The World of Computer Software/World_Of_Computer_Software-02-387-Vol-3of3.iso/s/sf018034.zip/SF018034.TXT

Text File | 1993-02-05 | 18KB | 414 lines

SF-LOVERS Digest           Thursday, 14 Jan 1993       Volume 18 : Issue 34

Today's Topics:

                 Books - Anthony & Asimov & Baum & Card &
                         Clarke (3 msgs) & Collins,
                 Magazines - Cinefex & F&SF (2 msgs)

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Date: 13 Jan 93 15:02:41 GMT
From: [e-mail] (Jeffery M Karp, database wrestler, x7588)
Reply-to: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: Piers Anthony: Victim of his own success

[e-mail] (Chua HakLien) writes:
> Has anyone read any of Pier's Anthony novels which aren't part of a
> series, like _Firefly_ or _Ghost_? I know most people here retch at the
> mere mention of his name, but wonder if anyone has actually read his non
> Xanth/Incarnations/etc. books.  A friend of mine tried _Firefly_ and said
> it was pretty ok, but said serious readers are gonna ignore him because
> of the usual dreck he comes up with, while dreck readers aren't going to
> buy this alternative stuff, 'cause they like their Anthony to stick to
> his usual stuff. ( Xanth and Incarnations, etc. )
>
> Comments?

Lots of comments!

I like much of his stuff and the first novel in any of his series is almost
on my must buy list.  And one of his earlier novels that isn't popular
nowadays was my introduction to him.  This was "Macroscope".  Many original
ideas, nice gimmicks for the hard science fiction people, several nice
psychology games for the soft science people and an epic story which I
enjoyed.  IMNSHO, one of his best.  The issues I would take with it, is
that it is long and very dense.

His newer stuff is written more effortlessly and reads much faster but
rarely has the depth of content.  Some have said that the XANTH series is a
hack but I find it fun light reading.

Of his series stuff, I find that his sequels are almost never as good as
the initial novel.  I find " On a Pale Horse" worth rereading and very
enjoyable.  I cannot say that for any of the follow ons.  I find the same
true for the Phaze series.

There was a series about guys with three letter names and weapons that I
found odd and continued to read the series because this was one case where
I thought there were interesting characters and the plot was more slow to
unfold.

On the whole, I find he has strength in plotting but is generally light on
character.  To touch on the JWC thread, PADJ, likes his gimmicks too much.
But they are generally interesting gimmicks.

One peeve though.  I was reading Sir Richard Burton's "1000 Arabian Nights
and One" and found some places where PADJ borrowed either gimmicks(TM) or
plot whole cloth almost to the point of quoting without attribution.  I
found this very irritating.  There is a story in "Prostho+" where he has an
all powerful robot borrow the lines of a genie that has been locked up too
long.  Attribution would be nice and/or appropriate.  PADJ just writes it
more colloquially; I would rather go to the original.  (OTH, I did like
Inferno by Pournelle/Niven and have yet to make it through the Dante.)

Jeffery
[e-mail]

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Date: 13 Jan 93 09:58:26 GMT
From: [e-mail] (Alan Kelly)
Reply-to: [e-mail]
Subject: Asimov

I know Isaac Asimov died last April or May or thereabouts, but I definitely
recall hearing that he had written the seventh of his Foundation series
before he died. I also heard that it was to be published the month
following his death.  Could anybody possibly back up my claims? If so, I
would dearly like to hear any information on a publishing timetable.
 I would be grateful if somebody could e-mail me at [e-mail]

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Date: 12 Jan 93 17:38:08 GMT
From: [e-mail] (Terry Dawson)
Reply-to: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: OZ books?

[e-mail] (Joel Hanes) writes:
>[e-mail] (David Whitten) writes:
>>I'm wondering if there are people who are interested in the OZ books
>>written by Frank L. Baum.
>>
>>I am looking for a definitive list of all OZ books as well as physical or
>>electronic copies of such. (Including those not written by Baum)

A list of ALL Oz books would be lengthy indeed.  There are forty or so
"canonical" Oz books published by Lyman Frank Baum and his "official"
successors, but also a host of apocryphal works that would take a LOT of
time and space to list, including the current "heretical" Oz Squad comic
book and the recently published _Blue Witch of Oz_ by Eric Shanower.

