SF COMMENTARY 71/72 April 1992 96 pages

Damien Broderick on PRINGLE’S ‘ULTIMATE GUIDE’ Colin Steele on BRODERICK’S COLLECTED STORIES TAD WILLIAMS and GREG BEAR interviewed Bruce Gillespie on JONATHAN CARROLL Roslyn K. Gross on DIANA WYNNE JONES Wynne Whiteford on CHANDLER’S COLLECTED STORIES

SHORT REVIEWS OF SI# AND FANTASY BOOKS:

Damien Broderick Wynne Whiteford Alan Stewart Dave Langford Greg Hills Andy Sawyer Roger Weddall Roslyn Gross Bruce Gillespie Michael J. Tolley Scott Campbell Elaine Cochrane Colin Steele

I MUST BE TALKING TO MY FRIENDS

PINLIGHTERS: Letters from

Ursula Le Guin Walt Willis Brian Aldiss Gerald Mumane Malcolm Edwards Rob Gerrand Kim Stanley Robinson Robert James Mapson Syd Bounds Richard Brandt David Russell Brian Earl Brown Ralph Ashbrook

LETTERS TO A CURRENTLY DEFUNCT FANZINE

Buck Coulson Yvonne Rousseau

Justin Ackroyd’s LISTOMANIA SF COMMENTARY 71/72 April 1992 96 pages

SF COMMENTARY No. 71/72, May 1992, is edited by published by Bruce Gillespie, GPO Box 5195AA, Melbourne, Victoria 3001, Australia. Phone: (03) 419 4797. Printed by Copyplace, Melbourne. Editorial assistant and banker: Elaine Cochrane. Available for subscriptions ($25 within Australia, equivalent of US$25 (airmail) overseas), written or art contributions, traded publications, or donations. ART Most of the art is out of copyright, available from various Dover Publications. Back cover and Page 15 illustrations: C. M. Hull. Book covers and photo of Jonathan Carroll (p. 28): thanks to Locus magazine. TECHNICAL STUFF This is my first big publication in Ventura 3.0. Thanks to Elaine Cochrane, Martin Hooper, Charles Taylor, Tony Stuart and several others who endured my endless learning process.

I MUST BE TALKING TO MY FRIENDS JONATHAN CARROLL, STORYTELLER Editor 3 Bruce Gillespie 28

PINLIGHTERS DIANA WYNNE JONES: AN OVERVIEW Ursula Le Guin Roslyn K. Gross 34 Walt Willis Brian Aldiss SEA, SPACE, TIME: CHANDLER’S Gerald Mumane VOYAGES Malcolm Edwards Wynne Whiteford 38 Rob Gerrand Kim Stanley Robinson CRITICAL MASS Robert James Mapson Dave Langford 40 Syd Bounds $ Richard Brandt CRITICANTO David Russell Roger Weddall Brian Earl Brown Michael J. Tolley Ralph Ashbrook ^Elaine Cochrane and We Also Heard From ... 6 Wynne Whiteford Greg Hills LETTERS TO A CURRENTLY DEFUNCT Roslyn Gross 50 FANZINE Buck Coulson NO MORE MR NICE GUY Yvonne Rousseau 13 Scott Campbell 59

THE DAMIEN BRODERICK SECTION: CoKteefeOLUMN 66

CHEAP EATS OR GOOD FOOD GUIDE? f S ALLEYWAY Damien Broderick 16 Auen Mewart /y ANTHEM AND CADENCE OF THE YOUNG SAWYER’S LOG by Colin Steele 18 Andy Sawyer 83

COSMOS AND DAMIEN: Sf reviews ™®cm!i£WE REPORT Damien Broderick 19 Bruce Gillespie 86 ______VINTAGE TOLLEY Michael J. Tolley 92 THE LIMITS OF GENRE Tad Williams and Greg Bear YET MORE LISTOMANIA interviewed by Colin Steele 25 compiled by Justin Ackroyd 95

2 J

I MUST BE TALKING TO MY FRIENDS

Yes, there is still some Australian sf funny and entertaining, they began delights of good sf and fantasy. We and fantasy published in Australia. buying lots of others, including au­ still don't have an industry — but at No, there is still no Australian sf and thors whose works do not read at all last there are signs of a continuous fantasy industry. like Peter Corris's. This year, a work underbubbling activity that might The most recent commentator on of crime fiction by Finola Morehead lead to an industry. Australian sf is Peter Nicholls in Aus­ won the Victorian Premiers' Award. tralian Science Fiction Review 26,Sum­ It helps that many of the new It has been a long time since an Aus­ mer 1991. He tackles the question of Australian crime writers are aca­ tralian periodical featuring new sci­ whether there is a recognizable Aus­ demics or well known in other fields ence fiction stories has lasted more tralian style in sf (The stories, by and (Peter Corris as editor and historian; than five issues. Omega did, but fic­ large, are very emotional . . .'), but Jennifer Rowe as magazine editor tion was only a small section of that pays less attention to the question of and children's writer; Bob popular science magazine. Some whether we might ever gain our own Brissenden as scholar; Robert amateur magazines, such as the Mel­ sf industry. On the basis of compar­ Wallace as art connoisseur). Crime bourne University SF Association's ative population figures ('we pro­ writing is not a hobby for them; it is Yggdrasil, lasted years, but were seen duce about as much sf as a source of very useful pin money. only by readers within limited cir­ Czechoslovakia, more than Iraq or Peter Corris is one of those few Aus­ cles. Aphelion lasted five issues, be­ Algeria'), he doubts it. tralian writers to make an income fore its publishers changed direction In saying this, Nicholls makes from his craft. and became book publishers. The nothing of the fact that fifteen years What would it take for Australian cover artwork for Aphelion was ago Australia published little crime sf and fantasy to become an indus­ splendid, but the stories looked un­ and mystery fiction except the 'Car­ try? The same process that crime fic­ readable, because they had been set ter Brown' books. Today crime fic­ tion underwent. As yet, no on a typewriter. tion is a major fiction industry here. Australian sf writer has attained Until Aurealis from Victoria and This change began with the success Corris-like recognition among Aus­ Eidolon from Western Australia of one writer, Peter Corns. Once tralian readers. As yet, academics, made it, no Australian sf magazine Australian readers realized that their literary persons and general readers had reached six issues since Vision of own crime writers could be literate, remain appallingly ignorant of the Tomorrow more than twenty years

3 ago. It's a tough market; an impossi­ stands and sells well enough to stay does not know how to write any­ ble one, many would say. viable. thing more than the flourishes of the Eidolon might be on sale in some horror story. book stores in Western Australia, but My motive for exploring these mag­ Who do we blame, the writers or for the rest of us, it seems to be avail­ azines is to see whether either offers the editors? True, the editors are able only by subscription (A$20 for any hope of a home market for local committed to producing a magazine four issues; overseas A$40 airmail, writers. Our best writers have al­ regularly. They must choose from an A$30 surface mail, payable to Rich­ ways published overseas, but the ef­ undeveloped writing pool, because ard Scriven, PO Box 225, North fect on them has been the same as on our best authors and stories send Perth, WA 6006). Canadian writers who have no major their work overseas. Aurealis is available both at home market— few recognize that a But this does excuse the difficulty newsstands ($6.95 per copy; or on particular writer is Australian, posed by a story like 'Dawn' by An­ subscription: Australia $A24; over­ rather than American or British. drew McBumie (Aurealis 3). It begins seas A$39 airmail, A$31 surface mail; In financial terms, neither Eidolon well: 'For the last two thousand mil­ payable to Chimaera Publications, nor Aurealis provides a 'market'. Ei­ lion years, dawn had been breaking PO Box 538, Mount Waverley, Victo­ dolon admits that it can afford to pay over the wind-carved landscape ria 3149). only $10 per story, a token amount to below.' The reader is interested im­ I'm pleased, even amazed, that cover the author's mailing and pho­ mediately in the nature of the planet each magazine has lasted nearly two tocopying costs. Aurealis does not Dawn. Its weird geography and years. To celebrate the occasion, re­ publish its rates, but I suspect they weather remain the focus of the cently I read a complete run of each are not much higher. story; crossing its surface proves per­ magazine. The editors and publish­ But Eidolon has already begged petually dangerous to the main cha r- ers will have to put up with my authors to cease sending manu­ acters. Indeed, McBumie leaves crude comparisons. scripts for a few months until the them stuck out in the middle of no­ editors can catch up on the backlog, where: 'Their downward descent From the beginning, Eidolon and Au­ and I suspect Aurealis is in the same halted temporarily, as the front of realis have taken very different ap­ position. Fiction authors throughout the two crawlers ground into a small proaches to cover art and interior Australia remain hungry for publi­ outcrop of rubble. The crawlers production values. cation, never (it seems) questioning rocked and trembled as the wind Eidolon shows nothing on its the insulting rates they are paid by struck at them.' And there the crawl­ cover but the 'eidolon' symbol. Oth­ everybody except the ABC and a few ers and our main characters remain erwise the cover is a plain colour, high-circulation magazines. If there at the end of the story, awaiting res­ which changes each issue. The mag­ is any difference between the quality cue! azine is perfect-bound. Inside the of the stories in Eidolon and Aurealis, Surely if the editors (DirkStrasser magazine, each page is designed, or if either shows any sign of quality, and Stephen Higgins) want to pub­ sometimes elaborately, in Palatino it will have nothing to do with lish an adventure story that is effec­ and Avant Garde typefaces. The ef­ money. tive for most of its length, they fect looks handsome: having gained should send it back to the author access to some expensive desktop­ Why then has there oeen, until each with instructions to finish it. By fail­ publishing equipment, these blokes magazine's Issue Six, a spectacular ing to do this, they have done a dis­ know how to use it. Interior draw­ qualitative difference between Eido­ service to the author and the reader. ings are often intricate and use half­ lon and Aurealis? During its first five issues, Au­ tones. Most issues of Aurealis have been realis has had its moments: deft sto­ Aurealis is folded and stapled. a chore to read. True, I enjoyed scat­ ries by Michael Pryor, of 'Science Like Eidolon, it has a 'd igesf-sized tered stories from such well-known Fiction Hall of Fame' fame, who A5 format. The cover features the writers as George Turner, Greg should do his best to break into the title of the magazine (subtitled The Egan, Sean McMullen and Rosaleen overseas markets; Sean McMullen's Australian Magazine of Fantasy and Love, and the constantly high qual­ The Dominant Style', an authorita­ Science Fiction'), the newsstand ity of the work of Michael Pryor, tive and engrossing tale of people cover price, a list of some of the au­ Aurealis's discovery. Most of the living in conflicting time-environ­ thors featured in the particular issue, pieces, however, might just as easily ments; Rosaleen Love's ragged and a fairly crude sf-styled cover pic­ have appeared in any of the amateur mood piece 'Hovering Rock', that ture, in black and a second colour, fiction magazines that have surfaced does not quite work but provides usually by Shaun Tan. in Australia during the last twenty one of the few really magic moments The tone of the interior design has years. Amateur authors plod; they of my year's fiction reading. been set by the rather basic stan­ rely on adverbs and adjectives rather But the fact remains that most of dards of a commercial typesetter. than nouns and verbs; they tell you the stories in the first five issues Au­ Both headings and text are in Times. much about the scenery but never realis have been inept. Interior illustrations are rare, and not quite let you see it; their characters well executed. Typesetting is close, expostulate and emote, but never Why then has Eidolon, using the so Aurealis fits in more words than come to life; their ideas are over-fa­ same national pool of authors, suc­ Eidolon, and runs much more fiction miliar. ceeded? Why have most of its stories per issue than its Western Australian The storm followed a screaming been competent, even brilliant, competitor. black flight of cockatoos low over the while Aurealis's have not? But how can one think of these crouching suburb,' writes Sue Isle at Eidolon publishes a lower per­ magazines as competitors? With its the beginning of story in Issue One. centage of fiction than Aurealis. Its plain covers, Eidolon could not sur­ The story itself, 'Nightwings', had editors have not bent to the same vive on newsstands; Aurealis, crude some interest, but in the end the au­ pressure to fill pages. Instead, they in appearance, stands out on news­ thor cannot make it into a story. She have published reviews and criti­

4 cism that have been readable and particular point in our space and ence fails to prepare the writer for the occasionally brilliant. The Aurealis time. The story-teller tries to puzzle hard slog of life-long writing. Maga­ people, probably correctly, see that out the situation while the story un­ zines like Aurealis and Eidolon, ap­ the Australian general sf reader is folds around him. There are some pearing dependably, can work in a not much interested in reviews and memorable images in this story, in­ way that is impossible for the origi­ criticism. cluding the last. nal fiction anthologies — they pub­ I guess that the Eidolon editors David Tansey's stories for earlier lish writers regularly until they have been more willing to commis­ issues of Aurealis have been gener­ improve. This has happened during sion stories than have Strasser and ally unreadable, but 'La Luna' is a the last two years. May Aurealis, Ei­ Higgins. This takes a bit of gall, if you cleverly told adventure story about a dolon and any future competitors be offer only $10 a story. Everything man pursued over the surface of the able to keep publishing. else about Eidolon shows evidence of Moon. Adventure-story writing is as gall (spiced with occasional traces of difficult as any other form of fiction, egomania). At any rate, Eidolon has and few Australian writers achieved For most of the last twenty years, the consistently published most of the this level of competence. wildly fluctuating strength of Aus­ authors usually considered James Milton's 'Where the Cold tralian sf publishing has been in Australia's best: Philippa Maddem, Wind Blows' seems a conventional books, not magazines. Aphelion G reg Ega n, Terry Dowling, Rosaleen horror story, but it has that extra failed, but its publishers did not Love, Leanne Frahm, and Sean touch of tactile experience that sneak off into the night (as we at McMullen. makes it more interesting than most Norstrilia Press have done), but And if these authors have merely I've read. began Aphelion Books. I admit that submitted stories rejected by over­ Simon Brown has contributed I have not yet had time to review two seas publishers, there is no evidence stories to both Aurealis and Eidolon, of their most recent publications, of slackness in the stories them­ but none of his earlier work has the Rynosseros and Wormwood, by Terry selves. All of Greg Egan's stories strength shown in 'All the Fires of Dowling. Any volunteers? I re­ show his dry, obsessive malevolence Lebanon'. Brown mixes a gritty story viewed George Turner's A Pursuit of mixed with original ideas; 'The of Western hosjages held in the mid­ Miracles in SEC 69/70. I'm looking Extra' (Issue Two) is one of the best dle of the Lebanese war zone with a forward to Aphelion's first original stories I read during 1991. Rosaleen supernatural story that works. The fiction anthology, but I hear that its Love's Turtle Soup' (Issue Three) combination of elements gives an publication has been delayed. Two seems better every time I think about impact to the story that could not be new Aphelion books were launched it; as a correspondent wrote in Issue found in a merejournalistic report of at Swancon 16, the Western Austra­ Five, it is a genuinely frightening Lebanese events. lian convention held on Australia story. And the last paragraph on And Aurealis 6 features Michael Day 1992. Page 68 of Issue Three is the best Pryor's 'Long Live the King', the In this issue, my contributors and piece of prose I read in 1991. most original Australian story since I review From Sea to Shining Star, the If the editors of Eidolon want to Lucy Sussex's delicious 'God and A. Bertram Chandler collection pub­ pat themselves on the back (in lieu of Her Black Sense of Humour'. Rick E. lished by new small publisher financial reward), they can add to King is an Elvis Presley Imperson­ Dreamstone. I've only just read Glass their list of Big Names the names of ator, Second Class. The galaxy is Reptile Breakout, Van Ikin's collection some fine new writers. Geoffrey filled with Elvis Presley Im­ of Australian sf, some new and some Maloney (three very good stories so personators, and Impersonators of reprint. Lucy Sussex tells me that a far) is their New Author Most Likely every other type. Rick lands on the new collection of Australian feminist to Succeed. Co-editor Jeremy G. wrong planet: New Vegas. It is con­ sf and fantasy has been published, Byrne should write more stories trolled by Frank Sinatra Im­ but I haven't seen it in any bookshop. after the success of his amusing, dex­ personators. Rick is in trouble. The Most Australian sf and fantasy is trous Tizzy's Tail' (Issue Two). story is ludicrous farce, but it works still published overseas, still poorly well. distributed in Australia. This issue I Apart from patriotic breast-beating, Why mention the contents of one review Andrew Whitmore's ne­ why pay attention to either maga­ particular issue of one of these mag­ glected fantasy novel The Fortress of zine? Glittering achievements azines? Eternity and George Turner's Brain hardly bring glittering prizes. The Because the sixth issue of its com­ Child, highly praised overseas but editors cannot give up their day jobs. petitor is fairly nondescript, show­ neglected here. A new Rosaleen Their authors will still need to sell ing that not even the Eidolon crew ca n Love collection is expected soon overseas in order to establish careers. work wonders all the time. from Britain's Women's Press. Much of the answer lies in Au­ Because all the Aurealis writers Wynne Whiteford and Keith Taylor realis No. 6, December 1991. After are suddenly writing much better are still appearing regularly. And reading the fifth issue of Aurealis, I than they have before. Even if Au­ Greg Egan has signed a contract with was on the point of giving up on it. realis fails eventually, it will have Legend in Britain to produce both Apart from Robert Paes' ghastly served its Higher Purpose: to act as novels and books of short stories. cover, I liked most things in the new a kind of writers' workshop for its And that is the state of Australian issue. stable of writers. The sf magazines in sf and fantasy writing — thin on the Sean Williams' 'Light Bodies any country serve this purpose, ground, but vigorous and occasion­ Falling' features an idea that goes without realizing it. Those people ally very enjoyable. There is still no back to James Tiptree Jr, if not much who have attended short-term, high- Australian sf industry, but maybe earlier. A person is pursued through intensity writers' workshops will Eidolon and Aurealis can be catalysts time. He and his pursuer arrive at a know how the stimulating experi­ for its creation.

— Bruce Gillespie, 6 January 1992

5 PIN LIGHTERS

sula. Meanwhile, greetings from us. sort of sf I enjoy — for example, by URSULA LE GUIN Colin Steele to Arthur Clarke’s ‘Rescue Party’. This was for many PO Box 10541, Portland, years my favourite sf short story, and it Oregon 97210, USA WALT WILLIS is dispiriting to be reminded that it was 32 Warren Road, Arthur Clarke’s first. My other two Donaghadee, Northern favourites were Blish’s ‘Surface I would assume I hat a reviewer named Ireland BT21 OPD Tension’ and Asimov’s ‘Nightfall’. It Steele who lets his reviews be called is interesting to me to note that none of ‘Steele Column' is a fairly fervent those three appear to fall within what masculinist; and that being so, his Cobn Steele regards as the ‘best Thank you for SF Commentary 69/70. review of my ‘fervently feminist’ traditions of science fiction, that is, to I passed it on to James White, so that extrapolate from today to provide a Dancing at the Edge of the World is he could enjoy Elaine Cochrane’s generous, and I appreciate its realistic vision of, and for, tomorrow’. perceptive review of his book Futures I have tried to read the cyberpunk generosity, though I’d like to correct Past. He commented: some errors in it. trilogy Colin commends and was left My non-fiction hasn’t been, as he with the feeling that extrapolation of In the old days I remember ASFR that kind is the poor man’s says, hard to track down — The doing very good and constructive has been in imagination. This modem ‘Back to Language of the Night reviews of The Watch Below and print since 1979, and Women’s Press Gemsback’ movement represents the All Judgment Fled, and this was a put out a British, revised edition in ideal sf author as a sort of Bart nice one of Futures Past. The Simpson, an underachiever and proud 1989. theme of that collection was sup­ I was not defending Margaret of it. posed to be outdated sf futures, Drabble personally so much as all It may be that most of SFC is of which the reviewer suspected, I only academic interest to me, but women writers who write from their think, and I offered to write an experience as mothers against the fate what’s wrong with academic interest? intro explaining this, but the pub­ of‘being disappeared’ by the critics And every now and then you do come lisher didn’t want to know about out with something I find of intense and professors. it. And I really did not recommend personal interest. This time it is your the use of my pen-name to persons piece about the mention of you and I suppose the most spectacular your reviews in a book by Brian with mild inner-ear disturbances. example of an outdated future must Finally, in his review of my Buffalo Aldiss, because something like that have been Theodore Sturgeon’s happened to me too. For about fifteen Gals, Mr Steele describes the title Biddiver, which postulated that the story as that of ‘a child lost after a years from the mid sixties, when after effect of the radiation in space would plane crash finding refuge in a fifty years of tranquillity in Northern be to turn the first astronaut into a Ireland the current travails began, I shape-changing animal community’. It hairless, blue-skinned monster. It must is, of course, his privilege as reader to devoted all my energy to my job as a have come as some relief to all point out that in fact the animals don’t civil servant and lost touch completely concerned when the actual result with fandom. One day in the late change shape; only perception alters. looked no worse than a US senator. Myra sees Coyote as a coyote and as a seventies I was walking along a Reading the rest of SFCI felt a corridor of the Treasury Building in woman; Coyote sees Myra as a child familiar sense of awed admiration. I and as a lost pup; Owl sees her as a Whitehall with my boss, on the way to have this vision of a limitless field of an important meeting, when he said, a child and an owlet, etc. The com, such as you see in the American ‘community’ is not one of magicians, propos of nothing, ‘By the way, midwest, through which move fleets of Walter. Are you Ghod? With an “h”?’ werewolves, or something like that; it state-of-the-art combine harvesters. is the community of living creatures. It It turned out he had come across a Chomp. . . chomp . .. chomp they go, book in the local public library by makes some difference. The only leaving behind neatly packaged bales ‘shape-changer’ tale in the collection is Brian Aldiss, in which Brian of reviews. It is reassuring to know mentioned attending a science fiction ‘The Wife’s Story’. that someone is looking after all this It is a great pleasure to get SF convention at which 1 was so stuff. I am only too well aware that described, the result of an old joke. Commentary and feel in touch again exposure to even the blurb of another for a moment with my friends in The shock of this unexpected trilogy would send me into a coma confrontation with a past life, and the Australia. from which I would awake to find (14 January 1991) effort of trying to explain it, turned my myself reading the Law Reports in The thoughts to fandom again and when Times. shortly afterwards I retired from We hope that you will be able to However, now and then I come return to Australian sometime, Ur­ work . .. well, here I am. And here you across an evocative reference to the are too, also partly as a result of a shaft

6 of illumination from the Aldiss lamp. autobiographies: do they ignore the the cottages in the back streets of Altogether now, THANK YOU pain, exorcise it by examining it for Launceston, the Western Tiers in the BRIAN! the first time, or simply write a spe­ distance. I had to imagine what this or (19 March 1991) cial brand of fiction? that character was thinking or feeling. The Hutchinson regular edition (15 December 1989) of Bury My Heart at W. H. Smith's was not distributed in Australia, and What impressed me most about BRIAN ALDISS there's been no.sign of a paperback Daddy We Hardly Met You is the sense Woodlands,Foxcombe yet. I still don't know whether any of of the author's falling through one Road, Boars Hill, the editions acquired an index. rickety floor of perception after an­ Oxford 0X1 5DL, England other; believing that one set of as­ sumptions is the truth, only to find that these assumptions are false, and GERALD MURNANE so are the next set of assumptions. It Thanks for your warm reception of 2 Falcon Street, is this sense of free fall into the un­ Bury My Heart at W H. Smith's. I Macleod, Victoria 3085 known that I like most in fiction, don’t think you need reproach yourself which probably explains why over­ too much, though of course I recognize all Philip K. Dick is still my favourite self-reproach as a long-continuing writer. feature of the Gillespie character. It Thanks very much for recommending was mine too, haunting me like an old Daddy We Hardly Knew You. As I importuning beggar for many a year, expected, Germaine Greer herself until I shucked it off — as I’ve annoyed me. I skipped a number of MALCOLM EDWARDS shucked off many another attribute I pages of her writing about herself and Grafton Books, could no longer live with. My theory is her prejudices. But the story of her 77-85 Fulham Palace — and I’m about to expound an father kept me interested, and the last elaborate version of it to a group of few chapters gripped me. Road, Oxford psychiatrists — that the psyche I know I’m reading an outstanding Hammersmith, London renews itself every seven years, much book when I stay awake all the way W6 8JB, England as the physical anatomy does. We are home in the train so that I can go on not the continuity commonly reading and when I take the book out supposed. This is in part recognized, as of my bag as sourt as I’ve arrived I was very interested in your article on for instance in the way we clearly see home so that I can go on reading further. I finished the story of the Philip Dick’s non-sf novels. As you’ll childhood, teenage, and old age as know, I was responsible for publishing separate components of a life. I can Tasmanians sitting at the kitchen four of them at Gollancz: Mary and the look back and see where here — and bench without having unpacked my bag or opened my mail or read the Giant, The Broken Bubble, In Milton here — I underwent a definite psychic Lumky Territory and Humpty Dumpty or spiritual change. paper. in Oakland. And, of course, I am now In Bury My Heart, only shortage of I learned something from those last, fascinating pages about the at Grafton which has — or shortly will space and time precluded my have — all seven of those which have mentioning and a Tasmanians — something of use to Metaphysical Review appeared in print in its Paladin imprint thousand other things; judgement was fiction writers. Several nineteenth-century writers — Conrad, (The Broken Bubble comes out in hardly involved. I dragged my heels August 1991, completing the set). I’ve over the book, and finally had to Gissing, and George Eliot, at least — also looked at — but declined — foreclose swiftly. I didn’t write about spoke of fiction as the art of the Voices from the Street and the other my trip to Australia in 1978 for the indirect. Fiction, according to those earlier novel (which you omit from same reason. I enjoyed that trip greatly. worthies, was the art of suggesting, of your list) Gather Yourselves Together. An autobiography? I could never revealing gradually; of setting down Voices, alas, has a substantial chunk write it; it would be too incredibly sad. the character’s words and deeds but missing quite early on — twenty or Why should I burden others — my leaving his motives to be guessed at. thirty pages — which means, I think, family for instance, in which I set such While I read the last pages of Greer, I that it will only ever see small-press happy store -— with the misery I was more concerned about the persons publication. Gather dates from about underwent for countless years? Life’s a named in the text than I’m concerned 1951 and simply isn’t much good. triumph of hope and biological about the characters in most of the fiction that I look into nowadays. This I think your point that Dick’s sf is happiness over adversity, from which better than his non-sf because in it he most people suffer in their most has nothing to do with the is writing about things which, to him, vulnerable years. We’re so courageous Tasmanians’ having lived on this planet at one time whereas the were more real, is a key insight: one of in our sorrows, so outrageous in our those paradoxes that unlocks the pleasures. characters of fiction have not done so. puzzle. Yet I did enjoy the four non-sf (28 August 1990) It has to do with the narrative; Germaine Greer was able to write only titles Gollancz published, and Confessions of a Crap Artist. (I Many years ago, Brian, you said in a the outlines of the lives of the suffering disliked The Man Whose Teeth Were reference I can no longer find (and Tasmanians. This one gave birth to a All Exactly Alike and for some reason therefore must paraphrase) that inci­ child; this one sent a note to the public can’t get through Puttering About in a dents from one's life are much too service body overseeing foster children —• a note begging for removal from a Small Land.) I think that, curiously, valuable to be wasted in autobiogra­ being published in the 1980s they are phy. It sounds as if you are sticking foster parent. .. and while I read these more interesting than they would have to your guns. Many well-known few details, I, the reader, had to write the novel in my mind. I had to see for been in the fifties and early sixties writers of your own nation and gen­ when they were written. eration have recently produced myself the green farms of Tasmania,

7 You can see the problem those wrote the above letter Malcolm Ed­ Why then, if I believe that Dick’s editors experienced who liked Dick’s wards has become head of fiction non-sf novels are as good as or better non-sf writing, encouraged him to a publishing for HarperCollins. than his science fiction, were they not degree that must have made ultimate published earlier? rejection almost unbearable, but did, in I think you put your finger on it in the end, turn the books down. The ascribing the novels’ strength when writing is fluent and engaging; the ROB GERRAND you state, of The Man Whose Teeth characters seem to me effortlessly 863 Hampton Street, Were All Exactly Alike, that 'the battle lifelike; there’s compassion and Brighton, Victoria 3186 between two families . . . seemed too humour. But the situations tend to fold painful to read’. It was the pain, the up on him: he seems, in general, bleakness and the honesty of Dick’s utterly flummoxed by the notion of vision that made US book editors of I realize that you wrote ‘The Non-SF organizing these people into a plot. the 1950s and 1960s unwilling to Novels of Philip Dick’ before reading The novels tend to blur into one in my publish them. Gregg Rickman’s biography (I have memory, but I think it’s in Humpty Yet I have difficulty reconciling read Volume I), but it is still Dumpty where the viewpoint character this comment, with which I agree, with fascinating. I haven’t read the Sutin deals with the crisis scene of the novel your statement a paragraph earlier that biography, and I assume it doesn't by locking himself in the bathroom ‘Dick could not allow himself to write touch on some of the appalling and refusing to come out. Well, I can [the truth] in the non-sf novels. In the circumstances that befell Dick as a identify with that, but as a narrative end, they failed to sell because in them child that help to explain — or rather, strategy it leaves something to be Dick was constantly pulling back from assist us in understanding — many of desired! Also, the settings are far what he really wanted to say’. Dick's difficulties. removed, I think, from what one might In writing the novels. Dick was I agree with much of the broad expect to encounter in novels: they are attempting to portray the America he thrust of what you write, and disagree very definitely away from where the knew, as a twentieth-century Balzac with some of the detail. political or social action of the time is. might. I don’t believe that, in the end, To me the ‘mainstream’ novels are But, as you say, you can now get Dick felt he was being untrue to as good as the best science fiction, and from these novels a set of social and himself in taking the ‘ordinary world’ much better than those you term historical details which is certainly not as a given. ‘potboilers’. I don’t believe you can part of my image of America. These For example, Mary and the Giant, accurately describe any of Dick’s small town suburbs, on the cusp of as well as ‘being about’ the things you novels as potboilers. Alternatively, if changing from independent mention, also deals with such matters potboiler is defined as a work written communities and being absorbed into as sexual molestation. Dick’s depiction to make money, and if writing was his the urban landscape. These small-time of the narrowmindedness of the main source of income, I suppose you businessmen, struggling not to be small-town mentality, in the wider could define most of his novels as wiped out by larger and more context of his understanding of potboilers. Which is ridiculous. efficiently marketed companies. It’s America, is acute. A brief aside: Like you, I dislike fascinating stuff, now; but the response One of the reasons the books are the term ‘mainstream?: What a ghetto then would generally have been: so being printed now is that they provide indicator it is. One of the minor what? an extraordinary picture of the irritants of Rickman’s book is that That said, I do think it is a great amoralism and dishonesty of each Dick non-sf novel, on being pity that Mary and the Giant couldn’t Californian culture, and the drama of discussed, is prefacedjby the word find a publisher in the early fifties, as it the books derives from the attempts of ‘mainstream’. The science fiction seems to me that its treatment of the characters to be moral in that novels are not usually prefaced by interracial themes (and frankness about vacuum. One thing I suspect readers ‘science fiction’. sex) would have stood out then. One today would say, when reading one of What I find particularly can imagine it having been enormously the novels is: that’s really how it was! illuminating in reading Dick’s novels controversial, perhaps even influential. (even if you were never there). is how they have strengthened my But, at the end of the day, what we I have just finished rereading reading of his science fiction. got out of all this was the sf novels. Confessions of a Crap Artist (a book For example, speaking of his It’s a pity that the price of that was you don’t discuss). Since I read it over novels you state, ‘All the action Dick’s angst, though at least one can a decade ago I had forgotten how springs from the personalities of the see that he could see the rewards begin powerful the book is, and what a characters, not from exterior menacing to stack up in later years. For myself, horrifying depiction of disintegrating forces’, and imply that, with what I regret more is his apparent relationships the book presents. exceptions, most of Dick’s sf lacks abandonment of the sf novels he What a picture of Dick and his past ‘interesting characters’. wanted to write after Martian and future wives. On Page 3 of your Yet I have always been amazed at Time-Slip, when that book had essay you state, ‘But when Dick’s how much virtually all of Dick’s difficulty finding a publisher. second marriage, to Kleo, broke up in works are bound up in how characters (7 March 1991) 1958, he found himself living with relate and react to what is happening Anne, a lady with expensive tastes.’ about them — the exceptions, such as I could dispute points forever, but That sentence may be true according to a few early gimmick short stories like that hardly alters the fact that we the Sutin biography, but Confessions ‘The Short Happy Life of the Brown agree on most important aspects of gives the real story: Anne decided that Oxford’, are rare. Dick's marriage to Kleo should end the Dick non-sf novels. Thanks to The fight between partners is a you and Mark Zeising and the other and that Dick should marry her. running thread through the sf novels; publishers who resurrected them, It’s interesting that Dick can be most of the short stories gain their seen as two characters in the book, Malcolm. force not from the ‘sf idea’ but from I should point out that since he possibly three: Nathan, the young the main characters’ reaction to it.

8 student and husband-to-be; Jack theft. She used it and satirised it wards points out, Dick was always Isidore, the ‘crap artist’; and Charlie simultaneously, waiting to see on the track of 'reality', but in the Hume, the husband and angry suicide. how he reacted. non-sf novels he mistakenly found it It’s as if Dick painted himself as in the physical shapes of ordinary the before and after husband in Nathan Contrast this passage with the things and people. Obsessed, he por­ and Charlie, and himself the writer as following scene from early in Clans of trayed this reality with absolute clar­ Jack. the Alphane Moon (page 19 of the ity. Later hediscovered 'reality' to be Paul Williams, in the introduction 1964 Ace edition). Chuck Rittersdorf a kind of world-shape hidden be­ to the 1978 Entwhistle edition, says of is married to a Fay Hume type — hind ordinary things, a reality that Confessions of a Crap Artist : called Mary — a representative of the had little to do with his wives, educated, sophisticated middle class friends or enemies, or the places he It is a tour de force, one of the that Dick was apparently never inhabited. He tracked down that most extraordinary novels I’ve comfortable with. Chuck and Mary’s new reality, and nabbed it in books ever read. There are, I believe, marriage is nearing its end: like The Three Stigmata of Palmer El­ two essential reasons why it has dritch and Ubik. In the 1970s he be­ taken Philip K. Dick sixteen To Mary the issue had been clear: lieved he was about to discover years to get this novel published. here was a job possibility; it had 'ultimate reality' (VALIS'). Into this The first reason is the intensity of to be poked thoroughly into. Fled pit I (so far) cannot follow him, al­ the picture the author paints. This would pay well and the job would though Sutin provides some guide­ is the sort of book that makes edi­ carry enormous prestige; each posts to the path Dick was on when tors shiver with (perhaps uncon­ week, at the end of the Bunny he died. scious) revulsion, and leaves Hentman show, Chuck’s name, them grasping at any sort of ex­ as one of the script writers, would cuse (‘I don’t like shifting appear for all the nonCom world viewpoint’) to reject it and get it to see. Mary would — and here KIM STANLEY ROBINSON out of their minds. The people are was the key phrase — take pride 2414 Elendil Lane too real. in his workjit was conspicuously Davis, California 95616, creative. And to Mary creativity USA Take this scene from the book. was the open sesame to life; Nathan is being driven by Fay Hume, working for the CIA, program­ whose husband Charlie has suffered a ming propaganda simulacra who Naturally I was fascinated by ‘The heart attack and is in hospital: gabbled a message for unedu­ cated Africans and Latin Ameri­ Non-Science Fiction Novels of Philip K. Dick’. It was great fun to read and I * Listen, ’ she said after a while. cans and Asians, was not enjoyed having my book on Dick ‘Are you going to go running creative; the messages tended al­ referred to, and indeed used as a kind home to your wife and tell her ways to be the same and anyhow about me propositioning you?’ the CIA was in bad repute in the of organizing start-up point. Despite your talk’s nature as a rebuttal to my He said, ‘Are you proposition­ liberal, monied, sophisticated cir­ assertions, I have no trouble at all ing me?’ cles which Mary inhabited. ‘No,’ she said. ‘Of course not. ‘You’re like a — leaf-raker in agreeing with a lot of what you say about his mainstream books; and I You propositioned me. Don’t you a satellite park,’ Mary had said, must say that you had it pegged when remember?’ She said it with abso­ infuriated, ‘on some kind of civil you talked about my response to them lute conviction. ‘Isn’t that why service deal. It’s easy security; perhaps being influenced by the you came over? Good god, I it’s the way out of having to strug­ conditions under which I read them. It wouldn’t dare let you in the gle. Here you are thirty-three was over the Christmas holidays of house. That’s why I’m driving years old and already you’ve 1976, and I had very little time, and you back. ’ They had almost got­ given up trying. Given up want­ unfortunately I gave my best reading ten to his house, now, and he ing to make something of your­ realised abruptly that she really self.’ to the first one, a tome called Voices which has not been intended to drop him off. ‘I’m not ‘Listen,’ he said futilely. ‘Are from the Street, letting you into my place,’ she you my mother or just my wife?’ published yet, and for good reason — told him. ‘Not without your wife. interesting as it is for PKD reasons, it’s still quite bad in most respects. And If you want to come over you The relationship of Nathan and Fay bring her along.’ has run its course; Dick is describing after that 700-page monster, I had to hurry with increasing speed through With anger he said loudly, the end of his own marriage to Anne. the rest of them; did not in fact read ‘You’re a nut. A real nut.’ The passage also provides an ‘What?’ she said, faltering. insight into Dick’s self image as a some of the best ones (as I understand it; though I own them all, I still haven’t ‘Don’t you pay any attention science fiction writer, with Mary’s gotten around to reading some of them, to anything I say?’ putdown of him as working for the I am ashamed to say). So, that is not That seemed to crush her. CIA an obvious parallel for sf writing, how novels are meant to be read, and I ‘Don’t pick on me,’ she said. including Mary’s view of sf fans (‘in ‘Don’t you get picky. Why do bad repute in .. . liberal, monied, did not do them justice in my reading, you pick on me?’ Her tone re­ sophisticated circles’). or in my book. Anyway, I am willing to grant minded him of the younger (10-21 January 1991) everything that you say about his child’s tone, the whining, self pitying tone. Perhaps she was cal- We don't seem to disagree on any­ mainstream books, except perhaps the notion that they are funny; I’ve never culatedly imitating her child’s thing important, except this slippery seen that, even re-reading them in a tone; he had an intuition to that ef­ term 'reality'. Phil Dick himself used fect. It was both a satire and a it in different ways. As Malcolm Ed­ better state. Except for Confessions, and then I shouldn’t speak about the

9 ones I haven’t read (Puttering About, pretentious merely a smokescreen for Novels of Philip K. Dick’, but I would Broken Bubble), so maybe they are bullshit. So there is a simple transitive have given Humpty Dumpty in funny. But humour is so personal, and equation going on here, which has seri­ Oakland a higher rating. Only a black humour more personal yet; and it ous thought equalling bullshit; and personal thing, you realize, but this is may just be that he doesn’t strike my damned if we don’t see a fair bit of one of my favourite of Philip Dick’s funny bone. that. non-sf work, a novel in which I feel he But I think we basically share a I was really extraordinarily pleased deals most closely with the themes that view that it’s the sf of PKD that is his by Andy Sawyer’s review of Escape preoccupied him so much: death and greatest work, and very great work from Kathmandu in SFC 69/70; not meaning, reality and purpose. For indeed, and the none of the mainstream just that it was good, but the way in example, the following passages, books come close to equally them. which he liked it, or what in it that he chosen quite a random while flicking Your last paragraph I completely agree liked. I haven’t had any better response through the novel: with. And the thing is, there are people to that one. in our community who would indeed Once again he was beneath a car, maintain that his mainstream novels PS: Yes, I’m in a neighbourhood down in the cold darkness, are his real masterpieces; I guess where all the street names are out of among the indistinct shapes. David Hartwell, who was instrumental Tolkien: Bombadil, Rivendell, in publishing them, thinks he will Oakenshield, Westemesse, etc. Unbe­ He stayed at the bar far into the eventually be known most for these. lievable. late evening, drinking by himself, But I can’t see that. (12 November 1991) thinking it all over, admitting to I should add that I think The himself again and again —it al­ Transmigration of Timothy Archer is It took me several years to track ways seemed to be there — that one of his finest books, and a model of down Kim Stanley Robinson he absolutely lacked the ability to what he wanted the earlier novels to (known as Stan, he tells me). He was see how things really stood. It be, but didn’t have the skill to pull off: in Switzerland, then somewhere on seemed to be a major defect in funny, wise, perfectly paced, lancing the east coast of USA, then known to him. right through everyday life to the have travelled west. Thanks to Doug critical philosophical issues underlying Fratz for the information I needed. ‘But you have instincts,’ she said. it, and also incorporating the Strange Needless to say, all the above She was moving out of the little in a brilliant way. Altogether a great comments were gratifying. It was house, shutting the door after her. achievement Harry Warner Jr who said many ‘Good instincts which will save And I will flog myself to read those years ago that SF Commentary should you, if they have not already. others of the 1950s books that I be best known for its 'straight talk You must depend on them, and haven't, just so that I really know the about science fiction'. I don't like jar­ also, my good young friend, on stuff I’m supposed to know. gon; if people talk about books, they letting someone else show you should say what they mean as clearly how to get about in this cruel old I found the material in SF Commentary as they can. For this reason, I want world of ours which, alas, you un­ and The Metaphysical Review amaz­ nothing to do with the current aca­ derstand so little. So dreadfully ingly wide-ranging and erudite and en­ demic approach tfe litcrit. Fortu­ very little.’ tertaining; the only thing I’ve seen to nately one can still read, however compare to them was in fact the Aus­ occasionally, interesting commenta­ Why didn’t you include The tralian Science Fiction Review of re­ tors about literature: in America, Cosmic Puppets in the list of sf novels cent years, I guess now deceased; I John Updike and Gere Vidal as the related to the non-novels? was sent copies of that for a few is­ successors to Edmund Wilson, who sues, but never replied, which was bad himself embodied all the virtues of Because it's one of a small number of of me, as I read and enjoyed them all the great readable critic; Humphrey very early Phil Dick novels I've (please convey that to the relevant peo­ McQueen, Stephen Knight and Imre never read. ple with my apologies for not writing, Saluszinsky in Australia; and I- if you see them). I like in your publica­ know-not-who in Britain these days. On the strength of your and tions the level of sophistication com­ The best sf critics tend to be fiction Michael Tolley’s reviews of the (not bined with straight talk — the absence writers themselves: Brian Aldiss, really) complete reissue of the works of the various litcrit jargons that fill the Christopher Priest, Ursula Le Guin, of Cordwainer Smith, I decided I had supposedly serious critical sf journals George Turner, Joanna Russ, Dave unjustly neglected his works and in America. The pretentiousness of Langford and Michael Bishop come decided to seek him out Supernova things like The New York Review of SF to mind immediately. But then there Books (the specialty store in Perth) is so awful that it is pleasure indeed to are fine critics like John Foyster, had nary a trace of his works, and I see proof that serious thought need not Peter Nicholls and John Clute who ended up hunting further and further be that way. There is a bad idea here in don't often write fiction. afield. Thank heaven for little the more literary part of the sf commu­ bookshops that no one ever visits. nity, stemming from the inferiority Eventually I (after getting sick of complex that haunts it in a way I think staring at E. E. ‘Doc’ Smith spines) the Anglo sf community is freer from, ROBERT JAMES MAPSON located copies of Norstrilia and The which says that serious thought can PO Box 7087 Instrumentality of Mankind at only be expressed in academic jargon, Cloisters Square, remaindered prices, and The to show it is serious; but the vocabula­ Western Australia 6000 Rediscovery of Man from another ries of the new lit crits, quite powerful source. Three down, one to go! when used by people who know what Cordwainer Smith strikes me as a they mean and are using them to actu­ marvellously funny, very serious, ally say things, are in the hands of the In general I agree with your remarks extremely intelligent, eminently and the conclusion of ‘The Non-SF

10 easy-to-read and captivating author. your reviews is that you pay some Falling Woman, which was the Calling the alien Schmeckst (the attention to short stories, and I hope Nebula, not the Hugo (for which it German familiar form of the verb ‘to you will continue in this. I’ve never failed even to be nominated). taste’) in ‘On Gustible’s Planet’ is an understood why a story padded out to Finally, I am delighted by Andy example of the little things he does commercial book length and called a Sawyer’s notion that those who save when crafting his work. novel should get automatic reviews. eight pounds by not reading the So far I think I have enjoyed ‘The Nice to see Cordwainer Smith paperback of Starscroll and re-reading Game of Cat and Dragon’ most. As getting some attention, but it could some other fantasy novel instead can Garrison Keillor says, ‘Cats don’t have been emphasized that most of his save even more by not reading the hard crowd you. A cat is there when you work appeared first in the magazines, cover. need it, but it’s not all over you. Next mainly Galaxy. (1 February 1991) time, have a cat You’ll be glad you I’ve just written 15,000 words of did.’ extra material for a course in Crime I hope Michael Tolley recognizes Writing. Collins has reprinted five of DAVID RUSSELL that Artyr Rambo (‘Drunkboat’) is a my children’s stories in its Bumper transliteration of Arthur Rimbaud, who Book of Ghost Stories. I shall be a 196 Russell Street once said that his time spent in London guest at the first Vintage pulp and Dennington, Victoria was ‘a period of drunkenness’, and paperback book fair in September in 3280 who spent the last part of his life London. It seems you just have to exploring unknown parts of the world. outlive the others to get famous! I’m (28 March 1991) still coping at 70, but twinges of old age are setting in. Robert Day makes a mistake in SFC (13 January and 27 August 1991) 69/70. He writes that Douglas Adams’s Dirk Gently's Holistic SYD BOUNDS Detective Agency was based on the 27 Borough Rood Doctor Who script ‘City of Fear’. Kingston on Thames, RICHARD BRANDT There was no program of that name. There was an episode called ‘City Surrey KT2 6BD, England 4740 N. M^sa, Apt. 111 El Paso, Texas 79912, USA of Death’, but that plot does not match the Dirk Gently book as closely as that of another Doctor Who story — I’m glad to see you letting your hair ‘Shada’ written by Douglas Adams. down with a comic strip. I liked the Re. SFC 69/70: the first thing to snare This features a retired Time Lord cover, too, and suggest you press-gang my eyes was Ian Gunn’s back cover — living as a don in Cambridge. Dirk Ian Gunn as your regular illustrator. a brilliant conceit, playing on the total Gently's Holistic Detective Agency artifice of motion pictures, where even features a similar character: Professor A great idea, but lots of other fanzine the smallest mundane detail has been Urban Chronotis, the Regis Professor editors in Australia have had the placed there by conscious design; after of Chronology. Of course he’s not a same idea. Last I heard, Ian was not reading these captions, one can hardly Timelord; the BBC would have available to be press-ganged. watch a film again with any semblance complained about copyright. He’s of willing suspension of disbelief. merely the owner of a time-travel Dave Langford is the greatest. The review of The Jewels of Aptor machine. ‘Shada’ was not broadcast, More of his reviews will be welcome; is especially heartening after Doug because filming was interrupted by a unfortunately, his approach makes the Barbour’s rhapsodic review of Stars in strike at the BBC. other reviews seem dull. Doubly My Pocket Like Grains of Sand, Do read your review copies of the unfortunate that most of this issue is perhaps you should give the later ‘Dirk Gently’ books. The first one is a taken up by reviews. To me SFC Delany another go, however, I was delight to read — not as jumpy as the means ‘I Must Be Talking to My asked to lecture a friend’s high school ’Hitchhiker’sGuide’ books, although Friends’ and the letters, both cut off in ‘Academic Decathlon’ students on the The Long Dark Teatime of the Soul their prime this issue. Who reads subject of Science Fiction (What It’s does not hang together as well as the reviews? All About, etc.), and the first question first. asked at the end of my talk was: (31 January 1991) We can't all be Langford-type ge­ ‘Whatever possessed the designers of niuses. Probably no reader con­ the course to list this book as required sumes all the reviews, but chooses a reading?’ The book was Nova, and the few that work consistently. For in­ question a good one, since the book BRIAN EARL BROWN stance, I find that although Colin was out of print when the course was 11675 Beaconsfield Steele writes very short reviews, I created. My best answer was that those Detroit, Michigan 48224, can usually tell from his remarks of an academic persuasion view USA whether or not I will like any partic­ Delany as an exemplar of the Literary ular book. sf writer, and that Delany himself is I can only print the best of the fully conscious of this. letters I receive. Science fiction and The occasional typographical error I assumed that Douglas Adams’s first fantasy don't create the same interest mars this production, although none ‘Dirk Gently’ novel was a rewrite of as the subjects discussed in The Meta­ (save the all-but-inevitable ‘Robert an unproduced Doctor Who script physical Review. Also, I now include Block’) is too crucial except for the ‘Shada’, but then I’ve not read more my personal/fannish/lifestyle com­ omission of publishing data on than the first chapter of the book and a ments in TMR, not here. Howard Waldrop’s Strange Things in summary of the screenplay (from the Close-Up. Also you misremembered Dr Who Programme Guide). I couldn’t get into the book because the opening The one redeeming feature about the award won by Pat Murphy’s The

11 is too frenetic — lots of unrelated unaware of. Lee says: ’How can we be some free time to publish SFC and persons and incidents — which is unaware of it? We’re talking about it.’ TMR. By the same argument, few irritating in a novel but typical of a The host answers, ‘No. I am talking to people in Australia can afford the Doctor Who episode. you telepathically. If you look thousands of hours it takes to be­ What I like about Langford’s carefully at my lips, you will see that come a fiction writer, although the columns is that he’s writing to the words I am saying are different current recession will probably give entertain and thus can use satire and from the words you are hearing. ’ This plenty of people the compulsory free irony to better effect than if he were moment is similar to reaching for a time they need. writing straight reviews. Often the bathroom light cord that has always I hadn't heard from LEE HAR­ worst aspects of a book are the parts been a switch or finding on the beach a DING for years. He sent some per­ that are hardest to explain in a review paper with ‘kiosk’ written on it instead sonal news at the beginning of 1991, when one is trying to be clinically of the kiosk. and since then I've seen Irene, Mad­ honest. A little sarcasm can go a long The other Dickian passage in The eleine and him at least twice. One of way. Naked Lunch occurs when Lee’s two these days I'll get down your way. Odd to think that all of Cordwainer friends visit him in Interzone, which GREG EGAN sent a cheery note Smith’s stories (but two) can be appears to be a place but is a state of as his fortunes improved during collected into just four books. One mind. They startle him with the news 1991 — lots of stories sold, both over­ tends to think ‘surely he wrote more’. that not only has he written a book but seas and in the new Australian mag­ Perhaps that is why Smith has been that it is being published. All Lee was azines. 'Yes, I do remember that you given such short shrift in various sf aware of was endless battles with a always advised me to sell individual encyclopedias and guidebooks: too series of hostile typewriters. When the stories rather than trying to flog col­ few stories that are too individual in friends go, we are relieved to be back lections ... in fact, I'll happily con­ nature to generate obvious heirs to his in our other reality, and take comfort cede that all the advice you've ever style. But Smith is certainly among the from the fact that our success and given me has been invaluable. (I major sf writers, the ones who’ve survival are independent of our know, I know, this doesn't compete actually done something with the form. experience. This sounds like with a thank-you note from Brian Your comments about Gene something Phil Dick told us, but we Aldiss, but it's the best I can offer).' Wolfe’s There Are Doors makes me were too lost in reality to hear. Recent news is that Greg has signed feel less guilty about having trouble The Naked Lunch is also surprising a contract to produce two novels and starting his 'Pandora' by Holly H. because it is about writing without a book of short stories for Legend Hollander. Even if it is written as if by being stupid. Writing is so crucial to Books. a not-very-smart sixteen-year-old girl Lee’s life that his struggle plays like a As usual, GABRIEL McCANN it should not come across as by a detective quest or a love story. His corresponded about the Philip K. sixteen-year-old with a clumsy writing fights with his and his friends’ writing Dick Society. As usual, I haven't re­ style. instruments are a wonderful allegory ceived a thing since I resubscribed. (11 April 1991) of the creative struggle. It has never This is the fault of Californian orga­ occurred to me that P. K. Dick’s work nizer Paul Williams, I presume. Ga­ is about writing. My assumption, most briel writes: 'After Blade Runner I was notably from reading Now Wail for a bit disappointed with Total Recall. RALPH ASHBROOK Last Year, is that it is about surviving It began with Dick's premise, but 303 Tregaron Road, and understanding. I will go back and then just settled down to a series of Bala Cynwyd, check. long, seemingly endless chases with Pennsylvania 19904, USA r (January 1992) Arnie being shot at or blowing other people away. The special effects were pretty good, but I was expect­ ing something more.' Surprise. The Naked Lunch is the WE ALSO HEARD FRANZ ROTTENSTEINER sent Philip K. Dick movie we’ve been FROM . . . a newsy letter in January. I haven't waiting for. As interesting as Blade heard from him since how well Runner and Total Recall are, they have George Turner's The Sea and Summer a futuristic, science-fictiony feel to did in Germany. Although he prom­ them. We are visiting these strange PATRICK McGUIRE, who took too seriously an offhand remarkof mine, ises nothing (and one hears that the worlds. We are only watching. Dick’s recession has hit Germany as well as books sneak into your brain beside and begins 'You complain that you cannot make money by writing lit Australia) Franz is interested in your mind. At the same time they looking at submissions of quality make you confident that you’ve been crit for overseas magazines because youdo not havean advanced degree, Australian novels and short stories here all along and they make you for translation and German publica­ doubt everything. It is this paradox that and the academics took over the in­ dustry in the seventies.' He then ex­ tion: the address is Marchettigasse gives art eternal life. As in Picasso’s 9/17, A-1060 Wien, Austria. Les Demoiselles d'Avignon, the shock plains how one might make money writing lit crit for a variety of Two correspondents inscribed is not just the frightening masks that the dreaded 'Do Not Quote' across are the women’s heads, but the sources. I know this, Patrick. By spending every waking hour prac­ the tops of their letters. These letters familiarity of those masks. We have were juicy mini-masterpieces that known them for thousands of years tising the art of lit crit and by submit­ ting to a wide variety of source, I I'm aching to quote; they came from somehow. DAMIEN BRODERICK and The point at which The Naked might make a few thousand dollars a year by the year 2000. But at the SCOTT CAMPBELL. Lunch moves into Philip Dick territory A really nice letter on pink paper is at a party William Lee (Burroughs) same time I can earn what I call a living by editing boring but worthy came from KAREN PENDER- is attending. His host confuses Lee by GUNN: 'I can't imagine doing any­ referring to something they are secondary textbooks, and retain

12 thing for twenty-two years, let alone have ever seen a copy of Australian fannish team to help produce a mag­ a magazine. ... I have seen your Science Fiction Review. Did I miss a azine. You must visit some time, house. It's a fan's dream: walls cov­ great deal over all those years?' Yes. Karen, to handle the sacred relics: ered floor to ceiling in books, records 'I wonder if the New Wave of Aus­ my copies of Australian Science Fic­ and CDs. Heaven! A place that you tralian fandom can produce as much tion Review, both first and second se­ would never leave if youdidn'thave that lasts and is remembered. Ethel ries. to. Bah to real life; it keeps intrud­ the Aardvark has been published reg­ And as we happened to be talk­ ing.' I'm glad somebody else sees ularly for awhile now. Does it take ing about the Great Phenomenon of things my way, Karen. the place of ASFR?' No, but like Australian Publishing: Karen also writes: 'I don't think I ASFR it shows the value of having a

LETTERS TO A CURRENTLY DEFUNCT FANZINE

A slight problem here. Although thing about Battlefield Earth-, after I glory of numerous Langford en­ ASFR published my address in one reviewed it, I didn’t get copies of the tries, I half expected to come of its very last issues, I received only dekology. across something like ‘Statten, one letter of comment: I have been told by a reputable Vargo, The Micro-Men, pointedly source that Stirling wrote Marching and significantly not mentioned Through Georgiia as a dystopia, and by Langford, Dave.. . ’ No, it’s a has been a bit confused by its reception wonderful index, but I feel quite BUCK COULSON — especially by the favourable guilty at having provoked so 2677W-500N, Hartford reception of the Draka in some many entries by rambling all over City, Indiana 47348, USA quarters. Of course, this could be an the place in ‘Dragonhiker’. after-the-fact justification, but then it might be strict fact. I haven’t read the And (earlier: on 6 August) Franz book myself, though one of these days Rottensteiner wrote us a letter ending Re. ASFR 25:1 was suitably convulsed I intend to. with best wishes to us and ‘whoever by Dave Langford’s book article, even (3 April 1991) you may see’ — which I believe though I gave up reading Donaldson means people like you and Roger and after the place early in his first book Meanwhile, one of the editors re­ Bangers rather than (sob) the ones we where his hero chances upon a woman ceived comments from various cor­ really are able to see. He said: after he’s been translated to this new respondents during the year: world, and promptly rapes her. I I am sorry about the demise of actually read all the other books he’s Australian Science Fiction Re­ commenting on. view, but wonder whether I I do think Langford reached too far YVONNE ROUSSEAU shouldn’t drop Quarber Merkur in his quibble about the situation in PO Box 3086 too, for there are really more Moreta being different from the ballad pleasant things than pounding a about it. Surely he doesn’t think all Grenfell Street, typewriter orcranking a museum those Olde Englishe Ballades are Adelaide, South piece of a Gestetner machine factual? Or for that matter, take the Australia 5000 (yes, they still exist), quite aside immortal line from a more recent from the fact that one doesn’t get ballad about the Titanic, written younger either. shortly after the disaster: ‘The captain Though there are no Formal Responses What else? For the first time, tried to wire, but his lines they were on apart from Buck Coulson’s to the final thirteen Lem books may be fire’. Rhymes and scans very nicely; ASFRs, Dave Langford has written: readily accessible in Australia in has very little to do with the actual paperback (from Mandarin) plus event. I have no difficulty at all in many, many thanks for rushing Solaris (from Faber) and Fiasco believing that a ballad-writer would me the Final Egoboo of ASFR the (Futura) too. The BBC now has a put in lines about black dust and last (and penultimate). Actually, 55-minute portrait of Stanislaw freezing air, if he or she thought it you weren’t all that far off my Lem which is said to be excel­ made the story more dramatic. suggested style of indexing. After lent. It hasn’t been actually (Correction: I didn’t read Habitation wallowing for some time in the screened yet because Graham One, either. Just as well.) One good

13 Greene died just on the day be­ puter — like tv, the little screen a giant fortune cookie with a hun- fore it was supposed to be shown, sucks you in and narrows your dred-dollar bill inside — but I and they had a film on Greene in­ world to it and holds you (falsely) think they are going for a choco­ stead on Bookmark. I expect that disembodied. [....] But I can use late statuette. it will also be sold to Australia that queer concentrative force and shown there. without letting it use me — I In addition, she reports that she’s I am still in publishing and have been experimenting with doing the Norton Anthology of (North read lots of books for various pub­ writing poetry on the mac, and it American Modern) Science Fiction lishers, all kinds, and thankfully is very interesting, the fluidity, (stuff written since 1960) — with almost no fantasy or science fic­ like handling soft clay, changing Brian Attebery for the academic bits, tion. Sometimes there are even it with your fingers, playing with and Karen Joy Fowler as consultant: books among them that I might it. It allows a different kind of want to read privately. It keeps play. That’s good. But when you you busy. come right down to it I don’t give (I haven’t been keeping up with a hang what I write on, so long as the current stuff & need a guide And the Adelaide University I can write. If it had to be a piece into cyberpunk etc.) I stopped Library (the Barr Smith) revels in of stone & a chisel I would be buying much in the late 70s being (I think) unique among hard at it, chip, whack, shit, chip. (when I started catching up with Australian university libraries: what women were & had been Lucy suggested that Ursula might writing) and have read very little This is to thank you for your Gift like to read Handfasted — and this in the eighties, as so much of it to the Barr Smith Library of a proves to be true: seemed rather repetitive. complete set of: Australian Sci­ ence Fiction Review; Second Se­ I have (and enjoyed) a Catherine Confictionary was enjoyable — it ries (which has now ceased Helen Spence novel, can’t think was good to see George Turner again, publication). We are most of the name & am too lazy to run and (with such a small convention) it pleased with this acquisition, for downstairs & check, and have was even fun being fan guest of as you are aware we do in fact read your review of Handfasted, honour; moreover, it’s the first time hold the first series in the Li­ and thought. Oh, I’d like to see I’ve been in a hotel where a fire alarm brary, and will now add this edi­ that! So: Yes!! Please!!! But will went off, much less where the hotel tion to the collection, thus giving you tell me what I can send you, had caught fire. There were a few us complete holdings of this pub­ that’s hard to get there? toddlers amongst us, and (at about lication. noon on Sunday) I found myself So I’ve sent Handfastedand asked walking carefully just behind one Most recently, Ursula Le Guin has for That Lass o' Lawrie’s by Frances down two flights of stairs and through written me a letter which includes the Hodgson Burnett (which was a couple of corridors, out into the open injunction: ‘— best to all my old published in a US paperback a few air — all of us moving heel to toe in friends, please —’: this means you! years ago, but which in Adelaide I complete silence, apart from the eerily Part of this letter tells: could only read in ^Special Room in slow-motion shuffling of feet. Once the Adelaide University Library). outside, we were among excitable As you see 1 too have entered the Ursula also mentioned the bake kitchen staff (one of whom was computer age, sort of. That is, my sales that Karen Joy Fowler and Pat explaining to the others how efficiently husband & I have a nice macin­ Murphy dreamed up to raise money for she’d called the fire brigade), while tosh and we Time Share on it the James Tiptree award: hotel-high flames were roaring away in (sort of) and I have advanced as a pergola attached to the hotel wall, far as learning how to instruct it It is totally the nice little woman creating astonishing quantities of to make the first page of the in a frilly apron thing. Pat & bounding black cloud. Two fire manuscript different from all the Karen & all the young women in­ engines rolled up to put the fire out; other pages (it took five computer volved find it extremely funny and out convention went on after experts to find out). I think I may (as well as moderately profitable) lunch, with Karen Ogden (‘Chair rest on that laurel. I use it mostly and so do I, but when I found that Thingy’) at one point explaining as a sort of flexible typewriter & my dear Virginia Kidd was out­ impressively to a smoker that the fire am subject to deep sleep attacks raged, I couldn’t explain it to her. had been caused by a cigarette butt when people talk about windows she didn’t see the satirical slant, dropped out of the window. (Not by and e-mail and things. As a sub­ and kept saying ‘But Tiptree any of us, however: perhaps by ject of conversation it is very would have hated itV and I kept someone at the ‘Men Against nearly as boring as baseball. I saying ‘I think it would have tick­ Violence’ convention on the floor find myself a little leery of the led her. .. . Who knows? I sug­ below us?) ‘absorptive’ quality of the com­ gested that the prize be edible — (21 September 1991)

14 THE DAMIEN BRODERICK SECTION

15 DAMIEN BRODERICK surely needs no intro­ duction. At least that’s what I thought, until I read in Eidolon that Peter Macnamara, of Aphelion Books, had met him only once. Does Damien attend even fewer sf conventions than I do? I suppose that’s true. I met Damien first in 1968. Damien remains saturnine, amusing, argumenta­ tive and depressingly well-read. He is good com­ pany on those rare occasions when either of us feels like company. He is one of Australia’s best, and best-known sf writers. Heinemann Australia recently reprinted much of his work in paperback.

