Issue 16, June 1987 (part 1)

Electronic OtherRealms #16
June, 1987
Part 1

Table of Contents

Part 1

Editor's Notebook
Chuq Von Rospach

Non-Western Mythology in Fantasy: A Sampling of the Field
John Wenn

The River of Time
James Brunet

The Flame Key
Liralen Li

Knight Life
Jim Johnston

Battle Circle
James C. Winner

The Native Tongue Series
Lynda Feng

Part 2

Stuff Received

Back Issues

Publishing Notes

Pico Reviews

Part 3

Words of Wizdom
Chuq Von Rospach

Strut Your Stuff
Alan Wexelblat

Terry Carr: An Appreciation
Chuq Von Rospach
Frank Catalano
Paul Chisholm

Letters to OtherRealms

Editor's Notebook

This is the next to last monthly issue of OtherRealms, and I don't think my timing could be better. As a number of you noticed, last month was late, primarily due to the fact that I moved in the middle of trying to get #15 out. Unfortunately, the issue wasn't ready by the time I had to put it away and pack everything into boxes, so it just had to wait. Due to a new project at work and other new time commitments, it doesn't look like it will get better for a while, so I expect both this issue and the final monthly issue to slip from schedule by a couple of weeks.

The move was more than worth it, as we're now in a house instead of an apartment, and with significantly more space to move than before. Still not enough bookshelves, but that will be dealt with.

As things have been going, there is no way I can realistically continue a monthly format, so the upcoming changeover is welcome. One thing I've found is that trying to publish OtherRealms monthly simply means that I do nothing except publish OtherRealms, which gets tired after a while. I'm getting none of my own writing done, and there are growing demands on my time. I'd really like to try to do some fiction again, but as things currently stand, it isn't worth getting started. I'm definitely looking forward to taking a month off between the July and Fall issues, and working on some other stuff. It is definitely not going away, but I need to put the work I'm doing here back in perspective with the rest of my life.

My plans for the quarterly issues are to publish them around the following dates: Spring issue, March; Summer issue July; Autumn issue September; Winter issue December, with the hopes that the Summer issue will be ready for Westercon and the Autumn issue for Worldcon. Submission deadlines will be a month prior to any issue or when I run out of pages. I expect to be printing around 72 to 90 pages an issue.

The mix of material is changing, too. Instead of rotating columnists every month, they'll all be in every issue (assuming they meet deadlines, of course, and have something to say). I'm also working on picking up material that will supplement the reviews -- I have, for instance, an article by Harry Turtledove on Historical Realism that should be out next month, and interviews with Joel Rosenberg and Mike Resnick scheduled. I'm also in process of lining up the first Behind the Scenes article, which I hope to be able to talk about next month. If you've got material that is about the SF/Fantasy book world or the people around it, I'd like to see it. I'm trying not to gut the main focus of reviews but to supplement it with related material.

Format changes

This month debuts the first cover art for OtherRealms, done by none other than last year's Hugo Winning Fan Artist joan hanke-woods. Next month I'll be featuring long time OtherRealms contributor Brad Foster, and I plan on running cover art from now on, assuming I can find good pieces to use. Moving artwork onto the cover means a number of other format changes, moving the Table of Contents to page three, and re-arranging the Editor's Notebook. Starting this month, the Notebook will have an inside continuation. While I've avoided continuations in the past because I find them personally annoying when reading a magazine, this becomes a necessary evil because of the way OtherRealms is laid out, the Editor's Notebook has been one of the first things laid in stone, making it hard to get late-breaking information into it. This way, I can leave the column until I'm close to the end of the publishing, and make it a more useful and up to date than it has been.

I still plan on avoiding continuations as much as possible in the future, however.

There are a number of other small changes throughout the layout as I continue to experiment with ways of improving the look of OtherRealms. The major change is that headlines are now three columns wide with three column text, to try to keep articles from bleeding into each other and to make the headlines easier to see. A minor change is that all headlines are now in Bookman font, a serif font, instead of Helvetica, a sans-serif font. Bookman is a stronger looking font, and the serif forms tie in better with the serif form of the text font, Palatino.

Layout and page design is an art form unto itself, and even though it wasn't why I started OtherRealms, graphic design has turned into my main focus for publishing it. I've learned a lot, and I've had a wonderful time learning it. I still have a long way to go, though, and I appreciate the time some folks have taken in critiquing the look of OtherRealms over the last year -- especially Alexis Gilliland, for asking a few innocent but loaded questions early on that pushed me into layout in the first place, Charles Brown for a lot of help last fall at Octocon, and joan hanke-woods for pointing out a number of glitches that I'm taking steps to correct this issue and next. My name may be on the masthead, but OtherRealms is in many ways a group project, and I appreciate the feedback.

Horror?

In taking a look at the last few issues, I've noticed I'm giving horror books a short shrift. It looks like I've been the only person to actually review horror in OtherRealms, and this makes me wonder if I really ought to be covering it (or, as the current reality stands, pretending to) here. Let me know what you would prefer me to do on this -- completely drop Horror from OtherRealms, or see if I can actually do some real coverage of this genre. If we do keep Horror around, it looks like I'm going to need a contributing editor to help out with the Horror reviews; any volunteers?

A New Name
in the Masthead

I've added a new name to the masthead this month, as Alan Wexelblat joins us as a Contributing Editor. He's been a consistent contributor for the last few months, and adding him as an Editor gives him the opportunity to explore his material in a little more depth by using a column instead of individual reviews. Welcome aboard, Alan!

Alice Sheldon P James Tiptree, Jr. Dies

I've just gotten word that Alice Sheldon, who wrote as James Tiptree, Jr. has died at the age of 71. More details next issue, with an obituary and appreciations. If you want to write an appreciation, please let me know.

See you next month!

Non Western Mythology in Fantasy:
A Sampling of the Field

John Wenn
wenn@gandalf.cs.cmu.edu
Copyright 1987 by John Wenn

Are you tired of Fantasy filled with trolls, elves, wizards, and dragons? Have you ever wondered why most of the Fantasy written today all derive from the stories of one small group of people from a small island in a period of a few centuries? One of the reasons is that the Celtic mythos has a rich, descriptive tradition. Also important is that much of our cultural heritage derives from that one small section of history. And one can't overlook the combination of the overwhelming influence of Tolkien with the sheep phenomenon ("Look, Celtic Fantasy is selling well. Let's publish more of it"). While it is still perfectly possible to write good stuff in this field (Raymond Feist and Guy Kay most recently), I also want something different. So I'm going through a brief survey of some of the books that incorporate non-Western myths in their setting.

First a few words on what I'm doing. This doesn't attempt to deal with non-western mythology in SF. The dividing line between Fantasy and SF is especially thin here, since we are talking about the myths of the culture. The best examples of non-western mythology in SF are Roger Zelazny's Lord of Light [*****] and Creatures of Light and Darkness [*****-]. These are both classic works that I recommend most highly, but if you look you can see the technological strings behind the scenes making the mythology work (Hindu and Egyptian pantheons in the respective books).

I'm also generally avoiding non-Celtic, but nevertheless European mythology in Fantasy. This can be anywhere from the well worn classical Greek/Roman pantheon to rarely seen settings (renaissance Italy in MacAvoy's Damiano trilogy). While these can be a change of pace, they are still familiar territory.

Jessica Amanda Salmonson has made a minor industry writing books written in mythic Japan. Representative is Tomoe Gozen [***], the first book of the Tome Gozen trilogy. Tomoe is a female samauri who is on her way to becoming the best samauri in Japan. The setting is in the middle of the shogun era, always a favorite period due to the social upheavals. The style is episodic, a given opponent or quest rarely takes more than 40 pages to resolve. While this does give an opportunity to show a variety of settings and opponents (wizards, priests, and demons are favorites), the book suffers from not enough continuity to have the entire story work as a whole.

In a related culture, Chinese Fantasy is a popular topic. This is probably due to the fact that Fantasy has been an important field for centuries. The typical Chinese Fantasy is characterized by savage wit, everyone (warriors, priests, merchants, magicians, peasants, gods, bureaucrats) is made fun of. A good example is The Devil Wives of Li Fong [****-] by E. Hoffmann Price. This is the story of a student apothecary and his two wives (who are really spirit snake demons). Buddhist priests, Taoist magicians and political maneuvering conspire to break up the happy family. It is some measure of the books success that the two wives are the most realistic and practical characters in the story.

An excellent Chinese story is Bridge of Birds [*****] by Barry Hughart. This is a romping fun tale. The basic plot is that Number Ten Ox (an innocent and strong peasant) with the sage Li Kao (a worldly rogue with a slight flaw in his character) search the known world to find the cure for their village children. In the process, they come across any number of rare and exotic adventures. For some reason, it most reminds me of The Princess Bride by William Goldman in tone, and a higher recommendation is hard to find.

Well off the beaten trail is Australian Fantasy. Patricia Wrightson has written an excellent trilogy The Ice is Coming [****+], The Dark Bright Water [****] and Journey Behind the Wind [****] set in modern Australia but containing elements of aboriginal mythology. Wirrun is a young aborigine (The People) and educated among the whites (Happy Folk). Disturbed by unaccountable frosts in summer, he quits his job to investigate. Eventually he is called upon to take the role of Hero of the People. The first book deals with ice-spirits seeking to bring a new ice age, the second with a drought, and the last with a new power that kills through out the land. One noticeable thing is the territoriality of the spirits: the Mimi live in the north, the Ninya centrally and the Nyols in the east. The characterization is fine, with the differences between the types of spirits especially well drawn. Highly recommended.

