Book Review: The Strange by Nathan Ballingrud

 

The Strange by Nathan Ballingrud

304 pages, Hardcover

Published March 2023 by S&S/Saga Press

 

The Strange by Nathan Ballingrud

The first book I finished this year is a doozy. As established as Ballingrud is, with a TV show and a movie already based on his work, it is hard to believe that this is his first novel. The quality is also well above what anyone would reasonably consider to be a first novel.  The quality of ideas and execution never at any time feels like a first novel. A loving tribute to pulp Westerns and science fiction.  I had this book on my radar because I asked a friend if he knew any SF inspired by Bradbury, the way many novels play with Lovecraft or PKD.

I really loved this cool retro Western that just happens to be set on Mars. Is it a realistic look at the red planet? No, this is more of Mars as the golden age authors like CL Moore, Burroughs, Brackett, and Bradbury wrote about it. The Songs My Enemies Sing by James Reich. One of my favorite 21st-century SF novels took the same approach to Mars, and I am here for more of it.  The Strange has more alternate history involved. This is a trick I enjoy on TV with For All Mankind or one of my top reads last year, New Tomorrow by Cody Goodfellow. That is to say, I like a wildly different history now and again.

I didn’t know that The Strange was a retro/alternate history story, and so the slow reveal over the first couple of chapters was delightfully confusing. The first time 1931 and Satchel Page were mentioned, I was confused. This excellent reveal through world-building really worked for me. I was not spoiled because I didn't read the description, but it is all there, so don´t @ me.  

Certainly, elements of this story also share vibes with Clinton Portis as much as Bradbury. Anibelle runs a diner with her father, and a bandit comes in with bad intentions. Some of the frontier elements are setup by the isolation from Earth, which happens when signals and ships from Earth go dead. Something the Martian colonists called “the silence.” The elements that weave SF and western are part of the story, so perfectly woven into the story.  Anibelle’s motivation is getting the stolen recordings of her dead mother’s voice; she chases the thief across the Martian landscape with her robotic dishwasher. Get set up.

I LOVE this novel. Haunting, weird, character-driven pulp homage that kept me turning pages.