My occupation and my position as editor of Ibn Qirtaiba have one thing in common; they both require me to consider copyright law from time to time. Traditionally media SF fans have been somewhat privileged in their treatment at the hands of copyright owners, who have allowed clubs and zines to celebrate their passions without requiring copyright clearance to be obtained. By turning a blind eye to the use of their works by fans the copyright owners have boosted the profile and longevity of their franchises, and enjoyed the fruits of this in the form of higher authorised merchandise sales.
In recent years this happy state of affairs has shown signs of meeting its end, as manifested by the well-publicised crackdown on Star Trek and other fan Web sites, and more recently in Australia by the writing of letters of demand to non-profit fan clubs requiring them to desist from screening copyright material. This turnaround in policy is officially due to a higher incidence of abuse of copyright holders' leniency, by fans who overstep the bounds of "fair use". However in my opinion a more prominent underlying factor is the intrusion of commercial interests into fandom, indicated by the establishment and financial success of various large official fan clubs (aka. merchandising businesses).
Whilst it would be untrue to say that fan organisations and publications have not been damaged by threats of legal action against them (several have closed or scaled down their operations), the good news is that the majority of copyright owners are willing to allow fans to use copyright material for non-profit purposes if permission is only asked beforehand. Whilst this may require an adjustment of attitude by some fans, it means that fan activities can generally proceed on the same basis as they always have, to the mutual benefit of fans and copyright owners.
Moving on to this issue's contents, our feature in issue 32 is a short story by Dante Sampang entitled Redemption, following on his previous submisssion for issue 24. Ibn Qirtaiba's first ever CD ROM and music CD reviews follow, along with the more conventional book reviews courtesy of Fred Noweck. Finally this issue, poetry by David Kopaska-Merkel, who takes the prize for the magazine's shortest ever article at precisely six lines. I hope you enjoy this issue.
Short story: Redemption
by Dante Sampang
The great Star Empire started to fall in 3178 A.D... The benevolent Emperor ruled for one thousand years but a great ache in his heart ended his long life. Several provinces used the poor Emperor's death to start the Imperial Schism that caused many provinces to break away. The Loyalist provinces held up for 50 years after the good Emperor's death. The Chaos spawned by the wars between the rebel states corroded the Empire until anarchy prevailed. The years that followed were dark but there was constant hope that a protector would spring forth and bring hope to those who were oppressed and terrorized by the those who would take advantage of the weak.
- Children Stories of Eleazar the Wise
"The armory of the flagship Dread Tsion was pilfered at five hundred hours local time. An armored combat unit, long range strategic explosive ammunition, field spectrum emulator, and a class 2 heavy plasma ejector were taken. More importantly the General's personal battle suit has been taken.
- Jim this is a weird one. I personally don't want to be the one to be the one to report this but it looks as if I'm the one that's going to have to."
- excerpt from second purser's log of the
Old Imperial Fleet Ship Tsion
I fell. I looked up at heaven for my rescuers but they were nowhere in sight. I expected that, but I also expected my enemy to be right on top of me. They weren't. I looked down but the wind blew my old face back so it was hard for me to see. I squinted and saw the ground thousands of feet below slowly rushing up at me. I contemplated my decision in jumping off the cliff. It was either this, which I thought I might survive, or sure death at the hands of my enemies. My instinct was to grab the cliff wall beside me but my mind overrode my emotions. I had that problem once before and it had almost been the end of me. This suit of armor I wore was supposed to have the ability stop great falls, like this, though I had never tested it. I would make it. I tried to enjoy the sensation of falling. My heart felt as if it wanted to jump out of my throat. My chest welled with excitement. I wondered where my victims were as I looked up to see a fist connect with my head.
The wind that blew the light azure clouds washed my face as I awoke. Around me was gnarled wreckage. I remembered...a metal wing and... a gauntlet. They had caught me. Trails of smoke danced around each other as they rose into the air. What was left of my ACM unit was next to me. The giant armored craft lay there with it's innards exposed, a wound caused by enemy plasma salvoes. This sight brought me to reality. As I tried to get up my head rung loud with pain.
"What was I thinking," I thought. "I should have worn my helmet," I said as I rubbed where the enemy guard had hit me.
"Shut up scum!"
