Book Review - Eternity Road by Jack McDevitt

Eternity Road
Jack McDevitt
Eos
1998
Mass Market Paperback
ISBN: 0061054275
416 pages

Lean in closer, my reading friends…. Closer still…. That’s better!

I have a secret to tell. I am totally hooked on well-written post-apocalyptic fantasies that reflect broken and collapsed civilizations. Throw in a bit of half-working technology, a few cannibals or bandits, and a mythical “Haven” that holds all the answers and its all the better. Make it a road trip through the decimated countryside of an under-populated, over-demolished America and you have “Eternity Road.”

Now, I know that there are quite a few naysayers out there who have taken potshots at this particular work and I have to wonder why. Yes, post-apocalyptic stories are legion and only a few seem to rise to the top (i.e. “A Canticle for Liebowitz,” “Deus Irae,” etc.) but I believe there’s always room for more. In other words “been there – done that” does not necessarily equate to a merit-less contribution. Especially when penned by a gifted writer. And, make no mistake; Jack McDevitt is a very talented writer. Here’s why “Eternity Road” should be on your reading list and why you should not listen to the negative reviews.

Small pockets of civilization remain after the world has been devastated by an unnamed calamity. In Mississippi the community of Illyria is just beginning to reemerge from the destruction. Within the community is the Imperium, a throw-back university whose sole purpose is to unravel the mysteries of the artifacts and the history left behind by the “Roadmakers.” (That would be us, my silent readers.) Over the years, the hint of a rumor remains. “Haven” exists! Haven, the one place the apocalypse has left untouched. Where the world remains as it did in the days of the “Roadmakers.” A place where technology rules, knowledge is readily available, and everyone leads a life of ease.

Enter Karik Endine, the only survivor of a failed mission to locate Haven. After his return to Illyria he becomes despondent, closed off to his friends and acquaintances, and silent about the details of the disastrous quest. Ten years elapse and Endine moves further away from his family and friends. Finally, the mysterious and untold deaths of his companions become too unbearable to deal with and he commits suicide. After his death the discovery of a Roadmaker book in his possession, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, and a journal of unusual sketches causes some Illyrians to believe that Endine may have located the lost Haven. But if he did why would he keep silent all those years? Based on this new information and using the sketches as a roadmap a small band of six companions set off in search of the mysterious city of Haven.

The narrative of “Eternity Road” is, in my estimation, riveting and is in some scenes reminiscent of medieval fantasy (see the works of J. R.R. Tolkien and Raymond E. Feist for example). Especially when McDevitt describes the many ruins of the ancient Roadmakers civilization, or when the band leaves the Crooked Man, a tavern at the edge of civilization, or when they try to cross the Wabash River.

In the semi-literate society of Illyria, books hold a certain fascination. Even those who are illiterate tend to understand their importance for rebuilding society. Other reviewers have called the process of literacy decline unlikely in McDevitt’s scenario but I strongly disagree. When people are forced to live off the land, to farm and scrounge and work long days simply to survive then literacy, schools, and books will take a back seat. That people will revere the written word under these circumstances is most probable. We only have to look back at our own not-to-distant past to see the truth. At the turn of the last century the majority of illiteracy occurred in rural, thinly populated farming communities where people worked long, hard days and had little time for reading. The literate minority were regarded with something equivalent to awe and there was a social stigma attached to those who could not read and write. The Illyrians would not look upon books as curiosities, as some might think, but rather as a means to become a better more advanced and knowledgeable society.

4 ½ out of 5 stars

One other thing I believe, and this is important to me personally, is that with the deaths of many of the golden age writers, Heinlein, Clarke, Vonnegut, to name a few, we as avid SF readers are going to need other talented writers to replace them. I think Jack McDevitt fits that mold. His stories are intelligent, quirky, and contain enough science to make them believable yet he still manages to make them enjoyable to read. With the newfound popularity of Urban Fantasy, Steampunk, and Historical Science Fiction, which I enjoy immensely by the way, we still need throwback writers who can successfully expand our imaginations. Jack McDevitt does just that.

