{ "export": { "source": "https://urth.darkrealm.vip/thread/urth/2115", "note": "Exported from an unofficial mirror of a public mailing list. Copyright in each message remains with the person who wrote it. Email addresses are obscured as `user at host`, the form the original archive published. This file was rebuilt from parsed fields rather than retained headers, so it is faithful in content but not byte-exact.", "addresses": "obscured as 'user at host'" }, "archive": "urth", "thread": { "id": 2115, "subject": "3 reviews of Strange Travelers from BIP", "messages": 3, "voices": 3, "first": "2000-02-04T13:55:43+00:00", "last": "2000-02-10T13:07:08+00:00" }, "messages": [ { "message_id": "", "from": { "name": "Jeremy W. Crampton", "address": "jcrampto at gmu.edu" }, "date": "2000-02-04T13:55:43+00:00", "subject": "(urth) 3 reviews of Strange Travelers from BIP", "in_reply_to": null, "reply_link": null, "blocks": [ { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "Following are 3 reviews of ST from Books in Print. They relate to some of\nthe discussions on this list esp. the Ziggurat.\n\n***\n\nLibrary Journal\n (January 1, 2000; 0-312-87227-5)\n\n Two tales featuring a pair of musicians wandering down an endless highway\nfilled with stalled cars\n (\"Bluesberry Jam\"; \"Ain't You Most Done?\") frame this collection of 15\nshort stories by the\n award-winning author of the \"Book of the New Sun\" series. Wolfe's eclectic\ntalent runs the gamut from\n Russian folk tales to modern horror as he explores a landscape filled with\nghouls, aliens, and\n chess-playing deities. Representing a decade of groundbreaking speculative\nfiction by a master of the\n genre, this volume belongs in most libraries. Copyright 2000 Cahners\nBusiness Information.|\n\n***\n\n\n Booklist\n (January 1, 2000; 0-312-87227-5)\n\n Wolfe's latest collection holds 16 pieces that have appeared in an amazing\nvariety of publications\n during the last decade. Their inspirations range from music in \"Bluesberry\nJam\" to comic books in\n \"Ain't You Most Done?,\" a tie-in to Neil Gaiman's famous Sandman series of\ngraphic novels, which are\n about as far removed from caped-crusader stuff as one can imagine. But\nthen, Wolfe occupies a\n distinguished position on the frontiers of both sf and fantasy by virtue\nof originality of subject, capable\n handling of detail, and command of language. Plot summaries don't do his\nwork justice, but the only\n caveat to make is that some of the protagonists are initially repulsive,\nand at short length, there isn't\n much time to assimilate their complexities. --Roland Green|\n\n***\n\n\n Publishers Weekly\n (December 20, 1999; 0-312-87227-5)\n\n Not for the faint of heart or weak of stomach, this collection of Wolfe's\nstories published in the 1990s\n contains death by overdose, suicide, Armageddon, cruelty to animals, abuse\nof children, children\n willing to falsely accuse fathers of sexual abuse and a plethora of\nvampiric female figures eager to suck\n the life out of men. Opening with \"Bluesberry Jam,\" Wolfe (The Book of the\nLong Sun series, etc.)\n creates an intriguing speculative future in which an entire culture arises\nfrom people who have been\n stuck in a traffic jam for decades. This conceit is ultimately negated,\nhowever, by the most tired of\n clich\u0002s in the closing story, \"Ain't You 'Most Done,\" which is set in the\nsame world. Also included are\n two Christmas stories: \"No Planets Strike,\" a relatively sweet tale in\nwhich genetically modified animals\n aid the next Christ child, and \"And When They Appear,\" which is less\nsweet, involving wonderful,\n mythic figures who visit, but cannot save, a small boy from a world gone\nmad. While Wolfe's prose is\n exceptional and there are a few gems here, such as \"Useful Phrases,\" which\ndelights in how words\n lead us to and reveal mysteries, there are also several tasteless and\nmisogynistic entries. Chief among\n them is \"The Ziggurat,\" in which a mother coaches her daughters in the art\nof false accusation and the\n father--whose wife leaves him broke-eventually regains all by finding a\nwoman he can dominate and a\n technology he can steal. All too frequently in this volume, even when\nwomen show men \"the pleasures\n of Hell,\" biting them till they bleed, men emerge loutish and triumphant.