From: Stacey Harris Subject: (glencook-fans) Heirs of Babylon Date: 19 Apr 2003 16:05:40 -0500 Hi, all, I recently discovered how easy it is to find Cook books at eBay. You have to keep on trying (if you don't want to pay exorbitant prices), because there are people who are willing to bid up to very high levels; but I found that once I won a bid, I was in email contact with the seller, who often had more books to sell me directly! With a single contact, I was able to get nearly all my missing Garrett books (half of them, all out of print) and two of the three Darkwar books. I got "Matter of Time". And I got "Heirs of Babylon". That is one helluva book--and *very* different from everything else Glen has written. It's very early--his second novel, in 1972--but it doesn't feel like a beginner's novel at all. It's dark and foreboding, with psychological aspects being the heart of the story. No spoilers here, but I'll tell you what it's about. It's a post-holocaust anti-war novel, set a couple centuries in the future. It hardly feels like science fiction at all, as the setting is a WW-II-era warship--a cruiser? not sure--and Glen shows an intense familiarity with shipboard life. The drama is provided not so much by the ongoing war that the ship is engaged in, as by the political forces, largely unseen, which control the destiny of the world: Who is really calling the shots, as far as the war's being supported (by the state or what's left of it) or opposed (by the secretive underground--or maybe the general public)? Both sides have more-or-less public figures as well as hidden followers. It is this inability to trust one's fellow--never knowing who reports to whom or is sympathetic to which side--that forms the central psychological dynamic of the book. The point of view character is a political naif who joins the navy simply to be doing something different than fishing for a while (or maybe because his wife insisted that he not join it). He finds sympathy with order--hence, the state--as well as with peace--hence, the underground--and he seems eventually to find himself in better command of the intellectual bases for both sides than most of their actual proponents. But his chief concerns are apolitical: What he really is concerned with is the personal loyalties of childhood friends and relatives, several of whom are also shipmates (since crews are recruited locally). And it is the hero's resolving of these personal dilemmas that make for the actual plot; the history of the war, what happens in the greater scheme of things, even who survives or doesn't--these are all secondary to Glen, and we never learn a lot of it. (This, I think fits in with the New Wave SF that was becoming popular at the time.) Interestingly, nearly all the characters are German, and German words sprinkle the text liberally. I don't think I've ever seen anything like in any other Englsh-authored SF text. This is a very different Glen Cook. And it's a good book. Steve PS "Matter of Time" has a large section of it set in present-day times (well, the 70s): in St. Louis; in fact, right in Glen's own neighborhood! It's just a few miles from me, and I know all the street-names :) ======================================================================= To unsubscribe, subscribe, or access the archives of this list, visit . ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Steve Harris Subject: (glencook-fans) Heirs to Babylon? Date: 24 Apr 2003 18:16:51 -0500 Hi, all, I thought I sent a review of "Heirs to Babylon". But I don't recall now if I saw my own letter being posted, and I certainly didn't see any replies. Did I just miss it, or did my review appear? Steve ======================================================================= To unsubscribe, subscribe, or access the archives of this list, visit . ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "Lawrence Jenab" Subject: Re: (glencook-fans) Heirs to Babylon? Date: 24 Apr 2003 19:58:07 -0500 I got it, Steve, so it must have gone through. Larry ----- Original Message ----- Sent: Thursday, April 24, 2003 6:16 PM > Hi, all, > > I thought I sent a review of "Heirs to Babylon". But I don't recall now > if I saw my own letter being posted, and I certainly didn't see any > replies. Did I just miss it, or did my review appear? > > Steve > > ======================================================================= > To unsubscribe, subscribe, or access the archives of this list, > visit . > ======================================================================= To unsubscribe, subscribe, or access the archives of this list, visit .