🚀 go-pugleaf

>From SFL@SRI-CSL Mon Oct 11 13:38:07 1982

SF-LOVERS Digest          11-Oct-82	       Volume 6 : Issue 53

Today's Topics:
    Finding hard to get SF, ET, Bladerunner, Jedi, Tron, Haldeman's
    WORLDS, Niven & Barnes' DREAM PARK, Farmer's A BARNSTORMER IN OZ
    Hogan's VOYAGE FROM YESTERYEAR

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: 18 Aug 1982 2318-EDT
From: Reed B. Powell <POWELL at DEC-MARLBORO>
To: sf-lovers at SRI-CSL
DTN: 231-4261
Mail-Stop: MRO2-4/D3
Subject: Finding Hard to Get SF Volumes

There have been a few requests of late for information on those
hard to find SF oldies.  An excellant source is ZIESING BROTHERS,
located in Willimantic CT.  Their complete address is:

Ziesing Brothers
768 Main Street
Willimantic, CT  06226
c/o Mark
(203)423-5836

The proprietor (Mark) publishes a quarterly listing of their
volumes, which include hardbacks, softbacks, paperbacks,
first printings, signed volumes, collector's editions, etc.
  A large selection of British printings (including EE DOC Smith)
is also stocked.  The quickest route to finding a specific volume
is to call mark and ask him to hunt it down for you. 

-reed

------------------------------

Date:     20 Aug 82 11:22:24-EDT (Fri)
From:     David Axler <axler.upenn@UDel-Relay>
To:       sf-lovers at Sri-Csl
Subject:  On Obtaining Hard-to-Find Books of the European Variety
Via:  UPenn; 20 Aug 82 21:47-EDT

     Though many of the U.S. and Canadian mail-order and walk-in sf
bookstores do carry some amount of material by European writers (esp.
British), the brunt of such books are American editions, usually
issued several years after the original publication.  This can prove
frustrating, especially in the case of series books (e.g., Moorcock's
Jerry Cornelius tetralogy, the last book of which didn't get released
here for five years after its British printing, and when it did get
out, it was only available in an omnibus edition with the other three
in one binding -- a waste of money if you already had 'em).
     I've developed a system which, though it does take a bit of my
time, gets around these problems [some of which are due, of course, to
problems with international copyright laws, while others can be blamed
on lazy agents].  The first step is to determine what authors one is
interested in.  This list might well include Americans, as some books
that are out of print here are still in European publication
(sometimes in English, sometimes not...).
     Next, I head for the nearest major library's Reference room, and
get out the most recent edition of British Books in Print and its
monthly update magazine.  I look up each author and, when I find a
title that I'm interested in, I note the crucial facts: publisher,
publication date, hard/paper back, and, most important of all, the
ISBN.
     Now, there are other sources of listings for books in foreign
languages, but since I'm insufficiently competent to read 'em, I
ignore them.  Those who are fluent, though, might find that
translations of their favorite authors take on a new meaning.
     Once I've got all this information, I send off an order to
England's best all-around bookstore, B. H. Blackwell's in Oxford.
[Yes, there are some good all-sf stores in the U.K., but Blackwell's
has several advantages . . .]  I've had an account with them for about
ten years, which allows me to pay for books in US currency at their
New York bank; they bill about every three months, with no interest,
or one can pay each shipping invoice as it comes.  If one doesn't have
an account, they will accept Mastercard or Visa.  If you have an
address at an academic institution, as I do, you're also eligible to
use their private airfreight service -- they fly the books to the US,
and then mail them book rate.  If not, they will ship by boat or air,
as you request.  Unlike a lot of small shops, they impose no fee on
any special orders; if they don't have a book, they will attempt to
get it ASAP.
     By the way, with the pound currently worth less than two bucks,
this is an excellent time to be buying books from Britain.  Another
advantage is that the British publishers generally do better work than
their American counterparts: cover art is often better, and bindings
last longer.
     Once you've become a regular customer at Blackwell's, you can
open your own account.  This allows you to regularly receive any or
all of the fifty or so catalogues they issue during the course of a
year, covering such topics as Fiction, Science & Mathematics, Art,
Music, &c.  They're an incredibly massive operation (five different
stores along an Oxford block: Children's ; Paperback; Music; Arts; and
main [which includes what Guinness describes as the largest single
book sales room -- over three miles of bookshelves), and can get stuff
from almost anywhere with no hassle.
     Their address is simply Blackwells, Broad Street, Oxford OX1 3BQ, England.

