Jack Finney
About Time
About Time is a collection of short stories, many of which, unsurprisingly, focus on time. It is a quiet, relaxing collection of tales, some tragic, some arguing that this really is a just universe, and others with a more cheerful resolution, but all entertaining.
"The Third Level"
This may be his most well-known short story or at least it's the one I most often remember reading in various anthologies.
The presidents of the New York Central and the New York, New Haven and Hartford railroads will swear on a stack of timetables that there are only two. But I say there are three, because I've been on the third level at Grand Central Station."
I think you can extrapolate from these opening lines the nature of the tale. It's something many, including me, have indulged in, what the psychiatrist later in the tale tells him is a "waking-dream wish fulfillment." It's a very enjoyable tale, which I never skip whenever I encounter it, unlike so many other tales, even though I know the twist at the end.
=====
"I Love Galesburg in the Springtime"
Something strange is happening in Galesburg, Illinois. A business man from Chicago came to town to build a factory, which would have meant tearing down some very old buildings and increasing traffic along some quiet residential streets. He had the town council's promise to make the necessary zoning changes and was ready to build. Then, one night, he goes for a walk down a quiet street and almost gets run down by a streetcar, or so he says. The problem is that there are no longer any streetcar tracks because the streetcars disappeared years ago. Was he drunk? Hallucinating? In any case, the deal is off. No factory will be built, by him anyway.
And, what about the old, old mansion that didn't burn down because the fire was put out by someone, only no one will claim credit for it. However, a neighbor who was obviously dreaming at the time tells a story that the fire was put out by the fire department which used horse-drawn fire engines. Of course, those engines had been retired years ago. It's unfortunate that the place didn't burn down, says local developer, because if it had, he would buy the property and get it rezoned for an apartment building. But, now, it would cost too much to tear it down, almost as much as to restore it, in fact.
And, those fine old elms on Cedar Street won't be cut down after all, or at least not for some time, because the man who had the power saw and had planned to cut them down is in the hospital with a broken leg. He was run down by a car that hadn't been made for many decades. It's appearance is so striking, the police are sure they will find the car involved in the hit-and-run accident very soon.
Perhaps. . .
=====
"Such Interesting Neighbors"
This is one of the classic themes in time travel stories. Anyone who has read a number of time travel stories will figure this one out within the first couple of paragraphs. New neighbors appear: they seem to lack knowledge of the simplest things, they have a strange accent, and they are vague about where they came from. They also have some interesting ideas about what the future will be like.
Enuf said?
=====
"The Coin Collector"
Ever wonder what would have happened if you had made a different decision, such as not going to college or going to college, or married someone else. "The Coin Collector" suggests one way of handling the problem--find an alternative universe. Finney later expanded this into a novel titled The Woodrow Wilson Dime.
Al's marriage is suffering a bit--loss of interest on his part--and his wife is getting upset at the way he seemingly pays her little or no attention. An ad about the fun and profit that can result from coin collecting intrigues him for a time. After making a routine purchase of a paper at the newsstand, he finds himself in a slightly different universe. It was the coin that triggered the transfer--well, the coin and his recognition of it as being different somehow.
Fortunately, habit guides him to his home which is in a different location. There he discovers that something else is different--his wife. She is someone he never met in the other world, and she is gorgeous. His interest in her reawakens her interest in him--same problem as in his other world. His gradual lack of interest (the honeymoon is over, he told his first wife) caused her to react the same way his first wife did.
However, after a brief period, his interest begins to wane and . . . and then . . .
=====
"Of Missing Persons"
What happened to Judge Crater and Ambrose Bierce? Charlie Ewell thinks he found out. What seems fascinating and possible after a couple of beers and late in the evening seems quite different in the bright light of the next day. But, Charlie is curious, so he decides to visit the Acme Travel Bureau anyway. If they decide he's the "right type," they will bring out a folder from beneath the counter, a folder they just made up as a joke. It's about a trip, one-way, to a planet called Verna. Why go to Verna?
Life is simple there, and it's serene. In someways, the good ways, it's like the early pioneering communities here in your country, but without the drudgery that kill people young. There is electricity. There are washing machines, vacuum cleaners, plumbing, modern bathrooms, and modern medicine, very modern. but there are no radios, television, telephones or automobiles. Distances are small. and people live and work in small communities. They raise or make most of the things they use. Every man builds his own house, with all the help he needs from his neighbors. Their recreation is their own, and there is a great deal of it, but there is no recreation for sale, nothing you buy a ticket to. They have dances, card parties, wedding, christenings, birthday celebrations harvest parties. There are swimming and sports of all kinds. There is conversation, a lot of it, plenty of joking and laughter. There is a great deal of visiting and sharing of meals and each day is well filled and well spent. There are no pressures, economic or social, and life holds few threats. Every man, woman,and child is a happy person.
It almost sounds too good to be true, and that's what bothers Charlie.
=====
"Lunch-Hour Magic"
Ted likes to go prowling around the various little shops in the vicinity during his lunch hour. Then, one day, he discovers a little store he hadn't seen before--The Magic Shop. Inside, he finds the usual merchandise expected in a "magic shop,". . . except for a pair of magic glasses. These glasses allow one to see through one layer of cloth. With them he can see people outside walking around in their underwear. Naturally he asks if there are stronger glasses, one that could see through two or three layers of clothing. The store owner says that he gets a lot of requests for those glasses, and he will ask the salesman the next time he comes in.
On subsequent trips Ted discovers other "helpful" items, and he tries them out on his fellow employees, who are helpless against the power of those talismans. All goes well, until Ted discovers that Frieda, a fellow employee, is also a lunchtime prowler and has discovered The Magic Shop.
=====
"Where the Cluetts Are"
Harry is an architect, who has some strange ideas about houses--they have souls--and he doesn't work with clients who really aren't interested in working with him in designing their home. The Cluetts are rich and have decided there are no limits on the cost of building their new home.
