The Chinese Bandit by Stephen Becker

First published in 1975; published by Open Road Media on January 12, 2016

The Chinese Bandit is a classic adventure story. The title is misleading because many of the characters are bandits at heart. Traders and military officers are as likely to engage in a form of banditry as actual bandits -- which makes the bandits, in an odd way, more honest than the traders and officers. The title ironically refers to Jake Dodds, who isn’t Chinese and is no more of a bandit than most of the other characters.

The Chinese Bandit begins in the summer of 1947. As a Marine with twelve years of service, including a Purple Heart that he earned in Japan, Dodds has a mixed military record. Alcohol, brawling, and petty theft impaired his opportunity for career advancement, not that he particularly wanted to rise in the ranks. But now he’s in China, the war is over, and he’s made some money by arranging for Chinese buyers to steal supplies from a military truck. His colonel wants him to reenlist but that option becomes less attractive after Jake punches a general. Thus does Jake begin a new career, most of which is devoted to the avoidance of death.

With a little help from his Chinese friends, Jake leaves Peking. He hopes to make it to Turkestan, “where peaches, plums and melons grew, and men had four wives, and a foreigner could grow rich in gold and silver and mountain furs.” For the first leg of the journey, however, he must work as a camel-puller on a dangerous trek to Mongolia. Through unhappy circumstances, he later finds himself traveling with a roving group of bandits, conquering each day as it comes.

The literary themes of conflict -- man against man, against nature, and against himself -- weave together as Jake struggles with bandits, with the barren lands, and with his conscience. Low-key humor is infused in the story, partially in the form of Dodds’ irreverence, partially due to Stephen Becker’s dry wit. I particularly enjoyed the English translations of the characters’ creative Chinese cursing (favorites include “Dogs defile your great-grandmothers, all four of the chicken-defiling bags of dung” and “Bugger your mother and your father and all ancestors to the original generation of maggots”).

Yet there are also some poignant moments, revealing human behavior in the stark way that is common to westerns. Another section of the novel celebrates the joy of life, joy that can be found (or might best be found) in the most unexpected places. Friends can also be found in strange places and under odd circumstances, particularly if one is able to forgive old enemies. In fact, the story is one of personal transformation for Jake, as he discovers who he is and who he can become. But the will to change is one thing; the ability to overcome destiny is quite another.

In short, The Chinese Bandit is a rousing adventure story with depth, humor, and strong characters who engage in moral struggles. Becker is one of the underappreciated authors of the second half of the twentieth century. Works like The Chinese Bandit and A Covenant with Death allow Becker’s humility, honesty, and humanity to shine from his grave.

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The Early Science Fiction of Philip K. Dick (vol. 2) by Philip K. Dick

Published by Dover Publications on February 17, 2016

In his early years, the quality of Philip K. Dick’s ideas often exceeded the quality of his prose. He churned out fiction quickly, eking out a living as a paid-by-the-word writer who didn’t have time to rewrite and polish. I therefore expected these stories to be rough (like some of his early novels) and was pleasantly surprised to find that only a couple of the stories show evidence of hasty writing.

This volume is worth acquiring for “The Turning Wheel,” a sendup of various religious beliefs that takes place in a post-apocalyptic future that is class-based and Asian-centric. The story pokes fun at religions that brand pleasure as sinful, but it’s particularly noteworthy for its references to a revered individual named Elron Hu, a name that is suspiciously similar to L. Ron Hubbard, the science fiction writer who founded an imaginary but lucrative religion that has been embraced by Hollywood.

Most of the other stories are also entertaining, although none are as mind-blowing as his later work. Most follow the pattern of developing a science fiction theme and then giving it a surprise twist at the end.

“Prominent Author” deals with an ordinary worker who is testing a form of instantaneous transportation from his residential community in Pennsylvania to his office in downtown New York City. Taking the trip gives him a glimpse of another universe and the feeling that, by interacting with it, he may be changing it. The nature of the universe and the worker’s impact on it are the surprises that Dick delivers at the end. While this is a story that could have been fleshed out in greater detail, it’s a classic example of Dick’s clever imagination.

