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%T The Great Work of Time
%A John Crowley
%I Bantam Spectra
%D August 1991
%O paperback, US$3.99
%P 136
%G ISBN 0-553-29319-2
Why this little book won the 1990 World Fantasy Award I cannot fathom.
It's beautifully written, but incoherent, precious, and self-consciously
artsy to the point of nausea. I guess what offends me most about it is
that Crowley's "orthogonal logic" of time-travel doesn't seem to work, and
he either doesn't know or doesn't care that it doesn't work. This is the
kind of novel that makes me want to yell "Keep SF in the gutter where it
belongs!" Highly dis-recommended.
%T Nightfall
%A Isaac Asimov
%A Robert Silverberg
%I Bantam
%D September 1991
%O paperback, US$4.99
%P 338
%G ISBN 0-553-29099-1
Asimov's classic short story Nightfall is not improved by being
spun out to novel length. Unless you're a true completist, pass on
this disappointing piece of poorly-written puffery.
%T Red Orc's Rage
%A Phillip Jose Farmer
%I TOR
%D September
%O clothbound, US$18.95
%P 282
%G ISBN 0-312-85036-0
This novel is an odd appendix to Farmer's unfinished Tiers books.
Jim Grimson, troubled child of an abusive father in a fictional version of our
world, enters a form of therapy modelled on actual therapeutic experiments in
our world in which he imagines (or astrally projects?) his way into
Farmer's world. Confused enough yet? Actually, it all seems to
function largely as an excuse for Farmer to give us some early history of the
series villain, Red Orc. Along the way, Farmer cuts enough cute
meta-fictional capers to make any member of the Modern Language Association
swoon with delight. What the heck, if you're a Tiers fan buy it anyhow. In
paperback.
Up to Eric's Home Page | To Index | Fri Jan 17 18:17:01 EST 1992 |
Eric S. Raymond <esr@snark.thyrsus.com>