THE MT VOID
Mt. Holz Science Fiction Society
10/04/13 -- Vol. 32, No. 14, Whole Number 1774
Co-Editor: Mark Leeper, mleeper@optonline.net
Co-Editor: Evelyn Leeper, eleeper@optonline.net
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Topics:
"War of the Worlds" Broadcast 75th Anniversary
Sports Names (comments by Mark R. Leeper)
THE UNINVITED Online (in three versions)
30 Great SFF Films You Almost Certainly Haven't Seen
[But Most of Which We Have] (Part 1) (comments
by Mark R. Leeper and Evelyn C. Leeper)
RED REIGN: THE BLOODY HARVEST OF CHINA'S PRISONERS
(film review by Mark R. Leeper)
PRISONERS (film review by Mark R. Leeper)
LUCKY EXPRESS (film review by Mark R. Leeper)
SHERLOCK HOLMES WAS WRONG, and TCM Movies in October
(letter of comment by John Purcell
World War II (letter of comment by Tim Bateman)
This Week's Reading (SALAMANDER, A GATHERING OF SAINTS,
VICTIMS, and THE POET AND THE MURDERER) (book comments
by Evelyn C. Leeper)
==================================================================
TOPIC: "War of the Worlds" Broadcast 75th Anniversary
The West Windsor Township is having a Halloween celebration in West
Windsor Park on Saturday, October 26, which will include a
"historical display" commemorating the 75th anniversary of the
broadcast of the Mercury Theater "War of the Worlds". This is
*not* the park in Princeton Junction where the monument to the
broadcast was erected for the 50th anniversary in 1988--that is Van
Nest Park--so if you are going, you need to make a second stop to
see Van Nest. (That is on the south side of Cranbury Road just
east of Mill Road, between the parking lot and the pond.) One site
says that the water tower mistaken for a Martian is on the north
side of Cranbury Road just west of its intersection with
Clarksville Road, behind the house to the right of the Grovers Mill
Co. building/barn. It is best seen after all the leaves have
fallen off the trees obscuring it. One person said to go down
Bolfmar Avenue (a dead end street). [-ecl]
==================================================================
TOPIC: Sports Names (comments by Mark R. Leeper)
Somehow sports teams have names that supposed to be intimidating.
For example the Denver Broncos and the ASU Hornets. These are
really out of date. Few of us have seen a Bronco except perhaps in
films. We usually do not see hornets around. What about a diamond
backs? They need more relevant names. How about The Tallahassee
Termites? The Seattle Sequesters? Why don't we have the DC Tax
Auditors? How about the Denver Downsizers? The Greenbay
Greenhouse Effect? [-mrl]
==================================================================
TOPIC: THE UNINVITED Online (in three versions)
There was a discussion on a podcast this week of the 1944 film THE
UNINVITED, based on the novel by Dorothy MacArdle published in
1942, one of the best ghost stories ever filmed. It is at once a
dark ghost story, a mystery, and a romance. And it fires on all
cylinders. The complete film can be streamed free at:
http://archive.org/details/TheUninvited1944
or
http://tinyurl.com/uninvited-1
It was also mentioned that there were radio adaptations of the
film.
Screen Directors' Playhouse did a very nice adaptation which can be
found at:
http://tinyurl.com/uninvited-2
Another radio program, Romance, also adapted it, but not as well:
http://tinyurl.com/uninvited-3
I recommend seeing the film before you hear the radio versions.
[-mrl]
==================================================================
TOPIC: 30 Great SFF Films You Almost Certainly Haven't Seen [But
Most of Which We Have] (Part 1) (comments by Mark R. Leeper and
Evelyn C. Leeper)
At LoneStarCon 3, the World Science Fiction Convention, there was a
panel on little-known science fiction and fantasy films:
30 Great SFF Films You Almost Certainly Haven't Seen
Saturday, 2 PM
Perrianne Lurie (M), Adam-Troy Castro, Terry Floyd, Elektra Hammond
Description: "The many new options for home viewing have greatly
increased the availability of any number of obscure, independent,
and foreign films available to anybody willing to risk a journey
off the beaten path. Panelists will take two minutes apiece to
sell you some little-known masterpieces you should check out at you
first opportunity. Be prepared to take notes."
Attendance: 200
Well, this was a popular panel! The panelists asked the audience
members to raise their hands if they had seen the movies the panel
suggests. Mark and I had our hands in the air for most of the
films. Panelists and people around us were amazed we had seen so
many of the films. Since we sat toward the front of the room we
were unaware that we were alone in the number of films we
recognized.
