Book Review: Destruction of the Temple by Barry N. Malzberg

 Destruction of the Temple by Barry N. Malzberg

159 pages, Paperback

First published February, 1974

When I read this, I didn’t know I would be getting the author back on the Dickheads Podcast, I just selected it randomly off the shelf as a Malzberg novel I hadn’t yet read and was eager to give it a shot. Just after I finished it Barry reached out to me about a not super favorable review of his novel The Last Transaction.  Despite my review, he was excited that I wrote about it, and we had a cool exchange over e-mail about this old book. Let's face it an author who wrote as much as Barry did in his day is not going to have a perfect batting record.

Barry Malzberg is a science fiction writer who wrote under multiple names publishing more SF stories and novels in the 60s and 70s than entire basketball teams’ worth of writers. He also held jobs at several major publishers, agents, and more. His position in the community is unique. His book of essays about the genre is a must-read for sure.

Reviewing a book that is essentially a fever dream commenting on a cultural-political experience from a decade fifty years in the rearview mirror is an interesting task for a science reader. DOTT is a thought experiment using science fictional concepts to explore the craziness in a culture that had multiple powerful leaders assassinated in the public eye in a short period.  While the JFK assassination gets the most attention in this novel, the cover has Lee Harvey Oswald, Martin Luther King, and a clown-faced President Johnson in the image. The themes are pretty clear.

DOTT is everything I read Malzberg for. It is a very post-New Wave work of Science Fiction. Strange almost to the point of bizarro, the narrative is somewhat confusing in the opening act, if you don’t read the back and go in cold it will be confusing. This might be different for others but that is how I felt. That said I was never bored. I wanted to understand what was happening so I kept reading.
Set in post-war New York we are thrown into the middle of a stage play recreating the JFK assassination over and over again. Our point of view character is the director but at some point realizes he is suddenly in the play, maybe he has traveled through time, and he is reliving the events. The surreal events of the novel highlight the chaos of the era expanded into an alternate future.

This narrative is chaos itself in many ways, but when Malzberg drills down on the driving scenes or the news narrative there are entire chapters of incredible prose. It makes you think this guy had all the chops of a PKD or a Ballard but without the Hollywood attention, his genius is recognized by serious fans and scholars.

“In the abscess of a dreaming space of America: taking the night roads out of the city, opening up the car to eighty-five on the straightaways, dodging the curves at a cutback to fifty-five, other cars approaching and disappearing like half-hunks of image skewered in dreams. Nothing else. If we and other cars meet- explosion, impaction, terrific wrenching, and then nothing else, ever but the cars seem to have no more existence than the speed which I push out of the vehicle, lunging it finally into a straight careening dive from the rise on which we have momentarily looked at America.

Looked at America and now fall to merge with it: Wonder Waffles and Sam’s Super bar, Dick’s drive in and Killer Cars hitting out their great spokes of light toward the land, the spokes of that great wheel called the land, knifing out the plains and darkness in their colors, the wheel like a knife in the hands, the old car failing in thrusts of power on those turns, but giving all it has left: three cylinders, forty-five horse powers on the open roads.”  

I love this moment of prose but if you are looking for a mission statement. On page 134…

“This country is going to blow up. Something opens in my mind like curtains parting, I see fires, hear the sounds of shooting, the still doomed sense of panic rising and in this vision, I see only the death of my country but my own as well, the two intermingled; it must always be this way because driving the interstate I am the county.”

DOTT is a surreal rage directed at the fragile nature of a country that did survive, and in wave after wave fell victim to cultural violence. It might seem like the novel would not have the same impact but it is a science fictional lens worth looking into. The issues are dated but the theme of a fragile democracy is sadly still a thing. Malzberg should be respected as any of the masters writing in that era.

