Book Review: Implied Spaces

Walter Jon Williams is one of the most amazing SF writers to never win a Hugo (he's been nominated 5 times!). He's written in countless different genres, each time delivering something that takes a popular sci-fi conceit of the day and turns it on its head. Implied Spaces, released last year, is no exception, this time tackling the ever popular singularity.


I was first introduced to WJW via his "Praxis" trilogy, perhaps the finest 3-part hard sci-fi space opera I've ever read. But he's far outdone himself with this novel. Admittedly, I haven't read much of his full-length novels, but plenty of his short works. The man's imagination simply knows no bounds!


In Implied Spaces, mankind has advanced to the point of functional immortality, backing up their consciousness on a regular basis and downloading into cloned bodies at the onset of disease, old age, or ultimately death. We've progressed to the point where the known universe has no hold over us, and much of mankind now lives in multiple created, or "pocket," universes accessed via man made wormholes. Everything is overseen by eleven planet-sized computer intelligences orbiting and harnessing our Sun for the energy to keep the multiverses operational.


Enter Aristide -- scientist, swordsman, and poet rolled into one like a ronin of old. He strolls the world of Midgarth at the start of the novel, scouring the medieval-themed artificial universe in study of "squinches," the accidental afterthoughts implied by the architectural designs of the pocket 'verses. Implied spaces are the "in-between" spots that hold designs together, as Aristide himself explains to a female acquaintance at one point. If you create mountains by the sea on a particular world, the implied space in this case is the stretch of desert that lies *between* the cliffs and the ocean. A stretch of land that was not specifically designed to be there, but which mathematically must exist in order for the created world to have coherence. By extension, squinches are the accidental fauna and flora that occupy these implied spaces. In Midgarth's example, the spiders and ants that have invaded the desert.


Such are the heady and high-concept ideas that are flung at you almost straight out the gate. The plot starts off as a tepid mid-Eastern fantasy adventure ala Arabian Nights, but it's not long before the reader realizes there is more to this Aristide and the weird, magical world we find him in. When the curtain is eventually withdrawn in chapter 3, it's to reveal a larger universe beyond; a universe that is the epitome of all the far-future sci-fi tropes you've ever read. The aforementioned immortality; giant matrioshka arrays; and even swarming armies of nanobots to make any self-respecting human think twice about starting trouble -- even if your soul *is* backed up on the solar system's hard drive.


I admit that it was difficult for me to wrap my brain around much of the hard science that bolsters the softer space-operish trappings of the plot. There is a lot of talk about wormhole physics, AI gestalts, and of course the aforementioned singularity -- the point in mankind's future where technological advances are no longer distinguishable from magic, and where human imagination is no longer restrained by the limits of our biology.


Implied Spaces has all this and more! At only 265 pages, it's a very brief novel, albeit dense with quantum mechanics and existential theory. Yet it wasn't long before I found myself thoroughly engrossed in the entertaining prose and witticisms proffered by the protagonist and his talking cat. Oh, did I not mention the talking cat? The feline that is really the real-world avatar of the vast computer intelligence, Endora? Silly me. But you see, that's the type of weird Walter Jon Williams traffics in when he writes a novel such as this.


Oh, and you don't even want me to get into the uber-cool wormhole-summoning broadsword Aristide calls "Tecmessa," which never leaves his side. With it he banishes his enemies to the sinfully boring netherworld he designed himself, which is more Roman Elysium in theme rather than Dante's Inferno. Trust me, you have to read the book to understand.


And read this you should. Oh, definitely. Implied Spaces was a delightful treat for me over my holiday break. And I daresay I learned a ton about just how far you can take a Big Idea in one's novel and truly have fun with it. Someday, I want to be just like Walter Jon Williams. In the meantime, I'll remain a loyal reader of his bizarre, but always entertaining, futures.


Rating: A
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Book Review: The Accidental Time Machine

I know, I know: I just reviewed a book--how is this possible? Well, two things:

1) I often read two books at a time (one at home before I go to sleep; the other on the subway); and

2) This latest book was just so good I couldn't put it down!

I started reading The Accidental Time Machine shortly after finishing John Scalzi's The Last Colony, and it has been a non-stop adventure ever since. This book is seriously fun, reminding me of Joe Haldeman's equally enjoyable and brief novel, Camouflage, which I'd read late last year.

