Best of Summer/Fall 2013

I've been reading A LOT of books.

But after "Collapse," the last book reviewed here, I am now without any books to read.  This will probably be the case until at least Chinese New Year, when I'm sure I'll be in Taipei, Kaohsiung, or some other place where I can buy books.  Until then, consider this the end of my book reviews.

You can click on the titles for a longer review of each book.

10 Best Books

1. "Childhood's End" by Arthur C. Clarke

This is the book that made Clarke famous, and this is also a book that proves his fame is well-deserved.  Not only is it well thought out and meticulously plotted, but the prose is far superior to what you find in most science fiction novels.  Truly a great work by a great writer.

2. "A Century of Science Fiction 1950-1959" edited by Robert Silverberg

There are a few stories in this one that are probably best forgotten, but for each forgettable story there are two excellent works of short fiction.  My favorites in this one were the stories by Philip Jose Farmer and Jack Vance.

3. "The Gates of Creation" by Philip Jose Farmer

Kind of like Conan the Barbarian meets Dune.  This is the second book in Farmer's "World of Tiers" series, and I would love to read the other two books.  Farmer might have written a lot of crap, but this novel is excellent.

4. "Soul Catcher" by Frank Herbert

Perhaps the only "serious" (non-genre) fiction penned by Herbert.  This one takes place in the Pacific Northwest, where an Indian guide kidnaps a young boy.  The ending is a bit disappointing, but this book gets deep.

5. "A Canticle for Leibowitz" by Walter M. Miller Jr.

Possibly one of the most profound science fiction novels ever written.   Miller Jr.'s novel of post-apocalyptic survival does not make for easy reading, but it is the kind of book that makes an impression.

6. "Venus Plus X" by Theodore Sturgeon

This book is trippy, and I like that.  One of Theodore Sturgeon's two most famous books, this one explores the battle of the sexes from the perspective of an alien race.  Even if you don't agree with the author's historical premise, it's still a great story.

7. "All the Pretty Horses" by Cormac McCarthy

The first book in McCarthy's "Border Trilogy."  This one follows two friends as they explore Mexico on horseback.  The part in the Mexican prison is one of the most harrowing things I've ever read.

8. "Jazz" by Toni Morrison

Even if some of this book does invite unflattering comparisons to Faulkner, Morrison's "Jazz" is very much its own novel, with its own kind of story to tell.  Definitely worth reading.

9. "Peace on Earth" by Stanislaw Lem

Lem at his most slapstick, and Lem at his most paranoid.  An astronaut visits robots on the moon, and returns with a brain severed into two halves.  Certainly one of the strangest and best science fiction novels I've ever read.

10. "Radio Free Albemuth" by Philip K. Dick

A nice companion to Dick's VALIS.  In this book, which can be considered a forerunner of that more famous book, Dick explores the relationship between a record executive, the extraterrestrial intelligence offering him "enlightenment," and a tyrant bent on (inter)national domination. 

Honorable Mention: Frank Herbert's "The Eyes of Heisenberg"

5 Books That Just Weren't Very Good

1. "Lord of Light" by Roger Zelazny

Buddha without the Buddhism.  Science fiction without the science.  Gods war against one another with gizmos, and none of it makes a great deal of sense.

2. "The Heaven Makers" by Frank Herbert

Wow this book was boring.  One of the worst books Herbert ever wrote, and certainly one of the reasons people can't take him seriously outside of "Dune."  The sexual parts were almost interesting, but they couldn't save the book.

3. "Gather, Darkness!" by Fritz Leiber

An order of monks brainwash the populace with a technology they themselves don't understand.  This one might make even less sense than "Lord of Light."

4. "The White Plague" by Frank Herbert

Wow this book is even more boring than "The Heaven Makers" - and also a lot longer.  A plague decimates the women of the world, and leaves the men searching for answers.  It tries to be deep, but fails miserably.

5. "Microworlds" by Stanislaw Lem

Lem comes across as a cranky old man in the non-fiction "Microworlds."  I am sorry that he ever wrote this book, for the simple reason that it will dissuade people from reading his novels - some of which are fantastic.  In this book Lem attempts to put science fiction under a microscope, but the order of magnification is so high that he fails to see anything of substance.

