The Golden Compass. Philip Pullman.

The Golden Compass.
Philip Pullman.
Del Rey: 1997.

A celebrated book and rightly so.  The writing is simple enough for young adults yet good enough for adults, the plot is relatively coherent and complex, the characters are excellent, and the setting is superb without the author having to write long, encyclopedic paragraphs about his alternate universe.

The first part of a trilogy, this is the coming of age story of an orphan girl being raised by University dons.  Mysterious things are afoot, including an assassination attempt on her uncle, and strange scientific discoveries are at hand, and so off she goes with some gypsies to the North Pole.  The plot & setting mirror some of the boy adventure novels of "the good old days."  Very good book, appropriate for anyone old enough to read it, and a good one to find in hardcover.

The only drawback is that I have never found the plot device of a prophecy to be very fulfilling, if you'll forgive the pun.  It's more hokey than coincidence, unless done in a new & interesting way, which this novel does not.

Radio Free Albemuth. Philip K. Dick

Radio Free Albemuth Philip K. Dick
Arbor House: 1985.

Dick is known for his paranoid-loner-goes-against-the-system theme, and this book fits in well. Dick himself is a sort of side-kick character in the story. It is always interesting to me when authors are characters in their own stories, but this lacked the self-reflectivity and suspense that the Dark Tower excelled in.

Dick published the complete "Valis Triology" during his life--the first volume of which is Timothy Archer, the novel that got me hooked on PKD in the first place. Albemuth is a sort of prequel posthumously published.

Nicholas is a Berkeley loser who receivs helpful transmissions from aliens. He bcomes one of a vanguard underground whose task is to help humanity return to the cosmic consciousness it lost zillions of years ago. The last person who tried to help was Jesus. Now, an Orwellian dictator is in power, and the aliens are sending signals to select humans to help them resist.

Well-written, great cosmic insights along with fluff, and a good psychlogically interesting story.

Thoughts on the Dark Tower series. Stephen King.

I believe that King did not know where the story was going when he wrote the first book or two. This may, of course, strengthen his argument that the story was told through him rather than by him. Still, he seems undecided as to the reality of his characters and their worlds. Are we to take this series merely as a tale told by a "word smith," or are we to believe in it? Are these characters going to connect with us in a deep way, or are they only part of King's personal mythology? Or, is Stephen King opening himself up, as few authors do, and allowing us full access to his imagination and subconscious so that we may identify with what he hopes is a universal tale? I opt for this last theory.

One must wonder how he and the series will be regarded in 100 years. Will King be the Dickens of our time, in which case vast reference volumes and concordances shall be written? Or will he be yet another semi-forgotten author which just a few people will be interested in? This series is good; his writing matures (yet calcifies) over the 30 years it took him to write it. This may be his best shot at respectability and remembrance amongst our posterity.

The Dark Tower. Stephen King.

The Dark Tower VII: The Dark Tower.
Stephen King.
Grant: 2004.

[warning: plot spoilers]
The final volume in this interesting series is as good as the first. All the good guys and the bad buys die -- including some real tear-jerking moments -- except Susannah (who gives up--a very disappointing move on King's part) and Roland. He, of course, successfully reaches the Dark Tower. As he ascends, he passes through rooms, each of which encapsulates one moment, one part of his life. When he at last reaches the top and opens the door, the horrible truth comes to him: he has done this already, perhaps an infinite number of times. He is immediately sent back to the desert, chasing the man in black (the opening scene of Gunslinger, already forgetting what he knew. King could have made this a great commentary on the curse of a character who has to relive his painful life each time the book is read anew (he is, after all, aware that he is a character), but he backs away from this by changing one detail, which implies that next time Roland goes through this, he might find redemption, or at least be one step closer. Oh well, at least it's a positive message of perseverance and hope.

R.U.R. Karel Capek.

R.U.R.

Karel Capek.

Washington Square Press: 1969/1923

I have always known this book for two reasons: it is the origin of the word 'robot' and it has always been hailed as being ahead of its time. Despite the advance warning, I was still taken aback by its ability to be applied to today's world. Indeed, the main plot of the book (robots come to realize that they can take care of things better than people can) is one of the plots in Asimov's I, Robot.

