Ecological disaster marks the end of the end

Glimmering By Elizabeth Hand HarperPrism $22.00/$29.95 Canada Hardcover, March 1997 ISBN 0-06-100805-2

n March 26, 1997 all of humankind's bad behavior finally catches up with it as a confluence of ecological disasters turns the upper atmosphere into a coruscating chemical firestorm -- the Glimmering. The Glimmering hides the sky and disrupts electricity, radio waves and photosynthesis. It doesn't stop them entirely though, so rather than collapsing and rising from its own ashes, civilization limps along toward the end of the millennium, hanging on by an ever-thinning thread.

Hanging on with it is a collection of disparate, lost souls whose lives seem destined to intersect: Jack Finnegan, heir to a useless fortune, quietly dying of AIDS in his Yonkers mansion; Trip Marlowe, a young Xian singer whose hit single "The End of the End" has become an anthem for the Last Generation; and Leonard Thrope, Jack's ex-lover and notorious death artist, whose manipulations draw both Jack and Trip from their separate orbits into his own slow spiral of destruction and chaos.

At the heart of that chaos is GFI, the world's last mega-corporation and possibly its only hope. GFI's plan to reclaim the sky with a new technology may not be entirely altruistic, but it does seem possible and so the attempt, planned for the world's biggest New Year's Eve party, is eagerly awaited. But not by everyone, and while GFI lays its plans for world salvation and domination, those who disapprove of such hubris lay their own plans. And so -- by coincidence, by the actions of others and by their own needs and desires -- Jack and Trip find themselves drawn toward this final place and time, where their actions will ultimately determine the future of humanity.

The end of the world as seen through a small kaleidoscope

The prose in Elizabeth Hand's fabulous fin-de-siecle novel can't be faulted -- rich and moody, it colors everything in the story with a kind of poisonous beauty to match the glimmering sky. Even death is made lovely, turning Hand's novel into the kind of memento mori art practiced by her fictional photographer of death, Leonard Thrope. From beginning to end the prose works a kind of rhythmical spell, pulling readers forward as through a dream.

Fortunate that it does too, as there is little in terms of plot to propel readers. More of a literary novel than a genre piece, Glimmering meanders from event to event without any real driving force except the temporal imperative to get to the end of the millennium and see how it turns out. Given the spectacular prose, this is less of a problem than it might seem, and had Hand set out to write a literary novel or fantasy piece, the tour-de-force writing might have carried the book all on its own.

But Hand also incorporates into the story all the trimmings of hard science fiction, and with it the "baggage" of the technophile's optimism and faith in the transcendence of the human spirit. This ultimately leads to a problem of unfulfilled expectations. In any apocalyptic story, either the world ends or it doesn't, the story attempting to give justification for whichever outcome prevails. Glimmering could have pulled off either possibility by virtue of the magical reality Hand creates, but the science fictional tropes -- the promise of rational explanations and real cures for all humanity's ills -- lead readers to hope that there is a third, undiscovered possibility. When it turns out that there isn't one, the ending seems prosaic compared to the magic leading up to it.

Overall, Glimmering is an absolutely stunning piece of prose, even if it doesn't quite work as science fiction.

Kind of strange to think of millennial fiction as near future stuff, isn't it? -- LRC

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Time travel, con artists, a rich paleontologist and a baby dinosaur meet in 1st century Jerusalem...

Corrupting Dr. Nice By John Kessel Tor Books $24.95/$35.95 Canada Hardcover, Feb. 1997 ISBN 0-312-86116-8

r. Owen Vannice is bringing a juvenile apatosaurus back from the Cretaceous Era. But a technical problem with the time stage he's traveling on temporarily strands him in first century Jerusalem, where he bumps into a father-and-daughter con artist team, August and Genevieve Faison. August and Genevieve quickly determine that the animal in Owen's crate, which Owen insists is a dog, is really a valuable dinosaur, and they plot to steal it.

The first century Jerusalem they are stranded in is part of what is called a "moment universe," one where time travelers have altered history and now interact freely with the "historicals." (Unchanged universes exist too, but guides carefully limit tourist contact with them.) In this moment universe, Herod's Palace is now a resort hotel, and both Owen and the Faisons book rooms there.

Working at Herod's Palace is Simon, the former apostle. He despises how the visitors of the future have taken over his time and how their culture is corrupting his people, especially his son Samuel. He has joined a group of terrorists who want to take back Jerusalem and who are plotting a raid on the hotel.