CHEAP EATS OR GOOD FOOD GUIDE? by Damien Broderick

Discussed:

THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO SCIENCE FIC­ TION by David Pringle (Grafton; A$35)

The world’s a supermarket, shelves crammed with tr£sh and treasure. How do you tell one from the other? Increasingly, by going straight to the shelf crammed with guide books. Cheap Eats,How’s Your Drink, Good Reading Guide. . . . One of my most frequently consulted books is Steven H. Scheuer’s annual Movies on TV, which lists and evaluates the zillion films and videos swarming out of the box. Fans tend to be omnivorous, but people who gulp down everything in sight, Good and Bad alike, all too easily end up Ugly. And there’s a lot of real trash out there at the moment. It seems a smart time for Dr David Pringle to bring out his Ultimate Guide, a zero-to-four-star rating and synopsis of some 3000 sf novels and short story collections available in US or British editions (so much for the rest of us). Pringle knows his stuff. A former editor of the stylish academic journal Foundation, he’s author of Imaginary People: A Who's Who of Modern Fictional Characters, Science Fiction: the 100 Best Novels, and Modern Fantasy: the 100 Best Novels. The emphasis, as always, is on the world’s English-speaking metropolitan centres, so that in SF: the Best 100, only one was from a non-British, non-US writer (he noted with a modest cough). The range is extended in this new volume, both in time and space, but, as with the ‘M. H. Zool’ Bloomsbury Good Reading Guide, books published only in Australia (for example) get excluded. Many of the four-star books are well-known classics: Wells’s The Time Machine, The War of the Worlds, Neme's 20,000 Leagues under the Sea, Huxley’s Brave New World, even Wyndham’s The Day of the Triffids. Many more are already granted modem classic status: J. G. Ballard’s The Drowned World and The Crystal World, surreal metaphors of psychic disintegration in an increasingly lost civilization (ours); Thomas Disch’s re-run of the Faust legend, Camp Concentration; Walter Miller’s post-holocaust

16 /I Canticle for Leibowitz', Ursula Le Guin’s ideologically correct fable of androgyny, The Left Hand of Darkness. Others again are recent triumphs of imagination wedded to textual brilliance: Gene Wolfe’s tetralogy ‘The Book of the New Sun’, in which the apprentice torturer Severian grows up on a dying Earth to attain ambiguous mastery of its endlessly complex world, and at last to redeem if, Brian Aldiss’s ‘Helliconia’ sequence, an enormous feat of world creation that follows two entwined alien cultures, and our own, through thousands of years of drastic evolution; Ian Watson’s spectacular debut novel The Embedding, a politically committed novel that tries to show the extent to which language controls and constructs reality (and almost succeeds in its ambitious attempt). Other novels again will be unfamiliar to many readers, even fans: JohnSladek’s funny, rather moving Roderick and its sequel Roderick at Random (a sardonic wink to lovers of Smollett, the eighteenth-century novelist), about ‘a learning machine, a wide-eyed little robot who wanders like Candide through a crazy near-future America’; M. J. Engh’s Arslan, ‘the ruthless young leader from Turkestan’ who ‘seizes power from the bureaucrats from the Soviet Union’ and ‘sets out to free the Earth from the pressures of human civilization’; Disch’s On Wings of Song, a richly lyrical satire that somehow turns New Age claptrap about out-of-body experience into an immensely moving tragic love story, with jokes. No Australian book earns four stars, though several get three: one of these is George Turner’s The Sea and Summer, winner of the 1988 Arthur Clarke Award, ‘an admirably sombre and well-realized vision of life in the 21st century after almost everything has gone wrong’. My own The Dreaming Dragons is said to be ‘a lively story, explosive with ideas’. This welcome opinion seems not to be shared, by the way, by the various British houses that have declined to pounce on recent opportunities to publish it in the UK (hint, hint). A third is David Lake’s The Man Who LovedMorlocks, which ‘comments wittily on Wellsian perceptions and preconceptions’ in The Time Machine. Since to my knowledge this last appeared only.in the local Hyland House edition, perhaps I’m wrong about the non-UK-US exclusion principle. But I feel a bit depressed that significant Oz anthologies are absent — Van Ikin’s Portable Australian Science Fiction, my own Strange Attractors and Matilda at the Speed of Light; similarly, Rory Barnes and my Valencies (UQP, 1983) missed out, as did, say, Nancy Corbett’s Heartland (Black Swan, 1989). I trust Terry Dowling’s Rynosserosi Aphelion, 1990) will make it into a future edition, along with George Turner’s collection A Pursuit of Miracles (ditto) and my own The Dark Between the Stars (Mandarin, 1991). A number of our best-known immigrant writers are listed, sensibly enough, by place of origin as well as residence (or current citizenship). After all, nobody considers Arthur Clarke Sri Lanka’s most famous sf son. So A. Bertram Chandler and David Lake, with seventeen books between them in the index, are shown as UK/Australian. Chandler’s most highly regarded novel, the rather dull Kelly Country, gets only a single star, and the terse remark: ‘A curiosity which should be of interest to Antipodeans.’ Pringle declares his intention to include ‘all the masterpieces — and quite a few of the stinkers’. He does not pull his punches with books he hates (that anyone with any sense must hate, in fact, though the bloody things often outsell the good stuff). John Nonnan’s odious ‘Gor’ books ‘have degenerated into obsessive sado-masochistic pornography of an offensively sexist kind. They have been popular, alas.’ In Asimov’s regrettable Robots and Empire ‘the robots Daneel and Giskard go on for ever— as does this 500-page novel, which is all talk, talk, talk’. Happily, Pringle includes sharp comments from other British reviewers when they are especially apt. Of L. Ron Hubbard’s Battlefield Earth, which became a bestseller by dint of pious mass purchases from Scientologists, he states simply, ‘It has no virtues’, and Roz Kaveney adds: ‘There is a degree of badness that is not even funny . . . unremittingly dreadful.’ Sadly, I suspect that many people with an untested aversion to sf imagine it is all like Hubbard’s illiterate rubbish. Pringle’s favourites would soon put them straight.

— Damien Broderick, March 1991

17 COLIN STEELE is Librarian at the Australian National University Library, and a regular reviewer for the Canberra Times (see later in this issue for the evidence). As convener of the ANU/Canberra Times Literary Lunches, he believes that authors are just as interesting in the flesh as in print. He still hopes to entice Ursula Le Guin back to Australia for the 1993 Australian National Word Festival.

Anthem and cadence of the young by Colin Steele

THE DARK BETWEEN THE STARS by Damien Broderick (Mandarin 1 86330 083 X; 252 pp.; A$ 12.95)

(Reprinted from Australian Book Review, No. 130, May 1991.)

Damien Broderick said in a 1982 interview with Russell Blackford that T’ve always been an ironist, a sly jester, a remote punster’. Mix these attributes with a very Catholic upbringing and the influences on the ten short stories and novellas collected in The Dark Between the Stars become very clear. Broderick prefaces each of the pieces, only marginally altered from their first publication between 1964 and 1988, with autobiographical musings that are both illuminating and incestuous. They’re incestuous because references are made to writers and personalities in the science fiction genre that might not be immediately recognizable and understandable to the general reader. Australian crime writing has come out of the closet, but science fiction will remain hidden away unless it breaks out of its occasionally ghettoized circles. Mandarin’s recent reprinting of Broderick’s novels and short stories, however, is to be much welcomed as part of the process of lifting the visibility of Australian sf. Broderick is not, however, sf’s Peter Corris. His stories are probably too elliptical, quirky and intellectually buoyant to attract a popular audience. To Broderick, in that same interview, sf is ‘spoft, game-playing, ingenuity, cross-referential wit, adventure spiced with a blend of that comfortable awe which old-time religion ritualised quit nicely’. Old-time religion certainly had its influence on the young Broderick. Science fiction, ‘the anthem and cadence of the young’, as Broderick indicates in his Introduction, allowed Broderick’s mental escape from the Christian Brothers in Melbourne and the Seminary of the Blessed Sacrament Fathers at Bowral. The first story in the collection, ‘All My Yesterdays’, written in the early 1960s, mixes immortality, religion and psychiatry as Lazarus endlessly seeks the solution to his eternal wanderings. Broderick wrote in Van Ikin’s Science Fiction magazine in 1986 that he felt his early work ‘stinks’ and that he had ‘sold to a brainless market which taught no virtue . . . which rewarded only crappy tricks’. Broderick is too severe here, but ‘All My Yesterdays’ does rely overmuch for its impact on the last-sentence revelation — a standard device in the 1950s. Broderick puts his Catholic background to much better effect in ‘The Magi ’, the best and most powerful story in the collection. A Jesuit priest’s belief is challenged on a distant planet but an alien reaffirmation of personal salvation occurs. ‘The Magi’ is probably the most traditional of the stories in the collection. Elsewhere the idiosyncratic challenging voice of the narrator often overlays the basic characterization. Broderick takes the reader on a stimulating journey of discovery encompassing time travel, reincar­ nation and machine intelligence. In ‘A Tooth for Every Child’, set in a not-too-distant Melbourne, Broderick challenges any complacency we may have on medical advances as male pregnancy implants and reincarnation through deformed babies are chillingly linked. Personal continuity of a variant kind is found in ‘Coming Back’, as a university experiment involves a bitter-sweet reversal of time for the leading researcher.

18 ‘Resurrection’ takes cloning to a distant future where a revived computer scientist finds the nature of reality difficult to discern. Broderick ponders here whether the future cure is preferable to the disease of free will. An equally far future in ‘The Ballad of Bowsprit’s Bear’s Stead’ sees a time traveller return to observe the possible fall of an Empire to the barbarians at the gate. The influence of Friedrich Durrenmatt’s Romulus the Great is evident here as another Emperor ‘clown’ reaffirmed human dignity in the face of adversity. Broderick wanders through the intellectual storehouse of the twentieth century to tease, cajole and entertain the reader. Broderick can be both exasperating and illuminating in the profusion of ideas and comments he embodies in his narratives — but dull he never is. He may be Australian sf’s Court Jester to George Turner’s Elder Statesman and Lucy Sussex’s Lady in Waiting. The Australian sf throne is currently empty. On the evidence of The Dark Between the Stars, Broderick has the credentials and ability to ascend those fictional steps, particularly if he can harness his perennial inventiveness to the rigour and strictures exemplified in ‘The Magi’.

J Now here’s another introduction to DAMIEN BRODERICK: He was the sf reviewer for Melbourne’s Age newspaper for some years. The following column reprints the best of Damien’s reviews for the 1990-91 ‘Summer Tempo' supplement of The Age.Hence the references to the Gulf War. Since he wrote these reviews, Damien has handed the job of As sf reviewer to Peter Nicholls, and has become the science-book reviewer for The Australian.

COSMOS AND DAMIEN: Sf reviews by Damien Broderick

THE CHILD GARDEN by Geoff Ryman Unwin Hyman; A$34.95)

Book-reviewing combines a mess of functions: poison-taster (saving readers from the real rubbish), connoisseur (guiding you to the ‘best’), exegete (explaining what the book means), critic (placing it in historical or theoretical context), spruiker, entertainer. Increasingly, these divergent demands lead either to genre surveys — thus confining thrillers, children’s books, science fiction into convenient ghetto columns — or to general-interest confections of bright, brisk bites. Only highly topical or ‘serious’ books gain the dignity, and unprejudiced readership, of an extended notice. By those usual criteria, Geoff Ryman’s marvellous novel would be secured firmly within the corral labelled ‘science fiction’. It’s set in the future, most of its characters are educated/indoctrinated by designer viruses, and get their sustenance straight from sunlight, through their rich purple skin. What’s more, nearly everyone dies by the age of thirty-five, a side effect of the contagious cure for cancer. Is this nonsense the sort of thing grown-ups want to invest valuable leisure-time reading?

19 Beats me. I guess it depends whether you insist that time or by a self. They went beyond time, to where fiction has no other permissible charter than the ex­ the whole truth can be told. It takes forever to tell plicit evocation of the commonplace. the truth, and it is bound into one volume by love. Put so bluntly, this narrow opinion would be hotly This is the thud book, beyond words or low im­ repudiated by most readers not brain-dead. Literature agining. is about imagination, after all. But surely we must draw the line somewhere. Purple people? In the future? If The Child Garden is perhaps not yet that long- Ryman, a Canadian living in Britain, won awards awaited work that successfully bonds the force and for his 1986 novella ‘The Unconquered Country’, an aspirations of both literature and sf, it comes close. But unbearably poignant parable about Cambodia’s rape. refresh your acquaintance with Dante first. And enjoy. The Child Garden extends his range considerably, positing a world governed by the worst excesses of reductive science and idealist ideology. Like most QUEEN OF ANGELS fashionable postmodern novels it is a text about the by Greg Bear creative process of reading. Its brilliantly sustained (Gollancz; A$29.95) inventions are often metaphors drawn from current high literary theory, as Umberto Eco’s are, and like The future will be different: surely this is sf’s primary Eco’s steeped in traditional learning and story-telling. postulate. For The Child Garden is above all a stunning recon­ Will it be better, or worse? Wrong question. In fifty struction of Dante Alighieri’s journey, 700 years ago, or sixty years’ time, today's children will be the el­ from the Inferno through Purgatory to a transcendent derly, and their standaids won’t lie the same as ours — and beatific vision. Quite literally, it proposes (and whatever happens. embodies) The Divine Comedy as a twenty-first cen­ One of sf’s best-liked newcomers is Greg Bear, tury Wagner might conceive it in a Bayreuth as large whose Blood Music (1985) introduced nanotechno­ and inescapable as the polluted sky. logy, machines built on a molecular scale. For his Milena, amnesiac refugee to British purgatory from blockbuster epics Eon and Eternity', Bear devised one Czechoslovakian hell, halfway through her short life, of sf’s classic big toys, a discontinuity stretching from is a prim, sour Tenniel Alice who commits Dante’s this world into infinite space and time. Spielberg might own sin — she forgets her Beatrice, a wild woman yet make them into the ultimate road movies. composer named Rolfa, Genetically Engineered for In Queen of Angels, Bear attempts to portray an life in the Antarctic. By the standards of the ruling American world of 2047 — a world real in every fibre Party, her sin and crime is to love Rolfa in the first of the text, as utterly different from our own time as place. ‘This was a semiological product of late period ours is from the Elizabethan. capitalism. Milena suffered, apparently, from Bad The rich live in combs, vast hi-tech termitaries. Grammar.’ Her story is a Bildungsroman, taking j, Between these arcologies, in the Shade, dwell the Milena from cramped repression to insight, redemp­ untherapied. Society is rich; nano machines can liter­ tion, indeed sainthood, it is funny, genuinely moving, ally build gourmet food from garbage, construct full­ teemingly fecund, baroque while remaining cleanly scale robot devices (arbiters), even transform human and beautifully written. r bodies. An artificially intelligent probe investigates the The Child Garden is subtitled ‘A Low Comedy’, planets of Alpha Centauri B, beaming back data and and it is that. Ideas tumble about the page like perform­ opinions for dispersion through LitBid interactive ing animals, like humans infected by diseases of infor­ media programs designed to give Phillip Adams and mation. If Rolfa is Milena’s Beatrice, the viruses Robyn Williams wet dreams. Crimes are solved with (especially a virus that encodes the persona of dead ease by highbrow pds — public defenders. And the Heather, who reads all Marx’s works to the child and mind/brain itself is giving up its secrets. cannot be shut off) are her Virgil. To convey something In this endlessly inventive utopia Emanuel Gold­ of its flavour I shall quote from the closing passage, smith, the world's most famous black poet, runs amok, because in a sense there is no surprise ending in a text murders eight of his friends, vanishes. Transformed pd drawn so faithfully (and paradoxically) from the first Mary Choy must track her suspect, but more im­ two books of the Commedia: portantly she needs to understand his crime. The im­ mensely wealthy parent of one of the victims, Milena died. capturing Goldsmith, seeks to use prohibited psycho­ She settled into the silence and was divided. All logical techniques that permit an observer to enter her separate selves were freed: the infant and the another human’s Country of Mind — the substrate of child, the orphan in the Child Garden, the actress mental agents, talents, sub-personalities that comprise and the director, the wife and the People’s Artist, each self. In an eerie parallel, the Al four light years Milena the Angel, Milena the oncogene, Milena away struggles to become the first non-human ‘self’. who carried the Mind of Heather, and the Milena Bear’s narrative never remains stationary, shifting who remembered Rolfa. voice and point of view, adapting techniques from Dos They rose up like the white pages of a written Passes borrowed for sf a generation ago by John Brun­ speech thrown to the winds. The pages blew like ner in Stand on Zanzibar. You don’t slip gracefully leaves, were scattered to their individual and eter­ through this story; it’s sometimes a slog. But the payoff nal Nows. The Nows were no longer linked by is enormously satisfying. Bear is genuinely prodigious.

20 and his future assembles itself from a multitude of three unusually diverse sf worlds not from that suite, brilliant details, builds with a disturbing conviction. and rounds out his book with four classically devised Simultaneously, one is aware that this is a construct, fantasy tales (though thankfully there’s not a dragon in a kind of artistic thought experiment that echoes the any of them). fundamental model of mind that Bear employs. That ‘The Beautiful and the Sublime’ is a hilarious letter model is itself entirely up to date, drawn with remark­ from a late twenty-first century Byron, reminiscent of able fidelity from the cutting-edge cognitive psychol­ Woody Allen’s Midsummer Night’s Sex Comedy. ogy of, say, Marvin Minsky or Roger Schank. ‘Flowers of Edo’, a vivid parable of technology’s Things come in at least threes; there are no brutal Faustian temptation, is set in Tokyo in 1870, and oppositions of right versus wrong. Self and Other are presages the awful flames of Hiroshima. ‘Dinner in met halfway by the self’s double. Human and machine Audoghast’ finds its resonance in Calvino or Borges, Al are mediated by the transform. Crime is not opposed shocking us with reversals of custom and belief in a simply by punishment, but by therapy (and understand­ smug African Muslim society long since lost to the ing). So the book is not merely the demonstration of an desert sands. academic theorem; it has a heart: Minsky meets Sterling’s talent, though he might not like to hear it Dostoyevsky. said, is perhaps our era’s sf equivalent of Robert Queen of Angels is challenging, audacious, nothing Heinlein’s in the mid-century — fertile, unbounded, at if not ambitious. Despite some formidable competi­ once enthralling and subversive. tion, it is arguably the best sf novel of last year. TIME AND AGAIN CRYSTAL EXPRESS by Jack Finney by Bruce Sterling (Legend; A$19.95) (Century/Legend; A$17.95) Even for sf readers steeped in the lore of tomorrow, Traditional literatures tell us: this is how things are; there’s a greedy urge to relive the past as it should have always have been, always will be. The crisis literature been. Or even a suspicion that the past, warts and all, of the last century modified that message only a little: was already pretty much as it should have been. What this is how things shouldbe, and they’re getting out of a shame nasty science has deprived us of those won­ control, help! £ derful Good Old Days! Sf, by contract, takes change in its stride — not Jack Finney thinks so, in the illustrated novel Time always relishing its surprises (few readers enjoy holo­ and Again, a classic time-travel tale no less apt today causts) but accepting their inevitability. Most mass­ than when it was first published twenty years ago. market fantasy tales retreat instead to a never-never Finney’s jaded young New York advertising illustr­ world of magic, happy feudalism and dragons. Signif­ ator Si Morley, unhappy in love and artistic ambition icantly, fantasy currently outsells sf by a hefty margin. alike, is head-hunted by a secret US government pro­ Bruce Sterling is a prophet of hyper-realist sf, fic­ ject to investigate the past via a kind of nostalgia- tion devoted to headlong change. Like William Gib­ driven ability to slip into the world of 1882. With agile son, Sterling has been a vociferous propagandist for skill, Finney milks this notion for all the sentiment it’s ‘cyberpunk’, futurist writing that combines hard- worth, without getting gushy. edged, hi-tech gloss with a cynical posthumanist sen­ Robber-baron capitalism is at its peak. Fifth Avenue sibility. His novel Schismatrix (1986) proposed a is as beautiful as Paris, nary a skyscraper in view. Kids world hectically different from our own, but anchored and oldsters throw snowballs in Central Park without in it, the species split into warring ‘clades’ while plung­ fear of mugging. Bold men and innocently ostentatious ing toward a collective break with history to which women dash through the streets in charming horse­ even our strange descendants prove unequal. drawn vehicles, their iron-shod wheels deafening on That invented universe was first evoked in a series cobbles, undirected traffic turmoil lethal at the Broad­ of gemlike stories, filigreed with complex detail work, way intersection.... set in the era of conflict between Shapers and Mecha­ But Finney is no Norman Rockwell, saint of nists. In line with genetic research currently underway, wistfulness. In a startling epiphany. Si learns from a the former literally remake themselves via DNA engi­ freezing streetcar driver exactly how dreadful it is to neering, enhancing intelligence or intuition, beauty or be poor in this era. Caught in the inferno of a tinder-dry longevity. The latter treat flesh as a disposable way office building aflame in a world of rudimentary fire­ station to cybernetic utopia, transcending biological fighting services, he has less cause to glorify the past. limits with machined replacements. The legacy of Boss Tweed rules New York’s criminal Neither path is likely to appeal to twentieth-century financiers. readers, but Sterling’s Posthumanist future is alto­ Finally, Si must decide if he prefers this charming gether convincing as a parable of unchecked change. barbarism to the twentieth-century obsession with con­ Now those Shaper/Mechanist stories have been trol that has poisoned air and water and fetched human­ brought together in a rich collection. ity to the brink of world self-destruction. It does not But Sterling’s mastery of sf extends well beyond occur to him, it seems, that the latter is a direct outcome this single vision of the future. Crystal Express falls and extension of the former. into three intriguing sections. Following the tour de One final irony: Si’s link between past and 1970s’ force of five Shaper/Mechanist tales, Sterling offers present is a little-known apartment building on Central

21 Park West, the Dakota, shown again and again in the Indeed roar- across the galaxy, while enhanced humans book in many of its wonderfully vivid period photo­ and snide machines frolic within their protective fields. graphs and drawings. Finney was not to know, writing The happiest moment, exactly catching Banks’s way this fantasy, that a decade later John Lennon would be of taking sf’s geegaws and doing rude things with gunned down there; that for decades more, people them, is this: throughout the world would recognize that great grey pile, and shudder. ‘To the Culture,’ he said, raising his glass to the alien. It matched his gesture. ‘To its total lack of USE OF WEAPONS respect for all things majestic.’ by Iain M. Banks (Orbit/Macdonald); A$32.95) A CANTICLE FOR LEIBOWITZ by Walter M. Miller Jr British science fiction is rather in the doldrums, with Orbit/Hodder & Stoughton; A$32.95) one bright exception. After magisterial exertions in his vast ‘Helliconia’ series, Brian Aldiss has fallen very There’s a horrid pertinence in this handsome re-issue quiet. Ballard abandoned sf long since. Ian Watson, of Walter Miller’s masterpiece as the bombs fall in after a dazzling debut in the 1970s, has moved into the Iraq. A recent Gallup poll finds that 45 per cent of more lucrative horror field. John Brunner is hushed, Americans favour the use of tactical nuclear weapons Chris Priest unfrocked. against Saddam’s godless forces. Well, not ‘godless’, What pleasure, then, to regard Iain M. Banks, rising exactly. God, as usual, is readily pressed into service from these moribund hopes like a martial skirling of on behalf of all the waning parties. pipes. In the middle 1950s, when the three novellas com­ Without the middle initial, he erupted into British prising this fine novel had their first publication, pros­ letters in the mid-eighties with such brio that Fay pects of limited atomic war seemed entirely realistic. Weldon dubbed him 'the great white hope of British In 1961, when it was chosen best sf novel of the Literature’. She had in mind The Wasp Factory, with preceding year, American school kids practised ‘duck its gristly psychopathic brilliance, and a handful of and cover’ for the big one. other technically adventurous mainstream titles. But Thirty years on, with glasnost, we had begun to Banks has also indulged a passion for sf in three meaty, admit our numbness as the first prickles of feeling superbly intelligent space opera thrillers. returned. In the shadow of nuclear winter, atomic Consider Phlebus, with its T. S. Eliot title and its holocaust would be rather more comprehensive than gaudy tale of interstellar conflict, introduced a fully strategic planners had hoped. But honor still dulls our stocked universe as ample as anything in sf’s alterna­ sense of reality. One can find, next to the milk-bar tive future histories. lollies and ice creams, the obscene blaring headline: The Player of Games stood back a little and deve­ £ Nuke’Em. loped the story of a single intellectual combatant in the Among the benefits of science fiction is its ability endless conflict between Banks’s machine-loving he­ to help us look such atrocities in the eye. All too often donistic Culture (good) and its foes (pretty nasty): this terrible power is abused, and we see ultimate brutality, credulous faith, political hierarchy, war. ' carnage portrayed with lip-smacking relish. For some Now he bridges the two with a drastically complex few books, A Canticle for Leibowitz premier among biography of a soldier taken from a world not unlike them, moral complexity and a rich saving humour Czarist Russia and sent into the field again and again allow us to feel as well as think about the unthinkable. for centuries, supported with only the most ironic ambiguity by subtle Culture intelligences human and Leibowitz is a Jewish electric engineer who survives artificial. Frozen, he can be healed (if they reach him World War III, taking shelter with monks. Adopting in time); decapitated, revived. A poisoned worm of their faith, he founds an Order of ‘bookleggers’, priests memory remains hidden from sight, however, baffling and brothers sworn to preserve the scant memorabilia (he labyrinthine plans of even the Culture’s most be­ left after a frenzied auto dafe Simplification, a univer­ guiling minds. sal revulsion against all learning, especially science. Banks somehow works a narrative miracle, a tri­ After 600 years, Brother Francis Gerard of Utah is umph of generic engineering, fusing thriller and moral led by an ancient pilgrim (perhaps, in a bleak metaphor, parable, reeking detail and clinical distance, fanciful the resurrected and lingering Lazarus) to unearth blue­ invention and heartfelt pain. Almost. Perhaps he is too prints that open a chink of light into the second Dark consummate. Use of Weapons winds on itself like a Age. Francis makes it his lifework to prepare an double spiral. The main story carries us forward; its illuminated copy of an electric circuit: parallel runs backward, in leaps of traumatic memory recovered. In the end, all certitudes are broken. Any­ Because the meaning of the diagram itself was thing may be used as a weapon, however personal, obscure, he dared not alter its shape or plan by a ugly, ruinous to the wielder. The novel is a coiled hair; but since its colour scheme was unimportant, maze; many ways lead in, as many out, all of them it might as well be beautiful. He considered gold refuting determinacy even as they insist upon it. inlay for the squiggles and doohickii, but the And for all that, the book’s fun. Colossal artifacts thingumbob was too intricate for goldwork, and a with facetious names like the Very Little Gravitas gold quid would seem ostentatious.

22 Six centuries on, Newton’s theories are rediscov­ ered by a haughty pagan scholar from the new empire of Texarkana, and within two millennia of the first nuclear holocaust East and West are ready once more for universal devastation. Abruptly, we find Brother Francis less comical in his error. He mistook the power of knowledge for the power of beauty, but his mistake failed to boil the living skin off billions of his fellows and poison even the fish in the deep oceans.... The last Abbot muses on this eternal fall:

‘When the world was in darkness and wretched­ ness, it could believe in perfection and yearn for it. But when the world became bright with reason and riches, it began to sense the narrowness of the needle's eye, and that rankled....

Not an explanation available to a disbeliever in Original Sin, and one gathers that Miller himself had PACIFIC EDGE abandoned Catholicism by the time his novel was by Kim Stanley Robinson done. He then fell silent for thirty years, but is now (Unwin Hyman, A$29.95) completing his long- delayed sequel. Meanwhile, in Iraq and Israel, the bombing continues. Would the Introducing a recent interview with me on the SBS Abbot approve or not? > Book Show, Dinny O'Hearn remarked (more than once) that science fiction writers may be regarded as To minimise suffering and to maximise security either perpetual adolescents or an intellectual elite. It were natural and proper ends of society and Cae­ was pretty clear which category he favoured. Andrea sar ... in seeking only them, we found only theijfi Stretton confessed her distaste for Neuromancer, the opposites: maximum suffering and minimum se­ noir cyberpunk classic, partly on the basis of her Fear curity. & Loathing of computers . . . presumably a mark of deep maturity. While it is nice to have this important work in hard­ Their assessment is wrong, though you can catch cover once more, it’s a pity the Macdonald editors did yourself thinking that way on gloomy days. Sf is not not pay more attention to their job. One of the wonder­ just a childhood virus that kids catch and throw off after fully mysterious moments at the start of the book a brief temperature. Nor is it the seminar room con­ occurs when the pilgrim chalks his name on a rock for ducted by other means. It’s an entire spectrum of Brother Francis to find — the Hebrew letters lameth narrative choices, an imaginative palette ranging from and tzadhe. L/Z: LeibowiTZ? LaZarus? These import­ Ninja Turtles and Douglas Adams to Philip K. Dick ant letters have been carelessly dropped from the text and Olaf Stapledon. Dinny’s dichotomy catches the on page 18, though they are inserted correctly on page ultraviolet and infrared, but loses the rainbow. 53. ~ In any case, the very best sf does not repudiate Even more foolishly, the reset text carries over extremes; it appeals to something eager and open various literals from an earlier edition (they’re in my within the crustiest adult heart even as it dazzles the ratty old Corgi paperback copy). On page 297, we read mind with the riches of abstract knowledge and the ‘Whoever exalts a race or a State of a particular form hard, constrained ambitions of scientific practice. of State’, where the first ‘of’ is surely meant to be ‘or’; And that’s true even when it falsifies our current on page 301, ‘A drink of water? A drink of wind?’ is view of the universe — because science insists that we not a strained metaphor but a typo for ‘wine’; on page know very little, and will know a great deal more by 321, ‘whether the book was high intellectual comedy and by. or more epigrammatic buffoonery’, where it’s rather So there’s quite often something joyfully exuberant likely to be ‘mere’ rather than ‘more’, no? and romantic in sf, fatally kitschy to the cultivated. Perhaps this is the result of computer scanning, a Like those heightened screen epics that star Charlton grisly fate predicted quite aptly in the novel’s third Heston or Kirk Douglas — Anthony Mann’s El Cid, section, which denounces the Abominable Autoscribe, say, or Kubrick’s Spartacus — sf may play with the a diabolical device familiar to anyone with a word consequences of huge change through the rhetoric of processor.... melodrama. But so does Wagner, and I don’t find our cultural arbiters complaining about arrested adoles­ cence as they pay through the nose for their opera tickets.

Kim Stanley Robinson’s fine novel Pacific Edge evades any need for special pleading. His limpid,

23 sunny prose builds the most ordinary of utopias, as befits an imagined southern California in the summer of 2065. Green politics suffuses every minute of do­ mestic life, which means it’s an uphill battle against inertia, special interests, world poverty, the forgetful­ ness born of happiness in a land ‘like a garden run riot’. In its midst, a brooding note obtrudes from the first sentence: ‘Despair could never touch a morning like this.’ Like a moebius strip closing upon itself its twist skewing what we knew, it ends this way:

If only Ramona, if only Tom, if only the world, all in him all at once, with the sharp stab of our unavoidable grief; and it seemed to him then that he was without a doubt the unhappiest person in the whole world. And at thought (thinking about it) he began to laugh.

Kevin is an artisan in a fairly brave new world, a bit thick, without thenousofhisgrandfatherTom Barnard who helped make the revolution back in 2012. Pacific Edge is a domestic study, a couple of months in the life of that most difficult feat, the believable utopia. No man would take it into his head to lobotomize her, cosmic mysteries burst into its sweet tale, but a shadow though inevitably she falls foul of several who try. falls ever and again across its bucolic ordinariness: the With the aid of her trusty space truck Alice Liddell, a incipient fascism of an earlier cruel day (still in our kind of mechanical idiot savant, she negotiates the own future), the world of excess and tenor we’re wonderlands and looking-glass worlds of a solar sys­ making at the end of the twentieth century. tem embargoes by the dread Capellans, whose giant Robinson’s achievement is to show us both reali­ smooth foreheads hide secrets that Woman Was Not ties, and if we never quite learn how the one grew from Meant to Know. the other, why, that is where the novel regains the There's a surprising measure of nuance, sense and actual, meets the reader, beckons us into making it true. sensibility in this goodnatured Space Extravaganza (as its subtitle candidly describes it). Yet it really is sf as TAKE BACK PLENTY $ childhood regained — marooned in the steaming jun­ by Colin Greenland gles of Venus, chased by little critters along the (Unwin; A$9.95) dredged canals of Mais, visiting the speaking dead on the orbital habitat Plenty, captured and (I'm sorry to In The Entropy Exhibition, Dr Colin Greenland’s spir- ' admit) raped by pirates flying something like a gigantic ited 1983 study of British New Wave sf, he briskly spiny cactus leaf, breaking the solar system free of the depicted its dismal precursors. A typical tale of the ghastly clutches of the Capellans, their dog-muzzled early 1960s knew that ‘Women in space, like women Eladeldi space cops, their Frasque foe who stare like at sea, are trouble. . . . When their space-liner is mad trees.... wrecked. Miss Krand’s hysterical demands for atten­ To tell you the truth, I kept drifting off and laying tion infuriate and imperil the other survivors until one it aside. Even a tour de force of poker-faced parody of the men comes up with a solution. They lobotomise that, yes, carries forward the classy space opera tradi­ her.’ tion of Delany’s Nova and M. John Harrison’s The Scary stuff, such glimpses into yesterday’s tomor­ Centauri Device, not to mention Captain Miracle on rows. In his own riproaring space opera, Take Back 3DB in the mid-1950s, even a rip-snorting generic Plenty, Greenland tears up the last traces of that old resuscitation of cosmic proportions can get dull for a rule book in a nonstop romp that rejuvenates a kind of grown-up reader. story- telling that hit its nadir in Star Wars, with its Air But what the hell, it undeniably fits Greenland’s Ace in Space mock heroics. account of postmodern sf; ‘It illuminates our enslave­ His tongue is not exactly in his cheek because the ment to the idea of the future and to our own technol­ medium he’s colonized is over the top to start with, but ogy. It subdivides reality and adds provisional worlds, he does not scruple to borrow back from Douglas each flickering unsteadily, whose reflected light does Adams such wonderful absurdities as the Infinite Prob­ not always draw our attention back to the source we ability Drive (it takes you anywhere, but your engines know to be there.’ Taken in bites, it’s lush, demented, are likely to turn into dead leaves or barking seals; you and fun. know the sort of thing). Tabitha Jute is a chunky, sexy, tough, competent but short-tempered driver of, well, space trucks. No sane — Damien Broderick, February 1991

24 COLIN STEELE talked to GREG BEAR and TAD WILLIAMS at the Legends Conference in Sydney in July 1991, sponsored by Random Century.

THE LIMITS OF GENRE

Tad Williams and Greg Bear interviewed by Colin Steele

novels, it has become very samey stuff. You see people time and time again using the same themes and running through them with some slight changes. That is, in fact, Tad Williams: what the readers want and that is what they are paying for. However, this is true in virtually any commercial genre. At the same time, in fantasy there is some really Colin Steele marvellous work going on, breaking the rules. One of Greg Bear has said that many fantasy readers are not the classic examples is Robert Holdstock. He doesn’t sophisticated readers in any sense of the word. How do follow any of the classic cliches of fantasy literature. you react? There is also some post-modemism in the field. You have people interpreting other fictional genres. An Tad Williams instance is Stephen Brust, whom I talk about all the When I talk about people writing ‘comfort reading’, I time, who is doing film noir detective stuff in a fantasy am not necessarily setting myself up as the exemplar genre very effectively, using humour. of the opposite. I think there is an entire continuum of I think it’s dangerous to dismiss fantasy as comfort literature, and obviously the people who read Don de literature, since it’s the very nature of a commercial Lillo would probably feel that even the masters of the genre. However, I don’t think Moorcock or Holdstock sf/fantasy genre are writing comfort literature. or any of the people doing innovative work are neces­ I am not setting myself on top of any pyramid. But sarily selling worse that they ever were. What I think all the way down the line we can all look at what the happens is that people enter fantasy via the journeyman rest of the field is, and try to place ourselves according fantasy work, and some of them grow up and are to it. I think fantasy is, in part, comfort reading because exposed to other kinds of literature, becoming a little it is still a fairly new commercial genre, and also more critical and beginning to look for other things. because it was so dominated by Tolkien. Like romance They will work their way up to reading really interest­

25 ing people such as Calvino. three years later that the explosion really began of the first graphic novels. Then underground comics became CS merged with the mainstream—really surrealistic stuff. Michael Moorcock, in The Fortress of the Pearl, has I really lament not having stayed in comic books long an alleged subtext of an attack on Thatcherite Britain. enough to take advantage of that, but in a way I think Can fantasy contain strong political subtexts? maybe now I can come back and dabble in them.

TW CS Absolutely. Some people have said to me that because Because you are coming back from an angle above I play a little bit with word games, I’m commenting on which you have much more artistic freedom? Tolkien, but that’s not my area of expertise at all. My area of expertise — if I have any at all, because I’m a TW complete amateur — is history and politics, and that I hope so. comes out in my writing. It’s not so much a political agenda, but I put forward a general philosophical out­ (Interposes Greg Bear: ‘Maybe. Comic books don’t look about politics and history; about the mutability of have really much respect for the successful under­ history; the unreliability of the public myth; and the writer.’) need to educate oneself about the political world you live in. Perhaps the commonest cliche of high fantasy is the CS young character who discovers himself. I’m doing a bit Have you read the new Stephen Donaldson sf novels? of that, but I’m also doing the young character who discovers that the world is essentially a fiction. What TW you believe is based largely on what you have been told I haven’t read the new ones. I am in two minds about and what you have experienced. The most commonly reading them because 1 am trying to branch out a bit accepted fictions are not always closest to reality. So from straight fantasy myself. Apparently Donaldson my main character learns not just who he is, but how and his publishers are learning that it is difficult to the world really operates. make the crossover. On the other hand, 1 am interested to see how a perceived fantasy writer does that. CS I must confess I like a lot of the first Thomas Greg has said how history is written by the victors, and Covenant books, although I had some very piofound you are saying how perceptions of the past had complaints about the direction they took. I lost interest changed. in the second trilogy. Maybe unfairly, I thought that Donaldson had also lost interest in it a bit. Probably he TW £ had seen something happen that we would all love to Absolutely. History is changed quite consciously by happen to us: he was offered a lot of money to write a people whose interest it is to have a historical myth. particular project. God knows, if there are any two peoples who know However, it is really dangerous for a writer in our about the power of a history myth, they are the English ' field to spend a lot of time doing the same thing. You and the Americans. and your fans calcify, and your reputation calcifies. When you do try to move — and this may be what’s CS happening to him now — the people who have loved You and Greg Bear were both talking about the youth­ your work are very resentful because they have gotten ful audience. This surprised me, because at this confer­ quite used to what you are doing. The people who don’t ence the average age is over thirty; perhaps about forty. like your fantasy may be very hesitant to try your The science fiction community is getting middle aged; science fiction. my fifteen-year-old son has just gone off to the city On the other hand, people such as Dan Simmons comic shops. I read in one of your earlier interviews and Greg Bear have worked successfully in different that you said you might do a graphic novel at some genres. stage.

TW Yes. Actually Greg and I both might have a graphic novel negotiated through the same route of packager Greg Bear to publisher. One of the things that I wanted to do long before I dreamed of being a novelist was to become a comic artist and writer. I had grown up on comic books, and my only lament now is that in fact I stopped being cs involved in that apprenticeship just before the comic­ In recent interviews you have referred several times to book explosion. the laziness or lack of intellectual depth of science One of the reasons that I stopped was because when fiction critics, and asked how long before somebody I reached my mid-teens, comic books became quite like Edmund Wilson emerges in sf criticism. Could boring to me. They had plateaued. It was about two or you expand on this?

26 Greg Bear CS That was my initial reaction to the Leeds (UK) SF You have also said: ‘I have religious elements in my Conference and to another conference I attended at books but they can’t be understood in the standard Riverside, California. I found that seven out of the fashion.’ eight papers presented there were academic masturba­ tion. Critics, certainly the deconstructionists, come to GB think of themselves as artists. They see their duty to Yes, in the sense that they can’t be applied in terms of take books, disassemble them, not caring for what the Christianity or any established religion. Perhaps I am author intended, and put them into a social context that trying to make my own religion in the Campbell sense was their artistic interpretation of the whole thing. (Joseph, not John). I’m trying to find my own meta­ physical beliefs through fiction. CS What do you think of the general standard of criticism? CS GB Would you see yourself as some form of social engi­ I was quite refreshed by Michael Tolley’s approach [in neer? I’m referring to some of the themes of Queen of Australian Science Fiction Review] because he in fact Angels. enlightened me. He told me things that I had not thought about, and he brought new things to my atten­ GB tion. That is the role of a critic. The role of the critic is Social engineering is an accomplished fact; people try not to create, but to synthesize and explain. The critic, to do it all the time. But how well do they do it on a in my somewhat conservative view, is someone who cultural level? The corporations are putting different is explaining, not necessarily doing the mulching and social engineering skills into developing products for growing. the marketplace, then finding the marketplace. A psychiatrist working with an individual is a psy­ CS ' chological engineer, but the complex individual is Can you expand on this morning’s comment about the totally beyond the reach of engineering. It is an art form youthfulness of Australian writing? We obviously get that sometimes seems to work. Sometimes it doesn’t. very twitchy here about a perceived lack of cultural^ The psychiatrist then becomes a kind of explorer into depth, but it was interesting that you were comparing the self-awareness of the individual. The best psychi­ the 1930s in the USA with Australian sf today. atrist, I think, is the person who sits there and listens while you explain yourself; the guide there to learn GB who you are, but doesn’t know who you are. I was talking about the levels of enthusiasm, sophisti­ What if we had a situation where we could under­ cation and dedication, as compared to the dilletantism stand the basics of how the human brain works so that we get in American science fiction today. we could fix it? If something went drastically wrong in somebody, we wouldn’t know enough to reach a CS perfect cure. You would have casualties, as you do in And you also give the impression that cynicism has surgery now. There would people who would not come become overwhelming in America. out of it. The doctor has to face that. Perhaps what the psychological engineer did would take something GB valuable from the individual, perhaps the only thing It is a kind of falling away from youthful enthusiasm. that makes him or her an individual. People have kind of lost their way and are now trying But I went into Queen of Angels thinking that this to think of themselves as being mature. Here I am would be a good, because you are making people who mature; I don’t need to be enthusiastic anymore. I can are dysfunctional functional. That was my premise. be jaded, I can hold a cigarette holder in my hand and What goes wrong, however, even to give that good? act like the great literary writer and say, oh well, I don’t What goes wrong in the society? How would people want to do this, it is not terribly important to me — that react to it? How will people shy away from doing what sort of thing. is good for them? Why do people refuse to go to the At this conference, the Australians I’ve met don’t doctor although they have serious illnesses that could have this attitude, and it is something new to me. I see be cured? They don’t want to go to the doctor because here a cell of the original enthusiasm that got me into they are afraid. How much more afraid would you be science fiction, the enthusiasm that still empowers if you were afraid of losing yourself — not just your science fiction and fantasy today; the youthful, almost bodily sanctity but your mental sanctity? That was the child-like enthusiasm that has nothing to do with so­ basis of the plot in Angels: the opposition between the phistication. Also the wonderful sense of self-humour notion of the responsibility of the individual to know — not taking yourself seriously while at the same time and cure him or herself, and the notion of the social keeping a deep commitment and enthusiasm. I don’t ability to make somebody happy. see the little fan feuds between writers. If you say something offensive about someone they take it for what it means, bop you on the back, and buy you a cup — Colin Steele, Tad Williams and Greg Bear. of coffee. Transcribed 23 December 1991

27 *brg* This piece was delivered as a talk to the October 1991 meeting of the Nova Mob, and nobody fell asleep. (Thank you, kind persons.) (The main complaint was that nobody could find copies of Carroll's books in order to read them before the meeting.) Good sense tells me that I should attempt to sell this as an article somewhere. But it's really only a preliminary survey of Carroll's novels — a sketch of what should have been — with only The Land of Laughs looked at in any detail. I'd like your letters of comment (please) before writing a longer version. A slightly different version of this article was published through ANZAPA.