The problem is that the Cluetts are not interested that much in building a home, but in building a showpiece for their yacht-building business. They will live mostly in New York City and only spend time in the house, throwing grand parties for the rich and influential. In this way, they hope to make an impression on the rich and influential so that when they are interested in getting a yacht, they will remember the Cluetts.
Harry has just about decided that he's not going to take them on as clients when Ellie Cluett discovers a set of blueprints for a Victorian era house designed by Harry's grandfather. Sam and Ellie fall in love with the house instantly and tell Harry to build it, regardless of the cost.
All goes well and the house is built, but then. . .
I think the title is wrong.
=====
"The Face in the Photo"
Inspector Ihren is a very determined and persistent police officer. So, when a number of petty crooks, suspects in various crimes, can't be found, he gets upset. What upsets him most is that they seem to have completely disappeared and for a long period of time. Inspector Ihren knows that they have hiding places and can stay hidden for a while, but for many months? Not a clue, whisper, rumor, gossip? Something is wrong.
Then, one day, he discovers an old photograph with a familiar face and acting on a hunch, he begins viewing old films about sporting events and discovers another face. But this suggests something that is inconceivable. However, the projectionist makes an offhand comment about someone else who just viewed that film--a Professor Weygand from the university. A bit of nosing around and the Inspector discovers the good professor gave a paper recently about some aspects of time, and while he didn't understand most of the paper, the inspector got the idea that the professor thought time travel might be possible.
Perhaps it was time to talk to the professor.
=====
"I'm Scared"
Unlike Charles Fort who collected information about strange and inexplicable happenings that seemed unconnected and that had no apparent effect on the world, the anonymous narrator in this story finds that his collection of odd and anomalous events may point to something far more serious. It almost seems as though people and events sometimes come loose from their appointed place in time and appear elsewhen, sometimes with tragic results. And, they are happening more often lately.
=====
"Home Alone"
Charley is home alone as his wife and daughter are off somewhere. On the sixth day he glances upwards and sees a hawk in the sky, motionless as it lays on the updraft from the warm concrete below. Suddenly Charley wants to do just that: not fly in a powered plane but just hang there quietly and see what's below. And, the only way to do that is with a balloon. So, Charley begins to study up on balloons and then decides to make one.
Sometimes one's dreams do come true . . .
=====
"Second Chance"
The anonymous narrator is a young man who is obsessed with a classic automobile: the Jordan Playboy. He finds one, battered and beaten, and spends most of his time (left over from school, chores, and part-time job) restoring it. Finished, he takes it out for a drive along a deserted stretch of an old two-lane road that's been bypassed by the new four lane highway. And, then some strange things begin to happen. But, the strangest doesn't happen until months later, long after his first (and ultimately last) jaunt in the restored Jordan Playboy.
It's too bad the universe isn't really like this.
=====
"Hey, Look At Me!"
Peter Marks may have discovered why some people come back as ghosts.
This is not a book to be raced through and then put aside. It is best taken in small doses and savored before moving on to the next tale, a few days or weeks later. It has a long shelf life and won't spoil if ignored for a day or two or three. Read each story and then let your mind play with it for a while.
Showing posts with label time travel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label time travel. Show all posts
Wednesday, December 23, 2015
Saturday, January 17, 2015
Gregory Benford: the last of the Anomalies
These are the last stories from Greg Benford's latest collection of short stories, Anomalies.
"Gravity's Whispers"
A CETI Tale: A scientist with LIGO (Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory--a real institution sponsored by CalTech and MIT) has detected a gravity wave fluctuation and sent it to a mathematician to see if there's something there. There is, but it's an artificial pattern, obviously created by someone? And, there's a problem. To be able to create a gravitational wave with a signal requires the ability to "sling around neutron stars and make them sing in code." Do we really want to open communication with a race so powerful?
"Ol' Gator"
Evolution seems to be the focus of this strange little story. It's a narrative told by a GI in Iraq. He alternates between what's happening to him during the conflict with Saddam Hussein's troops and memories of his childhood days in the South. It was that part of Iraq that had been swampland and then partially drained that brought back those memories, for the crocs in the swamp reminded him of the gators back home and his grandpa's war with the patriarch of the swamp--Ol' Gator.
At one point in the story the narrator is separated from his unit and finds a very large contingent of Iraqi insurgents headed his way. However he finds he's not alone, for he has some very unusual companions. Rather than spoil the fun, I'll just quote Loren Eiseley, the eminent anthropologist and essayist: "The world is fixed, we say: fish in the sea, birds in the air. But in the mangrove swamps by the Niger, fish climb trees and ogle uneasy naturalists who try unsuccessfully to chase them back into the water. There are things still coming ashore." from The Immense Journey.
"The Champagne Award"
According to a Note provided by Benford, this is a satiric look at the government and population control. As the general population seems unwilling or unable to control the birth rate, the government steps in with its own program. People are issued KidCred cards which gives each person the right to bear a child. They can use the credit themselves or can transfer it to someone else. Or they could offer it in a lottery in which they get the proceeds. That could turn out to be in the millions of dollars, if offered at the right time. The parents of children born illegally, to those without KidCred or who have used up their KidCred, are fined heavily, and the children receive no social benefits and no education. There is even some talk about prison sentences for those who bear children without KidCred.
"Mercies"
Inter-dimensional travel. As I think I mentioned in an earlier post, one common theme in SF is the time travel story in which there is an attempt to go back in time to prevent some great evil or catastrophe: assassinating Hitler is a favorite among writers. This story doesn't involve time travel but a different method of preventing some evil.
Set some time in the future, Warren has become rich and uses his wealth to bring his dream to fruition. He has hated serial killers since he first learned of them as a teenager. It's too late to do something about those in the world in the dimension in which he resides, so he decides to do something about those in worlds in other dimensions, especially those so "close" that there's only a very small difference between them and his world.
