Book Review: Set of Wheels

Book Review: 'Set of Wheels' by Robert Thurston

1 / 5 Stars

‘Set of Wheels’ (281 pp) was published by Berkley Books in February, 1983. The cover illustration is by Alan Daniels.

Robert Thurston (1936 - 2021) began his authorial career as an attendee of the 1968 Clarion Science Fiction Writers’ Workshop, with his first story ('Stop Me Before I Tell More') seeing publication in the anthology 'Orbit 9' (1971). Thurston's short stories saw print in magazines and anthologies all during the New Wave era. Along with his own short and long fiction, Thurston wrote novels for the wargame-derived 'Battletech' franchise, and the TV show-derived 'Battlestar Galactica' franchise.

'Wheels' is an expansion of a short story, titled simply 'Wheels', that Thurston published in 1971 in an anthology devoted to pieces produced at the Clarion science fiction writers' workshop. A review of 'Wheels', and other Thurston tales, is available at the MPorcius Fiction Blog.

‘Set of Wheels’ is not a very good book. In fact, it was a struggle to finish..........

The novel is set in the early 21st century, after some poorly defined economic and / or social collapse has transformed the nation into a loose collection of city-states. Outside the cities the landscape is slowly being depopulated, the highways are abandoned, and drifters, outcasts, criminals, the destitute, and religious fanatics control the dwindling numbers of small towns, road stops, and villages.

Within the cities, car ownership is heavily regulated (drivers must obtain a ‘safdry’ license). Vehicles are prohibited from travelling at high speeds, drivers are subject to random police checkpoints, and even minor moving violations can result in the permanent loss of a license.

Teenager Lee Kestner is bored, sullen, and rebellious. Not only is living with his alcoholic father depressing, but Lee has been turned down for a learner’s permit 17 times. Desperate to get his own set of wheels, and to experience the freedom of independent travel, Lee hands $500 over to his onetime friend Lincoln Rockwell X. In return, Lee gets a barely-running, beat-up, antique, 1967 Ford Mustang.

Despite the questionable mechanical status of his newly acquired car, Lee promptly takes off for the unregulated countryside outside the city limits. There he joins up with a loose coalition of outlaw drivers, gets his Mustang fixed up, and enters into a tumultuous romance with a girl named Cora.

Before long, Lee finds himself heading out across the under-populated landscape of the USA, unsure of his destination, but convinced that somewhere out on the open road, he will find purpose for a life otherwise marked by aimlessness and spiritual anomie.

‘Wheels’ is not much of an sf novel. Indeed, the sf elements are very muted, and serve as a sort of vague backdrop to the central goal of the narrative, which is to allow author Thurston to write lengthy, tedious passages of dialogue in which his characters expound on their existential despair.

Thurston’s efforts to impart a wistful, melancholy atmosphere to the activities of his modern-day nomads seems contrived and unconvincing. Let’s face it, whether made in 1967, 1975, 1982, 1996, or even today, the Ford Mustang always has been a piece of shit car, relying on its ‘cool’ appearance, and industry myth-making, to screen the fact that it has always been shoddily designed, shoddily manufactured, and overly prone to mechanical breakdowns.

(Although, to be fair, the same thing can be said about practically every vehicle made by Ford….)

To make things worse, Thurston adopts the affectation of eschewing quotation marks to set off dialogue. Readers will need to supply the patience to decipher these sorts of exchanges:

Get us out of here.
Her smile vanishes. Logical, perhaps, it’s been a ghost-smile.
Not a chance, honey.
But you and me, we-
I know what we done, but that’s just ice in the Amazon, far as I’m concerned. 

If you’re hoping for something that resembles George Miller’s ‘Mad Max’ and ‘The Road Warrior’, or John Jake’s ‘On Wheels’, then you’re very much out of luck. The few episodes of action that take place in ‘Set of Wheels’ seem forced and tangential. 

My recommendation ? ‘Set of Wheels’ is best avoided, unless you are adamant about reading any and all sf novels with a 'car' theme.

'Shipwreck' by Caza
from Heavy Metal magazine, June 1980

June, 1980, and on the radio, in heavy rotation, a song that soon will become a soul / R & B classic: 'Stomp', by The Brothers Johnson.

The latest issue of Heavy Metal magazine features a great little strip titled 'Shipwreck', by Caza. 

Slash Maraud by Moench and Gulacy

'Slash Maraud' by Doug Moench and Paul Gulacy

DC comics, 1987 - 1988

DC published 'Slash Maraud' as a six-issue miniseries from November, 1987 to April, 1988.

