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SCIENCE FICTION summer "DT717T171X7 number 59 1986 It. Pi V lUi VV $2.50 REVIEW ISSN ”

P.O. BOX 11408 MAY, 1986 — Vol. 15, No. 2 WHOLE NUMBER 59 PORTLAND, OR 97211 RICHARD E. GEIS—editor & publisher PHONE: (503) 282-0381 PAULETTE MINARE', ASSOCIATE EDITOR

COVER BY MARCO BIANCHINI PUBLISHED QUARTERLY FEB., MAY, AUG., NOV. 3 TEN YEARS AGO IN SF - 1976 46 AND THEN I READ... SINGLE COPY - $2.50 By Robert Sabella Reviews By Richard E. Geis

4 THOUGHTS 51 RAISING HACKLES By Richard E. Geis By Elton T. Elliott SUBSCRIPTIONS 7 PAULETTE'S PLACE 54 OTHER VOICES SCIENCE FICTION REVIEW By Paulette Minare1 Book Reviews P.O. BOX 11408 By John Shirley PORTLAND, OR 97211 8 YOU GOT NO FRIENDS IN THIS Robert A. W~ Lowndes WORLD Dean R. Lambe' For quarterly issues #60, 61: By $4.50 in USA (1986 issues) Neal Wilgus US$7.00 Foreign 18 INTERVIEW: Stuart Napier For monthly issues #62-73: Alma Jo Williams $15.00 USA (1987). & JAMES P. BLAYLOCK Alan Varney $18.00 Foreign. Conducted By Andy Watson Mark W. Antonoff and J.B. Reynolds Paul McGuire Canada & Mexico same as USA rate. Keith Soltys 27 Review of FORSAKE THE SKY Clifford R. McMurray 1986 issues mailed second class. By Tim Powers Andrew Andrews 1987 issues will be mailed 1st class Review of Foreign will be sent airmail By NEXT ISSUE 28 SUFFERING FOOLS, NOT GLADLY ALL FOREIGN SUBSCRIPTIONS, INCLUDING By Gregory Benford A CONVERSATION WITH FREDERIK CANADA AND MEXICO, MUST BE PAID IN POHL US$ cheques or money orders, except 29 SPACEFLARE THE CHANGES I'VE SEEN to subscription agencies. A Poem By Blake Southfork By Robert A. W. Lowndes ’S REVIEW OF CONTACT 29 THE DISORIENT EXPRESS THE VIVISECTOR By Neal Wilgus By Darrell Schweitzer And a lot of Richard E. Geis 30 SMALL PRESS NOTES IF YOU MOVE WE NEED YOUR FORMER ZIP- By Richard E. Geis CODE AND YOUR NEW COMPLETE ADDRESS. NO ADVERTISING WILL BE ACCEPTED 33 NOISE LEVEL ALL SUBSCRIPTIONS, NEW AND OLD, By ARE HONORED AND FULFILLED ON AN Second Class Postage Paid ISSUES NUMBER BASIS. 36 LETTERS at Portland, OR 97208 By Gregory Benford Fred Fowler Joel Rosenberg Alexis A. Gilliland Copyright (c) 1986 by Richard E. Lynn Mims Geis. One- rights only have Tim Hessje been acquired from signed or cred¬ ited contributors, and all other Clifford R. McMurray rights are hereby assigned to the Bruce Berges contributors. Ronald R. Lambert Alan Dean Foster Darrell Schweitzer SCIENCE FICTION REVIEW is published Robert Bloch at 1525 N.E. Ainsworth, Portland, Carl Glover OR 97211 Neal Wilgus Ed Meskys POSTMASTER: Send address changes to SCIENCE FICTION REVIEW 44 ONCE OVER LIGHTLY POB 11408 Reviews By Gene DeWeese Portland, OR 97211

2 REVIEWS- SIGHTSEEING: A SPACE PANORAMA..59 LAST WORDS THE BEAST OF HEAVEN.7 CHAMPIONS OF THE SIDHE.60 TAILCHASER' SONG.7 MASTER OF THE SIDHE.60 These last two issues—64 pages THE JOHN W. CAMPBELL LETTERS ... SO DEVIL ON MY BACK.60 each---have been extraordinary. PHILIP K. DICK NEWSLETTER 9/10.30 THE CROSS-TIME ENGINEER.60 Fine issues, if I do say so nyself. THE MAGAZINE OF SPECULATIVE DRAGONSBANE.60 This issue is so jam-packed...even POETRY.31 DARK OF THE MOON.60 with reduced type beyond former is¬ UNDERGROUND CLASSICS #2, #3....31 WIZARD OF THE PIGEONS.61 sues. THE FIRST KINGDOM #23.31 FACES OF FEAR.61 However, SFR #60 and #61 will MERCHANTS OF VENUS.31 THE HOUNDS OF GOD.61 have to return to the 48-page for¬ THE SOUND OF WONDER Vol..1-2...31 COUNT ZERO.62 mat in order to save some money for OUT OF MY HEAD.32 GODBODY.62 1987. SPACE 5 TIME #70.32 20.62 I had to pull A CONVERSATION TNFF/TIGHTBEAM.32 FIRST EDITIONS: A GUIDE TO WITH and THE CHANGES AUSTRALIAN SF REVIEW.32 IDENTIFICATION.63 I'VE SEEN by Robert A.W. Lowndes RIVERSIDE QUARTERLY.32 SCHISMATRIX.63 from this issue to make room for FACTSHEET FIVE #17.32 TOTENTANZ.63 the longer tlian expected Orson A GUIDE TO THE COMMONWEALTH.... 32 THE WRITER'S ADVISOR.63 Scott Card short fiction colurai. BOOK #20.32 INSIDE OUTER SPACE.63 And this issue will probably be a- STARQUAKE.44 BYTE BEAUTIFUL.63 bout five days late due to a week¬ EON.44 end arid an unavoidable delay the JACKLEEN J. O'MALLEY FOR of which I shall keep to my¬ CONGRESS (RARNABY #3).44 INTERIOR ART- self. Five days isn't so bad, is THE LEGION OF TIME.44 TIM KIRK-2,4,6,46 it? CONTACT.44 ALEXIS GILLILAND- —5,8,9,19,21, I want to call your attention... HUMAN ERROR.45 23,25,28,32,33,34,35,37,38,48, "Here, Attention! Here! Come to VOYAGERS II: THE ALIEN WITHIN..4S 50,51,52,53,54,60 Geis! Here boy! Here girl!"...to MOONDUST AND MADNESS.45 BRAD FOSTER-7,43, the heading for TEN YEARS AGO IN SF THE SONGS OF DISTANT EARTH.46 DAVID TRANSUE-11,18,20,22,24,31, below, as that for the INTERVIEW JANE.46 49,55,56,57,59,61 WITH TIM POWERS AND JAMES P. BLAY¬ GOODMAN 2020.46 MICHAL DUTKIEWICZ-13 LOCK and NOISE LEVEL by John Brunner. MISSION EARTH: These were done for me (and many The Invaders Plan -14,32,41,44,47, 48,58,62,63 others in future will be) by BLACK Black Genesis.47 SLT-26,45 DAWN GRAPHICS using a computer and AT ANY PRICE.47 MARK BONDURANT- —29,61 a laser printer/copier. They also .48 RICHARD BRUNING-36 do typesetting, layouts, printing THE ODYSSEUS SOLUTION.48 GEORGE KOCHELL-39,40 and (I suspect) things one can only CLOSED SYSTEM.49 STEVEN FOX—-4 2 whisper about in secrecy. Their .49 OLE PETTERSON-45 address is: BLACK DAWN GRAPHICS, DAD'S NUKE.49 P.0. Box 94, Long Beach, CA 90801- SOME KIND OF PARADISE: THE 0094. Phone: (213) 590-0486. EMERGENCE OF AMERICAN SF.49 SF, FANTASY, AND MAGAZINES.49 ONE HUMAN MINUTE.50 Ten Tears Ago In Science Fiction - 1976 .50 THE MESSIAH STONE.S3 By Robert Sabella PRESENTS THE GREAT SF STORIES #14.53 CLOSED SYSTEM.53 Davis Publications announced a major The Hugo Awards for 1975 were announc¬ THE KIF STRIKE BACK.53 new . In keep¬ ed: Best was THE FOREVER WAR by Joe IN ALIEN FLESH.53 ing with their policy of naming magazines Haldeman; Best was "Home is the BRIDGEHEAD.53 after prominent people (Ellery Queen, Al¬ Hangman" by ; Best Novelet¬ THE HUGO WINNERS, Vol. 5.53 fred Hitchcock), it would be called ISAAC te was "The Borderland of Sol" by Larry MASTER OF SPACE AND TIME.54 ASIM3VS SCIENCE FICTION MAGAZINE. George Niven and Best was "Catch Scithers was the editor. That Zeppelin!" by . In a ma¬ THE MAN WHO MELTED.54 jor upset, won the John W. Camp¬ THE SECRET OF LIFE.54 New writer C.J. Cherryh released bell Award for Best New Writer over John SF,FANTASY, AND WEIRD FICTION her second novel in less than six months; first was her debut fantasy GATES OF IV- Varley. MAGAZINES.55 REL followed by her first SF novel BROTH¬ Important publications included JERUSALEM FIRE.56 ERS OF EARTH. She was the second major Frank Herbert's bestselling CHILDREN OF .56 science fiction writer to burst into prom¬ DUNE which was announced as the conclusion WITH A TANGLED SKEIN.56 inence in less than eighteen months. The of the "Dune Trilogy," 's HUMAN ERROR.56 first -- John Varley -- took the tradition¬ MINDBRIDGE, Larry Niven's A WORLD OUT OF THE SKEPTICAL INQUIRER.57 al route of publishing a series of first- TIME and Phillip K. Dick and Roger Zelaz¬ CHALLENGE OF THE CLANS.57 rate stories in the science fiction pro- ny's DEUS IRAE. zines. Cherryh achieved recognition en¬ SO LONG, AND THANKS FOR ALL tirely through publication of original THE FISH.57 LETTER FRCM ROBERT SABELLA: Feb. 17, 1986 , a route pioneered by Ursula K. Le- 'By the way you made a small typo in : MASTER.57 Guin with the publication of THE LEFT HAND OF DARKNESS in 1969. It became an increas¬ my review of THE YEAR'S BEST SCIENCE FIC¬ SILVERTHORN.58 TION that blew my critique of John Varle/s A DARKNESS AT SETHANON.58 ingly comnon route in the late Seventies "Press EnterO." I stated that it was and Eighties as the prozines steadily wan¬ atypical Varley, but you added a space and HEART OF THE COMET.58 ed in influence. Following Cherryh, writ¬ EROS DESCENDING.59 ers such as Stephen Donaldson, John Crow¬ made it a typical Varley, just the oppos¬ PRIVATEERS.59 ite meaning. But that's the first typo¬ ley, R.A. MacEvoy and Tim Powers achieved graphical complaint I've had with your ENTERING SPACE: AN ASTRONAUT’S prominence without appearing in the pro- editing in five years of columns/reviews, ODYSSEY.59 so what the heck I' LIFE IN SPACE.59 ouew THOUGHTS I RICHARD E. GEISI

ALTER-EGO RsR (Ranting & Raving) "I'm going to rant about the could stand to live in for long. books I started and didn't or could¬ They ignore basic truths about human n't complete. YOU review everything nature, and pretend a lot. They say "All right, Geis, get your nose I finish!" they believe violence can be diminish¬ out of BUSINESS WEEK, get your eyes "And a good thing, too. Your ed or eliminated by proper social off Financial News Network, and get critical judgement, your taste, organization or "education". They your thumb out of your ass! Time to your perception of..." usually hate capitalism because it do something important." "The sooner you stop bitching, is the basis, the creator, of true "Go away, Alter. The stock mark¬ Geis, the sooner I'll be done. I've freedom in all other areas of society. et is going up and down like a ber¬ only got four comments to make. 0- "These Reactionary Utopias have serk yo-yo, Vice President Bush is kay?" several similarities: They all have all the way to Saudi Arabia to ask "Get on with it.” a lack of diversity, they are them to lower production of oil to "Wait till I concentrate. I in time; they are nostalgic and anti- save the asses of his oil industry have a gly crawling on my right zrtl. technology; they have a strong auth¬ and oil bank bosses by driving crude I can't write worth a damn while- ority figure alive or dead; they oil prices up while of course not Ah, it's gone. Now—" enforce social rules by guilt and interfering in the free market, and "What in hell is a zrtl?" (if necessary) force. the commodity markets are heading "It's a connection between my "And they pretend some aspects of down again. All this while your nervous system and yours. Now—" instinctual human behavior don't former host, R.W.R. is so hot to "So what's a gly?" exist (while other, "good" aspects take out Khadafi and overthrow the "WILL YOU SHUT UP? You're a gly, are enhanced)or can be controlled freely elected government of Nigar- if you want to know! A super, king- by social structure (lack of free¬ agua that's he's pissing his pants sized pain in the ass!" doms) or by exile of offenders. and itching to---" "Go ahead, Alter. Write! Make "And Greg centers on Ursula Le- "Geis, if you must mix meta¬ a fool of yourself! But remember, Guin as a prime example of left- phors—" I'm the one who will get the blame. wing reactionary as exemplified in "Your weird desire to talk about I'll be the one the people offended her novel, THE DISPOSSESSED. sf and fantasy books seems small will write or call. You'll sit "He details his analysis and potatoes and small beer to me. I back there in my brain and smirk and traces influences to European/Rus¬ have world-shaking matters to anal¬ make snide comnents." sian writers and philosophers. yze and ponder." "And rightly so. I never said "Personally, I look at Russia "All you ever ponder, Geis, is this "arrangement" we have is fair, whether or not you'll ever have an¬ because life isn't fair. Justice is other erection. You can't bullshit a purely human fantasy, as you should me. I'm your alter-ego, remember? know by now." I have my finger on your pulse, my "Yeah, do I ever!" eye on your thalamus, and my left "Okay, now, now will you permit center tendril in your pituitary. me to write my thoughts?" Your body is my plaything." *Sigh* "Go ahead." "So you're responsible! Why "First, Greg Benford, who is be¬ don't you leave me alone? Why coming one of the field's premier don't you go back where you belong, commentators, has performed a slice in the brain of a baboon, or worse, and dice operation on Reactionary in the brain of a state legislator?" Utopias (another variation of ideal¬ "I was assigned to you, and we're ism) which is as usual much in vogue both stuck with that. It's unlikely among literary academics, social "re¬ I'll be removed from you again for formers" and those writers who share special assignment. So you might those world . Greg, in his as well cave in and suffer in silence surgery on Reactionary Utopias, which for a few minutes." appears in the Winter', 1985 issue of "I'll suffer, Ghod knows I'll FAR FRONTIERS [Edited by Jerry Pour- suffer, but never in silence. Okay, nelle and ] points out that go on, go on and babble about the idealists love to construct utopias books you've read." nobody (least of all themselves) take another assignment." ing to read more another night, but "What's a hojka?" I knew, too, it vould be obligatory, "A period of time equivalent to duty-reading, and somehow I never six point eight Earth years." opened it again. Other, more inter¬ "Oh. Were you bom.. .original¬ esting novels and magazines and non¬ ly?" fiction books claimed my time." "No, I was created. I'm altered "All right, you've done it to to fit each species I help guide. Charles. Who's next?" But my essense remains the same." "Wait till I get a firm grip on "Umm...could I volunteer for your adrenal gland...your thyroid... this work? Could I become an Alter- your hypothalamus... Okay. I Ego?" didn't like---" "No, Geis. You can't get there "I'm going to hate this, right?" from here. You have a keen — "Riiiiight. I got bogged down warped, twisted, kinky, but keen— in HEART OF THE CDMET by Gregory Ben- Wiich explains partly why you became ford and . I---" aware of me in the first place, but "WHAT? Who the fuck are you, today and I see a utopia---a left¬ not the type of essense the Master¬ Alter, to say this is a bad book? ist reactionary utopia—which in mind wants. Sorry. You'll just Who are you to say—" real life was tried and which has have to die like everybody else." "I didn't say anything yet, manifestly failed. Utopias cannot "I suspected that would be the Geis! I said I got bogged down in cope with, cannot endure, and cannot answer. Well... Are you finished it. Page 105, to be exact. The be sustained if they allow signifi¬ offending authors and such?" opening sequences of danger and cant freedoms to the individual. "Hell, no! I've got three more death v«re gripping and exciting. They cannot allow science and tech¬ books here to coup lain about." After that the politics and "racism" nology to reach the people (no per¬ "Get on with it, then!" of the two breeds of humans began sonal conputers, no personal print¬ "No need to be testy, Geis. It's to war on my attention span. True- ing presses or copiers, no CB radios), not my fault you can't be irnnortal." to-life writing can be a virtue if /hid they cannot permit real political "Write, Alter!" the true-to-life slow pace of most freedom (contrary, alternate opinion). 'Hunans! All right. I started real life is avoided. The tension And they hate and abhor the concept THE HARP OF THE GREY ROSE by Charles level lowered and I fidgeted. I'm of competition (conflict, freedom); de Lint. He reviews a lot for you, not a patient entity, Geis. Every¬ better to assign work, and allow the I thought I'd look in on him..." day life---even in the head of Hall¬ state to decide how much, Wien, where "He'll never review for SFR ey's comet---can be slow-going." and why. The state (the social order again, of course." "Alter, you were raised on pulp personified) is the mother and fath¬ "Everyone isn't as small-minded, fiction! You can'd expect---" er, and the citizens are the children. mean-spirited, and grudge-keeping "I don't. I know that "quality" The nation is supposed to be a giant as you are. But be that as it may, fiction and "literary" fiction is family. Reactionary Utopias are I started this fantasy, which has often slow and tedious, and I know avoidances of the real vrorld of strug¬ illustrations by George Barr and is that all readers have a duty to trudge gle, violence, competition, war, mon¬ published in trade format through the slow parts to get to the ey... They are wombs." by Donning at $7.95, and I foind high-energy, action/advanture/suspense "And wombs are for those who can¬ nyself inmersed in a kind of juvenile parts. But I can't help it. I want not face reality, hum. Alter?" about a young mannamed Cerin of im¬ inner turmoil and tension if I can't "Exactly, Geis. As religion is a portant lineage who has been raised have outer goodies. The really fine kind of wmb for the majority of by a witch and who is smitten by a writers of fiction keep me in their humans who cannot face the ultimate maid of some mystery called The Grey claws all the time, by force of reality of death, of final extinc¬ Rose. Naturally they fall in love." style and talent and acute character tion." "You were bored?" observations and bits of business. "Yeah, but Alter, isn't the need "Well, it all seemed so formula, Greg Benford plugs along, touches all for religion an instinct? Could the so predictable, so unbelievable. I the character bases, but he makes me human animal function without the can't believe in magic, not very feel he's working at it. He makes me illusion that there is an afterlife often, anyway, and I suppose I ob¬ feel guilty because I don't appreciate of some kind?" jected to the slow start, the sett¬ all the hard work." "Probably not, Geis. But the ing of the medieval scene, the- "I can't believe you're saying impulse to religion isn't exactly an Anyway, I stopped at page 39. I these things! He wins awards! He is instinct. It's more a natural conse¬ was sleepy, I closed the book intend¬ recognized—" quence of consciousness and intelli¬ gence. Science has become a kind of religion, now, because it has promise of actually extending human life, at least putting off death. But since death ultimately prevails, the ulti¬ mate horror---final extinction of the "I"---remains, and religion in one form or another, no matter what sci¬ ence proves about the falsity of re¬ ligious dogma, will always exist. It helps humans get through the night." "Do you have a religion. Alter?" "Ahh...no, Geis. I'm irnnortal." "Huh! So, after I die, you go on to another poor soul." "Yep. Until my tour of duty is done here on Earth. Then I'll get a hundred thousand hojka vacation and "I can't help it, Geis. The emper¬ the novel showing Christlike men in include self-congratulation on our or is only wearing a jock strap." robes and ancient garb, in holy conquest of space plus, I'd wager, "But this was a collaboration be¬ settings, and decorations, in holy a chat with the orbiting astronauts tween Benford and Brin. What about---" postures) and further the novel and direct from the presidential pod- "I don't know who did what. But saga are also described as mythic this novel reads like Greg did the fantasy. We'll not comment on it 'On the big day there was post¬ final draft. It reads like his being a masterpiece of literature. ponement due to minor glitches; work. Sorry." The writing is stilted and trapped ditto on Sunday and Monday. Came "I'm ruined. I'll have to eat in its attempt to be mythic and Tuesday, the date of the address, humble pie the rest of my life. No far-removed in time and space. truly serious problems emerged, one will believe you wrote this and It has a Indian flavor, an Eastern not the least sub freezing temp¬ that I have no control, no censor ambience. The ancient history tire eratures with its known effect on button." author force-feeds the reader, all the booster seals. "I know. That's the cream of the odd names of people, places, 'Another delay was in order, the jest, that we know I exist, but things (remember the 25-page glos¬ but from on high came the command: everybody else thinks I'm a clever sary!) combine with the awkward "get.it in the ." They did. literary device you use. You're style to glaze the eyes and switch 'Farfetched? I don't think trapped, Geis. You'll go to your off the mind. This is for those grave protesting that Alter-made-me- who Seek Enlightenment and the Mean¬ I don't either, though I'd do-it, and nobody will take you ser¬ ing of Love and Life and the super¬ estimate the White House staff iously. I love it!" iority of mysticism over the now of conceived the PR use of a teacher "Insidious viper! Agent of Sat¬ the eternal sorrow.'* and got the presidential okay for an! I'll have you exorcized! I'll "No need to be sarcastic. Alter." the plan and timing. Once the go to church and- Arrrggghhh! "You're right, Geis. This upper levels of NASA officials You're forcing me to turn to religion! novel and the fine artwork are la¬ got the message; they risked all See what you're doing?" bours of love and dedication and ad¬ in order to please tne president "Cop out. You'll get religion in herence to a higher law, a higher and insure the next NASA funding about ten more years. When you feel religion, a higher spiritual plane appropriation. This has the stink the cold, clamny hand of the grim of existence, a higher level of of reality—the way the government reaper, then you'll cave in and turn self-delusion." works—not the dreamy aroma of to JEEESSUSSSSS like all the rest." "Cruel. You're so cruel." fantasy. "I wish you wouldn't talk so much "No, I'm not. If I were cruel, about my inevitable death. Alter!" Geis, I'd go on another three pages "Just holding your nose to the about life in general and your short¬ • grinstone of reality, Geis." comings in particular. I'm kind and "Well, my nose is bloody, and it gentle arid considerate. I'll stop hurts. Get on with your damned here." "Thank Ghod!" exercise in unethical reviewing." GOODBYE, JUDY "As you wish. My final uncom¬ pleted novel is PARA, by Vaughn A- Judy-Lynn del died February 20, brams, published by Seven Suns, 1986 from a brain hemorrhage which Route 1, Box 120, Fairfield, IA occurred October 16, 1985. She was 52556. Available from Seven Suns THE P.R. IMPERITIVES 43 years old. only. This is a well-produced hard¬ Judy-Lynn became the most im¬ cover novel, costing...well, I have A subscriber in NY sent along portant and successful science fic¬ misplaced the material giving the a piece from an unidentified news¬ tion editor in the world since she book's price—about $15.95, I pre¬ paper in NY, a letter-to-the-edit- assumed editorial control of the sume, since the following novel in or, I believe, written by Ed Van Ballantine sf line in 1973. this sage is titledORAH, DANCER OF Dyne of Elmira, NY. I think it She had a "feel" for what the ETAN is so priced." sketches a scenario and motivation readers wanted, and discovered many and pressure sequence which is "What is it about, Alter? Why new writers. She also gave little- didn't you finish it?" probably a lot more true than mis¬ known writers an oportunity to be¬ "It's about 347 pages, and it taken . come superstars, and expanded the has a 25-page glossary of words of 'Some day historians may fill reputations and readerships of ex¬ arcane and esoteric meaning which out the story of the Challenger isting well-known sf writers. are in the< novel and which have to explosion something like this: She "knew", she had that cert¬ be more or less defined and explain¬ 'Putting a school teacher in ain editorial instinct which makes ed separately. I didn't finish it space was a carefully crafted and for greatness. because I found it alienating and orchestrated PR gimmick hatched in What a tragedy it is that she boring. I confess that now, several the oval office and aimed at re¬ has been taken from us so soon, in weeks later, after stopping at page selling the public on the space the prime of her life, both as an 51, I can remember nothing of it." program (read ). editor and as a woman. "That's shamefull!" 'The idea was to select a per¬ Goodbye, Judy. "It certainly is. A writer who, sonable female who would win our given 50 pages, cannot inpress his hearts, lecture the nation's story or his characters—not one! — schools from space and, on return, on a reasonably alert, intelligent tour the country in a massive "ed¬ professional reader, is a failure, ucational" campaign; a "trickle up' in my view. I see from the cover¬ plan whereby school kids, teachers ing letter from Debbie Smith, Execu¬ and ultimately parents would be tive Vice-President of Seven Suns imbued with SDI enthusiasm. Publications, thatthe novel is sup¬ 'Launch was scheduled just a- posed to the spirit and ful¬ head of the President's State of fill the heart. Also, it is consid¬ the Union address, which was to ered a holistic art experience (there are impressive paintings in 6 PAULETTE'S PLACE

THE BEAST UF HEAVEN Tangaloor Firefoot is one of the By Victor Kelleher First-Walkers of legend. In the begin¬ Univ. of Queensland Press, 08/85, $10.00 ning, Meerclar Allmother in her cold Eye- SF, 205 pp.. Winner 1984 light, rubbed her paws together to pro¬ duce a sky-spark which grew until she REVIEWED BY PAULETTE MINARE' As the Gatherers traverse the plains threw it up into the sky where its warm THE BEAST OF HEAVEN is an engrossing of thick dust, they come to a huge rock light still shines by day uitil the hour fable set over 100,000 years in the fut- dome with a narrow crack running down one of Unfolding Dark. The Allmother brought re. Hyld, a Sensor since his tenth year, edge, from which issues sweet searing forth The Two, Harar Goldeneyes and his has the ability to hear the Spirits of heat with a red glow. The Mistool here mate, Skydancer. Their three Firstborn glows much more brightly and some burst were Viror Whitewind, superior in speed and scatter seed, so that Shen pronounce^ and strength; clever Tangaloor Firefoot;

which shelt henchmen to the evil Hearteater to life and limb, collects and : evil, will it be loosed and what will who use them as tunnel-digging slaves. the cold-shinmering milk of the occur if it is? You have definitely not Barely surviving many dangers from food provided by the Ancients for their guessed it all; there is raich I have not overwork, malnutrition and mistreatment, well-being. This Beast of Heaven is an touched upon and there is an unexpected the Hunt-Brothers are taken to the Great enormous quadruped who reluctantly allows ending in store. This is another excel¬ Cavern of the Pit, on top of which rests herself to be milked by Lomar and his lent book you may well want for your the enormous, bloated body of the Master aides, only if they are very careful, of All, Lord Hearteater, who reveals a very quiet, very unobtrusive. The worst sinister reason for lying as he does on danger is the season when the Houdin male, top of a huge pile of tortured, dead and in the necessity of the "mist," tranples dying small animals. and gores them unheedingly as he frenzied- ly nDunts the female; in so doing he lov¬ At one point Tailchaser is attacked ingly selects the Chosen, opening to them by the deranged Eatbugs. When he remem¬ the Gates of Heaven. bers to recite the prayer learned earli¬ er, amazing events occur, and the true ka Shen, as Priest, conducts their re¬ TAILCHASER'S SONG returns to Eatbugs, whose identity is re¬ ligious rituals. Following is one of By Tad Williams vealed. Eventually they make a harrowing his hyims of thanks. Do you recognize DAW, 11/85, 333 pp., $15.95 (Juv./adult) escape from the collapsing Mould and then the meaning of the reference to "the sign begin an adventure-filled trek back home. in the sky" and the "holy shape of the Mustool?” (From pages 13 5 14:) Tad Williams, a new talent, has cre¬ TAILCHASER'S SONG is a charming ad¬ ated many memorable animal characters, venture for cat lovers of all ages. Frit- both good and evil; the plot moves along ti Tailchaser, a young ginger tomcat, liv¬ for they are the fathers at a satisfying pace from one engrossing es on the edge of the dwellings of M'an, situation to another. This is a uiique the Big Ones, whose origin is explained At their departure, burning fantasy epic which you will want on your according to feline legend:- Prince Nine- shelf. upon the sky the sign of birds tried to usurp cat kingship but was their bounty; fought and conquered by Lord Tangaloor A sign locked forever in the holy shape of the Mustool; The beauty of that burning

for they are the enenie of suffering; At their going, bequeathi 1 ffijj I m properly addressed. 1 suspect that IH PRAISE OF ILL-TBtPERED WHALES the jingoism of Rambo is dangerous to It's 1:30 on the afternoon of the American soul; like the prudish You April 15. The day every freelancer is preacher who admits that sex is neces¬ glad he's an American citizen as blood sary, as long as you don't enjoy it, I drips from his veins into the IRS en¬ find myself thinking that we may be velope. I believe that if every Amer¬ having too much fun beating up on lit¬ ican had to pay taxes in cash, with tle countries—we might start thinking nothing withheld and no hope of a tax we can beat anybody, and then lose our refund, there'd be a revolution before conscience and our self-restraint. Got taxes rose above 5 percent. Which is, I'm a news junkie and a history of course, why they withhold. fanatic. When something like this is April 15 is also the day after going on it's hard for me to concen¬ our F-llls dropped bombs on terrorist- trate on anything else. I even go support targets in Libya. By the time through the standard "Liberal-Wimp" you read this, of course, you'll know self-questioning: What value does what I don't: what happened to the storytelling have at a time like this? crew of the missing jet; what the dam¬ Who cares about sci-fi when people are No age was in Libya; what the Libyan res¬ ponse was. Right now all I get on CNN Fortunately, I quickly suppress is propaganda pictures from Libya of those idiotic questions. People are bleeding bodies and one terrifyingly dying all the time. That's one of the insane face in a Libyan mob; congress¬ many reasons why we tell stories—to men grandstanding as they either invent causal chains that invest our "stand with our President in this bold inevitable deaths with meaning. In and necessary act of self-defense" or fact, people die in wars largely be¬ Friends resentfully snivel about how the Pres¬ cause of the stories their leaders ident didn't tell them until the believe—and the stories that leaders planes were already airborne and so he can persuade their people to believe. probably violated the War Powers Act— which is probably unconstitutional in the first place; and speculations a- Which brings me to a not-unre- bout how our allies will react. lated story. A few weeks ago, John In Even though I know even less Kessel invited me to attend a reading than our poor ignorant Congressmen, that was giving at NC some thoughts come to mind. The cir¬ State. Some of us ended up at John's cuitous route our jets had to fly in house, and the conversation wandered order to avoid French and Spanish air freely among many topics. It happened space gives new meaning to the word that John mentioned his love for the novel MOBY DICK in a tone of voice "ally." I have the normal human dis¬ that by its fervency made a great im¬ comfort of knowing that we—and, This therefore, I—have caused the deaths pression on me. The conversation of people who were under those bombs. moved on, but I did not forget. I also have the equally normal commu¬ Driving home that night, I kept nity feelings of pride and vengeful thinking how much I had come to res¬ satisfaction, thinking of a baby pect and trust John's judgment. My sucked out of a hole in a jet, a crip¬ days at Sycamore Hill, my association ple shot and thrown over the side of a with him on the Nebula Rules Commit¬ ship, and all the other attacks on tee, and his remarkable talent and World members of my community. dedication to creating true and power¬ ful stories, all had made their im¬ Because I'm a storyteller, I pression on me. And I realized that I endlessly loop backward through all trusted his opinion enough that it the causal chains—Qaddafi may be in¬ made me my own long-held dis¬ sane, but the basic Arab resentment he dain for MOBY DICK as an unreadable, exploits has merit that we have never pretentious, self-indulgent novel. When had I actually read MOBY DICK? I remember turning the pages, the heft of the book—and in that mem¬ ory I am sitting in the school library of Mesa High School. Fifteen years old. Now, I was a precocious 15-year- old. I didn't have to crack a dic¬ tionary to read the book. Still, it was ridiculous that I was still making comments about a book that others con¬ sidered to be the greatest novel of the 19th century, based entirely on what I was able to understand as a 15- year-old. In short, I resolved to read the book again. A few days later, I picked up a little pocket-sized hardcover of MOBY DICK from the Oxford World's Classics and began to read. And discovered a few things. The book is funny. That had never once occurred to me at the age of 15. Melville is snide, satirical, ironic, vicious, slapstick in his hu¬ mor. Those long "boring* descriptive passages are rich and rewarding in ways that I had been ill-equipped to realize as an adolescent. Now as I BY ORSON SCOTT CARD • moved through the book, slugging my

