Assignment: Hellhole

Spaceways #14

by Andrew J. Offutt, John Cleve (Pseudonym)

RETIRED COP ALANNI KEOR BOUGHT THE FARM...LITERALLY SHE WAS HAPPY FARMING WITH HER PARTNERS-AN OUTIE AND A JARP-UNTIL A POWERFUL POLITICIAN BLACKMALED HER INTO BECOMING AN INTERPLANETARY THIEF. TO STEAL THE MYSTERIOUS ALIEN THING CALLED INVISIBLE WISDOM, SHE HAD TO GO TO HELLHOLE...THE PLANET THAT LIVED UP TO ITS NAME.

Genres: Science Fiction

212 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published November 1, 1983

About the author

Andrew Jefferson Offutt was an American science fiction and fantasy author. He wrote as Andrew J. Offutt, A.J. Offutt, and Andy Offut. His normal byline, andrew j. offutt, had his name in all lower-case letters. His son is the author Chris Offutt.

Offutt began publishing in 1954 with the story And Gone Tomorrow in If. Despite this early sale, he didn't consider his professional life to have begun until he sold the story Blacksword to Galaxy in 1959. His first novel was Evil Is Live Spelled Backwards in 1970.

Offutt published numerous novels and short stories, including many in the Thieves World series edited by Robert Lynn Asprin and Lynn Abbey, which featured his best known character, the thief Hanse, also known as Shadowspawn (and, later, Chance). His Iron Lords series likewise was popular. He also wrote two series of books based on characters by Robert E. Howard, one on Howard's best known character, Conan, and one on a lesser known character, Cormac mac Art.

As an editor Offutt produced a series of five anthologies entitled Swords Against Darkness, which included the first professional sale by Charles de Lint.

Offutt also wrote a large number of pornographic works under twelve different pseudonyms, not all of them identified. Those known include John Cleve, J.X. Williams, and Jeff Douglas. His main works in this area are the science fiction Spaceways series, most of whose volumes were written in collaboration, and the historical Crusader series.

Reviews

[Will · Rating 1 out of 5]

I recently listened to a podcast where Chris Offutt detailed the life and work of his late father, Andrew Offutt. Apparently, Andrew Offutt, who was most known to the world as a SF/F author, wrote scores of erotic novels under various pen names. The one he used most often (to the point of treating it like an alter ego) was John Cleve, the author listed on this and all the Spaceways novels. Though I never read erotica, I had only recently discovered Andrew Offutt, so I was curious to see what he could do in the genre he cared most for. When I saw this novel on clearance for fifty cents, I decided to give it a shot.

Well, unfortunately it is just awful. First and foremost, for a "left hand novel", there isn't nearly as much sex as I thought there would be, and the sex scenes that are there are a joke. (For some reason, a penis is referred to as a slicer, which just might be the worst nickname for a cock ever.) On top of a series of really mediocre and not hot at all sex scenes, there is also one scene with a woman being tortured and gang raped. While the author's habit of providing scant detail was mercifully present in this scene as well, I still found myself very uncomfortable reading it.

On the other hand, this book also failed to be an engaging space opera. The main character's quest to recover an ancient artifact from a local cult was never engrossing. What exactly made the artifact so valuable was never explained, yet numerous characters were willing to risk life and limb to get it. I never saw the point. To make matters worse, scenes involving completely tangential characters and situations muddled the narrative.

So, in the end, the two wrongs of poorly written erotica and poorly written sci-fi amalgamate into a blunder of a novel. Highly NOT recommended.