Doug Moench threw everything he could find from 80s pop and sf culture into this one. Escape from New York, The Road Warrior, Buckaroo Banzai, the TV show American Gladiators, all make up the bizarre, but entertaining stew, that is 'Slash'.

Slash Maradovich, 'famed Detroit Polack', and a mix of 'Mad' Max Rockatansky and Snake Plisskin, is a soldier of fortune in a near-future Earth that has been taken over by a race of technologically superior aliens called the Shapers. 

The Shapers look like 'Ernie' from Sesame Street, but that's simply a physical form they assume while in proximity to Terrans; in reality, the Shapers are - well - shapeless, able to assume any form they desire.

Earth's surface is slowly being terraformed to a design that suits the Shapers, with the Earth's population continuously being converted into a sort of protoplasmic 'goop' to serve this purpose. Apathy, anarchy, and end-of-the-world hedonism rule most of the few major metropolitan areas, where the human population is reduced to serving the perverted, often homicidal desires of the Shaper overlords.

As a rebel without a cause, Slash is just too cool to get wrapped up in anything but his own survival. But when an old flame entreats him to assist a band of rebels and their ally, a Shaper defector, Slash reluctantly agrees to help out. 

This means traversing a USA, and later Europe, riddled with monsters created by the Shaper manipulation of the planet's ecosystem.

Complicating things are the various gangs peopling the wastelands; a tribe of butch lesbians, whose leader is modeled on Grace Jones (!); psychopathic hot-rodders and bikers; the Nulloids, a collection of deformed, homicidal mutants; neo-Nazis; and The Family, an inbred clan of backwoods types who take inspiration from 'The Texas Chainsaw Massacre'.

Paul Gulacy's artwork is excellent, despite the rather crude color separations used in 80s comics. And Moench's plotting carefully teeters on the edge of satire, even as it barrels along with little in the way of filler.

Visually, Gulacy's artwork represents the 80s aesthetic so faithfully that 'Slash Maraud' can be placed in a time capsule as a quintessential representation of the decade's fashion and graphic style.

You name it, every excess of 80s fashion is on display here: 

Zebra-stripe bodysuits........ sleeveless leather vests.......... Blade Runner trenchcoats.....  mousse-supported spiked and New Wave hairdos......... Frederick's of Hollywood bindage and fetish gear.........Punk stylings.....

With the passage of time I have come to regard 'Slash Maraud' as a must-have classic of 80s comic art, a story that certainly is more entertaining than much of the superhero material churned out in that era by the major publishers. 

If you have a liking for satirical humor mixed with well-done action sequences, then you'll probably want to check the online comic book stores, or online auctions, for a set of all 6 issues (which still are quite affordable).

Book Review: Stress Pattern

Book Review: 'Stress Pattern' by Neal Barrett, Jr.

2 / 5 Stars

‘Stress Pattern’ (160 pp) is DAW Book No. 128, published in November, 1974, with a cover illustration by Josh Kirby.

Andrew Gavin is an economics professor who, following a major malfunction of his spaceship, finds himself stranded on an unknown planet.

He is saved from death from thirst and hunger by the chance passing of a humanoid alien named 'Phrecti', who, although indifferent to Gavin, nonetheless directs him to sources of food and water.

Tagging along with the noncommittal Phrecti introduces Gavin to a unique method of travel: inside the digestive tract of an enormous earthworm, as it tunnels its way under the planet’s surface.

Gavin soon encounters other tribes of humanoids, some more welcoming than others, and arrives at some semblance of normalcy in terms of his castaway status.

However, Gavin discovers that life on his planetary refuge simply gets stranger and more inexplicable with each passing day. His humanoid neighbors are utterly devoid of imagination or drive, content to embrace the status quo of their primitive existence.

Unable to succumb to universal apathy, Gavin sets off on a journey, the destination of which is unknown even to him. But travel he must, for until he can gain an explanation of some purpose or meaning to life on his adopted home, he will never rest easily.

‘Stress Pattern’ was Neal Barrett Jr.’s fifth novel. It’s not a bad novel, but neither is it a classic of 70s sf.

The intense, violent action that characterizes his later novels, such as ‘Through Darkest America’, are entirely absent here, as Barrett focuses on quirky humor in the style of those many Analog novels and short stories of the 60s and 70s in which the narrative focused on the solving of some sort of planetary puzzle or conundrum.

