Galactic Pot Healer

We don't have to love everything the man wrote.

You have to admire Dick, though, for his vision. I get the sense, reading Galactic Pot Healer, that he had expected the work to come out vaster, more weighty than it did. Here, admirably, Dick tackles some of his favorite themes - the crushing weight of conformity, what it means to be useful v. what it means to create ... the nature of perfection. The problem is, clocking in at just under 200 pages, these vast ideas come off feeling a touch undercooked. There are moments of profundity, no doubt, but these are few, and seem to duck quickly off-stage as though embarrassed amidst the light hurly-burly of the rest of the novel. You know that friend that you have, who really means what he's saying about the terror of neo-liberalism, but can't help turning his convictions into purile jokes at the party because he doesn't want to be so gauche as to seem sincere? Yeah, that's what this book was like...

Galactic Pot Healer, which I, like you, originally assumed dealt with the interstellar medicinal qualities of marijuana, actually chronicles the existential traverse of one man from a future totalitarian Earth (about as bleak as you might expect from Dick) to a backwater planet where a vast, godlike alien has summoned him to help restore a sunken, mystical cathedral from the depths of a stygian sea. Along the way Dick makes his typical satirical jabs at authority - not hard enough to draw meaningful blood, but enough to identify the joker as a rebellious sort. Dick's protagonist muses over which seems worse: an impossible, mysterious quest, or a meaningless descent into madness as a cog in a broken machine called Earth. Is it better to burn out, or to fade away? The book proceeds because he chooses the quest, and we are introduced to a team of galactic experts assembled to provide different aspects of what at first blush appears to be an alien undersea archeological project. And then things get wierd. The rest of the novel's plot twists are more the surrealist variety... We likely all have our favorite modes of the Surreal (Make Mine Murakami!) and those surreal modes which seem jarring, manic and annoyingly self-indulgent (*cough* Vonnegut *cough* Slaughterhouse Five *cough*). Guess how I felt about the rest of the novel? Actually, later in the film I started to imagine scenes from the novel in terms of visuals from the conclusion of Miyazaki's Spirited Away... I'm not sure that's what Dick intended. And I liked Spirited Away way, way, way more... To the point that I began to think "I feel like dropping this silly novel and going to watch Spirited Away..."

I'd prefer not to resort to a silly review just because I felt that this was a silly novel. The protagonist in the novel's trade is that of a "pot healer," that is, he is able through some future technology to heal ceramics in such a way as to leave no trace of their former brokenness. Sound metaphoric? The alien female with whom he pairs' specialty is removing the age-old encrustations of coral from sunken relics. And beneath a vast ocean lies the mystical ruin of Heldscalla, the alien cathedral... The ocean threatens living death - an eternity of decay, without hope of release into nothingness. The godlike alien is compared again and again, annoyingly overtly to Faust, though I wonder just how familiar Dick was with that work - the comparison rang false. World-spanning themes like sacrifice, identity, and the magnificence of human imperfection are danced through: not laughed at, granted, but sort of waved at, as though from the window of a truck being driven by a rope-tailed Werj. There was plentious material here - and I scented some great ideas. But something about this soup just didn't marry. The prose was good, even haunting at times. The characters less good, and in the end the story just not very compelling.

I don't know, maybe the novel wasn't that bad. It's one of those books about which I'd say try for yourself and see what you think. And then not at all be surprised if it became your new favorite Dick novel, or if it caused you to swear off Science Fiction for a few months in disgust. All I know is that I saw potential, and then not much payoff. Which, in a sense, is what the book is about...

Final grade: B/B-
Re-read? Not likely.

The Generator Speaks

Next Train:

The Queen of Air and Darkness and Other Stories - Poul Anderson

(title story won the Hugo for best Novella in 1972, and the Nebula for best Novelette in 1971)

What's the Big Deal about Pornography?

Well?

Pornography is a big deal, and a big deal not seen on this scale by a lot of other cultures in history. Whether you love it, or you hate it, most of us would admit that sexually explicit materials are available in our society, and to every segment of our society (including minors) in amounts likely never equaled in history. Yes, we have classical vedic art, yes we have Japanese woodcuts, yes we have erotic long poems from most cultures. And in the last century we've had print and celluloid media since pretty much the start. What Dr. Manning is talking about is the availability of high fidelity film and stills, along with text, available to every member of society, absolutely anonymously and absolutely free - on demand. As you may or may not know, such access is widespread - Dr. Manning quotes studies suggesting from 80-90% of High School students being exposed. And so the question is, what do we do with this information? How is this going to affect us as a culture? What about our values relating to sex and family life and gender and equality and even respect for other individuals? Is this not likely to cause exponentially more upheaval than the advent of a magic little pill did in the 1960's?

