In Regards to pages 87 through End of
Linda Jaivin's Rock 'n' Roll Babes from Outer Space
3 March 1999
I feel Jaivin should have served us better if she served Rock 'n' Roll Babes from Outer Space as a short story. She did not have enough material, particularly humorous material to stretch the book out to nearly 300 pages. I was very disappointed since I actually enjoyed about the first 50 before the jokes grew old and stale.
I did not feel there was such an issue of what is an alien. Granted that most of the characters in the books were freaks. But I don't feel there was anything ambiguous about any of the humans or aliens being anything other than what they were.
This novel had a totally positive outcome. Jake and Baby Baby each had happy endings despite not staying together. Eros' collision didn't destroy the world but rather helped to save it. Considering the book was designed as humor, this all seemed fairly inevitable. I can't recall the last humorous book I read that proceeded to end on a down note [sic].
The only troublesome aspect of this (in my opinion) was the effect of Eros on the government officials in Canberra. I felt that this segment was a non-sequitar to the rest of the novel and the orgy was completely gratuitous.
I don't know if the alien abduction nightmare is truly a universal cultural nightmare. I'm quite skeptical to say the least. I don't have any such nightmares and the majority of people I know have never proclaimed such nightmares. Nor has there ever been much about humanity that can well be described as universal. In fact, outside of the United States, I've rarely even heard discussions dealing with aliens and UFOs. The Capitalist American press is extremely prone to sensationalism. I suspect that the number of people having alien abduction nightmares is relatively low.
As for this supposed nightmare being turned on its head, well, a good many people already expect the aliens to somehow save humanity. For every person with a fear of aliens, there is probably another eagerly awaiting their arrival. True, most of them probably aren't expecting the aliens to be vixens, but I don't believe alien sex fiends are a new concept -- in fact I know a relatively popular band calls themselves exactly that.
Is this book, with all its cliches, curses, sex, and rock 'n' roll, an intentional affirmation of those who would say Science Fiction is crap? Why would someone want to prove that of the genre they write for? Why risk turning off yet more people to an under-appreciated genre? Are there any literary croprophiliacs (i.e. those who love to read crap) out there?
I don't really think this book deals with the Holocaust. Just because a book has tattoos, abductions, and hidden agendas seems such a totally flimsy argument. Tattoos are common place, especially among the punk rock scene. Abductions were not invented by the nazis and have very different connotations than forced migrations. And where can one find politics without hidden agendas. Stop making mountains out of ant hills!