Book Review: SF:UK

 Book Review: 'SF:UK' by Daniel O'Brien

2 / 5 Stars

'SF:UK' was published in 2000 by Reynolds and Hearn, UK. It is a tie-in to the 8-episode series that aired on Britain's Channel Four in 2001.

The Channel 4 series can be accessed via YouTube here.

'SF:UK' , covers sci-fi film, television, and comics and is organized into four, roughly chronological, chapters starting with Shakespeare's 1611 play 'The Tempest', which the author argues is the foundation of British sci-fi, up to the late 1990s and TV series such as Ultraviolet and the film Gods and Monsters. The book is copiously illustrated with black and white photographs.

Comparing the book with the television series, it's clear that the series was unable or unwilling to get approval from the copyright holders for many properties, so is forced to make do with filler footage. 

For example, in episode 5, 'Trips Through Time and Space', a discussion of the Dr Who series is obliged to rely on still images, and footage of narrator Matthew De Abaitua touring a museum of memorabilia and props, giving a running commentary while pointing to portraits of the actors. I cheerfully acknowledge knowing very little about the interrelationships between the various UK television broadcasting companies. But I assumed there was sufficient comity between Channel 4 and the BBC, that the former could be allowed to run excerpts of Dr Who for documentary purposes. But perhaps this was not to be for 'SF:UK'.  

And episode  6, 'Ultra-Violence', opens with a discussion on the film A Clockwork Orange, but in lieu of footage from the movie, substitutes underlit, grainy footage of De Abaitua sitting ringside at a boxing match; archival footage of soccer - er, football - hooligan riots; and footage of men posing in impromptu Droog gear. So perhaps Warner Bros. wouldn't permit excerpts of their film to appear on Channel 4 unless money exchanged hands...........

Anyways, the best part of the book 'SF:UK' is the Introduction, by British pop culture stalwart Kim Newman. His essay is fast-moving and drops plenty of witty observations. 

Unfortunately, the remainder of the book is a disappointment, mainly because author O'Brien adopts an uneasy middle ground between a Scholarly approach, and a casual approach, to the material. Some segments of the book are quite dense in terms of a pedantic prose style and exposition, while others are less formal and as a result, a bit easier to take in. I found myself wishing that O'Brien had adopted the narrative style of the late Australian historian and commentator Peter Nicholls, particularly that displayed in Nicholl's 1984 book Fantastic Cinema / The World of Fantastic Films.

While any book dealing with centuries of British sci-fi necessarily will be an assemblage that reflects the attitudes of its author, another problem with 'SF:UK' is 'O'Brien's decision to offer overly lengthy exegeses on selected topics, notably 'The Tempest', 'Frankenstein', the TV series The Prisoner, the 'supermarrionation' of Gerry Anderson, Dr. Who, and the TV series Red Dwarf. 

The attention paid to these subjects inevitably leads to neglect of other features of British sci-fi. It's hard to justify devoting four pages to The Prisoner, which ran for only 17 episodes, all of which (at the risk of angering devotees) tended to be remarkably static and boring, while (for example) nothing at all is said about the impressive sci-fi comics of the postwar period. I much would rather have learned (learnt ?) more about 'Dan Dare', 'Garth', and 'The Trigan Empire', than the psychosocial implications of selected episodes of The Prisoner.

Scattered throughout the pages of 'SF:UK' are hidden gems of anecdotes that will be informative to American readers, in particular, but finding these requires plodding through material, such as the casting changes made to Red Dwarf, that will appeal to die-hard fans of the show, but which I didn't find very engaging.

The overriding theme of 'SF:UK' is that Britain's vision of sci-fi is more downbeat and skeptical than that of the U.S.A., an argument that I don't dispute. Indeed, it was that attitude that made British sci-fi so forward-thinking and imaginative in the late 1950s and early 1960s, when the genre was stagnating in the USA. 

Summing up, I'm comfortable with assigning 'SF:UK' a two-star rating. I finished the book thinking that the TV series, whatever its disadvantages in terms of presenting copyright- and license-holder material, is more informative, and I thus direct curious readers to that portal.

Playboy June 1973

Playboy magazine, June 1973

Let's take another trip back in time courtesy of Playboy magazine, and travel 49 years to June, 1973. 

This issue has a massive 254 pages. It's crammed with full page, and half page, and column-sized advertisements. 

