OtherRealms A Fanzine for the Non-Fan "Where FIJAGH Becomes a Way of Life" Volume 1, Number 4 May, 1986 Table of Contents Editorial: Callahan's Barred? by Chuq Von Rospach Review: Damiano by Dave Berry Review: Damiano's Lute by Dave Berry Awards: 1986 Hugo Nominations Translation Review: Les Chroniques de Thomas l'Incredule by George Walker An Appreciation of Judy-Lynn del Rey (1943-1986) by Chuq Von Rospach Review: Gateway by Dave Berry Review: Beyond the Blue Event Horizon by Dave Berry Readers Survey: The Monthly Question to Our Readers Pico Reviews by Our Readers Letters to OtherRealms by Our Readers Editorial: Callahan's Barred? by Chuq Von Rospach Editor of OtherRealms Copyright 1986 by Chuq Von Rospach [This editorial contains discussions of plot elements of the story "The Mick of Time" by Spider Robinson in the May, 1986 Analog. Readers who don't like reading material that spoils things that they haven't read yet might want to this article] Spider Robinson has written his last Callahan's Bar story. Spider broke into the SF field in 1974 with "The Guy with the Eyes" and quickly established himself as one of the strongest people oriented writers in the genre. Over the last 12 years, Callahan's Bar has generated two books ("Callahan's Crosstime Saloon" and "Time Traveler's Pay Cash"), endless numbers of terrible puns, and a legion of diehard fans. Many series lose their edge over the years, and I think Callahan's is no exception -- time between stories grow, and many of the plots over the last few years seem to be missing much of the freshness and intensity of the early days. Both are warning signs of impending series senility, and a good author heeds them and goes on. So why am I so blasted mad at Spider? Not because he ended the series, but because of the way he ended it. "The Mick of Time" in the May, 1986 issue of Analog is an extremely unsatisfying story. Robinson gets into some last minute psychiatric soul searching that, at least for me, invalidates the entire series. Finally, he really didn't END the series at all. Like Sherlock Holmes at Reichenbach Falls, it only awaits the whim of the author and the fell swoop of a convenient safety net to bring it back to the land of the living. At the last moment, when Robinson could have let go of his baby and let it die a natural death, he wimps out, leaving himself open to the obligatory sequels. Maybe I just expect too much from Robinson. Anyone who has listened to me rave for a while knows that I'm a serious fan of his work. For once I feel I've been let down. Here are some points on why I think this story fails. Robinson tried to bring back all of his old characters for the finale. All well and good, but most of them get cameo appearances and few of the cameos move the story forward, leaving the tale bloated and confused. There is one significant technical problem. Early in the story, Mickey Finn announces that he has successfully disabled the entire nuclear capability of all the nations of the world. When it is discovered his alien master is approaching, he is put to sleep to keep him from answering his programming. A good portion of the crisis being built is caused by the alien approach and the inability to use nuclear weapons, since with Mickey asleep there is no way to re- enable them. At the crisis point, though, a convenient small nuclear device is exploded, destroying the alien and saving humanity. Never mind how they got that device there; stranger things have happened at Callahan's. How did they get the disabled device to explode? I've read the story a number of times, and I can come to only two possible conclusions: either Mickey Finn is lying or Spider simply missed a major hole in his plot. The improbable has happened regularly at Callahan's, but this is the first time the impossible has -- through an act of God on the authors part, as far as I can tell. Which brings me to the wimp out. Spider, as part of destroying the alien, also takes Callahan's Bar with it. Using a tactical nuclear device to destroy the symbol of the series is a strong statement on the part of the author, and I can't see him doing something like that accidentally. Callahan and family are unmasked (surprise! surprise!) as time travelling aliens here to keep earth nice and happy. Callahan's is reduced to component atoms, and Mike and kin go riding off into the sunset. End of story? No, the Gang talk about going off and opening up their own version of Callahan's. Robinson should have either killed off the story or left it living -- instead its in limbo, where he can write about it if it strikes him to but he isn't committed to the series. This leaves those of us who look forward to these stories stuck in limbo, too, and I resent that. It's my feeling that the death of the series was premature. True, it had started to pale out somewhat the last few years, but in the next to last story (The Blacksmith's Tale" Analog, December 1985) we meet Callahan's daughter and get the first glimmer of a new dimension to his personality -- Papa Mike has a wife and kid. Who cares if the wife runs the best brothel in the county; should that really surprise you? All of this I could have accepted but Robinson plays a nasty trick on Jake, the narrator, that I simply cannot forgive. Jake first came to Callahan's after a car accident killed his wife and child. The accident was caused by the failure of the brakes he had just worked on, and Jake was carrying a major load of guilt for surviving the crash. Many of the stories about the bar have been about Jake learning to deal with and put behind this guilt; learning to accept himself again and restart his life. His problems, and the struggles made to deal with them, were one of the things that held the stories together; the thing that made all of the stories real. And at the end of this story, Robinson tells all of us that this guilt, the gut-wrenching pain and sorrow we all lived through with Jake over the years, all of it, was a sham. He is told that the accident wasn't his fault, that he can forget all about it and become a normal human being again, and please stop worrying about it. And, by the way, we knew this years ago but couldn't tell you because you were important to the destruction of this alien. Callahan's just broke the first law of Callahan. No person has ever walked into Callahan's and walked out unhealed if it was within their power. Except Jake, whom they could have healed and didn't -because they needed him for something else. He was used, he was played with, and they stole 12 years from his life. No matter that the fate of the Earth was in the balance; that never stopped Callahan before (starting with the first story, when the 'easy' answer would have been to simply kill Mickey Finn). That makes Callahan a sham, and all he stood for a sham, and it leaves a musty taste in my mouth about the whole series. If Mike Callahan had REALLY meant what the series said he meant, they would have fixed up Jake years ago and still found a way to save the Earth. Jake was raped, and the series and readers got taken along for a ride. Those few final paragraphs where Robinson tries to absolve Jake backfires. What they really do is show Callahan as no better than anyone else, and they retroactively remove most of the validity of the series in its entirety. With this one story, Spider has made me lose a lot of respect for ALL of Callahan's bar. It was a great series -- I felt a lot reading the stories, it helped me grow and it taught me a lot about people. Now, a lot of the memories are tarnished. That's why I'm mad. Review: Damiano by R. A. MacAvoy Bantam, 1985, 243 pp. Reviewed by Dave Berry mcvax!cstvax.ed.ac.uk!db Copyright 1986 by Dave Berry Mary Whitehouse and her ilk would like all children to experience the Victorian ideal of childhood innocence (of course, this never applied to Victorian working class children, who had to work like everyone else). Having experienced such a childhood, and having been greatly harmed by it, I think this is a bad idea. However, it does have some compensations. Like being able to be made blissfully happy reading a book of innocence and warmth like this one. It's not that the author is innocent - that would make unbearable writing - but the main character is. MacAvoy writes like Orson Scott Card (especially his "Songmaster") in that she is able to create a feeling of 'rightness', of everything being right with the world, despite its evident shittyness. It's interesting that both authors use music as an image for conveying that 'rightness'. I suspect that on re-reading Damiano I will find it naive, unrealistic and irrelevant. However, there are some times when an escape to a simple world, where characters can overcome adversity - not to be triumphant, but to be happy - is an escape well worth taking. The story is set in Italy during the renaissance. Damiano is a witch, befriended by the archangel Raphael and a talking dog, out to set his city free from a tyrant. He wishes to use his powers only for good, but finds that impossible, and ends up being tempted by the devil himself. So the story becomes a morality play, but an interesting one. Some of the encounters and characters are quite novel; others, such as being saved from an arrow by a book under one's jacket are old ones, strangely out of place. The link I suggested with childhood is strengthened by Damiano's virginity, despite his 23 years. This is ostensibly because he's a witch, though towards the end of the book it seems as if sex wouldn't actually affect his magic. Childhood is also suggested by the strong mother image of Raphael, who is beautiful, a teacher, and a comfort to Damiano. Overall: wonderful if you like simplicity and magical fantasy. If not, you'll probably hate it. [*****] Review: Damiano's Lute by R. A. MacAvoy Bantam, 1985, 243 pp. Reviewed by Dave Berry mcvax!cstvax.ed.ac.uk!db Copyright 1986 by Dave Berry This is a sequel to Damiano. In fact it's billed as no. 2 of a trilogy. Unfortunately, 'sequel' comes closer. I regard a trilogy as a three volume story, or three independent stories linked by character, setting or theme. Either way, it has some internal consistency. A sequel is a follow-up, an afterthought; often a means of cashing in on an earlier success. Sequels tend to be pale imitations of their originals, a continuation of the story and characters with no intrinsic merit. 