Book Review: Dolphins of Altair by Margaret St. Clair

 

Dolphins of Altair by Margaret St. Clair

188 pages, Paperback

Published, 1967 by Dell

 

 

Margaret St. Clair was born (Eva Margaret Neely) in 1911. She is one of the trailblazers whose work I discovered through Lisa Yazsek’s groundbreaking anthology The Future is Female. I can’t say I remember her story from that book, but I remembered her name. I saw it on the spine of this think paperback on the shelf at Verbatim Books here in San Diego. Her father was just elected to Congress shortly before she was born. The charmed DC childhood only till 1919. When her father died of Influenza she and her moved to the Midwest and eventually Los Angeles. She met her future husband Eric St.Clair.

While earning her master’s degree in Greek classics from Cal-Berkeley in the early 30s.  They settled in a small bay area town, raised Dachshunds, and ran a plant nursery.

She started writing pulp fiction in the post-war era starting with a noir Detective story before turning the major focus of her output to Science Fiction publishing more than 70 stories that decade alone.  Her Short story Mrs. Hawk was turned into an episode of Thriller (hosted by Boris Karloff) you can watch on YouTube, Rod Serling turned two of her stories into a Night Gallery episode. In 1966 she and her husband became Wiccan. 

I checked out the Thriller episode, it is a weird and comedic episode about a figure from Greek mythology who has a pig farm where she is abducting men and turning them into pigs. The acting in the episode is hilarious and over the top. Still how cool that it was based on one of her stories. 

So Dolphins of Altair sounds like the kinda of ecological science fiction I dig whether it is the brutal and realistic nightmares of John Brunner or Kim Stanley Robinson or the weirder takes of Ray Nayler I like when genre tackles our relationship with nature. In the case of Nayler his last two books I loved because they ask what does it mean to be an earthling. This novel is like a 60s pulpy version of that message.

So yeah compared to the message being made in a modern context it's pretty corny. That however is the fun of reading classic Science Fiction.

“Before the dawn of man . . .
. . . there was a covenant between the land and the sea people - a covenant long forgotten by those who stayed on shore but indelibly etched in the minds of others - the dolphins of Altair.
Now the covenant had been broken. Dolphins were being wantonly sacrificed in the name of scientific research, their waters increasingly polluted, and their number dangerously diminished. They had to find allies and strike back. Allies willing to sever their own earthly bonds for the sake of their sea brothers - willing, if necessary, to execute the destruction of the whole human race . ..”

Considered by many to be the first of a "psychedelic" era for her writing there are moments where I felt lost. The human characters are riding Dolphins and communicating with them in the form of a telepathic connection. There were times when I was lost if they were underwater and using telepathy or talking. I was lost for chunks of the book. When I found the narrative threads there were interesting moments to connect to. This book has all kinds of weird elements that include telepathic dolphins, ecological sabotage, alien ancestry, military experiments, 60s counterculture, interplanetary exchanges, and major disaster vibes.  It also is a very California book.

The first part of the novel involves human characters working with Dolphins to sabotage and free captive Dolphins to help them with their plan. You see the Dolphins believe the covenant between land and sea is broken enough that they can fight back. The Dolphins call the humans splits, it took me a time or two to realize they were referring to people with legs. Their plan for freeing the Dolphins includes causing an earthquake, it becomes clear they have control over nature in an intense way.

One of the most interesting ideas is expressed when Dolphins explain to their human friends what the covenant means to them. It is expressed in a poem, one that has been passed down through generations telepathically from one generation of Dolphins to another. It is here that they suggest this poem is older than life on Earth…Yeah I mean where this is going is right in the title of the book.  

When we are introduced to the radical Dolphin's plan to save the sea people you could imagine this happened because…

“I’ve been thinking about it a lot. It would take the heat off the sea people and their human allies – If the polar ice caps were to melt.”

Cue the piano to express deep shock. This ends and chapter and want to quote how the next chapter starts.

“I think we would laugh at him, except that, after all, he had already engineered an earthquake.”

The final act of the book is where it comes together as a disaster piece and at that point, the novel is fully in my favorite sub-genre the weird end-of-the-world novel. The Dolphins of Altair is funky very 60s Science Fiction novel, while the cover says it is a brilliant triumph I would not go that far. It is strange enough, and thought-provoking enough to get a light thumbs up from me. I was too confused at times to go with a masterpiece, compared to our modern genre the characters and prose are thin, but I prefer that, so that was not the problem.

