Book Review: "Mission: Interplanetary" by A.E. van Vogt

Mission: Interplanetary by A.E. van Vogt (Signet, 1952)

This paperback edition features an alternate title for van Vogt’s 1950 novel The Voyage of the Space Beagle. Sporting an excellently dark painting cover by Stanley Meltzoff, the book is a fix-up of several short stories. Rewritten as a novel, the book includes material from “Black Destroyer” (Astounding Science Fiction, July 1939), “War of Nerves” (Other Worlds Science Stories, May 1950), “Discord in Scarlet” (Astounding, December 1939), “M33 in Andromeda” (Astounding, August 1943), and some new linking material.

As a fix-up, it basically follows a series of adventures and encounters of the crew of the Space Beagle, staffed by scientists, including Elliott Grosvenor, a Nexialist. A Nexialist is someone trained in integrated science and thought, accelerated learning techniques, and hypnosis. Unlike more specialized scientists, they are able to see the connections between different disciplines that others cannot see. In the book, Grosvenor is also skilled in conflict resolution and at encouraging people to collaborate to solve complex problems.

Given the creatures and situations encountered by the crew, they need all the help they can get. Some of the newfound enemies reach out to the crew accidentally—and alarmingly. Others have decided ill intent, perhaps to take over the rest of the universe. Only by working together is the crew able to overcome their challenges. And despite disagreements among the different crew members, leaders, and scientific disciplines, in the end, Nexialism gets a fair hearing.

The writing of van Vogt is clear and compelling, and as a fix-up, the novel offers multiple places to take a breather if one needs to take a break. I found the idea of Nexialism extremely intriguing and wonder if there’s a real-world corollary among the sciences. It reminds me slightly of Ken Wilber’s integral theory, a philosophy that strives to synthesize all human knowledge and experience. You can learn more about Nexialism in Gautham Shenoy’s 2017 article “The Nexialist approach: Van Vogt and the idea that ‘specialisation is for insects.’” You can also read some select quotes from later portions of the novel.

Quotes of Note: H. Beam Piper, "Little Fuzzy" III

Quotes of note from Little Fuzzy by H. Beam Piper:

(Page numbers gleaned from the 1983 eighth printing of the Ace mass-market paperback.)

"You never get anywhere by arguing religion with a priest." (p. 95) 

"You [don't] have to believe a thing to prove it. It helps, but it isn't necessary." (p. 96)

"People who have been charged with crimes ought to have public vindication if they are innocent." (p. 117) 

"In colonial law, you can find a precedent for almost anything." (p. 118)

"[O]nly one-tenth, never more than one-eighth, of our mental activity occurs above the level of consciousness." (p. 123) 

"[N]onsapient beings think, but only subconsciously... ." (p. 123) 

"[I]f you're innocent you're better off before a court-martial and if you're guilty you're better off in a civil court." (p. 149) 

"[O]nly the sapient mind thinks and knows that it is thinking." (p. 159) 

"The nonsapient animal is conscious only of what is immediately present to the senses and responds automatically." (p. 159) 

"The sapient mind ... is conscious of thinking about these sense stimuli, and makes descriptive statements about them, and then make statements about those statements, in a connected chain." (p. 159) 

"[T]he sapient mind can generalize. To the nonsapient animal, every experience is either totally novel or identical with some remembered experience." (p. 159) 

"The sapient being can conceive of something which has no existence whatever in the sense-available world of reality, and then he can work in plan toward making it a part of reality. He can not only imagine, but he can also create." (p. 168)

Book Review: "Magnetic Brain" by Volsted Gridban

Magnetic Brain by Volsted Gridban (Scion, 1953)

Inspired by an interview with Philip Harbottle in Justin E.A. Busch’s wonderful sercon fanzine Far Journeys and subsequently reading Harbottle’s book on the early history of sf publishing in England, Vultures of the Void: The Legacy (Cosmos, 2011), I picked up several examples of early British paperbacks and sf magazines, including this 1953 novel. Written by John Russell Fearn using the, oh, so awesome pseudonym Volsted Gridban, the 128-page book was published by Scion Ltd. The book’s cover painted by Ron Turner is absolutely beautiful and starkly colored but has little to do with the story—other than the image’s portrayal of how a reader might imagine the titular magnetic brain.

Hearn was a very prolific writer, publishing no fewer than 19 novels in 1953 alone. In that year, he wrote five novels as Gridban, with the bulk of his output credited to Vargo Statten. So the book was quickly written and inexpensively printed. Regardless, Magnetic Brain is a fun, brief read—I read it in two sittings—and includes several interesting science fictional ideas.

After crash landing on Mars and suffering a head injury, the protagonist, Timothy Arnside, receives medical care from a noted experimental Martian surgeon, who implants a device in his brain. Upon returning home on Earth, Arnside realizes that he is now able to read the minds of humans—but not Martians or Venusians—within a six-foot radius. The newfound ability plays helpful havoc with his marriage and affects his friendships and business prospects. (A relatively unsuccessful salesman, Arnside was fired shortly after his return home.)

Arnside becomes embroiled in industrial espionage, as well as governmental intervention in some Venusian fifth column activity initially led by a charismatic orator calling for armed defense of the planet Earth. That leads to the Venusians targeting the protagonist to remove the threat to their sleeper agents living on Earth. But Arnside’s decaying moral fabric—caused by his falling prey to the temptations offered by his telepathy—and side effects of the surgical implant lead to a problematic end.

