters and usually Well" is either a tongue-in-cheek 's "The Brood" he is encountered early. I suspect attempt to incorporate as many Love- reacts against Lovecraft's tendency that a whole generation of horror craftisms as possible without being to explain everything by explaining writers has grown up on Lovecraft horrifying or an attempt to write a nothing. This gives it a feeling of the way a generation of science fic­ traditional horror story, which mis­ helpless nightmare, but ultimately tion writers has grown up reading fired and became a traditional Simak it's unsatisfying. Heinlein. His stamp is on virtually story. Get this: A man of an old everything that came after him, even I think the reader has to have family returns to the home of one of if sometimes it's in a negative way. some idea of what's going on and why. his ancestors (a place sinisterly Of the contributors in this book, spoken of, and the locals don't think We are now brought to the subject Wellman was a contemporary contribu­ well of the ancestor, either), which of theme. The other major Lovecraft­ tor to , Bloch was a Love- is located in a remote rural region ian legacy, besides the tendency to craftian disciple, Campbell began as (Midwest rather than New England', stall until it's too late, is mater­ an imitator and later broke away, because that's what Simak knows), ialistic subject matter. Lovecraft Bradbury grew up reading Lovecraft and while canping overnight at the did not believe in ghosts and goblins, and has paid tribute to him in haunted spot near the still clanking "The Exiles" and Canpbell and Grant you see. A character of his would windmill and the well of ill repute, not be motivated by a fear of damn­ have reacted strongly against the the hero becomes aware of ancient, ation. These things meant nothing Lovecraftian tradition, which, of alien presences, non-human creatures to Lovecraft. With his fiction we course, means they're keeping it in from the age of dinosaurs. A strange have a definite break from the myst­ mind. talisman with pre-human writing on ically-rooted tradition which pre­ The biggest failing of most of it draws them to him .... And the cedes him. these stories is, yes, indeed, an meeting is friendly. "Brother, I am inability to get beyond the begin­ Not surprisingly, when Algernon glad to know you", he says. "I am Blackwood read Lovecraft, he com­ ning. The most outrageous example glad I found you. Glad to carry the is T.E.D. Klein's "Children of the plained of a complete lack of "spir­ token of your faith." (p. 262) An­ itual terror". Kingdom", which goes on for 66 pages other possible interpretation is slowly intimating that there just that it is a deliberate statement Lovecraft gave us cosmic terror. might be this other race of froglike, by Simak that the standard Lovecraft­ His stories are about man's place in fishy beings out to snatch the Earth ian theme of Horrifying Alienness is the universe. This is his great away from us. It's a very Lovecraft­ invalid, and there's no reason why theme. His conclusions were pessi­ ian theme, but more typically of a two intelligent species shouldn't mistic, that mankind is a trivial Cthulhu Mythos story by someone else have enough in common to get on well than a true Lovecraft story; nothing together. (Lovecraft himself got to happens until the very end, when dur­ this point late in life. He all but ing the famous New York Blackout, the fell in love with the creatures in critters manifest themselves. Be­ "At the Mountains of Madness". The fore that a character, whan the nar­ horrors in that story are considerab­ rator takes to be a crackpot, ex­ ly less convincing.) plains the origins and history of the things at some length. Of course "The Whistling Well" is strong on the reader knows it's all real. atmosphere, short on conflict, but These things always are in horror fairly good Simak. It isn't going to fiction, so the author can't delay horrify anybody. I don't think it's too long, lest the reader become im­ trying to. patient. But Klein does not get on Another story which takes its with it. He spends the entire nov­ own good time getting to the begin­ ella establishing his premise. One ning is 's "Where asks at the end, "And then what?" the Summer Ends". This, like the I suspect a more interesting story Klein, has very good characteriza­ would be one that started in about tion and well-realized setting, but the last ten pages of this one, and at novelette length, it is essential­ went on for about the same length. ly saying that yes, there are Crea­ The only reason "Children of the tures, rather than doing something Kingdom" is readable is that Klein with this premise after having estab­ has an un-Lovecraftian interest in lished it. character and he depicts his setting very well. I suspect there's a good 's "The Late mainstream story hidden beneath the Shift" has moments of effective at­ Lovecraftian (or post-Lovecraftian) mosphere, but is really a horror millstone. story rendition of a joke: What if there really was a "graveyard shift"? None of the stories in DARK C.L. Grant's "A Garden of Blackred FORCES are overtly Lovecraftian, Roses" finally lets us know that you mist understand. Cthulhu does yes, the magic flowers are causing not appear. Nobody reads the NECRD- all these things to happen and You'd NOMICON. But the inescapable Love­ Better Not Pick Them, but never gets craftian influence is present in beyond that point. virtually all the stories, except a couple which are not really horror I don't think you can have a stories. (The Joyce Carol Oates 26 accident of creation, wholly uninpor­ in the book I really don't like. ercise in killing people. It is, in tant in the overall scheme of things. It's another "Death of ______" a less than complicated way, about His characters come into contact with and a rather dunb one. A man who is something. The real horror is that that inpersonal vastness, which is afraid of stones buys a stone house science or what people believe to be both fascinating and terrifying. The and, sure as an eldritch gibber, They science, will irrevocably change the result is transcendence and/or de­ Get Him. Actually, Tuttle had a far world in some terrible way. This is struction. This, I submit, is a mat­ superior story in the December F(jSF just as valid a theme as anything in erialist version of "spiritual ter­ which would, have done DARK FORCES Lovecraft, and just as timely. Some ror". It is more in tune with our credit. of the most effective moments in age than the more traditional vari­ "The Mist" come at the very end, does the rats-out- ety. This is why Lovecraft is more when a few survivors drive far away to-get-me routine for laughs in widely read than Blackwood. from where the phenomenon began, and "Traps", and he does it well. find no people, and lots of monsters. The curious thing is that for all But still, one has not been truly They realize that the change is quite they may or may not imitate his man­ horrified. We are at the back of the probably everywhere. nerisms, post-Lovecraftian writers book. We have come to Stephen King's rarely reach for the essential core This may not be a classic to go short novel, "The Mist". This one of his subject matter. ringing down the ages, but King has, finally does it. King inhibitedly structurally, and in his subject mat­ The other unfortunate result of grabs you with everything in his pow­ ter, escaped that paralysis wrought Lovecraft's influence is that, while er and doesn't let go. You won't by the more unfortunate aspects of the traditional subject matter of find any philosophical profundities the Lovecraft legacy. the weird tale has been demolished, here, but you will discover why King's nothing has taken its place. Not books shoot to the top of the best­ To wrap up: A few stories are only do most writers not get on with seller lists, enthralling millions outside the modem tradition in var­ it, they have little to get on with. while so many others get remaindered. ious ways. "The Peculiar Demesne" by is a superb exercise The consequence is the story He gets on with it. There is a in "spiritual terror" of the old var­ which is merely an elaborate buildup slow build. In a story of this iety. There is a lot of mechanism, for killing off the protagonist in length (132 pp.) there is room for first an atmospheric framework in the most horrible way possible. It it, but the bulk of the story takes which the story is told, then elabor­ is really not about anything at all. place after the premise has been es­ ate circumstances by which the hero, Thematic content, zero. (I don't tablished?- He is not as elegant as a colorful worldly-wise adventurer, know if we can blame Clark Ashton some of the other writers in this comes to be hosting an aging sorcer­ Smith for these, but he wrote them. book. His characters aren't as sub­ er who tries to escape impending About 75% of his output could be en­ tly drawn, but dammit, he answers death by swapping bodies. The hero's titled, "The Death of Zorfsnodek" or the question "And then what?" and soul is at stake as well as his body whatever. The phenomenon is too goes right for the gut. This story and the story works by transporting widespread. Pointless buckets-of- is terrifying where virtually none us into something different from the gore movies are a product of the same of the others are. They have their traditional hereaftdr, a surreal lack of anything to say.) If the moments. King is able to keep it up. otherness. It also works because reader can legitimately ask, "So I'm sure he's aware of Lovecraft, both protagonist and antagonist are what?" afterwards, the author has but he has enough sense to keep the vivid personalities. "The Detective blown it, no matter how skillfully story moving rather than hint and of Dreams" by Gene Wolfe is exquis­ he may have written the story. hint until all becomes tiresomely ob­ itely written, filled with startling vious without ever quite getting Thus, 's "Lindsay . (Who else would compare a around to it. and the Red City Blues" yet again flowering tree seen by moonlight to has excellent characterization and The premise doesn't sound like a giantess in her wedding gown?) depiction of setting (Marrakesh, much from a description. Right out The detective of the title must track this time), but boils down to the of a monster movie. "Atomic testing" down that which is manifested by three hero's being victimized, then kil­ or something of the sort pushes the dreams, two of which have clear par­ led in a grisly fashion, without world into "another dimension" cover­ allels in the Gospels (the parable his having done anything significant ing everything with a mist, out of of the improperly clad wedding guest to deserve this fate or learned any­ which come hordes of monsters, often and the servant who was forgiven a thing from it. It ends with a man with tentacles and not excluding gi­ debt and didn't do likewise), and in being made pregnant. So does Edward ant spiders, slugs and flammable the end he goes into a church and Bryant's "Dark Angel". In Haldeman's pterodactyls. Recently Spider Robin­ finds the answer at the communion story, Arab rip-off artists are re­ son took King to task for his "anti- rail. In other words, the disturb­ sponsible; in Bryant's, a vengeful scientific" attitude, but I don't ance is a miracle. Not horrifying woman. Actually, he did deserve it think real science enters into his unless you are a devout non-Christ- in Bryant's, but in both cases, the work at all. When King writes about ian. It's a beautiful story in many character's doom sinply comes upon "atomic testing", "radiation", "other aspects, but the ending is a bit too him, irresistibly, without any com­ dimensions", etc., he is writing pat. plication or struggle. Good drama, about folklore. I think, needs more than that. 's "A Touch of Petu­ The nuclear energy of modern lance" is a fairly standard time "Where There's a Will" by Rich­ folklore, of common belief, only re­ travel/twist-of-fate exercise. ard Matheson and Richard Christian lates to that of science by coinci­ It reads like a minor effort of his Matheson (father § son) is one of dence, but it is a source of genuine from the 40s. "The Stupid Joke" by those "Oh, no! I'm dead!" stories anxiety to a lot of people who could is another of his de­ made so familiar by CREEPY-type, and not give a damn (ahem!) about etern­ liciously macabre graphic pieces. earlier E.C. horror comics. It con­ al damnation. So horror-from-myth- "The Enemy” by tains useful technical information ological-atomics is just as valid in is minor Singer, about a Jew fleeing for those who wonder just how one 1980 as the horror of the Devil was Hitlerian Europe, persecuted by an gets out of a buried coffin. when Marlowe was writing I®. FAUSTUS embodied spirit of hatred. The prob­ The story isn't just a pointless ex- "Where the Stones Grow" by Lisa lem is that the story does little Tuttle, is one of the few stories 27 mere than present the idea. (Now Singer, I'm quite sure, is beyond the It interests me particularly because cial context in a muddled, quasi­ reach of Lovecraft's influence. I it is what my ESSAYS LOVECRAFTIAN Marxist way. I can't claim to have am beginning to suspect that the might have turned out to be, given a understood it. The author, Paul ideal length for the horror story more competent publisher, a higher Buhle, doesn't write clearly.) is the novelet, not the very short budget and more scholarly resources The orientation being taken into story.) than I had at my corrmand. Che item account, this being an Orthodox Love- of the contents overlaps, Fritz There is one story which draws craftian book (we are told that Ken­ Leiber's "A Literary Copernicus". its horror from strictly human evil, neth Faig and R. Alain Everts are Joshi has gathered significant art­ without a supernatural element and the "foremost Lovecraft biographers", this is Robert Bloch's "The Night mostly on the basis of unpublished Before Christmas". This story is work, apparently), it is the most terrifying only for a moment and useful single guide to Lovecraft yet that moment comes, not at the gim­ published. It is not a book for the micky shock finish, but in the mid­ uninitiated, really, but for the in­ dle, when one becomes aware of the formed Lovecraft reader who wants to intensely cruel nature of one of the learn more. characters. (The narrator is cuck­ -=- Ednund Wilson's "Tales of the olding a very macho South American Marvelous and Ridiculous” is of de­ type. The horror comes Mien the hus­ finite historical interest, since it band tells what his brother did to delayed general acceptance of Love­ somebody else, and it's horrifying, craft for decades. It is one of not because we believe it, because Wilson's most spectacular blunders we don't, but because it shows that in the area of fantasy, his other be­ this guy is capable of such enormit­ ies?)Theodore Sturgeon's "Vengeance ing his review of THE LORD OF THE RINGS. (Lovecraft and Tolkein, are Is" is about exactly that, a woman of course, now read by uncounted mil­ with a terrible power to wreak ven­ lions more than you ever heard of geance. It is essentially a bad- icles on Lovecraft from a variety of Edmund Wilson.) T.O. Mabbott's ap­ guys -get -theirs story, but more in­ sources and arranged them to give a preciation won't tell you anything tense than most, because it doesn't good historical survey of the ups and new, but he was the first academic waste any wordage. (Cf. above par­ downs in Lovecraft's reputation, lead­ to review Lovecraft. Fritz Leiber's enthetical aside. There is something ing up to his current worldwide ac­ "A Literary Copernicus" is essential, to be said for brevity after all.) ceptance. He has also footnoted ev­ a clear explanation of Lovecraft's This book probably does represent erything, usually to supply addition­ cosmic vision, and his "Through Hy­ the best in current horror fiction. al information, rather than to dis­ perspace with Brown Jenkin" deals Speaking of scaring, don't let me agree, showing good editorial sense. with HPL's innovations in science scare you away from it. There is a This is not to say the volume is fiction. Mosig's "H.P. Lovecraft, lot of good writing in it. Most of without bias. Scholarly works sel­ Myth-Maker" sets most of the distor­ the stories are worth reading, for dom are. One has only to encounter tions perpetrated by August Derleth various reasons. None are unread- psychologists of one persuasion com­ to rest for good and further expounds able. But very few are going to hor­ pletely ignoring all others to under­ Lovecraft's philosophy. J. Vernon rify anybody. stand that. A reader new to Love­ Shea's "On the Literary Influences craft scholarship might be a little Which Shaped Lovecraft's Work" is a confused if he didn't understand the bit too tenuous for me, but there is book's orientation. It is of what I useful information in it. And so on. would call the Orthodox, or Conserva­ Robert Bloch on the similarities tive school of Lovecraft criticm, in outlook between Poe and Lovecraft which is to say that group which grew is very good. Dirk Mosig on the out of Lovecraft fandom, but took on psychological allegory of "The White scholarly/adademic airs very quickly. Ship" may be stretching things a THE SHADOW OF LOVECRAFT LOOMS LARGE, Lovecraft is close to deified at mite and at the same time ignoring PART II times, or at least never blamed for that story's overt imitation of Dun- any fault in stories or in life. sany's "Idle Days on the Yann". The (One of the major critics, Dirk Mosi& articles on Lovecraft's poetry still H.P. LOVECRAFT: FOUR DECADES OF is a doctinaire Behaviorist, who fail to convince me that he was an CRITICISM holds that HPL was conpelled to do interesting poet. Yes, "The Fungi Edited by S.T. Joshi and write what he did by his envir­ From Yuggoth" sequence is at least Ohio University Press, 1980 onment. I can see how the Lovecraft- readable and there are a few striking 247 pp., $15.00 ian vision of an inpersonal cosmos lines and images. Barton St. Armand would appeal to a behaviorist.) You deals with Lovecraft as a regional- While we're on the subject, let can tell what kind of company you're ist (a reprint from RHODE ISLAND HIS­ us have a look at the present state in by what is said about Sprague de TORY) and his reading of Charles Dex­ of Lovecraft criticism and the past. Camp's LOVECRAFT: A BIOGRAPHY. Here ter Ward is considerably at variance This is an enormously informative is it referred to as "inadequate" and with mine. (As I read it, Ward res­ book. You'll find out where the fa­ then ignored as much as possible. urrected his ancestor bodily, who mous, apocryphal "black magic" quote Orthodox Lovecraftians don't like then murdered him and impersonated probably came from, why most Cthulhu Outsiders intruding, you see. They him. St. Armand says possession.) tythos writings have nothing to do are, however, quick to embrace any with Lovecraft and why the famous favorable mention from beyond the A worthy effort overall. And for your next project, Mr. Joshi, quote from the Spanish critic, who SF/fantasy field. In fact, the one listed H.P.L. among the ten greatest how about an anthology of foreign article which I find of dubious val­ Lovecraft criticism? If H.P.L. is writers ever produced by the human ue is from the MINNESOTA REVIEW. race, is probably equally apocryphal. generally accepted as a great writ­ (It tries to put Lovecraft in a so- er overseas, I want to see it. The book is a critical anthology. 28 AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA of Living Flame. The possessor can AND THEN I READ.... rule the world. Moriana wishes to depose her evil sister from the creations—automatic machinery and throne of the floating city, and manlike robots of varying low in­ Fost desires the immortality it prom­ telligences. ises. There is a god in this future The randy genie in their possess­ world—the one Make Nine robot of ion desires a human body again. superior intelligence who alone of The payoff is surprising. So is all the Make Nines was unable to kill the glacier. himself. He keeps trying. THE DESTINY STONE continues their Mankind is in its last genera­ adventures along separate paths, as tion as its drugs keep the few mil­ they battle Mariana's sister's agents lions left alive in mindless unhap­ and armies, as Fbst struggles to re­ piness. No one can read, think, unite with . create—do anything but watch idiot At the end of this book a loom­ and pomo/death TV shows, eat slop ing, final struggle for the floating BY THE EDITOR and wander around in a daze. Quick, city is in the works and an even more inpersonal sex was programmed into terrible danger as an evil, long- their minds from childhood. No one chained alien force is about to be talks because Privacy Laws prohibit ITE RINGWORLD ENGINEERS released again upon mankind. By social intercourse. These novels have action, tension Ballantine 26009, $2.50 But one man, inexplicably, learns sex, realism. Damned good sword and to read by using ancient kintergarden Louis Wu and the kzin, Speaker- sorcery, because it is disciplined; to-Animals are kidnapped by an in­ picture books and aids. magic isn't easy. It costs. There sane puppeteer, Hindmost, and taken And one woman, a rebel from child­ is always a price. hood, living in the New York Zoo, is back (after twenty years) to the This saga was originally conceiv­ Ringworld—that immense spokeless able to have a child. ed as one volume. Sharon Jarvis, They discover each other...and wheel in space with a sun at its Senior Editor at Playboy Paperbacks, hub and land area enough for milli­ come into conflict with Robert Spof- thought it could be published in ons of Earths. Hindmost wants a forth, the Make Nine. three volumes. Upon receipt of the device or technology the Ringworld From that point the novel should first volume she decided that it builders must have possessed, in not be encapsulated. Highlights that could be split in two... order to regain power on the puppet­ impressed me: the suicides by fire Thus six volumes in the saga. of small groups of people...the pris­ eer worlds. He intends to force The final three volumes of the War on...the thought busses...the isolat­ Louis Wu and Speaker to do the dang­ of Powers series will begin this ed "Christian" enclave... the final, erous seeking. December. They are: But the Ringworld is unstable and glorious death of Spofforth...the THE FALLEN ONES ironic reason why mankind was nearly swinging closer and closer to its THE SHADOW OF OMIZANTRIM sun. extinguished. THE DEMON OF THE DARK ONES. The warning buried in every page While conning Hindmost along un­ til he can take control of the ex­ of this novel is impossible to avoid pedition, Louis Wu (with Speaker's and think about. But. This is not a great sf nov­ help) must discover why the Ring­ el in theme or execution. It's been LANARK world is spinning into its sun and By Alasdair Gray done before, perhaps better, by past find a way to reverse the process. Harper Colophon CN 862, $8.95 and present career sf writers. And Larry has the ability to make A strange, somewhat inexplicable the $52.95 price on this softcover has the unimaginable vastnesses and novel set in Scotland and in...what? wonders of the Ringworld real. He got to make anyone pause. Three a parallel universe? An alternate is a very good sf writer: he weaves bucks? I suspect the publishing in­ Earth? plot, character, background and sci­ dustry is suiciding before our very Lanark as a young man enters a ence into a tight, ever-moving story eyes. Reading is on the way to be­ city which never knows daylight. Why that satisfies—like a good steak coming the passtime/hobby of an el­ this is is never explained. Strange, dinner—at the end. He hooks you ite. gargantuan events are hinted at... with his first sentence: He is a man without a past. He Louis Wu was under the wire when meets a group of intellectuals and two men came to invade his privacy, hangers-on, but is too private, clum­ and he doesn't let you loose. sy and antisocial to fit in. He By the way: all the questions a- seeks death— bout the Ringworld's origins, who THE CITY IN THE GLACIER —and falls into a giant gullet built it and peopled it, how it works, THE DESTINY STONE in a graveyard...down into a subter­ By Robert E. Vardeman and Victor etc., are answered in this book. ranean Institute which seeks to treat Milan RINGWORLD and THE RINGWORLD ENGINEERS and dispose of those who come down Playboy Paperbacks 16754, 16763, are a classic sf series now, and will the tubes. both $2.25 each. probably last forever. He discovers an oracle who These are volumes 2 and 3 of a tells him his life (which he cannot six-volume War Of Powers saga. I remember) before he entered the dark reviewed the first book, THE SUNDER­ city above. ED REALM, in SFR #37. The bulk of the book recounts These two books continue the ad­ MOCKINGBIRD his life in 1930-40s Scotland, from ventures of Fost Longstrider and Prin­ By Walter Tevis childhood, through art school, to cess Moriana as they struggle to reach Bantam 14144-9, $2.95 young adulthood. He fails, is in the glacier-covered ancient city where In many ways an if-this-goes-on social/emotional agony, and suicides. in lies the magic talisman The Amulet novel of mankind's ruin and almost [And appears in the dark city, as at the hands of its own 29 an aimesiac, as Lanark.] The cities and nations in this A SENSE OF SHADOW THE CHANGING LAND Other World are separated by space- By Kate Wilhelm By Roger Zelazny time warps of some kind, and each Houghton Mifflin, $9.95 Ballantine 25389, $2.50 time they are penetrated a person is aged about ten to twenty years. This new novel sets up a classic A new, fine, exciting, full-of- Lanark returns to the dark city situation---a dying old tyrant of a wonder fantasy novel by Roger Zelaz­ from the Institute, is taken in by father who has comnanded his children ny is celebration time. So drink old friends now powerful in govern­ to him to await his death and to en­ your fill of it. It's superb, dis­ ment, marries, becomes a father—in dure a strange test to determine who ciplined —mostly a flash!—and is sent to a world will inherit the bulk of his huge sorcery—and Roger's word magic is council to plead for his city. estate. at full flower. He screws up, returns to the The test seems to imply that Yeah, I liked the book. city and is an old man...yet sub­ one of the four heirs will be taken With Jelerak, Lord of Castle jectively has lived (it seems) only over by the spirit of the old man, Timeless missing (if not dead, then a few short years! and that heir will be the "winner". terribly weakened), his overseer, This is not a true sf novel, Attendant are a local psycholo­ Baran of the Third Hand and the it is a long metaphor about life gy professor who set up the test, resurrected Queen Semirama attempt and living through it. It is a sav­ a family doctor, a crusty lawyer. from inside the Castle to keep rival, age comnentary on schools, govern­ And the heirs (and a key person- power-hungry sorcerers from enter­ ment, politicians, doctors, God... na in the drama, a wife of one of ing to bind the power of an Elder Nothing is left unbloodied. the heirs) and the psychologist do God to their will. The Queen has This is a very well written, begin to have visions, blackouts, bidden the half insane God to make endlessly absorbing novel. I liked telepathic communications, seg­ the surrounding lands a shifting it. But don't expect it to answer ments of the old man's memories... madness of warping reality and obvious questions. The obvious does­ The novel is set in the south­ strange, treacherous deaths. n't matter. ern Willamette valley in Oregon and Into this wild landscape enters has great authenticity. Dilvish, swearing to kill the arch As the psychic manifestations sorcerer Jelerak, who sent him to mount in frequency and intensity Hell. Enter the lovely and ambi­ the novel becomes highly gripping. THE REVOLUTION FROM ROSINANTE tious woman sorcereress Arlata... By Alexis A. Gilliland Alas...the ending is not what and enter Jelerak, disguised, too Ballantine 29265, $2.25 the reader expects. The whole weakened to take direct command of This first book of a trilogy is thing is left up in the air with his Castle. standard space-colony vs. evil Earth all the air gone. And let the spells, sorceries, government. The good guys are smart­ Were those supernatural exper­ enchantments begin! Let cunning, er, anticipate well, and seek only iences real? Was the old man a treachery, death and disaster fol­ freedom and the chance to make a for­ cunning trickster or a crazy? Did low! tune. the psychologist lie about the There's a gripping, time-con­ The baddies are stupid, rigid, tests? Did he commit suming climax. selfish, obsessed with private im- suicide? You'll love this novel;Roger peritives and public politics and I'm not sure. And, damn it, I has a winner here. force. should be! I feel cheated. Yet this is not a ho-hum sf novel. First because the space col­ ony is a strange, huge 'Midito' structure which looks like two side- NIGHT SCREAMS TWO CAf€ CALLING by-side contra-rotating cones with By Bill Pronzini § Barry Malzberg By Nancy and Frances Dorer immense central cylinders in the Playboy Paperbacks 16788, $2.75 Manor Books23226, $1.95 cones linked by a main frame across the wide ends of the open cones. Somebody is brutally killing This is a Nice story, unmarred The living spaces are in the the members of a small clairvoyants by danger, suspense, logic, plaus­ cylinders, and their size permits group. Two down, five to go... ibility or remotely possible sci­ farmlands, towns... The remaining members are gath­ ence. Also not ho-hum is the inter- ered in a hotel in a small New Eng­ It is (to the point I threw the book across the room in utter dis­ and intra-government politiking land town and the killer strikes that goes on (and in which Alexis again and again. gust) about two creatures discover­ is well-versed), the genetic goings- On hand are two FBI men who ed in a flying saucer in a wheat on vs. the fundamentalist religious step in to help. One of then falls field by two children. The creatur­ forces opposed to Tampering, and in love with one of the clairvoyants. es who resemble at first beach balls the impressive state-of-the-art of There is a lot of padding in are taken to the rural home of the kids' father and begin to grow up robotics in the form of Skaskash Inc. the form of switching viewpoints and Corporate Susan Brown—robots from character to character. The into humans...and soon are remark­ with citizenship and all rights first half of the novel drags. ably handsome young human males. thereof. But the characters are real But they are ignorant of Earth The novel moves fast, ends young people, the fear/tension/danger ways, and.... and seems too sketchy. It could closes in nicely, and the real Seems they really are humans have used another 10,000 words of killer's identity is masked beauti­ — from Jupiter. Their original deep intrigue on Earth and some real­ fully. And the climactic scenes beach ball appearance was due to having acclimatized to Jupiter's ly severe possibility of death and at the end will rivet you. destruction on Rosinante. As it is These clairvoyants really do gravity.... I lost heart. I lost patience. Charles Chavez Cantrell and his keen- have the Power...but it doesn't I lost my suspension of disbelief. minded associates handle all crises do them much good. with ease. Some of the characters' swampy I realized the authors and the edi­ tors didn't know what absurd asses Alexis has finished the second interior monologs were far too they had made of themselves. Rosinante novel and is just beginn­ long. ing the third...as of mid-Feb. 30 LETTERS

