Subject: STRANGE THINGS IN CLOSE UP by Howard Waldrop

From: [email-masked] (Evelyn C. Leeper)
Date: 14 Feb 91 16:26:33 GMT

STRANGE THINGS IN CLOSE UP by Howard Waldrop
		   Legend, 1990, ISBN 0-09-964440-1, L4.50.
		      A book review by Evelyn C. Leeper
		       Copyright 1991 Evelyn C. Leeper

     This long-awaited collection of Howard Waldrop's work is, alas, almost
impossible to find in the United States.  Since the original publications of
most of them were also hard to find (Waldrop explains in one of his
introductions why he has the reputation of selling to the lowest bidder),
this is a double whammy.  So far as I can tell, this is an omnibus volume
which includes HOWARD WHO? (Doubleday, 1986) and ALL ABOUT STRANGE MONSTERS
OF THE RECENT PAST (Ursus Imprints, 1987).  Lots of luck finding those
either.  However, large specialty stores will probably have a limited supply
of STRANGE THINGS IN CLOSE UP, or try your favorite mail order house.  Is it
worth all that effort?  Yes.

     HOWARD WHO? comprises the first twelve stories in STRANGE THINGS IN
CLOSE UP.  The first is "The Ugly Chickens."  If you know only one Howard
Waldrop story, chances are this is it.  You will get two things from reading
this story: an encyclopedic (well, almost) knowledge of the dodo, and an
inkling of what makes Waldrop's stories so unique.

     "Der Untergang des Abendlandesmenschen" has Bronco Billy and William
S. Hart helping Hermann Goering fight a vampire in a typical Waldrop
"alternate history" where unlikely people get together and do unlikely
things.  The "split point" of these universes--the event that causes them to
differ from ours--seems to be some time when the ancient Israelites threw
some peyote mushrooms in with their burnt offering and God got more than
just a "sweet savour."  Certainly no rational explanation will suffice.

     "Ike at the Mike" is another alternate history: Dwight David Eisenhower
is a rock star and Elvis Aaron Presley a successful politician.  A whole
bunch of other famous people turned out differently too.  But I'm not a big
rock music fan and so found this less involving than some of Waldrop's other
works, even though this did win a Hugo.

     If you like old horror movies (and my old I mean 1940s, not EVIL DEAD I
or even CARRIE), you will appreciate "Dr. Hudson's Secret Gorilla," an old
story told from a new point of view.  (If the names Rondo Hatton and George
Zucco ring no bells, however, you may react as I did to "Ike at the Mike.")

     Once, scientists believed in phlogiston.  A hundred years later it was
just another crackpot idea.  But what if it wasn't?  Well, "The World as We
Know't" gives us one look at what might have happened.  As with many of
Waldrop's stories, it's not a pleasant look--one problem with describing a
Waldrop story is that its bizarreness makes it sound like a fun romp when
frequently it's quite the opposite.

     "Green Brother" is a story of mysticism set among the Lakota Indians.
In his introduction Waldrop talks about his penchant for telling stories of
"cultural and biological losers and underdogs."  One possible reason he
doesn't mention is that be doing so he can give them another chance, if not
to emerge totally victorious, at least to rise higher, or last longer, or
have that "one brief shining moment."  And if not that, to try to understand
why not.

     George R. R. Martin describes "Mary Margaret Road-Grader" as a "tour de
force about post-holocaust tractor pulls."  Well, it's certainly the best
story in that genre I'VE ever read.  Okay, sorry, old joke.  And it was,
after all, nominated for a Nebula.

     The next story is a total change of pace.  (Well, to a great extent
they all are.)  "Save a Place in the Lifeboat for Me" was inspired by the
question, "Where were you the Day the Music Died?"  Can Laurel and Hardy,
Abbott and Costello, and the Marx Brothers save ... well, that would be
telling (though not much).  I found this rock-music-inspired story more
interesting than "Ike at the Mike," possibly because it was full of old
movie comedy teams and comedians.  It reminded me a bit of parts of John
Kessel and James Patrick Kelly's FREEDOM BEACH.

     I can't say that I think the motivation in "Horror, We Got" makes sense
to me--but it makes as much sense as the history that leads up to it and
causes it, and the damn story does stick with you.  Maybe it bothers me
because people may use these characterizations to justify "more of the
same," even though (I hasten to add) this is not Waldrop's intent.  What
does all this mean?  Well, Waldrop sets up a world in which time travel is
discovered in Israel and the newly constituted Elders of Zion decide rather
than changing history, they will "implement" it.  They will do or arrange to
have done everything the Jews were accused of doing throughout the ages.
They will control the world and its history.  To me this seems a somewhat
pointless revenge but then every time someone in a time travel novel tries
to change history they only make things worse, so who can say that this
isn't the best solution?  Or maybe Waldrop is just saying we are trapped by
history.

     I find sumo wrestling no more interesting than any other sport and even
Waldrop's infusion of Japanese culture and philosophy was unable to get me
interested in "Man-Mountain Gentian."  But in one way it's like every other
Waldrop story: it's unlike any other Waldrop story.  (Take that, Bertrand
Russell!)

     "God's Hooks!" has Isaak Walton fishing for something out of "The
Revelation of Saint John the Divine."  John Kessel, on hearing it read, said
that Waldrop could sell it either to FIELD & STREAM or to CATHOLIC DIGEST.
Or maybe it was that he could sell it to ONLY those two.  So naturally it
was nominated for a Nebula.

     "Heirs of the Perisphere" shows more of Waldrop's fascination with
popular culture (an oxymoron?).  This reminded me of Arthur C. Clarke's
"Expedition," but of course Waldrop goes in an entirely different direction
than Clarke did.

