From archive (archive) From: ecl@mtgzy.att.com (Evelyn C. Leeper) Organization: AT&T, Middletown NJ Subject: ALTERNITIES by Michael Kube-McDowell Date: 9 Dec 88 22:02:35 GMT ALTERNITIES by Michael P. Kube-McDowell Ace, 1988, 0-441-01774-6, $3.95. A book review by Evelyn C. Leeper Kube-McDowell is a good author, and that makes this all the more disappointing. This parallel worlds story is muddled and confusing. Few of the characters make any sense or seem to have much consistent motivation. The thread with Senator Endicott is particularly meaningless and I figure was put in purely to add a sex-and-violence aspect to the novel. It seems to have nothing to do with the rest of the book. The ending is confusing and a deus ex machina to boot. It was interesting to follow the sidebars and see just where the split in worlds occurred, but that did not suffice to sustain my interest for almost 400 pages. (What did? I suppose the feeling that it must all tie together eventually. It didn't.) I had such hopes for this novel, but it did not live up to any of them. Evelyn C. Leeper | +01 201-957-2070 | att!mtgzy!ecl or ecl@mtgzy.att.com Copyright 1988 Evelyn C. Leeper From archive (archive) From: ecl@mtgzy.UUCP (Evelyn C. Leeper) Organization: AT&T, Middletown NJ Subject: Review: ROBOT CITY I: ODYSSEY Date: 28 Nov 87 14:54:15 GMT ISAAC ASIMOV'S ROBOT CITY BOOK I: ODYSSEY by Michael P. Kube-McDowell Ace, 1987, ISBN 0-441-73122-8, $2.95 A book review by Evelyn C. Leeper Copyright 1987 Evelyn C. Leeper Michael Kube-McDowell's ODYSSEY starts out with two strikes against it: it's set in someone else's universe, and it's the first book of a series. So why did I buy it? Good question--I wish I had a good answer. I understand why authors like to write stories set in pre-formed universes. After all, one advantage that mainstream writers have over science fiction writers is that they don't have to think up or society or other background to go with their plot. And for those who like Sherlock Holmes, or STAR TREK, or Asimov's positronic robots, the lure of a new addition to the ouvre can be a powerful inducement to part with their $2.95 (or in this case, my $1.79, since I bought ODYSSEY used). And the trend is becoming popular. Recently the science fiction and fantasy field has seen a lot of "shared-world" anthologies (Robert Aspirin's "Thieves' World" and Janet Morris's "Heroes in Hell" are among the most popular). Now in addition, we are seeing more and more books with the blurb "X writing in the Science Fiction Worlds of Y." (Usually this can be expressed more accurately as "Joe Unknown writing in the Science Fiction Worlds of John Multiple-Hugo-Winner.") In the last few months, in addition to the "positronic robot" series we have seen Charles Platt's PLASM (a sequel to Piers Anthony's CHTHON and PHTHOR), two interactive fiction books by Mark Acres set in Robert Heinlein's "Starship Troopers" world, and undoubtedly others that I have missed. There's even a new "Venus Prime" series (the first one, BREAKING THE STRAIN, by Paul Preuss) which claims to have been inspired by Arthur C. Clarke, whatever that means. What's odd about this is that these books are appearing while the original authors are still alive--it used to be the case that such novels were written after the original author died and people had to give up all hope of ever getting any more from him or her. However, as Orson Scott Card has so eloquently observed, when an author writes a novel in another author's universe, s/he *doesn't* write an original novel. Not just, mind you, that the novel that is written is un-original, but also that there is an original novel that *isn't* written. As Card observes, Heinlein's "Lensman" novel might have been great, but luckily he decided to write STARSHIP TROOPERS and GLORY ROAD instead. And I'm sure Haldeman's sequel to STARSHIP TROOPERS would have been excellent, but the field has been enriched by the fact that he wrote THE FOREVER WAR instead. What novel did Kube-McDowell *not* write when he wrote ODYSSEY? Is there a limbo for unborn novels, as many believed there was for the souls of yet- unborn children, and if so, what lives there? ODYSSEY's other flaw is more prosaic--and also more and more common. Once again we have, not the first book of a series, but the first third(?) of a novel. There is no resolution at the end of this volume. The second part (Mike McQuay's SUSPICION) is now out, but any future parts remain unavailable. At least in the movies when you paid for Chapter 1 of THE PHANTOM EMPIRE you got a full-length complete feature film with it (or even two). The flaw is exacerbated by the omission of any mention on the cover that this is NOT a self-contained story. Even a cake mix tells you on the *outside* of the box what ingredients are missing. So with two strikes against it already, what would I say about the book itself? Well, it's not even a good addition to Asimov's positronic robots. The robots are a very small part of what is going on, they don't ring true, and there are non-human alien races, a very non-Asimovian touch. All in all, I would have to rate this book a strike-out. It could be that the second and third novels will make it all worthwhile, but I'm not inspired to spend my money to find out. Evelyn C. Leeper (201) 957-2070 UUCP: ihnp4!mtgzy!ecl ARPA: mtgzy!ecl@rutgers.rutgers.edu From rec.arts.sf.reviews Tue Mar 22 17:37:05 1994 Path: liuida!sunic!EU.net!howland.reston.ans.net!cs.utexas.edu!convex!news.utdallas.edu!rdxsunhost.aud.alcatel.com!aur.alcatel.com!sheol!dont-reply-to-paths From: Humphrey Aaron V Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.reviews Subject: Prograde Reviews--Michael P. Kube-McDowell:Exile Followup-To: rec.arts.sf.written Date: Tue, 22 Mar 1994 15:48:02 GMT Organization: not specified Lines: 70 Approved: sfr%sheol@concert.net (rec.arts.sf.reviews moderator) Message-ID: <94Mar20.134327-0700.138371@amisk.cs.ualberta.ca> NNTP-Posting-Host: aursag.aur.alcatel.com Michael P. Kube-McDowell: Exile A Prograde Review by Aaron V. Humphrey Michael P. Kube-McDowell is a very much overlooked author of hard SF. I admit that I'm saying this only on the strength of two books--this one and his last, _The Quiet Pools_--and one novelette, "Slac //", but I feel confident the rest of his work will hold up. (And I'm not just saying this because I know him from Fidonet. Really.) It's perhaps unfortunate that I read this book so close to Orson Scott Card's _The Memory of Earth_, because the cultures share some nontrivial similarities, mostly having to do with women being able to own property and men not. It takes a bit of time into the book before we find out more about the history of the colony(and before the main character discovers his world to be a colony), so I won't spoil much of it here. Civilization on the planet is confined to a single city--and indeed, most of the inhabitants believe that city, and the river that flows through it, to be all that really exists, and certainly all that is habitable. Exile is considered worse than death. The book is divided into two threads, the 'present'(done in first person) and the 'past', done in third person. In the latter, one man, Kedar Nan, has stumbled across early records from the era of colonization, and he is running a semi-underground school to discuss and disseminate this information. The main character, Meer Fas, runs across him by chance, and gets absorbed into this circle, although he is always somewhat of an outsider. The school is galvanized by the arrival of a starship, its attempts to communicate with the city, and its eventual silencing. They are arrested(except for Meer, who escapes fortuitously)and sentenced to death or exile. Meer himself, drafted into 'jury duty', passes a sentence of exile on Kedar, rather than have Kedar's own son forced to kill his father. In the 'present', Meer received a message from a colony of exiles living outside the city, that Kedar Nan is dead and has requested Meer return his body to the city for burial. After some deliberation, Meer goes, to find Kedar Nan not dead after all, but very close to death. He discovers that the world outside the city is not dead after all, although the sun's radiation is less than healthy for extended exposure. He returns with Kedar Nan, who dies near the city. At this point, Meer is suddenly insired to carry on Kedar Nan's fight against the oppressors who rule the city. He rallies the exiles, sneaks into the city, gathers his allies, and takes over. Yes, the ending _is_ a bit rushed. It takes the last three chapters, after Kedar Nan's death, which is somewhat of a shock after the leisurely pace through the rest of the book--and that's with two chapters of present to one of past. I surmise that Kube-McDowell was trying to put more emphasis on the spiritual journey of Meer than the physical plot, but I think he could have struck a better balance. Apart from that, it's a great book. I highly recommend it, and Kube-McDowell's other work. %A Kube-McDowell, Michael P. %T Exile %I Ace %C New York %D May 1992 %G ISBN 0-441-22212-9 %P 289 pp. %O Paperback, US$4.99, Can$5.99 -- --Alfvaen(Editor of Communique) Current Album--The Nits:Hat Current Read--Robert Reed:The Remarkables "curious george swung down the gorge/the ants took him apart" --billbill Path: news.ifm.liu.se!news.lth.se!feed2.news.luth.se!luth.se!news.tele.dk!4.1.16.34!cpk-news-hub1.bbnplanet.com!nycmny1-snh1.gtei.net!news.gtei.net!bloom-beacon.mit.edu!senator-bedfellow.mit.edu!dreaderd!not-for-mail Sender: wex@deepspace.media.mit.edu From: alex@arcfan.demon.co.uk (Alex McLintock) Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.reviews Subject: The Trigger - Arthur C Clarke and Michael Kube McDowell Approved: wex@media.mit.edu Followup-To: rec.arts.sf.written Organization: none X-Newsreader: Gnus v5.7/Emacs 20.4 Date: 28 Nov 2000 13:27:29 -0500 Message-ID: Lines: 49 NNTP-Posting-Host: deepspace.media.mit.edu X-Trace: dreaderd 975436050 29565 18.85.23.65 Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.sf.reviews:2808 The Trigger, Arthur C Clarke and Michael Kube-McDowell Review Copyright 2000 Alex McLintock This was a well-paced thriller but only an average science fiction novel. I can't say I saw much of Clarke's handiwork in the book. I don't really believe that ACC would normally come up with science as flimsy as The Trigger is based upon. The interplay of characters was a bit predictable as everyone in the entire book seemed to be a stereotype of one sort or another. The "what if" is that an effect is discovered by physicist Jeffrey Horton. He creates a field which causes explosives to go off prematurely. This