From sun!plaid!fanzine-request Fri Jan 17 12:00:00 1986 Subject: Table Of Contents/Masthead OtherRealms, Volume 1, Number 1 (January 1986) Table of Contents: o Editorial: Am I missing something? -- chuq von rospach o Words: Brokedown Palace -- alice!jj o Writers: And You Thought Your FIRST Sale Was Hard... -- Jim Brunet o Words: Mindkiller -- Peter Korn o Authors: A Profile of Harry Turtledove -- Jim Brunet o Picos: Quick reviews from the readership o Readers: This month's readers survey o Letters: The start of the Letter column Edited and Published on an almost monthly schedule by: Chuq Von Rospach 3770 Flora Vista #1805 Santa Clara, CA. 95051 (sun!plaid!chuq) All material in this magazine is Copyright 1986 by Chuq Von Rospach, all rights reserved. One time rights only have been acquired from signed of credited contributors. All rights are hereby assigned to the contributors Reproduction rights: Permission is given to reproduce or duplicate OtherRealms in its entirety for non-commercial uses as long as all associated copyright notices and bylines are left intact. If a subset of the issue needs to be duplicated, it must include all copyright notices and bylines and this masthead. Re-use of an individual article is forbidden without permission of the author. Subscriptions: Subscription is currently free and limited to the USENET electronic network and other networks accessible through USENET. Subscription requests should be mailed to the address "sun!plaid!fanzine-request". Submissions: Submissions should be mailed to the address "sun!plaid!fanzine" in text or nroff format. A writers guide is available for the asking from the "fanzine-request" address. Correspondence: All correspondence should be addressed to "sun!plaid!fanzine-request". Unless otherwise specified, all letters will be considered for publication in the letter column. Letters to an authors should be mailed directly if possible, but I will forward them to the best of my ability. COMING ATTRACTIONS Jim Brunet talks about a young woman who is a winner of the Writer's of the Future Contest and has since appeared in F&SF and ASIMOV'S. Chuq Von Rospach talks about a set of historical romance novels -- starring a vampire. Also, "Inventing Reality" a look at making the fantastic make sense. WRITE FOR OTHERREALMS Write for OtherRealms, the magazine about Science Fiction and Fantasy. Authors are welcome to submit articles for the following sections: Words (book reviews), Pico (mini reviews), Visions (media reviews), Authors (interviews and articles about authors), Conventions (con reviews of major cons), Fandom (articles about fandom), Awards (let us know who won what!), Writers (about being a writer), Fiction, and Parting Shots (guest editorials). A Writers Guide to OtherRealms is available, if you are interested in writing please ask for it. All submissions and requests should go to "sun!plaid!fanzine-request" From sun!plaid!fanzine-request Fri Jan 17 12:00:00 1986 Subject: Editorial: Am I Missing Something? In case you hadn't noticed it, the walls around our ghetto are crumbling and Science Fiction books are making it onto best seller lists. The world is peeking over the barriers and discovering what we've always known. I recently read a story, though, that brought forward something that has been bothering me for a while. In the January "Fantasy & Science Fiction", Greg Benford published "Newton Sleep." It is a departure from his hard SF, is well done and I recommend it highly. As I read it a little voice in the back of my head kept whispering "Am I missing something?" This story works on its own, but to really understand what was going on, you have to recognize that one of the main characters is Ernest Hemingway and to know something about his life. Hemingway, one of the best writers of his generation, was a journalist in the Spanish Civil war and finally ended his life as a suicide. Without that knowledge, the motivations of Benford's character remain hidden. The story is a lot more than just the light fantasy that it seems at first glance. But I realized realize that the story had a deeper level to explore. It wasn't just about Hemingway, Benford was writing a Hemingway story, and again the story becomes something else because the hidden references back to Hemingway's work allow him to say things without writing the words. I've taken a roundabout way to make a point. In talking to people it seems that the percentages of people who don't venture outside the wall of our SF ghetto is as large as the group that never comes in. Walls work both ways. And that's a shame, because there is