Worlds

Author:  Joe Haldeman

First Publication:  1981, reprinted 2014

Publisher:  Open Road

Source:  NetGalley

Cover #1:  ???
Cover #2:  Peter A. Jones
Cover #3:  John Harris

The 2015 Sci-Fi Experience

Marianne O’Hara grew up on one of the orbital habitats (hollowed out asteroids that are in Earth orbit).  She leaves her home in New New York to travel to “old” New York to finish her education.  She finds herself pulled into an underground group that plans a peaceful revolt against the repressive government.  Things are not as they seem.  Will she help the Revolution?

“You can’t know space unless you were born there.  You can get used to it, maybe.  You can’t love the surface of a planet it you were born in space.  Not even Earth.  Too big and crowded and nothing between you and the sky.  Things drop in straight lines.” (from the beginning of the novel).


Joe Hdoes a masterful job of pulling the reader into the life of the main character.  Through her eyes, we learn what the Earth has become.  America has gone through a Second Revolution.  Nevada has seceded.  While it might not seem particularly oppressive to us, in comparison to her life on the “worlds” Marianne sees a major difference.  Although this was originally published in 1981, it seems like Haldeman was anticipating a post 9/11 world.  The changes that happened to this world are eerily similar to what happened in the U.S. in the aftermath of 9/11.  Haldeman uses her exposure to this world to turn her into a very cynical person.  It is one of the better jobs of writing the growth of a character that I have read in recent times.  The author does not go in depth explaining the history of the future U.S.   Some readers might want to read more about it but I thought that it would have interrupted the flow of the story.  Haldeman chose the better path. 

The focus of this story is centered around the growing contention between the “worlds” and the Earth.  The “worlds” have discovered a valuable source for materials on the Moon.  The Earth government does not want to see this utilized because it would make the “worlds” less dependent on them.

Highly recommended.  The story continues in a second book.


My first Haldeman reading memories are of his short stories in Analog Science Fiction/Science Fact (especially “Tricentennial”) and one of my favorite books of that time “All My Sins Remembered”.  This book served as a reminder that I need to read more of his work.

Short Story Sunday - Jan. 23, 2011

1.  "Phantom Sense" by Richard A. Lovett and Mark Niemann-Ross

First Printing:  Analog, November 2010

One of the best Analog stories of recent times.  "Phantom Sense" deals with the return of a special ops soldier.  The science fiction element deals with using the soldier's brain to control insects.  The insects can be used as advance scouts.  The problems arise when the soldiers try to reintegrate into society.  Then one of them kidnaps the daughter of another soldier.  The authors steadily increase the suspense as the story races to it's conclusion.

The team of Lovett and Niemann-Ross put themselves on my list of authors to watch.
 

2.  "Dark, Dark Were the Tunnels" by George R. R. Martin

First Printing:  Vertex, December 1973

A group of archaeologists from the moon travel to Earth to see the effects of a nuclear war 500 years earlier.  Humanity has gone underground and established a new civilization.  Unfortunately, the radiation has sped up their evolution.  Most of the remaining humans are blind.  Their cities are threatened by giant worms.  Gael (one of the mutated humans) and his partner Hissig are a team who hunts the worms.  Hissig is a mutated rat.  When the archaeologists spot the rat they assume that Hissig is a monster.  The violence that ensues ruins any chance of a peaceful coexistence.

 

Martin does a great job of making the underground civilization seem real.  The character work and atmosphere are excellent as always in a Martin story.  He makes you feel the fear and sense of unease the characters feel.

Another highly recommended George R. R. Martin story.  He is one of the masters of the short form.

3.  "The Engine at Heartspring's Center" by Roger Zelazny

First Printing:  Analog, July 1974

This Nebula nominated story is classic Zelazny.  The Bork is created by an accident.  His story is the tale of his interaction with a human woman.  He makes every effort to appear human.  Like Martin, Zelazny is a master at making you "feel" a story.  He takes you into the heart of the characters.  This is one that can be hard to describe but easy to recommend. 

Highly recommended.

4.  "Remembering Melody" by George R. R. Martin

First Printing:  Rod Serling's Twilight Zone Magazine, April 1981

"Remembering Melody" is a haunting tale that will stay with you for a long time.  Do not read it after dark.  Martin shows why he was the perfect writer to work on the Twilight Zone.  This story will make you think before making promises to friends.  You will never look at a woman named Melody without thinking of this story.  It is a perfect Halloween tale.   

Avoid the poor adaptation of this story on the television show "The Hitchhiker".  They did a poor job of capturing the mood of the short story.

Recommended.

