Book Review: CLASSIC SCIENCE FICTION STORIES

Title: Classic Science Fiction Stories

Authors: HG Wells, Stanley Weinbaum, FitzJames O'Brien, Voltaire, Mary Shelley, Edgar Allan Poe, Florence McLandburgh, Edward Page Mitchell, HP Lovecraft, James Clark Maxwell, Arthur Conan Doyle, Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain and Ambrose Bierce

Editor: Adam Roberts

Publisher: MacMillan Collector's Library

Pages: 290

My GoodReads Rating: 

Classic Science Fiction Stories, edited by Adam Roberts, was an eye-opening collection of 14 short stories. Having read very little science fiction, I had believed that science fiction was more of a modern phenomena. I was surprised to note that as early as the 18^th century, authors were writing about subjects that we might find incredible even today.

Except for HG Wells, Mary Shelley, Edgar Allan Poe, Arthur Conan Doyle and Ambrose Bierce, most of the authors were new to me. Of these four, Poe was the only author whose short stories I had read before.

 

The Star by HG Wells: A star suddenly becomes visible close to Neptune, becoming brighter by the day. The event is interpreted through various perspectives, including science, religion etc. As it hurtles towards earth, it causes cataclysmic changes on our planet, making large swathes uninhabitable. But the Martians are completely unfazed. The author ends the story with a hard-hitting line which only shows how small the vastest of human catastrophes may seem, at a distance of a few million miles. I found it fascinating, this ability on the part of Wells, to pass judgement on the pettiness of human nature against the backdrop of cosmic wonder.

Seen from today’s perspective, the author comes across as judgmental and derogatory towards women. He says, “Pretty women… feigned an intelligent interest they did not feel.”

A Martian Odyssey by Stanley Weinbaum describes the experience of a human, Dick Jarvist, a chemist on the Ares expedition to planet Mars, and a Martian. Tweel’s appearance, behaviour and characteristics are a marvel of the imagination, considering that the story was published in July 1934.

When a shuttle from the craft falls on Mars, Jarvis finds himself stranded on the planet. He has an interesting encounter with a Martian who he names Tweel, because of the high-pitched sounds the latter makes.

There is humour in the manner in which Tweel drinks water. The Martian sucks it into his beak, then carefully squirts it back into the cup. By the end of the story, I, like Jarvis, had developed a fondness for Tweel.

But Tweel isn’t the only marvel on the Red Planet. There is a creature, the Pyramid Monster, that gives out silica bricks, and another, the DreamBeast, which draws living creatures to their death.

Once again, I saw instances of the same negative attitude, racist in this case.  At one point, Jarvis likens the sounds made by Tweel to the “primitive speech of some earth people… like the Negritoes, for instance, who haven’t any generic words.”

In The Diamond Lens by FitzJames O’Brien, published in the 1850s, the narrator, a microscopist named Linley, is besotted by the power of the microscope and becomes convinced that there is much to be discovered, and that he is called to discover great things. He is so much in thrall of his dream that he actually does the unthinkable to achieve this dream.

The story managed to combine elements of the occult with scientific endeavour. It becomes a tale of deceit, betrayal and murder. The following quote expresses the rationale of Linley: Every great genius is mad upon the subject in which he is the greatest.

Micromegas by Voltaire, written in the 18^th century, is a comically wonderful tale of two giants, from the planet Sirius, in another galaxy, and from Planet Saturn, in our own solar system, who set out on an extraordinary interstellar voyage and land on planet Earth, where they encounter infinitesimally tiny beings, namely, us.

The two giants discover that humans, “infinitely small had, it seemed, an almost infinitely large pride.”

One of the giants asks a human, “if they had always been in this miserable state so near nothingness, what they were doing on a globe that appeared to belong to whales.” The story mocks scientists of the time who believed that earth alone supported life and philosophers of the time who adhered to philosophies that contradicted each other and served no purpose.

