Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83; site cstvax.UUCP
Path: utzoo!lsuc!pesnta!amd!vecpyr!lll-lcc!lll-crg!seismo!mcvax!ukc!cstvax!br
From: br@cstvax.UUCP (Brian Ritchie)
Newsgroups: net.sf-lovers
Subject: Mark S. Geston
Message-ID: <34@cstvax.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 18-Dec-85 12:18:46 EST
Article-I.D.: cstvax.34
Posted: Wed Dec 18 12:18:46 1985
Date-Received: Sat, 21-Dec-85 19:06:22 EST
References: <1722@decwrl.UUCP>
Reply-To: br@cstvax.UUCP (Brian Ritchie)
Organization: Comp. Sc., Edinburgh Univ., Scotland
Lines: 39
Summary: (whatever happened to...?)

*** is there or is there not a line-eater lurking around?? ***

    Many years ago, I borrowed two (or maybe three) books by Mark S. Geston
from my (small) home town's (very small) library, and rather enjoyed his
sombre little tales.

  "Out of the Mouth of the Dragon" (which may be an approximation to the real
title) pleased me most. It is set in a post-Armageddon world where everyone is
wishing the Universe would hurry up and end properly instead of lingering on
in a grey half-life, and follows the life of a boy who goes off to fight in
yet another War To End All.

    MSG also wrote a book about a generations-long attempt by a nation to
build a spaceship to remove the entire population to another planet, with
struggles amongst various factions favouring or opposing the plan.  This
sounds rather like a hum-drum standard plot, but as with the Dragon book,
the world is a strange place: beyond the mountains lies another nation,
which these people never see or communicate with, yet we are given the 
impression that their purpose is malign.  Nothing more is told of this other
nation, but its darkness casts a shadow over the entire novel, and hearkens
back to my own childhood fears of unknown places.  Furthermore, the ending
is far from standard (or seemed so to me at that time), and has stuck in my
mind ever since.  Unfortunately, the same has not happened with the title;
perhaps because it was something dead boring like "The Rocket"...?

    There may have been another book whose theme was vampire-like, but I'm
not entirely sure.

    The point of all this is that I'd like to know if Mark S. Geston has
writtem anything else, and whether or not he still writes.  Of course,
proper titles for the above books (plus publishing details(*)) would be
nice as well.



    -- Brian Ritchie.

(*) The folk in the Edinburgh SF Bookshop told me that his work was out of
print, but they didn't say whether or not more was forthcoming.