Lest Darkness Fall

Now that I have remembered this blog, I have another review to post. I recently finished Lest Darkness Fall by L. Sprague de Camp (1907 – 2000). I read the Ballantine/ Del Rey 1983 edition with cover art by Darrell K. Sweet.  I think the story was first published in periodical format in 1939, but the final novel format was released in 1941.  I think it is an essential read for vintage science fiction readers. Generally, it is a story of time-travel and alternative history.

This is only a 208 page book, but it reads like there are many more pages.  There is a lot of Roman/Gothic history involved in this novel and any familiarization with any of the locations or major players of the time is helpful.  Any knowledge of languages and/or politics of that time just enhances this read quite a bit. As it is, most contemporary readers are really not all that familiar with the details of the year 535 and therefore, there may be some difficulty accessing the setting.  That being said, I suspect one could muddle through with knowing just the main drift of history of this 6th Century.

Martin Padway is the main character. He is an American archeologist visiting Rome in 1938. Events transpire to send him back in time to Rome 535. Honestly, de Camp grants way too much skill and knowledge to Martin.  This is my main criticism of the book, in one sense. Padway is an archeologist so it stands to reason that he has a solid knowledge base in a number of historical spheres.  Yet, the things Padway is able to accomplish seems to extend even beyond what a good archeologist would have knowledge about. Indeed, it would be better to say Padway is a very intelligent polymath who specializes in archeology and clearly his pastimes are all of similar scholarly research. This includes a hefty base of political theory, languages, military tactics, and engineering. Now, the only sense in which this is a useful criticism, though, is the one wherein we are considering how realistic this story and character might be. But I did say that he is zapped back in time to 6th Century Rome, so I am quite sure discussions on “realism” may need to be adjusted.

Readers, then, can comfortably approach the novel knowing the most advanced technology that Padway accesses is that of the 1930s and that he is an adept, brilliant archeologist. What can he do in Rome?  Well, he keeps his head remarkably well for someone experiencing sudden time-displacement. He takes stock of his situation and realizes he needs to work to maintain basic survival items.  By applying modern understanding and historical knowledge, Padway carves his own survival out by being an inventor.  This is pretty fun, because most time travel novels are all caught up in the “what-if” scenario of “changing the timeline.”  Well, Padway’s goal becomes one of changing the timeline. He realizes he is in/on the cusp of the Dark Ages (hence the title) and he is attempting to stave off and avoid the collapse of civilization.

Some things to admit:  yes, historians have been arguing SINCE the “dark ages” about when they were, why they were, and if they were. So, if you are an historian with a particularly emotional bent on one of these positions, try not to let it get in the way of your reading enjoyment. Further, I know this story could spark discussions of plausibility about one man’s efforts, the so-called Butterfly Effect, the amount of luck and timing involved, etc.  In other words:  who can really set aside enough disbelief that they can follow one guy’s actions to stop the fall of civilization? How could anyone even think one chap could do enough to alter the timeline so drastically?

That is why this novel is essential reading – because it asks so much of the character! I love the lofty goal that de Camp throws at Padway and I like that de Camp feels he is writer enough to deal with the problematic and make it interesting! It is not always about the feasibility of a storyline that makes it a good read, but sometimes it is the daring in tackling a huge scenario that makes a novel worthwhile.

Now, we know Padway is thinking first about himself and his survival. He concludes, not unreasonably, that his personal success rate is tied to society’s survivability. The one thing that all schoolkids even know about the “dark ages” is that it was a loss of science and art and progress. Therefore, still very reasonably, Padway realizes he needs to become an “inventor” and at one heckuva pace! Now, certainly, he is and is not the true “inventor” of things – but that’s picayune. A large portion of the novel is then tied up with Padway’s efforts to get his inventions off the ground in 6th Century Rome.

Interestingly, the first inventions of Padway’s are a type of brandy and a newspaper. So, naturally, Padway has to have come back in time with a workable knowledge of ink, metallurgy, rudimentary chemistry, and paper-making. It is not easy for Padway, but if the reader is honest, the whole situation would be much more difficult. Again, how are we talking about “realism” here, anyway? These are the inventions, Padway manages it, we move onward.  Along with these two “physical” inventions, accounting and mathematics are also some of the very first influential “breakthroughs” Padway introduces to the society.