The Mortal Immortal by Mary Shelley, commissioned in 1833, tells the story of a young man called Winzy, who drinks a potion made by an alchemist and is cursed with near-immortality and eternal youth, while his wife, the love of his youth, grows visibly older.

A Tale of the Ragged Mountains by Edgar Allan Poe is hard for me to describe. While out for a walk in the mountains, a man sees strange sights of another place and another time. Whether this was a description of telepathy or wild imagination is unclear.

The Automaton Ear by Florence McLandburgh: A professor invents an automaton ear which can reproduce every beautiful sound ever heard on the planet, whether that sound be natural or humanmade.

This story reminded me of the power of Artificial Intelligence. The prose was beautiful.

The Tachypomp by Edward Page Mitchell sees a mathematics tutor expound a wild theory to prove that vehicles could theoretically travel 60 miles a minute.

Both The Automaton Ear and The Tachypomp use sound scientific principles of the time to explore the frontiers of possibility. Both end on an anti-climactic note.

The Colour Out of Space by HP Lovecraft, the longest story in the collection, saw science fiction mixed with Gothic elements, even horror. This one was my favourite.

Aspiring authors are told to avoid info dumps, but here the story literally starts with long-winded description that goes on for around three pages, and yet I read this description more than once. Each word was so evocative.

This story isn’t about anything paranormal, but very soon we are overtaken by a sense of horror and dread. My heart went out to Nahum Gardner and his family. Their lives begin to disintegrate when a meterorite lands on their property.

To Herman Stoffkraft, PhD, a Paradoxical Ode (After Shelley) by James Clark Maxwell: Maxwell was a Scottish scientist who was responsible for the biggest advances in physics since Newton. This story is actually a “paradoxical ode” styled “after Shelley.”

The Horror of the Heights by Arthur Conan Doyle: An aeronaut, Joyce Armstrong, comes to know of a number of accidents afflicting aeronauts flying into the higher reaches of the atmosphere. Intent on solving the mystery, he takes a dangerous flight to find out the nature of the danger that confronted them. He finds answers but pays for his life.

Sultana’s Dream by Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain: It is hard to imagine a writer writing in a language that isn’t her first language, and writing so well. That too, a female writer writing at a time when very few Indian women got an education. This feminist utopian story is decades ahead of its time.

The story, written in 1905, is set in a utopia where the word, mannish, means being timid and shy. The story provokes thought: Why should women be confined indoors to keep them safe? Why not confine the men who carry mischief in their hearts?

A Psychological Shipwreck by Ambrose Bierce: A man’s dream of a shipwreck comes true.

The Door in the Wall by HG Wells: A promising young politician with a great career ahead of him is haunted by a door that suddenly appeared in a wall. The door led to a garden where he spent the happiest moments in his childhood. The door and the garden appear at the strangest times and places. The man feels haunted by the sight of that door.

The last two stories didn’t quite fit the science fiction genre. But overall, I enjoyed this selection. I look forward to reading more science fiction from now on.

(I read this book on NetGalley. Thank you to the author, the publisher and NetGalley.) 

Book Review: VICARIOUS

Title: Vicarious

Author: Rhett C Bruno

Pages: 442

Publisher: Aethon Books

My GoodReads Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Vicarious is the story of two Dystopias posing as Utopias.

Asher Reinhart is born at age 10, after spending the first ten years in a cryogenic chamber acquiring the learning that will help him through life. The setting is a haven called High Earth, the only habitable portion of land left on earth in the 23^rd century after a flood destroyed  the earth and a war, brought on by a techno-revolution, wiped out nearly all the humanity in the solar system.

In this new world, technology has made life so full of technological developments that one need never leave one’s smart dwelling. Not even for exercise, and certainly not to earn a living. It might seem like a dream-come-true for some, but within it, one gets an uneasy feeling as of a nightmare waiting to unfold.

In this world, digital entertainment, in terms of virtual reality, is everything. The most popular show is Ignis: Live, a reality show where human beings living on an interstellar ark are made to do extreme things, unaware that they are being filmed through tens of thousands of tiny advanced cameras hidden all over the ark.

