s chief administrator of the Ghost liaison office, Jack Raoul represents the interests of humankind in dealing with silvery, globe-like aliens. In violation of inter-species treaties, the Ghosts are once again experimenting with quagma, a primordial and extremely dangerous relic of the Big Bang. Over Jack's protests, the Ghosts insist that their experiment must proceed, and they enlist the aid of a virtual representation of Jack's deceased wife, Eve, to champion their cause.
Eve reveals scenes from humanity's past and possible future while Jack watches history unfold. From the distant past, there's the first use of GUTships and Poole wormholes for travel outside the solar system. Explorers discover life adapting in almost every environment and alien life discovers humans. The subsequent conquest of Earth and its colonies by both the Squeem and Qax make a lasting impression on the psychology and technology of humanity. More importantly, the aliens bring awareness of the Xeelee, an incredibly ancient and powerful race far superior to any known civilization.
Eventually humans embark on their own mission of galactic conquest, keeping a wary eye out for the unpredictable Xeelee and stealing any discarded Xeelee technology found along the way. Then it's discovered that the Xeelee are involved in a gigantic construction project whose purpose is to create a portal into another universe. It appears the Xeelee have been planning their escape for centuries, but from what menace are they fleeing? And if the almost omnipotent Xeelee are running scared, where does that leave the rest of the galaxies' residents?
Science, poetry and imagination
Covering five million years of human history in only 369 pages may seem improbable, but Stephen Baxter manages to carry it off with aplomb and grace. In the book's forward he explains that this epic tale is based on the short stories and novels (Raft, Timelike Infinity, Flux, and Ring) that make up the future history of his Xeelee Sequence. The book is actually a collection of 23 short stories cleverly linked together with brief narratives at the beginning or end of each piece. The way Baxter intertwines these seemingly unrelated stories into one integrated whole is remarkable.
Baxter's talent for describing the oldness, coldness, and beauty of space makes it seem like he's been there. Alien life runs the gamut from shimmering Ghosts in "Eve" to amoebae-like mathematical creatures living in a pool of logic while feeding on undecidable postulates in "The Logic Pool." "Gossamer" describes a stranded crew's discovery of ice spiders, while "Hero" profiles microscopic sun creatures striving to build a great city almost one inch long.
The stories are liberally sprinkled with concepts from physics and mathematics, reflecting the author's engineering background. Yet scientific concepts are often combined with very human emotions to allow examination of topics such as quantum loneliness in "Planck Zero" or infinite patience in "The Gödel Sunflowers." Overall Vacuum Diagrams is an exhilarating mix of science, poetry and imagination. It works equally well as a single story or a collection and is a worthy addition to almost anyone's science fiction library.
hen I need a lot of planets in a hurry, I set up a spreadsheet of the basic equations," writes John Barnes in this collection of stories and essays by the author of Mother of Storms and Earth Made of Glass. No one can say Barnes doesn't do his homework. Apostrophes and Apocalypses showcases both his short stories and some glimpses into the mind that created them.
Apocalypses abound, as promised. Earth is ravaged by a solar cataclysm, an alien slime with a unique method of reproduction, and the penalty exacted when human thought produces mental pollution. A couple of stories from the 1980s depict the United States under a religious dictatorship.
"Apostrophes" refers to statements made to someone not actually present. In "My Advice to the Civilized," a soldier describes the barbaric, postapocalyptic world in notes to historians of a recivilized future. "Digressions from Second Person Future" addresses an imaginary intelligent rodent of the far future, whom the narrator pretends is descended from the pet mouse he had as a boy.
"How to Build a Future" shows how Barnes created the backdrop for his novels A Million Open Doors and Earth Made of Glass. Another essay looks at how changing expectations of the future have transformed and fragmented the science fiction field. "Between Shepherds and Kings" is a literary centaur: a story about a writer writing a story that manages to work as both a character study and a provocative essay on the writing of science fiction.
Thinkon pollution?
Barnes amply displays his formidable intelligence and talent in this collection. Several stories are excellent, and the essays are uniformly thought-provoking, even when pressing dubious ideas. Among the more memorable entries are "Gentleman Pervert, Off on a Spree," a harrowing story of a sexual obsessive's ambiguous redemption, and "Enrico Fermi and the Dead Cat," the kind of short shocker not seen much anymore in the major science fiction magazines.
Given the high signal-to-noise ratio, it might be ungrateful to complain that none of the stories is truly outstanding. Even though Barnes confesses to having modest ambitions as a writer, some stories seem to totter on the verge of greatness before pulling back.
Maybe he does too much homework. His method for plotting future histories is impressive, yet a lot of this business with graphs and spreadsheets seems like overkill. The universe of A Million Open Doors and Earth Made of Glass isn't any more plausible or, more importantly, interesting than many more casually crafted future histories. And conceptual bloat afflicts even Barnes' best stories, as if they have too many "thinkons," the fundamental particles of thought described in "Why the Stars are Always So Bright from Cousin Sid's Farm."
A prime example of this is the otherwise impeccable "Gentleman Pervert," which gets bogged down in an extraneous flashback about a nuclear strike and paragraph after paragraph in which the philandering protagonist schleps his belongings into an apartment. That said, Barnes produces thinkons of high quality, and it's better to have too many than not enough.