If you’re not sure what I mean pick up any one of McDevitt’s “Priscilla “Hutch” Hutchins” books; The Engines of God (1994), Deepsix (2001), Chindi (2002), Omega (2003), Odyssey (2006), and Cauldron (2007); or his “Alex Benedict” books; A Talent for War (1989), Polaris (2004), Seeker (2005) and The Devil's Eye (2008).

Awards:

By the by, McDevitt has won, or been nominated for, a number of prestigious Science Fiction awards:

* Nebula Best Short Story nominee (1983) : Cryptic
* Philip K. Dick Award (special citation) (1986) : The Hercules Text
* Nebula Best Short Story nominee (1988) : “The Fort Moxie Branch”
* Hugo Best Short Story nominee (1989) : “The Fort Moxie Branch”
* International UPC Science Fiction Award winner (1993) : “Ships in the Night” (first English language winner)
* Nebula Best Novella nominee (1996) : “Time Travelers Never Die”
* Arthur C. Clarke Best Novel nominee (1997) : Engines of God
* Hugo Best Novella nominee (1997) : “Time Travelers Never Die”
* Nebula Best Novel nominee (1997) : Ancient Shores
* Nebula Best Novel nominee (1998) : Moonfall
* Nebula Best Novelette nominee (1999) : “Good Intentions” (co-writer Stanley Schmidt)
* Nebula Best Novel nominee (2000) : Infinity Beach
* John W. Campbell Memorial Award for Best Novel nominee (2001) : Infinity Beach
* John W. Campbell Memorial Award for Best Novel nominee (2002) : Deepsix
* Nebula Best Short Story nominee (2002) : “Nothing Ever Happens in Rock City”
* Nebula Best Novel nominee (2003) : Chindi
* Campbell Award winner (2004) : Omega
* Nebula Best Novel nominee (2004) : Omega
* Nebula Best Novel nominee (2005) : Polaris
* Nebula Best Novel winner (2006) : Seeker
* John W. Campbell Memorial Award for Best Novel nominee (2006) : Seeker
* John W. Campbell Memorial Award for Best Novel nominee (2007) : Odyssey
* Nebula Best Novel nominee (2007) : Odyssey
* Nebula Best Novel nominee (2008) : Cauldron

Related Website:

Jack McDevitt’s author site

Jack McDevitt Wikipedia site

ISFDB Website

Google Books

Michael Swanwick’s profile of Jack McDevitt

Jack McDevitt’s Facebook fan club

Jack’s own explanation of how “Eternity Road” came to be

The Alternative
Southeast Wisconsin

Book Review - War for the Oaks by Emma Bull

War for the Oaks
Emma Bull
Orb Books
2001
Trade Paperback
ISBN: 0765300346
336 pages

It’s not often that someone invents a sub-genre but Emma Bull did just that when she wrote “War for the Oaks” in 1987. The book is a pioneer of urban fantasy which I’ve labeled as Urban-Magic-Rock and Roll, if you will. Somewhat dated by the description of the clothes and the musical influences and set in Minneapolis (of all places) it is filled with supernatural and mythological characters and occurrences.

“War for the Oaks” is the story of Eddi McCandry, a musician who finds herself unwillingly forced into the world of faerie which is embroiled in a conflict between the embattled factions of light and dark.

Eddi has had a rough night. Not only has she broken up with her boyfriend but she’s quit her band. Little does she know that things are about to get even more tangled than they already are. On her way home, in a brooding, pensive state, she is stalked by a mysterious man and his menacing dog. Later they turn out to be one and the same creature, a phouka. This shape shifting prankster enlists her as the cornerstone in an ongoing battle between the good fairies of the Seelie Court and the dark and dangerous Unseelie Court, ruled by the Queen of Air and Darkness.

