brainstorms

Friday June 24, 2005

time travel notes [cont]

[continuing to read and reflect on langford's white dwarf reviews collected in the complete critical assembly.]

nov 84 review mentions larry niven's the integral trees as "much more fun than the weary ringworld engineers". i have read most of niven's output (including some of the lesser bits with pournelle) but i do not think i have ever read the integral trees. how disappointing.

the really important part of the nov 84 piece is a short review of gibson's neuromancer:

Gibson crackles with creative energy, hammering your forebrain with ideas, colour, future slang and (the time-tested ian fleming technique) brand names. [...] I spent the whole time on the edge of my seat and got cramp as a result.

beautifully put. langford already knew gibson from his short stories like burning chrome but i did not; [the collection named after that story came out later] i was just lucky to receive a gollancz hardcover (second printing alas, shown here, now acid-worn, and worse for the wear after two decades) early in 85. i read it twice the week i received it. hard to describe what it did: hammering is a good word, but when i think about it, the word exhilarating keeps coming up. [the image i have is a long dive to cool clear blue ocean somewhere down south in a hot july afternoon]

jan 85 piece opens with a brief review of heinlein's job: a comedy of justice. I agree with langford; after the NOTB disaster, job shines. looking back, i am sure i missed some of the more subtle jabs of that book for not growing up as a christian. i did appreciate [more so now] one thing: at the time he did not have to worry about assorted religious nutbars trying to unplug him for his blasphemy. [these days i worry about james morrow's well being.]

it looks like brunner's the sheep look up was re-issued that year. langford calls it one massive downer, perhaps accurate for mid-eighties but a re-read today may assess that novel differently for its predictive power; we just know much more about the environmental damage caused by our carelessness and ignorance. referring to the ending, langford suggests the word Schadenfreude and i looked it up: german, from Schaden damage + Freude, joy. joy from suffering of others. i am not so sure. i should re-read it, but so should langford.

a reasonably detailed review by davin heckman is here.

The hungry sheep look up, and are not fed,
But swoln with wind, and the rank mist they draw,
Rot inwardly, and foul contagion spread,
Besides what the grim wolf with privy paw
Daily devours apace, and nothing said.
-- Milton (Lycidas)

[the image on the right is the actual cover of the 1984 release of the sheep look up; it is poor but the only one i could locate on the web.]

[to be continued]

[this entry was prepared with markdown.]