Now, The Forge of Gd, by Greg Bear, is what I call real old-fashioned science fiction. How come Your Humble Blogger never read this before?
Not that it’s flawless. Heck, none of the characters actually achieve anything at all over the whole course of the book. And, you know, none of it makes any sense. Why do the world-eaters bother trying to confuse us Earthlings with lying robotic benefactors when there’s fuck-all we can do about them anyway? And, you know, the whole book is just a fight between the deus ex machina and the other deus ex machina. Or, you know, the machinae ex deus. Dei. What’s the plural? I was never very good at mock greek.
Anyway, Your Humble Blogger enjoyed the book a lot. The political stuff is a fascinating mix of the outdated and the way-too-relevant. The President of the US shuts out his circle of advisors and takes only the counsel of a crackpot preacher, and then gets the preacher’s advice wrong. Scary. But, of course, ultimately meaningless; had he taken the advice of his intelligent and informed advisors, it would have been the wrong advice, and wouldn’t have stopped the world-eaters anyway. In fact, there’s a hint that the President’s insane take on the situation is as close to the right one as it would be possible to get.
Oh, and I would have preferred had Mr. Bear shown some one or two of the sane-but-doomed people whiling away their last hours with some human achievement. The Ode to Joy, perhaps, or Casablanca, or Ecclesiastes. I mean, I’m all for nature-lovers hanging out at Yosemite come the end, but what about those of us who just want to read Psmith one more time? Are we crazy?
chazak, chazak, v’nitchazek,
-Vardibidian.
I would have preferred had Mr. Bear shown some one or two of the sane-but-doomed people whiling away their last hours with some human achievement.
Thank you, that’s quite thought-provoking. How different a question it is if we are deciding how to spend our time if we personally are doomed vs. if the world is?
Well, I don’t know. It’s never happened to me. For Mr. Bear, clearly the destruction of the Earth is most powerfully felt through the physical destruction of, you know, dramatic landscape. For Douglas Adams, it was McDonald’s that really struck home. I identify very strongly with humanity, so for me the real tragedy of somebody blowing up the earth is the destruction of human artifacts and human creations, but that’s a prejudice of mine. On the other hand, the Good Deus has been copying stuff out, so you wouldn’t have the poignancy of the Last Time Anybody Read Psmith. On the other other hand, the Good Deus has been copying out the beech and elm trees as well, so the same applies. Hm.
Thanks,
-V.