MORROW, James (Kenneth)

(1947-)

   US writer who lectured and taught in the 1970s, served as a contributing editor to Media and Methods magazine 1978-80, and produced material for Boston tv 1979-84. His first book was Moviemaking Illustrated: The Comicbook Filmbook (1973). Through the 1980s he producedseveral textbooks for children, along with at least 5 children's novels beginning with The Quasar Kids (1987). Unsurprisingly, his first sf novel, The Wine of Violence (1981), shows in its smooth competence clear signs ofJM's wide experience, though even here can be sensed a tendency, which has increased over the years, for his control over the suspension of disbelief to falter - quite deliberately, perhaps - at rhetorical high-points. That these slippages almost invariably occur at moments when JM wishes to convey an intense ethical concern for the human race does not alter the fact that, for some readers, they weaken the fictional context from which they derive their specific meaning. The Wine of Violence is set on a planet long colonized by humans, who have divided into two societies, the nomad Brain-Eaters, who do precisely that, and the Quetzalians, who discharge their human aggressiveness into a symbolic conduit which encircles their city walls. Chances to engage in humanist sarcasms - witness the very name Brain-Eaters - are rarely missed as the plot develops, and the Quetzalians are forced by a group of human visitors to the planet to come to grips, pyrrhically, with the vile nomads. JM's second novel, The Continent of Lies (1984), also set on a planet settled by humans, is less shaken by rhetorical overlays. With wit and concision it traces the attempts of its protagonist to track down an evil category of "dreambean" - good dreambeans being fruits which generate innocuous entertainment-hallucinations when eaten - before it can madden its victims into thinking of it as a god. Some moments of existential doubt intervene, but all comes right in the end.With THIS IS THE WAY THE WORLD ENDS (1986) JM abandoned the galactic stage, for which he clearly felt only mutedsympathy, and came to Earth; as the book begins, a nuclear HOLOCAUST kills all but a few, who are then transported via submarine to Antarctica, where they are put on trial by the "unadmitted" - those souls who will now never be born. As an idea it is perhaps more effective in paraphrase than within the constraints of a fictional narrative, though the decency of the book clearly transcends the inevitable disembodiedness of its message. Only Begotten Daughter (1990) tells the story of Christ's sister, Julie Katz,whose virgin birth derives from the fact that her father has contributed to a sperm bank and whose life in other ways mirrors and affectionately spoofs the Christian version. Counterpointed to that life, which is told with sympathy and verve, are the stories of Satan and a fundamentalist minister, the former being perhaps the more plausible creation; Julie's preordained destiny plays out against these figures. Short stories - JM has not been a prolific writer of them - are assembled in Swatting at the Cosmos (coll 1990), which includes the NEBULA-winning "Bible Stories forAdults, No.17: The Deluge" (1988). City of Truth (1991 UK), a novella, conveys in parable form some sharp lessons about the nature of art and the subtle virtues of untruth, with considerable wit; it won the 1992 Nebula for Best Novella. Towing Jehovah (1994), in which the body of God is discovered in the Atlantic Ocean and its towing arranged by the Catholic Church, carries on JM's long satirical examination of the visions ofdestiny which have governed, and distorted, Western civilization.JM's work has been likened to that of Kurt VONNEGUT Jr, and similarities are indeed very evident. JM could easily be seen as a more attractive author than his mentor, and certainly he couches his vision of the world's plight more happily than Vonnegut has ever done. But, while Vonnegut never disbelieves in the medium of his art, JM has great difficulty giving credence to the artifices of fiction. This may be the price paid for passion and clarity of mind; and it may be a price worth paying.

   JC

   Other work: The Adventures of Smoke Bailey * (1983 chap), a computer-game tie; 3 NEBULA anthologies: Nebula Awards 26 (anth 1992), Nebula Awards 27 (anth 1993) and Nebula Awards 28 (anth 1994).

   See also: ARTS; DISASTER; END OF THE WORLD; LEISURE; MESSIAHS; PERCEPTION; PSYCHOLOGY; RELIGION.