Empty cities and Ant Men in Tibet
01/11/2001 . Source: Geoff Willmetts 

Time for the monthly round-up our picks of the new SF books.

Empty Cities Of The Full Moon by Howard V. Hendrix.
Pub: Ace Books, NY. 441 page hardback. Price: $29/95 (US). ISBN: 0-441-00844-5.

First impressions about a book don’t always sink in properly. I should have paid more attention to the comments on the back of the dustcover.

There is praise for Hendrix’ other books but nothing saying what they thought of this particular one. Always a worrying sign, especially as it isn’t beyond some publishers to send out pre-advance copies to have something said about the book on the cover or does that only happen with the paperback release?

Nothing necessarily wrong with hype but it should have been focused on this book.

I can’t say anything for Hendrix’ other books as I haven’t read them. The plot of this one is pretty straight forward. We see two different time periods in roughly alternate chapters.

One is leading up to the effects of a mutantic virus effect where mankind decimated or evolves into half-animal or aqua-creatures. The second where the effect is almost complete. Into this mix, is one John Drinan, as astronaut from an alternative Earth who ends up for part of a story as a research guinea pig simply because he had nowhere else to go.

His origin is pretty superfluous to the plot and even its use at the end doesn’t sink in as being sufficient reason to bring in such a detail.

This seems to be a common problem throughout this book. There are a lot of ideas but none of them sufficiently explored to make them stand out. Hendrix also tends to write his text in a reported sense that simply drags rather than gets into the action and motivation of the characters. This works at odds with what would otherwise be good dialogue and makes a tiring read.

Considering his biography says Hendrix has an English degree, this reviewer has to question whether it taught him a good storytelling technique? From an editorial POV, if such things cause a story to drag then the writer or his editor isn’t doing their job correctly.

A shame really as there probably was a story that needed further development before being released.

(c) GF Willmetts 2001

Offerings: The Art Of Brom
pub: Paper Tiger. 128 page hardback. Price: £20 (UK); $29.95 (US). ISBN: 1-85585-918-1.)

Brom’s artwork is far more horrific fantasy orientated than I usually look at. Probably the reason why I never pursued his earlier book, ‘Darkwerks’. This book shows Brom’s full range from role-playing game art to comicbook to computer game box illustrator.

There is an entire section showing the development of the ‘Diablo’ computer game box cover. Apart from the paintings, there is also a section of preparation sketches made for various companies although few of the complete pieces are in this book.

Outside of an introduction by Arnie Fenner, Brom tends to let his art speak for him than say much himself. I’m not sure if this is a criticism or not but when compared to other artbooks where there is more text, it does tend to balance out the book better.

You’d be more prone to stare longer at the pictures when you get an insight from the artist otherwise, it’s far too easy to turn the page when something is less than appealing. Then again, I don’t have to gulp at a picture to take it all in.

The majority of Brom’s paintings here are darkly painted earth colours. You can’t do anything else with a gothic style really. The role-playing pictures are especially figure orientated although when let loose with backgrounds, Brom does demonstrate he can come up with the goods.

This is always a problem with commercial artists. We see far more of what they were commissioned to paint than what they would do with a free rein. With artbooks and the opportunity it uses to showcase their work, uncommissioned work can often show their larger range.

Saying that, Brom’s work has inspired film directors and if what I read in a media magazine is true, director John Carpenter is using Brom’s work as a template for his next film. If you favour this type of material, I don’t think you’ll be that disappointed.

check out websites: www.papertiger.co.uk and www.BromArt.com

(c) GF Willmetts. 2001

Planet Of The Apes - novelisation by William T. Quick
pub: Boxtree. 280 page paperback. Price: £5.99 (UK) and probably available world-wide. ISBN: 0-7522-2019-5.

Despite my comments in a previous editorial regarding spoilers, I do have a tendency to pick up on film novelisations before seeing particular films.

This is largely because there tends to be over six months gap before the film is video released and it would be impossible to avoid reading about the subject. Novelisations aren’t on the shelves forever and photo inserts, such as this one is carrying, are only likely to be in the first edition.

