Subject: Review of Bruce Sterling's GLOBALHEAD

From: [email-masked] (Alan Miburi-san Wexelblat)
Date: 15 Feb 94 00:17:57 GMT

Globalhead
			by Bruce Sterling
		Review Copyright (c) 1994 Alan Wexelblat

OK, maybe someone other than Bruce Sterling could have written a story
titled "Are You For 86?"  Rudy Rucker comes to mind.  But pair that
bizarrely funny adventure of Leggy Starlitz with the heartache of "Dori
Bangs" and you've got a combination unique to Bruce Sterling.

GLOBALHEAD is a collection of thirteen Sterling stories, all of which have
been printed elsewhere before though a couple -- like "We See Things
Differently" -- have only appeared in odd places (SEMIOTEXT(E) SF in that
case).  The stories date from 1985 to 1991, mostly from '89, '90 and '91.

I should at this point remind readers who haven't heard of me before that
(a) Bruce is a friend of mine and I'm therefore somewhat biased in reviewing
his work, and (b) I hate reviews of collections where the reviewer felt that
s/he had to say something about each story.

So with that in mind, I will say that this story does nothing to dispel my
belief that Sterling truly excels at the short story form.  He rarely wastes
words and the impact of his stories is undeniable.  He treats standard
American themes like rock and roll with the same intensity as he treats
Islamic religious futurism or Soviet retro drug trips.

Unlike his previous short story collection, this one is not organized
topically; rather the stories seem interspersed short with long to give the
reader a break.  That's probably about the only organization possible with
stories that range from straight-up hard science to acerbic postmodernist to
satirical social commentary (go Leggy!)  I had to restrain myself from
reading straight through, though -- it's that enjoyable.

Lastly, three words about Mark V. Zeising: buy his books.  Mark is another
friend, and one of the finest small-press publishers in the business.  He
produces a number of books like this one -- work by well-known authors that
aren't available anywhere else.  His catalog is a treasurehouse of useful
and fun reviews of the books he prints (many) and stocks from other
publishers (quite a few).  Write to him at PO Box 76, Shingletown, CA, 96088
-- or catch him at any of the dozen or so cons he attends every year.

%A Bruce Sterling
%T Globalhead
%I Mark V. Zeising
%G ISBN 0-929480-69-4
%O $29.95
%D 1992