Rogue Moon by Algis Budrys

First published in 1960

Rogue Moon is based on a strong premise: to explore a newly discovered construct on the moon -- a thing that keeps killing those who enter it -- scientists make a duplicate human who is kept on Earth while the original enters the construct. The original and duplicate stay in a sort of telepathic contact until the original's death, so the duplicate can chart the course up to the moment of death. The duplicate then becomes the new original, is duplicated again, and the new original makes his way a bit further before dying. In this way, a map through the construct can be created.

The execution is less satisfying than the concept. The lead scientist (Hawks), with the help of a rather disreputable personnel guy, finds a daredevil (Barker) who is capable of withstanding the psychological trauma of dying repeatedly. I wish the novel had focused more on that trauma, but the burden of dying over and over, as well as the mystery of the construct's purpose, receive little attention. The well written story instead focuses on the relationships between Hawks, the personnel guy, and Barker's girlfriend. There's nothing wrong with writing about relationships -- indeed, successful novels are about people, not just about ideas -- but I never got a good feel for Barker, for what it would be like to die again and again and again. That disappointed me a bit.

While Rogue Moon is intriguing and well worth reading, I think it is less developed than Budrys' other work, particularly Michaelmas and WHO?, both of which do a better job of combining well developed characters with intriguing ideas.

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Spy Hook by Len Deighton

 

Published by Alfred A. Knopf on December 3, 1988

This is the first novel of a trilogy that follows the Game, Set and Match trilogy (in which British agent Bernard Samson's wife Fiona defects). Spy Hook begins with the beleaguered Samson asking former agent Jim Pettyman, now working for an American corporation, to return to England to answer questions in the investigation of missing agency funds. After considerable intrigue involving (among other characters), a Hungarian known as Dodo, Samson learns something he isn't supposed to know about Bret Rensselaer, an agent who played an important role (and died) in the Game, Set and Match trilogy. To the consternation of his bosses, Samson keeps nosing into the missing money, following his suspicion that Fiona set up the account. Eventually Samson comes under suspicion (could he be working with his treasonous wife?) and as the noose begins to tighten, we come to a cliffhanger ending.

The sheer number of characters involved in the story can make it a bit confusing, but that complexity is just a reason to pay attention, to look back from time to time, or to take notes, not to dislike the book. The story is fast paced, intriguing, tightly plotted and well written with sharply defined characters. Samson's growing confusion as he defies orders and investigates matters he's supposed to leave alone makes him an appealing, sympathetic character. The supporting characters are often recognizable components of bureaucratic institutions -- the ones who get ahead by knowing the right people and stay there by creatively doing nothing, taking credit for the hard work of their subordinates.  All told, Spy Hook is an excellent beginning to the trilogy, topped only by Spy Line,  the second installment.

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Eater by Gregory Benford

Published by Eos on May 2, 2000

A mechanism constructed around a black hole billions of years ago has been traveling across the universe gathering and banking digitized versions of intelligent life. As it approaches Earth, it demands that several thousand humans be sacrificed to its library of knowledge, including specific individuals (Hillary Clinton among them). To encourage compliance, it uses magnetic energy to pummel D.C. and to visit lightning storms upon military or scientific bases while it gobbles up satellites. Working furiously, and often at odds with the military and political figures who try to control the operation, a team of astronomers searches for a way to chase the mechanism away.

While some readers complain that the novel's central thesis isn't fresh, that didn't particularly bother me. I enjoyed Eater for a couple of reasons. First, the key characters are flawed, human, and multidimensional. They made this a more interesting story than I usually expect from hard sf--and I do mean hard, given that the discussion of astrophysics was far beyond my grasp.

Second, while science fiction written by scientists typically portrays scientists as the saviors of the human race, Benford offered insightful views of how scientists compete against each other even while working together. He shows them indulging in professional jealousies, often a bit petty, and demonstrates how scientists can engage in politics even while claiming to despise politicians.

The story's emphasis on people--their follies and foibles, their complicated relationships, their cooperation and competition--makes this novel stand out. Hard sf too often focuses on ideas and places secondary (if any) emphasis on characters. Maybe that makes good reading for people of a scientific bent, but for those of us who don't have degrees in astrophysics, it's nice to encounter a novel of hard sf in which people matter.

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The Brief History of the Dead by Kevin Brockmeier

First published in 2006

The Brief History of the Dead is a book that stayed with me long after I finished it. I don't understand why so many readers disliked it. Some apparently had a preconceived notion that the novel would mimic a particular movie or book they liked and were disappointed to find that it was a different story entirely. So be warned: don't expect this novel to be quite like anything else you've encountered. If you take it on its own terms, you might enjoy it. I certainly did.

This well-written, haunting story imagines a virus that wipes out all life on Earth.  The dead reside in a sort of limbo as long as someone on Earth remembers them.  Point of view shifts between the residents of limbo (who are winking out of existence as the people who remember them die) and the last survivor on Earth, a woman in the Arctic who is struggling not with the virus, but with isolation and her unforgiving environment.

Here's why I liked this novel: The concept is imaginative. The nature of the Limbo-like existence of the dead is a stimulating mystery through much of the novel, until the characters in Limbo realize what their continued existence (at least in their Limbo-like state) depends upon. The writing is vivid. The images of Laura Byrd fighting for her survival are haunting. The novel raises intriguing questions about the nature of death and its relationship to the memory of the dead among the living.  As I said, this novel not only held my attention but made me think.

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EX-KOP by Warren Hammond

Published by Tor on March 2, 2010

Juno and Maggie are back in another brisk, violent story of life on Lagarto.  The noir atmosphere so masterfully created in KOP is just as effectively rendered in EX-KOP. Particularly strong is a subplot involving Juno's need for money to pay for a new spine for his wife who, hospitalized after a suicide attempt, has no desire to live. Juno wrestles with the moral and personal issues presented by his wife's desire to die, a dilemma that humanizes Juno, making him all the more appealing to the reader. That humanization is necessary given Juno's immediate disregard for the possible innocence of a convicted murderer, whose case Maggie hires him to investigate. Of course, Juno revises his opinion as the novel progresses, and Hammond does a fine job of letting suspense build as we wait to see whether the prisoner will be saved from execution.

The ending of this novel sets the scene for an anticipated third novel in this entertaining series. I look forward to reading it. If you like action and a sense of noir in your sf, you shouldn't miss the KOP books.

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