It continues to be warm and extremely dry. Our area has not had a good rain since June 14th. Usually August is a very dry month, so I am worried. The soil is cracked and hard as rock. We keep a large bowl of water refreshed for the birds and squirrels, and it gets constant use. I usually set up the bird bath in summer, too, but Avian flu scares have held me back, though I continue to feed the birds. Rather than have them gather all in one area to feed, I scatter seed in about ten different areas in the front yard. I have fed birds here for over 30 years now. Generations of them. Though I have cut back lately, I hate to stop.
In reading news, besides my 8 books related to Avon/Equinox SF Rediscovery authors, I got through 3 other books, all epic in their own way. Robert Silverberg always leads off the month, and this time around came Tom O'Bedlam, a post-apocalyptic tale that I awarded 4 stars. Basing his story around an old folk tale/poem, Silverberg has created some of his deepest characters, and reading this book was fun from start to finish. There are at least 4 main stories at the beginning, and they all gradually come together by the end. The overall story is mostly tied to Tom, a wandering man who is considered crazy by those who meet him. Tom has visions, or dreams, even when wide awake, and these involve clear images of alien worlds and suns, and the aliens that inhabit them. He is predicting that soon a time will come when people will leave their Earthly bodies behind, travel through the stars to other worlds, and live happily ever after. It was one of many long books that came up this month (thus the lower number of overall books read), and came out in 1985. Recommended reading, and a fascinating addition to the post nuclear genre of SF.
Kilobyte is from 1998, and is another formulaic story by Piers anthony. Many of Anthony's later books seem like they were written by a robot. Obviously he goes on auto-pilot much of the time. This is the real tragedy of being a professional writer; if it is your livelihood, you have to write all the time, even when you can't any more. Anthony's formula for much of his later writing is on full display. Start on an adventure. Hit an obstacle. Go through a complete thought process of the person afflicted, covering every single angle of problem, while standing there. Figure out the best way to deal with the current problem. Move on. Encounter new obstacle. Repeat complete thought process. Figure out way to deal with problem. Move on. Encounter new obstacle. Repeat and repeat and repeat and repeat. There, we've now covered most of the first chapter. And on it goes....
As usual, Harry Harrison comes along and restores my faith in professional writers! From 1998 comes Stars and Stripes Forever, a fascinating 345 page novel about a possible different outcome of the American Civil War. Harrison, one of the best writers of SF and adventure fiction, has outdone himself in this fascinating tale of 1861, with just a few differences to what actually occurred. Instead of Albert, Queen Victoria's husband, settling a touchy matter between the British and the Americans with diplomacy as happened in actual history, Harrison has him die three weeks earlier than he did, from typhoid fever. Which means he was not there to calmly settle a dispute between England and America. With hotter heads now in charge of the British Empire, they declare war on a ravished America, and promptly invade America both from Canada and from the south, in Mississippi. This is amidst the Civil War, and just after the battle of Shiloh, where over 20,000 Americans killed one another. The British come out stinking in this historical fantasy, so it may not be read through completely by blue blood British conservatives. However, the rest of us have a jolly good time reading this wonderful and detailed look at a possible American history. Part one of a three book series, I imagine the British will get some revenge in book 2! Highly recommended!!
Treasure is the 5th Fox novel by Kenneth Bulmer. The irascible Mr Fox is back in another series of adventures. In the last book he had just lost his temporary command, as well as his hopes to become a captain in the British navy. He is stuck at 1st lieutenant, and going nowhere else. He is back on board the Raccoon, with many of his mates still with him. but the new captain has also brought along many of his own men. When the Raccoon is wrecked in a storm, Fox goes off in pursuit of a secret treasure! From 1973, the adventure is 139 pages long. I am truly enjoying these short novels of a poor man with no title trying to make his way up in rank in the early 19thC British navy. What a premise! Great stuff!
Next came a collection of short stories by E C Tubb, under the overall title The Wonderful Day, which was a short story written for the collection in 2012. But the better stories come from the 1950s and 1960s. The best of the bunch is called "The Tea Party." From 1953, at only 9 pages long it has become for me the most devastating account of war I have ever read. A must to read. Also of note are "An Era Ends," about the end of religion on Earth, and "Decision," about a doctor's decision on who to save, and who to let die.
