From /tmp/sf.4146 Tue Aug 9 01:47:56 1994 Path: liuida!sunic!pipex!howland.reston.ans.net!usenet.ins.cwru.edu!eff!news.kei.com!hookup!news.sprintlink.net!dg-rtp!sheol!dont-reply-to-paths From: aaron@amisk.cs.ualberta.ca (Humphrey Aaron V) Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.reviews Followup-To: rec.arts.sf.written Subject: Prograde Reviews--John DeChancie:The Kruton Interface Approved: sfr%sheol@concert.net (rec.arts.sf.reviews moderator) Message-ID: <94Mar10.203559-0700.138963@amisk.cs.ualberta.ca> Date: 12 Mar 94 02:25:49 GMT Lines: 36 I didn't care much for DeChancie's _Castle Perilous_ when I first read it. It had some neat ideas, but on the whole I thought the writing could have been much better. And since I had so much else to read, I left DeChancie alone for a while. Well, getting to know an author, even on the Net(Fidonet SF, to be precise) makes one inclined to give him a second chance. _The Kruton Interface_ was the first that presented itself. I can only hope it's not representative. It has problems. Okay, I know, or can guess, why it has most of them. It was originally a play--I presume also written by DeChancie. It's humour, which is also tricky to try--and the kind of humour that works well on stage does not necessarily work well in book form. I kept reading it and saying, "If I saw this on stage, I'd be laughing my ass off." But I was not, at the time, laughing my ass off reading it on the page. Perhaps someone with a more vivid imagination would. I'd love to see the play someday. And I will continue to try DeChancie's other stuff--I've heard his Starrigger books are good, and _Magicnet_(from those with advance copies)...but this one just kept missing. %A DeChancie, John %T The Kruton Interface %I Ace %C New York %D September 1993 %G ISBN 0-441-14227-3 %P 185 pp. %O Paperback, US$5.99, Can$4.50 -- --Alfvaen(Editor of Communique) Current Album--Sheena Easton:What Comes Naturally Current Read--Joan D. Vinge:The Summer Queen "curious george swung down the gorge/the ants took him apart" --billbill From /tmp/sf.4146 Tue Aug 9 01:55:12 1994 Path: liuida!sunic!pipex!howland.reston.ans.net!usenet.ins.cwru.edu!eff!news.kei.com!hookup!news2.sprintlink.net!news.sprintlink.net!dg-rtp!sheol!dont-reply-to-paths From: aaron@amisk.cs.ualberta.ca (Aaron V. Humphrey) Organization: The Anna Amabiaca Fan Club Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.reviews Followup-To: rec.arts.sf.written Subject: Prograde Reviews--John DeChancie & David Bischoff:Dr. Dimension Approved: sfr%sheol@concert.net (rec.arts.sf.reviews moderator) Message-ID: <2oalfn$s7l@scapa.cs.ualberta.ca> Date: Mon, 11 Apr 1994 12:08:18 GMT Lines: 54 John DeChancie & David Bischoff: Dr. Dimension A Prograde Review by Aaron V. Humphrey I'm still trying to remember what John DeChancie told me about this book...whether it was him who provided the ideas and Bischoff who did the actual writing, or the other way around. Or both. Whatever. Ahem. Enough name-dropping...except to mention that this, along with _The Kruton Interface_, was a book that I bought mostly because of DeChancie's inimitable net-personality(and I'm told he's not that different in real life), since I didn't care much for _Castle Perilous_ when I read it a few years ago. This one clicked a lot better than _Kruton_. Perhaps because it hadn't started out as a stage play, perhaps because of Bischoff's participation... The book is intended as a spoof on old 30's pulp serials. (If you have any doubt, the book ends TO BE CONTINUED IN OUR NEXT THRILLING INSTALLMENT!!!!!) Not having read many of these, I have to judge it mostly on its own merits. It's still pretty funny. Dr. Demopoulous is a scientist years ahead of his time, with a Groucho Marx-like wit, a 