£1.25 161 :> June/July 1991
The Critical Journal Of The British Science Fiction Association
1990: Best Five Books Best Short Fiction Arthur C Clarke Award Colin Greenland Interview
Plus: Reviews Letters VECTOR 161
June/July 1991 :::) Issue 161
Contents 3 Editorial 4 Letters 5 Colin Greenland Interview 8 1990: The Best Five Books 12 Some Thoughts about the Arthur C Clarke Award 14 Book Reviews 23 Index to Books reviewed Back Cover 1990: Best Short Fiction
C1>Edltora: catteK~~:;cv~: ~r;a~a:~~~~~~:. ~?i2 sffN~~agg2349 Reviewa Editor. Chrta Amlea 56 More Close, SI Paul's Court, Lo,-,, W14 98N Production AM-nta: Camilla Pomeroy, Alan Johnson T~~h~~:.s~~:
Prtnted by POC Copyprlnt. 11 Jeffrie• Pauage, Gulldford, Surrey, GU1 4AP Vector la published bimonthly by the BSFA C 1991
All op,nions expressed in Vector are those of the individual contributors and must not be taken to represent those of the Editors Of the BSFA except where expllcilly stated. k,nq~c:~~~=i:~=:1W::~d~:~=J:1sdu==~-t~r~S5M~~w~ without an SAE. Please note that there is no payment tor pobbcation Members who wish to review books must first write to the Edito,s Artl8ts: Cover Art. llustrations and tilers are always welcome. Adnrtbllng: Atl advertising copy must be submtted as b/W camera-ready artwork with al necessary halftones n..-s,,,.,---Ud- C-,..,~ltlta-- ~NDWt~ Aoglooe,N-· IO~A,ed.,,.,.,._,,.,Kara..CTIIS,l,l VECTOR 161 Editorial By Kev McVeigh
Roy Hattcrslcy MP, the deputy leader of readily remember going off to war (either Bcnidorm QnCC, I sec no point in going the Labour Party, appeared on BBC TVs WWII or ViclJlam) but it induces a again every year. book review prognlfflme Speaking complacency which is very dangerous, as Volumes, last year. As with most of the dangerous as the jingoism of tabloid guests on that programme, I agreed with a ncwspape~. portion of his remarks though by no means all, but there was one remark which 11y Elsewhere fanlasy takes somebody Boyd Parkinson Quits in stant response was to deride, until he else's myths at surface value and sends the explained and I thought turther. The book in same all-american boy, the same Boyd Parkinson who has question was The Book Of Fantasy, dependable,amiable peasant lad oul on the edited by the late Jorge Luis Borges and same quests. Oh sometimes the lad grow5 edited this magazine with me for others, which was justly well-received by breasts and has a girl'5 name, but U5ually the la,;t 10 issues resigned after the panel. Hattc~ly shared this view but one 5he can disguise as a boy 's for she 's completing the last issue, due to expressed die opinion that so much never particularly buxom either, but it all pressure of work. fantasy and the majority of that collccrion goes down rhe same way. Life at home is seemed to be about what happens in other dull but safe. abroad there are adventures, Over the last two years I've countries. He cited Borges, Bradbury and and afterwards home is where the hean(h) received dozens of letters which Kipling in defense o1 this claim. but there is. include complimentary remarks an:manyothercxamples. about Vector's appearance. Al And then, there are fantasies which are It is perhaps unfortunate in many really mainstream novels bocausc the co.nventions, people say s imilar respectS that Fantasy literature soems to be "fantastic" elemenc is Ellally an event that things. It is always nice to be defined by 1he ple1hora of reactionary posl the character experiencing it must justly be praised, but it ought to go to the Tolkit:nists producing right-wing lrilogies expected to bdieve in reality. For instance, right person. of linle imaginative merit pushed out by in Michaela Roessner's excellent lary editors who seek: only short term aboriginal novel Walkaboal Womaa When Boyd and I were brought profits. In so many ofth~ series we find the young aborigine woman believes in the to~cthcr with the intention of an ostensibly working-class hero thrusl Dreamtime, she believes in the spirits, and editing Vector we dabbled in into adventure to rescue the heroine and the thus when they speak to her, when s~e various production methods, but country fTom the evil d111k lord who never enters the Dreaming, it is reali1y. It 1s eventually Boyd determined that seems 10 come from the South or the Wes! ronscnsus - it doesn't mailer that the reader for. some n;:ason, At the end of this morally doesn't ordinarily believe, whal is for the magazine to look the way naiwe conceit the hero is welcomed as the necessary is th ;i.! the reader understands we wanted it needed to be done long-lost son of the old king, he marries the that thoogh it may be delusory, for the 115ing his DTP facilities, and from princess and the trilogy closes. (until the character it is real. Again however this that point on all design and author is persuaded to kidnap the child of involves an alien culture for its alleged production work was controlled thishappyunionandanotherqucstensucs lanta~y. In other novels, the other land by Boyd. The excellent results he but that's another story - or it would be if might be the mind, the nightmare of a young achieved were rhc result of many any of th ese writers had the talent to tell girl in Palricia Geary's S1raage Toys or all-night sessions, a lot of hard many of Philip K Dick's works. more than one s1ory.) If this doesn't sound work and some very good ideas. 100 much like Tile Loni Or Tile .RJags, think aboul the v111ious sub-plots There is a great deal more to fantasy, of invQ lving Aragom. I llXlOmmend an essay course. than the Tolkienists. OJtin Of course we still discussed by M John Harrison trom New Wodch Greenland puts forward the view that Vector·s layouts - I had my own Qoutedy, entilled "Out of Tennyson by Lewis Carroll might be a lx'ller model; I'd thoughts, but in the main, I liked Disney'' in which Che author calmly, suggest thal everything which exists Boyd's ideas and all credit should rca'>Onedly and forccfuUy trashes Tollr.icn 's outside our everyday existence becomes be his. He worked hard, oflcn opus as lacking substance, haclr.ncyaJ and fantasy. Shakespeare's Hamlet is a fantasy under difficult conditions and ultimately trite. I felt somewhat hun, with ghosts, Jeanette Winte':'On 's novels without him I wouldn't have include multiple past reaHues, William almost betrayed, the forst time I read lhis managed one issue let alone 10 after maybe a dozen re-readings of Dr Gibson's Count Zero involves voodoo Loni of the Rlqs, but as I read some of gods within an al1emate reality ~led stylish and attractive magazines. the other WQrks Harrison uses in his case I cyberspace (which Harry Hamson bcg11J1 to see the tmth of it. Years later and endeavoured to relate to the soul), and Tim Thank you Boyd. many hack trilogies on, I soc Hattendy·s Powers uSt-'S Lhe past and literature itself as point too. In Tolkien s two principal interactive foreign lands. It all comes back As of this issue, Catie Cary. who novels the hobbits leave home for foreign to Roy Hane~ly's remark: Fant.asy is about has been one of our production hmds, have adventures and retum m minor wmewhere else. In which case, we have assistants over the last two problems which a,re soon resolved in time package holidays oo Benidonn as the years, will be taking over from for tea by the fireside in their slippen; with standard fani.asy trilogy, or we have Boyd. a pipe and life goes on as normal. This may unchaned territories 10 explore. Each has be very reassuring to a generation who can il5 value, but I know that having been lo 4 VECTOR 161
On Spec 1hcy imagine ii was expected of From Cn:ig Manioc! them to comment on a book in a certain way, which is where we Just a short no1c on Vector stan wading into the mirky walcrs 159. Of the three main artklcs, I of Reputation. U) enjoyed the Gibson/Sterling h should be recognised that if a "Homo-Ero1oc:ism ... " lhC most. rev.ewer shouts opinions long and 115 a pity the fire alarm went off loud enough they will aurac:1 a and put paid 10 a very fun and rcputa1ion and herein lies the inlcrcsting conversation. problem: Once the reputtnion is ,, As for the other two pieces: In achieved. is the reviewer sail! his "Cybcr• and some 01her • offering a balanced opinion or arc Spatial Metaphors", K V Bailey they pandering to their reputation? writes that ··Spccuhuion'". as in Wu that put down of a book speculative fiction, shares origins warranted by the reviewer, or was with Latin ~or (z obsavor) ii said because it was apttt~d Cl) from the reputation they have built ~! ~'"':.,o~,.m~~~~. Sowh~~ "P' accurately describes his article. Naturall y reviewers pick up a following; they an a guide 10 , :~~~fead,is ~~ly thi!n1cll~~1 a,:10~ decid ing when to purchase or not. I translate in10 an intelligible o r If a reader agrees with a reviewer's co_mmcnts on previous books they , ~:=-~t :rc:cnt. thisThe p:un~~ will trust that opinion in !he rambling stuff might possibly future and similarly if they don, I make sense is the one between his agree lhcn they won\ believe the ..... opinion offered. The skill or the The same could not be said of reviewe,- is to wo.-1:: at all times in a limbo of objectivity to do the t';n'!ierin~-~r.• Wha::~~c y~"Fl-:~ job required of them. With the Cl) the view 1h11 he is bravely loss of objcctivil)' • the failure to jcapordising his career by control their subjectivity the speaking out like 1his, or that he is _ publif::ly knifing his :~:=~ ~~,en~)' 1h1t; rompet1t1on ID a very gentlemanly majority because no maucr how valid they may be, they are now :id• ~~l;mci:ritt~n w:!!d oo~iv~ pandering to an audieocc or like pleasure 10 react minded people and will be of no I cooccm 10 the rest. g:1J/tr:«i! K;':isa~d bf : ::nssu;c!''~, o: moment he is in this ca1egory. rather, this is a fact of life for all reviewers. The ability to control their subjectivity and no! 10 lei ii I have been following the rencct in their writing is a interesting arguments concern mg cons1an1 priori ty if the review is reviewing and reviewer, that have to SCJVc its function. been published in Vector and feel How do we oontrol it? This seems to be a mi,uure of integrity tha; a ke~i:rhas ~ e;, mis~~ Lake 0 5 on the par1 of the reviewer and the seemed 10 shoot himself in the abili1y of the cdi1or to make sure fool by saying, • (when you) read ii is not pcnnitted in the pages of !he blurb, you a.re aware lhal this their publication. is the publishcr!s bcsl anempt to JamesMd... ran Aberdeen ~~a:cJ'~ieV:~r ~lcri~:i. any kind Fine and well. This is what a rcvi~ should be: A balanced Apology Please send all letters of (objeaive) view. However he then corrrnent to : Km Lake hm ak:ned us IO a rypo in bis J~ ~~d sa!; ~~y has!w;:.gg~ review of "Tbc Orbit Scicnoc f"K.1110n send me this or thal title because I Yeatboolt .3" in Veaor 160. feel I shall have something Weprinted: Vector ,. - with Akhss .::wally citing the hel~~: sa>;tJO~~~t .•• balanced view ~ fiasa> and setting Olli lo argue 224 Southway, ag111nst 'arguments' and argumcnc here? Surely a reviewer shouJd not dcmotishod by the lnr,q\Ji cxpk,sion ... Park Barn, adopt the attitude, 'Oh, I liked Thca>m:Cttc:Uis: that book, let me review it. I can ~ ... with Aldiu aciually dring the Guildford, do ii justitt. · · How can they Ccua.wsct1 fiasro and sc1ting out IO &rg\Je believe that it will be a true against '&rm11ments• an argument Surrey, representation of the book? dcmolr5htd already by the lniqui Simply put, they cant So what explosion." GU26DN is the reviewer thinking? Perhaps Our apology to all concerned. VECTOR 161
This Interview was possibly violenl lo resolve these conducted before an impossible con1radictions. When I rea- " I couldn't see why audience at Chronoclasm !~n~hi~~th~~' 1o;;~ ~~~i~e 1~~o:g! In Derby, June 1990, Kev Alice in Space. Tabitha is a sort of Allee fig you couldn't have a ure. She's suspicious, she's obstinate, speaks first.... she·s not the most rational person in the space opera universe world. She doesn't necessarily milkc the Aller wrlttng thffe elegaat decisions that wou ld be sensible while that people actually raat.ulu, wb.at dJd your editor s•y she·s trying lo protect herself and her shi[?. when you uld I'm golag to do • I thought, having finally real ised what Id lived in, a colourful, space opera? Deen doing for ten years, I should make a little acknowledgment of ii and name the expansive but also Her eyes lit up. I have a wo11derfu,I editor, shipinhonourofAliccLiddcll. her name is Jane Johnson, shes very grotty, shop-worn, patient with me. She's very patient wilh There's a sem;e, Hpedally 1111 thcidiosyncrasiesofallhcrauthurs. :'oC:Zrt!f a1:iui::se :::1..r:~111l =: tired, battered sort of Your prnlous books bave all people do• 't have d.m.e lo realise beea qvlet. Pka(rls nucou. at the 1:1- how wonderful lhey are universe." aod aften,anb lhey think "Damn I People say this, that my books MC quiet. wish I'd 11odctd that lhea" I don't know, to me there seem to be lots of explosions and avalanches and ~ le I think li fe's a little like that Kev . I cha1ging around with gun~. My previous wanted a book full of wonders and books have been short, that·s true; and they maivels and slrangcncsscs and cxo1k take place in an imaginary past whC11 there colourful thing.,;, but I didn't Willll what you wcrcn'I so many people around, and not so get in world-building fiction, where t!1c many noisy machines. This time I Wilfltcd author has sat down illld planned the entire 10 write one which was big and loud and world and written 1he languages illld tic colourful and w ith 11: sense of cro~ded history and everything before even space. I think \f you·re going to .wntc a starting on the story. It's always ~ spaccoperathcresgottobe loudmuslC. rationalised. Llkc the eh.uacter you get m utopian books who says to the protagon ist The spaceship is called the Alice "Hello and welcome to the iwenty-lirst UddeU, after the gld who was the cen1ury. Lct me explain our society to you•·. lldplratlo• ror Alia: QI IY01der Nobody has ever offered lO explain our /111d You 1ald the other alght I• society to me - or in fact, everybody has the quiz that •he's o• e or yo11r offered to explain our society to me and no grTalheroe,. iwoexplanationsmatch.
