OtherRealms A Reviewzine for the Non-Fan Where FIJAGH Becomes a Way of Life Issue #11 December, 1986 Part 1 Novels of the Diadem Alan Wexelblat Always Coming Home Dan'l Danehy-Oakes Letters to OtherRealms The Broken Worlds Danny Low Flamesong Brett Slocum OtherRealms Notes Books Received Part 2 Pico Reviews Part 3 Words of Wizdom Chuq Von Rospach Two Views of the Hugo Conspiracy? What Conspiracy? Dan'l Danehy-Oakes What's Wrong with the Hugo? Chuq Von Rospach Novels of the Diademi by Jo Clayton Reviewed by Alan Wexelblat Copyright 1986 by Alan Wexelblat ARPA: WEX@MCC.ARPA UUCP: ut-sally!im4u!milano!wex DIADEM FROM THE STARS 235pp, (c) 1977 [***+] LAMARCHOS 224pp, (c) 1978 [***] IRSUD 191pp, (c) 1978 [***] MAEVE 220pp, (c) 1979 [***] STAR HUNTERS 207pp, (c) 1980 [**+] THE NOWHERE HUNT 208pp, (c) 1981 [*] GHOSTHUNT 221pp, (c) 1983 [**] THE SNARES OF IBEX 320pp, (c) 1984 [**+] These eight books tell part of the tale of Aleytys, a half-breed member of a semi-mythical super-race called the Vryhh. Although they could probably be read independently, the significance of much of the theme elements would be lost. The stories are what I call soft SF in that they use psionics, magic, and other non-hard elements, but are not sword-and-sorcery or any other fantasy genre. Jo Clayton has a real talent for description and detail. She writes from a decidedly female perspective. Her feel for story is there, but it often gets lost in the description she piles on. Daw did her a real disservice by not assigning a tough editor to her manuscripts. The quality of the stories varies widely. None of them are truly great, and one is downright awful. Some of her characters are good; the problem is that she seems to create her characters from about eight stock types. Over the course of the books, this becomes a real problem, as the minor characters from one story blend into those of another. In addition, she has the annoying habit of using lots of alien words as part of the scene-setting, and expecting the reader to figure out what is going on. I find this annoying, as it detracts from the flow of the story. In general though, Clayton's alien societies are pretty good and shouldn't need this sort of cheap trick. The first book, DIADEM FROM THE STARS, starts off with a Clayton narrative favorite: the story is being told from the point of view of someone other than Aleytys. The other person sets the scene, often by outright exposition, and then we switch to Aleytys' point of view. In this case, we follow a thief on his quest to steal the RMoahl diadem and escape with it. He does, but fails in the escape attempt, crashing on the primitive world of Jaydugar, where Aleytys lives in her father's household. Her mother, once slave to her father, has escaped. Before leaving, she wrote a letter describing herself, hinting about the Vryhh, and telling her daughter how she can be found. Aleytys, faced with the prospect of being burned as a witch (she has some psionic powers, apparently inherited from her mother), runs away. The rest of the book tells her story as she treks across her world, meeting the thief, Miks Stavver, and getting the diadem. The diadem, it seems, is a permanent gift because once put on, it doesn't come off while the wearer is alive. However, it does greatly enhance her powers. DIADEM is the best of the books. Aleytys whines a bit too much, but the story is interesting, as are the secondary characters. There are several encounters with different cultures on Jaydugar, and Aleytys really seems too mature. LAMARCHOS is the name of the world where Aleytys goes after Jaydugar, and the book tells the story of her trek across that world. There is a strong druidic theme to the story, as part of Aleytys' new powers allow her to work in concert with Nature on the planet. Unfortunately, Nature demands some services in return for its aid. From the readers point of view, Clayton works these out into interesting plot twists as the characters move toward their goal. Aleytys' character continues to mature, and her powers increase as she learns more about the diadem. This book is not quite as good as the first. Clayton is inconsistent with Aleytys; she is mature, intelligent, and sophisticated when dealing with the natives of Lamarchos, but naive and annoyingly dim-witted when dealing with her off-world companions. Clayton needs this in order to advance the plot, and that's a shame. She could have achieved better results with a little more care. IRSUD is the name of the world where Aleytys is brought as a slave to be a host-body for the egg of the