From /tmp/sf.1110 Fri Jul 23 13:46:51 1993 Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written Path: lysator.liu.se!isy!liuida!sunic!mcsun!uknet!pipex!bnr.co.uk!bnrgate!nott!torn!utnut!cs.utexas.edu!math.ohio-state.edu!howland.reston.ans.net!noc.near.net!news.bbn.com!olivea!hal.com!decwrl!netcomsv!netcom.com!dani From: dani@netcom.com (Dani Zweig) Subject: Melissa Scott: Dreamships Message-ID: Organization: Netcom Online Communications Services (408-241-9760 login: guest) Date: Thu, 17 Jun 1993 21:18:10 GMT Lines: 50 "Dreamships", by Melissa Scott, is out in paperback, and worth reading. The protagonist, Reverdy Jian, is a pilot who is hired to fly a sophisticated space ship with *extremely* sophisticated supervisory software. It's sophisticated enough, in fact, that those who work with it can't honestly say that they aren't talking to a 'person', albeit one with electronic capabilities. But a program that can come across as a 'person' is, by some definitions, 'intelligent'. (A related philosophical problem, concerning weaknesses in these definitions, is only hinted at, but the author is clearly aware of it.) But suppose a program is intelligent: Does an intelligent program have civil rights? In the world Scott has created, there aren't enough civil rights to go around, and a thorny philosophical problem becomes a nasty political one. It's the sort of world science-fiction could use more often, with a three-dimensionality which is too often lacking. The world of the future may have neural interfaces and virtual reality, but it will also have hotdog stands. It may have space mining and cheap manufacturing, but it will also have distribution problems, ethnic tensions, and poverty. It can have dirty politics *and* law enforcement that's usually effective. Too much science fiction just takes a single trend and exaggerates it into unintended caricature. Scott doesn't ignore the trends, but neither does she forget to make them part of a world in which people can live. Scott pays a price, in conservatism, for this balance: The technology and social adjustments she portrays would, for the most part, be more reasonable if set fifty or a hundred years from now, rather than a thousand. But it's worth it. The characters are interesting, and the story is good enough to keep the reader reading, but you'll have gathered that they aren't the main attractions of the book. More attractive are the world-building -- a more thoughtful job than we usually see -- and the philosophical element, which Scott binds into her story without (as happens too often) letting it dominate the story. She doesn't offer any pat answers, either. ----- Dani Zweig dani@netcom.com 'T is with our judgements as our watches, none Go alike, yet each believes his own --Alexander Pope From /tmp/sf.4258 Tue Feb 1 03:40:17 1994 Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written Path: liuida!sunic!mcsun!uunet!usc!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!decwrl!pacbell.com!amdahl!netcomsv!netcom.com!dani From: dani@netcom.com (Dani Zweig) Subject: Melissa Scott: Burning Bright Message-ID: Organization: Netcom Online Communications Services (408-241-9760 login: guest) Date: Thu, 11 Nov 1993 04:29:15 GMT Lines: 38 Melissa Scott's writing has been somewhat uneven, but her recent "Burning Bright" is one of her better novels -- unpretentious, but well-crafted. The story covers a few days on Burning Bright, a free port/planet between two spheres of influence. Quinn Lioe is a pilot who is also a rising star (in her spare time) among Gamers, and when her ship makes an unexpected stop at Burning Bright for repairs, she introduces her newest game scenario. (The Game is a cross between role sf playing games and the sort of cooperative theatrical in which the players work out the script and then act it out -- as in Dean's "The Secret Country". Scott is one of the few authors to use role playing games without abusing them. We see as much of the Game as we need to see -- and what we see is tied to the rest of the story.) Unknown to Lioe, her ship has been used for one leg of a relatively minor but politically important smuggling operation, so it's not quite a coincidence that her game interacts with that operation -- to the possible detriment of all concerned. I mentioned the craftsmanship; it's the best thing about the novel. All the pieces fit together smoothly and plausibly -- the low-stakes smuggling operation, the high-stakes politics in which it becomes enmeshed, the Game...and the way it reflects the reality, even the gathering storm. It's a pleasure to see all the pieces come together. One very minor nit: I consider it implausible that commercial neural links would be manufactured that would be capable of delivering a fatal power surge: There are just too many ways to failsafe it, and no apparent reason not to. ----- Dani Zweig dani@netcom.com 'T is with our judgements as our watches, none Go alike, yet each believes his own --Alexander Pope From /tmp/sf.4146 Tue Aug 9 01:39:57 1994 Path: liuida!sunic!pipex!howland.reston.ans.net!paladin.american.edu!nic.hookup.net!news.sprintlink.net!dg-rtp!sheol!dont-reply-to-paths