From archive (archive) From: djl@dplace.UUCP (Dave Lampe) Organization: Dave's Used Software Shop, Livermore Ca. Subject: Deep Quarry Date: 26 Feb 89 06:17:08 GMT Deep Quarry John E. Stith This is a combination detective story/science fiction story. Or at least it starts out that way. The cover blurb reads like a typical detective story of the "hard boiled" school. The cover painting looks something like the bar scene from Star Wars I. Both are lies, or at least misleading. There is a detective story which gets solved fairly early but Ben Takent, the detective, is not Mickey Spillane. Most of the characters are human, or at least act like humans even if they look like the Michelen man. What I've written so far sounds negative, but I rather liked the book. Even after the first mystery is solved, and the story changes to straight SF, it stays interesting. It is not great literature, but it is good enough to keep you turning the pages. Call it +1 on the [-4...+4] scale. Dave Lampe {ames | lll-tis | sun | pyramid}!pacbell!dplace!djl (415) 455-1571 (H) (408) 982-1654 (W) From rec.arts.sf.reviews Thu Mar 10 09:18:37 1994 Path: liuida!sunic!EU.net!howland.reston.ans.net!gatech!udel!news.sprintlink.net!dg-rtp!sheol!dont-reply-to-paths From: aa735@freenet.carleton.ca (Duncan MacGregor) Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.reviews Followup-To: rec.arts.sf.written Subject: Book Review: _Manhattan Transfer_ by John E. Stith Approved: sfr%sheol@concert.net (rec.arts.sf.reviews moderator) Message-ID: <199403071653.LAA07272@freenet.carleton.ca> Date: 10 Mar 94 01:18:40 GMT Lines: 58 [Meta Note: there may be a "minor" spoiler in the following, but the book cover gives it away, too. "addbib" codes follow.] -------------------------------------------------------------------------- MANHATTAN TRANSFER by John E. Stith (1993) John Stith is, I believe, one of the most under-rated SF authors to appear in a long while. His book _Redshift Rendezvous_ (1990) is one of the best descriptions I have seen yet of an FTL passenger ship. This new book is, I believe, even better. What happens if an alien spaceship comes suddenly to planet Earth, cuts Manhattan Island loose from its bedrock, and steals it? That's the premise that starts this novel. The alien ship is absolutely enormous, it has the shape of a stop sign (which isn't really a spoiler), and it makes off with Manhattan with perfect ease. What follows is the story of a group of people, led by the city's mayor, who are trapped on the island when it was taken -- and who proceed to investigate why this was done. After Manhattan is taken, the book reads much like a "whodunnit", as the one group tries to find out why this has happened, and another group -- convinced that the theft is a literal "act of God" -- tries to stop them. The twists in the plot, especially when they meet the aliens who run the vessel, are surprising indeed -- though clues to them do show up earlier. The only problem I had with the book was that its focus seemed to be too narrow; almost nothing was mentioned about the reaction of the rest of Earth to Manhattan's departure. Does Earth have no space stations or satellites at the time this happens? Do none of Earth's nations (especially the U.S.) get around to attacking the invader? The author (or the publisher) might well have decided that the book was too long in its original form. Nevertheless, it still was a mistake to cut out the sections describing Earth's reaction to the theft. One of Stith's great strengths is his characterization of the protagonists. He clearly explores motivation as well as actual actions. This was quite visible in _Redshift_Rendezvous_, where only humans appear. Here, Stith applies his characterizations to aliens as well. While some of them are perhaps too anthropomorphic, others appear to be very appropriate. It reminds me very much of Hal Clement's or Robert Forward's novels, but they lack the tendency towards wordiness that plagues much of their more recent work. Despite the length of the book mentioned above, it reads like a "short story" and the action does not lag. The tale is fairly simple, but it reads very well. Here's hoping that Stith will continue to write more SF. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- %A Stith, John E. %C New York City, N.Y., USA %D July, 1993 %G ISBN 0-312-85285-1 %I Tor "A Tom Doherty Associates book" %K SF, aliens, first contact %O USD 21.95, CAD 28.95 (hardcover) [c 1993] %P 381pp. %T Manhattan Transfer -- Duncan MacGregor | aa735@freenet.carleton.ca | duncanm@micor.ocunix.on.ca #include | Simplification of reality is a shortcut to disaster.