I looked around and saw the three winged figures standing over me. Their suits of armor were a design that I had never seen before. Their dirty gray chest plates shone still. The only color to contrast with their gray and black suits was their identical red hair. It gave their gargoyle-like suits an especially wicked look.
"Did you really expect to get away?", a guard said indignantly.
"We should kill you," another said.
"An assassin deserves the worst kind of death," the last one grinned, "A slow death!"
From what I could see I was in the base I had destroyed. The smoke swirled slowly around the compound before it dissipated into the pink sky. I did not wait there long though. Their troops were in a hurry. My guards took me to a shallow pit, miles in diameter. I had seen this from orbit. I would have had it bombed, but it looked as if it were just a landing pad of sorts, non-essential.
The sky was light red and dotted with azure clouds. It was warm. I saw two whale-like space cruisers move slowly over the pad. Their gritty tan hue brought out the dark green color of their identification marks. They paused for a few long seconds and then disappeared in a blast of light as bright as the sun. The bubble of light seemed to slowly shrink. I looked at the guards.
"So you're going to incinerate me here?" I said patiently trying to hide my fear.
"Fool! That's a teleportation pad. Didn't Patzcu tell you you're going to die a long, hard death?", he chuckled.
"You're going to a hell-world!", another said as they all started laughing at me. "There is no escape from Hades! We will even give you something to protect yourself with."
At least they weren't going to kill me. They didn't even know who I was. This type of imprisonment is something I had never heard about. I wondered what I had got myself into. I wondered how I was going to get out of it.
"You all seem like you're in a hurry to get out of here." I said. That comment made one of the guards angry enough to approach me.
"After you raided us you led the Great Terror here! There's no way we can defend against his force." He glanced at Patzcu and begged, "Let me kill him now, please!"
"Let him die at the hands of the beasts of Budacon III. There he will fear every shadow and noise, because they all carry death." Patzcu said.
"There no one can save you. No one knows the name of this world you are to banished to, so how could they ever find you?" said one.
Patzcu interjected, "That's assuming anyone wants to find you, a foolish terrorist"
Hades, Budacon, a planet that is a living hell, I thought. A nervous feeling in my belly told me that I might be in real trouble. They gestured for me to walk onto the pad.
"Just keep on walking," one of the three told me.
I thought that if there was any time to escape it would be now, but I was unarmed and too far away for hand to hand combat. I looked back then and saw them placing my weapons behind me. The quiet guard wielded his plasma weapon as he got into a crouched position and escorted me with the cross hairs of his gun down the pad. I tried to look back again and the world turned black.
There was a feeling of weightlessness. It wasn't like the feeling of falling. I felt... incorporeal. I lost my sense of hearing too, as if a blanket was thrown over me. The pit in my stomach dropped to the ground.
"Bastards!" I yelled as I remembered those who died quickly were the lucky ones. I did not hear my voice.
And then I saw the blue night sky blessed by a billion stars. A blue haze drifted from the sky and the stars down to the horizon all around me. I heard the distant echo of my voice.
It seemed to be late-evening but as my eyes adjusted I saw that it wasn't that dark, maybe just beyond twilight. I backtracked and found my weapons. They left me my sword and a projectile hand gun. No food. No water. No shelter. Already I could feel the cold atmosphere of this world. My suit, which they generously let me keep on, was capable of keeping me warm.
The landscape was indigo. There were no moons but the sky was lit bright by the stars. The pit looked like a dark pool. I walked away from it. In the distance the land become hilly and what seemed to be forests patched what I could see. Perhaps dead trees. Dark shadows passed the hills and cautioned me but I realized that they were merely clouds in the distance.
I sat down. My head was still hurting from the fall. I tried to move abruptly but light-headedness overcame me. I moved away from the pad area. I rested then on the bare ground.
I rested there for I don't know how long. I dreamt well that night. I dreamt of the Emperor and the days of his rule. In the dream we were in a comfortable room. There were tapestries of woven silk metal on the walls with heraldic avians guarding this sanctuary of past times. The Emperor's stone throne was etched with the dead languages of the past, the intricate lines were like trails of fine smoke. The throne was carved from gray and black stone, smoothed like glass. The Emperor put his arm out and opened his palm as if to give something to me. I was full of wonder at this and moved forward to collect what was in his hand. I never reached him though. As I approached a white fire engulfed us both. I lost the Emperor in the flames. I felt the fire only in my chest, in my heart.