The play reads fast, yet even a fast read cannot ignore the huge issues raised: who is responsible for the moral use of technology?, what should the relationship ultimately be for man & machine?, will humans evolve or be replaced by another species -- even one of our own design?, what are the effects of leveling of the economic/political strengths of the world's economies?, who watches the watchers?, how does one face personal vs. global annihilation?, etc. This guy is good!

Truckers. Terry Pratchett

Truckers
Terry Pratchett
Delacorte: 1990.

The first in a new series for teens, Truckers has the usual (though a bit toned down) Pratchett humor and wacky mythology. This mythology is a biblical-sounding one based on the store (in which these little guys live) being the universe, and the store's founder being God. The creatures in question are "nomes," 3-inch high people who don't live very long -- but they live fast. Thus, a minute for us humans is like an hour for the nomes.

Some rural nomes are forced to move and they wind up in a store which is like a great metropolis with rival families and guilds. However, none of the store nomes believe there is a world outside of the store. Various political battles ensue, and soon it is revealed that the store is about to close down. So Masklin, our hero, gets everyone together and they steal a truck and make it to a quarry, their new home.

As it turns out, they arrived on this planet a long time ago, but have since lost all knowledge and technology -- except the Thing, which turns out to be a super intelligent computer that helps them.

Good, not his best, and definitely for teens.

Lord Foul's Bane. Stephen R. Donaldson.

Lord Foul's Bane.
by Stephen R. Donaldson.
Ballantyne. 1977.

First novel in popular epic fantasy series. Thomas Covenant has leprosy and is magically transported to fantasy world, which he refuses to believe in. The whole leprosy thing is done well, though overdone at some points, but his constant anger and disbelief are a bit wearisome. The problem with the book is that the reader doesn't care about any of the characters. The plot (Covenant has to defeat the evil Lord Foul) is so inane that it doesn't hold the reader's interest, either. So, the author does what all epic writers do: keep the characters moving, keep introducing new settings, weird characters, etc.

Well-written from a technial standpoint, but the author never gets us to question our own reality (even though this is the whole point of the book), and only in a limited way get us to see that there are other realities: specificly, how different it must be to be a leper. Overall, rather boring, and I doubt I'll read any further in the series.

K-PAX. Gene Brewer.

K-PAX.
Gene Brewer.

Classified as sci-fi, this was a disappointing novel of a mental patient who thinks he's from another planet. (Disappointing mainly because there's was nothing "sci-fi" about it.)

Turns out the guy has multiple personality disorder, and this alien, "prot" by name, is one of his personalities. This was discovered through - what else? - hypnosis. MPD is interesting in itself and I would think that real-life cases would have more interest than this sensational, though silly, fantasy.

I guess I wanted the narrator, who is the psychologist treating prot, to have convinced himself that his MPD diagnosis was correct, only to have prot return to his home world. As it is, prot (the personality) does leave. This departure leaves Robert (the patient) near catatonic. There's some question of how he got out of his room and his unusual eyesight, but overally, a catastrophic return to reality that left me only slightly less catagorically despressed than Robert.

Genesis. W. A. Harbinson

Genesis.
W. A. Harbinson.
Dell: 1982.

Mad genius joins the Nazi's in the 30's to build flying saucers. By the 1970's, he is starting to control world governments from his secret base at the South Pole. UFO investigators who learn too much are either captured and turned into robots (electrodes in the brain) or are killed.

Part techno-thriller, part sci-fi, overall a rather good book, despite how it may sound. The main flaw is that mysteries are solved by very long monologues by various characters; this is more like an (alternative) history lesson than anything interesting.

Much of the book is believeable. Some things stand out, such as ESP, but overall, I'd buy it. The writing is generally clear and concise, but when the author forays into more fancy writing, he does so with some small skill, unlike many genre writers.

UFOs and government cover-ups are fun topics and this book, though strictly one-sided, does not go overboard with the whole consipiracy thing.

