The Avon/Equinox Rediscovery Series #23: Bring The Jubilee, by Ward Moore

Scroll down for a recent review of "Transient", September 21st/19.  8 books by Moore reviewed in this segment, and one by an unrelated author in a double novel package. 

BRING THE JUBILEE 

Equinox printing from Sept. 1976.  Cover art by Segrelles.  

Ward Moore (1903-1978) was an American SF writer.  He wrote very few novels, but each one seems to have something to recommend it.  After reading Jubilee, I am very much interested in reading more of his work.  In addition to the four or five novels he wrote, there are two notable short stories based on the biblical Lot and His Daughters.  I will be searching for all of them.  

Bring The Jubilee is from 1955, and is 222 pages long.  Two books in a row from the Avon/Equinox series have now dealt with time travel; specifically, travelling back in time to meet Jesus in Moorcock's book, and now travelling back to witness a Civil War battle in Moore's book.  Both books are, in my opinion, required reading beyond the SF genre.  They have important things to say to everyone interested in ideas, thinking, and humanity.  Two more opposite styles of writing could not be found than those of Moorcock in Behold the Man, and Moore's Bring the Jubilee.

The hero of our present work is McCormick Backmaker (Hodge), son of a poor family, who eventually makes his way to New York.  He is interested in books and reading and learning, and has proved to be quite useless working with his hands.  He finds himself employed by a bookshop owner, virtually a dream job for him at this time.  He is allowed to read, and the owner has ideas of his own that cause Backmaker to do some serious thinking on the side.

The main difference between this New York of 1941 and the one we know from our history books and old photos, is that this poverty-stricken city is the result of the North having lost the war to the South in the decisive Battle of Gettysburg.  The North, called the United States of America, consists of some 22 states, all dirt poor.  The South, called the Confederacy, is well-to-do and has trade and commerce with the rest of the world.  Moore paints such a convincing picture of what life might have been like if the South had won the war that it proves to be the main attraction of the novel.  Certainly there are some wonderful and well-drawn characters, but the matter-of-fact descriptions of life in the northern United States after losing the war is beyond incredible and fascinating; it almost becomes real after a time.  In fact, Moore has written his work so cleverly that we are left with little doubt that the South did win the war!  Until Backmaker travels back in time.  He is now a noted historian, and he wants to see the Gettysburg battle with his own eyes.  It is 1953, and he is able to travel back to June 30th, 1863.

One of the first SF stories I ever knew about was described to me by my late Uncle Jimmy, who introduced me to SF, Tarzan, Lord of the Rings, and many other things that have come to dominate my life.  It was the story (I do not know the author nor the title) of a man who travels back in time as a tourist.  People making the trip had to walk along a set path, and not interfere with ANYTHING in the past; they were mere observers, and were not even allowed to touch anything.  Our poor traveller ends up stepping on or crushing a butterfly!  When he returns to the present, things are not exactly as they were.  Changes are subtle, such as words on a sign spelled differently.  Anyway, that story had us talking for hours about such events, and what they would mean.  I was probably around 12, and Jimmy would have been 17 or 18.  

Anyway, Backmaker ends up as an observer from the future at the great battle, only his position is discovered by Southrons.  Poof!  History is changed.  In an amazing way.  Even in a way all readers will recognize.

Before Backmaker's return to earlier times, he has met up with some incredible folks.  In many ways, Moore's novel reminds me of Edgar Pangborn's writing, especially his Davy series.  Pangborn turns his world upside down by showing us a primitive post-holocaust America (and presumably the rest of the world is similar); Moore simply gives us an alternate history, one with profound differences.  For example, there is no Einstein in America!  Instead, we have Barbara Haggerwells, a physicist genius who is able to build her time machine.  She is probably the most interesting character in the story, if the least liked one.  Her relationship with Backmaker is one of the strangest in fiction, as is her character.  However, without her character the book would be far less rich.  She could have been portrayed as merely a bland scientist working on an impossible project.  Barabra is anything but bland.  She is only one of the fascinating people we meet along the way.  Enfandin is another great fictional character; a black man and a foreigner, despised on both counts in the North, he is the ambassador from Haiti.  Backmaker's intellectual friendship with Enfandin is another one of the book's highlights.

