Electronic OtherRealms #18 Fall, 1987 Part 6 Words of Wizdom Reviews by Chuq Von Rospach Copyright 1987 by Chuq Von Rospach Reviewed in this column: To Sail Beyond the Sunset Robert A. Heinlein [*****-] Across the Sea of Suns Gregory Benford [****] Bimbos of the Death Sun Sharyn McCrumb [***-] Dreams of an Unseen Planet Teresa Plowright [**] War for the Oaks Emma Bull [****] Wyrms Orson Scott Card [***] A Dark Travelling Roger Zelazny [***-] Strangers from the Sky Margaret Wander Bonanno [***+] Writers of the Future Volume III A.J. Budrys, Ed. [***+] The Planet on the Table Kim Stanley Robinson [****-] Guns of Darkness J.E. Pournelle [***] Fantasists on Fantasy Boyer & Zahorski [****+] How to Write Tales of Horror, Fantasy and Science Fiction J.N. Williamson, Ed. [***-] Mr. Scott's Guide to the Enterprise Shane Johnson [**] The Science Fiction and Heroic Fantasy Author Index Stuart W. Wells III [***+] Arthur C. Clarke's July 20, 2019: Life in the 21st Century [] To Sail Beyond the Sunset, subtitled The Life and Loves of Maureen Johnson (Being the Memoirs of a Somewhat Irregular Lady) [Ace/Putnam, 407 pages, $18.95] is the latest from Robert A. Heinlein, one of the acknowledged masters of the field. The book seems to finish the trend started in The Number of the Beast, as Heinlein carefully and methodically ties together the universes in his many stories and novels into a single unified whole. This book will be controversial, as every Heinlein work has been since he discovered sex in the classic work Time Enough for Love. This book is about sex and, almost incidentally, the history of the human race. It sports an, um, interesting cover by Boris. No, to be honest, it sports an anatomically perfect naked Boris female cover, tastefully arranged and perfectly static -- I don't like Boris, because all of his covers look like something out of Gray's Anatomy -- biologically perfect and at the same time very lifeless, static, and boring. This is no different -- when you see the cover at a distance, it will make you take a closer look, but when you do, there is nothing there. What really matters are the words. And words there are, 400 pages of a more-or-less monologue by Maureen Johnson (later Maureen Smith, later Maureen Long), born 1882, mother of seventeen, including Woodrow Wilson Smith, later known as Lazarus Long. Readers should be aware that this is not Science Fiction, in any real sense. A better classification might be Historical Romance, a romantic and erotic biography that happens to be set in the fictional world that Heinlein developed. It is, strictly speaking, a sequel to both The Number of the Beast and The Cat Who Walks Through Walls, but it is also spiritually a sequel to his entire canon. This book, however, stands on its own, and is one of his best works. That is a statement that cries out for justification. Heinlein polarizes readers like few authors do; it isn't a matter of whether you like his works, but whether you're a fan of his "early" works, or his "later" material, the boundary falling somewhere around Time Enough for Love. Heinlein is, the best active writer of dialog. When the dialog is under control and working with the story, as it does here and in Friday, his books live and breath. When it isn't, however, and the dialog becomes an end to itself, pages and pages of cloying triviality show up as the characters try to show each other up. In the meantime the plot, stuck off in a corner, dies of loneliness. Both Beast and Cat suffered from this disease -- to the point where I was unable to finish either. This book avoids that trap. It is almost 100% dialog (actually monologue, Maureen to reader), and unlike Beast or Cat, the primary purpose of the book is to tell Maureen's story. The story does tie up many loose ends, but within context, not simply for the sake of tying things together. There are two stories in this book. The primary story is that of Maureen, from her early childhood to her present time in the far future, but the primary focus is from the late 1890's to the end of World War II. The secondary story is barely a subplot -- Maureen in captivity awaiting trial and execution on some unknown parallel world, hoping for rescue. This subplot leads off each chapter for a few paragraphs, and then steps out of the way for Maureen to continue her tale. The memoir is two things: a continuing dialog of her sexual beliefs, exploits, and encounters, and a critique (and occasional rewrite) of American society and morals. Maureen lives in the world that is, but talks about the world that should be, as seen through the eyes of Heinlein. The erotica (for it is that, and not pornography) is mental, not graphic. Maureen isn't afraid to tell you exactly what she thinks or feels, but Heinlein avoids the nitty-gritty details. It reminded me of an updated, low key Fanny Hill. She is upfront about her moral and social values, and lives by a Libertarian standpoint that is critical of and different from our reality. I'm sure lots of people will find reasons to dislike this book -- the sexuality portrayed, the morals, the attitudes --JHeinlein has written a lot into this work without being particularly afraid about who he offends. That this book could be as important to the genre as Stranger in a Strange Land or Time Enough for Love were; it is also possible that it will be written off as another throwaway book by a man obsessed with S*x. I hope the latter doesn't happen -- and I feel sorry for the folks who feel that way, for being unable to see past their own inhibitions to the work behind it. This book feels as if it was written to be the last Heinlein book. I sincerely hope not -- I want to see if he can top this. Last month Jim Brunet talked about the troubles in the Hard SF field. This month I'm happy to point out that Hard SF isn't quite dead -- Gregory Benford is alive, well, and delivering good, solid, Hard SF. His latest, Across the Sea of Suns [Bantam, 353 pages, $3.95] is a case in point. This book is related to In the Ocean of the Night, and tells the story of an interstellar ship sent to look for life among the nearby stars. Interweaved through this story is a subplot on Earth -- something has come from the stars and seeded the oceans with a breed of deadly animals. Between these, we get an extrapolation of the local bit of the universe. Benford's primary purpose in the book, though, is to try to answer the age- old question "If there is life throughout the Universe, why haven't we heard from them before now?" His answer, very plausible, is also very chilling, and one that I hope fails the test of Occam's Razor. This book is much more than a technology tome, though. Unlike many Hard SF writers, Benford uses the hardware as a base and builds a strong story around it, populating it with strong characters. The protagonists of the story are involved in a group marriage, and there is a lot of byplay about the stresses and compromises this involves (this book, as a matter of fact, makes a good counterpoint to some of Heinlein's overly simplistic "Group Marriage is simply wonderful -- with an emphasis on the simple"). The primary focus of the action of the book is also slanted away from the technology to the political interactions of a group of people on a long-term space voyage. Across the Sea of Suns isn't perfect. Benford uses a couple of experimental dialog tricks to try to get around the hated expository dialog problems -- with limited success. While he gets his information across, I found that the style was very hard to follow and rather confusing, forcing me to break my train of thought and have to backtrack through it two or three times trying to figure out what he was saying. Other than that, though, there isn't much to complain about here, and this is definitely a book worth reading. How could anyone resist a novel with the title Bimbos of the Death Sun [Windwalker books/TSR, 219 pages, $2.95]? I certainly couldn't, and not even the well-endowed woman in the leopard fur bikini space suit on the cover could keep me from trying it out. This book is marketed as a mystery, but it really isn't. What it is is a satire of Science Fiction conventions, and for the most part it is a lot of fun. The first half of the book describes many of the places and caricatures that show up at many cons -- the wargamers, the costumes, the art show, the huckster room, the total chaos behind the scenes. McCrumb tells the story by tossing a complete novice, Dr. Jay Mega, author of his first novel (which happens to be the same title as McCrumb's book) into the grinder and letting him try to explain it. By the time the Guest of Honor Appin Dungannon, author and resident obnoxious boor, is killed, the book goes downhill rapidly and dissolves into a real-life D&D game used to trap the murderer. The first half of the book, with one exception, is a real hoot, and a must read for anyone who has ever been stuck in a middle of a con wondering why they enjoy going to these things. I do want to point out the exception, however. Early on McCrumb makes a comment that female fans fall into two classes: if you weigh less than 120 pounds, you wear as little as possible, and if you weigh more, you wear lots of velvet and try to hide your