>Books Of Wonder is a central source for all OZ books and paraphernalia -
>I'll bring in the address and post it tomorrow.  Their facsimile copies of
>some of the early Baum books are beautifully produced.  They also are the
>contact for the OZ fan club, or society, or whatever.

Um, not actually.  Books of Wonder runs their own little Oz fan club but
the real Oz club is:

International Wizard of Oz Club
Box 95
Kinderhook, IL 62345

Contact them for membership info.  They publish a generally good and
semi-scholarly quarterly _The Baum Bugle_, as well as a lot of other good
things.  Very worthwhile; they have about 2500 members.

>There's a surprising amount of OZiana available.  Dover has the first five
>or six Baum books available as cheaply-reprinted paperbacks, as well as a
>couple other non-OZ Baum books (e.g., _Zixi_of_Ix_)
>
>In addition to the thirteen or fourteen OZ books by Baum, there were
>another dozen or more written by Ruth Plumly Thompson.  The entire series
>by these two authors was even-more-cheaply reprinted by one of the
>paperback houses (Dell?) about ten years ago, as "Del Ray books", a
>project of Judy and Lester Del Ray.

NOT the entire series, but all of the Baum and most of the Thompson.  While
a number of these are out of print, they are still available via the IWoOC.

>A half-dozen or more additional titles have been written by Baum's
>relatives and random folks caught up int the OZ world but, my impression
>is that these are pretty lousy.

Opinions vary; I consider some of these to be quite good and at least the
equal of R.P. Thompson.  But I'm speaking of the "canonical" works by Neil,
Snow et al.  I haven't found the recent work by Roger Baum to be as good,
but check out the stuff by Onyx Madden.

Terry Dawson
Appleton Public Library
Appleton, WI 54911
[e-mail]

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Date: 13 Jan 93 18:41:38 GMT
From: [e-mail] (Geoffrey A. Coulter)
Reply-to: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: Xenocide Sequel?

[e-mail] writes:
>A word of warning, however.  I'm beginning to be bored by Card's work in
>general (Yawned through the last Alvin Maker) so perhaps it's just me, and
>Xenocide is fit to stand with its predecessors (except for the logical
>flaws).
>
>He's strained his universe past the point of plausibility for me, and I'm
>not interested in the characters.  I rather doubt I'll buy the sequel.

In contrast, his _Memory_Of_Earth_ seems excellent.  I approached the book
with trepidation, expecting something similar to Chalker's
_Rings_of_the_Master_, and was very pleasantly surprised.  The culture
being described is well developed and very entertaining, and the characters
are plausible, as is the story's basic premise.  So despite downward slides
in other works, the sparks of imagination and the skill are all still
there.

Geoffrey Coulter
[e-mail]

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Date: 13 Jan 93 10:19:48 GMT
From: [e-mail] (Frank Stuart-Brown)
Reply-to: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: Childhood's End

[e-mail] (James Thomas Green) writes:
>I've been reading Childhood's End by Arthur C. Clarke.  It seems to have
>some interesting imagery with the "devil" image of the main alien and the
>"utopia" the overlords bring.  I was wondering what people in net.land
>who've read it think of it and what impressed you about it or what you
>remember from it.

This was a book that had a great effect on my religious thinking. I read
the book some twenty years or so ago, and took to read about other's
religious beliefs to find some commonality between them. There is a
phenomenal commonality everywhere. This now leads me to think that deities
(for want of a better word ) should not be worshipped per se but talked to
in (prayer?)  as a child would talk to an adult; and with respect for the
wisdom that the adult has. I do not call myself a Christian or anything
else for that matter, but try to practice the best that each religion has
to offer, which is respect for all people. There are therefore many ways to
contact the "OVERMIND" and no one way should be ridiculed by another.

