From rec.arts.sf-lovers Mon Feb 18 13:15:13 1991 Xref: herkules.sssab.se rec.arts.sf-lovers:22257 rec.arts.books:8407 Path: herkules.sssab.se!isy!liuida!sunic!mcsun!uunet!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!pacific.mps.ohio-state.edu!linac!att!cbnewsj!ecl From: ecl@cbnewsj.att.com (Evelyn C. Leeper) Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf-lovers,rec.arts.books Subject: STRANGE THINGS IN CLOSE UP by Howard Waldrop Message-ID: <1991Feb14.162633.10676@cbnewsj.att.com> Date: 14 Feb 91 16:26:33 GMT Expires: 27 Feb 1991 13:00:00 GMT Followup-To: rec.arts.sf-lovers Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories Lines: 204 STRANGE THINGS IN CLOSE UP by Howard Waldrop Legend, 1990, ISBN 0-09-964440-1, L4.50. A book review by Evelyn C. Leeper Copyright 1991 Evelyn C. Leeper This long-awaited collection of Howard Waldrop's work is, alas, almost impossible to find in the United States. Since the original publications of most of them were also hard to find (Waldrop explains in one of his introductions why he has the reputation of selling to the lowest bidder), this is a double whammy. So far as I can tell, this is an omnibus volume which includes HOWARD WHO? (Doubleday, 1986) and ALL ABOUT STRANGE MONSTERS OF THE RECENT PAST (Ursus Imprints, 1987). Lots of luck finding those either. However, large specialty stores will probably have a limited supply of STRANGE THINGS IN CLOSE UP, or try your favorite mail order house. Is it worth all that effort? Yes. HOWARD WHO? comprises the first twelve stories in STRANGE THINGS IN CLOSE UP. The first is "The Ugly Chickens." If you know only one Howard Waldrop story, chances are this is it. You will get two things from reading this story: an encyclopedic (well, almost) knowledge of the dodo, and an inkling of what makes Waldrop's stories so unique. "Der Untergang des Abendlandesmenschen" has Bronco Billy and William S. Hart helping Hermann Goering fight a vampire in a typical Waldrop "alternate history" where unlikely people get together and do unlikely things. The "split point" of these universes--the event that causes them to differ from ours--seems to be some time when the ancient Israelites threw some peyote mushrooms in with their burnt offering and God got more than just a "sweet savour." Certainly no rational explanation will suffice. "Ike at the Mike" is another alternate history: Dwight David Eisenhower is a rock star and Elvis Aaron Presley a successful politician. A whole bunch of other famous people turned out differently too. But I'm not a big rock music fan and so found this less involving than some of Waldrop's other works, even though this did win a Hugo. If you like old horror movies (and my old I mean 1940s, not EVIL DEAD I or even CARRIE), you will appreciate "Dr. Hudson's Secret Gorilla," an old story told from a new point of view. (If the names Rondo Hatton and George Zucco ring no bells, however, you may react as I did to "Ike at the Mike.") Once, scientists believed in phlogiston. A hundred years later it was just another crackpot idea. But what if it wasn't? Well, "The World as We Know't" gives us one look at what might have happened. As with many of Waldrop's stories, it's not a pleasant look--one problem with describing a Waldrop story is that its bizarreness makes it sound like a fun romp when frequently it's quite the opposite. "Green Brother" is a story of mysticism set among the Lakota Indians. In his introduction Waldrop talks about his penchant for telling stories of "cultural and biological losers and underdogs." One possible reason he doesn't mention is that be doing so he can give them another chance, if not to emerge totally victorious, at least to rise higher, or last longer, or have that "one brief shining moment." And if not that, to try to understand why not. George R. R. Martin describes "Mary Margaret Road-Grader" as a "tour de force about post-holocaust tractor pulls." Well, it's certainly the best story in that genre I'VE ever read. Okay, sorry, old joke. And it was, after all, nominated for a Nebula. The next story is a total change of pace. (Well, to a great extent they all are.) "Save a Place in the Lifeboat for Me" was inspired by the question, "Where were you the Day the Music Died?" Can Laurel and Hardy, Abbott and Costello, and the Marx Brothers save ... well, that would be telling (though not much). I found this rock-music-inspired story more interesting than "Ike at the Mike," possibly because it was full of old movie comedy teams and comedians. It reminded me a bit of parts of John Kessel and James Patrick Kelly's FREEDOM BEACH. I can't say that I think the motivation in "Horror, We Got" makes sense to me--but it makes as much sense as the history that leads up to it and causes it, and the damn story does stick with you. Maybe it bothers me because people may use these characterizations to justify "more of the same," even though (I hasten to add) this is not Waldrop's intent. What does all this mean? Well, Waldrop sets up a world in which time travel is discovered in Israel and the newly constituted Elders of Zion decide rather than changing history, they will "implement" it. They will do or arrange to have done everything the Jews were accused of doing throughout the ages. They will control the world and its history. To me this seems a somewhat pointless