queen of an insectoid race. The egg will hatch inside her and the new queen will absorb Aleytys' powers, which have been suppressed with a psi-damping implant. The plot is much simpler than the first two books, involving no world-spanning treks. This is Clayton's first attempt at writing intrigue. As with much of her work, it's all right but Clayton attempts to write intrigue with exposition, describing in great detail how everyone looks and how Aleytys feels. This weakens the impact considerably in some places. Also, the aliens of Irsud are far too human for my liking. What makes this book as good as it is is Clayton's advancement of the meta-plot. The diadem has inhabitants, people who wore it before and died with it still on. Their minds, personalities and talents are still available to the diadem's current wearer. Once again, I don't want to spoil the plot, but I took a great joy in watching Aleytys grow in power. MAEVE is the next world Aleytys travels to. Here is a book with several good plot ideas, none of which are really well developed. The RMoahl want "their" diadem back, Aleytys wants to help the natives of Maeve (and Nature) against the ravages of the Companies (inter-planetary mega-conglomerates), and the local machinations are endless. Clayton weaves these threads together into a nice picture, but it ends up looking forced. The theme also advances slowly, but enough to be satisfying. The minor characters are also interesting. STAR HUNTERS uses the other narrator trick to set the scene, and it's a mighty confusing one. Aleytys has joined an organization known as the Hunters, who perform special missions for hire. She is sent to Sunguralingu to stop the ravages of a psionically-endowed villain known as the Haremaster. Clayton appears to have grown bored with Aleytys at this point; she spends much of the book on secondary characters, switching viewpoints all over the place. The main story is barely novella length, and most of the padding is dull. The only saving grace is the climactic confrontation between Aleytys and the Haremaster; unfortunately, even that has a weak ending. THE NOWHERE HUNT should have been titled the Nowhere Book. It's a terrible story that goes nowhere, and goes there at a snails pace. Clayton has dropped the druidic overtones of the earlier books and spends more than half the book on minor characters, most of whom we are glad to see die. Aleytys doesn't grow at all, and the minor characters seem repetitive. I would say skip this book entirely, except that the theme is advanced in two important aspects so grit your teeth and bear it. GHOSTHUNT is a vast improvement on NOWHERE, but it is still a weak book. Clayton attempts a detective story here which doesn't work well with her exposition. This book is much more cerebral than her others. However, her switches in viewpoint are less annoying this time because some of the other narrators are familiar and likable characters. Thus, even though we know where the book is going, it's still fairly enjoyable. Several of the loose ends from earlier books are tied up here, and not too badly. Once again, the aliens are very human-like and the minor characters look like ones from previous books, but the style is more interesting and the characters motives are more moving. The year layoff after NOWHERE definitely helped. THE SNARES OF IBEX is a truly annoying novel in the sense that someone should have edited out some obviously extraneous material. Why didn't Daw? The story seems very unbalanced. About 90% of the books 320 pages are used to describe half the journey that Aleytys undertakes. Ibex, you see, is the world where her mother has left a means of contact. But the only person on Ibex who knows how to access that data is missing and must be tracked down. Knowing all this in advance, the reader is led to expect a lot more than Clayton delivers. At one point she falls into the pattern of having characters tell each other stories. It's a change from Clayton's usuall exposition, but not a good one. What makes this a good book is its promise. If Clayton writes another, she will have some really interesting material to work with. Reading over these reviews, you might wonder why I read the books if I felt so negative about them. It's hard to explain. There's so much potential that I couldn't wait to see what Clayton would make of it. Get these books used if you can; I don't think they're worth the cover price. ALWAYS COMING HOME by Ursula K. LeGuin [*****] Reviewed by Dan'l Danehy-Oakes Copyright 1986 by Dan'l Danehy-Oakes UUCP: ptsfd!djo