The Hacker Files issue 2

The Hacker Files
by Lewis Shiner (story) and Tom Sutton (art)
issue 2
DC Comics, September 1992

In episode two of 'Soft War', we learn a bit more about why Jack Marshall so dislikes corporate types, and those from Digitronix, in particular. We also meet the members of the hacker collective that support's Marshall's efforts.....and the crisis taking place in the Pentagon's network takes a turn for the worse......

In the absence of any letters yet, Lewis Shiner devotes the letters column to an informative, 'I Was There' rundown of the history of cyberpunk....definitely worth reading !

Palm Sunday

Palm Sunday
by Alan Weiss (script and art)
from Amazing High Adventure (Marvel Comics)
Issue 2, September 1985

Amazing High Adventure was an anthology comic book that Marvel published intermittently for 5 issues, from August 1984 - December 1986.

The book was edited by Carl Potts, one of the more talented artist / writers on the Marvel editorial staff at the time, and Potts selected material that was, by and large, of good quality and presented as well as anything could, in an era when Marvel and other major comic book publishers has switched to cheaper, plastic printing plates.

Amazing High Adventure was a conscious effort on Marvel's part to create an anthology that mimicked the classic 'men's adventure' magazines of the 50s and 60s. Rather than stories centered on superheroes, AHA focused on 'realistic' stories set in actual historical periods.

The second issue, released in September 1985, featured a nicely illustrated tale by writer/artist Alan Wiess titled 'Palm Sunday'. I've posted it below.

Heavy Metal magazine March 1985

'Heavy Metal' magazine March 1985

March, 1985, and in heavy rotation on FM radios and MTV is Julian Lennon's second hit single, 'Too Late for Goodbyes'.

The latest issue of Heavy Metal magazine is on the stands, with a front cover by Luis Royo and a striking back cover by Caza.

The 'Dossier' section has a review of Philip K. Dick's novels by erstwhile 'Rok' Critic Lou Stathis.....Stathis tosses in K. W. Jeter's 'Dr. Adder' as being in the Dick Canon.

Another Dossier page provides reviews of recently released sf novels, including Scholz and Harcourt's Ace Special 'Palimpsests.'  Reviewer Robert Morales praises the novel's 'Pynchonesque narrative' and 'Ballardian introspection'........personally, I gave up on 'Palimpsests' after the first 25 pages, because it sucked..........

The third part of Charles Burns's El Borbah comic 'Bone Voyage' is published; I have posted it below, and for the sake of continuity, I also include the second installment, which had appeared in the February,1985 issue of Heavy Metal.

Book Review: Hecate's Cauldron

Book Review: 'Hecate's Cauldron' edited by Susan M. Schwartz

3 / 5 Stars

‘Hecate’s Cauldron’ (256 pp) was published by DAW (book No. 469) in February, 1982; the cover artwork is by Michael Whelan.

In her Introduction, Editor Susan Schwartz describes the role of the witch, or sorceress, in world literature, indicating that in assembling stories for this anthology, she elected entries that avoided the traditional treatment of the witch as a figure necessarily limited to medieval European legend and history. 

Accordingly, the majority of the stories in ‘Cauldron’ are not tales of warty old crones casting spells and riding brooms, but rather, are fantasy stories that prominently feature female characters.

All of the stories in this volume were specially commissioned or solicited for this book.

My short summaries of the entries:

Boris Chernevsky’s Hands, by Jane Yolen: in the far future, a young man of Russian descent encounters Baba Yaga.

Mirage and Magic, by Tanith Lee: at this period of her career, Lee routinely over-wrote her fantasy short stories; this tale, however encrusted with self-consciously ornate prose, deals with a sorceress who is converting a city’s young men into shambling simpletons.

Willow, by C. J. Cherryh: Cherryh, also intent on using a prose style heavily modeled on the prose of Ye Olde Mythes and Legendes, offers a dark, brooding tale of a battle-weary knight and his encounter with manifestations of the Goddess.