# LETTER FROM PHILIP K. DICK it is weird sitting here defending 408 East Civic Center Drive my sanity to a person who has never C-l Box 264 met me!), especially in regard to Santa Ana, CA, 92701 the fact that I am examining unresolv- February 20, 1981 able metaphysical -- well, have we now got a standard by which 'I'm gazing at a recent letter we determine the presence of danger­ to me from . Michael ous ideas? likes my new novel VALIS, but learn­ 'This is what I hear you saying: ed that Ursula LeGuin had been tre­ Phil Dick is involving himself in mendously upset by it, "not only for dangerous ideas that may undermine its examination of perhaps unresolv- his sanity. That they are "unresolv- able metaphysical matters (into able" has yet to be determined. And which she seems to fear you are even if they are in fact unresolvablei plunging at the risk of never emerg­ perhaps they are still worthy of be­ ing again) but for its treatment of ing investigated. I have never drawn female characters -- every one of the line between ideas that could which, she argued, was at bottom (I and could not -- should and should cannot remember her exact phrase) a not — be looked into. That, to me, hateful and not-to-be-trusted death is a dangerous idea: that some ideas figure ... that evening, after her are better left alone, for the good Now, in , the pro­ talk at Emory University, while ques­ and the sanity of all concerned. tagonist is an undercover narcotics tions were being asked, she respond­ agent. I'm sorry, Ursula, I wasn't ed that her reading of science fic­ 'VALIS is, by and large, a work that either. It would have saved me tion these days is rather selective of fiction. It centers around a fic­ a lot of anxiety and trouble if I but that she had the utmost admira­ titious movie (called VALIS) and it had been. But I am, after all, a tion for the work of Philip K. Dick, ends with the protagonist going off writer of fiction. However, I will who had been shamefully ignored crit­ to France, Luxembourg, Germany, Turk­ concede that VALIS is autobiographi­ ically in this country and who ap­ ey, Japan and, finally, Micronesia cal (so was SCANNER; so was CONFES­ peared to be spiraling into himself (in the tradition of the picaresque SIONS OF A CRAP ARTIST; so was FLOW and going slowly crazy in Santa Ana, novel). I've myself been to France MY TEARS, THE POLICEMAN SAID --so ". Her dismay, Michael and Luxembourg, but none of the oth­ are many, many novels). The fact says, "Results not solely from anger er places. Horselover Fat is not a that ray protagonist, Horselover Fat, but from a genuine human concern science fiction writer. In VALIS is a madman does not prove that I, about your intellectual and emotion­ Phil Dick is the science fiction the author, am a madman even if I al well-being". writer, and this is explicitly clear say, "I am Horselover Fat", because within the novel itself. Although 'It is probably self-defeating this is the way you write certain on page three I say, "I am Horselov- for me to assert timidly that, "Don't kinds of books. There are scenes er Fat, and I am writing in the third worry, Ursula, I'm not slowly going of violent arguments between Phil person to gain much-needed objectiv­ crazy in Santa Ana, California", but Dick and Horselover Fat in the novel. ity" it is clear from internal evi­ I will make a feeble effort to con­ dence in the novel that Phil Dick front this outpouring of genuine hu­ 'One other point that Michael and Horselover Fat are two people. man concern. Ursula, VALIS is a pic­ Bishop brings up. He says of you, Ursula, you have fallen victim to a aresque novel (the first-person view­ "She was also concerned that nowhere fictional device by which I establish point, the wandering about of the in your self-characterizations is at the beginning of VALIS that this protagonist, the very name he has: there any discussion of what it means is a picaresque novel. The fault is Horselover Fat, which is on the to be an artist, of the redemptive largely mine; I chose the device; I order of Smollett's Peregrine Pickle, force that art itself may have". My chose to blur the distinction between the fact that the protagonist is de­ answer: My novel is my justification, myself and Horselover Fat -- this is cidedly an outsider, the style of not anything that I arrogate to my­ the penalty an author pays for writ­ the novel, which is vernacular Eng­ self as a person, as a . ing in the firft person. lish, not formal English -- but I The justification is the work; the digress). The female characters in 'Henry Miller discussed this work must stand on its own merits. VALIS like the male characters are problem years ago. "Who is this I?" I hold no special brief for the picaroons and that is that. This is readers ask. Miller's answer was, transcendent value of the artist, a type of novel that goes back cen­ "Me. Henry Miller". I am greatly only for the art per se. I am no turies; it has been revived recently influenced by Henry Miller, but my better than the merest person who as a protest against the more formal purpose was to achieve a new kind of plies the merest craft -- as a per­ bourgeois novel. It is, in fact, prose, a new kind of blending of the son. I do not hold the mystique of a protest on my part against what I ancient picaresque form with certain the Great Artist loftily gazing down regard as official art, official cul­ modern elements associated with Hunt­ on puny mortals. As Kevin, a chara­ ture, especially that connected with er S. Thompson and William S. Bur­ cter in VALIS, says to Phil Dick, or written to please the academic roughs, as well as my own 1977 novel a character in VALIS, "Call Jamison community. I deliberately made ray A SCANNER DARKLY, based on my exper­ and tell him -- whatever. You're protagonist a madman, the narrative iences with the drug subculture. full of it", meaning of course, that style that of the street ... but as I can sling the shit, which is to to your concern for my sanity (God, 31 say, verbally articulate (God, how I hate formal English). This talent, Or been dreamed, or whatever. Crowley, Phil Dick, etc. etc., I cer­ which is almost in a sense a defect tainly do read SF, and with immense '"And I don't care if you're -- it certainly has gotten me into pleasure. a lot of trouble in my life -- does crazy, or crazy like a fox, or the not make me superior to people who sanest man in California, or all 'What worries me and what I was repair shoes or drive buses. This three, with a great artist these discussing with Bruce, is that there was, by the way, an element about distinctions are irrelevant -- a real now seems to be a lot of it I can' t Stanislaw Lem that distressed me: artist -- and that you are, I know read, and what I can't figure is, -- his inflated notion of the role of that much. is it it, or me? --So much of it seems the same thing over and over. the critic, the artist, the Great '"But I get scared by your re­ Thinker and Creative Genius. I'm Reconstituted Cheese Product. But cent books § stories, and especial­ sorry, but I am not a part of that maybe that's just because I ODd on ly VALIS, because it seems like you it when I read so much of it for so world. I live in a humble town hate women now, and the part of you (Santa Ana) in what Charles Platt long. I have the same problem with that is woman is denied and despis­ correctly called "a plain, modest fantasy. Spent years trying to find ed. It's all yang and no yin, all apartment, with two cats, some slight­ real fantasy novels -- roaming heaven and no earth, all Word and no ly run-down contemporary furniture, through libraries like the Questing matter. And I'm not at home there, heaps of reference books" and what Beast -- Now every paperback rack I'm shut out, I can no longer fol­ excess money I earn I send to an org­ has ten of them; and they're all low your art, which has been such a anization in New York that works with either Three Brave Children Win the joy § solace to me. street kids, runaways in trouble. Battle Between Light and Darkness, This is my life. '"But I keep trying! or something written around a Boris Vellejo cover with big tits, whoopee. 'The characters in my novels are '"Love, Ursula." 'But I did want to point out picaroons (rogues, in other words) 'The day after I mailed it I because (1) most of the people I*ve that there's a difference between got the copy you sent me of his let­ known and loved have been rogues and reading SF and fantasy selectively ter to you. So I sent him a card and not reading it at all. If I (2) I am one myself. Let me finish saying: by saying, "Never trust what a rogue didn't read it I certainly would not feel justified either in teaching tells you", which is to say, "There '"I guess I said anything I have is a built-in self-cancelling para­ workshops in writing it or in writ­ to say in that postcard to you. I ing it myself. dox at the heart of VALIS; it is a can't answer your arguments (j stuff, tale about a madman told by a mad­ I am just sorry that anything I said 'There aren't very many rules- man, a puzzle within a puzzle. Ur­ upset you, § if some aspects of your for-writing-SF, but one of them sure­ sula has not solved it. But many book upset me, what the hell, it ly is: If you wanta write it you got­ readers will ... and from the mail isn't Cream of Wheat after all, § I ta read it. GIGO. How to be a Gar­ I am receiving, some already have."' wouldn't have read it if it was." bage Monster -- (live in a cookie can?) ' 'That's Card Three, and I'm out, boys. Just not my night.'

((Ursula, I’m in the same boat; I # LETTER FROM URSULA LE GUIN simply cannot read a lot of the sf February 26, 1981 ((I read VALIS soon after receiving a review copy and found it a bit of and fantasy that comes in for review. 'Oh, I hate this sort of thing a drag...a self-indulgent, obsessive I depend on others to touch those where one is quoted without knowing digging into, picking at, poking of bases and sink those ships. it (though I know Mike Bishop meant questions that have haunted certain ((Part of our problem is the truth no harm at all) and letters that minds for thousands of years. Since (in some applications) that familiar­ one did not get are printed and so all this has been explored before by ity does breed contempt... because on -- am I the only person in science thousands of writers, the question the wonders are now ho-hum to us and fiction that does hate it? --The becomes how well X does the job this we now demand more from writers than only thing I know to do is get all time. does the average, younger, less jad­ my cards face up on the table and ((Phil adds a flavor, a style ed reader. then drop out of the game. all his own, and the book is read­ ((As time passes I fully expect to find my reading narrowing and 'Card one -- Phil wrote me a able because of that. But I get the narrowing until—if I live long short letter, I guess, at the same impression that Phil Pick, like Rob­ enough-- 1 may end being able to on­ time he wrote you the long one, ex­ ert A. Heinlein, is sinking, or has ly read five or six writers (other plaining VALIS as an exercise in sunk, lately into a Self trap. May­ than myself, of course!) and will mystical paradox, like the Cretan be as death creeps inevitably closer be useless as a reviewer. paradox, or a koan. He ended it, we all are subject to these types of ((This increasing selectivity "This only makes sense if you assume snares? Especially all us Heavy even now bothers me since I suspect something very strange: we are as­ Thinkers.)) I'm often too hard on some authors leep but do not know it. At least and especially fan publishers. But not until we wake up". wotthehell, I rather enjoy the 'I didn't know why he wrote me "Tough—but fair old curmudgeon" out of the blue, but pretty much as­ image.)) # LETTER FROM URSULA LE GUIN sumed it's because he is psychic and January 28, 1981 somehow or other knew that VALIS had troubled me. So I immediately wrote 'I feel a bit misquoted on page this letter back (I hope he doesn't 31 of SFR #38. I didn't write Bruce mind my giving it to you): Card Gillespie that I "don't read science Two: fiction any more". As I read any­ '"Dear Phil, thing I can get hold of by Gene Wolfe, Mike Bishop, Vonda McIntyre, John '"OK -- Right — God knows I - have never wakened, only dreamed. 32 # LETTER FROM HANK STINE # LETTER FROM RONALD R. LAFBERT repent it that I did not thank Mr. SENIOR EDITOR, STARBLAZE ED. 2350 Virginia, Troy, MI, 48084 Priest, who indeed was out long-suf­ THE DONNING COMPANY, PUBLISHERS January 25, 1981 fering European charge d'affairs for 5041 Admiral Wright Road many years at a time when our publi­ Virginia Beach, VA, 23462 'You have undoubtedly heard a cations were singularly unreliable, February 10, 1981 lot of complaints about SFWA. Well, and that I did not make it clear here's another one. I've had three that it was not during my administra­ 'I think Christopher Priest rais­ short stories published in ANALOG, tion of SFWA that the incident of es the whole point entirely. The so I qualify to join. Back on June the delayed ballots took place. I Nebula is not fatally flawed. It 16 I sent in my application along confess I was reporting second-hand does excellently what it is suppos­ with a check for $40 and the other information, albeit from a reliable ed to so. material required. For long months source. I heard nothing. Finally in Novemb­ 'It gains us publicity and at­ 'His other charge is more seri­ er I got my check back, with October tention which the field, SFWA and ous, but it's just plain wrong. 30 as a cancellation date marked on books in general need desperately. Priest says "We, the people who stick the check (it took 4*j months to de­ up for Lem, would probably forgive 'That such attention is gained posit my check?!). Now it is almost Norman Spinrad proved conclusively them if only they'd confess". If February, and I still haven't heard that would do the job, I'd step up in his LOCUS column when he said from Somtow or SFWA. that a Nebula or guaran­ and recite. The trouble is, there's teed significantly increased sales 'I still don't know if I've been nothing to confess to. I told the for a book and publishers knew it accepted. Shouldn't I receive a story at tedious length in the last (has anyone ever told Chris about membership card, membership direct­ issue, and no one to date has con­ the escalator clauses in Greg Ben­ ory and stuff like that? Maybe this tradicted a single important point. ford's contract; does he think they is all some kind of fraternal initia­ 'If it makes Lem's supporters are just pro forma, that publishers tion. I admit, it is a very novel feel better, I will "confess" that ever do anything pro forma?). initiation to let you die of old age many members were very pleased to before they let you join.' 'No award is now or ever has find a reason why Lem should not re­ been (anywhere at any time in the main an honorary member subsidized past) given purely for excellence ((Fear not; your letter in these by their dues. and achievement. If that were true, dynamic pages should provoke some 'Further than this we can't go, they would have been given secretly reaction. Hmm. I wonder what they nor would we want to. without anyone else knowing it. do to malcontents nowadays?)) 'Priest says that I am remarkab­ 'They have always been given to ly defensive. As often happens, he bestow public recognition on both has misread me. I am trying to be the recipient and the giver (when an restrained. Lem has many friends emperor has a ceremony he's just as among academics. More to the point, prominent as anyone he honors -- # LETTER FROM JERRY E. POURNELLE J.E. POURNELLE AND ASSOCIATES I very much regret that the Lem af­ after all it is the emperor honoring). SCIENCE FACT AND FICTION fair cost us at least one very valu­ 'When people want humanitarian 12051 Laurel Terrace Drive able U.S. member, and I refrain from deeds encouraged or their own organ­ Studio City, CA 91604 taking the offensive lest I give ad­ ization more widely known, they February 9, 1981 ditional offense. My motive in that create an award to be given to draw should be obvious. I've put a lot publicity to one or the other. 'I'm sorry to continue to bring of time and work into SFWA, and I up unpleasant matters. think it a very valuable organiza­ 'Being human, we all know there tion; the only one of the half-dozen is no absolute standard (although we 'Regarding Busby's note, I thank or so writers' organizations I pay acknowledge relative ones) by which him for his kind remarks about phe dues to that I think worth far more a single best can be judged. I, for thrust of my letter (in SFR #37), than what I give it. I would very instance, find THE DISPOSSESSED too but I didn't really miss on my facts. much like to settle this ludicrous polemical to be good novel writing. The Treasurer who ruled Lem ineligi­ affair once and for all, and if some ble for honorary membership on the 'However, we all recognize that kind of public apology would be suf­ grounds that he was eligible for reg­ nominees are generally some of the ficient to heal this breach and get ular membership was Andrew Offutt, best, while at the same time accept­ all SF writers together again. I'll and he damned well was aware of what ing that an occasional clinker slips make it. he was doing. He called me in some past. triumph to report on what he thought 'This is no time for squabbling. 'Meanwhile, some attention that was a clever solution to the problem. The economics of SF publishing have not been worse for many years. If ultimately benefits everyone in the The problem, for those who just came field to some degree, gets attracted in, was that after Lem's publications we are to continue to make progress in matters that SFWA can affect: to SF and many top SF writers and regarding American science fiction books as a result. and SFWA, a number of members com­ contracts, indemnity clauses, royal­ plained bitterly about subsidizing ty statements, division of shares of 'That's the point. That's what Lem's honorary membership. subsidiary rights, the "blockbuster" happens. mass media approach of many publish­ 'I hadn't known that Lem replied ing houses -- if we are to affect 'The Nebula works. declining Fred Pohl's offer of reg­ those, we better damned well hang to­ 'Bright-eyed idealists may want ular (voting) membership with dues gether. The question of whether Lem more, but I'm afraid they'll have to be subsidized by Fred himself, al­ is or is not the world's greatest SF to find it in the pages of each oth­ though I knew the offer had been made. writer can be left to academics and er's novels and not in the real world.' Lem's reply ought to dispel any doubt critics, and my views on the matter that Lem quit the organization. He are of little importance. was not thrown out. 'So: Chris, thank you for the 'Regarding Priest's letter, I work you did for SFWA. I should 33 have acknowledged your work when I was President, and I can only plead ((But-- I've never had a novel of (the Brigade of the title) and the boorish oversight for not doing so. mine published in America under the plot ensues from there. "Cellars" In your time as overseas agent you title ABANDON.. .to my knowledge. does fit that description, but not had more than a little ground for Could you quote the first few lin­ only hasn't been sold, but is still complaint. es? I could probably identify it being written. John tells me that that way. In a way it’s a compli­ 'Second, I at least will "con­ he is putting into this one very hor­ ment to be chosen for reprinting, fess" what everyone must know, that rible image that occurs to him. Ev­ pirating, foreign sales, etc. with­ Lem wouldn't have had his honorary ery time he walks to the store in out your knowledge. )) membership cancelled at that time the Lower East Side, he encounters had it not been for his essay on Am­ enough human flotsam that he returns erican science fiction -- so long home with another couple of chapters as it is clearly understood that he envisioned. Thus the book grows. was not eligible for honorary member­ It is a huge manuscript at the mom­ # LETTER FROM STEVE BROWN ent, with no end in sight. ship, and that he was offered and de­ January 25, 1981 clined regular membership at no cost 'Regarding your review of THE to himself.' '(Quote from a Holt, Rinehart DEAD ZONE — I agree with you total­ g Winston ad in PUBLISHER'S WEEKLY, ly in your opinions, but you must ((Let me take this opportunity to listing Spring and Summer releases): remember that you have read the least thank SFWA for sending me a very of King's novels, and the most con­ useful copy of its Membership 'SCI-FI (Title of book) trived. Try FIRESTARTER.' Directory, and for its invitations A Rinehart Suspense Novel to SFWA events. I don't go, but I William Marshall. Sixth mys­ appreciate the offers.)) tery in the wild adventures of Hong Kong's Yellowthread Street Cops: Murder and chaos amidst the annual all-Asia # LETTER FROM NORMAN FINLAY Science Fiction Convention, # LETTER FROM SHELDON TEITELBAUM Caltonview, 125 Lochend Rd. $10.95/August/ Rehov Harari 3/16 Edinburgh, EH6 8BX, Scotland ISBN: 0-03-047486-8' Ramat-Gan, Israel December 18, 1980 20 December 1980 'With reference to last issue's 'Shopping for books this week, letter from Bob Leman -- John Updike's I came across a copy of your porno first novel was THE POORHOUSE FAIR, tour de force, ABANDON, at a Tel Av­ # LETTER FROM STEVE BROWN first published in the USA in 1958. 817 N. Irving St, Arlington, iv second hand shop. It is amazing Recently I read the UK Penguin edi­ how far depravity will travel. The VA, 22201 tion, published in '68. From the in­ January 9, 1981 book was horrible -- well worth pay­ tro by Updike: "THE POORHOUSE FAIR ing more for it than it was worth in was written in 1957 and was supposed the first place. That triple-digit 'I would like to clear up some to take place twenty years hence -- inflation does it every time. faulty information in Elton Elliott's that is, around 1977. I meant the fu­ column regarding . He ture it portrays to be less a predic­ 'Mr. Poumelle's efforts to com­ has not released, nor even recorded bat pirating in Israel seem to have tive blueprint than a caricature of any singles, from "Park Avenue Re­ contemporary decadence". paid off. I have yet to find any cords" or anyone else. The name of bogus translations on the racks. his band is not FirsTongue (that is 'The point is, JU's first novel Aharon Hoffman, co-editor of the Is­ the name of the fictional band in was science fiction. raeli prozine FANTAZIA 2000, tells John's recent Dell novel, CITY COME of the courts having clamped down on 'Four days ago I had a bad ex­ A'WALKIN'). The name of the band is perience. About twelve-fifteen sec­ this kind of thing, although I sus­ Obsession (formally John Shirley's pect that a great deal of the porno­ onds of main current at 5 amps de­ Obsession, but they thought that was livered through my right hand first graphy and Westerns sold here are too cumbersome). He has not been still trefe. finger. I thought I was dead. I signed by "the same man who 'discov­ screamed and screamed then my chest 'Fandom in Israel is moving once ered' and Bruce Spring­ froze up and all I could make were again, after several false starts steen". That man, John Hammond, Jr., noises. It was pure accident, bad during the past two years. The IS­ of Columbia Records, heard a demo luck, carelessness or fate. I could RAEL SF ASSOCIATION joined the choir tape of John's, liked it enough to call it all of those. What I'm lead­ invisible owing to the military sit­ call John into his office and tell ing up to is that you started me on uation here. The executives were, him how much he liked John's music. all this conspiracy theory stuff, the to a man, members of the IDF, and But no papers were signed. Hammond naked greed of human nature, the kill- prone to disappearing at the most in­ said that he was thinking of leaving or-be-kilied-eat-and-eaten philoso­ opportune times. Janice Gelb, a fan Columbia and starting his own label phies as expressed by yourself in so true that she left the country soon, and that at that time he would SFR. Can I add some observations of not because of the job market, in­ like to sign John. Meanwhile he told my own? flation, military situation or dearth John, and wisely, that John should of adequate housing, but because of forget the conversation and go forth 'I suppose whatever happens to the lousy state of fandom, tells of and pay dues in dozens of little you varies with conditions. Wounds a Jerusalem-based club. clubs and hone the music down. on a battlefield are different to accidents in the home. I can tell 'Those interested are advised to 'John has sold "The Brigade" to you that the same night of my acci­ contact Neil Weiss, POB 12078, Kir­ Avon, though it in no way fits the dent I did not pray, I did not thank yat Hadassah, Jerusalem. Rumour has description of "Mainstream/occult/ God that I was alive. Shock or con­ it that they plan to run a con in horror" -- it is about a small town fusion -- I don't know which had ex­ June, 1982. Should this indeed come in Oregon without a police force propriated by belief in Him. In to pass, visitors will, within reas­ that is taken over by bad guys. The fact, I was crying and terrified of on, find many of us willing to put townspeople form a vigilante group sleep. Though I'd been to hospital them up for the duration.' 