Rather than list the films chronologically, we will list each
panelist's suggestions. And, yes, there are more than thirty.
(The ones with question marks I was unable to find in the IMDB, so
I may have gotten the name wrong.)
Mark is making the bracketed comments on those films we have seen.
Adam-Troy Castro:
- STRINGS
[This is one strange and clever film. It takes place in a world
where everyone is a marionette. The story is interesting by
itself, but the real question is how does such a world function?
There is even a scene of giving birth, and how does that work with
everyone including suspended the baby from strings?]
- SECTOR 7
- CASTAWAY ON THE MOON
[A man tries to commit suicide by jumping off of a bridge. He is
washed up on a small island, one of the supports of the bridge. He
is right within view of the city and passing tour boats, but nobody
realizes he needs help. He has to learn to survive on his island
the way that Robinson Crusoe did on his. He forms a relationship
with an agoraphobic woman who photographs him from her room in the
nearby city.]
- THE SOUND OF NOISE
[This is a fantasy from Sweden. Terrorists are performing wanton
acts of music. Clatter of the City is being channeled into music
to be music. For example back hoes are being used as musical
instruments. The only person who can stop the musical terrorists
is one tone-deaf policeman with a secret in his past.]
- X-CROSS (?)
- WOMB
- HANSEL & GRETEL
- NOTHING
[This film has a slow start as two losers who share a house are to
be evicted by eminent domain. One wishes the outside world would
just go away... And it does. The two discover they have the power
to wish things out of existence, but then they cannot wish them
back. Still they keep rubbing each other the wrong way and using
their new-found powers against each other. Where will it all end?]
- THE TROUBLESOME MAN (?)
[I suspect this is THE PENITANT MAN. I do not remember the film
really well, and do not want to spoil what I do remember, but the
plot involves time travel.]
- WRONG (2012)
- THIRST (2009, directed by Park Chan-Wook)
- DEATH NOTE (2006)
- OF UNKNOWN ORIGIN
[Peter Weller stars in a study of mania, a modern Moby Dick. A man
finds a rat in his house but is outsmarted at every turn in getting
rid of it. In lesser hands this could have been a Road Runner
cartoon. Instead it is quite chilling.]
- A TOWN CALLED PANIC
[Western story told with animation of what looked like toys. I
cannot say it held my attention.]
- THE GOOD, THE BAD, THE WEIRD
[This is a Spaghetti Western, but it was not made in Italy or set
in the American West. It was set and made in a South Korea that
somehow becomes just a transplanted American West. It is funny and
sometimes does some amazing stunts on the screen. It is trying to
be the ultimate Spaghetti Western and if a Korean Western is given
a chance it just might be.]
- TRAIL OF THE SCREAMING FOREHEAD
Terry Floyd:
- PRIMER
[This is not a film to be seen only once. About the fifth or sixth
viewing it starts making sense. A group of techies in a startup
corporation stumble on a means of time travel. Then the plot gets
really complex.]
- UPSTREAM COLOR
[This film by Shane Carruth is even harder to follow than is his
PRIMER. Two lovers are controlled by some sort of a deathless
parasite. It does not make a lot of sense to me, but perhaps a
little study is all that is needed.]
- PULGASARI
[This is a North Korean giant monster film about peasants creating
an iron-eating giant beast out of a magic rice ball. The beast
itself looks like Godzilla crossed with a bull. True story: the
film's director was kidnapped from South Korea and forced to make
this film. The story of the kidnapping and escape is a better
story than the film itself. PULGASARI is available on YouTube.]
- DAIMAJIN
[The Japanese like historical films in which leaders who abuse
their power are brought up short at the end. This film was
intended to get the audience interested in historical dramas and
the giant monster audience. A bad leader goes unchecked until a
statue the size of a cliff gets angry enough that it comes to life
and stomps the bad leader. Two sequels had almost identical plots:
THE WRATH OF DAIMAJIN and RETURN OF DAIMAJIN.]
- RIGHT AT YOUR DOOR
[Terrorists have detonated a chemical bomb in Los Angeles. But our
characters are lucky being some distance from the detonation living
in the suburbs. Brad, who is home, has to seal off doors and
windows with plastic and duct tape. Then there is the problem that
some people did not get to safety and want to be let into Brad's
house even though they are carrying poisonous chemicals in the dust
on their bodies. And what about Brad's wife who survived the blast
but now is a walking death trap. Actually this is very disturbing.
