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Slant
Love, madness, desire and military-grade nanotechnology
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Slant
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By Greg Bear
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Tor Books
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$24.95/$34.95 Canada
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Hardcover, July 1997
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ISBN 0-312-85517-6
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Review by Curt Wohleber
 hen readers first met police detective Mary Choy, in Greg Bear's
Queen of Angels (1989), she had herself altered from a
short, plain woman into a tall, black-skinned, exotic "transform." In
Slant (or just plain /), Choy has moved
from Los Angeles to Seattle and is gradually reverting to her old self.
Her boyfriend doesn't like it, but the Seattle police department does,
and they may just let her take on a real case again.
Mary isn't the only one reverting to old ways. In the post-Prozac 21st century, most people undergo a high-tech form of psychotherapy that can turn even the most neurotic individual into a happy, well-adjusted person. But lately, many "therapied" individuals have undergone dramatic relapses. Levels of violence, suicide and lesser forms of antisocial behavior are skyrocketing.
The nation's largest employer, Workers Inc. (in Bear's future, most
people work for temp agencies), calls in psychologist Martin Burke to
study the problem. Burke, who also appeared in Queen of Angels, was a pioneer in the development of modern psychotherapy. To his horror, Burke learns that the epidemic of "fallbacks," if not stopped, will lead to global anarchy. Life in the high-tech, high-stress future is so demanding that civilization will collapse without the stability
provided by therapy.
The large cast of Slant also includes a virtual-reality
porn star on the skids (the producers only use neural-recordings of her
libido, which are combined with the couplings of younger, fresher
bodies), a mysterious but good-hearted mercenary with a drum of
contraband nano-weaponry, an executive mired in a stalled career and
loveless marriage, and Jill, the world's first self-aware artificial
intelligence.
Their destinies intersect at Omphalos, a high-tech fortress in the free
state of Green Idaho. Omphalos was built to store the cryogenically
preserved bodies of wealthy customers who hope that future technology
will be able to revive their bodies and make them immortal. But
Omphalos is both more and less than it seems.
A voice of informed dissent
Slant is a powerful and fascinating novel by a virtuoso
writer at the top of his form. It is also a little disappointing. Bear
has created a detailed and believable future, populated it with richly
drawn, sympathetic characters, and takes on weighty themes with
maturity and insight. But all these elements are held together by a
flimsy plot that belongs in a James Bond movie.
In the 1980s, Bear made a widely quoted prediction that humans would be
obsolete within 50 years. We would all become, or be replaced by,
artificial or bio-engineered super-beings. His first novel, Blood
Music, managed to be both chilling and giddy in its chronicle of
a world torn asunder by intelligent nanotechnology.
These days, Bear has a more jaundiced take on our technological future:
Yox, the world-wide virtual reality network, is everything people were
afraid the Internet would become when it went commercial. (The
money-devouring Yox will try to steer users away from inexpensive
text-only content or entertainment that is not "a bestseller.")
Characters striving for immortality are shown as selfish and
narcissistic. Ex-transform Mary Choy sees firsthand the horrifying
consequences of extreme transforms gone awry (moral: don't use nano meant
for gardening to grow extra sex organs). The world's most powerful
mind, Jill the AI, is terribly lonely. Redemption for several of
Slant's lost souls comes through the affirmation of the
importance of family, community and the healing power of love.
Is Bear mellowing with age? Probably, but he also probably sees a need
for a voice of informed dissent against all the wide-eyed
techno-euphoria of recent years. Humans aren't obsolete yet, and
they are bound to cause plenty of trouble and heartache before they're done.
Slant is well worth reading, but the collision of
ambitious themes with a conventional plot prevents the book from being
quite the science fiction masterpiece it could have been.
I'm a big admirer of Bear's Queen of Angels. The sequel,
though less impressive, might appeal to a broader audience. -- Curt
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The Reality Dysfunction, Part 2: Expansion
The gulf between time and eternity has been breached
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The Reality Dysfunction, Part 2: Expansion
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By Peter F. Hamilton
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Warner Aspect
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$5.99/$6.99 Canada
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Paperback, July 1997
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ISBN: 0-446-60516-6 (Trade)
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Review by Susan Dunman
 he second volume of Hamilton's two-part novel The Reality Dysfunction (which is only the first novel of a series) begins on the beleaguered colony planet of Lalonde, where settlers are trying to remain calm despite startling reports that an impending revolt or alien invasion is headed toward the capital. Veteran reporter Graeme Nicholson is elated at the possibility of a breaking story in the backwater frontier town, but anticipation turns to terror when he recognizes Laton, arch-criminal of the entire confederation, appearing at a local Lalonde watering hole after decades in hiding.
Nicholson's subsequent news fleck of Laton's departure from Lalonde aboard a private spaceship results in widespread panic. An unprecedented manhunt for the renegade Edenist, who annihilated over one million people years earlier, begins immediately. Meanwhile, back on Lalonde, colonists are falling prey to an inexplicable form of mind control. Their minds are being subverted and their bodies given other-worldly powers that allow them to heal themselves instantly, emit electrical jamming signals, and generate deadly bursts of energy.
