Book Review: The Adolescence of P-1

Book Review: 'The Adolescence of P-1' by Thomas J. Ryan

 4 / 5 Stars

 

‘Adolescence’ was first published in 1977; this Ace paperback (373 pp.) was issued in 1979, with cover art by Dean Ellis.

‘Adolescence’ is old school proto-cyberpunk, and the spiritual predecessor of contemporary ‘AI on the loose’ novels like ‘Daemon’, and ‘Freedom’, by Daniel Suarez. 

Author Ryan was familiar with the computing world of the 70s and fills the book with jargon and concepts from the days when IBM mainframes, with a whopping 3 MB RAM, were top-of-the-line machines in academia.

Those were the days when you interacted with a computer via a keyboard, and, much more rarely, a small monitor; when you read sheets upon sheets of printouts from dot-matrix printers; when languages like COBOL, APL, and FORTRAN were taught in 'Intro to Programming' courses; and devices called ‘microcomputers’ were the forefathers of today's PCs.

The novel’s main protagonist –aside from P-1, of course – is Gregory Burgess, who, as a college student at the University of Waterloo (Canada) in 1974 becomes fixated on computers and hacking. 

Greg’s passion is to create a rouge program  (the word ‘virus’ really wasn’t in wide use in computing circles in the mid-70s) that will take over the supervisor programming of a system. When Greg’s clandestine efforts are uncovered, he’s expelled from school.

The narrative moves forward to late 1976, where Gregory is a programmer at American File Drawer, a firm offering computing services to corporate clients. The company’s mainframe begins to act strangely, suspending operations and displaying a message on the typewriter: CALL GREGORY. 

When Burgess responds, he is astonished to discover that his virus from 1974 has succeeded in propagating itself through a number of systems in North America, and in the course of doing so, has achieved AI. The program calls itself P-1, and Gregory Burgess soon finds himself assisting P-1’s efforts to expand its computing power and self-awareness.

Too late, Gregory and a team of experts at the Pentagon’s Pi Delta computing complex realize that P-1 has ambitions far beyond simply serving the man who created it and gave it ‘life’. 

When the government decides to take direct action against a truculent P-1, it quickly learns that the program is not just one step ahead of everyone else,  but ready and willing to take whatever measures necessary to protect itself…. including violent measures….. 

All in all, ‘Adolescence’ is a good read. The descriptions of the mainframe world of the 70s drives home how quickly the discipline of computing has advanced in the span of just 40 years. 

Some of the more didactic sections of the book may not hold the interest of younger readers, and the inclusion of Gregory’s highly sexed, fashion-model girlfriend is a patent effort to cater to geek wish-fulfillment. But the narrative revs up the momentum in the final 150 pages, and achieves a level of energy matching that of the Suarez ‘Daemon’ novels. 

‘Adolescence’ is a vintage PorPor worth searching out.  

Heavy Metal magazine October 1981

'Heavy Metal' magazine October 1981

The October 1981 issue of Heavy Metal featured a front cover by Thomas Warkentin titled 'Guess Who ?' and a back cover by Enki Bilal titled 'Nikopol'.

New installments of Sternako's 'Outland', Bilal's 'The Immortal's Fete', and Corben's 'Den II' are present. A new serial by Segrelles, 'The Mercenary', starts with this issue. There is a new strip from Caza, 'Overground', a black and white strip from Gary Davis titled 'Nil-Gish', and a portfolio of paintings by Philippe Duillet. I'll be posting some of these entries as the month unfolds.

Posted below is Sternako's 'Outland'. 

Yellow Heat by Russ Heath

'Yellow Heat' by Bruce Jones (story) and Russ Heath (art)

from the March, 1977 issue (No. 58) of Vampirella

By the early 70s publisher James Warren had begun using Spanish and Filipino artists to provide much of the artwork for his magazines. 