Eddi soon finds herself embroiled in a battle for survival between the two warring factions of fairy-world while simultaneously attempting to reconstruct a new band and in the process, a new life. Meanwhile, her emotions for her stalker take a slow three-hundred and sixty degree turn. Her resentment toward the phouka for dragging her into the war develops into gratitude for his efforts to protect her against the dark queen, and subsequently turn into devotion and then love. The story culminates during a battle-of-the-bands between Eddi and the Queen of Air and Darkness, which decides the fate of both faerie courts, as well as the fate of the supernatural creature she loves.

Pop-Culture, Mythological, and Literature references:

* The Queen of Air and Darkness – A novel by T.H. White originally titled “The Witch in the Wood.”
* The Queen of Air and Darkness – A story by Poul Anderson.
* In Celtic mythology and folk-lore, the wisdom of darkness is often expressed by powerful goddess figure known as The Queen of Air and Darkness.
* Phouka - Variants: pooka, puca - No fairy is more feared in Ireland than the phouka. This may be because it is always out after nightfall, creating harm and mischief, and because it can assume a variety of terrifying forms.
* Seelie Court - is a term used in Scottish folklore to indicate a group of light fairies. The Unseelie Court then indicates the opposite.
* Robin Goode - probably a reference to Robin Goodfellow, aka Puck the mythological fairy of mischievous nature.
* Daoine Sidhe - The divine Fairy folk of Old Irish folklore.
* Glaistig - this creature of Scottish Mythology is described as a beautiful woman with dusky or gray skin and long blonde hair. Her lower half was that of a goat, usually disguised by a long, flowing green robe or dress.
* Brownie – is a type of hob or hobgoblin and are said to inhabit houses and aid in tasks around the house; a legendary creature from Scotland and England.
* Redcap - A Red Cap or Redcap, also known as a powrie or dunter, is a type of malevolent murderous dwarf, goblin, elf or fairy; they are frequently seen on battlefields picking through the possessions of the dead and wounded.
* Bands and musicians mentioned: Prince Rogers Nelson aka Prince; Peter Gabriel; The Beatles; Kim Carnes; and Bram Tchaikovsky, among others.
* Rowan berries - In ancient times the rowan was referred to as the Tree of Life and the red berries have ensured that it is held in high esteem by many pagan traditions, for red food has been traditionally seen as food of the Gods.
* St. John’s wort - For thousands of years, people considered it a magical herb with supernatural powers, as implied by its Latin name, Hypericum perforatum, which means “over an apparition.” * Local Minneapolis locations mentioned include: Nicollet Mall; Minnehaha Falls; Como Zoo and Conservatory; the Minneapolis College of Art and Design; and at First Avenue.

A word about my rating of this book: I originally awarded this book 4 and ½ stars for character development, readability, scene description and overall style. But because of the creative and unique qualities it represents and its inventiveness I awarded it an additional ½ star for a total of…

5 out of 5 stars

Related Websites:

Emma Bull Wikipedia Site

Emma’s interesting Wordpress page

Emma’s LiveJournal site

“War for the Oaks” Wikipedia site

Google Books "War For the Oaks"

You Tube: Cat’s Laughing (Emma’s band) performing “Nottamun Town” The trailer

“War of the Oaks” movie Trailer

The Alternative
Southeast Wisconsin

Book Review - Homer & Langley by E. L. Doctorow

Homer & Langley
E. L. Doctorow
Random House
2009
Hardcover
ISBN: 1400064945
Autographed Copy
224 pages

Confessions of a book reviewer:

Confession One: I currently own a number of E. L. Doctorow’s novels but I’ve never actually read any of his works. That is until Homer & Langley. (I never understood what I was missing but now have something to look forward to.)

Confession Two: I had not heard of the Collyer brothers before reading Doctorow’s loosely based account of these very real yet tragic characters. Being a Midwesterner this particular story had never come to my attention.

