Vector The Critical Journal of the British Association

No. 279 Spring 2015 £4.00 VECTOR #279 – Spring 2015 Vector The Critical Journal of the British Science Fiction Association

ARTICLES Vector Torque Control Editorial by Anna McFarlane ...... 3 http://vectoreditors.wordpress.com The BSFA Review: Best of 2014 Features, Editorial Glyn Morgan and Letters: 35 Belgrave Road, compiled by Martin Petto ...... 4 Aigburth, Liverpool L17 7AG Best of 2014 in SF Television [email protected] by Molly Cobb ...... 14 Co-Editor: Anna McFarlane Best of 2014 in SF Audio Book Reviews: Martin Petto 27 Elmfield Road, by Tony Jones ...... 18 Walthamstow E17 7HJ [email protected] Best of 2014 in Young Adult SF Production: Alex Bardy by Tony Jones ...... 22 [email protected] Made of Win: Ann Leckie Interview British Science Fiction Association Ltd interviewed by Tom Hunter ...... 24 The BSFA was founded in 1958 and is a non-profitmaking organisation entirely staffed by unpaid volunteers. Registered in England. Limited by guarantee. RECURRENT BSFA Website www.bsfa.co.uk Company No. 921500 Sequentials: Laura Sneddon ...... 28 Registered address: 61 Ivycroft Road, Warton, Tamworth, Kincaid in Short: Paul Kincaid ...... 31 Staffordshire B79 0JJ Foundation Favourites: Andy Sawyer .... 34 President Stephen Baxter Resonances: Stephen Baxter ...... 36 Vice President Jon Courtenay Grimwood Chair Donna Scott [email protected] Treasurer Martin Potts THE BSFA REVIEW 61 Ivy Croft Road, Warton, Nr. Tamworth B79 0JJ The BSFA Review: Martin Petto ...... 38 [email protected] Membership Services Dave Lally In this issue, Kerry Dodd enters The Race, Ian Sales [email protected] tours Europe In Autumn, and Paul Kincaid visits Bête MEMBERSHIP FEES while Anne F Wilson takes up the Ancillary Sword. UK £29 per annum (Unwaged: £20 pa) Aishwarya Subramanian calls this an Irregularity Life Membership £500 Outside UK £40 but Duncan Lawie finds Paradox when Ken Macleod Joint/Family Membership Add £2 to the above prices makes a Descent with Andy Sawyer’s War Dogs Cheques (Pounds Sterling only) should be made payable to against Shaun Green’s Defenders -- Patrick Mahon ‘BSFA Ltd’ and sent to Martin Potts at the address above, or considers them a big fat Parasite but Shaun Green join via the BSFA website using Paypal at www.bsfa.co.uk knows they’re actually just Broken Monsters... FOCUS: THE BSFA MAGAZINE FOR WRITERS Design Editor: Alex Bardy [email protected] BSFA AWARDS Published by the BSFA Ltd © 2015 ...... ISSN 05050448 Administrator: Farah Mendlesohn All opinions expressed are those of the individual contributors and [email protected] not BSFA Ltd except where expressly stated. Copyright of individual ORBITER WRITING GROUPS articles remains with the author. Online: Terry Jackman [email protected]

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t’s been a year since Glyn joined Vector as the Features concern for contemporary settings. In issues Glyn and Editor on the ‘Best of 2013’ issue and so it seems seren- dipitous that I should become his co-editor in time to fresh as well as the concerns Gibson writes about in his novel: I I hope to celebrate the variety of voices keeping this field review the ‘Best of 2014’. I’m grateful to Glyn for inviting me the boundary between the present and the future which to help continue Vector’s proud tradition as a forum for all seems to become blurrier with every new technological inno- - these debates and can contact us through the email address: hasthings been science something fictional. to admire Glyn’s worksince onthe the debut annual event Contem in 2011, [email protected]. Contributors both new and old are invited to join us in especiallyporary Research as he manages in Speculative to juggle Fiction this commitment(CRSF) conferences with so section to remember and celebrate all the great people we Our ‘Best of 2014’ issue begins with the annual BSFA haveFinally, lost sinceour back the beginningcover is given of 2014. over Ofto particularan ‘In Memoriam’ note is reviewmany others, compiled and by it’s Martin a pleasure Petto, to which be working gives uswith the him. high- lights of 2014 according to Vector contributors and other Star TrekLeonard Nimoy, whose sad loss will surely colour 2015 -for many in our field. Nimoy performed the role of Spock in aficionados. Our commissioned articles once again feature viewers:’s original the emotion series withthat manya charming people touch feel on of hisflamboy death is introducingMolly Cobb, whome to gives Orphan us an Black overview through of theher year’s‘Best of science 2013’ aance testament and a twinkle to his power in his aseye an that actor sparked and his devotion deep connec in many- essayfiction and on television.once more Ishe am gives personally us a taste grateful of current to Molly trends for in director’s seat for Star Trek III: The Search for Spock the mainstream. Also returning from last year’s ‘Best of…’ andtion Starwith Trek his audience. IV: The Voyage As well Home as acting, Nimoy took the science fiction programming and its overlap with and success of the series with two thoughtful additions that(1984) made (1986), continuing the releases.is Tony Jones This who issue makes also reviews sure that an we area never that again was neglectedhave to lastface yeara dull as commute Ashley Armstrong with his roundup gives us of 2014’s science best fiction young audio histhe manymost ofcameos, Nimoy’s such relationship as his appearances with his cast. in Matt Nimoy Groening’s also cartoonsplayed an The important Simpsons role and in Futurama science fiction. Also culturenotable through were his Invasion of the Body adult science fiction. In addition to these overviews we’re Snatchers pleased to give you an interview with Ann Leckie, a fitting inrole Fringe in David Kibner’s excellent remake of - addition to this review issue as 2014 may come to be known sion series(1978) of recent and years. his regular Of course, appearance he continued as William to be Bella Ancillaryas ‘the year Justice of Leckie’. Our regular after she columns scooped include the Hugo, a review BSFA, of part of the (2008-13), Star Trek onefranchise of the throughbest science his appearances fiction televi in J.J. theArthur year C. in Clarke, graphic and novels Nebula from awards Laura for Sneddon her 2013 and debut, a science Abrams’ recent reboot movies where his charm gave gravitas A Christmas Carol found wanting in those departments. As we go on to remem- novel,fictional this version issue’s of ‘Foundation Charles Dickens’ Favourite’. Meanwhile, Paul(1843) and human warmth to films that were otherwise too often Kincaidas Andy exploresSawyer introduces the male gaze us to and the its first construction ever movie of tie-in femi - goodbye, one made through the medium of Twitter. As they ber 2014 it might be worth finishing with a very modern that may be of particular interest to those who saw Alex Gar- nine in LesterEx Machina del Rey’s ‘Helen O’Loy’ (1938), an article- mourn, many fans will turn to Leonard Nimoy’s final tweet: tions of gender through a feminine , albeit in a more ‘A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not land’s recent film (2015) which also raises ques preserved, except in memory. Live Long and Prosper’. Here’s to memories, and here’s to making some more in 2015. Lunaself-aware series, manner. due for Stevenrelease Baxter with Gollancz begins to in look September, forward in to Tweet about Vector, Anna McFarlane orderwhat 2015 to consider may hold the as ethics he anticipates of socio-politics Ian McDonald’s in the precarious new use the hashtag environments of outer space. and Glyn Morgan The appraisal of 2014 continued last month through the #sfVector Co-Editors release of the BSFA and the Kitschies awards shortlists which Cover art by Gav Herron, Thegive Race us an idea of where science fiction might be going inThe “The World Mover” Lagoon2015 with both lists celebrating Nina Allan’s debut novel www.behance.net/theartofgavh (2014) and Nnedi Okorafor’s Nigeria-set novel Facebook: www.facebook.com/theartofgavh release of(2014) 2014’s alongside The Peripheral recognition, a novel for that more combines established his Instagram: @theartofgavh writers like William Gibson who delighted fans with the talent for mind-bendingPlease submit all articles, with his more comments recent and queries to [email protected] page 3 VECTOR #279 – Spring 2015

The BSFA Review: Best of 2014 compiled by Martin Petto

As to what happens next: - Graham Andrews - tesy“BEWARE of whoever THE EYES wrote THAT the trailer PARA The LYSE” and “IT’S THEM OR US!” (Cour Midwich Cuckoos with Michael The Children John Wyndham published writtenblurbs.) by AV Sellwood and pub- tie-in paperback was needJoseph, only London, the most in 1957. summary The story of sum is - so well known by now that it should lished by Four Square (dated 1964,- picture-postcard English village, the berbut –Sellwood like the filmfrom itself The Dark– released World in maries. A ‘flying saucer’ lands in a Of1963). Witches You may or may not remem and nine months later all the local even Dynamite For Hire (Panther, womenpopulation give is birth knocked to sinister out for and a day (Corgi, 1964) or perhaps The Midwich Cuckoos is much more 1958). The Briley/Sellwood take on Americanwild-talented edition alien two ‘cuckoos’. years later. Ballantine published the first muchaffective too than long Wyndham’s,a time. I won’t who give kept Midwich Main, which is now safely awayhis cuckoos the just in plain narrative right ending,limbo for ensconcedWyndham leftat the an University incomplete of sequel, Liver- pool. There have been two ‘faithful’ Village Of The which goes one significant step Damned - beyond the familiar ticking-bomb – film versions, both as hammersor brick-wall it home. – routine. Where the (1960 and 1995). Ballan film merely hints; the book rubber- stories.tine’s 1960 See tie-inChildren edition of the took Damned the , several personal touches, such as film title. But these aren’t the whole Sellwood betook himself to add directed by Anton M Leader. of Scott’s ill-fated Antarctic expedi- anSidestepping oblique cinematic the original retelling storyline, tion:this telling “the silence quotation was fromdeep, a with member a scriptwriter John (Cry Freedom Briley has six super-minded but ) abreath dilapidated like sleep.” London (spoken church, by evocaHughes- relocated from six different coun- tivelyin the replacingfilm). The thescene schoolhouse takes place of in apparently non-Cuckoid children Village, where the now more-sinned- against-than-sinning children have investigationtries (China, India, by two Nigeria, ill-matched Russia, sought sanctuary. This well-above- the USA and the UK) to London for par novelization has never been pub- lished in the USA and that remains UNESCO scientists, played by something of a dirty rotten shame. Ian Hendry (psychologist ‘Tom toLlewellyn’) become a and veritable geneticist global Alan village Badel (‘David Neville). It threatens-

of the damned. The scientific back ground is sketchily but ably handled. page 4 VECTOR #279 – Spring 2015 novels had been suffering diminish- ing returns of late but an injection deliver savage beatings to criminals Stuart Carter of unfettered satire on some of the cool.Violence Again. to make bastards who bastards behind 2008’s global crash The Dark Defiles by Richard Morgan, the climax of his fantasy trilogy, is a for me. down and wrote this, by Ann one Leckie.day, having It’s returned his stock to blue chip status her first novel? Really? She just sat grim and grisly tale of fighting with- never done it before? Keeping readers- swords, fighting with magic, fighting on the back foot throughout with a usuallyhand-to-hand a fantasy and fan just but plain despite FIGHT Isubtle can’t waitquestioning to read theof gender next part... assigna ING which kept me gripped. I’m not tions and ? Bloody hell. trilogies that seem the default format fora shocking the genre, allergy I nevertheless to the massive sliced honed sword. throughThe Wake this by final Paul act Kingsnorth like a razor- is not sortscience of cod-Old fiction either,English. in Itthat is challeng it’s set in- the years after 1066 but written in a reading and The gripping Wake, my throughout, youngest daughjust like- tergood was science beginning fiction to ought read properto be. As I learning to recognise words and their meaningsbooks so we almost both frommutually scratch. struggled, View Kingsnorth’s language as a challenge, forcing you to slow down to under- 2015 was the year I rediscovered stand a very alien viewpoint, and The Wake - Kieronthe joy ofGillen’s , Uber all isthanks a complex to the is science fictional after all, pre Comixology app on my smartphone. senting the vicious Norman invasion unreliableof England narrator.in 1066 as a catastrophe and awful reworking of WWII, beginning in forThe the Rhesus natives Chart - including the book’s actual1945 when superpowered the Nazis discover how to make vampires who you love. Charles to hate. Stross. supermen. Sure, it’s Vampires. Yay! Evil City bankerLaundry been done before but seldom with this love of Double yay! My love for the detail and prizing of his- torical verisimilitude. And gore. Lots and lots of gore. Every. Single. Issue. But leave it to old

superherohand Warren cool Ellis with Moonto yet Knightagain redefine thoughtful and mature understanding. His of the medium’s strengths manage to produce pure Art from what is essen- tially a Batman rip-off.

of Moon Knight was so beautifullyNo more - every thought issue out and designed, mixing Mad Science and Bad

page 5 VECTOR #279 – Spring 2015

also delivered the excellent anthologies Noir, La Femme Gary Dalkin and Paradox. Three mainstream novels Jeff VanderMeer made a spectacular with a foot in genre proved ascension to the big leagues with the exceptional: The Goldfinch by Southern Reach trilogy, a compelling post-modern variation on a pair of All Solaris and Stalker, TheDonna Light Tartt We (halfCan Not of which See by is or, if you prefer, on their source mate- accidental near future SF); rial,Tarkovsky Stanislaw films, Lem’s Solaris and Road- a beautiful mediation on the side Picnic - sustainingAnthony Doerr, power which of stories offered (with 20,000 Leagues Under novels, eachby with Arkady a distinct and Boris focus Stru and The Sea approach,gatsky. Published the whole as succeededthree separate as a as well as being, possibly, an single novel and one which, despite as a specific example)Life trading near exclusively in ambiguity, After Life elegant fantasy itself; and - that ultimately the story must out ing someone by Kate else readAitkinson, the andmanaged certain not truths to frustrate be told. by A knowinggreat world’swhich was most almost sophisticated like watch achievement and one I would name, if absolutely pressed, as my publishing novel but a tremendously event of the year. powerfulChoose Your blend Own of familyAdventure saga - theless. Doctor Who veered erratically andThere WWII were epic two none other notable occurrences for me, both reviving great British between excellent (‘Into The Dalek’, writers from the middle ‘Listen’, ‘Flatline’) and dreadful (‘Kill The Moon’) as well as delivering the was that a brief holiday in outstandingfirst really strong as the Christmas latest incarnation special, of the 20th Century. One ‘Last Christmas’. Peter Capaldi was - Cornwall led to my finally Rebecca, Jamaica Inn (which formof the the Doctor previously and stronger impossible writing girl canreading be seen Daphne as a variationDu Maurier: on enabled Jenna Coleman to trans Dracula Echoes Of The companions. Macabre Clara Oswald into one of the best ) and (featuring ‘Don’t otherLook Now’was Faber and ‘The & Faber launchingBirds’) are a essential. reissue The programme devoted to

editionsRobert Aickman, of Dark Entries issuing, Coldbeautiful Hand new In Mine paperback, The Unsettled Dust and The Wine-Dark Sea. Get them while you can. Turning to the screen, I was competition were two exceptional delighted to see that the Seventies However, offering very strong British debut novels, both published Solaris, Rollerball and The The Medusa Touch, none of which I had Moon King seenfilms for a very long time, remain Theby NewCon Race Press. These were by Neil Williamson and by Nina Allan. Also from appearance, in a revised and much Apowerful Woman worksIn Winter in their rewarded Blu-Ray a NewCon Press was the first UK incarnations. The little known novel Marcher thatimproved was wrong edition, with of Chris the original Beckett’s second viewing, though the DVD . This fixed everything failedis desperately to disappoint. in need of an HD upgrade. Conversely, no new film US version . And NewCon Press page 6 VECTOR #279 – Spring 2015

as you read it, until its world is subverted by David Hebblethwaite the text, and the power to shape reality is there for the reading. threadsWhen standI look out.over One my favouriteis novels where in my favourites this fantastic fiction in 2014, two main yearThe is other fairytales. key thread Allan’s The Race may be one of the Bridging my two sets of the language really matters. Nina Boy, Snow, Bird, novels I’ve ever read: it starts in the nearmost futurefinely calibratedof an England science which fiction is abooks girl named is Boy and a Helen Oyeyemi’s tale of world’ (where the prose has a notice- not quite our own; shifts to the ‘real Oyeyemiblack family draws passing on the as to that other future, where we feel the iconographywhite in 1950s of America.the weightably different of every texture); strange then word. returns ways that shape our perceptionsSnow White andstory expec in - tations of her novel – and its rhythms change as a result. Kirsty Logan’s The Rental Heart and Other Fairytales is a story col- lection which explores love in its various forms. Logan draws on fairytale and fantasy to greater and lesser degrees, and shifts her

stories. The result is a style fluidly between of tales that remains a strongkaleidoscopic aesthetic carnival whole for all its diversity. In The Wake, Paul Kingsnorth views Finally, Janina Mat- - thewson’s Of Things Gone diate aftermath through the eyes of Astray is not strictly the Norman Conquest and its imme a fairytale but it has a freeman – and through his voice, asBuccmaster the whole of novel Holland, is written a Lincolnshire in an adapted version of Old English. This atmospherepowerful dreamlike similar to one.quality It’s thata novel gives whose it an characters lose things: “shadow tongue” is carefully balanced past disorienting but not unreachably the front wall of their alien.to make Buccmaster’s our immersion visions in the (if that’snovel’s direction (in more The Wake into house; their sense of awhat fantasy they of are) perception, of the legendary and its direc figure- tionWelland remains the Smith uncertain push to the end. ways than one); their What Lot’s Wife Saw by Ioanna fantasyjob (because can be the seen office as has disappeared). The emotional states, but is stageyBourazopoulou near future, (translated where the by inven Yannis- neverreflecting reducible the characters’ to simple Panas) is a theatrical novel set in a metaphors, and so behindtor of a acrossword-like death from the puzzle written is Of Things accountstasked with of those working who out found the truththe body. Goneremains Astray alive. creates Like each a The very substance of the novel shifts worldof these that books, is all its own.

page 7 VECTOR #279 – Spring 2015

on student Ballard after he had been L J Hurst Toby Jones Initially, I had mixed feelings about Seeingrepatriated Things to As Cambridge, They Are, apost-war. new 2014 seems to have passed me selection of George Orwell’s journal- In a year that saw a triumphant in the way that deadlines whizzed the twenty-volume Complete Works, - The Adjacent interestingism, made by as Peter Orwell’s Davison war-time from World Science Fiction Convention unreadpast Douglas from 2013.Adams’s I did ear. discover I still have observations might be, foreshadow- held in London (and my first attend 2013’sChristopher The Complete Priest’s Uncle in 2014 ing as they do much of the world in isance the in release 25 years) of the it takesBig Finish a moment box set ofto Survivorsfind another. high. On reflection it Martin’s novels available with their always repays re-reading and some of As a devotee of audio science though. This makes all six of JP his fictional 1984. Orwell, however, a superb example of what crowd- in the four-volume Collected Essays, sourcingQuentin Blake can do illustrations to raise capital and foris an Journalismthe work here And which Letters did, for not instance appear on fiction, the field is crowded with exercise such as this re-publication. itstrong is very contenders good, second for bestI was of fortunate the year; enoughwhy pick to this be inone? studio Two when reasons: some first of the state of radio, is almost unknown. it was recorded. A short film review, in which Orwell documentary and public information Survivors condemns the quality of British post-apocalyptic show in the Seven- ties, brought was to our a much screens talked by aboutTerry films, reveals in a footnote that he had Lyeworked was withencouraging the experimental him to do filmso maker and animator Len Lye and that andNation clean and clothes running of forthe threecast being seasons. learned about Orwell and all forms of It had some flaws (the shaved faces again. I think there is a lot more to be media – he should never be thought of of the best drama seen in the whole as an anachronistic man of letters. ofamong the decade them) (eg.but itthe also episode brought Law some

Some years ago there was an inter- net appeal for funds to animate the stories but that came to nothing – probably because crowd-sourcing and - dor, who seem to raise their capital throughpublishers it, suchdid not as existMatador/Trouba so short a time ago. I had to wait for the transatlantic arrival of Deep Ends: The JG Ballard Anthology from Terminal Press, as our native presses seemingly cannot

- lowedprint to his the 2013 quality JG Ballard this folio Book volume with requires. Editor Rick McGrath has fol

Ballardan even andmore a memoirimpressive by Ballard’swork, which daughterreprints one Beatrice unknown among art other review con by-

Sigaud, Iain Sinclair and more. The colourtributions production by David allows Pringle, great Bernard illus- trated essays on Ballard’s geography and his time in Shanghai and detailed facsimiles of the school reports made

page 8 VECTOR #279 – Spring 2015

Paul Kincaid

not,During independence the course votes of 2014 in Scotland, there were, whether officially sanctioned or Given, in addition, the rise throughout Europeparts of of Spain nationalist and parts parties of Ukraine. on both the right and the left, you have to Europe In Autumn is probably the timeliest andadmit most that immediately Dave Hutchinson’s relevant novel there has been for a good many years.

