Mao, recycled

kw: book reviews, science fiction, environmentalism, political fiction

Many, many years ago I read Dune by Frank Herbert. I think I read part of another one, perhaps Children of Dune. I ignored all the rest of the series, whether by the original author or by his son Brian and a couple of co-authors. I liked the sweeping saga of Dune but I didn't care for the sequels.

Brian Herbert is at least as accomplished as his father, and has in recent years branched beyond the Dune realm, first with the Hellhole trilogy, written with Kevin J. Anderson, and now on his own with The Little Green Book of Chairman Rahma. Where Hellhole can be thought of as a sideways extension of the Dune milieu, Little Green Book breaks new ground. Set about 50 years in the future, it posits an Earth quite different from what we know, but based on certain trends.

Of course, Chairman Rahma is a conscious mirror of Chairman Mao, as the two little books are mirror images. Where most consider Mao Zedong to be unequivocally evil, Herbert goes to some length to present Rahma as a man with a conscience, striving to "save the planet", and in a position with the power to do it. As I have written many times, the Devil doesn't know he is evil, and neither did Mao. Little Green Book lays bare the soul of an unknowingly evil man trying his mightiest to do good. Another similarity is the incessant womanizing that characterized Mao, and drives certain plot lines of this book.

Herbert writes of compellingly complex characters. Even the "good guy", Joss Stuart, is a rounded person, not a flat smiley face who cannot fail. The ending gets rather saccharine, but I can tell where the author is trying to go.

An anti-corporate revolution in the 2040s brought Rahma Popol to power in North and South America, where he as instituted a Green Revolution. Now, two decades down the road, most Americans of both continents have been gathered in Human Reservations and land not needed for agriculture to support a primarily vegan populace is being restored to some semblance of its natural condition. A substantial reduction in population because of civil war has "helped" in this regard, as have further reductions from "recycling" of millions of dissidents, or even tens of millions.

Here is where it gets interesting. The technology of recycling now-unused cities and industrial sites is based on "dark energy". Let's be clear, this bears no resemblance to the dark energy of cosmology, which theorists claim is causing acceleration of cosmic expansion. Herbert's dark energy powers cannon-like machines called Splitters, that break most or all chemical bonds in materials, yielding a blackish goo. Then a different kind of machine can re-form this into a basic soil in which seeds are sown to quickly regenerate a landscape. In later parts of the book, dark energy looks like a ropy or thready substance that emits darkness the way a glowing or fluorescent substance emits light.

Mention is also made of "gravity generators", with no particular technology stated, but dark energy is implied. It reminds me of a novel I read decades ago in which gravity was harnessed much as magnetism and electricity, yielding electro-gravitic and magneto-gravitic tools, with seemingly magical powers. Other technologies and some kind of super-battery are hinted at but not explained. That's OK, Herbert's aim is to follow the emotional progress of Joss Stuart and Rahma Popol (We are told his name is a pseudonym at one point, but never told who he was before), particularly after Joss is transformed by an accident with dark energy into some kind of triple hybrid. Thereafter he can use dark energy directly.

One very interesting application of splitter and re-former technology is machines called voleers that create "vanishing tunnels". They can travel through solid rock at speeds in the 400 mph (700 kph) range, and have obvious military applications. But a great many possible story lines are cut short by a technological disaster that leads to the unusual ending I mentioned. It seems Joss-type hybrids are to be the new humans. I won't spoil things further. I had to suspend disbelief a little more strenuously than usual, and greatly enjoyed the story as a result.

Another ambiguous whack at the origin of J.C.

kw: book reviews, science fiction, political fiction, moon, apollo program, conspiracies

After reading The Cassandra Project by Jack McDevitt and Mike Resnick, two writers whose work I admire greatly, I gave myself a while to think. Then I did something I haven't done before: took a look at other reviews. I wanted to see who, if any, shared my concern about yet another "ancient alien" explanation for the Christian religion. Didn't find anyone, as expected. Very few Christians read science fiction anyway. Sorry if that's a spoiler, guys.

But it is no spoiler to guess, without opening the book, that a novel by McDevitt and Resnick is going to bring in aliens in some way. I do wonder about the title, though. Other than connecting the plot with ancient Greece, it makes little demand on the reader, and actually seems irrelevant.

For the record: In the Iliad, Cassandra was a prophetess who spurned the advances of Zeus (he had more conquests than Wilt the Stilt). He angrily cursed her to be always right and never believed. Turns out to be a big factor in the demise of Troy. I never figured out how it connected with the 50-year-old alleged conspiracy in the book. I guess they had to name it something.

There is one bit of nonsense that I didn't expect from writers who are known for hardheaded science. During the return trip from the Moon:

"It's raining out."
"Raining?"
"Meteors."
Bucky looked out the window and watched a cloud of rocks sweep past.