Back Story:

Homer and Langley Collyer were the sons of a successful doctor and as such grew up in the relative comfort of pre-World War I Manhattan. They lived and died in a brownstone mansion in Harlem, which was in a fashionable and trendy neighborhood when it was originally purchased. Both brothers attended Columbia University. Homer received a degree in admiralty law and Langley earned a degree in engineering. As the neighborhood deteriorated and after the abandonment of their father and the eventual death of both parents the brothers inherited the mansion and became hermits and hoarders in their own home. Electing to remove themselves from society the two men began to hoard an eclectic list of items; tons of bound newspapers, books (law and medicine), mechanical contraptions (including a working Model T), scientific oddities (jars of medical samples), and numerous household appliances and knick-knacks. When burglars, who’d heard they were hoarding cash, gold, and jewelry attempted to break in the men closed off the house and set traps to deter additional would-be thieves and intruders. In the end the massive hoarding (over 134 tons of clutter) and the improvised traps would prove their downfall. Both men were found dead in 1947. Homer succumbed to starvation after the death of his brother and Langley was crushed to death by one of his own traps.

Book review:

I found E. L. Doctorow’s style lyrical, provocative, and spellbinding and “Homer & Langley” is beautifully written and wonderfully illustrative of character, place and time. Told in the first person by Homer Langley the story engrossingly recounts the genesis of the hermetic attitudes adopted by the men and gives us an insight as to how and why their world changed so dramatically over the course of their lives.

Doctorow takes minor liberties with the time line in which the Collyer Brothers lived but it in no way deters from the story itself. He succinctly presents world events through the lives of the brothers as they intersect each other. Beginning just after World War I and culminating in the 1980’s we follow the brothers through their failing health and their troubles with the utility companies, banks, and neighbors. Knowing full well at the beginning of the story that it was going to end in tragedy I was, nonetheless, captivated by the details and Doctorow’s prose. If Homer Langley had lived to recount his memoir this is much what it might have been. Doctorow handles the Collyer’s history as it was surely meant to be. Insightful and tragic yet full of the spirit and nature of men trapped by circumstance he gives voice to a family that could not do so on their own.

As the narrative glides through the decades Homer and Langley are befriended by a gangster, invite friends and neighbors into their home to dance, turn their home into a safe haven for immigrants, take up with a group of counter-culture hippies, and then plunge into the depths of ill-mental and physical health and paranoia.

In the final chapters of the story, after Homer has become completely blind and when he’s lost most of his hearing, a sympathetic character tells him, “You think a word and you can hear its sound. I am telling you what I know – words have music and if you are a musician you will write to hear them.” This is, I believe, Doctorow’s Creative Doctrine and he certainly follows the law to the letter in this story. Lyrical, musical and emotionally evocative “Homer & Langley” is a must read.

4 stars out of 5

Related Websites:

E. L. Doctorow Wikipedia Link

Official E. L. Doctorow Link

Collyer Brothers Wikipedia Link

New York Press Collyer Brothers Article

CBS News Article

More about Disposophobia (or The Collyer Brothers Syndrome)


Related Reading Material:

William Bryk (April 13, 2005). "The Collyer Brothers". New York Sun

"The Collyer Brothers". Psychologist World

"Collyer Brothers Park" New York City Department of Parks and Recreation

Franz Lidz, "Ghosty Men: The Strange but True Story of the Collyer Brothers, New York's Greatest Hoarders: An Urban Historical"

The Alternative
Southeast Wisconsin

Book Review - Wrack & Roll by Bradley Denton

Wrack & Roll
Bradley Denton
Popular Library/Questar
1986
ISBN: 0445203064
Cover art by Richard Corben
eBook edition: 1001 pages

“Wrack and Roll” is one of those hard to define books. Part Urban Fantasy, part Science Fiction, part space-race story, and part counter-culture expose Denton connects them all together into a funny, witty, and frightening mixture of a world that teeters on the brink of self-destruction.