There are so many things to like about this book, and virtually nothing to dislike.  The time machine itself, like the Moorcock version, is the weakest point of the story, but without it Moore's novel would not end in irony.  We are so convinced that "our" time is the only one, and even if there were others, that ours is probably the best.  Moore's ending is completely brilliant, though it could have ended in many different ways.  It is not the way I would have ended it, because I am not nearly so clever as Mr. Moore.  This is an absolute masterpiece of writing, and I am so happy that I came across it.
****+ stars.  Reviewed August 31st/18

GREENER THAN YOU THINK 

 Cover art by Richard Powers 

  From 1947 comes a true classic of SF horror.  My Ballantine edition is 185 pages of small print, divided into 6 large sections and subdivided into 78 smaller sections.  The book obviously had a strong effect on people, and especially SF writers.  It can be safely said that Sam Youd (John Christopher) based all of his adult fiction on this story, with the most obvious link being his immortal "The Death of Grass" (also known as "No Blade Of Grass").

A small time salesman goes to work for an eccentric female scientist, and finally manages to make one small, unprofitable sale.  He is selling something like a fertilizer, something that is guaranteed to make grass grow big and strong.  And from that wee teaspoon of an introduction comes the entire plot.  The grass grows and grows and cannot be stopped.  Moore's step by step and blow by blow description of the calamity unfolding begins as a very funny account of the initial period of growth, when he is hired as a news reporter.  Always in the background is a gnawing darkness, but in the foreground Moore keeps us chuckling, even when the army sends in tanks with good men, and they don't come out.  A successful Russian invasion of the West Coast of the USA is eventually brought to a devastating halt by the unstoppable grass.

Things go from bad to worse, though I will not give out more of the plot, and certainly will not discuss the ending, at least until a second reading (I will give proper warning).  However, this is essential reading.  Moore gradually leads us by the hand as horror after horror continues to occur.  While the overall arch of the plot is brilliant, and this might well be one of the best stories ever written, there is also much beauty in the small moments and lesser characters.  The General's pacifist son who writes a symphony, the strange and beautiful woman encountered from time to time throughout the story, the maddening character of the insane female chemist, the newspaper publisher that the storyteller works for, the hero's initial acquisition of Consolidated Pemmican, the original couple whose lawn was treated, and on and on and on.  There are moments of brilliance on virtually every page of this book.

Best of all, however, is the story's main character.  Albert Weener is one of the most amazing characters ever created, and never disappoints us despite his sexism, racism, capitalist outlook, and ability to remain positive throughout the worst situations.  The book is difficult to put down once things get rolling, and I had to keep reading to see what happened next.  I did have a strong suspicion, though.  I don't think I've read a book before that began in such a light-hearted way, and then twisted the dagger gradually, turning into a true horror SF story.  So many 1950s films were modelled on this story, though none with the elegance and elan shown by Ward Moore.  Very highly recommended, and especially so if you are a John Christopher fan.
****+ stars.  Reviewed October 20th/18

LOT; LOT'S DAUGHTER 

 Cover of my Kindle edition 

Two longer short stories, the first from 1953 and the second from 1954, highlight what it was like to grow up in the years after WW11.  Even in my early days the bomb was constantly expected to fall.  These two stories, plus a good foreword, only add up to 77 pages of reading, but what reading!  I can say very little without giving away major plot points, so this will be a short review.  A man escapes Malibu by car with his family after Los Angeles, and most other major cities of the world, are hit by atomic bombs.  He's pretty certain that he is well prepared, if he can only stick to his plan.

This is likely the most devastating of the post-nuke survival stories I have ever read.  Want to know what it might really be like, even for all those survivalists out there?  Read and weep.

**** stars.  Reviewed January 27th/19 

RX JUPITER SAVE US 

 Cover art (edited) by 

From January 1954 (published in Future SF that month) comes this odd little pulp tale by Moore.  It starts out a bit confusingly and quite slow, but picks up speed as the story continues.  Paired liked an Ace double with a second feature story (see below), the entire volume is only 216 pages long (both stories).  I read the Kindle version.  Each story seems to be about the same length, however.

Green Ed-joy was born on Jupiter, the only human to do so.  As a result, he has a superpower on Earth, and can leap higher than anyone else, and falls back more slowly, too.  This power comes in mighty handy at the climax to the story, when Ed has to climb a mile high 500 storey building.

