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Spider Robinson, MINDKILLER, and a Question [message #113007] Mon, 16 September 2013 13:57
norm is currently offline  norm
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Message-ID: <2454@umcp-cs.UUCP>
Date: Sat, 12-Jan-85 21:30:13 EST
Article-I.D.: umcp-cs.2454
Posted: Sat Jan 12 21:30:13 1985
Date-Received: Mon, 14-Jan-85 04:16:43 EST
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Organization: U of Maryland, Computer Science Dept., College Park, MD
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I showed the SF-LOVERS correspondence about MINDKILLER to my author
wife.  She felt strongly about the discussion and generated the
following response for me to share with you.

                    Norman Glick

     I am jumping into your discussion of Spider Robinson with both
feet!  The controversy interested me since I am a professional
writer. (Some of my books are kids' adventure science fiction
novels, one of which--MINDBENDERS, Scholastic, 1984--is about mind
control.)
     As a teenager, my primary reading interest was SF.  I'm not
into the field so heavily now, although my teenage daughter is.
Several months ago she recommended Spider Robinson to me.  But it
was the ARPANET correspondence that finally tempted me to buy
MINDKILLER.
     I agree that there is a lot of good stuff in the book.
Robinson creates characters that I care about a lot--particularly
Joe and Karen.  He also has some wonderful imagery--which always
adds to my enjoyment of a book.  As for the Heinlein comparison, I
will go on record as saying that I was a rabid Heinlein fan until he
lost his self-discipline--in the middle of THE MOON IS A HARSH
MISTRESS, I think.  After that, there are simply too many words.
(No, it's not like AMADEUS where Mozart is accused of having too
many musical notes!)
     I read a recent interview with Heinlein in the "Washington
Post" in which he proudly pointed out that his contracts no longer
allow any editing of his stuff.  He said something like "If I have a
comma in the middle of a word, they have to leave it."
Unfortunately, he'd probably be better off if he did allow someone
to cut through the excess verbiage.  One of my basic thoughts about
writing is that as soon as you have the freedom to do WHATEVER YOU
WANT, you're not producing your best stuff.
     Robinson has the nice, tight style of the old master.  He also
writes sex scenes that Heinlein never could.  (I have been struck by
the fact that maybe only Heinlein could write a boring orgy.)  The
bondage scene in MINDKILLER is a turn-on--but Robinson takes it a
wonderful step farther by exploiting the humor of what happens.
     However, I found one aspect of MINDKILLER seriously
disappointing.  (I have a problem in talking about it without
spoiling the end of the book for others who may want to read it.  So
I hope you will pardon me if I become a bit oblique.)  Because of
the premise Robinson sets up, the plot resolution simply CAN'T be
intrinsically satisfying.  Think about why the end of THE PUPPET
MASTERS is so fulfilling.  Robinson has set up a situation where the
reader can't get that kind of vicarious kick.  For the book to have
really worked on that level, I think Joe and Karen would have had to
have found the "mindkiller" earlier.  With that out of the way, they
could have gone on to confront some other substantial threat
(integral to the story)--so that the reader could feel satisfied at
the end.  Robinson apparently had some worries about the ending
since he brings in another villain at the last minute--but he's not
important enough to the story.  (And the threat he represents
doesn't occupy enough space.)  When I finished the book, I felt let
down-- despite the warm fuzzies in the last paragraph. (One more
complaint about the satisfaction delivered by the ending-- and I
would be curious to know whether this represents a difference
between male and female readers. I would have liked to have found
out how Joe and Karen worked out their personal relationship--rather
than just being left to assume that they did.)
     I wonder if others had the same reactions.  Of course, if
Robinson hadn't written an engaging and provocative story, I
wouldn't be talking about any of this at all-- because I would have
put it down long before I got to the end.
     Let me add that in the middle of going through this careful
analysis of MINDKILLER, I was struck with an interesting irony.
("God is an iron.")  In one of my own books, DOOMSTALKER, which is
part of Scholastic's MICRO ADVENTURE series of fast-paced kids'
adventure stories with computer activities, I think I set myself up
with a similar structural predicament, although I do provide a
strong alternate set of villains.  I hadn't even realized the
problem until I thought about MINDKILLER.

                         Ruth Glick
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