[e-mail]

------------------------------

Date: 13 Jan 93 09:20:11 GMT
From: [e-mail] (James Thomas Green)
Reply-to: [e-mail]
Subject: Childhood's End

I've been reading Childhood's End by Arthur C. Clarke.  It seems to have
some interesting imagery with the "devil" image of the main alien and the
"utopia" the overlords bring.  I was wondering what people in net.land
who've read it think of it and what impressed you about it or what you
remember from it.

James T. Green
[e-mail]

------------------------------

Date: 13 Jan 93 18:58:58 GMT
From: [e-mail] (J. Michael Tisdel)
Reply-to: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: Childhood's End

[e-mail] (James Thomas Green) writes:
>I've been reading Childhood's End by Arthur C. Clarke.  It seems to have
>some interesting imagery with the "devil" image of the main alien and the
>"utopia" the overlords bring.  I was wondering what people in net.land
>who've read it think of it and what impressed you about it or what you
>remember from it.

Well, on the two points you addressed: The racial memory idea of the
Overlords (that's what they were called, right?  It's been a while) was a
nice touch, if a bit overly dramatic.  The 'utopia' of the Overmind,
however, I consider one of the worst dystopias conceived.  Now, that is
probably because of my upbringing where individuality was considered a
virtue - in another culture, this might not be so 'evil'.

A well written story covering a well-thought idea - it still gives me the
creeps!

J. Michael Tisdel
DSC Communications Corporation
1000 Coit Rd, MS 120
Plano Tx 75075
digi![e-mail]
[e-mail]
[e-mail]

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Date: 13 Jan 93 22:45:55 GMT
From: [e-mail] (Alan Wexelblat)
Reply-to: [e-mail]
Subject: SUNGLASSES AFTER DARK by Nancy Collins

                           Sunglasses After Dark
                             by Nancy Collins

I'm not a big horror fan, and still less a fan of vampire genre novels.
However, I made an exception in this case because "Sunglasses..." is a Bram
Stoker award winner and because I heard Nancy Collins talk at a New Orleans
SF convention and really liked her style.

I like her style in this book as well - more than enough to overcome my
usual prejudices.  The book is about vampires of several sorts,
particularly Sonja Blue, a female vampire.  However, Collins avoids many of
the dreadful cliches around female vampires.  Sonja is a very real person,
with the kinds of loves, hates and desires you would expect in a woman who
bears her particular curse.  The book follows Sonja as she discovers and
attempts to come to terms with the Other which represents her vampiric
side.  Along the way, she has to come to terms with 'normal' society,
represented by Claude Hagerty, an attendant at a mental asylum.

Collins stays pretty close to the Stoker/Dracula model for what a vampire
is and can do, though I like her twist on the
how-does-a-vampire-come-to-exist part of the story.  She also takes on the
vampire-as-sex thread that runs through this particular sub-genre.  By
treating it honestly, I think she manages to handle a potentially touch
subject with real style.  Yes, I'm being deliberately vague to avoid giving
away what she's done.  For me, her treatment of these two things, which
many authors botch, I think, was one of the biggest pleasures of this book.

"Sunglasses..." also avoids one of the major problems with vampire novels -
the supporting cast being merely props for the vampire to move among.
Collins' other characters are as real and fully-formed as Sonja and even
when she resorts to using the Evil Televangelist stereotype for one of the
villains, there's an unusual twist hiding just below the surface.

"Sunglasses..." was Collins' first novel, but you can't tell by looking at
the writing.  The prose is polished and sparse and the action moves along
nicely, only dragging in one or two places.

As with Kim Robinson, this book represents the first entry onto my
bookshelves for a new author and once again I'm looking forward to reading
her other works.  If you're at all interested in vampires, this is a book
for you.

