“Shatterpoint” by Matthew Stover & “Conjure Wife” by Fritz Leiber
Two books I have read of late.
“Shatterpoint” is basically “Heart of Darkness” meets “Star Wars.” Jedi Master Mace Windu goes to rescue his apprentice Depa Bilba, who went to resolve a genocidal civil war that bears a suspicious resemblance to certain Central African conflicts. Except it appears that Depa has fallen to the dark side, and Mace needs to save the day.
“Shatterpoint” is a very good read. The “Star Wars” universe is not one that stands up to even cursory logical scrutiny, but Stover nonetheless applies that scrutiny, and builds an entire book around it. Like, the Jedi are supernaturally powerful fighters who can block gunfire with their minds, but what does that mean in moral terms? Of course, for a book inspired by “Heart of Darkness”, you expect it to end with “the horror, the horror”, but it really doesn’t. It goes in a different direction.
The fight scenes are amazing, too.
Stover also wrote the novelization for “Revenge of the Sith”, which I read on a whim a few years ago while waiting for a bus, and it is the rarest of all creatures – the novelization that is substantially better than its movie.
“Conjure Wife” is truly speculative fiction, in that it posits a “what if” scenario. In this scenario, college sociology professor Norman Saylor succumbs to a momentary impulse and looks through the drawers of his wife Tansy’s dresser. In retrospect, this turns out to be a very bad idea. Norman learns that Tansy has been practicing witchcraft to advance his career. Furthermore, all women do it, in secret from men, and when Norman forbids his wife to indulge this foolish superstition any longer, that means he no longer has protection from the malicious spells of his colleagues’ wives.
Trouble ensues.
Of course, the idea that all women are secretly spellcasting sorceresses is…
Actually, that would explain a lot.
I kid, I kid.
“Conjure Wife” quickly goes from semi-comedic territory into straight horror, and parts of the book are very creepy. Leiber can deliver some nasty punches to the gut, and there were two moments in the book where I winced in dismay for what was about to befall Norman and Tansy. Norman is a pompous doofus (I will nobly refrain from making a joke about sociology as an academic discipline here), but is nonetheless a sympathetic character as his life begins to spin out of control.
Both books, I think, were good reads.
-JM