SF-LOVERS Digest Friday, 5 Feb 1993 Volume 18 : Issue 72 Today's Topics: Books - Bester & Clarke & Effinger & Herbert (2 msgs) & Jeter (2 msgs) & Longyear & McCaffrey (4 msgs) & McHugh (4 msgs) & Stephenson & Wodhams --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: 4 Feb 93 19:18:36 GMT From: cmeadows@nyx.cs.du.edu (Chris Meadows) Reply-to: sf-lovers-written@Rutgers.Edu Subject: Re: SPOILERS (Was: Re: The Stars My Destination) I've never read THE STARS MY DESTINATION, but I have read an extremely funny short story by Alfred Bester called something like "Somebody Up There Likes Me" (I'm probably not word-perfect on the title, so sue me or flame me if you think I'm worthy of it). That was one of the funniest pieces of SF I've ever read...anyone else think so? Chris Meadows CHM173S@SMSVMA CHM173S@VMA.SMSU.EDU CMEADOWS@NYX.CS.DU.EDU ------------------------------ Date: 3 Feb 93 19:31:10 GMT From: hunt@oils.ozy.dec.com (Peter Hunt) Reply-to: sf-lovers-written@Rutgers.Edu Subject: THE GHOST FROM THE GRAND BANKS by Arthur C. Clarke THE GHOST FROM THE GRAND BANKS by Arthur C. Clarke A book review by Peter Hunt Although this book has been out in paperback for some time, I only just got around to reading it. While I found the book entertaining and interesting to read, I was disappointed with it; it's not up to Clarke's usual standard. Without giving too much away, the story, set in the early 21st century, deals with two projects to raise the Titanic from its resting place. Both project teams devise different methods for doing this, and both hope to have succeeded by the centennial of the ship's sinking. Clarke uses his characters' conversations to expand on this theme, giving much known and little-known historical background to the Titanic herself, as well as speculating on what underwater search and salvage equipment will look like in the next few decades. Coupled with these discussions is a secondary plot-line dealing with a family whose interest in the Mandelbrot set borders on obsession. This gives Clarke an opportunity to explain and explore the set, complete with all the usual hyperboles. As you've probably surmised, the book's style is classic Clarke. His explanations of historical events, scientific facts and his speculative fiction are interesting and clear. His often-used technique of using the conversations between his characters to present his ideas makes the explanations more approachable and palatable that straight lecturing would do. However, there are quite a few problems with this novel. The worst of these is the lack of plot. There isn't one. What passes as plot is really the gradual revealing of his two main ideas for the raising of the Titanic, and the beginnings of their implementation. Once Clarke gets this far, it's as if he can't be bothered actually going through the motions, and the book just stops. Anticlimax is too weak a word to use for the ending to this book. The secondary theme describing the Mandelbrot set, while quite interesting in itself, is out-of-place. It has nothing to do with the main story, even indirectly. I wonder if Clarke originally wrote these episodes as a short story, and then incorporated them into this novel for filler. Finally, the characters are even less developed than usual. While interesting enough, they are rather flat, and are so similar to each other as to be indistinguishable. They seem to be no more than vehicles for Clarke's ideas and explanations. In conclusion, let me say that I found this book enjoyable and interesting to read. If you enjoy Clarke's style, and read science fiction novels for the ideas they contain, then this book has a lot to offer. However, a novel cannot succeed on ideas alone, and The Ghost from the Grand Banks ends in a way that makes that lack all too apparent. Title: The Ghost from the Grand Banks Author: Arthur C. Clarke Publisher: Orbit Books City: London Date: 1990 Order Number: ISBN 0-7088-83575 Pages: 253 pp. Comments:paperback, A$10.95 Peter Hunt Networks and Comms (Aust) Digital Equipment Corp. ------------------------------ Date: 4 Feb 93 10:31:51 GMT From: cc697@cleveland.freenet.edu (Eric Oppen) Reply-to: sf-lovers-written@Rutgers.Edu Subject: Maureen Birnbaum These stories by George Alec Effinger always amused me. Have they ever been collected in one place? (M. Birnbaum is a Jewish American Princess who has adventures all through space and time, usually in the worlds of famous SF/F works such as the Horseclans books.) ------------------------------ Date: 4 Feb 93 19:29:24 GMT From: RAL6251@tntech.edu (REGENIA) Reply-to: sf-lovers-written@Rutgers.Edu Subject: Re: Frank Herbert Concerning some good Frank Herbert books: All six of the Dune series are worth reading, in addition to a series that he did with another writer...