December-January 1990-91 125p Issue 158

• lain Banks Interviewed • • Charles Stross: Myths, Computers & Cyberpunk• • The Summer's SF films reviewed • Josephine Saxton interviewed • Vector Issue 158 • Dec 1990/Jan1991 ISSN 0505-1448

Contents 3 - Editorial 4-Letters 5 - lain Banks Interview By Andy Sawyer 8 - Myths, Computers and Cyberpunk By Charles Stross 10-One Fine Summer A Review of tM Summer's SF Films by Ian Nathan 12 - Book Reviews Reviews of books by lain Banks, William Gibson & Bruce Sterfing,Jack Vance, Colin Greenland, Grt!g Bear, Lucius Shepard, Mary Gentle, Jonathan Carroll, Kim Stanley Robinson. Brian Aldiss, CJ Cherryh. Dan Simmons, and Christopher Priest among others ... 20 - Josephine Saxton Interviewed By Kev McVeigh

Co-Editors Boyd Parkinson 11 Marsh Street, Barrow- in-Furness, Cumbria, LA14 2AE Telephone 0229-32807 Kev McVeigh 37 Firs Road, Milnthorpe, Cumbria, LA7 7QF Telephone 05395-62883 Review s Edito r - Paul Kincaid Production A ssistants - Chris Amies, Paul Macaulay, Catie Cary, Alison Sinclair, Camilla Pomeroy, Brian Magorrian, John Foster Production Consultant - Barry Parkinson Typeset by PCG, 61 School Street, Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria LA141EW. Tel: 0229-36957 Printed by PDC Copyp,int, 11 Jeffries Passage, Guildford, Surrey. GU1 4AP Vector is published bimonthly by the BSFA, copyright 1990. All opinions expressed in Vecior are those of the individual contributors and must not be taken lo represent those of the Editors or the BSFA except where explicitly staled. Contributors - Good articles are always wanted. All MSS must be typed double-spaced on one side of the paper. Maximum preferred length is 3500 words; exceptions can and will be made. A preliminary letter is useful but not essential. Unsolicited MSS cannot be returned without an SAE. Please note lhat lhere is no payment for publication. Members who wish to review books must first write to the Editors. Artists - Cover art, illustrations and fillers are always welcome. Advertising - All advertising copy must be submitted as b/w camera-ready artwork with a!I necessary halftones. All enquiries on rates, sizes, etc. to the Publicity Manager: Dave Wood, 1 Friary Close, Marine Hill,Clevedon, Avon BS21 7OA Editorial

By Kev McVeigh

have ~ust read a remarkable novel based on bm where are they? Why aren't they memo­ background, trivia and detritus, nothing Ia maJOr historical change in the middle of rable? more. I think Terry Bisson recognised this, the 19th century. It isn't the best novel I 've I mentioned Molly Rachel, but although I not only because he wrote something very read this year (though very well-written ii has remember her now as a black woman, when I different, but in the manner of his difference. its minor flaws), but ii has an approach to its first read Ancient Light each time I came He recognises that Abraham Lincoln is a na­ subject which is worthy of ancntion. across a reference to her colour it was like the tional hero for abolishing slavery, whilst Before I do that, however, I'd like 10 ex ­ first time. Cultural conditioning is such, par­ Brown and Tubman are neglected, as is the plain the background to my reading of this ticularly in a nonhem village or in the sf real situation in 1859: Slavery was on the novd. There are two f-.ctors of note: the firn community where black faces are rare, that I brink of collapse; there were almost as many is that I generally enjoy alternate history tend lo read characters a.s white, even now poor whites as poor blacks; and abolition had novels (despite gelling bogged down rwo­ when I'm aware of this. It i, even tricky when begun long before Lincoln, who was caught lhirds of lhe way lhrough The DIITertnce the charactct is a slave descendant as in Ho­ up in ii ud was shrewd enough to react Engine). The "what if" method of com­ ward Waldrop's A Doun Tough Jobs. Most ahead of his rivals, rather than being a man menting on the present using the past is 1 writcts, I suppose, ue in a position where with a mission as, for example, Willi1J11 Wil­ common device not always convincingly doing anything bu1 mak.inc the occasional berforce was in this counlJ)'. (Indeed, how used (cg Hitler winning the war without any skin reference is very difficulL Mentioning it many people are aware that Rhode Island, the explanation of what change has broughl this every time is racist, because it isn't necessary thirteenth state of the union, abolished about). I also enjoy certain periods of history, for white characters; ignoring it negates the slavery in 17741) Bisson contributes to the including !hat in which half of this novel is whole poinl. Phonetic accents are difficult history lesson with a foreword ske tching set, which was why I bought it. Sec.ondly, I too, either to be convincing or readable (and I what really happened at Harper's Ferry have recmtly been reading a few books don't just mean black accents. but Scottish, (Brown and others were h1111ged) 1111d writes chosen after watching BBC2's "Eyes on th e Northern English, Spanish, French. and any into his novel an alternative history novel. Prize" series. That series and some of those non-conventional accentuation). Neverthe­ John Brown's Body, where this was how it books, dealt with the American Black Civil less, I had been thinking that it was strange happened 1111d Lincoln did become the Presi­ Rights Movement from the mid-50's upto the that nobody had managed to shake me up and dent we know. A clever conceit which early 80's. Until I read this novel I had been out of my white middle class complacency in emphasises the potential reality of this black 10ying with the idea of 'Nliting something sf the way that a few non-s f writen including USSA. based upon this subject. Of course I hadn't hnamu Amiri Baraka, Alex Haley and Nto­ I didn't intend this editorial to become and taken it back far enough, and now I can't, zake Shange had done widely. extended review of one book (though Bisson because Terry Bissom's Fire on the Moun­ So this was the direction from which I ap­ is an author to cherish), but I hope it hu tain does it so well. proached Fire on the Mountain, having served its purpose through that review, That h i:; 50 ye11TS since Black novelists began been delighted by Bisson', previous novel is, I hope that I have made people think on 10 achieve success, notably James Baldwin, Talking Man, and being intrigued by his the (mostly unconscious, minor and under­ Frank Yerby and Richard Wright; but there premise.: th.at John Brown and Harriet Tub­ standable) racism in sf and fanwy, and, were others before them, leading 10 Ishmael man succeeded at Hvpcr's Ferry in 1859, perhaps, realise Iha! there is a lot happening Recd and George Lamming today. It is 30 and afterwards, leading to a black secession­ in today's world that a greater awareness of years since S1J11uel R Delany began his ist and socialist Deep South. (My own idea what really happened in our collective and cueer as p-obably the first black sf writer of had been for Malcolm X to survive Dr Martin individual paslS will help us produce a more any note; and 30 yean since Robert A Hein­ Luther King, leading to • powerful and radi­ tolerable furure. There is a long way to go, I lein casua.lly slid a sucker punch pa.sl us by cal black Moslem movement whils1 the US noted only a half-dozen black faces amongst idling the reader who'd got half-way through was confused by Viet Nam.) What I found aboul 350 white faces at Novacon in Birm­ Starship Troopers that his hero, Jolm Rico, was sornelhing special: Fire on tht Moun­ ingham last wr.ek. Nevenheleu, sf was blade. And it i:; 20 years since Norman tain gently and unob1rusively coerced this assimili~ women both as characti:u IUld u Spiruad put Lucas Greene into the White reader into reading it with lhe natural as­ 'Nliters and is immeasurably richer for it - House as the first black President ... Now sumption that, until told otherwise, all though still flawed, as lnlerwne's well -in­ name me a major black character in sf since characters could be considered to be black. tentioned sexual apartheid in issue 42 and then. I'll make it easier: name a major black This reversal is remarkable, and quite as radi· most of the preceding year shows - IUld it clUI public figure outside of sport and enteruin­ cal a.s anything that the SFU is offering; but it do the same with multi-racial sf, in which ments (and also ucepting certain South is also somewhat disturbing thaL in 1990. a case Terry Bisson may well be remembered Africans). To the lauer question we probably novel like this is so unusual. Yes. there are as one of the early stlUldard bearers, and a got Jesse Jacbon (I wonder if he's read Spin­ writers such as CJ Cherryh who regularly and brave and irupiring writa. rad?), Trevor McDonald and... that's very successfully use. aliens in this manner. a If sf ignores this lead then it hu failed 10 probably it. To the sf question? Those guys friend says he tends 10 assume characters are be either the " literature of the imagination" with the cod accents in Ncuromancer, a few Hartl unless told otherwise; bu1 in human­ or the growing, living form it must be to sur­ Lucius Shepard, RA Lafferty and Delany orientated sf and particularly in fantasy the vive. characters, Molly Rachel in Mary Gentle's race of the major charactcts seems to rcflecl Ancient Llghl ... and that's it again. Or is it? that of the author. There may be a few tokens, There arc ceruinly dozens more; sf may be spcarcarriers, killed off as necessary; there Terry Bisson·s Fire on lhe Mounlaln is reactionary as a whole bu1 there are always may be a spaceship named after Marcus Gar• published by Avon (Art.or House/William gestures, radicals and those with supporting vey: but generally this forms part of the Morrow, 1988).

Vector 158 Letters

Reviews question after "what the hell are you?" when tal Dreams we have, reading fmm !he top: meeting aliens whould be "what can we sell 1. The book's tide. No problem there. V cn';...ak:e's(first) lctterinVl 57wasan­ each other?" - and that the economic situ­ 2. Insmallprint, "exciting stories from". Debatable choice of adjective, but acceptable "1toying on !WO COWllS. ation features as an imponan1 plo1 element. The fim I should term the professionalism Further, ifWilliams's previous book Voke or hypo. of reviewers or, indeed, of any critical ap­ the Whirlwind is as foll of violence as Ken 3. In large prin1 "TERRY PRATCHE1T". proach to literature. Ken ri ghtly points out Lake suggests (V IS2), there is no excuse for Wow. I bet !hat caught your attention! tha1wcallhavediffcringw1esinsf,butthis not mentioning that this one is a first contact 4. In small print, "and the best of British has not a thing lO do wilh reviewing as an an story without war as an "inevitable" conse­ science-fiction". Strange place for a hyphen, in itseU. He uys that where he finds a book's quence. I suggest Williams is a new writer but you know publishers. philosophy o ffensive, he would prefer not to serving out his apprenticeship with familiar 5. At the bottom or the page, "edited by review since the review woukl be coloured materials, as many do, and not lhe hack lhat DavidVBarrctt". this review implies. McVeigh is con­ I want 10 make it absolutely clear !hat Dlgl• by his diswtc. This. I submit. is 1n abdica­ U so tion of lhe responsibilities of the reviewer. cerned about giving new writing a fair shake. ta\ Drcamscornaim 20swric.s by 21 authors. Surely, lhc only function lha.1 the reviewer perhaps he would do bener to leave out the The words of TERRY PRATCHETT occupy should fulfill is tha1 of bringing his knowl­ mindlessly hos1ile reviews and use the space just over 14 plgCJ outof347, less than 5'1. o f edge, CJtpcrience and critical skills to bear on moreconsl.nlCtively. the book. lhe 1wo questions of what the author is trying Cecil Nurse Now, given lhe proclivitic.s of the avenge IO achieve and of how well thc ai.:nhor does il Foc ll.S Editor. York publisher. and the current best-selling status In other words. we should be able to look to of TERRY PRATCHETT. i1 is just abou1 un­ lhe reviewer for a non-subjective repon (in• derstand.able that scme junior employee in Kevroplies: sofarassuc:halhingispossible)arising from the publici1y department of NEL might have Whal is a new writer? Angel Si. the spccialis1 skills lhat are lhe only rcuon I thought up this wizard wheeze IO sell f110l"C lion is Williams·s 1&nth novel. aod I cansectoju.stify lheeii:isienteofrcviewcrsa1 copies of Digital Dreams. I am amazed. all. The reviewer's pusonal opinions are sugges1 that ii he hasn't mastered a however, !hat a publisher with such a good few basic 1001 ol his trade in lhat time, valid, of course, but should be very firmly track record of sympathy to the genre should he w~I. held in check when the "professional" pu• lhen probably never have let the idea gel off the drawing board: son.a is at work. Angel Station takes ft5 commercial and I am stuMcd that David Barrett should background from Heinlein via CJ On the second count, I am personally af. havcletlhcmget awaywithit. Cherryh, hides it behind a few c-punk fronted. Why should it of necessity be There is only one app-opriate way in which tokens, and, once we've waded a "stupid" to ask a nco to review, for example, the BSFA should respond 10 this. I propose hundreO-plus pages into this , show$ the Eden trilogy? I am a ne.o, in that I have that David Barrett fflould be thrown out of some ve ry silly plasticine aliens. only 1ccen1Jy become involved in fandom. us the Association, and if no such mechanism Vector w01.1lcl use lhe space more However. I have been reading sf Md bringing exists, then I hereby propose to the nut cooslnJctively if wri1ers like Williams my own critical facu lties 10 bear on the genre AGM tluu we invcn1 one. A.5 for the book, for some 40 years. Over tha1 period d has would do the game, nobody who loves sf should even think of represented and continues to represent by fa, Kl\! buying it, on a matlCr of principle. And since the greatcsl proportion o f my considerable the only thing lhe publisher and editors seem outlay on books. Who mows, I might just to want you to mow is that TERRY PRAT· have read and thought about sf almost as The folowing review wa.s wn­ CHETT wu U10Ciatcd with it, the only thing sidered IJflaCOllplable as pan ol our much as Ken h as. And there could be a lot I am prepucd to IC.II you in this review is that Reviews seaiM because ... well, for more expericnoed sf readers out there - I they aredcc:citfulchcats. ltnow a few my~lf. reasons lhar wil become qvire clear (Qualiiy conb'ol note: jus1 ovu 5% or this Ofl readitlgil J o hn D Rickett n:v)Cw is nol abou1 TERRY PRATCHETT's London name being on the cover of Digital Drea ms.) J ohn G ribbin Digital Dreams fromC«ilN11.r~ Edited by David V Barrett As always. readers comments are always welcome (particulafly on lhe mmoral. Offensive. And prob.bly illegal above pieal) so please feel free to K::u~ttt~gh~s rr'!1t.: ~:~~;f;na~~~ Iunder the trades description k&islation. I :r writetous,altheusualadd-ess: liams's Angel Station (VIS6), which I feel That's just the &on1covcr of th.is book, which was improperly and objcctionally abusive. represents the most crus example of publish­ Maybe I don't "know better". bu1 I found it ing greed and in5Cnsitivity thai I have ever Vector highly readable. a carefully plotted space• come across. What makes it worse is that 11 Marsh Street opera-cum-first-con1ac1 story wri11en with David Barrett. who ought to know better, has Barrow-in-Furness zest. The c-punk dressing should not distract allowed his name 10 be associated wilh this a reviewer so much that he loses sigh1ofthe blatant attempted ripoff. Cumbria basic premise of the book - Iha! the next Let me explain. On the front cover or Digl- LA14 2AE

