NEWSLETTER OF THE IRISH SCIENCE FICTION ASSOCIATION

ISSUE NO. 77 September 1992 ISSN 0791-3966

ELLISON SURVIVES BLOOD CLOT OP ALIEN3 - NOT SUCH A SUPER SCRIPT?

Megaquiz

ESSENTIAL READING A guide to the best books ever written page 5 So, What are You Reading at the Moment? Alien3

Supply one of those titles and The film that separatod the gain instant entry into fandom’s professional typesottors from tho inner circles. FAS tralnoos Is a brilliant departure Pago 5 from the original concept, or a shoddy piece of work. Two reviews. The rest Is up to you. Star Trek Page 12 by Simon Webster

The TV review column that's funnier Ramsey Campbell than Flann O’Brion and Mylos Na Gopallen put togothor. The second part of Brendan Pago 15 Ryder's Interview with the author of, among other things, what Stephen King called "one of the three finest horror stories I have ever read." Page 17 Plus News 3 Reelspiel 10 ISFA News 4 Videos 14 Quiz 8 Book Reviews 21 Letters 9 Drabbles 23

Please Note: We welcome unsolicited manuscripts of any kind, he (hey T he temporary address for all stories, articles, cartoons, comic st rips, or anything that correspondence, which supersedes you feel readers might be interested in. T here is no all previous addresses both here payment for contributors, but if you apprehend the editor and elsewhere is: on Grafton Street and utter the phrase "I wrote that excellent feature on Religious Symbolism in Land of the I SEA Giants" then he will buy you a sugar-free snack of your 564 River Forest choice. Ixuxllp Co Kildare. NOTE: OPINIONS EXPRESSED ARE NOT THOSE OF THE ISFA, EXCEPT WHERE STATED AS SUCH

Also please note that the illustrations for the meeting and workshop ads arc try our esteemed chairman, Paul Sheridan.

2 ISI’A Newsletter September 1992 NEWS Books. Part of the settlement was that Zebra agreed to withdraw both books from publi­ Ellison Undergoes Life-Saving cation. "Pauline Dunn" is a pseudonym used Surgery by sisters Dawn Pauline Dunn and Susan Hartzell. HARLAN ELLISON IS currently recovering from an operation to correct a 90% blockage THE PRESTIGIOUS Locus awards have of the right coronary artery. Evidence sug­ been announced... Lois McMaster Bujold’s gests that the 58-year old writer suffered a Barrayar won Best SF Novel, Sheri S. Tep­ heart attack sometime since mid-1989. Elli­ per's Beauty was awarded Best Fantasy son's doctor, upon examining him for chest Novel, and winner of Best Horror/Dark Fan­ pains, said that the clot was "about to close tasy Novel was Summer of Night, by Dan you down." Ellison immediately underwent Simmons. an angioplasty and was discharged after two and a half days. GOOD NEWS for those of you who have a pile of SF manuscripts sitting somewhere on Premiere Picks Ten Best Sf the floor behind your bookcase... In Septem­ Movies ber Asimov's and Analog will be relaun­ ched. Due to some of the idiosyncrasies of THE AMERICAN movie magazine Premiere American publishing, these will actually be the November issues. One major change is this month enlisted a jury of prominent authors and directors in the field, "and one that the "Isaac” has been dropped from the title of Asimov’s so that both mags can be captain of the Enterprise", to pick the ten stored under "A". The first issue of the relaun­ best sf movies of all time. Their top ten are, ched Asimov’s will feature tributes to Asi­ in order: 1. 2001:A Space Odyssey mov by, among others, Harlan Ellison and Frederick Pohl. 2. Metropolis 3. The Day the Earth Stood Still 4. Invasion of the Bodysnatchers FANS OF ORIGIN'S best-selling SF game Wing Commander will soon be able to 5. Blade Runner switch of their PC, push back their keyboard, 6. Star Wars put up their feet and still be able to enjoy 7. War of the Worlds Wing Commander. How? We'l, thanks to 8. Forbidden Planet 9. A Clockwork Orange Mercedes Lackey and Ellen Goun, we now have Wing Commander: Freedom Flight, 10. Alien The jury included Ray Harryhausen, John the first novel based on the classic game. Carpenter, Patrick Stewart, Martin Amis, and This isn't the first time a computer game has been translated into a novel, Infocom did it Terry Gilliam. Gilliam picked Invasion of the with most of their adventure games (Zork, Bodysnatchers "because it’s in black and white", and Metropolis "because it's in Ger­ Stationfall, Planetfall, etc.), but it would well be the first time it's been done with an man. Not one film from the last ten years made action game. the list. This might have something to do THE FIRST PROGRAMME in BBC 2's series with the age of the jurors, who have most of plays about imaginary meetings, En­ likely chosen films they saw at an impress­ counters, presented a drawing-room dis­ ionable age. cussion between George Orwell and II G Wells. What could have been a fiery argu TWO HORROR NOVELS by "Pauline Dunn" ment turned into a squelchy melodrama. have been withdrawn from publication due The writers seem so con cerned to make the to allegations that both contained sections plagiarised from Phantom by Dean R. characters sound authentically like them selves, that is, like their books, that they give Koontz. A fan alerted Koontz, who then took them nothing of any interest to say. legal action against the publishers, Zebra

September 1992 ISFA Newsletter 3 ISFA NEWS Cliclid Corner

New Committee Members This month sees the start of a new segment in which we survey the latest Two new members take up their posts this books, films, and programmes to ex­ month. They are Clare Godkin, who will be tract the hoariest, most dirt-encrusted, meeting and workshop co-ordinator, and most overdone old clichds, those Padraig O’ Mealoid, Public Relations Of­ barmy, bottom-of-the-slush-pile ficer. twists that we can hardly believe are still being foisted on us discriminating Short Film Festival at the punters. October Meeting Choc-a-bloc with chestnuts was Alien3. To name two, we had: The title of the October meeting is Visual Eyes, and it will be a selection of short A big explosion which sends stunt- award-winning videos (and one film) with sf ment flying towards the camera; themes. The Company, a big faceless con­ The shorts include Nightmare, written and glomerate (does its lack of a name directed by the star of Willow, Warrick Davis; mean that there is only one company MAN (Matrix Adjusted Normal), the Fuji In the future? What happened.to Award Winner in 1992, directed by Connor Bob's Gaskets? What happened to O'Mahony; Dominion, an animated short by Domino's Pizza?) which "wants the Kevin Hand of the Dublin Filmakers' Club; creature for its weapons division". The Thing From Beneath the Bed; and The Why didn’t they use Sigourney Shape. Weaver in this bloody weapons divi­ Special guests will be Kevin Hand, who is sion instead (seeing as she made a also from Don Bluth Entertainment, and career of kicking alien bottom)? Connor O'Mahony. If you spot any similar offences in cur­ Artists and Writers Workshop rent sf/horror, please send them to the address on page 2, with the name of The next workshop on Tuesday 15 Septem­ the perpe trator and the location of the ber will feature artwork for three stories se­ incident. The sender of the best clich6 lected by the writers at the previous will win an excellent, totally non-senilo meeting. Also, storyboards for the Alien Len­ prize. scapo slide-comic. All are welcome, including those who can neither write (stories) nor draw (a straight or crooked line), and indeed photographers frey, Peter Morwood, Geoff Ryman, Michael and modelmakers as well. Scott, James White. "Green" theme, and a Tolkien celebration. Progress report 1 now available to members Conventions only. Membership etc. available from: 03 03 - Octocon '92, 16-18 October, the Royal 30 Beverly Downs Dublin Hotel, Dun Laoghaire, Dublin. Knocklyon Road Guest of Honour Orson Scott Card. Templeogue Prices: Attending £13, at the door £17 Dublin 16. Children: £6, or £8 at the door. Telephone 934712. Other confirmed guests: Gill Aiderman, Gra­ Please note anyone wishing to help out on ham Andrews, Catherine Brophy, Diane the organisation of the con ring the number Duane, Martin Duffy, Nicholas Emmett, Ka­ above anytime - it's a big jobl therine Kurtz, Scott McMillan, Anne McCaf-