Other than the magnetic brain itself, the book also includes elements of anti-gravity flight—which could inspire a sequel, were one so moved—and a fictional wonder metal, niridium. The book isn’t the best sf novel by any stretch of the imagination, but Hearn’s authorship and Scion’s publication are of historical importance. It offers an interesting look at the early state of mass-market sf publishing in post-war England.

Book Review: "The Handmaid’s Tale" by Margaret Atwood

The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood (Anchor, 1998)

Margaret Atwood’s 1986 novel The Handmaid’s Tale has experienced a relatively major resurgence in the last handful of years. First gaining new traction about the time of President Donald Trump’s election in 2016, the book has since re-entered the public conversation because of the Hulu streaming television show and, more recently, the Supreme Court’s leaked preliminary ruling to strike down Roe v. Wade. Dark days call for dark books. While my wife read the book shortly following Trump’s election with a book discussion group, when the Supreme Court ruling was leaked, I pulled the book from our shelves to read it myself. I never had. I read it in two sittings, over the course of two evenings, and I’m of the opinion that everyone should read this book.

Atwood’s book, some have said on social media, isn’t prescient—though one could argue that it still is—it’s history. Though both positions are unfortunate and valid, it might depend on a reader’s point of view—and knowledge of history. Yes, the Salem witch trials of 1692-1693 persecuted women for a number of social causes, including factionalism, family rivalries, fraud, sexism, and socio-economic hardships. Yes, the United States government jailed tens of thousands of “promiscuous” women during World War I ostensibly to protect soldiers from prostitutes and sexually transmitted diseases. Yes, more than 60,000 people—mostly non-whites, and mostly women—were sterilized in a majority of the United States during the 20th century, well into the 1960s. And yes, the Tuskogee Syphilis Study led to the death of more than 100 untreated Black men between 1932 and 1972. Eugenics and race- and gender-based persecution is real, and more recent—still current—than we might have realized. And they could return. 

Atwood’s book is a stark, simply told story of a society in which all rights are removed for women. They cannot work. They cannot maintain their own bank accounts or credit cards. They can either work in forced labor camps, as prostitutes, as caregivers for men, or as handmaids—surrogate mothers—for the wealthy, well to do, and well positioned. Men are in charge. It’s a riveting read and well worth public attention. The most recent documented attempts to ban the book in American high schools—in 2020—failed, and the book was retained.

Not only is Atwood’s novel socially relevant and a serious warning for citizens not considering the body politic—it’s inspired me to learn more about body autonomy and integrity as human rights issues—it’s a very well written book. Largely considered a dystopian novel, I’d suggest it qualifies as social science fiction in which society, politics, and culture become the speculative technology under consideration. I view it on par with Ray Bradury’s Fahrenheit 451, Anthony Burgess’s A Clockwork Orange, Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, George Orwell’s 1984, and Ayn Rand’s Anthem. Cautionary tales for times of societal unrest and upheaval.

The end piece, “Historical Notes on The Handmaid’s Tale,” is offered as a fictional academic paper and presentation delivered at the Twelfth Symposium on Gileadean Studies. The paper examines the discovery and legitimacy of the document, its potential authorship, and the impact of the Gilead regime. Along the lines of social science fiction, it also mentions the “top-secret Sons of Jacob Think Tanks, at which the philosophy and social structure of Gilead were hammered out.” Yes, the persecution of women was planned and socially engineered, with the Sons of Jacob in stark opposition to Isaac Asimov’s Foundation, which was entrusted to preserve and protect human knowledge in order to rise from the ashes of a collapsed society.

The Handmaid’s Tale is about the societal collapse in terms of the removal of citizens’ rights, and the first generation of women to experience it—the transition. To paraphrase the Aunts—female educators and wardens—that first generation will get used to it, and future generations of women won’t know any better because they won’t know the way things were before Gilead. That, I think, is the true horror of the book.

Book Review: "Foundation and Empire" by Isaac Asimov

Foundation and Empire by Isaac Asimov (Avon, 1966)

I started reading this immediately after reading Foundation. That’s not always the case with me for series or sequels. For example, while I’ll return to Jack L. Chalker’s Well World series and Larry Niven’s Ringworld series based on the strengths of the first books—which I also read recently—I wasn’t driven to do so immediately. With the Foundation series, however, after all these years, I had to. It’s just that good. Again, what was I waiting for?

Like Foundation, Foundation and Empire is also a fix-up, collecting two short stories published over the course of several issues of Astounding Science Fiction. The novel combines “Dead Hand” (Astounding, April 1945)—here, the section titled The General—and “The Mule” (Astounding, November-December 1945). Both continue Asimov’s ongoing exploration of the activities and impact of various kinds of men after the collapse of the Empire.

While Foundation considers the role of the psychohistorians, encyclopedists, mayors, traders, and merchant princes, Foundation and Empire narrates the first steps of a returning Empire, considering the generals, as various leaders reclaim border planets while vying for power against the Foundation. And the Mule is a very special leader indeed. You see, he’s a mutant.

Both sections—stories, really—of the novel are excellent, but it is the Mule (“The Mule”) that sings. The character Ebling Mis might remind readers of Hari Seldon. Bayta Darell might remind you of Teela Brown from Niven’s Ringworld. She doesn’t have the same luck, but her realization of why she and her husband Toran seem to be present for the occurrence of so many notable events struck me as a similar epiphany.

In the end, the Mule is humanized. Readers will empathize. And the Darells are left to continue to search for the Second Foundation, on the opposite end of the galaxy. Just as I searched for the next novel, Second Foundation, in a few boxes of paperbacks we have in our library. I don’t have the next book easily at hand, so I can’t continue reading the series immediately like I want to. Instead, I’ve turned momentarily to Lloyd Biggle, Jr. Hopefully my copy of Second Foundation isn’t on the opposite end of the galaxy, too.