Vector 158 lain Banks

Interviewed By Andy Sawye r

Andy 1 1 Sawyer: When I said to Kev a few writers around and introducing them to A~:esro:~~:e~. ~~~ :r:~~gning McVeigh that I wanted to do thl• inter­ booksellers and so on - and Rog Peyton came session where this inte rview took place view with you, ha uid " Don't Hk him up. He said "You're into science fiction, might be forgiven !or being a bit baffled by about climbing down wall•, car crHhes, aren't you?" I said " How the hell did you lain Banks's writing. On one side of the or sherry adverts, table we re piles ol The Wup F• clory, " and I can't for the Jife know that?" I think he'd read The Wasp Walking on Gina, C1n1I Dream,, etc. of me think what he meant... (lau gh ter~ Factory. It makes a son of sense; I think I by plain lain Banks if1 their spare, black­ He said "Concentrate on hi• books." c:an see why, but I still find it slightly... odd and•white packaging. On Iha other, piles of bin Banks: Yeah, concentrate on his books. .. that people can spot that. Consider Phlebn, The Player of much more interesting. Well, actually a lot Do people think you're slumming in •f? Gamea, and lhe latest novel Use of Wea­ less interesting, but Kev 's a , ti ckkr for the I'm sure some of the more ossified literary pon a by lain M Banks: bright oranges and tru>h. types do, but I don't think that !hose son of blues, shrieking out the visual equivalent So what do lain Bank•'• readers think of people had a very high opinion of my stuff ol EEEYOW- FOOM! DAKKA DAKKA books written by lain M Banks? Do they anyway. I mean. having startc:d off with The DAKKA/ have an opinion? &I this cllt8fence may be more appar­ Wasp Factory you car1'1 really slwn any• ent than real. The "Culrure .. novels are I don'1 know. It's hard to say: it's very diffi­ where, that was their attitude! There might be deeper, more horrific, funnier than most cult to tell the number o f people who do a little of thal feeling of prejudice but they space opera and - particulat1y Use of Wea­ actually cro55 over. I have talked 10 some don't tend 10 say it 10 my face, though I don"\ pons - aremorecarefullystructuredthan people who say " I don't normally read tend to mix with th e literary crowd much. the usual pan-one-ol-lhe-lrilogy-by-Friday science fiction but I've read yours because It seems anyway that space opera Is be­ epic, while behind the austerity of the "M"­ I've liked your non-sf books and I though! I'd coming more and more respectable now. less Banks covers is a seriou sly strange irythe science fiction", so there area few of Partly it's due to lain M Banks and the set of narratives which has caused contu­ them arotmd, but I think a lot of people do Culture ... sion among critics and delight amoog readefs • many of whom are st readers just have a c:omplc:tc prejudice against You really think so? That's very flanering. I anyway • ever &ince The W• 1p F1c1ory science fiction and some: people just don't don't know ifil's true. appeared in 1984. Banks denies that these like it - can't deal with it, I suppose. Suddenly people are writing space books are sl or horror, although it's hard to Some are bemused, some just dismiss it. opera who wouldn't usually be seen as imagineanyoneappreciatinglhejokesin some iry to read science fiction and just don't writing the stuff. Wa lking on Gla11 or The Bridge who like it and some actually find they do like sf - Colin Greenland's done one: [Tab Bad hasn't th emselves spent far too long read-­ or at lea.s t like mine. I've actually found P~tllyJ ... I haven't read it ycL Ing crap st or worse fantasy. The point is people who've said "I've started reading I dunno. I think it's the usual thing of that Banks is pertiaps the most powerful science fiction through your books," which people starting doing the same thing more and versatile of the generation of writers or giv es you who have grown up with sf as a natural a real nice glow. You think "Oh, less independently. I'd be very surprised if form ol exl)l"ession to the extent that sf and mylifeha.snotbeeninvainl" people ac1ually thought " Wc:11, if Banksic can related areas are part of their ijves. Once Do you think then that you'r• writing !or do it. I can do ii'' - understandable though the you've absorbed sltrom those bright yel­ different audiences? reaction would cc:rtainl.y be! Anyway it's no low Gollancz hardbacks to N- Worlds Abit., ycah, I think so. In the end. I 'm writing bad thing if it's going 10 be good space opera. and onwards to that extent you don"l need for someone just like me: I'm writing for my­ I want to ask a few things about the Cul­ to become ·an sl writer.M Nowadays to self. ln a way, it's U'\C onl y way you can. ture. You've obviously lived with the write sl may in itsetl say Of do nothing radi­ write: thc1n1es1waytowriteistowritefor Culture for s om e time. Am I right that cal, bul ifs always there. pan ol lhe culture yourself and I happen to like some non-sf you were writing Consider Ph/ebas be­ which has formed you books and I like some sf boob. lain Banks writes sf because he likes sl. I like nying fore The Wasp Fsclory? and refers to it because sf and similar to write different types of books myway, jus1 No, it was written immediately aftu The fringe genres are part ol the experience of as I like rt!ading different types of books. Wasp Factory in 1981. The Wasp Factory his times and his characters. Bur because You were saying about The Wasp Fac­ was written in the summer of 1980. 1bc first he is an innovative and energetic writer, he tory not being s f, whic h okay It's not, draft of Consider Phlebas was written in sidesteps genre whelher it be the genre or but... '81. The Wasp Factory wasn 't accepted s pace opera or the genre of the "literary I said it wasn't horror • s wc: 11 but that's prob­ until •g3, that wa.s when I wrote Walklng on novel." Vv'hateverlhe wbjectolhisbooks, ably more dubious. Glass, and The Wasp Factory wasn't ac ­ he is always immensely readable, ofte n far. Certainly the first ,entence could come tually published until 1984. Yeah, the book ociouslyfunnyandmurderouslyironic . out of an sl novel. UH ol Weapon, is the third book invol• just after was Consider Phlebas. In fact the ving the •Culture"• or third--and·a· haU " ... the Factory told me ... " Yes ... mmm ... book just befor~ The Wasp Factory was counting the small press edition ol The It reminds me of the Minds of the ships called The Player of G.a mes in its earliest Slate o l lhe Ari published by Marlc. Zies­ of the Culture novels. Okay It's not sf, incarnation. Actually The Player of Games ing. Consider Phlebu, The Plsyer ol but ii has that resonance to IL came quite close to geu ing published - but it Games. and Uae of Wupona do not form I was amazed that people picked up on the wasn't. obv iously in the c:nd, it wasn't as a trilogy, and 10 prove it The S1a1e ol the fact that I was into sf or read sf or also wrote good a book; it was just about publishable, I Ari will be published as an Orbit hardback, sfjustfromhavingread The WaspF11ctory. think. with added shor1 s tories, in March 1991 Apparently Rog Peyton of Andromeda did The Culrnre actually dates from the very Following a reading and a question-and­ answer ses&ion, I spoke to lain for Vec:tor. just thaL He came: up to me as I wa.s coming firstdraf1ofUseorWeapons,in fact.which out of the Futura roadshow • they were taking was 1977 I think, again completely rt!wrillcn.

Vedor 158 It's an infmitc[y better book than i1 was then. unfulfilled; so there's lots of things, all the book. You don't find out what it is w,tj] the The actual idea - if you reduce the storyline sort of human things you can write about in a end of the book, but it's there in its grisly to a sentence, it is still the same book, but utopia.. But in what I've been wanting to manifestation- otherwise it's utterly changed; what I would writeaboutforlhelastfewyears,youhaveto ··· which We Must Not Reveat! claim to be the difference between a 2CV and go to the outside edge of the Culture where Absolutely not! But the claim that the Culture a Ferrari. They're both cars - but they're there's the interface between Culture and itself comes across ... maybe it does in the slightly different! non-Culture, as it were, where interesting end, I'm the last person to say yay or nay to As a utopia, the Culture's a utopia that things are happening. It's the old Chinese that. The thing is, both Consider Phlebas needs this ruthless edge: Special Cir­ curse, "May you live in intacsting times." and Use or Weapons are not very much cumstances, manipulation ol other They're good to read about but hell to live about the Culture. The one book that actually societies and so forth. through and that's - the very fact that they're is - about a third of it set in the Culture - is The Player of Games. You actually see the Culture in fact in one place in Use of Wea­ pons, !hat's where the man is on !he fust of !he big ships, lhe GSV, when he wanders around it, and that's !he only time the Culture appears centre stage in !he whole book. Cer­ tainly what i1's doing - yes, is fairly "darker side" of it, I suppose. It sounds a bit Star Wars, doesn't it: 'The Dark Side!" You said before that you'd really like to be in the Cullure. Definiuly, yes. Ideal place, yeah. I just can't think of anywhere better to stan life. I'd say it's an ethical hedonism - not to mention liv­ ing for four hundred years and having all these wonderful drug glands implanted in your body and enhanced seJ1uality. It's grem, you know, plus you can do whatever the hell you want basically. 1be thing is there's the proviso that you don't actually harm other people, but unlimited resow-ces ... God, it seems great fun to me. Indulge yow-every whim. There's • beautiful bit where Zakalwe has Just suceeded in creating his first - ah - Culture orgasm and he doesn't know What she's doing. (Laughter) Ah yes., it does go on rather longer than he's used to. I wish I cou1d say that it was based on personal e:.perience bnt unfor­ tunately it's not. More wish-fulfilment? Well yes, it is a bit. Utopias I suppose are an e:.ercise in wish-fulftlmeru. It's just that it might in the end be practical, you ne11er know ... It struck me that Zakalwe was - you'11e Just said a "dark hero"• a bit of a roman­ tic hero: dar1( secret in his pHt, Joining Special Circumstances to forget, almost Well, I would say no. No, that's laking it too far into the Foreign Legion Stuff. No, not to forgel but for redemption. and also because they can keep !rack of the woman that he wants redemption from, to be forgiven by, so that he's actually got a practical reason. Also Yes, that's me bending over backwards to be good to read about - what I want to write. in that sequence that I mentioned earlier, in fair and not make the Culture look so goody­ And the Culture has always got a good reason the GSV, he's saying to Sma, "I just want to goody. The idea is that this is something of for what it wants to do. It claims !hat it ac­ know that I'm doing right", and this is ac­ the Culture that occurs very very rarely in­ tually is doing it not for its own - not for tually important to him. I mean. some bastard deed, the fact that it's the most interesting imperialistic reasons or anything, but things will always ull you that yo u're doing the thing that I can write about is probably more which have to be done. Basically it's a utilita­ right thing even when you're slaughtering an indication of my failings as a writer than rian argument. women and child!en, shoving them into anypossiblefailingsofthistotallytheoretical II seems much darker and more con­ ovens, you're doing the right thing. h's "for civilisation. tused in Use of Weapons, though. the good of the Aryan Race" or whatever, Is ii possible that there's nothing Inter­ Yeah, that's - it's not the Culrure that seems you know; somebody's always going to lie to esting that can happen in a utopia? darker, that's Zakalwc's reaction to iL The you and tell you it's good. Well actually there is. Even in a utopia you cen1ral character is a fairly dllfk sort of char­ He wants some at least half-acceptable still have heartbreak. you still have wue­ acter himself; what his great traumatic secret proof that he is doing the right thing, he's quited love, you still have ambition that's is, I think. really infomu the whole of !he doing good. He knows that il's got to be

Vector 158 through mania! means. he just accepts that's mostly talking to Air Force reunion parties times. h 's 001 actually real. what he's good for, and the bit that I was and stuff. Very odd... but a great novel. A lot of the games you mentioned - now reading ou1 where he tries to become a p0CI In Use of Weapons there's the scene I'm nol going to ask too many questions with not very hilarious results - he knows that where Zakalwe's got this incredibly about games because most of the lain that's what he's made for, to be a general and beautiful plasma-rifle and he can't get Banks interviews I've read have been full he wants to do it for someone who's trying to this thing to fucking worJc! of ques tions about games - still, fo r fun : do good. So that he can then be doing good. Again. it's UU that. You've got this scene do you think out the games? Things like It sounds a bit pathetic, but I was trying to earlier on where he's trying to test it: he's Damage and all the endless examples in make him a nice rounded character. I felt - I annoyed the Ship. so the Ship hasn't told him The Player of Games which look abso­ always imagined that he was but I was trying that-it's actually snapping the plasma bolt out lutely wonderful and you think gosh this to bring it ouL even in litt.le bits like where he of his dimension to another one to get rid of must be grea t, 1'11 learn how to play gc\S hit in front of these attractive young stu­ it. He's using this thing and the rest of iL you that... dents and all the rest of it but he just accepts get some idea of the power of it. Also ifs I'm afraid the answer's no. What you see is it. These sort of things do happen to him, so archaic. lhe drone says "This thing belongs all there is, for the very good reason of being he's no t like the superhero, the sort of person in a museum. It's a thousand years old. they absolutely difficult. What I'm talking about who never jams their pubic hair in their zip make pis10l:s with more power": that's sort of in the end are real genuine classic games and and that son of stuff. Also his reaction is not setting it up. You think. "Sounds like a great it's beyond the wit of me to invent one of what you'd expect from the standard gung-ho weapon. oh Banksie's going to make great those - would Lha1 il weren't! Rambo type which would be to strangle al! use of this," and then you find it's been fused, Have you read Mary Gentle's Golden the students and bury them under a ton of it's got e!Tectorised and he ends up in a fit of Witchbreed with the game "ochmir"? soow or something. He 1hinks that perhaps in pique throwing it away. Yes I have, fascinating, it's one of tho5C tha1 his youth he would have at least chased after He uses it once, doesn't he? actually worked as well. them to give them a fight bu1 now he lhinks The bit where Beychae says "Are you mad, People kepi saying, "market it. market well, what the hell? Zakalwe?" and he rums round and casually it"; I don't know ii she ever tried. In the question-and-answer session you shoots this plane out of the sky and says Tha1 did sound interesting. I liked the novel mentioned Catch 22as one of the books "What was lhe question again?" IOO. I remember you get more or less a full set you've mos t enjoyed ... Do you think that the Cultura's a sort of of instructions. I always wanted to try that. Oh yes. it had a big effect on me. I read it six End of History? I m ean, in the three Are you going to get back into the Cul­ times in four years starting from about 14. novels lhal you've wrilte n about the Cul­ ture and bring us back any more? ... The section in The Player of Games ture a long lime separates tham but you Not for a few years. The next sf book isn't when the drone is taking Gurgeh around do n't get much of a sense of his torical going to be a Culture book, lhe one that and showing him the real nature of the development. comes out in 1992. and the one afler thaL I Azad society re minded me of that scene The shon answer's yes. That is more or less don't know. I haven't decided that: it might with Yossarian towards the end of Catch said in The State of the Art, the novella, be. That's all for now, I think, for the Culture. 22. when Sma, who's also of course in Use or Are you alternating sf and non-sf? Yes. that is inspired by that chapter in Catch Weapons is talking 10 the chap that wants to Oh yeah, definitely. That's the plan for the 22 which I thought was incredibly powerful. stay on Eanh and he's saying, you don't un­ neX! few novels. For the forseeablc future it's h was done very well in the film - an im­ derstand the way that they live: it's so sf one year and non-s f the next. meruely underrated film, absolutely one of involved with change, you know they have So what's the next non-sf? my top five - and brilliant in the book. It was disposable underwear and the ears are Well, I ha11cn't got a title or a plot for it yeL something that lived with me, this son of changed every year and you and I are used to but I think it's going to be set in the west seeing the underside of something that you'd society staying the same for hundreds of coast of Scotland. There's this family that sort of seen from a more elevated prospect years, for lifetimes, and there I was trying to either used to own or don't have it any more before or whatever. Oh yeah, I'm oot making make that point that the Culture is ac1ually or actually are still the owners ... anyway they any bones abou1 thaL it was inspired by thaL very stable and to find the same stability in make glass, they've got this beach full of very much so. In facL the original drafL the our background you "d probably have to go pure sand they make glass front. It's going IO '79 draft. that section was a lol more horrific back pre-Industrial Revolution. be sort of a bit weird, I think, lots of strange and I thoughl I'd tone ii down and lel you see Even then you 'd probably always find things happening. It's son of diffkult to ex­ the effect on him more lhan describing what something - we're 10ld by ourpanicular mas­ plain. Anyway it's go1 horrible signs of he's actually seeing, especially in the last bit ters 1hat it was wonderful back then but it becoming a sort of family saga which could where he's watching stuff on the screen. wam 't and there was still change and there be absolute death, I don't want to do one Yeah, that was one place where Catch 22 had certainly was conflict, but tha!'s the sort of those, but on the other hand if I tried to do a a definite effect. Well spotted! time you'd have to go back 10 to gel even a family saga it'd probably tum out totally The other thing I had in mind from Catch scmblencc of the sort of ordered calm or dis­ weird anyway. The Wasp Factory wu my 22 was in The Wasp Factory where I just ordered calm that exists in something like lhe anemp< at writing an ordinary conventional liked it where Heller kept on bringing in lhe Culture - assuming thal lhe Culture or some­ novel and you can all see how thal tumed the thing where whenever things were going thing like it could ever exist. ouL so ... yeah, the west coast of Scotland. not too well they just added another mission in­ While I was actually drawing up and de­ the one that exists, a different one, crease and it suddenly had to be 55 missions veloping the idea of the Culture - as I said, An Alternative West Coasl? Is this rathcr than 50 before you got rotated. That this was about 1977, I'd wrinen reams and Science Rction? was a son of template for Eric's phone calls. reams about iL notes about the Culture and a!! No oo no - only geographically. Anyone who Whenever I thought The Wasp Faclory was sorts of stuff - some of it's now been aban­ knows the west coast of Scot.land's going to nagging or showing sligh1 signs of it 1 doned in terms of the way in which l think i1 get certainly messed up with this. An addi­ thought "RighL time fo r another mad phone would work - I got really involved in it. I tional glen lhcre? That loch's not a sea loch? call from Eric." So yeah, I think I learned must have written the equivalent of about a But other than that I think it'll be sort of quite a lot from Catch 22. quarter or half a novel and I eventually realistic. I haven't actually got a plol for it yet It's also one of the classic examples of thought what am I talking about? So I went which is a bit unfortunate as I'm supposed to military luc k-ups. right back to the start and wrote this sort of start work on it in about a month or six Yes, absolutely. In facL I'm slightly disap­ thing about THE CULTURE DOES NOT weeks. pointed to find that Joseph Heller's in great EXIST, YOU MUST REMEMBER THIS, demand on the lecture circuit oowadays YOU IDIOT! I have 10 wateh myself some-