The cover girl, and Playmate of the Year 1973, is Marilyn Cole, a British girl who was the first woman ever to appear in the magazine while displaying full-frontal nudity. She was featured in a December, 2021 article in The Daily Mail.

Back then, getting a suntan was a priority and Coppertone was there to help........

Playboy can't be said to have been a showcase of diversity back then. Looking at the list of contributors, there is heavy representation by white, Jewish, and Protestant males. A couple of women, including Joyce Carol Oates, get admitted to the boy's club, but that's about it in terms of Inclusion and Equity.

A fashion features on men's swimwear makes clear that wearing these trunks magically will  grant you the embraces of bare-bottomed chicks, who are just lolling on the sand, eager to make your acquaintance !

If it's not beachwear you're interested in, well, Tom Seaver, star pitcher for the New York Mets, can show you some fine, polyester dress shirts to wear to the office:

There are plenty of wholesome, early 70s girls with long, natural hair (no lacefront wigs, no weaves, no extensions) posing in the pages of this issue......

This cartoon would not go over well nowadays........

The 'On the Scene' feature mentions an up-and-coming British rocker named David Bowie.

And guys are encouraged to ditch 'the wet look' and go with the 'Dry Look' by using hairspray - err, excuse me, 'hair control', from Gillette !

Despite problems with inflation, those were halcyon days, with a gallon of gas costing 39 cents, a gallon of milk $1.31, and a six-pack of Ballantine beer set you back 99 cents......... 

There you have it. June, 1973.

Atlantis by Donovan

Atlantis
by Donovan
from the album Barabajagal (March, 1969)

A great example of hippie mysticism, 'Chariots of the Gods' ideology, and plain, unadulterated coolness..........

'Atlantis', released as a single in the US in March, 1969, was a track from Donovan's album Barabajagal, also released in 1969. 

The continent of Atlantis was an island

which lay before the great flood

in the area we now call the Atlantic Ocean.

So great an area of land, that from her western shores

those beautiful sailors journeyed

to the South and the North Americas with ease,

in their ships with painted sails.

To the East Africa was a neighbour, across a short strait of sea miles.

The great Egyptian age is but a remnant of The Atlantian culture.

The antediluvian kings colonised the world

All the Gods who play in the mythological dramas

In all legends from all lands were from fair Atlantis.

Knowing her fate, Atlantis sent out ships to all corners of the Earth.

On board were the Twelve:

The poet, the physician, the farmer, the scientist,

The magician and the other so-called Gods of our legends.

Though Gods they were -

And as the elders of our time choose to remain blind

Let us rejoice and let us sing and dance and ring in the new

Hail Atlantis !

Way down below the ocean where I wanna be she may be,

Way down below the ocean where I wanna be she may be,

Way down below the ocean where I wanna be she may be.

Way down below the ocean where I wanna be she may be,

Way down below the ocean where I wanna be she may be.

My antediluvian baby, oh yeah yeah, yeah yeah yeah,

I wanna see you some day

My antediluvian baby, oh yeah yeah, yeah yeah yeah,

My antediluvian baby,

My antediluvian baby, I love you, girl,

Girl, I wanna see you some day.

My antediluvian baby, oh yeah

I wanna see you some day, oh

My antediluvian baby.

My antediluvian baby, I wanna see you

My antediluvian baby, gotta tell me where she gone

I wanna see you some day

Wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, oh yeah

Oh glub glub, down down, yeah

My antediluvian baby, oh yeah yeah yeah yeah

Book Review: Slugfest

Book Review: 'Slugfest' by Reed Tucker

5 / 5 Stars

'Slugfest' (276 pp.) was published in October, 2017 by De Capo Press. Author Tucker is a New York City-based author who has written hundreds of articles for print media outlets such as Esquire and USA Today. 

'Slugfest' was made into a documentary, available on the Roku Channel.

'Slugfest' is a history of comic books from the 1950s up to the late twenty-teens, as seen through the competition between the two biggest publishers, Marvel and DC.

I first began reading and collecting comics around 1967, when I was 7 years old. In my small town in upstate New York, there were two drugstores that had comics, displayed on spinner racks. One drugstore sold DC, the other, Marvel. I learned early on that I much preferred Marvel. Indeed, I didn't pay much attention to any DC titles until the early 70s when I took a liking to their science fiction comics, such as Strange Adventures. I also took in the Neil Adams Batman comics, and then Jack Kirby's stuff like Kammandi and The Demon and OMAC. 