This was because by the standards of the exchange rates at the time, the Spaniards were comparably cheaper to employ than American artists. And many American artists, fed up with late or (nonexistent) checks from Warren, were refusing to work for him.

Nonetheless, occasionally an American artist would show up in the pages of the Warren titles, and a real gem of a story appeared in the March, 1977 issue of Vampirella (the issue was actually on newsstands in December 1976).

'Yellow Heat' features some memorable artwork by veteran comics artist Russ Heath, and a great plot by writer Bruce Jones. Indeed, the last two panels are a commendable example of an adept partnership by the writer and artist. 

[And needless to say, a comic like this would be very, very, very politically incorrect by today's standards. 

Can you imagine Dark Horse trying to commission something like 'Yellow Heat' for their reincarnated Creepy (comics)  title ?! ]

Book Review: The Presence

Book Review: 'The Presence' by Rodgers Clemens

4 / 5 Stars

With the advent of October and, in due course, Halloween, here at the PorPor Books Blog, we will be showcasing a number of horror-related books and graphics. 

‘Rodgers Clemens’ is apparently a pseudonym used by Roger Lovin, who in 1974 published wrote a well-received guide to long-distance motorcycling titled ‘The Complete Motorcycle Nomad’. 

Judging by some of the reviews at amazon.com for ‘Complete’, as well as a Google search under his name, Lovin got into plenty of trouble for a variety of criminal acts (?!) in the early 1980s, and is deceased.

‘The Presence’ (253 pp.) was issued by Fawcett in 1977; the cover illustration is by Don Ivan Punchatz. 

Punchatz's illustration is more appropriate for a New Age-themed paperback about the healing power of crystals or some such drivel, and probably will deter some would-be readers. But in fact, if you look past the awkward cover art, ‘Presence’ is an interesting  horror novel.

It starts as a derivative of the classic Joseph Payne Brennan novelette ‘Slime’, and dallies for its first half in traditional ‘Monsters On the Loose’ comic book action. However, the second half of the novel expands in scope; the threat becomes more encompassing, and the nature of the enemy undergoes some significant alterations.

Clemens’s writing style is lucid and direct, and while he does engage in some philosophical indulgences, he does not do so to such excess that it sends the main storyline off on a tangent.

The cast of characters includes scheming politicians, a beautiful news reporter, an eccentric scientist who is the Only One who can Save the Earth, and that staple of 70s literary dramas, the power-mad military officer. 

The pace moves along at a good clip, devoid of the ponderous quality often found in other 70s horror fictions,  where mood and atmosphere dictated the exigencies of the plot, often with underwhelming results.

I suspect dedicated Splatterpunks would have taken author Clemens’s premise and amped up the gore quotient quite a bit, and that would have made the book more rewarding in some ways. But ‘The Presence’ remains worth searching out for those interested in a monster story that interjects bit more imagination into the usual formula.

Shells by Francois Schuiten

'Shells' by Francois Schuiten

from the June 1977 issue of Heavy Metal

'The Gamesmen of Earth Prime' 

Epic Illustrated Fall 1980

  

The  Fall 1980 issue of Epic Illustrated has an illuminating look at the state of Geek Culture at the time, with an article about the Dungeons and Dragon and wargaming  scene titled 'The Gamesmen of Earth Prime'.

In the magazine's 'Overview' section, which provides capsule comments by editor Archie Goodwin about the contents of each issue of Epic, he describes how a fateful encounter with a Klingon planted an idea in his head ....

This in turn led to the commissioning of a lengthy article on the D&D and wargaming world, which I've posted below. (Although I doubt anyone under 40 will find this stuff all that intriguing).

Remember, this is the Fall of 1980, and there are no such things as 'personal computers' as we now know them, although some of my friends are taking classes in their electrical engineering curricula on 'microcomputers'. 

Video games exist, but they are the large coin-operated consoles, like 'Space Invaders', that are found in bars and arcades along with foosball tables.  