There's a story about LeGuin's multiple-award-winning novel THE DISPOSSESSED; I think it's relevant. She said once that, the founders of the Odonian society knew that humans must have some harmless outlet for their competitive instincts. Therefore they began the custom of having every permanent settlement make pickles. These pickles became the source of civic pride for each town; there was a pickle barrel set up in the center of town, and persons from out-of-town were invited to sample the local pickle and judge its superiority for themselves. For whatever reason, this facet of the Odonian culture never made it into THE DISPOSSESSED. ALWAYS COMING HOME is chock-full of pickle barrels. Another way of looking at this book: suppose that, instead of THE LORD OF THE RINGS, J.R.R. Tolkien had published a vast miscellany of Elvish, Dwarvish, and Gondorish poems and lore, mingled with tracts on their social institutions; then suppose that he had mingled in with this book, broken up into pieces, the story of Bilbo's journey -- and, as a footnote to the last part, a brief summary (in the form of official Gondorian documents) of the War of the Ring. Somewhere between those two ideas you will find ALWAYS COMING HOME. It is a book for those who revel in Tolkien's appendices. (I freely admit that I am such a person.) Broken into three parts is the only "novel" part of the book, the tale of Stone Telling, a woman who goes "there and back again." Her journey is very different from Bilbo's, but it bears a more than passing resemblance to those of Shevek and Genly Ai. Let me explain that last comment. Shevek, Genly, and the occasional protagonist of ACH begin in a country which the author seems to "approve" of, move across barriers to one which the author seems to "disapprove" of -- in each case, one which is bureaucratic and oppressive -- and returns to the place where he/she began, sadder and wiser. (I think my biggest problem with LeGuin, at this point, is simply that she too easily divides her societies into "the peaceful country" and "the warlike country" -- a surprisingly dualistic attitude for an author of LeGuin's blatantly Taoist leanings.) In each case, the protagonist comes at a time when he/she has some small influence on a major change that is already occurring in the relationship between the two countries. ALWAYS COMING HOME is about the Kesh, a people who "might be going to have lived" in the Napa valley of Northern California some very long time from now. An unspecified event or series of events which may or may not have been an atomic war has separated humanity from technology. (I do not mean that technology has been destroyed, but to say more would be to destroy one of th book's most pleasant surprises.) The Kesh are a people of whom I -- and, I believe, the author -- can approve of heartily while not in any way wishing to be one: their lifestyle is NOT for me. In the aforementioned tracts, poetry, lore, and so forth, LeGuin paints a surprisingly holographic picture of the entire Kesh culture. The book is told as if it were the report of an twentieth-century archaeologist who has done her field work by living among the Kesh for a time, learning their ways and taping their ceremonies. (Accompanying the paperback of ACH -- but NOT the hardback -- is a cassette tape, "Music and Poetry of the Kesh," a group of "in the field" recordings which allow us to actually hear the language of the Kesh pronounced and sung. It is a significant part of the book's overall impact and I highly recommend NOT buying the hardback for this reason.) The various documents from this fieldwork include, but are not limited to, discussions of Kesh "religion" (not what we mean by religion), technology, food, language, trading, warmaking, medicine, and much else; they include samples of Kesh drama, poetry, literary prose, and mapmaking. ALWAYS COMING HOME is one of the most complete books I have ever encountered. It is an exhausting book to read, and I do not recommend it as a "good read." It is hard work, but, if you enjoy the work of reading, it repays the work amply. Letters To OtherRealms Dear Chuq. I'll bet your friends call you "Up-Chuq". You evince an inability to figure wordage, a wrongheaded perspective on historical or scientific extrapolation, an intolerance of the tastes of others, a tendency to condemn what you do not understand, and a desire to censor according to your own limited horizins. In short, you have the makings of a typical literary critic. You might consider confining yourself in future to fantasy of your level, such as