4 ISFA Newsletter September 1992 So, what are You reading at the moment? A practical guide to books that will thrill, startle, amuse, and perhaps even convert the average reader who likes Arnie, sure, but, you know, spaceships and dragons all that? ;

News asked three members of the ISFA ED - who have also contributed fiction and articles to several of its publications - to The Conglomeroid Cocktail Party choose about ten books each that would make their all-time greatest list. Robert Silverberg The contributors’ initials stand for: Edi­ tor (Michael Cullen), Robert Elliott, and Among other treats, "The Far Side of the Anne-Marie Nugent. Bell-Shaped Curve", in which Silverberg takes the mechanics of time travel as a given, and constructs a tense, humanistic tale of two men competing to win a woman The Brentford Triangle by going further and further back in time to Robert Rankin ensure the other doesn't meet her. Part of the "read them in any order" Brent­ ED ford trilogy, this is an hilarious tale of darts, black magic, alien invasions and strange The Dead Zone inventions. The funniest book ever written, Stephen King bar none. RE One of the few books I've read twice, and I enjoyed it even more the second time. And Brothers in Arms every time I see the film it makes me want to Lois McMaster Bujold read the book again. I gasped, cried, laughed. It may wear off one day, but I really I shouldn't really mention two books in the love it. Blub! same series, but Brothers in Arms, though ED not primarily intended to be a humorous book, is a great laugh in places. It continues The Door into Fire the adventures of Miles Vorkosigan, and in­ Diane Duane cludes his attempts to prove that he didn't murder himself. Can’t be recommended too This is about a man trying to achieve his full highly. magical powers, and trying to help his friend RE achieve his kingly inheritance. It is set in a slightly unusual world. Their culture is totally Buy Jupiter bisexual, but Duane does not overdo or Isaac Asimov underdo this point. In the end what strikes you most is the story. I can look back now and scoff, but when I AMN was 17, this collection and The Bicentennial Man represented the summit of sfs achieve­ Downward to the Earth ment. Preachy, juvenile, but I know of no Robert Silverberg other writer except King who has a better grasp of the language, and the needs of the A compelling story of a man on a journey to reader. The introductions remain fascinat­ find out who he was - and who he is now. ing. He has returned to a planet where he was

September 1992 ISFA Newsletter 5 once in authority. Now the beings who live ture just as much as the epic story of Middle- there are in charge. Their roles are reversed, Earth. and there are truths he must learn. AMN AMN ------The Movement of Mountains Face j of Fear Michael Blumlein Doug as E Winter -A-bit-ef a weird bookr thisF that has been Probing, informative interviews with 3aiker, virtual;y ignored over the years, probably Campbell, King, Blatty, and 14 more,. This is becau ;e of its really crap cover. For strange excellent, so why was it on sale, newi, at my but excellent science fiction, you need look local book kennel for 99p? Reple e with no farther. facts: did you know that the author iof The RE Exorcist wrote film comedies with Blake Edwards? Or that Peter Straub v ent to The People Collection UCD? ED Zenna Henderson

This volume includes all the stories of the Guardians of Time The People. These aliens who resemble us Poul Anderson have come peacefully to seek refuge on Earth. They try not to interfere with us but These four stories are about a man called canno bring themselves to ignore people in Mans Everard: he is one of the mon and trouble. It is a warm happy book, that cheers women who patrol time. Frequent! /, they you up. must intervene in an "incident". The stories AMN are not so much about what happ> ?ns as about Everard’s reactions to what hai opens. Polar City Blues He is an honourable hero. AMN Katherine Kerr

Hounds of the Morrigan I was wary of this book, thinking it would be deep ind down-hearted. I was pleasantly Pal O’Shea surprif ed. Polar City is alive and full of inter­ esting characters.< A psychic called Mulligan A young brother and sister get involv ‘d with is askfid to help solve a series of crimes. He a fearsome Celtic goddess, the Mor­ and hii 5 friends are soon deep in events that rigan.This funny children’s book has a lot of have far-reaching reuslts. accurate mythology included. I enjoyed the AMN way that the gods and goddesses adjusted to the modern times - for example, he evil Something Wicked This Way goddess travelled on a Harley Davids an mo- torbikel Comes AMN Ray Elradbury

Lord of the Rings The fu ifair that comes to a small American town f romlses people their hearts' desires. J R R Tolkien -"Will Hathaway and his frlend JIm see a more sinister side. One by one unfulfilled people What I love about this book is its immense form the town are lured and captured With scope, And yet the details are so carefully Will's father the two boys fight to save i hem- taken |are of. The small gentle hobbit who __selves and the other townspeople. saves he world Is someone with whom we AMN can easily empathise. We follow his adven- Spock’s World

6 ISFA Newsletter September 1992 Diane Duane vices: the drawing-room discussion, the switch from third to first person narrative, the Duane has managed to combine this story present-future romance (see The.Terrnlna- with afr;scinating look at the planet Vulcan’s tor). And it’s exciting, to boot. past. Ti iere is a referendum held to decide ED if Vulcai will stay in the Federation, and Kirk, Spock and McCoy are asked to join in The Uplift War the debate. The flashbacks explain the ref­ David Brin erendum, and a lot about Vulcans. AMN The third book in Brin's Uplift serie:s (you don't have to read the rest, but evsryone Star S mashers of the Galaxy should), The Uplift War concerns a g oup of Rangers chimps "uplifted" to sentience by humanity, Harry Harrison and their involvement in galactic soc ety. "A bleeding great book" - Robert Elliott If you'\ e ever read EE Smith's Skylark series, you’ll know the true definition of The Warrior’s Apprentice camp !;pace opera. If you've read Star Lois McMaster Bujold Smash' srs you'll know the ultimate example of parody thereon. One of my favourite authors, and very few RE people have heard of her. This is her first book starring Miles Vorkosigan, ar

The T me Machine Combines my favourite topics in a r on-fic­ tion book: horror, movies, and bioc raphy.i HG Wells Full of anecdotes about extras, cens:brs, re- views, financing the movies, plus asiides on Althougjli Twain’s Connecticut Yankee had Stephen King, make-up artist Tom Sr vini,i et visited

Scptember 1992 I SEA Newsletter 7 QUIZ PART TWO Here are the answers to last month's questions: This month the topic is authors and

books. 1. Morphing was first used In Ron Howard’s Willow, starring Vai Kilmer. 2. The film was Child's Play 2. "Jack”, or James Spader as a latter-day Jack the 1. What sf author said about Ireland "The Ripper, came back around the same time as Chucky. 3. "We're back!" comes from Gremlins. The Church was deplorable. The weather was first one, not the sequel. 4. "Here's Johnnyl" 5. The dreadful. The poverty was inadmissible. I Great God Porno appeared In Flesh Gordon. 6. would have none of it"? Across lhe Blh Dimension. 7. Freddy Krueger. 8. Terminator 11. 9. Krull. 10. The "totally lethal alien" came from Dark Angel, also known as "I Come In 2. What is unusual about the book Under Peace". 11. Nighlflyets. 12. Edward Sclssorhands. Heaven’s Bridge, a col laboration between 13. Bill and Ted, or Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter. 14. Darkness. Neeson was a Darkman, Dolph Ian Watson and Michael Bishop? fought a Dark Angel, and Bannon drove Dark Star. 15. If the rumours are Io be believed, Robin Williams 3. Which author has published books of will be the Rlddler. 16. Annette Benlng, but she was having kittens. 17. 18. The Revenge of Billy the Kid. poetry including Hard Words and Other Aeughl 19. Phil Collins. 20. Any of the films based Poems, and In the Red Zone? on The Man from UNCLE.

