Peter Kropotkin abandoned the Russian aristocracy for the cause of anarchy. He was also a scientist who pioneered the consideration of cooperation as an important factor in evolution. The Watch by Dennis Danvers is a political fable of the anarchist prince upsetting the modern world.
The 81 year old Kropotkin has been snatched from his 1921 deathbed and offered a new chance. In 1999 he is given his body at 32 and put on an airplane from Moscow to Richmond, Virginia.
The deck is stacked in his favor by a man from the future who has set him on this journey, but it’s Kropotkin who has the personality and intelligence which can make a new vision work. His language skills and his scientific curiosity serve him well in so quickly adapting to a new world.
He meets some other castaways in time. A slave from 1800 and a dissident doctor who was a Civil War prisoner are lost in this new world. A graduate student who has written about the historical Kropotkin brings him into a commune. He meets a woman who not only believes him but returns his love.
Danver’s look at Richmond through Kropotkin’s eyes is a delight. From the unnecessary middleman at the airport taxi stand to the statues of Civil War losers, he is always questioning why things are the way they are. Danver’s evident enthusiasm for Kropotkin and his philosophy of mutual aid are the spark to a passionate and charming book.
Cheap clay golems for everyone make a brave new world of disposable bodies. Get past that premise and Kiln People by David Brin is a bold and original walk through the mean streets.
Albert Morris is a private detective and doesn’t back down from trouble and can get away with it when he use a disposable bodies which will dissolve in a day or two anyway. When these dittos do succeed they return and download their memories into the real Morris.
One day Morris has two of his standard selves out on cases and a lesser “greenie” to do errands and mow the lawn. The case of a master criminal Morris has been investigating for years blows up into a major conspiracy with a reclusive trillionaire, a mad scientist and the mad scientist’s daughter. It’s a conspiracy that can undermine the nature of both real people and their copies.
Albert in any of his incarnations is a hard-boiled detective who walks into trouble more often than he thinks about it. This makes him predictable to the enemies trying to use him as a pawn in their schemes. A missile aimed at the real Albert raises stacks to the level of serious crime - an attack on an archetype rather a copy.
Brin has made a world where the consequences of actions have changed and he has serious thoughts on identity and privacy issues underlying it. This doesn’t slow down a fast moving and fun Raymond-Chandler-on-steroids story.
Divine Intervention by Ken Wharton is a very promising first novel roaming from quantum physics to a bow and arrow fight in outer space.
Drew Randall is a deaf mute child on the colony planet Mandala. Drew’s father Paul created electronic gadgets for Drew to hear and speak. These electronic enhancements also let him directly use a microwave antenna.
His father is a preacher using the Captain’s Log from the spaceship that settled Mandala. His God is a consciousness running backwards in time. He encourages Drew praying with his antenna although he admonishes him to stop telling stories about talking with God.
Drew knows his father is being silly. He knows he talking to God even though he knows God isn’t very smart. He doesn’t realize who or whatever he is talking to didn’t know its name was God until Drew started using it.
God’s voice makes Drew the first to know another Earth colony ship has arrived. His father doesn’t believe him since the ship isn’t scheduled for another six months. Neither is prepared for the government treachery they are going to uncover.
The Burnouts enjoy a local drug and have no use for the city. They barely tolerate Paul’s attempts to preach to them. They know the arrival of a new load of colonists will affect them and they have plans on how to deal with it.
The Prime Minister of Mandala will do anything to retain power. Wharton skillfully introduces and brings together the varied forces who will have to stop him.
Vitals by Greg Bear probes the tip of a conspiracy that permeated the 20th century.
Hal Cousins is a lone researcher after the secrets of life extension. He convinces a wealthy investor to finance a deep sea exploration. He finds a primitive life form crucial to his work but is almost killed when the sub pilot goes berserk. This is the first in a series of violent acts that include the murder of his twin brother, a rival life extension scientist.
Hal is hiding low when he meets K. Once a respected historian K has destroyed his career with lunatic anti-Semitism. Inside his paranoia he has found evidence of a Soviet project from the 30s which found what Hal is looking for. The project also found a form of mind control.
“Vitals” keeps notching up the conspiracy until it goes past its science fiction roots and becomes an overwrought thriller. Like a virus that can’t be put back in the test tube “Vitals” reaches a point where it’s out of control.