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%T 20/20 Vision
%A Pamela West
%I Ballantine/DelRey
%D August 1990
%O paperback, US$3.95
%P 228
%G 0-345-36736-7
This novel is an original, haunting time-travel/thriller/romance story. In
2020, detective Max Caine is obsessed by hia failure to solve the murder of a
young woman, a beautiful musical prodigy who had died literally in his arms in
1995. Twenty years in the future, a police archivist is investigating the case
via a device which can read and sometime change the thoughts of people in past
times. Suspecting Max of being the murderer himself, she arranges a meeting
between the detective and her younger self. Those two, in turn, use an
earlier version of the machine to probe the case in a way which reverberates
down the lives of all three. If you liked James Hogan's Thrice Upon A
Time, you'll love this book, and it marks Pamela West as a writer to
watch.
%T The Graveyard Heart/Elegy for Angels and Dogs
%A Roger Zelazny/Walter Jon Williams
%I TOR
%D August 1990
%O paperback, US$3.50
%P 187
%G 0-812-50275-2
Another jewel-like early work (1964) of Zelazny's is paired with an
original sequel. Both are set in a future in which the upper crust of the
upper crust (the Party Set) spends most of its time in cryogenic
suspension, emerging for only a few festive days a year. Their attenuated
lives spin down decades of real-time, falling ever further out of step with
the `real world' that worshipfully follows their adventures. These novellas
use adventure-and-conflict themes to explore the hedonistic isolation of
the Set, and its ultimate fate in a world evolved beyond what it can
understand. Ignore the dated touches in Heart and enjoy.
%T Future Crime
%A Ben Bova
%I TOR
%D August 1990
%O paperback, US$4.95
%P 374
%G 0-812-53241-4
Ostensibly an anthology of stories loosely themed around crime in the
future, this is actually a grab-bag of Bova's old work (including one
collaboration with Harlan Ellison). None of it's very good, though the spoof
Vince's Dragon and Brillo (the collaboration) have
some good moments. For Bova completists only.
%T Kent Montana and the Really Ugly Thing From Mars
%A Lionel Fenn
%I Berkeley/Ace
%D August 1990
%O paperback, US$3.95
%P 195
%G 0-441-43535-1
The "Book One in the Outrageous New Series" is a blatant attempt to
do a Craig-Shaw-Gardneresque take on the conventions of cheesy 1950s
sci-fi movies. Like Gardner's stuff, one tends to laugh even as one
notices how strained and desperate the reach for cheap laughs gets in
spots. Fans of the Ebenezum and Cineverse books will, in fact,
certainly enjoy this one. The rest of you may find it a bit ... thick.
Up to Eric's Home Page | To Index | Wed Sep 05 18:48:07 EDT 1990 |
Eric S. Raymond <esr@snark.thyrsus.com>