Upon opening the book one of the first things I noticed was the creative language. My first impression was that it was a weak attempt at urban hipness but it soon became apparent to me that it was much more than that. It was the language of an arrogant counter-culture, of die-haired, tattooed, body-pierced anarchists that fit perfectly with this new and oddly almost-alternative universe. With words like “scrod” and “jackbugged” (and I’ll use them both in a sentence momentarily) “Wrack & Roll” gives us a sense of a world that easily might have been.

One of the best things about this novel was Denton’s fleshing out of his alternative universe and its history. Not only does he change the way that world politics evolve but he’s given it his own contingent antagonists and the language to go with them. This is an alternative world of the Straights and the Wrackers, two diametrically opposed cultures. The Straights are the moral majority, the corporate slaves, and the monotonous Joe Q. Public types while the Wrackers are the sub-culture “off-the-grid” rock and roll performers and their fans.

“Wrack & Roll” personifies the “Butterfly Effect,” that part of chaos theory that states that small variations in any event may produce major changes later. In this case, President Franklin Roosevelt dies when he chokes on a chicken bone in 1933 and Patton rolls into Russia after the fall of Germany which changes the world’s political climate. And while the United States still leads the space race the accidental death of a most beloved musician and celebrity astronaut, Bitch Alice, on a visit to the moon in 1967 causes the unexpected destruction of the entire U.S. Space Program. Her last words? “Trash Dallas!” Why Dallas? It’s the home of the fictional National Organization for Space Science (a veiled reference to NASA). In 1979, Bitch Alice’s daughter, the Bastard Child Lieza, goes on tour with her band “Blunt Instrument” to stop the war between the U.S. and the Anglo-Chinese Alliance and prevent total world annihilation. I won’t give away the ending here but it is pure WRACK & ROLL.

And now for that sentence I promised you.

I’ve written some scrod-awful reviews in my time but most of them were because I was jackbugged out of my mind at the time. I hope this isn’t one of them.

Peesh?

4 out of 5 stars



Related Websites:

Brad’s author site: http://www.bradleydenton.net/books.htm

Author Wikipedia site: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bradley_Denton

Bradley Denton Internet Science Fiction database site: http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ea.cgi?Bradley_Denton

Wrack and Roll Internet Science Fiction database site: http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?2897

Denton Interview: http://www.williamdgagliani.com/int_brde.html

The Alternative
Southeast Wisconsin

Book Review – Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood

Oryx and Crake
Margaret Atwood
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
2003
Hardcover
ISBN: 0747562598
384 pages

It only seems fitting that since I’m currently reading Atwood’s “The Year of the Flood” that I review her dystopian masterpiece “Oryx and Crake” as well. Both are set in the same apocalyptic future universe with events that run parallel and simultaneously to each other and contain some of the same characters and places. Perhaps, I thought, it’s a good time to construct a tandem review. (“The Year of the Flood” 2009 to follow.)

Are we doomed to repeat our mistakes?

What if synthetic genetic biology, horizontal gene transfer, and bio-engineering had no restrictions or laws? What would the world become if these scientific pursuits were allowed to evolve and experiment unchecked and without repercussion? What if a scientist with unscrupulous morals and unlimited resources decided to play god, believed that humanity was flawed beyond salvation, and was arrogant enough to think that he could do better? This is the setting, albeit a harrowing alternative one, of the world of “Oryx and Crake.”

Crake is a prominent scientist at HelthWyzer, a biotech corporation, and he decides to create his own version of a utopian society that will live harmoniously with each other and with nature. The genetically engineered results, part-human herbivores that are programmed to have sexual intercourse only during specific breeding seasons are the last remaining “humans” in a society that has engineered itself into extinction. The “Crakers” have been created without cultural conflict, without inhibitions, without anger or hatred. But in the process of creating the perfect society something else has gone horribly wrong.

