Analog Science Fiction and Fact
Page 52
it. Years that the woman in the crypt will
you would do if the choice was up to you, and
spend insensate and unaware. Only when she
never, ever doubt that it’s also what I com-
wakes will she discover what Draiken has
mand and what I would want.”
done with her. He hates himself a little, for not
If Edifice is at all surprised by these orders,
having the stomach for one last conversation
or grateful that they are these instead of any
before their parting, but fears her powers of
other, she doesn’t show it. Instead, she rises,
persuasion, still a tug at the base of the spine.
nods in what amounts to a f inal salute, and
He just knows that he cannot afford the risk.
turns on her heels to march, with all deliberate
He’s also grateful that he will not be around,
briskness, back toward the city streets.
to see the storms when she is revived. She will
Draiken suspects that he will never learn her
rage. She will consider what he has done a be-
fate, any more than he will learn Thorne’s, and
trayal no worse than her own. She will be lost.
that the second thoughts will be just another
And though he’s provided some words of ex-
weight that he will learn to carry in the days
planation, she will not forgive him, any more
ahead.
than he will ever, ultimately, forgive himself.
In the meantime, he now has what Silver
He did love her. That’s the damned astonishing
has left him: a destination and a contact.
thing. He’s now certain of it.
The destination is a place he hasn’t been for
She’d been right. He could have been happy
many years: a cylinder world named New Lon-
with her, storms and all.
don, headquarters of the Diplomatic Corps of
He can only hope that the poor woman
the Hom.Sap Confederacy.
finds a way to peace, even if he can be no part
The contact is a woman who Silver has de-
of it.
scribed as extraordinarily dangerous and
Across the table, Edif ice still watches him
whose presence he had said Draiken might not
expectantly, her expression reminding him of
survive.
nothing as much as that of a dog, awaiting its
Her name is Counselor Andrea Cort. ■
188
ADAM-TROY CASTRO
THE REFERENCE LIBRARY Don Sakers
ustralia occupies as unique a place in
indigenous SF authors. Indigenous folklore is
the world of science fiction as it does in
featured in titles such as Valis by Philip K.
the real world. Three major factors
Dick (1981), Sandra McDonald’s The Outback
Ashaped the history of SF in Australia: ge- Stars(2007) and sequels, The Lost Continent ography, culture, and language.
by Terry Pratchett (1998), and the Otherland
Prior to the modern networked age of
series by Tad Williams (1996).
cheap and easy communication, Australia was
Prior to the emergence of genre science fic-
fairly isolated from Europe, England, and the
tion in the late 1920s, Australia had its own
United States. This isolation tended to encour-
share of what we might consider “proto-SF.”
age the development of homegrown Aus-
These fell into two basic categories: utopian
tralian SF.
fantasies and stories about invasion.
Culturally, white Australia was heir to Eu-
Among the notable utopia tales are lost-race
rope, and particularly the United Kingdom, in
novel The Last Lemurian by G. Firth Scott
a similar way as was the white United States.
(1898), interplanetary voyage Melbourne and
Shared roots made it easy for UK and US sci-
Mars by Joseph Frasier (1899), and Mary Ann
ence fiction to enter Australian culture, and
Moore-Bentley’s feminist utopia A Woman of
for Australian SF writers to sell their works in
Mars (1901).
UK and US markets.
Australia was invaded by aliens from space
Finally, Australia’s language is (ostensibly)
in 1892’s The Germ Growers by Robert Potter.
English. In most of the world, US and UK sci-
Many of this era’s invasion stories, however,
ence fiction can’t become popular unless
dealt with racial xenophobia, with books like
they’re translated into the local language and
The Yellow Wave by Kenneth MacKay (1895)
locally published. No such barrier existed in
and The Coloured Conquest by Thomas Royd-
Australia. Not only could Australian publishers
house (1904). Out of the Silence by Edward
easily reprint US and UK books and stories,
Cox (1925) is a disturbing book in which a
but works published only in the US or UK
survivor of an ancient advanced human race
could be imported into Australia and read as-
awakens in the present to help modern Aus-
is. Also, Australian SF writers could submit
tralians achieve racial purity. (To the author’s
their works to US or UK publishers without
credit, the scheme is ultimately rejected.)
the difficulties of translation.
Genre SF emerged in American pulp maga-
The balance between these three factors
zines during the late 1920s and early 1930s;
meant that SF in Australia would be a con-
some of these magazines were routinely pub-
stantly shifting balance between homegrown
lished in UK editions, and SF from both coun-
and imported. Australian SF writers faced a
tries reached nascent SF readers in Australia.
similar balance between their audiences, do-
The Aussie writer J. M. Walsh appeared in
mestic and international.
both Amazing and Wonder Stories in this pe-Of course, I can’t start talking about SF in
riod.
