The Homeward Bounders by Diana Wynne Jones

Synopsis


"You are now a discard. We have no further use for you in play. You are free to walk the Bounds, but it will be against the rules for you to enter play in any world. If you succeed in returning Home, then you may enter play again in the normal manner." When Jamie unwittingly discovers the scary, dark-cloaked Them playing games with human's lives, he is cast out to the boundaries of the worlds. Only then does he discover that there are a vast number of parallel worlds, all linked by the bounds, and these sinister creatures are using them all as a massive gamesboard. Clinging to Their promise that if he can get Home he is free, he becomes the unwilling Random Factor in an endless game of chance.

What Did We Think?


Discussion and vote breakdown to follow.

The Brentford Triangle by Robert Rankin

Synopsis

'Omally groaned. "It is the end of mankind as we know it. I should never have got up so early today" and all over Brentford electrical appliances were beginning to fail…' Could it be that Pooley and Omally, whilst engaged on a round of allotment golf, mistook laser-operated gravitational landing beams for the malignant work of Brentford Council? Does the Captain Laser Alien Attack machine in the bar of the Swan possess more sinister force than its magnetic appeal for youths with green hair? Is Brentford the first base in an alien onslaught on planet Earth?

A sequel to "The Antipope", this is the second novel in "The Brentford Trilogy".

What Did We Think?

(notes to follow)

The Hellbound Heart by Clive Barker

Synopsis

Liverpool born and educated Clive Barker is widely acknowledged as the master of nerve-shattering horror. The Hellbound Heart is a story of the human heart and all the great terrors and ecstasies within. It was also the book behind the cult horror film, Hellraiser. In a quiet house on a quiet street Frank and Julia are having an affair. Not your ordinary affair. For Frank it began with his own insatiable sexual appetite, a mysterious lacquered box- and then an unhinged voyage through a netherworld of imaginable pleasures and unimaginable horror! Now Frank- or what is left of Frank -waits in an empty room. All he wants is to live as he was before. All Julia can do is bring him her unfulfilled passions!and a little flesh and blood!

What Did We Think?

(notes to follow)



 

Votes were as follows: 0, 1, 1, 2, 2, 4, 5, 7

Not the most successful result for our first foray into the world of Horror. Ah well, maybe next time.

Eon by Greg Bear

Plot Synopsis

Above our planet hangs a hollow Stone, vast as the imagination of Man. The inner dimensions are at odds with the outer: there are different chambers to be breached, some even containing deserted cities. The furthest chamber contains the greatest mystery ever to confront the Stone's scientists. But tombstone or milestone, the Stone is not an alien structure: it comes from the future of our humanity. And the war that breaks out on Earth seems to bear witness to the Stone's prowess as oracle ...

What did we think?

My first book as "chair" of the Book Club and my initial worried about no one being there were dispelled by an impressive turnout.

Whilst the novel seemed to be big on ideas, and good ones at that, it was generally agreed that it fell down on characters. Many of the characters in the novel seems to be little more than cardboard-cutout stereotypes with bland or (in the case of the sex scenes) poorly handled emotions. Much, if not all, of their emotional story was deemed to be superfluous and to distract from the much more interesting concept of the intergalactic, interdimensional asteroid.

As an example of Hard SF, as well as containing an example of a "Big Dumb Object", it drew comparisons with Larry Niven's Ringworld and Arthur C. Clarke's Rendezvous with Rama, both of which were written earlier 1970 and '73 respectively (Eon was '85). The politics of the novel, steeped in Cold War pessimism about human co-operation, was found to be interesting if, obviously, dated. I would draw attention to Kim Stanley Robinson's Red Mars which handles multiple plots and politics better than Eon.

On the whole, the novel was enjoyed but not loved, frustrating but not hated. It was seen as an example of an author's earlier work where the author was big on concept and the scientific propping up of said concept, but let down by the human aspect. It could be said that in Eon, Bear lacks the emotional maturity that comes both with age and experience as a writer (he was 34 when Eon was published).

The average score given to Greg Bear's Eon was 5/10


Votes: 4, 4, 5, 5, 5, 5.5, 6, 6


So. Do you agree with my summary of the meeting? Did I miss out a major point or do you just want to continue the discussion on these themes. Either way is fine, this was written largely from memory (next time I'll take better notes). Post your comments below: