Book Review: Glory Season

Book Review: 'Glory Season' by David Brin

4 / 5 Stars

‘Glory Season’ was first published in 1993 in hardback; this Bantam Spectra paperback was issued in 1994. The cover illustration is by Gary Ruddell.

The planet Stratos is not your usual, run-of-the-mill colonized world. Settled thousands of years ago by a rogue technocrat named Lysos, who elected to shun any contact with the Federation, Stratos is designed to represent the ultimate Gyn/Ecology: a society governed by collections of matriarchies, each comprised of female clones generated via parthenogenesis. 

Serving as a sort of lumpen proletariat to the clones are the ‘vars’, women birthed from regular sexual reproduction. As the progeny of sweaty couplings, the vars are destined for subservience, and have few aspirations beyond founding their own modest matriarchies, modeled on those exhibited by their cloned superiors. 

On Stratos, men are relegated to a minor role in terms of population, occupation, and status; at select times of the year they contribute to the conception of the vars, but thereafter are consigned to stay separated from their offspring, and women, for most of their lives. 

Maia and her sister Leie are teenaged vars, and as the novel opens they are leaving their childhood home for mandatory exile and career-seeking amid the merchant fleets of the Eastern Continent. Despite their lack of nautical experience, the sisters procure positions on the tramp steamer Wotan. They embark on series of adventures set among the coasts and inland regions of the Eastern continent.

As they go about their exploration of Stratos, the twins become more aware of a note of uncertainty in their world’s politics: after centuries of isolation, a Federation  scout ship has arrived in orbit around Stratos, and its passenger is rumored to have landed on the planet to parley with the ruling oligarchies. 

The reintroduction of possible contact with the Federation is a double-edged sword; many factions on Stratos want nothing to do with the Federation and its distressing aura of Patriarchy. 

For these clone factions, the social order must be preserved at all costs; the uninvited visitor must be prevented from introducing change and disruption to Stratoin society. 

But for many var factions, the chance for access to new technologies, technologies promising to overturn the strictures of Stratos society, technologies promising hitherto unthinkable advancement for the underclass, is a chance that must not go unexploited.

Maia soon finds herself befriending the envoy from the Federation, a circumstance that makes her an unwilling participant in the bitter, and increasingly violent, conflicts between factions.  For the envoy knows things about Stratos and the planet’s history, information that the ruling class is adamant about keeping hidden from both men and vars….

At 773 pages in length, ‘Glory’ is a brick of a book. Somewhat inevitably in a book of this length, author Brin tends to devote a bit too much text to the internal musings and conflicts of Maia, his main character. 

As well, an overly large amount of the narrative is preoccupied with Game Theory and evolutionary modeling. Later in the novel fractals, another hot topic in the early 90s science scene, gets a belabored treatment. 

But (somewhat surprisingly) the book is quite readable, no mean feat for so lengthy a narrative, and  I didn’t have too much trouble going through hefty chunks of it in one sitting. 

Brin wisely avoids plastering his novel with too much exposition on gender theory and the rivalries between Men and Womyn, a weakness I've observed in books with similar themes written by female authors. 

[Gor fanboys should note, this is not their type of novel.]

‘Glory Season’ is a good example of an ‘epic’ SF novel written with the crisp, clear style required for such endeavors, and it’s worth searching out.

'Shatter' issue 3

 'Shatter' issue three was released in June 1986; Steven Grant handled the scripting chores while Steve Erwin and Bob Dienethal handled the artwork.

The inside-cover Letters Page touches on the arcane topic of whether a curved line is too perfect to have been drawn on a MacIntosh...! 

This was computer artwork ca. mid-1986, after all.

 In this issue, Shatter - aka Sadr Al-Din Morales - finds himself unhappy with serving as a thrall to the Alien Nation and its overlord, Unrath.

Deciding to light out for home, he stumbles upon an orgy (?!) and later, a whip-wielding dominatrix (?!)...