Europe as its canvas is a rarity and Any science fiction novel that takes this is doubly so. In addition, it’s a thrillinglyone that captures written the adventure zeitgeist story, like

and any number of twists and turns. Sofull we of tradecraftdon’t just admire stolen fromthe percipi Le Carre-

and enjoy the ride. Little wonder it hasence emerged of the book, as one we of can the also very sit best back novels of the year. In my view, it is pipped only by Simon Ings’s haunting reinvention of the British catastrophe novel, Wolves. And Order Survivors was a show that transcended boundaries, watched worth of some of the most compelling ). John Dorney). The result was four CDs 2014, yet it has remained more vividly inThis my was mind the than very many first bookof those I read I read in heard for years. original,by science I found fiction the fans re-launch and non-fans of the andAs dark I mentioned, science fiction I was able drama to visit I have alike. Like many that remembered the glimpsing the sort of catastrophic show for two series in 2008 disap- the studio for some of the recording long afterwards. Throughout we keep pointing so how would this new audio and interview many of those involved. For everyone involved (including remaking of the landscape that used Jameson who auditioned for the version compare? - wellBig with Finish actors are knownfrom any for point creating in a show’saudio drama history with to recreate impact and something working itshow is a storyat the oftime) what this could isn’t have con happenedsidered science and, indeed, fiction; whatinstead could still happen. For their version with the feel of the original. With the of the Survivors story, Big Finish announcement of Ian McCollouch (Greg stayed in the early Seventies and shape,Preston) further and Lucy honed Fleming by the (Jenny news that painted a world where ordinary Richards) this new project gained a extraordinary situations, death Carolyn Seymour would reprise the people find themselves in the most roleThe of premiseAbby and behind take a thelarger box part set wasin tothe tell second the stories box set of (due people in 2015). whose madmanlurks around is often any hardand every to draw. corner lives overlap with the TV series and the line between hero/villain/ without repeating it. This allowed Bentley he told me the overriding for a new cast to be added (included imperativeWhen I spoke was to createdirector on Ken audio and experience for the listener that gave the same effect as they would Louise Jameson, Chase Masterson, - have had watching the show in the calAdrian themed Lukis, names John writtenBanks and by expeCamilla- Seventies. riencePower) audio and for writers four stories (Matt Fitton,with bibli They succeeded. Jonathan Morris, Andrew Smith and

page 9 VECTOR #279 – Spring 2015

to be such a familiar part of British state of ecstasy with prose whose rhythm builds up and up throughout sets constant variations on the idea Anthony Nanson the novel till you’re carried away in a ofscience perception, fiction. from But againstphotography this he to virtual reality to new treatments of being more commonly associated for the blind, so we always have that an author you’ve never read before withliterary spiritual equivalent or sexual of the experience. ecstatic state underlying uncertainty about how whoYou really know hits that your feeling buttons of discovering so our view of what is happening is being manipulated. The whole thing is deftly structured and beautifully written. toyou me want as much to seek as outit used everything to, my tastethey wrote? having Itgot doesn’t fastidious happen with are Bête by Adam Roberts, We Are age, but it did in 2014. The author CompletelyThe rest ofBeside my books Ourselves of the by year Karen Joy Fowler, The Bone Clock Lovecraft’s essay on ‘Super- Mitchell and The Race was Arthur Machen. It was HP by David that put me on to him. I read the by Nina Allan. - selectionnatural Horror of stories In Literature’ in Penguin’s ing.And Thea couple Time ofTraveler’s books that Almanac don’t , The White People editedmake my by listAnn are and still Jeff worth Vandermeer mention unforgettable The Hill of Dreams, is, to my mind, a pretty poor anthol- first, then the ogy but in among too much dross it still manages to contain some of the then everything else I could find, essential stories for anyone inter- Machenculminating novels: in asking the unexpur my town- ested in . And the big gatedlibrary The to seekSecret the Glory Holy including Grail of

is priced prohibitively far outside the which Machen suppressed. The rangenon-fiction of practically book of theeverybody year, even who if it librarythe legendary succeeded, Chapters bless 5 them, and 6 might be interested in it, is The Oxford and it was worth the wait. Handbook Of Science Fiction, edited by Rob Latham. It is a big fat collection of essays that, collectively, challenge are genreWhy of does ‘weird Machen tales’ strike in which such Lovecrafta deep nerve? is so Particularly gloriously over in that actually be. the top you read him partly for laughs The Hill Of Dreams is so good that views of what science fiction might and other leading practitioners – Machen could never match its bril- liance again but pervasive throughout James, Ambrose Beirce – are his oeuvre is this fascination with a soAlgernon leaden Blackwood,that I can’t read MR - - pling of a conscious mastery kind of secret desire that is not explic ofthem? style I withthink a it’s tremendous the cou heitly writes explained about and the partakes supernatural, of both daring in drawing upon his Machenthe spiritual is in andearnest, the sexual. for he believes When deepest, half-understood fears and desires. Love- can’t be matched by fantasy that is craft tries to do the same merelyin it; so contrived.his writing Both has athe force positive that but cannot match Machen’s and the negative aspects of secret craftsmanship in prose and - has a less robust, less devel- ing intensity. That he dwells so much oped psyche that in the end ecstasy he evokes have an exhilarat can offer only madness, slime Europeanon the dark civilisation side may perhaps that led beto the linked to the collective psychosis of Machen’s style develops duringand unfulfilled his career, longing. from a in ‘The Terror’, in which the animals First World War, as becomes explicit jaunty storytelling manner modelled on Stevenson to of the way people are behaving in the turn against humankind in judgement - war. In ‘A Fragment of Life’ Machen ary perfection in The Hill of Dreamspainstaking and thenpursuit a plainer of liter of an ecstasy sacred and good in the quickens our hearts with the memory journalistic style in later The Hill Of Dreams but in The Secret Glory rustic intimacy of husband and wife; perfectly clothes its theme of deepest, most forbidden dreams, only he satisfies our awork. man’s desire for a forbidden to take it all away. page 10 VECTOR #279 – Spring 2015

I read and reviewed SF Mistressworks and by Pamela Zoline (Busy Aboutsome excellent the Tree of books Life,

(Extra(Ordinary) People, 1988), Joanna Russ Saxton (Queen of the States1984) and Josephine Russ’s ‘The Mystery Of , 1986). In fact,

favouriteThe Young genre Gentleman’ short story.(1982) Seriously, became a we new need a complete col- lection of Russ’s short

fiction. The First FifteenI also Livesenjoyed Of Harry Claire AugustNorth’s, although I Ian Sales thought the weak As I had originally planned to central maguffin badly attend Loncon3, I made a serious Langue[dot]docdistorted the plot; 1305 , effort to read some novels that were aand polished Gillian time Polack’s travel tale set in the epony- away from the obvious stuff… which mous time and place noeligible doubt for explains the Hugo why Award. none Iof stayed my and with a nicely- The Race, choices made the shortlist. Among handled sting in the tail. And I should which I thought very good, although the best of those I read really mention Nina Allan’s were Life After Life by Kate a novel for me. The Machine the four novellas didn’t quite gel into - I visited the cinema only twice, to ingAtkinson of awards, and next year I’d see Under The Skin and Interstellar. by James Smythe.All Speak Those The former is greatly superior to Vanished Engines by Paul like to seeEurope both in Autumn anyone who says otherwise. In the much-hyped latter; don’t believe onPark a few and shortlists (and 2014, I also discovered the films of Theby Dave Grasshopper’s Hutchinson Child appear by available in Poland which contains Piotr Szulkin. There’s a DVD box set Gwyneth Jones too but I’m Wojna światów – następne stulecie more sanguine about its (War of the Worlds - The Next Century, O-Bi, O-Ba. Koniec cywilizacji (O-Bi, O-Ba. The End of Civilisation, In other reading, Daugh- chances). 1983), Ga, Ga. Chwała bohaterom ters of Earth (Ga, Ga. Glory to Heroes by Justine Larbalestier, 1985) and was a massively (2006), impres edited- , 1986). All sive anthology of historical three are blackly comic sf films and SF - short stories, followed Черезdefinitely тернии worth к звёздам seeing. In (To 2014, The I by critical articles on them Starfinally By go Hard to see Ways/Per Richard Aspera Viktorov’s Ad - which introduced me to Astra the badly-butchered MST3K version Jones. She had half a dozen previously, 1981) available in its original and it form,really not is the fiction of Alice Eleanor Upstream Colour fewstories of them published and it’s in a1955. shame quite strange. Finally, there’s Shane That’s it. I tracked down a she didn’t write more. It whichCarruth’s does interesting things (2013), with was also a good year for an elliptical and quite moving film

page 11 film narrative. VECTOR #279 – Spring 2015

Andy Sawyer Aishwarya Subramanian

The There are probably higher and Martian We Are All Com- pletelyMy best Beside books Ourselves of 2014 by were Karen Joy than recognition of oneself and yet Fowler, My by RealAndy Children Weir, muchbetter of things what tomattered look for toin mefiction in 2014 Questionable Practices by Eileen Gunn and The Child Eater by Jo Walton, found it in the multilingual wordplay ofwas Ghalib finding Islam’s SF that Fire did In justThe this.Unname I - by Rachel Pollack. able Country ofI don’t years know I found if it myself was a strongstruggling year to - but for the first time for a number ism, drones, ,the which surveillance takes English, state read enough but because there were andHindi, attempts Bangla, impossible Arabic, post-colonial things with make up a list not because I hadhadn’t read. them. I spent half of the year failing Indeed, one was only read on the day beforemany excellent compiling books this list.that I to continue.read this book because a single line on the first page made me tooKill gleeful Mar - guerite, a collection of short stories are only tangentially related to SF, of I found it in Megan Milks’s course,Comics and eachthe Gothic might – have nosed devel it. Each- oped in different directions. andthat thelink experience myth and videoof having games been and a Comics Unmasked relied heavily on bodily grossness and queerness the anarchic, subversive undercur- Things We Foundteenage During girl. And The theAutopsy dark humour - aratingof Kuzhali cleverness Manickavel’s of Adam Roberts’s rent of comics (in whatever genre): sub-title. It unearthed some fascinat- Riddles Of The Hobbit ; the exhil ing“Art material, and Anarchy particularly in the UK” historical was its story-reading girl detective of Robin material from the British Library’s Stevens’s Murder Most; and Unladylike the school (I’m

- groundarchives, press including (including medieval the notori books- sure, given time, I could make a case with comic-strip-likeOz art, under romancesfor this as (Iscience stand fiction).by my belief the thatCourtney they are Milan’s alternate historical history and politicalous “Schoolkid’s element included”), and ofscripts course for Alan Moore’s and VDan For Dare. Vendetta The andstrong more As was Rebecca Stead’s Liar & Spy strongly partisan comic-strip such as thereforeless obviously SF) continued genre-related to be than great. the When You Reach; Terror And Wonder explored in Marvelman fighting the Ku Klux Klan. I’m struggling. I’m inclined to say the great detail the literary roots of author’s last (2009’s Best SF “thing” of the year? Again, number of potential and actual dif- lot from this. It was pretty effective London , which despite a atGothic exploring fiction the and attraction again I learned of terror a for the way I met old friends and with much exploration of the concept learnedficulties newexceeded things. my I was expectations impressed by HWJN by Ibraheem Abbas (trans- highlights for me were seeing the of the ‘sublime’. Among the specific The Runes’ and the letter from lated/co-authored by Yasser Bahjatt) manuscripts of MR James’s ‘Casting of(Yatakhayaloon, Saudi Arabia, which 2013), I billedthought as wasthe the truth of the events of the “ghost first science fiction novel to come out Byron to John Murray confirming Frankenstein. But pretty much at the anda witty claiming and self-confident the vocabulary moral of science tale topstory has competition” to be the display that resulted of the seven in embedded in an IslamicSOMEWHERE background Austen’s Northanger Abbey (several rushedfiction. Itsin the successor, translation. But in the of“horrid” which novelsare available recommended for free onin Janethe (2014) was as good, though a tad internet and a Kindle omnibus edition of all novels mentioned in Northanger notend, one I think but twothat majorthe British exhibitions, Library’s on Abbey “year of transrealism” – which had is available for 77p!) page 12 VECTOR #279 – Spring 2015

Sandra Unerman invaders.background Some of struggles of the standard between ele the- mentspost-Roman of Arthurian British literatureand the Heathen are

theyFrances provide Hardinge’s more intriguing novels are and asubverted castle. The here: narrative Mordred voice is known is direct as marketed as YA but, to my mind, andthe Soul unromantic of Honour but and still Camelot manages is tonot Cuckoo Song is set in England, shortly th vivid fiction than much adult fantasy. as people at the time might have year old Triss is slow to recover from dreamedconjure up about a flavour it, rather of the than 6 Centuryas a anafter accident the First in whichWorld sheWar. has Eleven nearly historical reconstruction of events.

behaviour grow stranger drowned. Her symptoms and everything she has believed aboutuntil she herself is forced and herto question family. And she only has seven days to discover what is wrong. Triss lives in Ellcehster, a town full of secrets. The

Me - unnoticed by ordinary people Besiders found in the cracks mentally about narrative and escap- are deeply uncanny and , a time travel story) but funda- scissors are a truly frighten- ing weapon. The failure of gall’s Mars Evacuees was moving and Triss’s parents to deal with funnyism and and roleplay. warming Sophia as was MacDou Shalini the loss of their son during Srinivasan’s Vanamala And The Ceph- the war is slowly destroying alopod In their family. Triss’s loneliness the Time Of The Blue Ball (translated . I loved Manuela Draeger’s and desperation are painful to read about but she does by Brian Evenson), a series of what On the internet, the formation of she can trust and learn how feel like post-apocalyptic noir fables. toeventually develop herfind own some strength helpers one of the best things about this and courage. the Strange Horizons book club was Cuckoo Song of the wild inventiveness of year; providing a space for exactly - Fly lacksBy Night some or the sort of conversations the field - Face Like Glass but it does has felt lacking in recently. Lacking haveHardinge’s a compelling protagonist and Trolls, An Unnatural History by ton’s had a strong first year, publish some memorable minor characters, el-Mohtar,ing new fiction among by others.Sofia Samatar, The new St including Violet, the young motorcy- It discusses the earliest use of the Vajra Chandrasekera and Amal cle courier, and the Architect, who wordJohn Lindow ‘troll’ and is a its work relations of non-fiction. to other can build palaces in broom cup- words for monsters and uncanny theVincent year album has to washave definitely been Lydia science Ains- boards. The narrative is gripping and beings. And it traces the history of worth’sfiction and Right I loved From it Real but, mywhich album is my of life of a small town in the Twenties, and should be yours as well. wherethe novel everyone convincingly is affected evokes by the thetrolls Three from Billy the NorseGoats poeticGruff. Thetradition ear- new soundtrack for the apocalypse liestto the appearance internet by is way of a of troll Tolkien woman, and But really, the best thing about The Fourth Gwenevere, a posthu- who calls herself “giants’ wealth- aftermath of the War. - mous publication, continues the series 2014 was the week I spent in bed sucker” and “swallower of heaven reading Diana Wynne Jones, immedi then presenting at a conference on wheel”, and trolls are found in ately after first helping to organise, of novels by John James set in the Dark- dimensions and natures, sometimes loreAges and in Britain literature and to Europe. draw a Like picture his Scandinavian folklore with varying never want to read her again (or not her work and being sure that I’d ofearlier a fascinating books, it anduses sometimes medieval folk baf- or by fairies in British traditional tales.taking Lindow on the roleprovides occupied plenty by of giants she is still astonishingly good. for a very long time). Spoiler alert: before the death of Arthur and is nar- examples from literature not well fling world. This novel begins shortly the death and its aftermath, against a rated by a Welsh King, who describes known outside Scandinavia and a page 13 fine selection of illustrations. VECTOR #279 – Spring 2015 Best of 2014 in SF Television

by Molly Cobb

he past year has given viewers of SF television

continuation of more established shows, and the into questions of with the Scots’ funding Ta new Doctor, a new , a strengthened of the Jacobite army. Claire’s attempts to warn them with cancellation of a number of shows that abandoned their due to her inability to explain the source of her informa- speculative origins. The blurring of lines between SF her knowledge of future events of the war fall on deaf ears course of history and her own timeline are demonstrated intion. the The character impact ofher Jonathan future knowledge Randall, her may husband’s have on ances the - and fantasy in some series means that it is more difficult tor whom she encounters multiple times and whom the to claim one as SF and another as fantasy. While this wedding of speculative fictions can make for interesting- mentslines of properly, inquiry, itwith can the also ever-present destroy the dangeroriginal of intention turning MenziesScots aim does to kill, a wonderful thus threatening job of performing the erasure the of dualboth role themby making into a it mere too difficult plot device to utilize or clichéd science . fictional ele her husband and a large piece of Claire’s future. Tobias More generally, many speculative television shows have adopted an interest in the core mechanic of the ‘Other’ capableof both Claire’s of forgetting husband they Frank are the Randall same andactor. of TheJonathan, show and the place of individuals within society. This element making the characters so radically different the viewer is is common among nearly every show to be discussed has won both the Critic’s Choice Television Award for Most fantasy. Speculative TV programming thus encourages canExciting be argued New Series that Outlander as well as the 2015 People’s Choice discussionhere, whether regarding straight the SF, social blurred condition, SF/fantasy, philosophical or straight Award for Favourite Cable Sci-Fi/Fantasy Show. While it meant for more genre-heavy programming,is not sufficiently it does couched dem- onstratein speculative the nature fiction of to current be winning speculative an award television most likely as encouraged by the viewing public. considerations,Premiering last scientific August, advancements, Outlander and the simple act of feeling like one belongs. - Outlander, one must lished in the UK as Cross Stitch (2014-present) is Orphan Black thanbased romantic on the first drama, book genre-wise. of a series by The Diana SF trope Gabaldon of time (pub With Menzies’ excellent work on travel is used in a fantastical manner) and is involvingarguably druidslittle more multiplebe reminded characters of Tatiana giving Maslany’s them each work their on own repre- sentation(2013-present). so distinct She continues from one anotherto expertly that navigate she easily her occupies each role. Though this is the second year that into Scotlandtransport the our show heroine, is lent Claire a touch Beauchamp of realism Randall, and the the show has failed to garner an Emmy nomination it can from 1945 to 1743. With filming actually taking place emphasize not only the difference between the years but critics and fans see this continued oversight as a direct flashbacks/flash-forwards between the two time periods- hardly be considered a result of a lack of quality. Both ally heavy in narrative voice-over, the show is generally Emmys as, in 2014 alone, the show was nominated for Claire’s disconnect from the familiar. Though occasion snub but this lack of attention seems confined to the - dering,well-acted the andsex sceneswell-written were genuine (‘The Wedding’ and authentic specifically with Sarah16 awards Manning’s and won ability 23 others. to have Season a child. two The deals implications heavily evidencing this as, rather than being superficial fan pan with ideas of family and hereditary DNA, specifically clones being shown to have died from or contracted the the awkward development of intimacy between Claire and of cloning, such as sickness, are explored with multiple Jamie believably written). The relationship between Claire This season also delves more heavily into implications and Jamie Fraser in 1743 threatens Claire’s marriage in - ofsame ownership respiratory as it illness,is revealed marking the patent a defect for in the the cloning DNA. 1945 and the parallel continuation of time between events oftaking linear place time in versus both timelines simultaneous inadvertently time. Though opens so up far dis - cussions based around time itself, specifically the concept lectualprocedure property is written includes into allthe genetic clones’ derivativesvery DNA, bringing from the up questions of slavery and property. The patent for intel only briefly touched upon, the show is slowly venturing page 14 VECTOR #279 – Spring 2015 clones, which is legally shown to tale creatures often being include offspring, thus bringing portrayed too literally Sarah’s ability to have children rather than exploring - or abilities to adapt and back to the fore. The show con - hidetheir in cultural modern significance society. ingtinues of the just implications as strongly asof cloningits first asseason, a whole, building as well on as its social question to modern technology, considerations of individuals and oneSpecifically must wonder with regards how philosophical implications of the they have managed to avoid being discovered corporate patenting of the human after all this time. As the genome.self, specifically in relation to seasons have progressed Season three of Orphan Black they have become more promises to be just as good as intriguing and more its current season, with Ksenia intelligent, revealing the Solo, formerly of Lost Girl (2010- protagonist’s powers as a Grimm as well as exit from Lost Girl emphasizes their hereditary nature thepresent), show’s joining understanding the cast. Solo’s of the and how to live with or human inability to completely without them. The show loss of the main human character or philosophical consid- fit within the Fae world, and the- erationshas skirted but larger has done social a ity and much of the humour of the decent job of exploring show.takes withThough it most still ofutilizing the human witty the psychological implica- one-liners and comedic situa- tions of discovering fairy tions between humans and Fae, tales do exist, both for non-Grimms struggling to between the audience and the characters through Kenzi. understand and believe in a world they cannot see as well Asit lacks the current the bridge season formerly is to be made the last it is perhaps under- as others who accidentally glimpse that world without off multiple characters and have Kenzi leave. The deaths is then brought to light, developing the concept of the arestandable, believable though and stilldrive brave, the emotion for the showand tension to choose through to kill- ‘other’.knowing what it is. The effect on mental health and sanity out the current season so far. The advancement in charac- speculative elements accurately, whether directly or indi- together and inject true emotion into it, such as Tamsin’s rectly,Unlike The the Listener aforementioned shows which utilize their ters’ backgrounds and relationships helps pull the show cancelled at the end of last season due to its increased removal from its speculative (2009-2014) origins. is an Theexample Listener of a aban show- protagonist,desire for family Bo. The and connection Kenzi’s self-sacrifice, between Fae first powers offered and to doned its SF premise in favour of an increasingly repetitive save the life of her fiancé and then offered again to aid the procedural drama, with Toby Logan’s telepathy becom- to the characters. The exploration of the afterlife offers upemotion interesting mirrors concepts human but psychology, is fairly minimal giving humanity beyond the back needs of the plot. Bo’s family is further introduced and ing nothing more than a gimmick or plot device. Though overarchingthe acting was elements. still of a Some decent details quality, regarding the series Toby’s quickly mother,became whichepisodic had and initially the writing driven reflected the SF plotline this lack in ofearlier the flashback connections to season one help align the seasons, are revealed and wrapped up in the last episode first and last seasons, bringing the events and characters nearly full circle. The show claimed the 2014 Fan Choice scenario was thus ultimately unbelievable and clearly aheadAward of for mainstream Favourite Canadian in this particular Show, an instance. award that is not hashedthough withtogether many in questionsa hurry due left to unanswered. the pending cancellation.The whole genre specific, thus putting speculative programming Grimm television channels around the world due to low ratings, The clear (2011-present) association with blends Grimm’s elements fairy talesof SF explainsand fantasy, The show had previously been taken off the air by multiple thethough fantastic still remaining element, but firmly discerning in the fantastic viewers category.can see the case, it can be surmised that the abandonment of its SF making it no surprise it was ultimately cancelled. In this SF implications within the show: as with Orphan Black, - weight. Questions regarding these concerns as well as droveorigins its led earlier, to a show more that speculative, was quickly episodes. forgettable, relative thegenetics consideration and DNA ofcould their easily effects be ongiven ideas their of theappropriate ‘other’, ly Anuninteresting, example of aand fantasy lacking show the cancelledmystery and due intrigue to its igno that- similar to the separation of human and Fae in Lost Girl, can rance of its speculative origins would be Witches of East End Unfortunately, explorations such as these suffer from fairy to demonstrate that, regardless of genre, abandoning be applied to the show and the Wesen portrayed within. (2013-2014). Though not SF, it is worthy of mention page 15 VECTOR #279 – Spring 2015

expected speculative elements in TV programming is an easy route to cancellation. Reminiscent of Charmed and interesting, but did not nearly live up to the nostalgic (1998-2006),idea of a family the of show witches. was Lowentertaining ratings in the second season ultimately led to its cancellation but there is currently a petition to have it renewed,

from Charmed sufferswhich is from backed a presentation by some of thefar toooriginal similar actresses to that of the soap opera,. Despitedue to the this many fan approval, contrived the plotlines show and over-the-top relationship dramas. Though the utilization of their powers and immersion in the fan- tastic means the show is still more speculative than The Listener, its focus on melodrama outweighs this usage and leaves it feeling almost as episodic. A new show introduced during the 2014 fall season, Forever a similar position as the previous two shows by (2014-present) is arguably rushing towards rather than a point of meaningful discussion and investigationutilizing its SF into premise the implications as a plot device of its and speculative gimmick elements. Though the characters are charming and the episodes interesting, it would be no surprise if

the show were subsequently cancelled in the course of its next season or soon thereafter. Despite its better qualities, the premise is rather superficial. The show follows Henry Morgan, a man made immortal after an accident at sea, and who is now working as - ablya medical an excuse examiner to explain in New his York. usefulness His exhibition to the police of beyondcharacteristics that of duties similar performed to Sherlock in Holmes the morgue. is presum Though there is inherently nothing wrong with the slow reveal, the exploration of immortality has been extremely limited and only really considered just prior to has given viewers Arrow newestTo return TV endeavour, to more quality The Flash programing, the DC universeArrow is arguably not SF in the same (2012-present) sense as the as other well as science its ofthe a mid-seasonfellow immortal break, answers though nothing executed except in such to aimply manner that as (2014-present). Morganto give no is explanations,not alone in his only dilemma, more questions. giving no Thediscussion discovery doesfiction harbour programming many SF discussed elements, here relates but itthe to technologySF through do help reveal Morgan’s past and thoroughly explore the atmosphereused, as well and as its wider inclusion setting in ratherthe DC thanuniverse through which direct, impactas to how of hisimmortality immortality is gained. on his relationshipsWell-placed flashbacks and sanity. obvious aspects. The crossover episodes between Arrow The danger of revealing his secret is what drives much of and The Flash help to remind viewers of this fact while his interactions and the main tension within the series. demonstrating that despite their differences in abilities, - - roes. The show even pits them against one another, once ityDeath is often itself little is not discussed a consideration, except to as the Morgan effect will of how simply best seriouslyage, status, and etc., once they more are playfully,equally capable though as viewers superhe are find himself regenerated. Due to this, Morgan’s immortal not shown who wins this friendly competition, thus not

