BRUM GROUP NEWS February 1995 Issue 281
The monthly newsletter of the Birmingham Science Fiction Group (Honorary Presidents: Brian W Aldiss, Harry Harrison & Bob Shaw)
G r o u p C h a i r m a n - C a r o l M o r t o n , S e c r e t a r y - A n n e W o o d f o r d , N e w s l e t t e r E d it o r - m a r t i n T u d o r , T r e a s u r e r - S t e v e J o n e s , P u b l ic it y O f f ic e r - S a r a h F r e a k l e y , O r d in a r y M e m b e r - A l a n W o o d f o r d , N o v a c o n 2 5 C h a i r m a n - T o n y M o r t o n , N o v a c o n 2 6 C h a i r m a n - C a r o l M o r t o n .
This month's speaker is: DAVID GEMMELL who will be addressing the Group on Friday 17th February 1995, 7.45 for 8.00pm Admittance: Members £2.50 Visitors £3.75 (half-price for 14-18 year olds on production of proof of age). David A Gemmell was born in London on 1 August 1948. After attending Faraday Comprehensive School he went on to work for Pepsi Cola in London in 1965; as a reporter and editor for Westminster Press, 1966-72; editor of the Hastings Observer, 1976; editor of the Folkestone Herald, 1984 and since 1986 has been a full-time writer. His first fantasy series, 'the Drenai Saga', consists of LEGEND (1984), THE KING BEYOND THE GATE (1985), WAYLANDER (1986), QUEST FOR LOST HEROES (1990) and THE FIRST CHRONICLES OF DRUSS THE LEGEND (1994). His second series, the 'Sipstrassi' novels, are more science fantasy than heroic fantasy and include WOLF IN SHADOW (1987), GHOST KING (1988), LAST SWORD OF POWER (1988) and THE LAST GUARDIAN (1989). Gemmell's third series of books, the 'Macedon' sequence, set in the ancient Greece of an alternate-universe includes LION OF MACEDON (1991) and DARK PRINCE (1991). Other works feature parallel worlds (KNIGHTS OF DARK RENOWN, 1989) and necromancy and Vampyre Kings (MORNINGSTAR). More rec ently BLOODSTONE (published in paperback by Legend this month price £4.99) continues the story of Jon Shannow in the Sipstrassi series, while IRON HAND'S DAUGHTER (also published by Legend this month, hardback £15.99) is the first in a new series. Gemmell has also collabor ated with Stan Nicholls and Fangorn on two graphic novels - LEGEND and WOLF IN SHADOW.
[Thank you to 20th CENTURY SF WRITERS (St James Press) and THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF SF (ORBIT) for the above./
The BSFG meets at 7.45pm on the 3rd Friday of every month (unless otherwise notified) in the upstairs Function Room of the Australian Bar, corner of Hurst Street and Bromsgrove Street in Birmingham city centre. The annual subscription rates (which include twelve copies of this newsletter and reduced price entry to meetings) are £10.00 per person, or £13.50 for 2 members at the same address. Cheques etc. should be made payable to "the Birmingham Science Fiction Group" and sent to the Treasurer, Steve Jones, at 307 Gillott Road, Edgbaston, Birmingham, B16 ORT. Book reviews, review copies and other contributions and enquiries regarding the Brum Group News to: Martin Tudor, Newsletter Editor, 845 Alum Rock Road, Birmingham, B8 2AG. EVOLUTION THE NEXT STEP
Evolution is the 1996 British National Science Fiction
Convention to be held 5-8th April 1996. It's no longer in the Brighton Metropole and we're pleased to announce our new site - the Radisson Edwardian at Heathrow.
THE VENUE The Radisson is a 459-room 5 star hotel at Heathrow with excellent facilities, including an indoor swimming pool. Coaches run directly to Heathrow from ail over the country, and it's 40 minutes from central London by tube. Room rates from £28 per person per night
OUR GUESTS VERNOR VINGE BRYAN TALBOT
Author of Across Realtime, True Names and Artist and author of the alternative history
A Fire Upon The Deep, his mix of space opera graphic novel Luther Arkwright, he is famous and hard SF explores the future evolution of for his Victorian gothic art on N em esis for man and machine in the fast approaching 2 0 0 0 A D . Recently he worked on S andm an Singularity...This will be his first appearance and has just completed a graphic novel - One at a UK convention. ■ B a d R a t- on sale October 26th. ■
JACK COHEN COLIN GREENLAND
Jack Cohen, scientist and fan, evolves alien Author of Take Back Plenty and Harm's Way, ecologies for countless writers; his new book amongst other projects, he is working on a explores simplexity and complicity, concepts graphic novel with Dave McKean set in a that could shape the future of science. ■ Venice at the end of the world... ■
HOW TO JOIN Membership is £20 attending, £12 supporting for more information, please send your name, or child rate (between 5 and 14 on 5th April address and details with your cheque (made 1996 - children under 5 are free) - these rates payable to Evolution) to: are valid until 18th April 1 995. Pre supporting members get a £1 discount and Evolution, 13 Llndfield Gardens, Hampstead, London NW3 6PX, UK supporting members can convert to attending for the difference in memberships at any time. Information via e-mail: [email protected] Mascots and beasts of all kinds - £5. To join, or
Your details will be held on computer 20-25 FEBRUARY 1995: RETURN TO THE FORBIDDEN PLANET at the Royal Shakespeare COLOPHON Theatre, Stratford-Upon-Avon. Call 01789 295 623 for details. 25 FEBRUARY 1995: COMIC AND SCI-FI MART at Coventry U niversity Students Union, from 11am, The contents of this issue ore copyright 1995 admission 50p. Call 0908 679845 for details. the BSFG, on behalf of the contributors, to whom all rights revert on publication. 28 FEBRUARY 1995: THE SCIENCE OF GLASS a lecture by H W Woodward, lpm at the BMI, Personal opinions expressed in this Margaret Street, Birmingham. Admission free, publication do not necessarily reflect part of the Handford Science Lectures 1994-5. those of the committee or the membership Call (0121) 236 3591. of the Birmingham Science Fiction Group. 2-5 MARCH 1995: TREK DWARF 3 convention at All text by Martin Tudor except where the Holiday Inn, Leicester. Registration stated otherwise. This publication £35.00, contact 47 Marsham, Orton Goldhay, was printed on the CRITICAL WAVE Peterborough, PE2 ORB. photocopier. For details of WAVE'S competitive prices contact: 27 MARCH - 1 APRIL 1995: RETURN TO THE Martin Tudor, 845 Alum Rock Road, FORBIDDEN PLANET at the Grand Theatre, Ward End, Birmingham, B8 2AG. Wolverhampton. Call 01902 29212 for details. Many thanks this issue to BERNIE EVANS UNTIL 2 APRIL 1995: THE HOLY GRAIL TAPESTRIES for typing some of the book reviews designed by Edward Burne-Jones and woven by and for producing the address labels, Morris A Co. are on display at the Museum and STEVE GREEN, CRITICAL WAVE and Art Gallery, Chamberlain Square, Birmingham WHAT'S ON for the news in the City Centre, call 0121 235 2834 for details. Jophan Report and Events listing and TONY BERRY for the use of his spare room. 10-11 APRIL 1995: BLADERUNNER - THE DIRECTORS CUT showing at the Castle, Wellingborough from 7.30pm, tickets £2.00. Contact: The Castle, Castle Way, Welling FORTHCOMI NG borough, Northants, NN8 1XA or phone the Box Office on 01933 270007. EVENTS 14-17 APRIL 1995: CONFABULATION 46 th UK National sf con at the Britannia International Hotel, London. GoHs Lois McMasters Bujold, Bob 17 FEBRUARY 1995: DAVID GEMMELL w ill be Shaw and Roger Robinson. Attending £25.00 signing copies of the first novel in his new until 31 March 1995, supporting £10.00 until series, IRONHAND'S DAUGHTER, and the latest 31 March 1995. Contact: Confabulation, 3 York Jon Shannow book BLOODSTONE, from noon until Street, Altrincham, Cheshire, WA15 9QH. lpm at Andromeda book shop, 84 Suffolk Street, Birmingham. For details of this and 17 APRIL 1995: ALIEN, ALIENS and ALIEN 3 other signing sessions call (0121) 643 1999. showing at the Castle, Wellingborough from 2pm, tickets £2.00 per film or £5.00 for all 17 FEBRUARY 1995: DAVID GEMMELL w ill be three. Contact: The Castle, Castle Way, addressing the BSFG, 7.45 for 8pm in the Wellingborough, Northants, NN8 1XA or phone upstairs room of the Australian Bar, comer of the Box O ffice on 01933 270007. Hurst Street and Bromsgrove Street, Birming ham c ity centre. 