Book Review: Through Darkest America

Book Review: 'Through Darkest America' by Neal Barrett, Jr.

 5 / 5 Stars

This paperback edition of Barrett’s novel 'Through Darkest America’ (1986) was published in 1988 (256 pp.) by Worldwide Library as part of its ‘Isaac Asimov Presents’ imprint. The cover art is by Vincent DiFate. The sequel is ‘Dawn’s Uncertain Light’ (1989).

The novel takes place in the US several centuries after World War Three has converted society to an agrarian level equivalent to that of the mid- 19th century.

Howie Ryder is a young boy growing up on a prosperous farm in the southeastern region of the country; he shares a home with his little sister Carolee, his mother Ev, and his father Milo. For Howie and his family life is good, despite the burdens of the weather and an economy beset by the existence of a war in the West, between the government and a force of rebels led by a man named Lathan. To fund the war, the government is increasing taxes on its farmers, something Howie’s father accepts only grudgingly.

The book’s major contrivance is that beeves have been replaced as a food animal by a race of simpleton humans, who are referred to as ‘livestock’. Cannibalism is seen as something perfectly ordinary and commonplace, as most of the continent’s animal population was eliminated by nuclear war. The shock value – if there is any – to this feature of the narrative wore off for me rather quickly, and I felt the book would not have suffered if Barrett had simply retained beeves as his livestock of choice.

In any event, Howie’s pastoral life comes to an abrupt halt when the government decides to rely on harsh measures to exact tribute from its citizens. Howie finds himself the subject of a manhunt, and flees west to seek safety among the wastelands. But he soon finds that the West is no safer a place than any other part of the country, and sometimes a young man must do morally objectionable acts if he is to survive. Through various adventures Howie lands in the middle of the conflict between the rebels and the government, and his life will be in danger no matter which side he chooses.….

I found ‘Darkest America’ to be reminiscent in some ways of Leigh Brackett’s classic SF novel ‘The Long Tomorrow’ (1955) which also deals with a boy’s abrupt transition into adulthood when circumstances converge to force him to survive on his own in a hostile world where violence lurks just under the surface of society. Like Len Colter, Howie must learn the hard way as to how to negotiate a post-apocalyptic civilization, where those best able to scrounge for the artifacts of the dead can achieve the greatest power.

‘Darkest’ is of course much more violent, even gruesome, in its depiction of lawlessness and cruelty and is definitely not a novel for Young Adults. The novel is also much more cynical and downbeat than other examples of 80's post-apocalyptic fiction, such as Brin's 'The Postman' (1985), Graham's 'Down to a Sunless Sea' (1986), or Strieber and Kunetka's 'Warday' (1984).

The narrative consistently moves at a quick pace, sending Howie into one dire situation after another, culminating in a final 40 pages that are truly suspenseful and worthy of the term ‘page turner’.

Fans of post-apocalyptic fiction with a unique Western flavor to it- think of a depraved Louis L'Amour novel- will want to have this book on their bookshelves.

'Heat Wave' by Guy Colwell

oil on canvas 1976; reproduced here from the May 1980 issue of Heavy Metal magazine; appeared as the cover for the comic Inner City Romance No. 4, 1977 (Last Gasp Eco-Funnies). Guy Colwell website: www.atelier9.com/

'The Bus' by Paul Kirchner

Book Review: The Trial of Billy Jack

Book Review: 'The Trial of Billy Jack', by Howard Liebling

3 / 5 Stars

It’s 1974 and the hippie movement of the 60s has fast dwindled to nostalgia. The remnants of the counterculture retreat to communes and group living, while everyone else sells out to the hedonism and self-absorption of the 70s (perhaps hosting a ‘key party’ like the one depicted in the movie ‘The Ice Storm’).

For the half-breed Billy Jack, his girlfriend Jean, and the groovy kids of the Freedom School in the rural southwest, things aren’t going well in their struggle against the Establishment. Billy is tried for the murder of a redneck townie (which took place in the previous movie ‘Billy Jack’, 1971) and sentenced to four years in prison.

In his absence Jean and the Freedom kids embark on a campaign to record and document acts of corruption by the town and state governments, whose elected officials are intent on closing down the school and driving all those troublesome hippies out of the state.

Jean and the kids also must confront acts of bigotry and malfeasance waged against the vulnerable Indians of the surrounding territory by the White Man. When Billy Jack is released on parole, it’s time for rejoicing, as the school’s mentor and hero is back on the scene with new words of wisdom, and assurance, gained from a Vision Quest in the surrounding desert.