Well, you said what book would I be if I To me the world is very puz7Jing, con• were a book and I said J"d have to be Allee fusing and I'm not at 11II sure that any lo~ic ID WoadedllDd. can explain evcrythi~g. Yet in order to hve ~ here, I have lO take II for granted. I have to I didn) realise this until quire recently, pass throug~ the world as if it "".ere a > but everything I write turns into some kind perfectly ratton~ plaoo,fu ll ~f prcd1ctab_l; of version of Allee. When I was writing things, things I've been promised 1ha1 will ::::::, C> fantasy, I was always at odds with the - actu~ly take pl.tee - as if there were some great majority of fantasy w~,e~ ~~sc kind of contract binding us all together. We they all seemed to take their msp1rat10n have 10 make everything around us banal CD from Tolkien. It never seemed to me that and ordin ary in order to survive at all, his was the definitive fonn of fantasy. The otherwise we would rollapsc in wonder. fantasy tradition is much older and more - In fact people do, people sil in shop < capacious and more varied than you would doorways talking to themselves because --::::::s think to look around the shelves now. If they've suddenly been s~ruck by the trulh, CD- we have to derive fantasy from the work of the extraordinary incxphcability of every an Odord don, I can~ see why it ~houldn"t thing and they spend the resl of their lives be Lewis Carroll instead of J R R Tolkien. :e ex-plaining ii to themselves. CD I do feel a certain affinity for Allee 1111 I couldn 't sec why you couldn't have a G> Woodedud, it seems to me it',; a very space opera universe that ~le actually C2.. good model for life as _I live it and as I lived in, a colourful, expans,ve but ~so ~ think a lot of people hve it. We arc all grotty, shop-worn, !ired, battered sort of c:::::r struggling through a world that is pretty universe. A universe that was not con chaotic. and nonsensical. We 're surrounded venient for the people living in it. Urbilll "'<: by these grotesque and eccentric authority CD sprawl has spread out into orbit, Mars is figures. al l making impassible dcmilllds of getting crowded and the flash people with us all the time and insisting on battering us lots of money go out and live in the with their insistent logic. Then, as soon as CD asteroids- not actuall y that much different we've le.amt the llllcs, they change them. i:" fro m li ving in this world now. Also Alice·s identity is in que">lion. She < says she seems to have been so many lblaldng or people lalldq 10 ::::::s different siz.c:s sin ce she got up that theouelvn; nr.111alng ~qll T1~e morning, she wonders whether she's still BM;# P/eJII,]' ii • sedea or co111ver- :s::: the same person. I feel that too. 1ado11, th.at Tabitha hal wltJt. lhe Allee abo•t people she's met, In The Hooe or the Tki• Oi:, my place• s he's beea• •.• ~ D> second book and Other Voices, my third) two womeii - wh~ were stuck in that sort of quandary and fina ll y had to take a !!!. stand, do something convulsive and c.c:a ::::::s ::::::,- lie '- VECTOR 161
What's the worsl job y011 eve, had? Yes, l•to tile Bal or 0-en? somcwh~ h.-1 it all undc,- control. even if whenever I s1an I book I lllways come up i1wasn\mc. with something incredibly complicated No. no, no, Alia: 1$ not Best of Ouecn. and d1fficul1 lO do. 1 always have I sort of She's best of a k>t of th1nre; 1ho.lsh- I pby architl.'dural n-Otion of the book and then I 1 Does aybodJ eln llave _ , always get into the details far IOO soon and :u~\ai~n;a"~!i;!:. and ';r!~nfi;e S:! q•e1tlou? stan oomplica1in$ the architcc;.tun: to the ~i~~c s~~ ~~~;h:r/~:~~ ~1:·~rcr:'; 1~ft~ (Aud.l~• ee): Tabitha 11 vecy IHI, wt~~: sit Iw~:y n:, h~i cdiio~'hr:/ n111sic that's gone inlO the making of Ulis aad you talk about her u though pa1icn1ly ~ks me down from this kind of plo1b11tnoOuecn. ihtll'Ualive... . frenzy of crca1ivc obsession to 1hc lcvd at which I can actually write the thing and 1h11 Oat or JO•r- books, QDOltl IJ11t1 Tabitha was 1he first part of this book people will acnially be able 10 read it Coe~• Twlu l lklalr. doesa"I II? ~~i,:t~-~u~ii.!~.!~ :i~~k:'l= Oh Yes. I stancd & ayi (AvdlHcel: Woald yo• like to A lot of people, noc jusl Bruce Sterli ng And there was lhc ship. Now the name llve la JOIU'tpace opera aalvene? tokf me thlll you couldn't .ctually write of the ship changed several limes bclon:: I space open.. When I started all this space realised that she had to be called the Ali<% I already do. I think the answer is: No. opcn1 was terribly unfashionable. Nobody Liddell; and there Witi more to her than I OOt I canl help it. was writing it. nobody was reading it. imagined; 001 they wen: the two things, the Nobody believed that you could write a team. that I could rely on while I was To me, science fiction and fantasy arc human space opera. I had arguments about building this chaotic freewheeling universe in evitably al>out ou, world. We don l have it. People told me it was a reactionary fonn around them. No matter how lost I got, I any mher world to write about. However and there was nothing you rould do about could always go back to them and find out muc;h we stretch, however much we make it; it was a trivial fonn and there was what they fell about 1hings. They would up and improvise, we've only got our own nothing you cou ld do about that. You always tell me cxpcricncetodrawon. rooJdn"t have real characters in a space opera and you oouldn t say anything that [AadlcnceJ: Did they ever tell made sense poli1ically in a space opera. yoa things you dlda't wa.nl lo If you look back,you can sec it. Nothing hear? dates faster than the future. The fictional futures that people have created in the past No one reall y ronvinccd me this wa.~ Many times, many, many time.~ arc 11cry clear, transparent descriptions of the world they were living in and the I ~~~~ :~~-~~re~=t~! ~:;~o (Audleace): U1tenlag lo you C)(ped.alions they had. I don't regret that, I by M. John Harrison which I thought was a think fflldi11g aloud. yoa lapn lalo othu that's just fine. I think that science perfect exampk: of what I was dreaming of. people's Tokes very eully aad fiction 1s a lovely way. a very powerf I 10 ul One day spoke Mike Harrison about it JHt talk.lag abool Mite H.ani1ou way of writing about the world we've got. and he srowlcd at me and said. ''That book tllere you E.,;capism is fine too, escape is one of the , did • Yery good Mlb is a fai lun:. Ifs a complete mess from start han:i.1011 lmpreulo.11. Do you acl primary rcasoris for reading books at all, if to finish." the characten lo youneU'? not the central reason. We pkk up a book to take a break from the boredom or the No, I don "t. but well I do someumes practical demands of the workl around us. actually yes. I hear them in my head Fiction may be lies, but . Its those Hes always a movie. Sometimes its JD, inevitably reflect back lo you what the " While was sometimes I'm actually then.: son of author knew and what you know. I m.ay not disembodied, inside the character or jusl choose the world thil Ive goi but I am here: struggling to find the weareiniL behind her head. I just write down whal they ny and then I hear ii again, maybe next word and the slighlly {Aadieace); I get tlle fttllag that more dearly and then I rewri1e ii. I do act sometimes when k:,olring for tlle book II.a, beta gwwlag for I'm the whole plot was right word m often some dme ..... Tabltu g~w ap In how to describe a llul ll.01plr.l bed. gesture. Like when Marro is pawing melting down around Tabitha; " Tabitha patted the air betwoen them with the palms of her hands. •Off' she Ye11h. She's grown more and more me I could lean back said."1 might sit at my desk and pcrfonn detailed. Al first I just knew that there was the action 10 try and find the words. But I this woman, I knew roughly what she on Mozart and feel don~ stroll around and pick fights with looked like, and what she WM like; I knew people in order 10 find oot she had a how fights work. sp!ICJ:Ship. I knew she was not a that somebody some lmake itallup, l'mah-atd. hero, she was not glamorous, you oould pass her in the strecl. You do pass her in where had it all under the street, every day, and you don't even notice her. She's just somebody who control, even if it drives a truck. When did Brazil come out. docs anybody know? '847 I have a finn wasn't me." suspkion that some of Tabitha Jute was crystallised uncoosciously when I saw Brazil, which was a very Colin Greenland kind of movie, yeah?. It echoed a lot of my SO I thought Ille only thing 10 do was 10 assumptions and my s tyle and my sit down and write the space opera proper, fascinations. Watching i1 again recently not to try and do any mon:: short stories but was quite perplexing. I didn t realise how to write the big book, bocause one thing closely Tabitha wa.s modelled after the space opc:r.i simply must be and thlll is truck driver in Brazil. I can't remember her s padou. This was an appalling thing name, she socmed a terrific charaaer and I for me, because I find writing very hard and think she put some of the edges, the my pn::viou.! two books had bci:n quite definitiononTabithL shon. lbey"rc bigge, on the instde than on the ouisidc but there are not that many The first story about Tabitha I wrote in words in them. The words there are were hospiial. It was a bit silly and a bit slow verycarefullychn§en. ,i~ngi~o t:c~~~~=as~:r:. inThc; The prospect of writing a grC11t big book liked it very much, but a lot of people with lots and lolS of words in and lolS of didn t Then I had another go at her, another plot was exhausting, but all the while that I short story. Thal one was weird, it wa5 was doing it, all the wh ile that I was sort of film nolt, it was sort of clumsy messing amond and replanning the cyberpunk and it was also Du Dan - it architecture and lcaring it down and staJting was a lot of different things that I li ked, I again th ere were two things constanf in the middle of it. ;:ry. '1:n\ii'° or~':: fi: :~!f i~he did~, really hang together. I took it to the SF si~dayw~ne~a~it~~~:h~rhini~anl:~ writers workshop at Milford and was told in no uncertain tenns by everybody there better, I know her past a great deal better, thatitdidn\work. but she is still the SIUIJC person she was when she fir.it walked into that hospital. VECTOR 161 Queen of Angels by Greg fui-:::, =,, ~:::la ~ ly wr:;;:!; Bear, Rats and Gargoyles prcscn1-0ly Ottawa with a strwigoc. bcamful Cf> by Mary Gentle. Hyperion by -=::::.:::: Dan Sirrrnons, and ~ 50:=r:'o':~t;t.~~,~::=: Foucault's Pendulum by and TM Dl't'lde art: utterly real c:::> ~ ~~ Umberto Eco. rlowever. Mary !Vthcholog~ ::::. = c:::> Gentle picks up another vote ~imphrenia, both ,n original and for Scholars and Soldiers . cmo1iionally satisfying ways for sudl well• ....c::2 and Terry Pratchett gets five ~nc 11Jok~ ~kc votes - one each for Wyrd --~ malt~k D= moe1ing an oki friend for the fa-st rime. Sisters, Moving Pictures Oistutb1ng, frightening, warm, enticing, and Cf> and Eric. and two for the st collab oration with Neil :i~c:i~refl~~L=j:r;:;ckilh~ ill CL> For the first hWldred pages of AA - CJ> Gaiman. Good Omens. In all Ananasio's n e i...t Lq:eadt or ....s:::::::! <1.> I counted 90 books voted for. Eard I hated it for being so opaque; for 1he though some mentions were ne:u hundred I purnbk:d; for lhc las1 two -E hundred I kn ew lh is was an absolu te vote s. some were le ad-ins to classic o f wide-angle time-and-space CL> the naming of the favoured. fictk)ff. Pcrscverc. -=c: And Jeanette Winterson's Onq:H I.ft ::::=- CJ> Not tlle O aly Frail because ii huns so And here's wh at people said ... much; l\oc know n IOO many people scarred .:.,.::::::= -~ lik e thal _s:::::: K.V. Balley . <:_:> Normally antip.whic IO novels about sem,- Martin H Brice CL> MiHl"J by Sicphcn Kin_g: an auchor, ~~=~~.:~mi~.l i~:!nd~ aippled in a car accident, IS rescued by 1 ....s:::::= wotvish ehara:1ers compelling, and dcvOICd fan - who then holds him prisoner ==--- appn:cialcd ils insights Uno how animals ....c::a until he wriles the book •M wants. m1y relate 10 environment ~man indudcd). Possible reality ndicr than fan1z,;;y - and the -c:, Encountering wotves of a diffetmt roa: in <1.> Brian SQblcfonlS Tk Wen:wol't'a of ~":~fTs" '~~!'is{c:'.;. by Loado• , I thought this . lhc y,car5 mosl Peter HainUlg. A romplcte pictorial c=:>- - c:::a.... ambitiou.s - o, most fanlaSbC - example of a rompcndium. I found it fascina1ing reading even though I've ~ sc:co a Dr Wu c::r.:, :°~~ h:°~~~in!'! E versions of the p&Sl manifest. I s~ a ~~"t'=t·K oona.. A Story of c::r.:, lace' col.Jeanoe {Fat!Slian) syndrome - a o minous remcamarion. This man IS an <=> wish to relive or amend •L Fo• ca• ll'I inacdiblc aulhor. It is the only book I've <:_:> PHd• J•- by Umberto Ew (first papcroact edition 1990) abo tS a wonderful :*":'! i:,,;h: =:hin1k=\:: ti= cxplora1ion of aypco-hislory, a ludic posl- II in my own house. ~ Red Tiu.mt. Dav;d Pringk (Ed.) A -- =ysjur:J p~=hical Wulwamer collection inspired by inlhs. As che pendulum5 pf:ane of swing fanwy ,olc-play ing. The ai::tkln rattles circles, so do burlesque, mys1cry, suspc:nse As in previous years, Vector's along: 1 dam good read - it really takes you and spcculalion chase each oth c:r round. I out ofyou,self. reviewers were canvassed for enjoyed it for these dclighlll and fo r the Dneoa Wlaa by Margaret Weis and their selection of the best bonus of affce1MJn11te. o f1 en funnr, remembrances of life in rural Italy. Cohn iclf ! ~':!~it!!~h~:o~!t :~ore:; ~~~~~all~.1 ~~: GTecn land's Take Baclr. Pluty rates laughs, 1 lo! of adven1u res. Whal fantasy l~~~~~ufabr:ai~ high for sheer surface ex uberance, as well fictJOn is all about. suspect because just how as for lhe sophisdca1od allusive and pasodic aitique underlying all that spaoc many new titles come your theauc, and espc:cially for the inlid tak:s Terry Broome way? Most of us, unless the lotd by Tabnha IO AJioe. Mose s1imulating None of my choices lhl5 year came close IO non-ficrion was Tile llebb6 ot ND.ff, the standards set last year, partly b0r:ausc I book comes through for had less time IO n:ad non-review book.s review, wa it until the paper Rupert Sheklnke's lau:st contribution to the. hen:tica) evolutionary mtohi tion, gcnre- ~ 0 back comes out or the !:J:J!Y i!oo1t ~;:s ::iv~ hardback appears in the ~~l ~h~~ ~g.~tic~J Pcthaps this is simply a false lffll?res:sion theory and m his in1c:rprctarion of the any jaded reviewer of fantasy trik)gies will library. But for fans of points FmikenSICinmyth. pidr: up after several years, but pcnon&:'IY I scored. 1990 has a winner. think the stagnan1 pool amscrvatrvel7 And it's space opera . Huh? r::;::::.?,. :csri1:'1 of the fantasy fidd 11 No cyberpunks, no virtual Herc, then, is my list of the mos1 pleasant reality1 Already honoured as books of 1990: Charles de Lint~ dis1inguishcd scnes winner of the Arthur C Clarke about Tamion House, beginning with and BSFA Awards. Colin MooUurt., is that rwe, refreshing 1hing - Greenland's Take Back I fanl.l!y which docsn t Slink. Jack Wornadi: similarly adds his own pcisona/ Plenty come s in first with 6 IOt.lch to his Ambienf novels (Amblut. votes. Next comes yet another Ternpl• u , Heatlleni). enriching the SF field w11h some though1 and inventk)ff. LI'sa.,ce~rw.:~eo~:~n ~t~att::.· Two novels romprising shorter s1ones, Then scoring th ree ea ch are VECTOR 161 Frederik Pohl'!i nc D•Y nc Martlt.u The first IS Philip K Dick, for TIie Day, lhriller~ wnter at prt:5C111. Oear A•d Came and Mike Rcsnd'!i h'olJ, arc of Pcdl;J hi and TIie lJblc Black Pn1n1 Dua"r rooogniscd glasnost shghL rather lamiJiM ~ sm1ply 101d, but Boi:, which wcne the founh and ~ fifth k,Ucd the tndirion;M East/West 1oldwcll. volumes in the Complete Short Sloric:s. a,nfronlatk>n and turns 10 drug cancls. Finally, Anlhony Bar~'s Aay Old lro• The unhappy thing about the amval of Finally a TV .saipt.. for the BBC ,.lori,,Qfl .. uses the sword EJ:cahbu, as I pkM dcv.c:r ~tnOIC.OOOks wa.s know ing lhcre could be prognmme TIiie D11 die Eartll Mr:llff upon which to hang an Olhcrwise non• The theory disaasscd seems to pruvidc a fantastic I.ale. Amusing. 