Civilization has collapsed. An unidentified plague or disease or “waterless flood” has been released. Only a very few survive. The innocent Crakes, the moral compass of the “people,” Snowman, the mad/brilliant scientist, Crake, and his rescued paramour, Oryx are the last remaining members of the human race. Bizarre bioengineered, hybrid creatures roam the barren lands, civilization has disappeared, and the Crakes must learn to live in this brave new world. Can Snowman point them in the right direction or are we doomed to repeat our mistakes?

I’m not entirely sure how it happened but the first few books of Atwood’s that I read were her dystopian works, “The Handmaid’s Tales,” Oryx and Crake,” and most recently, “The Year of the Flood.” Each is an exceptional snap-shot of a world that could easily ‘become.’ Unlike most of the other dystopian fantasies I’ve read Atwood does not spend 300 pages extolling the evils of man, pushing and poking her point until it blurs into a political agenda. Instead, she proposes an alternate scenario of a “what if” world and allows her imagination to roam freely within it. And she does it expertly and with an edge that makes it so believable that we should make it required reading in every corporate setting that touches bio-engineering in any form. It should be read in high schools to deter would-be scientists from becoming too amoral. It should be read by government as a cautionary tale. Quite simply, it should be read!

There is something absolutely compelling about Atwood’s characters, her settings, and her science. The characters are so endearing that they almost become family members, the settings so natural yet surreal that they resemble the universe next door, and the science so believable as to be frightening. An enjoyable read… but with consequences.

5 out of 5 Stars

Main Characters:

* The Crakers – An innocent group of bioengineered children and the inheritors of the Earth.
* Snowman (Thickney) – “Father” figure and protector of the Crakers and an old classmate of Crake.
* Crake – a brilliant geneticist/mad scientist who devises a plan to rid the earth of Homo sapiens and replaces the current “destructive species” with a more peaceful and environmentally friendly human-like creature: the “Crakers.”
* Oryx - a mysterious woman symbolically related to a waif-like girl from an online child-pornography site that begins to haunt Crake as an adolescent and whom he “rescues.”

Xeno-transplanted and genetically engineered creatures:

“wolvogs” (hybrids between wolves and dogs),
“rakunks” (raccoon and skunk)
“pigoons” (pigs and baboons, for organ transplants)

Related Websites:

Margaret Atwood Official site: http://margaretatwood.ca/

Margaret Atwood Wikipedia Entry: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Atwood

Margaret Atwood Society Page: http://themargaretatwoodsociety.wordpress.com/

Official Oryx and Crake website: http://www.oryxandcrake.co.uk/

Google books: http://books.google.com/books?id=SGlG7hHS4vcC&dq=oryx+and+crake&printsec=frontcover&source=bn&hl=en&ei=EofPSsW0LoHRlAfDnLmpCg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CBwQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=&f=false
Wikipedia Entry: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oryx_and_Crake

Bookrags: http://www.bookrags.com/Oryx_and_Crake

Publisher Site (Year of the Flood): http://knopfdoubleday.com/margaretatwood/

The Alternative
Southeast Wisconsin

Book Review – Sarah Canary by Karen Joy Fowler

Sarah Canary
Karen Joy Fowler
Plume
2004
ISBN: 978-0452286474
Trade Paperback
304 pages

I’ve neglected reviewing this unusual book for far too long and since I’m currently in the middle of at least five reads (see sidebar) I thought I’d post my review of “Sarah Canary” by Karen Joy Fowler during the interim. So stay tuned for a profusion of new reviews in the coming weeks. With that in mind…

I have a weakness for hard to place works, especially those with an historical undertone. (See previous posts – World War II essentials, “Those Who Went Remain There Still,” “The Book Thief,” etc.) Sub-genre? Fantasy, science fiction, mystery, Western, non-fiction, horror it makes no difference to me. So this particular work was appealing from the very first page. And, I was not disappointed.