I woke up suddenly and my dream ceased. I saw a bubble of white light growing dim as it expanded into the stars. Its beauty startled me. The landscape was briefly lit. The teleportation blast revealed a bright gray landscape that slowly turned brown and the light faded into the night sky. Someone else had been sent. I walked onto the pad and wondered what kind of desperado would be joining me.
"Hey out there!" I yelled.
"Don't kill me!" the stranger yelled back.
These "hell-worlds" held an evil reputation. I wondered what the life expectancy was. I wondered what dangers awaited me.
"Don't worry, I'm a good guy!" I said with a smile that he probably couldn't see.
As he came closer I could see he had some sort of auto-gun, probably a rapid succession projectile launcher. It was on a shoulder strap. He did not raise it but he gripped the butt of the gun. I, on the other hand, had a pistol. He would probably cut me down if I tried for it. So I let him come to me. As he walked he staggered and I could see more of him take shape from the darkness. He wore light urban armor. On his helm he wore eye wear, on his face a smile formed.
"Mutual survival?" he said loudly so I could hear him.
With those two words I knew he wasn't a threat.
"Sounds good to me!" I said. I let go of my sword's hilt which was hidden behind my back and walked over to him with my arms extended.
He reached me and looked at me oddly. I could see in his eyes that he was still amused, wary. We exchanged stories of how we came to be here. He told me a story of how he had stolen grain for his family and killed an inspector who was chasing him.
"The Soache clan burned the cities and stole everything. When the people would stand up against them they would execute them." He paused for a moment. "Or they would send them here."
The states of Soache and Soick had been the dominating force in our galaxy after the fall of the Empire. They plundered the loyalist planets after there no one was left to defend them. They were ruthless and wicked. Genocide was just a tool for peace to them. After the major purges of the loyalist states and after the smart ones hid away they turned into another bureaucratic system.
"And you? Are you a mad killer?"
"No. I guess I'm one of those people that got caught in the middle and got sent here." He didn't ask for any details so I didn't tell him any more. I didn't even introduce myself. I wasn't sure if he should know my real name, not yet at least.
The stranger looked at the darkness about us.
He asked as he looked at his periphery in blindness, "So what do you know about here?"
"Not much. I've been here, maybe a few hours. It seems desolate. A beautiful sky," I said as I looked over the mans head. "Hills over there," I pointed.
We looked around but no one was in sight. Others had been here. There were many tracks on the ground. As we moved away from what might be a danger zone we found little life. The landscape seemed to be bare, yet something not quite like grass carpeted what we could see. Everything was blue. The shadows were worlds of darkness, portals to every dark crack that led to that place we dare not go, the unknown. The hills led us to a vantage point where we could see a wide expanse of prairie. It was bald and looked like an easy passage.
A few hours later we encountered a lone fugitive. He had been surviving here for months. He was dirty and unshaven, as was to be expected from people in his situation. What worried me was the expression on his face. There was no hope in his eyes.
"I saw the welcome lights and came to find out if we got anyone famous," said the new encounter. He moved closer two us and exposed the plasma weapon he wielded.
"I'm Gave. We're no threat really," said the stranger with me,
"I'm... Arathorn," I said not hiding my reservations.
"We'll see. Let's hike it back to my camp. It's probably not too safe here. It is too easy to be seen on this flat land and others, less friendly people may be on the way."
He led the way and we followed. He let us keep our arms. We trekked until we found a hole in the ground, It seemed to be the remains of an old complex.
"My name is Dajourn," he said, more relaxed. "They call this world Budacon, I call it Darkensoul. Months I've been here without one minute of daylight!"
We sat around a fire and told our stories of how we were banished to this dark world. He asked us what we remembered of life before here. He seemed to cherish all that was gone for him.
"So what is this I hear about a new terror in the galaxy?" Dajourn asked. "I hear there is a new power taking states from the Soache clans."
"Before I was banished I heard that they couldn't deal with political threats and a new war at the same time. That's why I'm here," Gave said as he looked at us both.
"The Soache clan is exporting more and more people so they won't join up with this mad man," said Gave.
"Bastards. It's this new Dread."