whereto keep his it a immortality secret and is could often be only revealed, utilized bordering to find some on a A driving plot point in the most current season is the dramatic way to kill the protagonist, often in a situation deathconcretely of Sara defining which, one though as more emotionally powerful tragic than forthe manyother. The Listener. The other characters in the show are poorly gimmicky nature similar to that of Logan’s telepathy in and, when solved, serves as a device to develop the drama is now spending more time investigating crimes with betweenof the characters, the Arrow is quicklyand Malcolm pushed Merlyn, to the with background the death fleshed out, with little to no explanation as to why Morgan at choice times to deliver information needed to advance theirDetective investigation Martinez before than her disappearing own partner, again. who As only with appears many itself rendered secondary. The mid-season break was an other low rating SF television shows, the problem remains engrossing and suspenseful cliff hanger thanks to the ofwriting, Assassins despite has thehelped knowledge expand thatthe world they were within unlikely the show to on the episode to episode dealings of the characters or the kill the titular character. The increased use of the League overarchinga weakly developed plot in any premise meaningful that has way. little to no bearing and helped tie in more DC characters, just as the use of the page Suicide16 Squad did in earlier episodes. Though nominated VECTOR #279 – Spring 2015 for 15 awards, Arrow won none of them, despite the cast and writing remaining in good form and secondary char- added little to the series overall except to heighten the acters coming to the fore with their own lives beyond that a rather endearing manner. ‘In the Forest of the Night’ of the secret they share with the Arrow, giving the viewer insight into more than just a very localized individual and tension of Clara’s choice between Danny and the Doctor, particular situation. though Danny’s dialogue does not exactly endear him to As a spin-off from Arrow, The Flash won the People’s the audience. His claim that what he has is enough and his thedesire wonders to understand of all time Clara and beforespace seems,anything if nothing else is perhaps else, understandable but his complete lack of enthusiasm for Choice Award for Favourite New TV Drama in 2014. Again, series were certainly dramatic and perhaps even heart- this award is not genre specific. The show is fun, funny,- and wrenchinga bit unbelievable. in places, Though they too the suffered. final two Missy episodes seemed of the too estedwell-acted without and feeling the mystery frustrated, surrounding as in the Dr case Wells of Forever is being. Doctor Who’s version of Moriarty and the idea Barryrevealed Allen at just and the his rightfriends pace nearly to keep replicate the viewer the team inter of that cybermen can still feel seems to contradict nearly the Arrow, though a younger version with less experi- everythingmuch like the audience has been told about cybermen ence, which is explored through Barry’s interactions with Arrow, perhaps emphasizing the differences between the two creepyin previous horror episodes. thrown The in and 2014 was Christmas a good way Special, to round ‘Last off Oliver Queen. The show is flashier and brighter than aChristmas’, series that however, needed a was bit of fun a boost.and entertaining Though the with homage to the Arrow. The villains were in danger of episodic treat- Alien and Inception was clever, its borrowing was perhaps mentprotagonists but the showor as aseems move toaway be moving from the away darker from origins this of - with multiple episode story arcs and a larger plotline involving Barry’s too heavy-handed. CombinedSilence, the with episode monsters was reminis perhaps relationships with the people in his cent of the Weeping Angels and the life. Precedent is thus given to Barry’s experience of having powers while less original than it first appeared. those around him do not, with his life Despite all of this, the episode was as a superhero nearly secondary, but thoroughly enjoyable and Nick Frost the two are balanced fairly well and as Santa Claus was good fun, even the writing helps give both aspects toif not each on other screen demonstrated for very long. their Clara concernsand the Doctor for one admitting another whiletheir liesalso metahumans introduced through- exposing some underlying worries outequal the weight. show are The interesting technology in and their own right and often given their own character. The episode was highly praisedabout the by effect critics of and lying it shouldon Clara’s be, origins. Though the crossovers help for despite any faults it did show a flashbacks in order to explain their return to the spirit of Doctor Who same universe, the shows are com- and the mixture of melancholy and keep the Flash and the Arrow in the- universe,pletely different one would and bewithout hard-pressed knowl joy expected from its Doctors. Clara’s edge of their co-existence in the DC sentimentcomment that of the ‘Every special Christmas as well as is her Oliver Queen live in the same world. last Christmas’ helps capture the to acknowledge that Barry Allen and thing, it does thoroughly separate the somerelationships closure forwith all both three the characters. Doctor While this is not necessarily a bad The 2014 televisionand season Danny had Pink, its ups finally and allowingdowns but A discussion of SF television would not be complete the cancellation of both fairly new shows and older ones withoutgritty Starling a consideration City from ofthe the flashy most Central current City. season of is evened out by the awards won by other programmes in Doctor Who both SF and mainstream categories. Doctor Who remains

(1963-1989, 2005-present). Peter Capaldi as with its next series. Orphan Black and The Flash promise andthe newest heart-warming. incarnation Unfortunately, of the Doctor he is is a letjoy down to watch; by some he’s as fun-filled as always and promises a returnOutlander to form and surprisinglysmart, funny, poor brusque, writing depressing, and less thanthought-provoking, excellent episodes. Grimm withimmersive Arrow SF and exploration Forever as while potentially shows good like introductions - for those allow new a to blurred SF. The take overarching on SF and consideration fantasy elements of the ‘The Caretaker’ was arguably the first good episode of the ‘other’ shows a growing consideration of SF’s place in series (despite Danny Pink’s rather sexist take on compan the world and its human impact, across all classes of SF. rhetoricions near and the ignorance end of the of episode), similar thoughdecisions ‘Kill made the Moon’in past Though of course other SF programming exists beyond the series.quickly ‘Mummy kills the onmood the withOrient its Express’ over the was top anti-abortiona return to shows mentioned here, this overview demonstrates what

of thorough exploration of one’s speculative origins nearly form with ‘Flatline’ finally having the Doctor come into alwaysis good spellsabout disaster.current SF programming and how the lack his own. ‘Flatline’ actually makes the Doctor feel like the Doctor, though not before Clara plays his role for him, in page 17 VECTOR #279 – Spring 2015 Best of 2014 in SF Audio

by Tony Jones

irst, what is audio science fiction? In the simplest Fterms it is science fiction consumed by the ears, be is a whole range of audio available – specially written dramas,that adaptations, from the radio, and simpleaudiobooks readings. or podcast. For me, There audio

- rivals the eBook as the most effective way to consume science fiction as I commute. Anyone with a combina tion of train, bus, or walk to work has plenty of time in a week to listen to several hours of material. You can even werelisten the while highlights you cook; of a2014 friend in theof mine world does of audio much science of his listening when mowing the lawn. Enough preamble; what

fiction? The short answer is change and diversity. The long answer? Read on… Free On the Radio

In the UK, we are lucky to have the BBC and for audio science fiction we have BBC Radio 4 Extra; at least that used to be the case. At the start of 2014, 4 Extra pulled back from their daily one-hour science-fiction slot and have now left accents into what is clearly an American story they are us with only the weekends. I suspect much of the reason drawn deep into another world. aswas Undone the lack, Planet of new B andmaterial, several in bought-inturn driven Doctor by economics. Who titles, Do Androids of Electric Sheep? closely followed the novel outputWhereas had a fewmore years recently ago there focused were on many repeats. new series such This dearth of drama continued until Radio 4 announced Bladerunner a set of stories under the banner of Dangerous Visions. The rather than the path taken in Ridley is Scott’s preserved film adaptation, and the title is, of course, a tribute to the classic collection of short result is a gripping. The context tale of is police stripped back in abut future the story America. of SplitDeckard over and two his episodes, hunt for the replicants pivot is the most surreal (and

stories gathered together by Harlan Ellison in 1967. The himself arrested as a replicant and doubts his own memo- Radio 4 series ran for two weeks and consisted of ten titles, ries.quintessentially James Purefoy Dickian) shines sequence in the lead where role, Deckardwhereas isJessica Bradbury’sa mix of new wonderful stories and The adaptations Illustrated ofMan well-known with Iain Glenclassics. in Raine has the harder challenge of playing the unemotional Amongst the most well known were an adaptation of Ray replicants: however, Rachael comes to the fore at the end of Martian Chronicles and James Purefoy with Jessica Raine in - the title role, DerekDo Androids Jacobi and Dream Hayley of Electric Atwell inSheep Bradbury’s. licant hunter. I had read the novel only a year earlier and thisthe story is a good when complement Deckard begins and an to introduction question his forrole anyone as rep MartianPhilip K. ChroniclesDick’s The adaptions were all drawn from the originals; - who has only ever seen Ridley Scott’s film. pickedHitchhiker’s four of Bradbury’s Guide to the stories Galaxy and, and theDirk well-received Maggs was Executive 2013 adaptation Producer of (among Neverwhere many others The end of 2014 also gaveGood us Omens another. This Dirk was Maggs broadcast pro surrealMaggs worked nature ofon the the original is captured in the adaption duction, this time his adaptation of Neil Gaiman and Terry - and once the listener adapts to the introduction of). TheBritish Pratchett’s 1990 novel, over the Christmas holidays at an 11pm slot – how success page ful18 this was has yet to be established. The BBC’s website for VECTOR #279 – Spring 2015

months, receiving recognition for excellence as shown by Big Finish has grown and diversified over the last twelve- Doctor Who title, Dark Eyes:the BBC The Audio Great Drama War award for Best Online or Non-Broad introducedcast Drama. two Fittingly new ranges this was in forJanuary: a The Avengers – The Lost Stories and full-cast. In terms Blake’s of diversification,7 stories. Big Finish Big Finish had released several reduced cast Blake’s 7 audios previously and one full cast story, Warship, in January 2013. The new Blake’s 7 stories were released as six monthly episodes,

Aeach very a singledifferent CD propositionand telling stories was The set Avengers in the early – The days Lost Storiesof the TV show (i.e. Blake was still in the programme!). of The Avengers has almost no surviving recordings. Big Finish has. Much been like licensed better knownto recreate titles, these the veryfrom first the origiseries- nal scripts in audio form. To date, two sets of four discs have been released and provide a fascinating insight into the early days of a cult TV series. The atmosphere has been tightly recreated, and there are even musical moments to interesting to note that some of the most evocative audio isthe that production which has has the a distinctivesame production comic valuesbook look as a and comic it is The year continued with more Dark Eyes boxsets, telling mark the advert breaks from the original broadcasts. scene without getting in the way of the sparse narrative introducing a new regeneration of The Master. There was thatbook: tends in a goodto focus comic on stripdialogue. each The frame same needs can tobe set true out of the alsothe continuing a wholly home-grown story of Paul series, McGann’s Vienna Eighth Doctor and audio - if the narrative is mostly dialogue the scene setting Masterson (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine has to be non-intrusive and support the story telling. , starring Chase ) as Vienna Salvatori furthera glamorous releases. assassin. Big Finish Very muchalso created influenced a boxset by Philip of stories K. Free Elsewhere Dick, these have been successful enough to ensure two

Even the highly regarded Minister of Chance focussed on for their own character, Charlotte Pollard. Played by India Ignoring podcasts, this was a quiet year for free drama. thisFisher, narrative Charlie will (as shecontinue was known) in further spent boxsets. years asThe the head first- of the Prologue and Episode 1 of the series were released. linecompanion Big Finish to therelease Eighth of 2014Doctor was in aBig four-disc Finish audiosboxset and of The film production though a remixed and re-mastered version Survivors. These stories were set during the early part of

Although these were free (and still are), the CD is a fund- gathered together a new cast of regulars, newcomers and raising exercise as the makers seek investment for the film. twothe first of the seasons original of actorsthe original from thetelevision show – series. Lucy Fleming Big Finish The BBC up and the choice available has increased. It is not all good Grant(Jenny came Richards) on board and lateIan McCullochin the production (Greg Preston). and only had a news,The market but in forthe quality main the audio consumer (at least is in still the well UK) served. has held A cameoCarolyn scene Seymour but will who feature played in the the lead later character runs. I was of Abby in the single organisation dominates but not at the expense of

AudioGo, went quality and nor does it act to stifle competition. At the tail end of 2013, the BBC’s commercial channel, into administration and things looked bleak at the start of effective2014. Amazon halt to snapped new products up the andmost any profitable further partsinvestment. of the back-catalogue under their Audible range. This brought an

Towards the end of 2014, things started to pick up and focussingthe BBC are on now the Doctorback with Who their brand. own audio offering, BBC Audio. They released some titles in time for Christmas, Big Finish

No review of audio science fictionDoctor can Who overlook audios, the in recent yearsmassive the contribution range has extended Big Finish to makescover such to the titles market. as Blake’s 7Deservedly, , The respected Avengers for, and its Dark Shadows.

page 19 VECTOR #279 – Spring 2015

studio for the recording of the third of these and even then could tell this would be a major success. The stories don’t repeat the original episodes, but weave a tale alongside. The opening episode, Matt Fitton’s Revelation, has been

2001nominated novel forNight a BBC of the Audio Triffids, award adapted in this by year’s Simon ceremony. himself. A surprise release was a dramatization of Simon Clark’s that Big Finish would do a splendid job of bringing John If nothing else this provided evidence (were it needed) casting and musical treatment of this story captures an Wyndham’s original novels to a new audio market. The

atmosphere unique to the setting. While Wyndham’s isoriginal curious Triffids yet compelling. novel was a product of the 1950s, this is setSeptember in a 1970s also world gave that us never an adaptation was and theof a overall classic effectpiece of literature – ’s Frankenstein. This boasted

a strong cast (including Arthur Darvill, Nicholas Briggs,- Georgia Moffet, Terry Molloy and Lizzie Hopley) and many of which have been dramatised for Radio 4 Extra. In writingsticks closer for Starbust to the original Magazine text than many other adap tions making it a credit to everyone involved. JR Southall, , gave it 9/10 and called it ‘a this new range, released from December 2014, the story fascinating,Of course, absorbingcore to Big reading… Finish is DoctorHighly Whorecommended’. and 2014 Unsurprisingly this is also up for a BBC Audio Award. theygoes investigateback to when a mysterious Brenda arrives cat and in Whitby a haunted to take painting. up a quiet life as a landlady. She meets with Effie and together was yet another boxset, Worlds of Doctor Who, a story dry humour. unitingmarked several the fifteenth of the yearBig Finish of their spin-off license. ranges To mark into this one The voice work is by Anne Reid and the story has a gentle,- ment of their second series of adventures based on the of Doctor Who stories: The Early Adventures. These are The Wireless Theatre Company released the final instal story. The year also saw the first releases of a new range- Victorian urban myths of Springheel’d Jack, the cast includ- ing cast members narrating and providing a voice for the full-cast stories for the earliest of Doctors with surviv with the listener, sounding as though the hero had been ing the company’s patron Nicholas Parsons. This toyed each a double-disc story and designed to sound as though theyDoctor. were This re-issued year’s titles original were off-air all First recordings Doctor stories, with little doorskilled offas it(other closed, major even characters if it borrowed have from been Indiana eliminated Jones . in this series) but all was well. The finale opened as many sequences of voice-over to cover for missing visuals. This at Loncon3, giving an insight into their production values The creators (Jack Bowman and Robert Valentine) spoke ofis notthe easyyear toappeared imagine in and this takes short some run oftime four to stories adapt to.and It is and how they are pushing the possibilities of audio for the well worth the small effort; some of the strongest stories television stories. all were very much in the style of the original first Doctor twenty first century. Elsewhere The creators of The Scarifyers

year. October saw the ninth release, Bafflegab in their Productions, lead range: Thehad Scarifyers:a quiet year The in termsKing of of Winter new releases until late in the

. This is set in 1938 and features MI-13’s Harry Crow (David Warner) and Professor Dunning (Terry Molloy) in a very tongue-in-cheek tale that thetakes style in the of the exclusive story from Tarturus the many Club andreviews. the 300-year Starburst ghost Magazinethat threatens called the the village programme’s of Thornton puns Gibbet. ‘almost You too can bad glean to document’ while the Sci-Fi Bulletin praised its ‘inspired lunacy’ and SFF Audio enjoyed its ‘rousing comedic fun’. If you haven’t heard it, repeats still crop up on Radio 4 Extra.

2013In terms one-off, of newVince output, Cosmos BafflegabThe Brenda have been and workingEffie Mys - teries.with Paul Paul Magrs Magrs for has the written second several time (the stories first inwas this the range, ) on page 20 VECTOR #279 – Spring 2015 appearance of a new publisher, EverybodyelseDiversity continued Productions, with the whose founder Martin Johnson before forming this independent worked with a range of studios has launched a new audio drama series,company Osiris based, based in Nottingham. around the He discovery of an advanced space-

The cast is impressive for a new titleship fromunder a anew Nottingham company forest. and styleincludes the Christianstory is action Edwards, based Liz and White and Robert Whitelock. In TV series Agents of Shield – it is designedhas the tone to entertain. of something like the

Looking Forward - ments about any more broadcast The BBC has made no announce announce near the time. I would fullyscience expect fiction another but they special tend alongto the lines of Dangerous Visions. Meanwhile, a second series of The Minister of Chance has been given yet, but every possibility it would begin in 2015. announced; there are no dates is crying out for the addition of a twelfth title on the back see if they begin to move away from readings of classic of Peter Capaldi’s arrival inLights the series.Out, so This there is is precisely precedent. andAs BBC new Audio Doctor finds Who its feet, it will also be interesting to Thewhat Brenda Penguin and did Effie with Stories their series of fiftieth anniversary again. A glaring gap would be the Destiny of the Doctor eBooks and Holly Black’s range produced in 2013 titles in tandemand into with fully Big fledged Finish. drama This will continue asThe Bafflegab Springheel gives us more chancesSaga also to promises enjoy Paul to Magrs’ be a highlight work. The of the Wireless Theatre Company’s third series of are a publisher worth noting. year.Big TheyFinish produce is concluding other science its Dark fiction Eyes so

willrange also so bewhat plenty will morethe Eighth Vienna Doctor, Aveng do- ersnext? - The We Lost can Storiesonly wait, Survivors and see. and There much else besides copious episodes of Doctor Who. There is also a new series (set in

The Omega Factor enoughthe present to be day) in the based studio on thefor theoriginal record - ing1979 of series part of this and it promises. I was to belucky gripping and demanding of further stories. Their Early Adventures range will move into

the territory of re-casting key characters starting with the companion Ben Jackson and will later extend to Barbara Wright. Big Finish has also re-cast the Third Doctor – exciting times, I can’t wait! No doubt there will be plenty more to keep the science fiction listener entertained. I look forward page 21 to describing them all to you in 2016! VECTOR #279 – Spring 2015 Best of 2014 in Young Adult SF

by Ashley Armstrong

strength to strength during recent years but it seemed oung Adult (YA) fiction has being growing from fairy-tales; anyone who thinks Y a Cinderella doesn’t such as Divergent, The Maze Runner and The Hunger Games: no further than Cinder. Cress is Mockingjay:2014 wasPart aOne breakout year with blockbuster movies Meyer’swork (you’d version be wrong) of the Rapunzel look story, but she’s no castle-bound breaking box office records. With lots of contemplative pieces about adults reading YA, its seems to have finally broken into the mainstream conversation. damsel in distress; now she’s a Without a doubt, 2014 has been an astounding year for pushhacker this on series a satellite to what who will risks science fiction YA in particular with a slew of big releases- surelyher life be to itsprotect thrilling Cinder conclu and- from major hitters. We’ve had new books released by the sion. likes of Cassandra Clare, Veronica Roth, Rick Yancey, Jen If Cinder was entertain- nifer Armentrout, Maggie Stiefvater, James Dashner and ing and Scarlet (about a pilot AmieTahereh Kaufman Mafi. There and Megan have also Spooner’s been a Thesefew awesome Broken Stars debut, LydiaYA titles Kang’s showcasing Control andsome Pierce amazing Brown’s new Redtalent, Rising such. as Cress was astonishing,Red Riding Hood telling and the a streetstories of three badass female Mortal Instruments series coming to a worthy con- fighter called Wolf) was a thrilling sequel then clusionIt’s also (even been though a year she of finales hints at with more both to come Cassandra from her political troubles, plot twists and of course romance, ShadowhunterClare’s charactersheroes and whothe men are diverse,that follow complex them. and With interesting, more action, Cress Divergent series with not one but two releases. surpassed my already high expectations. universe) and Veronica Roth concluding the

taleDespite retellings being, to spoiled grand spacefor choice, operas there, to anare alien some invasion. stand out These Broken Stars sf books from 2014. They vary in subject from futuristic fairy- by Amie Kaufman and Megan Spooner

Here are four of the best books I think the year had to offer: A debut novel for both authors, These Broken Stars by Cress by Marissa Meyer Amie Kaufman and Megan Spooner was a book I could not put down and one I would recommend to those seeking- nitelya gateway similarities into YA. to It thehas doomedbeen described cruise liner by many they assoon an CressLooking by Marissaback to the Meyer beginning however of topped2014 I initially that list hadand a didn’t stop‘Intergalactic being comparable Titanic’ yet and while the focusinitially very there much are becomes defi disappoint.very small list It’s of hard books not I to was fall anticipating in love with being Meyer’s released. writing a story about survival and the relationship between the and the worlds she creates from Cinder to Scarlet and now two main characters. This story is incredibly original, and Cress (with both Fairest and Winter

are really well written with exciting expected and original this storyyear). unlike any other sf I’ve read before, with a compelling tone linesEach andbook delightful has been characters.better than Cressthe last. offers All aof feeling these booksof charactersthat you don’t aboard often a findluxury in YA space sf. liner: Tarver, a solider, - andWe Lilac, are immediately the daughter thrown of the richest into the and world most of power our main- ful man in the universe. After a rather spectacular crash, freshness by adding new, quirky characters while seam Tarver and Lilac are stranded on a deserted planet left lessly picking up exciting story lines from previous books. futuristic twist, - to forage and survive on their own without help. Slowly, able.Meyer She hashas takencreated our a complexfavourite sf fairy world tales using and traditional added a something tender and fragile grows between them and in somehow making them even more remark page 22 VECTOR #279 – Spring 2015

- Jungle sion of giving up the wonderful peace they’ve found with the end, Tarver and Lilac have to make the difficult deci giant insects, is one of but the it strangest is so much books more I than have just ever that. read. It Atis The writing is beautiful and complex, the world build- afirst hilarious glance coming it’s about of aage boy story whose about town self-discovery gets invaded and by ingeach immense other in andorder the to dual find pointstheir way of view back is to one civilization. of the best one of the most honest portrayals of the strange and often alien feelings that come with being a teenager. time, with both characters having distinct and believable Reading Grasshopper Jungle voices.uses of It’sthis not kind a fast of split-paced narrative read but that rather I’ve seena slow in boiler, a long with the tension increasing as the characters explore their from extinction by giant praying is a mantises wild ride: whilst 16 year trying old mysterious planet but that’s what is so compelling about toAustin deal Szerbawith the tries attraction to save hehis feels small to town both (andhis girlfriend humanity) Shann and his best friend Robby. This is more than just just to get some answers. your typical narrative, it’s about the strug- this book, what has you staying up until the early hours gle Austin feels about who he is, it’s about discovering your identity at a time in your life when your hormones are The Infinite Sea by Rick Yancey inside the mind of a teenager with accuracy and honesty. running wild. Smith manages to capture what life is like The 5th Wave erections vulgar but even though I’ve never Some readers may find Austin’s constant mention of sex and inIn aRick world Yancey’s decimated by the waveswe met of alien Cassie what he is writing about. invasionsor ‘Cassiopeia’ that hadwho destroyed was trying most to survive of human - beenGrasshopper a teenage Jungleboy it feelsis so likedelightfully Smith knows weird,

gloomy yet realistic and completely bizarre. survivors,ity and has is sent left the in a world world back where into the the number stone Thoughin turns it’sdark a veryand comical,LGBT-friendly terrifying novel and in a oneages. rule Cassie, is ‘trust being no-one’. one of the last human genre that has been calling for more diver- The 5th Wave sity, to simply label it as that would be a and The Infinite Sea was greeted with high expectations that was it surpassa breakout the hit magic in 2013, of the weaves a compelling coming-of age story, The Infinite Sea aboutmistake. the Always teenage surprising, struggle with Andrew sexuality, Smith failed to meet those expectations, it was still sexual identity, family history, friendship fullfirst of novel. heart-pounding While many action think and after the and love into a story about giant praying inslow and pace not ofletting the first go. 50 or so pages moves mantis-like creatures taking over Earth. along at lightning speed, hooking the reader last year were sf based. Publishers have noted the success of aliens love tormenting the few surviving humans, playing It’s not surprising that some of the best YA books published The characters’ world is even bleaker than before: the YA fiction in recent years and its correlation to the rise of sf inon without what’s remaining doubting them.of their humanity and making them and fantasy in popular culture, with big blockbuster movies distrustful. They can’t even take a poor defenceless child helping to increase book sales. Whether you are a teenager methods of the invaders still remain shrouded in mystery, andor an understood, adult the core whether themes that’s of a YAas abook monster resonate that withcan be us The book has a fairly confusing start as the motives and defeatedall. YA novels or, as externalise is more popular evil as now, an enemy an evil that in the can world be seen the character lives in, from political and economic repression to but enough clues are dropped as to their nature to keep a world that has escalated to such technological advances intense,you turning crazy the moments pages. Compared sandwiched to the between first book, slow thisscenes that they are lost within it. thatsequel had was me slower, impatient more for about something the build-up, to happen. creating This vari- Titanic- Whether you want a futuristic fairy-tale retelling, a ation in pacing, however annoying at times, does work: everyone.like 2014 space was crash, an amazing an alien year invasion for publishing or giant praying as we tothe really ebb and develop flow ofhis the characters, action scenes to craft and people the quieter, you can saidmantis, goodbye the four to somebooks of I’ve our chosen favourite have series, something said hello for to connectmore pensive, to and sections care about. of the book create time for Yancey some outstanding new ones and got major releases from headline names, but the excitement for this genre doesn’t