1f sklw IO SU.It and The Olhcr author Ill JG Ballard. for War plausihlc ln5WCI' IO ~ question. where ova-long, " shows a shlfp wit dulled by Fcnr. a rollcdion of shon stories, some docs all the molten met romc from 1n ciredness. of them innphcably mlSSCd from volcanic aa:ivity if the ~'s man1lc i5 prevtOUs rollcdions; and for Tile 50lwf'1 Barbara Davies AU'Odl:J Eufbldo•• This i5 ny By Nialll by Jenny Jones, volume I Rc.&ardi's new lllustnlcd edition. with Paul Kincaid or I scnes but compktc 1n itself, concerns 1 This has been one of those ycan when it is~ ;;in'!irig= woman! .tvcntun:s in another, magk:al =:~al bLu°;~~u:n ha., becfl ~ .Y to find five books; I suspect worid. It t5 diffi:ren1 from the usual fantasy - Eulbldoa. pulped by its Amcncan I a,uld as cainly have made ii ten. • no elves or ora here - and a refreshing hb:ishs:.tfo":,Vub~.='ar Flctio•: A TW Back P1caty Colin GTccnland, chanie. 15 Tn1d1110nal fanwy is covered in nc So• n:c Book edited by Bob Ashley was i::~lypl!;'!,-= ~m!: ot';;:~~a:j ~ ~ a good a:itial anthology th.a came out last in Science Fiction. ?~~r•~o~:me Cr'~i:Y~kadin~~::~1~ year, looking at generic ftak>n in general. 11 Queen of A~cls - Greg Bear, which s1ops dead, loose ends dangling. It swts has only been in the la.st year or so tha1 bookshops have h!td plentiful copies of :~:d ~:~•b~nc av~, to~ ,~~I lis:a~~U~I~ f,~o:~ri~~i•n:~~~tnt a cracking pace before critical works by Advent Publishc~. and writers in the genre suddenly comes and Tc._..• by Ursula LeGuin is a return to I Ve been knocked OUI 10 read books like knocks me flat with a staggeringly brillianl Eartnsca by an oklcr, wiser author. II i! Damon Knight's la Scare.II of Wonder novel aboul lhe nature of iclcntily and aimed at I more adult readership lhan her and William Atheling\ IH• H At Hu.d, inrelligcnce. original trilogy and deals with more adult that for years I had only heard abouL UH of Wcapou - lam M. Bank~: a oonuollcd and pcfJl'.C'Ually inven1ive space Edward James open married with the SOil of dark """"'· 0 :1h~ ~tr~ s}~':."~~: ;)ts~ Top of the list, somewhat n:Juctancly, I pi.ii Full or 1<1cti: Treestups; Timc Tombs; The the Hypcdoa novels by Dan Simmons. ~;;IM:.:;~nt:~c ;tood. TIiie Shrike, I stomadt-ruming alien. I found II 1ncy wcne enormous fun lO iud. DJ1IW Dre- - lnvid V. Barren (Ed,) • partiwlarly the fif5l,. with ils variou5 okay, I'm in it, but lhat doesn't stop it being nepdltfuaue Galdc To Sdcac:c ..Canterbury Tab- told by the Shrike a collection of :iomc very good .stories ~c~ll~cU~~~"~/~m~::~: =~~ i;!t ;i~1m,:c ~ ::'!: ~·.~'s::~o're:hn~~ - sure ,r I ag~ with the MJthor'!!i conlef ride was over, I began to wonder if Tim ~ers. which manages to lie iogcthcr as.scssmcnts, btll I intend \Cl use 115 4-star ii jU5l wav1\ all too much of• game. for me; the real biographies of Byron. Shelley and awanis as 1 ~mended rcading list. ~f's~~~~~:r ~~l•iJU:ft! ~~ :~ aw'::: ~n:i v:::J't;r; Valerte Housden way as to look like senou_,;: SF. but entertaining. I don\ remember rcading anything 1n the SF ulrhnatcly p,my holiow inside. I had no HollOUOOlc mefllK>ll5 IO Jonathan Carmll'!!i Black CodttaU, Jack Finncy'!!i Time ~ •~: thwhgi,:,as ~!~an=~~~~ tii =:i ~h ~~ G:'klcmric °;:!~~ aad Aaal• • one of my great rcdiscovcric:s crime novel that did. MAn:11 Violets by from beginning 10 end. Nor wilh Sheri S Tq,pcr's Gras,, which I was most ~~~ Philip Ken is a privllle detective story !,,Cl re:~ '"t!ok?t~, ~~Itri! in Dcrlin in 1938. Told in the first person imp=sal by (par1icubrly as before I hd into the 1990 cau:hmcn1 aru, bu1 1h11 usmg Berlin dialed literally tn.nslated bul ~atcd he, with compcten1 but docsn, stop him being one of the bcs1 lightweight and whimsical ran~y). Next, writers around. ;;!~ ~~:, Jm~:~' !ntt:°~~"l~t i~ou~~ I was bowled over by Schuitcn and Peeters· budc dcul•e volume called La Tollf'. Ken Lake ~~v:es~t~~=~f~~ngw~[h ti":tiee an:nx~~- ~i; I discovered them while doing some work stn:.etwi~ deta::tive is a winner who in Paris: their La Fh'rc d'Urblcudc ~~:~ksl~!dtic;h~:~c ~~~~ b:i~ni loses, which lcf1 this reader Unt:ally. I know and Let M• r-lllH de Saaaari1 arc 1hose! Bui nc Collcded Storte1 of it"! a clich , but 1 would like to sec Mt Kerr equally good - fine drawing in I sort of nco- Plllllp K Dick oon1inucs to head my list uy a WWII a.ltemate history novel. He :=!.:!~i:d Sl~~111k':Ju1l~ly su':.~ic 1';:{ or unmissablcs, and I was pleased to would tackle it from an inrcn:sting angle, wckomc Brian Nd1u• two-f)Mtel' A Mu I'm.sun-. crying out for tnnslalioa (Titan Books, I• kb Time and A Romuee of ~• please note). For the fifth book. I am not Equ&or, his own choice of his bcs1 SF Neil Gaiman was wo~ sure: lhete a,e too many jo5lling to gee in, andFanwy. k md was funny even and IOO many I have probably forgoucn The di~vcry of A•tkor'I Claoltt read the WOilam boob reading. I did CflJOY "JO Yeovil-_, Mui.Illy was my btg_ 1990 event. w,th as a child. I also enjoyed Movlq Dndleafch, though_ Spider Robinson\, issue no. 9 the best - Pie~, by Terry Pratchen. whic:t, had siorics from the rcmubblc 1985 .some wondcrlully visual jokes a.'l wd/ as Tom A Jones &klaadtol7 Elcpllu,tl cdlcction. milki~~ our favourite cinema dich 5 10 nc Bal of Ille Ncba.lM edited by loi5 McM;ima Bujold continues her Ben Bova wa:s good, 50fflC old favountc5 superb Bun.Jar series • the novcl of that ~ Gn,ctiland"s Tab Back P1car, and some fine stories I hadn't rud befOfC. tide will appear in Auloa this year - marked a wek:ome romcback for 5paoe Noc a l»d s:\Ory in the book. while Tcny Pratchcn.5 Discworld still fiction with a strong caum female Tcny Pntthcn is one of the few people provldc5 the best humour of the year. I have who can write broad humour and gee more to mention Anhur C Clarke's evocative and ~~r•~:=t.i: al:o°!:! a~rp':i laughs than groans. In 1990 I iud Wynl infonn1tivc Allaaadlag D•J• as a must Tom Holl, 1 l111e twentieth a:n1ury Slllers; the pkK scam:Jy mancrs, it's for all trufcn, bl.II beg your indulgence IO rewort,ng of TIie Edda after Wagner, funny. squeeze: m the best one-off novel of 1990. proved to be wonderfully funny wi1houl S111y1ng wilh humour, l enjoyed Barry Ian Watson's nc nlu of Memory, bcmg annoying or facile. Pihon's Oae Mu ud 11h Boa, lhc spoiled for me only by a cop-out ending but "true• story of his walk along the Pennine otherwise a tour de fora:. U Hurat Way. They say that pain and misfortune All in all, another vintage year despite UK Two aulhol'5 each account fo1 two books of makethebes1comedy. publishing upheavals: roll on 1992 and the my selection. Tom Clancy seems the best "tcchno- frucEuropean Market! 10 VECTOR 161 Kev McVelgh Robert Owic:s Wilson 1.11d Ann Ha.lam. .. dassia are made. Ir I knew what was From a year when I ~ around 250 books, but five ii is. Firs1 on my list is PMJ.I P111k 's going on, I'd tc.11 you: meanwhile don t 115k IISIOnishing Sqar llala, lhe scamd what scribbled manuscripls are going on ~a:;;~;;c ~c volume of his SWbridge Chronicles. Diam the fire in these pans. Damn you. Gentle. =~'°'1~· i°.:!: is plunged inlo bk>ody revolution and yougo1i1d,PI! Bak Pfe• r, Of MM}' Genllcs posl· modernist political fanwy a.a a Charity and Thanak:a, Statbridgc flee their ~ ~ GuaoJIN have received wcll-OCSCtVed SC:plll'1llll: ways IO safety. Thae has been ea:k~~ku,c:- :;!~~~,: plaudil.'l already. ~ ~ aiUM.ln who nothing lik this masacrpica: or hill.lntingly shocking inno-~ing momcn• stand 001 beaux, hwmg firs discovered imaginative litcralWC since Gaw: Wolfe's wm and glorious widc-saccn action. Burt them this year, 1 read all I oould find • Pal Boot o r Ille New s... nie ~t are in 15 ~ open. Mi5wl Murphy, Richard Grant and Terry Bisson noparticularordcf. ~i=tic! (sec Vl58). T11c best books, however, were I lhoroaghly enjoyed Pat Murphy s De 0..vid Brin s Eutla bccamc more and IIIOfe Oty, Nol Loq Afte.-. This is I benign boml>ly appmprille as 1990 moved inw Snlag tile 0.HIJ - Jcancttc Winicnon. hippy fantasy of love and pcacc triumphing 1991. h s lhc kind of warning novel that "'""A crazy hismric:al melange of time. over Amerian style militarism th.at w.as only good SF wrircn can do; ncithtt fine writing nor deep charactcrisM:ion. bu1 the scruality, and fruit. which wntains ~ 1 prioocsscs, and a wonderful chcay aui1udc. ;~ st!~h~ :8'uff w!! r!~ ::noflhcmauerfortho.scwithcycslO U"l.q I• Edler and SIJuac Toy, . KW Jccc.r s Fattwdl Horbo.ial, a Patricia 0elll')'. The 0..vKi Lynch of nwvdlously inventive satin: lhac Dan Simmons' H,~ do• satisfied my contcmpol'lU)' SF? As Wintersoo writes the nimindcd me why I re.ad Science Fiction. liking for big rom1.11ric far-futurc epics; e,ch best Fantasy outside the icnre, Geary Then Ian McDonald's 0.1 0 • Bl• e Sb. character ha1 hi5 own story in a son of writes the best mai11stream fiction wilhin. Tn.:mcndous stuff, wondcrftllly written, but galactic Cuterbmy TalH set against • You may have trouble finding the was the 'Compassionate Sociely' really lhc Keatsianbackground. most obvious target for a novelist writing disturbing first novel, would some 111 publisllcrplcascrectifythisatontt? in the Thatcherite 1980s? The conclusion ;~~· o~:id 11i:~~tt ~~fch;Je'anoei IA•p Year - Steve Erickson. The American 0 Ille Se•• a beautiful recapturing of Scottish Dream dcoonstruc.ted, lhrough II fascinating ~J'Y b~;~ dii~;:.:ebook I read was and Irish sea.I stories and lhe people who aa:ount of the 1988 USeleaions. without any doubl TIie Flul told lhem, wonderfull y cmtcd by both hi.I Sputn.m 2 . The bcs1 original R.eeko•J.ac, lhc third volume of Robin Thomsonandhissourocs. anthology. with KS Robinson, &ar. Bryant. Jarvis' Dcpdord Mia: trilogy. This JOO Mcintyre, and Swanwick, plus at lcitst lour page honor story wllh its sympathetic Maureen Speller ch1111C2ers, powerful dcsaiplivc writing, 1bc annual rn-cblion aboUI wha1 I failed IO ~1:'d~!mo"g!, 544_ pag~ G~ord. =.;:: w:'=iZnth-:'.Jripping story n:.ad comes round again. However, I rCMi Hilariou5 satiff: in which AlbannL legen 111denjoycd: dary quccn of the SaJc5. doc:s UN: Anhurian llaa aad. GuJoyles · M.-y Gentle. This lime-of-trouble ad with .a little ~ from Cecil Nurse novel fadtllllCS me, even though I don t her high-priestess/lover Gwhyktis. A I !Cid quite a lot this year. mostly new undcrsland the half of ii. yet. Thank god for glorious romp lhrough Edinburgh .and books, and enjoyed most of lhem. FIVe co,ucmponry poli1ics c,i.sucs.. that sand out in my memory: ~~~ Midtael Crich1on. Suddenly ii s okay to w~ inielligesitty Nik Morton =ivc~°:n~ u~~· u!;:: and have fun. J-dc Putt is I very A good year. nary a poor book of lhc enOOIISfaritasy,widl.attiludc.llovedit. clever pic:u of speculation and an hundn:d I rCMi in 1990. I now understand 1-1 Lqeadl: or Ea-tla by AA interesting story. And tc.n out of ten for 1 Attanasio. The last of h~ 'rcmd. this one neat cover. :':iinu~~ .. ~~ it~~~~e !,~ oonslruckd around •that inaonblc Goocl Ome • - - Teny Pnlchett and Neil book I've read in its subjccl matter, its mystery of change we call time'. For my Gaiman. PralChcn's whim,y tcmpcrcd wilh money he managed to ctt lhll ineffable. and Cniman's d111kcr vision produo:d one of lhc ~=ry of !~i=.an~t~ ..1on~~r,: set off .a little soundless vibration in the mos1 sa1isf1t1ory 'humorous· books Ive c haJ'IClcr who will rank among lhe greats of ever read. literature. Clod.rock by Garry Kilwonh ~~!:.Y~facha'a Uueea i,uet by Quu o r Aqd1 - Greg Bcai. This was a 1 roar de rortt, a fucuristic crime novel i~vo~vin~imme Yfn ~inc~k,swcraft:!c,:,0 1:":h ~~':n~:r~t~ ;,1o!r: o~~~:i~;; coupled wilh an explor.ation of !he natlltc of mysticism and wonder, love and valour. lhat finds ilsc.lf infertile, un1bk to bring the identity. Liu:rary, absorbing, difncult to put The Fln.Ja C ll.tld by Doris Lessing wa.~ a next ~eneration inw being. I could read a down. cunning work, continually switching sidcwtSe comment on our media-sell· w• 1r1yam - Philip Mann. My book of the sympathies belwceJI the fifth child and his driven w lturc. and on that dc:cp sense of year. Another novel about identity and mother, 1 batllc of wills so all-00nsuming, impending CUSlmphe th1t many of us live biogTaphy, and lhe relationships between so terrible lhat I came away feeling drained. with. Un~ and tantalising. alim species, between men and machines. TIie Ralabow C.le by Frod1 Warrington Curio• Comfort by Dan Simmons. A Wonderful. confirmed my earlier hopes lhat she is vast SF/Horror, far superior IO his Hugo Non-SF boot of lhe year - Peter Ackroyd s emerging as a formidabk novelist. already winning B yped oa, in my opinion. Many DkKu for ilS ability to !Um I confanned in oommand of di.rt romance and blighuxl levds of ghastliness, and at its hurt some Dicl:c,is hater into someone with a love. And its a uc for flfth place between deep indi_gnllion II the abuses of power in fascin11ioll f01 the man behind the novels. ne Adaa!u Ontaldu (OC Comics, ourworkl. Tip for 1991 • Howard Waldrop·, Nla._1 or byPeter~id,with.a11byEsteban Tk Elec:tde Croeodll~ by 00 tile Coot.r.n • wondcJful. Morot0, .a centuries-spanning story in full Comp10n. A bit meuiphysial. 1 brl cok>w, t-ulifully illllSl:raled. Cft ofoverwhclmfflg horror. My token skiffy novel has to be Use of Wcapollll, lain M Banh" most recenl excursion into the ctilture. For me this works far better than his previous pure SF pieces, because lhe story itself is a human one, and the strange technology and exotic locations never draw undue attention to FOUNDATION themselves. THEREVIEWOFSCIENCEFICTION Ramsey Campbell 's bizarre novella Need.lag Gbotb unfolds with the remorseless paralogic of nightmare, wandering across the borderline between In ill lilittn yun ofpublic1t1oa, FOUNOATIO~ hH u11bli1hod 1 ~~:tream~onor and postmodernist ,opucacionuprobably1MbeK<:rlt1calJQurnalof1eicnc.ficuon,n11tc Finally, my vol~ _for sheer fun goes to Kim -" " Jack Yeovil ' Newman 's Demo• Oowlllold: a tongue-in-cheek '"Coounua10bcfllandlWl)'Lh•beSl111th Some Thoughts About the Arthur C Clarke Award 1991 By Cecil Nurse Reading a large volume of works They cons1i1uted a cross-scc1ion this docs reflect a greater level of in order to judge which is .. ,he of the field rhat gave me a inspiration and challenge in work best~ in some sense is an entirely perspective on .. the boundaries/ from female writers. Secondly, different activ ity fTom reading for nature of the genre" and ··what 1hcr1:: is a preponderance of ~~c writers are doing within the field" relatively new writers. There is r~~:~:,c fo~s r':t~"oo un,~ike r~ that I had not had before, given my work !hat, left 10 oneself, one ~~~hat,li~st GC::::11{1.Jld:at 4t:,urfth!~ would not read at all or would read ~~n rcJfnr:°n~tter. bisro: th~loct;s~ at a later date when one was in the time, I found that I had read a good ~n~ntl~S ~lhJe1inJlav~ru°mor~ thB!°~ mood, etc. Unlike the latter, one is percentage of the books reviewed handful of novels to their credit. obliged to fonnulatc an opinion m Vector, and found to my horror, This actually reflects subm- about each work based on the that there was no predictable issions, in chat relatively new criteria that can be applied to connection between wha1 others writers were in the majorny, but highly di ssimilar work, otherwise said about a book and whether I why established writers do not no com(iative judgements can be enjoyed it or thought it was good. ~w~h~~ Reviews, I had to oonclude, were a ~uce~~~t t~d a 1;auf~ !fti~ut afouv~iw;~~r fr~~kly w~r~ patchwork of differing subject- anthologies, is not all that easy to every book was of interest 1vities from which it is explain. Perhaps success makes regardless of my own personal impossible to deduce any order of 1h en1oymcnt of it, the entire merit or interest. a scoond ;~terssh!