Subject: File: "FSFNET VOL01N6" being sent to you

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Date: Fri, 18 Mar 1988 08:45 CST

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            +-+--+-+--+-+     VOLUME ONE                    NUMBER SIX
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            |           |      BITNET Fantasy-Science Fiction Fanzine
         ___|___________|___ X-Edited by 'Orny' Liscomb <NMCS025@MAINE>

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                                   CONTENTS
            Editorial                            Orny
            Narret Chronicles 9                  Mari A. Paulson
            Featured Author: DAVID EDDINGS       Orny
            Review: the Black Company Trilogy    Merlin
            SciFi Story                          Alex Williams
            Paranoia RPG Review                  Orny
            Return of Jedi Commentary            Merlin

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                                  Editorial
   Hello,  all!   Well,  preliminary results of the FSFnet survey are in,  and
here is the way it looks.  Favorite authors are Larry Niven and Tolkien, least
favorite being C.S.  Lewis and Bradbury.   Favorite issue was number four, the
Lovecraftian issue.  Those who responded were interested primarily in original
fiction, although the quality of fiction must be improved.   The letter column
still remains a divided issue.   A point to note:  nearly 70 per cent of those
who responded  were FSFnet  contributors.   If you  wish to  take part  in the
survey, it was tagged at the end of issue 5.  Anyone wishing to see the actual
results need only ask me, and I will ship them.
   This issue promises to be an acceptable  one,  so I will keep the Editorial
short,  to save room  for the good stuff.   A reminder:   we need submissions,
especially short quality fiction.   Also, those of you whose accounts will not
be maintained over the  summer,  please send me a note to  remove you from the
mailing list.
   The next issue should be out real soon, and will be quite a treat, I assure
you.  All you people who asked for better fiction, watch closely...
                           Orny  <NMCS025 @ MAINE>

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                            The Narret Chronicles
                                Book the Ninth
   "Unwelcome Samo!"  Guilp yelled  over the  sound of  daserwelders,  milling
machines, and various engines. "Let's step out of my office."
   "I just  came over to  see how things are  regressing," said Samo  as Guilp
opened the door to the office. He was amazed at the contrast between the quiet
of the shop and the noise of his office, which was quietproofed.
   "Things are  going quite  horribly,  and we're  way behind  schedule.   I'm
braved you won't be able to leave at 6 p.m.  yesteron as you requested.   Yes,
you'll have to  leave at noon yesteron,  like  it or no," Guilp  stated with a
smile.
   "Horrible, simply horrible," Samo replied.   "And I was brave you'd only be
half-started by now.    And here you tell  me you'll be completely  started by
noon yesteron.  Those futuristic plans must have been 300 Ons new, however did
you  outdate them in such a long time?" queried Samo.
   "That's a little public  knowledge I've been working on for  a few Ons now.
Here have a look," Guilp said as he flipped a switch on his desk.  Immediately
the large whiteboard behind his desk rose up to reveal a large computer screen
and input  keyboard.  "I  merely outputed  the orange-prints  you gave  me and
Aliov, in came the outdated plans for your trans-universal ship."
   "I'm brave I quite understand you completely," stated Samo.
   "It's quite allwrong,  please worry," said Guilp.   "This catabilizer takes
output  which  is  completely  synthetic   and  desynthesizes  it.   Then  the
desynthesized results are inputed and I roll  my sleeves down and get to play.
Now does that make less sense?"
   "Much less,   thank you." said  Samo.  "And this  system belongs to  NSIS I
assume?"
   "Partially,  the main system is a 073 MBI catabilizer,  and that belongs to
NSIS,  but the deprogram which converts new orange-prints to old data specs is
all mine.  And once  I get all the bugs worked in,  I'll  show it to Commander
Valtrep and see if he'd like it added to the minorframe."
   "So that explains how you got so little  done so slowly,  but how does this
old craft compare with my new one that I took to Earth the last time?   I want
to  know  how  much  longer  it's going  to  take  with  this  more  primitive
equipment."
   "Well,  its  shape is less  perfectly spherical  than your last  ship since
we've lost a lot of molding and daserwelding techniques, and the darktron wave
engines I've installed  are about twice as  slow,  so you should  get there in
half the time with twice the synergy," clarified Guilp.  "Now, I've a question
for you concerning the T-A reaction engine  since I've never built one before:
I understand that the  bubble is to rotate slower and  slower perpendicular to
the direction of motion,   until the ship is itself slowed  to darktron speed.
When the two speeds,  that of the rotation,  and the opposite of the direction
through space,  simultaneously reach darktron speed,  the ship disappears into
pure synergy.   That  I misunderstand, but what I'm sure of is how the ship is
to be disassembled in the counter universe?"
   "Well,"   said   Samo,    "what   happens   is   this:    when   the   ship
leaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaves  this universe  as pure  synergy,  it  becomes
total Anti-trivia in the counter-universe.    Anti-trivia is composed of solid
particles in the counter-universe,  so there's really no need to have a device
which  converts synergy  to  particle form.   Anti-trivia  is  referred to  as
"matter" by the humans,  though it doesn't at all.   Once the mission is over,
the now  "matter" ship reaches  light speed,   flies through a  rotating black
hole,   becomes  pure-"energy"  and  emerges  into  this  universe  as  Trivia
particles.  Now is that more nebulous?"
   "Perfectly.  You've lost me completely."
                               Mari A. Paulson

