|
|
Priam's Lens
Can a few unarmed humans take on invaders with godlike powers?
 |
Priam's Lens
|
|
By Jack L. Chalker
|
|
Del Rey Books
|
|
$6.99/$8.99 Canada
|
|
Paperback, June 1999
|
|
ISBN 0-345-40294-4
|
|
|
Review by A.M. Dellamonica
 obody returns from a world that the Titans have overrun, because the
mysterious aliens have a foolproof defense against every possible attack.
Otherwise oblivious to human activity, the aliens drain the power from all
technology--ships, weapons, computers, city infrastructures, even
flashlights--that attracts their notice. This leaves machine-dependant
humanity unprepared and vulnerable, easy prey for the aliens who invade
without otherwise acknowledging their target world's inhabitants.
Jack L. Chalker's new book, Priam's Lens, begins with the Titans
well on their way to conquering a formerly human-dominated galaxy. They
radically terraform each conquest into a low-tech garden world, killing most
of its population. Scant numbers of primitive humans remain, eking out a
tenuous survival where they once numbered in the billions. On the fringes of
the galaxy, survivors and refugees can only wait for more enemy ships to
finish the extermination. Naval officer Gene Harker is on one of those
fringe worlds, bitterly aware that time is running out.
Hope comes to Harker in the unlikely person of an aged opera diva, who
claims to have heard from a near-legendary pirate named the Flying Dutchman.
The Dutchman is assembling a team to return to one of the Titan-controlled
worlds, Helena. The team will attempt to survive long enough to locate and
transmit information about an experimental weapon, a weapon which may be the
key to saving not only Helena but the entire human race. With such high
stakes, it is little wonder that Harker is assigned to join the mission--as
a stowaway.
Simply thought-provoking
Chalker is always delightful when he is depicting tech-dependant humans
struggling in a primitive environment, and Priam's Lens is no
exception. Humans on Helena are forbidden even the use of fire, and though
the landing party is well-prepared at the outset, a series of mishaps strips
away their supplies. The underlying message--that the human race is losing
key survival skills, that in the face of catastrophe humanity may lapse all the
way back to savagery--is relevant and thought-provoking. That said, it is
delivered simplistically, and some readers might prefer a deeper examination
of this issue than is provided in this book. Others may flatly disagree with
the author's conclusions.
The novel is a pleasure to read, with crystalline prose and a measured
pace. The characters are nicely drawn, though not overly deep, and a
story line that follows Helena's now-primitive human survivors shows an
intriguing society cobbled together from bits of Orthodox Christianity and
the tales of ancestors only two generations removed. As changes wrought by
Titan experimentation begin to take their toll on the landing party, their
situation worsens credibly, so that success is in doubt to the very end.
As villains, the Titans are at times too mysterious and remote, and it is
something of a disappointment that they never come into full view. Godlike
and inscrutable, they provide an appropriate sense of menace to both
humanity at large and the landing party in particular. Unfortunately, their
power is never completely unleashed or fully explored. Readers who like to
see their heroes go face to face against their antagonists may find this
lack of a confrontation disappointing.
Even so, Priam's Lens is an ideal summer novel, and Chalker has served
up entertainment and adventure in generous and balanced portions.
Chalker fans will love this book, and readers new to his work will find it a
pleasant introduction.
-- A.M.
Back to the top.
The Year's Best Science Fiction: Sixteenth Annual Collection
Gardner Dozois picks the best short fiction of 1998
|
The Year's Best Science Fiction: Sixteenth Annual Collection
|
|
Edited by Gardner Dozois
|
|
St. Martin's Press
|
|
$29.95
|
|
Hardcover, June 1999
|
|
ISBN 0-312-20963-0
|
|
|
Review by Clinton Lawrence
 t's time again for Gardner Dozois' annual The Year's Best Science
Fiction, a reprint short story anthology now in its sixteenth edition.
This year's collection contains 25 stories in all, the majority of them of novelette length or longer. In addition to the fiction, Dozois
also presents his yearly summary that touches on major trends in science fiction publishing, as well as an extensive list of recommended stories that didn't make the collection.
Last year, Dozois included a surprisingly large number (given his long-standing reputation for embracing a very broad and inclusive definition of the genre) of hard science fiction stories. It's a more balanced collection this year, featuring stories that range from hard SF, like Geoffrey
A. Landis' "Approaching Perimelasma," about a journey into a black hole, to
Ian R. McLeod's excellent alternate history, "The Summer Isles," in which a
man must come to terms with the fact that his former lover has risen to
become the fascist dictator of Great Britain in a world in which the Allies
lost World War I. Then there are stories like Tanith Lee's "Jedella Ghost,"
which is far from the typical ghost tale but still seems more fantasy than
SF.
One of the things that seems apparent from this year's selection is that
writers are turning back to space for inspiration. The rest of the solar
system is again fertile ground for narratives, and a substantial number of
the stories take place on alien worlds. In "Free in Asveroth," a story
about members of alien species fleeing captivity, playwright Jim Grimsley
chooses the alien viewpoint to tell the story. There are plenty of
near-future stories set on Earth as well, and the result is a diverse
collection that places a premium on both storytelling and skillful writing.
The institution continues
There's not a weak story in The Year's Best Science Fiction: Sixteenth
Annual Collection, and it's difficult to decide where to start in
mentioning some of the best. McLeod's "The Summer Isles" has to be
considered one of the top stories, however, simply because he so
impressively balances his protagonist's internal turmoil with a convincing
and interesting political scenario that parallels what really happened in WWI. Ted Chiang's "The Story of Your
Life" likewise brilliantly juxtaposes a linguist's work trying to learn to
communicate with a visiting alien species and her complex relationship with
her daughter. Robert Reed's "The Cuckoo's Boys" is an excellent and
surprising tale about a group of boys born, through the spread of an artificial
plague, with the DNA of a fugitive scientist.
Michael Swanwick's "The Very Pulse of the Machine" is an outstanding
story about an explorer running out of oxygen on Io who becomes aware that the
satellite is alive. Stephen Baxter's "Saddlepoint: Roughneck" is an
excellent piece about a capitalist obsessed with finding important volatiles
deep under the surface of the moon. In "Down in the Dark," William Barton
poignantly explores a bleak future in which Earth is dead and only a few
thousand humans live in colonies scattered across the solar system. And Gwyneth
Jones is remarkably able to create something new out of the Cinderella story
in "La Cenerentola".
Other stories that are particularly noteworthy
include Greg Egan's "Oceanic," Geoffrey A. Landis' "Approaching
Perimelasma," Ursula K. Le Guin's "The Island of the Immortals," Howard
Waldrop's "US," Ian McDonald's "The Days of Solomon Gursky," William
Browning Spencer's "The Halfway House at the Heart of Darkness," Rob
Chilson's "This Side of Independence," Tony Daniel's "Grist," and Jim
Grimsley's "Free in Asveroth".
As usual, Dozois has chosen an outstanding set of stories to
represent the best of 1998. This series has become an institution, and
deservedly so.
Always one of my favorite books of the year.
-- Clint
Back to the top.
|