Vector 158 Myths, Computers and Cyberpunk

By Charles Stross

cience fiction as a genre is multi­ the decade have faded: insecurity was an­ the future wherein everyOM is a hustler. Sfaceted. On one level it purpons to other. Cyberpunk reflected these ne111oses by These two deal with human beings who are naively predict possible futures, both snapping up the trendy aceoutrcmcnts of the neither strai1jacketed with the simplistic for­ in terms of futurist c;,i;trapo[ations and in design magazines and splashing them across mulae of escapist wish-fulfilmenl nor tenns of the human reaction to such events; a broad canvas of contemporary human con­ manacled to the ball-and-chain of suburban onanolhcrlevel,itissimplyasubsetofthe cerns. We read about television advertising as angst; their pro1agonists are complell, contra­ broader li1erary field. with the question "but a form of art; brand-name implants; Japanese dictory, and thoroughly modern. But what if... ?" appended lo it's e,i:p]oratory multinationals buying up everything in sight; cyberpunk, whatever else it may be, is not a rcmit.Itisinterestingtonotethattheseviews and the omnipresent awareness of corruption blanket label for modernity: hence the ele­ lie at opposite poles of an axis running and pollution in the background, like a dlllUe ment of confusion. through the genre, between "hard sf" at one macabre with dioxin. These are magnifica­ At the same time as the initial cyberpunk end and the literary e;,i;perimentalism identi­ tions of today, projected onto the screen of elliplosion.otherwriiers were discovering the fied by Bruce Sterling as "Slipstream" (see the future. Computers, the b111geoning new 80's. Some of these - Kim Stanley Robinson SF Eye #5) at the other. Other a:a:es e,;ist 1.e<:hnology of the 80's, were obviously part primarily, but also James Patrick Kelly, John within the li1erarure, but for the purposes of and parcel of this projection: and so it's no Kessel, James P Blaylock, Tun Powers - thisartic\elintcndtoconcentrateonaserious surprise that they feature prominently in didn't particularly like where the Movement flaw in the gemstone: why it is that a sup­ books like Neuromancer and Ambient. was going, or where it said it was going, or posedly visionary literature has completely Being projectioru or the present day, the even where it appeared to be coming from. ignored or trivialised the implications of what heroes and herOi.nC$ of cyberpunk fiction Whatever the cause, the effect has be.en ob­ is currendy the fastest-evolving technology aren't the classic Campbellian/Heinlcinian vious; acrimonious dispute. Cyberpunk was on the planet. "competent man", gung-ho in a space suiL frt.quently misunderstood, disliked intensely This is quite a serious accusation to make. These people are producis of the anomic of by those who just wanted another dose of Writers at each end of the predictive/ex­ the 80's, suffering the irucauity and aliena­ thcirfavouriteliterarytranquillliicr, and in the perimental axis may feel themselves to be tion in the face of rapid change that is so end the authors who originally promoted it quite justified in protesting loudly. The pre­ typical of the period (for a vivid and non­ moved on to newer pastures. The field has dictive tendency can rightly point LO bigger Gibsonian example of this, I would cite The since be.en cannibalised by younger, Jess and better mainframes, smallei and faster Glass Hammer by KW Jeter or Metrophage original writers (whom I once referred to as microprocessors, and even LO the holy grail of by Richard Kadrey). The protagonists are "Technogoths," in recognition of the fac1 lhat Artificial Intelligence, the ghosl in the ma­ generally either losers or company (wo)men - they adopted the gaudy clothing of their chine. On the other hand, th e and hence, not directly responsible for their predecessor 'punks without paying enough experimentalists may well protest that they own circumstances - for in such an angs1- attention to the controversial contents). have explored the pre.occupations of hu­ exuapolation all our insecurity rises up to One question remains unasked (and thus manity from a human perspective, and that assault us and the only way to survive our unanswered) - the subject of this article: they have dealt adequately with information fears is to evade them, typically by placing given that sf uses the fu1me to reflect today's technology whenever it has trespassed within responsibilityinthehandsofalargttcorpor­ preoccupations, why did the appearance of a the arena of human interaction. Both groups a1eiden1ity. major new technology evoke such a trivial are righ1; and, equally, both are wrong. I Because cyberpunk seems so contcmpor~ response? Because the use of computers in would like to use as my working example the ary, it offers a minor which the 80's sf cyberpunk is trivial. This technology is. sub-genre known as "cyberpunk" which community has used in order to scrutinise it's today, evolving so rapidly that it is possible to emerged during the early 80's and which po­ own preoccupations 10 an incestuous degree. look at a machine built only ten years ago and sitions itself about halfway along this Unfortunately, this has Jed to certain prob­ describe it in tenns of archaeology. Curren! hypothetical axis, combining human con­ lems of definition. Pinning down cyberpunk research in virtual environments and nano­ cerns with a future more rigorously is like nailing jelly to a tree; it tends to slip technology is threatening to render reality extrapolated than those of its anteeedents. and slide, and gets into places where it itself obsolescent within a time scale of two It's a shame that the computer-as-icon has shouldn't. For example, some reviewers tried to five decades. The possibility of creating a be.en taken up as central to cyberpunk, be­ to lump Storm Constantine and Connie Willis true artificial intelligence remains question­ cause it isn't. Science fiction has always in with the likes of Tom Maddolli and John able, but the question is still fundamentally tended to reflect contemporary attitudes and Shirley, perhaps because lhey weren'I depict­ an open one. SUiely the cyberpunks, with concerns, and cyberpunk is no exception. ing S0's, 60's or even 70's people in their their position somewhere be1woen the poles This is a sub-genre obsessed wi1h style and fiction. Both Willis and Co1..,;tantine have of rigorous techno-extrapolation and human­ insecllfity. Style and design were two buzz­ aimed for sll'iking levels of contemporaneity ist self.scrutiny, should have been able to words for the 1980's which may well be i.n their characterisation. but neither of them idcmify and address these questions. But why remembered long after all other memories of are writing in that curiously stunted vision of didn't 1hey? In order to examine this prob-

Vector 158 !em, it's necessary to identify the nature of ory, arid once included becomes very hard to programmer, alive or dead. the beast - the intersection of computer destroy. Myths address the very core of our Consider cyberspace itself, the mysterious &eiencc and sf - and the misuse to which it response pattenu: jealousy, auger, revenge, domain in which information lurks in the raw, has been pu1. love, territoriality ... the litariy of emotions accessible only to those who already possess Let's ignore the question of whether AI is that have been with us since before we be­ a little dangerous knowledge. It has hidden possible for the moment. Many people have came human. This baggage is so deeply dangers: there is always a Mcphist0pheles LO strongly-held, dogmatic views on the issue, rooted in the human psyche that it cannot be demand to demand 50mc frightful payment in and it's not stricL!y relevant to the issue in destroyed: consider the difficulty of concisely return for access to it. or a Monster to come hand, wh.ich is the treatment of computi:rs in defining any of those words as a measure of lurching down fearful dark alleys in search of sf. What is interesting is the fictional treat­ the degree to which they arc integral to our retribution. Ais substitute for angels or devils ment that the hypothesis of AI hu received. experience. - literally, in !he case of Count Zero and Possible or not, Ais au central to the port­ Let's select Gib50n as the key example of a Mona Lisa Overdrive - and cyberspace for rayal of computers in sf, and cyberpunk in cyberpunk writer. Gibson used computers the forbidden wisdom, in which they can be particular. They provide a kind of operating (and Al) a.o; a metaphor. Style is not the same found. Sometimes the demon or the monster system for the imagination, a motivating as content. and Gibson appears to have been arc actually parts of the hero(ine), swnmoned force without which the fictional machines somewha1 al a loss for an original plot in up by their own exposure to knowledge with- are nothing more than buzzing lumps of char­ acterless background plutic: this is true to the extent that it's difficult to think of an sf novel in which computers arc prominent bm not gifted with scniicncy of some kind. There is a popular image of the computer that became prevalent in the S0's and still persists: the vast white monolith swtounded by mginccrs and scicnlists. mysterious aa,­ Jytes of the vas1, brooding artificial inielligence. The personal computer has ba­ naliscd this image, bu1 it ha.o;n't dispelled it completely: by analogy, where formerly Dr Frankenstein once lurked in his laboratory in his castle attic and the townspeople bolted their doors at nigh1, now the spotty adoles­ cent who lives next door to you is brewing IToublc by night with the chemistry kit his parents OOught him for his 14th birthday. Several examples of the application of this image spring to mind. First. and mosl ob­ vious, is the HAL-9(H)() syndrome - an example of the di50bedicnt golem, the logical comc-uppance for those who would play God. Next, and perhaps rclaied LO these fears of disobedience, is the God-in-a-box syn­ drome. If it's so damned powerful, why not make it resr-onsible for the whole shooting Neuromanccr. Nevertheless, he &eems LO om wisdom. and sometimes they :ire cun­ match and have done with it? (Jack LChalker have eventually decided to use the trappings ningly disguised - but it always comes back in particular has taken this tendency to an of contemporary society, projected onto the 10 the tired old arcana. the pithy observation almost megalomaniacal extreme in some of mirror of the future. as a l001 with which to that A Little Knowledge ls A Dangerous his fiction.) Finally, 50mewhere within the examine those myths that mos1 intercsied Thing. spectrum between these two extremes of vil­ him. lncse myths seem generally 10 have The characters in Gibson's work appear to lainous villein and benevolent master, lies the been prcoccupa1ions with helplessness: the be the inheritors of Faust or Frankenstein, third option: the machine as c-onvenimt alien 80's were very conducive to such feelings, who in tum were descended from Prometh­ for exploration. True Aliens, after all, are a lot with their a>ld-war ambience and neurotic eus. And this is the level they func tion on, the less biddable than the big white lx,x next techno-sleal.C. 1be fictions Gibson developed leve of myth. Gibson's novels, at plot level, door: Deep Thought is always on hand to used extremely r-owerful. even omniscicnl, don't constitute escapist fiction 50 much as provide a command performance of inscruta­ beings (the Als), and mortals who were con­ reworked mythologies; in p!IICes this bili1y. wheras aliens, by dcfmition, are alien demned to search for lhe knowledge that becomes oven. The end of Mona Lisa Over• and Not To Be Trusied. Ever. That's what the would free them. The trappings were contem­ drh·e, which lurches to an escapist myth of the alien is aOOut ... and computers porary, the hermetic texts replaced with cool conclusion. jars precisely because it isn't an have, now, been thoroughly mythologised. blue video i,creens, the high priest of Athene escapist-structured novel. Some human preoccupations are constant; with the improbable figure of The Finn ... but Computers therefore feature in Gibson·s that is, they do not change over a time scale the patterns were the same. work on two levels: as elements of style - the shon enough for us to a,nvenimtly observe. Just as the 8 -fcature primarily used socio­ present projected on the future - and, with The continuing power of ancient mythic cultural images and conventions to convey its added AI, as mythic compncnts, the deus a traditions is an example of this. Myths are message, so did cyberpunk. Frankenstein machin.a. Gib50n can probably be excused essential LO human culture insofar as they corresponds to the fearful Pentagon officials responsibility for the subsequent abuse of provide templates for behaviour: they outline in War Games, and even th e teen-aged nerd these two distinct a.o;pccts of his work, but the the testing-to-destruction of the human social next door has his own cyberspace deck to net result has that any sensible expl oration of organism along narrowly defmed axes. They play with. The hackers and cyberspace cow­ lhc impact of information technology on the continue 10 speak to us because the history of boys of Ne urnmancer have far more in present hu been comple1ely obscured by the our species is a continuous process in which common wilh Dr Faustus or \ ..:LO r Franken­ presentation of computers as either the latest informa1ion is added to our collected mem- stein than they have with any real computer gosh-wow God-substitute or as matt-black

Vector 158 fashion accessories. A couple of contrary recycled ad infinitum while far more revol­ significance here. Technogoth seems to pres­ examples shine out - notably Islands In the utionary developments are being ignored. ent a reassuringly dull vision of a furore that Net by Bruce Sterling, and the pre-cyberpunk It is worth noting that sf as a predictive is not so far removed from those supposedly T he Shockwave Rider by John Brunner - medium has consistently demonstrated a buried futures of the 1950's, with a little bu1 in general, the treatment of informational blind six,t towards the potential of informa­ added sex as a concession to changing public technologies by sf has been execrable, lend­ tional technologies, preferring the somewhat appetiies. If this isn't a telling example of the ing to concentrate exclusively on the srylistic more gaudy moon-rockets and robots that. at narrow-minded conservatism of the sf genre, or the mythic levels of the stereotype. thetime,reflectedthescientlficaspirationsof I'm not sure Whal. is. Confusing style with content has been the the day; relatively crude power technologies Science fiction has failed ever1 to reflec1 downfall of !he cyberpunk imitators. Cyber­ descended from !he era of agriculture (!he !he present swe of !he art; the only level punk muddied the waters by presenting itself robot - "worker") and the early industrial upon which it has succeeded in depicting the as contemporary, whilsl for the most part revolution (!he steam-powered engine). Truly contemporary information revolution is that emulating a trend-setter whose influences visionary sf treatments of computing are few of recrudcscenl style-mania, confined within were, at root. obsolescenL This has made it a and far between. because the distonion that a the ghetto-iscd enclave of cyberpunk. We sub-genre particularly easy to parody unin­ mature information technology will lace be­ who write in the sf field have betrayed our tentionally (as wiLness Dreams or Flesh and tween OUI senses and the real world around historic claim to reflect the future, in return Sand by WT Quick, or The Second Pro­ us is totally alien to OUI experience. Escape for a treacherous stylistic enterprise based gram by Tom Maddox), simply because of Plans by Gwynneth Jones is an example that upon obsolete traditions; and unless we can theauthors'failuretoavoidthegaffesofpre­ works - but even this is a conservative vision dig our imaginations free of !he post-cyber­ vious works in the field. Among the elements when the time span described is taken into punk quagmire, we may never regain the that stick out like a sore thumb in any of the account. Fundamentally, the computing in­ ability to see even the present day with clear follow-on cyber-epics is the gratuitous abuse dustry is truly exhibiting exponential growth, eyes. of large quantities of silicon. Indeed, the end­ and this - as Heinlein observed in the 1940's - Here I rest my case, and my keyboard. less proliferation of 21st century dystopias is so frighteningly rapid that even a tempo­ There's got to be a solution, a gen.re where at dominated by 1950's mega-corporations and rally conservative projection may seem like a least thae limiu of precedent do not apply to 1950's mega-mainframes has almost become mad fantasy to the uninformed. !he imaginatiorL A genre in which the fictions a genre stereotype. Considering that within As a predictive medium, sf has failed the accurately reflect al least some of what we the next 20 years it is probable that the main­ computer. The Technogoths, those cyberpunk may well experience as virtual realities in the frame will become extince, !his is rather assimilationists whose works cu1Tently domi­ next century. A genre which has the scope to shon-sighted. What we see pomayed as the nate the pages of Jntenone, have digested reflect mythic strucrures, but which also has reflection of today upon tomonow is ac1ually the lesson uncri1ically; and consequently, the breadth IO avoid them if necessary. I'm the reflection of yesterday upon tomo1Tow; despite a proliferation of implants and cyber­ talking,ofcourse,aboutfantasy... the 50"s myth of the Big White Box is being space decks, we have little of any real One Fine Summer AReviewoftheSummer'sSFFilms

