DAMN ALIEN REVIEWS
Greenings! We wish to thank all of you for the letters, email and presents you have sent us. We particularly enjoyed the hard crusted acetate. They come in such colorful boxes. You Earthers are so swayed by color and form. We are constantly amazed by this and by the over zealous nature your packagers seem to embody. Why else do you cover things so many times in so many different ways. Does this explain why you take your writings and often bind them in garish colors? Is it only a form of misdirection when you place pictures which have nothing to do with content prominently before the scribblings? Is this like your Earther insects which signal one thing through display when they are really something else? Being from a much more advanced race, we are, of course, immune to such panderings and trickery. While we are not inclined to ignore the occasional case of spooze shipped our way, we are never influenced by a pretty picture or a fancy cover. (With the exception of Capt. Jack Gripper’s excellent non-fiction book Squid of the North Sea, which had that most excellent depiction of a tentacled cutey. We purchased many copies and are in dire wait mode for the national signing tour in hopes the model comes with the author.)
The response to our archived states has been beyond comprehension and so we shall continue to see that our work exists for your constant edification. Grow a pseudopod, grab your mouse, shout SPOOZE! and click here.
order Tea From An Empty CupTea From An Empty Cup, Tor Books Hardcover, ISBN 0-312-86665-8, $22.95 ($31.95 Canada), 254 pgs.
Pat Cadigan has been called ‘The Queen Of Cyberpunk.” While we usually do not associate with riff raff, we were enticed by the wonderful colors on the cover. Once inside we were even more enticed by the level of writing. In some ways, though, this is an example of style over substance. The writing here is simply wonderful although the plotting sometimes left us scratching in places better left unnamed.
This is a story which involves the development of a large industry around virtual reality constructs. Artificial Reality is popular and in demand due to the shape of the real world. Besides, when you can be what you want, why be what you are? This is sort of like AOL today, only bigger and better run. The tale revolves around one individual who is being sought by two people. This one individual gets sucked into and eventually killed inside a virtual city construct. Following the path is a girlfriend and a cop. Both move from different directions and for different reasons.
Cadigan has developed a world which is rich in detail and then she has gone and populated it with the people who live there. Our only complaint, and granted this is one we waffle on, is that we would have liked either more of a plot, which would have made the ending, which is a bit weak, more palatable. Or, we would have liked more of a bang ending which would have made the weak plot more understandable. We make these observations with the full understanding that some will see them and nothing else. Do not be so fooled.
This is a very interesting novel taken in full form. It is as complete a work as you are apt to find in the SF field. Cadigan is a stylist and is adept at character as well. She has a fully developed artificial world which competes against the real world. Most SF writers only have to do world building once and Cadigan has done it twice here and successfully both times.
Waving tenstacles and pseudopods up. This is one you should be getting.
Wither, J. G. Passarella, Pocket Books Hardcover, ISBN 0-671-02480-9, $23.00 ($34.00 Canada), 304 pgs.
Perhaps this book would have been better coming out nearer to Halloween since it involves witches and nasty things happening to young people. On the other hand, we have discovered that you, as a race, rather enjoy torturing your young, whether it be by setting them before that tedious electronic box or by making them eat odd vegetables in the name of health.
This is one of those books which is predicated on the thought that old horrors still exist in the modern world and merely need either a random event or minimal direct enticement to become present again. In this case it’s a bit of both. The story revolves around women (which makes sense if you consider it to be a book about witches), of three generations. The women are not related, at least not in the blood sense although their fates and futures are intertwined. One is an eight year old girl, another is a college freshman and the third is a pregnant first time mother-to-be. Wither, the title character is an old witch who is essentially reborn.
There is some irony in this supernatural thriller. It is set in the town of Windale, Mass, a town looking to boost its tourist trade and choosing witchcraft to do so, at least the history of witchcraft. The town goes so far as to put a witch logo on police cars. Still, it is all sham and the town barely tolerates those who even come close to true belief. That this is the place where the true witch comes is almost fitting.
We liked this book, although we do not often read this particular genre. We enjoy books which are about discovery and struggle and about facing one’s future, regardless of how horrid it might appear to be. Passarella is a good writer and this is a first book. The pacing is a bit slow, especially at the beginning, but consider it proper mood setting. After all, most good ghost and witch tales require some set up in order for the ending to be satisfying.
All tenstacles up and shaking in fright
order Silver Birch, Blood Moon
Silver Birch, Blood Moon, Ellen Datlow & Terri Windling, eds., Avon Trade Paperback, ISBN 0-380-78622-2, $13.50 ($19.50 Canada), 371 pgs.
This is the fifth book in this anthology series which takes classic fairy tales and gives them new life, or a new twist if you wish. Sometimes the twist is gentle and sometimes it is an updating and sometimes it is more evil or just more in depth. Whatever the case these are not your children’s fairy tales. We should note, however, that these probably are our grandparents fairy tales since these tales in the original were quite gruesome.
Each of these books has been graced by a Thomas Canty cover and this one is no exception. Canty’s art if perfect for the subject matter and really adds to the whole package. Inside are 21 tales from such authors as Nancy Kress, Patricia McKillip, Robin McKinley, Tanith Lee and Neal Gaiman. There are more, of course, but you should really find that out on your own.
As we mentioned above, these tales are not what you may be used to. In fact, that is the whole purpose of this series; to present these old tales in a more modern way. We would have to say that the editors surpassed their goals. This is a collection where from story to story you wander, sometimes dazed, sometimes horrified, sometimes dazzled but always entertained and made to think.
We can not say we liked each and every story here. That is much too rare a thing for an anthology. We can say that we liked 90% and we are convinced that this will hold true for every reader, regardless of expectations.
Tenstacles flailing in upraised affirmatives.
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