Who is Sarah Canary? And you’ll ask your self this question a number of times throughout the story. And just as often your perception may change. Is she:
A. A lost, pampered member of an aristocratic family?
B. A runaway suffering from a congenital mental defect?
C. A simple feral child raised by forest creatures?
D. An alien outcast banished to Earth?
E. All of the above?
F. None of the above?

The answer is… seven! (I’ll get back to this later.)

Set in the logging region of Washington Territory in 1873 “Sarah Canary” tells the story of a white woman who wanders unexpectedly into a Chinese railway workers’ camp. She is despondent and silent but captivating. And everyone she meets falls under her strange spell, including Chin, a Mandarin scholar working on the railroad; B.J., an escaped inmate from the Territorial Asylum; a union survivor of Andersonville Prison; Adelaide Dixon, a suffragist feminist on a lecture tour; and Harold, a huckster who wants to put Sarah in his traveling side-show. What do they all have in common? They are all discards of society and they all hold their own unconventional perceptions of reality. And, for some unexplained reason, they all see in and want something different for Sarah.

In addition to the flowing narrative Fowler adds quotes from Emily Dickinson before each chapter and interesting news fragments from the era to help provide clues for us to follow as we read. The historical facts give us a perspective of the times and the Dickinson quotes correspond to the action that takes place in each of the chapters. So much so, that they appear as if Fowler wrote them herself. An extraordinary feat of research in and of itself.

Fowler has given us a fine piece of historical fiction, one which manages to remain thoroughly entertaining in spite or perhaps because of the powerful and abstract nature of the subtext which is clearly alienation and perception.

Who is Sarah Canary, then? My answer “seven” above is meaningful in its meaningless. It really doesn’t matter who she is. What she is is a representation of the alienated. She is an outcast and Fowler asks us all take a step back and recall our own lonely moments, our own times of confusion, our own prejudices. And, in the end, the moral is this… even a true alien can find companionship, understanding, and empathy from complete strangers; sometimes, without even looking for it.

Sarah Canary has all the elements of good science fiction, gripping history, the suspense of mystery, and the excitement and action of a Western. In the end the book is genderless, belongs to no one genre, and yet somehow seems to fit them all. It is a retrospective on human nature, superstition, prejudice, and cultural differences and Fowler forces us to examine our own feelings concerning them in minute detail.

4 out of 5 stars

Related websites:

Author site: http://www.karenjoyfowler.com/

Author Wikipedia Site: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karen_Joy_Fowler

Author page Internet Speculative Fiction Database: http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ea.cgi?Karen_Joy_Fowler

Sarah Canary page Internet Speculative Fiction Database: http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?1269

The Alternative
Southeast Wisconsin

Classic Book Review - Midnight at the Well of Souls by Jack Chalker

Midnight at the Well of Souls
(Book One of the Well World Series)
Jack L. Chalker
Del Rey / Ballantine, New York, NY
1977
Mass Market Paperback
ISBN: 0345297695
Cover Art: H. R. Van Dongen
360 Pages

If you’ve never read anything by Science Fiction Master Storyteller, Jack Chalker, I suggest you immediately open a new browser tab, head over to B & N or Amazon, and purchase the entire Well World series. I’ll wait…

Back now? Good.

From the unique and creative imagination of Jack Chalker comes the Well of Souls.

