Hacker Chronicles 2/HACKER2.BIN/417.SF018070.TXT

Text File | 1993-02-23 | 18KB | 468 lines

SF-LOVERS Digest           Thursday, 4 Feb 1993        Volume 18 : Issue 70

Today's Topics:

                Books - Farmer (9 msgs) & Laumer (4 msgs) &
                        Maddock (3 msgs) & Pratchett (2 msgs)
                        Stephenson

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Date: 23 Jan 93 02:11:09 GMT
From: [e-mail] (Michael Lerner)
Reply-to: [e-mail]
Subject: Riverworld (Farmer)

I recently completed the first Riverworld novel, _To their Scattered Bodies
Go_.  The whole concept is intriguing, but unfortunately, my local
bookstores tell me the rest of the series (Starting with _The Fabulous
Riverboat_) are out of print!  How can this be?  Anyway, I've heard rumors
the story goes downhill from book 1: is it worth tracking it down?  Does he
ever reveal the secrets of the Riverworld, and does the main character from
book 1 ever triumph? (Are any of the later books even centered around him?)

Mike

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

Date: 24 Jan 93 17:59:30 GMT
From: [e-mail] (Michael Feld)
Reply-to: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: Riverworld (Farmer)

[e-mail] (Michael Lerner) writes:
>I recently completed the first Riverworld novel, _To their Scattered
>Bodies Go_.  The whole concept is intriguing, but unfortunately, my local
>bookstores tell me the rest of the series (Starting with _The Fabulous
>Riverboat_) are out of print!  How can this be?  Anyway, I've heard rumors
>the story goes downhill from book 1: is it worth tracking it down?  Does
>he ever reveal the secrets of the Riverworld, and does the main character
>from book 1 ever triumph? (Are any of the later books even centered around
>him?)

Don't do it; don't read any more of 'em.  The series never gets any better,
and it never ends.  The promised conclusion (was it the third?  fourth?)
came, but on went the series, riverrun pointlessly to no see, at all.

I went from being a Farmer fan, to president of the "never buy another of
that guy's works again!" fan club.

Waves of loathing.

Michael Feld
Dept. of Philosophy
University of Manitoba
Winnipeg, MB, R3T 2M8, Canada
[e-mail]

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Date: 24 Jan 93 19:07:25 GMT
From: [e-mail] (Jim Mann)
Reply-to: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: Riverworld (Farmer)

[e-mail] (Michael Feld) writes:
> Don't do it; don't read any more of 'em.  The series never gets any
> better, and it never ends.  The promised conclusion (was it the third?
> fourth?) came, but on went the series, riverrun pointlessly to no see, at
> all.

I disagree. The Fabulous Riverboat, while not as good as To Your Scattered
Bodies Go, is a pretty good book.  The Dark Design is OK (and is better
than lots of the stuff on the shelves these days though that's not saying
much).  The Magic Labyrnth is poor, and Gods of the Riverworld is awful.

Jim Mann
Stratus Computer
[e-mail]

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Date: 25 Jan 93 17:12:42 GMT
From: [e-mail] (PC Jorgensen)
Reply-to: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: Riverworld (Farmer)

I recall that I found the three first books in the series all good, the
first two very good, and the third a bit long-winded, but still OK. The two
last were downhill from there, and Farmer shouldn't really have written no.
5.

But you can do a lot worse sf reading than these 5 books. Try 'em.

P C Jorgensen
Department of East European and Oriental Studies
University of Oslo
Norway

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

Date: 25 Jan 93 21:00:40 GMT
From: [e-mail] (Craig Becker)
Reply-to: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: Riverworld (Farmer)

> But you can do a lot worse sf reading than these 5 books. Try 'em.

Yeah. Bad P.J.Farmer is better than the so-called "good" stuff a lot of
writers churn out.