“Small Town” is about a model railroad enthusiast who has spent years making an exact replica of the town he hates -- until he decides to turn it into a town he can love. The story might be a bit predictable, but it would have been a good Twilight Zone episode.

In “Exhibit Piece,” a twentieth century museum exhibit becomes the reality of the man who curates it. The story ties into some current theories about the nature of reality, but those theories had not yet been popularized when Dick played with the idea. The ending has a twist that again would have made this a fun Twilight Zone episode.

Former Terrans who now consider themselves a “superior mutant race” are convinced that their colony is subjected to constant attacks by an unknown enemy. “Shell Game” considers how paranoia destroys the paranoid and how the paranoid destroy everyone else.

“Adjustment Team” is one of several works by Dick that inspired Hollywood films -- in this case, The Adjustment Bureau. The story is quite short, providing only the starting point for a movie, but it introduces a theme to which Dick often returned -- the nature (and manipulation) of reality.

“Meddler” is a time travel story. Two observations of the same point in the future reveal vastly different results. A man from the present is sent to the future to find out what went wrong. The twist at the end again has a Twilight Zone feel.

“Progeny” is about a future in which parents aren’t given the opportunity to mess up their kids. Instead, children are raised by robots, a fact that is upsetting to a father who has been off planet for some time. The ending is deliberately ambiguous and a little chilling.

“Upon the Dull Earth” is a quasi-supernatural story about a woman who “crosses over” and regrets her decision. Crossing back turns out to be a bad thing for human existence. The story has some of the religious overtones of Dick’s later work, but it’s the weakest story in the volume.

“Foster, You’re Dead” is a pointed criticism of the military-industrial complex. The characters in the story are fueled by the same paranoia that drives modern-day preppers (along with the desire to buy cool prepper gear). In Dick’s story, the desire (and peer pressure) is to buy cool bomb shelters. The story effectively conveys the idea that the threat of disaster is more often a marketing gimmick than an actual threat.

“Human Is” is an “alien mind takes over human body” story. Dick gives it a predictable but fun twist.

This isn’t by any means a “Best of” collection but it isn’t meant to be. For a PKD completist, it is an essential acquisition. For a reader who is new to PKD, I would recommend a “Best of” collection, but I suspect most science fiction fans would enjoy these stories, even if Dick’s earliest work wasn’t always his best work.

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Mr. Eternity by Aaron Thier

Published by Bloomsbury USA on August 9, 2016

“The truth is what happens. The world is only what it is.” So says Maria, a character in Mr. Eternity. But understanding the truth, understanding what happens (or what happened in the past, or what will happen in the future) is the problem. History cycles -- nations die and rebuild, slavery comes and goes -- but what we learn from the past is even less than what we learn from the present, hampering our ability to build a better future. That’s one of many lessons that might be taken from Mr. Eternity, an odd, sprawling, very funny account of a very long life.

Mr. Eternity takes place in several time periods. The story that unfolds in each period is related by a different narrator, each with a distinct voice. Although a few characters seem to appear in more than one period, one man links the stories. He is known by several similar names, including Daniel Defoe. He may or may not be the same Daniel Defoe who wrote Robinson Crusoe, although he has been in many shipwrecks. Defoe searches through the centuries for the treasure of Anakitos and for his lost love, Anna Gloria. It is a quest worthy of Don Quixote, to whom the novel expressly alludes.

The story in 1560 is narrated by Maria, an indigenous woman in the Amazon rainforest. Maria is thought to be from El Dorado, the legendary city of gold. Daniel de Fo plans an expedition to find El Dorado, taking Maria along as translator. He is accompanied by Spanish soldiers on a mission to conquer the land for Spain. Maria describes her observations of the explorers, and her own adventures, with wry detachment.

The narrator in 1750, an old man using the name John Green, adds a good measure of humor to the stories he tells. The stories generally concern Dr. Dan, who practices a kind of fraudulent medicine on a plantation in the Bahamas.