Frequently, throughout the novel Padway is accused of being a future-seer – a concept that has varying degrees of concern according to the perspective (heathen, Christian, etc.) of those who meet him. This knowledge of history comes in very useful as Padway is able to have foresight in order to be in the right place and the right time or to convince people of his ideas based on the fact that he does, actually, know certain outcomes.

Padway sighed.  “You’re as bad as Belisarius.  The few trustworthy and able men in the world won’t work with me because of previous obligations. So I have to struggle along with crooks and dimwits.”
Darkness seemed to want to fall by mere inertia—  – pg. 140, chapter XI

Somewhere past halfway, the novel changes from focusing on Padway’s personal survival and his efforts to keep himself safe and sound, into a focus on his efforts to save civilization.  The shift to the broader scope is not ridiculous, but as I reader, I was somewhat saddened to lose the individual struggle plotline. Suddenly, Padway is on horseback and leading armies and debating military tactics and rubbing elbows with princesses, kings, generals, and so forth.  The last quarter of the novel is really a military tactics study in brief – the use of pikes, lances, the strategic retreat, flanking procedures, etc.  Though I enjoy these subjects, it felt a little bit strained from the origin of the novel, and so I was a little less engaged with my reading.  If there is a point where my disbelief finally got foothold, it was here:  an American archeologist is just not going to be this excellent at off-the-cuff strategy and tactics as a field marshal.

Anyway, in 208 pages a lot gets invented. Its fun to watch Padway extricate himself from all the situations he finds himself in. Maybe de Camp makes the natives of the time a little more “unintelligent and forgiving” than they really were. And yes, Padway is definitely too smart. Overall, though, this is a strong novel and one I think I can recommend to most readers.

4 stars

Caviar

Caviar by Theodore Sturgeon (1918 – 1985) was first published in 1955.  Once again, I completed a 1950s book.  This is a collection of 8 stories ranging from 1941 – 1955.  The cover art for the copy that I read (1977 Ballantine) is by Darrell Sweet. Though Sturgeon did publish several novels, it is my understanding that he is famous for his short fiction.

Therefore, when I came to this collection I had really high hopes because this should be fairly representative of the author’s lauded style.  I cannot say that my expectations were met, although I was not completely disappointed.  The ratings I gave each story are all over the place.  I am glad that I read the collection, but only one story in this collection is something that I think will stick with me.  Of the eight stories, I would say one is definitely not science fiction whatsoever, one is definitely science fiction, and the other six are vaguely “speculative” fiction.  None of this is a bad thing, but it does perhaps suggest a change in the reader’s pre-read expectations.

Sturgeon has a very glib and casual writing style.  I am not completely thrilled by it.  It works best when he utilizes a nifty narrator main character to do the work.  The stories wherein Sturgeon has to do the talking are decent, but nothing about this style makes it truly incredible.  In fact, for most of the stories, I felt they may have gone on for a page or two too long.  I think casual writing does lend itself nicely to short fiction, but usually overlong short fiction can kill any storyline.

• Bright Segment – 2 stars – (1955)
• Microcosmic God – 4 stars – (1941)
• Ghost of a Chance – 2 stars – (1943)
• Prodigy – 3 stars – (1949)
• Medusa – 4 stars – (1942)
• Blabbermouth – 3 stars – (1945)
• Shadow, Shadow On the Wall – 2 stars – (1951)
• Twink – 1 star – (1955)

Interestingly, you can see that the stories run the gamut from 4 stars to 1 star.  The stories that I rated the highest are the most “science fiction” of the stories.  The lowest rated involve children somehow and were – to me – too vague and weird.

Bright Segment opens the collection and is definitely not speculative fiction or science fiction.  It is actually quite a noir read, but not one that I really enjoyed. One of the things that Sturgeon does really well in this piece is to build up a lot of empathy and sympathy (concern) for both of the characters – and then he flips all of that emotive investment around.  I appreciate this – but cannot say I liked the result.  The voice of the main character was done well.

Microcosmic God is the most science-y of the collection.  I do think it was a bit too long, because toward the end, some threads of the story kind of slipped slightly.  Nevertheless, it is excellent SCIENCE fiction.  I love the Neoterics and the whole ratio which brought the main character to the conclusion of developing the Neoterics is the “answer” to time/space/invention.  I really am jealous of James Kidder – rich, brilliant, and lives unfettered by annoying humans on his own little island. Oh, how I would love to be Kidder.  Now, the plot-device of the power plant and the devious banker didn’t thrill me, so that’s why this does not get five stars.  Nevertheless, this is one I would recommend to other readers.

