The excitement seldom stops around the Homestead these days. In cat news, Mogollon has taken to spending long afternoons upstairs. That used to be Gustav's domain, and Mogi never went up there. But one day last week he decided to go up, jump up on the bed, and get comfortable. He comes up every day now, usually for my afternoon reading/nap sessions. Unlike Gustav, he does not prefer tummy rubs. Mogi likes being scratched under his chin. I mean he really likes it, and can take it by the hour if need be. He also likes having his ears lightly rubbed, but under the chin is his secret spot.
February being a short month, I still managed to get through a full cycle of remaining Avon/Equinox authors (10 books), also reading one outside the project, and dove 2 hours into Volume 2 of The Arabian Nights, by Burton. And two books were each nearly 500 pages long. So I did a fair bit of reading, including the Feb. issue of National Geographic magazine. If I had the extra three days, I would have managed a 2nd book unrelated to my project.
Downward to the Earth, by Robert Silverberg, got things off to a fantastic start. I awarded this novel four stars, as it deals head on with Manifest Destiny and colonization of planets. The book is rich in planetary detail, including the two main intelligent species, the Nildoror, elephant-like, appear to be the dominant. There are several gruesome moments, things that only happen (hopefully!) on alien worlds, and several more pathetic ones with human tourists on a guided tour. Very fine reading!
Juxtaposition was the humdrum conclusion to Piers Anthony's original Apprentice Adept series, which now stands at 8 or 9 books. However, I am done with the series now, after reading the first three, sick of its hero (way more boring than Frodo), and his exploits. I awarded the 494 page novel 2 stars, which may be a bit generous. Next up in March I will start a new series by the author.
Harry Harrison's Stainless Steel Rat For President is a gem of a book, one of the finest in this very, very funny series. Terry Pratchett was inspired to write after reading some of Harrison's funnier stories, and this might be the funniest novel yet by Harrison, as the heroic diGriz family (Slippery Jim, his wife Angelina, and their two boys, Bolivar and James) take on a military dictatorship on a banana republic planet now catering to tourists. Besides being uproariously hilarious, the adventure is extremely well thought out, and underlying the humour is one of the best looks at tin pot hat dictators. Better than reading the history of so many similar countries on Earth today. I awarded it four stars.
Kenneth Bulmer's Swords of the Barbarians is a mediocre sword and sorcery pot boiler, written to mimic the style (very popular in 1971, when this was published) of Howard's heroic tales of Conan the Barbarian. Nothing new is added here, though Bulmer sticks to a minimum of locations, and this helps to give some semblance of continuity and organization to the story. It's not bad, but it's far from Bulmer's best writing. I gave it 2 1/2 stars.
The Life Buyer, by E C Tubb, takes on the theme of rich people being able to afford all that is necessary to stay alive as long as possible. Marcus Edward King, age 87, is the world's richest man, and is going all out to gain everlasting life, spending his fortune on long shots that he still hopes will pay off soon. Despite the SF background, the novel is mostly a chilling crime tale, showing the desperate lengths some men will go to live forever. There are lots of plot twists, as Tubb seems to know his way around the genre. Good reading, and I awarded it three stars.
From 1968 came Jack Williamson's juvenile novel called Trapped In Space, aimed, I would guess, at ages 9-13, and published by Scholastic. I had to get this on special order, and it arrived in near mint condition, wrapped in plastic. Anyway, I went and spoiled things by actually reading it. There are several remarkable things about this otherwise unremarkable story of a younger brother heading out into space to rescue his older brother. First, aside from the main hero being white (his name is "Jeff"), he travels with a black male as his commander, an intelligent young female, born on another planet but her ancestry is Puerto Rican (!), and a very cute and very helpful alien, which Earth people fear and despise. Most books from that time period (and even later), feature only males, or perhaps a mother or female secretary. But a Puerto Rican female, and a black man as commander and friend to Jeff? Wow! Long live the 60s! I awarded it 3 stars, and would still recommend it to kids today (if any actually still read).