bulk. She also has one character, an obese woman who's two aims in life seem to be eating and finding a nerd to sleep with to save on hotel costs. Now, while all of the other characters are amusing caricatures, I found this character very offensive. She's shown to be slow thinking, conniving, a compulsive eater, manipulator and with very little self image or motivation. Nothing, from my experiences from conventions, is further than the truth, and this reinforcement of stereotypes in a nasty way really bothered me, and I think it is unfortunate that this one problem mars an otherwise enjoyable look at a fun part of fandom. Don't expect much from the mystery, but enjoy the scenery. Teresa Plowright's first novel, Dreams of an Unseen Planet [Arbor House, 273 pages, $16.95] shows potential, potential unfortunately to some degree unrealized in the first encounter. She's taken on an ambitious task, trying to meld together many different ideas and themes: Earth is on the edge of a world war, an outpost is sent to a foreign planet to make a fresh start, the planet seeming has a sentient intelligence that is affecting the colonists, although only one colonist seems to notice its existence. She also weaves in both dystopian and feminist subtexts. Ventura is the American outpost on Gaea, settled (along with sister outposts from China and Russia -- none of whom talk to each other, just like on Earth) in a hurry because it looks like the Earth is finally going to blow itself up. Things are in pretty bad shape. Fertility is zero, despite ever attempt by Center (the nameless controlling administration) to promote births and reproduction. Crops are in bad shape, livestock isn't reproducing, the colony is failing, and nobody can figure out why. Miera, a working in the botanical gardens, is haunted by shapeless, sensual red dreams, and is fascinated by views of the planet outside -- views most colonists shun. Plowright writes well, and I'll be in line for her next book, but Dreams never gels. There are simply too many things running around looking for attention, and she doesn't quite get it all tied together. I ended up feeling vaguely confused about what she was really trying to say because the book lacks a strong focus. There are no major flaws, but no real enchantment, either, potential, but potential unrealized. Another first novel is War for the Oaks, by Minneapolis writer Emma Bull [Ace Fantasy Special, 309 pages, $3.50]. This is the book in the Fantasy sister to the highly regarded series of first Science Fiction novels edited by the late Terry Carr, and if this is any indication of what editor Terri Windling is going to do with the series, you can put the entire line on your buy list right now. Bull tells a modern Fantasy, a battle for ownership of Minneapolis between the Seelie and Unseelie courts of Fairie. Thrust into the middle of this is Eddi McCandry, who is a musician in the Minneapolis bar band circuit. She is the Seelie talisman, for only with a human on the battleground may a Fairie die, and this battle is for keeps. Bull tells the story at two levels. There is the story of Fairie and all that is done out of the site of the humans living in the city. She also weaves in a second story about the music -- not the top forty big business music, but the intense, personal music scene in operation in any big city. I'm frankly not a big fan of music, but I still found this entire book entrancing. The right folks win in the end, although the victory is not without its losses as well. This is a very enjoyable book, and a great start for a new author. Wyrms [Arbor House, 263 pages, $16.95] is the latest from Hugo and Nebula winner Orson Scott Card. It's a rather simple book, the story of Patience, a young diplomats daughter trained in diplomacy as well as the arts of the assassin. She is, it turns out, heir to the throne of the Heptarch as well as the prophesied seventh daughter of the seventh daughter of the seventh daughter, whose geas is to mate with the Unwyrm, ruler of the underworlds. This book rapidly turns into a rather standard quest novel, as Patience chases the her destiny, meeting interesting people and having interesting meetings along the way as she tries to find the information and tools she needs to defeat the prophecy, kill the Unwyrm, and assume her rightful place on the throne. The trappings are Science Fiction, although the story is a Fantasy. If your mumbo-jumbo mentions magic, it is Fantasy, if that same mumbo- jumbo is genetics, its Science Fiction. The story has echoes of both Tolkien's Lord of the Rings and Wolfe's New Sun series, in fact I think