BOOK REVIEWS

1998, Part L: December

1999, Christian Sauvé

Last reviewed books of 1998:

Short reviews:

Given that this is the last month of 1998, retrospective articles inevitably follow...

 

 

The Cobra Event
Richard Preston

Ballantine Books, 1997, 432 pages, 9.99$Can., ISBN 0-345-40997-3

Most accounts of Richard Preston's previous non-fiction book, The Hot Zone, commented on its terrifyingly high suspense factor. This reviewer wasn't an exception, going as far as to question the appropriateness of horror novels in the face of The Hot Zone's realistic subject matter of viral plagues.

Well, Preston seemingly listened to the reviewers and wrote The Cobra Event, a gripping novel of -what else?- biological terrorism in the continental United States.

It begins as a teenager dies gruesomely in a high school art class. Soon, a CDC medical pathologist is on her way to New York to see what caused the death. She discovers that the teenager isn't the only victim... and that the deaths might be part of a biological warfare test run.

Viral infections are scary enough that there's really no need to imagine cold-blooded terrorists hatching a global depopulation plan. But that's where The Cobra Event chooses to go, and the result is gripping.

This novel's greatest strength -credibility- is almost a given from the author of three non-fiction books. Even though there's no stopping an author from inventing spurious facts, false references and imaginary events (it's fiction, after all), this reviewer is firmly convinced that careful homework shows. It informs the narrative and gives it an extra layer of credibility that is essential.

The Cobra Event is, right down to its very narrative, loaded and enhanced with facts, descriptions, actions and plotting that have to be modeled on real-life. The most immediate effect is to assign an unusually high plausibility to a basic idea (terrorists do bad things) that had been done time and time again elsewhere. A less-obvious effect is to engender a delightful feeling of dread. This is not a novel for the squeamish: many deaths are very violent and clinically described. The book contains two full-fledged autopsy scenes that will make even the most hardened reader squirm in their seats.

But, as many inept techno-thriller writers have demonstrated inadvertently, credibility isn't enough for a successful book. You have to make it serve the story and to deliver a novel that's compelling in its own right. Above all, it must be presented in a way that will be accessible to thousands of airplanes passengers all over the world.

Here too, Richard Preston excels. As readable as The Hot Zone was, The Cobra Event is even better. Good sympathetic characters, fast pacing, hypnotically readable prose all merge and make up a superior thriller. Down to the conclusion, which isn't as tidy and wrapped-up as we would have liked to believe... just like a real-life bio-warfare event would presumably be.

Memorable, entertaining and credible, The Cobra Event is pretty good effort for a first novel, letting us speculate on a long and successful dual career for Preston, alternating non-fiction books with novels.

BRIEFLY: In comparison, Pierre Ouellette's The Third Pandemic is, if you'll pardon the pun, anaemic. Though it deals knowledgeably with a plague caused by bacteria and doesn't stop right before the abyss, The Third Pandemic isn't exactly enjoyable. Good set-pieces can't erase the bad taste left by an annoying pessimism about human nature, very suspicious plotting, anti-technological bias (the second-to-last paragraph of the book is almost offensive) and lack of large-scale vision when dealing with a global disaster. The writing is also unnervingly ineffective, transforming exciting scenes in hum-drum descriptions. Read Richard Preston's The Cobra Event instead.

 

 

Distraction
Bruce Sterling

Bantam Spectra, 1998, 439 pages, 32.95 $ Can., ISBN 0-553-10484-5

Power can take many forms. Most of us either think of power as being incarnated by electricity, violence or (inevitably) politicians. But even for politicians, elected officials often don't wield as much power as we'd believe. Considerable influence can be attributed to non-elected personnel in the politician's staff, who can analyze situations and recommend favourable alternatives. Bruce Sterling's last novel is a true political science-fiction novel, exploring the sources and consequences of power in a future America that's far stranger than anyone but Sterling could imagine.

Distraction features protagonist Oscar Valparaiso, a political operator with "personal background issues." As the novel begins, he's happy but exhausted: He just managed to elect his candidate, an architect with senatorial ambitions. He soon has to face his biggest challenge, however, in trying to rationalize the operations of a federal research institute. His effort will have greater repercussions than he ever hoped for.

