K.W. Jeter: Dr Adder (1984)

Edition: Grafton, 1987
Review number: 770

K.W. Jeter was unable to find a publisher for this, his first novel, for many years. This is not because of low quality, but because it was perceived to be obscene. Like J.G. Ballard's Crash, it portrays an extreme sexual perversion in order to make points about Western culture.

The setting is the Los Angeles of the fairly near future, a Philip K. Dick style background. There, on the Interface between LA and Oakland, surgeon Dr Adder pursues his vocation, creating amputee whores to cater for the innermost secret desires of men. He faces opposition from TV evangelist John Mox and his MFOErs (short for Moral Forces, but obviously having other connotations).

Jeter's message about society is bleak, essentially amounting to an accusation that America is crippled and that the "moral majority" is full of hypocrisy. The main point, made by the way in which almost the whole of society is reduced to the Interface, is reinforced by little allusive references - the Mickey Mouse tattoos on amputee androids intended to replace the victims of Adder's surgery, for example. (This particular reference, which is thinly veiled in the novel, may have been another reason for the reluctance of publishers.)

Jeter's writing is very powerful and provocative. This is at least in part due to the subject matter, which many will find obscene (which is, at least to some extent, the point - Jeter wants to make us realise that some aspects of our lives are obscene). The obvious question, then, is whether the results justify the strength of the content, for in this case only the end can justify the means. (If the purpose is either missing or remains unrealised, then the novel is just unpleasant pornography.) Since its publication, Dr Adder has perhaps lost some of its impact, since both its cyberpunk style background and the unpleasant sexuality have become reasonably common in novels. The true measure of the significance of Dr Adder also lies in this fact, if looked at from the other side - it is one of the forerunners of what is a major force in modern literature.

Delano Ames: She Shall Have Murder (1948)

Edition: Chivers Press, 1995 (Buy from Amazon)
Review number: 769

Delano Ames' series of detective novels featuring Dagobert Brown has been one I have enjoyed for many years, though they are quite difficult to find and this is only the fourth I have read. She Shall Have Murder is the very first one, and it sets the tone for the whole series, if perhaps in a slightly more self-conscious manner than the later novels.

Jane Hamish, Dagobert's girlfriend, works at solicitors Playfair and Son, and has begun a novel which is a thriller set at her workplace in which one of the clients is murdered. This suddenly becomes less than amusing when the particular elderly lady she has chosen as the victim dies, especially when Dagobert proves that this cannot have been the accident it appears to be.

The idea of writing a novel which turns into reality means that Ames has the opportunity to poke fun at some of the clichés of the crime genre. This is occasionally too self-conscious, but is generally amusing. Compared to the remainder of the series, it is not as accomplished; Dagobert is sometimes an annoying character rather than being as charming as he is meant to be.

Jack Vance: Rhialto the Marvellous (1984)

Edition: Gollancz, 2000
Review number: 768
This part of the Tales of the Dying Earth consists of three stories about a group of sorcerers, concentrating on one of their number, who calls himself "Rhialto the Marvellous". As his name indicates, he is not particularly modest, but he is intelligent and devious. Two of the stories are quite short; the middle one, about his rivalry with another magician who frames him for a variety of crimes and practical jokes on his colleagues, dominates the book.

The third story is perhaps the most interesting. In this, the magicians go in search of the sorceror Morrein, once of their number but now vanished. They track him down to the last planet left at the very end of the universe, and it is Vance's vision of the end which is the most compelling aspect of the book.

Rhialto's intelligence makes him a more sympathetic hero than
Cugel, but Cugel's Saga remains the most entertaining of the series.

Mervyn Peake: Mr Pye (1953)

Edition: Penguin, 1972
Review number: 767

Peake's most famous work, the Gormenghast trilogy, has autobiographical connections with his childhood in China. Mr Pye, his only other completed novel, is also related to his life. This is more obvious, because the location of the novel is not a fictional place but the Channel Island of Sark. This is where Peake worked as a young artist. (Some of the geography of Gormenghast Castle is also derived from that of the island.)

Mr Pye, which also exists in the form of a radio play, is a strange novel. It begins fairly naturalistically, Mr Pye being an elderly visitor to the island who aims to bring sweetness and light and knowledge of his "Great Pal" to the islanders. Christianity is never mentioned, but it is fairly clear that he represents the positive side of a particular kind of evangelist.

However, about halfway through things change, as Mr Pye discovers that, in some sort of joke by his Pal, he is beginning to sprout wings like an angel. Suspecting that this is a result of the goodness he has been practising and preaching, he begins reluctantly and rather inexpertly to perform evil acts.

More detailed connection between the novel and Peake's life beyond the setting is hard to see. Mr Pye is certainly not him, but he may be intended to be the young painter Thorpe. It seems more likely that neither character is wholly autobiographical. Peake's clear feeling that Sark needs the ministrations of Mr Pye is perhaps revealing of his attitude to the people of the island - though I believe he was reasonably happy there.

As a novel, Mr Pye is fairly unsatisfying. None of the characters are really convincing, the plot is too arbitrary. Unless you are a real Peake fan, stick to the Gormenghast trilogy.

Leslie Charteris: The Saint in Miami (1941)

Edition: Hodder & Stoughton, 1964
Review number: 766

The first Saint story to be set during the Second World War takes place in the USA, while that country remains neutral. The main theatres of war didn't really allow Charteris the scope to write the kind of stories that he specialised in, and he later said that he didn't want to diminish any real heroes by the Saint's fictional exploits; this is the reason for taking him halfway across the world.

Nevertheless, the adventure that takes Simon Templar to Miami turns out to be connected with the war, as is quickly apparent when an attempt is made to frame a British submarine in the destruction of American shipping. Like many of the Saint stories set in America, this novel is more like an action thriller than the others, though it is not without its trademark touches of Charteris' humour.

Michael Moorcock: The End of All Songs (1976)

Edition: Granada, 1981
Review number: 765

The conclusion of The Dancers at the End of Time trilogy opens at almost the opposite point in the earth's history, with Jherek Carnelian and Amelia Underwood marooned in the distant past, in the Devonian period with a broken time machine. They are eventually rescued, and return to the end of time, depicted more sombrely than before, to witness the end of the universe that had been predicted by aliens, seeking to warn pleasure loving earth dwellers that their massive consumption would bring the end much sooner.

The way in which this points a finger at our society is if anything more obvious than it was a quarter of a century ago. The whole of the series is a commentary on the present, as much of science fiction is designed to be; this is a particularly successful example.

This third in the trilogy is much darker than the first two, and the description of the earth as the end approaches and things begin to fail is quite chilling. While pessimistic, the novel does have positive moments. All in all, it is a satisfying ending to one of the best trilogies in science fiction.

Jack Vance: Cugel's Saga (1983)

Edition: Gollancz, 2000
Review number: 764

The end of Eyes of the Overworld saw Cugel, tricked once more by magician Iuconnu, returned to the spot on the other side of the world from which he had spent virtually the whole of that novel travelling. Cugel's Saga takes up the story where the earlier tale ands, and he spends this novel making exactly the same journey, from Shanglestone Strand to Pergolo, for the same reason: to gain his revenge on Iuconnu.

Thus, Cugel's Saga has basically the same plot as Eyes of the Overworld, even if the episodes along the journey are different. There are other changes which are more important, and which make Cugel's Saga the most accessible and satisfying of Vance's Tales of the Dying Earth.

The whimsicality of the earlier tales rarely becomes humorous. In The Dying Earth, the story is too diffuse, while the character of Cugel portrayed in Eyes of the Overworld is too unpleasant. Now, Cugel is shown in a mellower light, and humour is more apparent. This instantly makes Cugel's Saga more enjoyable.