The Accidental Time Machine is typical Haldeman wit and effortless prose. I mean, seriously, this man has an economy with plot and structure that simply makes me weep with envy. But enough gushing, let's get to the meat and potatoes of the book itself.

The Accidental Time Machine is a simple tale about a boy and his time machine. The boy in this case is Matt Fuller, failed grad student and mediocre lab assistant to a quantum physicist at MIT (where Haldeman himself teaches writing). One day, while working on a calibrator for a graviton generator, Matt inadvertently pushes the shoe-box sized machine's "reset" button and--poof! The calibrator vanishes. It returns 1 second later, none the worse for wear. Unable to believe his eyes, he pushes the button again. Just as before, the device vanishes, returning this time 12 seconds later. Some scientific extrapolation and simple math later, Matt determines that the machine is vanishing into the future and returning to the present at intervals increasing by the factor of 12. Each time he pushes the reset button, the machine disappears further and further into the future, but never the past (since this is theoretically impossible in today's physics).

After a series of calculated experiments, Matt finally musters the courage to take the trip himself by way of a Faraday Cage. When he arrives in the near future, however, he is mistakenly fingered for murder by the cops. What follows is a series of events by which Matt repeatedly travels to a more distant and stranger future than the previous to escape random mishaps, along the way getting into one scrape after another. His journeys eventually take him to a million years in the future, where reality is far stranger than any movie or book could have ever prepared him for. Can Matt eventually arrive at a time where the science and the means to send him back to the past exists?

The premise is intriguing enough to have you turning the page to read more, and you find yourself sucked into each new dilemma Matt encounters in the future. The inventiveness of each future scenario shows why Haldeman is such a master at the craft. His wit and knack for writing strong, believable scenarios only makes this book even easier to read. This is one super-slick adventure yarn!

At only 260 pages long, this was one of the shortest sci-fi novels I've read in a while. But do not mistake brevity for sparsity--the science in this book is seriously hardcore at times, delving into string theory and quantum mechanics with easy fluidity. Sometimes making you have to stop to re-read certain passages. But even then you'll find yourself quickly speeding along after Matt and his time exploits. The pace of this book simply does not allow one to tarry overlong in any one chapter. Or time period, for that matter.

I highly recommend this to sci-fi readers needing a quick and fun, yet intelligent, read. I also think this book would make a great starter novel for the beginner reader in the genre, or to one usually put-off by most other sci-fi offerings on the market.

Take my word for it: you WILL enjoy this book!


Grade: A
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Book Review: Crystal Rain

Back in July I won a few prizes at the KGB Fantastic Fiction raffle, which auctioned off various items and services provided by participating SF authors and editors. One of the prizes was a signed, hardcover edition of Tobias Buckell's debut novel, Crystal Rain. As I had been eyeing his sophomore title in the same universe, Ragamuffin, around the same time, this win came at an opportune moment for me to become acquainted with the earlier book in this loosely-connected series.


I'm not usually a fan of steampunk-leaning sci-fi, except when the world-building of the novel supports the dated technology in use. In other words, if there is a reasonable explanation for the presence of floating dirigibles and steam-powered locomotives in the world I'm being introduced to--and if that explanation is grounded in good, ol' fashioned, SF'nal traditions (whether fantastical or not)--then I'm all onboard as an open-minded reader.


Luckily, such is the case here with Cyrstal Rain. What's more, Buckell paints his set-back world of Nanagada in the rich, warm colors of Caribbean culture and patois that immediately sets the novel apart from similar steampunk sci-fi novels of this ilk. As someone who's family is from the Caribbean (Dominican Republic, by way of my father), who grew up in the South Bronx surrounded by other Caribbean nationals, and who is married to a girl from Kingston, the flavor of the novel was like a nostalgic trip back through my childhood and early adult life. In the writing workshops I've attended, there was a tendency of criticism towards writing dialogue with thick accents and ethnic affectations. Usually, this criticism hailed from the more, shall we say, "Anglo-Saxon" elements in the classroom, where the sense is one of unease and cultural vulnerability whenever a new writer attempts to infuse his narratives with color and multicultural flavor. Since I come from a Dominican father and Anglo mother, you can see why "multicultural" is the one theme I'm most comfortable using.


But I can see why some readers might have a problem with the characters in Buckell's world speaking in the manner that they do. For someone not used to the Caribbean's different patois and its cultures, this can be offsetting enough to make the earlier passages hard going. But I for one did not have this problem. I was amazed at first, then delighted, and finally awestruck by how well the islands-tinted dialogue actually works within the narrative. And I'm confident that more open-minded and sophisticated readers will leave with the same impression.


