<> ************************************************************** * * * R E A D I N G F O R P L E A S U R E * * * * Issue #21 * * February 1992 / March 1992 * * * * * * Editor: Cindy Bartorillo * * * * * ************************************************************** CONTACT US AT: Reading For Pleasure, 103 Baughman's Lane, Suite 303, Frederick, MD 21702; or on CompuServe leave a message to 74766,1206; or on GEnie leave mail to C.BARTORILLO; or call our BBS, the BAUDLINE II at 301-694-7108, 1200-9600 HST. NOTICE: Reading For Pleasure is not copyrighted. You may copy freely, but please give us credit if you extract portions to use somewhere else. This electronic edition is free, but print editions cost $2 each for printing and postage. AUTHORS of the reviews, commentaries, etc., published in RFP will be found beneath the "header" information (title, book author, publisher, price, and so on) enclosed in less-thans and greater-thans, as in <>. ************************** ~ HOW TO GET THE ELECTRONIC EDITION OF RFP First, call your local computer bulletin boards to see if they have the latest issue. If not, you can always get all issues by calling The Baudline II at 301-694-7108. These issues are ZIPped (compressed) for quick downloading and must be unZIPped with Phil Katz's PKUNZIP program (IBM). If you need a plain .TXT version, just leave a (C)omment telling us which issue(s) you need and when you'll be calling back to get them. (Be sure to give us at least 24 hours to get your Comment and prepare the files.) If you get the latest RFP, be sure to upload it to all the computer bulletin boards that you call. Also available on The Baudline II is an Index of RFP reviews (RFPINDEX.ZIP) and the latest catalog from Sisters in Crime (RFP-SC.ZIP). ~ HOW TO GET THE PRINT EDITION OF RFP Send $2 to: Reading For Pleasure, 103 Baughman's Lane, Suite 303, Frederick, MD 21702. Please specify which issue you'd like. If you send a check, be sure it's drawn on an American bank and made out to Cindy Bartorillo, otherwise send cash or a postal money order. ************************** Table of Contents Editorial . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70 Mainstream Fiction Books . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185 "Lost Stories" by Peter de Jager . . . . . . . . . . . . . 577 Mystery Books . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 885 Science Fiction & Fantasy Books . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1965 Horror Books . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3257 Nonfiction Books . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3946 ************************** ~ EDITORIAL Welcome to Reading For Pleasure #21. We pride ourselves on being a reader's resource, bringing to the public's attention books they might be interested in. We include as many details as possible--title, author, publisher, price, ISBN, etc.--to give our readers the best possible chance of finding the books they want. In most cases books not available from the local bookstores can be ordered directly from the publisher. Reading For Pleasure is free, except for our print edition for which we currently ask $2 each to cover paper, printing, and mailing. Reading For Pleasure is not copyrighted, meaning that you are free to reproduce it in whole or in part, for whatever purposes you like. All we ask is that you give proper credit to RFP and the individual contributor as being the source of the material. We make RFP freely available to give us the maximum possible distribution, and it really does work. RFP shows up on computer bulletin boards, at conventions and shows, at schools, libraries, and bookstores, and probably many other places I'm not even aware of. Publishers and authors like the media exposure, and they are then more likely to send us bits of news and copies of their books, the raw material from which RFP is made. The books are read, and the commentaries written, by dedicated readers who would be doing all that reading anyway. They graciously contribute their words, for whatever personal reasons, and we're all very grateful for their generosity. If you'd like to contribute a paragraph or two about a book you've read, please do. You can send it along to RFP at any of our addresses, which you'll find on the first screen/page of any copy of RFP. This brings me to the last point I wanted to mention this time: the relative number of books covered each issue in each section. Why are some sections so much bigger than others? The number of books in each section is a direct result of what kind of books the publishers have sent us recently, and what reviews we've had contributed. It has nothing to do with any RFP policy of coverage--we don't have one. We're here to pass along information and recommendations on any kind of book that readers might like. It's just that we can't print what we don't get. We hope you find lots of good reading for your book list from this issue of RFP, and we'll see you again in April, 1992. NOTE: For everyone who looked in vain for Peter de Jager's LOST STORIES column in last issue, we're sorry. The omission was ours, not Peter's, and the column that was to have appeared in December can be found in this issue. Our apologies to Peter and his fans. ************************** * Comic book artist Reed Waller (OMAHA THE CAT DANCER) was recently diagnosed with colon cancer. A benefit fund has been set up to help with his expenses. Send contributions to: Waller Crisis Fund, Box 7439, Powderhorn Stn., Minneapolis, MN 55407. * As part of the 1991 "Year of the Lifetime Reader" program, a survey was sponsored by the Book-of-the-Month Club and the Library of Congress's Center for the Book. The survey found, among other things, that having a role model of parents who read is the most important factor in developing the habit of reading--even more important than being read to by parents. * The SUNDAY EXPRESS Book of the Year Award, Britain's most valuable fiction prize (20,000 pounds), is given to novels that are "compulsively readable" as well as stylish and literate. The recent winner was Michael Frayn for LANDING ON THE SUN (Viking), and the runners-up were: WISE CHILDREN by Angela Carter (Farrar, Straus), DIRTY TRICKS by Michael Dibdin (Simon & Schuster), THE INVISIBLE WORM by Jennifer Johnston (not yet available in U.S.), FLYING HERO CLASS by Thomas Keneally (Warner), and TWO LIVES by William Trevor (Viking). * BOOKS OF MAGIC: In 1983, there was MAGIC (Viking), an autobiography of the basketball superstar recently diagnosed as HIV positive, which should be a Signet paperback ($4.99) by the time you read this. Also just out are two "instant" biographies (books written in an instant), MAGIC: MORE THAN A LEGEND by Bill Gutman (Harper, $3.99) and THE COURAGE OF MAGIC JOHNSON by Peter F. Pascarelli (Bantam, $3.99). But, wait, there's more! Random House has just signed a 3-book contract with Earvin "Magic" Johnson for an autobiography, a guide to safe sex to be written with former Surgeon General C. Everett Koop, and a third book whose subject has not yet been determined. * Daedalus Books has a catalog that you should see. Almost 50 pages of great books, each with a long description, and all at terrific prices. Write to them at: Daedalus Books, PO Box 9132, Hyattsville, MD 20781-0932. * SCARLETT by Alexandra Ripley has engendered new interest in the original story, GONE WITH THE WIND by Margaret Mitchell. Normally, around 15,000 hardcovers of GWTW are sold each year. Last year that number increased to over 195,000. Avon's paperback had sold about 100,000 copies before SCARLETT was released; afterwards they've sold about 750,000. * If Oliver Stone's movie JFK wasn't enough for you, just wait. Production starts in April on LIBRA, from the book by Don DeLillo about Lee Harvey Oswald; Propaganda Films will bring us RUBY; and I've just heard that a movie deal is being finalized for Mark Lane's recent book, PLAUSIBLE DENIAL: WAS THE CIA INVOLVED IN THE ASSASSINATION OF JFK? * There's a new variety of cheap literature available called DimeNovels. Actually, the name is misleading--each DimeNovel costs $.99, but that still makes them awfully cheap. We haven't seen any, but you might want to check them out, either for reading or maybe you'd like to write for them. They recognize 12 different genres (Sweet Romance, Sensual Romance, Historical Romance, Romantic Suspense, Glitz, Mystery, Thriller, Horror, Western, Adventure, Fantasy, and Science Fiction.) For more information, write to: Dime Store Novels, 1511 SW Park Ave., Mail Stop 100C17, Portland, OR 97201-7802. ************************** ^ FRIENDS AT THRUSH GREEN by Miss Read (Houghton Mifflin, December 1991, $19.95, ISBN 0-395-57381-5) <> "Miss Read" has written over 30 novels--since VILLAGE SCHOOL in 1955--about the charming English country villages of Thrush Green and Fairacre. Her devoted readers have made many of these novels international bestsellers, and it's easy to see why. Miss Read's characters are all real people, but they're all from the nicer side of town. Oh, maybe someone drinks a bit more than they should, but there are no bank robbers, rapists, child abusers, dope addicts, pimps, etc. And therein lies the charm: none of us really lives in a place like Thrush Green, but most of us would like to. At least we can visit there for a bit, a 244-page visit. In FRIENDS AT THRUSH GREEN there are many new developments for the townsfolk to talk about over tea. For one thing, Dorothy Walton and Agnes Fogerty, two of Thrush Green's former schoolteachers, return for a visit. Then the new schoolmaster, Alan Lester, seems a nice enough man, but what's going on with his wife and her "migraines"? Are they really migraines, or something else? And then there is the distressing problem of Bertha Lovelock, who is becoming a bit senile and has taken to stealing things, becoming an embarrassment to her sister Violet and a diplomatic crisis for Thrush Green tradespeople. The inhabitants of Thrush Green face these issues, and more, against the background of the changing seasons in the English Cotswolds. FRIENDS AT THRUSH GREEN is pure delight. ************************** ^ MERLE'S & MARILYN'S MINK RANCH: And Other Fiction by Randeane Tetu (Papier-Mache Press, November 1991) Hardcover: $14.00 ISBN 0-918949-13-0 Paperback: $9.00 ISBN 0-918949-17-3 <> "All of Tetu's characters are 'real people' who travel dirt roads and compete with the rain to get things done. Her highly descriptive style lends dignity to their impoverished lives and transforms their unremarkable experiences into memorable ones." ---LIBRARY JOURNAL Randeane Tetu's gift is the ability to distinguish the truly important aspects of our lives from the merely large, or loud. Her craft is a prose style of such transparent simplicity that there seems to be no barrier at all between the story and the reader. When her gift and her craft come together, as in these twenty short fictions, the result is a touching, life-affirming experience. These are stories about everyday people, the kind who live next door and who pass you on the street. They make choices, make mistakes, find hidden strengths, achieve victories, and reach epiphanies, all without appearing on a television talk show. MERLE'S & MARILYN'S MINK RANCH is quiet elegance, humanity captured in words. If your local bookstore doesn't have MERLE'S & MARILYN'S MINK RANCH, you can contact the publisher at: Papier-Mache Press, 795 Via Manzana, Watsonville, CA 95076; 408/726-2933. ************************** ^ ENDGAME IN BERLIN by William Harrington (Donald I. Fine, December 1991, $19.95, ISBN 1-55611-313-7) <> The Cold War may be over, but international intrigues live on in the world of industrial espionage. Colonel Nikolai Kedrov, disillusioned but still loyal KGB operative, is assigned to steal the plans for a new computer chip from a multinational research company based in Berlin. Russ Tobin, former Berlin Station Chief and now a senior CIA intelligence analyst, is assigned the job of security for the computer chip plans. What happens when these two old Cold Warriors face off is the core of this fast-paced, exciting international thriller. ENDGAME IN BERLIN is that new breed of suspense story, the "post-glasnost international thriller". As William Harrington shows, times have changed but international tensions continue. People are still people. His depiction of the new Berlin is as interesting as the industrial espionage plot. A first-rate page-turner from the author of OBERST, FOR THE DEFENSE, and THE ENGLISH LADY (soon to be a major motion picture). ************************** NEXT ISSUE: INCIDENT AT POTTER'S BRIDGE by Joe Monninger George Denkin is a serial killer loose on the campus of a small New Hampshire college. He likes to wear his victim's scalps on his head, and has constructed his own special "wig shop" in an abandoned graveyard vault. A gripping novel that explores the limits of human cruelty, sexual perversion, and terror. ************************** ~ POPULAR CULTURE, INK Although they've branched out lately, with THE SHAPE UNDER THE SHEET: THE COMPLETE STEPHEN KING ENCYCLOPEDIA (reviewed in RFP #19) and MAYBERRY, MY HOMETOWN: THE ULTIMATE GUIDEBOOK TO AMERICA'S FAVORITE TV SMALL TOWN, Popular Culture Ink is mostly known for books about music makers. They have an entire catalog of books about: Elvis, Chuck Berry, the history of rock 'n roll, Motown, Michael Jackson, hot rod music, surf music, the Everly Brothers, Phil Spector, punk rock, new wave music, Bob Dylan, the Rolling Stones, the 1960s, the Monkees, and George Gershwin. And did I forget the Beatles? They have LOADS of books about the Beatles. You can probably talk them into sending a catalog if you write to: Popular Culture, Ink, PO Box 1839, Ann Arbor, MI 48106. ************************** ^ RENOVATING OLD HOUSES by George Nash (Taunton Press, January 1992, $37.95) For those with the know-how to fix it up, an older house can be a real bargain, a good investment, and a treasure--especially in today's economy. Professional renovator George Nash has written the definitive book that gives readers the comprehensive hands-on knowledge needed to bring a vintage home back to useful life. RENOVATING OLD HOUSES has over 350 pages brimming with practical information on virtually every aspect of renovation. (You can contact the publisher by writing to: The Taunton Press, 63 South Main St., PO Box 5506, Newtown, CT 06470-5506.) ************************** ^ THRASHIN' TIME: Harvest Days in the Dakotas by David Weitzman (David R. Godine, November 1991, $24.95, ISBN 0-87923-910-7) <> It's 1912 on the North Dakota farm that belongs to 10-year-old Peter's family. The weather is harsh, farmwork requires hard labor from sunup to sundown, but the family unit is also strong and neighbors can be counted on to help out in a pinch. The excitement this year is that "real, scientific farming" has come to Peter's town in the shape of a huge steam-powered thresher, a machine that can accomplish in hours what would take humans and horses weeks to get done. Peter's family can't afford to buy one of the machines, but the neighbors decide to form a cooperative, renting the machine together and going from farm to farm, turning a laborious farm chore into more of a social event. Each person has their own function: the men attend to the hard labor in the field, the women cook the vast quantities of food necessary to feed everyone, and the children run errands and help out as best they can. No one is left out. THRASHIN' TIME is an especially lovely volume from a publisher known for beautiful bookcraft. The cover, dust jacket, and pages are an appropriately creamy wheat color; the illustrations are exquisite as well as instructive; and the text is an engagingly well-told story of family love, hard work, and cooperation that will delight the whole family. THRASHIN' TIME is superb on every level. Highly recommended. ************************** NEXT ISSUE: OUTSIDE THE DOG MUSEUM by Jonathan Carroll Harry Radcliffe is a prize-winning architect with two women vying for his attention and more clients with blank checks than he has time for. So what does Harry do? He goes insane. But with the help of the shaman Venasque he will recover and decide to work for the Sultan of Saru, who wants Harry to build a billion-dollar dog museum in the middle of the desert. Soon Harry is consumed by the new project. His dog museum will dwarf the work of every other architect. It will touch heaven itself. ************************** ~ NEW FROM PROMETHEUS BOOKS ^PORNOGRAPHY: PRIVATE RIGHT OR PUBLIC MENACE? edited by Robert M. Baird & Stuart E. Rosenbaum (December 1991, $14.95, ISBN 0-87975-690-X) GIRLS ARE GIRLS AND BOYS ARE BOYS: SO WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE? A nonsexist sexuality education book for children ages 6-10 by Sol Gordon, illustrated by Vivien Cohen (November 1991, $9.95, ISBN 0-87975-686-1) THE LOTUS LOVERS: THE COMPLETE HISTORY OF THE CURIOUS EROTIC CUSTOM OF FOOTBINDING IN CHINA by Howard S. Levy (January 1992, $29.95, ISBN 0-87975-687-X) Prometheus Books 700 East Amherst St. Buffalo, NY 14215 716/837-2475 ************************** ^ KISS AND TELL by Robbi Sommers (Naiad Press, 1991, $8.95, ISBN 1-56280-005-1) <> KISS AND TELL is a collection of short erotic lesbian fiction. The stories are steamy, sexually explicit, and anatomically correct. A wide variety of characters, situations, locations, and pleasures are detailed. And don't miss "The Joy of Cooking", an explicit guide to kitchen utensils and uses for them you may never have considered. Robbi Sommers is also the author of previous volumes of erotica: PLAYERS ($8.95, ISBN 0-941483-73-8) and PLEASURES ($8.95, ISBN 0-941483-49-5). All three can be ordered directly from the publisher by sending the list price, plus 15% extra for postage and handling, to: The Naiad Press Inc., PO Box 10543, Tallahassee, FL 32302. BY THE WAY: If you read gay and lesbian books, you should know about the LAMBDA BOOK REPORT, a lesbian and gay book review periodical. It's $19.95 ($28.20) for 6 bimonthly issues to the U.S. (Canada). A sample copy will run you $3.95. Send your money to: Lambda Book Report, 1625 Connecticut Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20009. Or you can order by phone by calling 1-800-621-6969. ************************** ~ NEW FROM STOREY/GARDEN WAY PUBLISHING SATISFYING SOUPS by Phyllis Hobson ($12.95, $14.90 postpaid, ISBN 0-88266-690-8) GARDEN DESIGN WITH FOLIAGE: FERNS AND GRASSES, VINES AND GROUND COVERS, ANNUALS AND PERENNIALS, TREES AND SHRUBS by Judy Glattstein (Paperback: $17.95, $19.90 postpaid, ISBN 0-88266-686-X) (Hardcover: $29.95, $31.90 postpaid, ISBN 0-88266-687-8) BECOMING AN EFFECTIVE RIDER: DEVELOPING YOUR MIND AND BODY FOR BALANCE AND UNITY by Cherry Hill ($14.95, $16.90 postpaid, ISBN 0-88266-688-6) COUNTRY WINES: MAKING & USING WINES FROM HERBS, FRUITS, FLOWERS & MORE by Pattie Vargas & Rich Gulling ($12.95, $14.90 postpaid, ISBN 0-88266-749-1) These books can be ordered directly from the publisher by sending the "postpaid" amount to: Storey Communications/Garden Way Publishing, PO Box 445, Pownal, VT 05261, or call 1-800-827-8673. ************************** ^ CROSSOVER by Judith Eubank (Carroll & Graf, January 1992, $18.95, ISBN 0-88184-746-1) <> Meredith Blake has come to the English cathedral city of Exeter to work towards a postgraduate degree in 18th century English fiction, taking up residence in Edwards Hall, a large 17th century manor house. As she is just getting used to university life in England and her enigmatic tutor Peter Graham, Meredith begins to experience some kind of time shifts, unaccountably finding herself in and around an Edwards Hall of some 150 years ago. Soon Meredith is embroiled in a 19th century mystery, with an historically unexplained death (in 1836) about to happen. Why, and how, does the mistress of Edwards Hall die? Will it be murder? Can Meredith prevent it? If she can, should she? CROSSOVER combines accepted reality and the supernatural, modern times and past history, with a very deft touch, much like Daphne du Maurier used to. The changing foreground and background perspectives of the two timelines is interesting, and the developing relationship between Meredith and her tutor provides a pleasant subplot. All the various threads of the story come to a stampeding conclusion that leaves the reader breathless, but satisfied. A very fine read from a new literary voice. ************************** ^ MISS MELVILLE RIDES A TIGER by Evelyn E. Smith (Donald I. Fine, November 1991, $18.95, ISBN 1-55611-219-X) <> Susan Melville is a middle-aged, successful artist living in New York City. She has a manager named Jill, a sometimes-boyfriend named Peter, and an unusual hobby: she kills people. Not just anyone, of course, just people who really deserve it. Like Philip Lord, a pimp who specializes in kidnapping preteen runaways from bus depots. Occasionally, Jill's husband, who is a shadowy government figure with a convenient cover, asks Miss Melville to practice her hobby on someone in particular. This time out he wants her to assassinate the Begum of Gandistan, a ruthless woman who has taken over her country by murdering everyone in her path to the throne. Conveniently, the Begum is visiting New York City at the moment, so Miss Melville needn't go out of her way. But Susan doesn't really want to kill the Begum of Gandistan, and she particularly doesn't like exercising her hobby at someone else's whim. She is also distracted at the moment, because an old enemy from her past, Berengaria Rundle, suddenly has shown up after thirty years abroad. Within minutes of their big reunion, Susan feels the desire to murder Berry, who has lost none of her aggressive hostility. When Miss Melville finally discovers that Berry has been spending all these years in Gandistan, becoming the Begum, it's as if Fate had sent Berry to New York City to be killed. Of course there are a few complications along the way, like the fact that Berry wants Susan dead too, not to mention the Mafia boss who has decided he wants to marry Miss Melville. MISS MELVILLE RIDES A TIGER is a great romp of an adventure, funny and fast-paced. Previous Miss Melville novels have been: MISS MELVILLE REGRETS, MISS MELVILLE RETURNS, and MISS MELVILLE'S REVENGE. ************************** ~ NEW FROM TARCHER SUCCEEDING AGAINST THE ODDS: Strategies and Insights from the Learning-Disabled by Sally L. Smith (January 1992, $18.95, ISBN 0-87477-674-0) MEN AND FRIENDSHIP by Stuart Miller (January 1992, $8.95, ISBN 0-87477-685-6) GROWING TOGETHER STAYING TOGETHER: Preserving Marriage and Family Relationships in the Face of Personal Change by Juerg Willi, M.D. (January 1992, $19.95, ISBN 0-87477-589-2) ONCE UPON A MIDLIFE: Classic Stories and Mythic Tales to Illuminate the Middle Years by Allan B. Chinen, M.D. (February 1992, $18.95, ISBN 0-87477-677-5) THE ADULT CHILDREN OF DIVORCE WORKBOOK: A Compassionate Program For Healing From Your Parents' Divorce by Mary Hirschfeld, J.D., Ph.D. (February 1992, $11.95, ISBN 0-87477-672-4) THE EIGHT ESSENTIAL STEPS TO CONFLICT RESOLUTION: Preserving Relationships at Work, at Home, and in the Community by Dudley Weeks, Ph.D. (February 1992, $20.95, ISBN 0-87477-656-2) SINUS SURVIVAL: A Self Help Guide for Allergies, Bronchitis, Colds, and Sinusitis (revised) by Dr. Robert S. Ivker (February 1992, $10.95, ISBN 0-87477-684-8) Jeremy P. Tarcher, Inc. 5858 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 200 Los Angeles, CA 90036 ************************** ^ JURASSIC PARK by Michael Crichton (Ballantine, December 1991, $5.99, ISBN 0-345-37077-5) <> A very special park is being built on an island, 100 miles off the coast of Costa Rica. It's sort of a zoo for the rich and famous where, for a price, you can spend the vacation of a lifetime. A zoo in which the main attraction is real-life dinosaurs from the Jurassic Period. Genetic engineering has advanced to the stage where DNA strands can be extracted from insects imbedded in amber, fossilized tree sap from the Jurassic Period. These insects, in turn, contain the substance of the dinosaurs and plants from the Jurassic Period and hence THEIR DNA strands. Jurassic Park contains specimens from the large and infamous Tyrannosaurus Rex down to the smallest fern and plant of the Jurassic Period. Meat eaters, as well as plant eaters...all are represented. Precautions have been taken so that nothing can wrong. A total animal count is monitored every five minutes to ensure that no animals have escaped. Electrified fences have been installed surrounding each of the areas of the park. To prevent breeding, through genetic engineering only female animals are produced. All the park buildings have been built with maximum security in mind. Absolutely nothing can go wrong. JURASSIC PARK is the best Michael Crichton novel I have read to date. I especially like the way he blends science with fiction. Like the computer printouts, bar charts and graphs that are liberally sprinkled throughout the book--they tend to give the story a feeling of authenticity and not the pure fiction that it really is. Or is it pure fiction? Crichton's novels are not really that far-fetched and could be very easily be the reality of tomorrow. I have always been interested in computers and the field of anthropology, so JURASSIC PARK was easily a hit with me right off. It contained just the right level of suspense to keep you wanting more and I was actually disappointed when the book came to an end. I can highly recommend JURASSIC PARK and look forward to another Michael Crichton novel. ************************** *-----------------------------* / / ~ / LOST STORIES / / by Peter de Jager / / / *----------------------------* There is a small category of stories I label the 'Illusionist' because they create situations forcing you to ask 'is it possible?'. It is a rather small category. I have only run across two good examples. I read them years ago and yet they have stood up very well to a recent rereading. Rereading old favorites is sometimes a disappointment. Sort of like visiting the neighborhood you grew up in. The colors are not as bright nor the trees as tall as you remember. It is still the old neighborhood, but it doesn't feel right and you leave with a nagging, uncomfortable feeling of having lost something special. In writing this column I am continually rereading old stories remembered as 'special'. The test for these two stories was simple... did they get me questioning my 'knowledge of certain things' again? I am happy to tell you they did. ^ THE JESUS FACTOR by Edwin Corley (1971) The atomic bomb doesn't work! A ridiculous claim? What about Hiroshima and Nagasaki? These are the immediate objections that come to mind as you read the back cover. Of course the atomic bomb works! Any fool knows that... Well, once you have read THE JESUS FACTOR, you will ask yourself the question 'yes... but what if...???' This is the novel's charm. We know the bomb exists and works. Yet Corley manages to create a scenario that fits perfectly with our present day political situation. He forces us to question what we know to be true. The reader is continually rebelling against this ludicrous idea, but at the same time, continually asking the question 'what if?' Corley uses a clever technique in getting us to believe the 'big lie' (or is it a lie?). He scatters little details throughout the book about various historically important characters. An example is an anecdote about Fermi. How he used little scraps of paper to determine the explosive power of the first atomic test. To the best of my knowledge, the story is true. Meaning of course, I have heard the same story from other 'reliable' sources. Another scene describes an encounter with Scott Fitzgerald. When you read about Fitzgerald to see if the scene is 'real', you discover it to be very possible and perhaps even likely. If all the 'little' details are true, then it becomes difficult to separate truth from fiction. Corley has created a little game for you to play. The rules are simple. He tries to convince you the bomb is a fake and you try to maintain your hold on reality. If by the end of the book you are asking 'What if...' then Corley has won and earned what you paid for the story. It is an enjoyable little game and yes... he fairly won the money I paid for my original copy. ^ THE HAB THEORY by Allan W Eckert (1976) The world flips on its axis every 50,000 years! A ridiculous claim? What if you believed in this theory? What if you had to convince world leaders the world would come to an end in the immediate future. That all life will be destroyed unless steps are taken to save at least a handful of people? Well, this is the premise of the story, and like THE JESUS FACTOR, by the end of the novel you will be tempted to move to Mars or some other more stable environment. Eckert adopts a more aggressive strategy than does Corley. In THE JESUS FACTOR you follow someone as he uncovers the 'truth'. In THE HAB THEORY the lead character is the one trying to convince people the theory is correct. In doing so, he also 'convinces' the reader that perhaps property values are a little bit inflated 'all things considered.' One of the most convincing pieces of evidence presented to support the case has stuck in my mind for more than a decade. It has to do with the magnetic alignment of minerals in lava flows found at the bottom of the ocean. They flip NS to SN at 50,000 year intervals. I did enough research at first reading to determine that this was a 'fact', but never did find an answer as to why... This is only one of many 'facts' used to build the case for the HAB Theory. Like THE JESUS FACTOR, reading the novel is a contest of wits between yourself and the author. Will he manage to convince you the theory is true? Or will you survive his logic? There is another reason why these two books are so enjoyable. On their own they are 'intellectual' challenges. They are like mystery stories in reverse. In a mystery novel you have to figure out who did it. In these, you have to figure out how the author is doing it to you. How exactly is he winning the argument? Together, these novels tempt you to consider the following question. If these authors can make cases for 'ludicrous' claims in a mere novel... What could the media do if they really wanted you to believe something that wasn't so? Interesting question? Yes? These are fun reads, if you like to play mind games -and- don't mind losing from time to time! Enjoy! ************************** ~BOOKS ON TAPE: ^ STORIES FROM WILDERNESS TIPS by Margaret Atwood, performance by Helen Shaver 2 cassettes, 3 hours (Bantam Audio, 1991, $15.99, ISBN 0-553-47023-X) Margaret Atwood is an incomparable observer, of both the many textures of contemporary life and the logic of irrational behavior. In "Hack Wednesday" a columnist balances the turmoil of the news--and the newsroom where she works--against the hope and comfort of her domestic life. "Wilderness Tips" maps the perilous territories of family relationships and infidelity. A grotesque act of revenge for love betrayed is made all the sweeter for being wrapped in a truffle in "Hairball". A teenage boy at summer camp learns to rough it over the rocky terrain of his adolescent desire for a forbidden town girl in "True Trash". ************************** ^ ANOTHER VIEW by Rosamunde Pilcher, performance by Lynn Redgrave Abridged, 2 cassettes, 3 hours (Bantam Audio, 1991, $15.99, ISBN 0-553-47006-X) Emma Litton could get on with her life until she found out just what place she'd had in her father's heart. She'd been going to school in Europe since she was 14 then found a job in Paris, always wondering what her famous artist father was doing in Japan or America or at their cottage in Cornwall. Even after she met Robert Morrow, the handsome gallery owner, and rediscovered her stepbrother, Christo, she still felt compelled to probe into the truth about her past. But Emma might learn too late that it was the truth about herself she had to find, and that letting go is the first step to keeping love. ************************** ^ UNDER GEMINI