Conference noted::sf

    First, Earl, I disagree with your definition of a "real" trilogy.
    A real trilogy is a set of three books that, while each can be read,
    and is complete, on its own, the three together form a larger story
    with its own beginning, middle, and end. As such, I find that the
    closest thing to a *real* trilogy in sf is Blish's "After Such
    Knowledge" trilogy: DOCTOR MIRABLIS, BLACK EASTER/THE DAY AFTER
    JUDGEMENT, and A CASE OF CONSCIENCE.
    
    That out of the way, I don't know if Brin intends to make his
    "Patron" novels into a trilogy. He might, after all, not just stop
    at three (Paul O. Williams, for instance, has a "real" septology
    --- the Pelbar Cycle). I do know that later this year, he will
    be coming out with THE UPLIFT WARS. I'm eagerly awaiting this one,
    to find out what's going on with respect to the blockade around
    Earth.
    
    Brin has two other books out, both in hardcover, neither of which
    I've read yet. The first is THE POSTMAN, based on two novelettes
    from ASIMOV'S SF MAGAZINE. The second is THE HEART OF THE COMET,
    written with Greg Benford.
    
    --- jerry

    Re. 1
    
    I agree that Brin deserves more attention than he seems to get. _The
    Practice Effect_ was an entertaining book based on an intruiging
    idea. (i've never seen reverse enthropy handled in quite this was
    before.) But, more than that, the book was simply FUN.
    

    This was a good novel -- one of the few of my last several months'
    reading that have picked me up and carried me through cover to cover
    without dropping at least once or twice along the way.
    
    Without going in to too much plot detail, it is an optimistic
    post-holocaust novel (!) taking place some eighteen years after
    the blast.  The main character is a wanderer on his way to the west
    coast from Minnesota; as he enters Oregon, he manages to lose most
    of his gear to bandits.  That night he comes upon an abandoned postal
    truck with clothing and some travel gear still intact; donning same,
    he continues his wanderings.  At the next town he enters, he gets
    a much friendlier reception than he is used to, as some of the
    residents think he is a working postman (he has a letter bag with
    old letters in it, as reading material).
    
    "Oh, I just found the postman's things."
    
    "Ah, he found the postman's things."  "--so then _he_ became the
    postman."
    
    As the story continues, he enters into a friendly con about being
    a Postal Official of the Restored United States; the complications
    seem endless, but he comes to symbolize the hope for return to more
    pleasant times for a lot of people.  Internally, though, he is
    struggling over the fact that he's made most of it up....
    
    I can't really do justice to the story, except to say that the
    hardcover is worth the price.  I hope to encounter this man at MiniCon
    next year -- he's easily become my favorite new author.
    
    						Theo

    Just finished THE PRACTICE EFFECT (3 days after I bought it; I would've
    bumped it for another if not for this Note).
                                               
    As previously mentioned, a fun book.  Full of cliches and some pokes
    at our society, and a hero who doesn't take everything in stride.
                                          
    It is also easy to read; Brin keeps up the pace fairly well
    throughout.  
                            
    (Oh, yes; I expect to see some of Brin's sayings wind up as
    Personal_name entries if his DEC readership mushrooms.) 
     
    The hero's advantage is in seeing the effect for what it is, and
    his history allows him to invent/"practice" things which, while not 
    overwhelming, are decisive.  Also, his "artifact" (trying not to give
    to much away) has good timing.    
                                                    
    And the explanation, quick & pat, at the end, seemed a hurry-up
    job to tie up the loose ends.  *But*, that will not negatively
    impact the enjoyment of the story all that much.
    
    I will be looking for his other books.          
    
    							Don

    I agree with almost everything.  "Practice Effect" was light and
    fun, not to be taken too seriously.  "Sundiver" was a good first
    novel, slightly flawed in style but fascinating in concept.  I must
    admit I lost interest in "The Postman," although it wasn't particularly
    bad.
    
    "Startide Rising," however, holds a place as one of the finest SF
    novels I have read.  It is a powerful and intelligent story in which
    Brin has masterfully combined the technical and the human aspects
    of the story with a skillful dash of well-done action to provide
    interesting characters in an interesting setting.
    
    His handling of the alien races is similarly skillful, especially
    the characterizations of the Haiku-spouting dolphins (his tying
    together of the dolphins and poetry is a fascinating one) and Charlie
    Dart, the genetically engineered chimpanzee.
    
    If you are going to read Brin, read "Startide Rising."  You probably
    won't forget it.
    
    As for me, I await "The Uplift War" anxiously.  I want to know who
    "Herbie" was, too.
    
    -- matt
    

    Incidentally, SUNDIVER was not his first novel. As I understand
    it, THE PRACTICE EFFECT was written first, but it didn't sell
    until Brin made a name for himself with the other two books (a
    situation not uncommon in the literary world).
    
    --- jerry

The refreshing thing about "The Postman" was its praise of the simple
orderlinesses of civilization.  Keeping the roads clear and the mail
running are not epic enterprises, but they do distinguish civilization
from barbarism.   A regular mail service isn't just a guy coming by
your house every day; it implies a vast social organization. It
implies wide-spread literacy, unimpeded travel, and a government that
does more than wage war and levy taxes. No wonder the people in the
novel greeted the hero with such open arms. 

