I did not lose any reading nights to astronomy last month, nor does it seem likely I will lose any in November. What's good for the reading program isn't so great for the observing program. Last night it cleared up later, but it was far too windy to consider standing in an open field near a giant windmill. Besides, it was Samhain, and the indoor party began around 5:30 pm and went to close on midnight. At this point the old timers retired, awakening to a frosty, sunny, bright November morning.
The month began with Silverberg's The World Inside, a collection of connected stories first published together here. Published in 1983, the volume contains six stories from the early seventies, on the theme of living inside a vast building tower, 3 km high. There are hundreds and hundreds of these high rise buildings, but our stories consist of only one of those buildings, and a narrow number of floors of it and characters in it. Urban Monad 116 has over 800,000 inhabitants. Though all the stories are first rate, the last one, where one of the building inhabitants finally goes walkabout outside, is the best of the bunch. Recommended and enjoyable, and would have made an even longer series if the author had wished.
Anthony's third novel in his Incarnations Of Immortality series is called With A Tangled Skein, and concerns the affairs of Fate and her three manifestations. Though well written for the most part, with an engaging heroine, the novel is mostly light entertainment, with little to no edge. Anthony is writing for purely commercial purposes at this point (1980s), and it shows. The series started out okay, but has gone downhill quickly.
Once again my program was rescued by Harry Harrison, helped this time by Marvin Minsky (!!). The Turing Option, despite being written in 1992, is still among the last words in AI research, or, as it is called in the book MI (Machine Intelligence). The story is part spy/adventure and part SF, and its fast moving pace does not detract from the seriousness of the issues at hand, namely what kind of MI we will soon all be dealing with in our daily lives (and in many cases already are). Harrison is such a good writer that nearly everything turns to gold in his hands. It's pretty amazing that a book written 30 years ago can still be on top of things. Highly recommended.
In Swordships of Scorpio, Kenneth Bulmer's 4th novel in his nearly endless Dray Prescott series, he seems to regain some of his love for writing good stories. I found the first three books quite dull and uninspiring, despite being packed with action and adventure. I have committed to reading only the first five books of the series, which make up a cycle of stories. The 4th one gave me some hope that I might be willing to carry on a bit further. We'll see.
Saturn Patrol by E C Tubb is another good, old fashioned pulp SF adventure, about a mercenary soldier who starts out at the bottom and eventually runs a fleet of ships. It is quite short, very fast moving, yet takes time for details that other pulp writers simply would never linger over. Tubb can be a very good writer when he chooses, and though this novel is pretty good, it doesn't come close to his best material.
I've lost count as to how many home runs Jack Williamson has hit lately, but he just slugged another one out of the ball park. Firechild is one of the most cynical and depressing stories I have ever read. Why? Because it tells the truth about us, our governments, and our goals. Ever wonder what might happen if a lone alien landed on Earth? Wonder no more. Ever wonder what might happen if Jesus returned today? Wonder no more. By comparison to what happens to a newly created life form in this story, his getting crucified would seem like a happy birthday party! Essential reading, though not easy to do so.
The Warhound and the World's Pain is Michael Moorcock's telling of the finding of the Holy Grail. The story is set in grim times, in Germany during the 30 Years War. After having just about enough of killing and looting, Elrich Von Beck seeks some peace and quiet. He finds it temporarily, in an empty castle. Eventually the owner returns, bringing Von Beck's peace and solitude to an end. He soon embarks on a quest for the Grail. This is a simple and straightforward tale, but gripping and fascinating all the same. Elements of myth are stripped down to their bare essentials, as is often the case in Moorcock's stories. A very good read, if you can get through the first few pages of war. Medieval Europe was not a pretty place to raise a family.