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of astute suggestions and comne: my writing. So, I'll say that editor certainly is of vastly m luck. You hope your book falls into the tance than anything else aside hands of a good editor. We've both had There is a sense of community among Lester Del Rey and Beth Meacham. Both writers. It is a world-wide one, most of them ate very good at saying, "Now, palpable in its components of national, this is a nice little book. I'm not regional, genre or medium. The value knocking this little book you've made; BLAYLOCK: Extra good hands, ce of this conrntmity is the same for any but we're going to fold it through the POWERS: If they're not jerks. COTinunity and that is the quality of mu¬ fourth dimension and come out with a tual support. Tim Powers and Jim Blay¬ good book. Okay?" They do, and you BLAYLOCK: Although, certainly, lock have that, and more, in microcosm. help, and it is a much better book at writer who did it. If it weren the end of the process. Then you look the writer there wouldn't be an Each has published three widely at the original version with embarras¬ and if it weren't for the write available novels in the SF/Fantasy field. sment and loathing... wouldn't be any editors. Conse Powers won the Philip K. Dick award for editors are secondary. But tha his second, . His oth¬ BLAYLOCK: In fact, when I sent THE ELFIN for good editors. ers, not counting two early appearances SHIP to Lester Del Rey in what I thought in Roger Elwood's Laser Series, were THE was its finished form, I found out that POWERS: I don't know where I'd DRAWING OF THE DARK and the recently re¬ half of it had to go into the dumpster. out an editor. Lester Del Rey m leased DINNER AT DEVIANT'S PALACE. All And it deserved to go into the dumpster, ING OF THE DARK what it was. I three could be called adventure stories, there's no doubt about it. For THE DIG¬ the length, and nothing nuch ha or historical science fiction (though GING LEVIATHAN, on the other hand, I do the second half of the book in DEVIANT'S PALACE would be future-histor¬ not think there were more than two para¬ inal state. THE ANUBIS GATES w ical SF). Blaylock's first two books, graphs worth of changes suggested by the eighth again as long, in its or THE ELFIN SHIP and THE DISAPPEARING editor. There I was fortunate enough version, as it is now, and it w DWARF, were both characterized by warmth to get Beth Meacham, who was willing to ly fat, that eighth. None of i and humanity rarely encountered among take a chance on a very bizarre proposal, sential. If somebody today was modem fantastic fiction, which tends and who has since then made any number "We could publish it the way yo towards sword and sorcery, blood and ally wrote it if you want, Powe guts, syrupy love and sordid lust. His give them ten dollars to forget latest novel, THE DIGGING LEVIATHAN', is difficult to describe. It is charming, witty, wildly unpredictable and almost believable. It is also a fantasy, but one set among the familiar trappings of American suburbia.

t wholesale in the end know right now. Num- r not they mightn't ke it even better than h it is okay now. As y made no suggestions here, focussing an their recollectio of Philip K. Dick), appeared in the letter of the Philip K. Dick Society Issue #8. For information about the POWERS: He buys good books. I think he sometimes turns down good books, but he always does buy good books. Evidently he told a friend of ours about THE ANU- BUS GATES, "I don't care what awards that book wins, it is not a good book!" Well, you know, it’s not a Del Rey book. It's not one of the books Del Rey buys. When he rejected it, he wrote a detailed letter saying why he didn't want it. So I fixed it up according to his objec¬ tions before Ace saw it. WATSON: Did you re-submit it to him after you got it back? POWERS: No. He didn't want to see it again. (Laughter) He made that clear. But he did, as I say, make a lot of sug¬ gestions that did demonstrably improve the book. WATSON: Well, that's wonderful. You outline that doesn't. Why don't you fin¬ POWERS: Generally I'm against sequels. don't just get a Xeroxed rejection slip. ish it up?" And I did! He made a coup¬ If a publisher was to say, "We've had le of suggestions to get the show on the tremendous interest in this and we'll POERS: oh, not ever. My god, you're road, and his suggestions amounted to a be able to write you a significantly lucky if you get less than ten pages bit more than the ideas that I had in bigger check for a sequel than for a from him! the previous outline, the one I'd sub¬ fresh book," I might revise my opinion. BLAYLOCK: He sent me four pages to re¬ mitted to him. After working through it I could do a prequel. That would be ject a twelve-page outline. And as Tim a couple of , getting it all turn¬ entertaining enough to do. But in gen¬ pointed out, it wasn't just, "Here's ed around, it acutally came out very, very eral, by the time,I'm finished with a ways you can fix it up." It's "Here's nice. I'm working on it right now. I book I'm sick of the characters, the four pages of reasons that this is a am about half done. It takes place in world, the conflicts, the interest, ev¬ worthless outline from end to end, and Baluimia, the same place the second book erything. I hate them. I figure, "To has to be scrapped." Very convincing. took place in. Right now, it's called hell with these guys." I could have Ri¬ Very. THE ROAD TO BALUMNIA. That was Lester vas wander away with that dumb thing a- Del Rey's title, and it'll probably round his neck, but it'd make me tired REYNOLDS: Do you rely, then, just on stick. It's a sequel to the first two, before I even started. him, on his professional ear? Or do you and doesn't involve Jonathan Bing or the professor. (The professor) makes kind WATSON: Your heroes are unusual, Brian have a secret sounding board, a relative Duffy, Brendan Doyle, Gregorio Rivas. or friend, that you've trusted for opin- of a cameo appearance at the beginning, as a young man, but Escargot is the main They're all reluctant heroes, all busily character. feeling sorry for themselves about some¬ thing that went wrong once before. They BLAYLOCK: I force Powers to read things first. I think Lester Del Rey would don't want to be disturbed. They want WATSON: He seems to be the thread tying to just go away, fade off, and they're probably heartily dislike the sort of things together. You build him up as book THE DIGGING LEVIATHAN is. If he dragged kicking and screaming every step something of a folk hero long before he of the way. They fight it and fight it would read it. And I doubt that he ever makes his . would ever undertake it. and fight it, all the way through the BLAYLOCK: Yeah, Dooley mentions him a book. I can see where you'd become tir¬ POWERS: He'd hate it. He'd hate it, few times. ed with them as individuals, because of and it’s your best book by a mile! the way you've constructed them. You WATSON: This is refreshing, a very BLAYLOCK: It is my best book by a mile, have to drag them from one step to the positive writer/publisher interaction next to the next. and he wouldn't like it at all because story. Normally, it's the opposite ex¬ it's not the sort of book that he likes. treme, where the writer wants to do what That's very understandable, because there he wants to do, and the publisher won't POWERS: The big thing in each of their are certain books that I dcn’t like at let him. lives has happened by the time I'm done all, and that I wouldn't undertake to with the book. After this they're go¬ read either. And if I were an editor, I BLAYLOCK: Anybody who's worked with ing to build a patio, or an outdoor bar- suppose I wouldn't undertake to buy them. Lester -- I think anybody -- knows that b-q, and I just can't picture writing a he doesn't pull any punches. You send book about that. WATSON: The whole idea of sequels and him an outline or a book or whatever it presequels and whatnot -- was that your might happen to be, saying, "Here's my REYNOLDS: You're not writing archetypic¬ idea? Or is it something the publisher child, the child of my imagination." He al heroes, who are inclined towards ad¬ prompted you to do? Did your fan mail writes back and says, "This is quite pos¬ venture . compel you to write more on it? sibly the worst thing I've ever read in POWERS: No, I can't imagine a protagon¬ BLAYLOCK: All three, to a degree. A any language. And I know eight of them." ist like that. The ads for books you lot of fan mail I've gotten suggests or (Laughter) I'm always tempted to think, see in LOCUS, for example, where they hopes that I'll write sequels. However, "Oh, come on. Lester's gone nuts." Then say, "The gods brought Ding-dong the Bar¬ that vrouldn't compel me to write a se¬ two or three days later I look at it again barian a mission! His mission was to quel if I wanted to do something else. and it's diminished a little. I look at clean out the Mole People from Kansas"... When I finished THE DISAPPEARING DWARF, it again, and pretty soon I'm thinking, "How in the world did I ever think this BLAYLOCK: Nothing quite that good, ac¬ I dreamed up an outline for the third tually. Jonathan Bing novel. Lester Del Rey was worth sending to anybody?" He chan¬ didn't like it and rejected it. By the ges it all, and it turns out he's done POWERS: "Yessir!" he says to the gods. time I'd begun to think of another pos¬ me a great favor. Lester has been a very "I’ll get right on it!" And I think, sible outline, I'd sold the proposal for positive influence on this whole business. "Why? Why didn't he change his name and THE DIGGING LEVIATHAN and was off on My first two Del Rey novels were al¬ leave the state?" I would have. Screw nine months of working on it. Then, most entirely my own. There might have the Mole People! You deal with them. I not too long back, Lester himself sug¬ been one or two little elements, like don't care about them. I can't get a gested that it was high time there was Escargot's invisible cloak. I think it character into a conflict except reluct¬ some sort of sequel. At the World Sci¬ was my agent (Andrew Wylie) who thought antly. Who goes into it joyfully? "I'm ence Fiction Convention in Anaheim, Les¬ up the invisible cloak gag. going to get the shit kicked out of me!" ter and Judy Lynn took my wife and I out Who wakes up in the morning and figures to lunch, and Lester presented me with WATSON: It seems like there are some that's their goal for the day? What ev¬ an envelope containing a rough synopsis possibilities for a sequel at the end of erybody wants to do every morning is sit of the first fqw chapters of the novel. DINNER AT DEVIANT'S PALACE. on the back porch and drink beer. Count He said, "Blaylock, your outlines gener¬ tte crows that go by. Read a book. If ally stink. Here's the beginning of an 19 you wind n> having a crisis, like you try to drive to work and you run out of WATSON: What about you, Jim? How do POWERS: IT's all part of it. With Bond, gas, it's in spite of your efforts. Ev¬ you feel about heroes? it's a sort of old school Eton loyalty to en Travis McGee and Conan didn't mean to England, and with Marlowe it's some sort get into every adventure they got into. BLAYLOCK: The problem I have with the of innate ethic he came with. Though It's in spite of themselves. They're books Powers is talking about is that you believe it. You do believe it. just trying to go get a hamburger some¬ they're all so humorless, I suppose. "Down these mean streets a man mist go where and these things happen on the way. POWERS: Yes. who is not..Etc., etc. WATSON: In your books, though, their BLAYLOCK: Any heroes that I come across REYNOLDS: I'm thinking now of THE BLUE reluctance isn't just a hurdle to get (and have any sympathy for), have to be DAHLIA. Even though his wife was a com¬ fallible types. plete bitch, somebody shot her, and it's his wife, and by gum, he's gonna find POWERS: They keep wanting to go back to REYNOLDS: Less Arthurian? the back porch. out who done it. BLAYLOCK: Much less Arthurian, in the WATSON: Even ninety percent of the way sense that I think you mean. POWERS: How about (imitating Bogart), through the book! "When a guy's partner get's shot, he's POWERS: Perfection. got to do something about it." You re¬ POWERS: They still think, "Can't I spect that. You recognize it and respect please go back to my back porch?" BLAYLOCK: Honorable perfection. it. Since I don't share it, though, I REYNOLDS: So is that how you see heroes POWERS: He's got that crown on. in general, as characters produced by BLAYLOCK: He talks in somfe funny lang¬ WATSON: You're referring to a sense of situations? uage that no human being ever spoke on obligation. Earth. POWERS: Goaded to it. In fact, not POWERS: Yeah, You got to. You don't quite that simply. The thing I had most POWERS: He's got no time to go out for want to. James Bond never wants to go in mind when I wrote DINNER AT DEVIANT'S beer. do these terrible things. Neither does PALACE was CASABLANCA. Humphrey Bogart McGee or Philip Marlowe. They have to. has got a nice job. He's got this bar BLAYLOCK: That sort of thing bothers If they didn't, their whole life- he runs and he doesn't need to mess with me. I do, however, buy into the reality anybody; he just sits around and gets WATSON: But the act qf being a spy is of people who behave heroically because a voluntary act. You said before, they drunk evepr night. It's a perfect life. it seems to be the right thing to do. Yes, in his past he used to have these have taken the job so they get everything It's just that they'd better wear funny that comes with it. But they didn't have passionate ethical concerns that took hats and forget to zip their pants up and him into risky arenas, but he's outgrown to take the job. And when they said, stuff like that on the way, or else I "Yes, I'll be a spy," they knew what they that. Then in comes old IIsa Lund, the don't believe in them at all. I believe girlfriend from the past, and he discov¬ were saying yes to. You can always back they'll set out to do it, but whether it up to a previous incident. Unless ers that, no, he cannot comfortably aban¬ they actually accomplish it with the don all his ethical convictions. He's they were forced to become a spy rather style with which it's accomplished in than take sane other job. got to once again pull on the old shorts those Epic Fantasy types of books, I'm and dive in. That is the only way I can POWERS: No, I think they chose it. But picture a guy doing anything heroic. Re¬ as a reader, I do mistrust selfless her¬ luctantly. This may be because I myself POWERS: I think everybody figures that oes who instinctively say, "I've got a am really lazy. All I want to do is sit if you're walking by a riverbank and nice house here, a good job, beer in the on the back porch and read John D. Mac¬ there's an old lady drowning, you should refrigerator, but I'm going to give all Donald all day. go save her. But you’d pay a hundred that up and go save the world from dollars not to be walking along that riv¬ these lizards." erbank. REYNOLDS: Then what do you feel makes BLAYLOCK: You would go save her. BLAYLOCK: The characters should have a heroic character? a bit more motivation than that. POWERS: But cursing. (Laughter) POWERS: A guy who is forced into some POWERS: This is what you pay taxes for! risky behavior because of some ethical BLAYLOCK: 'Cause it’s wrecking your For some military gang to take care of thing he can't find any way around, clothes and everything ... the lizards that are arriving in space though he should try first to find some POWERS: ...And you got somewhere to be. ships! way around it. Being left with courage The people who routinely do these things, REYNOLDS: Have you read THE PLAGUE, by after trying every variation of cowardice. such as Philip Marlowe and James Bond Albert Cairns? (Laughter) I don't understand Hillary -- and I don't mean the movie James Bon4 ... What was his name? Climbed...? I mean Ian Fleming's -- do them in al¬ POWERS: No, I haven’t. REYNOLDS: Sir Edmund Hillary. most the same way a priest would go to a BLAYLOCK: I have. house with bubonic plague. When they POWERS: Yeah, I don't understand, "Be¬ signed up with the job, they signed up POWERS: Cairns puzzles me. cause it was there." I dcn't understand for it all. REYNOLDS: There's Dr. Rieux, who just the guy who decides to save the world. happens to live in this town where the I mean if it was me, I'd say, "Let the REYNOLDS: "Fred, you knew the job was dangerous when you took it." plague happens to strike. Yet he won't next guy that drives up Main Street save leave. Because he's a doctor and people the vrorld." I don't understand selfless, are suffering and dying, though there's instinctive heroism. And since I have nothing he can do, (there's no antidote, such a lack of sympathy for it, (and I there's no way even to ease the suffer¬ like to think I'm the average reader), I ing) , he stays. don't think the average reader is going to have much sympathy for it. Frank and BLAYLOCK: That's easy to believe, Joe Hardy don't make it. though. There are doctors who do that all the time. BLAYLOCK: I dcn't know; I’m not sure that the average reader doesn't wish he REYNOLDS: Well, does that seem heroic were in a world full of selfless heroes, to you?' Or fatalistic? Or just futile? thereby ... BLAYLOCK: IT strikes me as heroic. WATSON: Perhaps they like to think of pO£RS; It certainly sounds like it. themselves as selfless heroes. Whether or not they are is not important. BLAYLOCK: He's so full of compassion and all sorts of other nifty things, POWERS: But Christ! Pick a book. Who that you develop a great admiration for him as the story goes an. REYNOLDS: A character is REYNOLDS: So that could be a criterion somewhat heroic; he takes the world upon for a heroic character, his compassion. his shoulders to do it his way ... POWERS: Not mine. They don't do it for POWERS: He just wants to run his subma¬ no compassion in my books. They do it rine or Tiis blinp, or whatever he has, 20 because they're going to die if they do not. Or something. easily change the name of this character. WATSON: There's that penalty hanging Call him Joe Schmoe or something like over their head all the time. It’s in¬ that.” She wrote back and said, "No, teresting, though, that in DINNER AT DE¬ you're going to keep him. I want to VIANT'S PALACE, the main thing hanging mess with this." over Rivas' head is the thought of trying POWERS: We didn't mean anything. Each to live with himself afterwards, if he of us happened to use the name Ashbless, gives up. as we had many times before. POWERS: His definition of himself forc¬ BLAYLOCK: In fact, Ashbless is mention¬ es him to do that. Though he finally ed in both of these two books. (His nov¬ ditches, I think, that definition of els, THE ELFIN SHIP and THE DISAPPEARING himself. DWARF) They quote Ashbless. REYNOLDS: But the force is a moral and POWERS: And he's mentioned in my two ethical force, not a physical force. Laser books. POWERS: ANUBIS GATES is interesting, BLAYLOCK: Anyway, she said, "In fact, because all he (Brendan Doyle) does is don't cut him out of there." She said, run from everything! He doesn't ever "If you see room to glorify it a little choose to do anything, he just meets bit, and build it up, go ahead and do monsters coming and runs that way! it." It was then that it became very clear that Ashbless not only doesn’t WATSON: That happens in real life too. die at the end of THE ANUBIS GATES but there's some indication that this cleans¬ BLAYLOCK: The problem with a character ing that he gets when he goes through whose motivation is just selfless, com¬ the Anubis Gates may well make it con¬ mitting himself to carrying the world on ceivable that he'd appear in his shoulders, or saving the world, or a hundred and some years later. whatever, the problem with that guy is that he is so utterly uninteresting. If WATSON: I thought that you guys had that's the substance of his character... gotten together and brainstormed on it a little bit, because it does work out. POWERS: He eats Grapenuts for breakfast. REYNOLDS: Carefully! Thoroughly! POWERS: Luck. BLAYLOCK: ...then the hell with him. BLAYLOCK: Well, you probably had the Who cares? wrong issue. (Laughter) BLAYLOCK: It was luck. Oh, we did a little brainstorming later, I suppose. REYNOLDS: You've got him in one sentence POWERS: You were looking under his pen name. You have to look under his real In fact, I added references to Brendan right there. You don't need to know any¬ Doyle and so forth. thing more about him. name. POWERS: After Beth said, "Keep it,” we BLAYLOCK: You don't. So (as a writer) BLAYLOCK: Actually, William Ashbless you want to start doing funny things to was a creation of Powers and I together, got together and I told him some names him, to tum him into somebody you're one day. April what? Can't remember to put in, because if it's going to be the same character we wanted to have at interested in reading about. Make his least a gesture toward continuity. motivation a little bit more conplicated, POIERS: I think it was March 10th, 1974. a little bit more interesting. Making BLAYLOCK: He wasn't entirely the same him a little bit more complicated and in¬ BLAYLOCK: Is this the place to reveal guy. That was pretty apparent. But then teresting turns out not to yield that all this? In this interview? Right we started to think, "Gee whiz, he's two selfless sword-wielding travesty. here? (Long silence while Blaylock ex¬ hundred years old by that time! So how changes meaningful glances with Powers) the hell would he be the same guy?" REYNOLDS: Related to that, then, do you find that the characters you come up with POWERS: Can' t hurt. POWERS: Our own LAZARUS LONG (the Hein- to be ones that you find particularly BLAYLOCK: We wrote a bunch of poetry lein character). interesting? Or are they ones that you under the pen name of William Ashbless. WATSON: Are you going to use him again? think the readers will find interesting? Powers would write a line, then I'd BLAYLOCK: They interest me. I take it write a line, back and forth. We've got POWERS: Oh, yeah. on faith that there're readers out there heaps and heaps of it. It was printed BLAYLOCK: Quite likely he'll appear who are looking for the same thing. Be¬ in the school newspaper and made quite a again. ing a reader myself, a long-time book¬ splash. They thought we were brilliant young poets. POWERS: At this point, it'd be kind of worm, I'm convinced that the books I've a shame to leave him out. been reading have stayed in print all POWERS: They thought Ashbless was a these years because other people are brilliant young poet. BLAYLOCK: I mention him again in HOHJN- reading them too. CULUS, (soon to be published by Ace), in BLAYLOCK: A brilliant young poet. They several places. His works are mentioned, POWERS: You have to assume you're rep¬ didn't know Powers and Blaylock existed. but he doesn't appear as a character. resentative of the readership in general Once we'd invented him and had a lot of out there. fun with him in college, any time either POWERS: And I quote from him in DEVI¬ ANT'S PALACE. BLAYLOCK: I think you have to write, as one of us would need a name for a poet, somebody once said, "for an audience of especially for kind of a wild and loony WATSON: Yes. And you quoted from him in one," if you're gonna do it honestly. poet, we'd use Ashbless. He showed up the first two books. So you actually in my 1972 version of this book, too. have a body of poetry by this... POWERS: Who're you gonna write for? I had him killed in the end. They found Your landlord? him in a gutter in Santa Monica. He BLAYLOCK: Yeah, and good stuff. REYNOLDS: Lester Del Rey! (Laughter) simply was transferred to this. I was POWERS: Though when we quote from him working on this at the same time Tim was we make it up as we go. We're not ac¬ BLAYLOCK: If it were assumed that I'd working on THE ANUBIS GATES. written THE DIGGING LEVIATHAN with a tually quoting from something written particular reader in mind, it would be POWERS: I sent THE ANUBIS GATES to Ace neat to hear somebody describe that read¬ and Beth Meacham bought it. Then Blay¬ WATSON: There was no poem "Twelve Hours er, where he lives, and what his name is. lock sends THE DIGGING LEVIATHAN. She of The Night?” I'd like to meet him. says, "What is this? What's this Ash- bless?" And I said, "Oh, Christ. You POWERS: No, not until I chose to make WATSON: It's interesting that you have mean Blaylock had Ashbless in his book?" it up. Though Ashbless does have a con¬ the character "William Ashbless" in (Laughter) siderable backlog of stuff. that book (THE DIGGING LEVIATHAN), and you even make reference to Brendan Doyle BLAYLOCK: I sent her a letter that said, BLAYLOCK: Some of it's pretty daim quot¬ in passing. Of course, both of those "Powers' book is in the works. I can able. Line by line anyway. Taken all together it's a little rough. characters are also in (Tim Powers' nov¬ el) THE ANUBIS GATES. We looked in the 21 POWERS: I like to think that we'll some time write a story -- God knows which of POWERS: I cooked up an Ashbless quote bluffed and had no idea of whether it us, or both of us -- having Ashbless be, for it to be a quote from. (Laughter) was correct or not. I won't call atten¬ for example, the alternate driver of I'm not calling him Ashbless; I'm calling tion to those bits, where I turned oil to Kesey's Magic Bus, when Seal Cassady was him Guillermo Ceniza Bendiga, which means be wrong, because I don't want to need¬ too tired to drive. God knows where he William .Ash Bless. lessly turn people on to that. I tend might show up. to research the hell out of them before WATSON: I*0 you d° a lot of research BLAYLOCK: We've got him living through first, before you start working? a hundred plus years of history, so he REYNOLDS: Why is that? Do you feel it can filter in any time he chooses. POWERS: I don't even know what the plot gives your stuff a certain verisimilitude? is before I do the research. Or is it because it gives you more mat¬ WATSON: Speaking of history, how do you erial from which you can extract ideas? approach writing your historical fiction? WATSON: What stage are you in right now? Do you start out with actual historical POWERS: :'m re-writing it. Every book POkERS: It gives you more material. events and then weave a plot around them, I do, I write once to what I think is A number of people in Blaylock's THE DIG¬ or do you start out with the plot and perfection and mail it to the editor. GING LEVIATHAN are real -- Roycroft find a historical niche for it? They send it back and say, "Idiot! Does Squires, and Phil Mays the bug collector this really look like a publishable book who has a butterfly the size of a heron POWERS: I'll find the historical niche to you?" I re-read it and think, "Oh, pinned to his wall with an epee. I do first. Always. In the case of THE ANU- my gawd. No, you're right! Let me fix not think he actually has that, but there BUS GATES it (came from my being) a By¬ it!" So I spend another year re-writing is really a Roy Squires and a Phil Mays... ron freak. I was reading Byron’s letters it. At the moment I'm about half through and I found a letter that said something the re-write. BLAYLOCK: They creep in. There’s room like, (I quoted it in the book), "God for them. Roy Squires actually lives in damndest thing! Back in 1810 come peop¬ WATSON: You've already gone through Glendale, pretty nuch where I put him, le said they saw me in London. Several the research phase. and Phil Mays lives in Tarzana. people saw me. One even followed me and POWERS: Yeah, though every time they POWERS: As a matter of fact. Squires saw me sign "” on a petition send it back and say, "It's junk. Powers. has appeared in a Fritz Leiber novel, expressing concern for the health of the Re-do it," I re-do the research, because and... I forget what other stuff. king. But at the time these guys were by that time I've forgotten everything. seeing this fake Lord Byron in London, I BLAYLOCK: There's a- Powers novel dedi- was sick with a terrible fever in Tur¬ WATSON: Hemingway once said, "Writing is the hardest work there is." key!" I thought, "Well, hell! I could POVERS: That's right. have some fun with this!” That eventual¬ BLAYLOCK: I think ol" Hemingway was BLAYLOCK: I don't think I include any¬ ly led to everything else that was in yanking somebody around. THE ANUBIS GATES. In fact, I only had body who I'm not pretty sure has a sense him go to because I happened to REYNOLDS: After three or four bottles of humor, because I don't want anybody have a couple of good descriptions of of Pernod it's not so easy...(Laughter) to take offense at some looney thing that big massacre of the Mameluke Beys that I say. I get a grin on my face and BLAYLOCK: I did about six years of con¬ say, "I think I"ll slide ol' so-and-so in 1811, and I only had him flash back struction cleanup, and it took a little to 1684 because I happened to have a very in here; I put a pair of funny pants on more out of me to do that than it does him and make him say something idiotic good description of that terrible winter. to write, to tell you the truth. I even had some pictures to look at. I so he'll get mad later on." thought, "You're jumping around in time WATSON: He used to claim that he would WATSON: Is there a real-life model for anyway, why not have him go back to agonize over every word, that there were William Hastings? 1684? You can use all this stuff.” I two or three times as many words crossed think I tied it in well enough. DRAWING out on his original manuscripts as there BLAYLOCK: He always struck me as an at¬ OF THE DARK was a project Jeter, Ray Nel¬ were words that were left in. tempt to paint a picture of a lunatic, of son and I were doing for Roger Elwood, the lunatic that I would become. BLAYLOCK: You know, it's hard to argue (Laughter) historical complications of King Arthur with Hemingway, because he did get it being reborn throughout history. right. WATSON: He's just bottled up inside you. WATSON' There's some resemblance to POWERS: In ANUBIS GATES the street BLAYLOCK: Yeah. He's in there. Two or (K.W. Jeter's) MOORLOCK NIOIT. names, the names of the bars on the three of the characters in combination POWERS: Yes. Uncomfortable resemblance. streets, are more often accurate than are pretty much just me, as far as I un¬ They were both originally part of a ser¬ not. Rat's Castle, the place Horrabin derstand myself. In fact, he's not bas¬ ies. We each got to pick times in his¬ hung out in, is real. There was a place ed on anybody in reality so nuch as on tory we wanted to write about, and I called that, with a hospital in the base¬ Tristam Shandy's father in (Laurence really wanted to write about the siege ment. Captain Copenhagen Jack, the Beg- Sterne's classic novel) TRISTAM SHANDY. of Malta, where Suleiman the Magnificent, gar-master of Pye Street was real. The I was real impressed with his father, in his old age, tried to take Malta and huge dinners they used to have were evi¬ and Uncle Toby, and all those characters. failed, but Ray Nelson had grabbed a date dently accurate, according to the sources He grew out of that, a combination of too close to that, so I couldn't have it. I read. .More is historically accurate than anyone will ever notice, which I I was sulking, and Jeter said, "Well, WATSON: I heard you mention Acres of Powers, look. Earlier in his career, figure will cover the bits where I've Books over dinner. I gather that that Suleiman tried to take . Why don't really is a place. How much else in THE you write about that?" And I said, "Well DIGGING LEVIATHAN is real? Christ, what happened then? I don't know nothing about Vienna!” He says, BLAYLOCK: I wrote it with a map in my "No? It was real good. Why don't you hand, so all the streets work. There are just take it on faith. Come on. It was some streets up around Glendale, specif¬ a great battle, really. You'll be able ically in Roycroft Squires' neighborhood. to write a good book about it." So I WATSON: Rexroth. said, "Oh, okay." That was obviously not chosen because of the period. Now BLAYLOCK: And Patchen. Those street I'm currently doing one set in 1718 in names I made up just because I thought the , with Blackbeard and the it'd be a little thick to give Squires' Fountain of Youth and voodoo and sword address in the novel. fights and sea battles, mostly because WATSON: That's his actual name? I wanted to write about pirates and Black- beard and the Fountain of Youth and all BLAYLOCK: Yeah, Roy Squires. I didn't that, and then try to find a plot that change it. Well, I did. His name isn't would fit comfortably into‘it. Roycroft. I called him Roycroft Squires just because of my interest in arts and WATSON: What's the working title? crafts furniture, and a group called the POVERS: . Which I Roycrofters. I think that kind of irri¬ think I'm going to insist on. oAvip L TKAMSOO tated him just a bit, because they were kind of nutty people. Squires is not BLAYLOCK: Good title. 22 nutty in any way, shape or form. WATSON: He's not portrayed that way in BLAYLOCK: It can be a bit misleading. the book either. He's a sober influence. REYNOLDS: Do you sit down and write BLAYLOCK: He’s solid. back to them? POWERS: He's the most levelheaded of BLAYLOCK: No, not at all! them all. WATSON: What about you, Tim? How do WATSON: He's the guy with the boat. you feel about critics? Does the real Roy have a boat? POWERS: I think literary criticism is BLAYLOCK: No, he has no boat. I like having a toy train set in your thought I'd give him a tugboat. basement. I hope you get fun out of it, but don't expect everybody outside to WATSON: Did you actually take into ac- care. And don't expect it to apply to couit the actual sewer pipe system? anything outside. If they like my books, BLAYLOCK: No, I just sort of figured I think very highly of them and want to out that they existed, and I'd read a buy them a drink. If they don't like little bit about them. them I think they're morons and I hope I drive by some time when they've got a WATSON: You could say pretty much what flat tire and no spare, so I can keep you want about them, because who's to driving. say you're wrong? lot of the references to science in all WATSON: Have you had a lot of flack? BLAYLOCK: That's right. Although three of your books. You had The Profes¬ Squires pointed out that I had the flow sor spouting all kinds of nonsense about POWERS: Htim. I think, like Blaylock, of water from east to west (or something) The Five Standard Shapes, Bestial Scien¬ I've been lucky. My reviews have been in Glendale. Actually, it runs west to ces, The Third Law Of Stasis And Termin¬ more good than bad. The bad ones, well, east (or whatever) because the hills are ation, All Things Seek Like Things, and you tell yourself, "This is a jerk. He over there. He caught me on that'one. so on. These sound very legitimate. missed the point. This isn't the guy I BLAYLOCK: I just made that stuff up. was writing for. This guy wants to read REYNOLDS: Well, you'll have to correct James Joyce, not me. What’s he wasting that in the next edition then. There's some stuff in THE DIGGING LEVIA¬ THAN that I didn't make up. The squid his time with science fiction for?" It BLAYLOCK: I will. Only I can't now re¬ sensor stuff, and the anti-gravity jars doesn't bother me to get a bad review. member exactly what screwup I made! It are all valid ...(Laughter)...al¬ I think it would bother me if I got a might be north to south... though what happens to it, of course, is string of them. POERS: Just make it different. a little bit invalid. WATSON: You might think there was some¬ thing to it at that point. BLAYLOCK: There is an Acres of Books, and REYNOLDS: How do you react to critical Egg Heaven does exist in Long Beach. review? POWERS: You'd start to think maybe you had better pay attention. So far, that WATSON: Rusty's Cantina? BLAYLOCK: Well, obviously, being as vain as I am, I'd like everybody to like my has not been the case. BLAYLOCK: Yeah. books, and when they don't like my books, WATSON: Do you read critical stuff your¬ WATSUN: Have you investigated tide pools it seems to a degree like a personal af¬ self? Of other people's work? off Palos Verdes? front. Consequently, I tend to be in¬ sulted. I take offense with it. But I POWERS: I read a lot of book reviews, BLAYLOCK: Yeah, I've hit a few tide haven't had enough of that to really be¬ just to kind of get an idea of who I pools in my time. come too offended. It hasn't happened want to read. You get reviewers you trust, or trust always to be wrong, WATSON: Real deep ones? that often. People complained that my first book was too nice. Too sugar-coat¬ which can be as valuable. For criticism BLAYLOCK: You know, I'm not going to ed, which struck me as being a little I mostly just read older stuff; Heming¬ say I haven't. I'm not going to say bit idiotic. Obviously, it's a comment way and A.E. Houseman might be the most that there's any that I consider to be by a reviewer who didn't like that sort recent. Well, no -- Stan Robinson's bottomless, but there are some out there of thing. I have a number of friends book on Phil Dick. I read that and along the coast that are pret¬ who I simply wouldn't advise to read my thought it was very good. ty remarkable -- for their depth, and for first two novels. I've never asked K.W. REYNOLDS: Do you believe that literary how odd it becomes if the water's very (Jeter) to read my first two novels. criticism is a viable means of creative very clear, and they're very very deep. Even though I think he’s read them just expression, or is it just a way of some The only reason you can’t see to the bot¬ because of... pissant to grind his axes for a living? tom is that maybe they've gone around a couple of little bends and there's some WATSON: Loyalty. POWERS: Mich of it strikes me as being seavreed in the way, and every once in a BLAYLOCK: Loyalty, yeah. But they are every bit as valuable as a guy who makes while it blows back, and whoom! You can not at all the sort of thing that he a replica of the Chartres Cathedral out see way down there. would normally like to read. of toothpicks. Takes a lot of effort, it ain't by any means easy, and it's in¬ POWERS: And we know a lady who swears POWERS: He said they stink. tricate and nice to look at, but absolu¬ that you can sail a submarine under Los tely unimportant. Angeles. BLAYLOCK: Of course he did! (Laughter) I don't think I'd have as much of a prob¬ REYNOLDS: Do you believe that people BLAYLOCK: As far back as I said. That lem recomnending THE DIGGING LEVIATHAN, who pronounce judgment on your work is true, according to some accounts. which isn't quite as nice in that way. affect its sales? Affect its popularity? (Laughter) But they were what they were intended to BLAYLOCK: Inasmuch as the most of the WATSON: What about the Hudson Wasp? be, and if somebody doesn't like what they were intended to be, then that's judgment has been positive, I would hope BLAYLOCK: That's just a car I've always his to work out. that that's the case, although most of wanted to own. I've always thought they the periodicals that those reviews have were interesting looking cars. Big bal¬ POWERS: To hell with him. appeared in haven't had a wide enough loons. When the guy who drew Flash Gor¬ BLAYLOCK: There's no accounting for circulatini to have accomplished very don wanted to draw a picture of the car taste, I suppose. much, I'm sure. If you were panned in that Martians wuuld land in if they land¬ the Washington Post or the L.A. Times it ed in a car, he would have drawn a Hudson WATSON: If somebody doesn't like science could have a bad effect. Wasp. I've always admired that car. fiction there's no point in them review¬ Also the Hudson Wasp is connected to the ing a science fiction book. If somebody goofy perspective on science in the book. doesn't like nice fantasy books, then POWERS: I got panned in an inport ant It's a ludicrous machine. All machines they shouldn't read your books. Or newspaper by a guy who hadn't read the in there are ludicrous, and they're lud¬ shouldn’t review them, anyway. Those book. aren't any grounds for criticism, nor is icrous in every book I write. As far as BLAYLOCK: That’s always fascinating. I know, they're all ludicrous in reality it what people who read critics are look- POtERS: He told me he hadn't read it. WATSON: You put that into Hastings' WATSON: But did he say in the review mouth. You have him say, "Let a literary 23 that he hadn't read it? PO€RS: No. in THE DIGGING LEVIATHAN), and then you complain about books on the basis of get twenty pages of L.A., Glendale, Pas¬ what wasn't in them, rather than on the WATSON: Which book was that? adena, and all the funny stuff that's go¬ basis of what was in them. P»€RS: That was DEVIANT'S PALACE. ing on there. Back and forth. It was Finally, I am pretty well convinced, structured interestingly, but since it WATSON: That's too bad. as a long-time reader of literature, had no plot, the structure didn't make that men don't do women characters near¬ BLAYLOCK: One of the things the critical much sense. When I wrote this, both ly as well as women do women characters, conmentary on THE DIGGING LEVIATHAN has characters were in fact saved, and the and women dai't do men characters nearly had in conmon is that they've all can- fourteen-year-old character became Jim as well as men do; and I think it's be¬ plained about the picture an the cover! Hastings and the seventy-year-old char¬ cause they don't understand each other Not about the art work, which is really acter was trimmed down to become William quite as well as they might. I look very very nice. Hastings, essentially. So I got to keep around at great novels written by men, both ends. POWERS: I like it. and there don't seem to be too many wo¬ This next area/question ties men in them. Dickens didn't do good wo¬ BLAYLOCK: I wish I had the original, to in with young boys making significant men. Mark Twain didn't do good women. tell you the truth. Beautiful painting, contributions to the advancement of your Melville didn't do good women. Women but it is reminiscent of a juvenile. books' plots. Their mothers are either in Dickens, in particular, are horrible! You know, there's a kid who's obviously non-existent or have succumbed to some Especially compared to male characters thirteen of fourteen years old on this disease or whatever. There are no women like Pickwick or Nickelby or Pip. wacky machine, a machine which doesn't in your books at all. Do you do that in¬ WATSON: So it was a question of not appear in the book, actually. And it's tentionally? If so, what's your reason? not a juvenile. The protagonist is not wanting to try to do something that you You have one character who talks about felt you couldn't do wll? fifteen years old, the protagonist is how all love poems are just so much waste about fifty-seven or something like that. paper and ink, and that poets really BLAYLOCK: Right, exactly. I was attempt¬ Consequently, it's a misleading picture. should have been writing poems to coffee ing to write as well as I could write. I'd say there have been three reviewers because that was a worthwhile sentiment. Given the subject matter, given the tone so far who've said pointblank that they of the books, given where I thought the "passed the book by," several times in I'm probably not much on love books were going, I thought that I would the bookstores before it was finally re- myself. I'm not that romantic, in that sacrifice a certain amount of quality if conmended by somebody else. When they I undertook to plug a woman character in¬ got it they found out they'd been pas¬ to a novel where I had no inclination to sing it by for the wrong reason. This is going to look terrible in print, Blaylock. put a woman character. REYNOLDS: Does that make you mad? This is going to look terrible. WATSON: Are there female Link Men? Are BLAYLOCK: Wellll... I've seen worse I've been married for thirteen years and there female Elves? covers. I think it makes me happy that I'm not a misogynist; I'm probably more BLAYLOCK: Boy, that’s a rough one. It's it's a nice cover. In fact... traditional along those lines than most something I hadn't given too much thought POWERS: At least they finally found it. people. I've submitted outlines to ed¬ to. I suppose so. They've got to repro¬ itors, outlines featuring females, if duce. So I suppose there are. And to BLAYLOCK: ...I called Ace and I said, not protagonists, at least strong female tell you the truth, it wouldn't at all "Gee whiz, have you...? I haven't seen characters, and to tell you the truth, I surprise me if some few of them appeared the cover yet. I understand there's a simply haven't sold any of them yet. I'm in a novel in the future. cover proof out." And they said, "Oh, not trying to say I didn't sell them be¬ you'll love the cover. It's very cute.” cause they had strong woman characters. WATSON: There isn't any love interest I thought, "OH GOD!" (Laughter] "My car¬ The current book that I'm writing for either. How could they make a movie out eer is over!" (Laughter] Then they said, Del Rey (THE ROAD TO BALUMIIA) has a of one of these books without a love in¬ "No no no, it's not cute that way, it's strong woman character. HOMJNCULUS (his terest? It would never get past anybo