Ghost of a Chance was first published in 1943 and I do not see the need for it to have been republished. I gave it two stars and really feel like it just was not worth republishing, unless they needed some “filler.”

Prodigy is a good, solid read.  I gave it 3 stars because I felt that it represented some good speculative fiction ideas.  I really did like the twist at the very end of the story.  However:  I am not really sure that this twist is actually supported by the story itself.  Seems forced, even if it is fun and can be appreciated. Overall, it is a relatively interesting read.

Medusa was my favorite read of the collection. I know why it was named “Medusa,” but I would have named it Xantippe. Xantippe is a really good horrifying planet-concept.  And Medusa is a metaphor with a jellyfish, which I think is a strained and needless metaphor.  But Xantippe and the Navy ship sent to deal with it is an awesome concept.  All true fans of science fiction should read this one.  It also includes some of the psychological horror and mystery that really gripping deep space stories should include. Easily four stars.

Blabbermouth gave us a decent, sharp narrator with an interesting concept to tell his (rather mundane) story.  He falls in love with Maria, who has a predisposition to be possessed by poltergeists. Well, she brought this problem onto herself because of her occult “studies.” And now she affects people’s lives.  She’s a “blabbermouth,” so to speak.  I really dislike the genesis of Maria’s “skill,” and I feel that this story had so much potential wasted. As I read, I kept considering what it could have been – so much better than what this story is.

Shadow, Shadow On The Wall – The reader does feel a bit heartbroken for main character, Bobby – a small child who has a mean step-mother.  The story itself plays upon all of our fears of the dark and our capacity for pretend-play as an escape.  Still, the corner-shadow-country is unconvincing and I do not feel the story itself is on par with all of the emotional drawn the reader is presented.

Finally, Twink, which I hated. Just junk. I wish I had not read it. 1 star for being better than cleaning the litter box.

2.6 is the average for this collection.  I do not use numbers like this, so I will round up to a 3.  I am more or less okay with that, but I know that I recently reviewed C. M. Kornbluth’s The Explorers and that averaged out to a 3.  That collection was a lot better than this one.  So, let us call this a secret low 3 rating

3 stars

The Lure of the Basilisk

The Lure of the Basilisk by Lawrence Watt-Evans is the first book in The Lords of Dûs series.  It was first published in 1980 – the copy I read is the 1987 edition.  The cover art was done by Darrell K. Sweet.

There is actually quite a lot that is enjoyable about this book.  There are a few minor issues, but it was really nice to read a decent fantasy novel that did not involve elves, was under 10,000,000 pages, and did not describe every blade of grass in the country.  There were a few typos in my edition, which honestly should have been corrected by this printing – nothing major, just “It” instead of “I” and “faithly” instead of “faintly.”

The story begins in a cave with a warrior type character speaking to creepy Wise Women.  The character is imploring the women for information on how to become famous – in essence, for his name to “live forever.”  I did not really take a good attitude toward this character at this point because it seems arrogant and obnoxious and I really felt this was going to demonstrate the standard story of how glory-seeking ruins a warrior. Honestly, his request seems rather absurd, but I decided that I did not have to agree with the desire of the character in order to read the book.

This character is Garth.  He’s an overman – a race of human-like creatures who live in Ordunin – a northern peninsula. The whole novel focuses on Garth and his quest.  We next meet him in Skelleth, a rundown barony where he meets the Forgotten King in a tavern/inn.  This is where the Wise Women told him to begin his quest – he should speak to the Forgotten King and obey him.  Garth is not exactly welcome in Skelleth.  Nevertheless, the Forgotten King is a mysterious old man who hangs out in the tavern.  The Forgotten King tells Garth that he will help Garth attain glorious fame, but first he has a “trial” quest for Garth.  Garth is to travel to Mormoreth and capture the basilisk that dwells in the crypts there.

The cover depicts the scene where Garth arrives outside of Mormoreth on his warbeast (Koros) and is demanding entrance from the ruler of Mormoreth:  Shang.  The warbeast is, like the overmen, a genetically bred animal that is like a panther.  It’s trained to follow basic commands, although it did not even have a name for half of the book.  The relationship between Garth and Koros is actually kind of unique – Garth views the animal in terms of utility and pragmatic ways.  I am used to reading books where there is this overbuilt bond between characters and their animals.

