Book Review: Way Station by Clifford D. Simak

Way Station by Clifford D. Simak

Paperback, 210 pages

Published 1992 by Collier Books (first published November 1963)

This will not be a super extensive review as I read this for the Dickheads podcast series on the Hugo award winners of the '60s. So if you really want deep thoughts on this novel you'll have to listen to the podcast. It will be added to this podcast once it is released.

As the 1964 winner of the Hugo award for the best novel, I had high hopes. I was already a big fan of Simak, having read most of his major novels and already being a big fan of City, Cemetery World, Time and Again and Ring Around the Sun to name a few. I have to admit the idea of Alien B and B on earth didn't sound super exciting. I also knew that it beat out Cat's Cradle which is one of Kurt Vonnegut's best novels and I just couldn't deal with that.

None the less on its own merits Way Station is a thoughtful and charming piece of midwestern science fiction that doesn't tell a hero's journey in a traditional sense. Enoch Wallace is a man who is over 100 years old, a Vet of the Civil War who returned to Wisconsin and appears to have never aged past his 30's. That is interesting enough of a mystery that gets a great set-up involving military spies, who are a bit under used in the rest of the novel.

We come to find out that Enoch doesn't age when he is in his house, A temporal portal exists that is a way station or a halfway point where teleportation travelers get to spend a night and teleport on to the next station on whatever world they are going to. This sets up the curious Enoch to have spent many a night talking with Aliens of many species. There is a conflict that arises, that challenges Enoch's position in the confederacy of worlds. This happens as his neighbors on earth start to get curious and the government gets involved.

Without spoiler the second half of the novel or our podcast let me say that I really enjoyed this novel. It has a few storylines that weave together and more importantly, the characters are well-drawn. The ideas at the core are excellently used to explore the themes. It is far from my favorite Simak novel but I enjoyed it. I have rolled my eyes at a few of the reviews that seem to have a problem accepting this novel for what it is. A piece of golden age sci-fi that I admit is a little weird coming in the Hugo series after PKD's Man in the High Castle. Knowing that it beats Cat's Cradle gives it a Jethro Tull winning the metal grammy feel. This is a good and important novel with themes for days of discussion. I just don't think it should've won the Hugo.

Check back for the podcast episode or subscribe/follow Dickheads to get the latest.

DickHeads Podcast · Dick Adjacent #8 - Way Station - with Matthew L. Whitaker

Book Review: Black God's Drums by P. Djèlí Clark

Black God's Drums by P. Djèlí Clark

Trade Paperback, 112 pages

Published August 2018 by Tor.com

Hugo Award Nominee for Best Novella (2019)

Nebula Award Nominee for Best Novella (2018)

Locus Award Nominee for Novella (2019)

World Fantasy Award Nominee for Best Novella (2019)

ALA Alex Award (2019)

This will be somewhat of a short review as the book was only 112 pages. It is a novella in the Tor publishing Novella series which have become must-reads for me. With established writers and new voices, it is a good mix and they are almost always high quality. I admit many of my favorites are by established authors like Brian Evenson, Caitlin Kiernan, and Maurice Broaddus. That said I have enjoyed almost all of them.

I picked up this one from the library based entirely on it being a Tor novella having never heard of Clark. I am super glad I did. This short but high energy story is set in an alternate history, New Orleans. It is a steampunk setting with airships and anachronistic technology. So it has both a retro and Afrofuturistic feel to it. The story of Creeper a NOLA pickpocket who joins the crew of the Midnight robber a Haitian Airship.

There are action and plots involving the title Maguffin that keeps everything moving but the strength for me was the subtle and perfectly woven world-building. There is not much room for the character to grow, have an arc or romance but honestly, this feels like act one of a larger novel. That might sound like a weakness but it is not. The characters are rich and well-drawn without getting tied into romantic tropes.

There is real wisdom to releasing this as a novella since steampunk is not my genre I was willing to give 112 pages a spin while I probably would have passed on a 400 pager. That said I enjoyed this and got hooked on the character so if Tor does the smart thing and let Clark expand this world into a novel I am in to read it.

I really liked this book. Thought it was well written, and the best thing I can say is that P. Djèlí Clark is on my radar. I will continue to seek out his work. So what were my nitpicks? As much as I liked this novella I was shocked by the level of award nominations. I gotta be honest, I think I would've been more impressed if I have not read Pimp my Airship or Buffalo Soldier by Maurice Broaddus. I thought this was a cool well-written book set in a world that seemed familiar to me. None the less the world is big enough for two Afro-steampunk visions.