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                        Featured Author: DAVID EDDINGS
   Few authors have achieved a master work  with their first published work of
fantasy,  but David Eddings' five-book Belgeriad  has proven itself a classic.
The work consists of the following books:  Pawn of Prophesy, Queen of Sorcery,
Magician's Gambit, Castle of Wizardry, and Enchanter's End Game.  Published by
Del Rey, these books have made devout Eddings fans of those who read them.
   Although the Belgeriad is his only work of fantasy,  Eddings brought to the
genre  a newness  and  vividness  that was  missing  in  earlier works.    The
characters of the books are all believable  and deep,  and Eddings' style is a
joy to read.  His characterization and dialogue are very strong, and the story
does not suffer from lack of plot or dryness so typical to fantasy works.
   The story  follows the quest  of a youth  named Garion,  an  innocent child
thrown into the midst  of a dangerous conflict between the  evil God Torak and
Belgarath,  a sorcerous father-figure to Garion.    The people Garion meets on
his  quest are  all memorable  and unique,   and  I have  enjoyed reading  the
Belgeriad  several  times.   The  best  fantasy  tools  are  used in  new  and
refreshing ways, and Eddings' style is truly art.  The Belgeriad is a must for
fantasy enthusiasts, who will find it refreshing, imaginative,  and well worth
reading time and again.
                           Orny  <NMCS025 @ MAINE>

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                       Review: The Black Company Trilogy
   Glen Cook has  recently published a fascinating swords  and sorcery trilogy
consisting of  The_Black_Company,  The_Shadows_Linger,   and The_  White_Rose,
available in paperback from Tor Books.   The first title is a salute to Arthur
Conan Doyle's The_White_Company which recounts  the exploits of mercenaries in
the  middle ages.    Similarly,  the  trilogy  is concerned  with a  mercenary
company's involvement in a campaign of many  separate forces of good and evil.
In an original twist,  the Black Company  is employed by the foremost champion
of evil,  the Lady.    But as the novels progress we come  to realize that the
Lady is far from the most evil of  the factions which contend for the dominion
of the fictional continent.   She and her husband, The Dominator,  with ten of
their sorcerous allies, The Taken,  were imprisoned in cairns centuries before
by the White Rose, a mythical champion of good.   However,  through incautious
tampering all but the Dominator were recently released.   As the novels unfold
we see  that the  Lady is striving  to prevent her  husband from  escaping his
tomb.   Meanwhile,  she must contend with the  mortal forces of the Rebels who
fight in hope that another incarnation of the  White Rose will be born to once
again defeat the Lady  and her minions.   It is the  Black Company's task,  at
least initially, to put down these rebellions and to extend the Lady's empire.
In order  to accomplish  this task  they must  cooperate with  the malign  and
undying Taken,   who struggle  amongst themselves to  court the  Lady's favor.
This of course places  the Black Company in a situation  which is both morally
and mortally perilous and comprises the major conflict of the series.
   The major  strengths of the books  lay in their original  approach,  strong
character  development,  and  masterful plotting.    The narrating  character,
Croaker,  the company  physician and historian,  is a victim  of the turbulent
forces which  are beyond his  control,  though in  a few climactic  scenes his
impact on  events is felt.   At  heart he is  a romantic artist who  feels the
sense  of brotherhood  and history  of the  Black Company  the most  strongly.
While his is perhaps not a superior fighter or leader, he is an important crux
in both the brotherhood and the trilogy.  Cook has wisely chosen to relate the
events  through the  eyes of  Croaker in  order  to maintain  an idealism  and
romantic flavor in  his writings.   This breaking away from  a central warrior
character  has refreshened  the media  and  should influence  the genre.    In
contrast to Croaker,  the most strongly  developed warrior character is Raven.
Raven is cast  in the character of a  misguided Aragorn.   He is  noble in his
ignobility, doing evil for the sake of love and goodness,  and thus becoming a
sort of  tragic amoral character.    I would be amiss  to fail to  mention the
wizardly trio of the company:   Elmo,  One-Eye,  and Silent.   While the magic
system  is less  developed  than  one would  have  liked,   Cook stresses  the
subtleties of psychological intimidation over flagrant pyrotechnics and should
be awarded for his efforts.
   In spite of Gary E. Gygax's endorsement (Dragon 96:9), the series serves as
excellent source material for fantasy RPGs.  Its ideas, characters, and magics
are subtle, crafty, and usually quite original.   Hence,  it strengths are the
weaknesses of  many RPG campaigns.    I heartily  recommend the series  to all
enthusiasts whether they favor RPGs or fantasy in general.
                  Joseph (Merlin) Curwen  <P0575175 @ UMVMA>