But as with most Bruce Sterling novels, mere plot descriptions do little justice to the actual book: It's the constant accumulation of details that makes the novel so enjoyable. The United States of 2044 aren't quite as impressive as today. Military bases get operating funds by establishing roadblocks. Vast bands of high-tech nomads roam the countryside. Louisiana, led by a charismatic leader, is on the verge of secession. A new Cold War is taking place between The United States... and the Netherlands.

It's a measure, either of America's current insanity or Sterling's talent that despite the rather high comical/ironic content of Distraction, the novel remains believable. Part of this impression should be attributed to the author's refusal to play around with a single-tone future like so many inferior SF writers. Distraction's future feels real because it's composed of widely disparate elements without necessary relevance to the plot. It is textured.

At some point, someone is going to have to write a thesis on how Bruce Sterling's non-fiction writing has enhanced his novels. He's a regular contributor to Wired magazine, and it shows: Distraction even provides comfort who everyone who ever thought that SF is destined to be "mainstreamed" in a society constantly closer to Science-Fiction. (ask Thomas M. Disch) Distraction is pure, fresh, cutting-edge SF.

It's worth noting that despite a few exceptions, Sterling develops his characters quite well. Only the lack of development of Oscar's crew (or rather—"krewe") disappoints.

(Tangentially, it's interesting to note that two of the most politically complex SF novels of 1998, Distraction and Kim Stanley Robinson's Antarctica, feature senator aides protagonists.)

Readers disappointed with the aimlessness of Sterling's previous novel Holy Fire will be pleased to learn that Distraction has a much stronger plot. Even though the wealth of details makes for a leisurely-paced story, the impression is a least that the narrative is going somewhere. Indeed, it's a rather satisfying story that Sterling wraps up... an uncommon impression in the field of political thrillers where dead protagonists turn up as often as back-room deals.

It's almost a given that Distraction will find itself listed on almost every major SF award nominee list. Sterling's already considerable reputation and Distraction's reader-friendliness also almost ensures that it's going to be a strong contender for the Hugo and/or Nebula. Enjoy.

 

 

Twistor
John Cramer

Avon EOS, 1989 (1998 reprint), 338 pages, 7.99$Can., ISBN 0-380-71027-7

Even though I usually borrow the books I review from the library, or otherwise acquire them at used bookstores, I'm still a firm believer in the voting power of a dollar. You might see me reading a Harlequin romance, but you'll never catch me buying such a book. Looking back at the past six months, the list of authors I've bought in new bookstores (excluding French-language books) goes like this: Greg Egan (x3), John Cramer (x2), Robert J. Sawyer (x2), Charles Pellegrino, Bruce Sterling, John Varley, Thomas M. Disch, Peter David, Joe Haldeman, Stephen Bury, Paul di Filippo... It's no coincidence if most of those authors best represent my idea of SF.

The relationship has two components, of course: I'm buying a book from a good author to support him, because s/he usually writes a book good enough to make me feel my money was well-spent. Charles Pellegrino's Dust, for instance, contains so much stuff that it's almost a bargain to buy the hardcover at full price.

It's a bit of an overkill to speak of an author as "reliable" after only two books, but John Cramer is exactly the kind of author that I want to support with my hard-earned dollars. A working physicist by day, Cramer dons his secret identity by night and writes ultra-hard science-fiction for the enjoyment of (mostly) everyone.

In a field too often dominated by hand-waving technobabble at even the most basic level (think "Star Trek", for instance), it's refreshing to see some true SF where the magic is carefully confined to a far-away place. The technobabble isn't gone, but it sure sounds better.

In Twistor, we get a story that has been done a few times already: A scientist discovers a way to switch a volume of space between various alternate universes. While he works on this revolutionary discovery, a greedy businessman and a non-less greedy supervisor try to wrestle the discovery away from him...