a lot out there in the 'real' world of publishing. I'm not talking about Sydney Sheldon or Erica Jong, but Robert Ludlum and Laurence Sanders and Erma Bombeck. And the classics. Once you start exploring, you'll find that many SF writers have been influenced by the classics. It shows up in their work, and those who prefer the ghetto miss a lot because of it. There are a lot of classical references to be enjoyed. Steve Brust's work "To Reign in Hell" takes on more meaning if you've read the Bible, of course, but it also pays tribute to Dante's "Inferno". Phil Farmer's Riverworld uses as main characters Sir Richard Burton, Alice Hargreaves, and Mark Twain. For all of its faults, his Twain is a good characterization of a man who symbolized America through his writings. Twain's Riverworld actions make a lot more sense if you've read Twain. If you think of movies when you hear the name Burton, you're missing out on the reason for the series to exist. Sir Richard Burton was a real-life personification of the great adventurer, and Riverworld is intended to be his greatest adventure. If you know nothing of the life of Charles Dodgson and the girl-child he wrote Alice in Wonderland for, the relationship between her and Burton in the book makes no sense. The wall is imaginary, a phantom; the ghetto, a convenient stomping ground. You can read Lovecraft and still attend a con. You can read Twain, can ponder Kafka, or Dante, or Dickens. There is a lot of very good work out there waiting for you. The outside world is getting smart enough to sample what we have to offer them. Are we going to reciprocate and sample their wares as well? From ihnp4!alice!jj Fri Dec 27 12:33:05 1985 Subject: Words: Brokedown Palace by Steven Brust "Brokedown Palace", Steven Brust, Ace, 2.95 US, 270 pp, ISBN 0-441-07181-3. Copyright J.D. Johnston 12/27/85, Warren, NJ. "Brokedown Palace" is Steven K. Zoltan Brust's fourth book. Its scope, in contrast with the third, "To Reign in Hell", is small, concerning the survival and succoring of a small kingdom cut off from the rest of the universe by disinterest and lack of need. Brust borrows names and folklore from the Hungarian tradition and names, and creates a small, inwardly directed world that could (although this reviewer would not suggest that such is the author's intent) parallel some of the world's great historic institutions. The story is written from the viewpoint of the youngest of four royal brothers, each with a different problem. Over time, some of the brothers accept their weaknesses, turning them to strengths, and others fail, in ways large or small. The problem presented at the beginning of the story, the staleness of the Fenarian royalty, is extended to the physical symbols (or perhaps it is the other way around), and resolved in a most unusual way that seems quite natural to the setting, as well as (ahem) rather symbolic of several well-known philosophies. The story certainly is of the "wheel turning" or "renewal of the circle" style, perhaps (the reviewer is not well versed in the subject, having failed to find a source thereof) in the style of Hungarian Mythology, and certainly in the way of several non-deific mystical philosophies. Brust does a most remarkable job of using the language to portray both the characters and the situation, in a way that suggests that he would be a most remarkable story-teller in other ages. A great deal of the charm and pleasure of the story is in the modest and occasionally wry language of "Brokedown Palace". Those who have read "Jhereg" and "Yendi" will find more of the same story telling, although in a more mature and less jarring fashion. Some of the elements of the world of "Jhereg" appear in "Brokedown Palace", but the story is NOT a sequel, nor does it appear, at least at the surface, to be connected by anything other than the names of the wildlife. Hard SF fans will find nothing of hard SF in this story, which reads much as a folk tale, or fantasy. Those who like stories of *E*P*I*C* character, as in "To Reign in Hell", will find nothing to suit their sense of cosmic importance. Those readers who wish to enjoy a quiet, non-jarring book, who are fascinated by colorful (but far from overbearing) tales, and who like to read a good story, well written, and with interesting characters and human-sized problems, will greatly enjoy this book. As is clear from this review, I am of the latter category. On a scale of 0-5, I figure I'll rate it a 4. It's not (quite) a classic, but quite worth reading, and it deserves preservation. From ihnp4!ima!haddock!ism780!ism780b!jimb Fri Jan 3 21:31:40 