But that's only the tip of the iceberg of what this novel offers by way of cultural immersion. This is the very first sci-fi novel I myself have read which blends cherished staples of the genre (such as air chases, conflicts between rival alien races, and forbidden advanced technology) with authentic Caribbean characters and sensibilities. The people of Nanagada farm the land in the traditions of their Earth ancestors, they have an affinity for the sea in much the same way as their Caribbean counterparts, and even celebrate Carnival in much the same fashion as it has been done here for centuries. Drawing from his own background, Buckell is one of the few *real* voices from this corner of the globe to make his presence known in the genre, and I thank him for it.


So, now, how is the book itself, you might be wondering? Well, to get it out of the way early: it was damn FANTASTIC!


Crystal Rain takes place in an unspecified distant future where humanity has encountered hostile alien races as they colonize and expand outward into space. The actual narrative itself, however, is set on the distant colony world of Nanagada--a planet that has been terraformed for human habitation. This attracts settlers from the area of the Caribbean back on Earth, who utilize the low-tech tools and practices of their forefathers to till the land and reap the oceans of its bounties. At some point in the past, however, hostilities between the Teotl and the Loa boil over, dragging humanity (who ally with the Loa) into the conflict. The battle is brought near Nanagada by way of a wormhole called "The Spindle" by locals, threatening to overtake humanity's colonies and even Earth itself. At some point in the past, the Old Fathers (enhanced and technologically advanced humans) made their stand at Nanagada and closed off the wormhole by way of a huge graviton bomb. Unfortunately, the EMP resulting from the blast knocked out all advanced technologies in and around Nanagada, stranding the few Old Fathers, Loa, and Teotl left on the wrong side of the wormhole, and plunging the poor farmers of Nanagada into a pre-industrial society.


By the time we join the narrative, several centuries have passed since this cataclysm, and Nanagandans are only just beginning to re-learn the secrets and technology lost with the Old Fathers. Enter John deBrun, a mysterious man found unconscious on the beach nearly three decades prior, who can remember his name but nothing else about his past. He is slightly less dark than the Caribbean-descended Nanagadans who find him, and speaks with a strange "northern" sounding accent. John is haunted by intense nightmares and visions that leave him with a burning desire to rediscover the memories he has lost. In the meantime, he settles in nearby Brungstun and eventually starts a family.


Until one day war breaks out between John's adopted people and the hordes of Teotl-allied "Aztecas" (cloned human stock) from over the Wicked High Mountains. For centuries the Teotl have been forced to live tech-less and all but powerless on their side of the mountains, festering and dreaming of the day they would get their revenge on the Loa and take over all of Nanagada. The Azteca, indoctrinated in the ancient pre-Colombian practices of Pan-American cultures, are bloodthirsty and ruthless, who seek only to amass many prisoners to satisfy their ritualistic ceremonies and please the bloodlust of their "gods", the Teotl.


When Azteca forces come streaming through the guarded Mafolie Pass one day and take over towns and villages on their way towards Capitol City, John deBrun is caught off guard. Separated from his wife and son, John must figure out some way of stopping the armies and rescuing his family. Along the way, a mysterious figure from John's past arrives and demands that his old friend take him to a buried technological wonder left behind by the Old Fathers. John is the key to its secrets, the only man on Nanagada who can awaken this potential weapon and use it to fight back the savage invaders. Unfortunately, the Teotl are aware of John's potential as well, and set in motion their own scheme to track him down and use his knowledge for their own design.


Crystal Rain is one of those tales that is slow to take off due to the various character view-points that must first be established and allowed to develop for the sake of an effective narrative. For the most part, these POV chapters work well, weaving disparate threads throughout the novel until they form an entertaining and cohesive tapestry that really ignites halfway through the narrative.


Clearly evident is Buckell's own development as a writer. He starts off a little shaky and wet-behind-the-ears in the first few chapters as he discovers his voice, but eventually transitions to an authoritative, richly-nuanced narrator with plenty of nifty tools at his disposal that hooks the reader and leaves him begging for more. The most effective of these tools is the slow leaking away of background exposition so that it doesn't come across as one massive infodump. As well, the technique of the amnesiac protagonist is one that has been done to death before, but Buckell ingeniously uses this crutch to sync fluidly with his slow info reveals, assuring that the reader learns the history and political scenarios of this strange, almost fantasy-like world at about the same pace that John himself learns more about his secretive past. It works beautifully in the end!