Jonathan Carroll, Storyteller by Bruce Gillespie

I of unease'. These are stories that are the hero's past has such weird about one's own world, but in which ramifications that few writers During the last few years I have been the perspective is twisted so that you could have made it work: our looking around for a new and inter­ see the world quite differently from man's life seems prefigured by esting sf or fantasy author. Most of the way you saw it before. past incarnations going back to my favourite writers are either dead There must be someone new, I a bit-part from the Brothers or currently off the boil. Most of the thought, who meets most or all of Grimm, his diminutive father award-winning authors are bad these criteria. may or may not be a famous writers; many of the good writers are The clue came froma review that character with a very silly insufferably long-winded. I published myself. Dave Langford is name, and the conclusion is an What were my criteria in looking the reviewer I have to thank. In SF outrageous psychological rab­ for a new and interesting writer? Commentary 68, some of Dave bit punch. I'll read this one To use a very unoriginal phrase, Langford's review columns from the again. I was looking for stories that are re­ English GM magazine appeared (p. 15) ally stories. These are stories told by under the title 'Critical Hits'. This is someone with something so urgent what he wrote: It's hard to specify what in that to tell you that she or he pins you to review made me determined to track the wall and tells the tale so vividly Jonathan Carroll is an author down the books by this author. Per­ that you do not want to leave until who deserves your attention haps it was Dave Langford saying you have heard every word. despite, or because of, being 'I'll read this one again.' Perhaps it I was looking for stories that are weirdly difficult to classify. You was that reference to Vienna. I don't told concisely: stories that are only as could call his books psycholog­ know of any other American writers long as need be, or perhaps a bit ical-fantasy-mystery-horror who live in Vienna. Perhaps I was shorter than that. Thick books have stories, with an elusive magic in looking for outrageous psychologi­ become the plague of sf during the the writing and vivid characters cal rabbit punches. Little did I know last twenty years. reminiscent of the larger-than- how outrageous. ... I was looking for stories that are life creations of the late Theo­ made up principally of events, char­ dore Sturgeon. Carroll's first, II acters, places, sights, sounds and The Land of Laughs, baffled pub­ lishers and suffered from des­ smells; stories in which the author Luckily the first Carroll novel I perately misleading cover does not generalize for the reader. found was The Land of Laughs, his 1 sought stories that tell you won­ designs: the American paper­ first published novel. It meets all of back resembled a twee, Oz-style derful things you've never heard be­ my criteria. children's book, the British one fore, but can upset your It is the right length: 241 pages, looked like routinely grotty expectations. 'Astonish me!' as Har­ about 70,000 words. Not many fan­ lan Ellison is supposed to have said horror. More sensibly, his pres­ tasy authors today can restrict them­ many years ago. ent publishers have opted for selves to a length under 300 pages. colourfully surreal jackets on I was prepared to mix genres It is an 'urban fantasy': it begins when looking for this interesting au­ Bones of the Moon — one of my with some seemingly ordinary yup­ 1987 Best books — and the lat­ thor. My favourite book for the year pies on the east coast of America, est, Sleeping in Flame. so far is James Morrow's Only Begot­ progresses to the heartland of Amer­ This time, Carroll's favour­ ten Daughter, which mixes sf and fan­ ica, and doesn't begin to get weird ite elements emerge quickly tasy categories in an exuberant way. until half way through the book. enough: a setting in Vienna During recent years, my ideal for the Its style is admirably restricted to modem story is the category I would (where he lives), a relish for life, the places, events, sights, sounds places and food, a moving sec- call the 'urban fantasy' — realistic and rather hectic observations of the ond-time-around love affair... fiction in which events are gradually narrator. The author has other things invaded by elements of the fantastic. and something nasty in the on his mind, but you have to work woodshed. The blackness from Tom Disch called this category 'tales them out for yourself. This book is

28 unputdownable, which I suppose is 'No more than you do, my it down after a year, my mother my one basic criterion for any good dear.' threatened to call Dr. Kintner, book. That was that. Five minutes my hundred-dollar-a-minute And by its end, it is a novel the later she was gone and I was analyst, and tell him that I pulls the rug from under all the putting some of the linseed oil wasn't 'cooperating.' As always reader's expectations. on another mask. in those days, I ignored her and A bonus is the unnamed cover (LL, pp. 4) turned the page. artist of most of the Legend paper­ The Land of Laughs was lit back editions. These covers are irre­ Carroll doesn't muck around. In by eyes that saw the lights that sistible, with their combination of three pages you learn more about no one's seen.' surrealism, menace, wit, and a vivid Thomas Abbey and his family and (LL, p. 5) sense of colour and design. his preoccupations than you learn In discussing Jonathan Carroll, about the characters of most novels So Marshall France seems to be one must begin with his sense of in the first twenty pages. Carroll puts worthy of Thomas Abbey's devo­ style and flair for drama. Last week his characters on stage, vivid, talk­ tion. Now to find out secrets about I heard on radio Professor Stephen ing, interesting. him. Knight speculating about why the In those first few pages, you also The psychology of obsession is a novels of the Sydney thriller writer catch a glimpse of an important major theme of all Carroll's novels, Peter Corris had improved recently. minor theme: the importance of particularly the obsession needed by I paraphrase him: 'Perhaps it's be­ masks and puppets. It becomes very writers or film-makers or artists or cause he's been writing film scripts important in this novel to discover architects to create something great. recently; he's learned to enter a scene who is the puppet and who is pulling Thomas Abbey's obsession is to be­ late and leave early.' The mysterious the strings. come the biographer of Marshall Jo na th a n Ca rrol 1, w ho ad mits only to In the first line of the novel, Car­ France. This obsession leads him, via living in Vienna, seems to have had roll has already declared his first a Marshall France rare volume, to some film experience, since three of major theme: Abbey's inability to Saxony Gardner, a woman whose his novels are directly concerned deal with the memory of his father. obsession with the dead author is as with film-making. And I've found On page 4 we are told straightout the strong as his. Together, he and Sax­ few other authors who know better second major theme: ony discover that Marshall France is how to enter a scene late and leave dead, but that his daughter Anna early. My drearq was to write a biog­ still lives in the small Missouri town Here's the beginning of The Land raphy of Xlarshall France, the of Galen, where the author died. of Laughs: very mysterious, very wonder­ Marshall France's publisher warns ful author of the greatest Thomas and Saxony not to bother 'Look, Thomas, I know you've children's books in the world. going to Galen, since Anna will not probably been asked this ques­ Books like The Land of Laughs talk to them. They go anyway. tion a million times before, but and The Pool of Stars that had If you haven't read the book, you what was it really like to be Ste­ helped me to keep my sanity on would be annoyed to have the story phen Abbey's —' and off throughout my thirty recounted to you. If you've read the '— Son?' Ah, the eternal years. book, you will realize that it is all question. I recently told my (LL, p. 4) story, that there is no detail in the mother that my name isn't book that does not relate to the major Thomas Abbey, but rather Ste­ That one paragraph determined themes of the book and does not con­ phen Abbey's Son. This time I that I would not put down this book tribute to its forward movement. sighed and pushed what was until I had finished it. The reason And the ending, when you reach it, left of my cheesecake around why I appreciate Jonathan Carroll's sends you straight back to begin­ the plate. 'It's very hard to say.' books is that he speaks directly for ning. Therefore I must discuss some (LL,p. 1) me, and presumably to lots of others of the secrets that Thomas Abbey as well. What is most important in learns, and try to make sense of some In with both feet, in the middle of life? Good stories and beautiful of the secrets of Jonathan Carroll. a conversation, in the middle of a books. This will be a story about In The Land of Laughs, as in most question and, as it turns out, into the story-telling. Already we feel end­ of the other books, the main charac­ middle of a main theme of the novel. less possibilities opening up. The ter oscillates between two lovers. Within a few pages we learn that search for a mysterious author. The Saxony and Thomas arrive in Galen, Thomas Abbey's father had been a reasons why a novel contains in it a Missouri, as a research team. They famous Hollywood actor, that he novel with the same name as itself. are welcomed, not rejected, by the was dead, that evading his memory The author seats you on the edge of townspeople. Thomas is more than is one of the main preoccupations of a precipice above an unexplored val­ welcomed by Anna France, the his son. Thomas Abbey is a bored ley, waiting to slither down the side daughter of the dead author. She teacher. Weoverhearthemiddleofa and start exploring. lives alone in a house that is filled conversation is between him and an Thomas Abbey quickly returns to with France memorabilia. The pro­ unnamed girl. He chats her up, and his major theme. He received The cess of auditioning the new biogra­ takes her back to his apartment, Land of Laughs as a present from his pher quickly turns into seduction. which is filled with exotic masks. father on his ninth birthday: As in the other novels, the result The first section ends: is curiously non-sexy. Perhaps Car­ I sat in the car because I knew roll is merely careful of his American 'But they're just so creepy! How that was what my father audience. His whole emphasis is on can you sleep in here with wanted me to do and read the choice. Abbey is quite willing to be them? Don't they scare you?' book from cover to cover for the loved by both women, and he is first time. When I refused to put

29 aware that eventually he must make 'Joe Jordan! It wasn't sup­ to happen that were not predicted. his choice, but he also wants every­ posed to be you!' Anna decides to return the town to thing anyone offers him. The possi­ Mrs. Fletcher had come up normality by finding a biographer bility that Anna might be using him from behind us and was stand­ who can recreate the spirit of Mar­ for non-amatory purposes does not ing there with a pink dish towel shall France by writing a great biog­ occur to him. The problem is made in her hand. raphy of him. Thomas Abbey, as the worse when Saxony, wounded by (LL, pp. 89-90) writer, and Saxony Gardner, as his Thomas's betrayal, leaves the town muse, are to be the saviours of the temporarily. She has been his muse, With that one line, 'Joe Jordan! It town. Except, in the nastiest touch of not Anna, and it is she who is neces­ wasn't supposed to be you!', Carroll the novel, Thomas does not tell Sax­ sary to his work. changes Thomas's and our percep­ ony what is going on. The Land of Laughs is a modem tion of the town. As Thomas Abbey It would take hours to unpack the adult fairy-tale, and as in any fairy­ observes, Galen, Missouri looks like implications of this parable. It's tale, the hero must undergo a series a picture painted by Norman Rock­ enough to say that Jonathan Carroll of tests. First he must produce a first well, the sentimental portrayer of has thought of a wonderful fantasy chapter that satisfies the standards of small-town American life. Galen is a idea, then takes it for a walk, then Anna. He must prove that he is just small American midwestem town takes it for a very long hike. His nar­ as obsessed as she is by Marshall preserved from the 1940s. It feels like rator, Thomas Abbey, is always a bit France's work. a town out of a 1940s movie. But in behind the action. He's too busy When he passes the literary test, some way t ha t neither the ma in cha r- worrying about his women, and his he must pass new tests, the nature of acter nor we can work out, people book, and his self-importance, to no­ which remains puzzling even to the from the town see things quite differ­ tice the implications of the fable. One reader until the end of the book. ently from the way out-of-towners example, from one of the greatest do. A child has died, but Joe Jordan scenes I've read for years: Early morning in Galen, Mis­ the driver was not supposed to be souri. A few cars drove by, and the killer. What is going on? 'Uh, Larry, what does it feel like I yawned. Then a little kid I will have to tell you, in order to to be .. . uh, created?' passed, licking an ice-cream discuss the book as a whole. The Land Larry farted and smiled at cone and running his free hand of Laughs is based on one major idea. me. 'Created? What d'ya mean, along the top of Mrs. Fletcher's In Anna France's words: 'Marshall created? Look, man, you shot fence. Tom Sawyer with a France had discovered that when he out of your old man, right?' I bright green pistachio cone. I wrote something, it happened: it nodded and shrugged. 'Well, I dreamily watched him and was: it came into being. Just like just shot out of someplace else. wondered how anyone could that.' You want another beer?' eat ice cream at eight o'clock in So the main attraction of The Land Catherine petted her gray the morning. of Laughs, apart from its highly read­ rabbit as gently as if it were Without looking either way, able style and vivid characters, is made of glass. 'Created? Hmm. the boy started across the street that it is based on_a what-if principle. That's a funny word to use. Cre­ and was instantly punched into What if a writer fSund that anything ated.' She rolled it around her the air by a pickup truck. The he or she wrote came true? It's rather tongue and smiled down at the truck was moving fast, so he like the what-if idea of Ursula Le rabbit. 'I don't really think was thrown far beyond the Guin's The Lathe of Heaven: what if a about it, Thomas. There's al­ view from our window. When person's dreamS came true and ways so much else on my he disappeared, he was still somebody found a way to manipu­ mind.' going up. . . . late those dreams? In Le Guin's If I was expecting answers The driver was out of the book, the creator is a naive person from thelnnerSanctum,I didn't truck and stooped over the who is manipulated by the psychia­ get them Galen was a lower- body. The first thing I saw when trist who wants to save the world middle-class town in the heart I got there was the green ice through his main character's of Missouri, made up of cream, half-covered with dirt dreams. Marshall France, on the hardworking people who went and pebbles and already begin­ other hand, has no interest in the rest bowling on Wednesday night, ning to melt on the black pave­ of the world. Instead he protects loved The Bionic Woman, ate ment. .. . himself through art. In Carroll's ham sandwiches, and were sav­ Ts there anything I can do? book, the observer is the naive one. ing up to buy new Roto-tillers I'll call an ambulance, okay? I When Marshall France discov­ or a vacation cottage out on mean, you stay here and I'll go ered his ability, he chose to write LakeTekawitha. call the ambulance.' down the fates of the people of The most interesting anec­ The man turned around, Galen, Missouri, for the next thou­ dote I heard was from a guy and I recognized him from the sand years. He made the town itself who accidentally shot his barbecue.... into his own great work. Through his brother in the face with a police 'All this is wrong. I knew it, writing, gradually he moved all the revolver. The trigger pulled, the though. Yeah, sure, go get that real people away from the town, and gun exploded, smoke, lots of ambulance. I can't tell nothin' replaced them with people he in­ noise ... but nothing happened yet.' His face was pinched and vented. He filled vast notebooks to the brother.... frightened as hell, but the tone with details of these people and their The more people I a sked, the of his voice was what surprised lives. There was one difficulty; Mar­ more it seemed that the vast me. It was half-angry, half-self­ shall France died. After several majority were content with pitying. There was no fear there years, the story he had written France's 'way,' and horrified at all. No remorse either. .. . started to come unstuck. Things start that suddenly, cruelly, they had

30 been turned over to the clumsy kingdom. As we discover, his two books have strong bones a nd tissues, hands of fate. saviours would then be dispensable. but fragile skeletons. (LL, pp. 192-3) The very last scene takes place Not that I've given up Jonathan some time later. Thomas manages to Carroll's books in disgust. Far from escape from Galen. Several years it. He still meets my other criteria of We all think about our own cre­ later, one of the residents of Galen, a good story. ation, or rather, the difference be­ hot on his trail, finds him in a Euro­ All of his other books are about tween the time we were not alive and pean town and is about to murder the right length; the shortest just the time we remember being alive, him. The last five lines of the book under 200 pages, and the longest is but I know of no other depiction of are: 268 pages. All of them show signs of characters who calmly consider the intense pruning. Although all of possibility they were written into ex­ When Richard was five or six them are narrated in the first person istence. Again we consider: what feet away, Pop stepped out of and retain a chatty style, the chatti­ does this say about the author and the pitch dark behind him and ness is itself a mask for packed nar­ the man who is supposed to be his said lightly over my shoulder, ratives in which every element is biographer? Why did a man who, 'Want me to hold your hat for essential to the whole. Often you after he discovered his own power, you, kiddo?' think characters are merely yabber- use it merely to create a small town I screamed with laughter ing, when actually they are telling of the absolutely and endlessly mun­ and shot right into the middle something you must know to make dane? Why did he not create one of of Richard's sad, astonished sense of the rest of the book. the fabulous worlds that came from face. All of his books begin at a gallop his children's novels? Abbey fails to (LL, p. 241) and don't slow down to the last ask this question, because to ask it page. Admittedly, not all of them would be to admit that he does not Sometime after he left Galen, start with any thing as effective as the know Marshall France at all. Thomas Abbey had realized the im­ first line of A Child Across the Sky: The penultimate scene is quite plications of Marshall France's res­ brilliant, all the more so for its com­ urrection: that France was not a An hour before he shot himself, pactness. Thomas is the last to realize benign god, but a loony absolute dic­ my best friend Philip Strayhorn the real reason the townspeople tator; that Marshall France, by bless­ called to talk about thumbs. want the biography written, which ing Thomas Abbey with his own (CAS, p. 11) is, that in doing so, he will resurrect powers for his own purposes, had the writer. After several months of also conferred %n him a gift that If you guess that Philip Stray­ effort, he reaches the page in the bi­ Abbey needed in his own life. What­ horn, though dead at the beginning ography that tells of the day Mar­ ever Thomas Abbey wrote from now of the book, remains a main charac­ shall France first arrived by train in on would also come true. And when ter in it, you would be correct. Galen, Missouri. No train has visited he realizes this, he uses his powers to The first line of Sleeping in Flame Galen in many years. Yet all the write the biography he had always is: townspeople gather at the station. run away from: that of his father. On the horizon can be heard the And therefore he has been able to It took me less than half a life­ sound of a train whistle. I will tell no resurrect his father. Which takes us time to realize regret is one of more of the end; it's a potent mixture right back to the first paragraph of the few guaranteed certainties. of irony, melodrama, humour and the book. Thoma s Abbey's role in life (SIF,p. 1) horror. is to get to know his own father, and But without telling you the exact ultimately bring him back to life. Apart from being a theme of all events of the ending, I do need to Carroll's novels, this line points you discuss its implications. In the scene so directly to the end of the book that I quoted from, Carroll the author ap­ Ill you feel you ought to read the last pears to be merely whimsical, with page first. Not that that would tell more than a touch of the metaphysi­ you anything meaningful. Instead That is how I discovered Jonathan you must read the book once, know­ cal: Marshall France as God; Thomas Carroll, whose first novel, The Land Abbey and Saxony Gardner as the ing already that the last page will of Laughs, meets all my criteria of a send you straight back to the first. unwitting prophets who save him good story. Could the same author through writing the biography. In The first line of Voice of our produce another novelas interesting Shadow, Carroll's second novel is: depicting thegatheringof the towns­ as his first? people at the station, Carroll recalled The answer is no. Jonathan Car­ for me yet another image: that of the Formori, Greece roll does not seem to have realized At night here I often dream deliriously happy German burghers the central strength of The Land of who were always greeting Adolf of my parents. Laughs: its what-if idea. Works of (VS, p. 3) Hitler in 1930s German propaganda urban fantasy need the same strong films. Fascism can take many forms. backbone as great works of science Marshall France knew he would die. I don't have time to give separate fiction. To work satisfactorily, they little talks about Carroll's later nov­ He knew he could create the town. need to say: what if the following Could he then write his own resur­ els. From book to book the narrative aspect of our world were entirely voice has developed and and gained rection? My guess, never confirmed different? It's no good having too in the novel, is that France had writ­ in confidence. The main character of many what-if ideas; perhaps one is Voice of our Shadow is, like Thomas ten down the visit by Thomas and enough for any book. But that one Saxony and the writing of the biog­ Abbey of The Land of Laughs, a fairly idea be a strong skeleton in which ordinary bloke who runs foul of not raphy, in order to bring himself back you can hang every bone and tissue as absolute ruler of his own tinpot only his parents but also his brother. of the rest of the body. Carroll's later Like The Land of Laughs, Voice of our

31 Shadow is a straightforward realist those you do see are usually cannot possibly deserve the original novel for about half its length. Again going home. ... A cafe down and ghastly fate that Carroll has we are back in middle America; the street was still open, so I lined up for him. And why do the again we hear a lot about a whole decided on a quick brandy innocent characters in The Land of load of seemingly unwarranted there, and then home. Laughs and Bones of the Moon suffer guilt. Again, it takes much of the As I was walking in that di­ worse than other characters? book for Carroll to flash his magic rection, a figure suddenly The magic tricks work because effects. loomed into sight before me they are always surprising. On the From the third novel onwards, further along the pavement. It one hand, they are surprising be­ we meet a series of characters who took a moment for me to see it cause Carroll remains various and areall minorcharacters in theothers' was a man riding a bicycle. The experimental in his choice of tricks. stories. They are habituds of the Spi­ bike was completely decked out Also, I suspect he knows a vast der Club, a Los Angeles dinner club in a mad glittering jumble of amount of folklore and religious arc­ dedicated to the telling of good sto­ streamers, mirrors, saddlebags, ana that I've never read. On theother ries. These characters are decidedly bumper-stickers, antennas, and hand, his mundane realities are so upmarket from those of the first two everything else. The man had a detailed and interesting that they novels, perhaps reflecting a new­ long Rip van Winkle beard. He provide a strong backdrop to the found prosperity for their author. wore one of those round fur magic tricks. Weber Gregston, the narrator of A hats that cover most of the head In A Child Across the Sky, Weber Child Across the Sky and a main char­ and ears and remind you of Gregston reads a story written by acter in Bones of the Moon, is a famous woodcutters in Alaska. Pedal­ Philip Strayhorn, the film-maker film-maker who has dropped out of ling hard enough to make the whose death began the book. The the Hollywood system in order to bike sway from side to side, he story, called 'Mr Fiddlehead', is direct a New York theatre group came flying towards me as if about a woman whose childhood called the Actors Cancer Theatre. death (or sanity) were right be­ made-up friend Mr Fiddlehead Walker Easterling, the main charac­ hind him. The street was com­ comes to life when she is an adult. In ter in Sleeping in Flame and a minor pletely quiet but for the turn, this story was based on the ex­ character in Outside the Dog Museum, whizzing sounds of the bike, perience of Strayhorn himself, is a famous actor. Harry Radcliffe, and the man's loud breathing. I whose childhood made-up guardian featured in the most recent novel was so tired that I didn't know angel, called Pinsleepe, has been his Outside the Dog Museum, is nothing whether to step left or right to companion during his last months less than the world's greatest archi­ avoid him. He kept coming and on earth. Here is what happens when tect. I kept standing there. As he got Gregston returns to Strayhorn's In this way, the so-called 'every­ closer I saw more and more of house in California: day realities' of Carroll's novels are his features. His face was lined becoming less and less like our own and scored. A long and narrow I turned off the motor and sat a — more glamorous, more fantastic stalactite of a nose hung above while listening to the quiet. — and therefore losing some credi­ a mouth (he seemed to be smil­ Cheerful birds, the busy hiss of bility. If fantasy is to astonish us by ing) full of d#k teeth that went insects, a distant car driving off. entering our world, our world needs in every direction. I still hadn't There were the bloomi ng cactus to be sufficiently mundane to repre­ moved when he was ten feet we'd planted together when he sent a contrasting milieu. away and coming fast. first moved into the house. Why then, do the magic effects 'Rednaxela! Welcome!' he From the car I could look work at all? In each of his novels, shouted as he passed within through one of the front win­ Carroll follows a basic procedure: inches of my feet—so close that dows and see some of the ob­ the main characters meet, fall in love, I could smell his garlic, sweat, jects in the living room. usua lly after one or both of them has and craziness. He didn't look Something moved in there. been deeply involved with some­ back once he'd passed, just I sat up straight in my seat. body else, and enter a time of unal­ drove straight up to the corner, Something showed for a loyed bliss. This is the giveaway: if a sharp right there, and . . . moment in the window and you read a passage about unalloyed gone. then disappeared as quickly. A bliss in a Carroll novel, you know (SIF, pp. 53-4) head? A child hopping across something pretty ghastly or weird is the line of vision of the win­ about to happen. In Bones of the Moon, Surprising, yes? Vivid, certainly. dow? I couldn't tell. No child Cullen and Danny James have no And as yet,completely unexplained. belonged in the house of a man sooner returned from a deliriously At this point of the novel, Easterling three days dead. happy honeymoon in Europe and does not even realize that magic There it was again. Jumping. Cullen finds she is pregnant, than events are about to cascade down It was a child. Short hair. Yellow she begins to suffer from weird upon him. And for much of the shirt. Waving hands in the airas dreams. In Sleeping in Flame, Walker novel, these events will go entirely it bounced past.... Easterling has no sooner met the love unexplained. I went to the door and did of his life, Maris York, and decided This is what troubles me about all the necessary twists and turns to set up house in Vienna than he the novels other than The Land of to de-activate the alarm. I was experiences this: Laughs: the arbitrariness of the magic curious about who or what was employed. The strength of Land of inside, not afraid. Too curious Vienna is a city where most peo­ Laughs is that Thomas Abbey has about who or what was inside, ple go to bed at ten o'clock You gone looking for his magic; he gets not afraid. Too much had hap­ rarely see anyone walking what he deserves. The main charac­ pened to cause any more fear. around past midnight, and ter of Voice of our Shadow, however, An explanation of some kind

32 was near and I was hungry to Carroll even made fun of his own Marshall France chose to create the know it.... approach in his latest novel, where people of Galen, Missouri. In the At first I thought it was a he has Harry Radcliffe say: other Carroll novels, people don't seven(?)-year-old boy, the dark have much choice in the matter. hair was cut so short, but the Lately life had been like a Wild Magic is not sweet and wish-fulfill­ singing voice was the high and Mouse ride at an amusement ing in the Jona than Carroll scheme of delicate bell of a little girl. park; whipped from one ex­ things. It falls upon his characters Barefoot, she skipped treme to the other, there'd like a curse. Only in his most recent around the room in a pair of barely been enough time to novel does he give Harry Radcliffe bluejean overalls and a yellow gulp a quick breath before the the choice of receiving or rejecting shirt. The longer I looked at her, next dip, twist or flip had me magic. Innocent characters are par­ the more I realized she was a loop-de-looped or upside­ ticularly hard-hit: Eliotand Cullen in real beauty. . .. down, trying to figure out Bones of the Moon and Saxony Gard­ The beauty part slid away where I was and how to see ner in The Land of Laughs. In some of when I saw how misshapen her things from these constantly the novels, the main character finds stomach was. Under the over­ new perspectives. out how to break the spell, only to alls it looked like she was hid­ (ODM, page 136) find that breakinga spell invokes yet ing a basketball. She kept anothercurse. Hence the'psycholog­ looking at me until she knew I In the end, one always returns to ical rabbit punch' endings. was staring at her stomach. the problem’ where is the centre of a If magic is supposed to be a met­ Then she stopped in the middle Jonathan Carroll novel? The details aphor for life itself, Carroll would of the floor and took off the of Carroll's books are dazzling, the seem to believe that life is grossly jeans and shirt. She was preg­ characters live, the magic tricks and unfair or, worse, maniacally arbi­ nant. ... characters remain interesting, and in trary. But this trend in his writing 'You're Pinsleepe, aren't some cases as tragic as the humans. contrasts with his enjoyment of life. you?' But why? Why magic? Why not sim­ Surely his characters deserve some­ 'Yes.' ply write dazzling satirical novels thing slightly more palatable than I didn't know what more to about Los Angeles, New York and the fates he deals out to them? say. She was Pinsleepe the Vienna? As yet there is no satisfactory an­ angel. The angel that had come Because — and I say this having swer to these questions. As yet there to Phil before he died and told no way of finding out from the au­ are no Jonathan Carroll experts to him to stop making the Mid­ thor whether it is true or not — I give us neat academic answers. I night films because they were suspect that at some deep level wouldn't miss Carroll's novels, but I evil. Carroll's novels are autobiographi­ find much in the later novels to be (CAS, pp. 90-2) cal. Magic is as real for Carroll as so- dismaying, or even distressing. The called ordinary reality. In most of his ending of A Child Across the Sky is Here is a pretty good illustration novels he takes reincarnation as a dazzling, but I don't understand of Carroll's strengths as a story­ given. These days he tends to drops what happens. I think I understand teller. The prose is matter-of-fact, but the name of God into his books, the ending of Sleeping in Flame, but the effect is to bundle together a without giving much idea of which rather wish Jonathan Carroll variety of experiences and levels or or whose God. It's hard to empathize wouldn't keep playing such nasty reality. The effect on the reader is to with some of the zanier assumptions tricks on the last pages of his books. make us ask: what the hell can pos­ that he slips under the nose of the But I still feel that Carroll is a roman­ sibly happen next? Carroll plays reader. There is one assumption with tic, desperately caring about worlds with all our assumptions: about chil­ which I can empathize: that the most that keep slipping out of control. I dren, who are not supposed to be important magic is that of story-tell­ keep hoping that his story-telling in­ pregnant; about magical beings, ing itself. Much of the magic in his stincts will eventually win out over who are supposed to be ethereal; novels comes into being because his instinct for chaos. In other words, about Californian suburban bunga­ somebody tells a story or writes may he one day return to the ele­ lows, which are supposed to be dull down a story. Magic is what we do gance of structure and expression and suburban. The effect is to keep when we write fiction. that makes The Land of Laughs one of pulling the carpet out from under the But, I would have to say, authors the finest fantasy novels ever writ­ reader. choose to write their stories, much as ten.

Editions used: L: The Land of Laughs (first published 1980) Legend 0-09-939260-7. 1989. 241 pp. VS: Voice of our Shadow (first published 1983) Arrow 0-09-937780-2. 1984.189 pp. BM: Bones of the Moon (first published 1987) Legend 0-09-949870-7. 217 pp. SIF: Sleeping in Flame (first published 1988) Legend 0-09-957540-X. 1989. 244 pp. CAS: A Child Across the Sky (first published 1989) Legend 0-09-970950-3.1990. 268 pp. ODM: Outside the Dog Museum (first published 1991) Macdonald 0-356-19589-9. 244 pp.

— Bruce Gillespie, 30 September 1991

33 I hadn't heard from ROS GROSS for more than ten years when suddenly she sent me the Guy Gavriel Kay reviews that you will find in 'Criticanto'. Now married, with children, she is returning to writing after too many years of not writing. Next she sent me the following article; perhaps she has also returned to writing fiction.

Diana Wynne Jones: An overview by Roslyn K. Gross

Roslyn K. Gross discusses dren and a novel for adults.) A few, people as endlessly complex and di­ the following books by Diana like Chairperson, Wild Robert and Who verse. Wynne Jones Got Rid of Angus Flint?, are clearly Jones is an astute observer of peo­ (bibliographic details included in aimed at younger children (perhaps ple, and is able to bring them, both the text): the seven-to-ten age bracket), and a child ren a nd adults, to a deta iled and few others, like A Tale of Time City, concrete aliveness on the page. She is Witch Week Fire and Hemlock and Howl's Moving able, for example, to portray the The Ogre Upstairs Castle, would appeal most to much funny, sad, confusing, chaotic yet Cart and Cwidder older children, adolescents and, of also eccentrically ordered world of Archer's Goon course, adults who love fantasy liter­ childhood with startling vividness. The Spellcoats ature. In Witch Week (Macmillan Children's The Lives of Christopher Chant But most of her novels — and this books, 1982, 210 pp.) we are shown Charmed Life would include such works as Witch the real underworld of the dynamics The Time of the Ghost Week and The Magicians of Caprona, in a classroom through the eyes of The Homeward Bounders could find an audience among any or several of the children in it. We see Fire and Hemlock all of these readers. the complex web of group interac­ Howl's Moving Castle And, as is the case with all truly tion, the wildly differing percep­ great fantasy, her books can be ap­ tions, the precise and sometimes No one writes like Diana Wynne preciated on different levels of com­ cruel justice that children mete out to Jones: she is a complete original. She plexity and depth? Always they are each other, and we also see, as the fits into no tradition of fantasy writ­ totally engaging tales of mystery and mystery unfolds, the slow emer­ ing that I know of, unless the British magic, filled with surprising and un­ gence of friendships in this crazy yet tendency to produce writers of predictable happenings that feel logical jungle world of children. startling originality can be consid­ completely believable and real. But, Similarly, Jones has a talent for ered a tradition. Her highly imagina­ beneath all the variety and fertile portraying the deep intricacies and tive, funny, hugely enjoyable novels profusion of her work, there can be nitty-gritty realities of domestic life. began appearing in 1974, winning culled several common themes and Most of her novels are firmly set various literary awards through the approaches that make up the within family situations of one sort seventies and eighties. writer's vision, her unique way of or another (though there are excep­ Not only does she write a unique, viewing the world. tions) and portray the subtle dynam­ underivative brand of fantasy but Life, in all of Jones's novels, is an ics of family interaction. Some of every one of her novels is an original, exciting, mysterious and delightful them, like The Ogre Downstairs, The too. One could easily assume at first puzzle for the main characters to Time of the Ghost and Charmed Life, are glance that her novels were all writ­ solve. On one level a Jones novel is a deeply concerned with sibling ri­ ten by different writers, so different kind of fantasy detective story. valry. do they appear, at least on the sur­ Nearly always at the beginning we face. While some of them form a are presented with a mystery that II loose series, and several of them are widens as the novel progresses, and set in the same universe, there is an becomes extremely complicated, The children through whose eyes immense variation in content, set­ sometimes to the point of hilarity. mysteries unfold are usually very ting, atmosphere and tone in her Yet somehow this immensely com­ bright, resourceful, and often star­ work. plicated web of events is spun and tlingly eccentric or talented. Often woven in Jones's skilful hands into they are unaware of their own re­ 1 resolution that feels obvious and sourcefulness or talents, and fated all along. The sudden twists through events become gradually The novels of Diana Wynne Jones and surprises that result from this aware of them. They also come to see can be grouped into very loose cate­ snowballing effect are both gripping their own more unsavory character­ gories, with much overlapping and and humorous. Beneath all this ac­ istics as well; they learn to see how blurring. (She has also, by the way, tivity lies Jones's perception of life as their actions and behaviour appear written short stories, plays for chil­ endlessly rich and fascinating, of to others. Jones's novels are always

34 deeply concerned with the growth of Much great fantasy is, of course, badly. He had not thought Flav­ self-knowledge in their child or ado­ concerned with this theme of self­ ian had feelings to hurt. lescent characters, but also often in discovery; one thinks immediately (The Lives of Christopher Chant, adult characters. In The Ogre Upstairs of C. S. Lewis, Ursula Le Guin, Patri­ Macmillan, London, 1988, p. 188) (Macmillan, London, 1974,191 pp.), cia McKillop or Madeleine L'Engle. Jones's first novel, two families have In fact, even the hackneyed quest of III been blended into a new step-family, the Hero Who Finds Himself in and things are not going at all well. much of modern mediocre fantasy So while Jones's perspective is not The two sets of children hate each writing has emerged from this tradi­ moralistic it is nevertheless deeply other, and one set particularly de­ tion. And of course the self-discov­ moral. We see this most clearly in her spises their stepfather, whom they ery theme also has strong roots in treatment of good and evil. In the dub 'the Ogre'. Some chemistry sets mainstream writing, both for chil­ complex flow of life that Jones pre­ the children are given turn out to be dren and adults. In many ways, per­ sents, most of her characters, too, are magical — alchemical, in fact — and haps because of their rich realistic a complex mixture of good and bad. through the snowballing zany feel and their portrayal of complex Many of her child/adolescent char­ events that follow, the two lots of interactions, many of Jones's novels acters are talented and special, yet children slowly come to understand seem as much in the tradition of the are peppered with the same human each other. modem mainstream novel as that of failings as the rest of us have. It is only towards the end that the the children's fantasy. The blend is Some characters, like the en­ stepchildren of 'the Ogre' begin to original and intoxicating. chanter Chrestomanci who appears see him as an ordinary human being One of the ways Jones is able to in several novels (but most exten­ with human frailties, one of which is achieve the sense of opening up is by sively in Charmed Life and The Lives of intolerance of the chaos that living making observations and comments Christopher Chant), strike us as partic­ with children brings. Moreover, this from the perspective of a particular ularly, deeply good, with their good­ new understanding only comes character. The implications of these will, their humour and about after the sudden realization on comments can be seen only later by reasonableness and courtesy, while the part of 'the Ogre' himself about that character. The gentle irony and still coming across as real, fallible what is really going on, and how the subtle shift of perspective involved human beings. children feel about him. Unlike in this process help to bring charac­ But there are others, too, who many writers of children's fantasy, ters alive as real, interesting people strike us as undeniably and horribly Jones is able to represent adults who with changing viewpoints. Such evil. Evil, in Jones's universe, comes are able to accept and believe in mag­ subtle irony$ and Jones's good- about through a particular approach ical phenomena and grow through humoured acceptance of human to life and to other people: a desire them, just as the children do. What is frailties, prevents any possibility of for power for its own sake and an really occurring in The Ogre Down­ her sounding moralistic or absence of ordinary human kind­ stairs is the transformation of a diffi­ judgemental. Her characters simply ness. Nearly always, interestingly cult and chaotic family situation into grow in self-understanding and enough, there is also a lack of a genu­ one of greater maturity and accep­ learn to evaluate their own behavi­ ine sense of humour. Such a charac­ tance; the chemistry sets themselves our more critically. ter may appear ordinary, or even are agents of this change, this al­ charming and attractive at first; his chemical transformation. I get angry when Uncle Kestrel or her monstrousness is inner, and tells me that we gave offence in Often what is discovered is the often hidden from public view. Shelling! It is not very logi­ child's very identity. In Cart and Nearly all of these genuinely Cwidder, for instance (Macmillan, cal. ... I remember, and I know nasty characters are adults. The London, 1975,191 pp.), Morildiscov- that we all, even Gull, who is the Duchess in The Magicians of Caprona, ers that his parents are very different most modest of us, felt and be- Uncle Ralph in The Lives of Christo­ people than the ones he had as­ ha ved a s if we were specia 1 peo­ pher Chant, They' in The Homeward ple. I think we are, now. But the sumed them to be, and he must work Bounders, the Lees in A Tale of Time fact is, I had no grounds to think out just what he is out of the very City, Kankdredin in The Spellcoats, strange mix that resulted from his it then. I had no business to set and Laurel and Mr Leroy in Fire and myself up. I am ashamed. parents' union. In Archer’s Goon Hemlock are all despicable and (The Spellcoats, (Methuen, 1984, 241 pp.), Howard wholly evil because of their callous­ discovers that his real identity is far Macmillan, London, 1979, p. 169) ness and their cynical self-grasping- more than that of a thirteen-year-old ness. They are utterly unscrupulous; Or again: boy. (Archer's Goon, incidentally, is they use people and they are ob­ perhaps the closest of Jones's novels Christopher had no idea that sessed with power. One of the few to science fiction.) child villains, Gwendolen in Jones's books are all, in one way people saw him like this. He was astounded. What's wrong Charmed Life (Macmillan, London, or another, journeys into identity 1977,204 pages in the Puffin edition), and self-discovery. All of her novels with me? he thought. I'm nice really! When he went to the is contemptible for exactly the same have a sense of an opening up, a reasons, although she is treated with dawning of light, a wonderful un­ Anywheres as a small boy, ev­ eryone had liked him. Every­ an irony and humour that make us folding, as characters not only un­ laugh at her as well. ravel the mysteries that Jones has body had smiled. . . . Christopher saw that he had It is clear that, in the flux of life cunningly planted from the begin­ that Jones values for its own sake, ning, but also mature into a greater gone on thinking that people only had to see him to like him, what she values most is the single, understanding of their world and precious individual with his or her themselves. and it was only too clear that nobody did. ... He seemed to unique qualities and eccentricities, have hurt Flavian's feelings and the mysterious force in each one

35 that leads to change and eventual and substance through the fulfil­ trayal of characters, of family life, of maturity. Conversely, the person or ment of Jamie's unique task in life. ordinary everyday objects, has the force who debases these values is Life is complex, Jones is saying — totally concrete, tactile feel of reality abhorrent. It is significant that the messy and difficult and often sad — about it. only characters who do not change but there is an underlying sense of This is how Jones describes in her novels — whose viewpoint, at the rightness of things, of characters' Howard's first sight of the 'Goon' in least, hardly alters at all — are evil lives being part of a larger pattern. Archer's Goon: characters. They are evil precisely Life is not without pattern or pur­ because they refuse to flow with the pose. He was filling most of the rest rest of life, to be vulnerable, the Similarly, in The Spellcoats we are of the kitchen with long legs change and deepen, as all life does. denied a totally happy ending as and huge boots. It was a knack In a few cases, they do not even Jones leaves us with some tan- the Goon had. The Goon's head grow old or die; their lack of humane talizingly loose ends, while in was very small, and his feet qualities is emphasized by this non­ Archer's Goon, we are left with a were enormous. Howard's eyes human trait. Monigan, in The Time of glimpse (again tantalizing) of what travelled up a yard or so of tight the Ghost (Macmillan, 1981,192 pp.), the future of the characters might be faded jeans, jerked to a stop for is actually an ancient force who was — and the suggestion is that it will a second at the knife with which once worshipped and sacrificed to in not be easy. the Goon was cleaning the dirty an area of the English countryside. nails of his vast hands, and then Some children somehow awaken V travelled on over an old leather this ancient power and it tries to take jacket to the little, round fair one of them as a sacrifice. This figure The use of mythological elements (as head in the distance. The little face looked half-daft. is one of pure malevolence, having in The Time of the Ghost) is very com­ no ability to relate to anything except mon, in one way or another, in {Archer's Goon, Methuen's Children's Books, 1984, in termsof itsown powerand desire. Jones's novels. In both Eight Days of In portraying this evil entity that is Luke and Dogsbody she makes use of pp. 1-2) not human and is therefore un­ actual figures from various mythol­ Jones can give us the atmosphere changing by its very nature, Jones ogies, incarnating them in our mod­ and physical feel of a place in two seems to want to stress those charac­ em world; and sometimes she uses short sentences: teristics tha t make for lack of huma n- her own created mythological fig­ ity; Monigan is representative of ures, such as Monigan (which may Jones's evil characters in this very They went into the small dark or may not be based on a true myth) house. It had a sad, damp smell unchangingness and coldness. (This or the Time Lady in A Tale of Time probably explains why Jones's evil and a lot ofclocks ticking. City. {Archer's Goon, p. 41) characters are rarely children: chil­ In many cases, figures that are dren are, by their very nature, in the part of a particular world's mythol­ process of growing and becoming.) In a similar way, in The Time of the ogy turn out to be real, living entities Ghost we find a strikingly vivid and in that world, I rces with true IV concrete portrayal of what it would power. This does not in any way take be like to be a 'ghost' or disembodied away their imaginal power; in fact, presence. Despite the delineation of some by having mythological figures act As well as being inventive and characters as essentially good and out their fates again in the modem wildly creative, the magic depicted others as irredeemably evil, one does world or in the modem age of a in Jones's novels has a matter-of-fact, not gain a sense of a neat black-and- given imaginary world, she empha­ real quality about it. This is partly white view of life in Jones's universe. sizes the real power of myth in our because beneath all the wild fun and This is partly because, as we have lives, and our need for it. The charac­ exciting plot elements, interesting seen, most of the characters are nei­ ters in The Spellcoats become mytho­ ideas bound about the world and the ther wholly good nor bad, but com­ logical figures in the other two place of magic in it. All of the novels plex and richly layered. Also, novels in the loose series set in the in which Chrestomanci appears, for characters' reactions to events are land of Dalemark, and the patterns example, contain the concept of the highly individual and complex, not that were set in that far-off prehis­ existence of many alternate worlds. stereotypical; and Jones often por­ tory of The Spellcoats become im­ Whole series of these worlds are so trays characters' different percep­ prints on the fate of that land. closely related that the only differ­ tions of the same events. Here is a paradox in Jones' uni­ ence between them is some small Significant, too, is the fact that, verse: life is unpredictable yet laced detail, such as a particular historical while Jones's endings are usually with pattern and meaning; charac­ event or the presence or absence of very satisfying, rarely are they tidy ters are eccentrically unique yet magic. Magic, in those worlds where black-and-white solutions. In The often live out long-ago myths or ful­ it does exist, is simply another fact of Homeward Bounders (Macmillan, fil some necessary, almost pre-or­ life, so that witches, enchanters and 1981, 224 pp. in the Magnet paper­ dained function. In this, it seems to magical phenomena are just as natu­ back), although They' are finally me that Jones is simply reflecting the ral as ordinary things in our world. beaten at their own game, the child feelings we all experience of the par­ Someti mes accidents ca n occur in the protagonist is left, in the end, in quite adoxical nature of our own lives. way the worlds are related to each a sad, difficult situation. It is not Whether they are set in some ex­ other, as in Witch Week, in which a wholly a happy ending. The Home­ otic imaginary world or in our own historical accident has resulted in a ward Bounders illustrates that Jones is mundane one, Jones's novels always world that is exactly like ours, except not afraid to show children the pain­ beautifully marry a sense of the mag­ that witches a re bo th extremely com­ ful side of life. Jamie's fate strikes one ical and wonderful with the gritty mon and extremely illegal; and it be­ as unjustly hard, but it has meaning feel of the everyday world. Her por­ comes Chrestomanci's job to put

36 things right. Such concepts, al­ this by prefacing each chapter with a VII though not in themselves wholly quote from either of the two ballads. original, make the magic in Jones's The fascinating thing about Fire Howl's Moving Castle (Greenwillow books feel real and entirely possible, and Hemlock — as with all of Jones' Books, 1986, 212 pp. in the Ace edi­ and make her novels conceptually novels — is the way Jones manages tion), like Fire and Hemlock, would interesting as well. to do so much more than tell a won­ suit adolescents and adults rather derfully engrossing tale (not a mean than younger children, but its tone is feat in itself, of course). Fire and Hem­ very different. Despite its under­ VI lock is a novel about the process of tones and splashes of humour, Fire growing up. We see Polly's experi­ and Hemlock is a rather serious book, ences through the eyes of both the A good example of the way Jones ca n but Howl's Moving Castle is a delight­ child and then the older adolescent, weave mythology and a sense of an­ ful and uproarious romp from start and we follow her growing maturity. cient, abiding magical forces into the to finish. Here Jones is at her quirki­ The novel is also about relation­ grainy feel of the everyday world is est and most outrageously witty. ship. We watch Polly coming to Fire and Hemlock (Greenwillow In thelandoflngary,a nasty spell terms with her immature and selfish Books, 1984, 280 pp. in the Bantam is laid on Sophie, who must seek the mother and her disappointing fa­ edition). help of the apparently wicked Wiz­ ther; this is contrasted with the warm In this novel Jones employs an ard Howl; the motives behind the and deepeningrelationshipbetween English folk legend that appears in spell and how to remove it, and the Polly and her grandmother, who two medieval ballads, The Tale of apparent contradictions in Howl's turns out to be more than she ap­ Thomas the Rhymer' and Tam Lin'. character and behaviour, are the pears at first. Significantly, it is here In both of these tales, although with mysteries we have to unravel. Along only really loving relative who turns variations, a man is enchanted by a the way we meet an enchanted out to hold a key to the mystery. fairy woman and lives for seven prince, a menacing scarecrow, a The book is also about the growth years in 'Elfland' (fairyland). He is shrewd fire demon, even an ordi­ of a particular relationship that be­ then allowed to return to the world nary household in the Wales of our for seven years, but after that, his fate gins when Polly, as a child, first world. meets ThomaS Lynn: the develop­ is unclear. Jones transposes this Through all this, and despite the ment of their friendship, the experi­ myth to modem England, where a big differences in tone and setting ence of separation and hurt, and musician called Thomas Lynn seems from those of Fire and Hemlock, many finally a mature love that accepts im­ to be bound in a very strange way to of the familiar Jones trademarks are perfection anil complexity. Polly a very beautiful, mysterious woman here: the combining of the fantastical comes to understand that pain and he has recently divorced. and magical with the mundane and even betrayal are aspects of genuine Jones opens the novel, as she ordinary, and the presence of vividly love. Indeed, the resolution — and often does, with a mystery: eighteen- real characters who are much more the salvation of Tom — depends on year-old Polly becomes aware that than they seem at first, who develop this insight. there are whole chunks of her past and discover their talents and iden­ Again, Jones gives us the very that she seems to have forgotten; tities. Again, a main theme is the antithesis of growth and relation­ that, in fact, there is a whole series of growth of relationship, in this case ship in Laurel, the immortal 'fairy events and people in her life that most strikingly between Howl and queen' figure who, beneath the sur­ seems to remember now, but which Sophie, but also between other char­ face beauty and elegance, is chilling someone has attempted to eradicate. acters as well. And again the evil in in her cold logic, her ruthlessness, With her, we go back and piece to­ thenovel is personified by characters and her lack of any genuine warmth gether the events of her childhood, who care nothing for individuals or or human feeling. She is totally un­ from the time she first befriends relationship but seek only their own able to relate; her only interest in the Thomas Lynn and first glimpses the power. Once again, Jones manages various men she has entrapped truth. Polly must save Tom from a to do this without over-simplifica­ through the centuries is her practical dreadful fate. tion of characterization or stereotyp­ use of them. She is unchanging and The novel is awash with the small ing, while telling a wonderfully emotionless, a non-human, mytho­ details of everyday living; Jones is funny and engrossing tale as well. logical force like Monigan, the oppo­ covering many years in Polly's life, Over a period of about two de­ site of all that is human, vulnerable and the wonderful thing is that she cades, Diana Wynne Jones has pro­ and growing. Although she is evil manages to sustain our interest duced at least twenty books, all of she is also, in some sense, simply a throughout. Sometimes places, peo­ which can be found to contain com­ fact of life, a principle that we hu­ ple and times do become a little con­ mon and typical characteristics that mans cannot destroy, but must deal fusing. If there is any criticism at all embody her unique vision and style. with as best we can. Here again we to be made of Jones's novels, it is that Tha t this can be so, and that, far from see that Jones's approach is far from her plots tend to be somewhat com­ being written to any formula, each of simplistic, even on the subject of evil. plicated, sometimes even convo­ her books is highly original different luted. Side by side the events of from all the others as well as im­ mundane life are the evidences of mensely enjoyable, is Diana Wynne ancient dark forces; Jones reinforces Jones's special genius.

— Roslyn K. Gross, August 1991

37 WYNNE WHITEFORD had his first sf story publication in the 1930s, and has written for a living throughout his life. However, most of us would know him for the stories he published in Carnell's English sf magazines (especially New Worlds) in the 1950s and 1960s, and a series of novels, published locally by Paul Collins, that began with Breathing Space Only in 1980. Wynne Whiteford's novels are now published by Ace Books in USA.

Sea, space, time: Chandler’s voyages by Wynne Whiteford

FROM SEA TO SHINING STAR by A. Bertram Chandler edited by Keith Curtis and Susan Chandler; illustrated by Nick Stathopoulos

Dreamstone; 1990; 345 pp. 0 9587968 0 7; A$100; 0 9587968 1 5; A$70

Available: Dreamstone, PO Box 312, Fyshwick, ACT 2609, Australia

The overall concept of this collection of the stories of ‘Jack’ Chandler, as he was known to his friends, suggests a gradually developing extrapolation from seafaring tales to the exploration of humanity’s future in outer space. The cover by Nick Stathopoulos — a montage of a seascape with a tramp steamer in the foreground, a futuristic spaceship rising through clouds in the background, and the face of the author surveying the scene — seizes the theme admirably. Nick Stathopoulos himself seems to be the only person to dislike the printed cover. At the Easter 1991 Brisbane convention, he displayed the original painting alongside copies of the book, pointing out that the intense blacks used in parts of the original were less emphatic on the cover. Comparing them, you have to agree with him, and the black-and-white frontispiece opposite the book’s foreword complements the cover. Notice the way the black-and-white version captures the intent expression on Chandler’s face. The order in which the stories are presented reinforces the ‘Sea to Shining Star’ theme. However, a page at the end of the book gives the dates and places of first publication for each story. Reading the stories in the order in which they appeared shows that the author’s interest in interstellar space flight goes back a very long way. Is it possible that his interest in the sea sprang from a lifelong compromise in which he regarded a seagoing vessel as a Clayton’s spaceship? I feel the most powerful and unforgettable story in the book is the last one, ‘Giant Killer’. It is also the longest, a novelette of nearly 20,000 words. It gets straight into the story with the birth of the central character, Schrick, in a savage, confused, vital society that is only gradually revealed to us as not quite human. These ‘people’ live in perpetual fear of another face they call the Giants. By degrees, we realize that their world is a spaceship. The Tribe, referring to themselves as ‘the People ’, are actually rats living in the insulating material of the spaceship’s hull, mutated by the radiation they receive from Outside. The Giants, of which there are only five, are the human crew of the ship. The extraordinary variations in the People enable their violent society to evolve rapidly. Somehow the writer has penetrated the psyche of mutating rats, with their callousness and hair-trigger fury driven by fear, and with the early stirrings of developing conscience and altruism occasionally tingeing their rage. But I won’t take you any farther into the story. Let Jack Chandler do that with his inimtable, vigorous 6lan.

Although ‘Giant Killer’ brings the book to a climax, it was the earliest of the stories to appear— as far

38 back as October 1945, in Astounding Science Fiction. In spite of the intervening forty-six years, it does not date, except perhaps in very minor details of the spaceship. Chandler was only thirty-three when he wrote it, eleven years before he first settled in Australia. He was bom at Aidershot, in southern England, in 1912. Chronologically, the second story in the book, ‘Castaway’, which appeared in WeirdTales, November 1947, is an offbeat story involving time travel. A tramp steamer, such as one in which Chandler perhaps had sailed, comes near an apparently uninhabited island. The narrator is shipwrecked, swims with great trauma to the shore, sees footprints, follows them. In the jungle in the interior of the island he finds a spaceship (based on a V2 rocket, like most spaceships in the fiction of 1947). Exploring its deserted cabin, he finds a log identifying it as the interstellar ship Centaurus. The spaceship wreck is from the future. The castaway finds a device that apparently enables the ship to travel in time, but an experimental touch of START and STOP buttons makes him feel so odd that he rushes out of the ship and back to the beach. A ship (marine type) is approaching. In horror, he realizes that it is his own ship, as it had been before the shipwreck. ... Whether he is dealing with deep space or the sea, Chandler tells a gripping story. There are thirty of them here, including two, ‘Hindslight’ and ‘Man Alone’, written around 1959 or 1960, never before published, giving the reader a total of nearly 200,000 words. A list of Chandler’s published books shows an impressive total of forty-one, published in the USA, England and Australia, with many of them translated into Japanese, Russian, Swedish and Hungarian. They span a period of twenty-three years, with an especially prolific period in the 1960s — three books published in 1963, four in 1964, three more in 1^65, and four— the ‘Rim Worlds’ volumes — in 1967. But his most startling output was in the year 1971, when no less than five novels appeared, with three more the following year. & I’ve already mentioned that the seagoing ship for Chandler could have been a Clayton’s spaceship — the spaceship you’re having when you’re not having a spaceship. Perhaps this principle applies fairly generally to sf writers. It’s been pointed out that most fictional spaceships are evolved from either aircraft or marine craft, depending on the experience of the writer in either field. It’s also been noted that many of the writers of the ‘Golden Age’ generation used engineering knowledge in their books. But did engineering, marine or aircraft experience really lead writers into producing sf? Or are we looking at this from the wrong end of the telescope? Most writers whose formative years came in the 1930s or 1940s began by looking forward to a brilliant future world — the worlds of the film Just Imagine (1930) or the background world (not the plot) of Fritz Lang’s Metropolis somewhat earlier. Any horror stories involving death rays or atomic explosions were set 500 or a 1000 years in the future. We never expected the laser or the nuclear bomb to come upon us in one stride. The future world, as in Ray Bradbuury’s The Illustrated Man, beckoned attractively. Most of its problems, we though, would be solved by mechanical and electrical engineering. That, perhaps, was the motivation drawing us into fields of activity that seemed to offer a short cut to utopia. Later, of course, we realized that a universally agreed-upon utopia could never exist. One person’s utopia is another person’s fiasco. The great thing about A. Bertram Chandler’s work is his unquenchable optimism. Some day, he felt, humanity would explore far across the galaxy, even though many details remain to be filled in along the way. And in the long run, that kind of cool optimism seems to pay off. Pessimism is a quick, easy attention-getter, but it looks ridiculous in hindsight as life marches onward and upward. Remember the predictions of the Club of Rome, or the dire warnings of the Pyramidologists (not the Geelong branch) that the world would end in 1952! I still find it hard to accept faster-than-light travel, as Chandler did with his ‘Mannschen Drive’, but I still think we will some day make it to the stars, even if we must use some kind of cryogenic suspended animation. I don’t think the Rim Worlds of our galaxy will be settled in the way he envisions. On the other hand, I accept that his guess is as good as mine. The exciting thing is that none of us really knows.