A mercenary armada is organized to defeat the unknown enemy and one of the recruits just happens to be space pilot extraordinaire Joshua Calvert. Immensely successful in making money and making love, young Joshua now has the chance to test his mettle in war. As the starships rendezvous, no one knows that a number of "enhanced" colonists have already left Lalonde for various destinations.
And on the space habitat Tranquillity, ancient memory chips from a vanquished race reveal the last memories of an alien shipmaster. Escaping a home planet similar in some ways to Lalonde, the long-dead alien gazes sadly at his world as he flees, crying in alarm, "Reality dysfunction."
Space opera that gets better and better
Hamilton picks up where he left off in part one of this novel without missing a beat. Readers concerned that the author might be unable to keep the momentum going will be amazed that he maintains his breakneck pace and even raises it a notch or two. This is great storytelling, and Hamilton has many stories to share. His imagination knows no bounds and goes skipping across galaxies as effortlessly as a perfectly tossed stone across smooth water.
Religion, superstition, technology, humanity and aliens are all mixed in satisfying proportions to deliver a story that is totally absorbing, a textbook example of the effective use of multiple storylines to generate interest and create tension. Hamilton examines human motives in love and war to create characters that readers will care about--unlike some gee-whiz-technology-only novels, this tale plumbs emotional depths that will keep readers eagerly involved.
Be sure to read the first part of this book before tackling the second, as characters mature and previous mysteries are revealed. But for each revelation the author manages to plant another problem or introduce another dangling hook. The result is a book where the highly unlikely becomes completely believable and an incredible universe invites further exploration. How much more of this can Hamilton churn out? Hopefully a lot more because things don't even begin to end when the last page is turned.
This brought back the wonder and creativity of science fiction that attracted me to the genre in the first place. -- Susan
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Think Like a Dinosaur and Other Stories
A provocative collection from one of science fiction's finest writers
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Think Like a Dinosaur and Other Stories
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By James Patrick Kelly
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Golden Gryphon Press
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$22.95
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Hardcover, August 1997
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ISBN: 0-9655901-9-4 (Trade)
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Review by Clinton Lawrence
hink Like a Dinosaur and Other Stories collects 14 of James Patrick Kelly's best short stories since 1984 in a very nicely packaged hardcover edition. John Kessel contributes an introduction to Kelly's work, but for those who haven't read the title story already, read this first because Kessel (with a warning, at least) gives away the ending. The stories themselves demonstrate Kelly's broad range. Some, like "Heroics," "Faith," and "Dancing with the Chairs," come very close to reading like mainstream literary fiction. At the other end of Kelly's spectrum are stories that resemble cyberpunk, but Kelly strips the glamour and romance from the cyber underworld.
Kelly's fiction, as represented here, usually depicts rather pessimistic futures. Kessel, in his introduction, calls Kelly "ruthless," and it's a good description of Kelly's approach to fiction as a tool for social criticism. However, unlike some of the more prominent contemporary social critics in science fiction, from both the left and the right, Kelly doesn't blame specific elements (multinational corporations or liberal political policies, for example) for the deterioration in the social order. Instead, his fiction depicts individuals struggling in a social context in which both individual and collective irresponsibilities have contributed to the dystopian climate.
The characters are the real focus in Kelly's stories, however, and the real strength of his writing. His social criticism never descends to propaganda, precisely because Kelly matches his characters to his background, and their actions come logically from their circumstances, something Kelly handles equally well whether writing about the distant future or the recent past.
An outstanding showcase for a fine writer...
There's not a weak story in Think Like a Dinosaur and Other Stories. The title story, "Think Like a Dinosaur," won the Hugo Award in 1996, but it's only one of many very fine works collected here. In this story, humans team with a technologically superior reptilian race to teleport researchers to distant planets. The story revolves around the necessary duties of the human assistant when something goes wrong during a sending. It's a very poignant and emotional story about alien influence on human thought.
The best story, however, is "Mr. Boy." In this novella, genetic alteration is commonplace. The main character undergoes regular stunting treatments, so that even though he is 25, biologically he's still pre-adolescent. His wealthy mother has had herself transformed into a nearly full-scale model of the Statue of Liberty, and Mr. Boy lives inside her. In the story, he finds himself attracted to a new girl in town, whose family doesn't believe in genetic alteration. As their friendship grows, he begins to change, and questions the lifestyle he has chosen. It's a very well crafted piece, both entertaining and thematically ambitious.
Other especially strong stories include "Crow," the innovative "Breakaway, Backdown," "Pogrom," and "Monsters."
Think Like a Dinosaur and Other Stories is an excellent showcase for Kelly's work. His stories throughout the book are both entertaining and provocative. This collection thoroughly demonstrates that Kelly should be considered one of the finest writers in the field.
I loved many of the stories in this collection. Kelly challenges a lot of traditional science fiction assumptions, and despite the frequently dystopian settings, there's a flicker of hope in every story. -- Clint
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