Ring of Fire by Brad Taylor

Published by Dutton on January 10, 2017

The last two Pike Logan novels went too far over the top. Brad Taylor scaled back Ring of Fire, and as a result wrote a better novel.

A WikiLeaks-type leaker disclosed information from a Panamanian law firm that sets up shell companies. An American who created a shell to do business with Saudi Arabia, inadvertently contributing to 9/11, worries that his complicity will be revealed. Kurt Hale is also worried, since the Taskforce relies heavily on shells to conceal ownership of the companies that provide its support services (as well as the company that is, on paper, owned by Pike and Jennifer).

Pike and Jennifer begin an investigation of leaked information by visiting the Bahamas, but their mission then requires them to drink blackberry mojitos in Madrid. Tough life, hey? Of course, the mission quickly morphs into something more dangerous as they go glob-trotting to hunt down the bad guys.

The plot involves a Moroccan named Tariq who has a plan to launch multiple attacks on America, each using a different method of spreading terror in an effort to undermine the American economy. Tariq expects to succeed because, unlike ISIS and other known terrorist groups, he isn’t on anyone’s radar.

I am always impressed by Brad Taylor’s ability to see the world from the perspective of terrorists (or whatever villain happens to be the novel’s focus). While other writers portray evil characters as unthinking cartoons, Taylor knows that they are motivated by a particular understanding of the world. His fiction reflects their perspectives, making his villains all the more realistic.

And I’m always impressed by Taylor’s ability to recognize the distinction between Islamic terrorists and peaceful Muslims. An interesting debate between a Pike and a Moroccan secret service official effectively presents both sides of the argument while opening Pike’s mind a bit. (Unfortunately, the novel is already a bit dated in that Pike supports his argument by contending that all the killing in the Philippines is done by Muslims, a passage Taylor probably wrote before President Duterte and his roving death squads came into power).

I also appreciated Pike’s relationship with Jennifer, who buries him whenever he steps out of line. Taylor makes clear that Pike’s “tough guy” attitude limits his effectiveness in situations where negotiation is more likely to be successful than intimidation. Of course, Taylor is very effective when it comes to killing terrorists.

Ring of Fire features the return of Carly, who seems likely to become a series regular. Knuckles is the other regular character who shares the spotlight in this one, with Retro and the others playing minor roles. Taylor continues to develop one or two of the characters a bit more in each novel. They’re good at what they do, but like everyone else, they have flaws, making them real people instead of superheroes.

Taylor delivers his usual fine mix of action and morbid humor. The story follows his formula but it’s a good formula, and even if the “good guys foil terrorists” story seems familiar, I appreciated Taylor backing away from the outlandish plots of his last two novels.

RECOMMENDED

Earth for Inspiration by Clifford D. Simak

Published digitally by Open Road Media on July 5, 2016

This is volume 9 of The Complete Short Fiction of Clifford D. Simak. The introduction to this volume focuses on Clifford Simak’s westerns. A western has been included in each of the volumes that I’ve read, but the bulk of this book, like the other volumes, consists of the science fiction stories at which Simak excelled.

“Earth for Inspiration” (1941) doesn’t fit within the cycle of stories that Simak assembled into the book City, but it does feature a robot valet named Jenkins (apparently not the same Jenkins who appears in City). This Jenkins tells a blocked science fiction writer to visit Earth for inspiration. There the writer meets a rusty robot named Philbert who probably would have fit nicely into the City plotline. This isn’t a great story but it’s interesting to see how Simak played with some ideas that he later used to produce great stories.

“Idiot’s Crusade” (1954) is one of Simak’s alien visitor stories, although it is far from his best use of that theme. The alien takes over a human idiot and launches a crusade against people who are unfriendly to idiots.

“Hellhounds of the Cosmos” (1932) is one of Simak’s earliest published stories. Even the volume’s editor admits that it doesn’t make much sense.

“Honorable Opponent” (1956) illustrates a point that Simak made many times -- that aliens and humans are likely to have very different perspectives on almost everything. In this clever story, aliens have a concept of war that humans only come to understand in defeat.

