Time And Again by Jack Finney

I have no idea what led me to add Jack Finney's 1970 illustrated novel Time and Again to my to-read list — it certainly wasn't that horrendous cover! — but I'm glad I gave it a chance.

Finney is perhaps best known for The Body Snatchers, a story first published in installments in Collier's magazine in 1954 and later printed in novel form. It served as the source of the classic 1956 sci-fi film Invasion of the Body Snatchers, for which Finney contributed to the screenplay.

Time And Again (FIC FINNEY) is considered a classic in the time travel genre, something I wasn't aware of until after I finished reading it. Out of the blue, narrator Si (short for "Simon") Morley finds himself being recruited by a top-secret government agency. It turns out the feds have learned how to send people back in time but the procedure only works with certain kinds of people. While those characteristics are never explicitly revealed, apparently Si's got the goods.

Faced with the prospect of a ho-hum advertising career or the temporal adventure of a lifetime, 28-year-old Si opts for adventure. He already knows what time and place he wants to travel to: New York City, January 1882, to solve a mystery related to his girlfriend's past.

Before you know it, Si's in Victorian-era Manhattan, making friends and enemies alike among the 19th-century denizens. He becomes particularly fond of Julia, the niece of the woman who boards Si. With Julia at his side, the two become far more embroiled in danger and intrigue — both in the past and present day — than Si ever could have expected.

While I found Si's character to be lacking in personality, it is through his sharp-eyed observations that we see the Big Apple, circa 1882. Finney excels at bringing historic New York to life, plunging us into the details of that period's wardrobe, architecture, lifestyle and cultural mores. Though his words alone would have sufficed, the text is further bolstered by Si's sketches and photographs. Interestingly enough, I had the most difficulty accepting Finney's description of the mechanics of time travel. In Time And Again, it's accomplished through essentially willing yourself through self-hypnosis to another place and time. I found this method less believable than the genre's more common conventions of machines or wormholes. Or even magic.

The plot starts out slowly, but moves along at a steady clip, gaining in steam particularly toward the end. You can tell a great deal of research has gone into recreating the events of the time, and Finney incorporates them seamlessly into the story. His tale blends science fiction, history and romance together in a way that will make you see how it has stood the test of time.

Arthur C. Clarke Award Shortlist Announced

This year's Arthur C. Clarke Award judges have recently announced the shortlist for this year's prize. The Arthur C. Clarke Award is given annually for an outstanding British science fiction novel. The contestants are:

• Hull zero three, by Greg Bear
• The end specialist, by Drew Magary (published under the title The postmortal in the US)
  
• Embassytown, by China Mieville
• The testament of Jessie Lamb, by Jane Rogers (a paperback edition will be released in the U.S. in May)
  
• Rule 34, by Charles Stross
• The waters rising, by Sheri S. Tepper

Perhaps as interesting as perusing the list itself is the commentary that it has generated in the SF community. Christopher Priest (author of The prestige) published a viscerally cranky, but entertaining, critique of the judges' decision on his blog last week, and Catherynne M. Valente (an American and a fantasy writer, no less) published an equally engrossing response to Priest's critique on her blog. I find this stuff fascinating -- there is hand-wringing over the Current State of Literature, but we're in the SF blogosphere, so there are f-bombs and space jokes included in the rants.

Dying Inside / by Robert Silverberg

Even among the more super-prolific writers of Science Fiction, a genre in which it's not uncommon to see authors tally over a hundred titles, Robert Silverberg is one who's work has reached some exceptionally lofty heights. Since the 1950's, where even as a student at Columbia (Class of '56) he published a handful of short fiction, he's been repeatedly nominated for Hugos and Nebulas, winning on several occasions, and consistently catching the eye of readers both in and out of the SF genre. A lifelong New Yorker, he moved to San Francisco in the early Seventies amid a pending divorce to his first wife. Ironically the period was one of his most fruitful--Dying Inside, among others, was individually conceived and penned in mere weeks. Upon its original publication the book, about a middle-aged telepathic who's steadily losing his powers, was released to less favorable acclaim. Since then, however, it's been realized by the critics and the reading public for the masterpiece that it is. Locus magazine labeled it "one of the best science fiction novels of all time," and more than a few of Silverberg's literary peers have celebrated it as a trailblazing work of literature.