So by the time I began discontinuing my interest in comic books by the mid-70s I was a fan of Marvel, but not to an exclusive degree.

'Slugfest' doesn't take sides, but brings a humorous attitude to the topic, and as a result is an easy and entertaining read. While author Tucker necessarily covers some of the same ground about Marvel comics as did author Sean Howe with his Marvel Comics: The Untold Story, 'Slugfest' has lots of observations and anecdotes about the staff, artists, and writers of DC, a subject with which I was much less familiar. 

For example, I didn't know that DC editors Mort Weisinger, Robert Kanigher, and Julius Schwartz were utter pricks, who screamed abuse at their employees on a daily basis. I also didn't know about the shenanigans of the illimitable Bill Jemas, who during his time as the Marvel president went out of his way to insult the competition (the 2002 series Marville, written by Jemas, was one long rude and mocking jibe at DC). Nor did I know that in 2011, Marvel tried to blunt the sales of DC's 'Flashpoint' crossover by offering retailers a 'special variant cover edition' of the Marvel title 'Fear Itself' issue No. 6, in exchange for the submission of 50 covers ripped off of 'Flashpoint' comics.

The closing chapters of 'Slugfest' deal with the transition of both DC and Marvel to corporate properties, a transition that has major implications for the future of the medium. Nowadays the competition between the companies has moved from print media, where it is increasingly an afterthought, to the movie and television realms. 

It's also clear that as of May 2022, graphic novels are driving consumption of comics by the public, according to this essay by comics retailer Brian Hibbs. And here, things are not looking promising for either DC or Marvel. 

Can the competition between the companies still have relevance when the top 5 best-selling graphic novels of 2021 are 'Dog Man' (1,295,470 copies of 'Dog Man: Mothering Heights') and 'Cat Kid' titles from Dev Pilkey ? 

'Dog Man: Mothering Heights' sold 1,295,470 copies, while the top-selling graphic novel (48,000 copies) for DC was Teen Titans: Beast Boy, a Young Adult title. And the only graphic novel from Marvel that sold over 10,000 copies (10,066 to be exact) was The Infinity Gauntlet, by Jim Starlin and the late George Perez, a compilation of comics first printed in 1991.............

Whether or not the competition between DC and Marvel continues, 'Slugfest' is a recommended read for comic book fans, and fans of American pop culture of the postwar era. 

Book Review: Neighbors

Celebrating Pride Month, June 2022

Book Review: 'Neighbors' by Russell O'Neil

2 / 5 Stars

Here at the PorPor Books Blog, we like to celebrate Pride Month by reviewing a book, fiction or nonfiction, that illuminates the LGBTQ Experience. For June 2022, we're reviewing 'Neighbors', by Russell O'Neil.

I couldn't find much information online about O'Neil; a brief New York Times obituary from December, 1991 is, unfortunately, Paywalled. Perusing a listing of works by O'Neil brings up the 1979 Paperback from Hell, titled Venom, about snakes loose in New York City. O'Neil published other horror, comedy, and melodrama novels during the 70s and 80s.

'Neighbors' (269 pp.) was published in May 1972 by Paperback Library; the cover artist is uncredited. 

The novel takes place in the early 1970s, and is set in the bedroom community of Hainesdale, New Jersey. 

In a particularly tranquil part of town sits the 15-room Robinson Cartwright Mansion, empty since the passing of the formidable Ms. Robinson Cartwright. Adjacent to the mansion are three houses, all constructed on the former grounds of the Mansion. Occupying these houses are eponymous Neighbors: Joe and Peg Jablonski, Cynthia and Herb Radnor, and Tom and Ethel Parker. The three families all are fast friends, and spend several days a week socializing.

The harmony of this little subdivision is altered when George Carr, Ms. Cartwright's nephew, takes up occupancy of the Mansion. George is a cultured, middle-aged man of commendable comportment. And sharing the Mansion with him are his very good friend, the blonde actor and author Michael Kaye. And their lithe, young, curly-haired Italian butler and cook, Gian-Carlo........

As white, straight, and suburban as they come, even the Neighbors recognize that their new neighbors are, to put it bluntly, 'fags'. But George mounts a charm offensive - inviting the families to dinner and drinks, and impressing all with his urbane charm. And Michael, learning that the Radnor's 15 year-old son David is an aspiring writer, takes him under his wing.

