A Martian Odyssey and other classics of science fiction

Stanley Weinbaum is one of the towering greats of science fiction though he died of throat cancer at the age of 33 and thus only offered the world about 15 months of science fiction writing starting with his first publication. This thin volume, published in 1962 by Lancer, collects five of Weinbaum’s stories, starting with of course A Martian Odyssey. His work was groundbreaking in its depiction of alien life, picturing aliens on Mars, Venus, and other locations as completely different from anything we could imagine. Giant birds that are so intelligent that they can understand math and so loyal that they will stay by your side. Other aliens are plant-like and highly intelligent to the point of mindreading, but are intellectually so unlike humans that we can barely understand what motivates them. These are the kind of concepts that may seem pedestrian now but in the early thirties when Weinbaum was first published were unique and different.

The Chief

Biskupic’s biography The Chief attempts to offer a portrait of John Roberts, a largely unknown and unassuming figure who has been Chief Justice for quite a few years and is expected to continue for quite some time. To call it a biography might actually be a misnomer as the book offers no more than a quick biographical sketch of Roberts’ personal life and is focused mainly on the development of his judicial philosophy. Much of the book is spent on the cases that came before the High Court during Roberts’ term as Chief Justice, with a particular emphasis on only a few areas: affirmative action, redistricting, political fundraising, gay marriage, and, of course, Obamacare. Very little or no space is afforded to other cases including criminal procedure, First Amendment, or other issues. The discussion of these cases is presented with precedential history and in layman’s terms so that even non-lawyers can grasp the details (I imagine).

Biskupic, whose work for several decades has been as a journalist covering the High Court, takes the view that the Justices decide cases based on party affiliation and which side of the spectrum they sit on rather than taking each case fully neutrally and without preconception. Biskupic is clearly of a Liberal bent and her book is colored by her own philosophy, often picking obscure details of Roberts’ past to make her points. It seems that Biskupic views Roberts as a Conservative in Sheep’s clothing, pretending to be neutral and detached, and explains away Roberts’ vote-switching in the Obamacare cases as an effort to protect the institution of the High Court on a partisan-divided issue.

The book is at its best discussing complicated issues such as the election funding issues in the Citizens United case and the slew of cases addressing affirmative action and redistricting. It fumbles though in offering a nuanced understanding who John Roberts is as a person, seemingly only viewing his life and work through partisan lens.

Rickey

Ricky Henderson, retired now, although not officially, is the king of steals, baseball’s all time steals leader by quite a lot, the all time runs scored leader, and the unintentional walks leader (2nd on all walks after Bonds). He played major league ball from 1979 to 2003 and was an unstoppable force of nature. Bryant’s new biography offers an easy to read, well researched look at one of the greatest and most unique players ever. The biography not only gives the play by play stars, but offers a look at Rickey’s controversies from both sides. Not only was Rickey one of the greatest ever, but he never stopped letting everyone know that with braggadocio, with hotdogging and showing off, and often an attitude that craved respect for his accomplishments, often measured by salary. Bryant also tackles with great skill the subject of race in sports and Rickey’s feeling that he was treated differently because of race and that his animated show-off was not appreciated because of it. Bryant’s narrative deftly brings out all sides of these issues. This is a must-read for baseball fans.

Two Nights in Lisbon

Pavone’s latest international thriller is an exercise in misdirection, sort of like a game of three-card-monte where, as you are guessing which shell the marble is under, a confederate from the crowd is picking your pocket. That is to say that Pavone leads you by nose down the garden path making you think the novel is about one thing when – and he gives you all the clues – it is actually about something completely different.

The story opens with a shocking tale out of your worst nightmares. You are in a foreign city – let’s say Lisbon, Portugal, on vacation or on a business trip with your spouse – you go to bed, you wake up, and they have vanished. You know immediately something is off. This is not how they act. This is not what they do. But, the hotel staff, the local police, and the American Embassy all are united in not taking you seriously. After all, it has only been a few hours. Anyone could take a walk or disappear briefly and not mean anything. You are just a hysterical nut to them, particularly if you are a loud demanding American. It is a situation that anyone could find leads to panic and turmoil.

From there, the story probably would take us in one of two directions. The protagonist all alone without resources with barely competent language skills sets off on her own to find her husband no matter what it takes. For some people, these situations are just when they rise to the occasion. It could also be the lead-in to a connection with a team of ex- Seal Team Six operatives who find the missing husband with all-out explosion of action and competence.

Pavone, however, does not take the story in either of these directions. Rather, he tells a far more complicated story, leaving the reader and the local officials and the embassy staff puzzled as to what is really going on and where all this is going. Can they trust this nutty woman or she is off her rocker? There are quite a number of flashbacks which take Ariel back to prior years and, at first these seem to intrude in the story and just be in the way, but they will all make sense as you come to the conclusion and all the puzzle pieces fit together.

Two Nights in Lisbon is a quick read for a reader with a desire to figure out what is really going on – quick enough for this reader to finish in one night. Nevertheless, it is more of a domestic political thriller than a black ops international operation.

