Muncie Evening Press from Muncie, Indiana • Page 24

Page T-6 THE MUNCIE EVENING PRESS, SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 1982 Book tells of time when lace was banned, used for bribes King's latest won't grace supermarket Library lines By Pat Schaefer by KEITH ROYSDOIM In centuries past, lace has played as important a role in international trade as the automobile in today's economy. Royal suitors have been bribed with it, monarchs have imposed import bans against it, and children have been enslaved in the production of it. Lace probably originated with the making of fishermen's nets, going back to Biblical places and ancient Egyptian times. In his famous dictionary, Samuel Johnson defined "network" as "Anything reticulated or decussated at equal distance with interstices between the intersections." Translated into modern language his words seem more appropriate to fishing nets, though "network" is used synonymously with "lace." The intricate, decorative lace did not appear until the fifteenth century. At its height it was used in almost every item of personal adornment from billowing ruffles to ladies' shoes and gentlemen's boots.

Lace trade frequently was affected by sumptuary laws, which reguilated importation of lace in order to boost domestic lace-making industries. Such laws also restricted people from dressing as well as their social betters, thus, the "Actes of Apparell," passed in 1509 by Henry VIII, forbade anyone below the rank of knight to wear clothing trimmed with lace. Laws against importation caused a decline in lace-making centers of other countries, but importers also suffered. One solution was smuggling, which was done on a large scale with much ingenuity. A frequent method in England was to hide the lace in a coffin.

Supposedly the deceased had been visiting on the continent at the time of his death and was being returned for burial. Services would be performed and the body interred; but later the grieving "relatives" would visit the grave, exhume the body (if indeed there was one), and remove the contraband lace. To bolster the industry in Denmark in the seventeenth century a merchant brought twelve elderly German lace makers to the town of ence), and the Loch Ness Monster. Something for everyone! Tonder. As they taught their trade to the local people, they must have been an interesting sight, with their long silver beads encased in cloth bags to keep them from becoming entangled with the bobbins.

From the girls who spent long hours producing monotonously repetitive lace patterns has come a tradition of rhyme chanted rhythmically as they worked. Some tell the legends of the area, while others simply mark time or show the concern of the worker to get home before dark: "Nineteen miles to the Isle of Wight.Shall I get there by candle if your fingers be nimble and lightYoull get there by candle light." When it came to wearing lace, men often outshone their women, at least partly because they controlled the family purse. They wore garters with lace ends, elaborate lace collars (a la Sir Walter Raleigh), lace trimmed boots, and lace roses on shoes. But there were certain problems. Imagine the frustrations of the English gentleman of the seventeenth century whose lace-edged boot-hose "made such a rushing noise as you walked that my mistress could not hear one word of the love I made her The book containing the above information is new at the Muncie Public Library.

Entitled "Lace and Lace Making," it is a thorough exploration of the craft and includes practical material on caring for lace and identifying different kinds. The author is Alice-May Bullock. Unlike most novels by Stephen King, "The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger" will not be available at. your local bookstores, or in paperback at every drug store and supermarket between here and Judgement Day. The book, published by Donald M.

Grant, one of the best fantasy publishers in the business, is most likely going to be available only in specialty bookstores or through the good graces of the U.S. Postal Service. And unlike most books by King, "The Gunslinger" will not sell millions and millions of copies, and lead the bestseller lists for months. The book is available in two editions: a $20 trade edition, limited to a one-time only press run of 10,000 copies, and a limited edition of 500 copies that go for a cool $60 signed by King himself and the illustrator, Michael Whelan. Obviously, these limitations make the book more expensive, but will utlimately make the book more valuable.

And finally, unlike most King novels, this book isn't your typical gut-gripping terror tome, filled with vampires or ghosts or whatever. King himself has labeled it an "oddball" book, and that it is. It is composed of stories, most published during the last 12 years or whatever. King himself has labeled it an "oddball" book, and that it is. It is composed of stories, most published during the last 12 years in Fantasy and Science Fiction magazine.

The stories concern Roland, the last gunslinger of a dying planet, and his eternal pursuit of the man in black. The world is filled with mutants and creatures of death and evil, and makes for quite a read. King says he expects the total story of which this book is only a small part to run more than 3000 pages. Good luck to both King and his loyal readers in tackling such a project. For information about this book or any Grant publication, write to Donald M.

Grant, Publisher, West Kingston, Rhode Island, 02892. For something a little less remote but fun nonetheless, try "The Fantastic Satin," by Leslie Charteris, published in hardcover by Doubleday for $11.95. Included are six short stories by Charteris about Simon Templar, one of the most popular characters in detective fiction. What's this doing in an SF column? Well, these stories most published in the 1930's and '40's are some of the Saint's more fantastic adven Shelf cleaning time: Here are a few books that have been accumulating dust far too long: "Merchanter's Luck" by C. J.

Cherryh, available from DAW for $2.95, is set in the same universe as "Downbelow Station," and even involves that famous spaceport in cosmic adventure. Ansen Dibell's "Summerfair" is described as being the third book of the Kantmorie Saga; presumably that means something to some of you out there. The book, available from DAW for $2.75, is about a quest to recover the crown of lost Kantmorie. A. E.

van Vogt's "The Battle of Forever" is a 1971 novel recently re-issued by DAW for $2.25. It concerns people enlarging themselves to giant size and encountering a strange new world. Phyllis Ann Karre's "The Idylls of the Queen" is available from Ace for $2.95. It is a murder mystery set in Arthurian England, of all places. Charles Sheffield's "Erasmus Magister" is available from Ace for $2.50, and mixes fantasy and reality quite neatly.

The main character is Erasmus Darwin, grandfather of Charles, who has a series of amusing, magical adventures in 18th-century Scotland. Asa Drake's "The Lair of Ancient Dreams" is, I suspect, a Harlequin romance masquerading as SF from Avon and selling for $2.50. "After thousands of years, they were lovers again, destined to face the Supreme Demoness!" Oh, really Finally, Robin McKinley's "The Door in the Hedge" is available from Ace for $2.25, and is composed of four stories about such charming things as princesses, enchanters, and frogs. 'Crib' a predictable, boring novel based on infant death syndrome take on a Quixote-like redemptive task is more unbelievable. His young, insolent black guide who comes to love the doctor and to function as chief problem-solver is the most unbelievable.

There isn't a streetwise kid around today Who'd go for this setup. The murders that do occur are asides to the novel. Pass this one by. "Will's Boy: A Memoir" (Penguin, Wright Morris was a lad of a different stripe. This is an autobiography, focusing on his early life.

Morris grew up in the Midwest during the '20s, raised by a devil-may-care father and a series of stepmothers (his real mother had died). Still, he remembers his youth with warmth and humor. Morris recalls such things as Necco wafers, sleighriding down dangerously steep hills, going to see the Babe play ball. He looked for firecrackers that didn't go off, he played pool on tables where balls clogged the pockets, and he got ringworm. Morris' memoir shows us a side of American life of American boyhood that most of us can relate to; growing up in the '60s, in fact, wasn't all that much different.

Reading this book, you begin to believe in the idea of a collective consciousness. By EDWARD J. FAY New York Dally Newi "Crib" (Pocket, SIDS, known to most as Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, is as good a topic as any to mix with the occult mainly because no one really knows why the infants succumb. Harold Lee Friedman offers a ghoulish answer to the question. A young woman who has just lost her baby can't accept the death; with the help of a police captain, she launches an investigation and follows up every clue.

The novel is disappointing in many respects. It drags, and the exhumation scene is totally predictable. The one thing left up in the air is whether the death or whatever resulted from supernatural causes. Even that becomes obvious, though, and all that's left is a weak why. "Charlie Boy" (Avon, Here's the winner of this month's award for most deceptive cover hands down.

Peter Feibleman's tale of murder in New Orleans is a character study, and as boring a book as you're likely to find despite a cover that suggests a chilling, bloodcurdling story. The problem is the characters. The killer is feeble and totally unbelievable. The doctor who decides to Letters of comment about this column or SF in general may be sent to Keith Roysdon, P.O. Box 2408, Muncie, 47302.

tures; hence the title. The Saint encounters giant ants, zombies, a flying machine (with a differ-.