But the trouble with the book is that he abandons this theme 
halfway through.   Instead of working out how ordinary people can 
bring back the basics of civilized life, Brin goes off on a superhero 
kick.  At first it's the wise old computer, Cyclops  The machine is teaching 
the survivors of the apocalypse how to build microcomputers and 
robots (!).  As if subsistence farmers needed spreadsheets and 
automated assembly lines.  

** spoiler warning **

The machine turns out to be a fake, of course.  You couldn't keep such
a machine running without spares, and it takes a major industrial
economy to produce computer parts.  No one in all of France, for
instance, builds microprocessors. It's another illusion intended to
bolster people's hope for the future, and in that sense it and the
Postman are alike.  The major difference between them, though, is that
Cyclops represents technology and the Postman represents social
structure.  Brin seems to think that both are necessary for
civilization.  His protagonist weeps when he sees some working light
bulbs.  What nonsense.  The Founding Fathers didn't need word
processors to write the Constitution.  Civilization isn't video games;
it's the freedom from fear and the rule of law and having the time and
energy to look beyond the needs of the moment. 

And it gets worse from there.  When the struggling communities of 
Oregon are threatened by outside invaders, they look for a hero to 
lead them.  Fair enough, every rising culture needs its Washington or 
its Arthur.  But the man they find isn't just brave and strong and 
wise, he turns out to be a literal superman.  He and the enemy 
superman have a Wagnerian battle of the gods at the end of the book, 
throwing boulders at each other and ripping up trees.  I mean, 
really.  This is ridiculous.  

Mixed in with the ending is a bizarre subplot about a group of women 
who infiltrate the enemy camp and try to knife the invaders in their 
sleep.   The idea sounds doomed to failure (twenty women are going 
to knife five thousand men?), everyone says that it's doomed to 
failure, and in fact it fails completely.  The women are all enslaved 
or murdered, and the enemy is not weakened at all.  Nevertheless, 
this exercise in futility is an inspiration to all, and gives them 
the backbone to resist.  Weird.

The review excerpts at the front of the book all stress how the book 
is a testament to human strength in the face of adversity.  I think
that the reviewers, like me, are taken with the idea of postman-as-civilizer.
But one good story idea, the postman, can't outweigh three bad ones:
the Cyclops, the superman, and the Lysistrata plot.  It's books like 
this, that have just enough good elements to keep you reading, that 
make for the most savage disappointments.

/jlr

    Having read many good things about Brin's work and wanting something to
    read, I picked "The River of Time".  It's a collection of short stories
    (about a dozen) divided into 4 groups.  Each story is followed by a
    page (or so) of comments from Brin.  The collection includes some
    previously unpublished stories.
    
    All of the stories are very good to excellent except for two which are
    only ok.  I guess I'll have to pick his other books now...

    re .7:
    
    _Lucifer's_Hammer_ also used the postman in a big way. At first
    I couldn't understand his obsession with getting the mail through
    while the world is falling apart around him. After reading your
    reply, I now understand.
    
    > Mixed in with the ending is a bizarre subplot about a group of women 
    > who infiltrate the enemy camp and try to knife the invaders in their 
    > sleep.  
    
    This sounds vaguely familiar as a story from history. Only I think
    instead of infiltrating the enemy camp, they knifed them after they
    had been captured and were being used as prostitutes. 
    Am I completely off-the-wall here? (Probably)
    
                                                   
                  /
                 (  ___
                  ) ///
                 /
    

    	The "mail must go through" attitude and the concept of the regular
    postman doing deliveries is like the British generals in the Nineteenth
    Century who wore dress uniforms and did civilized behaviors (eating
    dinner at the table, shaving, etc.) while in the desert.
    
    	Larry
    

re: .8

The historical reference is to a Greek play called "Lysistrata" by 
Aristophanes.  The plot is that all the Greek women refuse to have 
sex with their husbands until they stop fighting the Second 
Peloponesian War.  
/jlr

    "The Uplift War" is now out in paperback.  It is the third novel
    set in Brin's "uplifting" galaxy, where the most important aspects
    of a race's status are who directed its evolution and whose evolution
    it has directed.
    
    I am halfway through "The Uplift War" now, and it seems to be going
    very well.  It concerns the invasion of a small Earth colony populated
    by humans and "neo-chimpanzees" by the birdlike Gubru.  The invasion
    is merely part of a much larger fracass caused by the discoveries
    made in "Startide Rising," but the characters of this story know
    almost nothing about what's going on in the parallel plot of the
    other (naturally enough).  We follow the adventures of the invaded
    Terrans as they organize resistance movements and try to deal with
    the alien psychology of their invaders and the strange, ritualized
    codes of war that obtain in Brin's universe.  Well-done stuff.
    
    Earl Wajenberg

    I just finished The Uplift War(s?) a few days ago.  Good stuff.
    
    One off the wall remark - this book contained more esoteric vocabulary
    than anything I have read in a long time (and I read a *lot*). 
    300 pages into the book I started keeping track of words I had never
    seen before and the remaining 300 or so pages produced another
    30 or so new words.  Now I'm going to have to read it again to catch
    the ones in the first 300 pages.
    
    Brin must have written it thesaurus in hand.
    
    len.
    

    Are you talking about the alien words ?
     I just started the paperback and it has a glossary of
    terms at the front of the book.
    
    Dana

    No, these are real English words (I assume they're English - they
    look English and aren't in the alien glossary).  I'll post a list
    of them (with definitions, if they're in any dictionary I have access
    to, which includes an OED) sometime Wednesday.  For some unfathomable
    reason, most of them begin with "c".
    
    len.
     