Craig Becker
Object Technology Products
[e-mail]

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Date: 25 Jan 93 22:17:58 GMT
From: [e-mail] (J. Michael Tisdel)
Reply-to: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: Riverworld (Farmer)

[e-mail] (Michael Lerner) writes:
>I recently completed the first Riverworld novel, _To their Scattered
>Bodies Go_.  The whole concept is intriguing, but unfortunately, my local
>bookstores tell me the rest of the series (Starting with _The Fabulous
>Riverboat_) are out of print!  How can this be?  Anyway, I've heard rumors
>the story goes downhill from book 1: is it worth tracking it down?  Does
>he ever reveal the secrets of the Riverworld, and does the main character
>from book 1 ever triumph? (Are any of the later books even centered around
>him?)

Oh yes, the series should still be in print.  It doesn't go downhill but it
runs out of new ideas real fast and keeps going will all of what it has.
Richard Burton does find out, but it is 4 more books along. The last, "The
Gods of Riverworld" will sorely test your knowledge of "Through the Looking
Glass" and "Alice in Wonderland".

All in all, a good series.  Better than some - certainly more imaginitive.
Much better than "Dayworld".  All published novels are in the one story
line started by "To Your Scattered Bodies Go" - the collection of short
stories, "Riverworld and Other Stories" is a parallel story but intriquing.

Look around for the books - SF is one area where what's out of print this
month will probably be back in about 6 months.

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

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Date: 28 Jan 93 03:12:57 GMT
From: [e-mail] (John J Park)
Reply-to: [e-mail]
Subject: Farmer

And to think, I was going to track down the rest of that Riverworld series.

My thanks.

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

Date: 27 Jan 93 23:22:23 GMT
From: [e-mail] (Chris Meadows)
Reply-to: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: Riverworld (Farmer)

[e-mail] (Michael Lerner) writes:
>I recently completed the first Riverworld novel, _To their Scattered
>Bodies Go_.  The whole concept is intriguing, but unfortunately, my local
>bookstores tell me the rest of the series (Starting with _The Fabulous
>Riverboat_) are out of print!  How can this be?  Anyway, I've heard rumors
>the story goes downhill from book 1: is it worth tracking it down?  Does
>he ever reveal the secrets of the Riverworld, and does the main character
>from book 1 ever triumph? (Are any of the later books even centered around
>him?)

I say go for it.  If the series goes downhill, I don't think so.  I love
the books, and my dad thinks they're some of the best SF he's ever read.
And you meet the most interesting people on the Riverworld!

One interesting thing about these books is that Philip Jose Farmer has
several interesting parallels to Peter Jairus Frigate, no matter how he
tries to deny that Frigate is supposed to be himself.  For example, both
Frigate and Farmer wrote biographies on Richard Burton.  Gee, I wonder why
Burton is one of the main characters in these books? :)

Farmer is a really great author, and you can tell that he did his homework
by the extensive facts he includes on the characters.  He seems to be
familiar with the most miniscule details of their lives.  That, for me,
makes excellent reading.

Incidentally, the plot begins to get rather complicated in later books,
with people turning out to be not who they were supposed to be, and
mysteries revealed as others come into being.  Trust me when I say you're
going to love it!

Chris Meadows
CHM173S@SMSVMA
[e-mail]
[e-mail]

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

Date: 28 Jan 93 20:53:05 GMT
From: [e-mail] (Peter Cash)
Reply-to: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: Riverworld (Farmer)

[e-mail] (Chris Meadows) writes:
[about Philip Jose Farmer's Riverworld books]
>I say go for it.  If the series goes downhill, I don't think so.  I love
>the books, and my dad thinks they're some of the best SF he's ever read.
>And you meet the most interesting people on the Riverworld!

I have to disagree. The first book (_To Your Scattered Bodies Go_), was
intriguing - the notion of a planet on which everyone who has ever lived on
Earth is resurrected has a certain appeal. The trouble with Farmer is that
he doesn't know when to wind things up, or _how_ to wind them up. The first
book poses some fascinating puzzles - _who_ set up Riverworld? Who
engineered this general resurrection of the dead? Why was it done? What's
in the mysterious buildings at the pole of Riverworld?

