Just finised Nova Swing, book two in M. John Harrison’s Kefahuchi Tract trilogy.
Also loved the first book, Light, winner of the 2002 James Tiptree Award. It feels so nice to lose yourself in a good novel. Doesn’t happen enough these days.
No spoilers. I’m not going to review it so much as talk about what it made me think about. I like books that make me think.
The series revolves around a naked singularity called the Kefahuchi Tract, a black hole without an event horizon, around which incompatible and impossible physical laws are possible.
Nova Swing takes place on a planet where part of the Kefahuchi Tract landed, creating “the event site,” a mysterious no man’s land that both terrifies and fascinates, though people have becoming comfortable living next to it. There is an underground industry of lawbreakers who conduct tours and hunt for treasure.
All forbidden activities, due to the risk of invasion by “daughters,” entities that can turn people into alien goo. Creepy scenario, yet seemingly taken in stride by the society in the story. With the exception of law enforcement, determined to keep things from getting out of the event site.
It got me thinking, this is a trope in science fiction isn’t it? “Forbidden zones.” Places that don’t follow the rules. Places that threaten your sanity. Places that threaten to invade the outside world and make it incomprehensible. Places some are still driven to enter. Places that swallow people.
This one reminds me a lot of the Zone in Roadside Picnic by Arkady Strugatsky and Boris Strugatsky, a forbidden area exhibiting strange properties, where “stalkers” hunt for extraterrestrial artifacts they can sell.
In that book the theme seems to be that some things are just beyond understanding.
Moderat – The Mark (from the Annihilation soundtrack). Would you look into that thing? I think I would.
Vandermeer’s Annihilation is another one. A place that distorts nature, causes cancer and insanity, turns people against one another, and takes away their identities. And still people can’t resist. The drive to solve the mystery is too strong.
I think tropes are important. They tell you something about the writer’s thoughts, as well as those of the readers (or watchers if you only consume cinematic sci fi). If I see it enough, I start to suspect it’s about all of society. John Vervaeke has a theory about that regarding zombies in Western culture.
To me, those forbidden zones represent the unconscious. More specifically, how Western culture views the unconscious. As irrational, fantastical, mystical bullshit. It’s where nightmares happen, voices that tell people to kill, perverted impulses. You don’t want to go poking around in there.
What if you found out you were evil even though you didn’t wanna be? What you’re like a werewolf, a man who becomes a monster against his will? Better to leave that stuff alone, try to be disciplined, stick to the tried and true, be logical, rational, science-minded, modern.
On the other hand, it’s also where inspiration happens, isn’t it? Something from the unconscious has decided to visit you. Everyone dreams of coming up with that one idea that could change everything, make you rich. Assuming you had that idea, would it be good or evil?
I don’t think it applies. Depends on what people do with it. I think we’ll generally be OK “if enough people will do their inner work,” like Carl Jung said.
The thing about ideas that could change the world… People don’t like change. It’s why society generally punishes creative people with original ideas. Some earn respect in their lifetime, but the really good ones tend to be ahead of their time. Most of the time it’s either bully, exploit or ignore.
There’s a line in Nova Swing that speaks to that. “All crimes are crimes against continuity—continuity of life, continuity of ownership, systems continuity.”
Late Boomer's Den 