the works of Lin Carter. I may quote from your comments on my work in the Author's Note for Incarnations #6, which I am now writing. You have no need to read material that distresses you, of course. Piers Anthony Inverness, Florida The Broken Worlds by Raymond Harris [****] Ace Science Fiction 1986 248pp $2.95 Reviewed by Danny Low Copyright 1986 by Danny Low UUCP: hplabs!hpccc!dlow This book starts out as a simple tale of intrigue, becomes a journey of wonders and ends with a gigantic space battle with a deus ex machina ending. You are warned of the ending towards the middle of the book. Despite the rambling nature of the plot, the events are logically tied together. The story does move along at a leisurely pace, but it manages to avoid boredom. The history of the universe has the complex feel of reality. The culture appears to be your basic Western culture with a few exotic oddities thrown in to give a suggestion of alieness. However, it becomes evident that the culture is truly different and the "westerness" is only the echo of our present day culture. The characterization is quite good. Harris has a good feel for RealPolitik. The relationship between the various interstellar states has verisimilitude. In many ways, this book is a collection of hoary science fiction cliches done with just the right amount of originality to succeed while still being recognizable as cliches. If Harris is to be compared with an established SF writer, then that writer would be Jack Vance. Harris' characters do not all speak with the same baroque style of a Vancian book, but there is that same richness in the background culture. This is definitely a worthwhile book to read. Flamesong by M.A.R. Barker [*****] DAW Books, Sept. 1985, $3.50, pp. 412. Reviewed by Brett Slocum ARPA: Slocum@HI-MULTICS.ARPA Copyright 1986 by Brett Slocum M.A.R. Barker is one of those writers who has created the perfect combination of fantasy and science fiction. His world of Tekumel is a delightfully rich tapestry unlike any other. The depth of detail rivals or surpasses Middle Earth, Darkover, or Arrakis. While basically fantasy, elements of technology are not far under the surface, sometimes quite literally. Technology exists in the form of artifacts of the Ancients, whose knowledge has been lost many tens of millenia ago. Barker draws from East Indian, Chinese, Middle Eastern, and MesoAmerican sources, rather than European, and his societies are reminescent of Imperial China or Mayan civilizations. This is not your run-of-the-mill medieval fantasy story that so many new authors write. A quality of strangeness is inherent. In Flamesong, his second book (Man of Gold is his first), Barker tells of the adventures of a young military officer's attempts to bring an enemy commander home as a prisoner, while dealing with a strange form of Ancient transport, magic, a country that still believes itself part of an empire that fell twenty thousand years ago, and numerous other problems that impede his progress. Barker writes about adventure and intrigue, palace plots and pitched battles, magic and technology. I especially enjoy the way he describes technological artifacts in non- technological terms, as the characters would see it. This book has complex characters with real motivations, unusual often bizarre cultures, and a story that won't let you put it down. (I read this substantial book in two days, and I work full time.) Barker is a linguist as Tolkien was, and it shows. Each country has its own language, customs, naming conventions, etc. (e.g. At one point, the characters are trying to figure out the nationality of a stranger from just a name.) For those of you who are unwilling to handle unusual names and words -- beware, this book is full of them. Barker has been involved with the Role-playing games industry almost as long as Gary Gygax and Dungeons & Dragons. A role-playing game called The Empire of the Petal Throne based on Tekumel, has been available since 1975-6, and recently a new game called Swords and Glory has been published. Swords and Glory was written and playtested by Barker and his two weekly gaming groups. The sourcebook which describes Tekumel is several hundred pages long and so full of detail that it is mind-boggling. In conclusion, I would strongly recommend Flamesong and the earlier Man of Gold for anyone looking for unusual settings and cultures, realistic characters, and exciting plots. Lead miniatures for wargaming are available as well as a bi-monthly newsletter both produced by Tekumel Games, a company that deals exclusively with