Queen of the Swords by Michael Moorcock, the 2nd Corum tale, was rather disappointing, and to me didn't show much effort at all by the author. When Moorcock is hot (like Piers Anthony), he is really hot. But when his creative powers are in a declining phase, his writing suffers a lot. The book is a pastiche of Tolkien (especially The Silmarillion), E R Burroughs, Robert E Howard, and even Fritz Leiber, all of whom do a much better job than this messy concoction. I awarded it 2 1/2 stars, thanks to the appearance of Jerry Cornelius.
Extreme Metaphors: Collected Interviews of J G Ballard, was an eye-opening experience. Interviews from the 1960s through the time near his death in 2008 show a man who is confident, often correct in his opinions (but sometimes very wrong), and has a lot to say that we should be listening to. Luckily for us, Ballard liked to talk nearly as much as he liked to write, and we are left with a full portrait of one the giants of 20th C literature. He was really down on space flight (rightly so), and on most SF written in the golden age and beyond. Ballard was more interested in "inner space" than outer space (as is Barry Malzberg--there is no indication that Ballard ever discovered this essential writer), and more interested in modern suburbs than inner cities or the countryside. A fascinating collecting, and at 498 pages, it took me a while to get through this book. Four stars.
In Tactics of Conquest, Barry Malzberg tackles insanity through a 41-game chess match, where the two players, chosen by the "Overlords" of space, play for the fate of the universe. Expanded from a short story, the novel follows the two master players through a five-move chess game. There is one chapter allotted for each move. If you want inner space, than read Malzberg. I gave it three and a half stars. Reading Malzberg is like being involved in a nightmare from which you cannot wake up. Even so, I love his writing.
Earthman Come Home is James Blish's 3rd and longest novel of his Cities In Flight series, in my opinion the best SF series ever written. I am making my way through for the 3rd or 4th time, and enjoying every minute of this classic SF series. The whole concept of entire cities lifting off from Earth and going in search of work across the galaxy is so original that I cannot believe it has not been made into a series of films or TV episodes. It is so much better than Star Trek, mainly because the travellers are compared to "Okies", from the 1930s American depression, when poor folk had their homes and farms seized by banks and they left the midwest, taking on any work they could find. This novel is a compilation of 4 novellas that were joined together, thus we get four different adventures of NYC, with mayor Amalfi at the helm. All written in the early and mid-fifties, this is a fabulous book. Four stars all the way.
Lastly came an unrelated book. I read The Star Mill by Emil Petaja, the 2nd book in his Kalevala SF/fantasy series. The Star Mill is the sampo of legend, and Ilmaren must destroy it with his magic sword, before the out of control sampo swallows the universe. This book sticks closely to the legend, and is great fun to read. Three stars, at least.
I have now started on a new iteration of the Avon/Equinox authors, and am currently reading a novel by Silverberg from 1968.
In film news, we watched 3 Zatoichi films over the weekend, my festival choices for March. We saw #15, 16, and 17. They are all essentially the same movie, but with subtle differences that make watching all of them worthwhile. In #15, called Zatoichi's Cane Sword, he is told by a master sword smith that his trusty old katana will break on its next killing cut. And it does, though not in any expected way. #16, called Zatoichi The Outlaw, was the actor's first production with his own company. The story is a bit more baroque, and visuals are composed carefully and artistically. In #17, Zatoichi Challenged, the blind swordsman (known mostly to his enemies as "that blind bastard") faces off with an opponent of equal skill, as he often does. However, the outcome in this one is different from all the others, and makes for a nice surprise ending. I love these movies; the bad guys are always the baddest, but they always meet with Zatoichi's form of justice.
Zatoichi #15: Zatoichi's Cane Sword.
Zatoichi #16
Zatoichi #17: Zatoichi Challenged.
That's all for now. Looking forward to my first astronomy night since Dec. 8th tomorrow. It will be below freezing, so I will be dressed like Nanook of the North.
Mapman Mike
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