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169 lines
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CHEAP TRUTH 6
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EDITORIAL. radical, hard SF
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seeing signs that something new is imminent ---
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new fiction from the bounty of new technology.
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/// the perspectives opened up by contemporary science fight back, using guerilla tactics
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new information systems f/a/s/h/i/o/n that new science fiction
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for the *electronic age*
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** ICE CRACKS UP WITH '83 BEST OF THE YEAR **
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THE YEAR'S BEST SCIENCE FICTION FIRST ANNUAL COLLECTION, Gardner
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Dozois, ed., Bluejay, $9.95.
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With this volume, Bluejay Books has delivered a stinging duellist's
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slap to the slack jowls of the anthology market. Bluejay's daring must be
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roundly applauded and they've come through with a real bug-crusher in this
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575-page colossus.
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Veteran editor Gardner Dozois blithely ignores the stock list of Neb
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and Hugo nominees to give us work of genuine merit from the most esoteric of
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markets. The man's masochistic dedication to the genre -- he reads SF in
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truly industrial quantity -- has never been more in evidence. His opening
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Summation repays close reading for its quick-witted ideology and sagacious
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grasp of industry dynamics.
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The book is remarkable for its lack of clunkers. Even the worst
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stories here can be read with a straight face. The best can stand with
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anything written in the past ten years. More importantly, they show an
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earnest effort by '80's writers to scrap old formulas and speak in a modern
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vocabulary.
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Greg Bear serves as the exemplar. His two stories included here have
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won dual Nebulas, itself a very promising sign. As co-editor of the SFWA
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Forum, the man was in the heart of the beast, and his daring attempts to
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transcend his own limits are therefore doubly praiseworthy.
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His bizarre OMNI story of '82, "Petra," showed something odd stirring
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in the Bear attic. With "Hardfought" and "Blood Music," the man has thrown
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restraint to the winds.
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"Hardfought" may be thick with jargon and laden with annoying
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attempts at verse. But it burns with genuine visionary intensity and its
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Stapledonian daring arouses real wonder. This is what SF is about.
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"Blood Music" has a ludicrous plot and has filed the serial numbers
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from Sturgeon's "Microcosmic God." But Bear knows what to borrow, and the
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ending goes for broke. Bear's reckless energy has made him a writer to watch
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-- and to emulate.
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Efforts by more established writers show the effect of a real thaw.
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Silverberg's "Multiples" is one of his best in years: smooth, devastatingly
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plausible, a brilliant idea handled with great skill. Tanith Lee is at her
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unique best with "Nunc Dimittis," a dark fantasy that shimmers with
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necro-eroticism. R. A. Lafferty spryly tramples convention with a story from
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his splendid small-press collection, "Golden Gate." Lafferty has always been
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a cult figure. He will still be a cult figure a hundred years from now.
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Particularly heartening are the efforts of the " '80's Generation,"
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listed by Dozois as Bear, Cadigan, Gibson, Kelly, Kennedy, Kessel, Murphy,
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Robinson, Shiner, Sterling, Swanwick, and Willis -- surely one of the oddest
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groupings ever. Seven have stories here -- the rest figure prominently in
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the Honorable Mentions.
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If these heirs-designate were dropped into a strong magnetic field,
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Gibson, Shiner, Sterling, Cadigan and Bear would immediately drift to one
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pole. Swanwick, Robinson, Kessel, Kelly, Murphy and Willis would take the
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other.
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Leigh Kennedy goes her own goddamn way. Her story, "Her Furry Face,"
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demonstrates Kennedy's unique style: low-key, determined prose combined with
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an unflinching and peculiar vision. Reading Leigh Kennedy is like having
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your housecat show up with a small dead pterodactyl in its jaws.
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Pat Cadigan's "Nearly Departed" is a psi story, not overly burdened
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with technological literacy. But its tough-minded lack of sentiment keeps
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reader interest up.
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Bruce Sterling's "Cicada Queen" shows this ambitious writer manfully
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wrestling with this complex Mechanist/Shaper future society. It should have
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been a novel, and apparently will be.
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No review could be complete without a mention of Jack Dann's "Blind
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Shemmy." This story is so sharp-edged that it ought to be read with forceps.
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Altogether, Dozois' collection is excellent, both for what it is and
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for what it promises. Its Summation and thorough list of Honorable Mentions
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are worth the price in themselves. Winter is over -- prepare for spring
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cleaning.
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** S F: A R h a p s o d y. After Swift **
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All Human Beings would be Rich,
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So many scratch where all must itch;
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Though few will ever find a Cure
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Except through CRIME or LUCK; and your
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Best chance for Wealth is to inherit.
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For those who have no skill or merit
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A WRITER'S LIFE holds most attraction --
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Requiring neither Mind nor Action.
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The hack chews shreds of Literacy
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To nourish those less read than he
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(Thus we define Democracy).
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If even this prove uninviting,
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There's always Science Fiction writing;
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Or baser still, if this he scorns,
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He'll churn out stuff on UNICORNS,
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Assured there is in Magazine,
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Can spot the difference between
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A future possibility
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And rankest ancient Phantasy.
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The SF Field! O, sore disgrace!
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Where Dunces fight for bottom Place,
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All forced to exercise their Spleen,
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They're in such odious Comp'ny seen,
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Where every mental Deviation
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Is praised as true Imagination.
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If on Parnassus' top you sit,
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You rarely bite, are often bit:
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Conversely, in Parnassus' ditch,
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There's nothing but to BOAST and BITCH
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As brother turns on savage brother
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(e'en while they plagiarise each other)
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As, writhing in low eminence,
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They cannot make their Tales make sense.
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Their failures clog the lists of DAW,
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Del Rey, Ace Books, Avon, and Tor,
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Where copywriters gild their sins
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With "Greater Tolkiens", "New LeGuins",
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"Beats Arthur Clarke", "Equal to Niven"
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-- As if that awful thought were Heaven! --
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Or "Starrier Wars"... And Sturgeon there,
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Here Budrys, "Masterpiece" declare,
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"Not to be missed...." Such feeble lies
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Support a feebler enterprise
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Of Royalties at 4%
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Which scarcely serve to pay the rent
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-- Or keep a Mistress in a Tent! --
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Yet still these hacks are overpaid!
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Such fools will never make the grade.
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They have no Style, no Spark, no Topic.
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Their very Pains are Microscopic.
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Although they holler for attention
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In Fanzine, LOCUS, and Convention,
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With Asinine Insistence --
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The World knows not of their Existence,
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The World hears not their Lamentation,
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And holds SF in... Detestation....
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CHEAP TRUTH On-Line 809-C West 12th Street Austin, Texas 78701
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Vincent Omniaveritas, editing. NOT COPYRIGHTED. Our special thanks this
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issue to Thomas C. Squire, C.B.E., Lecturer in Future Culture at The
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University of Texas at Austin. "Worthless But Not Valueless"
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