Book Review: The Only Harmless Great Thing by Brooke Bolander

The Only Harmless Great Thing by Brooke Bolander

Paperback, 93 pages

Published January 2018 by Tor.com Publishing

Hugo Award Nominee for Best Novelette (2019)

Nebula Award for Best Novelette (2018)

Locus Award for Novelette (2019), World Fantasy Award Nominee for Best Novella (2019)

Shirley Jackson Award Nominee for Best Novella (2018)

Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award Nominee (2019)

British Fantasy Award Nominee for Best Novella (2019)

This is a short 93 pages novella but has a huge amount of ideas and concepts going on. Judging from the award nominations and praise this book is getting plenty of love. I know I said this in the last book review but my three-star rating comes knowing the difference between writing a subjective and objective review. This is an excellent novella with several elements of really smart writing going on. It does what the best science fiction does. Present a world totally alien to ours while shining a mirror on our own.

Brooke Bolander is clearly a talented writer, but alas I didn't personally love this book. I can objectively see that it is worthy of the praise. It is a fantastic book but I just didn't connect with it. Maybe I am still hungover from reading A Canticle for Leibowitz but I had trouble totally connecting with this.

On paper, a novella hyper-intelligent Elephants in an alternate reality that mirrors our history should've really been my thing. I found the writing to be as lyrical beautifully written as everyone else it just didn't hook me. All the major themes are good ones. Misinformation, Representation and the long fight for justice through history all cool things. I mean pretty much all the Tor novellas have something great going on and they are one-day commute reading for me. The best thing I can say is Brooke Bolander is now a writer on my radar. So Mission accomplished book.

On side note I noticed many of the reviews of this referred to the POV characters as sentient Elephants. I found this a bit annoying as I believe elephants in our world are certainly sentient. Ever seen an elephant funeral?

Book Review: Doorways to the Deadeye by Eric J. Guignard

Doorways to the Deadeye by Eric J. Guignard

Paperback, 328 pages

Published July 2019 by JournalStone

As an editor and publisher, the Bram Stoker award-winning author Eric Guignard has really done wonderful work highlighting overlooked authors with his excellent "Exploring Dark Fiction" series. His collection That Which Grows Wild was excellent and showed great range. I was excited to give Guignard's first novel a shot. According to what we can glean from the acknowledgments the author fell into one of the many pitfalls typical to first-time novelists. Apparently, an earlier draft was much longer. Wisely Guignard trimmed the novel to about the right length.

In 1973 Lee Marvin starred in a movie about depression-era Hobos that director Guillermo Del Toro once said was one of his favorite films. Last year I watched this movie to see why GDT loved it so much. This is a strange film that is about the cat and mouse game between the conductor and the bo's who hop his trains. I can't say I loved the film but I did have a thought that a horror novel set in this world might be really cool. I didn't think I was the person because I thought it would take years of research I didn't really pursue the idea.

A couple months later I got really excited when I learned that Eric Guignard had actually done it. Doorways to The Deadeye is as much a novel about magic realism as it is action and horror. The Deadeye concept has a fantastical Clive Barker feel but the setting is more of a sentimental Stephen King tone. The story has a Talisman-like adventure, the Deadeye is a place where the dead survive as memories based on how people remembered them. This reminded me of the territories in the Talisman but the whole novel has that wonderful sentimental tone of The Green Mile. The tone and the setting are the absolute strength of this novel. I could totally see more stories in this world.

This novel is the story of Luke Thacker a depression-era Hobo who is riding the rails and living a free life when he learns about the land of the Deadeye. Using Hobo signal codes that are mapped out early in the book, he ends up in this magical realm. Hunted by the man protecting the railroad Smith McCain and looking for his lost Daisey the line between the living and the dead becomes blurred. The novel is about the power of storytelling and myth so it makes sense that it is told in flashbacks from the far future of 1985. This framing device works very well.

The theme of the power of memory and storytelling creating narrative ghosts is super cool, the idea that the Hobo code written on walls around the country leading Luke to this other world is actually under-used. I kinda wish he didn't discover this world as early in the story. Perhaps a novel where he is following a mystery of a lost love only alive in memory but always one clue away was more what I was looking for. I loved 2/3 of this novel to me the thing I couldn't hang with was how much political and historical figures became a part of the novel. The existence of Ben Franklyn and Paul Revere made sense in the story but it didn't work for me. I found most of their scenes corny and it took me personally out of the world.