The last two books deal with 20th century mythology, the myths and legends of our own life. Mulengro [***] by Charles deLint deals with modern Romany (Gypsies) in Ottawa. The central plot deals with a brutal series of murders linked to the Romany community. The police look for a crazed killer, but the Romany know that it is really done by "he who walks with ghosts." The story is fairly interesting, although the violence and body count is high. The main problem is that the depiction of Romany society is probably is accurate on the surface, but it feels like there is much more that is never dealt with.

Wizard of the Pigeons [****+] by Megan Lindholm is set among the homeless of Seattle. There are all the standard Fantasy elements (magic, wizards and nameless horrors), but they have original treatments. The wizard of the title is one of several wizards trying to survive in the streets. Magic is present, but it is more personal: knowing what to say to people in trouble, hunches, turns of luck, and a way with pigeons. More spectacular powers are also present, they aren't central to the plot. The antagonist isn't really traditional either, but I can't say more without spoiling the plot. The description and characterization are particularly fine, making an unusual and great book.

There are many mythos not touched upon: African, American (Aztec, Incan, Indian), Egyptian, Indian, and many others. Unfortunately I don't know of any works that deal with these subjects. Any recommendations would be appreciated.

The River of Time

David Brin

Bantam Spectra, 1986, $3.50
[**+]

Reviewed by
James Brunet
ism780b!jimb
Copyright 1987 by James Brunet

This single-author collection of eleven stories is a potpourri, containing works previously published and not, ranging in quality from Hugo-winning to a couple that I suspect were long mouldering in some out-of-the-way file cabinet.

The lead story is "Crystal Spheres," a tale containing an imaginative explanation of our apparent solitude in a universe that should, by many calculations, be teeming with intelligent life. Imaginative as the explanation is, this reader was left with the vague sensation that the story failed as fiction, that it was little more than an off-the-wall essay dressed up in fiction clothes.

For my money, two of the better stories in the collection were "The Loom of Thessaly," previously published in serial by Davis Publications (Analog and Asimov's) back in 1981, and "Lungfish," which appears here for the first time. "The Loom of Thessaly" is splendid blend of science and fantasy, an adventure where a near-future Greek consultant to NATO encounters the Fates coloring, weaving, and cutting the mortal threads into their tapestry. "Lungfish" is both subdued and intense at the same time, alternating points of view between an archaeologist-explorer in the asteroid belt and the consciousness of a long-dormant self-replicating probe from an alien civilization. "Lungfish" seemed to end a bit too soon, and as a result the ambiguity was disconcerting instead of delicious. Still, a nicely done story.

"Toujours Voir" is a curiosity, the "precision story" in which the author must hit a given word count, in this case 250 words, exactly. As Brin points out in the author's note that accompanies this story, contractions and hyphenations make this easier than it might seem. The real trick is getting a "story" complete in that amount of text; Brin succeeds to a competent enough degree, but the real grin is evoked by the idea of a "neuroconvulsive hyperdrive." As Brin says, "Oooh."

Other interesting stories include "Thor Meets Captain America" (published in F&SF) and "The Fourth Vocation of George Gustaf." "Thor Meets Captain America" was written in answer to a dare by Gregory Benford to write a story where the Axis plausibly could have won World War II. Well, plausibility must be in the eye of the beholder. In his author's note, Brin acknowledges P.K. Dick's The Man in the High Castle as a great, classic work while scoring it for implausibility. I find the idea of the Norse Gods fighting alongside the Axis (except for Loki, who has defected to the Allies) in the still-going war in 1962 to be just as implausible -- but great fun. "The Fourth Vocation of George Gustaf" is a charming story about a world where real work -- vocations -- is strictly limited and application to serious hobbies strictly enforced. Some people who pursue their hobbies diligently enough to make contributions to their field, e.g., sociology or psychology, are granted an honorary "second" vocation. And of course, for a few rare people, this isn't enough....

The most ambitious story in this collection is also one of Brin's earliest efforts. "Senses Three and Six" (referring to smell and the inner mind) is a story that hinges upon the nature of reality -- subjective or not? -- and the Uncertainty Principle and how a man with an assumed identity tries to protect himself from a horrifying past. The fluid nature of reality makes it difficult to establish "reality" for this story, and while as a result it's not quite successful, it's still interesting.

The remaining stories in this collection, including the title piece "River of Time," are run-of-the-mill hard SF stories. If you enjoy a bit of speculation dressed up as fiction, you will like them. If you're insistent on having your SF spiced with character and/or style, you will probably find these indifferent. In summation, this volume is enjoyable enough to browse through, but it's not one would rush to consume.

The Flame Key

Daniel Moran

Tor Fantasy, 222 pages, $2.95
[**]

Reviewed by
Liralen Li
li@vlsi.cs.washington.edu
Copyright 1987 by Liralen Li

There are books that I call D.N.D. books with the following characteristics:

o The characters are better told apart by their physical appearance
and abilities than by themselves.

o They are only tested in their adventures by physical and mental
trials. While they might have emotional problems or pasts full
of dark secrets, these do not seem to affect the performance of
the character.

o The characters go after some super-colossal goal, and only learn
about the affects it has on their civilization after they go
after it. They simply do not seem to be a part of the world
that they are travelling through and it is reflected in their
ignorance of what are supposed to be Great Things in their world.

o Lots of traveling about, with groups losing each other and then, by
some odd (sometimes too odd) twist of fate, they are brought
back together again.

o You need a map.

They are shallow. Even though the action is sometimes interesting and the motivation of the main characters to take on the quests are good, I find that I cannot get into the characters and the plots take on amazing twists in fortune. I can almost see the dice rolling... If you like books that read like a roleplayer game, this is OK, not nearly as good as Saberhagen's Books of Swords, but good for this new genre in that it is an interesting world. There is the fact that it seems to be Moran's first work, and the first of a trilogy, there is potential in the world he builds and the characters he has to use. While I may judge this book quite harshly, I am also curious as to whether he will be able to use what he has managed to build.

Liege-Killer

Christopher Hinz

St. Martin's Press, $19.95, 458 pages
[*****]

Reviewed by
Danny Low
hplabs!hpccc!dlow
Copyright 1987 by Danny Low

It is 200 years after the Apocalypse. The only known survivors are the inhabitants of the space colonies orbiting the Earth. The colonists numbered about a billion people and have a prosperous and peaceful society, almost utopian. Someone has found and released a paratwa from the pre-Apocalypse times in the colonies. Genetically altered human beings, the paratwas were created to be super killers made more deadly by the fact that they were created as pairs of telepathically linked individuals. Realizing that they do not known how to deal with the paratwas, Rome Franco searches the E Tech data banks for forbidden knowledge that may help him destroy the paratwa. He finds it and a lot of trouble as a result.

The basic story structure is that of a mystery. The mystery is who released the paratwa and why. As a mystery, it is well done. The clues to figure it out are all there. The only flaw is that there are no false clues to mislead the reader. Figuring out what is going on is fairly easy. The pacing is that of a chase. The story development is well done. Events follow logically from one to another.

Hinz has created a very realistic society. It has the complexity and untidiness of a real society. He has also created an organization, E Tech, that is charged with suppressing science, and succeeded in making it into the good guys while making their archrivals, who want to restore scientific freedom, look like a lunatic fringe. This is quite an accomplishment considering the predilection of anyone who would be interested in this book.

The main reason that E Tech comes across as a well intentioned organization rather than a tyrannical one is the people we see running it. They are intelligent, well meaning and are able to override their indoctrination when their common sense tells them to do so. Characterization is a common weakness of many SF writers. Hinz does not have this weakness. Every main character and many minor characters have very distinctive personalities. The paratwa, who is called Reemul, is a suitably fascinating character. It is a sign of Hinz's ability that Reemul is not the only fascinating character. Nick the dwarf and Rome Franco also come across as well done characters who rival Reemul in interest. A fascinating villain is the mark of a competent writer. A good writer can also create heroes that are equally fascinating.

The story does end in this book. However, there is an obvious hook for a sequel. This book is clearly Hugo quality. It has the potential to become a classic. Very highly recommended.

Knight Life

Peter David

Ace Fantasy, $2.95, 195 pages
[****-]

Reviewed by
Jim Johnston
ihnp4!icarus!jj
Copyright 1987 by Jim Johnston

For once, a book with a cover blurb that doesn't ruin things!

This book is not quite a juvenile, because some of the obvious humor has another layer of humor beneath, one that would slide right on by most of the early teen set. It can most certainly be enjoyed by the younger reader, at least the kind of reader who would like So You Want to Be a Magician by Diane Duane.

Knight Life is about King Arthur, after an enforced rest of a thousand years or so that we all know about. Arthur and Merlin have arrived in a place that really needs their help, specifically 1980-ish New York City, where Arthur is running for Mayor. Arthur doesn't do badly, for somebody who's been asleep for so long. He adapts quite nicely, in his own way, for a person who won't ever lie.

Although one might expect a set of running gags involving the problems of adaptation to modern life, that isn't the case. While there is some slapstick humor in the book, most of the humor is quite a bit more subtle and ironic, perhaps even gently lampooning the sort of reaction that one sees from a modern professional politician.

The book is certainly lightweight, compared to most Fantasy, but it's quite enjoyable, and I've rated it for its enjoyable nature, rather than for its profound substance. If there's any purpose to the book, other than entertainment, it's well hidden.

Peter David is "known for his work at Marvel Comics," according to the bio. I've not seen any other Fantasy/SF books (as opposed to comics) of his, but I will take a look at anything new that shows up.

Battle Circle

Sos the Rope
Var the Stick
Neq the Sword

Piers Anthony

Avon, 537 pages, $2.95
[****]

Reviewed by
James C. Winner
Copyright 1987 by James C. Winner

Originally 3 separate, short books, this story is now sold as one large novel. Each of the shorter books follows a different main character, but it is all one story. This is probably one of Piers Anthony's best told stories. The characters follow reasonable courses of action, sometimes failing and sometimes succeeding, but always in reasonable ways. Never are we asked to completely suspend belief in the rational so that the author may twist the story to go where he wants to take us.

This is a post-holocaust story, which tells the story of the potential rise and fall of the post-holocaust society. It is a simplistic society with a group of producers, a group of distributors, and a group of consumers. But what is important about this story is that it goes beyond showing us this new civilization, but shows how it developed, and how it can fall apart, and how it can grow into something different from both what it was before the holocaust and what it is at the time of the story. It is a society of potential, and as the potential for change is what allows life to evolve, so it is true with societies also.

This is also a story of characters. We meet people who learn to change as they learn more about the world around them. The people we meet are not always what they at first seem to be, but they also change as we watch them, learning from their mistakes and coping with their situations as best they can. Through these characters we see that the events which cause history are of many styles, more often being caused by luck or misunderstanding than by the careful planning of the people involved.

Piers Anthony also seems to be very comfortable killing people when situations show up that people should die in, and people survive when there is a way for them to survive. It is the feeling that the story follows the flow of the events, rather than the events occurring to further the story, which makes this story so good and so believable and so easy to read. Piers Anthony does not get bogged down telling us how the holocaust occurred, and the moralizing about the evil is woven into the story rather than overpowering it. This is one of the stories that makes me a Piers Anthony fan and deserves a place on everyone's post-holocaust book list.

The Native Tongue Series

Suzette Haden Elgin

The Native Tongue
Daw books, 301 pages, $3.95
[***+]

Native Tongue II: The Judas Rose
Daw Books, 363 pages, $3.50
[***-]

Reviewed by
Lynda Feng
ihnp4!icarus!jj
Copyright 1987 by Lynda Feng

When I read the back cover of these books, I thought "Bleech, feminist new wave." However, being desperate for reading material, I bought them anyway.

Elgin has built a convincingly plausible world and a series of convincingly plausible events. Peace is kept by focusing the energies of the USA and Soviet governments towards spaceward expansion, assisted along the way by friendly aliens. The Christian religion reigns supreme in the US, and women have clearly lost the battle of the sexes. Women are minors, without the privilege of bank accounts, limited to purchasing properly feminine products, escorted everywhere, subject to the decisions of responsible men. After all, these silly women are not intelligent and therefore can't be held responsible for their actions.

Because of the pressure of outward expansion, several families have developed a monopoly on translating alien languages for government negotiations. These "linguist" families have pressed their women into translation services due to the ever increasing number of languages needing translation. Of course, these silly women, in their spare time, have been working on a special project, developing a language especially for women. Through this language, they are able to become "perfect women" to the delight of their husbands, and are able to create social change, to the delight of the women. And therein lies the interesting tale.

The second book deals with the passing of the linguist women's language on to the rest of the women in the world. How? Why by using the Church, its numerous convents and nuns, and their daily contact with mundane women. The women get some help from the men, who consider the whole thing a big joke on the Church. The Church, of course, discovers this evil, goddess worship plot, and goes after the perpetrators. But that's another story, and perhaps a third book.

The premise of these books is that language can shape social and personal behavior. Elgin displays a fascinating knowledge of language (the book cover claims that she is in fact a linguist), as well as the ability to write a riveting story with very little action. The characters are well developed, the vignettes of human behavior representative, and the pace of the social change realistic. For all that the cover proclaims this as a controversial feminist novel, I find very little controversy and feminism of the "Oh, those men!" variety.

The second book is weaker than the first. Its plot is not as tightly woven, and the pace is slower. More importantly, I think it has a cheap ending (those all knowing, superior aliens, you know) and would have better off without the last chapter.

If you like sociological fiction with traces of scientific speculation, read these books. If you like Rambo style space opera, skip it. I found them entertaining, engrossing reading because of the linguistic elements.

OtherRealms #16
June, 1987

Copyright 1987
by Chuq Von Rospach.
All Rights Reserved.

One time rights have been acquired from the contributors. All rights are hereby assigned to the contributors

OtherRealms may be reproduced in its entirety only
for non-commercial purposes. With the exception of
excerpts used for promotional purposes, no part of
OtherRealms may be re-published without permission.

Issue 16, June 1987 (part 2)

Electrontic OtherRealms #16
June, 1987
Part 2

Things Received

Books

Ace
Fantasy

Brust, Steven. The Sun The Moon and the Stars, 210 pp, $16.95. First
in the Fairy Tales series of novels retelling classic tales.

Ace/Putnam

Anthony, Piers. Out of Phaze, 288 pp, $17.95. Book Four of the
Apprentice Adept Series.

Arbor House

Cole, Adrian. A Place Among the Fallen, 352 pp, $17.95.

Engh, M.J. Arslan, 296 pp, $17.95.

Avon
Fantasy

Brush, Karen A. The Pig, the Prince & the Unicorn, 216 pp, $2.95.

Avon
Science Fiction

Dick, Phillip K. Radio Free Albemuth, 212 pp, $3.50. The final novel
from Phil Dick, posthumous.

Vardeman, Robert E. The Alien Web, 166 pp, May, 1987, $2.95. Masters
of Space #2.

Bantam

Hazel, Paul. Yearwood, 161 pp, $3.95. Volume 1 in the Finnbranch Trilogy.

MacAvoy, R. A. The Grey Horse, 247 pp, $3.95.

Norwood, Warren C. Shudder Child, 350 pp, $3.95.

Willis, Connie. Lincoln's Dreams, 212 pp, $15.95. First novel from a
Hugo and Nebula short story writer.

Baen Books

Dalmas, John. The Reality Matrix, 310 pp, 1986, $2.95.

Shaw, Bob. The Ragged Astronauts, 310 pp, $15.95.

Berkeley Poet
and Writer's Workshop
Box 459,
Berkeley, CA 94701

Boston, Bruce. She Comes When You're Leaving & Other Stories, 62 pp,
1982, $3.95. Collection of eight stories.

Boston, Bruce. Jackbird, 85 pp, 1976, $2.00. Small Press collection of
six stories.

Starblaze

Garrett, Randall. Takeoff Too!, 306 pp, $7.95. Illustrated by Phil Foglio.
Sequel to Takeoff.

Wagner, Matt. Mage: The Hero Discovered, Volume One, 120 pp,
$12.95, 8 1/2 x 11 color graphic novel.

Starmont House
P.O. Box 851
Mercer Island, WA 98040

Larson, Randall. Robert Bloch, 148 pp, $8.95. Reader's Guide #37, biography.

St. Martin's Press

Dozois, Gardner. The Year's Best Science Fiction, Fourth Annual
Collection, 602 pp, $11.95 trade paperback, May, 1987. 250,000
words of the best of 1986.

Tor
Fantasy

Cooper, Louise. The Master, 285 pp, May, 1987, $3.50. Book three in
the Time Master Trilogy.

Douglas, Carole Nelson. Keepers of Edanvant, 346 pp, $15.95. Sword &
Circlet #1.

Tarr, Judith. The Hounds of God, 344 pp, $3.50. Book three in The
Hound and the Falcon trilogy.

Tarr, Judith. The Lady of Han-Gilen, 310 pp, June, 1987, $16.95.
Volume two of Avaryan Rising.

Tor Fiction

Greeley, Andrew M. God Game, 310 pp, May, 1987, $4.50.

Tor
Horror

Grant, Charles L. The Pet, 343 pp, $3.95. First paperback edition of a
1986 novel.

Masterson, Graham. The Manitou, 216 pp, $3.95. Reprint of a 1982 book.

Richards, Tony. The Harvest Bride, 279 pp, $3.95.

Tor
Nonfiction

Gingrich, Newt. Window of Opportunity: A Blueprint for the Future, 272
pp, May, 1987, $4.95. Congressman Gingrich (with David Drake
and Marianne Gingrich) look at America's possibilities.

Tor
Science Fiction

Anthony, Piers. Shade of the Tree, 348 pp, May, 1987, $3.95. This is
really a horror novel in disguise.

Berry, Stephen Ames. The AI War, 249 pp, May, 1987, $2.95.

Dickson, Gordon R. Spacial Delivery, 155 pages, $2.95. Reprint of a
1961 novel.

Williams, Walter Jon. Voice of the Whirlwind, 278 pages, $16.95. Set in
the same environment as his novel Hardwired.