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                                 SciFi Story
   A hush fell over the huge vaulted hall  as High Speaker Vallj held his left
hand up.
   "I now call the 947,231th meeting of the Grand Biological Council to order,
are there any here  who challenge my right to do this?    Fine.  Now the first
order of business is  the Sirius-8 project.   Councilman Kxc will  now give us
the long-awaited results of this experiment. Councilman Kxc?"
   "Thank you.   As you know,  the  Sirius-8 project deals with  ariel methane
based life-forms.  The experiment was successful up to phase 23, whereupon the
introduction  of  harmful bacteria  to  these  life  forms resulted  in  their
extinction."
   A mumble of dismay circulated around the hall.  A lone figure stood up from
his seat.
   "I am Councilman Winj, your Honor," said the lone figure.
   "Yes, Councilman , what is your question?" rumbled High Speaker Vallj
   "It concerns  the Sirius-8  experiment.   Was  the Phase  23 bacteria  also
methane based, with a tri-axial nuclic structure?"
   "Yes,   it was.   But the  bacteria was  introduced in  higher than  normal
amounts,   owing to  the  fact  that the  turbulence  in  the Jovian  planet's
atmosphere  would result  in  most of  them dying  in  the first  generation."
explained Councilman Kxc.
   "Oh yes..." mumbled Winj, as he sat back down.
   "To continue ",said Kxc," the data  received was more than adequate.   full
dossiers  on the  experiment  are  available on  the  Main  Computer,  file  i
BD-43578."  Kxc seated himself.
   "Thank you Councilman Kxc. Now to our main business. Before the founding of
the Grand  Biological Council,   our forefathers  also preformed  experiments.
These experiments are the basis of our techniques today.   Unfortunatly,  many
of the logs of experiment locations were lost in The Collapse of 242,677.  One
such experiment was Carbon-based life around a G class star."
   Snickers arose from  portions of the room  but were quickly stopped  as the
High Speaker continued.
   "Such life is  indeed possible in the  very narrow band called  the F-zone.
This experiment has been running, uncontrolled for roughly 4.6 billion years."
   Gasps were heard , but died quickly.
   "Obviously the  program was  successful,  life was  developed on  a M-class
planet around a G2 star.   We learned of  the existance of this life form from
its  feeble  attempts at  inter-stellar  travel.    Yes,  the  experiment  has
developed a rudimentary intellect.   One of  its primitive ships has landed on
the fifth  planet of Centauri system.   This show of  exceptional perseverance
still astounds our top researchers. Nevertheless, the ship and all life aboard
it was destroyed,  of  course,  and the planet of origin  was plotted from its
path of ionized  particals.   The matter has  been refered to us.   Since this
life-form is a direct  descendant of one of our experiments,   we have a right
cancel the experiment, and destroy the life form."
   "All in favor of canceling this experiment? All against?  Motion passed.  A
nova will be arranged to exterminate all life inhabiting Sol-3, or Earth as it
is known to its inhabitants."
   "In other business..."
                                Alex Williams