"It was like that all the time, in those years: an endless trip, a gaudy voyage. But powers decay. Time leaches the colors from the best of visions. The world becomes grayer. Entropy beats us down. Everything fades. Everything Goes. Everything dies."

David Selig can read minds. Born with the extraordinary gift of telepathy, he's lived a life enhanced by his superhuman ability to probe the conscious thoughts of those around him. But it's a talent, a psychological marvel to be sure, hidden from all but three people and not quite blessing people may perceive it as. Put simply, having ESP hasn't helped make David any better. While he can manipulate circumstances and reactions, he still can't get a leg up in society. He's still a loser. Always a bit of a social misfit, a bitter outcast with not a lot of looks or charm or even ambition to capitalize on his unusual talent and parlay his prospects into a dream job or beautiful wife, David's life of knowing what people are thinking--often more of a deterrent from engaging it in the first place because it just reaffirms his negative worldview and dismal self-concept--has devolved into a frustrated, distancing, thoroughly miserable existence. That he's a capable individual is well-evidenced; he obtained a degree from Columbia and several mid-level office positions before flaking out on the 9-5 scene. Now at 41, he writes papers for Columbia undergraduates who willingly pay a modest sum for his services.

David thinks his life would be better if he had more meaningful relationships. He's had fewer friends than most, his condition thwarting more intimate acquaintances and removing him from a lot of social situations. There have been two or three girlfriends and some one-nighters, but relationships, especially with women, have a tendency to become toxic, inevitably leaving a trail of enmity and bad blood despite his best intentions. His family relations aren't so great either. His mom and dad, still around although David doesn't go to see them much, essentially gave up on him during adolescence when he didn't pan out to what they wanted. Even his sister Judith, who his parents adopted at the advice of a child psychologist when David was 8 and one of the three people who knows of his abilities, hates him outright for his sixth sense. But there's another, bigger problem currently. At present, with his 42nd birthday looming, David senses something's wrong, not just with his life but with his gift. His telepathy, which even with all its dismal side-effects has been his life's only real joy, still a mystifyingly wondrous tool capable of offering amusement, diversion, education and even ecstasy all at once, is dwindling. His clairvoyant ability to know others inside-out, to probe the consciousness of casual acquaintances, and even see the souls of strangers bared before him in removed and admittedly voyeuristic though not malicious fashion, is growing dimmer to the point where it very soon may be extinguished altogether.

Initial reaction from Silverberg's publisher on his newest creation back in 1972 was one of offhanded surprise. His editor, knowing him personally, felt that Dying Inside was a rough autobiographical sketch morphed into science fiction. The author denies this although similarities between him and Selig--they're both Jewish, both New Yorkers, both Columbia grads, both writers, etc.--are telling. That the novel is a gem, a true ace of spades richly drafting universal themes of knowledge, communication and essence of existence onto the printed page, is a fact that cannot be overemphasized. It's brilliant. And while not exactly a straightforward narrative, the delivery shifting from first-person to third and back in random fashion, the book excels at giving the story a good balance of background and plot development. It's funny too. Like Kurt Vonnegut, the Silverberg's acrid style, satiric slant and glib interpretations of his protagonist reads fast and cynical though not without admonishing critically important, and often subtly revealed, truths about our world and the human condition. Parallels can of course be drawn to other fictional characters, and perhaps even a few scattershot theories on the actual or similar conditions, but none are as elucidating as Silverberg's conception. There is nothing un-grounded or superhero about David Selig. He's not a vampire, changeling, witch or mutant. He's just a guy, a balding middle-aged flunkie with the capacity, and to some degree the control, to monitor the spectacular phenomenon of the mind at work in his fellow man. It's an ability he's never been without and he doesn't know what he'll do if he loses it. (SF SILVERBERG)