'The Lord of the Rings' and 'The 1st Chronicles of Thomas Covenant' are examples of trilogies under this definition; the 'Heechee trilogy' and 'The 2nd Chronicles of Thomas Covenant' are examples of sequels. The third book of MacAvoy's 'trilogy' looks like being even more of a sequel, since it features the black dragon from her first novel, 'Tea with the black dragon'. It also looks like she's running out of ideas. Briefly, Damiano's Lute continues the story of Damiano as he wanders around Provence, unhappy, finding solace only in his music. For want of a plot, Damiano and his companion, Gaspare, are searching for Gaspare's sister. They get mixed up in the plague and in papal politics, and Damiano has a chance to help someone for a change. A romance looms with Sara, another witch from the first book, and this predictably occurs. The ending isn't so predictable, but it isn't very good either. What is really annoying about this book is that Damiano seemed to finish the first book content, but the second book finds him unhappy, and still wanting to do something Good, with a capital G. Ordinary life is still not good enough for him. This clashes with the first book, and with the mood of 'Tea with the Black Dragon' too. Not worth the effort. [**] 1986 Hugo Award Nominations (borrowed from the CompuServe Sci-Fi SIG) [editor's comments are in brackets] Best Novel Blood Music, Greg Bear The Postman, David Brin Ender's Game, Orson Scott Card Cuckoo's Egg, C. J. Cherryh Footfall, Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle [I am proven out! Footfall IS a good book. I am not alone! Not good enough to win, however. A very good field this year, but my vote goes to "Blood Music", with runner-up to Ender's Game] Best Novella The Scapegoat, C. J. Cherryh Green Mars, Kim Stanley Robinson Sailing to Byzantium, Robert Silverberg The Only Neat Thing To Do, James Tiptree, Jr. 24 Views of Mt. Fuji, by Hokusai, Roger Zelazny [Scapegoat and Green Mars are very good works. 24 Views is horribly overrated in my view, and the other two I didn't read or they didn't leave a vestigal memory. I'm going with "Green Mars"] Best Novelette A Gift from the Graylanders, Michael Bishop The Fringe, Orson Scott Card Palladin of the Lost Hour, Harlan Ellison Portraits of His Children, George R. R. Martin Dogfight, Michael Swanwick and William Gibson [A reasonably good set of stories, with the nod to Bishop] Best Non-Fiction The Pale Shadow of Science, Brian Aldiss Benchmarks: Galaxy Bookshelf, Algis Budrys The John W. Campbell Letters, Vol 1, Perry Chapdelain _et al_ eds. An Edge in My Voice, Harlan Ellison Science Made Stupid, Tom Weller Faces of Fear: Encounters with the Creators of Modern Horror, Douglas E. Winter [Edge in my Voice is a killer book, and normally would have gotten my vote hands down. Science Made Stupid, though, runs away with my vote, will run away with the award, and will run away with your sanity when you read it. If you haven't, you should. I'm just starting to read the Campbell Letters, but it looks like a critical work for those interested in the history of SF] Best Semi-Pro Magazine Fantasy Review, Robert Collins, Ed. Interzone, Dunlsey & Pringle, Eds. Locus, Charles N. Brown, Ed. SF Chronicle, Andrew Porter, Ed. SF Review, Richard E., Geis, Ed. [Locus will win, Porter will bitch, and Geis will deserve it. So what else is new? (This is not a put down of Locus, but Brown is going to need to build a new wing for awards one of these days...] Best Dramatic Presentation Back to the Future Brazil Cocoon Enemy Mine Ladyhawke [I'm not a big media person, but I'll bet that Brazil wins, since it seems to appeal to the serious SFner while BttF would appeal to the mass movie goer. Enemy Mine and Ladyhawke don't deserve nominations. They don't deserve to be on the film program] Best Professional Editor Terry Carr Judy-Lynn del Rey Edward L. Ferman Shawna McCarthy Stanley Schmidt [Judy-Lynn wins. The nomination and award are posthumous, unfortunately, and somewhat out of sympathy for the loss, but deserving none the less. Carr and McCarthy are popular nominations, but neither has done anything to really deserve it. Schmidt probably shouldn't be there, either. My choice would have been George Schithers for keeping Amazing alive