However, the Men in Power aren’t going to let Billy’s return deter them from their plans. It’s only a matter of time before the rednecks and Billy have a series of confrontations…and however much Billy wants to renounce violence, he’s going to have to defend the School and its pupils if they are to have a future…

‘The Trial of Billy Jack’ is a novelization of the film’s script (written by its star and director, the actor Tom Laughlin, who first portrayed Billy in 1967’s ‘The Born Losers’). The book contains an insert of black and white stills from the film.

‘Trial’ was a big hit back when it was released. Laughlin’s outfit of a black, wide-brimmed hat with a Navajo band around the crown, and a cropped-length denim jacket, was the perfect uniform for a counterculture hero who took his shoes off (?!) before launching karate kicks at nonplussed rednecks.

The Freedom School kids of either gender all have shoulder-length hair parted in the middle, and washed daily with Herbal Shampoo. They sport bell-bottomed polyester trousers or jeans, and pursue 'mellow' pastimes such playing acoustic guitar and singing treacly folk tunes.

While the film’s plot may have wandered, it never strayed far from its theme of confrontation between the pure people – exemplified by Billy and his followers - and the loathsome Establishment bigots.

But I suspect contemporary audiences are going to find the film unimpressive. Too much camera time is devoted to the antics and speeches of the school kids, which will seem dated and downright corny to modern viewers. The action sequences are few and far between, and while the movie’s climactic battle is memorable and effective, the viewer is forced to sit through a lot of tedium before things start to come together script-wise.

This novelization is a good way to experience the Billy Jack scene without having to sit through the entire film in all its flawed glory.

'Heavy Metal' magazine: July 1980

The July 1980 issue of ‘Heavy Metal’ features a front cover illustration by Carol Donner titled ‘Invaders From Mars: Part II’ and a back cover by Tito Salomi, titled ‘And the Children Play’.

This issue contains some major advertising (at least by the historical standards of the magazine); Kawasaki bought an inside front cover ad for their KE100 dirt bike, and the opening page of the magazine has a full-page ad from Bic cigarette lighters. ‘Starlog’ magazine purchased the inside back cover ad space. Things were looking promising for the sales and marketing staff of Heavy Metal…

The contents of this issue include a new story by Bilal titled ‘Progress’,  the first part of a mediocre strip by Moebius called ‘Shore Leave’, another installment of ‘The Alchemist Supreme’ by Ribera and Godard, and ‘Kraoo’ by Sokal. 

Among the more visually interesting short pieces was ‘A Message from the Shadows’ by Druillet. Its striking orange-and-red color scheme loses some intensity when scanned thirty years after being printed, or at least when using a bright-setting LCD monitor to view things, but (hopefully) my tinkering with the ArcSoft Photo Studio app should correct things a bit…..

Book Review: Them Bones

Book Review: 'Them Bones' by Howard Waldrop

4 / 5 Stars

‘Them Bones’ was among the first of the ‘new’ iteration of Ace Science Fiction Specials that saw print in 1984 (others being ‘Neuromancer’ by Gibson, ‘The Wild Shore’ by Robinson, ‘Green Eyes’ by Shepard, and ‘Palimpsests’ by Scholz and Harcourt). The cover art for ‘Them Bones’ (225 pp.) is by Marvin Mattleson.

The novel's overarching plot deals with time travel; specifically, the US in 2003 seeks to change the course of history and avoid the wars and destruction that have turned the nation into a radiation-soaked wasteland. By sending a force of scientists and soldiers back into early 20th century America, the hope is to alter the timeline so as to prevent the advent of armageddon.

Subsumed within this plot are three main storylines. One concerns the adventures of Madison Yazoo Leake, a time traveler who is sent into the past….but too far into the past, as it turns out. Leake winds up in what at first glance seems to be Louisiana, at the time before the Europeans colonized North America. But the mound-building Indian tribe that adopts him is clearly not lodged in the same timeline of Leake’s future, for there are Arabs sailing the Mississippi and woolly mammoths roaming the countryside.

Another storyline deals with the detachment of 147 troops and scientists sent through the time portal to rendezvous with Leake. Something has gone wrong and they have missed the target time and place; to make things worse, the local Indian population soon turns decidedly unfriendly.

A third storyline deals with a team of archeologists, who in 1929 are excavating mounds in Louisiana, in territory alongside the Mississippi river. When a laborer discovers a horse skull displaying what appears to be a rifle bullet wound, the excavation team realizes that they may find artifacts within the mounds unlike anything before encountered in a pre-Columbian dig….

