From rec.arts.sf-reviews Sun Aug 11 11:28:19 1991
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From: ecl@mtgzy.att.com (Evelyn C Leeper +1 908 957 2070)
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Subject: THE MOUND edited by Roelof Goudriaan
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Date: 8 Aug 91 20:43:00 GMT
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             THE MOUND AND OTHER SF STORIES FROM THE LOW LANDS
                         edited by Roelof Goudriaan
           Special theme issue of SHARDS OF BABEL, ISSN 0168-2776
            Babel Publications, 1990, Rijswijk, the Netherlands
                     A review by Evelyn C. Leeper
		      Copyright (c) 1991 Evelyn C. Leeper

[Standard bibliographic info at end --AW]

     This anthology of King Kong Award Winners was specially translated and
produced for the 48th World Science Fiction Convention (Confiction) held in
the Hague, the Netherlands, August 23-27, 1990.  An introduction gives a
brief summary of the state of science fiction in the Netherlands.
(Interestingly, though it mentions "strong American influences," some of the
translations follow British English rather than American English.)

     The first story is "The Winter Garden" ("De wintertuin") by Paul
Harland (translated by the author).  I cannot in fair conscience review it,
however, because my copy of the book is missing pages 17 through 20!  (Odd-
-one normally would lose an entire signature, yet that is not the case
here.)  I presume that this is not true of a large number of copies, but if
you are buying this, you might check.  (At least the missing pages are all
in one story, rather than spanning stories.)

     "The Mound" ("De terp") by Jan Bee Landman (translated by the author)
is a somewhat typical dystopian future story, not very different from many
other similar ones.  Reading it, however, I was struck by how like a
synopsis of a half-hour television show it was.  In the United States, this
might even have been its origin; in the Netherlands it seems less likely.

     Thomas Winter's "The Desirable Lot of the Slender Ones" ("Het
begerswaardig lot van de ranken") (translated by Jan Bee Landman) bears a
marked similarity in premise to such works as Frederik Pohl's "Midas Plague"
and even David Brin's PRACTICE EFFECT.  But unfortunately, it is written in
such a way as to make reading it tough going.  This could be the
translation, but Landman's other translations don't display the problem.

     "Knowfather" ("Westvader") by Gerben Hellinga, Jr. (translated by the
author) is science fiction adventure in the old tradition--a Golden-Age-type
tale of humans against the elements and a story of contact between alien
races.  Hellinga's characters are well drawn and the message, while old, is
well delivered.  (Is it just a quirk of translation or does this contain an
homage to a famous science fiction story best known for its last line?)

     As with two other stories in this anthology, "Their Descriptive God;
Softly Weeping" ("Hun descriptieve god, zacht jankend") By Jan J. B. Kuipers
(translated by Jan Bee Landman) hearkens back to a classic science fiction
story: in this case, Sam Moskowitz's "Microcosmic God."  However, Kuipers
demonstrates a totally different style--perhaps Silverberg tinged with
Borges.

     Earlier I mentioned that some stories use British English and some
American English.  This is most noticeable in the spelling (e.g., "color"
versus "colour"), and checking the translators explains this: Landman
prefers the American spellings, while Harland and Hellinga use the British.
This leads to a somewhat inconsistent volume, and when combined with
typographical errors ("and" is misspelled twice and in two different ways on
page 62 alone!) and the missing pages, the result is a less than totally
satisfying volume.  And if this represents the best of Dutch science
fiction, I have to say there seems to be much room for improvement.

     [Disclaimer: The original Dutch may be of a higher literary quality
than the translation.  But I am reviewing the translation, not the
original.]

%B      THE MOUND AND OTHER SF STORIES FROM THE LOW LANDS
%E      Roelof Goudriaan
%C      Rijswijk, the Netherlands
%D      August 1990
%I      Babel Publications
%O      trade paperback, price unknown (about US$10, I think)
%G      ISSN 0168-2776
%P      84pp
%S      Shards of Babel

Evelyn C. Leeper   |   +1 908 957 2070   |   att!mtgzy!ecl or ecl@mtgzy.att.com