Death Cloud by Tim White

'Death Cloud' by Tim White
cover illustration for the novel by Michael Mannion, New English Library (UK), 1977

Book Review: Globalhead

Book Review: 'Globalhead' by Bruce Sterling

2 / 5 Stars

‘Globalhead’ was published in hardcover in 1992; this Bantam Spectra mass market paperback edition (340 pp.) was released in November 1994. The cover artwork is by Bruce Jensen.

With the exception of ‘Are You For 86 ?’, all the stories in this compilation were previously published from 1985 – 1992, in magazines such as Omni and Isacc’s Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine. 

My concise summaries of the contents:

Our Neural Chernobyl: short, but well-written, tale about gengineering gone awry. A subtle twist at the end caps the story off perfectly.

Storming the Cosmos: a collaborative effort with Rudy Rucker. A dissipated KGB informer accompanies a scientific team to the Tunguska meteorite site. Mayhem and hijinks ensue. Rucker’s participation gives this story a dose of absurdist humor, moreso than a standalone Sterling tale.

The Compassionate, the Digital: the Iranian Revolution spreads to a worldwide AI. A bit too vague to be fully effective.

Jim and Irene: a dissipated hacker sets off on an existential road trip; he is accompanied by a neurotic Russian immigrant named Irene.

The Sword of Damocles: lame effort at re-telling the Greek myth, using a 90s ‘hipster’ vernacular.

The Gulf Wars: Babylonians Vs Persians, through the centuries.

The Shores of Bohemia: uneven tale of an enclave of the future determined to stick to its anachronisms, despite outside pressures. The nanotech component underlying the story is too contrived to be very effective.

The Moral Bullet: in an anarchic, near-future USA, Sniffy the chemist tries to elude forces anxious to punish him for upending modern civilization. One of the better entries in the collection.

The Unthinkable: brief tale about a Cold War waged with Eldritch Knowledge. Crisp and imaginative; another of the Sterling’s best short stories.

We See Things Differently: A representative of the Islamic World Ascendant investigates socio-cultural upheaval in the USA.

Hollywood Kremlin: smuggler Leggy Starlitz negotiates the treacherous political and economic landscape of post-Soviet Azerbaijan. Dark humor pervades the story.

Are You for R86 ? : Leggy returns; this time he’s in the USA, aiding a team of feckless young women (activists named Vanna and ‘Mr Judy’) who are intent on mass distribution of the banned birth control pill RU486. The evangelical Christian community is determined to stop them – by nonviolent means, of course. Plenty of satiric humor makes this another of the better entries in the collection. Leggy’s adventures continued in Sterling’s 2001 novel ‘Zeitgeist’.

Dori Bangs: ‘what if’ rock critic Lester Bangs avoided suicide in 1982, and instead hooked up, in a drugged-out, burnt-out way, with a dissipated Goth Girl who draws self-referential ‘progressive’ comics. Even if you (for some strange reason) are a diehard Lester Bangs fan (which I am assuredly not) the concept of this story seems really lame.

The verdict ? ‘Globalhead’ is a collection of Sterling’s misses, rather than hits. Unlike other Sterling anthologies (‘A Good Old-Fashioned Future’), more than a few of the entries in ‘Globalhead’ seem phoned-in. But this anthology remains the most affordable way (at present) to get hold of gems like ‘The Unthinkable’.

The Golden Queen by Druillet and Bihannic

'The Golden Queen' by Philippe Druillet (story) and Serge Bihannic (art)
from the July, 1977 issue of Heavy Metal magazine

Book Review: Kiteworld

Book Review: 'Kiteworld' by Keith Roberts

 

3 / 5 Stars

‘Kiteworld’ was published in 1985 in the UK by Gollanz; this Ace mass market paperback edition (293 pp.) was released in the US in May, 1988, with cover artwork by Blas. 

‘Kiteworld’ contain several stories that first appeared in Interzone magazine in the early 1980s, as well as, apparently, some newly-written chapters Roberts produced to bring the overall collection to book-length.

‘Kiteworld’ is set in a future Britain, where, in the aftermath of a vaguely described catastrophe – perhaps a nuclear war – civilization endures, albeit in a rural landscape where technology is at a level ca. 1910. 

Within this ‘Realm’, a vaguely Christian Church occupies the position of power, mainly by guarding the populace from incursions by ‘demons’ (i.e., mutants) originating within the fallout zone bordering the Realm. The Church has few scruples about using severe penalties – including execution – to restrict technological advancement, impede the acquisition of historical knowledge (such as maps), and punish dissent from its theologies.

As part of efforts to deter the ‘demons’ from trespassing into Realm space, the Church sanctions the use of large, man-carrying kites. These are regularly launched aloft, there to float for hours displaying ‘hex’ signs and symbols designed to repel demons. Those who man the kites are highly regarded in Realm society, but the mortality rate for kite flyers is high, and an innate fatalism rules their lives.