34 and given an ECG and assured that I would not die I didn't like the idea making events to occur in my life­ # CARD FROM ROBERT A. BLOCH that I still might one bit. My wife time...with the ideal finish a 2111 Sunset Crest Drive had to keep the bedroom light on, I planet-destroying catastrophe on Los Angeles, CA 90046 couldn't bear the dark. When I was the day of my death by natural February 7, 1981 undergoing the shock I believed I causes. AHA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA.....) ) 'Barry Malzberg has done it at was dead. I could feel the current last I He may be quoting someone killing me. That's what I remember­ else, of course, but if so, the ed in bed but the feeling was gone. words are new to me—and they con­ So that now I know what it's like to stitute the mot juste, or unjuste, die I can't recall it, exactly. I I've been searching for all these suppose it's just as well. years. I refer to his use of the 'I can tell you that what I un­ term, "street science fiction": it derwent was dreadful. Even worse says it all, and I salute Mr. Malz­ were the what-ifs that followed later. berg even if I don't necessarily Weeks before I had been arguing with agree with his evaluation of the my wife. Yet it was she who pulled ENCYCLOPEDIA or his spelling of the plug for me. She who literally "Borogroves". Having thus alienat­ saved my life. So now I'm left with ed everybody at one swell foop, confusion and a terrible fear of it remains only to say that I think death that isn't really present in # LETTER FROM GENE DE WEESE you deserve an annual Hugo for SFR, 2718 N. Prospect normal humans. I think I left norm­ or just for being REG. Pay no at­ Milwaukee, WI 53211 ality behind after feeling what it tention to Alter; he's the Stanis­ February 3, 1981 was like to be dying. My outlook law Lem of the subconscious. Hop­ isn't one of serenity and acceptance ing you are the same -- Bob.' 'Tell Paulette thanks for the of death — I don't want it. I don't WANTING FACTOR review. After what want my wife to die -- ever. I don't ((You are, of course, my Ghod, PW said about it, this was a more want people to die. It's horrible Bob. I might eVen say you are my than welcome difference, and it'll and somehow final and bearing in Cholb. So I am sure that when You probably sell more copies in fandom mind what you say about INA imprint­ call for a Hugo for me and/or SFR, and at cons than a good one in PW ing I'm not sure that there is Life all fandom and prodom will obey. would anyway. She's the first to After Death. I feel I don't know ((Perhaps you can clear some­ have picked up on the identity and anything any more for sure. thing up for me: a few weeks ago I problems of the villain and the fact received a phone call from a man 'Anyway, I've been left with a that, whether the writing is all who said he was Bob Tucker! And lack of feeling in my left arm and that great or not, it is most defin­ he said I should keep all the sometimes my left leg and a tendency itely not anything like your "stand­ postcards you write to me-- and to think about crying and feeling ard occult novel". (There are some maybe even the letters (but there sorry for myself. shortcomings in the book, but being hasn't been a letter for.. .about "standard/conventional" isn't one of 'Well, what I wanted to say is thirty years now?) because all them.) Incidentally, it's gone in­ that I do agree with you -- sort of your writings will be invaluable to a third printing, though they're (It's okay, I'm well aware that you in the future because you will be calling it the second, since the don't care what I believe) but I viewed in future as a literary real second was just to bring the hope you really aren't enjoying the giant. He even said he knew you! quantity up to what they originally Iraq-Iran war and doomsaying. But Is this true? Should I save your ordered because the printer shorted you're right about one thing, the postcards?)) them ... other side of doom is very much the same if you can survive it.' 'Glad to see that someone else liked THE AWAKENING despite some of the inherent idiocies. When I saw ((I'm sure we can all agree that in the credits it was based on some­ # LETTER FROM BRUCE D ARTHURS dying is a traumatic experience, thing by Stoker, it must've put me 3421 W. Poinsettia and usually fatal. I am continual­ in the mood for something old fash­ Phoenix, AZ 85029 ly astonished at the risks people ioned like that and made me overlook 4 February 1981 take in everyday life, and the be­ things like his taking after the havior of groups and nations which tomb door with a sledgehammer. In­ 'I like Malzberg. I really do. leads me to suspect that in actuali­ cidentally, if you haven't seen RE­ I've had a number of occasions where ty most people seek secretly or un­ SURRECTION, do so immediately. It's I've found myself in the midst of a consciously to kill or be killed. the best picture, SF/fantasy or oth­ deep, black, hopeless depression and ((The frenzied dictum, "KILL erwise, that I've seen in many months lifted myself out by going to the FOR CHRIST/NATION/RACE/CREED/MONEY" A quiet but dramatic (not melodram­ bookshelf and getting down a book of has the unstated and real corollary atic like most of the hokier ESP pic­ his stories. It's so cheerful to "DIE FOR CHRIST/NATION/RACE/CREED/ tures) story of a healer who doesn't find that there's someone in the MONEY." That ancient devil (known have any idea where her newly-acquir­ world who's more depressed, wretched now as our hindbrain) has us in its ed "power" comes from and refuses and angst-ridden than I am. (I won­ spell, and will continue to dictate to bow to the pressure of her funda­ der what Malzberg reads to cheer him­ from its fortress for eons. mentalist friends and say it comes self up?) ((As for my enjoyment of doom­ from "God". SCANNERS, on the other saying: I have this character-tilt hand, is pure, gory hoke and only 'I had a serious thought about toward pessimism and prediction, moderately entertaining now and then.' Malzberg, though, while reading his thus I enjoy doing my thing. My essays in this issue. Let us take only sadness and disappointment is ((We did see RESURRECTION. Thanks it for granted that he is an excel­ that the dooms I see coming are for the tip. We'll see SCANNERS lent writer. (Most people's objec­ taking so goddamned long to arrive. probably for the pyrotechnical tions to his writing, I think, have I’m basically solipsist, you see, gore.) ) to do more with what he writes about and would prefer huge, history­ 35 than how he writes it.) But he's never been popular, despite his ulations and extrapolations of sci­ there will be more female writers skill. Why? Because he is so skil­ entific theories, characters that this time. Another aspect of my led, I speculate. Malzberg reached are a quantum leap forward from his naivety is that I didn't even think his peak early in his career, very earlier works. Sure, they're still about the gender of my interviewees, early, and maintained that peak, a bit too sinless to be true, too in the first book, until someone writing story after story at pure of heart, but they're fairly pointed out to me that almost all of that same high peak of skill. He well-rounded, feeling, warm human them were men. By then it was too didn't improve. This explains why beings. Hogan is improving his work, late to include extra women, because I don't particularly faunch for new and it's great to be able to see the book was already longer than Malzberg stories; I know he's not this taking place. Berkley wanted it to be. Well, I going to surprise me with anything thought, the selection of names was 'Benford's "A String of Days" new, anything that he hasn't done so idiosyncratic and illogical any­ was excellent. A few scattered com­ just as well before. The details, way, why should anyone complain about ments: the characters, the words may be the male/female ratio, when there different, but the story, the skill 'Page 15: "The day's second were so many other imbalances? (The used in presenting it is basically mail delivery". What? I didn't excessive number of young writers the same. I can get the same results know there was anyplace that still and ex-new-wave writers, for in­ by merely re-reading his old stories got two mail deliveries a day. Cer­ stance.) In reality, I guess, the rather than any new ones. tainly not in Phoenix, at any rate. issue of sexual equality still car­ ries more weight than other issues, 'I can think of two other writ­ 'Page 17, May 21st entry: I re­ even in a field where, so far as I ers who've reached much the same call from my own classes in physics have seen, there is almost complete­ point in their careers. One is Har­ that most of the writing in people's ly equal opportunity. lan Ellison; when I first discover­ labbooks was trying to explain how ed his writing, I devoured it like come the results from an experiment 'The new book will be much wider- crazy. This sunuvabitch was good! never seemed to fit what theory pre­ ranging than the first one and may But he reached a peak in his writing dicted for it. (To this day I am well include profiles of movie direc­ I feel, about five or six years ago, still convinced that acceleration tors, rock stars,' writers from the and I haven't found anything new in in free fall is not predictable.)' avant garde and scientists, if I go his work in any of the things I've as far as I want to go. Meanwhile, read since then. It's still good, I have already written the introduc­ still marvelously intense gut-level ((To me, skill-levels refer to how tion, which includes a mildly expres­ writing, but he seems to have set­ well a writer can deliver to the sed diatribe against the whole idea tled into a niche in which he may be reader what he sees in his mind. of categories in fiction, and a com­ one of the best, but isn't challeng­ You seem to-be talking not of fic­ plaint against the rise of fantasy ing himself to strike out into new tion technique but of what the writ­ as a separate genre of pure escapism. niches. er dishes up to the readers. Most The latter piece may end up in Heavy of us have a mindset, a repertoire, Metal, whereas the former is certain­ 'And the other writer who comes a pantry shelf of themes and ideas ly available to you, Dick, if you to mind is Philip K. Dick. Like El­ from which we draw when "Showtime!” are interested. My line is that lison, I splurged on his work after comes upon us. This is also re­ science fiction is best when it sur­ first coming across it. A month or stricted by basic character; the prises us, whereas the effect of so ago I read one of his works from oral personality isn’t going to category-limitations is to eliminate the mid-60s, "Counter-Clock World", write the same kind of stories as surprises. And modern publishing is which was the first thing of his I'd the anal-retentive, for instance. rooted in categories, for reasons read in several years. To me, CCW Instead of ragging certain writers which are valid to distributors and was just as good as anything I'd read for not expanding into alien story retailers but are not necessarily in several years. To me, CCW was areas (alien and impossible for them, liked by editors and writers. Inci­ just as good as anything of Dick's that is), maybe it would be better dentally, as you might conclude from work in the 70s that I've read, and to seek out other writers with dif­ these remarks, I am very pleased to better than a few. ferent basic approaches and mind­ see you widening the scope of your 'So what am I trying to say? sets. small press reviews; and I was de­ Part of the excitement of the SF ((Ten years from now you’ll be lighted by 's book re­ genre is that there are so many new impatient with Shirley and Hogan for views, especially his mention of writers constantly coming into the having exhausted their pantry and re­ THE FLUTE PLAYER, truly a wonderful field, and it's a fascinating hobby peating themselves. Lifelong, in­ book by D.M. Thomas. to watch and see which ones are con­ telligent readers do have this prob­ stantly improving their own work, lem—exhausting favorite writers. 'I left my literary agency re­ trying new things, new ideas, new Could it be that readers have limit­ cently -- not because of their short­ techniques. Skill by itself is not ed tastes and fictional enthusiasms? comings (they just got me a very lu­ enough. There has to be a constant Life is certainly difficult.)) crative four-book deal) but because effort to improve that skill still I couldn't bear the paternalistic at­ further, beyond anything you've tri­ titude any more, which classifies ed before. Two writers who come to writers almost as children who should mind as doing this very thing are be unseen and unheard while the John Shirley and James Hogan. Shir­ grown-ups (i.e. editors and agents) # LETTER FROM CHARLES PLATT ley's work, I think, is obviously decide on the size of their monthly 9 Patchin Place the work of a deranged or genius New York, NY 10011 allowance. Moreover, the details mind, I'm still not sure which, but February 8, 1981 that matter most to an agent are of­ boy, I sure don't know what he's go­ ten those that I find totally unim­ ing to do next! People might be portant . 'I recently signed a contract surprised that I list Hogan in with Berkley to do a sequel to DREAM the same sentence, considering his 'So I'm representing myself for MAKERS, and will soon start writing old-fashioned super-science plots now, and negotiated my new contract to people whom I want to include in and cardboard characters. However, with Berkley, for DREAM MAKERS II, as "Thrice Upon A Time" has, in addi­ this second volume. Yes, Dick, an individual. The process was quick, tion to his usual fascinating spec­ 36 painless and simple. I got the ad­ vance that I wanted and Berkley made # LETTER FROM EDWARD L FERMAN. 'Ironically, I like Heinlein, all the changes I asked for in the Publisher and was defending him against Pan­ contract. An agent might have screw­ THE MAGAZINE OF FANTASY AND shin's charges by placing him in ed a slightly higher advance out of SCIENCE FICTICN temporal and cultural context. On Berkley — but the bit of extra mon­ Box 56, Cornwall, CT 06753 the other hand, it is certainly a ey would, of course, simply have February 11, 1981 reviewer's right to point out that gone as agent's commission, and thus a scene won't work, and why; I the publisher would be, in effect, 'There is a lot of gloomy news couldn't picture even Edith Bunker supporting a service industry which and gossip about magazine and book at that banquet! It was, quite produces no tangible product whatso­ publishing in SFR #38, which I sup­ frankly, silly.' ever. At a time when American prod­ pose led you to predict on page 5 uctivity is declining (and, perhaps that "at least two SF magazines will ((If I may intrude... I do not not coincidentally, litigiousness in fail in 1981-82" one of them FljSF. believe (an aspect of xeno­ general keeps escalating) it pleased phobia-- hatred and distrust of 'You really should not jump to me very much to conclude the deal strangers) is a weakness. It is such a silly conclusion. The fact amiably, with good feelings on both actually a virtue in the make-up is that the two magazines that fold­ sides and to hell with the possibil­ of mankind as a species and has ed in 1980 did so because of inex­ ity of an extra thousand dollars or served him well through the eons. perienced management, not because of so. You once challenged my outlook Mankind learned very early-on that any new problems that face the maga­ on wage demands, Dick, by suggesting his worst enemy was other men from zine business. Another fact is that that as a writer I certainly wouldn't different tribes/nations who came the cash flow problems experienced settle for a smaller advance if there upon him and his tribe/nation to by book publishers in 1980* should was the possibility of negotiating loot, rape, and kill. It paid to not normally be a problem for a well- for a larger one. At the time, I be wary of strangers and foreign­ run magazine. This is because maga­ had no reply to your challenge, be­ ers-- aliens. Xenophobia may be zines receive income from several cause I just didn't know how I would a survival trait carried in our sources rather than one, and also act under those circumstances. Now, genes. It is still of value, and because subscription income is re­ however, I can say that you're wrong as mankind either sinks slowly ceived up front. -- given the choice of hard bargain­ back into city state civilization ing versus settling for a reasonable 'I'm sure you will be happy to and tribalism or leaps out into offer, I prefer the latter. Many learn that 1980 was a very good year space, we will need fear-of-dif­ writers are overpaid, anyway, for for F§SF, that our cash position is ferent people in our guts to help what they do, and at this point pub­ extremely strong and that we will save our selves, our families, our lishers are not exactly thriving at be around through 1981 and 1982 and tribes, our nations, our colonies our expense. Much as I value the beyond.' and our planets. work of SFWA in fighting genuine cases of fraud, sometimes their all- ((Male chauvinism, too, is purpose militancy seems misapplied. ((Glad to hear that F&SF is so part of the human male’s nature. strong and that your personal plans It, too, is probably a survival 'I'll leave you with a joke (of include continuing to publish and trait which works best in a less my own invention, I hasten to add): edit it. technological, wealthy civiliza­ How many people does it take to write ((My comment that I expected tion. a Carl Sagan novel for two million AMAZING and F&SF to fold in 1981-82 (("Chauvinism" is the wrong dollars? The answer is: Only one. was premised on a severe recession/ word to use, by the way, since But his name isn't Carl Sagan.' depression which would drastically it is defined as: 'from Nicholas cut readership and subscription re­ Chauvin of Rochefort, a soldier ((I suspect that categories in fic­ newals as well as encourage very of the First Republic and Empire, tion exist not for the convenience slow distributor payments of what whose demonstrative patriotism of the publisher or distributor or was sold, and a feeling that you and attachment to Napoleon came retailer—any extra staff and extra might be thinking of retirement and to be ridiculed by his comrades. effort in keeping books separated would decide to pack it in. Also: Vainglorious or exaggerated for any reason is a 'waste ' of time ((Time will tell, of course.)) patriotism. ’ and money—but for the reader, the ((The feminist movement's use purchaser, who wants to be able to of the word is flawed. I’m not find what he's looking for! That's sure what word fits the unconscious also why we have organization of (perhaps instinctive) mind-set of books in libraries, why catalogues # LETTER FROM PATRICIA MATHEWS men regarding women. are arranged just so, and why dept, 1125 Tomasita St. NE, ((I don't think male "chauvin­ stores have departments-- for the Albuquerque, NM 87112 ism" is much subject to change by convenience of the buyer. February 1, 1981 'education', laws, or guilt-trips.)) ((And I think publishers hire editors well versed in given cate­ 'Comment to Ian Covell: Just gories for good reason—the hard­ as twenty years ago racism was a weakness common to whites, so to­ core readership of westerns, sf, mysteries, etc. will soon avoid the day male chauvinism is still a weak­ output of a publisher whose mss. ness common to men. Go ask Alexei are chosen by people not expert Panshin who first leveled the in that field. Look at TV science­ charge against Heinlein. fiction, fantasy and occult movies ' dealt with and series for examples of ignorant the charge at great length, badly. choices and idiot editing.)) I was reviewing Spider's article ((In my ANALOG review column)). I ((Isn't it ironic that Sagan, a man am not going to avoid a subject sim­ who doesn't believe in the super­ ply because speaking of it may lay natural, will probably have to hire me open to name-calling. a ghost? And a very high-priced one 37 at that!)) # LETTER FROM A.D. WALLACE ism is terrorism. Whether it is on ginals. The manuscript is due in 306 East Gatehouse Dr. H the level of a sweaty-palmed kid June. I have also been offered a Metairie, LA 70001 with a machine-pistol and twenty contract from Doubleday for WHISPERS February, 1981 pounds of gelignite, or the level of IV. Although no schedule has yet silver-haired "statesmen" with their been worked out on that one, I am al­ 'Publishing 's fingers on buttons. ways considering submissions to WHIS­ "String of Days" was a small stroke PERS magazine as potential inclus­ 'As for Brunner's stated wonder­ of genius on your part, quite the ions for my anthologies. If you do ing at what might happen if the NORAD neatest piece of writing I have seen mention this as a market report, do computer were to screw up again and in any hemisemidemi prozine in re­ give my new address.' not be caught in time, well, bad as cent days, or quasi-fanzine for that that is, consider this: Soviet com­ matter. mand and control systems for their 'The article does not answer my nukes are much less reliable than question — How can one man do so those in use by the West. They are much? His fiction that I have read fifteen to twenty years behind the (including TIMESCAPE) is at best med­ West in the sort of computer and ra­ iocre and indeed turgid and garrul­ dar technology that goes into such # LETTER FROM MIKE GLYER ous, a composite of mainstream and systems. If there were ever to be a 14974 Osceola Street some "neat ideas". TIMESCAPE in­ repeat of the early twentieth-centu­ Sylmar, CA 91342 cludes a rehash of some rather old ry Tunguska explosion, the Soviets February 16, 1981 academic scandal, going back to C.P. would almost certainly interpret it Snow, and some of more recent vint­ as a nuclear attack and retaliate. 'Had you dropped by the Noreas- age. The reader could have excused Our own systems would probably dis­ con II business meeting, it would the Jewish momma who wants her son tinguish between such a natural ev­ have amazed you to discover that to marry a nice Jewish girl -- this ent and an attack. But that's no­ those who bitch about SFR's prozine has been investigated in too many thing to feel proud of. Oh, welll.... qualities (to borrow your phrase) novels and stories, for too many in that congress not only don't pub­ years. It is now stale, flat and 'I once heard Harlan Ellison re­ lish crudzines, which they eagerly unpalatable, along with much else spond to a fan who had said that the trade for SFR -- they don't publish in the novel. existence of nuclear weapons on Earth at all. was the greatest single piece of ev­ 'Perhaps that's why they have 'From what I know of academic idence arguing for the essential life: research and publication, less trouble distinguishing between irrationality of the human race, that a hobby and a career, than those directing doctoral research, commit­ he thought they were perhaps the tees and related busywork, wooing who get all snarled up in the defin­ greatest evidence for human ration­ ition of a fanzine. the foundations, and others ... is ality, since we (at the time) had a full-time job. had these damn things for thirty- 'I had to vote against the mot­ 'I greatly admire Benford's en­ five years and still had managed ions which proposed methods to rule ergy, cleverness, as implied in the somehow to keep from blowing our­ SFR, LOCUS and STARSHIP out of con­ article, but not (so far) his fic­ selves up. I wonder who's right? tention for the fanzine Hugo -- pri­ tion. It may be, of course, that he I wonder if it really matters?' marily because the measures were un­ is directing his novels at a select enforceable. For example, one pro­ group, a special clientele, who will posal would have ruled out any fan­ find it of greater originality than ((Harlan is right until he has been zine which was the primary source I did.' proven wrong-- at which point it of income for its editor. The pro­ really doesn’t matter.)) posal was untainted by any scheme for its enforcement. In fact, the only way to "enforce" such a rule is to audit the books and records of fanzine publishers. Hey, what fun... # LETTER FROM KIM SMITH # LETTER FROM STUART SCHIFF 'The only proposal that really February, 1981 WHISPERS/Whispers Press made sense was the idea to amend the 70 Highland Avenue WSFS constitution specifically elim­ 'A good issue, your #38. I es­ Binghamton, NY 13905 inating these three publications pecially enjoyed John Brunner's re­ February, 27, 1981 port on his trip through eastern Eur­ from Hugo eligibility. It made sense in that it directly accomplished the ope. His closing comment on the 'I am pleased to note that my object of this whole exercise. value of realizing what it is like to MAD SCIENTISTS anthology just resold have American and NATO nukes aimed to Tokyo Sogen Sha for a Japanese 'Of course, the weakness of all at one was just too trite to let language reprint. The money involv­ these proposals, which never getsdis- pass in silence. Why should it be ed, alas, is small, but I cannot gussed, is what kind of credibility "educational" to think of those mis­ wait to see my name in Japanese.' I can the Hugos enjoy afterwards? The siles as being aimed at onesself am also proud to announce that I Hugos are an award selected by popu­ (presuming you live in the West)? just signed a contract with Playboy lar vote -- vox pupuli vox dei, and Damn-it, all of those missiles are Paperbacks for a horror anthology all that jazz. To drop the three always aimed at all of us. What tentatively titled DEATH (catchy, dominant award-winners puts the kind of significance does the nation­ huh?). While my primary wants are committee in the position al "character" of a bomb make? What originals under 10,000 words, I am of being selectively deaf to the is the difference if a loaded pistol considering reprints if they have will of the voters. put to your head is Russian or Amer­ not been generally available for at 'There is also the problem -- ican? Shit, every day in this part least five years. of the world there are just as many who is the Hugo being "saved" for? 