When Asher is born, the first visuals he sees on the walls of his dwelling are those of Mission, a young girl, as old as him. Asher begins to watch Mission, to follow her life. He comes to know that Mission’s birth was as a result of what her Birthmother calls a “freak accident” while all the other births on Ignis are a result of the Birthmothers being assigned to give birth by the Collective.

The Collective is the force to fear. Falling in love and procreating are taboo, unless done with the permission of the Collective with the assigned person. Those caught breaking the rule are punished by being expelled into the void of space. Mission’s Birthmother hides her away under the floorboards because hers wasn’t an assigned birth.

Fifteen years later, 25-year-old Mission is chosen to be a BirthMother, and assigned to procreate with a member of the Collective, a man in his forties. For the 50^th anniversary of the show, Craig Helix, the develop, decides to endanger Mission's life in order to boost show ratings. Asher, who is Chief Director of Content for the show, cannot get over his feelings for Mission, who is learning the perils of disobeying the Collective. Hé decides to influence the show. It is an action that has unimaginable consequences for both of them.

 

Slowly the structure and hierarchy of this new world becomes apparent to us. The people of Ignis think that the ark is on its way to a distant planet. Until they get there, resources must be optimised, and so the population must be kept in check. Only 10000 people to ensure that there is no strain on the resources.

 

I don’t usually read sci-fi, and this one took some getting used to.

The viewpoint shifts seamlessly from Asher’s first person past tense to Mission’s third person past tense account. The choice of perspective is appropriate, given that Asher is watching her, while she has no idea that she and her fellow residents are being watched.

 

There is a streak of rebellion in Mission, in complete contrast to Asher, who falls in line with the rules of his new world without questioning it. At least in the beginning.

Still I liked Asher as a character far more than Mission. I liked Mission only when she declaimed, Countless perfect-looking people wandering aimlessly around in a perfect city in a perfect world. I’d rather have been under the floor.

Both are very emotional, and complete misfits in the world they find themselves in.

 

A projected Utopia, Ignis is decidedly dystopian from the viewpoint of Mission, who lives it. High Earth is no different. On High Earth, residents are called to enjoy the fruits of technology and entertainment without questioning anything. Those that do are sent to the terrible outskirts.

I loved the author’s worldbuilding. As a world, the details are interesting and intriguing. The amount of detail that the author has put into conjuring up this world is astounding.

On High Earth, the invention of the molecular re-assembly has made war, struggle, the need for family, exploration, and so much more obsolete. Technology enables selective memories to be wiped out. Data is the currency. Family is an outdated concept. Residents spend their early formative years in a synth-womb from which they emerge at age 10 or later, with an artificial intelligence, VORA, for company.

On Ignis, food is slop made of blended bugs and flora. Birthmothers must mate with the partner selected for them.

There was just one error. In Chapter 20, Virgil suddenly turned into Virgo.

Beneath it all, there are lessons that we can learn. Vicarious is a morality tale that warns us about the perils of humans attempting to play God, about the over-reliance on technology and a call to simplicity, about the need to be ourselves in a world in which it is so easy to pretend to be something else and about the beauty of the earth and the significance of humanity amid the chaos. This was a worthwhile read in the pandemic.

 (I read this book through NetGalley. Thank you to the author, the publisher and NetGalley) 

Book Review: DARK MATTER

Title: Dark Matter
Author: Blake Crouch
Publisher: Crown
Pages: 352

I don’t generally read science fiction, but the blurb on the back of Dark Matter enticed me to make an exception. At its heart, this is a love story, wrapped up in a solid plot that forces you to ponder on the milestones in your own life.

Dark Matter talks about the theory that every thought we have, every choice we make, creates a new world. However, like fish in a pond, we remain oblivious to the complex reality that surrounds us.

Jason Dessen, his wife Daniela and teenage son Charlie are a happy family. Jason teaches undergrad physics at a small college in Chicago while Daniela teaches art to students. Both have made their family their priority, giving up brilliant potential careers as an atomic physicist and artist to be together.

