The Year's Best SF 11 # 1993 Read online

  Meanwhile, what tends to be covered to some extent by the immense success of Jurassic Park is that it was not really a very successful year for genre films overall, with many of them being commercially disappointing, and some of them being outright bombs. Next to Jurassic Park, although considerably down the scale, the most successful genre movie of the year commercially was Groundhog Day; it was probably the most successful artistically as well, a pleasant and well-meaning little fantasy with an engaging performance from Bill Murray … although I did keep wondering why he didn’t try to get out of his Möbius-strip predicament by doing something like staying up all night or going somewhere else, dodges that will occur immediately to any experienced genre reader, but never seem to occur to Murray’s character. Hocus Pocus was a classic dumb fantasy, as opposed to a reasonably intelligent fantasy like Groundhog Day; it featured a trio of comic-book witches, and didn’t arouse much enthusiasm in anybody. Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas did have some intelligent touches, and some wonderfully creative animation, but, in spite of that, the audience didn’t seem to warm to it either. Nor did Demolition Man really do all that well at the box office, in spite of the presence of Sly Stallone, although it did feature some welcome humor and some nice satirical touches, mixed in with the usual shoot-’em-up ultraviolence (maybe that’s why it didn’t do all that well, come to think of it!). And even the presence of the Mighty Schwarzenegger, king of the action movies, Big Arnold himself, couldn’t save The Last Action Hero, which bombed disastrously at the box office, especially when you factor in how much it cost to make in the first place. Super Mario Brothers, Coneheads, Addams Family Values, and Robocop 3 were all box-office disappointments as well.

  All in all, not much of a year, once you get by Jurassic Park.

  On the horizon: a theatrical Star Trek: The Next Generation film, perhaps with cast members from the original Star Trek thrown in, a new SF movie called Al directed by Stanley Kubrick, a new Indiana Jones movie, and three new Star Wars movies, prequels to the original three.

  Turning to television, it was a year of mixed success there, too, although at least a lot was happening.

  Of last year’s new shows, “Time Trax” has survived, although I still don’t like it much, as has the animated “Batman” show (although a spinoff animated theatrical film called Batman: Mask of the Phantasm didn’t do well at the box office), and, unsurprisingly, “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.” “Babylon 5” looked like it was going to go down the tubes last year, but it has gotten a new lease on life, and is back to compete with its direct rival, “Deep Space Nine”—both shows being similar enough in concept and format that probably only one of them can survive (so far, it looks like “Deep Space Nine,” which enjoys an enormous spinoff audience from the other Star Trek shows, will be the one, but we’ll see). George R.R. Martin’s proposed new series, Doors, never made it to the screen.

  There were also several new genre shows this year. “SeaQuest DSV” started out with a big initial audience, probably attracted by the Spielberg name, but has sunk slowly on a Voyage to the Bottom of the Ratings ever since; it’s a weak and derivative show creatively, and its future is probably in doubt. “The X-Files”—FBI agents fight UFO aliens, killer computers, and various sorts of weird occult beasties—has gathered an enthusiastic cult following, and is a good deal more fun to watch than the dull “SeaQuest DSV,” but is also shaky in the ratings, and faces an uncertain future. “Lois and Clark,” a slick postmodern take on Superman, seems to be doing fairly well, as does “The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr.,” a comic western with fantastic elements, reminiscent of “The Wild, Wild West.” “Beavis and Butthead” are this year’s “Ren and Stimpy,” which in turn were the year before’s “Simpsons,” but I can’t work up much enthusiasm for any of them, especially “Beavis and Butthead.” There was a muddled and confusing “cyberpunk” mini-series called “Wild Palms,” featuring William Gibson in a cameo walk-on as himself, which mostly reminded me of how much better the original British version of Max Headroom handled this kind of material almost a decade ago. And, in spite of a lot of self-conscious, self-referential, self-satirizing, postmodern tropes (trying, for instance, to make it all a Metaphor for Feminist Rage), a remake of Attack of the 50 Foot Woman turned out to be just about as dumb as the original version.

  Elsewhere, the writing has slipped another notch or two on “Northern Exposure,” alas (and they no longer seem to be doing many shows with fantastic elements in them), and I don’t much like Joel’s replacement on “Mystery Science Theater 3000” (the more modern movies they’re doing now are also no longer as Classically Bad as some of the unbelievably awful movies from the fifties they used to do, and so not as entertaining to roast, and I have to wonder if this show isn’t reaching the end of its natural life span). Since last year, our local cable company has started carrying the Sci-Fi Channel, and I have had a chance to watch it—and, I must say, I am not impressed; for the most part, it seems to be an endless parade of all the awful old monster movies and all the inept old “Sci-Fi” television shows you suffered through in the fifties and sixties, and what original programming there is is pretty lame. For a look at the sort of thing that could be done with such a format, check out the Canadian program about science fiction and the science fiction field, “Prisoners of Gravity,” which has been running here and there this year on various PBS stations around the United States, and which (in spite of a few annoyingly self-indulgent stylistic tropes) is considerably more intelligent than any of the original programming I’ve seen so far on the “Sci-Fi Channel.”

  The two most popular genre shows on the air are “Star Trek: The Next Generation” and “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine,” and although the writing does seem to have slipped a bit this year, “Star Trek: The Next Generation” is probably still the best science fiction show on television. It surprises me to say this, since I didn’t much like “Star Trek: TNG” when it first aired, but it has snuck up on me over the last few years, and a few seasons back I even found myself enjoying most of the episodes. I wondered if I’d been unfair to the show originally, and I’ve recently gone back and rewatched many of those old episodes, and, nope, I was right—they really did stink. “Star Trek: TNG” was terrible for the first few seasons, and probably deserves some sort of award for Most Dramatic Improvement in Quality. Starting from the Usual Old Tripe, “Star Trek: TNG” progressed to the point where, at its peak a season or two back, they were doing shows such as the sequence of episodes about the Klingon Civil War that were almost as valid as science fiction as, say, one of Poul Anderson’s spacefaring political/military adventure novels of the early sixties (the matte-paintings of the Klingon capital city even look like an Ed Emshwiller cover for one of Anderson’s Dominic Flandry novels; not accidentally, I suspect). A few episodes, such as the thoughtful one in which Captain Picard goes back to France to visit his brother, even progressed beyond adventure tropes to something approaching post-sixties, post–New Wave print SF values and aesthetics—which is considerably closer to having caught up with where the print SF genre is today than most media SF I can think of (with a few exceptions, such as 2001: A Space Odyssey or A Clockwork Orange), and especially SF on televison—and all you have to do to prove that is to turn to the Sci-Fi Channel and catch an episode of “Lost in Space.” I suspect that most of the credit goes to Rick Berman, who took over as producer when Gene Roddenberry went into his final illness, and to the writers, of course, and to the fact that the cast featured a few people such as Patrick Stewart who actually could act well enough to handle more sophisticated material with conviction.

  Next year is rumored to be the last season for “Star Trek: TNG,” since they’re anxious to move the cast on to theatrical films, but I wonder if that isn’t a mistake. I still haven’t warmed to “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine,” which strikes me as a dull and woodenly acted show, and I wonder if it’s really strong enough to hold the Star Trek empire together once “Star Trek: TNG” is gone.
Certainly most of the “Star Trek: TNG” fans I know are not really all that enthusiastic about “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine”—they watch it because it follows “Star Trek: TNG,” and it’s easier not to change the channel … but will they continue to watch it for long once “Star Trek: TNG” is gone? I suppose that a lot will depend on how strong the new Star Trek spinoff planned for next year, “Star Trek: Voyager,” actually turns out to be. One of the things that helped to save “Star Trek: TNG” during its shaky first few seasons was that Patrick Stewart proved to be surprisingly forceful and charismatic in the role of Captain Picard, actually making the role much more central to the show, by sheer force of character, than had originally been intended by the show’s producers. So far, “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine” lacks an actor with that kind of charismatic presence—in fact, Captain Picard’s counterpart in “Deep Space Nine” is one of the dullest performers in a generally lackluster ensemble cast. Let’s hope they can ship somebody with a little more flamboyance aboard “Star Trek: Voyager.”

  The 51st World Science Fiction Convention, ConFrancisco, was held in San Francisco, California, from September 2 to September 6, 1993, and drew an estimated attendance of 7,100. The 1993 Hugo Awards, presented at ConFrancisco, were: Best Novel (tie), A Fire Upon the Deep, by Vernor Vinge and Doomsday Book, by Connie Willis; Best Novella, “Barnacle Bill the Spacer,” by Lucius Shepard; Best Novelette, “The Nutcracker Coup,” by Janet Kagan; Best Short Story, “Even the Queen,” by Connie Willis; Best Nonfiction, A Wealth of Fable: An Informal History of Science Fiction Fandom in the 1950s, by Harry Warner, Jr.; Best Professional Editor, Gardner Dozois; Best Professional Artist, Don Maitz; Best Original Artwork, Dinotopia, by James Gurney; Best Dramatic Presentation, “The Inner Light,” from Star Trek: The Next Generation; Best Semiprozine, Science Fiction Chronicle; Best Fanzine, Mimosa, edited by Dick and Nicki Lynch; Best Fan Writer, David Langford; Best Fan Artist, Peggy Ranson; plus the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer to Laura Resnick.

  The 1992 Nebula Awards, presented at a banquet at the Holiday Inn Crowne Plaza in New Orleans, Louisiana, on April 18, 1993, were: Best Novel, Doomsday Book, Connie Willis; Best Novella, “City of Truth,” James Morrow; Best Novelette, “Danny Goes to Mars,” Pamela Sargent; Best Short Story, “Even the Queen,” Connie Willis; plus the Grand Master Nebula to Frederik Pohl.