The first prints of both ‘Alien’ and ‘Aliens’ are somewhat expensive collectors items these days. Not all film novelisation first editions have enormous print runs. With Tim Burton’s reputation, books containing photos from his films are likely to reach similar heights in the long term.

Also novelisations tend to be written while the film is being produced and so can have more scenes and other differences that might have to be exercised in the final edit. Whether that has happened here remains to be seen or at least until the video release or ‘director’s cut’ video release come to that.

The most significant difference in this book is that Limbo, the orang utan jailer, is frequently referred to as a chimpanzee. This is either a late screenplay modification writer Quick not amending throughout or sloppy editing.

Frankly, it wouldn’t have taken long to spot the problem and check the scenes to modify the description so am inclined to equally blame his editor. Novelisations are written very quickly but this is just plain sloppy work that should have been spotted.

There are some problems that this reviewer tends to centres on Quick himself. Apparently in this future, Fahrenheit is the favoured temperature scale rather than Centigrade. I can’t believe this came from the screenplay, not when it's used to indicate absolute zero.

The hero Davidson also asserts he works for the United States Air Force despite the Oberon spaceship is out in deep space and a couple centuries into the future. Another science guff is also having Davidson referring to all apes as ‘monks’ or monkeys. Considering the initial establishment scenes on the spaceship assert Davidson works with the primates, you’d have thought he would know the difference not to mention writer Quick who was probably living up to his name!

Essentially, the plot centres on an astronaut, Leo Davidson, in an effort to rescue an astronaut ape, travelling through a wormhole time warp and arriving on a planet ruled by a variety of apes and captured humans as slaves. A bewildered Davidson is captured, along with some other humans, on the latest ape hunt. His later escape aided by humans and a couple ape sympathisers, the female chimpanzee Ari and her gorilla major-domo Krull, discovers the origins of both species on this ape planet.

This later part of the plot is significant. Davidson doesn’t seem that concerned both humans and apes on an alien planet can speak English. The solution does have some sense to it although after several generations, you’d have thought the language might have evolved more than it has.

There are similarities to the 1968 film and to many aspects of the original novel by Pierre Boulle even to the point of re-orientating two phrases from the original movie. The touch points like the ‘forbidden zone’ and its scarecrows are still there. The most startling difference for comparison is whereas the 1968 selected gorillas as the militant force and the chimps as the pacifists, our current knowledge of primates has been used this time.

The chimpanzees are shown to be the true aggressive force with both gorillas and orangs conceding to their authority. Without wishing to give away too much about the plot, I’m still a bit puzzled how the apes learnt to speak. Other than that, there has been a lot of thought given to the original screenplay.

Although it was relatively easy to work out some aspects of the plot as I read, sufficient options were open to allow it to swing either way. If anything, it’s a shame that the human hero doesn’t er...hang around to see what brave new world he has helped build from the ashes of the old. Can’t wait to catch the film on video.

check out website: panmacmillan.co.uk

(c) GF Willmetts. 2001

The Ant-Men Of Tibet And Other Stories edited by David Pringle.
pub: Big Engine. 255 page medium-size paperback. Price: £ 8.99 (UK). ISBN: 1-903468-02-7

The Ant-Men of Tibet and Other Stories is an anthology of SF and fantasy writing from Interzone compiled by David Pringle, its editor, and published by new imprint Big Engine. The cover of the anthology has been a drawn by SMS, the illustrator who supplies the exquisite vignettes that regularly appear in Interzone.

All the stories to some degree justify their place in this showcase of established and newer authors' work and each merits a brief mention.

‘The Ant-Men’ of the title was originally the invention of H.G. Wells. In his short story, Stephen Baxter reveals the fate of Cavor, the discoverer of Cavorite, who was stranded on Mars in ‘The First Men in the Moon’. According to Baxter, the scientist's fate was a far from happy one - and the Earth fairs even worse.

