Starborne | War of the Worlds: Global Dispatches | The Williamson Effect

Starborne

Can a dying humanity smothered by prosperity find hope among the stars?

• Starborne
• By Robert Silverberg
• Bantam Spectra
• $22.95/$31.95 Canada
• Hardcover, June 1996

n Robert Silverberg's latest novel, Starborne, civilization on Earth has stagnated despite prosperity and the elimination of war and hunger. In a desperate attempt to rekindle the human spirit, a ship dubbed the Wotan is sent out into the galaxy to search for new worlds to colonize. The discovery of nospace, an alternate universe where conventional dimensions have no meaning, makes faster-than-light travel possible for the ship and her crew.

During the journey, the Wotan's year-captain finds himself growing attracted to Noelle, a blind telepath who serves as the ship's only link to Earth (Noelle can communicate with her twin sister, Yvonne, even from within nospace). But the year-captain is reluctant to pursue a relationship with her because he is afraid to take any action that might disrupt her telepathic ability.

But that link is soon threatened anyway. After the crew locates several promising planets, Noelle begins to have difficulty communicating with Yvonne. Because it begins suddenly, she rejects distance as a factor, describing the problem as interference. And when the ship reaches Hesper's planet, the landing party discovers that it's enshrouded in some kind of psychic field that induces panic...

Starborne is a poetic novel -- both thematically and stylistically -- and oftentimes overtly so. Both the voyage itself and the relationship between Noelle and the year-captain have the feel of a future legend, while many characters -- especially the year-captain -- use old myths to interpret and express their fears during the journey. One character even habitually quotes classic poetry. Through his use of language and the year-captain's observations, Silverberg aptly creates an atmosphere that often seems surreal.

But Starborne is also solid science fiction, built upon the foundation of a dying species and climaxing in a transcendent idea. In between, Silverberg describes a couple of richly-detailed new worlds, each unique and thoroughly plausible. If there's a flaw in Starborne, it's in conflicting details regarding the physics of nospace. But these apparent inconsistencies are minor.

Aside from the magnificent final 30 pages, Silverberg is at his best when he details the conflicts within the year-captain as the captain struggles to interpret Noelle's moods and signals. But Silverberg also creates an interesting shipboard culture, centered around the game Go as well as the complex set of romantic relationships among the crew of 50. Noelle's mystique soars among the crew when she demands that the year-captain teach her how to play Go, and then almost beats him in her first game, despite her inability to see the game board.

Starborne clearly presents Silverberg at near the peak of his talent. It's a very strong novel, beautifully imagined and written.

I love the atmosphere Silverberg creates in this novel. -- Clint

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War of the Worlds: Global Dispatches

A classic tale of Martian invasion retold from different points of view

• War of the Worlds: Global Dispatches
• Edited by Kevin J. Anderson
• Bantam Spectra
• $22.95/$31.95 Canada
• Hardcover, June 1996

ar of the Worlds: Global Dispatches is an anthology of stories retelling the events of the H. G. Wells classic turn-of-the-century novel of Martian invasion. All of the stories take the point of view of various literary and historical figures who could have been around to experience the invasion. The book provides little in the way of introduction or explanation of the setting and assumes a general familiarity with the Wells tale, but it doesn't require readers to have read the novel (or to have seen the movie or even heard the radio broadcast).

The book consists of 17 original stories and only one reprint -- Howard Waldrop's 1987 "Night of the Cooters," which has the unfortunate Martians dropping into a Texas town to face its no-nonsense sheriff -- as well as a fictitious foreword by Wells himself and an afterword by Jules Verne (the foreward is uncredited, while the afterword was written by Gregory Benford and David Brin). Most of the rest of the stories are written about a particular famous person living through the Martian invasion and how the invasion affected them -- for instance "Canals in the Sand" shows Percival Lowell finally (and tragically) able to vindicate his theories about life on Mars. Doug Beason's "Determinism and the Martian War, with Relativistic Corrections" shows the impact Martian technology might have had on a young, pre-relativity Albert Einstein.

