Joe's Turn

[page 5] JOE'S TURN The basic idea of the teen column was not to segregate the teenfen @teenfan@, but to _unite_ them. I see that some people have taken the idea d1fferently. But, this column will not be _about_ teens, but a column of what _I_, as a teenfan, am doing and reading. This column will be an assortment of everything. You'll probably be seeing book, fanzine, and record reviews here, and anything else that I'm interested in or that comes to me when I'm writing this. My main objective is to keep this interesting to everyone, especially the teenfen @teenfan@. The Lord of the Rings is, by far, my favorite piece of fantasy. Next to LotR, I enjoy the Conan sagas by R. E. Howard. Conan is supposed to have lived about twelve thousand years ago, in the Hyborian Age between the sinking of Atlantis and the beginnings of recorded history. A gigantic barbarian adventurer from the northern land of Cimmeria, Conan wades through blood and gore and overcomes both natural and supernatural foes to become, at last, king of Aquilonia, the large Hyborian kingdom. So far there have been five Conan books published by Lancer in paperback. At least three more will be published. Most of the Conan stories are short--about three stories to a book. Only one full-length Conan saga was ever written by Howard. This is "Conan the Conqueror." At the time I'm writing this I'm just beginning to read "Conan the Conqueror,@"@ having read the other four books. If you are a real fantasy fan and enjoy action, the Conan books are for you! Although I read and enjoy most all science fiction and fantasy, I would rather read _fantasy_ (sword and sorcery, sword and science, heroic fantasy...). Other than Tolkien and Howard, there are many favorite authors of mine (speaking of fantasy). These are Moorecock (his history of the runestaff is _great_! Part one is [page 6] "The Jewel in the Skull"), Lin Carter, E. R. Burroughs (I would say the Mars series is fantasy, not all SF), and L. Sprague deCamp. Even though I enjoy most kinds of music, the type of music I'll write most about is _progressive rock_ or--by other names-- underground music, west coast music, hard rock. It's all the same -- WILD! This section of HOOM may be skipped over by people who don't enjoy this music; but, to the people who _do_ like it, read and comment. Favorite groups include: Steppenwolf, Doors, Iron Butterfly, and Country Joe and the Fish. I'll now proceed to talk about the four above-mentioned groups. Steppenwolf, in my opinion, is the best hard rock group in the U.S. today. Out of the eleven songs on their first album, I enjoy _all_ eleven. I'm waiting for the _new_ Steppenwolf LP that my local dealer said is soon to be out. The Doors' new album, "Waiting for the Sun," is just as good as their first LP, which was _really_ good. On this LP is "Hello, I Love You" (the current hit on the 'Ugly Radio' Top 40 stations, not the FM 'Underground' stations). This is a good song, but not as good as "The Unknown Soldier," which, outside of "Light My Fire," is the best thing the Doors have done. I also enjoy the other nine songs. The Iron Butterfly's new one is selling like mad here in Detroit. This album, "In-a-Gadda-da-Vida," is great! Country Joe has long been a favorite of mine, and his "Together" album is fantastic, also. I _must_ mention Simon & Garfunkel--if you like music at all, buy their newest thing, "Bookends." I've got to ask my local record dealer to pick up the new Leonard Nimoy album for me. Leonard Nimoy, of Star Trek fame, isn't hard rock (to Nimoy fans this would be a laugh), but I really enjoy him. His first two albums were "Mr. Spock's Music From Outer Space," an all-Spock record, and "The Two Sides of Leonard Nimoy," the one half Spock, half Nimoy. The new album will be all Nimoy. I don't think that I'll flip over this new record as I did over the other two. Nimoy's a great guy, but he can't sing _that_ well. (I've a funny feeling from going to get letters from Nimoy fen @fans@ over that last statement!) It seems that I've gotten a bit long winded, so I'll close here. Namarië,