'Payment will vary from l-4f per Soviet nukes aimed at us as there 'An examination of the 1980 Hugo word, depending on length, author are Western ones aimed at them. Why statistics shows only ten magazines and whether they are reprints or ori- doesn't Brunner point this out as be­ received 18 or more nominating votes. ing equally "educational"? Terror­ 38 This out of 318 nominating ballots and 1088 final ballots, who voted in ing and renewing...and printers keep of correspondence between EMPIRE and the category. Of the ten, SFR, insisting on being paid for their myself last year was successful, I THRUST and STARSHIP are semi-pro gen­ work.... have my subscription, and the first zines. LOCUS, FILE 770 and SCIENCE ((But seriously, we’ve all seen two issues have arrived. FICTION CHRONICLE are newszines, and fanzines that had heavy gloss stock 'For the record, EMPIRE'S cur­ not a showcase for fanwriting or covers, four-color artwork, lotsa rent and correct address is: very much fan art. JANUS and RUNE pages...and which failed. Didn't EMPIRE SF are representative fanzines. PYRO­ get nominated. Through most of its POB 967 TECHNICS and FUTURE FOCUS I have nev­ lives PSI/TAC/SFR has been mimeo­ New Haven, CT 06504 er seen copies of, although I be­ graphed or printed on newsprint. It United States of America lieve the former is a specialty zine got nominated. It won Hugos. I sug­ for fanciers of technical novelties. gest the reason is not format or even 'In that you published my letter especially circulation-- it’s content fairly prominently in SFR #36, I be­ 'At least in 1980 a rule that and style. As long as I'm publishing lieve there is now an obligation on chopped out semi-prozines would still you're going to have the Geis Problem us to publish the fact that the situ­ have left unrecognized the fanzines (no matter how you try to disguise ation has now been resolved. I would I personally consider best. There­ it.) accordingly appreciate publication fore, it hardly seems worthwhile to ((It may be that, technically, of this letter as well. me to risk the credibility of the Hu­ my fan writing and SFR publishing is 'I still wish I had heard some­ gos merely to break the monopoly of a career...mutated from hobby. Get­ thing (almost anything; particularly expensively-published, high-circula- ting to this point was not a cons­ a current address) from DELAP'S; it tion fanzines. Very few fanzines cious choice, however. Certainly seems I just will not be able to sub­ have any degree of name recognition. not a rational choice. I am a vic­ scribe to the magazine. Even LOCUS, which circulates more tim of Strange & Morbid Compulsions, than 3500 copies each issue, was nom­ Little Understood by Fan nor Beast. 'I am sending a copy of this let­ inated by less than 2% of its read­ I deserve to be pitied for this life­ ter to Mr. Kevin O'Donnell, Jr., (Man­ ers. Without SFR or LOCUS, the av­ long performance, not scorned or aging Editor of EMPIRE) for his infor­ erage Hugo voter has no idea what is reviled! Applause! For pity's mation. By the way, this has been happening in fanzines. (But then, sake, a little applause! (With an written on my own initiative; no one that was the argument for creating occasional Hugo on the side.))) at EMPIRE requested that it be writ­ the FAAn awards and I don't recall ten. ' you being a supporter of them.)' ((Okay, glad it’s all settled. By the way, DELAP'S SF & F REVIEW is ((I applaud the FAAn Awards with the now defunct, and has been for about sound of one hand clapping. Espec­ ially since I and SFR were excluded a year, at least.)) out by the rules (by design). ((I often wonder what contort­ ions would be required to keep me away and out if I were to publish a real, non-profit, 500-limit faan- # LETTER FROM WAYNE N. KEYSER zine? But have no fear, I'm too 1111 Army-Navy Drive #A-710 busy.)) Arlington, VA, 22202 February, 1981 'The injustice I always consid­ 'Walt Disney Productions has re­ ered to be at work in the Fanzine leased 20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA Hugos was that the awards were estab­ and several other features, includ­ lished to recognize quality among ing classics of fantasy like MARY SF hobbyists — and what they wound # LETTER FROM I.G. PENHALL POPPINS .-.nd ho-hum features like THE up recognizing was the willingness POB 463, Kingston, ACT, APPLE DUMPLING GANG, along with sev­ of three fans to spend more than Australia, 2604 eral cartoon compilations, on video­ $1,000 an issue in publishing costs. January 14, 1981 tape for home use. Long ignored by The economics at work eliminated all critics, Disney's traditionally spec­ but three fanzines from a serious 'I write to thank you for assis­ tacular print quality pays off in chance to win the Hugo. Various tance in resolving the situation videotapes that are technically among zines have managed to squeeze onto which had arisen with regard to my the best I have seen. Interestingly, the final ballot due to the low num­ attempts to subscribe to DELAP'S F6SF the tapes are prefaced by almost a ber of nominating voters, but almost REVIEW and EMPIRE SF. full minute of legal warnings con­ none of them resemble the average 'Your publication of my letter cerning copyrights and forbidding fanzine. JANUS and RUNE, which are in SCIENCE FICTION REVIEW #36 has rentals of those cassettes designed good genzines, require the economic completely resolved the most worri­ for sale. and production help of large science some of the two problems in that I fiction clubs and in that aspect are have now satisfactorily commenced a 'One grating note is that the not typical fanzines. Given their subscription to EMPIRE SF. It turn­ 127-minute length of 20,000 LEAGUES print runs, they obviously are not ed out that I had been using an out- stretching just a bit too long for cheap to produce. of-date address for EMPIRE and that the standard length of a single cas­ sette, has been compressed to 118 'In sum, I don't consider the the on-forwarding of mail to a new minutes by copying at a higher frame fact that SFR isn't making you rich address is either not provided by rate. Viewers will just have to get to be a very strong defense for keep­ the US Postal Service or did not used to hearing Kirk Douglas's voice ing you eligible for the Hugo award.' work in this instance. Whatever the case, EMPIRE did not receive my ear­ take on overtones of Donald Duck at times, but on reflection a modest ( (Actually I'm unwilling to spend lier letters attempting to establish a subscription; moreover an exchange compression is probably preferable more than $1,000 in production costs to the excision of several minutes per issue.. .but fans keep subscrib­ 39 by editing.' # LETTER FROM JAFES VAN HISE imators have made a cartoon series pose is to aid NASA in its increas­ 10885 Angola Road out of Edmond Hamilton's hero and co­ ing inflation-shrinking budget and San Diego, CA 92126 horts and every Saturday every Ger­ to support it in spite of the prob­ February, 1981 man child from three on up is glued able planetary sciences cutbacks by to the TV screen, watching it. My the Reagan Administration. 'In your feature, "Ten wife and I took our two children out Years Ago In SF," Robert Sabella 'If you want to contribute to sledding the other day and noticed mentioned THE NAME OF THE GAME epi­ NASA, please make your donations to that all the dozens of other children sode "L.A. 2017" as being signifi­ the Solar System Exploration Fund, around us suddenly disappeared at cant because it was written by C/0 Chester Twarog, Chairman, SSEF, virtually the same time. We were puz­ Philip Wylie. What makes it doub­ 1943 Paris Street, Aurora, CO 80010: zled until we remembered it was Sat­ ly significant is that it was dir­ Include a SASE for acknowledgment urday and about time for Captain Fu­ ected by a young man named Steven plus a short letter supporting NASA ture. Now Robin plays only space Spielberg. and why. Letters will be sent to station and rocket, talks constantly President Reagan. 'The reference to ((Captain)) about planets and space ships and is Kirk supposedly dying in Vonda fascinated by 'Otto, the rubber man' 'A quarterly newsletter will go McIntyre's upcoming Trek novel has (as he calls him). My wife was at out to each donator. The success of garnered a lot of attention. What first opposed to letting Robin, who NASA's planetary sciences, space­ fringe-fans on the Trek experience after all is only a little more than craft and eventual space industrial­ don't realize is that in STAR TREK three, watch the show, but then it ization depends on your active sup­ fan fiction the concept of a char­ turned out that he was the only kid port of a dynamic and progressive acter dying is quite common as this in his nursery school who wasn't space program. Thanks for your sup­ allows the writers to explore the watching it. Anyway, TV certainly port! ' other characters more deeply by has an effect on children's fantas­ examining their reactions to the ies: You can see it with Robin, death of an old friend. So it may who spends hours building space­ seem like a revolutionary idea to ships out of his Lego blocks. some people, but it's old hat in '"Last Saturday evening, the STAR TREK fan fiction. You may theatrical version of BATTLESTAR: not realize that ST fan fiction is # LETTER FROM DOUG HOYLMAN GALACTICA was shown on TV. My wife an entire sub-genre of its own now, 5480 Ave., #311 wasn't going to watch it ("What ut­ with many people buying it who read Chevy Chase, MD, 20015 ter nonsense!"), but then got inter­ 17 February 1981 little else, and believe me there ested and sat with me in front of is enough to keep them satisfied, the tube until well after midnight. and some of it is even surprising­ 'In SFR #38, Darrell Schweitzer Bad as GALACTICA was, it seemed to mentions the theory that Ronald Wil­ ly good. Many ST fans are, in fact, entertain quite a few people who son Reagan is the because angry that much of the fan fiction otherwise have no interest in SF, as there are six letters in each of his is superior to almost every one of I found out at the office the follow­ three names. Personally, I find it the professional ST novels from ing Monday. Why the TV moguls don't Bantam (and especially better than a bit difficult to imagine the Anti­ just run the TV series itself in­ christ starring in "Bedtime for Bon- VULCAN! which, although written by stead of these patched-together the­ zo", but I thought your readers might a woman, has a leading character atrical jobs, I don't know. enjoy the following bit of intelli­ that's an insulting derogatory fe­ gence: On Election Day, 1980, the male stereotype. I know of one '"BAVARIA III, which I can now winning number in the Maryland daily documented case where a letter sent get with my new antenna, is current­ lottery was 666.' to Bantam complaining about the ly broadcasting the 1934 13-part poor quality of this book received serial version of FLASH GORDON, with a snotty reply.).' Buster Crabbe. What fun! The new version is supposed to be in the ((How dare ST fans complain? theaters here shortly. Meanwhile, Theirs is but to buy and read, the BUCK ROGERS movie is scheduled not to bitterly complain about to be shown on TV in three weeks, in # LETTER FROM DARRELL SCHWEITZER an ill-written screed! And how choice prime time on a Friday. So, 113 Deepdale Road can Bantam and Hoddenberry and as you can see, SF is gradually get­ Strafford, PA, 19087 Paramount make money if these up­ ting a foothold on German televis­ February io, 1981 start fans buy and sell their own ion .'" ST fiction, instead of drinking 'Two curious typos in my small from the offical fount?)) press mags column. The columnist for ETERNITY is Karl Pflock, not 'Wark". The Warner Munn story in FANTASY TALES # LETTER FROM CHESTER TWAROG is from UNKNOWN (Oct. 1939). What is UNICORN? # LETTER FROM DWIGHT R. DECKER SOLAR SYSTEM EXPLORATION FUND 16 King Arthur Ct., #7 1943 Paris St., Aurora, CO, 80010 'There is certainly enough mat­ Northlake, IL 60164 February, 1981 erial at hand to do a small press 15 February 1981 column next issue. The SF issue of 'On February 15th, 1981, I sent TRIQUARTERLY is the major item. Let 'In the mailbox with SFR was a a $500 check to NASA's General Ser­ us see if I have time. I think so.' letter from a German friend, and vices Fund from the Solar System Ex­ some of his comments may be of inter­ ploration Fund. That represented ((Apologies for any and all typos. est (translation mine): 100% of donations received. Late-night typing does things to '"My son Robin (and every other the eyes and brain.)) 'There are several pro-space kid in Germany) is becoming more and groups but the SSEF is directly con­ more of a science fiction fan. That tributing to NASA. The SSEF's pur- is the fault of Captain Future. The unbelievable productive Japanese an­ 40 50 interior offset pages are filled SMALL PRESS NOTES with amateur comic and adventure strips of sf/fantasy nature. Oh, BY THE EDITOR there's an interesting interview with artist John Pound.

EVENT HORIZON ffZ Winter 1980-81» Edited by Garrett Oliver [$1.50] DIAGONFIELDS #3 [$5.00] 500 Park Drive, #2 Edited by Charles R. Saunders and Boston, MA 02215 Basically an outlet for not-quite- Triskell Press good-enough sf, fantasy fiction by P.O. Box 9480 amateur and neo-pro writers, with Ottawa, Ontario, CANADA K1G 3V2 art and illustrations of roughly e- A quality package of art, edit­ qual merit. ing and fiction featuring tales of The logo is hoked-up to look fantasy. Some poetry, some non­ like heiroglyphics and is at first fiction. and second glance impossible to Darrell Schweitzer reviewed the read...a drawback, I'd say. fiction in his Small Press Reviews In this 54-page offset effort in SFR #38 and neglected to provide there is one story, "Salad Days" by the address. Jeff Grimshaw, which is of high pro­ Especially unrealistic is the This is a special interest sto­ fessional technique and fascinating price asked for this 105-page small ry magazine of first-rate offset content. It needs more story and softcover book. softcover (largp--7"x9-l/2") format. explanation of the who-what-when- The volume contains three sto­ Many professional contributors. Worth where-why of the out-of-body char­ ries and one fable and three poems. the money if your interest lies in acters and their cassette-operated, Plus a cover drawing and seven in­ its arms. robot? bodies. But any editor would terior b/w scratchboard illustra­ encourage Jeff to work hard on his tions by Ole E. Petterson, who WOMAN OF THE ELFMOUNDS [$4.00] craft; if he isn't now he could eas­ graces SFR almost every issue. By Paul Edwin Zimmer The first story, "ffotre Dame de ily be a selling pro. Triskell Press [as above] Paris," is of basic professional A 63 page chapbook, offset, with calibre, dealing with secret under­ illustrations (very good amateur sea robots directed by acute, pre­ work) by Barry Blair. Introduction FANTASY NEWSLETTER #35 April, 1981 cise linkage with human brains by . POB 170A, [$1.95] thousands of miles away. This story, of novelet length, Rochester, NY 14601 By Steen Knudsen, this story deals nicely with the conflicts of This issue is highlighted by an could be sold to ANALOG or ASIMOV'S humans and elves in ancient Ireland, interview/profile of Harlan Ellison. if it was Americanized in spelling, and of an ordeal of divided loyal­ Harlan is compulsive listening/read- punctuation and occasional phrasing. ties and divided love. Zimmer writ­ ing for me and most sf/fantasy/writ- The other stories are cliche es well. ing enthusiasts. Perhaps most valu­ amateur Dire Warnings about the evils able of all, he is an education. of computers and technology. The SIX DRAWINGS FROM THE HARP OF THE fable is a pathetic wish that man­ GREY ROSE By Donna Gordon [$3.00] kind would go away and leave the Triskell Press [as above] universe for Nice Creatures. Six postcard-size prints in a SCIENCE FICTION MONITOR #4 Feb. 1981 The poems by Erwin Neutzsky- decorative folder. Ink renderings Edited § Published by Eddie Abel Wulff deal with Satan and a pessi­ and damned good, too. 521 East 14th Av., #18, mistic view of Mankind. Denver, CO 80203 This issue contains parts 4(j5 of Eddie's serialized book, PORNOGRAPHY: AMANITA BRANDY THE MENACE THAT NEVER WAS. His writ­ Featuring weird fantasy poems. HOWTO COLLECT UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE By H.R.D. $4.95 ing continues as uninhibited, engros­ Weirdbook Press [$1.50] sing and enlightening as ever. This POB 35, Amherst Branch, HOW TO BURY YOUR GOODS book is as much or more biography Buffalo, NY 14226 By Eddie the Wire, $4.00 and streetwise philosophy as about A mimeographed booklet of 32 pag­ (with Alexis Gilliland cartoons) porno. es. I found two poems I liked: "Au­ SF MONITOR costs $1. Get it. thor, Author!" by , and HOW TO FIND MISSING PERSONS By Ronald George Eriksen 2 $3.95 "A Ballad of the Doe" by J.R. Chris­ topher . HOW TO BUY LAND CHEAP By Edward Preston $4.95 RI^E OF STARDUST DANISH S.F. STORIES, VOL. FOUR THE COMPLETE GUIDE TO LOCK PICKING Edited by Jens-Chr.Kjaer [$4.50] By Eddie the Wire $7.95 Ravnebanneret OVERLOAD #4 Fall, 1980 issue.. $2.50 Torvegade 7, ppd. and autographed by Don Chin, JOB OPPORTUNITIES IN THE BLACK MAR­ DK-7330 Brande, the editor-publisher. 1951 Quaker KET By Burgess Laughlin $9.95 DENMARK St., Eureka, CA 95501. It bills itself 'the adult fan- Flawed by imperfect translations All from: Loonpanics Unlimited, tasy/humor magazine.' to English and by strange uses of POB 264, Mason, MI 48854 punctuation, and misspellings, this No. It's a juvenile comicszine attempt to bring Danish sf to the whose most professional aspect is The thrust of HOW TO COLLECT UN­ English-speaking fan is admirable if the four-color Fabian cover. The EMPLOYMENT INSURANCE begins with the unrealistic. 41 assunption you are not eligible. There are paper structures possible RUNE #62 FOUNDATION #21 to build which as far as state re­ Edited by John Bartelt Edited by David Pringle cords will be concerned, qualify you POB 8253, Minneapolis, NM 5S408 Features Editor: Ian Watson for a year or more of workless pay. $1.00 per copy. Reviews Editor: There are risks. A new editorial staff have Address: SF Foundation, North taken over RUNE...and ruined it. HOW TO BURY YOUR GOODS is an ex­ East London Polytechnic, Longbridge The cover by Becker is repulsive, Road, Dagenham, RM8 2AS, UNITED cellent how-to manual. What to bury, frankly. what not to bury, what materials to KINGDOM. The interior features show Editorial correspondence only use, how deep, where... It delivers. a lot of sprawl and vaguely juv­ Five funny Gilliland cartoons. to: David Pringle, 21 The Village enile hunor, layout and choice of Street, Leeds, LS4 2PR, UNITED HOW TO FIND MISSING PERSONS is material. KINGDOM. valuable two ways: finding—and Well, the zine is certainly After all that address mater­ knowing how to avoid being found lively now.... ial, I'm pooped! if you ever want to disappear. This is THE British sf dis­ cuss ion/review zine. Literate, HOW TO BUY LAND CHEAP is easy, FANTASY #8 just write letters to local govt, keen-minded, and readable. Edited by Kathy Hamnel and Kipy Dave Pringle's editorial, how­ officials and buy or bid on lots and Poyser. ever, seems to cast a pall of pos­ parcels going up for auction to pay Address: Box 5157, Sherman Oaks, sible demise over FOUNDATION, due taxes. Good buys in rural land ex­ CA 91413. $2.00 per copy. to drastic budget cuts by the gov­ ist and ways of finding them are All about fantasy art, includ­ ernment. However, the staff of pointed out in this booklet. Good ing an article about the art of FOUNDATION have optimism and heady technical detail in here. (painting and plans for the magazine, so perhaps THE COKPLETE GUI IE TO LOCK PICK­ sculpture) with photos; an inter­ there is hope. ING makes me uneasy, wary, insecure view with Michael Whelan (curses!); Material this issue by Gregory and paranoid. This book is illustra­ a four-page display of Joe Pearson's Benford (his "A String of Days" ted and technical. A must for any drawings; advice to artists.... and which appeared in SFR #38), Chris­ young, would-be thief. a lot of fantasy artists' illustra­ topher Priest, Naomi Mitchison, tions scattered throughout. Robert A.W. Lowndes, Gene Wolfe, JOB OPPORTUNITIES IN THE BLACK The magazine is published by Brian Stableford, Michael Bishop... MARKET provides info on various the Fantasy Artists Network, and John Clute and Ian Watson, too. black market manufacture-distribu­ the zine has inproved considerably, And others. A Heavy lineup. tion-retail businesses such as dope, though I feel they print too much Heavy price, too: three issues gambling, moonshining, sex, smuggl­ bad amateur work. for $12.00 by ship mail, $17.00 by ing. ..whatever is illegal and people air. Of course it is a 110 page want. softcover book. This book is valuable to the NYCTALOPS #16 professional writer for its gloss­ Edited and published by Harry 0. ary and various organizational Morris, Jr. BOONFARK #4 (formerly ENEMA FUN!) charts, its treatment of illegal Single copy $2.50 from Silver Edited and published 'from time to businesses as businesses. Scarab Press,502 Elm Street, S.E,, time' by Dan Steffan, 823 N. Wake­ Albuquerque, NM 87102. field St., Arlington, VA 22203. A very high quality offset pro­ $2.00 per copy. duction—a mix of eldritch horror What we have here is a good fiction and articles/features/re- .old fashioned faanzine...dedicated SHAYOL #4 views. Very effective art/photo- to fans, not sf or fantasy or any Published by Arnold Fenner graphy. Poetry to match the quali­ professional writer. This is good­ Edited by Patricia Cadigan ty level. buddy, friendship, in-group stuff, Address: Flight Unlimited, Inc., the classic stuff that lingers in 1100 Countyline Road, 8 #29, Kansas the mind for generations—if you City, KS 66103. SHAVERTRON #8 are one of the insiders, one of the Yeah, this slick sf/fantasy Edited and published by Richard annointed Trufans. magazine is worth the $3.00 cover Toronto, 309 Coghlan Street, Val­ Anyone can join. But it often price. From the superb Roger A lejo, CA 94590. takes time to absorb the arcane Stine cover to the full-page inside This zine, mimeographed with knowledge and fanhistory and like bacover Fabian...from "The Change" the help of an electronic stencil that. by Ramsey Campbell to the excellent machine, is a disorganized paste­ Alas, BOONFARK is not mimeo­ profile of Leo 6 Diane Dillon. up of bits and pieces—newspaper graphed! Not even done in purplish A collectors item. A Must- stories, clips, editorials, lett­ spirit duplication...or hektograph. keep. ers , ads... It is *horrors* offset! Toronto and his readers believe But it has interlineations, Richard Shaver was onto something reprints from glory days of '50s EhPIRE SF #23 with what is known as The Shaver and '60s fandom, columns, funny Edited by Mary Kittredge Mystery—remnants of a master race art and cartoons... an Atom cover! Published by Kevin O'Donnell, Jr. living in caverns far below, able to Even a Flinchburgh bacover! and Copyrighted by Mark J. McGarry. affect hunan minds on the Earth's Truth to tell, BOONFARK is Address: Box 967, New Haven, CT surface by mean s of ancient evil just plain superior to any of the o6504. machines... Etc. One could say legendary faanzines of years gone A zine devoted to helping the if you're an anal-retentive paranoiac by. beginning or would-be sf/fantasy this is right down your hole. Whatthehell, get a copy. You writer find his way through the I had trouble even finding Tor­ may get hooked. shoals of editors, publishers, ag­ onto's name, and his single copy ents—and bad writing—to the price and/or subscription rate are safe harbor of accomplished pro­ apparently a secret he doesn't share. fessionalism. Well, why not? 42 OTHER VOICES

WILD SEED Pari Dro, a Ghost-Killer searching Octavia E. Butler the world for the legendary city of Doubleday, $10.00 the deadalive, Gyste Mortua, created KILL THE DEAD centuries ago when an entire town was destroyed in an earthquake. By DAW Books, $1.75 The world of KILL THE LEAD, with THE BUG WARS its dark forests and mountains, is By Robert L. Asprin described so vividly you can almost Dell, $2.25 feel it around you, and all the char­ acters, including some of the deada­ Reviewed by Gene DeWeese live, are so real you really care what happens to them and understand Doro, 3,700 years old when WILD why they are the way they are, good SEED opens in 1690, survives by trans­ or bad. There may be a bit too much migrating from body to body, killing explanation condensed in a single whoever possessed the bodies before. chunk near the end, but that's a Anyanwu, 300 years old, does not very minor flaw in an otherwise ex­ age, is a healer, has the strength cellent book. Virtually every type of literary criticism is represented: from tex­ of a dozen men and is able to take A * * the shape of anything or anyone tural criticism to psychological ex­ whose flesh she has tasted. Doro, THE BUG WARS: amination to archetypical probings. looking on humans as breeding stock, Even some writing by Tolkien himself has for centuries been enslaving BUG WARS chronicles the inter­ is included (probably just to sell and experimentally crossbreeding stellar war of extermination between copies, since it seems inappropriate). thousands of "special" people in the Tzen Enpire and the Insect Coal­ Each essay is a fine example of its hopes of coming up with truly super­ ition a million or so years in the type. In "The Psychological Journey ior beings gifted with controllable past. Both sides use the technology of Bilbo Baggins", for example, Dor­ telepathy, telekinesis, etc. Any­ left behind by the long-vanished othy Matthews sticks to basic psycho­ anwu, taken by Doro from her Afric­ First Ones, but the Tzen, highly in­ logical assumptions ’-- or human na­ an homeland to one of his breeding telligent, stoically logical reptil­ ture. Her essay remains modest -- colonies in colonial America, hates ians, are able to understand and im­ she doesn't launch any tirades or Doro for his insensitive cruelty, prove that technology while the In­ polemics -- and is therefore succes­ and he comes to hate her for succes­ sects are not. The story is seen sful and enlightening. through the eyes of a rising Tzen of sfully rebelling against him. Even The key to this book is variety. the Warrior Caste and is told in a so, he cannot bring himself to kill What is new and original to me may severely understated but extremely her, the only other ininortal he has be old hat to you; but there are so effective style that, for someone ever found. WILD SEED follows Doro many different views in A TOLKIEN who, like myself doesn't normally and Anyanwu through 150 years and COMPASS that I doubt any one person enjoy straight adventure stories, is not unlike a good family saga could be familiar with them all. with two of the characters remaining makes the book not only readable but young through several generations. thoroughly enjoyable. Besides, it's Some essays are epic in scope; As in THE ORPHAN, the characters the only book I know of that was in­ some intend only to illuminate a are fully developed and largely sym­ spired by a science fiction song, small comer of Tolkien's world. pathetic, even the seemingly villain­ and a pretty good one at that -- Not all are perfect. "'The Scouring ous Doro. Unfortunately, WILD SEED Reminder, by Robert Coulson. of the Shire': Tolkien's View of is a prequel to three of Butler's ************************************ Fascism" begins with a fallacious earlier books, PATTERNMASTER, MIND assumption and ends with an ill- OF MY MIND and SURVIVOR, and now thought-out introduction, but it is that I've found out how good the an exception. Others, like "The In­ series is, I'm going to have to A TOLKIEN COMPASS terlace Structure of THE LORD OF THE go back and read them, too. Besides Edited by Jared Lobdell RINGS" and "Narrative Pattern in I want to find out what happens to Ballantine, June, 1980, $2.50 THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING" certain­ Doro and Anyanwu over the next few ly shed new light instead of cursing thousand years. Reviewed by Michael Vernon MacKay old darkness. * * * Criticism at its best enlightens A TOLKIEN COMPASS is, easily, and entertains. It makes the reader just that. KILL THE DEAD: say, "Hey! I never saw it that way ************************************ In a world just a bit different before!" It increases his under­ from a medieval earth, ghosts -- the standing and appreciation of the work. At its worst, criticism merely bores. deadalive -- are very real. If al­ lowed to exist, they gain strength Often, it leaves the reader wonder­ and solidity by feeding on the ener­ ing whether he and the critic read gies of the living and only a few the same book. This particular book, people have the psychic power to re­ A TOLKIEN COMPASS is literary crit­ icism at its best. sist and destroy them. One such is THE CATALYST The drug's weird twist-effects be­ BLACK HOLES AND WARPED SPACETIME By Charles L. Hamess come unveiled as they unfold. It's By William J. Kaufmann III Pocket Books, $1.95 startling and delightful. Harness Bantam, 224pp. + 16 pp. color photos 181 pp., 1980 writes well; the drama and tension $3.50 Reviewed by John DiPrete build in the latter half of the Reviewed by Steven Edward McDonald book. Surprises appear. A wonder chemical called tira- Readers of "hard" SF, who like a Science fact pertaining to black line, a corporate tug-of-war, pat­ dash of fantasy, might enjoy this -- holes and space time and various fac­ ent