Book Review: Sandworld

Book Review: 'Sandworld' by Richard A. Lupoff

2 / 5 Stars

‘Sandworld’ (188 pp.) was published by Berkley in 1976; the cover artist is uncredited.

It’s a dark and stormy night in northern California. San Quentin prison convicts ‘Red’ O’Reilly, Bennie Nebayan, and Willie B. Hutkin are being driven to a courthouse in San Fran by prison guard Marc Mauriello. Along for the ride is civil rights monitor and ACLU attorney Alice Michaelson. After a particularly intense bolt of lightning strikes the pavement in the vicinity of their car, the group are stunned to discover that they have somehow been teleported to the surface of a planet located light-years from the Milky Way galaxy.

The planet (facetiously dubbed ‘Else’) is a desert planet, and our heroes are forced to undertake a trek across the trackless wastes in search of water. Along the way they become aware that someone – or something – is watching them. It turns out the planet is home to a race of aliens who consume the blood and soft tissues of their victims: a race of ‘vampires’.

Red O’Reilly takes on the role of leader as the group struggles to survive the nighttime attacks of the bloodthirsty aliens. When they enter the ruins of a once-great city, will they find a way to escape the vampires and return home to Earth ? Or do even worse perils await them as they explore the long- dead culture of a depleted planet ?

Richard Lupoff authored a large number of novels and short stories during the late 60s and 70s, many in the pulp style, and thus was potentially well-qualified for this effort at an Old School SF adventure. However, ‘Sandworld’ fails to live up to the billing announced on its back cover: ‘A novel of high adventure, action, and fantastic imagination.’

The narrative moves very slowly as the author belabors the psychological turmoil experienced by the inadvertent space travelers, and devotes excessive text to angry exchanges between the erstwhile prisoners and their jailor. In fact, the ‘vampires’ doesn’t even make an appearance until 50 pages into the book, and it’s nearly another 70 pages before our heroes actually come to grips with their stalkers. If there is one thing a suspense or adventure novel can’t afford to do, it’s to dissipate too much energy on exposition; the thrills and twists have to come, and come fast, or the reader loses interest.

Unfortunately, ‘Sandworld’ don't offer much in the way of excitement, and comes across as a diffident effort at best by Lupoff. Unless you are a completist for obscure 70s SF novels, this one can be avoided without penalty.

'First Wave' Issue # 1 (DC Comics, March 2010)

Back in November 2009, when ‘Batman / Doc Savage’, the preview issue of the forthcoming ‘First Wave’ series from DC was released, I had mixed feelings about the direction of the comic; the premise of showcasing heroes from the pulp era showed some promise, but the art style seemed a bit too calculating in its efforts to capitalize on the success of the  'Mad Men' aesthetic that is currently so prominent in hipster culture.

Now it’s March 2010 and the first issue of First Wave is on the stands. The story is written by Brian Azzarello and art duties are handled by Rags Morales.

While the graphical presentation of the preview issue was a mashup of Art Deco and early 60s ‘New Frontier’, and’ Mad Men’ influences, Morales’ artwork here is much less stylized, and quite restrained, by comparison. The color palette stays close to browns, grays, and blacks, as shown in the excerpt I’ve posted here. The artwork is also more contemporary in terms of design and avoids the retro imagery that was so prominent in the preview issue.

I won’t reveal much about the plot, save to say that a unique character from the Savage books makes an appearance. Along with Doc and his crew, the Spirit is the only other hero to appear in this first issue; Batman will presumably be showing up in future installments.

It is of course too early to make any judgements about 'First Wave', but writer Azzarello seems conscious of the Doc Savage canon in terms of his plotting, which is a good sign.

How the narrative will successfully work in appearances by all the pulp era icons listed in the preview issue remains to be seen; it may be a case of lots of cameos. But so far, I've decided   to pick up issue 2 when it appears on the stands.

Book Review: The Deadly Deep

Book Review: 'The Deadly Deep' by Jon Messmann

3 / 5 Stars

‘The Deadly Deep’ is a Signet paperback (222 pp.) published in 1976; the cover artist is uncredited.

‘Deadly Deep’ is clearly marketed to the readership of ‘Jaws’, the definitive mid-70s aquatic thriller. It also trades on the popularity in the 70s of eco-horror themes, such as those presented in the movies Frogs (amphibians run amok,1972), Squirm (clam-worms run amok, 1975), and Prophecy (mutant bears run amok, 1979).

For ‘Deadly Deep’, it’s every organism in the oceans declaring War on mankind !

Things start with an attack by a blue whale on a charter fishing boat, followed by some lobsters taking revenge on a Maine lobsterman, and then some sea bass coming in to shallow water at the Delaware beaches to bite some chunks from unwary swimmers.

Young and rugged science journalist Aran Holder finds himself investigating these strange events at the behest of Wildlife and Fisheries administrator Emerson Boardman. To the increasing unease of Holder and Boardman, further attacks take place; the body count starts to climb upward; and it becomes clear that something unprecedented is taking place on Planet Earth.