4. What Is the connection between Hein­ lein's story "All You Zombies..", Bob Shaw's Who Goes Here?, and Michael Moorcock's Behold the Man? 9. What did James Joyce contn'bute to nu­ clear physics? 5. What happens if you find the Nine Billion Names of God? 10. In what year was The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy first published? 6. Where was Roald Dahl born? 11. What is James Hogan's middle name? 7. What French fantasy author lived from 1619 to 1655? 12. What event on October 30, 1938 took an sf story into headlines around the world? 8. Most of the comments by Stephen King which appear on various paperbacks come Next month: Pure Fantasy from which book?

We Welcome Everyone PHOTOGRAPHERS THE ARTISTS AND VIDEO ENTHUSIASTS WRITERS COMPUTER BUFFS WORKSHOP ANIMATORS MODEL-MAKERS NOT JUST FOR SFX MAKE-UP FREAKS ARTISTS AND COSTUME DESIGNERS WRITERS. WE WANT SCULPTORS TO HEAR FROM: CALLIGRAPHERS

Next meeting: Tuesday 15 September at 8pm. The Vintage, Camden Street

8 LSFA Newsletter September 1992 LETTERS fiist issue and people buy it for one of two reasons - a) to see what it's iike, or b) because it's by Rob Liefield, who is much overrated in Dianetics Flyer my humble opinion. And printing one of the stories upside down doesn’t mean that Dear Editor Image have no faith in their readers' intel­ Lest it go unremarked, I would like to draw to ligence; it means 'hey wouldn’t this be a the attention of your readers something that good idea' from the marketing division. came through my letterbox the other day: a The letters page, and particularly Mr Fergu­ flyer claiming that "We use only 10% of our son's glowing report on the Trincon commit­ mental potential". tee, raised a smile. Can this be the same Yes, those sad people in Middle Abbey Street committee who brought their entire library to are still trying to flog Dianetics the book (at signings, pissing off the people with only one £6 a throw) by pretending to be psychother­ book who had to wait? apists. Even if they use the full 10 per cent, I Or how about the comics talk, where the doubt that they see the irony in (mis)quoting moron chairing the panel took to abusing Albert Einstein, a man who fought his whole members of the audience? I'm not getting at life against pseudoscience, from the the whole committee, some of whom did a eugenics of the Nazis onwards. great job, but at least three of them were I quote from the leaflet: obnoxious in the extreme. "The world famous physicist Albert Einstein There were organisational problems, but this made a startling statement, "we use only 10% is inevitable when none of the committee had of our mental potential", however he could any experience in this sort of thing, and not prove this or tell how we could improve kudos to them for running it. However, being [sic ad nauseam]." on the committee does not automatically put Dianetics may expand your brain but it one on a level higher than people who pay seems to do nothing for your English. money to attend. This is something some of I would trust that sf fans, apart from knowing the Trincon people obviously had trouble that Hubbard was a mediocre writer who was understanding. disowned for his charlatan schemes by his Yet again, we have complaints about Star editor John W Campbell, would be sensible Trek. I recognise the type; he can’t go a whole enough to stay clear of this garbage, which page without mentioning that he doesn't makes the appliances sold on late-night tele­ watch Star Trek. vision look positively useful. And I trust that Gosh, thanks Tommy. If he doesn't like Trek, they would warn their friends about it too. fine; Mr Ferguson and his ilk seem to go If Albert Einstein was alive, he could sue. But beyond dislike, however. The feel it is their he isn't. Then again, neither Is L Ron Hub­ moral duty to point out that only idiots watch bard, which means that we can say pretty it. much what we like about the power-crazed, By denigrating the programme to this extent moneygrabbing old fart. [Surely “talented, Mr Ferguson is proving himself to be just as generous old humanitarian"? - ed] ridiculous as the people who go to such hideous lengths to show their devotion to the Eugene Duffy program. Listen, everybody, Star Trek is a Stillorgan television program, and a few films. That's all. Some episodes are good (some are ex­ Dear Michael, cellent), some are bad, but most are average. It's worthy of neither apotheosis nor outright Regarding the August newsletter - very inter­ condemnation. As for there being too much esting. I really enjoyed the Twilight Zone ar­ ST in the newsletter; that's crap, and just a ticle, even the "Sixteen things you didn’t result of Mr Ferguson's anti-Trek paranoia. know" of which I already knew, erm, sixteen. Given the level of support Trek has, there's Ah well; there’s always one. An entertaining actually an argument for more, rather than article nonetheless. less. I personally wouldn't be in favour of this, I get worried when I find myself agreeing with but if that’s what people want, that's what Mark Bagnall, but for the first time we seem they should get. to agree on something. His reviews seem to Yours be getting better as well; a lot better than previous T didn’t like it so it must be awful' Robert D. Elliott offerings. However, there’s no reason to go 23 Rushbrook Court, Templeogue, abusing people who buy Youngblood 'be­ cause they think It's a good comic' - it’s the Dublin 6W

September 1992 IS FA Newsletter 9 merit. The choice of that top 10 I’ll leave to yourselves.

Fresh from the success of Patriot Games, it seems that Harrison Ford has signed one of Box-office verdict on the the most lucrative contracts ever given to an Summer movies actor. The deal signs him to a further three sequels, as the character Jack Ryan from Harrison Ford in Patriot Games Tom Clancy's books, and is worth an esti­ sequel mated $50m. Producer Mace Neufeld, who holds exclusive first option on all Clancy’s The long wait for movies to books wants to turn the Ryan character into cross the pond a Bond for the 90s, as well as opening up a goldmine of a franchise for himself. Ford will reprise the role next in Clear and Present Now that we’re into September the Great Danger. Summer Blockbuster War can be officially The upcoming selection of movies due for declared over. There were a few surprises in release here in September will include most the performance of tho top contenders, but of those from the above top 10 as European for the record here's the Summer’s Top 10 dates are pushed further and further behind in terms of US domestic box office gross those of the States. For a film like Robert (figures as of August 20th) Zemeckis’ Death Becomes Her, we'll have to wait until December. Personally I’m get­ 1. Batman Returns (Warner Bros) $155m ting fed up with having to wait months or 2. Lethal Weapon 3 (Warner Bros) $138m even a year (eg Beauty and the Beast) to 3. Sister Act (Buena Vista) $117m get to see the films I want to see. What do 4. A League of Their Own you think? (Columbia) $82m Meanwhile in Hollywood production con­ 5. Patriot Games (Paramount) $79m tinues apace. Teriy Gilliam has now parted . 6. Boomerang (Paramount) $62m company with Richard LaGravanesse (who 7. Beethoven (Universal) $55.5m wrote The Fisher King). The two had been 8. Far and Away (Universal) $55.2m working on a film called The Defective De­ 9. Alien3 (20th Century Fox) tective but Gilliam has now signed to direct $54.9m his own version of A Connecticut Yankee In 10. Housesitter (Universal) $53m King Arthur's Court. Shooting is due to start later this year. Interesting to note that two films made in this Originally due to start next month, Spiel­ country also performed quite admirably berg’s Jurassic Park has been put on short over the summer in the States. The Play­ term hold due to his inability to find a suit­ boys took a very impressive $3.5m, convinc­ able leading actor. Laura Dern and Richard ing The Samuel Goldwyn Company to Attenborough have, however, .signed bankroll the sequel Tara Goes to America. aboard. ILM have been working on the ef­ Shane Connaughton is already working on fects for the movie for almost a year now. the script. And Don Bluth Entertainment’s Rock-A- Doodle took almost $12m, making it the most successful of the independent ani­ The Muppets are back this Christmas in a mated fea lures. Let’s hope their next film A film called The Muppets’ Christmas Carol. Troll in Central Park will see them out of This version has Michael Caine as Scrooge their financial difficulties. and Gonzo as Charles Dickens. It has been Of course the above list gauges success in co-produced with Disney, the apparent diffi­ purely financial terms and not by artistic culties between Henson and Walt finally sorted [death becomes them - edj. Mean-

