Book Review: Joshua, Son of None

Book Review: 'Joshua, Son of None' by Nancy Freedman

2 / 5 Stars

'Joshua, Son of None' first was published in 1973 in hardback; this Dell paperback (237 pp) was published in August, 1974.

The book's main premise is laid out on the first page, so it's not spoiling anything to say that it involves the cloning of President John Fitzgerald Kennedy.

'Joshua' starts its narrative in the afternoon of November 22, 1963. Thor Bitterbaum is a young resident at Dallas's Parkland Hospital; just as he is departing his shift, a Lincoln convertible veers into the hospital's emergency room driveway.....its back seat a 'slaughterhouse'. Bitterbaum is recruited to administer emergency care to the dying President. He quickly realizes that Kennedy is beyond saving, and the unique promise that JFK held for the future of America, and the future of the entire World, is Gone. 

Then an idea forms in Thor Bitterbaum's traumatized mind: can recent research into cell biology and embryology be leveraged for a holy and righteous cause......the cloning of JFK ?

Bitterbaum covertly samples some tissue from the dying man's tracheotomy, flash-freezes the sample, and places it in storage......and then sets off a momentous task to find a man with the wealth, vision, and willingness to fund the cloning.

After careful deliberation, Thor BItterbaum finds a patron, the magnate Gerald Kellogg. With the aid of a surrogate mother, the infant - christened Joshua Francis Kellogg - is born. Then begins the most difficult part of the entire experiment: raising Joshua in such a manner as to duplicate all of the critical events of his donor's life, thus preparing him for his role as Savior of Mankind. These efforts dominate most of the book's middle chapters.

As Joshua reaches manhood in the early 1980s, and everyone comments on his startling resemblance to the late JFK, concealing the truth of his origins become harder and harder to maintain. Gerald Kellogg's covert efforts to manipulate the life of his adopted son become ever more calculating and amoral. However much Thor Bitterbaum rues these actions, he finds he cannot contradict them....and the biggest subterfuge in modern history comes to its fateful conclusion.........

In 1973, the year 'Joshua' was written, JFK still was a secular saint in the consciousness of the American psyche. Accordingly, modern readers are going to have to negotiate page after page of a reverential, even worshipful, treatment of what we now know is the Mythology of Camelot; this tends to dilute the narrative of any real tension, since everything the clone does is Kind and Good. Indeed, reading 'Joshua' is simply a matter of observing a series of incidents designed to showcase the courage, fortitude, thoughtfulness, compassion, and selflessness of the reincarnated JFK.

The book's main drawback is author Freedman's regular use of extended passages of figurative prose designed to impart a kind of mystical, other-worldly Sense of Destiny to the actions of Bitterbaum and later, Joshua. The stilted, self-consciously 'poetic' wording of these passages makes them awkward and unrewarding to read.

The novel does have some near-future sf content, which is couched in decidedly optimistic terms; this is in keeping with the theme of JFK as the Man of the Future, a new paradigm for not just American, but World, governance.

Summing up, 'Joshua, Son of None' has an interesting premise, but when all is said and done, it is simply another wistful, starry-eyed examination of The New Frontier that Could Have Been. I really can't recommend it for anyone other than those with a dedication to the sf subgenre of 'cloning' novels.

Batman: Digital Justice

Batman: Digital Justice
by Pepe Moreno
DC, 1990

 

It was 30 years ago next month (i.e., March, 1985) that the first 'digital' comic strip, Shatter, was published in the PC magazine Big K............

In December of that year, First Comics released the first issue of a dedicated Shatter color comic book series, which eventually lasted for 14 issues.

Marvel, noticing the high sales of the initial issues of Shatter, hired its artist, Mike Saenz, to produce Iron Man: Crash in 1988. Crash was advertised as the 'world's first digital graphic novel.'

DC eventually entered the digital comics market two years later, with its own graphic novel, 'Batman: Digital Justice.'

