Hacker Chronicles 2/HACKER2.BIN/421.SF018072.TXT

Text File | 1993-02-05 | 19KB | 482 lines

SF-LOVERS Digest            Friday, 5 Feb 1993         Volume 18 : Issue 72

Today's Topics:

          Books - Bester & Clarke & Effinger & Herbert (2 msgs) &
                  Jeter (2 msgs) & Longyear & McCaffrey (4 msgs) &
                  McHugh (4 msgs) & Stephenson & Wodhams

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Date: 4 Feb 93 19:18:36 GMT
From: [e-mail] (Chris Meadows)
Reply-to: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: SPOILERS (Was: Re: The Stars My Destination)

I've never read THE STARS MY DESTINATION, but I have read an extremely
funny short story by Alfred Bester called something like "Somebody Up There
Likes Me" (I'm probably not word-perfect on the title, so sue me or flame
me if you think I'm worthy of it).

That was one of the funniest pieces of SF I've ever read...anyone else
think so?

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

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

Date: 3 Feb 93 19:31:10 GMT
From: [e-mail] (Peter Hunt)
Reply-to: [e-mail]
Subject: THE GHOST FROM THE GRAND BANKS by Arthur C. Clarke

                      THE GHOST FROM THE GRAND BANKS
                            by Arthur C. Clarke
                        A book review by Peter Hunt

   Although this book has been out in paperback for some time, I only just
got around to reading it. While I found the book entertaining and
interesting to read, I was disappointed with it; it's not up to Clarke's
usual standard.

   Without giving too much away, the story, set in the early 21st century,
deals with two projects to raise the Titanic from its resting place. Both
project teams devise different methods for doing this, and both hope to
have succeeded by the centennial of the ship's sinking. Clarke uses his
characters' conversations to expand on this theme, giving much known and
little-known historical background to the Titanic herself, as well as
speculating on what underwater search and salvage equipment will look like
in the next few decades.

   Coupled with these discussions is a secondary plot-line dealing with a
family whose interest in the Mandelbrot set borders on obsession. This
gives Clarke an opportunity to explain and explore the set, complete with
all the usual hyperboles.

   As you've probably surmised, the book's style is classic Clarke. His
explanations of historical events, scientific facts and his speculative
fiction are interesting and clear. His often-used technique of using the
conversations between his characters to present his ideas makes the
explanations more approachable and palatable that straight lecturing would
do.

   However, there are quite a few problems with this novel. The worst of
these is the lack of plot. There isn't one. What passes as plot is really
the gradual revealing of his two main ideas for the raising of the Titanic,
and the beginnings of their implementation. Once Clarke gets this far, it's
as if he can't be bothered actually going through the motions, and the book
just stops. Anticlimax is too weak a word to use for the ending to this
book.

   The secondary theme describing the Mandelbrot set, while quite
interesting in itself, is out-of-place. It has nothing to do with the main
story, even indirectly. I wonder if Clarke originally wrote these episodes
as a short story, and then incorporated them into this novel for filler.

   Finally, the characters are even less developed than usual. While
interesting enough, they are rather flat, and are so similar to each other
as to be indistinguishable. They seem to be no more than vehicles for
Clarke's ideas and explanations.

   In conclusion, let me say that I found this book enjoyable and
interesting to read. If you enjoy Clarke's style, and read science fiction
novels for the ideas they contain, then this book has a lot to offer.

   However, a novel cannot succeed on ideas alone, and The Ghost from the
Grand Banks ends in a way that makes that lack all too apparent.

Title:   The Ghost from the Grand Banks
Author:  Arthur C. Clarke
Publisher: Orbit Books
City:    London
Date:    1990
Order Number: ISBN 0-7088-83575
Pages:   253 pp.
Comments:paperback, A$10.95

Peter Hunt
Networks and Comms (Aust)
Digital Equipment Corp.

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Date: 4 Feb 93 10:31:51 GMT
From: [e-mail] (Eric Oppen)
Reply-to: [e-mail]
Subject: Maureen Birnbaum

These stories by George Alec Effinger always amused me.  Have they ever
been collected in one place?  (M. Birnbaum is a Jewish American Princess
who has adventures all through space and time, usually in the worlds of
famous SF/F works such as the Horseclans books.)

