From: utzoo!decvax!ucbvax!sf-lovers Newsgroups: fa.sf-lovers Title: SF-LOVERS Digest V6 #9 Article-I.D.: ucbvax.7967 Posted: Fri Jul 9 10:12:22 1982 Received: Sun Jul 11 02:25:08 1982 >From JPM@Mit-Ai Fri Jul 9 10:05:53 1982 SF-LOVERS Digest Friday, 9 Jul 1982 Volume 6 : Issue 9 Today's Topics: SF Art - Edd Cartier Query, SF Books - Ellison Query Answered & Juxtaposition & Merchanter's Luck & The Identity Matrix & Voyage from Yesteryear & Crystal Singer, SF Topics - Hard SF & Brain Use, SF TV - HHGttG, SF Movies - Revenues & Wolfen, Humor - Genderless Video Games ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: 2 July 1982 20:12 edt From: Boebert.SCOMP at MIT-MULTICS Subject: Whatever happened to Edd Cartier... ...who drew all those neat aliens in the 50's? And is his stuff collected anywhere? My kid came across a couple of his drawings in an old book of mine and wants more. Earl ------------------------------ Date: 8 July 1982 20:35-EDT From: Charles F. Von RospachSubject: Query I THINK they are out of print. If anyone in the Bay area has them, The Other Change of Hobbit ((415) 848-0413) should somewhere in their used books. You might want to give them a call and see (they are in Berkeley). chuck ------------------------------ Date: Tue Jun 29 09:17:51 1982 From: npois!harpo!floyd!vax135!lime!houca!houxi!houxo!bdt at Berkeley Subject: Juxtaposition Piers Anthony came out with the third book in the Split Infinity trio. It is called Juxtaposition. It is the last book in Stile's adventures. The book was excellent if you like the series and okay if you don't. Bonnie Topf, HO 4f-514 system orange ------------------------------ Date: 7 Jul 1982 0416-PDT From: Barry Eynon Subject: Book reviews Some authors I pick up with no other information than their name. I just got through the latest stack from the bookstore, thought I'd pass on my reactions. "Merchanter's Luck", by C.J.Cherryh (DAW). *** As can be told from the subtitle ("Rendezvous at Downbelow Station"), this book is set in sequence with her excellent novel "Downbelow Station", though one could hardly call it a sequel. Set about 5 years after the action of the former novel,it tells a story of two of the merchant families operating in those times. While generally a good read ( what by Ms Cherryh isn't?), it definitely lacks the scope of DS, and also the marvelous explorations of non-human societies which are characteristic of the author's other works. Perhaps we're going to see more stories set in this universe ( is it possible "Pride of Chanur" is the same universe? Imagine the fireworks between Pyanfar and Signy Mallory...), I'll be interested to see what she does with it. "The Identity Matrix", by Jack L. Chalker (Timescape). ** Chalker seems to have a thing about body switching. Add to that the usual dose of spy/intrigue action, and you've got a pretty similar Chalker novel to several he's already written. About the only new twists are that it's set on Earth, and Earth is being invaded by not one, but two body-switching, mind-controlling alien races. Eh. I'll be happier when he gets back into larger themes, like Well World or Worlds of the Diamond. "Voyage from Yesteryear", by James P. Hogan (Ballantine).**** A pleasant surprize. First, I was surprised that this was NOT a time-travel novel, as I guessed from the author's previous work and the title. What it is, is a well-told version of the utopian idea of what a great world it would be if a generation of kids got to grow up without getting their parents preconceptions and bad influences. This happens on Chiron, a planet of Alpha Centauri,when a survey ship is sent off with only genetic codes and some robots as an ark against an apparent oncoming war on Earth. Eventually the survivors of the war get around to checking up on the colony, and arrive in a generation ship, intent on imposing Earth-normal standards and ways. Of course the colonists have different ideas... Hogan is definitely getting to be a better author with increasing experience. In addition to the expected hard-sf background (including a pretty slick theory of sub-sub-sub atomic particles and the origin of the universe that almost seems to make sense - any physicists