~;t Thfs i~~avrl~as tn~~i~ exercise threatened to bcoomc unexpected consequence of being centric: Greenland, Gentle, and tedious, 1rntatmg, and meaning• an Arthur C Clarke Award juror has Banks arc UK writers, and Misha less. Paradox1cally, having been that I no longer read reviews was published by Morrigan, a UK tentatively made my way to such a with much interest, the exception based small publisher. While o viewpoint, which I think can being "committed" reviewing, case can be made for such a bias justly be ca11cd a critical where the point of view or the (US awards favour US writers, for vit:wpoinl. It was the hierarchical reviewer is as important as the example), I would like here to put arrangement of Winner, Short-list, book under review. ~ and The Rest, that seemed So, what should I say about this !feet~ ~ga~;i1y 1:~e f{;/!t uJLimatclr meaningless. Wbat is year's shon list? I cannot say that ~~~ the point in determining which they were the best published this ~!, r~~t ~.K C~~icat=ksin 1 brand of apple is ··1he best• when year. partly boc:ausc the statement publishers hope or know will th 1s meaningless, and partly because work in the UK market. In the ~~ffer:i~oleanri::e isto ~ t!~ou:r; they were not my own favourites. second place, the jurors are Brits sampled as par1 of ones diet? I The democratic process within the and will implicitly have whatever believe some variant of this jury is of course designed to variant tastes distinguishes them paradox afflicts every awards prevent idiosyncratic favourites from Americans. To then Juror, and in the end the definitive from coming out ahead, and to take explicitly favour UK writers, consideration becomes "which the best average given seven ~iven the good chance that the book do I feel should win this different tastes and critical 1urors arc personally acquainted Award'!" This is not necessarily a priorities. My intention below is with those wnters, is to put the th to step back a pace and determine award in danger of becoming a ~:istig:hi~f• an si~'!ard ~ v~;ti~~~c what sort of books were in with mutual admiration society, and dependant on good choices being the Arthur C Darke award jurors disappearing up its, er down its made. this year. own throat. I think it c.an be fairly Though readinl;\ 50 books in a Three biases are clC3r. Less than said, without assuming privy year is not particularly unusual for a quarter of the submissions to knowledge, that this year's jury me, it was unusual that these the award were by women, but did not fully resis1 the temptation, books all be published in one year, women make up half the shortlist. for better or worse. and be by 50 different authors. I would venture to suggest that VECTOR 161 13 The S hortllst is the reality of many American ambiguous moralities a utopian cities. In the end Misha tries coo society might require m order to The six books comprise two hard and the style is too mannered defend and propagate itself. romances, two urban fab les, and to carry real emotion , but there are Another person may sec an Ace two space operas, by my moments. Double with chapters interleaved reckoning. Hard SF in all its Pat Murphy's The Cily, Not instead of back-to~baek. various guises (planets, aliens, Long After has an entirely And so to the winner, Colin near-future tech, cosmic visions) different tone, cool, clear, Greenland's Take Back Plenty. was out, as were morality tales economical, perfectly suited 10 the Dubbed "A Space Extravaganza·· (shall I name Womack, Brooke, depopulated artist/magician- and "great, big, magnificent, Robert Charles Wilson, inhabited San Francisco of the galaxy-shaking'·, it isn ·t anything Aldennan?) and explicit humour. title. Though the setting is post of the son. Rather it is witty, The literary jeu or conceit, the apocalyptic and pastoral, it is not clever, subversive, and essen- fantasia, more or less ironic, more hard to see it as a portrait of an tially fastidious, written in or less sty lish, ~ as in. existing urban community/ choppy deadpan style. Tabitha Jute Earnestness and megalomania ideology with the rest of the silly is an irritable, irritatingly (shall I name Attanasio, Wingrove, noisy striving bewildered ordinary space barge dri ver who is Vollman?) were out. America subtracted. In both of dragged on a tour of a picture So the romances. Mary Gcntle·s these books there is a community postcard solar system, eventuall y Rats and Gargoyles is of artists, but where Murphy's to confront some hokey maggot ~ollicking revolution in magicland, community is self-creating and her ridden aliens on Pluto. Instead of m a world constructed protagonist finds a place within flights of that sublime sublimated painstakingly and with verve from it, Misha's is edge-dwelling and rage that creates plots like ··we the metaphysics of the Hcnnctic dependent, and her protagonist discovered hyperspace, invented magia. God-demons li ve on Earth, must find her own meanings. What the mcgaJaser, and fried their home served by rats, with humans at the makes these fables rather than planet'', we get vaguely bottom, and it is time for a change. romances, in my judgement, is dissatisfied reminiscences about It is a colourfuJ hero 's playground, that the central characters are previous relationships. Not with scarcely a sour ambiguity, witnesses to, rather than prime merely nostalgia for worlds we futility, or tragedy to be seen. actors in the plot events, and their can no longer believe in, Surely only a sourpuss could ask motives are moral rather than intellectual nostalgia which can'I for more. matters of survival. even believe in itself. Bah , I hated K W Jcter's Farewell it! But wait, it won! Whats going Horizontal has as its central on here? conceit a huge cy linder. It has an "Greenland is a r think it is some1hing like this: inside, where ordinary life Greenland is a knowledgeable and progresses on the Horizontal, an knowledgeable and gentle man who, in his own quiet outside where tribes and hard-as-nails way, has decided to freelancers inhabit the Vertical. an gentle man who, in his lake on the heroic martial macho off-limits eveningside, an boors. He has done so by letting unknown downside hidden in 1he own quiet hard-as loose in their happy hunting clouds an a mysterious Centre grounds a Mrs Brown, under inhabited by who-knows-what. nails way, has decided whose gaze the figmems of Axxtcr is propelled on a qucsl that adolescent dream and desire takes him to all of these places, to to take on the heroic wi1her. ' "Beautiful androgynous uncover/experience their reality. In martial macho boors." twins· really means distinctly both of these books the villainy awkward moments when it comes is systematic ra1hcr than moral, to liaisons._ The mutated space- and the hero wins by upsclting the What distinguishes the two capable child really is a bit status quo, but where Gen tie's space operas is that they are not nauseating to look at. The Han protagonists arc able to start a real space operas: they arc new, Solo type really is a bit of a new world and find love, Jeter·s redefined, modernised, self- slimeball. Being involved in apotheosis is personal, riding off conscious versions of the major events means muddling into the distance, fate fulfilled. (literally) naive, fun, grand-canvas along until you end up where you 're By contrast, in the urban fables space adventures of old. lain M going and can look back to see the plot isn't exactly the thing. Banks's Use of Weapons has the what it was all about. Mrs Brown Mishas Red Spider, White smoothly paced writing I tend to has no business being in space Web features a thick p~ose-poem associate with mainstream fiction future imaginary, she is style ringing the variations on wrapped around an intergalactic unsympathetic magic, but here she splintered glass, razor-steel and tragedy. From 1hc beginning, one is. A courageous and wcl l-executed stained concrete, somctJmes strand goes forward as Diziet Zma project it would be churlish not to characterised as "compressed c- searches out Agent Zakalwc (a applaud, and deserving of acclaim. punk but aspiring to a weapon) and puts him to use, and As for the Rest, the books that Burroughsian drone. The one strand goes backward, were considered bu1 didn't make protagonist is an artist, Jiving in exploring (perhaps) what it was the shortlist, the t:>ooks that didn'l the vicious slums outside the about Zakalwe that made him such have a chance, the books that protected, hierarchical domes and a good weapon. Subtle and weren't submitted, the books that their illusion-fed comforts. It is complex, by which r mean that weren't published, the books that n?t hard to sec this as a simple Banks knows how to "show, weren't written ... well. that's life. distortion of the condo/mall don't tell "', disconcerting il you ·rc This was the Arthur C Clarke worlds surrounded by shockwavcs used to being to ld. Probably Award short li st. of poverty and homelessness that gets out of it wha! one puts into it: ! discern a medilation on the 14 VECTOR 161 prostitute, surgically altered by his/her cmpklycr - !il'he now has si1t c1ttra sexual ~~~t i:~ 't~t~ Loo=. ~r ms~:~ organs in her stomach. The plot threads of ought to have been blu e pencill ed. His Ari and Zambia become increasingly subplot adds nothing to the story - indeed. entwined as Ari travels to the city to meet it distracts - and stretches suspension of hcrhermctcchdcstiny. disbelief too far As usual. O;instantine has created an As I said above. the outline of this must in!ercsti~g_ - if sexually obsessed - story, have read like a hell of a novel. !he actM)n w,th v1v1d atmosphere and some well dOl:S bowl along. Clarke County itself is rounded characters. She has her faults, a bel ievable. The characters seem interesting. tendency to info-dump which forced me to There is, however, insufficient or everyth ing to allow lhe story to come :e so~ersher w~~~hs p~i:~ an0~ through. The suro::ss of Orbital Decay oiricaturcs. seems to have ensured Clarke County, ~ere are compensatWns: brilliant set Space went frnm author lo prinler withoul p1ea!s. such as the stay in l..a7.ar City with the " jellycrusts-. There are also some ~rit~~,~~e;::::f their ~r :o~~n~I= County, Space may never have been a ::i~ ber:!31~r;;· ::p,io~ ~d great novel but it could h11vc l>ccn bcltcr country innocence, and the transcendence of than itis. humanity into something better, which the Martyn Taylor autlior also used in The Moutrou.s Regiment. Some minor quibbles - I was irritated by Eric Constantine's attempt to invent a pronoun TerryPn.tchetl for Zambia, namely "hir- or ··stte". as i1 Gollancz.1990.126pp.£12.95.£7.99pb jarred the sentences right off the page. It is also a little unbelievable that everything in Erle: an hilarious Discworld romp, the future can have changed so much, like gloriously illustrated in full colour by Josh the total absence of established religion, Kirby,ltsayshcrc. >, yet people still smoke tobau:o! Terry PrJtehett won the BSFA Award for ~ ~~ai~=ri~~to·w:;g. readable. This author best novel of 1989 with Pyramids, but ..c BalbanOHlH rJ~lttya h3Je;~~ ~n ~~lcdw!~s:"~itr~ illustrated throughout by regular cover artist Josh Kirby; ~d it i.s boring. I W3.'l 0 "'O Clarke County, Space d1sappomted with Pynmilds and failed (1) Allen Steele to finish it. and now we get. Erle which is Legend, 1990. 302pp. £14.99 worse.Thankfullyitislllsoshort. rm sure Terry had a great ti~ co~ing up 0 :!: Clarke County is a space habitat, part with all the one-liners that typify his style, agrarian sc:ttli:menl, parl orbital faccory, parl and I'm sure that anyone around him at the "'O pleasure dome and run for profit. Into this time will have found it all very funny, but paradise comes Macy Westmoreland, onthepageitdoesn\workthistime. w ~~e The story of 14 year-old incompetent co ~:fi~ g~:~~:ion:ollw~; ru:lti:: dcmonologist Eric accidenllllly summoning hitman on her trail. She carries in surance, U5? l--Ven more incompetcnl w!7.ard although she docs not know it is more than Rmccwind for the traditional throe w1shl-'S Hermetech it seems. At the same time the Church of and their subscquenl misadventures lacks Stonn Coosta.otioe Elvis stages a convention in the football any of the depth of TerryS earlier Headline, 1991,372pp,£14.95 stadium and the feisty wife of the farmers ' Discworld novels. It seems to be a fix-up leader declares . independence. And of weak vigneues 1h a1 dull the reader so far 1 :!~~e~cnti~1 1~~p.sc~ithin offix~a!l:;;~ Bi~?;~;g a i~av~j~ ~~nt ~Ji°:g~m~it! ~:~e:vet~a':e 8,eood J~~~son:{ ra;;:r a !h~ (withm timc,spacc)." with gods. accompanies something like ~ort. Even ln draft this must have seemed like a great Dealh, Pratchett's scene-,ucaling finest As might be inferred from the above idea, action. ooklur. mysticism. real human character, doesn't. make the mosl of his definition, this book is primarily about cm01ion alt played out on the widescreen cameos here. Rincew;nd, once funny, is sex. Its founccn year old hcmmc, Ari now prediaa~le, whilst the .Luggage seems ~~v~t::!iss~.a J~ft_Ph~~:, :,l:~ t~~ to be on Vahum. The best tme is a one-off ~cml':; shc~d5vi:i~:t;.f tot~k ~i~~f, say that SF often falls down in about Sisyphus being forced to listen to Na.than, seems to have no other purpose characterisation hut cha.ractcTT! must ad for interminable Health & Safety regulations thantohelp Ariachievehcraim. reasons coherent with their personalities before pushing his ball up the hill. The or else they become plot dcvia:s. no more. footnotes, thal 01her regular souroc of !~:in! i~a ¥u'7':'cg~~no~ ~11!d1fGa1!~ Perhaps Bigthom and Jenny Schorr and the laughs, are subdued, restrained or banal. where the ozone layer has disappeared. The rest do act in character, but Steele does not planet is devastated, dusty and dry, with show us enough to know. This is really a :~:ig~ls beh:~~ng~~~~!e"Jl~~ef; poison gas clouds floating across its screenplay waiting fo1 octors to bn:athc life less-humorous. if only to revitalise the surface. Those who choose to live in the into it (and it mighl l\01 be a bad movie at comic strain which really is strained in open have to rover their exposed skin that ... ) Eric. with a protective gel, hence their name I was reminded of Greg Bear reading this Jf you haven\ read Pra1chc11, I rcwmmen_d •'jellya-usts"'. The resl of the population book, if only because Bear is unafraid to Mort, if you have, don t waste £8 on 1h1s live in domed ur umlcrgrmmd dtic..~, or else ~~i~~c~h~ one. The illustrations aren't. that good either, off-plan et in the orbital city, Sky City One. ~:~an°~e~:~ St:-~iv::hi~. desr.ite Kirby a~ually having read the book. There are _artificial henges everywhere, threat - Icarus Five, a flying bomb - is also unlike most arhsb and blurb writers {and created as s,tes f~r ft..