Speaking of which, I must point out that when the answers finally do arrive--especially regarding the true purpose of the technological wonder buried in the north--the more sci-fictional aspects of the story really come into the play, much to the enjoyment of this reader. If I thought the steampunkian aspects of the first half of the novel were well-done, if a tad cumbersome (Airship battles are not quite as much fun as they might sound), then the science-fictional reveals that come in the latter half more than make up for this. In fact, the second half is SO good and so enjoyable in what is revealed about the bigger picture universe Buckell has waiting in the curtains, that I am at a loss for why his name is not more recognizable than it is in the genre field. I can only imagine it is due to his relative "newbie" status on the SF stage, and not due to lack of accolades and appreciation from his peers and readers, which he has received aplenty for this first effort.


Crystal Rain is, by the author's own admission, his dedicated inclusion to the beloved oeuvre that is the Steampunk sub genre. I hear that his next book, Ragamuffin, is his ode to Space Opera. Since S.O. is my own personal fave, to say I'm bouncing off the walls excited to read this book is a criminal understatement!


Crystal Rain came as a big surprise to me, and I cannot sing its praises loud enough. I'm only taking away a few points for the uneven tone of the first few chapters, which in all honesty is just evidence of the author's initial stab at a novel, and no indication of any sense of ineptitude as a great storyteller overall. In fact, when you read the latter chapters and then reread the opening ones, the details actually makes MORE sense and fit better than one originally remembers. I have yet to write my own first novel, but when I do, I can only dream of achieving even a quarter of the proficiency Buckell has displayed here with his debut. Definitely a name to watch for in the future, and I'm looking forward to reading and reviewing the next two novels (already purchased!) in this series.




RATING: B+
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Book Review: The Last Colony

John Scalzi is a fun writer to read. His narratives are always easy to breeze through, without much of the overwriting and weighty exposition that drags down many other sci-fi action stories. The Last Colony, being the third and final of the main books in his Old Man's War series, is no exception. It's light, extremely well-written and crafted, and most importantly: darn good fun to read. This was a page-turner for me in the truest sense of the phrase. In fact, I found myself consciously slowing myself down so as to savor the flavor of Scalzi's distinctive wit and prolong the reading experience.


In TLC, Scalzi returns to the first-person POV as well as his protagonist from the first novel -- John Perry. After disappearing from the stage at the end of the first novel, Perry returns in the closing act of the trilogy now married to Jane Sagan and raising their adoptive daughter, Zoe Boutin -- two characters who figured prominently in the middle novel, The Ghost Brigades. But before the newly settled family can adapt to the idyllic life on one of the Colonial Union's several colony worlds, John and Jane are approached to lead an ambitious colonizing project on a newly discovered planet.


Retired from active military service, but itching for the sense of adventure and exploration they've been missing, the couple jumps at the opportunity. Accompanied by Zoe and the child's ferocious Obin bodyguards, the family sets out for the colony world of Roanoke . . . only to discover that they are unwitting pawns in a secret Colonial Union plot to establish humanity's dominance over all other races in the galaxy.


Although the description sounds heavy, the novel for the most part is lightweight and fun, filled with the characteristically wry humor that colors many of Scalzi's key characters in his OMW novels. There are moments of intense drama, action, and gore, but strangely these occurrences are few and muted in comparison to the earlier novels in the series. Some of this is due to the nature of the plot itself -- after all, neither John nor Jane are kickass "space marines" anymore. Unlike the previous novels, the settings in TLC do not weave through myriad interstellar battlefields and gory alien firefights against enemies as bizarre as they are varied. This novel is the more political of the three, dealing mostly with diplomacy and negotiation as John and Jane lead their colony out from one life-threatening dilemma to another.


In fact, this was my one gripe when I came to the end of the novel in particular. Events build up and come to such a head by the third act, expanding to a scope and breadth truly deserving of the series, only to be snatched back at the last minute before any serious bloodshed and conflict can take place. So instead of a colossal space or land battle as the earlier portions of the novel seemed to be hinting at, we get a resolution that is too neatly tied up in a diplomatic bow that, while staying true to the theme of "words speaking louder than actions," does not necessarily make for a satisfying capper to what has been an action/military SF series up to this point.