10 ISFA Newsletter September 1992 while principal animation on Disney’s Alad­ din is now completed and the film is due for release Stateside on December 14. In the strange world of casting, Daniel Day- Lewis and Julia Roberts star in Shakes­ In the business world, after almost bankrupt­ peare in Love, a rather unusual take on the ing Carolco with the cost of T2, James Cameron has abandoned the studio and with his own company Lightstorm Entertain­ Warning: Reelspiel is about to givo ment lias put together the most lucrative away a widely-known secret about No­ deal ever achieved by an independent pro­ vember Film Festival. If you wish to re­ duction company. Signing a 12-slate, main ignorant of the nature of the $200m deal with 20th Century Fox, Came­ Mystery Movie, skip the postscript. ron gave them US distribution rights only, and then travelled to the European and Asian markets to work specific deals with life of the Great Bard. Also in production at distributors there. For the rights to the films the moment is Super Mario Bros The they will also have to contribute some Movie, with Bob Hoskins. How they are money toward the negative cost, and allow going to make a film out of that I don’t know. Cameron a percentage gain on any busi­ Meanwhile one of Hoskins’ earlier turns, that ness the film will do. of Smee in Hook, will be available to buy By the terms of the deal Cameron must write from December 2, as Tri-Star have decided and direct at least four of the films. The first to go straight to sell-thru. is expected to be his planned remake of the Although unconfirmed at this stage it is French film La Totale, with Arnold Schwar­ thought that Batman Returns will follow the zenegger, while next year should see him same route around the same time. Now you tackling Spiderman. know what to get me for Christmas. Till next time. Meanwhile Carolco are in debt up to their ears, unaided by the fact that Universal Soldier has performed below expectations. They have had to take a further bank loan to PS keep Cliffhanger in production. The Stal­ The Mystery Movie scheduled for November ns part of the Furstenberg Film Festival In the Savoy Is almost lone film is being directed by Renny Harlin definitely going Io be the director's cut of Blade nunner. and is already $15m over budget. However, don't book your seats just yet ns II seems that Ridley wants to lake the prints back In for further aller- allons. In the meantime, wo can see what the grant man has been up to In October with the release of 1492, his version of the Columbus story, featuring Gerard Depar­ Kristy Swanson and Luke Perry are garner­ dieu. Of course he could bo In trouble as also opening that month Is Carry On Columbus, the most likely Oscar ing quite good reviews for the rather offbeat contender In years. Buffy, the Vampire Slayer, Although not setting the box office alight, the film does seem to be above average fare. Steven Seagal, the actor who gives a whole new definition to the word "wooden" ["what does ’definition’ mean?" - Steven Seagal], will be pitted against arch-villain CoIm Meaney, from ST-TNG, in the upcoming Under Siege. The film is based on a script originally titled Die Hard 3 - Dreadnought. And speaking of enterprising young actors, Patrick Stewart has signed to play Daddy Warbucks in the non-musical sequel to Reelspiel By Des Doyle Annie, titled Annie and the Castle of Ter­ ror. You think I'm joking, don't you?

September 1992 IS FA Newsletter 11 Wha* Wen* Wrong7

The third instalment in the Alien series could have been, and should have been, a blockbuster. It inherited one of the great movie monsters from the first film, and a reputation for action and authenticity from the second. It turns out, though, that the makers have opted this time round for

a crate-load of second-hand ideas, a direc­ $50 million. From what I can see on the tor who seems to have thought he was mak­ screen, Fox has been sold a lemon. ing a subliminal action movie, and a single, I don't know how much of the money went stupefyingly-repetitive alien which it's em­ on special effects, but whatever it was, I barrassingly obvious is a man in a rubber hope they kept the receipt. The special ef­ suit. fects, apart from the aforementioned rubber Not that I had any high expectations, of suit, consist largely of: course. Enough reviewers before me have blood dripping from the roof every 10 used words like "boring", "amateurish", and minutes or so; "murkily directed through what looks like a a shot of two suns in the sky which they bowl of oxtail soup". One member of the could have saved money on by using stock film’s special effects crew is quoted in Em­ from Star Wars; pire as saying it was "a very silly movie to a dog covered in Golden Syrup; work on". a model of a spaceship which is probably But if a film contains the word Alien, and has larger in real life than it looks on the screen; Sigouney Weaver in it, then you at least a scene where some "soldiers" in Battlestar expect something along the lines of the last Galactica-style costumes "arrive" on the two. “windswept planet", which is so obviously Wnat you get is more like the third Jaws done on a small soundstage that you expect movie, or the third Friday the 13th. to see a kid with an autograph book hover­ It defies understanding that this movie had ing about in the background; eight writers - unless what happened was and a lot of "gory" death scenes which may that William Gibson’s first draft of the script or may not be exciting, I'll have to wait until was edited down successively by seven it comes out on video so I can freeze the two people, until all that was left was a trailer, or three frames that each shot lasts (but then which then had to be padded out. if I had some really cheesy make-up and How many writers did it take to come up with models I wouldn’t let the camera linger on the comment when the prisoners in the can­ them either). teen realise they're all in danger: "We’re Perhaps for the fourth instalment they’ll fuckedl"? come to me -1 already have a scene in mind I don’t mean someone says that as an aside, where the alien has been killing at random, or in the background. That, believe it or not, and after a brief discussion of how desper­ is the scene’s punchline. Are these fil- ate the situation is, the main character turns makers serious? to the camera and exclaims "Cor blimey, if It's also reported that the budget, after three we ain’t in a right stewll" years of chopping and dropping, was about

Fifty million dollars? From what I can see on the screen, Fox has been sold a lemon