1986 From: Jim Brunet Subject: Writing: And You Thought Your FIRST Sale Was Hard.... And You Thought Your FIRST Sale Was Hard.... by James Brunet A common assumption of beginning writers is, "Gee, if I can just get my foot in the door and make a first sale, I can start selling regularly because the editor will know me." In my own case, I made a sale to FANTASY BOOK over a year ago. I KNOW that my writing is better, I now wince at some of the writing in the story that I published. Another writer in my writing group is in the same boat; he sold to F&SF, with no sales since. We've both heard of other writers with similar experiences. So what's the problem? "You look outside the next day, and the sun is still shining, and birds are still singing and you realize that no one gives a damn." So said Algis Budrys, SF writer and critic, when I asked him about the after-the-first-sale blues encountered by many writers trying to make their *second* sale. Our subsequent conversation confirmed what I had already learned the hard way: one sale does not constitute a "break" into the market. Talking to other writers and editors, as well as examining my own pattern of non-success, has given me some idea of what some of the problems of one-sale writers are. *Story content.* Most writers who have made their first sale are at least passable in terms of their writing craft. While their storytelling abilities will not immediately bring Larry Niven to mind, or their style evoke recollections of Roger Zelazny, they have mastered the basic art of getting scene, character, and action down on paper in an entertaining way. You may hear a writer complain, "...but my Merlin re-telling is just as good as the ones that Jane Yolen gets published in F&SF" or "...my post-holocaust story is a cross between Vinge, Brin, and Palmer." Ah, but it turns out that's the problem. The story may be *just as good* -- but put yourself in the editor's shoes. You have two stories of more or less equal quality. One is by a recognized name, the other by a new writer. Which story will help you sell copies by adding to the prestige of the publication? For a new writer to get published, their material must be either NEW, or else extraordinarily well written. In the case of David Palmer's novella EMERGENCE, a Hugo winner after it was published in ANALOG, it was both. The story was a post-nuclear-holocaust story. The plot of plucky survivor makes good is rather routine. What made EMERGENCE stand out was the NEW twist of the point-of-view character -- an adolescent girl genius who unknowingly is part of a human mutant strain that appeared in the 1920's -- coupled with exceedingly good writing. Chances are that if you've sold a story, it was one of your more imaginative efforts. If you're having trouble selling your stories, look through your file copies of your manuscripts that are out on the market. If you see a lot of "me-too" plots, go ahead and keep them out on the market. You *may* catch lightning in a bottle, an editor might find YOUR story to be the one that is refreshing and different. If the stories don't sell, keep them. You may need them someday when you DO have a name. In the meantime, every time you sit down at your wordprocessor or typewriter, ask yourself "Does the story I have in mind stand out sufficiently from all the stories by my favorite authors?" By breaking new ground, you will increase the chances of an editor buying a story from you, instead of someone else. *Losing sight of the market.* Even in SF, all editors are human, at least until proved otherwise. Each editor has his or her own style and unique tastes. Reading entries in WRITER's MARKET or FICTION WRITER's MARKET will give you some idea of editorial tastes. A careful reading of your target magazines will give you an even better idea of your editor's taste. So will carefully reading any personal notes on rejection slips from a given editor. Many neo-pros quite correctly attempt to learn the market before they first start sending manuscripts out, only to develop instant amnesia once that first sale hits the mailbox. "Oh, boy. I can now send that fantasy that F&SF rejected to Stan Schmidt at ANALOG, and send that cyber-punk hard SF story to FANTASY BOOK." Well, comrades, we may undergo a sea change with our first sale, but it's highly unlikely that the editors have. A professional credit listed on your cover letter will almost certainly get your story a closer reading by the editor or first reader; it may even get your story out of the "slush pile" or at least to the top of it. But it doesn't change the nature and