an argument could be made that it is an homage of Wolfe's work. The worst I can say about this book is that it is harmless -- it isn't challenging to read, it isn't a complex plot and there aren't a lot of new ideas, but it is well written without any serious flaws. An enjoyable, minor book from a major writer. A Dark Travelling is the second book in the Millenium series [packaged by Byron Preiss and published by Walker and Company, 143 pages, $14.95] where major authors take a new look at some of the traditional themes of Science Fiction. In this volume, Roger Zelazny takes a look at parallel universes with a good dash of witchcraft, psychics and lycanthropy tossed in for good measure. It's written very much like a juvenile, and is a fast, fun read. Parallel universes come in three flavors -- light bands, the good guys; dark bands, the bad guys; and dead bands, the dead guys. The dark bands are constantly trying to take over the light bands, as you might expect, and the light bands are constantly trying to take over the dark bands to put them out of business. One night, Tom Wiley, keeper of the transcomp machine on one of the light bands is attacked and kidnapped -- evidently by a dark band group. It is up to his fourteen year old son, Jim, to find him and set things right. The book never really sets up the premise that well or uses it to its full potential. What it really seems to be is a juvenile oriented coming of age story about Jim, as he learns to deal with himself in adult situations and come to grips with being a werewolf. Another book that covers this same idea much better is Gene DeWeese's The 10-Minute Werewolf, and while there is nothing really wrong with this book, there's nothing really worth calling attention to it, either. Another minor work from a major author. From the Star Trek folks, a first contact novel with a difference -- what really happened when Earth first met the outsiders? In Strangers from the Sky (Pocket Books, 402 pages, $3.95) we get a look, not at the official doctrine of the Federation, but of what really happened and how the Earth nearly blew it. This book contains three stories told in two parts. The first, and most interesting, is Strangers from the Sky itself, an account of the original encounter as read by Dr. McCoy or Kirk. The first half of the book switches between this story and the Star Trek folks themselves, acting on, around, and because of the story. Kirk, reading the novel, starts having strange nightmares and other psychological problems. At the same time, so does Spock. The coincidence is too strong, of course, so the two lock themselves up in an apartment with McCoy watching to try to get to the bottom of these strange occurrences. The third story takes up the second half of the book as Kirk and Spock mind meld and go back to a previous adventure in which they and a landing party are whisked to Earth at the same time the first Vulcans crash land on the planet. The Earth authorities are hostile and secretive and considering any number of actions (all of them nasty, of course) so the Star Trek folks get involved and help put things to right and steer Earth to the stars, so that everybody can live happily ever after. There's a very good story here, but it looks like the Star Trek people were afraid to publish a book that didn't have the regular characters in it -- which is too bad, because they've wrapped a couple of subplots around the core and weakened what they were trying to say. This book could have been cut by a third and some of the maneuvering to get the Good Doctor and friend front and center removed and a good book could have been turned into a great book. I think a series of stories about the early days of the Federation is a good idea -- but I don't think that trying to shove current people into the ancient past is a bad idea, and the justifications used here to tie everything together are forced and unconvincing. Before he died, Author L. Ron Hubbard put together a contest to try to find and promote the best of the next generation of authors in the field. To date, it has been an overwhelming success. Among other aspects of the contest is a yearly anthology of the best stories. Writers of the Future, Volume III [Bridge Publications, 427 pages, $4.50] is out, and continues the tradition of publishing a highly varied collection of (for the most part) previously unpublished authors. Where you might have looked to Clarion for the new writers of the Seventies, I've come to believe that most of the major players in the Eighties (and perhaps beyond) will first be seen within the volumes of this anthology