12 ISFA Newsletter September 1992 very near it. (Josh, that was lucky! Ripley is rescued by the prisoners, and all looks peaceful for a while, but a dog is Directed by Ken I filer attacked by the second face-lmgger, and , of Starring Sigourney Weaver, Charles Dance, course, a new alien is on the way. Lance I Icnrickson. Ripley refuses to tell her story, shaves her head because the prison is overrun with So... Hie long-awaited third instalment headlice (odd that... How can the headlice in the Alien series finally reaches our screens. survive if everybody shaves their head?) and And is it worth it? Well, we get to see the sleeps with Charles Dance. newest generation of aliens, we find out a lot So pretty soon the alien is up and about more about “TheCompany” and what they're and killing people, more along the lines of the really up to, we get a lol more special effects first Alien movie than the second. Ripley and we get to see Sigourney Weaver bald. attempts to organise a hunt for the creature, 1 he movie opens an untold stretch of time but is informed that the prison doesn't have alter Aliens. The military ship Sulaco carries any weapons... That's forgivable (just about), the four survivors from Acheron... And more. but 1 couldn't believe that the escape crall Somehow, the Alien Queen from the end of from the Sulaco was unarmed. the last movie has managed to lay a couple of Then suddenly, etc. You can probably eggs on board the Sulaco (even though she guess most of the rest of the plot from here. seemed to leave her egg-laying equipment on Reports over the past year have informed us the planet and we watched the queen from the that the original ending of this movie was time she emerged from (he Dropship until she scrapped and reshot... You can see the join was blown out into space). These eggs, as is quite clearly. traditional, contain thecral>likcface-huggers, which - during the opening credits of this new Oddly enough, I enjoyed Alien3. It doesn't movie - promptly attempt to gel al the human lit in with the continuity of the previous survivors currently in stasis chambers. stories as well as I'd have liked, and there are One of these face-buggers inexplicably holes in the plot big enough for a whole cuts itself on the glass of a stasis chamber, platoon of aliens to hide in, but it was good and a spurt of its acidic blood splatters on to fun. 1 didn't have any particular expectations the floor, burning through it as easily as tipp- on the way in, so it was a pleasant surprise to ex thinning fluid through a sheet of polysty­ find that the film was fairly well acted, more- rene which it strangely resembles. or-less packed with special effects, only mar­ A lire ensues, with which the Sulaco ginally silly and - in my opinion - a worlhyish defence mechanisms are mysteriously inca­ successor lo the first two movies. pable of dealing, and threatens the safely of Strangely, it seems that more SF fans are the ship. So the stasis chambers are ejected disappointed with Alien3 than were disap­ into a sori ofescape crall, and sent lo a nearby pointed with the abysmal Predator 2... Per­ planet, by which the Sulaco luckily happens haps this is because Alien and Aliens were to be passing. such good films to begin with. Personally, 1 Ripley is the only survivor... Which is a was most disppoinled that the movie totally shame because I thought that I licks was by far invalidates comic publisher Dark Horse's con­ the best character in the last movie. tinuation of the story. It turns out that this planet has a mining Well, we're told that an "Aliens versus facility run by a group of twenty-live or so Predator" movie is in preparation. Oh dear. male prisoners, and the escape crall lands U\ tclvoel C—avroll

September 1992 1SFA Newsletter 13 VIDEO REVIEWS soul has had his heart ripped out by a fiend who dwells in one of the houses in the village of Salem. Those who leave the house alive do so In a slate of total insanity. The scene switches to present-day Salem, PALE BLOOD where the house still stands. Sitting under a Starring George Chaklrls, Wings tree near the house, Randolph Carter, a Hauser young horror author, relates the spineting­ ling history of the house to his friends. Natu­ "Gripping supernatural thriller" is what it rally, like the average American teen ager, says on the video case. I find it very difficult they decide that the house would be a great to believe that they were refer ring to Pale place to spend the night. Blood with a comment like that. This is a This is one of those films which has a video badly-made film, with a poor script, even case that you cannot ignore - and then you poorer acting, and some extremely awful wish you had. There is a fabulous photo of camera work. In fact, this is the worst vam­ the Unnameable on the back cover, and the pire movie I've seen since Near Darkl overall image is one of horror at Its best. The story such as it is has a vampire search­ Don't be fooled. The story is excellent, the ing for others of his kind. The plot is padded effects aie stomach-churning. Unfortu­ out with numerous radio traffic and weather nately, most of the time it’s too dark to see reports, and even an ad for their own filml anything, and I even found myself dozing off at times, simply because there was nothing As far as I'm concerned, the best acting is to be found In the clip of Nosferatu which happening. And as soon as the action appears in the film. Come to think of it, the picked up, it was time for the closing creditsl clip has better dialogue too. Lovecraft fans will hate it, and I’m sure the author himself is turning in his grave. THE UNNAMEABLE THERESA O'CONNOR Starring Charles King All videos kindly supplied by The movie begins with the 17th-century Bos­ Videotown, Leixlip. ton minister, Cotton Math'er, writing an ac­ count of the incident in which some poor

The October meeting is titled Visual Eyes, and it will be a selection of short award-winning videos (and one film) with sf themes. The shorts include Nightmare, writ­ ten and directed by the.star of Willow, Warrick Davis; MAN (Matrix Ad­ justed Normal), the Fuji Award Win­ ner in 1992, directed by Connor O'Mahony; Dominion, an animated short by Kevin Hand of the Dublin Filmakers' Club. Special guests will be Kevin Hand, who is also from Don Bluth Entertain­ ment, and Connor O’Mahony. Tuesday, 6 October, 8pm, at the Horse and Tram, Eden Quay. —

14 ISFA Newsletter September 1992 "Ireland is like a second home to me. My first is more the size of France.'1 William Shatner, Dublin, after a few pints (he didn't get them, though) "Star Trek’s Not Just Science Fiction, It’s History" A Retroview of Star Trek’s "The Cage"

MARQUIS DE SADE. Born 1740, a French soldier who was imprisoned for sexual offences and eventually committed to an asylum. His novels and plays are abhorred by many, concerned as they are with various explicit intimate practices. The very one after whom Sadism is named. Such a surprise it was, then, that Sade should release "Smooth Operator" upon an unsuspecting public, making it known there and then that he should be locked up with the key and thrown away. An evil, evil song which reveals a secret Satanic message when played forwards. It was with such thoughts that I believed Wednesday 16th was going to be like any other Swiss Bank holiday. My coat fully, I realised my error before it was too was on and was about to accompany me to late, and went shopping. Crazy Prices, when I felt a shudden sudder It was as I was congratulating my tiptop down my spine, and a cold shiver in my timing, and contemplating an investment in fridge. I thought I could hear a banshee, and, a tin of peas, that my mind drifted to for some eerie rea­ memories of when son - don't ask me I saw "The Cage" why - I sponta­ for the first (and neously decided to fourth) time on Sky check what was on One. Gee, life was the telly. sure innocent in Lucky I did! Because those days. Back it was only then that I them you could noticed the Trek epic say to a bartender "The Cage". Nov/ this "I don't want a episode, if a few frothy head" with­ Treksters don’t out so much as a know, they'll pretend broken jaw, and to, is the Pilot’s Pilot still have change (a bit like Biggies but from a five-pound without the drama), pint. The days and it was going to when TNG was be shown in three minutest Wow, I thought, only almost shite. Still, that's progress. But, it’s going to be heavily ediled, then. Thank­ is progress always progressive?

Still, that’s progress. But is progress always progressive?

September 1992 ISFA Newsletter 15 A man, nay an actor, who said himself when I saw him at the shops, "I look less like me now than Jeff Hunter did then."