Ryan Holder, Jason’s friend, has the professional and monetary success that Jason chose not to have. Jason goes across to congratulate Ryan at the local bar. While there, Ryan questions Jason’s choice. Upset, Jason heads home, only to find himself held at gunpoint by an abductor and made to drive to a location unknown to him. 

There he is injected and he loses consciousness. When he comes to, he is greeted by a group of unknown people, who give him the impression that he is a very renowned scientist. He realizes that he is the first one to return after 14 months away. He has no idea where he is supposed to have returned from. That premise has us hooked.

Panicking, Jason escapes from the building of Velocity Laboratories only to find out that his home is not his home, that Daniela is not his wife, and that Charlie does not exist. Daniela is a famous artist currently dating Ryan. She used to date Jason 15 years ago, but the relationship ended when she became pregnant. On the other hand, he has won the Pavia prize for devising something revolutionary.

Attempting to escape, he is caught and brought back. He pretends to be who they think he is, anxious to go back to the world where he was a happily married man, even if that world appears unreal.

Soon he learns that the Jason in this world has created a box that leads you to the alternate realities spun off the choices that we make in life. A box that is both horrifying and fascinating at the same time.

Jason and Amanda, the psychologist working for Velocity, escape into the box. He is intent on returning to his own world, she on escaping this one. They leave with 50 ampoules of a drug that allows the mind to even conceive these alternate realities.

But which reality is more real? How can he prevent this reality from engulfing him? How can he get back home?

The beauty of this book goes beyond the adventure it brings to us, the story that holds us transfixed. The highlight is the possibilities it conjures up before our eyes, of endless worlds, with versions of ourselves, all in the same space and time.

The book kept me up late, way past my bedtime. And it wasn’t only reading. Even in the dark, I stared at the ceiling, imagining myself with Jason and Amanda, walking down that endless corridor, entering strange worlds with versions of myself that were either slightly similar or totally different.

Each time I found my reading interrupted, I couldn’t wait to resume where I had left off. The premise of the book reminded me of Frost’s “Two Roads diverged in a wood, and I…”

The story comes to us in the first person point of view of Jason. The use of the present tense gives us a sense of urgency and immediacy. On the few occasions, the author shifts to third person, it serves as an eye-opener for us.

The author succeeds in thrusting us in the midst of the action, within no time at all. While the science fiction bits were interesting, what I found most intriguing were the philosophical bits that tempered this book. The worlds that Jason and Amanda conjure up exist, among an infinite number of worlds, but they become accessible on account of their thoughts. Truly, thoughts become things.

Throughout the book, Jason is desperately anxious to return home to the world he knows, a world that is a grain of sand on a never ending beach. He describes Daniela as being an amazing wife and mother, but I never got the feeling that she was awesome at her relationships. She failed to impress me, either as an individual or on account of the intensity of her filial relationships. Instead, it was Jason who came across as the most amazing husband and father. I couldn’t understand why she evoked the kind of passion she did.

The book raises questions, what if we are not as unique as we are led to believe. If you strip away all the trappings of personality and lifestyle, what are the core components that make me me? It also reminds us, Until everything topples, we have no idea what we actually have, how precariously and perfectly it all hangs together.

I dutifully read the book, even the part about Schrodinger’s Cat, which I couldn’t quite understand. At one point, the story got even more freaky, but I’m not about to give out any more spoilers. At that point, I, for one, was glad the story was in first person.

The style of writing was good. Some of the lines were really short, staccato bursts that keep our pulse racing. One sentence I liked: Whole Foods smells like the hippie I dated…a tincture of fresh produce, ground coffee and essential oils.

I also loved his description of youth: There’s a weightlessness that permeates everything because no damning choices have been made, no paths committed to, and the road forking out ahead is pure, unlimited potential.

Towards the end, the pace got tighter, and I found myself wondering just how the author would resolve the problem. The end, when it came, was a little hard to grapple with.

I just hope there’s a Book II.


(I read an ARC from First To Read.)