Subject: Review: Crashcourse - Wilhelmina Baird

From: [email-masked] (Lilith)
Date: 09 Apr 1998 14:02:38 -0400

Crashcourse by Wilhelmina Baird
		Review Copyright 1998 althea

Crashcourse is cyberpunk written specifically for fans of William Gibson.
It goes without saying that it's not nearly as good as Gibson, but as far
as the genre goes, it's not bad, either.

We start out with an odd trio: Cass, a cat burglar, Dosh, a tranvestite
prostitute, and Moke, a struggling sculptor. Cass is in love with Dosh,
Dosh is in love with Moke, and Cass thinks Moke only loves his art. The
three are Umps.  (I think it's supposed to be an abbreviation of
"unemployed.") However, they're striving to get enough money together to
get off-planet and seek a better life. However, Dosh seems to be really
losing it... strung out on drugs, and in danger from his clients. The
three are about ready to do something desperate, when Dosh comes up with a
half-witted idea: The three of them should sign a contract to be actors in
a movie.

This is half-witted because, in this future, unimportant people in movies
tend to get killed off during filming - for real.

This is about where the book's problems begin. The plot requires the
characters to be DUMB. Sorry, but not even for my dearest friend would I
sign such a suicidal contract. But, for Dosh and his naive dreams of
stardom, his friends do. Then, for quite a while, they bumble around going
"duh," refusing to get a clue even about some of the most obvious things.
The action is entertaining, but having to yell, "Come on, you can't be
THAT clueless!" at the characters is a bit distracting.

-althea

%T Crashcourse
%A Wilhelmina Baird
%I Ace
%D 1993
%P 277 p.