revenge but then every time someone in a time travel novel tries to change history they only make things worse, so who can say that this isn't the best solution? Or maybe Waldrop is just saying we are trapped by history. I find sumo wrestling no more interesting than any other sport and even Waldrop's infusion of Japanese culture and philosophy was unable to get me interested in "Man-Mountain Gentian." But in one way it's like every other Waldrop story: it's unlike any other Waldrop story. (Take that, Bertrand Russell!) "God's Hooks!" has Isaak Walton fishing for something out of "The Revelation of Saint John the Divine." John Kessel, on hearing it read, said that Waldrop could sell it either to FIELD & STREAM or to CATHOLIC DIGEST. Or maybe it was that he could sell it to ONLY those two. So naturally it was nominated for a Nebula. "Heirs of the Perisphere" shows more of Waldrop's fascination with popular culture (an oxymoron?). This reminded me of Arthur C. Clarke's "Expedition," but of course Waldrop goes in an entirely different direction than Clarke did. The remaining seven stories formed ALL ABOUT STRANGE MONSTERS OF THE RECENT PAST. Where "Dr. Hudson's Secret Gorilla" is an ode to the horror films of the 1940s, the title story of this section is an unabashed copy of the monster films of the 1950s--all of them. "Helpless, Helpless" is an updating of the plague to our modern, mechanized, computerized society. I think Waldrop overlooks (or glosses) a lot of what would happen in a mechanical plague, and find his ending somewhat overly rosy. (It is interesting to note that, while I usually compose my reviews directly onto the computer, this one is being written long-hand, albeit with a mechanical pencil. Of course, before you see it, it will be typed in, run through the spelling and punctuation checker, and automatically formatted. In fifty years, will Christie's be auctioning off Stephen King's original floppy disks for THE DARK HALF?) In any case, this story seems a trifle on the Luddite side--and Waldrop admits to not owning a word processor, or even an electric typewriter. Even Waldrop acknowledges "Fair Game" may represent some ultimate minimalist approach to literary criticism, or at least that's how I read his introductory comments. Certainly no one can go further in this direction than he does with Hemingway in this story. (Free idea to any anthologist: THE SCIENCE-FICTIONAL HEMINGWAY. Lead off with Joe Haldeman's "Hemingway Hoax," follow with "Fair Game," and then--well, I can't do all the work for you!) It has been said that art imitates life. It has also been said that life imitates art. One of these--perhaps both--would seem to be the case in "What makes Hieronymous Run?" If you haven't studied or at least been exposed to the works of Hieronymous Bosch or Peter Brueghel the Elder, this story probably won't make much sense. If you have, this will open a whole new way of looking at them. (Another idea for an anthology: classic works of art and literature inspired by them. W. H. Auden's "Musee de Beaux Arts" is certainly one obvious choice. Another science-fictional example, though by no means great literature, is Hal Clement's OCEAN ON TOP, inspired by a cover painting for ANALOG which happened to be sitting upside-down on the floor when he came into their office one day. Most inspiration seems to go in the other direction, so this would be an interesting twist.) There is an undercurrent in this story that ties into one in "Horror, We Got": the idea that maybe our view of history is totally out of whack with "reality" (whatever that is). "The Lions Are Asleep This Night" is a more conventional alternate history, this one set in Africa. It predates Robert Silverberg's "Lion Time in Timbuktu" but I doubt there is any connection. Maybe it's just time for more science fiction with African themes and settings--Mike Resnick is making quite a name for himself with his Kirinyaga series set in a future recreation of pre-colonial Kenya and his novel IVORY. As usual, though, Waldrop's entry in this African renaissance is different, more subtle--so subtle, in fact, that Ellen Datlow insisted that he had to rewrite it to explain more to an audience who didn't know history. Even so, I think it still assumes a lot on the part of the reader. "Flying Saucer Rock and Roll" is yet another story that I failed to appreciate due to my ignorance of rock and roll music and history. But since I am probably exceptional in the extent of my ignorance, you may enjoy it more. Certainly Waldrop's need to substitute phonemes for real rock lyrics (which would have cost a fortune in royalties) didn't help matters. The final story, "He-We-Await," is described by Waldrop in his introduction to it as "original to this collection." In this case, that mean original to ALL ABOUT STRANGE MONSTERS OF THE RECENT PAST, not STRANGE THINGS IN CLOSE UP. Another story set in Africa (it is, you know), this shows some influence from the horror films of the 1930s--the Mummy series in particular. Or maybe it's just the similarity of theme, and I'm applying Waldrop's penchant for pop culture to my reading of it. At any rate, this story ends the book on a suitably apocalyptic note. Also included are an introductory essay by George R. R. Martin, some closing words by Lewis Shiner, and introductions to each of