A Science Fiction Sampler

One word of warning: science fiction requires you to participate. You must be willing to "suspend disbelief" in whatever basic elements of the story are required to take you into the world of "what if."

When I was a boy I was able, in only a couple of years of sneaking into the adults-only section of the East Liverpool (Ohio) Carnegie Library, to read the entirety of book-published science fiction; from Mary Shelley, Jules Verne and H.G. Wells, right up through Clarke, Heinlein and Asimov. I could do it because no more than half a dozen new novels were being published each year.

Now, of course, science fiction is the most popular market for fiction writers in the English language. More than 1,200 new novels are published each year. It seems pretty clear that, millenia from now, the 20th century will be remembered in literature mostly for the flowering of science fiction.

But why write about science fiction in AGENDA? Because science fiction is the most "political" of all fiction. Despite your memories of such titles as Orwell's 1934 and Animal Farm or Aldous Huxley's Brave New World (considered relatively dull, monothematic works by many science fiction readers), you might still have some difficulty accepting my statement. But strongly political, "idea" books are not only in science fiction's past. There are some good, entertaining, politically-charged books that are being written right now, and they are available on bookshelves in Ann Arbor.

My intent is to tease you with a few sentences about each book and, for a few books, to throw in some quotes to spark your interest. A thoughtful scanning of only the quotes alone ought to convince you that there's a lot of interesting thought going into modern science fiction. One word of warning: science fiction requires you to participate. You must be willing to "suspend disbelief" in whatever basic elements of the story are required to take you into the world of "what if."

THE SPACE MERCHANTS and THE MERCHANT'S WAR, Frederick Pohl. The Space Merchants is a classic science fiction book from the "golden age." It is a sarcastic, humorous and entertaining expose of Madison Avenue's manipulation of consumers. The Merchants' War is a modern sequel which lacks the original's impact, seemingly because Pohl's understanding of Madison Avenue is out of date. Read The Space Merchants if you can find it (try the Ann Arbor Public Library).

THE UPLIFT WAR, David Brin. In this relatively near future, humans have succeeded in bringing both chimpanzees and porpoises to full sentience (and political equality). Shortly thereafter they learn that they have unwittingly imitated a standard practice of the hitherto-unknown-to-humans galaxy wide civilization: Nothing brings more honor to a "patron race" than to bring a "client race" into sentience through selective evolution and gene manipulation. In fact, humanity is the only "race" in known galactic history which has evolved into sentience without the guiding presence of a patron race, a fact which gives humanity a strange status - further skewed by the fact that humans have their own two client races: chimps and porpoises which, by galactic standards, humans treat in entirely too egalitarian a fashion.

The book's action takes place on the planet Garth, victim of an earlier ecological disaster (see quote below) and given to humans and chimps to revitalize (a nearly impossible task). As the story opens an Earth ship (crewed entirely by porpoises) has, while exploring the far side of the galaxy, made an undisclosed discovery of galactic importance. The more powerful "races" converge on the planet Garth in order to use the planet and its Earth-originated inhabitants as hostages/levers in the ensuing struggle over whatever it is the porpoises have found.

Brin is a major new writer in speculative fiction whose works are winning many awards. This is not his best, but it is good reading.

COURTSHIP RITE, Donald Kingsbury. An ethnographically intense tale of slightly further-evolved humans on another world in the distant future, it blends elements of group marriages, decorative scarification, ritual cannibalism and more:

"That night they had been moved to take the vow of husbands, though they were only boys and knew no women they could share as wives. The drunken crowds, the drifting smoke mixed with incense, the emerging skeleton of the Prime Predictor fevered their souls. The three vowed to be husbands in a team that would bring honor to the Kaiel by carrying out the wishes of their father.

Since the Getan ideal was a balanced team, they decided that Homei should partake of his brains, Gaet should partake of his heart, and Hoesai of his thighs. Thus they sealed their marriage as God passed overhead in the purpled sky."

This is a strange, well written book - and a good read.

RADIO FREE ALBEMUTH, Philip K. Dick. Dick, who, tragically, died in the past year, leaves a body of work accurately described on the cover of this posthumously published book as thematic of: "paranoia, political expression, the decay of American society, the plastic nature of reality . . ." This book is not his best. You may know his work from Blade Runner, the movie which was an adaptation of his work, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? The latter is better than the new book or the movie.

DEATH HUNTER, Ian Watson. In this future Earth, tight social controls with velvet gloves have been placed on citizens. According to official doctrine, the old illnesses of wars and interpersonal violence have been eliminated by a societal acceptance of the naturalness of death. To die by accident, unprepared, is considered a terrible tragedy. The protagonist is a "death guide," one who provides whatever therapy is needed so that individuals who have decided to "retire" (mandatory at age 50) leave this life calmly and at peace with themselves. His first client at a new duty station is an obviously mentally ill person who has just committed the first murder on Earth in a decade, does not want to die, and believes he can see, attract and trap Death itself. As the cover blurb quotes, this book is "[c]reative beyond the boundaries of ordinary imagination."

THE "GOR" SERIES, John Norman. Here's a man you can love to hate! You owe it to yourself to go to a bookstore or library, find one of his books, and leaf through it. Don't buy it! Gor is Earth's twin, in the same orbit but always at the far end and, so, astronomically invisible from Earth. On Gor a man is a warrior, a woman is a slave. Worse, women love being slaves. Even Earth women kidnapped to Gor learn to love being slaves. Norman is serious about this. He's even written a nonfiction book expounding on women's natural state as slaves. I won't give a reference to it here, though, and can only hope it's permanently out of print.

WRITERS OF THE FUTURE VOLUME III, Algis Budrys (Ed.). Forget the fact that on the cover of this anthology you'll see the name of Ron L. Hubbard (he invented Scientology) - there's no Scientology in the book. Hubbard, who was a "golden age" science fiction writer of some fame before he decided to create a religion and become wealthy, provided seed money for this competition among new writers which gives cash awards and provides publication exposure. This is worth reading. Some stories are good, others are excellent. It will make my point for me - that science fiction is still highly politically charged.

SPEAKER FOR THE DEAD, Orson Scott Card. Card, an extremely good and thoughtful young author, takes on "xenocide" in this series of novels. His protagonist was - in an earlier novel - the tool of a society which destroyed an entire "race" of sentient beings. He is now the Speaker for the Dead. In this novel, his emotional growth and subsequent defense of yet another threatened "race" are the basis of a very good story.

THE FOREVER WAR, Joe Haldeman. One of the most moving anti-war books ever written, this is the story of a man who becomes an immortal soldier. A member of a highly trained cadre, cryonically frozen with his memories wiped between battles, he and his colleagues oscillate for centuries between frozen and fighting - fighting wars the political basis of which they know absolutely nothing.

Next month I plan to describe what's available in the science fiction periodical literature. Lurid-covered science fiction magazines provide a uniquely viable forum for the ideas of modern short story writers - not to mention artists and poets. For now, I recommend the August 1987 issue of Isaac Asimovs SCIENCE FICTION MAGAZINE, especially for the cover story, "On the Border," by Lucius Shepard. Shepard's works have recently been heavy on the near future, guerilla war in Latin/Central American theme - and very well done. One of his stories last year, raised many disturbing Vietnam memories from the depths of my mind. His story alone is worth the price of the magazine.

Thanks. If you find yourself reading an interesting book you'd otherwise not have read, please write AGENDA and let me know.