Conference noted::sf

	Title: "The Clone of Silas Webber"   by Issac C. Clarke
		reviewed by Tony Hoenniker, 29 March 1984

	Publisher: Ballantine/Timescape   Catalog #: 0-441-12289-2  $3.50
	Doubleday edition: 1981
	Timescape edition: March, 1984

	This is the story of Silas Webber, set in a distant future on an
	unknown star. Silas Webber is the man who controls his neck of the
	galaxy - owning patents of the machines which provide fusion power,
	oxygen, and space transport for the unlucky inhabitants of Corel IV.
	The proud bearer of fabulous wealth, he has uncontestable control
	over the lives of oppressed millions. His problem: a finite lifespan.
	So as to continue his existance beyond the 150 Standard Years that
	medical science can provide him, he orders a clone of himself raised
	from the cells of his liver. The resulting embryo must be allowed to
	develop naturally for eighteen years, until the skull has grown large
	enough to receive the brain of Silas. Raised as an innocent child of
	the magnate, Silas Jr. has no idea of his fate - until his seventeenth
	birthday, when a disgusted aide, fond of the lad, tells him of his
	doom.

	Silas Jr. may be young, innocent, and a clone; but he realizes his
	end is near unless desperate measures are taken - and with the
	remarkable strength of human intuition for survival behind him,
	he makes his plan. The mission: depose Silas Webber from his throne,
	escape blame, and disburse the fortune to this oppressed people.
	A spellbinding story of despair and intrigue, set against a
	dark and frightening background of human bondage.
	-------------------------------------

	Reviewer's opinion: All at once, this is a delightful, disturbing
	and trite story. The delight comes from the author's clever parallels
	between the oppressed populace of Corel IV, and modern-day American
	society, where the average man is at the mercy of Industry, Unions,
	and Government. The story is disturbing for the same reason: the author
	paints a false portrait of Capital; heedless of the major benefits of
	the free enterprise system, the author has established a straw-dog,
	and ruthlessly portrays it as the slaughterer of innocent children.
	Trite - because the same technique has been used before by Ayn Rand,
	George Orwell and a host of other ideological writers. Yet this is a
	formula which works - the reader feels strongly the passions of young
	Silas Jr, and develops a healthy wrath toward the Magnate, Silas the
	First. The characters are genuine, and change subtly as the story
	progresses. We see the innocence of Silas Jr washed away by his dark
	scheming to save his own existance, and at the climax - Junior has
	acquired some of the evil which he ironically hates in the Elder.

	All in all, a digestible and palatable novel, with strong opinions
	on man and ideals. I'd recommend this for anyone who can read Ayn
	Rand without flinching, and award it a seven.

I like the idea, but I'd like to suggest that we not limit it to SF
books. I suggested a while back in the NOTESLIST file that someone start
up a BOOKS Notes file for this very purpose. Unfortunately, my system
manager looks down on Notes files. Anyone out there willing to establish
this file? Please?

-- Bill

Do we really need ANOTHER NotesFile? Why not just put the SF stuff in here?

Problem is that there is going to be a tendency to have long SF related 
conversations around the book reviews. Since SF is primarily books and 
movies (profound conclusion...) if the book reviews go elsewhere then this
file should probably be retired...

		bob wyman

Sorry the whole idea of a NOTESFILE review column bothers me. I don't want 
anything to spoil my future joy of picking a good one by having it reviewed
with the plot reveal. At any rate I wouldn't contribute because a. I'm too 
lazy to write and b. I can't keep up with my reading as is (I go through 
5-7 books a week some good some not so good).
                                 Charlie

	Re: .7 - Yes, we could file the reviews right in here with the
	rest of the stuff - but in order to get a review you'd have to
	mung through all the regular notes to find it. Not that that's
	impossible, but inconvenient if we're gonna pass it out to ARPA
	or BOSKONE. 

	Eh! I don't really care - let's put them in here, and if we get a
	lot of them, we can move them elsewhere.

	Re: .8 - Charlie: how do you think "Clone of Silas Webber" ends?
	Does the clone manage to do in his progenitor, or vice versa?
	[The fact is I don't know how it ends - it's a fake review of a
	 book that dosen't exist - I made up the story as I typed it]
	You see, a proper review dosen't spoil the book at all - instead, it
	makes you more anxious to read the book by "tantalizing" sneak glimpses
	of the plot. In this case, I'm very anxious to read the "Clone of
	Silas Webber" - because then I'll have written something instead of
	just talking about it. Someday...