(Interestingly, my copy of the mass-market paperback, the thirty-second printing of Avon’s 1966 edition of the 1952 novel, was missing a page of text: Page 94. Very little text was on that page, so I transcribed it from an online copy using a Bic Flair pen.)

Book Review: "Foundation" by Isaac Asimov

Foundation by Isaac Asimov (Ballantine, 1983)

I’ve been reading science fiction, fantasy, and horror for about as long as I’ve been able to read—since before kindergarten. And I’ve never, ever read Foundation. I’ve long known that it’s a classic, that it’s one of the best sf series ever. In fact, in 1966, it received a Hugo for Best All-Time Series, beating out no less than Edgar Rice Burroughs’s Barsoom series and J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings. (I bet that inspired some lively conversations among fen.) But I’ve never, ever read it.

Why? It was supposed to be daunting, convoluted, complicated. It took place over the course of something like 30,000 years and was therefore way multigenerational. As a preteen, I’d fizzled out reading Frank Herbert’s Dune series midway through Heretics of Dune when I realized that I didn’t really know who anyone was anymore. (Having reread Dune during the pandemic, I intend to take another stab at it; who knows whether that experience will hold.) And I was put off by the idea of a series focusing primarily on conversation, psychology, and politics—with characters who don’t stick around. So I’ve avoided and neglected it despite reading and enjoying much other Asimov.

When the television show came out, I returned to the idea, wanting to read at least the first novel before watching the Apple TV+ program, and last month, I finally turned to it. But even the TV show wasn’t the real reason why. You see, I learned that Foundation is a fix-up.

Yes, though a novel, Foundation is in fact the melding together of several short stories. The book, originally published in 1951, contains the stories “Foundation” (Astounding Science Fiction, May 1942), “Bridle and Saddle” (Astounding, June 1942), “The Big and the Little” (Astounding, August 1944), and “The Wedge” (Astounding, October 1944). They are reprinted in the novel as the sections “The Encyclopedists,” “The Mayors,” “The Merchant Princes,” and “The Traders.” And the first section of the novel, “The Psychohistorians,” was written last as an introductory section to the first Gnome Press edition of the book in order to help it begin less abruptly.

Despite the long time frame, the multiple characters, and the wide-ranging aspect of the series, the series of novels is in fact quite manageable because it was written and originally published in pieces and parts. The same is true for the next two novels in the series. Foundation and Empire combines “Dead Hand” (Astounding, April 1945) and “The Mule” (Astounding, November-December 1945), and Second Foundation incorporates “Now You See It…” (Astounding, January 1948 and June 1949) and “...And Now You Don’t” (Astounding, November 1949 to January 1950). That means that not only can you take breaks while reading the books if you need to, the books are designed for readers to do so in a logical and story- —or stories- —serving manner.

So I finally read Foundation. And it was grand. Asimov’s introductory remarks, “The Story Behind the ‘Foundation,’” goes far to detail the history of the book and series, as well as situate it in the writer’s life and career. “[T]o make sure that [John] Campbell really meant what he said about a series, I ended ‘Foundation’ on a cliff-hanger,” Asimov wrote. He even writes about the popularity of the series and how he kept getting called back to it to write more even though he’d moved on to other projects. An interesting background story.

And the novel itself? Even if read in several sittings rather than as its pieces and parts? Excellent. Foundation effectively tells the tale of a society as it falls and struggles to rise again, as various parts of society—different social functions and groups—pass the baton to rebuild. The psychohistorians give way to the encyclopedists, who hand things over not entirely willingly to the mayors, who pave the ground needed by the traders and merchant princes to emerge. The book is still largely political and the narrative predominantly conversational, but it’s an interesting look at social forces at work—even religion. Not sure how I would’ve taken to it as a younger man, but at my current age, I loved it.

So I started reading Foundation and Empire immediately after finishing Foundation. I don’t always do that with series. I’ll take a break and read other books before picking up Larry Niven’s The Ringworld Engineers (having recently read Ringworld), which I’ll probably read before returning to Jack L. Chalker’s Well World and Exiles at the Well of Souls. Wanting to remain immersed in a series’ world is a good sign that I’m enjoying a book. Sometimes you just don’t want the book to end.

I’ve also watched the first few episodes of Foundation on TV. I recommend you read at least “The Psychohistorians” before doing so yourself, but already the program is different enough from the book that I don’t think Asimov’s characterizations or narrative will suffer dipping into both. Personally, I’m glad the show was produced. It helped pull me back to a series I’ve too long neglected. A series I need to now read to completion.

Quotes of Note: "The Andre Norton Megapack" by Andre Norton

Quotes of note from The Andre Norton Megapack by Andre Norton:

(I'm reading this collection of short stories on my Kindle, so page numbers are suspect.)

"Much could be forgiven a man who allowed one to eat regularly again." (1 percent)

"While we can pass, let us." (2 percent)

"Men forget knowledge in time." (3 percent)

"Different worlds, different customs... ." (4 percent)

"[O]ne adjusted to the customs of aliens or one didn’t trade... ." (4 percent)

"[O]fttimes contact with an alien race did require long and patient handling." (5 percent)

"[B]etween study and experiencing the situation himself there was a gulf... ." (5 percent)

"There were no short cuts which endangered others... ." (5 percent)

"We all off-fire our tubes at times... ." (5 percent)

"[T]he wisest part of valor was not to sample alien strong drinks, [but] ceremony often required that they break bread (or its other world equivalent) on strange planets." (6 percent)

"[I]t was always better to nibble and live, than to gorge and die." (6 percent)

Quotes of Note: "The Murray Leinster Megapack" by Murray Leinster

Quotes of note from The Murray Leinster Megapack by Murray Leinster:

(I'm reading this collection of short stories on my Kindle, so page numbers are suspect.)

