Updates: Recent Science Fiction Purchases No. CCCXXXVII (Paul Cook, Poul Anderson, Jack Wodhams, and Penelope Gilliatt)

Which books/covers/authors in the post intrigue you? Which have you read? Disliked? Enjoyed?

1. The Alejandra Variations, Paul Cook (1984)

From the back cover: “FIRST VARIATION

Nuclear Strategist Nicholas Tejada sees the end of the world.

SECOND VARIATION

One thousand years later, Nicholas wakes up in an underground civilization that lives only for drugs, sex, and thrills.

THIRD VARIATION

250,000 years in the future, Nicholas travels with a tribe of Amazons, who are constantly forced to migrate by walking nuclear bombs.

FOURTH VARIATION

One the day the sun dies, Nicholas faces the woman who has been pursuing him through a thousand thousand lifetimes…”

Initial Thoughts: First, I adore Jim Gurney’s cover (of Dinotopia fame). Unfortunately, my edition is a bit scuffed. Gurney is the master of the articulated leg. As for the Cook novel, this is the third one–after Duende Meadow (1985) and Titangel (1981)–I own but still haven’t read any of his work. Which of those three would you recommend I read first?

2. The Best of Poul Anderson, Poul Anderson (1976)

From the inside page: “A traveler from the stars becomes the unwilling oracle for a Stone-Age people and the pawn in a primitive power struggle.

A disaffected sociologist discovers that each of his dreams for the perfect society contains the seed of a nightmare.

The War of Judgement has thrown mankind back into the Dark Ages, where the blue-eyed marauding Sky People and their victims face off in a struggle made desperate by the survival of twentieth-century technology.

Time travel provides one society with the perfect way to punish its criminals.”

Contents: “The Longest Voyage” (1960), “The Last of the Deliverers” (1958), “My Object All Sublime” (1961), “Kyrie” (1968), “The Fatal Fulfillment” (1970), “Hiding Place” (1961), “The Sky People” (1959).

Initial Thoughts: I’ve read and reviewed quite a few Poul Anderson novels and collections on the site in the early years. Some is basic adventure filler, some thought provoking, some downright frustrating (I’m looking at you Tau Zero). I’m always open to read more.

3. Future War, Jack Wodhams (1982)

From the back cover: “FUTURE WAR takes you back to the world of the highly successful novella, ONE CLAY FOOT, which elicited widespread acclaim.”

Contents: “Butcher Mackerson” (1982), “United We Fall” (1982), “Pet” (1982), “Dead Heat” (1982)

Initial Thoughts: I’ve not read any of Wodhams’ fiction. The reviewers over at Galactic Journey seldom seem enamored (probably for good reason) with his work. I’m slowly accumulating the Void / Corry & Collins (Australian Science Fiction & Fantasy) volumes.

4. One By One, Penelope Gilliatt (1965)

From the inside flap: “The theme of Penelope Gilliatt’s exciting first novel is the conflict in a man between his compelling need for self-assertion and the assured happiness of his married life–a conflict brought to the surface by the outbreak in London of a deadly pestilence which reduces the city to a panic-stricken place of dying and the dead.

Joe Talbot’s life, before he married Polly, had been dominated by his invalid mother who had raised herself from penury to affluence and who sneers at her son’s acceptance of life as a vet. Now, at the novel’s opening, he must break to his pregnant wife the news of the outbreak of this disease which is defying diagnosis and of the fact that he has volunteered as a hospital orderly. Only gradually does Polly realize how profoundly in this crisis, where the hospital comes so vitally to need his services, his attitude to her is changing, how he is struggling to withdraw himself from her. He sends her to his mother in Eastbourne–is it for her safety or his peace of mind? When she returns with their child he insists that they go into an isolation hospital. Visiting her there he pretends at first that he is someone else. Breaking through his barriers she declares her love for him. It is her fatal mistake.

Penelope Gilliatt tells this story of the agony of two human beings with a sympathy that is never sentimental and with a masterly command of dialogue. Her descriptions of London in the grip of pestilence, and of the savagery of those living outside the restricted area of the city and suburbs towards those they suspect of being plague-barriers, are horrifying convincing. This is a strange and remarkable novel.

Penelope Gilliatt is dramatic critic of The Observer.”

Initial Thoughts: I learned about this unknown take on a SF theme by a non-genre author over at Brad Bigelow’s The Neglected Books Page. I wish I had the bizarre Panther edition he includes in his review.

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