First Lines Quiz: Week 4

First Lines Quiz -- Week #4 - SCIENCE FICTION » Create A Quiz

Other Kingdoms / by Richard Matheson

Alexander White goes by the pen name of Arthur Black. It's a publicity exercise of course--audiences of the type of dark horror fiction he writes would want an "A. Black" book, not an "A. White" novel. In his relatively successful career as a writer, all of his books have been fiction. But at 82, he now recalls a story that, though it is indeed stranger and more mystifying than all of his novels, is true--word for word. Born in Brooklyn in the year 1900, Alexander White was 18 when he finally broke free of his oppressive shackles at a home domineered by his autocratic father and joined the American Army in the trenches of World War I. There he met a soldier, a dying Englishman named Harold Lightfoot whose last words to Alexander were "keep away from the 'middle'".

Disturbed by his friend's mysterious epitaph and even more so when he discovers a sizeable golden nugget in his pack, Alexander sets off for Harold's home of Gadford to look for answers. He doesn't have to look far to find way more than he could have ever bargained for. When his search leads him to a small cottage where a woman named Magda lives, it is only the beginning as his life becomes ever more entwined with the life of a woman, a witch, and her dealings with the very peculiar yet very real "wee folk" of the forest. Matheson, known for his stellar horror novels like I Am Legend, Hell House and Stir of Echoes, merges into the world of fantasy in this sharply written tale of a man caught up in a world he could never have imagined. Much like more contemporary historical fantasy, near-history rather than ancient, Other Kingdoms weaves together a snapshot of twentieth century life, the ravages of the modern world with the ages old realm of myth and mysticism. Even readers only slightly familiar with fantasy will have no trouble grasping the plight and evolution of Alexander White, who recreates a time and a place certainly stranger and unfamiliar to our own, but which somehow seems very near and very recognizable all the same. (SF MATHESON)

We, Robot: Skywalker's Hand, Blade Runners, Iron Man, Slutbots and How Fiction Became Fact / by Mark Stephen Meadows

So it seems that we're not that far from an all out war between humans and robots. For author, inventor and all-around robot lover Mark Stephen Meadows, this is not a question of if, but when. "It's as if we're building a new slave class", he says in his introduction to a book which can't help but attract the inner tech junkie in everyone. Meadows tempers his excitement in the follow-up passages, admitting that he doesn't actually know what will happen, "they are just my own science fictions" (p.9). What he is 100% certain of is that we will all be affected by robots. Automation itself and artifictial intelligence can already be seen everywhere. Governments and militaries the world over have already instituted automated weaponry and aircrcaft and at the moment the U.S. Defense Department has introduced the BigDog, a wildebeest-resembling quadruped robot, with highly sophisticated sensory perception, that is well into the test phase. You can see it in action here.

So just how close to becoming reality are our favorite science fiction robots? And what might be the real-life consequences of their existence? Actually we're not that far off, depending on our own willingness to substitute technology for human capability. The book, well-stocked with glossy photos and images and enhanced by the author's own giddy sense of childlike wonder, takes a look at some of the more intriguing developments as the author sets off across the globe to find cutting-edge robotics and automated technology in places like France, Japan and New Zealand. In Japan, human replicas and androids are on their way as is the case with Dr. Hiroshi Ishiguro of Kyoto, whose self-resembling and self-imitating android, called Geminoid, contains sensory neurons which mirror the doctor's movements precisely. Here in the United States where robot maids, not unlike Rosie off The Jetsons, are being fiddled with and actual robot companions are already on the market, the excitement is building.  What will we see in the coming decade? Everything from Terminator-esque hybrid drones to automated assisted living robots and modules for helping the disabled. Even though the author is infatuated with his subject to the point of sensationalizing his overall topic, the We, Robot is great fun, showing how science fiction, technology and ethical components of humanity are all integrated as the next phase of innovation gets in gear. (791.43656 MEADOWS)