"But this 'dread' is not only in our part of the galaxy. This man has taken worlds from most states around in this sector. He's blitzkrieging through all the reform states. He's trying to bring back the Empire," Gave warned us.
"That would be good," said Dajourn as he stared into the fire.
"What? So he could be the Emperor?" Gave spat out.
"I hear that this new threat to the break-away states is Eressar, the fallen general of the Emperor," I said.
"Who?" Asked Dajourn.
"He died 75 years ago, When the last of the Empire fell, or so the legend goes," said Gave. "That's about all I know about that. What do you know of him Arathorn?
"Do you want to hear a story? The story of Eressar's infinite sadness?"
"For months I have been here with my conscience eating away my brain. Another day with no-one would drive me off the edge of sanity," said Dajourn nonchalantly.
For a moment there was silence. We stared at Dajourn for a moment. Dajourn shrugged and Gave spoke.
"Go on, Arathorn. I'd like to know of this tale."
I shifted and made myself comfortable. I looked at the sky and tried to picture the story I would tell them. I thought for a moment.
"Well, about a hundred years ago there was a great warrior in the service of the dead Emperor. He had served in the ranks and had been promoted often because of his merits in battle. He soon became one of the youngest generals in the Imperial Whole. He guarded the Avalor Province, what are now the Soache and Soick break away states. Some say he was a descendant of the Emperor, or at least engineered from his genes. This was not true. As the Emperor was engineered to be perfect and to live for thousands of years, Eressar was just a man, son of a merchant. He was to die like any other man.
"Sometime before the end of the Empire there had been diplomatic talks with states on the verge of breaking away. Eressar was chosen to hold a session with the province of Chicago, one of the oldest and most prestigious 'states' in the Empire. It was a strong state with ambitious leaders. He met a girl during one of the banquets that was very interested in him. He did his duty first and tried to work with the leaders of the state. When it seemed that no headway could be made he looked for her. Her name was Saricca.
"She was at first angry at him because he not had time for her. But that was not so. She was very beautiful.
"Eressar went to his home protectorate and his ship the Imperial Sentinel Hugo. There he kept communications with Bragand the chosen leader of the State of Chicago, and of course Saricca. They would be together for hours using the Imperial-Sky-Net. And their love blossomed.
"As time went on and they desired each other more Saricca came to Eressar. It was during the days of thanks and celebration, a holiday. The warlord found peace and was happy. He knew he truly loved this woman. He asked her to stay with him. She hesitated and went back to her home to put her life in order. When she went home she realized that this could not be. That her father Bragand would not let her go. Eressar called for her constantly leaving messages that told her that he loved her and that he was in pain without her. She could not tell Eressar. Instead she sent him a communiqué.
"She told Eressar whom her father was. Eressar left a missive for her telling her that he understood and that he still loved her.
"She wrote back saying, '...Don't make me feel guilty now. I'm sorry for not telling you but I'm exhausted now. I'm a little fool. I'm not happy either but I can't deal with our relationship, not now. Please wait, I can't take this pressure you're making now...'"
"General Eressar came and went in silence. Everyone on his ship knew that something was wrong. They looked at him for guidance but now he would go to places where no one would be. He would disappear and contemplate his numbness. He revelled in his pain."
The two were enthralled. Dajourn was lost in the story. Gave looked at him with interest. He paid close attention trying to figure out something about me. I went on.
"Months went by when they would talk very little. Whenever they talked he would leave sad and dejected. He would go to be alone. He could not breath because when he did he felt the sadness and the anguish of his loss. Then he got a communiqué from her:
'...I'm communicating because I thought of you last night and I felt bad that we haven't talked in a while. Major things are happening here. I wanted to say one thing to you, and that's thank you. You cared so much about me, even though you barely know me. I don't have anyone like that, basically I won't let anybody in. This keeps me protected from people, but sometimes it can be really lonely. I can't now, not with all the preparation for war here. So thanks for trying so hard with me, and for listening, and for being there. I'll never forget that. I pray that things will work out the confederation and the Empire.'"
I paused and looked up at the stars. I thought my eyes would give me away and shed a tear. They did not and I took a deep breath and went on.
"It was a pleasant communiqué but at the same time he did not see that it was a type of release for her. It smacked of closure. The situation between the confederation, the states and the Empire deteriorated into a big intergalactic mess. War was on everyone's tongues. And then it came.