All seems well, as the Neighbors learnt to adjust to, and even enjoy, the presence of people with an Alternative Lifestyle. But little does George know that when he decides to have an utterly fabulous party on a fine Summer night, the actions of his guests, and the Neighbors, will lead to a moment of crisis that forever will change the lives of all in Hainesdale.........

I found 'Neighbors' to be underwhelming. While its sympathetic treatment of the gay characters could be considered enlightened for a novel of its era, the fact is, the narrative is reliant on lengthy passages of dialogue, which often are stilted, and designed to inform the reader that beneath the seeming blandness of the suburbs, our Neighbors are grappling with 'heavy' early 70s issues: the Generation Gap, Conformity Vs Nonconformity, the use of drugs ('grass'), and ambivalence about the value of the Marriage Contract. 

A constant diet of these melodramatic exchanges induces boredom early on in the narrative. And while our two gay heroes are exempt from the troubles of their straight Neighbors, much attention also is given to documenting bitchy arguments between George and Michael, sparked by their realization that they are growing older and their days of carefree indulgences are drawing to a close.

The closing chapters of the novel bring a sharper note of drama to the proceedings, and author O'Neil refuses to supply any sort of requisite happy ending. But by the time the denouement arrived, I was dulled by the constant exposure to melodramatic dialogue passages, and concluded that the novel is a good 50 to 75 pages too long.  

The verdict ? 'Neighbors' is another entry in the 'suburban melodrama' genre, a genre that perhaps reached its apogee with the 1999 movie American Beauty. While the inclusion of some gay characters gives 'Neighbors' a point of view that was imaginative for 1972, I can't call it a gem of undiscovered LGBTQ fiction, and modern readers likely will find the novel to be dated and plodding.  

Wild Palms comic

Wild Palms comic
by Bruce Wagner (writer) and Julian Allen (artist)

If you're over 30, you probably might remember the TV show Wild Palms that aired on ABC TV for five episodes in May of 1993. The show, set in a near-future Los Angeles, was meant to be a melange of cyberpunk and Southern California satire. 

The plot was utterly incoherent, and the show was deemed a failure, but for a brief period there in the Spring of 1993 it was the focus of a major marketing campaign, and had something of a buzz. This was back when there were no streaming channels, so any 'edgy' or 'unusual' content appearing on TV had to come from the networks.

The TV show is memorable nowadays mainly for featuring a cameo from William Gibson:

Wild Palms was based on a comic strip that was serialized in 1990 - 1993 in Details magazine.

Details was a kind of cross between the glossy cheesecake magazines like FHM and Maxim, and the more staid Esquire.

The comic, more so than the TV show, was intended by writer Wagner to emphasize how the introduction of 'virtual reality' could corrupt one's perception of 'true' reality, a task made easier in the comic's setting of Southern California, which is, of course, itself something of an 'artificial construct'.

In 1993 the comic strips were compiled into a trade paperback published by the UK firm Arrow. The trade paperback, long out of print, can only be had for exorbitant prices. Luckily, the entire volume has been scanned and posted to View Comics website.

I can't say that the comic is a masterpiece of 1990s sci-fi, or even 1990s melodrama; it is badly overwritten, with few panels left unmolested by the presence of text boxes. 

But the comic does have a sort of quirky originality, and showcases, with its flat color scheme and low-res, sketchy pencils, the very 1990s art style of illustrator Allen.

Summing up, if you are fond of pop culture detritus from the early 1990s, including detritus lightly flavored with second-generation cyberpunk tropes, then the Wild Palms comic might be worth a look.  

Book Review: Other Edens

Book Review: 'Other Edens' edited by Christopher Evans and Robert Holdstock

1 / 5 Stars

'Other Edens (237 pp.) was published in the UK in 1987. The cover artist is uncredited.

The two follow-up editions in the series are 'Other Edens II' (1988), and 'Other Edens III' (1989).

In their Introduction, editors Evans and Holdstock state that they intend 'Other Edens' to be a showcase for new and imaginative short fiction, in the genres of science fiction and fantasy, by British authors (the American contributor Lisa Tuttle is included because she lives and works in the UK). 

The editors note that the contemporary British market for science fiction short stories has been anemic, and see 'New Edens' as critical to addressing this problem.