this long, but he got canned, too (I thought it was a tradition to give awards to people who got fired for doing a good job...)] Best Professional Artist Frank Kelly Freas Don Maitz Rowena Morrill Barclay Shaw Michael Whelan [No real preference, except that Whelan always leaves me cold for some reason. Technically he's good, but his paintings are too static.] Best Fanzine Anvil (Charlotte Proctor) GCFCG Newsletter (Bobby Gear) (Costmers Guild Newsletter) Holier Than Thou (Marty & Robbie Cantor) Lan's Lantern (George Laskowski) Universal Translator (Susan Bridges) Best Fan Writer Don D'Amassa Richard E. Geis Mike Glyer Arthur Hlavaty Dave Langford Patrick Neilsen-Hayden Best Fan Artist Brad Foster Steven Fox Joan Hanke-Woods William Rotsler Stu Shiffman John W. Campbell Award (* == second year of eligibility) Karen Joy Fowler Guy Gavriel Kay * Carl Sagan Melissa Scott * Tad Williams David Zindell [Carl Sagan. Are they serious? Any you thought my liking Footfall was crocked? That alone deserves a No Award vote, but both Fowler and Williams have written stuff that has caught my eye. I think I leave towards Fowler for now] Review: Les Chroniques de Thomas l'Incredule (really Lord Foul's Bane) by Stephen R. Donaldson translated from American to French by Iawa Tate 88FF, Flamme, ISBN2-277-02113-X Reviewed by George Walker tektronix!tekig4!georgew Copyright 1986 by George Walker This isn't a book review, it's a translation review. I'm reviewing it not because I expect OtherRealms readers to go out and buy it, but because this is a classic example of a bad translation. Often when we read a book originally written in another language, we take for granted that we're reading the "same thing" as the original. This isn't necessarily so. In this case, French readers must be baffled by Donaldson's popularity over here. I read "Lord Foul's Bane" in 1977, when it first came out. The translation didn't come out until eight years later, so French publishers weren't exactly falling over each other trying to get the book out. The publisher has given the title of the entire series to the first book, a deceptive tactic that caught me years ago, when I bought the French edition of Blish's "Cities in Flight" and found I still had to buy three more books. The cover art on this edition is mediocre, and the blurb misleading, but that's common over here too, so I can't complain. On opening the book, the first things that bothered me were some names on the map, and the fact that this text is 25% shorter than the original. Let me provide some examples of names: "Revelstone" (where the lords hang out) becomes "The Stone that Laughs." "Foul's Creche" (where the foe hangs out) becomes "Gehenna" (a biblical place, often a synonym for Hell). The first name provides a somewhat literal translation of one of Mr. Donaldson's made-up words, but it personifies the place in a way that I find jarring. "Gehenna" is adequate; the meaning is different, but it fits Donaldson's style better than the literal "Foul's Manger" would have. Some people's names in the book are odd, too. "Saltheart Foamfollower" becomes (roughly) "Saltheart the Pirate". That simply doesn't fit the character. Now, what happened to that 25%? Some critics say Donaldson is too verbose, so maybe this was an improvement? Wrong. This is not a "Reader's Digest" condensation, where non-critical paragraphs and chapters are excised, but a condensation by paraphrasing. All the plot is there, but the style is gone. Sentences and paragraphs that were separate in the original have been run together, spoiling the dramatic effect. Tense dialogue becomes monotonously dull. There are a number of inconsistencies that indicate the translator didn't fully understand the original. When I was in junior high school, my Latin teacher let me translate just like Iawa Tate. But this isn't junior high, it's a multi-million dollar business with no room for lazy translators. As a translation, I rate this a [*]. Judy-Lynn (Benjamin) del Rey (1943-1986) An appreciation by Chuq Von Rospach Editor of OtherRealms Judy-Lynn del Rey, 43, died February 20, 1986 at Bellevue Hospital in New York City. On October 16, 1985, she suffered a brain hemorrhage and fell into a coma. She never regained consciousness. Judy-Lynn joined the staff of Galaxy magazine in 1965 under editor Fred Pohl. She became associate editor in 1966, managing editor in 1969 and went to work for Betty Ballantine in 1973. When the Ballantines left the line in 1974, she hired her husband, Lester, as Fantasy editor and took over full responsibility for Ballantine Books. I never met Judy. I now grieve the fact that I never will. She single-handedly transformed Science Fiction from a second rate ghetto in the publishing world to a major player on the lists of booksellers nationwide. She did so quietly, so quietly that she never won a major award, never was even nominated