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From: Stacey Harris <harrissg@slu.edu>
Subject: (glencook-fans) Heirs of Babylon
Date: 19 Apr 2003 16:05:40 -0500
Hi, all,
I recently discovered how easy it is to find Cook books at eBay. You
have to keep on trying (if you don't want to pay exorbitant prices),
because there are people who are willing to bid up to very high levels;
but I found that once I won a bid, I was in email contact with the
seller, who often had more books to sell me directly! With a single
contact, I was able to get nearly all my missing Garrett books (half of
them, all out of print) and two of the three Darkwar books. I got
"Matter of Time".
And I got "Heirs of Babylon".
That is one helluva book--and *very* different from everything else Glen
has written. It's very early--his second novel, in 1972--but it doesn't
feel like a beginner's novel at all. It's dark and foreboding, with
psychological aspects being the heart of the story.
No spoilers here, but I'll tell you what it's about.
It's a post-holocaust anti-war novel, set a couple centuries in the
future. It hardly feels like science fiction at all, as the setting is
a WW-II-era warship--a cruiser? not sure--and Glen shows an intense
familiarity with shipboard life. The drama is provided not so much by
the ongoing war that the ship is engaged in, as by the political forces,
largely unseen, which control the destiny of the world: Who is really
calling the shots, as far as the war's being supported (by the state or
what's left of it) or opposed (by the secretive underground--or maybe
the general public)? Both sides have more-or-less public figures as
well as hidden followers. It is this inability to trust one's
fellow--never knowing who reports to whom or is sympathetic to which
side--that forms the central psychological dynamic of the book.
The point of view character is a political naif who joins the navy
simply to be doing something different than fishing for a while (or
maybe because his wife insisted that he not join it). He finds sympathy
with order--hence, the state--as well as with peace--hence, the
underground--and he seems eventually to find himself in better command
of the intellectual bases for both sides than most of their actual
proponents. But his chief concerns are apolitical: What he really is
concerned with is the personal loyalties of childhood friends and
relatives, several of whom are also shipmates (since crews are recruited locally).
And it is the hero's resolving of these personal dilemmas that make for
the actual plot; the history of the war, what happens in the greater
scheme of things, even who survives or doesn't--these are all secondary
to Glen, and we never learn a lot of it. (This, I think fits in with
the New Wave SF that was becoming popular at the time.)
Interestingly, nearly all the characters are German, and German words
sprinkle the text liberally. I don't think I've ever seen anything like
in any other Englsh-authored SF text.
This is a very different Glen Cook. And it's a good book.
Steve
PS
"Matter of Time" has a large section of it set in present-day times
(well, the 70s): in St. Louis; in fact, right in Glen's own
neighborhood! It's just a few miles from me, and I know all the
street-names :)
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-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Steve Harris <harrissg@SLU.EDU>
Subject: (glencook-fans) Heirs to Babylon?
Date: 24 Apr 2003 18:16:51 -0500
Hi, all,
I thought I sent a review of "Heirs to Babylon". But I don't recall now
if I saw my own letter being posted, and I certainly didn't see any
replies. Did I just miss it, or did my review appear?
Steve
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-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: "Lawrence Jenab" <ljenab@sunflower.com>
Subject: Re: (glencook-fans) Heirs to Babylon?
Date: 24 Apr 2003 19:58:07 -0500
I got it, Steve, so it must have gone through.
Larry
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Thursday, April 24, 2003 6:16 PM
> Hi, all,
>
> I thought I sent a review of "Heirs to Babylon". But I don't recall now
> if I saw my own letter being posted, and I certainly didn't see any
> replies. Did I just miss it, or did my review appear?
>
> Steve
>
> =======================================================================
> To unsubscribe, subscribe, or access the archives of this list,
> visit <http://www.xmission.com/~shpshftr/GC/GC-Mail.html>.
>
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