From rec.arts.sf.reviews Wed Jan 8 11:07:13 1992 Path: herkules.sssab.se!isy!liuida!sunic!seunet!mcsun!uunet!think.com!mips!pacbell.com!pacbell!pbhyc!djdaneh From: schmunk@spacsun.rice.edu (Robert Schmunk) Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.reviews Subject: Review: Denton's BUDDY HOLLY IS ALIVE... Message-ID: <1992Jan2.205520.11763@pbhyc.PacBell.COM> Date: 2 Jan 92 20:55:20 GMT Sender: djdaneh@pbhyc.PacBell.COM (Dan'l DanehyOakes) Reply-To: schmunk@spacsun.rice.edu Followup-To: rec.arts.sf.written Organization: Pacific * Bell Lines: 81 Approved: djdaneh@pbhyc.pacbell.com BUDDY HOLLY IS ALIVE AND WELL ON GANYMEDE By Bradley Denton A book review by R.B. Schmunk (Copyright 1992) On February 3, 1989, Oliver Vale sits down in the wee morning hours to watch THE SEARCHERS, a John Wayne movie about to be broadcast via satellite. Finding only snow on his television screen, he ventures into his backyard to give his satellite dish control box a few well-chosen swipes from an oft-used wrench. Returning inside, he finds that his television is working, but John Wayne is not fighting Comanches on its screen. No, a young, gawky man wearing black plastic-rimmed glasses is standing in the middle of a gray plain in front of something big and orange and playing a Stratocaster electric guiter while he sings "Well All Right". Something is obviously very wrong and Vale heads back out to give the satellite dish what-for. Inside again, he finds Buddy Holly still on the tube, and the thirty-years-dead (exactly) rock star is announcing that he is on Ganymede (that big orange thing behind him does bear a certain resemblance to Jupiter). He doesn't know how he got there, but the television camera in front of him has a sign that says "For Assistance, contact Oliver Vale...Topeka, Kansas, USA." With this, Vale knows that he has gone over the edge. Conceived in the back seat of a Chevy at the moment of Holly's death back in 1959, Vale's life has revolved around his mother's fixation on Holly's place in the rock and roll firmament. What he's seeing now must be a sign that he has inherited her delusions. Next thing you know, he might even start believing in Atlantis and space aliens, just like she did. Unhappily for Vale, he is about to find out that his troubles are bigger than that. Almost immediately he receives a call from Sharon, his psychologist. It seems she and her boyfriend were trying to watch a little late night TV themselves (and not THE SEARCHER) and saw exactly the same image. What's worse, the radio reports that everybody in the state is getting Buddy Holly on their tubes, on *every* channel. Sharon figures the whole thing is some mega- hacker stunt by Vale, given his mild resemblance to Holly and his family and psychological history. Saying that he obviously needs immediate therapy, she convinces him to come over to her house immediately. With the best of intentions, Vale prepares to head out, but in the process realizes that given what is going on, his name has just gone to the top of the FCC's enemies list. Figuring that they would eventually track him down at Sharon's, he decides that the best place to go is Lubbock, Texas, birthplace and burial site of Buddy Holly. That destination is obvious to everybody looking for Vale, and there's more than just the FCC to worry about. What ensues could be called a pilgrimage, but it involves a trip through American rock & roll history (valuable for those of us not born until 1963) as much it does a chilly ride down the back roads between Topeka and Lubbock. Both tours are excellent, and somehow the whole thing makes sense. Rather than go into more detail, and ruin the plot for you, let me just say that BUDDY HOLLY IS ALIVE AND WELL ON GANYMEDE is one of the *best* books I read in 1991. I snatched it up off of the library shelf because Denton was the author of WRACK & ROLL, a somewhat loony alternate history that came out a few years back, and not because of the comment on the dust jacket commenting on how well the book compares to Douglas Adams' Hitchiker books. I think that the blurb is wrong. There is perhaps the same sort of appeal, but readers will probably find that BUDDY... is more similar to the mirthful twists of a Howard Waldrop tale than the madcap lunacy of Adams. And by the way, in his collection NIGHT OF THE COOTERS, Waldrop recommends that the reader obtain a copy of BUDDY... I may not be a name sf writer, but I'd like to make the same recommendation. If $22 is a bit much for your blood, be sure to grab the paperback when it comes out. %T BUDDY HOLLY IS ALIVE AND WELL ON GANYMEDE %A Bradley Denton %I William Morrow %C New York City %O hardback, US$22.00 %P 359 pp. %D 1991 %G ISBN 0-688-10822-9 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Robert B. Schmunk SPAC, Rice Univ, Box 1892, Houston, TX 77251 -- (713) 527-4939 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ...give me a man or woman who has read a thousand books and you give me an interesting companion. Give me a man or woman who has read perhaps three and you give me a dangerous enemy indeed. --Anne Rice, THE WITCHING HOUR From /tmp/sf.3694 Sun Nov 8 23:04:22 1992 Path: isy!liuida!sunic!news.funet.fi!cc.tut.fi!fuug!mcsun!uunet!usc!sdd.hp.com!mips!pacbell.com!pacbell!pbhyc!djdaneh From: atc@cs.utexas.educ (Alvin T. Campbell III) Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.reviews Subject: BUDDY HOLLY IS ALIVE AND WELL ON GANYMEDE (review) Message-ID: <1991Dec19.191638.10844@pbhyc.PacBell.COM> Date: 19 Dec 91 19:16:38 GMT Sender: djdaneh@pbhyc.PacBell.COM (Dan'l DanehyOakes) Reply-To: atc@cs.utexas.educ Followup-To: rec.arts.sf.written Organization: Pacific * Bell Lines: 50 Approved: djdaneh@pbhyc.pacbell.com BUDDY HOLLY IS ALIVE AND WELL ON GANYMEDE by Bradley Denton reviewed by A. T. Campbell, III Bradley Denton is a young writer who is beginning to establish a reputation for thoughtful science fiction with a sense of humor. His first novel, WRACK AND ROLL, explored how the world would have been different if rock and roll music had been invented in the 1940's. More recently, he presented a rather specialized afterlife in THE CALVIN COOLIDGE HOME FOR DEAD COMEDIANS, a novella which was a finalist for both the Hugo and Nebula awards. Now he has delivered a new novel which combines the strengths of his early work with a surprising ability to write fast-paced action. I was hooked by the end of the first paragraph. Here is a brief description of the setup. Late one night, a young man in Kansas is watching a John Wayne movie on television. Suddenly the broadcast is interrupted and replaced by an image of the late musician Buddy Holly, with an extraterrestrial landscape in the background. Holly says that he is on the planet Ganymede, and he wants to be rescued. What happens next is an amazing series of events that I will leave for readers of the book to discover. The nature of the story is difficult to describe. On a superficial level it may be considered another End of The World As We Know It novel, joining the recent crop including John Kessel's GOOD NEWS FROM OUTER SPACE and James Morrow's ONLY BEGOTTEN DAUGHTER. Yet it is also a crisply told science fiction action yarn. On another level it is a comedy of manners. It also may be regarded as a personal reflection of a young man raised in the culture of rock and roll. The narrative structure is ambitious in order to accommodate these diverse elements. Yet the story never falters. Denton has a wonderful ability to make us care about his characters. I would recommend this book to lovers of humor, adventure, science fiction, or rock and roll. It has it all. %A Bradley Denton %T BUDDY HOLLY IS ALIVE AND WELL ON GANYMEDE %I Morrow %D 1991 %G 0-688-10822-9 %P 359 pages %O $22.00 -- A. T. Campbell, III CS Department, University of Texas atc@cs.utexas.edu