OtherRealms A Reviewzine for the Non-Fan Where FIJAGH Becomes a Way of Life Issue #9 October, 1986 Part 2 Pico Reviews ALL THE MYRIAD WAYS by Larry Niven [*****] Del Rey, $2.25, 1971, 181 pages Classic Larry Niven. Not only very good hard SF stories, but three essays on interesting topics (Superman's sex life, time travel, and teleportation). Overall excellence. A must own book. -- John Wenn wenn@g.cs.cmu.edu ANNALS OF THE BLACK COMPANY by Glen Cook [****+] [Omnibus] The Black Company, Shadows Linger, The White Rose Doubleday [SFBC], 1984, 1984, 1985 Impressive, realistic, gritty fantasy (if that isn't a contradiction in terms). The Black Company is the last of the free companies of Khatovar, and they have fallen on hard times. A bunch of tough mercenaries in the service of the Lady, an ancient evil recently returned. Here war is a tough, dirty business. Major characters die, magic doesn't have all the answers. A good study of the possible forms of evil, apocalyptic battles, and a satisfying final battle and aftermath. -- John Wenn wenn@g.cs.cmu.edu THE COMING OF THE QUANTUM CATS by Frederik Pohl [***] 296 pages, Bantam Books What if there were infinite parallel worlds? What if some of them figured out a way to move among the parallels? What if they showed up in OUR world with weird weapons and plans to use OUR world as a way to surprise attack their world? What if yet ANOTHER parallel world showed up to attack OUR world? This is the confusion that Pohl unravels in this most engrossing story. Very interesting. A bit of a pat ending, but worth checking out. -- Dave Taylor hplabs!hpldat!taylor THE COPPER CROWN by Patricia Kennealy [***] Signet, $3.50 An interesting book, where the Terrans find a space empire started by pre-Christian Kelts who fled St. Patrick. After getting past the mechanism that got them there (I won't spoil it), the book is an enjoyable read about the extension of a classic culture into an SF setting, and the culture shock of the Terrans on finding them, especially the Asian captain of the search vessel. The first in a series (labeled the 'Keltiad'), but completely readable on its own. -- Bob Halloran topaz!caip!unirot!halloran DARK OF THE MOON by P. C. Hodgell [***+] Atheneum [SFBC], 1985, 370 pages Sequel to her excellent book "God Stalk". This is ultimately less satisfying since it doesn't include the most interesting character of "God Stalk": the city of Tai-tastigon. This goes more into the background of the characters and the world, and deals with the battle against 'The Perimal Darkling'. The major problem is structural, the chapters alternate between the story of Jame (heroine of the last book) and her twin brother Tori (who is 12 years older). While this technique has been used to good effect elsewhere, it doesn't really work here. A worthwhile book, but read "God Stalk" first. -- John Wenn wenn@g.cs.cmu.edu THE DREAM YEARS by Lisa Goldstein [***+] Bantam Spectra, $2.95, 1985, 195 pages I'm still not quite sure to make of this book. The basic story takes place among the surrealists of Paris in 1924. But then there is the elements of the Paris riots of 1968 and Paris of the 21st century. This is more of a character oriented story than most of SF, and the prose, characters, and dialogue are all first rate. The material dealing with surrealism rings true, but I haven't the slightest idea if it is accurate. This is worth reading, but I really couldn't say what it's "about". -- John Wenn wenn@g.cs.cmu.edu THE FOREVER MACHINE by Mark Clifton & Frank Riley [***] (AKA THEY'D RATHER BE RIGHT) GALAXY, 1954, 159 pages Winner of the 1955 Hugo award. This remains a readable story of a supercomputer and its use as an rejuvenation machine. The only trouble is that to become rejuvenated, you must be willing to give up all prejudices. And, of course, most people would rather be right and dead. Cardboard characters (naturally), but not bad for the period. -- John Wenn wenn@g.cs.cmu.edu GENE WOLFE'S BOOK OF DAYS by Gene Wolfe [***+] Doubleday [Hardcover], $9.95, 1981, 182 pages A short story collection with a theme (each story is connected with a day of the year). This is a weak Gene Wolfe collection, but still has several excellent stories. Some favorites are Lincoln's Birthday (reinstatement of slavery), Valentine's Day (what if computer dating **REALLY** worked?), and Mother's Day (a pregnant car). Even mediocre Gene Wolfe is better than many other authors, so this is worth checking out. -- John Wenn wenn@g.cs.cmu.edu THE GREY MANE OF MORNING by Joy Chant [****] Bantam, $3.50, 1977, 332 pages A refreshing fantasy story. Instead of young heros battling evil wizards for the fate of the entire universe; this is a quiet, pastoral (but by no means dull) tale of a tribe of plainsmen, and how they learned to war against the villages. There is no earth shattering battles, but a well told story of a proud people and their way of life. Recommended. -- John Wenn wenn@g.cs.cmu.edu HALF PAST HUMAN by T. J. Bass [***] Del Rey, $2.75, 1971, 279 pages Interesting speculation on the far future. Trillions of four toed near-humans live in computer controlled hives on an earth totally converted to food production. And a few five toed genetic throwbacks live on the surface, fighting for survival. The prose is nothing special, but the plot and characters are adequate. -- John Wenn wenn@g.cs.cmu.edu THE HAMMER AND THE HORN by Michael Jan Friedman [*+] Questar, $2.95, 1985, 297 pages The story of Vidar (Odin's bastard son), who has been on earth since Ragnarok, and his reinvolvement with current Asgardian affairs. The description of what really happened in Norse mythology is kind of interesting, but doesn't make up for the standard fantasy plot devices. Yawn. -- John Wenn wenn@g.cs.cmu.edu HARDWIRED by Walter Jon Williams [**] Tor Books $15.95 343pp This is basically a post holocaust shoot 'em up with lots of sex and drugs and rock 'n roll. The Earth has lost The War with the Orbital Corporate Blocs and is now being bled white by them. Sarah is a dirtgirl whose dream is to get enough money to buy a ticket off-world for herself and her brother. Cowboy is a smuggler who wants to bring down the Orbitals. They meet, they fall in love, they triumph but then you know all this by the seventh chapter. There is nothing original about either the characters or the story. On the other hand, Williams has written a sufficiently fast paced story that it is possible to gloss over the cliches. Atmosphere is very important in a story of this type and Williams has also done a good job of creating a suitable electric punk rock feel. However, on the balance, this is not one Williams' better works and one has to have a preference for this type of story to like this book. -- Danny Low hplabs!dlow HART'S HOPE by Orson Scott Card [****+] Berkley, $2.75, 1983, 261 pages What makes this book interesting is its prose style. Virtually every book written today (at least nearly all SF&F) is written in a modern, conversational style. "Hart's Hope", however, is written in the old, allegorical style that brings to mind Arthurian legends and old myths. The story itself is well suited to this approach, dealing with gods, princesses, revenge, love and death. Also its refreshing to read a fantasy novel that isn't part of an N-ology. -- John Wenn wenn@g.cs.cmu.edu THE HIDDEN LAND by Pamela Dean [****-] Ace Fantasy, $2.95, 1986, 202 pages Continuation of "The Secret Country", this is a well written, interesting fantasy novel. A group of children are mysteriously transported to their make-believe land. But things aren't quite as they imagined them, the people are more complex and the events have a life of their own. I kept wanting to shout at the characters "What are you doing? Don't you know that could be dangerous?" The children act like children, not adults in small bodies. The major trouble is that their are *LOTS* of loose ends still hanging around. This is just crying for another book to resolve everything. -- John Wenn wenn@g.cs.cmu.edu THE HUMANOIDS by Jack Williamson [****+] Avon, $2.25, 1949, 259 pages Forget Steven King, this is **SCARY**. A lone scientist creates (via a newly discovered natural law) a race of robots (called humanoids) instructed "To Serve and Obey, And Guard Men from Harm". The problem is that the humanoids are *TOO* efficient and judge everything from bicycles to unsupervised sex as potentially harmful. This is a classic tale of technology gone wrong, close enough to possible that it scares the daylights out of me. It has been taught at MIT as an example of where technology can