— Wynne Whiteford, May 1991

39 Dave Langford: 'Critical Mass' and 'Critical Hits' were regular pages of brief reviews which I wrote for the British games magazines White Dwarf and GM respectively. In past issues Bruce has outstripped reality by publishing selections from all eighteen GM columns even though the magazine foundered after publishing seventeen. Following a very brief interregnum, the strangely similar magazine GMI (GamesMasterInternational) rose from the ashes of GM and ran a rewritten eighteenth column, from which I cull the new bits not already seen here. What follows will be, if Bruce's patience holds out, his choice from the first nine GMI columns. The title reverted to my original 'Critical Mass’ for no very good reason. (February 1991)

CRITICAL MASS by Dave Langford

Critical Mass 1: Zaragoz (GW,245 pp., £4.99) by Brian cease to exist in perhaps two The new bits 'Craig' (Stableford), a fantasy that years.... once again belies the Warhammer This makes for an exciting read. ambience by being solidly literate — The imaginary physics is particu­ Recently I overcame my trilogy-pho­ though, dare I say it, not desperately larly good fun — would you believe bia enough to read through Octavia compelling or original, and lacking gravity lasers? — yet it's another Butler's 'Xenogenesis' SF trio: Dawn, the quirkiness of Jack Yeovil's contri­ mixed blessing. We're promised an Adulthood Rites and Imago, all now bution (see SFC 69/70). Train-jour­ 'epic that transcends every genre in out in paperback (VGSF, 264 pp., ney fodder. My award for the Book I its scope and importance', but this £3.99). In this understated SF horror Would Least Like To Be Seen Read­ ambition doesn't really come off, story, aliens bail out humanity after ing On ATrain goes to Craig's Plague precisely because the pseudo-sci­ our nuclear war, but at a high price: Daemon (GW, 235 pp., £4.99), with ence (which in effect can do anything their driving urge is to trade genetic the least appealing cover of even this the author wants) overshadows the material, and future generations on uninviting lot. No, I haven't yet read extrapolations of real, intractable Earth will therefore be human/alien it: I'm awaiting delivery of the ten- problems. hybrids. 'We must love one another foot pole with which I plan not to Brin is an optimist and I like him or die.' touch the jacket. for it, but in order to keep smiling The first book paints the big pic­ £ (and avoid some depressingly plau­ ture; the second shows the growing- Critical Mass 2: sible future, as in George Turner's up of a sympathetic hybrid in the The Sea and Summer) he's forced to reconstructed world; the third intro­ Jug jug jug jug jug pull this technological wild card duces a few complications which z from his sleeve and lose in serious weren't really necessary but fill out Faced with a five-hour train journey impact what he gains in entertain­ the trilogy. This is good, restrained to what turned out to be the most ment value. It all gets a bit much, SF, which never overstresses its dismal SF event I've ever attended especially when piled on the second­ points but leaves you pondering on (details omitted to protect the inno­ ary and more interesting im­ the attractions and nastiness of cent — me — from the lawyers of the probability of the 'Gaia' or Butler's utopia. In the new regime, guilty), I bravely selected the fattest living-Earth hypothesis achieving the last human couples can have blockbuster from the pile. The title literal truth through information wonderful sex via a tentacled alien alone is about as portentous as you technology. Recommended, all the intermediary ... but are biologically can get: Earth by David Brin (Mac­ same. compelled to shun one another's donald, 601 pp., £13.95). (One little joke on readers who touch. (A sneaky dig at religious no­ Fifty years hence, lots of today's turn first to the back page and check tions about physical love after gloomier predictions have been ful­ there's a happy ending: Earth fin­ Judgement Day?) filled: solar ultraviolet is burning ishes with a separate short story. The But the more I think about it, the through the depleted ozone layer, joke backfires because this story's fi­ more profoundly immoral and rape­ many more species are extinct, the nale is an SF cliche of stupefying off- like the aliens' approach seems. weather pattern is a mess, etc. There puttingness. ...) 'We've saved you from extinction are compensations. This future is as and that gives us the right to have full of mixed blessings as the pres­ My new-magazine resolution, be­ you bear our children alone.' On the ent,and has the right sort of convinc­ sides tackling the occasional block­ face of it Butler seems icily neutral on ing quirkiness — there's a mad logic buster, is to tackle some new author the issue, but her choice of view­ in the idea of a bloody war for infor­ each month. James Patrick Kelly's points does tend to imply a tacit en­ mation freedom, waged against Look into the Sun (Mandarin, 280 pp., dorsement of the visitors' actions. Switzerland and its secret numbered £3.99) is a good, unpretentious SF accounts. Meanwhile, within Earth's novel with a rich individual flavour. Another new arrival from the Games core, an orbiting singularity is gob­ The technoglitter is kept in its place, Workshop 'Warhammer' stable bling mass, and the planet could as a backdrop to the people: when

40 the architect hero's new wonder of pp.). Few 'important' SF volumes are Intellect (all Mandarin, £4.99). Tales the world is unveiled, it's seen such readable fun. of Pirx the Pilot is a wildly uneven through a haze of personal prob­ collection of clanking, nuts-and- lems, and his free ride on an alien Castle in the Air (Methuen, 208 pp., bolts space stories, half of them ship to create the wonder of another £8.95) is Diana Wynne Jones's sequel good. The Chain of Chance, a fiendish world is dominated by what's done to the very funny Howl's Moving Cas­ near-future whodunnit or to him so he can survive there, and, tle. If there were rules for children's whatd unnit about seemingly point­ indeed, eventually enjoy kinky sex less but weirdly linked deaths, has a there. Perhaps the aliens are slightly horrifyingly plausible solution — an shallow, but Kelly avoids the soft unliving serial killer so convincing option of making them tiresomely that you begin to suspect that ran­ enigmatic ('You know notour ways, dom, inexplicable deaths must al­ Earthman,' etc.), and after hinting at ready be happening for closely vast Secrets of the Universe is wise similar reasons. And His Master's enough not to reveal them. Voice shows Lem the intellectual at full stretch, confronting scientists The short stories in Bruce with an intricate message from space 'Postmodern' Sterling's Crystal Ex­ which can be decoded and used to press (Legend, 317 pp., £12.99) are create marvels never before seen on less freaked and far-out than you'd Earth, but which still doesn't make expect from the one-time major sense. Some of the speculations here prophetofcyberpunk. Agood exam­ will make your brain squirt in twin ple is 'Swarm', which sprays a new streams from both ears. coat of glitter on the traditional SF device of taking some cherished as­ Fred Saberhagen presides over Ber­ sumption (here, that intelligence has serker Base (VGSF, 316 pp., £3.99), ultimate survival value) and saying, billed as a collaborative novel but 'Oh yeah?' An adapted genetic su­ really a collection of shorts by six perman, bristling with smartness (or rather, all-ages) fantasy, this au­ other authors, bodged together in an and built-in weaponry, moves in to thor would constantly be breaking incredibly clunky narrative frame­ exploit dumb alien hive-creatures. them all: she seems to babble art­ work by Saberhagen himself. His Too late he learns that the Swarm has lessly and hilariously along, carried berserkers, spacegoing robot ene­ merely discarded intelligence as away by the flood of her own inven­ mies of all life, have become an SF being, like tactical nuclear weap­ tion, until suddenly every last plot myth which is somehow better than onry, too dangerous a tool to keep thread is gathered and tied in a dou­ any of the actual stories about around. . .. ble reverse Gordian knot. This story them. ... Of the contributors, Ste­ is slightly swamped by the inrush of phen Donaldson is quite surpris­ characters from Howl when the se­ ingly bad, Connie Willis scores for quel connection emerges near the writing the first funny story in this end, but still scores highly for anar­ saga — and Poul Anderson, Larry chic misuseof Arabian N ights props: Niven and Roger Zelazny all de­ djinns, bottled genies, magic carpets, velop the idea, long and carefully bazaars, polygamy, the lot. avoided by Saberhagen, that it To show Diana Wynne Jones in would nice to have a few implacable different vein, Mandarin have reis­ killer machines on our side. It passes sued three more (all £2.99). Her com­ the time. plex and allusive Fire and Hemlock points up the arbitrary nastiness of The obligatory graphic novel men­ faerie ways by echoing the tales of tion should be of Alan Moore's and Tam Lin and Thomas the Rhymer in David Lloyd's V for Vendetta (Titan, modem dress (it helps if you know £9.95), an early, very odd combina­ the ballads). The Homeward Bounders tion of extra vaga nt and often power­ is another powerful one with the ful effects with questionable logic — humour slightly subdued: it pictures rather like a sombre version of the the world and indeed the multiverse old TV Avengers, set in a blackly dys­ as a gameboard where unfortunates topian 1997-8. who get caught in the wrong hex can I had more graphic fantasy fun become 'discards', like the Flying with The Waste Land (Harper & Row Dutchman, the Wandering Jew, and US import), cartoonist Martin our hero. Hidden Turnings, edited by Rowson's weirdly brilliant pastiche Philip K. Dick's Beyond Lies the Wub Jones, is a collection of original of the T. S. Eliot poem seen as a pri­ (Grafton, 510 pp., £5.99) is the first of SF/fantasy which will doubtless sell vate-eye movie. The Holy Grail, for five books collecting all his short fic­ a million thanks to Terry Pratchett's example, equals the Maltese Falcon. tion, emerging at last in paperback story of a very sinister disco dancer, This makes no sense at all unless you with his own afterwords. These but has much other good stuff. remember a bit about both Eliot and twenty-five early works are surpris­ classic films like The Big Sleep.... It's ingly good value, but Dick's pat­ Also reissued in heaping handfuls is said that Penguin's forthcoming edi­ ented derangement really begins to Stanislaw Lem, Poland's Mr Science tion will be severely edited after flower in the twenty-seven stories of Fiction and self-confessed Master of legal complaints from the Eliot estate book two, Second Variety (ditto, 493

41 (ironic, considering how Eliot him­ there are too many words to be sus­ tually; the first is readable), but con­ self used to swipe material from all tained by the limp plot. You finish it gratulates himself in an afterword on over the place). Grab the import feeling not so much replete as how cleverly he's regurgitated his while you can. vaguely tired. own appalling drivel. Words words (Later note: the Penguin edition fail fail me me. was indeed hacked around. 'You Sequels and series and trilogies . . . can't use Phlebas the Phoenician/ in­ the saga continues. Fay Sampson's I'm always interested in weird stuff sisted the Eliot estate, so Rowson Black Smith’s Telling (Headline, on the outskirts of science. (Plug: The had to fall back on a character called 275 pp., £3.50) offers another dose of Skeptical Inquirer, the famous US mag Mike the Minoan. Likewise, a row of her alternative Arthuriad. Familiar which lambasts paranormal loonies, vessels seen in the British museum characters come to new and sinister now has a promising British counter­ had to be labelled 'vase', 'amphora' life when seen from half-sister part in The Skeptic — details from PO and so on, because the lawyers re­ Morgan's side. There are no swords Box 475, Manchester, M60 2TH.) fused to permit the original 'Jug jug in stones, but Modred is duly bom. Those wonderfully eclectic people of Pg jug jug'- ■ • •) This one is told by a smith who's a the Whole Earth Catalog have pub­ warlock of the Old Religion; as the lished a compendium of strangeness Critical Mass 3: magical rites described consist in The Fringes of Reason (Harmony chiefly of having it off at Sabbat or­ Books, 224 pp., $14.95). Words words tail fail me gies, I was never quite convinced It's all here. The jacket lists 'chan­ me that this easily suborned chap actu­ nelling, psychic powers, crystals, ally wielded all the power Morgan Bigfoot, shamanism, UFOs, perpet­ I write this at the height of our was supposed to be coveting. Nice ual motion, conspiracies, cults, flat heatwave. In my office, word proces- one, though. Earth, reincarnation, spontaneous sorsaremeltingand keyboards drip­ human combustion, dowsing, ping sluggishly groundwards. I've A non-review: Hyperion by Dan Sim­ prophecy, weird phenomena, astral lugged a computer down to the cel­ mons (Headline, 346 pp., £13.95) has projection, brain machines, livingdi­ lar of our collapsing Victorian home been hugely praised, but it's only nosaurs, hollow Earth, Atlantis, in order to type this in dank cool­ half of a fatSF novel. To avoid termi­ alien abductions' . . . and there's ness . . . but woodlice keep creeping nal dissatisfaction, I'm told, you more, much more, calculated to into the works. Any obscenities or must read straight on to the resolu­ make both True Believers and Nasty mentions of Piers Anthony should tion in part two, The Fall of Hyperion Rationalist Scientists froth at every be ascribed to insect infestation of — a work not even hinted at in this orifice. my disk drives. You have been edition. Naughty, naughty. I'll re­ The great thing about Whole warned. view thecomplete story when Head­ Earth publications is that they don't line sends the rest. merely summarize but give ad­ Lyonesse III: Madouc (Grafton, dresses and steer you to source ma­ 358 pp., £12.95) is the third book of a Tales from the Saragossa Manuscript by terial, be it never so daft. Read how leisurely pre-Arthurian fantasy se­ Jan Potocki (Deda lus European Clas­ to get Flat Earth News ('NO PROOF quence which shows Jack Vance's sics, 159 pp., £5.99j is also incom­ OF ANYKINDEXISTSTODAY1988 strengths and weaknesses in high re­ plete, but for good reason. There's for a Greese [sic] Ball whirling in lief. He can do you a nicely exotic actually a sequel to this 1814 oddity, space!'), join the Church of the Sub­ landscape; his pictures of magical but one that resolves nothing, as ex­ Genius (the ultimate cult, a hilarious doings are fascinating and menac­ plained in the learned introduction spoof... or is it?), or even 'Learn to ing; his whimsical names are lovely by fantasy knowledge master Brian project your astral body while driv­ (e g. a fairy retreat called Thripsey Stableford. These suave, witty Tales ing!!'. There's good coverageof scep­ Shee); a nd in close-up scenes, the po­ of probable ghosts and possible de­ tical counterattacks, too. litely ironic dialogue is always a mons suggest a dream-labyrinth Besides being a book to pillage treat. Vance does less well on the from which the narrator might never for oddball inspirations, it's enor­ wide screen: his picaresque ap­ escape. Going to sleep in carnal bliss mous fun to read. Incredibly, I actu­ proach is geared to jewelled inci­ usually leads to a nasty awakening ally bought this — by sending credit dents and elegant chat, not the epic amid decayed corpses under a gal­ card details to Fringes, Whole Earth sweep of war. lows. Could this have been one in­ Catalog, 27 Gate Five Road, Thus the world-shaking battles spiration for the entanglements of Sausalito, CA 94965, USA. here fall pretty flat, with even the Robert Irwin's The Arabian Night­ prose losing its usual fizz. Vance's mare? In Dougal Dixon's Man After Man: an descriptions of food are more heart­ Anthropology of the Future felt; here's a man who dreams not of A jaded reader recently said my re­ (Blandford, 128 pp., £14.95), the au­ glory but of seven-course oyster views had become repetitious. It's a thor of Life After Man turns his breakfasts. The changeling Princess fair cop, guv. Er, of course this re­ warped imagination from the 'lower Madouc's rebellion against stuffy flects the repetitiousness of the orders' to what Hom.sap., the lords of court tradition and search for her blasted books. The repetitiousness of creation, might become in a few mil­ parents are enjoyable — but in the the books. Of the books. Such as lion years. With illustrations. It's un­ best Vance plots (The Blue World, Piers Piers Anthony Anthony's truly easy stuff: natural selection is OK for Emphyrio, The Anome) the rebellious dreadful For Love of Evil (Grafton voles but is not supposed to happen youth goes on to change the world, Grafton, 318 pp., £3.99), in which he to people like you and me. Certain and Madouc never has the power or not only soggily rehashes the entire premises are debatable; still, this is opportunity for that. threadbare sequence of tawdry plots good nightmare material. Editor Every page of Madouc is comprising four previous 'Incarna­ Wayne insists that several appalling smoothly readable, but in the end tions of Immortality' books (five, ac­ examples of speculative human evo­

42 lution look just like famous games conditioned crypt of St Martin-in- self-awareness, with the break­ person Marcus L. Rowland, but per­ the-Fields ... a DIY sauna. All this through coming from the cruellest haps he's being a little unfair. See for helped me research the many brands and least expected angle. Messages yourself. of paracetamol which I'll be review­ crawl back from the robot probe out ing soon. at Centauri. The heroine, another Critical Mass 4: angel of a sort, is conducting a hope­ less multiple-murder investiga­ Seven languages at tion. . . . once Angels is a book full of doomed hopes which, by serendipity, lead to If there's anything more brain­ new breakthroughs and tiny victo­ numbing than several hundred SF ries. Unfortunately it's rather hard to fans at a British convention, it's sev­ get into, thanks to dense exposition eral thousand of them at the annual and determined futurespeak (inter­ world event. I'm writing in the nal monologues of 2047 are desper­ groan-laden aftermath of ConFic- ately short on commas, and several tion, the 48th World SF Convention items of slang take too long to make and the first in the Netherlands. sense). It's so easy to slip across that This was hugely enjoyable de­ fine line between hiding information spite shambolic programming. The in the narrative context and hiding it 'Worldcon' once resembled too well. But here there are many baseball's 'World Series', in that rewards. Nice one, Greg. 'World' is a delicate euphemism for 'USA'. Now, with the Iron Curtain in Eric (Gollancz, 126 pp, £7.99) is not tatters, it's gone cosmopolitan — so much another Discworld novel as pulling the crowds from Eastern Eu­ a brief Terry Pratchett romp — a ro peand further- flungplaces. Atthe Faustian travelogue which gives his all-night parties, you could hear regular cover artist Josh Kirby a seven languages at once. chance to run very slowly amok. I've Loneliest moment of ConFiction: Which reminds me of Brian Aldiss's liked Kirby's SF covers for more Brian Stableford realizing that every umpteenth official birthday party of years than I (or probably he) would other member of a 'hard SF' panel 1990 (he's 65fc thrown by his wife had defected, leaving him all alone Margaret in what seemed the posh­ (until his wife hauled in anunwilling est hotel in Holland. This makes it Langford). Most mysterious: the hard to be nasty to Bury My Heart at 'Pissed Fly' panel, whose members W. H. Smith's (Hodder, 221 pp., (including Bob Shaw) never found £13.95), a gentle autobiography that what the title meant — the organizer gives the effect of sitting in a bar who knew the secret went missing. listening to ebullient Aldiss anec­ Best bit for me: winning the only dotes — though not, alas, the really Hugo Award which didn't go to the scurrilous ones. It's been nastily and USA, and being congratulated by unfairly reviewed by newspaper vast USSR fans glowing withglasnost critics who seem incensed by his tak­ and Heineken. Rather than fill my ing pride in a lifetime of writing SF. space with Hugos, I've passed the Few British authors in any field have winners to GM/'s news pages. as much to be proud of. Coming Worldcons will be Chi­ cago 1991, Florida 1992 and San Greg Bear made it to ConFiction Francisco 1993. The last venue was from distant Seattle, neatly in time voted in Holland, beating the Ha­ for the British publication of Queen of waii counterbid which filled ConFic- Angels (Gollancz, 385 pp., £14.95). tion with eldritch shirts and This new Bear blockbuster is more helium-filled parrots ... all very sur­ thoughtful and, I think, successful real. Glasgow is bidding for 1995, but than the recent Eternity. Instead of so is Australia and only time will tell. gigantic, impossible technologies, he care to admit: twisted, organic One nice thing about these jam­ concentrates on a rigorously plausi­ shapes and strange lines of force, borees is the free booze from the ble Los Angeles of 2047... The City adorning long-forgotten book im­ book industry. During ConFiction, of Our Lady the Queen of the prints like Four Square. Here are theSF Writers of America hospitality Angels', as its full name translates. fourteen large-format, double-page room was sponsored by many pub­ Nanotechnology now allows ex­ pictures in his sumptuous lishers, including Gollancz and pensive designer bodies and a be­ Discworld style (sixteen, counting Games Workshop. In London just lievable approximation to title page and cover). Here in their beforehand, Grafton threw a birth­ psychiatric telepathy. The new vigi­ perverse Pratchett incarnations are day party for 70-year-old (and much lantes sentence their victims to com­ Death, Inca sacrifice, Odysseus, bulkier than his publicity pictures) puter-induced emotional torments Helen of Troy, Creation, Hell, the Ray Bradbury — launching his new which can bum you out in minutes. wizard Rincewind, and the dread book A Graveyard for Lunatics. After Artificial intelligences, sexless and Luggage. The mixture as before, the Worldcon, Orbit Books organ­ abstract as angels, fumble hopelessly with exuberant visual aids. ized a bash in the incredibly non-air- towards their programmed goal of Langford's Maxim for 1990 has been:

43 'In an increasingly science-fictional rejection note, from a publisher yond the deeps of The Farthest Shore. world, sanity can be preserved only who'd been sitting on it for more There's relatively little action, little by reading the odd non-SF book.' If than five years and had better remain magic: this book works in the areas you're worried about fundamental­ nameless (seven letters, starts with left unlit by the trilogy, such as how ism, the Rushdie affair and the idea G). What a whirlwind, go-ahead in­ magicians and kings look to subsis­ of getting prosecuted for rudeness dustry. tence farmers at the bottom of the about God, Allah orL. Ron Hubbard, heap, and why women seem ex­ read Blasphemy Ancient and Modern Further personal good cheer comes cluded from high magic. by Nicolas Walter (Rationalist Press from two absolutely spiffy antholo­ ('Weak/wicked as women's magic,' Association, 96 pp., £3.95). gies which I nervously can't bring people say.) Le Guin weaves some This offers a racy historical over­ myself to review, or even as yet read rich explanatory images,and cannily view of past persecutions for heresy, all the way through, because I'm in puts many of them into the mouth of blasphemy and profanity (the Span­ them: More Tales from the Forbidden an unreliably articulate witch-aunt: ish Inquisition was still offing people Planetedited by RozKaveney (Titan, there are no straight answers to the last century and wasn't actually large illustrated paperback, 268 pp., biggest questions, only parables. abolished until 1834), and examines £7.95), and Digital Dreams edited by When, in the end, some magical the chaos of British law today. David V. Barrett (NEL, 347 pp.). Buy action does happen, it's shockingly What's worse than merely havingan them, buy them. different from the previous books' absurd and divisive blasphemy law The Kaveney anthology is nicely tales of great deeds seen from a is enforcing it unequally. Technical packaged, with a cover by Moebius mage's viewpoint. The day is saved blasphemies crowd the history ofSF, and all fifteen authors and artists by a sort of deus ex machina (prefig­ fantasy and literature at large. If the given fair and equal billing on the ured earlier) which also suggests a law were uniformly applied, we'd back. The Barrett collection is good final, burning metaphor about plunge into a State control of litera­ value (twenty new stories by Brits women and men and the sources of ture more rigid than South Africa's. about computers), but compara­ power. Instead, blasphemies that don't tively irritating for contributors: Deceptively simple, quiet and annoy Mary Whitehouse go un­ only six 'famous' ones are credited passive, Tehanu leaves Earthsea scathed but Gay News is prosecuted. on the back, and only Terry Pratchett richer and darker than before. There Walter presents the case for on the front, to Terry's own vast dis­ is no safety. There is no end. The repealmentand reminds us of many pleasure. ... word must be heard in silence. There unsung heroes of free thought. One must be darkness to see the stars....' chap last century was jugged for plunging a courtroom into uproar Bob Shaw also more or less pulls it with appalling obscenities and in­ off in OrbitsvilleJudgement (Gollancz, deed blasphemies quoted from hardback, 281 pp., £13.95), rounding murky corners of . . . the Bible. up this sequence to a trilogy. Orbits­ Fundamentalists who believe the lit­ ville, a vast hollow habitat with some eral truth of its every word are sur­ 650 million times the living space of prisingly good at skipping awkward boring old Earth, was discovered in pages. Book One and threatened to soak up OK, you can stop skipping human expansion forever. At the cli­ now.... max of Book Two it vanished from the universe, perhaps carrying its in­ Critical Mass 5: numerable settlers to colonize an­ other. Book three tells us where it Good cheer and went. successful sequels Any attempt to outdo Book Two would, I feared, result in a story so The world of publishing is a constant sprawling and cosmic as to lose in­ source of surprises, most of them terest for ordinary mortals. To avoid roughly akin to having a masked this, Shaw hooks you with human psychopath erupt into your bath­ drama. Cruelly and humiliatingly room with a whirring chainsaw; fleeced by religious fanatics, the hero once in a while, though, something turns from a pleasant wimp (with pleasant happens. I wouldn't dream Billy Liar tendencies) into a nastily of plugging my 1988 parody collec­ Can you go back to a world whose driven instrument of revenge . . . tion The Dragonhiker's Guide to Battle­ story seems rounded and finished? which traps him into following the field Covenant at Dune's Edge: Odyssey Terrible disappointments may fol­ cult. What the fanatics want is trans­ Two (Drunken Dragon Press), but low when authors return to add an­ port to get off Orbitsville, which to can't resist revealing that its Spanish other sequel, especially after some their leader is clearly a Manichaean edition just arrived and is called . . . time: Asimov, Heinlein, Niven, Pohl, trap laid by the devil. He is, in a way, Guia del Dragonstopista Galactico al even Wolfe, all failed to recapture right. Campo de Batalla Estelar de Covenant the original spark. I was therefore Everybody, in fact, is both right en el Limitede Dune: Odisea Dos. Scrib­ nervous about Ursula Le Guin's and wrong. The major trap is a be­ ble tha t one i n the ph rasebook before Tehanu: the Last Book of Earthsea nevolent but (we learn) misguided your next trip to Benidorm. (Gollancz, 219 pp., £9.95). I needn't alien attempt at ecological conserva­ A much more typical surprise have been. tion — involving, for starters, twin was receivingan unexpected copy of The story follows the now mid- universes and a timespan of forty my UFO spoof book, plus a gloomy d le-aged Tena r (once Arha) from The billion years. The attempted escape Tombs of Atuan, and continues be­

44 proves less wise than staying Critical Mass 6: the bibliography, Playboys King in­ trapped. After meeting something Horror... and the terview, and Harlan Ellison gleefully far bigger than Orbitsville, the saner hurling buckets of ordure over just religious folk are confirmed in their Ultimate Evil about every movie version of a King beliefs, and the atheist hero in his. novel. This apart, the tone is pretty And finally, every thread is tied up As I write, Hallowe'en approaches adulatory. King's great virtues could more neatly than you'd believe pos­ and a terrible, surging, loathsome stand up to some criticism which sible. spawn of the damned is erupting goes beyond calling an occasional What drags you along and coun­ from nightmarish sewers and tombs minor story 'lightweight'. terpoints the large-scale action is the all around. ... In other words, a lot I personally reckon, for example, painful sight of the hero dehuma niz- of timely horror-related books are that The Stand is far too long, that its ing himself and heading for a sort of coming out. biological-Armageddon plot and its secular damnation. It's people and Perhaps the oddest is the nonfic­ post-holocaust fantasy quest belong not big numbers that make wide­ tion Fear Itself: The Horror Fiction of in separate books, and that the cli­ screen SF work. That said, I remain Stephen King (1976-1982) (Pan, max plunges into ludicrous bathos unhappy that the sunny but disturb­ 255 pp., £4.99). Without personally with the idea of God nuking the ing finale of the original Orbitsville is beingmuchofa horror buff, I can see forces of evil. Reissuing it in a ver­ invalidated by these sequels. It's a that King is a masterly technician sion 75,000 words longer seems a hell of a thing when the best ending who deserves most of his success. deeply weird notion. But the Com­ in your trilogy is in volume one. The mixed essays in Fear Itself panion retorts that The Stand is the shower obligatory praise on him; fans' number-one favourite (which Dedalus, my favourite small pub­ canny old Fritz Leiber provides is an eye-opener), and manages in lishers, continues to unearth eccen­ needed astringency by hurling buck­ the same section to imply a compar­ tric classics, or at any rate old books. ets of ordure all over Stanley ison of King with Mozart (which is Is there anyone alive today who Kubrick's adaptation of The Shining. dribble). could contemplate reading the end­ Beneath the surface of this book less tiny print of Eugene Sue's mon­ lies a story of real-life dread and hu­ SF fans are likely to approach the umental The Wandering ]ew (847 pp., miliation — rtf three horror fans new Arthur C. Clarke novel warily, £9.99)? Evidently Brian Stableford whose co-authored King bibliogra­ feeling that too many of his books could, since he provides a meaty in­ phy is (like everything else here) re­ have for too long been needless se­ troduction — not included in that printed untouched from the 1982 US quels, wonky collaborations, page count! — explaining that it was edition, along With a contact address strained attempts at Even Huger serialized in French newspapers so that millions of people can write Concepts ... or all three at once. In from 1844-5, contains 'the most and inform them about careless fact The Ghost from the Grand Banks spectacular example of an aborted omissions like every single King (Gollancz, 249 pp., £12.95) is a lively, climax in the entire history of popu­ novel and story for the last eight enjoyable performance, crammed lar fiction' (it was too popular to be years. with interesting things. let finish), and runs to over 500,000 Surely Pan should have updated The story centres on plans to raise words. Rather him than me. this list, or at least done a minute's the Titanic one century after it sank (Later note: the long sentence in scissors-and-paste work to spare its in 1912, a vague spirit of competition that paragraph was too much for the compilers the incredible embarrass­ being provided by separateand (per­ subeditors, who broke it into tiny ment of saying in print, in 1990, after haps implausibly) radically different little pieces and left me saying, quite thanking King for his extensive in­ projects for tackling the two sections unambiguously, that the introduction formation and help: 'It has been of the wreck. Some good, logical sur­ was half a million words long. No, stated that Richard Bachman is a prises emerge, while the narrative no, Brian wouldn't waste two whole pseudonym of Stephen King. This is churns with Clarke's own thoughts weeks on such ill-paid work....) not the case. . . . Stephen King has (some half-baked and some undi­ Here too is the somewhat more never used this name as a pseud­ gested) on developments to come in classic The Phantom of the Opera by onym.' Poor sods, standing there fractals, brothels, computers, glass­ Gaston Leroux (1910,385 pp., £6.99), with faces covered in egg. ware, cryonics, even old movies — issued in competition with a hard­ there's a wonderfully daft industry back now clogging the remainder Here's another King celebration devoted to the digital editing of shops — T told them not to do it,' (what is this, his centenary?) with an filthy old film-scenes which show confided Mr Stableford. And also, in exhaustive and exhausting bibliog­ people . .. smoking. the new series 'Decadence from raphy right up to 1990: The Stephen The Clarke world remains Dedalus', Octave Mirbeau's The Tor­ King Companion edited by George strangely bloodless and remote, as ture Garden (1898, 284 pp., £6.99) is Beahm (Macdonald, 365 pp., £13.95). though all the drama and emotion about what its title says, has some Far less dignified and 'literary' than were being observed at a chilly dis­ actual literary distinction, and the 1982 collection, this is largely a tance by his deep-sea probes hover­ should by no means be read before, book of trivia: blurbs and synopses, ing four kilometres down where the during or after meals. Not nice at all. reviews and interviews, fan club Titanic lies on the Grand Banks. More when my tummy settles data, fan mail, and so on down to Death, melodrama, insanity and sex­ down.... utter barrel-scrapings . . . self-pro­ ual oddities are all happening some­ motion from the blacksmith who where, but only a purely intellectual made wrought iron bats for King's excitement (tinged with melan­ house, a potted biography of some choly) gets through to the page. book dealer, an inane 'Rating Your­ Clarke knows his strengths, and self As A King Fan' quiz, etc. Ghost concentrates mainly on things More substantial pieces include he's good at. It would, however, be

45 hard to imagine an ending that Year.... that they vanish from Earth. Which would unify and justify all the spec­ is merely the beginning. ulative loose ends in the book. Critical Mass 7: Predictably unpredictable as Clarke merely pulls back his good ever, Watson proceeds by dizzy old temporal zoom-lens for a bit of Memory aids leaps to a finale haunted by solidify­ that familiar perspective-of-etemity ing memories of Hitler's rise to which ought to chill but through SF and fantasy authors pinch their power in a Munich which has turned long custom is really rather cosy. ideas from many places. Several up again on Mars. Enough said. In one place he's a bit naughty, have been inspired by Frances (Some of the metaphysics is reminis­ explaining the fractal ramifications Yates's wonderful The Art of Memory, cent of his 1979 Cod's World.) of the Mandelbrot Set with such care which everyone should read (this This is fine, far-out stuff, told by to keep it simple — by skating over means you): all about the weird and several female narrators in a variety the 'imaginary' numbers involved ancient discipline of using architec­ of styles from mystical tozappy. Part — that the explanation just doesn't ture as a memory aid, by imagining 2 is the most stylistically uncomfort­ explain. For enlightenment, turn to vast buildings and filling them with able, with a buttonholing, second- the boggling and profound The luridly memorable images. Strolling person narrative giving the feeling Emperor's New Mind by Roger Pen­ mentally through cluttered corri­ that this schizo young lady is talking rose (Vintage, 602 pp., £6.99), which dors, you are supposed to find again at you from about three inches' will almost painlessly Make You theobjects you mentally placed there range: you want to back a way. I will Think about today's real problems in and be reminded of detail after detail not mention the puns. maths, physics and artificial intelli­ by this threatening figure, that cup, It's vintage Watson and, like all gence. those ram's testicles (I don't know his best work, fills you with boggle- either, but that's what it says in the ment salted with occasional irrita­ 'A video tape is being sent by Evan­ original Latin treatise quoted by tion. gelists to schools nationwide warn­ Yates). (The engra ved-looking cover art, ing children not to celebrate John Crowley in Little, Big has his by Mike Litherland, is nice — Hallowe'en because they would be mage Ariel Hawksquill use the Art Gollancz is phasing out its ghastly "dabbling with the Devil",' reported for divination, on the believable and 'standard' jacket design, and not be­ The Independent on Sunday last Octo­ practical basis that the mnemonic fore time.) ber. images will change with time and I soon heard the inside story from provide short-cut access to what you Speaking of memory, some of the my own mole within Pandaemon- know only unconsciously (this is the lategreatPhilipK. Dick's best stories ium, the Great Parliament of Hell. It one aspect of the manipulations of about thought and reality appear in seems that Beelzebub started it all astrology, tarot, and so on which The Little Black Box (Gollancz, with a diabolically awkward en­ makes perfect sense to me). In 395 pp., £14.95). A personal favour­ quiry at Question Time: 'What steps Aegypt, Crowley showed the Art ite is The Electric Ant', whose hero does His Infernal Highness propose being used — as it was in real life — discovers to his dismay that not only to take about the shameful levity by Giordano Bruno, the Renaissance is he a machine, but his entire percep­ with which the Great Sabbat of hermetic philosopher. tion of the world is arriving not Hallowe'en is now regarded by the Gene Wolfe uses it, too: his amne­ through his senses but from a tape general public?' siac hero Latro struggles to provide unreeling in his chest (think about In his ensuing speech he pointed himself with an artificial, architec­ that, but not too hard). In 'We Can out with deep sarcasm that the dig­ tural memory in Soldier of Arete, and Remember It For You Wholesale', an nity of Hell was seriously ha rmed by the idea underlies that deceptively impoverished tourist visits Mars by snotty-nosed kids running round in cosy-seeming novel Peace, whose se­ purchasing not a trip but implanted plastic masks trying to cadge sweet­ crets unfold when you realize it's an memories of a trip, little knowing ies. Recruitment to Satanic worship ever-chillier tour through the decay­ that the implant technique will un­ had fallen off badly thanks to this ing House of Memory of a hero earth his real, erased memories of a unfortunate association with gig­ who's long dead when the book be­ top-secret mission to Mars, where­ gling cries of Trick or treat.' Not to gins. ... upon. ... Part of this story — though mention bleeding fantasy games, he Now Ian Watson has extrapo­ not much — was used as a peg on added. lated the Art along his own bizarre which to hang reels of movie action­ The massed daemonic ranks — trajectories, in The Flies of Memory adventure for Total Recall. who just like British politicians hate (Gollancz, 220 pp., £13.95). The alien All the MPs who voted in our being laughed at — hissed their ap­ 'Flies' don't use writing, but store new, restrictive Official Secrets Act proval. their knowledge in a group memory should be compelled to read the Replying on behalf of Ultimate based, once again, on architecture. most utopian story Dick ever wrote, Evil and the Foreign Office, Lord Having run out of places of their The Exit Door Leads In'. Moloch said that he had been work­ own to use as mental information As Thomas Disch indicates in the ing closely with his opposite number dumps, they visit Earth to upgrade introduction, PKD was a great prim­ in the Evangelical Alliance to ar­ their storage system by memorizing itive writer who handled astonish­ range a videotape campaign which all our architecture. Only there are ing material in an undistinguished would either restore the proper rev­ metaphysical complications. and sometimes downright clumsy erent regard for Hallowe'en or at The understructure of the uni­ style. The bright side is that he's al­ least succeed in making a lot of Evan­ verse, Watson suggests, is memory. ways accessible and never, except gelists look very silly. If you're in tune with it — well, when perhaps in Valis, intimidating. There was a standing ovation in humans interfere with the Flies' (Someone once told James Thurber Hell. memory tourism, buildings and cit­ that if he could d raw any better, he'd Meanwhile, Happy New ies can be forgotten so thoroughly be lousy.)

46 This completes the five-volume vously explains, 'Nobody expects us collection of all Dick's short fiction, a to find anything.' worthy project indeed. The others Only near the end does anyone are Beyond Lies the Wub, Second Vari­ stoop to the obvious by taking a sci­ ety, The Father-Thing and The Days of entific look at the Titan installation. Perky Pat. Grafton is doing the paper­ This machinery, based on technol­ backs. ogy far beyond our own, does in­ Arranging the hardbacks on the deed have a sinister purpose ... to shelf and looking at their spines, you wipe out the human race! What's see that the last two titles are annoy­ more, it's been doing it without ingly out of line and that Dick's pause for several millennia already. name is split over two lines in two Inscrutable, these alien johnnies, but different ways. This is a Nearly fortunately we saw through their Matched Set. But Gollancz has just plot just in time. acquired a new art director. An awful book. Still, I treasure the scientific insight whereby people Two more fat anthologies for short who've been modified to breathe story fans: Best New SF 4 edited by water notice that their submarine Gardner Dozois (Robinson, 598 pp., voices are 'a bit slower and deeper £6.99) and Best New Horror edited by shoes, Earthling industrialists! than normal'. Also lower in informa­ Stephen Jones and Ramsey Camp­ tion content, surely: not so much 'His bell (Robinson, 390 pp., £6.99). The I remember the NFT launch party for gill rate is getting critical!' (an actual SF collection, covering the best of Terry Pratchett's Moving Pictures line) as 'Glub, glub, glub.' 1989, is masterfully chosen and ex­ (Gollancz, 279 pp., £12.95). I defi­ cellent value at 1.17 pence per nitely remember there was wine. When is a fix-up not a fix-up? When crammed page. I'm sure the horror Lots of wine. No popcorn, but wine. it reads that way because several col­ volume (not so much my kind of Terry was there somewhere. So was laborators haven't managed to mesh thing) is a good selection, but why a lot more wfne. 'People don't want very well, as in Close Encounters? Sci­ does it cost over 50 per cent more per to listen to speeches at these things,' ence and Science Fiction by Roger page of fewer words? To pay for the said hero Gollancz editor Richard Lambourne, Michael Shallis and Mi­ foil on the jacket? Evans: 'We're here to get pissed.' I chael Shortland (Adam Hilger, remember I Agreed and had some 184 pp., no price visible). This is a Still speaking of memory.... wine. One flaw in the Art of Memory feeble book about the science in Boring old reviewers, such as my­ is that it doesn't seem to help at all SF ... no, in the central chapters it's self, like to go on about how they with locating bottles of paracetamol. a good essay about how SF movies have Read It All Before. This isn't so More, if I remember, next have presented or caricatured scien­ much a languid Oscar Wilde pose month.... tists . . . with digressions on any (There is only one thing worse than movie an author feels like mention­ having read it before, and that is ... Critical Mass 8: ing (sometimes two appear to dis­ not having read it before!') as an oc­ cuss the same film at length, cupational hazard. Fix-ups independently, in different chap­ Thus I opened Enchanted Pilgrim­ ters) . . . but then there's a random age by Clifford Simak (Mandarin, One of the seediest terms in SF criti­ dose of ecology stuff, and a weird 218 pp., £3.99), a routine-looking cism was invented by A. E. van Vogt: chapter on religion which gets quite fantasy quest with SF garnish, and 'fix-up', the result of bolting together alarmist about the possibility that about three-quarters of the way vaguely related short stories and Spielberg's ET might have the 'effect through found it was getting a shade calling them a novel. When the sto­ of undermining traditional religious too familiar. Where had I read before ries aren't particularly connected, thought'. Blimey. about a Lovecraftian 'Chaos Beast' you get the famous van Vogt effect This bittiness is not, as nasty re­ giving posthumous birth to a cute of thrilling, heady incoherence. But viewers might suspect, a mistake. robot? Yes, in Methuen's identical 'fix-up' also covers works of real ge­ The introduction says openly that 1985 paperback, not even hinted at nius like Keith Roberts's Pavane, so the book is not intended to offer any on this reprint's copyright page. it's not mere abuse. argument, reach any conclusion, or So, like most later Simak, Pilgrim­ As On a Darkling Plain by Ben form a unified whole. This diver­ age is inoffensive and forgettable, Bova (Mandarin, 189 pp., £3.99) is a sity ... is one of the qualitites [sic] just saved from oblivion by a few fix-up of the most irritating kind: an that distinguishes [sic] this book dotty ideas and a faint whiff of his unremarkable SF novelette inflated fromothers that havedealt with sim­ old Midwestern pastoral charm. To to book length with unrelated tales ilar subjects.' The result is a mass of find his best stuff, check original of exploration. The frame story is inoffensive writing with rambling, copyright dates for the period 1951 about these puzzling alien machines patchy SF coverage and a heavy (Time and Again) to 1965 (All Flesh is on the moon Titan (influence: The cinematic bias. Perhaps the authors Grass). From 1953 there's Ring Sentinel' by Arthur C. Clarke). What — all university lecturers — were Around the Sun (Mandarin, 205 pp., is their dark secret? In order not to tired of student essays crammed £3.50), a dated but still nifty tale of find out, Earth rushes a futile expe­ with boring old arguments and con­ magical science and economic attack dition into the high-pressure depths clusions. on poor old Earth. This diabolical of Jupiter (embarrassingly strong in­ assault takes the form of razor fluence: The Dragon in the Sea by Another kind of fix-up is the Art Pot­ blades, light bulbs, cars, etc., that Frank Herbert) and another to, of all boiler, containing heaps of unrelated never wear out. Tremble in your places, Sirius. As someone ner­ jacket pictures strung together with

47 tongue-in-cheek narrative. Chris image problems. Warhammer 40,000: Larry Niven and Steven Barnes (Pan, Foss's Diary of a Spaceperson (Paper Inquisitorby Ian Watson (GW Books, 340 pp., £4.50) presumably came as Tiger, 143 pp., £16.95) is the usual 246 pp., £4.99) has a bold and legible the first major treat of 1991. For mere travelogue, described as a 'sensual silver-foil title on the cover. The interested spectators (me) it's still a and spiritual odyssey'. 'Sensual' in­ jacket artwork remains terrible, but pretty good read. dicates that the heroine enjoys many less so than on earlier titles. The book follows the general pat­ a tasteful bonk with all sexes and Ian Watson is a brave man. Not tern of their earlier Dream Park, with species, 'spiritual' that she has dope­ only does he put his own name on minor links to the same authors' thin dreams to justify the weirder paint­ this thing, but he's evidently read a 11 little technothriller The Descent ofAn- ings in the Foss studio.... the Warhammer 40K rules: Inquisitor ansi. Dream Park is the ultimate in It looks terrific: PaperTigePs pro­ is conscientiously larded with stuff live-action game environments, with duction is always superb, though I about Genestealers, warps, demons, holographic effects and a vast sup­ wearied of their hard-to-read assassins, kinky deformities ... even porting technology like an extrapo­ 'handwritten' typeface (the text is a cute dwarf. Weighted down by lated Disneyland. Once again a game skippable). Chris 'Enormous Ma­ this, the great innovator of British SF is in progress, with twists: the fan­ chinery With Windows' Foss has a tells a galaxy-spanning but remark­ tasy background is unusual (Es­ distinctive airbrushed style which ably ordi na ry tale, reminiscen t of t he kimo) and the purpose partly gives his big set-pieces an overall early Moorcock on a bad day. It's the 'educational' (a lose-weight game unity, no matter how inconsistent start of a trilogy. for fatties). Once again there's huge their details might be. Meanwhile, I tactfully asked the author how intrigue behind the scenes: crimes Chris 'I Also Illustrated The joy Of he regarded Inquisitor, and he eva­ and machinations and an alternate Sex' Foss contributes mildly raunchy sively replied that it was very much use of Dream Park for planetarium­ pencil drawings ... no hard porn, the SF book he'd wanted to read style presentation of an ambitious but a nipple count in the mid-eight­ when he was fifteen. If you're a dod­ 'real world' Mars program, as per ies. dering sixteen-year-old or even title. You keep turning the pages. With its severely technophilic more senile than that, you have been Yes, it's solid and well-re­ cover, this should do well with frus­ warned. searched SF, a nifty read if taken at trated SF fans too embarrassed to be face value. But when you pause to seen reading Playboy or Knave. In brief.... think, there are niggles. One whole Guardians of our morals will not ap­ Arthur C. Clarke struck dread narrative thread lacks tension be­ prove. into my heart with a 'sensational cause, no matter how well told, it's new first chapter7 for his little classic still just people play ing a game. Then It's always cheering to find a new Childhood's End (Pan, 200 pp, £3.99). consider Disneyland, which turns a British writer. Jenny Jones's Fly By I was afraid he'd spoil the bloom, but profiton itsinwchcheaperand lower- Night (Headline, 499 pp., £4.99) is a the update amounts to two rewritten tech sideshows only by processing promising debut, a good gloomy pages at the start. . . . Later in the umpteen thousand visitors a day: fantasy that builds on an old SF met­ same chapter, although this is sup­ here a party of ten gamers is monop­ aphor about immortality and steril­ posed to be the twenty-first century, olizing vast resources for days on ity to produce quite a new feel. the technology is stilPelectron tubes' end, and whatever they paid it It begins conventionally enough, (valves). This remains the one book wasn't enough. (There's some feeble with the traditional importation where Clarke's mysticism really attempt at justifying this by saying from our 'real' world of a useless- works and leaves no loose ends. the whole thing will later be pack­ seeming saviour (Eleanor) who isn't In a anthology n6t yet released aged for domestic video sales. Ho much of a person but is clearly des­ over here, Isaac Asimov is honoured hum.) tined to grow and to end the un­ by SF pals and admirers: It is also irritating that no argu­ changing stasis that freezes the twilit Foundation's Friends (Tor, 464 pp., ment against the authors' much­ fantasy domain. Jones then conscien­ $4.95). These stories set in Asimov's loved but fantastically expensive tiously tangles the often too-simple universes contain a lot of routine space project is even expressed . . . issues of good and evil. Most people pastiche (like Poul Anderson setting and worrying that Dream Park re­ on the 'wrong7 side are likeable, per­ up a la ws-of-robotics quibble too fin­ sources are used extra-legally to give haps just a little selfish: contrast icky even for Asimov to have used), the villain an unpleasant and fatal Western civilization and the suffer­ but there are gems. In particular come-uppance. There would not be ing Third World. The moon-goddess there is Orson Scott Card, an author that much moral difference if the on the 'right' side destroys an inno­ I've never much liked in the past, book's President of the USA fa­ cent bystander in a shockingly gratu­ whose The Originist' could well be voured policies which would lead to itous way, merely to underline her the best Foundation/Empire story closing down Dream Park and/or authority. Few characters are certain ever written. the space program, and the 'good that they're doing the right thing, or Perhaps I've softened towards guys' responded by democratically that it will lead to the right end. 'shared world anthologies' since assassinating him. This being a first novel, there are writing some stories for new British In the main, Niven and Barnes are several minor flaws, mainly stylistic ventures. I'll tell you more next time. writing enjoyable wish-fulfilment. — like the overused word 'exigent', (I didn't, though. I forgot.) Ignore the propaganda, remember a Stephen Donaldson favourite. But the glad fact that California n SF writ­ it kept me reading and, despiteopen­ Critical Mass 9: ers have little if any real political ing a trilogy, came to a satisfying power, and you can't help liking it. conclusion. Dream parks There's always another book about I must admit that Games Workshop For role-playing gamers, the afford­ the famous Inklings group (princi­ have sorted out some of their books' able edition of The Barsoom Project by pally Tolkien, C. S. Lewis and

48 Charles Williams): the latest is The about its own philosophical stand­ of quests, Dark Lords, cute nonhu­ Magical World of the Inklings by Gar­ point. (Too occult to be revealed, man races and (for the most part) eth Knight (Element, 258 pp., £9.99). maybe.) Of all the books about the archaic syntax. Perhaps, as the series Knight seems to want to put the cre­ Inklings, this must be the most dis­ continues, Green will add more col­ ations of these very Christian au­ pensable. our to the proseand flesh to thechar- thors into a broader, vaguer context acters: his opening in particular has of occult tradition and ceremonial Also on the mystical side is The Bruce a schematic feel, and the story im­ magic, but he makes so little effort to Pennington Portfolio (Paper Tiger, 28 proves further on. (I could also do organize his material that nothing plates, £9.95)... which might sound with less of the clashing blades and much comes of it. expensive, but really if s 28 paintings people carving paths through The book consists chiefly of wea­ on individual 42 x 29 cm sheets of crowds, but that's just me.) Good risome plot summaries — of all heavy paper, suitable for framing if marks for incidental invention, such Lewis's and Williams's fiction, the you can bear to cut up the book. as the city's eccentric lesser gods. Silniarillion, and the non-fictional (Though if you ca n bea r to cut up a ny (Later note: re-reading the above, I works of Owen Barfield (with which book, I do not wish to know you.) it looks as though I liked Green's I'm not familiar). From time to time There is also a brief introduction empty little entertainment more I Knight waxes enthusiastic about which scatters a few biographical de­ than the Niven/Barnes block­ random occult connections. He reels tails but neglects to say anything buster . . . which isn't really true. in amazement that the very widely about the actual choice of paintings. Green simply offers nothing much to read Lewis should have quoted Most are SF and fantasy book quarrel with, while Niven and some snippet of esoteric lore in That covers from the 1970s, omitting the Barnes offer lots.) Hideous Strength. He later suggests famous cover art of Dune. 1980sspec- that Tolkien, to create his worlds, imens include two — not, alas, all Not many books can really 'change simply must have had 'imaginative four — of the splendid architectural your life', but if you happen to be access to the record on the subtle covers done for The Book of the terrified of numbers and statistics, I ethers of all that has ever happened'. New Sun', and some weirdly evoca­ do recommend Innumeracy: Mathe­ This sounds deeply patronizing, like tive pictures from Pennington's re­ matical Illiteracy and its Consequences Erich von Daniken explaining that cent and more private work. Exotic, by John Allen Paulos (Penguin, our 'primitive' ancestors could never fluorescent colours predominate. 135 pp., £3.99). It's easy reading, have invented anything without Heady stuff. with many examples of how shock­ alien assistance. Matching portfolios in the series horror figures should be taken with The low point is a straight-faced feature Jim Bums, Chris Foss and a pinch of mathematical salt. One transcript of what you might call Rodney Matthews. case discussed is the media sensation role-playing or group therapy a few years back about the much- (Knight calls it High Magic), with Here by way of light relief is a hard­ publicized statistic that 28 young punters acting out a visit to Tolkien's bitten fantasy police thriller in a se­ D&D players had .. . committed sui­ western isles and undergoing much ries by Simon R. Green, a new British cide! dire spiritual uplift: no swordplay or author: Devil Take the Hindmost Alarming? Listen to Paulos: such vulgar stuff, but heavy elvish (Headline, 201 pp., £3.50). Hawk There are estimates that up to 3 mil­ insights like, 'I get the feeling they (he) and Fisher (she) are tough city lion teenagers played it. Second, in think our time oriented existence is cops, I mean Guard Captains. 'Peo­ that age group the annual [US] sui­ pretty weird.' Here Knight drones ple tended to be very law-abiding cide rate is approximately 12 per on about healing and regeneration when Hawk and Fisher were 100,000. These two facts together without addressing the possibility around.' There is a crooked election suggest that the number of teenage that Tolkien, as a Catholic, would coming up. And they have to protect "Dungeons and Dragons" players have liked to kick the participants' the nicest of the candidates from a who could be expected to commit bottoms and advise them to go to sticky end. With mercenaries, magic, suicide is about 360!' church for that kind of thing. abominable gods and household I don't remember any I mustconfessa lackof sympathy traitors to contend with. Often in fundamentalist/media scare about for writing that can't describe a short sentence fragments. Like this. the statistic implied by these (doubt­ minor coincidence without adding Sounds like trouble.... less incomplete) figures: that teenag­ that it was 'perhaps by a divine or It's fairly routine stuff, but the ers were nearly twelve times more occultly inspired synchronicity', and plot thickens enough to give it inter­ likely to commit suicide if they didn't f which remains so consistently foggy est, and I can guarantee an absence play D&D.... \ n — Dave Langford, February 1991 \

49 ROGER WEDDALL who is a famous Melbourne fannish personality and social butterfly who is not currently running a convention or publishing a newszine, although he is still a member of ANZAPA. ELAINE COCHRANE is married to the editor (and even lives in the same house), leaving this magazine open to the usual charges of nepotism and cronyism that keep fandom the bright, happy family we all know and love. I can live with this. What gripes me is that Elaine writes much better than I do. I introduced WYNNE WHITEFORD earlier in this issue, but failed to mention that although he is nowhere near twice as old as I am, he does have twice the energy. Occasionally GREG HILLS is seen separated from his computer, which is the publication powerhouse of Thyme magazine. Greg has made himself into an expert in Wordperfect 5.1, and is willing to offer advice and accept payment for his expertise. I've introduced ROS GROSS elsewhere in this issue.

Roger Weddall ❖ Michael J. Tolley ❖ Elaine Cochrane ❖ Wynne Whiteford ❖ Greg Hills ❖ Roslyn Gross

CRITICANTO

the human dilemma: what is it to live Keats's love was a woman named KEATS AND SIMMONS and die; to love; and to suffer? Fanny Brawne, and 'Lamia' was a It is an ironic work, too, in that poem of his in which, refusing to while sf is often said to be the 'liter­ pass judgement on human behavi­ ature of ideas' there is essentially our, Keats, spent time 'trying to dis­ Roger Weddall reviews nothing new here in the way of ideas, cuss with himself what life was nor even perhaps in the way of plot really like' (Robert Gittings, John HYPERION or theme. What is new, and interest­ Keats' Poems). In Simmons's novel by Dan Simmons ing to look at, is how Dan Simmons the lover of the Keats persona is one has taken the poetry and much detail Brawne Lamia who, coincidentally, Headline 0 7472 0243 5; 1989; of the life of John Keats and used brings into question what human 346 pp.; £7.99/A$19.95 these as his raw ffiaterials in much behaviour and life are really like. the same way as a tarot reader might There are countless other exam­ THE FALL OF HYPERION use a tarot deck of cards to give a ples; indeed, the novel is made up of by Dan Simmons reading. The critical question here them. As a tribute to Keats, as a pas­ might be whether he has used the tiche of his work or a sort of literary Headline 0 7472 7964 0; 1991; material, or simply rearranged it. puzzle, Dan Simmons's work is an 468 pp.; A$34.95 The first clue for the unsuspect­ impressive achievement. To this re­ ing reader is that the titles of viewer it seems a pity that a better (This reviewed appeared first in Simmons's two novels are the titles book, or books, haven't resulted Ethel the Aardvark, No. 38, September of two long poems by Keats — both from the effort. 1991.) of which were left unfinished, and Paradoxically, it is when Dan the latter of which was published Simmons is most removed from the The first this reviewer heard of posthumously. The closing lines of shadow of Keats that he is both at his Hyperion was words of highest both versions of The Fall of Hyperion worst and his best. In what this re­ praise: 'magnificently original'; are the same. viewer found to be a most distract­ 'masterfully employing sf's It doesn't matter where one ing narrative device, the novel potential'; and 'one of the finest sf looks, or how deeply, there are ech­ Hyperion begins with seven strang­ novels' were some of the phrases oes of Keats — his life and works — ers brought together to be sent on a bandied about Since these words to be found aplenty. A good example pilgrimage, during which they swap were uttered, the novel has gone on of Simmons's literary gamesman­ Canterbury tales with each other. to win awards, and its proclaimed ship is that, as in the case of Keats's There is no real reason for them hav­ sequel The Fall of Hyperion has also poem, Hyperion the novel does not ing been thus assembled, it turns out, attracted much favourable commen­ 'end' (it being the first half of the other than to give the author the tary. Leaving aside for a moment the larger work), while The Fall of Hyper­ chance to spin a few good yarns. Of question of how justified the acclaim ion the novel is completed or course there is a tie-in to Keats's has been, one thing that can be stated 'published' only after the death of work, some of which had Chaucer as with confidence is that this work — the computer-created persona of its subject. the pair of books — is an ambitious John Keats who is — appropriately The novel gives much import­ one. Few enough science fiction nov­ enough — the heart and soul of the ance to the pilgrimage, which sends els (how many can you think of?) work. the main characters to confront the attempt to address the question of Another example: in real life, Shrike, a religious and possibly

50 mythical figure. Sadly, and far too instance, has been all but hunted many hundred pages later, it is es­ TOO DIFFERENT BY HALF downand killed.Theupperhouseof tablished that the Shrike is neither the British parliament has been re­ mythical nor a religious figure. It is a placed by a chamber filled with Plot Device. A fairly nasty Plot De­ those granted 'merit lordships' — a vice, to be sure, which wanders mys­ Roger Weddall reviews cross between an old-boys' club and teriously from place to place, a Thatcherite fantasy, for those who eviscerating citizens as required by THE DIFFERENCE ENGINE really 'deserve to rule'. the dictates of the story. In the end, by William Gibson Given that the middle of the nine­ since it must be done away with, it is and Bruce Sterling teenth century was such a time of done away with by even better (if social and economic upheaval — slightly more cliched deus ex machina Gollancz 0 575 05073 X; 1990; such an interesting time, as the Chi­ — a person who Suddenly Develops 383 pp.; £7.99 tpb/A$23.95 nese would say — the reader might a Superpower (or was it there all think that, with a few science fic­ along?). It is meant to suggest the Suddenly it seems all the rage for tional touches, the authors could miraculous potential of the human people to share their fictional cre­ hardly put a foot wrong in creating a race but, displayed without ade­ ations around. There are sequels and plausible alternative world. quate preparation, it comes across as prequels to famous novels, written Certainly, for much of the book a fix-it solution to the problems of 'in partnership'; there are even the authors avoid tedious explana­ the plot. shared universes and shared charac­ tions of how everything is different Simply put, the framework Sim­ ters. Just how much more sociable, from the world we know. More is the mons puts into place to hold his re­ one wonders, can the science fiction pity, then, that toward the novel's casting of Keats's work writing community become? end this admirable self-restraint is conspicuously doesn't measure up, How much of this phenomenon forgotten. The authors offer, under and the reader who expects a resolu­ is market driven? It's anyone's guess the pretentious chapter heading tion of the plot(s) may feel cheated. who wants what more: the publish­ 'Modus: The Images Tabled', an odd Similarly, in this epic space opera the ers to deliver a conveyor-belt diet of mixture of pamphlets, poetry and characters are all drawn on the grand the safe and tWe known, or the read­ private reminiscences to provide in­ scale. As part of a fast-paced action­ ing public to consume the same, a formation that the reader should adventure story they are adequate, commodity that is familiar yet know. It seems that Gibson and Ster­ but at times when Simmons focuses slightly different. ling have become too caught up in on the people themselves and what One thing ftat is not open to de­ their imagined milieu to judge droves them to love or betray or per­ bate is that both William Gibson and where the demands of the story severe, they are uniformly found Bruce Sterling are popular authors, should take precedence over the de­ wanting. Moments of what are each for a different variety of fasci­ tails of the background. clearly meant to be great sacrifice or nating if somewhat sensationalized This is the conflict on which the tragedy are cruelly reduced to the cyberpunk fiction. Surely a collabo­ novel founders. Perhaps it arises be­ level of farce because the reader has ration between these two sf luminar­ cause there are two authors, not one. been given no reason to identify with ies would be a wonderful thing to There's no obvious conflict between the suffering of the characters. see? authors in controlling the plot. The If Simmons at his worst is plot Maybe. If 'cyberpunk' is the sort conflict goes much deeper: are we devices, cardboard characterization of fiction that features grotty, gritty, reading a novel about the birth of the and lots of pretentious stuff about inter-city settings, high-tech gadg­ communist movement, as it strug­ the place of the poet/writer in soci­ etry and a certain punk, street-wise gles to topple the existing social ety, at his best he is an extremely attitude shown by the characters, order, or are we reading a simple competent writer of slick detective Gibson and Sterling have succeeded series of sketches about an imagined fiction, with a good sense of how to in writing a cyberpunk novel, set in alternative Victorian era? pace a story. Several of his pilgrims' the nineteenth century, no less. This The problem with reading The tales are well spun, even enthralling, should be enough to please most of Difference Engine as a series of and when he isn't constrained by the their devotees. sketches is that the reader is con­ need to dovetail all his vast BigStory However, for the casual reader, stantly being urged to regard it as a plot ends, he's a pleasure to read interested in reading an interesting novel. The work is broken into five (which isn't something to be said for well-plotted novel and not caring 'iterations', and each begins with a too many authors). I'll be looking whether or not the hero wears fairly stilted description of a static around for his shorter fiction. In the mirrorshades, will this be enough? image. Consider how The Difference meantime I can recommend Hyper­ The Difference Engine is set for the Engine begins: ion and The Fall of Hyperion together most part in Victorian England in the as one of the most interesting, ambi­ year 1855 in a world in which, some Composite image, optically en­ tious failures in the field of science thirty years earlier, Charles Babbage coded by escort-craft of the fiction. did not just theorize about the cre­ trans-Channel airship Lortd ation of an 'analytical engine' (early Brunel: aerial view of suburban computer) but actually built one, Cherbourg, 14 October 1905. driven by steam rather than electric­ A villa, a garden, a balcony. ity. Erase the balcony's Since then, there have been, as wrought-iron curves, exposing they say, developments. The indus­ a bath chair and its occu­ trial revolution is in full swing. Polit­ pant. ... ical changes have come fast and thick The hereditary upper class, for Although each 'iteration' begins

51 with a similarly clumsy start, it soon Most of the other characters are On the long drive from Atlanta to becomes clear that the book itself collections of attibutes: the femme Colorado, Libby repeatedly and em­ tells a story of some intrigue. Is this fatal, distant but impossible naive; barrassingly asks Bo why he is ho­ a novel, or a collection of linked sto­ the southern-county Englishman, mosexual. She does not see that her ries? The problem is that each story stolid, bumbling, shy; the case-har­ painfully conscious attempt at toler­ ends as summarily as it begins. dened copper. They are linked by ance amounts to a rejection of Bo's In the first 'iteration' a London their slightly metaphysical bent, so sexuality. I squirmed in guilty iden­ prostitute is caught up in a web of that at random they theorize on the tification. political intrigue that uproots her existence or otherwise of an All-See­ Bo himself has a stereotypical from her lodgings, kills her boy- ing Eye. verbal agility and creative flair. The friend-cum-customer, and showers You should enjoy The Difference name Beaumont alone would cause her with an unlikely fortune. But will Engine if you don't look too hard at him problems in some circles. she get away in one piece from the the use of new technologies, you ig­ Bishop has deliberately chosen these man who might kill her to regain this nore the parade of famous names, cliche characteristics — and then fortune? and try not to regret that the whole shows that these surface features are novel doesn't follow the fortunes of irrelevant to the real and complex Justification of background de­ Sybil Gerard. Borrow this from your man. tail ... [of a] surreptitiously library rather than buy it. I found my expectations were daguerrotyped image . . . [re­ continually being undercut as I read. veals the two characters very Bishop's characters are complex — close to one another, unaware they irritateand misunderstand each of each other's presence]. OF UNICORNS AND AIDS other and themselves; they misinter­ She is Sybil Gerard. pret events around them; they re­ He is Samuel Houston. main silent when it is painfully Their paths diverge forever. Elaine Cochrane reviews necessary for them to explain them­ selves —in other words, they behave Some of the writing in this book UNICORN MOUNTAIN like real people. is extremely precious, none more so by Michael Bishop The unicorns' illness parallels than the sentences devoted to the Bo's own. Bo himself says they are progressive evolution of the world's Arbor House/Morrow suffering from a kind of equine first artificial intelligence. I find it ISBN 0 87795 953 6,1988; AIDS. There is a subtly conveyed hard to understand why this plot $US18.95 hb, 367 pp. feeling, never stated by any of the albatross had to be introduced in the characters, that if they can save the first place, as it adds nothing rele­ When Libby Quarrel's worthless ex­ unicorns they can save Bo. It is one vant or interesting to the book. One husband tells her that his cousin of the strengths of this book that, can almost imagine the publisher's Beaumont is in Atlanta, dying of amidst the fantasy, the only miracle editor arguing that every cyberpunk AIDS and rejected by his family, that Bishop offers is the unicorns novel must have an artificial intelli­ Libby scrapes together the money to themselves. gence in it. go and fetch him lAnie to her strug­ What is harder to imagine is ei­ gling Colorado ranch. ther William Gibson or Bruce Ster­ She is worried, about the finan­ ling being willing to take credit for cial burden, about whether she can NUMBNESS the following lines, which close the provide adequatezcare, about the book: medical services available in the nearest town. Elaine Cochrane reviews Dying to be bom. In particular, she is worried The light is strong, about the impactofa stranger on the THE M.D.: A HORROR STORY The light is clear; secret of the Tipsy Q. Every winter, by Thomas M. Disch The Eye [Al] at last must see to the wonder and delight of Libby itself and her hired help, Sam Coldpony, a Knopf 0 394 58662 X, Myself.. . small number of unicorns have mi­ New York, 1991; I see: grated to the ranch. Each year there $US22, $Can29, SA30.95, 401 pp. I see, have been more, but the uni coms are I see side pitifully thin, with sores and When Sister Symphorosa tells her I bloody nasal discharges. A few have kindergarten class that there is no ! died, and their bodies vanish back Santa Claus, Billy Michaels throws a into the world from which they have tantrum. For Billy has seen Santa Who needs to write an unfavour­ come. Claus, and for him to deny this able review of the book, with prose Sam Coldpony, self-exiled from would be blasphemy. like that to recommend it? the Muache Ute community, be­ After Billy has heard the same The characters of The Difference lieves the unicoms are sacred crea­ thing from his father, Santa Claus Engine are an oddly mixed lot. The tures, sent by the Holy He-She. His appears to him in a different guise. 'dollymop' Sybil, already men­ care for them is a sacred duty, holy He is no longer the jolly fat man in a tioned, is portrayed well enough for of itself. He hopes forlornly he will red suit, but the god Mercury, '[t]he the reader to empathize with her in be rewarded by reconciliation with god of thieves and criminals, but also her dilemma: should she leave her the daughter he deserted in infancy; the god of doctors and of business­ comfortable enough life for an un­ he does not dare hope to be freed men.' Mercury gives Billy a cadu- certain shot at a better life? She is a from the vengeful spirit of his dead ceus, and the power to use the strong character with frailties, a bold wife. caduceus to perform magic. but frightened person.