Tommy Simmons is ten when he discovers the Cavorite powered ship Bedford, Cavor's fellow traveller, used to escape back to the Earth. As it lays unattended on the beach at Littlestone-on-Sea, he cannot resist investigating it. Tommy investigates the vessel so thoroughly, he triggers it into taking off.

Remaining faithful to the tone of the original novel, Stephen Baxter's style is very readable and, thankfully, he resists the temptation to explain how Cavorite, the anti gravitational mineral discovered by Cavor, works. H.G. Wells' classic did invite a sequel, though not necessarily another complete book. There is only so much that can be said about a human stranded on a planet with giant ants. Stephen Baxter's short story effectively ties together the loose ends and hardly invites another sequel.

‘Byrd Land Six’ by Alastair Reynolds tells of the messy consequences in fooling with quantum mechanics and violating causality. Neatly thought out and there are two survivors.

‘The Warrior Half-and-Half’ by Chris Beckett is about a mercenary immortal entity with the ability to metamorphose and cause havoc. At the beginning of the story, the eponymous hero is securely incarcerated. (A start reminiscent of that deliciously strange short story, La Vampiresse by Tanith Lee, also published in Interzone. Should definitely be included in the next anthology, Mr Pringle.)

In ‘People of the Sea’ by Keith Brooke, the dimension of merpeople overlaps then invades eighteenth century Harwich. Too many dimensional twists and turns towards the end tends to confuse the action when it needs to be more focussed.

‘Alfred's Imaginary Pestilence’ by Eugene Byrne. This is a very funny take on ‘The Terminator’. The narrator is apparently carrying the genetic potential to unleash a deadly disease on future generations. Alfred is ostensibly sent from the future to persuade him to commit suicide because, as a hologram, Big Arnie's weaponry would be useless in his nebulous hands. The dialect chips Alfred installs to communicate as a hippie then pearly king are excruciatingly off the mark.

‘Civilization’ by Nicola Caines. In this story, there are no axes for anyone to grind. It is the tale of humans surviving from some unspecified catastrophe. Difficult to at first to know where it is leading, it unfolds with a charming fairy tale quality without being cloying.

‘The Dust’ by Jayme Lynne Blaschke is more traditional science fiction complete with jargon, strange speech patterns and navigator last seen in a lift shaft on the ‘Dark Star’. It is also a rattling good yarn that skims the bowl of porridge that is ‘Star Trek’ without managing to fall in.

‘The Vengeance Of Grandmother Wu’ by Molly Brown is a Chinese fantasy. For most of her life, Grandmother Wu has carried the spirit of her demon lover. An uncomprehending grandson causes a situation that necessitates its release.

‘The Collectivization of Transylvania’ by Peter T. Garratt deals with vampirism from a communist point of view and ends with a novel twist. You may never view the fall and execution of President Ceausescu in the same light again.

‘Vulpheous’ by Eric Brown is a love story played out in the flooded caldera of a volcano on a planet with a sun about to go nova. One quibble: the period during which a planet is habitable to the time it is incinerated by its sun would probably stretch a little more than a couple of years.

This anthology of stories is thankfully free of aliens trying to invade, decimate or generally marmalize the human race and very few of the plots are based on warfare of any description. Most of the writing is refreshingly free of pretence or worthy profundity. You do not need to be a dedicated SF buff to enjoy the stories. This is the sort of anthology that will appeal to the casual reader as well and has the occasional nod towards humour. However, if you find the price of £8.99 too steep, order it through your library.

check out websites: www.bigengine.co.uk

(c) Jane Palmer. 2001

Sketchbook: Boris Vallejo and Julie Bell. Text by Nigel Suckling.
pub: Paper Tiger. 160 page hardback. Price: £20 (UK). ISBN: 1-85585-929-7.

As the title suggests, this isn’t a book of complete paintings. Rather it is a book showing the preliminary designs that leads up to the paintings. Both Vallejo and Bell get somewhat carried away doing this and they end up with some really natty tightly pencilled sketches. This is the preliminary work before human models are brought in for the final poses. Judging by the standard they demonstrate here, this reviewer wonders why they don’t both save money and dispense with the models altogether.

