Paperback, 224 pages
English language
Published Dec. 28, 1996 by Ballantine Books.
Sharyn McCrumb's Bimbos of the Death Sun is a strange work. Ostensibly a mystery novel complete with a murder and an array of suspects with plausible motives, it won an Edgar Award in 1988 for Best Original Paperback Mystery. Although we follow the plot, curious to know who killed famed novelist Appin Dungannon and why, the fact is that what happens in this novel is in some ways much less important than where it happens. Bimbos of the Death Sun is not a mystery that merely happens to be set at a science fiction and fantasy convention; it's a novel about a particular, peculiar American subculture, and it just so happens that a murder and investigation occur while the Trekkies and Dungeon Masters are convening to buy and sell memorabilia and don their hobbit costumes. In fact, the novel is really a parody of that culture and, as such, it …
Sharyn McCrumb's Bimbos of the Death Sun is a strange work. Ostensibly a mystery novel complete with a murder and an array of suspects with plausible motives, it won an Edgar Award in 1988 for Best Original Paperback Mystery. Although we follow the plot, curious to know who killed famed novelist Appin Dungannon and why, the fact is that what happens in this novel is in some ways much less important than where it happens. Bimbos of the Death Sun is not a mystery that merely happens to be set at a science fiction and fantasy convention; it's a novel about a particular, peculiar American subculture, and it just so happens that a murder and investigation occur while the Trekkies and Dungeon Masters are convening to buy and sell memorabilia and don their hobbit costumes. In fact, the novel is really a parody of that culture and, as such, it has garnered understandably ambivalent reviews from the science fiction and fantasy community it caricatures. The perspective of the novel is decidedly that of an outsider's. The protagonist is a man named James Owen Mega who, under the pseudonym Jay Omega has published a science fiction novel named Bimbos of the Death Sun. Omega, though, is no science fiction fanatic or frequenter of conventions He and his girlfriend, Dr. Marion Farley, are both professors at a local university, and Omega wrote the novel in his spare time as a fictionalized account of his scientific research. The reader, therefore, experiences the convention's peculiarities and surprises along with the bewildered and amazed professors. . The pair represents, in some ways, two different approaches to the pageantry of obsession and fantasy that swirl around them. Omega, as a guest author and conference V.I.P., tries to tread lightly around the customs and peculiarities of the sci-fi aficionados so as not to offend or become too involved. Marion, as a professor of comparative literature, casts a more critical eye on the proceedings, giving the touted big-shots and aspiring authors little credibility.McCrumb, however, also tempers the satire somewhat with her choice of protagonists. By informing us that Marion actually teaches a course on science fiction and fantasy novels at the university, McCrumb is careful to acknowledge that science fiction is a legitimate literary genre. Like any legitimate literary genres, it has its noteworthy practitioners (Tolkein, Asimov) as well as its charlatans (the terrible Appin Dungannon). Her target, McCrumb wants us to know, is not the works themselves but the obsessive culture that springs up around the works, and by making the shy, bookish Jay Omega her sympathetic protagonist, McCrumb is also making it clear that her target is not simply the socially maladroit. The satire is directed, rather, at people who have made these escapist fantasies a life obsession.
A really delightful cozy mystery and affectionate parody of fan culture (which really hasn't changed much since the 80s). One star off for a somewhat rushed ending and rather unpleasant portrayal of an overweight "femmefan", but otherwise thoroughly enjoyable.
I don't know any other mystery novel that uses a D&D game as a parlor scene. This one does. Unfortunately it sucks. It does manage to capture the atmosphere of a badly run exhibition game quite nicely though: At the the end of the game players and audience are frustrated, and the bored reader is glad that this waste of time is over. It's just as well the exposed murderer commits suicide, because this mess would never hold up in court. The whole mystery part of the book seems like an afterthought, a mere excuse to be able to sell it as some, any genre at least. In truth this is a book about SF fandom, but it hardly is science fiction in itself. So after half the book the asshole victim is killed, nobody really is bothered much by that, and the only reason the main character finds who …
I don't know any other mystery novel that uses a D&D game as a parlor scene. This one does. Unfortunately it sucks. It does manage to capture the atmosphere of a badly run exhibition game quite nicely though: At the the end of the game players and audience are frustrated, and the bored reader is glad that this waste of time is over. It's just as well the exposed murderer commits suicide, because this mess would never hold up in court. The whole mystery part of the book seems like an afterthought, a mere excuse to be able to sell it as some, any genre at least. In truth this is a book about SF fandom, but it hardly is science fiction in itself. So after half the book the asshole victim is killed, nobody really is bothered much by that, and the only reason the main character finds who killed him is because he is marginally more computer savvy than the police. But that's not the reason why this book is readable. It is readable because it's set on a small science fiction con in the late 80s, written by someone who knew what she was writing about. There's trekkies trying to organize a Star Trek wedding, roleplayers having meltdowns over their characters, postal gamers using the con for political scheming in a made up world, cosplayers (before cosplay was called cosplay), etc The guest stars are Appin Dungannon, an ass of an author who hates his main character and his fans (guess who ends up dead?), and the main character, a local professor of engineering called Jay Omega. Jay is, to his chagrin, the author of a hard science fiction novel that somehow contracted the title "Bimbos of the Death Sun" and a near-pornographic cover during publication. Jay and his fellow professor/ SO Marion spend most of the novel being bemused by the surrounding antics. Jay is new to fandom, Marion is an old SF fan who's seen it all. The fascinating thing about this book is how it manages to capture SF fandom so well, without resorting to the usual trite clichés. Sure, there are some spots that seem mean-spirited, but even these read like someone wrote from bitter experience. And yes, the parlor scene is an extended roleplaying session. I suspect the author did not really know how these worked or she had some really bad experiences. Altogether: readable for the view of the fandom in the 80s, but don't expect an actual mystery.