The Gamesman by Barry Malzberg is a very weird story, set in the same world as his previous novel, though they can barely said to be connected. A lone man decides to play the Game. If he wins, he is promised great rewards. However, it is common knowledge that no one ever wins. So why try it? His first big challenge is to have successful sex with a woman (his choice of challenge). He gets ten tries, and the story begins on his sixth or seventh failed attempt. No one writes about sex like Malzberg, or about humiliation. Of course, like Captain Kirk in his Starfleet exam, there is a way to win at the Game. Cheat. Which, of course, ruins the entire concept of the Game. This is a Kafkaesque drama, without much of Malzberg's dark humour. It is dark, however.
Next came a short story volume by James Blish. After these stories I only have one novel of his to reread, and then I will be finished with another writer in the Avon/Equinox series. Works of Art is the second large hardcover volume dedicated to the author by NESFA. Like the other volume, it contains a wonderful essay, this time by G. Feeley. Then come 19 stories, consisting of novellas, novelettes, and short stories. The Bridge, from 1952, is the first of what later would become Cities In Flight, his magnum opus. Earthman Come Home is another novella that became part of his great SF series. The Box, The Oath, and FYI are stories too good to be believed, as well as a number of other ones that I have read recently in other collections in my library. The cover to the Blish volume wins this month's award for best cover art.
Moving from the Avon/Equinox books now, I was able to get through 2 1/2 unrelated works. I will start with Guy Gavriel Kay's absolutely incredible novel, A Brightness Long Ago. Set in a fantasy version of Renaissance Italy, the writing seems to be a successful cross between Umberto Eco and E R Eddison in his Mistress books. I will be reading more by this fabulous author. The book had been on my shelf for two years before it made its way to the front of the line, and was a gift from Jenn G. I will be forcing it upon Deb very soon.
I have been collecting Delphi complete works of various authors on my Kindle Fire tablet, which I have come to enjoy reading with more and more. Being able to adjust the screen brightness for time of day, as well as the font size (bigger at night), and have a very light green background instead of white for the stories, and to be able to find anything in the volume in seconds (I learned how to use the bookmark feature, finally), has made me a huge fan. Not to mention that I now carry around with me about ten thousand books I must read, some of them quite long.
Recent Delphi author acquisitions include F. Marion Crawford, and today I've added Ernest Bramah, both encountered in my journey through the Ballantine adult fantasy series (see separate webpage, still a popular one with readers). And so the next two books I am reading come from the Delphi collection. I recently finished a book of short stories by Lord Dunsany, called The Travel Tales of Mr. Joseph Jorkens. Dunsany has invented a wonderful character in Jorkens, and has come up with a brilliant framing scheme in which to tell his fantastic tales. Jorkens is a member of the Billiards Club for men. A small group of them mostly sit around the fire at the club and tell each other stories. Jorkens' tales are by far the best, but are they true? Jorkens will begin one his unusual tales whenever someone offers to buy him a large whisky, providing they don't try to disprove or ridicule him. Some of the stories are off the scale in brilliance, and all of them are entertaining and magical. Dunsany writes fantasy like no one else ever could, and this first group of 13 tales is a must read for fans of that genre. Luckily, he wrote several more volumes featuring Jorkens. Favourite stories in this volume (though I loved them all) are How Jembu Played For Cambridge, A Large Diamond, A Daughter of Ramses, Mrs. Jorkens, and The Witch of The Willows (one of the best stories ever written).
So I read 11 books in October, 9 related to my reading project. Several were quite long, too. I am also halfway though the first book of Kate Chopin's short stories about Creole life in Louisiana in the late 1900s. I am enjoying these immensely, too, as they take me to a world nearly as alien as those of some of the SF stories I read. They are also part of the Delphi series of complete works. More on these next month, when I finish them.
Only one movie to report on today. On Saturday evening we watched The Raven, from 1935, again starring Karloff and Lugosi. This time the roles are reversed, as Karloff turns out to be the good guy, and Lugosi the mad villain. The movie has more to do with Poe than the earlier one we watched last week, called The Black Cat. Grim fun for all ages.
Mapman Mike
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