From 2005 comes Jack Williamson's last novel, The Stonehenge Gate. It is also one of his very best! The book seems to summarize his output as a SF writer, and makes a fitting capstone to an incredible career lasting until the age of 96, when this book was published. Not only does the story recall many of Jack's other tales, going all the way back to the early pulp stories, but we can read here all of the writers who influenced him. Edgar Rice Burroughs, H Rider Haggard, A Merritt, Olaf Stapledon, and many others can all be found in this final epic of his fabulous creative output, along with Jack himself from early days. There is even a good dose of Philip Jose Farmer, especially his World of Tiers series. Highly recommended!
Michael Moorcock's 2nd Oswald Bastable book came next, The Land Leviathan, from 1974. The author's multiverse ideas are in full swing in this series about a British soldier from the early 1900s that is not only transported to different times, but also to alternate versions of Earth. In this story, a plague kills much of the white race, and Bastable joins an all Black militia to help them conquer America and bring racial balance and justice to that land. Many of these books by Moorcock bring to mind the best pulp writing of Edgar Rice Burroughs. Though this book is short, a lot happens! A fun series.
Lastly came Barry Malzberg's The Remaking of Sigmund Freud. Written between 1979-1984, and published in 1985, this 275 page novel will make you think about Sigmund Freud in a whole new way. A most unusual addition to Malzberg's SF oeuvre, in this one we do go to outer space, and even meet aliens. Aliens that need psycho-analysis. From the reconstituted man himself. Malzberg must have had some fun with this one, even though it took him years to complete. I'm so glad he stuck with it. It was not a novel I sat and read through in one or two sittings. I took my time. Each chapter has its rewards, and the book should not be rushed. One of his best! And it wins best cover of the month!
The World's Great Railway Journeys, by Brian Solomon, is a coffee table book that was a gift from Jenn G, who works at a bookstore in Cambridge (Ontario). The book lived on our coffee table as I undertook each journey in its colourful pages, reading it over a period of about three months. I would read one journey at a time, and often do more research on the internet afterwards. Deb and I have only managed two of them; the Santa Fe Chief between Chicago and LA (and back), and the train from Madrid to Barcelona (and back). I finished the book this month, and passed it on to my father in Sudbury.
A Plague of Angels was a 560 page SF/fantasy novel by Sherry Tepper, loosely related to her much more poorly written The Waters Rising. While still heavily influenced by Tolkien, this is a fairly successful mix of fantasy and SF. However, much of the book seems to be written with children in mind, while another good portion is for adults. So is she trying to accomplish too much in one epic? Appeal to children and adults, and write fantasy and SF? I think yes. I would not recommend the book, nor have any inclination to reread it. But it is now off my shelf, and on its way for trade. I recently brought a box of books up to Sudbury to trade at Bay Used Books, and received $36 credit. I bought Name of the Rose in hardcover for my parents, and gave the remaining credit to my dad.
The final novel for this month was another epic. It was called Dawn. From 1884, it was H Rider Haggard's first novel (he was 27 or 28). At the center of the novel is Angela, a pure white lily of a girl whom we first meet at her birth, which killed her mother. Her father rejects her, and she leads a lonely existence. Jump to nine years old, when her education is taken up by the local vicar. Next she is 20, and about to fall in love. So essentially this is a love story, but alas, it is a very cruel one. No one comes out unscathed. And while Angela is by far the most trusting character in the novel, her lover turns out to be quite a cad. I have several reasons for disliking him, despite the fact that I am supposed to cheer for him. So I think Haggard went way overboard in trying not to make him too goody good for his own good. He obviously does not deserve Angela, and I was quite surprised and more than a bit disappointed by the ending (a most traditional one). It was fine to read, however, despite the 76 chapters! There are a few hints at other-worldly doings, even in this first story by the man whose fantasy adventure writing I have admired for much of my reading life, but his 2nd novel promises to jump right in there. Can't wait!
Mapman Mike