My capsule summaries of the contents: 

Crying in the Rain, by Tanith Lee: life is bleak in a future UK where the environment is steeped in toxic chemicals. An effective tale from Lee, although it is so downbeat it almost veers into parody.

The Facts of Life, by Christopher Evans: on a low-tech colony planet, misogyny is the law of the land. This story works as a polemic, but as a sci-fi tale, it's underwhelming.

Small Heirlooms, by M. John Harrison: Kit travels to her late brother's house, reads his unpublished manuscripts, and has some metaphysical moments. Meh. A disappointing entry from Harrison.

The Emir's Clock, by Ian Watson: a medieval time piece has a message for modern man. An unremarkable tale, made tedious by overwriting.

The Price of Cabbages, by Brian Aldiss: a novelette that combines faster-than-light space travel, time dilation, and .........deliveries of interstellar produce ?! 

Aldiss is not in very good form here. Why a story this bad was selected for 'Other Edens' is a mystery. One piece of dialogue consists of the phrase 'Fecundate me !', while elsewhere, for reasons unexplained, Aldiss uses the word 'ubianter' in place of 'computer'. Amplifying the mediocrity is Aldiss's Old-Man creepy portrayal of a young girl, a theme that was not all that unusual by the standards of sci-fi written in the second half of the 20th century (when editors and authors were less Woke).

Fullwood's Web, by Graham Charnock: a mathematician and an engineer team up to do some research into a very novel 'field effect'. There are consequences. A traditional sci-fi tale that would have been at home in Analog in 1963.

Scarrowfell, by Robert Holdstock: a charming village in rural England, a festival to celebrate Lord's Eve, quaint Aulde Tyme customs involving Morris dancers, processions, and pagan ceremonies...........what could possibly go wrong ?! 'Scarrowfell' takes its time unfolding, but it's the best story in the anthology and a touchstone entrant in the nowadays-popular sub-genre of 'Folk Horror'. 

The Frozen Cardinal, by Michael Moorcock: on a distant planet, a team exploring ice formations makes a startling discovery. Here, Moorcock tries to present a mystery, wrapped in the trappings of outward absurdity. As a 'speculative fiction' piece it might have worked in 1965, but not in 1987....... 

Triptych: The Black Wedding; Murderer's Walk; Hogfoot Right and Bird Hands, by Garry Kilworth: three short, unrelated exercises in 'speculative fiction'. One of them deals with marital frictions. Yawn. They may have made sense in 1977, but in an anthology published in 1987, they seem like re-warmed leftovers...........leftovers that should have been discarded a long time ago.

Sanctity, by R. M. Lamming: in a near-future UK, church and religion are outlawed. An interesting premise, but the denouement is too oblique to be effective.

Moonlighter, by David S. Garnett: frustrated husband Alan discovers a unique strategy for getting into his reluctant wife's knickers. The sci-fi element in this story is pretty much a thin coating, applied to a tale satirizing marital relations. 

In A Land of Sand and Ruin and Gold, by David Langford: in a far future utopia, two lotus eaters discover the pain of Real Love. Sigh. A precious tale exploring humanism in a manner that would have been entirely at home in a New Wave anthology published in 1972.

Piper's Wait, by Keith Roberts: I confess I didn't have big expectations for this piece from Roberts, anticipating it to be well-written in terms of characterization, setting, and atmosphere, but with indifferent plotting. And that's exactly what 'Piper's Wait' is: a fable about medieval England, and quasi-mythical personalities, that never really goes anywhere once you get past the heavily poetic, lyrical prose style.

The Wound, by Lisa Tuttle: two divorced / separated schoolteachers enter into a close friendship in a near-future world where, strangely, people involuntarily change their gender in response to affection. Author Tuttle plainly intended this story to be a thoughtful, perhaps even provocative, exploration of love, and humanism, and gender. But 'The Wound' is so devoid of any science fiction sensibility, that it simply reads as a rather contrived melodrama. 

I finished reading 'Other Edens' aware that the anthology is utterly and completely devoid of any cyberpunk sensibility. 

For an anthology published in 1987 this is a major quirk. In 1984 Neuromancer was nominated for a British Science Fiction Award, and in 1985 it won both the Hugo and Nebula Awards in the USA. So, presumably every contributor to 'Other Edens' well was aware of the revitalizing effect cyberpunk had brought to sci-fi in the US. And yet, 'Other Edens' reads as a collection of New Wave tales that somehow missed out on being included in anthologies issued in the early 1970s.

