Wed 18 Jan 2012
Archived SF Review: JACK WILLIAMSON – Mazeway.
Posted by Steve under Reviews , Science Fiction & Fantasy[7] Comments
JACK WILLIAMSON – Mazeway. Ballantine/Del Rey, hardcover, 1990. Paperback reprint, October 1990.
Younger science fiction writers may have technical proficiencies that Jack Williamson can only dream about, but other than that, I think his dreams are the stuff that dreams are made of.
There is something somebody once called a “sense of wonder” in trying to describe a certain brand of science fiction, and Jack Wiliamson has it, and he always did: his first published story was in 1928. He had then — and still does — an awe of the future that younger writers take for granted, as everyday events, and their books are (arguably) the poorer for it.
But what’s this book about? Nothing more than a few representatives of mankind trying to make the evolutionary leap from planet to space. How? By playing the eldern’s Game of Blade and Stone on the double planet Mazeway – sort of like taking a hard, rigorous entrance exam.
Winning the game means mankind’s acceptance into the wider world of the entire universe.
Why such exalted creatures such as the eldern need such a childish way to enter into their ranks is not precisely clear, but given the premise, admittedly not a new one, Williamson delivers an old-fashioned homily on growing up and getting along and maturing.
It is, as well, a murder mystery. May I quote from page 80? Benn Dain, Terran, is making demands of the Hydrans concerning his friend and mentor, Edward Gibbon Beta, whose brother by fission at birth has been killed, under mysterious circumstances:
Find the killer, they do, although I’d have to agree that it is not one that Ellery Queen, say, in his wildest dreams would ever have recognized. And as much as I like what some of the newer SF writers are saying, as futzy and outdated books like this might be, it’s still my kind of story.
[UPDATE] 01-18-12. You didn’t miss a great deal when I shortened this review to post it here. Back in 1991 and for a reading audience of mystery fans who might not have known who he was, I spent a few paragraphs of time telling them something about Jack Williamson’s background as a writer.
Today, however, all I have to do is include a link to an appropriate page, and you’ll know what I said about him then, and a whole lot more. (I also spent some time justifying the inclusion of a SF writer in a mystery journal. I stopped worrying about that a long time ago.)
January 19th, 2012 at 7:22 am
Steve,
Thank you for an informative review!
I’d never heard of this book, and you make me eager to read it.
The blog CultureLab did a piece on sf-mysteries:
http://www.newscientist.com/blogs/culturelab/2010/04/top-10-greatest-science-fiction-detective-novels.html
The comments are as informative as the article itself.
January 19th, 2012 at 2:11 pm
That’s an interesting article, Mike, with quite a few books listed there that I was unaware of. Thanks for posting the link.
The biggest reason most of these SF-mystery hybrids are new to me is not exactly that I didn’t know about them, but more that I didn’t realize that they’re SF-mysteries. The primary one as far as I’m concerned is The Caves Of Steel by Isaac Asimov, which came out when, in the 1950s?
I wish I could keep up with what’s going on in the world of SF, but the little I know about what’s current doesn’t appeal to me, and in fact isn’t SF. I don’t care for most fantasy to begin with, and werewolves, vampires and fairies even less. Military SF, consisting mostly of battle tactics and enormous weaponry in space, gets only a big yawn from me.
January 19th, 2012 at 2:27 pm
Steve – If my recent reading is any indication, there have been innumerable SF-mystery hybrids published. Even Donald Westlake had a go at them.
Trouble is, too often they fail as either SF or as mysteries – something I find baffling, because writing good mysteries should come naturally to SF authors.
According to legend, Asimov took his his editor’s (John W. Campbell) assertion that an SF mystery would be a contradiction in terms as a challenge and wrote THE CAVES OF STEEL (1953) in response.
Fascinating trivia: According to several sources, Jack Williamson’s family migrated to New Mexico in a covered wagon when he was 7 years old.
January 19th, 2012 at 4:36 pm
Mike T
You said “Trouble is, too often they fail as either SF or as mysteries – something I find baffling, because writing good mysteries should come naturally to SF authors.”
I think the reason for this is that writing detective fiction isn’t really all that easy — the type of detective story with clever clues, good plotting, fair play and everything that goes along with it. It takes a special talent, and not everyone has it. If they did, there’d be a lot more of it written. (On the other hand, there has to be a market for it, and maybe there isn’t.)
January 19th, 2012 at 3:14 pm
Steve,
I’m completely unfamiliar with most of these sf-mysteries too, Asimov and Philip K. Dick excepted. And have no idea about their quality as either mysteries or sf.
Just came across this article by chance around six months ago.
January 19th, 2012 at 6:17 pm
What is science fiction has been debated since Jules Verne called H.G. Wells out for making stuff up without explaining the science behind it.
What is mystery? I define the genre in three sections:
1. Focus on puzzle
2. Focus on crime
3. Focus on characters
Writers often are too creative to fit in a tight limited label.
Douglas Adams’ Dirk Gently books mocks all forms of the mystery novel as well as science.
Terry Pratchett’s “Watch” books in the “Discworld” series are a wonderful combination of fantasy and crime procedural.
Jasper Fforde’s work is an amazing blend of all genres.
John Scalzi’s forgotten “The Android’s Dream” is a delightful SF/caper novel.
Liz Williams’ Detective Inspector Chen series is an entertaining blend of paranormal and procedural.
The Verne style SF based on science is fading as the genre heads more towards the Wells “lighten up dude” style. And not surprisingly as readers’ taste has shifted to fantasy, it has influenced all genres from SF to mystery.
Why are there so few successful SF/Mystery novels? Because the genres are pointed in opposite directions. SF embraces chaos, the unknown, what is beyond our understanding. Mystery exists to fight chaos, to restore order, to return to the universe as we know it.
January 19th, 2012 at 6:39 pm
Steve and michael – We have come a long way from Hugo Gernsback’s aims for “scientifiction,” as he called it:
http://www.dandare.info/info/gernsback.htm
“In early 1911, when he needed more material to fill his April edition of ‘Modern Electrics,’ Gernsback wrote a story that blended science with fiction for intellectual stimulation. He created a hero called Ralph 124C41+ and put him into a rudimentary plot framework knowing only that the next installment would continue to advance his (Gernsback’s) own vision of future technology. It ran for a dozen issues, and developed into a utopian novel of 2660 AD with its punning title ‘124C41’ (One to foresee for one). In it, Gernsback quite un-deliberately established the form of the early 20th century science fiction story: a concern with science, technology and material things, with stereo-typed characterisations used merely to visualise the ideas.
“To his surprise, Gernsback’s story was immediately emulated by other writers, who naturally then wanted publication in Gernsback’s magazine. The excitement for Gernsback and his emulators were ‘things’ not ‘people.’ Tomorrow’s unusualness was preferred over today’s commonplace. Despite his unexceptional literary talents, Gernsback eventually pieced together a novel from the original story, subtitled ‘A Romance of the Year 2660,’ and it is so jam-packed with ideas, predictions, prophecies, inventions and interpretations that it has been called ‘the first science fiction story ever written’.”