Imagine a world designed by a long-extinct alien race using a planetary super-computer to xeno-form 1560 different hexagonal environments. Each “nation” is unique and home to a different intelligent alien, mythological creature, or sentient animal species. Hex 1, for example, may contain an earthlike atmosphere with citizens that resemble centaurs. Hex 2, in comparison, may harbor an alien ghostlike race that breathes and thrives on pure cyanide. Hex 3, a mountainous region, is populated by sentient giant wasps, Hex 4, a water-land dominated by mermaids. And so on…

Now, imagine your spacecraft has crash-landed on this planet and you’re forced through a zone gate (the Well of Souls) to be transmogrified into an alien species. And not just any species but the one best suited to your mental, genetic, and physical disposition as detected by the computer. You are then transported to your “home” Hex with your memories intact but buried inside an alien body. Now, survive…

This is the general premise of the Well World series. But wait, there’s more… The story begins with a monumental discovery followed by a series of murders. Mystery mounts when the murderer and a group of innocent, would-be rescuers are transported to the Well World. What follows is a combination of high drama, intrigue, politics and science all monitored by a planetary machine with a god complex. There are races of pure magic and others who hold secrets to super-science. Some are technologically advanced. Others have no resources whatsoever. Some are carbon based. Some are not. What do they all have in common? They’re all in search of the meaning of life and they lust for the power to control the Well World. Within the story you’ll encounter spaceships and evil dictators and scientists set on ruling and using the Well of Souls for their own purposes. There is slavery and debauchery, innocence and confusion, surprise and compassion, and love and hate. And that’s just the first few chapters.

The Well of Souls houses a thousand improbable well-gates built by a technologically advanced race (The Markovians) whose memory has been lost to time. Nathan Brazil, loner, space captain, enigma finds himself companioned by a mysterious mermaid, a bat-like man, and an impassioned female centaur. But Nathan Brazil's metamorphosis is more mystifying than any of the others and he’s beginning to regain a long-suppressed memory which may unlock a powerful secret at… Midnight at the Well of Souls.

Main Characters in “Midnight at the Well of Souls”

• Nathan Brazil, an enigmatic freighter captain with a mysterious past


• Datham Hain, a drug trafficker (“sponge” which causes an incurable, degenerative brain disease) and slaver


• Wu Julee, Hain’s sponge-addicted servant transformed into a centaur


• Elkinos Skander, a brilliant (and psychotic) archaeologist transformed to a fish


• Varnett, an exceptional mathematician with an agenda of his own


• Vardia Diplo 1261, a diplomatic courier transformed into a sentient plant


• Serge Ortega, a former freighter captain reborn on the Well World as a six-armed half-walrus, half-snake being with political pull

The Complete Series:

Well of Souls
1. Midnight at the Well of Souls (1977) 5 out of 5 stars
2. Exiles at the Well of Souls (1978) 4 ½ out of 5 stars
3. Quest for the Well of Souls (1978) 4 ½ out of 5 stars
4. The Return of Nathan Brazil (1979) 5 out of 5 stars
5. Twilight at the Well of Souls: The Legacy of Nathan Brazil (1980) 5 out of 5 stars
6. The Sea Is Full of Stars (1999) 4 out of 5 stars
7. Ghost of the Well of Souls (2000) 5 out of 5 stars

Watchers at the Well
1. Echoes of the Well of Souls (1993) 4 out of 5 stars
2. Shadow of the Well of Souls (1994) 4 out of 5 stars
3. Gods of the Well of Souls (1994) 4 out of 5 stars

Entire Series Rating: 4 ½ out of 5 stars

Related websites:

Wikipedia site: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_L._Chalker

Google Books: http://books.google.com/books?as_auth=Jack+L+Chalker&source=an&ei=FwbOSqW5IsPY8Ab9p9T5Aw&sa=X&oi=book_group&ct=title&cad=author-navigational&resnum=11

Well World Wikipedia site: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Well_World

Jack L. Chalker at BookRags: http://www.bookrags.com/wiki/Jack_L._Chalker

Internet Speculative Fiction Database:
http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ea.cgi?Jack_L._Chalker

Baen Books page: http://www.baen.com/author_catalog.asp?author=jlchalker

Unfortunately, it appears that Jack’s official website (http://www.jackchalker.com/) was abandoned sometime after his untimely death in 2003.

The Alternative
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