Williams, Walter Jon. Ambassador of Progress, 432 pages, $3.95.
Reprint of a 1984 novel.

Fan &
Other Zines

Holier Than Thou #25. Marty Cantor, 11565 Archwood St., North
Hollywood, CA 91606-1703. Irregular (about twice a year)
genzine. Single copy $5.00, after that available only for trade
or submissions.

SPWAO Newsletter Vol 9, No 1. Stephanie Stearns, 3980 W. Radcliff,
Denver, CO 80236. Bi-monthly newsletter of the Small Press
Writers and Artists Organization, dues $12.50/year.

Back Issues

OtherRealm Back Issues are available. Electronic versions of the previous two issues only are available by contacting me at the addresses in the masthead. Hardcopy versions of the following issues are available:

E-mail format
(each $1.50)

#2: Karen Joy Fowler, Wasp, Writer's Workshops

#3: Dervish Daughter, Listening to Science Fiction

#6: SF Magazines, Wizenbeak, The Sorcery Within, A Jungle of Stars

Magazine format
(each $2.50)

#9: Reviewing the Reviewers, The Dream Years, Schismatrix, Fiction by
Jim Brunet

#10: The art of paperbacks, It, Dimensions of Science Fiction, fiction by
Fred Bals

#11: The Diadem, Always Coming Home, Broken Worlds, Flamesong

#12: Voice of the Visitor, Silent Tower, Little Big, Agents of
Insight, Quest of the Riddle Master, Echoes of Chaos, Children
of Flux and Anchor

#14: Time Ouut of Mind, Voice for Princess, The Myth Series, Living in
the Ether, No Safe Place, Borderland, The SF Book of Lists

#15: Darkchild-Bluesong-Starsilk, SF: The 100 Best Novels, The
Regiment, Adventures of Hajii Baba of Isapahan, A Door into
Ocean, With a Single Spell.

Publishing Notes

Wendy Christensen, who's art has graced the last few issues of OtherRealms, reports that she has left her high-tech job to do illustration full-time. She can be contacted at 652 Timbertop Road, New Ipswich, NH, 03071.

Also, did anyone notice the Brad Foster illustration in the July, 1987 issue of Amazing Stories? It's good to see such a talented fan artist breaking into the pro ranks.

Joel Rosenberg has signed with NAL for a $30,000 advance for Hero, a military SF novel. The deal was negotiated by Eleanor Wood. The contract includes a hardcover as well as paperback.

Word from Michael Banks is that Night Cry magazine is up for sale, and is in danger of being closed down if a buyer can't be found. Night Cry is a digest size Horror magazine available only on the newstands. I'd heard rumors that it was soon going to be available by subscription, but evidently that has either been cancelled or fallen through.

Baen Books has announced a new imprint for its Fantasy books, Sign of the Dragon. It will be distributed by Simon and Schuster, and edited by Baen Senior Editor Betsy Mitchell. Initially two imprint will debut in September with Gallicenae by Poul and Karen Anderson, the sequel to Roma Mater, and Chance by Nancy Springer. Other authors to be published under the imprint include C.J. Cherryh, David Drake, Janet Morris, Michael Reaves and Melissa Scott.

Del Rey will publish Lawrence Watt-Evans' The Wizard and the War Machine, sequel to The Cyborg and the Sorcerors, in September. He has also just turned in the a book to Avon, working title Mortal Enemy. Grafton has bought British rights to The Lure of the Basilisk, The Seven Altars of Dusarra, The Sword of Bheleu, The Book of Silence, The Misenchanted Sword, and With A Single Spell.

Stephen Billias (The American Book of the Dead) will be signing May 30th at Dangerous Visions Bookstore, 15363 Ventura Blvd. Sherman Oaks, CA, 91423. Phone 818/986-6963 for more details. Future signings include Robert Scheley (Mindswap, Victim Prime, The Tenth Victim) on June 13th and Steven Barnes, Larry Niven, and Jerry Pournelle (The Legacy of Herat) August 8.

James Hogan will be signing his new book, Endgame Enigma, at Future Fantasy Bookstore, 2033 El Camino Real, Palo Alto, CA on July 18 from 3 to 5. Phone 415/327-9242 for details.

Avon will be reprinting two classic works by Zenna Henderson, The People: No Different Flesh in August, and Pilgrimage, the First Book of the People in September. Both have been out of print since 1985. OtherRealms doesn't normally discuss reprints, but this is a series you don't want to miss if you haven't read it.

Terry Carr

Writing obituaries has to be the worst job in publishing. It is especially bad to have to write about someone like Terry Carr, for which words simply won't suffice. Even if you don't know someone (I met Terry only briefly, once, at a con) the words come slowly. I can't honor Terry Carr enough -- one of the most important forces in Science Fiction has been taken from us, and we are all less for it.

I want to credit both Locus #316 and The Rhodomagnetic Bulletin 120 (the voice for the Elves', Gnomes' and Little Men's Science Fiction, Chowder, and Marching Society; a major home of Bay Area Fandom) as source materials for the obituary.

Awards

From BECCON,
the 38th British Easter Con:

The Arthur C. Clarke Award: The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood The Doc Weir Award (for services to British fandom): Brian Burgess

The BSFA Awards

Artwork: The Clocktower Girl by Keith Roberts Media: Aliens Novel: The Ragged Astronauts by Bob Shaw Short Story: Kaeti and the Hangman by Keith Roberts

The 1986 Nebula Awards

Best Novel: Orson Scott Card, Speaker for the Dead Best Novella: Lucius Shepard, R&R Best Novelette: Kate Wilhelm, The Girl Who Fell into the Sky Best Short Story: Greg Bear, Tangents Grandmaster Award: Isaac Asimov

Corrections

The address I used for FSFNET in the last issue was unclear, and some people misinterpreted it, causing their E-mail to go to the byte bucket. The proper address is CSDAVE@MAINE.BITNET. Sorry for any inconvenience.

Pico Reviews

Anthonology     by Piers Anthony        [**+]
        Tor, 1985, 381 pp, $14.95

Anthonology is a collection of short stories by Piers Anthony from his
early days as an author. Most of them have seen print before. The
stories range over a wide area of topics, both Fantasy and Science
Fiction, and vary in quality, though most are rather good. One warning
when reading this book, a number of the stories could be offensive or
upsetting to sensitive readers. Piers Anthony warns people very nicely
in his introduction to each story it he feels that it may offend
people, so heed his warnings or don't complain.
--Jim Winner
winner@cua.bitnet

Arrows of the Queen     by Mercedes Lackey      [****]
        Daw Fantasy, $2.95, 320 pp

This is a book that is so well crafted you'll want to read it in an
entire night. Talia, the runaway who becomes a a Herald for the Queen,
grows and matures throughout the book. It is from her viewpoint that we
see an experience the danger to the kingdom from various forces; from
jaded nobility to darker beings. The setting of the book doesn't change
once Talia gets to the castle; the changes are in the various characters
in the book. The Heralds are all people you know, or wish you knew.
--Laurie Sefton
lsefton@sun.com

Artificial Things       by Karen Joy Fowler     [****]
        Bantam, 12/86, 218 pages, $2.95

An anthology with three or four excellent stories is worth reading. This
one, with easily twice that number, is well worth reading indeed. What can
be said about the anthology as a whole, rather than about the individual
stories? The author plays fair: the stories do not depend upon strange
twists or surprise endings. The stories always ended before I wanted them
to. The book definitely ended too soon.
--Dani Zwei
haste#@andrew.cmu.edu

The Blossom of Erda     by L.A. Taylor  [***]
        St. Martin's, $16.95, 247 pp

This is a standard adventure romance; the crusty woman who has risen above her societal rank is teamed up with the outcast so they can be killed off by the local evil cabal. What makes this rise above space opera is the care in which Taylor develops her characters. Instead of stereotypes, the main players have quirks and layers that add a lot of depth to the story.

--Laurie Sefton

But What Of Earth?      by Piers Anthony & Robert Coulson       [****]
        Laser Books, 1976, 190 pp

The world in the undetermined future is overcrowded to the point of food rationing and high unemployment. Suddenly, a breakthrough: instantaneous matter transmission opening other worlds for colonization. But rather than taking us to the new colonies, Anthony & Coulson ask the question But What of Earth? They let us see what could happen here on Earth after such a "salvation." It may make you think about the real results of the great salvation ideas people always want. It may have been done before or better, but I haven't seen it. I very good, short, hard to find read. Highly recommended. Warning to people who want Science Fiction to read like a science textbook, these authors aren't scientist; matter transmission is a means to get a mass exodus from Earth to set up the situation, any real substitute would work comparably for the purpose of the story.

--Jim Winner

Crusaders in Hell       Created by Janet Morris [*]
        Baen Books, $3.50, 278 pp

As usual, with the exception of one good story (Greg Benford's 'The God of the Gaps' in this case) this shared world anthology is filled with journeyman to poor quality fiction. It is such a good premise that I really hate to see it wasted the way it is. Fun if you don't take it too seriously, but nothing to go out of the way for.