-stivals _and worship Bearish, althoug_h I. doubt he would ever maybe even the odd editor?) seem to do. of the goddess ls1s-Confidcnl1a, an orbital have brought 1t mto play by such a Kev McVdgh anificial intelligence. Vehicles arc powered sequen~ o! coi11cidc11a;-:s (too many to be by methane derived from human excreta. convincmg) I also doubt he would have had lt'sabitMadM.axreally. popular culture ossify back in 1975 (An Al In the coun~ry lives Ari Fember. teenaii:e who wants to be Bob Dylan? C'mon ... ) virgin, gcnet11:ally altered by her father: m which Steele appcans to bt.:lieve. the city. Zambia Crcvccocur. male VECTOR 161 15 G rlffln's Egg Black Trillium Basings1okc (where Harris has sl)(.'nt most MlchHI Swaawlck Marion Bradley, Julio May, And~ of _h is life) of a fair~round whose Ghost Legend, 1990, I !Opp, £9.99 Norton Tram (like the Tardis) 15 much bigger inside Grafton, 1990,347pp,£13.99 than outside and leads to a dreadful Michael Swanwick. for those who've been Limboland. Do not be misled by tlie title in a time capsu le for the past dccado:, is one As the infom,ation above indicates, this into thinking the novel is about happy of the new gencratKln of American wri1ers book was written by 1hrce authors. Each adventures: it is horror in the tradition of who emerged in the early 80's. His two author has taken one of the three main Stephen King. Do not be put off by the personalities and fo llowed her adven1ures Dedication at the front to "Razor Girt · and v~;:i~ boori!~e~ °!~e D~~ewh! and character development right through the others, 01 the reference 10 '"sci-fi tractor dissimilar, so it should be no surprise that whole of the narrative. Perhaps the beams" on page 1. It is not science fiction. this novella represents a change of weakest parts arc those, as at the end, But what may pul you off is that the book direction; what 11 unc,cpectcd is the where all three personae come together. But falls within the category of what might be direction he's taken. at no time did I feel that this experimental called g~e fiction. The horror consists Griffla'1 Ea& is something of a curate·s treatment is contrived. I could not tell largely of graphic _descrip1ions o( pain and egg when compared to his earlier work. Se1 which of 1hc three authors chose which injury (blood in urmc. etc.) and 1s likely to in the relatively near future, it attempts to character; nor at any time was ii apparent appeal only lo those with an unnatural be both !he tale of a flawed love affair and a that more than one mind was directing the share of schodenfrewie. The milieu is the seamy side of life in 01 novel: nor indl'Cd any clue as to the sex of ;rsi~w~bo;!11~~i~11da~ferthc p~:::io~u~: the author (or authors). It was one book • contemporary Basingstoke. Characters wilderness). whichisasi1shouldbc. smoke roll-ups, wear jeans, drink Coke and Unfortunstely the plot works against both The novel tells how the evil King Voltrik 7 Up, shop at Owen Owen. operate one arm themes, and the 90's orthodox futurology of Labornok {assisted by his idealistic son bandit~, play romputcr games. utter casual almost swamps the subtlc1ics of the Prince Antar, the power-mad wi7.ard obscenities and generally appear flippant. mcssagewithhi-lechnoise. Orogastus. and a motley collection of the hero is a callow youth with indulgent The setting is interesting mainly because of villainous generals and sorcerers) invades parcnlS and a magic piece of antique its novelty; the aforementioned early 90"s the peaceful land of Ruwenda. Good King jewellery which has eyes that light up (as futurology has gone to seed and put down K~in and Queen Kalanthe are killed, but often seen on TV). It is a sort of cross roots in SF. Swanwick has done his their three ~augh1ers e_scapc, aided by a n.:actingtolhepn.:scnccofcvil. homework, mopping up K. Eric Dn.:xlcr and motley rollecuon of Oddlmg scrvanlS. An inkling of the style may be gathered Jaron Lanier and the ravings of Ted Nelson :n,e three _p rincesses are triplets. Haramis, from this: "Fear g,nawed a~ay in the pit of and Alan Kay and the result is that his future 1ust the frrs1-born, has been educated in his stomach likebo1tin g lcad · is a lot more 90's credible than the queenly qualities; she is sJirewd, reasoning F. Paul Wilson's Rebom involves more cyberpunk vista..~ of the 80's and jlL~t as and responsible. Kadiya is what used to be crosses, more evil (!his time '·much, much likely to be old hat in ten yearli time. We described as a 'tomboy", while Anigcl is worse·· than the Antichrisl, according to the have brain implants, sure, but no the archetypal feeble dumb blonde. They are blurt>) and 1herc is a reference to "sci-ff cybcnipacc - instead, virtual reality has soon separated and the novel relates their again on page 6, coincidentally. Rebom ill arrived with a bang and everyone•s got a individual adventures as they try lo a s_equel to The Keep which, the nanotcch factory in their bedroom. You may rcndCT.Vous with each other and with the pubhshers claim ··became a phenomenal have read this stuff before, but not as good Archi-Mage. Bimlh. This last lady bestseller and a celebrated horror movie'. onoe gave lo eiteh of the three princesses a In the laner, the evil was supposed 10 bt: ;lZfo;.,in~;~:.kc?!Jdln~ff;~ ~;~~~ magical bud of the extinct Black Trillium. a destroyed. In this, 1he evil begins edge of the romputcr visualisation field has threc-pc::t.alled flower. As a result, the (conven iently)tocomealiveagain. collectively decided that Neu.rom.ucer is numeral three, figures frequently in 1he F. Paul Wilson is a New Jersey physician the fom, of the future and they·re now doing imagery of the novel. and his knowledge of medicine is revealed their best to make it rome true; if they latch in places. This is an easy read, full of shon 0 th 1 o~to thb st~ff the nexl ce~tury is going to ~i:h~tv~ -:CJ~:s~ :id ps~r::JiC:, :Ch sentences. short paragraphs and so diche wmd up luokmg like a bad acid trip.) taking . on some of the balancing riddtn and silly as to be quite loath.'!Omt. The plot. unfonunatcly. damages the charactenstic of her two sisters. Like Harris, he ha.s an eye for detail and char.K:terisation and turns thc l}l)Vella into a The mythical setting of the novel includes heavy-handed humour. There arc mechanical crucial tumi11g poinl in history faJTago castles and mountains, bu! most of the descriptions or what characters look like, involving briefcase nukes, the fourth world action lakes place in a jungly swamp with what they wear, what they eat, what cars war, schiwphrenia-inducing nanotcch occasional ruined cities therein. llS they drive, etc. but they arc all soulless devices, stolen supcr-wcapo11s and a deni7..ens include a variety of Oddlings, crcatur~ to be manipulated. cornucopia of other nasty plot widgets. lc"s some virrually human, some malevolently An inkhng of the banality of the style and so dctem,inistic that the hero - Guiher Weil. alien - especially the Skritek, humanoid dialogue may be gleaned from: a lunar . truck ~river is emotionally alligatOf'S. In many places the plant-life is '"Remember Jerry Shauer?'" Jim said as he compromised by 11 : it"s difficult to sustain also carnivorous. 1\1,'\Tled spagheni on 10 his fork, ...... "Sure,'· Bill said around a mouthful of scungilli Fra belief in a character. however sympathetic, preparation. when the author feels it necessary to :r:J~~~~: Diavolo. Dressed in a borrowed crew-neck invoke a solar flare to initiate a scJ1ual swcatc1 and a pair of wide-wale cords. he affair, then bashes the reader over the head now looked like a graduate studcnl. "Our old with a stolen-gizmo plot lin e straight out of q_uartcrback. " Adventure land JJmEaglud a 50'.s issue of "Analog· ·. A bit more delicacy Steve Hanis and 11 would have worked - but as it is, the Headline, 1990, 376pp, £12.95 well-designed background and character isation are bolted to a creaking, dreadful Reborn melodrama that, frankly, is not one of F. Paal Wilson Swanwick's more memorable creations. NEL, 1990, 344pp, £ 13.95 In conclusion, this is very much a mixed C•n'thelpbutchudt.at bag. The plot and credibility of the Headline is to be congratulated on lntern.li.,.,I Cri,u'r characters arc both poor; but the portrayal ol publishing so many firsl novels, even yo.,•t11aucnalllhowaytotho a future lunar colony is surprisingly gritty fwll1·«1urpl'ff•ur•ov•loholtor and t_he buzz-words arc all there. If you wanl 1~~~~~lu~1s v;~ ov;;;~c1~ }rrstqun~~{i •••:n•t/!b;:::::!/!n a ghmpsc of the SF wallpaper we1l be but Headline promises to publish Harris's HllARIOUi OUTLINE Of staring at for the next ten years, you might second novel ne:rct year in accompanyin g DESTRUCTION: $1 as well start here: otherwise, don ·, bother. TIMC~uuh ol .th.SuloGonKo>o• Charlei;Stron publicity material which tells how he has ,o .., 140J06 tried various unskilled jobs and in his Della,. Tll75214 own w~rds, "narrowly escaped being educated' at school. Adveamfflud concerns th,: arrival in 16 VECTOR 161 The Land Beyond Rt.-public. Nol only docs this cause ~~~r~~~~; GIii Aldcrmu. politica.1 problems for the Rcpublic·s sc~;:,C~gi~ivew:~!i_;,~ Unwin, 1990, JOSpp, £13.95 uneasy relationships with lhc rival whilst not always =hcrcnt., amotmt Confcdcnition and All~ bul the hapless (symbolically or aJlcgorically) to U5t year Gill Alderman s debut novel The psion~ Mulligan is wiped c~n ol llflY dclamiliansations.. .'7 An:ILl'fill raised a few eyebrows, and psydnc tracc:s he picked up, while • chance garnered high praise for illi rich di5covcry in one of Pol;ir City s sleazier On the second or thi1d reading I worked out charac:terisatlOl'I and ti,lonous uavdogoc. districts .suggests lhat a new form of alien that thl!I meant something ilboul Kicnoe ne LaAd Bcyolld tS also set on the hasanivod. fiction raising qUCWOns whidi make us planet Guna. but a long way m time and From swt IO finish, lhis is a gcncnc rome. sec the famil1u in an unfilmiliv hght A space from the events of ,ts prcdcccssor. ll'S easy enough IO aa:q,i a future which ,s ~_nlially m1en:sting (if not part!rul»ly The eponymous ~Mln of the North Pole lS Ylifomi.i writ large (Kl:IT n:fcrs IO mo.st of ung,nal thought. but one whidi LS k)s1 the locauon, suggesunc ,mmcdim:ly thai: H~ar s settlers coming from Califumia. because of the unncocssarily inilOCCS!iible AJdcnnan has created a whok: plancl rather way It is phrased. If crilicism has a than just a Qiy. The: two boob. an: linked, :~1 d~g C:::r,.~~~r Kc~~ r,irpose ,t is to open up. explore and is Bar and t==~Grill) ~larly IS 11 may be ..wril dluminaie the YlllOUS kvcls of meaning but only shghdy and rud1ng one not essential 10 lhc other. I suspect tht you large but its s.till a very small and obscun: found within any story. A good pttce of .... m deode 10 doboch anyway, howeva-. par1 or a big&Q' Galaxy. Then:~ a wry glance crmcism should make you read the s«Ky Three groups of people arc involved in TIie at the immediate futllre ~·ith Whites being afresh and d1SCOver new things in II which LAad Beyoad the Fishlolk. foffl\Cf thc mmoril)' • and cconom,c;;uly dtpn:ssed add to yow cn,oymcnt The purposes of E$k111105 who DOW wod: Withm the if TIO( oppn:sscd + group II s easy enough 10 air.a.sm aR: not served if the 011icism predominantly undefground habital ~ it. but it jUSI a1CS 0111 to, some itself is opaque or l:'·e.n impenclniblc.. Traumcssc: bu1l1 by the cok>nismg stiffness in the plomng. Then: aR: some And tJlat, Sild to say is the falc of much of Sinc,nians; the S,ncintant who rescued lhc neM sub-plots, involving the romantic the acadcmK: brouhaha dished up in lh,s dying Fishfolk a>mmun11y; and the ncv.cst intercsl between Mulligan, a space-fleet shm volume. Thomas D. and Altee S. arrivab, . the: b~ t11ne-1n1vclhng veteran tamed Llcy. and ii jcaloos Al, but Oarcsoo produced an fflsightful essay on the mam plol filirly limps, with the big John Wyndham which will ffllle me read ~~:~~linfoi~rcus-Ang Semo, the d1max coming far too cariy and the strange his work w,lh tn:sh eyes even if I don 1 AnlSric Oucctor of "Grted . a highly naUITC '?f the murd':_rs may offer novelty IO atw:1ys agree with their proposiuon that he successful compuicr-an,malCd soap i,pcn, tonVOIIIOnal de(CCIJVt readers, but come IJ some son of plUIO-fcminisL Stanislav on folks; this is .scintcefiai,:,,, after a111 I.em has • dc:11 piece on n, w.,. or ..,e ~ d~~~0t/;~:ai!C:Sh~~ld~~ Uc novel fizzles ou1 with everyone gcning Wodds which didn t exactly 1ell me FishfoUc and the Circus. Sahcr Bren is a their hcart'!1 dc:.siKs, thco there's an n:presenu,livc of the Fishfolk who mcct5 appendix about baseball 10 conclude. There :ri:~n\c!':: th~ =~idillllt:ri:~:i: Ang Semo fomwly and lalCI" socially; Flo:11 is one good joke abot.11 Mulhgan "could book at lca5' who knows how 10 ll5t the have been a conumdc, (but psiomcs are language. And the. whole book is ?:..t.• -rt':ir~~ ;;lhb;'11~~u: barmod from playinx baseball). and a lame worthwhik simply for Patrick Pamnder s down Loy Sen o&d joke about a,nfusion between the IWo eiu:cUenl overview article on "Scientists sensesoftheword"gay. m Science Fiaion _ ~~ion~~,ps~ lo~mrr:~dsh~~ryand 01:111 :~ The s1ory zs rold throughout m the prcscnt O!hcr than that. there is an essay cn111Jc:d confusions lhat go wi1h them, tokl w,lh tense, presumably 10 add an air of tough "Frank Herbcrfs Dunc illld the Discourse or intense a11cn1ion 10 detail. It dem1111ds, :1nd immediacy, bu! the imagery is not so much Apoc:alypcic Emlogism in the Uni1od justifies, 101al conccn1ra1ion lhroughout as stn:ct-aed IS lcafy-subufban-lanc-crcd: the States•· by R J Elll5 whose 1itk sets 1he lhcre is no obvious dr.una(ic action. No cyberpunk-influenced dclails • .s lCl7.)' tone for a work of such unrelieved twgidil)' straightforward pk>! as such. Things do background. drug references, hookers, punk that 11 makes me amilZl:d even Herbc" progress 10 a climax, but this is far from kinds called Little Joe, oomputcrs and manaacd to get past the first two pages of the most important aspccl of the novel. 1t Artificial Intelligences. arc as cute as hell hes monumental tome. Thctc is a piece on brings to mind much of Samuel R Oclany's and the crime-thriller clements arc as noir Lem by Jcrzy Jaro:bski which left me mote best writing and in particular Dhalgru in as Lord Peter W1mscy. Given Kerr s rewrd, confused lhan ii found me. There are that,espcct. I imagine this book will sell well and 10 jottings aboul William MorTi~ by ni,rko When I listed The Ardl.lvlat amongst some extent deservedly so; its solid Suvin which (Jon't actually appear to have a middlc-0f-thc-road SF nowhere near the my novels of the year in 1989 I wondered if ~~:::;:ng~:;y e": orU~ukinL:~i~~s is there was room for improvement in Gill cutting edge but far from the dlitcrutc 11 'J\~ Aldennan s writing. Is The Laad garbage-with-trademarks ol the real Dlsposcned • It is surely getting to the Beyond significanlly bc11cr than The s lushplle. Its just less a blues than a stage where II would take a lifetime to read Archivl1I? When the fh~t novel slowed sentimental ballad and slips down as \.--Vcrything wriucn abou1 this book, down there wa~ always the delightful effortlessly and foigcm1bly as well, u without actually leaving any time left over scenery 10 g11.e at, clearly this is less h1111asy. to read the oovel itself · this time 1rying to Andy Sa•yer compvc it to T S Eliots Fo11r Q9.artcU, 1 th 0 1 t~: 11dat is ~u~ ~~w~i. \u~t t~: it1!1!