"Only a man attempting to advance in the scale of civilization tries to explain everything that he sees." (6 percent)

"[E]ducation is simply training in thought, in efficient and effective thinking." (7 percent)

"Even in the high civilization of ages before, few men had really used their brains. The great majority of people had depended upon machines and their leaders to think for them." (7 percent)

"What was near was important, and what was distant could be ignored. Only the imminent required attention... ." (7 percent)

"[M]ost strange things meant danger." (7 percent)

"[T]he advancement of a people from a state of savagery and continual warfare to civilization and continual peace is not made by the elimination of the causes of strife, but by the addition of new objects and ideals, in defense of which people will offer battle." (11 percent)

"Always, to a savage, the unexplained is dangerous." (13 percent)

Book Review: "Doctor Who and the Deadly Assassin" by Terrance Dicks

Doctor Who and the Deadly Assassin by Terrance Dicks (Target, 1977)

This 1977 Target book is a novelization of the four-episode Doctor Who serial “The Deadly Assassin,” which originally aired Oct. 30 to Nov. 20, 1976. I just love these slim little volumes. At about 120 pages, they’re perfect for reading in one or two evenings, and I recommend reading them after you see the original episodes, if you’re able to read and watch in close proximity. I read this one evening seeking inspiration for a drabble (a 100-word fan fiction story) I wrote and submitted for an online challenge; I have not yet seen the television serial.

As a novelization, I’d presume it’s the expected linear retelling of the original teleplay by Robert Holmes. (I haven’t seen the episodes yet, but the Target adaptations don’t tend to ever stray too far from the source material.) The storyline occurs following “The Hand of Fear,” at the end of which, the fourth Doctor takes his companion Sarah Jane Smith back home. In fact, that makes the serial notable. Reportedly, “The Deadly Assassin” is the only original Doctor Who story not to include a companion. Tom Baker thought he could carry the show on his own, and this was a pilot of sorts for a solo Doctor. In the end, producers determined that companions were necessary. Regardless, the story works well without one.

At the end of “The Hand of Fear,” the Doctor is summoned back to Gallifrey. There, he has visions of the assassination of the President on Resignation Day, and he sets out to ensure that that does not occur. However, despite his assistance during the Omega crisis, law enforcement still considers him a criminal and tries to stop his interference—taking him for an assassin himself! The book explores the assassination plot, political intrigue among the Time Lords and one of the Doctor’s most formidable opponents, and the resolution of the crime investigation.

It’s a fun read, shades of The Manchurian Candidate and The Dead Zone. Dicks works in some useful Time Lords back story, including a description of their social hierarchy; a reference to another Target book, The Three Doctors; details of the biological nature of the Time Lords’ telepathy; brief technical details for the Matrix; and a description of what happened after the Master died. That might not be as much additional exposition as readers received in Glen A. Larson and Roger Hill’s Knight Rider novelization, but the additional detail is welcome and helpful.

Perhaps worth reading after you watch the serial. It’s best not to know what’s going to happen—or how—and I have high hopes for the visualization of the Master. The cover art suggests an approach akin to the Phantom of the Opera.

Quotes of Note: H. Beam Piper, "Little Fuzzy" II

Quotes of note from Little Fuzzy by H. Beam Piper:

(Page numbers gleaned from the 1983 eighth printing of the Ace mass-market paperback.)

"Anything that talks and builds a fire is a sapient being, yes. That's the law. But that doesn't mean that anything that doesn't isn't." (p. 36) 

"The less he had to do with the government, the better... ." (p. 71) 

Quotes of Note: H. Beam Piper, "Little Fuzzy" I

Quotes of note from Little Fuzzy by H. Beam Piper:

(Page numbers gleaned from the 1983 eighth printing of the Ace mass-market paperback.)

"Was a time, not so long ago, when he took his abilities for granted. Now he was getting old enough to have to verify them." (p. 7) 

"If you don't like the facts, you ignore them, and if you need facts, dream up some you do like... ." (p. 15) 

"Take a drink because you pity yourself, and then the drink pities you and has a drink, and then two good drinks get together and that calls for drinks all around." (p. 28)

Book Review: "The Shadow" by James Patterson and Brian Sitts

The Shadow by James Patterson and Brian Sitts (Arrow, 2021)

I was slow to learn about Conde Nast’s plans to revive and revitalize the classic pulp and old-time radio hero, the Shadow, and when I learned that James Patterson had been tapped to pen the new titles—this is the first of an intended series—I was perplexed and skeptical. Patterson’s an extremely prolific writer and best-selling author who now mostly plots thrillers and young adult books, primarily working with co-writers. Despite his potential sales appeal to readers, he would not have been on my short list of authors to put pen to paper in place of Walter B. Gibson writing as Maxwell Grant. Maybe Andrew Vachss, Max Allan Collins (who had a hand in several Dick Tracy books), or Paul Di Filippo. Perhaps even the recently departed Mike Resnick. But Patterson?

My skepticism was well placed. There’s very little of the original Shadow in this book, at least very little of Gibson’s tenor and tone, pulp stylism, or the characteristics that made the supernatural vigilante hero so popular originally. Much of that has been jettisoned to reassert the Shadow for a new, modern audience, particularly a young adult readership. In fact, the Shadow is largely eclipsed by a distant teenage relative, Maddy Gomes, who is developing supernatural powers of her own. This might very well be a YA novel.