rights, biological jargon and but it's not for veterans or even ets of cosmology in between. Kauf­ various "transformations" form the the slightly jaded (unless you are a mann, as a party guest, is likely to basis of THE CATALYST. Charles L. Chemistry Major or love this stuff). be found lighting junping jacks in Hamess, the author and a patent law­ For the beginner or moderate SF read­ comers: his writing is full of yer, has written a 21st Century tale er, the book will entertain (whether zest and zip, with a penchant for about a myriad of events, such as or not you enjoy Chemistry). It's taking apparent tangents that lead IMA pneumonia (a mutated virus kil­ competently written. up to something even bigger and wild­ ler) , holographic computers which ************************************ er than the last huge and wild thing project images of dead people and a he outlined. In short, this book is quasi-religious ballad/archetype/ a clear, entertaining discussion of mythology entitled, Donnator's Song. cosmology, relativity, spacetime and the concept (taking in Throughout the book, Harness's quasars, pulsars, neutron stars, bur- talk-prone people wrestle with these ALIENS! stars, the birth and death of the and other future oddities. His char­ Edited by Gardner R. Dozois and universe and a bunch of physics a- acters are basically holographic long the way), all in layman lang­ creations; three-dimensional, but Illustrations by Jack Gaughan not quite substantial. The protag­ uage -- Kaufmann has a knack of mak­ Pocket, 305 pp., $2.25 ing something coup lex understandable onist is a strong-willed, introspect­ Cover by Michael Whelan ive chemist/lawyer, likeable -- but without also making it dry and unin­ not overly endearing. Paul Bland­ Reviewed by Steven Edward McDonald teresting (a point on which I find ford (the name fits -- he is rather Asimov often fails, despite his fa­ bland) doesn't invite the reader's A collection of short stories mous intros). This is a fascinating identification. Still, he suffices. and novelets on the alien theme; nice little book which gives spectacular cover by Michael Whelan and good in­ information on a lot more than black The "off-camera" cast is consid­ terior illos by Jack Gaughan (some holes; if you like science, check it erably more engaging: It includes of them reprinted directly from COS­ out; if you write SF, oi^want to, Dr. John Serane, a jocular, daring MOS). check it out. This is highly recom­ genius -- the missing link to the mended (as are many of Bantam's mystery element in the novel; Dr. This is a good, but vaguely un­ science fact books -- A HOUSE IN Mary Derringer, a mischievous and inspired collection of stories by SPACE, THE HICH FRONTIER, Lunan's name and semi-name writers, all of sensitive clone with a birth patch THE MYSTERIOUS SIGNALS FROM OUTER them reprints. Dann and Dozois have instead of a naval (and whose person­ SPACE (aka MAN AND THE STARS, which apparently spent little enough time ality is individualistic, not clon- is amazingly helpful for space fic­ assembling this collection, taking ish); Dr. Kussman, the villain, a tion writers, Ferris' THE RED LIMIT, fairly well-known stories rather than stuffed-shirt who dislikes people be­ and Weinberg's THE FIRST THREE MIN­ cause of his jealousy of them. searching out and investigating less UTES.) It also has the advantage of well-known stories. Damon Knight's a lovely cover. The book's scientific gobblede­ readily-available "Rule Golden" gets gook contains little real interest a placing over a story rarely seen ************************************ unless you happen to be a chemist such as the infamous "The Great Pat and understand it. With such terms Hoax"; Larry Niven's "Four Vignet­ as "vapor tensions", "di-pole mom­ tes" appeared in 1977 and 1979 in The human Wmn ents", "silica bases", "dehydration COSMOS and DESTINIES, and since then TEKC.EII/& -reality temperatures", etc. etc., certain in CONVERGENT SERIES -- "Handicap", passages resemble, gloomily, Chemis­ which appeared in the sixties, might ANb ENABLES us to try lectures. have been a better choice. "We Pur­ B>(ST in THAT SAME Suspense --a plot's adrenaline chased People" has been appearing •fREAL/TT. so to speak -- has its ups and downs all over the place of late and since U/tilCt-i iS Ttifr- in CATALYST. Primarily, the novel's it appeared has turned up in numer­ HUMAN) "BRAIM iS EO plot, about a legal race for trial­ ous anthologies, not to mention THE ine patent rights, lacks impetus and BEST OF . is, for that matter, barely fantas­ Certainly, the stories are all tic or science fictional, although good ones but they're far too fam­ this changes later on. iliar to most readers who would pick There are several nice touches, up this book --a more adventurous authentic scenery brushstrokes in selection (including many of the the form of "Euthanasia, Inc.", a stories listed in the "Guide to Fur­ manufacturer of suicide items; 3-D ther Reading") would have been bet­ holographs that come alive and a gib- ter. bon-Kussman hybrid, among other However, if you haven't read things. Budrys' "Be Merry", Pangbom's "Ang­ el's Egg", or "Rule Golden, it might From page 80 on, the story's bio­ be worth the time to check out this logy turns into story, and emotion book. enters. Pathos. Feeling. We are ************************************ finally introduced, first-hand, to the dramatic wonderment of trialine. 44 THE VISITORS itors' naive beneficence are dubious the same characters and techniques By Clifford D. Simak and the theme is not well developed. found in ILLUMINATUS! and many of Ballantine/Del Rey the ideas found in the non-fiction Much of THE VISITORS concerns Selection of SFBC, June, 1980 TRIGGER, but somehow it just doesn't the activities of the journalist 250 pp., $2.49 jell. working for the Minneapolis Tribune. Reviewed by Sue Beckman These reporters might just as well Wilson is a master of satire and have been working for the Daily Plan­ caricature and there are many funny Thousands of "biologic" black et; Jerry, Kathy and her boss would and insightful passages scattered boxes arrive from and have been at home in an old Superman throughout CAT. The problem is it begin settling down all over North episode. Simak spent his life in doesn't go anywhere. There's little America. These 200-foot-long visi­ the newspaper business but he has in the way of a plot and almost any tors conmence to eat hectares of tim­ managed, nevertheless, to make car­ scene could be deleted without the ber, a few houses (unoccupied, of toon characters out of the kind of reader even noticing. Significantly, course, because the beasties are people he should know best. The por­ half-way through Wilson kills off nice) and a smattering of used cars. trayal of the president and his ad­ the whole human race and starts a- Along comes Jerry Conklin, a forest­ visors as a bunch of deceitful knuck­ fresh in that universe next door and ry student on a fishing vacation in leheads is more credible. it's as if nothing had happened. Lone Pine, Minnesota. He is chosen, First published as a serial in Always a "message" writer, Wil­ presumably because he shares the ANALOG (Oct., Nov., Dec., 1979), son's main point seems to be that aliens' affinity for trees, to be THE VISITORS might have made an en­ we can opt for a better future by "swallowed" and briefly psychoanalyz­ tertaining short story, but inflat­ ed by the big mama of the black box­ making positive and optimistic de­ ed to novel-length, it is boring and es. This contact gives Jerry a rap­ cision because two alternate uni­ stale. Simak can do much better than port with the aliens and he alone is verses are created at each decision able to divine their ultimate inten­ this. point -- which is the jist of the tions. These intentions constitute ************************************ Schrodinger's Cat parable. Unfor­ the story's surprise ending, but tunately, Wilson often strays into this morsel of mystery is poor reas­ negativism himself with anti-envir­ on to plod through the rest of the If we hypothesize a planet onmentalist tirades that only reflect book. stretched ouf and its ends his own prejudices. Together with around, so— what sort of an ironic style that is too close to Consider this: The visitors con­ Vonnegut for comfort, such ranting sume millions of board-feet of po­ creatures will evolve, and will and raving only detracts from the tential and actual lumber, destroy the Proletariat triumph over book's already dubious value. scads of private property, disrupt the Bourgeoisie? ccmnerce in numerous ways, prolifer­ Wilson is definitely worth read­ ate like weeds and are invulnerable ing and has the potential of becom­ to attack. And does anyone get very ing a major writer. It's unfortun­ upset? Naw. Kathy, a newspaperwo­ ate that he's wasting time repeating man and Jerry's girlfriend, thinks himself when he should be getting on they're "cute" (p. 102), and most to something new. people adopt a wait-and-see attitude. ************************************ One newspaper calls the whole event "a cosmic picnic" (p. 133). The big­ wigs in Washington pussyfoot around, endlessly formulating a "national THE HOUSE THAT STOOD STILL stance". The authorities, as is us­ By A.E. van Vogt ual in Simak stories, ain't got no Pocket Books, #83158-5, 1980, $2.25 horse sense. When they finally Reviewed by Tom Staicar start talking about "pest control", it is revealed that the visitors First published in 1950, and un­ have come bearing gifts, and the available since a Paperback Library gifts are just what the natives have edition in the 1960s, THE HOUSE THAT always wanted. It ends with the STOOD STILL is a combination mystery/ president contenplating "-- a new suspense and science fiction thriller. kind of world and a new way to live Most of the background material is in it". The visitors have launched surprisingly modem, with a Californ­ the classless society and the whole world is going to have to learn to Science Fiction ia cult and a sexually aggressive young woman getting the protagonist like it. writer at work- into tense situations. The woman, Midway through the book comes Mistra Lanett, is an immortal who is this remark: "The Earth had been in­ introduced to the reader only after vaded by creatures out of space and being stripped to the waist and whip­ none of the things had happened that SCHRODINGER'S CAT: THE UNIVERSE NEXT ped by cult members. Allison Steph­ science fiction writers, through long DOOR ens tries to get the cult arrested years of scribbling, had foreseen as By Robert Anton Wilson but fails when Mistra defends them happening" (p. 133). This may have Pocket Books, 256 pp., $2.50 and refuses to press charges. She been true 30 or 40 years ago but the Reviewed by Neal Wilgus then seduces Stephens and drugs him, idea of alien benefactors was cer­ finally offering him immortality. tainly not originated with this story. Robert Anton Wilson took two She returns to his bed several more giant forward with ILLLMINA- times during the novel, pleading her A sub-theme of THE VISITORS is TUS! (1975) and COSMIC TRIGGER (1977) side of the complicated story which White Man Invades Indian Land. How­ but, alas, SCHRODINGER'S CAT is a ensues. ever, the parallels of the Europeans' half-step back. CAT uses many of The book began with a man being wide-awake inperialism with the vis­ 45 aware that he was helplessly watching others conduct his funeral, close a the drug's assassinated creator who Although Strickland is an "out­ coffin with him inside and lower him is fleeing from the narcotics agents sider" to "establishment" anthropo­ into a fresh grave. He isn't dead and dealers who seek him and the logy and appears a little overly de­ of course, as in typical van Vogt drug at any cost. However, the two fensive about that fact in his in­ fashion, he wakes up in a hospital receive the drug and they decide they troduction, he has nonetheless put bed later on. Two murders follow, mist "test" it first, by distribut­ together a hypothesis of considerably a house confers imnortality upon ing it randomly to unsuspected test persuasive weight. There are sur­ those who dwell in it, and the evi­ subjects around the world .... prises, too. dence of a space alien visit over From Spider's grim, earlier days, 1,000 years ago is uncovered. He holds that most of early hu­ comes "Nobody Likes to be Lonely", a man evolution took place in the If you had any doubts that this poignant, Ellison-type conscience dried-up Mediterranean Sea basin, was a pulp tradition van Vogt SF puz­ story of horror and helplessness. during the period when the Strait of zle up to that point, consider the "No Renewal", a story of olden Gibralter was damned, in verdant following question posed on page 116: times and bitterness toward a chang­ oases located on the otherwise de­ "Mr. Tannahill, have you any idea ing world of cruel modernism, is sert-like slopes of the basin. Here why a man would want to pretend to about an old man who is losing his it was that the forerunners of man die, give up a huge inheritance tax identity, and his last-minute at- were compelled to leave the trees, and then move back into the estate tempts to remember it all. learned to walk erect, lost most of pretending to be his nephew?" their body hair and acquired a pro­ "Overdose" is an alien-invasion This is good fun and a lot more fusion of sweat glands to enable them story, the type of story built around to survive the dry, hot climate (ev­ intriguing than most of the sophist­ an unsung albeit "high" hero who icated novels written recently. en today, the sauna baths we enjoy would kill any of our simian rela­ ************************************ tives; our adaptation to dry heat is unique). Our forenmners got down in those basin oases because they were driven by population pressures ANTINOMY to follow the rivers down into the By Spider Robinson basin. Before too long, the rivers Dell Books, 1980, 312 pp., $2.25 eroded their beds to the point where they were difficult to follow back Reviewed by Andrew Andrews out from the basin again, and sur­ rounding the basin were vast deserts. Obviously the noted fantasist, Theodore Sturgeon, has influenced the Perhaps even more surprising is writings of Spider Robinson, whose Strickland's claim that the second first collection contains stories phase of human evolution -- specific­ wrought of a deft imagination conpar- ally the evolution of high intelli­ able to Sturgeon's own. gence -- took place while our direct ancestors were marooned on Mediter­ But Spider does his readers good ranean islands after the sea reflood­ in this, his first collection of ed. It was in these small, closed short stories containing his "life­ environments that evolution really work to date", as he welcomes read­ accelerated, for the pre-sapients ers to his "Antinomy Mine", a collec­ had to compete among themselves. As tion of stuff published in ANALOG, Strickland puts it: "Intelligence GALAXY, COSMOS, etc. does not appear in a species by com­ The whole collection is a large­ bat against the forces of nature or ly diversified magazine of material other animals ... Intelligence evolv­ from all sides of his creative life, es by conbat against entities with and includes puns, songs, interleafs, slowly increasing intelligence of cartoons, illustrations -- not to their own -- in short, by intraspec­ saves us all. (This story reminds me ies conbat". The limited size of •mention introductions and, would you of Keith Laumer's "Test to Destruc­ believe, a weapons list. the population imposed by geography tion" in Harlan Ellison's first DAN­ made it possible for new, advantage­ In the title story, "antinomy" GEROUS VISIONS.) ous genes to spread rapidly through­ is defined as a "contradiction be­ ************************************ out the population. tween two propositions which seem equally urgent and necessary". Vir­ Strickland's hypothesis explains ginia Harding wakes up from cyrogen- GENESIS REVISITED many puzzles of anthropology, such ic sleep (where she existed, frozen, By Glenn G. Strickland as: why human evolution from Procon­ until a cure was found for her leu­ Dial, 1979, 183 pp., $8.95 sul to modern man broke all previous kemia) and cannot remember anything ISBN: 0-8037-2828-X speed records; why humans evolved in­ up to six months prior to her being Reviewed by Ronald R. Lambert to precisely the form they have to­ "frozen". The real crux is when she day; why so many fossil "links" in discovers that, in the course of GENESIS REVISITED deserves to be human evolution are missing (they those six months, she was in love read by anyone interested in the ev­ are underwater in the Mediterranean, and now another lover comes into her olutionary origin of intelligent or undiscovered in Mediterranean is­ life and she mist decide .... life on Earth and in the possibili­ lands) ; why australopithecus appear­ There are some real treats here, ties for the evolution of intelli­ ed all of a sudden in Africa with no including "Satan's Children", about gent life on other planets. Writers fossil evidence of intermediary an­ the unleashed new wonder drug, "The of SF should especially consider the cestors; why similarly there were Whole Truth" (TWT). It renders ev­ explanations of this book for how successive waves of homo habilis, erybody unable to tell a lie or to and under what conditions intelli­ neanderthal, Cro-Magnon and modem be dishonest in any way. The story gence can evolve. man which burst upon the world -- again without any evident intermed­ is about the two people selected by 46 iaries. If Strickland is right, small Wisconsin town, where old- DRINKING SAPPHIRE WINE fossil remains of some of these in­ fashioned yokels pass the time with By Tanith Lee termediary species might be found if farm chores and gossip -- mostly gos­ DAW, 1977 (Reprint, 1980), $1.75 we look on the right Mediterranean sip. Not surprisingly, Enoch's Dark Reviewed by Pat Mathews island(s) -- provided that it (they) Secret makes him a fitting target have not since sunk through volcanic for a tidal wave of rustic prattle -- Tanith Lee's imagination explodes action. and eventually results in his Public Discovery. like a fireworks factory in her two Perhaps disquieting is the im­ books DON'T BITE THE SUN and DRINK­ plication that the evolution of hu­ The events which follow suddenly ING SAPPHIRE WINE, for a joyous read­ man intelligence was an incredibly explode into bedlam -- made worse by ing experience. For those readers chancy thing. As Strickland declares: run-amuck aliens, eerie lurkers and a who have read DON'T BITE THE SUN, "Our own intelligence evolved as a monster or two. Enoch's world it's enough to say that the publish­ result of rather rare geographical threatens to disintegrate and the er's blurb on DRINKING SAPPHIRE WINE accidents plus the coincidence of reader's pulse is gripped by the feet is absolutely accurate. The hero­ an animal species at the sites both ing of encroaching Doom -- until -- ine of this pair of stories has fin­ smart enough and dumb enough to pro­ The Final Resolution. ally managed to outrage the system, fit by those geological accidents". As a tour de force, WAY STATION in a way that makes you want to stand up and cheer. If this is true, then the like­ penetrates the heart and soul of hu­ lihood that some other species on man relationships, the compassion For those who haven't, there are some other planet has had similar underlying acts of courage and the three domed cities with a technology luck may not be very great. Strick­ nature of loneliness. advanced enough to keep the human land speculates that there may be no ************************************ population bathed in luxury and to more than a dozen sapient species in sustain a complicated, sophisticated our entire galaxy. If so, then they and possibly decadent civilization, may be scattered too far apart ever ruled by paternalistic, kindly rob­ to meet. There may be millions of ots and androids. The rest of the worlds out there populated by anim­ HAN SOLO'S REVENGE planet is desert, inhabited by strange als, but we may never encounter any By Brian Daley but loveable creatures; nobody looks true sapients other than ourselves. Published by of beyond. As Strickland admits, it is a lonely Canada, 5390 Airbier Drive, Miss- The heroine of the stories, name­ thought. issaugua, Ontario, L4W 1Y7 less in Tanith Lee's irritating fash­ ************************************ 1980, 198 pp., $2.75 ion, is a member of the Jang - Gild­ Reviewed by W. Ritchie Benedict ed Youth, a phase which lasts half a century in this culture. Like her counterparts in other civilizations, WAY STATION Brian Daley wrote an earlier book, HAN SOLO AT STAR'S END that she and her circle frequent enter­ By Clifford D. Simak tainment centers, seek thrills and Del Rey, $1.95 was largely overlooked by fans. try to annoy the robots and the ad­ 1980 (reissue of 1963 work), 236 pp. ults, shop, eat, drink, party, gush Reviewed by John DiPrete However, it would be a great er­ in exotic slang, indulge in an end­ ror to overlook this book, Heavy less round of romantic permutations Clifford D. Simak, a top-notch science fiction it is not, but vast­ and an endless round of idle gossip writer, journalist and winner of ly entertaining it is. Mr. Daley and in general, anuse themselves. has taken two of the lesser charac­ the Hugo and International Fantasy They drink, take pills, smoke Award, has written hundreds of short ters from STAR WARS -- Han Solo and the Wookie, Chewbacca, and has flesh­ exotic substances, steal, sabotage stories, a fair share of novelettes the domes or the city machinery and and over a dozen paperback books ed them out further. In addition, there are new ones such as the com­ obtain new bodies with a spectacular (CITY, , THEY WALK­ Suicide or two. The Jang change bod­ ED LIKE MEN, etc.). His most popul­ puter Blue Max and his partner droid Bollux, as well as new humans and ies as often as they do clothes, and ar book (with the exception of CITY) change their sex whenever they feel won the Hugo Award for 1964, and is non-hunans, such as the girl Fiolla and the slave trader Zlarb. like it; alien, non-human or mutant considered a top-rung sanple of the bodies can be had on request, though genre's finest. In this sequel (there are refer­ one girl's request for a purring WAY STATION combines the usual ences to the first book which tie in mechanism was considered a bit nuch. nicely), Solo accidentally gets in­ Simak elements -- human drama, poet­ The only thing the city does not ry, alien wonder -- and blends them volved with slave traders while on a ferrying job, so he mist find out supply is depth, meaning, value or into a highly thought-provoking mix­ anything beyond the endless round of ture. Hie novel centers around Enoch who is behind them in order to re­ cover the 10,000 credit fee he has Jang amusements. In DON'T BITE THE Wallace, an Earthling, who -- as SUN the heroine has applied for ad­ Keeper of Earth's Way Station -- been promised. The girl Fiolla is an enigma --is she with the slavers ult status (and has been refused), meets all sorts of weird and wonder­ has tried to work, to have a child ful visitors. Enoch resides in a or is she an undercover agent? In either case, she spells trouble for and to go on an archaeological dig Solo. as a volunteer without success and with tragic results at least twice. rLOSS OF BONDER This book gives indication of promising things to come, in terms Now, in DRINKING SAPPHIRE WINE, SUDDENLY T of a series. The plot basically is she has discovered history and poet­ CANT READ "DOC pulp SF, but it is executed with ry, and in a male body for now, has SMTH.rr'S THE skill. There is non-stop action all set up as a poet. Unfortunately, FIRST THING the way, and STAR WARS fans should she has also discovered the duel and THAT GOES e delighted with it. in a city that lives for fads, it's V'kNOV). sigh. ************************************ inevitable that someone should chal­ lenge her to one. She accidentally 47 kills him and finds herself on trial, for the city's robot government knows have a sinply-presented piece of re­ of only two ways to handle offenders: creational browsing material like minor restrictions for common rule­ this. The drawings of wild types of breakers, a choice of personality submarines, flying machines and float­ obliteration or permanent exile for ing cities on barges are enjoyable, those rare few who have gone berserk. and some of the articles supply in­ And she is now considered to be one. teresting facts about Jules Verne and his life. I wish the publication Much to the chagrin of the ro­ information were provided for the bots, exile suits her perfectly -- writing and illustrations in all and in a fad-happy city, she becomes, cases instead of about one-fourth of to her disgust, a cult leader. them, but Haining obviously was not This book is hilarious, whether interested in the R. Reginald or we are watching five gushing, over­ Neil Barron type of reader. dressed, doped-to-the-ears Jang de­ ************************************* scend on our heroine offering to share her exile, or the perils of be attracted to him (Bennett), you having love with a friend who has know." too many cats, or an acquaintance who turns up at the duel looking and THE DEMETER FLOWER '"That's disgusting." acting like , the Conqueror, and By Rochelle Singer St. Martin's Press, 1980 '"It is possible," Diana said. then, via body change, comes to the '"How?" Redwood (Freedom's moth­ trial as the most fragile flower of 224 pp., $9.95 ISBN -0-312-19194-4 er was incensed. "I used a perfect­ fair womanhood ever cloned. (Our ly normal flower. And there's cer­ heroine's comment: "I wish to inter­ Reviewed by Paulette Minare' tainly nothing wrong with me!"' rupt this trial to say that if she doesn't cut it out I am going to This promising first novel by Some of the younger women, led puke".) Rochelle Singer is about Demeter, a by Luna, agitate to start a new ex­ The resolution is extremely sat­ secret female society of all races, pansion of Demeter. Scouts go out isfying, and even plausible. For who have survived the Twentieth Cen­ ahead, disguised as "extra sons" to $1.75 you couldn't do better. tury collapse caused by nuclear find a site. They find the world leaks, famines, plagues and water still in chaos -- bridges and high­ AA*A******************************** shortages, because of government re­ ways unrepaired, ruined cities, luctance to convert to solar and/or fields grown up to weeds and some wind power. These women learned to ruined cities governed by "yellow­ THE JULES VERNE COMPANION live for 40 years without the men robes" or priests, landholders, who By Peter Haining who had dominated women by superior rule by extreme fear. Runaways are Baronet, pb, $6.95 strength which they termed "superi­ caught and severely punished. Star­ Reviewed by Tom Staicar ority". vation-thievery is punishable by death. Fear is the rule everywhere In their isolated coimunity they, -- there is no protection from thieves This is an 8 1/2 by 11 inch il­ except for the Elders (older women), and murderers for travelers, who lustrated paperback which brings to­ know nothing of the outside world. must travel by primitive means. They gether pieces about Jules Verne drawn The Elders had earlier found the se­ have many adventures and dangers in from disparate origins. Articles cret of parthenogenesis. Without their quest. from newspapers and magazines of var­ men, they produce only girl-babies, ious dates are included, written by at will. All women of the coimnunity Change is inevitable. The young such people as H.G. Wells, William work and eat together, although each daughters are interested in that Golding and George Orwell, and illus­ has a specialty. For exanple, Mor­ "other world". How will Demeter cope trations from movie stills, comic gan is the historian; Freedom oper­ with the encroaching "alien" danger? book covers and engraved illustrations ates a small cafe, The Little Flower; I was disappointed that the book did from Verne novels are scattered Firstborn is an agriculturist; Athena not answer this question. through the book. and Angel dispense health care; Cal­ ************************************ "Scattered" is the right word, liope is