~ which I can"t believe is going to add much eventually be regarded &S one of lhc great 10 our appruciatiofl of cilhcr work. And works of SF in 1he 9()'5, more and more and more. Sadly, it is also lhc I.st book lo bca, lhc Science Fiction Roots and Done well. criticism is important., useful Branches and even entertaining. So why do so many t:t~i~kname people: who spe.nd so much lime studying Rlty1 Gancu & R.J. Ellis (Ed.I) 001 best wri1ers display such a complete Macmillan. I990.21Clpp,£3S.00£999pb in11b1lily to wntc • clc.a.r and coherent scn1cnc:cthcmsclves'.' F"IClion is a means ol communication. Pal IU• cald Polar City Blues Popular fiction (atways assum,ng that there K.atheriae.Kcrr IS my ftaion which docs not asp,rc to that Grafton, 1991,282pp,£13.99 stale) a.ims to communicate to a mass audience. In ochcf words 1hc author is Katherine Kerr is a writer of far11astCS - the intent on conveying somcthmg in a way kind thill comi:: 1n thteCS • and lh1s ~ her whidi everyone an under.stand. Is thal first science lldion novel. a far-future obvious'.' I woukl h:noc thought so. But in murder mystcty w,lh elements ot that case why do pcopk who wn1e about cyberpunk and the 1'1/JU thnllcr Or so 11 poJXJIII fiction do so in • mannc, which IS sayshcrc. not undcrslarldabk? Why. even 111 the An alien IS munkn:d 1n Pl>lat Cit), Hagar, a mtmduclKJn 10 lhtS book ol mucal essays. bxkwoods world 1n (he tiny and do we a>mc across the following: etollOfflicaI!y weak, human-dominated VECTOR 161 17 but at a much more superficial level, and I as an on ly slightly updated tl'llditional ialc Best New SF 4 was surprised 10 di~cove, that 1hcrc were this will more than adequa1cly brighten up a ed. Ganlae[" Dozois on ly five fewer stories than in the Dozois quiet weekend for you. Robinson, 1990, 598pp, £6.99 volume. Of the two. I admit to being more Ken Lake inclined towards Dozois' rollcction, but if Robinson oon1inue to produce an annual Best New Horror horror collection, with a liulc more effort, ed. Stepbeu Jones a19d Ramsey it could easily become as essential in its Peace Maker Campbell field. As the editors themselves recognise, Robinson, 1990, 390pp, £6.99 Robert amd Fnnk. Holt there is a need for horror literature to be I lcadline. 1990, 499pp, .(4.99 given a more considered hearing. and a As longtime readers of Vector will solidannualsurveywoulddojustthat. Anyone seeking an idemikil for a nave! J probably recall, I m a great admirer of MaufteD. Spelln Gardner Dowis· annual collection of bes1 will dislike 001.lld do little belier than fmd something glorify ing the SOI written by new short science fiction. It's as much a two American mi litary types. I picked up vital reference tool as it is an entenammcnl, what with an exhaus1ingly Peace Maker ready to_ dislike it thoroughly. I put ii down disliking it. but thorough and perceptive summation of the year's activities and a huge list of The Shadow of Heaven for different reasons. "Honorable Mentions" as well as a Bob Sha-.,, The story oon':Cn:is the deployment of an Gollancz.. 1991, 174pp,£13.99 orbital anti-m1ss1 le laser system and carefull y chosen_ and hopefully representative of short stories. reaction to it, The Soviets, naturally, decide selection Fi rst published in paperback in 1969, this to test the system to destruction with their Dozois reads widely, which makes the reappeared abridged in 1970. though my 1978 particle beam weaponry and the FBI decide of Sc~!i::~: from tl~t1':~ Corgi is the origi~al novel. Gollancz h.ave to ki ll the president (well, they've done it r:rm:~e~ce given us the first hardcover versmn, before .... ) One platform is destroyed and Magulae (wh ich Do1.ois OOitli) and Tile "revised for this edition'·. and the changes Magazine or Science F1cdon and then the sysrem runs amok destroying_ hall are intriguing, North Korea. When they decide to tum 11 off Fantuy perhaps a little disappointing, but he did include one story from No space for a complete survey, but just ':he its mad professor creator goes to his sccre1 opening pages give the flavour, w11h terminal and turns it back on .... I.nten;oae, and one from the promising new small press magazine, Stnmge changes in both technology . and At this point the s1ory gets out of control characterisation. "Checked the files ' and with a Rambo head of 1he CIA (George Plano.I. and there is a strong sense that he "card system" become "run any kind of Bush? Bill Casey?) taking o n the FBI hit does uy to resist bias. presenting as fai, a meat ~c:an " and " database", for example. squad, heroic helicopter pilots giving t~eir sampling as possible. . Mcasurcmenls arc metricated - a pointless lasl full measure. Sovie! sleepers scttmg On chis showing. 1989. was a nch year exercise for me as I have to multiply the off to poison America and much else indeed. In fact, it"s difficult to single out figures back to have any mental picture of besides. What oohesion the plot had particular stories for oo~ment, ~ough_ I the scene. and here I found an intriguing disappears in a welter of shoot 'em up :t~u~i,h~!'lre,r!e~tnyw~~g:.~. ~~,~~~~ oonfusion : a room 140ft JC 40ft becomes 35m hokum (and the descriptions of the killings Crowley·s dense and intelligently-argued x 15m - but the German transla1ion (Die and the Korean firestorm betray an Goldmann, 1974) gives ambivalence such ou1lincd in Trevor time-travel story, as well contributions g111eaea lllstla, as as us 30m x 12m, so the office has Griffiths ' The Comediam). Thal the from the likes of Robcn Silverberg. miraculously stretched too. Holts despise poli ticians is plain, bu1 Michael Swanwick, Mik e Re.snick, Charle.s Each worker ha.~ 5ft JC 4ft originally; in the what plot purpose was served by maki~g Sheffield and Greg Benford and newer German edition this becomes 1.50m x the Soviet president 1he so" of paranoid names, such !Ill our own William King and 1.20m - but the new hardcover describes cunning peasant who would . have made Janet Kagan. II I was asked to suggest a this much more realistically as "enough Kruschev blush? Mosoow ain I like tha1. suitable oollcction to intnxluce someone to room for a knee-hole desk and a swing-out boys. . tht multiplicity of themes and s1ylcs stoor·. This is a page turner, of that there ,s no which make up science fiction, and give Our Hero nOliccs a copy-girl's JX:rfume, doubt, but that doesn ·1 make it a good book. them a tas1e for funher explora1ion. then discovers it's called "Roas1 Beef', and, r cannot susJX:nd disbelief long enough_ to unhesitatingly I would choose this. realising the cost of such a rare scent, asks credit Hauge, the mad scientist gentus, Whether, seeking an introduction 10 the "Do you work nights'!" at which " Jean being allowed his own private access to horror genre, I would offer But New oompres!i<:d her lips and. walke The Bone Forest Shadowbreed wife, Rachel, and her wcird mother. Docs Robed Holda&ock David Fen:lag the family have some dreadful secret? Judd Grafton. 1991. 229pp. £13.99 OW Books, 1990. 239pp, £4.99 wants to know, to help. But no-one w,11 help him. One thing this collcctKln shows is that it Krokodll Tears Juckh patience with his children and the w~nl with the "mythago~ stories that strength of his marriage ;ue put ro the test Jack Yeovil when he agrees to visit his mother-in-la':"' s Robcn Holdstock finally found his true GW Books, 1990, 2S9pp, £4.99 voice. Here there arc stories dating from house on a de5erted stretch of the Maine coast. But something in the house is 1976 which share the charged atmosphere of Shadowb~ed need not delain us long. nascent 1nyth tha! gives ~is "mythago' upsetti ng his two da ughters. There is . a being the son of thing Michael Moorcock s work such power. In fact h,s whole career malevolent spiri t in the houi,e, and 1t us ing his youngest daughter as a host. has lx.-en bu ilt arou11d the rclatc.d threads of ~::n 1he k;o;: ru0nu~in; Ne:u\it: J !.~:~s time and rnychology, and the doscr he ge~ There have been a great number of novels not quite so wdl-wrim:n. Like _KrokDdfl and fi lms concerning possessed child~n, to the origins of both, the stronger his Tcan it is the second volume of a lnlogy. writing bccoml.-s_. and in D iane Guest's IA.Haby the subJcct "Again and again, the weapo_n swong,_ ll!'d no longer has an original feel. While the The "mythago' s1ori..:s, hen: represented by each sweep leh an()(hcr hideous vtct1m "The Done Forest". arc the perfect author does well with the suspense, there writhing in agony. its brains oozing from is a marked lack of drama toward the end expression o! this. Any journey into its pulverised green skull...."' You get the Ryhope Wood involves travelli ng back to and a feeli ng that someth ing important has ever more primitive versions of common ~}ct:!h,!~~.a~~l~t s~~ i~heso::n==~~ been edited out. Nev ille Steed, on the other hand, has done myth figures. 11 is a s imple situation which Teutonic. You get dwarvc.~. ores, gobhns, Holdscock sooms able to return to half-men, rat priests: there is gunpowder ~:~r~si.t.m::-:res~roee1 t':~ ~i~io;iv~~ constantly with ever fresh ideas. In this and the weapons and annour. horn the a frighten in~ and tense view of a village story George Huxley, father of St1,-vcn who accompanying illustrations, an;. late was the central figure in My.~ qo Wood. whose pas! lS about to be exhumed for the medieval, but ... I m not sure ii I can go on. world 10 see; a past thal comx:ms the dea!h encountcri,; his own " mythago . a green man KrokD dJI Tean co~s from the who seems able to enliven the marriage of 700 troops killed by a Gennan warship cyberpunk end or the 1een market, or rather that turned up off the Devon a:,ast and bed in a way in which lluxlcy·s own cybcrgoth, 11COOrding to the blurb. a new one opened fire on al lied servicemen prep;uing obsessions ha~c long since den~ 10 him. for the D-Day luidings. The soldiers were It is a bcaut1fully jud£C(I oo lhsion of the ~::ip~~nsbu~r~::!l~g ~~~,t f~n th ~ personal and I.he mythic which ~ows seoedy buried. A new tclep~one c•change backcloth that is straight William Gibson/ h~ just been opened m Hallowes. lloldstock 111 hlS best. Damaado• Alley hybrid. Yeovil. I The same careful working-out or the mystic Suddenly people are receiving t;alh they and mythical foroes which have powered wercnl meant lo hear, conoem,ng their ~~•is iswhotitoT;nM>= w~~mrr:~;i!f~ hearing her adulterous so much of Holdstodc"s rca:nt work are in loved ones. The wife awful. God knows, it would win few husband arranging a rendezvous with his evidence in the other stories in this awards for originality or subtlety, but there only a couple of mistress; the parents lis~ning . to a collection. With i.~ at least a zap, verve and sense of humour pornographic fi lm maker selhng videos of exceptions every one of the pieces about a tale of a cyborg heroine battling displays a oo nsiderable ta lent mining a himself w ith their 16 year old daughter. The pornographer is discovered beaten and scam of inspir.ition which has produced Etk~ N;uye~s~~~:,ra~fg\ P~:~~ th~g~r~ some extraordinarily good work. R~d hleedin g beside his blood-splashed Ones plotting to bring about the Mkkey Mouse phone. "That bloody separately it is hard to find a d ud note m Apocalypse. Yeovil gives us a world any of these stories, but reading them alt Mickey Mouse did it ", is all he tells the where Britain lost the Malvinas War, police from his hospital bed. . .. ~~: populated by such as President North, TVs and r.td ios, too, bcgm g,vmg 01:11 ~~7~'':ticin~e! :!J~~;r~ ::~~%n: Prime Minister Archer, joll y patriutic note. There is II sameness about !he way messages. It seems the ~em electronic a conscience. that he explores the primitive, as if only ~~~~~~:~~ ~~ gadgetry has developed s:~~st~ebru:~.~i~~~h= The social life of the v illage is crumbling. romantic novels of Margaret Thatcher. ~hncdc~~~e 1~:low0 rot th~~i;an~c~:~r : ::: The cause of this phenomenon lies in the These are, I suppose, no more than teenage blood-red soil of Widow 's Field, used fony lli ng. This i~ ~-t lo now suit his ~torytc power firnlll.'lics, although. Yeovil/ years earlier as a ma,\;S grave. Revenge from ~~Jcs'.he m~s~sid;;1!~~Y po~~eof e'::IVJ!~~ 0 f~~b~~~ 1 beyond the grave. ~o:'t~ffo;' :o !~1 ~~ndakthe: Well wri tten and entenaining. Jumped the Rapids'' and "Thom"'. but then;. genre. The violence is i11ev itab!e, and arc failures also. Time of the Tree seems to Martia Webb contain t--very icon Holdstock has ever put ~';;;';~lg ~Y g:1 fn ~neto~,u~~-c!:~ into his fiction, a man wa1chii:tg as robust scenes. They certainly aroused in me geological ages are played out upon his own no temptation 10 go out and bash an old Verne's Journey to the body until pnmitive wlturcs arise and one lady over the head with an ax~. Amatc'!r sacrificed female enters into a mystic union sociologists may debate at k:15urc their Centre of Self with him: but it remains resolutely a effect on the target markci. WllllamBa~ er collect10n of symbols with no un ifying An odd thought desphe the mu ltiple Macmillan, 1990, £35 story. On the other hand "Scarrowfel_ l , a slayings and oca..~ional spo< of hanky- young girl~ observations on a village This review is dedicated to the proposition festival a.s the cli max of which she wHI be ~tdll theTe:r\ '~1~d ':~h~~~ that scholarly works can be reviewed by married 10 an ancient spirit, has a good more decorous "freak'. non-scholari,;, and, more controversially, _to story woven around such formu laic horr.or Mllrtla Waller the proposition that a scholarly _w~rk with elements that the story never quite nothing to offer the non-scholar IS 1n eff~ manages to pack the_ punch it promi~es a fan7j ne for eggheads. How does this And it is on ly in the fmal story, "The :r~me volume, from a lecturer in French literature Lullaby about "the on~y Frenchman_ to have ~::~~lions ~~\upcr-r~c:r1~~Tng, achieved trul y uruvcrsal renown·, r~te? The ,~!:."'~~ Diane Guell acquire.~ the change of pace It so are collcc1ion Fontana. 1990. 299pp, £3.S0 many untranslated excerpts awkwar~, dcspera1ely needs. and one generally has to take B!11chc_r s Individually, lhcse st0riCll represent a word for what they demonstrate. Likew ise writer at the height of his powers. Brought Hallowes' Hell the extended discussion of Verne's use of together you begin to wish that Holdst?Ck Neville Steed tenses (remember passe . s~ple, passe could leaven his ob~sions with a httle Head li ne. 1990, 310pp, £3.99 co,npose etc?) It is also _d1ff~h to cope with the rigorous manner m which abstract ;:!1tiJ: ~l~ a while. What do you say whe~ you~ ten year old and surely perverse poin~ ~re m~. daughter says her sister IS possessed? constituting as they do a contmumg i;ucnlla Judd Pauling has not on ly this lo contend war with (unseen) scholarly antagon1sL'i. It with, but also his suspiciously secretive VECTOR 161 19 is a lot like reading Vol. 3 in a five-volume intellectually demanding pursuits, ,md so it sole survivor. The intention seems to be saga, and one can but wish that scholars was rel!,ardcd as perfectly proper for them that Wulfs nun-humanity will in some (Butcher included) would take greater pains to get involved in science; nor did women way tacilitatc Wilberfoss·s confidences in to make their respective volumes stand have to prove their social slatus by a way that a human might not. providing an alone; that is, to conduct 1hcir debate with ignoring the dcba.