New books and the state of science fiction publishing

  Why does this post lead off a photo of an old lamp, is this some metaphor for suddenly seeing the light? Not really, Helen bought it for the living room at a mid-mod shop we visit, Murphy's Mid-Century. The table that features in the photos below also came from Murphy's as part of a trade. It is a local shop selling used furniture and one we love to visit. Indeed Saturday was spent on our favourite pastimes, trying a new breakfast place and visiting a few shops. 

One is an independent bookstore called Second Page. There is a second store, Pages as well, but both are independent and locally owned. They sell new and used, and I have featured purchases from them before. Today I noticed they had anthology Octavia's Brood and Butler's Lilith's Brood as well. I had read the first chapter of Dawn, the first book in the trilogy online and wanted to read all three books. As I eyed both books, I remembered I had planned to order Lilith's Brood online using gift cards I received from my family for Christmas. Then I looked around and thought and then how do these people stay in business. If they close, where do we go on a day out to browse real shops that are not stocked from a central warehouse by some corporate purchasing department? 

Marc Yancus/John Jennings

We visit three independent bookstores in Calgary, that stock new books. 

It is in these stores that we find books we would never discover online and that the chains don't stock. Helen left with a book on the history of textiles. 

Dominic Harman/Tomislav Tikulin/Donato Giancola

The other day Helen sent me an article on the state of Science Fiction Publishing. It seems some publishers are doing okay, others are struggling. This year I had decided to subscribe to both Asimov's and Analog, so I could read some current science fiction. I got paper because it was easier, and no one was going to delete them from my Kindle account for me. Also, I am old, and like paper copies, I can share them with friends and generally run riot.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/adamrowe1/2020/01/27/science-fiction-and-fantasy-magazines-in-2020-readership-is-healthy-but-revenues-arent/

I had been buying Clarkesworld for years focusing on the year-end anthologies (see comments on paper copies above). I also get some individual issues because they have some of the greatest covers in the history of SF, and this site is about SF illustration as well as stories. I also got Spotify this week so that I can listen to weird British Hauntology inspired music (I blame the Unsubscriber, see my Blogs I follow section and The Fortean Times), but this also allows me to access the Clarkesworld podcasts. I have also pulled some free samples of Beneath Ceaseless Skies for my kindle to see about adding them. If you like Thomas Ligotti I would recommend you try an issue of the online journal Vastarien. Mainly I would suggest that if you can afford it you support some of the things you like so they continue to be available. 

Normally I attribute the cover artists for Clarkeworld their cover gallery is here

http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/artgallery/

Boy do I have lots reading to do.

January 2020 Reading, Neal Asher, Jack McDevitt, Kristine Kathryn Rusch

I have been reading but not posting lately. One thing we have been doing is organizing the basement so we can turn the largest room which has been storage the entire time we have owned the house, almost 30 years into a library/rec room. This requires organizing the books in the basement. Some are mine; many are Helen's. Helen tends to prefer longer SF novels that are part of a series and more recent authors. My preference is short stories often older, but I want to see what else is out there. I have brought a number upstairs to my room so I can read some more current SF. That said, of the authors, I am going to touch on today. I have read two previously. This discussions many include minor spoilers.

McDevitt has two main series, the one I intend to discuss here deals with the antiquities dealer Alex Benedict and his assistant and pilot Chase Kolpath. I read McDevitt's A Talent for War and loved it. The narrator is Benedict, and he is researching a number of the figures who participated in a war against an alien race, the Ashiyyur. I enjoy history and worked in archaeology for nine years, so the focus on research and the reconstruction of events fascinated me. The revelation at the end of the novel seemed fresh. I read another of his novels; it might have been Seeker, found it retreaded the same ground and moved on. I decided to try reading them in sequence and read Polaris. Chase is now the narrator. She and Alex have obtained artifacts from the Polaris a "Mary Celeste" of the spaceways where all six of the crew and passengers of a space ship disappeared, and the Polaris was found drifting with no indication of what happened. What did I like? The research aspect. Alex and Chase follow up with people involved in the events, all existing records and any other sources material they can find. They also visit the locations involved. Many people in this society update their memories to avatars who can be questioned. The avatars do not have memories covering the events on the Polaris, but they do provide a lot of insight into the characters involved. I think this comment from Wikipedia is fair. Certainly, I find the history of the minor characters are sometimes more interesting than the events of the main plot-line.  