John Dies At The End / by David Wong

Dave is an average guy who's been experiencing some unusual events of late. He's able to trace his odd behavior and frequent lapses in time back to a party in which his friend John and his band "Three Armed Sally" had a gig. It was here that Dave was introduced to a new drug called "soy sauce" which began him seeing and sensing some pretty wacked out phenomenon like certain impossible phone calls from dead people. Dave thinks it's just a bad trip until he and John find out a little more about the "soy sauce" in question. It seems that the mysterious substance actually "chooses" its takers rather than the other way around, imbuing them with the eerily unnatural ability to decipher the goings on in other parallel dimensions. In short, the drug can show them new, yet similar worlds yet unknown to them while also unveiling their own conceptual reality in strikingly new and unfamiliar ways. There's a serious problem though. An evil presence associated with this alternate dimensional realm desires access to the real world, hence its 'targeting' of certain test subjects (e.g., Dave and John). "The Evil", as it's called, will stop at nothing to gain entry into the world of the living and Dave and John may be the only thing which can prevent it from doing just that.
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Part a Lovecraftian horror, part William S. Borroughs and even a snippet of Stephen King-esque macabre are thrown in to this craftily conceived tale of alternate dimensions. Wong is something special and as a result has created quite a cult following with his fiction which was mostly restricted to online material for quite a while. It was actually a webserial promoted online by the author before a publisher saw the story and snapped up the copyright. It's a book which manages to be both funny and scary simultaneously, darkly comedic and yet fairly sinister in its approach. As a novel, it's solid enough to appeal to Sci-Fi/Horror buffs and yet generate appeal among mainstream fiction readers. Nothing from any specific genre really fits the book. The story is one which conceives the inconceivable, pointing out things few people (even ones in not-quite-their-right mind ;-) could have ever imagined. A movie version starring Paul Giamatti and Clancy Brown directed by Don Coscarelli is in the works and due out sometime this year. (SF WONG)

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? [Blade Runner] / by Philip K. Dick

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A scion in the Science Fiction realm, Philp K. Dick is one the genre's truly unique individuals, authoring over 30 novels and countless short stories all expanding the boundaries of modern literature. Like many gifted though unconventional writers, Dick's artistic vision has come into the public conscience via Hollywood; most notably with Ridley Scott's 1982 film Blade Runner based on Dick's futuristic dystopian novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? The movie quickly became a cult hit and is still unanimously praised as a cinematic masterpiece.
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In a world ravaged by nuclear war and the military-industrial complex, life in the purely organic sense has become almost obsolete. While advancements in science have helped preserve much of humanity, plants and animals are all but extinct. With radiation fallout imminent, humans meeting certain requirements are routinely encouraged to emigrate to fledgling colonies on Mars where, as an added incentive, each is paired with a servant android, or "andy".
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Though androids are manufactured robots indistinguishable from humans, each are programmed with enough innate intellectual capacities to simulate psychological sensitivities, a condition giving rise to renegade behavior and rogue droids clandestinely infiltrating earth's population. Rick Deckard is a bounty hunter in charge of rounding up and "retiring" six escaped Nexus-6 model androids, some of the most advanced and therefore most threatening forms of artificial intelligence. Meanwhile truck driver John Isidore, labeled a "special" for defective medical problems, deals with being relegated as substandard within the human realm and subsequently being denied potential emigration to the more desirable planetary colonies.

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? is ultimately a book about what it means to be human; and, furthermore, man's exploitation of technology at the expense of nature. From Deckard's personal war against the droids to the irony of John Isidore's "special" qualities and planet earth's post-apocalyptic decrepitude, it's a story emphasizing the contradictory atmosphere of "real life". Man's dissident caretaking of the natural world and the faulty side-effects of man-made innovations hold staggering consequences. Rather than improving on the inadequacies of existence, technology has wrought the demise of "life" in the purest sense; and while humanity has survived, the biological world is a mere degenerate habitat now infested by man's own 'personal recreations'.

Fragile Things / by Neil Gaiman

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Hardened rationalists desperately needing to broaden their imaginations should look no further. Where else could ever be found such a mind-blowing—and mind-bending—array of manifold literary vignettes? A mystery carnival vanishing into the night sky, a Friday night party where two friends are introduced to some “out-of-this-world” girls, Beowulf transplanted into the modern-day, a mimicked acceptance speech following a VooDoo ceremony, a clan of quirky pedestrian zombies and a side of Sherlock Holmes you’ve never seen. Such is the world of Neil Gaiman and his eclectic blend of tales, poems and filler sketches in this, his third collection of short stories.