There are enough rougher designs included to show budding artists that even this pair of pros have to grope with construction lines finding the shapes they want. There is also a chapter dealing solely with colour roughs and showing a different form to what they are normally asked to paint. They should do more funny animals work. Kids would love them. Their serious animal work would also be appreciated by any audience.

As a book for budding artists, it might have benefitted with a little more information about each picture than the odd note. As mind candy, it’s rather a pleasant book to browse although it might not appeal to everyone. Considering the following both these artists have, it wouldn’t surprise me to see it being automatically added to their fans collections anyway.

check out websites: www.papertiger.co.uk

(c) GF Willmetts 2001

Where Late The Sweet Birds Sang by Kate Wilhelm.
pub: Tom Doherty Associates, NY. 254 page medium-size paperback. Price: $13.95 (US); £13.95 (UK) ISBN: 0-312-86614-1.

With a title like the above and the subject is cloning, it was inevitable that this book originally published in 1976 would attract my attention. It was also foolish of me to order another book without checking the import price first but then both were ordered a the same time.

I have very mixed feelings about this book. Set at the brink of some unknown holocaust - looking very much viral in nature though - an isolated scientific research colony recognising their own potential demise, continue their cloning experiments with humans. They believe that if they can get to a fifth generation of clones that it should be possible for normal breeding to take place again.

Wilhelm is less interested in the cloning itself and more the social implications of clones brought up parentless clinging together. Being socially isolated also brings out their fear of the unknown and a lack of development of creative thought not helped by the elder clones own fear of change. None of this is helped by the union of two clones that gave a son, Mark, who had more creativity in his fingertips than the rest of the colony put together.

It is through him we again see parts of the devastated North America and the results of nuclear fallout. From their perspective, there is no clue as to how this happened but nothing is given to indicate to the reader from our own POV either.

With what we know of cloning today, it’s probably a little unfair to cite Wilhelm’s lack of knowledge and whether clones would see them as a separate species from the naturally-born humans. Certainly, her humans have more problems coping with lookalikes in their midst than the other way round.

Objectively these days, appearances doesn’t follow that personalities will be identical as well. Wilhelm’s reality appears to be a more sanitised version of Frank Herbert’s ‘Hellstrom’s Hive’ without the justification.

Where Wilhelm’s strength lies is in her storytelling which will keep the reader glued to the book and probably why the story won a Hugo. Her rather soft-hearted approach to characters leaving and probably committing suicide belies the strangeness of this society.

If your thoughts are on writing a book where clones are involved, then this book should be included in your reading list to ensure there’s no overlap.

check out website: www.tor.com

(c) GF Willmetts 2001

Callan: The Complete Season One boxset.
9 colour episodes on 3 videos. Can be bought individually or DVD format. Video: Clear Vision Ltd/Pearson Television International. Box set: 3 videos: CAL001, CAL002 and CAL003. Price: Varies - Blackstar.com pre-release deal was £22. Stars: Edward Woodward, Russell Hunter, Patrick Mower and William Squire.

What’s an espionage series doing getting a review in an SF column? The same could be asked why otherwise SF media mags have been reviewing ‘Hannibal’ lately. When SF fans want a change of pace, we - at least my generation does - switch to adventure or espionage.

Probably because there is also a strong element of problem-solving involved. The ‘Callan’ series of the 60s-70s was certainly not to be missed and I was jumping, theoretically, up and down that it’s long overdue appearance on video has finally happened. Was it worth it?

In a nutshell, obviously yes. The story quality is still as sharp as ever even if the Cold War is over. The real problem is the case title is a misnomer. This isn’t series one but series three. The first two series were in black and white and Thames didn’t take over until 1970. Presumably, Clear Vision had problems with either getting the rights or concern that no one would want to see the black and white episodes. I hope that can be resolved in the future, not only for completest sake but because they were interesting TV.

For those too young to remember, David Callan - played by Edward Woodward - is a British security black bag/assassin operative with a conscience and sense of fair play. He’s also aggressive and violent and that’s only with his workmates and boss.