power-generator supervisor. as there is no cohesive framework un­ It puzzles me how a handful of derlying the surface of THE JULES women could survive this pervasive VERNE COMPANION. It is a book for collapse without preplanning and re­ browsing and relaxing, which could cruiting selected specialists. ENGINE SUNWER never be considered scholarly or log­ A man named Bennettwith his wife By ically ordered in its presentation of Bantam 13199-0; c. 1979, 209 pp. information. It has the appearance Donna, who was bought from impoverish­ ed parents, arrive unexpectedly in Hardcover edn by Doubleday, Bantam of a random scrapbook with early and edn, March 1980, $1.95 recent articles mentioning Verne, a Demeter, causing inmense curiosity, photo from a first edition book jack­ as only the Elders have seen a man. Reviewed by Steve Lewis et followed by a photo of Vincent They are held in Demeter because Price in MASTER OF THE WORLD, a film they would likely reveal its secret Crowley has and here he demon­ of the 1960s. location. Bennett feels at first strates, a superbly fine sense of that he is master of this situation language. In no way is this a book The funniest article is "My -- they are only women, but he finds for those who dote on STAR WARS space Spirit-Telephone Conversation with he is very mistaken. opera only. In no way is this a book Jules Verne" by Erich von Daniken, that grabs you with the first line or An interesting dialogue (p. 70): in which the author lays to rest any the first paragraph and refuses to dream of scientific credibility he '"Athena smiled at my wit, which let go. cherished up to now. I thought was very kind, and said to That is, not in the sense that Redwood gently, "She (Freedom) may Oddly enough, I like this book. that favorite cliche of hack review­ There are times when it is nice to 48 ers usually implies. There is a plot, a slow, serpentine one that ture-history". In one case a skele­ Throughout the book, Bracken twists back around upon itself until ton, clad in the reimants of a space and Rebecca grow and their relation­ suddenly, with perhaps the second suit, is referred to as a disabled ship becomes more and more conplex, reading of the final chapter, all is robot. In another, a "beam" weapon's tightly bound to the fate of all at last made crystal clear. rate of fire is given as 400 "pel­ moles, not just the ones of Duncton With sparkling and glittering lets" per second. Wood. The story never falls into a revelations of exultant triumph, one Since SPACE WARS has been out predictable course and at times moves might say, if one were so inclined. over a year, it is beginning to show so quickly as to leave you breath­ I won't. It would be a lie, an exag­ up on some bookstore's bargain ta­ less and unable to turn the pages geration. The revelations, the tri- bles for less than $6. Sometimes fast enough. The revelations that umphs are both inner ones. The fu­ for considerably less. Any prospec­ never seem to end are brilliant and ture is still murky and uncertain. tive buyer should forget about the startling; and whether dealing with text and the captions. Flip through tragedy or joy, the story never sent­ Rush That Speaks (that's his imentalizes its themes or its char­ name) lives in a post-holocaust world the book and decide for yourself if the prints alone are worth the price. acters. DUNCTON WOOD touches base in a honeycombed warren called Lit­ with such a wide variety of emotions, tle Belaire. He has grown up there ************************************ you will hesitate a long time before -- he tells the story as of age 17 -- putting this book down -- even when has learned the art of truthful speak­ the last page is turned. ing and has already ventured into DUNCTON WOOD the outside world with the ambitious By William Horwood A grand story written by a mas­ intent of becoming a saint. McGraw-Hill Company, 1980, $12.95 ter of molethology, DUNCTON WOOD is ISBN 0-07-030434-3 also a very handsomely produced book. It is doubtful that he knows it, Although there are no maps which are but by the time that his story has Reviewed by DomVicha usually a part and parcel of this concluded, that is what he has be­ subgenre, there, is just the one il­ come. Telling more is impossible DUNCTON WOOD offers a strong nar­ lustration on the part-title pages: without a mere repeating of the story rative focus on the life and times a snoozing mole rendered by E. Law­ and I can't inprove upon it. Nor in of two Duncton moles, Bracken and rence Palmer, but the overall design fact is all the story explained or Rebecca, whose love affair, were it is delightful and easy to read. The explainable and if you'll allow me simply sumnarized, would read like quality of the book's construction a purely personal reaction, I admire something out of Savage Romance. reflects well on the publisher's Crowley all the more for it. This conparison has more to do with pride in making it available: a ************************************ scenes of incest and infanticide book that physically as well as spir­ and the sex drives of moles than itually can bear repeated readings. with a weak treatment of females, Inotherwords, DUNCTON WOOD is a book however, because Rebecca is a very (and a joy) all too rare. courageous and powerful heroine. SPACE WARS -- WORLDS § WEAPONS She is the daughter of Mandrake, a ************************************ By Steven Eisler large, malevolent mole who quickly Cresent Books, 1979, 96 pp. and violently assumes power over the Reviewed by Nicholas Santelli moles of Duncton Wood. Bracken, on the other hand, is the runt of a lit­ ter of tough moles and learns how SPACE WARS is one of several I POUR My HEART INTO large format (9 1/4 x 12 1/2) SF to avoid the fights that are inevit­ volumes to appear in the past couple able among molekind for securing THIS NOVEL...DEEP PLOT mates and burrows that are not worm­ of years. It contains 95 color prints GOOD CHARACTERIZATION.. and eight schematic drawings depict­ scarce. Rebecca and Bracken face ing various aliens, space ships and their separate and often desperate MY EDITOR CUTS HALF OF weapons. Printed in Hong Kong on trials of mind and spirit in the fore medium weight, glossy stock (NOT ground of a story filled with harrow­ IT, LEAVING ONLY ACTION acid free), the quality of the prints ing journeys, inspired acts of brav­ SEQUENCES...THEN THE vary from grainy but passable, to ery, horrifying acts of treachery REVIEWS CALL IT EITHER excellent. They range in size from and a whole burrowful of memorable cne-eighth page to full two-page and original characters. “SHALLOW" OR "PADDED" spreads. Exanples of the work of The first half of DUNCTON WOOD ... DAMN... most of the popular artists in the involves the progressive decay of SF field, such as Vallejo and DiFate the Duncton mole society under the are included. influence of the enigmatic Mandrake The text of SPACE WARS (which which is later revealed as a mere unfortunately takes over 40% of the reflection of the decay of other book) is a rambling, often inane mole systems that were, in times commentary on the development of con­ long past, unified by six great temporary science fiction. In con­ stones which mark off their territor­ trast, the paragraph-long caption ies. The stones also serve as monu­ which accompanies each print, at- ments under which moles congregate tenpts to bestow an aura of reality to celebrate rites of passage and to and continuity to the pictures. give thanks to the earth and sky These captions build a "future-his­ whose marriage is symbolized in the tory", conplete with intragalactic stone. In the second half of DUNC­ wars, federations and empires. This TON WOOD, it becomes clear that the schizophrenic approach is distract­ stone marking the Duncton system is ing. Another minus factor is the the long-sought-after Seventh Still- laughable lengths the caption writ­ stone whose power may be able to re­ er goes to in order to force some unite all of the mole systems. of the prints to conform to his "fu­ 49 ENGLAND INVADED der snook, Tristram Crutchley, Fred THE BARBIE MURDERS AND OTHER STORIES Edited by C. Smale -- suggest the possibility By Star Books, U.K., 1980 of parody. An outdated essay fills Berkley, 1980, 260 pp. six pages. Reviewed by Andrew Tidmarsh Reviewed by Andrew M. Andrews Moorcock is doing what he set I bought this book for its title out to do. But the book also demon­ Varley delighted readers with expecting to read how Englishmen at strates that it was not always the stories from his "Eight Worlds" in the turn of the century thought they case that science fiction -- "the his collection, THE PERSISTENCE OF might react to the invasion of their " -- was as well- VISION, and does so again, but with nation. However, from the -- brief written as any other fiction. This more emotional inpact in THE BARBIE -- introduction I learned that the is an "English" book which Ameri­ MURDERS AND OTHER STORIES. book was the second of a series in­ cans might find difficult -- and tended to "show the development of boring --to read. Humans were forced to migrate to the habitable "eight worlds" when the scientific romance from the mes­ ft*********************************** sianic warning pamphlet, though com­ they were driven from Earth by aliens mercialisation into a popular genre during the Invasion. Varley postul­ and, ultimately, to a sophisticated ates a future where people undergo moral fiction" (exemplified in this THE SPACE MAVERICKS sex-change operations and have new volume by 's "When William Came"). By Michael Kring bodies genetically engineered about (The first volume, BEFORE , , $1.75 as often as we go to the dentist. However, Varley has a unique way of does contain several stories about Reviewed by Pat Mathews the invasion.) Therefore, I was not showing the heartfelt thoughts and emotions of people trying to adapt too disappointed that the title was Some of the Albuquerque Science justified by one of the six pieces. to a new sex, to brain transferals, Fiction Society have set themselves to organ replacements, or to conput- This piece, by Saki is the long­ to bring back the good old Golden- er interfacing. How people grow est in the book and to me the most Age-of-SF-is-13 adventure novel, the stronger as a result of giving un­ interesting. It was first publish­ Planet Stories story. Mike Kring has restricted "free birth" and how they ed in 1913 but concerns what happens done a conpetent job of it in THE emotionally adjust to being both a in England after its (off-stage) con­ SPACE MAVERICKS. father and a mother is explored. quest by Imperial Germany. The King Two spacegoing cargo haulers -- There are nine stories in all. of England flees to India; at least interstellar truckers --on shore half of the upper -- ruling -- class leave rescue a damsel in distress In the title story, "The Barbie migrates to the colonies; the Brit­ from a thoroughly nasty and well-re­ Mirders", Lieutenant Anna-Louise ish Enpire loses its head. What is alized inner city gang, and suddenly Bach is Municipal Police Chief of shown to be at stake is the survival the entire police forces of the gal­ New Dresden. She investigates the of the "season", the round of events axy are after them. Since Kring death of several Barbies -- sexless, by which -- at which -- "society" is has established very early on that identitiless clones that form the entertained. The behaviour of the the central government and its colon­ "standardist" cult, who look like mass of the people, the Germanisa­ ial arms are corrupt, brutal and not your typical Twentieth-Century dolls. tion of the country, the inport on too bright, this is reasonably plaus­ The first story, "Bagatelle", fea­ trade and industry are ignored. The ible if you assume that she holds the tures a , claiming he is a nu­ story is more amusing than instruc­ key to some sort of secret the gov­ clear bomb, who threatens to blow up tive ... if one finds funny such a ernment wants badly. She does. on the Lestrasse, New Dresden, Luna sentence as: "Cicely was not one of colony on his birthday, in protest those ill-regulated people who treat There are alien worlds with alien to a machine-run society. "The Fun­ the first meal of the day as a con­ and deadly customs, a lost city, a house Effect" is a romantic space venient occasion for serving up any few monsters and the requisite chas­ adventure inside a comet converted differences or contentions that have es and fights. Although the Damsel into a spacecraft that meets near­ been left over from the day before in Distress is very young and Some­ disaster . . . until Quester awakens. or overlooked in the press of other body's Daughter, according to the In "Equinoctial", the Church of Cos­ matters". I do. convention of these stories, she is mic Engineering sends out 'engin­ Saki's vision is incomplete (and presented as reasonably bright and eers' -- future 'hippies' who want implausible) because he writes from reasonably human; although the auth­ to paint Saturn's Ring Beta red. above rather than within, he does or remarks, with some irritation, at However, the Consers fight a repaint­ not convince that he understands how the childish behavior she exhibits ing war against the Engineers. In the nation works. (Perhaps this is at one point (described in terms "Manikins" a 'man-hater woman' charg­ an unfair criticism. The social more applicable to a two-year-old), ed with murdering a man is locked ip class of writers has changed since he seems to be dimly aware that a as a schizophrenic in a mental instit­ teen-agedcivilian under stress of 1900. Is it any wonder that the na­ ution and examined by a student. The ture of fiction has changed? If I that sort might very logically break student finds out seme very fascinat­ compare "When William Came" with down and act like a baby once or ing things about the parasites cal­ "Fugue for a Darkening Island" -- twice. The prose is not purple, led men. the plots have some plausibility and prefer the latter -- I am not Varley's most consciousness-rais­ comparing like with like. Priest and the two leading characters have no desire to imitate Raymond Chand­ ing story about sex-change to date may seem wiser than Saki only because is "Beatnik Bayou", about a Missis­ he knows and shows more.) ler, nor does the author. Give it a C for execution and a The book contains another four C-plus for trying. -- short-- stories, which are simil­ *************AAAAft*********2 arly narrow. Their characters act before they think; motives are stat­ ed but not explained; backgrounds are not described. The prose is so broad that I couldn't keep a straight face. The names -- Prof. Blyde Mad­ 50 sippi Bayou on the moon, in a very has been available for some years THE CROOKED COMPUTER large moon colony, where "the mud is now in paperback from Ballantine By William G. Shingler, Jr. just plain old mississippi mud, suit­ Books. THE HAUNTED WOMAN (1922) was Manor Books, 432 Park Ave. South, able for beating your feet", and reprinted by Newcastle Publishing Co- New York, NY 10016, $1.95, paper. about the amusing, involved charac­ npany, Inc., in 1975, and may still ters that live there. be in print. DEVIL'S TOR (1932) is REVIEWED BY GENE DE WEESE now in print in a rather expensive Though only marginally science In "Good-bye, Robinson Crusoe", edition from Amo Press. A fifth fiction, this shouldn't be missed by Piri, a young boy maturing past his fantasy novel and fragments of a any SF reader or by anyone who has second childhood, is surgically ad­ sixth were published as THE VIOLET ever been curious about --or grot- apted to life under water. He comes APPLE AND THE WITCH in 1976 by Chic­ ched by -- a computer. Basically, to grips with who he really is. In ago Review Press. The contents of it's one man's search for "The Truth" this last volume are not covered by "Lollipop and the Tar Baby", Xanthia, about computers, and it's one of the with her single partner, Zoe, in the Wilson. Neither is Lindsay's main­ funniest books I've read this year. big ship Shirley Tenple, roam the stream novel, ADVENTURES OF M. DE Not only that, it's pretty accurate space beyond Pluto, searching for MAILLY, which has not seen print and whether you want to or not, you since 1926. However, he provides energy-rich black holes. They're se­ will probably learn quite a bit about cluded and bored . . . until Xanthia some interesting material on SPHINX computers and those weird people who finds a hole that evades capture, (1923), the only fantasy which has build and operate them. changes velocity and talks to her. never been reprinted. ************************************ Customs and ideals must change Lindsay's are stiffly as society changes, and this point written and slow going. They are is made very clear in "Picnic on Near­ really philosophical works disguised THE MUDHEAD side". Failure to adjust is death. as fiction. Lindsay was attempting By Josephine Rector Stone Varley shows this in the character to show the ultimate truth hidden Atheneum, NY, 1980, 140 pp., $8.95 Lester, whom Fox (a female changed beneath the shams of mundane life. ISBN: 0-689-30787-x male) and Halo (a female changed Wilson attempts, successfully REVIEWED BY FREDERICK PATTEN male changed female) meet outside I think, to show the iimense vision their home in King City, Luna, as behind the clumsy prose. He analyz­ Young teenager, Korby McNaughton, they picnic on Nearside. Lester is es ARCTURUS in detail,, and traces a self-proclaimed "space brat", is a very old man with decrepit super­ the philosophical threads through bored in the enclosed exploration stitions and Old Earth philosophies/ the other works, building a coherent base on the planet Sigma. But when morals, a man who has fled Earth picture of what Lindsay was trying he disobeys the rules and ventures (after the Invasion) and King City to say. He compares Lindsay to oth­ outside alone, he is captured by the as well to live out his years and to er writers and philosophers, and primitive natives and carried far in­ do the unquestionable old-fashioned tries to show him in the perspective to the jungle. First he is beaten thing: to die, an old man, "a lik­ of his time and in the broader pic­ almost to death, then he is treated able old fool, but a fool all the ture of English literature. as a good-luck charm and squabbled same". Perhaps this book will draw more over by two savage tribes. Finally Don't miss this collection. attention to this little-understood he stops whimpering and resolves to ************************************ writer and visionary. escape back to base with the aid of Raia, the kindly but weak-willed ************************************ shaman who had adopted him. However, LAST ISSUE THE HEADING OF FRED PAT- once the escape is begun, Korby real­ ten's review of THE FORBIDDEN FOUN­ izes that he has acquired a moral THE HAUNTED MAN TAIN OF OZ was mis-typed. The full responsibility toward Raia since the By Colin Wilson heading should have been as follows: gentle native cannot return to his Borgo Press, POB 2845, San Bemadino, own people and he is both physically CA, 92406. $2.95 THE FORBIDDEN FOUNTAIN OF OZ By Eloise Jarvis McGraw 6 Lauren and mentally unfit to join human soc­ Reviewed by Lee Weinstein Lynn McGraw. Ulus, by Dick Martin. iety. For the first time Korby has Nfap by Lauren Lynn McGraw. someone besides himself to think a- This is Volume 20 in this series Kinderhook, Ill., International Wiz­ bout, and he resolves to find a sol­ of critical works on comtemporary ard of Oz Club, 1980. 104 pp. $7.00. ution that will not require the sac­ popular writers, and is subtitled ************************************ rifice of his friend. THE STRANGE GENIUS OF DAVID LINDSAY. THE MJDHEAD is well-written in a Wilson's book is an unusual one lD/SZ>OM CORRUPTS -BECAUSE technical sense, and it vividly por­ in the series, in that Wilson him­ YOU CX>ME TO UN&EfTSTAU'b trays its jungle setting. Unfortun­ self is a more well-known writer Houj ottfturriotJ cam sepve ately, it fails the "Bat Durston" test, to cite the old "You'll Never than Lindsay, his subject. Wilson YOuK interests - has written non-fiction such as THE Read it in GALAXY" advertisement. OCCULT (1971) about psychic abilit­ OF COOPSE, YOU peso Minus its interstellar trappings, ies and THE STRENGTH TO DREAM (1961) UM>ePsrw» what the novel could be any frontier ad­ Yoc/R INTERESTS ARE about creative imagination in fan­ venture about a spoiled civilized SO ITS SguF-1_(M>T|M<^-. tastic fiction, as well as several youth who is kidnapped by primitives science fiction-horror novels. Part of. and who matures while he comes to of this book appeared in the essay understand (if not appreciate) their collection THE STRANGE GENIUS OF superstitious, disease-ridden soci­ DAVID LINDSAY (John Baker, 1970). ety. The jungle setting and Raia's mud mask scream "New Guinea" to any­ Lindsay was a British writer one who has read a NATIONAL GEOGRAPH­ who lived from 1878 to 1945. He had IC photo-article about the tribal four fantasy novels published dur­ societies there. ing his lifetime. Of these, only A VOYAGE TO ARCTURUS (1920) has . Even worse, the story's basic achieved any real recognition. It nature will make it mildly repugnant to readers who are looking for light As between the first two books, entertainment and it does not offer there is another span of a hundred rich enough characterizations or years or more which passes before the sufficient inventiveness to be worth events of THE NORTHERN GIRL begin. reading for deeper values. It's es­ Without a doubt, here is the most am­ sentially about an unpleasant protag­ bitious of the three. It is much onist who undergoes a thoroughly mis­ longer than either of the first two, erable and not especially interest­ for one thing, and for another there ing experience. There are any numb­ is involved a much subtler treatment er of better-written "rite of pas­ of its main theme than is ever com­ sage" novels, both inside and outside mon in works of its type -- those the SF field. Korby undeniably mat­ which are usually lumped together ures as the result of his experience, under the heading of "swords-and- but it's never really clear whether sorcery" fantasy fiction, in which this has made him a more likable char­ subtlty is customarily laid on as acter. Most readers simply won't with a bloody bludgeon. care what happens to him. The subject is politics, pure and ************************************ simple -- the politics of power. In particular the main objective is the control of Arun's southernmost ARMADA city, Kendra-on-the-Delta. In treat­ By Michael Jahn ment, however, any resemblance of Fawcett, 1981, 221 pp., $2.25 this tale to the over-muscled sagas REVIEWED BY DEAN R. LANBE of Conan the Barbarian, to pick an obvious exanple, is the same that Yet another mystery/suspense writ­ might be spotted between Agatha Chris­ er has decided that SF is an easy tie's mild-mannered Miss Marple murd­ lay, and has offered us a real whiz­ er mysteries, say, and the bosoms- bang . Captain Broad­ babes-and-booze approach to detective sword and beautiful co-pilot Margot fiction possessed by Mickey Spillane's zip around Earth, Moon and Habitat worst imitators. 5, blasting asteroids and cutting Instead of a story about gun-con­ wheelies in vacuum until the mons­ trol, would you believe sword-control? trous alien starship appears to spoil their violation of Newtonian laws. The story is told from the view­ Though mercifully we never learn For example, , the point of Sorren, a female bondserv­ whether the blue meanies in their first of the series, has just receiv­ ant to the ruler of one sector of Boomerang fighters are blue, bug-eyed ed the 1980 for the city. The ruler is also a woman or slimy-tentacled, all too much is best novel of the year. If you mis­ -- Lynn very definitely has strong made of their liquid protein diet sed it, however, both it and its se­ opinions about the Equal Rights Amend­ and the raygun conversion of Earth quel , have ment -- and it is her brother, denied people thereto. After many space now been published in paperback. the right to power, who betrays her, dogfights, smokey explosions on the The happy result of all this publish­ busily making alliances with other "dark side" of the moon and the odd ing activity is that here you have, city rulers behind her back, with H-bomb failure to dent the aliens' those of you who have waited, the outside chieftains and even with the appetite, Broadsword finds their splendid opportunity of reading all leader of the city's small enclave Achilees heel (clearly so labeled for three at once, without the agonizing of witches. the terminally dull). wait between books that successful trilogies always manage to inflict Sorren has clairvoyant dreams of It seems that ... ah crap, some­ upon their readers. her own, however. By books's end body shackle this clown to an intro­ they have brought her back north, to ductory physics text before he moves All three novels take place in the towers of Tornor where the cycle to Hollywood with this "battlestar". the imaginary land of Arun. In began, two books before. In these hard times, that a legitim­ WATCHTOWER a castle on its northern border is overthrown, not by enemies Lynn's plots tend to wander. ate new SF writer's work was aced There are occasionally puzzling gaps out by this garbage is a real tragedy. from without, but at the hands of a rebel leader from the south. Prince in structure, questions about the ************************************ Errel's first task is to survive, land of Arun that are never resolved. then to escape. Once accomplished, As well, one might say that political his next obligation is to restore maneuvering and infighting in an im­ his family's rule to Tornor, or to aginary land would tend to be as THE NORTHERN GIRL die in the attempt. dull and uninteresting as it is in Berkley/Putnam, c. 1980; 382 pp. our own. $13.95 The elements of traditional fan­ By Elizabeth A. Lynn tasy are actually the strongest in Or as interesting, depending on THE DANCERS OF ARUN. Some of the in­ your point of view. Lynn more than REVIEWED BY STEVE LEWIS habitants of that world have "gifts" compensates for these various defic­ of extra-sensory powers, and in the iencies of sorts, however, by creat­ When the first two volumes in town of Elath there is a szhool de­ ing characters one learns to care Lynn's fantasy trilogy "The Chroni­ signed to train these "witches" in for. They control the novels they cles of Tornor" were published back their specialties. The story itself appear in as strongly and as well in 1979, reaction within the ranks is of a young lad as he comes of age, as they eventually work out their of hardcore fans was overwhelmingly coming to learn at the same time of own destinies. Lynn gives them full favorable. This, the third book in his powers, and what responsibilities rein to do so, and surprisingly en­ the series, has been anticipated they entail. ough, this is precisely what it is with more than an ordinary sort of that gives all three of these oddly­ interest ever since. 