Conference noted::sf

	Next would be "Code of the Lifemaker" - which has been out here in
	the States since last October.

	I met Jim Hogan when he worked for Digital in 1978, ( I lived in
	New York City then). We would see each other once or twice a year,
	and he would discuss "The New Book" - whatever that was at the time.
	But he had plans for a "mainstream" novel - not science fiction -
	that sounded very good to me. It dealt with the politics of the
	SuperPowers (East and West) allying against the third world.

	That might be his next book - or he might never do it, which would
	be a shame. As I said, it sounded good to me - and his discussion
	of it has had me thinking for the last three years...

	Thank you.

	The new one "Code of the Lifemaker" is not translated in Japanese yet.
But, I'll try to read in English. I hope it is not so difficult for me.

	-- Yuichi Inasawa

"S121319"?  TKOV02 is bad enough....
			79506

I enjoyed all of Hogan's novels, though I didn't know about ``Code''.  Out
since October?  Where have I been?

The only complaint I have is that all the novels end ``happily ever after''.
I don't object to happiness per se, but ``happily ever after'' isn't always
realistic.  I think I'd like to read the ``mainstream'' novel mentioned
above.
Jim

	I believe that it is required on JapanNET for users to have Usernames
	based on the first letter of their last names concatenated with their
	badge number.


THX-1138

re: .4

Maybe you didn't notice CODE OF THE LIFEMAKER because it came out in
hardcover rather than in paperback? [THE GENESIS MACHINE was the only
other of Hogan's books to have a hardcover edition --- not including
SF Book Club editions, of course.]

---jayembee (Jerry Boyajian)

I think VOYAGE FROM YESTERDAY precedes CODE... .  It's an interesting mixture
of radical economics, radical socialogy, and parenting.

							/alan

	I'd forgotten it! It was quite good - Voyage from Yesteryear, I think
	it was. Have to go dig it out.

	I heard just today that Hogan's "Code of the Lifemaker" is available
	in paperback. News for the skinflints in the audience...

	It's good news that paperback "Code of the Lifemaker" was available in
paperback. I could not find this book yet. Maybe only paperback version had
been imported. 

	Now our own machine have been connected in E-Net. And I can use my own
account "INASAWA". Previously, I was using MIS's machine only for Mail and
Notes purpose. On that machin, for all user, use a letter that indicate the
name of place where the office is, and badge number. "S" of S121319 means
"Sunshine 60" the name of building. This building has 60 floors and 240 meter
high. 

	-- Yuichi Inasawa

I just happened across ``Code'' in paperback form a few days ago, and I don't
think I ever saw the hardcover version.  It was very enjoyable, and somewhat
easier to read than Hogan's earlier stuff.  It seemed slightly less technical
(or maybe I'm just getting smarter) and there was more humor as well.

It was good to read something other than Notes.  However, there were several
sentences that I sort of expected to see a :-) after!

I recommend this book (and all his others).

Jim Stratton

I couldn't find "Code ..." yet. I have to order.

	-- Yuichi

re .1
On the concept of the superpowers allying against the rest of the world;
the concept is very similar to an existing storyline of an (~evil)
alliance between us/ussr...the CoFederation (?).

The name of any of the books escapes me, in that after reading I trashed
them; $3.00 paperbacks so what the heck. If there is any interest I will
make the attempt to recall titles/author.

dwight

I suspect that you're referring to the Co-Dominium books by Jerry Pournelle.

--- jerry

Perhaps you could tell enlighten us as to the titles of the 'Co-Dominium' books,
Jerry? 

THE MERCENARY
WEST OF HONOR
KING DAVID'S SPACESHIP [a revised version of A SPACESHIP FOR THE KING]
A MOTE IN GOD'S EYE

There are also a few scattered novelettes here and there. If you want a
complete listing, just ask (I can't do one from my head right now).

--- jerry

  I couldn't decide which of the three "Hogan" topics to use, so I chose the
  "middle" one.

  I was lucky enough to find a damaged hardcover copy of "The Proteus Operation"
  on sale for $3.99.  I think this was a *great* book.  

  The story's SF premise is that the our interpretation of quantum mechanics
  is wrong.  The wave function does not "collapse" into the observed event.
  Rather, all the possibilities inherent in the wave equation exist in
  alternate universes.

 
                      ***********spoiler warning****************



  The book starts out in a universe in which the economic turmoil of the
  1920s was not as serious -- it did not result in a worldwide Great
  Depression.  As a result, the climax of Hitler's career was the Beer
  Hall Putsch -- and as a result of that, there was no WWII.  In the year
  2025, the ability to send things to alternate universes is developed and
  some people try to build a world for a privileged few by sending back
  aid to Hitler in 1925.  This aid included atomic bombs to be used in the
  German attack on Russia in 1941.
  
  In the universe thus created, England succumbed on January 1, 1941 and
  by 1975, the US (which never entered WWII) was surrounded and facing
  a war which it could not win.  But the alternate-universe principle is
  discovered anew and a mission goes from 1975 back to 1938.
  
  As you may have already guessed the result of these two history-changing
  missions is *our* universe.  Hogan brings the whole thing off very well
  and as far as I can tell got all the history right.

  This book has some great shoot-em-up scenes, conversations with Szilard,
  Fermi, and Einstein, the normal keeping-multiple-universes-straight
  confusion, and the message that you can do almost anything if keep
  trying.  What more could you ask?

  JP

    On my last trip in time I picked up the paperback edition of The
    Proteus Operation published by Bantam in October 1986 for $4.50
    
    It's a very good time travel tale.  For Hogan, there's a lot more
    maturity in his writing style here: there's characters in addition
    to plot.  There's sympathetic characters who are _not_ scientists.
    There are good villains and spots of humor.
    
    The book doesn't have a satisfactory answer for the problem of 
    cosmos in which multiple time machines can enter the same time line,
    even if there are synch problems.
    
    Everyone with a time machine would want to change the 1930's.
    Why only two time machines, why not dozens?  To make a time travel
    story work, you've got to impose limits to the chaos potential.
    Those limits sometimes are the most interesting aspects of a novels
    structure.  They are barely noticed in the Proteus Operation.

    ENDGAME ENIGMA
    
    now in paperback.  Sort of reminds me as the "crossover" espoinage/SF
    stuff down by Bova and Drake.
    
    Anyway, the Soviet Space Station maybe the ultimate weapon, or then
    again it may not be.  For people with instinctual disgust for
    CIA-types, this is not the book for you as American intelligence agents
    are uh, intelligent.  A fun read but rather predictable.

re: .18  ENDGAME ENIGMA

I agree that the basic plotline was fairly predictable with the exception
of the "Where are the weapons?" question. I was not able to guess the answer
to  that  while reading it. (I won't post the spoiler of where they actually
are.)