Tekumel products. If you are interested in the roleplaying aspects of Tekumel, contact: Tekumel Games Box 14630 University Station Minneapolis MN 55414 Dungeons & Dragons is a trademark of TSR, Inc. OtherRealms Notes Please remember that this is the final OtherRealms of 1986. I'll see you all back in January with a new year of reviews and comments on the worlds of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror. The Lettercol is back dept.: Readers should note that the lettercol has returned, and I hope that it will be again a permanent home for the alternative viewpoint. If we got it wrong, if we missed something, or if you simply have something to say, drop a note to the OtherRealms lettercol. Things to come dept.: Next year will continue to see changes to OtherRealms. First and foremost, I expect to start using a Laserwriter in in 1987, giving me a much cleaner final look. This will also allow me to put more material in the same number of pages, so the amount of material will increase for the same final cost. I'm also going to start a series of new review columns by people who have been involved with OtherRealms for a while. The hope is to make a wider range of viewpoints available. The details of these and other changes will be in #12. Books Received Books Received lists books sent to OtherRealms for review. OtherRealms tries to list books around the time they are shipped to bookstores, so these books are (or soon will be) in distribution. Avon Science Fiction Anthony, Piers. Macroscope, 1969, 480 pages, $4.50. A good work brought back into print. Shulman, J. Neil. The Rainbow Cadenza, 1983, 366 pages, $3.50 Leigh, Stephen. The Bones of God, 1986, 289 pages, $3.50. Baen Books Scott, Melissa. Silence in Solitude, 1986, 313 pages, $2.95. Sequel to Five-Twelths of Heaven. Bantam Books Auel, Jean M. The Mammoth Hunters, December, 1986, 723 pages, $4.95. Third book in the Earth's Children series, 2,000,000 copy first printing. Flint, Kenneth C. Storm Shield, 1986, 310 pages, $3.50. Sequel to Challenge of the Clans. Fowler, Karen Joy. Artificial Things, 1986, 218 pages, $2.95. First collection of the short stories that won her the Campbell award for best new writer. Hill, Douglas. Colsec Rebellion, 1986, 161 pages, $2.75. Final book in Colsec Trilogy (previous volumes were Exiles of Colsec and The Caves of Klydor). Tor Fantasy Fenn, Lionel. Blood River Down, 1986, 310 pages, $2.95. Paxson, Diana L. Silverhair the Wanderer, 310 pages, 1986, $2.95. the new Westria novel. Pini, Richard, Asprin, Robert, and Abbey, Lynn. Elfquest Volume 1: The Blood of Ten Chiefs, 314 pages, 1986, $6.95 trade paperback. Shared world anthology based on Elfquest. Tarr, Judith. The Golden Horn, 1985, 262 pages, $2.95. Volume 2 of the Hound and the Falcon Trilogy. Tor Fiction Benford, Gregory. Artifact, 533 pages, 1985, $3.95. O'Donnell, Peter. Modesty Blaise: The Silver Mistress, 1973, 284 pages, $3.50. First paperback release (and first in a series) about the female answer to James Bond. Rogers, Mark E. More Adventures of Samurai Cat, 1986, 127 pages, $9.95 large trade paperback. 8 1/2 x 11 format, lots of drawings. Not quite a graphic novel. Attempts to parody everything. Westlake, Donald E. A Likely Story, 1984, 317 pages, $3.95. Tor Horror Bloch, Robert. Night-World, 252 pages, 1972, $3.50. First Tor printing. Grant, Charles L. The Orchard, 287 pages, 1986, $3.95. Neiderman, Andrew. Love Child, 1986, 319 pages, $3.95. O'Callaghan, Maxine. The Bogeyman, 1986, 320 pags, $3.95. Relling, William Jr. Brujo, 338 pages, 1986, $3.95. Simmons, Dan. Song of Kali, 1985, 311 pages, $3.95. Just won the World Fantasy Award. Tor Science Fiction Anderson, Poul. Time Wars, 1986, 374 pages, $3.50. Time Travel/War them anthology. Anthony, Piers and Margroff, Robert E. The E.S.P. Worm, 1970, 191 pages, $2.95. Dickson, Gordon R. Alien Art, 1973, 184 pages, $2.95. First Tor printing. Douglas, Carole Nelson. Probe, 383 pages, 1985, $3.50. Farmer, Philip Jose. The Cache, 1981, 292 pages, $2.95. Third Tor printing. Kelly, James Patrick & Kessel, John. Freedom Beach, 259 pages1986, $2.95. Kornbluth, C. M. Not This August, 1955, 255 pages, $2.95. Revised and new forward by Frederik Pohl. Murphy, Pat. The Falling Woman, November, 1986, 287 pages, $14.95 hardcover Saberhagen, Fred. The Berserker Throne, 319 pages, 1985, $3.50. Silverberg, Robert. Across A Billion Years, 1969, 249 pages, $2.95. Wolfe, Gene. Free Live Free, 1984, 403 pages, $3.95. 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. 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