character of the magazine. Immediately after my first sale, the nature of my rejection slips got worse, not better. I soon recognized that I was trying too hard and went back to my normal hard-headed appraisal of the market for each story. No, it didn't result in a new sale, but the tone of the rejection slips told me that I was closer, and if you view getting published as a statistical quantum event as I do, then at least your odds are better. (Remember, in the best of cases its a a very tough market -- typically only one percent or less of all submissions get published. William F. Wu, whose WONG'S LOST AND FOUND EMPORIUM was nominated for a Hugo, still routinely got rejection slips two years later for stories he thought were just as good.) Remember, too, that part of an editor's being human includes the capacity to make mistakes. Before EMERGENCE was picked up by Stan Schmidt, another editor rejected it with a note that said "Something this long needs to be good. This isn't." *Self-mimicry.* The final problem that occurs with new writers is that once they have made a sale, they tend to repeat themselves. If the first sale was a moody dark fantasy set in suburban Los Angeles, they'll write three more supernatural stories along the same lines. Big name authors do this all the time; the practice is known variously as writing a series, creating a distinctive style, or milking the public. Unless the story is both first rate and distinctive, however, the writer is back to square one with the magazine editor, who is looking for something NEW, or otherwise something that will help sell the magazine, i.e., a story by a writer with a following. As outlined in the beginning of this article, derivative writing is difficult to sell, especially for a newcomer, and doubly difficult if the newcomer's writing is derivative of his or her own work. *Proof?* Interesting assertions, but where's the proof you might ask. I have none. These revelations have crystallized for me within the past two months as a result of letters, insights, and conversations -- some of the latter had been rolling around in my head since Westercon in July. I'm applying these observations to my own work and have audaciously set a goal of four sales for 1986. I'll let you know how it turns out; in the meantime, your comments are welcome. The best of luck to all of you who write and send your manuscripts out. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: Editors Shawna McCarthy, Stan Schmidt, George Scithers for their letters and conversations about my writing and the publishing process in general; writers Algis Budrys , David Weiner, and William F. Wu for sharing their experiences. From korn@cory.berkeley.edu Tue Jan 14 14:30:03 1986 Subject: Words: Mindkiller by Spider Robinson "Mindkiller", Spider Robinson, Berkley Books, N.Y., $2.95, 246 pages (originally published Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1982) With any review, one of the challenges is to tell the readers about the book without telling them about the book--and thus spoiling the book for them. I'm in the "know as little about the book before reading it as possible" camp. I flatly refuse to read the outside covers or inside page-long blurb designed to get you to read the book in order to find that tantalizing scene displayed before you. That said, this review will try to tell you how Spider Robinson tells you the story--and not what happens in the story. From that I hope you'll be able to decide whether or not you'll want to read the book. Spider Robinson is different from all the other Science Fiction authors I've read in that he writes human stories first, and SF second. His stories all have deeper underlying meanings which come first, as opposed to an author like Heinlein, where it's kind of hard to tell which came first. The SF setting is almost incidental, though it's definitely not dispensible. Mindkiller is no exception. This is not a "I want to forget my brain for a bit" reading in either the Piers Anthony or Niven style Mindkiller is a very human story, that asks a few important questions about scientific possibilities the future will very likely bring us. Foremost of these is the ability to directly stimulate the pleasure center of the brain electronically (do you see where this might lead in a human story? Guess again; Spider does something different!). The style of the book is also very different from the norm of SF novels. The story is told by two different speakers, alternating chapters. It took me a while to get into the book b/c of this, but later I found that I just HAD to keep reading