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_McDevitt

"McDevitt has a (probably unintentional) tendency to give the impression that his novels will go in one direction and then take them in a different direction. Or possibly his background is so well thought out, that throw away lines, or subplots, or minor characters, have enough information behind them to make the reader want to see their story as much as the main plot of the book. While slightly annoying, this is, I've decided, a strength of McDevitt's writing since it shows the depth of his created worlds.[3]"

One of the frustrating things about McDevitt's work, and Helen agreed with me here is the plotting shows a real lack of imagination. In Polaris, Alex and Chase are targeted by unknown assailants. In a world with high tech security and AI incorporated in homes and vehicles, they are almost killed three times when someone sabotages two of their aircars and a spaceship. Maybe some variety would be nice. Also, the final revelation, the explanation for the events on the Polaris and the later attacks on Alex and Chase did not make sense to me. I would suspect that McDevitt wanted to do a "Mary Celeste" type story but had trouble setting up the scenario and tossed a lot of stuff against the wall. In my mind, a lot did not stick. I will probably continue to read his works and his series on the space pilot Priscilla Hutchins, but my expectations are low. 

Helen had a ton of books from Kristine Kathryn Rusch's Retrieval Artist series. I read The Recovery Man, which is from the middle of the series and started the first book, The Disappeared. The Recovery Man involved the kidnapping of a scientist Rhonda Shindo and the efforts of her daughter Talia, police, lawyers involved with her estate and her ex-husband ( the Retrieval Artist of the series title) to find Rhonda. They also have to protect Talia from the machinations of the company Rhonda worked for. Rather than discuss this novel in more detail, I will discuss the theme of the two works I have looked at. Humans have encountered a number of alien races as they began to explore space. Often there is a conflict between the laws of the Earth Alliance and various the alien cultures. Humans who break the "alien" laws which operating in their spheres of influence are turned over to the aliens for punishment even if the acts are not a crime under Alliance law or the penalties are considered cruel or even incomprehensible by human standards. This requirement has created several very specific professions or organizations to deal with this requirement. There are "recovery men" bounty hunters who track down humans are considered criminals by alien cultures so they can be punished. Some organizations feel this is unjust and assist humans in disappearing, outfitting them with a new identity so they can avoid capture. Then there are retrieval artists who track down the disappeared. Rusch's plotting was better than McDevitt's novels, and the works are well written. But I am not sure the world she has created, of vast interstellar corporations, vindictive aliens, lawyers and police procedurals, is one that will engage me for long. (Having digested for a couple of days I found the plot revelations involving Rhonda's actions to avoid alien justice very disturbing.  The second book I started also had plot elements that I could see might trend in the same direction. Rusch is a good writer, but there is so much available to read I will definitely pass on this series.)  Helen enjoys the current batch of mystery writers mysteries more that I do. I am more of Dorothy Sayers or Sherlock Holmes fan, so SF that emulates the current treads in the mystery genre can be somewhat hit and miss with me.  

Asher has long been a favourite of mine. I prefer his Polarity setting to Bank's Culture. He is also one of the few writers of long space opera series I read at present. I love Reynolds Revelation Space and have read all his short stories in the series. Many more than once. But I have not read the novels yet. The latest series I have read by Asher are the three Transformation Books and the first two books in the Rise of Jain series. The last book is due out shortly, and I cannot wait. I have even come to love the covers, with their strange organic spaceships and have picked up remaindered and ex-libris hardcovers where possible. As Asher seems determined to, at least loosely, tie most of the Polarity novels and short stories together, I suspect I will be reading the entire series chronologically in the future. I will be looking into Asher's work in greater detail, but I have rambled long enough.

Cover Artists

Polaris by John Harris

The Disappeared by Greg Bridges, The Recovery Man uncredited?

Line War by Steve Rawlings

Dark Intelligence by  Jon Sullivan

The Soldier, The Warship, Infinity Engine, War Factory, by  Adam Burn

New Year; New Arrivals

I have picked up a lot of new titles. Some online and some locally. 

These two books were written and published in New Brunswick in 1981 and 1982. I really liked the graphics of these b&w covers. Both also have interior illustrations.

Recently I read the first two volumes of Farmer"s World of Tiers series so I picked up volumes 4 & 5. I am still missing 3 of course.

I often find Reynolds exploration of economic and cultural themes interesting. Older SF tends to be so Libertarian a different perspective is refreshing.

Wyndham was actually covered when I was in public school and I read a lot of his works. I really like these Penguin  editions with the image extending into the white borders. There is a great overview of Penguins SF covers here.

https://www.penguinsciencefiction.org

I could not resist this Moorcock cover.

My collecting began with HPL/Arkham House related items and Edgar Rice Burroughs, so I am still a sucker for a cover like this from Corgi. 

If you follow my posts you know I like short stories and shorter novels. However I love Asher's Polarity series with it's Old Captains, War Drones, Golems, Gabbleducks, Runcibles, Dracomen, Haiman  and Hooders.  I will post on his books in more detail in the future. 

