Triffids Beard 2 - The Bearded Triffid

There was a time, many years ago, when the name of Henry Kuttner was a name to conjure with. He
was one of the first rank of writers and the reputation was well deserved. But he died, and his books
went out of print, and now his name is largely forgotten, and his books are all but unobtainable and
that's a shame. In some ways he was too talented. He was the ultimate hack -- he could write to order
whatever was fashionable, and he did, loud and long. But within this narrow vision he somehow
managed to put his own mark on the material and even the hackest of the hackwork had a little sparkle
(though sometimes you had to dig deep to find it). When he was firing on all cylinders though, there was
nobody else came within a country mile. If ever you find them (you won't), be happy to pay several small
fortunes for Fury, Mutant, and Robots have no Tails.
But don't pay too much money for or attention to The Book of Iod. It is a collection of tales that
Kuttner wrote in his youth; tales of the Cthulhu Mythos. As with most juvenilia they are formulaic in the
extreme (but then so were most of the Cthulhu Mythos tales, no matter who wrote them). As such they
are typical of their genre. But it is a crying shame that (as far as I can tell) these slight and insignificant
words are the only words of the many that Kuttner wrote which are currently in print. There ain't no
justice.
As part of my ongoing Larry McMurtry odyssey, I read Terms of Endearment this month. They made
a critically acclaimed film of it (which I didn't see) and the book itself comes covered in quotes that praise
it to the skies, so somebody must like it, but I didn't, though I have to admit that the fault is more in me
than in the book or the writer. The heroine is Aurora Greenway, who is widowed (though she has
suitors). She lives in comfortable circumstances in Houston, close to her daughter Emma. All the critics
rave about McMurtry's characterisation. Aurora, they say, really comes alive and they are not wrong -she
does. That's why I hated this book so much. Aurora is a scheming, cheating, manipulating,
conscienceless old harridan. The book is undeniably brilliant but it made me feel so uncomfortable that I
couldn't read it. I had a relative who was Aurora to the life and it brought back too many memories, too
much pain. To me Aurora's manipulations lacked the richness and the comedy that the critics praised
this book for -- I found no comedy there, only horrible memories. I couldn't laugh; I could only squirm. I
suppose that effect is a measure of McMurtry's brilliance as a writer, but nothing is ever going to make
me like this book.
John Barnes is proving himself to be a versatile, talented and prolific writer. He's popping up everywhere,
writing brilliant books in every SF sub-genre. His latest is a fantasy called One for the Morning Glory.
The young prince Amatus secretly sips the forbidden Wine of the Gods, and becomes half the lad he
once was. His left hand side vanishes without a trace. Such mordant wit and literalism characterises the
whole book. In many ways it reminded me of William Goldman's The Princess Bride (a comparison
made by other commentators in the blurb). An enormously fun fable.
The young Australian Greg Egan is attracting much praise from the critics. Every new book appears to
wilder and more extravagant compliments. His latest is Distress, a novel about everything. Well to be
more exact, it is a novel about theories of everything (known as TOEs). Such theories are a vital part of
contemporary physics -- a decent TOE will unify all the forces of the universe and resolve the
contradictions that bedevil the attempts to reconcile quantum physics and relativity. The universe will
become knowable. Egan plumbs deep philosophical depths here, but even when swimming in the
deepest of waters he never loses his grasp on the story values of the book. The thriller aspects had me
on the edge of my seat -- who is killing the world's physicists and why, not to mention how? And the
physics was enthralling. The novel is quintessential science fiction as well as being brilliant fiction about
science; a difficult mix to carry off successfully, but Egan does it without turning a hair and he makes it
all look so easy. This one deserves a few awards and I hope it gets them.
See what happens when you are at a OOS end?
Maxine Komlos Transmat Self Published
L. Sprague de Camp Time and Chance Donald M. Grant
Mick Farren The Time of Feasting Tor
Damon Knight Humpty Dumpty - An Oval Tor