in order to find out what happens to speaker #1; and after reading speaker #2, I'd have to read all of #1 again because #2 came to a crisis that needed resolution. In fact, the entire book is really two building crises desperately needing a resolution. As a warning to those who need sleep, don't start this book as I did at 12:30 am. I didn't go to sleep until 6:00 am because I just COULDN'T put the book down. I found this book the most intense novel I've ever read, let alone the most intense SF novel. Perhaps there is one negative thing I can say about Mindkiller. If it's the first Spider Robinson you've read, you may be just a bit disappointed when you read others. Don't get me wrong, all his books are excellent. But Mindkiller is by far the most human and the most intense. Also, he's only written six books, so you'll exhaust the lot of them quite quickly and want more. Without reservation I recommend this book--unless all you want is mindless first Spider Robinson you've read, you may be just a bit disappointed when entertainment, in which case you can read Piers Anthony and pick your nose and try not to groan at the awful puns. In fact, I even like the way he treats sex. Spider is the _only_ author that treats sex as something people do, as opposed to aliens (Anthony again) or sex saints (Heinlein). On our scale of 0-5, it's at least a 5. (I'd put a 6 or 7 on it, but chuq wants me all of the reviewers to stick to the same system). From ihnp4!ima!haddock!ism780!ism780b!jimb Thu Jan 9 10:31:45 1986 From: Jim Brunet Subject: Authors: A Profile of Harry Turtledove Authors: A Profile of Harry Turtledove by James Brunet One of my year-end rituals is a review of all the SF magazines I get, looking for those stories that I thought stood out from the crowd and deserved recognition in terms of Hugo nominations, Locus Poll, ANALOG's AnLab poll, etc. I take the resulting "long" list -- generally about a third of the total published and break it down into "short" lists of five to seven titles for each category: novella, novelette and short story. The final process of picking and ranking the stories is much like deciding who to kick out of the lifeboat; it's a painful process. One of the compensating joys, however, is that each year I discover certain writers placing several titles on my long list and and at least one title on my short list, writers who aren't well known and whom I had not been consciously aware of as being "good" writers that I could name if asked. Following is a review of one writer whose work I've enjoyed for the past couple of years, yet whose name is not widely known in the SF community. Obviously, appraising writing is a matter of personal taste, but the writers I've discovered that I like through this method are so varied that I hope it will help you find some new favorite names to look for, whatever your tastes happen to be. * * * A rabbi being called to decide whether flesh from a strain of pigs radically altered by genetic engineering can be kosher; the consequences of "bluffing" at poker introduced to a Sumerian-level civilization by a interstellar survey team; the Jamestown colonists contending with not red-skinned savages, but fur-covered *homo erecti* that lived on in the New World while *homo sapiens* developed the Old. These are just some of the premises for the stories of Harry Turtledove, who until recently was published under the pseudonym of Eric G. Iverson. One of Turtledove's main assets is developing solid story lines. Many SF stories feature slender plots, or gimmicks as an excuse for the story; Turtledove may use a novel idea as a gimmick to hook the reader, but his stories then proceed to develop the ideas, usually with the the aid of memorable, identifiable characters. Turtledove's writing is simple and straightforward. While it may lack any special elegance -- there are passages of Zelazny or Avram Davidson that can make me stop and go "Oh, wow!" -- his writing avoids the elaborately chiseled and self-conscious prose of Lucius Shephard and the ponderous exposition of a writer like Robert Forward. Not a bad compromise. It's to Turtledove's credit that I remember and respect even the stories that I didn't care for, such as "Vilest Beast," which appeared in the September '85 issue of ANALOG. This story concerned the interaction of the Jamestown colonists with the New World *homo erecti*, and while it made me shiver with distaste at what happened, the story was extremely vivid from an emotional viewpoint. I appreciate Turtledove's range, from the dark alternate world described above, to a murder mystery set at