--chuq von rospach

The Great Wheel by Joyce Ballou Gregorian       [***]
        Ace, 4/87, 306 pages, $3.50

This book ends the Tredana trilogy begun over a decade ago with "The
Broken Citadel" and "Castledown." The trilogy tells of the heroine's
three sojourns to a sword-and-sorcery alternate world, at ages 12, 18
and, in the last book, 30. There is continuity of characters, but
little continuity of plot; each book can stand on its own, though they
are better read in order. People who read the earlier books will not
be disappointed in this one. Others looking for a good Fantasy read
might want to give this trilogy a try. The author clearly had a lot of
fun writing this book.
--Dani Zwei
haste#@andrew.cmu.edu

The Grey Horse by R.A. MacAvoy [****]
Bantam, 1987, paperback, $4.95, 247 pages

R.A. MacAvoy's latest is an improvement on Twisting the Rope and The
Book of Kells, in my opinion. The story, while simple, is engaging, and
is finely drawn with lots and lots of detail. It shares an interesting
feature with Tea with the Black Dragon and Twisting the Rope, and that
is that the plot, the story, and the characters could be essentially
the same without the Fantasy elements. They are merely added as a sort
of seasoning to what is already a fine, wholesome mix.
-- Wayne Throop
dg_rtp!throopw

Guardians of the West   by David Eddings        [**-]
        Del Rey, $16.95, 453 pp

This book suffers from an idiot plot; if anyone listened or acted with a gram of sense, the story would be over within 50 pages. Errand keeps showing great bursts of power, and everyone keeps treating him like a normal little boy. Belgarion and his queen Ce'Nedra are unable to have children, and it takes a state crisis to bring Polgara out of the Vale, with a "but, of course" remedy. Characters that were established as dead in the Belgarion are brought back as not quite dead, and main characters from the original story are disposed with in a few pages. If you have to be a completist, you should wait for the paperback.

--Laurie Sefton

Hardwired       by Walter Jon Williams  [****+]
        Tor Science Fiction $3.50 343 pages

Wow. Fast, hard, sleek, and as deadly as a cybersnake striking from a
lovely woman's throat. Amazing. A blend of Zelazny's Damnation Alley
and the best of the new cyberpunk style. Williams uses the cyborg
extentions of his characters as they should be used, as an intrinsic
part of their personality and their own, inner, abilities of mind and
spirit. The characters shine beyond their flashy technology, yet that
flash, that glamour of inhumaness is written into them like the color
of their eyes or the texture of their skin. The language is marvelous,
so dense and rich that I had to come up for air a couple times,
especially in the first couple of chapters and during some of the
cyberized battle scenes. The best thing of all was that Williams wrote
about people, about legends, betrayal, love, hate, courage and what
high ideals are all about. A real story set in speed, despair, and the
clicking of electric neurons.
--Liralen Li
li@vlsi.cs.washington.edu

Heart of the Comet      by Gregory Benford and David Brin       [**+]
        Bantam, 1986, paperback, $5.50, 477 pages

A semi-OK book. But did it remind anyone else powerfully of that good
old classic space-opera The Moon is Hell, by John Campbell? Not that it
was the same general plot, or the same ending, nor did it have exactly
the same characters. But... somehow for me it had the same sort of
"feel." Intrepid explorers developing biosciences at breakneck speed
(and with never a serious problem or setback and with lots of
serendipitous coincidences) to survive a hostile environment, with
ineffectual coaching from Earth, and all that.
--Wayne Throop
dg_rtp!throopw

Highway of Eternity     by Clifford Simak       [**-]
        Del Rey, 6/86, 289 pages, $14.95

This is a sad caricature of Simak's better works. We have the Problem:
The human race, a million years in the future is beset by alien
missionaries who [aggressively] urge humans to abandon their bodies and
become disembodied intellects. Those who resist this fate have fled
into the past. The author doesn't do much with the Problem. He seems
to lose interest in it as he seizes the opportunity to introduce us to
his standard cast of folksy aliens and amiable, simpleminded robots. A waste.
--Dani Zwei
haste#@andrew.cmu.edu

Merovingen Nights: Festival Moon        edited by C.J. Cherryh  [***]
        DAW, 4/87, 300 pages, $3.50

A sequel to Cherryh's Angel with the Sword, this is not so much a
shared-world anthology as it is a shared-world novel. The editing is
excellent. None of the stories/chapters are by Cherryh herself,
although some connective material is. She sticks to the task of keeping
the authors in line, so that the stories build upon and reinforce each
other instead of haring off in whatever directions suit actorial fancy.
Most of the writers belong to the shared-world Mafia that is the
mainstay of the Thieves' World and Hell anthologies: it is editorial
discipline (the hand slips off the editorial rudder just once, in
"Cat's Tale") that makes this anthology strikingly superior to those.
Three of the stories are by new writers who will bear watching.
--Dani Zwei
haste#@andrew.cmu.edu

Night's Sorceries       by Tanith Lee   [****+]

The latest Flat Earth book is out, and I'm not disappointed. Lee
departs from the naming convention, but then the book is a slight
departure in terms of format as well. It still is a collection of
stories set in the time of the flat earth, but there is less of a
central theme to them. They all take place at the same time (or a
little after) as the stories in Delerium's Mistress, but she and her
un-relatives don't turn up as the major figures in the stories as much
as they do in the other books. They do, however, often serve as
interesting plot-advancing passers-by. Just a small sample of the kind
of writer-to-reader fooling around that Lee gets into in these books
and which I enjoy thoroughly, I'll mention that in one of the
stories... well... you know how terrible and stupid and awful it is
when an author tells a long complicated story, and then at the end to
make it fit, just does a sort of "... and then <insert hero(ine)> wakes
up?" Know what I mean? Don't you just hate it when that happens? Well,
Lee does that in one of the stories. But the odd thing is... it worked!
I loved it.
-- Wayne Throop
dg_rtp!throopw

The Songs of Distant Earth      by Arthur C. Clarke     [***+]
        Del Rey, 1986, paperback, $4.95, 313 pages

Ah, yes. A serious attempt to tell a story involving interstellar
civilization with perhaps-more-realistic-than-usual assumptions. That
is, no FTL, no Earth-type planets swarming around every star in
incredible numbers, and so on and on. Most interesting. This is
standard Clarke, with the setting of the scene taking center stage
throughout the book.
-- Wayne Throop
dg_rtp!throopw

Stalking the Unicorn    by Mike Resnick [****+]
        Tor Fantasy, $3.50, 1987, 314 pp.

This is an exceptionally readable detective/Fantasy/alternate reality
yarn, concerning the loss of a unicorn, and the adventures of the
detective who is sent into an alternate Manhattan to retrieve it.
Resnick is able to create a world where magic works just enough to make
it interesting, but not so much that we can't recognize New York
shining through. Be sure you have enough time to read this, as once you
start, you won't want to put it down.
--Laurie Sefton
lsefton@sun.com

Unicorn & Dragon        by Lynn Abbey   [**+]
        Avon Books, $8.50, 230 pp

This books suffers from telegraphing; even those who don't know the
background behind the Norman invasion of England will be able to
predict what will happen to most of the major characters. The title
characters aren't very likable; one tends to be petulant, and the other
is too timid and tends to whine. It's hard to build up much rapport
with either. It has a gorgeous cover, but it isn't worth the cover price.
--Laurie Sefton
lsefton@sun.com

Vampires        Edited by Alan Ryan     [***-]
        Doubleday [SFBC], 619 pages

A theme anthology of vampire stories, from the year 1816 to the present. Each story has a preface explaining the history of the story, and it includes two appendicies: Vampire novels and Vampire movies. A good overview of an important horror subgenre, although slanted a little to heavily towards the older works for my taste.

--chuq von rospach

The White Goddess       by Robert Graves        [***]
        Farrar, Strous, and Giroux, $8.95, 511pp

A look at goddess worship, from a poet's point of view. Some of Grave's
views differ from other authorities, but they offer a different slant
on a very old subject.
--Laurie Sefton
lsefton@sun.com

Winter's Daughter       by Charles Whitmore     [*+]
        Avon Books, $3.50, 220 pp.

This is a fairly downbeat and confusing post-holocaust novel. Whitmore
hasn't bothered to think things through very well--the claim is that
everything north of the tropic of Cancer turned into an ice sheet, and
the world is run on an African/South American/Asian axis (what happened
to Australia?). The book is essentially choppy vignettes about Signe
Ragnhilds- datter, who roams around the ice-covered north continent,
trying to preserve some state of civilization. The book has a feel of
static scenes that couldn't be pulled together.
--Laurie Sefton
lsefton@sun.com

OtherRealms #16
June, 1987

Copyright 1987
by Chuq Von Rospach.
All Rights Reserved.

One time rights have been acquired from the contributors. All rights are hereby assigned to the contributors

OtherRealms may be reproduced in its entirety only
for non-commercial purposes. With the exception of
excerpts used for promotional purposes, no part of
OtherRealms may be re-published without permission.