includes the charge which propels bullets thus making it an effective weapon against guns. Horton has to live with his discovery as it changes society around him. There are a huge number of interesting social consequences of such a device, but Kube-McDowell and Clarke only scratch the surface of them. Many of the most interesting ones are just mentioned in passing without being properly explored. Here are some of them -- I don't believe mentioning these will spoil anyone's enjoyment of the book: The Trigger can be used to clear mine fields of their anti personnel devices. How do you treat such an effect? Is it a right for the common man to destroy any guns within a short radius around him? Surely such an act of "defence" is really an act of "offence." Should a scientist discovering making an important discovery with global implications publicise it to the world or hand it over to his nation's defence forces? This book's saving grace is that it is easy to read and so although it is neither a brilliant SF novel, nor a brilliant action novel, it has enough to make a half decent thriller. %A Arthur C Clarke %A Michael Kube-McDowell %C London %D 2000 %G 0-00-648383-6 %I Harper Collins, Voyager %O Paperback, UKP 6.99 %T The Trigger Alex McLintock http://www.arcfan.demon.co.uk/sf/books/ SF BOOK REVIEWS www.zz9.org has a new competition to win a book and videos This review and many others by Alex McLintock can be found on www.DiverseBooks.com Path: news.island.liu.se!news.ida.liu.se!newsfeed.sunet.se!news01.sunet.se!news.net.uni-c.dk!logbridge.uoregon.edu!newsfeed.wirehub.nl!iad-peer.news.verio.net!news.verio.net!washdc3-snh1.gtei.net!nycmny1-snh1.gtei.net!news.gtei.net!bloom-beacon.mit.edu!senator-bedfellow.mit.edu!dreaderd!not-for-mail Sender: wex@deepspace.media.mit.edu From: "Rob, grandpa of Ryan, Trevor, Devon & Hannah" Organization: Vancouver Institute for Research into User Date: Mon, 6 May 2002 07:44:31 -0800 Subject: REVIEW: "The Trigger", Arthur C. Clarke/Michael Kube-McDowell Reply-To: rslade@sprint.ca Priority: normal Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.reviews Followup-To: rec.arts.sf.written Approved: wex@media.mit.edu Message-ID: X-Newsreader: Gnus v5.7/Emacs 20.7 Lines: 60 NNTP-Posting-Host: deepspace.media.mit.edu X-Trace: 1020698948 senator-bedfellow.mit.edu 3945 18.85.1.50 Xref: news.island.liu.se rec.arts.sf.reviews:259 "The Trigger" by Arthur C. Clarke & Michael Kube-McDowell Review Copyright Robert M. Slade, 2002 It sometimes seems as if the recent spate of Clarke Collaborations is an attempt to do in science fiction what Paul Erdos did in mathematical literature. The eponymous "trigger" is a device that will explode (or, later, render impotent) any gunpowder or explosives. The book is an attempt to explore the complex social ramifications of such a technology. The book is not simplistic in examining the issues, but is ultimately quite limited. The major conflict deals with the proponents of the use of the technology against a collection of gun advocates, the least irrational of which is a thinly disguised National Rifle Association. Therefore, the main discussions in the novel will make little sense for those who are not thoroughly familiar with the Second Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America. Absent some minor discussions of the chemistry and formulation of explosives, and a completely unexplained foray into optical wave dynamics, there is no real technology involved in this book. The trigger technology never does develop a theoretical basis. Indeed, in the only attempt to do so, the narrative seems to imply that the trigger is the long-fabled philosopher's stone--and then blithely abandons that intriguing possibility. More than plot potential is discarded in this work. Characters, loose ends, Futurians, red herrings, tests, villains, suppositions, and voyages to other planets are left hanging throughout the book like half of a shoe store's stock waiting to drop. However sympathetic the personae populating the story it is difficult, in the end, to really care about any of them: how do you know whether it is going to be worth the effort of working up any emotional contact with someone who may disappear, never to be heard from again, on the next page? The book winds up with a rather ironic contradiction of itself. Towards the end we find a speech that should affect us deeply. It is clear that we are to be stirred by this address: we are told so in the book. It addresses the lamentable tendency of a creatively bankrupt entertainment industry to turn, when all else fails, to murders and mayhem that are completely at odds with with reality. Why then, in a last ditch attempt to introduce tension to a book notably lacking in force, do we finish up with kidnapping, torture, and murder? %A Arthur C. Clarke %A Michael Kube-McDowell %C 1540 Broadway, New York, NY 10036 %D 2000 %G 0-553-57620-8 %I Bantam Books/Doubleday/Dell %O http://www.bdd.com webmaster@bdd.com %P 626 p. %T "The Trigger" ====================== (quote inserted randomly by Pegasus Mailer) rslade@vcn.bc.ca rslade@sprint.ca slade@victoria.tc.ca p1@canada.com If we poison our children with hatred Then the hard life is all that they'll know - `It's a Hard Life Wherever You Go', Jackson/Finch http://victoria.tc.ca/techrev or http://sun.soci.niu.edu/~rslade