	Criticism (writing reviews) is an artform in itself. I don't claim
	to know anything about it - but I'm willing to try. Look for a review
	of "Way Station" coming soon...

In re .8:

If people are worried about finding out too much about the plot from the
review, we could adopt the USENET/ARPANET convention of making sure that
the title or first part of a review contains a "--SPOILER--" flag. Anyone
who reads the review is then fairly warned that the particular review
is more revealing then most.

		bob wyman

I would like to see here reviews of various books, and indeed films.
But....
	1. let's try and keep the reviews fairly short; no 50,000 word
	   treatises on whether Kensie Graeme was fairly presented in
	   Soldier, Ask Not...

	2. Assuming we adopt the ---SPOILER--- convention; remember to
	   leave enough blank lines after the spoiler warning before the
	   text of the review.

	3.  We're not professional reviewers; I'd be happy to see discussion
	  of the form "I liked this book because..." & "I disliked this book
	   because..."

Keep those cards and letters coming, folks.

I dislike the "spoiler" idea - I think spoiler info should be avoided
entirely in a review.  In a later _discussion_ of the book, a point which
has to reveal secrets should be labelled as a "spoiler" - but the review
should totally avoid such areas.

I also don't like the idea of a notefile for reviews - too difficult to
_find_ something amidst all the replies.  How about a world-writeable
directory somewhere, a _small_ file for each book?  Especially if it's
a V4 system, where long (and therefore meaningful) filenames could be
used - like STARTIDE_RISING.BRIN, or TARZAN_OF_THE_APES.BURROUGHS.

No, I'm not volunteering - ORAC's too small for the network traffic
he already gets.  Just an idea to consider ...

	/dave

I don't mind seeing SF reviews in this file. In fact, this is probably the
best place for them. I just saw another opportunity to put in a plug for a
general-purpose book review file.

I don't know about anyone else out there but I read a lot of non-SF books
(actually more non-SF than SF...), so I'd like to see a place where dis-
cussions of books in general can take place. Something like the USENET
net.books. Not just reviews, but announcements of upcoming titles, rumors,
questions, etc.

But, again, I can't put it on my system...

If the person on ASYLUM still wants to play host to a NOTES file for general
book discussions, that'd be great. Otherwise, get rid of that file and
put the SF reviews here.

On the spoiler subject, I agree that reviews should not give away plot
twists or otherwise spoil the book for later readers. Liberal use of
*** SPOILER! *** warnings would help in this regard. Preferably, spoilers
should be at the end of any entry, so that you can "SINCE" past it without
losing anything else.

-- Bill

    I like reviewing them here.   I don't mind if somebody else puts a spoiler
in so long as they warn you when they get to the spoiler part.  (I probably
won't put spoilers in myself though.)  As for a form for the reveiw... 
If we adopt a form, I'll never review a book again.  Not out of perversity or
pique but because I usually do that sort of thing off the top of my head.  
If I have to remember to bring in from home all that stuff about Library of 
Congress # (I mean really who uses this stuff?), I'd never bother.  I don't
care about a professional review, I just want a little help in narrowing down
my someday list of things to read.

tlh
Lazy and damn proud of it!

	Yes, the ISBN and Library of Congress number, forget it. But if you
	can, give the order # - it's written on the spine of the paperback
	at the bottom. Why? Well, if someone wants to get a book that's
	out of print, you need the order number to get it from the publisher.
	Trust me on this - I've tried it - if you don't have an order number,
	they just send you your check back. [There's no guarantee that the
	publisher has it in stock, either - but if they get enough requests,
	they'll reprint the book.]

	No, it's not a requirement - but it'd be a nice favor to the desperate
	fan.

If you order through a bookstore, all you need is title and author.
They look it up in their indexes nd find the order number.

             Well......This note hasn't been touched for awhile.

	I was just getting ready to take a stack of books to the basement, and
I thought......Just for the halibut, I might make some recommendations. Some of
them were discussed elsewhere (Cyteen Trilogy by Cherryh) or were re-reads (I
was re-reading some of MZB's Darkover novels), and about a third of them aren't 
SF, so I won't bother. I don't have the time or the inclination to do a full
blown review and philisophical exposition, but I do have some time, so for a
few of them I'll at least give some of the cover blurbs.