    Ok, here they are.  There're only 17 of them that I caught from
    page 336 onwards (the book's 636 pages).  I couldn't find meanings
    for all of them, and some of the meanings here are conjectural as
    the word wasn't listed exactly as Brin used it.  My OED is hidden
    behind a keyboard (of the synthesizer sort) rack in my studio, and
    wasn't readily accessible, so I only looked these up in a Random
    House Unabridged.
    
    page	  word      definition
    
    336		carceral	?
    336		agnosy		?; perhaps, "inability to recognize an
    				object by the senses"
    380		brumous		?; perhaps, "wintery"
    383		allochroous	?; perhaps, "not having a color of its
    				own"
    393		colubrine	snakelike
    414		claviger	?
    445		caliginous	misty, dim
    469		apterium	featherless portion of a bird's skin
    481		chalybeous	containing salts of iron
    485		nulutative      ?
    487		aristophrenic	?
    510		cyprian		lewd, licentious; worshipful of Aphrodite
    531		crepidation	?; as crepitation, "a crackling sound"
    533		cliquant	?; perhaps, "cliquish"
    536		cinerescent	?; perhaps, "ashen"
    563		covinous	pertaining to a secret or fraudulent
    				deal
    568		captation	?
    
    I will go digging for the OED and see if it has definitions.
    
    len.
    

568	captation - capitation - statistics; tax or grant per head; census

    re .17 - no, it's not capitation; that occurred to me, but it doesn't
    work in the context Brin uses the word.  It seems more likely that
    the root is related to the "capt" in "captive" than the "cap" in
    "decapitate".
    
    I also guess that "aristophrenic" might mean something like "having
    an aristocratic head shape", but that's really groping.
    
    I'd also curious about what "nulutative" means.
    
    len.
     

    Sounds like a PhD thesis :-)

    Gene Wolfe's Book of the New Sun tetralogy is also good for
    expanding greatly one's vocabulary. Just about any Jack Vance
    novel will also do. I once interviewed Vance at a convention
    and asked him if he went out of his way to find some of those
    words or whether they were a part of his regular vocabulary.
    His answer was the latter.
    
    --- jerry

    
    Just finished The Uplift War.  An excellent book, but it obviously
    left a lot of loose ends (like no mention of Herbie).  Has anyone
    heard anything about a 4th novel.  Oh well, I guess I don't mind
    it being drawn out if it continues to be this good.
    
    re: vocabulary

    I have to agree I found myself pausing quite a few times trying to get
    the meaning of a word out of context.  Is it possible that Brin stuck
    in some phonies just to keep us on our toes?
    
    I've noticed decent vocabulary in Stephen Donaldson's books also.
    
    regards,
    
    steve mcafee

    Not to get off the subject - 
    
    It's unfortunate that Donaldson's vocabulary doesn't CHANGE within
    his books.  If he uses a word you don't know, there's rarely any
    need to look it up.  He's going to use it once a page for the rest
    of the novel, so you can probably figure out what it means from
    context...
    
    I don't get this feeling from Brin, however.
    
    - Chris

    
    I too place Brin in my favourite new authors list.
    One problem I had with "The Uplift War" was the sense of claustrophopia
    it gave me.  Brin has created this wonderful BIG universe, and yet
    restricted our access to it to a handful of characters on a flea-bitten
    backworld.  Minor criticism, I loved the book.
    
    Dave

    One could argue that guadalcanal was a flea-bite of an island on
    the fringe of WW2. 
    
    I assume that the story has more episodes to follow.

    Re .24:
    >I assume that the story has more episodes to follow.
    
    In a Q&A session at a recent Boskone (I think),
    Brin said that _The Uplift War_ would probably be the last book in
    that universe.  The reason he gave was something like "I've got
    lots of other universes I want to write about".
    
    Of course, if he feels the fan pressure (and $$$ incentive), that
    might change...
    
    >M

    RE: .25
    
    That's interesting. At a book-signing at A Change of Hobbit in April
    of this year, Brin said he had as many as *seven* books planned
    (a septology! A new word had to be coined to discuss a project of
    this magnitude! Whoops, sorry, wrong author. :-)) dealing with the
    Uplift universe.
    
    Fred

    Re .26
    
    Well, maybe he has seen the light (he may have seen the $$$ too,
    but he didn't strike me as the kind of guy who'd let that determine
    what he writes about).  I for one will read practically anything
    he writes :-).
    
    >M

    re:.27
    
    You obviously haven't met him.
    
    --- jerry

    
    re .28:
    
    I've never been introduced to him.
    
    >M

I found Postman to be *****excellent*****!  I picked it up in a dull moment on a
Xski weekend with friends, and couldn't put it down.  I sat in the hottub for
four hours ignoring everybody while I devoured the book.  I especially liked
Brin's sometimes letting the reader know something is going to happen *just*
before it happens, mixed with the occasional strange twists and sudden
unexpected events.  Sort of 'Oh Sh!t, (not) XYZ!', mixed with 'Ugh!'.

I didn't find the superhero bit to be a flaw, but it of course would have been a
different book otherwise.  And, yes civilization doesn't *require* light bulbs,
but in that scenario, if you wanted to create a Revolutionary type civilization
without technology it would be a hell of a lot harder without the technology
that you have simply cluttering up the landscape.  Why *not* use it?  I think
it's pretty clear that Brin is a technologist.