Short Story Sunday - Jan. 16, 2011

1. "Dismal Light" by Roger Zelazny

First Printing:  Worlds of IF, May 1968

When I was researching bibliographies for my Roger Zelazny Reading Project, I somehow missed this one. A later search listed this story as the first episode in his “Francis Sandow” series. The series consists of four stories.

1.  Dismal Light (1968) – short fiction

2.  Isle of the Dead (1969) – novel

3.  To Die in Italbar (1973) – novel

4.  Sandow’s Shadow (2009) – outline

I wonder if anyone will take the outline and develop it into a story?

Francis Sandow is in the background for most of this story. As is typical in much of his fiction, Zelazny mixes science fiction and mythological/magical elements.  He takes to heart the Arthur C. Clarke statement that sufficiently advanced science will appear as magic. I like his work because of the way he manages to keep the mystery in his tales of the future. Instead of straight science fiction, I consider much of his work to fall into the science fantasy category. This one contains a person with the power to remold worlds. Is this hard science? No. But this is the background for the story. It is not the main plot. The story is focused on the people and the effects this world creation has on others. The author’s strengths have always been in creating mythological type situations, exploring fantastic worlds, and the characters he has created. The other author who explores lonely characters, similar to Zelazny, is George R. R. Martin.  Martin and Zelazny are very similar in their short fiction writing.

Sandow has created a new world that is being used as a prison. When something appears that is not supposed to be there, humanity has to evacuate the planet. Our protagonist is someone who served their sentence, decided to stay on the planet, and now refuses to leave when the rest of the personnel are taken. He is staying to the end to finish an experiment he is working on. Of course, it turns out that this is not the real reason.

Zelazny does an excellent job of exploring the relationships between the various characters. I do not want to give away any of the surprises so I will not go into a detailed discussion of what the relationships are. Trust me that the author does his usual great job with the story.

Condensing it down to a bullet point list would show the following items.

• A habitable planet created from an inhabitable world

• A person with god-like powers

• The end of a world

• An unexplainable mystery

• The psychology of prisoners

• The politics of blame when things go wrong.

• What a person is willing to risk to meet the person they most need to talk

to.

“Dismal Light” definitely has me interested in reading the rest of the “Francis

Sandow” series.

2.  "The Naked Matador" by Roger Zelazny

First Printing:  Amazing Stories, July 1981

The author explores his non-science fiction influence in this story. If you

changed the final revelation, this story would seem at home along side of the stories of Raymond Chandler. At first, I thought it was a mystery noir tale. The characters are straight from the standard pulp pages of stories like the Hard Case Crime books being published today. A woman helps out a down on his luck drifter who is being pursued by criminals. People die. The mystery is how they are dying. This would make a perfect Twilight Zone episode.

Highly recommended if you enjoy Zelazny’s use of mythology. If you want to read only Zelazny’s science fiction stories, skip this one. “The Naked Matador” is a nice blend of crime noir and mythology.

"And I Alone Am Escaped to Tell Thee " by Roger Zelazny

First Printing:  Twilight Zone, May 1981

Back in the early days of my sf reading, one of my friends and I were hooked on the Perry Rhodan series.  Many science fiction fans had a strong dislike of the series.  I can see their point.  Perry Rhodan was a German produced throw back to the old pulp style stories.  I have always been able to enjoy some fiction as escapism and others as serious fiction.  Would I enjoy that series today?  Probably not but it will always have a place on my bookshelf.  Sometimes I get them out and look through them.  It is fun to visit the places of our youth.  In the words of a famous writer, I told you that story so I could tell you another.

One of the features in the back of the Perry Rhodan books was called “Shock Shorts”.  Normally less than 5 pages, they told a story with a twist ending.  The idea was to invoke memories of the Twilight Zone television show or the old comic book anthologies.  The best part of “Shock Shorts” was it was a chance for a new writer to get something in print.  The first Steven Utley story I can remember was one of the “Shock Shorts”.  Reading “And I Alone Am Escaped to Tell Thee” brought back memories of those stories.  Being written by Roger Zelazny, one of my favorites, means that it is better written than the shorts in the back of Perry Rhodan.  

Roger Zelazny uses his skill at poetic, moody writing to quickly pull you into this very short story.  He manages to bring an old legend to life and combine it with a touch of history.  I would recommend tracking this story down and reading it.  It can easily be read in one sitting but the haunting images will stay with you long after you finish it.  At first I thought that it would make a great episode of the Twilight Zone.  This story originally appeared in the Twilight Zone magazine.

It would have been interesting to see what Roger would have done with the “New Weird” movement.  I think his style would have been perfect for it.