It's a flawed utopia versus the humans that want to be normal again, following the inevitable violent end to civilization in the past,when humanity was reduced to about 100,000 people.  There are mutants,and people are no longer desirous of committing acts of violence (conditioning), and are often put to sleep between the age of 25 and 30 to keep the population in check (currently about 2 1/2 million on Earth).  The explanations are long, perhaps too much for such a short story.  But there are some nice moments between the group of mutants who do jobs ordinary humans would never consider, including going outside of buildings, which virtually no one does.

The book is likely for Moore completists only.  If this is the only Moore you have read, find something else by him--the man is a creative genius.

** 1/2 stars.  Reviewed July 29th/19

BEWARE THE USURPERS 

 Cover art by Ramon Naylor (edited).

I wasn't expecting much from this pseudo-named author (real name Robert Krepps).  Written in 1951, it is a sequel to a shorter novel called The Usurpers.  It's one of those stories that tell of aliens taking over human bodies, but they are actually really ugly and evil, and can only be seen by very few people.  Some of those are drunks, who think they have the d.t.s.  Hero Will Chester takes on the entire colony, thousands strong, who are about to make their big move, absorbing millions of Earth people.

About the same length as RZ Jupiter Save Us, above (entire volume is 216 pages), this is an action-packed, very violent quick read that isn't actually half bad.  Robert Silverberg praised the work, and that is good enough for me.  I still make up my own mind at the end, but I liked this adventure tale of 6 humans banding together to defeat an entire alien invasion.  One of the six humans is blind, one has only one arm, two are very old, and one is a spunky female.  The author has a very funny sense of humour, and I enjoyed the many witty lines and jokes.  Definitely worth a look.  I liked it more than the Ward Moore story,which was the reason I book the book.
*** stars.  Reviewed July 30th/19 

CLOUD BY DAY  

 My copy came without a cover jacket--this one is from Amazon.  

This non-SF novel is from 1956, and is 275 pages long.  Not since reading (from 1955) Kornbluth and Pohl's A Town Is Drowning have I read such a fantastic disaster story (see review on the Kornbluth page).  Moore tells the story of a fictional settlement along a California state highway, in the mountains between LA and San Diego.  Along the highway are a service station, post office, general store, and real estate office.  The houses are up in the hills off the main road, and include whites, Mexicans, and one black family.  There is also a single Jewish man.  Moore goes inside the heads of most of the people who live there, spending a full day with them as a wildfire approaches and roars through the settlement.

Moore tells his story through time of day chapters, and the tale begins at 9:53 a.m. and ends at 6:25 p.m. that evening.  By the end of the day we have come to know just about all there is to know about the place and the people that live there.  The narrative jumps around a lot, as we experience the main event filtered through different minds.  Almost all of the entire white population is sickeningly racist against the Mexicans, the blacks, and the Jew.  It is a window into small town (and small mind) 1950s America, where some of this incredible behaviour is even worse today (especially against Mexicans).

You will also meet insanity in many forms, including the helpful and benevolent kind.  However, a very few people are changed by the fire, their outlook on life and people very different than before.  Though the book is short on humour, it has moments, including all of the very fancy and outrageous names of the Onss children.  Their proper names are never used, however, and they all have ridiculous nick names.  We also get inside the head of a very old Mexican lady who remembers the many Mexican raids and the revolution, with thoughts of her past and present mixing well for the reader.  And the totally insane, ultra religious and snoopy post office lady is as good as anything James Joyce ever wrote.

The firemen don't come out looking very good in this story, and I wonder how it was received at the time by that profession.  Some of the humour comes at their expense, and I found myself remembering "The Fireman's Ball," a 1960s Czech film that will also live long in memory.

My only criticism might be that the author takes on too many characters, and it can all get a bit confusing at times, remembering who is who.  Still, this is a good excuse for rereading it.  A wonderful map of the settlement is provided at the beginning, and is really helpful.  All in all, a fantastic book to rediscover.  Thank you, Mr. Moore.  You are not forgotten.

**** stars.  Reviewed June 12th/19

CADUCEUS WILD  

Cover art by John L. Baker (signed on cover).  

Moore's original story comes from a serialized version in 1959.  The story was updated in 1978, with the help of Robert Bradford.  This was the year Moore passed away.  As I don't have access to the original version, I cannot say how much of the text has been changed, or exactly which parts were updated.  The Armchair Fiction version came out in 2015, and is 198 pages long.  It also comes with three interior illustrations by Virgil Finlay.  As Finlay died in 1971, I am assuming these are the original pulp b&w images that appeared with the 1959 story.

