Subject: _New Legends_, edited by Greg Bear with Martin H. Greenberg

From: [email-masked] (Roberta and Craig Becker)
Date: Fri, 4 Aug 1995 16:13:25 GMT

_New Legends_, edited by Greg Bear with Martin H. Greenberg
               Tor, ISBN 0-312-85930-9, 1995, 379pp
                   A book review by Craig Becker
		    Copyright 1995 Craig Becker

  It's a bit difficult to tell just what _New Legends_ is all about.  In the
introduction, Greg Bear says that he wanted to put together a collection of
SF stories with "great soul" and "...whatever we do, we won't call it _hard
science fiction_." Yet the back cover of the book says "Original hard
science fiction stories by..."

  And then there's the title itself: _New Legends_ implies new stories by
new, up-and-coming writers in the field. So what are Ursula K. LeGuin,
Robert Sheckley, Poul Anderson, Robert Silverberg, and George Effinger doing
here?

  Not much, I'm sad to say. Surprisingly, the stories by the Big Name
authors are some of the weakest in the book. They're not quite pages ripped
from the New York telephone directory, but if they had been penned by Joe
Newwriter, I doubt they would have made the cut.

  For me, _New Legends_ worked best if I ignored the established writers and
concentrated on the new talent. There's some exciting stuff here:

  Paul J. McAuley's "Recording Angel" is a dark, haunting tale of the far
future. Dreadful title aside, I'm looking forward to reading more of his
work.

  I'll also be reading anything I can find by Geoffrey A. Landis. His
"Rorvik's War" is a gripping look at near-future battle technology, and a
reminder that it takes more than weaponry to win a war.

  You probably think First Contact has been done to death, but you're wrong:
Greg Egan comes up with an entirely new wrinkle in "Wang's Carpets".  No
mean feat, and it's easily the best story in the book.

  Carter Scholz's "Radiance" follows in the footsteps of Benford's
_Timescape_ with an adroitly written story of science (and humanity) within
a bureaucracy.

  "When Strangers Meet", by Sonia Orin Lyris, is a nasty-but-nice little
story told from an alien viewpoint.

  There is also, unfortunately, some not-so-exciting stuff in _New Legends_:

  Gregory Benford's "High Abyss" gets an A for science and an F for
punchline.  His non-fiction article "Old Legends" is much better, a
fascinating look at how SF has influenced some of the Great Scientists of
our time.

  Contrawise, Sterling Blake's "A Desperate Calculus" gets an A for
punchline (I was reminded of National Lampoon's "The War Between the Blacks
and the Jews") and an F for technology, with people sending and receiving
email via portable satellite rigs, yet they haven't a clue about modern
encryption. My Suspension of Disbelief was Unwilling.

  Sheckley's "The Day The Aliens Came" is light and amusing, but seems out
of place here amidst all of the science and technology.

  Poul Anderson's "Scarecrow" is a minor effort from the Old School of SF.
Interestingly enough, it's paired with Egan's "Wang's Carpets", and the
difference is like that between vacuum tubes and VLSI circuitry.

  On the whole, I found _New Legends_ to be of uneven quality. It contains
sixteen titles, a few of which are excellent stories that do indeed possess
"great soul", but most fall short and have only mediocre, rather worn soul.
Given the cost of hardback books these days, I'd recommend borrowing _New
Legends_ from the library before deciding whether or not to buy it for your
collection.

%B      New Legends
%E      Greg Bear
%E      Martin H. Greenberg
%T      Elegy
%A      Mary Rosenblum
%T      A Desperate Calculus
%A      Sterling Blake
%T      Scenes From A Future Marriage
%A      James Stevens-Arce
%T      Coming Of Age In Karhide
%A      Ursula K. LeGuin
%T      High Abyss
%A      Gregory Benford
%T      Recording Angel
%A      Paul J. McAuley
%T      When Strangers Meet
%A      Sonia Orin Lyris
%T      The Day The Aliens Came
%A      Robert Sheckley
%T      Gnota
%A      Greg Abraham
%T      Rorvik's War
%A      Geoffrey A. Landis
%T      Radiance
%A      Carter Scholz
%T      Old Legends
%A      Gregory Benford
%T      The Red Blaze Is The Morning
%A      Robert Silverberg
%T      One
%A      George Alec Effinger
%T      Scarecrow
%A      Poul Anderson
%T      Wang's Carpets
%A      Greg Egan
%C      New York
%D      1995
%I      Tor
%G      ISBN 0-312-85930-9
%P      379pp