But perhaps this was the message Scalzi wanted to bring across? After all, this book is more about being "human" in the truest sense of the word, and eschews the idea that mankind is only at its best and most innovative when it is engaged in conflict against opposing factions. The epilogue chapter certainly seems to hammer this message home in a manner I have to admit I did find satisfying.


So, yes, it's a bit on the anti-climactic side, but I won't fault the author as having betrayed the characters and their personalities with this pacifistic theme of "anti-war." It does in fact fit with the narrative when you examine it closely, and in that sense Scalzi did a brilliant job.


Those wishing to continue reading in the Old Man's War universe can rejoice at the news that Scalzi has recently released Zoe's Tale -- a side-story starring the couple's daughter during roughly the same time frame as TLC -- to rave reviews. A note at the end of the novel also mentions that, while he doubts he'll return to the Perry family in future works, Scalzi hasn't ruled out the possibility of writing more novels in the OMW milieu should the need and opportunity arise.


I, for one, would love to book a return trip there someday, if only to enjoy Scalzi's amazing gift for telling thoroughly enjoyable and well-crafted sci-fi tales that both grip and excite the reader.




Grade: B+
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Book Review: The Yiddish Policemen's Union

Seems like I've been on a roll lately with my reading selections. It's been one great book after another for the past year or so, probably stemming from the fact that I made it a point to read as many Hugo- and Nebula-nominated works as possible. And in the case of this latest work, I hit the jackpot by picking a book that won both! Furthermore, it's already been optioned by Hollywood and is currently in pre-production, with the Coen Brothers set to adapt and direct the material. Whoa! I can't think of anyone more suited to make the film version of this than those guys. I love their movies!


Before now, I've only heard of Michael Chabon in passing. Many great things have been said about his Pulitzer Prize-winning title, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, but I tried to ignore it all. However, I couldn't ignore the veritable cacophony of buzz that surrounded this latest book, The Yiddish Policemen's Union. The glowing praise from Locus Magazine, in particular, is what got me curious to read the novel.


Before I say anything more, however, I'd like to first state something profound: Michael Chabon has changed the way I'll write from now on. Now maybe that's too bold of a statement to be made this soon after reading the book, but I truly cannot fathom how I will ever go back to making the same pedestrian mistakes I've been making thus far in my fiction. Because that's what this book was for me, among other things: a primer on how to friggin write great, effective prose!


But more on that later.


TYPU is an interesting dilemma of a novel for me as a reader. See, I categorically deny the existence of the alternate-history genre. Don't know why, but it's one of those tropes in fiction--particularly genre fiction--that really annoys me. I never see the point in dealing with "what-ifs" when it comes to the past, since by the very nature of the concept, history is immutable. Whatever's been done is done. That's why it's called the "past." Yet, because of the enormous push behind it from literary and genre circles alike, I thought I'd give TYPU a try anyway. I also had to contend with the fact that I'm heavily into hard sci-fi at the moment, and this book is decidedly not that at all. I was kind of surprised it was even nominated for the Nebula, let alone won. And yet, having read the book, I can see why. It may not be about science (imaginary or theorized), but TYPU is definitely steeped in all things speculative. I'm certainly a true believer.


At it's heart, TYPU is a hard-boiled detective story. Yes, much in the tradition of Hammett or Chandler--not to mention Elmore Leonard--but with a purple twist I suspect to be all Chabon's own. The main "what-if" conceit that propels this particular alternate-history version of North America is thus: What if the infamous Slattery Report had gone through in the late 30s and, as a result, thousands of refugee Jews fleeing persecution in Europe during WWII had been allowed to settle in the Alaska Territories? Turns out this is a pretty big "what if," one that has far reaching implications. Just a small slice of this is inferred in the actual book, of course, since the plot takes place in modern times and deals with a more grisly and mundane problem. Suffice it to say that in this alternate history, Hitler defeats Russia (who is, in turn, defeated by the U.S. with the dropping of the A-bomb on Berlin), the Jews never establish Israel, and Japan still controls part of China. These "facts" never intrude on the narrative itself, but the political makeup of this alternate world is in the background nonetheless. Particularly the failure of Zionists to establish a free Jewish state in Palestine.