------------------------------

From:	LDPVAX::GOLD::HENRY          17-AUG-1982 08:09  
To:	LDP::KIRK::SF_LOVERS

     I just saw ET for the first time. I think the movie was
great. Any flaws I saw at the time were far outwieghed by
the way the movie was put together. In past issues of the digest,
comments were made about ET's attraction to Elliot's mother.
ET is able to communicate thru the use of emotions and feelings.
ET is feeling the same affection for Elliot's mother as Elliot
does. Others comments I have read deal with the way in which the
medical team handled ET's "heart attack". They acted as any other
medical team would have acted in the same situation, they did what
they have been trained to do. The same can be said for the rest of
the Establishment in the movie, right or wrong, they carried out
their duties. 
     Just prior to seeing ET, I heard someone talking about how
companies pay to have their products featured in movies. I understand
that Reeces (sp?) Pieces are very difficult to get because of the
great demand since ET was released. I am sure Ma Bell felt having their
long distance commercial featured wouldn't hurt and who could forget
ET and Coors. I'm sure Elliot won't.
    I have a question I hope someone can answer. In the first Star
Wars movie, there was a difference in the introduction between the
first time I saw it and the fifth time, other than changing the
Star Wars title, was there another change?

     Bill
 
------------------------------

Posted-date: 23-Aug-1982
To:	SF-LOVERS KIRK*
Subject: The Revenge of the Jedi
From:	AL LEHOTSKY AT METOO

I went to see Star Wars over the weekend again.  They are now showing
previews for ROTJ.  It looks like we've got something to really look
forward to.  Since the whole preview lasts about 30 seconds, it's tough
to give any detailed impressions, but as a minor piece of "intelligence",
Han Solo recovers from the carbon freezing chamber.  As rumored, there are
desert-planet scenes (I don't think that it's Tatooine..) and some beings
that are reminiscent of Jawas (but definitely NOT the same culture) as the
sand-crawler crowd.

Finally, the claim was "coming next summer to a theater in a galaxy near
you".  Does this mean that the release date won't be 5-21-83?

------------------------------

Subject: Blade Runner Anachronism (non-spoiler)
From:	PAUL WINALSKI AT METOO 

I think that Deckerd having a smallpox vaccination scar is a true anachronism,
if he's supposed to have been born in the late 1980's.  Sporadic individual
cases of smallpox are still reported from the last few endemic pockets in
Ethiopia and Somalia, but the disease has been eradicated in the rest of the
world.  The NIH and AMA now recommend that people NOT be vaccinated unless
they are travelling to one of the endemic areas.  At the present time, the
death rate from vaccination complications far exceeds the risk of contracting
smallpox.  The smallpox vaccination is already a thing of the past.

--Paul W.

------------------------------

Posted-date: 16-Aug-1982
To:	SF-LOVERS @KIRK
Subject: PAC MAN and TRON
From:	PAUL KARGER AT RDVAX AT PBSVAX at KRYPTN

Did anyone else catch the image of PAC-MAN in TRON on a screen to which 
SARK pointed?  

------------------------------

*** SPOILER, the following review of Joe Haldeman's WORLDS reveals     ***
*** information you may not want to know if you plan to read the book. ***

Posted-date: 22-Aug-1982
To:	SF-LOVERS @KIRK
Subject: "Worlds"
From:	STEVE LIONEL AT STAR

It's the year 2084, and sections of the United States have  seceded  and
formed  their  own  countries.  One example is Nevada, where anything is
legal.  Enter our heroine, young,  pretty  and  intelligent.   She  gets
mixed  up  in  with  some revolutionaries, gets kidnapped and raped, and
tries to get home while the whole world  is  battling  things  out  with
nuclear weapons.

"Oh," you say, "that's Heinlein's newest book Friday." Well,  it's  not.
Instead  what  we  have here is Joe (Forever War, Mindbridge) Haldeman's
newest book "Worlds" ($2.50, Timescape paperback).  I  first  picked  up
Worlds  last  spring just after reading Friday, and it literally BEGS to
be compared to RAH's latest.  Luckily for "Worlds", it wins.  But  don't
mlet  my  introduction make you think that the books are look-alikes, for
they aren't.  It's just that some of the plot elements are very similar.

Ok, lets start over.  "Worlds"  is  the  story  of  Marianne  O'Hara,  a
resident  of  New  New  York,  one  of many "Worlds" orbiting a decaying
Earth.  New New, as it's known to its residents, is the largest  of  the
Worlds,  and  is  chiefly  known  for  its  exporting  of  foamsteel and
importing of tourists.  Some, such as Bellcom and Skyfac (!) were,  like
New  New, built by corporations looking to make a buck.  Others are true
colonies and some are even religious retreats.