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Date: 4 Feb 93 19:29:24 GMT
From: [e-mail] (REGENIA)
Reply-to: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: Frank Herbert

Concerning some good Frank Herbert books:

All six of the Dune series are worth reading, in addition to a series that
he did with another writer...(whose name escapes me at the moment.) This
series has titles such as THE LAZARUS EFFECT, THE DOSADI EXPERIMENT, and
THE JESUS INCIDENT, though probably not in that order. (The ideas for these
stem from DESTRUCTION: VOID, I think.)

Hope this was helpful.

Regenia Liles
[e-mail]
[e-mail]

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Date: 4 Feb 93 21:11:57 GMT
From: [e-mail] (Sea Wasp)
Reply-to: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: Frank Herbert

[e-mail] (REGENIA) writes:
>Concerning some good Frank Herbert books: All six of the Dune series are
>worth reading,

   This is completely a matter of opinion, and hotly contested. In my
completely godlike opinion, ONLY the original, DUNE, is worth reading (and
very, VERY worth reading); the remainder... well, DUNE MESSIAH is utter
drek. THe third book is tolerable, but not compared with its original
predecessor, and the rest... Well, I can't use language like that on the
net.
   (Don't ask me for specifics, though; my brain has mercifully erased all
details of the later Dune books while preserving my memory of the
original...)

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Date: 3 Feb 93 23:11:28 GMT
From: [e-mail] (J. Eric Townsend)
Reply-to: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: K.W. Jeter

Barry Meikle <[e-mail]> writes:
> Dick fans might find the book interesting - there's a surprisingly sad,
> affectionate portrayal of a character I took to be Philip K. Dick.  He's
> attempting the strange, personal task of recreating a shattered
> stained-glass window from the millions of fragments.  I believe Jeter
> knew Dick during the period when _VALIS_ was under construction/being
> lived.  (I have a lurking memory that he may be that Kevin who hopes to
> confront God with his stiff dead cat held out before him like a frying
> pan).

Jeter, Tim Powers, and J. Blaylock were friends with Dick (at least they
claim to have been :-).  At ArmadilloCon a couple of years ago, they did a
"We Remember Phil" panel, where they told PKD stories.  One story they told
had to do with being in a bar and one of the four having found a cat that
had just been hit by a car and going on at great length about how there
could be no god, etc.  (I think they said they were all pretty smashed at
the time.)  Some grizzly bar-fly leaned over and said to them "Hey, it's
just a f**king cat."

Oh well.  That's one panel I wish I had on tape.

J. Eric Townsend
[e-mail]

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

Date: 3 Feb 93 19:26:06 GMT
From: [e-mail] (Chris Barrus)
Reply-to: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: K.W. Jeter

[e-mail] (Michael I. Lichter) writes:
>I bring this up mainly because I was curious about _The Glass Hammer_.  I
>have _Farewell Horizontal_ by Jeter, but haven't been able to locate
>_Hammer_.  Does anybody know if it's any good, and worth continuing to
>scour used book stores for?

The Glass Hammer is a fantastic book (IMHO), something that I would
categorize as "Mediapunk" for lack of a better description - one level it's
a standard "cyberesque" action story, on another level is a media-criticism
story a la Max Headroom.  I would scour the book stores for it.

As a disclaimer, I admit it - I'm speaking as a Jeter fan.

Chris Barrus
P.O. Box 5115
Irvine CA 92716
[e-mail]
[e-mail]

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Date: 4 Feb 93 20:39:00 GMT
From: [e-mail] (Barbara Cormack)
Reply-to: [e-mail]
Subject: It Came from Schenectady

Is this the correct title for the book by Barry Longyear?  Can anyone tell
me what it's about, and if it's in print?  Thanks.  (A friend from
Schenectady is inquiring...)

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Date: 25 Jan 93 23:36:17 GMT
From: [e-mail] (Chris Meadows)
Reply-to: [e-mail]
Subject: Pern Audiobooks

I went to the local library today and checked out some Pern audio books.
They are DRAGONSONG, DRAGONSINGER, and DRAGONDRUMS.  They claim to be
unabridged, and I can believe it - they total 22.25 hours, overall.  I have
yet to listen to them, so I don't know how good they are.  They are
narrated by someone named "Sally Darling."