the Winter Olympics on a moon of Saturn, to the humorous piece concerning the rabbi and the pseudo-pork. Indeed, even in his serious stories, it appears that Turtledove's sense of humor is never far from the surface. The variety of his work approaches that of Poul Anderson; I can only hope that we begin to see novels from Turtledove so that we can have fuller meals borne of his toil in the SF fields. I first became aware of Iverson/Turtledove in late 1984; he has appeared regularly in the pages of ANALOG since then. According to Jay Kay Klein's Biolog column in the February '85 issue of ANALOG, Turtledove was first published in 1979, when he sold a two-volume sword-and-sorcery fantasy. Klein's column also stated that Turtledove abandoned CalTech and later received a Ph.D. in Byzantine history. Following is a partial bibliography: "Herbig-Haro" ANALOG, 10/84 "Hindsight" ANALOG, mid-12/84 "Bluff" ANALOG, 2/85 "The R-Strain" ANALOG, 6/85 "Non-Interference" ANALOG, 7/85 "Les Mortes D'Arthur" ANALOG, 8/85 "Vilest Beast" ANALOG, 9/85 "The Road Not Taken" ANALOG, ll/85 "Hatching Season" ANALOG, 12/85 "And So To Bed" ANALOG, 1/86 From sun!plaid!fanzine-request Fri Jan 17 12:00:00 1986 Subject: Pico Reviews FOOTFALL, by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle [**] Del Rey, 1985. 574 pp. (SF Book Club edition). The cover proclaims, "Probably the finest novel of alien invasion ever written". Replace "finest" with "longest" and I agree wholeheartedly. Features five SF writers, the most intelligent President of the United States since Jefferson, and the usual Niven/Pournelle Cast of Thousands. The first half of the book was slow going, but things picked up when the action started. These guys can do better. Anybody might do better. -- Bill Laubenheimer (ucbvax!wildbill) FOOTFALL, by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle [*****] del rey, 495 pages, $17.95 You either love Niven and Pournelle or hate them. I hate them (together) , and loved this book. Don't expect deep insight or new themes, this is a fast paced, fun, and original rehash of the alien conquest story. It'll give you a hernia, but its worth it. I'm nominating it for a Hugo this year. -- chuq von rospach HACKERS, by Steven Levy [*****] Dell, $4.50, 430 pages plus index A detailed book on what it means to be a hacker -- not the way the media normally uses the term, but as the hackers themselves do. Starting with the first computers at MIT, this book gives an inside perspective on the people that formed the underground of the computer industry. The books is three sections -- Early MIT days, the Homebrew Computer Club, and Sierra On-Line. The final section should be required reading in all business schools on how NOT to run a software business. A good perspective on the people behind the software, and highly recommended. -- chuq von rospach THE HIGH KINGS, by Joy Chant [*****] Bantam books, 245 pages, $3.50 The first book I've seen on English Mythology (no, the Greeks and Romans didn't have a monopoly, they just have a better agent). The stories of the ancestors of King Arthur and the Round Table, it really helps fill out English history. If you like Arthurian works, you have to read this book. -- chuq von rospach IT WAS A DARK AND STORMY NIGHT, compiled by Scott Rice [***+] Penguin, 144 pages, $4.95 A compilation of the best of the worst from the annual Bulwer-Lytton contest, where everyone tries to write the best worst opening line for a novel. Some are great, some are inspired, some are just bad, all together they are sidesplitting (Example, the winner of the Sci-fi category: "The surface of the strange, forbidden planet was roughly textured and green, much like cottage cheese gets way after the date on the list says its all right to buy it." -- chuq von rospach MEDEA: HARLAN'S WORLD, edited by Harlan Ellison [****] stories by Poul Anderson, Hal Clement, Thomas M. Disch, Harlan Ellison, Frank Herbert, Larry Niven, Frederik Pohl, Robert Silverberg, Theodore Sturgeon, Kate Wilhelm, and Jack Williamson; illustrations by Kelly Freas. Bantam, 1985. 