lead. My copy also includes the even better short story "With Folded Hands". -- John Wenn wenn@g.cs.cmu.edu THE INITIATE by Louise Cooper [**+] Tor, $2.95, 1985, 278 pages A perfectly average fantasy plot, better written than most. An interesting premise that in the war between law and chaos, law won completely ages ago. Now the protagonist is being manipulated into helping the return of chaos. Of course, its the first book in an N-ology. -- John Wenn wenn@g.cs.cmu.edu THE KRAKEN WAKES by John Wyndham [*****] 240 pages, from Penguin This is another wonderful Wyndham book. The storyline is that mysterious asteroids show up in the sky (remember the beginning of "Day of the Triffids"? *smile*) and crash into the sea. As time passes strange things happen at sea, including ships mysteriously disappearing without any warning... the really exceptional thing about the story is the characterizations. -- Dave Taylor hplabs!hpldat!taylor THE KUNDALINI EQUATION by Steven Barnes [***+] Tor, $3.50, 1986, 348 pages Another SF/Martial Arts book by Steven Barnes (the other being "Streetlethal"). This time a man stumbles upon an ancient killing discipline that makes Bruce Lee look like a paraplegic. Nice prose, interesting characters, and nicely written gratuitous sex scenes. -- John Wenn wenn@g.cs.cmu.edu LORD OF LIGHT by Roger Zelazny [*****] Doubleday Science Fiction, 1967, [SFBC] A Hugo winning novel, would you believe Zelazny tells a Science Fiction story about the Buddhist Pantheon and gets away with it? A group of people land on a planet and turn themselves into Gods, literally, with technology. They rule their offspring with all the typical weaknesses that the Gods of humans would be expected to show, and do everything they can to hold back the progress of their minions. On the side of Good, however, is Mahasamatman, but you can call him Sam. As the Buddha, the Prophet, this unbeliever puts together the revolution that will overturn Heaven itself. A fascinating book with insights into a lesser known philosophy and about humanity itself. -- chuq von rospach LYTHANDE by Marion Zimmer Bradley [***-] DAW, $3.50, 1986, 237 pages A collection of short stories dealing with the Blue Star wizard of Thieves World. Lythande was one of my favorite characters from the first book. So it is really unfortunate that these stories don't fulfil the promise of the character. While Lythande has several interesting adventures, and we learn a bit more about her character, there is too much of Fantasy Plot 217 (hero fights old adversary in unexpected place) to be really satisfying. -- John Wenn wenn@g.cs.cmu.edu THE MISTS OF AVALON - Marion Zimmer Bradley [****+] This is yet another retelling of the Arthurian legend, though this time from the point of view of the women in the story. They include Gwenhwyfar, Igraine, Viviane but the main (and definitely the most interesting) character is Morgaine - priestess of Avalon, half-sister to Arthur and mother of his child who will destroy him. While I found the start of the story somewhat slow, Igraine (Arthurs's mother) not being a terribly interesting character, it soon became quite engrossing. The book has a marvelous feeling of a world where the old magic and ways are being replaced by a new religion (the author's sympathies lying with the old religion). Being the Arthurian legend the story ends in tragedy, though not quite the same tragedy as is usual. It is the best fantasy I have read since 'Thomas Covenant. Toivo Pedaste seismo!effigy.oz!toivo THE MULLER-FOKKER EFFECT by John Sladek [****] 213 pages, from Pocket Books, This is a very Kurt Vonnegut style story with lots of strange and irreverent things. Muller Fokker is a technique by which one can capture the personality of a person on computer tapes... there are some hilarious comments on religion, government, etc. -- Dave Taylor hplabs!hpldat!taylor ON A PALE HORSE by Piers Anthony [] 303 pages, Del Rey This book was quite good, indeed surprisingly good considering the dreck Anthony has been foisting on (a willing) public as of late. Until about half way... then we started seeing the 'superhero' syndrome rear it's ugly head. But even then it was okay until I got to the "Authors Note". Okay, so maybe he has something interesting to say... but Nooooo... The Authors Note (21 pages worth!) ruined the book. Don't buy it. yech. -- Dave Taylor hplabs!hpldat!taylor PARK: A FANTASTIC STORY by John Gray [****] 107 pages, Carcanet Good luck finding this one. If you do, though, buy it! It's an excellent philosophical story of a man who wakes up one morning hundreds of years in the future. The comments on early 1900s' English society are most interesting... and make for a good tale too! With an afterward by Philip Healy, this might be more appropriate for a Literature or Philosophy class in college. -- Dave Taylor hplabs!hpldat!taylor THE RELUCTANT KING by L. Sprague de Camp [***] [Omnibus] The Goblin Tower, The Clocks of Iraz, The Unbeheaded King Doubleday [SFBC], 1968, 1971, 1983, 533 pages On the whole, an average fantasy about Jorian, an former king trying to keep out of the clutches of his subjects (you see, every 5 years they behead their king and appoint a new one). What brings this up to 3 stars is the marvelous stories Jorian tells about the exploits of the past kings of Kortoli (all of whose names begin with 'F'). The exploits of Fusinian the Fox, Filoman the Well-Meaning, Forimar the Esthete, and others are quite amusing (better than the main story in most places). A readable light fantasy. -- John Wenn wenn@g.cs.cmu.edu SILVERTHORN by Raymond E. Feist [****] Doubleday [SFBC], 1985, 309 pages Middle book of the Magician trilogy. It suffers from the standard middle book syndrome: you don't have the thrill of learning about the setting, and you don't have a satisfying climax. This is why it only gets four stars instead of five. A smaller scope than the previous book, this only deals with the quest for a cure for the princess in enemy territory. Excellent book. -- John Wenn wenn@g.cs.cmu.edu THE SPACE MERCHANTS by Frederik Pohl and C.M. Kornbluth [*****] 170 pages, from Penguin This is a great story! Anything that pokes fun at Madison Avenue and the games they play to manipulate us, the innocent public, into buying things is good in MY book! In this vision of the future, the ad agencies run the world, have armed military encounters with each other to get new people, and have torture experts to kidnap and find out the success of the 'other side'. Very funny. Very good. Buy it and read it if you can! -- Dave Taylor hplabs!hpldat!taylor THE STARMAKER by Olaf Stapleton [****] for imagination [**-] as a novel Berkley, $0.50, 1937, 222 pages A travelogue on the history of intelligent life in the universe, and its search for spiritual enlightenment. As a work of imagination, this works very well, detailing all manner of strange and wonderful creatures and civilizations. However, it has its problems as a novel. Seeing so many different societies rush by doesn't give time to see any but the most obvious features of any of them. There aren't really any characters in the entire novel, just a vast panorama opening before us. Still, it is an interesting an influential early SF book. -- John Wenn wenn@g.cs.cmu.edu STEPPE by Piers Anthony [****] 1.25 U.K. pounds, Granada, 1976, 191 Pages. If you like anything the Piers Anthony writes and if you can find this book (I don't think there is a U.S. version), then it is well worth reading. It is a fun techno/primitive adventure that doesn't fall prey to any of Anthony's problems. The book reminds me in many ways of Split Infinity and I expect that Split Infinity grew out of Steppe. -- David Muir Sharnoff muir@ucbvax THE SUMMER TREE by Guy Gavriel Kay [*****] Arbor House [SFBC], 1984, 311 pages One of the best fantasies I've read this year. What distinguishes this from most other excellent fantasies, say "Magician", is that five of the main characters are from Toronto, and are transported to Fionavar by Silvercloak the wizard. The contemporary characters give an accessible point of view, and their personalities are both fully developed and change through the story. Great setting, great prose, great characters. Read it. -- John Wenn wenn@g.cs.cmu.edu SUNFALL by C. J. Cherryh [**] DAW, $2.50, 1981, 158 pages The worst Cherryh book I've read. This is a collection of short stories about the fate of cities in the far, far future. None of the stories is terrible, but the entire collecting is unsatisfing. Both Vance and Wolfe have done better with the same idea. -- John Wenn