One of three interior illustrations by Virgil Finlay.  This one shows psychopathic Dr. Grace Tavistock, when she encounters Cyrus, Victoria, and Hank on her property.  

The story is pretty zany.  After WW111, doctors have assumed powers that most politicians can only dream about.  Radiation and fallout have affected the population, and people have decided to trust in science and medicine above all else in order to rebuild civilization.  Euthanasia is prevalent, and pregnancy is only allowed for certain approved people.  The whole system is set up pretty much like Nazi Germany in WW11, with an underclass of people not qualified to be doctors assuming the role of the SS, and hunting down the remaining malcontents, called Mallies.  Three Mallies are trying to escape to England, as they have done their share of fighting back.

I found this a rather weak plot point, that people from America would try and flee to England.  England is perhaps the greatest of the democratic socialist nanny states today, and it would be much easier to believe that they were infected with the Medarchy, as opposed to the USA.  No mention is ever made of Canada, either, which would be a much more logical and easier place to hide out.

We mostly learn about present society and its woes through lengthy discussions and conversations with various people we meet along the planned escape route.  A little bit of action and suspense is quickly followed by any amount of talking, as Moore explains at great length exactly what is going on, and how it happened in the first place.  Most of the story takes place in a small geographical area of northern California.

This book is not going to appeal to most lovers of pulp SF.  I am surprised that it was published at all.  That is not to  say it is a bad book, or that it is not of interest to most readers.  I actually found it quite fascinating, even though the flight of the three refugees could have been replaced with Jews in WW11 trying to escape the Nazis.  Their run for freedom is terrifying, and the more we learn about the powers that be, the more frightening it all becomes.  Cyrus, who has been a leader of the Mallies for some time, will either be euthanized or have his mind altered, to make him fit in.  Same with Victoria, who is carrying his illegal baby.  The baby would be terminated, and  Hank, the young brother of Victoria, would be altered to fit in and made happy.

So of course we are cheering for them every part of the way, but nearly everything that could go wrong does go wrong.  We often hear Cyrus' inner dialogue, and many times he is telling himself to stop running, and just give in and be altered.  At least his suffering would be over.  But he continues to fight for freedom until the final paragraph of the book.

It's always easy to sit in an armchair and say that such a thing as the Medarchy could never happen.  But many countries still rely heavily on secret police, especially Muslim countries. Countries not allowing people their basic freedom are much more common today than countries that do allow it.  If anyone thinks we have seen the last of a Nazi-like power structure coming into existence, they are not looking at the world through the same glasses I am.  It is still very scary out there, and more so for women, who in many countries are not allowed to drive, to be out alone, to dance, to sing, or to be with a man to whom they are not married, as well as gays, and visible minorities.  Honor killings in some countries are so common as to defy belief; however, believe it.  It happens every day.  So Moore's Medarchy might seem too far-fetched for some modern readers.  It isn't.  Remember: truth is stranger than fiction, and freedom must continually be guarded.
*** stars.  Reviewed March 7th/19

TRANSIENT 

I read the Kindle edition, which only included the Moore novel. 

First published in the February, 1960 edition of Amazing SF Stories, its republication by Arm Chair Fiction is both welcome and overdue.  Not that this is a very good story, or especially well written, but it does prove that Moore did experiment with words and prose.  This is the first story by him I have read that has been clouded by such experimentation.  Let me just say that a little of this material goes a long way.  A chapter or two would have not have been out of place, and would have provided a respite from a regular story about a man searching deep within himself for meaning, and what might be wrong with his life.

Almon Lampley, currently governor of New York State, goes on a little road trip, ending up in a small town of just under 2,000 people.  He is alone, and stops off at the largest building in town, a three storey hotel.  Everything looks vaguely familiar.  He finds the hotel quiet, and selects his own room before he begins to meet people.  From here on in the novel is like one long, outrageous downer drug trip; it is like Alice In Wonderland, but without the wonder.  In other words, we are seeing Almon Lampley's life as he has lived it.

