James Nicoll Reviews

Tom Reamy’s 1978 Blind Voices is a stand-alone period-piece horror novel.

A pleasant summer in Hawley, Kansas. Communal awareness that the current economic downturn might be more than a passing phenomenon is only just beginning to sink in¹. Young friends Rose Willet, Evelyn Bradley, and Francine Latham seek distraction from the dilemma faced by all Hawley women: look for happiness elsewhere at the cost of leaving family behind or settle for the best of Hawking’s regrettable assortment of marriageable young men.

Haverstock’s Traveling Curiosus and Wonder Show may be a cure for both ills. Haverstock offers immediate entertainment and a cure for the future.

Encountering Haverstock’s cast of wonders might be the last thing any of the teens will do.

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1979’s Empire of the East is an omnibus edition of Fred Saberhagen’s Empire of the East trilogy¹. The individual novels included are The Broken Lands (1968), The Black Mountains (1971), and Ardneh’s World² (1973).

As was the custom in those days, the 1979 omnibus has glowing introductions from two luminaries of the field, Larry Niven and Roger Zelazny. Niven liked Empire of the East more than Lord of the Rings, although he admits it’s a matter of taste. Zelazny is more detailed in his praise, singling out details of Saberhagen’s writing as particularly worthy of praise.

Thousands of years after the Old World’s fall, the malevolent Empire of the East invades and conquers the West. Only a remnant of free men remains. Is hope dead?

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Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.’s 1963 Cat’s Cradle is a stand-alone satirical science fiction novel.

Narrator Jonah¹ has decided to write an account of the day the atom bomb exploded over Hiroshima (August 6^th, 1945). His book is to be titled The Day the World Ended. His quest ultimately entangles Jonah with the Hoenikker siblings and places him in the middle of some momentous events.

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1971’s Retief of the CDT is the seventh¹ book featuring Keith Laumer’s two-fisted man of interstellar diplomacy, Jaime Retief.

Retief is a mid-ranked member of the Corps Diplomatique Terrestrienne (CDT); he is sufficiently lofty in rank yet expendable enough to be entrusted with important tasks by his immediate superior Ben Magnan. Worst case, Retief dies ignominiously for reasons beyond his control while Magnan heaps all the blame on Retief.

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Algis Budrys’ 1977 Michaelmas is a stand-alone near-future SF novel.

In the far-off year 2000, Laurent Michaelmas is a respected journalist, the man to whom the world turns to for facts. Laurent is also the secret master of the world, the man who creates the facts on which he reports. Credit is due to Michaelmas’ hard work, diligence, and his access to the nigh-godlike AI, Domino.

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1970’s Nine Princes in Amber is the first volume in Roger Zelazny’s five-part Corwin Cycle, which is part of the ten volume Chronicles of Amber.

Despite amnesia, ​“Carl Corey” has no problem understanding that he is being overmedicated or that if his minders have someone’s best interests at heart, it’s not his. The patient bullies his way out of the medical facility in which he has been immured, blackmailing the staff into providing him with funds and information.

Destination one: the home of Corey’s alleged sister Evelyn Flaumel. Since she has been footing the bills for his treatment, perhaps she can provide more information.

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John Sladek’s 1970 The Muller-Fokker Effect is a stand-alone satirical novel.

Bob Shairp is a technical writer reduced to editing computer-generated text. Bob is married to Marge. Together, they have a son named Spot, who is obsessed with military school. The Shairps are spied upon by National Arsenamid owner MacCormick Hines, a deranged oligarch who believes the Shairps to be characters in a drama staged for his entertainment.

Much to his wife Marge’s displeasure, National Arsenamid eliminates Bob’s job. The family’s financial security is salvaged when Bob is assigned the task of human research subject. What he experiences blows his mind.

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Reginald Bretnor’s 1953 Modern Science Fiction: Its Meaning and Its Future is a collection of essays by a variety of authors on the subject of science fiction, its meaning, and its future. Bretnor published three such collections. I have previously reviewed the other two:

Science Fiction, Today and Tomorrow: A Discursive Symposium is reviewed here.

The Craft of Science Fiction: A Symposium on Writing Science Fiction and Science Fantasy is reviewed here.

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Robin McKinley’s 1978 Beauty: A Retelling of Beauty and the Beast is the first volume in her Folktales series. McKinley’s debut novel was a retelling of a classic fairy tale. See if you can guess which one.

As a little girl, Honour Huston, the youngest of three sisters, rejected her given name in favour of what she sees as a far better name, ​“Beauty.” To her disappointment, when she looks in a mirror, Beauty sees a plain girl, not the remarkable beauty that her sisters Grace and Hope are. At least she is smart, hardworking, and born into a well-to-do family.

Wealth can be ephemeral.

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Major Operation (first published in 1971) is the third of James White’s Sector General books. Like the first volume and unlike the second, Major Operation is a collection of short pieces. In this case, all involve the enigmatic planet Meatball.

Sector 12 General Hospital is a vast hospital space station. Located in deep space, Sector General is equipped to treat all known life forms and to make a good try at treating unknown beings as well. The staff is as diverse as its patients.

Warning: James Does Not Like Sector General as Much as Other People Do.

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