‘Pattern’ does avoid the New Wave affectations that preoccupied many writers who began writing sf in the 70s, staying firmly grounded in a declarative, straightforward narrative.

There is a strong element of satire to the adventures encountered by protagonist Gavin, as he struggles to come to terms with the bizarre aspects of the aliens among whom he must make his home.

‘Pattern’ belongs to the sub-genre of sf in which an Earthman struggles to arrive at a critical revelation about the strange, alien world on which he finds himself. As with most such novels, there is a Big Revelation that comes in the final chapter. I won’t disclose any spoilers, but I was disappointed with the somewhat contrived nature of the revelation provided in ‘Stress Pattern’ .

In summary, readers may want to pass on 'Stress Pattern' in favor of Barrett's later novels, such as the 'Aldair' series, or the 'Darkest America' series.

Heavy Metal magazine May 1978

'Heavy Metal' magazine, May, 1978

The May, 1978 issue of Heavy Metal featured a striking front cover by Philippe Druillet, and a back cover by Tom Barber.

Along with installments of 'Airtight Garage', 'Barbarella', '1996', 'Urm', and 'Orion', there is an advertisement for science fiction / fantasy art books, primarily works by Roger Dean, and the newly launched 'Ariel: The Book of Fantasy'. Patrick Woodroffe's 'Mythopoeikon' was perhaps the best in the lot.

Among a number of good-quality, shorter strips was a three-pager by Sergio Macedo, titled 'An Image'.

Book Review: Interfaces

Book Review: 'Interfaces' by Ursula K. Le Guin and Virginia Kidd

2 / 5 Stars

‘Interfaces’ (310 pp) was published by Ace Books in February, 1980; the cover illustration is by Alex Abel.

In the Introduction – which consists of an interview with each of the editors – Ursula Le Guin and Virginia Kidd declare that ‘Interfaces’ is indeed primarily an sf anthology, despite the cover allusions to ‘Speculative Fiction’. ‘Interfaces’ contains original stories (and poems) written exclusively for the anthology by both established, and new, writers.

Needless to say, 'Interfaces' is dedicated to showcasing the New Wave movement, even though by 1980 the movement was plainly exhausted, both creatively and economically.

My capsule summaries of the contents:

‘The Reason for the Visit’, by John Crowley: an author has conversations with the ghost of a deceased writer. This story is as lame as it sounds.

‘Set Piece’, by Jill Paton Walsh: slight fable about two young men, and the paths they choose through Life.

‘Everything Blowing Up: An Adventure of Una Persson, Heroine of Time and Space’, by Hilary Bailey: Michael Moorcock’s heroine Una Persson journeys across the ever-changing landscape of the Multiverse on an important mission.

‘The New Zombies’, by Avram Davidson and Grania Davis: The best story in the anthology. Davidson and his wife tell a tale of San Francisco, the seamier aspects of its hippy culture, and the unpleasant activities hidden under the peace and love vibe. Sits alongside Harlan Ellison’s ‘Shattered Like A Glass Goblin’ as a shrewd exploration of the squalid nature of the hippy generation.

‘Earth and Stone’, by Robert Holdstock: a time traveler from the future journeys to the British isles of 3,000 BC to study a Neolithic tomb-building tribe. He discovers disturbing rituals, and a world-view traumatic to his sensibilities. This story has the underpinnings of a good tale, but its unwieldy length, self-absorption with ancient languages, and the histrionics of the main character, leech too much momentum from the narrative.

‘A Short History of the Bicycle: 401 BC to 2677 AD’, by Michael Bishop: an effort at a humorous, vaguely satirical ‘speculative’ fiction piece, involving a planet where bicycles are living beings. The worst story in the anthology.

‘Shadows, Moving’, by Vonda McIntyre: aged person makes the Final Journey. Tries to mix pathos and quasi-religious optimism, but winds up just…..unremarkable.

‘The Pastseer’ by Philippa C. Maddern: the wise woman of a primitive tribe channels the Jungian consciousness of her people in order to direct their migrations. Trouble sets in when she has visions of otherwordly intent. Imaginative, if handicapped with too-vague an ending.

‘Hunger and the Computer’ by Gary Weimberg: spaceman confronts dysfunctional machinery. Unsuccessful effort at a ‘Twilght Zone’- style story.

‘Household Gods’ by Daphne Castell: offbeat take on the ‘alien invasion’ story. Another of the better entries in the anthology.

‘Bender, Fenugreek, Slatterman and Mupp’ by D. G. Compton: regimented life in a near-future dystopia. A more cleanly-written, coherent short story than the type Compton usually wrote, so I was pleased.