He has the people who work for him research these other worlds for those who appear to be the counterparts of serial killers in his world. He decides to kill them, and to kill them before they've started killing. In other words, Warren has decided on a pre-emptive strike, since these people have not yet harmed anyone. There's a problem though, something Warren did not take into account, but he eventually encounters it.
The moral question one might consider is Warren's justification for killing these people: they haven't harmed anyone at the point he is to kill them. Is this justifiable?
"Doing Lennon"
This is another cryonics tale. It was written in 1975, some five years before John Lennon was killed in 1980. Henry Fielding has chosen "the long sleep" before he really needed it. When he awakes in the 22nd century, he claims to be John Lennon and that he was "fleeing political persecution." This is why he used the alias.
In his real life, Henry Fielding had been a broker who had done quite well financially, along with surreptitiously dipping into several accounts belonging to others. He was a devoted follower of the Beatles, collecting records, memorabilia, and gossip about them, as well as memorizing the lyrics to all of their songs. On his vacations, he haunted Liverpool, picking up the local colour and accents and visiting places important to the Beatles legend. Now he was going to put all that knowledge to work.
Things go well for a while for him in the future: his singing and guitar playing are accepted by all. Then things get complicated. First, he is told that the corpsicle of Paul McCartney has been discovered, and everybody is breathlessly awaiting their reunion. Then, he discovers Henry Fielding the Real. Who then is he?
Afternotes
Brief comments by Gregory Benford about each of the stories.
"Gravity's Whispers"
A CETI Tale: A scientist with LIGO (Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory--a real institution sponsored by CalTech and MIT) has detected a gravity wave fluctuation and sent it to a mathematician to see if there's something there. There is, but it's an artificial pattern, obviously created by someone? And, there's a problem. To be able to create a gravitational wave with a signal requires the ability to "sling around neutron stars and make them sing in code." Do we really want to open communication with a race so powerful?
"Ol' Gator"
Evolution seems to be the focus of this strange little story. It's a narrative told by a GI in Iraq. He alternates between what's happening to him during the conflict with Saddam Hussein's troops and memories of his childhood days in the South. It was that part of Iraq that had been swampland and then partially drained that brought back those memories, for the crocs in the swamp reminded him of the gators back home and his grandpa's war with the patriarch of the swamp--Ol' Gator.
At one point in the story the narrator is separated from his unit and finds a very large contingent of Iraqi insurgents headed his way. However he finds he's not alone, for he has some very unusual companions. Rather than spoil the fun, I'll just quote Loren Eiseley, the eminent anthropologist and essayist: "The world is fixed, we say: fish in the sea, birds in the air. But in the mangrove swamps by the Niger, fish climb trees and ogle uneasy naturalists who try unsuccessfully to chase them back into the water. There are things still coming ashore." from The Immense Journey.
"The Champagne Award"
According to a Note provided by Benford, this is a satiric look at the government and population control. As the general population seems unwilling or unable to control the birth rate, the government steps in with its own program. People are issued KidCred cards which gives each person the right to bear a child. They can use the credit themselves or can transfer it to someone else. Or they could offer it in a lottery in which they get the proceeds. That could turn out to be in the millions of dollars, if offered at the right time. The parents of children born illegally, to those without KidCred or who have used up their KidCred, are fined heavily, and the children receive no social benefits and no education. There is even some talk about prison sentences for those who bear children without KidCred.
"Mercies"
Inter-dimensional travel. As I think I mentioned in an earlier post, one common theme in SF is the time travel story in which there is an attempt to go back in time to prevent some great evil or catastrophe: assassinating Hitler is a favorite among writers. This story doesn't involve time travel but a different method of preventing some evil.
Set some time in the future, Warren has become rich and uses his wealth to bring his dream to fruition. He has hated serial killers since he first learned of them as a teenager. It's too late to do something about those in the world in the dimension in which he resides, so he decides to do something about those in worlds in other dimensions, especially those so "close" that there's only a very small difference between them and his world.
He has the people who work for him research these other worlds for those who appear to be the counterparts of serial killers in his world. He decides to kill them, and to kill them before they've started killing. In other words, Warren has decided on a pre-emptive strike, since these people have not yet harmed anyone. There's a problem though, something Warren did not take into account, but he eventually encounters it.
The moral question one might consider is Warren's justification for killing these people: they haven't harmed anyone at the point he is to kill them. Is this justifiable?
"Doing Lennon"
This is another cryonics tale. It was written in 1975, some five years before John Lennon was killed in 1980. Henry Fielding has chosen "the long sleep" before he really needed it. When he awakes in the 22nd century, he claims to be John Lennon and that he was "fleeing political persecution." This is why he used the alias.
In his real life, Henry Fielding had been a broker who had done quite well financially, along with surreptitiously dipping into several accounts belonging to others. He was a devoted follower of the Beatles, collecting records, memorabilia, and gossip about them, as well as memorizing the lyrics to all of their songs. On his vacations, he haunted Liverpool, picking up the local colour and accents and visiting places important to the Beatles legend. Now he was going to put all that knowledge to work.
Things go well for a while for him in the future: his singing and guitar playing are accepted by all. Then things get complicated. First, he is told that the corpsicle of Paul McCartney has been discovered, and everybody is breathlessly awaiting their reunion. Then, he discovers Henry Fielding the Real. Who then is he?
Afternotes
Brief comments by Gregory Benford about each of the stories.
Monday, December 29, 2014
Gregory Benford: Still more from Anomalies
More stories from Gregory Benford's latest short story collection: Anomalies
Comes the Evolution"
The characters talk, endlessly, about "revolution," but the title of the story refers to evolution, a gradual change that takes place, when one species slowly becomes another. Note the names of the characters: Lenin, Trotsky, Washington, Jefferson, Franklin, and Emma Goldman. She played a pivotal role in the development of anarchist political philosophy in North America and Europe in the first half of the 20th century.
They see themselves as revolutionaries, but their plans show them to be something quite different. Eventually they all come together to rejuvenate the Cause, but their plans, however, have evolved into 21st century versions whose new focus is not on changing governments but upon finding a safe haven where they can create a utopia.