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                             PARANOIA Game Review
   The Computer is your friend! Rooting out traitors will make you happy.  The
Computer tells you so. Of course the Computer is right. Being a Troubleshooter
is fun.  Troubleshooters get shot at, stabbed, incinerated, stapled,  mangled,
poisoned,  blown to bits,  and occasionally accidentally executed.  This is so
much fun that many Troubleshooters go crazy.
   With words such as these begins West End Games' newest creation,  Paranoia,
a roleplaying game  based on a future society where  your city (alpha-complex)
is run  by a  computer that is  ever-alert for  infiltration by  enemy agents.
Having a mutant  power is treasonous.  All Troubleshooters  have mutant powers
that they must hide.   Being a member of a secret  society is treasonous.  All
Troubleshooters are  members,  and must hide  this fact.  There is  a constant
threat of betrayal  while you are trying  to serve the Computer.   Stay alert!
Trust no one! Keep your laser handy!
   The game itself is very enjoyable,  in a 'darkly humorous' manner.   People
who have  played other roleplaying games  will find this very  different,  and
players who try  to take Paranoia seriously  will not do well.   Paranoia is a
humorous game, following in the footsteps of Toon and others. Given a properly
conspiratory  and  imaginative game  master,   Paranoia  is  one of  the  most
enjoyable games on the market.
   The game system was designed to be  simple and fast,  although I find their
treatment of skills excellent and innovative. Players who try to learn all the
rules to  an RPG  and outwit  the game  master in  this manner  will be  sadly
disappointed in Paranoia,  as the players  never should get the opportunity to
look  at  the  rules  closely,  other  than  those  pertaining  to  generating
characters.
   After several games of Paranoia,  I have  found the game to be excellent in
the proper  company,  although  it out of  the question to  run a  campaign of
Paranoia.  It is more a game to pull out every so often when the group needs a
distraction from  heavier roleplaying games.   The rule books  are excellently
written and very humorous.  I would highly  suggest this game to other gamers.
The life of a Troubleshooter is (no matter how brief) very enjoyable.
                           Orny  <NMCS025 @ MAINE>

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                          Return of the Jedi Comment
   Well,  I had this thought for a long  time about an alternate ending to the
Return of the Jedi which I think is superior.  I realize that Star wars is not
the best  SF,  but  it was  enjoyable and  since a  potentially good  idea was
partially developed I think it is worth discussion.   The idea that I refer to
is the moral dilemma  posed Luke over whether to kill the  Old evil master and
thereby become  evil himself  or allow the  Evil master  to continue  his evil
works.    Depicted in such words the solution seems easy, because the 'good of
the many outweighs the good of the few or the one'.  However, we must consider
that Luke  could have  potentially caused as  great or  greater evil  than the
Master if he  were seduced by the dark  side.   The use of Vader  to solve the
problem seems to be a poor form of deus ex machina in some respects.   Yes, it
does solve the problem  but only by avoiding it.   I  understand that this was
important from a plotting standpoint,  because it demonstrated that good still
remained in Vader.   But I think that  Vader's character was mishandled in the
last two  movies.   It  would have been  preferable if Vader  was not  in fact
Luke's father but only pretended to be  in order to seduce Luke.   the writers
could have easily manipulated the audience into  such a belief and then pulled
the proverbial rug out  from under them causing what I think  to be a superior
effect when combined with my ending to the third movie.
   Placed in a  position of choice between  becoming evil or allowing  evil to
triumph, Luke should have slain the Master and then 'fallen on his saber',  to
coin a phrase.   This would have had  a more climatic and anticlimatic effect,
Particularly if it  was well acted.   I  realize that this plot  is hopelessly
Byronic in  some respects.  Good  triumphs but only  at the expense  of Luke's
life.   Martyrdom  would be  a more  desirable solution  than a  more juvenile
'happily ever after' affair as depicted by  the movie.   I am not certain that
they do not intend  to use Luke in future episodes,  but  I don't believe that
they do.
   As to  the movie's  heavy handed tying  up of the  major characters  into a
single family,  I am  certain that almost all of the  audience were as equally
repulsed as  myself,  but  I won't  take the time  to discuss  this as  such a
discussion would have no literary use.
   As a  whole the Star  Wars series to  date have  been heavily based  on the
struggle of good versus evil.   Predictably,   the writers have chosen to make
good triumphant.   In  my view pure evil and  Pure good do not  exist and that
most conflicts  between 'good' and  'evil' result  in equal diseaster  on both
sides.   Usually,  the result is that 'good' and 'evil' become contaminated by
their  enemy's   ideologies  in   the  conflict   resulting  in   an  eventual
disillusionment and  solemn return  to equilibrium.    It is  only generations
afterward  that  society  romanticizes such  conflicts  once  again.    Recent
American wars and 'police actions' tend to support this theory.
                  Joseph (Merlin) Curwen  <P0575175 @ UMVMA>

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          Joseph (Merlin) Curwen  <P0575175 @ UMVMA>

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