52 Billy is wa rned that he cannot use power, Michaels has to inflict harm. little character behind the names be­ the caduceus to undo any spell that Eventually he learns to remain re­ fore, and no development of charac­ he has cast, and that the power of the mote from the hurt he causes by ter after, the impact. caduceus grows with use. He is also choosing victims who are, and will Mona is sixteen, a prostitute and told that he cannot use the caduceus remain, anonymous to him. They are drug addict, who happens to resem­ to kill directly, although it can be also anonymous and remote from ble Angie, star of the virtual reality used to impart fatal diseases. Mer­ the reader. The statistics are horrible, entertainments called simstims. cury has said he doesn't concern as are the statistics of Tien An Men There is Kumiko, teenage daughter himself with 'bad' and 'good', but Square, Ethiopia, Dachau. A feeling of a yakuza boss, and Slick Henry, Billy soon learns that the power of horror comes not from statistics, who builds giant robots in an indus­ grows only when it is used to inflict but from the image of the lone man trial wasteland. Various other names deliberate harm. Attempts to do standing in front of a tank, of the attach to otheracti vities, like hacking good weaken it, even when they baby with blank eyes at a dry breast, into cyberspace, which seems to be a backfire horribly. And Billy's spells of living skeletons. The real horror cross between a do-it-yourself vir­ do have a habit of backfiring, and of may be the ability of the human tual reality and a world-wide com­ working on the wrong victim. mind to distance itself from the evil puter network. Billy's tantrum showed a child that people can and do inflict on each The reason for the impact is that who rejected what he did not want other, but it is an abstract horror, not various names have information to hear. This does not change, and as a horror that is felt. about other names. We all know that he gets older, Billy becomes skilled In the heart of his medical em­ knowledge is power, and that people in using the caduceus to punish pire, Dr Michaels listens to a CD of — even dead ones — will kill for those who make his life uncomfort­ Scott Ross playing Scarlatti sonatas. power, don't we? Two hundred and able in any way. Even here, though, the death from fifty pages is a fairly slim book, but At times Billy regrets his actions, AIDS of this brilliant musician is a the plot of Mona Lisa Overdrive is but he is unwilling to give up his loss I feel intellectually. There is no more slender still. power. He must keep using it to do suffering the music of Scott Ross: Gibson can write readable prose; harm if he is to be able to use it to do while I regret.his death, it does not it's a pity he doesn't put it to better good. The way to avoid facing the have the emofional impact on me of, purpose. consequences is to choose more and for example, the much-reproduced more anonymous victims. Eventu­ photograph of a haggard young man ally, Doctor William Michaels is con­ in a wheelchair at an early AIDS con­ cerned just with power for its own ference in San Francisco, or the rictus EATING CROCODILES sake. In his own words, 'It is the of a Romanian baby. Disch tells us CAN BE FUN oldest irony of the medical profes­ that people are suffering and dying, sion that physicians seem to profit but he does not make us feel it. from other people's misfortunes.' Other aspects of the book irritate. Elaine Cochrane reviews As always, Disch's writing is Take the messages from the dead: witty, lucid, a joy to read. I romped their content serves a purpose in the BLUE MOON RISING through this book, and it is only on plot, but the existence of the mes­ by Simon Green going back to certain passages to sages introduces a stray and irrele­ write this review that the care with vant complication. There are VGSF 0 575 05136 1,1991; which it is constructed became ap­ medical 'explanations' at the end, £7.99 tr pb, 448 pp. parent. And yet, to me at least, it is which do not explain all and so cre­ an unsatisfactory novel, and does ate loose ends rather than tie them Some years ago I read an essay by not live up to its description as a off. Above all, however, is the disap­ Edmund Wilson in which he demon­ horror story. Certainly it describes pointment that I, for one, just didn't strated ruthlessly just how ridicu­ horrible events, and the character of care what happened to anyone in the lous Hemingway's To Have and Have William Michaels becomes abhor­ book. Not was. I read the essay, agreed rent, but neither the events nor the with every point, but at the end I character evoked a feeling of horror. decided it did not matter: I'd enjoyed They did not evoke much feeling at SLIMMER STILL the book. all. Mercury says to Michaels: I do not need a Wilson to point '. . . [Y]ou've simply grown numb. out the many problems in Green's It's an occupational hazard. Over the book. The passage of time is handled years most doctors become more Elaine Cochrane reviews awkwardly and too often the writing cold-blooded than generals.' This degenerates into cliche the motives numbness is the real horror, but the MONA LISA OVERDRIVE of both goodies and baddies are im­ reader shares it instead of recoiling by William Gibson plausibly simple; the plot develops from it. fairly predictably; the nasty beasties The problem is one of scale. Wil­ Gollancz 0 575 04020 3,1988; have impossible predator/prey ra­ liam Michaels' moral decay takes £10.95 hb, 251 pp. tios; the heroine is that new stereo­ place over a span of thirty years. At type, a dolt who hits first and asks intervals his life is sampled, demon­ Mona Lisa Overdrive is a pastiche of questions later (why does a strong strating his steadily deteriorating names which impinge upon each woman have to be an aggressive moral state. In this it is effective, but other briefly and more or less acci­ woman?); the hero is the new stereo­ it does not allow the reader to de­ dentally. After the impact the survi­ type Sensitive Male who prefers not velop any sort of feeling for the char­ vors continue with their lives. True, to kill his dragon and who doesn't acter. some of the names continue in mind that his princess isn't a virgin. And the events? To maintain his changed circumstances, but there is And yet... I like the book. When

53 Green can escape thecliches the writ­ With Kadrey's gritty, readable In Brain Child, Turner's setting is Vic­ ing is lively, often humorous: style, Metrophage has the makings of toria, and the year is 2047, when the a satisfactory adventure novel. Un­ world's soaring overpopulation has Something stirred in the moat, fortunately, the plot is disappoint­ finally generated powerful laws to and Julia peered dubiously at ingly linear, with each new incident control it. the shifting scum covering the seemingly tacked on rather than in­ The viewpoint character is David murky waters. tegral to some deeper design. The Chance, twenty-five years old, 'Do you keep crocodiles in background Los Angeles is vivid, brought up in an orphanage, begin­ your moat, Rupert?' but does not bear examination. And ning a career as a journalist. As the 'Not any more,' said Rupert the explanation finally given is both story opens, he receives a letter from absently, keeping a watchful ho-hum and invalidated by much of a father he has never known, Arthur eye on the huge double doors at the lead-up. However, as this is a Hazard. the other end of the Keep. 'We first novel there may be hope for Hazard was one of a number of used to, but then something set better from Kadrey in the future. experimental children produced in up home in the moat and ate the year 2002 by 'totally in vitro ge­ them all.' netic manipulation', in a govern­ 'What was it?' ment-sponsored facility, established 'We're not sure,' said Ru­ CREDIBLE SUPERMAN somewhere in western Victoria, pert. It doesn't really matter; if known as The Nursery. The experi­ it can eat crocodiles, it can cer­ ment has not been an unqualified tainly guard a moat. .. .' Wynne Whiteford reviews success, with some of the super-chil­ dren ending their lives in suicide. Blue Moon Rising is an enjoyable, BRAIN CHILD However, eight have survived to light-hearted adventure fantasy. I'll by George Turner their present age of forty-five, and be interested to read Green's next Arthur, when about twenty, had book — it could be even better. William Morrow 0 688 10595 5; illegally coupled with a normal 407 pp., US$20, AS28.50 woman outside the group, siring David, whose mother had died fol­ LINEAR, HO HUM Whatever classification you like to lowing his birth. assign to it— science fiction or polit­ David learns of his origins little ical novel — Brain Child is arguably by little. But Arthur Hazard — well, one of the best novels to come out of let him tell his story in his own words Elaine Cochrane reviews Australia. as he describes himself to David: Superficially, you could call it a METROPHAGE superman story, one of that long line '... for Advanced Genetic Manip­ by Richard Kadrey of narratives featuring a being who ulation, you can read hit or is, in some way, representative of the miss.... Induced hormone bal­ Gollancz 0 575 04291 5,1988; next step upward in evolution be­ ances and gland secretions pro­ £11.95, 240 pp. yond the normal Ji^? Blow. But it is duced ... nothing actually new, far more than this. more like rarities that would A disintegrated future Los Angeles Many writers, with varying de­ normally breed out from nor­ exists in a state of sporadic civil war grees of believability, have tried to mal population as sports, unin­ between assorted street gangs and portray a superhuman being. These tended variations born of the tribal groups, well-organized racke­ range from the recent archetype operators having no certainty of teers, and the Orwellian-named Clark Kent back to Gilgamesh and what they were about ... no Committee of Public Health. When a Shamash-Naphashtim the Remote, sensibleappreciation of the mil­ new a nd horrible disease breaks out, of the First Babylonian Empire, and lions of side-effect combina­ the Committee attempts an all-out the gods of old Egypt. tions possible to even the assault on the city. But George Turner has, I think, smallest interference with mul­ Jonny Qabbala is a pusher, dis­ come up with one of the most credi­ tiple-gene expression.. ..' tributing hard drugs and black-mar­ ble scenarios in this line that has con­ ket medicines, and occasionally tinued for thousands of years. He As the book proceeds, you dis­ running as courier and go-between has neatly sidestepped the main dis­ cover there were three different for the powerful. He has his own advantage of a story with a superhu­ types of Nursery Children, each a private war to fight, and cares little man hero — the problem of reader quartet of two males and two fe­ about the city or the continuing wars identification. How can the reader males. They are brilliant, pragmatic, in the world outside. worry about a character who can't ruthless, each typedisplayingdiffer- Jonny knows he is insignificant, lose — a man who meets the most ent abilities. and he cannot understand when all bizarre threat by finding a phone The other characters, attempting the warring factions seem to want booth (before they were made of to make sense of the super-children, him. He is even more confused when glass), changing into a cloak and le­ are sharply drawn. For instance, each party gives him a different rea­ otard, then outflying an F-18? there is Sam Armstrong, a politician son — reasons which, however Turner, with the accumulated expe­ who genuine, he knows have no basis in rience of novels like The Sea and Sum­ fact. Each time he runs, more of those mer and The Cupboard under the Stairs, . . . had risen from the shop who have helped himaredead,more has avoided this pitfail by using the floor through union ranks to of the city falls to the Committee, and Watson/Holmes approach — his parliament and power [with] a he is as far from settling his own viewpoint character is not the star. rasping, crowd-haranguing scores as ever. He mostly observes and reports. high tenor with the flat, open vowels of the Australia of his

54 youth — the voice of a dema­ My reaction to the book is a mix­ Rats and Gargoyles most strongly gogue who spoke to his people ture of annoyance and delight. In brings to mind. The cover features (privately, 'the rabble') in a order to create a background, Gentle effusive praise from Michael Moor­ workingman's tone and idiom: has glossed over many inconvenient cock, which is not surprising as I'm one of you; would I sell you details. How does this enormous city Moorcock has also delved exten­ short ? He had another voice, the keep itself going, since the medieval sively into this area in his more re­ voice of an educated man who society it hosts displays none of the cent works. This is not to say that spoke on equal terms with infrastructure required to get food Rats and Gargoyles is derivative, for it peers and presidents. ... In ei­ and other perishable goods into its is not; but if you have read and en­ ther voice, he could make plain: heart (and wastes out) in sufficient joyed any of the works mentioned in I matter; you don't. quantity and sufficiently quickly to this paragraph you will quite proba­ stave off starvation and pestilence? bly enjoy this book as well. Armstrong is ninety-four, looks The history of the city and the world sixty — 'the age at which "Honour" in which it is set is very fuzzy. had descended on his metabolism' There are also inconsistencies (in­ — and paranoid, with 'an unsleep­ evitable in a novel this long, but irri­ MAN WITH A MISSION ing suspicion of intent to rob him of tating when stumbled across) in plot his stolen life'. and characterization. Of the To list all the characters, all of 'Acolytes' (aka 'daemons' and Greg Hills reviews them vividly believable, would give 'gargoyles', the last being the most away too much of the story, which descriptive term) a god says: They BERSERKER: BLUE DEATH keeps up tension throughout as it are only animals . . . Except in the by Fred Saberhagen peels away layer after layer of its darkness behind the eye and in the complexity. The scene, late in the Fane, they have no voice'; yet earlier Tor 0 812 55329 2; pb; 1987; book, in which David is hypnotized in the book, they tortured a priest 'for 282 pp.; US$3.50 by the woman artist Belinda, one of their own pleasure ... I allow the the other experimental people, acolytes their play'. A minor defect, Take a bright nebula, big enough to haunts you with its subtle horror. introduced mainly to highlight the hold several stars. Add spacegoing Several times, as you read the difference that the granting of humans, interested in 'mining' the book, you feel that you can predict 'speech and souls' has upon the nebula for its relatively densely where the narrative is leading. Then 'animals', but illustrative of the way packed organic and other space- a door opens on another vista of a in which Gentfb works. bome riches. Add killer machines, reality that shows you that what you In fact, the book is nowhere free left over from an ancient alien have read so far is only a surface to develop logically. At every turn grudge match. This is the back­ covering unexpected depths. the author stands, guiding events in ground for this book. Complex, subtle, credible — the direction she has decided they The nebula is called 'the Brain Child is a book you'll remem­ should go rather than the direction Milkpail'. The central character, ber. I look forward to more of George suggested by the internal develop­ Niles Domingo, is Mayor of one of Turner's bright spotlights illuminat­ ment of the story. This results in per­ the human colonies in the Milkpail. ing his well thought-out future petual novelty — a surprise on every His unwitting opponent is a Ber­ world. page — and perpetual confusion, serker machine known (by humans) since it is difficult to anticipate au­ as 'Leviathan', distinguishble by the thorial interventions. If Gentle's mysterious blue light it emits. gods are impulsive and whimsical, Levithan has been hanging IRRITATIONS AND they are no more than the reflection around the human colonies in the INCONSISTENCIES of their creator. Milkpail for years, destroying those But the book has more to offer that it finds insufficiently defended. than irritations. It is a rich and fasci­ Now it is the turn of Domingo's col­ Greg Hills reviews nating tapestry, a shadowy weaving ony on the asteroid world of Shubra. of the was and the might-have-been. While Shubra's defence fleet is away RATS AND GARGOYLES Hereand thereare reproduced pages answering a call from a neighbour­ by Mary Gentle from famous books of alchemy, add­ ing colony, Leviathan takes the op­ ing verisimilitude to the mix. As I portunity to ravage Shubra. Corgi 0 552 13627 1; pb; 1991; read I had the perpetual feeling of Everyone on the asteroid is killed, 510 pp; A$10.95 things happening just beyond the including Domingo's beloved grasp of my knowledge — a sense daughter. Domingo vows ven­ Take a world in which alchemy that despite the whimsy and the geance. With his ship the Sirian Pearl works. Let thirty-six all-powerful heavy authorial hand, I was reading and a small picked crew, he sets out gods take up fleshly ('rocky'? a true tale fromsomealtemate world to track down and destroy the Ber­ 'stony'?) residence there. Build a city where God threw cocked dice and serker. around their dwelling, a city so large science as we know it could never The story covers many light years that it takes a ship three days to sail develop. of distance and involves many char­ from the heads to the quays of its Tapestry7 is a word I used advis­ acters, including an alien Carmpan river. Place a nobility of intelligent, edly. This book belongs firmly to the known as 'fourth Adventurer', who anthropoid rats over the human sub-genre of subcreations carved out sees in the wandering Pearl a conve­ populace. by Gene Wolfe in The Book of the nient platform from which he can This, very briefly and in oversim­ New Sun' and other novels, and by attempt to contact mysterious intel­ plified detail, is the setting for this Brian Aldiss in The Malacia Tapestry. ligences bom from the flux of the long novel. The latter, in fact, is the book that Milkpail.

55 The book is interesting, but suf­ ing in others. It is irritating in the tween the species is not actually dis­ fers somewhat from its obvious ref­ rather crude way Berlyn moves his cussed, beyond the implication that erence to Moly Dick. Nor is the props and actors around to set up the the Habers are superior to both characterization what it might be; in­ situation. How convenient that the Hydrans and humans. dividuals sometimes act out of char­ 'best' person to captain a voyage of Look deeper again, and the 'ulti­ acter, according to the immediate interstellar investigation is a 'cured' mate enemy' is humanity, the ulti­ needs of the story. Hence a crewmate psychopath. Hmv convenient that the mate predator, which even the who has nursed Domingo through a one person aboard the ship who can Habers must use in order to defend difficult convalescence, who is meet the 'Habers' on their own themselves from 'the change' aware of his preoccupation with the ground happens to fall afoul of the brought by the Hydrans. Berserker and who has accepted that captain and runs away to crash into Shift sideways from the racial to and has an unspoken agenda that a convenientboulder, killing himself the personal, and the composition of includes weaning him from what so that the Habers can bring him the crew of the human starship Pala­ seems like a pointless chase, simply back, remade in their preferred din suddenly clicks, at least in the gives up after Domingo is unexpect­ image. This is the way the story runs, sense that they are a weird mixture edly indifferent to her dancing. She coincidence piled on convenience of psychological types brought to­ has become surplus to the plot, until plausibility is a hollow echo of gether in defiance of realism so that which now speeds up and leaves ro­ laughter. Berlyn can examine 'the ultimate mance behind. But let's look the other way. In enemy' from new and unexpected Berserker: Blue Death is only inci­ this book we have two intelligent directions. Is 'the ultimate enemy' dentally a Berserker book. Which is alien races who represent absolutes some aspect of human nature, or is to say that while it features Berserk­ in their particular areas: the Habers, humanity its own 'ultimate enemy'? ers centrally, it is not an integral part absolute pacifists; the Hydrans, ab­ If so, what of the Habers, who in of the series and does not signifi­ solute expansionists. The Habers order to contain the Hydran menace cantly advance our perceptions of have no concept of war and a limited have created changes in their own Berserkers. It actually belongs to a grasp of aggression. They are su­ species that may never be com­ much larger sub-genre of sf books preme molecular biologists. The pletely reversed — becoming that that includes Mike Resnick's Santi­ Hydrans too apparently have con­ which they attempted to stop? ago and Morressey's Ironbrand — cept of 'war'; unending struggle is This extended exploration of the Men With Missions, facing up to the their way of life, an unyielding drive nuances of an apparently simple, worst that the universe ca n throw up to expand and populate all the avail­ striking phrase provides the book at them, and winning, science able land. with unusual power and applicabil­ fiction's version of Conan the Bar­ The twist is the presence of hu­ ity, overcoming its other shortcom­ barian. mans in the story, providing an in­ ings. Amidst the current wash of The books is self-contained, and teresting resonance to the book's title froth and bubbles, open-ended fan­ you will not need to read other Ber­ — which of the three races is the true tasy series and space opera, this book serker books to understand what is Eternal Enemy, or does the concept is a rock. As such, it is probably fated going on. An enjoyable adventure exist on a more personal level, to sink, unappreciated and unno­ story. within the more^and habits of the ticed. societies and individuals comprising them? This is where the book's inter­ est lies, as Berlyn explores the many EXPLORING A PHRASE ways in which the-phrase 'theeternal ROBOT TURKEY enemy' can be interpreted. On the shallowest level, the 'eter­ Greg Hills reviews nal enemy' is the Hydrans. Left Greg Hills reviews alone, they will expand further and THE ETERNAL ENEMY further into space, attempting to kill WULFSYARN: A MOSAIC by Michael Berlyn every other form of intelligent life by Phillip Mann they meet — not out of hate but be­ Morrow 1 88795 963 3; 1990; cause they occupy land the Hydrans Gollancz 0 575 04767 4; 1990; 323 pp.; US$22.95 can use to breed more Hydrans. 287 pp.; £13.95/A$42 Looka bitdeeper and you see that How do you stop a column of driver the 'ultimate enemy' is the Habers, It is not often that I must admit de­ ants? who create first the instrument for feat, but here it is: I was unable to You can bum them, but you risk investigating the nature of their finish this book. In fact, I was barely destroying a lot of perfectly good enemy and then the means of im­ able to force myself to skim the later jungle in the process. You can block plementing the solution to the prob­ passages to avoid utterly disgracing their line of advance, buty they may lem that the instrument finds. For if myself. The problem is that I grew so simply swerve around your barrier. they can do that to the Hydrans, bored in the reading that willy nilly The best solution is to stop them what hope for humanity if ever we I would find my attention wander­ breeding early enough that they become a similar threat to the Ha­ ing. never form the column. bers? It's hard to pin down exactly There. I've done it. You now have 'Their basic life-molecule was what is wrong with the book, for it is the resolution of the book's plot. All simpler, less complex, than DNA clearly and readably written, with an you need to do now is read the book and trivial compared to the Haber interesting conundrum and some to understand the problem. molecule' (p. 252). Just what rele­ strong characters. I would say, hav­ The Eternal Enemy is irritating in vance the complexity of their genetic ing given the matter some months of many ways, delightful and challeng­ material has to the relationship be­ consideration, that the choice of a

56 tediously pedantic scribing robot as eral motifs and creatures familiar to ever, a routine quest tale. Not wish­ narrator is a key piece of the prob­ readers of fantasy: dwarfs, mages, ing to give too much away of the lem. The robot, Wulf, has a well- wolves (as evil creatures), beautiful surprisingly fresh and unpredictable d ra wn persona lity, but one that is so elf-like beings and evil beings (svar plot, I will only say that yes, the Un­ bland, neutral and uninteresting that alfar, which appeared, by the way, raveller is defeated in the end; but he/ she/ it (pickyour pronoun) is un­ back in 1966 in Alan Garner's The while in other hands this basic plot able to carry the story to the reader. Weirdstone of Brisingamen). We even line could have ended up as just an­ Wulfs interests and views are those find, starting with the second book, other dull rehash, here it becomes a of an 'academic', and I at least cannot an unfolding of the Arthurian legend vehicle for the unfolding of an im­ identify with them. entwined with the plot. At the begin­ mensely satisfying and deeply felt The story: Wulf is a scribe-robot ning of each of the books there is a tale. (an 'autoscribe') of great antiquity on map of Fiona var and a list of charac­ For such a trilogy, the character­ the world Tallin. In a garden in ters, features that at first made me ization is unusually profound and Tallin, Jon Wilberfoss, one-time cap­ dread that I was about to receive yet complex. In Fionavar each of the vis­ tain of the faster-than-light ship another dose of epic fantasy imita­ itors is burdened with a particular Nightingale, is putting his head to­ tion. role in the struggle against the Un­ gether, with Wulf there to record the I was very much mistaken. In this raveller; and in each case, the role, process and events. trilogy Kay has done something and the power that comes with it, are completely different. For a start, the wedded in a profound way to the Wulf is struck by two facts: various familiar fantasy motifs are psychology and life story of the char­ 1) Wilberfoss's entire ac­ only a small part of a complex and acter. Paul, for instance, is enduring count of his life is discussed in vividly imagined world, and do not a n unex pressed grief a nd guilt a t the terms of his sexuality. simply represent stock responses beginning of the story: his girlfriend, 2) In his dealings with and stereotypes as they so often do. Rachel, has been killed in an accident Medoc he did not trust the wis­ For instance, the evil 'wolflord' turns in the very car Paul was driving just dom of his sexuality. out to be a much more complex and minutes after she told him she was to What is one to make of that? redeemable character than might be marry someone else. In Fionavar, (Chapter 6, page 69, imagined at first. Things and people Paul offers himself as a sacrifice on 'Wulf's Brief Theory are not always what they seem here. the Summer Tree to the god Mornir. of Humanity') Guy has also vividly portrayed orig­ Hanging on the Summer Tree, Paul inal creatures and beings of his own, is able to face up to and resolve the The above quote leads into a 2.5- such as a partict$arly repulsive black experience. Instead of dying, Paul page lecture 'as far as Wulf is swan, gods and goddesses, forest lives, and becomes 'Pwill concerned'. This sort of thing hap­ and water powers, a clan of pacifist Twicebom' (because he has been vir­ pens far too often for the book to giants, and many others. More im­ tually reborn), and an agent of carry the reader with its action, and portant, however, is that this trilogy Mornir, with powers that gradually far too rarely to carry the reader with has qualities that make it moving become manifest as the story un­ its ideas. and engaging. folds. Through his suffering on the I hate to give a downcheck to a Five seemingly ordinary young Tree, Paul is transformed into some­ New Zealand writer (even if he was people from our world — Kim, Jen­ thing more than himself. By the end bom a Pom) but there you have it: nifer, Dave, Paul and Kevin — are of the story, all the visitors have also this book, at least, is a turkey. invited by Loren, a mage from been deeply transformed, and in Fionavar, and Matt Soren, a dwarf each case the new self is essential for who is also the source of his magic, the resolution of the plot. to 'cross' to Fionavar to take part in As this vast pattern unfolds, Kay NOT JUST ANOTHER the celebrations of the fiftieth anni­ evokes profound emotions — joy, FANTASY TRILOGY versary of the High King. They are grief, awe — in a way that touches told that a thousand years earlier the and transforms the reader as well as evil god, Rakoth the Unraveller, was the characters. There are scenes in Rosyln Gross reviews defeated and imprisoned beneath a this trilogy that are unforgettable — mountain. Not long after their ar­ an achievement unusual in a genre THE FIONAVAR TAPESTRY rival, the evil god breaks free — one cluttered with mediocrity and by Guy Gavriel Kay: of the few predictable events in the cliches. trilogy. The five quickly become in­ Nor are the emotions in the story THE SUMMER TREE (Unwin volved in the struggle against the cheaply bought. When the Dwarfs Paperbacks, 1986,323 pp.) Unraveller, and their fates become had made the sword Lokdal centu­ inextricably linked with the fate of ries before, it had been given with THE WANDERING FIRE (Unwin the whole of Fionavar, and, indeed, these words: 'Double-edged the Paperbacks, 1987,298 pp.) of all the worlds, since Fionavar is knife, and double-edged the gift.' the prime creation of which all the The words aptly describe the quality THE DARKEST ROAD (Unwin other worlds are imperfect copies. of events and emotions in thetrilogy. Paperbacks, 1988,420 pp.) (This idea sits a little uneasily with Powers bestowed upon the charac­ me: although elements from other ters bring burdens and griefs; joyous It would be understandable to ex­ cultures do appear, Fionavar has too events inevitably involve pain, and pect the worst from this set of novels. Celtic a feel to be the most funda­ vice versa. We see this most clearly First, it is yet another fantasy trilogy; mental of worlds.) in Kim, who in Fiona var becomes the second, it contains, as does so much The need to defeat an evil power new Seer, with a ring that has the high fantasy, echoes of Celtic and is a common enough plot device in power to bring aid for the coming Nordic mythology. In it we find sev­ fantasy writing. This is not, how­ war. But this power brings a dread­

57 ful burden and intense pain for Kim, cally, by a random quality symbol­ fantasy feel with a modem, psycho­ over and over again. ized by the amoral wildness of logical approach, sometimes he irri­ Owein's Hunt, a power that nearly tates. For instance: It might seem as if the stone destroys Fionovar after first saving were compelling her, but she it. The gods grant he be always knew that was not truly so. It In the end, the Unraveller is bound,' Levon had said, only was responding — to need, to brought down, not by the army of yesterday. war, to the half-glimpsed intu­ the Light, nor by any of the five vis­ No dice, it seemed. itions of her dreams — but it itors, but by the act of a particular (The Summer Tree,, p. 255) needed her will to unleash its character who is himself a mixture of power. So she shouldered the Light and Darkness, an heir to both, weight, accepted the price of and again, through an act of self-sac­ To my ears, the modem collo- power.... rifice. Ursula Le Guin, in A Wizard of quial'No d ice' here sounds quite out (The Darkest Road, pp. 69-70) Earthsea, has Ged face his own of place. shadow and accept it as part of him­ Out of context, other passages For everyone involved in the self. While Guy's solution is not look over-embellished or even pre­ struggle, painful growth of one kind quite as psychologically subtle as tentious: or another is inevitable, but the this, it is nevertheless an attempt to changes also bring new life and joy. unite the opposites. Light and Dark­ . . . she cast her mind, her soul, We see this in Dave, a rather bitter ness, and to avoid the goodies-ver- to its farthest, most impossible and awkward man before his expe­ sus-baddies position. compassing. Oh far, and there riences in Fiona var, who finds a deep For me this trilogy is essentially was so much Dark between, so sense of community and healing an intense emotional experience, not much hate, and oh, so very among the Dalrei, tribal people who an intellectual one. It does not seem great a power in Starkadh to live on the Plain; and in Jaelle, High to mainly a work of ideas or philos­ stay her. Priestess of the Goddess, an even ophy; and yet it does bring up and (The Summer Tree, p. 322) more bitter and cold woman who explore various issues: the nature of slowly gives up her hatred and be­ evil, of love, of free choice, and, as we comes capable of love. And one of have seen, makes some subtle and but in context this actually works the most moving events in the tril­ deeply felt statements about these very powerfully. ogy is the wholly surprising and things. More importantly, there is a The Arthurian element, which wonderful actof Kevin, an act of self­ deliberate underlying mythic di­ has been done to death in fantasy sacrifice that is also the fulfilment of mension to these books. It is clear, for writing, appears here quite unex­ years of longing. His act brings instance, that in the fates of both Paul pectedly and in an original way, but springtime and healing to winter­ and Kevin, Kay is evoking variations the characters involved suffer some­ bound Fionavar; death brings new on the very ancient dying god myth, what from being too perfect, even life and hope. By the end, several seen in Christianity as well as pre­ though they evoke our sympathy characters we have come to really Christian religions, in which a god and wonder. Once we discover who care about have died. A heavy price dies and is either r$>orn or his death Jennifer really is, she seems to lose has been pa id for the final joy, but we brings new life. Although neither her human dimension and become feel the rightness of this: the Tapes­ Paul nor Kevin is a god, the theme so much a figure of myth that it be­ try involves light and darkness, life here is the same: the necessity for comes difficult to empathize with and death. sacrifice in order /or new life to her. More accurately, we empathize The trilogy employs the old occur. Then there is the tension, the with the mythical character she be­ theme of Light versus Darkness, and conflict, between the feminine and comes, but somewhere along the it is true that Rakoth the Unraveller masculine principles, and finally, way the real Jennifer becomes lost. is wholly and irredeemably evil. But their ultimate union, all symbolized It cannot be denied that there are this is not a world of blacks and in the relationship between Paul, the derivative elements in this trilogy, whites. The double-edged quality is representative of the masculine god but which piece of writing does not too pervasive. The characters are Momir, and Jaelle, High Priestess of employ older symbols and tradi­ truly human, a mixture of good and the Goddess. In this way, Kay evokes tions? Indeed, it is often precisely bad. Moreover, Kay's conception of a subtle yet coherent view of reality these that enrich and deepen an orig­ Fionovar, and of all the worlds, is without foisting upon the reader all inal piece of work This is the case essentially a pluralistic rather than a his own pet opinions and ideas, as here. It is not just that Kay employs monistic one. Fionovar and the some writers — fantasy or otherwise the derived elements in an original worlds teem with a myriad of pow­ — tend to do. way. The originality of the trilogy ers and creatures, and all have their Kay writes in an idiosyncratic lies in two things: the mainly suc­ place in the tapestry that was created style that startles, delights, and cessful merging of the high fantasy by the Weaver, who also random­ evokes strong responses, but occa­ elements with a modem, vernacular ness to enter the Tapestry to make sionally its quirkiness is slightly feel that includes complex character­ free will possible. There is a sense of grating. While one of his strengths is ization; and Kay's own vivid, intense interweaving fates and patterns of his ability to combine an epic, high style that makes characters and emo­ events, made possible, paradoxi­ tions truly live.

58 I don't know much about SCOTT CAMPBELL except that he is connected to the Department of Philosophy at the University of Tasmania, and that he moves house a lot. Also he seems imbued with the spirit of the 1980s, which is perhaps why I disagree with most of his reviews (especially the following), but enjoy reading them.

No more Mr Nice Guy by Scott Campbell

THE CONTINENT OF LIES by James Morrow

Holt Rinehart Winston; 1984 Gollancz 0 575 03659 1; 1985; 274 pp.; £9.95

ONLY BEGOTTEN DAUGHTER by James Morrow

Ace 0 441 63041 3; July 1991; 312 pp.; US$4.50

Morrow 0 688 05284 3; 1990; 312 pp.; US$19.95/A$28.50

With the publication of Only Begotten Daughter, James Morrow assumes the title of biggest wimp in contem­ porary sf. I suspected he would be a future contender when I read his sec­ ond book The Continent of Lies. In itself this was too lame to compete with a more competent (and there­ fore more despicable) work such as Bruce Sterling's Islands in theNet, but I felt it presaged a magnum opus that would stretch Morrow's cheerful mediocrity to such an extent that a truly God-awful work of art would be (unmiraculously) conceived, a work that a more careful writer like Sterling could never produce. Only Begotten Daughter is that work.

But first a few comments about the earlier work The Continent of Lies. In the distant future, biotechnology has developed so that any imagined ex­ perience can be recorded electroni­ cally. The seed of a special fruit called the cephapple (or 'dreambean') can be designed so that when it is devoured, the imagined experience is replicated in the mind of the eater. (Why didn't KFC get the franchise?) As you'd expect, this leads to the old familiar (but very interesting) stuff about the problems of distin-

59 guishing fantasy and reality, though imagine the amazing experiences ing the things you don't like, any Morrow is far inferior at this game you could have with a dreambean? 'rethink' usually ends up as a dis­ than a master like Philip Dick. guised call for censorship. Morrow's intentions are also differ­ My main objection to The Continent Maybe Morrow is right here. I ent from Dick's. Through his narra­ of Lies is the implied moral allegory don't have the space to debate the tor, Morrow makes it clear that he behind the tale. In the end issue now, so I simply state that I am knows what reality is, and when all dreambeans must be banned. De­ totally against Morrow's ideas, and is sa id and done a nd kicked in the ass spite some regrets, Morrow obvi­ despise the wimpy little 'New Age there is going to be no confusion be­ ously thinks this is the best thing to liberals' (most of whom, like Richard tween reality and illusion, despite do with them. He thinks that hu­ Neville, have become the very cen­ the inevitable cephapple-trip-that- mans just can't be trusted with some sors they fought against in the seems-so-real scenes. technologies. Like most 1980s Amer­ 1960s). Which is better — the book that ican liberals, at heart he's a family I could point out that silly Plato leaves us with varying degrees of man, and it's the danger the ceph- did not want poets and playwrights doubt about whether we can tell re­ apple presents to the family that in the perfect society because people ality from illusion, or the book that makes the difference, even it it's to a would be unable to tell the difference reaffirms our ability to tell the differ­ modern single-parent family. De­ between reality and the events on the ence? I prefer the first sort; I don't spite the surface differences, this is stage, and how the same was said by like books that are confident about the 1950s all over again. other peckerheads about tv, but I the answers to difficult questions. I don't agree with Russell Black­ won't, because I agree that there is a But 1 realize that there may be good ford who, in his review of Bob Shaw possibility that virtual reality, forex- reasons for writers to prefer the sec­ (ASFR Second Series, No. 23, pp. 14­ ample, could progress to the point ond. Morrow isn't interested so 15) claims (in effect) that reaffirming where reality and virtual reality are much in abstruse metaphysics as in 1950s-style values is intrinsically bad indistinguishable. Nothing wrong what is socially relevant. no-correspondence-entered-into. with this in itself, but it does provide What did annoy me was the re­ (Blackford also wonders about how potential for all sorts of terrible view of this book by Span Hanna in much an ad vanceon mainstream fic­ things to happen. But hey, it's worth Science Fiction No. 29. He or she pro­ tion sf can be when it is just an excuse the risk. fessed to be glad that this wasn't one for 'inscrib[ing] present-day crypto­ of those 'dream-within-a-dream' ideology large on the Universe'. I Much less needs to be said about stories, or a 'reality forever changed, strongly agree with him here, but we Only Begotten Daughter, Morrow's forever impossible to pin down' must remember that for some sf and tale of the Second Coming of Christ, story. What the hell is wrong with mainstream authors, sf techniques who is of course female (though not such a story, apart from the obvious are simply alternative and (perhaps) black), as is God Herself. It's simply point that it can be overdone, or better ways of making points about inept and unimaginative. You badly done? If one prefers Morrow's today's world. And if you have a wouldn't believe it reading the re­ sort of story, that's fair enough, but brilliantexampleof this idea in print, views of Morrow's work from all a reviewer can hardly talk as if the such as Martin Amis's Dead Babies, sorts of distinguished reviewers on other sort of story is intrinsically un- if s difficult to argue against it.) the front cover, back cover, first, sec­ imaginativeand intellectually jejune I simply disagree with Morrow ond and third, and one of the inside (although some of the writers of such over his values. I don't know where back pages of the American paper­ stories may be). we can get any objective standard to back edition. I can only compare it There were other faults in The say who is right, tvho is 'politically the film Jesus of Montreal. If you liked Continent of Lies. The action and ad­ correct'. One thing we can do to put such an obvious and hamfisted venture elements are unconvincing people off a value system is to show work, then you'll probably like Only (even as the satire they're supposed that the system does not meet some Begotten Daughter. to be), and the plot is handled badly desired criteria — that is, for exam­ There is just so much scope for in the second half. The characters all ple, hypocritical or inconsistent. But retelling the life of Jesus. I think the seem exactly like people today, and few systems pass muster on these whole idea of the retelling is an un­ society also seems to have changed counts. Who sets the criteria by original waste of time u nless you are little, although many thousands of which we evaluate different sys­ going to do something with it, such years have passed. Perhaps Morrow tems? as Ballard's inspired work in The believes that people don't really I don't like the evasiveness of Atrocity Exhibition, 'Zodiac 2000', The change much at heart, but certainly modem liberals such as Morrow, Unlimited Dream Company and The they would not be exactly the same who don't come out and say what Object of the Attack'. sort of people as those who exist they really believe in, but hide be­ Some of the reviewers have com­ today. The idea might have been to hind equivocal and suggestive lan­ pared Morrow to Lenny Bruce and emphasize the relevance of the guage ('have a rethink on where Kurt Vonnegut, and this is apt. A lot story's allegory, but the story isn't we're going' is a real chestnut). of Bruce's religious satire was rele­ funny enough for that to work. Morrow's dreambean industry is vant and devastating in its day but, The Cont inent of Lies is not all bad, almost exactly like the current Amer­ having done its work, it has become by any means. I enjoyed the psycho­ ican film and tv industry. Given this commonplace. Yet many of logically scarringdreambean experi­ (and assuming that he doesn't want Morrow's jibes recycle Lenny ence around which the plot revolves, to ban film and tv altogether), it Bruce's most outdated material. His and which is the reason for banning seems that he is advocating censor­ more up-to-date satire is simply dreambeans at the end, but I ex­ ship or, as he would probably put it, limp. (The same could be said of the pected something more, given the 'a rethink on what we're doing with Vonnegut influence.) potential for literary inventiveness our current media technology'. As Morrow's main characters seem offered by such a device. Can you it's very hard to stop people watch­ to be the same as you'd find in any

60 standard American Sterling-sucked castic and arrogant prick spouting always consider everybody else's cyberwimp book, except that Mor­ nothing but hate-filled bile. Espe­ opinions and feelings, nothing of row draws his characters in a more cially when you think that a highly consequence would ever be written. light-hearted way. They're basically intelligent editor like Van Ikin does Writers shouldn't be so touchy. Just ideologically sound, but a bit rough a fantastic job promoting Australian say 'fuck the critic'. The critic may be around the edges, with a few idio­ sf by putting out anthologies and right, but who's to say? If you want syncrasies and character failings that Science Fiction magazine as well as to reply, don't write a shrill, abusive just make them all the more human writing his own fiction (and it was letter. Write a considered, subtly and lovable. If you actually met any­ Van to whom I first wrote for infor­ abusive letter.) body like this you'd want to strangle mation about the Austra lia n sf scene, Russell Blackford's title story has them. and he was very helpful). style, but he wastes it on a corny plot. Morrow ends the book with the But I must admit that I didn't Philippa Maddern's 'Confusion daring and provocative suggestion much like Glass Reptile Breakout. This Day' should have been buried some­ thatthecharacterof Amanda the Sea is not overly surprising, because I'm where deep after it appeared in Sponge is really God . This is because not a great fan of the bulk of Austra­ Urban Fantasies (good collection, that sponges are 'faceless, shapeless, lian sf, though I've kept up with one, on the whole). Rosaleen Love holey, undifferentiated, Jewish [sic], most of it in recent years. Q'm not tries to make some not very startling inscrutable ... and a hermaphrodite saying that Oz sf doesn't rank on the points about scepticism, credulity to boot... cannot be fatally dismem­ world stage, though.) Anyone who and the scientific attitude in The bered, for each part quickly becomes is more sympathetic and wishes to Sea-Serpent of Sandy Cape'. She af­ the whole . . . both immortal and write an alternative review should fects such a gentle and understand­ infinite'. Get it? Saying that God is a feel free to do so. (I'd even send her ing style that the story never rises sponge is saying that our concept of or him the book if I could sure that above the inconsequential. God can 'soak up' whatever we want such a person would actually write Lucy Sussex's The Lipton Vil­ God to be. What an original idea! anything.) lage Society' has a refreshingly Most of the authors here are very downbeat approach to the losers- However easy and feeble Morrow's capable. It's the choice of stories that who-secretly-live-in-an-altemative targets may seem, it's still good to disappointed mt, though I suppose -world story. A pity the story idea see someone going for religion these with Damien Broderick you could contains not a skerrick of originality. days (did you hear a noise outside, hardly go right. This man is one of Dressing it up in the sort of mediocre Salman?). Religion took such a bat­ the most talenf d and intelligent and clumsy kitchen-sink social real­ tering in the 1960s and 1970s that it's writers in the cdpntry (perhaps too ism that in certain Australian sf cir­ now considered bad form in many intelligent for his own good), and cles passes as high art can't hide such quarters to sink the boot in again. much of what he says I like, yet most a screaming old cliche. Unfortunately religion is making a of the stories of his that I've read are In 'Artifact', talented Greg Egan comeback on two fronts: the low­ a waste of time not only for the writes about a scientist who, having brow (exemplified by the US tele­ reader but, I suspect, for the writer been there at the discovery of a mys­ evangelists) and, just as (and I also suspect I'm going to be terious artifact in space that prom­ dangerously, the intellectual. pilloried by Broderick for this). 'All ises to tell us much, gets jack of the While organized religion still has My Yesterdays' isn't worthy mate­ whole thing and pisses off home be­ some measure of intellectual ap­ rial to be dredged up from 1964 and fore the investigations even start. proval, the more dangerous low­ reworked by an author with a PhD Sounds like a good idea (the story, brow religious forces can feed with in the semiotics of scientific and lit­ that is), and Egan tries hard to make ease on the souls of the cretinous. erary discourse. ('A Tooth for Every the scientist's ennui convincing (and This is why I get annoyed when I see Child', however, the only story of his gives him a little dream at the end the tv stations, and the ABC in par­ that I've liked, is the perfect story for that perhaps reveals the function of ticular, seriously present the views an sf writer who has delved, perhaps theartifact). But the story completely of the Church on moral issues such too deeply and seriously, into arcane fails. I was as bored as the scientist, as abortion. If we don't take the literary theory.) and Egan is normally a writer whois Church seriously on matters of fact, Too many of the efforts are incon­ most unboring. He should have tried why consult its representatives on sequential. To name a few names: again, or thrown this one in the gar­ matters of value, when all their val­ Stephen Dedman's 'Errand of bage. ues are based on the factual beliefs? Mercy', Leanne Frahm's 'The David J. Lake writes the sort of Supramarket', Sue Isle's The Last stories that others are afraid to. And GLASS REPTILE BREAKOUT Guardian', Petrina Smith's 'In the afraid with good reason. In 'Om­ AND OTHER AUSTRALIAN Garden', and Jack Wodhams's phalos: A Dialogue', it's hard to be­ SPECULATIVE STORIES 'Mostly meantime'. Some of these lieve he's actually written a story edited by Van Ikin writers have shown elsewhere that (albeit a shorty) that is nothing more they can write. Some haven't. than the bare speculation about the Centre for Studies in Australian I thought that Paul Collins's The possibility that we could be shifting Literature, University of Western Getaway Star' and Van's own into alterna five universes a 11 the time Australia; 'Combatant' didn't work too well. In and not be a ware of it (It was still the 1990; 161 pp.; A$14.95 saying this, I've probably prevented same old world . . . Mozart's 42nd myself from ever being published in Symphony is my favourite.') I give It's tricky reviewing a collection of a Paul Collins or Van Ikin anthology. the plot away (that's all there is) be­ Australian short stories, especially (Is honesty worth it, when I can't cause we've all thought up this story when you don't want the local fans even be sure that my opinions are ourselves when we were about ten and writers to think you're nothing worth anything? But if reviewers years old. (We all thought up Philip but a misanthropic, terminally sar­ can't say what they think, and must K. Dick's tricks a few years later; the

61 difference is that Dick could still im­ hardly excuses the stories them­ laugh at her characters, but being a press us with his use of these ideas.) selves. non-judgemental, caring type, she The better stories are mostly from laughs with them. She does, on more the big names. Terry Dowling con­ THE TOTAL DEVOTION than a few occasions, threaten to tributes another of his remarkable MACHINE open out and come up with some­ a'bo stories, 'Vanities'. Unfortu­ AND OTHER STORIES thing that might stir the emotions, nately, these leave me cold. I think by Rosaleen Love but always she dies away, falling Sean McMullen's The Colours of the back onto her timid, oops, subtle, Masters' is given a silly treatment, Women's Press 0 7043 4188 3; 1989; over-careful style. but McMullen still writes well 165 pp.; £4.50/A$12.99 If done well, such a softly-softly enough to have an emotional effect. approach can be more effective than In 'Shut the Door When You Go While the difficulties experienced in any other style, but Love makes you Out', George Turner has written the getting this book distributed in Aus­ feel that all the characters are se­ classic Gaia story that is inevitable in tralia are to be lamented, to be quite dated. Maybe this is a reflection of this day and age, and though it's an honest, nobody's missing much. It the fact that many people (except the okay piece, it's one of those stories must be disappointing for the writer greenies) are too scared to do or say that really makes you aware that and those involved in the publica­ anything these days for fear of being sometimes a considered essay is bet­ tion to have to put up with such a held 'ideologically unsound'. ter than an sf story. Like a lot of sf, its state of affairs, but the only disap­ (Nearly all Love's characters are, merit is mainly as a good starting pointment for the rest of us is that when you get down to it, wimps.) point for discussion. someone who, based on two Ditmar But it defeats the purpose if the au­ The only story that really soars is nominations, promised to be a bright thor is as lily-livered as her charac­ Simon Brown's 'Skyriders', al­ new talent, proves to be something ters. though it has that great poetic poser rather more limp. Ironically, on the few occasions of Australian sf, 'mind-singing', in it This is not to say that there won't when Love gets a bit frisky, the re­ (nicely used, though). This was writ­ be many who will take to the stories sults are crude and obvious. The title ten in 1982; it's a shame that Brown of Rosaleen Love. (This is already story is a good example of this, as it hasn't been able to match it with his shown by the numbers of people leads up to its inevitable contrived recent efforts. who voted for her in the Ditmar ending. Awards.) In fact, Love is just the 'If You Go Down to the Park One thing puzzles me about this col­ writer for those caring-sharing, con- Today' is a much more ambitious lection. Why include stories that cemed-about-everything types who and mature effort, but still suffers have recently been published in an­ made the 1980s so balls-achingly te­ from the same cliched version of the thologies that have been as available dious. world found in her other stories, par­ as this one? Fair enough to reprint Now I don't wish this review to ticularly its view of science and its stuff that has appeared in hard-to- be merely a sarcastic snipe session, potential for harm. Considering that get anthologies, but why take stuff but the fact is that all of Love's sto­ Love teaches History of Science, I that has appeared in Strange Attrac­ ries, even those purportedly set in would have expected more insight, tors and Urban Fantasies? (A story the future, are really set in the 1980s, and some novel approaches to the that has recently appeared in the with the aforen it ntioned character workings of science and its place in writer's own anthology is a different types the principles. This is not be­ society, but this approach is straight matter, of course.) cause Love can't use her imagination from Beyond 2000. (I was interested to see that the to escape her erp; it's rather that a The Bottomless Pit' is probably backcover notes that 'six authors are large part of her intention is to write the best attempt at satirical farce, Western Australians'. I had thought about her era. But the result is that with a humorous look at wherever that such ardent parochialism was her stories are just as boring as the on Earth (or elsewhere) it is that confined to Tasmanians, until I decade they are written about. money goes. But the attempt at heard from some people who have In their own limp way, the stories witty, flowing dialogue falls flat. gone to live in WA that the favourite satirize the 1980s, taking ineffective Love has the habit of oversimpli­ s port there is puffing up W A, closely shots at such characters as I have fying matters, especially political followed by damning every idea that mentioned, and the way some of and scientific, for humorous and sa­ originates from outside WA as an these people twist eighties values for tirical effect. Sometimes when writ­ 'Eastern plot'.) their own ends. This fact, I would ers do this, the matters are clarified, I suspect this book has been ed­ have thought, is hardly a revelation, or else you feel that issues have been ited with an eye to getting it onto but apparently some readers have distorted unfairly but to good effect, senior high school English courses, found such points insightful. The either to make important points or to because the selection has just this feel other villains of the decade, the produce humorous effects. But with about it. They're the sort of stories thoughtless yuppies, also get a feeble Love, the effect is akin to reading the that trendy English teachers would serve. lyrics of Midnight Oil (and not much feel 'challenge the students' Love's problem is that she lacks funnier). The impression she gives is assumptions' (but not too much) the strength and daring to pull the that she really believes in some of her (and not their own). Also, there are stories up by •■heir bootstraps to oversimplifications. plenty of stimulating and not too dif­ achieve anything of note. Perhaps I'm not saying that Love is any ficult ideas for discussion. And I sup­ the problem is tha t, as George Turner worse a writer than the average pose this is admirable. sort of says on the back cover, Love semi-pro Australian writer. She's Stop press: Van's little note on is laughing with her characters, certainly competent, and has a feel page 161 confirms this suspicion, rather than at them. This reveals an for her characters that many science making the choice of selection much inconsistency, because the impres­ fiction writers lack (or prefer, quite more understandable, although it sion I gained is that Love wants to justifiably in some cases, to dispense

62 with), but her stories lack excitement come. Some of what he imagines get an idea of how harsh reality can and, more importantly, real im­ isn't all that likely, given subsequent be (which, surprise surprise, either agination. events (though some things may corresponds closely to that of the late well come to be), but he does make a twentieth-century world, or is a con­ ISLANDS IN THE NET thorough job of it, and can, as some sequence of it). This is done in an by Bruce Sterling reviewers remark, see both sides of entirely predictable fashion. There is the important issues he examines. nothing startling in what he writes Morrow 0 8779 952 8; 1988; This seems to be a necessary require­ about (secret submarines, prison 348 pp.; US$18.96 ment, rather tha n an unexpected vir­ ca mp for a yea r, A f rica n deserts with tue, maybe it's difficult to find such millions starving), so this descent According to the jacket of this blurb- perspectives these days. into a future hell is not very thrilling. drenched book, Sterling, with this Islands in the Net, then, is not just In Aurealis 1, George Turner publication, takes his place in the a study of 'one woman's determina­ points out that we are on the verge front rank of the Cyberpunks, for tion to save the free world'. It is also of momentous changes, and he calls which he is the leading spokesman. intended to speculate about the fu­ for sf writers to tackle the important Great, I thought. This is the first ture political scene and how technol­ issues of the near future. At first Cyberpunk book I've read, and I ex­ ogy will affect us. As a futuristic glance, this seems to be whatSterling pected something mind-blowing, political thriller-cum-extrapola- has attempted. Ultimately, what something surreal and dangerous — tion/examination, it has perhaps Sterling gives us is something that certain something. enough interest to keep some read­ Turner derides: a world similar to Well, in the book there is, accord­ ers ploughingahead,and the writing our own, with more gadgets. ing to the dust jacket, a computer is certainly superior to that of your In one section Sterling uses a network called the Net. Aha, I average run-of-the-mill political rather obvious gimmick to show the thought, no doubt this is something thriller. differences between the new breed akin to the Cyberspace that the ap­ However, many of Sterling's and the old barbarians of the late propriately titled Cyberpunks are al­ characters, rather than being twentieth century. He describes ways on about. Virtual reality, and changed radically by technology, are Laura being appalled, though fasci­ all that sort of jazz you read about in simply extensions of the now infa­ nated, by old Space Invaders-type computer magazines. mous (at least in this article) caring­ games, with their violence, slaugh­ The book starts slowly. The Net sharing, reconstructed types that ter, destruction and the inevitability seems initially a normal computer populate, in a more absurd form, of the computer always winning. network, such as you would find in Rosaleen Love's volume. But the Sterling never lets on whether or any university in 1990, with a few older characters in Sterling's novel, not he agrees that the games are extras. No doubt something vastly who have grown up in the 1980s, harmful and should perhaps be con­ more amazing will be revealed. But seem more like seventies types; he trolled or banned, asapparently hap­ slowly it dawned on me; this was it. describes them as self-centred, free­ pens in the future, or whether he This was all it was, you average wheeling and independent. Perhaps thinks this is an over-reaction by fu­ modern computer network. No he has yuppies in mind. Maybe he ture new sensitive types (who after Cyberspace. No artificial intelli­ thinks that the time of the New Ager all have had to change many things gences. No hacking adventures. has not yet come, and will do so in in order to prevent the nuclear holo­ Times must have moved faster than the future. I hope not. caust). He does bring out the seduc­ Sterling suspected. When he wrote Sterling, like Love, takes some tive effect of these games, with their this in the mid-1980s, such things mild satiric jobs at such character attractive violence, but in true eight­ must have seemed a hundred years types. They don't know what 'real ies spirit he is non-judgemental away. Boy, do things move fast in the violence' is, for example, having about the issue. Some might call this computer world. been brought up in their lovey- having it both ways. But let's not be hasty. Sterling has dovey environments, spending My favourite scene in the book is some daring little technological in­ quality time with their families. The when the smooth young Prime Min­ novations that you wouldn't believe main character, Laura, is rudely ister of Singapore is drugged while in a pink fit. Check these out for size. brought down to Earth by an old appearing on a giant video screen, Sun glasses that have cameras in British bully-boy officer, who tells and he goes bananas. His mono­ them. Ceramic machetes that are real her that the Falkland Islands War logue reveals Sterling's sicker side sharp. This is scary stuff! Drugs that was real action, rather than the TV (and mine as well for liking it): 'Dogs make you feel good. Radical. Syn­ war7 that apparently is all youg et in fucked Vienna! Ladies and gentle­ thetic foods made from bacteria. the future. But I suspect that Sterling men, I . . . I'm afraid I'm sorry that Computer hackers who pirate the himself lives in a world not far re­ the pariah dump-dogs fucked the contents of data bases. Suntan oil moved from that of his characters. Ayatollah! Lick my ass! You should that makes you black. The list is end­ Like Rosaleen Love, Bruce Ster­ shit on the Space Captain fucking less. And get this — Africa is becom­ ling at times threatens to do some- laser launch —' This, however, is ing a vast desert, and people are thign exciting, and he comes up with merely a grimace in the impressive starving in their millions. Bet that the goods more often than she does. and serene face of Sterling7s prose. one gave you a kick in the pants, eh? But he also dies away, back to his One passage that rather amused Okay, I'll quite with the smart­ mundane description of the New me, in light of the fact that I had been guy putdowns. Afterall, the novel is Age marriage between Laura and expecting some amazing head trip set only about forty years in the fu­ David, wracked by desires for per­ through artificial reality, shows ture, not 400. While Sterling doesn't sonal fulfilment and beset by feel­ Laura feeling disorientated and have anything really amazing to re­ ings of responsibility on both sides. rained after a long session on the port as far as gadgets go, he's not bad During the book, Laura ends up in Net. This futuristic 'toxic shock on setting up the political scene to ever more brutal places and starts to