52 paced, but strongly compelling works of fantasy their greatest strength. "They were red-rimned. They seem­ researching a science fiction story Even after reading all three ed to be perpetually irritated, un­ exceeded the amount he needed for a books within a week's time -- or, til the irritation had seeped into mystery or Western". There is also maybe because of it? -- I can safely the brain itself. And they glitter­ a recommended bibliography and cred­ say that I, for one, would not mind ed with a feverish light of unwhole­ its to the original appearances of in the least if Elizabeth Lynn chang­ some cunning." these stories. ed her mind and decided that a tet­ That's the mad scientist who has What is the value of THE HUMAN ralogy it was that she was writing the city in a grip of terror in THE ZERO? It's a worthwhile purchase for all the time. HUMAN ZERO, threatening to kill its academic and research libraries. It And if it were not also clearly richest businessmen with his myster­ contains some early and otherwise- the wisest decision for her to stop ious unless they ransom inaccessible writings of a popular right here and begin work on the next themselves for tremendous sums. The author and it contains samples of a facet of her writing career, still dense police are helpless until the popular fiction genre from a period in its early stages -- there is only wise-cracking newspaper reporter earlier than those covered by most one book which came before these solves the case for them. SF reprint volumes. But the stories three, after all -- that is precise­ are so primitive by today's standards ly what I would have left as the Hie most dramatic story is "New that their only value to the general last line of this review. Worlds", a tale of global cataclysm. public will be as curiosa or as camp Phil Bregg, a cowboy, is visiting humor for their comic-book plotting ************************************ during a spell of tor­ in a serious literary format. At rential rains. Suddenly the waters least they can't be accused of dul- start rising. Phil and a girl flee ness. THE HUMAN ZERO: THE SCIENCE FICTION the subway and enter a building. ************************************ STORIES OF ERLE STANLEY GARDNER The waters continue rising. They By Erle Stanley Gardner climb floor after floor. An earth­ Edited by Martin H. Greenberg 8 quake rocks the city and skyscrapers HIDDEN PLACES, SECRET WORDS Charles G. Waugh begin toppling. Phil, the girl and Edited by Anita Loreta Anderson Wm. Morrow 5 Co., Inc., 105 Madison a conveniently on-hand scientist Northwoods Press, Box #249, Stafford, Avenue, NY, NY 10016. (mad but benevolent) find a motor VA, 22554. 1981, 444 pp., $12.95. cruiser on the 8th floor (in the Paperback, 62 pp., $2.95 ISBN: 0-688-00122-x demonstration room of a motorboat REVIEWED BY NEAL WILGUS company) and launch themselves from REVIEWED BY FREDERICK PATTEN the crumbling building. A tidal Despite the awkward, unremember- wave sweeps them halfway around the "Fans of Erle Stanley Gardner able title, this little booklet of will be surprised and delighted to ‘world. The next thing they know fantasy poems is sure to appeal to they're on a South Seas island flee­ discover in these long-unavailable a small but devoted audience. Rhym­ ing from savage cannibals and a mad­ stories that he was one of our earli­ ed verse and balladry are largely ta­ dened White Killer. The scientific est science fiction writers -- and boo in the poetic realm today, but rationale for all this is the theory science fiction readers will regret both survive in the fantasy field -- that he did not write many more". of the changing of the earth's axis alive and well and thriving like and the shifting of the poles, which hell, I was almost tempted to say. Well, not really. Erle Stanley Professor Parker explains to Phil Gardner was, of course, the author and Stella in a manner remarkably Not all the 22 poems (by 16 po­ of the world-famous Perry Mason det­ similar to that in which Dr. Zarkov ets) in HIDDEN/SECRET rhyme or are ective stories which he wrote from was to explain to Flash Gordon and ballads, but the majority do and 1932 until his death in 1970. Gard­ Dale Arden how the world was being are. Poems by Steve Eng, Walter ner became so well-established as a threatened by Mongo, in the first Shedlofsky, Michael Fantina, Stephan­ mystery author that the modern pub­ FLASH GORDON comic-strip page many ie Steams and Yours Truly are all lic never knew he had once tried years later. rhyming ballads, and even non-rhym­ his hand at pulp Westerns and SF as ing verse by William R. Borrow, W. The other five stories involve well. THE HUMAN ZERO collects all Paul Ganley and John Taylor qualify a secret cult of monkey-men in India of Gardner's SF stories: seven nov­ as balladry. (there are things which White Men ellas which appeared in ARGOSY be­ The anthology is imaginatively tween 1928 and 1932. were never meant to know), a species of intelligent ants in Africa, a illustrated by Nick Forrest Evangel­ How are they? Dreadful! But chemical accelerator which speeds up ista and Editor Anita Anderson, who not more so than most pulp SF of the human body to 50 times normal also collaborate in some rhyming this period. Those were the days velocity, reincarnation and a hidden stories which are among the best in when stories about mad scientists tribe of savage Indians in New Mex­ the collection. Most of the mater­ with beautiful daughters were fresh ico, 'and the first space flight (by ial is new, although three poems by and innovative; when handsone, dynam­ a mad scientist, his beautiful daugh­ Lucile Coleman and one by Steve Eng ic heroes regularly rescued demure ter, a kidnapped wise-cracking news­ are reprints from earlier publica­ maidens from fiendish subhuman (i.e. paper reporter and a maddened White tions . non-White) villains; and when Earth- Killer) in an anti-gravity spaceship Not an earthshaking event in shattering melodramas were built to Venus, where they are attacked by either the fantasy or the poetry around a single facet of elementary- savage cannibals ... worlds, nevertheless HIDDEN PLACES, school science, extrapolated to phys­ There is a very informative schol SECRET WORDS is a good anthology and ically impossible extremes. arly foreword on Gardner on his SF deserves a wider reading than it is Literary quality? " was by editors Greenberg 8 Waugh, though likely, in this non-poetic time, to only partially visible through the I wonder if they kept a straight face get. narrow peephole. But there was a when they wrote that one of Gardner's section of wrinkled forehead, shag­ motives for giving up SF was that gy, unkempt eyebrows, the bridge of " ... he may have decided that the a bony nose and two eyes. amount of time he had to put into "The eyes compelled interest. 53 THE MANY-COLORED LAND complex individuals. They have their But most fascinating, every char­ acter is, to one extent or another, By Julian May points, good and bad, as do most of an exile -- some from society, some Houghton Mifflin, $12.95 us, but in contrast to most SF, they are treated in a humanistic fashion. from love, some from enemies, but REVIEWED BY ELTON T. ELLIOTT Even the antagonists (villains would most from themselves. The use of ex­ be a misnomer) are treated in a symp­ ile as a metaphor even extends to Excitement. If I had to sum up athetic manner. the aliens, who ironically are exiles in one word what most recent SF nov­ from others of their kind because of els too often lack, that would be THE MANY-COLORED LAND is a tre­ the antiquated battle-religion they it. Excitement is one ingredient mendously literate novel. Where most persist in following. The humans which THE MANY-COLORED LAND, a new of SF simply gives us the bare bones exiled themselves from the social novel by Julian May, has in abund­ of characterization with no room complexities of technological soc­ ance. THE MANY-COLORED LAND is for nuance or subtlety, this is re­ iety, so in a very real sense, both unique since it has much more going plete with fully-realized individu­ humans and aliens alike are exiles for it than its spellbinding plot. als who grow and change as the story from themselves and their increasing­ It is a many-layered, nulti-faceted progresses. May does not violate ly technological societies. A per­ tale filled with consummately-drawn T.S. Eliot's objective correlative: vasive use of Jungian symbolism and characters, wit, humor, irony and each individual has a past, as well the conceptual treatment of exile as pathos. It is the first book of as a present and the motivation for metaphor and motif, illuminate THE what promises to be a series of such the characters' actions are shown MANY-COLORED LAND. scope and complexity that it will e- the reader. No slipshod straw fig­ Its richly complex future-history ventually rival THE LORD OF THE RINGS, ures permeate the novel, only full- will be explored farther: THE GOLD­ THE FOUNDATION TRILOGY and THE LENS­ bodied individuals who act from the EN TORC, the direct sequel to be pub­ MAN SERIES as among the best that SF same dark compulsions as do most of has to offer. us. lished in Fall, 1981, will resume the adventures of the eight human pro­ The main storyline opens with tagonists in the, Pliocene Era. Two Another impressive aspect of THE humanity recently admitted into a other volumes, THE NONBORN KING and MANY-COLORED LAND is the pace with federation called the Coadunate Gal­ THE ADVERSARY, which concludes the which the characters and plot are actic Milieu in a time of peace and Pliocene Tetralogy, are currently controlled. The story doesn't slow prosperity such as the human race under contract; the Galactic Era, and wallow in self-conscious inter­ has rarely known throughout all its which I find fascinating and unique, ior monologue as does some "serious" long and bloody history. Neverthe­ will be the theme of several novels. SF; rather, we come to know the char­ less, there are humans who are unhap­ acters through their actions and Although I read THE MANY-COLORED py in this new "Golden Age". Some watch them grow almost unconsciously. LAND some time ago, several images pine for a simpler time when society It is only when a particular moment and characters still remain in my was not so mannered; others are un­ hits, when you suddenly think, "Yeah, mind: the flickering lights of the suited by psychological problems to that's right; I've felt that way, Tanu cities, the strange Firvulag, exist in the highly-structured gal­ the hideous Howlers, the comic Aiken, actic civilization; still others are too", that you begin to realize what fierce Felice, gentle Amerie, Eliz­ criminals or potentially dangerous a masterful job the author has done. abeth the metapsychic ... people, sociopaths. In most cases, such mis­ Characterization is probably the places and events that are imaginary fits would be inprisoned, "reorient­ hardest aspect of a story to carry ed" (some humans have developed var­ off, but May does it in style so that yet strangely real through the power of the writing. ious and sundry psychic powers) or whether you like or dislike his char­ acters, you will remember them -- and executed. However, thanks to anoth­ If you are bored with the bland isn't that a rarity in SF? er scientist's invention, another op­ books so Currently prevalent in SF, tion is available: exile through a this novel will surprise and delight time portal which opens to a period THE MANY-COLORED LAND is also with its fresh outlook, exciting six million years in Earth's past, noted for the sly wit and variety of story, literate sensibilities and the Pliocene Epoch. It only operates humor (from esoteric to bawdy), es­ evocative prose. Buy this book, one-way, however; anything returning pecially in the character Aiken Drum, read it, then re-read it, give it as through the portal turns into dust, who has a penchant for playing out­ a gift -- this has "award-winner" making it the perfect exile. It is rageous pranks. Various amusing an­ written all over it. I plan to nom­ voluntary and there are many volun­ thropological and historical refer­ inate it for a Hugo. teers . ences are slipped in throughout the ******ftft**************ft*ft*********ft* narrative. The author also takes The story follows eight timefar- subtle and not-so-subtle potshots at ers as they journey into the past. a number of sacred cows: sports, What they find there surprises and the SCA, Celtophilia, Dungeons and shocks them greatly, for unknown to Dragons, Sword-and-Sorcery, back-to- future humanity, an intergalactic nature types and L-5 Colonies. alien race has settled Pliocene Earth and promptly enslaves all who come The real power of the book for through the time portal. Our eight me, lies in its many levels of mean­ protagonists are captured and the ing. Readers can, if they wish, story follows their various adven­ simply read on the exciting surface tures as they try to extricate them­ level of action, adventure and sus­ selves and the rest of humanity from pense; or they can enjoy the liter­ alien domination. ary feast of quite deliberate deeper symbolic meanings which underlay the One of the most delightful and basic storyline, if they like some compelling things about THE MANY-COL­ thematic strawberries to go with the ORED LAND is the rich characteriza­ frothy action- permeated whipped tion. Unlike most recent science cream. There are many mythic and psychological motifs. fiction, it presents people (humans and nonhumans alike) as separate, 54 YOU CANNOT DIE Tying in with the book, YOU CAN­ TEN YEARS AGO IN SF: SPRING, 1971 NOT DIE: "Mind Control" which re­ By Ian Currie BY ROBERT SABELLA Playboy Paperbacks, Non-Fiction/ lates to the chapter on possession; astral travel (O.B.E.) is mentioned Parapsychology, March, 1981 Ballantine Books raised the cover on page 239; an enlightening article 288 pp., $2.50 price of most of their science fic­ on "Parallel Space-Time Continuum ISBN: 0-872-16791-7 tion titles to $1.25! ... The Nebula Hypothesis" shows there may be many winners for 1970 were announced: REVIEWED BY PAULETTE MINARE' spatial dimensions existing beyond RINGWORLD by Larry Niven was Best the three we know, length, width and Novel; "" by Fritz YOU CANNOT DIE by Ian Currie has depth --a fourth dimension is time, Leiber was Best Novella; "Slow Sculp­ eight chapters, each treating a ma­ so that, due to differences in vib­ ture" by Theodore Sturgeon was Best jor area of phenomena: apparitions, rational frequencies, the invisible Novelet. In perhaps science fiction's hauntings, out-of-body-experiences realm of God and spirits could exist most embarrassing gaffe, Isaac Asi­ (O.B.E.s), deathbed visions, resus­ in our same space; in both books mov mistakenly announced "The Island citation experiences (of the "clini­ telepathy is used as conmunication of Doctor Death and Other Stories" cally dead"), possession experiences, among spirits and among extradimen­ by Gene Wolfe, as the winner of Best reincarnation claims and mediumistic sional UFO occupants. communications. On each page are Short Story. He had to renege on In the next issue of SFR, there that award in Wolfe's presence, when numbered references to the 15-page will be Wesley Graham's article, "Be­ bibliography in the back of the book, it was revealed that No Award took yond the Fringe." Several topics listed chapter-by-chapter. the prize with "The Island of Doctor discussed there are treated in the Death..." finishing second ... AMAZ­ To one who has little or no be­ UFO ENCYCLOPEDIA: "Foo Fighters" ING STORIES serialized THE LATHE OF lief in these phenomena, the title and where they got their name; "Pro­ HEAVEN, by Ursula LeGuin ... GALAXY YOU CANNOT DIE, could well be a turn­ ject Blue Book”, a U.S. Air Force re­ MAGAZINE serialized A TIME OF CHANGES off, but open-minded people of what­ port on UFOs and what became of it; by ... Ballantine ever belief will find it very inter­ "The Condon Report" and what Condon Books published DRAGONQUEST, the se­ esting reading -- and will read fur­ did not mention. cond of Anne McCaffrey's popular ther to find it not only thought- Dragon books. (Thanks to LOCUS for Of interest is the article on provoking, but even amazing: For several of the above items.) "Bigfoot" and how many link this whenever the reader thinks, "Yes, ************************************ but ..." he reads on to find that hairy creature to the 25th chapter experiences are skillfully presented of Genesis account where Rebecca from various angles which give an­ gave birth to twins, "the first came swers to his mental reservations. I out red, all over like an hairy gar­ doubt if there is any person who can ment". read this without having his deepest Space limits me to only a few of convictions shaken. the many articles in this comprehens­ Of the eight phenomena, I found ive book on UFOs. the least convincing to be reincarn­ ************************************ ation.

THE UFO ENCYCLOPEDIA This publication By Margaret Sachs is available Perigee Books, 1980, 7(a X 9k" Pbk. Non-fiction, 408pp., $9.95 in microform. ISBN: 0-399-12365-2 SBN : 399-50454-0 Pbk. REVIEWED BY PAULETTE MINARE' CANNED MEA T This is the best source book I A SCIENCE FICTION NOVEL have seen for the UFO phenomenon. BY RICHARD E. GEIS Subjects are dealt with alphabetical­ ly. In the front is a listing of Life in a computer-run domed chronological UFO sightings, giving city and the failing civiliza­ tion of which it is a part. location, number of witnesses and University Microfilms description. Supplements in the Roi and Eelia, two young citi­ back of the book include 3 pictorial International zens of the dome, two children pages of UFO shapes and maneuvers, of Great Mother Computer, meet 8 pages listing UFO organizations 300 North Zeeb Road and experiment with forbidden Dept. PR. and contactee groups, 8 pages of pub­ Ann Arbor, Mi. 48106 sex. lications dealing with UFOs and re­ USA. lated subjects and 8 pages of maps Covers by Bruce Conklin showing location and times of UFO 30-32 Mortimer Street waves. Dept. PR. $4. London WIN 7RA Of special interest to us in the England Order from: Northwest, a U.S. map on page 379 Science Fiction Review shows NfcMinnville, Oregon, as the POB 11408 site of a major UFO event in 1950, Portland, OR 97211 followed by an article on page 194. Mount Rainier is also shown and dis­ cussed. 55 MAM

ANALOG Reviewed By Patricia Mathews

FEBRUARY 2, 1981 ISSUE MARCH 2, 1981 ISSUE

Charles Sheffield is back with as a Gothic hero/villain, then is to­ With the Shroud of Turin much in another story about space pilot Jean­ tally reasonable as he gets it through the news, it is not surprising that ie Roker and her charming, but imprac­ his thick head that Obregon really is one of the most interesting stories tical physicist friend, McAndrew in Somebody. Reporter Alice Arnold in the March S ANALOG is Michael Mc­ "All the Colors of the Vacuum". comes through as wolf-on-the-prowl Collum's "The Shroud". He has a Jeanie grows more likable with every and gringo chauvinist at the same good idea and it reads well. Unfor­ story and now that one no longer has time, scaring Frank into a clumsy re­ tunately, he grossly underestimates to understand the McAndrews drive, alization that poor Jackie isn't so the basic mental toughness of the the story moves right along. Let's bad after all; she's just trying to clergy -- they've heard it all be­ have some more where that came from. be people. High time. He refuses fore, usually in seminary. I could Alice on the grounds he can think of also question his "hellfire and brim­ I hate to put Sheffield, or any­ no other woman but his wife, but stone Episcopalian" -- it's really body else, ahead of , when Joyce Fisher of the State De­ not like them -- but it's possible, but the last thing I need right now partment feeds him a totally un-Lat- so let it be. A good read. is a pair of tired, middle-aged pro­ ina line about multiple loves, he tagonists given to the sort of fan­ "Paradise Misplaced", the lead takes her to bed, presumably because tasizing one does over the dishpan -- she's the only one (except Jackie) novelette by Ian Stewart, has an in­ I have mirrors all over my house. who didn't get pushy. Soviets are teresting technical girmick and pol- These two are exploring Iapetus and said to be prowling, and at the last itical-conmercial feud, all sorts of nearly get themselves killed through minute a planeload of Chilean diplo­ intrigue. It also has a running their daydreaming; do we really need mats blows up in the air. Because thread of literary reference (The Poul Anderson to tell us this? Not the Pascuans stole the gas tank cap? Faerie Queene) and some of the most even he can convince me any halfway appalling name games and puns since bright exploring party would get that Reading this is like taking a walk the ninth grade. The only irritat­ hooked with a job at hand. The ac­ on a high-gravity planet; the scenery ing one was the name Lindilu -- ag­ tion was competently done and the may be all right, but it's easier to ain, what a ninth-grader would make characters were likable, if all too stay home and read a good book. Be­ out of Lindy Lou in order to be ex­ familiar. "" by Poul sides, if the characters are typical otic. But fun, and again, a good Anderson. of either NASA or State, no wonder read. the country's in the mess it's in. Eric Vinicoff's "Politics of A half-witted dog could cheat this "We're Working on It" by Robin Plenty" does the same sort of thing bunch at cards. Kincaid is the story of two time Mack Reynolds does, but better, and the lead character's moral dilemma is both nicely done and central to the story. A mechanical genius, bom in an African village, discovered by an American Peace Corps volunteer, is asked to "solve" an alien matter transmitter that could mean the end of the Third World or its salvation -- but the big powers want to use it as an economic weapon against them. Lee Correy's "Shuttle Down" lum­ bers on. Chilean governor Ernesto Obregon reiterates that the Pascuan natives are thieves; nothing has come of this yet. Shuttle Coimander Frank King pulls a "no furriner is gonna push me around" act with Obre­ gon, who is as coy about his reasons machine repair techs finding a super­ "The Venetian Court", about a patent by redistributing work: fewer hours advanced version of the coimon kit­ infringement case, a computer, a mad for everyone and more careful crafts­ chen machine -- one that can do the judge, in an age when guilt carries manship. This, by the way, is mere­ impossible -- and coping with the re­ the death penalty. Despite the his­ ly an illustration of his thesis percussions. Unfortunately, how it torical reference in the title, it that one problem can often be used got in that kitchen is totally silly. should also be called "The Byzantine to solve another. Sounds good and "Mis tard Seed", by Jaygee Carr, Court" for its complexity and flavor. rather Greening-of-America; I'd have has a pirate attacking a frontier "Hollow Victory" by Timothy Zahn to see how it works out at the farm with an unusual pet with a very is a classic puzzle. A shipload of shop, the donut place, and the other strange life cycle. Old theme, nice touchy, proud aliens are down with businesses I'm familiar with. story, nicely exotic details and an unknown illness; interstellar dip­ Nice magazine this month! setting. lomacy hangs on Earth's representa­ tives finding a cure. One nit: And now for the hatchet. SHUTTLE Would worlds like the aliens'-be as DCHN by Lee Correy, concludes, with scarce as the story claims? some loose ends tied up that were never there to begin with and others "Incredibility Gap", by Ian Stew­ ASIMOV'S left dangling. To summarize: art, leaves the town klutz stranded in a swamp with monsters coming on The Chilean governor's oft-re­ and his girl's father to impress. peated statement that the island na­ Reviewed By Clever and fun. tives are thieves has never come to anything, so I guess we're supposed "Seek Not Prometheus", by Edward to take it as an expression of his A. Byers is a three-way conflict in Robert Sabella contempt for them. A native comes one short story. One side wants to to Frank King and in very obscure destroy the alien Gates; the hero language tells him the Rapa Nui peop­ must battle the ultimate in monsters JANUARY 19, 1981 ISSUE le would be overjoyed to come into and his old teacher as well, to keep FEBRUARY 16, 1981 ISSUE the twentieth century; one in the them open. Byers goes for the human eye for the governor. tragedy and gets better every time. MARCH 16 1981 ISSUE The plane that was shot down was "Schrodinger's Cat" by Rudy Ruck­ a Soviet sabotage job. The governor er, is an updated, highly intellec­ shoots the island's only doctor and tual version of THE FLY. The cat in After reading science fiction announces after the fact that he was question is in a mixed state; so are magazines for eighteen years I feel a KGB agent. Really, in any other the two inventors of a time machine. that most magazine fiction is read­ story with this plot, the man would If it's possible to get a laugh out able, even interesting to various de­ be the villain! of physics textbooks, this would be grees. However, it is my opinion it. that only a small minority of it is Jackie finds herself pregnant by fully successful. I estimate the I got a little lost with Paul J. one of the crew following a shore typical av­ Nahin's "Security Blanket", though leave luau in the first or second erages one fully successful story the point was clear. The U.S. is installment; she does not love the per issue. fooling the Russians, elaborately. father, but merely likes him; she A father concocts a tale about a Consider ASIMOV'S. In the four doesn't believe in abortion; a con­ force-field to reassure a child ter­ previous issues I have read for re­ venient shootout gets Jackie and rified by the prospect of atomic war. view, five stories were successful. embryo; she marries the guy anyway. Everybody gets all tangled up, a lit­ This quarter the quality dipped Frank King acknowledges, now that tle hilariously for such a serious slightly to two successful stories. it's all over, that Jackie would be start. I do find myself wondering That is exactly seven successful a hell of a pilot; that's big of why we seem to be rerunning the e- stories in seven issues. Consider­ him, but I hope she gets her head vents and Zeitgeist of thirty years ing Sturgeon's Law (90% of everything together before doing anything else, ago. It may have been the Golden is crap -- including reviews), that in spacecraft or before the Justice Age of ANALOG (ASTOUNDING) but it is a decent average. of the Peace. was certainly the leaden age of pol­ Obviously, I do not suggest that Oh, yes, SHUTTLE DOWN gets off itics. only the few successful stories the ground at last. should be read. These three ASIMOV'S The issue is rounded off with a also had three stories that were Three excellent science-fact good reference article on Xenobiology partially successful for various rea­ articles conclude this issue, one by Dr. Robert A. Freitas and a very sons, as well as one recommended non­ of them the guest editorial. As a good article by Harry Stine on the fiction article. lifelong space buff, I'm deeply in­ ecosphere as seen from the air. terested in getting our program off H # # # the ground, and why it's not. Phys­ I used to fly from San Francisco icist Silbar can always be counted to El Paso regularly. It was obvious I seldom read the nonfiction in on for a readable, fact-filled over­ where the people were: wherever the science fiction magazines since it view of the latest in physics. The landscape looked green. It was the tends to concentrate on the harder last is a regular feature, Alternate trademark of humankind. I could nev­ sciences (physics, engineering, etc.) View, on waldoes. er listen to moanings about humans while I much prefer the softer sci­ despoiling the landscape with the ences (sociology, psychology, mathe­ same complacency again; I had seen matics). Fortunately, ASIMOV'S has differently. So I was very glad to been offering a different bag of MARCH 30, 1981 ISSUE read this confirmation of my own ob­ nonfiction than either ANALOG or servations. F§SF. While not all of it has been my cup of tea -- such as John M. And Stanley Schmidt's editorial, This is a very good ANALOG! En­ Ford's gameplaying series -- they oc­ suggesting that we end the throwaway joyable, fun to read and hard to put casionally offer something of inter­ economy and the unemployment problem down. est. NV favorites are James Gunn's Charles L. Hamess has a novella, S7 critical analyses of science fiction, excerpts from several of his recent youngsters about life in the old books. The 19 January issue had days; the great plague which wiped "On the Robot Novels", a 23-page out the technological civilization study of Isaac Asimov's THE CAVES OF and forced the survivors to adapt to STEEL and THE NAKED SUN. While I a pastoral lifestyle; the young boy F&SF always considered THE NAKED SUN a mi­ doomed to succumb to the plague ex­ nor SF-detective novel, THE CAVES OF cept the readers know he was the STEEL is one of the inportant clas­ storyteller as a child so therefore Reviewed By sics of the field. Gunn's views on he must have survived! Hopefully, it are interesting and he does not Wilson will write future stories seem to search for meanings that As­ less from the memory of SF stories imov never intended (a flaw of many he's enjoyed. If so, he has a