Call mo Simon, but In the days before pro­ roll of a nearby fisherman who was having gress, special effects had a clearly defined his lunch. je ne sals quol. And it's this precise bofl that Leonard Nimoy, on the other ear, has often rivals the effects in any bloody Dune or Alien visited Ireland, I am reliably making up, but X Allen X Allen. In a sentence, the "talking sadly he Is no longer with us. Into the foldaway make-up mirror" had style, As applicable*, "The Cage" came at a good It had glitz. It gave Kirk a certain sexual time for him. He had a difficult childhood ambiguity Sade could only write about. that started in 1931 and ended in 1943, But effects are not the be-all and bradawl of starting up again briefly in 1945. With failing everything, you knowl Acting should nearly eyesight, his mother would frequently con­ always be considered sometimes too. And fuse him with the linen. "Wow, muml" Boy what is a gardener without a decent plot? Nimoy would often cry, "What's the point of Take 2010 as a case In point. See? Now, flax? I'm really flummoxed!" there’s a film with great special effects, But the trouble was only started when she superb acting and a gripping story. confused him with the linen so much, she But, it's rubbish. hung him on the line to dry, and took the It doesn’t work because it's too good. Art bedsheets to school. So it was with large imitates Life, but if it becomes Life It's just stretched ears and little education that Life and by definition cannot be Art any­ Young Man Nimoy began the only career more. Ipso Facto, Warp Facto Ipso. suitable for him. Nevadaless, William Shatner's ability as an Soon discovering that there was no money actor goes unques tioned. His proficiency as in attempting to fly unaided, he decided to a palindrome goes unnoticed, and his en­ try acting instead. Actually, this Isn't true. dowments as an East European erotic There's only no money in flying by ear, if you dancer goes unpaid. But it's only in "The fail. Cage” that we can see Shatner’s profes­ At acting, "The Cage" was about his fourth sional off-screen presence. attempt. But, hold that against him, don't William Shatner: a man so dedicated to Lo­ you dare. Success he real a was. ganberry's creations, that he played Kirk in I'm sure the energy he no doubt wanted to all his own non-Trek roles. A man, nay an inject into this apex of his celluloid career actor, who said himself when I met him at didn't go unchequed. However, this month's the shops: "I look less like me now than Jeff Golden Star for Flexibility goes to Nurse Hunter did then." Chappell who played a very convincing Yet during the making of "The Cage", it Number One (pre-beard). seems Rene Goddenberry closed the Boy! I’m really looking forward to-next Wed­ wooden door of Hollywood and wouldn’t let nesday. I forgot the peas. Shatner join in. There's gratitude! Seventy- nine episodes of Star Trek (count Ing "The SIMON WEBSTER Menagerie" as two episodes) and nearly as many spinoff films, and Dingleberry raised the back of his cassock and, almost appro­ Star Trek, BBC 2, Wednesdays, 6pm priately, mooned. Tragically, if not chrono­ logically, correct. Despairingly, if not actually, true. Still, Shatner kept his head, donned a wig and a false nose (that was to hold him in good stead for the circus years to come * Delete as applicable [which haven't come yet]), and landed the

16 ISFA Newsletter September 1992 Ramsey Campbe An interview by Brendan Ryder

(continued from last month) BR: We'd better fast-forward a bit. Perhaps BR: You mentioned that Lovecraft was an you could give us a rundown of your books. influence on you - When did you first get published?

RC: Very profoundly.... RC: I first got published - I'll tell you how I got published. Fourteen years old, I dis­ BR: - and the early 'Weird Tales'. covered Lovecraft in a big way. I'd already been reading Lovecraft in anthologies and I RC: 'Weird tales'. Now, this is the other big knew I liked this stuff: I’d read 'The Dunwich anecdote of my childhood! No more than six Horror' and 'The Rats in the Walls’ in Great years old, I was walking along one day with Tales of Terror and the Supernatural, a my mother and I saw an issue of 'Weird huge and still very good anthology you can Tales' in a - it wasn't even a bookshop - it still find. I knew I wanted to read more of this was a newsagent's window. This would have guy but you just couldn't find them. All of a been '52, '53, no later - and I remember sudden one day in another newsagent I saw seeing this, reading the logo and looking at a copy of a complete Lovecraft book, Cry the cover and thinking "I want this". What the Horror - it was actually a collection that Don cover appeared to depict was a black desert Wollheim had done in America for Avon - with a bird-like creature in the foreground and it was half-a-crown. I remember actually looking extremely frightened and in the rushing two miles off home because I hadn't background two ...things... which appeared got half-a-crown, and borrowed half-a- to have very large skulls for heads and not crown and come shooting back to this news­ much in the way of bodies, which were agent, quite convinced that someone else somehow managing to make their way to­ would have got there first and I would have wards our unlucky bird at the front of the never seen it again. I bought it, and having image. I said "Mummy, I’ve got to have this, bought it I knew perfectly well that I couldn’t buy me my 'Weird Tales'" and at six years stand going to school and thinking 'This is old, your mother says "Go and buy the at home'. The next day I actually said "I feel Beano", so I didn't get it. It hung around for bad, I feel bad", and I took years so when I had enough the day off school and I pocket money to spend on spent the entire day read­ I knew I wanted to remaindered magazines I ing this Lovecraft book. bought every 'Weird Tales' read more of this guy Having done that I was I could get my hands on. but you just couldn’t completely immersed in And that was the start of my Lovecraft and at fourteen I find them collecting. So from 'Weird thought that he was not tales I graduated to buying only the greatest horror Arkham House books when writer I had ever read, he they were being still published. Still, in a way was the greatest writer I'd ever read. I don't all this was a kind of quest for this one issue think so now, though I admire him greatly - which was still in my mind - ten years later I I still re-read him a lot. I thought, I want to do found a copy. What the cover actually shows this too, I want to see if I can't use some of - it was a November '52 issue - is some these ideas and give myself some of the bones and a vulture perched on a heap of pleasure I got from reading him, by writing bones in the foreground and a couple of something similar. skeletons in the background, and that's itl

September 1992 1SFA Newsletter 17 I'd been writing short stories already for put-down he said 'This book clearly needs a years but they were just patched together lot of work, but if you’re prepared to do it, from everything around, absolutely at ran­ Arkham House might be prepared to publish dom. Here was somebody who actually it’. At fourteen years old, that's about as gave me a focus and something very spe­ good as you getl So I did indeed do a whole cific - there was a style to model yourself on, lot of that work, and I basically went and there was a vision. I don’t think there is rewrote those stories pretty thoroughly. He anything wrong with taking then published one in an a model to learn your craft anthology, though he quite rightly said he wanted to while you're learning what [Imitation] is looked you want to write about. do editorial work on it if he Later you need to kick all down on in writing bought it, so he did duly do that stuff away and do it much more than it is in some more tightening up. your own way; in a peculiar I think it was his way of sense it is looked down on painting, or showing me how to do it, in writing much more than composition. It is which worked extremely it is in painting, or compo­ perfectly acceptable to well. sition. It is perfectly accept­ So that was eighteen. This able to do studies of other do studies of other was 'The Inhabitant of the artists. artists. Lake', this first collection. A correspondent of mine, Pretty well as soon as I had Pat Kearney, published a finished that I actually ex­ fanzine - and we were in correspondence perience this feeling of 'Okay, I've done that. because we were among the few horror fans Nov; I want to do something else.’ So viol­ in the British Science Fiction Association ently did I experience this that I turned my back then in the early sixties - and he said back on this very thoroughly. I thought 'This why didn't I send them off to Lovecraft's is no good, Lovecraft is no good, the entire publisher, which was Arkham House in field is no good - I've got to do the stuff that America. It was run by August Derleth pretty nobody is doing'. well as a one-man operation. So I sent it off -1 think I first wrote saying, "Would you like BR: You still wanted to write, then. to see these stories?". Derleth wrote back saying, "Yes, I'd better had because we have RC: I still wanted to write horror, very much copyright on all Lovecraft material, so you so. But you’re young, you get these surges. can't just go and imitate it just like that, you By then I'd got onto reading much more need our permission'1. And so I sent them off widely. I was reading Iris Murdoch, Graham to him, I think basically just hoping that he Greene and particularly Vladimir Nabokov. would say that these were Nabakov was my next all right and yeah, you can blaze of insight, and what publish them in some fan­ I found myself thinking you could do with lan­ zines, which was my inten­ guage rather than the way tion at the time. ’Well, if nobody else is Lovecraft did it, the way doing this, doesn’t that Nabokov plays with lan­ BR: But you got a better mean they are all right guage and material. response than that. I spent five years writing and I’m wrong ?" my second collection. I RC: Well, Derleth sent me spent two-and-a-half back this two-page, single­ years writing the first spaced, fully-typed letter (small type), telling drafts, and looking at them and saying 'Oh, me what was wrong with these stories. these are awful', and then just throwing Which was a whole lot. Like no dialogue, like them away and taking them as an indication no characters, ludicrous overwriting, like set­ of what not to do. Then I started the entire ting them in New England instead of where thing again. For a lot of the time during those I knew. At the end of this long and detailed five years I found myself thinking 'Well, if