Some of the stories are pastiches, written as if penned by one of Wells's contemporaries. Barbara Hambly's "Soldier of the Queen" has Rudyard Kipling giving a first-hand account of the Martian invasion of colonial India, and George Alec Effinger provides the view from John Carter of Mars a la Edgar Rice Burroughs. Some stories stretch the concept further to include lost journals and literary analyses that reveal hitherto unknown links to the Martian invasion, like Connie Willis's satiric analysis of Emily Dickinson's poetry.

Global Dispatches will appeal most strongly to readers who are not only fans of War of the Worlds but who also have some interest in early 20th century history and literature. What works well in almost all the stories is the different way each illuminates some larger implication of the "events," such as their impact on significant individuals like Teddy Roosevelt or on larger collective entities like the Chinese and British Empires.

However, although the stories stand on their own and are mostly quite enjoyable, the War of the Worlds connection starts to feel repetitive after a while -- particularly the naive viewpoint where such things as heat-ray weapons are described as "wand-like sticks that appear to set the water to boiling" and so on. This, coupled with essentially passive role of the humans in "defeating" the Martians, constrains each of the stories to the same anticlimactic ending as the Wells novel.

Overall, Global Dispatches is a nice companion piece for War of the Worlds but best read in small doses.

Made me want to go dig up my cassette recording of the 1938 Mercury Theater radio broadcast. -- LRC

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The Williamson Effect

A collection of stories celebrating the work of one of science fiction's greats

• The Williamson Effect
• Edited by Roger Zelazny
• Tor Books
• $23.95/$34.95 Canada
• Hardcover, May 1996

efore he died last year, Roger Zelazny completed most of the editorial work on this tribute anthology to Jack Williamson, whose science fiction writing career is nearing a span of 70 years. The Williamson Effect contains an introduction by author David Brin, two poems and fourteen stories, all either about Williamson or inspired by his work. Following each story is a short afterword by the story's author.

Most of the authors chose to use one of Williamson's universes in their stories. For instance, six of the stories relate at least thematically to his classic Humanoids series, about robots programmed so well to protect humans that they no longer allow humans to perform any meaningful activity. Another three stories use the background to Williamson's classic werewolf novel, Darker Than You Think. Frederik Pohl and Connie Willis approached the tribute differently, Pohl by writing an alternate history of Williamson's life, and Willis by touring his hometown and ranch to examine his legacy.

The stories themselves are a mixed lot. Only Mike Resnick's "Darker Than You Wrote" -- which begins with the sentence, "You lied, Jack" -- is outstanding, though all three Darker Than You Think stories are good tales. (In his story, Resnick cleverly suggests that Williamson didn't tell the whole truth in his original book.) Poul Anderson's "Inside Passage," another related werewolf story about a physics professor who tracks werewolves to Alaska, is a strong adventure tale. Jane Lindskold's "Child of the Night" is good suspense story.

The best of the Humanoids stories are Ben Bova's "Risk Assessment" and Andre Norton's "No Folded Hands." Bova's story, set on the moon, concerns a young woman's ambition to complete her dead father's starship and fly to Alpha Centauri, and her efforts to convince the ruling computer to allow it. Norton's story, which plays off the title of Williamson's "With Folded Hands," tells of Native American resistance to the mechanized aliens. John Brunner, Pati Nagle and Fred Saberhagen also have strong humanoid-related stories.

The biggest disappointments, ironically enough, are Pohl's "The Mayor of Mare Tranq" and Willis's "Nonstop to Portales." Despite his friendship and long professional relationship with Williamson, Pohl's story never really comes to life. Willis creates a deeper problem -- her viewpoint character arrives in Portales, New Mexico, a day early for a job interview, and spends much of the story with nothing to do. Her intended message is clear enough, but she transmits the boredom a little too well. The remaining stories are mildly entertaining but never develop into anything more.

Despite its flaws, this anthology conveys the admiration that the science fiction community holds for Williamson, and the stories are good enough to send readers looking for Williamson's originals.

I think Pohl and Willis at least tried to do something more interesting than the other writers, even if the results were less than satisfying. -- Clint

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