for a Hugo, was never a Guest of Honor at a Worldcon. And now she's gone. Judy published the first fantasy book to make the New York Times Bestseller list -- "The Sword of Shannara" by Terry Brooks. If a Science Fiction book hit that list, chances are it was one of hers, either under the Ballantine label or her own Del Rey booklist. Pulling books at random from my library makes me realize just how important her work was for the field; from Arthur C. Clarke ("Rendevous with Rama", "2010") and Robert A. Heinlein ("Friday", "Job: A Comedy of Justice") to Isaac Asimov ("Robots of Dawn") and Larry Niven ("Footfall", "The Integral Trees" and all the Known Space series). She has published many of the most successful series in Science Fiction: the Pern books by Anne McCaffrey; the Pliestocene Exile series by Julian May; the Belgariad by David Eddings and the Sector General series by James White. She published "Dragon's Egg" by Robert Forward, the book that ushered in the recent resurgence in "Hard" SF. She published Hugo and Nebula winner "The Forever War" by Joe Haldeman, "Starburst" by Fred Pohl, "The Shockwave Rider" by John Brunner. Judy was also instrumental in making sure that the classics stayed in print. Important works in the genre such as "A Case of Conscience" by James Blish or the Sub-Sea Academy works by Pohl and Jack Williamson. She brought together George Smith's "Venus Equilateral" works from Astounding in the 1940's with "The Complete Venus Equilateral." Last, and far from least, she committed herself to bringing back into print all of the works of OZ with the original illustrations -- thereby reviving a classic wasting away on the bookshelves of nowhere and bringing it to the grasp of new generations. All the appreciations won't correct the fact that we never got around to telling her all of this to her face. What she did, she did so well that everybody took it for granted. It wasn't until our words were beyond her hearing that her importance to the field was felt. I only wish she COULD hear it, and I wish I'd said it sooner. No single person, including the almost deified John Campbell, has done more for the field. I hope that someone remembers to set her a place at the Worldcon banquet this year, for she will be with us. I hope that someone decides to name an award after her, to help us better remember her memory. I hope most of all that celebrate her memories and accomplishments as they should have been celebrated long ago. She was taken from us long before her time. I grieve for her husband, Lester, and her family -- Dr. Zachary Benjamin, her father; her brother Leonard Benjamin; her sister Randi Benjamin, and all of her friends and loved ones. I also grieve for Science Fiction, and for all of the friends and loved ones (like myself) she hadn't met yet. Review: Gateway by Fred Pohl Orbit (MacDonald & co.), 1985 (copyright 1976), 313pp, 2.50 pounds. Reviewed by Dave Berry mcvax!cstvax.ed.ac.uk!db Copyright 1986 by Dave Berry This book approaches excellence, but doesn't quite make it. The story is of one Robinette Broadhead, ex-explorer and psychiatric patient. The background, both of the book and its main character, is an over-populated world with most people struggling to produce enough to survive. Exploration of other planets has just started, and traces of alien life has been discovered on Venus. This has led to the discovery of Gateway. Gateway is so-called because it is humanity's gateway to the stars, and a person's gateway to riches, or death. It is an asteroid used by the aliens (called Heechee) as a staging post for their interstellar ships. There are lots of ships. Trouble is, no-one knows how to control where they end up. So gateway pilots try them more or less at random. Some never come back. Some come back dead. Some come back with new Heechee artifacts - which make a lot of money. Broadhead was successful. But somewhere along the line he fucked up his head - something he did gave him a massive guilt complex, and he won't admit what it is. The storyline mixes his analysis by a computer psychiatrist with flashbacks of his life on Gateway; his romances (he only seems to relate to women), his procrastination, his fears. This creates a great deal of tension. Overall the psychoanalysis is presented well, particularly the way Broadhead evades the point (and wilfully misunderstands the psychiatrist into the bargain). One good thing is that the resolution of his condition is not final. Pohl doesn't fall for the liberal myth of "once it's talked about, you'll be alright". Broadhead knows he has more work to do. There are two major flaws to the book. 1) At some time Broadhead obtains a password that allows him to see the computer's records of OTHER patients, but to have no other power. This is first used to give him some feeling of control, and also when he finally faces the subject of his guilt. My