------------------------------------------------------------------
"Anomalies"
Another of Benford's short stories that plays with the theme of religion and science. An amateur astronomer has discovered that the moon is a few minutes ahead of schedule. It's still in its proper orbit, but it appears to have somehow been transported to an advanced position. This is impossible, of course. Later it is discovered that several stars are also not in their proper position and appeared to have suddenly moved within an hour of the time the moon had jumped ahead. This also was impossible.
One of the characters theorizes that the universe is a computer program and the sudden movements were the result of a bug in the program. This, of course, brings up the question of the identity of the programmer. Also, computer programs are normally debugged, here on earth anyway. Will this program be debugged? What effect will this possible bug have on earth and how will the debugging take place? Will it also affect earth? Eventually a new field of study emerges: one that is a combination of science, philosophy, and religion--the field of Empirical Theology.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
"Caveat Time Traveler"
This is a short story about time travel and some facts about human nature. The title says it all: Let Time Travelers Beware. Human nature doesn't change.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Lazarus Rising"
This is a tale of cryonics. Carlos Forenza is 87 years old. He has come in for his medical checkup. If they find something that can't be cured or is extremely expensive to cure, they would put him into cryonic sleep and let the future decide when it was ready to deal with his problem. They wouldn't even wake him to inform him of the situation. But, something has gone wrong for he is awake, with his senses disconnected. Clearly he has returned to consciousness before the process of putting him into cold sleep has been codmpleted. Now, he has to regain control of his body and let them know that something had gone wrong.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Isaac From The Outside"
This is a poem that brings in a number of SF writers, one of whom, obviously, is Isaac Asimov. The theme is simple: one shouldn't make assumptions about a person from that person's writings. The poem points out some inconsistencies between what these SF authors write about and how they live their own lives.
One topic covered is cryonics, about which many of these authors have written in various short stories and novels. But, the poem goes one to ask the following: how many actually went beyond treating cryonics simply as a story element and looked into it as something they might actually consider for themselves?
The next question should be the reader's question. I've always considered cryonics simply as a story element. But today there are companies in existence that will perform this service. What about you? Are you interested?
Hmmmm. . . I wonder how much it costs.
Comes the Evolution"
The characters talk, endlessly, about "revolution," but the title of the story refers to evolution, a gradual change that takes place, when one species slowly becomes another. Note the names of the characters: Lenin, Trotsky, Washington, Jefferson, Franklin, and Emma Goldman. She played a pivotal role in the development of anarchist political philosophy in North America and Europe in the first half of the 20th century.
They see themselves as revolutionaries, but their plans show them to be something quite different. Eventually they all come together to rejuvenate the Cause, but their plans, however, have evolved into 21st century versions whose new focus is not on changing governments but upon finding a safe haven where they can create a utopia.
------------------------------------------------------------------
"Anomalies"
Another of Benford's short stories that plays with the theme of religion and science. An amateur astronomer has discovered that the moon is a few minutes ahead of schedule. It's still in its proper orbit, but it appears to have somehow been transported to an advanced position. This is impossible, of course. Later it is discovered that several stars are also not in their proper position and appeared to have suddenly moved within an hour of the time the moon had jumped ahead. This also was impossible.
One of the characters theorizes that the universe is a computer program and the sudden movements were the result of a bug in the program. This, of course, brings up the question of the identity of the programmer. Also, computer programs are normally debugged, here on earth anyway. Will this program be debugged? What effect will this possible bug have on earth and how will the debugging take place? Will it also affect earth? Eventually a new field of study emerges: one that is a combination of science, philosophy, and religion--the field of Empirical Theology.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
"Caveat Time Traveler"
This is a short story about time travel and some facts about human nature. The title says it all: Let Time Travelers Beware. Human nature doesn't change.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Lazarus Rising"
This is a tale of cryonics. Carlos Forenza is 87 years old. He has come in for his medical checkup. If they find something that can't be cured or is extremely expensive to cure, they would put him into cryonic sleep and let the future decide when it was ready to deal with his problem. They wouldn't even wake him to inform him of the situation. But, something has gone wrong for he is awake, with his senses disconnected. Clearly he has returned to consciousness before the process of putting him into cold sleep has been codmpleted. Now, he has to regain control of his body and let them know that something had gone wrong.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Isaac From The Outside"
This is a poem that brings in a number of SF writers, one of whom, obviously, is Isaac Asimov. The theme is simple: one shouldn't make assumptions about a person from that person's writings. The poem points out some inconsistencies between what these SF authors write about and how they live their own lives.
One topic covered is cryonics, about which many of these authors have written in various short stories and novels. But, the poem goes one to ask the following: how many actually went beyond treating cryonics simply as a story element and looked into it as something they might actually consider for themselves?
The next question should be the reader's question. I've always considered cryonics simply as a story element. But today there are companies in existence that will perform this service. What about you? Are you interested?
Hmmmm. . . I wonder how much it costs.
Sunday, April 27, 2014
Franz Werfel: Star of the Unborn, Pt. 2
What will humans and civilization be 100,000 years from now?
The planet is unrecognizable to someone from the 21st century. For the most part, the mountains have disappeared and the world is uniformly flat. The ground is covered by something that sounds like artificial turf, grey and flexible. It is also the main means of transportation. The people have a device that they can enter in the coordinates of any spot on the planet and they will be transported there. Actually, according to F. W., their destination is brought to them! Just how this was done and just what would happen if two people in opposite directions both wanted the same destination at the same time was never explained.
Most people now live underground. It's seems as though this happened centuries ago before the present time of peace and prosperity was established. Constant warfare made it necessary to build homes underground, rather than build above ground with some sort of underground shelter. It just seemed more practical to go underground at that time. Today there really is no need, but habits and traditions are hard to overcome, especially, it seems, when there's no real need for them.