I can't say much for the covers.  The cover of Dragonsong shows fire
lizards as green, flying tyrannosaurus rexes (with HORNS, no less!), and
the cover of Dragondrums shows Piemer clutching an egg that is almost as
big as he is!

On the box, it says "For a free catalog of other unabridged Recorded Books
(TM) please call 1-(800)-638-1304, or write to Recorded Books, Inc., 270
Skipjack Rd., Prince Frederick, MD 20678.  Ask about our easy rentals by
mail."

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

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Date: 26 Jan 93 19:06:34 GMT
From: [e-mail] (Amanda T Marlowe)
Reply-to: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: Pern Audiobooks

[e-mail] (Chris Meadows) writes:
>I went to the local library today and checked out some Pern audio books.
>They are DRAGONSONG, DRAGONSINGER, and DRAGONDRUMS.  They claim to be
>unabridged, and I can believe it - they total 22.25 hours, overall.  I
>have yet to listen to them, so I don't know how good they are.  They are
>narrated by someone named "Sally Darling."
>
>On the box, it says "For a free catalog of other unabridged Recorded Books
>(TM) please call 1-(800)-638-1304, or write to Recorded Books, Inc., 270
>Skipjack Rd., Prince Frederick, MD 20678.  Ask about our easy rentals by
>mail."

I've dealt with Recoded Books, and I really like their stuff. It's read by
professionals, and it is truly unabridged. And they make it very easy to
rent. You just call them up and place the order, (it's easiest to pay by
credit card) then they ship you the tapes.  If you are renting, they send a
return postage box so you can just drop the tapes into a mail box. You get
a month or so to listen to them. They have a wide selection, all
unabridged.  The readers generally research the book a little, too, and
it's more like listening to a one-man play than just a reading. They have a
Fantastic "Lord of The Rings".  The prices depend on the number of tapes
you are renting, and generally range for $12-$30. You can also purchase
them if you want, though I'm not sure what the prices for that are.

Thanks for alerting me to the HarperHall Trilogy! I wonder if they have the
Dragonrider Trilogy too? If not, they probably will soon....

Amanda Marlowe
[e-mail]

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Date: 26 Jan 93 22:31:06 GMT
From: [e-mail]
Reply-to: [e-mail]
Subject: PERN

Has anyone read the latest book about PERN. I was thinking of buying it but
was wondering if it would be worth it.

Ray

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Date: 25 Jan 93 02:35:11 GMT
From: [e-mail] (Jonathan Deitch)
Reply-to: [e-mail]
Subject: Damia's Children is out ! (New McCaffrey)

To loyal McCaffrey fans :

Damia's Children is out, so if you're in to light reading (this is *not*
heavy fantasy or SF by any means ...) and have gotten through the Rowan and
Damia, then this book's for you ...

Jonathan
[e-mail]

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Date: 30 Jan 93 19:02:07 GMT
From: [e-mail] (Crawford Kilian)
Reply-to: [e-mail]
Subject: China Mountain Zhang (Was Maureen McHugh Wins...)

I found this an intriguing book, which survived some conceptual problems
thanks to the author's willingness to go outside the (increasingly
constricting) parochialism of most North American SF. She obviously has a
good time portraying a rich and powerful China and a poor and backward USA,
and as a onetime teacher in China I got a kick out of McHugh's sly reversal
of stereotypes: everything convenient and high-tech in China, everything
decrepit and unreliable in the US.

It was a surprising pleasure to read a book so plotless. Nothing
World-Shattering is at stake; it's just a young gay guy trying to get along
in life and finally looking pretty successful by the end. The
multiple-viewpoint structure was a bit annoying, but I was willing to
accept it for the sake of the general development of the story.

Her world (late 21st century, I gather) seemed much too close to ours in
too many ways, and I had troubled imagining that classic Marxism could make
such a comeback just a few years after the collapse of the Soviet bloc,
especially in the USA, while Canada would remain a constitutional monarchy.
(Europe seems out of the picture, by the way.) Still, it was a worthwhile
book and I look forward to her next one.