The stories in ‘Kiteworld’ follow the adventures of a group of recurring characters, who man the kite stations, and dwell in the small towns, that occupy the outer districts of the Realm. The novel’s sf elements are muted, and serve mainly as a background against which author Roberts explores themes such as the tensions between orthodoxy and dawning humanism (a theme which he visited in his 1968 novel Pavane).

The writing style Roberts employs in Kiteworld is of mixed effect. While there are many descriptive passages, their focus on incidental details often fails to enlighten the reader; for example, the grease, smell, and manipulation of the kite-launching gear is fulsomely presented, but clear descriptions of the kites and the principles of their flight are deliberately vague. As well, I often was frustrated by Roberts's use of dialogue laden with British colloquialisms, slang, and figures of speech to impart important plot details in an oblique, inferential manner.

That said, as with Pavane, Roberts makes the world of the Realm more ‘real’ than many contemporary, 800-page fantasy novels, burdened by highly descriptive prose, struggle to achieve with their own imagined landscapes.

The action picks up in the last chapters of the novel, but unfortunately, Roberts elects to close on a contrived note.

‘Kiteworld’ will most appeal to those readers with the patience to sit down with a slower-paced narrative that centers on the trials, tribulations, and hopes of its characters. Those looking for a action narrative, with proto-steampunk sensibilities, are better off passing.

Race of the Damned from Eerie No. 109

'Race of the Damed'
by Norman Mundy, Carey Bates, and Buz Vault
from Eerie #109, February, 1980

By 1980, the Warren magazines had become increasingly aware of the artistic influence of Heavy Metal magazine, as this art deco - inspired comic shows.

Heavy Metal August 1983

'Heavy Metal' magazine, August 1983

 

 
August, 1983, and in heavy rotation on the FM stations, and on MTV, is Loverboy's 'Hot Girls in Love'. Cheesy as it was back then, it's substantially better than anything in the top 40 nowadays.

The latest issue of Heavy Metal is on the stands, with a remarkably insipid front cover illustration by Greg Hildebrandt. It was now becoming quite clear that the HM editorial staff had decided to exclusively promote a pinup theme for each and every front cover, a departure from the way things were done in the first several year's of the magazine's existence. The arresting, artistic covers of 1978, 1979, and 1980 were to be faint memories from now on.

Jay Muth provides the back cover.

The advertising features a full-page ad for the latest Iron Maiden album, 'Piece of Mind'; it's an unwitting and unintentional nod to 'Spinal Tap'.

 For those deeply moved by the Hildebrandt cover, posters are available:

There also is an advertisement for some film I've never heard of, called 'Private School for Girls'. Phoebe Cates does look nice..... 

After its heavy coverage of rap, the Dossier now turns to R & B, and we lead off with coverage of Prince Nelson Rogers (just beginning his rapid rise to fame), and Marvin Gaye.

Then there is coverage of graffiti artist - if that's the right word - Keith Haring, one of the decade's greatest art poseurs. He would die from AIDS in 7 years.

Ed Naha waxes enthusiastic over an indie, low-budget film-maker named Alan Arkush and his film 'Get Crazy'. I've never heard of it before or since......

 And the Dossier closes out with a review of some awful underground / indie comics.....
 

Among the comics appearing in the August issue are continuing installments of  'The City That Didn't Exist', by Bilal; 'The Odyssey' by Navarro and Sauri; 'Zora' by Fernandez.

Among the better entries was another 'El Borbah' tale by Charles Burns, that I've posted below.

All This and Frank Sinatra, Jr, too

All This and Frank Sinatra, Jr, too
by Drew Friedman
from the August, 1983 issue of Heavy Metal magazine

Book Review: The Stone God Awakens

Book Review: 'The Stone God Awakens' by Philip Jose Farmer

3 / 5 Stars

‘The Stone God Awakens’ was issued in paperback by Ace Books in July, 1973, with a cover illustration by J. H. Breslow. 

Artist Bruce Pennington provided a particularly well-done illustration for the (UK) Panther Books 1976 edition:

During the New Wave era, Philp Jose Farmer produced two types of novels: straightforward sf adventures primarily written for commercial purposes; and artier pieces, designed to display his aptitude at crafting ‘speculative fiction’.

‘Stone God’ belongs to the former category.

The premise is not particularly original: it’s 1985, and at Syracuse University, Ulysses Singing Bear, a biophysicist with a part- Iroquois ethnic background, is experimenting with a novel ray capable of ceasing all molecular activity in its targets. 

Ulysses makes a fateful mistake and is struck by the ray. Instantly he is transformed into a man of ‘stone’, indestructible and unmoving. Time has no meaning for Singing Bear in his suspended animation.

Upon awakening, Singing Bear finds himself inside a crude temple, in the midst of a violent conflict between tribes of 'cat people', who revere him as ‘The Stone God’. Singing Bear discovers that the land around him is occupied by various other races of Manimals, all of whom operate at a stone-age level of technology. He suspects that millions of years have passed while he was in his frozen state.