(whose name escapes me at the moment.) This series has titles such as THE LAZARUS EFFECT, THE DOSADI EXPERIMENT, and THE JESUS INCIDENT, though probably not in that order. (The ideas for these stem from DESTRUCTION: VOID, I think.) Hope this was helpful. Regenia Liles ral6251@gemini.tntech.edu ral6251@tntech.bitnet ------------------------------ Date: 4 Feb 93 21:11:57 GMT From: seawasp@vm2.cis.pitt.edu (Sea Wasp) Reply-to: sf-lovers-written@Rutgers.Edu Subject: Re: Frank Herbert RAL6251@tntech.EDU (REGENIA) writes: >Concerning some good Frank Herbert books: All six of the Dune series are >worth reading, This is completely a matter of opinion, and hotly contested. In my completely godlike opinion, ONLY the original, DUNE, is worth reading (and very, VERY worth reading); the remainder... well, DUNE MESSIAH is utter drek. THe third book is tolerable, but not compared with its original predecessor, and the rest... Well, I can't use language like that on the net. (Don't ask me for specifics, though; my brain has mercifully erased all details of the later Dune books while preserving my memory of the original...) ------------------------------ Date: 3 Feb 93 23:11:28 GMT From: jet@boxer.nas.nasa.gov (J. Eric Townsend) Reply-to: sf-lovers-written@Rutgers.Edu Subject: Re: K.W. Jeter Barry Meikle writes: > Dick fans might find the book interesting - there's a surprisingly sad, > affectionate portrayal of a character I took to be Philip K. Dick. He's > attempting the strange, personal task of recreating a shattered > stained-glass window from the millions of fragments. I believe Jeter > knew Dick during the period when _VALIS_ was under construction/being > lived. (I have a lurking memory that he may be that Kevin who hopes to > confront God with his stiff dead cat held out before him like a frying > pan). Jeter, Tim Powers, and J. Blaylock were friends with Dick (at least they claim to have been :-). At ArmadilloCon a couple of years ago, they did a "We Remember Phil" panel, where they told PKD stories. One story they told had to do with being in a bar and one of the four having found a cat that had just been hit by a car and going on at great length about how there could be no god, etc. (I think they said they were all pretty smashed at the time.) Some grizzly bar-fly leaned over and said to them "Hey, it's just a f**king cat." Oh well. That's one panel I wish I had on tape. J. Eric Townsend jet@nas.nasa.gov ------------------------------ Date: 3 Feb 93 19:26:06 GMT From: chrisb@lynx.ps.uci.edu (Chris Barrus) Reply-to: sf-lovers-written@Rutgers.Edu Subject: Re: K.W. Jeter lichter@oahu.cs.ucla.edu (Michael I. Lichter) writes: >I bring this up mainly because I was curious about _The Glass Hammer_. I >have _Farewell Horizontal_ by Jeter, but haven't been able to locate >_Hammer_. Does anybody know if it's any good, and worth continuing to >scour used book stores for? The Glass Hammer is a fantastic book (IMHO), something that I would categorize as "Mediapunk" for lack of a better description - one level it's a standard "cyberesque" action story, on another level is a media-criticism story a la Max Headroom. I would scour the book stores for it. As a disclaimer, I admit it - I'm speaking as a Jeter fan. Chris Barrus P.O. Box 5115 Irvine CA 92716 chrisb@lynx.ps.uci.edu kallista@aol.com ------------------------------ Date: 4 Feb 93 20:39:00 GMT From: CORMACBW%SLSCVA@snycenva.bitnet (Barbara Cormack) Reply-to: sf-lovers-written@Rutgers.Edu Subject: It Came from Schenectady Is this the correct title for the book by Barry Longyear? Can anyone tell me what it's about, and if it's in print? Thanks. (A friend from Schenectady is inquiring...) ------------------------------ Date: 25 Jan 93 23:36:17 GMT From: cmeadows@nyx.cs.du.edu (Chris Meadows) Reply-to: sf-lovers-written@Rutgers.Edu Subject: Pern Audiobooks I went to the local library today and checked out some Pern audio books. They are DRAGONSONG, DRAGONSINGER, and DRAGONDRUMS. They claim to be unabridged, and I can believe it - they total 22.25 hours, overall. I have yet to listen to them, so I don't know how good they are. They are narrated by someone named "Sally Darling." I can't say much for the covers. The cover of Dragonsong shows fire lizards as green, flying tyrannosaurus rexes (with HORNS, no less!), and