Think of your example, lightbulbs.  Do you *know* how much work goes into an
equivalent non tech light source?  Lots!  That work could be used to much
greater effect elsewhere.  Some things, such as medical technology simply can't
be duplicated without technology.

Maybe we should start a "nontechnology civilization" note?

I didn't get the idea that the women were supposed to kill 5K men. I got the
idea that they were supposed to go after the leaders, who would supposedly be
the ones who ended up in possession of them.   There are similiar 'doomed
inpirations' in history, such as the Alamo.  The theory of the role of women is
bizarre and is presented as such, but it does have a certain amount of
practicality.

.9 has a clearer picture of this too.

I can identify with the postman's stubbornness in delivering mail from an
idealist point of view.  And sometimes the 'it should be this way, and I'm gonna
do it this way no matter what reality says' attitude pays off.

Jim. 

    
    Is anyone aware of any new work by David Brin, especially `Uplift'
    stuff?
    
    Mat.
    *:o)
    

    I'm agree with most of the opinions in this topic.  Brin's work has
    been excellent.  I put his 'Uplift' trilogy right up there with series
    like Asimov's "Foundation" series or Herbert's "Dune".  I'm really glad
    to hear that he may expand it to a septology.

    I've just finished reading a collection of short stories by David Brin
    that's pretty good.  It's called "River of Time".  What fascinates me
    about Brin is his diversity.  He doesn't limit himself to a single
    universe or world.  He apparently can blend past & future  with
    interesting results.  Read his story in this book on WW 2  where Hitler
    wins the war and what life would be like not now but in the future. 
    Some of the stories are about completely new concepts.  In one of the
    short stories in this book "Crystal Spheres" he explores a universe
    totally unlike anything I've ever read.  I think he's the most original
    sci-fi writer I've ever read in a long time.
    
    ktlam--

   My fav is the one with the loom... (I'll be vague so as not to be a spoiler)

   I can't believe I hadn't heard of him 'til just recently.


					-mjg

That was good but Lungfish or "Senses 3 & 6" were my favorites.  And then
Captian America was really good too.  And...

   Wasn't sure where this should go, but since Earl had this base note,
   I'm sticking it here.

   My kid came home from school yesterday, with a book from the school
   library called `4-D Funhouse', written by (mumble mumble) and Earl
   Wajenberg, famous Digital Equipment Corporation Tech Writer.

   Waytago, Earl!
   Written any others?

   Mike JN

    Re .36
    
    Thank you.  My co-author was Clayton Emery, who has since written a
    fantasy/historical novel, "Tales of Robin Hood," subtitled "The
    Demons."  I haven't written any more choose-your-plot adventures, but I
    have recently written a fantasy-role-playing supplement on ancient and
    mythic Egypt.  (I even has a smattering of 4-D stuff in it.)  I hope
    your kid enjoys "4-D Funhouse."
    
    Earl Wajenberg

    
    Today's Boston Globe mentions that "The Postman" is being made into
    a movie starring Tom Hanks.
    
    -rjc-
    

    The new Brin book is out in the bookstores.  I had heard that the
    working title of this was Stratos, but that now appears to be just
    the name of the planet the tale takes place on.  I think the title
    is "Glory Ways"  The Glory part is right, but I'm not 100% certain
    about the 2nd word.  The jacket blurb indicates that sexual development 
    on Stratos has progressed so that most children are born as clones
    of their mother, but during the summer seasons, children can be
    conceived in the old-fashioned way, resulting in genetically mixed 
    chjildren of either sex.  The central character is on of these
    'vars'.  Looked interesting, but at $22.50 I'll wait till it 
    hits the library, shows up as a present, or the paperback comes
    out.  Now had it been an Uplift story....
    
    PeterT

	The book is entitled "Glory Season", and I've heard mixed
reviews (not having read it myself as we don't HAVE it here
yet in Australia :-<.

Article: 431
From: [email protected] (cb52)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.reviews
Subject: THE POSTMAN by David Brin   Book Review by C. Douglas Baker
Date: 16 Nov 93 04:05:48 GMT
 
                    THE POSTMAN by David Brin
                 Book Review by C. Douglas Baker
 
     THE POSTMAN is set sixteen years after a cataclysmic event
(presumably a nuclear war although there is room for speculation that
it may have been some other disaster such as a large comet hitting the
Earth) has plunged the world to the brink of a dark age.  Trying to
survive in Oregon's Cascade Mountains, Gordon Krantz happens upon a
run-down United States Postal Service jeep while trying to find a warm
place to sleep and spends the night. Taking the leather jacket and cap
off the skeleton of his unfortunate bunk-mate, with the full regalia
of the U.S. Postal Service as accoutrements, and a sack full of old
mail, Gordon sets off to hunt supplies.  Thus begins Gordon's almost
unconscious generation of a false legend. 
 
     Attempting to extort supplies from settlement in the mountains,
Gordon comes up with a story about a "Reformed United States" to the
east and the reorganization of a Postal Service. Using his newly
acquired postal gear as props, Gordon takes upon himself the role of a
"postal inspector" who has come to reestablish postal routes and
"inspect" local governmental institutions.  He even, luckily, comes up
with a few letters from the mailbag addressed to relatives of people
in the community as a ruse to bolster his story.  Through this
reckless prevarication Gordon weaves his way into the good graces of
the people he comes into contact with, simply by being a catalyst to
their nostalgic remembrance of a time when the United States was a
superpower and the postal service was so reliable as to be taken for
granted. Gordon's "big lie" offers hope of a return to better times. 
 