~ingly practkal things interesting commentary on the man at least some reference to commoner sense that scientific work implied. The situation machine relationship. Mann proposes that Having said that. there is meat here to changed c. 1900, fo1 twin. opposing. it is entirely possible for a man and an reward the determined reader. reasons: science bcca111e important, and intelligent robot to fom1 a relationship Butchers avowed intention is to fill the thus socially respectable !or gentlemen, beyond that of interrogator and respondent, gap in schola15hip bctw~n the major rc and women realised that they had to beat as ii becomes clear that Wult"s response to evalua1iun that Vcmes works have men on their own ground (i.e. with classi~ hi s subject is not that of simple analysis. recently undergone in France and their lack and similar subjects). Thai this relationship docs develop must of serious considt:ration in Britain. More The book docs not rea lly offer a rigorous fire the reader to consider Wul f himself. specifically, he wishes to prove that Verne proof of the thesis, and is particularly weak Qu ite apart from the slory he has been ha~ been "miscona;:ived"' as a writer for on the later nineteenth-century transition. commissioned to !ell, Wulf has his own children and/or of science fict}()n, and As a professional historian, I am rather put story. which he interpolates at various should be thought of as a literary writer; by off hy the boolr:"s lack of methodology or point~ through the novel, and also the story which I believe he means that he has a structure, and its preference for anecdote of Lil y. a robot a~ o ld as himself, and as rightful place in the history (!Uld ongoing over analysis. As a lay reader in this area. remarkable. This nO! unnaturally leads one process) of literature. Unlike SF? Despite however, I found it enjoyable to read: the 10 ask whether a robot. a machine this blatant appeal to prejudice, this work lack of ri~our and analysis doesn·t matter in1elli1,":cncc, can possess a pasf, let alone does go some way to proving that even so much if the anecdotes arc good, in mhcr be able to present and comment upon it . such a writer as Verne can repay scholarly words. Anyone in terested in the history of With this premise Mann raises such study. By placing Verne at the end of a 19th science ur in women"s history is likely to attractive philosophical problems, one century struggling with a naJTowing of get something oul of it. if on ly entcr- might almost overlook the story Wulf earth ly hori1.0ns. with the in lensely linear 1ainmcnt. and there are some marvellous tells. although the reader would be unwise and (at that time) sclf-cvidcm logic of women 10 meet in these pages. Nor did I to do so, for Wulfs own "lite·· is bound up "progress'', with the theories of Darwin and know that Samuel Pepys used I0 give his with Wilberfoss s, which is in tum another their implicit contradiction of "the white wife lectures on geography after coming violation of that perfect irnpart,ality Wu lf man 1s the pinnacle of Nature", with the back from a tiring couple of hours at the and any biographer seeks. sevt:rc: demands for realism from Science, office (or in bed with a serving girl), nor To be honcs1 , one quick ly forgets, as and with challenges to the definition of that once she got so exasperated with him Quickly a.s many of the character.; in this fiction and The Novel, and by finding that she tried to brand him with red-hot tongs. novel. that Wulf is nol human although the he has engaged with these concerns with an Good for her! However, I warn Brian written word more easily conceals his '"all-encompassinj!; irony··, Butcher not only Aldiss off this book, if he want~ lo avoid a appearance. He has a strong, well puts his finger on some of the reasons why stroke: Patricia Phillips ach ieves what an developed character. and a charming Verne has been so populitI and inspiring SF reader wou ld imagine tu be the diffidcna: is displayed as he constantly over the years, bUI contributes a vicwpoinl impossible - she discusses English reviews his efforts as biographer, and from which SF it.self aiuld be said to have women ·s involvement in science in the analyses the range ol possible approaches ''literary significance·•. That is, that a text early nineteenth century without once asself-consciouslyasanyhumanauthor. need not DC didactic, discursive, or men tioning Mary Shelley, Fraaktnsteln, But that, of course, is how I choose to otherwise self-conscious in order to ortheinvcntK>nofSF. interpret my reading of Wulfs "character"·, constitute a contTibution to, or commentary Edwanl Jame, in the same way that my undcrslanding of upon, literature. What seems simple, Wilbcrfoss is obtained and filtered through straightforward, or superficial, becomes as Wulf"s non-human agency. When one fascinating and complex as a foss il for considers the number of intcnnediate late! gcnc1ations, when the contingent stages through which Wilbcrfoss s nature of !he work cca.~cs to be ht! ld against ~~11:~n remarkable encoun ter with another alien it and it becomes instead a representative GollanCT~ 1990,287pp.£13.95 consciousness is passed before I. as reader, of its time and a reflector of our own. see it, !he extent of the opportunities for This may not be Butcher's poinc at all; it is At its crudest the 1ask of the biographer is undcrscanding and misinterpretation i~ hard 10 tell with such a small and to assemble and present verified fact.'!. almost limitless. defensive chapler in the ongoing Saga of Interpretation ol those facts is more In essence, Mann is talking about methods Scholarship. Nevertheless, worth delicately judged, but it is still the of communication and understanding requesting at one's local lib rary, if only to perceived duty of the biogTaphcr 10 remain bt..-twecn diffcrcnl, often radically so. gel a sense of the themes within the first aloof from his subject. It is, however, also lifeforms. The suggestion is that the ability glimmerings of the genre. an accepted fact that many biographers do to appreciate and interpret human emo1ions Cedl Nune berume in some way "attached .. to the ir and actions may not be confined to the chosen subjects,. developing a proprietorial human race itself, and ainversely that one or defensive attit ude towards the person. cannot necessari ly rely on one"s fe llows to With a machine in1elligcnce, one might interprctasoncmightwish. rca_,;onably suppose that the pmhlem of This is a fine novel, intricately constructed, !hi!f~rn~:~~~f Women's emotional identification wouldn't arise. but and filled with wonderful possibilities. It SclentHlc I ntereats, that in tum supposes that machine disappoints me that an author like Mann. in 1520 - 1918 intelligences do not possess what we a loudly-proclai med literature of ideas. would characierisc as "human'· attributes. seems to languish in comparative Patricia Plu Ill Pl obscurity in th is country. when he has so Wcidcnfcld & Nicolson, 1990, 279pp, £25.00 In aaual scientific terms we arc in no position to be ccnain as to what emotional much to contribute to o ur genre, and I very much hope this novel will go a long way To ~tart with, therc·s a missing phrd.Se in potential artificial in telligences mi~hl possibly possess, but in science hct1on toward~ rectifying that omission. the utle: "in England". All right, so there arc Maureen Speller some glimpst:li at what was happening in almost any1hing is feasib le. In Scodand and Ireland. but nothing about the Wulfsyam, Phillip Mann explores what rest of the world at all: in my view that it might mean for an artificial in1clligcncc, makes !hi! ti tle a con. Anyway, the thesis of Wulf the autoscribc, to compile the fact.~ of the book is interesting enough. In England the lite ol Jon Wilberfoss. and then present after the Renaissance:. and down to the end anintcrpre1ationofthcm. of the nineteenth century. men"s cduonion Jon Wilbcrfoss is a very troubled man, wa_~ lotally dominated by the Greek and haunted by his 1cjc1,1ion uf a viuknt pa.~t. Roman classics: no gentleman could do m~S!c1J;as~!vchis h~~;i1af ~~ without such grounding. Women. as inferior :1~h~ng:~, beings. obviously could not cope with such apparcnlly lusl with all hands, only lo reappear a year later with Wilbcrfoss as the 20 VECTOR 161 Stone looked at his _mother these days, he thought roles. the macho stcrco1yping is constantly Joe DoDDclly of empty corridors that took you for ever to questioned and the mcamng of " progress~ Barrie & Jenkins, 1990. 381pp, £12.99 walk, and deep dark pits, and wild wet is continually_ examined. The lcngch, on the moorland littered with the bodies of slain other hand, 1s as much a liabili1y as an men and overshadowed by great birds that ll.'-SCl and might deter as many people as it Sweet Heart had worm-eaten holes where their eyes amacts. lf the other two volumes arc as Peter James should be.· (p29Z). An uncomfortable read. Gollanc,_ 1990.278pp,£13.95 Two simi lar themes, of the past ~,c ~~e 1m'~I~~~ s:y ~~t ~::i~~\s~~ overshadowing and_ threatening the "The past is a furci$n a:mntry~ LP Hanley present; both handled differently but well. !~n~~/n~~ ~~rd hh::Ce ';!ln!i t~:~m 0! wrote at tlic bcgmning of The Go Nik Morton tightness of plot what it shed in Beh'reen; the past also plays hiwoc with unnecessary detail. the present and can very well negate the McQuinn 's style is readable. but it is also future .... Both tht:Se nuvcls attest tu the unre_markablc. the plor broadly, and in tleta1 I. too cliched for involvement. Plot 1 ~:I ~l~sc;bout Charley and The Covenant of the ~:t: 1~~~e Flame demand-. . also force inadequately explained her husban~ Tom moving into Elmwood changes _m several characters, chief among Mill, deep m the hcan of Susscx, a dream D avid Mon-ell Headline, J991,402pp,£14.95 these being Gan's fear of Neda's possible come ti:uc for both of them: here, they feel. betrayal and the betrayal of tht:ir they will be able to start a family .... While As the world heads for crological disastc1 countrymen by two of the revivalists, Carter and Jone.~. Thc.w complications arc ~~m2!:h"~~us/c~~~ in ththc ~~a~1::{ ru~; an anonymous group of em-vigilantes have taken into their heads to cJ1tract so artificial I wondered if McQuinn wa." Scotland, where Alan Crombie and his son ,t attempting to hide Warrior's lack of Tom encounter strange terrifying dreams ~ff;~'r,:'~11::rs~i~~~: ~t~.ti~n original ideas with constant plot and Helen becomes inordinately house v::ar:~ distll:lctions. environmental journalist - whose own proud and th. cir twin daughters betray fey In _ the end. ~cOu\nn is no s1ylis1 and knowledge ... father was once one of the worst without that hts sk,11 and enthusiasm an: perpetrators of crimes against the planet - Neiltier book sticks to one viewpoint, not enough to distinguish him from all the though in the main thc~c arc the stories of 1s COIKX:med with the sudden otherswhohackitfor a living. Darley and Alan , Each gradually begins to di~appcaranoe of a man, _Joseph Martin, Teny Broome ~~n:e ~~~h!:te!m:~!)I o~tq!~ti~n a;a; ::~~io:~hi;.J!ipe~"\; t!:~~t~~on~f own samty. Both encounter disturbing the Missing Persons Bureau, she uncovers hallucinations, nightmares and waking 1 ~~:}: ~~o~&S~:;i~~:: ~ts se;:~ The Eye of the World ~~:;Jnt!:,~:t~1b?~~~~!n~;e~ini~~ RobrrtJordaa 0 :~~ Orbit, 1990, 670pp, £ 13.95 a threatened ~~ic~: !n both books they're ~;hesi"po~:~ °!d hr:;r ~;i~i~~;n,n slaughtc~ md1scnmmately by somoo11e country. Despite their differences in attitudc and There ah wll7., in the middle of a heatwave or somethmg unknown! confronting .a hefty tome the si?.e of a small Charley's attempt: to ra1io11alise the strange taste. an unlikely romance blossoms between Craig and Tess a-; lheir enquiries encyelopacd1a, Book One of The Wheel of feelings and happenings. the flash -forward~ Time. I hadn_l read trilogy fantasy for ye-ITT, or -backwards co!1vince her to umk:rgo lead them into the dark and conupt side of but I was m t~c mood for a long trek regressive hypnosis. The former lives mankind, The story is well-paced and a lively read. lhrough a magic land. It had maps, a seem so n.:al. and relics from the former life glossary of namc.s I could almost swear I begin to appear in her present, to the ()Dint One also suspcct5 a film may come from it. M artin Webb where she is threatened with her life. ~~ ~=1~:,C~:~1~~r~a~ndr~eB~i~~t~:~ "~melhing stirred deep in her. memory. on the cover a painting of an armed Like a forgotten name on the up of the tro1.".'clli ng party leaving a sleepy village. to_ngue it hung there. tantalising her. lhen This wa.~ the real stuff, and now I wa.~ shppcd away... she felt for some rcaS summing up of "things we are going to do the genre A SCI qucslion for 'O ' k.-vcl City of Truth next lime~ in the let-down ahcr the geas students given that this sort of thing James Morrvw had been fulfi lk:d and the ueasure c:oun1ed. might serve to utBQ new rc.!Cfllll to SF, Legend, 1990. 104pp, £9.99 Though the fonnu1a is familiar 10 me, the should name wnters devote their lime and genre is not, so I can ·1 say whether this cncrgK:S to it, or leave it to the hacks 11k: people of Veritas cannot tell lies. Gone be work stands out in any way trom the rest. whose efforts would inevitably far II.TC the social niceties that we take for Two things ltlWmmcn~ it. One is its worse? Discuss. grant~. As 11, n::sull of ferociou s unpretentiousness: no liberties have been MartiaWaller conditioning reinforced with electric shock taken or subversions attempted yet the treatment in a brutal rites of passage formula docs not seem to have been ceremony in early adolescence, t.hcy have to slavishly or cynically followed. The be totally frank in their ,nterpcrsonal w riting remains lively, despite th~ lack of Tlgana intercourse. Otherwi:,e they suffer what one might call li1erary origmality or Gu.y Gavdel luy physicall y. metaphysical perversity (and perhaps Penguin, 1990, 688pp, .£7.99 Politicians therefore have IO admit to because of it), Only a s incere acolyte can do accepting kickbacks and chaning up a that. The other is its length. When The Tolkien, ak>ng with Joyce, I daily curse for member of the opposite sex is a boorish. Wheel of Time is completed, which m:ay or the sins of their disciples. Yet here is the unsubtle affair, as one will incvitahly be may not be at the end of the third volume, pontiff of Tolkicnitcs producing a doorstep offensive. It also means menus feature ~~u~~~ fantasy which had me turning the pages dishes such as "Murdered Cow Sandwich '. !"~en !~t o/o;;f~ t!~"io~i~ The protagonist, Jack Sperry, is an an critic. will be a dream at least a week long. ~~:f id~~ th:e.,~~i~;gan!t ht~c =~~ho!0tr~~ This means he assesses the truthfulness of Fantasy, yes, but .berofc fantasy, from works of art, including cinema films and which ii is Possible to emergt with that ~at m~:~~=lesm~,~~ %~a!l~:r ~{ either arranges for the lies 10 be excised, or procious intimation that we (human beings) ingredients are, after all, bog standard - a for the work to be romplctcly destroyed. ~~. quest by a disposscssod prince and One day he meets a woman, who wilt. of ::nbo~~d!arJ;~ th,:Ol~ 1;~~ ':~~:;C: adoring entourage, foul so,ccry, k.ive, course, lead him astray and help him in his that I may be. bravery and a fin~ bank whkh leaves quest lo cure his son of the deadly Xavicr s CedlN1un everyone happily aim: or dead as the case Plague by making him believe the lie tha1 he may be. The differenc.e is in the chJraCters. will get better. Kay prcscnts us with a battery of varied I found the auelly candid names (Camp protagonists, all of whom K1 as they do be<:ausc th.at is the w11y 1hcir characters ~:h~K!:m~)at~ui~f4 ~~ik:sl~~~ ~e~~~':'~"§•Tld Prlagle demand. Even whaf appeaIS IO be ll dt:flS a uses its illustrious lolbears almost as a ow. 1990, 257pp, £4.99 ,nodt.bw plot dcvkc lit the very end is, on pk>tting template and as 11, result it is both consideration, entirely in chllnK":tcr. The dull and predictable. The characters 11rc darkest vi llains - and these lire as black as merely puppets fulfilling pre-ordained plot ~~!!!~or black can be, by their de.eds - tum out to be a functions. The action is set somewhere in ow, 1990, 246pp, .£4.99 cautious if ambitious bureaucrat of sore.cry the USA in a time not loo dissimilar lrom and 11. tyrant with a heart of gilt driven to our own, but while there are reference.-. to Well, here's a pretty kettle of Martian sand. distraction by the death in battle of a the preceding Age of Lies, there is no fish. What arc the likes of Ian Watson, favourite son. At the very end I found explanation of how the Veritanian culture Storm Constantine and others doing putting myseJf wll!lting the vi1111in, Brandin, to arose. The violent brainwashing socms old win rather than the obsessive prince, fashioned and primitive. 0 0 . Not that he ~ af::i~ e!~!resf-:n'cf rav:~in!