As indicated in the jacket flap, 'Justice' was composed on a Mac II with 8 MB of RAM, 45 MB of hard disk space, and a Trinitron 19 inch monitor ....a high-end setup for the late 80s !

Pepe Moreno, author and artist of 80s comics favorites like 'Rebel' and 'Generation Zero', took a year to complete 'Justice.' Given that Moreno was a more accomplished artist than Saenz, and was working with more advanced computing equipment, 'Justice' - not surprisingly - is the better-looking of these early digital comics.

'Justice' is set in the early 21st century; a time when hardly anyone remembers the legend of a caped crusader named Batman. Law enforcement in Gotham City has been modernized, relying on a system of ubiquitous, hovering drones to deter crime and punish evildoers.

James Gordon's grandson - also named James - is a sergeant on Gotham's police force. As 'Justice' opens, Gordon is in plainclothes, and pursuing an illicit drug transaction, when a drone lays waste to perps and police alike.

Outraged, Gordon starts an investigation of the drone's programming, which leads to a direct rebuke from his superior officers. Continuing his investigation through covert channels, Gordon discovers that a rogue AI - the digital embodiment of the long-ago super villain 'The Joker' - is in control of the city's computer network.

Stymied by a bureaucratic coverup, corruption in City Hall, and the deaths of close friends and associates, James Gordon finds himself alone and embattled......

However, when he pokes through some of his grandfather's old files, Gordon comes across knowledge that may turn the tables on the Joker.....knowledge about the legend of Batman........

I won't disclose any spoilers, save to say that Batman - and a reincarnated Robin, and a reincarnated Catwoman - will soon be dispensing digital justice on the evil forces, digital and 'real', besieging Gotham City.

To anyone under 30, obviously the computer-drawn and colored artwork in 'Justice' is going to appear crude. However, if you are willing to make allowances for the limitations of the technology at that time (keep in mind that today's XBox One is a more powerful PC than anything available in 1989), you will find that Moreno succeeds in giving 'Justice' a unique look and atmosphere, and the graphic novel retains its artistic appeal even to the present day.

Copies of 'Batman: Digital Justice' can be obtained for reasonable prices from your usual online vendors (I got mine for $5, from the discount bins at my local comics shop). It's well worth picking up.

Epic Illustrated February 1983

Epic Illustrated 
February, 1983
No. 16

February, 1983, and the latest issue of Marvel's Epic Illustrated showcases former Marvel / Conan the Barbarian artist Barry Windsor-Smith; the cover art is titled 'Self Portrait with Wings'. 

Smith's meticulous artwork and colors are finally well-served by a Marvel publication, in terms reduced editorial oversight; quality resolution and color separations; and the choice of 'slick' grade paper.

Archie Goodwin's 'Overview' column praises 'The Beguiling', one of several Windsor-Smith features in this issue. 

'The Beguiling' represents Windsor-Smith's fascination and admiration with the Pre-Raphaelite artist school of 19th century Britain, and Edward Byrne-Jones in particular. Up until the late 60s the Pre-Raphaelite artists had been utterly ignored - even dismissed - by the art establishment, but in part due to the efforts of artists like Windsor-Smith, a new appreciation for the school had gained momentum.

Smith's artwork is a homage to Byrne-Jones's masterpiece, the four-painting series titled 'The Legend of the Briar Rose' (1885 - 1890); this one is titled 'The Briar Wood'.

Posted below is 'The Beguiling'. A case could be made that this was one of the high points not just in the publishing history of Epic Illustrated, but in American comic art / graphic art of the 1980s.........

Book Review: Guardian

Book Review: 'Guardian' by Thomas F. Monteleone

2 / 5 Stars

‘Guardian’ was first published in hardcover by Doubleday in September, 1980; this Fawcett Popular Library paperback (190 pp) was published in October, 1981 and features cover artwork by Paul Alexander.

The novel is set in Earth’s far future, thousands of years after Armageddon destroyed civilization. In the more remote and wilder places of the world, there are vast deserts where the rusting hulks of war machines litter hundreds of square miles, evidence that the Ancients unleashed a lasting and terrible destruction upon themselves. But Mankind has arisen once again, and the world is at a late 19th century level of technology, although some machines of the Ancients are still intact, the objects of wonder and veneration.