His escape attempt unsuccessful, Shatter must stand beside Unrath and watch as the forces of conglomerate 'Simon Schuster Jovanovich' close in on the Nation....

we'll see what happens next issue......

A Gallery of Grotesques from Richard Corben

top to bottom: 

'The Rats in the Walls', Skull No. 5, 1972

'Bigfoot', IDW, No. 4, May 2005

three panels from the 'Cage' graphic novel, Marvel, 2003

'Hellboy: The Crooked Man', issue No. 1, Dark Horse, July 2008

'Hellboy in Mexico', Dark Horse, May 2010

'Sinbad in the Land of the Jinn', Heavy Metal, February 1979

panel from the 'Cage' graphic novel

'How Howie Made It in the Real World', Slow Death No. 2, 1972

'5:00' by Mark Fisher

from the August 1981 issue of Heavy Metal

Book Review: The Shores of Tomorrow

Book Review: 'The Shores of Tomorrow' by David Mason

2 / 5 Stars

‘The Shores of Tomorrow’ (240 pp.) was published by Lancer Books in 1971; the striking cover illustration is by Jim Steranko. 

David Mason (1924 – 1974) wrote a number of SF novels in the late 60s – early 70s, before dying at the comparatively young age of 50.

On a parallel Earth where the Civil War took place a century after it did in ‘our’ Earth, veteran Ian Kinnon is enjoying rural life with a wife and young son. As a result of the war, the America he resides in is at a 19^th century level of technology. When Kinnon rides out on his horse for a early-morning deer hunt, he is thus astonished to see a dirigible-shaped spacecraft materialize on a slope overlooking his village.

To Kinnon’s horror, the spacecraft discharges a party of raiders, who descend on the village to enslave its citizens, killing any who resist. Kinnon takes command of the village militia and succeeds in defeating the invaders. 

Seizing their ship, he is further astounded to discover that it moves not through space, but through dimensions filled with parallel worlds – thousands of Americas where the course of history is slightly different.

Kinnon embarks on a mission of vengeance: find the parallel Earth housing the home base of the loathsome 'Char Qua' raiders, and destroy it. But destroying the Char Qua will require the cooperation of the lords of the multiverse, the aristocratic Shimri, and the Shimri have their own reasons for not wanting a homespun man from a primitive society warring through the dimensions on his own crusade………. 

‘Shores’ starts off well, generating a fast—moving narrative that credibly leverages the parallel worlds theme regularly employed in sci-fi. Unfortunately, by the mid-point of the novel author Mason devotes considerable text to the psychological intrigues between Kinnon and an alluring Shimri priestess named Nesha. The reader is treated to page after page of wooden dialogue marked by the heavy use of ellipses:

“Then…it’s true”, she said, in the same small, terrified voice. “You…do have the Powers.”

“Yes. I was…. very angry.”

“I….try not to grow too angry”, Nesha said.

The novel picks up momentum in its last 25 pages, but getting there requires some patience that I suspect many readers will not be willing to provide.  

‘Shores’ is perhaps best viewed as a less adroit imitation of the many sci-fi adventure tales Michael Moorcock regularly produced during the early 70s.

'1996' by Chantal Montelier

from Heavy Metal magazine, Summer 1977 issues

Three warped episodes of '1996'...

......and an entertaining Letter to the Editor........

The Transmutation of Ike Garuda

'The Transmutation of Ike Garuda', Epic Comics, 1991

Epic Comics, an offshoot of Marvel's Epic Illustrated magazine, published a number of SF and fantasy-related series through the 80s and early 90s. Some of these comics were pretty good, while others were failed experiments. 'Ike Garuda' falls into the latter category.

Writer Elaine Lee takes the traditional private eye tale and places it in the far future, when interstellar travel is mediated via teleportation; the traveler submerges himself or herself in the hi-tech equivalent of a mud bath and wakes up light-years away in another mud bath somewhere else. 

