FACT SF Reading Group

December 2004

December 7: Chindi by Jack McDevitt

A large group of 16 people showed up for this meeting, although some were there for voting on new books and socializing more than for discussing the book. Twelve people did start the book and 7 of them managed to finish it. Twelve had read McDevitt before.

This is McDevitt's third book featuring superluminal pilot Hutch and her over-the-top rescues. In this volume she and a group of amateur explorers from the Contact Society follow a signal around the galaxy trying to locate the lien race producing it. Along the way they find archeological sites, vicious aliens and a moon-size automated ship.

Although this book was smoothly written and action-packed, we thought this too-ambitious travelogue did not leave us with much of a sense of wonder. It did not "deliver on the potential," one reader complained. The characters were also too realistic in their arrogance toward the artifacts and aliens they met--bungling encounters, trashing sites. Some of us wondered if McDevitt was trying to be satirical. As readers we prefer characters who show more intelligence than the average.

Those of us who managed to hang on through the end cheered when one of the more obnoxious contact Society members died. We would have cheered even louder if all the characters had died.

December 21: Roma Eterna by Robert Silverberg

Only 3 people out of the 13 who showed up for the discussion had finished this alternate history collection of short stories. One person hadn't read any of the book and 4 did not plan to finish it. Almost everyone (12 people) had read Silverberg before.

Although the book is marketed as a novel, it is actually a collection of stories (most published previously in Asimov's). The stories are related only by the theme of a Rome that continues eternally (or at least through the last story which is set in 2723A.D.), but is often on the verge of falling. Silverberg's history roughly parallels real history, with the Roman equivalent of historic events such as Magellan's circumnavigation and the French Revolution. Most of the ancient history buffs in the group enjoyed this book (Renee and Kurt actually agreed on a book!!!), but other readers found it dull, particularly the first two stories. Some readers liked how the great historic moments were told from the point of view of non-historic characters on the sidelines, and preferred Roma Eterna to Robinson's The Years of Rice and Salt. Other readers found this story-telling style left the stories lacking in interest, devoid of plot and action, dry, and emotionally removed.

Only a writer with a long publication record like Silverberg's could have gotten a book like this published, where the main character is Rome, the Eternal City.

-- Sandy Kayser