Now, that's a bit of supreme silliness. Any "rocks" sweeping by will be going about 30 km/s, with respect to the spacecraft, which is moving something like 7 km/s toward Earth. A piece the size of a golf ball would be in sight no more than a millisecond or two; if you knew exactly where to look, you'd still miss it. Bucky, by the way, is a billionaire (he claims $3B) who is funding a commercial venture to return to the Moon. He must have some powerful aces up his sleeve; in 1969 dollars, each visit to the Moon cost about $4B; multiply by 8 for current dollars.

All that aside, the book is a great read. While it is pretty clear quite early that the "conspiracy" is going to be validated, precisely what it is, and why, are kept just out of reach until very late. That's a prime piece of plot management. The writers make a reader care about, not just the "hero", Jerry, but his erstwhile antagonist and then employer, Bucky, and several others. While I had to suspend more disbelief than usual, I enjoyed the novel.

A future more plausible than some

kw: book reviews, science fiction, political fiction

Orson Scott Card would make a superb teacher of political science. In his "Empire" series he has gotten past having heroes who are so pathologically altruistic they almost can't function. The transfer of the Starship Cape at the end of the "Homecoming" series, I believe, signaled a transfer of this orientation within him, a maturation if you will.

It is hard to discern a single hero in Hidden Empire. Is it the soldier Cole (Coleman), an effective field leader; is it Cecily Malich, widow of Reuben Malich, a hero of the prior book in the series and advisor to the President; is it the President himself, Averell Torrent, modeled by the author on a Platonic philosopher-king? The conundrum of the philosopher-king is how a power-averse philosopher (it's almost a requirement for the profession) can gain the power to put philosophy into practice.

Half of that dilemma was a major subject of Empire; the other half is found in Hidden Empire. Having attained not just the Presidency but the de facto leadership of both American political parties, Torrent is handed an opportunity on a silver platter by an epidemic viral disease that erupts in Africa. While the action taking place in Africa focuses on Mrs. Malich and her son and foster son, and on the exploits of Cole and his special ops cadre, the larger picture is the redrawing of the African map upon linguistic principles, and a readying of the world for dealing with the pandemic.

Each chapter begins with a homily that I soon realized was either an excerpt from a speech by the President, or his own rumination (perhaps a journal entry?). The most powerful is this, one of the shortest:

War will exist as long as any community desires to impose its will on another community more than it desires peace.

Coercive men see only slaves and rivals in the world.

If the meek refuse war to defend themselves against coercion, then they deserve to be slaves.

Peace-lovers can only have what they love by being better at what they hate than those who love war.

There is no road to peace that does not pass through war.

This summarizes the thinking behind a saying of mine, "True peace means having no living enemies."

Among the political dialogues and discussions in the book, I almost learned a few things about political philosophy. I say "almost" because political thinking simply doesn't fit into my head. I'd be a lousy leader; if I lead a horse to water and it won't drink, I tend to drown the horse.

So let us turn to some of the more technical ideas. A major substory is the HULC-type exoskeletons used by the special ops soldiers, including Cole. The present technology is impressive, and Card imagines significant improvements, particularly in the "smartness" of the processors, and in the density of the power supply. The soldiers then can leap short buildings at a single bound; tall buildings have to come later. Opposed to these is the EMP, or Electro-Magnetic Pulse weapon, which I've come to know as the HERF, or High-Energy Radio Frequency cannon. I won't put any links to that one here; YouTube abounds with DIY projects.

The EMP/HERF is easier to produce than the author imagines (or as portrayed in the novel). Most of the parts needed are found in a microwave oven. Large fast-discharge capacitors are pretty cheap. The battery from a laptop could power several pulses, though recharge time might be a few minutes (you'd need a smart charging circuit to avoid melting the battery as it charges the capacitors). I expect that one of the next hurdles faced by HULC's developers will be hardening against HERF pulses.

Compared to the author's vision, it is likely that the transition of the developed world to a post-petroleum economy will be very damaging. It is a sad scenario we've prepared for our grandchildren. Could a brilliant political philosopher attain sufficient genuine power to produce the changes needed, which shortsighted democratic institutions cannot effect? Such a one would be opposed by Christians as the Antichrist.

But another major element of the book is a much more sympathetic view of Christian faith and practice than I usually find in SciFi. It is based on a historical fact from the decline of the Roman Empire: during the two plague episodes that hastened the breakup of the empire, fearless Christians cared, not only for one another, but for their pagan neighbors. Those cared for were much more likely to survive the plague. Over time, this led to a favorable climate for Christian spread (It is a pity that a major result of this is politically corrupt Christendom. Fortunately there has arisen plenty of room for more benign Christian institutions). A replay of such a scenario threads through much of the book.

Now I need to go back and read the prior book; I missed it the first time 'round.