Grasshopper Jungle titles are already creating a lot of buzz. For example, Vic- by Andrew Smith toriastop there,Aveyard’s with Red lots Queen to look forward to in 2015. Some

Though it was Andrew Smith’s 100 Sideways Miles that award-winning Andrew Smith has a with lot of his people new noveltalking The and Alex is Crow.set to be the breakout book of 2015 and let’s not forget the eccentric Grasshopper Jungle that is truly mind-blowing. It that’s certain - its popularity with all ages certainly isn’t hasearned recently him a won National the Red Book Tentacle Award at nomination, the Kitschies it’s Awards Smith’s showingI know signs YA of isn’t slowing for everyone down. but there is one thing Grasshopper and that seems fitting as I can honestly say page 23 VECTOR #279 – Spring 2015 Made of Win: Ann Leckie

Interviewed by Tom Hunter

Director of the Arthur C. Clarke Award, Tom Hunter, AL: Actually, yeah, I was repeatedly advised against talks to Ann Leckie about her epic year of SF awards it. I came to it largely naively, wanting to write a culture triumph. that didn’t care about gender at all, and eventually settled

Tom Hunter: 2014 was clearly the year everything hap- on using “she” as a default pronoun to try to convey this. pened at once. Have things settled down a bit now or indeed reading, and various people have given very interesting Whether or how it works is of course a matter of who’s do things really settle ever after an epic round of award wins like yours? For instance are people just like us still getting in Once I’d settled on that particular approach, I had takes on the question. touch for interviews? several people tell me, while I was writing and shortly

Ann Leckie: after I’d finished, that it was cool but probably it would Things have (mostly) settled down. There’s make the book unsalable. I don’t think the phrase “non- still a steady trickle of interview requests, though, yeah. commercial” was ever used, really, it was, at that stage TH: Sticking with your award wins, Ancillary Justice was winning in 2014 but actually published in 2013 when you were already well into books 2 and 3. Presumably not much could change on that trajectory given the speed of publish- ing, but has this affected the kind of projects you might look towards once the trilogy is out?

AL: So, to some extent, I suspect that the critical recep- tion of AJ, and the award wins, and the accompanying sales, means I have some amount of freedom in choosing my next project. Though not complete freedom--in a weird

reversal of my short fiction career, I suspect most readers wouldsee me prefer as primarily to see froma science me. Still,fiction the writer, universe rather of the than fantasy, and likely that’s what both publisher and public

Ancillary books is pretty big- big enough that I can stay towithin be set its in confines that universe, and produce for those nearly reasons. any sort But ofI do thing feel that thetakes past my year fancy. or Theso has next given thing me I doa certain is almost freedom certain to

aren’t terribly constraining. work more or less however I’d like, and those constraints

TH: Hopefully readers of Vector will have all heard the buzz about the way the novel explores perceptions of gender by now (short version: it’s really cool, read it now), but what is less often discussed is how you first came to this approach and I’d be especially curious if anyone advised against it, even from a position of being helpful, for instance because they might have seen it as ‘non-commercial’? page 24 VECTOR #279 – Spring 2015

more a question of appealing to editors. Which, of course, the big houses need to aremake going a certain to want amount to buy of things money that off willthe books they publish, and so those editors thingssell lots commercial of books. But as mostsuch. of my writing friendsStill, they weren’t thought really the focused pronouns on making would and I suspected they were mostly right, in generalmake the terms. book Butdifficult none to of sellthem to actuallyeditors, tried to argue me out of it. I’m not sure I’d have considered them terribly good friends if they had, really. Because of those conversations, I had made up my mind, before sending the book out on submission, that the pronouns were a dealbreaker for me, that I wasn’t wasgoing my to agent,change when them I justhad toonly make subbed the to him,book suggested sell more easily.I reconsider My agent, the pronounbefore he thing, and I spent a few hours distraught-

-it felt like this might be my only chance at inrepresentation! advance, and soWhat I wrote if refusing him this lost long, me impassionedthat chance? Butemail this about was whywhy II’d had decided to reasonkeep the he’s pronouns. my agent And now. he wrote back basically,I tell this “Okay.” story not Which to give is a the big impression part of the that my agent is horribly conservative or that I had to convince him about the pronouns--he’s not and I didn’t, really--but rather that sometimes things that we AL:

- Oh, ! I love it so. But of course, much- of think are insurmountable barriers actually aren’t. (And also what I love about it is looked down on by some SF readers. that it’s a good idea to know in advance what your priori The bright colors, the high adventure--the (often) con ties are, and be willing to stick to them, instead of trying to tempt for actual scientific reality in favor of capital R Romance! And of course, the term began as an insult for a memake to thatchange decision the pronouns at what seems at all. likeIt was, a rather, point.) one of the kind of SF that some folks felt was a standard adventure The same with editors--my editors at Orbit didn’t ask genreswith science that have fictional been trappings tossed in together.pasted onto But it. the dominant things they’d really liked about the novel. narrativeI think that, of what historically, Science Fiction SF is actually is mostly several applies different to a helpful,My takeaway not in and from of themselves.the whole experience I am not a is fan that of aspiringlaundry lists of what’s “commercial” or not aren’t actually terribly - single one of these. Hard SF (as commonly defined) fits commercial or not, not because I have any sort of disdain quite easily, it’s the “central” form, but I think that central writers worrying too much about whether their work is byity theis kind glitter of an and illusion. gleam of Space Opera, and come to the easilyfor the predictable. commercial (I like to sell books as much as the next I also think that lots of younger readers are drawn in person!) but because what sells or doesn’t isn’t really that other kinds of science fiction later. That’s even more true TH: And speaking of commercial, it strikes me as well that when you look at movies. So even when we go through a we ought to talk about Space Opera itself. In many ways it manydecade writers’ when people and readers’ are calling idea forof whata more Science pure, Fiction“serious” seems that Space Opera is the constant ‘new black’ of the *is*,SF, the and Space there Opera are writers is still partcoming of the up field,who’ll still want part to ofwrite science fiction world, loved by people season after season but occasionally being rediscovered by reviewers. Is there a sense that in some ways space opera is perpetually making a come it, and readers who will have felt its lack and will be eager back do you think? to see it come back into vogue. I suspect that, yes, it’s going to keep going out of style and keep coming back in, always modified to fit the times. page 25 VECTOR #279 – Spring 2015

TH: More personally, what attracted you to start writing in this part of the SF field?

AL: Mostly because it’s the sort of SF I loved best, when I was growing up. I read nearly everything the local library had, and enjoyed a lot of it--one of the things I love about

The Zero Stone that have remained closest to my heart. SF is its variety--but it’s books like, say, Andre Norton’s TH: And what is exciting you most about Science Fiction right now?

AL: about SF has been its variety. Large scale Space Opera to So, like I said, one of the things I’ve always loved ideas, and everything in between, not to mention a few small scale, intimate explorations of particular scientific And in the past few years this seems to be expanding- things alongside that didn’t quite fit in there to begin with!

-more awareness of translated work, for instance, and a greater variety of kinds of writers, of voices adding to the field. In some ways it’s almost an unmanageable deluge--I can’t possibly keep up with all the cool new stuff. But there it is, all that cool new stuff! TH: I wanted to pick up on a conversation we began last year on the issues surrounding diversity in SF. When we first started emailing last year, I remember you said you had originally been disappointed with the Clarke Award results the year before (the one with the all male shortlist) but that you’d then understood more about this (how the judging panel was made up of four female & one male judges for instance) and that the situation with many awards was more nuanced than straight shortlists often revealed or people on Twitter took time to dig into. Given So, uncomfortable as it is, that barrage of “Oh no, why an your victorious run last year I don’t think anyone can be better as to make alternative choices invisible or near impossible). placed to know more about lots of different awards right now, problem, and more digging into it can come after that. and I wondered what kind of perspective this had given you on all male shortlist???!!!” can help lead to better visibility of a the broader conversation of diversity in SF? It’s no fun to be getting that, though! That’s where I AL: think it’s important to take a step back and try not to take it personally. “The Clarke only picked white male contents So, happen,yeah, when the thingsfactors like behind all male that (orare all very white, complex, or all straight/cis/what have you) shortlists or tables of authors this year!” isn’t the same thing as “The jurors are sexist pigs!” Though of course it can feel that way. Just and aren’t always a question of the folks choosing the like “White people often do and say racist things” isn’t the same thing as “You, Ann, a white person, are a terrible peopleshortlists might or the notice, ToCs. and In acomplain. lot of ways, that’s just the most addressing what’s been said. It’s just reacting defensively. visible link in the chain, and so that’s the point where racist!” Responding with “But I’m not racist!” isn’t really I react or respond to people who have various criticisms That said, I think the complaints are a good thing, Somewhat similarly, I’ve occasionally been asked how comfortablebecause that todoes be onlead the to direct asking receiving that question--how end of that. did In I’ve decided that really I don’t always need to respond. I or complaints about my work. And, after much reflection, fact,this happen?watching Why the variousdoes it keep reactions happening? to the awardsI know it’sthis not certainly don’t need to argue. People have the right to have

of food for thought on what such reactions might mean, right to tweet or blog about it. I don’t need to argue anyone last year, and to my book in particular, has given me a lot their reaction (to my work, to a shortlist) and of course the worth pondering, then that’s good. But to argue or protest out of it. If there’s something in that response I think is forTwitter me in particularof course doesn’t when it’sreally my help work nuanced being complained discussion, about, and for the field in general. my good intentions or whatever? Not useful. step. Until that’s happened you can’t go on to discussing the but just making the problem visible is an important first individualSo much editorsof the way or awards awards administrators shortlists and ToCs or whatever end up packed with white straight cis guys is systemic, and often individual decisions are often constrained by circumstances react with genuine hurt, and protest sincerely that they thatway arecertain out ofkinds their of control--or exclusion are circumstances systemic, that that people’s they’re didn’t try to exclude anyone. I’m sure they didn’t. As I said, unaware of (because such systems are set up in such a way the roots of the problem are usually systemic. But IMO by page 26 VECTOR #279 – Spring 2015 refusing to consider their own role in it, however small, TH: Coming back toy our own trilogy, I wouldn’t want to guess ahead too much (and not asking for any spoilers of somewhere, and the more people are aware of a problem, course) but the book titles themselves seem to imply you had thethat more reaction chances is the there opposite might of be helpful. to begin Change that change.has to start So a trajectory from the start, and part three ‘Ancillary Mercy’ ultimately, as unfun as it is to be the target of such com- suggests that maybe that ending will be a little different from the usual ‘saved the universe’ conclusions? Hints? plaints, I think they can be the beginning of a change. AL: - TH: I was also very pleased to see Ancillary Sword picking tory in mind from the start, you’re right about that. But I up award nominations. If anything this is more exciting for also am Oh, not I don’t an outliner, want to my spoil process anything! is...I guessI did have organic a trajec is me as an Award Director as the common wisdom is later books in sequences don’t get nominated and perhaps this is one of the less discussed areas affecting diversity and whatthe best that word. was goingSo I knew to ultimately where I wanted mean until to end I got up, the but third not, visibility of writers in SF e.g. we often see lots of excitement perhaps, the specifics of how that was going to happen or over first books but then that fades away and people go off in search of something new again. When you’re looking at a book down on paper. But in general, I don’t think a “saved Clarke submissions list of 1 in 4 women writers for instance the universe” ending is possible. I mean, they can be fun, but and then deduct for books that are part of a sequence the it’s kind of already part of the setup that, no, you can’t really number can plummet very fast. Thoughts? save the universe, much as you’d like to (even if you’re going to try anyway).” But, you know, Breq is well aware of that AL: and it’s not going to stop her from trying, right? TH: Ann, many thanks indeed for taking the time to much So,attention actually or Igenerate can think as of much a number excitement. of very But good now answer these questions and best wishes for the end of the youreasons mention why it,subsequent I wonder ifbooks particular in series writers don’t feel get comas - trilogy and beyond! pelled to write the sorts of things that might be series AL: something,or trilogies. andHmm. gosh I do why know that I often see complaints You’re very welcome! And thank you! isthat nothing everything a standalone is “Book One in the Infinity Series” or thought very much about that,anymore? except And to considerI haven’t that, as a reader, if I love a world, or a set of characters, I’m more than happy to spend more time with them, and so I totally understand a pub- lisher wanting to indulge that, if there are enough fans like me! As a writer, I thehave same to admit time II likewould the get idea terriblyof making bored fans and happy, burned but at out staying in the same part of why I’ve said repeat- edlytrack that all the this time. is a trilogy, That’s going with those characters onand and I don’t on. plan to just keep though, I wonder how genderedNow you the mention basis for it, those complaints might be. When I think “popular series I love” ofit’s course, Cherryh it wasand BujoldJordan whoon come to mind first. Though, thought.the Hugo ballot last year, right? Still, interesting page 27 VECTOR #279 – Spring 2015 recurrent: SEQUENTIALS Laura Sneddon

2014 in Science Fiction Comics

n recent times it seems that every year is hailed as seemingly one-way trip, with differing colour palettes to match. It’s hard to say which is more devastating to read, and 2014 was no exception with The Verge, Salon, and Ibeing particularly strong for science fiction comics, What Culture amongst the popular websites extolling the or the all too believable political manoeuvres and decep- tionthe crew on the who ground. have been pushed to the brink and beyond, the year. virtues of SF comics over the (still successful) SF movies of and mayhem Grant Morrison teamed up with gorgeously SF in the world of comics, with continuing splendour macabreAt Legendary Frazer Comics,Irving to the birth infamous Annihilator master into of our magic fromIn truth The Wake though, by Scott2014 wasSnyder indeed and Seana landmark Murphy, year Saga for by world, a tale of two places connected by a rather different Brian K Vaughan and Fiona Staples, and The Private Eye by problem. Screenwriter Ray Spass (pronounced Space, he Vaughan again and Marcos Martin. The Wake, as men- tioned in our 2013 ‘best of’ list, published the second half of its story throughout the year, managing to not only completely subvert expectations by moving both into the future and the past of the previous storyline,

tobut home by evolving reveal. the plot beyond its original subaquatic horrorsRefreshingly, to a more despite extra-terrestrial how engaging yet these shockingly SF staples close were during the year, the newcomers rose to the chal- lenge and, amazingly, obliterated the competition. Six

creative teams, demonstrated the sheer breadth of the comics, from six separate publishers, and six unique -

science fiction genre, from space faring and superpow subversioners to time travelin between. and artificial intelligence, with a sprinklingOni Press of had surreal an incredibly mind-bending successful horror year, and not identity least due to the ongoing Letter 44

, by Charles Soule and butAlberto Letter Jimenez 44 Albuquerque. Soule is best known perhaps for his considerable work for DC and Marvel, letter for their is successor surely his – masterpiece. and letter number When 44,the from apresident president of who the USran leaves the economy his office, into they the also ground leave and a - - less.embarked Because on allcountless the repugnant wars in actionsthe name of theof anti-terror US were ism (sound familiar?) leaves the new president speech - the result of the need to fight a far larger problem: an alienThe construct story bats in between the asteroid the political belt that fallout looks suspiof manag- ingciously such weapon a secret like. on Earth and the claustrophobic tale of the crew en route to investigate the alien object on a page 28 VECTOR #279 – Spring 2015

more, much more, about this world have rightfully won it agenre, strong the audience. lack of direct narration and the desire to know

Jeff Lemire, the critically acclaimed creator of Essex County Trilogy and Sweet Tooth and celebrated writer of Animal Man, turned his hand to a tale of star-crossed to obliteration when he is diagnosed with a deadly brain Trillium. Two stories screams) is on a self-destructive and Black Mass filled path lovers of another kind in Vertigo’s tumour. Desperate to produce his last to save his unfold in parallel: William Pike, torn apart by his World career, he finds himself instead writing for his life. War I traumas, on an expedition in the jungles of Peru in - 1921; and Nika Temsmith, a botanist seeking access to a The protagonist of his story, Max Nomax is also fighting andrare mysterious flower on the alien outer-rim people, ofa similarcolonized temple space to in the 3797. one for his life – on the edge of the black hole, the Great Anni The flower blooms within a temple guarded by a peaceful hilator, at the centre of the Milky Way. Oh, and he’s also- The temples also serve as a gate between worlds, ingstanding in Spass’ in front brain of as Spass a tumour in the he flesh, needs demanding to download he finish onto Pike stumbles across on his quest to find a lost Incan site. Nomax’s story which is in fact a ball of data masquerad gently fall in love. A love that threatens the very fabric of the page. It’s the kind of madness that only Irving can do thebetween universe, time, bending and between time and two space, very brokendisplacing people people that from their lives into others, tampering with memories, outjustice, of consciousness, as he paints the the pages story with of Max sequential is slowly insanity. revealed. With the FBI on Nomax’s tail, and Spass sinking in and disease decimating the human population. and all in a race to procure the only flower that can halt a But is he the bad guy he makes out to be? Is Spass the Trillium has, more so than perhaps any other comic harmlessAlex + Ada idiot, an we ongoing assumed? series And by who Jonathan is that Lunaadorable and sentient teddy bear holding a knife? is Whatconventional, everything old is turned new by Lemire’s imagination,this year, is genuine, and the breath-holdingcoldest of alien emotion.worlds becomes Nothing a here little less mind-bending but no less brain-stretching. In home you simply never want to leave. Sarah Vaughn from indie favourite Image Comics, is a- tience withheld, the lonely Alex is gifted an X5, the latest ina future realistic where androids, artificial by hisintelligence grandmother is real, who with greatly sen many with The Woods, by James Tynion IV and Michael Similarly, the often underrated Boom! Studios surprised enjoys her own robotic lover. Alex, while initially horri- Dialynas, a spatial hopping tale of a more horrific nature, by the idea that she is more than she seems. - fied, finds himself unable to return Ada and is consumed but with that emotional core intact. The 437 students of The slow pacing and gradual world building of Alex + staff,Bay Point and allPreparatory – to a mysterious High School and deadly suddenly, alien and planet. inex Ada is a delicious delight, and while so far the comic has plicably, find themselves transported – school, teachers, introduced to those who will perhaps last longer than With blood and death near on the horizon, the reader is yet to bring much original to the artificial intelligence page 29 VECTOR #279 – Spring 2015

most – screw-up Karen and resistant to change old-school comicsabsolute fandom tizz. While sputtered the often her control-freak best friend about political correctness Sanami, the delinquent gone mad, there was a roar andCalder, the the self-proclaimed quiet yet huge of celebration from newer genius,Benjamin, Adrian. the geeky Isaac, fans and the stellar sales and number of reprints have established Ms Marvel as a outWhile in the the school familiar between post- the core Marvel title. uselessapocalyptic principal turmoil and breaks passion - ate student council leader – as bestow Kamala with well as the sadistic PE teacher InhumanWhen mysterious powers and mists the ability to shapeshift and heal, enter the jungle at the behest – the motley crew of misfits - to the mysterious alien viousshe takes Ms Marvelinspiration and currentfrom her stoneof Adrian pointing who hasthe ‘spoken’way into hero Carol Danvers (the pre the wilderness. Unsurpris- people of her city. The series ingly, shit gets real, but with followsCaptain her Marvel) attempts to help at the a selection of well chosen and

the reader is shown that none atcrime home, fighting and her alongside struggle the to ofslowly the gang delivered are who flashbacks, they are balancedifficulties her she religious experiences duties perceived to be, with friend- alongside both her superhero ship celebrated and hetero- and teenage lives. normative romances given a Muslim, it’s important to It’s rare that a comic While Wilson is herself managesfirm back to seat. balance horror, from evangelising about any humour, mystery, science faithnote that– Kamala’s this book life is is far utterly relatable to many, and with without tipping the story out of alignment, but The Woods the combination of clever writing, dreamy art and superb isfiction, a rare and beast relationship that manages woes all this and more with aplomb. been so successful. And yet of course in the world of comics, hitting the big time with the new Ms Marvel itcharacterisation is a surprise to manyit’s really further no surprise up the publisher that the book chain has And finally, king of the cinema Marvel surprised itself by- sity, welcomes new readers, puts a realistic youngby G Willow girl in the titleWilson lead, and and Adrian banishes Alphona notions – a comicof romance that embraces to the sidelines. diver pushthat a in female-led this direction book in can the be coming both popular years. and critically Ms Marvel is, acclaimed. Hopefully both Marvel and DC will continue to perhaps, the most popular comic of areWhile threaded the science with optimism. fiction comics Letter of 44 2013 had a focus on 2014 when digital theour warvery mongering darkest fears of the about past humanity, decade while the comics Alex + Adaof 2014 and Trillium seeks to explain into account (i.e. force. Annihilator plays with the force of creativity itself thosesales are readers taken posit love as anThe important Woods puts and conqueringindividuality who do not Ms Marvel shows us that anyoneas a life-saving can be a endeavour; hero, both in the world of superheroes and comic shops, a above authority to find hope. And usually frequent - The announce- trophobicin the world journey of superhero into space comic and book a planet sales. plagued by mentwider that audience!). Kamala war,Darkness self-destructive still surrounds behaviours us, whether in a money that beobsessed a claus - American Muslim ing loneliness that turns us to technology for some sem- Khan, a Pakistani world and the terror of uncontrollable affliction, crush an ordinary us and the terror of jumping over the next hurdle, the teenagefrom New girl, Jersey, was realityblance ofthat connection, we hide who horrors we are from and our can past trust that no breakone… all to be the new Ms Marvel sent with love. But certainly with enthusiasm. And always, of the mainstream are conquerable. With hope. With optimism. Maybe even press into an course, with science fiction. page 30 VECTOR #279 – Spring 2015 recurrent: KINCAID IN SHORT Paul Kincaid