Familiar territory, but it's all in the execution. The first virtue of Twistor is to establish its credibility with a careful assortment of details and of real-life procedures. Even though we're still dealing with a scientist-and-his-female-assistant, the verisimilitude of this cliché isn't as grating as could have been, given that the female assistant is a very strong character, and the relationship is initially explained as a teacher/graduate student situation.

What may be the biggest difference between Twistor and inferior SF is that the author is willing to play the game of "Yeah, but..." with the reader. It's a blast to think of objections to the plotting... and then to see them answered two of three pages later. (eg; the section taken out of the tree affecting its stability) Less rigorous writers usually ignore these objection; Cramer confronts them head-on and the novel feels even more real because of that. He's also willing to explore all the possibilities of his initial premise.

Like most hard-SF, Twistor has the usual flaws in writing and dialogue. It should be worth noting that even if Cramer isn't a stylist on the order of, say, Kim Stanley Robinson, he does have a stronger grasp of plotting and characterisation than his hard-SF colleagues.

It should be obvious by now that I'm encouraging you to vote with your dollars, so rush out and buy Twistor if you feel that hard-SF is your cup of tea. While you're at the bookstore, pick up a copy of Cramer's second novel, Einstein's Bridge for a pair of books that will not only give you faith in contemporary SF, but provide you with a few hours of very enjoyable entertainment.

 

 

The Golden Globe
John Varley

Ace / Putnam, 1998, 425 pages, 32.99$Can., ISBN 0-441-00558-6

Thirty-three bucks for a tour of the solar system. How does that sound to you? Even better: Wait a year and get it for ten bucks. Or rush to your library and get it for free! But given that it's a new John Varley novel, why wait?

My first exposure to Varley was tardy, but significant: An impulse purchase of a (discount) hardcover edition of Steel Beach. I loved that book. Varley's style -a chatty, lively first-person narrative loaded with fascinating asides about an original future- make than made up for a weak narrative structure and deliberately shocking details.

It was only later than I discovered Varley's most successful works: The short stories assembled in The Persistence of Vision and The Barbie Murders. I wasn't really ecstatic over the "Titan-Wizard-Demon" trilogy, but liked Millennium and loved The Ophiuchi Hotline. So, it was with a certain amount of trepidation that I was waiting for the arrival of Varley's first novel since 1992's Steel Beach: The Golden Globe.

Even casual students of the Elizabethan era will infer that this novel has some relation with Shakespeare and/or the famous theatre in which many of his plays were first performed. But Varley gives another meaning to the title by referring to the cornerstone of his imaginary "Nine World" sequence: Luna.

Taking place a few years after Steel Beach's "Big Glitch", The Golden Globe is a gigantic travelogue through Varley's most celebrated future history. Kenneth "Sparky" Valentine is a once-famous actor, now running from the law after a few rather illegal acts on Pluto. He's a spectacular thespian, a student of Shakespeare, a con artist and a terrific narrator. As with Steel Beach, Varley opens with a shock sequence as Sparky plays both Mercutio and Juliet in a rowdy representation of the Bard's classic—including the sex scenes.

Before long, however, we're on the run with Sparky as an unkillable Charonese (think "Silician") mafia assassin is aiming for him. A few flashbacks, a few exotic locations, a few action scenes, a sudden new plot, a sudden conclusion and you close the cover on one of the best SF books of 1998.

There's no denying that The Golden Globe is a shaggy-dog story. Fans of complex plotting won't really find what they want here. Varley's talent is in writing short stories, and he does the next best thing here by offering a string of vignettes, mini-adventures, tourist visits and linked flashbacks. Some will find it tedious; others will read it with glee.

In this regard, it's very similar to Steel Beach, which also spent a lot of time describing future life on Luna, and included unrelated vignettes here and there to either sustain our interest or divert us from the main action. I may prefer the earlier novel by a nose (I'm more partial to a journalist protagonist than an actor) but the bottom line is that readers who loved Varley's previous novel will also like this one.

Reader references run deeper, as it's difficult to talk of this novel without mentioning Heinlein at least once, and Double Star at least twice. Much like Heinlein's Lorenzo Smythe, Valentine's narration is a compulsively readable mix of classical theatre and street smarts.