Moon Mirror, by Andre Norton: a Witch World tale; the young woman protagonist has an encounter with a magical pond. A rather unremarkable tale from Norton.

The Sage of Theare, by Diana Wynne Jones: the weakest entry in the anthology. This story uses a humorous approach to the adventures of the mortal son of the God Apollo, who finds his earthly destiny with the aid of the mage Chrestomanci, a character from Jones’s previous fiction. Devoid of any witches, sorceresses, or other lead female characters, this story undoubtedly showed editor Schwartz what happens sometimes with these invited anthologies: you’re stuck with what your contributors give you............

The Harmonious Battle, by Jessica Amanda Salmonson: derived from Japanese myth and legend, this story deals with a female samurai and her adventures in the spirit world.

Science is Magic Spelled Backwards, by Jacqueline Lichtenberg: a contemporary setting is used for this humorous tale of a young woman, an engineer at a nuclear power plant, who gets timely advice from her mother and her mother’s coven.

An Act of Faith, by Galad Elflandson: this is really the only entry in the book that is set in medieval Europe, in this instance, Norway. It’s a grim, violent story about the village seeress and herbalist who confronts the depredations of Christians seeking to convert the heathens. Its treatment of Christianity is unabashedly scathing.

Witch Fulfillment, by Jean Lorrah: another contemporary setting, and another humorous tale; Mary Sue Clyatt consults occult wisdom and makes a bargain with a demon for earthly fame, riches, and romance.

Ishigbi, by Charles Saunders: Saunders, the author of the 'Imaro' stories, offers a downbeat and bloody tale about an African witch who takes vengeance on a fellow sorcerer. One of the better stories in the anthology.

Bethane, by Katherine Kurtz: a Deryni story. The title character, and elderly healer and herbalist, confronts old hatreds when asked to render aid to the children of the nobility.

The Riddle of Hekaite, by Diana L. Paxson: the Queen of a besieged kingdom makes a fateful bargain with the Goddess, who demands her due. Another of the better entries in the collection.

Reunion, by Jayge Carr: retelling of the myth of Persephone, with a modern, slightly sardonic tenor.

Summing up ? ‘Hecate’s Cauldron’, while inevitably containing its share of underwhelming entries, is a reasonably successful anthology overall. It’s an indication that by the early 80s, fiction by women was coming into its own in the world of fantasy publishing, and that DAW was at the forefront…. And thus, ‘Cauldron’ is a premonition of the fact that women would come to constitute the major audience for fantasy literature.

The Venus Interface

The Venus Interface
Heavy Metal magazine graphic novel
1989

In January of 1980, Heavy Metal editor Tim White decided to emulate the magazine's French counterpart (i.e., Metal Hurlant) and add monthly review columns for books, comic books, music, and films. The 'Muzick' column was assigned to Lou Stathis.

Lou Stathis, NYC, Summer 1986

[Note to modern-day readers: nowadays, the occupation / pastime of 'Rock Critic' has all but vanished from the cultural and media landscape. But back in 1980, 'Rock Criticism' was still a major component of pop culture. Although the genre would not survive the arrival of the Internet in the 90s, in the 80s, the magazine shelves contained a number of titles devoted to the topic. The foremost, and still surviving, example was Rolling Stone, but there also were Creem, Circus, and a sizable, ever-changing lineup of other, more fleeting titles.]

Stathis (1952 - 1997) wrote columns that were not very different from those being produced by other rock critics of the era. Like those other critics, Stathis adopted an arch, too-hip-to-be-fully-understood tenor in his writing (for example, he used the word 'rok' in place of 'rock'); and his columns were less about actually reviewing music, and more about showcasing Stathis's exquisitely jaundiced, world-weary attitudes regarding a variety of cultural topics. 

Stathis - like every other rock critic of the late 70s - early 80s - routinely praised performers in the Punk, New Wave, Electronic, and avante-garde genres, while disparaging 'mainstream' acts. 

