Burt Cole

Updates: Recent Science Fiction and Fantasy Purchases No. CCCXLV (Ursula K. Le Guin, Alan Garner, Burt Cole, and a Cyberpunk Anthology)

/ Joachim Boaz / 24 Comments

Which books/covers/authors intrigue you? Which have you read? Disliked? Enjoyed?

I apologize for the photos of my copies instead of my normal hi-res scans. My scanner died suddenly. Goodbye Dutiful and Dedicated Recorder of the SF Volumes.

1. Always Coming Home, Ursula K. Le Guin (1985)

  • Chris Hopkins’ cover for the 1986 edition

From the back cover: “Ursula K. Le Guin’s Always Coming Home is a major work of the imagination from one of America’s most respected writers of science fiction. More than five years in creation, it is a novel unlike any ever written. A rich and complex interweaving of story and fable, poem, artwork and music, it totally immerses the reader in the culture of the Kes, a peaceful people of the far future who inhabit a place called the Valley on the Northern Pacific coast.”

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Short Book Reviews: Joe Haldeman’s All My Sins Remembered (1977) and Burt Cole’s Subi: The Volcano (1957)

/ Joachim Boaz / 8 Comments

Note: My read but “waiting to be reviewed pile” is growing. Short rumination/tangents/impressions are a way to get through the stack before my memory and will fades. My website partially serves as a record of what I have read and a memory palace for future projects. Stay tuned for more detailed and analytical reviews.

1. Joe Haldeman’s All My Sins Remembered (1977)

  • Peter Jones’ cover for the 1978 UK edition

4/5 (Good)

The vast Confederación is comprised of radically distinct worlds ruled by the entire spectrum of political systems with both alien and non-alien inhabitants. There are few rules: don’t take advantage of indigenous populations and don’t wage wars on neighboring planets. At 22, the naive Otto McGavin, an Anglo-Buddhist, joins the Confederación as an agent to “protect the rights of humans and non-humans” (1). But there’s a twist. Under “deep hypnosis” (6) a “construct” of Otto McGavin will be created for each mission. He’ll take on the identity–under a sheath of plasticine flesh–of whatever person he needs to be depending on the task. Otto, and all his training, will only kick in when his life is at risk.

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Updates: Recent Science Fiction Purchases No. CCCXLI (Pamela Sargent, Lan Wright, Burt Cole, and an Anthology on Post-Apocalyptic Fiction)

/ Joachim Boaz / 16 Comments

Which books/covers/authors intrigue you? Which have you read? Disliked? Enjoyed?

1. Subi: The Volcano, Burt Cole (1957)

  • Peter Rudland’s cover for the 1958 edition

From the inside flap: “This is a forceful war story with a different. There is the Far Eastern background, the convincing solders’ talk, the military politics, the sex, disablement, disease, death, violence, stoicism, sadism, and so on, which combine to stress once again war’s futility and stupidity and man’s inhumanity to man: but there are also deeper implications which make this novel so strikingly unusual.

Judson, a persistent deserter from an army camp, has made a rough shelter for his native girl in the nearby ramshackle, bombed city, when he hears of a guerrilla attack on the camp. He goes to the base of the volcano (where the mob has gathered) to persuade them that if they kill Americans they will only die of disease for want of medical treatment. For his pains he is set upon and torn to pieces.

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