The opening of the book is as close as we come to the original pulps and radio show. It’s set in 1937 New York City, and Lamont Cranston is about to propose to Margo Lane. They are poisoned, and Cranston rushes the two to a hidden laboratory for treatment. Fast forward to 2087 and a dystopian police state of a city, a global government, and the still-alive Shiwan Khan as world president, oppressing the populace and planning a new, ever cruel approach to world domination.

Most of the book involves Cranston’s revival, rediscovery of his powers, search for Lane, and assessment of the threat posed by Khan. In parallel, we learn more about the state of the world, the lives of teenage Gomes and her grandmother, and their lineage. Not only does Gomes discover and develop her own powers, similar to Cranston’s, but he develops new powers that were never addressed in the original stories. 

Those are occasionally referred to, with commentary on Gomes’s appreciation for the old magazines and radio program. ”Inspired by me, obviously,” Cranston says. “But I never dressed like that. Never even owned a hat. Never carried that ridiculous gun. I guess they had to jazz things up to goose their sales.” That was humorous at first but soon became irritating, as though Patterson was trying to disavow himself of—and distance himself from—the original. 

In a May 2021 Forces of Geek review, Steven Thompson wrote, “[I]f you absolutely felt the need to use the Shadow, why go out of your way to change him so much that he really isn’t recognizable as the Shadow any longer? Only a few of the names are the same by the end of the book. Change those and you have all new characters.” Ain’t that the truth! Not only is this more a Maddy Gomes book than a Shadow book—a teenage heroine for a teenage readership—the Shadow we do get is largely divergent and almost unrecognizable from the original. That might meet the perceived needs of new, younger readers and retain copyright, but it doesn’t serve older, long-time fans.

Conde Nast hopes for additional titles in the series, and for films to spring from the books, as well. Additionally, Patterson has been tapped for a Doc Savage novel expected by the end of the year, with a sequel already scheduled for next year. Unfortunately, if this novel is any indication, my hopes for those are low. Will I still read them? At least the first Doc Savage. To be honest, we’re better off returning to the paperback reprints and pulp reprints, such as those published by Sanctum Books.

Quotes of Note: Lloyd Biggle, Jr., "The Light That Never Was" III

Quotes of note from The Light That Never Was by Lloyd Biggle, Jr.:

(Page numbers gleaned from the 1973 DAW mass-market paperback.)

"Being an artist is something else. It's kind of like a state of mind. The moment an artist stops trying to do his best work in every painting, the moment he takes a shortcut because the painting is only going to be sold to or tourist who doesn't know any better, he stops being an artist. The moment he tries to please his customers instead of himself. he starts being a fraud." (p. 84) 

"[M]y reputation as an artist was more a guarantee of quality than his reputation as a dealer was a guarantee of sales... ." (p. 84) 

"[A] large number of artists would borrow a man's toenails right off his feet if they thought of a use for them." (p. 86) 

"Isn't it funny the way things look different from what they really are?" (p. 86) 

"Artists beg and borrow, but no matter how broke they are, they don't steal." (p. 87) 

"[P]overty was tolerable only when one was unaccustomed to anything else." (p. 89) 

"Rumors can start about anything... ." (p. 92) 

"Rumors are usually slanted to someone's disadvantage, and the reverse of the slant will point unerringly at the author. A rumor that's true, though, is a rumor with a devilishly awkward kink in it. It points everywhere and nowhere." (p. 93) 

"There's more mold than greatness in ... traditions." (p. 94) 

"Even a great mathematician feels the need of some physical labor for his health's sake... ." (p. 100) 

"A person who performs all kinds of contortions is highly conspicuous." (p. 106) 

"Serious artists judge other artists only on the basis of how well they paint... ." (p. 109) 

"Everything was perfect, and ... that could only mean that something was very, very wrong." (p. 110) 

"We are all guilty." (p. 115) 

"Every life is a monument to all life... . ... Every life is a destroyer of life. Each race, each species, must answer to those it has tormented before it accuses its own tormentors." (p. 115) 

"[E]very life, no matter how minute, how humble, how loathsome in appearance or habits, every life is a monument to all life." (p. 115) 

"Artists create, and those who devote their lives to creation are slower to destroy." (p. 115) 

"If there's no warning, a dozen men with explosives could do a horrible amount of damage." (p. 126) 

"Artists aren't thieves. ... [B]ut there's nothing to prevent thieves from dressing like artists... ." (p. 131) 

"I am suspicious of obvious conclusions." (p. 134) 

"Those who read the message remember it long after the display has been removed." (p. 134) 

"The correct question was why men hate, because someone assuredly had hated enough to wantonly destroy, but the answer to that lay in the provinces of medicine and philosophy." (p. 135) 

"[C]rises sometimes jolted the most prosaic painter into heroic leaps of imagination." (p. 137) 

"When people are dwarfed to insignificance, isn't it better to omit them?" (p. 146) 

"Few artists are men of action... ." (p. 149) 

"A plausible lie can be much more convincing than the truth." (p. 149) 

"Maybe that's what's wrong with this world... . ... Everyone is suspect." (p. 150) 

"[A]ll ... art needs a collision with reality." (p. 157) 

"[O]ne art lesson she had learned well concerned the inutility of arguments about art... ." (p. 159) 

"[T]he artists said I painted almost as ineptly as a critic." (p. 159) 

"Every life is a monument to all life... ." (p. 162) 

"It's the market place that determines value... ." (p. 169) 

