Existence by David Brin

Published by Tor Books on June 19, 2012

Could there be a more ambitious title than Existence? David Brin earns forgiveness for his hubris by pulling off a dazzling exploration of humanity's response to the inevitable end of everything -- a redefinition of human existence. No small story, Existence strives for epic status. It is far-reaching, thought-provoking, and above all, entertaining. Existence is an idea-driven novel that doesn't skimp on plot or interesting characters. The story -- structured as a tapestry of interwoven plot threads -- changes directions more often than a miniature golf course. Since no summary could do it justice, a quick identification of the threads will have to suffice.

Operating a long bola tethered to a space station, Gerald Livingstone grabs orbiting space debris before it can cause any damage. After snatching a puzzling object from orbit, Gerald eventually realizes that it is a communication device, an alien emissary. Understanding what its many voices are trying to communicate becomes a daunting task that captivates the world's imagination. Peng Xiang Bin, collector of salvage in flooded Shanghai, finds a submerged object that closely resembles the orbiting artifact. Intriguingly, the "worldstone" is communicating a different message than its orbiting rival.

Hacker, the playboy heir to a fortune whose hobbies include amateur rocketry, befriends some unusual dolphins after his reentry vehicle crashes. Hacker's mother, Lacey, is a member of the powerful clade that exerts influence over nearly everything. Tech-bashing apocalyptic novelist Hamish Brookeman is a proponent of the Renunciation Movement, which wants to slow the development of technology until wisdom catches up. A reporter named Tor Povlov is on the verge of becoming a media star when a life-altering experience forces her to change the way she investigates and reports. More than the others, her storyline showcases the Information Age on steroids.

Eventually all of these plotlines (and others that are late-blooming) come together, although sometimes only loosely. Most of the story takes place on Earth but space junkies will be happy with the final 150 pages. Scattered chapter breaks provide information that adds texture to the narrative. The most salient of these are excerpts from Pandora's Cornucopia, which examines and catalogs threats to human existence. Add to this mix a sort of freeform autistic poetry that makes copious use of +/- symbols and you get a sense of the diverse and varied ideas and writing styles that Brin incorporates into the novel.

Although much of Brin's future is familiar -- eyewear that reveals or blocks a wide array of virtual inputs, evolving AIs, a Balkanized America -- he treats the reader to fresh ideas: a worldwide autism plague, homesteaders rebuilding cities that are buried underwater, public urination as a way to recycle phosphorus, self-righteous indignation (the enemy of reason) as a brain-altering addiction ... and more. Fans of knowledge will enjoy the discussions of ancient history, political theory, gene-splicing, brain chemistry, and the Fermi paradox, while science fiction fans will appreciate Brin's references to classic works in the genre.

Thankfully, Brin doesn't feel the need to describe every aspect of his imagined future in painstaking detail. Brin has the self-discipline to integrate information into the story, avoiding the pace-deadening exposition that mars the work of more self-indulgent writers. Brin skillfully blends his wealth of ideas with the necessities of good storytelling: an entertaining, carefully constructed plot and believable (if not always multidimensional) characters.

While Brin leavens the plot with humor and action scenes, the novel raises profound questions about the nature of existence -- how long humanity will endure, how it will end, how the definition of "human" will change, and what the human race is prepared to do to make its collective life last. Perhaps Brin's point lies in a quotation from Jamais Cascio that appears in the text: "in bad times, pessimism is a self-fulfilling and fatal prophecy." Or perhaps the point lies in a quotation from Darwin about the impossibility of understanding the "complex contingencies" on which existence depends.

Much like the world of the present, Brin's future is filled with sincere people who are frantic to save the planet while arguing about the nature of threats and proposed solutions, thus exacerbating the problems they seek to correct. Yet I was impressed by the sense of balance and optimism that pervades Existence. Brin pokes fun at prophets of doom while recognizing the need for cautionary voices. He is respectful of scientific achievement while acknowledging the reality that technological advancements often outstrip mankind's ability to use them wisely.