     Traveling around in this persona, Gordon lets the legend grow,
even appointing "postal inspectors" in various areas as he goes along,
creating a loyal cadre of "followers".  As the legend takes hold,
Gordon finds that he cannot tell the truth or back out of the duty
that communities impose on him--that being giving them some hope that
a better world is ahead and doing something to bring that future
about.  They believe in Gordon and his "Reformed United States" and he
cannot let them down. 
 
     Despite a very promising plot, THE POSTMAN is a bit frustrating. 
Authors using a post-holocaust world as their setting must viscerally
convey the extent of the catastrophe and the eeriness of a
post-technological world.  Brin in THE POSTMAN fails to do so.  The
reader never really emotionally feels the impact of the disaster and
the odds facing the main character, Gordon.  As a result, the book
never delivers the emotional blow that is necessary to make the
struggle back to a semblance of civilization satisfying to the reader.
Brin is too contrite in his brief descriptions of run down cities,
empty wildernesses, and struggling communities.  The novel just does
not "feel" like it is set in a post-holocaust society, despite that
the characters and actions take place there. 
 
     Brin also fails to bring life to his characters.  Even the main
character, Gordon, is not as well drawn as he could be. Brin does an
even less stellar job at developing his peripheral characters.  When
important persons are suddenly killed the reader does not feel the
sense of grief that great authors can convey, because the reader never
really "knew" the character. This is particularly true of his female
hero Dana.  Her attempts to save her community and the fate of her
band of "scouts" does not touch the reader because Brin never fully
cultivates the reader's sympathy or understanding for her or her comrades. 
 
     That being said, I actually enjoyed the novel (surprise!).
Despite feeling estranged from the characters and plot, Brin's prose
and ability to write action scenes and keep the story moving made it
an enjoyable reading experience.  There is also one nice quote that
sums up the point of the story: "Freedom was wonderful beyond relief. 
But with it came that bitch, Duty" (p. 270).  (Although this may be
Brin's attempt to paraphrase someone else.) 
 
%T The Postman
%A David Brin
%C New York
%D 1985
%I Bantam Books $5.99 (pbk)
%G ISBN 0-533-27874-6 (pbk)
%P 321
 
C. DOUGLAS BAKER
Email: [email protected]

Article: 1767
From: [email protected]
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written,rec.arts.books,alt.books.reviews
Subject: Re: THE POSTMAN by David Brin    Book Review by C. Douglas Baker
Date: 16 Nov 1993 16:00:07 -0600
Organization: The University of Texas - Austin
 
In article <[email protected]>,
C. Douglas Baker <[email protected]> wrote:

>                    THE POSTMAN by David Brin
>                 Book Review by C. Douglas Baker
>
>     THE POSTMAN is set sixteen years after a cataclysmic event
>(presumably a nuclear war although there is room for speculation
>that it may have been some other disaster such as a large comet
>hitting the earth) has plunged the world to the brink of a dark
>     Despite a very promising plot, THE POSTMAN is a bit
>frustrating.  Authors using a post-holocaust world as their
>setting must viscerally convey the extent of the catastrophe and
>the eeriness of a post-technological world.  Brin in THE POSTMAN
 
Not a bad review, but a couple of gripes here.  Some important plot
points: 1) It _was_ a war which started it all, with very limited
nuclear weapons action, but which destroyed communication and
distribution leading to mass panic and chaos.  2) The story is 16
years after the war, but only 3 years out of the "Nuclear Winter."  3)
The main character is fleeing the *really* anarchic and "visceral"
parts of the U.S. to come to mostly unaffected Northwest. 
 
The world in the POSTMAN was not a typical "post-holocaustal" world
because the great damage to civilization was not the war, but by Ayn
Randian hyperindividualism.  Thus, the emphasis was not on "eerie"
post-technology because most everything was all right, except for the
fact that no one could cooperate and/or organize except for the
militant gangsters. 
 
I thought Brin did a great job describing a society trying to find
something to bring itself together again, whether thru the idealized
notion of a "Postman" or a "Computer" or a martyr. 
 
The only thing I really didn't like about the book, which you
mentioned, is the clumsy way Brin handled the romance in the book and
the relative ease deaths are accepted by the main character.  The
character is pretty one dimensional--generic *good* guy. 
 
>%T The Postman
>%A David Brin
>%C New York
>%D 1985
>%I Bantam Books $5.99 (pbk)
>%G ISBN 0-533-27874-6 (pbk)
>%P 321
 

Article: 555
From: [email protected] (James Terman)
Organization: Northwestern University, Evanston, IL
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.reviews
Subject: Review of GLORY SEASON by David Brin
Date: Tue, 05 Apr 1994 23:24:20 GMT
 
Review of GLORY SEASON by David Brin
 
No doubt every struggling science fiction author dreams of
establishing a popular series that will cause their publisher to offer
lucrative advance after advance in hope of getting more stories. This
fantasy must get ever more appealing as the rejection notices pile up.
However, I suspect the reality of creating a popular series can grow
to be more frustrating than even a stack of rejection notices piled to
the ceiling. At least when a story has been rejected, one can start
afresh on a brand new story. By contrast, a successful series leads to
clamor for story after story from fans even if (1) there are no new
stories to be done in this series, (2) the author would like to try
something new, (3) the author is getting heartily sick of this series
whatever the financial rewards, (1) and (2), (2) and (3), (1) and (3),
or (1), (2) and (3). Of course, we fans have no sympathy with this
attitude. We have paid good money for all the previous books in the
series and we want new ones! The sooner the better! And it should be
better than the previous one, or we'll say that he's lost it! 
 