532 pp. (SF Book Club edition) This book is the outgrowth of an extension course on SF given at UCLA by Ellison in 1975. Ellison being who he is, he was not content with doing the same old thing in the same old way; this book is the end result of a demonstration of world-building. The stories range from good to very good. Even more fascinating, though, were the SF authors trying to figure out where they and the characters they intended to write about fit into a world the particulars of which they had been handed shortly before appearing in front of several hundred people interested in where crazy ideas come from. Especially enjoyable for anybody who's ever tried to think like an SF writer. -- Bill Laubenheimer (ucbvax!wildbill) THE POOH PERPLEX, by Fredrick C. Crews [****] dutton, 150 pages, $5.75 If you are interested in Pooh, a great book to read if you can find it (best bet is a university bookstore). A series of literary criticisms of the work of A.A. Milne in the best literaci form. The English major's version of what Pooh is all about, my favorite (for pure strangeness) is the freudian evaluation of the works. -- chuq von rospach A STAINLESS STEEL RAT IS BORN, by Harry Harrison [***+] Bantam, 219 pages, $2.95 The story of the beginnings of Slippery Jim diGriz, super thief. Much better than the last book (Stainless Steel Rat for President), but not quite as good as the originals. It does show that there is life left in the series, though. -- chuq von rospach SURELY YOU'RE JOKING, MR. FEYNMAN (ADVENTURES OF A CURIOUS CHARACTER) [***-] by Richard P. Feynman Bantam books, 317 pages plus index, $4.50 Parts are truly hilarious, but the books reads like a transcription. Fenyman rambles, and it could have used some serious editing. Even knowing how he talks doesn't help as much as it should. He's strange enough to want to wade through, but expect to skim through parts of it. This book is for everyone who thinks that subnuclear physicists are fuddy-duddies. -- chuq von rospach The TAO OF POOH, by Benjamin Hoff [****+] penguin books, 158 pages, $4.95 If you're a Pooh fan and haven't found this book, run out and grab it. You thought that Winnie the Pooh was just a childrens story? Find out what Milne was really telling the kids... -- chuq von rospach VENUS, INC., by Fredrick Pohl and C.M Kornbluth [****/**] nelson doubleday [SFBC edition], 346 pages Two novels in one volume: The classic advertising satire "The Space Merchants" where P&C rake Madison avenue over the coals, and "The Merchant's War" where Pohl tries to carry the story forward. The first is even more appropriate and fun than it was when published in 1952, but the sequel simply doesn't carry the punch -- Pohl tries to toss in a message and forgets to enjoy himself. If you've ever yelled back at your TV set, read "The Space Merchants". -- chuq von rospach --- Pico reviews are short, informal ratings of books you've read. Don't be afraid to review something someone else has already done. Comments should be limited to a short paragraph (if you can't say it in that space, you should write a full review of the work). Pico review ratings will be collated occasionally to help us see what the group mind thinks. From sun!plaid!fanzine-request Fri Jan 17 12:00:00 1986 Subject: Readers Survey This month the Readers Survey is in two parts. The first part is to find out a bit about who is reading OtherRealms, the second part is to get an idea of what you thought about OtherRealms. Please send your responses to "sun!plaid!fanzine-request". It should only take a few minutes to do this, and it will help immeasurably in tuning OtherRealms towards what the readership wants to see. chuq 1) Sex: (male or female, not yes) 2) Age: 3) Profession 4) How many Science Fiction Books do you read a month? 5) How many Fantasy Books do you read a month? 6) How many other books do you read a month? 7) How many hardcover books (not Book Club) did you buy in the last year? 8) How many book club books did you buy in the last year? 9) Favorite Author 10) Favorite Book of all time 11) Favorite Book in the last year 12) What magazines do you read? 13) Do you read fanzines? Which ones? 14) Do you go to conventions? Which ones? I) What did you like most about OtherRealms? II) What did you like least about OtherRealms? III) What do you want to see in OtherRealms in the future? From cwruecmp!edguer Sat Dec 21 01:37:49 1985 Subject: Letter: Researching for Writers Dear Mr. Von Rospach, While I am not the best or most creative writer, I enjoy reading the science fiction and fantasy writings of others. One problem I have encountered in my reading fairly frequently in 'bad' or erroneous science. Encountering such problems can easily break my 'suspension of disbelief' and make an otherwise well written story an effort in patience to finish. In an effort to help improve the situation and possibly end these problems for some people I am willing to help people do research. I will answer short questions with short answers and provide references to more extensive materials. I will do the legwork so others won't have to. Aydin Edguer decvax!cwruecmp!edguer