The Faisons' plot, meanwhile, involves gaining Owen's trust through Genevieve's romantic advances. But Genevieve finds herself actually falling in love with Owen. She tells her father that she won't go through with the theft, and that she'll stop him if he tries. He's disappointed, but not dissuaded. But in the basement, where the hotel's kennels are located, she does thwart him -- just as the terrorist raid, with Simon at its center, begins.

A 1940s comedy set in the future of the 1st century

Corrupting Dr. Nice is a wonderful screwball comedy with a plot that pays homage to the films of the 1940s. Kessel, in fact, dedicates the book to a long list of great directors from the era. The result is both hilarious and metaphorically apt, as Kessel adapts this art form from another era while his characters struggle with the ethics of a world where time travel is not only commonplace, but heavily commercialized.

The heart of the novel revolves around the implications of miscommunication between Genevieve and Owen. Kessel's use of alternating viewpoint between the two characters works to great effect as both struggle with their mutual attraction, while each feels betrayed by the other. It's both an amusing interaction and an interesting commentary on the relationships between the sexes, all set against, and exploiting, the rich political background Kessel creates.

And despite the humorous and personal nature of the action, Kessel does make one of the more serious examinations of the politics of time travel yet seen, presenting all sides of the argument fairly enough, and it's not obvious where Kessel would stand on the issue. In the process he has created a rich background for his characters.

This is a book full of witty observations, sharply funny details and some enjoyable cameo appearances (including speeches by Abraham Lincoln and Jesus). Kessel pulls off the 1940s-style screwball comedy exquisitely, and the result is a novel that's a great deal of fun to read.

I liked it so much, I've pulled one of Kessel's lines out and put it on my computer's screensaver at work. Though nobody there has asked me what it means yet. -- Clint

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The problem with sequels...

Dragonseye By Anne McCaffrey Del Rey $24.00/$33.50 Canada Hardcover, Feb. 1997 ISBN 0-345-38821-6

ern is a planet in a distant system, colonized by Earth, then left to its own. After sweat, salt and struggle, the colonists had just gained a toehold in their new world when they were almost annihilated, caught unawares by deadly, space-borne spores. These spores, called Thread, cyclically rain destruction from Pernese skies and devour anything organic. Unchecked, Thread could also colonize Pern, rendering the newfound green jewel a barren deadland. To combat this menace, the technology-savvy colonists genetically altered native Pern fauna, producing Pern's wondrous, telepathic, Thread-flaming dragons.

It's more than 200 years since the colonists landed. The technology they brought with them, the computers, the databases, the lasers, have fallen into mostly unusable decay. Old fears of Thread have decayed as well, and not a few Pernese wonder if Thread will return. Some even doubt its existence. The dragons, however, haven't forgotten, and neither have Pern's leaders, the Lord Holders and the dragonriders. All make haste to gird against Thread's 50-year reign -- with some dangerous exceptions.

Lord Chalkin of Bitra is contemptuously dubious that Thread will return, perhaps because its arrival would interfere with his cruel, autocratic, miserly rule. His doubts threaten the planet, for without vigilance and cooperation, just one Thread could burrow for miles, devouring life and sterilizing the earth for decades to come. There are other perils as well. As Pern struggles to rouse its population against an old evil, it must develop new ways to preserve failing knowledge for future generations, even as invaluable records crumble at a single touch.

That dog don't hunt

Dragonseye in many ways is a novel about disasters and arks. Pern's uncertain inhabitants must steel themselves to be hostage to 50 years' worth of inexorable plague. Also, Pern's population is witness to the steady withering of its sum of knowledge and the decline of its civilization. It must make critical choices about what knowledge is worth saving, what is necessary for survival.

The novel could be an engaging one, as it deals with advancing night and the onslaught of shadows. However, although Dragonseye has scented interesting, challenging game, it gives no chase. It's just an old hound sitting out the hunt on the front porch, barking at whatever happens to meander by.

Subplots too, which could be fertile, lie untilled. There are choppy sketches of the erosion of female rights against the backdrop of advancing medievalism, and cursorily-described relationships that could be compelling but are not -- an older woman-younger man pairing, and a homosexual, male couple. The main characters are weak and the novel's villain, Chalkin, is more effective as the lilliputian tyrant of limited vision he credibly is, than as the improbable Ivan the Terrible he is forced to be. Unfortunately, the plot is hitched to his horse, and it's a slow, unremarkable ride.

I was so disappointed that I was compelled to re-read the first two in the series, to see if I was unfairly holding Dragonseye to a higher standard. Conclusion: the earlier books (I've read all except one and liked most) are better. Perhaps McCaffrey is husbanding her strength for the next Pern tome, which is about popular Masterharper Robinton. -- Tamara

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