Books: The Shadow, Lisey's Story, Tower of Glass, The Last Starship

[woodwardiocom]

The Shadow in The Golden Vulture by Lester Dent and Crime, Insured by Walter Gibson

The recent Nostalgia Ventures reprints of classic pulp adventures have given me the opportunity to read some of the Shadow novels. (Previously, I'd only encountered the Shadow in 70s comic books, 80s comic books, 90s comic books, the Baldwin live-action movie, the original film serial, and the Welles radio dramas). While the Shadow doesn't have a lot more personality than Doc Savage, he's at least creepy, while Doc was just stolid. And, like the Savage stories, the villains tend to be more interesting that the heroes, both in methods and in demeanor.

Lisey's Story by Stephen King

I had to put this novel down halfway through because I felt the heroine was being stupid. To be fair, she knew things I didn't, but this was still a frustrating read. Synopsis: Lisey is the widow of a famous writer, and gets targeted by a madman who was a fan of her late husdband. The novel is mostly about her relationship with her badly damaged husband, but in that damage lies the key to getting rid of the crazy. It has its moments, but there are a dozen King novels better than this one.

Tower of Glass by Robert Silverberg

I last read this as a teenager, and re-reading it was an odd experience, in that I remembered the sex scenes a lot better than the rest of the book. Synopsis: Signals from aliens have been detected, and Krug the billionaire is building an FTL comm tower to signal back. This is the backdrop for a civil rights struggle, because Krug is the inventor of the android, the slave race of the future. He's also their god . . . The novel is pretty darn sexist. The main female character reacts to pretty much any intense experience by getting aroused, and most of the female cast exist solely for the men to have sex with. Still, it has some interesting things to say about religion and slavery.

The Last Starship from Earth by John Boyd

I picked this one up based on its irresistible title. It is set in an alternate 1968, in a pseudo-dystopian world where most people are happy, but you're not allowed to marry outside your area of expertise. Plumbers marry plumbers, physicists marry physicists. This is a problem when a mathematician falls in love with a poet, risking the death penalty or, worse, exile to Planet Hell. (Deportation being the only thing starships are used for anymore.) The book intertwines bad math, good poetics, and odd social commentary, then gets kinda wonky in the last few chapters. Definitely an interesting read.

Comments

[notthebuddha.livejournal.com]

The Silverberg book sounds like it might be Roy Thomas' partial inspiration for The Vision. Are the androids red and conjugal?

[woodwardiocom.livejournal.com]

They are, but it's unlikely, as the Vision was introduced in 1968, and Tower came out in 1970. I suppose Tower might have originally appeared in one of the SF magazines of the day.