By now I suppose much of the SF com¬ GREGORY amusing, for she is simply the literary munity has seen the attack titled "The analog of the limousine liberal, parrot¬ Temple of Boredom," published in HARPER'S BENFORD ing squawks of revolution from her East in October 1985. It was followed by 13 50s condo. They invoke suppressed Iron letters to the editor in the January 1986 Curtain writers and link aims with Bishop issue, and an analysis of the dispute in Tutu, but we know they're just nugging the Los Angeles Times (Feb 19, 1986). by Ben Bova in his collection of essays, for the cameras. The closest thing wo What I found most notable about this THE ASTRAL MIRROR (TOR, 1985, P. 77). have to the USSR style Writer's Union piece and the replies was not the low That venerable newspaper sought a piece here is P.E.N. itself. The revolution¬ quality of Sante's argument and his ob¬ on SF, and when Bova's work did not con- aries of literature are not reenacting vious technophobia, but rather how it deim it sufficiently, they recruited an tired dramas of romantic opposition to fits into the general strategy now used academic to do the work. the State, no. They're doing something against SF. Therein lies a story. far harder and less conspicuous -- they The field of fantastic literature are thinking, seeing a world that does Early in Sante's piece he lets slip needs criticism as much as any literary not yield to the tools of the 19th cen¬ the mask of urbane indulgence and comes arena -- indeed, I'd argue it needs more tury novel or of the compressed NEW YORK¬ out against even innovation: -- but what I find most obvious about the ER short story. two-front policy of the conventional-fic¬ "...innovation itself has become an tion world is its sloppiness. When some¬ In his HARPER'S piece, Luc Sante de¬ aesthetic quality, existing for its own one rushes at you with a knife, misses, manded that SF "give us the future.” sake... Technology has long been science and falls clumsily into the gutter, you Would any reasonable adult demand of con¬ fiction's conceit, now it is a conceit understand iimediately that the assault ventional ficticn that it give us the in real life as well ..." was neither professional nor well-plan¬ past, or even the present? An undergrad¬ Rarely are the snobs so clear. ned. Someone in New York has been irri¬ uate who made such a wall-eyed claim tated, and lashes out. would flunk the course. Sante replied to After all, SF is about the new. And the 13 letter-writers by saying, "Science newness, even caketTwith Spielberg sugar, This is the first front -- literary fictioneers must know that there is some¬ is fundamentally scary. Even so, the muggings conducted in public, to scare thing wrong in their province; otherwise motives of the conventional litbiz com¬ away the timid and silence the incorrig¬ why wrould they feel it so necessary to munity are all to easy to read. We have ible. guard the gates?" Any member of a high seen their work before. Somewhere, the Contrast this with Ms. Revenel and school debating team could squash that Czars are sweatilv consulting the arriv¬ ESQUIRE, the second front patricians. incredible argument -- but the editors al schedule at the Finland station. When ESQUIRE published a roundup of what at HARPER'S evidently felt it made sense. In 1982 the critic Niel Barron wrote 100 writers in the USA were working on, Contemplate what Sante would have said Shannon Revenel, the permanent co-editor it asked no SF writers. Asked to defend had no one replied to his random, dull- of THE BEST AMERICAN SHORT STORIES, ask¬ this, they said SF was irrelevant to good witted attack ... ing why this iruch-touted annual collec¬ Both fronts in this literary land- tion very seldom included SF, despite Literature -- meaning litrahchar, grab misunderstand the very function of the plain fact that about half of all y'know -- must be about character and speculative ficticn -- to give us vis¬ English language short stories belong to style, not (heavens!) situation and set¬ ions, to lift us above the concerns and the genre. She replied (in THE PATCHIN ting. This plainly announced bias be¬ concealments of the day. The principal REVIEW #3) that there was no bias against trays much, including ethnocentricity and engine of SF's buoyancy is science, SF, but after reading the year's short a dim Babbitlike knowledge of literary which can give perspective and a point¬ stories (prompted by Barron's nudging) , history. It explains the increasing ir¬ edly non-anthropocentric view of our she said, "I did not find any stories relevance of much conventional fiction. predicament. there which had gone beyond a too heavy Despite the fact that the moon landing So who's afraid of SF today? As us¬ reliance on situation and setting, a re¬ was in 1969, setting a story there is liance which obscured the necessary lit¬ ual, an elite. Beleaguered by the funda¬ somehow declasse. un"realistic," jejune. mental fact that our centuTy is shaped erary development of character and lang¬ Indeed, SF isn't about "real people" or uage." and propelled by science and technology, situations which deal with that hoary they seek to wrap us in blankets of "hu¬ I have no doubt that the editors at cliche, The Human Condition. manist" perspective. If a situation HARPER'S would respond nuch the same. So the second front ignores SF, finds should be too exotic, should people be But that's not all. When a major nation¬ it beneath contempt. Quietly, through dominated by the "situation and setting" al magazine reaches down into the pool the back door, they import Vonnegut and -- meaning, a transfigured landscape, of 's fledgling freelancers and LeGuin, Huxley and Orwell, laundering where people may well not think or feel plucks forth two poorly constructed and them of the SF stigma. (For the most the way ve do - then literature it highly emotional attacks, there's a hid¬ part, writers so honored are quite hap¬ ain't. The notion of illustrating char¬ den agenda. It runs parallel with the py to shuck the albatross label and as¬ acter by casting it in bizarre surround¬ lopsided view of the field sought out by cend to a heaven of awards and reviews ings, altered worlds -- that is too risky. MAGAZINE, as detailed and sales, as did Vonnegut and LeGuin.) And SF has gotten altogether too up- Their program is a kind of Mandarin claustrophobia, in which the mind's eye admits solely the narrow slit of the pre¬ sent (pr the sanctified past; no Apollo landings for us). Straining for a world in which change is slow and technology seldom intrudes, this literary microcosm seeks to lock us into the minor emotional¬ ism and class postures of the convention¬ al. Upholders of this faith meet at their annual P.E.N. gatherings, making brave pledges to support dissident writers against the State ... and avert¬ ing their gaze from the true dissidents in the world of literature itself, those who do not follow the usual rules. For Erica Jong to wrap herself in the flag of Solzhenitsyn is pathetically 28 conventional colli QUIRE story, with sition solely by shrugging it off. We geois assumptions have to look through it to the unspoken puzzles behind it, and doing better de¬ spite the fools.

Change and where we might be headed. He looked mystified and shrugged his elbows. "We seem to be caught in some kind of directional drift," said Venus Uranus, reading from a prepared script. "The Is¬ aac Einstein Foundation is accepting don¬ ations for our Directional Research Pro¬ ject/Find a Way, Inc. Please withhold all donations, however, while negotia¬ tions with the Postal Corporation con- cause the field is preempted by you. It's been held open for you.' ... 'And, as I say, I'm reserving the Arabian Nights to you entire¬ ly. ' Campbell was discussing his new magazine, UNKNOWN, of course. This is an interesting sidelight, and I'd like to know more about it. But back to the man and the endless Contrarian ideas Campbell's mind brought forth. He clearly used many of the ideas and argu¬ ments in his letters later as top¬ ics for his famous, controversial editorials. Reading these letters is like rereading those editorials in ASTOUNDING and ANALOG. They take me back in time... I can see that Campbell (along with H.L. Menc¬ ken, Jack Woodford, and G.B. Shaw) THE JOHN W. CAMPBELL LETTERS A lot of what he believed were strong influences on me in my Volume 1 was, to my mind, now, fool's gold, teens and twenties. I'm sure he Edited by Perry A. Chapdelaine, Sr., or half-Truth. But he will make reoriented the thinking of hundreds Tony Chapdelaine, and George Hay. you think! as you read his letters, of thousands, perhaps millions, of A.C. Proj ects, Inc., as you follow his razor-like mind his younger readers. Rt.4, Box 137, Franklin, TN 37064. through twists and turns of logic This volume, and any that fol¬ Hardcover numbered edition: $35. and knowledge and judgement. low, are must-haves and must-reads Paperback: $5.95 There is a somewhat stunning for anyone of intelligence who lusts Add $1. postage and handling, claim by L. Ron Hubbard in his In¬ for exciting, challenging reading. all orders. troduction to his MISSION EARTH This is a Big, thick book, non¬ ten-volume novel (Volume One is stop full of letters to virtually THE INVADERS PLAN): on page xii every sf writer of significance and xiii, he claims that when in 1938 from the year 1938 to 1971. Over he was invited to write for John 600 pages. And, obviously, at W. Campbell he decided to write an PHILIP K. DICK NEWSLETTER 9/10 least one more volume to come. "inner space" sf story, and the POB 611, Glen Ellen, CA 95442. $10. The cover is a fine Kelly Freas story turned out to be "The Danger¬ This double issue is an audio painting of Campbell---head only. ous Dimension." He continues cassette. One side is an extended The letters, the letters, the (about the story): 'Well, to a conversation/interview between Paul letters! My God, Campbell was will¬ typical western mind of the twen¬ Williams and Phil, the other side is ing to write long letters to almost tieth century, that's pretty radi¬ dictated notes for a projected novel anyone in pursuit of an idea. He cal. I didn't tell John that the by Phil, because he could not type explored ideas and concepts and idea was actually as old as Buddha because of recent shoulder surgery. contrary opinions with astonishing and resolved some other sticky ques¬ The novel notes were made prob¬ enthusiasm and dedication. He knew tions like time. Besides, he had ably in August, 1984. enormous amounts of historical facts enough of a problem being ordered The conversation/interview was and relationships which he used to to publish whatever I wrote.' made during Oct. 30-31, and Nov. 1, illustrate his arguments and ideas. This brought me up short. J. 1974. When you come across some of W. Campbell, Jr. had been ordered The conversation carried a them its like stepping on a mind to buy Hubbard's stories, no matter freight of background noises (A baby bomb. what? squalling, a radio(?) and Tessa Dick. He was a rationalist. He sought There are 3 letters in this Phil Dick doesn't sound like himself truth and used logic like a rapier. collection which were to L. Ron on this tape, somehow, voicewise. He decried tradition as fossilized Hubbard,, one of which, dated Jan. The conversation shows his consuming emotionally-dictated hypocrisy. He 23, 1939, seems to indicate a priv¬ interest in the mind, the ironies and saw instinct as a help to intellect ileged position for Hubbard: absurdities of life--as when he dis¬ up to a point: the common man. The 'I'm damned glad you'll be cusses the life and fate of Mussolini, superior man, the high-IQ man, was with us on the Arabian Nights His critical opinion of Kurt Vonnegut the engine of progress and change. stuff-and you needn't worry and Vonnegut's novels and life-view These letters are an amazing about having it yours. I've been are fascinating. education and are in fact addictive. telling a few of the boys to read This is a sampling, a teaser; it Campbell thought Truth was always Washington Irving as an example makes you want to hear more and more, under the surface of Accepted Reali¬ of pure fantasy and complete ac¬ and you wish the conversation had been ty, and he was forever digging, ceptance of magic, enchantment, more focused and wide-ranging. Phil burrowing for the veins of pure et cetera, and adding that they had many, many very perceptive in¬ Truth he knew were there. aren't to do Arabian Nights be¬ sights into the human condition, and how great it would have been if he had put on tape many many more opin¬ ions and evaluations. The novel notes---better quality sound---are and frightening, for me: I hear an absorption in meta¬ physical matters---in the human spir¬ RICHARD E. GEIS it, in God, in contact with massmind, with God, with the subconscious. I hear ominous foreshadowings of emot¬ With 99% success, the editors THE FIRST KINGDOM $1.75 ional illness. have followed the First Commandment Book 23: The Choice It all boils down to whether in of Modem Poetry: THOU SHALT NOT By Jack Katz truth there is an afterlife, mind/ PERMIT A RHYME TO LIVE! Bud Plant, Inc. consciousness after death, spirits, Well, there is one short poem POB 1886, psychic powers, God...or if these which rhymes, in the A-B, A-B for¬ Grass Valley, CA 95945 beliefs, feelings, faiths, manifesta¬ mat. But "Water-Log" by Bonnie My problems with Katz's drawing tions are upwellings from the mael¬ Morris doesn't make any sense to style and his story-telling tech¬ me, for all it's pleasing-sound strom of our subconslouses. nique continue. In this long, epi¬ There is the naked id in the core rhymes, so perhaps that qualified sodic story of aliens and humans in of our , screaming with our con¬ it in Dutcher § Rich's eyes. pre-history on Earth, there is vir¬ scious mind that it/we do not want to The rest of these poems are tually only one body type (as if die! And it collaborates in the sub¬ "poems" to my mind: they are al¬ all humans and aliens were clones conscious to create a will/need to most all prose chopped up into of one primal set), all are in per¬ line fragments and stacked to believe! — in the undying spiritual fect physical condition, almost seem like poetry. Form is all! life in all its masks, aspects, all wear only a brief loin covering. forms. A sample: We heard the click when He likes set piece drawings of Is all this business of religion groups and his story-telling is and the supernatural and the spirit, We crossed the Threshold; I entered stiff and formal, the dialog academ¬ the eternal soul, is it all nothing ic, official, and clumsy. more than a drive to avoid the real¬ Your body and set up Camp. The infantryman. His full-page action/battle ity of eternal death? Is it at base scenes are marvels of perspective, wishful thinking? Or is there really He is the backbone of any You see what 1 mean. Anybody can rendering and anatomy, with the ad¬ something in our minds/brains which ditional marvel of bloodlessness. obeys/uses forces and as yet unknown do that shit. No skill, no talent. Where is the discipline? Let me Earlier books of this long natural laws? series are available from Bud Plant. That is the eternal question, put that another way: isn't it? You see what I Whatever the answer, it seems to Mean. Anybody can do be true that mankind needs his "spir¬ That shit. itualism" to survive. We are highly No skill. No talent. intelligent animals who have a thin Where is the ice of self-awareness (ego) over an Discipline? MERCHANTS OF VENUS ocean of instincts and drives. Primal Let me put that By Frederik Pohl fear wedded to ego creates the undying Another way... Graphic adaptation by Neal defense-mechanism of the spirit world; Let me, instead, puke. McPheeters and Victoria Petersen the absolutely vital, necessary avoid¬ DC Comics, NY $5.95, 1986 ance of final extinction. This full-color graphic story No matter what science learns a- version of this famous 1972 novel bout the human brain and mind, relig¬ is well done, nicely crafted to ion will survive, the supernatural vividly use the life-or-death trap UNDERGROUND CLASSICS #2, #3 will survive, faith in the existence closing in on the hero, Audee Wal- Dealer McDope #1, #2. of the soul will survive. thers, as he struggles to make By Dave Sheridan enough money for a life-saving Rip Off Press, Inc. liver transplant. His last chance Box 14158 is an expedition to a possible , CA 94114 Heechee treasure tunnel under the Sheridan died of cancer in 1982, surface of Venus, in the company of but his work in collaboration with a rich old man and his beautiful Gilbert Shelton on episodes of the companion. Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers, and My only grunch is the too-car- his own major counterculture char¬ toonish style of the drawing, acter, Dealer McDope, live on and which seems at times to be a joke this two-comic collection of McDope (as with Walthers' flat-top head adventures is a fine display of his and red hair). work and thinking. Basically, McDope always (well, almost always) succeeded in making the big score, the huge drug deal, the great drug smuggle, and drugs were Good. THE SOUND OF WONDER, Vol. 1-2 Dave's style changed during his career, beginning psychedelic, Interviews from "The Science Fiction loose, irreverent, free-wheeling Radio Show" in drawing and story.-telling, then By Daryl Lane, William Vernon, and THE MAGAZINE OF SPECULATIVE David Carson shifted to rather rigid box-panels, POETRY $2.00 Suraner-Fall 1983 Oryx Press, Edited by Roger Dutcher and and then loosening up again. 2214 North Central at Encanto, Mark Rich. Dealer McDope #1 (UNDERGROUND Phoenix, AZ 85004 P.0. Box 564 CLASSICS #2) is really great, in¬ These two volumes contain 19 Beloit, WI 53511 spired comix art at all levels. very well done interviews with sf/ Why do they send me these These two Classics are Adults fantasy writers, editors, publish¬ things? Masochism? Do they en¬ Only, by the way, and carry a $2. ers, an artist, and a sf/fantasy joy my scathing reviews? Are per cost plus 854 postage and film reviewer. they sadists, enjoying my pain and handling fee per order. The most striking aspect about anguish as I look through these these interviews is the great amount issues? 31 of reading and preparation that went into them. The interviewers are surmised in an accompanying note: knowledgeable, literate, fair and "...should be a good sleeping pill disciplined. for you." Those interviewed are: Booklet size, 36 pages, offset. Vol. 1: Stephen R. Donaldson C.J. Cherryh Hal Clement RIVERSIDE QUARTERLY Vol.7, #4 Charles Harness Edited and published by Leland Theodore Sturgeon Sapiro, POB 833-044, Richardson, TX 75083. Serious discussions of sf and fantasy, an interview, columns, Rudy Rucker Michael Whelan letters, poetry. Vol. 2: Piers Anthony Not published often, but Sap¬ iro persists, year after year, dec¬ ade after decade. Some interest¬ Philip Jose Farmer Donald A. Wollheim ing, high-quality thought in this issue. James P. Hogan Booklet size, 62 pages, off¬ set, $1.50 for one issue. Roger Ebert Gordon R. Dickson FACTSHEET FIVE#17 $2.00 George R.R. Martin SPACE & TIME #70 Summer 1986. Edited and published by Mike Gun- Edited and published by Gordon Linz- derloy, 41 Lawrence Street, Med¬ You won't get the subjective re¬ ner, 138 W. 70th St., #4B, New York, ford, MA 02155. act ions -to -people that made Charles NY 10023-4432. $4.00. An invaLuable listing and re¬ Platt's DREAM MAKERS books so reveal¬ Semi-pro fiction, poetry, arti¬ view of sf and related fanzines, ing and absorbing, but you will get cles, illustrations. 120 pages, off¬ small press efforts, amateur press detail and advance planning concern¬ set. ing novels, series, life-works, with associations, special literary, a knowledge of how each writer puts audio, visual interests.... An eye-opening accumulation of info words on paper (or screen), how they TNFF, Vol. 46, No.1 began to write as a career... and addresses. A sourcemag to TIGHTBEAM #141 keep. It even has a listing of These are well worth your time, These are the primary publica¬ hate/racist publications. if not your money, since each trade tions of The National Fantasy Fan paperback volume is priced at $18.50, Federation—N3F—which has been in postage included. existence since around 1941 and which A GUIDE TO THE COMMONWEALTH I, myself, was once a member. It's THE OFFICIAL GUIDE TO ALAN DEAN a great place to learn about sf fan¬ FOSTER'S HUMANX CONMONWEALTH UNI¬ dom, and to get to know people who VERSE share your interests. By Robert Teague and Michael Good¬ These are available from Lola win, 4987 South 2700 West, Roy, Andrew, National Secretary, P.O. Box UT 84067. O'JT OF MY HEAD By Robert Bloch 713, Webster City, IA 50595. Send a Seventy pages of maps, dia¬ NESFA Press, Box G, MIT Branch P.O. dollar for an intro copy or two. grams, illos, a complete chronol¬ Cambridge, MA 02139-0910. ogy of events and VIPs, definitions $15.00 + $1.00 shipping § handling. and descriptions of flora and fauna, This small hardcover book is AUSTRALIAN SCIENCE FICTION REVIEW alien races, weapons and spacecraft. the annual volume published in hon¬ March, 1986, $2.00. Introduction by Alan Dean Fost¬ or of the Boskone Guest of Honor. Ebony Books, GPO Box 1294L, er. The hardcover limited edition Here we have 22 short storie's Melbourne, Vic., Australia 3001. is signed, with blue cloth cover, and articles by a kind, gentle man Serious discussion and analy¬ gold lettering—$19.95 + $6. p§h. who kills people for a living, more sis of sf. As John Bangsund Softcover edition is $6.00 + $2. or less. Very fine spaceship cover paint¬ Some of these items are speech¬ ing by Goodwin. es, some appreciations of other writers, some of fans, some about his early days in sf and horror... WITH ALL. To Two of these items appeared in Pus your ish/tv/wcliness' THE ALIEN CRITIC, which was the TAKES ON AN EXISTENTIAL former name of SCIENCE FICTION RE¬ A«JJ> totally FANTASY BOOK #20, June, 1986 VIEW. Edited and Published by Dennis There is a slipcased, autograph¬ Mallonee, POB 60126, Pasadena, CA ed 200-copy edition available (may¬ 91106. $3.95 be some left) at $30.00 per copy. A quarterly of high production Dust jacket and interior illos values: excellent full-color cover by Bob Eggleston, a very good art¬ by Corey Wolfe. Serials by Stephen ist indeed. Goldin and Paul Edward Zimner. Also two novelettes and five short sto¬ ries. Peotry, features. Odd that this magazine consis¬ TIME NOW TO DO A RUNDOWN OF tently has first class covers and SOME OF THE SMALL PRESS ITEMS second class interior artwork, in T-HAVEN'T READ (FOR LACK OF my opinion. TIME AND/OR INTEREST) BUT WHICH I THINK SHOULD BE MENTIONED. Noise Leuel By John Brunner

TAE SEE OORSEL'S, AND OTHER THIRD (Why am I a lot less scared of a DEGREE BURNS Comnunist conspiracy? Well, there are Much of what I've learned during a three main reasons. Massive expenditure life largely devoted to acquiring facts on armaments in a capitalist society is our lords and masters would rather people of course in the absolute sense a waste I was brought up to be a nationalist, overlooked inclines me to the cockup the¬ of resources; however, it is also the and small vender, since from my age five ory of history. But some of it also in¬ means whereby a small number of people to age eleven Britain was fighting world clines me to the conspiracy theory. I can make colossal profits, and since the war II. I remember how shaken I was when don't mean this so nuch in the sense of a rich tend to be noisy and influential I found out later that my people had been literal cabal planning to wreck our civ¬ they have little trouble convincing the at least as nuch disliked as admired dur¬ ilization (though a friend of ours re¬ public that "what's good for General Mo¬ ing the heyday of Empire -- the latter cently spent several months in Italy in¬ tors is good for the USA" -- or, as A1 for their industrial strength and enter¬ vestigating the Papal Bull that Wojtila Capp perceptively put it in the LI'L AB¬ prise, but the former for their smugness, signed at the time he took personal com¬ NER imisical, "What’s Good for General arrogance and generally patronizing atti¬ mand of Opus Dei, which orders the total Bullnoose." Contrariwise, in a country tude towards foreigners. (You may have destruction of comnunism by at latest with state ownership like the Soviet Un¬ run across the classic, and reputedly 2000, and finally quit because, as he ion, expenditure on arms impoverishes genuine, newspaper headline: "Fog in said, he had no wish to wake up one morn¬ the nation as a whole. Unfortunately it English Channel -- Continent cut off.") ing with a bullet in his head). also provides for people on the make a But that was only the beginning of a No, I mean rather that there is a route to the top, of which there are few¬ whole string of discoveries, of facts convergence of interest among the power¬ er than in the West. This ensures that that had been hidden from me when I was a ful, such that it is to their benefit to over there in the foreseeable future am¬ kid, and in sone cases from the British foment hatred and encourage violence for bition and the innate conservatism of public, because in time of war the truth fear that if people came to their senses the military -- the military are always was regarded as too dangerous -- for ex¬ their power would be taken away because conservative -- will continue to win out ample, virtually nobody in Britain was al¬ they have so abused it. This has been over common sense and the public weal. lowed to know that a sizable group of Ind¬ happening a lot on the local scale re¬ (The second reason is that comnunists ians had rebelled against the Raj and cently -- Haiti, the Philippines -- but tend to be abominably bad at public re¬ were fighting on the side of the Japan¬ closer examination reveals that the re¬ lations. The only places on the planet ese. Incidentally, as I write, reviews sulting changes are mainly cosmetic. where they are making real headway are are appearing of a book by Correlli Bar¬ The Aquino family still owns their huge those where the competition has behaved nett called THE AUDIT OF WAR, describing golf course; colleagues of the Duvaliers in such a greedy, stupid or brutal fash¬ how incompetent British management and are in the successor government; and so ion that any alternative looks good. In workers were during the war, to the point one of my "Max Curfew" thrillers I gave where it took over 60t longer to produce In a speech he gave in London recent¬ a line to my narrator that reflected my a Spitfire than a Messerschmitt Bfl09. ly, that delightful maverick Gore Vidal personal opinion. I quite from memory: Also, apparently, the reason why we took -- who has an amazing gift for being sim¬ "You have to plough and harrow the ground so long to fly a jet aircraft was that ultaneously quite outrageous and trans¬ and goddaim immure it for them!" This is the Rover car company made a total hash parently sane -- quoted Einstein in 1950 efficiently done by supporting e.g. Ba- of the original contract and no progress to the effect that the American govern¬ worth mentioning was made until it was ment had no intention of ending the Cold switched to Rolls Royce. War. He was right, of course. Why? Be¬ Next after nationalistic, I was cause it's too profitable. The reason brought up pro-American -- again, entire¬ why the has enjoyed such ly naturally. It was the industrial mus¬ prosperity for so long is that the na¬ cle of the United States that provided us tion runs on a permanent war economy. with the means to go on fighting when our It is necessary in so large a county, own resources were running out. Packard indeed it is unavoidable, to keep direct¬ built many more Merlin aero-engines than ing tax money through government chan¬ Rolls Royce itself, and quite probably nels, in order to lubricate the wheels, to higher standards. as it were. (Remember that fascinating and alarming book REPORT FRCM IRON MOUN¬ Today, there is one reason above all TAIN? In many respects it's still as why I retain my respect for the USA. It valid as when it first appeared almost is the Freedom of Information Act, which 20 years ago.) Owing to the nature of I regard as the bravest legislation ever American society the most acceptable adopted by any country in whatever period means by which this can be done is by of history. I wish we had something com¬ hanging the label of "defense" on just parable. We have the Official Secrets about everything, and then making it a Act, its inverse, which has been used un¬ shibboleth, in the sense that anyone who der the Thatcher regime to tum Britain questions the necessity of "defense" ex¬ into what is often called the most secre¬ penditure is regarded as unpatriotic or tive and repressive society in Western worse. (We have the sane problem, if not on so grandiose a scale because in spite Still, as yet only a few of us are of it we aren't prosperous. Our govern¬ being arrested for speaking our minds. ment can't even do bad things successful¬ There was a time when Marjorie and I had ly-) our phone tapped and our post regularly arrived a day later than our neighbors1, By this time you may have guessed but either Special Branch has become a that, in my view, if there is a conspir¬ lot more efficient or the powers that be acy threatening the world it's neither have decided that we aren't actually plot¬ the Illuminati nor the P2 Lodge nor the ting to sell out Britain to a foreign unpty-seventh Connunist International, but the military-industrial complex ag¬ ainst which Eisenhower warned us all in Unlike, in that respect, our current tista or Somoza or Diem, and it may yet tum out that Marcos and Duvalier were -WE BOSS IS IN underpinned for too long before the les¬ TRbUEPE WITH Year A.L-H-OF A son sank in at the Washington end. THE ELECT'OM ? S UbbEM OBNoxcJS (The third reason relates to propa¬ ganda. See Below.)

My previous "Noise Level" recounted our experiences at a writers’ congress in Leningrad. I wrote it in October 1985 (this one is being written in March 1986) and I concluded with a howl of despera¬ tion. At the time I was particularly de¬ spondent at the box-office records being broken by RAMBO (reportedly Reagan's fa¬ vorite film). I haven't seen it because the reviews put me off; in all the papers I read it was dismissed as bloodthirsty and sadistic wishful thinking, lacking even the justificatory veneer accorded to the character in FIRST BLOOD. I've demonstrate that negative impact. I A year or so ago my wife Marjorie visited the States once a year on aver¬ photocopied to him the results of a poll grew sufficiently exasperated at the pre¬ age since 1964, so I have grounds for by NERI on behalf of the SUNDAY TIMES dominance of American material on our four stating that the majority of Americans (scarcely a paper one can accuse of left¬ TV channels to analyze the programs over have formed their concept of war on this ist bias inasnuch as it is owned by Rup¬ one week. She coimted 42 hours of Ameri¬ sort of basis, reinforced by TV and com¬ ert Mirdoch, a person not entirely un¬ can material (i.e. six hours a day on av¬ ics. I referred to some Vietnam vets I known in the States). According to said erage) and about six or seven hours of had heard complaining about the impossib¬ poll, half the people of Britain believe other foreign material, almost all account¬ ility of getting the general public to that the United States poses as great a ed for by two or three feature films. As listen when they recounted their experi¬ threat to world peace as the Soviet Union for Russian or other Eastern Bloc materi'’ ences. And I also had in mind the sort or indeed a greater one. (About a third this was represented exclusively by a r of people who show up at SF conventions said they were equal; the balance felt run at 12:30 on Sunday of a half-hour in T-shirts reading NUKE THE MALES or the USA was the more to be feared.) language program originally designed fo PEACE THROUOi SUPERIOR FIREPOWER -- and From the GUARDIAN (traditionally as¬ people going to the Moscow Olympics -- think the former is a real neat joke and sociated with the centrist Liberal Party) and that was produced by the BBC’s educa- the latter is a sane point of view. and the OBSERVER (non-aligned, owned by t ion department. Oh dear...! an independent trust) I added material to Subsequently, I’m pleased to say, illustrate why this feeling has arisen. the imbalance has been partly corrected. Now and then, vis-a-vis the States, I won't waste space on verbatim quotes, The BBC ran a twelve-part series called a foreign friend and admirer like my¬ but there was one cutting about how the COMRADES about people living and working self is driven into responding like the US military has attenpted to introduce in the Soviet liiion, ranging from an eye bosom pal in the classic Lifebuoy ad, the new nerve gases into Europe behind their surgeon to a rock nusician, from a film one who plucks up the courage to whisper allies' backs, and another in vdiich a director to a family of Siberian fur trap¬ "BO!" Unfortunately whispering doesn't Congressional investigating committee ac¬ pers. In particular one of the programs seem to do much good. This time I decid¬ cused the Pentagon of lying about the featured a young conscript going through ed to try, if not shouting, at least fuids being channelled into support of his army recruit training -- something snarling. I expected a fierce reaction. the Contras. That’s right: lying. which, apparently, had not even been shown Part of it turned up some nine or ten This leaves the reader with the clear on Soviet TV. Again, though, this was a days ago in the shape of a long excerpt BBC production, not a Russian one. from a letter sent to REG by Alexis Gil¬ conviction that the affairs of the United liland, which appears elsewhere in this States are no longer directed by its el¬ ected representatives, but by a congeries issue, describing in detail a great many Just in case there's anyone who might US foreign policy decisions and actions. of businessmen and generals, half greedy, half paranoid, and wholly immune from con¬ nonetheless claim that reactions like the I am certain that Alexis knows where¬ trol. (Sure, sometimes they get caught, one reflected by that opinion poll must of he speaks. But a point-for-point dis¬ but by then the harm has already been necessarily be due to hostile propaganda, putation with him or anyone was no part I would argue along these lines: of my original intention. What I hoped Such a statement implies that contin¬ to alert my US friends and readers to, And similar stories can be found ev¬ ery week, at least. ual bombardment with publicity, advertis¬ is the overall negative impact that pol¬ ing or even otherwise factual data slant¬ icies and actions likethose tabulated ed to enhance a particular point of view, by Alexis have had and are continuing to does have an impact on the individual. have on the rest of the world. I am convinced that the vast majority of you Americans have no faintest notion Surely this is incontrovertible. You do (I need to send this piece off ASAP of the way in which decisions taken on not have to go to a totalitarian state to because I have a July deadline for ray your behalf and sometimes in your name are find the evidence; control enough news¬ next novel and people keep putting ob¬ ruining your nation's reputation, to the papers, buy enough time on the air, stamp stacles in my way; most recently, Penguin point where, as indicated, half the peop¬ hard enough on noisy people that you dis¬ has decided to fly me to Athens for a le of the country that more than any oth¬ approve of (I see that American journal¬ week because they're moulting a major er was enthusiastically pro-American in ists are now being attacked as "dangerous¬ promotion over there and THE TIDES OF 1945 now suspect you of being at least as ly liberal," apparently by the same people TIME, which they're issuing this mcnth, big a threat to peace as the USSR. who by using falsified "proofs" of its happens to be set on a Greek island. So shortcomings are trying to drive the USA I shan't have, time for any more "Noise I have met people in the States who out of the ) -- and you’ve Level" for quite some time. Hence I'm dismiss anything unfavorable to the USA got it made even in a so-called "free" dashing this off before receiving any that appears in the foreign press as "god¬ society. other feedback.) damn Russian propaganda," so I'll ask point-blank: do you imagine this to be In that case, however: What of the Revenons a nos moutons. the result of a world-wide, skillfully propaganda that assails people on every orchestrated anti-American publicity cam¬ side in Eastern Europe? Is that an ex¬ ception? Are they the only persons on paign? Earth immune to advertising? If not, then Now it so happened that on the very The answer is that it can't be. They I submit that people surrounded with thous¬ day Alexis's letter arrived, and during don't have the access to our media. Let ands of posters celebrating (as ve saw in the following weekend, our papers were me give you an example. Poland and Czechoslovakia in 1980) thirty- full of relevant and illuminating mater¬ five years of peace, or simply stating ial. So in effect I decided to let the (as in Leningrad and Moscow last year) British press do my answering for me, to 34 Miru Mir! -- "Peace to the World!" -- back- ed up with constant reminders of the suf¬ drags in Afghanistan. I'll risk putting out that so far no evidence for this has fering and privation caused by war, cons¬ even more backs up before I quit. I must been produced) then Russians had a cor¬ titute ipso facto less of a threat than not trespass too far on REG's hospitality. responding right to invade Afghanistan to those who live where the posters are for But, in furtherance of my attempt to show protect not only their nationals but their RAMBO, or other films that travesty the how different the world looks from over investments, like the USA in the banana truth into a comic strip. here, a couple of concluding points. republics. I think it's a lousy excuse, myself, but since the American government (In passing: The posturing and chest Now where are my Devil's Advocate- says it's a valid one we're stuck with it. beating and self adulation of such movies type horns. .. ? comes across to many Europeans as a sign of underlying insecurity. We remember war¬ time films designed to encourage patriot¬ (a) I do wish Americans wouldn't Oh, dear! All you good friends of ism that had the opposite effect. Some talk about Afghans as though they were so mine in the United States, where I boast rendered the audience helpless with laugh¬ many bastions of freedom and democracy. of having at least as many friends as ev¬ ter because they were so absurd, while Their traditional society is little short er I acquired in my own homeland: of disgusting! Its code, pakhtanwali, is others sent them away muttering, "Things Do you really not understand the be¬ must be even worse than we suspected!") the vendetta code we've spent centuries trying to get rid of in Europe, that not trayal that your leaders are visiting up¬ only authorizes but obliges a man who on you? Or do you willingly play along? In my latest piece I described Rus¬ feels himself insulted to exterminate the Or do you simply not care? sians on their day off visiting war grav¬ offender's clan down to the babes-in-arms. Do your newspapers and TV channels es in Leningrad and asked how many Ameri¬ (I do mean "man." Don't bother asking ever report items like that MDRI poll I cans were doing the like. Alexis, in his about women.) Also their sexual habits quoted above? This isn't a local demon¬ letter, said he was moved by the Vietnam are unspeakable. Deprived on religious stration against the imposition of Ameri¬ war memorial. grounds of contact with adult females, can cruise missiles. This is a serious they routinely abuse underage boys for survey according to principles pioneered I can't regard the two cases as com¬ personal gratification. Anyone who thinks parable. Sorry. by Gallup in the States. If this is the that Europeans in the 19th century had a evidence it turns up... The Vietnam War presented us with the moral right to invade, say, Dahomey to unedifying spectacle of the world's rich¬ suppress cannibalism -- they failed, but Shouldn't something be done about it? est country bombing, blasting and burning that's another story -- must also accept that the Soviets have an equivalent right I love your bloody country! It could one of the world's poorest countries, veil be thanks to you lot that I didn't which had never attacked it and never to impose a bit of civilization on the Af¬ ghans. In fact, of course, that isn't grow up under Nazi occupation! But every could. The reason why a lot of Europeans time I return I find you living more and admired the Viet Cong was that the war why they moved in, but if it turns up as a by-product it might be rather a good more under a delusion, to the effect that pictures reminded us of the anti-Nazi re¬ if it's American it mist be right and sistance, or taking shelter from the Blitz. must be loved. Few people were detached enough to bear in mind, as they watched that memorable film Why the Soviets did go in has a lot A succession of American governments of thatched peasant huts being set alight more to do with the fact that so nuch of has squandered in barely forty years such by US troops, that it was a bold and hon¬ the USSR is Moslem, and the Moslems are a capital of goodwill as no other nation orable commitment by American cameramen breeding so fast. They started to say, ever enjoyed. At the end of 1945 even the which discovered these revolting facts to "If socialism is so good for us -- and Japanese respected you because your occu¬ the world. there's no doubt that we're living better pation of their homeland was so civilized now than in our grandparents' day -- why compared to what they'd done to their con¬ Now if America had erected a memorial don't we export some of it to our brothers quered peoples. to the dead of both sides, and thrown out in Islam over the border? Look at what of office -- better, put on trial -- those Zia is up to in Pakistan!" Fearing that Now... Well, I hark back to that who dragged the nation into the shoddy mess if they didn't do something smartish, fund¬ poll, reporting how many Britons are pre¬ in the first place, it would be a very amentalism of the Khomeini stamp would pared to put cm record their view that different state of affairs. That would find a fertile breeding ground in the America is now a greater threat to peace have impressed the world enormously. But Uzbekistan and the other Moslem republics, than Russia. since you didn't even jail Nixon ... the bosses in the Kremlin made the same It wasn't you who did that. But it At this point someone invariably mistake as lots of other people in a sim¬ was your government^ Doesn't that vrorry ilar position. They decided to appease their subjects while protecting their in¬ vestments. If I were in your shoes... my God, it would me! (b) The Afghans have a long history of invasion, mainly by the British. To keep the Russians out we attacked them in 1838 and kidnapped the ruler, the Ameer. In 1879 we took control of their foreign policy -- again, presumably, to exclude the Russians; they rebelled in 1919 and lost; they rebelled again in 1929 and drove the British out, along with a rul¬ er who had becone our puppet; he abdicat¬ ed in favor of the rebel , but he was soon defeated, and the country fell under a military dictatorship ... (See what I mean about "bastions of democ¬ racy?") And so on. Nonetheless, when they wanted to modernize their county it was the West they appealed to for finance and aid. But we turned them down! It was the Russians who built their highways and hy¬ dro-electric plants and introduced at least a semblance of modem education. So when their socialist government looked as though it was at risk of being over-

If Americans had a right to invade Grenada to "protect American students" (a book just reviewed over there points 35 7Wovtti /to fM)Ct OF cons U)t f)0L LETTERS