The true nature and purpose of the communication devices makes Existence one of the most imaginative first contact stories I've encountered. Existence is a little messy, as you would expect a novel of this length to be, and it drags in spots, although not often. If it doesn't quite succeed in its ambition, if the various plot threads don't perfectly cohere, if some of the characters are a bit underdeveloped, Brin nonetheless deserves credit for accomplishing so much in this intriguing and captivating novel. 

RECOMMENDED

You and Me and the Devil Makes Three (Esquire's Fiction for Men)

Published by Esquire on June 5, 2012; distributed digitally by Open Road Media

The first installment of Esquire's "Fiction for Men" series -- available exclusively as an ebook -- only partially fulfills its mission, described as publishing "the type of original short stories men love to read -- plot-driven, immediate, essential, and impossible to put down." I think men (and women) love to read good fiction, whether plot-driven or character-driven, but even by Esquire's narrow standards, only two of the three merit attention. Those two, however, make the volume worth reading.

The title story, by Aaron Gwyn, is written in spare prose that suits a spare idea: a young coke user has a harrowing experience and, months later, finds himself in a room filled with lawyers and the family members of a murder victim. The story is written in the second person, a technique that rarely works, but my more significant complaint is that the scant power generated in the middle section of the story is wasted. The story's final scene is pointless and utterly unrealistic.  (Not recommended)

In Jess Walter's "Big Man," the middle-aged members of a spectacularly unsuccessful recreational league basketball team decide to recruit a big man to play in the post -- the boyfriend of a team member's ex-wife. The story is peppered with intelligent humor but it's also poignant in its exploration of a man who confronts the end of a season -- not a basketball season, but a season of his life.  (Highly recommended)

"Young Man's Blues" by Luis Alberto Urrea is a slice of a young man's life. He makes a daring decision to do the right thing but there will eventually be a price to pay. Characters have strong, believable personalities and the tension in the story's second half is palpable. (Recommended)

RECOMMENDED

A River So Long by Vallie Lynn Watson

Published by Luminis Books on June 15, 2012

Written in uncomplicated prose, A River So Long tells Veronica's story in brief passages, a series of vignettes that eventually form the essence of a life. The novel's unconventional form is its chief strength.

Long before her unnamed husband let the septic system back up, flooding their house with sewage while he lay passed out on the couch, there were serious issues with Veronica's marriage. Veronica's response: a fling in Jamaica; chatting with old boyfriend Klein (with whom she once engaged in questionable behavior involving Klein's minor sister, now a television star); a fling with a married co-worker named Van she meets on business trips; a fling with Enzo who (she thinks) might be a suitable boyfriend even though he's not her type; a fling with old boyfriend Dylan -- and we're not even thirty pages into the novel.

The rest of the story skips around in time, describing Veronica's job-related travels and her trysts and chance encounters with the various men, women, and couples in her life. Veronica seems vaguely aware that she's searching for passion (or romance or love) in all the wrong places. As Veronica flits from city to city, hotel room to hotel room, her home and the homes of others, she engages in a variety of seemingly random acts, many of which are amusing if barely comprehensible.

It isn't clear what Veronica thinks about any of this; the reader is privy only to her most superficial thoughts on an emotional level. We know about the view she prefers in Jamaica and how she feels about the décor in various hotel rooms, but we learn little about the feelings she has (or lacks) concerning her husband and lovers. Veronica's husband has about as much depth as a stick figure; he exists only as a foil for Veronica. Much the same could be said for every character other than Veronica. Although there is more to Veronica, much of her interior remains hidden from the reader. Veronica's motivation for behaving as she does -- behavior that is often strange -- remains murky throughout the novel.

Veronica seems to be filled with fears and self-doubt but she doesn't agonize about her insecurities. To the extent that she thinks about her life at all, she realizes that she's living in the past. The relentless self-examination that is so often the basis for character-driven novels isn't part of Veronica's persona. Perhaps Vallie Lynn Watson's point is that some people just drift through life, unable or unwilling to take control of it. If so, it's a refreshing if unusual way to depict a novel's central character. At the same time, it makes Veronica something of a puzzle.

