Sci-fi and fantasy round-up
David V Barrett on an early PKD novel, post-apocalyptic sibling conflict, an irreverent reworking of mythology, a cult policier, some alt hist and two Moorcock doorstops
this reissue is welcome. Though not science fiction, it shows Dick beginning to work with the themes that would become hallmarks of most of his work – the alienation of the ordinary man and woman. Verne, Barbara and Carl are left behind by the American Metals Development Company when it pulls out of its massive site in China; they are left to themselves, with the fairly undefined task of handing over the site to the Chinese. Two of them had a very brief fling a few years earlier; the third is sexually inexperienced; all three have their inner demons. Dick explores their inter-relationships as they are thrust together in unusual circumstances as the factory site becomes a disorientating and alien environment; he excels at showing how apparently “normal” people are screwed up and confused inside. There’s even a brief mention of Gnostic duality, the focus of Dick’s final novels. It’s not his finest work by any means, but it’s a must for PKD fans.
Set in a fairly standard post-apocalyptic world, The Fire Sermon has a far-from-standard central concept. As a result of radiation all human births are twins, one boy, one girl. One child is perfect; the other has a physical deformity – a missing limb, for example – or more rarely a psychic ability. They are separated in early childhood, the former to live comfortable lives as Alphas, the latter to be subsistence farmers or corralled into ghetto villages as Omegas – but there’s a strange complication: when one twin dies, so will the other. Having hidden her ability as a seer until her teens (causing tension with her brother Zach because he can’t be identified as an Alpha), Cass is now living in the underclass, while Zach has become a harsh young leader of the Alphas. The first of a trilogy, this very well written first novel by Francesca Haig is a fascinating story of the increasing conflict between the two of them, as Cass becomes more and more involved in a rebel group, refusing to be crushed by the Alphas.
Resurrections is the third and best-so-far of Roz Kaveney’s startling reworking of mythology, Rhapsody of Blood, telling the interweaving tales of two very different women. Maya the Huntress, immortal but determinedly not a god, wanders through history protecting people from aggressive gods or, often worse, vicious human warlords and dictators. In the present day (some of the time) Emma Jones, still without her ghost lover, comes into a far greater destiny than she’d ever have imagined – and discovers that Hell is full of unpleasant people, as well as a lot of people who really shouldn’t be there. For anyone with a Christian background it’s strange to see the primary figures of the religion treated with the same delightful irreverence Kaveney has shown to other gods and goddities in the previous books; you’ll never view Jesus or Judas in quite the same way again.
Ben Aaronovitch has become a cult writer with his humorous novels about Peter Grant, a young policeman in a tiny unit of the Metropolitan Police dealing with crimes with a supernatural element. This time, to his great discomfiture, the very urban copper is sent outside London into the leafy countryside of Herefordshire. Foxglove Summer, even when dealing with the dark topic of child abduction, is a delightful and perceptive romp, a decidedly skew-whiff police procedural. The involvement of ancient and powerful mythological beings is darker and scarier than in the previous books. There’s even a brief mention of Fortean Times near the end!
Irregularity is an intriguing anthology of alternative history stories from small press Jurassic London and the National Maritime Museum at Greenwich. The stories, all with a scientific basis, are set in tweaked versions of real history, such as a steampunk Victorian age – rather nicely illustrated by Gary Northfield based on artwork in the Museum. Several of the writers are academics, including Profs Adam Roberts and Roger Luckhurst. A few problems: two of the stories are transposed in the Contents, and the book began physically falling apart on first reading. More seriously, several of the stories had great situations but didn’t really follow them through with satisfactory plots – but despite that, highly recommended for some wonderfully left-field ideas.
With A Cornelius Calendar and Kane of Old Mars, Gollancz have reached the end of their reissues of many of Michael Moorcock’s most influential works, revised and updated by the author. The first is a massive volume containing The Adventures of Una Persson and Catherine Cornelius in the Twentieth Century, The Entropy Tango, The Great Rock’n’Roll Swindle and several novellas; the second contains Warriors..., Blades... and Barbarians of Mars, originally published under the pseudonym Edward P Bradbury. But the best news of all, just announced, is that Moorcock’s first new novel in nearly 10 years, A Whispering Storm, will be published in July – and will definitely be reviewed here.