by Rosamunde Pilcher, performance by Kate Burton Abridged, 2 cassettes, 3 hours (Bantam Audio, 1991, $15.99, ISBN 0-553-45293-2) Every family hides something, but Flora Waring discovered a devastating deception in hers. At 22 she learned she had an identical twin, Rose, who lived with the mother Flora didn't remember at all. And when Flora ended up impersonating the high-spirited, spoiled Rose, she would have to face how cruel lies can be. When she agreed to accompany Rose's fiance to meet his grandmother in a picturesque town on the Scottish coast, she would quickly fall in love with the lush green countryside, the Armstrong family, and a rare, wonderful man. But she would also confront Rose's shocking secrets and a betrayal that could break her heart. ************************** ^ CHARLOTTE'S WEB by E.B. White, read by E.B. White Unabridged, 3 cassettes, 192 minutes (Bantam Audio, 1970, $18.99, ISBN 0-553-47048-5) This is the story of a kindhearted little girl named Fern who saves the life of a very small and very lucky pig named Wilbur. It is also the story of Charlotte A. Cavatica, the beautiful, resourceful gray spider who lives with Wilbur in the barn and who becomes his best friend. Surrounded by his barnyard pals and cheered by Fern's visits, Wilbur enjoys each new day...until the old sheep tells him what farmers do to pigs at Christmastime. Suddenly Wilbur is terribly afraid, but faithful Charlotte promises to spin a clever plan to save her humble friend. And with the help of Templeton the rat, she does just that. As moving and eloquent now as when it was first written forty years ago, CHARLOTTE'S WEB celebrates the sweetness of friendship, even when it is tinged by loss. ************************** ^ STUART LITTLE by E.B. White, read by Julie Harris Unabridged, 2 cassettes, 113 minutes (Bantam Audio, 1965, $15.99, ISBN 0-553-47051-5) Stuart Little is a shy, philosophical little mouse with a big heart and a taste for adventure. In spite of his diminutive stature, barely two inches tall, Stuart sets forth into the world with some mighty big plans: to ride a Fifth Avenue bus, to win a sailboat race in Central Park, and to teach school for a day. But Stuart's greatest adventure begins when he decides to find his best friend, Margalo, a pretty little bird who once lived in a Boston fern in the Littles' house in New York City. Climbing into his tiny car, Stuart hits the open road, sure he's heading in the right direction, only to find himself in for a big surprise. Filled with warmth, wit, and wonder, STUART LITTLE is a timeless tale that speaks to the heroic spirit in all of us--no matter what our size. ************************** ^ BOOTY FOR A BADMAN by Louis L'Amour Audio Dramatization, 1 cassette, 60 minutes (Bantam Audio, 1991, $8.99, ISBN 0-553-47008-6) <> It's the late 1800s: Tell Sackett has been hired to deliver the combined gold of a group of prospectors. The challenge? He has to get it across land controlled by the Coopers, a nasty gang of bloodthirsty bandits. That's enough of a job for any man, but then he runs across Christine Mallory, an attractive, difficult city woman who needs rescuing. Tell just KNOWS she's going to be trouble, and it's for sure she'll slow him down, but what's an honorable cowboy to do? This is a full-blown audio drama, with a complete cast, music, and sound effects--terrific entertainment for a quiet hour or an average day's commute. A first-rate story that I enjoyed tremendously. ************************** ^ THE TOWN NO GUNS COULD TAME by Louis L'Amour Audio Dramatization, 1 cassette, 60 minutes (Bantam Audio, 1991, $9.99, ISBN 0-553-47017-5) <> The town is Basin City, a town of miners, gamblers, and drifters of all kinds. To protect tomorrow's stagecoach that will be leaving with over a quarter of a million dollars in gold, the town's businessmen hire a new marshall. A gunfighter on the run, Perry accepts the job, only to find that protecting the gold isn't his first task. First he has to live through tonight without being lynched. One of the businessmen who hires Perry is actually behind the series of robberies in Basin City. He has hired a couple of gunslingers to take care of Perry and make it look like he is the real robber. Like BOOTY FOR A BADMAN, THE TOWN NO GUNS COULD TAME is also a full-blown audio drama, with a complete cast, music, and sound effects. This is the second Louis L'Amour dramatization I have listened to on tape and I enjoyed it as much as the first. If you're looking for a way to relax and enjoy a quiet hour with a really good story, try THE TOWN NO GUNS COULD TAME. I bet you'll like it as much as I did. MORE LOUIS L'AMOUR CASSETTES FROM BANTAM AUDIO (all are 60 minutes unless otherwise noted) Bill Carey Rides West ($8.95) The Black Rock Coffin Makers (LL, $8.95) Bowdrie Passes Through (LL, *, $8.95) Bowdrie Rides a Coyote Trail (*, $8.99) Case Closed--No Prisoners (LL, *, $8.95) Down the Pogonip Trail ($8.95) Four-Card Draw (LL, $8.95) Get Out of Town ($8.99) Grub Line Rider ($8.95) Keep Travelin', Rider (LL, $8.95) Lonigan ($8.95) Man Riding West ($8.95) McNelly Knows a Ranger (*, $8.95) Merrano of the Dry Country ($8.95) No Man's Man ($8.95) One For the Mohave Kid ($8.95) One For the Pot ($8.95) A Ranger Rides to Town (*, $8.95) Riding For the Brand ($8.95) The Road to Casa Piedras (*, $8.95) Showdown Trail (LL, performance by Richard Crenna, 180 min., $15.99) The Sixth Shotgun ($8.95) South of Deadwood (LL, *, $8.95) Strange Pursuit (LL, *, $8.95) The Strong Shall Live ($8.95) Too Tough to Brand (*, $8.95) The Trail to Peach Meadow Canyon (LL, performance by Robert Stack, 145 min., $15.95) A Trail to the West (LL, *, $8.95) Trap of Gold and Hattan's Castle (LL, performance by Richard Crenna, $8.95) The Turkeyfeather Riders (LL, $8.95) Unguarded Moment ($8.95) Where Buzzards Fly (LL, *, $8.95) LL = Introduction by Louis L'Amour * = a Chick Bowdrie story The Chick Bowdrie Audio Boxed Set: SOUTH OF DEADWOOD, A TRAIL TO THE WEST, and WHERE BUZZARDS FLY ($19.95, ISBN 0-553-45193-6) The A RANGER RIDES AGAIN Audio Boxed Set: McNELLY KNOWS A RANGER, A RANGER RIDES TO TOWN, and CASE CLOSED--NO PRISONERS ($19.99, ISBN 0-553-45280-0) The RIDING FOR THE BRAND Audio Boxed Set: THE TURKEYFEATHER RIDERS, FOUR-CARD DRAW, and RIDING FOR THE BRAND ($19.95, ISBN 0-553-45230-4) ************************** #:#:#:#:#:#:#:#:#:#:#:#:# ~ # MURDER BY THE BOOK # #:#:#:#:#:#:#:#:#:#:#:#:# editor: Cindy Bartorillo --------------------------------------------------------------------- Murder By The Book is a division of Reading For Pleasure, published bimonthly. This material is NOT COPYRIGHTED and may be used freely by all. Catalogs, news releases, review copies, or donated reviews should be sent to: Reading For Pleasure, 103 Baughman's Lane, Suite 303, Frederick, MD 21702. --------------------------------------------------------------------- ~ 1990 SHAMUS AWARD WINNERS Presented by the Private Eye Writers of America. Best Novel: "G" IS FOR GUMSHOE by Sue Grafton Best First Novel: DEVIL IN A BLUE DRESS by Walter Mosley Best Paperback Original: RAFFERTY: FATAL SISTERS by W. Glenn Duncan Best Short Story: "Final Resting Place" by Marcia Muller Lifetime Achievement: Roy Huggins ~ 1990 ANTHONY AWARD WINNERS Presented by the membership of Bouchercon. Best Novel: "G" IS FOR GUMSHOE by Sue Grafton Best First Novel: POSTMORTEM by Patricia Daniels Cornwell Best Paperback Original (tie): GRAVE UNDERTAKING by Jim McCahery WHERE'S MOMMY NOW? by Rochelle Krich Best Short Story: "The Celestial Buffet" by Sue Dunlap */-----------------------------/* * Have you seen the latest newsletter/catalogue from THE POISONED PEN? If not, you'd better get one right away. Write to: The Poisoned Pen, 7100B East Main Street, Scottsdale, AZ 85251. If you're in a real hurry, you can call them at: 602/947-2974. */-----------------------------/* ^ NEW YORK DEAD by Stuart Woods (HarperCollins, 1991, $20.00, ISBN 0-06-017925-2) <> J. Stone Barrington is not your average New York cop. He is of a distinguished, though now impoverished, family and is struggling to renovate an impressively large house in New York City that is part of his inheritance. One evening, walking home from Elaine's, Stone is a witness as famous television anchorwoman Sasha Nijinsky plunges from the top of a twelve-story apartment building. An on-the-spot news camera shows that Sasha, remarkably, survived the fall, at least momentarily; but everyone is astounded when Sasha disappears from the ambulance on the way to the hospital. Now Stone is involved in a front-page case: the media putting pressure on the politicians, and the politicians putting pressure on the police. Everyone wants the case solved, and they want it solved now. Is Sasha alive? Is so, why doesn't she come forward? As the pressure on the police department mounts, Stone's boss and partner decide to pin the murder on a reasonably likely suspect: the lesbian makeup artist who was having an affair with Sasha. Stone is absolutely convinced that this woman is innocent, yet he loves his job on the police force. What will Stone do? Watching the unfolding events in NEW YORK DEAD is irresistible, and doing so kept me up most of the night. It wasn't until after I'd finished that I noticed the surreal quality of the story. The characters are all at least slightly weird: Stone's breeding is unusual for a cop, his Italian partner marries into the mob during the course of the story, and his new girlfriend is five feet eleven inches of nonstop sexuality. The plot details are odd too, and they reach a crescendo of unreality in a grotesque climax worthy of Poe or even Lovecraft. And yet, it was all perfectly believable at the time! At no point did a wrong note jump out and disrupt the flow of the narrative. NEW YORK DEAD is an amazing example of the writer's craft, and a very exciting story. Highly recommended. */-----------------------------/* ^ STEEL GUITAR: A Carlotta Carlyle Mystery by Linda Barnes (Delacorte, November 1991, $18.50, ISBN 0-385-30013-1) <> Carlotta Carlyle is a Boston private detective who's hard to miss: she's 6'1" and has red hair. But the P.I. business isn't always booming, which is why she drives a cab sometimes to pay the bills. One night she picks up Dee Willis, an old college friend who has recently become a big-time blues singer. Dee insists upon stopping at a park that caters to the homeless in a very poor neighborhood, where Carlotta watches her show a photograph around and hand out money. When her methods almost lead to violence, Dee hires Carlotta to find another old friend, a guitar player who has been down on his luck for years. Dee says she just wants to make sure he's OK, but Carlotta's not too sure. Dee's motives are found to be more complex, and when one of the members of her band is found dead--a death echoing another from Carlotta and Dee's past--the case becomes a race against the past to save the present. STEEL GUITAR is easily one of the best mysteries of 1991, and should be on the reading list of any discriminating reader. The characters are multi-layered and interesting, the plot is fascinating, the suspense fairly crackles, and the book features the best use of a background subject--music, specifically the blues--I've read in quite a while. Drama, humor, pathos, thrills, it's all here. STEEL GUITAR is not to be missed. There are three previous Carlotta Carlyle mysteries: A TROUBLE OF FOOLS, SNAKE TATTOO, and COYOTE. */-----------------------------/* ~ CLAIRE MALLOY NOVELS BY JOAN HESS Strangled Prose (1986) Murder at the Murder at the Mimosa Inn (1986) Dear Miss Demeanor (1987) A Really Cute Corpse (1988) A Diet to Die For (1989) Roll Over and Play Dead (1991) */-----------------------------/* ^ KILLER CINDERELLA by Simon Shaw (Doubleday Perfect Crime, January 1992, $16.50, ISBN 0-385-41891-4) <> Mark Harvey's life is not a happy one. He's not happy with his bank job, having lost out on the promotion he deserved. He lives in the peaceful English countryside but has been cursed with new neighbors who give almost continual loud parties. He's got a suicidal lodger living in his attic. But his very worst problem, no doubt about it, is his wife Maddie. She's fat, shrewish, unfaithful, and has half the town convinced that it is Mark who is the villain of the marriage. And, worst of all, she's dead, and Mark's killed her. He didn't mean to, of course, but he can't count on that having much weight with the police. So he puts her in the freezer in the basement. But now Mark has another problem. Maddie will be missed. There's her obnoxious feminist friend Lizzie, her pathetic lover Roddy, and his pretentious new neighbor, Reg, who has become obsessed with wooing Maddie, whom he pictures as a beautiful and refined lady. What is Mark to do? Virtually by accident he finds himself dressing up and impersonating his dead wife. Which might sound like a lot of trouble to go through but there are two factors in its favor: (1) Mark finds that he makes a damned attractive female, and (2) he discovers that he likes it. He even consents to an intimate dinner with the besotted neighbor, only to disappear in a rush, leaving a high-heeled shoe behind, just like Cinderella. From that point on, Simon Shaw's hilarious romp of a story is off, with unscrupulous tabloid journalists, bewildered policemen, and a multi-layered plot of intertwining misunderstandings and foul-ups that leave the reader breathless. It's sort of like Donald Westlake telling an Alfred Hitchcock black comedy with a Monty Python accent. But not quite. KILLER CINDERELLA is one book you'll just have to experience for yourself. It's a lot of fun. This is Simon Shaw's second novel, his first being MURDER OUT OF TUNE. */-----------------------------/* ^ MERMAID by Margaret Millar (International Polygonics, October 1991, $8.95, ISBN 1-55882-114-7) <> Once again we have to thank International Polygonics for bringing a terrific novel back into print. Originally published in 1982, MERMAID is a story about Cleo Jasper and the lives that she touches. She is 22, attends a special school for the learning disabled, and lives with her brother, his wife, and their son. When Cleo disappears, her brother Hilton hires attorney Tom Aragon to find her. Tom soon discovers that a counselor at her school is involved with Cleo's disappearance somehow, but he can't be found either. As we get to know the characters more intimately, we find that Cleo has affected them all deeply. Her specialness, the difference which causes everyone to protect and defend her, both ensnares those around her and leaves Cleo free of any consequences of her actions. Like the mermaid of the title, Cleo is lovely and needs protecting. The key phrase is "she needs". And needs. And needs. Loving Cleo is like loving a mermaid: you try so hard to give them a normal life, and yet your efforts are doomed to failure from the start. If you haven't read any of Margaret Millar's wonderful novels of psychological suspense, MERMAID is a good place to begin. ~ OTHER MARGARET MILLAR NOVELS AVAILABLE FROM IPL: An Air That Kills ($4.95) Ask For Me Tomorrow ($4.95) Banshee ($5.95) Beast In View ($4.95) Beyond This Point Are Monsters ($4.95) The Cannibal Heart ($4.95) The Fiend ($5.95) Fire Will Freeze ($5.95) How Like An Angel ($4.95) The Iron Gates ($4.95) The Listening Walls ($5.95) The Murder of Miranda ($4.95) Rose's Last Summer ($4.95) Spider Webs ($5.95) A Stranger in My Grave ($7.95) Vanish In An Instant ($7.95) Wall of Eyes ($4.95) If you can't get the Millar novels you want from your local bookstore, you can order them directly from IPL by sending the list price(s), plus postage and handling ($1 for the first book, $.50 for each additional book) to: International Polygonics, Ltd., Madison Square, PO Box 1563, New York, NY 10159-1563. */-----------------------------/* NEXT ISSUE: BLACK WIDOW by Patrick Quentin With his wife out of town, Broadway producer Peter Duluth is careful not to encourage pretty young actresses. But Nanny Ordway seems harmless and a tenuous friendship develops, a friendship that lasted until the day Iris Duluth returned home, entered her bedroom and discovered Nanny Ordway, dressed in pajamas...dead and hanging from the chandelier. */-----------------------------/* ^ BLOOD GAMES: A True Account of Family Murder by Jerry Bledsoe (Dutton, November 1991, $22.95, ISBN 0-525-93369-7) <> In late July of 1988, Lieth Von Stein and his wife Bonnie were savagely attacked by an intruder armed with a baseball bat and a knife. Lieth was killed, Bonnie nearly so. The police investigation discovered a conspiracy between Bonnie's son Chris Pritchard and two of his friends at North Carolina State University: Neal Henderson, certified genius and obsessive Dungeons & Dragons player; and Bart Upchurch, an upper class youth who lived for thrills. BLOOD GAMES is the grim story of how three privileged young people plotted and executed the murderous attack on Lieth and Bonnie Von Stein. When violent crimes are committed by the uneducated, the poor, the disadvantaged, we can always comfort ourselves as human beings by giving reasons (reasons, not excuses) for their actions: They never had the cultural, economic, educational, or social opportunities that most of the rest of us have had. But in BLOOD GAMES we meet three young people who are, on the surface, examples of America's best and brightest, the finest our culture can produce, with every opportunity and advantage. What can we tell ourselves when those three people turn out to be monsters? Jerry Bledsoe tells the story of these youths, and of many of their generation, in BLOOD GAMES, giving the reader an unflinching examination of the privileged classes in America in the 1980s. Impossible to put down. (Jerry Bledsoe is also the author of the previous bestseller, BITTER BLOOD.) */-----------------------------/* ~ ARLY HANKS NOVELS BY JOAN HESS Malice in Maggody (1987) Mischief in Maggody (1988) Much Ado in Maggody (1989) Madness in Maggody (1991) Mortal Remains in Maggody (1991) */-----------------------------/* ^ THE SKELETON IN THE CLOCK by Carter Dickson (aka John Dickson Carr) (International Polygonics, $5.95, ISBN 1-55882-103-1) <> Originally published in 1948, THE SKELETON IN THE CLOCK is one of the very best of Carr's mysteries starring The Old Man, Sir Henry Merrivale. (For a complete list of Merrivale books, and their IPL editions, see RFP #19.) In this one, a psychic researcher looks for ghosts in the execution shed of an old prison. Sir Henry becomes involved and is faced with a 20-year-old murder as well as a brand new one. Mystery monger Art Bourgeau, in his book THE MYSTERY LOVER'S COMPANION (1986), rated THE SKELETON IN THE CLOCK "A True Classic". */-----------------------------/* ^ HUBBERT & LIL: PARTNERS IN CRIME by Gallagher Gray (Donald I. Fine, December 1991, $18.95, ISBN 1-55611-308-0) <> "We're looking for CLUES, Theodore. For god's sake. Haven't you ever read a detective novel?" "One or two." In truth, he'd read hundreds. "Have you?" "Maybe," she said vaguely. Theodore, known to everyone else as T.S. Hubbert, is a 55-year-old barely-retired personnel manager who reads paperback mysteries by the stack and gives them to a neighbor so nobody will find out. She is his Auntie Lil, an 84-year-old retired clothes designer who drinks Bloody Marys with extra Tabasco and has stacks of detective magazines at home which she hides in the back of a closet. Together they manage to solve the murders at Sterling & Sterling, the prestigious banking firm for which T.S. had worked for the past three decades. It was on the very first day of his retirement, actually, that he got a call to come back to the office and help out with the emergency: one of the partners of the firm, Robert Cheswick, had been stabbed to death at his desk. T.S. decides to compromise--he'll go back to the office temporarily, but he won't wear a tie. He finds Cheswick still in his chair, the police crawling over the scene of the crime, and the first two clues: there is a dead boutonniere on the desk and the dead man's fly is open. It will take the keen mind of Auntie Lil to correctly interpret these clues, but T.S. will have problems of his own to solve. HUBBERT AND LIL: PARTNERS IN CRIME is the first installment of what is to be a new series of whodunits. If you like your mysteries light on the violence and heavy on the puzzle, be sure to catch the first adventure for T.S. and Auntie Lil. */-----------------------------/* NEXT ISSUE: THE WRONG RITE by Charlotte MacLeod writing as Alisa Craig Detective Inspector Madoc Rhys of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police takes his family to Wales for a jolly reunion honoring the family patriarch...and lands them in a tangle of thievery, skulduggery, and bloody bedevilment that reaches its horrendous climax when cousin Mary takes an ill-timed leap through the ritual Beltane fire. */-----------------------------/* ^ PURE COP: Cop Talk from the Streets to the Specialized Units-Bomb Squad, Arson, Hostage Negotiation, Prostitution, Major Accidents, Crime Scene by Connie Fletcher (author of WHAT COPS KNOW) (Villard Books, 1991, $22.50, ISBN 0-679-40036-2) <> Okay, so the title is a mouthful. You'll be able to locate this book on the bookstore shelf quite easily with just the "PURE COP" portion of the title which is in nearly two inch high lettering, or because all of the available copies will be in the hands of browsers as they block the aisle. This is one of those books that, once you've picked it up and glanced through it, it is hard to put down. This is oral history, the likes of which you probably won't find elsewhere, except in another Connie Fletcher book. PURE COP presents cops, in their own words, as they talk about what it is they do. I mean, what they REALLY do--not as television portrays them or newspaper reporters depict them. It's as if you are sitting with a bunch of cops and talking shop. Nothing deleted, nothing held back. At the end of each chapter is a list of the contributing officers and their bios, but Ms. Fletcher has not specifically identified who said what which makes the reading even more fascinating. You get the feeling that no one is tempering their comments for fear of a backlash, either from the public at large or from individual police supervisors. Ms. Fletcher gained access to these police officers and their comments through "an accident of birth" as she calls it. Her sister is a supervising Chicago Police Department sergeant and has been a cop since 1981. I can't imagine anyone who would not enjoy this book, but especially mystery/crime writers-in-training would be wise to get a copy! You won't believe all of the misinformation you have accumulated over the years. NOTE: Talk to mystery maven Cherie Jung, and many other mystery fans, on her computer bulletin board devoted to mysteries, Over My Dead Body! Mystery BBS 206/473-4522. You'll find book reviews, news, and lots of good mysterious conversation. */-----------------------------/* ^ THE BIG MIDGET MURDERS by Craig Rice (International Polygonics, 1991, $6.95, ISBN: 1-55882-112-0) <> "What the devil are we going to do now?" "Search the rest of the place," Helene suggested. Jake snorted indignantly. "I suppose you want to go around asking everybody you meet if he's seen a bass fiddle case with a dead midget in it." The dead midget is Jay Otto, a nightclub comedian who specializes in cruel humor. He bills himself as the Big Midget, and has given a real shot in the arm to Jake and Helene Justus' newly opened nightclub, but one critic decided the show shouldn't continue. Now Jake and Helene, and their good friend and lawyer John J. Malone, must solve the crime before their other good friend Homicide Chief von Flanagan finds out that they moved the body into a fiddle case. Which is now missing. THE BIG MIDGET MURDERS is a delightful romp through the 1940s Chicago world of nightclubs, gangsters, and small-time entertainers. Most of the fun comes from watching Jake, Helene, and Malone bicker and wisecrack their way through the mystery as clues are overlooked, more bodies appear, and witnesses must force them to listen to evidence. Somehow everything gets pulled together in the end, with all the suspects gathered together in classic fashion, and the mystery is solved. A classic mystery by an unjustly forgotten writer. ~ MORE CRAIG RICE MYSTERIES FROM INTERNATIONAL POLYGONICS: THE CORPSE STEPS OUT ($7.95) 8 FACES AT 3 ($5.95) THE RIGHT MURDER ($8.95) THE WRONG MURDER ($7.95) TRIAL BY FURY ($5.95) CRIME ON MY HANDS ($7.95; by George Sanders, ghostwritten by Rice) If you can't get these books from your local bookstore, you can order them directly from the publisher by sending the list price(s) plus postage and handling ($1 for the first book, $.50 for each additional book) to: International Polygonics, Ltd., Madison Square, PO Box 1563, New York, NY 10159-1563. */-----------------------------/* NEXT ISSUE: THE CASE OF THE GILDED FLY by Edmund Crispin Gervase Fen, Professor of English Literature at the University of Oxford, solves his first recorded case in THE CASE OF THE GILDED FLY. The setting is the Oxford Repertory Theatre. The cast includes a playwright, a producer, a famous actress, a conniving actress (always a highly desirable victim), an organist, two undergraduates, a journalist, and an artillery captain. Fen finds murder in the wings and suspicion on stage as the curtain rises on one of his most intriguing cases ever. */-----------------------------/* ^ MORE FIVE-MINUTE MYSTERIES by Ken Weber (Running Press, 1991, $6.95, ISBN 1-56138-058-X) <> What do you get when you take a classic puzzle mystery and cut out all the unnecessary character development, description, subplots, and subtexts? Everything, that is, except for the core puzzle? You've got a Five-Minute Mystery, a four- or five-page mystery puzzle, complete with setup, clues, and red herrings. You get to pore over the details, looking for the one fact that doesn't fit in, the shattered glass on the wrong side of the window, the hound that DOESN'T bark in the night. Generally, however, Weber's puzzles are bit more sophisticated than that. You'll need to pick up on combinations of clues, logical inferences that don't match the rest of the story. MORE FIVE-MINUTE MYSTERIES gives you 34 tough problems to solve, over 200 pages of mystery fun for readers who occasionally like to take their puzzles straight. (If you can't get MORE FIVE-MINUTE MYSTERIES from your local bookstore, you can order it directly from the publisher by sending the list price, plus $2.50 postage and handling, to: The Running Press, 125 South Twenty-second Street, Philadelphia, PA 19103.) */-----------------------------/* ^ STILL WATERS: A Helen Black Mystery by Pat Welch (Naiad Press, 1991, $8.95, ISBN 0-941483-97-5) <> When Helen Black hears about the death of her old friend Jill, she feels guilty. Jill had been an investigative reporter at one time, but had been on a long downhill slide, both professionally and personally, for several years. Maybe she could have done more for her old friend, and now she'll never know. But when Helen plays the tape on her answering machine, she discovers that Jill had called her just before she died. Jill left a message that she was onto something big, had just spent a half hour hiding the proof, that she was being followed, and that she needed Helen's services as a private detective. Helen decides to spend a few days at the resort hotel where Jill had been staying when she died, and Helen's lover Frieda decides to come along. While staying at Still Waters Lodge, Helen comes upon a variety of side plots and conflicting motivations, not to mention drunken redneck types and a very nasty policeman. What had Jill gotten herself involved in, and what happened to her car? To complicate matters, Helen is also trying to salvage her relationship with Frieda, who is not terribly supportive of Helen's detective work. The mystery comes to a dynamic conclusion with a devastating forest fire, and Helen discovers the truth at last. A first-rate mystery story, and much more. During the course of STILL WATERS, Helen Black must wrestle with the moral ambiguities of detective work, making her a very unusually perceptive fictional investigator. She realizes that her detective work alters peoples lives, and that she has no heavenly mandate to right the wrongs of the world. Helen's dedication to her job is on probation, needing continuing justification for the risks that have to be taken and the disturbance of other people's lives. Another unusual note of maturity in STILL WATERS is that the murder victim isn't glorified. Jill isn't awarded sainthood for having been killed; her actions and motivations must be judged on their own merit. All the way around, STILL WATERS is a terrific multi-dimensional mystery novel. You can order STILL WATERS directly from the publisher by sending the list price, plus 15% extra for postage and handling to: The Naiad Press, Inc., PO Box 10543, Tallahassee, FL 32302. Or you can call their Orders-Only phone: 1-800-533-1973. You might want to treat yourself to Helen Black's first mystery as well: MURDER BY THE BOOK, $8.95, ISBN 0-941483-59-2). */-----------------------------/* ^ THE FACE ON THE CUTTING ROOM FLOOR by Stan Cutler (Dutton, December 1991, $18.95, ISBN 0-525-93381-6) <> THE FACE ON THE CUTTING ROOM FLOOR stars fifty-something, overweight Hollywood detective Rayford Goodman and thirty-something, gay writer Mark Bradley, previously seen in BEST PERFORMANCE BY A PATSY. This time the adventure begins when a local Mafia boss "asks" Goodman to guard a good friend, the famous movie director Claudio Fortunata. Coincidentally, Bradley has been assigned to write a biography of the same man, and when Bradley shows up for his first interview, he finds that Goodman is being arrested--for the murder of Fortunata! Complications arise when the murder victim turns out to be someone else, and Goodman and Bradley are forced to collaborate on another investigation. While the plot is engaging, Goodman and Bradley are the stars of this show. The two men don't like each other, but have much in common: they're both intelligent, good at their jobs, enjoy wisecracking, and have crumbling love lives. THE FACE ON THE CUTTING ROOM FLOOR is a fine addition to the subgenre of Hollywood Murder Mystery, but with one small warning. While the violence in the novel is low-key, and most of it occurs off-stage, to be discovered by Ray and Mark, the most brutal attack is saved for a tiny kitten, so animal lovers may want to reconsider whether or not to read THE FACE ON THE CUTTING ROOM FLOOR. */-----------------------------/* ^ PANDORA BY HOLLY HOLLANDER by Gene Wolfe (Tor, December 1990, $17.95, ISBN 0-312-85010-7) <> You may have missed this excellent mystery from Gene Wolfe because of a marketing, or rather a shelving, problem. Most of the author's previous novels are sold as SF/Fantasy, and many bookstores and libraries shelve them in that section, and unfortunately many people never noticed that PANDORA BY HOLLY HOLLANDER isn't SF or Fantasy at all, but is a very fine murder mystery. Gene Wolfe's style here is mature and literate, a spare prose that tells an emotionally wrenching story without underlining everything to instruct the reader what emotion is now appropriate. Everything that is necessary is there, but the reader is allowed space for their own understanding. Holly Hollander is the teenage daughter of a wealthy businessman living in a town in the outskirts of Chicago, and a more engaging heroine for a mystery story you couldn't imagine. Her family owns a lock manufacturing business, her father collects books about locks and locksmithing while her mother plays her part as the incredibly beautiful, shockingly young wife of an older man, and this year it's her turn to run the charity fund-raising Fair. As a central attraction, Holly's mother buys a very heavy, very old wooden box that is inscribed "Pandora" in gold letters. The key was lost long ago, and no one knows what's in the box. Elaine Hollander plans to raffle off the box, and the local locksmith will open the box for the first time at the Fair. Tragically, the box appears to have contained a bomb, which detonates when the unfortunate locksmith opens it, also killing the man with the winning raffle ticket. Holly, along with many others, is injured in the blast and hospitalized. Later, her Uncle Bert, an escaped mental patient, is found shot to death in the hospital parking lot, apparently killed while trying to visit Holly. Holly, and her new-found friend the criminologist Aladdin Blue, must solve the crimes as first Elaine Hollander, then Mr. Hollander, come under suspicion. Who was meant to be killed by the bomb? Is the murder of Uncle Bert related to the bombing? What about those threatening calls that the locksmith had been receiving in the weeks prior to his death? Where did rare book dealer De Witte Sinclair disappear to after the bombing? Aladdin Blue and Holly will discover all the answers, and entertain the reader as well, in this terrific mystery with a writing style several cuts above the average whodunit. Trust me on this one: you'll enjoy PANDORA BY HOLLY HOLLANDER, even if you have to brave the SF section to find it. */-----------------------------/* ^ LIARS & TYRANTS & PEOPLE WHO TURN BLUE by Barbara Paul (International Polygonics, 1980, $5.95, ISBN 1-55882-110-4) <> Shelby Kent knows when people are lying. I mean she really KNOWS; she sees a red aura around anyone telling a fib, she's never wrong. Naturally, she's in great demand with police departments, but one day she gets called to a higher duty by Sir John Dudley, the head of a special intelligence agency working for the United Nations. It seems that someone has been selling weapons to rebel groups around the world; but not just weapons, defective weapons. Why would anyone do such a thing? Where do you go to get defective weapons anyway? Soon Shelby is caught up in a high-profile case getting heavy media attention, much to the disgust of her soon-to-be-ex-husband Eric, who can't stand the ribbing he gets for living with a freakish wife who nobody, including him, can lie to. LIARS & TYRANTS & PEOPLE WHO TURN BLUE is a great comic romp, unapologetically unbelievable. Another literate and witty tale from Paul. Also by Barbara Paul: THE FOURTH WALL, YOUR EYES ARE GETTING HEAVY, A CADENZA FOR CARUSO, KILL FEE, PRIMA DONNA AT LARGE, THE RENEWABLE VIRGIN, UNDER THE CANOPY, BIBBLINGS, PILLARS OF SALT, and AN EXERCISE FOR MADMEN. You can get LIARS & TYRANTS & PEOPLE WHO TURN BLUE directly from the publisher by sending the list price, plus $1 postage and handling, to: International Polygonics, Ltd., Madison Square, PO Box 1563, New York, NY 10159-1563. Phone: 212/683-2914. */-----------------------------/* ^ BAGGED: An Extra Corpse in the Hospital Morgue by Jo Bailey (St. Martin's, November 1991, $19.95, ISBN 0-312-06296-6) <> On a hot August night, a hearse pulls up to the Emergency Room door of Jackson County Medical Center. This hearse is a little unusual, because instead of picking up a body bag, it delivers a bright red leather one. Unfortunately it's not one that the hospital is expecting. The corpse remains in the morgue, unclaimed and virtually unnoticed for two weeks. It turns out that the unclaimed corpse is actually one of the hospital's own doctors. The new security supervisor, Jan Gallagher, has won her position by suing the hospital for sexual discrimination. You can imagine how happy this has made everyone else in the hospital. You can also imagine how cooperative everyone is when she tries to solve the mystery of how and why the good doctor happened to be "bagged". Overall, I found BAGGED to be entertaining. You find out within the first third of the book who the murderers are and why they committed the crime. The rest of the book revolves around the authorities finding out who they are and capturing them. BAGGED has a lot of high and low points. The beginning was very captivating with the delivery and discovery of the body bag. Then the story dragged on and on about the security supervisor and her winning of the sexual discrimination court case. Then the story picked up with the discovery of who was in the body bag and who the murderers were. This switching back and forth between the crime part of the story and the personal conflicts between the members of the security force and hospital staff tended to wear thin after a while. BAGGED would have been much more enjoyable without the political subplot. */-----------------------------/* NEXT ISSUE: OUR DOUBTS ARE TRAITORS by Frederick M. Hanson A young doctor resigns his residency, having lost his confidence and self-esteem. He takes up a general practice in a very small North Carolina town, a town where sinister events will soon have him involved in medical detective work. Can he solve the mystery and regain his self confidence? */-----------------------------/* ^ FOWL PREY by Mary Daheim (Avon, November 1991, $3.99, ISBN 0-380-76296-X) <> Format: paperback original Character: Judith McMonigle and her cousin Renie, 2nd appearance Status: amateur sleuths Locale: British Columbia The author presents us with another rousing entry in the "Bed-and- Breakfast Mystery series" as Judith (the proprietress of Hillside Manor) and her cousin Renie head out for a much deserved pre-Thanksgiving vacation in Canada. On the way, they stop to scatter Judith's deceased husband's ashes--and what a hoot that is! Next, there was a mix up in the hotel reservations and there is apparently no room at the inn for Judith and Renie. Then it becomes old home week when Judith runs into several former high school classmates who are registered at the hotel and they offer Judith one of their unused suites. Things quickly become even more involved when Judith and Renie discover the body of the local popcorn vendor in the hotel elevator. Did I mention that they had only been in town a matter of hours when they ended up having tea with this popcorn vendor and his raucous parrot? Before he and the parrot ended up dead. And before the police became suspicious about two "foreign" tourists who know more about the dead guy than anyone else in Canada will admit to? You will have to pay attention in order to keep track of all the suspects--who did what to whom, and when (lots of secrets in the pasts of this gaggle of suspects)--and you will practically need a scorecard to remember who was married to whom and when but it in no way diminishes the fun of sharing another adventure with these two unlikely sleuths! If you haven't yet read the first in the series, be sure to pick up a copy of JUST DESSERTS (Avon) and be on the lookout for the next in the series, HOLY TERROR, which the publisher lists as "coming soon". */-----------------------------/* ^ BAD BLOOD by P.M. Carlson (Doubleday Perfect Crime, December 1991, $15.00, ISBN 0-385-42122-2) <> Ginny lives with her mother Rina, her father Clint, and her mother's mother, called Gram, in a Maryland suburb of Washington, D.C. Ginny has known for a long time now that she was adopted, and it has always been a difficult idea for her to deal with. It is also very difficult for Rina, who felt severe guilt over not being able to conceive like "normal" women. Now she works hard to make her family just like a "normal" family, and by and large she's succeeding. Ginny is a very bright and talented teenager, but her psychological problems are gaining on her--she's experimenting with drugs, dating another drug user, and her grades are falling drastically. Her breaking point arrives when Gram, in a fit of temper, kicks her beloved cat. Ginny takes her checkbook, puts the cat in her backpack, and heads for New York, where the adoption agency is located. Once there, a little inspired trickery gets her both the name and the address of her birth mother, who just happens to be P.M. Carlson's series sleuth, statistician Maggie Ryan. While Maggie and Ginny are sorting out their emotions, recriminations and guilt, police in Maryland are beginning to investigate the murder of a man named John Spencer. He had been briefly met, and insulted, by both Ginny and her boyfriend Buck shortly before he was killed. The murder weapon, Ginny's pair of scissors, bears only Ginny's fingerprints and is discovered in Buck's car. Naturally, Ginny and Buck are prime suspects. To help Ginny, and her mother Rina, Maggie disguises herself and drives to Maryland to investigate John Spencer's murder. Maggie (in disguise) teams up with Rina, both working to save the daughter they love. BAD BLOOD is a fascinating and illuminating story about adoption, from three separate points of view. All three women are vividly drawn characters, and their psychological balancing act seems very real. The mystery of John Spencer's murder, as well as the rest of the cast of characters, only provide a setting and motivations for the behavior of the three women, and as such BAD BLOOD falls well with the modern Mystery of Character rather than the Puzzle category of mystery fiction. BAD BLOOD should win Carlson more fans and send many readers seeking out the other seven novels about Maggie Ryan and her actor husband Nick O'Connor. (Those other seven books are: AUDITION FOR MURDER, MURDER IS ACADEMIC, MURDER IS PATHOLOGICAL, MURDER UNRENOVATED, REHEARSAL FOR MURDER, MURDER IN THE DOG DAYS, and MURDER MISREAD.) */-----------------------------/* ^ THE WINDSOR KNOT: An Elizabeth MacPherson Mystery by Sharyn McCrumb (Ballantine, 1990, $16.95, ISBN 0-345-36583-6) <> Elizabeth MacPherson is rushing to complete her doctoral research on forensic anthropology when her Scottish fiance calls to tell her he's been invited--along with 8,000 others--to tea with the Queen. As it happens, Elizabeth is an absolute nut about British royalty, and can't wait to accompany her fiance, but there's a hitch: the invitations only cover the expressly invited person and spouses, no friends or fiances. So Elizabeth decides that they'll just have to get married within 3 weeks, not next summer like they'd planned. She'll get her formidable Aunt Amanda to mastermind the lavish affair. While Elizabeth is knee-deep in wedding dress patterns and royalty etiquette books, strange things are going on around her. For instance, her fiance, Cameron Dawson, has had his garden gnome stolen, one of those Tolkien-like statues that people have in their yards. As if that wasn't bad enough, the Cameron starts receiving postcards from all over the world, from his missing gnome! And then in Chandler Grove, Georgia, where the wedding will take place, there are even more bizarre events. Like Clarine Mason hearing that her husband Emmet has just died in a car accident in California, which wouldn't ordinarily be too strange, but Clarine had gotten the exact same phone call five years before, and has been living as a widow on the insurance money, with a vase of Emmet's ashes on her mantel ever since. So when did Emmet die, or is he still alive? When the local sheriff wants to get a preliminary analysis of the ashes in Clarine's vase, guess which forensic anthropologist he consults? THE WINDSOR KNOT is another sparkling comedy-mystery from Sharyn McCrumb, witty and very, very funny. Previous Elizabeth MacPherson novels: SICK OF SHADOWS, LOVELY IN HER BONES, HIGHLAND LADDIE GONE, and PAYING THE PIPER. Sharyn McCrumb is also the author of the nonseries novel, IF EVER I RETURN, PRETTY PEGGY-O, and the Edgar Award winning BIMBOS OF THE DEATH SUN (reviewed in RFP #5). */-----------------------------/* ~ THE "BAD" NOVELS OF ANTHONY BRUNO Novels featuring FBI agents Cuthbert Gibbons and Mike Tozzi. Bad Guys (1988) Bad Blood (1989) Bad Luck (1990) Bad Business (1991) */-----------------------------/* ^ MAIGRET AT THE GAI-MOULIN by Georges Simenon, translated by Geoffrey Sainsbury (Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1991, $17.95, ISBN 0-15-155568-0) <> At the opening of MAIGRET AT THE GAI-MOULIN, the teenage Jean Chabot and his slightly older and much richer friend Rene Delfosse are preparing to commit a crime. They are in a nightclub in Liege, Belgium, called the Gai-Moulin; it is very late and the place is about to close. Just before closing Jean and Rene pretend to be leaving but actually hide behind a door on the steps to the cellar, waiting until everyone has left so they can come out and take the money from the cash box. Their plans go awry when they leave the cellar only to discover a dead body lying on the floor. Jean and Rene flee the Gai-Moulin, neglecting to even shut the door in their haste. The next day the papers say nothing about a dead man, and the employees of the Gai-Moulin are working in the place as if nothing had happened. What happened to the dead body? It isn't until a later edition of the local newspaper that headlines tell of a dead body that has been found--stuffed into a laundry basket and dumped on the lawn of the zoo! How did the body get from the Gai-Moulin to the zoo? When Rene convinces Jean to dispose of some currency for him, and Jean is caught by the police and held for questioning, why does Rene run away rather than stay to help his friend? Is the dancer Adele involved in the murder? MAIGRET AT THE GAI-MOULIN is an unusual Maigret story on several counts. First, it doesn't take place in Paris. Maigret solves the murder even though it is far outside his official jurisdiction. Also, Maigret is generally pretty jolly about solving this case, even though many of his cases seem to depress him. The well-drawn characters, slightly bizarre plot, spare prose style, and atmospheric settings, though, are all as any Simenon fan would expect them. Once again Maigret solves a murder with his extraordinary grasp of human nature, and MAIGRET AT THE GAI-MOULIN is a great read. */-----------------------------/* ^ WE WISH YOU A MERRY MURDER by Valerie Wolzien (Fawcett Gold Medal, December 1991, $3.99, ISBN 0-449-14723-1) <> Format: paperback Series Character: Susan Henshaw, third appearance. Locale: Hancock, Connecticut Status: Amateur sleuth Setting: a killer's running amok in suburbia! Imagine the Christmas holidays are nearly upon you. Your mother-in-law is spending the holidays with you. She arrives days earlier than planned and has also just recently fallen in love with a man that you can't stand. Imagine also that your best friend's mother is in town for the holidays and your two mothers can't seem to get along with each other, and to top things off, they both seem to be after the same man! Then another friend's ex-husband shows up in her living room with a bullet hole in his head...quite dead. But by the time the police arrive, the body is no where to be found. And just when you think you've figured it all out and think you may have even located the missing body, someone moves it again! And don't forget, you've still got to get those cheese balls in shape! That's the premise of this latest suburban sleuth caper from Ms. Wolzien and it is a doozy! It may remind you of Christmases past, with or without the dead body. Give it a try. It's bound to take your mind off that last minute shopping you've been meaning to get to. Ms. Wolzien's two previous mysteries featuring the suburban sleuth are MURDER AT THE PTA LUNCHEON and THE FORTIETH BIRTHDAY BODY. */-----------------------------/* NEXT ISSUE: A FAREWELL TO YARNS by Jill Churchill Life's hectic enough for a housewife who must survive the politics of a church bazaar and finish the afghan from Hell--without having to entertain house guests as well. But her guest's visit is cut very short--by murder. Who killed Phyllis Wagner? And who dumped a second corpse in the dumpster at the mall? */-----------------------------/* ^ SINGAPORE TRANSFER by Wayne Warga (Viking Penguin, 1991, $17.95, ISBN 0-670-83569-2) <> Format: hardcover Character: Jeffrey Dean, 3rd appearance Status: rare-book dealer, ex-journalist, ex-CIA courier, amateur sleuth Locale: Singapore, Hawaii, California Setting: international jade smuggling This is the third novel in the series but the first that I have read. The author provides an interesting mix of locales and characters--enough to hold the attention of most readers. From the bustling streets of Singapore to the decaying wreckage of the U.S.S. Arizona in the waters of Pearl Harbor, Dean becomes a sometimes reluctant participant in the search for the treasure of a smuggling operation that would rival any in the recent news reports. Jade is being smuggled out of China, via Singapore to Honolulu and on to California. People are dying and Dean and his long-time love Rachel may soon be counted among the dead if he can't figure out the set-up...and the players. The two previous mysteries in the Jeffrey Dean series are HARDCOVER and FATAL IMPRESSIONS. */-----------------------------/* ^ MURDER ON WHEELS: A Hildegarde Withers Mystery by Stuart Palmer (International Polygonics, October 1991, $6.95, ISBN 1-55882-113-9) <> Hildegarde Withers is a retired schoolteacher given to wearing bizarre hats who is most often described as "horse-faced". She is the creation of Stuart Palmer, described in THE WHODUNIT (by Stefano Benvenuti and Gianni Rizzoni, 1980) as "the greatest of the humorous detective story writers". Miss Withers solves her cases at the side of her longtime companion Inspector Oscar Piper of the New York City Police Department. Piper is a capable enough policeman, but always half a step behind Miss Withers. Their ongoing friendship and sleuthing competitiveness provides a lighthearted backdrop to all of their cases. MURDER ON WHEELS, originally published in 1932, begins with the death of Laurie Stait, a member of a prominent New York family. He has apparently been roped while driving his car, his body whipped out onto the street, his neck broken. He is survived by his twin brother Lew, who immediately marries Dana, who has been betrothed to Lew for years but who was not-so-secretly in love with Laurie. Also in the Stait house is mousey little cousin Hubert, oblivious Aunt Abbie, and the eccentric matriarch of the household, Gran, who almost never leaves the attic (which she shares with an ancient, foul-mouthed, and naked parrot). Complicating matters is the fact that the Rodeo is in town, with plenty of cowboys skilled at roping a moving target, and at least one of whom has good reason to hate Laurie Stait. A tangled web to be sure, but Hildegarde Withers straightens everything out in the end. (Also available from International Polygonics is Hildegarde Withers' first case, THE PENGUIN POOL MURDERS, $7.95) NOTE: Stuart Palmer joined forces with fellow humorous mystery writer Craig Rice to publish the collection, THE PEOPLE VS. WITHERS AND MALONE (1963), featuring both Hildegarde Withers and Rice's lawyer sleuth John J. Malone (who can also be seen in THE BIG MIDGET MURDERS, elsewhere in this issue). THE PEOPLE VS. WITHERS AND MALONE is also available from International Polygonics ($7.95). You can get any of the above IPL books directly from the publisher by sending the list price, plus postage and handling ($1 for the first book, $.50 for each additional book), to: International Polygonics, Ltd., Madison Square, PO Box 1563, New York, NY 10159-1563. Phone: 212/683-2914. */-----------------------------/* NEXT ISSUE: SETTLED OUT OF COURT by Henry Cecil Lonsdale Walsh found it unpleasant to be convicted of murder, especially since he had been convicted on perjured evidence. So Mr. Walsh escaped from prison, gathered all the principals in his case, and proceeded to stage his own re-trial. He wanted the matter SETTLED OUT OF COURT. */-----------------------------/* ~BOOKS ON TAPE: ^ PASTIME by Robert B. Parker, read by David Dukes Unabridged, 4 cassettes, 6 hours (Dove Audio, 1991, ISBN 1-55800-433-5) <> Spenser helped Patty Giacomin raise her son Paul when a violent divorce split the parents apart. Now, after many years, Paul comes to Spenser because his mother has suddenly disappeared. Paul doesn't want to go to the authorities about the disappearance and feels that Spenser is the only one he can trust to find his mother without asking too many embarassing questions. With the help of Susan Silverman and Hawk, Spenser discovers that Patty has run off with a bag-man for the mob, who himself is trying to stay alive after absconding with a considerable amount of the mob's money. Spenser is placed in a very precarious position as it turns out that both he and a mob kingpin are actually looking for the same person. The mob wants to get their revenge by killing Patty's boyfriend, regardless of whether Patty gets hurt in the process. Spenser wants to see that nothing happens to Patty and, if he can, get her boyfriend off the hook. PASTIME is the first Spenser novel I have read or listened to, but I enjoyed watching the show on TV with Robert Urich in the lead role. This also was the first unabridged tape that I have listened to (6 hours!), but I thought PASTIME was terrific and couldn't believe how fast the 6 hours went by. I listened to the tapes during a recent 8-hour car trip and it really helped make the trip seem that much shorter. Having been a fan of the SPENSER FOR HIRE TV series, it was easy to associate the characters in PASTIME to the ones I was used to seeing on TV. This helped me to get involved in the story right from the start without having to sort out the characters. The reading of the novel by David Dukes was flawless and I especially liked the accent he used when reading the part of Spenser's colleague Hawk. I can highly recommend PASTIME and look forward to listening to other novels by Robert Parker. You can order Dove Audio tapes by calling 1-800-328-DOVE (inside California call 310/273-7722 or 1-800-345-9945). Dove Audio, 301 North Canon Dr., Suite 203, Beverly Hills, CA 90210. */-----------------------------/* ^ WELL-SCHOOLED IN MURDER by Elizabeth George, performed by Derek Jacobi 2 cassettes, 3 hour abridgment (Bantam Audio, 1991, $15.99, ISBN 0-553-45278-9) <> Thirteen-year-old Matthew Whateley was supposed to be spending the weekend with a friend from Bredgar Chambers, the expensive public school (American translation: private school) they both attend. Other people think that Matthew is ill and is in the school infirmary. When it is discovered that Matthew is missing, his housemaster at Bredgar Chambers asks Inspector Thomas Lynley, an old school friend of his, to help. When the nude, tortured body of Matthew Whateley is found, Inspector Lynley has a homicide case to solve. The theme of WELL-SCHOOLED IN MURDER is that of the predominant code of ethics in the British public school system: you don't "tell" on your mates, ever. Even as Inspector Lynley begins to see the web of interconnecting silences in the case, he finds himself participating, as he decides to keep quiet about his old friend's guilty secret as long as possible. WELL-SCHOOLED IN MURDER is a complex, fascinating whodunit, beautifully read by Derek Jacobi. My only complaint is an unnecessary, uninteresting subplot that is resolved in an Epilogue that gives the story a ridiculously sentimental, thudding conclusion. There is also a Bantam Audio version of Elizabeth George's A SUITABLE VENGEANCE (2 cassettes, 180 minutes, $15.99, ISBN 0-553-45286-X), performed by Derek Jacobi. */-----------------------------/* ^ BITTER MEDICINE by Sara Paretsky, performance by Christine Lahti 2 cassettes, 3 hour abridgment (Bantam Audio, 1991, $15.99, ISBN 0-553-47016-7) <> V. I. Warshawski (Vic) drives her sixteen-year-old friend Consuelo, who is in premature labor, to a private suburban hospital to have her baby. The hospital reluctantly treats Consuelo, who seems to be an indigent Hispanic girl who more than likely can't pay her bill. During the course of the next 24 hours, both Consuelo and her new-born baby die in the hospital and the doctor who treated her is found brutally murdered. Upon investigating the deaths, Vic discovers conspiracy and greed both in the hospital administration and the doctors that are on the hospital staff, and unfortunately one of them is a VERY close friend of Vic's. Consuelo's husband, Fabiano, a street punk and strong-arm for a local gang leader, doesn't help matters. Vic's association with Fabiano and her tenacity lead to a brutal beating with Vic getting her face slashed. As a lawyer in the public defender's office for years, Vic was associated day after day with inner city crime. But now, as a private investigator, she is personally involved and determined to find the answers. BITTER MEDICINE is my first V. I. Warshawski novel and I really did enjoy it. The more books I listen to on tape, the more I find myself enjoying them. Having seen the recent, not very memorable, V. I. WARSHAWSKI movie with Kathleen Turner in the title role, I immediately associated Turner with the role in the book. Christine Lahti's reading of the book helped cement the assocation with her deep, husky voice, very much like Kathleen Turner's. I can highly recommend BITTER MEDICINE to all mystery fans and look forward to listening to or reading another V. I. Washawski novel. */-----------------------------/* <-*->:<-*->:<-*->:<-*->:<-*->:<-*-> < > ~ < LOOSEN YOUR GRIP ON REALITY > < > <-*->:<-*->:<-*->:<-*->:<-*->:<-*-> << Editor: Darryl Kenning >> --------------------------------------------------------------------- Loosen Your Grip On Reality is a division of Reading For Pleasure, published bimonthly. This material is NOT COPYRIGHTED and may be used freely by all. Contributions of information, reviews, etc. should be sent to: Darryl Kenning CompuServe: 76337,740 6331 Marshall Rd. or GEnie: D.Kenning Centerville, Ohio 45459 The Annex BBS 513-274-0821 --------------------------------------------------------------------- THE KENNING QUOTIENT (KQ) is a rating applied to books read by the editor of this section, a number ranging from 0 (which means the book is an unredeemable stinker) to 5 (meaning the book is absolutely top drawer). --------------------------------------------------------------------- ~ RANDOM ACCESS Over the past 25 years or so I have spent an inordinate amount of time in bookstores of all kinds - not to mention the small fortune I've spent there. Stores with new books only, paperbacks only, hard covers only, used books stores and combinations, even bookstores with mini restaurants in them. Starting with this issue I'm going to share a few of the ones I've found that I like best. Just to be fair, if you have a favorite, drop me a note with some info and I'll include it in an upcoming edition of RANDOM ACCESS. BOOKS & Co is located in Kettering Ohio (Dayton) at 350 E. Stroop Rd. in the Town & Country Shopping Center. It is one of the most successful independent bookstores I've seen, the largest in Ohio with over 125,000 new titles, and has grown steadily over the years based upon a solid foundation of customer service and a real understanding of people who love books. The number of books and magazines in all categories is outstanding, and what with author signings, readings, live music of one sort and another, one can stay pretty well entertained even if you can't find a book. A couple of years ago a local restaurant joined them in the space and now you can get a book or magazine, then get goodies to munch while you start reading. A four star establishment. In Naples Florida, THE BOOK TRADER resides at 170 10th St. NO. Much more than your usual used book emporium, The Trader has managed to create an ambiance that really encourages browsing - whether you are trying to find a SF book or a rare/collectable book or comic you feel right at home. The store carries all sorts of books from paperbacks to hardbound. In addition, for us tourists, they have a great collection of books and booklets on Florida lore and local color of all kinds. As a visitor (albeit frequent) I appreciate that kind of material being readily available. Don't miss this one. Both of these establishments warrant your attention if you find yourself in either area. If you do drop in, mention RFP. And if you are a little miffed because you want to see your favorite bookseller mentioned - well, just let me know. It has been an interesting couple of months - first not much in new paperback Sf was coming out (that I liked), then Star Trek took off again (anyone want to bet on the name of ST VII?). Then, like magic, just after the holidays a number of books I'd been waiting for hit the stores. That means I've got a nice backlog of books to read, and report back to you about. SO MANY BOOKS -- SO LITTLE TIME! dkk *---------------------------* Democracy: an exercise where free men gather together to vote for the person who gets to take the blame. *---------------------------* ~ 1991 WORLD FANTASY AWARDS Best Novel (tie): ONLY BEGOTTEN DAUGHTER by James Morrow THOMAS THE RHYMER by Ellen Kushner Best Novella: "Bones" by Pat Murphy Best Short Fiction: "A Midsummer Night's Dream" by Neil Gaiman & Charles Vess Best Collection: THE START OF THE END OF IT ALL AND OTHER STORIES by Carol Emshwiller Best Anthology: BEST NEW HORROR edited by Stephen Jones & Ramsey Campbell Best Artist: Dave McKean Special Award/Professional: Arnie Fenner Special Award/Non-Professional: Richard Chizmar, CEMETERY DANCE Life Achievement Award: Ray Russell *---------------------------* * Health problems have forced Isaac Asimov to quit his science column in FANTASY & SCIENCE FICTION magazine after 33 years and 399 articles. His upcoming book, FORWARD THE FOUNDATION, has also been cancelled, at least for now. Asimov is suffering from congestive heart failure and a bad heart valve. * Orson Scott Card's new "Homecoming" series begins this March 1992 with THE MEMORY OF EARTH (Tor). Destined to be a 5-volume sequence, Card plans to have all 5 written by the time the first book is released, with the remainder showing up at 4-month intervals. The titles of the second and third will be THE CALL OF EARTH and THE SHIPS OF EARTH. * If you have discriminating tastes in SF, Fantasy, Horror, and Mystery books, you need a copy of John Knott's catalogue. He carries a lot of out-of-print titles, first editions, limited editions, signed editions, etc. Many, many selections are under $50. Write to: John W. Knott, Jr. Bookseller, 8453 Early Bud Way, Laurel, MD 20723. *---------------------------* ^ SORCERERS OF PAN TANG: A Stormbringer Adventure Dangerous Adventures on the Demon Isle by Watts, Morrison, Hagger, Gillan, Krank, Gassner, Bjorksten, Johnson, Anderson, Heristandis (Chaosium, October 1991, $18.95, ISBN 0-933635-6) ^ PERILS OF THE YOUNG KINGDOMS by Behrendt, Gillan, Hagar, Morrison, Szymanski, Watts, Brooks, Bjorksten, Gassner, Heristandis, Johnson, Snyder, Trengove (Chaosium, November 1991, $18.95, ISBN 0-933635-82-6) <> The Elric saga is a popular series of fantasy books by author Michael Moorcock. The protagonist of the series, Elric of Melnibone, is the antithesis of the stereotypical fantasy hero: he is physically weak, intellectual, given to fits of gloom and moody introspection. He brings death (and worse) to anything he allows himself to care for. Nonetheless, the books are stimulating, and filled with interesting characters, situations, and ideas. In short, the world of Elric is a natural choice of location for fantasy adventures. Game publisher Chaosium, Inc. bought the rights to produce an Elric role-playing game. Called STORMBRINGER, it has gone through 4 editions and spawned a number of supplemental adventures. Although there has not been as much material for STORMBRINGER as has been produced for some of their other games, two strong products have recently been released. SORCERERS OF PAN TANG is a sourcebook and set of adventures centering around the island nation of Pan Tang. Newcomers to the political scene, they are dynamic, expansionistic, and as nasty as they come. SoPT has a great deal of information on Pan Tang, its people and institutions, and the dangerous magics that the Pan Tangians control. The background information consists of chapters on: * Introduction * Pan Tang * Pan Tangians * The Church of Chaos * Pan Tang Magic * Encounters on Pan Tang * Pan Tang Digest THere are a total of 5 adventures centered around Pan Tang. These are: * See Hwamgaarl and Die * Slaves of the Demon Isle * Chaos Exultant * One Who Laughs * Under the Volcano The adventures are all well done, and