     The remaining seven stories formed ALL ABOUT STRANGE MONSTERS OF THE
RECENT PAST.  Where "Dr. Hudson's Secret Gorilla" is an ode to the horror
films of the 1940s, the title story of this section is an unabashed copy of
the monster films of the 1950s--all of them.

     "Helpless, Helpless" is an updating of the plague to our modern,
mechanized, computerized society.  I think Waldrop overlooks (or glosses) a
lot of what would happen in a mechanical plague, and find his ending
somewhat overly rosy.  (It is interesting to note that, while I usually
compose my reviews directly onto the computer, this one is being written
long-hand, albeit with a mechanical pencil.  Of course, before you see it,
it will be typed in, run through the spelling and punctuation checker, and
automatically formatted.  In fifty years, will Christie's be auctioning off
Stephen King's original floppy disks for THE DARK HALF?)  In any case, this
story seems a trifle on the Luddite side--and Waldrop admits to not owning a
word processor, or even an electric typewriter.

     Even Waldrop acknowledges "Fair Game" may represent some ultimate
minimalist approach to literary criticism, or at least that's how I read his
introductory comments.  Certainly no one can go further in this direction
than he does with Hemingway in this story.  (Free idea to any anthologist:
THE SCIENCE-FICTIONAL HEMINGWAY.  Lead off with Joe Haldeman's "Hemingway
Hoax," follow with "Fair Game," and then--well, I can't do all the work for
you!)

     It has been said that art imitates life.  It has also been said that
life imitates art.  One of these--perhaps both--would seem to be the case in
"What makes Hieronymous Run?"  If you haven't studied or at least been
exposed to the works of Hieronymous Bosch or Peter Brueghel the Elder, this
story probably won't make much sense.  If you have, this will open a whole
new way of looking at them.  (Another idea for an anthology: classic works
of art and literature inspired by them.  W. H. Auden's "Musee de Beaux Arts"
is certainly one obvious choice.  Another science-fictional example, though
by no means great literature, is Hal Clement's OCEAN ON TOP, inspired by a
cover painting for ANALOG which happened to be sitting upside-down on the
floor when he came into their office one day.  Most inspiration seems to go
in the other direction, so this would be an interesting twist.)  There is an
undercurrent in this story that ties into one in "Horror, We Got": the idea
that maybe our view of history is totally out of whack with "reality"
(whatever that is).

     "The Lions Are Asleep This Night" is a more conventional alternate
history, this one set in Africa.  It predates Robert Silverberg's "Lion Time
in Timbuktu" but I doubt there is any connection.  Maybe it's just time for
more science fiction with African themes and settings--Mike Resnick is
making quite a name for himself with his Kirinyaga series set in a future
recreation of pre-colonial Kenya and his novel IVORY.  As usual, though,
Waldrop's entry in this African renaissance is different, more subtle--so
subtle, in fact, that Ellen Datlow insisted that he had to rewrite it to
explain more to an audience who didn't know history.  Even so, I think it
still assumes a lot on the part of the reader.

     "Flying Saucer Rock and Roll" is yet another story that I failed to
appreciate due to my ignorance of rock and roll music and history.  But
since I am probably exceptional in the extent of my ignorance, you may enjoy
it more.  Certainly Waldrop's need to substitute phonemes for real rock
lyrics (which would have cost a fortune in royalties) didn't help matters.

     The final story, "He-We-Await," is described by Waldrop in his
introduction to it as "original to this collection."  In this case, that
mean original to ALL ABOUT STRANGE MONSTERS OF THE RECENT PAST, not STRANGE
THINGS IN CLOSE UP.  Another story set in Africa (it is, you know), this
shows some influence from the horror films of the 1930s--the Mummy series in
particular.  Or maybe it's just the similarity of theme, and I'm applying
Waldrop's penchant for pop culture to my reading of it.  At any rate, this
story ends the book on a suitably apocalyptic note.

     Also included are an introductory essay by George R. R. Martin, some
closing words by Lewis Shiner, and introductions to each of the stories by
Waldrop himself.  Not included, unfortunately, are "Night of the Cooters" (a
story nominated for a Hugo several years ago that I STILL have been unable
to find), nor "Custer's Last Jump," nor "The Passing of the Western."  I
suppose these were written after 1987, the copyright date of the more recent
of the two component parts of this collection, but I still miss them.  I am
annoyed the subtitling of this volume as "The Nearly Complete Howard
Waldrop" when it is missing not just his more recent work (which is
expected), but also older works, such as "Billy Big Eyes," "Black as the
Pit, from Pole to Pole," "My Sweet Lady Jo," "Sic Transit ...? A Shaggy
Hairless Dog Story," Sun Up, "Unsleeping Beauty and the Beast," and "A Voice
and a Bitter Weeping."  I bought this expecting finally to find all (or
almost all) of Waldrop's stories; it turned out not to be so.

     The cover is wonderfully Waldropian (Waldropesque?) in that nothing is
what it first seems to be.  If only they had credited the artists I could
tell you who s/he was.

     There are a few odd things I noted in the books.  Capitalization varies
among the copyright page, the table of contents, the introduction headers,
the story headers, and the page headers.  Trivial, perhaps, but
disconcerting nonetheless.  It's almost as if the British have different
rules for capitalization in titles, but even there it's inconsistent, and in
any case they didn't Briticize the spelling.

     As you might have suspected from the sheer length of this review, I
recommend this book.  This article is as long as it is because you can't
group Waldrop's stories into categories and discuss them in bunches.  Each
one is an individual and insists on being treated as one.  It won't be easy
for most of you to find this--make the effort.

Evelyn C. Leeper   |   +1 908-957-2070   |   att!mtgzy!ecl or [email-masked]