Subject: "Steel Beach", by John Varley

From: [email-masked] (Dani Zweig)
Date: Sun, 2 Jan 1994 06:40:12 GMT

This book has everything!

SCIENCE!

	"As you can see," Smith was saying as we walked down a
	long and fairly rickety flight of metal stairs, "they've 
	just about frabjulated the primary phase of the
	osmosifractionating de-hoo-dooer.  And those guys
	rattatting the willy-nilly say they ought to have it
	whistling Dixie in three days' time."

HORROR!

	I went to the nearest table and stuck a knife into a pate
	sculpture of Sigmund Freud and spread the thick brown goo
	over a slice of bladk bread... I put two thick slices of
	smoked ham on top of the pate, spread a layer of cream
	cheese, a few sheets of lox...and topped it all off with
	three spoonsful of black Beluga cavier.

EPISTEMOLOGY!

	"Not three weeks ago, when she turned up that fourth ace
	with the biggest pot of the night, I *knowed* she was
	cheating!.... I know what I dealt her!"

WHAT MORE COULD YOU ASK!

What was that?  Sex and violence?  Yeah, there's that too.  If you haven't
gotten around to reading "Steel Beach" yet, you should.

-----
Dani Zweig
[email-masked]

  The surface of the strange, forbidden planet was roughly textured and green,
  much like cottage cheese gets way after the date on the lid says it is all 
  right to buy it.--Scott Jones

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From: [email-masked] (Dani Zweig)
Date: Sun, 2 Jan 1994 18:30:38 GMT

Kidding aside, "Steel Beach" really is excellent, but not without its flaws.
One of its best features (as with other 'Eight Worlds' works) is that Varley
has put a lot of thought into the implications -- social and ethical -- of
technology that could be just around the corner.  I may disagree with some
of his ideas, but they're certainly thought-provoking.  (He's pretty good
about avoiding expository lumps, but sometimes he slips badly.)

The story itself is interesting, well-told, and often very humorous -- at 
times side-splitting.  Its worst weakness is the welding on of the Heinlein
subplot in the last fifth of the novel.  It's too late, too different, and
too irrelevant.  (The 'Glitch' is relevant, but that could have been told
differently.)  The problem here is that Varley *wanted* star travel to be
the implicit answer to one of the problems he raised.

Again, if you haven't read it yet, it's starting to appear in the used
book stores, so the price is definitely right.  (In fact, if I'd known
it was going to be this good, I'd have bought the paperback new.)

-----
Dani Zweig
[email-masked]

   The inability of snakes to count is actually a refusal, on their part,
    to appreciate the Cardinal Number system. -- "Actual Facts"