However, mixed in there are moments that are visually murky. See below for one of the more striking examples. First, the verticality adopted by Chaykin provides visually fascinating pages and action sequences. Empire (1978) is an epic adventure across fantastic worlds pulsating with visual flare, a half-hearted attempt to incorporate information theory, and, unfortunately, a dull and repetitive plot. If you enjoy Delany’s fiction, I can’t solidly recommend it for the story itself. Chaykin’s flawed Empire (1978) might be for you.

If you enjoy more experimental comic books/graphic novels, then Samuel R. The Downstairs Room and Other Speculative Fiction(1968)Ģ. The end is all too neat, but the ride is an intense one.Ĭheck out the following Kate Wilhelm reviews:

However, Wilhelm is adept at creating the psychological tension that propels the story forward through powerful images and dreams of subterranean cities, of increasing mechanization, of mind control… Peter is also a highly sympathetic character, dealing with his intense trauma, struggling to chart out new paths in his life, interacting with a family that loves him but tires of his presence in their house… City of Cain treads, with some success, somewhat standard post-Vietnam war paranoia/political thriller ground. Wilhelm’s 1970s short stories take far greater risks than the majority of her novels. And soon he learns the dark secrets of his brother’s government project. Post-injury, Roos slowly realizes that he seems to share the dreams of those around him: “he couldn’t have heard her whisper. Senator Roos, who seems to have lost a lot his passion for political change, is a member of a committee on “Deep Earth Defense Facilities” (27), a nebulous plan (at least what the public knows), to place military facilities underground to protect them from Soviet attack. The unfamiliarity with what should have been familiar made him uneasy” (14). He stays in the house of his brother and US senator, Ed Roos, a man he used to worship: “Peter stared at his favorite person on earth once, who still was, he supposed, was strange to him. Back in the US, Roos engages in a long path of recovery from the resulting amnesia and trauma. After a technical error on a helicopter, a missile it was carrying explodes killing half the crew and sending shrapnel into Roos’ body. Peter Roos returns from the Vietnam War a scarred man both mentally and physically.

Kate Wilhelm’s City of Cain (1974) is a moody, streamlined, and psychologically heavy near-future SF thriller. My “to review” pile is growing and my memory of them is fading… hence short-far less analytical-reviews.

Empire star samuel r delany