Fevered Star

Fevered Star is the middle novel of the trilogy and thus is neither a beginning nor an explosive conclusion. It features no great battle and rather is concerned with moving the pieces on the chessboard and setting them up for the conclusion. It is at root a fantasy novel, set in a world of many clans, living in an uneasy truce, of blood, of power, and of the magic of gods reborn.

Three main characters populate the story with a few other narratives as well. The main three though, Serapio, Xiala, and Naranpa, all are persons of extraordinary powers but who are so unlike others that they are almost always alone and apart. Serapio is the Crow God reborn. He is blind but can see through the eyes of crows and can turn into one or many. He can when angered take out while plazas filed with people. Worshipped as a deity, he knows the clans are using him for power and fail to even glimpse his human side. The firebird, Naranpa, has the wings if an angel and the power of fire. She is a priestess of the sun god, but is apart from the other priests, and was spared by Serapio. She belongs nowhere. Xiala is the major character we come to know best, an exiled Teek, a sea captain, a wanderer who can never go home and is bound by love to the Crow God Serapio, who she knows as a person.

While these three try to find their ways alone and burdened with power and magic, clans and matrons and lords plot and plot, each weaving plots within plots. War is coming and it may be the Crow God alone against all or the alliances may all fall. We are now set up and ready for the final novel in the trilogy.

Locklands

Locklands is the thrilling conclusion to Bennett’s stupendous Founders trilogy. It is one of those books -like the other two in the trilogy – which is jaw-droppingly great from the first page to the last. It is epic. It is awesome.

The Founders trilogy is a fantasy world dripping with the fantasy equivalent of computer codes. We live in a world where computer codes can do just about anything and often a smartphone in our pocket can access libraries of knowledge, passkeys, and more. The Founders world though is not an advanced science fiction spaceships and time travel type world. Rather, scrivings or codes are written by editors upon any kind of object, making arrows want to hit targets, doors want to stay closed, ships want to float on the ocean, or the like. At its base, such use of scrivings is fascinating and the ability to make objects want to act in certain ways like bricks that want to stay together to help a building’s stability is incredible.

But, by the time we get to Locklands, the work of the scrivings has been moved to a whole new level. Plates can be scribed and embedded on objects and twinned so that things done to one object can act like permissions on the twinned object. Plates can be placed in people to twin them with others to either control them one directionally or marry them telepathically when it goes in both directions. There is no end to what these scrivings can do or how one can argue with the scrivings to make them behave (or people behave) in ways that defy reality. Some of these scriving objects, moreover, have the ability to edit reality and carve it away.

Locklands takes us to a point where, like Sauron in Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, an all-powerful entity has unleashed armies of followers upon the world, threatening to rip asunder all reality, and one little kingdom stands between the Dark Lord and the conquest of the entire world. We get here a band of intrepid warriors (or at least people brave enough to act as warriors) who seek to slip into the Dark Lord’s empire and do something in secret that saves the world of fails to.

This novel is filled with solid action from cover to cover and there is almost no let=up in that action from beginning to end as the stakes get higher and higher and the ability of the few left -Sancia, Claudia, Clef, and Berenice – to stand up to the greater powers doing battle around them are quite limited. Each of these characters -and yes a magic key is still considered a character – are well developed and put through trials and tribulations.

But perhaps the power of this narrative is that what we think of as reality is put into question as tools are used that defy all known versions of reality and warp things like gravity and density and individuality. This novel – like the two preceding ones- which might be helpful to read first- is simply mind-blowing. It is not just a fantasy story of swords and wizards and kingdoms but a full-on departure from the ordinary. And, isn’t that what we often seek in fantasy literature- not the ordinary, but the absolutely extraordinary.

Upgrade

Upgrade is Blake Crouch’s new novel, more thriller, than science fiction, but extremely compelling. He explores what it might mean to upgrade the human race and take us to the next stage of evolution. On the way, he zips through contrasting arguments over whether it’s necessary and whether without fundamental changes we are on the path to extinction like the dinosaurs before us. Every mad scientist has always dreamed of the next revolutionary step in evolution and we tango here with the moral dilemmas faced.

Upgrade is often a bit science-y but at its base is a terrific thriller with the hero trying to save the world ina race against time. What makes it tick do well is that we the readers learn what it feels like viscerally to change and that includes the good and the bad as well. Although the new species can see forty moves ahead in the chess game, there will always be a gulf between them and the life they had before.

A highly recommended read.

Daughter of the Dark

Dyachenko’s Daughter from the Dark is one of the oddest Ukrainian novels you have ever read, that is assuming that you have read much Ukrainian fiction. It is a story that defies categorization. It has some semblance of fantasy elements, but not a fantasy world. It is the story of an irascible, moody, rude disc jockey who stumbles on a seemingly lost ten-year-old with otherworldly sensibilities and a killer teddy bear. And, when I say she has a killer teddy bear, think Frankenstein plus the Hulk, and he stands ready to defend her no matter what. The disc jockey and his sort-of adopted daughter-one he barely wants- and can’t stand-have the weirdest relationship and she swears she came from another world and is only here to find her brother through playing a violin piece. The novel is oddly interesting, but is rather unlike anything else you have read or were expecting and you might wonder where it was heading or what the point of it all was.