series -- reportedly contracted through Volume Seven. There are rough edges on some of the stories, and there are sure to be stories that you won't like, not because they aren't good, but because there is such a wide variety of topics and styles that some simply won't click. But there isn't a clinker in the bunch. Writers of the Future is a major proving ground for the next generation of superstars, and as such it deserves your support. If that isn't enough, though, you'll 14 good stories and a lot of enjoyable reading time. Highly recommended. Kim Stanley Robinson's latest collection, The Planet on the Table [Tor Science fiction, 241 pages, $3.50] is out, and is a strong collection of short fiction from one of the better young writers. Many of the works will probably be unfamiliar to you, because they are primarily collected from Terry Carr's Universe anthology series. There are also a couple of stories from Fantasy & Science Fiction magazine and Damon Knight's Orbit anthology series. If you know anything about Terry Carr, you can guess that there isn't a bad story in the bunch. My personal favorite has to be "The Disguise" which is a view into how theater might be in the far future. This book is one of the better collections you'll see this year. Does politics and Science Fiction mix? Jerry Pournelle, a well known pro-space and pro-Defense conservative as well as SF author, has been publishing a series of anthologies under the title There Will be War. The basic premise seems to be that War is a necessary evil, and it will happen. You prepare for it, because it is inevitable. If you think that these books are propogandist, however, you'd be dead wrong. Guns of Darkness [There Will be War, Volume VI, Tor Science Fiction, 405 pages, $3.95, edited by John F. Carr and created by Jerry Pournelle] is an anthology of stories as bleak as the blackest anti-war works by Harlan Ellison or Joe Haldeman. It includes both new stories and reprints, as well as a few factual or historical articles. In general, the stories are quite good, especially Battleground by Gregory and Jim Benford, Doughfoot Sanctum by James William Holzer (a dead ringer for Lucius Shepard's R&R) and The Eye of Argos by Harry Turtledove. The only place it falls down are the factual articles, which seem a bit strident, and The Highest Treason, a story by Randall Garrett that is one of the very few works by that author I haven't liked. Overall, though, the quality is high, and this book should be attractive to people across the political spectrum. Perhaps the best propaganda is that that doesn't preach to the converted. This month somehow turned into a month for catching up on reference books. One that I ran into that I recommend very highly is Fantasists on Fantasy, edited by Robert H. Boyer and Kenneth J. Zahorski [Avon/Discus books, 1984, 287 pages, $3.95]. This is an anthology of various pieces about the field of Fantasy by the people who write it. The pieces date from 1893 to the present day, and include pieces from G.K. Chesterton, James Thurber, H.P Lovecraft, C.S. Lewis, Andre Norton, Ursula K. Leguin, Michael Moorcock and many others. My favorite quote, which relates to my anti-censorship diatribe last issue, was from G.K. Chesterton, who said: "Some solemn and superficial people (for nearly all very superficial people are solemn) have declared that the fairy-tales are immoral [....] This objection, however, is not only false, but very much reverse of the facts...." What I found most interesting about his comments was that they were made in 1908, and they show that the small thinkers have always been with us, and probably always will -- censorship is a battle never won, but not one that can be left to others. For people who are trying to learn more about the background of Fantasy, a wonderful book. Highly recommended. For people who are trying to learn more about writing, Writer's Digest Books has just published How to Write Tales of Horror, Fantasy & Science Fiction, edited by Horror author J.N. Williamson [205 pages plus recommended reading list and index, $15.95]. The material is slanted rather heavily towards Horror, almost to the point where it looks like the SF and Fantasy material was added to broaden the market for the book. Despite this slant, most of the material can be used for any style of writing, and it includes chapters on plotting, characterization, naming, world building, and writing mechanics among others, from authors like Darrell Schweitzer, Marion Zimmer Bradley, Ramsey Campbell, Dean R. Koontz and Charles L. Grant. If you're a working pro, you've probably passed this book