wenn@g.cs.cmu.edu THIEVES' WORLD #9, BLOOD TIES [****] edited by Robert Lynn Asprin and Lynn Abbey Ace Fantasy, August 1986, $2.96, 238 pages The latest collection in the THIEVES' WORLD series. After some mid-series doldrums, the last few books have snapped back, and this issue is as good as #1. The denizens of Sanctuary are learning a new trick -- subtlety -- as they live and die (well, mostly die) and fight for the survival of their city and themselves. This book injects something missing in all the previous volumes: Hope. Since the total despair of Sanctuary was my only real gripe about the series, this is now on my buy regardless list. It is beginning to look like this series will go on forever. I, personally, hope it will. -- chuq von rospach THE TRANSVECTION MACHINE BY Edward Hoch [*] 176 pages, from Pocket Books, Perhaps the best review (he says tongue firmly in cheek) is to quote the review on the back cover; "A beautifully plotted and clued detective story that just happens to take place in the twentyfirst century... hanky-panky in high places, sex, threats of torture, escape attempts and a shoot-out at the end... perfect!" Uh huh... -- Dave Taylor hplabs!hpldat!taylor VISIBLE LIGHT by C. J. Cherryh [****] DAW, $3.50, 1986, 348 pages A good short story collection. A good balance of fantasy and SF, old and new stories. There isn't a bad story in here. Also entertaining is the meta-story, which forms as the introduction to the individual tales and as a platform for Cherryh to expound on all manner of ideas on literature, art, history, and the universe. And a nice cover picture that's a fairly good likeness of the author. -- John Wenn wenn@g.cs.cmu.edu VOYAGER IN NIGHT by C. J. Cherryh [***+] DAW, $2.95, 1984, 221 pages Interesting speculation on *ALIEN* aliens and how human beings could relate. And I absolutely refuse to give away any of the plot, since finding out what in the world is going on is much of the fun. -- John Wenn wenn@g.cs.cmu.edu WAVE WITHOUT A SHORE by C. J. Cherryh [***+] DAW, $2.50, 1981, 176 pages Could you build a society that *REALLY* believed in existentialism? Something doesn't exist unless you believe it exists? The problems this poses, as well as the struggle between art and politics is the basis of some interesting speculations. -- John Wenn wenn@g.cs.cmu.edu THE WORTHINGTON CHRONICLE by Orson Scott Card [***] Ace, $2.75, 1983, 264 pages This is largely based on two previous books: "Hot Sleep" and "Capitol". These three books deal with the earth empire built on controlled suspended animation, telepathy, the fall of the empire, and its aftermath. This book is how the entire history is told to a young boy in a small village of an obscure planet. As with all Card, it is well written and the story is nice hard SF. -- John Wenn wenn@g.cs.cmu.edu OtherRealms Salutes the 1986 Hugo Winners! Best Novel Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card Best Novella 24 Views of Mount Fuji, by Roger Zelazny Best Novellette Paladin of the Lost Hour, by Harlan Ellison Best Short Story Fermi and Frost, by Frederik Pohl Best Non-fiction book Science Made Stupid, by Tom Weller Best Dramatic Presentation Back to the Future Best Professional Editor Judy-Lynn del Rey* Best Professional Artist Michael Whelan** Best Semi-Prozine Locus, Charles Brown, editor Best Fan Writer Mike Glyer Best Fan Artist joan hanke-woods Best Fanzine Lan's Lantern, George Laskowski, editor John W. Campbell Award Melissa Scott * Lester del Rey refused the award on the grounds that if Judy-Lynn had not died, she would not have won, and that she would not have wanted it under these circumstances. ** Michael Whelan removed himself from Hugo contention next year OtherRealms Notes This issue is, by far, the most difficult one to put together yet. This issue introduces an entirely new format, thanks to the Macintosh and MacPublisher II, a desktop publishing program. The people reading the electronic version can't appreciate it, but with a new font and entirely redesigned format, I think OtherRealms is significantly more readable than in the past. It is a big improvement, and the time it took learning the new software and starting over with the display decisions is worth it. Beyond the cosmetic, there are a lot of other changes to this issue. I've