23 MAY 1995: THE NEMESIS THEORY what killed the dinosaurs? The implications and 18 FEBRUARY 1995: SIMON R GREEN w ill be consequences for the human race of living in signing copies of his new sf novel an uncontrollable cosmos - a lecture by. Derek DEATHSTALKEE from lpm-2pm at Andromeda book Behrens, lpm at the Birmingham and Midland shop, 84 Suffolk Street, Birmingham. For Institute, Margaret Street, Birmingham. details of this and other signing sessions Admission free, part of the Handford Science call (0121) 643 1999. Lectures 1994-5. Call (0121) 236 3591. be reached at 9 Beechwood Court, Back JOPHAN REPORT #83 Beechwood Grove, Burley, Leeds, West Yorkshire (0532-782388). Eger ton Press, the imprint set up by Best wishes to Vernon Brown, one of the Nick Royle to produce his award-winning founder members of the BSFG and creators of DARKLANDS anthologies, released Joel Lane's Novacon, who is now at home recovering from short story collection THE EARTH WIRE on 29 open-heart surgery. We won't be seeing much September. Copies cost £6.99 from 5 Windsor of Vernon for a time as he has been advised Court Court, 24 Avenue Road, London, N15 5JQ to take it easy at home for six weeks or so. (081-809-0766). He has also been told to get plenty of exercise; apparently by the end of the six Aids to writers continue to abound. THE week period he is supposed to be walking WORD, subtitled "magazine of magazines", three miles a day> Vernon adds he can't promises an extensive small press listing, remember the last time he walked that far! reviews and guidelines; sample copies cost £1.95 from 5 Martins Lane, Witcham, Ely, Simon Frith's fantasy short DEEP IN THE Cambridgeshire, CB6 2LB. Elsewhere, the Flair WOODS received the Society of Fantastic Films' Network offers discounts on its own handbooks Delta Award as best entry in its 1994 amateur and residential writing weekends, a "free" movie competition, judged by horror director monthly newsletter and, oddly, an introductory Norman J Warren and dealer Steve Ellison. gift of the BT Yellow Pages of your choice Along with Nigel Barton's GET REAL!, it is was (currently available to non-FLair members at screened again as part of Novacon 24's own £5.00 apiece); membership costs £7.50pa from film programming. Flair For Words, 5 Delavall Walk, Eastbourne, BN23 6ER. Verna Smith Trestail, daughter of space opera veteran Edward E "Doc" Smith and a fan Congratulations to Finnish editor Toni in her own right since the 1930s, died in Jerrman and the T6HTIVAELTAJA crew - the March, aged 73. She was fiercely protective magazine, whose title translates as "Star of her father's legacy and briefly instituted Rover", has just reached its fiftieth issue a lawsuit against Malibu Graphics' LENSMAN and marked the occasion by raising the page comicbook and the Japanese company whose count to 128. anime had inspired it. Frank A J L James and J V Field discuss Jessica Tandy, who appeared alongside ed "Frankenstein and the Spark of Being" in second husband Hume Cronyn in both 1985's the September editio n of HISTORY TODAY, COCOON and its 1988 sequel, COCOON II: THE analysing the factual scientific background RETURN, died on 11 September at the age of which inspired the original novel. Yet 85. Born in London, she was originally another screen incarnation is released in the married to Jack Hawkins, but wed Cronyn in UK this month, with director Kenneth Branagh 1942, beginning a half-century partnership on in the title role and Robert DeNiro as his stage and screen. creation. As well as appearances in THE BIRDS (1963) and DRIVING MISS DAISY (1989), winning VOICES FROM SHADOW celebrates the 20th an Academy Award for the latter, she had an anniversary of David Sutton's landmark small impressive theatrical career which included press title, with contributions from Ramsey the role of Blanche in the original production Campbell, Mike Ashley, David A Riley, Eddy C of Tennessee W illiams' "A S treetcar Named Bert in, Brian J Frost, Stephen Jones and Desire", opposite the young Marlon Brando. Martin Ricketts, as well as artwork by Alan Hunter, Dave Carson and Jim Pitts. Copies cost Dave Hodson's tenure as editor of the £4.25 from Sutton at 194 Station Road, Kings British Science Fiction Association's newszine Heath, Birmingham, B14 7TE. MATRIX, having begun inauspiciously with the non-appearance of his first issue in the Bibliophile Books, the London- based mail BSFA's June/July mailing, promptly ceased with order service, has launched a sf/fantasy sec the non-appearance in the August/September tion in its regular catalogues, with several mailing of his "second" issue. The committee novels at reduced prices. For a copy of the subsequently requested his resignation. latest stocklist, write to 21 Jacob Street, The new editor is Chris Terran, who can London, SSI 2BG (please mention BRUM GROUP its debts, reports INVASION OF THE SAD NEWS if you do). MAN-EATING MUSHROOMS co-ed it or John Overall. Mark James has apparently taken over from THE ZONE is a new magazine from STRANGE owner Albert James, whose illness caused the ADVENTURES' Tony Lee; issue one features problems, and is requesting creditors to poetry by Bruce Boston (introduced by John contact him at 17 By ford Close, Stratford, Francis Haines), a C J Cherryh interview, fic London, E15 4HP. tion by John Light and assorted reviews. Copies cost £2.00 from Lee at 13 Haze ley The Flash Girls, aka fantasy author Emma Combe, Arreton, Isle of Wight, P030 3AJ. Bull and Neil Gaiman's assistant Lorraine Garland, were interviewed for the October THE WOMEN'S PRESS BOOK OF NEW MYTH AND issue of FOLK ROOTS, following the release of MAGIC, edited by Helen Windrath, costs £7.99 their CD "The Return of Pansy Smith and and includes work by Jane Yolen, Sara Violet Jones", which features lyrics by Maitland, Fiona Cooper, Katherine V Forrest Gaiman. and Mary Wings. Author Keith Roberts is now resident at Simon Pummell, director of the sf short Salisbury District Hospital's Farley Ward ROSE RED, has joined with its producer, Janine following the amputation of both legs due to Marmot, to form Hot Property, a