I think many genre writers don’t trust their readers, maybe St.Clair trusted her readers a bit too much. I want to read her other novels so take that as a sign that she was up to plenty of good stuff.

Book Review: Incidents Around the House by Josh Malerman

 

 Incidents Around the House by Josh Malerman

384 pages, Hardcover

Expected publication June 25, 2024 by Del Rey

I when I was young Stephen King, Robert McCammon, and Clive Barker were like seasonal horror guarantees. You know that regularly you were going to get an effective horror novel or collection. In the modern horror scene when there are mainstream and indie presses there are so many writers active that there is no shortage of horror. Every time Josh Malerman releases a book I feel like it carries more weight. Like a seasonal event, Guaranteed quality, and as Josh Malerman’s catalog gets deeper we are seeing him start to take some daring risks.

This novel is a bold experiment and wow. Josh Malerman came onto the scene with the powerful debut of Birdbox. Long before Sandra Bullock was in the movie and turned into a million memes the horror community had been aware of the power that Malerman brings to his work. I have had the chance to interview Josh about Malorie the sequel to Birdbox and he returned to talk about His novella collection Goblin. 

Listen to the Malorie interview

The Goblin interview here

 
We have seen Malerman take big swings like Pearl a bizarro concept that explained on paper just doesn’t sound like it could possibly work and yet it does. I read Incidents Around the House knowing only the title and I knew Malerman had been followed by documentary crew when he wrote this novel. Looking at this title I thought it was a haunted house novel.  It is so much more than that.

I love a haunted house novel, but like the genre in general it is hard to break new ground at this point. If you would like to know without spoilers if this novel works, in my opinion, it is one of the creepiest horror novels in some time. It will be a really intense experience for young parents who place themselves in the character's shoes. Using a unique prose point of view the novel becomes pretty much experimental. As I got a couple of chapters in I wondered how long Malerman could keep it up and the answer is to the fucking end.

If you follow my reviews you probably know that I am not a huge fan of first person. It limits the novel to one point of view, or voice, and often authors cheat to get around the limitations of the form. Writing novels in the form of letters for example leads to cheating, like found footage movies that unnaturally do things like the camera left on in a room while a private conversation goes on.

Stephen King is good at not cheating first person. One of the best examples is Delores Claiborne or a more fitting is his recent Hard Case Crime novel Later. The first-person narrator of Later grows up as the book unfolds and the writing gets stronger as he does. Incidents Around the House is told from the point of view of Bela a young child and Malerman never cheats in close to four hundred pages. It is a writing magic trick, but if you can’t handle the child-like prose without quotation marks you might not enjoy this. So grammar OCD folks might want to avoid it, people who don’t like being creeped out should really avoid it because this book is a real deal unsettling affair.
 
OK, I am coming close to spoilers so this is the point where you open another tab on your browser pre-order the book, and or request your library get it.  Come back in a couple of months when you have read it so we can talk about it. So SPOILER warning.

IATH is the story of Bela, her Mommy, Daddo, and Other Mommy. Who is Other Mommy? She used to just watch Bela from the closet but she is her special friend who no one else saw – at first.

“She used to come only at night, Then sometimes during the day. The first time I saw her in the daylight I hid. I think she is getting close. Even though she is already in the house. Even though she sits next to me on my bed. Closer. That’s the word I think of.”

All horror requires buy-in, you have to imagine being Bela, or her mom or Daddo for this story to creep you out but Malerman using Bela’s voice puts you into childlike fear constantly. Other Mommy wants a simple thing, to be let into her heart.

The point where a lesser author would have cheated in the family drama that plays out between Mom and Dad. Bela is witness to an affair, fighting etc, and that is where cheating would have been easy but we only get Bela’s POV, an adult reading this novel knows better than her but Malerman trusts the audience. See how he does it.

“Mommy and Daddo look at each other but neither laugh. I’m thinking of how Mommy told Daddo she slept at Marsha’s house but she told me Marsha slept at her brothers.”