An Ender Sidebar

kw: book reviews, science fiction, space fiction, political fiction

Testing limits is a process of crossing them repeatedly, in both directions. So-called "cross-genre" or "multi-genre" writers are really limits testers, Orson Scott Card exemplifies the breed. His "Ender" series (two disparate series), while appearing as military space fiction, is really political fiction in a space setting. Once you have read most of them, you realize that Ender and his brother Peter are mirror images: almost identical but with a twist. The "Alvin Maker" series, ostensibly magical realism, is psychological exploration, as is the "Homecoming" series. I have read none from his other series.

But as I read A War of Gifts, a novelette in the Ender series, I found myself wondering, not for the first time, "Why are Card's positive protagonists so neurotic?" Sometimes it reminds me of my favorite neurotic writer, Isaac Asimov, who was also a limits-explorer, one who cut his writer's teeth on robots exploring the universe of the "Three Laws". Asimov identified with his robots to the point that, when in late life he brought together the "Robots" and the "Foundation" series, he made his favorite robot into a god. He'd been working up to that for decades, most notably with "Bicentennial Man", who became human rather than divine..."a little lower than God" to quote the Psalmist.

But we were talking about Card. Is he as neurotic as Asimov? Having lived among Mormons, I don't automatically label them crazy at the outset, and I don't think so here. Rather, Card is more consciously exploring limits than many others.

This offering is about offerings, or Christmas gifts, to be precise. It begins with a most painful caricature of pseudo-Christian fanaticism, and I almost put it down at that point. Fortunately, Card is wise enough, and knows the Bible well enough, to expose the falseness of this particular sect while maintaining the integrity of faith in general.

What I found fascinating was not the rebellion of a space-bound mini-world full of brilliant children against their military mentors. Rather, it was the very adult attitudes of two of them, Dink Meeker and Andrew (Ender) Wiggins, though they are presumably in the 8-10 age range. I've been fortunate to spend time with some of the brightest kids around, the kind that need a special IQ test to find out they are 180 or so (It's energizing and exhausting, as I limp along with a mere 160). Though they have remarkable stability and focus, they are still children, and I find the children depicted in A War of Gifts rather incredible.

But the story, as all of Card's are, is a story of redemption, and this being the "Ender" universe, it is Ender who must be the suffering redeemer. Sobeit.

A closing word on the use of "Spare the rod and spoil the child" and "beat your son with a rod, and you will save his soul from hell." These word were written by Solomon. Do you know who Solomon's older half-brothers were? Amnon, who raped his half-sister Tamar, and Absalom, Tamar's full brother, who murdered Amnon and later rebelled, driving his father David the king, from Jerusalem. The Bible story makes it clear that Absalom went to hell, and the familiar Proverbs are Solomon's exaggerated rebuke of his dead father David for being one "who never asked his sons, 'Why have you done this?'."

Parents! Do Not use these verses in Proverbs as justification to beat your children!! There are much better ways to correct and discipline a child. Do not teach them that you believe violence solves anything. You just make them more prone to violence themselves.

Kiddie Kommander

kw: book reviews, science fiction, political fiction, child prodigies, gifted children, morality plays

I just re-read Orson Scott Card's 1985 classic Ender's Game, based on a 1977 novelette by the same name. This must be the third time. The book has sufficient depth that I find much I forgot I'd read before with each re-reading.

While Ender's Game wasn't the first, it has become the prototype "Young gaming expert defeats alien foe—unknowingly" story. It is also a morality play. (If you haven't read it, I'm about to spoil it for you. Skip a paragraph to avoid pollution!) When Ender (Andrew Wiggin) meets the last surviving "bugger" Queen, who communicates telepathically, he finds the alien species he destroyed, planet and all, hadn't realized they were at war until the end of the "Second Bugger War," upon which they retreated to their home system, hoping to be left alone. Thus, Ender has become the first to commit Xenocide, and in the sequels he attempts to atone by finding a planet for the Queen to colonize.

Ender is a moral child: though capable of ruthless violence he feels neurotically guilty over it. He is thus the combination of his brilliant siblings, the ruthless, amoral Peter and the loving, empathetic-but-practical Valentine. In this he is like Shedemai in Card's Homecoming series. The original protagonist of the early books, Nafai, is the most overly-good person in literature that I've read. He becomes a partial Christ figure in the fourth Homecoming book, altruistic to a near-fatal fault, even though he wears the mystical Cloak of the Starmaster, that confers invincibility. He is convinced by the Oversoul (a computer that watches over humanity) to yield the Cloak to Shedemai, who is nearly as well-intentioned as Nafai, but just ruthless enough not to he overborne by the evil older brother Elemak. Shedemai becomes the heroine of the last book.

