The Last Theorem by Arthur C. Clarke and Frederik Pohl

The Last Theorem by Arthur C. Clarke and Frederik Pohl. New York: Ballantine Books/DelRey, 2008. ISBN: 978-0-345-47021-8

This is one of the most congenial SciFi novels I've read in a long time. Meaning it's just a pleasant read (for the most part, anyway, with only a couple of minor exceptions, such as the period where poor Ranjit, our hero, is mistakenly locked up and “interrogated” as a suspected terrorist), entertaining, and intriguing all at once. Not to mention that it's the first, last, and only collaboration between these two science fiction greats, grandmasters both. This alone makes it essential reading for all serious science fiction buffs, such as myself.

Much, even most of the story takes place on the island of Sri Lanka, Arthur C. Clarke's chosen home for many decades. Unfortunately, he had passed on by the time this book made it into print.

Our primary protagonist is a brilliant young mathematician, who lives an eventful, but satisfying life. Among his accomplishments is finally solving Fermat's Last Theorem, one of the perennially classic mathematical challenges. In fact, he actually comes up with with the proof while in prison, suffering from those currently infamous “enhanced” interrogation techniques.

That wouldn't be enough on its own for a good SciFi story, though. What makes the novel more interesting is the fact that we (the human race, that is) have inadvertently and unknowingly come to the attention of the galactic civilization, such as it is, and they have decided that we are likely to be dangerous, and should be quickly snuffed out. There are interesting scientific developments going on here on earth, as well, such as the construction of the first “space elevator,” an actual cable stretching into earth orbit territory, which makes it possible to lift large masses of material into space much less expensively than with rockets.

How these various elements come together into a satisfyingly happy ending keeps you guessing all along the way. Definitely recommended essential reading for SciFi aficionados.

A Deepness in the Sky by Vernor Vinge

A Deepness in the Sky by Vernor Vinge. New York: Tor, 1999. ISBN: 0-312-85683-0

What a complicated plot line this story weaves! It would be diffi­cult to distill it into a few sentences. First, there is a human trader empire, the Qeng Ho, that has lasted for centuries, millennia? Individuals in their extended “families” can live for centuries, using a combination of time shifting and cold sleep, as they travel from star to star.

Then there is an anomalous star, one that shuts itself off every few years, then reignites. And, even more amazing, when the Qeng Ho expedition gets there, they find an intelligent race of spider-like creatures there, just on the cusp of their first industrial revolution.

But another splinter human civilization, calling themselves the Emergents, gets there shortly after the Qeng Ho, and barely wins the resulting quick and devastating space war. Now the survivors have to pick up the pieces, and hang on until the spiders can bring their civilization to a high enough level technologically to refuel and rebuild the human fleet of spaceships. But all the while, some of the surviving Qeng Ho are plotting to retake control from the Emergents, who practice a kind of human slavery, and who also plan to enslave the spiders.

It's great science fiction in the best space opera sense, long, involved, convoluted plots, but a rewarding and entertaining read. If I have any quibble, it's that Vinge makes the alien spiders all too human in their thinking and behavior. They just seem like human beings in an alien shape. But that is merely a quibble. Definitely recommended. Incidentally, this novel won a Hugo Award in 2000.

Hunter's Run by Martin, Dozois, and Abraham

Hunter's Run by George R.R. Martin, Garner Dozois, and Daniel Abraham. New York: Eos (HarperCollins), 2008. ISBN: 978-0-06-137329-9

This is nitty gritty SciFi at its best. Our protagonist, one Ramón Espejo is an uneducated, roistering, hard-drinking, hard-living, blue collar kind of a guy who finds himself in an untenable situation, and makes the best of it. He's an independent prospector on the lam from the law, after a drunken spree in which he brutally murders a visiting gringo muckety muck, who while out in the wild unexplored reaches of the planet, stumbles onto an alien secret that is definitely too big for him.

Not only that, but he realizes that he is actually a clone of himself, slaved to the aliens he's discovered, and tasked with finding and preventing his real self from getting back to civilization to report what he's found. By killing himself (his other self), if that's what it takes.

The basic scenario is this: human kind finds itself somewhat adrift in a universe where alien races seem to have the best real estate already locked up. These aliens, at least some of them, are happy to use human kind as their worker bees. Espejo, along with an entire mining crew, ships off to a frontier planet to help in its development and exploitation.

While out prospecting, he inadvertently stumbles onto ANOTHER alien civilization, carefully hidden away, and determined to remain so. Apparently humans are mere pawns in a much larger game of high stakes, in which one alien race is trying to wipe out another, for reasons poor Espejo is not equipped to fathom. But he IS willing to play whatever limited cards he has, in hopes of first surviving, then bettering his situation.

“Gritty” is hardly an adequate description of this story. Suspense there is too, in plentiful supply. Definitely recommended for anyone who enjoys a universe which doesn't assume that humans are always on top, or even remotely NEAR the top in the fight for survival. But still, we humans persist. We struggle on. We refuse to give up, even in the face of overwhelming odds.