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The Reference Library

Don Sakers

When you think about it, science fiction is a lot like food. It comes in many different varieties, those who consume it have very strong likes and dislikes, and (for some of us) it is a necessity for life.

In science fiction as in food, we all have our favorites . . . but a steady diet of the same thing gets to be boring. This month I have a diverse menu; I hope you’ll find something to please you.

The Lost Fleet: Relentless ,
by
Jack Campbell

Ace
$7.99 (Mass Market PB),
320 pp.
ISBN:
9780441017089
Genre: Military SF
Series: Lost Fleet

I’m not one of those who believe that every sf book has to be stunningly original and deeply meaningful. Sometimes you’re just in the mood for something familiar, something dependable: comfort food. In the old days, you could count on Mack Reynolds, Gordon Dickson, or Poul Anderson for a basic good, entertaining story. Nowadays there are many options; one of them is a nice military sf series.

It just figures. Military sf usually has a familiar plot; good guys vs. bad guys. The social trappings are familiar—military rank, command structure, character motivations. A multi-book series generally implies that you’re going to be following the same characters through a succession of adventures. And if the series is by a familiar author whose work you know, so much the better.

Jack Campbell’s Lost Fleet series meets all the criteria for good, solid comfort food.

To begin with, Jack Campbell is a name that all Analog readers should be familiar with—although you have to look on the copyright page to learn this. “Jack Campbell” is a pseudonym for none other than Analog regular John G. Hemry, and you know he can tell a good story.

Here’s the basic set-up for the series: The Alliance and the Syndicate Worlds have been at war for a long time. Captain John (“Black Jack”) Geary, commander of the Alliance heavy cruiser Merlon, is the last to enter an escape pod when his ship is defeated and destroyed. The pod automatically puts him into suspended animation until he reaches rescue.

A century later, Geary’s pod is found by an Alliance fleet, and he’s reanimated. The fleet is deep in enemy space, reeling from defeats and desperate to get home. And here’s the legendary hero Black Jack Geary, back to lead them to safety. Before he knows it, Geary is in command of the Lost Fleet, and the adventure has begun.

Except that Geary knows he is only a man, not an all-powerful hero. The ships of the Fleet (there are hundreds of them) include various squabbling captains, an officious politician, an underground resistance, and an unknown number of enemy agents. Geary struggles with his own doubts and demons, uncertain that he can ever succeed in bringing the Fleet safely to Alliance space.

Geary’s doubts and weaknesses only make him all the more interesting and sympathetic, which is a good thing in a series protagonist: if you’ve going to spend multiple volumes with a guy, you want him to be someone you like.

Through four previous books Geary and the Fleet have struggled on through nonstop pursuits, battles, food shortages, and betrayals, limping from one star system to another with barely time to nurse their wounds.

The four previous books are Dauntless (1), Fearless (2), Courageous (3), and Valiant (4). And if I may digress for a moment, here’s where sf series writers and publishers could take a lesson from mystery writers such as Sue Grafton (A is for Alibi, B is for Burglar, etc.) and Janet Evanovich (One for the Money, Two for the Dough, and so forth). Would it be so hard to give the hapless reader a break and make the titles go in alphabetical order, or include numbers?

Ahem. Back to the Lost Fleet. In Relentless, Geary takes them to the Heradoo system to rescue Alliance prisoners of war. Of course, Heradoo is also the location of a great number of enemy vessels. Meanwhile, there’s the question of what happens when the Fleet gets home—turns out that a sizable contingent wants Geary to overthrow the corrupt Alliance government. Oh, and there are these saboteurs loose in the Fleet . . .

The Lost Fleet isn’t just mindless action. As you’d expect, Hemry/Campbell writes space battles that conform to the laws of physics; no right-angle turns or shields down by x% in these books. Unsurprisingly, his military officers also ring true; you aren’t going to see third-year cadets inexplicably put in command of any flagships here.

