Since there seems to be a derth of on topic material just now
James Nicoll
The copyright information in the front of the mass market paperback is
somewhat lacking (we are told where the stories first appeared but not
when) so I've nicked information from the ISFDB.
Spoilers
Fireflood . (1979) . novelette (First published in The Magazine of Fantasy
and Science Fiction)
The protagonist volunteered to be transformed into an ugly but durable
form so that she could take part in extraterrestrial exploration. The
program was canceled and the subjects consigned to reservations (Each
reservation having one specific kind of transformee). Unhappy with their
situation, the protagonist and five friends set out to ask for help from
the fliers, who are equally constrained but far more photogenic than the
diggers. She soon learns that sharing a common origin does not mean sharing
a common agenda, although she does form a bond with a particular flier.
I misremembered this. I thought she was created from scratch as she is,
which would raise the question of why anyone would think that was a good
idea, but the methods used on her while apparently irreversible were used
with her consent.
Not only are the transformed kept segregated from the regular humans, it
seems that their condition places them outside regular laws. One of the
cops chasing the digger says that if the fliers wander off their reservation
and are shot by some human, there are no laws that apply.
Of Mist, and Grass, and Sand . (1973) . novelette (First published in Analog
Science Fiction/Science Fact)
A wandering healer on a backward and badly damaged Earth uses her unique
skills to help a sick boy. The child's parents, beingignorant, easily
frightened and violent, commit an egregious crime against the healer
(one that she curiously takes responsibility for), despite which she
continues her efforts to save the boy.
I am puzzled by the healer's conviction that she bears the responsibility
for the cultural conflict that occurs midway through the story. Surely
the hicks bear some responsibility for their rustic stupidity? But I
suppose that since she travels from community to community, she has had
more chance to internalize the idea that other cultures do things
differently.
Spectra . (1972) . shortstory (First published in Orbit 11)
A horrifically transformed worker despairs over her condition.
This is quite short, which is just as well.
Wings . (1973) . shortstory (First published in The Alien Condition)
An old priest, who was left behind when virtually all of its species
left for the stars, saves a young member of its species. The younger
being is bitter and depressed, convinced that the world has been used
up by those that left. The younger alien leaves once it has healed but
there is a reconciliation by the end of the story.
The Mountains of Sunset, the Mountains of Dawn . (1974) . shortstory
(First published in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction)
This features the same species of alien as above and lets us see what
became of the travellers. Much to the disgust of one of the original
voyagers, the kids born on the generation ships have no intention of
abandoning their safe space craft for a dangerous and hard life on a
planet. The elder takes advantage of the proximity of a habitable
planet to escape the ship.
McIntyre does not have a lot of room to work with in these stories but
she does let us know a fair amount about the culture and inherent behavior
of these aliens. Oddly, both stories are about old aliens having one last
love affair before heading off to die. As far as I know, these are the only
stories about this particular race of aliens.
They don't seem to name things the way we do: people are named by their
role and if there's a name for the species, their homeworld or the world
they eventually pass up, I missed it.
The End's Beginning . (1976) . shortstory (First published in Analog Science
Fiction/Science Fact)
An embittered and enslaved cyborg dolphin muses about the certain death
awaits most lifeforms on Earth thanks to the cruel and destructive ways
of the humans.
This is quite short, which is just as well.
Screwtop . (1976) . novella (First published in The Crystal Ship)
A compulsive stowaway finds herself imprisoned in a particularly unpleasant
prison on a particularly unpleasant world. She forms bonds with other
prisoners and her misreading of their behavior nearly leads to disaster.
By the end of the story, she is forced to learn how to trust her friends.
Cool Hand Luke meets The Gulag Archipelago.
Only at Night . (1971) . shortstory (First published in Clarion
A short mood piece about institutionalized deformed babies abandoned by
their pretty, pretty parents.
McIntyre was not the go-to person for happy stories in the 1970s...
Recourse, Inc. . (1974) . shortstory (First published in Alternities)
A story told in letters about one company's struggle to help a rather
dim and easily intimidated man from a rapacious credit card company.
This was far too long for the joke and even when I first read it, I
had the feeling I had read something very similar before. It also
features a nice bit of Zeerust in the form of a carefully reproduced
Hollerith card.
The Genius Freaks . (1973) . shortstory (First published in Orbit 12)
A terminally ill genetically engineered genius goes to great lengths to
escape her minders.
On the whole, being a genetically engineered being is very bad in McIntyre's
stories because the people who create such beings not only have exaggerated
ideas about what the created owe their creators, the law generally takes
the creators' side.