Don't be surprised if you find yourself stocking up on duct tape
after seeing this film.]
- CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST
- ZACHARIAH
- WICKED, WICKED
[This is a serial killer film whose only real novelty is that the
entire film is shot in split screen. You can watch both the killer
and the victim. The gimmick does not compensate for the poor,
unimaginative plotting.]
- STAR WORMS 2: ATTACK OF THE PLEASURE PODS
- CUBE
[Vincenzo Natali began his career directing and co-writing this
story of seven complete strangers who wake up is a three-
dimensional maze made up of identical room-size cubes. This is a
brilliant idea for a low-budget SF film since the filmmakers only
had to make one cube. The film has a decent enough story that it
inspired two sequels from other filmmakers. Natali went on to make
CYPHER and NOTHING, both covered elsewhere on this list. Later
Natali also wrote and directed SPLICE which got a much larger
release, though it was not his best work.]
- CYPHER
[Vincenzo Natali does this (non-comic) pastiche of Philip K. Dick
stories. This is a very Philip K. Dick sort of film dealing with
industrial espionage and reality-bending devices. Jeremy Northam
and Lucy Liu star. It would be a sin to tell more.]
Next week we will continue on with lists of notable obscure films
by Electra Hammond and Perrine Lurie. [-mrl/ecl]
==================================================================
TOPIC: RED REIGN: THE BLOODY HARVEST OF CHINA'S PRISONERS (film
review by Mark R. Leeper)
CAPSULE: Often revolting and often enraging RED REIGN, exposes
China's organ harvesting from Falun Gong members. These people are
imprisoned for their spiritual beliefs frequently only to be
executed and have their organs stolen and harvested for the
international organ market. First time feature film director Masha
Savitz reveals a story we hear little of in this country and which
comes as a powerful shock and cause for outrage. This is a
disturbing and important film. It contains disturbing descriptions
of torture and murder. Rating: high +2 (-4 to +4) or 8/10
On June 28, 2001, the BBC reported that involuntary organ donation
is illegal in China but that critics say the Chinese government
allows the practice. China has a high execution rate and the
bodies then sometimes are harvested after the prisoners' deaths. A
Dr. Wang Guoqi reported to Congress that he had harvested skin and
corneas from nearly one hundred executed prisoners. At that time
the BBC quoted a United States State Department official that the
reports of Chinese organ harvesting were "credible and numerous."
It is reported that since 2000 the Chinese government has been
systematically harvesting organs from people who practice Falun
Gong. David Matas, nominee for the Nobel Peace Prize and senior
legal counsel of the B'nai Brith Canada, has made helping the Falun
Gong a particular interest. He is the co-author with Canadian MP
David Kilgour of REPORT INTO ALLEGATIONS OF ORGAN HARVESTING OF
FALUN GONG PRACTITIONERS IN CHINA.
Falun Gong, an offshoot of Buddhism, is a spiritual and physical
discipline, much like Yoga is. The Chinese government sees it as a
threat to its power and the practice was outlawed in 1999 and its
members persecuted in China. Hundreds of thousands of adherents
were arrested, imprisoned, and tortured. The Falun Gong has
frequently taken public stands for human rights and for an end to
Communist rule. In the years from its introduction in 1992 to 1997
it may have grown to 70 to 100 million adherents--more than the 60
million in the Communist Party. Members of Falun Gong do not drink
or smoke and they exercise, making their organs particularly
desirable for transplant.
In the United States the wait for a heart for transplant is eight
months. The same American can go to China and can have a heart
transplant in two weeks. But the organ must come from a healthy
person and must have left that person no more than four to six
hours before being transplanted. The doctors who transplant the
organs must have specific information when the healthy donor will
die. Hence the donor's death has to be scheduled carefully to
provide the heart to the surgeon within minutes. This will very
probably be from a "donor" whose crime is no more than practicing
the discipline of Falun Gong.
RED REIGN also covers the international strategies of the Chinese
Communist Party to cover up the human right abuses in China. As
the film recounts a documentary made for Canadian broadcast on the
subject of the Falun Gong was hushed just hours before it was to be
broadcast due to political pressure and what were essentially
bribes from representatives of the Chinese Government.
The film looks at the ethical dilemma a patient faces. If organs
are unavailable from any other source then the patient's decision
becomes one of dying or paying to have the donor, a stranger,
murdered to die in the patient's place. Is a patient immoral to
choose to live even if it means a stranger will die? Is a doctor
wrong to send a patient to China to save the patient's life? These
are not easy moral questions. This is a powerful film and one of
the best documentaries of the year. I rate RED REIGN: THE BLOODY
HARVEST OF CHINA'S PRISONERS a high +2 on the -4 to +4 scale or
8/10.