Helen O’Loy by Lester del Rey

In my last column I explained how the male gaze in

he Science Fiction Writers of America was formed in frailty of the woman as object, is consistently undermined T1965, and immediately launched the Nebula Awards. Moore’s story, fixated on the appearance and supposed The first awards were handed out in 1966 for the story, on the other hand, is all male gaze. best science fiction published in that year of birth, 1965. - by the strength and individuality of theAstounding woman. Del Rey’s wardsBut two and years identify later, theunder best the stories SFWA’s that second had been president, published Robert Silverberg, it was decided to extend the idea back uneven“Helen vision O’Loy” of wasthe future.first published Technologically, in things in are 1938, far inand advance like many of the stories present of that day. period The two it offers friends a peculiarly at the heart before they could have been eligible for the Nebulas. All the thenThe 300-or-so results were members predictable. of the SFWA The top were place entitled went to vote, just as they did for the Nebulas themselves. shortof the journeys,story ‘rented as when a house the nearnarrator, the rocket Phil, ‘hired field’ a(62), per -and they travel by rocket even for what seem to be relatively ’s “Nightfall”, and other’s prominent on the Above all, there are humanoid robots with ‘memory coils list included Stanley Weinbaum’s “A Martian Odyssey”, sonal rocket and was back in Messina in half an hour’ (66). wereDaniel predominantly Keyes’s “Flowers white for maleAlgernon” and American, and Theodore who were Sturgeon’s “Microcosmic God”. Let’s face it, the voters paraphernalia,and veritoid eyes the … society [and a] we… cuproberyl see seems Victorianbody’ (63). in its Yet against this background of whizzy, high-tech intoraised an during anthology, the 40s Science and Fiction50s, and Hall their of Famechoices, (the reflected omis- away because old Mrs van Styler says ‘her son has an sionsthat background. were down to26 editorial of the top decisions, 30 stories such were as gathered no author infatuationattitudes and for customs. a servant Thus, girl, andat a keyshe momentwants you Phil to iscome called

the future state of medicine is bad enough. Phil insists appearing twice, so Arthur C. Clarke’s “The Nine Billion - out and give counter-hormones’ (65). What this says about Names of God” was included, but not “The Star”). Looking- down the contents list it is striking if, for the time, unsur glands.he is ‘no This society was doctor, a vogue messing that reached with glands’ its height (65), during which the prising, that all of the authors are white; with the excep suggests that society doctors are still promoting monkey tion of Clarke, all are American; and with the exception up and used in patent medicines for their supposed of Judith Merril and C.L. Moore (present as one half of the 1920s, during which the testicles of monkeys were ground pseudonymous ‘Lewis Padgett’), all are male. ...we are presumably in a world where a reputable doctor will dispense medicine to people without their consent on the say-so of the rich and powerful.

revitalising effect. The vogue didn’t last all that long, and even at the time most people saw through it as a sham, C.L. Moore, along with her husband, Henry Kuttner, is included for the delightful “Mimsy Were the Borogoves”, but her work under her own name, particularly “No forbut hisit presumably futuristic medicine. lingered farIt is enough also revealing, into the not1930s to sayfor Woman Born” which I wrote about in my last column, del Rey to pick up on the idea as a shadowy underpinning feminiseddid not make machine, the list. a Butfemale one robot story in that this did case make rather the thanlist poor servant girl can be ‘cured’ (del Rey is careful to put was Lester del Rey’s “Helen O’Loy”, another story of the disturbing, to find that young Archy van Styler and the this counter-hormone treatment. This idea of a ‘cure’ for a woman turned into a cyborg; and I strongly suspect that quotation marks around the word) of their mutual love by “Helen O’Loy” was what inspired “No Woman Born”. page 31 VECTOR #279 – Spring 2015

love, by the way, has resonances with the main body of the story, but we’ll come to that shortly. If future medicine seems retrograde, what this brief

interlude says about society is even worse. We are in a place,world andeffectively where aunchanged rich old woman since thecan 1890s, dictate where who her there son canare mastersand cannot and fall servants in love who with. are Moreover, each meant since to we know are theirtold

- ablythat youngin a world Archy where and ahis reputable unnamed doctor servant will girl dispense are tricked medicineinto taking to the people futuristic without monkey their consent glands, weon theare say-sopresum of

bethe in rich any and way powerful. satirical. Nor It is should presented we fool as a ourselves perfectly unexinto - thinking that this hierarchical picture of society is meant to brief passage is here simply to show the dangers of love as a ceptional portrait of how the world is likely to operate; this

andcounterpoint who miss to out the on central marriage story because of Dave they and preferHelen. guy Dave and Phil are a couple of buddies who share a house,

pursuits (‘Dave wanted to look over the latest Venus- rocket attempt’ (62)) to girly pastimes like wanting ‘to see wherea display she stereo’ proved (62). to be It asis notablegood a sport that Phil’s and as highest sensibly praise for Helen comes when ‘We went trout fishing for a day,

beingsilent asa love a man’ interest (72). isIn something the main, a else woman entirely, can onlyand some be a - thingworthwhile that a mancompanion should whenapproach she behavesonly with just trepidation. like a man; Lena obviously has to go: ‘we’ve got to get a better robot. The two settle, with every appearance of relief, into a comfortable bachelor existence. They have a robot isA housemaidthat ‘She was mech beautiful, isn’t complex a dream enough’ in spun (64). plastics The newand servant who is clearly female, partly because she is robot is Helen, about whom the very first thing we are told- ance, all that really matters. As I say, this story is all male metals’ (62). In fact this is all we are told about her appear called Lena, but mostly because she does all the cooking and cleaning. Domesticity is the sole purpose and entire further told that the manufacturers: after the pair get rid of Lena, ‘there was the odor of food gaze. Amplifying this objectification of the female, we are measure of a woman. When Helen arrives, some time had performed a miracle and put all the works in a girl-modeled case. Even the plastic and rubberite face in the air that he’d missed around the house for weeks’ was designed for flexibility to express emotions, and (68), which doesn’t suggest that either Dave or Phil can she was complete with tear glands and taste buds, shelower was themselves a genius, withto actually all the cookgood should points theof a need woman arise. ready to simulate every human action, from breathing As Phil says later of Helen: ‘Helen was a good cook; in fact to pulling hair. (64) - and a mech combined’ (71). The trouble with Lena is tic machine might need tear glands and taste buds. And that that she isn’t very good, she puts ‘vanilla on our steak coyOne reference can only to wonder simulating why ‘every a K2W88 human utility action’ model is laterdomes dis- instead of salt’ (63). And even though she is a robot, with - no emotions, no consciousness, such mistakes are still ly I’m made to imitate a real woman … in all ways. I couldn’t her fault. ‘When those wires crossed, she could have cretely expanded when Helen says: ‘you know how perfect programscorrected herself.is responsible But she for didn’t any errorsbother; in she that followed wiring, the mech impulse’ (63). As if a creature of wires and give him sons, but in every other way …’ (70, ellipses in the is meant to be an ideal woman, serving all a man’s needs isoriginal). an object But made this tois notserve a robot man’s story, pleasure, nor was from ever great meant food to that programing. But then, Lena isn’t really a robot; she be. It is a male wish fulfilment fantasy in which Helen O’Loy inconvenience of being a real woman. roboticswithout makingwith Phil’s any understanding demands upon of him. ‘the Only glands, she secreisn’t - to Andguiltless the chief sex (‘I inconvenience, couldn’t give him as we sons’), soon but learn, without is that the tions,quite idealhormones, enough. and So miscellanies Dave combines that his are knowledge the physical of messy female thing: emotion. - sleepless night during which: sworecauses vigorouslyof emotions’ at (63)us when to put we in told some her ‘mechanical she wasn’t doingemo Once they have unpacked Helen, Dave and Phil spend a tions’ (63). But the next day ‘she flew into a tantrum and we poured over the schematic diagrams of her clearly emotional, because then she gets annoyed when structures, tracing the thoughts through mazes of her her work right’ (63-4). What is wrong with a woman is wiring, severing the leaders, implanting the heter-

her rightful master criticises her work. page 32 VECTOR #279 – Spring 2015

ones, as Dave called them. And while we worked, a mechanical tape fed carefully prepared thoughts of decided that this solution would be the same as murder, consciousness and awareness of life into an auxiliary what she’s going through now.’ (72) They have already memory coil. (64) but clearly emotion is not worth living with. And Helen - however, Phil is called away to cure that terrible disease of ingagrees: that ‘Maybefemale emotionsthat’s best, are Phil. worse I don’t than blame death. you’ (72). She Before they can turn the newly enhanced Helen on, is acting like a man again, bravely and rationally recognis love between a rich woman’s son and a servant girl. When- Fortunately, Dave sees sense and realises he loves her, he is able to return home weeks later, he discovers that so the two live together as man and wife. ‘No woman ever the same disease has struck there. Or rather, after care made a lovelier bride or a sweeter wife. Helen never lost thefully worst working faults to ofmake a real Helen woman. as close That to is, human although as possible, she is a her flair for cooking and making a home’ (72-3). Again, they are horrified to discover that she is displaying all the male gaze presents Helen in terms of her looks and enjoys romantic stories her domestic skills. Of course theybecause have a longthey and‘both happy feel onsuperb the ‘stereovisor’ cook and keeps which the house spotlessly clean, she also marriage, and when Dave dies, Philthat heads we should out ‘kill’ cross Helen this last bridge side by side’ for her newly excited acted like ‘a perfect outlet ends with the suggestion that(73). Phil Naturally himself the never story isemotions’ a future (68).shaped So bywhen married because he was visionsDave returns of mid-century home (this domestic normality: the So the story closes with reassuringalso in love sentiment,with Helen. and it is here in this rather triesman goesto greet out himto work, with the a woman stays home) she the reputation of the story probablyhurried final lies. section The more that butkiss. it ‘Helen’s had enthusiasm, technique as hemay found have when lacked he polish, tried people, the more they we make robots resemble him. She had learned fast the more, indeed, that to stop her from kissing theywill behave will become like people, people. aboutand furiously’ ‘the folly (68). of her ways’Dave to delivers which she a lecture suggest“Helen O’Loy” that a was,humanoid replies, ‘but I still love robotperhaps, might the befirst an story object to

something of a ground- startsyou’ (69), staying whereupon away from home. But when Phil, fresh from of love, which makes it puttingDave takes paid to to drink one romance and between a man and a servant, abreaker. dehumanised But it only woman. breaks that ground by making the object of the story, Helen, less a humanised robot and more suggests that they change a few of Helen’s memory coils, inDave this won’t story have who it: isn’t. ‘I’m not used to fussing with emotions’ One can easily understand why this dispassionate take- (69). In that case, he would appear to be the only character on passion might have prompted a writer like C.L. Moore to respond with her own passionate attack on dispas Rather than change Helen, therefore, Dave’s response Moore’ssion in “No story Woman must Born”.have been And conceived re-reading as Lester a response del Rey’s to is to run away. He sells up his business and moves out to hackneyed piece, I am more and more convinced that a farm. Phil stays home with Helen, and clearly enjoys her companionship (that fishing trip). Noticeably, when “Helen O’Loy”. onhe takesendless her hats, shopping and conducted ‘she giggled herself and purredas any normal over the century.What is less clear is why, 30 years later, the SFWA still wisps of silk and glassheen that were the fashion, tried considered it one of the finest science fiction stories of the suggest a very stereotypical view of how women behave, butgirl Philmight’ can (71-2). afford The to be romantic dispassionate films and in his shopping relationship trips because he’s not distracted by any of that love nonsense.

Quotations taken from: herHelen, legs uphowever, and down cannot and escapecrying herto the emotions. high heavens’ At one Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Volume I (London: Sphere, point, Phil finds her ‘doubled up on the couch, threshing del Rey, Lester, “Helen O’Loy” in Robert Silverberd, ed.,

(72). Women’s emotions are such melodramatic and 1972) pp. 62-73. messy things. So Phil calls Dave: ‘I’ve made up my mind. I’m yanking Helen’s coils tonight. It won’t be worse than page 33 VECTOR #279 – Spring 2015 recurrent: FOUNDATION FAVOURITES Andy Sawyer

A Message From Mars by Lester Lurgan and Richard Ganthony

of this era (the early 20th tos the follow previous up with ‘Foundation’s something Favourite’of the same was vintage. a book romances,of the prolific school Mabel stories, Knowles historical (1885-1949: adventures better and known reli- A century), I hadn’t intended as ‘May Wynne’). As ‘Wynne’, Knowles published over 200 But late last year the British Film Institute published on their website their restored version of what was being gious works. As far as I know (do correct me!), this lively A Message from Mars adaptation of Ganthony’s play is her only work that can billed as the first British full-length , (however loosely) be called science fiction, but it would be , directed by J. Walter Waller, issued- interesting to look at the other ‘Lurgan’ books to see if this coveredin 1913 and that based there uponhad been the play a ‘tie-in’ by Richard novel (one Ganthony. source otheris yet anotherthan the female fact that writer he was of theborn field in Liverpool we have ‘lost’. and died claimedIntrigued that by thethis film, was Ithe investigated first ever movie further ‘tie-in’ and disnovel in ISurrey, know nothing and seemed about to Richard have spent Ganthony much of(1856-1924) his life in the

It all turned out to be more complicated than I’d thought. all depends on whether you call A Message From Mars SF. published), and so I had to read it . . . ItUSA. is certainly Was he one one of of the the earliest earliest Liverpool portrayals SF of writers? a Martian That play which ‘saw many revivals over 30 years in Britain’. - The filmEncyclopedia (according of Scienceto the BFI’s Fiction notes), was based upon a ens’s A Christmas Carol in the way a miserly curmudgeon of the play, and John T. Soister’s American Silent Horror, iscivilization, morally reformed though the by theway supernatural the plot echoes visitant, Charles and Dick Science Fiction and Fantasy Feature givesFilms, 1899 1913-1929 as the givesdate The Won- derfulthe lack Visit of technological speculation,The makes War of it the closer Worlds to 22 November 1899 as the date of the first performance, the kind of whimsical fantasy of H. G. Wells’s with Charles Hawtry (who also starred in the film) as lead. (1895), rather than his Wells’s The War of the Worlds was itself influenced by the theories of Percival Lowell, whose 1895 Mars suggested that Martian ‘canals’ were evidence of intelligent life.

The It was also performed at the Garrick Theatre New York War(serialised of the Worlds1897, published in book form 1898). However, ‘hasbetween given 7 delightOctober to 1901 theatre and audiences March 1902. for Theeleven book years’. (the Mars was very much in the news at that time. Wells’s TheSFFC Encyclopedia copy is unfortunately and the British undated) Library says date that Lurgan’s the play Mars suggested that was Martian itself influenced ‘canals’ were by the evidence theories of of - intelligentthe American life. astronomer The German Percival author KurdLowell, Lasswitz’s whose 1895 Auf Zwei Planeten showntie-in as in 1912. every However, town in Greatas the Britain, SFFC copy Australia, contains South illus trations from the ‘Cinematograph versionsomething which isof beinga (Two Planets), also about an older Martian civilization contacting Earth, was also published in 1897. Africa,To add America to the complications, and Canada’ (perhaps A Message From Mars marchIn 1901 by Nikola Raymond Tesla Taylor, claimed ‘A toSignal have From received Mars’. radio In the signals stretch there . . .?), it is clearly a second edition. from Mars; a claim which probably inspired a popular

was filmed in New Zealand in 1903, though this version film, we see our anti-hero Horace Parker refusing to take remains lost; and a US version directed by Maxwell Karger hehis is fiancée trying Minnie to read to is athe dance latest because article hein wouldan astronomical rather sit was issued in 1921. ‘Lester Lurgan’, the author of the by the fire and read. The book makes it clearer that what novel, is a pseudonym (used for at least five other novels)page 34 VECTOR #279 – Spring 2015 magazine about the possibility of life on Mars, and much is made about his grumpy insistence that he is a proper at with Minnie, and shooed away by indignant authority- taking people from the very dance he should have been want him to do all sorts of un-serious much she resembles his wife ... are we scientist, unlike the frivolous womenfolk in his life who figures. The tramp glimpses Minnie, and is struck by how bit of fun. things like let his hair down and have a humblesreally being himself led up by to pleading something for help.here? bullying a waiter in his club for not When his ‘mate’ collapses, Horace In the novel, we first see Horace - Finding a sovereign in his pocket thisesbringing with his the brandy-and-soda plight of the poor quickly who returns(magicked to Mars.there by Ramiel?), he shares enough; and later, as Minnie sympa it withAnd thenhis partner. . . . we are His relieved job done, to Ramiel dis- that they are probably brought to it by have no fire to sit by, Horace remarks wonders about how vivid it was, as a cover that it was all a dream. Horace an‘drink orphan, and reckless has been improvidence’. brought up by We feel sympathy for whoever might be get the picture. We learn that Minnie, fire-engine rushes past. He begins to rather creepy (but very common at into his old mindset, he is interrupted Horace’s late mother, and he draws the byaffected: the news then, that as a he lodging-house is about to fall (in back conclusion that they might as well be the time, at least according to fiction) the great favour he is doing her, and a neighbouring poorer district) is on althoughmarried. He,she ofgenuinely course, is loves conscious him, he of befire. of At any first help. dismissing his servant, he sneaksThe result out of is the that house Minnie to see and if Aunt he can his spurious cough than go out dancing. would rather sit by the fire and nurse Martha, with Arthur, returning from having to stay Eventually Minnie and Horace’s aunt the dance, are indignant that Horace about(as chaperone) Mars really leave, had with Arthur, a mutual friend who is colourshas gone when out after he refuses making to such go out a fuss of the about house and help the also angling after Minnie’s hand. (Yes, indeed: that article in. Arthur asks Minnie to marry him, but she sees his true to be worth reading!). A tramp will attend to it. It’s their business, you see’. Imagine their knocks at the door, with a letter from one of Horace’s people whose house is being burned down: ‘The firemen friends asking him to find the man (a good workman who lodging-house tenants, along with our friend the tramp, is down on his luck) some employment. Horace gives him whosurprise discovers when among Horace the returns refugees with a thelittle dispossessed girl who is his a whisky and a biscuit, listens to his tale about how his wife has died and his daughter Minnie (Oh! . . . could it to the tramp and set him up in business without actually andbe ?) settles and tells down him . . to. push off. Then, meditating on how beingMinnie. related Phew! to This him means . . . that Horace can be generous selfish and mean people are to him, he picks up his paper ever. . . Andconceived then he to hearsexist’, a is voice. addressing A gigantic him figure, in portentous ‘a better Now that last sentence is something of a cheap shot. The tones.and nobler It is a manhood ‘Messenger than from the Mars’ gazer (named by the fire-side Ramiel in had the book, and the play, are clearly meant to promote ‘Christian charity’ from the affluent middle-classes (this is all done to the sound of carol-singers and ‘Good King Wenceslas’), play) who it turns out has been exiled from his planet for but that’s considerably better than the remote Aselfishness Message greedycommitting and contemptiblethe crime of selfishness. inhabitants, His and sentence reform him.is to fromwhich Mars was is Horace’s hardly ainitial socialist state. tract Moral for whimsythe times, rather but its visit Earth and find one of the planet’s most egregiously than science-fiction adventure or speculation, semi-explained, but audiences would have been familiar grandHorace time is athaving the dance nothing with with Arthur, being and reformed. they overhear Ramiel withheart the is in plot the from right the place. play, Much and thein the novel 1913 may film well is only have takes him out and showsreally him how Minnie is having a what Horace’s friends think about him. Later, they been designed specifically to help filmgoers with the supportwitness athe man man’s knocked family down while by he a isspeeding in hospital. car. TheBut this is plot. There are divergences between film and novel (it’s againstembarrassed his will Horace and doesn’t is ‘persuaded’ count. So to his hand pride over is moneypunished to butnot quitethe ‘business’ clear without in the having novel about access the to sciencethe play-script and specu - as he receives sudden news that his house has burned lationwhether about film ‘life or novel on Mars’ more may accurately cover for reflects the costumes the play, in explained, to reassure us, that Minnie and Aunt Martha the play: a few play-bills advertising it can be found on havedown listened and his tobank sensible has failed. advice He and is now put theirpenniless! funds (Itin ais film and book). It would be interesting to see a script of as Martians but A Message From Mars is a neat and enter- tipped a police constable to call him a taxi, is reduced to tainingthe web. piece We may of social not be commentary quite convinced which by shows the Martians the way grovellingdifferent bank.) for pennies Horace, in whocompany earlier with has the patronisingly very tramp he had earlier spurned, opening the doors of the coaches entertainment in the early 20th century. science fiction-like images were rapidly entering popular page 35 VECTOR #279 – Spring 2015 recurrent: RESONANCES Stephen Baxter

Extraterrestrial Liberty

- n the midst of our look backLuna at 2014, series I’m (Gollancz, looking Sep- We probed such issues from a varietyStar Trek of perspectives. and Gundam I. Iforward to what’s likely to be a highlight of 2015: the gave a brief summary of science fiction dreams of fron Thefirst Moon of Ian has McDonald’s been in my new thoughts recently, as evi- tiers and utopias, from Heinlein to dencedtember by2015) my aboutlast column life in herea base on on media the Moon. depictions of scientistWe were discussedcross-disciplinary. the application While aof representative the US federal-gov of a - Moon bases (See: Vector #278 ernmentUS libertarian model think-tank to colonies hailed in an inhabitedJohn Locke, solar a planetary system. part in an exercise with a bunch of academics on drawing As for liberty on the Moon, in sf the theme has been up a constitution for a free lunar). And colony. in June 2014 I took - - Quarterlyexplored in stories dating back to the origins of the modern sinationWe are of of the course crown working prince through of the Austrian hundredth empire anniver in genre. “The Birth of a New Republic” ( Sarajevo,saries of World an act War of rebellion I. The war against was sparkedperceived by tyranny. the assas But American, datedRevolution winter set 1930; on the 1931) Moon. by TheMiles war J. Breuer is fought and outJack with Williamson huge atomic is a conscious spacecraft re-run and gaudy of the weapons, events of andthe fragility of off-world environments, such as lunar bases, in gigantic caverns inhabited by hostile ‘Selenites’ – who, what of the future? What of rebellion in space? Given the in the story, parallel the role of the native Americans. Perhaps the most interesting variation from the histori- cal precedent, and with modern resonances, is that the wouldThis suchissue a has rebellion been debated even be at possible? seminars And held if not,in 2013 what guarantees of freedom could there be? Earth of the 24th century is dominated by a handful of huge ‘Extraterrestrial Liberty’, hosted in south London by the and 2014 (another is planned for 2015) on the theme of venerable British Interplanetary Society. The seminars corporations, not governments. The lunar colonists seek Theindependence, sweep of the not piece from is an irresistible: imperial power ‘I was like soon Britain, within but who told us how he had been drawn to the topic after a from economic control by the ‘Metals Corporation’ (13). chanceare led byencounter Edinburgh-based with a volume astrobiologist of Rousseau Charles in a second- Cockell, - victors.the glass But walls my of heart the city;was seldomas a young with officer, them. I I took thought part only in the innumerable balls and banquets given in honour of the hand book store. He soon discovered that no serious aca demic thinking (as opposed to speculation in the science as applied to space colonisation. of the dark-eyed girl who was waiting for me in the little fiction field) had been devoted to the question of freedom This an issue for the mid-term future. In the near future, city far across the frozen lunar wastes’ (78). substantialThe most Thesignificant Moon is legacy a Harsh of Mistress“Birth of a New Republic” Space Station are citizens of nations on Earth. In the very is probably its influence on Robert Heinlein’s much more astronauts hopping back and forth to the International far future inhabitants of a terraformed Mars, or the Earth- (1966) (according to an introduction to the 1981 edition of “New Republic” - movement and thought as the most fortunate of us enjoy by Williamson). In 2076 Luna City is a penal colony. The like world of another star, may have as much freedom of ing wheat to an overpopulated Earth. A Lunar Authority, today, if not more. But consider the middle case, a domed convicts make a living by mining lunar water and export colony on the Moon in a century or two, with some tyrant the provision of the air they breathe. The demands of the in control of the air supply (shades of Total Recall Earth-basedunder a Warden, authorities controls are the excessive colonists’ to lives, the point including that ). How they will lead to famine on the Moon in a few years’ time. can you rebel? You can’t smash the life support machinery The lunar colonists rebel, and ultimately the confrontation without killing everybody in the colony. And you can’t flee from the domes without killing yourself. Where then is on Earth cities. is resolved as the colonists use mass drivers to drop rocks betweena hedge against the freedom tyranny, of the a guarantee individual of and freedom? the need There for theis a collectivefundamental to maintain clash in such shared situations, systems. said Cockell, their utter dependence on communal life support systems. The immediate challenge faced by Heinlein’s rebels is page 36 VECTOR #279 – Spring 2015