So, it is a big deal, and I tend to agree with Dr. Manning. Now, if you're looking for answers to some of the questions above, you'll get a cursory treatment of the sociological implications in Big Deal - other more meaty explications have been done and Manning references them, notably Pamela Paul's seminal Pornified (for which the wikipedia entry is somewhat pathetic given that this book in its time was itself a Big Deal). Manning's audience is teenagers, very few of whom are sociologists - very many of whom, though, are developing dangerous habits surrounding pornography. And so Manning targets her information at three classes of readers: accidental pornography viewers, habitual pornography viewers, and people who would like to support loved ones with destructive pornography habits.

Remembering her intended audience, problems with prose are made up for by Manning's sincerity. The text doesn't skirt the issues: it does drag out in the open something that blindsided and ensnared many of my generation. We didn't know! Our parents had no idea what was going on on the internet. The analogy, for some, would be similar to parents providing vending machines in their home that produced crystal meth, having been told that they only produced "healthy snacks." Again, and again, I hear stories about marriages and peers whose chains and suffering were forged during the 90's when we didn't yet have our wits about us. But someone had their wits about them... The multi-billion dollar industry that now grosses more than the top American tech firms combined (yes, I include Microsoft).

Manning provides strategies for the above mentioned classes of people affected by pornography. These seem helpful - especially useful was the chapter for parents looking to prevent the problem before it takes root. I continue to type "problem," because yes, I agree with Manning: modern pornography is a Big problem - and we understand but poorly how it will affect our homes and society, though she describes a few chilling indicators. A wise man recently spoke:

"Stay away from it! Avoid it like the plague because it is just as deadly, more so. The plague will destroy the body. Pornography will destroy the body and the soul. Stay away from it! It is as a great disease that is sweeping over the country and over the entire world. Avoid it! I repeat, avoid it!” (Gordon B. Hinckley, 1997)

Morality discussions aside, you don't have to agree with me to appreciate Manning's contribution. Even if you think that some pornography in moderation is alright, you must admit that parents should have tools to at least address this more-than-pressing issue in their homes. I liked Dr. Manning's book, and I appreciated her bravery - this will likely continue to be an unpopular subject. But the infernal thing about pornography is that, for those caught in its snare, its chains are forged in the very flesh, and despite the good advice available on the subject, despite the programs and steps, little apart from divine intervention is able to deliver the captives. And, to be honest, if you're not into the divine, a broad road of suffering and loss may well portend. Even AA recognizes reliance on a higher power.

I apologize for the grim review. While there is life, there is hope - this I believe. But I tend to believe that as individuals, men, women and families, we will all wash against this bleak shore at some time in our very modern lives, and we had best come prepared. Maybe with some hope, too, thanks to the rare voices of positive thinking and encouragement like Dr. Manning's.

But my friends, I say this: the dark Emperor has no clothes.

Not that our ultimate victory isn't foretold, of course...

The Generator Speaks

Next Train:

Galactic Pot Healer - Phillip K. Dick

(what can I say? My blurb is already contaminated by having started to read the thing...)

Blind Lake

My reviews are piling up - I'm not sure why. But I should write something before I forge ahead with my reading... This year is different, no?

I'll come right out with it. I loved Blind Lake. I'll admit, I would have been surprised if I didn't at least like it. The author of Darwinia and Bios (not to mention the much lauded Spin, awaiting the attention of my generator...) has yet to provide much cause for disappointment. So, because of my admitted bias, I'll tell you why I liked it so much - I even made notes for this one!