Indeed, it's difficult not to like Varley's protagonist, and in the end, that's what carries the novel through. Even the travelogue aspect of The Golden Globe should not be a disadvantage given that SF has a long and illustrious history of such novels (Clarke's 3001, Niven's Ringworld, large segments of Robinson' Mars trilogy, etc...)

So get the book, sit back and enjoy.

The show is just waiting to begin.

 

 

Time Bomb 2000
Edward Yourdon and Jennifer Yourdon

Prentice Hall Ptr, 416 pages, 27.95 $ Can., ISBN 0-13-095284-2

This review will look silly in two years.

But that's okay, given that the book I'm reviewing is going to look even sillier in two years.

Personally, I love the idea of the Y2K bug. It appeals to several archetypes that I find just irresistible: The failure of improperly managed technology; the trans-generational ticking-bomb suspense of it all; the signal that computers really ruled the late twentieth century... Plus, the timing just couldn't be better. Just as we had half-convinced ourselves that we were rational creatures that didn't really fear an arbitrary year-symbol increment, here comes this wonderful doomsday problem, sprung up from half-buried secrets and whose consequences could be as terrifying as anything we could imagine...

If it wasn't a science-fiction story (and it was, cf: Arthur C. Clarke's The Ghost of the Grand Banks, 1989 --my first exposure to the Y2K problem), well, gosh-darn it, it should have! It's just too good for it!

Of course, the mercantile instinct has awaked in the shadow of this impending catastrophe. Since they're saying our money might become worthless, some people are quite ready to take it away from us right now!

How many "miracle solutions" newscasts will we have to endure before the madness ends? Well, Time Bomb 2000 will at least tell you what's in store, given that there's no such thing as a magical Y2K silver bullet.

Time Bomb 2000 looks at the Y2K problem on twelve sectors from three perspective. For Jobs, Utilities, Transportation, Banking/Finance, Food, PCs, Information, Health/Medicine, Government, Embedded Systems, Education and Telephone/Mail, the Yourdons (father/daughter) estimate the chances of day-long, month-long and year-long disruptions. Their conclusions, as might be expected, aren't very optimistic.

Their conclusion is both rational and chilling: Nobody knows what's going to happen. Given this premise, the Yourdons gently suggest that it might be better to be over-prepared than caught without necessities. The authors remain quite confident despite everything. They don't predict the fall of civilization as we know it, but they're not ready to call it a non-event at this point. Seems reasonable to me. If anything, being over-prepared for the Y2K might be a good idea in case of extraordinary snowstorms, etc...

(Readers who think that I'm being too gullible on the subject of disaster preparation should know that during January 1998, the whole Eastern Ontario/Central Quebec area was paralysed by an ice storm of extraordinary proportions. Though my hometown was spared from any ill effects beyond a twenty-four blackout, it did hammer home the usefulness of a wood stove, a good set of preparation, candles and a positive attitude in the face of these event. Other areas went without electricity for almost three weeks. When people ask me about Y2K, I usually answer by telling them to prepare for another ice storm.)

Consider Time Bomb 2000 mental insurance; even though you might not follow each suggestion or take each threat seriously, at least you will have the choice to make up your mind. As for me, I must say that the book forced me to take in consideration a few factors. Given that I'm planning a major lifestyle change (buying a house is a major lifestyle change) the potential Y2K systemic failures described in Time Bomb 2000 led to establish a timeline that takes in consideration at least the possibility of Bad Stuff happening... just in case.

 

 

Luminous
Greg Egan

Millennium, 295 pages, 1998, ISBN 0-85798-552-4, 21.95$Can.

Greg Egan's reputation is already established: A hard-SF writer of considerable ambition, he invariably integrates stunning ideas in his fiction. Even though his shortcomings are significant, there's no arguing that he's one of the defining SF writers of the nineties. His influence is considerable, given that he now seems to exemplify Hard-SF. (It will be noted, though, that Egan seems to have few political ambitions and thus will not promote himself as heavily as other writers.)

His first short story collection, Axiomatic, was an impressive compilation of unflinching Science Fiction. Egan tackled the Big Themes head-on, producing stories that might have been slight in literary qualities, but iron-clad in concepts. To say that Luminous was heavily anticipated is to understate matters.