Marianne,  because  of  her  scholastic  excellence,   wins   the   rare
opportunity  to  continue her education on Earth.  She goes to (Old) New
York, and makes friends with a poet named  Benny.   Marianne  and  Benny
soon  get recruited into an organization of revolutionaries who are much
more sinister than they let on to the pair.  To Marianne, it's  somewhat
of  a  "project";   she's  willing  to do harmless investigation for the
group but not get involved in anything serious.  Benny,  though,  learns
what the group is really up to and gets in trouble for it.

While this is  going  on,  New  New  has  just  discovered  carbonaceous
compounds  on  the  Moon.   Until now, the Worlds have been dependent on
Earth to supply organic matter;  in return, Earth buys  satellite-beamed
power  and  minerals.   If the Worlds no longer needed Earth to survive,
then Earth could no longer be  guaranteed  of  the  power  it  needs  to
survive.   (Sounds reminiscent of the conflict between Earth and Luna in
"The Moon is a Harsh Mistress".) Anyway, the Earth governments decide to
raise  the  price  of  deuterium,  which powers New New's ships, without
letting New New raise the price of its  exports.   In  return,  New  New
shuts off its power satellite.  Things start getting messy.

Meanwhile, Marianne gets kidnapped,  apparently  just  because  she  has
become  the  most  prominent  Worlds citizen on Earth.  (Just why she is
prominent is a fascinating detail.) Yes, she does indeed  get  raped  by
her  captors,  but  she  doesn't "enjoy" it as much as Friday seemed to.
Will she be able to get back to New New before Earth blows itself up  in
aggravation?  What about the lovers she has on Earth?  It's a "can't put
it down" type of story.  I loved it.

The best news is that "Worlds" is labelled  as  "Beginning  a  Major  SF
Trilogy".   Now  I  recall someone saying in these pages (?) that such a
phrase was to doom a story to failure, but not in this case (and not  in
the  case  of  John  Sladek's "Roderick", which I mentioned last April.)
"Worlds" is  superbly  crafted,  equal  to  or  better  than  Haldeman's
previous  works, and I eagerly anticipate reading future volumes in this
series.
                                        Steve Lionel

------------------------------

*** SPOILER, the following review of Farmer's A BARNSTORMER IN OZ reveals ***
*** information you may not want to know if you plan to read the book.    ***

Posted-date: 22-Aug-1982
To:	SF-LOVERS @KIRK
Subject: "A Barnstormer in Oz"
From:	STEVE LIONEL AT STAR

Philip Jose Farmer seems to spend a lot  of  his  time  writing  stories
around characters that someone else created.  This is not to say that he
isn't creative, since he adds quite a bit  of  his  own  talent  in  the
bargain.   With  "A Barnstormer in Oz" ($5.95, Berkely trade paperback),
Farmer brings us the story of Hank Stover, a barnstorming pilot  in  the
year  1923.   Hank's  mother  is  the Dorothy of the L.  Frank Baum "Oz"
tales, although Baum mangled Dorothy's true adventures into a successful
children's  book.   Hank, therefore, is not really too surprised when he
files into an emerald-colored cloud, (accidentally produced by a  Signal
Corps experiment in power transmission), and lands in Quadlingland, Oz.

Hank quickly joins forces with Queen Glinda to help  her  in  her  fight
against  the  evil witch Erakna, who took over as Queen of the Gillikins
when Helwedo, the Witch of the North, died suddenly.   As  Farmer  tells
it,  Oz is not really as peaceful as Baum would have us believe.  Except
for "The Wizard of Oz", Dorothy's adventure, the  remainder  of  the  Oz
books  were  almost entirely fiction.  Even "Wizard" glossed over things
and did not tell the truth about all that occurred.

Soon, though, trouble on another front emerges.  The U.S.  Army tries to
invade  Quadlingland through the gate they have created.  Glinda quickly
subdues the first force, but she fears, and rightly so,  that  the  Army
will  keep trying until they kill off everyone in Oz.  Hank is thus torn
between his loyalty as an American and his love for Glinda.

Using his Curtiss JN-4H (Jenny) biplane, Hank rounds  up  the  Scarecrow
and  the  Tin  Woodman,  bith  Kings  of  their  respective territories.
Together, the plan the attack  against  Erakna.   Along  the  way,  Hank
reasons  out  some  of the fallacies that Baum put in his books, such as
the fact that the Tin  Woodman  couldn't  have  rusted  so  fast  simply
because  tin  doesn't  rust  like that!  There's lots more which I would
probably enjoy even better if I had ever read any of the Oz books.