far behind. It sometimes tends to fall into cheerleader mode ("Kids! You TOO can grow horrible monsters in your basement and sell them for lots of money!"). At the same time, there is a lot of good information on the mechanics of writing and the practical aspects of getting your work read and sold. For the beginning writer and the person trying to get serious about selling, this book can be of help. For the advanced amateur it will be too basic. Many years ago a set of blueprints were published for the Enterprise, the interstellar vessel in the television series Star Trek. They were highly detailed, and showed the entire layout, deck by deck. They also showed, much to the amusement of Star Trek fans everywhere, that there were basically no bathrooms on the Enterprise, lending itself to many convention discussions of exactly what the 400+ members of the crew did for their five year mission. Pocket books has updated the blueprints to include design changes from the four Star Trek movies and published them as Mr. Scott's Guide to the Enterprise [written and illustrated by Shane Johnson, 125 pages 8.5x11" trade paperback, $10.95]. The new edition is a mixed blessing. On the positive side, there are bathrooms everywhere -- private ones, public ones, small bathrooms and multi-station latrines. They exist in the bridge, in Engineering, in the rec areas. Everywhere. I'm sure the crew will be eternally grateful. There is even a bathroom in the transporter room these days! On the negative side, however, there is a lot less detail than in the original, and a lot of pages used for secondary items (details of the shuttles, hatches, uniforms, and the like). I was rather disappointed with the book, frankly, because so much seems missing. Some of the areas are rather poorly thought out, also -- my personal gripe is the sick bay and operating arena, which was very tiny and didn't include either scrub areas or an air dam into the operating room -- both of which would be necessities to keep an area sterile for an operation. I think that, for what you're getting here, this is an expensive book. If you can find the original blueprints used, you'll get a lot more detail for a lot less. If you can't, take a look at this and see if it has enough information for what you want -- but don't be surprised if it doesn't. The Science Fiction and Heroic Fantasy Author Index was published in 1978 by Stuart W. Wells III and Purple Unicorn Books (4532 London Road, Duluth, MN, 55804, 185 pages, $9.95). It is an attempt to cover every novel and collection published or reprinted between 1945 and 1978. It specifically excludes areas such as horror, anthology, or foreign publications, but after browsing it, it looks pretty complete. As a reference work of things published in the field, I think it'll be pretty useful, although I hope it is either revised or a companion volume for the years since its publications are done. Finally, Omni Magazine has come out with Arthur C. Clarke's July 20, 2019: Life in the 21st Century [Macmillan/SFBC, 276 pages hardback]. The name is misleading -- not only isn't it written by Clarke, but he didn't have editorial control of the content. The only real contact Clarke seems to have with this volume is the cashing of royalty checks. Inside are a series of articles written about various subjects: Medicine, Robots, Entertainment, Sex, War, Death and others by uncredited contributors (their names are in the acknowledgments, but they don't get credited to a given article -- this way, I guess, we don't know who to blame). Some of the articles are written from the viewpoint of how things are today in 2019. Other articles are written about how things will be in 2019. Still others try both viewpoints at once. If this sounds chaotic, you've got it. Many of the articles seem to be lightly researched gosh-wow pieces, and the book is illustrated in the traditional Omni style: glitzy stock photos with cute (not not necessarily relevant) captions. Skip this one. It's frankly an insult that something this schlocky would have a name like Clarke's on the cover -- an insult to readers who pick it up thinking they'll get Clarke on the inside, and an insult to the visionary Clarke, whose name is being prostituted for a piece of commercial garbage. OtherRealms #18 Fall, 1987 Copyright 1987 by Chuq Von Rospach. All Rights Reserved. One time rights have been acquired from the contributors. All rights are hereby assigned to the contributors. OtherRealms may be reproduced in its entirety only for non-commercial purposes. No article may be reprinted without the express permission of the author.