Subject: NEWER YORK edited by Lawrence Watt-Evans

From: [email-masked]
Date: 14 Aug 91 15:34:00 GMT

NEWER YORK edited by Lawrence Watt-Evans
                     A book review by Evelyn C. Leeper
		      Copyright (c)1991 Evelyn C. Leeper

     This original anthology of twenty-four stories has as its theme the New
York of the future (though one is more an alternate history/cross-time
story).  In his introduction, Watt-Evans talks about the appeal New York has
always had for science fiction writers.  This may be true, but I would be
curious to see what the sales figures for this in and out of New York are
compared to a randomly chosen anthology.  Is this perhaps the product of a
bunch of New Yorkers who think everyone is fascinated by New York?

     With twenty-four stories one gets quite a range of styles, from
humorous fantasy to dark horror to classic science fiction.  In a single
author collection or "Year's Best" anthology this is fine, but here the
strong stories overpower the lighter works.  After A. J. Austin's "Another
Dime, Another Place" (a tale of a magical bag lady), a story about racing
pink elephants, no matter how well written, is going to look pale and
frivolous.  And the examination of relationships in Martha Soukup's "Ties"
makes a brief look into a yuppie toddler's mind seem superficial, even if in
another setting it might have proved amusing.

     There are the usual cyberpunkish futures, of course.  There is the
haunting ghost story "Long Growing Season" by Robert J. Howe.  There are a
couple of horror stories.  (One suspects some people may say *any* New York
story is a horror story.) And there is on distressingly obvious story:
Warren Murphy and Molly Cochran's "A Nice Place to Visit."  (In their
defense, they are primarily mystery writers and may not be familiar with the
Pohl and Harrison stories this parallels, or with John Carpenter's ESCAPE
>FROM NEW YORK.  But the editor should have noticed.)

     On the whole this is a good anthology, and its size means there's
probably something for every taste.  (It helps to spread the stories out, so
that a light story doesn't suffer by following immediately on the heels of a
powerful one.)  But then I'm a New Yorker and may not be impartial.  If you
are not familiar with New York you may react to this as I would to an
anthology of sports science fiction.  Assuming you have some interest in the
subject, try this book.

%B      NEWER YORK
%E      Lawrence Watt-Evans
%C      New York (where else? :-) )
%D      June 1991
%I      ROC
%O      paperback, US$4.50 [1991]
%G      ISBN 0-451-45045-0
%P      370pp

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