As inventive as any Sci-Fi/Fantasy author—now or otherwise—and yet incomparably fanciful with his brilliant wit and darkly humorous angle, this volume lets the reader in on a generous sample (though certainly not the whole) of Gaiman’s world of enchantment and storytelling. Less distinct, perhaps than more long-revered stalwarts like Ray Bradbury or Philip K. Dick, Gaiman may not connect with all readers the same way. His writing isn't as spelled-out and storylines--though never failing to convey continuity--often derive from multiple perspectives. Veterans of the genre along with a good many novices won't be able to miss a good thing when they see it though.

Going Postal: a Novel of Discworld / by Terry Pratchett

Sci-Fi/Fantasy author Terry Pratchett has essentially ingrafted another dimension onto the genre with his 30+ Discworld novels about a pseudo-parallel universe existing within a spherical disc-shaped world.
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A career con-artist, Moist von Lipwig has always maneuvered life’s little travails; although now, under the current circumstances, he seems to have met his match. Imprisoned in Ankh-Morpork municipal jail and scheduled to be hanged, Moist’s fate seems a foregone conclusion until—right under his nose—his death is faked and the magistrate, Lord Vetinari, offers him a choice: death by suicide or become head of the city’s woefully neglected post office. The latter choice turns out to be not quite the reprieve Moist expected as the post office, unoperational for years, has literally filled to the brim with undelivered mail. With limited resources and even fewer personnel—only the elderly “junior” postman Groat and narrow-minded Stanley remain from the old staff—Moist makes what he can out of his new situation, learning to gauge the position’s responsibilities and interact with its “ghost reality” simultaneously.

(SPOILERS!!!)
The original downfall of the post office, Moist later learns, occurred because of the “trans-dimensional letter-sorting machine". An invention of the infamous Bloody Stupid Johnson, the machine enabled the sorting of unwritten letters (“ghost reality”), a calamitous operational error effecting a disproportionate amount of mail to be processed. Through Moist’s rather practical angle of employing postage stamps and 'golem' creatures for delivery, the post office finally gets back on its feet, even gaining unwanted attention from the rival Grand Trunk Clacks line. Before long the Clacks chairman, Reacher Gilt, sets a banshee assassin after Moist with the intention of ending the reign of the new postmaster, only managing to burn down the building as an unsuccessful end result. Moist’s prompt escape and confrontation with Gilt escalates into a challenge of honor; a race between the Clacks line and post office to see who can fastest deliver a letter to Genua.
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Published in 2004, Going Postal, while Pratchett’s 33rd Discworld novel, is the first to feature the character of Moist von Lipwig. The story contains many--characteristic of Pratchett--references to modern-day reality (“The Smoking Gnu”, Gilt’s lavish Gatsby-esque parties, AT&T, etc.), subtly poking fun at life in the digital age. It's Pratchett's language that most catches the reader's eye, a quirky jumble of inventive words and alliteration reminiscent of Dickens or Lewis Carroll with the witty, if patronizing, jabs directed at the status quo. While its a fun read for anyone, the novel's (and Discworld in general) clever nuances make for a unique dynamic within the Sci-Fi/Fantasy genre, a contrivance of scene and characters seemingly far-removed from reality and yet strangely mirroring our own world.

New Stephenie Meyers -- no vampires this time

The Host / Stephenie Meyers

Stephenie Meyers, wildly popular with teens and adults alike for her Twilight vampire series for Young Adults, has made her first foray into general adult fiction with The Host.

This book belongs to the science fiction genre, but it also has a strong romantic element. On her website, Meyers, calls it, "science fiction for people who don't like science fiction." She's right -- despite the fact that she uses an alien invasion of earth as a major plot point, the romance, the character development and Meyers' exploration of what it means to be human take precedence over the over the science fiction elements of the novel.

