Message-ID: <124@stolaf.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 8-Jan-85 16:38:55 EST
Article-I.D.: stolaf.124
Posted: Tue Jan 8 16:38:55 1985
Date-Received: Wed, 9-Jan-85 05:21:47 EST
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Organization: St. Olaf College, Northfield MN
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> By the way, does anyone have any other information on him [Somtow Sucharitkul]
> , other than
> what else he's written? (i.e. who is he? where did he come from? is he
> actually a "he"? or?)
I've read _Mallworld_, _The_Aquiliad_ (sp?), _Starship_and_Haiku_, and the first
two books of the inquestor trilogy, _Light_On_the_Sound_ and _The_Throne_of_
_Madness_. He's also written a short story collection about the inquest and a
mainstream novel, _Vampire_Junction_, under the name S. P. Somtow.
The first two are written with Sucharitkul's bizarre sense of humor. Mallword
is about an audit of the human race taken by a governing race of aliens, with
samples of human life taken from a planet which is a huge shopping mall.
_Mallworld_ and ...Thanks_for_all_the_fish_ are the two books I've read most
recently, and I liked _Mallworld_ better. So, for humorous sf, read Mallworld.
_The_Aquiliad_ is about an alternate universe where the Roman empire does
not fall, but discovers the New World. It's not quite so funny, but it has
its moments -- for instance, the names of Roman sf authors. (I'm a fan of
P.J Agricola.)
_Starship_and_Haiku_ is a strange piece of serious sf. It takes place after
a nuclear war, and Japan is the only country that survived more or less intact,
although the culture has become more traditional. It stuck me as realy
strange while I was reading it, but it's still a good book.
Finally, the Inquestor trilogy. This is his best work. Included are a
game of power and wars, sentinent stars, whale-like intelligent beings which
sing songs of light, and utopias both false and true. The Inquestor's job is
the investigation of utiopias, and their destruction, since utopias ALWAYS have
a flaw. There is, however, a flawless utopia. Inquestors who have visited
this utopia are working for the overthrow of the inquest. That's only a basic
explanation of the plot -- there's quite a bit more to these amazing books.
There is also a book of inquest short stories, published by a different
publisher, which I have not read. The third book of the trilogy is due this
spring. The Inquestor trilogy is truly great writing, and necessary reading.
Some biography -- he is indeed male. I'm not sure of his country of origin
or ancestery . Sucharitkul is a composer as well as a writer -- as is fairly
evident from his books. He is currently writing an opera with Gene Wolfe.
For a picture of Sucharitkul, and a short, strange article by him, see
_The_Faces_of_Science_Fiction_ by Patti Perret. This recent book has pictures
of just about everyone in sf. It's good, despite a tendency to pose authors
with computers, Rubic's cubes, and airbrushed pictures of planets. My personal
favorite is one of Thomas Disch reflected in his toaster, with a poem by him.
Has anyone out there read _Vampire_Junction_ or Disch's _The_Businessman_
or Wolfe's _Love_Free_Love? (do I have that last turned inside out?)
I'd like to hear about them.
Sorry if all this is more (or less) than you wanted...
Laurence Roberts
ihnp4!stolaf!robertsl
P.S. The original request for this came from ARPAnet, and I'm not quite sure
how to get this there... so could someone please help out? Thanks.
"Ifrit first you don't succeed, fly, fly a djinn."
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