company MS; letters from friends and fans are devoted to developing scripts by Pummell and welcomed. the film's co-writer, author Simon Ings. Shown at Wincon III in July, ROSE RED received A Californian court has rejected a suit its London premiere at the Institute of brought by Carl Sagan against the computer Contemporary Arts on 17 November, one month company Apple after claims that it had dubbed after work began on their second collabor him a "Butt-Head Astronomer". ation, an animated film entitled BUTCHER'S HOOK. October saw the first intake of students for Liverpool University's new K.A. in Science Author Cecelia Holland has reportedly Fiction Studies, believed to be the first instituted legal action against William James postgraduate course in sf to be offered on a over perceived similarities between several of British campus. Further information can be her novels, principally UNTIL THE SUN FALLS, obtained from Dr David Seed at the Department and his current trilogy, the third volume of of English, University of Liverpool, P0 Box which is e n titled BEFORE THE SUN FALLS. 147, Liverpool, L69 3BX. Orbit, James' British publisher, has meanwhile declined to remove his books from distribution Midlands telefantasy fans are invited to until Holland's claims are investigated. attend meetings of the Video Search Club, first Saturday of the month at the Brownhills Simon Maginn is currently working on his West Methodist Church, Severn Road, Brown third novel, "set in the underworld of bikers hills. The group also produces a bimonthly and cult religions"; his first, SHEEP, was newsletter; contact Nigel Webster on selected for the W H Smith "Fresh Talent" 0543-372142 for further details. campaign, w hilst VIRGINS AND MARTYRS, due out from Corgi on 2 February, is set in his NO ESCAPE, the sf thriller starring Ray current home in Hove. Liotta and set in a near-future penal colony, was trimmed by one second for its UK video All change again at Millennium: Sarah release on 9 November. No doubt some Yorke has replaced Sue Glikes as the imprint's trivia-obsessed fan is already trying to track press officer. down the missing frames. Avedon Carol, whose NUDES, PRUDES AND A group of 80 Japanese animators has ATTITUDES was published on 30 September protested to Disney over its box office hit appeared on the 14 October edition of Channel THE LION KING, claiming the "original" Four's EUROTRASH, discussing the career of storyline borrows significantly from Osamu ex-patriate porn star Sarah Young. Tezuka's 1966 anime series JUNGLE EMPEROR (aka KIMBA THE WHITE LION). Daystar Books, the mail order service Both scripts focus upon a young lion which attracted widespread complaints among (Simba in the Disney release, Kimba in the horror fans, is back in business and payings anime) who seeks revenge for his father's book, and provide a stimulating variety, and If I have any reservation at all, it is though the lighter stories don't work as well tha t the characteristic tone of doomed, masculine, romantic pessimism can get a bit the idea works well. wearisome. There is delicious horrid humour in "The Black Clay Boy", and "The Exercise of FALLEN ANGELS by Niven, Pournelle and Flynn Faith", and real tenderness in "Life of Pan, 391 pp, £4.99, p/b Buddha", but the general vision is bleak. Rich Reviewed by Carol Morton. countries exploit poor ones, revolutions ore corrupt from the word go, even the most On reading the blurb on the back of the loving of human relationships is governed by book one would be forgiven for thinking that lies and manipulation. Several times I was this was just another run-of-the-mill reminded of Edgar Allan Poe's statement that Niven/Pournelle/A N Other collaboration. But he knew of no subject more poetical than the if you are at all interested in fandom then death of a beautiful woman. Like Conrad and you will love this book. Why? Read on. Greene, Shepherd can sometimes be accused of The story is set some 80 years in the presenting the evils of colonialism as future where the Green Party has been in inevitable and undefeatable. It seems no power worldwide for the majority of that accident that the final story is called time. Some people saw what was coming and "Surrender". managed to escape off planet and form an A pity such cynicism sours on otherwise orbiting space station colony. The Green outstanding volume. Party you see, has outlawed technology and has rid the atmosphere of polluting carbon dioxide to such on extent that there is little I SHUDDER. A T YOUR TOUCH edited by Michele Slung or no greenhouse effect, much free heat RoC, 379pp, £4.99, p/b escapes the Earth's atmosphere and hence we Reviewed by Phil Noyes. find the planet in the grip of an Ice Age. The only problem with a space station is that This collection of 22 stories, both it is not a closed system and over the years reprint and originals, takes the crossover some atmosphere has leaked out into space. themes of sex and horror, featuring big names No problem you think hydroponics will produce like Stephen King, Ruth Rendell, Jonathan the oxygen needed, but breathable air has Carroll as well as older writers. The darker nitrogen in it and the colony cannot produce side of love and sexuality gives the that. So the colonists send scoop ships to collection a surprisingly broad feel for a the outer edges of Earth's atmosphere to themed anthology, and as well as the chillers, scoop up (pinch) sufficient nitrogen to keep there is room for