The setting is Arizona, sometime in the near future, after body-snatching aliens have taken over the human race. The main character is Wanderer, one of said aliens, who inhabits the former body of a lovely young woman named Melanie, whose consciousness inconveniently refuses to disappear. Instead, she lives in the back of her former brain -- now mostly controlled by Wanderer -- and periodically provides a commmentary on Wanderer's actions in her former body. Melanie is understandably frustrated with her new situation. She has an orphaned 13-year-old brother and a lover who've managed to avoid capture by the souls, and she misses and worries desperately about both. Wanderer, a soul unused to the intensity of human emotions, becomes caught up in the swirl of Melanie's love and pathos, and sets out on a dangerous journey to find them.

If you're a fan of Sharon Shinn, Mary Stewart's Merlin trilogy, the Battlestar Galactica t.v. series, or if you just have a penchant for unusual love stories, check this one out.

Ender Rendered

Sci-fi author Orson Scott Card has garnered loads of acclaim for his Ender's Game/Ender's Shadow series', a sequence of novels about two boys involved in a war between Earth circa 2150 AD and an alien race known as the "Buggers". In Ender's Game, Ender Wiggin is a prodigy groomed at an elite battle school for ultimate leadership of earth's forces. First published in 1977, Card later wrote Ender's Shadow (1999) which parallel's the plot of Ender's Game from the viewpoint of Bean, a battle school friend and cohort.

Ender's Game
Destiny was intended for Ender Wiggin; it had to be or else all was lost. Part of an experimental batch of ultra-gifted children singled out to someday thwart the 'Bugger' onslaught, he's initiated into the International Fleet's Battle School at age six in a desperate attempt to locate Earth's next (and maybe last) strategic hope. Functionally, battle school is intended to train student/soldiers through simulated, anti-gravity encounters--one team against another. But from the outset, nothing's evenhanded for Ender as peers and administrators do their best to expose weaknesses in his vastly superior skills. Intentionally burdened, his only solace is found commanding his team's nightly practice sessions orchestrating maneuvers with his classmates. But little does Ender suspect the training ground as more than just a 'game' and that his leadership applies to more than just 'his team'.

The personal side of things is as much involved; Ender's older siblings Peter and Valentine share the same genetics albeit dissimilar characteristics. What begins as intellectual pandering by each during Ender's absence soon morphs into a far greater sphere of influence, and in the malevolent Peter's case--far more power. It ultimately falls on Valentine, one person not out to use or harm Ender, to shield him from Peter's malice and the unyielding demands of a broader world.

Ender's Shadow
At the tender age of 2, Bean escapes a genetic breeding factory only to end up an orphan in dire poverty on the streets of Rotterdam. Learning life's knocks the hard way, his fortunes place him at the feet of Sister Carlotta, a nun who soon discovers Bean's hyper-intelligence and facilitates his acceptance into Battle School. It's here where Bean meets Ender Wiggin, his war games team captain who's undefeated as a commander. But not all's fun and games. Little is with matches administratively fixed in an effort to fully realize Ender's tactical prowess.
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It may not be Return of the Jedi, but Ender's Game shares that same aura of epic challenge, of hero against the universe (literally) in which the immensity of everything is concentrated into one consciousness. But like good science fiction, Card eases the backstory along steadily giving time for the characters to establish an identity prior the inevitable confrontation. Any perplexing aspects of the futuristic world are well-counterbalanced by private issues more close to home. Ender's 'self' is complex, maintaining ethical boundaries even amidst a high-pressure/high-stakes atmosphere, a trait revealed as much through contrasting characters as with Ender himself. Gifted in an almost warped fashion, the 'child' in Ender isn't always visible; a problem Card may have levied with peripheral characters Peter and Valentine and ultimately complemented with Bean's emergence in Ender's Shadow.

Not merely a sidestory, Bean's evolution from street orphan to battle school and ultimately beyond illuminates his own pivotal role in the saga, entrenched in every dynamic of the story. Bean has his own conscience and crisis' befalling him even as much of his energy helps uphold those very issues in Ender. The two books, each spawning several further sequels, are as separate as they are interlinked within the same-time/same-place/similar-person correlation.