will amuse the referee (and terrify the players). The background material is also excellent, and will provide the referee with many more adventure ideas. I especially like the new rules for summoning demons (magic in this world is done mainly through the summoning of creatures), which can be used for all sorcerers in a STORMBRINGER campaign. If you run this game, you will want this book. Great stuff. PERILS OF THE YOUNG KINGDOMS consists of 5 adventures. They are: * The Floating Realm * The Myrrhn Link * The Fang and the Fountain * Stolen Moments * The Man Who Sold Gods Of these, The Floating Realm is the largest, and is more of a mini-campaign than an adventure. The adventurers become trapped in a strange seaweed sea located in the Oldest Ocean. The adventure describes the strange society that has developed in the Realm, and allows the players to influence it in a time of change and turmoil. The other adventures are also well done, and it is up to the referee to decide which ones he would like to use in his game. I found The Man Who Sold Gods as a little too weird for my tastes, but The Myrrhn Link had a lot of interesting ideas in it. You have a nice variety of adventures to choose from: pick which ones will appeal to your players and you'll have a winner. If you can't get SORCERERS OF PAN TANG, PERILS OF THE YOUNG KINGDOMS, or any other Chaosium product, locally, you can contact the publisher at: Chaosium Inc., 950-A 56th Street, Oakland, CA 94608-3129; 510/547-7681. *---------------------------* ^ ORBITAL RESONANCE by John Barnes (Tor, December 1991, $17.95 ISBN 0-312-85206-1) <> Melpomene Murray is an adolescent aboard the space colony, the FLYING DUTCHMAN, the last hope for humanity's continued survival in the cosmos. One day a new kid appears, Theo, born on Earth, where the survivors of the Collapse have been leading a brutal life for the past 30 years. Theo brings with him all the problems that children on the FLYING DUTCHMAN have never known: peer pressure, violence, cliques. Mel, her family, and her friends, must learn how to deal with Theo and the new conflicts he creates, for they are really humanity's final hope. They must harness the wealth of the inner solar system before the resource curve flattens out forever. ORBITAL RESONANCE is a SF coming-of-age novel by one of the genre's new leading lights--Barnes is the author of THE MAN WHO PULLED DOWN THE SKY and SIN OR ORIGIN. *---------------------------* NEXT ISSUE: HOOK by Terry Brooks What if Peter Pan grew up? And what if, on a visit to London, his own children disappeared from their nursery and a mysterious note was left behind which led Peter back to the notorious Captain Hook? *---------------------------* ^ FUTURE CRIME: An Anthology of the Shape of Crime to Come edited by Cynthia Manson & Charles Ardai (Donald I. Fine, January 1992, $21.95, ISBN 1-55611-312-9) <> As SF writers--and readers--have discovered, the society of the future will have new technology, and therefore new kinds of crime. And new kinds of criminals. FUTURE CRIME gathers together 15 stories by top SF writers that illustrate what crime, and crime-fighting, might be like in future human civilizations. My two favorites are "Dogwalker" by Orson Scott Card and "The Energies of Love" by Kathe Koja. "Dogwalker" is a very touching story about a 30-year-old man who, because of a childhood tragedy, is half synthetic and half 9-year-old boy. His mind is 30 but his body looks 9, which makes it hard to get served in bars. Goo Boy, as he is known, teams up with an ex-pimp to pull off a top-level computer caper. The story is suspenseful, and Goo Boy's fractured English is a riot. Koja's "The Energies of Love" is another tale of obsession and forbidden knowledge from the author of THE CIPHER (reviewed in RFP #16), the book that launched the Dell Abyss line of paperback horror. In this story, Bobby wants to achieve fame as a writer by completing the book his favorite author left unfinished at his death. To that end Bobby illegally gets past computer security to get direct unmonitored access to the author's personality, stored there for academic purposes. The experience proves to be more emotionally wrenching than Bobby had anticipated. Like Koja's first novel, "The Energies of Love" is odd, very involving, and very difficult to describe. Lawrence Watt-Evans' "One-Shot" is a provocative short-short about a time traveller's ability to change the past. Could JFK's assassination have been prevented? Well, yes and no... The interesting thing about "One-Shot" is how briefly its points are made. The story seemed to end about a paragraph later than the markings on the page, as my mind caught up to the ideas presented. The funniest entry in FUTURE CRIME is Terry Black's hilarious "The Not-So-Big Sleep", about insurance fraud, the reanimation of the dead, and just how annoying zombies can be. "The Incorporated" by John Shirley is a cautionary tale about the Japanese corporate style, and how poorly it suits the American character. Isaac Asimov's "The Tercentenary Incident" continues his life-long exploration of robotics, with the emphasis this time on their use as doubles for politicians. A robot, a politician, who could tell the difference? In "The Barbie Murders" by John Varley a murder is committed within a religious cult that proscribes personal identities--everyone looks alike. So how can you identify the guilty party, or anyone else for that matter? Harry Harrison tells a tragic story about a society that practices behavioral conditioning on children through robot-like teddy bears in his "I Always Do What Teddy Says". W.R. Thompson's "VRM-547" involves another robot, this one a bit more intelligent than its owner gives it credit for. The possible use of teleportation in the commission of a murder is examined in Larry Niven's "A Kind of Murder", which also makes a few other interesting points about the problems inherent in the technology. Robert Bloch's brief "Show Biz" suggests the ridiculous possibility of using actors as politicians. (This is a 1959 story, pre-Reagan.) Doug Larsen's "Ryerson's Fate" illustrates future crime-fighting techniques using DNA identification and virus-tailoring. Very ingenious. Fully four-fifths of FUTURE CRIME is really entertaining reading. Oddly, when I reviewed my notes on the only three stories that I didn't really care for, they turned out to be the only three that are original to this volume. I'm not sure what that says, but that's the way it played out. "Mech" by C.J. Cherryh is a robocop-type vignette that drowns in details. If there had been a plot or characters to sustain interest, it would have been more enjoyable. Alan Dean Foster's "Lay Your Head on My Pilose" is right out of E.C. comics: wife and lover conspire to kill husband, then dead husband gets a grisly revenge. A cliche, and I must have missed whatever was "future" about the tale. Finally, George Alec Effinger's novelette, "The World As We Know It" completely lost me; I felt as if every other paragraph had been removed. I read every word and I don't know enough about the story to even comment on it. Those three stories aside, FUTURE CRIME was a lot of fun. I enjoyed the futuristic SF elements, I enjoyed the crimes, and I enjoyed fine prose by some of my favorite authors. A good read. *---------------------------* ^ REMAKING HISTORY by Kim Stanley Robinson (Tor, December 1991, $18.95, ISBN 0-312-85126-X) <> REMAKING HISTORY is a terrific collection of short stories that revolve around the whole idea of history: the meaning of history, the making of history, the interpreting of history, and how history influences the present and the future. Included: "Before I Wake", the 1991 Nebula nominee; "The Part of Us That Loves", revised for this edition; "Remaking History", a very funny tale about the ways in which filmmakers interpret history; "The Translator", a First Contact story; "Vinland the Dream"; "A History of the Twentieth Century, with Illustrations"; "Rainbow Bridge"; "Muir on Shasta"; "Glacier"; "A Sensitive Dependence on Initial Conditions"; "Zurich"; and the controversial South African sequence, "Down and Out In the Year 2000", "Our Town", "A Transect" and "The Lunatics". Kim Stanley Robinson is the author of the recent trilogy of novels set in Orange County, California: THE WILD SHORE, THE GOLD COAST, and PACIFIC EDGE. He has also written ICEHENGE, ESCAPE FROM KATHMANDU, and THE MEMORY OF WHITENESS. A previous collection of Robinson's short fiction was the award-winning A PLANET ON THE TABLE. *---------------------------* ^ HALO by Tom Maddox (Tor, November 1991, $18.95, ISBN 0-312-85249-5) <> "In the early days there was hardware, and there were programs, sets of instructions that told the hardware what to do. Without organic interaction, these differing modes of reality struggled to interact. This is unbelievably primitive. Then came machine ecologies, and things changed. I was among the first and most complex of them. I began as a complex but ordinary machine, then changed, opening the door to possibility. Who am I?" ---Aleph Aleph is the artificial intelligence that controls the orbital space station called Halo. The Halo residents who "operate" Halo are called the Interface Collective, and they have an experiment they want to try. Jerry Chapman has accidentally suffered massive neural damage and is now being kept alive--barely--by machines. The Collective wants to try to store the personality of Jerry in the memory banks of Aleph. SenTrax, a mega-corporation that co-owns Halo, agrees to the experiment but sends data auditor Mikhail Gonzales to keep an eye on things and report back. Gonzales discovers that Chapman was one of Aleph's designers, and that the rescue operation is Aleph's idea, not the Collective's. While trying to save Jerry, an entire virtual world is created inside Aleph's mind. Gonzales and others visit this world through cables connected to implanted sockets in the back of their neck and everything seems to be going well until an executive from SenTrax shows up and calls a halt to the whole project. The humans are unplugged and at the same time the computer-controlled functions of Halo begin to fail. Even more alarming is the fact that Aleph no longer responds at all. Where has he gone? Subjects developed in HALO include: virtual reality, artificial intelligence, artificial personalities, Zen philosophy. What's the difference between a simulation of a thing and the thing itself? Are there any significant differences? If machines are what they are because of the people who design and use them, aren't people what they are, at least in part, because of the machines they rely on? Is our paranoia about losing control to machines wise, or are we merely limiting our own possibilities? All of these questions are posed and considered in HALO, a book that expands the boundaries of cyberpunk while avoiding the many cliches of the subgenre. A good read. (This is Tom Maddox's first novel.) *---------------------------* NEXT ISSUE: THE TRIKON DECEPTION by Ben Bova & Bill Pogue What happens when Japan, America, and Europe work together in space? THE TRIKON DECEPTION opens up the next frontier in technothriller excitement with a page-turning novel of intrigue and assassination in high orbit. Co-written by the former commander of Skylab. *---------------------------* ~Short TAKES: (John) Keith Laumer (1925- ) Keith Laumer, after serving in the US Army during WW II, studied Architecture at the University of Illinois, then served in th US Air Force during the 1950s, and the US Foreign Service in the 1960s. His books started appearing in 1963 with A TRACE OF MEMORY, and continue today. His foreign service experience has provided the base for his very popular Retief series. (Spell the name backwards and you get feiter--the phonetic spelling of fighter.) *---------------------------* ~THE PAPERBACK BOOKSHELF: ^ THE HAMMER: Book II of THE GENERAL by S.M. Stirling and David Drake (Baen, February 1992, $5.99, ISBN 0-671-72105-4) <> THE HAMMER is the second book in the series called THE GENERAL. This story picks up the life of Raj Whitehal, his wife and friends where the last book (THE FORGE) left off. In the first book we were introduced to the planet, Bellevue, that has been cut off from civilization for a long time, and after the inevitable fall of civilization has gradually moved back into a feudal existence, but with varieties of cultures and religions based upon the computers that had pervaded every aspect of life in the long gone "Federation". With several different kingdoms holding the land masses, a civilization that combines both eastern and western thought, strong religious and military tradition, and an early gunpowder-based war machine where the warriors ride huge dogs trained like the war horses of the middle ages, the stage is set for a series of adventures that will grab anyone who enjoys solid Science Fiction storytelling. Of particular interest to me is the way the authors manage to combine the best of Military SF with a well-thought-out governmental system. Of course what creates the dynamic tensions are the positioning of individuals based on their ambitions and frailties. The book is another outstanding example of the good that can--but too often does not--come out of collaborations between individually strong authors. In this case the combination has produced a novel that is a delight of Byzantine plots and counterplots set in a roughly 19th century technology civilization. Even the most jaded SF reader will enjoy this one. Make a special trip to your favorite bookstore--it's worth it. KQ = 5 *---------------------------* ^ YOUNG BLEYS by Gordon R. Dickson (TOR, February 1992, $5.99, ISBN 0-812-50947-1) <> Gordon Dickson is a prolific SF writer who has created a future history that has no rival (except perhaps Robert A. Heinlein) called THE CHILDE CYCLE. For 30 years the author has been creating a series of stories and novels that have been tightly linked to the cycle. SF readers of all ages and persuasions wait impatiently for the next story/novel to appear. Each is an instant hit. YOUNG BLEYS is no exception. It examines the life of Bleys Ahern who is familiar to readers of the earlier books. While he has generally been cast as the major opponent to the superheroes--Hal Mayne et al.--this book makes Bleys a more real person and elevates him to a central character in the Cycle. It reinforces the rejoining necessities of the splinter cultures--from the DORSAI to the EXOTICS. Beware, this book is habit forming. If you really get into The Cycle you will have a formidable--and very enjoyable--task of catching up with over 30 books. It's worth the risk though. Gordon Dickson shows us once again why he is considered by many to be one of the best SF authors writing today. KQ = 4 *---------------------------* ^ THE BONES OF GOD by Stephen Leigh (Avon Books, November 1986, $3.50, ISBN 0-380-89961-2) <> Stephen Leigh has postulated an interesting universe in which religion has once again assumed the central role in the lives of most humans. What makes this book a fascinating one is how he has blended the major earth religions and skillfully added an alien religious element. The human propensity to pervert religious teachings "with the best of intentions" adds conflict that is more than a little reminiscent of the Inquisition. This is not the first novel to try to examine what happens to the person who becomes a messiah: the self doubts, the personal tragedy, and the unhappiness in those around that person. Mr. Leigh has done a creditable job although I must confess that I got a bit weary by the end of the novel--and that is a tribute to his skills as a writer. Whether or not the basic story subject interests you, you will find the treatment well done. Not light reading by any means, this book will make you pause and reflect on the Human Condition and frailty, and will probably make you reexamine your faith. KQ = 4 *---------------------------* NEXT ISSUE: ALIEN BLUES by Lynn S. Hightower Life's tough for Detective David Silver. His marriage is on the rocks. A serial killer's on the loose. And his new partner looks like a seven-foot stingray and smells like fresh limes. But Silver needs all the help he can get. Human or otherwise. *---------------------------* ^ THE SENSITIVES by Herbert Burkholz (Berkley, May 1989, $3.95, ISBN 0-425-11581-X) <> This novel appears to have been published as a mainstream Psychic Spy Thriller rather than Science Fiction. It is the story of a small group of "SENSITIVES" who are beginning to show up at random in the Earth's population. Grabbed by the superpowers at a young age, then trained to be spies--after all the ultimate spy is one that can read minds--and kept under very tight control, these young people have in many ways a very nice life. Except that they are cut down in their early 30s by a deadly disease that spares not a one. Mr. Burkholz has done a creditable job of dealing with a lot of the issues that would surround such talents in a 20th century world. He realistically portrays the joys and problems of the young people and the fears and needs of the controllers. There have been a lot of outstanding SF stories about this subject in SF since the early days. Because of that I was pleasantly surprised to find how well this one was done. It is a tight, exciting, and suspenseful novel that will hold your attention from beginning to end with a few classic twists that may surprise you. Given the age of this one, you may need to dig a bit through your used-book shelves. But if you spot it, grab it. This is just the book to curl up with on a cold winter evening. KQ = 5 *---------------------------* ^ A REASONABLE DOUBT by Damon Knight (TOR, November 1991, $3.99, ISBN 0-812-50978-1) <> Damon Knight has been writing good solid Science Fiction since the mid 1950s, and this novel is no exception. It is a sequel to CV and THE OBSERVERS. Setting the stage for this series he notes that, "The twentieth century was one of great change and turmoil...Counting lesser conflicts...the death toll was 92 million." This story takes place in about 2005, after the sweeping changes of the early 21st century had begun, after the discovery of McNulty's Symbiont, discovered aboard the Sea Venture (CV). This extraterrestrial was found to have profound effects on humans--effects that were likely to wreck what was left of the world order. The CV is turned into a gigantic research vessel to do tests on humans to determine actual effects of the new being, and to see if there are ways to protect our race from those effects. The story is rich in the harmonics of the human condition. It shows a future that is all too plausible given humanity's tendencies towards greed and self-destruction. At the same time it provides the sense of wonder that most good SF stories are able to accomplish; wonder and hope for the future. Damon's work continues to be well crafted, the threads are carefully woven into a rich tapestry that is fun to read in both a technical sense and on an emotional level. KQ = 4 *---------------------------* ^ RED GENESIS by S.C. Sykes (Bantam, August 1991, $4.99, ISBN 0-553-28874-1) <> With an introduction by Isaac Asimov and an afterward by scientist Eugene Mallove, this book is certain to be attractive to devotes of "Hard SF". It will also appeal to adventure fans if you get past the gaudy cover and day-glo red back. This is really two stories in one. The first is a story of one of the world's richest men, shamelessly railroaded and sent into exile to the frontier of Mars. It is also the story of the Earth, the reactions to the excesses of the 20th Century, and the efforts to colonize a planet that is marginally useable, but only with great effort. I confess that I was not originally receptive to this book. When a cover blurb talks about "cutting edge" and "dramatic new series", I remember that more often than not I have been disappointed by either the story or the technical competence of the author. None of those things happened in this book. Sykes has written a rousing good yarn, that will hold your attention from start to finish. As far as I can see, the technical requirements of writing about Mars, a planet about which we now know a great deal, have been well met. The story line is just a bit predictable but the author's style carries the story in spite of that. This one provide "reading satisfaction" and I for one will watch for more in this series of books which for some inexplicable reason is called "THE NEW WAVE". KQ = 4 *---------------------------* NEXT ISSUE: PEOPLE OF THE EARTH by W. Michael Gear & Kathleen O'Neal Gear A sweeping epic of prehistory, the true story of the ancestors of today's Native American peoples. *---------------------------* ^ IRONWOOD by Jim Munroe <> "This elevator is for the use of authorized personnel only. Please follow Procedure 65(a). You have ten seconds to comply, or you will be discontinued in the manner outlined in Procedure 65(b). Nine. Eight." Frantically, I examined the door (Seven) more closely, looking for a handle (Six), and spotted a tiny slot to the left (Five). Suddenly (Four) I had more respect for the band (Three) of thieves. The flat square of metal (Two) was a key of sorts. I (One) pushed it in. (Click) "Thank you," the voice said. "Level 42. Professor Moriarty, Biomechanics." Cinder succeeds in getting to Moriarty's office and finds a tiny silver acorn, a remnant of the biological computer humanity had managed to develop before trashing the planet with technology and escaping in spaceships. Cinder is one of those left behind, small bands of people trying to live in harmony with a wounded ecosystem. Cinder plants the silver acorn, and thus meets Ironwood, the computer whose potentiality was confined within. Ironwood sends Cinder, and two of his friends, on a long journey across the sea to what is now left of New York, to discover the threat that Ironwood senses is there, and to destroy it. Jim Munroe's IRONWOOD is a rousing adventure tale of man's relationship to technology and to his planet. Very entertaining and highly recommended. IRONWOOD is a self-published story of some 66 pages, available from the publisher for $2. (Though the author doesn't specify, you should definitely send either cash or postal money order, unless you're in Canada.) Send your money to: Jim Munroe, 66 Greyhound Drive, Willowdale, Ontario, CANADA M2H 1K3. *---------------------------* ~ NEW PAPERBACKS FROM TOR BOOKS <> DECEMBER: THE RED TAPE WAR by Jack L. Chalker, Mike Resnick, & George Alec Effinger ($3.99, ISBN 0-812-51282-0) Three of SF's best writers have collaborated (conspired?) to produce this farcical story Millard Fillmore Pierce. Actually, three MFPs. Don't ask me to explain--it's about galactic conquest, alien lizard people, and characters named Marshmallow and Goodtime Sal. The whole thing was written in round-robin style, each writer would write one chapter then send the manuscript on to the next guy, trying "to stick the next guy in line with a near-insoluble problem". This is a novelty book, not high Literature, but it's fun. ORC'S OPAL by Piers Anthony & Robert E. Margroff ($4.99, ISBN 0-812-51177-8) The fantasy series about Kelvin of Rud, the transdimensional hero, continues here, after DRAGON'S GOLD (1987), SERPENT SILVER (1989), and CHIMAERA'S COPPER (1991). The kingdom is now at peace, but the evil witch Zady is still alive and seeks to avenge the death of Zoanna. Zady has vowed that Kelvin will pay for Zoanna's death with the death of his children Charles, Merlain, and their dragon brother Horace. Zady will seek to draw them into a quest of their own, a quest that will draw the Confederation into a war it cannot win, and bring death and ruin down on all Kelvin holds dear. DRAGON SEASON by Michael Cassutt ($4.99, ISBN 0-812-50392-9) Rick Walsh is an air force officer returning to home base to see his girlfriend Maia, but Maia has vanished from the airport, leaving only her purse and Walsh's baby, a son he wasn't expecting. He also didn't know that Maia is the heir of the Living God of an alternate world, and finding her will require Rick to cross the boundary between two universes. He will have to battle Maia's kidnappers and trace nuclear weapons that were supposedly destroyed here under disarmament treaties but are really being taken to Maia's world to destroy her and the other members of the ruling family. THE SILENT WARRIOR (Vol. II of THE FOREVER HERO) by L.E. Modesitt, Jr. ($3.99, ISBN 0-812-51616-8) In the far future, long after the polluted Earth has been abandoned, one man wages an underground war to bring Earth back to life--even if it means taking on a galactic empire. MacGregor Gerswin now hides behind his identity as a low-level military bureaucrat as he uses the mysterious OER Foundation to amass fortunes, create research, conceal arsenals, and fund the destinies of whole cultures. Marked for death by the Assassins Guild, Gerswin must become an even more deadly. A TRACE OF MEMORY by Keith Laumer ($3.99, ISBN 0-812-51689-3) The ad read: "Help wanted: Soldier of fortune seeks companion in arms to share unusual adventure. Foster, Box 19." Legion half-heartedly applies for the job, but before he has a chance to say No he finds himself on the run; being chased by cops, the CIA and a few very unfriendly acquaintances of Foster. And Foster has lost his memory, as well as about 30 years of his age! The police think that Legion has murdered Foster and replaced him with a 20-year-old, and both Foster and Legion are being stalked by "hunters", terrifying and deadly creatures of light. Together the two have to follow the clues in a centuries-old diary in an attempt to track down Foster's past. What they find on the way is a violent confrontation on the other side of the galaxy. Laumer is a fine writer and this book looks very good. CONAN THE MAGNIFICENT by Robert Jordan ($3.99, ISBN 0-812-51593-5) This is CONAN #5, serving up more challenges for the much-muscled one. He is stalked by the sultry huntress Jondra, sought by the lovely thief Tamira, and caught between the Army of Zamora and Brythunian warriors seeking revenge. The mighty Cimmerian must battle hordes of Kezankian hillmen, face the sorcerous evil of Basrakan Imalla, and finally, slay that which cannot be slain: the Beast of Fire. Just another average week for CONAN THE MAGNIFICENT. JANUARY: AVATAR: Book Six of Indigo by Louise Cooper ($4.99, ISBN 0-812-50802-5) The immortal princess Indigo wants to rid the world of the powerful demons she unleashed many years ago. Now her quest leads her to the Dark Isles, where the Fear lurks, and where she is captured by a strange cult and proclaimed to be the Avatar of the Princess of Death. The previous books in the Indigo series have been: NEMESIS, INFERNO, INFANTA, NOCTURNE, and TROIKA. Louise Cooper is also the author of the Time Master Trilogy: THE INITIATE, THE OUTCAST, and THE MASTER. THE OUTCAST: Book II of The Time Master Trilogy by Louise Cooper ($4.99, ISBN 0-812-51973-6) The Gods of Order and the Gods of Chaos fight an eternal battle for dominion, with mortal men and women as their pawns. Only when a balance is struck can mortal beings prosper. When Tarod, the mortal incarnation of one of the Gods of Chaos, is born in the era of Order, where Chaos has been banned for centuries, the battle for dominion flares up again. DAYS OF ATONEMENT by Walter Jon Williams ($4.99, ISBN 0-812-50180-2) High-energy physics meets small-town politics in Atocha, New Mexico. Out on the edge of town there's a new advanced technology lab, where government scientists experiment with the nature of space and time. And on the floor of the police station there is a body--a man full of bullet holes. Police Chief Loren Hawn's problem is that the man had already been dead for twenty years. What are they doing out there at the mysterious lab? A tantalizing story from one of SF's most accomplished writers. THE LABYRINTH OF DREAMS by Jack L. Chalker ($3.99, ISBN 0-812-51928-0) Sam Horowitz and his wife Brandy are private detectives down on their luck. Which is why they agreed to trace the banker who skipped town with over two million dollars of laundered mob money. Trouble is, the trail leads right to G.O.D. Inc., a small multi-universe corporation of people who have discovered the pathways to alternate worlds and the profits that can be made by such knowledge. When Sam and Brandy stumble upon their secret, the only place to hide is within the Labyrinth, being chased by assassins from G.O.D. Inc. and their alternate selves. This is Book 1 of the G.O.D. Inc series. FEBRUARY: YOUNG BLEYS by Gordon R. Dickson ($5.99, ISBN 0-812-50947-1) YOUNG BLEYS is a continuation of the story in THE FINAL ENCYCLOPEDIA, yet another volume in Dickson's masterwork, the CHILDE CYCLE series that has been running for more than three decades. Bleys Ahrens is the "other" result of the experiment in human genetic drift which resulted in Hal Maynes, the protagonist of THE FINAL ENCYCLOPEDIA and Bleys' alter ego. Bleys is a "Friendly Soldier", but cold and inherently alienated from humanity. In YOUNG BLEYS, Dickson deals with Bleys' early life and chronicles the events that lead to his decision that he would literally conquer the galaxy. (See the Darryl Kenning review elsewhere in this issue.) ABOUT THE CHILDE CYCLE AND GORDON R. DICKSON <> Dickson takes the theme of his series from the word "Childe", a term used in the middle ages to describe a young nobleman setting out on a quest. His CHILDE CYCLE books, which he began writing in 1956, cover 1000 years of the development of humanity from the 14th century to the 24th. Ten or more CHILDE books are projected; seven have already been completed. But the books in the series stand on their own, even though the CYCLE, when completed, in Dickson's words, will connect to form a single "novel of thematic argument". Ben Bova calls THE CHILDE CYCLE "the grandest saga in the history of SF". Dickson was born in Canada, the son of an Englishman and an American mother; after his father's death, the family moved to Minnesota where he's lived since. Dickson says he always knew he would be a "storyteller", but his career was put on hold while he served in the Army during World War II. After the war, he returned to the University of Minnesota (which he first attended at age 15), and lived in the same house with another aspiring writer, the now celebrated science fiction author, Poul Anderson. "In the evenings, one of us would knock on the other's door and say, 'Let's go get a beer'", says Anderson, and they would talk about their work and their dreams. Dickson has been a fulltime writer since 1950. Currently, Dickson walks five to eight miles a day, writes one or two novels a year, lectures at Science Fiction conventions, and tries to help fledgling writers. He is one of the original members of the Science Fiction Writers of America, and served as that organization's President for two consecutive terms in its early years. More than 10 million copies of his books and short stories have been sold and he is also published in England, France, Germany, Italy, and Japan. Dickson's achievements have been acknowledged by his peers and the publishing industry for years. PUBLISHERS WEEKLY describes him as "one of SF's standard bearers". He was first awarded the Hugo in 1965 for an abbreviated version of a CHILDE CYCLE novel, SOLDIER, ASK NOT. In 1981, he received two more Hugos for "Lost Dorsai" in novella form, and "The Cloak and the Staff", a novelette. Gordon R. Dickson has also been named a Grand Master by the Science Fiction Writers of America. ALTERNATE PRESIDENTS edited by Mike Resnick ($4.99, ISBN 0-812-51192-1) Just in time for an election year! Here are some of today's most popular SF writers imagining what would have happened if we had made different choices at the polls. What if Benjamin Franklin had been elected the first president? What if Abraham Lincoln had lost the 1860 election and became one of the great generals of the Civil War? What if suffragist Victoria Claflin Woodhull had become President of 1872, and transformed the morals and mores of Gilded Age America? What if