From armenon@top.cis.syr.edu Thu May 30 11:53:28 1996
Subject:  U'r great page
 
Hi Doug:
 
GREAT page! Wish I had thought of it.  I read through quite
a few of u'r reviews.  Agreed with most of them, but have the following
comments.
 
Regarding Ursula LeGuin: U'r review of the Earthsea was a little "tepid".
After the innumerable tedious "questing" stories that I have forced
myself to read, this story was a joy! For the first time, I read a
world I could believe in. And the ideas! The first three books were also
carefully laid out; roughly, IMHO the first dealt with ignorance, the second
with knowing and the third wth wisdom.
 
And Dispossed is *not* about a "completely communist" society. Even in
the "true sense"! Anarchy is not communism. And some of the physics
was absolutely riveting.
 
May I also recommend her short stories: "A quiver full of arrows" for
instance. Her short story "Semley's necklace" is almost ideal for
a ballet production.
 
And I am a little surprised u left out Kim Stanley Robinson. His
"Icehenge", and "Memory of Whitness" are really good.
 
Dan Simmons: I found him really disappointing. His Hyperion, set like a
modern Canterbury tales is a great idea, but ultimately it ends like
a slasher movie. I know u really liked it, but I felt a little let down
at the end. So the shrike is some kind of AI creation. So?
 
Orson Card: I also Ender's game and Speaker for the Dead were/are
classics (or should be). But some of his later novels have this
thread of bizarre and really horrible deaths that make them
vaguely disturbing. For example, in one of his post-apocalpypse
collection of short stories, there is this guy running from a dark
past. The story trudges along, and then we learn that as a child
he locks his step-brother and sister in a small room for days on end
(on the orders of his vicious mother, or some such thing). They go
crazy (Card gives stomach turning descriptions). This is not
an isolated incident. He seems to like disposing of his characters in
really horrible ways. I have a hard time taking very religious people
seriously (how can they *believe* all that childish stuff?), so it could
just be simple bias.
 
Piers Anthony: I agree with u'r review completely. The man could
have a really good writer. From his long tirades at the end of his
books, I gather that unfavorable reviews did him in.
 
And Doug. I almost forgot. U just got to read Gregory Benford's
Timescape. That is a GREAT book. U know how hard it is to write
time related SF. Benford does it beautifully. It is really
satisfying and very thought provoking.
 
Well, I didn't intend this email to be this long. In sum, I loved u'r
page. Keep up the great work. Will visit it every now and then.
 
Regards,
 
Anil Menon