First, a few that I was less than enthusiastic about:

The Chantry Guild - Gordon R. Dickinson
	I finished it. The word that comes to mind is ponderous. Also slow.
Heavy on the philosophy/angst. Not as fast moving as earlier Dorsai novels.
Good reviews by Analog, Omni and Ben Bova, but does not go into the re-read
section of my library.

A Talent for war - Jack McDevitt
	I finished it. Good reviews by Michael Bishop, and James Patrick Kelly
(whom I've never heard of).
	Cover synopsis = Everyone knew the legend of Christopher Sim. Fighter,
Leader, an interstellar hero with a rare talent for war. Sim changed mankind's
history forever when he forged a ragtag band of misfits into the weapon that
broke the back of the alien Ashiyur.
	But now, Alex Benedict has found a startling bit of information, long
buried in an ancient computer file. If it is true, then Christopher Sim was a
fraud.
	For his own sake, for the sake of history, Alex Benedict must follow
the dark track of a legend into the very heart of an alien galaxy - where he
will confront a truth far stranger than any fiction imaginable.

       (I felt it didn't live up to the hype. Okay but not a re-read.)

Antibodies - David J Skal (An Isaac Asimov presents book)
	Did not finish. Maybe it was just my mood. It'll go into the stack to
`maybe' try later.
	Cover synopsis = She is sliver thin, cool, mechanical, self contained.
Her world is one of surfaces and lines....stainless steel and glass. Her name
is Diandra. She is an antibody - desperate to escape her prison of flesh.
	Ther are many like her, but Diandra is special. She has been chosen.
The Temple will give her complete knowledge. Infinite consciousness. Infinite
pleasure. Life everlasting. Part by part, limb by limb, they will make her a
machine.
	But who or what is behind the Cybernetic Temple, the shadowy
organization claiming to have broken the barrier between man and machine? Are
their forbidden operations truly the next step towards immortality? Or have the
antibodies become human guinea pigs in a ruthless experiment in high tech
terror?
            (people who like the cyberpunk genre might like this)

Neverness - David Zindell
	This one definitely goes in the `to read again' section. A first novel,
and one which I expect to win a Hugo or Nebula (I forget which is which)
	Orson Scott card says: Not just a brilliant novel but a strong and
serious view of human potential....as I read it I heard Zindell say things I
had tried to say in many of my own works, but never did, not this clearly, not
this fully....I have read Zindell's book, and I want to `know' what he knew
that allowed him to tell this tale.
And later...:Excellent hard science fiction...ideas splash out of Zindell's
mind and across the pages of this book.
	Also rave reviews by Gene Wolfe, Michael Bishop, and many other
sources.

	Cover synopsis = The world of Neverness is one of stunning complexity
filled with extraordinary beings: the Alaloi, whose genes have back mutated to
give them the appearance of Neanderthals: the Order of Pilots, which reworks
the laws of time and physics to slingshot its members through dense regions of
`thickspace': the Solid State Entity, a nebula sized brain composed of
moon-sized biocomputers: and the Ieldra, a mythical race of aliens that eons
ago seeded the galaxy with its DNA and initiated the evolutionary cycle.
	Against this backdrop is told the story of Mallory (a guy) Ringness, a
headstrong novitiate of the Order of Pilots. Against all odds he has navigated
a maze of interspatial passageways to penetrate the Solid State Entity. Now he
returns to his native Neverness with a stunning discovery: a discovery that
unlocks the secret of immortality hidden among the Alaloi. But first Mallory
will lead a perilous quest through uncharted regions of Thickspace, where he
will be asked to undergo the final challenge - to discard the last vestiges of
humanity in return for mankind's salvation.

At Winter's End - Robert Silverberg
	At least a dozen rave reviews. A `To be read again'/
	I've not liked everything Silverberg has done, but he is a wordsmith/
tale-teller par excellence. This is one of his better efforts.

	Cover synopsis = For 700,000 years the falling death stars have locked
the earth in an endless winter of sorrows. For 47,000 generations Koshmar's
tiny tribe has survived beneath the ice. Now prophecies proclaim the time has
come to emerge and inherit the lost ruins of a new world.
	A world where ancient myths are real, but ancient gods have no power.
Where a child knows more than the wisest elder. Where every step brings fresh
wonder and feverish terror. Where prophecies lead to the fabled city of the
Great World. And where Koshnar's people, primitives amid the remains of an
interstellar civilization, will find their foretold destiny.
	But other tribes - some not human - are also emerging into the new
springtime, with other prophecies of their own.