Varian Hamer is a young sailor and soldier of fortune who finds himself seeking greater purpose in his life than simply traveling from one port to another. One day, while waiting for his ship, The Courtesan, to set sail from the quays of the city of Mentor, Hamer observes an old man in a monk’s robe purposefully moving about the dock. 

Hamer is intrigued when the old man, named Kartaphilos, approaches him with a request: search the world’s wastelands for the location of the massive citadel housing the Guardian, a super-computer that retains all the knowledge and technology of the Ancients. For the man who finds the Guardian, and unlocks its secrets, will be positioned to transform the world and all its inhabitants.

At first skeptical, Hamer finds himself convinced when Kartaphilos shows him technology far advanced from any in existence in the known world. Accompanied by the stunning Tessa, the aged but experienced world traveler Stoor, and the mute but talented Raim, Hamer embarks on a quest to find the Guardian.

When the team finally does locate the impressive Citadel and the Guardian within its halls, they discover that far from being an inert, passive instrument awaiting its rebirth at the hands of the descendents of its builders, Guardian is very much concerned with its own plans for the future of the human race………

‘Guardian’ is one of Thomas F. Monteleone’s earlier novels and is comparatively weaker than his later works. The sf and adventure elements of the novel drive the narrative for the first half of the book, but after the encounter with the Guardian, which takes over at mid-point, the remaining chapters are really just a backdrop, against which the authors places overly labored expositions about Man’s Fate in the Universe, and what is required for an otherwise all-knowing, omnipotent AI to understand what it means to Be Human.

I can’t say that ‘Guardian’ is a must-have, but readers looking for a quick, but not overly innovative read that revolves around some of the more common tropes of sf may find the book worthwhile. If you do, you may want to try its sequel, ‘Ozymandias’ (1983).

Book Review: Trekmaster

Book Review: 'Trekmaster' by James B. Johnson

3 / 5 Stars

‘Trekmaster’ (397 pp) was published by DAW Books (DAW book No. 719)  in September, 1987. The cover artwork is by Michael Whelan.

After conflict and chaos caused the Federation to sever contact with its far-flung colony worlds for generations, the advent of political and economic stability has allowed the Federation to reach out to its long-lost constituents and welcome them back into the fold.

On the planet of Bear Ridge, its colonists, of hardy North American stock, have negotiated the long period of isolation by exhibiting a particularly tough strain of self-reliance. Although technology on Bear Ridge has reverted to a 19th century level, its King, Thomas Jefferson Shepherd, has succeeded in uniting its historically fractious duchies and principalities and petty kingdoms into one nation. Shepherd's goal: convince the Federation that Bear Ridge is worth admittance.

As the novel opens, a Federation sociologist named Sharon Gold has been stationed on Bear Ridge, there to observe Shepherd's leadership, and to recommend whether Bear Ridge should be granted admission to the Federation and all its technological know-how. 

T. J. Shepherd is confident he can charm Sharon Gold into granting his planet admission. For not only is he one of strongest, most experienced, and most ruthless warriors on Bear Ridge, but beneath his bull-headed personality, he is calculating and careful.
 
But Shepherd has carefully concealed a number of the more troubling issues affecting Bear Ridge from the attention of Sharon Gold. And unfortunately for Shepherd, his efforts to manage these issues, while convincing Sharon Gold of his planet's worthiness for Federation admission, are going to lead to violence............and the end of his own kingship......

'Trekmaster' is primarily an adventure novel, although it does showcase the political philosophies of its author, being an argument for the necessity of an autocratic ruler (rather than a participatory democracy) when times call for quick and effective decisions on life-and-death matters. 

Author James B. Johnson has quite a bit of fun mocking liberals, and their willingness to cloak actions made for their own interests with fawning rhetoric about 'representing the people'.