Damn, that is storytelling, and Malerman telling this story through the point of view of the child is straight-up genius because really who could get closer to the fear in this story than the child at the heart of it. The adult horror of not feeling like you can protect your child is dripping off every page. Other Mommy follows them wherever they go, their house is not haunted their child is haunted.
The solution presents Bela’s arc as the narrator. I would say if it works or not but a character tells the family.

“The Thing in your house is attracted to Bela’s innocence. We have to take that innocence away.”

 
Incidents Around the House is a horror masterpiece, a daring experiment in creating the creepiest possible immersive prose. If you let Bela and this story into your heart you will be biting your nails in fear that Other Mommy is in there with you.

Book Review: Star Trek Picard: Firewall by David Mack

 

Star Trek: Picard #5 Firewall by David Mack

336 pages, Hardcover

Published February, 2024 by Pocket Books

I interviewed author David Mack on my podcast about this book!

Watch my David Mack interview.
Listen to it here: 

I watch Star Trek like many writers. I hear random bits of world-building and my mind goes instantly to new stories I would love to tell. David Mack had the same reaction when the popular Star Trek Voyager character Seven of Nine was introduced in an episode of Star Trek Picard. The secret of Jeri Ryan's return was well-guarded and it was a good twist when trailers started coming out. When her appearance came the years between Voyager and Picard was hinted at.  The idea was that Seven was on the frontier operating as a Fenris Ranger, a rag-tag operation that sought to police areas to remote or wild for the Federation to police.

My first reaction was...oh wow that is a show. David Mack however paused the show to write to his editor and to say "put me in coach." The process took a few years and Mack had to wait for the show to produce two more seasons but here we are.  I had a big smile on my face when I heard this novel was happening.  I would be lying if I didn't say I was jealous of him, but also happy for him and stoked to read this book.

Seven of Nine is a unique character in the Star Trek canon who has been on an incredible journey both on the screen and behind the scenes. When introduced to the show, the catsuits and the borg to Grace Kelly lead to many accusations of the show selling out and sexist casting, an odd turn for the Trek show with the first woman as captain. The Voyager writers and Jeri Ryan did an excellent job of portraying Seven's coming of age in the last years of the show.  In the novel Janeway thinks about this in a revealing scene.

"An adult. Chronologically, that was true. Biologically, Seven was thirty-two years old, though she appeared younger thanks to the regenerative properties of her Borg nanoprobes. But did her age accurately represent her degree of socialization? She had been robbed of so many years of her life as a Borg drone. So many aspects of social development that her new peers took for granted
likely remained alien to Seven."

I never thought her journey back to humanity was done when Voyager returned to the Alpha Quadrant.  Mack understood this and the novel Firewall opens with Seven's lack of family once the Voyager crew returns home and she realizes she doesn't fit into the Federation.  Looking at the where Seven's story ended and picked up again this novel has the task of bridging that gap.

Seven is not only a ranger living on the fringes, but queer and if you are paying attention slightly more evolved since we last saw her emotionally. Some of the fans who think Star Trek has gotten to woke will complain, but people Star Trek has always been progressive and it has to grow with the times. IF you can't handle Seven being queer, maybe this franchise is not for you. Mack embraced this and even when he was early in the writing process he told social media in very CLEAR language this was pro-LBGTIQ and if you didn't like that he didn't care.
   
 In many ways does for modern Star Trek what Andor does for Star Wars. Firewall has different agendas but it has then, is unashamed about it and willing to shine a light on the dark gritty corners of the galaxy it takes place in.  You would think after all Seven did to help Voyager return home she was a no-brainer for Starfleet. No matter how progressive the Federation thinks of itself the terror of the two Borg invasions has left scars.