objection is that such a password would never exist. If it did, his knowledge of its existence would make him wonder who could see HIM; given his general paranoia this would not be conducive to the trust needed in this sort of therapy. It is not necessary to the plot; any minor password could have allowed him a measure of control, and the final resolution doesn't need a technological gimmick. What is of interest (& it IS interesting) is what goes on in his head. 2) At one point Broadhead hits his girlfriend. He believes this to be a natural reaction. This is understandable given his character (he isn't very pleasant), but the book doesn't undermine this view in any way. In fact she comes back to him; given that she is economically independent this seems highly unlikely. It is conceivable, but it requires more explanation than is given. Her return also serves to make an interesting change of plot into a bit of a gimmick. There are also a couple of minor points: 1) As the book approaches its climax Broadhead is forced to recognize his own bisexuality. This is most encouraging (it's nice when people recognize our existence). Broadhead contrives some far-fetched excuse to explain it: When he was young, his mother never so much as held him, except when he was ill and she had to take his temperature by sticking a thermometer up his bum! From this, Broadhead finds buggery a sign of affection, and assumes this explains his attraction to men! I found it quite believable that Broadhead would accept this, since he isn't exactly in touch with most of his emotions. Unfortunately it isn't clear whether POHL realizes it is an excuse. Since this is not the major thrust of the analysis, it's left hanging, which is a pity. Some indication that Pohl knew what he was talking about would have made this more interesting. 2) The last line of the book has the computer envying Broadhead's flesh & blood life. This could have been calculated analysis. On the other hand, it could be kitsch. Overall, probably worth reading. [***+] Review: Beyond the Blue Event Horizon by Fred Pohl Orbit (MacDonald & co.), 1985 (copyright 1985), 327 pp, 2.50 pounds. Reviewed by Dave Berry mcvax!cstvax.ed.ac.uk!db Copyright 1986 by Dave Berry This is billed as the second in the "Heechee" trilogy, and a sequel to "Gateway". It is set in the same universe, and features the same main character, Robinette Broadhead, but I can't think of it as a sequel. It continues the exploring exploits, but it doesn't continue the same themes. The focus is a Heechee "food factory" in the Oorf cloud. One boy survives on the factory from an earlier exploratory mission, hiding from it's occupants and talking to the computer-recorded explorers. Four more explorers arrive. The previous explorers have never been able to get their Heechee designed craft to return, so the newcomers use more traditional rockets. The newcomers are relations; this is apparently because families are more compatible on long space journeys (not if they're like mine, they aren't). Actually it's a plot device to get a young & horny girl arriving on the factory to meet the young & horny boy. The other travellers are husband, wife & father, the latter an elderly German gentleman with hope of fame & fortune before his heart gives out. He also remembers his days in the Hitler Youth with fondness (is this a caricature I see before me?). While they're all enjoying themselves out there, Robinette is coping with law suits of various kinds back on Earth. It is he who arranged the expedition, using his wealth from book 1. He is now happily married, except that he wonders occasionally if his interest in finding new Heechee technology isn't really a hope to rescue his long-lost love, stuck beyond the blue event horizon of a black hole. (This sounds distinctly fishy physics to me, but I'm not an expert). This hang-up is handled about as subtly as Hiroshima was pacified. The book reaches its low point when Robinette's wife realizes his worries, and tells him that when he rescues Klara, saying he'd give his life for her (Klara), she (Klara) will no doubt believe him. I can't imagine anyone saying that to their spouse, given that their relation is a) monogamous & b) stable; I also can't imagine that Klara would believe such an idiotic statement, given that he has left her to die there in the first place! The adventure story is quite fun, with a nice twist at the end (makes a change from all the twists at the end people seem to put in because they think they have to) but the characterization is pathetic. The husband on the expedition is written in the first person for the first chapter, and the third person once Robinette appears and takes over that privilege! Mind you, it's an understandable mix-up, since their characters are pretty much the same. The poor characterisation in this book leads me to believe that the complaints I have with "Gateway" are failings of the author rather than intentional but poorly explained facets to the characterisation there. Overall: not very good. [**] Reader's Survey for May, 1986 A change of pace this month. I'm starting to think about where OtherRealms ought to go over the next few months, and I thought I'd get some feedback on the ideas I'm playing with. Feel free to write in your comments -- I plan to excerpt these answers rather than simply total them, and I'm interested in your thoughts. 