Like many people unaccustomed to looking within themselves, the journey is one long puzzle to him as he searches for ready-made answers to questions he hasn't even properly formed or asked yet.  He violently seduces a young girl, gets her pregnant, and sees the result of their coupling in the person of his severely mentally handicapped son, living at the hotel with his mother (whom Alman vaguely recognizes).  He is shocked by this meeting, and this precipitates an even more drastic descent into the hell that is he, himself.

The imagery is wonderful, and the use of words almost magical, but the unrelenting bleakness and disharmony, page after page, wears on a reader.  Even at a short 91 pages, this is thick stuff to get through at times.  However, there are times when Almon almost seems to be at peace with himself as he travels.  He moves by elevator, in many directions besides down, by trolley, row boat, walking, and even an old, abandoned car.  Here is a quote from Chapter Five, a rare moment of clam in an otherwise chaotic world:

"He took the trolley through quiet, quiet streets, where all the houses spoke with assurance of sleepers withing, of babies fed and diapered, dry and unprotesting, of adolescents on their stomachs and young girls curled into knots, of lovers lying face to face and married couples back to back."

The quote also shows some of Moore's wry humour at the end.  Almon comes across a pond with fairy folk, tiny and beautiful.  He selects one woman who seems apart from the others, and brings her back to a shelter he has made in the jungle, and tries to look after her, even though she shows only contempt for him.  Apart from her kin she begins to grow, until she is about four feet tall.  He violently takes her, again and again, and she eventually becomes pregnant.  Later in the story, it is Almon who has to give birth, a painful experience he had never before considered.  When asked by someone he meets how he finds women, he replies "Small."  More wry humour, but it tells us more about Almon.  He was once married to Mattie, we have learned, but she passed away after a few years of marriage.

Almon has perhaps a few more deep-seated problems than most of us, though not too many more.  There is a sequence later on when he is attended to by four ape-doctors and several ape-nurses, for an unknown ailment.  The entire scene reads like a Marx Brothers routine, and is a highlight of the story.  Almon eventually returns to the hotel and departs, after making some peace with his past.  With much of the poison expunged from his soul, he is able to carry on for awhile longer.

While not one of my favourite works by Moore, this would have been more successful spread out over a longer novel, interspersed with some (but not all) of the writing in Transient.  I liked many parts of it, including the part with the unicorn and the grand pianos, but there is just too much of a good thing.  Still worth a read, and sections could be pulled for some wonderful illustrations.

** 1/2 stars.  Reviewed September 21st/19

JOYLEG 

 Cover art by Emsh. 

This 1962 collaboration with Avram Davidson, the American SF and fantasy writer, is 159 pages long.  A shorter version was published in Fantastic in March and April, 1962.  Moore has already shown his flair for including historical events in his writings (see Jubilee, above).  Davidson was also something of a historian, and between the two of them we are given one of the most unique glimpses into early American history one could ever hope to stumble across.

A long-lived veteran comes under investigation for receiving a government pension of $11 per month.  The investigation begins small, but quickly balloons into a fully fledged one, and the said Joyleg soon becomes the talk of the entire world.  He has the documents to prove how old he is, and who he served under, and which war he fought in (the American Revolution, no less).  He has survived the years by bathing in his Tennessee Moonshine, as needed.  That makes him around 185 years old.

Pushing the boundaries between SF and fantasy, the story winds its way slowly, without a lot of drama or action, to its climax of hope for world peace.  I have many favourite bits, and of course some parts are laugh-out-loud funny.  I especially enjoyed the beginning journey, when the two Congress persons (a male Democrat and a female Republican, with her female secretary) travel to Rabbit Notch to meet and talk with Joyleg.  There are many priceless moments along the way, including the various modes of transport used to get there.

I am not a huge fan of American history, but both in Jubilee and in Joyleg, the presentation is irresistible, and the reader ends up learning a lot despite the attempt not to.  Joyleg the man is quite a character, and when he is brought into disrepute by a slimy McCarthy-like government character who interviews him, our sympathies remain firmly with the old timer.  He has all his wits, enjoys a terrific memory, and can spar words with the best of them.  It certainly makes one aware of how strange it would be if (when) people can live so long.  Imagine someone fighting in the American Revolution, and living to see humans land on the Moon.

While the story is corny, it is quite fun.  There is a lot to ponder along the way.

*** star.  Reviewed Nov. 25th/18

Page completely proof read on March 12th, 2019.
Mapman Mike