Even neglecting the author's artistic feelings (or pretensions as the
case may be), this attitude has many dangers. The least of these
dangers is not reading an excellent novel in a fit of pique because
its not the latest installment in a series that you have been
breathlessly awaiting. Such is certainly the case with David Brin,
whose previous book, EARTH, was quite neglected and unfairly
criticized for no reason, I believe, other than it was not an Uplift
series book. It would be a shame if GLORY SEASON was not read for
similar reason as I believe this one of the best examples of
world-building in SF that I have read in awhile. 
 
One reason that SF lends itself to series-building (and there are
those who heavily criticize this trend) is that one has to not only
create characters and a plot but also a whole world as well. If one
wants to make this world be realistic, three-dimensional and rich, one
could easily spend more time on world-building than writing the story
itself. GLORY SEASON describes a world that is such an excellent
example of world-building that many an author would be happy to build
a whole series of books around it rather than just one. 
 
GLORY SEASON takes place on Stratos, a world settled as a radical
experiment in social and genetic engineering. The women have two ways
to reproduce. If they mate in the planet's winter (both techniques
require actual intercourse with a man), the child will be a clone of
the mother. Mating in the summer will produce an ordinary child with
the usual mix of genes from the mother and father. Such children are
known as "vars" and have a precarious position in the planet's
society. Most of the planet's social structure is made up of clone
families of women who have established a niche for themselves.
Obviously, such a society is very stable as each clone line passes
down from one genetic copy to the next. Since there is no place for
vars in a clone line, most vars are educated by their families until
they come of age and have to go out and find a place for themselves.
Only if they succeed in finding a place for themselves do they have
any hope to get rich enough to start their own clone line.  Most vars
live their life without succeeding dying childless (of either type).
Only vars act as any force for change and most vars are anxious to be
founders of their own clone families. Vars to a certain extent are an
expendable safety valve for Stratos. If times are good, then most vars
will live on the fringes of society. Only in a crisis, when flexibility 
is most needed, will vars have a chance of establishing themselves. 
 
Women are most interested in sex during the Winter while men are most
interested in sex during the summer. Obviously, they each have
biological reasons for behaving this way, but their interest in sex is
also governed by environmental clues that take place during the
planet's seasons. One Stratos years is about three to four Earth
years. Since each sex is clued to reproduce when its in its genetic
interest to do so (Men obviously don't get anything out of trying to
reproduce in the winter and women are 50% related to a summer child
rather than 100% to a winter child), the set up on Stratos is inherently 
stable and has remained mostly unchanged for several thousand years. 
 
According to their own history, the society of Stratos was set up in
reaction to domination of women by men on Earth. On Stratos, the
society is dominated by female clone lines. Men live somewhat rootless
lives as sea-goers although each ship tends to have a group of women
that they return to during each gender's mating season. The
subordination of men is achieved by cultural conditioning and
emphasized by the fact that men are only aggressive as Earth men
during the summer mating season. However, each sex has an interest in
being nice to each other. If men want to get laid during the summer
(when they want it as much as Earth men do), they better do their duty
in the winter (when they would just as soon be bowling :-)). 
 
While most groups on Stratos follow the pattern mentioned above, there
are minority groups that follow alternate patterns. There are a few
groups where it is the clone children who leave and the var children
who stay. There is a larger (and more persistent) group, Perkenites
who try to live without men as much as possible. Every once in awhile,
the Perkenite clans use a drug that turns men randy year around so
that they may produce only clone children. This is an illegal abuse of
a drug that was intended to be used only when it was deemed that
normal male aggression was necessary. 
 
This did happen once early in the colony history when a ship of the
Enemy (which seems to be a mysterious opponent of the human race)
happened upon their planet. It was decided that male warriors were
needed and the drug was used. Afterwards, the men tried to establish
themselves a greater role in Stratos society which was eventually
stamped out. The official history is that this group of men, called
the Kings, wanted to establish Earth-style domination of women,
although it is hinted that this might be victor's history. In any
event, it explains why the role of men in Stratos society is as
submissive as it is. 
 
I have devoted a lot of space to the world of Stratos rather then
summarizing the plot because I feel that this is the most interesting
part of GLORY SEASON. Engineered societies have a long history in SF
from Heinlein's BEYOND THIS HORIZON to LeGuin's LEFT HAND OF DARKNESS.
Most seem to be shallow utopias to illustrate some point that is
uppermost in the author's mind. Stratos, while obviously engineered,
does function as real three-dimensional society with real people, both
good and bad, in it. Stratos is better in some ways than Earth, worse
in others. Whether you would prefer to live in Stratos or on Earth
would depend on your personal tastes (and probably your gender!). 
 
Equally as important, the biology of the people in Stratos was set up
well that I could not think of any loopholes in it. All obvious
consequences of such a change in human reproduction seemed to be
explored in the story. This is important, for if the world of Stratos
does not make sense, the story itself will be hard pressed to make
sense itself. 
 
