The Sci Fi Guy

There are several Science Fiction authors that I’ve tried to follow regularly because for one reason or another, their stories appeal to my reading style. One of those authors is Michael P. Kube-Mcdowell, who has written several great novels, including an intriguing series of books called the Trigon Disunity. The books in the series include Emprise, Enigma, and Empery.

The first book in the series, Emprise, sets up a future world that, when written, actually takes place in our world today. The story begins with an innovative calamity for human-kind; the nullification of atomic weaponry by making the worlds’ atomic energies stable. This means no cold war, no nuclear power, and no nuclear weaponry to grip mankind against each other. In doing so, inadvertently the scientists who created these permanent nuclear “shields” are now villified and accused of being the cause of the world’s problems. Within 20 years, the world goes through numerous world wars for energy, and the nations themselves become devestated by their attempts to acquire energy and resources for themselves and their people.

Scientists and scientific thought are considered the plauge of mankind, and as such the new leadership focuses on how little they actually know about science. This is akin to a self-inflicted social post-apocalypse culture - scientists are hunted and committed of crimes much like witches of the 18th century.

Alone in a remote corner of the United States is a radio astronomer, operating his radio telescope as a hobby and as an obscure passion to suffice his solitude. He must keep his interests a secret, or else his use of solar panels and metal for his hobby will soon make him an enemy of the people. And of course, like radio astronomers do; he discovers a signal that can only mean one thing: we are not alone in this universe.

Emprise, for having been written over 20 years ago, is still an outstanding science fiction novel. The main characters include Rashuri, the leader of the new consortium designed to control the next phase of human kind. Among the other characters worth noting are Tai Chen, the leader of China who positions the Chinese as the dominant force in the new future Kube-Mcdowell explores. Scientists are again able to establish their work, and everything is designed to advance the field of space exploration, for the core desire becomes greeting this alien ship while it’s en route to Earth, rather than allowing it to arrive and suprise mankind with any array of potential outcomes.

Emprise has one notion that I have to believe was slightly ahead of its time for 1985, which was the introduction of a unified global network (read: Internet, anyone?). It’s amazing to consider that he explains the Internet years before it truly reaches the state it actually is today, yet the similarities are stunning. That factor, in my opinion, makes Kube-Mcdowell a powerful science fiction storyteller. To be able to envision a world by extrapolating the state of computing and communication in 1985 is profound.

The characters within Emprise are interesting, but perhaps overly archetyped. For instance, within the Chinese contingent, it seems as though the author considers all Chinese leaders to be empirical and combative. Similarly, the Indians within the story seem to be extremely passive and productive. Perhaps these archetypes were coincidental, but I think moreover they were the result of the state of global affairs of the early 1980’s.

I’ve already read these books before, but I’m looking forward to pouring back through them again, and sharing my thoughts with you here on SciFi-Guy.com. If you have the chance, I recommend picking up a copy of Emprise and seeing if it appeals. Its a worthwhile science fiction tale and for most readers, I think the ending will hook you in to the next two parts of the story.

Update: There is now a summary and review of Enigma, the second book in the series by Michael P. Kube-Mcdowell.

This entry was posted on Monday, May 21st, 2007 at 11:43 am and is filed under Michael P. Kube-Mcdowell, Science Fiction Books. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.