# LETTER FROM GREGORY tENFORD Univ. of California, Dept of Physics all evil. Fred Pohl and Cyril Kombluth Irvine, CA 92717 Jan. 15, 1986 said all that in the 50s, and they made 'I liked Sheila Finch's article on it funny.' "Oath of Fealty" quite a bit. She's tak¬ 'I enjoy SFR and hope you continue it. en the criteria I invented -- which are All's well here; hope you^re flourishing.' discussed in a piece titled "Reactionary Utopias," in the winter FAR FRONTIERS, and later in an academic collection -- ((I suppose the ideal utopia would and extended them with surprising results Excellent analysis. have a strong social structure which provided legal outlets for all the 'She touches on an inportant problem: "evil" instincts of mankind in such that utopias are almost always seen as static places, as goals. Yet we know a way that they were non-threatening cantankerous humanity isn't going to sit to family, religion, government. still. So any real utopia must be one of That's quite a trick, though. And process, a society that provides a good, I wonder if mankind doesn't need il¬ undamaging way to bring about change. Re¬ legal activities (evil) as a deep ceptivity to change, but with wisdom to psychological need. Like swear evaluate it, must be a cardinal virtue words are needed to express intensi¬ of any decent society. What's more, peop¬ le working toward utopia can help reach ty of emotion, illegal activities are needed for rebellion in the young it by developing just these features, ((Truly supernatural stories cannot and anti-social acts for those with rather than fret endlessly about the be science fiction, by definition. role of property ownership or the labor Loser or Punishment life scripts. If the 'supernatural' elements are theory of value or other worn out, 19th Could a utopia acconmodate these typ¬ governed by rules and limits, then century notions. es? Wouldn't theft, assault, kid¬ they become natural, the way Larry 'It's interesting, seeing Scott Card napping, rape, murder always be illeg¬ Niven's magic is a useable phenomena, evaluating present tense and the cyber¬ al, in any utopia?)) punks. I think the present tense has a and imposes costs upon its users. lot of value, and can be sustained for Thus magic becomes a different kind long works --as, 'Sir example, Faulkner's of discipline—a different kind of AS I LAY DYING demonstrates. science. Just as radio, TV, comput¬ 'The confrontation of definitions of # LETTER FROM FRED FOWLER ers would be black magic and evil is amusing. John Shirley's 133S-E, N. Cliff Valley Way, NE sorcery to most people of ancient heavy-breathing drama has all of the mor¬ Atlanta, GA 30319 March 25, 1986 Rome, what we now consider the oc¬ al earnestness appropriate to kicking ov¬ 'Norman Spinrad's statements on the cult and supernatural may someday be er the traces...but I'd feel more optimis¬ another field of science. tic, more willing to think something's ac¬ difference between science fiction and tually happening here, if his juxtaposi¬ fantasy elevate the general practice of ((Fiction styles and techniques are tions didn't reek of warmed-up Hubert SF authors -- which is to depict a nat¬ uralistic universe when they write SF as many and varied, but only a few are Humphrey. The rivers are dying, poor "acceptable" to the reading public people squat over grates, butchers work- opposed to fantasy -- to a rule for writ¬ itonoutman in El Salvador, there's unem¬ ing SF. But I cannot see how writing in a commercial sense. The real ployment and even worse...and, as John challenge is not to be different, points out in REM 3, beastly old Larry force an author to assume, for the pur¬ but to use the accepted tools and Niven drinks booze in his coffee, for poses of his story that "therefore ... forms in a way that seems different Chrissakes. all phenomena are continous, ... there's no such thing as the supernatural," un¬ and yet satisfies the reader and 'There's a discemable move to the less the author assumes, for the purpos¬ which allows him to read the work conventional left going on in SF now --a es of the story, that materialism is without curses and resistances.)) natural counter to the rightist, quasi¬ true. Of course, most SF authors are. military faction -- and what bothers me isn't the left, it's the conventional. There's got to be something on the so- called left other than this party plat¬ form stuff, or the cozy 19th century uto¬ they write. Whatever Phil Farmer's real # LETTER FROM JOEL ROSENBERG pianism of LeGuin, et al. beliefs are, he did not assume that mat¬ 1477 Chapel B-4 'Rudy Rucker says cyberpunk is about erialism holds in the universe of his N. Haven, CT 06511 1986 increased information content, but I novel NIGHT OF LIGHT. Now, it is open think this would be more believable if to Norman Spinrad to say that NIGHT OF 'Thanks for the generally positive (a) I saw some actual new ideas in the LIGHT is not SF, but then he would be review of EMILE AND THE DUTCHMAN; I'm fiction, and (b) Rudy had cited some ex¬ glad you enjoyed it. amples. I'd also like to see some fic¬ 'I know it's considered gauche to an¬ tion that didn't simply assume that dem swer criticism of one's work, but in dis- easier for you to concede the right of icans on a daily basis, I find that most the Soviets to rule others. After all, of them (the ones I deal with, anyway) if they defeated the Nazis, why not con¬ want war as little as those kindly Rus¬ cede them Latvia or Germany or Poland or sians he had the pleasure of associating Afghanistan...? with. Thatleaves the Reagan administra- 'But still, it's intellectual coward- not the peace of the world. Mr. Brunner is clearly familiar with the Reagan rhet¬ 'In point of fact, despite the almost oric, which he equally clearly takes at incredible Russian casualties (which face value. Which is his privilege. The would, of course, have been much lower if fact is that when you examine the military Stalin had at first fought Hitler, instead actions of the Reagan administration, the of making a deal with him, part of which included supplying Nazi Germany with war uished from "Wimpy Jimmy" Carter, his material), the Germans were truly defeat¬ predecessor in office. ed on the Western front, not the Eastern 'Case in point. Lebanon, immediate¬ front; as George Patton pointed out in ly after the Israeli invasion, aquired an another context, it wasn't the people who American presence, initially as part of a died for their country who won -- it was screen to permit the evacuation of the those who made the other sons-of-bitches Palestinianterrorists (one word, just die5. The US lost "only" 350,000 in WWII like damnyankee. Mr. Brunner, we all because of the US's fortune — for which have our little tics and twitches) from I offer no apology -- and its virtue; Beirut, and afterwards it was sent back American generals have long been expected in at the request of President Gemayel, to expend rounds rather than lives, when¬ to help prop up his regime, which was in ever possible; read Patton's WAR AS I serious difficulty. Mr. Reagan sent the KNEW IT for a discussion of why that marines in, against the advice of the makes sense. Joint Chiefs and a background of the most 'Actually, I'd feel a lot more com¬ serious congressional reservations. And what was the function of the marines? fortable with the intellectual purity of and sf and fantasy and fiction can your argument if you were a Lett or a To strike a heroic pose. Their function German or a Pole or an Afghan, or if it take their places as one-two-three in was, in other words, rhetorical. What was the British and not the Afghan high¬ the letter column next issue.)) happened is histOTy. A suicide bomber lands that the Russians were depopulating (not a terrorist; his target was military with poison gas and cluster bombs. killed a barracks full of marines, and Mr. Reagan, his belly-fire cooled by this 'To paraphrase you, Mr. Brunner, the brush with reality, withdrew the rest. trouble with you British is this: you'd still greet Chamberlain as a hero upon # LETTER FROM ALEXIS A GILLILAND 'There are counter arguments, mainly his return from Munich6.' 4030 8th Street, South Grenada, but if you'imagine that it is the Arlington, VA 22204 02/14/86 Congress who has kept the President from ((Yes, I see what you mean concerning going where he wants to go, you have on¬ 'John Brunner's column in SFR #58 man¬ ly to consider the Reagan deficit. Major Alonzo Norfeldt's use of offend¬ ages to be simultaneously moving and in¬ ing language. But if somebody called furiating. We begin with the moving part% 'Enough of the arcana of the American me a filthy Boche I'd only laugh the Russian and Japanese shrines to their way. Let us now consider the peace lov¬ war dead. Excellent, first rate report¬ ing Russians. To begin with, there was (which would prove me a German hard never any tyrant that was not a lover of head, I suppose). Not even being ing of what he saw and felt. When I fin¬ ally went to see the Vietnam War Memorial peace. The poor misunderstood souls just called a meat-eating atheistic bast¬ down on the Mall in Washington, I was un¬ ard child of Satan would offend me. expectedly moved to tears, so that what 'Take a quick look at the record. So I wonder at Norfeldt's 'victims' he was feeling comes as close to univers¬ Hungary, 1956; Czechslovakia, 1968; being so offended. But being called al as a science fiction author ever gets. Afghanistan, 1979. The IRBMs which the stupid, incompetent, sloppy, care¬ 'The infuriating part is harder to US is currently deploying into Western less...with humiliation and contempt single out because it is diffused through Europe were a direct, belated response attached...ah, that would affect me, the entire column. Basically, Mr. Brun¬ to the Soviet deployment of similar mis¬ and in your story would gain the ef¬ ner appears to believe that the United siles in Eastern Europe. When you in¬ volve yourself with Soviet arcana you fect you wanted, I think. States wants war with the Soviet Union, and to support this point of view he cit¬ find a dark and bloody history. Stalin ((I generally publish what is offered es the popularity of "Rambo" and the Reag¬ the Great, or Stalin the Terrible? The to me, since I don't pay for material an military buildup. This proves that Russians themselves have not yet come to for these fat issues. Wilgus and oth¬ the administration and the population are terms with their own recent history that of one mind on the subject. The flip Mr. Brunner touches on with such pathos. ers are generous and I owe them a The Russian and Japanese memorials to great debt. The libertarians of sf side of this coin, that the Soviet people want peace, is attested to by the fact their war dead? In 1945 the Japanese ar¬ recognize me as a liberarian and so that he personally encountered "the" So¬ my in Manchuria, 650,000 strong, surrend¬ are kindly disposed toward me and SFR. viet people, and found them peace-loving, ered to the Soviets. A few years later I wasn't aware that Schulman is Koman' S that "these are not people lusting after the USSR returned the survivors, all agent. Thanks for the information, 25,000 of them. There may be a memorial and for permitting the SFR readership to the 625,000 in Japan, somewhere, but 'I expect that Mr. Brunner's mind is if Mr. Brunner saw it, he fails to men¬ to read certain items with increased made up on the subject, that he is un¬ tion the fact. More recently, KAL Flight awareness. Part of the reason why troubled by doubt because he knows what 007 strayed into Soviet airspace and was I'll be doing all the reviewing in he knows, and what he knows supports what shot down in a demonstration of bloody- the 1987 and onward SFRs is because he believes. One does not argue in such minded incompetence. I've become aware of kissy-kissy cases, one politely changes the subject. If one is polite. Consider that I am 'Now I do not ask Mr. Brunner to ap¬ friendship or comnercial motives in scratching an itch in public, if you wish. prove of the US or President Reagan. reviews of late, and don't appreciate Not so much trying to convert Mr. Brunner Bloody-minded incompetence respects no that sort of thing. (which would be beyond my power in any race, creed or color (one calls to mind Marshall Haig, in WWI) and is properly ((The following letters, along with event) as trying to stop talking to my¬ self after reading his column. denounced whenever it appears. But I do your comments, cover the Brunner ask him for intellectual honesty. Don't "Noise Level" column in pretty near¬ 'We begin with the contention that tell me that Russia is a peace-loving ly every aspect possible. There the US wants a war. He will just have to nation on the strength of meeting peace- were others which I could not pub¬ take my word for it that as a result of loving Russians when the Soviet Union in¬ lish for lack of room and redundancy. living in America and dealing with Amer- vades its neighbors on a regular basis, deploys IRBMs without provocation, and I hope this political blowup is ended 38 is stronger than ever, and the debate is that Sephardim were alive and well in oth¬ that, or the LFS will have to lower its centered on how best to continue, not er parts of my space city, Hazera. Mr. whether continuing is worthwhile. We can standards by "disgracefully" watering Teitelbaum will of course immediately down its Holy Individualist dogmas to brand my people's natural tendency to the point of SANITY. Wouldn't that be : live with like people as "ghetto-iza- sad state of affairs?' lie debate are statements from people like John Glenn and Frank Borman, who say 'Finally, I must take great umbrage private citizens should not be allowed to ((You make your point effectively. fly aboard the shuttle for the forseeable at Mr. Teitelbaum’s attacks on the char¬ future, because they "don't realize the acter and motivations of my publishers. The purist Libertarians will always I have found both Jim Baen and Betsy Mit¬ risks." Somebody should point out that find precious little in even the sf this view is an insult on the intelligent chell to be honest and professional. world to satisfy their strict re¬ of Christa MacAuliffe, and does a grave Literature and the arts are two places, quirements. They do have the option disservice to her memory. Even if that despite rumors to the contrary, where greed and greed alone is an almost cer¬ of self-publication of qualified nov were true before the accident -- which it els. Your description of libertar¬ certainly was not -- it is no longer tain ticket to failure. Their connec¬ tions to as prestigious a publisher as ians as 'selfish antisocial egoman¬ nology" reports that not one single ap¬ Simon 5 Schuster probably means that iacs' rankles me, though. What are these are individuals who place a respect plicant for the journalist in space mis¬ you, some kind of statist liberal for their readers, and for SF as a seri¬ wimp socialist who has a job with sion has withdrawn his/her application ous movement in literature, above person¬ since the explosion. Note that the two al gain. While I will be the first to the government to protect? Ha!)) men named above are test pilots themselv- admit that my novel, DIASPORAH, is flaw¬ ing space to themselves; it's a subtle ed, I also have to take great pride in the knowledge that they believe there is way of saying that only test pilots are good enough to be allowed to put their something about it which is worth shar¬ lives on the line for the great adventure. ing. ' All of us non-technical types who hope to go into space need to deluge Glenn and ((Maybe not purposely misspelled. # LETTER FROM RONALD R LAMJERT Borman -- and anybody else who takes a Maybe mis-remembered or typoed. A 2350 Virginia, Troy, MI 48083 similar position -- with mail to keep lot of prejudging and leaps to con¬ Feb. 5, 1986 MEMBER SFWA their big mouths shut, or it will be clusions go on in the SFR letter- "space for the elite" for the next twenty 'Your comment to Tamar Lindsay sounds columns. Why, even I...)) suspiciously like debunking to me. There seems to have been a slight in¬ crease in polemics directed against the ((The Challenger tragedy is a classic idea of Psi in the past year or so. But case of penny wise, pound foolishness. this is doomed to be a futile exercise. To save a few days at most, NASA Most people (I hesitate to say all peop¬ le lest I arouse outrage, but that is launched in icy weather in spite of # LETTER FROM BRUCE BERGES surely a very large "most"} believe there warnings, and lost lives, a shuttle 513 S. Eucalyptus Ave, #8 is something to Psi, having had some di¬ and maybe several years. It may be Inglewood, CA 90301 Feb. 20, 1986 rect personal experience with it at one that this shuttle loss along with the 'Neal Wilgus1 interview with "None df time or another. I wonder if the debunk¬ non-event of Halley's comet may sour the Above," latest winner of the Prome¬ ers really, honestly believe there is no the American people on space. Add theus Award, reveals more about the pros¬ such thing, or are they merely trying to put on the mantle of more-skeptical-than- Gramn-Rudman, an approaching reces¬ pects of anarcho-libertarianism than he knows. If the Libertarian Futurist Soc¬ thou superiority? sion, and heroic budget cuts may put iety were more objective and honest about 'Those people who denounce the idea the space program on hold for anoth¬ itself and its it would of Psi because they hold a materialistic er ten years. Not a pretty pros¬ or mechanistic worldview are skidding to¬ pect.)) 40 ward a monumental crash whai they final- 1 y collide head-on with the implications call it?" And each time except the last particles bounce off each other un- of quantum physics. Those implications time, the clear, certain answer seemed to predictably. But in the macro-mater¬ are far weirder than anything that ever occur to me as the coin was just begin¬ ial world, where we all live and die, appeared in FATE magazine. And quantum ning to fall. The last time, the answer physics has been verified by experiment did not come into my head at the expect¬ we have to deal with predictability ed moment. I opened my mouth, then clos¬ and cause and effect as real 99.9999- ed it. The coin came down, hit my 999999% of the time. In this world friend's hand wrong and bounced off. It "free will" is a delusion created by 'Quantum physicists speak of "the fell to the floor and started rolling. collapse of the probability wave func¬ hundreds, perhaps thousands of influ¬ ences involving blood chemistry, tion.” The act of observing by conscious was out of everyone's reach, suddenly beings alters reality, selecting among the answer came to me and I called it. nerve impulses, and other environment¬ alternate realities. This is not specul¬ My call was again right. al factors in interconnected relation¬ ation. It has been verified by labora¬ ships impossible to chart or predict tory experiment. Whether parallel uni- 'My friend who had done the coin toss at this time. I still believe "mind" got a funny look on his face. When he -- but it is debated seriously. Now, if picked up his coin, he put it away, shak¬ is not free or independent of matter. consciousness has the property of alter¬ ing his head. "That's enough for me!" When the brain/body dies, the ¬ ing reality, then what is the reality of he announced. The others muttered agree¬ chemical field that is the mind also consciousness? What kind of thing must ment at that, and they all walked away, dies. Mankind has been trying to consciousness be if it is capable of glancing back at me dubiously. wriggle off that hook for thousands choosing among alternate realities -- 'No, to answer your next question, of years, but it's still the horri¬ of collapsing the wave function? I have not yet succeeded in winning the ble truth.)) 'I do not ask this rhetorically. I Michigan Lotto game. I did win $500 a ask it genuinely, because I do not know couple of years ago playing the Michigan the answer. But I suspect that if cons¬ Daily Three game (guess a three digit ciousness is able to interact with the number and win $500), but that was prob¬ very nature of reality on a fundamental, ably just luck. Of course, I still have causal level, then perhaps consciousness some hesitation about gambling, so I nev¬ might also, under certain circumstances, er spend much money on the state lottery # LETTER FROM THTANX, INC be able to sense in some way future prob¬ (only one or two tickets at a dollar a- ALAN DEAN FOSTER able realities directly (not just by de¬ piece each week, and some weeks I do not 4001 Pleasant Valley Dr. duction) . even play). But if Psi were really re¬ Prescott, A2 86301 Feb 3, 1986 'You offered a possible explanation liable, I would be rich now, right? Sigh. 'Ahem. As regards the matter of in conventional terms for the personal whether or not the young lady on the cov¬ experience Lindsay cited. I realize that 'As for precognition eliminating er of the SF Book Club edition of SEASON personal anecdotal accounts do not cons¬ free will, I would say exactly the oppos¬ OF THE SPELLSONG is wearing any under¬ titute proof, but that does not mean they ite is true, in light of quantum physics. wear, exhaustive inspection of the illus¬ are valueless. In many areas of human What quantum physics does is conclusively tration in question reveals that she is endeavor, they are all we have to go on. and totally demolish determinism. It is indeed wearing a continuation of what For what it is worth, let me offer an ac¬ in a deterministic universe that free presumably is some sort of one-piece out¬ count of an experience I once had, one will is precluded. We do not live in a fit. In the course of reading a great that perhaps you will find a little more determinate universe. That is no longer many tomes over the years I have noted difficult to explain away. My memory of a matter of philosophical speculation, various hues utilized to describe that this event is not faulty despite the fact it is now a matter of physics. It is the portion of the female anatomy. Lavender, that it was many years ago, and I am not nature of quantum reality which might however, is not among them. lying or embellishing anything. reasonably allow such a thing as precog¬ nition to work, and that same quantum re¬ 'The fact that a few curves have pro¬ voked so much interest, not to mention 'Some friends of mine were amusing ality is a very friendly environment to detailed inspection, is something of a themselves by betting each other a nick¬ the concept of free will.' compliment to the artist and certainly el on the outcome of a coin toss. I did does nothing to disprove your assertion not participate in this because I was raised to regard gambling as a vice, and ((If what you experienced/accomplished I did not want to lose any money (as good in that 25-times-in-a-row period of a reason as any not to gamble). They correct prediction was precognition kept trying to dragoon me into their game or remote physical control of the and I was just as persistent in politely declining. Finally one of them asked me coin, it would not help you in a yet again, and I said "I don't want to state lottery very much. But in a bet any money on it." similar, up-close situation—a crap table at Las Vegas, say—you could '"Okay," he said, "you don't have to bet anything. Everybody else has tried have a chance to make a big bundle it; let's see how you would do." of money. But what you really did was guess a 50-50 coin toss 25 times. 'So he showed me the coin (it was a normal quarter) and I watched him flip Very unusual. It would have been it so it spun end over end as it arced up equally unusual if you had guessed two or three feet in the air. As agreed, wrong 25 times. The point is, unless I called it while it was in the air. you can do that guess-right perform¬ When the coin came down, he caught it in ance consistently, it wasn't psi; it his hand, slapped it down on his opposite was a law of averages phenomenon wrist, and then took his hand away so we could both see the coin. He did this the ((Another explanation of the quantum physics phenomenon you mention, is that the sub-atomic particles influ¬ 'I called the coin toss right 25 times in a row. The odds against that enced by observation may be sentient, are 2 to the 25th power. According to or alive in some way we cannot as my Atari, that figures out at 33,554,382. yet understand. Or, more likely, an As this was going on, more of my friends aspect of the observation procedure crowded around, watching open-mouthed as exerted a force of some kind, indir¬ ectly, on the field of observation. What was most convincing to me was the subjective feeling I had; from the very The Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle first coin toss, I did not feel like I is also interesting, as sub-atomic was guessing. I felt sure! I was think¬ ing, "What is the coin going to make me 41 its old self again. All of us, the loy¬ must admit is virtually unique to SF. doubt, is that I reprinted them in my al readers and contributors, are working I do not accept your assertion that mak¬ "Room 101 Revisited" (a contribution to toward this end. The Bavarian Illuminati ing such an observation constitutes elit¬ THE MEMORY HOLE, the Revisionist History have issued us these little wax figures ism or snobbishness, which is simply APA) in such a way that it would be easy of a man chained to a typewriter, and a name-calling and unworthy of you. to overlook the Baker byline. My apolo¬ special set of pins ....' gies to Baker, who runs for various pub¬ 'Face it, Dick: SF is a juvenile lic offices on the Big Deal ticket and literature. Always has been, always can be contacted at 2119 College, Cedar ((But...if L. Ron Hubbard was really will be. ' Falls, IA S0613. Robert E. Howard, then who was How¬ 'Anyone interested in looking into ard Hughes? And while we're at it, ((0kaaay...SF satisfies the adolesc¬ THE MEMORY HOLE should write to Victor did you know that the deaths of Jack ent power fantasy needs of a certain Roman, box 94, Long Beach, CA 90801. Kennedy and Marilyn Monroe were fak¬ variety of male adolescent. And RAM- 'And while I'm correcting old mis¬ ed by the CIA? They're both alive, BO movies satisfies the power fanta¬ takes, I should at last point out the living together in an Andes hideaway. sies of another type of male juven¬ glitch in iny "Oz Report" about the Inter¬ And I'm really the secret son of... ile...with some overlap? The warr¬ national Wizard of Oz Club (220 N. 11th No, I can't reveal that yet. ior instinct must be served. I would St., Escanaba, MI 49829), which appear¬ ed in SFR #SS. First sentence of third ((So that's why I have these physic¬ say that sf also serves other func¬ paragraph should have said that for your al problems! You are all a pain in tions for readers, as does any kind $10 membership you receive a card, a sub¬ the neck.)) of fiction. Fiction is an alternate scription to THE BAUM BUGLE and THE OZ world, another life one can enter TRADING POST and a copy of the annual and live through. There are those MEMBERSHIP DIRECTORY'. A much better pack¬ who sneer at any "escape" from the age than the glitched "Report" indicated. real world: reading fiction, watching 'Finally, Neil Schulman's "Profile fiction on TV, the movies, the thea¬ in Silver" did air on THE TWILIGHT ZONE tre, computer games... Any diversion (March 7th) and was very good. But since # CARD FROM ROEERT BLOCH from work, parenting, sleeping, study¬ I'm glitch-hunting. I'll have to point out that to make the time-traveler-who- 2111 Sunset Crest Dr. ing is suspect. Sports surely is Los Angeles, CA 90046 Feb S, 1986 prevented-the-Kennedy-assassination story escapsim. Telling a joke... But to work in half an hour, Schulman had to ac¬ 'I know how you feel -- and share the core: SF is not always a juvenile cept the Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone your consternation and alarm over the re¬ literature. There are actually few scenario! Too bad it wasn't an hour or turn of an Alter Sgo who will subject specific sf novels written to feed longer -- Schulman needed room to expand you to the grueling grind of monthly pub¬ the adolescent male power fantasy the idea to its proper length. Anyway, lication. On the other hand, he did of¬ watch for the rerun -- it's worth it.' fer assistance, plus a modus operandi, needs, though they are packaged to and you won't be working alone? Think appeal to the juvenile. The large of all the poor writers like myself who majority of sf books are sold to ((I am about to commit hari kiri don't have an Alter Ego to guide us. We young adults and middle-aged adults. in shame and humiliation for all have no one to blame if we make mistakes, Anyway, I tire of dealing with the the typoes and mistakes which were no one to complain to; no one to give us more-mature-than-thou argument, or printed in SFR. Hand me the ceremon¬ any Alter-Ego-Boo. Besides, sometimes Alter's ideas seem to make sense and you assertion, because it is so patently ial knife. Alter. may very well discover that you enjoy do¬ tainted by elitism and snobism. You "You've got to be fucking kidd¬ ing a monthly magazine. As long as it can make a case that the Gor novels ing, Geis." has you and pieces as meaningful as this and the Conan novels (and a few oth¬ Yeah...you're right. Sorry, issue's interview with Norman Spinrad, ers) are a.p.f.'s, but if you don't Neal. We'll be more careful in the I'm sure your readers will be happy. As think the Dune novels are worthy of future. Thanks for the corrections. for me, I'm glad to leam you’re contem¬ serious thought and adult attention, plating a change of pace: you are appro¬ ♦Alter, stick a spike in his doll!*)) aching an age where you need all the stim¬ and if you don't think they provide ulation you can get.' adult enjoyment as adult fiction... then...then I will have to shrug and walk away.)) ((Well, Bob, I used that line on a # LETTER FROM ED f-ESKYS sweet young thing in a supermarket RFD #1, Box 63, Center Harbor, NH the other day. I said to her, "My 03226-9729 Feb. 11, 1986 dear, I am approaching an age where 'I am preparing two special issues of I need all the stimulation I can get. .NIEKAS, one on John Myers Myers which She smiled and kneed me in the groin. will include a concordance to , Talk about stimulation! Got any oth¬ and the other on Arthurian fantasy through er ideas?)) the ages. I am looking for additional material for both issues. I especially need articles on Myers and historical nov¬ 'Many thanks for providing further els, his poetry and his non-fiction. Per¬ proof of Wilgus' Law, even though none haps some of your readers would be inter¬ was needed. I'm referring, of course to ested in discussing these issues in the the minor glitch in the interview with J. pages of NIEKAS.' Neil Schulman (SFR #58, page 34) which # LETTER FROM CARL GLOVER changed the Law from "All systems are goo' 2803 Avondale Dr., Johnson City, TN, to "All systems are good." A slight dif¬ 37601 March 28, 1986 ference in meaning... 'Unfortunately, you seem to have mis- 'A more serious glitch occurred on ed the point in your "counterattack" to the last page -- the " f letter in SFR #58. My basic conten- As a result, despite the awesomeness of the setting, there'is little mystery after the first couple hundred pages, and the sense of vender is submerged in mun¬ dane detail. For those who like that kind of detail, it is done well and ex¬ haustively, but for those like myself who do not, a lot of skinning is in order. SWEET SAVAGE SCI FI

BY GENE DEWEESE

that would leave their home galaxy un¬ guarded, and they are constantly threat¬ ened by another galaxy, this one ruled by Saar's Satanically evil half-brother, the perverted scientific genius, Ryker Tryloni. Instead, they are sending only a few starships, not to deflect the met- are, at creation, "progranmed to leam." As might be expected, they leam far bet¬ ter and faster than their creators thought possible, and people everywhere are soon

hope that the above-quoted S3.9 which more complex biochips destroy Nor America before the book is half over. HUMAN ERROR is much quieter, with more sympathetic central characters. In a way, it is reminiscent of the fifties movie, INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS, only turned upside down and given a mil ly awesome though florid happy ending. professionally for the last six years. I've also seen virtually every one of The trouble with MOONDUST AND MADNESS the truly bad "sci fi" movies of the fif¬ is that it takes the worst elements of ties and sixties, from "Godzilla" to "Ro¬ the shoddiest examples of both genres, bot Monster," and I've even seen a bar¬ including total scientific illiteracy, gain basement Mexican horror movie cal¬ the purplest of purple prose, and a wom- led "Wrestling Women Versus the Aztec en-as-slaves mentality, and magnifies Mummy." In recent years, I've read a them unmercifully. In fact, it's almost fair number of romances, ranging from impossible to believe that it was intend- excellent to atrocious, and even two or three of the hundred-plus porno novels of the entrants in the an tton "It was a dark and s contest -- could come up quite as campy as this. At the end of the original VOYAGERS, astronaut Keith Stoner reached a dere¬ lict alien spacecraft passing through the solar system and elected to stay behind, In the Prologue, leather-clad vil¬ frozen with the long-dead alien pilot, lains (including the inimitable Tully, when the rest of the expedition returned above) try to kidnap billionaire research to Earth. Now, eighteen years later, the scientist Jana Greyson from her palatial spacecraft has been towed into Earth orb¬ Houston estate, but she is rescued by a it and Stoner has been thawed and revived. silver-suited billionaire space captain named Varian Saar. Saar, however, turns out to be a kidnapper as well. He is in the service of the Maffei Galaxy, whose women were wiped out decades ago and who are now stealing alien women to be sold into slavery for breeding purposes. He is, however, an absolutely gorgeous hunk, and even though he fondles the virginal Jana's naked and unconscious body and is

Meanwhile, a meteor is entering the Milky Way Galaxy and will reach Earth's solar system in a few weeks. Only the massed starships of the Maffei Galaxy havi even a chance of destroying the meteor be fore it strikes Earth and destroys the entire Galaxy. The Maffei, however, can¬ not afford to send the starships because In this one, ace investigative AND THEN I READ.... reporter. Jack Summer, is sent to dig into the deadly Zombium drug trade, and in the process uncovers do not kill, lust, struggle for the true identity of drug king Dr. power. He has written a placid Voodoo. The locale is the planet novel, filled it with rational, Murdstone where a movie company is mature, adult people. on location making of film about High drama, high-tension, are the long-dead space pirate Galaxy not present. Jane. Not even the developing evidence There are zingers in this nov¬ of an alien, sentient lobster-like el: an alien birdlike screen writ¬ species under the seas does much er named Harlan Gryzb who screams constantly about the purity of his to excite the reader. Not even the aborted, ration¬ lines, how the producers are ruin¬ ally-handled near-mutiny on the ing the movie... (He is credited newly-arrived Earth ship is very with having written a brilliant bird novel titled I HAVE NO PERCH, THE SONGS OF DISTANT EARTH riveting. By Arthur C. Clarke Clarke writes in a clear, dir- YET I MUST SING, and THE BEAST THAT Del Rey, $17.95, 1986 rect style, a simple style, and SHOUTED BIRDSEED AT THE---); and the tag-along daughter of the owner In his Introduction, Clarke his character are uncomplicated, of NewzNet has won the prestigious says he enjoys fantasy science fic¬ non-neurotic, with only minor Platt Award for Incisive Interview¬ tion (like STAR WARS), but prefers problems to be solved. ing. hard, believable sf. And he seems to believe that But I have a bone to pick with And so he created Thalassa, an environment—suitably managed— Ron. He calls robots who are dis¬ ocean world colonized by an Earth will cure most of mankind's prob¬ guised with fake flesh androids. doomed by an oncoming nova of Sol. lems. Thus the colony on Thalassa Now, ever since Edmond Hamilton's There is only one cluster of is an example: no baggage of racism, CAPTAIN FUTURE stories of the '30s islands inhabitable by mankind, and religion, capitalism exists (thanks and '40s, I've known that an android as a result of strict censorship of to the far-seeing idealists on long- was a humanoid created with artific¬ Earth records and literature, the dead Earth who programmed the com¬ ial organic flesh and bones, with humans of Thalassa have developed a puters and robots on the colony an organic brain. Robots are mech¬ kind of low-key, easy-going utopia. ship), and extreme emotional pres¬ anical and/or electronic on the in¬ They were bom from sperm and ova in sures and kinks are no longer allow¬ side, regardless of how they look robot wombs, raised by robots, edu¬ ed. Jealousy, possessiveness, am¬ on the surface. Hamilton's android cated by robots... Until a second bition, lust for power...all are Otho, and his robot Gragg, set in generation could take over. muted. It all makes for an interest¬ cement the definitions of these Of course this kind of robot- ing novel, but not an engrossing, types of life/intelligences. child society would produce emot¬ involving novel. Clarke has writ¬ So when Ron's characters rap ional trauma, neurosis, psychos¬ ten a story of plausible high-tech one of his "androids” on the head is among that first generation, future science and peopled it with and hear a bong--a metal skull-- and probably more emotional warp- implausible, idealized, "nice" hu- I know he has lost his way, is con: age in the second generation, no fused, has written too many Battle- matter what was taught, no matter Expensive literary junk. star Galactica novels. how often the robots said, "We love you.- Clarke prefers to believe not. His idealism and rational¬ ity require this psycho-social GOODMAN 2020 fantasy. GALAXY JANE By Fred Pfeil Faster-than-light drives are By Indiana University Press, $15.00 impossible according to 1985 phy¬ Berkley, $2.95, 1986 10th 8 Morton Streets, sics, so the novel conforms to Once in a while I love a Goul¬ Bloomington, IN 47405 reality in that area. art satirical goulash; a dash of There's a kind of authorial mockery,-a splash of mild-mannered schizophrenia going on here: The And then comes a starship from malice, a load of action and adven¬ story is taut, suspenseful, gripping, Earth's very last days, manned by ture involving his cartoonish char¬ well-told, dramatic---all the good people who witnessed the nova that acters and his smart-aleck robots. things a reader wants, begs, for, cindered Earth and Mars, who were You cannot believe his people and too often doesn't find. kept in cryo-sleep until the comput¬ are real (no,not even Palma, the BUT. The technique used is Third ers awakened some of them when a baldheaded breast-fetishist photo¬ Person, Present Tense (with a few suitable planet was reached. They grapher who always seems to turn Second-Person inserts here and there) hadn't known a robot ship had colon¬ up), and so you cannot really care I'm telling you, Ernie, T.D. ized Thalassa. about them. But they get off some is saying. I had Central Data Arthur C. Clarke is a kind, damned funny lines, and perform put out tracers on Sampson three gentle man, an optimist, an ideal¬ such loony japery, that you read times to make sure. ist, and in this novel his people on for fun. There are no quotes. Dialogue is all says, is saying, or implied. There are no signals. And at times it is difficult and puzzling to fig¬ ure out if a given sentence is being said or thought or told by the auth-