Using his superior scientific knowledge, Singing Bear is able to organize the disparate tribes of Manimals into a single nation, loyal to his commands. He then embarks on a journey to discover the secrets behind Wurutana, the enormous tree, up to 13,000 feet high, with branches hundreds of yards in diameter, that covers most of the continent.

Regarded as a God by the races that live within its branches, Wurutana is gradually extinguishing what remains of civilization. Its relentless outward growth is pushing the towns and cities of all sentient races into a marginalized life at the coastland, where the salt water deters the tree from extending its roots.

Unless Ulysses Singing Bear can discover a way to defeat the tree, the Manimals of this far-future Earth will be consigned to life as nothing more than aphids, eking out an existence as parasites on the bark of a massive plant………… 

At 190 pp in length, ‘Stone God’ is a quick read, and a mildly interesting sf adventure. With its unadorned, declarative prose style, it was clearly an effort by Farmer to write something that paid the bills. That said, the novel’s climax, involving an extended battle scene, is well-written, and superior in many ways to much of the dedicated New Wave fiction Farmer produced in this era.

Luther Arkwright and Harry Fairfax

Luther Arkwright and Harry Fairfax
by Bryan Talbot
illustration from The Adventures of Luther Arkwright No. 4 
Dark Horse Comics, June 1990

Showing inspiration from such sources as Gustave Dore and William Hogarth ('Gin Lane'), the intricate pen-and-ink draftsmanship of this one-page panel by Bryan Talbot shows Harry Fairfax (left) and Luther Arkwright (right) making their way through London's Shoreditch neighborhood. 

Albeit a Shoreditch in an alternate 1970s London, where Nathaniel Cromwell, the descendent of Oliver Cromwell, rules England, and Royalist sympathizers and rebels hole up in the slum warrens of Shoreditch, there conspiring to overthrow the Puritan regime, and place King Charles III on the Throne..........

Book Review: The Castaways of Tanagar

Book Review: 'The Castaways of Tanagar' by Brian Stableford

2 / 5 Stars
  
‘The Castaways of Tanagar’ (319 pp) was published by DAW Books in April, 1981. The cover artwork is by H. R. Van Dongen.

Thousands of years after its founding, the colony world of Tanagar sends forth an expedition to the motherworld, Earth, to see if the planet has survived the Atomic Wars. The Tanagarians discover that the Earth has survived not just the wars, but also the geological upheavals that reshaped the landscape. Civilization has re-started itself, in the form of the Eurasian republic of Macaria, where technology has reached a level equivalent to that of the 1930s.

The intellectual elite that governs the Tanagaran expedition prefers to avoid an overt re-introduction to Terran society. Instead, an Away Team is to be secretly inserted into the countries making up what used to be North Africa. The goal of the Away Team: seek ways to covertly influence Terran society, in order to set it on an accelerated path towards technological progress.

The members of the Away Team are in no sense ‘ordinary’ Tanagarans. In fact, they are criminals, who had been sentenced to indefinite periods of suspended animation as punishment for felonies, such as murder and rebellion, committed on Tanagar. In exchange for agreeing to serve on the Away Team, these ‘castaways’ of the book’s title must resign themselves to spending the rest of their lives on the fractious motherworld.

Early on in the narrative, members of the Away Team find themselves split up, and forced to rely on their wits and stratagems in order to survive. One sub-plot revolves around the adventures of Cheron Felix, who has spent 8,000 years in suspended animation; Sarid Jerome, a revolutionary; and Vito Talvar, a young man of fatalistic bent.

The other sub-plot deals with the tribulations of two officers who inadvertently find themselves stranded on Terra: Cyriac Salvador, a Tanagarian equivalent of Mr Spock; and Teresa Janeat, a young woman unused to the rigors of life outside a spacecraft.

Will the Castaways be able to integrate themselves into their host societies and begin their work of genial subversion ? Will Salvador and Janeat find their way to the secret Tanagaran redoubt in the northern wilderness of Macaria ? Or will the best-laid plans of the Tanagarians come for naught when the inheritors of the Earth realize that there are people from the stars walking among them ?

At its heart, ‘Castaways’ could have been a routine, but engaging, sf adventure. Unfortunately, author Stableford decides to turn lengthy sections of his novel into forums in which he can declaim – in the form of conversations or monologues – on ‘deep thoughts’ concerning the rise and fall of civilizations and political systems. As well, Stableford frequently expounds on the ever-present contradictions between the base nature of Man, and the promise of enlightened Humanism. These tedious discourses sap momentum from the narrative, and make reading ‘Castaways’ a less than rewarding experience. 

Things do improve a bit in the last 40 pages, when a number of surprise revelations make an appearance, but these seem more than a little contrived. Throw in a utterly out-of-place episode of drug-induced, psychedelic ‘discovery’, and the inconclusive nature of the final chapters, and it’s hard to give ‘The Castaways of Tanagar’ a ‘must-have’ recommendation.