Was it worth the wait? Well, mostly yes for the fans.

The best news are that Luminous shows that Greg Egan has lost none of his willingness to confront the big themes. Tackling Happiness, Mathematical Certitude, Genetics, Cosmology, Sexual Orientation and -oh, that too- Consciousness, Egan is a perfect poster-child for SF's grandest literary aims. It's not quite as well executed as it's attempted, but still...

The title story has a strong beginning. It doesn't really meshes well with the remainder of the story, but draws you in effectively. "Mitochondrial Eve" is a good satiric story, with an impeccably readable style. "Cocoon" forces you to think twice about sexual politics. "Our Lady of Chernobyl" is a futuristic Private Eye mystery that's as enjoyable as anything else written in the sub-genre. "Reasons to be Cheerful" is fascinating in the exploration of a few key assumptions.

Other stories are less successful. "Silver Fire" ends as it was just beginning to take flight. "Mister Volition" is almost a rambling monologue about some ill-defined point. "The Plank Dive" lays on the science too thick: I love Hard-SF, but this went over the limit. "Transition Dreams" is an interesting horror story à la Dick, but dragged on. "Chaff" is like a lengthy description of an neat idea, with two pages of plot at the end; it took me two readings to grasp the point, and it's not much of a stunning one.

Containing only ten stories, Luminous is also a disappointment in its length. Still, it's an essential part of the Egan bibliography, and a key piece of nineties SF. Wait for the paperback, sure, but don't miss it then.

BRIEFLY: My conclusion after reading Egan's Diaspora: I must stop reading Greg Egan on the bus. If, for some reason, you're unable to concentrate, you won't be able to extract all the good stuff from Egan's concept-heavy writing.

A huge tale (both in space and time) of humanity's expansion in the metaverse, Diaspora inverts most of the standard cliches of SF and, even then, presents some inspiring thoughts. If you even felt uncomfortable at the silly STAR TREK-style space exploration paradigms, this is the book for you. It's not especially readable, or gripping, but it's almost endlessly surprising. I'll definitely need to re-read this one again in a few years. But not on the bus.

 

 

BONSAI REVIEWS

As in "deliberately kept short"...

Everyone's allowed a few trash authors, read more for cover illustrations, simple titillation or guilty pleasures. Emily Devenport is one of mine. I had a lot of fun reading her previous sex-sports-and-violence "lite SF" novels (Scorpianne, Larissa, Eggheads), but there was not much fun to be had from Godheads, a trite, boring adventure high on unpleasantness and low on original SF ideas. The split-personality gimmick could have been interesting, but was improperly handled—not to mention the impossible bathroom scenes. A "sequel" of sort to Eggheads, but I'd rather keep my good memories of the previous novel intact, thank you. Even the cover illustration isn't up to the standards of her previous novels. Give this one a miss.

Speaking of disappointments, here's Arrowdreams, an anthology of original stories about Alternate Canadas. (Ed. Mark Shainblum and John Dupuis) Nice concept, and most of us probably have a pet "what if...?" hypothesis, but here the result manages to be disappointing. First off, there are not enough stories (Should I blame myself for not considering a contribution?), and those who are there all fail for some reasons. For instance, Derryl Murphy's "Cold Ground" had a clever enough concept by making Robert Baden-Powell a special forces operative sent in to kill Louis Riel—but why include this story in a world where magic is commonplace? Many of the stories seem pointless; a fatal flaw in an alternate history anthology. (eg: Nancy Kilpatrick's "Gross Island -The Movie": Not funny, not alternate, not interesting) Still, there are bright spots: I like everything that Eric Choi writes, and "The Coming Age of the Jet" is up to his usual hard-SF standards, even though it doesn't given us the "Avro Arrow uber alles" scenario that everyone had been expecting. Laurent McAllister's "The Case of the Serial..." is enjoyable, although I will profess not being an impartial reader for this story, given that "McAllister" is a friend and the story first appeared in the French-Canadian magazine "Solaris" a few years ago. Read Arrowdreams in library but only if you really want to. Quel Dommage, because the concept deserved much better.