Dishonorable Mention: Marion Zimmer Bradley's "The Planet Savers/Sword of Aldones."

Frank Herbert in Review

"Frank Herbert's speculative fictions have taken the grand themes and questions of politics, ecology, overpopulation, and much more and applied them to the human drama.  His most popular works are the well-known Dune books: Dune, Dune Messiah, Children of Dune, and the latest, the extraordinary best seller, God Emperor of Dune.  Mr. Herbert has written more than twenty other works of fiction and nonfiction, including a recent book on home computers.  With his wife, Beverly, he maintains two homes, one in Hawaii and the other in the Pacific Northwest."

- from "The White Plague" dust jacket (1982)

At the time of writing, I have read all of Herbert's Dune novels, all of his other novels published during his lifetime, the three books he co-wrote with Bill Ransom, and the novel he wrote with his son, Brian Herbert.  I have also read two of his four short story collections, "The Book of Frank Herbert" and "Eye." 

I have yet to read the novels published by WordFire Press after his death (High-Opp, Angels' Fall, A Game of Authors, and A Thorn in the Bush), and his other two short story collections.  But these WordFire novels were written very early in his career, and with the exception of "High-Opp" all lie outside the realm of science fiction.  Given the overlap between short story collections, there are only a few of his short stories that I haven't read.

If I had to (somewhat arbitrarily) divide Herbert's books into the categories "Excellent," "Good," "Bad," and "Simply S**T," I would divide them like this:

Excellent	Good	Bad	Simply S**T
Dune Messiah	Dune	Children of Dune	The Dosadi Experiment *
God Emperor of Dune	Direct Descent	Chapterhouse Dune	The White Plague
Heretics of Dune	The Green Brain	Destination: Void
The Eyes of Heisenberg	The Santaroga Barrier	Whipping Star
Soul Catcher		The Heaven Makers
The Godmakers		Under Pressure (a.k.a. Dragon in the Sea)
Hellstrom’s Hive

Herbert's short stories exhibit the same kind of distribution.  About equal parts Excellent and Bad, with a few Good and a couple S**T ones.  On the whole, I wouldn't say that his short story collections are worth seeking out on their own merits.  Any ideas that Herbert introduced in short story form were better explored in one or more of his novels, and those looking for a good sci fi anthology would be better advised to start with one of the many treasuries featuring the likes of Asimov, Clarke, Sturgeon, Vance, and many others.

The three novels he wrote with Bill Ransom, all set in his "Destination: Void" universe, are of varying quality.  The first of these novels, "The Jesus Incident," is excellent and compares favorably to Herbert's best books.  The second novel, "The Lazarus Effect," is pretty good and has enough interesting ideas in it to be worth the effort.  The third novel, "The Ascension Factor," was largely written after Herbert's death, and is a complete mess. 

The novel he wrote with his son, Brian Herbert, may be the worst of his novels.  It is a confusing jumble of stereotypical characters and situations, all building up to an unsatisfying conclusion.  I've read some BAD science fiction novels in my day, and this one is near the top of the pile.

All in all, Frank Herbert had moments of brilliance as a writer, and it is these moments of brilliance that keep me invested in his books.  He certainly wrote his share of crap, but he was still light years (if you can excuse the slight pun) away from Stephen King.  Whatever he did was ambitious, even if it failed.

One of the other things I like about Frank Herbert is that he was from the Pacific Northwest.  This is also a locale that features in many of his stories.  Frank Herbert grew up in Washington and Oregon, and in many of his books you will find references to Seattle, Tacoma, or even more obscure places like Grand Coulee or Florence.  Speaking as someone who also grew up in Washington and Oregon, I appreciate his efforts to put these places in his stories.

For those who haven't read Herbert yet, I would recommend starting with "Dune Messiah."  It is a good point of entry into his catalog.  For those who've read all the Dune books but not the others, I would recommend starting with the books in the "Excellent" category and working your way right if you find yourself wanting more.  For those who think Frank Herbert SUCKS, I would recommend giving another of his books a try.  You might have read the wrong one.