THX 1138. Ben Bova (based on screenplay by George Lucas & Walter Murch)

THX 1138.
Ben Bova (based on screenplay by George Lucas & Walter Murch)
Warner: 1978

Reissued after the success of Star Wars, this book is sort of a dumbed-down version of 1984. Overall, it is quite good, and Ben Bova keeps us moving along at a fair clip.

The world of THX 1138 is living underground in vast, overcrowded cities, everyone takes mood pills to stay sedated (not taking drugs is a crime), sex is illegal, and everyone is constantly being monitored by cameras and police robots.

THX falls in love with LUH, a sex-born woman who secretly isn't taking her pills. Plot is obvious from here with minor exception being that LUH turns out to be pregnant. She's killed by the state while THX is in jail, but they save her fetus, renaming it LUH - it being more economical to save the name than think up a new one. THX is able to change the record on the fetus from sex-born to "natural" (meaning artificial), thus ensuring his baby a "normal" life.

THX escapes to edenic surface of the earth and vows to return to retrieve his daughter.

Mirrorshades: The Cyberpunk Anthology. Bruce Sterling.

Mirrorshades: The Cyberpunk Anthology.
by Bruce Sterling.
Ace: 1987

Contains:
"Gernsback Continuum" William Gibson. Guy sees alternate present: the 1980s as pictured by 1930s people. Dumb.
"Snake-Eyes" Tom Maddox. Guy has computer implanted in brain which becomes hooked up with supercomputer. Okay.
"Rock On" Pat Cadigan. Fresh rock-n-roll only lives when people plug into a human synthesizer's brain. Dumb.
"Tales of Houdini" Rudy Rucker. Houdini still alive in 1948 performing in cheesey movie. Pointless.
"400 Boys" Marc Laidlaw. Futuristic gang war against mutant children. Pretty good.
"Solstice" James Patrick Kelly. Druggies have personal problems at Stonehenge. Dumb.
"Petra" Greg Bear. God is dead - or has he just weaned us? Cool.
"Till Human Voices Wake Us." Lewis Shiner. Guy becomes mermaid. Okay.
"Freezone" John Shirley. Rocker becomes terrorist. Dumb.
"Stone Lives" Paul di Filippo. Blind guy gets new vision and is taught how to see world, history, etc. Okay.
"Red Star, Winter Orbit" Bruce Sterling & William Gibson. Last cosmonaut revolts on Soviet space station. Good.
"Mozart in Mirrorshades" Bruce Sterling & Lewis Shiner. Future corporation goes into past & alternate universes for natural resources. Dumb.

The Squares of the City. John Brunner.

The Squares of the City
by John Brunner.
Ballantine: 1980s.

Packaged as a science fiction novel, and of course Brunner is well-known as such, this was not what I had hoped. Rather a boring read, as nothing of any real interest happens.

South American dictator builds new city and uses subliminal messages and other means to control citizens. He and his main political rival chose 15 people to be "chessmen" -- these two guys influence their chessmen to make "moves" in a giant game of chess to see which one of the two leaders will win the game. A vaguely interesting idea, but not well carried out.

The only thing that keeps the book readable is Brunner's skill as a writer - if this had been written by a run-of-the-mill pulp author, I would probably not have been willng to finish. But the writing is good, and he throws in a few interesting philosophical conversations along the way.

The Johnny Maxwell Trilogy. Terry Pratchett

The Johnny Maxwell Trilogy
by Terry Pratchett.
Doubleday: 1992, 1993, 1996

Humorous trilogy, geared for teens:

Only You Can Save Mankind. Johnny is sucked into a video game world, while the country is bombing Iraq. What is war and why are there rules? What does it mean to kill someone? Do fighter pilots feel like they're playing a game?

Johnny and the Dead. Johnny tries to save the local graveyeard from being built upon by a mega-corporation. The spirits become "free" because of Johnny and eventually don't care about the graveyard, because they're ready to leave. Johnny still wants them there because their history is important.

Johhny and the Bomb. Local bag lady has shopping-cart time machine, which Johnny must use to save the town from being bombed during WWII. The lesson here is that all of your actions have consequences.