I understand why they are there, and how this could work for some. I think readers into Historical fantasy would enjoy this aspect of Doorways to Deadeye. I think the way the novel explores the Myths that make the foundations of America makes sense, and in many ways bold. It just didn't connect with me. I loved the idea of the Deadeye but I wanted that world to feel more dangerous and not so easy to slip into. I wanted less sentimental ghee-whiz and more scary what is in the darkness feel. I thought the roadmap of symbols was a nice touch but I wanted more of them visually through-out the book.

Guignard is a hell of a writer, and this is an extremely bold concept. I applaud him for swinging for the fences. I think this is a really good novel, worth reading even if I didn't connect with it. As a reviewer, I try to understand the difference between what is objectively good work and what I subjectively didn't connect with. If you like historical dark fantasy I think you will dig this book. More importantly, I hope you check it out because it is a great example of a book that is unique to the small press. NYC publishers don't find work like this. No matter how much value they have.

Book Review + Podcast: A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller Jr.

A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller Jr.

Hardcover, SFBC Edition, 311 pages

Published March 1978 by J. B. Lippincott (first published October 1959)

Hugo Award for Best Novel (1961),

Locus Award for All-Time Best Novel (1975)

No matter how you slice it this novel is one of the towering achievements of Science Fiction in the 20th century. It is no wonder that it wonder it won the Hugo award in 1961, or even that it got a Locus award for being an all-timer in 1975. What is amazing is that this was the one and only novel by Walter Miller JR and perhaps the only more amazing thing is it feels just as vital and not dated at all 60 years later.

That is not an easy trick to do. I went into the book totally cold, knowing only that the book was a classic of post Apocalyptic fiction. The book is divided into three sections that I think were published as three novellas that stood alone. I could see how those could work but I think it would have really taken away from the power of the overall story. The structure and the storytelling are great but if you are looking for action this is not the book.

Early in the book, the description of the end of the world is nothing short of lyrical. The world-building is done in single paragraphs that in the hands of a less talented writer would have come off as info-dumps. Not here not, in this case, check out these paragraphs...

“Within weeks-some said days-it was ended, after the first unleashing of the hellfire. Cities had become puddles of glass, surrounded by vast acreages of broken stone. While nations had vanished from the earth, lands littered with bodies, both men and cattle, and all manner of beasts, together with birds of the air and all things that flew, all things that swam in the rivers, crept in the grass, or burrowed in holes; having sickened and perished, they covered the land, and yet the demons of the fallout covered the countryside, the bodies for a time would not decay, except in contact with fertile earth. The great clouds of wrath engulfed the forests and fields, withering trees and causing crops to die. There were great deserts where life once was. , and in those places of the earth where men still lived, all were sickened by the poisoned air, so that, while some escaped death none were left untouched; and many died even in the lands the weapons had not struck, because of the poisoned air.”

Miller in this one paragraph paints a horrible picture of this post-war world. This is a risk that our civilization takes when it creates global destroying weapons or refuses to accept the science of the coming climate crisis. This novel succeeds in showing us the horror in a rich and emotional way without having any characters that we become attached to. Conventional narrative wisdom would tell you that is impossible but ACL pulls it off.

A new dark age that erases civilization may seem impossible but that is the story magic that Science Fiction provides. Here Miller shows us how the dark age happened.

“So it was that, after the Deluge,the Fallout, The plagues, the madness, the confusion of tongues, the rage there began the bloodletting of the Simplification, when the remnants of mankind had torn other remnants limb from limb, killing rulers, scientists, leaders, technicians, teachers, and whatever leaders of the maddened mobs said deserved death for having made the earth what it had become.”

This is important. We have to understand why the human survivors were so scared to let the people behind the horror they survived live. I can personally understand this. As the people behind the climate crisis today are people who run companies and hold office. They have addresses and it is not hard for me to believe that the affected by climate change in the future to feel the same way. To strike out at the generations before them that allowed the suffering to happen. Right or wrong the survivors didn’t want this to happen again.

One thing that makes this novel one of a kind is that it has no main character or POV. The story is propelled by very tight and stylish prose that is lyrical at times. The action is in the ideas and scope and it never gets boring. The story is simple but the scope is epic, hell it deserves to be EPIC in bold letters. I was about to talk about the message but the book is not monolithic in the message you should be left with. There are a dozen themes and messages ranging from being very catholic to the dangers of humanity using technology to detach from society. What is amazing is at no point does this feel heavy-handed.

ACL is the story of civilization, not a single person, if it seems like this, would hard to pull off narrative-wise Miller shows no sign of struggle. The story takes place over centuries and the title character has already been dead all those years. One of the themes of the book is the power and legacy of this long-dead scientist whose papers and writings are the only detailed artifacts of the knowledge of our culture. This theme is powerfully detailed in the second act which is devoted to the monk's life and how they bring the survivors of out the dark ages.