They understand that it is ‘post-scarcity’ model of econom- ics (and is similar to the consti- infrastructure itself: ‘The tutional model Kim Stanley Rob- womansuicidal hadto strike been againstin The the inson described emerging on his free Mars (Blue Mars As for our draft lunar consti- Rock almost all her life . . . yet tution, we debated a balance, 1996)). could think of something as between an individual’s right new-choomish as wrecking- to physical security versus trolsengineering these essential controls’ systems (44). responsibilities to contribute to centrally,Meanwhile from the hisWarden isolated con and that security. And the issue of heavily guarded complex. In the air we breathe came to be a central focus. Since humans will problems rather easily by expire in seconds if deprived of givingthe end the Heinlein colonists resolves a crucial these oxygen, the supply of air in an enclosed environment has an sentient central computer. - Thisally in does ‘Mike’, illustrate the colony’s however ferent from other resources on whichimportance we depend, qualitatively and for dif which of central life-supporting func- even in the modern world we are tionsthe significance to the issue of of the extrater control- prepared to pay - power, food, restrial liberty. even water. If you don’t pay your water bills and your supply is cut off, at least you have time to What happens after the put the situation right. If your air independentrevolution? The Luna subsequent is glimpsed is cut off, for whatever reason, indevelopment The Cat Who of WalksHeinlein’s Through you have no options at all. So we Walls decided it should be the right of decades after The Moon is a all citizens, come what may, to Harsh (1985), Mistress published. This is a twofan- an uninterrupted air supply. - nars, we wondered if our discussions are premature but tastical tale of multiple realities, linking together many of ourWe planetary humans arescientist still very had Earthbound.shown us how In the the US BIS Founding semi Heinlein’s earlier fictions. There are long sequences set in- Fathers, then restricted to thirteen eastern states, had in lateda ‘Luna and Free uncontrolled State’ (61) laissez-faireover a century after the revolution their constitutional deliberations had the vision to devise (180). Luna is presented as an arena of ferocious, unregu- a governmental system that could be expanded to incor- capitalism; common porate states yet to be founded, across a continent yet to systems like a ‘ballistic tube’ transport system are ‘pri be explored – and that was precisely what was achieved. vately owned and totally unregulated’ (185) and you have to pay directly for the air that you breathe (190). Whatever probably never imagined he would one day be read by an you think of the values behind such a system, it doesn’t astrobiologistIf they could think . . . ahead, why not us? After all, Rousseau seem to work too well. One very elderly survivor of the revolution complains, ‘When this was a penal colony, there wasA consciously more freedom different under answerthe Warden to the than problem there ofis now freedomwith self-government’ in an enclosed (236). colony is dramatised in John Varley’s Steel Beach Bibliography

(1992). This is a knowing revisitingrd of Heinlein’s ideas – indeed there is a cult of hard-line ‘Heinleiners’ (50) on Varley’s colonised Moon. In the 23 Breuer, M.J. and J. Williamson, “The Birth of a New othercentury, worlds mankind of the has solar been system. expelled Varley from depicts Earth aby civilisa aliens- The Meaning of Liberty Beyond the Republic” (New Orleans: PDA Enterprises, 1981) tionknown suffused as the by‘Invaders’, reasonably but highsurvives technology, on the Moon rich enough and Earth Cockell, Charles, ed.,The Moon is a Harsh Mistress (New York: Springer, 2014) to have moved on significantly from Heinlein’s frontier- Heinlein, Robert A., The Cat Who Walks Through Walls austerity toughness. Despite widespread automation, a (London: Hodder New English Library, 1969) and‘job guaranteeair has been is freea civil since right’ before (146). I was On the born. other It didn’t hand, used ‘if Robinson,Heinlein, Robert Kim Stanley, A., Blue Mars toyou be don’t that wantway. Rightto work, after that’s the fine,Invasion too. Nobodyif you didn’t starves, pay (New York: Ace, 1988) Varley, J., Steel Beach . (New York: Random House, 1996) thisyour system, air tax, ofyou free could access be shown to essentials, to the airlock is close without to the your suit. I like the new way better’ (147). Economically (London: HarperCollins, 1993) page 37 VECTOR #279 – Spring 2015 recurrent: THE BSFA REVIEW Edited by Martin Petto

The Race by Nina Allan (Newcon Press, 2014) Paradox, edited by Ian Whates Reviewed by Kerry Dodd ..... 40 (Newcon Press, 2014) Reviewed by Duncan Lawie ..... 46 Cataveiro by E J Swift (Del Rey, 2014) Reviewed by Maureen Kincaid Speller ..... 40 Descent by Ken Macleod (Orbit, 2014) Reviewed by Lynne Bispham ..... 48

War Dogs by Greg Bear (Gollancz, 2014) Reviewed by Andy Sawyer ..... 48

Sibilant Fricative by Adam Roberts (Newcon Press, 2014) Reviewed by Jonathan McCalmont ..... 42

Bête by Adam Roberts (Gollancz, 2014) Defenders by Will McIntosh (Orbit, 2014) Reviewed by Paul Kincaid ..... 44 Reviewed by Shaun Green ..... 49

Ancillary Sword by Ann Leckie (Orbit, 2014) Parasite by Mira Grant (Orbit, 2013) Reviewed by Anne F Wilson ..... 45 Reviewed by Patrick Mahon ..... 49

Europe In Autumn by Dave Hutchinson Broken Monsters by Lauren Beukes (Solaris, 2014) (Harper Collins, 2014) Reviewed by Ian Sales ..... 45 Reviewed by Shaun Green .... 50

Irregularity, edited by Jared Shurin Cold Turkey by Carole Johnstone (Jurassic London, 2014) (TTA Press, 2014) Reviewed by Aishwarya Subramanian ..... 46 Reviewed by Graham Andrews .... 51

page 38 VECTOR #279 – Spring 2015

“preternaturally fertile, The BSFA Review Poll 2014 theHartland sort of described layered and it as

readers pine for and constructed fiction that as our BSFA Review Poll shows, it has also been a resur- gentWell, year it hasfor Britishbeen a bloodySF: it features good year three for debuts British and SF. But,two perhaps it is slightly sur- so rarely receive” so long overdue returns. prising it didn’t appear on the BSFA Awards I’m delighted that one of those British debuts jointly tops our poll: The Race alongside The Race and shortlist for Best Novel by Nina Allan. Over the last decade, The Moon King, particu- larly given this year’s BSFAAllan Awardhas been for quietly Short Fictionbuilding last one year of the with most Spin impressive. Kerry reputations in the short fiction field, culminating in her shortlist ran to eight

Dodd reviews the novel overleaf and finds it a “thought fourth place. emotive struggles of the human condition, focussing upon books due to a tie for Jeff Vandermeer theprovoking connections and gripping between book people’s which lives, peels their back emotions the Dave Hutchinson Allan’s career seems unbounded but the publishing indus- published his first short tryand, needs most topowerfully, catch-up andthe naturebring her of reality.”to a wider Creatively, audience. story collection in 1978 but didn’t publishEurope a novel In Autumn till 2001 and has only followed it up now. LikewiseWolves Simon both Ings’s show last have been having a pretty good year themselves. As well science fiction novel came out in 1999. asSo The the Race community, they also owe published thanks ourto Newcon bronze medallist,Press who The (reviewed by Ian Sales on page 45)Ancillary and Sword (reviewed Moon King - that British science fiction has been missing out. No such pause for Ann Leckie. by Neil Williamson, and the BSFA Award nomi- 2013’s international sensation, Ancillary Justice. That debut nated story ‘The Honey Trap’ by Ruth E J Booth (which you by Anne F Wilson on page 45) immediately followed up can read for yourself in the BSFA Awards Booklet else other award going – and you wouldn’t want to bet against won the BSFA Award for Best Novel – along with every Interzonewhere in thisremains mailing). as a testingLike Allan, ground Williamson for new talent.has come As up Katethrough Oylett the put short it in fiction Vector scene – a reminder of how vital it doing the same again. Or indeed for the Hugo. a debut full-length novel where the characters pop, the City Of Stairs, another situations glisten with sheer #277: wonder “It’s anda real you delight realise to you find changeRobert of Jackson direction Bennett for this has versatile probably writer. also It got was a shout of getting on the Hugo ballot with accomplished novel with interesting things to suggest were meant to have put the book down and gone to bed aboutreviewed the byrelationships Gary Dalkin between last issue: peoples, “an ambitious their cultures and sensibly a good hour or more ago.” Nina Allan shares first place with another resurgent writer: Jeff Vandermeer. Who could have predicted that and their gods.” - this cult author would publish the critical Finally, the poll confirms Frances Hardinge’s position as onand the commercial mid-20th international science fiction hit of 2014? arrivalqueen of of British Renaissance children’s Man, fiction, Paul Kingsnorth. sneaks in a Let’scharacteris hope Still less that it would be a thoroughly contemporary take 2015tically is slippery half as good. work by Karen Joy Fowler and heralds the Century estrangement of writers like Budrys, Ballard and the Sturgatskys. In our last issue, Dan BSFA Review Poll Nina Allan The Race The Southern Reach Trilogy by Jeff VanderMeer =1) by Nina Allan The Moon King =1) Europe in Autumn 3) by Neil Williamson Ancillary Sword 4) by Dave Hutchinson Wolves by Simon Ings 5) by Ann Leckie City of Stairs 6) Cuckoo Song 7) by Robert Jackson Bennett We Are All Completely Besides Ourselves 8) by Karen Joy by Fowler Frances Hardinge 9) The Wake by Paul Kingsnorth

10) page 39 VECTOR #279 – Spring 2015 The Race by Nina Allan (Newcon Press, 2014) passes. Again the detailed depiction of childhood brutality is represented through the racist persecution that Alex suffers, Reviewed by Kerry Dodd highlighting a common theme of trauma that Allan focuses upon throughout the different narrators. At this point the e was interested in how the lives of ordinary again to discuss the disappearance of Linda. The impact of novel moves forward in time to when Alex and Christy meet “Hpeople can become unfastened from reality.” Short Fiction with her novella Spin parallelDerek’s supposedstrands in actions, the narrative, as well which as the concludesfrequent allusions with the novel, Nina Allan, who won last year’s BSFA Award for The Race to Christy’s writing, reveals the connection between the two , has now published her first introduction of Maree. The novel here returns to the paral- lel plot, as Maree is part of a secret government programme focussing upon ;the a thought connections provoking between and people’sgripping lives, book theirwhich exploring the possibility of an innate human connection to emotionspeels back and, the mostemotive powerfully, struggles the of thenature human of reality. condition, smartdogs. The Race is an intriguing read whose synopsis and cover is a thoughtful and sophisticated examination of hint at the narrative within without accurately conveying The Race four characters’ interconnecting lives which, by the ending, the intricacy of its structure. The novel is presented through four perspectives that initially appear to be unconnected interrogate the nature of reality. The build up of repeated imagesleaves a embodies mixture of an answers unfolding and narrative new questions that reveals that seek the to anecdotes of ‘mundane’ life for each of the characters creates intricacies and detail of the setting, as well as the structure believablebut by the conclusionand convincing are undeniably personas, whose linked. engagement The build-up with of of the novel itself. Although the connections between the four - chapters are initially unclear, the process of deduction and topics of estrangement, broken families and prejudice dem revelation demonstrates the complexity of the novel. oronstrates speculative Allan’s elements confident of the voice novel and seem sophisticated to disappear, style the of conclusionwriting. Although, delivers as a satisfyingthe novel progresses, end that reinstates the science their fiction sections as each character confesses to the reader their most importance to the narrative. Allan’s novel embodies how a The concurrent themes throughout the book link the four debates that lie at the heart of the narrative. The contrast betweenintimate thoughtsnatural and and unnatural, secrets, whilst possession conveying and loss,the key belong - science fiction text does not have to be solely concerned with ing and alienation reinforce the poignant, emotive style that Allan utilises. The repetition of estranged or missing parents theThe distant novel future opens but with can Jenna, be equally whose poignant life is entwined through with its adds an emotional touch to the writing as the author refuses thatreflection of illegal on thesmartdog conceivably racing soon-to-be in her coastal present. home town of to shy away from representing both the best and worst of Sapphire. From the outset of the novel, the concept of smart- human lives. dogs – a “product of illegal experiments In an interesting movement from the smartdog racing at the start of the novel, in stem cell research”, adding human - TheDNA prospect to greyhounds of runners – demonstrates who, through the vides a parallel plot that initially appears thescience implementation fiction twist ofto athe brain narrative. implant, the transition to Christy and Alex pro

presents a transhumanist concept that Maree,as a stark the movement overlapping away themes from between the titled iscan believable, telepathically yet one link which with latertheir offersdog, the‘race’. seemingly Yet, as the different narration sections moves of to the a chilling ulterior motive. The detailed novel begin to reveal the overall picture. description of Sapphire – an island blem- This concluding section reveals the - Gothic subtext to the novel that creates - suspense around the mysteries of each of ished by industrial fracking and ecologi interestingcal collapse comparison– equally draws to contemporary upon apoca issueslyptic narrativeof climate techniques change. Although that offer the an houses,the protagonists, ghosts that one linger that atis theinfluenced edges by novel is undeniably set outside of modern andthe frequent the overlapping allusions of tothe old past or decayingupon the present. The reader is themself invited to - return to past sections of the novel at the tionday, thecurrent lack issuesof specific through details futuristic draws concepts.upon science fiction’s capacity to ques ethics and personal choice that are left openconclusion, at the endas the offer questions a pertinent of morality, parallel The novel progresses from Jenna to to the opening focus on smartdogs and the legitimacy of such an experiment. alongside the function of her writing as a form of psychologi- calChristy, projection. an author This who is most presents prominent her troubled through childhood the unstable For me the fast paced nature of The Race offered a short,

fear of monstrosity that haunts the novel, echoing Jenna’s themes presented throughout. The blending of transhuman- relationship with her brother, Derek, which embodies a istcompelling concepts read alongside whilst insightful leaving space depictions for reflection of the narrator’s on the contrast to its opening, the novel retains its pace through thechapter. perceived Although honesty the second of the narrator section of and the her novel later is apprea stark- the conclusion is one that left me wanting more, especially concerninglives works thewell idea with of the smartdogs. intense style I feel of that the that novel. these However, ideas could have been pushed further, rather than simply becoming tohension Alex, Linda’sover the ex-boyfriend, disappearance with of whomDerek’s the fiancée, narrative Linda. the subtext to the alternate universe narrative. Christy’s concern feeds into the next chapter as she is lead page 40 VECTOR #279 – Spring 2015

so because it is real, while most people believe that Osiris is nothingcity of travellers, more than a placea fairytale, as magical long sinceas lost destroyed. Osiris; and more -

seesRamona it as an loves act of her translation: work: while “the others rendering talk about of something cartogra phy being about power, about knowing what is out there, she

unknown into something intelligible”. It has a “beauty all of toits navigateown”. The the point, political though, situation is that unfolding while Ramona around might her. Bybe able to make topography intelligible, she is less well equipped- sible and escaped from Osiris, is acutely aware of the politi- calcontrast, situation Vikram, but unsure the activist of what who he has should achieved do, while the imposTaeo, unhappy spy-in-exile from the Republic of Antarctica strug- gles to reconcile his love of his homeland with a conviction that it is doing something terribly wrong. All three are constantly engaged in acts of translation as

reliantthey try on to gossip, understand rumour how and the chance personal meetings and the for political informa fit- tion.together. The reader,With communications the novel’s own so cartographer, poor, almost watches everyone the is

that only she has anything approaching a complete map and,characters even then, stumble information from confusion remains to withheld. revelation, Meanwhile, knowing

towards understanding. Ramona, Taeo and Vikram pursue their various routes Cataveiro by E J Swift (Del Rey, 2014) Osiris was a novel that was overtly politically aware. It Reviewed by Maureen Kincaid Speller andwas Johannesburgnot difficult to and draw a host parallels of other between examples West - toand the East point Osiris and, say, Israel and Palestine - or to think of Soweto n Osiris where it did begin to seem a little heavy-handed. The political city of Osiris, anchored off the eastern seaboard of the dimension persists in Cataveiro but here Swift has eschewed southern, her American first novel, continent, EJ Swift close introduced to Antarctica. us to the Most sea- of the easy dichotomies for something more subtle and complex. I This is less ‘them and us’, more ‘everyone for themselves’. its inhabitants believed themselves to be the last survivors of a series of natural disasters and technological interventions There are no good guys or bad guys, just layer upon layer of which had rendered the rest of the world uninhabitable. But personal interests, competing hopes and fears. Everything - has its price, or is available only at a price, depending on ants of the founding families lived in a certain amount of Osiris was by no means a sanctuary for all. While the descend And yet, whereas Osiris was a grim and unrelenting envi- where you find yourself. were corralled in one small part of the city. Their lives were ronment in which to exist, with even its beauty restricted to luxury, the descendants of the refugees who had fled to Osiris the entitled, the world portrayed in Cataveiro - marked by poverty, overcrowding, disease and the certain is filled with knowledge that there was little chance of escaping these condi survivedmoments andof beauty are now and at wonder. the heart And of aso religion, much light; even this though novel fortions. the This space siege and mentality luxury of wasthe city’sreflected east inside, Swift’s glimpsed descriptions blazes out. Ramona can marvel at the Nazca lines, which have of the city itself. While the inhabitants of west Osiris yearned members of the founding families yearned for something they liveonly and she availablecan see them to everyone. from above. Only The the city profoundly of Cataveiro lost, issuch couldonly when not easily they workedarticulate there but onwhich a casual we might basis, call the ‘freedom’. younger filled with music, broadcast on the radio but also performed Osiris was nothing more nor less than claustrophobia incar- nate, run by people who had turned too far into themselves to as Taeo, can find no joy. This is not to say that Cataveiro is any notice,kind of bututopia. the miseryThe ebola-like that pervaded redfleur Osiris is a constant is less immedi threat,- and no longer self-sustaining. with harsh quarantine regulations enacted at a moment’s acknowledge the truth; that the city itself was closing down The focus on the personal and the immediate means that ately obvious. Survival is possible, in Cataveiro and beyond. spaces of Cataveiro. Everything suspected by a few Osirians one’s attention does at times wander from the underlying turns outIt to comes be true. as Peoplea shock have then survived to turn to and the there wide isopen still narrative, concerning the wider actions of political states, habitable land, close to the poles, even though much of the but never so much as to lose the story’s thread entirely. But after two novels, one can only speculate as to the nature of world is now desert. We first see this world through the eyes hints, this story’s trajectory remains enticingly uncertain, theof Ramona unavoidably Callejas, restricted a young vision woman of thewho Osirians is both pilot(remember and - the likely revelations in the third. For all the maps, for all the ingcartographer. that for some Her of literal them birds-eye mental disorder view is expressedin sharp contrast itself in to expectationswhich is one of for the the reasons novel and, I find as it a andresult, its predecessorit is a much richer so we see how people have survived, in small settlements hidden enjoyable. Swift constantly but quietly upsets the reader’s an obsession with escape through flight). Through Ramona read than it might at first glance seem to be. away, or have gathered together in places like Cataveiro, the page 41 VECTOR #279 – Spring 2015 Sibilant Fricative by Adam Roberts Essay collections are often stuffy and inaccessible (Newcon Press, 2014) affairs as social conventions have it that ‘criticism’ (as Reviewed by Jonathan McCalmont once you have familiarised yourself with a particular text. Lessopposed a formal to mere distinction reviewing) than is an something internalised to be defence read only t is hard to imagine a worse cultural climate in which to mechanism, the division between critics and reviewers be a reviewer of genre literature.

I accessiblyserves chiefly to a to wider silence audience. the spoiler-phobic Sibilant Fricative and provide challenges - thiscritics defensive with a handy posture excuse by ensuring for failing that to none make of their the essays ideas tions aliveFandom once built the itsconvention first cultural ended spaces and people as solutions had to gothe home. problem Given of howthe nature to keep of friendships this problem, and it conversa is not beingrequire reviewed you to be in familiar order to with get something the text in outquestion. of Roberts’s In fact, to be dominated by fans who wanted to read and write you don’t even need to be interested in the books and films surprising (in hindsight) that these cultural spaces came writing. pre-Internet fan histories and the impression youabout get things is that other critics than were books. seen Cast as the your genre eyes over a few

ownequivalent pet subjects. of pub bores;Forced tediously to the margins self-involved of their ownkilljoys cultural who only spaces, ever it wanted is hardly to surprising talk about thattheir fandom’s small cadre of ‘serious and construc- tive’ writers wound up embracing the chance to publish stuff on the Internet. Fandom built its second set of cultural spaces

in an effort to find someone, anyone, with whom- to have a conversation about the book they had just finished reading. Blogs were founded, web sites built and audiences acquired but it wasn’t long before these fragile digital networks came to resemble the answer to a question that had only ever been asked by people in the publishing industry: What is the cheapest and most effective andway honestof marketing discussion books of and genre promoting literature authors? soon transformedCultural spaces into spacescreated devoted in the hope to self-pro of open- motion and getting people excited about future

it will be less widely read than a 400-word puff purchasing decisions. Write a serious review and

reviewpiece that that looks happens suspiciously to be negative like it mightand you have run been based on a press release. Write a serious author and their fans. Today’s genre landscape is the very real risk of being harassed by both the hugs until someone threatens you with rape. likeFaced a psychotic with such Disneyworld; hostility, genre’s it’s all culturalsmiles and spaces have begun to fragment at an extraor-

ideological opponents and by tomorrow their framedinary of speed. reference Yesterday’s will have friends become are so today’s remote as to be But what is there to get out of Adam Roberts’s essays completely incomprehensible. Is serious criticism even -

remain relevant when every contribution to genre culture and criticism? What is it that elevates him above the thou possible in such a climate? How can reviewers hope to sands of people turning out reviews for free? Why should thisyou wantpiece. to spend money on this book? The short answer seems to split it into smaller and smaller clades? People is voice and the long answer is what will take up the rest of thein search author of of answers Jack Glass to andthese New types Model of questions Army as, to could put it do a lot worse than seeking out a collection of essays by bluntly, Adam Roberts provides us with a model of what hisThe introduction book opens with with a ansabre-rattling introduction desire by Paul to disagreeKincaid modern genre criticism should be. withand a Adam preface Roberts, by Roberts the two himself. men actuallyDespite Kincaidwind up opening agree-

page 42 VECTOR #279 – Spring 2015 ing with each other over what constitutes good criticism: Apparently, it’s a combination of honesty, fearlessness and infect the world. Roberts’s frustration with Rothfuss is the ability to produce something that is entertaining in its poetry, values that seem to leak out of the characters and disagree but then, I’m not entirely sure what any of these shapespalpable; thought why deploy meaning fantastical that your tropes choice when of language your world nec - thingsown right. mean Much in practice. like Paul Are Kincaid, there criticsI find myself who don’t unable care to essarilyand characters impacts are upon so emphaticallythe style of story modern? you wind Language up being able to tell. This recognition that style and content are one explains why it is that Roberts’s refuses to settle for that they produce unreadable crap? Are there critics who butsit down merely in sayingfront of that their we keyboards should avoid with these the intensionthings is no of writing cynical, cowardly pabulum? Quite possibly, anformulaic original approaches; thought or idea.each new angle of attack results in a differentThe most kind enjoyable of critical essays essay in Sibilant and each Fricative new essay are yieldsthose guarantee that we will; human minds are slippery things in which Roberts approaches the text with a sense of and principles even slipperier still. Better then to look at Lost and Star Trek how Roberts works and see what honesty, fearlessness- and entertainment look like in the wild. willbewilderment. help him impose His essays some on sense JJ Abrams’s of order on the riot of smileThe atfirst least thing once you per notice page. about This type Adam of Roberts’thing shouldn’t criti themesin particular and images. find him One casting of the about chief joysfor something of good criticism that cism is that it is funny in a way that makes you laugh and - lies in being able to crawl behind the eyes of an intelligent ers may be to castigate the derivative and formulaic, most be unusual but it definitely is. You see, as eager as review - particularand worldly text reader formed as they in the make critic’s their mind way and through Roberts a is thatcriticism it is stone-cold tends to fall serious safely and within full theof technical confines jargon,of two styor text. Criticism is all about communicating what linkages a itlistic is consumer-focused, registers: either it whichis quasi-academic, is to say that which it tries is to to con say- or TV series suddenly snaps into place but also at curating brilliant not only at capturing what it feels like when a film that renders criticism inaccessible is a desire to exhaust thatdense most the criticismreviewer’s is emotional designed to reaction convey to either a work emotional down those linkages for public consumption. One of the things urgencyto a few stockor authority, phrases it and is refreshing maybe a mark to read out a of collection five. Given storythe meaning of the story of a text, or text to pluckof the at text. every The connective problem with thread this were evidently a very pressing concern. Sibilant Frica- isand that tighten most everyof the conceptualthings we see knot in untilstories you are have the aresult sort of tiveof essays for which making the reader laugh and smile Wheel of Time series but and our impressions of the text can lead to the sorts of other ends comic with gems Roberts’s include justifiably a sex scene celebrated written in reviews the style conceptualof projection pile-up and so that trying result to makein the sense invention of both of new the textsub- of Gregevery Egan, book ain review Robert of Jordan’s District 9 presented as a string