The people are uniformly beautiful, if small statured and slight of build, reminiscent of the Eloi, one of the two human races found in H. G. Wells' The Time Traveler. Most seem to have little to do except enjoy themselves, as most of their needs are free. The human race at this time seems fragmented. and while F.W. spends time visiting the other groups, he spends most of his time with those whose life is spent in leisure.
Various groups have their own domiciles, separate from each other and the general population: the Roman Catholic hierarchy, Scientists and Scholars, Workers, Jews, all live in their own ghettos, separate from the population. There are rebels also. Parts of the transformed earth seem to be reverting back to its wild state, and there are those who have abandoned contemporary civilization and moved into these jungles, as they are called by the rest of the population.
Most animals and insects have disappeared, except for some that have been modified to form dwarf versions. The many varieties of dogs have disappeared, and those that are left are physically similar, as well as being able to use a limited form of speech. They seem to be obsessed with acting like humans. However, there is one species that hasn't changed. They are still the same size, still come in a variety of colors, and still act as they always have--the cat. For some inexplicable reason, humans have been unable to modify the cat. And, more and more cats are disappearing into the "jungles." As usual, the cat goes its own way.
As I mentioned in an earlier post, this is one of the most unique SF novels I have ever read. It is not an easy read, but it's well worth the effort. It is on my reread list.
The planet is unrecognizable to someone from the 21st century. For the most part, the mountains have disappeared and the world is uniformly flat. The ground is covered by something that sounds like artificial turf, grey and flexible. It is also the main means of transportation. The people have a device that they can enter in the coordinates of any spot on the planet and they will be transported there. Actually, according to F. W., their destination is brought to them! Just how this was done and just what would happen if two people in opposite directions both wanted the same destination at the same time was never explained.
Most people now live underground. It's seems as though this happened centuries ago before the present time of peace and prosperity was established. Constant warfare made it necessary to build homes underground, rather than build above ground with some sort of underground shelter. It just seemed more practical to go underground at that time. Today there really is no need, but habits and traditions are hard to overcome, especially, it seems, when there's no real need for them.
The people are uniformly beautiful, if small statured and slight of build, reminiscent of the Eloi, one of the two human races found in H. G. Wells' The Time Traveler. Most seem to have little to do except enjoy themselves, as most of their needs are free. The human race at this time seems fragmented. and while F.W. spends time visiting the other groups, he spends most of his time with those whose life is spent in leisure.
Various groups have their own domiciles, separate from each other and the general population: the Roman Catholic hierarchy, Scientists and Scholars, Workers, Jews, all live in their own ghettos, separate from the population. There are rebels also. Parts of the transformed earth seem to be reverting back to its wild state, and there are those who have abandoned contemporary civilization and moved into these jungles, as they are called by the rest of the population.
Most animals and insects have disappeared, except for some that have been modified to form dwarf versions. The many varieties of dogs have disappeared, and those that are left are physically similar, as well as being able to use a limited form of speech. They seem to be obsessed with acting like humans. However, there is one species that hasn't changed. They are still the same size, still come in a variety of colors, and still act as they always have--the cat. For some inexplicable reason, humans have been unable to modify the cat. And, more and more cats are disappearing into the "jungles." As usual, the cat goes its own way.
As I mentioned in an earlier post, this is one of the most unique SF novels I have ever read. It is not an easy read, but it's well worth the effort. It is on my reread list.
Monday, March 31, 2014
Franz Werfel: Star of the Unborn, an SF novel
Franz Werfel
Star of the Unborn
Published posthumously in 1946
607 pages
Opening lines from Franz Werfel's Star of the Unborn
"This is a First Chapter simply because it seemed inappropriate to begin this opuscule with a Second Chapter. The only factors that stood in the way of placing the words 'Chapter Two' on the first page of this novel were the publisher's sense of propriety, the reading public's well-known propensity for the discovery of monstrous typographical errors, and finally, the author's mania for originality, since he feared that some colleague in the gaily flippant era of romanticism must certainly have begun one of his rank works with a Second Chapter. For these reasons we begin with chapter One, no matter how superfluous this chapter may be for the progress of the action, or, more accurately, of the exploration."
The novel is a first person narrative, of a little more than 600 pages. Therefore, the nature or the personality of the narrator, especially in a long work such as this, becomes vital to the work and highly significant to the reader. Consequently, it behooves me to tell you somewhat about the narrator, as a sort of preparation for what you will experience if you decide to take up this work. And, since the narrator introduces himself in the very next paragraph (sort of, anyway), I have decided to let the narrator do all the work and simply let my fingers do the walking.
"Since we are dealing with a kind of travelogue I feel the obligation to introduce the hero, or, more modestly, the central figure of the occurrences here set forth. This particular literary form has the unfortunate weakness that the eye that sees, the ear that hears, the spirit that comprehends, the voice that narrates, the 'I' that is involved in many adventures, constitutes the central point about which, in the most literal sense, everything revolves. This central point, candidly designated as F. W., is, unfortunately, I myself. Purely from an innate aversion to getting into difficulties, I should have preferred not to be I-myself in these pages. Still it was not only the most natural, but the only way, and I was regrettably unable to invent any 'he' that could adequately have borne the burden of the 'I' for me. And so the 'I' of this story is not a deceptive, novelistic, assumed, fictitious 'I' any more than the story itself is the mere offspring of speculative imagination. It happened to me, as I must confess, quite against my will. Without the slightest preparation or premonition, contrary to all my habits and instincts, I was sent out one night as an explorer. What I experienced, I really experienced. I am quite prepared to embark upon a frank discussion of this little word 'really' with any philosophically minded reader and I am confident that I will with the argument in every instance."
As you no doubt may have noticed F. W. rambles on and on, but he does eventually get there, in a very roundabout way. And, that for me, is one of the charms of this very unique work as he somehow manages to drag in most of the social, economic, psychological, environmental, and religious issues of the day, which we have not yet managed to solve some seventy years later. Since we began with a quotation from the beginning of Chapter One, it is only appropriate that we conclude these introductory words with the last paragraph of Chapter One.