Perhaps 'Other Edens' disinclination to address cyberpunk, and that genre's renewed emphasis on plotting, and the integration of 'street level' sci-fi elements into stories, is a reflection of the editor's choice of contributors, many of whom were established during the New Wave era (and presumably were too cool to be found jumping on the latest fads and fancies in the genre). However it may be, the entries in 'Other Edens' did not strike me as particularly impressive.

Summing up, this is an entirely forgettable anthology of UK sci-fi from the mid-80s. I can state with complete and utter confidence that any story in the coeval anthologies Mirrorshades and Burning Chrome is far and away superior to any of the entries in 'Other Edens'.

The Art of the Brothers Hildebrandt

The Art of the Brothers Hildebrandt
by Ian Summers
Ballantine Books, 1979 

Greg and Tim Hildebrandt were twins, born in Detroit on January 23, 1939 (Tim died of complications from diabetes in June, 2006). They exhibited an artistic disposition and a love for the genres of science fiction and fantasy at an early age. 

After graduating high school they both served in the Army, then enrolled in the Meinzinger School of Art in Detroit. They went to work as animators at the Jam Handy Company, which specialized in making instructional films. The brothers later relocated to rural New Jersey, where they converted a barn into a studio and acquired commissions to illustrate children's books.

The brothers pose for reference photographs

As Summers relates in his Introduction, in the Fall of 1974 Rita Hildebrandt, Tim's wife, saw a copy of the Ballantine Books J. R. R. Tolkien calendar, and the brothers decided to pay a visit to Ian Summers, the art director at Ballantine Books who was in charge of picking an artist for the 1976 edition of the calendar. 

On February 7, 1975, the brothers - lacking an appointment - persuaded Summers' secretary to let them into his office to display their drafts for the calendar. The brothers toted black plastic garbage bags filled with some 50 black-and-white sketches on coffee-stained tissue paper. Summers, who had already looked through a substantial number of submissions without finding any to his liking, immediately was impressed with the work of the Hildebrandts. 

Apache Devil, 1975

Summers offered the brothers a commission for the calendar and the rest, as they say, was history: when the 1976 J. R. R. Tolkien calendar came out later that year, it was a best-seller, and made the brothers household names among the burgeoning community of fantasy fans.

The Fellowship of the Ring, 1976 J. R. R. Tolkien calendar 

'The Art of the Brothers Hildebrandt' (1979) showcases color and black-and-white reproductions of paintings done by the brothers for commercial media such book covers, calendars, and movie posters (i.e., Star Wars). There also are some personal works from the brothers.

Illustration for The Sword of Shannara, 1977

Given that the works of Hildebrandts nowadays are iconic, it's important to remember that at the time they appeared, in the mid-70s, they were revolutionary in the sense of firmly departing from the highly figurative imagery that previously had characterized commercial fantasy art. 

For example, Tim Kirk's pieces for the 1974 J. R. R. Tolkien calendar were reminiscent of the works of 19th century children's book illustrators like Arthur Rackham and Edmund Dulac. 

Illustration by Tim Kirk for the 1974 J. R. R. Tolkien calendar, from https://www.blackgate.com/2021/06/08/first-impressions-tim-kirks-1975-tolkien-calendar/

The works by the Hildebrandts were very much representational art, reminiscent of the styles of classical illustrators like Howard Pyle and N. C. Wyeth. Their illustration for the front cover of the 1976 science fiction anthology Stellar 2 (below), for example, was eye-catching by virtue of contrasting with the more abstract compositions that usually appeared on the covers of science fiction paperbacks of that era. 

Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, 1974

Cover illustration for Stellar 2, 1976

The brothers' profile only grew when they provided the iconic poster illustration for the 1977 film Star Wars.

Star Wars, 1977

Summing up, if you are a fan of sci-fi and fantasy art of the 1970s, then you'll want to have a copy of 'The Art of the Brothers Hildebrandt', or perhaps some of the other volumes that showcase the Brothers (although some of these, such as 'Star Wars: The Art of the Brothers Hildebrandt' [1997], now have steep asking prices).

Book Review: In the Forest of the Night

 May is No Place for Gringos Month !

Book Review: 'In the Forest of the Night' by Ron Faust

5 / 5 Stars

'In the Forest of the Night' first was published in 1993. This paperback edition (326 pp.) was published by Tor Books in April, 1994, and features cover art by Richard Andri.

