From archive (archive) Subject: Author Lists: Michael Resnick From: JWenn.ESAE@XEROX.COM Date: 14 Feb 89 09:49:55 GMT In addition to the books listed, Michael Resnick has written ~250 hack novels (porn, romance, gothics, ...) under a variety of pseudonyms. The two SF works of his I've read ("Santiago" & "Stalking the Unicorn") are nicely written stories (Western in space & Hardboiled detective fantasy respectively). [C] == Short Story Collection. /John arpa: JWenn.ESAE@Xerox.com ---------------------------------------------------------------- Resnick, Michael D. [U.S.A., 05/03/1942- ] The Adam Thane Sereis: The Goddess of Ganymede [1967] Pursuit on Ganymede [1968] The Tales of the Velvet Comet: Eros Ascending [1984] Eros at Zenith [1984] Eros Descending [1985] Eros at Nadir [1986] The Tales of the Galactic Midway: Sideshow [1982] The Three Legged Hootch Dancer [1983] The Wild Alien Tamer [1983] The Best Rootin' Tootin' Shootin' Gunslinger in the Whole Damned Galaxy [1983] The Forgotten Seas of Mars [1965] Redbeard [1969] The Soul Eater [1981] Birthright: The Book of Man [1982] Walpurgis III [1982] Unathorized Autobiographies [1984] [C] The Branch [1984] Adventures [1985] The Inn of the Hairy Toad [1985] [C] Santiago [1986] Stalking the Unicorn: A Fable of Tonight [1987] The Dark Lady [1987] Ivory [1988] Larson, Glen & Resnick, Mike Battlestar Galactica books: Galactica Discovers Earth [1980] Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.reviews,rec.arts.books.reviews,rec.arts.books,alt.books.reviews Path: news.ifm.liu.se!liuida!sunic!pipex!howland.reston.ans.net!ix.netcom.com!netcom.com!postmodern.com!not-for-mail From: ecl@mtgpfs1.mt.att.com (Evelyn C Leeper) Subject: DEALS WITH THE DEVIL edited by Mike Resnick et al Message-ID: <9412011509.ZM2220@mtgpfs1.mt.att.com> Followup-To: rec.arts.sf.written Sender: mcb@postmodern.com (Michael C. Berch) Organization: The Internet Date: Wed, 7 Dec 1994 22:18:51 GMT Approved: mcb@postmodern.com (rec.arts.sf.reviews moderator) Lines: 67 Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.sf.reviews:692 rec.arts.books.reviews:89 rec.arts.books:104521 alt.books.reviews:6575 DEALS WITH THE DEVIL edited by Mike Resnick, Martin H. Greenberg, and Oren D. Estleman DAW, ISBN 0-88677-623-6, 1994, 362pp, $4.99 A book review by Evelyn C. Leeper Copyright 1994 Evelyn C. Leeper In his introduction, Mike Resnick talks about how there haven't been any deals-with-the-devil anthologies since the 1950s, when publishers yelled, "Enough already!" I can understand why: I like reading them, but even so, thirty-six in a single volume is a bit like an entire cake made of frosting. (Whether this number is a reference to the Lamed Vuv of the Dann story I leave to the reader to decide.) Of course, part of this is a function of the reviewer's curse: the average reader can decide to read a story a day, or one a week, or whatever. Not that she's likely to, but she can. A reviewer, however, has some time constraints; people prefer to see the reviews *before* the book goes out of print. There are some good stories here, as there always are in a Resnick anthology. The problem is that to find them you have to read a lot of stories that all start to look alike after while, even more so than alternate outlaws. Groundhog Day, anyone? The result is that such fine stories as Michelle Sagara's "Winter" may go unnoticed (though its number two spot may get it read before people over-dose). And to a great extent "Winter" is good in ways independent of its being a deal-with-the-devil story, much the same as David Gerrold's "What Goes Around" (in ALTERNATE OUTLAWS) is good in ways orthogonal to the purported premise. David Gerrold also turns in a good story here, "The Seminar from Hell," which will strike a chord with anyone who has seminar experience. The rest of the stories range from competent to mediocre, without a lot of originality or individual character. There are a few that make use of the idea that so many people are going to Hell on their own that the Devil doesn't need to work at getting souls. There are a few that play with definitions of Hell. There are a few that work on the precise wording of the deal itself. And so on ... most of the core "gimmicks" have been used before. They're wrapped in new paper, but they're still pretty much the same package. Individually, in a magazine or a more general anthology (which apparently has almost completely disappeared as a form), these would have been amusing, diverting, clever, or whatever the author was trying for. Here, alas, they are swamped by each other. I can recommend this anthology, but only with the proviso that you space out your reading of the stories. %E Resnick, Mike %E Greenberg, Martin H. %E Estleman, Loren D. %B Deals with the Devil %I DAW %C New York %D October 1994 %G ISBN 0-88677-623-6 %P 362pp %O pb, $4.99 -- Evelyn C. Leeper | +1 908 957 2070 | Evelyn.Leeper@att.com There's always an easy solution to every human problem - neat, plausible, and wrong. -- H.L. Mencken