18 ISF A Newsletter September 1992 nobody else is doing this, doesn t that mean people who aie beiny thieatened L>y some they are all right and I'm wrong ? - the sort of external supernatural force. Now this shadow at my shoulder. So much so, when is exactly the opposite of what I normally do. I finished my second book 'Demons By Day­ I thought I'd try it, and I wrote a book called light’ I remember typing it out to send it off To Wake The Dead (it came out as The to the publisher, looking at this typescript Parasite in every subsequent edition) and in and thinking 'This is awful, I’ve spent five a peculiar sort of a way I failed because in a years wasting my time and not even worth way that book is still more like one of mine the postage.’ But because I’d got this object, than it is like one of the standards because it was either throwing it in the fire or put it in it's still about the protagonist being grad­ an envelope, so I finally put it in the envelope ually taken over by her dormant male per­ and I sent it off. sonality which is a sort of supernatural possession. I think I'm making too much of BR: How was it received? it, I think it's my worst novel by far. It's terribly overwritten. I like hits of it, but there are not RC: Well, it got a couple of reviews immedi­ enough bits that I like to make me very ately. the one it did get was a huge, ten happy about it. thousand word review in Niktolops which It did all right, that was the breakthrough, it was Harry Morrison's semi-prozine, written was just about the right time. I learnt some­ by Ted Klein who became the editor of Twi­ thing from it, not least that it was far too long. light Zone Magazine a num­ My editors expected me to ber years later. It was a huge be difficult about it, but I my­ exegesis of my second book I remember typing it self undertook to take about which got everything that I forty thousand words out of wanted to put into it. He'd out to send it off to it, which I did without very found it, so I thought I must the publisher, much trouble. The next doing something right. On book, The Nameless, is a lot looking at this which basis, out of craziness more succinct, a lot more (and the fact that my wife was typescript and controlled. While not a total working), I said "Okay, now thinking 'This is success by any means, at I’m going to do it full time." So least I was learning as I went on the basis of two short story awful, I’ve spent five along. I think I regard the collections I chucked the li­ years wasting my writing process as a learning brary job and wrote. If Jenny time and not even process, you never stop, you hadn't been teaching then we learn from your mistakes. wouldn't be sitting here talk­ worth the postage. Basically all your mistakes ing. get published - that's the In 1976 my first novel came problem! out, The Doll Who Ate His Mother, and that did spectacularly badly, particularly in BR: Coming more up to date, you seem to America. It sold, as my editor put it, dread­ be becoming more prolific. fully, which is not mincing her words. "But we're still going to publish your books, Ram­ RC: No, I'm becoming less prolific, funnily sey," - she said - so I wrote another novel, enough. I think a lot more has been re­ The Face That Must Die, and she sent me printed. The real breakthrough book artisti­ a letter saying, "We can’t publish this, it’s too cally - God, what a pretentious term! - was grim", which was a sort of a downer. the one after The Nameless, which was For the only time in my career I decided that Incarnate. Actually it was after The Claw, I was going to contrive a commercial suc­ the pseudonymous book. Incarnate was cess so I had a look round at what was doing important, I think, because I decided I didn't well in the supernatural horror field and it want to be scary for its own sake any more. seemed to me - which is quite foreign to If that what the book was going to do that what I do - is the kind of story where you have was fine; but if it was going to be funny, if it ordinary, uncomplicated, quite identifiable was going to be disturbing, whatever, then

September 1992 ISFA Newsletter 19 fine, I was going to let it do that, and let you was amazingly easy. I found myself getting sort it out. I wasn't going tell you how to feel up in the morning thinking 'What happens about the book, which I think I was doing far next?. I’ve got to find out what happens too much of in The Parasite. next!' and just letting it go, rushing away, it's Incarnate led to a whole bunch of books the way it should be but it very seldom is. after that, which I'm pretty pleased with. Twenty seven years since I started writing Some have been difficult to write. Midnight and I can still find this happen, this is the Sun was an absolute sod. It took me eight­ payoff you get. een months, which is not unusually long, but Needing Ghosts goes for a sort of night­ it was eighteen months of weeks on end of mare comedy, and the comic thing has now thinking "I don’t know what I doing here, and seemed to become more into the fore­ if I ever knew what I was doing I've forgotten, ground of what I'm doing, so The Count of and why am I doing this, Eleven, which is the latest and why don't I get a proper novel is a comic novel. It job!?" made me laugh a lot while I Some have been was writing it, and more to BR: To digress slightly, how difficult to write. the point, it seems to make do you write a book? Each Midnight Sun was an people laugh when they're author seems to have a dif­ reading it .There was a ferent system. absolute sod great American review sa­ ying that Laurel and Hardy RC: Always longhand, the would have loved it. I can't first draft; get up at seven in the morning; go think of any finer praise than that, but at the up to my woikroom because I’m always at same time I think it's a horror novel because my best that early in the morning. I always it doesn’t stop being funny wlfen you think figure out what my first sentence is going to it should have stopped. It disturbs people. be before I get there to start writing so at It's interesting, it’s had equally good reviews least I've got that, you don't have to stare at as a comic novel as a horror novel! this horrible blank page. Go until noon, maybe a bit later, seven days a week, every BR: To wrap up - your next project? day of the yearl Christmas Day I get off a bit early, but I still do a couple of hours, other­ RC: Let me see - Arkham House, just com­ wise I get very edgy, I feel I've not done it. pleting the circle if you like, are doing a Best Midnight Sun was really a struggle, and the of 30 Years retrospective collection next only justification, which is enough of a justi­ year illustrated by J.K. Potter called Alone fication, is that a lot of people seemed to like With The Horrors. Potter is designing the it, and seemed to get what I was trying to do. book as well as illustrating it. I'm just in the Which was trying to do the kind of book that middle of a new novel called The Long-Lost had brought me into the field in the first which is sort of a supernatural book, sort of place, a kind of supernatural horror - a comic novel, and sort of a novel about people coming apart in everyday life; and BR: Back to Lovecraft? you can tell I really don’t know what the hell it is, can't you, because I never do until I've FIC: Back to Lovecraft, back to Blackwood, finished itl! Macken: the sort of story which is trying to give you a sense of something supernatural, (With thanks to Helen Ryder for transcrib­ which is larger than the story can contain. ing the interview) I'm not very interested in gore and entrails and stuff. It's fun to watch in videos.but it’s not interesting to write. I just get terribly bored with it. So Midnight Sun was a struggle but it seemed to pay off. Needing Ghosts, which was the novella I did after that for Deborah Beale at Legend