some humourous and light the colony going. As you can imagine, the sto rie s. Green Party does not look kindly on this and The Stephen King story "The Revelations attacks any such ships with missiles - this of 'Becka Paulson" is a glimpse into a life in smacks of double standards, they are quite Castle Rock (perhaps a discarded scene from a willing to use technology to further their novel) with 'Becka accidentally shooting own ends, but will not allow the public the herself through her head and then turning up comforts that technology could bring. The at breakfast with a slight headache and on latest scoop ship is shot down and lands on elastoplast covering her entry wound. Jesus the tundra with both pilots alive but starts to tell her the guilty secrets of her suffering from gravity for greater than they husband and neighbours with inevitable are used to. results. "Sea Lovers" by Valerie Martin gives One group of outlaws decide that the an unsettling glimpse of a true mermaid (the 'Angels' as they are being called must be habits and lifestyles of big fishes sit very saved and band together to do so. These uncomfortably with the only sexual act outlaws? Science Fiction Fandom. Not only mermaids are anatomically compatible with). has technology been banned but science As well as these Christopher Fowler offers us fiction is very much frowned upon and any a paranoic view on the dangers of hiring in a known fans are watched and have no chance of craftsman in "The Master Builder", Jonathan getting a job, hence many fans have gone Carroll illustrates an obsessive creation of underground or forsworn fandom altogether. jealous love in "A quarter Past You" and The irony is that SF is banned but Fantasy is vignettes of different disturbing visions of positively encouraged (comments on this to love come from Robert Aickman, Ronald Duncan the authors please, not me). The fans leave and T L Parkinson. their Worldcon and travel over the ice to These are the better stories of the death, alternately aided and distracted in this quest by wise monkeys, cunning hyenas, book review s ebulient birds and scarred contenders for the feline throne. Disney, needless to say, claims all similarities are pure coincidence. THE ENDS OF THE EARTH by Lucius Shepard millennium, 484pp, £5.99, 'C' format o/b Following Michael Keaton's decision to Reviewed by Robert P Jones. quit BATMAN' RETURN'S, apparently following arguments with Warner Brothers over his wish It is a truism that good books are usually for a cut of both the box office and merch harder to review than bad. Certainly, confront andise returns, female lead Rene Russo may be ed with this awesome collection of 14 substan the next casualty - at 40, she's a convenient tial tales, each of which is worth reading at two years younger than Keaton, but an least twice, and a mere 500 words in which to uncomfortable six years older than replace comment on it, I feel somewhat at a loss. ment Val Kilmer. The only safe casting seems Perhaps the most useful way to begin to be Jim Carrey's Riddler, particularly after would be to say that only about a third of the massive success of THE MASK. these pieces could really be defined as sf. The rest are, I suppose, 'dark fantasy', though Kenneth Branagh, fresh from directing surely never were genre labels more pern Robert DeNiro in the latest FRANKENSTEIN, is icious than in this case. Shepard's fiction is rumoured to be considering the role of Obi often exotic in setting, full of bizarre Wan Kenobi in George Lucas's STAR WARS: THE incident, occasionally mystical, and frequently CLONE WARS. The new three-movie sequence political. It is also quite beautifully predates the original STAR WARS, in which Sir written, with a fresh, poetic feeling for pace, Alec Guinness donned Kenobi’s Jedi robes. image, and atmosphere. This is one genre writer who really can compete as a stylist Rumoured front runners for the role in with the best of the mainstream! Steven Spielberg's planed DR WHO teleseries Part of the measure of Shepard's pilot are Jim Dale, who has the advantage of artistry is that he is able to take very familiarity on both sides of the Atlantic, and obvious horror ideas and develop them in Dave McGann, w hilst Ridley Scott and Leonard mesmerising new ways. There is nothing terr Nimoy are tipped for the d irec to r's chair. ibly original, for instance, in the long The action will open on Gallifrey, as the opening title story's basic plot. Set in maverick Timelord launches his cosmos-saving Belize, it concerns a group of demoralized career. expatriots, whose lives are taken over by a Scott, meanwhile, has teamed up with sinister ancient Mayan role-playing game. brother and fellow director Tony Scott, to buy What makes it live in the memory is the care Shepperton Studios for £20M. Recent projects with which the author establishes and plays at the site included the £25M JUDGE DREDD out the tensions between his characters. spin-off, starring Sylvester Stallone. Here and in the powerful Vietnam story, "Delta James Herbert's shaggy dog story FLUKE Sly Honey", he skillfully treads a delicate is in the pipeline, with Nancy Travis and tightrope between the rational and the super Matthew Modine heading the cast. Let's hope natural. The mysterious figures haunting the this latest Herbert project, directed by Carlo fringes of the latter tale may be ghosts, or Carlei, fares better than the misguided THE (in some ways more frighteningly) just your SURVIVOR