"And under the words 'Chapter One' that are still waiting for the story of our monstrous reality, I decided to sketch the foregoing paragraphs. It is a superstitious trick. I have not forfeited anything. I have not given up my original task. The 'Chapter One' that was to have borne an incomparable load, with the full agreement of my readers, is not a First Chapter. Instead, Chapter Two assumes the function of Chapter One."
And, thus he begins his little adventure in "Chapter Two."
F. W. is a time traveler, in a way. He lived and apparently died sometime during the 20th century. He now finds himself approximately 100,000 years in the future. He has been resurrected as a wedding gift by B. H., who had been a friend of his some 100,000 years ago.
B. H. had gone to Tibet and studied and learned the basic tenets of reincarnation so thoroughly that he has been successfully reincarnated and retained memories of his reincarnations for 100, 000 years now. Admittedly his memories of the far past were getting a bit jumbled, but he still remembered F. W. and had used the highly developed science of the day to bring F. W. back to life for some undetermined time as a wedding gift. B. H. was not fully accepted as a true member of the present civilization at this time and had hoped to gain admittance by presenting this unusual wedding gift.
Fantasy?
SF?
Satire?
Surreal allegory?
Socio/political commentary?
All of the above?
None of the above?
Some of the above?
Something entirely different?
I'm not sure what to make of this work. I first read it decades ago and recently came across it gathering dust in a remote corner of my bookcase. Intrigued, I reread it and now it's scheduled for another reread in the near future. There's just too much going on here to take it all in within one reading or two, or three.
This book requires a real commitment to finish, primarily because it is so different from what is popular today. It can't be read in ten or fifteen minute segments. Most people will never read it because of this. Moreover, the narrator's rambling discursive style will also turn readers off. And, some of those who have decided to read the book will never get around to it because they will wait for the right moment when they have enough time to spend on this book. But, this decision is unfortunate because spending the time with this book is far more rewarding than spending the same amount of time on lesser works. The best way to handle this is to get the book and start reading, without waiting for the opportune moment, for it will never arrive.
I supposed I've scared off most of you who have taken the time to get this far in my ramblings. I hope not, but . . .
Highly recommended.
Star of the Unborn
Published posthumously in 1946
607 pages
Opening lines from Franz Werfel's Star of the Unborn
"This is a First Chapter simply because it seemed inappropriate to begin this opuscule with a Second Chapter. The only factors that stood in the way of placing the words 'Chapter Two' on the first page of this novel were the publisher's sense of propriety, the reading public's well-known propensity for the discovery of monstrous typographical errors, and finally, the author's mania for originality, since he feared that some colleague in the gaily flippant era of romanticism must certainly have begun one of his rank works with a Second Chapter. For these reasons we begin with chapter One, no matter how superfluous this chapter may be for the progress of the action, or, more accurately, of the exploration."
The novel is a first person narrative, of a little more than 600 pages. Therefore, the nature or the personality of the narrator, especially in a long work such as this, becomes vital to the work and highly significant to the reader. Consequently, it behooves me to tell you somewhat about the narrator, as a sort of preparation for what you will experience if you decide to take up this work. And, since the narrator introduces himself in the very next paragraph (sort of, anyway), I have decided to let the narrator do all the work and simply let my fingers do the walking.
"Since we are dealing with a kind of travelogue I feel the obligation to introduce the hero, or, more modestly, the central figure of the occurrences here set forth. This particular literary form has the unfortunate weakness that the eye that sees, the ear that hears, the spirit that comprehends, the voice that narrates, the 'I' that is involved in many adventures, constitutes the central point about which, in the most literal sense, everything revolves. This central point, candidly designated as F. W., is, unfortunately, I myself. Purely from an innate aversion to getting into difficulties, I should have preferred not to be I-myself in these pages. Still it was not only the most natural, but the only way, and I was regrettably unable to invent any 'he' that could adequately have borne the burden of the 'I' for me. And so the 'I' of this story is not a deceptive, novelistic, assumed, fictitious 'I' any more than the story itself is the mere offspring of speculative imagination. It happened to me, as I must confess, quite against my will. Without the slightest preparation or premonition, contrary to all my habits and instincts, I was sent out one night as an explorer. What I experienced, I really experienced. I am quite prepared to embark upon a frank discussion of this little word 'really' with any philosophically minded reader and I am confident that I will with the argument in every instance."
As you no doubt may have noticed F. W. rambles on and on, but he does eventually get there, in a very roundabout way. And, that for me, is one of the charms of this very unique work as he somehow manages to drag in most of the social, economic, psychological, environmental, and religious issues of the day, which we have not yet managed to solve some seventy years later. Since we began with a quotation from the beginning of Chapter One, it is only appropriate that we conclude these introductory words with the last paragraph of Chapter One.
"And under the words 'Chapter One' that are still waiting for the story of our monstrous reality, I decided to sketch the foregoing paragraphs. It is a superstitious trick. I have not forfeited anything. I have not given up my original task. The 'Chapter One' that was to have borne an incomparable load, with the full agreement of my readers, is not a First Chapter. Instead, Chapter Two assumes the function of Chapter One."
And, thus he begins his little adventure in "Chapter Two."
F. W. is a time traveler, in a way. He lived and apparently died sometime during the 20th century. He now finds himself approximately 100,000 years in the future. He has been resurrected as a wedding gift by B. H., who had been a friend of his some 100,000 years ago.
B. H. had gone to Tibet and studied and learned the basic tenets of reincarnation so thoroughly that he has been successfully reincarnated and retained memories of his reincarnations for 100, 000 years now. Admittedly his memories of the far past were getting a bit jumbled, but he still remembered F. W. and had used the highly developed science of the day to bring F. W. back to life for some undetermined time as a wedding gift. B. H. was not fully accepted as a true member of the present civilization at this time and had hoped to gain admittance by presenting this unusual wedding gift.
