From archive Fri Aug 21 13:23:20 MDT 1992 Xref: sssab.se rec.arts.sf-lovers:8946 rec.arts.books:2683 Path: sssab.se!isy!liuida!sunic!mcsun!uunet!mailrus!cs.utexas.edu!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!att!cbnewsj!ecl From: ecl@cbnewsj.ATT.COM (Evelyn C. Leeper) Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf-lovers,rec.arts.books Subject: STRANGE INVASION by Michael Kandel Message-ID: <4611@cbnewsj.ATT.COM> Date: 12 Apr 90 02:53:35 GMT Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories Lines: 25 STRANGE INVASION by Michael Kandel Bantam Spectra, 1989, ISBN 0-553-28146-1, $3.95. A book review by Evelyn C. Leeper Copyright 199 Evelyn C. Leeper This short novel (very short--152 pages, and by my estimate just over the 40,00-word minimum in the Hugo definition for novel) is just the sort of thing one would hope a line such as the Bantam Spectra Special Editions would publish. A Dicksian (*not* Dickensian!) slide through the story of how one schizophrenic saves the world from invaders, STRANGE INVASION whiplashes its "hero" all over the world to fight off invaders who try to conquer the world through hedonism, ennui, and any other psychological tool they can muster. Only the fact that our hero is a psychological mess to begin with (he has a difficult time separating the invaders from his ordinary visions of monsters crawling up his wall) protects him. Kandel takes the standard plot of "Earth threatened by invaders and saved by Everyman" and twists it fifteen degrees to "Earth threatened by invaders and saved by total wacko." One gets the impression that the hero was (and perhaps still is) only a step away from being one of the ranters on the street corners or people who talk to trash cans. In fact, he does spend a fair amount of time talking to inanimate objects in STRANGE INVADERS--but then sometimes the aliens do disguise themselves as trash cans. Evelyn C. Leeper | +1 201-957-2070 | att!mtgzy!ecl or ecl@mtgzy.att.com From rec.arts.sf.reviews Mon Aug 3 14:24:02 1992 Path: herkules.sssab.se!isy!liuida!sunic!mcsun!uunet!sun-barr!ames!ig!dont-reply-to-paths From: ecl@mtgzy.att.com (Evelyn C Leeper +1 908 957 2070) Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.reviews Subject: CAPTAIN JACK ZODIAC by Michael Kandel Message-ID: Date: 31 Jul 92 22:31:21 GMT Sender: mcb@presto.ig.com Lines: 43 Approved: mcb@presto.ig.com (rec.arts.sf.reviews moderator) CAPTAIN JACK ZODIAC by Michael Kandel A book review by Evelyn C. Leeper Copyright 1992 Evelyn C. Leeper Kandel began his career translating the works of Stanislaw Lem, or at least that is how he became known. And that off-the-wall style that Lem is known for has influenced Kandel and in this, his third novel (his first two were STRANGE INVASION and IN BETWEEN DRAGONS), he gives us a world in which the Soviets are nuking several of our major cities, but the real problems are the garbage strike and the traffic jams (the latter not helped by the occasional Soviet paratrooper squads landing on the highways). One character is trying to maintain a perfect lawn, but the combination of the greenhouse effect, radiation leaking through the failing ozone layer, and all the chemicals he has been using start to have some very undesirable effects. Meanwhile, out main character is trying to find his children: his daughter has become a mall zombie (no, not like in George Romero's DAWN OF THE DEAD) and his son has taken and is traveling off in interstellar space. When you take one of Captain Jack Zodiac's pills, you really trip! I can't really describe this book. The preceding gives you some idea of the flavor, but only some idea. Kandel flings his characters from one improbable situation to the next, on this world, on other worlds, and even in the next world. Oddly enough, the Captain Jack Zodiac thread for which the book is named is one of the less involving ones (at least for me), though its solipsistic approach does reinforce the book's approach in general. I definitely recommend this wild and wacky look at what just might be just around the corner (well, okay, maybe not the Soviet paratroopers, but I wouldn't dismiss the possessed chicken salad just yet...). %A Kandel, Michael %T Captain Jack Zodiac %I Bantam Spectra %C New York %D April 1992 %O paperback, US$4.99 %G ISBN 0-553-29367-2 %P 260pp Evelyn C. Leeper | +1 908 957 2070 | att!mtgzy!ecl or ecl@mtgzy.att.com