Cinema Libre has released the film to DVD and Video on Demand as of
September 24.
See
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/1411389.stm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kilgour-Matas_report
http://organharvestinvestigation.net/index.html
Film Credits: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2626756/combined
What others are saying:
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/red_reign/
[-mrl]
==================================================================
TOPIC: PRISONERS (film review by Mark R. Leeper)
CAPSULE: When two neighboring families each have a young daughter
disappear, one of the fathers (played by Hugh Jackman) decides that
the police detective on the case (Jake Gyllenhaal) is taking the
investigation in the wrong direction. He decides to go after a
suspect himself. PRISONERS is atmospheric and suspenseful and
features a Gordian Knot of contradictory clues. The film is
punctuated with considerable violence, but the mayhem is not the
point of the complex plot. The plot is like a whirlpool. The more
it twists the deeper it goes and the darker it gets until it has
the same sense of dread as had ZODIAC and SE7EN. Rating: +2 (-4 to
+4) or 7/10
It is Thanksgiving Day and the family of carpenter Keller Dover
(played by Hugh Jackman) is having the holiday dinner with their
friends the Birches, headed by Franklin (Terrence Howard). Each
family has a teenager and the two are friends. And each has a
daughter in the six-year-old age range. The two little girls go
off to go to the Dover home and simply and totally disappear. Of
course there are the scenes of frantic searches and Detective Loki
(Jake Gyllenhaal) is assigned the case. The solitary Loki is a
really good detective who has never failed to solve a case. Still,
he has constant friction between him and his superior. (I could
have done without this cliche.) The police find a strange RV that
was seen in the neighborhood before the girls disappeared. It was
driven by Alex Jones, a retarded man with the IQ of a ten-year-old.
Paul Dano plays Alex, still carrying the creepiness he earned
himself in THERE WILL BE BLOOD. Keller is convinced that Jones has
abducted the two girls and knows where they are. He devises a plan
to force the information from Alex.
PRISONERS is not just a film about conflicting people. It is a film
with competing genres. It could turn out to be a film with a
strong anti-vigilante message. It could be human story of how
different people react to loss and fear. It might be a complex
suspense mystery. Or it could turn out to be an action thriller,
but it would be hard to make it all four. Director Denis
Villeneuve keeps the viewer guessing just where he is going with
the film. Aaron Guzikowski's script in the hands of Villeneuve has
to balance these genres and not let any suffer too much. Where
they are going with the story will depend on which genre they
choose. Perhaps that just adds to the suspense of the film.
Villeneuve, a French Canadian, works overtime to give Keller strong
Americana principles. Keller hunts deer and brings his son along
hunting. The carpenter tries to inculcate him with survivalist
values such as "Pray for the best, prepare for the worst." And
when the occasion arises he is quick to pray out loud. Villeneuve
does everything but model the Thanksgiving dinner on Norman
Rockwell.
The entire dark plot unfolds under constantly dismal Pennsylvania
skies which set the tone for the entire film.
PRISONERS features several good actors even in some lesser roles
including Terrence Howard, Viola Davis, and Maria Bello. The film
gets a strong performance from the rage-filled Hugh Jackman, just
following his strong performance in LES MISERABLES.
In this film you may not like where the story is going, but you are
compelled to go with it. In the end the territory turns out
disappointingly familiar, but the ride to that point is gripping.
I rate it +2 on the -4 to +4 scale or 7/10.
Film Credits: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1392214/combined
What others are saying:
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/prisoners_2013/
[-mrl]
==================================================================
TOPIC: LUCKY EXPRESS (film review by Mark R. Leeper)
CAPSULE: In large numbers homeless children in India come to live
on the platforms of train stations. There are eleven million
platform children, and more than three hundred a day joins them.
Almost all will be abused, raped, enslaved by drugs or will turn to
crime. It is a law of the jungle society with the strong abusing
the weak. Stories and accounts fall from the victims' lips so fast
one almost cannot keep up with the subtitles. Director Anna
Fischer takes us to the platforms and interviews the children to
get accounts of their every-day lives. Rating: low +2 (-4 to +4)
or 7/10
Director Anna Fischer takes us through the train stations of India
to show a desperate sub-society of young Indians with no place else
to go living on or around train station platforms.
