From /tmp/sf.4146 Tue Aug 9 02:12:46 1994 Xref: liuida rec.arts.sf.reviews:624 rec.arts.books:93694 alt.books.reviews:4162 Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.reviews,rec.arts.books,alt.books.reviews Path: liuida!sunic!pipex!howland.reston.ans.net!math.ohio-state.edu!magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu!csn!csus.edu!netcom.com!postmodern.com!not-for-mail From: ecl@mtgpfs1.mt.att.com (Evelyn C Leeper) Subject: THE ASCENT OF WONDER edited by Hartwell and Cramer Message-ID: <9407251001.ZM6658@mtgpfs1.mt.att.com> Followup-To: rec.arts.sf.written Sender: mcb@postmodern.com (Michael C. Berch) Organization: The Internet Date: Mon, 25 Jul 1994 23:31:57 GMT Approved: mcb@postmodern.com (rec.arts.sf.reviews moderator) Lines: 117 THE ASCENT OF WONDER: THE EVOLUTION OF HARD SF edited by David G. Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer Tor, ISBN 0-312-85062-X, June 29, 1994, 992pp, US$35. A book review by Evelyn C. Leeper Copyright 1994 Evelyn C. Leeper I will confess up front that I have not read this book cover to cover. In the interests of getting this review out in a timely manner, I compromised by reading the introductions and a sampling of the stories that I had not previously read. (I "fell off the book wagon" a couple of weekends ago and bought thirty books, so my reading schedule is in some disarray.) In any case, I think that I can shed some light on two of the three questions people may be asking about this hefty (3-1/2-pound) tome: What is it attempting to do? Does it succeed? Is it any good? The first question--what is the purpose of this book?--is one I can't answer. The book is subtitled "The Evolution of Hard SF," but evolution implies a flow of time, a continuity (of cause and effect, perhaps), and the stories here are in what appears to be random order. They are not arranged chronologically or thematically, but are divided into "Part I," "Part II," and "Part III," with no clue as to what the parts represent. (The alternate ordering given in the back has at least some logic to it.) In keeping with this random order, Benford's introduction appears to be a series of one-liners about various hard science fiction stories, also in random order. Hartwell claims on page 30 in his introduction that this is the first anthology to focus on all of hard science fiction. I would debate that: Healy & McComas's FAMOUS SCIENCE FICTION STORIES: ADVENTURES IN TIME AND SPACE did it in 1947. The blurb for the latter was "35 great stories of the world of atomic power, rockets, robots, time and space machines, etc." These are definitely "hard SF," but Hartwell and Cramer, with an additional four and a half decades to choose from, have not even stayed within the incredibly broad range of "hard SF" stories, but include stories based on anthropology, psychology, and other "soft" sciences. The result is that many well-known hard science fiction authors are missing, while there are TWO stories by each of J. G. Ballard, Ursula K. LeGuin, John M. Ford, and Hilbert Schenck. And why include Rudyard Kipling's "With the Night Mail"? In terms of the evolution of hard science fiction, it was a virtual dead end, inspiring little or none of what came after it. Nathaniel Hawthorne's "Rappaccini's Daughter" isn't hard science fiction. Jules Verne's "In the Year 2889" is minor, even according to Hartwell and Cramer, and seems to be here only because Verne was a major influence (through his novels). Poe is known as a major influence in the fields of horror and mystery; his inclusion here seems strained. I suppose part of the issue was what Hartwell and Cramer could get the rights to, but many of the classic hard science fiction stories that Healy and McComas collected are missing from this anthology. Of course, trying to include "everyone's who's anyone" appears to have been the downfall of LAST DANGEROUS VISIONS, so one shouldn't be too hard on Hartwell and Cramer. At least this book has been published. In the introductions as well, there is much room for debate. Hartwell, for example, says on page 39 that 1965 was the last year "Campbell's magazine" (ASTOUNDING/ANALOG) won the Hugo as Best Professional Magazine, and attributes this to the rise of the New Wave. The fact is that the award was replaced in 1973 by Best Professional Editor and Ben Bova won it from 1973 to 1977--for editing ANALOG. Gregory Benford on page 21 says LAST AND FIRST MEN was Olaf Stapledon's first work; it was his first *fiction* work, but his *third* published work.) And on page 43 it is claimed that "Nine Lives" is "perhaps [Le Guin's] most famous" story. Really? More than "The Word for World is Forest" or "Vaster than Empires and More Slow" or "Buffalo Gals Won't You Come Out Tonight" (all but the first of which were nominated for Hugos, which "Nine Lives" was not, though it was nominated for a Nebula). And drawing a parallel between Marcel Proust and Bob Shaw's "slow glass" seems like a real reach. (Whether from an attempt to elevate science fiction or not, Cramer also quotes M. C. Escher, Poincare, and Leonardo da Vinci in her introduction.) There were also a few minor annoyances. The editors seem to have decided that the correct abbreviation for science fiction is "sf"--and at the beginning of a sentence, "Sf." They repeatedly talk about the "affect" of a story (and, no, they don't mean "effect"). This may be correct English, but it is an uncommon usage that will cause many readers to think the editors don't know the difference between "affect" and "effect." And they use a sans serif font for the introductions that I find very hard to read. Having said all that, I *still* recommend this book. Why? Well, you get sixty-seven stories which, while not all classics, or even all hard science fiction, certainly all have something to