RICHARD E. GEIS At least twice, (the first words of the novel, especially) the author 46 is foremost, center stage: The tests are terrible, and so BATTLEFIELD EARTH before conclud¬ Foggy Bottom, the setting are Ernest's moral choices. ing it was too juvenile and pulp- of this story's first scene, This is a fine novel of depravity, ish for me. It was written skill¬ is an area of central Washing¬ terror, murder, evil, temptation... fully, with talent, but it was ton where political power is Very basic. Very, very basic. written for the golden age of sci¬ ence fiction—13. presumably held ... Pfeil is an excellent writer; And this choice of narrative tech¬ it's a pity he couldn’t write in I can't recommend these MIS¬ nique (probably the liteiary/in- the standard narrative style and SION EARTH volumes to the same tellectual "in" thing when this novel sell this to a commercial publisher. readers for the same reasons. was written -- Pfeil is an Assistant He would have reached hundreds of The opening Introduction is fine, Professor of English at Trinity Col¬ thousands more readers...at the clear, coherent, skilled, an edu¬ lege at Hartford, CT with short sto¬ price of offending his academic cation in understanding satire. ry credits in PLOUGHSHARES, THE SE- peer group. Writing, "I'm telling The novel's cute stage-setting WANEE REVIEW, FICTION INTERNATION¬ you, Ernie,” T.D. said, "I had documents are jocular, tongue- AL) is counterproductive to the read¬ Central Data put out tracers on in-cheek, suited to teenagers in er; it slows him, confuses him, ang¬ Sampson three times to make sure." style. They contain the elaborate ers him. The technique is anti- would not have diminished the novel pretense of having been written by reader. It is anti-story, too, to in any way. an alien scoundrel as a confession the extent that it hinders, hampers But Pfeil might feel it is a to his lord and master Lord Turn, and limits the reading of this novel. sell-out to write 'commercial' fic¬ from prison in Government City, The novel also touches other fash¬ tion. He bleeds for the downtrod¬ Planet Voltar of the Voltar Con¬ ionable, ever-present academic/intel- den masses in this novel, but God federacy (of planets, all 110 of lectual bases: it is fervently anti¬ forbid he write for them, eh? them). And they are prefaced by capitalist, anti-corporation. an official declaration that the So, why do I like it? planet Earth doesn't exist, is a In spite of all the pretentious fiction! roadblocks-to-reading, the story of But the fiction following Ernest Goodman in the year 2020 A.D. the set-up material is awkward, is a very good study of human char¬ acter, of morality (and lack of it), clumsy, inept...simply bad, al¬ most amateur in technique and of basic human needs perverted by skill. It leads me to think L. authority. Ron Hubbard wrote the opening, It is also very real and has and someone else completed the marvelous imagination and extrapola¬ project. tion: the human and technical detail are utterly convincing. (If -written, couldn't Pfeil tells of a world ruled a skilled writer be hired? But if by world corporations in bitter riv¬ Hubbard's brain were failing, the alry for control of markets, resourc¬ victim of subtle micro-strokes es, governments. OMNICO is the cor- before The Big One...) poration-as-villian in this novel, Uncritical, read-anything kids and its power-abusing president is will probably be able to consume seen as typical; he, like the gener¬ MISSION EARTH. And parents als, presidents and dictators he shouldn't worry: all swear words raises to power and topples, is have been bleeped out by the temporary, subject to planned-for translating computer, 54 Charlee replacement when (inevitably) his Nine. character flaws yield to the corrup¬ tion inherent in vast power and he I'm genuinely sorry I couldn't gets himself killed or makes a big¬ endure these, and more sorry still loss mistake. that L. Ron Hubbard wrote these The world of 2020 is one of an and probably forced their publica¬ America of railed inner cities inhab¬ tion. I doubt any other than his ited by classes of elite workers and own publishing company would have managers who are watched and guarded accepted them and poured megabucks constantly, who are manipulated and MISSION EARTH into their promotion. amused to a point of amoral perver¬ Vol. One: THE INVADERS But wotthehell, them's the sion of drugs and sexual and violence PLAN (1985) perks of money and power. delights. Vol. Two: BLACK GENESIS: Outside---are the dregs, the mal¬ Fortress of Evil contents, the 'lesser breeds' who By L. Ron Hubbard inhabit abandoned suburbs and shanty¬ Bridge Publications, both $18.95 towns . There are those in the inner The core of the novel is the sto¬ reaches of science fiction who AT ANY PRICE ry of Ernest Goodman, a man who loves think L. Ron Hubbard did not write A Hanmer's Slammers novel his wife and her son, and who is a BATTLEFIELD EARTH, or the first By professional friend to the rich and two volumes of the 10-volume novel, , $3.50, 1985. powerful. He is a personality cham¬ MISSION EARTH. I'm almost posi¬ Colonel Alois Hammer's mercen¬ eleon, a quick study, who becomes a tive he did write BATTLEFIELD ary force has been hired to help confidant and buddy to those who EARTH, but I have serious reserva¬ the incompetent human forces on the need a friend, who will buy a sub¬ tions about Volumes 1-2 of MISSION planet Oltenia battle the alien stitute for lack of trusting and lov¬ EARTH. Molts—the indigenous species ing enough to earn the real thing. whose planet has been partially Goodman is picked by Richard De- I couldn't get very far into colonized by mankind. vine, president of OMNICO, to be The Molts are hard-shelled tested as possible friend... 47 creatures with the remarkable abil- ity to teleport to places nearby glands and adds slow-dissolving poison where they are "focused". sacs. This makes for a hellish kind The players in this kaleidoscopic of war. And when you add a dicta¬ novel are many and vicious: Molly, the torial human society, a power-strug¬ assassin with electronic eyes, enhanced gle, a clash of cultures.... reflexes and retractable fingernail knii But this novel leaves Colonel es; Riviera, the sadist who can project Hammer off-stage almost completely, hallucinations; 3Jane, the latest clone and concentrates on two of his men in a clannish, super-powerful family ---Sergeant Profile Bourne, and who own vast wealth and who are in the Lieutenant Enzo Hawker—who are grip of their Artificial Intelligence assigned to bodyguard and advise computers, Wintemute and Neuromancer; the new, young general assigned to Armitage, Case's apparent human employ¬ command the lazy, fearful, gutless er who is a ressurected psychotic with army of the colony. a new personality overlay... The colony is Rumanian-oriented, There are goodguys, too, like Dix, THE ODYSSEUS SOLUTION with some interesting cultural twists the mind-in-a-chip of a legendary By Michael Banks and Dean R. Lambe of Epicurean and paranoid texture. Cowboy; Maelcum, the space tug owner, Baen Books, $2.95, 1986. This is a violent, bloody story, and, ultimately, one of the AI's. The cover and backcover blurbs and David Drake does not flinch from The worlds Case and these others make much of the birdlike alien graphic detail. He does not like inhabit are mind and meat, drug and invaders gifts to Earth of matter- "easy" TV deaths—the victims die matrix, world and non-world, with duplicators. The machines wrecked quietly, neatly (and let's get on each as real and important as the the world economy, created chaos, with the story because the censors others. Case spends more time "out- and permitted the Cweom-jik to won't allow "violence" anymore)--- of-body" than in, as far as the novel appear as saviors;-and become rul¬ which he suspects teach kids that goes, and he has a real contempt for ers. killing is easy and sanitary. his meat existence. But the novel begins long aft¬ His writing isn't too clean; er the chaos and Collapse of civili¬ This superb novel---the product of it encompasses many thoughts, many zation, and follows a young, dumb a man using first-class talent, skills interrelationships, many technical klutz called Brent Erlanger, a and mind—has been called a "high- details of ordinance, armour, tac¬ sudden, fugitive from his town, as tics. tech punk novel" by Norman Spinrad he stumbles into the wilderness (because of its use of the criminal What is most impressive is his and is barely saved by elements of underground of this future, its use ability to make all these future the underground resistance move¬ weapons (with accompanying tactical of high-tech drugs, and computer in¬ ment. and strategic factors thrown in) so telligence?) . 95% of this novel is narrative real and visual. Terry Carr is the editor of the busywork---and then he ate, and So this book is interesting and Ace Special series, and a great one; then he went, and then he fumed entertaining on several levels: his choices win awards and stay on and fretted—as the authors try there's a hint of Vietnam here. the Must Read lists. His description unsuccessfully to create character There is also a bonus: two short of NEUROMANCER as extremely visual is and interesting, non-klutz dialog. stories at the end of the book in¬ right on; Gibson sees and makes the Structuring scenes for suspense, volving Hamner's Slarnners on other reader see...the unseeable, and feel tension, conflict, danger is beyond planets, in other mercenary engage¬ and taste and hear in this detailed, or unknown to them. The writing is ments. They are "The Interrogation multi-leveled, multi-realitied bizarre too often clumsy and unwittingly Team," and "Code-Name Feirefitz." future. funny. For intance: There is a whole lot more to be "Holy Mother of God, I counted said about NEUROMANCER, but you don't my chickens before they were dead," need me to say it: read the novel and he grunted to himself. "Should you'll be thinking the same things. have checked on that fourth shit- NEUROMANCER bird first thing. God damned rookie By William Gibson mistake's done killed me. Hope Er¬ Ace Special, $2.95, 1984 langer has the sense to stay back." Then, wrenching pain struck, and he It's hard to believe this really cried out. fine sf novel is a first novel. But William Gibson's book reviews in years past for SFR—of very high quality--- foretold his writing skills and quality of insight. NEUROMANCER is a high-tension story of a self-destructive electronic raider —a Cowboy—who jacks into the world¬ wide electronic matrix of computer com¬ munications and programs and steals data, makes false entries, etc. He, Case, is superb at his craft, but one time stole something from his employer-of-the-moment, and that entity will get him, sooner or later. Case is damaged goods, an emotional wreck, surviving by his wits, by drugs, on the perpetual edge of disaster------When someone or something rigs his employment for a really big raid and insures his loyalty and motivation by an operation which fixes drug-ruined That's a long series of grunts. DAD'S NUKE Another bit struck me between the By Marc Laidlaw eyes: Donald J. Fine, $15.95, 1986. He shouted his frustration and You'll feel the cutting edge of anger in one monosyllabic burst. this social-sf satire even as you The aliens appear very infre¬ quently. Most of the novel is a- Laidlaw—a young writer with bout Erlanger's learning about the much talent—shows you a world dom¬ underground, being tested, learn¬ inated by The Cartel, and by a Chris¬ ing skills, a little history... tian religion gone power-mad. But It's essentially a static, most of the story is about the John¬ badly written, ill-structured son family and their bizarre lives novel. in their walled, laser-defended I read this because Deam R. house and in their walled, laser-de¬ Lambe has done a lot of reviewing fended Neighborhood. for SFR, I was curious, and I felt Dad is paranoid with distrust I owed him a read. I hope he and for his across-the-street neighbor. Banks have improved if they've sold Son P.J. has been genetically a second novel. programmed to turn homosexual. New baby Erica has been gene- engineered to eat the waste of the SOME KIND OF PARADISE: newly installed nuclear power unit, THE EMERGENCE OF AMERICAN and daughter Nancy is the victim of SCIENCE FICTION CLOSED SYSTEM pill-induced maturation... All the (Contributions to the Study of Science Fic.tion and Fantasy, By Zach Hughes family are force-aged by pills. You Signet, $2.95, March, 1986. get the impression they live truncat¬ #16, ISSN 0193-6875) ed lived of about twenty years from By Thomas D. Clareson I stopped believing this story birth to old age. Why? Well, it's Greenwood Press 1985 ($29.95) when the author, following a long a nice satirical touch. 88 Post Road West, Box 5007, tradition in sf, hauled in mindless The computer-age gets its lumps, Westport, CT 06881 religious fanatics, a one-man ruler too, as work involves total sensory This one traces sf back into of a planet with dreams of conquer¬ immersion in the computer whose pro¬ ing the whole civilized universe with the 1800s and examines the entrails. grams seem to mix use of the human a space fleet of a couple thousand (It's a messy job, but somebody...) brain with pleasure, and as the ships and a secret beam weapon. The cut-off point seems to be the Christian computer, sentient and Previous to these infusions of in¬ early thirties, after which sf is hungry for a body, almost takes over credibility Hughes had a loner space presumed to be fully emerged. another son, Virgil (who is abruptly freight skipper making a questionable The emphasis again is on the old enoigh to marry, work, but now delivery to a dictatorship planet and writers and novels of the times, a is too old to read and own books). fundamentally biased and wrong under commission to pick up a single Consumerism, religion, corporate slant. See next review. passenger. The shit hits the fan America, the family, the suburbs... when a local prospector dangles the all are carried to extremes, raked universe's largest uncut diamond in over the hot coals of Laidlaw's mind his face, the passenger turns out to and talent, and burned to a crisp. be a devastatingly beautiful vidstar There is hope for humanity--and SCIENCE FICTION, FANTASY, AND on the lam from the dictator, and the the remnants of the Johnson family-- WEIRD FICTION MAGAZINES planet's space fleet tries to prevent in the countryside "barbarians" who Edited by Marshall B. Tymn and his escape. battle the Christian force, the Car¬ Mike Ashley 1985 ($95.00) From there the plot sickens and dies of malignant one-man-saves-the- tel, and indoctrinated city folk, Greenwood Press 88 Post Road West, Box 5007, universe disease. and who take in rebels and malcon¬ Westport, CT 06881 The writing is pulp hack, the tents from all. plotting is pulp hack, and I say to There are some trapped-in-the- Basically a reference book, but hell with it. There's nothing wrong computer trips in this novel which with bonuses all over the place: with good pulp-style writing. Good will make you look sideways at your Seemingly every pulp magazine deal¬ fiction is good fiction, of whatever PC. And there are some insta-serv¬ ing with sf, fantasy and weird is style and form. This novel is simply es full of tranks and other drugs here detailed with its own history filler. which will make you wonder about (some, like ASTOUNDING/ANALOG, long that TV dinner you have in the micro- and extensive)• In addition, relat¬ wave. ed anthologies are covered, along And then there's the officious with academic periodicals and the and insistent Dr. Edison, who forces acknowledged major fanzines, and HARD SCIENCE FICTION everyone to take their age-accelera¬ non-English language magazines. Edited by George E. Slusser and tion pills on^schedule... And the Also it includes an index to Eric S. Rabkin 1986 ($21.95) clones of the'Cartel representative major cover artists, and an a chron¬ Southern Illinois Universirt Press ology of all the magazines by found¬ POB 3697, This is a full novel, replete ing date. Carbondale, IL 62902-3697 with seductive mockery and vicious What most impressed me was the Sixteen essays examine so-call¬ jape. I liked it a lot. care, detail, fairness and accuracy ed hard science fiction from all The photo on the back of the of the magazine histories, and the angles. The emphasis is on its dust jacket shows Marc Laidlaw, who evaluations of the editors. Here writers and their stories/novels, has sold stories to Asimov's, FSSF, is the hook upon vhich I hang a with good ol' professor's favorite and Omni, to be a young man in his major criticism of 99% of academic Stanislaw Lem paid most attention twenties. It should be against the literary examinations of sf and (with 75 listings in the Index). law for a kid that young to have this fantasy---the learned professors Uh, since when is Lem a hard sf much skill, perceptiveness and tal¬ almost always virtually ignore the writer? Oh, well... ent . Grump. men who selected and published the -31 4Q sf and fantasy they so minutely ex¬ us to a conclusion that the only amine for trends, influences, soc¬ way life on Earth, and human life ial symptoms, etc. The publish¬ as well, could have come about is ers of even the mass pulps, the through an Act of God? Have we chains, had firm editorial policies come full circle? If you accept ---taboos and musts---which govern¬ the latest data and reasoning, a ed what could and could not be more rational and scientifically printed! And some of them were acceptable explanation is that an weird, personal and eccentric! alien race, incredibly advanced, The editors—such as Sloane, Tre¬ •• O perhaps a fluke of the universe, maine, Sam Merwin, Jr., Sam Mines, knowing its loneliness and its SOL H.L. Gold, the Fermans, Boucher, uniqueness, intervened---over Goldsmith, Pohl, Moorcock, etc., billions of years—to stimulate etc., etc. etc., had firm ideas a chosen gas cloud in our galaxy and tastes about what was good and any given moment---how much food to create more life in the uni¬ bad. Who were the editors of the eaten, excreted, miles traveled, verse. And that mission may be Munsey magazines? Who ever men¬ semen deposited, books read...in our eventual destiny, too. tions the influence of the legendary the form of a review of a book titl¬ As I say, this book is a Leo Margulies? What about Mort ed ONE HUMAN MINUTE. Lem is criti¬ mindblower. Weisinger, the editors of THE ARGO¬ cal of the two printed editions of SY, ALL STORY...? the book examined, and then simply They didn't simply bow to writ¬ throws up his hands when a computer ers and print what the God-like edition is "published". Authors sent them. Christ, the The second section, a review editors and publishers were the of a book titled WEAPONS SYSTEMS gods! OF THE 21ST ENTURY, is eye-opening for its logic and for the appalling And with few exceptions, they future it shows. He follows micro- still are! They decide what sf and miniturization and computerization fantasy is published. They decide STARMAN (PG) to the end of the line in military trends and tides and movements, not lives or dies on applications: humans would become authors! In my view the editors Jeff Bridges' ability to convince too slow and inadequate to use the and publishers are as important you he is a human body--force-clon¬ ever-smarter and precise and deadly (if not more) in the shaping of sf ed to manhood within a few minutes weapons developed, and ever-smarter and fantasy as the writers. Yet ---inhabited by an alien intelli¬ counter-defenses and subsequent there is not one mention of Don gence. weapons would lead to smaller, more Wollheim in either of the above- He/it was forced down to Earth agile, more hard-to-kill sentient reviewed books, HARD SCIENCE FIC¬ as he was on his way to a rendesvous weapons until—the world would be TION and SOME KIND OF PARADISE. in Arizona with a mothership. overrun with billions of insectlike That, I submit, is an academic The body he recreates from the mini-weapons and defenses, with a and critical crime. OFF WITH THEIR DNA found in a lock of hair found clustering capability built into HEADS! in a memory book is that of the re¬ some of the weapons to create nu¬ And praise be for Marshall B. cently dead husband of a young wom¬ clear bombs from millions of bits Tymn and Mike Ashley for their ex¬ an played very well by Karen Allen. of "instinctual" insectlike robots. cellent SCIENCE FICTION, FANTASY, The bulk of the film is their But the third section is the AND WEIRD FICTION MAGAZINES. A dash to Arizona from Minnesota where best and most thought-provoking. very valuable, needed volume. he crash-landed. It isn't science fiction. It is a They come to love each other consideration of the latest data in this intense chase sequence (as and theory of how our solar system the Feds close in on them...) came into being and how life and The Evil-Feds side is overdone then how human life appeared on (as they ready a field autopsy unit ONE HUMAN MINUTE Earth. for--one thinks--instant vivisection By Stanislaw Lem Briefly—you've got to read of the alien-in-human-body), and Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1986, the book!---the reason life in the Richard Jaekel doesn't soften it $13.95 universe is so hard to find is that any with his hardcase implacable It's been a few years since I the chain of events which must happen playing of the Director (of the last read a Lem book (SOLARIS, bits in precise order (stars must go CIA? NSA?) role. and pieces of others), and I note nova at exactly the right times, Near the end the clone-husband/ that he seems to have opened up and in certain sequences, not too close, alien and the wife make love, and become more able to explore areas not too far away!) is so rigorous he tells her the baby will be part¬ of thought he perhaps avoided be¬ and freakish for intelligent life ly alien-in-mind, and will be a fore he left the communist dictat¬ to appear and flourish; that the teacher. He leaves an alien power/ orship of Poland for the essential¬ odds are simply enormous, and re¬ knowledge spheroid in her care; the ly capitalist free state of Austria. duce the likelihood of our ever child will know what to do with it. In any event this one book--- finding another sentient species the New Christ is Coming indication especially the third section—is in our galaxy to almost zero. is an opening for a sequel, if the worth the money and the Wow-think- The conclusion you are forced moneymen think it will fly. ing it will provoke. to accept is that instead of teem¬ This is a Good Alien movie of Lem long ago proposed and then ing billions of civilizations in some quality, though the Bad Govern¬ wrote a species of science fiction the universe, there may be only a ment scenario is wearing thin for non-fiction—future non-fiction. few dozen. Maybe...maybe only me. One might think of this as The first two sections of this book one---us. And that makes you propaganda, too, of a cultural/re¬ are in that sub-sub-genre. think about special intervention ligious kind. But I think it's "One Human Minute" is a wry, by... simply commercialized idealism mocking assessment of the magnitud¬ Could advanced cosmology bring aimed at young adults and teenagers. es of what all of mankind does in 50 BY ELTON T. ELLIOTT