For many Indians, the government can do little to help them. The
destitute and homeless have to live by their wits. This is
especially true of children living on their own. Each year over
120,000 go to join the swelling society of "platform children"
living around the railroads. Here they have a society all their
own but run by gangs. With nobody to protect them, they usually
need to join gangs to protect themselves. They get what pleasure
from life they can. 90% turn to drugs, most commonly glue
sniffing. There are frequent stories of children being lured by
promises of chocolate and having an eye or a kidney stolen to be
sold on the black market.
Guiding Fischer is a former platform child--Vijay Bahadhur
(nickname "Lucky"). With Lucky's help she documents the lives of
platform children living in a society of their own. Lucky himself
became a platform child at six or seven and had survived five years
on the platforms, frequently supporting himself by picking pockets.
Now he has aspirations of becoming a filmmaker.
There are shelters for the platform children and where they can be
fed, but many prefer the life on the train platforms. It is harder
for the light-skinned children and the younger children since they
are more likely to be sexually abused, raped, or harassed. Some
are forced to take drugs to control them in virtual slavery. Most
are beaten by the police.
There are some organizations (mostly non-governmental) helping the
children to avoid the platform culture and to give them refuge. In
the film we see several projects to help the platform children. We
see the late Inderjit Khurana who ran teaching programs that go to
the students to educate them and give them hope.
Toward the end Fischer lightens the tone. Her style becomes more
optimistic interviewing platform children who have escaped that
life and are now successful. And we go with her as she takes Lucky
back to Nepal to see the village of his birth.
The style of the film is fairly straightforward. With Lucky as her
translator and emissary Fischer, only occasionally visible on
camera, talks to the platform children and gets their stories.
Probably Fischer spends a little too much time showing happy
children in the provided shelters. Once the point has been made
that the children are better off in shelters, happy children look
much the same no matter what their background is. Street scenes
from India do have appeal for the viewer.
Fischer has to walk a fine line here. She declares her respect for
India in the closing credits, but it seems clear the Indian
government should be helping these children more than they are.
I rate LUCKY EXPRESS a low +2 on the -4 to +4 scale or 7/10. On
August 27, 2013, LUCKY EXPRESS was released to DVD and digital
platforms.
Film Credits: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2316851/combined
What others are saying:
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/lucky_express_2012/
[-mrl]
==================================================================
TOPIC: SHERLOCK HOLMES WAS WRONG, and TCM Movies in October (letter
of comment by John Purcell)
In response to Evelyn's comments on SHERLOCK HOLMES WAS WRONG in
the 09/27/13 issue of the MT VOID, John Purcell writes:
I found a copy of SHERLOCK HOLMES WAS WRONG at the Half-Price Books
about a month ago--clearance shelves, $1--and figured, "sounds
promising." Haven't read it yet since I've been busy with school
business and all, but it's on the reading shelf about six books
down the line. In other words, two weeks from now I should be
reading it. Your brief review makes it sound promising. If I
remember I'll let you know what I think of the book.
In response to Mark comments on TCM's movies in October in the same
issue, John writes:
TCM's October movies are usually fun watching thanks to Halloween.
For quite a few months now my wife and I have been watching MeTV on
our local cable provider for that channel's Saturday night Sci-Fi
Fare. It's six hours of fun, starting with two episodes of Batman,
then LOST IN SPACE, classic STAR TREK, then Svengoolie hosts his
weekly old horror/sci-fi movie. This week it's THE LEECH WOMAN
(1943?; not sure of the date). Then the night wraps up with an
episode of VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA. I usually make popcorn
the old-fashioned way (in a popper pan that has one of those hand-
cranked stirring handles) for the movie. This has become our
Saturday night ritual, and have a good time.
Thanks for firing off your weekly ish. Missed you guys in San
Antonio at Worldcon. I don't even know if you two even were there!
If so, you should have swung by the fanzine lounge and said hello.
[-jp]
==================================================================
TOPIC: World War II (letter of comment by Tim Bateman)
In response to Mark's comments on World War II in the 09/20/13
issue of the MT VOID, Tim Bateman writes:
[You say,] "Most Americans think of the war as starting December 7,
1941, after hostilities in Europe. Many who think better of it say
it was 1939. Evelyn thinks that is very Eurocentric. The real
start of hostilities was the Japanese invasion of Manchuria in
1931."