Farmer's Oz, unlike Baum's, has sex, birth, death and crime.  Having  Oz
seem more realistic adds to the enjoyment of the tale.  Magic, though it
indeed exists, is not omnipotent.  Therefore, Hank  really  can  make  a
difference in the outcome.

I enjoyed "Barnstormer" a great deal, and will now probably go  out  and
start  buying  Baum's books.  I feel pretty sure that any Oz fan will be
delighted by "Barnstormer", and that neophytes who, like me,  have  only
seen the movie, will be equally enthralled.  I highly recommend it.
                                        Steve Lionel

------------------------------

*** SPOILER, the following review of Hogan's VOYAGE FROM YESTERYEAR       ***
*** reveals information you may not want to know before reading the book. ***

Posted-date: 25-Aug-1982
To:	SF-LOVERS @KIRK
Subject: James P. Hogan/VOYAGE FROM YESTERYEAR
From:	SCHOFIELD AT MERLIN 

	I just finished reading VOYAGE FROM YESTERYEAR (the first
Hogan book I've ever read). I found it to be one of the most
interesting and enjoyable books I've read in awhile. Hogan manages to
integrate a basically hard-sf style with a sharp eye (and pen) for the
foolishness of the human condition.
	The book centers around the first inter-stellar colony from
Earth set in (you guessed it!) the Alpha Centauri system. Circa 2020,
a ship left Earth bound for Centauri. It originally had been planned
as a robot probe but when the people in charge of the project saw how
things were going on Earth they though it would be a good idea (and it
was) to equip the ship to handle people. Of course, since the ship was
already designed and in the initial production stages, the only way to
do this was...(any guesses?)  ...RIGHT!!! Encode some 'puters with
genetic info and sythesize the children when the ship arrived! The
children were raised with robot nannies programmed to teach the
children only facts and to allow them to devise their own
thought-patterns, society, economy etc. Free from all the ingrained
prejudices and thought-patterns from Old Earth, they developed a
society which was so radically different and so incredibly good that
it shakes one's faith in the idiocy of human nature.
	However, just when you thought that we humans are good for
something after all, enter the second generation emmigrants from
Earth.  World War III has taken place on Earth, and out of the ashes
rose the United States of the New Order, along with European and
Asiatic power blocs. The U.S. has sent out a generation ship to
reassert it's lawful and God-given sovereignty over the wayward
heathens of Chiron (the new name of the planet).Paraphrase:"After all,
they are human, the Bishop SAYS they have souls, but what kind of
people can they be after being raised by robots?" Answer:
"INTELLIGENT!!!!"
	What follows is a refreshing insight into the mores and taboos
of society as well as the evolution of society in coming to terms with
high technology. The story is made all the more interesting because it
comes from an unexpected quarter...the "hard-sf" writer.
	If this story is indicative of Hogan's style, if so would
someone please inform me through the list, I am very anxious to read
more from him.

				Rick Schofield

------------------------------

*** SPOILER, the following review of Niven & Barne DREAM PARK reveals ***
*** information you may not want to know before reading the book.     ***

Date:      14 Aug 82 9:13:33-PST (Sat)
From:      Tim Shimeall <tim.uci@UDel-Relay>
To:        sfl at Sri-Csl
Subject:   DREAM PARK (Spoiler)
Via:  UCI; 14 Aug 82 19:26-EDT

Kindly allow me to take issue with some of the opinions expressed on the
book 'DREAM PARK', by Larry Niven and Steven Barnes.

I agree, very much with the gentleman who noted that you can tell who
is going to be killed by the deapth of description of the characters,
except for those who are killed in the final scene.

		HOWEVER

I think this is one of the best DND/Quest books to come out in a LONG
time.  Its FAR better than Norton's book on Blackhawk.  I Definately
recommend that those interested in SF/DND go out and buy/borrow/read a
copy.

The ending is not a terrible suprise.  Given the DND/Quest theme, the
authors have a reason for each character that they present.  Each
character serves a role in leading to the ending.  Up until the final
pages, where all is made clear, the role of Skip, the psychologist, is
uncertain.  He does NOT contribute anything, until his role as the
ultimate villan is exposed.  This sticks out like a sore thumb on a
reread of the book.  Also, I felt that the ending was fairly well
foreshadowed.

By the way, did anyone notice how subtley Niven and Barnes worked in
references to other works of fiction into this book?  (Does any get a
clue from this knife?  Well, Its obsidian.  What good is a glass
dagger? ) I counted 28 references, but I'm sure a missed a LOT of
them.

					Tim Shimeall
					Tim.UCI at UDEL-RELAY


End of SF-LOVERS Digest
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