In fact, much of the goodness of the novel is because Garth is actually a fairly unique character.  He shrugs a bit too much.  But he’s nearly seven feet tall, strong as an ox, a skilled warrior, and very durable.  He also doesn’t make the trope-mistakes of most fantasy characters.  It was actually interesting and fun to follow Garth through the castles, crypts, and city streets on his quest. Also, though a fierce fighter, he usually chooses not to give in to bloodshed and he tends toward more honorable actions – even though he confesses many times that he doesn’t quite understand the traditional emotions, values, and actions of humans.

The ending ties a lot together, which makes the novel feel complete.  However, there are a few things that are left open-ended so that the series can continue to the next book.  I enjoyed this book, the writing style is so fluid and comfortable that I was able to read it in about a day and a half.  I admit that four stars is probably a bit of a gift, but I did really enjoy every chapter.

4 stars

Foundation and Empire

Foundation and Empire by Isaac Asimov; Del Rey Ballantine

This is the second novel in the famous Foundation series by Isaac Asimov.  It was originally published in 1952; the copy I read was the 1983 edition.  The cover art for my copy was done by Darrell K. Sweet.  The novel is actually two parts – quite distinct, but related in a general timeline sort of way.  The first part, The General, explains how the Empire is falling, but a bold General launches a mighty attack on the Foundation.  This is the section that most folks connect with Asimov’s reading of Ancient Roman history.  The second part of the novel, The Mule, deals with events that occur roughly one-hundred years after the events of the first part.

The first novel in the Foundation series was a conglomerate of short stories that depict the unfurling of the Hari Seldon crises for the Foundation in relation to the Empire.  Much of that book dealt with the development of the Foundation and it’s survival and growth into an “empire within an empire” on the edge of the galaxy.  The short story-like structure of the parts of that novel made reading it a bit difficult and I know that many readers were unimpressed because of the seeming discordant style.  Also, many readers hated the extreme lack of character development in that novel.  Because of these two things, I do not think many readers move forth in the series.

Foundation and Empire definitely has more character development – however, these are still not necessarily books about characters, but rather they are books about big concepts.  Specifically, Hari Seldon’s psychohistory theories drive both novels.  The lack of character development is probably the largest complaint from readers.  I understand this complaint – particularly in the first novel – but I do not think that it is the great criticism that it purports to be.

We are used to dramas on television, in movies, and in novels, that center on individuals.  Readers have become acclimated to pages and pages of characters being described in their thoughts, deeds, and circumstances.  In theory, this is supposed to make the characters seem realistic and form a bond between the characters and the reader such that the reader is invested in the character’s personhood and life.  However, just because this has become the common way of doing things, does not mean it is the best or even only way.  I actually appreciated reading a novel wherein I was not forced to struggle alongside the characters, examine their motives and feelings, and watch them grow from young adults to seniors.  Nevertheless, there is quite a bit more “character development” in this novel and I feel it’s just the right amount.

This novel is less episodic.  However, the events that we learn about – another opening of the Time Vault, the fall of Foundation – happen quickly and without a whole lot of build up.  The last half of the novel involves a fairly exciting chase across the galaxy as two unlikely heroes race to Trantor/Newtrantor to either communicate with the Emperor and/or to learn as much as they can about Second Foundation.  I like how Asimov keeps the story focused on the concept of Seldon’s psychohistory – that individuals are unpredictable and maybe somewhat insignificant in terms of the statistics generated. Seldon developed psychohistory to predict the actions of large groups of humans.  And so throughout the novel the actions of the individuals are presented as conundrums compared to the actions of large populations. Of course, much can be discussed regarding Seldon’s theories and the actions of The Mule.

Their enemy, The Mule, is a famous “villain” in science fiction.  And I think Asimov handles this character splendidly.  It’s actually really a great job done by an author of hiding and presenting a villain.  And this villain, by the way, is both easy to hate and love and pity.  He’s also responsible for the fall of Foundation.  He conquers in a unique way with an intense method that makes the ending even more poignant.

I gave Foundation 4 stars because of the “big idea.”  The fairest rating would have probably been something like 3.5 stars.  But this novel? Definitely four stars – unreservedly. I really want to read the next novel, Second Foundation, because I have to see the timeline continue and play out.  I know this series is not for everyone, but I honestly am really enjoying it.

4 stars