care to comment?), there are interesting, well-defined characters , a good plot, and some intriguing social speculations. Probably the best thing Hogan has written. Well, back to the bookstands.. -Barry Eynon ------------------------------ Date: 8 Jul 1982 11:02:24-EDT From: csin!cjh at CCA-UNIX Subject: CRYSTAL SINGER in fact was written a long time after "Weyr Search". It's one of the last (and one of the few worthwhile) results of the Elwood intrusion of the mid-70's; he asked a batch of authors to write four connected stories, and published one from each author in each of CONTINUUM 1-4. Considering that it was an Elwood idea \and/ a gimmick (would you buy a magazine that consisted only of the third of four parts of a half-dozen serials?) it's surprising that anything even as good as CRYSTAL SINGER came out of it. By the way, has anyone else seen the revolting advertising campaign for CS? In 48-point type it calls McCaffrey "Science Fiction's Sweetheart". AAUUGGHH! ------------------------------ Date: 6 Jul 1982 1938-CDT From: CS.EMERSON at UTEXAS-20 Subject: Voyage From Yesteryear I just read James P Hogan's /Voyage From Yesteryear/. I will paraphrase the cover blurb: Prior to a major nuclear war on Earth, a colonization probe is sent to Alpha Centauri. The colony thrives. Fifty or so years later, after the war earth recovers and sends another expedition to A. Centauri to re-assert Earth's dominion over the colony. Of course, the colonists (who have developed a utopian, read that anarchistic, society) see things differently... If you enjoyed Hogan's earlier works such as /Inherit the Stars/ you will probably like this one as well. I thought it was quite good. My principle criticism is that it was a little too didactic, i.e. laden with pop sociology and political theory. But since I happen to agree with Hogan's ideas (for the most part), it wasn't overly offensive. Read as sort of a thriller or adventure story, this novel is very satisfactory escape reading. ------------------------------ Date: 8 Jul 1982 15:01:41 EDT (Thursday) From: Ben Littauer Subject: Hogan & hard sf Re: SFL V6 #7 I second Dwight Bartholemew's recommendation of Hogan's "Voyage from Yesteryear". I, too, found it quite enjoyable, although I do not rank it as any kind of masterpiece. I think that Hogan's work has been progressing consistently from good, but rather dry, hard science fiction with very little drama, to much more exciting, good, hard sf. I agree that the utopian society that Hogan creates is more believable than many, and I also appreciated that he didn't bludgeon us with political propaganda extolling the virtues of the society, but let it speak for itself, unlike, say, Smith in "The Probability Broach". "So I read all of Clarke, Asimov, Sheffield, Clement, Hogan and Dragon's Egg (the only thing I have seen by Forward). I then read Niven and Hoyle and ... now where do I go?? " Laura Creighton If people do have advice for someone with this problem (me, for another example) please, Please, PLEASE, send it to SFL immediately. Another name I can mention (as I have before) is Donald Moffitt, who's written only one book, to my knowledge, i.e. "The Jupiter Theft". This one IS some kind of masterpiece, and I only wish that Moffitt would write more. -ben- ------------------------------ Date: 8-Jul-82 2:28:35 PDT (Thursday) From: jackson at PARC-MAXC Subject: Re: 6% of brain. Maybe after i see a coherent explanation of how memory and reasoning work i will believe that we can start talking about the efficiency of the process. Until then, all statements of the form "An average person only uses X% of their brain" get parsed as noise. stephen ------------------------------ Date: Thu Jul 8 13:28:27 1982 From: decvax!watmath!bstempleton at Berkeley Subject: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, TV version from England I have heard a rumor that some episodes of this will be shown on public television this weekend, Friday and Saturday nights. Check you listings HHG fans! ------------------------------ Date: 7 July 1982 18:30 mst From: Harvey.Multics at PCO-MULTICS Reply-to: "Harvey.Multics@PCO-Multics" at MIT-MULTICS Subject: ABC version of Hitchhiker's