From: mcgregoa@cognos.com (Alayne McGregor) Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.reviews Followup-To: rec.arts.sf.written Subject: Burning Bright by Melissa Scott Approved: sfr%sheol@concert.net (rec.arts.sf.reviews moderator) Message-ID: <9402112230.AA11961@sirius.cognos.com> Date: 12 Feb 94 03:36:50 GMT Lines: 40 BURNING BRIGHT by Melissa Scott reviewed by Alayne McGregor In the far future, the Game is an interstellar addiction. Using one base world and a number of variant scenarios, players don virtual reality headsets to join in adventures -- the more complicated the plots, the better. The free-port planet of Burning Bright is the centre of the Game in all of the human civilization. When spacepilot Quinn Lioe unexpectedly gets a 10-day layover on Burning Bright, it's the perfect opportunity to try out the latest Game scenario that she has designed. It's even more popular than she thought, and she prepares to enhance her Game reputation and her bank account by running her Game sessions for the rest of her layover. Unfortunately, some of the players are playing real-life games as well, and Lioe finds she has to be a master player in real life too. This is not a gaming novel -- it is a novel of intrigue and character, where the Game only counterpoints the real- life maneuvering. Scott has also done an excellent job of describing her aliens, the Hsai, (even if they have more than a hint of the Orient) and of building her storm-tossed planet. I could feel myself walking on top of the dike that protects the city from the sea; I could hear the acid in the verbal dueling. Recommended. %T Burning Bright %A Melissa Scott %C New York %D May 1993 %I Tor %O hardback, US$21.95 %G ISBN 0-312-85502-8 %P 349pp From rec.arts.sf.reviews Tue Oct 4 14:45:34 1994 Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.reviews Path: news.ifm.liu.se!liuida!sunic!uunet!europa.eng.gtefsd.com!howland.reston.ans.net!usc!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!decwrl!netcomsv!ix.netcom.com!netcom.com!postmodern.com!not-for-mail From: brock@ucsub.Colorado.EDU (Steven Gary Brock) Subject: Review of Trouble and Her Friends by Melissa Scott Message-ID: <36ftrq$h7e@CUBoulder.Colorado.EDU> Followup-To: rec.arts.sf.written Sender: mcb@postmodern.com (Michael C. Berch) Organization: University of Colorado, Boulder Date: Mon, 3 Oct 1994 18:57:01 GMT Approved: mcb@postmodern.com (rec.arts.sf.reviews moderator) Lines: 58 REVIEW Trouble and her lover Cerise wear brain implants (brainworms) that let them experience computer networks with all of their senses. Each of their ventures into the net is a cacophony of datastrings that can "flow and writhe like grass in the virtual wind." When IC(E) (Intrusion Countermeasures (Electronic), the future form of what are now called "firewalls" in computer security jargon) is encountered, however, it can "shock an unwary netwalker off the nets, overloading the cutout circuits." Attempts to crack IC(E) can be fatal. Trouble and Cerise, however, are undaunted net crackers who plunge through corporate IC(E) to plunder files and data to sell on the grey (in this case) market. Disagreeing over how to respond to legislation that will make the use of a brainworm for any reason a crime of espionage, the two separate. Trouble becomes a syscop (a cross between a sysop and security guard) at an art colony while Cerise takes a position as a security specialist with an influential corporation. Both occasionally use their implants to peruse the virtual worlds of the net. Three years after the split, someone calling themselves Trouble has begun cracking corporate databases - stealing informa- tion, leaving a virus, and then bragging about it on the net. When an attempt to plunder the database of the corporation Cerise works for is barely thwarted, her boss sends her to catch either the fraudulent Trouble or the real one, he doesn't care which. Cerise locates the real Trouble, and enlists her aid in apprehending the imposter and, at the same time, clearing her name. This cyberpunk mystery has many flaws (especially in dialogue construction and leaving loose ends with minor characters), but when Trouble and Cerise take to the net, sparks fly and virtual space turns into an area where the swordplay and spell casting of Dungeons and Dragons is replaced by battling computer programs carried in a toolkit. The descriptions of Trouble and Cerise maneuvering the nets is spellbinding as they each move their icons through virtual cities packed with other "tourists." The ending chase scenes are as thrilling as those in the movie "The French Connection." "Trouble and her Friends" is a must-read for cyberpunk and computer enthusiasts, as well as those seeking an introduction to the genre. Grade: B. Also by Scott, a winner of the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer: "Mighty Good Road," "Dreamships," and "Burning Bright." %A Scott, Melissa %T Trouble and Her Friends %I Tor Books %C New York %D September 1994 %G ISBN 0-312-85733-0 %P 379pp %O hardcover, $22.95