Subject: SPEAKING IN TONGUES by Ian McDonald

From: [email-masked] (Evelyn C Leeper +1 908 957 2070)
Date: 7 Dec 92 20:10:34 GMT

SPEAKING IN TONGUES by Ian McDonald
                     A book review by Evelyn C. Leeper
		      Copyright 1992 Evelyn C. Leeper

     Since this is a Bantam Spectra book, I suppose it goes without saying
that McDonald's inspirations are not those writers of "Campbellian
workmanlike prose" who appeared in the old ASTOUNDINGs, but rather such
sources as Yeats and Joyce.  The result is stories that focus more on style
and language than on plot or hard science fiction ideas.  McDonald also uses
the Third World ambiance of "cyberpunk."  His stories don't take place in
New York or London or Amsterdam--they are about Hy Brazyl and Dahomy and
Penang and Nairobi.  Not that all this is bad, but you should know what
you're getting.

     "Gardenias," for example, is about the use of a matter transmitter to
achieve a new spiritual plane.  The matter transmitter makes the story sound
like hard science fiction, but McDonald is writing atmosphere, not technical
details.  The neo-Latin world is more fully realized than the device.  The
same is true of the dry desert world of "Rainmaker Cometh," the isolated
world of "Listen," the 1930s Germany of "Fragments of an Analysis of a Case
of Hysteria," the Caribbean world of "Atomic Avenue," even the Borgesian
hyperbolic world of "Approaching Perpendicular."

     Only in a few stories does the plot overcome the background to stand
out.  In "Floating Dogs," enhanced animals fulfill their destiny in carrying
out the designs of their creators.  In "Fronds," we see the clash of species
in conflict--the advancement of one will cause the death of another.
Ironically, even though this has the strongest plot, it may be the weakest
story, because the plot--even to its use of dolphins as another sentient
species--is by now familiar to most readers.  And "Winning," another plot-
oriented story (or perhaps character-oriented), just made me think, "I've
seen all this in a movie.  An Academy-Award-winning movie, true, but
still...."

     "Toward Kilimanjaro" is the best example of McDonald's strengths and
weaknesses.  When he is putting the reader in the encroaching plastic
jungle, he is excellent; when he gets into the specifics of what is
happening, he falters badly.  Is this new life form indigenous or alien?
McDonald wants it both ways.  And it is impossible for biological entities
to develop wheels (see Stephen Jay Gould's essay "Kingdoms Without Wheels"
in HEN'S TEETH AND HORSE'S TOES).

     Still, McDonald's skills as a stylist overcome the flaws and
familiarities in plot that he occasionally falls into.  SPEAKING IN TONGUES
is not for everyone, but for those pursuing the literary branch of science
fiction and fantasy, this is recommended.

     (I must make one minor complaint against Bantam: they chose to use the
book title for the page header rather than the individual story titles.
This makes it impossible to flip through to find a particular story--most
annoying.)

%B      Speaking in Tongues
%A      Ian McDonald
%C      New York
%D      October 1992
%I      Bantam Spectra
%O      paperback, US$4.99
%G      ISBN 0-553-29239-0
%P      310pp

Evelyn C. Leeper   |   +1 908 957 2070   |   [email-masked]

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--Alan Wexelblat, Reality Hacker and Cyberspace Bard
Media Lab - Advanced Human Interface Group	[email-masked]
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