Equally engaging is the narrator in 2200, who works as Old Dan’s helper in exploring life in the parts of the United States that aren’t underwater. A number of vague disasters caused half the world to end between 2016 and 2200. The narrator is enthralled by Old Dan’s stories of snow and antibiotics and “streamy media” other relics of the past that the narrator doesn’t quite understand.

In 2500, the narrator is a woman whose father has declared a five year remodernization plan for St. Louis, which will henceforth be known as the Reunited States. Her father makes Daniel Defoe the Vice-Secretary of Remodernization, since Defoe “carried in his mind the whole accumulated knowledge of history.” Unfortunately, that knowledge is a bit scrambled.

The narrator in 2016 is a former graduate student who travels with a friend to Key West on the pretext of making a documentary about an old sailor who lives in a boat that was blown inland during a storm. The batty old sailor, of course, is Defoe, a/k/a “the ancient mariner.”

Defoe’s claim to have lived “in a town called La Mancha” suggests that he has something in common with Don Quixote, particularly in the confusion of reality and fantasy. As he ages, Defoe’s memories become increasingly twisted, making his stories all the more amusing. He often describes killing Magellan in the Battle of Mactan. He asserts that there were there were herds of wild camels in St. Louis when the Lewis and Clark expedition began, but he is probably confusing those with the specially bred dairy camels that went wild in later years.

Mr. Eternity might be read as an allegory of aging (nobody remembers how they got old, Defoe says, it just happens). It can also be read as a parable about finding things of value when everything is falling apart (including sunsets and pineapples), of beginning a new life in defiance of a world that always seems to be ending. Or as a lesson in living as the person you are, rather than the person you are not. It might best be read as a story about stories, including love stories, a reminder that love can be confusing and difficult to recognize but that it is worth pursuing, even when mankind is standing on an eternal precipice of disaster.

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The First Congress by Fergus M. Bordewich

Published by Simon & Schuster on February 9, 2016

Before the first Congress convened, the nation was deeply in debt, providing that some things never change. Without a central currency, commerce was haphazard, and in the absence of a manufacturing base, there was little enough to buy. Even convening the House and Senate proved to be a challenge, given the distances that many members needed to travel.

Fergus Bordewich takes the reader through the work of the first Congress as it progressed from month to month. Bordewich offers insight into the political issues, the politicians, and the political realities of the time. It’s interesting to see how many precedents set by the first legislators remain unchanged. Of particular interest are Bordewich’s descriptions of John Adams’ botched attempt to turn the vice presidency into a meaningful office, culminating in “a lasting template for vice-presidential inconsequence.”

James Madison, a key figure in the drive to form the Constitution, was the driving force behind the accomplishments of the first Congress. He labored tirelessly to enact the Bill of Rights and to assure that the government would have revenues with which to operate (“money is power,” he wrote, a truth in every age). He even wrote Washington’s inaugural address. Then he wrote the House of Representatives’ letter thanking Washington for the address. Then he wrote Washington’s reply. Madison was also instrumental in beating back the anti-Federalists, who seemed incapable of accepting defeat (and still do) even though their crabbed notion of “state’s rights” would have undermined the future of the United States.

Other notable accomplishments of the first Congress included creation of the Treasury Department and the levying of tariffs and duties so that the government would be able to finance its ambitious projects. Those included the federal court system, a national bank, a census, protection of patents and copyrights, the Department of Foreign Affairs (now the State Department), the Department of War (now the Department of Defense), the negotiation of treaties with Indians that would permit the nation’s expansion, and a standing Army that would permit expansion notwithstanding the desires of Indians.

It’s interesting how many issues that vexed the first Congress continue to divide politicians. Is it better to allow free trade or should some imports be restricted or taxed? Should “friendly” nations receive favored trade status? What is the fairest way for government to raise revenues? To what degree should presidential power be subject to congressional oversight? Is it wise for the federal government to finance itself by incurring debt? Under what conditions should new immigrants become citizens?

