SOMETIMES the most significant science fiction is to be found on the
boundaries of the genre. The winner of this year鈥檚 Arthur C. Clarke Award,
Amitav Ghosh鈥檚 The Calcutta Chromosome was published as a mainstream
novel. Also, SF is often at its finest when it straddles the borders of, say,
science and social trends and philosophy.
M. John Harrison is one of the few authors to merge SF/fantasy with literary
mainstream fiction, and be respected by both sides. Signs of Life
(Gollancz, 拢16.99, ISBN 0575055561) is a contemporary thriller about a
courier, Mick 鈥淐hina鈥� Rose, who doesn鈥檛 look too closely at the goods he鈥檚
carrying鈥攇enetic samples and biological waste. His girlfriend Isobel is
obsessed with wanting to fly. The novel gets going halfway through, when Isobel
leaves China for one of his clients, a doctor experimenting with interspecies
DNA manipulation鈥攚ith horrendous results. This novel is a timely warning
about the need for ethical guidelines in genetic research.
Brian Stableford is also straddling borders, though less successfully.
Chimera鈥檚 Cradle (Legend, 拢16.99, ISBN 0099443716), the conclusion to
his 鈥淏ooks of Genesys鈥� trilogy, looks and feels like a fantasy novel set in a
world with many strange creatures, but in fact it鈥檚 an SF book about genetic
adaptation. There are some good ideas here, but it might have made for a better
novel if Stableford, one of Britain鈥檚 more intelligent SF writers, had gone
straight for the SF meat.
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Foundation鈥檚 Fear (Orbit, 拢16.99, ISBN 1857234634) by Gregory
Benford is a strange collaboration, the first of a new trilogy based on the late
Isaac Asimov鈥檚 famous 鈥淔oundation鈥� trilogy. The second and third novels will be
written by Greg Bear and David Brin respectively.
Asimov鈥檚 original trilogy, though a classic of its time, is dated. His own
late attempts to add to the story were stodgy affairs. It鈥檚 interesting to see
three of today鈥檚 top hard-science writers take on Asimov鈥檚 original and extend
it. In Benford鈥檚 case, it is a sometimes uneasy marriage between the author鈥檚
awkward simulation of Asimov鈥攊n the main story of how Hari Seldon develops
psychohistory鈥攁nd an excellent Benford-style subplot of the 鈥渓ives鈥� of two
self-aware computer simulations, Joan of Arc and Voltaire.
Strider鈥檚 Galaxy (Legend, 拢5.99, ISBN 0099791218) by Paul
Barnett is a deceptive little book. It鈥檚 the first I know of to be published
under the author鈥檚 own name鈥攈e is far better known as John Grant,
co-editor with John Clute of The Encyclopedia of Fantasy, and
author of more than 50 books in a wide range of fields. And while it appears to
be no more than another lightweight space opera, it is actually a careful study
of intergalactic diplomatic relations and that dirty word 鈥減rejudice鈥�.
How would you react if you were captain of a colonising spaceship that falls
through a wormhole to surface in the middle of a vast interstellar war? How
would you cope with conscience-less alien warlords bent on depredation and
destruction? Or with almost godlike bodiless aliens who 鈥渟peak鈥� straight to your
mind? Or with your own crew, half of whom despise each other for an assortment
of human cultural differences? Strider鈥檚 Galaxy may not be a classic,
but it鈥檚 an excellent example of how the most clich茅-ridden area of SF
can still have a thing or two worth saying鈥攁nd thoroughly enjoyable.
Tricia Sullivan鈥檚 second novel Someone to Watch Over Me (Orion,
拢16.99, ISBN 1857985230) is an interesting post-cyberpunk rendering of the
idea of living your life vicariously for 鈥渨atchers鈥濃�攕imilar in ways to D.
G. Compton鈥檚 classic 1975 novel The Continuous Katherine Mortenhoe
(filmed as Deathwatch). In Sullivan鈥檚 novel, Adrien has an implant
which broadcasts whatever he sees, hears, touches and smells to a mysterious
watcher, 鈥淐鈥�. Tiring of his increasing criminality, Adrien has his implant
removed鈥攕hortly before C apparently dies. But is C dead, or has (s)he
managed to take over not only someone else鈥檚 senses, but their mind? This is an
intriguing novel about identity, a more ambitious but rather heavier work than
Sullivan鈥檚 brilliant debut, Lethe.