63 syndrome' is the only demonstrated better about himself. This sounds Powers', but is now raking in critical effect of the Net. corny, and some parts of the novel acclaim for these cybernetic books No wild extrapolation for Ster­ are, but in the main it is handled (the first was The Cybernetic Samurai). ling. He's telling it the way it's going reasonably well, and avoids being However, this new novel still seems to be. I'm not averse to this sort of tatty. But the overall impression is perfunctory and predictable. De­ thing at all; in fact, I'm very inter­ that Milan is just looking for a way spite the many Japanese references, ested in it. However, I'm not really to make his character more interest­ there is no effective sense of place; interested in reading a 348-page ing, and he is not really interested in there are no insights into Japanese novel if it's simply about one writer's Nagaoka'sdevelopment. Either that, society or the Japanese mind. methodical but uninspired vision of or he's not a convincing writer. All I can say, Victor Milan, is go the near future, when I can get the Most of the other characters don't tell it to the samurai. same sort of thing from New Scientist. exactly jump out of the page at you. I don't want an essay. I've noted al­ In fact, it comes as something of a SUGAR RAIN ready that Sterling does not show surprise when you realize that these by Paul Park many of the effects of technology on boring charactersare supposed to be people and society in the book, and important. Morrow 1 55710 029 2; 1989; the characters, plot and execution We mainly get to know Musashi, 384 pp.; US$19.95 don't succeed in holding the atten­ one of the central Artificial Intelli­ tion. The only thing that kept me gences. She's a nice 'girl', learningall With this book I broke one of my reading, apart from the fact that I about reality and the human world, most sacred rules: 'Always finish would be reviewing the book, was and she wants to do the right thing. reading a book that you start, espe­ the question: 'What the hell is he Milan might well be correct in sup­ cially if you are reviewing it.' Sugar going to do next with the stupid posing that AIs will be like humans; Rain joins thedubious ranksof books plot?' if so, they will need to be more inter­ I could not force myself to finish. It's Sterling is capable of good work; esting than Jane Austen characters to nowhere near as bad as many I've at times you feel that he can use capture the attention of readers. read (Park is more than a competent words as well as any great sf writer. In some passages, such as those writer), but Sugar Rain is so ponder­ Sometimes he has an edge to his describing the 'Reef, an artificial re­ ous that finishing each page became writing, and develops an individual ality contained in the 'Net', Milan a major effort. I don't propose to con­ style. But he needs more of these lets fly with the purple prose, show­ demn a book of whose 384 pages I things. He needs more of an edge to ing that he has a good ear for elegant, have read only 115, but I can cer­ his writing; he needs more style; he glittering language. In the rest of the tainly condemn the first 115 as being needs to be less doggedly realistic in book, Milan keeps the technical ref­ mind-numbing, with no indication drawing his characters. Maybe Ster­ erences to a minimum, with the con­ that the book would get better. ling suffers from being too nice a guy tinual invocation of the term (I gain the impression, partly to be a great writer. I'd bet that if 'sub-routine' as a way of explaining from reading the blurbs, that Park is Sterling went through some of what strange events or characters that ap­ trying for the Salman Rushdie style his characters went through he'd pear in the Reef. Turing's name is of Islamic-influenced writing. It's gain that bite, and maybe some real mentioned a few times; what irks unlikely that other writers in this vision. me, however, arefthe occasional un­ field face much competition from necessary references to modem sf Park.) THE CYBERNETIC SOLUTION authors. I think the idea of Sugar Rain is by Victor Milan Another irritant is his main fe­ that it is supposed to hypnotize you. male character, Nikki, an American. ThePeterCarey booksl'veread (War Morrow 1 55710 003 9; 1990; He tries very hard to make her fit the Crimes, Bliss) had a hypnotic effect 272 pp.; US$19.95 modem post-feminist image. She's on me, with their seductive and ele­ sassy and smart, and talented and gant descriptive prose. Park's prose Milan treads similar ground to tough, and can mix it with the big worked differently. I was not mes­ Sterling's, but without the skill and boys, while remaining a fully merized. I did not find his prose polish of the Texan. This novel can rounded human being, fun, sexy and 'strangely compelling' or 'flowing as also be labelled 'cyberpunk', but in a warm. in a dream'. If Park's style seduces low-key way. Milan prefers the nor­ (This is much the same sort of you, you might like his book If you mal human perspective to that of vir­ thing that Sterling tries to achieve smoke a lot of has, as some of Park's tual reality. Even the two artificial with his characters Laura and David. characters do, this book might en­ intelligences who stand (if that's the David, for example, is a caring-shar­ trance you. right word) central to the action are ing responsible SNAG, but hey, he's .The sugar rain of the book's title essentially human. So Milan is also a stilla regularguy, he still drinks beer really is sugar rain. It's also flamma­ future- looking humanist, the kind with the boys, and he notices when a ble and smells faintly of gasoline. It's that mightpleaseGeorgeTumer,but pretty girl passes by.) a marvellous poetic invention he doesn't produce the goods any Characters in novels should be which, like other powerful and effec­ more effectively than Sterling does. interesting people, with plenty of tive images, seems full of a signifi­ Milan's development of the main faults, not role models. cance that you cannot quite describe. human character, the Japanese The whole book gives me the im­ It's also about the only marvellous Nagaoka Hiroshi, seems overly con­ pression that Milan hasn't put his invention in the first 100 pages of the trived. He begins inchargeof a space soul into it, and has just gone book. No wonder the author gives it station,but he lacks the respect of his through the motions of novel-writ­ top billing as the title of his story. underlings, and is plagued with self­ ing. Not that he isn't heading in the In the book, the city-state of doubt. Eventually he wins the confi­ right direction. He began with a Charn undergoes revolution, and dence of his crew, and starts to feel pulpy series called 'War of the the lovers Princess Charity

64 Starbridge (I kid you not) and Earth, you have to travel down her Thanakar Starbridge are separated. foul and revolting gullet. Charity travels through some under­ The plot and characters are not as world. I will never know whether interesting as the main idea. The they get back together. If not, Park main character is called simply 'the can always write the third volume of bureaucrat', who is annoying and the Starbridge series, as no doubt he pretentious, especially as he isn't is doing right now. particularly bureaucratic by nature. More volumes will also give new If there is satire here, it's too subtle scope for writers of cover blurbs. I fordetection. In fact, the whole book realize it's hard to sell books, but the gives the impression of something of books by Sterling, Milan and Parkail subtle but undetectable literary sig­ have extravagant blurbs written by nificance going on. I suspect there is Roger Zelazny and many other sf nothing much beneath thesurfaceof writers. Is this what sf writers do in this book, which itself is deep and their spare time — sing each other's rich enough with allusions and in­ praises? There is nothing wrong sights. (There are references to The with publishers telling the world Tempest, but damned if I can see the that other writers and critics like the parallels.) book, but the lavish praise, the gran­ The plot, while mildly interest­ diose claims, make me a bit suspi­ good as the reviews proclaim('A sin­ ing, is not particularly original, and cious, considering the uous narrative, worldly and very the main cha racters are a bit of a bore. okay-but-nothing-special nature of agreeably perverse' says William The minor characters are more these books. Gibson), Swanwick almost is. His fleshed out and eccentric, but are imagination is certainly fertile, drawn in that pared-down, econom­ STATIONS OF THE TIDE though I wasn't as impressed by his ical style of recent 'literary' sf writ­ by Michael Swanwick planet Miranda. I felt that his best ing, and they don't ring true. The writing in the book was about the major characters are all rather mys­ Morrow 0 688 10451 7; 1991; tech. He knows how much explana- terious and emblematic. This would 252 pp.; US$19.95 tiontogiveand howmuchto take for acceptable of these characters did in­ granted. He convinces without hav­ teresting things, but these people Whereas James Morrow (see else­ ing to explain much (though some don't. The story cries out for some where in this issue for my review of knowledge of virtual reality and ar­ richly detailed and flamboyant char­ his most recent book) is a writer to tificial intelligence is needed). acters to make it come alive avoid, even if it means sacrificing a Swanwick has a great time with Swanwick writes with great con­ vital bodily organ or two, Michael the rogue artificial intelligence trol and expertise, but his style isn't Swan wick is one to look out for in the 'Earth', who was the powerful Ter­ suited to writing colourful, sus­ future. Stations of the Tide reveals a ran artificial intelligence who went penseful adventures. There is cer­ talented writer who has yet to hit his crazy and killed everyone left on the tainly no 'disturbing and intense straps, but may well do so. Or he planet. (Not necessarily an irrational mood of menace and suspense', as may not. Only She knows, but as act in itself, especially if you're an the blurb proclaims. He could per­ Morrow insists on telling us, She's artificial intelligence, but as it hap­ haps create such a mood effectively keeping mum. (Joseph Heller made pens it was crazy, or at least that's with a more suitable story; and much the same point in funnier and what they say.) Now, in a delightful urban virtual reality setting would more poignant fashion in his own cameo, the captured Earth appears perhaps be more his style. badly flawed God book, God Knows.) in virtual reality as a huge, stinking, But keep a lookout for this guy in Like many of these William Mor­ repulsive and whorish beast that the future, because he can use lan­ row review copies, the cover of Sta­ could still run amok and create all guage well, and has a rich and clever tions of the Tide is decorated with the sorts of havoc. (Surely MrSwanwick imagination, and a taste for the bi­ sort of elegant, stylized review that isn't swine enough to suggest this as zarre. I think he'll write some of the is intended to be a miniature master­ a metaphor for our nice old planet?) best sf books of the nineties. piece in itself. While the book isn't as In order to get to the 'bottom' of

— Scott Campbell, Department of Philosophy, University of Tasmania, January 1991-January 1992

65 STEELE COLUMN

by Colin Steele THEKINDNESS OFH EMPIRE OF THE SUN (These reviews have been written for the Canberra Times between late 1990 and March 1992.)

Ursula Le Guin: TEHANU:THE face of a corrupt mage, but Therru is assumes the role of a former astro­ LAST BOOK OF EARTHSEA more than she seems, and women naut to bum money from tourists at (Gollancz; 219 pp.; now, unlike men, can look sa fely into Rio's Copacabana beach. The loneli­ A$29.95) a dragon's eyes. Le Guin is almost ness of the astronaut is contrasted saying that in the end our old values with elements of the human condi­ Ursula Le Guin's 'Earthsea' trilogy aren't working, we have to workout tion. — A Wizard of Earthsea (1968), The our own salvations and try some­ Like David Suzuki, who ex­ Tombs of Atuan (1971) and The Far­ thing new, be consciously different, pounded this view in Canberra re­ thest Shore (1972) — appeared be­ if civilization is to survive. cently, Ballard believes that the tween 1968 and 1973, and is now Tehanu, therefore, is very differ­ media manipulate and indeed often regarded as one of the all-time great ent fromits three predecessors. It has create reality. Ballard, therefore, works of fantasy and children's liter­ switched from the male to the female takes today's headlines and pushes ature. Now more than twenty years perspective, it is no longer a young them to surreal extremes. A ship after the first book comes Tehanu, person's but an adult's book it no with its 'DreamCargoes', which con­ which directly follows the events of longer details the male triumphs of sist of toxic waste, provides the The Farthest Shore. traditional fantasy but rather the 'he­ means for physical and symbolic What motivated Le Guin to re­ roic acts of women, children and flight—a familiar theme in Ballard's sume the series? She is one of the middle-aged men'. Le Guin has writing. 'Love in a Colder Climate'is 'originals' of the fantasy field — as vowed that the series is now com­ set in a devastated post-AIDS world eminent almost as Tolkien — and plete. It may be structurally a lop­ where the viewing of erotic videos doesn't need to churn out sequel vol­ sided quartet, but Le Guin, with and compulsory sex are dictated by umes like David Eddings does. The Tehanu, has only enhanced and the State to ensure the continuation answer? To square the work out,' deepened the value of this classic of of the human race. she said in a recent interview. the imagination. There's the book about the young .4 The Kindness of Women is the sequel man (Ged the young wizard), the J. G. Ballard: WAR FEVER to J. G. Ballard's award-winning book about the young woman (Collins; 176 pp.; A$29.99) 1984 novel Empire of the Sun, which (Tenar, the young priestess), the J. G. Ballard: THE KINDNESS OF was later made into a blockbuster book about the old man (Ged) and WOMEN ‘ movie by Steven Spielberg. That novel was a prime example of then a blank Where's the book about (HarperCollins; 286 pp.; 'faction' — a true story with a loose the old woman?' A$32.95) Tehanu then is largely about veneer of fiction. Empire of the Sun recreated Ballard's boyhood in Tenar, now a middle- aged farmer's War Fever is J. G. Ballard's first collec­ widow living on the island of Gont, Shanghai before the Japanese inva­ tion of short stories for eight years. sion and his internment during the to which comes Ged, the once-pow- In that period the novel and film of erful archmage who saved Earthsea. Second World War. Empire of the Sun have made his writ­ The Kindness of Women, which He is now, however, bereft of his ings of 'inner space' known to a wide magic powers. None of them has overlaps the previous book at its be­ public. ginning, is even more autobiograph­ power—neither Ged,Tenar, nor the The title story, 'War Fever', writ­ physically scarred young girl, The- ical. His boyhood imprisonment is a ten before the Gulf War, eerily ghost that Ballard takes most of his rru (Tehanu), whom Tenar takes in. evokes the self-perpetuating nature 'Earthsea is not in very good shape' life to exorcise. On his return to Brit­ of war, but this time in the Lebanon, ain after the war, despite having at this time, as Le Guin has stated. where an ingenious attempt by a spent three years in a Japanese camp, Le Guin almost performs a young idealist to end the fighting is he is shocked by British society — its deconstruction on the original tril­ cynically overturned. narrowness, its rigid class system ogy — amending details here and In The Secret History of World and its infatuation with traditions revising concepts there. Now we Wa rThree', the time is 1995 a nd Ron­ that have lost all meaning. As a have social criticism in a mythic ald Reagan is back in the Oval Office schoolboy and then a medical stu­ structure. There are no more quests and an American public pays more dent for two years in Cambridge, and 'boys' adventures', but instead attention to his daily medical bulle­ Ballard becomes interested in psy­ the harsh reality of male arrogance, tins than to a brief nuclear exchange. choanalysis and also the possibility of child abuse, and the misuse of Ballard avoids glamour through of nuclear apocalypse, physically power. bleak internal landscapes and flat As Ged a nd Tenar come haltingly represented by the American bases impacted prose. In The Man Who surrounding Cambridge. together they seem impotent in the Walked on the Moon', an American

66 The narrative follows his career the novel lacks the tautness and sud­ said TH write as I please' and 'I as a writer after brief sojourns in the den impact of the original, it does won't buy success at the price of self RAFand advertising. His obsessions allow the careful build-up of scien­ consciousness'. The Asimov Chroni­ are reflected in his early science fic­ tific discovery as the inhabitants of cles will add to that success, even if tion, which depicts abandoned space the planet Kalgish slowly uncover the stories remind us that the As­ launch pads and decaying entropic the terror and destruction that night imov canon has not advanced in re­ worlds and, later, the macabre depic­ will bring to a world that has known cent years. tions of 'inner space' of his novels only ever-present light for two mil­ Crash and Concrete Island. The novel lennia. David Eddings: THE RUBY concludes with the wheel turning This reworking offers more hope KNIGHT full circle as Empire of the Sun is made than the original story, as scientists (Grafton; 347 pp.; A$29.99) into a film and Ballard can at last and religious fanatics form an un­ Marion Bradley, Julian May easy alliance against the cataclysmof recreate the images of his youth. and Andre Norton: BLACK The title The Kindness of Women Nightfall. TRILUUM reflects the small number of women who 'rescued' Ballard from his inter­ Isaac Asimov, edited by (Grafton; 347 pp.; A$29.95) nal conflicts: Peggy, who cared for Martin H. Greenberg: THE Guy Gavrlel Kay: TIGANA him in the Japanese prisoner-of-war ASIMOV CHRONICLES (Penguin; 688 pp.; camp; his wife 'Miriam' (Mary in re­ (Century; 836 pp.; A$35) A$ 19.99) ality), who died tragically early, Martin Middleton: CIRCLE OF leaving Ballard to bring up his three Isaac Asimov has recycled and re­ LIGHT young children in suburban packaged his short stories more (Pan; 379 pp.; A$ 10.99) Shepperton; Dorothy, Miriam's often than any science fiction conser­ Mike Ashley (ed.): THE older sister, who lets Ballard make vationist would have believed possi­ PENDRAGON love to heron his firstencoun ter after ble. Nonetheless if any library or CHRONICLES the death; and Sally, whose drugged Asimov fan is looking for a single fervor of the sixties envelops Ballard (Robinson; 417 pp.; comprehensive collection of A$ 16.95) who, in turn, in the sixties feels 'vio­ Asimov's short stories, she or he Charles de Lint: MOONHEART lence and pornography provided ... could do no better than Martin some meaning to Miriam's death Greenberg's current compilation of (Pan; 485 pp.; A$ 19.99) and the unnumbered victims of the Asimov's fiftyjjrears of writing from war in China'. Finally Cleo, his last 1939 to 1989. This recent crop of fantasy novels love, returns him to internal peace. It's only a pity that Greenberg did ranges from the latest in David Ballard has said recently, T chose not package the collection with ei­ Eddings's bestselling 'Elenium' se­ my title to stress the very important ther a critical introduction or obser­ ries to an Australian debut in this role that women have played in my vations by Asimov to make it even lucrative market. life in giving me, I hope, a positive more worthwhile as a single-author David Eddings has just signed view of the world of the future . . . collection. For example, in The Best of with Grafton a five-book contract there are probably more women in Isaac Asimov (1973), Asimov pro­ that the publisher describes as 'the the book than in all my previous vided interesting details about the largest ever made in the UK with a books put together—certainly more stories, all of which appear again in fantasy or sf author'. Eddings's pop­ sympathetic women'. Such women The Asimov Chronicles. ularity with the younger fantasy au­ seem to give more to Ballard than he Asimov's short stories are not re­ dience remains unchecked, with gives to them, certainly emotionally. nowned for their literary depth. three further volumes of the The Kindness of Women takes us Strong simply story-lines under­ 'Elenium' saga promised. outofthesunand intotheBallardian pinned by scientific detachment and In the second of the quintet, The twilight, one in which constant technological extrapolation are his Ruby Knight, the quest to release the flashes of illumination burst forth norm. Thus in 'Franchise' future young Queen of Elenia from her from the episodic narrative. It is un­ elections are decided by computers, crystal prison centres around the likely to achieve the huge success of with a single dash of human input, need to find the Bhelliom, a long-lost Empire of the sun. Nonetheless, with while The Ugly Little Boy' sees a jewel. Unfortunately the custodian Ballard providing a warmth and Neanderthal child brought through of the jewel is so much a clone of emotion missing from his earlier time to the present. Tolkien's Gollum, at least in lan­ cold and austere novels, his new A number of stories reveal that guage and action, that seekers of true novel is sure to linger long in the science fiction predictions often go fantasy originality will be disap­ memory of its readers as a remark­ astray. Asimov's giant mainframe pointed. able portrayal of an unusual English computers and punched tape inputs In Black Trillium, three renowned writer. of the twenty-first century betray fantasy writers combine to recount their origin in that particular com­ the attempt by triplet princesses to Isaac Asimov and Robert puting environment of the late 1940s save their country. All three prin­ Sllverberg: NIGHTFALL and early 1950s. cesses must learn to overcome their (Gollancz; 352 pp.; Asimov's best stories, however, frailties and weaknesses before the A$27.95) date from those decades. His later predictable yet satisfying happy fiction comprises mainly block­ ending. Isaac Asimov's classic 1941 short buster novels. The most recent sto­ Guy Gavriel Kay, who has story 'Nightfall' has now been ex­ ries in The Asimov Chronicles are worked with Christopher Tolkien, panded into a full-length novel in a trifles from his 'Azazel' and 'Black and wrote an outstanding trilogy collaboration of two of science Widower7 series, more gimmickry 'The Fionovar Tapestry' (1984—7), fiction's best-known writers. While than depth. Nonetheless Asimov has has now created in Tigana another

67 complex worldoffantasyand magic, David G. Hartwell (ed.): THE this time loosely based on Renais­ DARK DESCENT: MEDUSA sance Italy. This epic fantasy, how­ IN THE SHIELD ever, stretches beyond simple (Grafton; 368 pp.; A$29.95) black-and-white values, as success George Beahm (ed.): THE to restore the memory and reality of the province of Tigana by a motley STEPHEN KING group of exiles is tinged with trag­ COMPANION edy. (Macdonald; 365 pp.; Despite its recent Australian sales A$32.95) success Circle of Light, the first in a Douglas E. Winter (ed.): DARK trilogy by Queensland writer Martin VISIONS Middleton, is essentially derivative (Gollancz; 264 pp.; of the best works of the genre. An A$29.95hb, A$10.95pb) orphaned servant Teal learns of his Chris Morgan (ed.); DARK true destiny, which involves, as with FANTASIES some of David Eddings's heroes, much eating and fighting. He finds a (Legend; 319 pp.; A$ 10.95) ring with mystic powers and takes David Sutton (ed.): DARK on the 'Dark Forces'. An Australian VOICES 2 setting might have improved on an (Pan; 223 pp.; A$9.99) uninspiring plot and one-dimen­ Heaven (1982), hers was a relatively sional characterization. unfamiliar name amongst the Kings The current boom in original horror Arthurian fantasy legends are en­ and Le Carres on the bestseller list. literature owes much, of course, to capsulated in The Pendragon Chroni­ The Witching Hour, largely set in the phenomenon of Stephen King cles, Michael Ashley's collection of her beloved New Orleans, will en­ but, as David Hartwell reveals in the sixteen stories that testify to the en- sure her literary reputation. Rice's second of his three-volume definite duranceand popularity of Arthurian two main characters are Rown May­ anthology of horror, Medusa in the myth. All but two of the selections, fair, a female neurosurgeon, who Shield, the traditions of short-story which begin with the young Arthur mysteriously knows which of her horror are well established. Thus and trace events to after his death, patients will be cured in advance, Edgar Allan Poe and Henry James are post-1950 works reflecting the and Michael Curry, a blue-collar rub shoulders with H. P. Lovecraft contemporary potency of the legend. businessman with psychic gifts. Nei­ and Sheridan Le Fanu in the twenty Australian author Keith Taylor, with ther is initially aware of the super­ stories included in Hartwell's collec­ his dark fantasy 'Buried Silver', natural forces that will bring them tion. King's own classic novella The ranks among the best in an excellent together. Monkey' shows effectively the evil collection. The Witching Hour possesses a that a small toy monkey unleashes Charles de Lint's Moonheart un­ structural comp.exity that ensures on an American family. usually juxtaposes Celtic and North the reader's attention scarcely falters King's readers can be divided American mythologies in a narrative during 965 pages of text. Hot, roughly into two groups — the that moves from contemporary Ot­ steamy, decadent New Orleans pro­ mainstream readers and his 'fans'. It tawa to prehistoric Canada. When vides a backdrop of both beauty and will probably be the latter who buy Sara Kendell finds an old Celtic ring terror, thereby reflecting the plot — George Beahm's The Stephen King in an ancient Indian medicine bag, a the 'devil incarnate' seeks to assume Companion, an excellent pot-pourri centuries-old duel is unleashed. De earthly form. Rice's lengthy pas­ ofKingiana. Apart from collected in­ Lint has said of contemporary fan­ sages of brutal horror, earthy eroti­ terviews and analyses of King's tasy that 'one can deal with the mys­ cism and historical recollection are work, which are of general interest, tic matter of our hearts by integral to a story that ends on more the details of his house's wrought- superimposing them against the than a hint of a sequel. iron designs (bats and griffins) and sharp edge of reality'. Moonheart bril­ The dreamlike power of The photographs of Maine will probably liantly achieves this objective. Witching Hour is reflected in many of attract only the King aficionados — the fifty stories in Richard Dalby's of which there are enough to make Anne Rice: THE WITCHING Mammoth Bookof Ghost Stories, which Beahm's compilation profitable. HOUR represents excellent value for The best critical writings on Ste­ (Chatto & Windus; money. Dalby's selection ranges phen King have been by Douglas 965 pp.; A$34.95) from classic authors such as Charles Winter, who has now collected in Dickens and Oscar Wilde to new Dark Visions seven original stories by Richard Dalby (ed): THE masters of terror such as Ramsey Stephen King, Dan Simmons and MAMMOTH BOOK OF Campbell. George R. R. Martin. GHOST STORIES The late Robert Aickman's 'The Surprisingly, King's stories are (Robinson; 654 pp.; Unsettled Dust' comes closest to the weakest. In The Reploids', a tv A$ 14.95) Rice's potent spell. Once more there star from an alternate universe blun­ is a decaying historical house and ders onto the Johnny Carson set. The surprise Number One bestseller mysterious family secrets — in this 'Sneakers' features a haunted toilet! of early 1991 in theUnited States was case the tragic death of the lover of The contributions by Hugo-win­ Anne Rice's The Witching Hour. two sisters. The result is a ghost story ning novelist Dan Simmons are the While Rice has attracted a growing with chilling psychological under­ strongest, with 'Metastatis' telling of number of followers with such cult tones. the messianic liberation of cancer novels as her Venetian chiller Cry to 'vampires'.

68 Dark Fantasies, whose editor concept in the first volume and months ago, he has produced three Chris Morgan promises 'no slime, no manic over-activity in the second, more Discworld novels. chainsaws', focuses on psychologi­ are only too evident in Wings. The The latest novel, Witches Abroad, cal horror. This is best reflected in chapter headings from A Scientific features his redoubtable trio of Stephen Gallagher's 'Lifeline', in Encyclopaedia for the Enquiring Young witches from Wyrd sisters. Granny which telephone callers are linked Nome, however, still delight with Weatherwax discovers that her long- mysteriously to the dead, and Ian such quotes as 'science explains lost sister Lily has forced the people Watson's 'Tales from Weston what is happening around us the of Genua to enact fairy tales. This Willow', in which a close-knit village whole time. So does religion but sci­ scenario not only allows Pratchett to community prevents newcomers ence is better because it comes up parody the British abroad, from leaving. with more understandable excuses mangled Franglais to disdain for for­ In Dark Voices 2, another excellent when it's wrong'. eign cooking, and also indulge in anthology,Cherry Wilder's 'Alive in Pratchett might need to recon­ some wonderful twists to such con­ Venice' sta nds out; it tells of a trip by sider the format of his future books ventional fairy stories as 'Little Red a fourteen-year-old girl to Venice, for 'young adults'; perhaps three Riding Hood', The Sleeping Beauty' where she is literally captured by the slender volumes might not have and especially 'Cinderella'. past. Brian Stableford's 'Behind the been better combined into one solid A prince turns into a frog each Wheel' is a gruesome motoring ver­ novel. It is rare, however, for night (he has to have a pond in his sion of revenge beyond the grave. Pratchett to teeter on his comic ped­ bedroom); Greebo the cat turns into estal. Moving Pictures certainly almost a human being (he still likes Terry Pratchett: MOVING proves that Wings is only a tempo­ to curl up under the table and have PICTURES rary hiccup. his tummy tickled); Mrs Gogal, a (Gollancz; 279 pp.; Voodoo witch, recreates zombies, A$29.95) Terry Pratchett: REAPER MAN while Margret's secondhand magic Terry Pratchett: WINGS (Gollancz; 253 pp.; wand can only produce pumpkins. Witches Abroad takes the reader on a (Doubleday; 157 pp.; A$32.50) Pratchett holiday, but this time in a A$ 17.95) When Terry Pratchett visited Can­ traditional pantomime setting en­ tirely suitable for the holiday season. Hollywood meets Discworld in berra in 1990 he told his ANU/Can- berra Times Literary Lunch audience Terry Pratchett's latest bestselling Eric Willmot: BELOW THE LINE comic novel Moving Pictures. Some­ that the most popular characters in (Hutchinson; 202 pp.; thing strange begins to happen in his DiscworldF series were Granny 'Holy Wood' near to Pratchett's fa­ Weatherwax, the Luggage, and A$ 12.95) miliar city setting of Ankh- Morpork Death! He promised to feature Death and its residents of the Unseen Uni­ more prominently in a future novel. Eric Willmot's Below the Line is set in versity. An alternate reality begins to Reaper Man has now arrived. the early twenty-first century, with draw the denizens to Holy Wood', Dea th is now out of a jobs for person­ the north of Australia under the con­ where imps painting with brushes ality reasons; therefore there has trol of the Indonesian Republic of inside cameras record the first out­ been an increase in the number of South Irian. Speculative fiction often put of the Discworld film industry! 'undead'. This causes a bit of a prob­ calls for the logical suspension of dis­ An undergraduate wizard Vic­ lem for the inhabitants of Disc world, belief, but Willmot fails to sketch in tor, the ex-milkmaid Ginger and as ghosts and poltergeists arrive en adequately the necessary detailed Gaspode 'the Wonder Dog' re-enact masse to 'hang about'. political, economic and social back­ the Pickford/Chaplin era of Holly­ A zany subplot provides an ex­ ground to life below and above the wood through Pratchett's zany vi­ planation of how shopping malls 'Brisbane line' to convince the scep­ sion of the 'clicks'. breed with shopping trolleys, taking tical reader of the course of events. Moving Pictures is almost im­ on a life of their own and attacking Following Indonesia's invasion possible to describe. It is Pratchett's the senior officers of the Unseen Uni­ of Papua New Guinea, war, which careful build-up of sustained hilarity versity. Pratchett believes that 'shop­ 'nobody wanted but the generals of through puns, jokes and humorous ping malls are predators that draw Java and Australia', ensues. Refu­ inventions that sustains his essen­ the life out of a city so the city starts gees flood into Northern Australia, tially basic plots. The making of the to die in the middle'. 200,000 being 'disguised forward Civil War epic Blown Away; a parody While the two plots don't really strike troops' with apparently no of the final scene in King Kong featur­ come together, they providean effec­ Australians being aware of this fact. ing the orang utan Librarian of the tive basis for Pratchett's constantly 'Australia then attacked Indonesia Unseen University, who really is inventive humour, which allows by sea and air but this served little paid peanuts, and Gaspode's con­ him, as always, to explore deeper purpose'. The only military help for frontation with 'Death', 'the final issues such as the meaning of life in Australia comes from New Zealand frontier', are just a few of the comic the 'great big cold universe out and a small volunteer force from highlights of Moving Pictures. there'. Japan, as Europe has equated Wings is a slightly disappointing Australia's treatment of the Aborig­ finale to Pratchett's 'nome' trilogy Terry Pratchett: WITCHES ines to the South African situation that began with Truckers and Diggers, ABROAD and has refused to help. Australia, the saga of four-inch-high aliens (Gollancz; 252 pp.; A$38) the continent divided, sues for who emerge from beneath the floor­ peace, and the United States and boards of a department store to re­ The phenomenally popular and pro­ Britain propose in the UN that South gain access to their Moon-based lific British author Terry Pratchett Irian becomes a recognized separate spaceship. The plot shortcomings, will return to Canberra in April 1992. state. Australia south of the line is a which were overcome by theoriginal Since his last visit some fifteen vaguely delineated totalitarian state

69 with all large capital estates nation­ Australia's moral decline, lack of in­ ancient Rome or small-town Amer­ alized. This apparently causes no volvement with Asia, treatment of ica come alive. When a real-life problems, as the millionaires are Aborigines and distrust of Anglo- Phantom of the Opera is spotted and only 'real estate agents' and develop­ American influences might have the infamous head of the studio is ers! been better treated in a polemical seemingly aliveaftera fatal carcrash No one would deny the potential tract. Doris Lessing in her 'Canopus twenty years earlier, Bradbury has in of a novel detailing the aftermath of in Argos' series also used novels set place the necessary ingredients for a such an Indonesian invasion. In­ in the future for didactic purposes, successful mix of nostalgia and gen­ deed, Professor Des Ball of the ANU but her fictional infrastructure was tle horror. has recently [April 1991] touched solid. raw nerves in Jakarta with his warn­ Dan Simmons: SUMMER OF ings of military build-ups in South­ Michael Crichton: JURASSIC NIGHT east Asia, but there has to be some PARK (Headline; 473 pp.; examination of Australia's own iso­ (Century; A$29.95) A$34.95 hb, A$ 19.95 pb) lationistattitudes. Dean R. Koontz: COLD FIRE A flimsy speculative scenario Michael Crichton has specialized in might have been held together by a (Headline; 374 pp.; the scientific thriller, with such nov­ A$29.95) strong narrative with believable els as The Andromeda Strain and John Shirley: IN DARKNESS characters, but here Below the Line Sphere. Now Jurassic Park combines also fails. The main character Angela palaentology, biotechnology and WAITING Steen, with a background that Chaos theory to bring the dinosaurs (Grafton; 348 pp.; A$9.95) should have entailed independence back to life in the late twentieth cen­ T. M. Wright: THE PLACE of action and a vocabulary replete tury. (Gollancz; 278 pp.; with four-letter words, becomes a An elderly multi-millionaire con­ A$ 11.95) passive element in the unfolding of ceives the possibility of a dinosaur Susan Hill (ed.): THE WALKER the plot and the elucidation of a mil­ theme park on a remote island off BOOK OF GHOST STORIES itary secret she may or may not have Costa Rica. Dinosaurs are recreated learnt in an Indonesian prison camp (Walker; 223 pp.; A$29.95) by bio-engineers from preserved di­ Ramsey Campbell: NEEDING where she was brutally raped. nosaur DNA. The pre-opening cere­ GHOSTS Steen takes frequent showers and mony with assembled scientists, baths, is sexually analysed by com­ investors and, perhaps unnecessar­ (Century; 80 pp.; A$25 hb; puter diagnosis, learns Aboriginal ily, two 'cute' American children, is A$ 12.95 pb) sex secrets, and becomes 'a bitch in thrown into panic when the com­ heat'after meeting renegade Austra­ puter network controlling the island Headline has beca me one of the most lian Army captain Oliver Maccii. He is sabotaged and the splendidly im­ successful publishers in the United is told he 'can do anything with me agined varieties of dinosaurs, who Kingdom in only threeyearsofoper- you want to' after she tries to resist are far from passive grazers, go free. ation. Part of their success has been the 'strange feeling of tingling Crichton convincingly docu­ in specializing in the best authors of warmth that swept over her'. Nearly ments the scientific background that a genre, in this case, horror. Headline as many pages are devoted to sexual makes the whole development seem has thus secured twenty-eight encounters as to the quest beyond reasonable. His characters, as in his Koontz back titles, while Dan Sim­ enemy lines in South Irian. The sci­ other novels, may be one-dimen­ mons has in the last five years won entific secret that prompts Angela's sional, and spend fnost of their time nearly every award in the science wanderings, however, turns out to making speeches, but they are sec­ fiction, fantasy and horror genres. be something of an anti-climax, ondary to the fast-moving plot as the Simmons's Summer of Night is while the abrupt romantic conclu­ humans race against time and the something of a disappointment after sion to Below the Line sits uneasily dinosaur threat — not just to the is­ the intellectual pyrotechnics of his with practical reality. land but possibly to the world. superb Hyperion series. The plot is Eric Willmot is an original No wonder Steven Spielberg has very reminiscent of that of Stephen thinker and lively administrator, al­ bought the movie rights for $1.5 mil­ King's It. Prepubescent boys in a though for the publicists to claim he lion. Jurassic Park is a thriller with small midwest American town in the is 'committed to challenging those teeth. summer of 1960 tackle unspeakable who try to manipulate our most es­ evil emanating from a mysterious sential community services such as Ray Bradbury: A GRAVEYARD school bell, the Borgia bell. Why it education and medical services for should surface there calls for some FOR LUNATICS their own ends' might be seen as initial suspension of disbelief, but somewhat provocative. His brief al­ (Grafton; 285 pp.; A$29.95) Simmons is too good a writer not to lusions in Below the Line to technolog­ ring effective horror chimes as the ical advances, such as an airtrack Ray Bradbury has followed his nos­ children struggle to survive against train, confirm his inventive scientific talgic detective-fiction evocation of the supernatural horror. bent. 1949's Los Angeles, Death is a Lonely Dean R. Koontz topped the Similarly, his descriptions of life Business (1986) with another beauti­ American hardback bestseller list in Townsville under South Irianese fully drawn period piece, A Grave­ with Cold Fire. Again there are rule lead one to wish that Dr Willmot yard of Lunatics, set in the same city echoes of a King novel — The Dead had spent more time depicting the in 1954. The narrator is once again Zone — as a school teacher foresees two societies co-existing in Australia the younger Bradbury, a writer of events of violence or unnecessary than following his tenuous plot pulp stories who has now been hired death and works to prevent their oc­ north of the line. to write a horror-movie script. currence. A female reporter joins Willmot's implicit views on The 'graveyard for lunatics' is him in a search back to his childhood Maximus films, where the streets of

70 for the origin of his powers, only to real source, Vlad the Impaler (1431­ mixed with the terror of schizophre­ uncover the hidden evil of 'the 1476), the Romanian prince whom nia, are only weakened by some Enemy'. Koontz, like Simmons, can Florescu and McNally portray as over-indulgence in descriptions of breathe fresh life into some basic even more interesting than the fic­ violence and bodily functions. horror scenarios. tional vampire. The myth can be Brian Stableford's The Werewolves Less successful, however, are used, however, for a variety of pur­ of London is set in Victorian England, John Shirley's In Darkness Waiting poses, and Aldiss uses Dracula to but the werewolves are hardly lead­ and T. M. Wright's The Place. create an alternative race that threat­ ers of the pack in his fiction. A mys­ In the former title, psychic mon­ ens humanity itself. terious discovery in Egypt unleashes sters are unleashed in a controlled Dracula Unbound begins when a the ancient powers of the fallen an­ experiment by a multinational com­ palaeontological dig in Utah uncov­ gels of biblical mythology. The focal pany on yet another small American ers in a sixty-five million year old point of the demonic battle are a town. This revelation comes early in rock stratum a skeleton with a stake young man and a young boy who try the novel, and the repetitive violence through its heart. Joe Bodenland, to comprehend their powers at the and murder blunt the overall mes­ Aldiss's scientific entrepreneur who same time as human and supernatu­ sage that humanity rather than su­ appeared first in Frankenstein Un­ ral forces fight to control them. pernatural forces is the source of bound, tackles Count Dracula, who Stableford's various digressions into contemporary evil. not only intends to eliminate Bram topics such as the Victorian class sys­ T. M. Wright in The Place juxta­ Stoker in Victorian England but also tem and Kantian thought give The poses the as-yet-untested psychic the human race to allow his legions Werewolves of London an unusual and powers of an eight-year-old girl with of the 'undead' to triumph. effective depth to a work that is far the horrors unleashed by a mad Unfortunately Aldiss mixes so better than its title and cover imply. leaderofanunderground commune. many time periods, from the distant Fiends is less ambitious, and falls More literature and less violent past to a twenty-sixth century Lib­ into the middling category of Amer­ are the stories in The Walker Book of yan empire, speaking idioms, from ican horror. As in Stableford's book, Ghost Stories, which is intended for colloquial Texan to high Victorian; the plot includes 'God's rejects' — in younger readers. Authors such as and concepts, fjom the death of the this case 'Eve's dirty children' who Penelope Lively, Jan Mark and Leon dinosaurs to time travel, that the end take the form of mothlike vampires, Garfield prove that ghosts can range result, while entertaining enough, is who infect their victims through in temperament from the humorous a relatively minor piece in the Aldiss thorns on the tips of their fingers. to the decidedly cantankerous. canon. i Richard Layman's One Rainy Susan Hill has brought together an This is one Dracula story that can Night has an even more tenuous excellent collection for children with be said to lack bite. idea: yet another American small suitable ethereal colour illustrations. town goes mad — this time when Decidedly for adult readers is S. P. Somtow: MOONDANCE voodoo-infected rain falls! Layman Ramsey Campbell's novella Needing (Gollancz; 564 pp.; has written that 'a horror novel is like Ghosts. Campbell's main character, A$34.95) a big bag . . . the writer can stuff in­ an author, who is either mad ordead, Brian Stableford: THE side it whatever he likes'. Unfortu­ engages in a nightmare journey nately, Layman forgot to fill it for WEREWOLVES OF LONDON through a dark and surreal land­ One Rainy Night. scape. Needing Ghosts can be inter­ (Simon and Schuster; British author Peter James, when preted as an account of a 390 pp.; A$35) researching Sweetheart, underwent a schizophrenic descent into hell. Its John Farris: FIENDS series of hypnotic rebirthing and re­ ambiguous evil is far more terrifying (Grafton; 331 pp.; A$32.95) gression sessions. The result is a than the graphic detail of the Richard Layman: ONE RAINY story of the haunting of a yuppie 'splatter7 novels produced by some NIGHT couple in an idyllic country mill other British writers, such as Shaun (Headline; 308 pp.; turned satanic. Essentially Sweet­ Hutson. A$ 19.95) heart is in the gothic tradition, with Peter James: SWEETHEART the addition of gruesome deaths to satisfy the contemporary horror Brian Aldlss: DRACULA (Gollancz; 278 pp.; UNBOUND market. Unlike Layman, James can A$29.95) write real characters and believable (Grafton; 199 pp.; A$32.95) Thomas Palmer: DREAM Radu Florescu and Raymond dialogue. SCIENCE T. McNally: DRACULA: In Dream Science Thomas (Collins Harvill; 308 pp.; Palmer's main character, an Ameri­ PRINCE OF MANY FACES A$32.95) can mutual funds manager, finds (Little, Brown & Co.; himself in an enclosed tomblike of­ 261 pp.; A$ 19.95) Winter chills abound in these novels fice in an alternate universe. of both direct and subtle terror. Palmer's disturbing, Kafkaesque vi­ Count Dracula, as fictionally con­ Somtow and Stableford involve sions and questioning of reality ceived by Bram Stoker in 1897, has werewolves as their mechanism of make for a truly dreadful day at the evolved in the twentieth century into menace. office, but Palmer unfortunately can­ one of the most famous depictions of Moondancespanseightdecadesof not sustain the reader's interest to supernatural evil. Brian Aldiss in American history as European hu­ the enigmatic conclusion. Nonethe­ Dracula Unbound provides the latest mans cum werewolves migrate and less, it reaffirms that the most chill­ twist to the Dracula fictional dimen­ confront their North American ing novels are often the least explicit. sion. counterparts in violent and bloody It is important, however, to re­ encounters. Somtow's undoubtedly member that Stoker's creation has a powerful lycanthropic images,

71 Brian Stableford: SEXUAL J. R. R. Tolkien: THE LORD OF CHEMISTRY THE RINGS (Simon and Schuster; (HarperCollins; 1200 pp.; 229 pp.; A$35) A$75)

Readers simply seeing the title of Dr John Ronald Reuel Tolkien wa s bom Brian Stableford's latest book might on 3 January 1892. The publishing wonder if this were a sex aids man­ industry assault on the reading pub­ ual or a new device of student-grab­ lic to capitalize on the centenary of bing universities to increase his birth has begun. The fact that it enrolments in the sciences. Read the coincides with the Christma s buying subtitle and you find it to be 'sar­ spree has ensured a plethora of donic tales of the genetic revolution'. books, calendars and ephemera, in­ Stableford speculates, through cluding Tolkien watches and Christ­ fiction, where genetic engineering mas crackers! Two of Tolkien's will take us in the future. Thus sci­ children John and Priscilla have ence will allow male pregnancies combined to produce the Tolkien ('Bedside Conversations'); degrees family album, due for publication in of immortality (The Magic Bullet' January 1992. and 'And He Not Busy Being Bom'); When Unwin Hyman was taken and bio-engineered animals and over by HarperCollins there were risks'. This shows in Needful Things even household goods (The Furni­ grave fears that the Tolkien heritage as King's sequence of horror be­ ture of Life's Ambition'). Human be­ crafted by Allen & Unwin and their comes predictable. This is partly the ings, however, seem not to change supplementary fantasy line would fault of the plot line, which is sig­ much over the centuries. be downgraded. These fears have nalled very early in the book. When Stableford calls his characters, proved to be unfounded, and the the mysterious Leland Gaunt opens usually only two or three per story, first product of the new alliance is a a new shop in town called 'Needful 'literary caricatures', but beneath the superb achievement. Things' it is clearly more than just a cold prose and dark humour are Some have decried Tolkien's curio store. As King has said, 'what­ quirky individuals who are hardly achievements. Professor Anne Bar­ ever you want most in the world is stereotyped scientists in white coats. ton of Cambridge University is wary in that shop'. In the end Stableford remains opti­ of Tolkien's 'rather grandiose and Thus when the first customer, mistic 'that the rewards which can misconceived view of life. What eleven-year-old Brian Rusk, finds come from the wise and constructive makes me nervous is that there is a that elusive 1956 baseball cap for a uses of biotechnology will more than kind of soft underbelly to it', while bargain price, we realize im­ compensate for the undoubted haz­ Michael Moorcock believes 'The Lord mediately that this might be a Faust­ ards of careless or malevolent use'. of the Rings is a pernicious confirma­ ian bargain. As the rest of the town We can only hope so, as he leads the tion of the values of a mostly bank­ falls under Gaunt's manipulative reader through 'an infinite wilder­ rupt middle class'. David Pringle spell, troubles begin in a small way ness of ifs in genetic engineering'. writes in Modern Fantasy that the but soon erupt into violent deaths. 'baggage [of social attitudes] counts Sheriff Alan Pangbom has the unen­ Stephen King: NEEDFUL for less when weighted against the viable task of unravelling the mys­ book's central attraction. As near as THINGS tery and confronting the Devil. possible... Tolkien's masterpiece is (Hodder & Stoughton; Unfortunately, the book takes nearly pure story.' 698 pp.; A$34.95) 700 pages to reach this point. In this new edition, Alan Lee has Robert McCammon: MINE Robert McCammon's Mine added pictorial depth of great sensi­ evokes echoes of King's claustropho­ (Pocket Books; 487 pp.; tivity. Christopher Tolkien, the liter­ bic Misery in his saga of a mother's A$9.95) ary executor of his father's works, search for her baby kidnapped by a said recently that Tolkien would crazed female ex-sixties radical Needful Things, the new bestselling have 'adored' Alan Lee's fifty origi­ group killer. Journalist Laura blockbuster from Stephen King, is nal colour illustrations, each of Claybome undertakes a nightmare the last of his 'Castle Rock' stories. which faces the relevant page of text. chase in pursuit of her baby to a lit­ Castle Rock is the fictional small Lee is the award-winning British erally cliff-hanging denouement. town in Maine where King has lo­ illustrator of such books as Merlin Underpinning this fast-moving plot cated many of his characters and Dreams and Castles. While many are a number of believable charac­ plots, from Cujo to The Dark Half. might prefer to let their imagination ters, notably the relics of the sixties According to King, 'everybody run free, most will find that Lee's and the seventies who have little left who's ever been in Castle Rock evocation of, for example, the hobbit to call 'mine'. comes into the book to take a kind of characters and Gollum are superbly McCammon has now left the hor­ curtain call' — for example, Ace envisaged. ror field — his latest novel Boys Life, Merrill, who was the bully in King's If there is to be one edition of The which owes more to Steven novella The Body7, continues on the Lord of the Rings bought for a house­ Spielberg than Stephen King. Maybe wrong side of the tracks. hold or library this Christmas, surely now that Castle Rock is 'all gone- King says in a recent interview: this is it. Despite, or because of the kaput7, according to King, it's time 'Castle Rock became more real to highish price (and it does equate for him also to move onto fresh me .. . but you become complacent; with the British price, so Australian challenges? you begin to accept boundaries; the buyers cannot complain), it is a familiarity of the place discourages sumptuous production that can be

72 read and treasured. Robert Rankin: THEY CAME The original Bill the Galactic Hero AND ATE US satirized such authors as Asimov J. R. R. Tolkien: THE WAR OF (Bloomsbury; 278 pp.; and Heinlein in reasonable depth, THE RING A$34.95) but this new book falls so low as to (Unwin Hyman; 476 pp.; Terry Pratchett: ERIC declare Greg Bear as 'Greg Bore' and Stephen King as 'Stephen Thing'. A$49.95) (Gollancz; 155 pp.; A$8) Bill's romance with 'the beautiful Harry Harrison and David princess Irma' is one- dimensional. Christopher Tolkien's editing of his Bischoff: BILL THE father's voluminous archives A typical phrase is: To Bill, women GALACTIC HERO ON THE reaches its eighth volume with The were not mysterious beings; mystery War of the Ring, the third part of the PLANET OF TASTELESS implies intellectual thought'; Bill's 'history' of The Lord of the Rings. The PLEASURE views of women are decidedly 'co­ text, despite its 476 pages, covers (Gollancz; 213 pp.; A$36) itus connected'. only two episodes from Tolkien's John Sladek: BUGS Fellow American John Sladek, in epic fantasy saga — from the Battle (Paladin; 224 pp.; A$ 12.95) contrast, goes from strength to of Helm's Deep in The Two Towers to strength with his black-comedy the confrontation between Gandalf Robert Rankin said in a recent inter­ overviews of middle America. The and Sauron's ambassador at the view that 'straight fiction bores me bugs of his la test novel relate more to Black Gate of Mordor. to death because I don't want to read the glitches in life rather than those As in the earlier volumes there is about real life. I don't want to read of the midwest high-tech factory in no continuous narrative, only ex­ about people's psychological prob­ which his bewildered British writer tracts from the manuscripts inter­ lems and bad love life.' Fred Jones finds himself employed. spersed with copious commentary, Readers certainly won't find Jones's bumbling and inhibited references and indexing. Christo­ much about these issues in They steps symbolize Britain for Sladek, pher Tolkien successfully highlights Came and Ate Us, the sequel to who recently left there to return to how key episodes evolved over a Armageddon the Musical. What they his native USA. America is not succession of manuscript drafts, but will find is zany'British comedy that spared, however, with its paranoid only the 'trufan' and libraries will is too often over the top. They will politicians and demonic military want this complete set of The His­ encounter a time-travelling brussel controlling a populace enslaved by tory of Middle-Earth'. sprout called Barry who just hap­ the technology of the consumer soci­ Devotees of global book markets pens to be locked into one Elvis Pre­ ety. In the end, the bugs in the system might be interested to note that the sley whose mission is to prevent the will bring the whole edifice crashing US edition from Houghton Mifflin forthcoming nuclear holocaust. Rob­ down, but until then Sladek seems to costs US$21.95, while the British ver­ ert Rankin says he 'absolutely hated be saying to ride out today's 'mo­ sion retails in Australia for $49.95. sprouts' as a child; perhaps this is ronic inferno' as best you can. why 'old Barry appears every­ Martin H. Greenberg (ed.): where'. AFTER THE KING: STORIES Rankin tilts at various targets, IN HONOUR OF J. R. R. such as environmentalists and or­ TOLKIEN ganized religion, but he rarely achieves the controlled wit of his (Pan; 534 pp.; A$35) illustrious counterparts Terry Pratchett and Douglas Adams. Far After the King was designed as a trib­ better to go for the real thing — the ute to J. R. R. Tolkien, 'a present for paperback version of Terry the one hundredth anniversary of Pratchett's Eric, which lacks the Josh his birth'. Tolkien was bom on 3 Jan­ Kirby illustrations of the original, uary 1892. In essence, this is less a but is still excellent value for money. Festschrift than a clever marketing Eric is the fourteen-year-old ploy, but who cares when it provides hacker who, in Faustian fashion, the opportunity for some of the lead­ summons the Devil but gets ing names in fantasy literature, such Rincewind, Discworld's incompe­ as Peter Beagle, Patrician McKillip, tent wizard, and his itinerant lug­ and Stephen Donaldson, to contrib­ gage, instead. Comic mayhem ute original stories or novellas to an results in typical Pratchett fashion. excellent anthology. Of the four novels reviewed, Terry Pratchett (one hesitates to Harry Harrison and David Bischoff's think what Tolkien would have Ian Watson: STALIN’S Bill the Galactic Hero on the Planet of made of him) contributes a comic Tasteless Pleasure is the low point. TEARDROPS Disc wo rid gem in Troll Bridge', as The book features Harrison's merce­ (Gollancz; 270 pp.; A$35) the aged Cohen the Barbarian con­ nary soldier, created in the lively fronts a decidedly maudlin troll 1965 original, blundering his way British author Ian Watson, despite under a bridge. Jane Yolen's "Winter through various planetary esca­ his prolific output since his award­ King' sees an outcast child find his pades. From the variable typogra­ winning first novel The Embedding true home, while John Brunner's phy, taken from the American (1973), is much neglected in the pop­ evocation of village life for a war paperback original, to the inconse­ ular canon, possibly because his veteran just after the First World War quential plot, it is clear that Bill really idiosyncratic brand of metaphysical cleverly blends pagan and Christian deserves an early death instead of an speculation rarely sells in large rites with a ha ppy-e ver-after ending. ongoing series. quantities. Like J. G. Ballard before