Fantasy?
SF?
Satire?
Surreal allegory?
Socio/political commentary?
All of the above?
None of the above?
Some of the above?
Something entirely different?
I'm not sure what to make of this work. I first read it decades ago and recently came across it gathering dust in a remote corner of my bookcase. Intrigued, I reread it and now it's scheduled for another reread in the near future. There's just too much going on here to take it all in within one reading or two, or three.
This book requires a real commitment to finish, primarily because it is so different from what is popular today. It can't be read in ten or fifteen minute segments. Most people will never read it because of this. Moreover, the narrator's rambling discursive style will also turn readers off. And, some of those who have decided to read the book will never get around to it because they will wait for the right moment when they have enough time to spend on this book. But, this decision is unfortunate because spending the time with this book is far more rewarding than spending the same amount of time on lesser works. The best way to handle this is to get the book and start reading, without waiting for the opportune moment, for it will never arrive.
I supposed I've scared off most of you who have taken the time to get this far in my ramblings. I hope not, but . . .
Highly recommended.
Saturday, August 4, 2012
Thomas Mullen: The Revisionists
When I first picked up Thomas Mullen's The Revisionists, I thought it was going to be a traditional Time Patrol novel. Some agency in the future sends operatives back into the past to either capture criminals who have gone back to use their superior technology to commit various crimes or to prevent those who would like to prevent certain events from taking place or perhaps to bring about a different future. For example, one might attempt to prevent the holocaust by assassinating Hitler long before he ruled Germany. The agency then would attempt to prevent the assassination because of the fear that this would change the future, even though it meant allowing the deaths of millions of people during WWII. Preventing WWII might make for a better future, but it could also bring about one that was worse: averting WWII in the 1940s might bring about a nuclear war in the 50s.
Thomas Mullen gives us this, but he also does something more. Normally, the focus would be on the Time Agent's attempts to either prevent something that would happen or to make sure that something did happen, so as to ensure that the future remains unchanged. In this novel, Zed (or Troy Jones, his false contemporary identity) is sent back to counter the efforts of the hags, or historical agitators. These people, from Zed's own time, are dissidents who believe the government is a dictatorship and go back into time to prevent events from happening which would lead to the years of warfare that would eventually bring the future world-wide government to power.
While this all sounds very typical, it is only part of the story. Mullen not only follows the Agent, but he also introduces several plot threads which all eventually, and logically, come together at the end. It is a tangled plot which seemingly involves the FBI, the CIA, Enhanced Awareness (a company that creates and sells advanced surveillance technology to anybody), various whistle blowers (one from a law firm and another from the CIA), and a young Indonesian woman who somehow manages to become a domestic slave to a South Korean diplomat living in the US.
The tale is closer to being an espionage thriller than a typical time travel novel, especially if one ignores the "Z" chapters which focus on Zed's activities as he strives make sense of what has become a very confusing situation. He must now contend not only with the hags but also with various contemp (Zed's term for the people of the time he now inhabits) forces, all of whom seem determined to stop him. Along with Zed's problems, the various contemp heroes and heroines (Leo, Tasha and Sari) all find themselves being confronted by various strangers, all of whom carry badges from one or more agencies--some governmental, some quasi-governmental and claiming to be working for a governmental agency, and some who seem to be thugs really to kill somebody or anybody for some inexplicable reason, at first anyway.
To add to the general confusion, Zed encounters a fellow Agent, who has also been assigned the same task, which is something that normally never happens. In addition, when they compare notes, they find that each has been given only partial information about the present situation, again something very odd. To complicate matters even further, the fellow agent expresses some doubts about their mission and their government.
Zed is a complex character, or at least, he becomes one, as he moves from total acceptance that the world he comes from is the best of all possible worlds (or so he is frequently told by the government, so frequently I began to suspect propaganda rather than a factual appraisal) to confusion, and then to doubts about the government, his role, and even his identity, especially as he gradually loses most of the special technology that allows him to function in ways superior to the contemp forces.
Is he really an agent from the future or is he psychotic and reinterpreting his past to fit in with his delusions? Troy Jones was a real person whose short life actually resembled Zed's life, including the loss of his wife and children. Zed also only needed minor plastic surgery to make him resemble Troy. This is why Zed was given this identity. Since his superior technology no longer works, Zed really has nothing to prove that he really comes from the future. I think P. K. Dick would be very happy at this point.
Overall Comments: I'm going to take a close look at other works by Thomas Mullen, as his writing style (clear and striaghtforward), characterization, and plot construction really impress me.
Thomas Mullen gives us this, but he also does something more. Normally, the focus would be on the Time Agent's attempts to either prevent something that would happen or to make sure that something did happen, so as to ensure that the future remains unchanged. In this novel, Zed (or Troy Jones, his false contemporary identity) is sent back to counter the efforts of the hags, or historical agitators. These people, from Zed's own time, are dissidents who believe the government is a dictatorship and go back into time to prevent events from happening which would lead to the years of warfare that would eventually bring the future world-wide government to power.
While this all sounds very typical, it is only part of the story. Mullen not only follows the Agent, but he also introduces several plot threads which all eventually, and logically, come together at the end. It is a tangled plot which seemingly involves the FBI, the CIA, Enhanced Awareness (a company that creates and sells advanced surveillance technology to anybody), various whistle blowers (one from a law firm and another from the CIA), and a young Indonesian woman who somehow manages to become a domestic slave to a South Korean diplomat living in the US.
The tale is closer to being an espionage thriller than a typical time travel novel, especially if one ignores the "Z" chapters which focus on Zed's activities as he strives make sense of what has become a very confusing situation. He must now contend not only with the hags but also with various contemp (Zed's term for the people of the time he now inhabits) forces, all of whom seem determined to stop him. Along with Zed's problems, the various contemp heroes and heroines (Leo, Tasha and Sari) all find themselves being confronted by various strangers, all of whom carry badges from one or more agencies--some governmental, some quasi-governmental and claiming to be working for a governmental agency, and some who seem to be thugs really to kill somebody or anybody for some inexplicable reason, at first anyway.