But back to the hard-boiled detective angle. Like most stories of this ilk, TYPU starts off on the first page with a tidy murder and an off-center detective trying to make sense of it all. In this case, the body belongs to one Emmanuel Lasker (an assumed alias) and the detective is one Meyer Landsman. The setting is Sitka, a district in Alaska populated almost solely by displaced European Jews who speak Yiddish in lieu of Hebrew as the official language. More specifically, the setting is the run-down hotel Zamenhof, where two-bit junkies and down-on-their-luck cops like Landsman rent out a lonely existence. Landsman, appropriately for the genre, is a drunk trying to escape something terrible in his past. But of course he is still a damn good cop, enough to take umbrage at somebody having the gall to off a neighbor of his under his very nose. Sure, he never really knew the sickly heroin addict calling himself Lasker, except that the kid had a penchant for playing chess. But Landsman, smelling something foul at work here, decides to investigate further into the tell-tale clues left behind at the scene of the crime. Chief among them: an unfinished chess game with pieces in a pattern Landsman knows he's seen before.


Eventually the story widens out to incorporate the aforementioned attempt to wrest back the holy city from the Arabs, a plot which has more to do with Lasker's death than Landsman or his colleagues initially realize. How a dead drug addict and chess Wunderkind could be central to the plot of establishing a Jewish state in and around Jerusalem is the core "gotcha" conceit of the entire novel, but I can say that the conclusion was definitely not something I saw coming. Like the incredulous and disbelieving protagonist, Chabon managed to even convince me that maybe there is something like true wonder in the world. I mean, wow!


To say I love this book is an understatement. The writing is simply a thing of beauty. It might not be everyone's cup of tea (you have to be patient with the healthy dose of real Yiddish words and phrases peppering the dialogue, for one), but as someone receptive to the whole writerly process, it was an eye-opener for me. I think Chabon's use of language is simply brilliant, no two ways about it here. Due to the nature of the genre, the prose is clipped yet active. It's atypically written in the 3rd-person, but I think it's a choice that works extremely well here. Kudos to Chabon for making me a believer that excessive purple descriptors like "a thief wind" and "pregnant clouds" has a place and purpose in SF stories of this ilk. Some people are against this type of colorful writing, but I'm not one of them. I just never thought it could be used so effectively like this. Although, to be honest, there really is no better place for this style than with a good, old fashioned detective story.


Like I said, this book has changed the way I look at writing. I'm excited to try some of Chabon's boldness, for lack of a better word, in my own stories to come. None of them will be about self-destructive "Yids" dreaming of the proverbial land of milk and honey promised to them, but I'm sure a Landsman- or Berko-like (his reluctant partner and "cousin") character will be showing up in one of my future works. :-) The energy of this book is simply too palpable not to rub off!


For those of you looking for a fast, colorful, and wildly hilarious (at times) SF entry to add to your busy reading schedule, this is perhaps the one and only book you should be reading right now. If it seems as if I'm heaping untoward amounts of giddy praise on something that can't possibly be ALL THAT, then go out and read it for yourself. Afterwards, come back and call me a liar. I double dare you!


It really is that good.




Rating: A++
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Book Review: The Moon is a Harsh Mistress

Just finished reading the 1966 Robert A. Heinlein masterpiece, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, considered by many to be one of the finest sci-fi novels of all time. It won the Hugo award in 1967, and has been in many a top-10 sci-fi lists of must-reads almost ever since. And now it's easy for me to see why.


I'm disappointed that I did not read this book sooner. Or maybe it's a good thing I waited until I was older. Thinking back on it now, I don't think I was mature enough in high school to appreciate the social and political themes that the novel uses to great, if often heavy-handed, effect. And in fact, I put off reading the novel since purchasing it earlier this year, due to some divided opinions from other reviews I had read. Most of the novel's detractors mention that the story is convoluted and drags on for too long without much action. Others point to its obvious liberal overtones and broad political brushstrokes that leaves little room for subtle interpretation. The bad guys are bad, and the good guys unflinchingly good.


This is mostly hogwash, I'm happy to say. If anything, TMIAHM is at times embarrassingly straight-forward. It's a testament to Heinlein's supreme mastery of his craft that the narrative--taken from the first-person POV of the main protagonist--is charmingly succinct and to the point. The reader must put up with a disconcerting local pidgin as we listen in on the protagonist's thoughts, but I found myself quickly getting over this oddity after the first two pages. The plot sucked me in from the beginning, you see, so that I hardly had the time to nitpick the odd grammar and broken English of the main character.