73 him he probably needs a bestseller, children, such as the young Ender in such as Ballard achieved with Empire Ender's Game, who is trained in isola­ of the Sun, in order for readers to seek tion to eliminate the insectoid aliens out his earlier books. via what he thinks initially is a com­ Stalin's Teardrops comprises puter game. These children often IMAJICA twelve short stories that reflect the possess exceptional strengths and diverse range of Watson's subject weaknesses, and are therefore easy matter. for younger readers to empathize In the title story, particularly with — the coming-of-age ritual. poignant after recent events in Rus­ Card believes in the 'perfectibility of sia, the forced distortions of Soviet human beings, at least in part cartographers eventually create an through their own desires and alternate reality. works'. In Tales from Weston Willow' In Maps in a Mirror there is per­ the closeness of village life overrides haps too much of Card's preoccupa­ and threatens individual action. tion with setting up a moral d ilemma In The Eyeof the Ayatollah' Wat­ and setting the central character to son describes in chilling fashion an resolve it through personal analysis Iranian mission to kill Salman and development. There are also a Rushdie aided bizarrely by the ac­ number of stories that should not tual eye of the dead Ayatollah! have been published — for example, In this challenging collection, stories from Mormon publications. ported the theft of a number of Ste­ Wa tson's cha racters are tra ns formed There are, however, many interest­ phen King advance proof copies. by their strange circumstances and ing pieces such as Tost boys', which When asked what their next action either succumb to or exorcise their recounts how the dead victims of a would be, they said they would lock particular demons. serial killer are reunited with their away their Clive Barker proofs! families. Barker amassed a huge following Orson Scott Card: MAPS IN A In Xenocide, which harks back to in the 1980s. In America alone Imajica MIRROR the main character's destruction of has had a 150,000 hardback printing, (Legend; 675 pp.; A$ 19.95) almost an entire race, the planet Lu­ with US$200,000 spent on advertis­ ing. Barker, however, increasingly Orson Scott Card: XENOCIDE sitania and its three species are them­ selves threatened with destruction. seems to capitalize on an exploration (Legend; 463 pp.; A$ 17.95) How the various 'families' overcome of the paranormal or the magical, as Orson Scott Card: THE the threats viral, ecological and in his equally sprawling last novel WORTHING SAGA physical revolves around the influ­ The Great and Secret Show. Imajica is a (Legend; 396 pp.; A$17.95) ence of another incredibly intelligent long way from his original sparse young a child, a girl Quing-jao, and powerful Books of Blood, which Orson Scott Card, still only forty, has whose talents are also open to abuse. established his name as a master of now seen a reprinting of a substan­ The Worthing $aga, a reprinting black fantasy. tial part of his science fiction writ­ and reworking of earlier novels and Imajica constitutes five worlds, ings. He has stated that 'the reader short stories is, like Xenocide, a famil­ four of which are joined, while the coming to my work will find that ial history set against galactic fifth Earth is separate, despite an at­ there is only rarely any science in my themes. It is a lesser achievement, tempt 200 years ago for a conjunc­ science fiction. I use the freedom of but it contains the familiar theme of tion. Barker's main characters the genre to create the situations in self-redemption through personal ricochet through time and space in which my stories take place.' trial and self-discovery. Knowledge order to establish a contemporary Maps in a Mirror collects forty-six can be both temptation and saviour. reconciliation of the five worlds. stories, poems and novellas from his Card is clearly much happier with Barker's imagination is without first story published in 1977 through individuals than with galactic em­ doubt a fertile one: his characters to 1989. The Worthing Saga reprints pires. The Worthing Sage reflects the roam bizarre landscapes populated and reworks elements of his familial power of close-knit, rural communi­ with creations of Boschean gro­ galactic space odyssey, while Xeno­ ties. tesqueness. cide is a new novel in a sequence that Orson Scott Card may not be to Barker is not one to limit his cos­ began with the award-winning everyone's taste in this large serving. mological ambitions. Worlds are to Ender's Game and Speaker for the Dead. His preaching at times transforms be created or destroyed, with the bal­ What has accounted for Card's him into 'Brother Orson', while his ance always on a knife edge. Christ publishing success? He is clearly lack of scientific explanations often was a 'Reconciler' in the pantheon of firstand foremost a good storyteller. irritates, but there is no denying the gods headed by the 'Unbeheld'. The Literary pyrotechnics are not his power of his storytelling and vision. plot revolves around whether forte. His characterization is There is no chance that this commer­ 'reconciliation' will prevail. For straightforward and his messages cial House of Card will topple. Barker fans, the question must be strong, although repetitive in one whether the mystical roller coaster is Card sitting. Clive Barker: IMAJICA worth the ride for the memorable The themes essentially derive (HarperCollins; 854 pp.; views or for the final landing. from Card's Mormon upbringing. A$32.95) Thus his characters are often asked, asCard hassaid,'tosufferortocause Strand Bookstore in New York, one unspeakable pain or sacrifice in of the world's biggest and best- order to save the community'. known book shops, recently re- His main characters are often

74 The Ugly Little Boy' is one of the and The Faces of the Water, written fifty stories collected in The Asimov some twenty years apart, are inextri­ Chronicles, now issued in a two-vol­ cably linked, and represent some of ume large-format paperback edition. Silverberg's most creative writing. They include stories from Asimov's first published story in 1939 through D. G. Compton and John to 1988. There are eleven robot sto­ Gribbin: RAGNAROK ries (Asimov will probably be best (Gollancz; 344 pp.; remembered for his Laws of Robot­ A$34.95) ics and his 'Foundation' series) and four non-sf 'Black Widower' stories. British writers Compton and The chance was lost, however, to Gribbin are usually known for their make this a definitive collection — science fiction writing, but Ragnarok there are neither authorial com­ is essentially an 'eco-thriller'. A ments from Asimov nor critical re­ group of eco-terrorists threaten to marks from the editor Martin explode a small nuclear device off Greenberg. Nonetheless, the two the coast of Iceland. The explosion volumes of The Asimov Chronicles will plunge the world into nuclear provide a useful overview of the As­ winter from volcanic emission re­ imov corpus of short stories. sulting from the interaction of mol­ Isaac Asimov and Robert Asimov continues to produce ten rock with ice sea water. Their Silverberg: CHILD OF TIME popular non-fiction at the same fre­ wish is to see the USA and Russia (Gollancz; 302 pp.; A$38) netic pace as he does fiction. Asimov's adopt disarmament and green poli­ Isaac Asimov, edited by Guide to Earth and Space provides 111 cies. Martin Greenberg: THE short chapters in answer to Asimov's Since this plot focus is revealed questions, such as 'How Was the ASIMOV CHRONICLES, fairly early in the narrative, the ten­ Earth Formed?^ 'What Are Stars?' VOLUMES 1 AND 2 sion derives from the usual will and 'Will the Expansion of the Uni­ they? won't they succeed? question. (Legend; 485 pp. and verse Continue Forever?' Asimov 381 pp.; A$17.95 each) And if they do, will the interaction of provides concise and easily under­ fire and ice result in a permanent Isaac Asimov: ISAAC stood answers t(ja pot-pourri of gen­ northern hemisphere winter? ASIMOV’S GUIDE TO eral scientific queries on Earth and Compton and Gribbin maintain EARTH AND SPACE space, making this Guide to Earth and the tension skilfully, but in the end (Random House; 285 pp.; Space very useful for school children, their message is the strongest feature A$35) general science collections in public of the novel. Robert Silverberg: THE FACE libraries, and interested general readers. OF THE WATERS lain M. Banks: THE STATE OF (Grafton; 348 pp.; In The Face of the Waters, Robert THE ART A$32.95 hb, A$ 11.95 pb) Silverberg has created a water planet (Orbit; 182 pp.; A$32.95) Robert Silverberg: SON OF Hydras, where exiles from Earth lain Banks: THE CROW ROAD MAN struggle to survive against the myr­ (Abacus; 490 pp.; (VGSF; 192 pp.; A$ 10.95) iad of marine life forms. Silverberg $A13.95) has termed it a 'sea adventure but Child of Time is the second collabora­ more in the direction of Joseph Con­ Iain Banks was one of the overseas tion by noted American sf writers rad than C. S. Forester'. The trau­ guests at Writers' Week in Adelaide Isaac Asimov and Robert Silverberg. matic journey across the seas of in March 1992. He rocketed to fame Like the first, Nightfall, this is an ex­ Hydras by Silverberg's band of mis­ in the United Kingdom with his first pansion of a well-known Asimov fits also echoes Herman Melville. novel The Wasp Factory (1984), which short story into a novel — in this case Their adventures become more than has been reviewed by The Financial 'The Ugly Little Boy', which re­ a rite of passage, however, when Times as being of 'quite exceptional counted the fate of a Neanderthal they confront the Tall of the Waters' quality', while The Irish Times de­ boy 'snatched' through time into the and discover the true meaning of the scribed it as a 'work of unparalleled twenty-first century. planet. depravity'. The poignant interaction of the Son of Man takes its hero Clay far Some seven novels later, Banks small boy Timmy' and his nurse into the future. First published in still finds that a polarization of opin­ Edith is reinforced in the novel by a 1971, it is now regarded as ions prevails. Readers love or hate convincing filling in of the back­ Silverberg's most lyrical novel. It his writing. The State of the Art col­ ground — that is, the Stasis Technol­ contains elements of the 1960s lects all of his work outside of his ogies, who undertake time 'grabs', flower power culture as Clay em­ novels — seven short stories and a and the various pressure groups bodies the whole history of the novella. who see Timmy as a symbol for their human race in his encounters with The opening story 'Road of causes. The new element is the inter­ the exotic life forms into which hu­ Skulls' portrays the plight of two action of prehistoric tribes, for whom manity has evolved. Silverberg said Waiting for Godot types doomed to Timmy becomes more than a deus ex recently that The Face of the Waters travel eternally on the road contain­ machina. can be seen as 'driving fora transcen­ ing the bizarre trophies of a galactic Child of Time works surprisingly dental conclusion which is some­ empire. 'Cleaning Up' reveals that well, given the relative flimsiness of what of an outgrowth of my thinking human and alien bureaucracies have the original plot line. in the early seventies'. Son of Man much in common, while Tiece' is a

75 chilling combination of the Salman away the crow road'. Lots of deaths Rushdie affair and the Lockerbie di­ occur, from the beautiful Fiona, saster. Black humour, which under­ killed in a sports-car accident, to the pins a lot of his work, Banks murder of Prentice's uncle Rory, attributes to being a Scot. found in the local loch many years Banks's major achievement in his after he had disappeared, but these three science fiction novels (written deaths are juxtaposed with the de­ as Iain M. Banks, not Iain Banks) is lights of love and life. the creation of the 'Culture', a sort of Through it all, Prentice is 'grow­ interplanetary utopian commune of ing, surrounded by your kin, you shared but not defined governance. out-living some, some out-living The Culture is merely represented in you'. He reads history at university this selection by the title-story no­ with mixed results, and falls in love vella, which sees an observer sent to with Ashley. Banks ponders Earth circa 1977. While Earth is whether life is simply 'a blink of 'more dross than anything else' and flame like a match struck beside a is coldbloodedly allowed to remain search- light7? If it is, life in The Crow so (which is why it is set in the past), Road flares brightly indeed. Banks Banks's detached observations pro­ has returned to his home ground in vide a powerful view of our world, a familiar novel told with panache. Queen Carola. The main character while the walk-on parts of characters Valentine has to juggle her loyalties such as Idi Amin and Richard Nixon Mary Gentle: THE while indulging in personal vendet­ are delightfully unexpected. ARCHITECTURE OF DESIRE tas. Real-life historical figures inter­ The State of the Art is not front-line (Bantam; A$29.95) mix with Gentle's characters, for Banks, but nevertheless a useful ad­ David Gemmell: DARK PRINCE whom astrology and alchemy are dition to his corpus of work. Of his more normal than science. (Legend; A$ 17.95) mainstreamnovels, try The Wasp Fac­ Another alternative world pic­ tory or Canal Dreams (1989), in which Stephen King: THE DARK ture, shown with less imagination a femalejapanese cello player exacts TOWER: THE WASTE LANDS but still vividly created, is found in revenge on her tormentors, or from (Sphere; A$ 17.95) David Gemmell's Dark Prince, which the Culture series try Consider Stephen Jones and David continues the story of Parmenion Phlebas. As Banks says about his Sutton (eds.): FANTASY and Alexander the Great in Ancient books, if you're not committed to TALES 7 Greece which began in Lion of today's issues 'forget it; buy The Sun (Robinson; A$ 10.95) Macedon. Easy to read, with colour­ and watch East EndersY Martin Middleton: TRIAD OF ful characters, Gemmell's book re­ counts how Alexander's 'dark side' DARKNESS At an interview coinciding with evolves,and how thedual world cre­ (Pan; A$11.95) Writers' Week, March 1992, Banks ation allowed the whole pantheon of reflected on the fact that his literary David Eddings: JHE SAPPHIRE Greek mythology to emerge. output to date has been widely dif­ ROSE Stephen King's alternate Earth of ferent in content and focus. T don't (HarperCollins; A$32.95) a distant but bizarre future is the like repeating myself... I have a low Katherine Kerr: A TIME OF continuing backdrop for his Robert- boredom threshold and I transfer EXILE ' Browning-inspired hero of The Dark that totally arbitrarily onto my read­ (Grafton; A$32.95) Tower: The Waste Lands. Roland, 'the ership, such as it may be.' Simon Green: BLUE MOON last gunslinger7, seeks to find the The Crow Road is probably the RISING Dark Tower at the 'nexus of time', but in between has to confront all most conventional of his novels to (Gollancz; A$38 hb; A$18 date, despite its split chronology. It manner of dangers that stand in his pb) is essentially a warm black comedy path — at the conclusion of this vol­ of the lives, loves and deaths of a Alan Aldridge and Steve ume a riddle-loving malevolent arti­ large middle-class Scottish family Boyett: THE GNOLE ficial intelligence! over the last 25 years seen through (Heinemann; A$ 19.95) More dark fantasy can be found the eyes of a boy and then young Lester del Rey and Rita Kessler in the stories collected by Stephen man Prentice McHoan. The opening (eds.): ONCE UPON A Jones and David Sutton in Fantasy paragraph is typical of the narrative TIME Tales 7, notably by Australian au­ style and content: It was the day my (Century; A$ 19.95) thors Trevor Donahue and Paul Col­ grandmother exploded. I sat in the lins, who demonstrate in 'The crematorium, listening to my Uncle Mary Gentle is probably one of the Unnamed' that suicide is no end to Hamish quietly snoring in harmony least known but one of the most personal pain. to Bach's Mass in B Minor, and I stimulating and provocative of the Australia, as children's authors reflected that it always seemed to be new young English writers. Decid­ have shown, can be utilized as a set­ death that drew me back to edly her own voice, she mixes the ting for effective fantasy. The second Galla na ch'. quirkiness of Angela Carter with the volume of Queensland author Mar­ It was, in fact, the grandmother's inventiveness of Ursula Le Guin. The tin Middleton's 'Chronicles of the pacemaker that blew up in the cre­ Architecture of Desire, her fourth Custodians' trilogy, Triad of Dark­ matorium of Prentice's home town novel, tells of a magical England of ness, is, however, decidedly deriva­ of Gallanach. Crow Road is not only the mid-seventeenth century, where tive of the British-American glut of a street in the novel but also means the Protector-General Olivia is op­ stories bout young heroes with their dying, being dead — 'aye — he's posed by the declining forces of mixed band of allies who oppose the

76 forces of darkness and in the process find themselves. One of the best exponents of 'comfort' fantasy is David Eddings, whose The Sapphire Rose is the final volume of the 'Elenium' trilogy. The Pandion knight Sparhawk finally rescues the imprisoned young Queen Ehlana by means of the mag­ ical title jewel. While she is not as grateful as she might be, all ends more or less happily ever after for most concerned. More earnest and packed with detail is Katherine Kerr's A Time of Exile, the first volume of her 'West­ lands cycle', which interweaves the origins of fate of a half-elven ruler with the inhabitants of the land west of Deverry (the scene of some of Gardner Dozois (ed.): BEST Dozois' own Legend Book of Sci­ Kerr's earlier books). NEW SCIENCE FICTION 5 ence Fiction collects twenty-six sto­ It is with some relief that one (Robinson; 624 pp.) ries from the last thirty-five years turns to Simon Green's Blue Moon Gardner Dozois (ed.): THE solely based on those that had an Rising, which turns fantasy sagas on LEGEND BOOK OF impact on him as a reader. They are their head with unicorns without almost entirely American, but since horns, a princess with a wicked left SCIENCE FICTION the Americans seem to think they hook, and all sorts of zany fun. Green (672 pp.; AS22.95) invented science fiction, that is per­ is not Terry Pratchett, but as a comic John Clute (ed.): INTERZONE: haps understandable! There are fantasy debut Blue Moon Rising is im­ THE FIFTH ANTHOLOGY some classics of the genre, such as pressive. (New English Library; Gene Wolfe's 'The Fifth Head of Alan Aldridge was an artistic 280 pp.; A$ 14.95) Cerberus' and Richard McKenna's whiz kid of the 1960s, and in the David Barreled.): DIGITAL 'Casey Agonistes', while relatively 1970s produced The Beatles Illustrated DREAMS little-known but excellent pieces Lyrics and Butterfly Ball, both of (New English Library; fromUrsula Le Guin and cyberpunk which were international bestsellers. 347 pp.; A$11.95) maestro William Gibson are also in­ His latest book, The Gnole, co-written cluded. Isaac Asimov (ed.): THE with Steven Boyett, and profusely One source that Dozois uses for and imaginatively illustrated, is a MAMMOTH BOOK OF NEW his Year’s Best anthologies is the Brit­ clever marketing package aimed WORLD SCIENCE ish magazine Interzone. Their fifth also at the movies. His creation Fun- (Robinson; 506 pp.; collection of material, which in­ gle is a Gnole, a thirty-inches-tall A$ 19.95) cludes two original contributions, mammal with a human-like face and covers stories published in 1989 and able to speak. Fungle has to save his Gardner Dozois is the doyen of 1990. Interzone is renowned for its forest, and then the world, so he is American science fiction anthology discovery and cultivation of new au­ essentially a cuddly greenie, imbued editors. He has recently commented thors — in this collection Richard with the Gaia theory, who takes on that short stories 'are where most of Calder makes an impressive debut the establishment, not least the mili­ the really evolutionary work takes with 'Mosquito', whose plot re­ tary. An unusual book, but perhaps place in science fiction'. Best New Sci­ volves around the copying of Cartier too carefully planned as a commer­ ence Fiction 5, covering stories pub­ 'living dolls' in Bangkok. cial package. lished in 1990, certainly reflects that Digital Dreams is a collection of Best-selling authors such as Isaac trend, even if it is irritating that the original British stories about com­ Asimov, C. J. Cherryh and Anne British series continues to be num­ puters and their effect, both present McCaffrey have combined in Once bered differently to the US edition and future, on humanity. Terry Upon a Time, to produce what the (where it is the eighth of the Year's Pratchett takes virtual reality to its editors Lester del Rey and Rita Best SF series). ultimate conclusion, while Ray Kessler term 'truly modern fairy The twenty-five stories provide Girvan and Steven Jones warn in tales for mature adult readers'. This an excellent snapshot of the year's 'Lord of the Files' that black magic is an impressive illustrated collec­ output. Robert Silverberg depicts an and computers should never mix. tion of ten stories, with Susan greenhouse-effecteco-ra vaged Earth Last and certainly least in this col­ Dexter's 'Thistledown', about a uni­ in 1101 Sky7, while John Brunner's lection of paperback anthologies is corn and a dumb boy, and The Tin­ female character stumbles onto a sin­ The Mammoth Book of New World Sci­ kling of Fairy Bells' by Katherine ister scientific research station exper­ ence Fiction. Dozois has said 'when Kurtz, about a priest and a fairy, iment in rural Argentina in TheFirst you publish fiction cynically with an being particularly impressive. Since Ancient Persia'. Greg Egan is idea that the audience are morons, the only Australian represented, and you get a product fit for morons', the only one with two stories. One of and this falls into that category. The them, The Caress', is a chilling de­ ten novellas collected in this anthol­ scription of future biomedical engi­ ogy allegedly represent the 'new neering and artistic madness. world' science fiction wave of the

77 1960s, but none of the authors repre­ As Cox and Gilbert note in their ex­ Hood, who has won the Canberra sented except Roger Zelazny, an cellent introduction, the domesticity Times short story competition, con­ then with an inferior story, represent and detail of Victorian ghost stories tributes a chilling piece on a family the 1960s literary pyrotechnics of provided an ordered microcosm for death and subsequent possession. Ballard, Moorcock and Spinrad, to the intrusion of the supernatural. Less original are two middle-of- name but three authors. Not one Women excelled in this form of the-road horror novels from Ameri­ British author is represented for a writing, and the earlier Virago an­ can writers Campbell Black and movement that started in the UK, thology highlighted the major role Dean R. Koontz. Black's The Wanting and the inclusion of run-of-the-mill played by women writers such as sees the quest for immortality cast a authors such as Mack Reynolds and Charlotte Riddell and Mrs Henry long-term shadow over a rural Cali­ Keith Laumer makes a mockery of Wood, who are included in both an­ fornian community, while the cur­ the collection's title. The lack of edi­ thologies. Amongst the male writers, rent popularity of Koontz has seen torial comment, either to the volume Conan Doyle, Stevenson and Kip­ the reissue of some lesser works or the authors, contributes to this ling represent the famous. The written originally under the pseudo­ blot on the usually excellent Robin­ latter's 'At the End of the Passage' nym Leigh Nichols. Shadowfires is a son landscape. juxtaposes the heat, dust and loneli­ gory thriller about a genetic scientist ness of the Indian summer with the who returns, in mutated form, from Michael Cox and R. A. Gilbert supernatural. Percival London's the dead to stalk his ex-wife. (eds.): VICTORIAN GHOST classic story Thumley Abbey' also It is argued that the coming of the STORIES mixes East and West, as a retired electric light affected the plots of (Oxford University Press; Indian civil servant finds his inher­ ghost stories. Certainly the muted ited estate contains more than just terror of some of the Victorian ghost 497 pp.; A$39.95) bricks and mortar, and lives a 'wak­ stories, as evil lurked in the shad­ Valerie Martin: MARY REILLY ing nightmare'. ows, is often preferable to the out­ (Black Swan; 222 pp.; Oxford University Press timed right blood and gore of some of AS 12.95) the anthology to coincide with the today's current crop of fictional Stephen Jones and Ramsey United Kingdom 'yule and ghoul' 'terrorists'. Campbell (eds.): BEST atmosphere, but the stories bear NEW HORROR 2 reading any time of the year. Arthur C. Clarke and Gentry (Robinson; 433 pp.; A$25) Robert Louis Stevenson's 'shil­ Lee: THE GARDEN OF David Sutton and Stephen ling shocker' The Strange Case of Dr RAMA (Gollancz; 398 pp.; Jones (eds.): DARK Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1886) is a master­ AS34.95) piece of Victorian horror, with its VOICES 3 vivid portrayal of the dual nature of (Pan; 317 pp.; A$11.95) Arthur C. Clarke's Rendezvous with humanity. In Mary Reilly, Valerie Rama won a number of awards in Campbell Black: THE Martin has superbly retold the story WANTING 1973. It superbly evoked a sense of from the sympathetic perspective of wonder arising from the arrival in (Mandarin; 307 pp.; an innocent maidservant. Mary's the twenty-second century of a huge AS 10.95) downstairs experience of the in­ cylindrical, apparently empty, alien Dean R. Koontz: SHADOWFIRES creasingdisintegration of her house­ spaceship in our solar system. In (Headline; 590 pp.; hold is superbly depicted, even Rama Two (1989) Clarke collaborated AS12.95) though most readers will know the with American NASA scientist Gen­ outcome. r try Lee to describe the impact of a The Victorian era was a fertile one for The best of contemporary horror, second spaceship, but the sense of writers of ghost stories. Cox and Gil­ that is of 1990, is collected in Best New wonder disappeared as Lee's ver­ bert adopt five criteria for the inclu­ Horror 2 which, despite its dreadful bose descriptions of emotional do­ sion of stories in their Oxford cover, represents excellent value for mesticity took centre stage. University Press anthology. Each money. In addition to the twenty­ In The Garden of Rama that uneasy story should reveal to the reader a eight stories that verge more to dark mix of soap and space still jars, but spectacle of the returning dead and fantasy than outright 'splatter', there at least the long-awaited interaction their agents or their actions; a dra­ are critical appendices by noted edi­ with alien cultures allows Clarke's matic interaction between the living tors Jones and Campbell. Stories in­ vision of a densely and strangely and the dead; literary quality; a de­ clude K. W. Jeter's The First Time', populated universe to become real­ finable Englishness; and brevity. recounting an unusual and grue­ ity. The three human 'passengers' They begin their thirty-five sto­ some coming of age in the sordid left on board at the end of Rama Two ries in 1852 with Elizabeth Gaskell's backrooms of a Mexican border find, with their children, wonders 'The Old Nurse's Story' (also in­ town, and Melanie Tern's evocation indeed, but these fade rapidly when cluded in Richard Dalby's excellent of hidden horrors in a small they return to our solar system to Virago Book of Victorian Ghost Stories) neighbourhood play group in The pick up two thousand colonists fora and end in 1908 with Algernon Co-op'. 'New Eden' to be created within the Blackwood's The Kit-Bag'. The First Jones teams up with David Sut­ spaceship. No final resolution is World War and its greater horrors ton in the third of largely original reached (a fourth volume in the se­ temporarily brought to an end the horrorseries Dark Voices. BobShaw's ries is expected), except that human­ popularity of the ghost story — the suicide victim in 'A Real Downer' ity may well turn out to be the true 'pleasurable shudders', as Michael finds that his life does flash before aliens in the universe. Sadleirhas stated that they invoked. his eyes, while Australian Robert

— Colin Steele, November 1990-March 1992

78 ALAN STEWART has recently returned to fulltime study, doing a Master's in Materials Science (Extractive Metallurgy), hoping to convert to a Ph.D. sometime in 1992. He edits Ethel the Aardvark for the Melbourne Science Fiction Club, and at the moment he is the Australian administrator of FFANZ and the chairperson of the Constantinople '94 national convention bid.

ALAN’S ALLEYWAY Short reviews of sf and fantasy books by Alan Stewart

FIREFLY by Piers Anthony need to be wary of the insect-like DRINK DOWN THE MOON by (Morrow 0 688 09705 7 hb; hjjk, who have proposed a treaty. Charles de Lint 1990; 384 pp.; US$18.95) The Queen of Springtime is not as (Ace 0 441 1681 2 pb; fresh as At Winter's End, the first vol­ 1990; 216 pp.; US$3.95) According to the cover blurb, with ume in the serieszbut is still readable Firefly Piers Anthony has now and enjoyable. It is easy to think of Drink Down the Moon continues moved into the horror field. Actually the People as human, except in ap­ Charles de Lint's series about the pearance. Like Jean Auel's The Valley it's not very different in tone or set­ world of Faerie and its interaction ting from some of his other novels. of Horses, this b$>ok gives a vivid with modern Ottawa. This story tells Indeed, the main characters from his sense of a particular people discov­ how the threat of a droichan, who ea rlier Shade of the Tree make a cameo ering a new world. drains luck from the world, is faced Recommended as a good solid appearance in this story. and overcome. It reads like a stand­ The 'monster' uses pheromones read — nothing flashy or brilliant. alone novel, but just happens to in­ to attract its prey. This allows An­ clude characters who have appeared thony a broad range of sexual en­ TO THE LAND OF THE LIVING by in other de Lint novels. A search be­ counters, and a soap box to convey Robert Sllverberg gins at the end of the novel, but at messages (preach) about his opin­ (Gollancz 0 575 04496 9 least it does indulge in a cliffhanger ions on some of society's standards. pb; 1990; 308 pp.; A$9.95) anti-climax conclusion. In the Author's Note, he repeats ev­ The main characters are believ­ erything that was obvious in the text. To the Land of the Living is a recent able, with human problems and Unfortunately, I can't even rec­ example of the old sf standby, the fears. Much is madeof activities such ommend this novel to Piers Anthony 'fix-up' novel. Three novellas are as trekking or cycling across town. fans. There are no fun ideas or puns, welded together they appeared first He makes a plausible link between which sustain his 'Xanth' and in Isaac Asimov's Magazine and the the worlds of magic and the worlds 'Adept7 series. Firefly just takes an­ Heroes in Hell anthology. of ordinary physical activity. other step along the 'serious socio­ The extra you get with this vol­ Enjoyable fantasy, witha touchof message' trail followed by his recent ume is eighteen pages of bridging dark horror — good for a quick read works. It's too drawn out; I can't material and the last 96 pages of the on a train. swallow the Lamarckist theories; novel. We find a portrayal of a nd the story is not interesting. If you Gilgamesh and Enkidu, based on EXPECTING SOMEONE TALLER must read Anthony, reread some of Silverberg's earlier Gilgamesh the by Tom Holt his earlier stuff. King, plus the Heroes in Hell perso­ (Ace 0 441 22332 Xpb; nae, such as Herod, Picasso and their 1990; 231 pp.; US$3.95) ilk. This all makes the novel an awk­ THE QUEEN OF SPRINGTIME by ward read, and confusing in isola­ When Malcolm Fisher runs over a tion from the rest of the 'Hell' series. Robert Sllverberg badger, he is unprepared to hear it To the Land of the Living suffers (Gollancz 0 575 04586 8 talk, let alone hear it complain that it hb; 1989; 415 pp.; £13.95) from the severe constraints of its con­ was 'expecting someone taller7. And struction. Any oneof the original no­ as for bequeathing the Ring of the vellas works better alone. In this, the second volume of his lat­ Nibelungs and mystical Tarnhelm, est far-future trilogy, Robert and their mastery of the world, to Sil verberg continues the story of the him with its dying breath. . . . Mal­ People. Forty years after they colm is off into a magical fantasy emerged from the Cocoon in which adventure whether he likes it or not. they survived the Ice Age, they have Expecting Someone Taller is a built cities and prospered, but still funny, fast-paced story, with Mal­

79 colm going from one misadventure PHAZE DOUBT by Piers Anthony EALDWOOD by C. J. Cherryh to another as he comes to terms with (Ace 0 441 66263 3 pb; (omnibus edition of THE a new worldview. Surrounded and 1991; 324 pp.; US$4.95) DREAMSTONE and THE pursued by various Olde Gods and TREE OF SWORDS AND assorted creatures such as valkyries With Phaze Doubt, the seventh vol­ JEWELS) and Rhinemaidens, his adventures ume, Piers Anthony provides a con­ are entertaining. Mythical personae (Gollancz 0 575 04575 2 clusion to the 'Apprentice Adept' pb; 1991;432 pp.; £4.50) intrudeand merge into the twentieth series — at least for the time being. century, often with hilarious results. With an alien race invading With this book Cherryh tries her This modem legend is more witty Phaze/Proton to exploit the now hand at high fantasy in the Celtic than other recent similar tales. Rec­ available magic, only a desperate at­ ommended. tradition, borrowing creatures and tempt by the one free adept and help names from the mythology but add­ from an enemy can save the planet. ing her own settings and events. It is THE FLEET 5: TOTAL WAR edited This book makes use of some ele­ by David Drake and Bill a tale of the last of the elves, Arafel, ments from earlier books, such as the and her interactions with the people Fawcett properties of the combined spheres who now surround her remaining (Ace 0 441 24093 3 pb; (from Unicorn Point) and the fact that kingdom of Eald. Tire style is typical 1990; 278 pp.; US$3.95) people can now change from their Cherryh: straightforward events THE FLEET 6: CRISIS edited by Proton to Phaze double at will. How­ rather than instrospective character­ David Drake and Bill ever, the plot elements that resolve ization. Fawcett the series have not been foreshad­ The work is entertaining enough owed in earlier volumes. (Ace 0 441 24106 9 pb; — an unfolding account of various Anthony's characterization is 1991; 294 pp.; US$4.50) battles — and Cherryh is realistic marginal, as usual. Only his varia­ enough to admit that good doesn't tions on the Phaze/Proton theme The battles of the Fleet continue, always win. Ealdwood is an interest­ make Phaze Doubt interesting. If you ing variation on Celtic myths, and with fourteen authors contributing enjoyed the earlier books in the se­ various encounters between veter­ should appeal to both fantasy and ries, Anthony provides more of the Cherryh fans. ans of the Khalian campaign and same, without the annoying repeti­ their new enemy, a spacefaring em­ tions that marred Robot Adept. To BLIND JUSTICE by S. N. Lewltt pire ruled by a Syndicate of families. enjoy Phaze Doubt, you will need to Faced with superior technology, the have read at least some of the earlier (Ace 0 441 71843 4 pb; Fleet's main weapons are human in­ books in the series. 1991; 265 pp.; US$4.50) genuity and the fact that their quick defeat of the Khalia caught the Syn­ CLARKE COUNTY, SPACE by Blind Justice, Shariann Lewitt's third, dicate by surprise. But the interval tells of a French-speaking world Allen Steele has allowed Syndicate infiltration being ground beneath the force of into the Alliance, reaching even the (Ace 0 441 11044 4 pb; the militaristic interstellar Justica upper echelons of the Fleet itself. 1990; 231 pp.; US$4.50) trading cartel. The hero, Emile Saint- Total War is an entertaining read, Just, is press-ganged into making featuring familiar authors and char­ In Clarke County, Space, set mainly in flights for the Justica. He discovers a acters from earlier volumes, plus mankind's first orbiting space col­ way to begin a revolution against the new faces and styles. One new alien ony, Allen Steele tells a tale that in­ oppressors. race is particularly gruesome, and cludes an orbiting nuclear bomb; a In Blind Justice, the plot is less the experimental APOT equipment call for Clarke County indepen­ important than the descriptions of continues to cause trouble. dence; the First Church of Twentieth this nebula, the planet Beau Soleil The devisers of this series appear Century Saints, their leader a rein­ and its city of Huit Fleurs. Ignore the to have learned from the mistakes of carnated Elvis; a Mafia hit man; and plot, and enjoy the experience of other shared-world anthologies. a mysterious traveller. reading this book. Certainly they maintain a sense of An 'interview situation' text sur­ continuity from book to book, but rounds the rest of the story, provid­ BONE DANCE by Emma Bull ing a justification for the book's they also give some freedom to new (Ace 0 441 57457 2 pb; impossible number of coincidences. writers and a breadth of story possi­ 1991; 279 pp.; US$4.50) bilities. As told by the mysterious stranger, all these events had to happen as Contributors to Crisis include Emma Bull's latest novel is a mixture Poul Anderson, Mike Resnick and they did because he ensured they would. The journalist simply relays of post-nuclear holocaust setting, Chelsea Quinn Yarbro. The subject surviving mind-control personae his tale, making no judgements. matter remains war, but most of the ('horsemen') of the conflict, and the stories in this volume concentrate on Actual descriptions of the colony and its hardware seem reasonable powers of tarot and hoodoo. In the the characters, the choices they face middle of all this is Sparrow, a hus­ and the consequences of their ac­ extrapolations. The details sound right; it's only the plot that sounds tler specializing in pre-nuke videos, tions. and his friends, enemies and power­ The Fleef appears to be today's unlikely, with its many neat plot twists and coincidences. ful connections in a city struggling to most entertaining shared-world an­ survive. The destiny of the city will thology series. Recommended as be decided by who gains control of good adventure hard sf, with some energy sources; Sparrow becomes familiar authors turning out surpris­ involved in this struggle. ing tales. Bone Dance changes perspective constantly. When you think you've

80 nailed down the true situation, Bull christens doorposts when he's ner­ CHASE THE MORNING by introduces extra levels of complica­ vous, a missing south wing of the Michael Scott Rohan tion. Bull makes some intriguing castle, and a Champion who knows (Morrow 0 688 08885 6 suggestions about the possible shape when a lesson needs to be bloody he; 1991; 334 pp.; of a post-holocaust society, but also well taught. In the end I decided this US$19.95) introduces vague dealings with the was a serious fantasy spiced with spirit world. As an action novel this comedy. A businessman effects a rescue in a is enjoyable, but the whole seemed The strength of Blue Moon Rising seedy docklands, and enters a world incredible. is that it involves you with the char­ that is not quite ours: a place where acters and the fantasy world itself. I you can sail the airs of the earth, suspect this book will remain a fa­ THE SORCERESS AND THE tread the rim where time runs vourite long after many contempo­ CYGNET by Patricia A. strangely, and exist forever as a pi­ rary epic fantasies have vanished. McKllllp rate. (Ace 0 441 77564 0 he; Unfortunately for Rohan, it's all 1991; 321 pp.; US$17.95) THE RUN TO CHAOS KEEP by been done before. On Stranger Tides Jack L Chalker by Tim Powers has been into this Patricia McKillip's latest fantasy is (Ace 0 441 69347 4 hb; territory, including the world of voo­ set in a strange world in which mor­ 1991; 359 pp.; US$18.95) doo that dominates the last half of tal interact with the constellations, Chase the Morning. There have also and gods appear to assume physical The first 79 pages of this novel rein­ been plenty of other novels about forms. This world is one of Holdings, troduce the three 'teams' from The stepping through to alternate whose individual symbols become Demons at Rainbow Bridge, the set-up worlds. Rohan's novel is too remi­ part of the tale; the Wayfolk, and the novel for the 'Quintara Marathon' niscent of other works to sparkle by Wayman who makes a promise to a series, and puts them into the alien itself. god; and the path taken to find a artefact they are investigating. Dur­ The main characters don't invite cygnet's heart. ing the rest of the novel they chase, affection; they seem like actors read­ The story is told in a straightfor­ fight, and evep kill each other in a ing lines in a passionless play. The ward way, but much is unexplained. desperate a ttempt to become the first few original ideas get lost among the The reader is never quite sure what to reach the final destination of the voodoo trappings. By the end, noth­ this world is, or how it came to be, or aliens that are ahead of them. By the ing much has happened: ho hum, so how the events of the story will affect end of this volume, they have only the hero gets his girl back. Not rec­ its future. reached the fiftfi circle. Will the third ommended. Overall The Sorceress and the Cyg­ novel spend much of its length re­ net is entertaining, but the reader capping the events of the first and never quite feels that she or he has second? REUNION by John Gribbln and entered its world. I would like to see Chalker offers tantalizing clues Marcus Chown a longer work from McKillip, a book about the true nature of the quest, (Gollancz 0 575 04860 3 but genuine revelations will have to in which she gives herself the space hb; 1991; 285 pp.; A$36) to explain and develop her worlds. wait for future volumes. By the end of The Run to Chaos Keep, the original Where would we be without jacket fifteen sapients are reduced in num­ BLUE MOON RISING by Simon blurb writers? The blurb tells us that ber. Chalker's habit of referring to Green Reunion, written by the authors of characters by their species, rank or (Roc 0 451 45095 7 pb; Double Planet, is set 1000 years later. name, sometimes using two differ­ 1991; 477 pp.; US$4.99) The book itself owes much of its at­ ent terms in the same paragraph, mosphere and suspense to the fact makes it difficult for the reader to Faced with a big fat fantasy novel, that the heroine is growing up in a work out who's dead, injured or complete with sword-wielding society not explicitly set on the Moon, okay. The scope of the alien civiliza­ prince and princess, unicorn and although the blurb tells us exactly tion has now greatly broadened; per­ dragon on the cover, I took it with me what is going on. Subtle hints in the haps Chalker is becoming too on an interstate flight. At least it isn't novel show the location of the ad­ ambitious in his aims for the whole the first in a mega-trilogy. The front­ ventures, which is meant to come as series. cover blurb mentions a 'younger a surprise at the end. The Run to Chaos Keep stands rea­ prince of a bankrupt kingdom who The reader discovers important sonably well alone, but the reader should have died a hero's death' aspects of this society at the same would find it useful to read the first while the back cover goes on about time as do the main characters. We in the series for background on the 'discover[ing] the things legends are free to speculate as we go along, nature of this galaxy and the psychic didn't tell'. But then the frontispiece but the authors spring a few sur­ skills of its inhabitants. The book can describes the prince rescuing the prises. This is a story more about best be summed up by the usual dragon from the princess! human curiosity and scientific en­ Chalker trademarks: fast action and This mishmash of confusing sig­ deavour than emotions and love. shallow characters. nals continued as I read the novel. A The characters are there mainly to serious fantasy or a satiric take-off of discover details of the world they epic tales? Both, I realize. There's the live in. usual stuff about a castle threatened Reunion is not a great book, but is by the forces of evil and a good successful in a limited way, building prince who befriends goblins who on the possibilities of the earlier Dou­ help him in the end, but Simon ble Planet. Green also throws in a unicorn who

81 CHILD OF TIME by Isaac Penelope's skill, showing us what it As an aside, Earth is destroyed. Asimov and Robert would mean to be a soothsayer, at As usual, Pohl provides a very Silverberg both a personal and a galactic level. readable novel, but does not give it (Gollancz 0 575 04699 6 Penelope is a very manipulative per­ the tautness of an effective thriller. hb; 1991; 302 pp.; £14.99) son. The alternating-chapter scheme Soothsayer also tells of larger- breaks the flow of action. The With Child of Time, Silverberg and than-life bounty hunters, tavern hero/narrator Victor experiences Asimov continue their run of 'collab­ owners and entertainers, in a fron­ time jumps because of the periods of orative expansions', that began in tier-worlds story that has an enter­ freezing; these add to the jerky feel­ 1990 with Nightfall. In the new novel, taining over-the-top style. This is a ing of the book. Silverberg takes another Asimov fun book with a serious point of The World at the End of Time is a view. short story — The Ugly Little Boy' novel of idea s, about the possibilities — and turns it into a novel. The orig­ inherent in relativity and quantum inal story was about 40 pages long. THE OTHER SINBAD by Craig theory. Here is no in-depth The new text maintains the threads Shaw Gardner microcosmic study of the human and ideas of Asimov's next-century (Ace 0 441 76720 6 pb; condition, but a book of hard sf tale, but adds eight interchapters (67 1991; 248 pp.; US$4.50) about the fate of the universe. pages), set in the Neanderthal times This books feels similar to some from whence Timmy, the 'ugly' little This tale of the eighth voyage of of Pohl's earlier books, in particular boy, was plucked by a 'stasis field'. Sinbad the Sailor can only be de­ Starburst. It probably won't gain him This is little that is new or exciting scribed as over the top. Accompa­ any new fans; recommended to Pohl to be found in the longer version. The nied by the Porter and assorted completists, and to those who like most interesting events, involving companions, he's doomed to repeat their scientific ideas undiluted by nurse Edith Fellowes and Timmy, parts of all the previous seven voy­ human drama. follow the same path as those of the ages, usually the worst or most dan­ original shorter work. Additional gerous parts. These include giant material gives background informa­ Rukh birds, apes and a carnivorous ALIEN BLUES tion about Stasis Incorporated's two-headed cyclops, not to mention by Lynn S. Hightower equipment and the unsuccessful ap­ devious djinni, all appearing many (Ace 0 441 64460 Opb; plicants for Edith's job. There are no times in a period of four days. You 251 pp.; US$4.50) enlightening new insights into the wouldn't give a fig (another threat, human characters. actually) for his chances. But Sinbad The additional prehistoric narra­ has ended up returning with riches Alien blues combines two stories: that tive contributes little to the novel, to Baghdad seven times so far. of aliens assimilating into human so­ except to provide the set-up for a Not to be taken seriously, Craig ciety, and that of a homicide police cutesy hope-filled ending. Perhaps Gardner's romp through the terri­ officer. Either strand would have Silverberg was using material he re­ tory of the classic Sinbad saga is lit­ made a novel. Hightower combines searched for such earlier works as tered with bad pu®s, frantic activity, them by telling of a murder investi­ Mammoths and Man. Child of Time is and a major catastrophe or rescue gation that uncovers a threat caused diluted, not enriched, by its extra per page. Is all this necessary? The by human and Elakian (alien) greed. material, and would fail to attract Other Sinbad is not as hilarious as Life in the near future isn't nice for a any reader who is familiar with the some of Gardner'spther works, such lot of people, but there are still good original story. as the nearly 'Eberiexum' trilogy. It's guys like police officer David Silver fun reading, ideal for commuting to fight corruption and exploitation. SOOTHSAYER by Mike Resnick time, as an awful lot happens in each Research into a new drug appears to (Ace 0 441 77285 4 pb; short chapter. be connected with serial killing, and 1991; 279 pp.; US$4.50) Silver's private life is about to be­ THE WORLD AT THE END OF TIME come part of the case. Using the galactic background of his by Frederik Pohl Hightower makes Alien Blues into earlier Santiago, Mike Resnick here (Grafton 0 586 21275 2 pb; a rounded novel by concentrating on tells part of the story of Penelope 1992; 407 pp.; A$ 11.95) the details of people's lives. It does Bailey. She is rescued by Mouse, a not really matter that the intricate petty thief, who becomes her friend In alternating chapters, Frederik threads of the murder investigation and tries to protect her. Unfortu­ Pohl tells the story of a human and tie together too implausibly at the nately Penelope is not the best per­ an alien living among the stars. By a end, as Hightower shows both hu­ son to know — she's a soothsayer combination of preservation by mans and Elaki as individuals with who see possible futures and takes freezing and travel at relativistic foibles and problems. action to make sure that certain fu­ speeds, the human can survive until Alien Blues provides plenty of tures occur. the virtual death of the universe. The fast-paced action. Apart from the fu­ Mouse refuses to believe just how alien can survive this process be­ ture-drug and alien themes, it fin­ dangerous active precognition cause of what he is. Pohl tells the ishes up a s a n effecti ve police d ra ma. might be. Throughout Soothsayer story of a interstellar human colony Recommended, especially if this is Resnick explores the possibilities of caught up in events outside its ken. the debut novel it appears to be.

— Alan Stewart, February 1991-April 1992

82 ANDY SAWYER earns my gratitude because until recently he was the only contributor to send me one of those little biographies I like to place at the beginning of these columns. Here it is: 'I'm currently thirty-eight, married to a college lecturer in Community Education, with two teenage daughters. 1 edit Paperback Inferno for the BSFA. I'm a librarian by trade, currently working as a children's librarian, and a writer/reviewer by obsession, mainly, though not exclusively, for the BSFA and British fanzines. For my M. Phil, degree I wrote a dissertation on the works of Jacobean playwright/pamphleteer Thomas Dekker, who also helped considerably in my first professional fiction sale last year, a story in an anthology called Digital Dreams (NEL). In my spare time I like to listen to anything by REM as loud as I can get it, and I still think Richard Thompson is one of the great men of the guitar. I've never been to Australia, but during my teenage years I flew on several QANTAS flights as far as Hong Kong.'

SAWYER’S LOG by Andy Sawyer

Paul J. McAuley: THE KING OF with their mental powers. American, but it isn't much like ours' THE HILL AND OTHER Transcendence' is a fairly con­ (The Temporary King'). There is just STORIES ventional hard sf tale of — well — enough hinted about the back­ (Gollancz 0 575 05001 2; transcendence, set on a credibly im­ ground to the 'Witness' cult in The agined Venus, but there's another Heirs of Earth' to make them far 1991; 216 pp.; £13.99) dynamic temporal flow in The Tem­ more than just the stock religious porary King7 that sets a pastoral so­ fanatics necessary for the plot. Like Although I've enjoyed Paul J. ciety living a medievally 'noble McAuley's stories in Interzone, and all good story-tellers, the author savage' life almost in the shadow of thought a lot of his first novel, Four gives the impression that he knows a vast technologically advanced more than he is telling. TheKingofthe Hundred Billion Stars, it's only after starfaring civilization. Hill is a superb collection by one of reading this collection that I'm The following stories appear to the major talents of the nineties. struck by what a good writer he is. be set in the same universe, with There's a depth and versatility to his 'Exiles' showing the characters liv­ story-telling that can be overlooked lain M. Banks: THE STATE OF ing through anapocalyptic historical in the process of reading himone tale THE ART event, and from here a kind of pro­ after another over a period of (Orbit 0 356 19669 0; 1991; gression becomes apparent, with months or years, but which becomes 182 pp.; £12.95) McAuley weaving a kind of chain obvious when experienced in a col­ through his stories. 'Little Ilya and lection over a short period. This isn't the novella published in Spider and Box' mentions anti-age­ The first stories, 'King of the Hill' the USA by Mark V. Ziesing — or ing drugs that are given more em­ and 'Karl and the Ogre', hark back to rather it is, but packaged with some phasis during the plot of The Airs of the far past, although they are both extra short stories to follow Orbit's Earth' (in which a character refers to set in the future; the title story in a stylish issues of Banks's novels Con­ the events of the previous story). near-future Britain invaded by US sider Phlebas, The Player of Games and The Airs of Earth', finally, casts back troops safeguarding their military Use of Weapons. The State of the Art' to the past with classical Greek refer­ bases, and the second a far future is by far the longest piece here, and ences, and at the same time suggests where genetic change has created a sets the pace for the rest. Although some forthcoming religious/cosmic more significant environmental by no means everything else is re­ event. metamorphosis. 'King of the Hill' re­ lated to its 'Culture' background McAuley's stories are reminis­ calls the legend of Arthur, with the (only one other story specifically re­ cent of those of early Aldiss in their narrator's young nephew cast in a fers to the Culture, though two oth­ elegiac glimpses of a far future. He potentially Arthurian role as the old ers might take place in the same often draws back the curtain to re­ gods save their native landscapes. universe), it's Banks's veal glimpses of strangeness in a 'Karl and the Ogre' goes even further hedonimperialistic utopia that is the world more detailed than the indi­ back, to a fairy-tale world of nature touchstone for the book, which has a vidual stories give: The bears can be spirits created by the 'changelings' cover illustration that recalls not dangerous. They speak a kind of

83 only The State of the Art' but Use of wrong in the way that complex tech­ lions who send his books soaring Weapons (which shares two charac­ nology often does. 'Piece', in its into bestsellerdom are many who ters). ironic interweaving of coincidence, would welcome a book like The Ste­ Although some of the other sto­ takes some of the moral questions of phen King companion: a 'resource ries, such as 'Scratch' and "Piece', are the 'Culture' sequence and returns guide' and reference work for King more akin to the work of Iain with- them to the world of The Satanic fans. It's not just one of the increas­ out-an-initial Banks, their tone — Verses and international terrorism. ing number of scholarly works or sardonic humour, passionate de­ 'Scratch' — as its title suggests — studies (Beahm lists twenty-one of fence of liberty and verbal and im- applies to narrative prose techniques these, plus eight forthcoming) but agistic absurdity — is by no means of contemporary music-making. It's one that would serve as an invalu­ divorced from the more science-fic­ the most adventurous piece of prose able guide for anybody planning tional stories. in the book, but not the most inacces­ one. It is also rewarding for fans. Fay Weldon, who once described sible. Some of the material, such as the Banks as 'the great white hope of Banks is probably the best Playboy interview, is well known, but British literature', has recently said straightforward science fiction au­ the Companion brings together from about this quote on the covers of thor writing today, his gifts under­ various sources stuff you'd have to Banks's sf books: 'but sf readers lined by the fact that he writes put a lot of detective work into track­ aren't particularly interested in Brit­ considerably more than science fic­ ing down. There are insights into ish literature, nor should be, and vice tion. His ironic horror and ferocious King himself: interviews with and versa, so what's the point?' The point humour are probably the reason talks by The Man, and critical com­ is that Banks is not slumming in sf, why he, more than anyone else, has ment by other writers, including that the qualities that make his non- made space opera respectable once Harlan Ellison's perceptive 'he is as sf writing brilliant are precisely more; he has given it more than honest a popular writer as we've those that illuminate his sf, and most slambang adventure and slapstick been privileged to experience ... he of his non-sf (however non-) could but quite savage moral probings. does the one job no writer may ig­ not have been written without a In itself, the story The State of the nore . . he delivers.' thorough grounding in sf: check the Art' has much of the moral tract We get information about, list­ jokes in Walking on Glass or The about it, which is why, I think, it ings and synopses of books, films Bridge. From another perspective, I doesn't quite work alone. It needs and audio versions of King's work. could even argue that much of The (and is given by the author) the As a spin-off, the Companion is the State of the Art could be Banks-with- ironic footnotes provided by The best general guide to the US fan- out-the-M and that it isn't 'real' sf Drone' and theeveryday absurdities tasy/horror specialty press that I've anyway but moral fable or fits some of shipboard life to counterpoint the seen. It covers published workup to such literary structure. But that heavy satire of Lintel's fascination and including The Tommyknockers would be a pack of lies.... with Earth. And more, it needs what (including limited editions such as Both of the overtly 'Culture' sto­ the reader should bring to it, the ex­ My Pretty Pony and Cycle of the Were- ries show how misfits can find even perience of having read the other ivolf) and looks at early, unpublished the most wonderful utopia a thorn in three 'Culture' books to offer back­ work (although it's somewhat reti­ the flesh. Banks keeps telling people ground and depth. But not quite cent about the Bachman books). about how much he would like to working in these terms is consider­ Contributions are variable: the live in the Culture; he keeps writing ably more than many a work of ac­ 'over 100 articles' proudly pro­ about how difficult it would be. claimed brilliance, and this is claimed range from long interviews The State of the Art' compares another Iain (Nfr.) Banks book. and critical pieces to one-sentence the perfect stability of the Culture Enough said. quotes. There's a King trivia quiz, with Earth, 1977; a 'compare and and a story by King of how he had contrast' exercise about a member of (Xbrg* The significance of Banks's his photograph taken with a num­ a Culture investigative team fasci­ middle initial remains a deep meta­ ber-one fan: one Mark Chapman. nated by Earth's savagery and physical British joke that hasn't quite Cree-py! Contenders for number- change fixation as opposed to what penetrated here yet. Iain Banks, M. one-fandom will get off on this stuff; he sees as the Culture's smug sta- or non-M., was a guest of the Ade­ obsessive collectors will find the sec­ sis/sterility. laide Arts Festival's Writers' Week in tions on the Castle Rock newsletter, Wrobik, in 'A Gift from the March 1992, so obviously somebody the specialist press listings, and the Culture', finds himself (herself) dis­ in Adelaide noticed Fay Weldon's price guide to first ed itions essential, enchanted for much the same rea­ blurb on the book covers. *) and the serious readers who enjoy sons, bored with the hypocrisy of King without worrying too much Culture evangelism but finding that George Beahm (ed.): THE about the colour of his socks will dropping out is a matter of accepting STEPHEN KING appreciate the insights into and the pain involved with moral COMPANION background behind the stories. choices. As was Zakalwe in Use of (Macdonald, £13.95) Weapons, Wrobik is manipulated by If you can't afford the £13.95 for the Tim Underwood and Chuck forces dedicated toachievingchange Companion, the Underwood/Miller Miller (eds.): FEAR ITSELF: by violent means, but just what are collection will give you a great deal the ultimate goals of these forces and THE HORROR FICTION OF for the price although, as it dates who, indeed, ultimately are they? STEPHEN KING from 1982, be prepared to find a lot 'Descendant' and 'Cleaning Up' (1976-1982) of the bibliographical material out­ show Banks's fascination with gadg­ (Pan, £4.99) dated — for example. If is described etry (a sentient suit; a galactic-wide as 'a very long way from disposal unit) and what happens Stephen King is the mass market's publication'. when it is damaged or decides to go horror writer, and among the mil­ Fear itself is more a collection of

84 essays on aspects of King's work, mine the entire global economic sys­ the stability of Ank-Morporkand the with contributors such as Chelsea tem. Just suppose, for instance, that reader's ribs. But the parallel stories Quinn Yarbro, Bill Warren, Fritz Lei- a life insurance policy taken out in of Death, made redundant by his ber, and Charles L. Grant writing on the sixteenth century became due? mysterious superiors, and Windle such topics as movie adaptation, the And if you were an alchemist seek­ Poons, ex-wizard and now Undead influence of other horror writers on ing to duplicate an elixir, what else until Death's replacement gets his King, parallels with traditional fairy would you need to invent along the act together, end up with both char­ tales in his writing, etc. It's probably way? acters learning a lot about people better than the Companion for essay­ Holt gives us some unlikely but and being needed in little acts of poi­ type coverage, but not nearly as com­ amusing snippets of historical infor­ gnancy. The final message is bleak prehensive: buy it for yourself, but mation and the history of science, but stoical; death is inevitable but put the Companion on your Christ- and keeps us entertained along the necessary, and life can be a bit of a mas/birthday list immediately. way. His humour satisfies the first bitch too, but caring can lighten the law of odd fantasy in that it keeps us burden. Tom Holt: FLYING DUTCH awake, but it has to be said that his Terry Pratchett has never written (Orbit 0 356 20111 2; 1991; plotting is unsurprising. (Hint: don't stories that are just sequences of slap­ 252 pp.; £12.95) read Flying Dutch too soon after stick, but recent books have shown a Who's Afraid of Beowulf?) Opera fans s ha rper ed ge to h i s sa t i re, a n d there's Take your position in the "Master­ will find much to raise a smile. certainly a sharp edge here. On Page mind" chair, and your special sub­ Memo to Orbit Books: forget the 132, to be precise. ject is humorous fantasy writers. Josh Kirby covers and market Holt as The action jerks from strand to Which writer of humorous fantasy an alternative to Pratchett, not an­ strand, culminating in a pair of set­ has his cover illustrations done by other one. piece confrontations, each with its Josh Kirby and lives in Somerset?' moving coda. I do register a profes­ Wrong Craig Shaw Gardner: THE sional complaint about the vitalism The answer is Tom Holt. OTHER SINBAD shown by theUniversity's Librarian, One suspects, though, that (Headlin6 0 7472 0285 0; who refuses to let Poons consult a there's a certain amount of editorial 1991; 277 pp.; £13.95) book on the flimsy excuse that he's latching on to the coattails of that dead. That would rule out half the other humorous fantasy writer from This has a Josh Kirby cover and one customers of the average suburban Somerset whose books are of the subsidiar^characters is an ape branch library. illustrated by Josh Kirby, which is that goes 'ook'. Apart from that, any The dust jacket says that unfair to Tom Holt because he resemblance to a Terry Pratchett Pratchett 'occasionally gets accused doesn't need the comparison — sub­ novel is faint indeed. Craig Shaw of literature'. Here ends the case for liminal or otherwise — with Terry Gardner is a prolific writer of the prosecution. Pratchett. 'humorous' fantasy. This is an at­ Holtshares withPratchetta fond­ tempt to write a rollicking version of ness for wicked one-liners and es­ the Arabian Nights, with Sinbad the J. Michael Straczynski: sentially innocent characters in porter embarking on an eighth voy­ OTHERSYDE ridiculous situations, but instead of age. And that's when the real fun (Headline 0 7472 0375 X; the brilliantly shambolic construc­ begins . . . except that in this case it 310 pp.; £14.95) tion of the Discworld, Holt prefers to doesn't, in a heavy-handed send-up sneak his humour into the contem­ that is less 'rollicking' than — well, a porary world by means of intrusions load of old rollocks. This is the one about a new kid mov­ from the world of myth and legend. ing to a new school where the only His first book in this vein was Expect­ Terry Pratchett: REAPER MAN classmate prepared to be friends is ing Someone Taller, which showed us (Gollancz 0 575 04979 0; the class wimp — who then becomes the truth behind the gods and heroes 1991; 253 pp.; £13.99) the willing tool of a force that gives of Wagner's 'Ring' cycle. Who's him the power to revenge himself on Afraid of Beowulf? brought the last Terry Pratchett's going to have to whoever has crossed him. It's hardly Norse king of Caithness (not to men­ watch it. He's writing proper novels. the most original plot, but the theme tion two chthonic spirits playing an Halfway through Reaper Man I of the attraction of being able to use everlasting and irritatingly complex found that I wasn't reading a series supernatural means to get your own game) to modern London. Flying novel about funny characters in silly back on bullies everywhere is ap­ Dutch introduces us to Cornelius situations but a novel with a com­ pealing to paranoids everywhere Vanderdecker, the Flying Dutch­ plex, layered structure about charac­ who've put up with parents, teach­ man, whose story is considerably ters I cared about illustrating an ers, classmates ... in short, all of us stranger than the legend (and Rich­ important philosophical point. who either are or remember what it ard Wagner) would have us believe. There, that scared you, didn't it? was like to be teenagers. The deep All that stuff about curses is just Oh, there are plenty of jokes — moral question, of course, is how far romantic exaggeration. What we're the agoraphobic bogeyman, the mil­ you succumb to this temptation, and really talking about is side effects. itant Dead Rights activist, the bur­ this is probably less emotionally Vanderdecker, an accountant bling street-gang ejaculations of the charged here than in, for instance, named Jane, and Danny Bennett (the Wizards as they psych themselves Mark Morris's Toady, but it can't be tv director we met in Beowulf) are up to combat yet another threat to denied that the story is told well. involved with events that under­