But there are worse things yet to come….because the malevolent Intelligence behind the onslaught has something more elaborate in mind than simple attacks on bathers and boaters. Can Aran Holder find out the cause of the revolt of the sea creatures before civilization itself faces extinction ?

If you’re looking for an entertaining eco-horror novel, ‘Deadly Deep’ fits the bill. Author Jon Messmann knows that he’s been commissioned to craft a Beach Read rather than a work of Literature, and he delivers the goods with a fast-moving narrative that never stops too long to dwell on how far-fetched the premise powering the plot. 

Some tried and true 70s fiction tropes are in place in 'Deadly Deep', including the psychotic military leader who believes force is the only answer; portentous philosophical musings on Man's Abuse of the Environment; and lubricious 70s chicks in bikinis, tight pants, and halter tops.

If you're looking for an enjoyable eco-horror novel with full, satisfying 70s flavor, than 'Deadly Deep' is worth investigating.

Alice Cooper: Tales from the Inside

Alice Cooper: 'Tales from the Inside', Marvel Premiere No. 50 (October 1979)

I’ve previously posted excerpts from the Marvel three-issue prestige series ‘Alice Cooper: The Last Temptation’ (1993), a horror-themed, downbeat fantasy tale featuring everyone’s favorite 70s  shock-rocker.

In contrast, Marvel Premiere's 50^th issue: ‘Alice Cooper, Tales From the Inside’ (October 1979) is a decidedly humorous treatment of rock stardom, and a satire of Alice’s trademark theatrical gimmicks. 

The book is loosely based on Alice’s 1978 album of the same title, which was in turn derived from his experience being treated for acute alcoholism at the Cornell Medical Center asylum in White Plains, where stayed in the later months of 1977. According to the Wiki entry, Alice was downing as much as two cases of Budweiser and a bottle of whiskey a day and coughing up blood. 

Whereas nowadays 'substance abuse' problems and rehab check-ins seem to be carefully scheduled events designed to focus mass media attention back on pop or rock stars who have felt a slackening in their time in the public eye,  for Alice, it inspired an effort at sarcastic humor.

The book opens with our hero attempting to escape from a sanitarium:

The narrative then segues into a flashback relating how our hero came to be placed in a mental institution in the first place:

I won’t spoil the remainder of the adventure, but it's safe to say that for Alice, things will get worse...........before they get better.

In terms of art design and writing, ‘Tales’ is an obvious homage to Mad magazine circa the early 50s, when it was a color comic book and featured the distinctive writing and art of Harvey Kurtzman, Wally Wood, Will Elder, and Jack Davis. 

There is also a bit of the quintessential 70’s  asylum movie, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, worked into ‘Tales’.

With its mocking depiction of the insane, and a mental institution that is “…like going to camp….Dachau !”, ‘Tales From the Inside’ is  very politically incorrect by modern standards; but back in ’79 things were a little more…liberal. And you even had an ‘Approved by the Comics Code’ stamp on the cover !

Book Review: Demon-4

Book Review: 'Demon-4' by David Mace

 

2 / 5 Stars

‘Demon 4’ was first published in Britain in 1984; this Ace paperback (184 pp) was released in 1986 and features a cover painting by John Berkey.

‘Demon’ is part techno-thriller and part SF, and something of a European version of The Hunt for Red October, the 1984 novel that shot Tom Clancy onto the bestseller lists in the US that year.

Mace’s tale is set in the near future, in the aftermath of a nuclear war between the Eastern Bloc and NATO. Most of Europe has been scorched by nukes, selected cities in the US and Russia have been nuked, and with most First World countries out of armaments, there is an uneasy truce between the exhausted warring parties, who now must deal with aggressive overtures from former bottom-feeder nations such as Argentina.

A large undersea fortress, termed Krak-1 (‘Kraken-1’), lies on the sea floor north of Antarctica. Entirely governed by computer control, Krak-1 refuses to stand down now that the shooting is supposed to have stopped; in fact, it now sees all military units as a threat, and the sea lanes in the region are deathtraps for vessels and aircraft. As the novel opens, an effort to ‘talk down’ Krak-1 from its belligerent status fails miserably, and the few NATO assets left in Antarctica are depleted.

Rather than trying to use a nuke to destroy the fortress, the civilian command dispatches Barbara Kastner, a civilian engineer, to a military outpost located on Grande Island in the Kerguelen Island archipelago in the southern Indian Ocean. There, Kastner is charged with overseeing an effort to eliminate Krak-1 using Demon-4, a newly constructed mini-submarine with advanced weaponry and stealth technology.

What sets Demon-4 apart from previous iterations of its design is the incorporation of a cyborg in its command and control function; literally slices of a dead soldier’s brain are kept in a small vat of nutrient media and wired into the sub’s electronics. It is hoped that Demon-4’s unique AI will allow it to slip past the formidable defenses planted on the sea floor around the perimeter of Krak-1, and gain access to the inner reaches of the fort. There, more than 4 kilometers deep in the chilly, dark waters of the Southern Ocean, Demon-4 will have to rely on its limited arsenal of torpedoes and missiles and to destroy the fortress…before Krak-1 destroys the Demon.