by Ian Nathan

he oppresive heat starting to get IO of you would prescribe irrelevmt. against the corkscrew twists of so euraneous Tyou? The grainy sweat inching its way This summer has had much to interest and a plot. it was an absolute pleasure to behold down the small of your back? You re­ even excite lhc avid fan and advocate of that the nightmarish confusion and vulnerabiliry ally need to cool off don't you? Whal. better most enhanced of film genres - "science sp-eading across the big man's face (a re­ way than to whisk yourself off to some far fiction". markably adept performance from an actor flung planet or through shadow haunted Let me commence with • movie that is who has matured a long way from Conan). streets or even along the threads of time; you without any doubt fodder for lhc fan of !he The effects varied from a depiction of !he got it. what could be finer than to take your fantastic. Based on the short story "We Can surface of Mars more reminiscent of !he numbered seat within the dream factory, Remember It For You Wholesale" by that heady days of Blake's 7, to a gobsmacker of within that blackened audiiorium, and amidst visionary, quirky and iconoclastic writer visuals when Amie sheds his drag get up, the hushed whispers and gentle rustle of pop­ Philip K Dick, Total Recall is the latest Ar­ though in consideration of what was done corn, escape into the worlds of celluloid nold Schwarzenegger vehicle, proudly with a far smaller budget for Robocop the fancy? revealing a budget somewhere in the $60-70 hi-tech environs here were a tad wooden. What then have lhe masters ofTmsehown million region, and al the directorial helm the What succeeds with Total Recall is the de­ had to offer us this summer? As with the bloodthirsty whim of "Robocopman" Paul vious sway of the tale; it tickles and entices, written word. the boundaries of category are Verhoeven. It was difficult to know whal to leading you hungrily to the overblown (lite­ becoming blurred; it is less easy now to sim­ e,:pect, a cinematic breakthrough or an ela­ rally) finale. It lifts what is otherwise ply define a film as science fiction, ho1Tor, borate (and e,:pensive) excuse for big Ame to low-brow, regular splat-happy sci-fi pulp IO comedy or thriller. It is therefore highly likely kick ass in a decorative near future. Whal we an imaginative and memorable movie. that in the following evaluation I will tread got was neither - yes true, the violence was Heh, remember Warren Beatty? You know, on some toes by the inclusion of works some !here in all its exaggerated e,:cess. yet set Hollywood's most eligible bachelor? Well he lO Vector 158 has arisen from the post-lshUlr darkness: wata Amaica, giving unintentional restitu­ with carefully manipulaled hype he has, tion 10 the formulaic lonely little girl and IO&ctht:r with Unck Wah Lid~ brou&ht Yan­ downtrodden farma- alike. Even with a tic comic-book sialwan Dkk Tracy in10 the vaguely likeable quasi-Jack Nicholson in­ Production silver screen gloss. Behind the camera he vader. the whole remained flat and entirely sb:,wed a mastery of touch. and noble CfQ• wuunny. tivity. litcral in his translation from cartoon To win the Palm d'Or at Cannes a film Editor page. thc portrayal was awash with bold pi­ needs IO e;ii:press a novelty, verve md daring mary colour. all the villainish foils bedecked tha1 the Academy Awards would shy away in goonish. groi.csquc make-ups of their qx:,­ Cran. David Lynch is lJl undcmitcd dircclor, Vector urgently requ ires a nymity: PruncCacc, Shoulders, Flauop and he deems ii unfit (and justly so) 10 cunail a Production Editor to handle all Llt1lc Face. Nan1tively the depiction was risqui and creative spirit for the sake of shamefully bland, the only spark a rlamboy­ prcccdcnr.s of oonfonni1y and commcrciality. aspects of producing the ma­ lJltly lunatic Al Pacino as the head hoodlum WIid at Heart is certainly I contemporary gazine every two months. Big Boy Caprice. The key flaw was Bcatty's fantasy, is the passage of innocence through a own pcrfonnancc as the clffipaigncr of jus­ metaphorical darkness of the Southern States tice - a lifeless hero sheltered beneath of the US, a road movie bearing a banner of The ideal candidate should matching fedora and trenchcoat. I never quite the need for self-expression. Youth, in the have the followi ng: managed 10 figure th e dynamics 10 Dick form of fleeing lovers Nicholas Cage and Tracy the ch.an1c1er, it seemed mou success Laura Dem, the huntcd; !he hunters, killers was more down IO his young sidekick The hired by a vengeful mother (of Dem); a pas­ • a good working knowl­ Kid. sage beset with promise and entrapment edge of DTP/typesetting/ We were rcasuringly informed prior IO the alilce. A most memorable Dafoe ClffiCO !he design release of Baek lo lhe Future Part Ill that it mosl visceral pitfall of sadistic evil. It is indi­ was definiiely the final time-spinning jaunt of vidual. and entirely off-centre. It is almost a Marty McFly, and not without a hidden sigh masterpiece.See ii. • ready access to some of relief. we all pined our regrm. Aflef the The Guardian was a flabby, wasted at­ cuac:Jysm of complexity 1r1d product place­ iempt at possessional ICJTOr, an effon 10 instill form of DTP equipment ment th.11 was Part D, this lively dash new cokiur into thc anaemic lhcmes of hoJ­ (IBM/Mac/Atari) and through the old time West came as a li&htly ror. Herc thac was a twill from the regular printer (preferably post­ amusing but slightly tame end to the nilogy. requisites in ih.11 it is !he babysil!Q who is Christ0phcr Lloyd IOOk centre sta:c with evil incarnate rather than thc hapless victim.. script) npid kwc interest Mary S1emburgen. while A glossy yet vacuous film. a return 10 the little Milcic Fo11. dashed around It high speed brimming siore of written horror woukl give • lots of enthusiasm (per­ avoiding the fiendish Mad Dog Tanner, in an the much needed scope so lacking from cur­ lltempt 10 relWTI Doc and himself back IO the ren1 cfforr.s. haps the most important future - well what did you cxpccl, somc­ The future looks a rosy shade (as far as quality) thinc new? II was all done with the slickness film releases go JJ1yw1y). 10 the end of !he and style we hive come IO c11.pcct from year there is a steady strclffi of genre pies. Robert Zcmck.is and co. and was tidily and suiiably varicgaled they 11c 10 boot. Of • a very good sense of hu­ rounded off with a linlc moral. It all shyed course the sequels keep on coming - that mour (you don 't get paid!) away from the potential experimentation mechanised cop Murphy rctums wiih direc­ within the theme. just running the requisite tives intact in Robocop 2, written by comic gags to keep the faithful fans happy, wh.o can book king Frank Miller. Now that the brat If yo u think you possess the now spend many an idle hour explaining, packcrsarcgeuingoldertheyarccxperiment­ above qualities and would like with the aid of diagrams. how it is all entirely ing with more mature themes. namely death, feasablc;whocares? literally. by stopping each others hearts to help out, please write to the Joe Danie took his hQvy weight satirical momentarily then restarting them again with editors (addresses on page 3). swipe • stage funhcr with the sequel Grem­ electric shocks. All 10 gain an insi&ht in10 the lins 2. Herc !he battleground was r.ransfCJTed 1fte1 death e11.pcricncc. Flatllners stars Kcifu to a Trumpcsquc co,ponte highrisc. thc Suthcrland. Julia Robefu and Kevin Bacon Clamp Tower, a building choking with mech­ amongst others. Clive Buker will have his anised efficiency. '"Have you washed your la.lest progeny on show in the autumn; Nigh I• hands?" a synelhetic. voice demands upon brttd based on his novdla Cabal, also exiting the Genr.s. A man-madr: siack of hi­ includes a cameo by auspicious honor dircc­ ia:;h fodder ripe for the Grun ni&hun~. lOf David Cronenbcr1. Hopefully it will do Lacking thc more rounded open satire of its slightly better here than i1 rlffll State-side. predeoessor. here thc game is more simply a And of coune for Christmas the one you've blatant and bitty romp or parody and dcri­ all been wailing for. Tttnage Mutant Ninja sion. Dante carefully scts up his wgets. his Turtles. what moR can I uy? Hollywood hierarchy prime on the list. and blows them away in a whirlwind of sadistic laughter and mercurial cditi:ng. The film was The above piece was wrinen during wickedly delightful and at times positively the summer (oote the clues: "op­ inspired, but th e plot often became blu"ed, pressive heal" and "grainy swear·. and at times gratingly Ix-cached even ir.s own amongsl others) and 5houk:I have stretched credibility. been in last issue, but untortunately It was a vast improvement on the insipid was squeezed ou1 at the last moment rehash. that was Spaced Invaders. 111.isclum­ Any further installments from Mr Na­ sy parody of War or t he Worlds had live than will be run on a more timely inept pint-sized aliens running lffiok in back- basis.

Vector 158 II Book Reviews

Edited by Paul Kincaid

Lyonesse Ill: Madouc in a SLory which delights in its an,ficiality, writing is exemplified by the useful device of Jack Vance but respects its readers, too. Its main strength regular "conversations,. between Tabitha and Grafton, 1990, 35Bpp, £12.95 is ils humour, an element missing from so the On-Board computer - this helps clarify many fantasies, and ii is this, alung wilh the narrative thrust and counterpoints the Vance's idiosyncratic style, which raises it regular bouts of action. s~~~~~~~00 0 tn~:::;::!;in:;s [:r ! above them. Still, I prefer Vance's earlier The vas t range of folk that inhabit the un ­ prince at birlh, is clearly visible the jester and work and 1rust that this is just another tem­ folding uJe are a fu,thcr bonus. rogue, Cugcl, perverse, sly and witty, and in­ porary slip in his inconstant career. Imaginatively drawn and, in some cases grue­ stantly likeable for having all her priorities in Terry Broome somely realistic, they provide the novel with th e right order. Glimpses of Alice can be seen that rarity in sf, genuine character develop­ behind the facade. but hers is a charac1er that ment. Not only does the reader become runs through almost every Vance story and Take Back Plenty interested in these individuals, but you really gives th e novel its main strength and weak­ Colin Greenland do care abom their ultimate fate. nes s. Cugers, and sometimes Alice's visage Unwin, 1990, 359pp, £6.99 All in all, this is a book to be enjoyed, a keep superimposing themselves on her, and rich collection of inventive situations which The Dying Earth and the Look ing Glass he intensity ll!ld style. of Colin Green­ forms ll!lother milestone in lhe promising world on the magician's Lyonesse. In the Tland's writing saves th is from being just career of Colin Greenland. chapters away from her the book suffers another all-action, chase-sequence Space Alan Dorcy enonnously from its Jack of comparable char­ Opera le is worth persevering wilh the book acter and as a result seems both overlong and since !he plot promises liule 1t first, but unfocussed. Vance, rather than being released opens out into a grandly realised broad-brush Rune by his use of myth. hll!I' been constrained by painting that sweeps the reader along with its Christopher Fowler it, the descriptive verve which so charac­ sheer panache. Century, 1990, 368pp, £13.99, £7.50 pb terised works like EmphyTio and Planet Of Set on a Mars with names and folk bor­ Adventure drained and colourless by com­ rowed from cvt:ry clichc under the sun (the parison. town of SchiaparcUi. for example). the action T~:tt ~:iy ~:~~:thw!: p:~ ;;~~ It may be an inferior Vance work, but as fu revolves around T1bith1 Jule, owner of the James's short story "Casting the Runes", as fant.asy sagu go, and they tend to go on space-barge, Alice Liddell (1 nod in the dire(:­ even if only through the film version, Nig ht and on, Madouc suffers few of their faults. tion of Lewis CIIITOU). Shon or money and of the Demon (1958). The evil Karswell Vance avoids most of the weaknesses and an,dous to get herself "soned out", she brings down a demon on his enemies by sur­ cliches of !he genre, which arc often taken, becomes involved wilh some very shady reptitiously passing them a slip of paper undigested, from the kind of fairy tales we al.I characlers indeed. With !he law and time bearing a runic curse. Unfonunately for Kar­ develop a disgust for as we grow older. against her she gives Marco Metz I ride to swcll, one of his intended victims is able to Where he fails !he story jan horrendously, Plenty, the promise of a quick journey in re • return the paper to him and the curse re­ but in !hose odd moments when his creative rum for oodles of cash being the chief (and lx>unds on the sender. In Rune, Christopher genius shines again, one can only hope that only) attrac1ion. Needless to say, he:r ailing Fowler has 1aken this basic idea and turned it the future will reveal for Vance and for us ship and the enigmatic Marco conspire into a huge contemporary urban thriller. once more !he joys of The Dying Earth. against her best intentions and a simple People arc dying in London, in varied, Until !hen, one is left with a curate's egg of voyage becomes a cat-and-mouse chase. strange and highly violent ways; but most of a volume. Madouc:: learns that she is not, after Plenty is not an honest son of place; ii them have in common the fact that they are all, the daughter of Princess Suldran (from appears to be the repository of all known found with a piece of card inscribed with Lyoncs.sc I) but that of Twisk, the cuelcss strllllge creatures and customs, and in order to runes in their poscssion. Among those k.illed faity, and sets out to discover her true herit­ escape !he forces or the Jaw, Tabitha has 10 arc the father and secretary (1 paniculu!y age. Along the way she defeats a monster, take her craft into Hyperspace. The ship, nasty death) of ad-man Harry Buckingham. finds the Grail and uncovers a plot against a gradually evading the pursuing police then He is one of several ehuacters who set out, prince, with whom she falls in love. hnprob­ falls into the hands of evil pirates, and so the indepcndantly at first, then coming together, ab! c coincidences and fonune. as was the story goes, bouncing along, testing and cor­ to solve the mystery. Others include two el­ style with !he got.hie romance, play !heir part recting itself from time to time. 1nc wit of the derly policemen called Bryant & May, and

12 Vector 158 the woman who accidentally killed Harry 's There arc no Neuromancer cricks here, and body count rack up a bit fusL None of the father. Perhap,5 more interesting than any of no slavish attempts to make the dialogue victims arc much of a loss, though, being these is Dorothy Huxley, a middle-aged libra­ seem Victorian; there is certainly no attempt completely inca-changcable, and given to ex­ rian whose superficial ordinariness belies her to give the novel iiself aVictorian feel •-ii is plaining things they already know to one greac knowledge of and expertise in matca-s far too hectically paced for that, and thc scx­ another in a flat, pedantic monotone devoid occult and esoteric. scencs have a steaminess you would not even of the inflections of real speech. This book Whal they discover is that a multinational find in Victorian pornography, let alone the also gets my award for th.e most crassly in­ communications company has updated Ku­ Victorian novel. Stylistically it reads like the sensitive rku.s ex mo.chiJtO of the year, in swell's methods with the use of subliminal political thriller it is. Conceptually it is direc1- having a passing airlina blown out of the sky messages on video, and the head of the com­ ly in the tradition of sf altttnacive history by a carbon copy of the Lockerbie bomb just pany, Daniel Carmody, is using them to novels: much less radical in iis differences in time to flatten the focus of the nastiness achieve his ends; ends which are megaloma­ than The Empire or Fear; worked out in when things are looking bleakest for our niac to say the least I won't reveal whether more detail than A Transatlantic Tunnel, hero. he suffers the same fate as Karswcll, bu! cer­ Hurrah!,butinprecisclythesamegenre. It's As a compare and contrast exercise, read­ tainly the conclusion of the book isn't as an exercise in good old sfnal extrapolation. ing these supernatural potboilers in fairly clear-cut as thcshort story. The political faclS logically derive from the quick succession has ccmfinncd my \ong­ Rune is a good supematwal thriller (even initial premise of the Babbage engine; the st.llJlding belief that an energetic stylist can if most of the supernatural effects can be ac­ social and technological faclS are worked out kick some life into the wooliesl of plots, but counted for by Carmody's manipulations of with almost obsessive glee. The technologi­ the tightest plotting in the world can't save a people's minds), which holds the attention cal tour--

