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From: mcb@styx.UUCP (Michael C. Berch)
Newsgroups: net.sf-lovers,net.books
Subject: Spider Robinson's NIGHT OF POWER
Message-ID: <20159@styx.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 13-Mar-86 02:32:37 EST
Article-I.D.: styx.20159
Posted: Thu Mar 13 02:32:37 1986
Date-Received: Fri, 14-Mar-86 08:21:58 EST
Reply-To: mcb@styx.UUCP (Michael C. Berch)
Distribution: net
Organization: Lawrence Livermore Laboratory, Livermore, CA
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Xref: watmath net.sf-lovers:12720 net.books:3169

Robinson, Spider. NIGHT OF POWER.
  (Berkley, January 1986, pb, 287 pp., $2.95. ISBN 0-425-008475-2.)

Before discussing the merits of Mr. Robinson's latest novel, I find it
necessary to disclose that I do in fact believe in Hell, and, in particular,
I believe that there is a place in Hell where the temperature is kept at
an exquisitely painful degree and where demons laugh with glee while 
torturing those confined there. This is the place reserved for the
people that design paperback book jackets and write the cover blurbs.

The Berkley cover for NIGHT OF POWER shows three urban terrorist-punks,
presumably white, one with a hockey mask, one with a Mohawk, and one
with merely a menacing expression, wielding various weapons in front of
a burning suspension bridge. The teaser reads, "A FAMILY IS TRAPPED IN
A CITY'S HOLOCAUST!" 

No, Spider Robinson hasn't written the sequel to ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK.
The front cover teaser (and its back cover companion, "NEW YORK IS BURNING!") 
are both textually incorrect. I have mentioned the excesses of cover
blurbists to both authors and publishers, both of whom seem to mumble
and shuffle their feet uncomfortably when the subject is broached.
I would have hoped that Mr. Robinson was sufficiently well-connected in 
the SF publishing industry by now to insist on a contractual right of 
approval of the pb cover (I haven't seen the Baen hardcover jacket; perhaps 
someone could describe it?). Apparently he isn't, or else it's his idea of 
a good joke.

Anyway, this is Robinson's race relations novel, a subject that seemed
to drop out of both SF and mainstream literature around 1970 or so.
Each of us has had since about 1966 to form our own opinions on the
subject, so there's little point in attempting to dissect Robinson's
(or his protagonists') precise ideology of racial relations. It will 
suffice to say that they are well thought-out, interesting, and
provocative, regardless of whether you agree or disagree.

NIGHT OF POWER is a Heinleinian novel, much in the tradition of THE
MOON IS A HARSH MISTRESS or IF THIS GOES ON. It is a novel of ideas
and politics; the characters are *utterly* competent like Heinlein's but 
are somehow not as interesting as the usual Robinson cast. (With the exception 
of Jennifer, a precocious 13-year old, and her bodyguard and friend, Jose.)
The plot follows the fairly routine path of Ordinary Family Gets Mixed
up in Major Events. (The main characters, parents of the 13-year old,
are of course an interracial couple, which I suppose is the Lowest
Common Denominator of race relations.) Throughout the book, Robinson shows 
he can discuss political issues without being didactic or boring. 
Along the way are lots and lots of observations on the nature of cities, 
methods of self-defense, forms of government, popular music, and a reasonable
number of puns. 

Robinson is probably getting tired of being compared with Heinlein; 
NIGHT OF POWER certainly will not cause anyone to stop.

This isn't Spider Robinson's best book, but it isn't his worst, and it
it's still one of the better books I've read this last year. Race is a
tremendously difficult subject to deal with in fiction without being
strident or preachy; Robinson is about 90% successful in this regard.
I know that many of us thought that racial tension in this country
magically ended with the 1960s; NIGHT OF POWER may convince you
otherwise whatever your views on the subject.

Michael C. Berch
ARPA: mcb@lll-tis-b.ARPA
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