Does the Fleet eventually get home? Does Black Jack lead a revolt against the evil politicians? Are there going to be more books in the series? I’m not going to spoil the fun by telling.

With a ragtag fleet fleeing implacable enemies, it’s hard not to be reminded of Battlestar Galactica (whichever version you prefer). Don’t be fooled; this is no warmed-over television show. The Lost Fleet books are real science fiction, as filling and nutritious as a meal of your favorite comfort foods.

Star Wars: Fate of the Jedi: Omen,
by
Christie Golden

Del Rey,
$27.00 (hardcover),
250 pp.
ISBN: 9780345509123
Genre: Star Wars
Series: Fate of the Jedi 2

Sometimes you don’t want a big meal; you’re more in the mood for something less substantial . . . maybe some kind of fruit-gelatin salad with those little marshmallows, or something involving things dipped in chocolate. In this mood, you might want to try a Star Wars novel. The background and characters are familiar enough, and you can’t beat ultimate good vs. absolute evil.

It’s 40-plus years after the original Star Wars, and there’s been a lot of water under the bridge in the meantime. Don’t worry about catching up; Christie Golden is an old hand at this sort of thing and she rapidly fills in the blanks for any reader who’s missed the dozens of novels that have come before. In particular, you won’t miss much if you haven’t read Fate of the Jedi: Outcast, the volume that immediately precedes this one.

In the wake of a galactic civil war, the Jedi Knights are facing multiple problems. For one, a mysterious disease is turning responsible Jedi into raving lunatics. For another, the head of the Galactic Alliance has turned against the Jedi and is trying to reduce their influence in the government. Finally, über-Jedi Luke Skywalker is trying to find out what turned his late nephew, Jacen Solo, to the Dark Side. Meanwhile, mad Jedi threaten Jacen’s parents, better known as Han Solo and Princess Leia.

As if all this isn’t enough, a long-lost tribe of the evil Sith have surfaced, using their Dark Side powers in a bid to subjugate the whole galaxy.

It’s all great fun. Fair warning, though: Omen is the middle book of a trilogy, so although it comes to a satisfactory ending, don’t expect every loose thread to be wrapped up.

Vixen,
by
Bud Sparhawk,

Cosmos,
$6.99,
304 pp.(mass market paperback)
ISBN 9780843959451
Genres: Religious/Philosophical SF
Series: WWW Trilogy 1

Sometimes you’re hungry for a dish that rings changes on a familiar recipe, adding a little spice or an unexpected ingredient. If you’re in a mood like that, you might want to give Vixen a try.

Take one colonization mission, the good ship Covenant, two hundred years from home with its cargo of frozen colonists. Add a planetary system with a beautiful, perfectly Earthlike planet. Awaken the crew, starting with expedition leader Tam Polat, and set them to work exploring their new home.

Stir in a moon that suddenly disappears, and then an alien ship of unimaginable power, and you have the makings of a standard new-planet-settlement, first-contact sf novel.

But this book is by Bud Sparhawk, and Sparhawk does nothing standard. This is where the spice comes in.

Covenant, and Tam Polat, are on a mission from God. No, really; the society they come from is a religious one, with social roles rigidly defined. Tam and his lieutenants are Men, superior to the Halfling worker class who tend the ship and do all the manual labor. As Hadir, or leader, Tam is divinely appointed and infallible. In this world, everyone has their proper place and their appropriate work, and all work together to accomplish the will of God.

God has sent Tam and his people to settle Meridian, the system’s sole habitable world, and to prepare it for the arrival of further waves of colonists. The work will be easy; Meridian is a delightful Eden.

But every Eden has its apple, and there’s the matter of that missing moon and those super-advanced aliens. God, you see, never mentioned them to Tam. And according to his crew, if God didn’t mention them, then they don’t exist.

