Asimov's SF, July 2011
Page 20
Curiously enough, Rosny Aine and Renard each boast a well-received piece of fiction that made their names known to English-speaking readers and moviegoers. For Rosny Aine, it was the tale that became the Quest for Fire. For Renard, it was The Hands of Orlac. And while I suppose being known as a one-hit wonder is better than experiencing total literary oblivion, such a fate does tend to diminish and obscure all of a writer's other stuff. Stableford is out to remedy that historical injustice, in an entertaining way.
The first volume in the Rosny Aine set, The Navigators of Space (trade paper, $29.95, 435 pages, ISBN 978-1-0935558-35-4) opens with a highly informative and riveting sixty-page essay by Stableford on Rosny Aine's life and significance and history of fiction production. This recreation of the late-nineteenth-century French literary milieu is fascinating in its own right. But then comes something even better, the fiction.
The first story, “The Xipehuz,” has had some English distribution before, but here shines in Stableford's new translation. (It should be mentioned that at various points in this volume, BS generously shares his decision-making process with us, giving us insight into the rigors of translation.) Radiating something of a REH or HPL prehistoric vibe, it tells of how our ancestors managed to defeat an alien incursion, through the use of the scientific method. This privileging of intellectual acumen is a hallmark of Rosny Aine's work.
The second piece, “The Skeptical Legend,” is a weird non-story resonating with both Stapledon and David Lindsay. “Another World” is the autobiography of a mutant fellow with lilac skin and opaque eyes, who can see into other dimensions and realms. “The Death of the Earth” is a truly poignant apocalypse, ending in unmitigated tragedy for humanity, yet hope for a successor creation. The title story is Rosny Aine's parallel-evolved version of Weinbaum's “A Martian Odyssey.” And its sequel, “The Astronauts,” introduces a female space explorer for a return visit to Mars.
As Stableford points out, Rosny Aine was always somewhat capricious and improvisatory as a writer. But this did nothing to detract from his suspenseful storytelling, nor fecundity of ideas. These stories rival anything from American SF's pre-Campbellian period, and it is in fact rather interesting to compare them with early work by, say, Jack Williamson and Edmond Hamilton. Despite deploying similar concepts, characters, and themes, the American stories exhibit both a greater innocence and a greater aspiration than those of Rosny Aine, who radiated more maturity and more European weariness, realism, and surrealism. We are plainly seeing the roots of Stanislaw Lem here, rather than the roots of Isaac Asimov, say. Perhaps nowhere is this more apparent than in the weird sexual relations found in “The Navigators” and its companion piece. One of the humans falls in love with a Tripedal, six-eyed Martian, and eventually experiences a ménage-a-trois with his human bride and the alien. Vive la différence!
Volume 3 of the set, The Mysterious Force (trade paper, $24.95, 329 pages, ISBN 978-1-935558-37-8), contains a short story and two novels. The story and the first novel are brilliant, illustrating Rosny Aine's endearing eccentricities and crotchets even more deeply, while the second novel, Hareton Ironcastle's Amazing Adventure, is pedestrian and dull by comparison. Stableford calls it “uninspiring,” and conjectures that it was dashed off quickly to order, cobbled together from unused story fragments. It's standard lost-world Haggard with a trace of ERB.
But “The Cataclysm” and the title novel are exceptional. Both concern strange plagues that overtake the planet and mankind. Here we see Rosny Aine's affinity to Ballard, of all people. His protagonists, while seeking to understand the catastrophes, are basically passive, and not a little enraptured by the disasters. Their odysseys are psychic as much as physical. Again, Rosny Aine's ability to conjure up surreal imagery is paramount, as he depicts, for instance, an invasion by “living patches” that colonize the human epidermis not as stable sores, but as moving colonies. And in The Mysterious Force, Rosny Aine shows how to double down on the fictional stakes. At the midpoint of the book, when phase one of the disaster is surmounted, you begin to suspect that the story has reached its natural, satisfying end. Then he initiates phase two, a ramping-up that is completely different yet logically consequential. That's the SF writer's seminal tactic, asking and dramatizing the next question beyond the obvious one.
If Rosny Aine was, to some degree, analogous to A.E. van Vogt in his high-concept, somewhat ham-handed and dreamlike narratives, then his friend and contemporary Maurice Renard might be said to resemble Fritz Leiber or Damon Knight or the young Algis Budrys: a more sophisticated, intellectual, polished, and coolly cerebral writer. It is emblematic of Renard's different attitude and mind that he was moved, unlike Rosny Aine, to coin, in a 1909 manifesto (shades of Bruce Sterling!) a term for the kind of new fiction he was interested in: “scientific marvel fiction.” If only history had gone differently, with Francophone SF gaining global eminence, the magazine in your hands might be known as Asimov's Scientific Marvel Fiction.