Aztecs . (1977) . novella (First published in 2076: The American Tricentennial)
Due to time-dilation related Phlebotinum, starship pilots have to have
their hearts removed and replaced with artificial mechanisms. The
protagonist of this story successfully survives her operation, elevating
her to the coveted rank of Pilot. She has a short romance with a man from
a colony world a ship she served on once saved, only to discover that
being a Pilot has costs as well as benefits.
I've never been able to get past the premise of the story. I will note
that romance is another word for doomed in these stories
This is on the whole a pretty comprehensive look at McIntyre's early career.
Of 18 stories published between 1970 and 1979, this skips only seven of
them and one of the seven is an excerpt from Dreamsnake, the expanded
version of "Of Mist, and Grass, and Sand".
--
http://www.livejournal.com/users/james_nicoll
http://www.cafepress.com/jdnicoll (For all your "The problem with
defending the English language [...]" T-shirt, cup and tote-bag needs)
htn963
> Have a quick review of Fireflood and Other Stories by Vonda McIntyre:
<snip>
> I will note that romance is another word for doomed in these stories
>
> This is on the whole a pretty comprehensive look at McIntyre's early career.
> Of 18 stories published between 1970 and 1979, this skips only seven of
> them and one of the seven is an excerpt from Dreamsnake, the expanded
> version of "Of Mist, and Grass, and Sand".
I thought _Dreamsnake_ was one of the few sf works that were as good
or better than the shorter version it was expanded from -- the effects
that were achieved in the original in terms of atmosphere and
characterization are preserved here. But, of course, this still
doesn't necessarily mean people who didn't like the novelette would
like this. (And at least the romance in the novel wasn't doomed --
grave and melancholy, but ultimately not tragic.)
--
Ht
Jack Tingle
> I thought _Dreamsnake_ was one of the few sf works that were as good
> or better than the shorter version it was expanded from -- the effects
> that were achieved in the original in terms of atmosphere and
> characterization are preserved here. But, of course, this still
> doesn't necessarily mean people who didn't like the novelette would
> like this. (And at least the romance in the novel wasn't doomed --
> grave and melancholy, but ultimately not tragic.)
I feel the same way about "The Winter Beach". It's (IMO) the best thing
Kate Wilhelm has ever written (that I've come across, anyway) but I
didn't particularly like the novel that sprang from it, "Welcome, Chaos".
Expanding an already good short form into a mediocre novel seems to be a
common fail.
Regards,
Jack Tingle
William December Starr
jdni...@panix.com (James Nicoll) said:
> McIntyre was not the go-to person for happy stories in the 1970s...
Based on your summaries here, No kidding. Are we _sure_ she wasn't
another pseudonym for Alice Sheldon?
-- wds
netcat
> In article <gq8jkj$6u7$1...@reader1.panix.com>,
> jdni...@panix.com (James Nicoll) said:
>
> > McIntyre was not the go-to person for happy stories in the 1970s...
Is she a go-to person of any sort of stories, now? It looks like she was
putting out a good deal of original fiction and then suddenly.. stopped.
And she hasn't written much of anything in the last decade, not even
tie-ins. And yet she hasn't retired from the scene, is active and in
good health as I understand. Is there a story behind this all?
> Based on your summaries here, No kidding. Are we _sure_ she wasn't
> another pseudonym for Alice Sheldon?
What with her still being alive, pretty sure.
She was in a Tor double with her ("Screwtop" / "The Girl Who Was Plugged
In"), though.
rgds,
netcat
James Nicoll
for reasons that escape me.
James Nicoll
netcat <net...@devnull.eridani.eol.ee> wrote:
>In article <gq9ndg$p4k$1...@panix2.panix.com>, wds...@panix.com says...
>> In article <gq8jkj$6u7$1...@reader1.panix.com>,
>> jdni...@panix.com (James Nicoll) said:
>>
>> > McIntyre was not the go-to person for happy stories in the 1970s...
>
>Is she a go-to person of any sort of stories, now? It looks like she was
>putting out a good deal of original fiction and then suddenly.. stopped.
>And she hasn't written much of anything in the last decade, not even
>tie-ins. And yet she hasn't retired from the scene, is active and in
>good health as I understand. Is there a story behind this all?
>
I think I actually exchanged email with her a year or so ago
in connection with the Virginia Kidd Agency. I wanted to see how hard it was
to get permission to quote Le Guin, there being something of a kerfluffle
over that issue at the time, so I asked if I could quote the prepositions
from one particular UKLG story. As I recall, the response was pretty quick
(and affirmative).
