The Books of the Wess'har

Karen Traviss has created a complex and fascinating universe in her (as yet uncompleted) Wess’har series. To this point, the series consists of:

City of Pearl
Crossing the Line
The World Before
Matriarch
Ally

The Wess’har series is not only entertaining, exciting, well-paced, character-driven writing at its best, it is also a very serious examination, from multiple viewpoints, of a host of very serious issues – personal and societal responsibility, facing consequences, the inter-relationship of living things, the ethics of pre-emptive action, the dangers of the slippery slope in trading off ethical positions for personal or practical goals, and the nature of conflict resolution being some of them.

The first novel in the series delineates the setting and the context within which these issues are examined through the actions of a number of factions: the time, in terrestrial measurement, is the late 24th century; the place, a planetary system where three planets are inhabited by five sapient species. The two species native to the system are the issenj – a technologially capable and aggressively expansionist species that has destroyed the ecology of its own world though overpopulation and urbanisation of all usable land –and the bezeri, a non-technological but socially and culturally complex aquatic species almost driven to extinction when the issenj landed on their native planet and began to destroy its ecology as well. The third species, the wess’har, have assumed the role of protectors of the bezeri, after destroying the issenj colony; they have set up their own colony on a third world in this solar system to maintain a protective presence. The fourth species, the ussi, are natives of the same planet as the wess’har and travel with them as diplomatic and communications specialists; scrupulously neutral in their relations with other species, they have established a colony on the same world as the wess’har, but also work with the issenj. Finally, there is a small colony of humans living on the planet of the bezeri – a religious settlement devoted to protecting the genetic treasury of unmodified plant and animal DNA they have brought with them from Earth.

The story revolves around several sequences of actions initiated by various members of a human exploratory party sent to find out what has happened to the human colony and to investigate indications of “alien contacts” with the colony. The human contingent consists of a number of people with very divergent aims and philosophies, representing (although not always officially) military, government, intelligence, big business, and journalistic mindsets.

The series’ primary protagonist is the human Shan Frankland, a very hard-nosed cop with an environmental agency; her professional function is to arrest people for polluting the environment; in the past, she has harboured sympathies for the eco-terrorist movement. The series’ crucial species are the wess’har, who draw no distinction between forms of life, be they intelligent or not, and who have chosen to act, in this planetary system and in others, as the protectors of natural ecological balance and the enforcers of environmentally conscious action on an interplanetary scale. Both Frankland and the Wess'har have very strong positions on thinking about the implications of what you do, taking responsibility for what you do and dealing with the consequences of your actions.At a micorcosmic and a macrocosmic level, Frankland and the Wess'har pose important questions about ethics and ecology. You may not like their answers, but you will think hard about your own.

This is SF that makes you think, and rethink, your assumptions about that is going on inside the story and in the world we live in, at the same time that it immerses you in a compelling narrative with well-realised, and realistic characters (including the aliens, in their own fashion).

I cannot recommend these books strongly enough.

REading and Re-reading Joanna Russ

I recently acquired a copy of Jeanne Cortiel’s critical analysis of Joanna’ Russ’ fiction, Demand My Writing and in preparation for reading it, I decided to go back and reread some of Russ’ books that I hadn’t read for a long time, and to read some newer works that I had never read. My partner, who believes, and not without cause, that Russ is one of the most important writers of our time and certainly one of his greatest favourites of all time, has everything she’s ever written, so this was not a difficult task to arrange.

What follows is not a series of reviews so much as some casual notes about what I though on reading/rereading these books.

On Strike Against God

This was new to me. It is not SF (any more than , say, The Women’s Room is, although the argument could certainly be made that such books are a particular form of the alien contact novel), but rather a contemporary novel, in Russ’s unmistakable style, about a woman who has begun to rebel against the stifling masculine privilege and oppressive hetero-normativity she finds around her. It contains many of the same themes as The Female Man, and that’s a good thing.