1) Should OtherRealms publish fiction? 2) If so, what percentage of the magazine should be used for fiction? 3)Assuming that OtherRealms stays about the same size, what parts of OtherRealms would you remove to make way for fiction? 4) Would there be interest in a second magazine (say, quarterly or something like that) for fiction as opposed to putting it in OtherRealms? 5) Should the Pico Reviews be split out into a separate magazine to make more room for other stuff? Or should Pico Reviews be cut back? Or should I leave them alone? 6) What about OtherRealms on paper? Would you be interested in subscribing to a version of OtherRealms that comes through traditional mail? (I would not be replacing electronic OtherRealms, but putting out a (probably) quarterly beast with some stuff from the Electronic version and some new stuff. This would give me a chance to start publishing SF/Fantasy Art, among other things). If so, how much an issue would you be willing to pay? 7) Anyone interested in an OtherRealms T-Shirt? If so, how much are you willing to pay? (the latter is not to set price, by the way, but to see if the cost of putting one together would be low enough to break even on) Please feel free to drop your comments on any or all of these questions, or questions that you think I forgot to ask about where to take OtherRealms. Finally, please drop me a note with what you think was best in this issue of OtherRealms, and what you thought was worst. The author with the most positive votes will get a hearty hurrah in the next issue in lieu of anything more useful to give them. * * * Reader's Survey Report for April Last month I asked for the works you would use to teach an introductory Fantasy class. I only got six responses, which isn't completely surprising considering fewer people seem to read Fantasy than SF. [Rhetorical question: What is Fantasy, and how do you tell? Rhetorical question 2: Is Julian May's Pleistocene Exile series SF or Fantasy? Why? Think about your answers, and maybe write into the Lettercol with them] Author Title Votes ====== ===== ===== Anderson Broken Sword 1 Midsummer's Nights Tempest 1 Three Hearts and Three Lions 1 Beagle Last Unicorn, The 1 Bellairs Face in the Frost, The 1 Boyer Fantastic Imagination I 1 Fantastic Imagination II 1 Phoenix Tree 1 Bradley Mists of Avalon, The 1 Brust To Reign in Hell 1 Carroll Alice in Wonderland 2 Alice through the looking glass 1 Cerf Famous ghost Stories 1 Dante Inferno 1 Davidson Peregine Primos 1 de Camp & Pratt Compleat Enchanter, the 1 Dinensen Winter's Tales 1 Eddison Worm Ouroboros, the 1 Gallico Man who was magic, The 1 LeGuin Wizard of Earthsea, A 1 Lewis Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, The 1 Lord Dunsany King of Elfland's Daughter, The 1 MacDonald Princess and the Goblin, The 1 Mallory Le Morte d' Arthur 1 Marquez One Hundred Years of Solitude 1 McCaffrey Dragonsong 1 Morris Well at the World's End 1 National Lampoon Bored of the Rings 1 Niven/Pournelle Inferno 1 Rabkin Fantastic in Literature, The 1 Shakespeare Tempest 1 Shelley Frankenstein 2 Stewart Crystal Cave 1 Tolkien Hobbit, The 2 Lord of the rings 3 White Sword in the Stone 1 Zelazny Nine Princes in Amber 1 Editorial Observations: I'm surprised at the dearth of horror here, since horror is simply an offshoot of Fantasy. If I were putting together the list, I would consider including "Dracula" by Bram Stoker, for instance. Twain's "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court" would be another choice. If I had space, I'd also include some Poe, a taste of Lovecraft, and Randall Garrett's "Murder and Magic" (astute readers of OtherRealms will realize this also made my SF list, but I think it reads just as well as a Fantasy as SF, so why not?).] OtherRealms Pico Reviews for May, 1986 [+++ denotes first book by an author] DEATHBIRD STORIES by Harlan Ellison [*****] Bluejay books (SFBC edition) 295 pages The best of the best of Ellison. This book is a book that cannot be reviewed. It must be read to be appreciated. Go buy it, go read it. -- chuq von rospach THE DRAWING OF THE DARK by Tim Powers [*****] Del Rey (Ballantine), 1979, 328pp, 2.50 dollars. A mixture of myths, some fine humor; a man who alone can save the west, but doesn't want to. Reasonably good characterisation, weakening only near the end. Fine pacing, and the battle of Ragnarok too. Bloody good fun. -- Dave Berry