  The World Fantasy Awards, presented at the Nineteenth Annual World Fantasy Convention in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on October 31, 1993, were: Best Novel, Last Call, by Tim Powers; Best Novella, “The Ghost Village,” by Peter Straub; Best Short Story (tie), “Graves,” by Joe Haldeman and “This Year’s Class Picture,” by Dan Simmons; Best Collection, The Sons of Noah & Other Stories, by Jack Cady; Best Anthology, Metahorror, edited by Dennis Etchison; Best Artist, James Gurney; Special Award (Professional), Jeanne Cavelos, for the Dell/Abyss line; Special Award (Nonprofessional), Doug and Tomi Lewis, for Roadkill Press; plus a Life Achievement Award to Harlan Ellison.

  The 1993 Bram Stoker Awards, presented on June 19, 1993, at the Warwick Hotel in New York City by The Horror Writers of America, were: Best Novel, Blood of the Lamb, by Thomas F. Monteleone; Best First Novel, Sineater, Elizabeth Massie; Best Collection, Mr. Fox and Other Feral Tales, by Norman Partridge; Best Novella/Novelette (tie), Aliens: Tribes, by Stephen Bissette and “The Events Concerning a Nude Fold-Out Found in a Harlequin Romance,” by Joe R. Lansdale; Best Short Story, “This Year’s Class Picture,” by Dan Simmons; Best Nonfiction, Cut!: Horror Writers on Horror Film, edited by Christopher Golden; plus a Life Achievement Award to Ray Russell.

  The 1992 John W. Campbell Memorial Award–winner was Brother to Dragons, by Charles Sheffield.

  The 1992 Theodore Sturgeon Award was won by “This Year’s Class Picture,” by Dan Simmons.

  The 1992 Philip K. Dick Memorial Award–winner was Through the Heart, by Richard Grant.

  The 1992 Arthur C. Clarke Award was won by Body of Glass, by Marge Piercy (published in the U.S. as He, She and It).

  The 1992 James Tiptree, Jr. Award was won by China Mountain Zhang, by Maureen F. McHugh.

  * * *

  Once again—and how terrible that we now have to say this, year after year—Death took a heavy toll from the science fiction field in 1993 and early 1994, claiming a number of major figures. Among the dead were: Avram Davidson, 70, Hugo, Edgar, and World Fantasy Award–winner, one-time editor of The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, and one of the greatest short story writers of modern times (he has been compared to Saki and John Collier, among others), author of The Adventures of Doctor Esterhazy, Or All the Seas with Oysters, The Phoenix and the Mirror, Masters of the Maze, Rork!, and many others; Lester del Rey, 77, a Golden Age giant who wrote more than forty books and scores of short stories, including the classic “Nerves” and “Helen O’Loy,” and worked as a magazine editor and book reviewer, but is perhaps best-known as the editor who (along with his late wife, Judy-Lynn del Rey) cofounded Del Rey Books, and who is often credited with creating the modern fantasy field as a viable commercial genre; Frank Belknap Long, 90, last surviving member of the famous Lovecraft Circle, winner of the World Fantasy Convention Life Achievement Award, and primarily a writer of supernatural horror (although he did write some SF), author of The Hounds of Tindalos and the critical study Howard Phillips Lovecraft: Dreamer on the Night Side; Chad Oliver, 65, anthropologist and SF writer (he also wrote Western novels, for one of which he won a Western Writers of America Spur Award), often credited with popularizing anthropological themes in science fiction, author of Shadows in the Sun, The Winds of Time, Unearthly Neighbors, Giants in the Dust, and Shores of Another Sea, among others; Sir William Golding, 81, Nobel Prize winner who was also the author of one of the most famout SF novels of the last half of the twentieth century, Lord of the Flies, as well as associational SF novels such as The Inheritors; Anthony Burgess, 76, well-known author

  PAPA

  Ian R. MacLeod

  British writer Ian R. MacLeod has been one of the hottest new writers of the nineties to date, and, as the decade progresses, his work continues to grow in power and deepen in maturity. MacLeod has published a slew of strong stories in the first years of the nineties in Interzone, Asimov’s Science Fiction, Weird Tales, Amazing, and The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, among other markets; several of these stories have made the cut for one or another of the various “Best of the Year” anthologies, including appearances here in our Eighth, Ninth, and Tenth Annual Collections. In 1990, in fact, he appeared in three different Best of the Year anthologies with three different stories, certainly a rare distinction. He has yet to produce a novel, but it is being eagerly awaited by genre insiders, and in the meantime he remains pleasingly prolific at shorter lengths, with his first story collection in the works. MacLeod is in his late thirties, and lives with his wife and young daughter in the West Midlands of England.