The trouble is that the remainder of the books do nothing but disappoint
the expectations set up in the first one. When you finally find out the
"secrets" of Riverworld, they're of the most unimaginative, hackneyed and
conventional sort. Farmer is great at setting up situations - he gets great
ideas (consider the World of Tiers series), but then flops miserably when
it comes time to pay off. It's as though he weren't _interested_ in
resolving the puzzles he shows us.

Sure, having all the world's history to draw on for a cast of characters is
an interesting premise but, it's not enough. The actions of these
characters have to mean something.

PJF gets my vote as the most disappointing SF author in existence and also
as the one most in need of an editor. (Preferably an editor with the
temperament of a junkyard dog.)

>Incidentally, the plot begins to get rather complicated in later books,
>with people turning out to be not who they were supposed to be, and
>mysteries revealed as others come into being.  Trust me when I say you're
>going to love it!

It's true that Farmer tries to make things as complex as possible but, I
think he does this to hide the shortcomings of how he's treated the
previous mysteries he's set up. To me, this was like a juggler who keeps
pulling more balls out of his pockets to cover up for the ones he's
dropped.

Peter Cash
[e-mail]

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

Date: 23 Jan 93 20:55:16 GMT
From: jjmhome![e-mail] (Laurie Mann)
Reply-to: [e-mail]
Subject: Keith Laumer Died in Florida, January 22, 1993

Writer Keith Laumer died overnight at his home in Florida.  He was either
67 or 68, and had been in failing health for a number of years.

[e-mail]

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Date: 24 Jan 93 21:35:28 GMT
From: [e-mail] (Chris Croughton)
Reply-to: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: Keith Laumer Died in Florida, January 22, 1993

[e-mail] writes:
>Writer Keith Laumer died overnight at his home in Florida.  He was either
>67 or 68, and had been in failing health for a number of years.

He was that old?  I remember reading his stories when I was a teenager, but
I'd have thought him to be around 50 or so by now...  I really enjoyed his
books (well, I still do)...

[e-mail]
[e-mail]
[e-mail]

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Date: 25 Jan 93 21:26:58 GMT
From: [e-mail] (Smith)
Reply-to: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: Keith Laumer Died in Florida, January 22, 1993

[e-mail] (Chris Croughton) writes:
>[e-mail] writes:
>>Writer Keith Laumer died overnight at his home in Florida.  He was either
>>67 or 68, and had been in failing health for a number of years.
>
>He was that old?  I remember reading his stories when I was a teenager,
>but I'd have thought him to be around 50 or so by now...  I really enjoyed
>his books (well, I still do)...

I'm sorry to hear this - he's been a favorite of mine for a long time.

As to his age: Yes, I would guess he was indeed that old.  I remember
reading once that he graduated from the University of Illinois (my alma
mater :-) ) somewhere around 1947 or '48.  I have the feeling this
information was in the back of my old copy of "A Trace of Memory," which
I've had so long that the cover price reads 35 cents...

Linda Smith
[e-mail]

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Date: 27 Jan 93 11:19:04 GMT
From: [e-mail] (Alan Carter)
Reply-to: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: Keith Laumer died

[e-mail] (Magus) writes:
> His Retief books are one of the few that get me to consistently smile
> when I re-read them.

The Lafayette O'Leary books were my favourites. Those high-tech Dwarves
with the flying carpets and hot-line to Central...

Alan

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Date: 21 Jan 93 18:20:00 GMT
From: [e-mail] (Alan P. Smale)
Reply-to: [e-mail]
Subject: REQUEST: Hannibal Fortune, Larry Maddock books/info

One of the first SF books I ever read was "The Emerald Elephant Gambit",
number #3 in the series "Agent of T.E.R.R.A." by Larry Maddock, where our
intrepid hero Hannibal Fortune goes back to the 15th century BC to stop a
bunch of bad guys from looting Mohenjo-Daro and changing Earth's timeline.
Now, this book is not a classic by any means; although it fired up my
imagination big-time when I first read it I can now see what a piece of
hack-work it really is ... but ...