‘Precession’ by Edward Bryant: a man is afflicted by a unique ailment that abruptly places him out of phase with the passage of time. An interesting concept, but Bryant’s use of a too-figurative prose style, and a focus on the Heartache of Sundered Relationships, fails to sustain.

‘A Criminal Proceeding’ by Gene Wolfe: labored satire of a trial set in a future Idiocracy. The second-worst tale in the anthology.

‘For Whom Are Those Serpents Whistling Overhead ?’ by Jean Femling: bored housewife encounters a mythical creature.

‘The Summer Sweet, the Winter Wild’ by Michael G. Coney: the gestalt consciousness of a caribou herd serves as the third-person narrator of an eventful period for the herd.

‘Slow Music’ by James Tiptree, Jr (i.e., Alice Bradley Sheldon): as Cosmic Reincarnation grips the Earth, a young couple embark on a fateful romantic relationship. Somewhat unlike Tiptree’s usual man + woman stories of the mid- to later- 70s, the conflict between the genders is more nuanced, and less acerbic, than he (she) usually portrayed such topics..

The anthology features a number of short (one page) poems, all of which are not really recognizable as sf.

In summary, ‘Interfaces’ is neither any worse, nor any better, than the other short story anthologies released during the New Wave era. 

‘The New Zombies’ can be found in dedicated Davidson anthologies, so potential buyers must weigh the value of the other stories in ‘Interfaces’, as they come to their decision.

'Father Shandor, Demon Stalker'
'The Empire of Sin'
from Warrior (UK) No. 5, September, 1982

Artist David Jackson continues his impressive pen-and-ink work on this installment of the Father Shandor saga. 

When you compare the quality of the art in this comic from 1982, with that appearing nowadays in the seemingly endless slew of 'B.P.R.D.' comics from Dark Horse, there's no comparison

A single panel of Jackson's intricate cross-hatching and shading is superior to the entire B.P.R.D. catalog. 

 

Debbie Harry, 1977

Debbie Harry
photoshoot, 1977
from the book Punk: The Whole Story, 2006

'The Bus' by Paul Kirchner

Book Review: 'The Embedding' by Ian Watson

1 / 5 Stars

‘The Embedding’ was published by Gollanz (UK) in 1973. This Bantam Books paperback (217 pp) was released in April 1977, with a cover illustration by Paul Lehr.

‘Embedding’ was English author Watson’s first novel.

The book contains two alternating sub-plots, both of which eventually mesh later in the narrative. In one sub-plot, Chris Sole, a linguist at a research institute in England, is working with traumatized, semi-catatonic Bangladeshi refugee children (?!) and trying various elaborate social conditioning methods – including a brain-stimulating drug – to get them to communicate.

In the other sub-plot, a French anthropologist named Pierre is living with a tribe of Amazonian Indians called the Xemahoa. The Xemahoa possess two languages, one being a ‘conventional’ method of spoken communication. The other Xemahoa language is an ill-defined, esoteric form of semi-telepathic communication that involves taking hallucinogenic drugs, which in turn triggers an all-encompassing Awareness of the True Nature of the World.

When an alien spaceship is discovered en route to Earth, both of these plots begin to converge, as the communication becomes the all-important key to managing First Contact.

‘The Embedding’ was a struggle to get through.

Author Watson was intent on using various linguistic theories, that were hip and trendy in the early 70s, as the underpinning of his novel. Many passages are over-written efforts to introduce concepts of a Universal Consciousness through Communication, and these paradigms are too half-baked, and too tepid, to drive the narrative.

The reader must confront clunky mediocre exchanges of dialogue, such as this interaction with one of the aliens:

“Not so,” howled Ph’theri , raising both arms and tick-tacking his thumbs in the utmost anger or agitation. “We Sp’thra are not sick. We are aware. Change Speakers exist – in another reality plane ! When they phased with This-Reality, the event set up a resonance which is this Bereft Love and this Anguish and this Grim Haunting all at once. You have not known this. No other race has. The Change Speakers modulate all the reality tangents to the plane of our embedding here….”

Even FanFic dialogue is superior !

‘The Embedding’ is a yet another New Wave sf novel that concentrated too hard on layering its narrative with gimmicky tropes from the soft sciences – psychology, sociology, anthropology, etc. – while failing to tell a good story in the process.

Unless you are a dedicated follower of linguistic theorizing, this book can be passed by without penalty.