"My valuations aren't based upon what someone else paid, but upon what I'm willing to pay." (p. 169) 

Book Review: "Ringworld" by Larry Niven

Ringworld by Larry Niven (Ballantine, 1970)

For the life of me, I don’t know how I could possibly go for so long without reading this novel. As a fan of Arthur C. Clarke’s Rendezvous with Rama and subsequent novels—and recently enjoying Jack McDevitt’s The Engines of God—I thoroughly appreciate science fiction novels that focus on mysterious constructs, ancient alien artifacts, and the remnants of once-grand alien civilizations. This book has all of that in spades! The first of four Ringworld novels, Ringworld is also adjacent to Niven’s Known Space stories, as represented in about ​​a dozen novels and short story collections, as well as the shared-world Man-Kzin Wars anthologies. The Nebula, Hugo, and Locus award-winning novel also catalyzed five Fleet of Worlds prequel and sequel novels by Niven and Edward M. Lerner. This, then, is the book that kicked it all off.

The basic idea of the story is that four characters—200-year-old human Louis Wu, cowardly two-headed puppeteer Nessus, extremely lucky young human Teela Brown, and savage kzin diplomat Speaker-to-Animals—travel through space to examine a mysterious construct encountered by the fleeing race of puppeteers. The construct is a ring 93 million miles in radius, 600 million miles long, rotating at 770 miles/second around a sun at the center. 

While the ring itself, with its shadow squares, ghost wire, outer walls, ostensibly impervious surface and other mysterious features, is fascinating in and of itself, the land inside its outer walls facing the sun, its inhabitants, primitive societies and religions (to paraphrase, “Every contact is First Contact”), the architectural and infrastructural remains of once proud cities—including floating castles—also bear exploration as the four characters strive to learn what they can about Ringworld’s past, present, and future, as well as the alien race that built it but mysteriously disappeared, abandoning the Ringworld and leaving its mechanisms to decay.

But the real reason to read the book is the characters. Each of the four protagonists, including their back stories—even racial histories—bring an equal importance to the novel. It is, in fact, their relationships and interactions, the shifting alliances, mood swings, and fluctuating spirit of collaboration and camaraderie that make the book such an interesting read. These are characters to return to, even Prill and Seeker, introduced relatively late in the book.

A new favorite, and there’s more to explore between the other Ringworld, Fleet of Worlds, Known Space, and Man-Kzin Wars books. What a wonderful, wonderful book. It’s understandable that the novel received so much recognition when it first came out. It remains a thoughtful, innovative, and compelling work.

Book Review: "Midnight at the Well of Souls" by Jack L. Chalker

Midnight at the Well of Souls by Jack L. Chalker (Del Rey, 1977)

Fellow Neffer and avid Chalker fan Patsy Williams recommended I read Midnight at the Well of Souls, the first of five books in Chalker’s Saga of the Well of Souls. I am sure glad I did. The novel reminded me more of Philip Jose Farmer’s Riverworld series than Arthur C. Clarke’s Rendezvous with Rama or Larry Niven’s Ringworld, though they’re all slightly adjacent, similar to the hexagonal ecosystems that compose the world explored by the protagonists. Chalker’s book is a little more outre, occasionally downright bizarre, reminding me of some of the looser countercultural sf written in the ’60s. And it’s largely a morality tale, albeit a light-hearted and far from heavy-handed one, offering some advice and insight on human nature, the purpose of human existence, as well as some speculative cosmology and theology.

Spacer Nathan Brazil—a heroic character with depth whom I’d love to read more about if there ever was one—diverts his route to respond to an emergency signal, finding evidence of a vicious slaughter of those populating a scientific outpost. Once there, he and other passengers are drawn through a mysterious portal to what seems to be a distant planet or pocket universe. There, they pass through another portal, transformed into another form—various alien races—and assigned to an appropriate subsection of the world, each with a climate and features appropriate for its respective alien race.

Brazil proceeds to track down two of the people sent to the world—one evil and one who might be misguided—who are interested in using mathematics to unlock the secrets of the Well of Souls and gain what they expect and imagine to be unlimited power—the power of a god. The group ends up reconvening, and they learn more than they bargained for once they reach the Well: about the world they’ve been exploring, about the nature of reality, about the purpose of life itself, and the intended role of love. That’s where the moral aspect comes into play, and you can sample some of the ideas communicated by Chalker in select quotes posted in my blog at https://tinyurl.com/chalkerquotes. It’s thought-provoking stuff.

While the scientific and technological aspects of the book are slightly prone to hand waving, the philosophical elements of the book are compelling. So are Chalker’s various alien races, ecosystems, and societies that populate the world around the Well of Souls. There’s plenty more of that world to explore, should the need arise. Chalker also incorporates some narrative aspects addressing the nature of addiction and the abuse of others, and sex plays a fun and functional role in the story.

So thank you, Patsy, for the recommendation! Chalker is an author I’ll return to. As my friend Stevyn “Iron Feather” Prothero said online when he learned I was reading Chalker, “He created many interesting universes. Fascinating series. I recently discovered he wrote follow-up books about some of those characters and worlds. Great stuff. Enjoy.” I most certainly will.

Quotes of Note: Lloyd Biggle, Jr., "The Light That Never Was" II

Quotes of note from The Light That Never Was by Lloyd Biggle, Jr.:

(Page numbers gleaned from the 1973 DAW mass-market paperback.)