Despite (or because of) its strangeness, A River So Long sustained my interest. The story is told obliquely; what little we know about Veronica we learn as she remembers the cars she has owned or the crosses she received as gifts. A fragmented story that often seems superficial accumulates depth by its end, although the novel depends largely on the reader's imagination to fill the empty spaces. At some points the randomness of the story -- descriptions of Veronica's luggage or the co-workers at her first job or the flowers at weddings and funerals -- is mildly annoying, yet it makes sense if Watson's goal was to stitch together a life from its patchwork pieces. At times the story has a surrealistic quality but I never had trouble believing that the characters were real. Although I'm giving A River So Long a weak recommendation, in the end I found it more satisfying than not.

RECOMMENDED

The Bird Saviors by William J. Cobb

Published by Unbridled Books on June 12, 2012 

The Bird Saviors defies categorization. It is in part a crime novel about "a low-life splinter group of fundamentalist types who see this as the end times," a point of view that provides a convenient justification for ripping off the government, big business, and other sinners. It is in part a love story, in part a family drama on the order of HBO's Big Love, in small part a science fiction story that imagines a modern plague. The plot of The Bird Saviors also defies spoiler-free description. Perhaps an introduction to the characters will give a flavor of what this innovative novel has to offer.

A deadly fever has swept the country, carried by birds. Few people who reach an advanced stage recover. One who does survive is seventeen-year-old Ruby Cole. Born a hick, Ruby is one of the few characters in The Bird Saviors who aspires to be something more than a high school dropout. Ruby has a baby named Lila. Ruby's controlling and delusional father is John Wesley Cole, known to Ruby as Lord God (so named because of his rants about wickedness). Lord God is a veteran with a prosthetic leg who believes himself to be a conduit between the tangible and spiritual worlds. Hiram Page, who already has two wives, would like to make Ruby his third. Page is a pawnshop owner who supplements his income with criminal enterprises.

Collateral characters -- for the most part, a motley collection of losers and misfits -- include: Hiram's cousin Jack Brown, who wants to pawn a diamond ring he gave to Becca Cisneros before she ended their engagement; Elray James, the Pueblo, Colorado law enforcement officer who deals with the disturbance caused by Brown's attempt to take the ring back from Cisneros; George Armstrong Crowfoot, a Department of Animal Control officer, unconventional artist, and part-time cattle rustler who helps out Cisneros at James' request; Hiram's nephew Ezra Page, who has a run-in with Crowfoot over Cisneros; Ezra's friend Mosca, who won a shrunken head in a card game and is sure it is the head of an infamous outlaw; and ornithologist Ward Costello, who is studying declining bird populations. Costello needs someone to count birds. Ruby considers herself perfect for the job since counting birds is her hobby.

The Bird Saviors explores a number of interesting themes. Is it important to be extraordinary? Costello thinks he isn't. He harbors a secret desire to be a bird savior rather than a bird counter. He'd like to find the Lord God Bird, a woodpecker that may well be extinct. The novel's other Lord God views a Barn Owl as an omen, a portent of doom, and he puts himself at risk to help the kind of person he usually despises. Costello and Lord God could not be more different yet they have something in common beyond their mutual belief (based on science in one case and superstition in the other) that dwindling bird populations are a sign of things to come. Perhaps (the novel might be saying) people often fail to recognize their extraordinary gifts. Perhaps people who are ordinary, and even people who are damaged, are capable of extraordinary acts.

The characters are surprisingly complex. Those who behave badly are often troubled by a conscience; those who seem evil often have a heart. We see the characters differently as the novel shows them to us through the eyes of others and then through their own eyes. The story bleeds primal emotions; characters are driven by anger and greed and occasionally by love. For all their complexity, William J. Cobb has the wonderful ability to summarize his characters in a few choice phrases.

Cobb's crisp prose moves the story forward at a rapid pace. His images of hardscrabble lifestyles are as sharp as finely focused photographs. Some readers will probably be troubled by the absence of quotation marks but it's a clean style to which I quickly adapted. The dialog is, in fact, one of the novel's strengths. It perfectly reflects the characters' rough-and tumble lives.