"Several states had broken with the Empire years before the actual war started. While they posed no physical threat to Empire the policy was to let them be. Suddenly the confederation states attacked and dozens of other provinces changed sides or became neutral. The Empire was still very strong. It had great amounts of force spread about the galaxy. Where they did not have the force of arms or numbers they had great leaders. Eressar was very important to the rebellion. He could rally the Empire and smash the rebels now that a conflict had begun.
"A major attack force of seven battle cruisers teleported to the Hugo which was in orbit over the capital of Avalor, the planet Val-Gilad. The crew of the Hugo gave a gallant fight destroying four of the attacking ships but the ships waiting in reserve engaged. The Hugo was boarded. Eressar took the situation in and was prepared to win the battle or scuttle the ship. With his will he could have destroyed the ship and eventually put down the rebels. As he sat there directing fighter craft and ordering salvo launches he came upon a revelation. These last ships were of Chicagoan design. He sat there astonished.
"He stared at the ongoing battle. He focused on one of his fighters. His Air Wing had destroyed all enemy fighter craft, but this one was going into an attack run against a cruiser. The craft's sleek lines shined brightly against explosions. Its swan-like form moved smoothly toward the enemy ship and dodged a battery of heated plasma. The speed of his fighter could be seen against the girth of the ship. Lines of ports on the ship's hull glowed as it charged for another fusillade. The pilot must have known that this was his last move. He increased speed to ram the opposing ship but it was no use. The fighter was lost on a hail of plasma discharge.
"He sensed an unknown feeling of despair. Then his worst fears were confirmed. He received a message from one of the assaulting ships. It was Saricca.
'I am leading the final assault. Give up or die.'
There was no emotion on her face. There was nothing. She could have been a machine. He had one reply:
'Never.'
"And with that he gave his last orders and his heart died. His command center was attacked as he saw Saricca this one last time. His heart sunk and he wished only to die like that pilot. His crew fought valiantly but after he fell their heart was dead. He was struck down by a young soldier. His armor survived most blows but this young warrior closed in and ejected a plasma weapon at close range. The boy was instantly incinerated. The general's already damaged chest plate was blown completely off his body. But he was alive. His aide, who admired him greatly, went to his side.
'Let me die, Ward please..' His voice was a garbled by his injuries.
'Never sir!' he replied.
Ward teleported him to a cryogenic stasis lab in the bowels of the Hugo. Ward could not save himself though. Before he could himself escape he was gunned down by a another wave of invaders.
"The enemy then left, assuming Eressar's death. The Hugo was left in orbit as a monument to the fall of the Empire. There it stayed for years until its orbit decayed and it crashed into the dead planet Val-Gilad."
There was a pause as the two of them took in the story.
"What then? He survived all those years and then someone rescued him?", Gave asked sardonically.
"Well not exactly. He just awakened. The pain had gone. After his injuries were healed he was put into a hibernation state where he dreamed for half a century. His pain was gone. He was ready to redeem himself."
"Bullshit. Like we're suppose to believe he woke himself up in a hibernated state? After fifty or more years?" Gave said in disbelief.
"It's the truth, he just awakened," I said.
"How did you know all this?" Dajourn asked actually being curious.
"Are you this great conqueror's story teller? Were you imprisoned here because you told some governor's children this faithless story?", Gave said mockingly.
I let it go. I called it a night and went to bed. The others stayed and argued about my story and how plausible it was.
After a long time in darkness there the bright light that signified the teleportation pad stirred us. We went to see six Old Imperial ships breaking formation and spreading out over the landscape. From their bellies dozens of craft left.
"My troops have found me," I said calmly.
"You're the One?", said Dajourn.
"Yes I am."
Gave looked at me, and tried to rationalize in his head how this could be true.
"I am the last of the Emperor's generals." I said to them both. "I will make good what I let go of", I said as the a draft of air from of a bird-like ship landed near us.
I looked at them both and explained, "You see I was separated from my armies in a reconnaissance mission into a Soache world. Actually I left my armies because...I had to lose my pain, lose the madness. The Soache presumed I was a lone terrorist. If they had known who I was surely they would have killed me. I would guess there is not much left of their garrison now."
Gave then lunged at Dajourn and took his only security, his gun. He pointed it at me.
"You're going to die! I'm going to kill the last link to the Empire!." I could see the look of insanity in his eyes. "In killing you I will be immortal!"
"Not after they gun you down Gave!", said Dajourn, who was standing in a defensive posture. Gave didn't care.
Gave activated the gun and its port started to glow. It exploded in his hands and his surprised faced was engulfed by the exploding weapon. His mutilated body fell to the ground with a lifeless thud.
"They gave me that gun because they knew it wouldn't work," said Dajourn.
He stared at Gave's body, stunned by his misfortune. If the gun worked I could not stop him. But I knew somehow I would not die, not here, not now. I had to restore what was lost. I had to fix what had passed.
Back to Contents 
Back to Index
This is not the first Doctor Who
computer game, but it is perhaps the most ambitious yet, and it thankfully also stays
closer to the ethos of the series than any previous offerings. Like 1989's Dalek
Attack - a platform game in which the Doctor incinerated his enemies a la
Schwarzenegger - a good proportion of the gameplay of Destiny of the Doctors
involves dispatching various alien nasties. However this is not the object of the game, as
points are not scored for a high bodycount. Instead your objective (as the Graak, a
telepathic entity created by the Doctor) is to rescue his seven selves from capture by the
Master, evading traps and solving puzzles along the way.
Anthony Ainley reprises his role as the Master in newly filmed video sequences which must surely rival most of his on-screen appearances. Other Doctor Who actors have recorded new audio clips, whilst those who could not do so are represented by clips from their television stories. For those who tire of first-person perspective 3D gameplay (and it must be said, this aspect of the game is not a patch on Quake), a comprehensive searchable database of the Doctor Who universe is included on the CD. Although "over 20 hours of gameplay" is claimed for the game itself, I suspect most fans will spend more time poring through (and picking holes in!) this impressive multimedia resource.
Unfortunately, the game suffers from a few major technical problems. On my machine, the video unpredictably shifts its colour palette as one moves around the TARDIS, which not only reduces the visual appeal of the game but makes it considerably more difficult to play. The publisher has provided tips to avoid this kind of problem, but none have worked for this reviewer. Worse still, no incidental sound or music is played on my computer (although video and audio clips can be heard). Similar problems with the game have been reported by other players also; whilst others have experienced no problems. My advice is to ask your retailer whether you may "preview" the game on your computer before buying; if not, be sure to keep your receipt!
Bjorn Lynne (or just Lynne) is a Norwegian musician now living in England, who has recently released his fifth album of electronic guitar music entitled The Void. Like his previous releases, The Void is an explicitly science fiction-themed work which will appeal to many readers of Ibn Qirtaiba.
Lynne describes his own music as "vibrant electronic progressive psychedelic melodic space-rock", but it seems to this reviewer that there just aren't enough adjectives in that description to do the music justice. Perhaps a few comparisons would be more instructive: think of a cross between Yes, The Orb, Tangerine Dream, Vangelis, Aphex Twin, Joe Satriani and Jean-Michel Jarre.
Lynne is clearly influenced by many of the
pioneers of electronic music, and his compositions have more in common with their
experimental recordings than with beat-based contemporary electronic dance music.
Kraftwerkian analog synthesisers are more likely to find a place in Lynne's music than
cheesy techno samples, and The Void is all the more timeless for that fact.
Whilst it may no longer sound as ground-breaking as the recordings of the artists it is
influenced by, the appeal of spacey electronic music has transcended the decades since its
first development.
This is not to suggest that The Void is an entirely derivative work. There is much here that sounds fresh and surprising. "Relentless" throws ethnic wails and snippets of spoken word against an ambient electronic backdrop. "Signals" melds retro moog sounds with 90s rock rhythms to good effect. At its most shallow, some parts of The Void sound a little like the soundtrack to a computer game, but with 76-odd minutes of music in ten contiguous tracks, these moments are comparatively few and forgivable.
The Void has not enjoyed a wide-scale international release, however Lynne has a Web site from which the CD can be obtained, and good music stores should be able to order it in for you also. This is a style of music that seems to have a strong appeal for science fiction fans, but I would also recommend it to anyone who likes to turn down the lights, turn up the stereo and float off into the void of space.
Back to Contents Back to Index
I just saw the movie version of Brin's The Postman. Although Hollywood left out much of the book, I feel that the movie remains true to the spirit of the book. It starts out with Costner walking across the dry bed of the Great Salt Lake in Utah, leading his mule (who I feel should get a "Best Supporting Actor" Oscar for a trained mule). He is captured by General Bethlehem for the Army of Eight. Don't ask me why the scriptwriters changed that... I don't know. Even if you haven't read the book, you will enjoy this movie.
On occasion, Hollywood makes a movie out of a classic science fiction story and messes it up beyond recognition (eg: Dune and Starship Troopers). That is not the case here.
Also, Crichton's book Sphere is coming out soon to the big screen. I'll be reviewing that book next month.
I may just be doing reviews for a living soon... I got a book over the weekend that tells what markets to contact and how... more on this later....
This month, we have for your enjoyment:
Patriot is proof that history is
stranger and generally more entertaining (if you have the right slant) than fiction. Based
loosely on the exploits of Ethan Allen and his Green Mountain Boys from the American
Revolution, Patriot is a retelling of how Ethan Allen captured the fort of
Ticonderoga and its guns intact... a feat that was instrumental in defeating the British
army at the time... in a science-fiction format. Turn Vermont into the planet Greenwood
and Presto! Ready-made sci-fi!
Drake has written many military SF books and now he is putting his historical knowledge to use to crank out an entertaining tale. Many of his characters are only two-dimensional but I think that is only because the book would have to be twice as long for character development of all the characters (as in eccentric weirdos to put a nice name to them). Drake can easily put out a sequel to Patriot detailing the further deeds of Yerby and his Woodsrunners. I would read it!
All The Way To The Gallows, also by Drake, is a look at the lighter side of conflict. In a series of short stories ranging from a magically kidnapped ghostwriter in "Enchanted Bunny" to goblin dirigible parachutists in "Airborne All The Way!" (and isn't that a picture to freeze your imagination?.... goblins being little smarter than rocks....), Drake shows his humorous side. I just wish that he wrote more humor... he has a talent for it.
Memory, by Lois Bujold, is the latest in the series about Miles Vorkosigan (first seen in Warrior's Apprentice), sometime Admiral of mercenaries and sometime field agent for the Barrayaran Secret Service. From information gleaned in the first couple of chapters, I have apparently missed a book or two in the series (easy to do), so I will have to go through the historical time-line in the back of the book and locate the ones that I missed.
At any rate, in the previous book, Miles was killed (?!?) by a needle grenade blasting out his heart. He was apparently put into cryo-suspension and repaired. But there was nerve damage that wasn't repaired and now he can't go on missions in the field without risking a seizure... (very dangerous for him and anyone around him). This might not have been so bad, but he lied about it, in writing, to Illyan, Chief of Security and Miles' boss. I won't tell you what else happens in the story... that's enough to get you started. Keep up the good work, Lois!
A Logical Magician, first in a new series, tells of a college under-grad who wants to enter the job market, only to find that nobody wants him because he is over-qualified for any entry level position that he is interested in. (In which he is interested? whatever.) Then he answers a want ad with a job offer that seems to good to be true... then he finds out that his new boss is the legendary Merlin of Camelot... and his new job duties include saving the world...
This book is well thought out with a
rational (!) explanation for the existence and operation of magic and the existence of the
fey and various monsters. Seems that they have 'adapted' to the modern world.
Have you ever seen a fantastically beautiful woman through the crowds at the mall only to lose sight of her and not see her again? Nymph.
Know anyone who seems to be an instigator of trouble but who never seems to get into trouble himself? Elf.
An old lady who runs a trailer park that seems to have been there forever? Likely a witch....
This first book is a lot of fun and I'm looking forward to the next....
Okay, that's all for this month. We are still looking for your responses to our reader survey, so send your comments to:
Send comments, puzzles, jokes, solutions, or just plain nonsense to me here at this address. All mail gets a fair hearing before we shoot it and, if of interest, will be printed in my column.
Back to Contents Back to Index
The terrible cold births uncanny life,
Superconductor cogitating where hydrogen is king.
But where stability is measured in millennia
still a change will come:
Hurrying starward the matrix ablates
and screams....