Stephenson’s Anathem genres and gratuitous use of the suffix ‘-punk’. Roberts criticalof disconnected neologisms context-free that perfectly tweets capture and mocking the essence Neal of whereevades it these becomes types accessible of quagmire to everyone, by restraining even ifhimself, they by inventing a load of unflattering by choosing a single linkage and unpacking it to the point genre publishing. this method result in unimpeachable readings of the text theRoberts’s book while willingness also casting to engage shade atin manypastiche recent and trendsto try in haven’t read the text or encountered the idea before. Does - whatin question? good criticism Certainly should not but be. it does result in essays that different approaches to writing reviews makes for a sat areSibilant entertaining Fricative and thought-provoking and that is exactly- onisfyingly in, Roberts varied ceaselessly reading experience. varies his methodsThe first andfew essaysangle of lections of essays that genre criticism has ever produced. about Philip K Dick are very conventional but from there Funny, intelligent, accessible is undoubtedly and stylistically one of the finest innovative col rut of short funny reviews, he hits you with an extended it gives us the opportunity to relax into one of the strong- essayattack. of Every such dazzlingtime you complexitythink he might and haveerudition settled that into it a est voices in genre culture. Indeed, while Roberts’s style and subject matter may vary considerably throughout pieces that delve into fascinating areas of critical thought, he’llalmost provide takes ayour short breath review away. written Then, in after the style a few of weighty an - Anglo-Saxon poem or a comic dialogue. tive.the book, Sibilant everything Fricative heis awrites reminder resonates that being with a that critic same is Each of the essays included in Sibilant Fricative has critical voice; goofy yet elegant, befuddled yet authorita even as it pushes you to experiment with style or argue for but the piece that comes closest to explaining Roberts’s unpopularall about finding views. your It may own be voice hard andto imagine following a worse that voice cul- methodssomething is interestingundoubtedly to his say magisterial (even if it is double only a joke)review of tural climate in which to review genre literature because The Children of Hurin the position of the critic has been devalued to the point The Name of the Wind. Roberts observes that, despite where they are seen as nothing but purveyors of free PR. JRR Tolkien’s and Patrick Rothfuss’s climate, a world in which critics pursue their voice and are living in a medieval world, Rothfuss’s characters all talk respectedThis is a book as creators that allows in their you toown glimpse right. Sibilanta better Fricative cultural worldlike modern to Name people. of the He Wind then but compares features thischaracters to Tolkien’s who is everything that genre criticism should aspire to be. novel, which is set in a similar kind of epically fantastical think and speak in a style imbued with the values of epicpage 43 VECTOR #279 – Spring 2015 Bête by Adam Roberts (Gollancz, 2014) preacher, who sees the coming of the bêtes as a sign of the end times. Then he meets and, to his own surprise, falls in Reviewed by Paul Kincaid love with Anne but she has cancer and dies before we are a

oltaire had a term for it: contes philosophique, philo- away into the depths of the forest, as far away from people as hethird can of get, the at way which into point the novel. the story After becomes this he takes one of himself cold and has been called the literature of ideas, it is clear that Vsophical stories, ideas fiction. Since science fiction encounters with the outside world, we see that humanity is there is an overlap between the two. But one does not map exactly upon the other, rather contes philosophique tend to rain, of scant food and scarce drinking water. In his very few - into a few walled and overcrowded cities, for good measure a newretreating; plague townsis ravaging are being the population. abandoned, All people of which are squeezingis of little fall somewhere between science fiction and what philoso concern to Graham, who seems to regard people in much the settingphers call and ‘thought plot may experiments’. be present but It is they fiction matter used less to explainthan the same way he regarded his farm animals. presentationand explore an of idea;the thought, the usual the fictional argument. virtues of character, A word about bêtes: in so relentlessly English a novel, in Adam Roberts is a modern exponent of the contes philos- which an outside world is scarcely even mentioned, it is never ophique. Bête is a novel crowded with philosophical arguments explained why a French word should be chosen to identify about consciousness, identity and the nature of the soul, while the peripatetic plot winds about itself in a way deliberately designed to raise and raise again these issues. On the surface, the talking animals. It makes them foreign, alien, but in a of course, it is a novel about animal rights but you cannot write work that has more wordplay, puns and malapropisms even tothan hear is usualan echo in anof ‘bet’ Adam in Robertsthe word, novel, the novel we have details to take a huge note human and that is what this novel is really about. gambleof things about like this. the nature I suspect, of consciousness therefore, that and we theare futureintended of about the animal without questioning what it means to be

humanity. The internet allows the chips to talk to one another GrahamOur ‘narrator’ Penhaligon, (I use a no-nonsensescare quotes farmerbecause, and like butcher so much who which in some ways makes the bêtes smarter than humans in the book, this becomes questionable towards the end) is but is it just the chips talking,over as again Graham and believes, again in orlong is thereand on the point of slaughtering one a more native intelligence atdiscursive work. Such conversations issues are chewed with ofonce his dreamed cows ready of becoming for butcher a -poet. As the book opens, he is the people Graham encounters ing and the cow is begging for its and, increasingly, with the bêtes, life. Animal rights activists have started seeding farm animals with that ideas become slurred and minute chips that fuse with the often when Graham is drunk so animal brain and give it the power addressing him as Graham, which of speech. For many, perhaps most lost. Notably, the bêtes insist on people in the country, animal speech raises uncomfortable ‘Penny’,he resents; we thoughrealise howlater, much when self- a identitysupercilious is tied army up in officer the names calls him animals, whether or not they have and another philosophical strand aquestions soul and aboutwhether the or intelligence not they of is revealed. should be farmed. But Graham, who seems to live his life in a state There is a war going on, which of ever-accumulating rage, won’t he hasn’t noticed, and the bêtes,

far as he is concerned, it is the chip want Graham to act as their ambas- stand for any of that nonsense; as sadorthrough in peaceAnne’s negotiations. cat, Cincinnatus, They the cow (we meet the cow again have a carrot to entice him, one speaking, not the animal. He shoots that reveals where the sense of self in the bêtes resides, and that later in the novel, sort of; although will entail a loss of humanity in Unfortunately,‘sort of’ could be the used whole to qualify incident Graham. In a sense, none of this any statement about the plot). holds up to scrutiny: the plotting internet sensation. Animal rights is inconsistently paced and over- legislationis caught on is film passed and with becomes dire an reliant on coincidence, too much happens off stage to allow a clear country as a whole. and coherent view of either the consequences for Graham and the world or of the events within it. And there is so much foreshadowing in the novel that at times it seems there is more foreshadowing than plot. And yet this enjoysFor a a while brief thingsfame among move quickly.those opposed to animal rights, then,We are as briskly the economy told that falls Graham apart, loseshe becomes his farm a tramp,and his moving wife, from town to town doing a little illicit butchering here and is precisely the strength of the book: the foreshadowing is ourconstantly consciousness making residesus question and what the nature it is about and characterour conscious of our- narrator. Such questions underpin the broader issues of where there for those who still like to enjoy a joint of meat. Then things slow to the pace of his walking as he sleeps rough ness that makes us human that are raised, discarded and (mostly in and around Bracknell Forest to the south and east what the very best conte philosophique should be. re-examined throughout the book. It is, in other words, exactly of Reading). For a while he is accompanied by an itinerant page 44 VECTOR #279 – Spring 2015 Ancillary Sword by Ann Europe In Autumn by Dave Hutchinson Leckie (Orbit, 2014) (Solaris, 2014) Reviewed by Anne F Wilson Reviewed by Ian Sales

ncillary Sword to Ancillary Justice, Ann famously said, and in Europe In Autumn, this is cer- A is the sequel The map is not the territory, as Alfred Korzybski winning debut novel. The burning Leckie’s multi-award- - Europetainly In Autumn true., Rudithe continent is a cook, has originally splintered from into Estonia a mess but ofnow small working states at with a restaurant closed borders. in Poland. Threaded In the near-futurethrough them of questionThe story for followsme was, on can immediate it pos - sibly be as good? stations are considered a sovereign nation in their own right. - is Rudian extensive is a well-drawn railway character, network, thewith Line, an entertainingly whose tracks dryand laryly from of the the troop first book. carrier Our Justice heroine of TorenBreq is, used the last by the surviving Radch Empireancil in its aggressive programme and witty voice. He suspects the owner of the restaurant where he works of having other, less than legal, interests and of expansion and conquest. The ancillaries are people taken theso he case becomes with secret involved organisations with Les Coureurs of this type, des Bois,they starta pan- him destroyedfrom conquered by the planets, Lord of theirthe Radch identities herself, destroyed Anaander and Mianaai. slaved European network of undercover couriers and smugglers. As is Theto their events ship’s in AncillaryAI. Breq’s Justice identity have split precipitated off when her a civil ship war was one such mission, which entails retrieving an object from a Linewith station,small tasks for a and person tell himbest almost nothing. Unfortunately described as ‘untrustworthy’, andwhich her now own threatens human-crewed to break ship. up the She empire. has been sent by proves later to have important Breq is now legally human with the rank of Fleet Captain other faction destroying the inter-system gates and seizing and Europe as a whole. consequences for both Rudi Anaander Mianaai to Athoek station in order to prevent the Europe In Autumn not involve advancing Anaander Mianaai’s agenda. She has, stands out is its true European the station. But Breq has her own reasons for going which do Where eyed Tisarwat, who may simply be an engaging teenager but sense of place is impressively however, been obliged to take on a new lieutenant, the violet- convincing.sensibility and Perhaps Hutchinson’s the plot is Ancillary Justice stood out for its treatment of gender. The somewhat episodic - which is, Radchis more do likely not ascribe a spy for differences the Lord ofin thecharacter Radch. to gender in part, dictated by the nature of the story, since it’s struc- uses the female pronoun indiscriminately and struggles to identifydifferences male and and their female language when doesn’tusing a differentiate;non-Radch language. Breq Boistured - andaround the thejoins tasks between handed to Rudi by Les Coureurs des By Ancillary Sword, I found it a useful reminder of Radchaai some of them do seem a little cultureThe reader and, has in particular,to make her the own fact accommodation that sexual relations with this.are gov - forced. A section during which Rudi is held prisoner in London, erned more by status than by gender. As well as exploring gender and identity, Ancillary Sword also feels like a springboard to something. At first it reads a little This is where Europe In Autumn shows its true colours. like a stumble but it’s actually the step to “Part Two”... the British Empire, the Radch has an overwhelming demand examines the structures of imperialism and colonialism. Like - - Where previously the novel might have read like a near- for tea. Athoek is a tea producing planet with an imported pop future thriller, science fiction only by virtue of its settingEurope In ulation of slave workers. After a certain number of years, con Autumn,and furniture, there is a very science-fictional idea threaded quered populations are supposed to be able to earn citizenship anthrough entirely it. Aroundnew element. three-quarters The introduction of the way is not into entirely aand company qualify store for ‘the system, aptitudes’, routinely the universal sexually abusedtesting andsystem. denied In elegant - Hutchinsonit’s a lump of takes exposition an off-piste whose swerve relevance and seemsintroduces at practice, however, plantation workers are kept in subjection by station and the planet, disrupting their existing social order butthe aptitudes.at the same Breq time is exposing drawn into the the brutality internal and politics corruption of the earlierfirst mystifying incidents - in but the Hutchinson story. has done his groundwork and the revelation slowly begins to make sense of many that are endemic to colonialism. Europe In Autumn novel to wear the guise of a spy thriller, only to reveal in its thing to advance the plot but most of them do two or three is by no means the first science fiction otherLeckie things is an as economical well, whether writer. that Each is character scene does development, at least one that disguise does lead to certain narrative expectations, giving us additional information or setting up a future payoff. whichsecond in half Europe it possesses In Autumn impeccable are not entirely genre credentials. met, the big While reveal It’s a joy to read for the sheer craftsmanship. It has narrative drive, plot and characters that for me stand comparison with Europesucceeds In inAutumn making sense of everything that has gone before. addsIt is epiphanies up to more of than this the sort sum which of its draw parts. us toI expect science to fiction. see it on Lois McMaster Bujold. Leckie also asks the hard questions: is a polished piece of work that definitelyA Song What can one person do? Can you be a good person in a bad For Europe system? What use is dying for your principles? at least one awards shortlist next year and a sequel, , is out in 2015. I’ll be picking up a copy. Is it as good as its predecessor? Definitely. page 45 VECTOR #279 – Spring 2015 Irregularity, edited by Jared Shurin (Jurassic London, 2014) helptoo much, from thetoo patriarchy.soon. Humans are not entirely powerless, Reviewed by Aishwarya Subramanian though,It sometimes and Curran’s feels as nameless if all of Irregularity narrators have is at plenty war with of Linnaeus—he is indirectly responsible for the death of rregularity was published to coincide with the ‘Ships, - rietta Rose-Innes’s protagonist to hunt for the chimera Eva’s spiders, is one of the driving forces that leads Hen IClocks and Stars: The Quest for Longitude’ exhibition at the National Maritime Museum. This connection - whetherin Africa, or shows how oneup (as might a sympathetic classify love. figure) It always in Tiffani comes enment.sets the collectionMost of the in stories a very sitspecific comfortably context: within the 17th this to Angus’s ‘Fairchild’s Folly’ grappling with the question of 19th centuries in the history of science, the age of enlight harmful, to what extent it’s natural and human, to what back to the question of classification—to what extent it’s Experimentframework; Inthe The earliest, Formulae Richard Of Thought’, de Nooy’s in ‘The 1854. Heart Of ArisThe Kindt’, focus isof set the in anthology 1632; the - latest, helped Simon along Guerrier’sby, to put it‘An I’mextent not the sure universe if this is is a classifiable.pity or a relief. None of these stories makesThis drivereference to impose to William order, Blake’s whether ‘The innately Ancient human Of Days’; or - not, extends in some ways to Irregularity itself. The after- mildly, not the most diverse list of contributors - makes it - ageinevitable of enlightenment that the majority is also ofthe these age ofstories empire are (what of North did ern Europeans doing science in Northern Europe. But the word by Richard Dunn and Sophie Waring suggests a rela this fact comes into play in these stories tively ordered understanding of the history of scientific aswe well. think The they fatal needed game all in those Rose Biggin’sships for?) and occasionally progress; dependent on success and failure (the collection ‘A Game Proposition’ is played out in Port teleological.is dedicated Butto “failure”), then there’s strewn the best with Royal and the role of empire is explicit story“false inleads” the collection, and “dead Adam ends” Roberts’sbut largely

is proper Victorian horror. It’s also the in Roger Luckhurst’s ‘Circulation’ which is‘The gloriously Assassination silly, the Of whole Isaac Newtonthing is anBy Rose-Innes’s ‘Animalia Paradoxa’, one of The Coward Robert Boyle’. This story thedisturbing strongest undercurrent stories in the to anthology.Henrietta framing of the history of human thought Rose-Innes’s unnamed protagonist is in destabilisingextended pun; the but collection it’s also chaotic, completely. its search of a spectacular new animal for Some of the most powerful (and the the collection of a rich patron in France this sort of chaos—the thing that doesn’t men he’s hired to help him as collectibles most powerfully weird) SF stems from asbut well. he’s prone to thinking of the African As is often the case with a themed col- belong explodingIrregularity into the world. itself inNick this lection, a number of the stories here are Harkaway’s framing narrative tries to - variations on the same central idea—that tial.place More the book successful is M Suddain’s ‘The position but it feels rather inconsequen exerting power upon and destroying London, as told by Samuel Pepys, but with ordering and knowing and mapping and Darkness’, a version of the great fire of to bears. It’s very cleverly done, with Pepys’ account (con- are all inextricably bound up in one complex knot. (“’He’s an inexplicable black hole and multiple instances of cruelty mapped us,’” says a character in Biggin’s story, “in a tone as normally as possible juxtaposed with the giant vortex befriendsthat meant the murdered spiders thatus.”) live The under strongest her bed, of these only isto EJ unwit - slowlyvincing, consuming at least to theme, city.in its Guerrier’s stylistic details) ‘An Experiment of life going In The on Swift’s ‘The Spiders Of Stockholm’ in which a young girl great moment of literary rupture, that megalosaurus truetingly name kill them is to haveone by power one as over a visiting it—but scientist it’s also attells the her heart Formulae Of Thought’ takes for its starting point another their names. This is basic fairy tale logic—to know a thing’s Bleak House. This“forty alternate feet long history or so, waddling brings together like an elephantinethe history of lizard this surprisinglyof the enlightenment well. ‘Knowledge project. The is power’ child protagonist is hardly an makes original up Holborn Hill” at the beginning of Dickens’s ideathese but two the systems lonely, ofdetached understanding perspective the world of Swift’s fit together Eva concernedbook, the Crystal with signposting Palace dinosaurs its sources. and Ada Lovelace but it doesn’tThis is have a problem anything general like the to same a number effect; of the the story pieces is thattoo would make up for greater sins than this and ‘The Spiders unfortunate for both stories that Swift’s should be placed - immediatelyOf Stockholm’ after really Biggin’s is powerful which and treads lovely. similar Though ground. it’s storymake burstsup this into collection. weirdness There at theare end,honourable James Smythe’s excep the ones imposing order upon the world but the crea- brilliant,tions—Swift, over Suddain,the top prose Rose-Innes, - but too whose often quiet, these cleverstories In Kim Curran’s ‘A Woman Out Of Time’ humans aren’t are a little too well-researched, a little too carefully signposted, a little too written to spec. And the whole is tures upon whom order is imposed. Unknown forces (in underwhelming as a result. my head a version of Terry Pratchett’s Auditors) watch Emilie du Chatelet in alarm as she threatens to discover page 46 VECTOR #279 – Spring 2015 Paradox, edited by Ian Whates For me, the standout story of this collection is Adam (Newcon Press, 2014) Reviewed by Duncan Lawie Roberts’s ‘Baedecker’s Fermi’. It manages to fit multiple ofcommentaries people one chooses on the social not to mores see except of Europe that, blindingly in 1900 and he Fermi paradox seems a hoary topic for science obviously,could be read the quiteimpossible effectively things as our a metaphor protagonist of the immedi classes- ately forgets are literally the aliens. that fresh engagement delivers new riches. As Elsewhere, Paul Tfiction but here are fifteen new stories which show di Filippo is his - usual gonzo self tionsMarek are Kukula profound… and Rob alien Edwards civilisations tell us shouldin the introduction be numerous in ‘The Trail Of to this collection, “[i]t’s a simple question but its implica larger part of the introduction provides a historical survey – and yet we see no credible signs of their existence”. The whichThe Creator, is about The the interesting extension of the concept from the usual 20th Trial Of Creation’ of Western thought on the question since Copernicus – an many star systems has an additional, fascinating, essay by Stephen Baxter on consequences for Century exceptionalism. (The special edition hardback are not alone whilst of finding out they ownFermi narrative and Stapledon.) so it is worthwhile And then we reading are on toin thethe stories.order The ordering of the fiction in this volume creates its and‘Fermi’s ‘Aether’ Doubts’ by by RobertGeorge ReedZebrowski offer Thispresented. is classic We hard begin SF with with a researchstrong, though scientists obvious, on the take moonon the discovering paradox in ‘Catchingan unexpected Rays’ bynon-terrestrial David L Clements. object personal responses. - ‘Lostmuch To quieter, Their moreOwn and employing problem solving skills. In a general anthol withogy, the Fermi. impact The would answer be is quite clever different but in the but context here both no the anDevices’ answer by fresh Adrian for characters and the reader know that the story is wrestling Tchaikovsky has more. By contrast, in the next story, Pat Cadigan’s ‘The the Twitter generation and Keith Brooke and Eric Brown inferBig Next’, that itFermi is providing isn’t mentioned. an answer Instead, to the theparadox. story Irelies found provide a fresh take on a story told in every SF generation on the reader’s knowledge of where this is published to which– almost appears to the totitle be – aiming with ‘The for RichardEnd Of The Morgan’s World’. Takashi Less Kovacsinteresting territory was ‘Inbut The with Beginning’ the Fermi by element Gerry Webb,dragged a story in to myself all the happier with the first story now that I could hopeThere it was is a thetemptation exemplar to ofassociate a particular each kindof the of stories response There is one story I can’t reach a verdict on. Rachel fit the theme. withto the one question, of the three rather classes than justof answer the first to example.the paradox the introduction describes but that is part of the pleasure of reading this collection that I would rather not spoil. Still, Armstrong’s ‘The Worldmaker’ is most likely an interesting it is interesting to note that this volume abjures the multi- thisfailure case but an one abundant which is future hugely solar ambitious. system Likeand anthe indulgent Webb, it verse. Given the vast bounds of this single galaxy, let alone humanity.at first appears The viewpoint to be about leaps something about confusingly, entirely different; leaving in impressions of how much freedom and choice people have to exponentially complicate the problem with the option the 14 billion years of our universe, it’s quite reasonable not Martyn Fogg and his recalcitrant composting system on close to our own time and only a few stories venture beyond Europa.before telescoping There are aoutwards couple more to the diversions, story of Commander including ourof many Solar universes. system. There Further, are thea couple stories of tendcommon to be ideas set quite that could be extracted from this – we are waiting for the aliens to come to us or we don’t expect to get far from home over tosample the original diagrams setting flagged and as a completelyConway’s Game new themeof Life, inwhich the the next few centuries. But within that broad scope, even may be a red herring or a vital thread, before sliding back where there is overlap, each story is distinctive. Fermi answers in all three categories within 22 pages whilstfinal paragraph. also showing I think an optimisticArmstrong human has managed response to toprovide the news that the universe is full of life. I suspect it is the story directly they engage with the paradox. The stories I As mentioned, a key spectrum of difference is how context of the collection to determine that the story is which will stick with me the longest. enjoyed most were those which, like the Cadigan, use the feelsAfter comfortingly this, Mercurio familiar D. Rivera’s even as post-contact it combines story two Fermi on a response to the question. Paul Cornell’s ‘Zeta Reticuli’ an alien planet Atonement, ‘Under The Blue-White Sun’ - unusualcovers the protagonist impact of First– an oldContact lady (whoon the is Visitors; not secretly Tricia a ful close. There is some soft going through the middle of Sullivan’s ‘The Ambulance Chaser’ chooses an even more theanswers. volume As and the afinal steep item, ascent this near brings the the end book but theto a reading grace is worth it. This is a strong collection where the gathered witch); Stephanie Saulter’s ‘Audiovisionary’ and ‘Stella items combine to more than the sum of their parts. By Starlight’ by Mike Resnick and Robert T Jeschoenek present the response of an apparently unique individual.page 47 VECTOR #279 – Spring 2015 Descent by Ken Macleod (Orbit, 2014) War Dogs by Greg Bear (Gollancz, 2014) Reviewed by Lynne Bispham Reviewed by Andy Sawyer

