Deep Future

Rating:
Summary: Third Eric Brown collection is a winner
Review: At long last, British sf maestro Eric Brown's third collection -- his first in six years -- has been published, with ten tales published between 1990 to 2000 inclusive. Though none of his Tartarus stories are included herein (Victor Gollancz has been quite busy watching paint peel whilst sitting on his FALL OF TARTARUS mosaic novel), there are stories from some of his most popular series (e.g., Sapphire Oasis, Ben Henderson, Engineman, Kethani, telemass, etc.), as well as some independent tales, two of which rank among Brown's best work (the Michael Coney influenced "The Miracle at Kallithea" and the Vanceian-yet-metafictional "Deep Future"). The ten collected stories are "The Miracle at Kallithea" (2000), "The Phoenix Experiment" (1991), "The Pharagean Effect" (1990), "Paramathea" (1993), "Kathmandu Blues" (1999), "Downtime in the MKCR" (1994), "The Crimes of Domini Duvall" (2000), "Deep Future" (1998), "Onward Station" (1998), and "The Kings of Eternity" (2000). A nice, sweet introduction is included by friend and fellow British sf author Keith Brooke, and each story comes with a wonderful, bracingly honest introduction by Brown himself -- a first for any Brown collection.

My only complaints are neglible: there are no page numbers listed in the TOC in my copy (this may have been fixed by now); the collection is woefully short considering the uncollected material available (176 pages); and the first Kethani story ("Ferryman") is not reprinted (and does not appear in either of Brown's earlier collections), yet the first sequel ("Onward Station") and the sort-of prologue ("Kathmandu Blues") are (the second sequel, "The Kethani Inheritance", was recently published in "Spectrum" #7) -- this is a problem because each story builds on what was related in earlier stories, coloring the background with earlier characters whose motivations are only known if you've read the previous stories (I can say this with authority because I unfortunately read them all in reverse order). Anyway, these "grievances" -- for lack of a better term -- are *FAR* outstripped by the joys of the texts within. Also, the cover, in my opinion, is one of the best I've ever seen for a print-on-demand book: kudos to Juha Lindroos.

So what are the stories themselves like? The overarching theme is love and its many permutations ("love", however, is here not as broadly defined as it is when used to thematically describe Theodore Sturgeon's work). Trust, bonds, family, loss, belief, fear, hard-won optimism (except for two notable exceptions), and a deeply passionate humanism abound throughout. Brown is much more interested in his characters, their faults, their dreams, than he his in the surrounding gadgetry and world building (e.g., his Engineman stories contradict themselves (especially when his BSFA nominated novel ENGINEMAN is thrown into the mix), but who cares?) except to the extent that these sf settings affect the characters in ways that non-sf settings would not (which is pretty much one of the main reasons to read speculative fiction in the first place). For this reason, I recommend pacing your reading of the tales and not gobbling them all up at once. This is not a criticism, far from it; the stories lose their impact if read en masse because you become desensitized to their fervent souls.

In all, I recommend this collection, Brown's first publication in the US. Hopefully some US publisher will pick up his other well-regarded works, such as MERIDIAN DAYS and the VIREX trilogy, as well as his two earlier collections, THE TIME-LAPSED MAN and BLUE SHIFTING. Enjoy!

P.S. If you can find it, Brown's novella "A Writer's Tale" from Peter Crowther's outstanding PS Publishing is a must-buy. It's Brown's best work in any form ever.