It’s also interested to read about the colonial hatred of lawyers (something that hasn’t changed much in the intervening centuries). Yet lawyers did much of the nuts-and-bolts work of the first Congress, including the creation of the federal judiciary. Oliver Ellsworth, for example, proposed to give diversity jurisdiction to federal courts, allowing the citizen of one state to sue the citizen of another state in federal court, thus minimizing “home-field advantage” by taking cases away from state courts that were too often biased. Ellsworth also thought federal courts could manage the subtle distinction between privateering (which helped fund the government) and piracy, which was frowned upon.

Other important questions were debated and resolved by the First Congress, including the president’s right to fire his appointments to executive offices without congressional approval and the apportionment of congressional districts. Madison’s heroic effort to enact the Bill of Rights gets well-deserved attention, and includes some interesting tidbits that are not mentioned in a recently published book (The Bill of Rights) that covers the same ground.

In hindsight, the first Congress was not perfect. It condoned the massacre of Indians even as it entered into the first treaty with an Indian tribe. It did not abolish slavery. Bordewich devotes a couple of chapters to the shameful pro-slavery arguments that prevailed (which Ben Franklin satirically gutted just before his death). The debate about where to locate the capital was driven by real estate speculations, including George Washington and many congressmen. How to deal with governmental debt incurred prior to ratification of the Constitution was also marred by conflicts of interest. Still, Bordewich makes clear that the achievements of the first Congress were remarkable.

Bordewich writes in a clear voice that falls somewhere between the liveliness of popular history and the dullness of academia. Bordewich adds color to the narrative by describing what elected representatives did with their free time (pumpkin beer!) and by revealing their personalities (except for George Washington, who had none). The First Congress offers a revealing look at a tumultuous period in American history and the post-revolutionary politicians who helped the newborn nation live up to its democratic ideals.

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The House of Daniel by Harry Turtledove

Published by Tor Books on April 19, 2016

The House of Daniel is a Depression-era semi-pro baseball novel. To fit it within the science fiction genre, Harry Turtledove added some zombies, vampires, werewolves, and wizards into the background. Bigfoot even shows up in the stands to watch a game. But those are just trappings, apparently meant to justify marketing a baseball novel as a science fiction novel. They have almost nothing to do with the story and make only occasional appearances. If you like baseball novels, you’ll probably like this one, but if you’re expecting the kind of alternate history that Turtledove usually produces, you might be disappointed.

Jack Spivey is looking for work in Oklahoma during the depression. Sometimes he does a job for Big Stu. Sometimes those jobs aren’t entirely legal. Spivey also plays semi-pro baseball, making the most of his limited talents. Not long into the novel, Spivey needs to get away from Big Stu and seizes an opportunity to make semi-pro baseball his full-time profession, traveling with a team called The House of Daniel.

As you’d expect from Turtledove, the era is portrayed in convincing detail. The freaky elements are also reasonably convincing. Zombies do manual labor. Nobody likes zombies because they take jobs away from living people, and it’s hard enough to find a job during the Depression. Wizards substitute for X-ray machines. Wizards also help gamblers with sports bets by putting a hex on the team that the gambler bets against. None of this is taken very seriously, including the flying saucers near Roswell, and other than a zombie riot in Denver that makes it difficult for the team to remain on schedule, none of it has much to do with the story.

Spivey is a likable guy who narrates the story in a folksy, semi-educated voice. He has a tendency toward redundancy (how many times does he need to tell us that he has a good glove but a weak bat?). More troubling is that Spivey is always saying things like “You think that bothered me? Oh, just a little” which is fine until it becomes wearing. After a couple of hundred pages, I was starting to hope that Spivey might get eaten by a zombie.

My growing irritation with the narrative voice notwithstanding, I enjoyed the story. It should appeal to people who like road novels (the House of Daniel is exclusively a road team) and historical novels that focus on the West and Southwest during the Depression. It will definitely appeal to hardcore baseball fans. It won’t appeal to science fiction fans who don’t enjoy anything other than traditional science fiction, or to zombie fans who don’t enjoy anything other than mayhem caused by the shambling undead. Fortunately, readers with such limited tastes can find plenty of other novels to enjoy.

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