“Green Flight, Out” (1941) is one of Simak’s aviation combat stories. Not my thing.

“Carbon Copy” (1957) takes on a greedy realtor. Greedy or exploitive businessmen never do well in Simak’s stories. This one is pranked by an alien, deservedly so.

“The Asteroid of Gold” (1932) is a science fiction action/adventure story that borrows its themes from westerns. Prospectors exploring new frontiers fight for survival (using wits, science, and overall toughness). The story is better than some of Simak’s other early efforts.

“Good Nesters Are Dead Nesters” (1945) is a western. I am usually entertained by Simak’s westerns and this one was no exception.

“Desertion” (1944) was one of the stories that Simak incorporated into City. It is also one of his best stories. In fact, this story of a man and a dog who move beyond life on Earth remains my favorite Simak story.

“The Golden Bugs” (1960) tells of aliens who try to steal the Earth’s metal, not realizing that humans take it personally when aliens mess with our cars. The story is notable for the narrator’s ambivalent reaction to Earth’s response.

“Full Cycle” (1955) returns to the theme of deserted cities that was integral to City. This take on the theme takes a more optimistic view of humanity’s ability to endure the breakdown of society.

This may not be the best volume in the series, but it contains two of the best stories: "Desertion" and "Honorable Opponent." Several of the rest have retained their entertainment value.

RECOMMENDED

Robota by Orson Scott Card and Doug Chiang

First published in 2003; republished by Dover Books on November 16, 2016

A fair number of science fiction fans wet themselves when they hear the name Orson Scott Card. Yes, he’s done some good work, but it isn’t all special. Case in point: Robota.

Robota is the name given to the Earth after it has been conquered by robots. When the story begins, Caps wakes up inside a machine with no memory of how he got there or what his purpose might be. He finds he is in a world where robots smoke pipes and hunt monsters. Fortunately, he’s befriended by a talking monkey who can explain the world’s dangers.

Caps received a message inside the machine that said something about Font Prime, but he doesn't understand the message. He befriends a monster, Juomes, who blames Font Prime for the persecution of talking animals. Juomes (who looks suspiciously like a Wookie) teaches Caps to fight and they all go wandering about looking for a way to defeat the robots and kill Font Prime so that humans can rise again. Or at least sentient animals can rise, given the scarcity of humans.

The monkey and the monster are sentient because of something called cubing jewels. That leads to some simplistic (masquerading as profound) observations about the difference between sentient creatures, which appreciate beauty, and robots, which appreciate oil. There are good robots and (mostly) bad robots, which leads to some simplistic (masquerading as profound) observations about the difference between good and bad. What it boils down to is, bad robots want to kill humans and good robots don’t.

It’s easy to see prejudice against robots as a metaphor for prejudice against Muslims or gays or immigrants, in the sense that all robots need to be judged individually, including the one who betrays his fellow robots to join forces with Caps and Juomes and the monkey and a woman who dwells in a mushroom city. Like the other messages in this story, it's too obvious to be effective.

Card’s world building seems a bit random (how about a mushroom city and … and a stone city and … and … hmm, I got it … a city that floats in the air!) but the world building shows more imagination than the plot, which is both derivative and predictable.

After the story dogs along for a while, relying largely on unsuccessful attempts at monkey humor, Card reveals a premise that is moderately clever in one sense and predictable in another. Then the story dogs along some more. The good bits (and there are some) are cancelled out by the lame bits, leaving me indifferent to the whole. It certainly didn't make me wet myself.

This is an illustrated story. Doug Chiang's poster-style art is nice but it isn’t spectacular, and other than making it apparent that Juomes looks a lot like a Wookie, it doesn’t add much of value.

NOT RECOMMENDED

The Antiques by Kris D'Agostino

Published by Scribner on January 10, 2017

The Antiques follows the tradition of stories about dysfunctional families — in this case, the Westfalls. A parent gets sick or dies and siblings, very different from each other, all return home to deal with family issues, giving them a chance to decide whether they like each other and/or their parents. The tradition can be milked for comedy or drama or both. The Antiques isn’t deep, but it made me laugh.