Guide I just talked to a friend from LA. Her boyfriend tried out for a part in the series. The latest word is that the effort has been canceled. More info will be coming if there is more to get... ------------------------------ Date: 8 Jul 1982 1404-PDT From: Robert Amsler Subject: 50 Top-Grossing Films (week ending June 23) (source: Variety) Ranks: Last-week =>This week Film Name (Rank Change + = up 1, - = down 1) Total to Date Weeks on Chart 1 => 1. E T - The Extra-Terrestrial $11,688,128 (2 weeks) 3 => 2. Rocky II (+) $19,014,725 (4 weeks) 2 => 3. Star Trek II-Wrath of Kahn (-) $12,322,620 (3 weeks) 4 => 4. Poltergeist $ 9,574,672 (3 weeks) 5. Firefox $ 2,492,300 (1 week ) 12=> 6. Annie (++++++) $ 3,867,932 (5 weeks) 5 => 7. Grease 2 (--) $ 2,222,507 (2 weeks) 8. Author Author $ 843,650 (1 week ) 16=> 9. Bambi (+++++++) $ 2,949,081 (13 weeks) 7 =>10. Porky's (---) $17,398,969 (14 weeks) ------------------------------ Date: 6 July 1982 21:18-EDT From: Charles F. Von Rospach Subject: wolfen (probable spoiler) movie: Wolfen Pico-review: feh General review: Wolfen could have been a lot of things. Unfortunately for the movie, it never quite decided what it should be. It could have been a good detective story. It could have been a good SF film, a good horror film, or a good social commentary film. What it is is a 'Nightstalker' clone. Kolchak and Co. could have done it much better. There are two major problems to the story. First, they took a reasonably good 'Nightstalker' story and stretched it to almost 2 hours. There was enough material for a good 60 minute (with commercials) script, but not the whole thing. Second, there is very little continuity. I was continually losing track of time in the movie. It was night outside, there was sun streaming through windows, it was day outside, it was night outside, almost seemingly at random. Add to this the problem of 'wolf vision'. This was an interesting effect in which the camera takes the viewpoint of the animal stalking the city (I don't think it would be a spoiler to call it a wolf). From this viewpoint, things become monochrome, although at times they also become multi-colored in simulated infrared; it seems that wolves see in black and white unless it is more dramatic to look at their victims blood coursing through their veins. When in 'wolf vision', sound is also distorted to simulate what wolves actually hear. This makes any dialog said during 'wolf vision' unintelligible. An added problem of 'wolf vision' is that wolves are constantly swinging their heads from side to side, causing motion sickness for the audience. Trying to give the audience the viewpoint of the wolves was a great idea, but it was an effect that was terribly overused, and in the end the effect was boring, disorienting, and irritating. There are 'interesting' sub-plots: Navajo 'shape-shifter' indians (are these wolves live? or just in your mind?); politicians looking for terrorists; the inevitable sex scene (seen through wolves eyes, no less *sigh*); and all sorts of other inane twists that show up and go nowhere. If all this wasn't enough, the ending is one of the best endings I have seen since 'The incredible shrinking man'. Without giving away too much, the wolves and the detective smoke a peace pipe (what about the rest of the city?), and as the police burst through the door, they disappear. not leave, disappear. were they ever there? (see 'shape-shifter', above). there is a fair amount of mumbo-jumbo about hunter, hunted, ruling the earth, and who are the really intelligent beings on the planet. End of movie. Leaving intelligent wolves to continue eating people in peace forever (remember, he smoked the peace pipe). All in all, when I wasn't bored, I was disappointed. The movie came rather heavily recommended, and I can't see why. Rating: mediocre. Stay up and watch 'Nightstalker' instead. chuck (chuqui@mit-mc) ------------------------------ Date: 8 Jul 1982 1713-PDT Subject: Humorless video gender From: Mike Leavitt What do you call the degree for someone who has successfully completed the first four screens of PACMAN? The Paccalaureate? ------------------------------ End of SF-LOVERS Digest ***********************