Vector 158 13 coherent, surprising. and often very funny. still, ii examines selr-exploration and corning All o f which m akes for a wonderful book. There are some severe criticisms; the artifice 10 LCmU w ith being a m an-and it managt5 The multitude of su ange societies is as col­ is a little IOO obvious and there is no emo­ thls, despite many apparenliy macho expk>it.s owful as varied, as original and as believable tional heart in the midst of all this stylish (including one which, wilhout violence., Litc­ as any you will find in science fiaKln. There clevemcs5. It is bcini described as this yu.r·, nlly IOOk my breath away). wilhout ever aremomc:nl$ofhorror whlch will send 1chill T he Name of lhe R~. but !hough it does promoting the empcy posnuing wtuch is the racing throui)i your veins. and momenis of share that book's academic quality, and simi, natUJC of crue macho. It shows men being comedy which are uproJ.rious. And 10 pro­ \arly ignores all literary boundaries, it doesn't strong and sensitive. and the same people duce a wOTk or such 111 epic scale which can muster the same life. But none of this should being weak and callous. h shows us a man still t.ake you deep into the heart of one belitlic the achievement of the book. a chal­ discovering, through the medium of his human being is an awesome achievement. lenging, though-pro\oking flourish of the friendsandtheirlives,whathehaslostinhis This is I book which you cannot help admir­ imagination. hollow life. and how to regain some of iL ing, just as you conno1 help enjoying iL Paul K incaid And 10 much more! Aagh! Read !his book.. if So why the "Yet._" which lcfl my fus1 only IO apericnce Simmons's effortless mas· paragra?i lbelering on the brink of disap­ tcryoftclling an incohcren1 multiple-strand poinuncnO Perhaps ii is something IO do with Hyperion and multiple-time-111d-place s10ry not only the way thJ.t so many of the scenes are set in Dan Simmons w ithout a safety net. but without once losing the quiet aflcr action, this is a book about Headline, 1990, 346pp, £12.95 his grip on your 111cntion. I eJ.pected IO be drama. which so often i.s 10ld in tcrm5 of re­ lost,andneverwas. flcclion. Once or twice you gel the feeling Phases of Gravity P.a ul llr uier thai what could so euily hive. been shown Dan Simmons has only been iold. This le.ads IO cenain sus­ Headli=, 1990, 282pp, £14.95 picions about Zakalwe, that we arc bcini Use of Weapons pennined 10 glimpM!- only a pan or the man, lain M Banks and those pans which make him likeable. 1 t ~~:~e~cai:~~!~:~C: r~k~Y![': Orbit, 1990, 379pp, £12.95 man of doubLS but a good man nonetheless. long because I had to find and read The Fa ll Perhaps ii is the way the moral ambiguity of or llypcrlon too. Now it's done, I can con­ ~~u~ ~~~~~;\~; the Culture is shown but never questioned. fidently repon that if you like any of !he l~:1:~:!~::::: The way tha1 Zakalwe's own morJ.l ambi• following-science fiction, honor. mystery, example. an imagination evay bit as vasi. guity as ii develops is broughl to centre stage thrillers, Aliswr Maclean, Chaucer. John comic and fenile as Consider Phlcbas. yet and thoroughly explored. while those he Kew, WB Yeau. poetry generally, aero­ with a far greater mastery of his material. works ro, hJ.Ye. the ume doubtfulness from planes, puu.le siories, cyberpunk, Vonnegu1, And there. is a daring 10 lhe saucrure of the the word go and it is never devek>ped further. The Wizard of 01., The Mvenlh Seal (and book which we haven't seen since The Perhaps ii is jusl that there is so much 10 thesefrommemoryonly)---thcnchancesare Bridge. Ye1 .... enjoy in this book that I wanted more. you will enjoy Simmons's books. If you like I enjoyed this book immensely. It is rich Paul Kincaid more tlwi one of these then you will be de, and vivid and great fun. There is I cascade of lighted by the way he weaves their influences incident paralleled by I peeling away of char­ together-.00 the more of them you like the acl.Cr which is fascinating. One strand of lhe Bill, the Galactic Hero on more you will enjoy. book tells the 1k>ry of the final million of the Planet of Bottled Brains Hyperion is that rarest of animals, a "vol­ Chcradcninc Zakalwe. a mercc:nary working Harry Harrison & Robert Sheck.1ey ume one.. which stands alone as a good for Special Circumsances. 1 morally am­ novel. Several pilgrims each tell how they biguous outfit which promotcs the aims of Gollana, 1990, 236pp, £12.95 came 10 be on their pilgrimage. These t.ales the Culture throughoul the galuy by means The Colloghl Conspiracy build. mosaic-like, a picture of a human­ of war. espionage and assassination. Their Douglas Hill dominated universe which is astonishing in •clS are questionable. to s• y the leas1, intcJ"­ i1.s complexity, iLS sure use of the interplay o f fering with the int.emal palitics of various Gollancz, 1990, 238pp, £12.95 IO palitics. religion, pragmatic eJ.ecutive deci­ societies e.nds which can only be justifiable umoUJisargu1blythemos1difr1CUltfonn sions and the pure cussedneu or human within the vay broad view of lhe Culture Hor ficiion io write. and in genre. fictions it beings, and in that e:ura iouch of strange ilSClf. And Zakalwe is their "ar player, kept seems particularly difficuh: how many funny w ithout which no SF novel can be complete. alive for ceruUJies by the miracles of Cuilure detective. cowboy or SF stories can you Although in some ways a necessary preamble medicine he hu swept from system 10 sys1em name? These two books arc supposed to be 10 The Fall of H yperion. the novel neverthe• leading armies, fomenting wars, killing pal· funny, unfOTtunately I.hey didn't mU:e me re­ less is complete. Al with iLS model, The iticians of every hue for a greater good which ally laugh-and that's anal.her problem with Canterbury Tales. this complela'ICSS is he can only lake on trust. Now war is brew­ humour, it's very subjective. No doubt Olher generated 001 within the stories themselves, ing in a sys1tm in which Zak.alwe hu people will find them hilarious. butratherbytheirjtutap::isilion. intcrfered before. ..d he must ernbcl: on an Douglas Hill's hero, Del Curb, is a courier The F.a ll or H yperion. more within the advenlUJe as wild. u dangerous. and as brulal who IICXjUircs 12l stcenrury astronaut in sus­ uaditional slI\lcture of space operL also uanyinhiscarcer. pended animation. He is paid tO take this But Zakalwe him.self is not all that the Cul­ clever!)' in1erweaves the tropes of cyberspace " cargo" tO Colloghi, a planet which spe• with all the wondt.-rs of the previous book. ture might suppose. As this final minion is cialiscs in providing suspended animation for Yes, senuwunda. that's what it's all about. told straightforwardly from chapters One IO the rich. Needless IO uy all is 001 as it seems: Phases or Gr.avity is 001 science fic1ion. Founeen. so in altcmating chaptcn the siory what are the Colloghi really up to, what about but is jus1 as wonderfuJ---..5ot or The R ighi of his life iJ iokl in rev~ from chapters the original natives o f the planet and why do Sturr. but with real people.. h tcllsthesioryo! XO! 10 I. Here. we discover a man driven by people keep getting headaches. Del Curb is a man who was once an astronaul, bul not a something he can never quite confront within self centred, materialistic and doesn't listen to famous one, and 1hus examines on one level himself, yet weary of what he is driven to do. people. Other charac1ers include Del's ships the discontinuity be1ween cclebriry and re­ ltis1masterfulcharac11:ranalysis,s1Tipping computer (lhe most sensible person in the aliry. Like the Hyperion novels, it also away thelayersofhislife liketheslcinsofan book) the 21st astronau1 (an archetypal space onion. until it arrives at I long buried moment explores the real palitical pawer struclures hero) and I hard nosed, get the s10ry al 111 that underly religions-but here the religions 15 horrific IS anything this brilliant c,caior of costs. incredibly beautiful rcponer. ll!e recognisably of modem Amc:rica. Deeper the horrible and pc:rverse:hasever achieved. N• turally Del wins but only with the help

14 Veclor 158 of enough deus u. machina to create a small imponantly (as the only elemen1 \hat will doomed to prey upon living souls ... Fittingly pantheon o f gods. Amusing moments, but the touch at random those unknown to him) u a perhaps, but the daughlel' lacks depth or hero was so srupid that I ceased to care what writer. His writing appears to lpring even less rc.der sympathy, while Mar'ya Morcvna. a happmcd to him. diJcctly from his u.pcricnc:e:s. This edition bt..l.utiful sorceress who marries Prince Ivan One way o r u.ckling humour within a dso contains • scaion 'The Column ar the is rounded in more than one sense. But g=re is to lampoon il That's what lhc orig­ Market's Edge" in which Delany e,:plofu the Mar'ya holds a secret within her castle wall.s, inal Bill, The Galac::tk Hero did with great nature or sea as eommodity and a main­ a secret which Ivan unwittingly unleashes. success. In thls follow up SLl:r Trek. Hct Solo sping of society. and gives us more insight Uulamcts the wizard had the potential, u (Hun Duo) and the time travel war theme get into the nalUTe of "thar rare generic oxymo­ had his ghostly d,ughtcr, to be memorable. lhc. tuatmenl ron, credible sword & sorccry .. (MichKI but the interpby be= thc ctwactcrs, the This sort of lampoon doesn't re.ally need• Bishop. F&SF, June 1980). or course reality monotony of lhc scuing-moruy within the plot ucqx to suin& the funny scenes intrudes; how can it not? The question re­ forcst--couJd not hold me; yet the eva­ mgelher. Except the sccnc:s weren't that mains, whose reality Uld who5e cxpcricnoe? threarencd ra1e of Mu'ya and Ivan kept me fimny. I may be particularly hard on thls book ''1be best writing docs not reproduce - or turning the J)'ges: it seemed inevitable that because I enjoyed lhc. original and becawe rcprcscnt-thewriter'su:pcrienceat•ll. .• it Ivan would suoceed ,gains! the wiurd-41 hi­ Harrison and Shcclcley ccnainly un write creates • re-prcscni.tion, in • different fonn. deous chilling aeation!-but then agml Ivan good humour. But thiJ one just doesn't mUc ofthereoduJ'world... forgot the wizard wu not called Koschey the it. ChristophrrA.mles Undying for nothing ... he could not be so It's going IO depend on yow taste whether easily killed: prcconc:eived notion5 are thtte­ fhesc boob make you lau&h but &ivc me Eric fore shattered. «nd the neat twists thar do Frank Ruuell any time. Rusalka occur. while being logtcai. arc of1en grue­ Tom A J onts CJChenyh some. Horses thll talk and rivers that bum. Methuen, 1990, 374pp, £14.99 the promise or more to come, make Prince Maru:lorin, 1990, 374pp, .£6.99 pb Jn n apleuuretorcad. Bury My Heart Morwood p-ovides • select bibliogD.phy, Prince Ivan but his rcse.n:h while evident is never over­ At WH Smith's powering. He conveys a far better grasp of Brian Aldin Peter Morwood Ugend, 1990, 280pp, £12.99, £6.99 pb the Jives. minds and hisaory of Russia than Hod.de; 1990, 22/pp, £13.95 Chcrryh: indc«l were it not for the r.ct that a rusalka harks from Russian folklore the slOry The Motion of Light In Water e :~:ri;e~~I-=: o:t;:~a. ~~ could h•ve taken place anywhere, for there is Samuel R Delany Mothcr Russia of history, for uch involves no feeling or foreignness about the lmd or ill Paladiri, 1990, 58lpp, £6.99 m,giciaru and strange ac..11U1CS from thc people. Chcrryh's ch aracters =n to Arnai­ magiul realms. Chenyh •s work wu publish­ canisms and anachronisms too readily, T~~':::~~~~r:u7~ t~g1:: ed shortly before Morwood'1, but o f the two I spoiling what little. effcc1 she strives towards. than s1nig.htforward. More than any other, pre£crred the latter. Chenyh'1 rather Ion& If you're• ran of Chcnyh, you may find her the sr author will be continually aware 0£ novel concems Pyett Koc:hcvikov, a fo&itive departure from space opera and straight ran­ how memory, interpretation or the streamlin­ with • price on hi s he.cl who befriernk • wy • revelation: alas, you may also find it ing necessary to rum raw experience in10 the seemingly dim-witted youngster Sash, to disappointing. end product-story-will hinder any .itempt make good his escape from p.in;uil They nee Nik Morton at accurate recollection. to a YUi forest where the atmosphere is thor­ But in fiction, so in Bury My Heart at oughly morbid, the pl.cc dripping with WH Smith's. Aldin ' sutobiography is sub­ lirelesmess ... Sasha is a superstitious soul, titled A Writing Lire, and leads us through who believes that he only has to wish aome• Redshift Rendezvous thing and it will befall him: he's not very his early adulthood up to the present day, John E Stith optimistic either. The intcrpl•y between the willt frequent admonitions to the effect that Ace, 1990, 214pp, $3.50 ollthi.shastodowiththccrcativeproccs.s. It iwo characters is of inlerest. but drawn out, is all germane. All thls c-.periencc is duly and while there are 1ubtletitli or character­ stored and wmed into that which infonru: his change in the youllt and even in unbelieving R~!5:~:;na::~~i:;~ ~~:~ writing. Malaci• is based on Mecbn. Indone­ Pyetr, they never held my ancntion. is • spacc-traveUing er.ti: th•t e-.istl on sia; but the Medan of the 1950s when Aldin Prince Ivan. theonlysonorthe locaJ T1ar, hyperspace level 10, where the speed of light knew it, pre-cars and Coca-Cola. and filtered sets out on• bridal quest thar will lead him to is !Om/sec. Which means daily human ,ffain throuJh the cn1r•vinis or GB Tiepolo. Al­ the £airest princess in all the Russiu. Here. arc subject to relativistic effects, such as !he diss' interests are worldwide Uld beyond. u people throughout the land acknowledge the blue- and red-lhifting of optical phenomera. befits the co-founder or World SF: sf can presence and power or m,gic and supenti­ The ship has • liulc gravitalioru.l warp al its hardly afford to breed insuluity, even though tion. We are introduced IO • number of centre whlc:h hu the effect of discemably it often docs. Uld Aldiss ha done more than amusing chancleff;, none or them Laking bending light-paths in the lower levels. More. most to breU: down the barricn ii continues thc11'15ClvC$ too seriously, unlike those or uisting on level 10 means the ship "maps to crcct around md within itself. What emer­ Chcrryh. Mor-wood's talc semu: light, plcu• onto" ordinary space (level 0) in a highly ~ ges from this autobiography is the good news ant and many • smile u counien call rvefied sate C• 2m pcnon spreW over that he is still pushing back borders. mu u:­ on Ivan's three sisters: thcitultim.atc betrothal 37.200 milu). and movement onlO Uld off ploring, and reporting back IO us from the to three special wizards bodes well ror the the ship involves a "rnnslation"rathctthan• fronlict1oflhc rul. future, md thruds begin to intertwine., transporution P'()Cedure. What would it be Samuel R Delany is similarly ooncemed smoothly.•. Interestingly. both boob laich like on such • ship? Stith. mllC$ a straightfor­ with the rulity or ineality or memory. In The onto the supcntition that IO rwne the lhought wW •aempt in ll'Ue sf style. I'm sure he Motion of Llghl In W.iu he makes no a1- is IO bring forth the deed: name the (QT and it didn'1 tau prope:r 'Ceounl of time dilation 1empt " • line.ar •utobiocraphy: he isreal. effects Uld I'm sure the visual environment concentn.tes on the period 1960-5, when he Within the de.ad forest Suha and Pyetr en­ would be • lot weirder lhan he wu able to wu living in New York. producing his Mt counter the miserable wiwd Uulameu. Uld portny, 1-it what u:.aly they would be I un published workl (at an ,lumin& D-tc), and his bt..lutiful and wrailhlike cbug.htcr, • rusaJ. hardly imagine. Good stuff. eumining his iden1ity a black. g•y md moll kL • 10rmcnted &ho51 of • mwdet'ed giJL Plot? Cham:tcrs? Don't be• prude! Read