I often proclaim that I'm not much of a "hard" science fiction fan: the "what if" is more important to me, always, than the "how." Wilson's novel deftly navigates both, and cleverly, yet effectively sidesteps some of the conflict. Blind Lake tells the story of a lockdown, in the dead of winter, at an experimental government astronomical station. The "Blind Lake" observatory utilizes "quantum organic computers" to visualize distant planets - that's right. I don't want to spoil too much, but the premise is too good not to explicate. In the near future, mankind has devoted immense resources to massive space telescope arrays: near-Earth planetary systems have been identified which seem capable of supporting life. But the arrays begin to fail, at once leaving important questions about the planets unanswered, and becoming the most costly pieces of space junk in history. To prop up the failing project, "quantum" evolving neuro-networks are applied to the job of sifting distortion from the signals being received from the arrays. The way that the self-evolving futuristic computers are able to do this is poorly understood. But when the telescopes themselves fail, but the pictures keep coming, only now "zoomed in" on the planet's surfaces: the process takes on a ghostly life of its own - no eyes, but the "machines" see. The Ghost in the Shell premise leads to a mysterious absolute quarantine that traps a group of journalists at the observatory. The ensuing tale is both a study of the humans marooned at Blind Lake, and the tale of what the inexplicable eyes begin to see...

This is a gorgeous novel with just enough technical information to be fascinating and mysterious at once, but in Wilson's developing style, never pretentious. A sense of wonder infuses the mystery of technology which man has created but cannot understand. Wilson's characterizations are engaging: I often think that a measure of a novel can be taken by how kindly its "villains" are treated. In Wilson's work, easy answers are hard to come by; characters ring true because we aren't asked to suspend disbelief in order to service paper-doll heroes and devils. None of the characters experience epiphany, none magically transform, but they act within the tale, and if they learn something along the way, maybe we do to.

Maybe the biggest reason that I like Wilson is his vision of the cosmos... In the works I've mentioned above, we are often left with the sense of a creation teeming with life: consciousness and "humanity" spread across the universe. I put "humanity" in quotation marks, because other life, obviously not human, is just a flawed, just as redeemable, just as miraculous. Wilson builds on the sort of Science Fiction written by one of my favorites, one of the "greats": Arthur C. Clarke, and his ideas about childhood's end... Wilson's visions are humble, compassionate, hopeful... The cosmology suggested by his works intersects with my own in a lot of ways: we both believe in worlds without end, lives without number, and mankind's destiny to grow into something else, something vast, and ultimately wiser than we are. Keep your post-apocalyptic wastelands - I live for this stuff! Wilson's future earth here is darker (the glimpses we are given of it) than some of his other novels have foreseen, but the contrast rings truer: the emphasis on individual choice seems braver, and the ambiguity of his characters' decisions feels familiar.

No, in my opinion it's no wonder this novel was nominated - I keep meaning to look back and see which novel actually won it in 2004. This is a novel that re-affirms what science fiction can be - not reliant on gimmicks, gizmos, the needlessly surreal; not cynical, but not naive. Wilson's writing gathers force with each passing novel - I think we are reading the works of a new "great" as they are being writ, and I certainly don't think that even that is high enough praise for this lovely, engrossing vision of ourselves, in the future.

Final Grade: A/A+

Re-read? You bet!

The Generator Speaks

Next train:

What's the Big Deal about Pornography? - Jill Manning


(The RCW was brilliant, as expected - review pending. And now for something a little different...)

Journey Into China

A short review for my shamelessly indulgent armchair travelguide. I'm a devout sinophile, since my late teens, and this glossy book was gorgeous dessert reading.

The text details the journeys of 10 or so National Geographic writers across China - each through vastly different terrain, cultural settings and experiences. The writing was done in the mid '80's, as near as I can tell, and I know that a lot has changed in the intervening 25 years. "A lot" may be an understatement. Even the land has changed since then - especially on the Yangtze, where the Three Gorges dam was still a pipe dream. Photography styles have changed too: we exepect bright, colorful panoramas - "splendor" - in our current glossies. The photographic style of the day was more restrained, more attuned to the monochromatic. Maybe that's just a by-product of everyone wearing those navy-blue state-issue jerseys in the photos.

Nevertheless, it was a lovely trip. I'm not off to China anytime soon, but I can't wait... The writing is a healthy mix of history, geography and travel anecdote. Attention is paid to the political climate, despite protestations to the contrary in the introduction - I suspect this was required, as in the mid 1980's foreign journalists were apparently accompanied everywhere by state escorts. Ahh, China... A journey along the great wall... Voyaging up the grand canal... The train to Yunnan... Far Kashgar! I'll see it with my own eyes sometime. For now, we have National Geographic.

Grade: A-

Re-read? Yup.

The Generator Speaks

Next train:

Blind Lake - Robert Charles Wilson

Expectations? I must admit, I haven't read an RCW that I didn't like...