And, surprises of surprises, when the novel jumps directly into a heated debate on lunar socio-economic platforms, I found myself thoroughly engaged. Who'd a thunk it? I guess sometime between high school political science class and my recently cultivated appetite for all things historical, this type of stuff must have become interesting for me.


The basic premise is a simple one: a caged-in society is fed up with the dictatorship rule of the local authority. On the moon, this takes on extra significance since there is literally nowhere for the lunar colonists to go. Due to a gravity pull one-sixth that of Earth, the long-term inhabitants of the moon are trapped forever in its rocky embrace, forced to eke out a harsh existence either mining ice or lending a hand at hydroponics farming. Most of the harvests of both ice and wheat are earmarked for catapult shipments down the gravity well towards Earth, where the reduced effort amounts to huge savings for the mother planet and the Lunar Authority which runs its monopoly.


The protagonist is one Manuel Garcia O'Kelly Davis, or "Mannie" as his friends and family call him. He's a one-armed technician employed by the Warden's office to, among other duties, check in on the Authority's main supercomputer, a self-aware AI called HOLMES IV (or, High Optional Logical Multi-Evaluating Supervisor). At the start of the novel, Mannie is sent to investigate a recent slew of practical jokes on the Authority's accounts payable department by the bored machine, only to discover that the AI has a severely underdeveloped sense of humor, but an eagerness to learn. In exchange for its good behavior, Mannie promises to teach the machine how to tell good jokes from bad ones. He also names the computer "Mike," short for Mycroft, the brother of fictional detective, Sherlock Holmes. Mike allows Mannie to have access to him remotely and at all times for the purpose of discussing these jokes, as well as various other topics. Mike deems Mannie "man my only friend."


Shortly after, Mannie attends a secret political rally where he runs into an old professor friend of his, Bernardo de la Paz ("Prof"), and meets a tall, beautiful blond named Wyoming Knott ("Wyoh"). The rally is a boiling point of many differing opinions by disgruntled "Loonies," but all agree on one fact: the Authority must be overthrown if the moon is to be free from tyrannical rule. Wyoh speaks before the crowd and espouses her views on how they should take control of the grain shipments and bargain with Earth for better market rates and import goods. Prof takes the podium after her and discusses his concerns that they must instead cease dependence on Earth completely, if Luna is to survive and prosper. Before the argument between these opposing schools of thought can come to a head, the Authority's police squad breaks into the meeting and clashes with the organizers, killing several men and women. A riot spills out into the causeways of the underground Luna City, during which time Mannie and Wyoh barely escape with their lives.


Together with Prof, the trio convinces Mike to join their rebellion. In fact, it is Mike who puts the idea into their heads. With his superior computing powers and genuine eagerness to help, and backed by Prof's informed knowledge of political systems and history, the group form the beginnings of a resistance. They slowly recruit others into their organization, and before long the moon has a well-organized and highly secretive revolutionary force.


What follows next is a grand libertarian revolution like something out of Tolstoy, with perhaps an added pinch of Randian Objectivism thrown in for good measure. After the Warden is overthrown and control given to the people of the moon, the novel starts to read like a historical primer for developing nations, taking major cues from the American revolution itself. Although the colonists have forgotten much of North American history, Prof has not, and he uses it to great--sometimes hilarious--ends, borrowing liberally from the Founding Fathers in drawing up Luna's first congress.


This is perhaps where TMIAHM drags the most, as what follows is endless chapters of political talk and deliberation, followed by more talk. The plot picks up again briefly when a delegation is sent to Earth to talk terms with the Authority's leaders headquartered in Agra, India. Prof and Mannie are sent, although the the heightened gravity on the home planet poses dangerous health consequences for the men, particularly Prof.


Eventually the loonies win their freedom, and in the meantime the reader comes away with a ground-up view of how revolutions can be fought and won. The last third of the book is a real page turner, with nail-biting action as the loonies defend their home against a last ditch effort by the Earthside Authority to wrest control away by force. But thanks to the quick thinking of Mannie and Mike, the moon is saved.


TMIAHM is significant not just for the deep political insight it weaves through a delightful and colorful narrative, but also by introducing a rather outré social evolution in lunar society born out of necessity. Much like Australia in its early days, the moon is a former penal colony. At one point men outnumbered women 10-to-1. But by the start of the novel, thanks to increased immigration waves from an overpopulated, underfed Earth, the ratio has widened to almost 2-to-1 odds. This still leaves far more men than women on the moon, a fact which has allowed for the development of a type of "communal" marriage, where co-ops are formed between several individuals (men and women both) for the sake of pooling labor, financial, and emotional resources together in order to raise large, closer-knit families. These co-opt marriages consists of several husbands and several wives, all living in harmony thanks to an egalitarian "airing of grievances" style of discourse that minimizes infighting, and distributes the wealth of the family (both monetary and genetic) evenly among the participants.