“Now, after six centuries of darkness, the monks still preserved this Memorabilia, studied it, copied and recopied it, and patiently waited. At the beginning, In the time of Leibowitz, it had been hoped- even anticipated as probable – that the fourth or fifth generation would want their heritage back.”

It is in the third act that we see civilization reborn and out of the dark ages that lasted centuries after the war. It is one of the neatest things that this novel wisely sees society taking more than a thousand generations to get back to a point where humans are going back to space and again they have developed nuclear weapons.

“Listen are we helpless? Are we doomed to do it again and again and Again? Have we no choice but to play the Phoenix, in an unending sequence of rise and fall? Assyria, Babylon, Egypt, Greece, Carthage, Rome, the empires of Charlemagne and the Turk. Ground to dust and plowed with salt. Spain, France, Britain, America –burned into the oblivion of the centuries. And again and again and again and again.”

Wow, just wow. I expected a book this honored and remembered to be great. It is not hyperbole to say this is one of the greatest science fiction novels ever written. It is the second-best of the 60’s Hugo winners have read so far. The only one better so far was Stand on Zanzibar.

Check out the Dickheads podcast episode we recorded on this book with Author Brian Evenson and Librarian Ian Dunccanson:

Book Review: Rewrite: Loops in the Timescape by Gregory Benford

Rewrite: Loops in the Timescape by Gregory Benford

Hardcover, 360 pages

Published January 2019 by Gallery / Saga Press

Professor Benford's career in science fiction is a long one, with decades of output but I have to admit that I have not read as many books in his catalog as I should've. The only one I am positive I read was his classic Timescape at some point in the 90's. This book is a thematic sequel, but you are fine reading this book as a stand-alone. Benford is a Physics professor at the University of California Irvine and most of his books take on a serious hard scientific stance. That said Rewrite might appear to be a departure. As it deals with issues of reincarnation, well sorta.

Don't get the wrong idea one writer's tale of reincarnation is this writer's tale of quantum entanglement and multi-verses. That is what we have here, I think this is not as scientific as some of Benford's work but what do I know? What I can tell you is the theme and idea are similar to Stephen King's 11/22/63 but more focused on the idea at its core while the SK novel was more about putting the characters through the idea. That is not to say that the characters are not good here, Charlie is well developed and many of the other characters are based on real-life friendships.

Rewrite is a true fantasy and the power of the first half of this novel is that the main character Charlie Moment gets a wish we all wish we had. A chance to go back and have a redo on life. He dies in a car accident in 2002 and wakes up on his sixteenth birthday in 1968. For the first half of the novel, Charlie stumbles through making the most of his second life. This time he has the memories and experiences of a full lifetime to draw upon. He becomes a better son, boyfriend and gets noticed as wise beyond his year's writer. Since Charlie was a movie buff in his former life he becomes a screenwriter and is back to write and develop many important films years. This means he also discovers Spielberg and becomes friends with several famous people and most exciting to this reader was Benford's real-life friends Philip K Dick and Robert Heinlein.

To me, the best elements of this novel are in the first half that plays with Charlie becoming very important in Hollywood. There is a light-hearted fun to Charlie's second life that the novel loses once we figure out what is going on. It is not that I don't like the second half. I liked the whole book but my favorite moments were Charlie Two enjoying the fun of getting a second chance. I think the less you know about the second half the better.

So I am going to try to dance around spoilers as best I can but once Charlie figures out he is not the only one to time loop he also discovers he can do it again. Of course, this is more time and multiverse hoping, than just time. This happens when he meets Albert Einstein who apparently has figured out ways to loop back from our future, this leads to a comical part of the book when Charlie and Einstein write their timelines version of Back to the Future.

As a PKD scholar, I like the Philip K Dick influences which are not just moments when he appears as a character. Charlie doesn't begin the book in our reality, some of the coolest moments in the book for me were tiny revelations that show us this. It is not super clear that Charlie was ever in our multi-verse but he is clearly trying to make a better reality to settle in. And again in that sense, the novel comes full circle back to wish fulfillment.

Rewrite is a fun read, I think the second half loses a little steam when it gets complicated. Benford does better than most would with the wacky ideas. I think this book deserves me be a bigger deal. PKD and Heinlein fans should read this for sure not just because the writers we love are characters because Benford is invoking them in all the right ways.

I am working on getting him on the podcast for an interview if so I will edit it in to this post.