Stathis was particularly prone to showcasing 'alternative' rock groups that were laboring in (often well-deserved) obscurity, since for him, searching out and showcasing these bands was a potent reminder to readers as to just how cutting-edge Lou Stathis could be.

Here's an excerpt from his column for the May, 1980 issue of Heavy Metal, in which Stathis waxes eloquent about a single from the New Wave band 'Fad Gadget', issued on an obscure UK label called 'Mute Records'. 

Note Stathis's use of phrases such as 'electrotunesmiths', 'manic minimalism', 'aggressively optimistic electropop', and 'counterpointed synthesizer melodies.'  That's how Rok Criticism is done !

[There actually is a surviving Fad Gadget video clip posted to YouTube, titled 'Collapsing New People'...........!   While it's unintentionally funny, it's no better, and no worse, than any other New Wave / Synth Band song issued on the indie labels in the UK back in that era.]

Later on in the decade, Stathis was eventually promoted to Associate Editor at Heavy Metal, and when the magazine dropped the review columns, he began writing some of the comic / graphic content of the magazine. 

Which brings us to 'The Venus Interface'. Released as a 'Heavy Metal Graphic Novel' (although in reality it's a just typical, square-bound version of the magazine) it was issued in 1989. The story was written by Stathis, with the artwork is supplied by a team of 7, including well-known HM contributor Arthur Suydam.

In his Author's Note, Stathis indicates that (inevitably) William Burroughs and Philip K. Dick were his literary inspirations, while the New Wave band Joy Division's track Interface was "........a song that helped set my mind during the writing."

Without revealing any spoilers: the heroine of the story, named Sheldon, possesses the ability to take the shape of any of the hundreds of races populating the galaxy. When not shape-shifting, Sheldon (conveniently for Heavy Metal readers) is a lithe brunette who wears little - if any - clothing.

Sheldon's ability catches the attentions of the Director of the Coca-Farben conglomerate. The complex life-extension treatments that have kept The Director alive are failing, and his only hope for survival is to collect various tissues and essences from a number of the galaxy's races. Once collected, the tissues will be extracted to create a formula for eternal youth.

Sheldon has misgivings about the assignment, but the pay - and the prospect of getting her own dose of the rejuvenation formula - lead her to accept.

The bulk of the story deals with Sheldon's efforts to acquire the needed specimens from some of the galaxy's more bizarre, and unpleasant, worlds. These efforts require Sheldon to adopt the forms of lubricious teletubbies, robots, fish, and insects....

Stathis's writing isn't very original, using the first-person narrative of the world-weary private-eye who is taking on what they know will be a dirty job. There is a determined effort to mimic the writing style of Burroughs; most of the dialogue is a stream of cynical quips, and tart one-liners. The plot also shows the influence of the Cyberpunks, which isn't surprising.

The artwork in 'Venus' is, overall, pretty good. Arthur Suydam's contributions are particularly noteworthy.....it's yet another case of outstanding draftsmanship and coloring buoying an underwhelming story.

Mark Pacella also contributes some pleasing artwork.

I found the section contributed by Peter Kuper to be unimpressive.......

That of Kenneth Smith is a bit too garish and cartoony for my tastes, but it does work......

Michael Uman's art strikes me as being too derivative of Bill Sienkiewicz........

While that of Jim Fletcher - which bookends the opening and closing segments of 'Venus' - holds up well.......

Summing up, I read 'The Venus Interface' with the expectation that it would mirror - for the worse - the self-indulgent, pretentious writing style Stathis employed for his Rok columns. But all things considered, 'Venus' is better than I expected it to be, mainly because the majority of the artwork is fine enough to buttress the plot.

If you are a fan of the Heavy Metal issues of the 80s, and you can find a copy of 'Venus' for $5 (which is what happened to me), then it is worth picking up. Compared to contemporary sf graphic novels, like The Manhattan Projects, Black Science, and the over-praised Saga, it fares well.