 

 

Science-Fiction Movies of 1998

(The assistance of the Internet Movie Database at http://www.imdb.com/ was invaluable in the making of this essay. The Canadian independent feature CUBE isn't covered, given that it was seen in 1998, but made in 1997.)

It was not, conventionally speaking, a good year.

Compared to 1997, which featured CONTACT and GATTACA (or even 1996, with TWELVE MONKEYS and -to a much lesser extent- STAR TREK: FIRST CONTACT and THE ARRIVAL), 1998 was in many ways both a let-down and a throwback to the stooopid Sci-Fi movies of years past.

Not convinced? Three titles: ARMAGEDDON, GODZILLA and LOST IN SPACE.

Now, to be fair, I enjoyed all of these three movies. Despite their awfulness in such fields as screenwriting, logic, plausibility or even character development, all three delivered exciting scenes, fun visuals and perfect popcorn fodder. I went in expecting less than zero and came out vaguely entertained. What's less pleasant, however, is the image vehiculed by these movies: Just as SF was starting to get a respectable image, here comes this...

Oh well... onward.

Closer to drama than action, DEEP IMPACT also used the celestial-objet-smashing-into-Earth motif but treated it as an excuse for a compressed soap opera. Didn't work, but New York got trashed pretty good...

Two TV series made it to the big screen this year, and the results were almost identical in both cases: Overblown -but underwhelming- big-budget, big-screen episodes. Viewers were disappointed by the curiously coy X-FILES movie, and most complained that STAR TREK: INSURRECTION was a bit... well... pedestrian.

THE FACULTY was an interesting update on the "alien possession" theme. Not as good as might be expected, but still fun. Some precious meta-references to Heinlein and Jack Finney...

I usually force myself to go see every SF movie, but couldn't overcome the unanimously bad reviews earned by SPECIES II (the fact that I still haven't watched the original also helped) and had moral objections (based on a vehement hatred of the book) to spend money on the cinematographic adaptation of Michael Crichton's abysmal SPHERE. Also unseen: The low-budget SIX STRING SAMURAI and the horror/SF hybrids PHANTOMS, DEEP RISING and DISTURBING BEHAVIOUR. That none of those were especially popular, or well-reviewed, didn't really upset me.

I did see SOLDIER, however, and lived to regret it. Much more was expected, but the result was an incredibly moronic cheap-looking film. I award it, without hesitation, the title of Worst Movie of 1998.

So it's ironic to see that despite SOLDIER, all the high-budget, spectacular bad movies and the TV adaptations, one SF movie can be crowned Favourite Movie of 1998: DARK CITY.

Visually impressive and imaginatively put together, DARK CITY is a hidden gem of a movie that disappeared far too soon from our screens. It brings back memories of 1984, BRAZIL, GATTACA... but without in any way seeming like a rip-off of any of them. See it as soon as possible... but mute the opening monologue, which gives out too much right away.

It's no coincidence if two similar-in-concept "semi-SF" movies of 1998 also got high ratings from me: PLEASANTVILLE and THE TRUMAN SHOW, both excellent exercises in metaphorical "what if?"... They're so good, they have to be SF!

On the borderlines of SF and Horror, moviegoers were treated to two vampire movies in 1998. If BLADE was a tremendously enjoyable action movie that's unarguably the coolest film of the year, JOHN CARPENTER'S VAMPIRES had more than its share of problems, script-wise, and would only deliver twenty minutes of good stuff.

I was mildly disturbed to realized that supernatural movies have become so commonplace that there isn't really much of a "genre" for them any more. Without giving ratings (most of them didn't interest me enough to go see in theatres), just consider these titles: FALLEN, PRACTICAL MAGIC, BRIDE OF CHUCKY, BELOVED, CITY OF ANGELS, WHAT DREAMS MAY COME...

