Conference noted::sf

    I know you probably wanted to avoid spoiling the book for us by telling
    us too much in your review, but don't you think you could have risked
    telling us the title?  :-) 
    
    
    				-- edp

Urk.  That's "In Other Worlds" by A. A. Attanasio.  And here I 
thought that with this wonderful new Notes you got both a title and a 
sub-title...
/jlr

    I thought this book was really stinko.  I bought it because I had
    read another book by Attanasio, "Radix", which I thought was really
    well written and a very interesting story.  "In Other Worlds" should
    have stayed in the black hole with the arachnoids.
    

    Attanasio has written a fourth (and allegedly final) book in the future
    history dealing with humans and the zotl (the spiderlike aliens)
    entitled "The Last Legends of Earth".  
    
    In this book, the zotl have invaded another gravity shell to obtain
    energy.  By doing this, however, they are destroying the worlds of the
    Rimstalkers.  In a last ditch effort, the Rimstalkers transport a
    series of ships out of their gravity well and into the zotl gravity
    shell.  These ships contain one Rimstalker and three machine
    intelligences.  Each ship separates into fragments which are able to
    collect matter and form them into planets.  Two of the machine
    intelligences are used to form a black hole and a star which hold the
    planetary system together.  The third machine intelligence is able to
    resurrect lifeforms from the fossilized DNA found in the planetary
    matter.  These lifeforms are used as bait to lure the zotl in, while
    the Rimstalker mounts a search through a type of hyperspace called the
    Overworld in search of the weapon to destroy the zotl.
    
    "The Last Legends of Earth" chronicles the mission of the Rimstalker
    Gai.  Her ship has located the remains of the human solar system and
    uses it to build Chalco-Doror, the planetary system to be used to lure
    the zotl in, with humans as bait.  The zotl have been able to
    infiltrate Chalco-Doror and have taken over two of the machine
    intelligences.  Gai has to enlist the help of her "bait" to keep the
    zotl at bay while searching the Overworld for the O'ode, the ultimate
    weapon against the zotl.
    
    I am about half way through the book.  It starts off slowly, probably a
    factor of getting enough information to understand the premise, and
    then really takes off as the Rimstalker/Zotl/Human conflict increases. 
    I haven't read any of the three previous books of the series, but that
    hasn't kept me from following the story.  Attanasio is a wordsmith.  He
    (?) is able to conjure up great images with his choice of words.  The
    creation of a future planetary system populated with reincarnated
    humans is reminiscent of Farmer's Riverworld.  He explores the internal
    conflicts of the Rimstalker Gai who must use a sentient being as bait
    in her world's fight against the zotl.

    So, does anyone know anything about A. A. Attanasio?  In James Gunn's
    introduction to "The Last Legends of Earth" he says that not much is
    known about the private life of this author.  So much so, that noone
    seems to know if A.A. is male or female.

    I'm almost finished with "Last Legends", and it's well worth the
    read.  I've also read "Radix" and "In Other Worlds".  AAA's stylistic
    elegance is vaguely reminiscent of Jack Vance, while being quite
    different in actual execution.  "In Other Worlds" worlds was certainly
    wierd, but I wouldn't brand it as "stinko".  As always, there's
    no accounting for taste.
                                           
    I haven't been able to find any of the other precursors to "Last Legends".
    
    len.
    

    re: .4 "fourth book..."
    
    I'm missing on here the latest is "Last Legends of Earth"
    The first I read was Radix then In Other Worlds (which although not
    completely "stinko" can't hold a candle to Radix which was tremendous)
    what is the name of his third novel?
    
    
    					Thanks,
    
    					John
    

    The third book is "Arc of Dreams" published in 1986.

    re:.5
    
    Well, James Gunn is crazy. I've got a few anthologies with early
    stories by AAA, and the "about the author" blurbs all refer to AAA
    as "he". Now, it *may* be the generic "he". On the other hand, I've
    also got a collection of his called BEASTMARKS (limited edition,
    published by Mark Zeising), and this has a photo of AAA on the back
    of the jacket. The author definitely looks male. On the other other
    hand, this may be a hoax photo like the one of "Richard Bachman"
    on THINNER.
    
    --- jerry

    Jerry, James Gunn did use "he" when referring to AAA in the
    introduction.  He said that one of AAA's editors refers to "him" as Al,
    so he would assume that AAA was male.  Gunn also pointed out the
    controversy over a certain author named Tiptree...
    
    Apparently AAA is not the type of author who frequents cons or is seen
    in social circles frequented by many SF authors.

    
    	Hi,
    	   I've just read "RADIX" and on the back it refers to AAA as a 
    	man. Unfortunately I also believed the rest of the information
    	on the back which referred to RADIX as "an instant classic". There
    	were also some other rave reviews. I found it very hard work to
    	read and full of statements which made no sense or were confusing.

    	The basic story line is good with some novel ideas. However I kept
    	wondering if it had been written in English or had been translated
    	from some other language. I like to think it suffered in the
    	translation. I don't recommend it.

    							Andy
        

    "The Last Legends of Earth" is out now in paperback.  The back of 
    the book has an author's bio which reads 'A. A. Attanasio lives 
    by his imagination on the world's most remote island chain.  He 
    is the author of the Nebula Award finalist "Radix" and its 
    companion novels "In Other Worlds" and "Arc of the Dream", as 
    well as "Wyvern".'  The picture shows an intense curly-haired man 
    wearing a wide-open shirt.  I take it that the world's most 
    remote islands are not the Canadian Arctic Archipelago.

    The book was a bit too mythic for me.  Attanasio is deliberately 
    aiming for that, as he makes clear in an appendix which lays out 
    the themes of the four books.  The world of Chalco-Doror is 
    deliberately constructed to have demons and seraphim, secret 
    passageways, objects of power, and (literally) timeless romance.  
    It was all so blunt, though, that you don't care what happens to 
    the characters, since they're just cartoon masks for primeval forces.
    
    Compare that to "Lord of Light", another attempt at fusing SF and 
    myth.  That too had gods and demons and talismans, but it was 
    about someone.  You came to care for Sam and Tak and Yama, and even the 
    demon Rakasha, consumed by guilt and power-lust.  Attanasio can 
    certainly write with as much color as Zelazny, but he can't seem 
    to induce as much empathy, at least in this reader.
    
    /jlr

    I read "Last Legends.." in paperback, and that was last December, so
    it's been out for a while.  See reply .6.
    
    len.