Correctimundo. It also extends till 1953 if you are from
Lithuania. Given the lack of joint action by the Rome-Berlin Axis
and Japan, the "answer" might be to divide the Second World War
into the European War (1939 to 1953) and The Pacific War (1931 to
1945). [-tb]
==================================================================
TOPIC: This Week's Reading (book comments by Evelyn C. Leeper)
Mark Hofman was a very talented forger who created several
forgeries that were purportedly important documents relating to the
history. His crimes led to their own twisted path with Hofmann
building bombs to kill two people who stood in his way.
"The Mormon Murders" (a.k.a. "The Mormon Forgery Murders"), or
rather the story leading up to them, have fascinated people since
Mark Hofmann committed them on October 15, 1985. At least four
books have been written about the story:
- SALAMANDER: THE STORY OF THE MORMON FORGERY MURDERS by Linda
Sillitoe and Allen Roberts (ISBN 978-1-560-85200-1, 1988)
- A GATHERING OF SAINTS: A TRUE STORY OF MONEY, MURDER AND DECEIT
by Robert Lindsey (ISBN 978-0-671-65112-1, 1988)
- VICTIMS: THE LDS CHURCH AND THE MARK HOFMANN CASE by Richard
Turley (ISBN 978-0-252-01885-5, 1992)
- THE POET AND THE MURDERER: A TRUE STORY OF LITERARY CRIME AND THE
ART OF FORGERY by Simon Worrall (ISBN 978-0-525-94596-3, 2002)
SALAMANDER: THE STORY OF THE MORMON FORGERY MURDERS by Linda
Sillitoe and Allen Roberts (ISBN 978-1-560-85200-1, 1988) is an
incredibly detailed account of the forgeries and murders, beginning
with the grandparents of all the main characters and going through
all the investigators involved and the leads they followed. Given
that the Salt Lake City Police Department; the Salt Lake County
Attorney's Office; the FBI; the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco,
and Firearms; and various LDS offices, universities, and
antiquarian and forensic specialists were involved, it is very
complicated. There is a very thorough index by name, but I really
wish there had been a cast of characters (e.g., "Gerry D'Elia:
arson prosecutor, Salt Lake County Attorney's Office").
It is a bit confusing in its timeline as well, starting with the
murders for the first third of the book, then flashing back for the
middle third of the book to cover the backgrounds of Hofmann and
others, and the forgeries (all told as seen by everyone but
Hofmann--the authors never write from his point of view). Then it
jumps back to the prosecution of the case for the last third of the
book.
A GATHERING OF SAINTS: A TRUE STORY OF MONEY, MURDER AND DECEIT by
Robert Lindsey (ISBN 978-0-671-65112-1, 2002) also goes into detail
about the backgrounds of the main characters, etc., but also gives a
lot of Mormon history as well. Because it gives so much detail, it
has the same problems the Sillitoe and Roberts book has: it is
almost impossible to keep track of everyone with a diagram.
However, it does tell the main story in chronological order (only
the Mormon history parts are told out of sequence--they are
inserted when the documents pertaining to them make their first
appearance).
VICTIMS: THE LDS CHURCH AND THE MARK HOFMANN CASE by Richard Turley
(ISBN 978-0-252-01885-5) is reportedly the most scholarly of the
group, having been written by the Managing Director of the LDS
Church Historical Department. For example, it includes a fifty-
page list of all the documents Hofmann dealt in and with in his
career. And it has an index, something that Worrall's book (for
example) lacks. Turley gives the fullest background of official
Church history of the group as well, making it in that regard
perhaps the best one to start with if the forgeries you are most
interested in are those of supposed Church documents. [I have not
yet had a chance to see this one.]
THE POET AND THE MURDERER: A TRUE STORY OF LITERARY CRIME AND THE
ART OF FORGERY by Simon Worrall (ISBN 978-0-525-94596-3) draws on
the three earlier books but also focuses on a less well-covered
aspect of the whole story, when Hofmann not just forges but
actually composes a poem purportedly written by Emily Dickinson.
At least a third of the book is spent describing the creation and
subsequent history of this poem. Worrall also draws conclusions
somewhat at divergence with the official ones.
One reason that the other books do not cover this document is that
it was not publicly auctioned until 1997, almost a decade after two
of the other books were published, and five years after the third.
The poem had made the rounds earlier, but pretty much below the
radar, and its presence in an auction at Sotheby's clearly added
another chapter to the already twisted tale.
Alas, Worrall has no index. [-ecl]
==================================================================
Mark Leeper
mleeper@optonline.net
He is not only dull himself, he is the cause
of dullness in others.
--Samuel Johnson