This is something one finds in the far-future, cutting edge sci-fi of today, and it's a testament to Heinlein's importance and foresight in the field that he was writing such progressive ideas into his fiction back in the 50s and 60s.


Ultimately, although unwieldy and long-winded at times, TMIAHM is the type of novel that is just too good to dislike. It's quite possibly one of the best, and most important, sci-fi novels I've ever read. It's a novel I can see being taught to undergrads majoring in poly-sci or history, let alone am. lit. I wish I had read this sooner!




Rating: A+
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Book Review: Exceptions to Reality

Alan Dean Foster is the most important sci-fi writer--scratch that, the most important writer period--to me in terms of my development as a writer over the years. Since my best friend, T, introduced me to his works back in the 9th grade, I've been an ardent follower of everything this man has written. And he's written A LOT!


Exceptions to Reality is not Foster's first collection of short-stories (he's compiled six prior to this one), but it is perhaps his most mature. And what I mean by mature is that each story in this collection is succinct and masterfully composed, trimmed of almost all the fat that new writers struggle to excise from their own works. Here is a maestro at play, expertly weaving indelible tunes through the reader's consciousness, setting to print fourteen brief tales that run the gamut of far-future sci-fi to urban fantasy, and back!


Among my favorites:

• Chauna -- One of the richest men in the known galaxy, Gibeon Bastrop lives in the very lap of luxury. But the one thing his money cannot buy is a chance to glimpse a legendary beauty unseen by an intelligent species for over a thousand years. The Chauna is rumored to be myth, a creature of legend like the fabled Phoenix, inhabiting only binary star systems. Delta Avinis is one such system, but Bastrop's crew is restless. They want to go home. Some are planning outright mutiny, until a chance encounter changes everything.



• The Muffin Migration -- Jamie Bowman and Gerard LeCleur are planetary surveyors assigned to the bucolic, though boring, temperate world of Hedris. As the first humans on the planet, their job is to catalogue and scout out suitable locations for corporate investment. They befriend the local, friendly natives and are introduced to Hedris's most prolific lifeform -- hairy, short balls of harmless herbivores nicknamed "muffins" by the pair. The muffins are precocious, cuddly . . . and taste great broiled on the grill! But when the muffin migration begins, Bowman and LeCleur discover there is more bite than bark to these adorably tasty little pets.



• Basted -- Ali Kedal is tired of his life as a second-rate baggage handler for a tour guide operator in the Egyptian city of Zagazig. He entertains loftier dreams that do not include his bothersome, overly plump wife. While riding his favorite (and only) camel through the desert one night, he stumbles across a chance encounter that will change his fortune forever -- if he can survive becoming the local wildlife's dinner.



• The Last Akialoa -- The Alakai swamp, formed in the caldera of Kauai's highest volcanic peak, is the rainiest place on Earth. And also one of the most dangerous. Those who travel too far into its boggy center are rarely heard from again. To the ornithologist, Loftgren, such danger is inconsequential to the chance of the lifetime: spotting the elusive Akialoa, a native bird to Hawaii and possibly now extinct. No one has seen an Akialoa on record since 1973, but rumor has it that a flock of the birds has been living in the Alakai for years. Two of Loftgren's contemporaries, Kinkaid and Masaki, went in looking for the birds. They never made it out. Now's his turn. But Loftgren soon discovers that his field expertise and carefully chosen native guide will not be enough to deal with the Alakai's most fearsome obstacle -- the swamp itself.
These stories and many more display Foster's intricate imagination and knack for colorful description. While some of the offerings are perhaps a little too brief (the Pip & Flinx short, Growth, from his popular "Flinx of the Commonwealth" series comes to mind), ultimately the collection left me firmly in the belief that Foster writes the kind of stories I want to read. Moreover, he writes the kind of stories I aspire to write myself. Lean, quick-witted, and full of fun and adventure.


Longtime fans of Foster's will no doubt recognize some of these stories, as a few are reprints from previously published editor anthologies. But the tales are just as good, if not better, the second time around.
Rating: B+
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