"Seven hated feeling self-conscious about her implants. They made her feel unwelcome in so many settings now, as if she were a pariah or a criminal. It was a condition she hadn’t needed to confront in any significant way before arriving in the Federation. Her shipmates on Voyager had worked hard not to make her feel ashamed of who she was, or embarrassed by her lingering body modifications and nanoprobes. Part of the credit for that, she knew, belonged to then-Captain Janeway, who had welcomed Seven with unexpected openness and trust. While Janeway’s faith in Seven had been tested by a few crises during their early years together, her staunch support of Seven had set the tone for Voyager’s crew—and for Seven’s new life. "

Janeway's support and love for Seven is the through-line of the novel, and Mack is even sets the stage for Janeway's return in Star Trek Prodigy (a show he consulted on) in subtle but neat ways. Janeway is desperate to help Seven and wants to believe there is a place for her in Starfleet, and she is concerned when she is tricked into the Fenris Rangers. The thing is Seven thought she was working for Federation intelligence but the reality is being out on the frontier opens her up to accepting who she is, and in that sense firewall perfectly explains the changes we saw in Seven.

 There are Romulans, Orion pirates, Starship battles, chases, phaser battles for days. Plenty of nerdy Star Trek details for those who can read maps set in the Trek universe.  Don't worry I have not given away the action, and that stuff is fun but the growth of the character is really what makes the novel special.

Also on a funny side note, yeah it was cool that Discovery dropped the first Trek F-Bomb. Mack got the word mosh into the Star Trek universe.  

"She was about to remove herself from the mosh pit when she felt the gentle, tentative contact of a soft hand on the back of her neck. It arrived like a feather touching down on snow, gentle enough to capture her attention without triggering her alarm.

Seven moved with the music, careful not to pull away from the unexpected touch. She turned to face a tall, young Andorian woman. The bone-white hair on the right side of the woman’s head had been shaved down to stubble, revealing her azure-blue skin, and on the other side it had been styled into a wild wave of ombréed teal, white, emerald, and orange. Her clothes were scant and
stylishly torn in all the right places, and like Seven she wore ankle-high boots that were as practical as they were flattering."

Book Review: SS-GB by Len Deighton

 SS-GB by Len Deighton

 375 pages, Mass Market Paperback
Published April, 1980 by Ballantine Books

While a major bestseller in the 70s and recently made into a TV mini-series SS-GB by Len Deighton was a novel I never heard of. It is an alternate history but it is not considered a work of science fiction like Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick. Famously Phil’s two most important editors and publishing mentors Don Wollheim and Tony Boucher initially dismissed the novel as not Science fiction.  It is Science fiction as it has Nazis on Mars and multiple realities, but I think their initial reaction was surface-level and missed the nuance. Beyond  High Castle, there is a wide variety of novels, movies, and stories that explore different outcomes of WWII with or without Science Fiction.  I have been wanting to explore this field more.
 
SS-GB has more in common with straight alternate history like Roth’s The Plot Against America. It first came on my radar when I read Gavriel D. Rosenfeld’s The World Hitler Never Made, a genius academic book. Rosenfeld had my interest with this quote “SS-GB was most significant for its nuanced depiction of collaboration.”  SS-GB is a genre novel just not a SF novel, it is a detective noir that exchanges Chandler’s LA for England in 1941 if the British empire fell to the Nazis.

Deighton is a member of the generation who survived the war, and as such it is a fascinating look at fascism, occupation, collaboration, spy craft and it is all kicked off by a murder mystery and Scotland Yard detective who is not just trying to solve a crime and also deal with the infighting of the SS and various branches of the Nazi war Machine.

As the author of (the soon to be released) Unfinished PKD, I am very aware that PKD intended for at least one of his attempts to do a sequel to Man In the High Castle to be very much about that infighting in the factions of Nazi Germany. So in that sense, I found the connections interesting.

SS-GB plays with the conventions of the genre, starting with a dead body that was murdered in a situation that doesn’t make sense to the lead investigator Detective Douglas Archer. The victim seems badly burned but there is no sign of fire, he was shot. There is a curious reporter from An American paper who is reporting in Nazi-occupied Britain. She knew the victim. “He was helping me with a piece I’m writing about Americans who stayed here right through the fighting.”  Little lines throughout this book suggest wider stories, and despite not being SF the World-building is very well done.

If you don’t want any spoilers at all this is almost time for you to back out of this review. This book is mostly effective. By modern standards the prose is thin but I prefer the thinner more direct storytelling. It is a good noir, a better Alt-history and it is worth reading. The deeper reasons why this book is good and should be read involve a bit of spoilers.