Author: Nancy Collins
Title:  Sunglasses After Dark
Publisher: Signet/Onyx SF Paperback
City:   New York
Date:   1989
Order Number:ISBN 0-451-40147-6
Comments: US$3.99
Pages:  253 pp

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Date: 29 Dec 92 06:59:09 GMT
From: [e-mail] (robert winkler)
Reply-to: [e-mail]
Subject: cinefex

Anybody interested in special F/X ?

A few days ago there was a magazine mentioned here about special f/x,
called Cinefex. I've just bought a few copies of it, and it looks like the
best publication in its kind!

Its format is rather small, 22 x 20 cm, 100 pages average, and if you want
something flashy, with lots of gossip about actors, actresses and
directors, you'd better settle for Starlog.

If, however, you seek a very professional paper, that talks ONLY about how
specific special f/x were made in various movies, & does it with PLENTY of
details and "insider" info, this mag is for you.  Cinefex also has a lot of
pictures that are strictly related to the articles and, more importantly, a
WEALTH of pro advertisement, ranging from f/x studios to special material
suppliers (invisible wire, pyro gel, motion control systems, make-up,
fog-generator, etc.). Their address is:

Cinefex, P.O.Box 20027, Riverside, CA 92516

In Toronto they're available at several comic stores, such as Silversnail
(see in the Yellow Pages). BTW, in that store I also managed to get seduced
by a Star Wars Sourcebook - complete description of all weapons,
spaceships, equipment, races, etc.!  Not too cheap, though...

For those who've long been aware of all this, I'm sorry for taking your
time, but I'm completely ignorant about such sources, and figured there
might be some other guys and girls outthere in the same situation...

Take care.

Robert
Canada Remote Systems
Toronto, Ontario

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Date: 3 Jan 93 01:42:51 GMT
From: [e-mail] (Ojvind Bernander)
Reply-to: [e-mail]
Subject: F&SF, Asimov's

This might have been discussed on the newsgroup before I joined it, but
anyway...

Asimov's SF Magazine centers on character-oriented stories, rather than
hard-core SF.  This seems to go well with a lot of readers, since they
outsell and out-Hugo all the other magazines.

It seems that F&SF with K.K. Rusch as new editor is following the same
trend: many of the stories are not recoginizable as S.F., though they are
still interesting stories.  This is in sharp contrast to the few issues I
picked up 2-3 years ago.  I wonder if this is why suddenly SF Age and
Tomorrow and others spring up to fill in the void.

Any comments out there?  Do you like the new F&SF better than the old one?

Ojvind

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Date: 3 Jan 93 13:33:12 GMT
From: [e-mail] (Patrick Nielsen-Hayden)
Reply-to: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: F&SF, Asimov's

[e-mail] (Ojvind Bernander) writes:
>Asimov's SF Magazine centers on character-oriented stories, rather than
>hard-core SF.  This seems to go well with a lot of readers, since they
>outsell and out-Hugo all the other magazines.
>
>It seems that F&SF with K.K. Rusch as new editor is following the same
>trend: many of the stories are not recoginizable as S.F., though they are
>still interesting stories.  This is in sharp contrast to the few issues I
>picked up 2-3 years ago.  I wonder if this is why suddenly SF Age and
>Tomorrow and others spring up to fill in the void.

Actually, your first premise is wrong: ANALOG substantially outsells all
the other SF digests, including ASIMOV'S, and has done so for decades.

As for SF AGE and TOMORROW, well, TOMORROW was given its start by Pulphouse
Publishing, of which Kris Rusch is a co-owner, so I doubt very much its
agenda is to correct the deficiencies in SF resulting from the editorial
practices of Kris Rusch.  And SCIENCE FICTION AGE's first two issues
evidence an editorial taste very much on the ASIMOV'S/F&SF side of the
fence.

If there's really a fence.  These divisions and distinctions are overrated,
imho; it becomes a kind of stereotyping, and ultimately a self-fulfilling
prophecy.  (Overheard from the mouth of Stanley Schmidt: "Let _me_ decide
what's an 'ANALOG story', dammit!")

Patrick Nielsen Hayden
senior editor
Tor Books
[e-mail]

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End of SF-LOVERS Digest
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