From archive (archive)
From: ecl@mtgzy.UUCP (Evelyn C. Leeper)
Organization: AT&T, Middletown NJ
Subject: ETHER ORE by H. C. Turk
Date: 7 Jan 88 21:14:16 GMT




			   ETHER ORE by H. C. Turk
		       Tor, 1987, 0-812-55635-6, $3.50.
		      A book review by Evelyn C. Leeper
		       Copyright 1988 Evelyn C. Leeper

     This is the second book I've read in the "Ben Bova Discoveries" series
(the first was NAPOLEON DISENTIMED) and frankly, I don't get it.  Both seem
to be written as though the reader should find them hysterically funny.  I
wish I could explain precisely what I mean by that, but I can't.  Just think
back to the last time you want a comedy show that wasn't funny, and you'll
know the feeling.  NAPOLEON DISENTIMED had some background adventure-type
plot to sustain it, but ETHER ORE just falls flat.

     Melody Preece--the blurb describes her as "Alice in Wonderland, Dorothy
of Oz and Barbra Streisand, all rolled into one," after which build-up
disappointment is almost inevitable--anyway, Melody Preece wants to go to
Marz, the Tan Planet.  Oh, yes, this is also an alternate worlds novel--not
an alternate history novel, mind you.  A sample from the first chapter
explains, "In this era, the greatest influence on world politics and society
was the pacificist Adele Hidler.  Fuhrher Hidler* had gained her greatest
fame by virtually preventing World War II using the force of her
personality, overcoming her demokraptic nemesis, Wynton Churchell, via
heated and well-publicized debates.  Hidler convinced the world to reject
Churchell's ideas, his militarism, and especially the Briticher's
unfortunate desire to force Yurope's Hebish populations into a separate
state instead of integrating them with the societies of their home nations.
Hidler's insistence was to accept Jewbrews as people instead of segregating
them as religious cult."  I won't even mention (okay, I just did) that Turk
does not mean that Hidler virtually prevented World War II, but rather that
she *did* prevent it almost entirely by the force of her personality.  And a
subsidiary observation is that if she prevented it, it wouldn't have the
name "World War II" either.

     The novel continues in this vein, with Lynda Buns Jonestown, Calizonia,
Doitchland, ad infinitum, truly ad nauseum.  Turk seems to think that
misspelling every proper name s/he can sandwich in makes the novel clever;
it merely makes it look like a proofreading nightmare, or your average Ace
book (sorry, that was a cheap shot, but I couldn't resist it).  The
advantage to this, of course, is that even if ETHER ORE were badly
proofread, it would be almost impossible to detect.

     Melody gets to Marz, where she somehow changes universes to another
alternate world, is thought to be a witch and is sentenced to burn at the
stake.  From here it's just one madcap adventure after another.  Whoopee!  I
feel like the character in he Four Seasons who says, "Is this the fun part?
Are we having fun yet?"

     It isn't and I didn't.

					Evelyn C. Leeper
					(201) 957-2070
				UUCP:	ihnp4!mtgzy!ecl
				ARPA:	mtgzy!ecl@rutgers.rutgers.edu
__________

  * Note:  The feminine of "Fuhrer" would actually be, I believe,
    "Fuhrerin."