Crawford Kilian
Communications Department
Capilano College
North Vancouver BC Canada V7J 3H5
Usenet: [e-mail]
Internet: [e-mail]

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Date: 30 Jan 93 23:47:40 GMT
From: [e-mail] (Patrick Nielsen-Hayden)
Reply-to: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: China Mountain Zhang (Was Maureen McHugh Wins...)

[e-mail] (Crawford Kilian) posts some kind remarks
about _China Mountain Zhang_ which gratify me since I plucked the book out
of the slush pile in the first place.

>...As a onetime teacher in China I got a kick out of McHugh's sly reversal
>of stereotypes: everything convenient and high-tech in China, everything
>decrepit and unreliable in the US.

I forget whether the jacket copy says so or not, but Maureen is a onetime
teacher in rural China herself.

I, too, "had troubled imagining that classic Marxism could make such a
comeback just a few years after the collapse of the Soviet bloc," until I
reflected on just how unlikely the resurgence of Islam would have seemed to
policymakers just a generation ago.  Besides, the more I thought about it,
the more I enjoyed contemplating a future built on assumptions that so
absolutely fly in the face of all our current truisms.

Some of Maureen's short fiction is set in the same future, most notably
"Protection," her novella in the April 1992 _Asimov's_.

>I look forward to her next one.

Me too.  It's set in a very different future involving domed undersea
cities, and it's called _Half the Day is Night._

Patrick Nielsen Hayden
senior editor
Tor Books
[e-mail]

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

Date: 1 Feb 93 06:40:53 GMT
From: [e-mail] (Crawford Kilian)
Reply-to: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: China Mountain Zhang (Was Maureen McHugh Wins...)

Patrick Nielsen Hayden takes a deserved bow for pulling China Mountain
Zhang out of the slushpile, and I can well accept the idea that a currently
discredited ideology could return with a vengeance...cf all the neo-Nazis
now making the 90s so much like the 20s.

What I didn't mention in my original posting is that Maureen is one of the
few China hands to come back and write fiction about it, let alone SF. I
toyed with a semi-SF thriller about the power struggle after Deng's death,
but gave up when I realized I was way out of my depth. Maureen was really
smart to do it her way.

Tell her to write faster, Patrick! And tell her xiexie for me.

Crawford Kilian
Communications Department
Capilano College
North Vancouver BC Canada V7J 3H5
Usenet: [e-mail]
Internet: [e-mail]

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

Date: 1 Feb 93 14:41:06 GMT
From: [e-mail] (Glen Cox)
Reply-to: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: China Mountain Zhang (Was Maureen McHugh Wins...)

[e-mail] (Crawford Kilian) writes:
>What I didn't mention in my original posting is that Maureen is one of the
>few China hands to come back and write fiction about it, let alone SF. I
>toyed with a semi-SF thriller about the power struggle after Deng's death,
>but gave up when I realized I was way out of my depth. Maureen was really
>smart to do it her way.

Well, it's not SF, Crawford, but Mark Salzman (in IRON & SILK [non-fiction]
and THE LAUGHING SUTRA [fiction]) could be considered a "China hand."
Also, highly recommended.

Glen E. Cox
[e-mail]

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

Date: 3 Feb 93 19:20:33 GMT
From: [e-mail] (Chris Barrus)
Reply-to: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: Neil Stephenson

I enjoyed _The Big U_ a lot, not as much as Snow Crash though.  Big U is
definitely situation-driven, rather than being predominately
character-driven.  Big U suffers from "First book syndrome" in places, but
it is still a fabulous book.  Check out "Zodiac" next!

Chris Barrus
P.O. Box 5115
Irvine CA 92716
[e-mail]
[e-mail]

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Date: 4 Feb 93 14:04:01 GMT
From: [e-mail]
Reply-to: [e-mail]
Subject: Jack Wodhams? Christopher Anvil?

Speaking of us elderly geezers, does anyone know if Jack Wodhams has
written any full length novels since the sixties (he had one published in
paperback then, the title of which escapes me)? I know that Stanley Schmidt
persuaded him to write a short story for Analog once in the last decade or
so.

Also, has Christopher Anvil written any more books since the disappointing
THE MIST, THE STEEL AND THE BLAZING SUN?

(Taking you back into yesteryear, when SF was written by engineers, instead
of English majors. It may have been marginally less well constructed, but
it sure was/is more fun.)

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End of SF-LOVERS Digest
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