	I won't but mention in passing, but two multiples, which I think were
discussed elsewhere, but which I liked were:

The Mirror of her Dreams
                         - Stephen R. Donaldson
A Man Rides Through


and


West of Eden

Winter in Eden - Harry Harrison

Return to Eden

The Warriors of Spider
The Way of Spider      - W. Michael Gear
The Web of Spider

	Never heard of this writer before, but read them all (rather quickly)
and a probable re-read.
	How can you tell whether its a man or woman doing the writing? I don't
know.... that is, can't exactly put my finger on it, but there are parts of
this book where I would say: That W. must definitely be Wilhelmina or
something. Then a little later, I'd say: No, its definitely a guy. There were
also occasional passages where I would say: WHAT!?..... Because certain
descriptions seemed odd, inappropriate, or did not follow from what the story
had stated earlier. All in all though, pretty good books, and they moved
quickly for the most part. By the time I started the third one, I was looking
for something which would indicate whether this was a male or female author.
Found the dedication, wherein the author thanks his wife, and three or four
other women for their assistance, ideas, and editing. (That mystery solved).

	No raves or hype from any sources.

	Cover synopsis from the first book = The directorate was run by the
powerful few - genetically altered humans permanently linked with the Gi-net,
the massive computer network which contained everything there was to know about
the planets and space stations claimed by human-kind. For centuries, the
Directorate had ruled over countless star systems, its authority absolute and
unquestioned. But now, stirrings of rebellion were being felt in this
far-flung, commercial empire. And at this crucial time, the directorate had
discovered a planet out beyond its farthest reaches, a place known only as
World, where the descendants of humans stranded long ago by a starship crash
had survived by becoming a race of warriors. A race led by its prophets, men
with the ability to see the many possible pathways of the future. Men who had
already foreseen the coming of the Directorate's Patrol Ship `Bullet' - and
were preparing the warriors of Spider for this first contact, in which even one
wrong choice could destroy both World and empire...

Welcome, Chaos - Kate Wilhelm

	Decided to get something by her based on several recommendations in
this notesfile. Good book, probable re-read. Several rave reviews: Gene Wolfe,
Analog, New York Times, Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine, etc.

Short cover synopsis = Who decides who lives forever? Lyle Taney is a woman, a
scholar and a loner. Perfectly at home studying eagles in the wilds of the
Pacific Northwest. Until a chance encounter throws her into the midst of
humankind's newest discovery - and oldest controversy: Immortality, and who
gets it.

In the Ocean of Night - Gregory Benford

	Good book. Good raves, Theodore Sturgeon among them. Benford is a
physicist, and can be included among the ?diminishing? group of authors who
write `hard' Science Fiction. I enjoy this brand of SF, and will probably read
it again.

	Cover synopsis =  1999 - 2018. We have entered an age of marvels and
despair, technological wonders and social decay.A day of Lunar colonies,
cybernetic miracles, fanatic cults, pollution deaths, famine. A time of
hardships - and of visions. Far beyond the shores of space, there comes a
mystery as vast as the limitless sea of stars, as beckoning as the unending
depths of space. One man is about to touch that mystery.

Target - Janet Morris & David Drake

	Janet is (I think) best known for her Kerrion Trilogy: Cruiser 
        Dreams, etc.  David is of Hammer's Slammers fame.

	Good book, probable re-read. Good raves. Drake is excellent at
depicting combat sequences, and his character and plot development have grown
considerably since his advent on the SF scene. Morris is an excellent story
teller. They do well together, and its kind of fun to attempt to figure how
who's writing what.

	Cover synopsis = Sam Yate's job - Commissioner of Security for United
Nations Lunar headquarters - was a pretty boring one....until mankind's first
extraterrestrial visitor arrived on the moon. Now everyone wants a piece of the
action: scientists, soldiers, and spies from both the U.S. and U.S.S.R. are
determined to study the alien. But the petty conflicts of humanity are the least
of Yates' worries....
	The hunters are coming. Warlike, inhuman, light years beyond us in
science and technology, they will destroy `anything' that comes between them
and the alien prey. Including earth itself....