Book Review: Monument

Book Review: 'Monument' by Ian Graham

5 / 5 Stars

‘Monument’ first was published in hardback in 2002; Ace Books released this mass-market paperback version in March, 2005. The outstanding cover painting is by Jerry Vanderstelt.

I don’t usually review books published after the late 80s – early 90s, but in the case of ‘Monument’ I am making an exception, mainly because it’s one of the best fantasy novels published in the last 20 years, particularly in the sub-category of ‘dark fantasy’. It’s superior to any number of novels from authors like China Mieville, Tim Lebbon, Patrick Rothfuss, Peter Brett, Alan Campbell, Mark Lawrence, Brent Weeks, Neil Gaiman, Clive Barker, etc. etc.

And what makes ‘Monument’ all the more impressive is that it was the first published novel from Ian Graham, a bookseller who lives in a village in northern England.

‘Monument’ is set in Druine, a medieval world where magic exists, but is outlawed by the oppressive Pilgrim Church, whose Wardens have the power to summarily arrest anyone they suspect is violating the Church’s precepts. Heretics so apprehended often are condemned to a painful death, their heads mounted upon the trunk and branches of the Penance Oak in the city square.

The protagonist is a huge, ugly, unkempt man named Anhaga Ballas. Ballas is a vagrant, a thief and a drunkard. Ballas is not your usual fantasy hero; lice crawl through his hair and his food-matted beard, and the stench from his un-washed body leads gentler folk to avoid his company. 

Ballas is utterly amoral, and will quite happily knock an innocent senseless if it will allow him to steal enough coins for a flagon of rotgut wine and a dalliance with the cheapest of prostitutes.

As 'Monument' opens, Ballas is lying prostrate on a back alley of the city of Soriterath, the victim of a severe beating. He is rescued by a conscientious priest named Brethrien. When Ballas recovers his health, Brethrien sends him on an errand to the house of a scholar named Calden. There Ballas glimpses a jewel of unusual design and craftsmanship…..a jewel he endeavors to steal.

But as the unwitting Ballas is to discover, the jewel he covets is no ordinary trinket, but an artifact potent with the magic of Druine’s former inhabitants, the long - exterminated race of the humanoid Lectivins. And when the Pilgrim Church discovers what Ballas knows about the jewel, they will issue an Edict calling for his capture and execution...........and they will pursue him over the entire width of Druine.

For Ballas, the only hope of survival rests upon fleeing across hundreds of miles of wilderness to reach the northern refuge of Belthirran.

But no one he meets believes that Belthirran even exists……..!

‘Monument’ is at heart a chase novel, built around a straightforward narrative that deals with Ballas’s efforts to escape the ever-tightening noose being drawn by the Church. Graham avoids the over-writing so common to many contemporary fantasy novels, and instead relies on a clean, unadorned prose style that, despite the book’s length of 452 pages, keeps the plot continually moving along in a true 'page-turner' manner.

Graham also relies on frequent episodes of violence to impart momentum to the narrative, acts of mayhem related in the sharp, crisp style reminiscent of the best crime fiction.

‘Monument’ isn’t perfect; its characters are overly prone to launching into extended speeches, and Ballas at times seems to lead so charmed a life that his encounters with his pursuers are predictable in terms of outcome. But what this novel does so very well is to merge the day-to-day reality of a medieval world, in all its gritty, nasty, and brutish glory, with the tropes and trappings of a fantasy novel. The elements of fantasy and magic that appear in ‘Monument’ are infrequent, but always well-placed and not contrived, giving the book the sort of grounding that is absent in many others of the genre.

If you have yet to read ‘Monument’, then it’s certainly worth picking up. 

Graham took quite some time to craft his second novel, but in 2015,  a prequel to 'Monument', titled 'The Path of the Hawk', appeared. A paperback version is available from your usual online retailers.