Upscale antique dealers George and Ana are doing well, except that George has inoperable cancer and not much time left. A storm has descended on Hudson, New York, furnishing the setting for the story. Ana thinks it is rude of George to require a trip to Intensive Care during the storm, but she firmly believes that commitments should be kept and marriages endured, no matter how miserable they might be.

The Westfalls’ three children don’t share the same view of commitment. Josef is the most financially successful of the three, although that’s collapsing, as did his marriage. Both of those problems are related to the money he is spending on his most recent girlfriend.

Charlie is supposed to be doing publicity for entertainers in California, but she mostly runs errands for her celebrity clients when she isn’t chauffeuring their children. Her current client is Melody, an actress whose strange son Dustin is the product of a brief marriage to an actor. Charlie’s own child, Abbott, has a variety of behavioral problems and is about to be kicked out of school. Charlie’s husband Rey is sure that Abbott will grow out of it, but Charlie seems to be prepared to grow out of her marriage and into a state of freedom, given her suspicions (based on unfamiliar panties in her underwear drawer) that Rey is cheating on her.

Armie lives in George’s and Anna’s basement, having lost his job — the one that Josef got him — when his employer was raided by the FBI. Unlike Josef, Arnie is awkward around women, particularly a former high school classmate who is now flirting with him. Armie resents Josef, who thinks of Armie as a loser.

None of this sounds funny, but I don’t want to spoil the laughs. Each character has a weakness that is exploited for its comic potential — Armie’s stifling insecurity, Charlie’s pill dependence, Josef’s infidelity, Melody’s self-indulgence — and for various reasons, they’re all in fear of being arrested well before the novel ends.

None of the characters are irredeemably despicable (although Josef comes close), but the only character for whom I had great sympathy was Ana’s dog Shadow, by far the most sensible member of the family. Some of the characters (particularly philandering Josef) are little more than stereotypes, but they’re stereotypes who say funny things in his dialog-heavy novel.

Elements of romantic comedy near the end are a little too obvious and the story as a whole is a little too predictable — it feels like a story I’ve read a few times before — but it made me laugh at unexpected moments. This is a light story, too familiar to be surprising, but the humor works well enough to make The Antiques worthwhile for a reader who needs a mood-lightening day.

RECOMMENDED

Invisible Planets by Ken Liu (ed.)

Published by Tor Books on November 1, 2016

Invisible Planets is a collection of science fiction stories and essays by writers in China, translated into English by Ken Liu. The stories are, on the whole, quite imaginative. As a reader might expect, they reflect Chinese culture and concerns and are very different from American science fiction. The term “science fiction” is used broadly — some of the stories might be more accurately classified as fantasy — but I suspect most of the stories will appeal to science fiction fans.

The first three stories are by Chen Quifan:

“The Year of the Rat” - College students join a government program that is akin to military service. They fight genetically engineered Neorats in exchange for food, shelter, and a guaranteed job after discharge. The story touches on problems of unemployment, the government’s love of slogans, masses of people serving the narrow interests of the elite, the revision of history, and China’s role in providing cheap labor so that prosperous citizens of other countries can enjoy affordable consumer goods (or rat pets). The story also asks whether rats might be smarter than humans. This is an excellent story although not one of my favorites in the collection.

“The Fish of Lijiang” - Experimental programs expand the sense of time in the aging while compressing the sense of time in workers, encouraging them to do 24 hours of work in an 8 hour shift. In a related storyline, a worker who goes on a rehabilitation vacation learns to understand his dream, but it is less clear that he understands his life. I like some of the concepts in this story, but I was disappointed that they weren’t developed in more detail.

“The Flower of Shazui” - Using technical wizardry, a friend tries to make things better for people he cares about. The results are quite the opposite of his expectations. Perhaps the story is a lesson in reverse karma, or in fatalism.