recommend them. Some are indeed classics (Arthur C. Clarke's "Star," James Blish's "Surface Tension," and Tom Godwin's "Cold Equations," for example). It's a sign of how far ANALOG has fallen that it recently published a pastiche of "The Cold Equations" in which was changed the one thing that made the Godwin story a classic.) Some are famous even if they aren't classics (in which category I would put the Kipling and Poe stories). Some are "merely" good stories by the important writers in the field of science fiction (hard, soft, gooey, or otherwise). With the three introductions, this works out to fifty cents a story. If you're a longtime science fiction fan, you may already have many of these stories, but if you're relatively new, this is a great book for discovering authors and stories and ideas that can lead to further exploration. %E Hartwell, David G. %E Cramer, Kathryn %B The Ascent of Wonder: The Evolution of Hard SF %I Tor %C New York %D June 29, 1994 %G ISBN 0-312-85062-X %P 992pp %O hardcover, US$35.00 -- Evelyn C. Leeper | +1 908 957 2070 | Evelyn.Leeper@att.com "Am I politically correct today? Do I do crystals and New Age? Obviously, women's music's for me--Edith Piaf, Bessie Smith, and Patti Page." --Lynn Lavner From rec.arts.sf.reviews Fri Apr 28 13:40:45 1995 Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.reviews,rec.arts.books.reviews,alt.hypertext Path: news.ifm.liu.se!liuida!sunic!sunic.sunet.se!news.luth.se!eru.mt.luth.se!bloom-beacon.mit.edu!news.media.mit.edu!nobody From: "Evelyn C Leeper" Subject: Eastgate Quarterly of Hypertext Message-ID: <9504241209.ZM8073@mtgpfs1.mt.att.com> Followup-To: rec.arts.sf.written Sender: news@news.media.mit.edu (USENET News System) Organization: Date: Tue, 25 Apr 1995 23:36:05 GMT Approved: wex@media.mit.edu (Alan Wexelblat) Lines: 77 Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.sf.reviews:756 rec.arts.books.reviews:499 alt.hypertext:8262 "In Small and Large Pieces" by Kathryn Cramer "Unnatural Habitats" by Kathy Mac Eastgate Systems, ISBN 1-884511-15-5, 1994, 1.61MB, US$19.95 A "book" review by Evelyn C. Leeper Copyright 1995 Evelyn C. Leeper At the beginning of Cramer's work, there is a quote from E. M. Forster about how Gertrude Stein was trying to eliminate the sequentiality of words: "She wants to abolish this whole aspect of story, this sequence in chronology, and my heart goes out to her. She cannot do it without abolishing the sequence between the sentences. But this is not effective unless the order of the words in the sentences is also abolished, which in its turn entails the abolition of the order of the letters or sounds in the words. And now she is over the precipice." Well, the publication of these hypertext editions of these stories (on diskette) is another step in that direction, but not a very good one. Next just worse step things would the make and. Doluw adeirsst be alst a eth. Okay, enough silliness. Now, one problem I had was that it took me a while to get to this, since my only PC with Windows capability is at work, and this won't run on my palmtop. But even after I sat down to read these, I had problems. As with a lot of computer software, the documentation didn't match the actuality. For example, the documentation said just to click on the forward arrow in the bottom left of the window to read the story in the default sequence. There was no arrow there. Hitting return seemed to work for Cramer's story, but I was unable to read Mac's story in that fashion at all. But obviously the main reason for this format is to be able to read the stories non-sequentially by clicking on various words or parts of the screen. I played with this a while with unsatisfactory results: the screens have no highlighting or marking to indicate WHAT you can click on (for example, in Mosaic clickable words are underlined), so I did a lot of clicking that kept sending me to the same place before discovering what would send me somewhere new. On the other hand, it you want to examine the STRUCTURE rather than the content, there are lots of things you can do. Almost the entire menu bar and most of the lower buttons are for showing you roadmaps, diagrams, etc., with the layout of the stories. Interesting, but a bit more to help me actually READ the stories would have been nice. As for the content, I can comment only on Cramer's "In Large & Small Pieces" (since as I noted I couldn't manage to figure out how to read Mac's "Unnatural Habitats"). "In Large & Small Places" is inspired to some extent by Lewis Carroll's THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS (and the artwork--yes, there is artwork--is certainly inspired by Tenniel's artwork), but is written in a literary style not to my liking, and certainly with more horror and dismembered bodies than Carroll had or I want. Now, maybe some techie out there who can figure out how to read these better, or some fan of literary techniques who loves non- sequential works, would like this more. Me, I think I'll stick to sequential works in a more portable--and cheaper--form. %T In Small & Large Pieces %A Kathryn Cramer %T Unnatural Habits %A Kathy Mac %C Watertown, Massachusetts %D Summer 1994 %I Eastgate Quarterly Review of Hypertext %O diskette for Windows or Macintosh, US$19.95 %G ISBN 1-884511-15-5 %P 1.61 MB -- Evelyn C. Leeper | +1 908 957 2070 | Evelyn.Leeper@att.com "I don't think adversity necessarily builds character, but it certainly gives you an opportunity to display it." --Gary Bean (Open Systems Today, 1/9/95) -- --Alan Wexelblat, Reality Hacker, Author, and Cyberspace Bard MIT Media Lab - Intelligent Agents Group finger(1) for PGP key Voice: 617-253-9833 Pager: 617-945-1842 wex@media.mit.edu http://wex.www.media.mit.edu/people/wex/ "Are we fugitives from the law?" "Yes." "Idiocy is our only option."