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L at l n resolution, only an overt warning. l highlight the adulterous couple‘s A m e r I C a n (Kristina Woolnough) ; incompatibility. Adultery is a theme fc t O n l which runs through the book: affairs. secrets. deceptions are all related in fr 0 m . Campbell's dead-pan tone. But a The Gull WarJohn Bulloch and 9 whole bookful ofsuch stories doesn‘t Harvey Morris (Methuen £14.99) In l 0 n Bicycle Days John Burnham add up to anything ofsubstance. and the red corner. brutal thug and y g Schwartz (Heinemann “395) First i you find yourselfagreeing With one well-known human rights abuser. novels are Often creatures to be of the characters who says. ‘There Saddam Hussein. In the blue corner. approached with care and are people out theredying. Really celebrated religious maniac and a Circumspccuon. Imagine then. or dying. Horrible terrible miserable man prepared to haveyoung boys bettcr‘ Share the delight of deaths. Why am I thtCI‘lng on about run across Iraqi minefields in order discovering word by word and page this'." (Elizabeth Burns) ighclearthem, the late Ayatollah b a )e that this is a work of rare and Omcm" Digtfnding talent. Perhaps one of the reasons that the In Bicycle Days Alec Ste rn. Storla 3: Consequences (Pandora GU” war "CV" ‘00“ O.“ m the recently graduated from Yale, takes £5.99) Take a group of gifted women wcsmm popumr consFlousncss “’35 up a trial appointment in Japan. writers. write some strange plot that there was "0 ObV'OUS good guy- woman Dreams of that country gave him elements on scraps of paper and And perhaps_thc reason that the war imaginative haven from a troubled instruct the writers to produce short went 0" for C‘ght years at 3905‘ of Between childhood but intense and personal stories using these elements. That is hundreds 0f thousands 0f “V” “’35 Mirrors experience during the summer in his Storia3 a game of literary that 9‘ long as the Affibs and alien home gradually shows him that consequences which is a compulsive Pcrs'ans were knockmg lumps 0‘" 0f the past can no longer be evaded. mixture ofthe intriguing and .caCh 0th.“ duringa “me Of Helena Parente Such isthe author‘s skill in irritating. It‘s an interesting ‘ntcrnat“’“310‘lglm~ "0 one really Cunha depicting people. scenes and events. experiment to have writers gave a {035 anYWaY-. that the reader moves through producing a range ofdifferent short BPHOCh a”.d.Moms ha‘fc done the suburban and city centre Tokyo. stories which incorporate similar busmcss~ wmmg a Chmmdc Of a ruraIJapan. office. club and home. plot elements: it makes forawriting blOOdY‘ messy ‘wanhaf 3” ‘00 few At 45 the heroine of this novel absorbing impressions and which qualifies as neither a novel nor cared abou" 1‘ 5 a d‘ff‘cu“ SUbJCCt finds herself alone Sh r t m influences along with Alec and. with a set ofshort stories. as Arab/Pug“ antagonism m“? bad‘ to the culture of hé, Bfaziign 5 him. gaining increasing conventionally defined. but it also gentuf‘cs' and the Web Of forc‘gn childhood where African myths understanding. Not a word is out of runs the risk ofseeming a little too 'mcn'gcnccyarms deals and min I -' - -

, , , . , , , , ., ge wuth Catholic ideas, and place. not ascene redundant. The like a writers workshop ass1gnment. S“Perpow” “"96” d” “055.43” where sea,she"s are used to tell meaning ofthe title is in particular In some ofthe stories. such as through the Imma“ and Iraq' moves fortunes. and is offered a form beautifully described and placed. Maggie Hemingway‘s Mostly 0” the grou'ld as the ChapterS “PfOId- of liberation in the wake 0, he,

John Burnham Schwartz is a Southend. the very restriction of the The Israel's are thcrc~ cxccmmg adult crisis sensitive and perceptive writer who format leads to brilliant the Egyptl‘m head 0f the Inlqi _ ' has the giftof taking the personal inventiveness: the task ofdescribing “UClCaf POWcr programme in Paris; December Pb £8.95 and rendering it universal. (Sally a dull character neatly transforms 0‘" 0W" dear UK SOId weapons [0 Macpherson) itselfinto a story ofacharacter Pom-W108: 0"” Palmc‘s death tics taking over his own description. And 'n‘ and “cm “me the we“ German in the stories by Ruth Rendell and government get’swncumonious Marina “lumen-[he m.th 2.md about ‘freedom Just remember that salamandcrs whlch appear m other they sold Iraq the technology to Wipe stories miraculously develop into 0‘? ‘thc Kurds With POiSOn gas.- wna‘ he “93'” wants is a Dog Kallc surreal greatgrcsffi myth? . . . paitfdigfififrfiehiiggsirn riggiyect ' ' Campbell (Methuen £12.95) There Pr‘lp9’.“°"' ”‘ “’mwm” "Tc 5"“ . - . ‘p ' Certificate V repetition ofthe plot elements (K'A- D“V‘d5(’") are some neat. wrny observed , I . . . ‘. .. . . started to gall me. I hree orthodox Of storieslnthis first collection by J w” dth . , at, , h. E N Canadian Katie Campbell: a child‘s c ‘8 ‘m 6." pas. .d mac me . c 0 Absence . ‘. i ' wormed their way improbany into VICW of being taken to New York and the lot once too Often “WW (I A Christmas sackiul at SF and lantasy encountering the fumvc‘ glamorous des pite the minor irritation with banks is survey“ by Mike calder‘ ' world of her mother‘s old college 806:: of the more Iudicmm I Rama ll Arthur C. Clarke and Sylv'a MOHOY friend; a housewife‘s endless Sunday ‘clemcms Hound th ) . . Gentry Lee (Gollancz£12.95) . . . . c stories . endured With treats of masturbation. Challenging in their questionm of Sixteen years ago Rendezvous With ms“ Com“: and “he Soap "Pm from the individualism ofcreative wiiiini R“’"“ was the m0“ Successfu‘ SF Australia‘. and asupposedly (S, t M." 2" novel published. The sequel is set 70 In a room in a city somewhere passionate weekend in a bland am I 5) years later as a second Rama habitat in the Americas a woman sits at Florida hotel which only serves to enters the solar system. After the a desk writing about herself. As exposition and history at the she writes—using her work as Featuring the work of beginning. the novel gets going and memoir, as diary and as scribble C over 40 contemporary is his best for years (maybe sixteen pad_ for future plans—events E o . years). begin again. Women Artists women art's“ I The Fugitive Worlds Bob Shaw xi Diary Get your copy now from (Gollancz £12.95) One of the . December 2895 a? .3“ f wooden spaceships is used again 7 t Third Eye Bookshop after fifty years on a tripto a g GLASGOW newly-discovered 4th planet. a or Swashbuckling space adventure. Body & soul Bookshop ! The Queen at Springtime Robert . i 52 Hamilton Place Silverberg (Gollancz£l3.95) This is a a sequel to At Winter’s End. Hresh e. EDINBURGH and his tribe are now adapting to life Published by on the surface after generations 2" The women 5 Press New catalogue now available a; 34 Great Sutton Street from 22 George Square, ;. London EC ' V ODX Edinburgh EH8 9LF Ol-ZSI 3007 _. £ 5 .99

The List 22 December 1989— l 1 January 1990 73