Cover Artists

Star Destroyer & Courier all illustrations by Owen Pulton

Behind the Wall of Terra by Gray Morrow, The Lavalite World by Boris Vallejo

The Phoenix and The Mirror by Leo & Diane Dillon, Adam Link - Robot by Jack Gaughan

The Five Way Secret Agent and Mercenary from Tomorrow uncredited (Lehr?), 
Satellite City by Davis Meltzer

Jack Wyndham both covers by Peter Lord

My Experiences in the Third World War by Michael Heslop

Fearless Master Of The Jungle by Chris Achilleos, who also did the covers for my copies of Talbot Mundy's Tros of Samothrace novels as well as some Burroughs I have never seen by Tandem Books. The ISFDB database is a wonderful thing.

Neal Asher both covers by Adam Burn design Claudia Noble

Happy Holidays, Mel Hunter, The Lonely Robot

Happy Holidays

Saturday Reading; Stableford, Moorcock, Harrison, Davis

Yesterday I had a productive reading day even if not everything was a gem. Typically I only discuss works I like, but in this post, I wanted to include everything I read. The first item was a short story by Harry Harrison. I read his novel Deathworld as a teen, but nothing else as far as I can remember. I have collected a lot of his books over the years, so I wanted to start. I picked his collection 50 in 50 years ago when my library still sold discards. I chose "Down to Earth" based on a cover illustration of a space capsule for its appearance in Amazing Stories, November 1963. 

This story concerns the first Apollo landing on the moon. During the initial exploration, one of the astronauts Glazer falls into a crevasse concealed by the thick coating of dust. His companion Gino Lombardi tries to rescue him but is unsuccessful. Gino then completed his assigned work and contacted the pilot of the orbiting ship Danton Coye.

"Glazer is dead. I'm alone. I have all the data and photographs required. Permission requested to cut this stay shorter than planned. No need for a whole day down here." (165)

Gino's somewhat callous response could be dismissed as the result of shock. He does break down later on the ship back to Earth, but the reaction concerning Glazer's death does indicate a problem I had with the entire story. The dialogue, the description, just seemed flat, unemotional and unembellished.  

The story itself gets rolling when they return to Earth and find themselves in an alternate timeline. The story was okay, the most interesting part for me occurs when Albert Einstein, still alive in this timeline offers them a cure for some of the worse cancers in exchange for weapons to use against the Nazis. Still not an auspicious start, but Harrison has a huge body of work, and this collection alone covers 50 years. 

Nest I decided on some more Moorcock, I read "The Jade Man's Eyes", one of his stories about Elric of Melniboné. " Elric is the last emperor of the stagnating island civilization of Melniboné. Physically weak and frail, the albino Elric must use drugs (special herbs) to maintain his health."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elric_of_Melniboné

I have read several of Moorcock's Eternal Champion stories in the past. Most recently, I have been reading the stories of Dorian Hawkmoon, Duke of Köln. I am finding the Hawkmoon stories quite formulaic and the character one dimensional. Elric was much more interesting in part because he is unpredictable. His magical broadsword Stormbringer is often uncontrollable, and his demonic patron, Arioch unreliable. In this story, Elric and his companion Moonglum are enlisted by the noble Duke Avan Astran to accompany him on a treasure-hunting expedition to the ancestral island of Elric's people. This type of quest is a staple of the sword and sorcery set, but I found Moorcock's a step above. The threats and responses were more interesting; the pacing moved the plot along without rushing. 

Also, Moorcok's style reminds me of some of my favourite fantasists like Eric Rücker Eddison, Lord Dunsany, Clarke Ashton Smith and Robert Howard.

" It happened that one springtime two strange men came to Chalal. They rode their weary Shazaian horses along the quays of marble and lapis lazuli beside the fast-flowing river. One was very tall, with a paper white skin, crimson eyes and hair the color of milk, and he carried a huge, scabbarded broadsword at his side." (57) 

or

"One of those legends speaks of a city older than dreaming Omrryr." (61)

Moorcock is quite honest about his influences in creating the character of Elric of Melniboné; they seem quite wide-ranging; his comments appear here.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elric_of_Melniboné

As I said earlier, Moorcock's Eternal Champion interests me, and I will be exploring it and Elric in greater detail. 

Joachim Boaz at Science Fiction and Other Suspect Ruminations mentioned he had obtained a copy of the anthology Orbit 11. 

https://sciencefictionruminations.com/2019/11/09/updates-recent-science-fiction-acquisitions-no-ccxxx-ben-bova-suzette-haden-elgin-louis-trimble-josephine-saxton-orbit-anthology/#more-19061

One of the stories mentioned on the back caught my attention. 