The whole triology has great side-kicks, and are well-told stories. Thought-provoking yet humorous.

Memoirs of an Invisible Man. H. F. Saint.

Memoirs of an Invisible Man
by H. F. Saint.

My penchant for invisible man stories has already been stated; this one is an excellent adventure. It is essentially an extended chase scene: man who becomes invisible after industrial explosion is hunted by government. But Saint has put a lot of thought into the details of how an invisible man could hide, and his efforts come off very well in a wholly believeable story.

My dad said he thought there was a lot of sex in the book - I hadn't remembered that the first time I read it, but noticed some now; nothing really extraordinary, and I'm a bit puzzled by his way of remembering the book. I just remembered being able to clearly visualize several scenes, and not wanting to put the book down.

The chase-plot works because the chase gets increasingly complex as the story progresses - at the end there is actually no physical chasing or hiding - just information chasing & hiding.

Fade

Fade
by Robert Cormier

I love invisible man stories (and enjoyed Cormier as a teen), so it's no surprise that I found this book enjoyable. Here, the invisibility is genetic, passing from uncle to nephew in a working class family. Along with the power to turn invisible (fade), which comes along right when the boy is entering puberty, comes an evil little voice that tells him to do bad things.

Paul, the main character, has got sex on the brain, as do most boys. He's crazy about his aunt, on whom he spies and discovers with the local gangster. He is very jealous. He then spies on others, while in the fade, and witnesses pedophilia & incest. This gives him a pretty jaded view of life and he eventually kills the gangster who happens to have been indirectly responsible for hurting his father.

Next generation is Ozzie, from a broken home, who starts killing people he's mad at and causing a general ruckus. Paul eventually finds him and has to kill him. Last generation is nameless and kills lots of people en masse.

Excellent depiction of descent of society into violent chaos.

May 5, 2005

Halo

Tom Maddox. Tor: 1991.

What in the world is this? Some strange mix of cyberpunk, pseudo-Eastern mysticism, and 60's hallucinogenic utopia. Plot revolves around an orbiting computer which controls a biosphere-opia. It wants to absorb the soul of a dying man so it can evolve to the next step of machine intelligence. Questions such as what does it mean to be intelligent or to have a soul are dealt with only in superficial ways - or buried in so much mumbo-jumbo as to be meaningless.

May 2, 2005

Mastodonia

Clifford D. Simak. Del Rey: 1978.

An alien possessing innate powers of time travel crash-lands (guess he's not as good at space-travel) on Earth one million years ago, only to be discovered by an archaeology professor who is then visited by his ex-girlfriend of 20 years ago who immediately sleeps with him. Fortunately for Asa, Rila has "business sense" and they work out schemes to make big money - all of which collapse when the alien Catface "evolves" into a higher life-form, but he fortunately leaves Asa with the time travel ability.

Simak may never be known for the quality of his writing or coherence of his plots, but at least he has been prolific.

I am always disappointed with time travel books that don't consider the consequences of, say, shooting a bunch of dinosaurs, but this did have an interesting little subplot about Christians not wanting them to travel to Christ's era. Which reminds me, this whole business of someone being transformed into what is described as "a god" and being the only one of its kind on a planet smacks of one of the more far-fetched tenets of some Mormons, and I wonder if there's any connection?

February 18, 2005

The Midwich Cuckoos

John Wyndham. Michael Joseph Ltd: 1957/1977.

Short sci-fi novel concerning the implantation of aliens into the wombs of the entire female population of a small town. The town and government conspire to keep this a secret from the rest of the world. The babies are born and raised, and after a period of time, the townspeople discover the children have extraordinary powers of persuasion and ESP. Finally, the children admit to being a superior species, and, yes, they plan to take over the world. Fortunately, they are blown up by the kamikaze action of the man whom they had viewed as somewhat a father figure.

I realize the British are a bit more reserved than we Americans, but the very non-chalant attitude toward these creatures that have shiny golden eyes, that grow and develop much faster than humans, and that control people's actions is a bit too much to accept.