To add to the general confusion, Zed encounters a fellow Agent, who has also been assigned the same task, which is something that normally never happens. In addition, when they compare notes, they find that each has been given only partial information about the present situation, again something very odd. To complicate matters even further, the fellow agent expresses some doubts about their mission and their government.
Zed is a complex character, or at least, he becomes one, as he moves from total acceptance that the world he comes from is the best of all possible worlds (or so he is frequently told by the government, so frequently I began to suspect propaganda rather than a factual appraisal) to confusion, and then to doubts about the government, his role, and even his identity, especially as he gradually loses most of the special technology that allows him to function in ways superior to the contemp forces.
Is he really an agent from the future or is he psychotic and reinterpreting his past to fit in with his delusions? Troy Jones was a real person whose short life actually resembled Zed's life, including the loss of his wife and children. Zed also only needed minor plastic surgery to make him resemble Troy. This is why Zed was given this identity. Since his superior technology no longer works, Zed really has nothing to prove that he really comes from the future. I think P. K. Dick would be very happy at this point.
Overall Comments: I'm going to take a close look at other works by Thomas Mullen, as his writing style (clear and striaghtforward), characterization, and plot construction really impress me.
Monday, December 8, 2008
Robert Silverberg--Project Pendulum
Robert Silverberg's Project Pendulum, is, unfortunately, a relatively lightweight time travel tale published first in 1987. It's another one of those stories that has an interesting premise, but the author really goes nowhere with it.
The time traveling machine sends twin brothers, one a paleontologist and the other a physicist, on a trip through time that most resembles a pendulum, as the title suggests. Twins were selected because the two travelers had to have similar weights. One twin initially goes back in time while the other goes forward an equal length in time. Then the one going back in time goes forward, while the other goes back. Each "swing" from past to present to past, is longer than the previous stop. Eric first goes back 5 minutes and then moves forward 50 minutes from time zero--the time the experiment began. He then swings back 500 minutes from time zero. Sean, his brother, does the exact opposite--forward 5 minutes, then back 50 minutes, and the forward 500 minutes. Neither stops at the point the other brother stopped on the "outward" leg of the trip. However, they will on the return leg.
This process only allows for a brief period at any stop, though the length of the stop increases as they get further away from time zero. This is the weak point in the story. We really don't get a chance to see much of what each period is like, either going back or going forward. All the reader, and the time travelers get, is a brief glimpse of what that era is like.
I was also surprised that, although they were scheduled to travel millions of years into the past and future, no one seemed concerned about possible changes in the atmosphere. This actually posed a threat to one of the brothers, and presumably will to the other on the return leg, if he isn't killed prior to getting to that stop in time.
While reading the novel, I was almost immediately reminded of another novel, A. E. van Vogt's The Weapon Shops of Isher, first published in the early 1950's, in which van Vogt posits a similar time pendulum. To keep it brief, thousands of years in the future, an energy weapon disguised as a large building is trained on one of the Weapon Shops. The Weapon Shop's energy screen causes the two of them to move through time in opposite directions. A man in 1951 enters the Shop and becomes the focus of the energy beam, and he now moves back and forth in time while the energy weapon building moves in the opposite direction, just as Sean and Eric move back and forth in Silverberg's novel.
Since there is no author's foreward or introduction, I can't say for certain that Silverberg was influenced by van Vogt's novel. In addition, I can't find any internal reference that might suggest Silverberg's familiarity with van Vogt's novel.
Overall, Project Pendulum is a lightweight work, a pleasant but forgettable read. A better introduction to Silverberg's work would be Lord Valentine's Castle, The World Inside, At Winter's End, and Shadrach in the Furnace.
The time traveling machine sends twin brothers, one a paleontologist and the other a physicist, on a trip through time that most resembles a pendulum, as the title suggests. Twins were selected because the two travelers had to have similar weights. One twin initially goes back in time while the other goes forward an equal length in time. Then the one going back in time goes forward, while the other goes back. Each "swing" from past to present to past, is longer than the previous stop. Eric first goes back 5 minutes and then moves forward 50 minutes from time zero--the time the experiment began. He then swings back 500 minutes from time zero. Sean, his brother, does the exact opposite--forward 5 minutes, then back 50 minutes, and the forward 500 minutes. Neither stops at the point the other brother stopped on the "outward" leg of the trip. However, they will on the return leg.
This process only allows for a brief period at any stop, though the length of the stop increases as they get further away from time zero. This is the weak point in the story. We really don't get a chance to see much of what each period is like, either going back or going forward. All the reader, and the time travelers get, is a brief glimpse of what that era is like.
I was also surprised that, although they were scheduled to travel millions of years into the past and future, no one seemed concerned about possible changes in the atmosphere. This actually posed a threat to one of the brothers, and presumably will to the other on the return leg, if he isn't killed prior to getting to that stop in time.
While reading the novel, I was almost immediately reminded of another novel, A. E. van Vogt's The Weapon Shops of Isher, first published in the early 1950's, in which van Vogt posits a similar time pendulum. To keep it brief, thousands of years in the future, an energy weapon disguised as a large building is trained on one of the Weapon Shops. The Weapon Shop's energy screen causes the two of them to move through time in opposite directions. A man in 1951 enters the Shop and becomes the focus of the energy beam, and he now moves back and forth in time while the energy weapon building moves in the opposite direction, just as Sean and Eric move back and forth in Silverberg's novel.
Since there is no author's foreward or introduction, I can't say for certain that Silverberg was influenced by van Vogt's novel. In addition, I can't find any internal reference that might suggest Silverberg's familiarity with van Vogt's novel.
Overall, Project Pendulum is a lightweight work, a pleasant but forgettable read. A better introduction to Silverberg's work would be Lord Valentine's Castle, The World Inside, At Winter's End, and Shadrach in the Furnace.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)