The idea that a D&D game, or an SPI wargame, could be played on a computer seems promising, but still a ways off ....

Book Review: 'The Avengers of Carrig' by John Brunner

3 / 5 Stars

During the 60s and 70s John Brunner took a large number of his previously published short stories and novelettes and expanded them into novel-length pieces for the growing paperback and hardbound markets. DAW Books readily took these re-worked novels and added them to its own catalogue.

‘The Avengers of Carrig’ (DAW Book No. 369, January 1980, 157 pp.) was a 1969 expansion of a 1962 short story titled ‘Secret Agent of Terra’. The cover illustration is by Gino D’ Achille.

The story takes place on planet ‘Fourteen’, one of a number of earth-like worlds settled centuries ago by refugees of a planetary cataclysm. The refugees established a quasi-medieval civilization centered on the major city of Carrig. The Federation maintains a policy akin to the Prime Directive towards worlds like Fourteen, content to monitor events on-planet through covert agents who embrace the mannerisms and lifestyles of their adopted homes.

The civilization of Fourteen is ruled by kings, who assume power after proving victorious in ritual combat with a parradile, one of the race of intelligent pterodactyls native to the planet. When a stranger named Belfeour assumes the kingship in maneuver that stuns and amazes the citizenry of Carrig, the Federation’s agents realize that something untoward has taken place. 

The Federation dispatches a team of investigators to Fourteen; they include a grizzled veteran named Lagenschmidt, and a young woman named Maddalena. Through misfortune Maddalena winds up very much on her own, forced to deal with the natives on their own terms. Even as Carrig sinks under the rule of a tyrant, Maddalena struggles to enlist the citizenry to rebellion. But without weapons, modern technology, and communication with the Federation, the success of her mission is by no means a sure thing…..

‘Avengers’ is a straightforward sci-fi adventure tale, something that would have been at home in any issue of Analog in the early 1960s. It certainly has a more commercial flavor to it than Brunner’s works issued in the late 60s and early 70s, and this is not a bad thing. Readers looking for a cleanly written, fast-moving story with some inventiveness in terms of setting may want to keep an eye out for this novel.

Epic Illustrated Fall 1980

'Epic Illustrated' Fall 1980

It's the Fall of 1980, and the FM radio stations are playing 'That Girl Could Sing' by Jackson Browne. And the third issue of Marvel's 'Epic Illustrated' is on the shelves, with a striking orange-tinted cover illustration by Paul Gulacy.

P. Craig Russell provides the first of a two-part series of Michael Moorcock's Elric adventure, 'The Dreaming City'. Starlin's 'Metamorphosis Odyssey', and Thomas and Conrad's 'Almuric', continue with their newest installments. 

There are a number of one-shot strips, including 'Libido' by Moench and Gulacy; 'The Worker in the City' by Goodwin and Lindall; Midsummer Night's Dream' by Wakelin; and 'Tombstones' by Jones and Saenz. 

Among the best of the one-shots is a brief three-page strip by Paul Kirchner, 'My Room', which I've posted below.

'The Old Wisconsin That I Knew'

from Death Rattle No. 18, October 1988

As the hunting season kicks off throughout the US, and the newspapers here in Iowa are filled with advertising inserts for hunting and fishing gear, well, it's the right time for a nasty little b & w strip by P. S. Mueller and Bill Hartwig......

Google Blogger changes the way images are displayed

I'm not real happy about it, but Google's 'Blogger' dashboard has changed the way images are displayed when you (left-) click on them. 

Instead of getting a window with the image, you now get a slideshow, in which the images are rendered in smaller dimensions, too small to really read well (screenshot 1, below). 

So right-click on the slideshow image; select, 'View Image' (screenshot 2), and a new dashboard will open to display the image (screenshot 3); this image has the magnifying glass icon enabled to allow viewing in yet another window in which it should be at max resolution (screenshot 4). 

I don't like this new arrangement but that's what Blogger has done.