Ron Faust (b. 1936) has published 15 novels between 1974 and 2013. Some of these feature the investigator 'Dan Shaw', and many are set in the southern US, the Caribbean, and Central and South America. 'Nowhere to Run' (1981) is the story of an American drifter who finds himself accused of murder while eking out a living in a Mexican resort town, and thus belongs to the 'No Place for Gringos' sensibility.

'In the Forest of the Night' is set in the early 1990s in an un-named Central American country. There is a civil war waging between the authoritarian government and a coalition of Marxist rebels. The American physician Martin Springer has gone South of the Border in order to minister to the medical needs of the rural population. However, this act of virtue is disregarded by the Marxistas, who decide to capture and execute him, allegedly for witnessing something the Marxistas would prefer be kept concealed. 

As the novel opens, Springer is imprisoned in the bell tower of the Church of San Pedro de los Martires church in the impoverished town of Tepazatlan.......certainly no situation any gringo wants to be in. The time of his execution ? Well, próximamente, of course:

The morning was bright, none had ever been more purely brilliant, and yet Martin had difficulty seeing. It was like looking through another's eyeglasses, clear on the periphery but blurred in the center.........

A dog limped around the corner of the tower, a yellowish bitch nearly bald with mange. Its ribs and vertebrae were outlined against the skin. It halted and stood splay-legged for a moment, staring, and then, lowering its head and tail, slunk back around the tower.

Springer's wife, a beautiful blue-eyed blonde woman named Katherine, travels to the capital city in the hopes of arranging for her husband's release. She meets a dissipated American reporter named Dix, and a U.S. embassy staffer named Harley, who are not optimistic about her chances. And then there is Senor Jorge Cabeza de Vaca, '.....some sort of policeman, and very powerful in the government.' Transfixed with the thought of a mujer rubia as a supplicant for his graces, Senor Cabeza de Vaca assures Katherine he can free her husband. Soon. Very soon. Manana, in fact ! 

What a naive Katherine Springer doesn't realize is that South of the Border, the laws and proprieties observed in the United States do not apply. And Senor Cabeza de Vaca never grants favors without wanting something in return...........

I'm not giving away any spoilers to say that Martin Springer manages to evade death at the hands of the Marxistas. But that is hardly the end of his troubles, for he and his wife are going to discover that Central America is indeed No Place for Gringos...........

'Forest' is an entertaining thriller. The author uses a spare, declarative prose style in his depictions of the environs of the cities and countrysides where the story unfolds, and the actions of his large cast of characters. His dialogue passages are terse and to the point. As well, the political pontifications that occupy so much of another 'Central America is a Gringo Hell' novel, David Linsey's 'Body of Truth', are absent in 'Forest'; Faust does provide political observations, but these are infrequent, and couched with irony rather than tumid indignation.

The only fault I found in the narrative was that the advancement of the plot too regularly relied on rather stupid decision-making on the part of the lead characters. But maybe gringos get in trouble South of Border precisely because they are estupido.........?! 

'Forest' features a motif not frequently found in gringo dramas: humor, this in the form of the boisterous colonel Felipe Fuerte, a rebel officer whose loyalty revolves around monetary rewards, rather than ideological fulfillment. Fuerte, as Martin Springer will discover, is a good man to have on your side when adversity presents itself.

The verdict ? 'In the Forest of the Night' is the best of the No Place for Gringos novels that I have read. It provides a believable portrait of what it is to be isolated and helpless in a country where caudillos hold power, and their slightest order must be obeyed. The closing chapters are genuinely suspenseful, all the more so because Faust never tips his hand as to the outcome. This is a book worth searching out.

The Civil War Between the Negroes and the Jews

'The Civil War Between the Negroes and the Jews !'

by John Hughes (story) and George Evans (art)

from National Lampoon, January 1980

Ahhh, yes......if you are a contemporary reader, then this comic from National Lampoon is either gravely offensive, or very funny, depending on your point of view. But back at the beginning of 1980, it was simply 'humorous'.......

Before he became famous for directing films such as National Lampoon's Vacation, Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club, and Home Alone, Hughes (1950 - 2009) was a prolific contributor to the magazine. 

Artist George Evans (1920 - 2001) worked for EC comics, Classics Illustrated, and both Marvel and DC as well as the Lampoon.