The plot of GLORY SEASON is a coming of age story that centers around
the character of Maia. Maia is a var with an identical twin (a form of
cloning that happens both on Earth and Stratos). At the beginning of
the story, she leaves the clone family that raised and educated her
(in a rather institutional creche) to try to carve out her own niche
in the world. For Stratos this is a pretty standard pattern that
millions of vars before her have followed. But Maia gets caught up,
quite by happenstance, in the greatest crisis her planet has had since
they drove off the Enemy. A representive from the Human Phylum (a term
that indicates that Stratos is only one of many genetic experiments to
take place in human history), the Outsider, has found Stratos. Renna
(an unmodified man!) is part of a group of explorers that is
determined to bring together all the scattered human populations in
the Galaxy. In fact, he is the only forward scout for a load of
colonist already on their way. 
 
Curiously, not much changes in the story. Maia changes a great deal
which is why I say the plot of GLORY SEASON is a coming of age story.
Stratos, however, changes little. It is certainly clear the planet
will have to change a great deal in the future, but by the end of the
story Stratos still has not gotten over its cultural shock enough to
know what to do. The end of the story is definitely left open for a
sequel, and it would certainly be tempting for Brin to come back to
world he has so richly constructed. 
 
The world of Stratos is not some feminist utopia (or distopia that
would please Rush Limbaugh). Although, the perkenites would certainly
like to make it a world that Andrea Dworkin would consider paradise,
the people in it are not ideological straw figures to be knocked down
or lauded as the case may be. They are human beings who have
culturally adjusted to a different way of reproducing. Feminist issues
are certainly discussed, but if there is a hidden agenda in GLORY
SEASON, the only one that I could find was the rather obvious idea
that men and women do need each other, no matter how much they might
try to deny it. 
 
GLORY SEASON is an excellent book, and the best non-Uplift series book
Brin has written in quite awhile. I heartily recommend it for all Brin
fans, even those who were disappointed with EARTH. And for those of
you still unmollified that GLORY SEASON is not an Uplift series book,
Brin has stated several times (once to me at an autograph session),
that he intends to write one Uplift book after every two non-Uplift
books. I think he loves the Uplift series as much as any of his fans
but is afraid that if he just cranks out book after book he could grow
stale. I find it hard to disagree with such a strategy even if it does
mean that I only get an Uplift book every 9 years. So the good news is
that Brin's next book is definitely an Uplift book, tentatively titled
BRIGHTNESS REEF. It is rumored to pick up the story of the crew of the
Streaker from STARTIDE RISING. And it cannot come into the bookstores
soon enough for me! 
 
As a sort of postscript to this review, I would like to mention that
there is a 10th Anniversary edition of STARTIDE RISING out. The
foreword mentions that this is a revised version although I was very
hard pressed to find any differences (STARTIDE RISING is one of my
favorite books and I have reread it several times). However, I think
any excuse to reread STARTIDE RISING is a good one, and I recommend it
to any Uplift series fan. 
 
%A Brin David
%T Glory Season
%I Bantam
%C New York, NY
%D June, 1993
%G ISBN 0-553-07645-0
%P 564 pp.
%O Hardback, US $22.95, Can $27.95
%O Paperback, US $5.99, Can $6.99
 
%A Brin David
%T Startide Rising, 10th Anniversary Edition
%I Bantam
%C New York, NY
%D September, 1993
%G ISBN 0-553-27418-X
%P 460 pp.
%O Paperback, US $5.99, Can $6.99

I have to second this review.  Glory Season was one of those books that you're
sorry you have to put down when it's over and done with.  Interesting world,
and great characters and action.  Also one of the most interesting uses of 
that old computer game "life" that I've yet seen!

Read it!!

PeterT

    re: "leaving things open for a follow-on"...
    
    That's one way of putting it; This is the second book I've read in the
    last couple years that, in my opinion, just stops, rather than ending.
    (the other one was Hyperion). 
    
    Dave

Article: 4672
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.reviews,rec.arts.books,alt.books.reviews
From: [email protected] (Evelyn C Leeper)
Subject: OTHERNESS by David Brin
Sender: [email protected] (Michael C. Berch)
Organization: The Internet
Date: Fri, 19 Aug 1994 03:50:33 GMT
 
                        OTHERNESS by David Brin
        Bantam Spectra, ISBN 0-553-29528-4, 1994, 368pp US$5.99.
                   A book review by Evelyn C. Leeper
		    Copyright 1994 Evelyn C. Leeper
 
     This is Brin's second collection (his first being THE RIVER OF
TIME. also available from Bantam), and contains thirteen stories, five
essays, and three articles entitled "Story Notes."  The latter are a
departure from the usual "preface each story with an introductory
paragraph" approach.  Instead, they combine the commentary for all the
stories and essays in each section ("Transitions," "Contact," and
"Cosmos"; the sections "Continuity" and "Otherness" have no story
notes).  For some reason, the notes are in the *middle* of the sections.
Maybe Brin wants to make his comments after the reader has finished some
of the stories but before she has started others.  However, it breaks
the flow of reading the book, sort of like heading down a straight road
only to discover it suddenly makes an abrupt ninety-degree turn.  (Of
course, maybe the whole idea is that a collection *shouldn't* flow the
same way as a novel.  After all, the stories were all written at
different times.  Maybe they should be read that way too.)
 