The Hidden Side of the Moon

A collection of short stories- any of them dealing with issues of personal identity and family relationships from women’s perspectives, including such masterpieces as “The Little Dirty Girl,” “Sword Blades and Poppy Seed,” “The View from this Window,” and others. Many of these stories are more properly classed as speculative or experimental fiction that science fiction, but who cares?

Extra (Ordinary) People

Five linked stories (sometimes rather loosely linked, at that), beginning with the absolutely astonishing story “Souls.” Worth reading for that alone.

The Female Man

One of the classic feminist SF texts, I’m just going to assume you have all read it, and if you haven’t, then what on earth are you doing reading this when you could be reading it instead? It loses none of its force upon re-reading. And if anyone thinks that things are so much better now than they were when Russ wrote this… no, they’re just differently framed and packaged, that’s all. You still don’t have to walk very far to find a man who can look at a room full of women and ask where all the people are.

The Adventures of Alyx

Alyx’ career was really rather interesting, when you come to think about it. Starting out as a woman adventurer in a historical/fantasy world not dissimilar to, say, the world that Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser or other heroes of that sort lived in, she ends up being kidnapped into a science fictional future to save the asses of a bunch of future humans with minimal survival skills and becomes an agent of the temporal police. I’ve got quite a soft spot in my heart for Alyx. This collection has all the Alyx stories, including the short novel/novella Picnic on Paradise.

The Zanzibar Cat

More great goodness in small packages, including the one that really did change everything, at least for women in SF communities, “When It Changed.”

In closing, may I suggest that if you haven’t done so lately, go out and read some Joanna Russ. It will do you good. Really.

On discovering the writing of Michelle Sagara West

I have recently discovered the writing of Michelle Sagara West, and this is a good thing, even though, since she is a prolific writer who has been writing for some time, I now have a lot to catch up with.

I began with the first book in the Sun Sword series, The Broken Crown, and found that it had many of the things I really enjoy in fantasy writing – strong, interesting characters, many of whom are women, lots of political intrigue, and people faced with issues that require them to figure out who they are and what they stand for, and to make nuanced ethical decisions in the midst of complex sets of loyalties, obligations and responsibilities. Oh, and also magic, and people with swords who know how to use them – I like that, too.

Having fallen in love with Sagara West’s universe for this series, and not wanting to miss anything, I then skipped back to read the Sacred Hunt duology - Hunter’s Oath and Hunter’s Death - that takes place in this universe before the events of The Broken Crown. A very interesting perspective on the responsibility of rulers to the people and the land they rule, and on the nature of divinity, and an exciting story of friendship, loyalty and sacrifice, these books confirmed my interest in Sagara West’s writing.

So I acquired and have now finished the second in the Sun Sword series, The Uncrowned Prince, and will now have to toddle off to buy and read the next four.

I like finding authors that write things I like to read. Michelle Sagara West’s books make me happy.

Young Wizards

Wizards at War, Diane Duane

I’ve been reading Duane’s Young Wizards series very faithfully since I first encountered them. In my opinion, these are definitely among the best modern YA novels around, and stand very well against the classics. I cannot recommend them highly enough to (or for) young people, and adults as well – although the current volume, simply by virtue of its length, may be a bit much for the younger of the book’s potential authors (although if a youngish person were to start on the earlier volumes now, she or he might well be comfortable with the greater length by the time they reach this point in the series).

In Wizards at War, the young wizards who are the main protagonists of the series – Nita, Kit, and Dairine – along with fellow wizards Roshaun, Sker'ret, Filif and Ronan, and supporting appearances from other previously encountered young wizards such as Darryl, are faced with their most serious task yet in their struggles against the Lone One, as the very structure of the universe is threatened, and in such a fashion that they will not have the knowledge and experience of the universe’s senior wizards to draw on.

Duane has given her young wizards difficult tasks, with hard choices and painful consequences for even the best of all possible outcomes, from the very beginning of the series, and this book is no exception. Courage, persistence, ingenuity and sacrifice are part of the very best of all quests, and a wizard on errantry, like any other knight errant, must rely on what is in her soul to direct the use of her sword.