and the hilario u sly naff THE RATS. normal gang of murderous maverick vigillantes. Director James Cameron, interviewed by But please don't let me give the EMPIRE as he winds down from Bondage on TRUE impression that Shepard's attitude towards LIES and prepares to spin another web of genre is in any way half-hearted. "Bound For deceit on SPIDERMAN: "More is more, and too Glory" is an extraordinary horrific western, much is never enough." and "Noman's Land" (in which the last century Mel Gibson is warming up for FAHRENHEIT or so of human history turns out to be the 451, another version of the Ray Bradbury dream of intelligent spiders) astonishingly novel first leased by Francois Truffaut back persuasive as it draws you into acceptance of in 1967. Also jumping the decades is MISSION: a crazy sf premise. The superb "Aymara" IMPOSSIBLE, a big-screen spin-off from the tv mixes political thriller, romance, time travel, classic (several episodes of which were and magic-realism to dizzying effect, whilst remade during the 1988 Writers Guild strike); "The Scalehunter's Beautiful Daughter" is Brian De Palma is set to direct, Tom Cruise to about the best thing I've ever read involving s tar. a dragon. rescue the Angels. They are then faced with graphs, with few words of more than two the tasks of hiding the Angels from the syllables, it is clearly designed for people government and getting them back home, but with limited attention spans. No scene is where are you going to get a rocket from in a allowed to go on for longer than a couple of society that has outlawed technology? Just pages, the characters are little more than how they go about this shows how ingenious names, and there is virtually no sustained fans can be, more I won't say but it makes description, though lots and lots of perfectly excellent and very entertaining reading. indifferent dialogue. You have to be an SF fan to understand The central figure is a rather boyish some of the references in this story and I'm psychic investigator, called Ryerson sure I even recognised some of the fans Biergarten, and one is tempted to think that, portrayed in the novel. A wonderful, having come up with his singular name, the wonderful story and one I highly recommend. author's powers of invention were quite exhausted. The plot, in which he helps the ghost of a private eye named Sam Goodlow to SHUDDER AGAIN edited by Michele Slung solve the mystery of his own murder could RoC, 379pp, £4.99, p/b hardly be less involving. When being dead Reviewed by Phil Noyes. seems so much like being alive it is hard to care about any danger our hero finds himself in. This follow up anthology delves again Not that the narrative is exactly action into the psyche and offers further snapshots packed anyway. In fact nothing much happens from the hell of love and sex. Once more, at all. A sub-plot in which various Bostonians original, reprint and archive stories are used are dragged into Wright's drearily uninterest with Arthur Conan Doyle, Harlan Ellison, Ray ing spirit world is so silly and inconsequential Bradbury and J G Ballard contributing it gets abandoned half way through. Such however this time the big names are outshone "horror" as there is would hardly disturb my by lesser known writers - David Kuchls mother, and the jokey tone soon irritates chooses a science fictional device to allow without jokes or wit to back it up. The people to revisit The First Time" and gives would-be shocking climax simply bores. an uncomfortable reminder that whilst for Of course, not everything one reads has most of us it is a pleasant or cherished to be a challenging masterpiece, but surely memory there are those who have had very popular fiction should be a little more different experiences. Nancy Collins offers demanding than this. Its competence is of one man's quest for his ideal of slimness in the lowest level, with nothing to offend, but womanhood taken to and beyond madness in nothing else much either. Unimpressive. "Aphra", and Clement Wood gives us a peep into the early married life of a couple, providing genuine horror but n o supernatural FURIOUS GULF by Gregory Ben ford element in "Honeymoon". Gollancz, 290pp, £15.99, h/b Other stories of note include Ramsey Reviewed by Dave Hardy. Campbell's "Again", illustrating a disturbing encounter between a walker and the solitary I think the first book of Greg Benford's homeowner he happens across, and the very that I read was IN THE OCEAN OF NIGHT back poignant "On the Lake of Last Wishes" by in 1978. I've read a number since, including Claudia O'Keefe in which the whole horror ACROSS THE SEA OF SUNS, in fact, he is one of content is confined to reality and illness, my favourite hard sf authors. Even so, it whilst the supernatural offers release. came as quite a surprise to come across Nigel Overall, this wasn't as strong as the Walmsley (hero of the two I mentioned) here first anthology but still makes for as a wrinkled, nude dwarf. In fact, he plays interesting reading. only a bit part, but obviously I need to catch up on the previous two books in the author's "galactic" series. GOODLOWS GHOSTS by T M Wright If there is such a thing as hard science Gollancz, 215pp, £4.99, p/b fantasy, then this must be it. A world Reviewed by Robert P Jones. composed of "timestone", in which past events can be unearthed (if that's the word)? Vast What can I say about this book? It really intelligences existing in the plasma and is as bland and