Having read Mace’s other nautical techno-thriller, ‘Firelance’, I knew what to expect with ‘Demon-4’: rather than a ‘Go USA !’ treatment akin to the Clancy novels, the novel is infused with a cynical, mordant attitude towards the military mindset and the politicians nominally in charge of the warriors.

Mace never tips his hand as to which side- Krak-1 or Demon-4 – will ultimately triumph, so the narrative retains its suspense to the very end.

For me, the major drawback to ‘Demon-4’ is its prose style. Mace lards too many of his sentences with too many metaphors, similes, excess adjectives, and excess adverbs. The result can be more than a little labored:

Beneath the embalming snow cover was a magnificently obscene marbling of true ice and brown ice and vomit pale mixes of oil and frozen water.

*** 

Beside it rested a black toy, a sea creature child a mere ten metres long.

***

He ran the fan up to power, the bottom sighed in vague doppler shaded ghosts sliding behind, the propulsion jet faded in a smooth stream. He went at full speed towards the fort.

Mace made considerable advances in paring down his sentence structure with Firelance, released in 1986, two years after ‘Demon-4’. But readers interested in ‘Demon-4’ should be prepared for a more ornate, and intensely descriptive, prose style than may be the fashion nowadays.

Heavy Metal magazine February 1980

Heavy Metal magazine February 1980:
'Survival' by Ilic and Lilley

One of the more visually striking comics in the February 1980 issue, 'Survival' features some distinctive b & w artwork from Mirko Ilic. Lee Lilley provides a downbeat, rather creepy storyline that comes across very well despite a lack of any text.

 

  

  

 

In the Mother's Land

Book Review: 'In the Mother's Land' by Elisabeth Vonarburg

2 / 5 Stars

‘In the Mother’s Land’, by Elisabeth Vonarburg (Bantam Spectra, 1992, 487 pp.), features a cover illustration by Oscar Chichoni. The book’s English translation (from the original in French) was done by Jane Brierley.

‘Mother’s Land’ takes place in a future earth nearly a thousand years after combined nuclear war and Eco-catastrophe have destroyed civilization. Small city-states have arisen within the territory of Maerlande; outside its boundaries lie the Badlands, areas still too hazardous from contaminating toxins and radiation to be inhabited long-term. Technology is limited to steam power and the modest use of electricity; most long-distance travel uses livestock, and the economy is primarily agrarian.

One result of the wars and ecological  collapse of the previous millennium is that much of the population is sterile, and the rate of infant and child mortality is high. Only a small percentage of the female population (the ‘Reds’) are permitted to mate and become pregnant. The percentage of males in the overall population is under 5 %, and thus, men have little political or social power within Maerlande; some of the restrictions under which they labor are imposed as cautionary measures in light of the prominent role of men in the downfall of the old world.  Maerlande is very much a ‘Gyn/Ecology’, where woman exclusively serve as rulers and defenders of their civilization. Maerlande society adheres to a belief in a female Deity, termed ‘Elli’, and a female Christ-equivalent, ‘Garde’, who died and was ‘resurrected’ centuries previously.

The narrative follows the life of a young woman named Lisbei, who is born into a high-ranking family in the city-state of Bethely. As Lisbei matures and travels around the city-states of Maerlande she comes to question the religious and historical legends that underpin its civilization.  Her explorations into buried pre-Decline sites soon bring her considerable notoriety as an iconoclast and rebel, and ultimately lead her to question the logic behind the social order and its implications for the future of Maerlande.

‘Mother’s Land’ is a lengthy, deliberately-paced novel and best read by those who seek SF with a decidedly ‘soft science’ bent. The plot relies on prolonged explorations of social and psychological conflicts and conundrums to generate drama and tension. People have emotion-laden conversations with one another, and muse on the significance of various Relationships. They do yoga (the ‘taitche’). Some have mild ESP abilities that manifest as an awareness of an aura radiating from other sensitives.

There are no Radscorpions, Raiders, Feral Ghouls or Deathclaws coming out of the Badlands to commit various acts of mayhem. Nobody unearths a Gatling Laser from a long-buried fallout shelter and decides to take over the world with violent gusto. No subjugated race of deformed mutants instigates a bloody revolt to gain their place in the Sun.

‘Mother’s Land’ is not by any means a feminist polemic; the narrative does not preoccupy itself with feminist ‘issues’, being more of a commentary on how the most structured of societies may rest on a cultural and religious foundation derived from apocryphal sources.

The  last chapter in the book is a disappointment. The author tries to introduce some major revelations about a number of major characters; unfortunately, this is done in a very confusing and obtuse manner. To make things worse, a contrived plot mechanism is used to underpin the revelations; so contrived, in fact, as to make me think that the book would have been better off with the last chapter excised.

In summary, ‘Mother’s Land’ will primarily appeal to those readers willing to embrace a contemplative, slow-moving narrative centered on defining and expanding interactions among the characters, rather a novel centered on action and adventure.