the cover of Dragondrums shows Piemer clutching an egg that is almost as big as he is! On the box, it says "For a free catalog of other unabridged Recorded Books (TM) please call 1-(800)-638-1304, or write to Recorded Books, Inc., 270 Skipjack Rd., Prince Frederick, MD 20678. Ask about our easy rentals by mail." Chris Meadows CHM173S@SMSVMA CHM173S@VMA.SMSU.EDU CMEADOWS@NYX.CS.DU.EDU ------------------------------ Date: 26 Jan 93 19:06:34 GMT From: marlowe@jhunix.hcf.jhu.edu (Amanda T Marlowe) Reply-to: sf-lovers-written@Rutgers.Edu Subject: Re: Pern Audiobooks cmeadows@nyx.cs.du.edu (Chris Meadows) writes: >I went to the local library today and checked out some Pern audio books. >They are DRAGONSONG, DRAGONSINGER, and DRAGONDRUMS. They claim to be >unabridged, and I can believe it - they total 22.25 hours, overall. I >have yet to listen to them, so I don't know how good they are. They are >narrated by someone named "Sally Darling." > >On the box, it says "For a free catalog of other unabridged Recorded Books >(TM) please call 1-(800)-638-1304, or write to Recorded Books, Inc., 270 >Skipjack Rd., Prince Frederick, MD 20678. Ask about our easy rentals by >mail." I've dealt with Recoded Books, and I really like their stuff. It's read by professionals, and it is truly unabridged. And they make it very easy to rent. You just call them up and place the order, (it's easiest to pay by credit card) then they ship you the tapes. If you are renting, they send a return postage box so you can just drop the tapes into a mail box. You get a month or so to listen to them. They have a wide selection, all unabridged. The readers generally research the book a little, too, and it's more like listening to a one-man play than just a reading. They have a Fantastic "Lord of The Rings". The prices depend on the number of tapes you are renting, and generally range for $12-$30. You can also purchase them if you want, though I'm not sure what the prices for that are. Thanks for alerting me to the HarperHall Trilogy! I wonder if they have the Dragonrider Trilogy too? If not, they probably will soon.... Amanda Marlowe marlowe@jhunix.hcf.jhu.edu ------------------------------ Date: 26 Jan 93 22:31:06 GMT From: x92joslin@gw.wmich.edu Reply-to: sf-lovers-written@Rutgers.Edu Subject: PERN Has anyone read the latest book about PERN. I was thinking of buying it but was wondering if it would be worth it. Ray ------------------------------ Date: 25 Jan 93 02:35:11 GMT From: jonathan.deitch@p7.f411.n133.z1.fidonet.org (Jonathan Deitch) Reply-to: sf-lovers-written@Rutgers.Edu Subject: Damia's Children is out ! (New McCaffrey) To loyal McCaffrey fans : Damia's Children is out, so if you're in to light reading (this is *not* heavy fantasy or SF by any means ...) and have gotten through the Rowan and Damia, then this book's for you ... Jonathan musjndx@gsusgi2.gsu.edu ------------------------------ Date: 30 Jan 93 19:02:07 GMT From: Crawford_Kilian@mindlink.bc.ca (Crawford Kilian) Reply-to: sf-lovers-written@Rutgers.Edu Subject: China Mountain Zhang (Was Maureen McHugh Wins...) I found this an intriguing book, which survived some conceptual problems thanks to the author's willingness to go outside the (increasingly constricting) parochialism of most North American SF. She obviously has a good time portraying a rich and powerful China and a poor and backward USA, and as a onetime teacher in China I got a kick out of McHugh's sly reversal of stereotypes: everything convenient and high-tech in China, everything decrepit and unreliable in the US. It was a surprising pleasure to read a book so plotless. Nothing World-Shattering is at stake; it's just a young gay guy trying to get along in life and finally looking pretty successful by the end. The multiple-viewpoint structure was a bit annoying, but I was willing to accept it for the sake of the general development of the story. Her world (late 21st century, I gather) seemed much too close to ours in too many ways, and I had troubled imagining that classic Marxism could make such a comeback just a few years after the collapse of the Soviet bloc, especially in the USA, while Canada would remain a constitutional monarchy. (Europe seems out of the picture, by the way.) Still, it was a worthwhile book and I look forward to her next one. Crawford Kilian Communications Department Capilano College North Vancouver BC Canada V7J 3H5 Usenet: Crawford_Kilian@mindlink.bc.ca Internet: ckilian@first.etc.bc.ca ------------------------------ Date: 30 Jan 93 23:47:40 GMT From: pnh@panix.com (Patrick Nielsen-Hayden) Reply-to: sf-lovers-written@Rutgers.Edu Subject: Re: China Mountain Zhang (Was Maureen McHugh Wins...) Crawford_Kilian@mindlink.bc.ca (Crawford Kilian) posts some kind remarks about _China Mountain Zhang_ which gratify me since I plucked the book out of the slush pile in the first place. >...As a onetime teacher in China I got a kick out of McHugh's sly reversal >of stereotypes: everything convenient and high-tech in China, everything >decrepit and unreliable in the US. I forget whether the jacket copy says so or not, but Maureen is a onetime teacher in rural China herself. I, too, "had troubled imagining that classic Marxism could make such a comeback just a few years after the collapse of the Soviet bloc," until I reflected on just how unlikely the resurgence of Islam would have seemed to policymakers just a generation ago. Besides, the more I thought about it, the more I enjoyed contemplating a future built on assumptions that so absolutely fly in the face of all our current truisms. Some of Maureen's short fiction is set in the same future, most notably "Protection," her novella in the April 1992 _Asimov's_. >I look forward to her next one. Me too. It's set in a very different future involving domed undersea cities, and it's called _Half the Day is Night._ Patrick Nielsen Hayden senior editor Tor Books pnh@panix.com ------------------------------ Date: 1 Feb 93 06:40:53 GMT From: Crawford_Kilian@mindlink.bc.ca (Crawford Kilian) Reply-to: sf-lovers-written@Rutgers.Edu Subject: Re: China Mountain Zhang (Was Maureen McHugh Wins...) Patrick Nielsen Hayden takes a deserved bow for pulling China Mountain Zhang out of the slushpile, and I can well accept the idea that a currently discredited ideology could return with a vengeance...cf all the neo-Nazis now making the 90s so much like the 20s. What I didn't mention in my original posting is that Maureen is one of the few China hands to come back and write fiction about it, let alone SF. I toyed with a semi-SF thriller about the power struggle after Deng's death, but gave up when I realized I was way out of my depth. Maureen was really smart to do it her way. Tell her to write faster, Patrick! And tell her xiexie for me. Crawford Kilian Communications Department Capilano College North Vancouver BC Canada V7J 3H5 Usenet: Crawford_Kilian@mindlink.bc.ca Internet: ckilian@first.etc.bc.ca ------------------------------ Date: 1 Feb 93 14:41:06 GMT From: write@lamar.colostate.edu (Glen Cox) Reply-to: sf-lovers-written@Rutgers.Edu Subject: Re: China Mountain Zhang (Was Maureen McHugh Wins...) Crawford_Kilian@mindlink.bc.ca (Crawford Kilian) writes: >What I didn't mention in my original posting is that Maureen is one of the >few China hands to come back and write fiction about it, let alone SF. I >toyed with a semi-SF thriller about the power struggle after Deng's death, >but gave up when I realized I was way out of my depth. Maureen was really >smart to do it her way. Well, it's not SF, Crawford, but Mark Salzman (in IRON & SILK [non-fiction] and THE LAUGHING SUTRA [fiction]) could be considered a "China hand." Also, highly recommended. Glen E. Cox write@lamar.ColoState.Edu ------------------------------ Date: 3 Feb 93 19:20:33 GMT From: chrisb@lynx.ps.uci.edu (Chris Barrus) Reply-to: sf-lovers-written@Rutgers.Edu Subject: Re: Neil Stephenson I enjoyed _The Big U_ a lot, not as much as Snow Crash though. Big U is definitely situation-driven, rather than being predominately character-driven. Big U suffers from "First book syndrome" in places, but it is still a fabulous book. Check out "Zodiac" next! Chris Barrus P.O. Box 5115 Irvine CA 92716 chrisb@lynx.ps.uci.edu kallista@aol.com ------------------------------ Date: 4 Feb 93 14:04:01 GMT From: Alexandra_Haropulos.McLean_CSD@xerox.com Reply-to: sf-lovers-written@Rutgers.Edu Subject: Jack Wodhams? Christopher Anvil? Speaking of us elderly geezers, does anyone know if Jack Wodhams has written any full length novels since the sixties (he had one published in paperback then, the title of which escapes me)? I know that Stanley Schmidt persuaded him to write a short story for Analog once in the last decade or so. Also, has Christopher Anvil written any more books since the disappointing THE MIST, THE STEEL AND THE BLAZING SUN? (Taking you back into yesteryear, when SF was written by engineers, instead of English majors. It may have been marginally less well constructed, but it sure was/is more fun.) ------------------------------ End of SF-LOVERS Digest ***********************