Vector 158 15 the previous paragraph again.SI.ill, there is a Michael Billa's 11.les about his childhood It's a labyrinthine board game of backsuce1S, plot. there arc characters, a life and death friend and protector, Clincon Dcix, accurate, canals, marketplaces, halls, sewers, prisons situation. love. baddies 10 thwan with intelli­ and if so why is Michael afraid of Ciin10n's and temples. The TUllc (like the Place) is gent and decisive action. SLith'searlicr work reappearance? Why is DJ Ingram York sud­ "quasi-alchcmical"-a mid-Renaissance has been a combination of sf/mystcry/advcn­ denly finding his life invaded? And what is cennuy alloyed with druidism, witch-craft. nuc. and this is no exception. The pl01 begins the sb'ange revcl11ion which is lO bind lhcsc gnosticism. mysticism. goducism, baroque. wilh small clues and IJ}()fflJ.}ju and the grad­ people together? Carroll's siory is very brief. Trace clemenlS include electricity, heavy en· ual revclal.)on of whu is going on Lakes up but it achieves a tremendous atmosphere. and ginocring.the Pl.anet oflhe Apes(wilh R1ts). thc first half of !he book. while lhc second packs one hell or a punch. the cour1 of Eliubclh L Roke. AlcundriL half punues lhc intrigue t.o its conclusion. You coukl not say the same fOf Lucius and Minas Tuilh. ll"s a beautifully pain!O:I The sf ideas are nol really intrinsic lO the plol Shepard, he doesn't go for the brief, broad stage, though I sometimes found it distracting conslituling,rather,theenvironmcntinwhich strokes which Ring you sua.ight into the heart and occasionally grinding. If, a.s a. fantasist. things huppcn. On the other hand, the 10ne of of the mana,ra.therhehvour s a slow piling Ms Gentle sought lO make the exuaordinary the OOOk is analylic rather than ux:hnophilic, on of detail uni.ii you arc gradually imrnen;cd appear ordinary. she succeeded. The main and avoids the glorification of sheer power in !he physical and moral decay which is the chara.ctersalsohaveathcatricalprcsenee: and technological wiwdry. The hcro is com­ landscape of his cxuaordinary imagination. Luc:as (whom I rel11cd to most), a young pclenl slightly low on 5Clf-estccm. reticent HCfe again he takes us into a jungle, the fe­ brave handsome prinot; White Crow (whom about his past, moliv11cd primarily by his vered world which so effeclivcly isolates and I didn't), ason:.eress with a voracious sexua1 personal sauc of justice and loyalty, and illuminates his sweating characters. This CA­ appclite 11'111 knows no ace-range: Zari- bcttu­ thoroughly deserves lhc cir!. A bit too much, cursion into the 1erri10ry of Somerse1 zekigal (even harder) a young lesbian with a in fact; the pcrceplive apprecialion of (male) Maugham or Graham Grcc:ne ta.kes us 10 Bor­ rat's tail and an eidetic memory; and Balllzar assets im 't really what deliriously happy ro­ neo. and an old Englis h exile who knows all Ca.saubon a fat wizard bc\chicr than Falsllff. mantic endings ill"C made of. Satisfying. about the decay of his chosen home, but who Actually these characters were good fun. but ncvcrthclcss; gocsdownwithoutahitch. only now discovcn the depths behind it. there is a Lloyd-Webber sized cast of others Ctcll Nurse When I fleeing criminal discovers I drug that I foWld confusingly indistinguishable. which ta.kcs him into thc spirit land of the The 1pocalyplic plot relates lO the power Dayak indians ii is up IO the Englishman Bar­ struggle between the Thirty-Six Oceans who Black Cocktail rell to follo w him there and ddea1 him. Bui rule lhc univcne o f the novel. lhc hum1110id Jonathan Carroll there are more horrors in this drum world Rats who rule the hwnans, and the humans Legend, 1990, 76pp, £8.99, £4.50 pb than Barrell could possibly have imagined, who rule the vario-us human splinter groups. and more of these horrors arc inside him lhan Like a Renaissance mega-play, lhe plot acro­ A Short, Sharp Shock could make any of U!i feel comfon.ble. In !his batically leaps from scene to scene to Kim Stanley Robinson novella Shepard has once again found a way character to character, though I reel itdocm't Ziuing, 1990, 147pp, $18.00 ofmakingfoetidhcatchill ourboncs. always la.ndonits feet. And in lhis company, Kim Sia.nley Robin­ For me, the mos! striking pans of Rats and Kalimantan son's peculiar fable is nor oul of place. The Gargoyits were the images, which 111e now world is a Tilm)W spine of bare rock which Lucius Shepard oa::asional gucslS in my drCIIJTIS: moths and Legend, 1990, 160pp, I!J.99, £4.99 pb marches across ancndle5socean. Aman with butterflies nunering from lhe mouths or the no memory is swepr up here, and must imme­ dead, an iron spike topped by I speaking T~~~~~:no~:~~: diately follow after a woman who may head, the transmulllion or a WQfflan inio a ~ct~~:=::: pou ibly hold the key IO who he is. And crow :as felt by lhc uansmutcc, and a bl3Ck preferably trilogies.1ncy arc easily pac kaged where? And why? 1bc questions arc not re­ SWI tha1 casts golden shadows. Abo remark­ by publishers and OOOkscllcrs, but there is solved, but in the cold of loneliness, and in able arc the illusualions taken from 16th and strong evidence to suggest that this is not the the pcculiu creatures and magics that !his 17th century hermetic books which compl c­ bcst\engthforsciencefiction. SFbcgan, as a laner-day Pincher Martin meets wilhin !his mcn1 the novel and ilS cosmology excellently. clearly defmcd genre. in lhc magazines. and variety of a white-walled ce:ll 1 '°" of under­ Thirdly, I appreciated the aulhor's sense of outlets for shon s10rics prolifenue more in standing evolves. It is a sly, allusive work, humour which is: sometimes slapstick bu1 al­ science fiction than in any other genre. To the d isnubing in its implications, and ii lives up w1Y5 human. eitem that much of the best science fiction 10 its Litle wondrously for it is shon. it is In her AcknowkdgcmcnlS Ms Gerule re­ presents a vivid new idea enclosed within a sharp, and it is most ccnainly a shock. fers to her U5C of Rcna.issance hermetic magi a dramatic moment. \hen the short s10ry fonn is Nolhing links these OOOks beyond lhcir as " an adventure playground". This is quite a natural. Occupying an •wkward middle­ length. indeed i1 is h111d to imagine I more lrUC, and underlies my difficulty with the ground between the shortSIOI)' and the novel vivid example o f how varied science fiction novel. I was not moved, stirred, cxciced, is the novella, which allows lhe precise idta can be ac its besl. Ycl all are suiu:d to the gripped or saddened by Rats 11nd Gar­ or science ftetion to be drcued in literary flair novella Jenglh. and our genre would be im­ goyles-I felt that it was a game I had without being su etchcd beyond ilS n11ural poverished wilhoul lhem. participated in. and once over dKln 't maucr soopc. It is a m•gical knclh for lhe genre. yet Paul Kincaid any more than last weekend's Monopoly ses­ it is the moSI dilTteull for publishes IO sion. Certainly it was a beaulifully designed handle. All praise, !hen. lO Legend. for their game, and !here is evidence that Mary Gcn!le daring in providing this wonderful 5Crvice IO Rats and Gargoyles is capable of seriously special work. But !his our genre. Mary Gentle is:n't ii. The Legend novell as follow in the foo1- Bantam, 1990, 414pp, £12.99 DavldMllchell stcps of the mainstream Hutchinson novellas, an cxpcrimenc which didn't achieve greac commercial success. Let us hope that Leg­ R:::s ~dw~l~-~~c~cdan:dtc~:!::i:;; Heathern end, in• genre in whK'h there is• grt.l!Cf book. Ncverlhclcss I found it difficult to J ack Womack 1radilion or the novellL does better. On the enjoy. Unwi,i, 1990, 255pp, £12.95 evidence or these books they deserve 10. MIi)' Gcntle's complex novel is set in a Jonathan Carroll"s Olack Cockran is an city called .. the heart of the workl" which elegan1liltlechillcrwhichwtapsthereadttin mUcs a iown plan of Gonncnghasl seem al­ A th~7or~.aanis ~:lri~ a dclic11e filigree or lies and half-truths. Arc moSI as straigh1forward as Central Swindon. conglomerate led by megalommiac lycoon

16 Vector 158 Thatcher Dryden, whose bodyguards routine­ ing from an age of innocence·• (he means its Bantam., 1990, 434pp, £11.95 ly shoot passers-by on suspicion. and his inhabitants are): "William Pierce is seuching deranged wife Susie. Even the army, fighting for absolute zero" (it was never lost): "Rho a corutmt gu~ll• war against urban insur­ has brought 410 heads, ayogenically frozen T ~:~ t;::g1~!::i~;:~:dfi=~ gents, is controlled by Dryco. The narrator, centuries before in the hope of resurrection" them out before staning, get straight into the Joanna, New Products Manager for the cor­ (yet we src only 200 years in the future). Join text and refer to the maps and appendices as poration, is scn1 to invcstiga1e 1. rumour from with "the devotedly religious Logologists" you read; all will become clear. Do study the thestreets.lsamessiahrcallyoutthercinthe and experience "the force disorder pumps covers though, excellent portrayals of Rock­ battered city, raising people from the dead? ll with their constant suckingsoundlessness." all and Arianus. so, can Dryco come to a favourable business I'm SOIT}', but that litlle injection left me Princes or Sandastre starts in the real arrangement with God? giggling uncontrollably: the man surely can­ world and moves into the imaginary. Follow­ Finding out requires the reader to hack nor be serious? However, this is all local ing his family's suppon of the rebel Hotspur through some of the most clotted and ran­ colour: what really matters, we find. is "the (killed at the battle of Shrewsbury in 1403) dom-sounding prose this side of James Joyce, sophistication and corruption of poli tical in­ Sirnon Branthwaitc flees Holdwonh Manor with baroque outgrowths of irrelevant simile aigue, •• and we all know just how deadly in Yorkshire. A third of the book follows his and metaphor blossoming from every sen­ boring thaJ is. Lei's look instead at Queen or adventures before he leaves Bristol searching iencc. Nor is the difficult style made up for Angels, from whose blurb we learn !hat the for sanctuary in Lyonesse. His ship is bound by elegance of setting (like Gene Wolfe) or year 2047 is binary lllllllllll, and hence for Rockall---not the solitary crag,of today, complexity of plot (like Jack Vance). The 2048 becomes IOCKIOOOOOOOO (that's eleven but a civilisation far out in the Allantic. Is it background is skciehy to the last degree. ones, thencJcvenzeros, incascyoureyesare really lost Lyonesse, or an alternative Nonh Thaieher, his wife Susie, and Joanna appear as boggled as mine). America where a "Groen" way of life has to be the only members of the Dryco board. This is, apparently, deeply significant and been practised for centuries? It defmitcly has Apart from the presence of a Japanese execu­ the last page is made up moslly of sans-serif skyscraper castles-and feuds; inevitably tive and the odd mention of Russia. the rest of 'I's-humlredsofthem, arranged as a large Simon gets involved. the world appears not to exist. The catastro­ seriffed 'I' while lhe preceding text is libe­ Conversely, Dragon Wing is set entirely phic collapse of American society is glossed rally spatlered with odd 'I's as well. I have to within an imaginary universe -QT is it? Could over in a few sentences; nor is it explained confess thlll. the significance of this escaped Arianus be our Eanh shanered into a collec­ how Dryco can be doing so well in what me, but then, this is a singularly opaque book tion of asteroids floating within a bubble of appears to be a post-capita.list world all round. air?ls itarcalisationoftheMedicvaltic:rsof The effect is rather like the Edinburgh Fes­ "Transform" Mary Choy lakes vinegar Heaven, Earth. and Hell7 Through ii move tival performance of 2001 done by a cast of baths to cure the grey crease in the bunocks Hugh the Hand (a macho bounty- hunter), the two in the back of a car. The characters arc an of her otherwise "night coloured," "dolphin­ boy-p-incc Banc (likeable and malevolent), ill-defined and unlovable lot, who appear to slick," deep black skin. Personalities are Alfred and Limbeck (differently-shaped Lau­ act without much consistency or motive, "cybemetically enhanced" and live in "enor­ rel and Hardy), Haplo and his Dog, elves while the resolu1ion resolves nothing. Enig­ mously complex city arcologies." News with political problems, mys1eriarchs with matic? Uninteresting. Mr Womack is not arrives of the first robot r.xploration of a dead Olympian jealousies, plus wars, revolutions, devoid of literary talent, some of the scenes civilisation on another world, eight young machines, murders, magic, Jots of laughs and in the book, taken in isolation, are quite im­ citizens arc dead, and Mary is in charge of the a lot of thought-provoking passages. Dragon pressive, while the send-up of corporates peak police's murder investigation. Early pages are Wing is a real good read; the first of The ("Fact me", "Thal's essentialled") is some­ so spattered with invented slang and unex· Death Gate Cycle, I'm looking forward to times amusing. All the same, he needs to plained future-tech tenninology that you thcrestof theseries. exercise more control over his material. need a notepad and pencil just to keep track; Mind you, I also want to follow up The Not only is it difficult to fight through to until you have completed the intuitive cross­ P~rllous Quest for Lyonesse, especially the end of Heathern, not only is it difficult to word-clue glossary you just canno1 Rockall's participation in World Wars I & D. comprehend the point of the relenllessly li­ comprehend what is going on at all. Martin Brice near plot or to fathom the reason for the title, Typefaces change from an elegantly read­ it's hard to care very much. Some son of able seriffed face to a bleak sans, then back to religious fable is cleuly struggling to escape serifs with a patch of italic between; from the The Magefire from this formles.s book. bul only the truly latter we learn that Sat.an is to expel Martin Alexander Baliol dedicated will want to make so much cffon Bormann and others of the damned ~"Let the Headline, 1990, 436pp, £14.95 for so little reward living find the best ways to punish their mis­ Gareth Davies creants. Open the gates of Hell, and push the Chase the Morning damned through, one by one!" Voodoo ap­ Michael Scott Rohan pears, in the author's own screwed-up Orbit, 1990, 334pp, £4.99 Queen of Angels "vodoun" version; anti-matter propulsion is but one of many theoretical technologies Greg Bear T ;c~c ~~e ;:,e~r~ f:r~,eo;~~g~~ Gollancz, 1990, 385pp, £14.95 nudged or squeezed into this mishmash. I tried hard to make sense of it all, but frankly, wonderful thing. Both these writers have Heads my dear, I don't give a damn. Why can't Bear done it: Rohan in his Winter of the World give us a story we can read and enjoy, page trilogy, Baliol in The Dark Amulet Cycle of Greg Bear which T he Magenre is the first volwne. Legend, 1990, 125pp, £8.99, £4.50 pb by page, with a beginning we can understand and an ending that means something? Both writers arc in their thinies, both live in Ken Lake Yorkshire. Apan from that, they seem to have H~;: ~::: ~:: il/sl =~d:~ little in common. "novella" and need not, surely, detain us The blurb describes Steve, the hero of long. The trouble is, ic's so badly writcen: in Chase The Morning, as "a hollow man, Princes of Sandastre both in his job and his persona.I life, until one 19 lines I counted "I" 1en times and "my" Antony Swithin night, near the docks of his home city. A night nine times, but that pales into insignificance Fontana, 1990, 220pp, £5.99 when you read the jacket blurb and the first that changes his life."What happcns is that two paragraphs of the book. he drifts out of the contemporary world into Dragon Wing "a fant.as1ic otherworld, tangential to our Consider. if you will, "the Moon is emerg- Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman own, where pirates, magic and hideous

