Science Fiction for November 1997  by Henry Leon Lazarus  Time was when a science fiction writer could occasionally write something that would never go out of print. Walter M. Miller lived off the royalties from one such book that still hasn't gone out of print. After his recent death a manuscript to a novel that fit in to that series was discovered and finished by another writer, Terry Bisson, who has been quoted as saying that he made very few changes. Saint Leibowitz and the Wild Horse Women (hard from Bantam) takes place a millennium after the atomic apocalypse when technology is re-emerging. There are still hot radioactive areas around, but civilization is returning and the Catholic Church is facing reformation. Brother Blacktooth is a monk from the Leibowitz Abby who, caught between his religious beliefs, his nomadic heritage, and his love of one of the women from the mutated group. He is brought into the struggles between the exiled papacy and Hannegan empire that controls most of what was Texas, including New Rome. This is as powerful as A Canticle for Leibowitz (trade) and makes for deep consideration of the religious, technilogic, and political issues. If the first book is taught in High School, the second should be taught in College.  I like L. E. Modesitt jr's fantasy series about Recluse, a world where chaos and order conflict so much I went and bought The Chaos Balance (hard from Tor). Mr. Modesitt continues filling in the historical background of the earlier written books. Here, the engineer with wife and child leave the Angels camp where their starship had crashed to wander the lowlands. Of course Nylan has to use his "order" powers to protect against the growth of a "Chaos" empire and in doing so sets up some of the institutions that appear in later books.  Harry Turtledove weaves history too. How Few Remain (hard from Del Rey) posits what a second Civil war might have been like if the South had won the first. Using Abraham Lincoln, Mark Twain, Stonewall Jackson, and a young Teddy Roosevelt in the 1880's brings to life this alternate America well. I find pure alternate history a little dry, but history buffs and especially civil war buffs will find this fascinating.  Everyone who hasn't discovered Terry Pratchett is missing a great humourist and story teller. Maskerade (hard from Harper Prism) is his version of the Phantom of the Opera. When the coven of witches (now down to two) come to town and when the Opera House's ghost has turned to murder, they have to go from finding a third witch to catching the murderer (and of course helping Death's arm aches). Of course the show must go on, (if the reader can stop giggling). I also sped through Ann McCaffrey's novelette Black Horses for the King (trade from Del Rey) which tells of a young man who becomes King Arthur's farrier (maker of horseshoes) and who may have been the first one.  The magic length of fantasy is supposed to be three novels. Consider four of them. Deborah Chester's Realm of Light (paper from Ace) finished her trilogy nicely while keeping the reader on the edge of their seat almost to the last page. At the end the two lovers are together, the ancient emperor who lived a thousand years too long has been vanquished, and even the gods settled. There's nothing super special about this series, but Ms. Chester keeps everything fun and I look forward to her next work. Maggie Furey's strengths lie in creating charismatic characters. In her first work, The Aurian Saga, she had so many interesting ones, she was forced to go to a fourth volume, Dhiammara (paper from Bantam Spectra), to wind the story up. Hopefully in her next work she'll have fewer characters and better plotting and background.  To top of next column  QuickLooks Archives	Jo Clayton is in the middle of her tale about two worlds coming together, Drum Calls (hard from Tor), and creating magical changes in each. This is a very complicated piece of work (and may be the best Jo Clayton has ever done) but trying to read this in parts is like reading a serialized novel. This is a work that should be read slowly and carefully and with all parts present. Janny Wurts gives us the first book of the third of her series about two half brothers, one of light and one of darkness, cursed to hate each other. Lysaer, prince of light is winning in this episode stopping his brothers plans to help the clansmen and coming close to capturing the Fugitive Prince (hard from Harper Prism). I wanted very much to like this but the high language and continual plotting made it difficult to understand what was going on.  Finally two science fiction novels that almost work. Joe Haldeman's Forever Peace (hard from Ace). Julian is a part time soldier and a full time physicist in a near future where nano-technology has brought infinite wealth to the haves. As a soldier, Julian remotely fights with robot bodies in a distant jungle, as a physicist he is part of a group that has discovered that a project, if complete, will destroy the universe. Mr. Haldeman tries to fuse these concepts to create a final peace but to my mind the pieces didn't fit together or seem plausible. Julie F. Czerenda's A Thousand Word for Stranger (paper from DAW) is also interesting.  Sira is a telepath who has lost her memories and being sought by numbers of interested groups across an alien strewn galactic civilization. In the end, however, the plots seem too complex and the solution too filled with female fantasies.  The final collection of essays about our future in space by the late Carl Sagan, Pale Blue Dot is out in trade (Ballantine Books).  David Bassom has put together the story of Creating Babylon 5 (trade from Del Rey) . It's neat. Laurent Bouzerau has edited Star Wars, The Annotated Screenplays (trade from Del Rey) for critical fans of the movies. Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens put together The Art of Star Wars a while back and it has become the pawed over book in my waiting room. It's now reprinted in cheaper trade format (Pocket). Richard Chizmar has put together a group of Screamplays (trade from Del Rey) (horror teleplays from major horror novelists).  Avon has two collection of recent Ray Bradbury stories. Driving Blind (hard) and Quicker than the Eye (paper). All of these stories have never been collected before, appearing in major magazines in the last three years. Allen Steele's most recent stories are in All American Alien Boy (paper from Ace).  Two trade reprints are: Mary Doria Russell's excellent tale of a failed Jesuit mission to an alien civilization, The Sparrow (Fawcett) and Ward Moore's classic of alternate history Bring the Jubilee (Del Rey) which first appeared in 1953 and has always been considered the definitive tale of the South winning the civil war.  Finally paperback reprints include Wilhelmina Baird's Chaos Come Again (Ace) about an agent for disease control who chases her ex-husband across the galaxy; the final part of the surreal Dragon Circle (Ace) by Craig Shaw Gardner; Stephan Grundy's retelling of one of the Rhine gold myths, Attila's Treasure (Bantam Spectra); and Bruce Sterling's tale of an old woman made young in the near future, Holy Fire (Bantam Spectra).   In 1936, a group of science fiction fans from the New York club authorized by Hugo Gernsback (he was trying to build circulation for his magazine) came down to Philly to visit the Philadelphia Club at one of the members house. They decided to call it a convention and it was the first science fiction convention. The 61st Philcon meets at the Adam's Mark Hotel (City Line Ave.) The weekend of November 14th - 16th. Dan Simmons, noted horror and Hugo winning science fiction writer is the principle speaker. Gardner Dozois (editor of Asimov's Magazine) and Lisa Mason are special guests. Many other writers, editors, and artists will be there along with a musical guest, the band, Clam Chowder. Membership is $40.00 for the weekend and there are also day passes. Come and join the fun. I'll be there. More information is available at http://www.netaxs.com/~philcon/.  Return to the SF Literature Forum Page