Callan is the antithesis of James Bond. He often cares about the people he kills or has to manipulate and is often a risk to the Section - a covert branch that works independently of MI5 and MI6.

These nine episodes produce a convincing picture of how our dirty tricks operations were portrayed at the time. There was more concern with getting the job done than the methods taken in getting there. Callan was efficient, effective and fast. You didn’t want to get on his wrong side, mate, cos he came down on you hard!

If you’ve heard of but never seen any of this series and like good drama with violent tendencies, you might want to get these videos. Granted they might appear slower compared to what is released now but these series were the foundations that every other espionage based series from ‘Bird Of Prey’ to ‘The Sandbaggers’ - another pair of UK series that deserves video release - built from.

If you were old enough to remember them from the first time around, then ‘Callan’ will stir old memories. Believe me, you won’t want to miss them again, mate!

(c) GF Willmetts. 2001

Airwolf Volume 3
Video: Universal 9040633. 141 minutes. Price: £ 9.99 - although this may vary. Stars: Jan-Michael Vincent, Ernest Borgnine and Alex Cord.

I’ve always had a soft spot for the ‘Airwolf’ TV series. It was originally created as a rival to the ‘Blue Thunder’ film that developed into a TV series. It also has the distinction of being the better series.

Why equip a helicopter with armaments if they were never going to be used? ‘Airwolf’ was also the reason that inspired(!) President Ronald Reagan to endorse the USAF’s attack-helicopter programme. All right, so not everything is perfect in the world but this is still an interesting series.

When it was created in the early 80s, there was no reliance on digital effects. Everything was done with squibs and live effects. Such was the over-runs on budget that Universal were trying to reduce the role of the helicopter. Wisely, producer Don Bellisario fought this even if it brought a pre-mature end to the series.

One only has to contrast his seasons to the Canadian episodes to realise how much attention was made into making this series popular. Although a couple videos were released in the late 80s - one of this tapes episodes, ‘Echoes From The Past’, being on one of them - this is Universal’s first attempt to issue them all on tape.

Like with all US series, the early episodes were a lot of the time finding their feet. The writers were either focusing upon some aspect of the relationship between the characters or ensuring there was sufficient action to keep the younger population happy.

As such, the three episodes here cover this range. Even by today’s standards, the action is fast and to the point. ‘Airwolf’ is portrayed as an effective weapon rather than as a personality all to itself. A hardware series at its best and was the final word on significant high-tech series set in our reality.

If you like tracking other appearances of actors from other cult TV series, then the ‘Star Trek’ fans should note the guest-appearances of Paul Carr and Henry Darrow. The release of these videos and the DVD version are spread out sufficiently to be within anybody’s budget.

check out website: www.univeral-playback.com

(c) GF Willmetts 2001

Wheelers by Ian Stewart & Jach Cohen
pub: Earthlight/Simon & Schuster. 505 page medium-size paperback. Price: £10.00 (UK). ISBN: 0-7432-0743-2.

Make no mistake with this book, this story is strictly hard-core Science Fiction. Considering both writers are practicing scientists this shouldn’t come as any surprise.

Oddly enough, they weave their story around expressing their knowledge without it becoming too distracting although, as someone who didn’t get bogged down in Stephen Hawking’s ‘A Short History Of Time’, I can only speak from personal experience.

The story builds up upon several threads before linking them for the conclusion. In some respects, they can also be considered a little contrived even occasionally misleading how they become relevant.

It’s also a little disheartening to say that the blurb describes the setting of the 23rd century where civilisation is pulling back after a technological recession of a century and under-populated wasn’t fully explored to show the kind of Earth that was being threatened.

Certain hi-tech gismos are still only the Internet with different names for instance. Other than futuristic space technology, this Earth isn’t that removed from our own. That said, a lot of the story doesn’t happen on Earth but in the confines of Jupiter space. The discovery of alien artefacts, the ‘wheelers’ of the title on Callisto, leads to the discovery of sentient beings in the clouds of Jupiter.