— Andy Sawyer, February-July 1991

85 *brg* As usual, here are some short reviews of fiction read since SFC 69/70 appeared. The books fit the categories of 'science fiction', 'fantasy' or 'books of interest to sf and fantasy readers'. I begin with the books I like most, and dribble down the list until I hit those best described as 'okay, but it's your money'. If I have room at the end of the column, I get stuck into the stinkers. If I don't mention your book, you will never know whether I didn't like it or didn't have time to read it. BY THE AUTHOR 0*THIS IS THE WAY THE WORLD ENDS JAMES MORROW "THE ROST PROVOfATItl SATIRIC VOICE IN SCIENCE FICTION AUDACIOUS ANO CONTROVERSIAL" —WASHINGTON POST "EXHILARATING ABSORBING BRILLIANTLY FUNNY" THE GILLESPIE REPORT: Wf»■ TO«A raws Short reviews ony by Bruce Gillespie BBonai DAUGHI? U MMMH ONLY BEGOTTEN DAUGHTER world, material and otherworldly, to 'Goats' (bored soldiers practising ar­ by James Morrow its core. Julie has a look at the after­ tillery become affected by ancient (Morrow 0 688 05284 3; life. There is no comfort there; only magical forces) to Bruce McAllister's 1990; 312 pp.; US$19.95, four people have ever been judged 'Dream Baby' (the war was a theatre worthy of heaven, so everybody else, for unique, cruel psychological ex­ A$28.5O) including Julie's 2000-year-old periments; the story has now been brother, bums forever in hell. This extended into a novel) to tales of ex­ I can't describe this book, so I'm terrestrial life is as good as it gets! treme stress in jungle conditions grateful for the following written by Clute finds this nice and comforting? (CraigKeeStrete's TheGameofCat John Clute in Interzone 55, January I keep hoping someone will write and Eagle' and Lucius Shepard's 1992, which arrived this morning: me a long essay that will explore this 'Shades'). Brian Aldiss ('My Coun­ 'Only Begotten Daughter is a fable book's intricacies, games and dilem­ try, 'Tis Not Only of Thee') begins about the life of the sister of Jesus, mas. Only Begotten Daughter is a with a grimly humorous premise — whose name is Julie Katz; who was funny, ferocious torrent of words that the Vietnam War might has as bom in an ectogenesis machine in that leaves the reijder exhausted and well have been staged in a Britain New Jersey in 1974 to a Jewish exhilarated, certain only of one truth: divided between north and south — sperm-donator, a desperately nice that only great fantasy can tell great and ends in violent realism. Con­ fellow who dies of heart failure later truths about our lives. gratulations to editors Jeanne and on; who grows up capable of per­ z Jack Dann. forming miracles, though her father persuades her not to; who is forced IN THE FIELD OF FIRE BLOOD IS NOT ENOUGH: 17 into action by fundamentalist Rever­ edited by Jeanne Van end Milk's assault on Atlantic City, Buren Dann and Jack TALES OF VAMPIRISM which seems likely to bum the place Dann (Tor 0 812 53487 5; edited by Ellen Datlow to the ground ... It is funny, im­ 1987; 416 pp.; (Morrow 0 688 08526 1; passioned, decent, concerned and US$4.95/A$7.95) 1989; 319 pp.; US$19.95, rakish. That is good.' Clute has A$28.50) doubts about the book, because the How do you write a book of fantasy characters seem too nice. I suppose and science fiction stories set during Vampirism? A bit old hat as a sub­ so; but no more nice than other peo­ the Vietnam War? This seems a ridic­ ject? Not to Ellen Datlow. If vam­ ple I know who find the world hard ulous premise, despite the fact that pires with black capes and shiny going. Would Julie Katz stay nice if the War always seemed surreal to upper fangs are a bore, then change her earthly father had not persuaded onlookers. Yet the authors featured the vampires. Which is mainly what her to hold the tidal waves each time in this book have risen to the happens in the best of these stories. she got annoyed? What is not nice is challenge,contributinga memorable Who would have thought that the the world Julie Katz lives in — a original-fiction collection. The Walrus and the Carpenter were actu­ world designed to crush people of book's great strength is that it is not ally vampires? Gahan Wilson, of goodwill, and most of the others as an anti-war (or pro-war) book. Each course (in The Sea Was Wet as Wet well. It's our world, a few years of the authors has taken the premise Could Be'). Or that Pat Cadigan's hence. Clute says that Only Begotten that under the unique stress of the 'pathosfinders' (from her novel Daughter fails 'to bite into the great VietnamWar,participants may have Mindplayers) could become mind rotten apple of the world'. I say that undergone unique, fantastical expe­ vampires under certain circum­ Morrow's frenetic rhetoric, dancing riences. These range from John stances ('Dirty Work')? Most ex­ speech rhythms and daring com­ Kessel's 'Credibility' (the main traordinary is Scott Baker's 'Varicose mand of fantastic and religious met­ character's entire war takes place Worms', a story of shamanistic aphors enables him to skewer the only in his mind) to Dave Smeds' 'vampirism', extreme paranoia, and

86 an obsessiveness rivalled only by up. Equally discontented Rick repressed household. He and his that found in Stanislaw Lem's classic Cochrane, from the small town, sud­ mother are very close, until the fam­ story The Mask'. Baker's story is a denly gains the chance to try out the ily ghost seems totakeheraway.The masterpiece of compression and theatre world. Overall, the results boy wrongly thinks that the ghost is truly nasty nastiness. Complete with are predictable. In fine detail, every part of the family's London house. the new classic story 'Carrion move is a delight. It's plain that Only when he inherits a forbidding Comfort' (Dan Simmons), Blood Is Brennert knows his theatre world Scottish 'fetch'does he find out what Not Enough is a very satisfying an­ better than he knows small-town kills members of his family or drives thology. America, but he brings both men them mad. The Fetch' is a great ex­ completely to life. Brennert is an Au- ample of that finest of prose forms, SLEEPING IN FLAME thorTo Watch—I'vealready bought the novella. by Jonathan Carroll his book of short stories, but haven't Most of the other stories use (Legend 0 09 957540 X; had time to read it yet. haunted houses as places in which 1989, originally published authors can come to terms with their 1988; 244 pp.; £3.50, THE ARCHITECTURE OF FEAR deepest experiences. My own fa­ vourites includeRamsey Campbell's A$9.95) edited by Kathryn Cramer and Peter D. Pautz 'Where the Heart Is', Charles L. (Avon 0 380 70553 2; Grant's 'Ellen, in Her Time', Jack Elsewhere in this issue, I've written Dann's 'Visitors', and Jessica 1987; 278 pp.; US$3.95) about the novels of Jonathan Carroll Amanda Salmonson's The House without discussing any individual WALLS OF FEAR that Knew No Hate'. Gene Wolfe's works other than The Land of Laughs. edited by Kathryn Cramer Tn the House of Gingerbread' is a Of the other novels, Sleeping in Flame (Morrow 0 688 08967 4; cruel but deft joke, and Michael works best on its own terms, al­ 1990; 395 pp.; US$19.95) Bishop's 'In the Memory Room' is though it is linked with the other both very funny and tender. This is novels of the late 1980s. For instance, Since Walls of Fear is the sequel to The the best 'what if?' story in the collec­ it contains a more detailed portrait of Architecture of Fear, one can see that tion. the shaman Vanesque than we find Architecture did fairly well. I'm Walls of Fear seems lightweight in the other books. Sleeping in Flame pleased about that. Since many satis­ compared to Architecture. There are is the story of a rather careless yup­ factory collections of sf or fantasy more stories that rely on the cliches pie named Walker Easterling who, stories (Light Years and Dark and of the haunted house genre (Tales like most Carroll characters, finds his Strangeness come to mind im­ from a New England Telephone world crashing in on him just at the mediately) disappear without trace, Directory' seems a particularly dis­ time of greatest happiness — falling it's pleasant to find a collection of appointing story from a writer as in love with Maris York. Somebody, remarkable new stories doing well. able as James Morrow). There are or some thing, in Vienna doesn't like Both The Architecture of Fear and more stories that are merely one-line him, or doesn't want him to be Walls of Fear are sold as books of jokes. But there are also several very happy. Supernatural events and haunted-house stories. This genre fine stories. M. J. Engh's 'Penelope dreams ricochet around his head. In can be limiting, but in the past it has Comes Home' shows that this au­ California, he begins his quest to find provided some of the most memora­ thor can still write as well as she did out who he 'really' is, but his sha ma n ble stories in the language (Edmund in her novel Arslan. This is the story Vanesque dies. Then things get Wilson's 'Ellen Terhune' and Henry of an innocent-looking midwestem worse. Eventually Easterling thinks James's The Turn of the Screw', and house that haunts from a distance. he has solved the problem of his su­ many others). The editors of The Ar­ The main characters try to maintain pernatural ancestor; hence the last chitecture of Fear were obviously that distance, until, as the title puts few paragraphs of the bookare nasty looking for stories given scope by the it, Penelope eventually does come and funny. Asusual with Carroll, the genre, rather than limited by it. home. Another fine example of the book is really about story-telling, Scott Baker is an author I've just novella form. which works because the author is discovered. Where does one find, for Walls of Fear also features Gene one of the great story-tellers. instance, The Lurking Chick' and Wolfe's 'The Haunted Boarding­ 'Still Life with Scorpion', both men­ house', which shows that, despite TIME AND CHANCE tioned by the editors in the story's the evidence of his recent novels, by Alan Brennert (Tor blurb? In 'Nesting Instinct' (Architec­ Wolfe still can write amazingly well. 0 31293192 1; 1990; ture), an American woman knowing Since I have little idea what actually 281 pp.; US$17.95, no one in Paris is offered digs in a happens in this story (and suspect A$25.50) house that is a round tower. She is that the main character is dead from left in a top-floor room while the shortly after its beginning), I can say Here is a fantasy premise as slim as previous tenant flees. During the that the prose style makes a moun­ that used by Jack Finney in Time and story, the woman is captured by the tain of what might otherwise be a Again — but Brennert has Finney's room and the tower. The process of collection of molehills. Gwyneth ability to put flesh and landscape capture is subtle, even amusing, but Jones's 'Grandmother's Footsteps' onto his idea. Through strictly mys­ horrifying as well. The only story and Susan Palwick's 'Erosion' are terious means, a man changes place that has the same kind of enveloping the other highlights of Walls of Fear. with his alter ego, the man he would fascination is Thomas Disch's mas­ have been in some other slightly dif­ terpiece The Asian Shore'. ferent world. Richard Cochrane, a Robert Aickma n d ied in 1981, but man of the theatre, thinks he would he left behind The Fetch', perhaps have been happier if he had never his finest story. It is essentially the left the small town in which he grew story of a boy growing up in a very

87 STALLION GATE em world. I'm glad there's somebody else in the by Martin Cruz Smith world who cannot swim fifty laps (Collins Harvill BRAIN CHILD without stopping. 0 00 222727 4; 1986; by George Turner 287 pp.; £10.95, A$24.95) (Morrow 0 688 10595 5; THE EMBEDDING GORKY PARK 1991; 407 pp.; US$20, by Ian Watson (VGSF Classics No. 44, by Martin Cruz Smith A$28.50) 0 575 04784 4; 1990, first (Ballantine 0 345 29834 9; published 1973; 254 pp.; 1982, first published 1981; I feel that I have read two different books by George Turner — a manu­ £3.99, A$ 11.99) 433 pp.; US$3.95, A$5.95) script called 'Nursery Games' and a book now called Brain Child. (George The Embedding is one of those few Martin Cruz Smith is an interesting keeps hoping that someone some­ genuine sf 'classics': books that gave bestselling author who is interested time will revert to his own title.) My a real sense of novelty and excite­ in many of the same things that in­ impression of the manuscript that it ment when released, and continue as terest sf and fantasy authors, but so read like a fast-paced thriller about yardsticks for the rest of the field. It far he has not stepped into genre super (orat leastalternative) human­ was Watson's first novel; it seemed territory. ity, but suffered from a cumbersome, to explore the cutting edge of early Gorky Park, less interesting than too-long ending. My impression of 1970s linguistics and politics; it had its publicists claim, is a brave at­ the published novel is that it begins passion, grace and fire. It still does — tempt to depict an alien culture — very slowly, rides its roller-coaster but I suspect its reputation has faded that of metropolitan USSR in the late from about page 200, and hasits end­ with Watson's inability to produce a 1970s. I don't think it works, because ing a coda that now seems appropri­ convincing novel since (though, to Arkady Renko comes across as a ate. George assures me that he took be fair, some of his short stories have painfully upright American cop in notice of my suggestions about the been very good). The Embedding is a heavy disguise, rather than the cyn­ manuscript, but actually made few fine example of intense, exploratory ical outsider Russian cop he is sup­ changes. About the published ver­ writing on the borders of incompre­ posed to be. The book is really all sion of Brain Child I can add little to hensibility; nice to see it reprinted by about late seventies America, a point Wynne Whiteford's review in this Gollancz in paperback. made clear when Renko ends up in issue of Sf C or Russell Letson's effu­ New York, only to see American so­ sive review in a recent issue of Locus ciety through alien eyes. The book's VOICE OF OUR SHADOW ('[In] the collision of the extraordi­ final shoot-out scene is strictly out of by Jonathan Carroll nary and the ordinary, what we are 1980s Hollywood. (Arrow 0 09 937780 2; directed to examine is less the super­ Much better is Smith's next 1984, first published 1983; human (which we can never entirely novel, Stallion Gate. Stallion Gate is 189 pp.;£1.75, A$5.50) or surely grasp) than our own the native American territory in Ari­ humanity'). Its thgme is not as all-en­ BONES OF THE MOON zona that is now famous as Trinity, compassing as tJiat of The Sea and by Jonathan Carroll the site of the first explosion of an Summer, but Turner seems to get bet­ (Legend 0 09 949870 7; atomic weapon in 1945. Smith tells ter and better at writing bitter thrill­ 1987; 217 pp.; £3.50, the story of the building of the ers based on the ironic implications A$9.95) atomic bomb from the viewpoint of of accepted scientific and social those most immediately affected by OUTSIDE THE DOG MUSEUM ideas. the project — the tribespeople who by Jonathan Carroll were dispossessed to make way for (Macdonald the explosion. Smith goes further YES, LET’S: NEW AND SELECTED 0 356 19589 9; 1991; than the historians — his story as­ POEMS 244 pp ; £12.95, A$29.95) serts that the boffins we all know as by Tom Disch the 'builders of the bomb' were so (Johns Hopkins University 'Ssh. Watch now.' That's the last line rent by self-doubt and paranoia that Press; 0 8018 3835 5; 1989; of Outside the Dog Museum, Jonathan they could not have finished it with­ 112 pp.; A$23.95) Carroll's most recent novel. How out the help of people like Sergeant well it sums up the pleasures I get Pena — an Amerindian who doesn't This is what is known as a 'marginal from Carroll's books. Stop watching give a stuff about the Japanese, the item'. Only one poem ('A Vacation for a moment or you'll miss some­ bomb, or the Russians, but merely to Earth') refers even slightly to sf or thing astonishing. Don't blink now. wants to make enough money to live fantasy. This is not even Tom Disch's Read the next page. comfortably after the end of the war. most recent collection of poetry (I But be prepared to be kicked in Pena becomes the vital neutron bur­ haven't been able to track down the the cosmic infindibulum. In Voice of rowing in from the chaotic pattern of latest yet). But it is a retrospective of our Shadow, you find that everything people around him, the one practical Disch's career in poetry, plus some you've been told before page 187 is a person who makes the explosion new items, and its style will appeal mask stretched over the true face of possible. Especially memorable is to all those who love Disch's fiction. the world. I still haven't recovered the sequence in which a small group My favourite poem is 'Swimming': 1 from the ripping away of the mask. of servicemen ride with the pluto­ paddle forward, slow / as a disabled Nasty work, but delicious reading. nium bomb over the roughest roads steamboat, slow I as the clock on the Bones of the Moon is far more con­ in the state, delivering it (but not swimming I pool wall. A will tow- ventional than Carroll's other nov­ them) safely. Stallion Gate is an excit­ /ing a whale. Ten laps and I'm be­ els. We just know that the nasty little ing, ironic and highly patterned yond I caring what my laboring boy who lives downstairs is going to fable about the making of the mod­ breath / sounds like.'Righton,Tom. cast an axe into somebody. It's just a

88 1

matter of waiting long enough, and acter is Steven Plat, your ordinary tional sf short stories, and abruptly travelling through the fascinating workaday spy until he begins to in­ changes in the early 1960s. His 1960s and dangerous alternative reality in­ vestigate the deaths of people who stories become diffuse: his themes habited by Cullen James in her shouldn't have been killed. Needless become more interesting, but the dreams. The book's ending is no to say, Plat himself in invulnerable, style becomes chatty and rambling. more horrifying than that of most although a fair number of dead bod­ All these contradictions can be found good horror stories, but in the end ies are left around the Sydney parks in 'The Kinsolving's Planet that's all the book adds up to. But and paths by the end of the book. Plat Irregulars' (1969), in which a brilliant unputdownable. would be a bit of a bore if he wasn't idea is rather thrown away. In his recent novels, Carroll has also funny. None of this square- Apart from 'Giant Killer', my fa­ made something of a specialty of jawed serious stuff. Plat enjoys ac­ vourite story is The Idol' from 1959, killing off our favourite characters tion, and he enjoys going into a sort just before this abrupt change of ap­ just when we've got to know her, of lunatic state to upset his enemies. proach. Chandler's best story, 'Late', him or it. This time it's... no, I won't It's obvious that Hails had great is not here. tell you. Very upsetting scene, that. fun writing this book, but he has Available from the specialist Most of the other scenes in the book some serious points to make. Hails sources and from Dreamstone, PO are extraordinary, as Harry Radcliffe makes his conspiracy sound plausi­ Box 312, Fyshwick, ACT 2609. wanders around being insufferably ble, because it's a mere extension of brilliant, afflicted by earthquakes everything that is currently happen­ STARSWARM and magic, and all sorts of weird ing in Australian politics. Also, he by Brian Aldiss (VGSF happenings prevent him building shows how computer networks can Classics No. 45, the Dog Museum, which is really. .. be used to provide a very narrow 0 575 04182 X; 1990, first but I can't tell you that, either. focus for most of the information publication 1964; 190 pp.; 'Ssh. Watch now.' You don't have that reaches the Australian public — any choice with a Carroll novel. although somebody like his main £3.50, A$ 11.50) character, awake to the crime, could Starswarm (originally, with a differ­ BACK DOOR MAN use the same computer networks to ent story line-up, The Airs of Earth) by Ian McAuley Hails investigate the problem and destroy the conspiracy. always suffered from being a 'fix­ (Aphelion 1 875346 04 X; up'. Ignore the italicized bits that are 407 pp.; A$ 14.95) This book is probably available only from SJpw Glass Books, supposed to link the stories, and you Minotaur, and some of the crime fic­ have one of Aldiss's better short This book does not really belong in a story collections. 'Legends of science fiction and fantasy column. tion specialists. It's also available from the publisher, Aphelion Books, Smith's Burst' is possibly Aldiss's However, I've not yet organized my­ funniest story, 'Old Hundredth' his self enough to run a magazine (or PO Box 619, North Adelaide, South Australia 5006. most poignant, and 'A Kind of even a column) devoted to crime and Artistry' one of his most memorable. mystery fiction, and I know that sf FROM SEA TO SHINING STAR fans will enjoy Back Door Man THE FORTRESS OF ETERNITY by A. Bertram Chandler, greatly. Besides, it is published by by Andrew Whitmore Aphelion Books, Australia's newest edited by Keith Curtis and (Avon 0 380 75744 3; enterprising small publisher, which Susan Chandler; 1990; 251 pp.; US$3.50, is recommendation enough. illustrated by Nick A$6.50) By genre, Back Door Man comes Stathopoulos straight from the thriller genre. It fea­ (Dreamstone This is the Australian fantasy novel tures lots of modem technology, its 0 9587968 0 7 (collectors’ subject matter is spy networks, and that pretty much everybody ig­ edition), it has a satisfactory conspiracy the­ nored, including (I hear) American ory to account for the current sad 0 9587968 1 5 (numbered book buyers. I enjoyed it greatly, but state of Australian politics. The only edition); 1990; 344 pp.; I'm not surprised it's been unpopu­ thing it doesn't have is a big-name A$100 (collectors’ lar. Whitmore has chosen to put the publisher who knows how to market edition), A$70 (numbered knife into every deeply beloved Bor­ and distribute a book like Back Door edition). ing Old Idea of the heroic fantasy Man so that it sells in bucketloads. field. Nobody's a nice person; lots of No, I'm not slighting Ian I trust that Wynne Whiteford's re­ people are killed messily; several McAuley Hails' publisher here. view of From Sea to Shining Star has good guys get killed early in the nar­ Since Hails indirectly implicates a already convinced you to buy it. It's rative; the 'quest' has no direction or very rich Australian publisher in his a Major Publishing Project by any sf point; the landscape is inhospitable; conspiracy theory, it's not surprising standards — a retrospective of an the territory is dangerous. Lovely that the big publishers don't want to author who identified himself with stuff. Whitmore's humour is dry and touch Back Door Man. It's a pity that Australia and made much of our bitter: none of his characters escapes large numbers of people will proba­ landscape, language and viewpoint. the acid. Says one: Tell them to look bly never see or hear of a copy, and As Wynne suggests, probably the for me in hell... I understand that's therefore will be deprived of the fun best way to read the book is by read­ where all the best people are going I had reading it. ing the stories according to the pub­ this year.' Whitmore has no talent for At the end of Back Door Man, lication dates listed in the meeting the expectations of boring Hails provides a diagram of Acknowledgements. Chandler's ca­ audiences, but he does have a talent Australia's interlocking intelligence reer begins with his best story, 'Giant for unlikely fantasy notions. You networks. He adds another, which Killer', moves through some com­ will enjoy meeting the guardians of features in his story. His main char­ pressed, memorable but conven­ the tunnel, each in turn guarding the

89 beast the guard is guarding against. much better novels than Station teen directions, rarely allowing the The ending of the novel is a grand Gehenna, but it's not a bad start to a reader to sit down to enjoy the story. fizzy phantasmagoria of magical ef­ novelist's career. Damien should take a knife to his fects. own prose. THE EYE OF THE HERON and Often he does, of course. The in­ UNIVERSE 1 THE WORD FOR WORLD IS troductions to the individual stories edited by Robert FOREST show Damien at his sparkling best, a Sllverberg and Karen by Ursula Le Guin (VGSF raconteur of enormous style and depth. It's a pity that he doesn't sub­ Haber (Doubleday 0 575 05060 8; 1991, first stitute this precision and talent for Foundation 0 385 24812 1; published 1977 (Word) dry observation for the colourful 1990; 449 pp.; US$19.95, and 1982 (Heron); hysterics of stories like 'A Tooth for A$28.50) 301 pp.;£3.99, A$ 11.99) Every Child'. I liked 'Coming Back', despite all According to your taste, Universe I The blurb says: 'For the first time in the frothing sentences. I liked The (new series) is a boring collection one volume— two classic tales from Writeable Text', although no other that features a few brilliant stories, or one of fantasy's most intelligent and reviewer seems to agree with me. a worthwhile collection of top stories elegant writers.' I might have placed And, like the other reviewers, I agree inconveniently spoiled by some dull this book higher on the list if I could that the last story, The Magi', makes stuff. I favour the former. There are remember either story clearly. The this book a must-buy. (1 lie. What a lot of conventional or even bad Word for World is Forest is, as Ursula makes this book a must-buy is stories. There are also some of the Le Guin admits in her Introduction, Damien's account (pp. 105-7) of best stories of 1990: Ursula Le Guin's a preachy piece really about the Viet­ meeting Harlan Ellison when he vis­ TheShobies' Story', which gives the nam War, but it is also about the ited Melbourne.) In The Magi', great reader an authentic feeling of having power of dreams. It's a long time themes of cosmic and terrestrial des­ become dislocated in time and place; since I read it, but I remember that its tiny are brought to life in unforgetta­ KimStanley Robinson's shaggy-lan- preachiness disappears into the ble images as a terrestrial team guage story "The Translator; Bruce more demanding world of dream, explores a treacherous far-distant Sterling's stylish, original 'The and that art is the result. The Eye of planet. A story that, like The Dream Shores of Bohemia', sketching in an the Heron seemed when it first ap­ ing Dragons, will keep Damien alternative Europe and its unlikely peared merely a repetition of the Broderick's reputation alive far from inhabitants; and Gregor Hartmann's ideas of several other books, espe­ Australia's shores. reality-scrambling 'O Time Your cially those of the much more satis­ Pyramids'. Are there enough good fying Malafrena and Threshold. It was AGAINST THE FALL OF NIGHT stories to make it worth buying the a signal that Le Guin needed to take by Arthur C. Clarke book? I count six delectables and fif­ stock and find a new direction, /BEYOND THE FALL OF teen duds. Make your own buying which she did (Always Coming choice. Home). But most people will still find NIGHT it a satisfying tal£ by Gregory Benford STATION GEHENNA (Gollancz 0 575 04765 8; by Andrew Weiner THE DARK BETWEEN THE STARS 1991, original publication (Worldwide 0 373 30306 8; by Damien Broderick Of Fall In 1948; 239 pp.; 1988; 250 pp.; US$3.95, (Mandarin Australia 1 £13.99, A$42) A$6.95) 86330 083 X; 1991; 252 pp.; A$ 12.95. 'Clarke's [The City and the Stars based on 'Against the Fall of Night') was Okay, 1 read this because Andrew Available from Octopus sent it to me. Otherwise I might quite simply the most important Publishing, cnr. Salmon novel I have ever read, will ever never have seen a copy. I've never and Plummer Streets, Port met And rew Weiner, but I count him read. It stapled my ambition to a Melbourne, Victoria 3207, as a friend. I could spend the entire kind of mad hunger, guaranteed that year reading books by friends or ac­ Australia) I yearned to be a science fiction quaintances. I'm prejudiced in fa­ writer.' Thus writes Damien vour of Station Gehenna, but I don't I wish I could like The Dark Between Broderick in the introduction to The think it quite works. It contains the Stars better than I do. It includes Dark Between the Stars. It was much that would be familiar to read­ some of the best and the worst of Damien's affirmation of faith that ers of Philip Dick and Stanislaw Damien Broderick's writing,andl'm made me curious to read Arthur Lem: terrestrials doing and experi­ never sure that he can tell the differ­ Clarke's legendary story. Alas! I read encing very strange things while ob­ ence. For example, The Ballad of it too late — about thirty years too serving an alien planet. However, Bowsprit Bear's Stand' is probably a late. Clarke's 'classic' story now Andrew Weiner leaves his main fairly simple story, but I find it diffi­ seems impersonal a nd d if fuse, full of characters mainly as ciphers, rather cult to see clearly who or what is hints that it might burst into life, but than characters, so the result is more speaking to whom? In the end I had never quite doing so. Clarke's early like Barry Malzberg than Philip little idea what was going on. Aus­ style was clear, controlled; some of Dick. In fact, the prose is so spare and tralian fans often accuse Damien of his youthful sentences are perfect. ironic and the story so oddly dispas­ 'using big words', but so do lots of Gregory Benford, by comparison, sionate that I wonder why the over­ other authors without causing of­ is a literary barbarian. This volume seas reviewers didn't call Weiner fence. No, it's difficult to come to includes Beyond the Fall of Night, his 'the new Malzberg' and give him a terms with those great floppy sen­ recent 'sequel' to Against the Fall of Campbell Award. He will write very tences, curling and uncurling all Night. None of the style of the origi­ over the page, lashing out in ump­

90 nal remains, and little of its back­ THE SHADOW OF HEAVEN has an original premise. Russell ground. Some characters bear the by Bob Shaw Blackford's 'Glass Reptile same names as people in Clarke's (Gollancz 0 575 04916 2; Breakthrough' does not have quite original, but otherwise do not resem­ 1991, first published 1969; thesame impact as it had when I read ble them. And yet Benford's lumber­ 174 pp.; £13.99, A$42) it first. It is not so much a good short ing story has more life in any one of story as an effective first chapter of its pages than Clarke managed to an unwritten novel. A very early novel from Bob Shaw, squeeze out of the original story. When will somebody give me but already he showed that combi­ Benford's story is very biological, to some money to put together a Best of nation of interesting future environ­ use an inadequate adjective. His Australian Short SF and Fantasy? ments and achingly ordinary blokes characters set out from Earth in what Nobody will agree with all my that has been the mainstay of his best seems like a giant space-going tree choices, but at least my list must be work since then. As the blurb says, trunk, filled with myriad forms of more exciting than this selection. 'Heaven is a giant anti-gravity float­ life. The sense of struggle and real ingdisc —officially known as "Inter­ danger animates Benford's story national Land Extension US-23'" MASTER OF LIES while Clarke's remains a still-life which means to Earth's inhabitants by Graham Maslerton painting. It's a bit hard to take 'space, air and freedom'. Shaw (Tor Horror 0 312 85102 2; Benford's story ending, in which en­ writes well about the search for the 1992; 330 pp.; US$19.95) tire galaxies seem to be laid waste in secret of Heaven. This is satisfying order to preserve the lives of two adventure fiction written honestly This story begins with a chapter de­ rather uninteresting main charac­ and clearly. voted to the ritual killing of an entire ters. It's all nonsense either way. I One quibble. I received this book family. In the nastiest possible way. just wish I'd read Clarke's story at as a review copy. I doubt whether I In the greatest possible detail. De­ the age of seventeen; maybe I'd have could have bought it. Gollancz has spite this, I chundered my way to the become a Damien Broderick by now. changed its Australian distributor second chapter. Abruptly the story yet again. The new distributor, Jaca­ becomes a police procedural. Not THE JONAH KIT by Ian Watson randa (I'm told by a bookseller), is bad stuff, with a sympathetic police­ (VGSF 0 575 05002 0; translating British prices into Aus­ man who realizes he's after a right 1991, first published 1975; tralian prices by the old formula of na-na this time. 221 pp.;£3.99, A$ 11.95) multiplying by t ee. Hence 14 quid And then the book turns into a becomes $42. For 174 pages? Who's supernatural horror piece, with pe­ After the appearance of The Embed­ kidding who? Surely such a pricing culiar fireworks all over the place. I ding (see above), Ian Watson pro­ policy cuts Gollancz out of the Aus­ got confused, but I did keep reading. duced only two other enjoyable tralian hardback market? I had never heard of Graham novels, The Martian Inca and The Masterton before, but he has pub­ Jonah Kit. However, in both of them GLASS REPTILE BREAKOUT AND lished lots of other books. He knows the ideas seemed less urgent, less OTHER AUSTRALIAN how to keep people turning the scalding than those cascading SPECULATIVE STORIES pages. The trouble is that the reader through The Embedding. The passion edited by Van Ikln turns the last page and realizes the and attention to detail are still here, author has offered nothing but a se­ (Centre for Studies in however; there are still people (in­ ries of silly tricks. There's a nice little cluding whales) in Watson's early Australian Literature, San Francisco detective story lurking novels. Now reprinted, The Jonah Kit University of Western somewhere inside Master of Lies, but is worth plunging into. Australia; 1990; 161 pp.; only in a few chapters does it escape. A$ 14.95) BLACK COCKTAIL by Jonathan Carroll, Illustrated by Much as it pains me to admit it, I can STRANGER IN A STRANGE Dave McKean say that I agree with Scott Campbell. LAND, original uncut (Legend Novella We agree that Glass Reptile Breakout version, is incomprehensibly disappointing. 0 7126 2164 4; 1990; by Robert A. Heinlein Gather around,ye schooland college 76 pp.; £4.50, A$ 12.95) (Ace 0 441 78838 6; 1991; students: sample the most mediocre stories of the most interesting Aus­ 525 pp.; US$9.95, A$ 16.95) tralian sf writers. Broderick, Dowl­ 'Black Cocktail' is disappointing be­ ing, Egan, Frahm, Lake, Love, cause in the end it becomes a thor­ Maddem and Smith are all repre­ When I read the 'cut' version of oughly conventional, if jokey horror sented by ho-hum pieces. Stranger in a Strange Land some years story. All the elements of a Carroll Not all the stories are from their ago, I thought that it needed to lose novel are here, including the nasty authors' second eleven. Sean about 200 pages. Now I discover that fate that awaits the main characters, McMullen's 'The Colours of the some badly paid copy editor (all but in the end you find yourself say­ Masters' is a bracing surprise, for copy editors are badly paid) had re­ ing 'Pull the other leg'. A pity, be­ reasons outlined capably by Michael duced that edition to about 400 cause the story contains some of Tolley in his introduction to pages by carefully paring away end­ Carroll's finest paragraphs and most McMullen's new collection of short less bits of Heinleinian over-writing. perceptive sentences. 'Who said the stories. Sue Isle's 'The Last And somebody has now put them truth shall set you free?' Exactly. Guardian' is the best story I've seen back again! You are welcome to read from this newish writer; and I'd for­ it if you suffer from a masochistic gotten that Van Ikin's 'Combatant' temperament. #

91 MICHAEL J. TOLLEY is still working on his monumental study of the paintings of William Blake. He is now Associate Professor of English at the University of Adelaide and also the Director of its Centre for British Studies. In his non-existent spare time he is working on a bibliography of Peter Yates (Carter Brown), editing The Body Dabbler, an admirable small magazine about mystery fiction, teaching a science fiction course, and contributing to magazines like this one.

VINTAGE TOLLEY: Sf and fantasy reviews

by Michael Tolley

same time, that of Astounding maga­ is an index, which would have been THE ASTOUNDING MR zine. The major section divisions are much better value than the Appen­ given the names of Astounding edi­ dix quoting Clarke's letters to As- CLARKE tors, Bates, Tremaine, Campbell. founding, in which some of the Analyses of particular issues and silliness appears, regarding theories stories, critiques of writers associ­ about the origin of craters on the ASTOUNDING DAYS: ated with the magazine, pen por­ Moon. A SCIENCE FICTIONAL traits of the editors, come to the fore, The book is full of fascinating in­ AUTOBIOGRAPHY while Clarke's own life story pro­ formation, even if some of it is mis­ by Arthur C Clarke ceeds quietly, if not altogether mod­ information and will provoke estly, as it can be fitted in, often energetic d isagreement at times. It is, Gollancz 575 04774 7; pb; through actual footnotes rather than nevertheless, in my view nowhere 1990, original publication 1989; separate chapters. near so revealing and important a 224 pp.; £4.99 There is some method of Clarke's document about a science fiction quirkmess; it appears that this is only writer as either of 1990's biographies I found this book highly interesting, one of his autobiographies: another of Philip K. Dick. much more so than Frederik Pohl's is called Ascent to Orbit: A Scientific autobiography The Way the Future Autobiography. Astounding did not Was (1978), which I thought I should actually publish many Clarke sto­ read in advance of this one to give ries: five from 1946 to 1961 and two MAGIC IN LARGE CITIES me some perspectiveon Clarke's. Al­ in the 1980s (both reprinted here); though Pohl's book might easily discussion of the magazine serves have shared Clarke's subtitle, and rather as a pad from which he can GREENMANTLE although they begin in almost ex­ launch into various subjects, partic­ by Charles de Lint actly the same way — Pohl encoun­ ularly the place of the British Inter­ tering his first science fiction planetary Society in the history of the Ace 0 441 30295 5; 1988; magazine, Science Wonder Stories Space Age. In this respect, Astound­ viii + 328 pp.; US$3.50 Quarterly, in 1930 at the age of ten, ing Days makes much better reading Clarke in the same year, aged thir­ than that lamentable book by Dale JACK THE GIANT-KILLER teen, acquiring his first science fic­ Carter I reviewed for The Age {THE JACK OF KINROWAN: tion magazine, Astounding Stories of Monthly Review, The Final Frontier, A NOVEL OF URBAN FAERIE] Super-Science (although he admits which presented the space race in the by Charles de Lint that he had earlier seen the Novem­ light of Pynchon's Gravity's Rainbow. ber 1928 issue of Amazing Stories) — Arthur C. Clarke, with his back­ Ace 0 441 37969 9; 1987; thereafter the two most famous con­ ground, would have been an ideal viii + 202 pp.; US$16.95) tributors to science fiction as we reviewer for that book: I wonder know it proceed along different whether he ever read Pynchon. The following quotation fromPart 3, tracks. The scientists with whom Clarke Chapter 3 of de Lint's Greenmantle Pohl's is a conventional autobi­ has hobnobbed do not always ap­ will give some idea of the brew that ography in which he presents him­ pear in the most flattering light; has been mixed here. Frankie, a nor­ self as a clever, successful but rather frankly, they sometimes seem not mal person, laments to her friend shallow individual (thereby perhaps only vain but silly with it (it is fair to Tony, who is a retired Family man: deceiving himself and his readers). add that Clarke does not always Clarke's life is presented as a se­ spare himself from the same imputa­ '. . . I feel like nothing's real ries of footnotes to a more important tion). right now ... or maybe it's too history that was proceeding at the The most serious lack in the book real. I don't know. Here we are

92 with all these guns, waiting for and Lord Dunsany's fantasy The suggested the idea of the book to de either Earl [her ex-husband, a Blessing of Pan. The famous mystical Lint, according to his own Foreword. drug courier] or some extras passage in Grahame's book was The cover portrait of an imposing from The Godfather to show up. never my own favourite part, and I figure with a sword bears no resem­ Meanwhile, my daughter is suspected that it was the sort of thing blance to anybody in the book, and running around the woods adults liked and told kids they is the more irritating because it could with a stag and some girl who should like. I have never come across be read as that of the giant as a hand­ has horns growing from her the Dunsany title. some man (or conceivable a woman), head. Does any of it make sense De Lint makes his story more dif­ though the book itself lacks the sub­ to you, Tony?' ficult for me by setting it in a Cana­ tlety of appearances greatly belying dian forest, which seems to me about realities. The front cover of my copy shows as unlikely an idea as locating fairies All this is to say nothing against a stag-headed man wearing a cape of in the Appalachians, as John the novel itself, which is a good scary laurel leaves in a vaguely druidic Crowley did in the overblown and modem urban fantasy in which en- landscape, where a tiny gnome self-indulgent Little, Big. Although sorcelled hunters ride motor bikes holds a pan pipe in the branch of a de Lint never mentions John through an Ottawa that is the tragic tree above him; theback cover shows Crowley, his novel seems to be in the scene of a ghastly war of good and an attractive young woman in mod­ same tradition, only more obviously evil creatures just on the other side em dress inside a dark forest where exciting as a narrative. Instead of of normal mortal vision. When a bones burn on a rock and little drag­ John Crowley, he invokes such writ­ murdered hob's red cap gives young ons lurk. The epigraphs for the Pro­ ers as Thomas Burnett Swann, the Jacky Rowan the power to see the logue relate to Pan, one from Aleister theosophists, Talbot Mundy and invisible Faery creatures who have Crowley, the other from Tanith Lee. Colin Wilson. His work will conceiv­ been brought over to the New World Thus it was a shock to find myself ably be valued by those on the side with the early settlers, she (of course, plunged immediately into the idiom of the wiccas. I happen to be on the she) is rushed into a frightfully dan­ of a modem American thriller with Christians' side, so I am not pleased gerous mission to rescue a princess the first words of the novel proper: with the reductive crisis in which from a giant's cavern. Only a mortal one of the heroines is tortured by a well endowed with luck could By the time Eddie 'the Squeeze' monk with a burning cross in an ef­ achieve this mission; it is fortunate Panelli was five hours dead, fort to force her to renounce her that lucky Jacky has some intelligent Valenti was on a Boeing 747 pagan friends as Satanic. friends. halfway across the Atlantic. Nevertheless, de Lint's 'Old The issue of belief in faery and its Homie' has considerable dignity impingement on everyday urban life The novelty of the book seems to and charm, though his world is is sensibly handled, and the crucial be in placing ordinary people be­ somewhat bleak and thinly popu­ problem of corruptive power tween the kinds of adult comic-book lated. The harsh, bitter quality of his (Tolkien's ring-lordship problem) is urban people who live in films and criminal classes (the ones against well resolved. Apart from a se­ thrillers, hit men and drug runners, whom his spectral monks might be quence in which I had to endure a and mysterious pastoral magical expected to be directly opposed, in­ HIBK stupidity, I enjoyed this book. creatures and people who belong to stead of attributing the human Charles de Lint is a fantasy writer I the woods. Not only do we get an villains' brutality to the provocative shall continue to read. intriguing formal blend of genres by music of Pan) sufficiently prevents this means but the reality of both de Lint from lapsing into simple sen­ worlds, that of the thriller and that of timentality. fantasy, is challenged. Mysteries and secrets remain at NEITHER VOLTAIRE NOR Usually it is only the fantasy the end of his novel, which is well CANDIDE world that is accounted unbeliev­ worth reading if one is interested in able. If fantasy is approached from trans-generic writing, or even if one the thriller world, as in David just wants a good read. De Lint's TO THE LAND OF THE LIVING Morrell's The Covenant of the Flame, it discussion of myth in relation to by Robert Silverberg is not usually given independent sta­ Christianity should not be taken too tus as existing outside the minds of seriously, but then most of it is not in VGSF 0 575 04496 9; 1990, believers. For the 'normal' heroine, his own voice, but in those of the originally published 1989; Frankie, when she is preparing for a 'homespun' village philosophers, 308 pp.; £3.99 deadly attack from villains, 'what old Lewis and Lucy. was happening now belonged on This 1989 novel is set principally in some cops 'n' robbers show, not real The Jack of Kinrowan, being part of a the Land of the Dead, which is less life.' Thus de Lint's narrative strat­ series of fairy tales in Ace fantasy neatly constructed than the egy, whether he calculated this or books, is somewhat confusing for Riverworld of Philip Jos<5 Farmer; not, is to suggest that if the reader the bibliographer, because the title magic and technology, old and new can believe in the world of Tony page announces only its subject — beliefs contend in it. Valenti, Earl (a real scumbag) and the particular fairy story that is being As did Farmer (who is entitled to Louie, a hit man who is trying to kill retold formodem adults—although some dedicatory homage but gets Tony, there should be no problem de Lint's title shares equal space in none), Silverberg jumbles together with belief in the fantasy world. The the page headings and is detailed in famous people from the past, which one is as unlikely as the other. the title-page verso. makes the novel at least in part a Charles de Lint claims that his Furthermore, the general Intro­ biographical enterprise. The early main sources of inspiration for the duction is unattributed, though it is appearances of H. P. Lovecraft and book were The Wind in the willows presumably by Terri Windling, who Robert E. Howard will not augur

93 well for some readers, and the the past (such as Raleigh, Simon cial leper by resolving an ethnic Afterworld's ecosphere is more than Magus, Herod Agrippa and Vy-Otin problem on a planet where the pari­ a little Chthuluized (but the land­ the Hairy Man), Silverberg's novel ahs are the waste disposers, who scape is, to begin with, somewhat might be a suitable stimulant. If, on have rightly begun to resent their like that of Texas). One at once per­ the other hand, one wishes to engage position. More lightly, in The Feel­ ceives that this Afterworld will be no in a serious reflection on the nature ing of Power', a humble technician of pleasant comfortable place most of of the Afterworld, Silverberg is not the sixth millennium AD reinvents the decent kindly people who read the best guide: Plato, Socrates, Aris­ the wheel, as it were, by discovering Sil verberg's books, and that it will be totle (to look no higher) are notably that he can do simple sums without more than a little conditioned by absent from his pages. using a calculator. People regain a Silverberg's favourite fantasists and I almost forgot to mention that sense of wonder by discovering that the fantasies of his favourite dead we do indeed, at length, reach the they can do it too. In 'Franchise', be­ people. land of the living, in a sequence that coming the one representative voter All the same, the novel might still is bound to remind oneofanepisode on the second Tuesday in November have been the 'sustained philosoph­ in The Man in the High Castle — a is almost as much fun as winning the ical fantasy' that someone hired by reminiscence that is likely to send Melbourne Cup would be on the first the Belfast Telegraph thought it to be; one speedily back to the authentic Tuesday. might still have been as 'witty and witand audacious speculative fanta­ In his Introduction, Asimov is perceptive' as some dullard in Books sies of Philip K. Dick, away from the mainly occupied with the predictive described it. It might have been all tedious redundancies of Silverberg power of his stories, and is suitably these things had it not been for one in his inflated epic mood. apologetic about his failures. He is crippling disadvantage: Silverberg's chastened by his inability, in most of choice of hero. the Multivac (computer) stories, to I have not read Silverberg's forecast miniaturization, and there is Gilgamesh the King, and if To the Land APOLOGIES FOR THE OUT no doubt that some of these stories of the Living is secretly designed to OF DATE look a little quaint nowadays. sell tha t ea rlier epic work, the a uthor Asimov's defensive strategy is to will be disappointed to learn that he play down the science and boost the has failed in his aim. Gilgamesh is ROBOT DREAMS fictional value: he hopes hat we not capableof sustained philosophy: by Isaac Asimov enjoy the stories, as such. Unfortu­ all he thinks he wants out of life is nately, it is relatively uncommon for hunting with his great friend Enkidu Berkley 0 425 09345 X; 1986; him to give us a good story, however (whereas Enkidu seems to want to 349 pp.; US$7.95 willing we might be to grant him the spend most of his life hunting and poetic licence he claims, as he does fornicating without his great friend There are twenty-one stories here, for The Billiard Ball' (itself a well- Gilgamesh, hence the quest motif: mostly fromthe 1950s.Thecollection crafted murder story). The Martian the search for Enkidu, no sooner is an attractively packaged trade pa­ Way' seems dull now that its obtru­ found than lost again). perback with illustrations by Ralph sive high-tech stuff about Saturn's Gilgamesh is himself devoid of McQuarrie. Head decorations sug­ rings (exploited by space travellers witty perception: he is still lost in the gest that each story is a robot's without the aid of computers) is so old simplicities, completely baffled dream, but the (new) title story is one obviously out of date. by his encounter with that great of only two Susjn Calvin stories in Stories tha t will not go out of da te practical philosopher Pablo Picasso, the anthology, so some readers may so easily are those paranoid ones for example. My reader might ac­ feel cheated. about human beings manipulated cordingly think that, since Susan decides that it is too dan­ by aliens for particular ends, such as Silverberg's with is clearly not di­ gerous to allow robots to dream: the 'Breeds There a Man . . .', Hostess', rected much against the heroic dream may be about power. The 'Jokester7 (weak because its premise Gilgamesh, the author must be using threat of power is a frequent motif in is rubbish) and 'Does a Bee Care?' this innocent from the past in order this representative sample of On the whole, the stories I like are to expose satirically the corruption Asimov's shorter work. In The Last the less cerebral ones, such as The of those in Gilgamesh's future. This Question' the human quest is to gain Ugly Little Boy' (which, it is good to is true to a degree, but Gilgamesh is the power to create, to reverse en­ note, has become outmoded ethi­ no Candide, and Sil verberg is cer­ tropy; in The Last Answer' (which cally, in the best societies), 'Light tainly no Voltaire. takes place in an afterlife situation) it Verse', 'Sally' and 'Lest We Nevertheless, if one wishes to is to gain the power to bring con­ Remember', or even the neatly con­ amuse oneself with idle thoughts scious existence to an end. In structed True Love'. about certain leading figures from 'Strikebreaker', a man becomes a so­

— Michael J. Tolley, December 1991

94 YET MORE LISTOMANIA compiled by Justin Ackroyd

It's nice to keep tabs on people as loony about 'The Shobies' Story' by Ursula K. Le Guin The Cipher by Kathe Koja lists as I am. In this case, JUSTIN ACK­ (Universe 1) The Coachman Rat by David Henry Wilson ROYD of Slow Glass Books, GPO Box 'The Extra' by Greg Egan (Eidolon 2) 2708X, Melbourne, Victoria 3001 runs his 'Turtle Soup' by Rosaleen Love (Eidolon 3) Science fiction: ‘Best Books Read' lists once a year in his 'Shades' by Lucius Shepard (In the Field of Synners by Pat Cadigan monthly catalogue. (Justin does not order in Fire) Grass by Sheri S. Tepper books until you request them from the cata­ 'Lazarus' by Leonid Andreyev (Blood Is Not Hyperion by Dan Simmons logue. He manages to get most books you ask Enough) for.) Crime/thriller: The following lists appeared in Slow Non-fiction and non-sf/fantasy: Mystery by Peter Straub Glass Books Catalogue No. 44, March 1992. Patrick White: A Life by David Marr Lie to Me by David Martin Justin does not make it plain the significance The Burnt Ones by Patrick White Mercy by David Lindsay of the order in these lists. For instance, I had The Transit of Venus by Shirley Hazzard supplied a rank order, but Justin left out the Selected Poems 1960-1985 by Andrew Taylor Mainstream: numbers. Some other lists are probably in Stallion Gate by Martin Cniz Smith The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro random order or in alphabetical order by Kickback by Garry Disher The Chymical Weddtngby Lindsey Clarke author. Ragtime by E. L. Doctorow Th e Collected Works of Billy the Kid by Michael Justin left ou tone of my lists (since it was The Man With a Load of Mischief by Martha Ondaatje of short stories, not books), so I've restored Grimes it Also I've added a few top items from my Golden Brickbat: 'non-sf favourite books' of 1991. My com­ TERRY DOWLING, author of Rynosseros The Stress of Her Regard by Tim Powers: for plete Favourite Novels and Favourite Books and Wormwood; sf reviewer for The Austra­ the drivel he places in the mouths of Byron, lists will appear as usual in the next issue of lian: Shelley and Keats. How he wrote a book as The Metaphysical Review. good as The Anubis Gates is beyond me — he All comments from now on are those Queen of Angels by Greg Bear hasn't got near it since. supplied by Justin Ackroyd or his contrib­ Magic Casement by Dave Duncan utors. The Witching Hour by Anne Rice MARK MORRISON, games writer with Moonheart by Chrfrles de Lint good taste in books: JUSTIN ACKROYD: The Dark Between the Stars by Damien Broderick Ratsand Gargoyles by Mary Gentle Science fiction / fan tasy / horror The Fall of Hyperion by Dan Simmons Revenge of the Rose by Michael Moorcock Alone Against Tomorrow by Harlan Ellison War Fever by J. G. Ballard State of the Art by Iain M. Banks Approaching Oblivion by Harlan Ellison The Days of Perkyj&at, Volume 4 of the col­ Ghostlight by Michael Cadnum The Cipher by Kathe Koja lected stories of Philip K. Dick Sleepwalker by Michael Cadnum City of Truth by James Morrow Needful Things by Stephen King Calling Home by Michael Cadnum. Sugar Rain by Paul Park Eidolon edited by Jeremy Byrne, Jonathan Strahan and Richard Seri ven. An Australian ANDREW SULU VAN, budding author #1: Crime/ mystery: quarterly fiction and critical magazine, pub­ A Country of Old Men by Joseph Hansen lished in Perth, and devoted to science fic­ Horror Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris tion. Carrion Comfort by Dan Simmons Devil in a Blue Dress by Walter Mosley Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray A Woman's Eye edited by Sara Paretsky JONATHAN STRAHAN one of the editors Bradbury Pastime by Robert B. Parker of Eidolon. Act of Love by Joe R. Lansdale The Getaway by Jim Thompson Moon Dance by S. P. Somtow The Grifters by Jim Thompson Fiction: In the Land of the Dead by K. W. Jeter King of Morning, Queen of Day by Ian McDon­ Mainstream: ald Fantasy: The Call of the Wild, White Fang, and Other The Hereafter Gang by Neal Barrett Jr Bridge of Birds by Barry Hughart Stories by Jack London Queen of Angels by Greg Bear Fade by Robert Cormier Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck The Paper Grail by James P. Blaylock Time and Chance by Alan Brennert Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury On Stranger Tides by Tim Powers Worst book of 1991: The October Country by Ray Bradbury Madouc by Jack Vance The Gap into Conflict: The Real Story by Ste­ Synners by Pat Cadigan phen R. Donaldson. 140 pages of poorly writ­ The Adventures of Dr Eszterhazy by Avram Science fiction: ten, misogynistic crap. Davidson Hyperion by Dan Simmons Buddy Holly Is Alive and Well on Ganymede by The Fall of Hyperion by Dan Simmons BRUCE GILLESPIE Bradley Denton Dream Baby by Bruce McAllister A Fire in the Sun by George Alec Effinger The Forever War by Joe Haldeman Science fiction and fantasy: Thomas the Rhymer by Ellen Kushner The Boat of a Million Years by Poul Anderson Only Begotten Daughter by James Morrow Savage Season by Joe R. Lansdale Santiago by Mike Resnick In the Field of Fire edited by Jeanne Van Buren Tehanu: the Last Book of Earthsea by Ursula K. Replay by Ken Grimwood Dann and Jack Dann I,e Guin The Time Machine by H. G. Wells Blood Is Not Enough edited by Ellen Datlow The Ends of the Earth by Lucius Shepard The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury Sleeping in Flame by Jonathan Carroll Her Smoke Rose Up Forever by James Tip tree In the Ocean of Night by Gregory Benford Time and Chance by Alan Brennert Jr Soldiers of Paradise by Paul Park. Brain Child by George Turner Night of the Coolers by Howard Waldrop Voice of our Shadow by Jonathan Carroll Death Qualified by Kate Wilhelm STEVEN MILLER, budding author #2: Bones of the Moon by Jonathan Carroll Non-fiction: The Long Goodbye by Raymond Chandler Short stories: science fiction and fantasy: The Life and Art of Winsor McCoy by John Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov 'Varicose Worms' by Scott Baker (Blood Is Not Canemaker Pop. 1280 by Jim Thompson Enough) Of Mice and Magic by Leonard Maltin. Factotum by Charles Bukowski 'The Moon' by David Brooks (Millennium) Small World by David Lodge 'Goats' by Dave Smeds (In the Field of Fire) MICHAEL CLARK, Adelaide scotch critic: Despair by Vladimir Nabokov 'The Shores of Bohemia' by Bruce Sterling The Waste Lands by Stephen King (Universe 1) Horror/fan tasy: Pastime (and Early Autumn) by Robert B. Par­ 'Credibility7 by John Kessel (In the Field of Mongster by Randall Boyll. This was a real ker Fire) find: a genuinely horrible story which is also The Blithedale Romance by Nathaniel Haw­ 'Dream Baby7 by Bruce McAllister (In the very funny in places. It is guaranteed to of­ thorne Field of Fire) fend many of its readers. Perfume by Patrick Suskind.

95