Vixen is about more than colonizing a new world and meeting an alien race. It’s about what happens when a person—and a whole society—is brought face-to-face with a reality that contradicts their most firmly held beliefs. And that should certainly be enough to whet your appetite.

Open Your Eyes,
by Paul Jessup

Apex,
$13.95,
144 pp. (trade paperback)
ISBN 9780982159606
Genres:
SF/Horror

What about those times when you’re in the mood for something completely exotic? New taste sensations and unfamiliar cuisines? When you’re ready to take a chance on a dish that’s totally unfamiliar? It could be a disaster, or it could be your new favorite food.

There are certain writers who instantly transport readers into new, unfamiliar worlds that are completely different from the universe we know. After only a few bites, the reader sits back, gasping, and reaches for the water glass. Then, eyes watering, he or she dives back in, licking the plate clean and asking for seconds. Think of Samuel R. Delany or Cordwainer Smith.

Welcome Paul Jessup to the ranks.

Open Your Eyes is billed as a cross between horror and science fiction, which is a little like describing filet mignon as a cross between cows and the laws of thermodynamics. More to the point is the publisher’s description of the book as “surrealist space opera.” Suspension of disbelief? It’s best to nail your belief to the ceiling for the duration.

The book opens with Ekhi, a woman alone in a spaceship watching her lover die. Her lover is a star, and in going supernova he takes whole worlds with him. But he leaves Ekhi with child, a galaxy growing in her womb.

Ekhi’s ship is all but destroyed, and is boarded by scavengers who take her on board their own ship . . . the Good Ship Lollipop. This crew of scavengers are easily dysfunctional enough to justify the “opera” in space opera.

The captain, Itsasu, is a little girl who’s lived for over 400 years, mourning her dead husband and on a quest to find a way to bring him back. She huddles in a preservation tank near the ship’s heart, sending out dolls to be her eyes and nanomachines to be her hands. Itsasu guards a secret, a hidden cargo of incredible potential . . . but one that makes her ship a target to anyone who learns of its existence.

Navigator Mari is half woman, half metal. Half her face is a metal cage with silver butterflies fluttering within. She befriends Ekhi, but is also a threat.

Hodei is a sex-obsessed young man who bears the memories of a pinup girl. His brother, Sugoi, is a hulking brute who is in love with Mari. Sugoi is subject to violent rages, which he takes out on poor Hodei.

Shortly after Ekhi comes aboard and is nursed back to health, another ship appears and locks onto the Good Ship Lollipop. Invaders enter, doing damage and looting. Itsasu fears that they are after her secret cargo, but it turns out that they have come for Hodei and his hidden memories.

In this world of bone-ribbed ships and animated wax dolls, death is rarely permanent. But Ekhi and the crew of the Good Ship Lollipop have come upon a frightening force that brings final and painful death: a sapient linguistic virus that forces victims to utter phrases that kill. In the end, as Ekhi’s child comes to term, creation and annihilation meet in a catastrophic coda.

By now you’re either intrigued, or you think someone has lost their mind. That shows the limitations inherent in trying to describe a groundbreaking book in a few paragraphs. It’s like reciting a list of unlikely ingredients to a friend instead of giving them a taste of a delicious, exotic dish. Sure, the book sounds like one absurdity piled on top of another . . . but the genius of Paul Jessup is that he makes the reader believe every bit of it. The language is forceful and lyrical, the characters engaging, and after only a few pages the reader falls completely under Jessup’s spell. The language of the book is as infectious as any sapient linguistic virus could ever be.

Open Your Eyes is not for everyone. But if you’re ready to step outside your comfort zone and try something delicious and exotic, you just might want to give it a try.

So there you have it, a smorgasbord of books fit for a variety of tastes. Auntie Mame famously said “Life is a banquet, and most poor SOBs are starving to death.” Don’t let yourself be one of them.

Don Sakers is the author of A Rose From Old Terra and Dance for the Ivory Madonna. For more information, visit www.scatteredworlds.com.

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