Issue 16, June 1987 (part 3)

Electronic OtherRealms #16
June, 1987
Part 3

Words of Wizdom

Reviews by
Chuq Von Rospach

Copyright 1987 by Chuq Von Rospach

God Game, Andrew M. Greeley, Tor

The Grey Horse, R.A. MacAvoy, Bantam

The Sun, The Moon, and the Stars, Steven Brust, Ace

Cardography, Orson Scott Card, Hypatia Press

Sword at Sunset, Rosemary Sutcliff, Tor

The Discovery of King Arthur, Geoffrey Ashe, Henry Holt

Take Off Too!, Randall Garrett, Donning/Starblaze

The Year's Best Science Fiction, Fourth Annual Collection, Gardner Dozois, St. Martin's Press

A long standing debate between authors and the critic/reviewer is the relevance of the book review. Does a good review help sales? Does a bad review hurt? Does it matter?

A review must be written in context to the work itself, a fact many reviewers seem to miss. Reviews where a book is mentioned in passing, or a book is thrashed because the reviewer would have written it different. Abusive reviews, Ghetto reviews ("This isn't bad, for snif Science Fiction"). You cannot forget why you are here -- to help someone find something they will enjoy reading. You don't review Moby Dick as light reading, and you can't take a Conan novel and fit it into the Great Art category.

This is a rather roundabout way of bringing up Andrew M. Greeley. Greeley recently wrote some disparaging, but generally true, things about book reviewers in a Publisher's Weekly editorial, thoughts rather similar to what I've written above. Not surprisingly, the book reviewers of America are outraged, and have been screaming back about relevance and the importance of the book reviewer, never realizing how silly they all sound trying to prove that the review is as important as the work itself.

Greeley, besides twitting off some stuffy critical egos, is an author and a Jesuit Priest in the Chicago area, known for writing things the Vatican wishes he wouldn't. In God Game [Tor books, $4.50], he uses Science Fiction as a way to examine the concept of the Author as God. After all, isn't writing the book the same as creating a Universe? If Author was really given Godhood, could they hack it? And how does that relate to our reality and how God has handled it for us?

Greeley (the character, as this story is written about a writer who is writing about the story) is given a new interactive fiction game by his friend the mad programmer to test. He fires it up, and is working with it when a bolt of lightning strikes his Satellite dish, mucking up the works and tying the computer game into another reality. From then on, the commands given to the game are translated into actions into the alternate universe. We follow Greeley as Greeley (the author) writes about his slow acceptance of the fact that he has become God, and the changes and problems this new responsibility create.

Through all this, Greeley does things that are obviously designed to irritate the upper echelon of the Vatican. Greeley (the character) insists on calling his God Her. One of the societies in the other Universe worships in their underwear, to be closer to their God. But it is always in good fun and never gets in the way of his main story, the search for And They Lived Happily Ever After.

In the hands of many writers, a plot like this would degenerate into a pseudo-metaphysical mess. Greeley, fortunately, is trained in God. He understands the implications of what he is saying, and avoids the traps a more naive writer would fall into.

His main theme seems to be that God isn't perfect, and can't be. God works in real-time, and makes split decisions, and sometimes lives to regret them. But She has a responsibility, and does the best She can.

I enjoyed God Game thoroughly, for the writing as well as the story. There are deep concepts in this book, but they never get in the way of a good story, and Greeley is as good a storyteller as you'll run into. [****+]

People who have read OtherRealms for a while will know that I've been rather critical of R.A. MacAvoy. Anyone who enters the field with a gem like Tea With the Black Dragon is bound to disappoint later, but I've felt there has been a slow, constant decline in the quality of her work, each book a little more shallow and less inviting than the previous. MacAvoy's strength lies in strong people and strong stories with just a hint of the Fantastic, and as she moved away from that to other parts of the field (the heavy Celtic Fantasy of Book of Kells, or the murder mystery of Twisting the Rope) I believe she wrote things she wanted to write but couldn't completely control, and did both herself and her readers a disfavor. So I went into The Grey Horse (Bantam books, $3.95) hoping to enjoy it, but expecting another disappointment. It kept me up until two in the morning.

In the time when Ireland is fighting for independence, we have the story of the romance of Ruari, a prince of the stallions, and Maire, his chosen. Romance it is, as he must find a way to prove himself to her and win her to himself. As he does, as he must. As it was with Tea, the Fantastic elements are subdued and secondary to the history and the romance of the story MacAvoy tells. It is a good book, if not as good as Tea then better than she has done in a long while. Give this one a try. I don't think you'll be disappointed. [****]

The Sun, The Moon, and the Stars (Ace books, $16.95) is the first volume in a series of authors re-telling classic fairy tales. In reality, the Hungarian tale on how the Sun, Moon and Stars were placed in the sky, is less than 40% of the book.

The rest of the book is an introspective view of Artist and Self-Doubt. Greg is part of an artist co-op that has been sharing a studio for three years and going nowhere. The book is the story of this co-op, the struggles, the doubts, the very human problems of having to come to grips with the possibility that maybe, just maybe, you aren't going to succeed. The rent is due, the critics haven't noticed you, neither have the buyers, and maybe you should just throw it all in an get a Real Job, because you aren't doing anyone any favors the way things are.

What Brust is saying about artists is just as true about writers, so it is impossible to read this book without assuming that it is primarily auto- biographical in feeling if not fact. Whether this is true or not, only Brust can say. The truth is, that this book connected with many of my own feelings, and caused me to react very negatively, so it is hard for me to review this book objectively. There are a couple of minor structural flaws -- a major relationship that ought to be pivotal to the book is ignored, and Brust never really ties the fairy tale into the story.

For some folks, I think the book might be a disappointment, if only because it is merely a good Steven Brust work. It is better than many of the books being published, but it isn't as good as Brust is capable of writing. [***-]

Although Orson Scott Card is not well known for his Fantasy, Hypatia Press has come out with a limited edition hardback of his stories. Cardography [183 pages plus foreward and afterword, limited to 825 copies total and 750 signed and numbered] collects five works. Only one ("Porcelain Salamander" from Unaccompanied Sonata) has been previously published in a collection of his works. The others are from works as varied as Swords Against Darkness #4 and Dragons of Darkness, so it is likely that many of you haven't seen most of these works before.

All of the works are wonderful, and I'm hard pressed to choose a favorite. Least typical to me was "Middle Woman," a Chinese parable that really shows off Card's writing abilities in ways you wouldn't expect from someone who primarily writes SF. I'm also very impressed with the quality of the book itself, with truly stunning art, and a loving care put into the production that makes not only the words a work of art, but the vessel that stores them as well. Highly recommended. [****]

It seems that every writer tries to write about King Arthur. In recent years, Arthur has been back in vogue, thanks in large part to the well written and highly successful Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley. The problem with many of them is that they don't really add anything to the mythos -- they are satisfied at rehashing what other others have endlessly rehashed. As a confirmed Arthurian fan, I'm always on the lookout for new and interesting works in this subgenre, and they are few and far between.

For all lovers of Arthur, Tor has reprinted Rosemary Sutcliff's Sword at Sunset (498 pages, $4.50), a classic 1963 work. Unlike T.H. White's Once and Future King and Mary Stewart's Crystal Cave series, both of which explore Arthur as legend and myth, Sword at Sunset brings Arthur down to earth without removing any of the glory or wonder. There is no magic here, no Sword in the Stone, no Camelot or Round Table. What we have is a War King, a supreme ruler attempting to turn back the tides of barbarians in the hope, not of winning, but simply to gain a few more years of civilization. Sutcliff's Arthur is very real, fighting very real battles and dealing with the end of a united England. By stripping the myth from the man, Sutcliff has shown that the man is the myth, and has written what is, to me, one of the three best interpretations of the Arthur legend ever written (the other two being Stewart and Bradley). For Arthur fans, and for everyone else, I can't recommend it highly enough. [*****]

For real Arthur aficionados, a neat book to find is Geoffrey Ashe's The Discovery of King Arthur (Owl Books, 224 pages, $8.95). This is an archaeological and historical expedition into the facts behind the legend. If you assume that there has to be a factual basis for a myth as firmly rooted as Arthur, then Ashe's explanation of who Arthur really was and how the legends propagated is a fascinating blend of history and detective work. [****]

If you read Randall Garrett's wonderful series of satires and pastiches in his collection Takeoff! you should be aware that a companion volume is now available. Takeoff Too! (Donning/Starblaze, 306 pages, $7.95 trade paperback) is a different sort of book than Takeoff! was, but an important addition to the collected works of Garrett. Randall Garrett was stricken with a brain infection in 1979 that left him with permanent memory loss, so this volume was compiled by his wife and collaborator, Vickie Ann Heydron. Its purpose was to try to compile in one place the best of Garrett's humorous works he'd written over the years. It contains 26 works (plus biographical and commentary material by Heydron) spanning the years 1953 to 1978. It is uneven, but when Garrett is good, he's wonderful. My only gripe with the work is the tone that Heydron takes when talking about Garrett, for while he is permanently disabled, he hasn't (as of this writing) died, and her insistence of talking about him in the past tense bothered me. A minor problem in the light of having a single collection of a great (and in my eyes, underrated) author's work. My hope is that this collection is followed by future ones until all of Garrett's work is easily accessible. [***+]

Finally, a quick note on The Year's Best Science Fiction, Fourth Annual Collection, edited by Gardner Dozois (St. Martin's Press, 602 pages, $11.95 trade paperback). This year Gardner seems to have attempted to print the Year's Best by seemingly sticking everything published in 1986. That isn't quite true, but at 27 stories and 250,000 words of fiction, he's covered most of the bases. Only one of the short Nebula winners is missing (Kate Wilhelm's "The Girl Who Fell Into the Sky"), and he's limited himself to a single story by every author, so Lucius Shepard, who could have been represented by three or four stories has only "R&R" published. I won't quibble with his selections on a case by case basis -- what I will say is that this is a very strong collection and well worth grabbing to take a look at the stories that you might have missed in some of the magazines you don't normally read. [****]

Strut Your Stuff

Reviews by
Alan Wexelblat
wex@mcc.com

Copyright 1987 by Alan Wexelblat

Teckla, Steven Brust, Ace Fantasy

Drinker of Souls, Jo Clayton, Daw Fantasy

Beyond the Dar Al-Harb, Gordon Dickson, Tor Fantasy

AEgypt, John Crowley, Bantam Books

There is a real correlation between creative writing and performance arts such as theater. In both cases, a cast of characters is brought forth to perform upon a stage of some kind. In the theater, the stage is a physical one; in writing, the stage is an environment -- either real or fictional. There are other parallels, of course, but what is interesting is the one major difference.