What's coming in 1999? The "first" STAR WARS movie, obviously. But also the "something bad is on this ship and we're stuck with it!" VIRUS, the smart-shark techno-thriller DEEP BLUE SEA, the sure-to-be-weird-because-directed-by-David Cronenberg EXISTENZ, Paul Verhoeven's THE HOLLOW MAN, David Twohy's PITCH BLACK (I'm really looking forward to this one), the great-looking THE MATRIX (with Keanu Reeves and Lawrence Fishburne), the minor Emmerich/Devlin project THE THIRTEENTH FLOOR, the said-to-be-hugely-unoriginal SUPERNOVA and the steampunk Will Smith / Kevin Kline 4th-of-July blockbuster THE WILD, WILD WEST.

Rumours are persistent about such things as a cinematographic version of DUKE NUKEM and THE X-MEN, as well as film versions of COSM and RENDEZVOUS WITH RAMA. There are also hints about several TV projects about Mars... including a script by Gregory Benford and an adaptation of Kim Stanley Robinson's trilogy by James Cameron. (!!!) Remakes include a big-screen MY FAVOURITE MARTIAN and another version (as if we actually needed one) of PLANET OF THE APES. Plus the supernatural END OF DAYS, with Ahnuld. Oh, and maybe a PREDATOR 3.

What else? Why, if you look at past years, the best SF surprises have often popped up out of nowhere. Just take a look at the titles promised for 1999 by the IMDB: ABOMINABLE, ALLIED FORCES, THE ASTRONAUT'S WIFE, COLONY 12, ECLIPSE, FOILED, IMPOSTOR, MATO GROSSO, MOTHMAN, NEMO, PLUTO NASH, PROTEUS, SANTA CLAUS CONQUERS THE MARTIAN, STATIC and UNDER THE RAINBOW.

It would take only two good ones out of this list to make me happy...

 

 

SCIENCE-FICTION BOOKS OF 1998

A (very incomplete) retrospective

Hey! Science-Fiction is dying!

No, really! They're all saying so, from the old authors to the newer readers. They're saying so on the Internet, so it must be true, right?

Well, pardon me for being optimistic, but I really don't think so. In fact, browsing through good bookstores, chances are that you'd be able to find out more really enjoyable new Science-Fiction than ever before.

Take Bruce Sterling's Distraction, for instance. Please! Take it home! It's a pretty good political satire, but it's also one of the most thoughtful "real-future" speculative work in recent memory. Sterling is an astute observer of the latest techno-social trends, and this book shows it. For all of you tired of uni-dimensional imagined futures in SF, this book's for you.

Sharing common themes and methods with Distraction, Kim Stanley Robinson's Antarctica is a marvel of descriptive talent: Robinson makes the frozen continent come alive as surely as he did with his Mars trilogy. You say you're not really "into" near-future stuff? You're nostalgic about the best works of the Golden Age? Look no further than John Varley's The Golden Globe, an engrossing solar system travelogue. Almost endlessly fascinating, in combines Heinlein's usual street-smart narrator with Clarke's endless descriptions for a thick and satisfying read.

Also worth its price in hardcover is Charles Pellegrino's Dust, which packs so many ideas in 350 pages that it's a miracle the binding still holds. A merciless end-of-the-world tale, it's far more scary than even the best horror novel.

Canadian author Robert J. Sawyer delivered the goods as usual with Factoring Humanity, a novel about Humankind's collective unconscious. Not bad, even despite the rather new-age everybody-feels-so-good twist at the end.

Hot Hard-SF wonder Greg Egan also published his second short-story collection, Luminous. Not as good as the previous collection (Axiomatic), it's still heads and shoulders above the usual SF book. Another good anthology is David G. Hartwell's Year's Best SF, Volume 3: Hartwell knows SF and his anthology contains none of that icky "fantasy" stuff. More power to him; the result is excellent.

James L. Halperin also maintained his previous reputation with The First Immortal, a poorly-written, but exhilarating novel about the coming age of immortality. Mind-bending stuff, especially if you're unfamiliar with SF.

Also competent was Dennis Danvers' Circuit of Heaven, a nice virtual-reality romance whose background unfortunately overwhelms its narrative. Ben Bova shows in Twice Seven that he writes just like... Ben Bova. Fans will love it, but conversions are doubtful.