Teleportation technology is owned and operated by the Tranzit Authority, a monopoly that gives the Authority tremendous political and economic power.

The plot starts off mildly coherent, and quickly becomes totally incoherent by the end of the first of the two issues. 

As best as I could make out, Ike is hired to track down a missing magnate, who may or may not be working on a forbidden technology that could permit independent teleportation, free of Authority control. It's not a bad plot device on which to craft a two-issue comic series, but author Lee tries to do too much with the available page length, and her narrative quickly collapses under its own weight.

James Sherman's artwork (below) features a clean, but cartoony, style that calls to mind many of the European strips that appeared in the mid-80s issues of Heavy Metal. There is of course plenty of nudity to get the attention of the Heavy Metal readership.

I can't recommend searching out and purchasing the original issues of 'Ike Garuda',  but grabbing the series from a file share source might be worth a try if you're into this type of SF comic.

Heavy Metal August 1981

'Heavy Metal' magazine August 1981

The August 1981 issue of 'Heavy Metal' not unsurprisingly devotes 16 pages to promoting the upcoming animated film, hoping to energize attendance by revealing titillating graphics of  female characters ('The Legend of Taarna') in leather bikinis.

There is some good stuff in this issue: the final installment of an interview with Richard Corben; 'Paradise Lost' by Mora and Gimenez; 'Pigs on the Wing' by Yeates and Feduniewicz; and another great strip from Caza titled 'Homo Detritus'.

Some articles devoted to music, comics, books, and film remain from the Ted White era, albeit in much truncated fashion in a two-page 'Dossier' section, scanned below. 

Even with a more limited Word Count at his disposal, music critic Lou Stathis continues to be as pretentious as always, this time lavishing praise on John Cale, who along with Tom Waits (and probably John Prine), were every 70s rock critic's One True Loves. 

Ralph T. Castle uses his small piece to slam the 1981 Hugo nominees, with some merit to his remarks (although I still think 'Lord Valentine's Castle' is much superior to any and all of Silverberg's novels of the 70s).

This issue of HM also contains another installment of Sternako's outstanding illustrations for the 'Outland' graphic novel, posted below in 300 dpi res:

Book Review: The Day Star

Book Review: 'The Day Star' by Mark Geston

 2 / 5 Stars

‘The Day Star’ is DAW Book No. 6 and was released in 1972; the cover art, and several fine pen-and-ink illustrations in the book’s interior, were done by George Barr.

The plot is more fantasy / fable than SF. In the Earth of the far future, a young man named Thel wanders the streets of a city named ‘R’, a city gripped by entropy. His companions in this joyless town are the ghost of an ancestor, named Pagent; and a wizard named Marne. 

The world is in prolonged decline due to a calamity that befell the most remarkable city in history: Ferrin. 

Ferrin’s citizenry had succeeded in creating an artificial star, the Day Star of the book’s title, a star capable of slowing time and prolonging human life. When the star unexpectedly decayed, entropy was freed to invade the Earth and render life miserable for all the peoples in the territories and cities outside Ferrin.

When Thel and Pagent recover a fragment of the Day Star, they decide to embark on a journey to Ferrin, in the hopes of aiding in the effort to re-construct the Star and restore the world to its former glory. En route they encounter various dangers and perils, for Chaos seeks to impede the advent of a second Day Star. 

Despite being only 126 pages in length, ‘Day Star’ is a ponderous read. Author Geston was intent on emulating the highly stylized, poetically-tinged diction of Ray Bradbury, and as a result negotiating paragraphs, much less entire pages, is an exercise in patience. There is much use of metaphors and similes: the Sun Retreats, Winds Shriek, Rockets Dangle Obscenely (from the Bellies of Aircraft), the Wind Leaves Solitary Grains of Memory Behind in its Passing, etc. 

Only readers intent on sitting down with a very slow-paced, introspective, almost self-indulgent piece of fiction will find 'The Day Star' rewarding. Others are best passing on this ‘old school’ Daw Books entry.