In theater, the production put on for the audience is inevitably a team effort. The characters are created and given dialogue by an author, but it is the actor who makes the character live. This is done on a stage, under lights, in costumes all of which are designed and built by groups of people. Directors and producers are often as well-known as the actors but they, too, work with a team of assistants, stage managers, crew people, and so forth.

In a novel, however, all these roles must be played by the author. One person takes on an enormous task and the result is very much a tour de force of the writer's talents. If the author is good, the novel will be good; if not, there is no one else to blame. In a way not possible in theater, novels allow authors to strut their stuff.

Of course, editors, publishers and so forth affect the success of a novel in many ways. In a future column I will review some books that I think suffer for reasons that are not the author's fault. This month, however, I will consider four books which show authors strutting their stuff with varying degrees of success.

Steven Brust is, without a doubt, one of the best authors in the business of writing Science-Fantasy today. He has a knack for characters that most others lack; the people in his stories come alive within the space of a few well-chosen phrases. The characters grow and develop, and in his stories even the minor players have life. He also has a knack for description; he seems to know instinctively what to spell out and what to omit. This makes for some fascinating reading.

Teckla [Ace Fantasy $2.95, 214pp.] is indeed a fascinating book. I devoured it in the course of a long afternoon, stopping only to change planes in Denver and LA. But when I was done, I was left feeling vaguely unhappy.

Teckla is the third story in the tale of Vlad Taltos and Cawti, professional assassins of the house of Jhereg. Readers not familiar with this series should pick up its predecessors Jhereg and Yendi before attempting this book. Although Brust tries to make the story of Teckla stand on its own, there is too much background that is needed.

Unlike the first two stories in the tale, Teckla is not a simple adventure story. Instead, it is a philosophically-oriented story, in much the same style as Brust's To Reign in Hell. It tells the story of the revolt of the Easterners and how Vlad and Cawti end up on opposite sides of the revolution.

This dose of philosophy mixed in with the adventure was not what left me unhappy. While the perceptive reader may spot the shadows of Marx and Lenin in the speeches of the Eastern leader, Kelley, these shadows do not impede the story. Brust's characters are easily strong enough to carry off this clash of Communist and Libertarian ethics.

What caused my unhappiness was the ending. Both Jhereg and Yendi came to definite ends. But Teckla does not. Its end is like a cease-fire in a war zone or an intermission in a play. You know instantly that it is not a resolution; rather, it is a brief respite before the action continues.

And it didn't have to be that way. In fact, Brust organizes the story along lines that lead the reader to believe exactly the opposite. It will not spoil the story any to say that Brust opens with a letter from Vlad to his laundry/tailor, giving a list of repairs and cleanings to be done. The chapters of the novel are each headed by an item from that list and the action of the chapter shows how the item came to be on the list.

So why, then the list is done, is the story not done? I don't know; I can only wait for the curtain to go up on the next act. [****-]

While waiting, Jo Clayton's Drinker of Souls [Daw Fantasy $3.50, 335pp.] is poor intermission fare. It's the same story she's been telling for nine or ten books now: Woman with Special Powers crosses Strange World in pursuit of Objective. Ho Hum. If you put Brann -- the protagonist of Drinker of Souls -- next to Aleytys -- the protagonist of the Diadem series -- in front of me, I couldn't tell the two apart. For those who haven't bought the Diadem series, I recommend buying Drinker of Souls instead. For those who have read any other Clayton book, skip this one. [**+]

On the other hand, Gordon Dickson provides a very interesting interlude in Beyond the Dar Al-Harb [Tor Fantasy, $3.50, 253pp.] This work is an unusual collection of three of the author's short stories. The title story provides a fascinating glimpse of an alien culture. Not on another planet, but here on Earth.

These days it is easy to find shelves full of Western-European and Celtic Fantasy; even the Chinese and Japanese mythoi are beginning to see some exposure. Never one to follow the pack, Dickson instead takes us to the dark and mysterious world of Crusades-era Arabia. He gives us a tale of an exiled Scots prince, Jami al-Kafir (Jamie the Heretic), and the revenge he takes on an old Bedouin enemy. The culture of the Moslem world is alien to what we are used to, and Dickson uses this to great effect. The reader is given just the right amount of background to savor the tale. The simple themes of lust, hunger for power, and revenge are spun into an engrossing story.

The second story in the book, "On Messenger Mountain," is a 1964 work. Still, it provides a refreshing angle on the old SF theme of "first contact." It is also well-written; Dickson's protagonist is easily to dislike, but we are eased into his thoughts so smoothly that we forget our initial reactions.

The story here is also quite simple: a battle between an alien and Earth ship causes both to crash on an inhospitable world. The race is quickly on between the survivors of each ship to reach the top of a mountain from which a rescue rocket can be launched. The aliens are shape-shifters armed with awesome natural weapons -- teeth and claws. They seem murderous and unstoppable, but are they really?

The final story is called "Things Which are Caesar's". It is a straightforward psychological tale, dealing with one of my favorite themes: what would happen if Jesus reappeared? What if God came down to Earth and performed a miracle for all to see, something that no one could doubt, like stopping the Earth? What would happen to people who experienced this Sign? What about people who do not believe in God? Dickson's answer may surprise some readers; it surprised me.

As with the previous two stories, the characters are finely drawn and the ideas in the story are fascinating. The plotting is tense and even though I was surprised, none of it seemed unreasonable. Taken as a whole, I was quite pleased by the book. It is truly a tour de force of Dickson's talents. [****]

Once in a very great while, an author makes a reviewer feel justified. When I reviewed John Crowley's Little, Big in these pages, I got indignant messages from readers. They wanted to know why I had rated the book as five-stars-minus. The book did win the World Fantasy Award and I did use the word "masterpiece." So why, I was asked, did I give it a minus?

My answer usually did not satisfy these questioners; I replied that I thought he could do better. Now, having read AEgypt [Bantam Books, $17.95, 390pp.], I feel justified. This work is better than Little, Big and I have no hesitation about giving it a full five stars.

What's better about it is hard to define. The plot is, if anything, even more tenuous than its predecessor's. It is not, in any strict sense of the word, Fantasy. Therefore, it may be harder for many readers to relate to. The thing that separates AEgypt seems to be the writer's level of experience, which has increased with age.

Crowley's writing style has always been dense, ornate and articulate. He uses words that are unfamiliar to casual readers and puts them together in sentences that are forty, fifty or even seventy words long. This creates a style that requires an enormous talent to master and to pull off properly. In early works, such as Beasts, Crowley seemed not to be in control of his own writing. In Little, Big he came very close to putting it all together. And in AEgypt he has finally matured into his style.

AEgypt is a joy to read. The flow of the words catches you up and transports you into the story. I carefully rationed the book, allowing myself no more than one or two chapters a night. In the end I gave in, though, reading the last hundred pages in one sitting.

When I review Crowley, I spend most of my time talking about his style, his ability to put together incredibly beautiful writing. I have also mentioned his incredible skill at description, at setting moods, and at building characters. Yet for the most part I avoid talking about his plots. These are as hard to describe as smoke is to grab. The more words I throw at them the more elusive they seem.

On the surface, AEgypt 's plot is maddeningly simple: it is the story of a history professor's search for himself, set against the backdrop of the Eastern US during the late sixties and early seventies. But there is so much more going on behind the scenes.

Stop for a moment and think: Why do people believe gypsies can tell fortunes? It doesn't matter whether they can or not; why do people think they can? And what if there was more than one history of the world? What if when Dante wrote about Heaven and Hell there really were crystal spheres in the heavens and there really was a Pit and a Satan and all the other things he wrote about? And what if history didn't simply flow the way we ordinarily experience Time? What if it changed suddenly in a quantum way so that things that were once true of history were suddenly no longer true?

And lastly, what if there was a place called AEgypt that was much like ancient Egypt and only existed in one history but might exist again in the history of that young college professor in those turbulent times?