I didn't ask about her SF because it would only lead to me
apologizing again for what happened at Ad Astra in the 1980s (she got
stuck in a conversation with me in which I attemtped to describe an
essentially undescribable aspect of reading one particular novel by
her and when I saw the compact description wasn't conveying the
unconveyable, I went for a much longer version).
Joseph Nebus
> Have a quick review of Fireflood and Other Stories by Vonda McIntyre:
>The copyright information in the front of the mass market paperback is
>somewhat lacking (we are told where the stories first appeared but not
>when) so I've nicked information from the ISFDB.
>Spoilers
>
>Fireflood . (1979) . novelette (First published in The Magazine of Fantasy
>and Science Fiction)
>The protagonist volunteered to be transformed into an ugly but durable
>form so that she could take part in extraterrestrial exploration.
[ ... ]
>Spectra . (1972) . shortstory (First published in Orbit 11)
>A horrifically transformed worker despairs over her condition.
[ ... ]
>The End's Beginning . (1976) . shortstory (First published in Analog Science
>Fiction/Science Fact)
>An embittered and enslaved cyborg dolphin muses about the certain death
>awaits most lifeforms on Earth thanks to the cruel and destructive ways
>of the humans.
[ ... ]
>Only at Night . (1971) . shortstory (First published in Clarion
>A short mood piece about institutionalized deformed babies abandoned by
>their pretty, pretty parents.
[ ... ]
>Aztecs . (1977) . novella (First published in 2076: The American Tricentennial)
>Due to time-dilation related Phlebotinum, starship pilots have to have
>their hearts removed and replaced with artificial mechanisms.
Gads. I think that's more massive body manipulation and
cyborgization than you get in three times the bulk of Jack Varley,
only with all traces of joy wiped out.
Most of the Vonda McIntyre that I'd read came from her Star
Trek novels, where it felt worthwhile ever waking up if you found
yourself in the story.
--
Joseph Nebus
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
htn963
> htn963 wrote:
> > I thought _Dreamsnake_ was one of the few sf works that were as good
> > or better than the shorter version it was expanded from -- the effects
> > that were achieved in the original in terms of atmosphere and
> > characterization are preserved here. But, of course, this still
> > doesn't necessarily mean people who didn't like the novelette would
> > like this. (And at least the romance in the novel wasn't doomed --
> > grave and melancholy, but ultimately not tragic.)
>
> I feel the same way about "The Winter Beach". It's (IMO) the best thing
> Kate Wilhelm has ever written (that I've come across, anyway) but I
> didn't particularly like the novel that sprang from it, "Welcome, Chaos".
Wilhelm is one of the older sf authors I've always felt I should read
more of: low-key but substantive, not flashy or trendy like too many
of these current authors. And if you haven't already read them, she
has a good collection of five other novellas under the title _Children
of the Wind_:
http://www.amazon.com/Children-Wind-Novellas-Kate-Wilhelm/dp/0312054009/ref=cm_cr-mr-title
> Expanding an already good short form into a mediocre novel seems to be a
> common fail.
There was a recent thread on this issue, and I probably should have
mentioned McIntryre's _Dreamsnake_, but I guess I'm still swayed in
favor of the shorter forms. Imo, the novella is the best format for
sf: short enough not to get bog down with infodumps, fillers, and
various literary pretensions more fitted for mainstream fiction, but
long enough to have fun exploring in-depth the issues raised.
--
Ht
netcat
says...
I've also read the first novel in the Starfarers series, which is a
somewhat ridiculous take on running an interstellar ship by committee.
But it featured a lovely scene where someone buried fake fossils in the
habitat just for the kicks of it, as I recall...
rgds,
netcat
Steve Harclerode
time believing that...I really had to push myself to get through anything by
James Tiptree (Alice), but I found the stuff I read by Vonda McIntyre to be
very easy reading.
- Steve
"William December Starr" <wds...@panix.com> wrote in message
news:gq9ndg$p4k$1...@panix2.panix.com...
htn963
<Camel.Software...@hot.mail.com> wrote:
> Assuming for the moment that your comment is serious, I would have a hard
> time believing that...I really had to push myself to get through anything by
> James Tiptree (Alice),
Indeed. She's the Sylvia Plath of SF.
--
Ht
Gene
@reader1.panix.com:
> It was the 1970s. Mopey was in. Also sex. Also the colour orange,
* for reasons that escape me.
Due to that fellow who was calling himself Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh durling the
70s and 80s, I think.
--
"It's not like there is much that is universal among economists." -- Shawn
Wilson