Recently in a second-hand store in Tucson I discovered #1 in the series,
"The Flying Saucer Gambit", where our intrepid hero HF goes all the way
back in time to 1966 to thwart another dastardly plot. I bought it for
nostalgia's sake. Now I would like to get hold of the second one,

   "Agent of T.E.R.R.A. #2: The Golden Goddess Gambit" by Larry Maddock,
published in paperback by Ace Books in 1966 or 1967, G-620 in their list.

Also, if the series goes beyond 3 I'd be interested in the later books.
Willing to pay cash plus shipping, etc.

Finally, who is this Larry Maddock person anyway? Is he real or is he a
pen-name ... I ask, because his writing reminds me very strongly of another
more famous 1960s writer. Anybody know whether Larry Maddock wrote anything
else?

Alan Smale

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Date: 21 Jan 93 19:28:09 GMT
From: [e-mail] (Dan Swartzendruber)
Reply-to: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: REQUEST: Hannibal Fortune, Larry Maddock books/info

Well, I have all four, but am not willing to part with them.  You might be
able to pick up the 4th at an SF bookstore that carries used books or (like
me) pick it up in the Dealers' Room at a Con.  It's at home, so I don't for
sure remember the title.  I think, though, it was something like "The Time
Trap Gambit"?  Basically he gets involved with an attempt to tamper with
the Punic Wars...

Dan S.

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Date: 25 Jan 93 18:23:25 GMT
From: [e-mail] (Michael Rogero Brown)
Reply-to: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: REQUEST: Hannibal Fortune, Larry Maddock books/info

There were a total of 4 Agent of TERRA Books.  Don't recall the titles
right now.  Also I believe Larry Maddock is a pseudonym.

Michael Rogero Brown
Florida Atlantic Univ.
[e-mail]

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

Date: 25 Jan 93 20:28:19 GMT
From: [e-mail] (Dani Zweig)
Reply-to: [e-mail]
Subject: Pratchett:  Witches Abroad

Pratchett's latest Discworld novel, "Witches Abroad" is here, two years
after it appeared in England (which is clearly counter to my idea of fair
international trade).  It's still well written, it's still funny, though
it's not hilarious in the way the Discworld novels were before they became
too familiar.

It's also more serious than the earlier novels.  Along with a deliberately
silly story of three witches travelling at the behest of Emberella's fairy
godmother (to make sure she doesn't marry the prince) are questions about
the limits of power and benevolence, and the point at which doing 'good' is
more harmful than not.  (This accounts, in part, for Granny Weatherwax's
insistence on not using magic when headology will suffice.)

I'd say the Discworld series is getting a bit too long in the tooth but,
it's still good fun.

Dani Zweig
[e-mail]

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

Date: 27 Jan 93 04:21:51 GMT
From: [e-mail] (Rich 'mcmxciibo' Holmes)
Reply-to: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: Pratchett:  Witches Abroad

[e-mail] (Dani Zweig) writes:
>Pratchett's latest Discworld novel, "Witches Abroad" is here...

And as usual the cover illustration is riddled with inaccuracies, one of
the, um, largest of which is Magrat's endowment... looks like roughly 38"
or so, whereas in the book they had to pad Emberella's gown to put Magrat
in it.

My theory is that the artist simply misinterpreted the book's title.

<rim shot>

Rich Holmes

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

Date: 3 Feb 93 01:56:34 GMT
From: [e-mail] (Beth Friedman)
Reply-to: [e-mail]
Subject: Neil Stephenson

>  The book, which I just finished yesterday, is SNOW CRASH, by Neil
> Stephenson. An excellent post-cyberpunk, tongue-in-cheek adventure,
> taking place in a commercially-balkanized, strip-mall America. The hero,
> Hiro Protagonist, and friends has to defeat a plot to dominate both the
> real world and the virtual-reality Metaverse (of which he was one of the
> original hacker/programmers). Excellent book.  Incredibly fun, makes you
> think, yet hard to put down.

Have you read THE BIG U, by the same author?  I just finished it, after it
was recommended by a friend who prefers "literary" fiction.  I thought that
the author neglected the characters at the expense of the ending, but it
had some interesting moments.

Have you (or anybody else) read it, and what did you think?

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End of SF-LOVERS Digest
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