\n(Jan.) FYI: Wolfe is a\n recipient of the World Fantasy Award for Lifetime Achievement. Copyright\n1999 Cahners Business\n Information." }, { "kind": "sig", "depth": 0, "text": "Jeremy W. Crampton\t\thttp://geog.gmu.edu/gess/people/jwc.html\nGeography and Earth Science [MS1E2]\nGeorge Mason University\nFairfax Va. 22030-4444\n(703) 993-1210" } ] }, { "message_id": "", "from": { "name": "William H. Ansley", "address": "wansley at warwick.net" }, "date": "2000-02-06T23:32:39+00:00", "subject": "Re: (urth) 3 reviews of Strange Travelers from BIP", "in_reply_to": "", "reply_link": "subject", "blocks": [ { "kind": "quote", "depth": 1, "text": "\"Jeremy W. Crampton\" wrote:\nFollowing are 3 reviews of ST from Books in Print. They relate\nto some of the discussions on this list esp. the Ziggurat." }, { "kind": "quote", "depth": 1, "text": "Booklist\n(January 1, 2000; 0-312-87227-5)" }, { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "[...]" }, { "kind": "quote", "depth": 1, "text": "Their inspirations range from music in \"Bluesberry Jam\" to\ncomic books in \"Ain't You Most Done?,\" a tie-in to Neil\nGaiman's famous Sandman series of graphic novels, which are\nabout as far removed from caped-crusader stuff as one can\nimagine." }, { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "[...]" }, { "kind": "quote", "depth": 1, "text": "Publishers Weekly\n(December 20, 1999; 0-312-87227-5)" }, { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "[...]" }, { "kind": "quote", "depth": 1, "text": "Opening with \"Bluesberry Jam,\" Wolfe (The Book of the\nLong Sun series, etc.) creates an intriguing speculative\nfuture in which an entire culture arises from people who have\nbeen stuck in a traffic jam for decades. This conceit is\nultimately negated, however, by the most tired of clich\u0002s in\nthe closing story, \"Ain't You 'Most Done,\" which is set in the\nsame world." }, { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "[...]\n\nI have to agree with the last review that Jeremy W. Crampton was kind\nenough to provide for us. My feeling on reaching the end of \"Ain't You\n'Most Done\" was, \"Oh, no! Not again!\".\n\nWolfe has so many characters in this kind of predicament that I think the\nprimary thing you should keep in mind when reading him is not \"Find the\nwolf\" (which doesn't strike me as being particularly helpful, even in the\ncase of \"The Ziggurat\") but \"When did the main character die and does he\nknow it yet?\".\n\nNow, it may be that if I had read Neil Gaiman's Sandman series and could\nappreciate the tie in, I would feel differently, but I was really\ndisappointed in the way \"Ain't You 'Most Done\" ended, especially since I\nthought Wolfe managed to make the basically absurd notion of a traffic-jam\nculture seem all too real and poignant.\n\nWilliam Ansley" } ] }, { "message_id": "", "from": { "name": "Jim Jordan", "address": "jbjordan at gnt.net" }, "date": "2000-02-10T13:07:08+00:00", "subject": "Re: (urth) 3 reviews of Strange Travelers from BIP", "in_reply_to": "", "reply_link": "subject", "blocks": [ { "kind": "quote", "depth": 1, "text": "At 11:32 PM 2/6/00 -0500, you wrote:\n\nNow, it may be that if I had read Neil Gaiman's Sandman series and could\nappreciate the tie in, I would feel differently, but I was really\ndisappointed in the way \"Ain't You 'Most Done\" ended, especially since I\nthought Wolfe managed to make the basically absurd notion of a traffic-jam\nculture seem all too real and poignant.\n\nWilliam Ansley" }, { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "Don't have my copy here, but I recall that the copyright date of both\nstories in the same, thus written together. \n\tI suggest we give Wolfe bit of space here. The traffic jam society is\nclearly symbolic of the \"world,\" especially the world of today (in\nChristian terms, of course: the three enemies being the world, the flesh,\nand the devil -- Gevers, do we not see all three in this book?) and thus we\nshould not have taken it as \"real\" SF to start with. \n\nNutria" } ] } ] }