ar Dogs Venn returning to Earth after a mission on Mars. he defining moment of Ryan Sinclair’s life occurs when, Through begins his reminiscences with ‘Skyrine’ we (Sky discover Marine) just Michael what Tas teenager, he and his friend Calum climb a Scottish W silver sphere that could be anything from a weather balloon went on in his encounter with an alien race, the Antagonists, hillside and are knocked unconscious by light from a with whom Earth forces are in combat as virtual mercenar- this episode but Ryan has nightmares and his family notice ies for the Gurus who have made contact with humanity to a stereotypical UFO. Calum suffers no lasting effects from and shared their advanced technology. Also involved in the - encounter were various human Martian colonists – now side- ershipchanges – anin hisepisode behaviour. which He may is thenor may abducted not have from been his a dream.bed at lined by the war between Innight the by novel’s “bog-standard near-future Grey” Scotland, aliens high-tech and taken surveillance to their moth is everywhere but curiously there is no evidence for either some of whom seem to have of these close encounters. In his more rational moments, stumbledSkyrines and upon Antagonists the secret – Ryan reasons that there are perfectly normal physical and which Venn is now carrying psychological explanations for the phenomena he has expe- rienced but after a visit from a certain James Baxter, a bogus Fundamentally a SF Shoot- back to Earth. ‘Em-Up, War Dogs has a lot he becomes gradually more convinced that he is caught up in to offer in its gritty picture whatchurch may minister - or may who not seems - be a topolitical be some conspiracy sort of Man or ina cover-up Black, of war on Mars. There is of technological advances by the military or the obscuring of certainly a lot of action and what we see of the Martian

genetic information that may havetied important up with consequences the secret genuinely fascinating. Tradi- for the future of the human race. This “speciation event” is tionally,colonists, SF the has Muskies, often painted is and explains why he was space colonists as idealists, unaffectedhistory of Calum’s by the UFO.family But libertarians, even utopians – again, there is uncertainty groups with which a vaguely liberal readership can identify. as to whether or not this afford to secret is actually true. The plot of Descent is Bear’s Muskies are different: either groups who can take the journey to Mars and cut themselves off from the rest is shown episodes from of us or genuinely creepy separatists like the Voors – people Ryan’svery low-key. life as heThe grows reader holding to the apartheid race-theories of 20th Century South older, attends univer- withinAfrican a Afrikaaners. geological formation The interaction which seems here, together to be a body with that the sity and becomes a science cosmological background (much of the action takes place journalist. At several high-lighted moments, it had crashed into Mars eons previously) and the descriptions becomes apparent that he thatof the can Martian only be environment, how Bear is settingis the best us up part for of the the develop book. - is being watched – although But much of it suffers from a kind of thinning-out process by whom and for what that stuff is happening elsewhere in the Solar System. More purpose is not made clear. irritatingly,ment of the storythe war in subsequentbetween Gurus volumes. and Antagonists It’s clear at the(which end X-Files territory with conspiracies within conspiracies. There are times when it seems that Ryan is lot of hand-waving designed to put Venn and his comrades on simplyWe are paranoidfirmly in but a further visit from James Baxter and presumably is part of that ‘stuff’) often comes across like a the arrival of a pair of thugs at his home indicate that his Childhood’s suspicions are real. The reader is teased into believing that EndMars. mashed-up The result with is that a Warhammer I put the book 40,000 down novel, with withoutthe feeling the the various plot-strands are on the verge of being brought satisfactionthat I’d read Ithe would first have part hadof Arthur from the C Clarke’s separate parts. together and the mysteries solved but then the story veers There’s a peculiar running thread about how no-one says away into new possibilities. don’t like it (an explanation is So this is not a novel of fast-paced SF action but rather one of growing tension as Ryan tries to understand what it is “fuck” anymore because the Gurus that has made him of interest to the conspirators – if they (Thougheventually you given) can swearso we haveon Mars a mildly because amusing the Gurus picture aren’t of what lis- exist. On one level, it is a coming of age story and, on another, looks like a bunch of prissy-mouthed prudish space marines. a mystery set in a very well-described near-future society with entirely convincing technological advances and politics. tening. Maybe.) As far as I’m concerned, the Gurus can take over interestingFacebook and of whichscience this fiction may fandom be a side-effect any time are they dropped like but but, it all - sounds rather bafflingly implausible. Hints of something more The book owes its success largely to the character of Ryan, So altogether a strange mixture which seems to be aimed at therewho is is flawed a resolution but sympathetic, of sorts but and there the are first-person still enough narra untied wingslike the of Big the Reveal, readership this mustwhich be don’t set asidenormally for later. interact. There’s subplotstive draws to the leave reader the reader in to his wondering story. By if the the final truth chapter, is actually imagination a-plenty and the ability to present that imagination still out there waiting to be discovered. in words is not lost but I rather pine for the days of Blood Music.

page 48 VECTOR #279 – Spring 2015 Defenders by Will McIntosh (Orbit, 2014) issues thrown up by this war for species survival. Regard-

Reviewed by Shaun Green frightening read. less, this is an engaging, thought-provoking and occasionally icture, if you will, the unstoppable war machine of this particular grim future: seventeen feet tall, Parasite by Mira Grant (Orbit, 2013) P Reviewed by Patrick Mahon Easter Island. Large and strange and thus terrifying but also fundamentallymounted absurd: atop three a terribly legs, with threatening a face like creature the Moai that, of ira Grant is the pseudonym This is not all there is to the eponymous ‘defenders’. Their Seanan McGuire uses for mindsthrough are the also lens constructs: of fiction, deprived we struggle by design to take of seriously. the neu- M rotransmitter serotonin, the defenders do not understand writing. Parasite is her fourth novel her science fiction horror emotion and are not aware of the world in the same way as the as Grant and the first in a new trilogy. humans they are distantly based Francisco. Six years earlier, Sal MitchellIt’s the had summer a serious of 2027 car crash.in San training from birth in all aspects of She should have died but instead militaryupon. Despite strategy genius-level and tactics IQs, and a ferocity that matches their strength, life was saved by her Intestinal Bodyguardshe becameTM the, a patentedfirst human parasite whose and hungry for approval. produced by global pharmaceutical they are in many respects child-like giant SymboGen. Once implanted in a user’s gut, the parasite greatest strength against the Luyten, prevents most common illnesses. Before Sal, though, it had theTheir alien lack enemy of serotonin they were offers designed their never brought someone back from the dead. SymboGen is still to fight. These alien super-telepaths trying to work out how. have all but conquered Earth, driving The city is hit by a strange affliction which turns people into whothe human were able race to to anticipate the brink. every Ordinary action human against soldiers them fromnever sleepwalkers, some of whom start attacking others. As the stood a chance; their minds were open books to the Luyten, bypandemic an ex-SymboGen spreads, Sal employee realises who that offersSymboGen to show seem her to how know the more about it than anyone else. Why? Then Sal is contacted The defenders cannot be read and they are built for war. Theytroop aremovements larger, faster to shots and fired. stronger than the Luyten. Their new illness and her miraculous recovery are linked. Does she want to find out the truth about what happened to her? autonomously, without human input. It was the only way they training, knowledge and intelligence allows them to operate- a natural,What I admired unhurried most pace about which this retains novel wasyour the interest narrative from pagestyle. to Grant page. has If your a confident focus is voice a tight and and the energetic storyline plot, unfolds you’ll at could possibly work, as their human parents might unknow remainsingly reveal to be plans answered. to the enemy. Yet even if they win and needs a tight plot and a strong protagonist. Parasite has the probably enjoy this book. For me, though, a good thriller mankindThis is acan surprisingly be saved, theemotionally question engagingof what happens novel for next what former but not the latter. is essentially a cross-breed of two traditional SF tropes: agency. She hasn’t got any. Every time there’s a crisis, someone elseI’ve rescues got two her. main Put issues bluntly, with she’s Sal a Mitchell.useless hero. The firstThe secondis is withthe invasion Defenders of Earth and the unforeseen consequences of her demand for personal autonomy, regardless of the costs to toscientific the challenges progress. both One humanity of Will McIntosh’s and his human greatest characters successes others. It’s clear from the start that you need to cut Sal some face throughout is the how novel’s he evokes course. mood, Fear skilfully is prevalent, matched as are despair and a sense of impending doom. Periods of fragile onslack, her since right she to act only independently, has six years evenexperience though of she the repeatedly real world demonstrateson which to base poor her judgement decisions. which However, harms she other keeps people. insisting forhope how run they along are a introduced.knife-edge balance before erupting into elation.Such emotional Moments ofrichness violence should are often come all as the little more surprise shocking to prior readers of McIntosh and it is also central to the novel’s Early on, for example, when a colleague called Chave turns - oppositeinto a sleepwalker and not through right next panic to hereither: in the “Some SymboGen imp of thecanteen per- queue, the security guards ask Sal to back away. She does the withthemes. how The they defenders, should live, deprived imitating of serotonin, their ‘parent’ lack species a sophis inticated manners emotional that are core. variously Outside laughable of conflict and they terrifying. struggle The verse made me step closer to her”. Chave then attacks her and Luyten, possessing individual yet shared consciousness, she is only saved when Sherman, a close friend, rugby tackles are a hyper-empathic species despite their callously violent theChave carpet to the and ground. Sal appears As a direct to learn consequence, nothing from Sherman it. gets infectedThis is andnot adies. woman Yet this whose incident judgement is quickly I would brushed trust under in a great emotional majesty but divided and ruled by fear. The crisis. As she’s the protagonist, though, that’s exactly what actions. Mankind sit somewhere between the two: capable of - drive on both a micro and macro level. dence in Sal and stopped caring about what happened to her. balance between such conflicts provides much of the book’s ParasiteGrant repeatedly has a great asks plot the and reader stylish to prose.do. As aI justresult wish I lost the confi lead character had been up to the challenge. It is not without flaws, as is true of any novel. McIntosh fails or chooses not to address some difficult moral and ethical page 49 VECTOR #279 – Spring 2015 Broken Monsters by Lauren Beukes Given that I am writing this review for Vector it’s essential (Harper Collins, 2014) it would be easy to position Broken Monsters as a crime Reviewed by Shaun Green to acknowledge upfront that based on this plot summary genres of SF. To an extent this would be accurate, yet there arethriller two ratherreasons than that anything this novel that is interestfits within to thethe dedicateddiverse automotive industry, it has experienced sharp etroit: Motor City. Once the seat of the American Ddecline. Its population has fallen by 25% since 2000, reader of . residence. Its economy has also suffered, culminating in the realitiesThe first of theis that present: like Beukes’s challenges previous that, when work, met this and is fiction accu- largely thanks to suburbanisation and declining inner-city that is keen to explore the social, cultural and technological have suffered as well as local businesses, with widespread city declaring itself bankrupt in 2013. Suburban citizens rately represented in fiction, cannot fail but be SFnal. What - prime mortgage crisis. This has only added to the derelict once characterised Detroit is of the past; domestic industry is industrialforeclosures landscape and bankruptcies of the city, declared often described thanks toas the‘ruin sub- inno part longer by anew significant industries part that of theexplore American and exploit national what charac remains.ter. In Detroit, Social as media in other and cities, web start-ups the gaps haveplay abeen role colonised,in this novel, and the ways they affect and are affected by the lives of oneporn’. which Today’s explores Detroit the is fractured a troubled psyche city. Small of the wonder, city and then, its strugglingthat it provides residents. fertile ground for Beukes’s latest novel, The second is that, without wishing their users prove major causal factors in Broken Monsters. The core cast is a diverse bunch. to issue any spoilers, not everything The story opens with Gabi, a detec-

the body of a young boy. The corpse turns out quite as it might in the hastive beenin the mutilated Detroit PD, in standinga most horrible over novelworks are, of a happily, more traditional integral to writer the tale of manner: the torso bisected and the crime fiction. These elements of the legs clumsily replaced with the rear not mere window dressing intended of a fawn. Meanwhile Gabi’s teenage tothat appeal Beukes to herhas existingset out to audience. tell, and are daughter, Layla, has her own prob- lems, though they are those more and decay of run-down urban envi- traditionally associated with the ronmentsBeukes hasas well an eye as thefor impactthe grime such environments have on their residents. crushes and troubled relationships This much has been clear since her withyoung: her social separated acceptance, parents. unrequited Moxyland. Authenticity is Jonno is a recent immigrant to herfirst research novel, has played dividends, collapse of his previous relationship withan important the city and factor the in characters her Detroit who and Detroit, having fled the disastrous live within it all proving convincing.

asand ageing working and life. his Hecareer is of as the a writerage into presenting a realistic picture where one begins to think of oneself Significant time has been invested boasts a modicum of natural cha- single this example out because said rismahas met despite little success.his introspective He somehow researchof the Detroit has not PD, overwhelmed for example. I the nature tending towards solipsistic story through its clumsy integration. This has been an issue with some of the few modern crime not be more different. An enterprising vagrant, TK dedi- Relentless, which self-pity and arrogance. Another key character, TK, could among its own crimes can be counted the intrusive pepper- novels I’ve read, such as Simon Kernick’s repossessedcates himself homes to his fewand closebusinesses, friends he and attempts his fellow to doDetroit so Broken Monsters withhomeless. compassion While he and may respect. pick at the remains left behind in anding of gritty acronyms, without protocol being gratuitous and fact-flavoured or juvenile tidbits. and, despite its grim subject matter is an and admirable often brooding work of fiction.atmosphere, It is dark it - contains genuinely funny moments. As a crime thriller, it sionsFinally concerning there is hisClayton, relationships an unsuccessful with others experimental and a tenden - offers mystery and horror in a convincing modern setting, artist. He suffers severe mental issues, particularly delu although any whodunnit elements rapidly fall by the wayside

cy to fixate, but despite his numerous personal problems he As Broken Monsters is not without friends in Detroit’s artistic community. as they do not serve the story being told. As a fantastic work, it offers low-key moments reminiscent of urban fantasy’s unfolds we follow these five as they As SF, it successfully captures what it is to live at a time pitfalls of youth in modern America, to build a new life on the subtler beats as well as more significant intrusive fantasy. work to solve a string of ghastly murders, to navigate the when technology drives social and cultural change faster

back of industrial decay and cultural vibrancy, to survive and both the positive and negative human impact of such. Their lives, and those of the supporting cast, intersect and than any individual can keep up and even-handedly portrays buildsupport towards amidst a economiccrescendo ruin, that andis borne to execute of both great the technolo works. - gies and culture of the modern age and the timeless nature of violence and horror. webIts technologiesfew flaws are and rarely concepts significant. so close Among to the those forefront: that stand out is the risk inherent in writing a novel with social

page these50 date quickly. There is also the associated risk that VECTOR #279 – Spring 2015 whatever names you come up with Cold Turkey by Carole Johnstone (TTA Press, 2014) of real sites will have already been usedto describe for real your online fictional services, analogues as is the Reviewed by Graham Andrews

he novella has always been the case with the ChatRoulette analogue SpinChat. To Beukes’s credit, she As anthologist Leo Margulies wrote appears well aware of these risks and Tawkward cuss of short-form fiction. Thishas worked is partly to done mitigate by largely them withouteschew- a lead-off story, the short novel is uncommon sacrificing that vital contemporaneity. in 1963: “Though preferred in magazines as often passes for integrating modern situation today is a lot more novella-friendly, ing the awkward name-dropping that in hard cover or paperback books.” But the focusing instead on the how and why and Cold Turkey - TTA Press novella number oftechnologies usage, the interactioninto present-day with itfiction, and the three,thanks after to amenable the award-winning small-press Spin publishers Allan - is a good case in point by Nina Cold Turkey tells us more than most people corefeedback cast, received. strong as they ultimately prove,A more initially immediate feel archetypal. flaw is that They the would surely like to know about Raymond cop, the bratty daughter, the tortured town(‘Raym’) of Glengower Munroe, who – which sort-of aptly teaches rhymes at can be quickly reduced to the cynical artist and the homeless hero. They do a sink-school in the fictional Lanarkshire well-drawn contradictions within their personalities that with ‘glower’. His relationship with his better-off partner, becomeultimately apparent transcend through such theirpigeonholing, deeds and however, words. thanks to theWendy, title, is which equally exacerbates going nowhere. his already He has masochistic also been making exis- One character who leapt out at me early on is Jonno, doomed attempts to shake off his addiction to nicotine, as per - it would only have been a waste of my metaphorical breath. ic type of young man: occasionally prone to self-destructive Interestingtence. “Buck as up,” a psychiatric I felt like yelling. case study, “Snap though. out of it, man!” But whose cynicism is far less worldly than Gabi’s. He’s a specif Raym has been haunted from childhood by what seems - impulses; assured of his own superiority yet riddled with self-doubt and even self-loathing; prone to sorting every like his very own Monster from the Id, which manifests itself- thing he observes into easily categorised and marketed web journalism that sustains him. as the ‘Tally Van Man’, who stalks him wearing winklepicker slots despite his disdain for the BuzzFeed-esque ‘listicle’ Jonno proves to be one of the novel’s more contempt- Thisshoes, isn’t top the hat calypso-famed and a long-tailed Mister black Tally coat, Man grinning – not unlessmania cally all the while. “You’re almost out of time, Kiddie Winkle!” ofible Moxyland figures butwill he’s remember also surprisingly Toby, that sympathetic.novel’s improb On- top he’s a voodoo second cousin. Just when Raymalways thinks chasing that of that, he proves a somewhat familiar figure. Readers things can’t get any worse, they do: “”I saw him Mr. Munroe.” - A sly look lit up Jimmy’s blinking eyes.” He’s able saviour and survivor. Toby is reminiscent of Charlie you.” And that’s only a third of the way through. Johnstone in Black Static # 42 halfway through writing this satiricalBrooker’s TV Nathan guides, Barley, although a character the author from has both stated the they epony review.As luck “ would have was it, I aboutread the my interview need for control, with Carole and how mous Brooker/Chris Morris TV series and Brooker’s earlier Cold Turkey was a self-absorbed fool obsessed with his own social Raym’s life is safe and controlled only in so far that he never were conceived of entirely independently. Toby, like Barley, leavesthat might his ‘discomfort manifest in zone’ a life andthat it is is safe, in fact a life a life hardly hard lived.” lived. world. Broken Monsters’s Jonno falls somewhere between media profile and ignorant, often wilfully so, of the wider and the results are not always benign. The narrative arc hereCharacter is a continuous is fate. We paroxysm become ourselves of disintegration, by what we unfolding create Barley and his nemesis, Dan Ashcroft, a cynical critic of -the Barleyesque idiots he despises and yet unable to escape the the ride immensely, despite my antipathy towards the facts that they are his key readership and have inadvert centralfrom one character lean sick-as-a-dog – or perhaps sentence even because to the next. of it. I enjoyed ently come to define his own cultural position. Drawing a connection between a 2014 novel and a largely- overlooked satirical comedy show from 2005 aremay heavily seem a Black Mirror whoseJohnstone bright does eyes a call nice up line images in quirky of “old characters. spinsters Forand just cats – stretch for a book review but I do so for good reason. Brook focused on the nightmarish possibilities that current and one example, Mrs McClelland, the school receptionist, er’s later creative works such as There is also a sleazy sex scene, involving Raym and teach- and unlucky salesmen handcuffed to pipes in the basement.” future technologies and social trends invite; his earlier Spinrad himself. works explored similar themes in entertainment and ‘new ing assistant Cate MacDonald, that is worthy of Norman intersection.media’. Beukes, I’ve like encountered Brooker, is relatively evidently few both writers intrigued who by - deliverand ambivalent explorations about of the the ramifications way such ideas of impactthese areas human of doneI’d likein the to styleput in of a Solgood Amendola, word for Angelothe scarifying Torres andwrap maybe around cover artwork by Warwick Fraser-Coombe, which is in a run-down old city. lives as thoroughly as Beukes. Not bad for a murder mystery the title and author’s name had been printed on the spine. Joe Kubert. But also a pernickety afterthought: I wish that

page 51 In Memoriam Aaron Allston (1960-2014), author, game designer Jay Lake (1964-2014), author Neal Barrett, Jr. (1929-2014), author Glen A Larson (1937-2014), producer Thomas Berger (1924-2014), author Roberta Leigh (1926-2014), author, producer Jon Bing (1944-2014), author Walt Lee (1931-2014), critic Val Biro (1921-2014), illustrator, author Philippa Maddern (1952-2014), author Ken Brown (1957-2014), fan Alexander Malec (1929-2014), author André Carneiro (1922-2014), author Gabriel García Márquez (1927-2014), author Stepan Chapman (1951-2014), author Colleen McCullough (1937-2015), author Brian Clemens (1931-2015), screenwriter, producer Donald Moffitt (1931-2014), author James H Cobb (1953-2014), author R A Montgomery (1936-2014), author Robert Conroy (1938-2014), author Steve Moore (1949-2014), author John Cooper (1942-2015), artist Frederic Mullally (1918-2014), author Carl Djerassi (1923-2015), author, playwright Walter Dean Myers (1937-2014), author J T Edson (1928-2014), author Leonard Nimoy (1931-2015), actor, director Helen Eling (1937-2014), fan Mick O’Connor ( -2015), fan Suzette Haden Elgin (1936-2015), author, poet Kate O’Mara (1939-2014), actress Brett Ewins (1955-2015), artist Chapman Pincher (1914-2014), author Gerry Fisher (1926-2015), cinematographer Andy Robertson (1955-2014), editor, author Eugie Foster (1971-2014), author Frank M Robinson (1926-2014), editor Curt Gentry (1931-2014), author Alan Rodgers (1959-2014), author H.R. Giger (1940-2014), artist Mark E. Rogers (1952-2014), author, artist J.F. Gonzalez (1964-2014), author David Ryall (1935-2014), actor Nadine Gordimer (1923-2014), author, Nobel Prize Michael Shea (1946-2014), author winner Lucius Shepard (1943-2014), author Sam Greenlee (1930-2014), author George Slusser (1939-2014), critic Lesley Hatch (1954-2014), fan Zilpha Keatley Snyder (1927-2014), author Phil Hardy (1945-2014), journalist Mary Stewart (1916-2014), author Michael Hemmingson (1966-2014), author Ryder Syvertsen [Ryder Stacy] (1941-2015), author Bob Hoskins (1942-2014), actor Rod Taylor (1930-2015), actor Hayden Howard (1925-2014), author Melanie Tem (1949-2015), author Dan Jacobson (1929-2014), author John Rower Townsend (1922-2014), author P.D. James (1920-2014), author Alice K. Turner (1939-2015), editor, critic Kris Jensen (1953-2014), author Billie Whitelaw (1932-2014), actress Michel Jeury (1934-2015), author Robin Williams (1951-2014), actor Graham Joyce (1954-2014), author Hirai Kazumasa (1938-2015), author [Jan 2014 through Feb 2015] Daniel Keyes (1927-2014), author Richard Kiel (1939-2014), actor