Adlai Stevenson had beaten Dwight D. Eisenhower twice in a row--only to be impeached? What if President Goldwater had used nuclear weapons in Vietnam? Here are 28 Americas that never happened, but could have. Contributors: Jody Lynn Nye, Jayge Carr, Thomas A. Easton, Judith Moffett, Ralph Roberts, Jack L. Chalker, Bill Fawcett, Laura Resnick, Tappan King, Michael P. Kube-McDowell, Janet Kagan, Martha Soukup, Mike Resnick, Jack Nimersheim, Kristine Kathryn Rusch, Lawrence Watt-Evans, Barry N. Malzberg, Barbara Delaplace, Glen E. Cox, David Gerrold, Eileen Gunn, Pat Cadigan, Susan Shwartz, Brian Thomsen, Alexis A. Gilliland, Lawrence Person, and Robert Sheckley. *---------------------------* ~BOOKS ON TAPE: ^ THE HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY written and read by Douglas Adams unabridged, 4 cassettes, 6 hours (Dove Audio, 1991, $24.95, ISBN 1-55800-273-1) <> I've read the book, played the computer adventure game from Infocom, seen a dramatization, and even heard a dramatization. But I believe that here, in this tape of the author reading his own work, THE HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY has found its most true expression. Certainly the funniest. Adams' voice is the perfect match for Adams' words, giving shades of meaning and character to the prose that are otherwise missed. And who can resist the chance to hear their favorite story while driving to and from work? This Dove Audio version is not abridged, condensed, or otherwise squeezed, every single word is preserved for your enjoyment. Everyone is here: Ford Prefect, Zaphod Beeblebrox, Trillian, Vogon Jeltz, Marvin, the depressed robot, and of course the hapless cosmic traveller Arthur Dent. What a way to spice up the daily commute! The Dove Audio version of THE HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY is a keeper. Of the three possibilities: having it, not having it, and both having it and not having it, believe me, having it is the most enjoyable. You can order Dove Audio tapes by calling 1-800-328-DOVE (inside California call 310/273-7722 or 1-800-345-9945). Dove Audio, 301 North Canon Dr., Suite 203, Beverly Hills, CA 90210. *---------------------------* ~ BOX SCORES Title Author KQ YOUNG BLEYS Gordon R. Dickson 4 THE SENSITIVES Herbert Burkholz 5 THRESHOLD Janet and Chris Morris 3 BRAINROSE Nancy Kress 3 THE HAMMER David Drake & S. M. Stirling 5 THE HOST Peter R. Emshwiller 3 RED GENESIS S. C. Sykes 4 FIRST FLIGHT Chris Claremont 3 A REASONABLE WORLD Damon Knight 4 IMMORTALITY INC. Robert Sheckley 2 A TRACE OF MEMORY Keith Laumer 3 STAR TREK TNG TECHNICAL MANUAL Sternbach & Okuda 3 *---------------------------* ~ BOOKS ON DISK Don't miss The BTS Company's line of SF/Fantasy/Horror Erotica on IBM compatible disks. You'll find more information about their line of sexually-explicit fiction in this issue's Frightful Fiction section. *---------------------------* ~ STAR TREK TERMINOLOGY (From: The Original Series, TNG, The Movies, Gaming) Antimatter: This material composed of antiparticles (positrons, anti-protons, etc.) that are opposite in charge to the particles (like electrons, protons and neutrons) that make up normal matter. When antimatter and matter come into contact, they destroy each other, leaving only vast amounts of energy. This mater-antimatter annihilation, in very carefully controlled form, is used to power the warp drive on starships. Beaming up: Using a transporter to travel between the ship and a planet is known as beaming up or beaming aboard. It is best accomplished when used with a communicator, which has a homing device built into it. Branch School: A general field in which a character will probably concentrate his efforts in gaining skills and increased Skill Ratings. The branch determines the position (but not the rank) that a character is likely to hold. Bridge: The bridge is the control center for a starship, where the captain and duty officers monitor the ships functions, steer the ship, and so forth. Class M Planet: A planet that is suitable for Human or Human-like life is called a Class M Planet. It possesses an Oxygen/Nitrogen atmosphere, free water, a suitable temperature, and so forth. Credit: The standard monetary unit in the United Federation Of Planets is the credit. Department Head: A position of top responsibility on a space vessel. Dept. Heads on a Class 1 Starship include Chief Communications/Damage Control Officer, Chief Medical Officer, Chief Engineer, Security Chief, Chief Helmsman, Chief Navigator, and Chief Science Officer. Dilithium Crystals: Rare crystals of dilithium, a variant form of the element lithium, are used to control matter-antimatter annihilation and convert it into power that can be used by the warp engines and other shipboard systems. Their spiral crystalline structure tends to break down. This may happen after long use, or sometimes very quickly if they are forced to bear greater than normal power loads or sudden power surges. Energy Barrier: A field of negative energy, called the Energy Barrier, surrounds our galaxy. Contact with this field is damaging to starships and can cause psionically sensitive individuals to be killed or to develop godlike mental powers. Federation: A short form of the UNITED FEDERATION OF PLANETS (UFP). Galacta: The standard Federation language, called Galacta, is a variant of standard English. For gaming purposes, it is useful to consider Galacta as English. Hailing Frequency: Hailing frequencies are standard subspace frequencies used for ship-to-ship communication. There are a large number of possible hailing frequencies, and it sometimes takes a few moments for the communications officer to find the one used by a ship encountered in space. Landing Party: A landing party is any group sent down from a starship for exploration, diplomatic negotiations, first contact, or other official purpose. The captain usually has responsibility for choosing a landing party, though he will respect the advice of subordinate officers in their specialized departments. The number of crewman assigned to a landing party depends on the size of a ship and the type of mission. Below are guidelines for selecting and equipping the three basic types of landing parties from a class 1 starship; they can be adapted, using imagination and common sense, for use on other vessels. Other types of landing parties can be formed by the captain based on the needs of the moment. It would be rare for both captain and first officer to leave the ship at the same time, unless the presence of both were absolutely necessary. Neither the captain nor his dept. heads would beam down to do a routine survey unless something was unusual or important about the mission. Exploration Team: An exploration team is sent down to make the first survey of a new planet. This team should consist of at least one Science officer specializing in botany, another in zoology, and a third in geology, two security officers, and a medical officer. Often if the survey were important enough or especially tricky the chief science officer would act as team commander. If not the senior science officer present is in command. The Science officer should be equipped with science tricorders; the med. officer should carry a medical tricorder and a small medikit. All team members but the medical officer should carry a Phaser I. If the initial sensor scans indicate the presence of large, possible dangerous animals the security chief or the captain might authorize a security officer to carry a Phaser II instead. First Contact Team: A first contact team will be beamed down to an unexplored planet where a civilization is determined to be present. This team normally would make contact only with civilizations that could handle the idea of 'men from the stars' intellectually and technologically. The Prime Directive expressly forbids providing natives with technology beyond that they can develop for themselves. This prohibition has only been broken where another starfaring culture has already disrupted the cultural ecology. In such a case, a captain can use his discretion to restore the cultural balance if possible; any such actions will, of course need to be justified by the Star Fleet Review Board. The prime directive calls for direct contact to be avoided with civilizations below a technological and intellectual level where they can handle the idea of a starfaring race. Such planets would be observed from a distance. If close contact becomes necessary, the team would disguise themselves as natives, where possible. The would be equipped with universal translators and no weapon larger than a Phaser I. Diplomatic Contact Party: A DCP would be sent down when making first contact with a civilization sufficiently advanced to be approached about the existence of the Federation. Such a party is almost always headed by the Captain, who is empowered to act as a Federation ambassador in establishing friendly relationships with a new culture. The captain would select the other members of a DCP based on the situation. As many as three security officers would be taken along. At least one sciences rep., often the Sci Officer, would be assigned to the party as well. Either party members might include Sci Officers to collect some important scientific data and a Med Officer. The party may contain other command personnel acting as observers, learning the fine art of diplomacy by assisting the captain, and a yeoman might be assigned as the captain's assistant. On such a party, neither Sci. nor Med. officers would carry tricorders, but one of the captains assistant probably would carry a sci. Tricorder for recording diplomatic negotiations, making supplemental log entries, and so on. Weapons larger than Phaser I would be avoided. Neutral Zone: The first Romulan War was an enormous drain on both sides, as it was fought for many years with spacecraft at sub-light speeds. The Federation, with its many worlds, had the resources to maintain the battle, but the Romulans did not and eventually sued for peace. The Neutral Zone was established between the federation and Romulan space. Border posts were placed on both sides of the zone, and all ships have been banned from entering the no mans land thus established. Romulan pride has reasserted itself in recent years, leading to a number of incidents between Fed. and Romulan Vessels. Orgainian Peace Treaty: A non-aggression treaty was forced upon the Klingon Empire and the Federation by the peace-loving energy beings of the planet Organia when the 2 rival groups threatened to start an interstellar war over that planet. The Organians, who possess incredible powers to manipulate matter, energy and the mind, have forbidden open hostilities between the UFP and the Klingons in an area of space known as the Organian Treaty Zone along the border between the Klingon and UFP spheres of influence. In this area, which does not cover the entire Fed-Kling border, the rights of independent cultures are protected by the Organians. They award the right to develop uninhabited star systems to whichever government shows it can most efficiently make use of the areas resources. Position: The job held by a Star Fleet Officer. This has nothing to do with rank or higher to hold a specific position. Positions have such titles as Science Officer, Helmsman, or First Officer. Prime Directive (General Order 1): The most important law of the Federation is the Prime Directive, which states that no one in the Federation may interfere with the normal and healthy development of alien life and culture. This means that the federation member cultures (and their representatives, like Star Fleet Officers) may not influence a world's cultural development by exerting superior knowledge or strength, nor by supplying the natives with superior technology that they are not yet capable of using wisely. Star Fleet officers may not violate the directive, even to save the lives of their ship, unless acting to set right an earlier violation or accidental contamination of a culture. Quadrant: A quadrant is a section of Federation space, arbitrarily marked off for navigational purposes. Actually, use of the term quadrant is misleading because it usually refers to only four divisions of a circle, and there are more than four divisions in the Federation sphere of influence. Rank: A denotation of military standing. Rank has nothing to do with position, except that some positions on some ships must be filled by someone of a certain rank or higher. Standard Orbit: Standard orbits are holding paths, most often from 1000 to 7000 miles above a planet's surface, used by starships that keep the ship directly above a selected place on the surface to facilitate communications with a landing party. They are calculated according to planetary size, gravity, and conditions, as well as to the location and orbits of natural and artificial satellites. Sometimes, however, local conditions may make a geosyncronous orbit impossible, and the ship will not be able to remain above any specific spot on the planetary surface. Star Base: The federation designates a major Star Fleet installation as a Star Base. Used by Star Fleet personnel for administrative centers, refueling and resupply bases, repair facilities, recreational centers, and so forth, most StarBases are on planets, though some are artificial space stations. Star Date: Stardating is the standard Federation terminology for measuring date and time. It is sequential only while a person remains in one place. Keeping track of the date is harder than one might think on a faster-than-light ship because of Einsteinian time compression, and the method for computing Stardates is Complex. Thus the time between Stardate 2244.0 and Stardate 2245.0 will be one day only if the ship remains at one location in the STAR TREK universe, but it may be entirely different if the ship travels at warp speed between two points. Stardates are given in the form XXXX.XX, with either one or two digits given after the decimal point. Stardates begin at 0000.00 and go to 9999.99; then they start over. Stardate 3305.6 would be read as "Stardate thirty-three oh five point six" not "Stardate three thousand, three hundred five point six". STAR TREK fans often create Stardates from normal time, 20th century calender dates by listing the last two digits of the year, the month expressed as a two-digit number, a decimal point, and then the date expressed as a two digit number. Thus July 4th, 1992 would be expressed as Stardate 9207.04. This is not the way Star Fleet figures Stardate, but it is useful for giving a STAR TREK feel to the Gaming sessions. Reference Stardates: Because the stardates used in the TV series are not in sequence, they are not useful for showing how long it has been since Captain Pike commanded the Enterprise, for instance. For gaming purposes we will use a system of Reference Stardates to measure the absolute passage of time in the STAR TREK universe. They will pass at a regular rate, as measured from the communications beacon at the center of Federation space. They will form a sort of "Greenwich Mean Time" for the events important to STAR TREK history, and we will use them in placing events in a timeline. The numbering system for Reference Stardates is the same as that given above, with one exception. A number followed by a slash will always precede the standard Stardate to show the century. The reference stardating system will begin with 0/0001.1, meaning January 1, 2000. Thus 1/0000.01 is exactly one year later (January 1 2100), and -1/0000.01 is exactly 100 years earlier (January 1, 1900). The Reference Stardate for July 4th, 1776, is -3/7607.04. Star Fleet: Star Fleet is the space navy of the United Federation of Planets, charged with the responsibility for the exploration of new territory, policing of Federation law within the UFP, and defense of the UFP from outside hostile forces. Star Fleet has a military structure and uses military terminology, but it is not simply a military organization. The role of Star Fleet involves duties beyond that of a military arm many times. Starship: In the larger sense, a starship is a spaceship capable of faster-than-light travel. Sub-Light Speed: Speed in space below light speed is called Sub-light. Terra: The official designation for the planet Earth, in the star system of Sol is Terra. Its moon is called Luna. Terra has been called "the cradle of Mankind". UFP: A short form for the UNITED FEDERATION OF PLANETS. Warp Speed: Warp Speed is a method of measuring the enormous speeds attained by warp drive ships. Warp factor 1, sometimes called Warp 1 or WF 1, refers to the speed of light (300,000 kph or 186,000mph). Warp speeds beyond that are multiples of that speed of light. Warp 2 is 8 times the speed of light (2x2x2x /8) and warp 3 is 27 times the speed of light (3x3x3x = 27). To find the speed, multiply the speed of light by the cube of the warp factor. Despite these enormous overall speeds, the starship weapons work and are targetable because of the maneuver during combat is so small compared to the over all speed that it is hardly different from a sub-light speed maneuver. In the TV episode JOURNEY TO BABEL, for example, an Orion ship attacked the Enterprise while it was moving at Warp 8--512 times the speed of light! It is obvious, then, that ship warp speed does not effect weapons fire, but efficient targeting is another matter. Consider an example of current warfare. A man is standing in the middle of a street when a small jet streaks overhead. If both the man and the pilot each know the other is there, and if both have weapons available and ready to fire, each might just get one shot at the other as the jet screams by. Even so, without sophisticated electronic help, they couldn't hope to hit one another. The jet is gone almost immediately, and it will take some time for him to turn around for another pass. The jet plane vs. pedestrian example is comparable to two starships, moving at warp 1 and warp 2. By the time the captain could say "fire photon torpedoes!" the other ship is 1,500,000 miles away--a bit far, for even STAR TREK weaponry. In order to have combat, therefore, it is assumed that the warp speeds of the vessels are the same and that their vector through space is nearly the same. This means that whether they are moving at warp 1 or at warp 10, the two ships are hurling along through space making very small maneuvers compared to their overall speed. *---------------------------* ~ STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION THIRD SEASON ENCYCLOPEDIA 43125.8 *** Evolution 43152.4 *** The Survivors 43173.5 *** Who Watches the Watchers? 43198.7 *** The Bonding 43205.6 *** Booby Trap 43349.2 *** The Enemy 43385.6 *** The Price 43421.9 *** The Vengeance Factor 43462.5 *** The Defector 43489.2 *** The Hunted 43510.7 *** The High Ground 43539.1 *** Deja Q 43610.4 *** A Matter of Perspective 43625.2 *** Yesterday's Enterprise 43657.0 *** The Offspring 43685.2 *** Sins of the Father 43714.1 *** Allegiance 43745.2 *** Captain's Holiday 43779.3 *** Tin Man 43807.4 *** Hollow Pursuits 43872.2 *** The Most Toys 43917.4 *** Sarek 43930.7 *** Menage A Troi 43957.2 *** Transfigurations 43989.1 *** The Best of Both Worlds None *** The Ensigns of Command *---------------------------* *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-* * * ~ * FRIGHTFUL FICTION * * * *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-* Editor: Annie Wilkes --------------------------------------------------------------------- Frightful Fiction is a division of Reading For Pleasure, published bimonthly. This material is NOT COPYRIGHTED and may be used freely by all. Catalogs, news releases, review copies, or donated reviews should be sent to: Reading For Pleasure, 103 Baughman's Lane, Suite 303, Frederick, MD 21702. --------------------------------------------------------------------- ^ HIDEAWAY by Dean R. Koontz (Putnam, January 1992, $22.95, ISBN 0-399-13673-8) <> Hatch and Lindsey Harrison are on vacation, attempting to recover from the death of their 5 year old son. On a snow-swept, hilly road, Hatch swerves to avoid a stalled truck and their car plunges down an embankment into an icy creek. Lindsey survives the ordeal but, despite her best efforts, is unable to save Hatch's life. Due to the circumstances of Hatch's death, it is decided that he is a prime candidate for a revolutionary new procedure in which a medical resuscitation team brings the recently deceased back to life. After having being clinically dead for eighty minutes, by far the longest on record, the team resuscitates Hatch. After his recovery Hatch has unexplained visions of a sadistic and not quite human killer, dressed in black and wearing sunglasses, who performs human sacrifices. Vassago walks the earth in search of death; yearning for his own and violently bringing it to others. Believing that redemption exists in blood and sacrifice, he retreats to his hideaway, an abandoned amusement park housing secrets of fear and violence beyond the imagination. Vassago has unexplained visions of a man he has never met with a wife named Lindsey. He decides that he must somehow find this couple and make this woman one of his sacrifices. HIDEAWAY is by far one of the best horror books I have read recently. It is a classic tale of good (Hatch Harrison) versus evil (Vassago) with the inevitable confrontation coming at the end. There are plenty of plot twists, like the one in which we find out that both players actually have a common connection. Vassago is one of the most violent characters that you are likely to meet, thank goodness. Koontz's descriptions of violence are interesting. You know what's happening but the details are left up to your imagination. I can highly recommend HIDEAWAY to all horror and Dean Koontz fans. It is truly a masterpiece! **//----------------------------------//** NEXT ISSUE: MASTER OF LIES by Graham Masterton The Fog City Satan has brutally murdered 24 men, women, and children in a series of bizarre, somehow ritualized, killings. Detective Larry Foggia is assigned to the case, and a frightening occult experience forces him to consult a psychic for help. A skeptic, Foggia confronts true evil when his mother becomes a victim of the demonic forces gathering in the city and a portion of his soul is stolen by the Fog City Satan. **//----------------------------------//** ^ DEAD END: CITY LIMITS An Anthology of Urban Fear edited by Paul F. Olson & David B. Silva (St. Martin's, October 1991, $19.95, ISBN 0-312-06328-8) <> Olson and Silva are becoming two of dark fiction's finest editors. Both came to my attention originally for editing superior horror magazines: Olson edited the nonfictional HORRORSTRUCK and Silva THE HORROR SHOW, a general purpose horror periodical. Both are gone now and both are much missed. Now they are carving out their reputations as fine novelists (Olson is the author of NIGHT PROPHETS, while Silva has written CHILD OF DARKNESS and COME THIRTEEN), but it's nice to have them back as editors now and then, particularly when they can put together a line-up such as that in DEAD END. I think almost all of the stories here are excellent. "Parade" by Lawrence Watt-Evans is a richly provocative allegory in which the title event serves as a metaphor of city life, his five lead characters being archetypal urban dwellers. An intellectual treat. In contrast, Melissa Mia Hall gives a devastatingly haunting look at the childhood victims of adult failures in "The Looking Glass Hand". In a dreamlike sequence, "Make A Wish Upon the Moon", Charles L. Grant says that urban neighborhoods not only are alive, they can also die. Shifting back to the human, John Shirley's "Ash" defines the city as the overlapping, cascading consequences of the actions, and inactions, of all of its inhabitants. In "City Hunger", Chet Williamson portrays the subculture of violence in the city as a virulent disease as contagious as it is dehumanizing, while Thomas F. Monteleone points the finger at drugs as a major cause of urban decay in "The White Man". A more ambiguous evil is the culprit in Lois Tilton's "Changing Neighborhood", as an aging couple watches their part of the city evolve into something malevolent. One of my favorite stories was "Open Hearts" by Stephen Gresham, in which a cast of oddly endearing misfits illustrates the tiny ledge that city folk inhabit, only inches from both salvation and the bottomless pit. William Relling, Jr. had one of the grimmer tales, and one of the longer titles, with his "The Injuries That They Themselves Procure Must Be Their Schoolmasters", about the spread of violence in the inner city. In another great contrast with the preceding story, Charles de Lint chose to portray the city as a beautiful but hardened woman in his poetic "Tallulah". In "Spare Change" by David Bischoff, a schizophrenic homeless man seeks change, both money and transformation, in a Washington D.C. of Lovecraftian hostility to human life. Gene O'Neill's "The City Never Sleeps" is a paranoid dream of an urbanite's helplessness, trapped in a city that mutates faster and faster; Alvin Toffler's FUTURE SHOCK humanized. Lee Moler produced a Dickensian morality play with "Wellspring", in which a modern Ebenezer Scrooge is visited by the ghosts of future humanity, people mutated by the toxic wastes of commercial greed. Elizabeth Massie's "Lock Her Room" is a tale about ghetto-inspired insensitivity and the demands of the life instinct. Steve Rasnic Tem, an author who shows up way too seldom in bookstores, contributes "At the End of the Day", about a man trying to maintain his sense of purpose in a city becoming increasingly vague and meaningless. Possibly the most philosophical, "The Ash of Memory, The Dust of Desire" by Poppy Z. Brite says that cities have more bright lights only because there is more darkness to combat and, similarly, the haven of the new and exciting is also the home of the unwanted, useless, and abandoned. The volume ends with Gary L. Raisor's rousing HELL TRAIN, about a locomotive that occasionally shares tunnel space with New York's subway. Raisor's skill with characters and dialogue turn a simple monster story into a cinematic thriller. In the final analysis, there is something for everyone in DEAD END, easily the finest "theme" anthology I've read. Even if you don't normally keep up with the short story field, DEAD is definitely worth your time and money. Don't miss it. **//----------------------------------//** NEXT ISSUE: POST MORTEM edited by Paul F. Olson & David B. Silva The editing team that gave us DEAD END brings us yet another anthology, this time with stories by: Robert R. McCammon, Kathryn Ptacek, Gary Brandner, Charles de Lint, Charles L. Grant, Thomas F. Monteleone, Steve Rasnic Tem and Melanie Tem, Janet Fox, William F. Nolan, Donald R. Burleson, Thomas Tessier, James Howard Kunstler, Melissa Mia Hall, David B. Silva, Gordon Linzner, P.W. Sinclair, and Ramsey Campbell. **//----------------------------------//** ^ HORROR ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS by Gillan, Morrison, Hagger, Caleo, Love, Waters, M.Anderson, P. Anderson, Watts, Jeffery, Lehmann, Isinwyll, Ligotti, Gibbons, Geier, Deitrick, Triplett, Bjorksten (Chaosium, 1991, $39.95, ISBN 0-933635-76-1) <> HotOE is a huge adventure for Chaosium's CALL OF CTHULHU role-playing game. For those not familiar with CoC, it is based on the writings of H. P. Lovecraft, and concerns itself with the investigation of occult horrors by intrepid bands of adventurers. The ultimate source of these horrors are cosmic beings of such total, mind-numbing power that even peripheral contact with them gives a perfect example of the real meaning of the (too often cliched) phrase "fate worse than death." Success in investigations usually leads to a steady slide into madness. Even so, CoC is a very popular game, especially among mystery fans. Chaosium is well-known for providing excellent adventures, and they appear to have outdone themselves with HotOE. It is a HUGE adventure. It is so big that I have not been able to read through the whole package. It will provide many nights of adventures, and if properly done, will provide all with a memorable experience. The adventure takes place in the 1920s (the most popular period for setting CoC adventures), and takes place aboard the famous Orient Express. I will not give away any secrets concerning the underlying plot, but players can expect related and unrelated adventures all along the route. Another trademark of Chaosium's CoC adventures is the number and quality of props and player handouts. HotOE outdoes itself--besides the usual maps, clues, and clippings, you get color luggage stickers, authentic period passports, a color poster, and cutout railway cars. If I had the time, I would love to run this adventure. Recommended for all CoC referees ("Keepers"). If you can't get HORROR ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS, or any other Chaosium product, locally, you can contact the publisher at: Chaosium Inc., 950-A 56th Street, Oakland, CA 94608-3129; 510/547-7681. **//----------------------------------//** ^ TABOO 3 edited by Stephen R. Bissette & Nancy O'Connor (SpiderBaby Graphix, 1989, $9.95, ISBN 0-922003-02-5) ^ TABOO 4 edited by Stephen R. Bissette (SpiderBaby Graphix, 1990, $14.95, ISBN 0-922003-03-3) <> Comic books sure have changed over the last ten or twenty years, and many of them are written today specifically for an adult market. Some, like TABOO, are not for sale to anyone under 18 years of age. Unlike many other Adults Only material, however, TABOO is not just a collection of feeble stories spiced with gratuitous violence and (gasp!) explicit sex. The stories collected in each issue of TABOO are, rather, adult in theme and often very disturbing. Difficult subjects are treated in a mature way that is often shocking and controversial. TABOO 3 has stories about Nazi atrocities, insanity, abuse of women, sexual perversion, vampires, and another chapter of Alan Moore & Eddie Campbell's fascinating account of the Jack the Ripper story "From Hell" (apparently begun in TABOO 2). The inside is reproduced in black and white, with full color art on the cover, inside and out. The art, like the stories, is nightmarish, fascinating, sometimes repulsive, thought-provoking. A large section of TABOO 4 is devoted to the famous artist Moebius, the filmmaker and writer Jodorowsky, and their haunting story, "Les Yeux du Chat" (Eyes of the Cat). There is also a great fable by Neil Gaiman & Michael Zulli about our treatment of animals; a disturbing story about the CIA controlling our lives by D'Israeli, Eyre & Robinson; a horrific folk tale by Elaine Lee & Charles Vess; and a handful of other nightmares, including another long chapter of Moore & Campbell's "From Hell". TABOO is like nothing I've ever seen before--horror stories written and illustrated by adults for an adult audience. Punches are not pulled, endings are not forced into comfortable resolutions. Of course, you take a chance with material like this too. Some of the tales are tough to forget, and the images can linger long after the story is finished. You can contact the publishers by writing to: SpiderBaby Graphix, PO Box 442, Wilmington, VT 05363. **//----------------------------------//** NEXT ISSUE: TABOO 5--The latest issue of unusual anthology of dark works. **//----------------------------------//** ~PETER QUINT READS THE MAGAZINES ^ CEMETERY DANCE Fall 1991 Volume 3 Issue 4 edited by Richard T. Chizmar This extra large issue of CEMETERY DANCE is 120 pages of great reading, the very best dark fantasy magazine of fall 1991. You want stories? This CD has Andrew Vachss, Steve Rasnic Tem, Ramsey Campbell, G. Kyle White, Edward Lee, F. Paul Wilson, and Steven Spruill. If there's any common theme here it's the predilection of the authors to hint at awful, disgusting, unspeakable things, while letting the reader supply the technicolor details. The Vachss story, "Placebo", tells about a very handy janitor who takes care of Tommy's night monsters. Tem's "Plainclothes" blurs the distinctions between victim and victimizer, city and jungle, order and chaos, life and death. Campbell tells a mummy story, White tells a Snake Pit story, and Lee writes about everyday life in Maryland, with junior mobsters, child pornography, Little Red Riding Hood, and oh my yes the big bad wolf. Spruill's long story, "Ysex", is an unusual SF psycho-killer mystery that has several important things to say about men, rape, and the legal system. In this issue you also get the first chapter of F. Paul Wilson's SIBS (from Dark Harvest), and if you can resist the book after reading it, you're just not human. All of the stories are first-rate. But wait till you get to the articles! Charles L. Grant contributes an analysis of the marketing of horror in recent years: what's gone wrong, what hasn't, and a prediction about where it's all going. There's an interview with Ramsey Campbell that reviews his entire writing career, with a number of interesting and illuminating comments from Campbell about his books. Thomas F. Monteleone's "MAFIA" column rears its contentious head in CD for the first time, too. If you haven't seen one of these, you're in for a treat--Monteleone is the only essayist I know of who approaches the confrontational crankiness of Harlan Ellison. In this installment he entertains the reader with the story of The Jump Shot. You won't forget it. And speaking of Harlan Ellison, he contributes an anecdote about Robert Bloch and talks to CD about being a writer, the sorry state of editing today, and how THE LAST DANGEROUS VISIONS will absolutely positively be published, as he so candidly puts it, "before I croak". Douglas E. Winter has an article about the "Animal Trilogy" films of Dario Argento, and--move over Joe Bob Briggs--Joe R. Lansdale and David E. Webb have a new movie review column called "Trash Theatre", which these two Texans start off with, what else, the two TEXAS CHAINSAW films from Tobe Hooper. It's a great column, which you can tell because they use the word "booger" a lot. Elsewhere in CD: William F. Nolan defines his own subgenre of horror fiction, and there's a great interview with Mark V. Ziesing: the family man, the bookseller, the publisher. And to keep you up to date with the latest in horror literature, there are reviews by such notables as: Edward Bryant, Lori Perkins, Robert Crawford, Roman A. Ranieri, Mike Baker, and Bob Morrish. CEMETERY DANCE breaks all their previous quality records with this issue, which is worth ordering specifically if you don't have a copy yet. And if you'd like get CD in your very own mailbox you can send them $15/$25/$40 for 1/2/3 year(s) at 4 quarterly copies a year. Make the check payable to CD Publications and mail it to: CEMETERY DANCE, PO Box 858, Edgewood, MD 21040. ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: ^ INIQUITIES: The Magazine of Great Wickedness and Wonder Autumn 1991, Vol. 1 No. 3 edited by Buddy Martinez Here's another fine issue of our latest major player in the horror magazine market. More good fiction, great essays, and some really helpful book reviews. This time out, all the fiction has one thing in common: it's all pretty depressing. Good, you understand, but I wouldn't want to read it while sitting on the edge of a tall building. Douglas E. Winter's "Black Sun" is a nightmarish future viewed through the symbology of the spaghetti western (he seems to be on an Italian movie kick lately). My favorite story in the issue is "Brutes" by Steve Rasnic Tem, a powerful portrait of the brutalizing effects of a dysfunctional family, poverty, and urban crime, all of which adds up to a dysfunctional society. (By the way, if you can dig up a copy of Tem's EXCAVATION, a paperback release a couple of years ago, read it. Great stuff.) My second-favorite in this issue is Nina Kiriki Hoffman's "Zits", which packs a lot of emotional punch (about child abuse) in a very few words. "One Flesh" is a nasty misogynistic tale of reincarnation and psychosis by Robert Devereaux, "The Pain Detail" by Wayne Allen Sallee and H. Andrew Lynch is a dreamlike, kind of unpleasant story that's very hard to describe, and the "Resurrections" this time out (an old story chosen and introduced by George Clayton Johnson) is A.E. Van Vogt's "Enchanted Village from 1950, a really enjoyable First Man on Mars story with a nifty surprise ending. This issue also has an excerpt from John Skipp and Craig Spector's recent THE BRIDGE, which is about a common dumping site for toxic waste in Pennsylvania. As an extra grabber, they have not one but TWO associated articles about S&S and THE BRIDGE, as well as a flexi-disk containing one of the songs ("No Future") from the soundtrack album from THE BRIDGE. When's the last time you read a book that had a soundtrack? I'd tell you what the song is like, but I haven't managed to dig up a phonograph player yet--I converted to cassettes, and then CDs a while back. The very best thing about this issue of INIQUITIES is the nonfiction. It starts out great with a long interview with Richard Christian Matheson, who has got to be the busiest guy in the world. He's been writing and producing movies and TV (successfully) for 12 years, he writes short stories, his first novel, CREATED BY, is on its way, he writes songs, he plays the drums... There is also Part 2 of "Lansdale Raves!", which is terrific. Last time out it was the Phone Woman story, this time it's the Blind Guy With the Weed Eater story. And finally, "A Certain Slant of 'I'" by S.P. Somtow brings up the rear of the magazine. This column includes examples of Shakespeare modernized by a semi-literate splatterpunker, a discussion of the theology of horror, an explanation of the stories of Little Red Riding Hood and Adam and Eve, and somehow it all seems to be related. I swear this guy could talk about pocket lint and make it interesting. Linda Marotta writes an excellent book review section--she's a flexible reader and writes eloquently about books. She also discusses a number of books you may have missed at the local chain store. All in all, another successful issue of INIQUITIES, although they still seem to be plagued with printing gremlins: dropped letters, misspellings, transposed words, and mangled sentences. But it's the content that matters, and in that department INIQUITIES is doing just great. You can get INIQUITIES through the mail by sending $4.95/$19.95 for 1/4 issue(s) (back issues are available, also for $4.95) to: INIQUITIES, 235 E. Colorado Blvd., Suite 1346, Pasadena, CA 91101. ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: ^ HAUNTS #22 Fall/Winter 1991 edited by Joseph K. Cherkes I didn't enjoy this issue of HAUNTS as much as I usually do. The fiction just didn't seem to be up to their usual standard. I did, however, enjoy Mike Hurley's "Brood of the Snow Snakes", which is a nice grisly story about a piece of native North Dakota folklore. "Infinite Escape" by Don Hornbostel is pretty good too, kind of a Twilight Zone-ish endless loop weird tale. I thought Mark Lucas had some good things to say in his "Choice Cuts" video review column, but maybe that was because I agreed with his opinions (which were, in brief: TREMORS yes, WATCHERS II no, NIGHT BREED !no!, and DARKMAN yes). "The Man Who Hated Mystics" by Franklin D. Roberts has a professional debunker get a lesson from a professional medium, and James S. Dorr's "When Cats Are Away" is a fantasy tale about the jewel of Bast. In "Aura" by W. Edward Traver, George finally receives his psychic inheritance. "Barner Doesn't Live Here Anymore" by Marcy Daniels is about the monster that lives under the Golden Gate bridge. Mark Tompkins' "The Heretics" tells of a professional torturer who develops a conscience, and "A Wrong Turn" by David Lloyd Marshall is about body parts from another dimension. All decent, but none really stood out. You can get a sample copy of HAUNTS for $3.95 plus $1 postage, or you can get a year's subscription (4 quarterly issues) for $13. Send it to: Haunts, PO Box 3342, Providence, RI 02906-0742. ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: ^ MIDNIGHT ZOO Vol. #1, Issue #5 edited by Jon L. Herron This was another fine issue from the remarkably large, varied, and consistently better-than-average MIDNIGHT ZOO. Much of the fiction had a Christmas or winter theme--among my favorites of those were: "The Recruitment" by C.S. Fuqua, a sentimental and hope-filled tale about how Santas are chosen; "Grandma Babka's Christmas Ginger and the Good Luck/Bad Luck Leshy" by Ken Wisman, about family traditions; "Traveling By Train" by Jay Speyerer, a touching story about losing loved ones; and "Tokens of Faith" by David R. Addleman, in which the Messiah actually returns, and what the White House does about it. Other seasonable tales are provided by: Lois Tilton--"The Longest, Darkest Night"; Pamela Holbrook--"A Rough Rider Christmas in Catgut, Wyoming"; Claudia O'Keefe--"The Very Last Place She Shopped"; E.B. Stambaugh--"Frostbite"; Steven Sharp--"The Extra Seat"; Sandra Black--"The Surprise Package"; Michael Robbins--"News Flash"; Kevin F. Kerr--"Laptop"; and Carolene Carey--"One Christmas Morning". Of the rest of the fiction, I particularly liked "The Rejection of the Body-Snatcher" by Dan Lopez a really hilarious slapstick story about an alien's attempt to take over a human body. As this alien's luck would have it, he accidentally chooses a human suffering from a monumental hangover. Also, Darrell Schweitzer's "Leaving" is an atmospheric tale about people who have been defeated by life. But wait! There's still more fiction: "New Breed" by Dave Smeds, Katharine Kerr's "Maternal Instincts", Holly Day's "The Kite", "The Cat of Pere-Lachaise" by Emily Gaydos, "Woman in Black" by Beverly Sheresh, Brian A. Hopkins' "Silent Encounter", Beverly Wolf's "HI!", and B.J. Davenport's "Queenie". If you have always thought of poetry as being about Grecian urns, Gunga Din, or black birds that speak, it's time for you to check out a copy of MIDNIGHT ZOO and see what poets are up to now. The two featured poets are Harry Thomas Brashear and W.C. Leadbeater. I can't quite get my head in the same place as Leadbeater, but I liked Brashear's poems, particularly his very funny "Me Girlfriend's Head". "The Passing of the Sidhe" by Mary Shifman is really good too. The nonfiction in MIDNIGHT ZOO is up to its usual standards as well. Claudia O'Keefe discusses how to avoid common conversational blunders when talking to writers, Katharine Kerr talks about books vs. "book product", Jacqueline Lichtenberg gives an inside look at the writing process, J Moretz has some pithy remarks about the tyranny of modern high-tech communications, Rima Saret has a new column of market information for writers and a periodical review column, Carol Rivkins has research tips for writers, Delores Goodrich Beggs finds hints for SF writers in the career and works of H.G. Wells, D. Douglas Graham discusses the phenomenon of "manna", Jean Paul Sinistre talks about haunted houses, Barry Harrington reviews the Ray Bradbury releases in the fall of 1991, and there are book reviews by Don D'Ammassa, Alana Garrop & Alexandra Perdue, J Moretz, Cynthia Ward, and Caroline Williams. Mark Lucas' movie review column was fascinating--I've finally found someone I don't seem to agree with on ANYTHING. And, as usual, MIDNIGHT ZOO is chock-full of artwork. The featured artist is Bob Giadrosich (whose art is often seen in DRAGON magazine), and there is an interview with artist Lea Hernandez. If you'd like to see MIDNIGHT ZOO for yourself (recommended), send $29.95 ($53.95) for 1 year (2 years), or 7 (14) issues. That buys you 6 bimonthly issues plus the gigantic special edition in December. A sample issue can be had for $6. Send it to: Midnight Zoo, 544 Ygnacio Valley Rd., #A273, PO Box 8040, Walnut Creek, CA 94596. **//----------------------------------//** NEXT ISSUE: SHADOW TWIN by Dale Hoover Once Jack's life was under control. But that was before the man across the street came knocking on the door...before he saw his son's small body shaking like a rag doll in his own powerful hands. Now Jack's life careens toward chaos, bursting out of him like the ugly ridges on his face. People look at Jack with horror. They know the truth. They can see. But how can he learn the truth when he can't bear to look in the mirror? **//----------------------------------//** ~ NEW HORROR PAPERBACKS FROM TOR BOOKS <> THE JEKYLL LEGACY by Robert Bloch & Andre Norton (December, $4.99, ISBN 0-812-51583-8) Two of fantasy's Grand Masters have collaborated on this sequel to Robert Louis Stevenson's famous story, "The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde". In THE JEKYLL LEGACY, a penniless woman named Hester discovers that she is the niece of Dr. Jekyll and heir to his fortune. But claiming her inheritance will make her the prime suspect in Jekyll's disappearance, and the target of a dark and mysterious figure who just might be Edward Hyde. Robert Bloch is best known for his novels of psychological suspense and dark fantasy (like PSYCHO), and Andre Norton is the author of the popular Witchworld novels. THE DARK DESCENT VOL. III: A FABULOUS FORMLESS DARKNESS edited by David G. Hartwell (January, $4.99, ISBN 0-812-50967-6) Here's another book of horror stories from David Hartwell's acclaimed hardcover anthology THE DARK DESCENT, generally considered to be the finest collection of short dark fantasy available today. This volume of the paperback reprint contains fiction by: Fritz Leiber, Gene Wolfe, Charles Dickens, Stephen King, Joyce Carol Oates, Walter de la Mare, Ivan Turgenev, Robert W. Chambers, Oliver Onions, Fitz-James O'Brien, Shirley Jackson, Ambrose Bierce, Edith Wharton, Algernon Blackwood, Thomas M. Disch, Robert Aickman, and Philip K. Dick. Where are you going to find a better lineup than that? A MATTER OF TASTE by Fred Saberhagen (January, $3.99, ISBN 0-812-52575-2) His name used to be Dracula, but now, in Chicago, he is known as Matthew Maule. In A MATTER OF TASTE, Matthew must face an enemy from his past, fellow-vampire Cesare Borgia, who threatens not only Matthew but the Southerlands, a family who has befriended him. With Matthew rendered comatose by Borgia, the Southerlands must now battle the deadly vampire to protect their undead friend who has protected them so many times in the past. Saberhagen's previous vampire novels are: THE DRACULA TAPE, THE HOLMES-DRACULA FILE, THORN, DOMINION, and AN OLD FRIEND OF THE FAMILY. All are available in paperback from Tor. DEMOGORGON by Brian Lumley (February, $4.99, ISBN 0-812-51199-9) George Guigos, the club footed Antichrist, hires three thieves to loot an ancient tomb--three souls for him to steal to ensure his immortality. One night, however, his ritual backfired and one of the thieves, Dimitrios Kastrouni, escaped. Now middle-aged, Kastrouni must contact a man named Charlie Trace, born after the rape of his mother and bearing the legacy of his father, a club foot. Kastrouni knows that Trace is the son of Guigos, and the two men must join forces to destroy Guigos, before they become his next victims. Brian Lumley is the author of the popular NECROSCOPE series: NECROSCOPE, VAMPHYRI!, THE SOURCE, DEADSPEAK, and DEADSPAWN. He also wrote THE HOUSE OF DOORS. **//----------------------------------//** NEXT ISSUE: THIRTEEN DOORS--Open the door on the terrifying world of the Carnival man. A 13-part series brought to life on audio cassettes. Door #1 and #2 were reviewed in RFP #17. In the next issue we'll talk about the next two doors, featuring stories by Bram Stoker winner David B. Silva and Kathleen Jurgens. **//----------------------------------//** ~ A NEW BIOGRAPHY OF ANNE RICE (article from Roc SF Advance) ** PRISM OF THE NIGHT by Katherine Ramsland ** Writers' lives are seldom as interesting as their work, but the life of bestselling author Anne Rice is an exception. This exhaustive new biography by Katherine Ramsland explores the many facets of a career that has captured the public's attention, just as her books have reflected something dark and hitherto hidden in the American soul. The author, a psychologist and a contemporary of her subject, is uniquely qualified to explore the many strands of experience that come together in the life of author Anne Rice. Ramsland begins her story before her heroine's birth, in the complex, exotic milieu of Depression-era New Orleans. The child who later became known to the world as "Anne" Rice was in fact christened Howard by her poetic father and doomed, alcoholic mother, in a strange foreshadowing of the complex gender and sex reversal themes that were to occur in her novels both as sub-texts and as explicit themes. As a lonely child she took solace in the wilderness of her fertile imagination. She later found a partner and lover in the poet Stan Rice. Married, the two of them sought both adventure and refuge in the turbulent streets of San Francisco's Haight Ashbury district. Ramsland's book tells the fascinating story of those years in "The Haight"--of the friends the Rice's made, and the changes they went through, both together and separately. Several major losses have shaped Anne Rice's dark vision, among them the devastating loss of a beloved child. It was this experience that led to her first published book, INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE. Anne believed in her work, but neither she nor her family were prepared for the storm of success that greeted her first vampire novel. INTERVIEW became a New York Times bestseller, and is still in print today. A dark tale of sympathetic evil, it was a book perhaps only a child of the '60s could write, reflecting in many ways the wisdom of a generation that had dared to seek out new horizons and experiences. One success wasn't enough for Anne Rice, however. Just as she had given horror a new twist, she carried erotica to newer and higher levels with her Anne Rampling and A.N. Roquelaure books. PRISM OF THE NIGHT (Dutton, November 1991) is the definitive Anne Rice story. This comprehensive biography explores every aspect of a unique American writer's life and work. The book offers interviews with Anne Rice and her friends, excerpts from her poetry and letters, fascinating little known episodes, and literary analyses of all twelve of her novels. **//----------------------------------//** * Stephen King felt that another book was needed between last year's NEEDFUL THINGS (the last Castle Rock novel) and this year's upcoming DOLORES CLAIBORNE (supposedly more of a mystery story than anything else), so he has written a new horror novel called GERALD'S GAME. This new book will be published in 1992, and DOLORES CLAIBORNE will be moved back to 1993. While there is no direct connection between the plots of these 3 books, King felt that a fictional bridge was necessary to make the themes of DOLORES CLAIBORNE clearer. * If you have discriminating tastes in SF, Fantasy, Horror, and Mystery books, you need a copy of John Knott's catalogue. He carries a lot of out-of-print titles, first editions, limited editions, signed editions, etc. Many, many items are under $50. Write to: John W. Knott, Jr. Bookseller, 8453 Early Bud Way, Laurel, MD 20723. His selection of horror is fabulous. **//----------------------------------//** ~ SF/FANTASY/HORROR EROTICA FROM BTS For IBM & compatibles. Complete, original stories you can use in your own computer. Stored in ASCII format, compatible with every word processing program we have tried (WordPerfect, DW4, Wordstar, PFS First Choice, etc.) Enjoy them as written or become your own author and change them to meet your personal fantasies! Series 1 ARENA--A newlywed couple is transported into outer space and discover a race of ogre-like aliens prepared to invade the Earth. Earth's future will ultimately be determined in a contest of sexual endurance. When the aliens manage to isolate the young bride from her husband, the "contest" begins. DROTH--A faraway Gnome Kingdom is threatened by the invasion of a vicious Swine Troll and a Death Satyr. To help them, the Gnomes summon a descendant of a mighty Droth Warrior. Karen (the sole Droth descendant) appears from Earth. She will have to overcome both strength and seduction to win the day. TARA--Tara, golden-haired beauty, and her man-bird friend (Hawk) are on a dangerous journey. In the Kheret Swamp she will encounter the powerful coils of the Snake-woman, Nagisse. Before the journey ends, she will face Gizem, a multi-tentacled God of Fertility, in a ceremonial pit. Series 2 2164--Two young women are officers in the city's Security Enforcement of Controlled Substances (SECS) Division. Incurring the wrath of a drug kingpin, he unleashes his most powerful weapon against them. They are now being stalked by an android who uses seduction as a killing tool. INCUBUS--A young archaeologist, in search of her sister, finds herself in a desolate town where she discovers the existence of an Incubus. What she doesn't know is that it is the center of a cult that worships Byra-Yagoth, the supreme lord of the Incubii. UNCLE--A whirlwind romance results in a pending marriage at the Victorian estate of a young girl's fiancee. The estate, however, is haunted by the ghost of his uncle, who has sworn vengeance on the family for his death and has his own plans for the wedding night. You can order Series 1 or Series 2 for $9.95 ($17.95 for both). Available on 5-1/4" or 3-1/2" disk, you must specify which you want. New Jersey residents must add 7% sales tax. You MUST include a statement that you are 21 years or older when placing an order. It would also help if you mention that you saw the products in RFP. Also, The BTS Company may have other stories for sale by the time you read this, but if you want to write to them for information, be sure to include a self-addressed, stamped envelope. Send your check or money order to: The BTS Company, PO Box 393, Pennsville, NJ 08070. **//----------------------------------//** ********************************* * * ~ * NONFICTION * * * ********************************* ^ E.B. WHITE: WRITINGS FROM THE NEW YORKER 1927-1976 edited by Rebecca M. Dale (HarperCollins, 1990, $20.00, ISBN 0-06-016517-0) <> The NEW YORKER has been called the best magazine ever printed. I'm not sure I agree with that assessment of today's NEW YORKER, but in the early days it was something special, and one of the writers who made it special was E.B. White. He is the author of a book of poetry called THE LADY IS COLD as well as the children's classics CHARLOTTE'S WEB and STUART LITTLE. He coauthored IS SEX NECESSARY? with James Thurber (another NEW YORKER writer) and THE ELEMENTS OF STYLE with Strunk. White has won the Gold Medal for Essays and Criticism--American Academy of Arts and Letters (1960), the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award (1970), and the National Medal for Literature (1971). He was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1963, and in 1973 was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters. E.B. White is simply one of the finest prose stylists America has ever produced. Here is a sample of his writing, titled "Save the Grizzlies", originally printed in January of 1932: "A committee has approached us to ask if we would help in the work of protecting and preserving the brown and grizzly bears of Alaska. Need we say we will? Once we spent six weeks in Alaska, and although we never happened to have an opportunity to protect a grizzly from the predatory old paper-pulp interests, which threaten their extinction, we always stood ready to. We are still ready. The islands of the Inside Passage, where the bears live, seemed to us lovely, perfect. We should not want one of them changed by the extinction of so much as one bear, or the establishment of even one pulp mill. Grizzlies are certainly less dangerous than the tabloids that are printed from paper pulp. "Of course it is our ill fortune always to see both sides of every question. The letter from the Committee on Protection and Preservation of Alaska Brown and Grizzly Bears was written, we notice, on paper. In other words, the Committee are using paper in their campaign against paper pulp. We think they really ought to send out their communications on parchment, preferably made from the hides of sheep especially killed for the purpose by grizzly bears. You see? We're no good in any cause. Too open-minded." What more is there to say? WRITINGS FROM THE NEW YORKER collects some of E.B. White's wittiest and best pieces. Not to be missed. **//----------------------------//** ^ THE MIRACLE OF LANGUAGE by Richard Lederer (Pocket Books, November 1991, $20.00, ISBN 0-671-70939-9) <> A new Richard Lederer book is cause for celebration for any reader who loves the English language. In his previous books like ANGUISHED ENGLISH, GET THEE TO A PUNNERY, CRAZY ENGLISH, and THE PLAY OF WORDS he has entertained and enlightened thousands. For most of us, Lederer is the English teacher we should have had--someone more interested in communicating the wonder of language and the fascinating intricacies of English than in finding fault with improper usage. In these essays, Lederer discusses such a variety of English speakers as T.S. Eliot, George Orwell, Ambrose Bierce, Samuel Johnson, Lewis Carroll, Shakespeare, and Mark Twain. In "Is English Prejudiced?" he wonders "If a king rules a kingdom, what does a queen rule? If a man mans a station, what does a woman do? If a man fathers a movement, what does a woman do? If a man who pursues freewheeling relationships with women is a womanizer or a philanderer, what do we call a woman who plays the field of men?" In "Ya Got Any Good Books Here?" he reprints a list of questions sent to him by a high school librarian in Maine, questions actually asked by visitors to the library: "* Do you have any books about people who get wiped out or mangled? * Where are your hysterical novels? * I just read MIDNIGHT SUMMER DREAM. Do you have another play by Shakespeare? * I need an American classic. Not too long, but at least 173 pages. * I need a book by Tom Sawyer. * I want a book with no chapters. Chapters bug me. * Haven't you got something easier than this book? This must have at least a thousand words in it. * How do I find a book that I don't remember the name of?" Ya Got Any Good Books Here? Yeah, I got one, it's called THE MIRACLE OF LANGUAGE by some guy named Lederer. It's neat even if it does have chapters and more than a thousand words in it. Another keeper from a very entertaining writer. **//----------------------------//** ^ YOUR RESUME: KEY TO A BETTER JOB by Leonard Corwen (Prentice Hall, January 1992, $10.00, ISBN 0-13-980210-X) <> I work in an unstable industry, and recently discovered that I'd better start "looking around". Two days later I was at the RFP office to pick up a couple of books and noticed a new book that had just come in for review: YOUR RESUME by Leonard Corwen, so I said, "Let me review that one". What a stroke of luck! Later that night I sat down with YOUR RESUME and within two minutes I had determined which of the sample resumes was best for me and was studying the suggested layout. (There are 35 sample resumes and cover letters provided.) Within a couple more minutes I had a list of important reminders: what to make sure I include in my resume, what to make sure ISN'T in my resume, words to include, words to avoid, what to put in the cover letter that goes with the resume, etc. The great thing was that the help I got from YOUR RESUME was SPECIFIC and I got it FAST. The next day at work I turned all of these suggestions into a new resume and had it printed out. It's an attractive document, concise--I'm confident that I now have put my best foot forward. I can't give you an end to this soap opera--I've just sent my new resume around and haven't heard anything yet. But it's a nice feeling to know that I've done my absolute best, and I don't think I could have done that without YOUR RESUME. I should also mention that creating the resume is only half of this book. The second half discusses Getting The Job: using classified ads, finding the "hidden job market", choosing and using employment agencies, how to handle the all-important interview, etc. If you need, or would like, a new job, you'll find YOUR RESUME to be a very big help. And good luck. **//----------------------------//** ^ THE AMERICAN HEALTH FOOD BOOK Robert A. Barnett, Editor; Nao Hauser, Food Editor With the Staff of AMERICAN HEALTH magazine (Dutton, December 1991, $29.95, ISBN 0-525-24908-7) <> Here is the one nutrition guide/cookbook for health-conscious people to keep handy at all times. There are essays on the latest findings about health and nutrition, help in planning customized menus for your own tastes and needs, suggestions for using herbs and spices, hundreds of healthy and appetizing recipes, and a special section devoted to nutritional profiles of individual foods. Let me give you an example. Here's one of the profiles in the Fruit section: BANANA. Bananas contain potassium, of course, but also vitamins C and B6 and fiber. Bananas are available year-round. Purchase those that are light green or light yellow and free of bruises. The peel must be removed. If exposed to oxygen, bananas will turn brown; dip them in pineapple or lemon juice to prevent browning. One peeled banana (114g): Cal: 105 Pro: 1g/4% Carb: 27g/92% Fat: 1g/4% Sodium: 1mg Potassium: 451mg Fiber 2.2g(.7g soluble) C: 17% B6: 33% Every recipe has a complete nutrition readout (calories, protein, cholesterol, fiber, etc.) and many provide microwave instructions. THE AMERICAN HEALTH FOOD BOOK is an invaluable resource in taking control of your nutrition and your health. Recommended. **//----------------------------//** ^ DR DOS 6.0 CUSTOMIZING TOOLKIT by David D. Busch (businessOne IRWIN, December 1991, $34.95, ISBN 1-55623-598-4) <> DR DOS 6.0 CUSTOMIZING TOOLKIT provides an excellent resource to readers who want to understand more about the newest release of the advanced DOS-compatible operating system, DR DOS 6.0. This CUSTOMIZING TOOLKIT is not just another DOS reference book that is sold in book stores. It delves into the specialized features of DR DOS 6.0 and concentrates on presenting the reader with in-depth discussions of these features. The topics covered in CUSTOMIZING TOOLKIT are: > Operating System Choices > Comparing DR DOS and MS-DOS > Installing DR DOS > Command Line Power > Using ViewMAX > DR DOS and Hard Disks > DR DOS Security Features > Caching in on Performance > Introduction to Memory > Optimizing Memory > Introduction to and Customizing CONFIG.SYS > Introduction to Batch Files > Customizing the DR DOS Environment > Taking Advantage of TaskMAX > DR DOS and Other Environments A floppy disk is included with CUSTOMIZING TOOLKIT that contains simple .COM programs that perform actions not included in DR DOS, batch files which use the output of some of the .COM programs to do something useful, and stand-alone batch files which can make DR DOS more convenient to use. A full chapter in the book is devoted to using the files on the floppy disk. Also included in the book is a coupon that enables you to purchase DR DOS 6.0 for $49.95. This is a savings of $50 off the list price for DR DOS 6.0. Since CUSTOMIZING TOOLKIT costs $34.95, you can come away with a net savings of $15 and own both the book and DR DOS 6.0. I found CUSTOMIZING TOOLKIT to be extremely informative and especially helpful in the area of memory management. I recently purchased a new computer, a 80386 40Mhz, that came with DR DOS 6.0. Despite the fact that DR DOS comes with its own setup program, I never would have gotten the most out of my machine without the information in CUSTOMIZING TOOLKIT. Having a network card installed in the computer caused no end of trouble with upper memory management. Eventually, with the help of CUSTOMIZING TOOLKIT I was able to have expanded memory and the network card running at the same time. CUSTOMIZING TOOLKIT has immediately found a permanent place on my shelf of computer reference books and I find myself referring to it frequently. **//----------------------------//** ^ CODE OF CONDUCT by Everett Alvarez Jr. with Samuel Schreiner Jr. (Donald I. Fine, 1991, $21.00, ISBN 1-55611-310-2) <> CODE OF CONDUCT is the emotionally wrenching and inspiring story of the return and recovery of Everett Alvarez, the first American POW in North Vietnam. After 8-1/2 years of isolation and torture (a story told in Alvarez's previous book, CHAINED EAGLE), Alvarez was released on February 22, 1973. Upon his return he found that his wife, the memory of whom had sustained him throughout his captivity, had left him. He also found a country still divided, struggling to come to terms with the war that led to his ordeal. At first crushed, Alvarez soon embarked on a mission to put his life back together. He remarried, then went on to earn three degrees in higher education. He rose through military and civilian service to positions that included cabinet-level meetings at the White House. He has become a successful entrepreneur. And he was a keynote speaker at the dedication of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington D.C. CODE OF CONDUCT is a moving personal story of self-reliance, courage and perseverance--of ultimate success rising like the Phoenix from the ashes of the vast inhumanity man can visit on his fellow man. **//----------------------------//** ^ MORTIMER J. ADLER ON MORAL PHILOSOPHY <> Dr. Adler has been a philosopher for quite a while, having received his Ph.D. from Columbia University in 1928. He is Chairman of the Board of Editors of the Encyclopaedia Britannica, Director of the Institute of Philosophical Research, Honorary Trustee of the Aspen Institute, and a University Professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He is also a devout Aristotelian and an excellent teacher. If you've ever wondered about questions of ethics, morality, or just why Aristotle is considered such a great thinker, you can't do better than the two books below. ^ ARISTOTLE FOR EVERYBODY: Difficult Thought Made Easy by Mortimer J. Adler (Collier Books, November 1991, $12.95, ISBN 0-02-064111-7) "Almost all of the philosophical truths that I have come to know and understand I have learned from Aristotle", says Dr. Adler. Now Collier books reprints Dr. Adler's 1978 book, available in paperback for the first time. ARISTOTLE FOR EVERYBODY explains what Dr. Adler calls Aristotle's "uncommon common sense" with clarity and brevity. Beginning with a few thoughts on why anyone should care about philosophy, Dr. Adler considers each of the three aspects of human life: Man the Maker, Man the Doer, and Man the Knower, along with way discussing Aristotle ideas about how each of us can live the very best, happiest life possible. The last section of the book takes up several knotty philosophical questions such as infinity, eternity, and God. An Epilogue relates each part of ARISTOTLE FOR EVERYBODY to specific places in the works of Aristotle, very useful for anyone planning on tackling Aristotle head-on. (While Aristotle's prose is incredibly dense, making a book like this necessary, you should be aware that Plato's works, particularly the Dialogues, are very readable. While Plato didn't have quite as much to say, he said it very entertainingly and his Dialogues can easily be read for the sheer fun of it.) ^ DESIRES RIGHT & WRONG: The Ethics of Enough by Mortimer J. Adler (Macmillan, November 1991, $22.95, ISBN 0-02-500281-3) This is an expansion of the ideas presented in ARISTOTLE FOR EVERYBODY, going much deeper into the question of how to distinguish right desires from wrong desires, and real goods from apparent goods. Dr. Adler particularly discusses the desires for pleasure, money, fame, and power. Possibly the most interesting section of DESIRES RIGHT & WRONG is the chapter on "Fundamental Errors in Moral Philosophy", in which Dr. Adler (and Aristotle) find fault with some of the ideas of other major philosophers. An appendix provides an annotated commentary on Aristotle's NICHOMACHEAN ETHICS, another invaluable aid for anyone planning to read the original work. Taken together ARISTOTLE FOR EVERYBODY and DESIRES RIGHT & WRONG are indispensable for the beginning philosophical student, whether enrolled in a school curriculum or pursuing private studies. Dr. Adler is a brilliant teacher, his clarity of thought matched by the clarity of his prose. Highly recommended. Every amateur scholar can benefit by having a shelf devoted to Dr. Adler's works. He's written 48 books, and they provide an excellent education all by themselves. I would particularly recommend, in addition to the above two books, the following: HOW TO READ A BOOK, SIX GREAT IDEAS, TEN PHILOSOPHICAL MISTAKES, A GUIDEBOOK TO LEARNING, and INTELLECT: MIND OVER MATTER. **//----------------------------//** ^ MIRRORS OF THE SELF: Archetypal Images That Shape Your Life edited by Christine Downing (Jeremy P. Tarcher, November 1991, $12.95, ISBN 0-87477-664-3) <> Psychologists know that our personalities, our selves, are made up of many different parts; that, in a sense, each one of us is an entire group of inner people. C.G. Jung noted this, and he found that there were several inner entities that seem to be shared by many people, archetypal entities. MIRRORS OF THE SELF begins with an excerpt from Jung's work, then goes on to expand and build upon that foundation. In all, this collection of essays from a wide variety of people (Jungians, feminists, poets, storytellers) defines 45 distinct images from our inner selves. For example, your Ego is the "you" that you are familiar with. But then there is your Persona, the mask you wear for social acceptance; and your Shadow self, repository of all the aspects of you that your Ego disowns. There is also your Double, your inner alter ego who offers companionship and support. And, most controversially, there are the Anima (the inner woman) and Animus (the inner man). "To discover these figures at work in our own inner lives is to be freed from an identification of ourselves with the most familiar side of our personality. We are brought in touch with other modes of perception and feeling, with forgotten memories, neglected or devalued capacities, and repressed energies, which have the power to enrich and deepen our lives...As we establish a more conscious relation to these archetypal images that live within our own souls, we can free ourselves from being driven by THEIR fears and desires, by impulses whose power in our lives we may never before have directly confronted. We may also learn to make use of their wisdom and their energy." This is not one of those pop psychology books that teach you how to be your own psychologist in just five minutes a day. MIRRORS OF THE SELF is a serious exploration of a very interesting aspect of human psychology. What's unusual is that this serious book on human psychology happens to be entirely accessible to the lay reader. Intriguing and thought-provoking. (You can contact the publisher at: Jeremy P. Tarcher, Inc., 5858 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 200, Los Angeles, CA 90036.) **//----------------------------//** ^ CYBERSPACE: FIRST STEPS edited by Michael Benedikt (MIT Press, October 1991, $24.95, ISBN 0-262-02327-X) <> The "First Steps" of the title refer to the progress of cyberspace from the pages of science fiction novels into reality. Or should I say virtual reality, because that's what cyberspace is: the "sort of" universe where information dwells, and which humans are just beginning to visit. But, as a number of cyberpunk SF writers have noticed, the radical new technology of cyberspace brings with it both fantastical opportunities and major social problems. This collection of essays by leading thinkers takes those first steps in exploring the implications of our emerging technological capabilities. The construction and organization of a cyberspace would require the talents of artists and professionals from every field, and as this collection demonstrates, it already engages some of the best minds in computer science, architecture, the visual arts, philosophy, anthropology and industry. Contributors: Michael Benedikt (Univ. of Texas at Austin), David Tomas (Univ. of Toronto), Nicole Stenger (MIT), Michael Heim (Calif. State Univ., Long Beach), Allucquere Rosanne Stone (Univ. of Calif., Santa Cruz and San Diego), Marcos Novak (Univ. of Texas at Austin and UCLA), Alan Wexelblat (Bull Worldwide Information Systems), Chip Morningstar & F. Randall Farmer (Lucasfilm Ltd.), Carl Tollander (Autodesk Inc.), Tim McFadden (Altos Computer Systems), Meredith Bricken (Univ. of Washington), Steve Pruitt & Tom Barrett (Texas Instruments & Electronic Data Systems), and Wendy A. Kellogg, John M. Carroll & John T. Richards (IBM). CYBERSPACE: FIRST STEPS also includes an original short story by William Gibson, author of the award-winning novel NEUROMANCER, in which the term cyberspace first appeared. (You can contact the publisher at: The MIT Press, 55 Hayward Street, Cambridge, MA 02142.) **//----------------------------//** ^ THE COLUMBIA HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NOVEL: NEW VIEWS Emory Elliott, General Editor (Columbia Univ. Press, November 1991, $59.95, ISBN 0-231-07360-7) <> This large, fascinating, and occasionally opinionated volume is unusual on several fronts. First, it is difficult to believe, but this is the very first book devoted to the history of America's major literary form. Second, instead of the more customary format of a seamless chronology of This Happened, Then That Happened, THE COLUMBIA HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NOVEL is a roughly chronological series of essays by a diverse group of critics and scholars. This thematic approach makes for a choppier but more interesting history, as each contributor takes on his or her period or subject matter from a particular perspective, giving the reader text that is more personal, more opinionated, more dynamic, than one expects to find in literary histories. A third distinctive feature of THE COLUMBIA HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NOVEL is the list of topics covered, many of them receiving their first widespread serious attention. Authors considered in this volume include Kate Chopin, Frank Norris, Charles Chestnutt, William Burroughs, Richard Wright, Ralph Ellison, Toni Morrison, James Baldwin, Philip Roth, Thomas Pynchon, Maxine Kingston, Zora Hurston, Thomas Berger, Charles Bukowski, and Joanna Russ, to name just a few. Topics discussed include popular culture, lesbian and gay authors, romance fiction, modernism and postmodernism, the book marketplace, colonialism, realism, western fiction, Caribbean fiction, Canadian fiction, Latin American fiction, and the avant-garde. The style of most of the contributors is distinctly academic, but the book is still readable and interesting enough for the scholarly amateur reader. It should go without saying that THE COLUMBIA HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NOVEL is an essential volume for any high school, college, or public library. (You can contact the publisher at: Columbia University Press, 562 West 113th Street, New York, NY 10025.) **//----------------------------//** ^ PC TOOLS DELUXE 6.0: An Essential Guide by Ruth Ashley & Judi N. Fernandez (Wiley, 1990, $21.95, ISBN 0-471-52476-X) <> You might be wondering why I'm mentioning a guidebook for an older version of PC TOOLS. The fact is, reaction in many quarters to PC TOOLS version 7.0 has been distinctly lukewarm. Some people like the snazzier look, others prefer the plainer but hardier 6.0. (Several friends have purchased the 7.0 upgrade only to revert to 6.0 after a month or two.) For everyone out there who is still using 6.0, for whatever reason, I thought you might like to know about PC TOOLS DELUXE by Ashley & Fernandez. It's a good, well-written guide that is a lot easier to use than the documentation that comes with the software. And it's still available from Wiley. You can contact the publisher by writing to: John Wiley & Sons, Professional and Trade Division, 605 Third Avenue, New York NY 10158-0012. **//----------------------------//** ^ THE LEAST YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT DOS by Patrick Bultema (Mike Murach & Assoc., 1991, $17.95, ISBN 0-911625-61-5) <> In RFP #19 we reviewed a book called THE ONLY DOS BOOK YOU'LL EVER NEED, one of the finest comprehensive DOS guides available. Now the same author has put together a cut-down version of that book for use by the vast numbers of us who need to know the basics of DOS from time to time, but who would rather not be confused by a lot of exotic details that never come up unless you're a computer technician. Between the two books, everyone in your company will be taken care of: the Techs get THE ONLY DOS BOOK YOU'LL EVER NEED (Mike Murach & Assoc., 1991, $24.95, ISBN 0-911625-58-5), everyone else gets THE LEAST YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT DOS. As a matter of fact, Mike Murach & Assoc. not only have volume discounts for both books (the prices begin dropping at 10 copies), but they also have an Instructor's Guide for THE LEAST YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT DOS, to facilitate in-house training for the employees who need basic familiarity with their operating system. Both books are clearly written, well-illustrated, and logically organized for easy access. This is the only customized system of DOS guides I know of--and it's a great idea. You can contact the publisher at: Mike Murach & Associates, Inc., 4697 West Jacquelyn Avenue, Fresno, CA 93722; 209/275-3335; 1-800/221-5528 (orders only). **//----------------------------//** ^ LAND CIRCLE: Writings Collected from the Land by Linda Hasselstrom (Fulcrum, November 1991, $19.95, ISBN 1-55591-082-3) <> Linda Hasselstrom lives and works on a cattle ranch in western South Dakota, and she writes eloquently of her relationship with the land in this collection of her essays and poetry. She discusses environmentalism and our interconnectedness with nature from the perspective of real personal experience. Her love of the land is not an abstraction but a tangible part of her existence, and she shares the details of her life and what it takes to live on the high plains. Particularly interesting are Hasselstrom's views on animal rights and women carrying firearms. LAND CIRCLE makes fascinating reading, an excellent and unusual volume for anyone's nature shelf. You can contact the publisher at: Fulcrum Publishing, Suite 350, 350 Indiana Street, Golden CO 80401; 303/277-1623. **//----------------------------//** ^ SUPERHERO COMICS OF THE SILVER AGE: The Illustrated History by Mike Benton (Taylor, January 1992, $24.95, ISBN 0-87833-746-6) <> In brightest day, in blackest night, No evil shall escape my sight. Let those who worship evil's might Beware my power--Green Lantern's light! ---Green Lantern (DC Comics) Superhero comics began in the 1940s, but most had disappeared by the early '50s. But, wait! Up in the sky--superheroes made a comeback in the late 1950s, and by 1963 more than a dozen of the Golden Age superheroes were back, along with dozens and dozens (and dozens) of new ones. Ultimately, the mass popularity of the superhero comic was doomed; by the growing cynicism of the readers and by the glut of poor-quality comics. The Silver Age of superhero comics lasted barely a decade, but what a decade it was. Mike Benton tells the whole story in SUPERHERO COMICS OF THE SILVER AGE. While the first section of the book gives you "The Story", the majority of SUPERHERO COMICS OF THE SILVER AGE is a comprehensive encyclopedia of The Heroes, The Artists, and The Comics. "The Heroes" has an article on each character, with a header consisting of the superhero's Secret Identity, any Nicknames, their First Appearances, Major Silver Age Appearances, and Other Silver Age Appearances. Heroes from Ant-Man to X-Men, heroes like Wonder Woman, Spider-Man, the Flash, Green Arrow, and Iron Man. "The Artists" has entries on people like Steve Ditko, Jack Kirby, Joe Orlando, Curt Swan, Alex Toth, Wally Wood, and Berni Wrightson. And "The Comics" covers just about everything you could want to know about the books our superheroes appeared in, from ACTION COMICS to X-MEN. Significant Issues are listed (with reasons), Major Characters, Dates Published, Artists (along with which issues they worked on), and a brief article about the book. There is also a Chronology of superhero comic books 1953-1970, with all the important events and books listed year by year. SUPERHERO COMICS OF THE SILVER AGE is another invaluable reference book for comics fans and collectors from Mike Benton, a well-known authority and speaker in the comic collecting field and regular contributor to publications like AMERICAN COLLECTOR, COMIC BUYERS GUIDE, and COLLECTIBLES ILLUSTRATED. (A previous, matching volume by Benton was HORROR COMICS: THE ILLUSTRATED HISTORY, Taylor Publishing, July 1991, $21.95 ISBN 0-87833-734-2, reviewed in RFP #19.) A life-long believer in the "zen" of comics: he learned dating and phone etiquette from ARCHIE COMICS, economics from UNCLE SCROOGE, and quantum physics from an issue of MYSTERY IN SPACE. He currently lives in central Texas, where he patiently watches the skies each night for some sign of a space ship bearing a small child from the planet Krypton. SUPERHERO COMICS OF THE SILVER AGE is Number 2 in THE TAYLOR HISTORY OF COMICS. You can contact the publisher at: Taylor Publishing Company, 1550 W. Mockingbird Lane, Dallas, TX 75235; 214/637-2800. **//----------------------------//** ^ BETWEEN HOME AND NURSING HOME: The Board and Care Alternative by Ivy M. Down, M.A. & Lorraine Schnurr, Ph.D. (Prometheus Books, November 1991) Hardcover: $18.95 ISBN 0-87975-619-5 Paperback: $13.95 ISBN 0-87975-620-9 <> Some of the elderly are in good health and can live alone. Other elderly people need round-the-clock care and must live in a nursing home. But what about all the people in between; those who don't need (or can't afford) full-time nursing care, yet find it difficult to live alone? One increasingly popular answer is a board and care residential facility, in which a small group of elderly can live together in relative independence, while receiving some kind of additional daily care. BETWEEN HOME AND NURSING HOME is a comprehensive resource guide to board and care homes for caregivers, the elderly, and the people who love them. In the pages of BETWEEN HOME AND NURSING HOME you'll discover: what board and care homes are and how they operate, what to look for when choosing a facility, how to monitor the care offered, and what kinds of services should be available. In the back is a valuable set of appendices featuring important facts about retirement facilities, evaluating a residential care facility, state units on aging, state agencies with jurisdiction over residential care facilities, a list of those who currently serve as their state's long-term care Ombudsman, and much more. BETWEEN HOME AND NURSING HOME addresses an important subject with vital, practical information for the elderly, their families, and professional caregivers. (Prometheus Books, 700 East Amherst Street, Buffalo, NY 14215; 716/837-2475.) **//----------------------------//** ^ UNINHABITED OCEAN ISLANDS by Jon Fisher (Loompanics Unlimited, 1991, $16.95, ISBN 1-55950-074-3) <> Everyone talks about "getting away from it all", and the uninhabited ocean island has always been a staple of our fantasies. But they don't really exist, do they? Actually, there are thousands and thousands of deserted islands all over the globe, just sitting there waiting for you. Why aren't all the islands overrun with people, just like the city where you live? Well, think about it--it takes a mighty hardy type to get along on a deserted island. No stores, no electricity, no doctors, no television--just you and Mother Nature. Idyllic, yes, but also scary. Great challenges and great rewards. But maybe you're not totally discouraged, maybe you'd still like to think about chucking it all and heading to sea. Where are these islands, and which one would be best for you? That's where Jon Fisher's UNINHABITED OCEAN ISLANDS comes in. Fisher describes over 180 specific islands, with maps showing their exact locations. He discusses each island's size, climate, vegetation, animal life, water supplies, structures, etc. This is great fodder for speculation, no matter how serious you are about weighing anchor. Of course, nobody's saying you have to move to your island forever--wouldn't a deserted island make a great winter vacation? Fisher divides the islands he covers into 4 categories: Pacific Ocean, Warm Islands; Sub-Antarctic Islands, Pacific Sector; Atlantic Ocean Island; and Indian Ocean Islands. If you can't find exactly what you want there, Part V points out areas of the world where you can find thousands and thousands of other islands for consideration. And in the back of the book you'll find a great list of References, directing you to further reading to help you make your island fantasy come true. Tantalizing reading. (You can get UNINHABITED OCEAN ISLANDS directly from the publisher by sending the list price, plus $3 shipping and handling, to: Loompanics Unlimited, PO Box 1197, Port Townsend, WA 98368.) **//----------------------------//** ^ BLOODY SAM: The Life and Films of Sam Peckinpah by Marshall Fine (Donald I. Fine, November 1991, $24.95, ISBN 1-55611-236-X) <> Whenever the subject of violence in movies comes up, most people nowadays talk about Martin Scorsese, Francis Coppola, or Brian DePalma. But the man who first brought extreme violence to movies was Sam Peckinpah, who became famous for slow-motion blood-spurting in such films as THE WILD BUNCH and STRAW DOGS. Some critics commended his visual brilliance and narrative daring, others condemned his glorification of violence. Despite, or perhaps because of, the controversial nature of Peckinpah's films, he attracted some of the top leading men of his day: Dustin Hoffman, James Coburn, Robert Culp, Charlton Heston. Peckinpah fought producers constantly, as they tried to tone down his movies to appeal to a wider audience. Some of his behind-the-scenes battles for creative control even resulted in fistfights. Peckinpah's story includes encounters with the greats of Hollywood from the 1950s through the 1980s, 120 of whom were interviewed for this book. His personal life was as turbulent as his films: he was married five times, frequently fired large portions of his crews in mid-production, and was notorious for his extended alcohol and drug binges. BLOODY SAM is the story of an artist who briefly achieved his vision in film, but never reached his full potential because of his battles with drugs and perpetual unwillingness to submit to authority in any form. **//----------------------------//** ^ DISCOVERING THE WORLD OF THE ANCIENT GREEKS by Zofia Archibald (Facts On File, 1991, $29.95, ISBN 0-8160-2614-9) <> "Whereas Homer's ILIAD is pre-occupied with heroic morality, the ODYSSEY revels in the fantasy of exploration--the 8th century BC's equivalent of science fiction." ---from DISCOVERING THE WORLD OF THE ANCIENT GREEKS While the exact beginnings of human existence may be lost in the mists of time, the origin of what we call Western Civilization can be traced definitively back to the ancient Greeks. Much of what we know today, and most of what constitutes our perspective on the world, is taken from the discoveries, thoughts, and writings of the people of Classical Greece. Who were these people? What was their land like? How do we know what we know about ancient Greece? What remnants of ancient Greece remain to be enjoyed today? You'll find the answers to all of these questions in DISCOVERING THE WORLD OF THE ANCIENT GREEKS by Zofia Archibald. The volume begins with an introductory survey of Greek history in brief, with a valuable Time Chart and a map of Greece showing both ancient and modern place names. The first of the three main divisions is dedicated to The Archaeological Story, how dedicated individuals and groups have uncovered the ancient Greeks, from the Roman conquest in 197 BC up to the present day. The second section of the book gathers together and illuminates what we know today about The World of the Ancient Greeks: their politics, economics, commerce, military, social classes, cities, religion, and art. The final third of the book provides a Gazetteer of Sites, with What You Will See Today along with What You Would Have Seen had you visited the ancient site in its heyday. A list of museums in the area and a paragraph on How To Get There complete the material on each important site. DISCOVERING THE WORLD OF THE ANCIENT GREEKS is not just lively and interesting prose, it is also a beautiful book of photographs and reproductions adorning every page. This book would be invaluable for anyone planning a trip to Greece, providing background understanding and specific travel hints to make the vacation much more meaningful. DISCOVERING THE WORLD OF THE ANCIENT GREEKS is equally beneficial to the armchair traveller, who, through the magic of books, is not bound to any particular location or time period. This is a fine book that is both interesting to read and lovely to look at. You can contact the publisher at: Facts On File, Inc., 460 Park Avenue South, New York, NY 10016-7382; 212/683-2244. **//----------------------------//** ^ FACTS PLUS: An Almanac of Essential Information by Susan C. Anthony (Instructional Resources, 1991, $15.95, ISBN 1-879478-00-5) <> Intended primarily for teachers and students in grades 3-9, FACTS PLUS is an enormously useful book that should be on every home reference shelf. While there are other information almanacs, none that I have seen have the variety, the attractive, easy-to-read page design, the brevity, or the logical organization of FACTS PLUS. Filled with useful, pertinent information, not trivia, I've had occasion to refer to FACTS PLUS at least a dozen times in the week that it's been on my desk. Sure, I've got the information elsewhere--I have a pretty decent reference library--but I'm sure I wouldn't have bothered. Who bothers digging out the 20-lb. atlas just to verify a small point of geography? Who spends half an hour with their encyclopedia just to check on the qualifications for becoming a U.S. Senator? Who would interrupt their work for 10 minutes while they search for some book that would tell them the two-letter postal abbreviation for Nebraska? I'd just guess, or work around the problem, unless it was unusually crucial, and I bet you would too. But what if you could answer all of these questions, and thousands more besides, in less than 2 minutes with a thinnish book that is kept handy on your desk? That's the power of FACTS PLUS: the most used information has been gathered, organized, and attractively printed, ready for day-to-day use. Here is the Table of Contents: TIME AND SPACE--Time and Clocks, Time Zones, Calendars, Holidays, Days, Months, Seasons, The Universe, The Solar System, The Moon, The Space Age SCIENCE AND HEALTH--The Atmosphere and Weather, Climates, Geology, Energy, Matter, Plants and Animals, Human Body Systems, Nutrition, Drugs and Alcohol THE EARTH AND ITS PEOPLE--Waters of the World, Land Areas of the World, Countries of the World, History, Time Line of History, Notable People, Inventions and Discoveries, Man-Made Structures, Major World Religions THE UNITED STATES--States of the Union, Largest Cities of the United States, National Parks, Indians of the United States and Canada, Declaration of Independence, Constitution, Forms of Government, Speeches and Quotes, Symbols of America, Branches of the United States Government, Presidents MAPS--North America, The United States, The World, South America, Africa, Europe, Asia, Australia and Oceania LIBRARIES AND BOOKS--The Globe, Reading Maps, Atlases and Types of Maps, Graphic Aids, The Library, Parts of a Book, Encyclopedia, Dictionary, Almanac and Thesaurus, Newspaper, Periodicals, Telephone Directory, Types of Literature, Story Elements, Caldecott Award Winning Books, Newbery Award Winning Books, Long Time Favorites THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE--The Alphabet, Special Alphabets, Abbreviations, Punctuation, Capitalization, Homonyms and Troublesome Words, Spelling, Greek and Latin Word Roots, Prefixes, Suffixes, Grammar and Parts of Speech WRITING, MUSIC AND ART--The Writing Process, Things to Write, Prewriting, Proofreading and Editing, Letter Writing, Journal Writing, Music, Art and Color MATH AND NUMBERS--Mathematics, Place Value, Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication, Division, Fractions, Decimal Fractions, Measurement, Geometry, United States Money HANDBOOK--First Aid, Etiquette, Problem Solving, Discussions, Oral Reading, Making a Speech, Presenting a Formal Play, Interviewing a Person, Taking Notes, Homework and Studying, Improving Your Memory, Taking Standardized Tests, The Research Report, Science Projects While FACTS PLUS was designed for, and is being used in, the school environment, it is much too useful to be so confined. Ideally, every child should have access to a copy of FACTS PLUS, at home and at school, not only to supply many of the details that a child needs to learn and know in the course of his or her education but also giving the child a chance to get used to using a reference volume in the easiest and most pleasant possible way. And be sure to get a copy for your own desk as well. It'll be the most-used reference book you own. You can get FACTS PLUS from the publisher by sending the list price, plus shipping and handling ($3 for each book for first class, $1.50 per book for book rate), to: Instructional Resources Co., 1013 E. Dimond Blvd. #188, Anchorage, AK 99515. (By the way, the name of the street is actually "Dimond", that isn't a typo.) **//----------------------------//** ^ THEY'RE ALL IN IT TOGETHER: When Good Things Happen to Bad People by Donald W. Kaul (Andrews and McMeel, 1991, $16.95, ISBN 0-8362-6220-4) <> When bad things happen to good people. Don't you hate that? So does Donald Kaul, and he's been crabbing about it in his syndicated newspaper column for 25 years. A self-proclaimed "woolly-headed liberal", Kaul makes a nice matching bookend to the conservative, but equally cranky, Andrew Rooney. The columns collected here are from the last ten years and cover politics, sports, marriage, war, economics, religion, and just about every other significant subject to rear it's controversial head in the 1980s. Kaul believes in the power of negative thinking and has some extremely funny ideas for the expansion of capital punishment. He has something wise and funny to say about darn near everything--here's a small sample. About his columns: "I hope that reading them makes you a better person or, if not that, one who is more fun at parties." George Bush: "Bush is not only kinder and gentler, he is insipid. Personally, I prefer my presidents with larger virtues and darker faults. Richard Nixon, for example." Marriage: "I've always found that marriage goes better if you don't talk to each other before 10 A.M." About himself: "People have called me a shallow nincompoop who scratches out a meager living by taking cheap shots at his betters. That's a lie. I'm not that shallow." Domestic arguments: "Fights with one's spouse are different from fights with one's children. You can't afford to lose a fight with your husband or wife. Neither can you afford to win." Religion: "I am neither Christian nor Jew; I am not even an atheist. I am one of those who finds spiritual peace in the moral confusion of Not Being Sure About Things--an agnostic. I oppose abortion on esthetic grounds, I love the Bible as literature, and on the Day of Judgment I shall take notes." Liberalism: "That's the trouble with being a liberal. You realize that if life was fair, you wouldn't be doing as well as you are." I could go on quoting like this until I'd copied out the whole book. It's that good. Besides, he's right. They're all in it together. So the rest of US have got to stick together. **//----------------------------//** ^ LOSER TAKE ALL: The Comic Art of Woody Allen New Expanded Edition by Maurice Yacowar (Continuum, 1991, $14.95, ISBN 0-8264-0551-7) <> "While comedy may be the most widely appreciated art, it is also the most undervalued." ---from LOSER TAKE ALL My favorite book about Woody Allen's work, originally published in 1979 and covering Allen's career through MANHATTAN, has now been brought up to date. The original text is still there, covering Woody Allen's early monologues, the plays, the screenplays for other directors, up through his internationally-acclaimed films: WHAT'S UP, TIGER LILY?, TAKE THE MONEY AND RUN, BANANAS, EVERYTHING YOU ALWAYS WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT SEX, SLEEPER, LOVE AND DEATH, ANNIE HALL, INTERIORS, and MANHATTAN. The new edition continues with examinations of STARDUST MEMORIES, THE FLOATING LIGHT BULB, A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S SEX COMEDY, ZELIG, BROADWAY DANNY ROSE, THE PURPLE ROSE OF CAIRO, HANNAH AND HER SISTERS, RADIO DAYS, SEPTEMBER, ANOTHER WOMAN, "OEDIPUS WRECKS", CRIMES AND MISDEMEANORS, and ALICE. The comprehensive Filmography, Discography, and Bibliography are invaluable for Allen fans. The stated purpose of Yacowar's text is to "define the structure and themes" of Woody Allen's works, "to determine what Allen's jokes mean". He does an admirable job of it too, the commentary being both enlightening and entertaining. If I may turn the tables on Yacowar for just a moment, he even allows himself a few small humorous moments of his own, as when he mimics Allen's common theme of overblown intellectuality in describing INTERIORS as "a Chekhovian vision of an O'Neill family, expressed with Bergmanesque rigor." Yacowar fully understands the potential of comedy, and he complains "...our disrespect for comedy is so deeply ingrained that we use the same word, SERIOUS, as the antithesis of both COMIC and TRIVIAL. The implication is that nothing important can be conveyed by comedy." The author clearly outlines the progress of Allen's career and the maturation of his art, doing a very creditable job of putting his finger on just why we enjoy Allen's creations so much. "However funny it is, the Allen canon consistently expresses the anxieties of a modern urban sensibility, with its dreams of glory and its frustrations, its sense of isolation, and its doubts about the existence of a God and the dignity of man." LOSER TAKE ALL is a great read for Allen fans, also a thoughtful gift for the discriminating movie fan on your gift list. You can contact the publisher of LOSER TAKE ALL (and many other fine books about theater) by writing to: The Continuum Publishing Co., 370 Lexington Avenue, New York, NY 10017. **//----------------------------//** ^ KNOW YOUR CAT: An Owner's Guide to Cat Behavior by Bruce Fogle, D.V.M., photographs by Jane Burton (Dorling Kindersley, November 1991, $19.95, ISBN 1-879431-04-1) <> Did you know that: * Cats have surpassed dogs as America's most popular pet? * Cats can distinguish between salt, bitter, and acid tastes, but not sweet tastes? * For a cat, humans make good cat substitutes; often they enjoy warmer relations with us than with other felines? Dr. Fogle's extensive research and personal experience have resulted in the most fascinating and informative book about cat behavior I have ever read. Add to that the photographs of Jane Burton, which must be seen to be believed, and you have a classic cat book that any cat fancier will cherish for years. Dr. Fogle talks about how cats communicate with posture, facial expression, and vocalizations. How cats see things, how they hear, and the importance of touch. He discusses a cat's socialization, and how a cat "must be exposed to humans during the first seven weeks, or they will always retain a timid fear of us". Dr. Fogle examines a cat's mating habits, their territoriality, the difference between learned behavior and instinct. He also details the maturation of a cat from birth through old age: how the senses develop, how the cat learns survival skills, how the cat slowly becomes independent, and how old age affects behavior. The most amazing aspect of the KNOW YOUR CAT, however, are the more than 350 photographs that illustrate every point made in the text. You aren't just told that "Folded-back ears show aggression", the text points to a photograph of a small kitten with folded-back ears ready to attack a littermate. There are only a couple posed studio-type cat portraits here, the vast majority are candid shots of cats being cats: fighting, washing, stretching, giving birth, playing, etc. The publisher says: "Specially commissioned for this book, great pains were taken to ensure that the pictures would capture actual cat behavior. Many of the animals pictured are Dr. Fogle's patients (whom he accompanied to the photo sessions), and the remainder lived at Jane Burton's country home for six months so they could acclimate to their surroundings." It just isn't possible to give you an adequate idea of how visually enthralling KNOW YOUR CAT is, you have to see it for yourself. Fascinating text, irresistible photographs--KNOW YOUR CAT is an experience no cat fancier should miss. If your local bookstore can't get KNOW YOUR CAT for you, contact the publisher at: Dorling Kindersley, Inc., 232 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016, 212/684-0404. **//----------------------------//** ^ BE SICK WELL: A Healthy Approach to Chronic Illness by Jeff Kane, M.D. (New Harbinger, October 1991, $11.95, ISBN 1-879237-08-3) <> Chronic illness changes your life. It often threatens to BECOME your life, as your self-image changes from "person" to "sick person" or even "victim". Yet some people with chronic illnesses or handicaps not only survive cheerfully but seem to positively thrive. Dr. Kane points out that most of us will, sooner or later, develop some kind of chronic illness, so it is time well spent to consider how to BE SICK WELL. Dr. Kane provides a variety of specific suggestions about what to do and how to approach life with a chronic illness. It's important to relax and to deal creatively with the challenges of your health problem, and Dr. Kane shows just how this is possible. He discusses how to develop the proper attitude, how to maintain confidence, how to get the most out of your medical support people, and how to make your illness easier on yourself and on those around you. BE SICK WELL is full of clear, sound advice from a doctor who now devotes his practice to counseling people with chronic and life-threatening illness. If your local bookstore can't get BE SICK WELL, you can order it directly from the publisher by sending the list price, plus $2 shipping and handling to: New Harbinger Publications, Inc., 5674 Shattuck Avenue, Oakland, CA 94609. **//----------------------------//** ^ YOUR GUIDE TO GOOD NUTRITION by Frederick J. Stare, M.D., Virginia Aronson, M.S., R.D., and Stephen Barrett, M.D. (Prometheus Books, October 1991, $13.95, ISBN 0-87975-692-6) <> Every day some test finds another health-endangering food or food ingredient, someone invents a new health food fad (vitamin C, oat bran, fish oil, etc.), and someone else publishes a new diet book. What are we supposed to believe? Will eggs for breakfast lead to a heart attack? Is red meat really that bad for you? Should I take vitamins? How can you avoid food additives anyway? Which is worse, sugar or the chemicals in the sugar substitutes? Just how dangerous is a few extra pounds? I could go on like this for hours, and I expect you could too. YOUR GUIDE TO GOOD NUTRITION is 200 pages of clear, easy-to-grasp information that will answer most of your nutrition questions. In the back there is a very helpful Glossary and a list of Recommended Reading for further information on a variety of related subjects. If you're tired of rumors, hearsay, and the cranks of the nutritional fringe, YOUR GUIDE TO GOOD NUTRITION is just what the doctor ordered. (You can contact the publisher at: Prometheus Books, 700 East Amherst Street, Buffalo, NY 14215) **//----------------------------//** ^ CONGREGATION OF THE CONDEMNED: Voices Against the Death Penalty edited by Shirley Dicks (Prometheus Books, November 1991, $24.95, ISBN 0-87975-679-9) <> Shirley Dicks is the mother of Jeff Dicks, currently on Tennessee's death row. In 1979, Jeff unwittingly became an accessory to a robbery that resulted in the death of a storekeeper. A bungled defense, the misuse of circumstantial evidence, and manipulated testimony led to his conviction for murder. Lack of money for adequate legal representation has derailed his attempts to appeal his case. Now Shirley Dicks is another voice raised in protest against the death penalty: inhuman, unfair, and ineffective solution to a problem that most of us would rather not think about. CONGREGATION OF THE CONDEMNED is an eye-opening and affecting collection of essays by a wide variety of people: death-row inmates, members of victims' families, legal and medical experts, religious and political figures, journalists, entertainers, and people from groups such as Amnesty International, the NAACP, and the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty. Also among the contributors are such well-known personalities as: Senator Edward Kennedy, New York Governor Mario Cuomo, Coretta Scott King, journalist Tom Wicker, Mike Farrell, and Peter Gabriel. CONGREGATION OF THE CONDEMNED will give just about any reader a lot to think about. An important book. (You can contact the publisher at: Prometheus Books, 700 East Amherst Street, Buffalo, NY 14215) **//----------------------------//** ^ THE ONE MINUTE (OR SO) HEALER: 500 Quick and Simple Ways to Heal Yourself Naturally by Dana Ullman, M.P.H. (Tarcher, November 1991, $8.95, ISBN 0-87477-667-8) <> For too many people today, a "doctor" can be defined as a stiff, remote specialist who charges a small fortune to tell us we suffer from a Latin word, and who prescribes drugs we've never heard of and further expensive and uncomfortable tests to determine medical trivia we don't understand. A man who has pictures of our insides on file, yet who would be unable to pick us out of a police lineup. Into such an environment, THE ONE MINUTE (OR SO) HEALER comes as a refreshing and empowering change of perspective. A wide variety of health problems are discussed, with clear information given in everyday English, and a variety of remedies and treatments are suggested. The best aspect of THE ONE MINUTE (OR SO) HEALER is the tone: it wanders from good-humored to positively humorous. Nowhere will you find the stern, detached seriousness that I have found to be the norm with American doctors. Interestingly, Ullman is not part of the medical establishment, but is one of the new breed of alternative health care professionals. He is the Director and Founder of Homeopathic Educational Services and the author of EVERYBODY'S GUIDE TO HOMEOPATHIC MEDICINES (which has recently been revised and expanded and is also available from Tarcher). You can contact the publisher at: Jeremy P. Tarcher, Inc., 5858 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 200, Los Angeles, CA 90036. **//----------------------------//** ^ MODEL RAILROADS The Complete Guide to Designing, Building, and Operating a Model Railroad by Cyril J. Freezer (Running Press, 1991, $12.98, ISBN: 1-56138-065-2) <> Model railroading is a hobby where experience counts, and that's what Freezer--editor of RAILWAY MODELLER for more than 25 years--brings to the reader in MODEL RAILROADS. In clear, easy-to-follow text Freezer outlines the possibilities, the rewards, the hazards, and the frustrations of model railroading. From choosing a gauge, deciding on a layout, building the baseboard, laying the track, wiring, modelling and landscaping, to advanced miniature civil engineering, seemingly everything the beginning railway modeller needs to know is contained in this attractive book. And, speaking of attractive, the photographs and diagrams that highlight every page are fascinating and inspirational. If you can read this book without taking up model railroading, you simply can't be reached. MODEL RAILROADS would also be a great gift for any beginner hobbyist, young or old. **//----------------------------//** ^ THE MAKING OF THE MESSIAH: Christianity and Resentment by Robert Sheaffer (Prometheus Books, November 1991, $19.95 ISBN: 0-87975-691-8) <> THE MAKING OF THE MESSIAH is a very controversial book, being a skeptical investigation into the origins of Christianity. Sheaffer finds the primary impetus for the development of Christianity in the envy and resentment of the lower classes toward the power and wealth of the ruling class of Romans. He also finds many inconsistencies in the tenets of Christianity, and seeks the truth behind the myths and jargon. Not a book for the blindly devout, THE MAKING OF THE MESSIAH is a challenging look at the roots of one of our culture's most influential forces. Working from the same ancient sources that biblical scholars use--some of them only recently available--Sheaffer examines the evidence from a new perspective. Robert Sheaffer is the author of THE UFO VERDICT and RESENTMENT AGAINST ACHIEVEMENT, and a regular columnist for THE SKEPTICAL INQUIRER. **//----------------------------//** ^ THE BREAD MACHINE BAKERY BOOK by Richard W. Langer (Little Brown, November 1991, $10.95, ISBN 0-316-51388-1) <> Have you seen these new bread machines that are available now? All you do is throw all the ingredients into the pot, tell it what time you'd like it to be done and, voila, piping hot freshly-made bread on demand, with almost no effort on your part. You can set it up before you go to bed and wake up to the aroma of fresh bread in the morning. What's the catch? Well, for one thing, these bread machines don't exactly cost $1.95. Another problem is that the instructions that come with the machine tell you how to make white bread, whole wheat bread, maybe a sweet bread of some kind, and that's about it. We can't do much about the price, but the variety of breads you can make with a bread machine has just gotten a giant boost with Langer's THE BREAD MACHINE BAKERY BOOK. To begin with, Langer explains some of the basics of bread creation and bread machine operation, taking the mystery out of the process and giving the reader guidelines for customizing and improving on any recipe. (He also explained why all of my attempts to make rye bread have turned out so poorly.) After a chapter on the standard types of bread--the oatmeal bread is wonderful--Langer continues on with chapters of recipes for: Multigrain Breads, Herb Breads, Savory Breads, Vegetable Breads, Sweet Breads, Ethnic Breads, Sourdough Breads, Quick Breads, and Glazes. There is even a recipe for a chocolate bread with peppermint butter to spread on it. THE BREAD MACHINE BAKERY BOOK is an absolute essential for every bread machine owner. **//----------------------------//** ^ FREE STUFF FOR YOUR PET by Linda Bowman (Probus, January 1992, $9.95, ISBN 1-55738-271-9) <> Being a pet owner can be very expensive, but it doesn't have to be. Linda Bowman has exhaustively catalogued the free and inexpensive resources available for you and your pet, everything from how to acquire a pet for free in the first place, to handling your pet's death when the end comes. In between, with the sources outlined in FREE STUFF, you can get pet food, treats, toys, health care, insurance, boarding, grooming, education, information, books, magazines, newsletters, and catalogs...and pay less for them. There is also a wealth of valuable information about pet shows (where loads of free stuff is available), contests, hotlines, organizations and associations, and how to contact other pet people with your computer. Everyone with a pet, or considering getting one, should have a copy of FREE STUFF FOR YOUR PET. (If you can't get FREE STUFF at your local bookstore, you can order it directly from the publisher by sending the list price, plus $3.50 shipping and handling, to: Probus Publishing Co., 1925 N. Clybourn Ave., Chicago, IL 60614, or call their order line: 1-800-PROBUS-1.) **//----------------------------//** ^ AMBROSE BIERCE IS MISSING: And Other Historical Mysteries by Joe Nickell (Univ. Press of Kentucky, December 1991, $22.00, ISBN 0-8131-1766-6) <> Joe Nickell loves to investigate mysteries. As a matter of fact, you can see a review of another of his books, SECRETS OF THE SUPERNATURAL, elsewhere in this issue of RFP. In AMBROSE BIERCE IS MISSING, the subject is historical mysteries, and can be read superficially as a collection of entertaining accounts of the investigation of various puzzles from yesteryear. Read more closely, the book serves as a general introductory textbook for the historical investigator. With the addition of a glossary, AMBROSE BIERCE IS MISSING would make an excellent classroom text for a dynamic course on investigative techniques and the application of logic to problem solving. Each chapter covers a particular type of historical mystery, with one particular example singled out for extensive consideration. In "Ancient Riddles" it's the Nazca lines in South America, famous evidence of Von Daniken's "ancient astronauts". "Biographical Enigmas" discusses the disappearance of Ambrose Bierce. "Hidden Identity" talks about the unmasking of the Nazi Ivan the Terrible. "Fakelore" covers Swift's lost silver mine, while "Questioned Artifacts" takes up the many Daniel Boone signatures floating around. "Suspect Documents" handles the famous Bixby letter by Abraham Lincoln. "Lost Texts" looks at Cooke's missing edition of SOT-WEED FACTOR. "Obscured Sources" deals with Hawthorne's Veiled Lady, while "Scientific Challenges" studies the investigation into the Shroud of Turin. Recommended Works follow each chapter, providing follow-up reading not of the subject but of the highlighted investigative methods. One book he notes in several places I can personally add my recommendation to: THE SCHOLAR ADVENTURES by Richard D. Altick (1951), a fascinating book. Along the way, Nickell considers a wide variety of investigative techniques useful for solving historical mysteries: archaeology, genealogy, forensic identification, oral histories, forgery detection, stylometric analysis of texts, document study, decipherment, literary scholarship, literary research, source study, and the many, many techniques of laboratory analysis. The result, however, is not a dry, academic text but a riveting collection of historical mysteries that can stand as "mere" entertainment, or a thought-provoking introduction to an exciting field of study. **//----------------------------//** ^ COMING INTO OUR FULLNESS: On Women Turning Forty Interviews and Photographs by Cathleen Rountree (The Crossing Press, 1991) Paper: $12.95 ISBN 0-89594-517-7 Cloth: $24.95 ISBN 0-89594-518-5 COMING INTO OUR FULLNESS is a collection of full-page photographs and interviews with 18 dynamic women between the ages of 40 and 50, who have in common passionate concerns and visions for a new world. They are creating their own initiations into middle life and, in the process, changing the mid-life crisis to a promising mid-life discovery. Such celebrated women as Judy Chicago (artist), Maxine Hong Kingston (writer), Barbara Boxer (politician), Linda Leonard (Jungian analyst and writer), and Cokie Roberts (journalist and political analyst) reveal that the second half of a woman's life is a profound opportunity for transformation. You can order this book directly from the publisher by sending the list price plus $2 postage (or $3 postage for UPS) to: The Crossing Press, PO Box 1048, Freedom, CA 95019. Or you can order by phone with a credit card by calling 1-800-777-1048. Be sure to ask for their catalog, because The Crossing Press has quite a variety of interesting books. **//----------------------------//** ^ THE ROLLING STONE BOOK OF COMEDY photographs by Bonnie Schiffman text by Bill Zehme introduction by Billy Crystal (Bulfinch Press, November 1991, $35.00, ISBN 0-8212-1848-4) <> More than 80 of Bonnie Schiffman's photos are included in this tribute to the world of the comedian. The old guard is well represented by entertainers like George Burns, Milton Berle, Bob Hope, Phyllis Diller, and the newer wave by the likes of Whoopi Goldberg, Jerry Seinfeld, Eddie Murphy, Tracy Ullman, and so many more. The book is not confined to stand-up comics, including comic actors like John Goodman and Teri Garr, and even comic artists like Gary Larson and R. Crumb. A brief paragraph or two accompanies each photograph, the best of them capturing the comedian in both subject and style. Here's what Zehme said about Eric Idle: "George Harrison, who is wise in such matters, believed that the karmic soul of the Beatles was spiritually bequeathed directly to the Monty Python fellows. If so, and even if not, Idle got to be the Cute One. Know what we mean? Nudge, nudge. Usually, he wrote alone, a Python island unto himself, but was no less depraved than his mates. After the release of their HOLY GRAIL, he was asked what the group planned next. 'I said, rather flippantly, "Jesus Christ's lust for glory,"' he recalled later. From this--a fine offensive lie, borne of exasperation--there sprang THE LIFE OF BRIAN, which according to that most contentious of Pythons, John Cleese, was 'our masterpiece'. We'll say no more! Nudge, nudge." While the photos are mostly heavily posed, and are too often centered around funny faces and bizarre props, THE ROLLING STONE BOOK OF COMEDY still makes a fine scrapbook for comedy fans, good for flipping through with friends and remembering favorite skits, routines, movies, and other highlights of the comic arts. **//----------------------------//** ^ SECRETS OF THE SUPERNATURAL Investigating the World's Occult Mysteries by Joe Nickell with John F. Fischer (Prometheus Books, 1991, ISBN 0-87975-685-3) <> Joe Nickell (see a review of his WONDER-WORKERS! in RFP #20) investigates ten different types of apparently supernatural events in SECRETS OF THE SUPERNATURAL, using level-headed investigative techniques to illuminate subjects that are more often left in the hands of unmovable believers or nonbelievers. The author displays his understanding of the rigors of logic early on when he says "Some skeptical investigators refer to themselves as 'debunkers,' which is unfortunate. Although thorough investigation may often result in the debunking of fanciful claims, to call oneself a debunker implies bias, suggesting--rightly or wrongly--that the results are known prior to investigation and will always be negative." It's nice to have someone point out that nonbelievers can be as illogically pigheaded as believers. As has been found by modern scientists, most demonstrably in the field of particle physics, so often we find exactly what we are looking for. Joe Nickell, however, shows an admirable neutral point of view and a willingness to check every detail. In SECRETS OF THE SUPERNATURAL, Joe Nickell investigates cases of hauntings, crystal skulls with extraordinary powers, photographs of spirits, amazing disappearances, the bizarre case of two nearly identical men who weren't even related to each other, dowsing, miraculous paintings, a bleeding door, coffins that move by themselves, and spontaneous human combustion. I particularly enjoyed the chapter about William West and Will West, two men with similar names, similar backgrounds and family, similar dispositions, and nearly identical appearance (photos are included), but who were apparently not related to each other. The case of the two Wests was even a factor in the abandonment of the Bertillon method of identification (by physical description and measurements), since that method failed to distinguish between two different people. SECRETS OF THE SUPERNATURAL is an interesting look at some perplexing fringe issues, a little less exciting than the melodramatic accounts of true believers but certainly much more rational. Extensive Notes and a Bibliography following each chapter point the interested reader to further study. **//----------------------------//** ^ DO PENGUINS HAVE KNEES? by David Feldman (HarperCollins, 1991, $19.00, ISBN 0-06-016294-5) <> David Feldman is back once again with another volume in his Imponderables series, in which he brings illumination into the more murky corners of the world we live in. In this latest installment, he considers such mysteries as: What is the official name of the moon? Europa is said to be a "moon" of Jupiter, just like that thing hanging in our night sky is a moon of the Earth. Is our moon named Moon? Isn't that like naming your dog Dog? Other deep dark secrets probed in DO PENGUINS HAVE KNEES? are: * Why are our fingers different lengths? * Why are peanuts listed under the ingredients of "plain" M&Ms? * What happens to your social security number when you die? * Why don't Radio Shack stores use cash registers? * Why is pubic hair curly? * How did Dr Pepper get its name? * When you wear a girdle, where does the fat go? * DO penguins have knees? In the back Feldman takes up the issue of "frustables", his word for frustrating imponderables that elude conclusive answers. There are "10 New Frustables", a "Frustables Update" in which Feldman's readers improve on some of his material, and "The Frustables That Will Not Die", covering the latest news on questions whose answers are still out of reach. DO PENGUINS HAVE KNEES? is another fascinating installment in this series for the unbearably curious. (Previous volumes in the series are: IMPONDERABLES, WHY DO CLOCKS RUN CLOCKWISE?, WHEN DO FISH SLEEP?, and WHY DO DOGS HAVE WET NOSES?) **//----------------------------//** ~BOOKS ON TAPE: ^ UNCONDITIONAL LIFE Mastering the Forces that Shape Personal Reality written and read by Deepak Chopra, M.D. 2 tape/2 hour abridgment (Bantam Audio, October 1991, $15.99, ISBN 0-553-47004-3) <> Dr. Chopra noticed that terminally ill patients frequently reported going through a psychological transformation into a state of serenity and bliss, and he wondered if it might be possible to achieve a similar transformation without the necessity of being ill. Drawing on his own medical experiences, evidence from other scientists, and the wisdom of poets, philosophers and great thinkers from all over the world, Dr. Chopra has put together a theory, or rather a harmonious medley of theories, for achieving a liberating personal transformation. UNCONDITIONAL LIFE is full of fascinating tales of human growth, healing, and change, such as the story about the 3 and 4 year old autistic children who had not yet learned to walk. Some very clever people designed a program in which two chairs were place ten feet apart, with a rope strung between them. The children soon learned to walk from one chair to the other while holding on to the rope. In slow stages the rope was replaced by thinner rope, and finally a mere string, and the children could still walk from one chair to the other. Then the chairs were taken away and each child was given a short length of string to hold in their hand, and soon they were walking on their own, grasping that liberating bit of string. In UNCONDITIONAL LIFE Dr. Chopra tries to help the listener understand the nature of their own consciousness and its power over their lives. Very interesting. **//----------------------------//** ^ AWAKENING OSIRIS: The Egyptian Book of the Dead translated by Normandi Ellis; read by Jean Houston 2 cassettes/3 hours (Audio Literature, 1991, $15.95, ISBN 0-944993-31-1) <> The Egyptian Book of the Dead is not exactly a book, it's a collection of ancient Egyptian writings about religion and the afterlife: prayers, hymns, incantations, poems, etc. We have found these writings entombed with the dead and carved onto the sarcophagus or painted on the walls of tombs. I was surprised to find that these works sound as contemporary as they do. They speak of the nature of divinity and man's relationship to it, of how life should be lived, of the common failings of human beings. Ellis' translation captures the lyric quality of the words very well, and Jean Houston's contribution is far more than a mere "reading". She performs, she enacts the words; sometimes shouting, sometimes whispering, always dynamic. The Egyptian Book of the Dead is a beautiful series of texts, and this performance is much more accessible than I would have imagined. Below are a few excerpts that caught my attention particularly: "Name yourself in your heart and know who you are." "I have regretted the past and longed for the future, Forgetting to notice the mountain of the present." "The god you seek is within. The truth you chase lies between your own eyebrows." "What I've seen with the eye has been fantasy, perhaps, But what I've known with the heart has been truth." "Go, then, and make of the world something beautiful, Set up a light in the darkness." (You can contact the publisher, and request a catalog, by writing to: Audio Literature, PO Box 7123, Berkeley, CA 94707. To order any of their tapes, you can call their Orders Only phone: 1-800-841-2665.) **//----------------------------//** ^ DAVE BARRY TALKS BACK by Dave Barry, read by Arte Johnson unabridged selections: 2 cassettes, 3 hours (Dove Audio, 1991, $15.95, ISBN 1-55800-455-6) <> In my opinion Dave Barry is the funniest man in print today. There are many writers who are humorous, but no one is as laugh-out-loud funny as Dave Barry. I was skeptical about Barry on audio tape, though. Sounding funny isn't the same thing as being funny on paper. Would Barry's jokes translate to sound bytes? The definitive answer is: They do if translated by Arte Johnson. His performance of Dave Barry's written material is a treasure, and can stand on its own. Spoken material IS different from written, and you will probably want to get DAVE BARRY TALKS BACK in print and on tape. The book is easier to stick inside a copy of NEWSWEEK when you pretend to be too busy reading to pay attention to your family, but the tape is better when you're driving, unless you laugh so hard you run off the road. On the comedy critic's scale, DAVE BARRY TALKS BACK gets a full five rubber chickens. You can order Dove Audio tapes by calling 1-800-328-DOVE (inside California call 310/273-7722 or 1-800-345-9945). Dove Audio, 301 North Canon Dr., Suite 203, Beverly Hills, CA 90210. **//----------------------------//** ^ BLACK ELK SPEAKS ask told to John G. Neihardt, read by Fred Contreras (Audio Literature, 1991, $15.95, ISBN 0-944993-36-2) <> Originally published in 1932, BLACK ELK SPEAKS tells the story of an Oglala Sioux warrior and holy man who lived from 1863 to 1950. Black Elk lived through Little Big Horn and Wounded Knee, and was a dedicated and spirited defender of Native American rights during his lifetime. He told his story to writer John G. Neihardt in an attempt to record and preserve Native American culture and traditions. His sensitive, moving words tell about his life and his many visions without self-pity. His story is difficult to ignore, impossible to forget. Fred Contreras, raised by his grandfather in the traditional ways of the Tarauhmara Indians, brings an added dimension to Black Elk's words; and we can hear them in the slow, cadenced Native American speech that originally gave them life. (You can contact the publisher, and request a catalog, by writing to: Audio Literature, PO Box 7123, Berkeley, CA 94707. To order any of their tapes, you can call their Orders Only phone: 1-800-841-2665.) **//----------------------------//** ~COMING IN APRIL: MONSTER IN A BOX by Spalding Gray CAT-DEPENDENT NO MORE! by "Dr." Jeff Reid IN AN AVERAGE LIFETIME... by Tom Heymann ANXIETY by Bonnie Timmons THE PURSUIT OF PLEASURE by Lionel Tiger SATISFYING SOUPS by Phyllis Hobson PRISONER'S DILEMMA by William Poundstone THE LISTENER'S GUIDE TO CLASSICAL MUSIC by Kenneth & Valerie McLeish THE OVERWORKED AMERICAN by Juliet B. Schor SATELLITE SURVEILLANCE by Harold Hough ACCIDENTAL EMPIRES by Robert X. Cringely NATURE AS TEACHER AND HEALER by James A. Swan, Ph.D. THE COMPLETE PC UPGRADE AND MAINTENANCE GUIDE by Mark Minasi SIMCITY: STRATEGIES AND SECRETS by Nick Dargahi UP AND RUNNING WITH COMPUSERVE by Bob Campbell THIS OLD HOUSE KITCHENS by Steve Thomas & Philip Langdon .......and a whole lot more! **//----------------------------//** ÿ