"[T]he word 'efficiently' is used in many contexts, but in none of them does it actually mean 'efficiently.'" (p. 52) 

"The likes of us aren't safe unless we go where everyone else is at least as disreputable as we are." (p. 55) 

"[N]ever willingly credit... anyone with stupidity." (p. 63) 

"The Sornorians are badly underestimating what's required to take something away from a household of artists." (pp. 65-66) 

"[A]n attorney ... [will] participate in illegal activities. ... All they ask is some advance notice so they can figure out ways of doing illegal things legally." (p. 68) 

"Age does not corrupt the spirit... ." (p. 69) 

"Knowledge of the law has unexpected uses and applications throughout one's life." (p. 70) 

"If you offer an artist money, he doesn't consider that he's doing you a favor." (p. 72-73) 

"For a non-artist, an artist's costume would be a rather good disguise." (p. 77) 

"[F]ew of the young people cared to inherit the laborious poverty of their parents." (p. 78) 

"[A] thriving tourist world attracted operators dedicated to instant profits... ." (p. 79) 

"[T]here was no better investment in the galaxy than a painting by a young artist who would become great. The problem was to select the right young artist... ." (p. 80)

Book Review: "Knight Rider" by Glen A. Larson and Roger Hill

Knight Rider by Glen A. Larson and Roger Hill (Pinnacle, 1983)

While recovering after a medical procedure earlier this year, I began to rewatch early episodes of the 1982 television series Knight Rider. A passing mention of artificial intelligence while discussing the Knight Industries Two Thousand vehicle and the pilot’s setting in Silicon Valley made me realize that perhaps Knight Rider was… science fiction—something that had eluded my preteen self when originally watching the program. Now that we’re more firmly in a time of smart cars, collision detection, and other technological developments, I thought it’d be worth learning more about the science behind the TV show.

So I read the first Knight Rider tie-in novel, credited to the series’ creator and producer Larson—who also had a hand in Battlestar Galactica, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, and The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries—but written by Hill, a former journalist from Los Angeles and author of three previous novels.

The novelization is largely a straight-forward retelling of the pilot episode, though the book does include additional detail on the science fiction elements of Knight Rider. Knight Industries had previously perfected a use of plastics. There’s a reference to Burke and Hare, as well as a mention of Asimov’s Laws of Robotics. Hill also expands on Wilton Knight’s political viewpoints, which are downright Randian.

And the car itself? The “most expensive car in the world” has a “finish bonded into the molecular structure of the car body itself.” It’s not fiberglass, but a “new substance altogether. An alloy only space technology could produce.” KITT is faster, safer, and stronger than any other car. The car is virtually indestructible. “It is hydrogen-fueled and totally fuel efficient. The microprocessors that control its functions make it impossible for the vehicle to be involved in any sort of mishap or collision … unless specifically ordered to by its pilot.”

But most importantly, the car thinks. “Dr. Miles and I took pains to program KITT’s machine personality for maximum interface value with the pilot-program driver… . As the seat and dashboard are customized to your physical shape, so is the ‘personality’ of the microprocessor in conformity to your psychological profile.” The car learns.

The book is an interesting expansion on the ideas behind the show. Michael Haenlein and Andreas Kaplan’s “A Brief History of Artificial Intelligence” (https://tinyurl.com/bddc8zc5) suggests that early AI efforts date back to the 1940s and Asimov’s story “Runaround.” ELIZA was created in the mid-’60s, and investment waned in the 1970s and 1980s, not to reemerge seriously until the ’90s and more recently.

Pretty progressive ideas for the early 1980s! (This review was previously published in slightly different form in the LASFAPA apazine Faculae & Filigree #11.)

Book Review: "The Kaiju Preservation Society" by John Scalzi

The Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi (Tor, 2022)

At the start of the pandemic, Scalzi had embarked on writing a “dark, heavy, complex, and broodingly ambitious” novel but was flummoxed by COVID-19 and other world events, including losing some of what he’d written. So he set the book aside, and last spring—in February and March 2021—Scalzi turned his attention to something smaller and lighter. That something is this less than 300-page novel, which he developed within a day of setting aside the potential magnum opus that was blocking him and backing out of his previous contract. It’s a fun and palate-cleansing read, not too serious, but not a throwaway. And it was just what I needed when it arrived from the Science Fiction Book Club.

The gist of the novel is this: A laid-off dotcom employee turned delivery worker gets hired by an animal rights organization that tends to kaiju—in the traditional sense—that reside in an adjacent alternate dimension. Think Pacific Rim, Cloverfield, and more traditional kaiju movies such as Godzilla; Gamera, the Giant Monster; and Mothra. The book, though brief, does a good job detailing the history of the organization and its caretaking, gives some sense of the biology (and reproductive biology) of the kaiju, connects them to nuclear energy—a nice parallel to Godzilla—and features a threat to the secrecy of the project, the kaiju themselves, and our world next door. The wall between the dimensions is thinner than one might hope in some situations.

One of the highlights of the novel is the reintroduction of the dotcom executive who fired the protagonist, their interactions, and the business leader’s connection to a previous disaster involving the organization. The book is quite humorous, with friendly sparring among the caregivers, puerile jokes, and fictional band names. Scalzi is also quite conscious about incorporating a diverse cast of characters and using gender-neutral pronouns, which is occasionally distracting, but only because it’s not yet that common a practice. The book doesn’t get bogged down by that, however, and remains a quick and breezy read.

All in all, I’m glad Scalzi was able to recover from his health concerns and writer's block during the pandemic. Not having read any of his other books, I don’t know how representative of his work this is. But it’s an enjoyable read, and interesting enough in terms of ideas that I’m curious about his other writing. I’m also thankful for the included “Author’s Note and Acknowledgments,” which offers useful context for the book.