forgettable as its title! magnetic fields surrounding the black hole at Written in short chapters divided into the centre of our galaxy? Science fiction even shorter sections of very short para has come a long way since Arthur C Clarke alarmed the scientific establishment by still an enjoyable escape. It concerns the writing about a solar life form in "Out of the mixing of a youth 'gang' on a run down e sta te Sun" (1959). Then Bob Forward wrote DRAGON'S and elves that have re-entered the world to EGG (1980) about life on a neutron star. It see why the forest is returning and the clash is difficult to see how anyone can take this of cultures. Rob Holdstock's story continues concept further than Benford, but who knows? his mythago work. Here in "The Charisma Dr Gregory Benford is a professor of Trees" he wittily explores the possibilities physics, and uses novels like this to try out of gene manipulation on trees and mixes this ideas which he could not possibly advance as with mysterious disappearances in Norfolk, all hypotheses in, say, NATURE. But the science done as letters and ending with an even behind the book is sound, and something stranger mystery. Wonderful stuff. extraordinary certainly is happening in the While understanding the motivation of centre of our galaxy, where long, luminous pressure groups, I sometimes despair at their strands twist in intense magnetic fields. His methods. Hence two stories in the book took human (and alien) characterisations get (for me) such a radical stance that they better, too, so if you like your sf hard, read overshadow the story in a need to prove their th is one. righteousness to their cause. Both come over as feminist stories and I suppose I'll become unpopular for saying I disliked this stance, NEW WORLDS 4 Edited By David Garnett but the approach overpowered a very good Gollancz, 223pp, £6.99, digest size magazine story in "And The Poor Get Children" by Lisa Reviewed by Tony Morton. Tuttle. The poor woman (Renate) being a downtrodden person who gets the bad end of Latest and possibly last anthology from life with no escape. The rich woman (Becky) New Worlds containing ten stories, a critique, getting all she wants but only living for an afterword and for me the highlight - the hate. Not for me. The second, "The Last introduction. Garnett, in his inimitable way Phallic Symbol" by Elizabeth Sourbut comes provokes the reader to make a stance and for over as pure hatred of men. Its g ist being my part I'm with him. By and large formula the male phallus is alien to the planet and fiction doesn't interest me, though I reserve we should all be female, A sort of the right to make exceptions. I prefer the QUA TER MASS AND THE PIT scenario feminised to short story format. It provides an excellent extinction. Why? 'taster* for this reader to catch up with Langford's critique of, er, critics unrecognised/not before read writers; each is "Inside Outside" proves entertaining as only an instant separate world in manageable Langford can - and of course, he's right on portions and an anthology such as this the button. The anthology finishes with provides comparison of writers styles and Moorcock's "The Final Word" precis the NEW approaches to storytelling in one volume. WORLDS saga and its impact within the genre. As to the stories they are diverse, have It provides a fitting ending for this phase of attitude and caused this reader to query some the anthologies and I only hope there is more writers motives. It seems clear some authors to come. have axes to grind and will use any medium to get their views across, more on this later. The political undercurrent in "Legitimate GREAT BIRDS OF THE GALAXY by Edward Gross and Mark Aitman Targets" from Ian McDonald highlights his Boxtree, 144pp, £9.99, large soft-cover story of an ex IRA informer in hiding with Reviewed by Adrian Middleton. benign aliens. The whole fitting together well but, as with the end of the cold war, Boxtree have chosen to print a British perhaps arriving too late? Still inventive edition of a semiprofessional American book and enjoyable. Kilworth's "Nerves of Steel" unsanctioned by Paramount. Worse, they have presents the problem of robots need to reproduced it wholesale, making little or no understand feelings and is well thought out effort to edit, reset or even to convert the and expertly handled. "The Fleshpots of Luna" text from American English into English by Matthew Dickens broaches the idea of English. The original publishers had an overweight people em igrating to the moon as excuse - they were fans producing a book to in the lower gravity they weigh less. It the best of their ability - but a so-called takes a marvellously wicked twist at its professional publishing house should know climax and is great fun. Peter F Hamilton better. surprised me with "Starlight Dreamer". Unlike Now, unaccustomed as I am to reading his excellent SF novels this is fantasy, but STAR TREK biographies, I found GREAT BIRDS to be • a mixed bag. I cannot te ll how many anecdotes appearing in the book have been GENERATION - Rick Berman, Maurice Hurley, seen elsewhere, so I'll judge it as I see it. Michael Piller and Jeri Taylor. Only Hurley The book is divided into eleven sections, seems to stand out in this bunch - his with space devoted to those people whom the contributions are the most clear cut because authors feel were "creators of Trek", with the the others are, perhaps, more political page count of each being