the stories by Waldrop himself. Not included, unfortunately, are "Night of the Cooters" (a story nominated for a Hugo several years ago that I STILL have been unable to find), nor "Custer's Last Jump," nor "The Passing of the Western." I suppose these were written after 1987, the copyright date of the more recent of the two component parts of this collection, but I still miss them. I am annoyed the subtitling of this volume as "The Nearly Complete Howard Waldrop" when it is missing not just his more recent work (which is expected), but also older works, such as "Billy Big Eyes," "Black as the Pit, from Pole to Pole," "My Sweet Lady Jo," "Sic Transit ...? A Shaggy Hairless Dog Story," Sun Up, "Unsleeping Beauty and the Beast," and "A Voice and a Bitter Weeping." I bought this expecting finally to find all (or almost all) of Waldrop's stories; it turned out not to be so. The cover is wonderfully Waldropian (Waldropesque?) in that nothing is what it first seems to be. If only they had credited the artists I could tell you who s/he was. There are a few odd things I noted in the books. Capitalization varies among the copyright page, the table of contents, the introduction headers, the story headers, and the page headers. Trivial, perhaps, but disconcerting nonetheless. It's almost as if the British have different rules for capitalization in titles, but even there it's inconsistent, and in any case they didn't Briticize the spelling. As you might have suspected from the sheer length of this review, I recommend this book. This article is as long as it is because you can't group Waldrop's stories into categories and discuss them in bunches. Each one is an individual and insists on being treated as one. It won't be easy for most of you to find this--make the effort. Evelyn C. Leeper | +1 908-957-2070 | att!mtgzy!ecl or ecl@mtgzy.att.com From rec.arts.sf-reviews Thu Jul 18 14:48:57 1991 Path: herkules.sssab.se!isy!liuida!sunic!ugle.unit.no!nuug!ifi.uio.no!sics.se!fuug!mcsun!uunet!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!samsung!know!albert.physics.arizona.edu From: LNH@albert.physics.arizona.edu (sometimes a Wombat) Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf-reviews Subject: _Strange Creatures of the Recent Past_ by Howard Waldrop Message-ID: <31224@know.pws.bull.com> Date: 11 Jul 91 15:27:29 GMT Sender: wex@pws.bulL.com Reply-To: LNH@albert.physics.arizona.edu Followup-To: rec.arts.sf-lovers Lines: 63 Approved: wex@pws.bull.com _Strange Monsters of the Recent Past_ by Howard Waldrop Review Copyright (c) 1991 by Larry Hammer Howard Who? Waldrop.[1] And he's finally in mass paperback. On the Bacon scale (taste, swallow, or digest) this is to be digested. What it is: A paperback release of the stories of _All About Strange Creatures of the Recent Past_, published in 1987, plus the novel _A Dozen Tough Jobs_, published in 1989. And it's about time. What's in it: The best stories this side of Austin, Texas. Any side. Waldrop writes only a few stories, but every single one is pure gold. And no two are ever alike. If you've met Waldrop before, you already know to go out and buy this. If not, here is a perfect introduction. Waldrop knows more pure history than any writer I've read. He knows it cold. He knows it so well, he can pull off the best alternate history stories I've ever read. Such as "The Lions Are Asleep This Night" set in Renaissance West Africa.[2] Or "Fair Game" where Hemingway survives his suicide attempt and hunts a Wild Man in a Bavarian village. Or "He-We-Await" where an Egyptian pharaoh was not embalmed properly and... well, read the story. Or "What Makes Heironymous Run?" where Bosch was the *realist* painter of his era. He knows his culture, too, whether it comes >from 1950's monster movies or 1920's black South or 1960's doo-wop. But even more than History, Waldrop has a pure command of Voice. No character of his *ever* says anything they wouldn't. Nothing stilted, nothing out of place, nothing put in where it shouldn't be just so the author can tell you something he thinks you should know (a failing of far too many writers). "Fair Game" is pure Hemingway style. "The Lions Are Asleep This Night" reproduces the feel of living in the exciting times of a Renaissance. The narrator of "A Dozen Tough Jobs" is perfect Mississippi black from the '20's. The latter story is interesting from yet another angle. Recently, many authors (mainly in fantasy) have been rewriting old folktales and myths into modern genre tales. "A Dozen Tough Jobs" is Waldrop's contribution, reworking the twelve labors of Hercules, as performed by Houlka Lee, a convict on work release. It is pulled off surprisingly well, with no strain on either story, setting, or the characters. Or maybe not so surprising, since it's Howard Waldrop. Go. Read. Reread. Be impressed. %T Strange Creatures of the Recent Past %A Howard Waldrop %I Ace Science Fiction %G ISBN 0-441-16069-7 %U mass paperback US$3.95 Larry "Green with envy for his talent" Hammer [1] Okay, okay, old joke. [2] No, that's not a mistake. -- lnh@albert.physics.arizona.edu "Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested: that is, some books are to be read, but only in parts; others to be read, but not curiously; and some few to be read wholly and with diligence and attention." --Francis Bacon, _Essays_, "On Studies"