Vector 158 17 beings exis, ... h is lightweigh1 stuff: the son enough genre to work in. bul when you add Both the Chtatomux:i series 111\d Howl's of fanwy Iha! docs nol have IO make much to thal the kind of body count that pulls the Moving Casllt in pmicular have earned her sense or be comistent. It is unfonun11cly crowds into a Schwm.enegger film. you have a well-dcscrvt.d folk>wing. It's not surprising: wriu~n in the fim pcnon, 0$lerUibly by a problem.. People 11'C chopped up. gored, 5he !ells her SloriQC with wit and energy, and a Sieve, the .. hollow man'", and the style i1 bludgeoned. crushed. dcprcssurisod. just degree of subvcaion which delights anyone hi&h}y verbose. almos1 sueam of conscious­ plain shot, 10 Ult aocompanimcru of wise• wilh a slightly !wisted view of the world. nes.s. 1bc ione is frivolous. I confc:u 10 nol cracks from old Am.. "Consider this Castle In tbt Air is no exception. Perhaps having read Rohan"s Winier of 1M World divowc. •· he says as he kills his treacherous best described u a 50r1 of 5-equel 10 Howl'5 trilogy. I hope it isgood-becauscthisisn'L wife. M Am I boring you?" he says, drilling a MoYing Casile. it"s initially set not in lngary Tht Magen~ could hardly be more differ­ hole lhrough somebody. All of this works but in Zanzib, a land far ID the South where ent. It is a fitsl novel and concerns Leighor. a fine on the screen blll is a waste o f time on Abdullah. a young ffllll'I prone to daydream­ healer wilh fake credentials. who is falsely paper. The sex scenes arr: crnbuns.sing. the ing, suddenly fincb himself caught in a reality accused of lhe munia of 111'1 An:hbaron and love scmes triply so, but !hen no one said fu more biZIJTC than anything he could have fori::ed to flee from his accuscn. Accumulat­ Anthony could actually write. imagined, when a Djinn kidnaps the daughter ing a band of companioru. he sets off on a This is boring, shoddily-written, meretri• of the Sultan, and he is left to save the day long journey to aven lhc elcc1ion o f a new cious trash. Sec the film instead. Bcuer still, wilh nolhing more lhan a bad-tempered High King by an enemy who have redis­ re-read Diclc' T he Man In th, High Castle. mauve genie and a lhrcadbare flying carpet covered lhc deadly magefire of the title. The MartlnWa lkr withjustahint ofvanity. joumeyisfraughtwithdangersandlhercis Anyone familiar with the stories of the much scenery to be described. At one point. Arabian Nights will recognise the initial plo1 Leighor travels alone through dull scenery to The Ghost Now Standing conventions of lhe Djinn who must wed a arrive closer to his starting point. At a few on Platform One princess, of the genie who can grant only one others, lhc narrator USC5 modem idioms and wish a day, 111\d the poor but honest men:hant Richard Peyton (Ed) words (such as "e,.trovert") which do not who must nvc lhe day. but Wynne Jones soem to fi1. There arc implausibilities. There Souvenir Preu, 1990, 322pp, £14.95 rums lhe tables in mos1unexpected ways. It is is no purple prose ut the writing style is one the cW\Tiing of the cap1urod prur.esses which of veai dignil)' and simplicity. A cynical N ::~U:tl~m~sg!:t~1etn"!;:r lids Abdullah in hisquestfortheDjinn's life. characl.cr callt.d lnsnys has scmc of the best the packagcr•s rathtt than lhe cdi1or•s art.. and this honest young man is not so honac linu. cg. .. However much lhcy strive, the The stories themselves arc u.ceUenl and that he can'1 learn a little cunning once he is poor can never get quite poor cnour,h to suit well- placed in a miliC\J so diffcrcn1 from his own. !he rich'". 1bc front cover blurb. for once, chosen. nnging impressively from the There is also a marked bot nol obuusin $eCfflSKCuralcinrcfcrring10 .. ,brilliar11.ly well~tnown. such as Ch1Jles DicU:n"s ',be moral flavour. Howl the royal magician. is re.Jised world" and "a maglC.11 world no Signal-Man", Rol1'1 ''The Garside Fell Dis­ criticis.od for his inappropriate use of magic, readcrwilJ want w leave ... his impos.siblc10 as1er". and incvi11bly, Robert Bloch's ''That and a sharp lesson is taught about the misery HY how the whole Dark Amulel Cycle will Hell-bound Train", through conuibutions caused by war. However, ii is impossible to rum out, but The Magcfire is a magnificent from lhc likes of Aiclanan, Dalcd\. Wynd­ kttp down the irrcpres.sible Howl and all is achieveTTICfll IIKl. judging from lhis first vol­ ham. Blackwood and F Scott Fitz,:crald to resolved satisfactorily if a little breathlessly ume. it will approach TM Lord of The sui;;h unfamilair gems as AM BWTage's 'The towards the end. Rings more closely in spiri1 and c,.ecution Wrong Station .. and a brief, strange tale from I fe11 lhat many adult readers will pus Lhananylhingelsclhave reacl. Richard Hughes. over Wild Robert because it is ostensibly Jim England However, I.he so-called faclual accounts intended for a younger audience. This would arc disappointing in lhe extreme. Despite be a mistake u it is a charming story, with Peyton's claims 1o be an enthusiastic colloc­ sinktcr undenones of MR James. Heather"s Total Recall tor oftruc ghost stories, he1ecms toh1veput parents arc curators of a stately home, so Piers Anthony little if any cffon into researching the anec­ school holidays consist of dodging lhe IAgend, 1990, 224pp, £12.99 dotes offcrt.d here, and their presence in th e crowds. In despa.ir or ever finding privacy. she goes to lhc mysterious mound in the text seems 1o be primarily 10 provide not al­ It is hllfd 10 imagine just .,.·hat Philip K Diclc, ways obvioos or appropriate JinkJ bclwcen grounds. and lhctc inadYertently calls up by all ac:counu I gentle and mild•mannered stories. Peyton·s prose comes to I.he rcadcf Wikl Rohen. shut away for 350 years by rela­ man, would have made o f lhe film Total Rt• apparently without benefit o f editor, sw-dy tions. frighcened or his magical powers. Until ull, lhc latest Arnold Schwarzenegger the only explm1tion for the luge number of swiset, Wild Robert lives up to his name, vehicle and supposedly based on Dick's shon grammatical infelicities. 1ne stand11d of righting wrongs but causing much confusion story "We Can Remember It For You Whole­ proof reading throughou1 !he rolloclion is as he docs. It's very funny. but underlying it sale". also appalling. And yet, in spite of these glar­ is Robcrl's bewilderment as he tries ID deal C,od knows. Hollywood hu enough ing dcftcienc:ies, I musl oommcnd the wilh the changes wrought 10 his cswe by the trouble eoming lO grips with !he lr:ind or SF anlhok>gy simply bet:11JSC ii is a delight lO see twentielh century and the •walling revela­ Dick wrote. but 11 Jcas1 Blade Runnt r had a so many fine ghosl storiel r,athe:nd IOgcthcf tion or the n11w-e or his dca.th. A slim volume mild stab al the philosophical comple,.ities of in one place. but quilt as absorbing as Castle In tbf: Air. his work. Total Re-call, the novelisation by Maureen Porter MaurttnPorter Pitts Anthony, doesn't b>lher. Why 5hould il'! h 'sonlychcaphaclrworlc.afterall. By about the fifih pMagnph you bc&in IO Cyteen get the drif1. " He seemed to euKlc uw Castles in the Air Diana Wy nne Jones CJ Cherryh power. His chiselt.d fcarures within the hel­ NEL, 1989, 680pp, £4.99 met were set. reflecting his indomitable will. .. Methue", 1990, 208pp, £8.95 He also talks in a funny accent, but you can't Rimrunners have c~crything. He may even end up 1s Wild Robert Diana Wynne Jones CJ Chenyh prcsidcnt,thcysay. NEL, 1990, 288pp, £12.95, £7.95 pb There is a distUTbing trend among lhc Methuen, 1990, 88pp, £1.95 blod:bus1crs of today, a kind o f jnkey de­ Cylecn won the Hugo for besc novel in signe, ~iolcnce. A comedy thriller is a hard T ~:rr::i a~~l~~::ie:~n~in:=~~ 1988: Rlmrunncrs was runner-up for

16 Vector 158 best novel in the Locus award for 1989. Both struc1uresM. The society of Rlmrunrters is a incomprehensible conflie1 with the govern­ novels fill in 1apg in tht Chcrryh future His­ society in microcosm, living in a claustro­ ment over her latest book. When a friend, the tory: Cytttn loob. in pan. at tht polilical phobic environment. under CJtlremC tensions chikiren ·s writer Eleanor. dies in mysterious background and repttCUSSions or tht dis­ c.used by tighl regulations and dangerous circums~es (reminisc:cnt of tht peaoe cam­ covery of the Gehenna o:periment (5Ct Forty conditions. The society is the a-cw of a paigner Hilda Mum:11) Alice dcc;des 1o write Thousand in Gehenna). while Rlm runnes spacahip.malcingapccariouslivin&inthe a book about her. But this brings her iri1o focusses on the struggle for swviv.J by a pat· uncc:rtai:n chaos following the ending of lhe contact with Ekanor's 50r\, Gordon, whose ticipuu on the losinJ side or thew• which war between Union, Alliance and the Eaith. political powa. curious bnwies and dis­ ends Downbelow Station (Hugo-winner in 1be protagonist is Bel Yeager-curely one or torted view of the world form the IJUe subject 1981). Neilhtr book is recommendod for the lhe greal females in SF ("'heroine" wouldn't ofthisboolc. daus1rophobie. be appopriate): u hwnan and u fallible as Gordon is the linear descendant or Paul The clauslrOphobia in Cytee.n is partly the Colin GreenJand's Tabitha Jute. and alive in a Mason in A Dream or Wesses:, Peter Sinclair result of the action ulcing place in tht fOOms way thal no-one on Cytccn was. An CJ:· in Tht Afflnna tlon and Niall in The G la­ and corridors of a world only ttrraformcd Marine, on the losing side or lhe war, she mo ur. It is the way these characters echo over small areu: but largely the rcsuil of the survives by murder (when rape is aitonpted). aspects of each olhcr, !he way Priest uses narration and the "action" taking place by lying, by patitnee. and by sheer force of such violent. psychotic and marginalised mainly in !he characters· own heads in a person.Jity. Yeagcr,togetherwithan absence characters, which should provide a fcut for world only faintly described. I have seldom o f lecturing and an overload of tension, helps any futuzecritic of Priest's work. It's a pity, read a novel which is so startlingly unvisual. Ii~ Rlmrunners, in my view, inlo that mythi­ really, !hat Ruddic:k's slim book doesn't come The sense of the future or lhe alien is thus c.J state of being unputdownable. ChCJT)' h is this far up to date. or make such a connection. present only fleetingly, in the (to us) rather oneoftheverybestSF writiersoflhep-esent This is an admirable little volwne providing alien mindsets of the (human) protagonists, day (and. u Gwyneth Joens reminds us in an the kind of concise introduction to each book and in the biologicaJ,<:um-psycho\ogical e,;tensive review of Cyteen in Foundation which makes you want IO go out and re-read work, conducted by the powerful Rescune 48. she is a femi.nisl writo. If you haven'1 thcm. In fact he made me see scvera.l of the company. There are plenty of the tndi1ional read heJ before. Ir)' Rlmrunners rather than novels, especially the earlier ones, afresh. It i1alicised chapren filling in Lhe baclcground Cytttn (and not Downbtlow Station. which is only a pity, therefore. that this first serious from spurious archives or compulCT dat.t. ­ shares m11ny of Cyteen 's faults. Both won critical study of Priest's work. a book that is b&ses: but the res1 of ii is compla• .Jmou Hugm. of course. so feel free to ignore me.) long over-due. should be 50 strUcturcd that it W1Idieved. political discuwon and debale. Ir only 5he cou.ld give us rather more Bel only deals with the books one al a time in Ariane f.mocy, scientific genius and head of Yeagers and rather fewer Ariane Emorys. isolation. Although unifying featllreS and ReseurlC, is mwdcred, a:nd the plor revolves Edward James themes ue apparent. Ruddiclc is not able 10 around Reseune's reae.arion of Ariane from draw lhem 10gelhcf IO povide a sysu:matic her &enetic matcri.J and by the manipulation overview which shows how Priest's boob all or her Cfl\lirorunent and her education. Sorne­ The Quiet Woman lie upon • sin&le. identifiable u.is. OtheJWise whai predictably, Aria:ne D emerges u a Christopher Priest we might be able to appreciate that though dilTerent (tnd nica) personality than her Bloom.abury, 1990, 216pp, £13.99 The Q u1t1 Woman takes the slcp outside the predeotuor. and by the end of the novel has genre that Priesl has been thJeatming for a taken over the reins of power. interwoven Christopher Priest decade or more. ii still belongs lo euctly the wilh this are other nib-plots to do with Justin Nicholas Ru d dick ume universe u Fugue for a Darkening Warrick, !he son of the supposed murderer. S tarmont, 1989, 104pp, $19.95, $9.95 lsla nd and TheAfflrm atki n. and with the narure of !ht azi--the labora• pb Paul Kincaid tory-bred and programmed "slaves" who are Reseune 's main product (and who had, ear­ lier, been sent, 40,000-srrong, to colonise l ~fv~:~~k!r!::. ~:Csc~:~l;:':Tie o:~ Drabble II - Double Century Gehenna). Ariane has sexu.J and emotion.J future. af1er the fall-0ut &om a nuclear acci­ Rob Meades & David B Wake (Eds) relations with both ha azi bodyguards, male dent in Nonhem France hu contaminated B«con, 1990, 12Jpp, £5.0D and female: Justin rcmairu the faithrul 1e1:ual mos1 of Southern England. In one powerful partnerofhismakaD. scene we watch mysterious blacJc cylinders A Drabble: There is much good sruff in Cytttn. The arrive in !he night lo leave behind aop cir­ A one.-hundrod word s1my, plus titles. dUldhood of Ariane II is well•hwllcd. and dcs. Even the curious mixture or poli1ical there is discussion. much more mature than in and commercial power wielded by Gordon Drabblell: most SF. of lhe nanire of power. politia, Sinclairisunlilceanylhingw-rarines.istence A coUection of one-hundred such drab­ slavery, and a IOciety in which genetics can even !hough Thaleherite policies might seem bles.lhe procecd5 going to charity. be c.ona-olled. 'The amowi1 or detail is "l&· to be heading in !hat direction. gcring. though1-pv,ioking. but ultimately. in Bui unlike anything else Priest has ever The review: iu.sheerquantity. indigcstible.ltisuifCher­ wriuen. the 1r inppings are not iniegral to the In the beginning are a nwnber of pos1.New ryh wanted to unload on the reader YUi story. 1bcy are a device which allows him IO Wave foam flecks which m"ealc under lhe amounlS or the Future Hiswry wilh which lhc make his point, but they arc not a pan or that c:rashing of lime and tide, followed by the has been fdlinJ bu notcboob over lht. ye&B, poinL The Q uie t Wo man is Priest's first "condensed" novel. the plot synopsis, the without thinking too much about whelher it wholly mains~ novel. It is also u good blurb purple. the awful punchline and the e,i:. wu going 10 work u a novel as anydung else he has wriuen with lhe ex­ cerpL There are the neat stories (U z A comparison with Rlmrunners is a linJe ception o f The Affi rmation, and fiu; neatly Honeywill, Winifred Wake), the abysmal like compuing two approaches lo history. into the dcvelopncnt or his wotk.. stories (S1.eve Jones, Sieve Davis). poems (in­ There art those historians who (still) believe II is a book 1bou1 aberrant psychology and cluding an amusing Andy Sawyer) and that one can learn about the pa.51 by looking at political responsibility. Just as, in The Affir­ finally many Big Name Author contributions. the individuals who claim to be imp:man1 matio n and The Gl:1 mour, Pries1 e,;plored (Napoleon, Hitler. Ariane Emory): there are the minds of complex psychotic characters The moral? o!hers who think that the past is best under­ while making firm political points about !he Good things come in small packages. stood not by looking at events and "grea1 necessity of playing a role in the real world. Terry Broomt (wo)men", but at how societies and com­ Here the central chuac1er is Alice. a bio­ munities actually work, and at their "deep grapher who has already come into

Vector 158 19 JOS'EP:J{J'J{'E S.9LX'IO'J{, lnteroiLw6y ~vPMc!V,ign 19-11-89

British SF has a reputation tor sell. I alviays have the greatest A Jot of It Is Science Fiction by =~"f;m7s'fkt:J:rr:'~ !'!1east to ?:~:vrer:~~l~~lif~rs =~~'!no~~ It Isn't the New Worldslearly•Ballard era. written continuously since I was Of course this isn l the whole about 25. I never really dropped it Yes. I started to write Science story, one writer whose worlc is tor long, and I've an immense Fiction because I got interested in ~i;:,r:;;:;~nc:,:,~:f:/s~7'se, ~~~'. stuff written that isn't it. I donl know why else. Josephine Saxton, though as she They're predominantly, as It explains, she isn 't necessarily an Yes, I understand that most of says In the Introduction to the optimist either. Last November I your publlshlld worfc IS quite new Jane Saint book, visited her at her home in a old, and Ms taken • very long concerned with the realms of terraced house in a small time to ti« Into print. Do you Psychology. midlands town. Over tea in think that ,,,.,_maybe• delicate china, we managed the problem with th,., In that by the Yes, I suppose they could following conversation: time It gon on N ie both you probably have been written before and t,_ WOf1d have moved on there was such a term as Science You began to get published quite a long ny from ...,,.re FICtion. qune a long time ago ... wtth you were when you wrote tt? stories dating beck to the Obviously Jung Is dominant In mid-sixties- - I think this Right be true for most your Interest In Psychology, writers apart from those who just and Mertt111u-Ponty? Yes, just twenty-five years. chum out very QUk::kty for a known audience. They're a different kind Yes, I have been heavily Yet there doesn't seem to be a of writer. I think though, that influenced by Jung, but Merleau- great dsal of your wot1c In print. even when you read it, it hasn't Ponty was just something I'd