In a sense, if the story had a happier ending, it would make great Disney fare: abused but talented child escapes family, but suffers even greater abuses (horrendous ones, actually) at the hands of his rescuers, finally triumphs. This is a story of manipulation taken to as great an exteme as one can, and still keep a reader in sufficient "suspense of disbelief" to continue reading.

Everything I've read by Card (he's prolific: Orson Scott Card Bibliography) is an exploration of the limits of morality in a tragic universe. Card is a Mormon...I was going to say "serious Mormon" but that's redundancy. Mormonism is a vigorous and rigorous faith, as mine is, so few adult Mormons are lukewarm. You're either active or absent. He once stated that the Homecoming series is a recasting of the migration stories in the Book of Mormon. Thus, he explores nobility and altruism, and their opposites, in all his fiction. It is what is in him.

In that, I like him very much. I care not about the difference in beliefs. I find all too few writers care a whit about appealing to their readers' nobility, and the majority seem entirely the opposite, making sales by appealing to people's taste for vice. Writers like Card that explore nobility, sacrifice, and empathy tend more to ennoble us.

Rediscovering why I didn't read all the "Dune" books

kw: book reviews, science fiction, political fiction, fantasy

I've read just four chapters, of 86, in Timeweb, the first of a new series by Brian Herbert. I've decided to go no further. Reading the last page confirmed my decision. I read Dune by his father Frank Herbert, and a small part of Dune Messiah. The inter- and intra-family conflict, the incessant intrigues, the overblown political and social enmities, were more than I could stomach.

Brian Herbert and collaborator Kevin J. Anderson wrote eight Dune novels (Frank Herbert had written six) and a few stories and collections. More are apparently on the way. From time to time I considered reading one or the other, but never did. The other day a the library, I saw Timeweb, and decided to see how Herbert the younger writes. He is, if anything more than more of the same. The few "setup" chapters I read indicate that the crux of the story is an undying, obsessive enmity between a planetary ecology of shapeshifters and that of earthlings. There are, as well, alliances and intrigues enough among the humans to keep the undertakers very, very busy.

It all just makes me very, very tired. I have enough tiring me without inflicting it upon my leisure time.

Big Brother has a Bigger Brother

kw: book reviews, science fiction, political fiction, rfid

In a previous post (Big Brother in Your Pocket... ), I reviewed a book warning about the risks of proliferating RFID devices, such as toolroad pass tokens, smart cards, and trackable clothing tags. Now I find that, just about a year ago, a novel that illustrates the same premise appeared: The Traveler by John Twelve Hawks. After a bit of searching, I read that the book is the first of a planned trilogy. Will the final denouement be tragic, as is 1984? We'll have to wait and see.

The author claims to live "off the Grid." The Grid is the web of technology that tracks us: financial transactions such as our use of personal checks and ATMs; use of electronic convenience tokens such as EZ-Pass and Speedpass; purchases with credit cards. Recently I showed my wife how to look through the traffic system's surveillance cameras. I use them sometimes to look ahead on a planned trip, where congestion is likely. As we watched an intersection near our home, the camera's view suddenly slewed around, and it zoomed in on one car waiting for the light. The angle didn't allow reading the plate, but it would have been possible. However, the make and color of the car were evident. I told her, "The police just took control of that camera to look for something or someone. We're along for the ride."

Project the trends forward a few years, maybe ten at most. What will life be like? John Twelve Hawks shows us one possibility. While there is a mystical element to the story—it is a fantasy about Travelers who can roam free of their bodies—the dystopian background is all to possible.

There are dozens of Web pages with speculation about who Mr. Twelve Hawks really is. If his novel has the appropriate effect, we'll never find out. If instead the violent reaction of the public to recent attempts to spread RFID tracking becomes complacency, we'll know who the author is in just a few years, at the point it has become both physically impossible and a criminal offense to live off the Grid.

A few points to ponder:

• Most electronically operated doors use a fail-safe mechanism: they open when power is removed. The ones where I work use a strong electromagnet. Others use a latch held in place by a solenoid that drops out when the current is cut off. All such doors can be opened by a HERF device, a High-Energy Radio Frequency pulse generator that burns out electronics from a distance. You don't harm the electromagnet or solenoid, just the tiny transister that controls it. At present, public safety laws don't allow the sale of door latches that would lock someone inside a building if they fail. That just means Big Brother paranoids will have to make their own...
  
• A Traveler who is one personality of a Dissociator or Multiple Personality won't have to leave his/her body unattended.
  
• Any RFID device cannot communicate from inside a metal shield, a foil wrapping, metal-mesh lining of a glove on the hand for an implantable type, or a conductive plastic bag such as the gray or black bags delicate electronic parts are sold in.
  
• A smaller version of the HERF device should disable any tag, particularly if you know the RFID tag's resonant frequency. It wouldn't do the damage a microwave oven does to smart cards and clothing tags.
  
• Finally, do keep up-to-date by bookmarking Caspian and check in from time to time.