20 ISFA Newsletter September 1992 BOOK REVIEWS constructions reminded me of Clive Barker's Weaveworld. There was also absolutely no THE ELF-QUEEN OF SHANNARA mention in the book of one of the mahor char Terry Brooks acters from the previous novels, which was a little annoying. Another major character Legend, 433pp, £15.99 hb was, to my mind, unnecessarily disposed of. Anyone who's ever read the Realmlore col­ However, the book did have the Wisteron, one of Brooks' best monster creations yet. umn in FTL (what’s FTL?) will know that I am All in all I can't help but recommend this a big fan of Terry Brooks, and indeed last book, and I'm obviously not alone in enjo­ November had the great pleasure of meet­ ing and interviewing the man [clang! - did ying it, as it is currently in the top five bestsel­ lers here, in the UK, and in the States. somebody drop something? - ed]. This would lead one to believe that I would be Needless to say that I await Book Four - The Talisman of Shannara - with bated breath. rather biased in favour of this book. And the DES DOYLE answer to that is that it's hard not to be biased when this book makes such enter­ taining reading. CAT-A-LYST However, I diverge. The story so far...is ac­ Alan Dean Foster tually rather long and complicated, and if Orbit, UK £4.50, pb you don’t know what it is don't read this review, read the first two books. You'll enjoy Jason Carter is an actor who wants to play theml shakespear but with his muscles and good For those of you up to date, this book is looks he keeps getting cast in parts that almost solely Wren's story. Taking the Ad­ require a bare chest and no talent. Finding dershag's advice, Wren and Garth [party on a computer disk on the set of his latest epic Wren! Eh, sorry about that. - ed] travel to leads Carter to darkest Peru where he and Windhove where they meet up with Tiger Ty, his companions find a gateway to another a Wing Rider who tells them that the Elves world, another world inhabited by the de­ have now made their home on the distant scendants of the Inca empire destroyed by island of Morrowindl. Convincing him to the Spanish 400 years ago, The Inca's have take them there, they find the once-beautiful made some surprising advances in science island has been ravaged by foul magic and in the last 400 years and they have not that the Elves have created a terror around forgotten the Spanish. So now Carter has to them that they are unable to defeat. stop an invasion by thousands of revenge- It is also here that Wren learns the true ident­ crazed Incas and all he has to help are his ity of her parents, and more of her history wardrobe lady and his cat. and heritage, as well as the true nature of the All those who liked the spellsinger books will evil Shadowen. enjoy this tail where the only one who seems Once again Brooks has populated the story to know whats going on is the cat. with likable and interesting characters, EDWARD STAFFORD though none here match the wonderful Pe Ell from the previous volume. There is a nice BLOOD OATH line in dry humour from Stresa the Splinter­ David Morrell scat (which reminded me of Edgewood Dirk, the Prism Cat from another Brooks novel), Blood Oath is a rather unconvincing thriller and action and adventure aplenty. The brief from the author of First Blood and Rarnbo. glimpses we get of what happens to Par, Pete Houson is a writer and teacher who Coll, and Walker Boh are tantalising in the travels to Europe to visit the grave of his extreme as the build-up begins to the cli­ father, who was killed in World War Two. mactic fourth book. There is however no grave, and no records There are however one or two small com­ of his father's death. Houston sets about the plaints. I did find Wren's heartsearching a task of finding the truth about his father's little overplayed, and certain story ideas and disappearance. There are numerous at-

September 1992 ISFA Newsletter 21 tempts on his life, and plenty of deaths, and It’s basically the story of Keleios, a half-elf surprises. The reader, though, does not find with far more power than is decent for one these surprises as Interesting as Houston. person to have: she’s a sorcerer, a prophet, There’s also a James Bond-type climax. a herb-witch - and of course demon-tainted. Blood Oath brought me- on a journey The book opens with a prologue, in which around France I would rather not have taken. the five-year-old Keleios dreams her The book leaves me fairly disappointed in mother's death. It then skips on to her Stephen King’s review of Blood Oath as studies in sorcery, aged 20, and she dreams "Colourful, fast-moving, and packed with the destruction of her school. After that, the tension from page one." book takes off into a succession of battles, More like "Dull, extremely slow, and lacking treachery, blackmail, capture, escape, re­ action or tension." capture, re-escape...with a liberal mix-in of DARREN WALSH lust, magical weapons, ancient relics, love (of sorts), demons of all kinds, from mass­ THE GEORGE AND THE ively powerful things to weak imps, and sev­ DRAGON eral succubi for good measure. Events rush Gordon R Dickson along so fast, you hardly have time to catch Grafton, UK £4.50, pb your breath, let alone stop and figure out what’s about to happen. Jim Eckert leads a very mundane existance Nightseer's main flaw is the opposite of the at Riveroak Collage, playing vollyball and usual one. Most books take a very small studying for his doctorate In medieval his­ story, and stretch it out to fill a great big fat tory. But his nice, safe, normal life comes to book - or even three, or five big fat books. a screchlng halt when his girlfriend, Angie, Nightseer takes a large story and crams It disappears before his eyes during an exper- down into a medium book, when there is ement by Grottwold Weinar Hansen (Rive­ easily enough material there for a trilogy - roak's resident mad scientist ) and in an there are tantalising references everywhere attempt to find and bring her back, Jim tries to bits of Keleios’ past, and the action is so the same experement. Jim's attempt suc- fast, there isn't room for the world to be eeds ( sort of ) when he finds himself in properly worked out, which Is a pity, be­ medieval england where Angie is a prisoner cause the glimpses we get are interesting. in the loathly tower and jlm has no option but Overall, I’d recommend it, but I hope Ms to rescue her, just one problem Jim appears Hamilton writes a prequel soon. to have turned into a dragonll DORIAN GRAY Not one of Dicksons Best books even if it did win the British Fantasy Award. The plot held [In the words.of the Bard of Avon, "yeah verily, asking a fantasy author to turn no read surprises for me and even the name something Into a trilogy Is like asking Sal­ of the dragon GORBASH seemed very fam­ man Rushdie to stay out of Dodge."] iliar. I got the impression that this was a book for younger readers who would, I think realy enjoy it. EDWARD STAFFORD Note to Reviewers : NiGHTSEER Please ensure when submitting re­ views that you Include tbe title and Laurell K Hamilton author'is n&mejprlce, length In pogos Roc, 303pp, $4.99 (£4.99 in America’s Best and publisher If posalblo? and your Books, Duke Lane) own name. It Is also advisable to give a contact number eo that details can be checked, If noceesary, Nightseer is a book that has received en­ thusiastic reviews, and zoomed up the American bestseller lists, so I thought it would be worth investigating.

22 IS FA Newsletter September 1992 Ploaso noto that duo to a "technical" error, Nigel Quinlan’s address In tho last Issue was cut short, and should havo road Tho Garage, Co Limerick.

Terror had emptiod the bars, and the collegiate quarter no longer resounded with the noise of Bohemian excosses. Students barricaded themsolvos behind tho doors of their hovols and hung crucifixes from the walls. But tho danger was over. Unbeknownst to them, Dr Fran­ kenstein had all the parts that he needod and, benoatli tho streets, he was putting the final touches to his artificial student. A cunning scam to defraud the grants authorities, the misshapen beast was stretched out on a slab. ’ "My student is almost complete," cackled Frankenstein, "now to add four pints of cider and a plastic traffic cone I"

Jim Stool Govanhlll Glasgow

Although "Freshman" is high on my list, the second prize In the Drabble Competition Is awarded to this next one, which manages to be awfully clever and painfully silly at the same time. A £5 book token is winging its way by foot to the author of:

The Importance of Earning Buttons

I luw Nabber sought divine help. The author of Sin: The Rasher Murders, and Sin II: Galtee By Suspicion, was on his knoes. He'd contracted for a movie version of the original book, then a mystery virus struck half the cast ing agents in Hollywood. "How can I know who to engage to find mo stars?" he asked, hands joined. "If they drop dead I’ll lose millions!" Suddenly tho heavens parted, and an angol explained that the virus was caused by an infection in the gall bladder. "It's easy," the angel added. "Let him who is without stones cast the first Sin."

Fergus Linehan Blackrock

September 1992 ISI?A Newsletter 23 Current Membership Rates: £10 within Ireland. Send a cheque or postal order to: the iilsh Scionco Fiction Aiiockillon Membership Secretary ISFA 564 River Forest Leixlip Co Kildare

In your Newsletter next month:

Worldcon News

1 he Limerick Competition takes over Cover: where the Drabble thing left off Alien Cubed by Frances Halpin Plus all the usual news, reviews, and features

24 ISFA Newsletter September 1992