pro­ Russell literary analysts). Very worthwhile mising future. reading. "I Have A Winter Reason" by Me­ lissa Michaels, is quite a frustrat­ Engebretson Speaking of detective stories, ing story. Her first sale was se­ both successful stories this quarter lected by Terry Carr for last year's FEBRUARY ISSUE feature strong elements from that THE BEST SCIENCE FICTION OF THE YEAR, genre. "Death in Vesunna", by Eric so you know she can write well. She The February issue of F^SF is G. Iverson and Elaine O'Byrne, com­ vividly creates the framework of an distinguished mainly by the presence bines a murder mystery with time asteroid dweller returning to Earth of a Stephen King story, which I will travel. Two time travelers go back for the first time in twenty years, come to later. to 150 A.D. to obtain a rare copy of a tortured woman who is both convinc­ "The Softest Hammer" by Charles Sophicles'lost play, "Aleadai". In ing and sympathetic. Unfortunately, Sheffield is a club story in the doing so, they foolishly kill the the story is basically hollow. No­ mold of 's "Jorkens" play's owner with a pistol. Imagine thing happens except the woman en­ tales. In this instance, the club the puzzlement of the local law en­ dures her suffering while trying is a literary agency rather than a forcement officials as they try to vainly to alienate the only person bar, and most of the story's charm solve such a murder! It's all clev­ syirpathetic to her. If there had derives from the breezy dialogue. erly done and plays fair. been a plot to fill this shell it The surprise ending is transparently could have been quite good. "These Stones will Remember" is obvious early in the story and ruins a thoroughly competent thriller by much of the fun. Reginold Bretnor which succeeds on I mentioned in a previous re­ view that I liked Sydney Van Scyoc's Jim Aikin's "The Lilith" is an two levels. Its climax -- the interesting exploration of a future murder of a high-level Soviet aca­ gentle stories and "Bluewater Dream" is as readable as the previous one in which only a handful of mutated demician --is admitted by the nar­ females are responsible for the con­ rator in the opening paragraph and was. It concerns the love of a young space colonist for her native alien tinuation of the human race. There's it keeps you hooked trying to fig­ plenty of sex and a violent yet sad­ ure out how and why the deed was pet and her reaction when she learns it is dying of a disease caught from ly thoughtful ending. My only gripe done. On a more SFnal level, it con­ is with the present tense narrative, cerns a fascinating theory about res­ humans. The story fails because of an unconvincing ending. It seemed the use of which always leaves me urrecting ghosts of the past through feeling somewhat breathless. modern science. My only regret is as if Ms. Van Scyoc felt compelled that more of the latter was not ex­ to tack on a happy ending as well "Absolutely the Last, This is plored. as a comeuppance for all the colon­ It, No More, The Final Pact with the ists unwilling to accept the alien Devil Story" by Michael Armstrong The partially successful stories as intelligent. Neither fit into (which deserves an award for longest were: the context of the story. Still it title) is a fictional correspondence "Island Man" by R.A. Wilson, a is worth reading for its better parts story full of in-joke references to first story which shows promise. SF authors and editors. To fulfill Wilson paces well, holds the reader's his pact with the Screwtape Literary interest and creates a strong mood. Agency, the protagonist frantically Unfortunately, he writes about lit­ submits a terrible story to one edi­ tle more than a pack of cliches: tor after another -- Red White, Ned there's the old storyteller regaling Nova, Harmless Edison -- only to be met by rejections. A fast-moving, witty story. "The Oracle and the Mountains" by Stephen King is the third in a series of stories about Roland, the last gunslinger, and his search for . Although King has written a string of best-sellers, his love and knowledge of SF and fantasy shows in much of his work. A frighteningly good writer, Stephen King has taken all the ingredients of formula fiction and shown what power they have in the hands of a master. This new story is a depart­ ure for him. It is set in some un­ specified time and place. There are demons that speak through skulls and haunt ancient ruins, a mysterious Man in Black, and a Dark Tower that stands at the root of time. Heady stuff for a fantasy fan. And the APRIL ISSUE television series. This situation characterization is superb. Need I has been rectified by the editors of add, this is a highly recommended There are several good stories the new TWILIGHT ZONE magazine, how­ story? in the April issue. ever: Hie first issue features a story by Ellison as the cover feat­ "A Hedge Against Alchemy" by ure. "Grail", probably not so sur­ MARCH ISSUE John Morressy is a humorous fantasy prisingly, fits into both the biting about a wizard and barbarian in search Harlan Ellison tradition as well as "A Peculiar Man" by Ken Wisman of a mountain of gold. The story oc­ the TWilight Zone mold of having a contains some nice writing built casionally slips into juvenile sil­ basically contemporary setting with around the theme of loneliness. It's liness, but was in the main enjoy­ one fantastic element thrown in to about an intelligent and sensitive able. There's a nice twist at the prove a point. "Grail" is a story hunchback and his search for friend­ end too. about a man who, like many through­ ship. The ending is a disappointment; "Taste Taste" by Larry Tritten out the ages, devotes his life to giving the reader an easy and unreal is a spooky story of alien possession. the search for "true love". As sug­ resolution to the problem. gested in the title, Ellison paral­ "Nightmares" by Ian Watson is "Right of Passage" by Terry lels this quest with that for The about the efforts of four astronauts Brykczynski is a wry tale of talking Holy Grail but the story itself re­ to disperse an alien that has monkeys and human nature. minds one more of Gutman's life-long covered the skies of Earth, blotting quest in Dashiell Hamnett's THE MAL­ Bob Shaw's "Go On, Pick a Uni­ out the sun and stars. The supposed­ TESE FALCON. Ellison's masterful verse'." is a second-rate story by a ly malignant presence is found to be use of cliches makes this story a first-rate writer. He is capable of benevolent; it was protecting life true delight. The basic premise much better than this. on Earth from a gigantic . for the story lies in a joke that The climax is bitterly ironic. "A Day at the Fair" by Neal Bar­ Ellison told a few times last year, ret, Jr. is a very good and cryptic "Stuff of Dreams" by Lewis Shin­ but in the stoiy Ellison delivers story set in the distant future on er is a surrealistic excursion into the punchline and then drops the a planet called Far. It's told from the world of an intern hooked on an real conclusion on you like a ton the viewpoint of a young girl, Toon- exotic new drug. When analyzed, the of bricks. "Grail" is a really won­ ey, in a matter-of-fact narration drug is found to be a noncontagious derful story and serves well to set that highlights the strange setting virus that fastens onto a receptor the tone for the entire magazine. and events. in the brainstem and injects RNA in­ "Remembering Melody" is a grue­ to the cells. The ending leaves one "Last Song of the Voiceless Man" some, painfully graphic story that wondering who is the dreamer and who is Warren Brown's first published never would have been adaptable to the dreamed. story. A psychologist, guilt-ridden the television series, but George by the death of a friend in a car Susan C. Petrey's "Spareen Among R.R. Martin has successfully captur­ accident, travels to a space station the Cossacks" is a remarkable story ed the feeling of a Rod Serling snap designed for the treatment of space- of the Varkela, a dying race of vam­ ending. The "Three Cautionary Tales" induced psychosis. What follows is pires. The year is not given, but by Robert Sheckley, "The Rose Wall" her encounter with a patient and at- I would guess the story's events by Joyce Carol Oates, "Author's Que­ tenpts to understand and treat his take place around the late fifteenth ry" by Fred G. Shapiro and "The Death psychosis. She comes to terms with century. Spareen, a Varkela leech­ Runner" by Thomas Sullivan all fit, her guilt and discovers that an at­ man, rides to the Cossack fort at more or less, into the Twilight Zone tempted alien contact with her pa­ Groznoi at the request of his broth­ style and make for very entertaining tient is the cause of his insanity. er, Vaylance. There he attempts to reading, though none is particularly This is a strong, solid story that heal one of his brother's patients. distinguished. Yet the quality of deals realistically with human prob­ This is a nearly perfect story; ev­ the worst of these is above that of lems. erything clicks together and balances the average fiction magazine these just right. I was enthralled from days. IN THE WESTERN TRADITION, a nov­ start to finish. And the very sad Felice Picano in "Absolute Ebony" ella by Phyllis Eisenstein, is also news is that the author, Susan C. concerned with human problems. The has contributed a nicely-crafted 19th- Petrey, died on December 5, 1980. Bubble is a visual time machine, a Century-style story that, by the As the editor of FtjSF wrote, her window into the past, run by trained sheer power of its author's abilities, "... loss will be felt by anyone operators and used mainly by histor­ still fits well into the TVilight familiar with her work". ians. Basically, the story is con­ Zone mode. It is the story of an ob­ cerned with the main character's sessive young artist who, after much loss of his lover, Alison. He dis­ critical acclaim, becomes reclusive covers Alison, an operator like him­ in his search for the ultimate black self, has fixated on Jimmy Logan, a pigment. Unfortunately, he is suc­ minor character in the life of Wyatt THE TWILIGHT cessful. Earp, and tries to convince her of the futility of loving a man long ZONE dead. I found myself reacting Many of the stories in the maga­ zine might look a little grim. To against Alison's coldness to her for­ mer lover, hoping she would come Reviewed By show a sense of humor, they've thrown round to his point of view and real­ in Ron Goulart's hilarious "Grouchd', ized I was completely caught up in James J. J. Wi/son about an inept TV script writer whose the characters ' emotional dileimas. collaborator dies and is reincarnat­ IN THE WESTERN TRADITION is mature ed as a cat. It is inpossible to read this story without laughing out and rich in metaphor and by itself APRIL 1981 ISSUE worth the cost of the magazine. loud. The final fiction entry in the Harlan Ellison never wrote for issue is Rod Serling's original Rod Serling's classic TWILIGHT ZONE script from the TWILIGHT ZONE epi­ 59 sode, "Walking Distance". This piece about a frustrated, Madison Avenue woman attendants of the baby farm. executive who recaptures his past by The trouble was, I empathized with visiting his old home town, is the the Vampire and felt sorry for him personification of what Rod Serling's and took his problem seriously. THE vision of The Twilight Zone must What's more, the solution was plaus­ have been. Rod Serling was one of ible. CORPORATION the great script writers in Holly­ The next story is listed in the wood's history and even those who index as a feature, not fiction, are not familiar with the format probably because it is a reprint. STRIKES BACK should enjoy it. Gregory Benford's grim vignetieof Other features of the magazine future ghetto life, "Nobody Lives on A NEW EROTIC SCIENCE FICTION NOVEL include a biography of Rod Serling, Burton Street". Dateline, 1969, but BY RICHARD E. GEIS a lengthy interview of Stephen King not dated. THE STAR WHORES SAGA CONTINUES— by Charles L. Grant, an episode "The Fall", by and Toi King, Sex Guild Companion, is guide to the television show's first George R.R. Martin, is tragedy, about kipnapped by the corporation she season, a full-color movie preview a lifelong Flyer losing her wings. frustrated in STAR WHORES. Taken of 's ESCAPE FROM NEW Good characterization, excellent de­ to Phallus, the pleasure planet, YORK, film reviews by Gahan Wilson tail of a strange world, but surely injected with a new, powerful sex and book reviews by Theodore Sturg­ it can't end there? There has to be drug, enslaved, she must make her eon. Still the bulk of the magazine more. escape and seek a terrible revenge. is devoted to the excellent fiction. "So I was Born" is a short-short, The surprisingly high level of metamorphosis is the point. quality fiction in THE TWILIGHT ZONE gives it probably the strongest line­ "Project Purple" by Lewis Jacob­ up of any other mostly-fiction mag­ sen is the ANALOG-styled story, with azine currently available. THE TWI­ an outside expert called in to solve LIGHT ZONE is certainly the best and a technical problem, much to the most entertaining fantasy magazine resentment of company scientists. since John Campbell's UNKNOWN and Just a bit rabbit-out-of-hat. Horace Gold's BEYOND. It is a wel­ 's "A Smell of Sul­ come addition to the dwindling short phur" gives the Wicked Witch of the fiction market, and if the high lev­ West a moral choice before the e el achieved with this first issue is vents outlined by Frank Baum proceed maintained, just might become the on their inevitable way. Kaye has premier publication in the field. been playing games in well-establish­ ed universes for some time, and it's fun. 'The Greater Gift" by Wayne Wight­ man pits the well-meaning agent of AMAZING the greedy empire against the plan­ etary being; good triumphs in a rath­ er gory fashion. Read it for the Reviewed By puzzle and don't expect too many loose ends to be tied off.

Patricia Mathews "The Lock-Box and the Magic Mong­ er" is sword-and-sorcery, with a rascally hero and his Amazon owner- AMAZING, MAY, 1981 for-a-while. Salmonson's descrip­ tion of how the Amazon thinks and behaves tells a lot about how she thinks men think and behave, as in This issue of AMAZING was read­ NOW AVAILABLE $4.00 per copy most simple-reversal stories; how­ able and interesting with a Somtow ever, enjoy the fun. Sucharitkul Mallworld story, a Tut- le 5 Martin Windhaven story, a tech­ Richard Anker's "The Action nological gimmick story in the man­ Hook", shouts ''surprise" in the read­ ner of ANALOG, one of Marvin Kaye's er's ear, followed by a can of tom­ STAR WHORES literary jests, an Amazon story by atoes and a cascading series of puns AVAILABLE AGAIN - A FEW COPIES , another at the end. $4.00 per copy greedy-Human-Enpire versus self-pro­ AMAZING has come a long way claimed allpowerful-planetary-entity from its crudzine days. It may still The first Toi King sex/sf adven­ story, and a chaotic self-proclaimed run second to the current Big Three: ture. Love & Death on an Inter­ can of Tomato Surprise. I noticed ANALOG, ASIMOV'S and F$SF. Howev­ stellar mining ship. that three or four of them could er, it's a very respectable second. have been published in, or at least If it were available locally outside aimed at, other magazines; I think of a few specialized places far from AMAZING makes it a habit to run the my home, I'd buy it. Kaye stories and the Amazon stories. ORDER FROM: The introduction said "Vampire SCIENCE FICTION REVIEW of Mallworld" was funny. I'm glad P.O. BOX 11408 they told me; it explained some of PORTLAND, OR 97211 the things I found a bit much, like the diaper costume of the full-grown 60 to 200,000 per title to defined read­ ers. Such efforts in SF have usual­ ly failed (i.e. Laser Books) because the SF reader is tougher to pigeon­ hole. IBB Science Fiction has been faring better than the industry as a whole; the estimated rate of growth is around 10-12%, varying from company to company. The near-term future BBMAJI of SF varies widely: Some publish­ ers like Doubleday and Dell have or are cutting back, other companies such as Holt are starting lines, others like Ace which had cut back, are re-expanding and Pinnacle under the Tor imprint is newly entering 1BIH1BB the field in a big way. Among the magazines, one promising newcomer, TWILIGHT ZONE, has started monthly SF NEWS BY ELTON T. ELLIOTT production, Davis is bringing a new entry (see Magazine News), rumors abound that OMNI will start an all- Corporations unhappy with lower SF magazine; several more are in REMEMBER THE ADDRESS FOR THIS profits could (1) sell off less-prof­ the planning. itable divisions, (2) instruct their COLUMN IS: ELTON T. ELLIOTT, Does all this signal that, for top executives to cut expenses and SFR, 1899 WIESSNER DRIVE N.E., SF at least, the Recession has end­ SALEM, OR 97303. maximize profits or (3) sell the company. Options 1 and 3 have been ed? Probably not; with a shaky ec­ onomy nothing is ever out from the extensively used (i.e. Harcourt Recession cloud -- it might signal Brace Javonovich sold Jove, its mass market division to Berkley, RCA sold a leveling-off in the SF field. It will be difficult but possible to to Newhouse and the # COMENTARY bring out a new magazine or book Ditch firm Elsevier has E.P. Dutton line provided the party knows the AN INDIAN SUNMER? up for sale). market, has adequate capital and The 1980 preliminary reports The mix of books is 70-30% pap­ doesn't overextend. erback over hardcover, causing vari­ are in. PUBLISHER'S WEEKLY announc­ The Industry short-term outlook ous maneuvers among the publishers: ed in the April 3, 1981 issue that is that publishers are prepared to Bantam plans to publish Clive Cus- publishers' net sales in 1980 amount­ live with high interest rates in ed to nearly $6.79 billion, an in­ sler's (author of RAISE THE TITANIC) hardcover, NIGHT PROBE, in August; fear that in retreating too far, crease of 11.9% over 1979; books they will lose their place in the Crown is publishing Gil Ziff's new sold, around 1.8 billion, up only market. Evidence of this: A re­ novel, TIBET, in trade paper only; 2.8%. Christmas, when most book­ cent first novel, WOMAN'S WORK by several publishers are experimenting stores make half their yearly reven­ Anne Tolstoi Wallach, sold for with simultaneous cloth/trade paper ues, was slightly ahead of 1979. $850,000 to NAL; other novels have releases; some are combining to bid The general picture is clear, not received high bids, even in advance on a book, the Perigord imprint one the publishing industry relishes. of the manuscript. In the long-term, jointly used by Morrow for hardcover PUBLISHER'S WEEKLY, in its "The releases and Bantam for massmarket, today's summertime outlook will cloud all too soon, and for the un­ Year (1980) in Review", elaborates: is among the first, company spokes­ prepared, it is disaster. "It was a year ... of considerable men denying rumors of its impending economic hardship for many publish­ demise, more juggling of lines and ers, one in which inflation continu­ experimenting is to be expected. ed at a steady and unacceptably high level and the cost of borrowing mon­ One method publishers use is to ey rose at some points to over 20%. entice readers into buying series of Cash flow became a serious problem books in a specialized area: an ex­ all along the line from author to ample, Harlequin with Romances. The bookseller". Contrast this with 15 idea is the "canned goods" approach, years ago when the megacorporate con­ packaging each book of the series glomerates started buying publishing like every other; the theory is the companies, the average yearly growth reader will buy each title as if it was 15-20%+, and had been since were soup or crackers. Harlequin's World War II. To corporate America, success has encouraged others to the publishing industry appeared a try the Romance market; recently good investment, up there with dog Scholastic Books started a line, food and real estate. The growth Wildfire Romances, for teenagers and rate slowed in the late '70s when Bantam is following with Wishing spiraling book prices (a 300% in­ Star Books, aimed exclusively at crease in mass-market paperbacks) women. Warner plans a line of ac- and worsened economics left custom­ tion/adventure books aimed at men, ers with less money for non-essen­ called Men of Action. The advantage tials, diminishing the profit/sales of both Romance and Action books is rate of increase, making publishing a fairly sure sale of around 125,000 a less attractive investment. 61 # IV: million words of short fiction to Held at Hyatt House by the Seat­ to be collected into short­ tle-Tacoma Airport, with attendance story anthologies.) of over 1400. During this harried weekend I managed to talk to some authors and the Artist Guest of Hon­ ft MAGAZINE NEWS or, . The Guest of Davis Publications plans a Honor was Samuel R. Delany; Toast­ third magazine, SCIENCE FICTION DI­ master was Philip Klass (William GEST, to be digest-sized like their Tenn). Again, it was enjoyable to other SF magazines, ASIMOV'S and talk to the readers of this column; ANALOG. It will feature three my thanks for your kind conuients. 25,000-word condensations of full- ft Rowena Morrill is under cont­ length novels per issue, edited by ract to Timescape/Pocket Books; Shawna McCarthy, Managing Editor of covers she has done for them are: ASIMOV'S and ANALOG. It will debut DESTINIES is apparently dead, RETIEF OF THE CUT and the upcoming in August with an August cover date, informed sources say, the result of Philip K. Dick hardcover, THE DIVINE press run of 100,000 copies, publi­ contract squabbles between former INVASION. shed quarterly. The distributor editor, James Baen, and Ace Books. of the 192-page issue will be Curtis, There are 3 or 4 issues in inventory ft Dean Ing has sold two novels which also handles ASIMOV'S and ANA­ THE BERKLEY SF SHOWCASE has changed to Ace; the first, SYSTEMIC SHOCK, LOG, art to be handled by the Davis its schedule to a one-a-year anthol­ will appear in June. Art Department under direction of ogy; ASIMOV'S and ANALOG are on a ft Christopher Stasheff has com­ Ralph Rubino, also in charge of art four-week schedule; FANTASY 8 SCI­ pleted a new novel, THE WARLOCK UN­ for the other Davis SF publications, ENCE FICTION, CM4I and THE TWILICHT LOCKED, third in the Rod Gallowglass replacing ANALOG'S and ASIMOV'S edi­ ZONE are monthlies; AMAZING appears series, with a novel-in-progress tors in that function. bi-monthly. ARES has discontinued tentatively titled ESCAPE VELOCITY. most SF stories not directly relat­ SF CHRONICLE reports that SCI­ ed to the simulation games featured ft Alexis Gilliland, whose illus­ ENCE FICTION DIGEST is not an open in each issue. trations grace this magazine, has market; most deals will be made with written a sequel to his first novel, subsidiary rights managers at major QUESTAR, a magazine previously THE REVOLUTION FROM ROSINANTE, cal­ book publishers. Where possible, devoted mainly to the cinematic side led LONG SHOT FOR ROSINANTE, to be author approval of the condensations of SF, is now printing fiction. The published by in October. will be sought, and the ideal publi­ new fiction editor is Horace Gold, cation date of condensed books will the founding editor of GALAXY. Both ft Nicholas Yermakov has a novel be within two months of their book­ new and reprint fiction is sought; out in June, LAST CUMJNION, from on-sale dates, either before or aft­ QUESTAR appears bi-monthly, with an NAL/Signet, plus two books from Berk­ advertising guaranteed circulation er the fact. In the first issue: ley scheduled for early 1982: AN of 125,000. "Swarmer Summer" by Gregory Benford, AFFAIR OF HONOR and CLIQUE. "Sun Waifs" by Sydney J. Van Scyoc ft Gene Wolfe has two more novels and a portion of articles by Isaac to go in his THE SHADOW OF THE TOR- Asimov from his new Doubleday col­ TURE/CLAW OF THE CONCILIATOR series: lection of short essays, ASIMOV ON THE SWORD OF THE LICTOR, third, and SCIENCE FICTION. # ROYALTIES: THE CITADEL OF THE OTTER, the final The first two issues of TWI­ Several authors wrote regarding book of the series. LIGHT ZONE are on the stands, now. their payment/non-payment of royal­ ft Octavia Butler has a new novel The first issue has stories by George ties and the depressed publishing coming out, BLINDSICHT; WILD SEED R.R. Martin, Robert Sheckley, Harlan industry -- one mentioned "Tight will be out in September (Timescape/ Ellison, Ron Goulart, Ramsey Camp­ money has little to do with the slump Pocket). bell and Joyce Carol Oates, among in publishing. Rather it's a change others; non-fiction on the old TV in the nature of ownership. Most ft Susan Coon will have a novel, TWILIGHT ZONE series, created and publishing companies are now owned THE VIRGIN, out in June from Avon. guided by Rod Serling, plus a show- by conglomerates with no interest in ft Vonda N. McIntyre will have a by-show guide to the first season, publishing programs or backlists. They are interested only in best novel, THE ENTROPY EFFECT, paper, a profile on Mr. Serling, all by sellers and books that can be turned from Timescape in June, the first in Marc Scott Zifree (who has sold a their STAR TREK novel program. book to Bantam, THE MAKING OF THE into TV and movies". Another concur­ TWILIGHT ZONE). Also included: red: "...this is what happens when ft Ursula K. LeGuin is working on a book column by Theodore Sturgeon corporations more concerned with the a screenplay with Michael Powell, (he does one for HUSTLER), a screen profit ledger than with a quality titled EAKIHSEA. coluim by Gahan Wilson, an Inter­ product take over ... the end result ft Bill Gibson has sold several view with Stephen King conducted by is why pay royalties?" One source more stories to OMNI. Charles Grant and the complete script went further: "Their thinking is, of a Twilight Zone Teleplay, "Walk­ 'we don't give percentages in Holly­ ft Richard Purtill has written a ing Distance", by Rod Serling. The wood, except to major stars; why do non-fiction work on C.S. Lewis, to second issue of TWILIGHT ZONE has in it differently in New York?'... I be out from Harper 8 Row in October, addition to the regular features: predict Work-For-Hire contracts will and a mystery from Doubleday, MURDER an Interview with Peter Straub, auth­ be appearing all over in the next CON, in March, 1982, set at an SF or of (HOST STORY, stories by Robert year." convention. Silverberg, Joe Haldeman, Roger Zel­ One change in the royalty formula azny, Spider Robinson, George Clay­ is suggested by an "Insider" in the ft Poul Anderson's new novel for ton Johnson and a novelette by Tan­ publishing industry, Oscar Dystal, Timescape is tentatively titled OR­ ith Lee. former chairman and chief executive ION SHALL. RISE. (LOCUS reported of , now consultant to that Mr. Anderson has sold over a 62 Bantam, at the 8th Annual Richard Rog­ ers Bowker Memorial Lecture (11/25/ nable of New York introduced legis­ man. The Well series in the U.S. is 80): "... Another approach to mak­ lation to eliminate retroactive ap­ over the half-million mark in sales. ing royalty structures more equit­ plication to book publishers; Rep. # Sandra Miesel has a novel out able could very well be to move our Bill Green of New York introduced in August from Ace, DREAMRIDER; she rates from a percentage of the cover legislation to eliminate Thor appli­ has essays and comnentary on various price to a percentage of net selling cations to the publishing industry; pieces of Anderson's works coming price. Royalties based on net sel­ Moynihan's legislation would change out from Tor Books, the three-volume ling price would be a much fairer the depreciation procedures current­ Psychotechnic League series and THE way to look at the relationship be­ ly allowed by IRS and would apply GUARDIANS OF TIME for openers. tween author, agent and publisher". to all businesses. No move has yet been made to restruc­ # has sold a pair of # Harper 8 Row had record reven­ ture royalties to wholesale rather SF novels, BIRIHRIGHT: THE BOOK OF' ues in 1980, squelching reports of than retail rates. That such steps MAN and THE SOUL EATER to New Ameri­ financial problems. Earnings per are even being considered is indica­ can Library; he has just canpleted a share rose from 58f to 74