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Playing God
The only way to save an alien race might be to destroy it...
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Playing God
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By Sarah Zettel
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Warner Aspect
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$22.00/$27.00 Canada
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Hardcover, Nov. 1998
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ISBN 0-446-52322-4
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Review by A.M. Dellamonica
 hen Bioverse Inc. offers Dr. Lynn Nussbaumer the chance to save an entire planet, she all but leaps at the opportunity. After years of working with a small colony of aliens on Mars, she welcomes the chance to play a role in the fragile peace that has been patched together between the warring Dedelphi nations on the planet All-Cradle. The newly formed Dedelphi Confederation has appealed to Earth for assistance in reversing the ecological effects of their centuries of conflict, and Lynn sees the opportunity not only as a way to further her career, but also as a means of helping valued alien friends.
Arriving at All-Cradle, Lynn realizes that the process will be a rocky one. The scope of the Bioverse project is huge, involving the evacuation of the entire Dedelphi population to orbital city ships while the corporation uses nanotechnology to clean their homeworld. The details of this relocation are fraught with controversy. Each warring faction suspects the others of using the human's presence to further an agenda of genocide, and within each Confederation government lurks a conspiracy to undermine the delicate peace treaty.
As the different alien factions pursue their own Machiavellian schemes, Lynn is caught up in the growing conflict. The Dedelphi violence escalates, engulfing those closest to her. Eventually the Confederation Treaty falls apart and the likelihood of a Bioverse pullout increases, leaving only Lynn to seek means of saving the Dedelphi...even if it means subjugating them first.
Complex and disturbing
Playing God is Sarah Zettel's third novel, and it is deftly written. Dedelphi biology and society provide great reading for lovers of rigorously designed alien cultures. From their family structure to the paranoid machinations of the Confederation governments, the Dedelphi are vivid, consistent and frightening. The characters and relationships are also realistically intricate, and a profusion of agendas drives the story. The ride is fast-paced and enjoyable.
Within this milieu, Zettel raises some disturbing questions. The cultural role of male Dedelphi is virtually non-existent, like that of women in human cultures past and present. Parallels to home also abound in the ecological devastation wrought by the Dedelphi's long wars. Unlike Earth, which will have to find its own way through its environmental crisis, the Dedelphi have an easier option--help from a humanity that has done it the hard way. In Playing God, the humans of Bioverse can renew everything from a lost eye to an entire planet. Is that a good thing? Readers will wonder, which is exactly what Zettel wants.
This easy out, however, is as big a problem for Zettel as it is for the Dedelphi. Playing God is a violent book. City ships come to the brink of destruction, and characters are seriously injured. But the scope of nanotech--its vast ability to heal--cushions the characters from All-Cradle's brutality. As long as Lynn is alive, readers sense that her injuries can be fixed. This dulls the impact of scenes which would otherwise be utterly harrowing. In the end, Zettel sends Bioverse and the Dedelphi off to their rooms without supper, forcing them to play nice. Because All-Cradle's story is so complex, this simple solution is a letdown.
Even so, Playing God has a great deal to offer. It is challenging, thought-provoking and entertaining, a commendable mix for any novel.
Nobody will agree with everything Zettel says in this book, but she will definitely get you thinking.
-- A.M.
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Starlight 2
An excellent original anthology series continues
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Starlight 2
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Edited by Patrick Nielsen Hayden
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Tor Books
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$24.95/$34.95 Canada
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Hardcover, Nov. 1998
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ISBN 0-312-86184-2
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Review by Clinton Lawrence
 wo years ago, Patrick Nielsen Hayden resuscitated the ailing world of original anthology series with an excellent compilation called Starlight 1. This year the revival continues with Starlight 2, a collection of 12 original stories by some of today's best SF writers. The book also includes Ursula K. Le Guin's translation of Argentine writer Angela Gorodischer's "The End of a Dynasty," a free-standing excerpt from her larger work Kalpa Imperial.
In his introduction, Nielsen Hayden notes that a number of reviewers commented on the prominent role that fantasy played in Starlight 1, even though it was described as an anthology of science fiction. He is now referring to Starlight 2 as an anthology of science fiction and fantasy, arguing that the two fields have more in common than many are willing to admit. He believes that this is a positive, rather than a negative, situation, and that SF&F enrich and invigorate each other through their interaction.
His story choices for Starlight 2 illustrate his view of two genres that are in some ways inseparable yet still remain diverse. In many of his selections, the science fictional or fantastic element is subtle indeed, showing that Nielsen Hayden has strong admiration for so-called "slipstream" fiction. On the other hand, hard science isn't ignored either, the most prominent case being Ted Chiang's "Story of Your Life."
As perhaps the best example of his point regarding the interplay between science fiction and fantasy, he offers David Langford's "A Game of Consequences," which reads like classic hard science fiction, but which has an ending that can readily be interpreted as pure fantasy. Meanwhile, Susanna Clarke's "Mrs. Mabb" is a fantasy straight from the traditions of 19th century British fiction, while Robert Charles Wilson's "Divided by Infinity" is a fine example of contemporary fantasy.
The starlight continues to shine
Once again, Nielsen Hayden has selected a strong collection of excellent stories and fine writing, representing a broad range of the best new SF&F. The highlight of the anthology is Chiang's "Story of Your Life," an elegant and brilliant work about first contact, in which a linguist envisions her relationship with her future daughter as she tries to learn the language of visiting aliens who have a different perceptual view of the universe than humans. Esther M. Friesner contributes one of the most provocative and chilling stories, "Brown Dust," about a Rio de Janeiro street child with telepathic abilities. And Martha Soukup's "The House of Expectations" presents a refreshingly alternative view of gender relationships.
Raphael Carter's "Congenital Agenesis of Gender Ideation" also explores gender issues, but in an interesting twist, it does so through a scientific article concerning research into a gene that inhibits its carriers from recognizing gender differences. Carter Scholz contributes an elegant alternate history, "The Amount to Carry," in which Franz Kafka, Wallace Stevens and Charles Ives meet at a mysterious hotel. Jonathan Lethem's funny and chilling satire, "Access Fantasy," describes a world in which the have-nots are stuck in a perpetual traffic jam, serving as recruits for the haves, who use them as vehicles for advertisement. And M. Shayne Bell's "Lock Down" uses time travel to critique American race relations in the 1940s.
While the stories mentioned above are the strongest in this book, the remaining works are all fine efforts as well, and Nielsen Hayden's introduction to Gorodischer's excerpt is a special treat. Overall, Starlight 2 is an outstanding anthology, proving that Nielsen Hayden is a worthy successor to Damon Knight, Terry Carr and Robert Silverberg, who edited the classic original anthology series of a generation ago.
I wish we didn't have to wait two years between volumes. What can we do to get Tor to publish this series annually?
-- Clint
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