Well, I'm finally taking the step. snatches of conversations and a few events IN THE FIERY FURNACE WITHOUT AN ASBESTOS With Dick phasing out non-REG reviews in such as panels (more on one of those in SUIT: OR SF, FANTASY AM) THE rEW AGE SCIENCE FICTION REVIEW and my own growing my next article). I hate panels that begin before noon. yen to write, on a more frequent basis, Images that float through my head: At a Science Fiction convention most reviews, conmentary, ncn-fiction musings folks sleep in late. Some are sleeping and ramblings about SF, publishing, mark¬ Simone Welch in a pink dress;'John Varley out on the balcony staring into the night; off the effects of too much booze, others eting, fandom, politics, etc., I've de¬ -- like myself -- the effects of staying cided to start my own journal. It will Larry Niven mentioning the differences between penguins (North Pole Penguins up late observing those on booze making be titled ELLIOTT'S BOOKLINE and will royal fools of themselves. So when Nor¬ consist of eight 8 1/2 X 11 pages folded Unite!); Varley coming back into the room, quiet intensity eyes from the molten wescon scheduled one of my panels at into an envelope. Its frequency will be 10 A.M. on Sunday I wasn't thrilled. I as soon as I have enough material to fill pools of Venus -- or maybe he's just tir¬ ed; Alexis Gilliland (by the way, thanks feared most of the poor souls up at that eight pages (around 4 weeks). Charter hour would be half asleep, irritable as subscriptions are ten issues for $10. for the illos) lecturing me on the high¬ er morality of eating meat and telling me hell -- or usually both. Such was not Checks should be made out to Elton T. the case. The room was jam-packed. Most Elliott and mailed to: that I'm nicer in person than in print -- thanks, Alexis -- I think -- and al¬ of the audience was wide awake and even ELLIOTT'S BOOKLINE the panelists seamed chipper. The sub¬ Elton T. Elliott so giving me some great advice about thinking through the other person's ject was "Mysticism of Tomorrow." My, 1899 Wiessner Dr., NE what a nest of snakes was concealed under Salem, OR 97303 point of view which I was too sleepy to remember much of; the people that innocuous title. The first issue should be out around being very nice and John Herandez, Randy the first of May. To facilitate this I Prinslow, Bryan Hilterbrand, myself and I decided to open up with some com¬ am buying a confiuter/word processor. The five very drunk girls in an elevator. ments regarding Constance Cumbey and her printer will be a daisy-vheel, manuscript Somebody give John --a handkerchief, new book, PLANNED DECEPTION (which Rich¬ quality printer. All issues will be please. And the one woman leading anoth¬ ard E. Geis reviewed in THE NAKED ID mailed first class. er woman on a chain and the; young teenage #10). I pointed out that I felt the New Age movement and other mystics were ev¬ I intend to make ELLIOTT’S BOOKLINE boy next to me who said, "I wonder if they do boys." Don't feed the animals. entually headed toward a showdown with as exciting, controversial and readable the fundamentalists both here in the U.S. as I possibly can. There will be a let¬ Then there was the panel on the "So¬ and in the Arab Middle East and Israel ter colunn; I hope to hear from you. In cial Responsibility of Writers" (thanks, --in fact, anywhere that monotheism was the meantime, have a good spring and Michael for the hard work -- and Robert the predominant religion. I mentioned here’s the rest of my column on its next- on the brainstorm panel, which unfortun¬ the connections being drawl by some fund¬ to-penultimate appearance in SFR. ately turned out to be a braindrizzle). amentalists between New Age mysticism My fellow responsible panelists were and the gnostic traces in Nazism. I also Scott Russell Sanders, Norman Spinrad, told some jokes about one person tiio has Frederik Pohl and Dean Ing. I found out been accused by Ms. Cumbey of being an IMAGES FROM H£ ZOO: OR WHAT NORVESCON that Fred Pohl and I agree on practical¬ occultist but who is actually a ration¬ 1980 f-EANT TO ME ly nothing when it comes to politics; alist. The audience laughed and seaned that Norman and I agree that mandatory Convention-going is a tightly com¬ amused. I sat back with a anile figur¬ drug testing is an abomination and that ing I had done ray job and could now gen- pacted sensory overload for me. SF Cons Dean and Fred disagree violently on the are part quasi-family , part bus¬ teely go to sleep. But noooo. Such Strategic Defense Initiative (Star Wars). was not to be the case. iness and part zoo -- that is watching Fred "Buckle Up or Else" Pohl actually the animals, er-ah, talking to the ani¬ believes that the yellow rain in South¬ The next panelist identified himself mals, feeding the animals -- even touch¬ east Asia was beeshit, not nerve gas. as being a mystic, from California and ing some of the animals (animals=some of Right. Oh, well, at least we agree on into pyramid power. But, other than con¬ those in costumes), to say nothing of be- our right to disagree. firming some stereotypes that Northwest- one of the animals (I was dressed as Am¬ emers hold about Californians, his com¬ ericans Mundanus Lawyerus). My memory Thanks again to all those who worked ments were -- well -- mellow. The next doesn't store details in a linear fash¬ at the convention and to all the readers person was Jayne Tannehill Sturgeon (the ion. After a coiple of days all I remem¬ of this colunn vbo said they enjoyed it late Ted Sturgeon's widow) who made some ber of a convention is disconnected im¬ even if they didn't agree with me all comments about taking the "woo woo" out ages, snatches of conversations and a the time. After all, nobody's perfect of mysticism and talked about "little few events such as panels (more an one of -- well, maybe the editor and whoever children teleporting into their owi real¬ those in my next article). signs the checks. And finally, Gene -- ity" and about the "beings that visit sorry about the six-part harmony. Next us." The next person, Richard Purtill, time I'm bringing along a couple of ka¬ writes fantasy and murder mysteries and zoos and a few cheerleaders. teaches religion and philosophy at West¬ ing one of the animals (I was dressed as ern Washington University. He made some Americans Mundans Lawyers). My memory general comments about mysticism and then doesn't store details in a linear fashioa it was on to the last panelist, an art¬ After a couple of days all I remember of ist, Dameon Willoch. The name alone a convention is disconnected images, 51 should have been a tip-off as to where this chap was coining from. He identifi¬ was out to dismantle Christianity but he of Cunbey's A PLANNED DECEPTION: "In my ed himself as Christian, Ixit averred as didn't support Cumbey because of her view there is a seat of control above to how he had once been "on the other "shoddy scholarship." those centers detailed by Cunbey in the side of the fence." He proceeded to Several other people from the audi¬ various aspects of the New Age movement. slam writers and other artists who he ence attacked for my opposition to mys¬ And the real string-pullers are using claimed didn't share a sense of responsi¬ ticism, saying that "rationalists” such the occult, the New Age, the pagan, anti- bility for "writing books that made peop¬ as myself had driven the world to the Christian organizations, the cults as le go out and shoot others" (sic) and brink of nuclear war. Without pointing tools in a far-reaching master plan far for taking a strong mystical stance. He out that I had not been bom when the A greater than any she has written about said he was a Eharmic Engineer (whatever Bombs went off over Hiroshima and Naga¬ thus far." I do believe that she goes that is) and then said that he would saki and could not have had anything to overboard when she identifies Isaac Asi¬ probably disagree with everything that do with that, I pointed out that I wasn't mov as a "leading occultist" just because "a fundamentalist like Mr. Elliott be- a rationalist either. I said that any¬ he signed the 'Humanist Manifesto II." I body who chose to limit themselves phil¬ think that carries the conspiracy argu¬ ment to ludicrous extremes. What? I tried to wake myself ip. osophically had the right to do so, but "Just a minute," I blurted out, "I was please don't include me. I said my con¬ My advice? I say fight the bastards, only comnenting on certain trends that cerns about mysticism becoming a major the censors wherever they appear and in I've observed. I never said I was a force in Western Civilization was that whatever form they choose. My friend fundamentalist." The audience laughed. it didn't have such a sterling record in Kerry Davis believes that a departure to Anybody that has read my column over the India and China and that my concern over the Southern Pacific (or thereabouts) is years knows that I have objected stren¬ the New Age Movement had to do with its in order. This attitude is curiously uously when some fundamentalists have ties to Nazism, racist gnosticism and close to the admonition in the Bible "to tried to censor books, ideas and opin¬ theosophy. After all, if being a mystic flee to the mountains." Of course, the ions that they don't like. I also wrote and an adept is so great and will make Mormons are too busy becoming gods to in my last colum that I'm sympathetic one peaceful and non-violent, how does worry about such things. to certain concerns that they have, in¬ Adolf Hitler fit in? He considered him¬ cluding some of the concerns of Ms. Cum- self an adept and the reincarnation of bey, but that doesn't mean that I agree Leopold II of Capua and dabbled in myst¬ What does all of this ultimately rep¬ with all of their positions or all of icism and black magic. It didn't make resent? I believe that it represents her statements. (In fact, Dick Geis in his worldview less peaceful and humanit¬ conflicting urges of creativity and des- an article for LOOMPANICS wrote sympath¬ arian. It's like parroting the feminist tructivity, individuality and group-think etically of some of the fundamentalists' claim that if women led the world we as we face the most momentous point in concerns regarding the public school sys¬ wouldn't have wars. Yeah. Ignore Queen human existence -- the leap into space, tem; does this make him a fundamentalist?) Elizabeth I, Catherine the Great, Indira concurrent with a High-Tech civilization Ghandi, Golda Meier and Margaret Thatch¬ replete with wonders like genetic engin¬ I said that if they wanted to cate¬ er and the theory might hold true. Veg¬ eering, longevity, etc. I think this is gorize me, I'm a dramatist; I think of etarians (of which I'm one) often hold leading ip to a millenial-like confront¬ the universe and mankind's place in it the same idiotic view. They forget that ation and the question has to be, does in dramatic terms -- and as a dramatist Adolf Hitler was a vegetarian. A philo¬ this confrontation represent two separ¬ I can take both sides of a certain issue, sophy or lifestyle says little or nothing ate pathways of the mind: i.e. giving us in a book, without taking the same side about how that person might act in a pos¬ an explanation which externalizes hunan in ray personal philosophy. (At the end ition of power. Witness Ronald Reagan's psychological topography, or does the of this article I’ll try to explain my claims to erase the deficit. conflict in reality stem from external position vis a vis New Age Mysticism and realities which the human psyche intern¬ Fundamentalist Christian thought.) This whole thing of the New Age won't alizes? In other words, external in na¬ end as that panel mercifully did. Al¬ ture or internal: a response to real- I thought that would be enough. Nooo. ready there are indications that some are world realities or interior brain struc¬ An audience member (who later identified trying to tie the New Age in with SF and ture. In any case the over-riding ques¬ himself as Ross Pavloc, veil-known fan Fantasy. In the March 1986 issue of LO¬ tion is, can it pose a personal threat? who chaired a recent ) took me to CUS in "The People and Publishing" sec¬ Yes. Maybe. Although the root cause task for saying that Constance Cumbey re¬ tion, LOCUS reported that Peter Wilfert might be psychological, the danger is so¬ presented "the mainstream of fundamental¬ had left the West German Publishing firm cial and political. The Nazi connection ist thought." I replied that I had said of Goldmann Verlag (Verlag is German for is there. I happened on to that long no such thing. That I felt Ms. Cumbey Publishing House) to Sphinx Verlag "where before Cumbey's first book. My sugges¬ to be an articulate, powerful spokesman he'll deal with the burgeoning 'New Age' tion -- study. Don't take this mystical for a certain point of view in the funda¬ field, believing that fantasy has already human spiritual evolution at face value mentalist Christian comnunity that "was reached its zenith." Former Bastei edi¬ and watch out for Pat Robertson and Jerry gaining adherents." Later Pavloc in a tor, Michael Goerden, will move to Gold¬ Falwell (even disapproves of Robertson private conversation expanded his posi¬ mann in April as Wilfert's successor, ed¬ who is a Yalie). Good heavens, you don't tion and said that he felt the New Age iting SF, fantasy and "New Age" books. think it could be all a plot to repopul¬ In this year's Norwescon program ate the universe with Yalies, do you? booklet a Seattle based musical group, (Note: To avoid misunderstandings read "Laughter and Love," was blurbed as hav¬ the dictionary definitions of rationalism, ing "received favorable reviews in the mysticism and fundamentalism.) New Age, SF and Fantasy communities for MUSINGS their album of refreshing, positive mu- An interesting trend is developing in publishing. Many novels which in the What the two examples mentioned above past wouldv'e been listed as SF are now is part of a trend that I see developing coming out as novels, romances, etc. and that I would like to nip in the bud Obvious among the examples are all three as fast as possible. The New Age, SF of the novels I've written with Dick and and Fantasy are not the same thing. TWo Favrcett is publishing: THE SWORD OF of them are areas of literature (mostly ALLAH, THE BURNT LANDS and MASTER FILE. commercial entertainment, no matter how All three depend on developments in sci¬ different their outlook), and the other ence and technology for their narrative. is more than a philosophy -- it is an TSOA and TBL are set in the near future. incipient world religion being pushed by The difference is we aimed them at the nefarious groups for their own devious general reading public and stayed away reasons. (I'm sorry, Alexis, I tried to from genre conventions like a specializ¬ be even handed --on some issues maybe ed vocabulary. -- not on this one.) Other examples that follow the same What about my own opinions about the pattern of sfictional concerns, but non- New Age Movement? My position can be genreizations are Jean Auel's CLAN OF sumned up by quoting from REG's review THE CAVE BEAR and its successors, Len 52 Deighton's tale of Britain uider Nazi rule, SS GB. Clive Cussler's novel CY¬ maybe I'm slow, but they remained opaque IN ALIEN FLESH by Gregory Benford CLOPS which features a secret moon colony to me. The story behind this novel is a (TOR, 1986, 280 pp., $14.95), a collec¬ and a fight between the U.S. and the So¬ bigger mystery than anything in the nov¬ tion which shows Benford at his most er¬ viet Ihion over its control. el proper. udite in the introductions and at his CLOSED SYSTEM by Zach Hughes (Signet, dazzling, innovative best in the thought¬ TVio recent books really caught ray ful stories. "Doing Lennon" (1975), the attention: AMERICA 2040 by Evan Innes 1986, 222 pp., $2.95) is a taut, suspense- ful space thriller. It is set several last story in the volume, is the most typ¬ (Bantam, April 1986, $3.95) and Janelle ical and atypical of the stories here. Taylor's MXMDUST AND MAINESS (also Ban¬ hundred years in the future, when an an¬ cient weapon from an ancient war threat¬ It is about a person from the future who tam, May 1986, $3.95) -- (for a hilari¬ meets Lennon -- it is eerily predictive ous review of the latter see Gene De- ens mankind. Che man, Pat Howe, space tug operator, is thrust into the middle of Lennon's death --or the obsession Weese's colunn). The Innes novel is the that caused it. first part of a timid derivative series of events that cost him money -- and may¬ put out by Lyle Kenyan Engle's group. be his life. The ending is unusual and The rest are excellent gems including The second is an awful, dreadful romance very moving. Recommended. the magnificent title story which is one that is quite sinply one of the vrorst ISAAC ASIM5V PRESENTS THE GREAT SF of the best attempts -- and most succes¬ ever published by a comnercial publishing STORIES 14 (1952), Edited by Isaac Asi¬ sful --to portray aliens. house. About the best you could say mov and Martin H. Greenberg (DAW, 1986, about these two books is that they open 352 pp., $3.50) is another in what is BRIDGEHEAD by David Drake (TOR, 1986, up new markets and new readers for SF turning out to be the definitive series 279 pp., $3.50), is another in a long of anthologies on science ficticn, in line of excellent novels from this over¬ the genre magazines. The stories are ex¬ looked and underrated author. He contin¬ cellent as are the candid introductions ually produces novels that are intense, BOOK REVIEWS by AsinDV and Greenberg. Excellent suspenseful and entertaining and yet does stories by Bradbury, Leiber, Mark Clif¬ not receive any critical attention. He The MESSIAH STONE by Martin Caidin ton, Sheckley, Farmer, Hamilton and many reminds me somewhat of Poul Anderson and (Baen Books, April 1986, 416 pp., $3.95) others including the intense, fascinating Gordon R. Dickson in their early years. is an musual thriller. Ihusual in not "Game For Blondes," by John D. MacDonald. They wrote quite a'bit -- all of high only subject matter, but in the fact A story that seems slight yet makes its quality but were mostly ignored. But if that the author claims that the basic point and at the same time brings home Drake continues to write at the level of idea behind the book is real! what a superb writer SF lost when he went BRIDGEHEAD he won't be ignored for long. into the suspense/detective field. This The book concerns the possession of BRIDGEHEAD concerns a team of humans a stone; the person who controls the collection shows what a vibrant field magazine SF was in the early 1950s. from the far future trying to help a pro¬ stone rules the world. The last such fessor construct a time machine. All is person is rumored to be Adolf Hitler -- not what it seems. Not the "humans" or and before him Christ -- hence the book's I believe that the large number of magazines allowed a great many new writ¬ the machine. It is an exciting story, title. A group of five wealthy individ¬ but what impressed me the most was the uals hire mercenary Doug Stavers to find ers into the field and that the wide variety of editorial tastes represented deft, believable way Drake handles his the stone. Harrowing adventure and non¬ characters, particularly Henry and Sara stop action follows, for it seems that by those markets allowed writers the op¬ portunity to develop quicker than they Layberg. There is one scene where they Stavers is not the only one after the reconcile that rings so true it reminded stone. The Pentagon, the Israelis and would today, when the entry points for magazine SF writers are extremely limited. me of Kate Wilhelm who does that better the Vatican all want the stone and its than anybody I know. The difference is supposed magical powers. THE KIF SRIKE BACK by C.J. Cherryh Drake can tell one hell of a story. (DAW, 1985, 299 pp., $3.50) is the sec¬ If you want action and chilling sus¬ BRIDGEHEAD deserves to be nominated for ond in the Chanur Trilogy. A brief com¬ some awards. pense THE MESSIAH STONE will do quite mentary by Cherryh at the end of this nicely. The characters are considerably novel makes it clear to the reader that THE HUGO WINNERS VOLUME 5 1980-82 larger than life. The protagonist, Doug this is part of a trilogy, something Edited by Isaac Asimov (Doubleday, 1986, Stavers, is fascinating but somewhat of which the first book, CHANUR'S VENTURE 372 pp., $18.95) contains nine very im¬ a mystery throughout the book. He never did not do. It has a convincing, well- pressive stories. My memories of the came into focus for me. I would like to thought and intricately detailed back¬ Hugos are evidently worse than the real¬ have known what motivated him to lead the ground. These novels are almost politic¬ ity if these stories are any indication. bloodthirsty life he leads throughout the al thrillers and it's remarkable that in This is a collection to give to the novel. A peek into his childhood might a field not renowned for the believabil- friend that wants to know why "you read help. The ending of the novel seemed ity of its politics, Cherryh's work is that crazy stuff." Especially memorable anticlimactic and overly reminscent of so believable. The aliens are fully are "Sandkings" by George R.R. Martin, Frank M. Robinson's THE POWER. fleshed out, but -- for me -- the story "The Saturn Game" by Poul Andersen, "The As for the Caidin's statement in the is getting a little tired. I can't see Cloak and the Staff" by Gordon R. Dick¬ Afterword that the "Messiah Stone" ex¬ that Cherryh is covering any new ground. son and John Varley's romantic "The Push¬ ists, I find that as fascinating as any¬ It seems like a rehash of the first book er." These are stories by some of the thing in the novel. When he says "I have in the series (an independent novel) THE best writers at their best -- four stars. been familiar with it for many years," PRIDE OF CHANUR. I hope the concluding what does he mean? Has he watched too volume in the trilogy, CHANUR'S HOMECOM¬ many episodes of THE BIONIC WOMAN? I'd ING, proves me wrong. The Writing is su¬ like to read a non-fiction work explor¬ perb though, as is the pace and tension. ing the Messiah Stone, the Godstone, the Cherryh and Chanur fans should enjoy this Stone of Prometheus or by whatever name immensely and look forward to the last it is called. I would have dismissed book in the trilogy. Caidin's comnents had I not run across NOTE: Several issues ago I mention¬ references to such a stone in my research ed my irritation at the fact that CHAN¬ for a novel on the Nazis and their obses¬ UR’ S VENTURE was not identified as being sion with religious relics like the Holy Part I of a series. In the Afterword, Grail. There is clearly something kick¬ Cherryh explains that DAW Books allowed ing around in the Him and dusty corridors her to publish a long novel in three of history that if understood would cause separate parts without the narrative jug¬ a major reassessment of the historical gling involved in trying to give each events of the past 2500 years. What it book a beginning, middle and end. So is I don't know, but like Caidin I'm fas¬ actually THE KIF STRIKE BACK is only the cinated by it, although I don't know that middle of a book. It is nice to see the I wtnld go so far as to say that it actu¬ reader warned -- even if at the end of ally exists, whatever it really is. this book. Let's hope that in later ed¬ Oie final chunk of mystery. Several itions of CHANUR’S VENTURE a similar no¬ times in the Afterword Caidin mentions tice is published. that he can't reveal various details for reasons made dear in the book. Well, 53 In the 21st century a scourge has disfigured the face of civilization: a plague of "Screamers." Screamers are a OTHER VOICES kind of instant riot, where hundreds of people are caught in a great psychic wave of Something which carries them screaming and wreaking destruction through the streets. Get caught in it and you get caught U£ in it. Some ex¬ plain it as a virus that "facilitates or OTHER VOICES blocks some neurohumoral action in the brain." But others believe "the cities are tom apart because social reality is a sham. We've blocked over the internal world with a social one, the purpose of THREE HOT BOOKS cade and wants to understand what was so which is to keep us from ourselves." The THREE LATE REVIEWS special about it, should read THE SECRET psychological theorist R.D. Laing is quoted more than once in the book, at BY JOHN SHIRLEY OF LIFE, the newest book by Rudy Rucker. This semi-autobiographical novel hilar¬ one point as saying, "The Dreadful has iously and tenderly re-creates the rev¬ happened to us all, that being the col¬ lective estrangement of modem man from One of the major disappointments of olutionary cultural milieu of the 60s, my youth was realizing there are no such and does it without a lot of vaporous the unconscious parts of his being." And the Screams, then, are perhaps the things as Mad Scientists. There are neu¬ elegizing or portentousness. The book rotic, even psychotic scientists -- but suffers only from Rucker's rare lapses bottled-up unconscious breaking loose, into cuteness, and, again, this tendency undanming in a great wave of sheer inner not slavering, wild-eyed, visionary mad¬ Self. men like Baron Frankenstein. Except for to give us characters who react to mir¬ aculous and impossible events with only Mantle's Josiane was caught up in a the mildest astonishment or disorienta¬ Scream, and now he. doesn't know if she's Rudy Rucker. Rudy Rucker is a math¬ tion. I don’t want to give out much of alive or dead. But a religious cult, the ematician and professor in Lynchburg, the plot, as in this case it would under¬ Criers, utilize Screamers and a kind of Virginia. He published an influential cut the effect of the book's surprises, electronically-enhanced telepathy, brain nonfiction book about time theory called but I will say that because of a bizarre plugged into brain, for a communion with THE FOURTH DIMENSION. Rudy Rucker: Re¬ parentage -- which the hero discovers those who have passed on to the next spected scholar of science - - and danger¬ rather late -- Rucker's protagonist ous madman. If you don't believe me, world. They plug into Screamers to speak learns he has superhuman abilities. to the Dead -- and to learn from the read his hot second-to-newest science (Rucker seems to fantasize a great deal Dead about the living. Mantle risks his fiction novel, MASTER OF SPACE AND TIME about having superhuman powers.) He em¬ sanity -- already a fragile thing -- to (Bluejay Books). It's dangerous -- ex¬ ploys these powers to live out a sort of quisitely dangerous --to have someone take part in a Criers ritual, despite his rocknroll Grim Fairy Tale which ought to skepticism, in order to reach into the monkey with your perception of Reality engage even the crustiest of readers. the way this madman does. Towards the next world. He finds both more and less For maxinum information-input, elegant than he bargained for. end of chapter one scientist Joseph brevity, sheer entertainment value, in¬ Fletcher climbs into his car and finds sight and charm, Rucker is nearly unmat¬ Along the way we see deeply into hundreds of bee-sized Harry Gerbers fly¬ ched in the field. Mantle's sometime-lover Joan, his pecul¬ ing around his steering wheel. Harry Ger¬ iar relationship with the right-brain sup¬ ber is Joe's ex-partner in Research and pressive fax newsmedia reporter Pfeiffer, Development -- now, Harry has become Mas¬ and the neurotic mind of an Onanistic so¬ ter of Space and Time because he's design¬ ciety which permits casinos in which you . ed and built a blunzer, a device that en¬ gamble for body parts; suicide cruises ables him to reshape the fabric of real¬ Jack Dann's new novel, THE MAN WHO on the refitted HMS Titanic; the fashion¬ ity in accordance with his whims. Harry MELTED (Bluejay Books), is in a way the able attachment of male and female geni¬ --a dumpy, greasy sort of guy who cul¬ culmination of the themes he had the un¬ tals to the arms, legs and chest; and the tivates his own bad habits with great de¬ paralleled courage to tackle in JUNCTION menacing arcology of the grid of civiliz¬ liberation -- uses the blunzer to open and TIMETIPPING. But stylistically and ation's material artifacts. Dann orch¬ doors into five other universes: the in terms of sheer authorial control, estrates all of this with the chilling Microworld, Infinity, The Future, Hyper¬ this is his best book, and one that may sensuality of a Stravinski, the schemat¬ space, and the Looking Glass World. Be¬ well be influential, not only in the ic accuracy of J.G. Ballard' ... The on¬ fore the book is over you'll have taken science fiction field, but in the realms ion-skin peeling of psychological reality a trip into most of those worlds. You'll of metaphysics, and in main¬ and sociological conspiracy becomes in¬ also have seen our own world terrifying¬ stream literature. creasingly intriguing as the book goes ly transformed, and cruelly [but accur¬ on. THE MAN WHO MELTED won't bore you ately) satirized, as Rucker makes fun of Dann's existential hero Raymond Mant¬ -- and it may well give you some of what our artificial environment of desperate le is a professional subliminal artist, John Lennon asked for when he begged, pleasure-distractions and feverishly whose real concern is his personal vis¬ "Just gimne some truth." franchising coimerce, with all the toxic ion-quest. Superficially, he's searching gmbbiness of their side effects. He for his lost lover (incestuous lover, does it breezily, readably, and with a for she's his sister) Josiane; but we re¬ madcap humor exhilarating in its sheer alize early on in his nightmarish Zlst perversity. century odyssey that he's actually search¬ ing for his world -- he's in it, yes, And the scary thing is Rucker makes but still he's searching for it, its ab¬ his surrealistic transformation of the solutes, its secrets, and his part in it. world believable. He explains the blunz¬ To get to it, he has to spiral down er scientifically and lucidly, in a gen¬ through the nautilus-shell levels of him¬ eral way ... The characters sometimes self, working through membrane after mem¬ lose verisimilitude sometimes if only be¬ brane of subjective truth until he reach¬ cause they react to the bizarrity with es the root of himself, the place where improbable casualness. But in every oth¬ subjective narrows to screw into object¬ er way, Rucker's new one works -- works ive, where self, the internal world, like a good hit of blotter acid. Phil merges with the external world and the Dick fans will love MASTER OF SPACE AND TIME. So will Frank Zappa fans, and fans of Zap comics. So will anyone vho likes Only don't suppose that this is some to be entertained till you're dizzy. tedious Hesse-like mystic/psychological fiction -- THE MAN WHO MELTED is grip¬ Anyone, anyone, anyone: Anyone nos¬ ping, harrowing, a fascinating journey talgic about the 60s or, for that matter, through the vrorld as it is becoming. anyone who's not nostalgic about that de¬ 54 SCIENCE FICTION, FANTASY and weird FICTION cause my own magazines are described so MGAZIhES Ed. by B. Tymn 5 Mike Ashley kindlily, without any cover-up of their Greenwood Press, 970 pp. including appen¬ deficiencies. dices, bibliography, index and list of con¬ Aside from Mike .Ashley and me, and a tributors; plus preface, acknowledgments, very few others, the contributors on the introduction by Thomas D. Clareson and whole are unaware that all science fic¬ list of abbreviations tion magazines (and nearly all issues of Hardcover, no dust jacket, $95.00 WEIRD TALES) published in the United Sta¬ REVIEWED BY ROBERT A.W. LOWNDES tes were pre-dated. This massive volume presents first, What does that mean? Here's an ex¬ individual histories of all science fic¬ ample: Let's look at three issues dated tion, fantasy and weird fiction magazines January 1933: (Clayt5H7~ published commercially in the United St¬ the final issue) , ASTOUNDING STORIES OF ates, Britain, Canada and Australia from SUPER-SCIENCE and . ARGOSY (1882) through LAST WAVE (1983). STRANGE TALES went on sale in October As that suggests, we find not only maga¬ 1932; ASTOUNDING STORIES OF SUPER-SCIENCE zines entirely devoted to science, fantasy went on sale in November 1932; AMAZING and weird fiction but a large number of STORIES went on sale in December 1932. marginal publications. Some of those, Not one of those three issues dated 1933 like ARGOSY, published a wide variety of appeared in 1933. But throughout this fiction, including the weird, fantastic section oT~the book, we find reference to and science fiction; others were special¬ magazines appearing in a particular month ized, running only one type of fiction, as if they had gone on sale in the month but including some science fiction. Still shown on the cover. others were series-character magazines, So what? Well, in many instances it wherein many of the feature stories inclu¬ really doesn't make all that difference. ded weird or science fiction themes. But there are times when it makes a lot Hugo Gemsback's SCIENTIFIC DETECTIVE science fiction magazines; Francis Stev¬ of difference. Let’s turn to Appendix B, MONIHLY/AMAZING DETECTIVE TALES, is an ex- ens, who had several memorable serials the Chronology. (We see under 1929 that ample of the second type. It was entirely in ARGOSY, and Tod Robbins, who was also there is no listing for SCIENCE MINDER devoted to stories and articles dealing featured in the Munsey pulps. (The lat¬ STORIES, but that is an error of another with a scientific approach to solving ter two would be featured in the Munsey kind.) reprint titles.) Again Mike Ashley crimes and identifying criminals, but on¬ Under 1930, ASTOUNDING STORIES OF SU¬ ly a minority of the material could be straightens out the record: THE THRILL BOOK did not run any higher proportion PER-SCIENCE and SCIENTIFIC DETECTIVE called science fiction. There was, how¬ MDNTHLY are listed. Wrong! Both maga¬ ever, at least one science fiction detec¬ of fantasy and science fiction than did ARGOSY and ALL-STORY. zines made their debut in 1929, with tive tale in each issue. The bulk of the 1930 dates on their covers. fiction offered stories about science, The histories of these magazines are presenting nothing that did not already all well done, and the judgments of the Under 1939, DYNAMIC SCIENCE STORIES, exist at the time -- but often showing contributors as to the worth of the var¬ STARTLING STORIES, and STRANGE STORIES how such devices could be used in crime ious titles and their editors are both are listed. Wrong! They all came out detection. keen and fair in the instances where I in 1938 with 1939 cover dates. DOC SAVAGE and G-8 AND HIS BATTLE am familiar with the magazines. That Under 1940, ASTONISHING STORIES is ACES were examples of the third type. does not mean I agree at all times -- if listed. Wrong! It came out in 1939 with Both were single-character pulp-hero mag¬ I did, that would show that there was a cover date of 1940. something wrong. (A book of ratings azines, but contained a lot of material Under 1941, STIRRING SCIENCE STORIES that could pass as science fiction. THE that agrees with me 100$ wouldn't be of much value to anybody else -- and not is listed. Wrong! It first appeared in MYSTERIOUS WU-FANG was a spin-off from Fu 1940, with alW cover date. Manchu, containing much weird and fantast¬ worth much to me, either, come to think ic material. DIME DETECTIVE, TERROR TALES of it.) That comnon type of error, which, al¬ and HORROR STORIES (Popular Publications) There are, of course, errors -- no as, is perpetuated rather than corrected were detective-crime stories with a biz¬ volume this size could be error-free -- in this generally excellent book will in¬ arre and erotic tinge, (sadism rather and irost probably there are some that I crease confusion as the years go by. than sex), but now and then we'd find a did not detect, because I was not famil¬ It's not only a matter of the magazines genuine vreird tale -- one wherein there iar enough with the material. themselves, it's also a matter of authors, was no "natural" explanation for the mac¬ whose first stories appeared in an issue abre events. Two examples will suffice: (1) With dated January or February of a particulr truly awesome consistency E. HoffmannPrice ar year -- but which actually appeared The bulk of the book (pages 3-782) -- whose name comes up, appropriately, the previous year. In what year did deals with those English-Language magaz¬ too, nuch more often than I would have Miles J. Breuer's first story appear? ines; Section II covers associational suspected --is shorn of the second "n" The answer is (December) 1926 -- not 1927 English-Language anthologies; Section III in his middle name. It's "Hoffman" (January) which was the cover date of covers academic periodicals and major fan¬ throughout. (2) In the otherwise well that issue of AMAZING STORIES. When did zines, and Section IV deals with non-Eng¬ done history of Gemsback's "Wonder" John W. Campbell's first story appear? lish magazines by country. Appendix A is monthlies by Robert Ewald and Mike Ash¬ The answer is 1929, not 1930, which was an index to major cover artists, and Ap¬ ley, we jump from MINDER STORIES' first the cover date of that issue of AMAZING pendix B offers a chronology, showing when venture into pulp format (Nov. 1930 is¬ STORIES. the titles made their debut, year by year. sue to Oct. 1931 issue) to its large, flat saddle-stitched format, selling for And we have such things as the first Two long-standing are shatter¬ 15 cents (Nov. 1932 issue). Between the issue of Ramond Palmer's FANTASTIC ADVEN¬ ed -- and not a moment too soon. THE pulp issue dated October 1931 and that TURES appearing in May 1939, when (you BLACK CAT (1895-1923) has long been tout¬ first flat issue, WONDER STORIES was a have guessed by now if you remembered ed as a predecessor of WEIRD TALES, not large-size magazine again, still priced that it started out as a bi-monthly) it to mention AMAZING STORIES. Mike Ash¬ at 25 cents and for seven issues (Nov. went on sale in March 1939. 1931 to May 1932) was printed on a high ley's survey shows that it was nothing of Section II deals with associational the kind; while the magazine did present quality (but not coated) paper; with the English-Language anthologies, such as some weird and science fiction tales, June 1932 issue, it returned to pulp pa¬ per. ANDROMEDA, DESTINIES, INFINITY, NEW DIM¬ they were few; other popular magazines ENSIONS, NEW WRITINGS IN S.F., ORBIT and of the day had acre of such material STAR SCIENCE FICTION. The English trans¬ than TBC. THE THRILL BOOK has also been I wish I could stop right here and say that the errors are not damaging on lations of Perry Rhodan are also covered. mis-rated in the same way as THE BLACK Just how Donald A. Wollheim's anthology CAT. It did run some stories by authors the whole -- but there is another cate¬ THE GIRL WITH THE HUNGRY EYES, fits here who became noted for fantasy and science gory of error that i£ damaging, and pain¬ is not entirely dear; but its excellence fiction, such as Greye la Spina, a favor¬ ful for me to have to elaborate upon, be- justifies it, and the claim is made that ite in WEIRD TALES; Murray Leinster, who it is the "first original science fiction would become one of the biggest names in 55 anthology." I believe that is correct. Section III deals with academic per¬ Meluch de¬ WITH A TANGLED SKEIN iodicals and major fanzines, and of cour¬ er publisher By Piers Anthony se, is highly selective; there are prob¬ Ballantine, 1985, 280 pp., $14.95 ably a number that should have been in¬ cluded, but were not -- but I wouldn't REVIEWED BY SEAL WILGUS quarrel with any of the selections. Limbo (LEAK) -- For the first time Those include THE ACOLYTE, ALGOL, AMRA, in recorded memory the same person has FANTASY COMENTATOR, FOUNDATION, LOCUS, served as two different Aspects of Fate. 0UTM3RLDS, RIVERSIDE QUARTERLY, SCIENCE MYTHAGO WOOD By Fate, of course, if one of the five In¬ FICTION DIGEST, SCIENCE FICTION REVIEW Arbor House, 256 pp., $14.95 carnations of Immortality and is divided and THE WEIRD TALES COLLECTOR. into three Aspects -- yoing Clotho, who Section IV deals with non-English- REVIEWED BY CHARLES DE LINT spins the threads, middleaged Lachesis, Language magazines by country, and here Steven Huxley has lost his father and who measures them and old Atropos, who I must pass comnent because I have no brother to Ryhope Wood -- a remnant of cuts them. Each Aspect is performed by idea whether the list is complete or how ancient post-Ice Age forest that has a a different mortal person who becomes accurate the descriptions may be. I do far greater acreage than its outer bord¬ "immortal" while in office and the three of course, remember the Mexican magazine, ers would appear to allow. Some secret share the same body -- shifting from Clo¬ LOS CUENTOS FANTASTI00S, which published of the forest, combined with human racial tho to Lachesis to Atropos, as necessary. many stories by Futurians (including my subconsciousness, peoples the wood with Young Niobe Kaftan was recruited to own) without payment, but we got free beings of and legend -- the "mytha- serve as Clotho after her husband was copies of the issues. gos" of the book's title. Some of these killed by one of Satan's agents in an Appendix A is accurate so far as I've mythagos take the shapes of familiar fig¬ elaborate plot to tip the cosmic scales been able to determine, and a valuable ures -- the questing knight, Jack-in-the- in His favor. Niobe, as Clotho, was able source. Appendix B may become a valuable Wood and the like -- while others go so to thwart Satan's plan with the help of source in the second edition, but is now far back in time that they are familiar the other Aspects of Fate and with the too much of a mess as detailed above. I only as archetypes, remembered subcons- other Incarnations -- Death, Time, War can think of better ways of spending time and Nature. But Satan doesn't give up than to check the index for general ac¬ easy so after Niobe retired from her ser¬ Huxley's father and brother have vice as Clotho and resumed aging the wi- curacy; but it's been reliable thus far both been seduced by these mythagos, par¬ when I've used it. ley old Devil once again began his be¬ ticularly one named Guiwenneth, a young hind-the-scenes manipulation. All in all, this remains an excel¬ woman that each of them believes to be lent text, well worth the price. I'd their own creation. They are obsessed Part of Satan's plan involved induc¬ cheerfully buy it, if I hadn't received with her and the forest that borders ing all three Aspects of Fate to retire a complimentary copy as a contributor, their land so that when she is taken back from their positions at the same time, even knowing the faults mentioned. Just into the wood, they follow in search of so that Fate would be in the hands of remember: cover date does not equal her, each in his own time. And then it three rank amateurs and give Satan the calendar date. is Huxley's turn to meet her -- his own opportunity to have his way with things mythago of this same woman. before they gained enough experience to oppose him. Alas for Satan but luckily Robert Holdstock's newest novel is a for the rest of us, the old Fates ap¬ tour de force. It takes the poor tatter¬ proached Niobe, now appropriately middle- ed garments of Teutonic/Celtic myth and aged, and convinced her to become the new JERUSALEM FIRE By R.M. Meluch breathes new life into their over-used Lachesis so that she could provide some NAL/Signet, 1985, 331 pp., $3.50 fabric. Huxley's exploration of the for¬ continuity and the hope of again blocking est, first through his father's research REVIEVCD BY DEAN R. LAMJt Satan's plan. Niobe agreed, seeking to journals and then by entering the wood it¬ revenge herself on Satan for the death of Tvro millenia after the collapse of self, make for a deeply satisfying book, her husband, and to protect her grand¬ the first historical age, the Na’id Em¬ especially in a time such as this when so daughter Luna, the target of Satan's pire of man seeks to reunite the human much fantasy is merely fluff. There are Big Plan. worlds of the galaxy under the Bel's rule. resonances and lyric passages here, Resistance to the Entire's anti-alien, strange discoveries and old histories Details of this development can be anti-religious tyranny of forced human clothed anew, but most importantly, MYTH- found in Piers .Anthony's WITH A TANGLED miscegenation seems crushed when Earth's AGO WOOD explores that "night journey" in¬ SKEIN, but it would be best if the read¬ last symbolic city, Jerusalem, falls to to the human subconsciousness that we er is first familiar with Book One, ON A General Shad Iliya. Years later, the must all undertake at some point if we PALE HORSE (1983), and Bopk Two, BEARING last of the rebel ships are destroyed by are to be more than drones in a purely AN HOURGLASS (1984). Further developments a Na'id fleet near an uncharted planet. mechanical world. will be reported in WEILDING A RED SWORD and BEING A GREEN MOTHER, the final vol¬ When Captain Alihahd and Captain Har¬ The book was originally published in umes of this excellent and unique fantasy rison White Fox Hall escape the Na'id 1984 by and shared series, to be published in the next cou¬ attack, however, they find the planet not the for Best Novel ple of years. Time in next time for the so much unknown as the stuff of myth. with Barry Hughart's , latest in Satan's relentless drive for The two rival rebels are rescued by Itiri presented at the 1985 World Fantasy Con¬ universal domination. warriors, mysterious humanoid aliens who vention in Tucson. Highly recoirmended. once carried their deadly double-curved swords throughout human space. Primitive as their society and planet may appear, Alihahd and Hall are shocked to discover that the Itiri still retain starships. The two captains, for reasons locked in their own troubled pasts, strive to und¬ erstand each other, to coexist with the odd collection of other human refugees on the planet, and to escape to continue their personal missions against the Na'id e been a staple of sci- Although escape is promised, their wishes e before their capabil- re near what the authors