Australia without at least mentioning that the
Then in 1939, with World War II, the Aus-
myths and folklore of the indigenous Aus-
tralian government stopped the import of
tralians—perhaps dating back to over forty
non-essential goods. American pulp maga-
thousand years ago—involve many features
zines (of all sorts, not just SF) were particular-
that we associate with science fiction and fan-
ly forbidden as threats to the morals of Aus-
tasy. The 2012 anthology Walking the Clouds
tralian youth. This embargo lasted until 1958.
(edited by Grace L. Dillon) collected stories by
During those years, the only American SF to
190
JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2018
enter Australia came in the form of remain-
national identity. The Rain Never Came is his
dered pulps commonly used as ballast in
first novel.
ships, and then sold to the public in seedy
On the surface, The Rain Never Came is a
bookstores.
fairly standard tale of societal collapse in
the
That wasn’t enough to satisfy Aussie SF
wake of global climate change. In the unspec-
readers, leading to the flowering of local SF
ified near future, shifting rainfall patterns have
publishing. The first Australian SF magazine,
left even the most hospitable regions of Aus-
Thrills Incorporated (1950-51), was quickly
tralia stricken by decades-long drought. The
followed by others (Future Science Fiction
government has forced most everyone to
and Popular Science Fiction in 1953, Science
evacuate the cities, to move to better climates.
Fiction Monthly in 1955). Authors like Frank
A stubborn few, mostly in country towns,
Bryning, A. Bertram Chandler, and Wynne
have resisted the evacuation, preferring inde-
Whiteford got their start in this period. Chan-
pendent life in the parched landscape they
dler, whose first story appeared in Astound-
call home.
ing in 1944, became a genuine international
Bill Cook and his friend Tobe Cousins are
Big Name, best known for his Rim World se-
two of these survivors, fiercely independent
ries.
and resistant to authority. They live a hard-
In the 1960s, imported SF grew in impor-
scrabble life in their decaying town, spending
tance, and Australia became more integrated
much of their time drinking and trading tall
with the international SF world. (Australia
tales with other survivors at the slowly disin-
hosted the World SF Convention in 1975 and
tegrating local pub. Until mysterious lights ap-
1981.) But homegrown Australian SF didn’t
pear in the west. Something’s coming their
wither. Magazines abounded: The Australian
way, and they don’t know what it is—govern-
Science Fiction Review in 1966, SF Commen-
ment forces, gangs of sur vivors, hostile
tary in 1969, Void in 1975. Australian publish-armies. They just know it’s not good.
ers began dedicated science fiction lines, pub-
Bill and Tobe set off on a journey across the
lishing both novels and anthologies by Aussie
nightmarish landscape, not knowing where
writers.
they’re going, what they’re searching for, or
Currently, the SF scene is Australia seems to
even why they’re bothering. Enormous chal-
evenly balance homegrown and imported SF.
lenges await them.
Australian SF authors are read around the
Like I said, sounds like a fairly standard post-
world. Big names include Damien Broderick,
apocalyptic story. But The Rain Never Came
Sara Douglass, Greg Egan, Garth Nix, George
has peculiarly Australian depths and dimen-
Turner, Sean Williams, and Patricia Wrightson.
sions that make it exceptionally rewarding,
One of the field’s most influential editors,
and especially fresh for non-Australian readers.
Jonathan Strahan, hails from Australia.
In American SF (as in larger American cul-
ture), we’re accustomed to an individualistic
streak, to protagonists who defy authority and
The Rain Never Came
convention, to the lovable rogue and the witty
Lachlan Walter
badass defying society’s restrictions. Australian
Odyssey, 264 pages, $18.95 (trade paperback)
culture plays with the same concept, but in a
iBooks, Kindle, Nook: $5.99 (e-book)
starker, edgier form fraught with more ten-
ISBN: 978-1-9222-0093-8
sion. It’s analogous to the way those accus-
Genre: Ecological/Environmental SF, Post-
tomed to American beer are often overcome
Apocalyptic SF
by the more potent Australian brew.