These beings think nothing of rearranging their moons to divert a comet to avoid collision with Jupiter and place it on a collision course with Earth. It is up to the humans to pull this deadly lump of ice onto another track. On top of all of this, there is an ending that almost feels like it was tacked on to raise the page count about the origin of life in the universe.

The main problem with collaborative stories is spotting who is writing which piece. There is a distinct impression that one of these writers is less character conscious than the other who prefers to go for the bigger picture.

Whether that is true or dependent on the state of the story is debatable. Collectively, there is an apparent loss of character depth in their relationships and lack of detail involving other characters. Keeping to a small cast is one thing but when its set on a backdrop involving the fate of the Earth looks a little wrong on further analysis.

The Jovians have an interesting biology but rather too human-like characteristics when it comes to government. This shouldn’t deter you from giving this book a look and both writers are going to develop a following as they resolve their weaknesses.

check out website: www.earthlight.co.uk

(c) GF Willmetts. 2001

The Mammoth Book Of Fantasy edited by Mike Ashley.
pub: Constable and Robinson. 500 page medium-size paperback. Price: £ 6.99 (UK). ISBN: 1-84119-374-7.

Don't let the title put you off. Unlike many anthologies, this is not a random collection of stories that just happened to be available.

Mike Ashley's intention is to show `the full range and development of fantasy fiction' from the mid 19th century to the present day. The accompanying press release clearly comes from some parallel world since it bears almost no relation to the published book.

Where is the promised `rare tale' by Tolkien or the contributions from Terry Pratchett and David Gemmell?

Fantasy buffs will find familiar worlds such as Earthsea (`Darkrose and Diamond' by Ursula le Guin) and old friends like Dilvish the Damned (`The Bells of Shoredan' by Roger Zelazny), Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser (`The Howling Tower' by Fritz Leiber) and Elric, the Eternal Champion who never seems to learn from experience (`Kings in Darkness' by Michael Moorcock and James Cawthorn).

Other offerings, like a Lisa Goldstein story reprinted from Ms Magazine (`The Phantasma of Q-----') and the original version of A. Merritt’s `The Moon Pool', will be new to many.

‘The Mammoth Book Of Fantasy’ passed two of my personal tests for an anthology. It made me want to re-read a favourite author (Lord Dunsany) and introduced me to a writer I'm eager to read more of (Darrell Schweitzer).

The fact that I hated some of the stories, especially the racist twaddle of Robert E. Howard's `The Valley of the Worm', only proves that this book caters for a variety of tastes. My one quibble is the lack of stories from across the wall that allegedly separates fantasy from literature.

Was there no room for anything by Borges or Margaret Atwood or just no budget?

In many people's minds, Science Fiction is associated with short stories centred on a single big idea and Fantasy Fiction with multi-volume epics that describe the geography, history and culture of imagined worlds.

Some writers of short fantasy fiction suggest such worlds through a perfect choice of detail. Dunsany's ruthless little tale, `The Hoard of the Gibbelins', shows how much more disciplined he was than most of his imitators. Another option is to build on your readership's general knowledge of myth and fairy tale. Patricia A. McKillip's subtle reworking of the `win your true desire by recognising it' motif (`Lady of Skulls') shows how it can be done.

Lucius Shepard's `The Man Who Painted the Dragon Griaule' has a brilliant central concept that gives the story an epic feel.

The anthology begins and ends with stories about people who risk everything to find out what lies beyond the edge of their known world (`The Wall Around the World' by Theodore R. Cogswell and `The Edge of the World' by Michael Swanwick).

Fantasy fiction is often accused of being mere escapism but what you escape from is a fixed way of looking at the world. Some of the stories in this anthology ask serious questions about the nature of reality.

They answers they suggest are sometimes hopeful, sometimes grim, but never glib.

This book would make an ideal present for a thoughtful teenager. If they can get through the ‘Valley of the Worm’ unscathed, they might become fantasy readers for life.

check out website: www.constablerobinson.com.

(c) Geraldine Pinch. 2001