-th SF novel HUMAN ERROR, has succes sfully kept ahead. More exciting than glimpse into the far future, the novel skates along the edge of known develop¬ ments in the field of biological cooput ers and artificial intelligence, keeping your forty-acre back pasture are provid¬ read the first book and its sequels, THE just the right balance between real sci¬ ed) , or how the psychics read your mind RESTAURANT AT THE END OF THE UNIVERSE and ence and the fantastic possibilities to (magician's tricks), then this is the LIFE, THE UNIVERSE, AND EVERYTHING. come in a seamless narrative. magazine for you. As with most bestsellers, reviewing The author tells a crisp, clear story You can also get past issues for $5 this book is pointless. Either you've about the invention of Epicell, a genet¬ each ($7.50 each for the first 4 issues already bought it or you won't; whether ically altered virus that functions as printed) if there is information in past it's good is irrelevant. In fact, this the heart of a new wave of computers pro¬ issues of interest. Send $18.00 to: book is very bad, which has had no effect gramed to leam as they are given new THE SKEPTICAL INQUIRER on its sales. And that's worth talking problems and to continue to expand their POB 229 capabilities as increasingly difficult Buffalo, NY 14215-0229. The book-buying public, most especi¬ problems are presented. An interesting You won't regret it! counter-point is struck by using as main ally including SF fandom, seems sequel- characters the British-American program¬ happy, series-happy. Authors who have mer Toby Bridgeman and his collaborator done good work in the past -- even one Adrian Storey, the sloppy, American gen¬ good story -- have a free meal ticket for ius-hacker turned scientist. the rest of their careers. People will line up for all their future work, no mat¬ What is not realized at first by ter how banal, boring or bad. They want this "odd couple" is the dramatic impact to recapture that original thrill, or may¬ this new generation of computers will be they're lazy-minded and want to return have on the military-industrial complex, to a familiar fictional backgroutd, where now that almost anyone familiar with a they don't have to make the effort to meet Personal Computer can afford access to new characters or see new places or think what we today call "super computer" pow¬ about new ideas. er. Also, the virus that was thought to be non-contagious to humans.... Authors exploit the tendency in vary¬ ing degress. Some keep trying to deliver Better you should read the book your¬ fresh material. Stephen King, whatever self and find out. Paul Preuss has fash¬ you think of him, hasn't always taken the ioned one of the most thought-provoking lazy way out -- witness the Bachman pseu¬ of the new generation of conputer novels. donym, which avoided capitalizing on name Frightening and inspirational at the same recognition. But other writers, whether time, HUMAN ERROR should be a must-read through hardening of the arteries or sheer for any serious hard science fiction read¬ CHALLENGE OF THE CLANS By Kenneth C. Flint sloth, are happy to let their names sup¬ er and a "user-friendly" novel for those Bantam, 323 pp., $3.50 port their work. who don't normally enjoy this fare. REVIEFED BY PAUL MCGUIRE Thus the recent work by our aging giants of the field and thus Douglas Ad¬ Can one go wrong with a novel based ams. Perhaps tuckered out by the strain upon Celtic Myth? After a very good nov¬ of inventing an entire hilarious cosmos in el, A STORM UPON ULSTER, Mr. Flint prov¬ previous books, Adams stays mainly on a ed that one can go very wrong with appar¬ recreated Earth in this book. The hap¬ TFE SKEPTICAL INQUIRER ent ease with his fantasy/science fiction less Arthur Dent falls in love, wanders Published quarterly by the Conmittffifor movie and TV sci-fi combination in the around some, tells an anecdote that Adams Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Sidhe trilogy. With CHALLENGE OF THE has told on talk shows, and basically Paranormal. Subscription: $18 or $S CLANS he is back on the right track, but treads water for 150 pages (200 in paper¬ per single copy. still in low gear. First, the myth being back) . There are two or three good lines, retold is one which is a cliche of all but the inventiveness is gone. REVIEVCD BY ALMA JO WILLIAMS bodies of legend and genres of literature. I had heard of this organization -- A hero is slain; his infant son escapes No novel provokes universal agree¬ CSICOP -- and this journal, at various to be reared in seculsion, later emerges ment, but I honestly can't see much in times but not intil I sent for and re¬ into the world powerful but naive, becom¬ this lame isometric exercise that would ceived a collection of papers of the Full es a fugitive but with the help of a appeal to readers who liked the previous Moon and Bizarre Behaviour (or lack of it} few loyal companions regains his rightful books in this series. I've reviewed them by James Rotton and I.W. Kelly, including honor and status. all for SCIENCE FICTIOI REVIEW, but I’m a xerox of their SI article and then re¬ bowing out with this one. Still, it's a ceived a subscription form for it, did I What is worse, Mr. Flint does nothing bestseller; I daresay Adams' future books send for a subscription to see what all original or even particularly interesting will be as well. People keep lining the hullaballoo was about. VERRjf Inter¬ with this tired plot. His characters do up... esting! The Fellows of CSICOP include not have individualism, let alone depth. such notables as Isaac Asimov, Martin Gar¬ His prose is functional, but usually There's nothing we can do about this. dener, Francis Crick (he of "The Double flat. The best which may be said of this Authors are either willing to give good Helix" and Nobel Prize fame), L. Sprague work, his fifth book about the WARRIORS weight or they aren't, and negative feed¬ de Canp, Stephen Jay Gould, James "The of the Beautiful Land, is that it does back seems to have no effect. All we can Amazing Randi," , Phillip Klass occasionally show some signs that by his do is vote with the pocketbook and stop and other notables including academics seventh or eighth novel of the ancient buying the new novels. But there always and professors of physics, psychology, Irish the material may become worthy of seem to be new readers to take our places , philosophy, statistics, the source. --so many new readers, in fact, that linguists, more magicians, etc. The aim ***************************************** there must be one bom every minute. of the organization is to investigate ****************************************** paranormal occurrences such as psi povrer, poltergeists, "miracles,” spoon bending, Uri Geller (Randi has thoroughly discred¬ ited him) , psychics, UFOs, pseudoscience, you name it and they'll look at its occur¬ SO LONG., AND THANKS FOR ALL THE FISH rences which appear to defy the normal By working physical laws of the universe. Harmony Books, 152 pp., $12.95 MAGICIAN: MASTER By Raymond E. Feist Pocket Books, 208 pp., $4.50 Bantam, 1986, 303 pp., $3.50 The articles are well researched (sonetimes in person) and well written, REVIEWED BY ALAN VARfEY REVIEWED BY MARK W. ANTONOFF and if you are as curious as I am as to The fourth book in the Hitch-Hiker's MAGICIAN: MASTER is the second in¬ what really caused the cattle mutilations Guide to the Galaxy series takes its tit¬ stallment in the exciting fantasy series or if the Shroud of Turin is real (it's le from a joke in the first book: All by Rayirond E. Feist. This volune picks a clever painting which was known and dolphins vacated Earth wdth this exit up where MAGICIAN: APPRENTICE left off, repudiated by the local bishops of the line just before the planet was destroyed. in the tale of Pug and Tomas and their in¬ time), or whether the Nazca figures are The reference, like the entire story, will volvement in the Riftwar saga. The saga really an antidiluvian airport for anc¬ be inconprehensible to those who haven't spans two worlds, and it is in this second ient astronauts (it's not and directions volune that we are introduced to the world on how to draw your own Nazca figure in 57 of Kelewan, the world of the Tsurani. As some toe. lo destroy one, it requires ic, the greater path of magic, that Pug, that the being's heart be cut from it. It Kim Stanley Robinson is one of the now called Milamber, finally succeeds in is then very wise to bum the remains to best new SF writers. His novella, "Green canmanding his powers. With his high po¬ insure that the Night Hawk does not troub¬ Mars" published in Asimov's, was one of sition as a Great One, a position outside le you further. the best of 1985. THE !®OKY OF the Kelewan law, Milamber is afforded tre¬ WHITENESS, his third novel, is a good one mendous privileges, which he uses to aid if not quite as good as "Green Mars." him in forging the destiny of both Midkem- It's set more than a thousand years ia and Kelewan. in the future, after humanity has expand¬ Still on Midkemia, Tomas has changed ed to all the planets and iroons of the as wll. A gift from a dying dragon he A DARKNESS AT SETHANON By Raymond E. Feist solar system. Johannes Wright, a musician befriended, links Tomas with a dead Drag¬ Doubleday, March 1986, 425 pp., $17.95 and conductor, embarks on a grand tour of on Lord. It is this dual personality, the solar system, playing the Orchestra, coupled with the weapons which once be¬ REVIEWED BY MARK W. ANTONCFF a fabulous musical instrument that can longed to the Dragon Lord, that allows A DARKNESS AT SETHANON is the con¬ mimic a whole orchestra. The Orchestra Tomas to tip the balance of the Riftwar cluding novel in the highly acclaimed Mid- had been created by Holywelkin, who was in favor of the men, dwarves and elves of keraia series by Raymond E. Feist. TTiis also the greatest physicist since Einstein Midkemia. novel is a continuation of the novel SIL¬ and gave humanity the means of expanding VERTHORN. The Prince of Krondor, Arutha, into the solar system. As the novel pro¬ MAGICIAN: MASTER is stocked full of gresses it becomes clear that the Orches¬ warm characters that the reader is en¬ and his cohorts, are still encountering Night Hawks, while the forces of Murmanda- tra is far more than just a nusical in¬ chanted with and feels a vested interest strument. in. Raymond E. Feist has truly woven a mus are gathering and building in prepar¬ masterful conclusion to the story which ation for a full scale attack on the land. This is a marvelous evocation of a began with MAGICIAN: APPRENTICE. Again, The story culminates in a massive confront¬ strange and wonderful far future. It his fresh style is wholeheartedly welcom¬ ation of all the forces of both Midkemia also one of the best science fiction r: ed and urges one to compare Feist's craft and Kelewan pitted against the anriy of els based on the art of nusic and what to that of Tolkien. MAGICIAN: MASTER is Murmandaimis. might become. At the same time it's a a fitting compliment and companion to MAG¬ Pug and Tomas are reunited in this solid hard SF novel. If it falls down ICIAN: APPRENTICE and belongs on the book¬ volume when they embark on an exciting es¬ anywhere it's in the plotting. The Grand shelves of all enthus¬ capade into another dimension, via a mag¬ Tour idea lacks drama so Robinson has sur¬ iasts. The next mass paperback, SILVER- ical dragon, in search of the mysterious rounded it with a cosmic conspiracy/se¬ THORN, is due out in the fall. The con¬ magician, Macros the Black, and the nature cret society subplot that doesn't really cluding novel however, DARKNESS AT SETHA- of something called "the Enemy." This NON, is due out in March 1986 in hard quest leads them deep into the past; to According to , writing an oracle, to the place of the dead and in FSSF, THE MEMORY OF WHITENESS is actual¬ back to the very beginning of time itself. ly a re-vn-itten version of Robinson's The classic separation of battle and first novel, heretonow unpublished, which quest is present in this new novel. Miile may explain the unevenness of the plot. Pug and Tomas search for Macros, Arutha Even then it's a fine book, well worth SILVERTHORN By Raymond E. Feist and company prepare to combat Murmandamus reading, if not the masterpiece that Rob¬ Bantam, Sept. 1986, $3.50 and his forces of evil. The prophecy inson will surely yet write. calls for the Prince of the West to be the REVIEWED BY MARK W. ANT0N0FF only one who is capable of defeating Mur- SILVERTHORN, the next volune in the mandaimis. The Prince of the West is ob¬ When I first heard that Greg Ben- Midkemia series by Raymond E. Feist, be¬ viously Arutha, and Murmandamus has been ford and David Briri were collaborating on gins one year after the conclusion of trying (unsuccessfully) to kill Arutha. a novel called HEART OF THE COMET, my first MAGICIAN: MASTER. This novel, however, is Murmandamus is unaware that he is facing thought was "cashing in on Halley's Comet, the beginning of the gripping tale of Ar- Arutha uitil it is too late. The story eh." Well, I hereby apologize to the utha, now the Prince of Krondor. SILVER¬ moves to a sensational conclusion with authors. HEART OF THE COMET is one of THORN chronicles the adventures of Arutha all the forces converging on the city of the best SF novels of the last few years. and a small band of his close friends, as Sethanon, in a classic battle between they venture into treacherous lands pro¬ good and evil. The story is set around a mission to tected by the evil Mjrmandaixis and his establish a base on the nucleus of Hal¬ With the publication of A IMRKNESS ley's comet, during its next return in followers. The quest takes the band on a AT SETHANON, the Midkemia trilogy has come search for the silverthom plant, the on¬ 2062. The expedition contains a micro¬ to a suitable conclusion. All of the main cosm of the troubled world of the period, ly antidote to a poism which has been in¬ characters have grown, developed and mat¬ troduced into Amtha's betrothed, Anita, normal humans, percells who have been gen¬ ured. This volume is an extremely satis¬ etically altered and various political and by an assassin's arrow meant for Arutha fying read. Feist writes in a compassion¬ himself. ideological factions. The colonists nust ate and sensitive style while fulfilling not only battle against the strange envir¬ One of the most endearing characters the readers' expectations, and successful¬ onment they have chosen to make their home in this novel is one we have been intro¬ ly satisfying the romantic inclinations but against the divisions that they bring duced to in MAGICIAN: Jiirmy the Hand. of his readers. with them from Earth, divisions that are This yomg (thief) adds an inter¬ more threatening than anything the comet esting dimension to the book. Jinny dis¬ plays maturity, and the street life he has lived has made him advanced for his age, Benford and Brin haven't neglected yet the boyish qualities of his youthful the human element in their story. The age have not been taken from him and come central love triangle between Carl Osborn, through. Jinny's talents as a former mock¬ and Anerican astronaut and percell, Vir¬ er (he becomes the ward of Arutha) make ginia Kaninamanu Herbert, a Hawaiian com¬ him a valued, as well as a welcomed addi¬ puter progranmer and Saul Lintz, an Israe¬ tion to the quest and to the predominantly li biologist, is one of the most moving in adult cast of characters. recent science fiction. There's a deeper season of the coffee table book once ag¬ tion at it's best, a powerful story that Such a depressing scenario calls for both stretches the mind with its ideas ain, and the crop of such books for the a macho American hero and sure enough space enthusiast is indeed lush. The and examines the limits of the human spi¬ it's Yanqui billionaire Dan Randolph who rit. If Benford and Brin continue to first thing to be said about these books almost singlehandedly defeats the Soviets is that they are exquisitely beautiful; collaborate, and if they improve, they Randolph, who renounced his American cit¬ will likely be regarded as the best col¬ I would have mortgaged my home to own izenship when the US caved in to Russia, them. The second thing to be said is laborative team in the history of the is the head of Astro Manufacturing Corp¬ genre. that they are expensive; the mortgage oration, a private company which operates was only narrowly avoided. But if you space station Nueva Venezuela for the Ven¬ love the view from the high ground as ezuelan government. When the Soviets be¬ much as I do, you'll cheerfully eat mac¬ gin raising their prices for raw materi¬ aroni and cheese for a few weeks while als in order to squeeze out the competi¬ you save your nickles and dimes for a ERUS DESCENDING By Mike Resnick tion, Randolph and company round up a special treat. ENTERING SPACE and LIFE NAL/Signet, 1985, 250pp., $2.95 nearby asteroid to set up a little compe¬ IN SPACE are available in soft-cover ed¬ tition of their own. itions, but it goes without saying that REVIEWED BY DEAN R, L4MBE There's also some hot competition they are a poor economy measure. The With his third volume in the Tales between Randolph and Vasily Malik, Com- difference in price is not that great, of the Velvet Comet, Resnick adds furth¬ misar of Space, for the hand (and body) and given their size (big enough to make er to his theory of the general relativ¬ of Lucita Hernandez, a Venezuelan beauty good weapons) the would be ity of good and evil. This time the whose father happens to be the Minister falling apart before the first reader Steel Butterfly, current Madam of the of Technology and a contender for the was finished. galaxy's most elegant orbital brothel, Venezuelan presidency. Lucita is engag¬ plays with the odds on two horse races. The best buy of the three is unques¬ ed to Malik but of course she’s also in¬ tionably Joe Allen's book. The text of On the one hand, the Comet is host to an volved with Randolph in an uninspired actual race between cloned re-creations ENTERING SPACE is not particularly in¬ subplot. And Rafael Hernandez is the spired and will not tell the enthusiast of Secretariat and Seattle Slew, for opportunistic politician willing to push gambling is one of the many vices offered much that he didn't already know, but his daughter into a loveless marriage neither is it particularly objectionable. in the great pleasure palace. On the oth¬ for the sake of his own anbitions -- you The color reproduction of the hundreds of er hand, and more to the point of the have probably met him before. NASA pictures is...well, to call it out¬ story, the Steel Butterfly must battle The trouble is you've met all these standing is to insult it with faint for the survival of the Comet itself, as stereotypes before -- and this plot, too. praise. Most of the pictures are from fundamentalist Reverend Dr. Thomas Gold You've got to give Ben Bova high marks the Shuttle era, particularly those challenges the bottom-line fixations of for spirit and for devotion to the idea flights in which Allen was a participant, the executives whose parent Vainmill Corp¬ of and private initia¬ but there are many from the Apollo and oration owns the Velvet Comet. tive. Alas, the fiction within which earlier flights. There are many I'll wa¬ As leader of the Jesus Pures, Gold is this idealism is found is so formula and ger you haven't seen before. The photo¬ appalled by what he sees as corruption predictable as to be -- well -- less graphy is heavily artifact-oriented, but and sin aboard the Comet, and he rallies than exciting. one chapter is devoted to views of the earth and planets without any intrusive his followers to boycott all Vainmill en¬ But PRIVATEERS is no disaster, eith¬ terprises. When he uses the Comet's two evidence of the works of man. Me, I like er. What it is is middle-of-the-road the spaceships. ENTERING SPACE was pub¬ popular Faerie prostitutes -- childlike storytelling with a great Uplifting Mes¬ aliens from Besmarith II -- as ultimate lished last year, but those who waited sage, which is an entirely safe combina¬ until this year to buy it will be glad examples of Vainmill exploitation, howev¬ tion, right? But then the shuttle was er, it becomes clear that all is not pure they did: for the same price tag, this considered pretty safe too, right up to year's edition was expanded to include a in the heart of Gold. Simon, Gold's trul- the explosion. y more-holier-than-thou son, worries ab¬ new chapter on the satellite retrieval out his father's obsession, while the Maybe there's more to PRIVATEERS missions. This chapter includes pictures Steel Butterfly worries about the future than I'm letting on. even nore spectacular than the rest, if of her job. that were possible. Can religious fanatics really bring LIFE IN SPACE is a trip down memory an end to the 87-year history of the Vel¬ lane, from the earliest days of the space vet Comet? It might seem so, yet we must race when mast of the photographs were await the final book in the series to see in black-and-white, through the early how Resnick will end these enjoyable mor¬ Shuttle missions. The color reproduction ality tales. is just the way you remember it in the magazine -- even the captions on the pic¬ tures are the same, although a lot of new text has been added. This book enables you to see the space experience as it was originally seen by the American peo¬ ple, and to smile as you remember. PRIVATEERS By Ben Bova TOR, 1985, 383 pp., $15.95 REVIEWED BY WEAL WILGUS SICHTSEEING is a somewhat curious i- I picked up this book at the library tem. Barbara Hitchcock supposedly sift¬ on the day the shuttle exploded and was ed through every photo taken by our astro surprised when the first sentence read nauts (over 150,000 images) to come up "The explosion was utterly silent." But with the eighty-four best pictures. PRIVATEERS is not about disaster in the ENTERING SPACE: AN ASTRONAUT S ODYSSEY Granted that a professional photographer space program, it's about triumph --in By Joseph P. Allen with Russell Martin has somewhat different criteria for judg¬ space and in spirit. Not, of course, New York: Stewart, Tabori 8 Chang, 1985 ing a photograph than I do, it is still without a struggle. 240pp., $24.9S ISBN: 0-941434-76-1 difficult to justify some of her choices. But once again, this book has some pic¬ A century from now the United States LIFE IN SPACE Alexandria: Time-Life Bks tures you've probably never seen before, has lost its world leadership and the 1983, 304 pp., $30.00 and I think you'll find it worth the mon¬ Soviet Union is dominant both on earth SIGHTSEEING: A SPACE PANORAMA ey. The photos are printed an a fine and in space. There are space stations By Barbara Hitchcock § Peter Riva stock, less glossy than the pages of EN¬ operated by Japan, China, Venezuela and New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1985, $24.95 TERING SPACE and much better than LIFE IN other countries, but the Russians contr¬ SPACE, and the book has a thoughtful fore ol the moon and thus the source of raw REVIEWED BY CLIFFORD R. MCMURRAY word by Arthur C. Clarke. material that other nations depend on. By the time this review is published The Soviets also have the orbiting laser Yes, Christmas is over, but these system presently nicknamed "Star Wars" books are too nice to buy for someone that gives them the muscle to enforce else, anyway. You owe them to yourself. their wishes. " REVIEWS BY CHARLES DE LINT

le tom between her simple life with n and a desire for greater magery, de- 'ers a running comnentary on the events iund her that is as humorous as it is iightful. That Hambly can deliver the warm hu- ■ in her prose, while maintaining the

REVIEWS BY ANDREW ANDREWS

concepts are your thing, b prefer a novel that is con fleshy, human characters, The word "technopunk" is bandied ab¬ continuity, logical progre out nowadays, since it is so fashionable find those qualities here, to think of many of the newest stars of science fiction with guaranteed awe and respect, and because it's just a fad, "with-it" phrase. What does it mean? What is "techno?" What is "punk?" Techopunk is supposedly a brand of "New Wave" attempts to set new trends in For as long as Theodore Sturgeon was the SF field. (Where've we heard this known in the science fiction coimunity, before?) It supposedly singles out those and as much as he was respected outside, conputer-age authors fully indoctrinated one theme dominated all his honored into the vestibule of the age's axioms, idioms, jargon and beliefs. You are sup¬ posedly with it if you read technopunk.

Sprawl (cover- from Boston to ve is cyberpunk

NEBULA AWARDS lowing: "Bloodchild" by Octavia E. But¬ ler; "The Man Who Painted the Dragon Griaule" by Luciu er" by John Varle William Gibson; " Stuy" by Frederik

Effmger; A Cabin Gene Wolfe; "Dogs' shoo: "The Eichmanr

ea in the infamous ASIMJV'S SCIENCE ] TION MAGAZINE, another, "Dogs' Lives” reader is that, as a reader, you must Sturgeon puts the capstone to all Bishop appeared in the little-known M oftentimes sit back and analyze what is his lifelong themes in this novel -- how SOURI REVIEW MAGAZINE. This volume i going on. Although a novelist should difficult, almost inpossible language certainly diverse. ("Poems" includes allow the character and plotting to flow can be to contain even the smallest, mos "Love Song to Lucy" and "Lucy Answers unencumbered, like ice cream on a hot sincere feelings. Sturgeon comes to us' by Helen Ehrlich, both of which appea day, Gibson's work demands parenthetical in the form of poetry, revealing his and in SCIENCE 83 magazine, and "Saul's statements to explain why some characters inevitably our, condition. It is thera¬ Death" by Joe Haldeman, from ONI.) react so strangely. How has.this bizarre py. It is recreation. We try so hard, future come about? Why is the logic so though we don't really know what it is, Of the nineteen previous editions flawed; and why are the ideas flashed out, still we try. NEBULA AWARDS 20 is the finest. The indecipherable from context? series has come to fruition; clearly, aesthetics are fully defined. Includ Sure, 001NT ZERO can be judged a suc¬ is a mind-opening essay about the ver cess from the concepts alone; it is ex¬ heart of SF in "1984 or Against" by A perimental; it is challenging. But why Budiys; a comprehensive description o is it so heavy with inexactness, and why what you've always wanted to know abo is it so choppy? There is literally no the Science Fiction Writers of Americ flow in spots; it is almost as if the in "SFWA, the Guild" by Norman Spinra How about that? We have guides to rectly at-the foot of your fears, and pay attention to these words of experien¬ reviews, guides to novels, short stories, has them confront you. ce, must turn to analyze what war in criticism, biographies -- why not one to space would really be like (witness C.J. first editions, considering the worth of TOTENTANZ is a "dark carnival" novel Cherryh's "Goodbye Star Wars, Hello Alley- any collection of the devoted SF/Fantasy about the invasion of a sleepy town cal¬ Oop”); mist take a look at what frames fan? led Montvale by the denizens of the Mir¬ ror Maze, Tunnel of Love, the evil, stea¬ and confines far too mich SF to the ghetto Arranged in alphabetical order, with dy eyes -- and about Reggie Carson, who past and future in Carter Scholz's "In¬ publisher’s statements as to the exact¬ must stand up against the dance of cer¬ side the Ghetto, and Out;" mist indeed ness of copyright dating and inscriptions, tain death, when no one else can. look into the soul of a struggling, har¬ this book is a roadmap that explains dif¬ rowed editor clawing up the ranks in the ferences between first editions and first There is a touch, albeit small, of face of brash sexism as described to us inpressions; how to tell what edition the Tom Reamy's graceful BLIND VOICES in here. by the editor herself, in "What Does a book is from a string of the following It is on a high level involved, intense, Woman Know About Science Fiction, Any¬ numbers on the copyright page (10 9 8 7 schmaltzy -- reminiscent of Bradbury's way?;" this and more of SF history and 6 5 4 3 2) as well as a history of first SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES, yet like the writers' personal and professional edition identification by most, if not the show on the side, ladies and gentle¬ lives and loves are explored. all, major SF and Fantasy publishers men, a whole lot more. Come watch, be horrified. If you were to buy this book for no (missing: Arbor House and, strangely, other reason, and in your modest moments Ballantine. Will this be corrected in you wanted to contain all of what editor future FIRST EDITIONS?). Jarvis was seeking from the contributors This book is durable (printed on in a nutshell, read the last item, "Writ¬ acid-free paper, perfect bound, smythe- ing Through Adversity" by George Alec sewn, with cloth cover) with statements Effinger. It explains the horrors -- from more than 1000 publishers. It's a THE MUTER S ADVISOR By Leland G. Alkire, and the joys -- of SF writing. You may necessary, handy reference for every col- Jr., Research, 1985, 452 pp., $60.00 be enlightened. You may be transformed. ISBN: 0-8103-2093-2 Order from Spoon River Press, Box "Imagination is the eye of the soul." 3635, Peoria, IL 61614. -- Joseph Jourbert I don't know who Joseph Jourbert is, but he has an abiding love for science fiction and fantasy. BYTE BEAUTIFUL By James Tiptree, Jr. SCHISMATRIX By Bruce Sterling Doubleday, 1985, 177 pp., $12.95 Arbor House, 1985, $15.95 There are many rooms in the SF pal¬ ace, many things a new entrant mist leam. Far too many "best ofs" have been pub¬ Try to figure this one out, from con- The aspiring can enter here. lished; the market itself has become trite; little-known authors have had their THE WRITER'S ADVISOR is a good cause share along with the Big Names. The read¬ "Shaper-trained Abelard Lindsay, of for the inspiration and advice any new er is praipted to remark: So what? the Mare Serenitus Circuralunar Corporate SF writer should seek. In the science Repiblic, a failed and exiled revolution¬ fiction and fantasy section alone is a The editor and author were no doiht ary against Mech domination, becomes a wealth of background material about SF prompted to change the direction of this, pawn in the interstellar intrigue of a writing collected to give any initiate trapped with the best of the "best ofs," human and alien power struggle. The glee. For SF Conpletists can also take if there is such a thing, and herewith we stakes: control of humanity's future." note: There is a comprehensive list of are granted the finest science fiction of So mjch can be gleaned on a cursory books and articles related to every com¬ James Tiptree, Jr. (male nan de plune of reading of the cover blurb, or in this er of the SF house. the female Alice Sheldon, a standard only case, Arbor House's enclosed slick press Also scrutinized in this collection: the in-fblk know, on the equivalent scale release (reviewers are guided by these Fiction Technique; StoTy, Short and Oth¬ of the Isaac Asimov/Paul French variety). kinds of things, more often than not). erwise; Freelancing, Including Magazine The stories are fran previous collections, To be honest, I read to page 35 -- mak¬ Article Writing; even Editor-Author and and one or two never before published, but ing an atterrpt to absorb these fruitful Publisher-Author Relationships, with they are concise representations of the ideas, this terse, stringent way of nar¬ chapters devoted to these and other as¬ author at her best. rating this epic tale, filled with epic pects of writing. Go to it. Direct yourself to the following stor¬ ideas, more than most other SF novels of ies, in haste: "Beam Us Horae," about the today -- and I felt lost. alienated Hobie, and how something called Somehow, someway, the author has tak¬ saved his life; at "Excursion en this backdrop all for granted. It is Fare," about two downed balloonists up a struggle on the reader's part to get against certain death at sea, and are res¬ behind, and uiderstand this society full INSIDE OUTER SPACE, Science Fiction Pro¬ cued, only to face another kind of horror; of Shapers and Mechs, and ask the ques¬ fessionals Look at Their Craft and (a story I've not seen anywhere be¬ tion, "What does it all mean?" Ed. by Sharon Jarvis; Frederick Lhgar fore) "I'll Be Waiting for You When the Publishing Col, 1985, 148 pp., $7.95 Swimning Pool is Empty" about the darker I should have, and probably would ISBN: 0-8044-6310-7 side of interplanetary diplomacy. The have, been goggle-eyed with wonder from remaining stories are diverse; don't let page 1. If somehow Sterling, or his edi¬ An honest, wet-wash approach to how this reviewer spoil their fun. For "Beam tor, could have assembled a narrative to write science fiction, or more accur¬ Us Home," a story rescued intact, the that offered some insight into many burn¬ ately, how the professionals live and die book is worth the purchase. ing questions. From there on, SCHI94AT- by it, is acutely contained in INSIDE RIX may have been a joy. As it is, it is OUTER SPACE. only a first draft. There is more emotion, more elabora¬ tion, often on an honest, no-holds-bar- red level here than you may find in the most personal diaries of most famous writ¬ ers. Editor Sharon Jarvis, herself a TUTENTANZ By A1 Sarrantonio professional science fictiai editor, an¬ TOR, 1985, 285 pp., $3.50 thologist, agent, and writer has called upon some of our most professional pro¬ The author relishes the lyrical works fessionals to look deep into their souls of fantasist Ray Bradbury. But where 63 SCIENCE FICTION REVIEW #27: Ben Bova, SCIENCE FICTION REVIEW #51: David Stephen Fabian, Forrest J. Ackerman, Kingsbury, , Barry BACK ISSUES ONE IMMORTAL MAN-Part Three. Malzberg, . SCIENCE FICTION REVIEW #28: C. J. SCIENCE FICTION REVIEW #53: Algis Cherryh, Damon Knight, ONE IMMORTAL Budrys, Avram Davisdon, Bob Shaw, THE ALIEN CRITIC MAN-Conclusion. Barry Malzberg. SCIENCE FICTION REVIEW NO OTHER BACK ISSUES ARE SCIENCE FICTION REVIEW #29: John SCIENCE FICTION REVIEW #54: L. Neil AVAILABLE Brunner, , Hank Smith, John Brunner, Hannah M. G. Stine. Shapero, Damon Knight, Gene DeWeese. $1.50 per copy SCIENCE FICTION REVIEW #30: Joan D. SCIENCE FICTION REVIEW #55: Orson EACH ISSUE CONTAINS MANY REVIEWS. Vinge, Stephen R. Donaldson, Norman Scott Card, K.W. Jeter, Robert E. EACH ISSUE CONTAINS LETTERS FROM Spinrad, Orson Scott Card. Vardeman, John Brunner, Darrell WELL-KNOWN SF & FANTASY WRITERS, Schweitzer. EDITORS, PUBLISHERS AND FANS. SCIENCE FICTION REVIEW #31: Andrew J. Offutt, John Brunner, Ray Nelson. SCIENCE FICTION REVIEW #57: Charles L. Grant, Orson Scott Card, Sheila THE FOLLOWING LISTINGS ARE OF SCIENCE FICTION REVIEW #32: Andrew Finch, Gene DeWeese, Robert Sabella, FEATURED CONTRIBUTIONS J. Offutt, Orson Scott Card, Elton Darrell Schweitzer, Elton Elliott. T. Elliott. THE ALIEN CRITIC #5: Fritz Leiber, SCIENCE FICTION REVIEW #58: Norman James Blish, Jack Chalker. SCIENCE FICTION REVIEW #35: Fred Saberhagen, Don Wolheim, Barry Malz¬ Spinrad, Orson Scott Card, John THE ALIEN CRITIC #6: R.A. Lafferty, berg, John Brunner, Bob Shaw. Brunner, Darrell Schweitzer, J. , Marion Ziimier Bradley. Neil Schulman, Neal Wilgus. SCIENCE FICTION REVIEW #36: Roger THE ALIEN CRITIC #9: Alexei & Cory Zelazny, Philip K. Dick, Charles Panshin, Sam Merwin, Jr., John Platt,Christopher Priest, Mack Rey¬ Brunner, Richard S. Shaver. nolds, Robert A. Heinlein, Orson THE ALIEN CRITIC #10: Stanislaw Lem, Scott Card. Sam Merwin, Jr., Robert Bloch. SCIENCE FICTION REVIEW #14: Philip Jose Farmer, William F. Nolan, Jon $1,75 PER COPY FROM #37 ONWARD Gustafson. SCIENCE FICTION REVIEW #37: Robert SCIENCE FICTION REVIEW#15: L. Sprague Anton Wilson, Barry Malzberg, Jack de Camp, Donald C. Thompson, Ted Williamson, , Jack White. Chalker, Orson Scott Card. SCIENCE FICTION REVIEW #16: Jerry SCIENCE FICTION REVIEW #38: Jack Pournelle, Barry Malzberg, John Williamson, Barry Malzberg, Gregory Brunner, Richard Lupoff. Benford, Larry Niven, John Brunner. SCIENCE FICTION REVIEW #17: George SCIENCE FICTION REVIEW #39: Gene R.R. Martin, Robert Anton Wilson, Wolfe, Barry Malzberg, Ian Watson, Philip K. Dick, R. 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