'big lug' of a lab assistant named Troy Talbot, a well-endowed assistant named Diane Derry(Warning: Much Sexist Humour Concerning Feminine Body Parts). Dr. Vivian Vernon, his rival, and Geoffrey Wussman, the department head, are out to see his funding cut...until he actually gets his time-space machine working, and send them hurtling off into the middle of a war between alien races like the Dharvans and the Asperans(not to mention the Quaaleuds)... Not exactly a laugh a minute, especially when they keep trying to advance the plot, but it will keep you reading. The Firesign Theatre would probably do a spendid job of it, although it may be a bit low-key for them... _I'm_ waiting for the NEXT THRILLING INSTALLMENT!!!!! %A DeChancie, John %A Bischoff, David %T Dr. Dimension %I Penguin/New American Library/Roc %C New York %D June 1993 %G ISBN 0-451-45252-6 %P 284 pp. %O Paperback, US$4.99, Can$5.99 -- --Alfvaen(Editor of Communique) Current Album--Roxette:Look Sharp! Current Read--Geoff Ryman:Was "pretend the needle thickens." --lstewart From /tmp/sf.4146 Tue Aug 9 02:05:01 1994 Path: liuida!sunic!EU.net!uunet!tcsi.tcs.com!agate!postmodern.com!not-for-mail From: aaron@amisk.cs.ualberta.ca (Aaron V. Humphrey) Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.reviews Subject: Prograde Reviews--John DeChancie:MagicNet Followup-To: rec.arts.sf.written Date: 30 May 1994 21:42:44 GMT Organization: The Anna Amabiaca Fan Club Lines: 50 Sender: mcb@postmodern.com (Michael C. Berch) Approved: mcb@postmodern.com (rec.arts.sf.reviews moderator) Message-ID: <2rumj4$jsj@scapa.cs.ualberta.ca> Reply-To: aaron@amisk.cs.ualberta.ca NNTP-Posting-Host: remarque.berkeley.edu Originator: aaron@cab013.cs.ualberta.ca Originator: mcb@remarque.berkeley.edu John DeChancie: MagicNet A Prograde Review by Aaron V. Humphrey John DeChancie, from my reading so far, seems to be a highly uneven author. He seems to be at his best with off-the-wall humour; with this book he is attempting to demonstrate that he can do equally well with straight fantasy. The book never really clicks, though. It starts with an interesting enough premise--computers being used to aid in magic--which, while not original, still has lots of unmined ideas. But DeChancie doesn't really mine them well. The problem is that the book blurs the boundary between reality and fantasy, and not in any consistent fashion that I could see. MagicNet, the computer-generated magical reality that arose from a simple Fidonet-style occult discussion network, has somehow become something perceptible without any computer linkage...but only to a few that are attuned to it, which, for no reason really explained, our narrator, Skye King, is. But sometimes MagicNet is merely a layer of perception laid over our own reality, and sometimes actions in MagicNet are not echoed in the real world. Furthermore, the ending is highly unsatisfactory. Skye, his friend Grant (who was killed early in the book but, luckily, backed up on floppy), and their ally Jill, spend most of the book trying to get to Lloyd Merlin Jones, who had Grant killed and is trying to get rid of the others as well, so that they can reboot MagicNet, but at the end things get highly confusing. I get the feeling that DeChancie is trying to pull off some subtle things here, but that they're just a wee bit beyond his ability at the moment. This book, in other words, was overly ambitious and falls a bit short of its goals. %A DeChancie, John %T MagicNet %I Avon %C New York %D 1993 %G ISBN 0-688-12759-2 %P 234pp %O Hardcover -- --Alfvaen (Editor of Communique) Current Album--Genesis:From Genesis To Revelation Current Read--Steven Brust:The Phoenix Guards "Thinks again--thanks to brain, the new wonder head-filler!" --Bluebottle