But Johnson also applies a note of ambivalence, even satire, to the attitudes of T. J. Shepherd and his close friend and confidante (who is tellingly named 'Summer Camp'). Shepherd is not only impatient with political maneuvers and protocols, but he is unwilling to acknowledge his own mistakes. These flaws tend to result in one avoidable complication after another, hampering his efforts to show the populace of Bear Ridge that he, and he alone, knows what is best for them.

'Trekmaster' starts off well, but its middle section tends to drag, as the ongoing political and familial intrigues grow more complicated and leech momentum from the narrative. Things don't really pick up until the novel's final 40 pages, when external and internal conflicts come to a head and can only be resolved with bloodshed.

Summing up, if you have the patience for a lengthy novel that is primarily character-driven, with a circumscribed landscape upon which various dramas and intrigue play out, then you may find 'Trekmaster' rewarding. 

It's conservative-embracing political philosophy certainly is a rarity among sf literature, and that also may make this novel worth investigating.

An East Wind Coming-advertisement

An East Wind Coming
advertisement for the novel by Arthur Byron Cover
published by Berkley Books, November, 1979
cover art by Boris Vallejo
Heavy Metal magazine, February, 1980

The Appointment by Angus McKie

The Appointment 
by Angus McKie
from Comic Tales, Tyneside Free Press (UK), 1988

'Comic Tales' is a UK trade paperback (52 pp; 1988) that compiles a number of Angus McKie's comics. I recognize some of the entries as comics that McKie published in Heavy Metal in the early 80s, but others I have never seen before (the book's contents / indica pages provide no information on the origin of the material). 

The contents are: 'Wurtham View', 'Tales of the Zen Masters', 'Tales of the Sufi Masters', 'The King and I', 'The Appointment','Superhero', 'Spirit of 67', 'Legend of the Magic Tone- Box', and 'Power to the People'.

Below is 'The Appointment', which mingles a well-known legend / fable with some great artwork and coloring from McKie.

Mythopoeikon

Mythopoeikon 
by Patrick Woodroffe

Patrick Woodroffe passed away last May, at the age of 73. During the 70s and 80s, Woodroffe was a familiar figure to sf fans, as his distinctive artwork was used on the covers of many Pan Books paperbacks in the UK, as well as for a number of publishers in the US.

Back in the late 70s, there were few trade paperback or hardbound books devoted to SF or fantasy art on the store shelves, a situation quite different from things nowadays, where the SF section of Barnes and Noble has a healthy selection of these kinds of books.

So ‘Mythopoeikon’, with its arresting blue-green cover, certainly stood out on the shelves when I saw it at my local Waldenbooks in 1978.

'Mythopoeikon' (155 pp., Paper Tiger, 1976) showcased Woodroffe's commercial art for book covers and album covers, and also his studio artworks and mixed-media pieces. 

Woodroffe, who was self-taught, was not as adept at drawing human figures as, say, Boris Vallejo, nor as adept at drawing spacecraft or other hi-tech subjects as Chris Foss or Angus McKie. But in terms of coming up with imaginative and eye-catching designs and compositions, he was quite skilled and innovative; witness his distinctive image of floating smiles for the cover of the George R. R. Martin book ‘A Song for Lya’.

Woodroffe used a variety of media to produce the works presented in Mythopoeikon, including oil, gouache, crayon, and something he called ‘marbling’. I’m sure that considerable time and effort went into creating such intricate designs, particularly in the era before Photoshop made it much more feasible for artists to incorporate these features as digital effects.

'Mythopoeikon', along with a number of other books of his artwork issued over the past few years, can be obtained for reasonable prices from your usual online vendors.

Don't be surprised if you find yourself moved to purchase an sf or fantasy or horror novel because its Woodroffe cover is eye-catching and intriguing - it's a measure of how skilled he was as an illustrator of this genre.

Book Review: Patterns of Chaos

Book Review: 'Patterns of Chaos' by Colin Kapp

Award Books paperback, 1973

4 / 5 Stars

‘Patterns of Chaos’ first appeared as a serial in Worlds of If magazine in 1972. It was assembled into a novel and published in the U.S. in 1973 by Award Books. Its title used an unusual font, Davison Arabesque, that also was deployed for other paperbacks of the same era.