Oh, but there is actually. There :~lfa::re~~er:,\a~~~~~ ~ta ~f~8~~ • rn:::rnu~':r:ed~~n are three novels in print at the doesn't maner. everything, but it just seemed a moment, one came out on the very nice name for the character. 241h Septerooer this year [1989), I was thinking lea of 6tyle, but The little dog who philosophises a and the previous one in that f»rhap• of some of the lot. ti just came out. series Toe Travails of ,Jane Saint, opinions you Mv• written Into is still in print, as is Queen Of The n. Do you ever fNI that you Sla.U15.. were wrong? ~=ip':;!ci:,r::,~ ii::'::ugh to recognla. that that Is what But It's stlll not a lot for No, not wrong, but often you were dealing with. .. twenty-five years, when misguided, like we all are. compared to many authors. They're just different aspects of Oh yes you do, you oonned me the same questions. Different into this interview ... but go on. This is true ... ways of trying to find answers, as I recently tound out when I did a In terms of theory, I know that At the end of the 60s and Into paper for an academic work Jung and The COiiectiv e the early 70S you sold three broe a long gap, ~~~~~~rM:i ~!~i~ :C:~;::;~S::;'[,~""c::J:';ou until the Women's Press came Gooo Before - Worren in Scjence 1»rh/Jps say a llttle bit to along, mainly. fidi2n. When I started to write elaborate tor those readers like about my work, what I'd done, and myself who don't know the Well, Toe Travails of Jane Saint why I was published as a Science deta//s of psychology, to give a did oome out from Virgin Fiction writer, I realised that I've key to the deeper levels? originally, in about 79 or 80. The been hammering away at the trouble is, my books don't sell. same thing all my life, in different As some people might know, and Once they're published they don't ways. as I think I've said in the

20 Vector 158 introduction to lane Saint and The means that you can find to desperately short of money. I ~ when I was writing the chang& your state of wasn't writing at au, I was first book of those early three, my consciousness. studying acupundure and I had then husband was reading Jung, no ideas whatsoever, but I do working his way through volume SO this Is how It worfcs for have a filing cabinet full of after volume, whilst I was stuck people who don't know half-written stories and idea notes, into Gurtjieff, Ouspensky and anything about psychology? which I ruffled through until I various mystical works, but he found something which is nothing had a habit of reading things out. Yes, you don't need to know it. A like the finished product, but MHey, this is interesting ... Mand it lot of writers, both mainstream which eventually turned into a was an L-shaped room in which I and Science Fiction, use these Science Fiction story. was typing away round the comer, devices. and suddenly he started speaking To go back to the archetypes about the Hieros Gamos. " Oh!" I So who elBB, span from Jung, that you use In Jane Saint... do I said, "That's the title for the book would you cite as an Influence? see traces of your own family I'm writing." He went on to creeping In around the edges? explain what it all meant, and it Ib..e..Beano. comic, and especially was exactly right for the story, and Minnie the Minx and Dennis the Yes, that's an amusing conceit, this in itself was a Jungian Menace. Just about everything, and also, the dialogue between significance, an example of a it's all an influence. My mind is a Jane Saint and the world, Jane significant coincidence, and that ragbag of everything I've ever Saint and Men, is nothing more was intriguing. So I started to read, but perhaps John Bunyan than the dialogue between anima read Jung and haven't looked more than most. I read Ei1Q.rim'.s, and animus. Now, if you want a back. f.mQmll when I was about 7 and dialogue between anima and thought It was absolutely anirrus of a Jungian kind, just So you've IOOked Into all of this stunning. I read that and it was listen to any domestic argument very SMlouSly? perhaps the same way that a between husband and wife, they young person now might read always take on the role-playing. Not in recent years so rruch, no, Science Fiction. It was just this They always say the same things, because one passes on, but I chap having an adventure, and nobody gets any further with would never say that I had made meeting all sorts of strange it, and in the next row, the same a mistake in reading Jung. He's people and beasts spouting flame words come trotting out. Jane given me a great deal. I reckon and so on. It's an amazing story, Saint is trying to get beyond that, he's got a whole lot to offer a spiritual trip, and a classic one. so there are hints of domestic anyone. The concept of the lives because a lot of the story is Collective unconsciousness, the And ttuJ journey Is reflected In coming out of domestic argument archetypes, the animus, the Jane 5alnt. and what happens o us all. lf shadow, the wonderful child, the you·ve read Jane Saint and the terrible mother, and so on. I took Yes, it just seemed the natural Backlash you'll realise that at the all of this rather literally, perhaps ~~~~~ end I've tried to get male and you're meant to, but anyone can ~~fdt~ tr~:~0~1:::0 female to some kind of an act out one of these roles, or Fiction stories, and I've written understanding because that is change from one to anther, it's quite a few later, but having first what it's all supposed to be about. just a way of saying we're said I would never touch Science Mind you , Jung is more role-playing. 1began to see them Fiction (urghl) I oouldn't say now complicated and subtle than that. as characters, and began to see which of mine are Science Fiction What he wanted was for people to the collective unconsc10us as a or Horror stories or what. realise the male and female selfs parallel dimension, a place where were incorporated into each other you can actually be, which you Ons which c/Mrly IHtns to be so that women were not visit in dreams. This is a thing we SClenc:e FICllon, on the surface, oppressed and men were not certainly have done, you know Is the one In the Womsn's oppressive. That causes 90% of when you wake up in a dream and Prea •ntttology, "Big the wond's troubles ... you know where you are and can Operat/On On Altair Three" ... go and discuss things with these SO If the male pan of women or characters. This is fairy That was quite a long time ago the female pan of men Is commonplace actually. It sounds now. That was how I first came brought Into an understanding, a little bizarre, but if you study into contact with The Women·s then that Individual w/11, dreams it appears a lot, and this is Press, they said they were doing to Jung, be the basis of Jane Saint's stories. an anthology of Science Fiction :::;:r:i~J Upfront you can get into the short stories to launch their new Collective Unconsciousness by Science Fiction line, and so I said They'll be more of a whole falling out of a tree, or through a MYes, I'll do it.• The absolute truth person, and develop an mirror, or down a well, by any about that was that I was understanding with themselves

Vector 158 21 and with other individuals. yes. really be a corf'4.)lete person. food in novels. I donl care about That's what it's au about. But how dtd I come to this that if people have enjoyed though? There are several reading it. After all you do need to So how much of you doH Jane reasons. I was brought up during pace yoursetf. I don't write action Saint represent? the war; as a child there wasni novels anyway. any food to speak of. A treat for Oh, I'm not sure. Having written us was a slice of potato and onion Aside from the novels, you've it, I doni feel quite so fierce, but i done in the oven in Oxo gravy. wrttt«m a lot of 9hOrt fiction. think that at the time of writing II , I Any meat that came Into the Since you say that you ffnd f~~f:Yt~~~ :~~~s~~,i, =~:-O~t~~~~~n on a ='~~~;;o,'!;!1/;u.:~!r thiri<. it's right to go on and on Sunday morning n we were good, or... about it. The solution at the end as an absolute treat, and so on. is what I felt. Windfalls, of plums and pears in No, I think I put a lot more work Autumn. were a much into short fiction than novels. I So were you writing somBthlng looked-forward to treat, and so mean, you write and rewrite them, out tor your own benefit as well when food started to come back but not atways. You can, as tor the story? into the shops and then lots of generalize. People atways want (pause) I hadn't meant to , but ~o:~~~~~~:.cla~.r~~!;1Y· ~0Je~~~r~1tm~~~~hr:~~; out yes, I suppose it might be true. I where these came from, of being without any great conscious never wrtte for therapy though, a great hostess of fantastic activity, and others require a great because I doni find writing banqueting entertainment, and I deal of hard work. They've got to therapeutic. Writing is hell. I find just got very very Interested. I say everything in a short period of ~a~~C:.~~~~ !~!!~ =: ;!~f!:s'~u~~e:~~~ =itr:t~i~·:e~~~t~F in have been writing now before you Spaghetti outside of a Heinz tin, essential. came, but I chose to do some and it's just been a long voyage of sewing. Generally I ck> push discovery. And then I found out One of your best shon stories ~self, though it is the hardest that I was in fact a very excellent Is baslcally a rstel//ng of thing 1know of to do. cook, so when I got a family, and ..Snow-whits and the seven also started doing dinner parties, Owarts". A lot of authors havs One of your other it was just a very creative thing. I trl«I this modlHnlslng, and preconceptions, sorry just enjoyed it . I've also been perhaps, feminizing of fairy preoccupations I mean ... very interested in vitamins and tales. biochemistry. I was In school Was that a Freudian slip? when I realised that health couid Yes. I wrote "Woe, Blight & In (laughs) possibly be got by the right diet, Heaven, Laughs• tor an anthology so between all these Influences, George Hay did [f.u.lsac..1J, in One thing that Is quits and also liking describing them in which stories were followed by an notlceabls, particularly within detail, it was inevitable that all my article atx>ut the story, and Queen Of The States Is food. work shouid Include food . My anyway George chose Angela greatest dlscovery about food, Carter to write about my story. I Yes, this is true. paradoxically, is that the cleanest was planning to do a whole series zen macrobiotic diet is the one of these stories but for various Aside from the marvellous which makes you feel absolutely reasons I didn't, and now ArlQela food !ICIH1ff In that book, there wonderful tf you stick to II. I was and other people have dOne n are stories such as "Food and on it for eighteen months, and themselves. Not in the same way Love" and a lot of the Lill.le. basically that was brown rice, I might have done it , of course. At To..w:s....01.. collect/on. local vegetables, and seaweed that time though, I was just about and those foods are very very ~he only one to do that. Yes, somebody asked me about clean, very little salt. In the end this recently and I was trying to you come to appreciate this food So you dsllberately set out to think why. It's not just rich food, it as rooch as you might have rewrtte the older story? used to be good, aesthetic, appreciated the finest French dellghtful food that fed the soul as restaurant food. It does tend to Oh yes, because Jung uses the well as the body. And healthy have the social disadvantage that myths qutte a lot. The mythS and food. I've always been a believer when you go out you have to eat fairy tales are the embochment of in "'You are what you eat.· something somebody else has our times, and as you know I was Therelore if you eat pork pies specially prepared tor you. So q..iite interested in !hat. which are full of nitrates and that's not very practical. I don't horrible hormones, and an the know whether it's relevant, or So are we likely to see any suffering of the pig, you can, even desirable to have so much more updatlngs of older pieces,

22 Vector 158 as you did with '7he Yes, I do. lt comes down to an couldn't even read most Women's COnsclouSIHtU Machine"? hour or so in the evenings two or Press novels, so they had to grab three nights per week, in which I me. They happened to like what I No, I don't think so. I'll be leaving actually build up quite a head of was writing anyway, I never the past alone as far as I can tell. steam after years of doing ii that thought of myself as a feminist way. When I wasn't working I did writer until a feminist publisher So what dofl• come next? quite a lot of other things... I sew, noticed me. I make furniture and do in1erior What I'm writing now is a decor and cook, and rm never So what do you feel needs 1 short of things to do in the garden. say/no? ~~'1-:~~~ri/~;sr;t~i::nt in I've no in1ention of giving it up the real wortd, in Lancashire. I'm though. Well, the things I've said. What I on Chapter 7, but there are do think needs to be done, constant distractions. So are you a slow writer? especially by me, is to lighten up a bit. I can be quite funny at Is tlHHe anything In the No, I'm quite a fast writer but I limes, bu! I'd like a lot more of pu/Jllshlng pipeline? can't do it tor very long at a time. that. What doesn't need to be I can only do about two hours and said is too m.JCh dwelling on Yes. a few short stories. There is then that's it, I've got to go and do horror and misery. There's just going to be a story called "The something else. I couki never do too m.JCh of that about and I think Ancestress" in an anthok>gy put it full time. I have done, but I had it makes everybody even worse. together by Lisa Tuttle. One in an to force myseH to do ii. I haven't Naomi Milchison put me onto anthology called Qiqttal Dreams I got the stamina and !he skill lo do myself, for one thing. She said can't remember who's editing that it professionally full-time. It takes "Whal you need is to do (David V Barrett] There's another guts to do that, it really does. I something hilarious... " and after one somewhere. You see, you think another thing is that with few letting this sink in for a while I write them and either sell or don1 exceptions I've never written for realised she was right. You sell them, and then months and an audience. This dawned on me couki analyse my work and see mon1hscango by before they recen11y, and I think it's why my that I've been saying the same come out and you've forgotten work doesn1 sell, or if it does, it things in different ways each lime. them. I'm suddenly quite doesni sell very well. I don't write What concerned me then is what f~~~~t ~~ f~=e~~:nJgh !~o~nr:~:l~~!e: ~~ \~i~s ~:~~ ~~~$ ~:sbi!tt~ing about. But there are no major written, which mJst be written, for come straight out with ii, I think :,~;n1~' just those stories at the :i~~~!l;ya~~es~e°:t1stthere :~~J~:r~~!~~~~~•t:ii ~e consisting of thousands of people spiritual quest, which is why 1t·s ,:~":ni,:i,::;s,:::sr• ~~~~ :t!; k:~r:eh:f l~~ch , gf~~~~:·n~fofi: ::o~;:n~:te talking alx>ut and live in my world. what I'm interested in. Any way t~~Q~=:~ ~o~lda~~!\~~of ~fr~~~i:~u:~a:~r:tx!~e !~~~7:'~~ ;~1:i!~nAd~\1 to have seen Vector For Saven readers, I'm sorry to say, so it's this, obviously, has to do with out under its original title. I have not really surprising that they've sexual energy which has to do mentioned it once or twice to not given a damn about me. with relationships, and ii also has ~ue~~i~~ ~~~e~~;:~ed "you teBJ you're writing things ~h?ght}~~~oggm!~t~1~~en~!~?i publlshers not being ready for it which have to lHI said, am you •· all the different aspects of what yet. To go back to what I have in writing, In the bl'Olldest Nnse a human being is. It's all a bit the pipeline, there is a book that of the word, po/It/cal things? heavy really, but there's no Kerosina have of mine, but it reason why this shouldn't be done appears to have got lost at the No, not at all political. I've never with lots more humour. As I said, moment. That's the story of my joined anything, and I've never we should lighten up, ii doesn't life, ii seems. They chased me for thought about it like that, though it have to be a miserable world. that, I said no at first, then they've may have turned out like that I had ii for a couple of years now. I certainly never intended it to. Well, Oueeo of The Stales does was thinking of asking for it back have some very funny scenes but I just don1 get the time to write What about the feminist though I'm not sure If It's a letters at the momen1. things? happy end/no.

I understand you worfr Well, they reached out and Well she escapes, she escapes grabbed me, I never submitted both from the aliens and from her :::::-,::·,:'mW:,!" :::,,:;In? anything to the Women·s Press. I husband.

Vector 158 23 Yes, but It Is a neutral ending In that It comes down to HRIQht, I'm free ... Now what?" Science Fiction An A ·Z of SF Books True, but that is quite a good place 10 encl a novel about the From A for Andromeda ro The Zen struggle to straighten your head Gun. [}.)v,dPr,nglecOl'ef'SfrlOle out, get your strength together, rhan 3000 of the key 1maginative­ science fict,on 1'.0"ks Theresu/t15 not be by society and dominated an 111valuable reference book ~ or whatever. both 1nformdrtve- and entertainmg £16 99 hardback to go back to your being £7 99 paperback p leked up by The Women 's Press, they've labelled your Brain Lumley first two books tor them as Science Fiction, but you say Khai of you aren't a Science Fiction Ancient Khem writer. All bowed the,r heads before 1he golden splendour of KhaSathur 's Well, I'm not, if you look at pyramid• and before hrs arroemes Robert Heinlein and say that is Only Kh.J1 was nor blinded by the Science Fiction. I'm not that well glories of the Pharoahs, for he had up on it , but to me it is the same seen rhe homble secrets of rhe scenes and the same things all pyram,d's Bui can he survi~ 10 ch.Jmed out every time by bflng them to JUStKe' hundreds of authors all writing the l3 99 paperback. same thing. I do read all the time, I've just read Peter William Hope Hodgson Ackroyd's Cballmwl. yet another The Night Land history of the Brontes and an 'A tale of the remote future... Australian writer whose name billions of years after the death eludes me. A few years ago I of rhe sun. It is one of the most was doing some reviewing for Ille potent pieces of macabre New Statesman and I had to read imagina tion ever written ... a klt of Science Fiction for them, something that no reader can and that was the hardest piece of ever forget. · H P Lovecraft wor1c You have to read them all, (4 99 paperback you can'1 discard the things you don't like. Raymond E. Feist & Janny Wurts Josephine saxton, Thank you Servant of the Empire ve,ymuch. The eagerly-awaited sequel to You're very welcome. Daughter of the Empire sees the reiurn of a legendary creative coJtatxxa r,on &lck ,n the world of Midkemld, where Mara of the Acoma must nov,, p"1y che Emplfe's bloodies! war game yet 'A huge tome with a plot to match. • VectOf on Daughter of the Empire [13 99 hardback [7 99 trade paperback

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