One of the main characters was giving us the rundown on her great-aunt who was an awesome nansurgeon, a committed scientist, a survivor and an all round wonderful person. Then I came to this,
“She lives with her spouse, Dorothy,...” page 19Okay. I paused a moment and decided I would read further. It was going to be a good story and I can deal with a little nonsense. If he had left it at that he could have made his statement, be accepted by the GLBTQ community and went on to develop his plot and characters. It was not to be.
A few pages later the young lady was admiring a young man who was not responding to her charms and had to explain that he was not “gay.” Then the social engineering gets going.
“Great-grandpa Jim once told me that he remembered a time when a lot of people hid their homosexuality,.... And in school we learned that before that it was actually illegal most places.In between we learn that modesty is out the window too.
“ The things you learn in history class, huh?
“But who would hide it now? Who cares?...” p. 33
“And maybe I shouldn’t add, but will, that our family is easy about nudity.” page 32I could go on to universal role reversals and environmental nonsense, but you get the point.
There comes a point where the static gets so strong it describes a world that I know would not work near as well as described.
There are times I am glad I checked the book out from the library rather than bought it. If you like a world in which anything seems to go, where the men are short and cooks, the women are tall and math majors, where there are no private vehicles and all people live in peace, then by all means check it out and enjoy.
Varley, John. Dark Lightning. New York: Ace Books, 2014.
homo unius libri
I don't even bother with "modern" authors, since there are still classics that I haven't read.
ReplyDeleteI am working on them too but often my mind is too dull for them and I have a personal aversion to TV.
DeleteGrace and peace.