Walttriznastories's Blog

Vintage SF novels in translation from Japan! Germany! Austria! France!

1. I’ve wanted Kōbō Abe’s SF novel Inter Ice Age 4 for a long while…. If you’re curious, check out Admiral.Ironbombs’ fantastic review. I’m a huge fan of Abe’s non-SF works–for example, The Woman in the Dunes (1962). And of course, all the Japanese film adaptations of his novels directed by Hiroshi Teshigahara…. (which Abe wrote the screenplays for): IMDB link.

Tangent: If you haven’t seen Teshigahara’s 1966 adaptation of Abe’s SF novel The Face of Another (1964), you must! At the very least, browse the stills….

2. My second novel by Franke…. and I’m a few pages in and absolutely intrigued–the plot blurb I include below should tantalize virtually any SF fan. Stay tuned for a review (although it might be in a few weeks).

3. Wolfgang Jeschke’s The Last Day of Creation certainly has the most outrageous…

the chalice was filled
with the warm blood of children
during morning prayers
for they were non-believers
non-believers in your god
your god’s the true one
but does your god fear children
are not divine words
enough to sway young minds or
are you the non-believer

a new flood
of
hatred
hatred
that has washed
over
our nation
and
our world
it
has left
in its wake
an unrecognizable
wasteland
where
the bloated corpse
of
the great experiment
in
freedom
has been dashed
against
the rocks
of
ignorance
pushed there
by
a current
of
data points
from
political
consulting firms

scrape the surface
of
ancient layers
of
life’s mud
and then
clear away
broken remnants
of history
from
hope’s vacant lot
a lot
strewn
with
the trash
of
shredded lies
and
uncover
the specter
of
mass murder
human
sacrifices
children
buried
in shallow graves
violent
sacrifices
to
an array
of
gods
gods
all
cast
in the image
of
those
who declare
that
their
god
is
the
only
true god
gods
that are
wrapped
in
patriotic
or
religious
flags
godly causes
less
than divine
and
perhaps
more
commercial
or
ego based
thus
one must
gently brush away
the loose sand
of
alibis
to
expose
the skeletal remains
hidden in
the mass burial sites
sites
in
palestine
yemen
sudan
and
along
the
american border
where
one sees
the splayed
bodies
of
children
victims
offered
in
carefully orchestrated
acts
of
ritual sacrifice
to
appease
human greed

used as war’s weapons
depleted uranium
children’s cancer deaths
said not to be related
as was smoking cigarettes

1. I’ve acquired quite a few vintage SF novels and short story collections in translation over the last few weeks–here’s one from Paul Van Herck, a Belgian author who wrote in Dutch. Not the cheapest DAW books edition I’ve encountered….

2. I always want more Le Guin…. Here, a series of linked short stories set in a fantasy world.

3. This Analog Annual anthology contains the only publication of P. J. Plauger’s novel Fighting Madness. Plauger won the John Campbell Award for Best New Science Fiction Writer before fading from the scene.

4. I love vintage SF. I do not love Ace Doubles. Yes, they published a few PKD novels that are worth reading, but, on the whole, their quality was quite low. This was a gift from a family friend and one of the very few Ace Doubles I’ve been looking for — mostly due to Philip E…

Monday Maps and Diagrams 1/14/19

A tantalizing title—Voyage to the City of the Dead (1984)–made all the more mysterious by two wonderful maps. The first charts a lengthy winding river stretching from the north pole past the equator. The second, a cross section illustrating the elevation of the river’s vast canyon….

I’m almost compelled to pick up the book! Although I’ve had little luck with Alan Dean Foster’s SF in the past. Thoughts?

The Maps (click to enlarge):

as a child
he had watched
the story
of pinocchio
and
had giggled
at
the thought
of
one’s nose
growing
with
each lie
told
indeed
he had tested
the
hypotheses
and
found
no evidence
to
support it
so
when
he joined
government
he had no qualms
about
lying
to his constituency
such
betrayal
was part
of
his future plans
for
becoming
one
of
life’s emperors
but
with each lie told
the embodiment
of
the person
the
public
had elected
slowly
became
invisible
like pieces
removed
from
a chess board
his
endgame

1. Ursula K. Le Guin’s novella, The Word for World is Forest, first appeared in Harlan Ellison’s Again, Dangerous Visions (1972) anthology before a stand-alone publication. I seem to remember reading it as a kid…. But…. the memories are vague.

2. Cordwainer Smith and I have never really seen eye to eye (I wanted to rhyme). I’m all for acquiring more of his collections just in case!

3. From Wikipedia:  “H. G. Wells lauded [M. P. Shiel’s] The Purple Cloud as ‘brilliant’ and H. P. Lovecraft later praised the novel as exemplary weird fiction, ‘delivered with a skill and artistry falling little short of actual majesty.'”

The Richard Powers cover is one of his best of the 60s.

4. John Varley, another author whom I’ve yet to read despite owning numerous of his collections and novels…. Millennium (1983) seems, well, suspicious? Time travel, airplanes, dystopic futures, love affairs across…

when
i checked
on
aunt bea
to see
if she was having
any problems
she said
it seems to me
that
you’re
the one
who’s got
problems
today
so
i told
aunt bea
that
although
i knew our nation
has had
a history
of blaming
asylum seeking
or
those
just different
from
the majority
for
its
inherent problems
i still found
the current cultural melee
in the country
quite upsetting
especially
in light
of the deaths 
of
innocent children
without
comforting
parental arms
aunt bea
said
when your mother
was cleaning houses
for
rich folks
she would
always get upset
if someone
would
carelessly
walk across
the floors
she has just mopped
especially
before
they dried
even
though
she knew
they would
need to be cleaned
again
next week
i guess
she felt
that
such actions
symbolized
disrespect
disrespecting
the efforts of others
to
make things
right
hmm
seems
you…