The mystery turns out to be connected by SS efforts to create an atomic weapon, but that is just one part of politics that drives the parts inside of the machine. There is a resistance plot, to free the King, double agents, and various forces involved in the occupation. There is some action, and the mystery is solved with lots of novel to go. The overlooked  part of the reaction to this novel is the theme of ‘it could happen here.” The point is not as forceful as The Plot Against America or as on the nose as the pre-war warning It Can Happen Here by Sinclair Lewis that suddenly became relevant again when Trump was close to getting his Vice President murdered for not handing him the country.

The worst moments of SS-GB involve the action to free the king, the best are in the acceptance of evil and the pain of the British characters living under occupation. The parts of the story that relate to the development of atomic weapons make sense and work far better than the stuff about the King.  SS-GB works best when it is focused on the stress of living under occupation. The Blitz was awful but it is interesting to think how the Brits would have reacted and compare it to the French experience. Doing this through the lens of a detective novel is effective.  I approve.

Book Review: The Reformatory by Tananarive Due

 

The Reformatory by Tananarive Due

576 pages, Hardcover

Published October, 2023 by S&S/Saga Press

 Bram Stoker Award Nominee for Best Novel (2023)

RUSA CODES Reading List Nominee for Horror (2024)

This review might be the first victim of my tightening schedule and lack of time to devote to serious book reviews. Sorry about that. That said... The Reformatory is a masterpiece of historical horror and I don’t think anyone would be shocked if I suggest giving Due the Stoker Award right now. I already had the book on hold from the library when Stephen King took to Twitter and said "You're in for a treat. “THE REFORMATORY is one of those books you can't put down. Tananarive Due hit it out of the park.”

Before that tweet, I was 5th in line of 8 holds. Overnight I was 5th in line of 155 holds, which is just in San Diego. I mean Stephen Graham Jone calling the book of the decade had me but that Uncle Steve effect ain’t no joke, but seriously who doesn’t trust him as a reader? He is not wrong it is hard to put down. I generally read about 120 pages a day on my bus commute (and read 205 of this book in one day) so take that as a sign.

I am overdue to read Tananarive Due, I heard an interview with her about this book, and her story it is as fascinating as the book itself. Also, she teaches Afrofuturism at UCLA and I am dying to take those classes.  I am assuming her students don't know how lucky they are, but maybe they do.

The Reformatory is a historical horror set in the Jim Crow South. As such it has the feeling of many horrific tales of racism and evil of the American past. Many novels of the era that are taught in schools are from white authors and it shows. Due is not the first African-American to use genre to explore this era. Alice Walker and Toni Morrison did not get cast as horror authors but they have written some of the most frightening books ever. Beloved by Morrison is an unabashed ghost story yet it is called literature. The Reformatory is every bit of a work of high art in literature.

Using her family history including an Uncle whose experience was similar to the character Robert Stevens and a Lawyer who was much like Due’s father the novel is both epic and personal. Centered on 12-year-old Robbie Stevens Jr and his sister Gloria.  In their small Florida town, Robbie stands up for his sister is harassed by a teenage white boy, and ends up in a brutal reform school.
 
The school is haunted, and Robbie is one of the young kids who has a talent for seeing these haints as they call them in the book. Robbie ends up investigating supernatural events and making friends with the long-dead victims of the school. For me, the more exciting parts of the novel ended up being Gloria trying to fight the racist system.

The hopelessness of it all is brought into focus on page 159 when Robbie talks to the warden trying to balance the “don’t talk back” attitude with the Warden also saying don’t lie to me. The fight to keep hope against a system that is making it impossible for you is the strength of this powerful work of fiction.

Over 500 pages and it never drags. The historical and character elements come off perfectly so when the moments of horror creepy in these feel more tangible. The relationship between Redbone and Robbie is heartbreaking and perfect, but in a sense that is the best way to describe this novel. Heartbreaking and perfect.  