The debut volume in the Renard set contains another long introductory piece by Stableford. And although circumstances did not permit me to lay my hands on this item, I'm certain, based on Stableford's competence, that it ranks with his Rosny Aine essay for completeness, insight, and informativeness. The first volume actually to fall under my eyes is the second, A Man Among the Microbes (trade paper, $22.95, 332 pages, ISBN 978-1-935558-16-3), which, like all these books, contains equally stimulating shorter intros to the individual stories, as well as a comprehensive Afterword.
The novel that lends its title to the whole book is a classic “incredible shrinking man” tale, penned long before Richard Matheson or even Henry Hasse. Our hero, taking some experimental pills to reduce his height to better consort with the female object of his affections (what a French premise!), shrinks down below molecular size and ends up in a subatomic Utopia, whose ornately imagined customs are used to comment on human quirks. Emulating Swift and Voltaire, Renard adds a scientific and logical patina and foundation to his tale that raises it to a rigorous level above its predecessors.
The short fiction that follows ranges from highly scientific to outright fantasy. But two exceptional tales deserve praise. “A Motionless Voyage” is rather Rudy Ruckerish, dealing as it does with the discovery of how to control inertia. And “The Singular Fate of Bouvancourt” is a neat early example of new dimensions opening up vistas of horror.
The Blue Peril (trade paper, $24.95, 360 pages, ISBN 978-1-935558-17-0), the third entry in the set, is not an omnibus but a single big novel, from 1911. It postulates a form of dangerous, invisible, upper atmospheric life (the Blue Peril) and then narrates the smallish war between humanity and the aerial predators, who have taken to abducting human specimens.
For modern tastes, the novel is a bit slow to “get off the ground” (pardon the pun), but when it accelerates midway through, it really delivers. The anxiety of the relatives of the abductees, the global panic and media interest, the sensations of helplessness mingled with dauntless scientific curiosity—all these elements are arrayed brilliantly to form the template for so many genre tales that would follow. Renard is not averse to spicing up his narrative with some sensationalistic scenes, such as a rain of human offal consisting of the dissected bits of some kidnapped specimens. But his main impulse is to provoke a sense of wonder at the mysteries the cosmos contains, and man's ability to parse them. Readers today will see adumbrations of Charles Fort, Lovecraft, Eric Frank Russell, and Colin Wilson in these entertaining pages, which come to us only through the hard work and skills of Messr. Stableford and Black Coat Press (which, by the way, has graced these volumes with some gorgeous cover art). To them, merci beaucoup!
Copyright © 2011 Paul Di Filippo
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Department: SF CONVENTIONAL CALENDAR
by Erwin S. Strauss
Good Memorial Day weekend bets for Asimovians are BaltiCon (where I'll be), MarCon, Oasis, and MisCon. Also this month, consider the
Nebula Awards weekend, ConCarolinas, SoonerCon, DucKon, and ApolloCon. Plan now for social weekends with your favorite SF authors, editors, artists, and fellow fans. For an explanation of con(vention)s, a sample of SF folksongs, and info on fanzines and clubs, send me an SASE (self-addressed, stamped #10 [business] envelope) at 10 Hill #22-L, Newark NJ 07102. The hot line is (973) 242-5999. If a machine answers (with a list of the week's cons), leave a message and I'll call back on my nickel. When writing cons, send an SASE. For free listings, tell me of your con five months out. Look for me at cons behind the Filthy Pierre badge, playing a musical keyboard. —Erwin S. Strauss
MAY 2011
13-15—GayLaxiCon. For info, write: 2665 Meadow Ct., Chamblee GA 30341. Or phone: (973) 242-5999 (10 am to 10 pm, not collect). (Web) outlantacon.org. (E-mail) info@outlantacon.org. Con will be held in: Atlanta GA (if city omitted, same as in address) at the Holiday inn Select Perimeter. Guests will include: Eugie Foster, Melissa Carter. For GLBT fans and their friends.
19-22—Nebula Awards Weekend. nebulaawards.com. Hilton, Washington DC. SF/fantasy Writers of America annual awards meeting.
20-22—Steampunk World's Fair. steampunkworldsfair.com. Somerset NJ (near NYC). Jake von Slatt, Prof. Elemental, Walter Sickert.
21—Book Festival. (301) 258-6350. gaithersburgbookfestival.org. Gaithersburg MD. Books of all kinds.
23-26—Book Expo America. bookexpoamerica.com. Javits Center, New York NY. The year's big publishing industry trade show.
26-29—Anime Oasis. animeoasis.org. Boise ID. Sonny Strait, Michael Coleman. No connection with Oasis in Florida.
26-30—WisCon, Box 1624, Madison WI 53701. (608) 233-8850. wiscon.info. Concourse Hotel. Nisi Shawl. Feminism and SF.
27-29—MarCon, Box 141414, Columbus OH 43214. marcon.org. Hyatt. F. Paul Wilson, J. Palencar, H. Turtledove, E. Flint, L. Fish.
27-29—Oasis, c/o Box 323, Goldenrod FL 32733. oasfis.org. Sheraton Downtown, Orlando FL. D. Drake, T. Castillo, C. Ulbrich.
27-29—Timegate, Box 500565, Atlanta GA 31150. timegate.org. Holiday Inn Select Perimeter. Dr. Who, Stargate, general SF media.
27-30—BaltiCon, Box 686, Baltimore MD 21203. (410) 563-2737. Mariott, Hunt Valley MD. Bova, DiFate, Bacigalupi, Geppi, the Suttons.
27-30—MisCon, Box 7721, Missoula MT 59807. (406) 544-7083. miscon.org. Ruby's Inn. Carol Berg, Kass McCann, Tiffany Toland.
27-30—MediaWest*Con, 200 E. Thomas, Lansing MI 48906. mediawestcon@aol.com. Causeway Bay Hotel. Old-school SF media con.
JUNE 2011
3-5—ConCarolinas, Box 26336, Charlotte NC 28221. concarolinas.org. Hilton University Place. D. Lawrence, Turtledove, B. Stevens.
3-5—SoonerCon, 1848 Hemmingway Dr., Edmond OK 73013. (405) 310-9255. soonercon.com. Biltmore, Oklahoma City OK. T. Powers.
10-12—Sci Fi Summer Con, Box 957203, Duluth GA 30095. sfscon.tripod.com. Atlanta GA. Media SF and fantasy.
10-12—A-Kon. a-kon.com. Dallas TX. Anime.
17-19—EuroCon. eurocon2011.se. Stockholm, Sweden. All-European SF and fantasy convention, held every two years.
17-19—DucKon, Box 4843, Wheaton IL 60819. duckon.org. Near Chicago IL. Tamora Pierce. Golden Duck young people's SF awards.
22-26—Origins, 280 N. High #230, Columbus OH 43215. 614255-4500. originsgames.com. Convention Center. Year's big gaming con.
23-26—PortCon, 482 Webster Rd. #1, Buxton ME 04093. portconmaine.com. Wyndham, South Portland ME. Anime and gaming.
24-26—ApolloCon, Box 541822, Houston TX 77254. apollocon.org. Jeanne Gomoll. SF and fantasy.
25—SF Hall of Fame Awards Weekend. locusmag.com. SF Hall of Fame, Seattle WA. Presentation of Locus Magazine annual awards.
30-July 3—ConVergence, 1437 Marshall Ave. #203, St. Paul MN 55104. (651) 647-3487. convergence-con.org. Minneapolis MN.
JULY 2011
1-3—ConTata, c/o Kronengold, 48-38 48th St., #3F, Woodside NY 11377. contata.org. Parsippany NJ. SF and fantasy folksinging.
1-4—WesterCon, c/o SFSFC, Box 61363, Sunnyvale CA 94088. westercon64.org. Fairmont, San Jose CA. P. McKillip, P. & K. Foglio.
8-10—Shore Leave, Box 6809, Towson MD 21285. (410) 701-0669. shore-leave.com. Hunt Valley (near Baltimore) MD. Trek, etc.
8-10—BaCon, Box 91260, Columbus OH 43209. (614) 860-9737. Matt Sloan. “General geekery, open source software—& BACON!!!”
8-11—North American Discworld Con, Box 259411, Madison WI 53725. nadwcon.org. Concourse Hotel. Terry Pratchett.
9-11—Ancient City Con, c/o Den of Dreams, 805 Oak Arbor Cir., St. Augustine FL 32084. ancientcitycon.com. Jacksonville FL.
14-17—ReaderCon, Box 65, Watertown MA 02471. readercon.org. Marriott, Burlington (Boston) MA. Geoff Ryman, Gardner Dozois.
AUGUST 2011
17-21—RenoVation, Box 13278, Portland OR 97213. renovationsforg. Reno NV. Asher, C. Brown (I. M.), Powers. WorldCon. $180+.
AUGUST 2012
30-Sep. 3—Chicon 7, Box 13, Skokie IL 60076. chicon.org. Chicago IL. Resnick, Morrill, Musgrave, Scalzi. WorldCon. $155.
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Visit www.dellmagazines.com for information on additional titles by this and other authors.