Quotes of Note: Lloyd Biggle, Jr., "The Light That Never Was" I

Quotes of note from The Light That Never Was by Lloyd Biggle, Jr.:

(Page numbers gleaned from the 1973 DAW mass-market paperback.)

"[T]here would be little good art without the striving of a great many artists to become great... ." (pp. 6-7)

"The galaxy doesn't produce a dozen really great artists in a generation." (p. 9)

"Ex-artists must eat." (p. 12)

"[B]eauty, shared, doesn't diminish or depreciate." (p. 17)

"[M]ost social phenomena have patterns... ." (p. 20)

"Is hatred a social phenomenon?" (p. 20)

"At our ages ... any kind of emotion is a luxury." (p. 20)

"We design [computers] exclusively for the digital or vocal capabilities of humans, and then we call the animaloids inferior because they're physically incapable of using them." (p. 20)

"[W]hat we unjustly consider inferior, we hate." (p. 20)

"Why can't those who aren't vicious receive justice?" (p. 20)

"We humans have developed so many divergent types of our own ... that we should have been more tolerant of other species." (p. 20)

"Most artists were wanderers... ." (p. 22)

"Just because we're artists doesn't mean we like art... ." (p. 24)

"Beauty in the eye of the beholder, ugliness likewise." (p. 26)

"Music has an unfortunate tendency to cover up conversation." (p. 30)

"[P]eople who relax tend to become careless... ." (p. 31)

"[M]ost of the confidential talk takes place along walls or in corners." (p. 31)

"Why is it that if I stay at home and fritter away my time I'm considered respectable if not actually meritorious, and if I try to learn something that will enrich my outlook on life I'm a wanton?" (p. 33)

"[T]he most pathetic figure in modern society is the person who neglects his talents while trying to exercise talents he does not have." (p. 34)

"The saddest words of tongue or pen[:] ... It used to be or it might have been." (p. 34)

"[I]n times of trouble people tend to stay home and look after their own interests... ." (p. 35)

"[M]adness finds its own object... ." (p. 35)

"He could not reach decisions without information, ideas, opinions... ." (p. 40)

"One [name] is all an honest man needs... ." (p. 41)

"I've learned to speak for no man's compassion except my own... ." (p. 42)

"Refugees rarely return to their original homes, even if they're permitted to do so." (p. 43)

"An elaborate spy organization is amusing to watch, not to mention educational." (p. 45)

"The young really can't appreciate man's capacity for hatred." (p. 45)

"[H]atred is as susceptible to manipulation as any other emotion." (p. 45)

"The occasional visitor is an object of curiosity rather than animosity." (p. 45)

"[F]ear can lead to hatred for no reason at all." (p. 45)

"Are artists more tolerant than other humans?" (p. 45)

"When art falls short of perfection, ... the artist either should have stopped sooner or continued until he accomplished whatever it was he was trying to do. A great painting is finished. Nothing that doesn't belong, nothing left out. It simply is." (p. 46)

"A tourist's costume excuses anything." (p. 47)

"A successful tourist trade was not without its price... ." (p. 49)

Quotes of Note: Isaac Asimov, "Foundation and Empire" II

Quotes of note from Foundation and Empire by Isaac Asimov:

(Page numbers gleaned from the 32nd printing of the 1966 Avon mass-market paperback.)

"[T]here were three classes. first, there were the many who knew little and we're very confident... ... Then there were those who knew a little more and were less confident. ... Lastly, there were the very few who knew considerable and we're not confident at all." (pp. 128, 129, and 131) 

"It isn't a gut-beating when you stay where you fought, and the gut-beater leaves in a hurry." (p. 128) 

"Wars don't just start by themselves... ." (p. 129) 

"[S]o far there's been more drinking than thinking, and more wooing than doing... ." (p. 133) 

"More often than not, good players are idiots otherwise." (p. 138) 

"Divided action plays into the hands of the enemy." (p. 146) 

"What isn't dangerous?" (p. 155) 

"You're all the stirring my mother-complex can stand." (p. 155) 

"Beliefs can't be shaken short of a major shock... ." (p. 157) 

"My profession has resulted in just a bit of independent thinking." (p. 158) 

"The plutocrats have always been against us." (p. 160) 

"A thorough alarm system outside meant few guards within." (p. 168) 

"[L]eave heroics for the fools who are impressed by it." (p. 169) 

"Visitors ... are a convenient thing to have." (p. 184) 

"[T]he mistiness of distance hides the truth." (p. 184) 

"Nothing you ask is idle... ." (p. 184) 

"[T]he friend of a conqueror is but the last victim... ." (p. 185) 

"[B]oasts are wind and deeds are hard." (p. 185) 

"[S]omehow I thought emperors were greater and wiser than ordinary men." (p. 187)

"[I]n war or disaster, when industry breaks down, the people starve." (p. 196) 

"[H]uman reaction to stimuli would remain constant." (p. 206) 

"I forget sometimes ... who my friends are." (p. 211) 

"[P]sycho-history worked best where the individual working units -- human beings -- had no knowledge of what was coming, and could therefore react naturally to all situations." (p. 211-212) 

[P]sycho-history could predict only probabilities, and not certainties. There was always a margin of error, and as time passed that margin increases in geometric progression." (p. 212) 

"If a strong man can lift five hundred pounds, it does not mean that he is eager to do so continuously." (p. 220) 

"Intuition or insight for hunch-tendency ... can be treated as an emotion." (p. 221) 

"The human mind works at low efficiency. Twenty per cent is the figure usually given." (p. 221)