~mo~ari::; Alcssan - just as Kay intends ~~:~:~J the Void? does win, of rour..c, we arc playing by ~Ibelierai~rwcflro!~mZam;a~n Earning an honest penny, I assume; after all, genre rules. I do have one slight caveat. unerly believable dystopias. Vcritas is too Watson himself, the biggest name on offer, though. Devin, the jt.Uflt. pmnia, does find cardboard to be real. The dissemblers' has shown several examples already of his hean being tom by the nobility of all meeting which Sperry easily gatecrashes, is his willingness to go well down-market around him rather too often for a romy, totally unbelievable set piece. for idealogical reasons. laqabUor, a full verisimilitude - this is a travelling Would the whole plan tor a revolution length novel, and the occompanying musician who engllgCS in a vigorous knee really be revealed to a mass meeting? collection of short stories, arc set in the trembler with one of said noble soul s very Yet many of Mormw·s images arc very world of Warhammer 40,000 (presumably early on in the tale, llflothcr professional visual, which leads me to wonder whether Anno Domini). My researches arc lcS5 than s inger who knows all about using sex as a he has chosen the wrong medium for hi s exhaustive, but this has something 10 do weapon! The magic, for onc.e, seems worth idea. Done graphically with llll amst who with the world of war- gaming, so here, I the_ candle. Whe11 these magicians call on has a good eye for detail, (the truthful suppose, we have the book of the tin product names ay out for this son of soldier, with , possibly 11 comic strip 1reatmcn1!) this rould in fact be quite a taut thrown in somewhere down lhc line. Ifs story. as a written novella one hundred all wildly derivaiivc Red Indians in pages king, the plot is 100 th~ lllld MC!~ are also toudicd by their talents, lit once spacc, I.he Spanish Inquisition in space, ~en~sin~':',f:~::t;i:;;;:h~ to m11nt11n Vtet Nam in spl!IX • but the calibn: of the baoyed up and flawed by them, which writers involved lifts the whole exercise a mates a change from thinly disguised ValtrteBoudu couple of notches off rock bottom. An evil Gandalfs on the one hand and creature., so emperor. the afore-mentioned Marines, evil they give lessons to Satan on the copious illust~tions and the sinister Gene other. Stealers - I quite liked the Gene Stealcrs, So. I found this an enjoyable read. who mimic and grotesquely mutate other sllfl)risingly so. I expect it will appeal to ~ races who fall under their sway. devourers of Donaldson, Eddings t.t al, ~ In Brian Aldiss's memorable phrase, the even if Kay has much l ess purple in his whole gigantic roadshow works by magic. prose rhan most. I would also recommend There is little internal ronsistency, perhaps ii to anyone who normally fights shy of ~/,~ inevitably given the number of writers this genre. Mind you, it is LONG - which . involved, bul it all has a certain erode very length probably precludes a sequel, for vigow, and Watson throws in some which small mercy ... typically Wa1sonian musings about Mutla Taylor , cvolu rion. One wonders what the Timet IS )OIJl LFE DULL? Uteruy Sappleme• t. dragged in for the Wl>od0J0U l>l•m•I 1111'11•• slccvc notes, would make of it all. God knows, I've read far worse, and :l~~~~~i~,:fO:~\~€~ occasionally from the so-called titans of !::!'..,!~:.~4.i .. 1[:::!,:,••or 22 VECTOR 161 Time Journeys Moving Pictures monal can ever be known IO be happy until Paul Halpem Terry Pratchett he is allowed 10 leave this life, unlil he is McGraw-Hill.1990, 153pp,£l9.95 Gollancz, 1990.279pp,£12.95 dead ·· and then ask him "Do you feel that way, Rafiel? I mean, as a mortal? " and This is an oddity. For a start. it is non Better Than Life literally mcanil fiction. which puts it in a minority among Grant Naylor an1e sh~~:w ~~d t~~o~;~rcRa~e~ the books being reviewed in these pages. Viking. 1990, 229pp. £ 13.99 ~=J:::, What's more, it i.~ non-fiction written by a is aware that the interest of many people is Professor of Malhcmatics and_ Physics at prurient and even spiteful, he is very much Terry Pratchett has become somethin~ of an part of that world. The language is one of the an American college, and pubhshed by an institution. Mol'ID.g Plchu H. rs !he academic publisher. And yet. it is _v~ry theatrical demi-monde, with the use of a lot tenth Discworld TIQvel and there 1s no sign of French and foreign v.:ords. and generally_ relevant to the interests of science fiction of the apparently interminable st.ream ever rcadcrs(andwriters). the spirit of everyone being called "darling· coming to an end. There seems to be an or " lovie .. without meaning a word of it. Paul Halpern is obviously interested in SF almost insatiable demand for these rather as well - at lea.st, in the claS5ic works of The return of lost love. the star su~gcon lightweight comi~ fantasy novels ai:td Alegrena. will save Rafiel, as they_ fmally Wells, Verne, Hcinkin aml the like (I Pratchett's imagination 5,1..-cms fertile suspect he _took one of tho:sc _00111:5~ on SF sail into the stars mgether and he dies. but enough 10 keep the demand satisfied. How the idea of love ilS salvation pairs very common m American univers111cs, _that good is he really though ? . regard anything as modem as Larry Niven weak ly with the purgatory of future life on Certainly MoTia.g Pictures aclnev':-s ..rth. as far too racy to be discussed). Tl~t everything it sets out to. The book 1s Journeys is. no textbook, but deals wit~ Outnumbering The Dead is an old-fashioned always entertaining and successfully novel in many ways, if old-fashioned can many mystenes _of time, such as why_ n sends up Hollywood and the American flow.~ in one direction and whether time refer to styles and SF concepts tha1 film industry, transposed to the appeared fifty or even twenty-five years travel is possible, at a level clearly Discworld ... but it lacks bite. There is too intcndedfornon-scientists.thcsadthingis ago: decadence for its own sake is no longer much sugar and not enough acid. The treated as a worthwhile subjoct, but it that, like so many academics, Halpern can·, humour is just not sharp enough. It flatters write to save his life. In the Preface of the certainly features here. On the other hand, ra1hcrthanhmU. Pohl may have meant to write about the book {the hit where the a~thor sets out his A good example of this fault is provided s!all wi!h iuicy titbits to mduce the casual loss of feeling and what causes l~at loss. by Gaspode the Wo~derdog, a canine who and there arc many echoes in th,~ short reader. flipping through the pages at the back is ble:sscd/cu.rsed with self-awareness and of the bookshop, lo buy) the eye falls ov~r book thal make ii da-pcr. II ends .. yes, the power ot speech by lhc magic ol _the Raficl had after all been happy in his life, the sentence '" let us now examine the ~as1c Discworld"s Holy Wood. Ga..fM)de realises structure of the book'. "No thanks.' the and known that to be troc··, and just before what a dog·s life a dog·s life really is. Th_e the words of Sophock'S in my dictionary of ca~ual reader is likely lo cry as he ruJlS from humour tha! Pratchen squccres from this the shop. "let us do no such thing··. But thal quotations come these ?I Solon ~ "call no would be a mistake. man happy till he dies, he is at best ~~a:';cr:snom~ s~~se g:F'i~jus~~~clt i~ :i~ [onunate'·. Thin~ tJo nut :;cem to change In spite of it~ clumsy writing and plodd!ng fake. Complacency rules and a good idea becomes a missed opportunity. ~~If; j::::a pass For my money Pratchett is terribly overrate.d as an adult novelist. His books fall into Michael Mooreock"s calegory of number of references to other books and being written about and for rabbits! Tom anicles where you can find out more about Sharpe h.c. nothing to worry about. Dlnblg of Khlmmur the copies he skates lighdy over (for which Pratchet!'s children's books are much Pb.Hip G Willil.DUOD I can even forgive the fact that my name is bencr. Grafton, 1990, 375pp,£ 13.99 spelled incorrectly . in _one ?f those Whal of the Rob Giant and Doug Naylor citations). There's a httle b,1 of history and Red Dwarf novelisation? This is the Dinbig is "a successful merchant a little bit of philosophy; but the meal of second volume loosely based on the advcnturcr, spy, accomplished womaniser, the book is the overview of time in the superb television series. It is different and Foreign Minister fO the Royal Court of context of relativity and quantum enough to be worth reading and there arc a Khimmur - alas, I have always preferred mechanics, including Shrodinger·s famous few good jokes. but _it is nowhere near as fantasy where the protagonists earn their cat (01 cats. if you be lieve the many worlds good as the TV sene:s, easily one of the laurels rather than be grant~ them by version of quaotum theory) and the best comedy shows on the box in reo::nt auctorial fiat. Withoul such a h1~1ory, al the possibility of parallel universes. centre of the novel one senses a Throughout, there arc references and s~a:,•p~~~~es!~J ~gy~~sg!e':.e 1t11d mutivalional void - who is he? What docs allusions to SF. But unlike the non-fiction Jo.b.Q New1i.ager references, these stop at about 1955: It is ~~p~~• ~~!? w:i~htf p~g~e~/~1:;, ';';;~; downrighl bi7.arrc. for example, to fmd no having happened but much history havmg mention of either Poul Anderson's Tau been sketched in, nooded with names and Zero or Fred Pohl s The Comia.g of lhe Outnumbering the Dead still puzzling over an idcol~gically dubious Quantum CIils in this context. And there Frederik Pohl ma~ically-as~istcd scducuon, I . lost arc some odd omissions on the factual Legend, 1990, I \Opp, £9.99 interest. Skimming the rest, there 1s war side, as well. Although he SlrCSSCS t~at and intrigue. The Bca5t. trouble in the spirit most physicists arc uncomfortable wuh Frederik Pohl's latest comes in the Legend world alas, I wrote something very the many worlds notion, Halpern . fails to simi lar ten years ago, and Williamson. has point out 1ha1 S1ephen Hawking has ~:~\.:C:i~m a~:e f~~~~~~i~~ang:;r\: not convinced me that his is subs1an11ally espoused it in his theory of the origin (or genderof i1ssubjc<.1Son the way. better. Given the choice, 1 prefer to sweat lack of origin) of the UnivCJSe - even Raficl, the protagonist. is the l.a~r~n<.~ obsC!isivcly over my own. though, of course, A Brief History or Olivier of his day; but where Ohv1~rs c~cllNwu Time gets a mention. relationship with Vivien Leigh supplied So - a strange book. Fascinating topic, with the gossip columns, Rafiel has the dual lots to ponder on. turgidly wriuen, over Please send all review copies to: priced and from an inappropriate publisher interest of ilffairs ;md his mortality. For in this future world an operation before birth I couldn"t in all honesty. urge anyone to buy it for themselves. But you might look it out ensures immortality for most poopte, b~l Chris Amles in a library, always assuming the local no1 tor Raficl: he can be repaired (this uncomfortable operatio11 begins the book) 56 More Close library has any money left for ~on -fiction but eventuall y a point will come where he books in 1hese days o! poll-tax-cappmg. St Pauls Court willjust:;tupdead. . . John Gribbin The ironic counterpoint to this is the play London W14 9BN Rafiel returns to rehearse: Oedipus. So a 1epo11cr can quote Sophocles at him ''nu VECTOR 161 23 Index to Books reviewed Author Title Page ALDERMAN, Gill The Land Beyond 16 BRADLEY, Marion/ MAY, Julian/ NORTON, Andre Black Trillium 15 BUTCHER, William Verne's Journey to the Centre of Self 18 CONSTANTINE, Storm Hermetech 14 DONNELLY, Joe Stone 20 DOZOIS, Gardner (Ed) Best New SF 4 17 FEARING, David Shadowb In some areas of the short story field 1990 was a quieter year than '88 or '89. but overall the quantity ~~t~7~;~e 1:C~nab~:RPr~?'~ 99b¾ra~~tal~~~~effJ~ and quality of short SF continued lo rise. The lull with commentary 27 books or items of scientific or in single-author collec1ions was inevitable after the political interest about parallel worlds, their access previous year. but the Pulpbouse Authors and the cover-up conspiracy. Seriously weird. Choice series offset this and made stories by the dangerously intriguing. Only the small print gives likes of Effinger. Shiner, Goldstein and Bryant any explanation. available again. Elsewhere. Eric Brown's The BBR also published Paul DiFillipo's ~sm;ro~l;e!p~a~~n ·ru~1h?r~hOrw8n10t~~t t;~ "Fleshnowers", an enjoyable sequel to his earlier Maps In A Mim>r is an enormous resume for story "Skintwister" (F&SF March '86): the author one of the '80s most popular authors; and Pat also had "Harlem Nova" in Amazing, which Murphy's Points Of Departure would be the features more gentle homage to Delany with some highlight of any year. sound political comment and a post-cyberpunk adventure "One Night in Television City" in There were also several interesting anthologies. Universe. Few writers are as convincing as second volumes of Zenith and Full Spectrum Difillipo when it comes to street life and talk. and the reincarnated Universe all had great stories - whilst those who pul their respective prejudices Karen Joy Fowler's neat little stories have been a aside found much to enjoy in the Warbammer anthologies. the Sem.iotext(e) SF edition, Lisa ~Jeresfr~!~tzsi~~v'~ec:ird ~m~e/~~ ~~; r:"1i~ Tuttle's impressive collection of Women's Horror, the story of Einstein's daughter. told through the The Skin of The Soul and David V Barrett's letters he receives from her mother. but the real Digital Dreams. strength of the story is the manner in which Relativity Theory is incorporated into both text and With !he magazines doing well - a monthly structure. to make the story far less sraightforward Intenone. a fast-developing small press led by and more moving than it first seems. BBR - there were plenty of stories around, but which were the best? They came from a variety of Allen Steele has yet to convince me with his sources and covered a wide range of styles, but novels. but stories such as the dinosaur story some outstanding stories were obvious. Several of ''Trembling Earth" (Asimov's) show lhat he can the prominent names of recent years were less 'M"ite very well. Similarly l prefer James Patrick Kelly's shorter work, thouqh the weird and L~~!~ii d~~~aide~~dcp~~t1u:~~~- b~~n m~n~~~~; fascinating "Mr. Boy" (Asimov's) is novella length. And Bruce Sterling (who gives Tim Powers ca:c~! ;s1:~1~!~t~n. th~~f1~r Filli~ela~~anKo: a walk-on part in "The Sword of Damocles .. and Ja~et Kagan amongst them. (Asimov's)) endeavours to enter Hermetic territory with "The Shores of Bohemia" in Greg Egan is a new name but one which cropped Universe. It is good to see established novelists up in several places, particularly Interzone. continuing with the short forms, the temptation to where his best story, the deeply-disturbing stretch good stories to novel length must be there, ··Learning to be Me" stood out. For a while, it yet the results of such expansion rarely match the seemed as if every issue of Interzone had either original. Egan, or Kim Newman. The latter's "The Original Dr. Shade" received great praise for its dark vision. Looking through the magazines to remind myself of The same issue. however, contained my personal the best stories l see that there is still so much I favourite: Simon D lng's "The Braining of Mother Lamprey" is an absurd fantasy with some wonderful ~~~o~~- r~?m s~ta~~nl K~ir~!~~ ~~~~~! bc'e8~~ images. and great wit. One of the funniest shon Philip Jose Farmer and Pat Cadigan, that I can say stories I've read in a long time. with absolute certainty that 1990 was a very good year for excellent short SF. Equally funny, equally dark and considerably