By Xia Jia:

“A Hundred Ghosts Parade Tonight” - Ning, a young boy, is told that he’s the only living person on Ghost Street. As Ning ages, we learn why that is true, and we learn the truth about Ning. This is an odd but interesting twist on a traditional western ghost story, although (I assume intentionally) it leaves quite a lot unexplained.

“Tongtong’s Summer” - A robotic solution to eldercare leads to a touching ending. The technology described in the story will probably be available in the near future, and if it were actually used as the author describes, it would be revolutionary. I don’t expect that to happen (no profit in it), but it’s a nice thought.

“Night Journey of the Dragon-Horse” - An immense mechanical dragon-horse comes alive one night and goes for a stroll. The dragon-horse is philosophical, wondering whether its walk is real or only a dream. Joined on its journey by a bat that recites poetry, the dragon-horse discovers that humans have all departed. The dragon-horse and bat then tell each other science fiction stories. The story — odd but enjoyable and thought-provoking — might be seen as a celebration of poetry and mythology.

By Ma Boyong:

“The City of Silence” - This dystopian story of repression is the most overtly political entry in the volume. The struggle between those who object to the potential harm caused by web anonymity and those who value privacy animates the story. Of course, outlawing anonymity makes it possible for the government to punish its critics, which is always the ultimate goal of governments that object to privacy. In the story, web users are required to select government-approved words from the List of Healthy Words in emails and web postings. The same restrictions apply to speech, which the government monitors, while requiring citizens to speak in a halting cadence so that the monitoring machines will be sure to understand them. This is a cautionary vision of extreme censorship, illustrating the point that technology enables a free people to enjoy their freedom even as it enables a totalitarian government to suppress freedom. It’s one of my favorites in the volume.

By Hao Jingfang:

“Invisible Planets” - The narrator provides fanciful descriptions of the wonderful planets she has visited. My favorite of those imagines a planet on which different species rule during different seasons (one being suited to lush forests, the other to barren winter plains), each hibernating when the other is dominated, neither aware of the other. I’m sure there’s a metaphorical moral to the concept of similar people living in separate worlds on the same planet. In fact, all of the stories might be viewed as metaphors for our own planet.

“Folding Beijing” - Lao Dao needs money for his daughter’s kindergarten, so he agrees to smuggle a message from Third Space into First Space. He does that by staying awake (illegally) while the city transforms. People in Second and Third Space are required to sleep while First Space occupies the city and vice versa. The Spaces are divided by social class, a theme that surfaces in different ways throughout the story. The story struck me as the sort of thing that China Mieville might write — allegorical science fiction that serves as a commentary on the human condition. It’s one of my favorites in the volume.

By Tang Fei:

“Call Girl” - A young girl provides services to old men, but the services involve summoning stories in which the men live. This is an intriguing story that I didn’t fully grasp, but I nevertheless appreciated its imagery.

By Cheng Jimbo:

“Grave of the Fireflies” - Something about birds, planets, dying stars, magicians, and the Weightless City. Again, lots of interesting images, but I didn’t understand how they were meant to assemble into a coherent story.

By Liu Cixin:

“The Circle” - This story is an adaptation of a chapter from the novel The Three-Body Problem. In 227 B.C., a Chinese mathematician computes pi by using 3 million soldiers to perform binary calculations, turning them into a rudimentary and very large computer. The king commands that the calculation be performed, convinced that the secret of eternal life lies in pi to the 100,000th digit. The king turns out to be a fool, but he isn’t the only one. Great story, one of my favorites in the volume.

“Taking Care of God” - A family in this story lives with God, who coughs all the time and forgets to turn off the gas stove after he warms his milk. He is one of 2 million gods who are supported (not always happily) by 5 billion people. They came to Earth in spaceships, all claiming to be God and asking for a bit of food. I think the story is meant to illustrate the difference between traditional Chinese veneration of the elderly and modern China’s celebration of the economically productive. It also advances some interesting ideas about the intersection of evolution and stagnation. I particularly like the story’s message, which combines themes from 1950s American science fiction with a modern sensibility. This is my favorite story in the collection.

The book includes three essays on Chinese science fiction for the academically inclined.

RECOMMENDED