Bill and Tobe are, in Aussie parlance, lar-
Lachlan Walter is among the most current
rikins—that is to say, rebellious but good-
generation of SF writers from Australia. He’s
hearted young men who defy convention and
best known as a literary critic of the field; his
are often troublemakers. It’s the lovable rogue
critical essays have appeared in Aurealis mag-
on steroids.
azine, and he earned a Ph.D. for work explor-
Larrikins stand at one pole of a key dichoto-
ing the relationship between Australian post-
my in Australian culture; opposing them are
apocalyptic fiction and Australian notions of
the forces of conventionality, law and order,
THE REFERENCE LIBRARY
191
ANALOG
propriety. These forces have a particularly
people (as opposed to over 7 billion today).
strong legacy, dating back to the convict era
And while we’re still telling tales of post-apoc-
and the excesses of British colonial rule.
alyptic wastelands, even involving nuclear
On one hand, forceful authority and strong
war, repopulation is a theme that’s just about
(if arbitrary) rules of behavior were necessary
vanished from contemporary science fiction.
for survival in the harsh physical and social en-
This volume consists of 12 stories by 13 au-
vironment of early Australia. Paternalistic gov-
thors, ranging in publication date from 1952
ernment wasn’t automatically a bad thing.
to 1972. Two were originally published in
(Think of the government banning pulp maga-
these pages (Rex Jatko’s “On the Care and
zines to protect the morals of the youth.)
Breeding of Pigs” in Astounding, December
On the other hand, a tradition of personal
1954, and “The Queen Bee” by Randall Gar-
liberty makes opposition to authority equally
rett, in the December 1958 issue of Astound-
necessary. Society needs its larrikins to resist.
ing). The rest are drawn from Fantastic, The
And there’s the tension, so much more
acute than we’re used to. When the climate
Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, New
turns bad, the government has to force people
Worlds, the Orbit anthologies, and Thrilling to evacuate. And larrikins have to refuse to
leave, to assert their independence. Yet they
Wonder Stories.
must also pay the price of their rebellion.
Authors include Poul Anderson, Marion
The question of the exact nature of the in-
Zimmer Bradley, John Brunner, Randall Gar-
evitable price paid by Bill and Tobe informs
rett, Damon Knight, Robert Sheckley, E.C.
The Rain Never Came with an unexpected
Tubb, Kate Wilhelm, and a few less familiar
potency.
names. Editor Van Gelder starts off with an in-
troduction tracing the origin of the anthology,
the historic significance of the theme, and
Go Forth and Multiply: Twelve Tales of Re-
some notes on the individual stories.
population
As Van Gelder cautions, these stories are a
Edited by Gordon Van Gelder
window into a different world. Social attitudes
Surinam Turtle Press, 300 pages, $20.00 (trade
toward sex, gender roles, and biology are vast-
paperback)
ly different from our current world. Knowl-
ISBN: 978-1-6054-3916-7
edge and technologies of genetics and repro-
Genre: Reprint Anthology
duction were scant. (All of these stories were
first published before we’d even sequenced
The Cold War had an enormous impact on
DNA.) Often, the superficial sexist notions of
science fiction. Especially in the decades im-
the time just about obscure a story’s funda-
mediately after World War II, when the atom-
mental sexist assumptions.
ic bomb was new and it seemed possible,
Still, these stories are worth a read as explo-
even probable, that the next war might result
rations of one of the many threads in the his-
in nuclear holocaust and the end of the world
tory of the field.
(or at least of the human race). The most ob-
vious result was a near-endless progression of
stories set in the radioactive and mutant-in-
Purlieu
fested wastelands in the wake of global nu-
Michael Capobianco
clear war.
Placeholder Press, 254 pages, $9.99 (trade pa-
In Go Forth and Multiply, editor Gordon
perback)
Van Gelder identifies another Cold War con-
Kindle: $2.99 (e-book)
cern of science fiction: stories of repopulating
ISBN: 978-1-9471-5700-2
a world with few human beings left. In a
Genre: Adventure SF, Posthuman SF, Teen SF
world that had just seen sixty million people
die in the war, and fully believed it possible
Michael Capobianco is best known for his
that billions more would soon be dead, repop-
1990s collaborations with William Barton. Iris
ulation was a natural theme. After all, the
(1990) involved the colonization of a gas giant
world of 1950 contained only about 2.5 billion
planet; Fellow Traveler (1991) was a Cold War
192
DON SAKERS
JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2018
space exploration thriller; in Alpha Centauri
Baen, 312 pages, $16.00 (trade paperback)
(1997) terrorism strikes a colony ship; and
ISBN: 978-1-4814-8281-3
White Light (1998) told of a human crew visit-
Genre: Theme Anthology
ing an alien technological paradise. His one
solo novel, Burster (1990), was a teen SF ad-
Each year the National Space Society holds
venture set on a generation ship fleeing the