‘Them Bones’ is a well-written SF adventure novel. Waldrop uses a clean, fast-moving narrative prose style and short chapters to keep his three intersecting storylines untangled and coherent. The Madison Leake story thread is the major one of the novel and features plenty of dry humor; in the last fifth of the book, it involves an exciting chase sequence that Mel Gibson may have ripped off for his 2006 film ‘Apocalypto’.

‘Them Bones’ continues to be one of the best entries in Terry Carr’s Ace SF Specials from the mid-80s.

Sabre image by Paul Gulacy

'Sabre'

from the 1978 comic book by Don McGregor and Paul Gulacy

Questar June 1980

 'Questar' magazine June 1980

Questar was a 8 x 11"  magazine published from 1978 to 1981 by MW Communications of Pittsburgh, with William Wilson serving as editor. The magazine was a 'slick', printed in color on higher quality paper stock, with a newstand / magazine rack distribution that placed it alongside more mainstream publications like 'Time' and 'Car and Driver'.

The runaway success of 'Star Wars' in 1977 had made possible the commercial viability of a new generation of SF magazines devoted to covering the genre in film and television. The leading publication of this type was Starlog, which debuted in 1976 and soon achieved a respectable circulation. The magazine Omni, first issued in October 1978, was aimed at a more sophisticated audience and was also enjoying financial and critical success. Questar was designed to fall somewhere in between the two types of magazines. It did not achieve the economic success of its competitors, however, and the magazine folded after issuing its 13th and final issue in 1981.

The June 1980 issue features a fawning interview with author A. E. Van Vogt. There's another interview, this one with uber-SF geek Forest J. Ackerman, and coverage of the upcoming big budget movie 'Conan'. I've excerpted an ad for various groovy sci-fi soundtracks:

There's a 'cheescake for geeks' section focusing on British SF and horror movie actress Caroline Munro:

There's a review of the movie 'Saturn 3', a great example of a cheesier late 70s -  early 80s sci-fi film:

There's also a worshipful in memorium piece about the mask-maker Don Post, Jr., who died in 1979, and whose company (coincidentally) bought a lot of ad space in 'Questar' :

'Going to Pieces' by Francois Schuiten
(from the May 1978 issue of 'Heavy Metal' magazine)

Book Review: The Overman Culture

Book Review: 'The Overman Culture' by Edmund Cooper

3 / 5 Stars

‘The Overman Culture’ (191 pp) was published by Berkley in 1972; the cover artist is uncredited, but according to the ISF database is Paul Lehr.

Michael Faraday is a young boy growing up in middle-class surroundings in London during the latter half of the 20^th century. But it’s a strange sort of London. 

The entire city is surrounded by an enormous, transparent force field; there is a world war going on, marked by ineffective, but frequent, bombing runs against the city by fleets of biplanes and zeppelins. Queen Victoria and Winston Churchill are alive and well and amble about the city on hovercars, while the cinemas show outdated films like ‘Gone With the Wind’. 

The population of the city is unusually small, and the overwhelming majority of its inhabitants, such as Michael’s parents, are oddly emotionless and prone to vapid moralizing. Michael’s classmates at grammar school are named Horatio Nelson, Ellen Terry, and Emily Bronte; the significance of these names is lost to him because he is not expected to learn to read.

As Michael grows into a teenager he becomes increasingly aware that there is something artificial, even duplicitous, about the world he lives in. Against the admonitions of his parents and other ‘drybones’ in authority, Michael and his small group of friends embark on a covert campaign to learn all they can about the true nature of the city and their place within it. But every discovery they make only raises new questions, and as the scrutiny of the drybones grows more intense, Michael and his friends realize they are running out of the time they need to uncover the reality of their existence...........

 ‘Overman’ will call to mind recent films like The Matrix, which also uses the theme of a protagonist struggling to break the confines of a world that seems artificial, and, without giving too much away, the ending of Overman will echo that of The Matrix. 

The novel unfolds with deliberate pacing and reader is induced to continue as author Cooper, through the vehicle of the main character Michael Faraday, gradually discloses more revelations about the world of the Overman culture. 

The novel’s main drawback is that the narrative begins to drag well before the climactic Revelation is presented within the last 30 pages, and the Revelation itself is rather clichèd. Nonetheless, ‘Overman’ will be appreciated by readers looking for a slower-paced SF novel with a more contemplative tenor.