In the end, the storylines don't cohere as well as one might hope. Some threads are left dangling and the narrative doesn't quite live up to its potential. I'm not sure what to make of the fever; its inclusion seems out of place. These quibbles are relatively minor, however, compared to the pleasure I took in reading about these remarkable, unconventional characters.

RECOMMENDED

Istanbul Passage by Joseph Kanon

Published by Atria Books on May 29, 2012

Set in 1945, Istanbul Passage tells an absorbing story that builds suspense like a Hitchcock movie. The novel rests upon a storyline that was a favorite of Hitchcock's: the (relatively) innocent man caught up in an intrigue he did not anticipate, forced to use his wits to avoid arrest or death. As is often the case in spy novels, themes of betrayal and moral ambiguity in a changing world pervade Istanbul Passage. The temptation and motivation to betray touches every important character.

Leon Bauer (American) is married to Anna (German) who is bedridden with a mysterious ailment. Leon works for R.J. Reynolds in Istanbul but does a bit of spying for Tommy King (Office of War Information) on the side. Tommy is pulling out of the city, leaving Leon to take delivery of a post-war defector named Alexei (Romanian) who is smuggled into Turkey by boat. The handover does not go smoothly. Hours later, in an early plot twist, Leon discovers that people he trusted are not on his side.

Leon learns Alexei's true identity from Mihai, a Mossad agent who believes Alexei to be a butcher, a killer of Jews (an accusation that Alexei denies). Mihai, the only person Leon trusts, refuses to help Alexei. In fact, he argues that it is no longer ethical for Leon to help Alexei gain his freedom. Leon thus confronts a dilemma. Alexei might be evil, but there are degrees of evil, and Alexei's role in the war is unclear. Alexei may be able to provide valuable Russian military intelligence to the Americans. Is it better to hand Alexei over to the Russians so that he can be executed (which might seem a just punishment for his alleged actions during the war) or to give him a pass for his wartime behavior in exchange for the information he claims to possess? Leon stands uncomfortably in the middle of this Hobson's choice, a position that becomes even less comfortable when the Turkish secret police take an interest in Leon's involvement with Alexei. Compounding Leon's problems is a mole whose identity is not revealed until the novel's end.

The revelation of the mole's identity is mildly surprising thanks to deft misdirection. Leon's moment of truth is a highlight in a book filled with scenes that make an impact.  Despite the moderately complex plot that brings together a number of carefully drawn characters, Joseph Kanon maintains a deliberate and gradually escalating pace.

Istanbul Passage raises fascinating ethical issues. When Mihai argues that the actions of people struggling for survival can't be judged by others who weren't in their shoes, he fails to understand that the same logic might apply to his judgment of Alexei. How should the reader view Alexei? He seems unremorsefully selfish yet he is capable of self-sacrifice. He is a Romanian who allied with Germany when Germany seemed to be prevailing, then switched his allegiance to Russia, and now seeks an alliance with the Americans. Other Romanians see him as a traitor, Mihai considers him a war criminal, but in the end, Alexei may simply be a man who tried to stay alive.

At the same time, how should the reader view Leon? As a devoted husband, he wants to help his wife but lacks the funds to do so. As a man who is attracted to women, he finds it difficult to resist advances. Leon is probably the most morally stalwart character in the book but he is no stranger to temptation. He wants to do the right thing but in the end he comes to understand that there is no right thing. And since nothing he can do will change the past, the question that confounds him is how to behave in the present.

Kanon manages to generate excitement without endless explosions and car chases. Action scenes are rare but riveting. Kanon writes dialog that is both realistic and smart. His characters are artfully constructed. Leon, of course, is the most fully developed. The reader is privy to his disjointed thoughts, often triggered by something he hears or sees but disconnected from his present environment. Strong characterizations combined with suspense, emotional intensity and ethical ambiguity make Istanbul Passage a standout spy novel.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED