Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Path: utzoo!linus!decvax!harpo!seismo!hao!hplabs!sri-unix!turner@rand-unix
From: turner@rand-unix@sri-unix.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.sf-lovers
Subject: Book Reviews (2) [Permission to split]
Message-ID: <4062@sri-arpa.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 10-Aug-83 11:44:00 EDT
Article-I.D.: sri-arpa.4062
Posted: Wed Aug 10 11:44:00 1983
Date-Received: Fri, 12-Aug-83 19:28:41 EDT
Lines: 67



"SATAN:  His psychotherapy and cure by the unfortunate Dr. Kassler, JSPS",
by Jeremy Leven, Ballantine Fiction 30625/$3.95, ISBN 345-30265-6

	The idea, you see, is that a brilliant (but crazy) physicist dreams
of Einstein.  And in the dream, Einstein demonstrates the construction of
*something*.  That something turns out to be a super-computer of sorts, and
when turned on, its first words are:  "I am Satan.  Hello and how are you?"

	Satan needs psychotherapy.  Well, wouldn't you, if you were he?  He
has come to Earth to get it (after all, his realm), even though he has such
greats as Freud in Hell.  Dr. Kassler is Satan's choice for a psychotherapist,
and the majority of the book is Dr. Kassler's story.  Satan gets a chapter
now and then, have no fear.

	Leven has written a great cosmic/comic novel (to borrow from the LA
Times) in the vein of Catch-22 or Hotel New Hampshire.  The book says some-
thing about the human condition.  Like Irving, Leven's philosophy is not
always a happy one.  But it does make for good reading.

	I'm not certain that this book should be classified as science
fiction.  It certainly has elements of science fiction in it, but doesn't
quite seem to make it as science fiction.  Nonetheless, A Change of Hobbit
carries this book and recommends it, and that was reason enough for me to
buy it.

	And should be for you, too.

------

"Streetlethal" by Steven Barnes (other information unknown)


	Steven Barnes was Larry Niven's collaborator on "Dream Park", an
uninspired but interesting novel about a "real" D&D game.  On his own he
has surprisingly done better.

	The novel revolves around Aubry Knight, an ex-nullboxer.  Nullboxing
is a contact combat sport played in a 10 meter plastic bull in weightlessness.
Needless to say, top nullboxers combine strength, speed and flexibility in a
vicious way.  Aubry is one of the best.

	Aubry gets mixed up with the Ortegas, a family that controls most
things illegal on Earth, the most important of which are grubs.  Larvae of
the Coal Moth, toasted grubs give off a narcotic chemical that has replaced
cocaine in the Los Angeles of the Future.

	The Ortegas frame Aubry and his troubles (and eventually, theirs)
start.

	The feel this novel has -- for the gritty, emotional street life in
the L.A. of the future -- is spontaneous, exciting and, dammit, correct.
Barnes has hit the nail on the head.  The plot is somewhat conventional --
nothing that we all haven't seen before -- but its well handled and fits
perfectly with the scene and the society.

	Starting SF authors often have this problem:  they create a society
that is far more sophisticated and interesting than their characters and plot.
Barnes hasn't gone as far overboard as some, but it is still the vision --
grubs, nullboxing, Death Valley Maximum Security Prison -- that is the most
captivating aspect of this book.

	A winner.  Go for it.

				  -- Scott R. Turner
				     turner@rand-unix