Best SF of the Year, One That is Okay, & Some Old Favorites

Like many fans, I am torn over which “best science fiction of the year” collection(s) to read.  I find myself enjoying short stories more than the door-stopper novels.  That doesn’t mean the long novels are not good it just means that I prefer reading many different stories in the short fiction (novellas, novelettes, short stories) to reading one long novel.  There are exceptions.  “Dune” is one of my favorites and I have read it many times.  But if you look at the novels I mainly read, they are the length I enjoyed reading in the 70s and 80s when I was getting into science fiction.  Look at the length of the typical works of Isaac Asimov, Roger Zelazny, Marion Zimmer Bradley, Michael Moorcock, Jack Vance, E. C. Tubb, and others of that generation.  Even many of Frank Herbert’s novels are not 600 to 1000 pages long.  Take a look at the majority of the novels I am reviewing.  Most are older ones.  Does this mean I don’t want to read newer authors?  No.  I plan on reading books by Alastair Reynolds, Iain M. Banks, Peter F. Hamilton, Robert Sawyer, Eric Brown and others this year.  In the words of Peter David, “But I Digress…”.

Cover by Jack Gaughan

Getting back to the subject of “best of the year” collections, my favorite in the early days were the ones edited by Donald A. Wollheim and Terry Carr.  I plan on starting to re-read them with the first one this year.  Last year I took a good look at the current series.  I chose to buy two (the Gardner Dozois collection and the David Hartwell & Kathryn Cramer one).  From what I have read on other sites, the Dozois is generally considered the top series since it started.  Each year he includes a fascinating overview of the field.  So why did I pick up the Hartwell & Cramer book?  A friend of mine loved this series because it is more focused on traditional science fiction.  When I compared the two, there is very little overlap.  Part of my plan is to go back, read and review all of the Hartwell & Cramer collections.  It will take some time because last year’s edition is the seventeenth.  By reading these, it will give me a chance to read many of the newer authors I have not read or have read very little of.  Which leads me to the first story in last year’s collection…

Short Story Sunday - A Classic by Philip Jose Farmer

As the new year begins, I decided to start one of my old favorites from my early years of reading-"The Sliced-Crosswise Only-On-Tuesday World" by Philip Jose Farmer.  I remember reading it in Terry Carr's "The Best Science Fiction of the Year #1" in 1976.  Some of my best reading experiences were the various "Best of..." and "World's Best SF" series.  I plan on revisiting some of those this year.

"TSCOOTW" is one of Farmer's classic stories.  The world is suffering from overpopulation.  A scientist discovers a way to put people into suspended animation.  So the government lets the populace be awake for one day a week.  Our protagonist is a Tuesday person.  At the end of the day, he goes into suspended animation until the next Tuesday.  Life is good until the day he sees one of the Wednesday people who lives in his apartment building.  He falls in love at first sight.  As he learns more about he, he continues to become obsessed with meeting her.  This story follows his quest to switch to Wednesday.

After all of these years, I still enjoyed this story.  Highly recommended as a Farmer classic.

Jesus on Mars by Philip Jose Farmer

Synopsis(from the back cover): As billions of people around the globe sit glued to their television sets in the year 2015, Richard Orme, captain of the first expedition to land on Mars, takes another giant step for mankind. His first words, as he steps out of the landing craft onto the red planet, are transmitted to Earth minutes later: "Christopher Columbus, you should be here." Perhaps he was. Someone has been here. A spaceship sits half-buried under the red dust and heavy boulders. Nearby, there's a tunnel door. Richard Orme and his crew, dragged into the tunnel by Martians, enter a strange subterranean world where Martians live in caverns in a hollowed out Mars, a world where Martians pay homage to a sunlike globe-floating high above their cities of the interior. Orme thought they were sun worshippers. But there is a man who dwells within the flaming orb. And these people call him "Jesus". And the man they called "Jesus" would go back to Earth. He would be labeled "the Anti-Christ." And Richard Orme asked himself. Would history repeat itself...once more?

With the death of Philip Jose Farmer on February 25th, 2009 I thought it would be appropriate to review some Farmer books this year. I made a trip to the bookstore and found a copy of Jesus on Mars. I have read some Farmer stories but do not remember seeing this book. Just from reading the synopsis it looks like this one could have caused quite a stir when it appeared.

When Orme and his crew are captured, they find a thriving civilization under the surface of Mars. The society is a mix of Krsh and Jews taken from Earth. Together they have formed a society based on Mosaic laws. The crew has mixed reactions to the revelation that Jesus lives in a glowing orb on Mars. He makes regular appearances to perform miracles, etc. This is hard for the crew to accept. They can see that this society seems to have a lower crime rate and is peaceful. It is completely different from the society they know on Earth. Earth still has problems with war and crime. Unity among the people of Earth is a dream.

Through the course of the story we read how Orme deals with the revelations about Jesus. Jesus meets with him and offers an alternate explanation to what Orme has been led to believe. Jesus returns to Earth with a Martian army to bring his gifts to our world.

This was a very interesting look at how one event can change a society. I liked the fact that Farmer does not preach. He presents various options and lets the characters(and the readers) decide for themselves. Too many times in a story like this, the author tells you what to believe. I prefer Farmer's method.

Jesus on Mars is similar to his Dayworld series in that it showcases the changes a society goes through when a major change is introduced. I have read too many stories where society was basically unchanged by a major event. One of the reasons I liked The Chronoliths by Robert Charles Wilson was because of the way he showed the effects on the world of introducing the chronoliths.

Highly recommended.

Rating: 4 out of 5.