Read the book carefully, and maybe you'll find out. [*****]

Terry Carr (1937 - 1987)
An Appreciation

Terry Carr is dead. The facts are pretty straight forward. Born February 19, 1937, died April 7, 1987 of congestive heart failure as a complication of diabetes. Terry won three Hugos: in 1959 for best fanzine for Fanac; in 1973 best fan writer; and 1985 for best professional editor -- the only non- magazine editor to win this award. He was an occasional novelist with Warlord of Kor (1963), Cirque (1979), and short story writer, The Dance of the Changer and the Three (1968, Hugo and Nebula nominee). He was best known, however, for his editing -- he edited the classic Ace Double series as well as the recent Ace Discovery series, the highly acclaimed Universe original anthology series and the Best SF of the Year anthology series.

What the facts don't say is how important Terry Carr was to Science Fiction. In his first stint as an editor at Ace, he published such works as Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. LeGuin and Right of Passage by Alexei Panshin. For his second round of Ace Specials, specifically aimed at first novels, he published Neuromancer by William Gibson, The Wild Shore by Kim Stanley Robinson, and Green Eyes by Lucius Shepard -- three of the brightest stars of the 1980's. He was one of the few people who actively shaped Science Fiction with their own internal view. John W. Campbell brought the magazines out of the pulps; Judy-Lynn Del Rey brought the genre a commercial viability and acceptance, and Terry Carr brought it quality, a sense of worth, and the new ideas that shaped and expanded the genre. His editing abilities were tuned to the next wave, the next barrier for the field to tumble, was was always in front leading the way. His Universe series of anthologies was generally considered the most innovative and important professional market available.

The writers and magazine editors tend to get most of the publicity and credit, but it is people like Terry Carr who make the work accessible to the public and can see a new trend before it happens. Terry Carr's life was Science Fiction, and to a great degree Science Fiction today is the vision that Terry Carr had. Like the loss of Judy-Lynn Del Rey, Terry's death leaves a vast hole in the fabric of the genre -- a far seer is gone, and they are born, not built. Most editors publish SF, Carr molded it.

Carr is survived by his wife Carol. His professional commitments are being taken over by Robert Silverberg, and there will be a Universe 17 and a Year's Best Science Fiction 15. For those in the San Francisco Bay area, there will be a memorial service on Saturday, May 30, from 1PM to 5PM.

He will be missed. He already is.

-- chuq von rospach

One of Science Fiction's least flamboyant and most talented editors is dead. I knew Terry Carr mainly as an editor; I'm told he was very active in fandom early on, and I don't doubt it, and a good short-fiction writer. That I don't doubt either. But what I can confirm was that he was one of the best editors in this field. Not content to simply buy what the rest of the pack was buying, Terry set different standards, standards evident in the well- regarded Universe anthology series and the first and second series of Ace Specials. Much like Ed Ferman has done with The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, Terry made writers have to stretch their abilities for his anthologies and novels. He also was one of the most personable people in the field. At conventions, his low-key, dry humor enlivened many panels. He knew how to make a few words say a lot. And when he spoke with you, it was as equal- to-equal, no matter what your standing in the field. Did I know Terry Carr well enough to call him a close friend? No. But anyone who knew him knows he was a friend of Science Fiction's, a friend who worked to make the field stronger, richer and more diverse.

-- Frank Catalano

We've lost another book editor.

A lot, maybe not enough, has been said of the debt SF owes to Judy-Lynn Del Rey. If SF as a commercial genre is a ghetto, "those books on the rack in the back," then Del Rey did more than anyone else to get us recognized by the mainstream. She made a place for SF novels to be commercial successes without (necessarily) giving up literary merit.

At about the same time, thanks perhaps to Star Wars and other SF media phenomena, a rush of non-SF readers started rushing to the rack in the back. They were looking for fun trash, and soon enough, they found lots of it. I don't know that there was any less non-trash on the rack, but there sure was a lot of trash.

Terry Carr had yet a third influence. With his Universe annual anthology of original short SF, and his revival of the Ace Special line, he kept alive the dream that enjoyable, accessible SF could be literate. A lot of the newest "New Wave," notably Kim Stanley Robinson and William Gibson, wouldn't have been recognized as soon or as extensively without Carr. Carr was to '80s SF what Analog's Bova was to '70s SF, and what Campbell was for years before that: the cultivator of new talent. But Campbell and Bova were magazine editors. Carr's medium was books, and he used them as a showcase for SF of all lengths.

Terry Carr made a place for SF with literary merit that didn't have to give up the chance of commercial success. He didn't make or find the gems we've read, but he polished and set them. I'll miss the jeweler of the rack in the back.

-- Paul S. R. Chisholm psc@lznv.att.com

Letters to OtherRealms

Chuq,

A few words on your rating system. There are several very good reasons why ratings are compressed into the 3-5 star range. Let us assume that are books published with a full gaussian distribution of 0-5 stars. Having only limited amount of time (and money) to spend reading, I try to only buy books that I will like (4-5 stars). I'm fairly successful at it, I mostly buy books from authors that I know that I like, what other people recommend, plus the occasional book that looks interesting. Since I recognize most of the 0-2 star books on sight, why bother to buy them? I don't need the aggravation of wading through the latest "Gor" book. I also read more books than I review (I simply don't have much interesting to say about many books other than I like/disliked them). I find I'm far more interested in writing reviews of books that I liked than books that were only OK. There is the public service value, however, of warning people away from real dogs. Self-selection in both buying and reviewing books conspire to leave 0-2 star books unreviewed.

John Wenn wenn@gandalf.cs.cmu.edu

Chuq,

While it's nice to see that you're getting more material of an original nature, i.e. art, I'm disappointed that you want to shrink the Pico Review section of OtherRealms. Frankly, I've been thinking that the individual Pico Reviews are getting quite a bit too long, but I don't think that there are too many books getting reviewed.

In other words, if you have to shrink the space available for Pico Reviews, please do it by encouraging and editing shorter reviews.

JJ ihnp4!icarus!jj

[[I'm shrinking Pico Review space for a number of reasons. One, I'm not getting as many as I used to -- this could be cyclic of course. I can't print what I don't have, as many an editor has bemoaned.

More importantly, though, I'm unhappy with the Pico Review format, and the utility of them. There are too many reviews from too many people, and there is little consistency in the ratings from review to review. This significantly reduces their utility to most people. And I don't really believe there is enough information in a Pico Review for someone to make a reasonable buying decision, unless they have dealt with an individual reviewer enough to make a judgement on the reviewer -- and since few of the Pico Review reviewers review for me at length as well, that is tough.

I'm looking at ways of changing the PR format to make it more useful. Perhaps modifying the length limit and sorting them by reviewer first insteadof title, so that you can find the reviews of a given person more easily. I don't know, though.

I think short reviews are useful, but I'm not sure the Pico Review format is really the best format I could use for them. We'll see.

chuq]]

OtherRealms Reviewing the worlds of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror.

Editor & Publisher
Chuq Von Rospach

Associate Editor
Laurie Sefton

Contributing Editors
Dan'l Danehy-Oakes
Jim Brunet
Alan Wexelblat

OtherRealms #16
June, 1987

Copyright 1987 by Chuq Von Rospach.
All Rights Reserved.

One time rights have been acquired from the contributors. All rights are hereby assigned to the contributors.

OtherRealms may be reproduced in its only for non-commercial purposes. No article may be reprinted without the express permission of the author.

OtherRealms is published monthly, through July, the quarterly by:

Chuq Von Rospach
35111-F Newark Blvd.
Suite 255
Newark, CA. 94560

Usenet: chuq@sun.COM Delphi: CHUQ

Review copies should be sent to this address for consideration.

Subscriptions

OtherRealms is available for the usual bribes & trades: a copy of your zine, submissions, letters, comments, artwork or because I want you to see it.

People who don't like to write can still get OtherRealms for money: $2.50 for a single issue, or $8.50 for four issues. Folks in the publishing industry can qualify for a free subscription. Just ask.

OtherRealms is available at Future Fantasy bookstore, Palo Alto, California. Stores interested in OtherRealms should contact me.

Electronic OtherRealms

An electronic, text-only version of OtherRealms is available on a number of different computer networks and bulletin board systems. On the Arpanet, Bitnet, CSNet, and UUCP networks, send E-mail to chuq@sun.COM to subscribe. On USENET, OtherRealms is distributed in the group rec.mag.otherrealms.

It is also available on the Delphi timesharing service and a number of Bulletin Board systems across the country.

Submissions

OtherRealms publishes articles about Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror. The primary focus is reviews of books that otherwise might be missed in the deluge of new titles published every year, but the magazine is open to anything involving books.

Authors are welcome to submit articles for the Behind the Scenes feature section, where you want to talk about the research and background that went into your book.

I'm also interested in author interviews. Interview yourself, and finally get to that question you've always wanted to be asked. Any thing of interest to the reader of book-length fiction is welcome at OtherRealms. We don't cover shorter lengths, media, or fannish news.

I NEED ART. Lots and lots of art. Especially small filler art for those little white spaces and cover art. I am also desperate for a few good pieces of cover art. The covers for my Westercon and Worldcon issues are still not filled (as are almost all the other issues, for that matter). Cartoons. Genre art. Anything! Help me make OtherRealms more fun to read!

Book Ratings in OtherRealms

All books are rated with the following guidelines. Most books receive
[***]. Ratings may be modified a half step with a + or a -, so [***-]
is somewhat better than [**+]

[*****] One of the best books of the year
[****] A very good book -- above average
[***] A good book
[**] Flawed, but has its moments
[*] Not recommended
[] Avoid at all costs