While I can't say that he had a command of scientific concepts to match Asimov or Clarke (both of whom were SMART), he was definitely a writer of considerable talent, and one of the more original voices in American fiction.  While in some ways overlooked during his lifetime (his entries for the Hugo and Nebula awards were usually passed over in favor of inferior books), his Dune series enjoys an enduring popularity, and he has exercised a subtle if not generally acknowledged influence over American culture.  If you don't believe me, go see "Avatar" again.  Then read the synopsis of "The Jesus Incident" on Wikipedia.  Sound familiar?

"The White Plague" by Frank Herbert (1982)

"The White Plague" is a story of revenge.  The protagonist, John O'Neill, is struck by tragedy while in Ireland, and decides to take revenge on terrorists everywhere by unleashing a plague.  The plague targets only women, and has a catastrophic effect on populations worldwide.

It is one of the last books that Herbert wrote before his death in 1986, and it was published between "God Emperor of Dune" and "Heretics of Dune."  It is also among the easiest of Herbert's non-Dune novels to locate.  You're not likely to find "The Eyes of Heisenberg" in your local bookstore, but they probably have at least one copy of "The White Plague."

Which is a pity.  Herbert wrote books much better than this one, and it saddens me that many people will judge him by this effort.  As an attempt at "serious fiction" it is an abject failure, and even taken as a piece of genre writing it has some serious flaws.  For the sake of brevity I will divide these flaws into three categories: causality, characterization, and length.

1. Causality

This is probably the biggest issue I have with this book.  I could dismiss the characterization and length issues because, well, it's a Frank Herbert novel, but the causality issue cuts right to the core of why this book doesn't work. 

Firstly, would the loss of your loved ones - however horrible it might be - prompt you to unleash a plague upon three different countries?  Even if you had the wherewithal and had suffered a breakdown?  

Secondly, would such a plague invite the wholesale destruction of entire countries through nuclear bombardment?  Regardless of the obstacles involved in irradiating large sections of the globe?  Wouldn't the radiation problem be just as worrisome as the plague? 

Thirdly, would the provisional government of Ireland (many of whom are former members of the IRA) act upon their suspicions concerning the protagonist's true identity in so subtle a manner?  Why not just torture him for the information they required?  Don't they have a background in terrorism?

These three points are merely the most obvious in the book.  There are also many others, each mediating against a suspension of disbelief.  Obtuse discussions of genetics aside, Herbert really could have invested more thought into the basic structure of this book.

2. Characterization

This a problem inherent in many of Herbert's novels: a lack of credible characterization.  He can be quite brilliant when it comes to high-flown concepts and the scientific underpinnings of some ideas, yet when it comes to creating believable, consistent characters he often falls flat on his face.  

In short, the guy just wasn't very good with emotions.  He wasn't very good and portraying the inner worlds of his characters in a consistent manner.  The characters in this book are all types, and most of them could be used interchangeably.

More fundamentally, the main character's psychology is less than credible.  His schizophrenia is entirely too self-contained, and his reasons for doing things are baffling.  For much of the book he struggles against this "other" inside him, but aside from frequent mention of this "other" he seems completely sane.  Herbert also wastes the first chapters of the book by failing to give us a convincing portrait of his breakdown, and to explain the nature of this breakdown in terms that would have made "The White Plague" more compelling.

3. Length

Exacerbating the above two issues is the question of length.  I feel that Herbert was at his best when writing a book of around 200 pages, and anything longer than that - for him - was really pushing it.  Many of the questions regarding both characterization and causality may be due to the fact that he was padding this book to make it either longer or more like "literature."  Had this novel been edited down to 200 pages, it might have worked a lot better.  Of course some of the problems with causality and characterization would have remained, but they would have been easier to excuse.

With all of the above stated, I can only conclude by saying that "The White Plague" is simply a boring, laboriously written book, and makes even Herbert's "Children of Dune" seem concise by comparison.  Those, like me, working their way through Herbert's bibliography will read it anyway, but I would suggest that those less interested in his works avoid it.