published the first OtherRealms cartoon, which is the first piece of art to go into the magazine. Again, I'm using advanced technology, digitizing the art into the Mac and laying it into the issue electronically. The results are not as impressive here, and if I can't get the quality up in the next issue or so, I'll go back to traditional paste-up. We'll see if it is the technology or the operator once I get some time to really work on it. Thanks to Alexis Gilliland for suggesting that OtherRealms use art and acting as initial guinea pig. Jim Brunet is the author of the first piece of OtherRealms fiction, "Insufficient Transmission" and a good piece it is. Jim is a long time contributor to the zine, and this story is a good example of the quality of fiction I'm striving for. One feature that is taking a rest this issue is the lettercol. Preliminary results of the Readers Survey last issue show that the space I was giving it was way out of proportion to the interest. Since I'm tight for space this issue anyway, I'm going to take some time to rethink how I want to handle letters. I feel strongly that a lettercol is important to help everyone get their views heard, but I need to be more selective in what and how much gets printed. I do read everything, and the letters I get affect the future directions of OtherRealms, so don't stop writing! Another thing I've decided to do is consolidate is my writing. Looking back on previous issues, my writing was scattered all over the place. I'm consolidating everything into a single review column where I can tie things together a little better, do a little more commentary and practice my A. J. Budrys impersonation. I feel more comfortable in a column format and I think it will help me keep from dominating an issue by spraying lots of little things all over the place. "Words of Wizdum" premieres this issue. "Books Received" is the last new feature. OtherRealms is getting a lot of support from many publishers in the form of publication schedules, press releases, and review copies. I'm going to start dedicating some space to getting this information out to you, and "Books Received" is the first part of this. It lists all the review copies that OtherRealms has gotten since the last issue. This serves two purposes. First, it will let you know to expect a book at the store even if it doesn't get reviewed, and it also lets you know which books that DO get reviewed came directly from the publishers. Getting a review copy doesn't guarantee a good review; it doesn't even guarantee a review, for that matter, but this is one way I can help you keep us honest by giving you a list of the freebies. I definitely give review copies priority on my reading list, but that is because these are the new books and the books that should be reviewed. In future issues, I'm going to start printing the lists of upcoming books as I get the information. There are a lot of good books coming out between now and Christmas, and I hope to start telling you about them next month. The flow of review copies has gotten to the point where I can't even try to read all of them anymore, much as I'd like to. This gives you the opportunity to get "paid" for writing for OtherRealms. I want to set up a network of people that I can send books to and get a review from in a timely manner. In return, you get to keep the book. I'm looking for both a Pico Review and about a 500 word review on each book I send out, within 30 days after you get the book. I'll use one or the other depending on interest and space. If you're willing to make room in your reading list on short notice and want to write reviews, drop me a line and tell me your interests. (If you're in the Bay Area, so much the better, as I can save postage on the mailing!) Please don't sign up if you can't read the book quickly, that isn't fair to me, the readers of the magazine, or the publishers who sent us the book. OtherRealms is Copyright 1986 by Chuq Von Rospach All rights reserved One time rights have been acquired from the contributors. All rights are hereby assigned to the contributors. Reproduction rights: OtherRealms may be reproduced only for non-commercial uses. Re-use, reproduction or reprinting of an individual article in any way on any media, is forbidden without permission.