The Science Fiction Book Club Reviews Revisited: 1997 (fourth quarter)

[james_davis_nicoll]

Lists courtesy of Andrew Wheeler.

Contents for anthologies and omnibuses from the Locus Index to Science Fiction www.locusmag.com/index/

I am sorry but mostly Q4 of 1997 seems to have been an almost complete wash for me.


OCTOBER

SORCERERS OF MAJIPOOR by Robert Silverberg

I missed this.


THE RISE OF ENDYMION by Dan Simmons

And this.


THE SHADOW MATRIX by Marion Zimmer Bradley (Alternate)

And this.


FANTASTIC 4: THE REDEMPTION OF THE SILVER SURFER by Michael Jan Friedman (Alternate)

And this. Who is MJF anyway?


DONNERJACK by Roger Zelazny & Jane Lindskold (Alternate)

And I missed this.


RUNNING WITH THE DEMON by Terry Brooks (Alternate)

And this. I have read other Brooks books that me think Mark Twain's comment about Austen applies here.


GIANT BONES by Peter S. Beagle (Alternate)

I missed this.


THE ALIEN LIFE OF WAYNE BARLOWE by Wayne Douglas Barlowe (Flyer)

This is probably an art book.


DRACULA by Bram Stoker (Flyer)

I am somewhat embarrassed to admit I have never read this. In fact the only Stoker I have read is The Jewel of the Seven Stars.


DAUGHTER OF DARKNESS by Stephen Spruill (Flyer)

Missed this. And I do mean missed: I had no idea he was still getting published.


MY SOUL TO KEEP by Tananarive Due (Flyer)

Missed this.


NOVEMBER

HOW FEW REMAIN by Harry Turtledove


I think this is an alternate history where the South won. I must admit I didn't read it. The South Wins book I want to read has not been written, I think.


MASKERADE by Terry Pratchett

This is a Witches entry in Diskworld. In this one, a replacement must be found for Magrat, who has gone all Queeny. The best candidate is off in the big city, entangled in an opera plot not too unlike Phantom of the Opera [Actually it is completely unlike the recent ALW [?] version or it would consist of one paragraph repeated a thousand times] so the two Witches travel there to collect their new third.

Worth reading, of course.

[I found the musical Phantom tediously repetitive]


X-FILES: ANTIBODIES by Kevin J. Anderson (Alternate)

Media tie-in by Keven J. Anderson. Like that is going to be readable.

[Someone must like his stuff, because he keeps getting published]


THE TIMELINE WARS [3-in-1 of PATTON'S SPACESHIP, WASHINGTON'S DIRIGIBLE and CAESAR'S BICYCLE] by John Barnes (Alternate)

I only read the first of these. Total crap, in the carnographic men's adventure mold.


BERSERKER FURY by Fred Saberhagen (Alternate)

I missed this.


JACK FAUST by Michael Swanwick (Alternate)

And this, even though I am a raving Swanwick fan.


THE DRAGON AND THE GNARLY KING by Gordon R. Dickson (Alternate)

I missed this.


THE BLACKSTONE CHRONICLES [6-in-1 of AN EYE FOR AN EYE: THE DOLL, TWIST OF FATE: THE LOCKET, ASHES TO ASHES: THE DRAGON'S FLAME, IN THE SHADOW OF EVIL: THE HANDKERCHIEF, DAY OF RECKONING: THE STEREOSCOPE and ASYLUM] by John Saul (Alternate)

And all of these. Horror, maybe? Did one of the periodic rises from the dead of Horror occur about then?


FABULOUS BEASTS by Malcolm Ashman & Joyce Hargreaves (Flyer)

And I missed this.


INFINITE WORLDS: THE DEFINITIVE COLLECTION OF SCIENCE FICTION ART edited by Vincent di Fate (Flyer)

And I missed this.


SPECTRUM 4 by edited by Cathy Fenner & Arnie Fenner (Flyer)

Another art book.