Somewhat below come the strictly-routine stuff we've been accustomed to: From the almost-good GodHeads (Emily Devenport) to the hilariously bad trash media fiction cross-over Star Trek TNG / X-Men: X-Planet (Michael Jan Friedman), to Scott Mackay's boooring Outpost to the "we've seen all of this before" Masque (F. Paul Wilson & Matthew J. Costello) to the newest contender to the Throne of Gor (Susan R. Matthews's Prisoner of Conscience), SF has generated its fair 90% of crud this year.

Associated with SF:

In the non-fiction arena, Thomas M. Disch's often-irreverent examination of SF The Dreams our Stuff is Made Of is worth reading, if only for the pleasure of seeing some long-standing "virtues" of the genre being mercilessly pounded in impotence. It's not as shocking as it could have been, but it's suitably insolent as it is.

I don't read much fantasy, but Yves Meynard's The Book of Knights was decent. Never mind that I know the author; give it a try yourself.

In horror, the best novel I've read in 1998 was -alas for you anglophones!- Patrick Sénécal's Sur le Seuil, a terrifyingly effective piece of psychological horror. Hope for a translation!

Completely outside the SF genre, let me make some further recommendations:

You either like Tom Clancy or you don't, but if you do, be advised that his latest novel Rainbow Six, is better than the video-game tie-ins and the simplistic blurb might suggest.

Easy Riders, Raging Bulls: How the Sex-Drugs-and-Rock-n-Roll Revolution Saved Hollywood by Peter Biskind, is a no-secrets-withheld tour through the Hollywood of the Seventies. Crisply written, it contains enough dirt to satisfy even the most demanding. More significantly, it's a fabulous book for any cinephile, and incited me to see more movies of this period. One of my favourite books of the year.

Besides stuff published in 1998, other worthy books read this year:

Dan Simmon's The Rise of Endymion concludes the Hyperion series very well, with a romance unexpectedly packing more punch than the fall on an empire. Some great images; a must for fans of the first two books that were somehow annoyed by the aimlessness of the third.

Twistor, by John Cramer, is stunning hard-SF by a working scientist. Plays the "What if?" game pretty thoroughly. Don't miss Cramer's Einstein's Bridge either. Elsewhere is hard SF, I was very impressed by Charles Pellegrino's Flying to Valhalla.

Neal Stephenson is half of "Stephen Bury", but both Bury's Interface and The Cobweb show a hint of what happens when a detail-happy SF writer shifts gear in techno-thriller mode. Dense, idea-packed and completely fun.

The Scariest Place on Earth is an exceptional non-fiction book about hurricanes. Author David E. Fisher suffered through hurricane Andrew's passage through Miami and this book mixes his personal experience with historical, scientific and anecdotal information.

Other great non-fiction book read include Ed Regis' Nano (an irresistible tract about nanotechnology), Richard Preston's The Hot Zone (scary stuff about viruses) and "So, what are the boys saying?" (an autobiographical history of the Mulroney government' first years in power, by a member of Mulroney's press bureau.)

For fans of crime literature who want more literary value, or fans of literature who want more plot, Colin Harrison's Manatthan Nocturne is an incredible noir novel about crime in New York. Dark, but with a soul.

The Cobra Event (Richard Preston) is a terrifyingly realistic novel about viral terrorism in New York. Not for the squeamish!

Bob Judd's Formula One is a fast-paced novel using the world of F1 racing as a backdrop. Effortless exposition, good characters, great read.

Terence M. Green's Blue Limbo is sort of a near-future police novel. Good action, fancy gadgets, but also some unexpectedly heart-tugging scenes.

L.A. Confidential (James Ellroy) and The Silence of the Lambs (Thomas Harris) are both as great as their film version.

Paul di Filippo's Ribofunk is one of the quirkiest SF story collection you're likely to read. That is a good thing. Other good single-author collections include the classic John Varley anthology The Persistence of Vision and Allen Steele's Rude Astronauts.

Not everyone can tolerate L. Neil Smith's libertarian viewpoint, but The Probability Broach is still very readable... and fun.

And so... on to 1999.