representative of the creators firmly entrenched in the 1990s. size of contribution made by each person, and Speaking of politics, the book thrives related in the order of their involvement with upon the conflict that existed amongst the series. various people without being judgemental, and First up was, of course, Gene Rodden although the book focuses upon classic Trek, I berry. I learned a lot here - about the get the feeling that this is because we evolution of the series (and others) through haven’t yet heard about the fallings out that his eyes, feeling sure that I was being given must have happened in THE NEXT GENERATION the measure of the man. In a very nice and its sequels. That said, the book is bang twist, this section moves away from just STAR up to date, and does a good job of painting a TREK to things of interest to non-fans - picture of the creative battles that have probably to throw an original twist onto the been fought behind the scenes for the past Roddenberry biography. We learn of the true thirty years. origins of the motion picture script (as a never-produced story for a series called Planet Earth) and of Roddenberry's involvement HEAVY WEATHER By Bruce Sterling with a Tarzan TV series that eventually Millennium, 280pp, £15.99, h/b folded in favour of the Ron Ely version. Reviewed by Tony Morton. The one flaw - a precedent set here and followed up in subsequent sections - was the A two pronged plot line from Sterling has use of quotes. In some places typesetting young Alex Unger, a rich kid debilitated by was so poor that quotes got garbled, and the the illness caused by pollution, and his reader was left uncertain as to what attempts to become 'normal' against the Storm Roddenberry - or others - had actually said. Troupers who are a bunch of misfit techno I only noticed this because one quote was freaks that chase storms (?). Opening with used twice, in different parts of the book. Alex's 'rescue' from an (illegal) hospital in After Roddenberry the book moves on to Mexico by his sister Jane - a member of the Gene L Coon, convincing me that if Roddenberry Storm Troupers, the bulk of the story was God, Coon was Moses. This was by far the revolves around the Troupers camp and Alex’s most interesting insight into a Trek creator integration into the group. We are introduced who seems to me to have been more to the various members of the Storm Troupers responsible for the show's success than with a brief critique of each one's background Roddenberry himself. The highlight of the and problems. This all helps the reader section related to Harlan Ellison's Writer's understand the motives and reactions of the Guild Award for "City on the Edge of Forever", characters very well as the plot develops. which appears to have been rewritten by Coon, The second string of the plot itself, who was himself the only other candidate for that of the Troupers search for an F6 storm - the award! or one "off the scale" (tornado's register as Fred Freiberger comes next in an F4 or F5) shows the obsession of their leader unsatisfactory chapter leaving readers with Jerry Mulcahey. Mulcahey, a top mathematician the impression that this man was only and meteorologist, has predicted the possibility of an F6 and sets out to ’find' it, "technically" a creator of Trek, and didn't do picking up the others of the group and thus much good for the series. It is the first of forming the Storm Troupers. As can be a string of shorter pieces covering Harve expected the F6 occurs and causes chaos ( as Bennett (telling of the failure of his pet it would) but inexplicably dies out thus project Star fleet Academy), Nicholas Meyer saving the US of A from total devastation. ("the guy who saved STAR TREK ), Leonard If you detect a note of cynicism, Nimoy and William Shatner (touching upon the correct. All too often we get the "and death of Kirk in Generations). All everything turned out ok in the end" scenario. interesting, but all quite restrained, Why? Even the ill (and dying Alex) is cured. suggesting that they were never meant to be This 'typical' US optimism mystifies me - does the main focus of the book. nothing go wrong over there? Is it reaction Then we launch into an even shorter set to guilt as major contributors of pollution of chapters on the Great Birds of THE NEXT and thereby the cause of Alex's (and by inference all children's) illnesses and the field in general. The only area where things continuing deterioration in world weather? seem over compressed is in the analyses of We are all aware of the problems of specific texts, which don't get much beyond industrialisation and the pollution problems plot summary. on the environment, and an excellent and well There are a few strange inclusions and researched basis for a novel it is; the whole omissions in the concluding reading list, and scenario works well. But please no cop outs. a few minor inaccuracies in the text itself, but these do not seriously detract from the book's value. There was plenty here that I SCIENCE FICTION' IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY did not know, and what I did could hardly by Edward James have been much better presented. Opus, 250pp, £7.99, p/b Reviewed by Robert P Jones.
Even were It less good than it is, this ATTENTION REVIEWERS! excellent brief introduction to sf would be very welcome. Aldiss and Wingrove's TRILLION YEAR SPREE may o ffer more stim ulating
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