The edition of 'Patterns' that I read was the Ace Books paperback (277 pp.) published in May,1978, and with a cover illustration by Paul Alexander. 

[A quasi-sequel, The Chaos Weapon, was released in 1977 by Del Rey Books.]

Derek Ivor Colin Kapp (1928 - 2007) was a UK author who published both short stories and novels in the sci-fi genre from the late 50s on through the 1980s. His stories featuring the recurring characters of the 'Unorthodox Engineers' are among the best examples of hard sci-fi writing.

As 'Patterns of Chaos' opens, a young man named Bron awakens from a coma to discover that Onaris, the planet on which he is residing, is under attack by the rapacious fleet of the Destroyers. As phaser bolts rain down on the city, loosed by Destroyer cruisers circling in orbit, a confused and bewildered Bron discovers that he has 'voices' in his head- voices that originate from miniaturized transmitters surgically implanted in his brain.

The voices emanate from a distant team of three monitors of the Special Assignments Group of the Federation, three monitors who see everything Bron sees, and hear everything he hears. The monitors are able to carry out sub-vocal conversations with Bron; from these exchanges, Bron gradually discovers that he is the most highly trained secret agent in the Federation’s Stellar Commando unit. His mission: pose as Ander Haltern, a philosopher and theoretician of marked genius, and the leader of a religious cult on Onaris.

For reasons that are unknown, the Destroyers seek Ander Haltern. Posing as Haltern, Bron succeeds in being taken prisoner, and is held aboard the Destroyer flagship. There he learns the purpose of his Federation mission: discover the location of the Destroyer’s home base, so the Federation fleet can mount a devastating attack, and remove the menace of the Destroyers once and for all.

However, while aboard the Destroyer flagship, Bron joins its crew in witnessing a catastrophic event: a ‘hellburner’ nuclear missile strikes Onaris, and incinerates the entire surface of the planet....... and its population of 200 million. 

Initially, Bron accuses the Destroyers of the atrocity. But when Cana, leader of the Destroyers, invites Bron to analyze the missile’s trajectory, Bron comes to a startling conclusion. The hellburner didn’t originate from any Destroyer ship…..but was launched from the distant Andromeda galaxy, 700 million years ago - !

Using his genius at understanding nonlinear dynamics – his ability to discern, and predict,  ‘the patterns of chaos’ – Bron shoulders the burden of confronting an attack from a distant, alien enemy – one armed with weapons far beyond the technology of the Federation…..

For a hard sci-fi novel written at the height of the New Wave, ‘Patterns’ is surprisingly well-written and well-plotted, reflecting author Kapp’s preference for writing traditional framings of the genre (although in this case, with a proper leavening of styles derived from the New Wave). In practical terms this means that the narrative, while at heart a straightforward space opera, includes segments in which the hero undergoes psychic / paranormal phenomena which are related in a more ornate prose style.

As well, the author routinely employs adjectives and adverbs drawn both from the chemistry literature, and the more obscure sections of a thesaurus. Be prepared to encounter ‘anserine’ (goose-like), ‘eutectic’ (melting point of a substance), ‘thixotropic’ (fluids that thin when stirred), and ‘sonorous’ (producing sound), among others.

Having a protagonist with schizophrenia (albeit a unique type of schizophrenia) is the height of New Wave storytelling fashion, but I quickly grew tired of this plot device. These conversations, indicated in italic font, come so frequently throughout 'Patterns', and are so lengthy, that they quickly become an annoyance and a distraction to the narrative. 

Overall, however, ‘Patterns of Chaos’ is a consistently interesting and imaginative space opera, with an offbeat ending that ties things together without being contrived. 

When compared with the bloated, over-written space operas that dominate the store shelves nowadays (and the novels of Alistair Reynolds come readily to mind here) it’s a deserving read, and a book well worth searching out.