"TO PLANT A SEED. Is many really master of the Universe? In this brilliantly conceived story, an incredible project is launched to preserve the human race—not only from the death of Earth’s sun billions of years in the future… but from the ultimate collapse of the entire Universe itself!" 

Since I had the book, I read the story by Hank Davis. Two scientists Cullins and Cain, are seeking funding for a seed ship. Using a McJunkins Field, which slows time, they will encase a spaceship containing human volunteers. The humans will not age within the field. The plan is that they will remain in stasis as the universe winds down and collapses. Then, when the next big bang occurs, they can seed the new universe with humans. (Characters in the story do mention how wrong this is.) This story could have been interesting, but it isn't. It interspersed the action, such as it is, with transcripts, news feeds and exchanges taking the form of questions and answers between characters with an omnipresent viewpoint concerning the activities of Cullens and Cain. There was little character development, but a fair bit of technical explanations/lectures, some reminded me of high school math. The main problem is that it is incredibly sexist bordering on hateful. Most of it is directed at Cullin's girlfriend, Erika. Cain does try to date one of his female colleagues, but she is never named. Oddly, Davis invests so much space in a short story in underscoring the misogyny of his central characters. I am in no hurry to read more by him.

I like Brian Stableford. I covered his story "The Growth of the House of Usher here."

https://ajaggedorbit.blogspot.com/search?q=poe

I enjoyed the first novel of his Hooded Swan collection and hope to cover the entire series at some point. I also want to post on Sherlock Holmes and the Vampires of Eternity for my HPL blog but the length makes it a bit daunting. I have also purchased a number of his translations of early french science fiction/roman scientifique. 

So when I noticed Journey to the Center on a trip to the basement yesterday, I picked it up. Michael Rousseau is a freelance scavenger on the planet Asgard. The planet is controlled by a humanoid race called the Tetron. However, a number of other races, including Terrans, live there. The planet lost its atmosphere in the distant past. The native race burrowed into the surface then disappeared, leaving behind many uninhabited levels. The alien races on Asgard explore these levels looking for artifacts they can sell. There are two groups the Consolidated Research Establishment composed of many races who work in a highly structured manner. Then there are freelancers, both groups and individuals like Rousseau. Rousseau's problems begin when the Tetron Immigration Authority contacts him, asking that he show a new earth immigrant the ropes. This is a common practice on Asgard members of one race are asked to look after new members of the same race. Rousseau is due to leave on a scavenging trip and suggests his friend Saul Lyndrach to look after Myrlin the new arrival. Then things go south Saul and Myrlin disappear, and Rousseau is framed for murder by Amara Guur, the criminal kingpin on Asgard. Under Tetrax law, criminals are sold into contact slavery. Guur wants Rousseau to lead an expedition into the planet.  

But before Rousseau can sign the documents, Starship captain Susarma Lear and her stormtroopers show up and conscript Rousseau. The Terrans have just won a vicious war (about which Rousseau knows virtually nothing) in which they basically wiped out another species. Now the war is over, and there is only one loose end. Myrlin is not human but an android created by the enemy, and they have to kill him. And all this occurs by page 47.

I love this stuff. We have anthropology with Rousseau's Tetrax lawyer explaining that contract slavery is the highest form of civilization, higher even than capitalism because it controls the efforts of so many individuals. We have interesting descriptions of the planet and the possible explanations for its current state. There is a nod to a panspermia explanation for the races we see on Asgard. There is a nearby Black Galaxy (dust cloud), which will eventually cover most of the spiral arm. Is Asgard a small Dyson sphere that was built first and then had a small sun ignited inside? Is Asgard a ship that transported its population out of Black Galaxy? Using Rousseau Stableford is obviously playing with lots of ideas, and I enjoyed all of it. He also packs a lot into 153 pages. Rousseau is a very stereotypical loner/rebel found in SF. Still, here he is an excellent foil to the "starship troopers" (Stableford's actual term to describe the soldiers that accompany Lear). That said Lear is not a cardboard martinet, she is a strong, smart capable woman, nice to see in SF. I also enjoyed the resolution. 

Stableford dedicated "For Lionel Fanthorpe-a kindred spirit" Fanthrope was the leading light of Badger Books.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lionel_Fanthorpe

In his work Stableford explores biology, biotechnology, big dumb objects and a mixture of ideas from roman scientifique, the planetary romance and even the weird tale. I find this a nice change from the libertarian mechanistic focus of much science fiction. In this book I even see hints of Frankenstein. There are two more Asgard books, and I will definitely track them down. 

Cover credits

Harrison; cover design Shelly Eshkar cover ill. Vincent di Fate

Flashing Swords 2; Bruce Pennington, I always enjoy his work

Orbit 11; Paul Lehr another favourite

Journey to the Center;  Jim Yost