Book Review: The Tusks of Extinction by Ray Nayler

 

The Tusks of Extinction by Ray Nayler

101 pages, Hardcover
Published January, 2024 by Tordotcom

 Podcast Interview on the way so check back here...

Ray Nayler is the reigning author of my top reads of the year. The Mountain in the Sea won my attention for pretty much anything this guy does. That novel is a wonderful combination of all the things I love in great science fiction. Overstuffed with ideas and deep meaning Ray Nayler brings unique education and experiences to Science Fiction stories that take a sharp edge and stick it into the heart of our relationship to nature.

While Philip K. Dick often prompted us to question what is the reality of being human? Nayler asks what is the reality of being an earthling. The Tusks of Extinction is a short and powerful Science Fiction novella. Just under 100 pages I could have read a full novel of this easily. If you trust me, go in cold like I did. This is very PKD and Lem-influenced and it is clear that Nayler has an eye for philosophical SF.

Spoilers from here on out… Go READ this book and come back.

“When you bring back a long-extinct species, there's more to success than the DNA.”

Considering the title you should not be surprised that this story is about Wolly Mammoths brought back by scientists from extinction. Nayler ponders the idea that no one would ever put the effort into bringing us back from extinction. The effort to bring these great beings back is a struggle as they don't know at first how to survive.

The narrative and what is happening might be confusing at first, but stick with it and you’ll get a nice payoff. Damira is a great character, and it will be confusing at first. This book is from her point of view…she has human thoughts but subtle hints lead me to think this book was told by an Elephant. It is sorta.

Scientists have brought the extinct Mammoth back from extinction but they don’t know how to live or survive without past generations to guide them. Who could possibly train them? Nayler suggests a wonderful SF solution.

"Dr. Damira Khismartullina, you were murdered."
"injured you mean I'm in a hospital."

Damira has a lot to process, her murder, a century passing, and a new life thanks to her preserved memories. The hardest thing to except a new body and mission.
 
"I said before that you are the only existing human mind that worked and lived with wild elephants. And that is true. But I should have put it another way. You are the only existing mind of any kind that knows the culture of Elephants. the last wild elephant died over a half-century ago. Our surrogates were raised in captivity, as was every Elephant they know. Wild elephant culture is dead on planet Earth except in one place: Your mind."

The reveal that future technology was used so this woman who gave her life protecting elephants was resurrected in the body of Mammoth was jaw dropper for me, even though it happens somewhat early. Who else could teach these resurrected mammoths who were built out of extinct creatures and their DNA.  It is a wonderful reversal and story theme for a one-time protector to have to live as the species she once protected. Excellent SF concept.

Chapter nine starts with Damira trying to make sense of her human memories and accept her fate. This is both fascinating, as the concept gives Nayler a unique opportunity to explore not only the interior life of an elephant/mammoth but also this woman's crazy experience.

"For an elephant, smells did not conjure feelings, fragments of scenes. No - they brought memories back whole, as material as glass beads on a strong. One memory chained to another, and another, and another. Memories as complete and rich as the world of now."

The Tusks of Extinction by Ray Nayler is a novella masterpiece in my opinion. A powerful and thoughtful piece of philosophical Science Fiction that explores the nature of what it means to be an Earthling.
 

Book Review: Puttering About in a Small Land by Philip K. Dick

 

Puttering About in a Small Land by Philip K. Dick

317 pages, Paperback
Published January, 2014 by Orion Publishing Group (First published January, 1985)

 

4 stars if you are a serious Dickhead, if not probably a 3-star slice of life of 1950s California. That said this is my favorite of the realist novels I have read so far. We already recorded the Dickheads podcast episode link when it is posted.

While in no way science fiction the fact that it was published decades after it was written during Phil's second and longest marriage to Kleo feels like a period piece.  In the novel, a young boy named Gregg is being dropped off at a boarding school in remote Ojai California, similar to the experience of a young PKD. The opening of the novel appears to be addressing the author's Mommy issues, but it is much more than that. PKD uses his SF world-building skills to set the stage of an early TV shop and suburban life of the era. Funny at times, disturbing here and there. Worth reading for completionists for sure.