Books Read in March

I managed to get through 8 books from my list in March, as well as one from outside the list.  First the list, which are from authors related to the Avon/Equinox SF Rediscovery Series.  

First up was an Ace Double, with a short novel each by Robert Silverberg (alias Calvin M. Knox), and a shorter one on the flip side by Milton Lesser.  The Silverberg effort, called The Plot Against Earth, is far superior to Lesser's Recruit For Andromeda.  I am never happier than when I have an unread Ace Double in my hands, and I am just setting out.  I read (and forgot) many of these books as a young teen.  With the best authors, these shorter novels took on epic proportions.  After lasting only 138 pages it seems as if we have read something much longer, as so much happens in the limited time and words available.  Many times the authors would get caught up in the tale, and had to suddenly end it when they reached their word limit!

Next came Michael Moorcock's 2nd novel in his action packed Mars series, paying homage to Edgar Rice Burroughs.  Moorcock can write a pulp adventure with the best of them, and I am looking forward soon to the third and final book in this exciting series, which again takes me back to my boyhood.  I still have a complete collection of Burroughs' stories.  When heroes were heroes.

Ward Moore's Caduceus Wild was up next, a strange but fun tale of a post apocalyptic Earth ruled ruthlessly by doctors.  They were given a lot of power after the holocaust, treating radiation sickness, and having to decide who can be allowed to get pregnant and who cannot.  We follow along with the underground movement as three people try to escape the USA for England, where things are saner try to imagine that)!  Originally penned in 1959, it was given a dusting off and update  by Robert Bradford, then republished in 1979.  My copy contains several original b & w images from the 1959 printing.  I love Ward Moore, a writer I never heard of before this project.

Next came The Burning World, by J. G. Ballard.  I have now read--and loved--three works by this author, and look forward to many more.  Crystal World and Drowning World make up the other two stories, and though they are not related, they do make a fascinating trilogy of life after planet-wide disasters occur.  My favourite is still Crystal World, but the other two are really quite incredible journeys, too.

Barry Maltzberg was up next.  Though I did not like the Avon/Equinox selection very much, I did really get in to The Empty People, the 2nd book by him I have now read.  From 1969, it reminded me a little bit of Iain Banks' The Bridge, though this one deals not with an injured brain, but with a very sick one caused by cancer, and perhaps another one just melting down.  Pretty fascinating writing.

Next came a book unrelated to my series work.  We have both been reading the works of Pat McIntosh.  She writes mysteries set in Glasgow in the 1400s, and have proved quite readable and fascinating.  I first came across her in the 1970s, when she wrote some incredible fantasy tales about a female assassin guild.  This one was called A Pig of Cold Poison, and was a very good entry in the series.

Then it was time for my final Avon/Equinox book, Black Easter by James Blish.  I have been waiting to get back into Blish since this series began, and his novel was the only one from the set that I owned before I began to collect the series.  It is the best tale of black magic ever penned, and part of a 4-book series called After Such Knowledge.  Unforgettable.

I've been reading Robert Silverberg short stories from the 1950s, reissued with introductions by Silverberg.  The recollections of his early pulp publishing days are almost as interesting as his stories.  He often wrote under different names, sometimes contributing up to 70% content for some of the monthly SF magazines.  He is not even sure how many stories he wrote, but it was a lot.  So far I have read 5 books of short stories from the 1950s, with one to go.  The one I read in March is called In The Beginning: Tales From the Pulp Era.  Pure fun!

Lastly came a long book by Norman Spinrad, which took me 8 days to get through.  Called Pictures at 11, it is the story of a small group of eco-terrorists taking control of a small, independent TV station in LA.  Pretty brilliant writing, by a man who knows show biz.  Not only that, but Spinrad comes up with a brilliant idea to save the planet, one that I do not believe has ever been tried on a large scale.  It might work, too. 

Next time, some art.  Specifically, one of 5 Van Goghs the DIA owns.  It will be a landscape, naturally.

Mapman Mike