     But Brin (or someone) has gathered and grouped the stories here,
and so we have to look at what we have.  The first section,
"Transitions," contains the stories "The Giving Plague" (nominated for a
Hugo), "Myth Number 21," "Mr. Pak's Preschool," and "Detritus Affected,"
along with story notes and the essay "The Dogma of Otherness."  "Myth
Number 21" is not even really a story, but a 250-word "drabble" from his
novel EARTH.  A "drabble" is supposedly a super-short story.  The
problem is, this isn't a story.  The other stories are indeed about
transitions, and Brin is a good story-teller, if at times a bit preachy.
The latter characteristic comes through even more in the essays, of
course, though he does point out the interesting paradox in "valuing
diversity" and "cultural relativity."  His focus reminds me of Kim
Stanley Robinson, although their approaches to the issues of
environmentalism and human relationships are very different.  (Robinson
has more emphasis on history as a character and a force than Brin has,
for example.)
 
     The second section, "Contact," contains the stories "Sshhhh,"
"Those Eyes," "Bonding to Genji," and "The Warm Space"; the essays "What
to Say to a UFO" and "Whose Millennium?"; and story notes.  All of these
are alien contact stories, though not necessarily first contact stories.
"Sshhhh" seems inspired by something similar to what produced "The
Giving Plague"--a similar concept underlies them both.  "The Warm Space"
reads like a story John W. Campbell would have loved, but unlike most of
Brin's other work.  It's also the oldest piece here, so the difference
is understandable.  What "Whose Millennium?" is doing in the "Contact"
section is not clear unless Brin thinks of it as being about human-God
contact.
 
     The next section, "Continuity," has no story notes, just two
stories--"NatuLife (R)" and "Piecework"--and the essay "Science versus
Magic."  (The "(R)" would be an "R" in a circle if I could do that in
ASCII.)  The stories are about the continuity of the human race, but the
essay seems to be here because (to paraphrase the old joke) "everything
gotta be somewhere."
 
     In the "Cosmos" section, Brin seems to leave his story-telling
roots behind and move into concentrating on style in "Bubbles,"
"Ambiguity," and "What Continues ... and What Fails ...."  I found these
less rewarding than the earlier stories, but your mileage may vary.
 
     The final article, "The New Meme," is in part an elaboration on his
earlier essay "The Dogma of Otherness" in which Brin proposes five basic
memes of civilization: feudalism, machismo, paranoia, the East, and
Otherness.  (Brin is certainly not a slavish follower of parallel
constructions in English.)  My major problem with this essay is that it
tries to cover two concepts, which are in large part independent: that
of memes, and that of the basic competing world-views.  Each should
probably have its own separate essay.
 
     Brin is a major author and his stories are usually worth reading.
But the confusing structure and spotty quality make it hard to recommend
this collection except to readers who are already Brin fans.
 
%A      Brin, David 
%B      Otherness
%I      Bantam Spectra
%C      New York
%D      August 15, 1994
%G      ISBN 0-553-29528-4
%P      368pp
%O      paperback, US$5.99
 
-- 
Evelyn C. Leeper | +1 908 957 2070 | [email protected]
"Am I politically correct today?  Do I do crystals and New Age?
Obviously, women's music's for me--Edith Piaf, Bessie Smith, and Patti Page."
				--Lynn Lavner
 

    I just re-read "Sundiver," "Startide Rising," and "The Uplift War," and
    was wondering when we might see more of this story. I found the
    following in SF-LOVERS DIGEST:
    
    
Date: 25 Jun 1995 05:37:03 GMT
From: [email protected] (Sean Carriedo)
Reply-to: [email protected]
Subject: David Brin and Brightness Reef

Got hold of an excerpt from Brightness Reef which is David Brin's new
book in the Startide Universe (about time damn it).  Couple things of note:
My initial information was that this would be a 2-volume book but according
to the pamphlet I have Brighness Reef is book one in the Uplift Trilogy?
The Book should be out in September of 1995.

My apologies if someone has already put this out in this newsgroup.
                                                                      
   "Brightness Reef is a bold and visionary saga-a tumultuous portrait of
humans and aliens joining to fight for survival, to uncover the truth about
their mythic pasts, and to search for the answer to the greatest puzzle of
all: the origin of intelligence in a vast and complex cosmos.  An epic work,
it is a master storyteller's return to his most popular series to date...
   A million years ago, the advanced Buyur civilization held sway on Jijo.
But then the Buyur abandoned the world leaving it to rest and restore its
ecological balance.  Now the vast civilization of the Five Galaxies uses
patrols, guardian machines, and sanctions of law to prevent resettlement
until the planet is once more ready for civilized life.
   But over the centuries groups of sapient beings, fleeing persecution or
neglect, have ignored laws, evaded patrols and landed on Jijo in secret.
They now live in hiding, in dread of the "Judgement Day" in which the Five
Galaxies dicover their presence on Jijo and bring punishment upon them.
Then a strange starship arrives in Jijo's skies, and the uneasy peace
is shattered..."

Does anyone know if Jijo is the planet that was crash landed upon in
Startide Rising.  I seem to have lost my copy of this book so I'm hoping
someone has the answer to this question.

Sean Carriedo

    (Sean's question was answered: Kithrup was the watery planet in
    "Startide Rising," and it looks like Jijo is the next stop for the
    neo-Dolphin ship.)
    
    Even though I didn't care much for "The Practice Effect" or "The
    Postman," the uplift books and "Earth" make Brin my favorite SF author
    (beating out Varley by a couple of points), at least among those
    currently producing work.
    
    JP