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Reading Rescue, January 2006: Science Fiction
By Anne Allen and Mary Anne Fulmer
Lightweight lasers mounted on jets able to shoot down
missiles. Radio waves capable of penetrating human skin and causing
disabling pain. If this is what the U. S. Army is doing now, what are
the science fiction writers coming up with? We took a look at the
library shelves and found current issues (our disposable society, the
increasing dependence on the microchip, society's response to change,
the haves versus the have-nots) are being utilized by these writers to
drive their stories in thought-provoking ways.
 Jay Caselberg's Wyrmhole is a detective story featuring
psychic investigator Jack Stein. Desperate for a case, Jack is hired to
investigate the disappearance of miners from the planet Datril III.
Jack's preferred method of investigation is to go into a controlled
trance and extract clues. This case requires some footwork, and help
from a seedy associate called Pinpin Dan. Pinpin's murder ratchets up
the suspense and also saddles Jack with his young ward, Billie.
Caselberg sets this story in The Locality, a community in constant flux
as it builds new neighborhoods and allows the old ones to decay on a
predetermined time schedule. Wyrmhole is the first in a series of books
featuring Jack and Billie.
Altered Carbon by Richard K. Morgan takes place in a
time where an individual's personality, intelligence, and memories are
recorded in a cortical stack and can be transferred from one body to
another, where a person's life span is primarily dependent on the
ability to pay for new "sleeves". Former UN Protectorate commando
Takeshi Lev Kovacs participates in a mission on the wrong side of the
law and is placed "on stack" (a prison of suspended animation) on
Harlan's World. Transferred to Old Earth as digitized human freight, he
is awakened with a choice: freedom, money, and a new "sleeve" (a body to
house his stack) in order to investigate a death or a return to prison.
Kovacs agrees to take the job, working for a wealthy "Methuselah", 357
year old Laurens Bancroft. The police have closed the case as suicide,
but Bancroft, in a new body and missing a few hours of memory, disputes
that and wants Kovacs to find the truth. This is a powerhouse of a book
that you won't be able to put down.
High in the Austrian Alps, discredited archaeologist
Mitch Rafelson is taken by two schemers to a newly discovered cave with
mummified bodies. In a former Soviet Republic, Kaye Lang is pulled away
from bacteriophage research to investigate a mass grave approximately 40
years old. And virus hunter Christopher Dicken is called home from
Europe by the Centers for Disease Control to check out reports of a
virus that is killing pregnant women. Facetiously named Herod's
Disease by the CDC, this virus appears to have the capability of
aborting babies and the race is on to find a cure or an effective
immunization. But Herod's Disease, in reality, is a trigger in the human
genome. Darwin's Radio (and its sequel Darwin's Children) by Greg Bear,
set in present-day America, explores what could happen when human
evolution takes its next step. As the CDC uses Herod's to increase its
funding, the pharmaceutical companies step in looking for cures, and the
government anticipates a breakdown in the civil order. Mitch, Kaye, and
Christopher must work together to figure out what is really happening
with these virus babies. Bear incorporates some complex science in the
novel, but no special knowledge is required to enjoy the book. This is
not only an exciting story, but a challenging theme as our government
attempts to protect its citizens.
In Century Rain, Alastair Reynolds sets the action in a
future where Earth has been destroyed and its former inhabitants have
split into two groups. The Threshers and the Slashers, so called because
of their attitudes toward technology, co-exist in an uneasy state of
peace. As the political situation deteriorates, Thresher Verity Auger
makes an unauthorized trip to the Earth's surface. Things go wrong and a
young man dies. To redeem herself, Auger is offered a mission to
retrieve a lost object. Using Slasher technology, she is sent to an
alternate Earth, where one small change prevented not only World War II
from happening, but also the scientific advances that occurred as a
result. Meanwhile, on this same Earth, jazzman/detective Wendell Floyd
is hired to investigate the death of a young woman. Auger and Floyd's
missions intersect, and working together they uncover a Slasher plot.
Reynolds weaves alternate history, gravity waves, and wormhole
technology into a fast-paced thriller.
Don't forget the Adult Winter Reading Program, beginning
this month. Come to the library to register. The new library web site
should be up and running soon. As always, send your comments and
suggestion to mfulmer@pennlib.org.
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