THE GRATITUDE OF KINGS by Marion Zimmer Bradley (Flyer)

And this.


DECEMBER

LORD OF THE ISLES by David Drake

I missed this.

[I've read sequels, I think. I thought they formed a fairly weak series, although I was impressed that he seemed to have burned the set down at one point]


/ SLANT by Greg Bear

And while I have fond memories of reading this, nothing of the actual book sticks with me. Same universe as Queen of Angels, Heads and Moving Mars


DREAMING METAL by Melissa Scott (Alternate)

I missed this.


IN ENEMY HANDS by David Weber (Alternate)

I had stopped reading HH books by this point, to save my eye from the glare of her Pearly White Glow.

[And then, of course, I started getting sent them for review]


THE GREAT GAME [3-in-1 of PAST IMPERATIVE, PRESENT TENSE and FUTURE INDEFINITE] by Dave Duncan (Alternate)

I think DD is one of the best fantasy authors I don't read. I have no reason not to read him, aside from my biases about fantasy.


GRAVELIGHT by Marion Zimmer Bradley (Alternate)

Missed this.


KINGDOM COME by Mark Waid & Alex Ross (Flyer)

This is a collected volume of a limited series, in which the pure-hearted heroes of the Silver Age have to come back and deal with the violent, amoral current generation of super-powered beings. Power corrupts and all that.

Kind of a trite story (And what is it with killing off Wesley Dodds in series like this?) and while the art is beautiful, it is also static and often confusing.


STAR TREK: VULCAN'S FORGE by Josepha Sherman & Susan Schwartz

I missed this.


WINTER

FAULT LINES [2-in-1 of EARTHQUAKE WEATHER and EXPIRATION DATE] by Tim Powers

Wow, that must have been a thick book. I don't recall anything about the first book but the second involves a young boy who does a very stupid thing with the spirit of Thomas Edison.

I used to be a raving Powers fan but these are the least favourite of his books for me.


ST. LEIBOWITZ AND THE WILD HORSE WOMAN by Walter M. Miller, Jr. & Terry Bisson

I missed this.

[Sequel written from Miller's notes. Not up to the original but then few books are]


X-MEN: MUTANT EMPIRE [3-in-1 of SIEGE, SANCTUARY and SALVATION] by Christopher Golden (Alternate)

And this.


EARTHLING by Tony Daniel (Alternate)

And this. I have been supremely unimpressed with the two books of his I did read.

[Three books of his I've read, now. Third one didn't involve interplanetary cable cars but still wasn't much good. Daniels is the writer I give the most credit to for my Seeing Ear Theater rule]


POLGARA THE SORCERESS by David & Leigh Eddings (Alternate)

I have never read Eddings.

[Interestingly, while I get sent lots of EFP I have never been sent an Eddings]

A DIVERSITY OF DRAGONS by Anne McCaffrey; illustrated by Richard Woods (Alternate)

And I missed this as well.


SECRETS by Luis Royo (Flyer)

And this.

Comments

[khavrinen.livejournal.com]

DAUGHTER OF DARKNESS by Stephen Spruill (Flyer)

Missed this. And I do mean missed: I had no idea he was still getting published.

This was the second in his "Hemophage" series, following RULERS OF DARKNESS. As far as I can tell the third book, LORDS OF LIGHT, was only published in the UK ( Hodder & Stoughton, 1999 ). As one might guess from the series designation, it's yet another Urban Fantasy with vampires ( at least they don't sparkle ). I would have liked to see the fourth in the series, which hopefully would have followed up on the clear implication at the end of the third one: that the "Hemophages" were a lost branch of the family of "Angels" who were the focus of LORDS, and were only forced to drink blood because they hadn't gotten the proper training in the use of their powers that Angels were supposed to get.

[ I'm quite fond of the "feel" of Spruill's writing, though I'll admit his "Science Fiction" is almost devoid of any actual science... ]